Sentence And accordingly in Scripture it sometimes signifies to do Justice in general whether by acquitting or condemning a person that stands charged with a Crime according to the true and strict Merits of his Cause In which sense the Prophet Isaiah useth it chap. 43.9 Let all the Nations be gather'd together and let the People be assembled i.e. Call a Court and let them bring forth their Witnesses that they may be justified i.e. that Justice may be done them In other places it signifies the acquitting or discharging an accused person from the Punishment that the Law threatens the Crime with that he is charged with This Justification or acquitting an accused person is either Legal according to the Rules of strict Justice or it is of Favour and Grace The former is the acquitting and Innocent person or the declaring him who has stood his Tryal not to be guilty of the Crime charged upon him In which sense it is taken in the following Texts Deut. 25. If there he a Controversie between Men and they come into Judgment that the Judges may Judge them then they shall justifie the Righteous and condemn the Wicked i.e. They shall proceed according to strict Justice and give Sentence according to Right the same Sentence as the Law gives in the Case without any partial respects to the Persons whose Cause is before them He that justifieth the Wicked and condemneth the Just even they both are an Abomination to the Lord Prov. 17.15 The latter is the dispensing with the Rigour of the Law and remitting the Punishment that a guilty person has deserved in favour or in respect to the Mediation of an acceptable person And of this nature is that Justification which St. Paul speaks so frequently of and which the Christian Religion which is a Law of Grace does make known to the World For if God's justifying us did mean no more than his declaring those to be Just who Legally are so there would be no standing before him If thou Lord should'st mark iniquity O Lord who shall stand Psal 130.3 There would be no escaping from Death when once it has laid hold upon us if there was not forgiveness with God for he that transgresses a Law that threatens Death must die by that Law unless Mercy interposes The Law that condemns him does for ever determine of his Condition And it is not possible that such a person should be Justified but by a Pardon When therefore God justifies a Sinner he does not Pass the same Sentence upon him as the Law he has transgressed does For then there could be no such thing as Justification at all in our Circumstances For whom the Law condemns God must do so too if his Judgment be Legal But when he justifies a Sinner he justifies him whom the Law condemns And when he does this it must be by remitting the Severity of the Law and sparing the Life of the Offender out of mere Grace and Mercy And of this nature is the Justification that the Gospel speaks of only with this difference That it does not only respect us as Sinners such as by Transgressing the Divine Law have deserved to die but such as for our Disobedience are already condemned to die So that it is God's Act of Mercy towards Adam's condemn'd Race whereby through the Mediation of his Son he is pleas'd to remit the Sentence of Death that in Adam we are fall'n under and to restore us to a state of Probationership for Immortality and Glory For my part I know of no other Justification that the Gospel which is designed to be a Remedy to the Mischief that by the first Transgression is come upon us speaks of as a Blessing we are already possess'd of but this of acquitting us so far from the Sentence that is already pass'd upon us that we shall not die Eternally because we are already condemn'd to die but shall assuredly live again I know indeed that in our Gospel-state we stand in need of Mercy for innumerable Sins that we are daily guilty of and for all the Sins that we do commit the Gospel does assure us of Pardon upon our sincere Repentance i.e. that God will justifie us But it is not upon account of this Mercy that we are in a justified state but of that favour alone that has remitted Adam's fault to us and assures us of a Resurrection to Life again But after this we must expect to undergo another Trial whether we deserve the Forgiveness that is with God i.e. Whether our Repentance for our own Sins and our Endeavours to do the Will of God in our Gospel i.e. Our justifying state have been so sincere that he will accept of it And this will be when the Author of our Religion shall come to try whether we deserve the Life that he will raise us to Then he will justifie all his sincere Followers but his Justifying at that day means his accepting and approving of the sincerity of our Faith and Repentance according to the very Terms of the Law of Mercy that he has given us to live by But then this supposes that we are in a justified state as we are discharged from the Eternity of the Punishment that Adam's Transgression has exposed us to otherwise we could not rise again nor would there be any need of a second Judgment to be pass'd upon us By being thus justified our Gracious Redeemer puts us into the state of Probationers for Immortality So that so long as we are in this World we are in our state of Trial whether we will chuse Life or Death not in such a justified state that we may assuredly say of our selves that we shall undoubtedly be glorified For thus we shall not be justified till our Lord comes the second time to try what use we have made