before he justifie them against the charge of being sinners in general and he will first give men Faith Repentance and new Obedience before he will Justifie them against the charge of being Impenitent Infidels or Hypocrites and consequently unpardoned and doubly guilty of damnation This twofold righteousness he will first Give men and so constitute them Just before he will Declare it and Sentence them just 2. The Reason of the Sentence particularly Described is from their Faith and â—ove to Christ expressed in their Obedience self-denyal and forsaking all for him For I was hungry and ye fed me I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in Naked and ye cloaâ—hed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came to me Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my Brethren ye have done it unto me Mat. 25.35 to 41. Here is 1. The causal conjunction for 2. And the Cause or Reason it self Concerning both which Observe 1. How it is that mans Obedience and self-denyal is The Reason and Cause of his Justification 2. Why it is that God will have the Reason or Cause thus Declared in the Sentence For the first observe that It s one thing to give a Reason of the Sentence and another thing to express the Cause of the Benefit Given us by the promise and Judged to us by the Sentence Mans Obedience was no proper Cause why God did in this life Give pardon of sin to us or a Right to glory much less of his Giving Christ to dye for us And therefore as to our Constitutive Justification at our Conversion we must not say or think that God doth Justifie us For or Because of any works of our Obedience Legal or Evangelical But when God hath so Justified us when he comes to give a Reason of his Sentence in Judgement he may and will fetch that Reason partly from our Obedience or our performance of the Conditions of the New Covenant For as in this life we had a Righteousness consisting in free pardon of all sin through the blood of Christ and a Righteousness consisting in our personal performance of the Conditions of the promise which giveth that pardon and continueth it to us so at Judgement we shall accordingly be justified And as our Evangelical personal Righteousness commonly called Inherent was at first only in our Faith and Repentance and Disposition to obey but afterward in our Actual sincere Obedience in which sense we are Constitutively Justified or made Righteous here by our works in James his sense Jam. 2.24 so accordingly a double Reason will be assigned of our sentential Justification One from our pardon by Christs blood and merits which will prove our Right to Impunity and to Glory The other from our own Faith and holy Obedience which will prove our Right to that pardon through Christ and to the free Gift of a Right to glory and so this last is to be pleaded in subordination to the former For Christ is become the Author of Eternal salvation to all them that Obey him Heb. 5 9. He therefore that will be saved must have a Christ to save him as the Author and an Obedience to that Christ as the Condition of that salvation and consequently both must be declared in the Judgement The Reason why the Judge doth mention our Good works rather then our Believing may be because those holy self-denying expressions of Faith and Love to Christ do contain or certainly imply Faith in them as the life of the tree is in the fruit but faith doth contain our works of Obedience but only as their cause These works also are a part of the personal Righteousness which is to be enquired after that is we shall not be judged righteous meerly because we have Believed but also because we have added to our Faith vertue and have improved our Talents and have loved Christ to the hazard of all or his sake For it is not only or principally for the goodness of the work considered in it self or the good that is done by it to the poor but it is as these works did express our Faith and Love to Christ by doing him the most costly and hazardous service that by Faith we could see Christ in a poor beggar or a prisoner and could love Christ in These better then our worldly goods or liberties which we must part with or hazard by the works that are here mentioned 2. The Reasons why Christ will so publikely Declare the personal righteousness of men to be the Reason or Cause of his Justifying sentence it is because It is the business of that day not only to glorifie Gods meer Love and Mercy but eminently to glorifie his Remunerative Justice and not only to express his love to the Elect as such but to express his love to them as Faithful and Obedient and such as have denyed all for Christ and Loved God above all And to shew his justice to the men and faithfulness in fulfilling all his promises and also his holinss in the high estimation of the holiness of his people I shall express this in the words of a Learned Divine Dr Twiss against Mr. Cotton pag. 40. Was there no more in Gods intention when he elected some then the manifestation of the riches of his glorious grace Did not God purpose also to manifest the Glory of his Remunerative Justice Is it not undenyable that God will bestow salvation on all his Elect of ripe years by way of reward and Crown of Righteousness which God the Righteous Judge will give 2 Tim. 4. 