guilty of punishment for sin but that is because he first made them just and so Justifiable by by pardoning their sin through the blood of Christ And its true also that he will Justifie those that were wicked but not those the are wicked but Judgement findeth them as Death leaveth them and he wlll not take them for wicked that are sanctified and cleansed of their former wickedness â—o that Christ will first pardon them 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 Love 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 cloathed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came to me Verily I say unto you in as much 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 its 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 perormance 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 â—lory 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 Christâ—s beeome the 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 on of that salvation and consequently both must be declared in the Iudgement The Reason why the ludge doth mention our Good works rather then our Believing may be because those holy self-denying expessions of Faith and Love to Christ do contain or certainly imply Faith in them as the life of the tree 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 Iudged 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 â—he hazard of all for 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 〈◊〉 to the poor but it is as these works did express our Faith and Love to Christ by doing â—im the most costly and hazardous service hat by Fath 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 Iustifying sentence it is because It is the business of that day not only to glorifie Gods meer Love Mercy but eminently to glorifie his Remunerative Iuice and not only to express his love to the Elect as such but to expess 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 holiness in the high estimation of the holiness of his people I shall express this in the words of a Learned Divine Dr Twiss against M. 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 It is 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 given 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 â—ondemnation 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 righteous Judgement of God who will render to every man according to his Deeds 4. Moreover All the means which God used for the Recovery of sinners in the day of their visitation will rise up against Impenitent souls in Judgement to their condemnation You can hear Sermons carelessly and 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 wholesome 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 Satah 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 powerfull Sermons that you heard or all the faithfull 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 fecht from the love of God from the evill 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 wil 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 other good books by you why do you out 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 intreat 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 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 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 indeavour their defence Having already shewed you what the Defence must be that must be suffiicient 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 conserence 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 meâ— 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 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 cleer 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 mouthes of Sinners in our ordinary discourse and these Excuses are of several sorts some by which they would justify 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 would 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 Answer The all-seeing Judge doth know the contrary and he will make thy Conscience know it Look back man upon thy heart and life How seldom and how neglectfully didst thou think of God how coldly didst thou worship him or make any mention of him how carelesly didst thou serve him and think much of all that thou didst therein Thou rather thoughtest
desolation as they The Question is only Whether God have your hearts and lives and not Whether you denyed them to him with a plausible Civility nay it is meerly for their carnal elves to preserve their reputation that some men do forbear those grosser Crimes when yet God hath as little of them as of the more visibly prophane Love not the world nor the things that are in the world If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him 1 John 2. 15. 2. If you are wholly Gods live wholly to him at least do not stint him and grudge him your service It is grown the common Conceit of the World that a lâ—fe of Absolute Dedication to God is more adoe then needs What needs all this adoe say they cannot you be saved with less adoe then this I will now demand of these men but an Answer to these few sober Questâ—ons 1. Do you fear giving more to God then his due Is not all his own And how can you give him more then all 2. He is not so backward in giving to you that owes you nothing but gives you plenty variety and continuance of all the good you enjoy and do you think you well requite him 3. Christ said not of his life and precious blood It is too much And will you say of your poor unprofitable Service It is too much 4. Who will you give that to which you spare from God that time and study