of that Mercy that set Life and Immortality before us But for the clearing this matter I shall observe 1. That our Justification is a delivering us from a state of Condemnation For nothing is more plain in the Holy Scriptures than that it does suppose a Judgment to be already pass'd upon us and that we are in a condemn'd condition For it is that Mercy whereby we are discharged from some punishment which we have deserved and are adjudged to It is not God's declaring our Innocency or a Legal adjudging us to an Immortal state because the Law whereby we should have been thus Justified is Transgress'd and we are condemned to die for that Transgression Thus indeed Adam would have been Justified for if he had not sinned he would not have deserved to die and if he had not merited Death according to the Law of entire Nature by which he was to live he must have lived an Immortal life i.e. He would have been made Immortal without being justified from Death as now we must In this case there would have been no need of Mercy to assure Immortality to him that had no Crime for Mercy to pardon nor no
we have born the Image of the Earthy have lived in such a Body as Adam had so we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly i.e. We shall have such glorious heavenly Bodies at the Resurrection as Christ now has For flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Flesh and Blood such as now we carry about with us Bodies that cannot live without food and which by reason of the weakness and imperfection of their Senses are oftentimes pained by that which is their pleasure But what is corruptible must put on incorruption and these vile Bodies shall be changed and fashioned like to Christ's glorious Body Phil. 3.21 i.e. Such as his Body is such shall ours be discharged of all that is their burden and shame or that creates vexation or uneasiness here and improved to that height in all its Powers that we who cannot bear the light of the Sun when it travels in its strength whose Eyes water and are offended when too much light pours in upon them shall be enabled to live in such glory as is not yet revealed and to walk in that inaccessible Light to which no mortal Eye can approach This Change is express'd in Scripture by our rising with spiritual Bodies and bearing the Image of the Heavenly which does not mean that our Earthly Bodies shall be turned into Spirits For then the life we should be raised to would not be of the same nature with that which we now live i.e. It would not consist in the vital Union of a Soul and a Body but of two Spirits For a Body turned into a Spirit is no Body But now that which the Scriptures teach us concerning a Resurrection is That our Bodies shall come out of their Graves and that we shall have the same Bodies as well as the same Souls though improv'd in their capacities and qualities That the life the Resurrection is designed to restore us is the life we lose because it is styled the Resurrection of the Dead which could not be if it be a Body turned into a Spirit that our Souls shall be united to For then the Resurrection would not unite it to a Body at all i.e. It would not give us the life of a Man which is the life that Death deprives us of They who contend for such a Rarefaction of our Bodies into Spirits tell us That we shall have the agility and subtilty of Spirits so as to be able to penetrate Bodies and to be in a place not as we are now by filling it but as Angels are who do not exclude any Body thence by being there And this they suppose is the Nature of Christ's glorious Body which is the pattern after which the Resurrection will fashion ours For to this purpose they insist upon that Text of St. John which tells us That our Saviour enter'd into the room where the Disciples were met together when the Doors were shut As if St. John's meaning was That he had passed through the Doors in the same manner as a Spirit does But now the Evangelist saith no such thing nor do I see how any such thing can be concluded from what he does say The Words of the Evangelist are these Then the same day at evening when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst Joh. 20.19 In which he only tells us the time when but nothing of the manner how he appeared whether by passing through or opening the Door or any other way That he came in the Evening when the Doors were shut i.e. At that time of the night when according to the Custom of the Jews who were not wont saith Musculus to shut their doors in the day-time the Doors were shut Or if they give an account of such a Miraculous way of appearing as surprized the Disciples this does not necessarily oblige us to believe that he came into the room as a Spirit by piercing through the Doors For he might present himself among them in a surprizing manner though he did not pierce the Door neither is it known that Spirits do thus appear So that it is no proof that the Resurrection did turn his Body into a Spirit because he enter'd a room at that time in the Evening when the Jews shut up their Doors unless it be made appear that he could no other way enter it but by passing through the Door and that Spirits are wont thus to enter But that our Saviour's Body was not turned into a Spirit and that the Miracle of his Appearance did not lie in his passing through the Door he himself gave his Disciples a sensible proof at this very time when he show'd them his Hands and his Side and bid them Handle him and see that it was he himself