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A26805
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Sermons upon death and eternal judgment by William Bates.
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Bates, William, 1625-1699.
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1683
(1683)
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Wing B1123; ESTC R29022
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96,846
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349
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the last Day the Righteousness of God's Proceedings shall be universally manifest and magnified 'T is therefore called the Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God Now in order to this the Scripture informs us that all the Works of Men shall be brought in to Judgment even every secret thing whether good or evil And the Apostle saith That we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad All Sins whether secret or openly visible shall be accounted for Those Sins that have been acted in the most secret Retirement so that no eye of Man could take cognizance of them Nay the Sins of the thoughts and affections of which Satan could not accuse Men when the inward Fire of Lust or Malice is not discovered by the least smoke or sparkles by no expressions all those shall be brought to Judgment God will judg the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ. The sins of Omission of our Duty that are so numerous from carelesness and diversions from slothfulness and delays and that now so little affect us for we are more sensible of what we do than of what we have not done the guilt of all these shall then be heavily charged on the Conscience of the Sinner The neglect of improving all the Means Advantages and Opportunities of doing or receiving Good will be a great part of that Judgment The Lord called his Servants to an account for the Talent committed to their trust and required profit in proportion to their number and worth All sins of Commission in Youth and Age whether gross Sensuality as Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries and all excess of Riot shall be accounted for to him who is ready to judg the quick and the dead or acts of unrighteous-to others He that doth wrong shall receive according to the wrong he has done And sins of a lesser guilt for which the most are not touch'd with grief or shame shall then be produc'd in Judgment All the sins of our words so easily committed and not so easily observed shall then be called to a heavy remembrance The Judg himself tells us I say unto you that every idle word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment And if vain words the Signs and immediate Effects of a vain Mind shall sadly encrease our Accounts how much more all the contentious fierce and revengeful words the detracting false contumelious and injurious words the impure filthy and contagious words the prophane blasphemous and impious words that flow from the evil Treasure of the Heart O their dreadful number and oppressing weight And all the Aggravations and Circumstances of Mens Sins that raise their Guilt to such fearful heights shall be enumerated in order to Judgment For thus 't was foretold Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodly committed and all their hard Speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him And all the good Works of the Saints shall then be remembred even to the least work of Piety the giving of two Mites to the Treasury of the Temple and the least work of Charity the giving a cup of cold Water to a Disciple upon the account of his Relation unto Christ. All their secret Graces and Duties shall then be rewarded The manner of this Judicial Evidence is set forth to us in Scripture by the opening the Books congruously to proceedings in humane Judgment wherein the Information and Charge is produc'd from Writings for the conviction of the Accused Thus it was represented to St. John in a Vision I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and the Dead were judged out of the things that were written in the Books according to their Works 1. The Books of the Law and Gospel shall then be open'd in all the Injunctions and Prohibitions and our Lives compar'd with them Our Saviour told the Jews Do not think that I will accuse you to my Father there is one that accuseth you even Moses in whom you trust not the Person but the Law of Moses And he denounced against those that reject the Gospel the Word that I have spoken the same shall judg them in the last Day The Law is the exact Transcript of God's Sacred Will the natural and immutable Rule of Righteousness 't is pure forbids all Sin and enjoyns universal Holiness 't is Spiritual requires not only a conformity in Words and Actions but inward sanctity in mind and heart for the Soul is the principal part of Man entirely open to God's Eye the Maker and Judg of it And the most enlightned Saints have but an imperfect knowledg of it here This made Holy David after his meditation upon its purity and perfection to cry out in an Agony Who can understand his Errors cleanse thou me from secret sins This when opend in its spiritual and comprehensive Nature by a wise and zealous Preacher darts a Light into the Conscience and discovers many secret Sins that like so many Serpents were still and quiet in the dark but upon the suddain breaking in of the Light fly upon the Sinner and torment him with their mortal Stings But when the Law-giver himself shall expound the Law in its full extent and perfection with respect to all the Duties it commands and Sins it forbids how guilty will Men appear how unable to answer one Article of a thousand charg'd upon them 2. The Omniscience of God will give most convincing Evidence of all our Works All things are naked and open to his Eyes with whom we have to do in Judgment The Psalmist declares the infinite perspicacity of his sight The Darkness hides not from thee but the Night shines as the Day As his Light and transcendent Brightness is invisible to us so our thickest darkness is visible to him We cannot see things in the Night because it hinders the reception of the Rays that insinuate into the Eye and causes sight but the Eyes of our Judg are like a flame of Fire dispelling all darkness From his Throne in Heaven his piercing Eye sees through all the concealments of Mens Sins Thou hast set our Iniquities before thee and our secret Sins in the Light of thy Countenance He discovered the Sacrilege of Achan the Lie of Gehazi the Deceit of Ananias Saul's disobedience in sparing the Amalekites devoted to destruction had the colourable pretence of Piety and as a Sacrifice was laid on the Altar And David's Murder of Uriah was imputed to the chance of War as a sufficient excuse But tho' they might have deceived others they could not