2 Thes. 1. It is great pitty this is not considered as usually it is not Especially for the momentous Consequence thereof in my Judgement So far he So much of the Sentence of Justification which shall be passed by Christ at Judgement upon the Righteous 2. We are next to consider of the Sentence of Condemnation which shall then by Christ be passed on the unrighteous Which is delivered to us by Christ Mat. 25. in the same order as the former This Sentence containeth 1. The Condemnation it self 2. The Reason or Cause of it The Condemnation expresseth the misery which they are judged to 1. Generally in the Denomination Cursed 2. Particularly by Description of their Cursed state To be cursed is to be a People destinated and adjudged to utter unhappiness to all kind of misery without remedy 2. Their Cursed condition is described in the next words Depart from me into Everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels 1. Depart From whom from the God that made them in his Image From the Redeemer that bought them by the price of his blood and offered to save them freely for all their unworthyness and many a time intreated them to Accept his offer that their souls might live From the Holy Ghost the Sanctifier and Comforter of the faithful who strove
least they may see that potentially this is the Accusation that lyeth against us and which we must be justified against For all Iustification implyeth an Actual or Potential Accusation He that is truly accused of final Impenitency or Unbelief or Rebellion hath no other Defence to make but must needs be condemned He that is falsly accused of such non-performance of the condition of Grace must deny the Accusation and plead his own personal Righteousness as against that Accusation and produce that Faith Repentance and sincere Obedience and Perseverance by which he fulfilled that Condition and so is Evangelically Righteous in himself and therefore hath part in the blood of Christ which is instead of a Legal righteousness to him in all things else as having procured him a pardon of all his sin and a right to everlasting glory And thus we must then be Justified by Christs satisfaction only against the accusation of being sinners in general and of deserveing Gods wrath for the Breach of the Law of works But we must be justified by our faith repentance and sincere Obedience it self against the accusation of being Impenitent Vnbelievers and Rebels against Christ and having not performed the Condition of the promise and so having no part in Christ and his Benefits So that in summ you see that the cause of the day will be to enquire whether being all known sinners we have accepted of Christ upon his terms and so have right in him and his benefits or not Whether they have forsaken this vain world for him and loved him so faithfully that they have manifested it in parting with these things at his Command And this is the meaning of Mat. 25. Where the enquiry is made to be whether they have fed and visited him in his members or not That is whether they have so far loved him as their Redeemer and God by him as that they have manifested this to his members according to Opportunity though it cost them the hazard or loss of all Seeing danger and labor and cost are fitter to express Love by then empty Complements and bare Professions Whether it be particularly enquired after or only taken for granted that men are sinners and have deserved Death according to the Law of works and that Christ hath satisfied by his death is all one as to the matter in hand seeing Gods enquiry is but the Discovery and Conviction of us But the last Question which must decide the Controversie will be whether we have performed the condition of the Gospel I have the rather also said all this to shew you in what sense these words are taken in the text that Every man shall be Judged according to what he hath done in the flesh whether it be good or bad Though every man be Judged worthy of Death for sinning yet every man shall not be Judged to dye for it and no man shall be Judged worthy of Life for his good works It is therefore according to the Gospel as the rule of judgement that this is meant They that have Repented and Believed and returned to true though imperfect Obedience shall be Iudged to everlasting Life according to these works not because these works Deserve it but because the free Gift in the Gospel through the blood of Christ doth make these things the condition of our possessing it They that have lived and dyed Impenitent Unbelievers and Rebels against Christ shall be judged to everlasting punishment because they have deserved it both by their sin in general against the Law and by these sins in special against the Gospel This is called the Merit of the Cause that is what is a mans due according to the true meaning of the Law Though the due may be by free gift And thus you see what will be the cavil of the Day and the matter to be enquired after and decided as to our Life or Death VIII THE next point in