i.e. The Man Christ Jesus that was crucified and no Spirit as they believed him to be because a Spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luk. 24.39 When therefore the Scriptures tell us that we shall rise with spiritual bodies the meaning is that our Bodies when the Resurrection has restored us them shall not need those refreshments of Meat and Drink and Sleep that now they stand in need of but shall live as Spirits do without putting us to charge and labour to maintain their life And this our Blessed Lord teaches us in his Answer to the captious Question of the Sadducees whose Wife the Woman whom the seven Brethren had successively married should be at the Resurrection The children of this World where one Generation goes and another comes marry and are given in marriage because in a World where we are mortal this is the only way we have of preserving our Names and of living when we are dead But they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more but are equal to the Angels Luk. 20.34 35 36. i.e. They are equal to the Angels in this That they shall die no more and since they are in this equal to them they shall live like them For because they themselves will be Immortal the reason of Marrying and giving in Marriage will be at an end And indeed there is a necessity that our Bodies should be thus changed because the World we shall then live in will not be the same as this is For whether we shall ascend to the highest Heavens where Christ now sits at the right hand of God or whether we shall have our Habitations in that new Earth that will be made after this old one which has been the Seat of so much Wickedness is destroy'd it is requisite our Bodies should be otherwise fashion'd than now they are that they may be suited to the Nature of the place we shall dwell in It is not a thing that a Christian can find any thing incredible in that our Bodies after they are raised and
not Adam's sin alone but our own too are the Reason why we die and consequently that our Justification is not from Adam's Offence only but from those many that we are guilty of By one Man sin enter'd into the World and Death by sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned v. 12. i.e. All Men die as well as Adam because all have sinned as well as he For untill the Law sin was in the World And again Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression v. 13 14. i.e. All that lived between Adam and Moses died though they did not Transgress a positive Law as Adam did but only sinn'd against the Law of Nature But if we look a little narrowly into the Apostle's discourse the contrary will be evident For when he instanceth in a time when there was no Law that condemn'd Men to die for their own Offences his design is to prove that the Sin and Judgment that pass'd upon Adam does reach to all Men For what account else shall we give saith he of the Death of those that died before the Law of Moses was given They sinn'd 't is true but that could not be the Reason why they died because they were not under any Law that threatned them with Death if they sinned and therefore since they died it could be by vertue of no other Law but that by which Adam was Judg'd and Condemn'd He does say indeed that Death pass'd upon all Men for that all have sinned Yet Sin is not imputed where there is no Law which was the case of all that lived between Adam and Moses The summ then of the Apostle's discourse is this That Adam's Sin and the Judgment that was pass'd upon him is the Reason why all Men die but we are not to think that Men die only for Adam's Sin in such a sense as if themselves were not Sinners For though all have sinned yet all die because of Adam's Sin Obj. But if this be the meaning of the Apostle how comes it to pass that he tells us afterwards that the free gift is of many offences unto Justification Ans To which I reply That though by the undertaking of our gracious Mediatour we are justified from our own particular Offences i.e. Are put into such a state that we have no reason to fear being condemned when we come to answer for our own Actions if with sincerity we conform our Lives according to the Rules of the Gospel though we be guilty of many Errours and Mistakes Yet it is plain from what he discoursed before that it is Adam's Offence alone is the reason why we die because it is for Adam's Offence alone that we are born Mortal and are under a Sentence of Condemnation But by being justified from Adam's Sin and Condemnation we by sincerely submitting to the Law of Grace are acquitted of all those particular Sins that in our Natural state we are guilty of Because Adam's Sin being the Root and Original cause of our own particular Offences by being discharged from the Punishment that Adam's Sin brought upon Mankind we upon our embracing the Law of Grace are accepted by God to a liberty of working out our own Salvation notwithstanding our own Sins The many Offences that the Apostle here speaks of are those that in their Natural state Men are guilty of For of these alone he spoke in the foregoing Verses when for the proving it was for Adam's Transgression that we all die he instanced in those that lived between Adam and Moses who were not under the Government of any other Law but that of Nature and therefore did not die for their own particular Offences And of these he tells us the free gift is to Justification as well as of Adam's Sin because by being discharged from the Punishment of Adam's