judged according to his Works the tenor of good Works and the desert of bad The Apostle assures us That whatsoever a Man sows that shall he reap He that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption But he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting The Harvest shall be according to the Seed both in kind and measure 1. Those who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Imortality shall obtain eternal Life Indeed eternal Life is the Gift of infinite bounty nay of pure Mercy and Mercy excludes Merit 'T is said of the Blessed Martyrs who contended for the Truth and Purity of the Gospel to the Death that their Robes were wash'd white in the Blood of the Lamb not in their own Blood Their right to Heaven was from the application of his Merits to them But the Reward is dispens'd from God according to the Evangelical Law not only as a Magnificent Prince but as a Righteous Judge All those whom the Gospel ordains to Eternal Life shall infallibly obtain it and none that the Gospel excludes Those who were sensible of their Sins and cordially forsaking them did humbly and entirely depend upon the Grace of God through the Blessed Reconciler and Saviour shall be justified and glorified Then the Judg will discern between unfeigned Faith and vain Presumption and will justify the Faith of the Saints by the genuine Fruits of it the Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety of their Lives and a victorious perseverance in their Duty notwithstanding all the pleasing Temptations or Tortures to withdraw them from it Thus the Apostle expresses his humble confidence I have fought the good Fight I have finish'd my Course henceforth there is laid up for me the Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judg will give me at that day and not only to me but to all that love his appearance We read in the Description of the Last Judgment That the Book of Life was opened the Names of all that were written in Heaven shall then be declared that it may appear they are saved by Grace For it was his most free pleasure to select some from the common Mass of Perdition who were naturally as guilty and corrupted as others and to predestinate them to Eternal Glory and effectual persevering Grace to prepare them for it The Saints are created in Christ Jesus unto good Works which God hath before ordained that they should walk in them And the New Creation is as undeserved and entire an Effect of God's Love as the first was But 't is said That every Man was judged according to his Works For Eternal Election does not entitle a Person immediately to Heaven but according to the order establish'd in the Gospel Thus the King at the last Day speaks to the Elect Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the World for I was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye clothed me And according as the Saints have excell'd in Fidelity and Zeal in God's Service they shall be rewarded with a more excellent Glory The Stars of Paradise are of a different brightness and greatness as the Stars of the Firmament Indeed all are perfectly happy without jealousie that any is equal or superior to them in that Kingdom But God will crown his own Graces as the Saints have improved them Our Saviour valued the Widows two Mites as transcending all the magnificent Gifts of others because of the degrees of Love in the giver There was a richer Mine of affection in her Heart Gold of a more noble Vein more pure and precious than all their Riches This was of greater price in God's account who weighs the Spirits in his Ballance God will accept and reward according to what a Man has and not according to what he has not He that improves but two Talents with his best skill and diligence shall have a greater Reward than another that had ten Talents and was remiss and less careful to employ them for his Masters profit The Rule will be exactly observed He that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully and he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly And if God will be thus impartial in rewarding the Saints much more in punishing the Wicked For the renumeration of our Duty is the effect of his most free Favour but the recompences of Sin are due and decreed by Justice in Number Weight and Measure The severity of the sence will be in proportion as Mens Sins have been more numerous and heinous Altho ' all the Damned shall be equally miserable in dispair all broken on an endless Wheel yet the degrees of their Torment are different Sins of Ignorance are extenuated in comparison of Rebellious Sins against knowledge The first are like a Servant's dashing against his Master in the dark the other like the insolent striking of him in the light And as they incur greater Guilt will expose to greater Punishment Accordingly our Saviour predicts that the Servant which knew his Lord's Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes Unactive Knowledge is worse than Igâ—orance For this reason the case of Heathens wil be more tolerable than of the Jews for tho' some natural Principles were strong and quick in their minds that made them sensible of their duty and danger yet they were not so clear and perfect as the Law delivered by Moses Those Sins that were infirmities in a Pagan were presumptuous in a Jew And the case of the Jews will be more tolerable than of disobedient Christians who enjoy the Gospel less charged with Ceremonies and more abundant in Grace than the Mosaical Dispensation Those that have set before them the Life of Christ the Model of all Perfection that are excited by such lowd Calls to flee from the Wrath to come and yet are deaf and regardless to the Commands nay to the melting Invitations and precious Promises of the Gospel shall have a more intolerable Judgment than the most guilty Sinners even the Sodomites and Sidonians that were strangers to it The precious Blood of the Son of God despised induces a Crimson Guilt And as Sins are committed with pride and pleasure with eager appetite and obstinacy the revenge of Justice will be more heavy upon Persons More particularly Sins of consequence whereby others are drawn to Sin will heighten the Guilt and the retribution of Justice will be to every Man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings This will principally concern Superiours in eminency of place whose dignity has always a concomitant proportion of Duty Their vicious Actions are Examples and their Examples more powerful Rules than their Laws and give countenance to others to sin licentiously They sin