our method is to shew you What will be the Evidence of the Cause Answ. There is a five fold Evidence among men 1. When the fact is notorious 2. The knowledge of an unsuspected Competent Iudge 3. The parties Confession 4. Witness 5. Instruments and visible effects of the action All these Evidences will be at hand and any one of them sufficient for the conviction of the guilty person at that day 1. As the sins of all men so the Impenitency and Rebellion of the wicked was notorious or at least will be then For though some play the hypocrites and hide the matter from the world and themselves yet God shall open their hearts and former lives to themselves and to the view of all the world He shall set their sins in order before them so that it shall be utterly in vain to deny or excuse them If any men will then think to make their cause as good to God as they can now do to us that are not able to see their hearts they will be foully mistaken Now they can say they have as good hearts as the best then God will bring them out in the light and shew them to themselves and all the world whether they were good or bad Now they will face us down that they do truly Repent and they obey God as well as they can but God that knoweth the Deceivers will then undeceive them We cannot now make men acquainted with their own unsanctified hearts nor convince them that have not true Faith Repentance or Obedience but God will convince them of it They can find shifts and false answers to put off a Minister with but God will not so be shifted off Let us preach as plainly to them as we can and do all that ever we are able to acquaint them with the impenitency and unholyness of their own heart and the necessity of a new heart and life yet we cannot do it but they will Believe whether we will or not that the old heart will serve the turn But how easily will God make them know the contrary We plead with them in the dark for though we have the candle of the Gospel in our hands when we come to shew them their corruption yet they shut their eyes and are wilfully blind But God will open their eyes whether they will or not not by holy Illumination but by forced conviction and then he will plead with them as in the open light See here thy own unholy soul canst thou now say thou didst love me above all canst thou deny but thou didst love this world before me and serve thy flesh and lusts though I told thee if thou didst so thou shouldst dye Look upon thy own heart now and see whether it be a holy or an unholy heart a spiritual or a fleshly heart a heavenly or an earthly heart Look now upon all the course of thy life and see whether thou didst live to me or to the world and thy flesh Oh how easily will God convince men then of the very sins of their
sleepily now but O that you would consider how the review of them will then awake you You now make light of the warnings of God and man and of all the wholsom advice that is given you but God will not then make light of your contempt Oh what cutting Questions will they be to the hearts of the ungodly when all the means that were used for their good are brought to their remembrance on one side and the temptations that drew them to sin on the other side and the Lord shall plead his cause with their consciences and say Was I so hard a Master or was my work so unreasonable or was my wages so contemptible that no perswasions could draw you into my service was Satan so good a Master or was his work so honest and profitable or was his wages so desirable that you would be so easily perswaded to do as he would have you Was there more perswading Reason in his allurements and deceits then in all my holy words and all the powerful Sermons that you heard or all the faithful admonitions you received or all the good examples of the righteous or in all the works of God which you beheld Was not a reason fetcht from the love of God from the evil of sin the blood of Christ the Judgement to come the glory promised the torments threatned as forcible with you and as good in your eyes to draw you to holiness as a Reason from a little fleshly delight or worldly gain to draw you to be unholy In the name of God sinners I intreat you to bethink your selves in time how you will sufficiently answer such Questions as these You should have seen God in every creature that you beheld and have read your duty in all his works what can you look upon above you or below you or round about you which might not have shewed you so much of the wisdom and goodness and greatness of your Maker as should have convinced you that it was your duty to be Devoted to his will And yet you have his written word that speaks plainer then all these And will you despise them all will you not see so great a Light will you not hear so loud and constant calls shall God and his Ministers speak in vain And can you think that you shall not hear of this again and pay for it one day You have the Bible and other good books by you why do you not read them You have Ministers at hand why do you not go to them and earnestly ask them Sir What must I do to be saved and entreate them to teach you the way to life