and love and labour to any that hath more right to it or better deserves it or will better reward you then he will do 5. Are you afraid of being losers by him have you cause for such Fears is be unfaithfull or unable to performe his Promises will you repent when you come to heaven that you did too much to get it will not that blessedness pay you to the full 6. What if you had not wages but your work is it not better to live to God then to man is not purity better then impurity If feasting he grievous it is because you are sick if the be your pleasure it is because you are swine and not because the condition is desireable 7. Will it comfort you more in the reckoning and review to have laid out your selves for God or for the World Will you then wish that you had done less for heaven or for earth Sirs these Questions are easily answered if you are but willing to consider them 8. Doth it be seem those to be afraid of serving God too much that are such bankrupts as we are and are sure that we shall not give him the twentieth part of his due if we do the best we can and when the best that are scorned by the world for their forwardness do abhor themselves for their backwardness yea could we do all we are but unprofitable servants and should do but our duty Luke 17. 10. Alas how little cause have we to fear lest we should give God too much of our hearts or of our lives 3. If you are not your own remember that nothing else is your own what can be more your own then your selves 1 Your Parts and Abilities of minde or body are not your own use them therefore for him that owneth them 2. Your Authority and Dignities are not your own see therefore that you make the best of them for him that lent them you 3. Your Children themselves are not your own design them for the utmost of his service that trusts you with them educate them in that way as they may be most serviceable to God It is the great wickedness of too many of our Gentry that they prepare their Posterity only to live plenteously and in credit in the world but not to be serviceable to God or the Commonwealth Design them all that are capable to Magistracy or Ministry or some usefull way of life And whatever be their employment endeavour to possess them with the fear of the Lord that they may devote themselves to him Think not the Preaching of the Gospel a work too low for the Sons of the Noblest person in the Land It would be an excellent furtherance to the work of the Gospel if Noble men and Gentlemen would addict their Sons to the Ministry that are fit for it and can be spared from the Magistracy They might have more respect from their People and easier Rule them and might better win them with bounty then poor men can do They need not to contend with them for Tythes or maintenance 4. If you are not your own your whole Families are not your own use them therefore as Families that are dedicated to God 5. If you are not your own then your wealth is not your own honour God therefore with your substance and with the first fruits of your increase Prov. 3. 9. Do you ask how Is there no poor people that want the faithful preaching of the Gospel for want of means or other furtherance Is there no godly Scholers that want means to maintain them at the Universities to fit them for this Work Is there no poor Neighbors about you that are ignorant that if you buy them Bibles and Catechismes and hire them to learn them might come to knowledge and to life Are there no poor Children that you might set Apprentices to godly Masters where soul and body might both have helps The poor you have always with you It is not for want of objects for your charity if you hide your Talents or consume them on your selves the time is coming when it would do you more good to have laid them out to your masters use then in pampering the flesh Some grudge that God should have the Tenths that is that they should be consesecrated to the maintenance of his service but little do these consider that All is His and must All be accounted for Some question whether now there be such a sin as Sacriledge in being but little do they consider that every sin is a king of sacriledge When you dedicated your self to God you dedicated all you had and it was Gods before do not take if from him again remember the halving of Ananias and give God all Objection But must we not provide for our Families Answer Yes because God requires it and in so doing you render it to him That is given to him which is expended in obedience to him so be it you still prefer his most eminent interest Lastly If you are not your own then must not your Works be principally for your selves but for him that oweth you As the scope of your lives must be to the honor of your Lord so be sure that you hourly renew these intentions when you set your foot out of your doors ask whether your business you go upon be for God when you go to your Rest examine your selves what you have done that day for God especially let no opportunity over-slip you wherein you may do him extraordinary service You must so