Transgression we shall not be condemned for those that no positive Law does threaten with Death But as for those Sins that in our Christian i.e. our Justified state we are guilty of we must be justified or condemned for them by the Sentence of our Mediatour according to the very Voice of the Law that he has given us to live by 2. Then Justification puts us into a possibility of living again after Death for ever For since it is the taking off from us the Curse that is come upon our Nature for the publick Transgression of our first Parents it takes away that which is the Cause why we die and which if it was not taken away would for ever hold us in a state of Death The Reason why we die is because God has doom'd us to it and that which is the Reason why we die would be a Reason too why we should never live again if God in Mercy had not pitied our Condition and absolved us from the Guilt for which we are condemned to die For as it is upon the account of God's Wrath that we die if we had for ever lain under that Wrath we must for ever have continued in a state of Death i.e. according to the Sentence God had pass'd upon us we had forfeited the Immortality of that Life that consists in the vital Union of the Soul and Body So that the import of the Sentence of Death we fell under was nothing less than an Eternal separation of the Soul and Body A Doom that adjudged the Body to Dust for ever and the Soul to live without its Body under the Dominion of that Evil Spirit that seduced us and the dreadfull Marks of the Divine displeasure for ever And as this is the meaning of that Judgment to Condemnation that is come upon all Men so the meaning of that free gift that is come upon all Men to Justification of Life is the hopes of rising again to that Immortality we lost For by Justifying us God acquits us from the Punishment he had condemn'd us to and by withdrawing that Wrath from us which sentenced us to an Eternal Dissolution of the Soul and Body he puts us into a hopefull condition of living again for ever As when he condemn'd us his Justice laid us under an obligation of satisfying his Wrath by a perpetual separation of our Souls from our Bodies So when he justifies us his Mercy re-instates us in his Favour and by discharging us from the Curse we are fallen under gives us an Assurance that Death shall not be Eternal but that there will come a time when our Bodies shall come out of their Graves and our Souls and Bodies shall happily by united again So that 3. Justification is an Act of mere Mercy and Goodness It is mere Grace and Favour that spares the Life of a Criminal when he is condemn'd to die For in such a case he can have no hopes of living unless he who has the Power of Life and Death does by reversing the Sentence save him from the Punishment Whereas a Law that allows
him the liberty of atoning for his fault by doing something that shall carry Merit in it does put it into his own Power to escape the Punishment Now God's justifying us is not by declaring that though we have done that which his Law condemns yet we have done that which according to the Terms of his Law must acquit us but by declaring that though he has condemned us for Transgressing a Law that threatned us with Death yet he will not inflict the Punishment upon us in its utmost rigour but of his own Goodness will give us our Lives again And accordingly the Apostle informs us That after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward Man appeared Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us That being justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal life Tit. 3.4 5 7. In which words he informs us that we are not justified as Innocent persons or such as having merited our own Lives cannot be condemn'd without Injustice Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done i.e. Not because we have done nothing worthy of Death or having deserved to die have expiated our faults by some meritorious Works For Justice it self is no dreadfull thing to those that have not deserved to die or that have merited their Lives The former way we all should have been Justified if we had not lost our Innocency for then it would have been by rewarding an innocent and sinless Creature with a legal Recompence the adjudging a Creature who had not merited Death to an Immortal state And the latter was the way that the Jews depended upon who were persuaded that their legal Services were highly meritorious in the sight of God The Vanity of which persuasion St. Paul does frequently expose and lets us know that we are Heirs of Life upon no other account but because the kindness and love of God our Saviour hath appear'd to us and because Mercy and Grace have interposed in our favour and the forfeiture of Eternal life is remitted to us And accordingly the Gospel is not only styled The Gospel and Word of Grace i.e. That Dispensation wherein God does make known his abundant Goodness to us whom his Justice had doom'd to die or that Revelation wherein he acquaints us with his good will to us in remitting the rigour of that Punishment we are condemned to suffer But Eternal life i.e. The life we shall live after the Resurrection has united our Souls to our Bodies again is styled the Gift of God to inform us that all the Hopes we have of living after Death does depend upon the good pleasure of God The Immortality 't is true which was to have been the Reward of Adam's Innocency was the Gift of God too For no Creature can be