You have some neighbors that fear God why do you not go to them and take their good advice and imitate them in the fear of God and in a holy diligence for your souls Now is the time for you to bestir your selves Life and Death are are before you You have gales of Grace to further your voyage There are more for you then against you God will help you his Spirit will help you his Ministers will help you every good Christian will help you the Angels themselves will help you if you will but resolvedly set your selves to the work And yet will you not stir Patience is waiting on you Mercies are enticing you Scourges are driving you Judgement stayeth for you the Lights of God stand burning by you to direct you And yet will you not stir but lie in darkness And do you think you shall not hear of this Do you think this will not one day cost you dear IX THE ninth part of our work is to shew you What are those frivolous excuses by which the unrighteous may then endeavour their defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be sufficient to our Justification If any first demand Whether the Evidence of their sin will not so overwhelm the sinner that he will be speechless and past excuse I answ. Before God hath done with him he will be so But it seems at first his dark understanding and partial corrupted conscience will set him upon a vain Defence For Mat. 7.22 23. Christ telleth us that Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out Devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works And then will I profess to them I never knew you Depart from me ye workers of Iniquity And in Mat. 25.11 The foolish Virgins cry Lord Lord open to us And vers. 44. Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not Minister unto thee And vers. 24 25. They fear not to cast some of the cause of their neglect on God himself Then he which had received the one Talent came and said Lord I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed and I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth lo there thou hast that is thine It is clear then that Excuses they will be ready to make and their full Conviction will be in order after these Excuses at least as in their minds if not in words But what the particular excuses will be we may partly know by these Scriptures which recite them and partly by hearing what the ungodly do now say for themselves And because it is for their present benefit that I now make mention of them that they may see the vanity of all such Excuses I will mention them as I now meet with them in the mouths of sinners in our ordinary discourse And these Excuses are of several sorts some by which they would Justifie their estate some excuses of particular Actions and that either in whole or in part some by which they would put by the penalty though they confess the sin some by which they lay the blame on other men and in some they vvould cast it upon God himself I must touch but some of them very briefly The first Excuse I am not guilty of these things which I am accused of I did love God above All and my Neighbor as my self I did use the world but for Necessity but God had my heart Answ. The All-seeing Judge doth know the contrary and he will make thy conscience know it Look back man upon thy heart and Life Hovv seldom and hovv neglectfully didst thou think of God hovv coldly didst thou vvorship him or make any mention of him hovv carelessly didst thou serve him and think much of all that thou dâ—dst therein Thou rather thoughtest that his service vvas making more ado than needs and didst grudge at those that vvere more diligent than thy self But for the world How heartily and how constantly didst thou seek and serve it And yet wouldst thou now perswade the Judge that thou didst Love God above all He will shew
he hath a grimmer face to shew you when temptations have conquered you and torments must succeed As those that write of Witches say he appeareth at first to them in some comely tempting shape till he have them fast tyed to him and then he beats them and affrights them and seldom appears to them but in some ugly hew Believe it poor sinners you do not hear or see the worst of him when you are merry about your sinful Pleasures and Rejoycing in your Hopes of the Commodities or Preferments of the world he hath another kind of Voice which you must hear and another face to shew you that will make you know a little better whom you had to do with You would be afraid now to meet him in the dark what will you be to live with him in everlasting darkness Then you will know who it was that you entertained and obeyed and plaid with in your sins 3. And as the Text tells us that it is a fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels So it telleth us that is An everlasting fire It had a beginning but it shall have no end If these wretches would have chosen the service of God they would have met with no difficulty or trouble but what would have had a speedy end Poverty and Injuries would have had an end scorns and abuses would have had an end fasting humiliation sorrow for sin watching and fighting against our spiritual enemies would