perform the very labours of your Callings that they may be ultimately for God so love your dearest friends and enjoyments that it be God that is principally loved in them More particularly as to the business of the Day what need I say more then in a word to apply this general Doctrine to your speciall Work If the Honourable Judges and the Justices will remember that they are Gods and not their own what a Rule and stay will it be to them for their Work what an answer will it afford them against all sollicitations from carnal self or importunate friends viz. I am not mine own nor come I hither to do mine own Work I cannot therefore dispose of my self or it but must do as he that owes me doth command me How would this also incite them to promote Christs interest with their utmost power and faithfully to own the Causes which lie owneth 2. If all Councellors and Solliciters of Causes did truly take themselves for Gods and not their own they durst not plead for nor sollicite a Cause which they knew God disowneth They would remember that what they do against the Innocent or speak against a righteous Cause is done and said against their Lord from whom they may expect ere long to hear In as much as you said or did this against the least of these you said or did it against me God is the great Patron of Innocency and the pleader of every righteous Cause and he that will be so bold as to plead against him had need of a large Fee to save him harmless Say not it is your Calling which you must live by unless you that once listed your selves in your Baptism under Christ will now take pay make it your profession to fight aggainst him The emptier your Purses are of Gain so gotten the richer you are at least the fuller they are you are so much the poorer As we that are Ministers do find by experience that it was not without provocation from us that God of late hath let loose so many Hands and Pens and Tongues against us though our calling is more evidently owned by God then any one in the world besides so I doubt not but you may find upon due examination that the late contempt which hath been cast upon your profession is a reproof of your guilt from God who did permit it Had Lawyers and Divines less lived to themselves and more to God we might have escaped if not the scourge of reproachful Tongues yet at least the lashes of Conscience To deal freely with you Gentlemen it is a matter that they who are strangers to our profession can scarce put any fair construction upon that the worst cause for a little money should find an Advocate among you This deiveth the standers by upon this harsh Dilemma to think that either your Understanding or your Consciences are very bad If indeed you so little know a good cause from a bad then it must needs tempt men to think you very uhskilful in your profession The seldom and smaller differences of Divines in a more sublime and mysterious profession is yet a discovery so far of their ignorance and is imputed to their disgrace But when almost every Cause even the worst that comes to the Barr shall have some of you for it and some against it and in the palpablest cases you are some on one side and some on the other this strange difference of your judgements doth seem to bewray their weakness But if you know the Causes to be bad which you Defend and to be good which you oppose it more evidently bewrayes a deplorate Conscience I speak not of your innocent of excusable mistakes in Cases of great difficulties not yet of excusing a Cause bad in the main from unjust aggravations But when Money will hire you to plead for injustice against your own knowledge and to use your wits to defraud the Righteous and spoil his Cause or vex him with delays for the advantage of your unrighteous Clyent I would not have your Conscience for all your gains nor your Accompâ— to make for all the world It s sad that any known unrighteous Cause should have a professed Christian in the face of a Christian Judicature to defend it and Sathan should plead by the Tongues of men so deeply engaged to Christ But it s incomparably more sad that almost every unjust Cause should find a Patron and no contentious malicious person should be more ready to do wrong then some Lawyers to defend him for a dear bought Fee Did you honestly obey God and speak not a word against your judgement but leave every unjust man to defend his own Cause what peace would it bring to your Consciences what honour to your now reproached Profession what relief to the oppressed and what an excellent cure to the troublesome contentions of proud or malicious men 3. To your Jurers and Witnesses I shall say but this you also are not your own and he that oweth you hath told you That he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his Name in vain It s much into your hands that the law hath committed the Cause of the Just should you betray it by perjury and false witness while there is a Conscience in your guilty breast and a God in Heaven you shall not want a witness of your sin or a revenger of the oppressed if the blood of Christ on your sound repentance do not rescue you 4. If Plantiff and Defendant did well consider that they are not their own they would not be too prone to quarrels but would lose their right when God the chief Proprietor did require it Why do you not rather take wrong and suffer your selves to be defrauded then do wrong and defraud and that your Brethren 1 Cor. 6 7 8 9. To conclude I earnestly intreat you all that have heard me this day that when you come home you will betake your selves to a sober consideration of the claim that God hath laid to you and the Right he hath in you and all that you have and resolve without any further delay to give him his own and give it not to his enemies and yours When you see the Judgement set and the Prisoners waiting to receive their sentence remember with what unconceiveable Glory and Terror your Judge will shortly come to demand his due and what an enquiry must be made into the tenor of your lives As you see the Ecclipsed Sun withdraw its light so remember how before this dreadful final Judgement the Sun and Moon and whole frame of Nature shall be dissolved and how God will withdraw the light of his countenance from those that have neglected him in the day of their Visitation As ever you would be His then see that you be His now own him as your absolute Lord if you expect he should own you then as his People Woe to you that ever you were Born if you put God then to distrain