Immortal but whom God makes so But yet an innocent Man was both capable of Immortality and would have had a legal Right to it as the Reward of his Innocency But God's justifying a Criminal Condemned Race is his removing a legal incapacity for Eternal life before we can be in a condition of receiving it as a Reward for any thing we can do Obj. The Scripture 't is true ascribes our Justification to Faith And if Faith be the Reason or Condition of our Justification how can that be the sole Act of God's Mercy which is not granted us but upon such a Condition Ans To which I reply That our Justification is of two kinds The one is from the Judgment that is come upon us to Condemnation The other is to that Eternal life which in this we are Probationers for The former is by way of mere Grace and Favour not by Works of Righteousness which we have done and is the foundation of that Hope which is the Motive wherewith our Religion persuades us to a Holy Life And this our Saviour styles a passing from Death unto Life or to a Liberty to take care of our Lives again The other is in a legal way by those Works of Righteousness that the Law of Grace we are obliged to live by does require of us The benefit of the former we enjoy in this Life as it puts us into such a Condition that we may labour in hope The other is what we expect when our Lord shall come the second time unto the Everlasting Salvation of his faithfull Servants And this is the meaning of the Apostle when he saith The free gift is come upon all Men unto Justification of life Where by the free gift we are to understand God's mercifull acquitting us from the Judgment that in Adam came upon all Men And this free gift is come upon all Men that by living according to the Gospel we might provide for Eternal life and at the last be justified or declared meet to be partakers of Eternal life according to the Terms of this New Covenant by which we are to work out our Salvation The summ then of this matter is this 1. That upon the account and for the sake of his Son's Death God of his mere Goodness has remitted the Sentence of Death that we as Adam's Posterity are born under And thus we are in a Justified state here in this Life Thus St. Paul tells us We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is by Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 4.25 26. Where the Apostle makes our Justification to be that Act of his Goodness whereby through the Mediation of his Son he discharges us from the Obligation to suffer Eternal Death that his Justice had laid us under The only difficulty in these words is That the Apostle seems to make Faith the Condition of our Justification saying Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood But the meaning is not That God does only pardon those that believe for how then could our Saviour tell us That all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and that those that have done ill shall come forth as well as those that have done well Which implies that all Men are thus far Pardon'd For none that are condemn'd to die can have their Lives given them again but by vertue of a Pardon But the meaning is That God set forth his Son to render him so propitious to us as to accept of the Righteousness that is by Faith to our Everlasting Justification So that 2. Being thus by the Divine Mercy put into a Justified state God has given us a new Law by which he expects for the time to come we should govern our Lives 3. That the Righteousness which God accepts of and will reward with Eternal life is the Conformity of our Lives to this new Law of Faith that he has given us 4. That at
the last we must undergo a publick Trial when the Justice of our Mediatour will declare those to be Just and Righteous who live according to this Rule So that the Justification that is by Faith does properly relate to the Sentence of our Mediatour whereby at the Day of Judgment he will declare the sincere Observers of his Will to be Righteous And therefore the Apostle saith We are justified freely by his Grace i.e. Have our Lives which we had forfeited in Adam restored us in Christ that he might be Just and the Justifier of him that believes i.e. That his justifying the sincere Christian at the last might be an Act of his Justice Or that when we come to be Judged at the last day Justice may declare the Righteousness of the sincere Christian So that the Justification that is by Faith denotes a freedom from the Danger of that second Death that the Gospel threatens those that disobey it with It is a second discharge from another kind of Punishment than that we are condemn'd to as the Sons of Adam and does suppose us to be in a Justified state from the Judgment that by one Man's offence is come upon all Men Or rather it is God's owning our Righteousness to be according to the Gospel Rule that Righteousness I mean which has the promise of Eternal life Obj. If it be said that according to this account no Man is justified by Faith at all in this life but that all the privilege we can be said to have by believing is that we shall be justified at the Day of Judgment whereas the Scripture speaks of it as a privilege that belongs to our Faith in this life Ans I answer That it no otherwise belongs to it than as it gives a Right to and assures us of it when our Gracious Mediatour shall come to Judge us Faith I mean the believing the Gospel to be the Rule of our Righteousness and living according to it is the fulfilling of that Law of