all have had an end But to avoid these they chose that ease that pleasure which hath brought them to that torment which never will have end I have said so much of these things already in my Book called the Saints Rest that I will now say but this much It is one of the wonders of the world how men that do believe or think they do believe this word of Christ to be true that the wicked shall go into Everlasting fire can yet venture on sin so boldly and live in it so fearlessly or sleep quietly till they are out of this unspeakable Danger Only the Commonness of it and the known wickedness of mans heart doth make this less wonderful And were there nothing else to convince us that sinners are Mad and Dead as to spiritual things this were enough That ever the greatest pleasures or profits of the world or the most enticing baits that the Devil can offer them should once prevail with them to forget these endless things and draw them to reject an Everlasting Glory and cast themselves desperately into Everlasting fire Yea and all this under daily warnings and Instructions and when it s told them before hand by the God of Truth himself For the Lords sake Sirs and for your souls sakes if you care not what Ministers say or what such as I say yet will you soberly read now and then this 25. Chapter of Matthew and Regard what is told you by him that must be your Judge and now and then bethink your selves soberly whether these are matters for wise men to make light of and what it is to be Everlastingly in Heaven or in Hell fire 2. We have seen what is the Penalty contained in the sentence against the ungodly The next thing that the Text directs us to is the Cause or Reason of the Sentence vers. 42 For I was hungry and ye gave me no meat c. The Reason is not given expresly either for their sin against the Law of works that is Because they were sinners and not perfectly Innocent Nor yet from their unbelief which is the great sin against the Law of Grace But it is given from their not expressing their Faith and Love to Christ in works of mercy and self-denyal And why is this so 1. We must not suppose that these words of Christ do express the whole Judicial process in every point but the chief parts It is supposed that all men are convicted of being sinners against the perfect Law of the Creator and that they are guilty of Death for that sin and that there is no way but by Christ to obtain deliverance But because all this must be acknowledged by the righteous themselves as well as by the wicked therefore Christ doth not mention this but that only which is the turning point or cause in the Judgement For it is not all sinners that shall be finally Condemned but all Impenitent Unbelieving sinners who have Rebelled finally against their Redeemer 2. And the reason why Faith it self is not expressed is 1. Because it is clearly implyed and so is Love to Christ as Redeemer in that they should have Relieved Christ himself in his members that is as it s expressed Matth. 10.42 they should have received a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and a Disciple in the name of a Disciple All should be done for Christs sake which could not be unless they Believed in him and Loved hâ—m 2. Also because that the bare Act of Believing is not all that Christ requireth to a mans final Justification and Salvation But holy self-denying Obedience must be added And therefore this is given as the Reason of their Condemnation that they did not so obey We must observe also that Christ here putteth the special for the general that is one way of self denying Obedience and expression of Love instead of such Obedience in general For all men have not ability to relieve those in misery being perhaps some of them poor themselves But all have that Love and self-denyal which will some way express it self And all have hearts and a Disposition to do thus if they had ability without such a Disposition none can be saved It is the fond conceit of some that if they have any love to the godly or wish them well it is enough to prove them happy But Christ here purposely lets us know that whoever doth not Love him at so high a rate as that he can part with his substance or any thing in the world to those uses which he shall require them even to relieve his servants in want and sufferings for the masters sake that man is none of Christs Disciple nor will be owned by him at the last XI THE next point that we come to is to shew you the Properties of this Sentence at Judgement When man had broken the Law of his Creator at the first he was lyable to the Sentence of Death and God presently sate in Judgement on him and sentenced him to some part of the Punishment which he had deserved But upon the Interposition of the Son he forbore the rest resolving on a way that might tend to his Recovery And Death is due yet to every sinner for every sin which he commits till a pardon do acquit him But this Sentence which will pass on sinners at the last Judgement doth much differ from that which was passed on the first sin or which is Due according to the Law of worâ—s alone for 1. As to the Penalty called the Pain of