of the dust of contention each party hath some of these essentials and the worst is nearer the truth then his adversary is aware of And were not the crowd and noise so great that there is no hope of being heard one would think it should be possible to reconcile them all However shall the work be undone while each party striveth to have the doing of it I was afraid when I read the begining and end of this controversie in France The learned Ramus pleadeth for Popular Church-Government in the Synod they rejected it as an unwarrantable novelty the contention grew sharp till the Parisian Massacre silenced the difference And must our differences have so sharp a cure will nothing unite disjoyned Christians but their own blood God forbid But in the mean time while we quarrell the work standeth still some would have all the workers of iniquity now taken out of the Kindome of Christ fotgetting that the Angels must take them out at last Mat. 13. Some Ministers think as Myconius did when he was called to the Ministry by a Vision leading him into a cornfield and bidding him reap he thought he must put in his sickle at the bottom till he was told Domino meo non opus est stramine modo aristae in horrea colligantur My Master needeth not straw gather but the eares and it shall suffice Once more I know I speak not to the Parliament that should remedy it but yet that you may be helpful in your places to advance this work of Christ let me tell you what is the great thing in England that cryes for Reformation next our sins even the fewness of Overseers in great Congregations which maketh the greatest part of Pastoral work to lie undone and none to watch over the people in private because they are scarce sufficient for the publique work It is pitty that Musculus that may be head of a Society of Students if he will continue a Papist must weave and dig for his living if he will be a Protestant It is pitty that even Luthers wife and children must wander destitute of maintenance when he is dead When Aesop the Stage-player can leave his Son 150000. l. and Roscius have 30. l. a day for the same Trade and Aristotle be allowed 800. Talents to further his search into the secrets of nature But am I pleading that Ministers may have more maintenance No be it just or unjust it is none of my errand But oh that the Church had more Ministers which though at the present they cannot have for want of men yet hereafter they might have if it were not for want of maintenance Alas then what pitty is it that every Reformation should diminish the Churches Patrimony If the men have offended or if the office of Bishops or Deans be unwarrantable yet what have the Revenues done Is it not pitty that one Troop of an hundred men shall have seven commanding officers allowed them besides others and 10000 or 40000 shall have but one or two Overseers allowed them for their souls when the ministerial work is more laborious and of greater concernment then the work of those Commanders I tell you again The great thing that cries for Reformation in England next to sin is the paucity of Ministers in great Congregations I tell you this that you may know which way to improve your several interests for the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in England To you Lawyers and Jurers my advice is this Kiss the Son Remember the judgement is Christs every cause of Truth and Innocency doth he own and will call it his Cause Wo therefore to him that shall oppose it Remember every time yon take a Fee to plead against a Cause that you know to be just you take a Fee against a Cause of Christ Will you be of counsel against him that is your Counsellor and King dare you plead against him that you expect should plead for you or desire judgement as the Jews against your Lord and Judge Hath he not told you that he will say In as much as ye did it to one of these little ones ye did it unto me Remember therefore when a Fee is offered you against the Innocent that it is a Fee against Christ and Judas gain will be loss in the end and will be too hot to hold long you will be glad to bring it back and glad if you could be well shut of it and cry I have sinned in betraying the Cause of the Innocent Say not It is our Calling that we must live upon If any man of you dare upon such grounds plead a Cause against his Conscience if his Conscience do not plead it again more sharply against him say I am a false Prophet If any therefore shall say of you as the Cardinals of Luther Cur homini os non obstruitis auro argento let the same answer serve turn Hem pecuniam non curat c. If any Honourable or Worshipful friend must be pleasured enquire first whether he be a better friend then Christ Tell him the cause is Christs you cannot befriend him except he can procure you a dispensat on from him When Pompy saw his souldiers ready to fly he lay down in the passage and told them they should tread upon him then which stopt their flight so suppose every time you are drawn in to oppose a just Cause that you saw Christ saying Thou must trample upon me if thou do this As Luther to Melancton Ne Causa fidei sit sine fide so say I to you all Ne Causa justitiae sit sine