Grace that our Saviour has instituted and accordingly this Law does justifie those that thus fulfill it in this life i.e. It denounces no Judgment against them But who have this Faith that the Law of Christ approves of and promises Eternal life to and who want it will be the work of the future Judgment to discover So long as we live by the Rules of the Gospel this Law of Christian Righteousness does assure us that the Reward it promises does belong to us i.e. that we have a Right to it But whether we shall receive it does not depend upon the present Sentence it gives of our case but upon that which will be pass'd when the time of our Trial is over For the Faith which is said to justifie us may be renounced and the Gospel disobey'd and in this case we cannot be said to be in a Justified state by vertue of the Faith we once had or the Obedience we once paid to the Gospel It justifies the goodness of our Lives for the time past if they have been according to this word of Faith but whether it will justifie us to Eternal life is not to be said till we have finish'd our Course and stood our Trial. So that this is not the Justification which we have by vertue of Christ's Mediation For that is a State we are already put into and is a Blessing that belongs to us in this life whereas this is a State we shall be put into when we are judged again 4. Then Justification is a state of Trial how we will use so great Mercy as God vouchsafes us therein For had there not been a Reversal of the Sentence that doom'd us to die we must have died without Mercy and without Hopes of ever living again Then all our Prayers and Tears and Repentance would have been of no advantage to us for the bettering our Condition and preserving us from Death But Justice would require that we should suffer the Punishment we were condemn'd to Judgment being given upon us there remained nothing but a fearfull looking for of the Execution of it which all the most earnest Sollicitations and Entreaties we could make would not have saved us from For to be in a Condemn'd state is to be Dead in Law And he that is in such a condition has lost his opportunity of preserving himself by obeying the Law that has already condemned him Such was our case when God had given Sentence upon us for then it was too late to think of preventing our dying Eternally and falling under God's Wrath when we were already under it But by acquitting us from this Sentence he had set Life and Immortality before us again and puts us to a new Trial whether we will grow wise by so great a danger as we have escaped and take warning by the Judgment that came upon us in Adam to save our selves for the future from the Wrath to come It is a very great mistake if we believe our being in a Justified state does certainly assure to us an Immortal life and is a Reason why we may be confident that we shall not be condemned in the Judgment to come There would be no reason of another day of Judgment if Justification did import thus much Neither is St. Paul to be understood in this sense when he saith Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.33 34. For his design was to encourage the Christians of his time to a stedfastness in the Faith notwithstanding the Rage and Violence of their Persecutours For though they were condemned and put to Death for the sake of Christ yet the Sentence of their Enemies signified nothing to and could do them no great hurt because it took away a life that God would restore them with advantage It is God that justifies and since he has so far remitted his own Sentence that you shall rise again who is he that condemneth or presumes to take away your life He delivers you over to a Death that will not hold you long because God has justified you Justification then assures us that we shall rise again though Divine Justice has condemn'd us to die But it does not assure us that we shall certainly live for ever when we are risen because that depends upon the Improvement we make of the Mercy God has shown us For unless we be so qualified as the Gospel requires we should we must be condemned and die another Death The state that Adam was created in was a state of Trial. For though he was Innocent and consequently free from all the vexation and perplexity that Guilt occasions yet he was neither so perfect nor so happy as God designed he should make himself The Innocence in which he was created does not imply that he was made as perfect and as excellent a Creature as if was possible for him to be I mean that his Soul was so stored
with For he who is appointed to Judge us is the Man Christ Jesus He is a Man that is sensible of all the Infirmities that we labour under and does carry in his Bowels the Affections and tender Compassions of a Man toward us In that he has suffer'd being tempted he is able or very inclinable to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.18 For what severe or terrible thing can we fear from a Man like our selves What unkind or hard Sentence have we reason to dread from him who is our Brother Will not he who took part of Flesh and Blood be very tender to the Infirmities of his own Nature Though it be a terrible thing to appear before a Just and Righteous God because the Justice of a God is very frightfull yet it can be no very frightfull thing to appear before a God made Man because we are well acquainted with the Tendernesses that are in the Nature of a Man Or if this Consideration be not enough to reconcile our