justitia When you begin to be cold in a good Cause suppose you saw Christ shewing you his scars as the Soldier did to Caesar when he desired him to plead his Cause see here I have done more then plead for you We have had those that have had a tongue for a fee or a friend but none for Christ but God hath now therefore shut their mouths and we may say of them as Granius by his bad Lawyer when he heard him grown hoarse If they had not lost their voyces we had lost our Cause To conclude Remember all of you that there is an appeal from these earthly judgements these Causes must all be heard again your wittnesses reexamined your oaths pleadings and sentence reviewed and then as Lampridius saith of Alexander Severus That he would vomit choler if he saw a corrupt Judge So will Christ vomit wrath and vomit you out in wrath from his presence if corrupt Therefore kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish c. I am sensible how I have encroached on your great affairs Melancthon was wont to tell of a Priest that begun his Sermon thus Scio quod vos non libenter auditis ego non libenter concionor non diu igitur vos teneam But I may say contrary I am perswaded that you hear with a good will and I am certain that I preach willingly
but help thee out of the snares of sin and promote the saving of thy Immortal soul and thy comfortable appearance at the great day of Christ I have the thing which I intended and desired The Lord open thy Heart aud accompany his Truth with the Blessing of his Spirit Amen A SERMON Of Judgement Preached at Pauls before the Honourable Lord Maior and Aldermen of the City of London Dec. 17. 1654. 2 Cor. 5. 10 11. For we must all appear before the Judgement 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 Knowing therefore the terrours of the Lord we perswade men IT is not unlikely that some of those wits that are taken more with things new then with things Necessary will marvel that I choose so common a subject and tell me that they all know this already But I do it purposely upon these following Considerations 1. Because I well know that it is these Common Truths that are the great and necessary things which mens everlasting happiness or misery doth most depend upon You may be ignorant of many Controversies aud Inferiour points without the danger of your souls but so you cannot of these Fundamentals 2. Because its apparent by the lives of men that few know these Common Truths savingly that think they know them 3. Because there are several degrees of knowing the same Truths and the best are imperfect in degree the principal growth in Knowledge that we should look after is not to know more matters then we knew before but to know that better and with a clearer light and firmer apprehension which we darkly and slightly knew before You may more safely be without any knowlege at all of many lower Truths then without some further degree of the knowledge of those which you already know 4. Besides it is known by sad Experience that many perish who know the Truth for want of the consideration ofâ— and making use of what they know and so their knowledge doth but condemn them We have as much need therefore to teach and help you to get these Truths which you know into your hearts and lives as to tell you more 5. And indeed it is the impression of these great and master-Truths wherein the vitals and essentials of Gods Image upon the soul of man doth consist And it is these Truths that are the very Instruments of the great works that are to be done upon the heart by the spirit and our selves In the right use of these it is that the Principal part of the skill and holy wisdom of a Christian doth consist and in the diligent and constant use of these lieth the life and trade of Christianity There is nothing amiss in mens hearts or lives but it is for want of sound knowing and believing or well using these Fundamentals 6. And moreover me thinks in this choice of my subject I may expect this advantage with the Hearers that I may spare that labour that else would be necessary for the proof of my Doctrine and that I may also have easier access to your hearts and have a fuller stroak at them and with less resistance If I came to tell you of anything not Common I know not how far I might expect belief from you You might say These things are uncertain to us or all men are not of this mind But when every Hearer confesseth the truth of my doctrine and no man can deny it without denying Christianity it self I hope I may expect that your hearts should the sooner receive the impression of this Doctrine and the sooner yield to the duties which it directs you to and the easier let go the sins which from so certain a Truth shall be discovered The words of my text are the reason which the Apostle giveth both of his perswading other men to the fear of God and his care to approve to God his own heart and life They contain the Assertion and Description of the great Judgement and one Use which he makes of it It assureth us that Judged we must be and who must be so Judged and by whom and about what and on what terms and to what end The meaning of the words so far as is necessary I shall give you briefly We all both we Apostles that Preach the Gospel you that hear it must willing or unwilling there is no avoiding it Appear stand forth or make our appearance and there have our hearts and wayes laid open and appear as well as we Before the Judgement seat of Christ i. e. before the Redeemer of the world to be Judged by him as our Rightful Lord. That every one even of all mankind which are were or shall be without exception May receive that is may receive his sentence adjudging him to his due and then may receive the execution of the sentence and may go away from the barr with that Reward or Punishment that is his due according to the Law by which he is Judged The things done in his body that is the due Reward of the works done in his body or as some copies read it The things proper to the body i. e. due to the man even body as well as soul According to what he hath done whether it be good or bad i. e. This is the cause to be tried and Judged whether men have done well or ill whiles they were in the flesh and what is due to them according to their deeds Knowing therefore c. i. e. Being certain therefore that these things are so and that such a Terrible Judgement of Christ will come we perswade men to become Christians and live as such that they may then speed well when others shall be destroyed or as others Knowing the fear of the Lord that is the true Religion we perswade men Doct. 1. There will be a Judgement Doct 2. Christ will be the Judge Doct. 3. All men shall there appear Doct. 4. Men shall be then Judged according to the works that they did in the flesh whether good or evil Doct. 5. The end of Judgement is that men may receive their final due by Sentence and Execution Doct. 6. The knowledge and consideration of the terrible Judgement of God should move us to perswade and men to be perswaded to carefull preparation The ordinary method for the handling of this subject of Judgement should be this 1. To shew you what Judgement is in the General and what it doth contain and that is 1. The persons 2. The cause 3. â—he Actions 1. The parties are 1. the Accuser 2. the Defendant 3. Sometime Assistants 4. The Judge 2. The cause contains 1. The Accusation 2. the Defence 3. With the Evidence of both 4. And the Merit The Merit of the cause is as it agreeth with the Law and Equity 3. The Judicial Actions are I. Introductory 1. Citation 2. Compulsion if need be 3. Appearance of the Accused II. Of the Essence
to hope that God will not be God It is in vain then for the unholy man to say he is holy or for any sinner to deny or excuse or extenuate his sin To bring forth the counterfeit of any Grace and plead with God any shels of hypocritical performances and to think to prove a Title to heaven by any thing short of Gods Condition all these will be vain attempts 3. And as impossible will it prove by fraud or flattery by perswasion or bribery or by any other means to pervert Justice by turning the mind of God who is the Judge fraud and flattery bribery and importunity may do much with weak men but with God they will do nothing Were he changeable and partial he were not God 4. If God be Judge you may see the Cavils of Infidels are foolish when they ask How long will God be in Trying and Judging so many persons and taking an Account of so many Words and Thoughts and Deeds Sure it will be a long time and a difficult work As if God were as man that knoweth not things till he seek out their Evidence by particular signs Let these fools understand if they have any understanding that the infinite God can shew to every man at once all the thoughts and words and actions that ever he hath been guilty of And in the twink of an eye even at one view can make all the world to see their ways and their deservings Causing their Consciences and Memories to present them all before them in such a sort as shall be equivalent to a verbal debate Psal 50. 21 22. he will set them in order before them 5. If Jesus Christ be the Judge then what a comfort must it needs be to his members that he shall be Judge that loved them to the death and whom they loved above their lives and he who was their Rock of hope and strength and the desire and delight of their souls 6. And if Jesus Christ must be the Judge what confusion will it bring to the faces of his enemies and of all that set light by him in the day of their visitation to see Mercy turned against them and he that dyed for them now ready to condemn them and that blood and grace which did Aggravate their sin to be pleaded against them to the increase of their misery how sad will this be 7. If the God of Love and Grace and Truth be Judge then no man need to fear any wrong No subtilty of the Accuser nor darkness of Evidence no prejudice or partiality or what soever else may be imagined can there appear to the wrong of your cause Get a good cause and fear nothing and if your cause be bad nothing can deliyer you III. FOR the Third Point Who are they that must be judged Answ All the rational Creatures in this lower world And it seems Angels also either all or some But because their case is more darkly made known to us and less concerns us we will pass it by Every man that hath been made or born on earth except Christ who is God and man and is the Judge must be judged If any foolish Infidel shall say Where shall so great a number stand I answer him That he knoweth not the things invisible either the nature of Spirits and spiritual bodies nor what place containeth them or how but easily he may know that he that gave them all a being can sustain them all and have room for them all and can at once disclose the thoughts of all as I said before The first in Order to be judged are the Saints Mat. 25. and then with Christ they shall judge the rest of the World 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. not in an equal authority and commission with Christ but as the present Approvers of his Righteous Judgement The Princes of the earth shall stand then before Christ even as the Peasants and the honorable as the base the rich and the poor shall meet together and the Lord shall judge them all Prov. 22. 