Thoughts to a Judgment to come because we too often see that the Passions of Men make them violent and injurious cruel and oppressive toward each other Yet he is a Man not subject to the like Passions as we are nor tainted with those Vices as corrupt our Nature and render it a difficult thing oftentimes to converse with those of our own kind But he is a Man famed for Meekness and Humility for Love and Charity for Mercy and Compassion So that he is qualified with all those soft and tender Vertues that we our selves would desire should be in him that is to Judge us And since we must be Judged we would wish for such a Judge as he is But this is not all for the most comfortable Consideration of all is this That the Power to Judge us that is committed to him is a Power to justifie and acquit us from Death He has merited a Power to give Life to the World and therefore when he appears the second time it will be to the Salvation of all that wait for him by raising them from the Dead and giving them Eternal life So that his Judging the World will be an executing of that Power of giving Life that he has received It will be with the Pardon that he has mediated in his hand and for the delivering us who now are appointed to die from any more fear of Death for the future He will 't is true when he appears be cloathed with that Majesty that will be terrible to his Enemies and as a Righteous Judge give a very dreadfull Sentence upon all the workers of Iniquity But yet though he will condemn to a second Death those that he finds not worthy of Life and as well concern himself for the Interests and Reputation of his Father's Justice as our Everlasting Welfare Yet it is plain that the giving so severe a Sentence is besides his purpose and as well contrary to the Office as the Inclinations of a Redeemer because he will raise even those to Life again whom he thus condemns His raising them to Life again will demonstrate even to those that must die again that it is for the dispensing of Mercy and the acting like a Saviour that he does then appear That the primary End of his appearing is for the restoring Lise to Mortal Creatures For why else will he raise them to Life whom he will afterwards condemn to another Death but to let the World see that he designs Life for all if Mercy it self can but save them The true and proper find then of his sitting in Judgment will be the displaying the Mercy of a Redeemer the distributing the price of his Blood and the communicating the Everlasting Grace of the Gospel He came to save that which was lost and to be sure he will not cast away any that he came to save nor easily condemn when his business was to destroy Death He will Judge us who will raise us to Life again And to be sure he who then gives us our Lives will not easily and without very great Reason take them away again And now how terrible soever it is to us to think of undergoing a Trial of our Actions before a just Judge Yet is it not enough to ease our Thoughts to think that this Judgment will be terrible to none but such as have no Reason to hope in his Mercy but that all whom Mercy can save the Bowels of a Mediatour will deliver from Condemnation What more favourable Judge can we expect than such a one as has purchased us and has purchased Eternal life for us Such a one as comes with Power to justifie and save all whom Mercy can deliver and who lets us see his Inclination to give us Life by freeing us from a Sentence of Condemnation when he raises us out of our Graves The Conclusion HAving consider'd the Nature and Certainty of the Resurrection all that I shall observe from the whole is the Necessity that is upon us to live like those that do believe we shall rise again I mean that we do nothing now that will lose us our Lives again when they are restored to us at the Resurrection To live in this World as if we should never live more after Death has taken us out of it is very excusable in those who know not that they shall rise again because they take care of all the Life they know of But for a Christian who believes he must live again to do this is an extremity of Folly and Madness for it is to be thoughtfull only for an inconsiderable part of our Lives And surely it is not to act wisely for our selves not to take care of all the Life we are to live It is in the Opinion of all Men a very great imprudence not to take care of our Lives And therefore that Labour and Toil those vexatious Cares and Solicitudes wherewith Men wear out their Bodies and vex their Minds are justified upon this account that they are for the maintaining of Life And they are lookt upon as Men of little understanding who live without any kind of fore-cast or thoughtfulness for Life Now what Men do and make a great Mark of their Prudence in doing for the support and preservation of this life is much more needfull to be done for the preserving the Life we shall rise to because that is the Life that it principally concerns us to look after When Men neglect the Duties of Religion the general Answer wherewith they satisfie themselves and wherewith they expect that all Men should be satisfied is that they have not leisure The business of this World takes up their time and if they have hardly time sometimes to Eat and Sleep they cannot think but the Cumber and the Urgency of their Affairs will as well excuse them from their Religious Services as it obliges them to a neglect of their Bodies But when Men talk at this rate one would think they were