2. No men shall be excused from standing at that Bar and giving up their account and receiving their doom Learned and unlearned young and old godly and ungodly all must stand there I know some have vainly imagined that the righteous shall not have any of their sins mentioned but their graces and duties only but they consider not that things will not then be transacted by words as we do now but by cleer diâ—coveries by the infinite Light and that if God should hot discover to them their sins he would not discover the Riches of his Grace in the pardon of all these sins Even then they must be humbled in themselves that they may be glorified and for ever cry Not unto us Lord but unto thy name be the glory IV. FOR the Fourth Particular who will be the Accuser Answ 1. Satan is called in Scripture the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12. 10. and we find in Job 1 and other places that now he doth Practise it even before God and therefore we judge it probable that he will do so then But we would determine of nothing that Scripture hath not clearly determined 2. Conscience will be an Accuser though especially of the wicked yet in some sense of the righteous for it will tell the truth to all and therefore so far as men are faulty it will tell them of their faults The wicked it will accuse of unpardoned sin and of sin unrepented of the godly only of sin repented of and pardoned It will be a Glass wherein every man may see the face of his heart and former Life Rom. 1. 15. 3. The Judge himself will be the Principal Accuser for it is he that is wronged and he that prosecutes the cause and will do justice on the wicked God judgeth even the righteous themselves to be sinners or else they could not be pardoned sinners But he judgeth the wicked to be impenitent unbelieving unconverted sinners Remember what I said before that it is not a verbal accusation but an opening of the truth of the cause to the view of our selves and others that God will then perform Nor can any think it unworthy of God to be mens Accuser by such a disclosure it being no dishonour to the purest light to reveal a dunghill or to the greatest Prince to accuse a Traytor Nor is it unmeet that God should be both Accuser and Judge seeing he is both absolute Lord and perfectly just and so far beyond all suspition of Injustice His Law also doth virtually accuse Iohn 5. 45. But of this by it self V. FOR the Fifth Particular How will the sinners be called to the Bar Answ God will not stand to send them a Citation nor require him to make his voluntary Appearance but willing or unwilling he will bring them in 1. Before each mans particular Judgement he sendeth Death to call away his soul a surly Serjeant that will have no Nay How dear so ever this World
at his presence and power in your hearts but will you not then be troubled at his presence and tormenting power Asâ— long as you do not see him let him do what he will with you it grieves you little or nothing at all but what will you say wheâ— you must see him and abide with him for ever Oh Sirs his namâ— is easily heard but his company will be terrible to the stoutest heart alive He sheweth you a smiling face when he tempteth you but 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 Pleasuers and Rejoycing in your Hopes of the Commodities or Preferments of the world he hath another kind of Voice which you must hear another face to shew you that will make you know a 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 Angles So it telleth us that it 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 thing 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 Everlastin fire can yet venture on sin so boldly and live in it so fearlesly 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 Iudge 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. Then Reason is not given expresly either of 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 is 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 cheif 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 wchich is the turning point or cuase in the Judgement For it is not all sinners that shall be finally Condemned but all Impenitent Unbeleiving 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 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 him 2. Also because that the bare Act of Believing is not all that Christ requireth to a mans final Juitification 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 al 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 Difposition 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
not Believe aâ—d he alâ—o shall be there The godly that waited in hope for that day as the day of their â—ull Dâ—lâ—verance Coronation â—hey shall be there Those that have lain in the dust these 5000. years shall rise again and all stand there Hearer whoever thou art believe it thou maist better think to live without meat to see without light to escape death and abide for ever on earth then to keep away from that Appearance Willing or unwilling thou shalt be there And should not a matter then that so concerneth thy self go neer to thy heart and awake thee from thy security 3. That it is a matter of unquestionable certainty I have partly shewed you already and more would do if I were preaching to known Infidels If the careless world had any just reason to think it were uncertain their carelesness were more excusable Methinks a man should be affected with that which he is certain shall come to pass in a manner as if it were now in doing â— Thes 5. 2. Ye perfectly know that the day of the Lord so cometh c. saith the Apostle 4. This day is not only certain but it is neâ—r and therefore should affect you the more I confess if it were never so far off yet seeing it will come at last It should be carefully regarded But when the Judge is at the door Jam. 5. 9. and we are almost at the barr and it is so short a time to this assize what soul that is not dead will be secure Alas Sirs what is a little time when it is gone how quickly shall you and I be all in another world and our souls recieve their particular Judgement and so wait till the body be raised and judged to same Condition It is not a 100. years in all likelyhood till every soul of us shall be in heaven or hell and its like not half or a quarter of that time but it will be so with the greater part of us and what is a year or two or a 100 how speedily is it come how many a soul that is now in heaven or hell within a 1000 years dwelt in the places that you now dwel in and sate in the seats you now sit in And now their time is past what is it Alas how quickly will it be so with us You know not when you go to bed but you may be Judged by the next morning or when you rise but you may be Judged before night but certainly you know that shortly it will be and should not this then be laid to heart Yea the General Judgement wil lt no be long For certainly we live in the end of world Qu. 4. MY next Question is Whether are you ready for this dreadful Judgement when it comes or not Seeing it is your selves then must be tried I think it concerns you to see that you be prepared How often hath Christ warned us in the Gospel that we be alwaies ready because we know not the day or hour of his coming Mat. 24. 44. 42. and 25. 13. 1 Thes 5. 6. and told us how sad a time it will be to those that are unready Mat. 25. 11 12. Did men but well know what a meeting and greeting there will be between Christ and an unready soul it would sure startle them and make them look about them What say you Beloved Hearers are you ready for Judgement or are you not Me thinks a man that knoweth he shall be Judged should ask himself the Question every day of his life Am I ready to give up my Account to God! Do not you use to ask this of your own hearts unless you be careless whether you be saved or damned me thinks you should and ask it seriously Qu. But who be they that are ready how shall I know whether I be ready or not Answ There is a twofold readiness 1. When you are in a safe case 2. When you are in a comfortable case in regard of that day The latter is very desirable but the first is of absolute necessity this therefore is it that you must principally enquire after In General all those and only those are ready for Judgement who shall be justified and saved and not condemned when Judgement comes They that have a good cause in a Gospel sense It may be known before hand who these are for Christ Judgeth as I told you by his Law And therefore find out whom it is that the Law of grace doth justifie or condemn and you may certainly know whom the Judge will Justifie or condemn for he Judgeth righteously If you further ask me who these are remember that I told you before that every man that is personally righteous by fulfilling the Conditions of Salvation in the Gospel shall be saved and he that is found unrighteous as having not fulfilled them shall perish at that day Qu. Who are those Answ I will tell you them in a few words lest you should forget because it it a matter that your Salvation or Damnation dependeth upon 1. The soul that unfeignedly repenteth of his former sinful course and turneth from it in heart and life and loveth the way of godliness which he hateâ— and hateth the way of sin which he loved and is become thoroughly a New Creature being born again and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ shall be Justified but all others shall certainly be condemned Good news to repenting converted sinners but sad to Impenitent and him that knows not what this means 2. That soul that feeling his misery under sin and the power of Satan and the wrath of God doth believe what Christ hath done and suffered for mans restauration Salvation and thankfully accepteth him as his only Saviour and Lord on the terms that he is offered in the Gospel and to those ends even to Justifie him and sanctifie and guide him and bring him at last to everlasting glory that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and he that doth not shall be condemned Or in short in Scripture phrase He that believeth shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be condemned Mar. 16. 16. 3. The soul that hath had so much knowledge of the goodness of God and his love to man in Creation Redemption and the following mercies and hath had so much conviction of the vanity of all creatures as thereupon to Love God more then all things below so that he hath the cheifest room in the heart and is preferred before all creatures ordinarily in a time of tryal that soul shall be Justified at Judgement and all others shall be condemned 4. That soul that is so apprehensive of the absolute Soveraignty of God as Creator and Redeemer and of the Righteousness of his Law and the Goodness of his holy way as that he is firmly Resolved to obey him before all others and doth accordingly give up himself to study his will of purpose that he may obey it and doth walk in these holy waies and hath so