IMPRIMATUR G. Royse R. R. in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Iohanni Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domest Iuly 28th 1691. A Practical Discourse CONCERNING A Future Judgment By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties LONDON Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1692. TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAjESTY May it please Your Majesty TO accept of this Treatise a small Part of which being Preached in Your Royal Chappel Your Majesty was pleased to Excuse the Printing of it then that it might wait for the Publication of the Whole which Your Majesty was given to understand I intended which I now humbly Present to Your Sacred Majesty rejoycing that I have so good an Occasion of Acknowledging Your Great and Vndeserved Favours to me and of professing with all the Sincerity that the Subject of this Treatise requires that I am Your MAjESTY'S Most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant William Sherlock The CONTENTS THE Introduction containing a Distribution of the Work Page 1 CHAP. I. The Proof of a Future Iudgment 3 Sect. I. That Man is by Nature an Accountable Creature 5 Sect. II. The Essential Differences between Good and Evil and the Natural Notions we have of God prove a Future Iudgment 19 Sect. III. The External Appearances of Providence prove a Future Iudgment 34 Sect. IV. The Natural Presages of Conscience prove a Future Iudgment and if there be a Future State there must be a Future Iudgment 89 Sect. V. The Scripture Proof of a Future Iudgement 106 Sect. VI. The Improvement of this Doctrine in some particular Inferences as 1. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged 2. To keep our Eye upon a Future Iudgment for the Government of our Lives 123 Sect. VII Third Inference To refer all Iudgement to God 144 Sect. VIII Fourth Inference To refer all Difficulties to the Day of Iudgment 168 Sect. IX Fifth Inference To affect our Souls with a strong and vigorous and constant Sence of Iudgment 189 CHAP. II. Concerning the Time of Iudgment 208 Sect. I. Concerning a Particular Iudgment at the time of every Man's Death ibid. Sect. II. That the Day of Iudgment is appointed 233 Sect. III. The Day God has appointed is a General Day of Iudgment 255 Sect. IV. The Day of Iudgment is at the End of the World 278 CHAP. III. Who shall be our Iudge viz. The Man Christ Iesus 300 CHAP. IV. The Manner and Circumstances of Christ's Appearing and the Awful Soâ—emnities of Iudgment 336 CHAP. V. Who are to be judged viz. The World or all Mankind 360 CHAP. VI. For what we shall be judged 403 CHAP. VII Concerning the Righteousness of the Future Iudgement and the Rule whereby we shall be judged 439 Conclusion How to know what our Sentence will be at the last Iudgment with an Exhortation to Reverence our own Consciences 521 ERRATA PAge 154. l. 28. for froward r. forward p. 240. l. 18. r. that this is p. 279. l. 5. f. shall r. should p. 369. l. 26. f. Peâ—sions r. Persons p. 496. l. 30. f. undue to r. due unto A Practical Discourse CONCERNING A Future Judgment xvii ACTS xxxi Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead The INTRODUCTION HAVING in a former Treatise discours'd largely concerning Death the next thing to be considered is Judgment for so the Apostle tells us After death the judgment And a very grave and serious Thought it is if ever Men will be serious for nothing can be of greater concernment to us than a Future Judgment which will determine our final state and condition to Eternity In treating on this Subject I shall observe this Method 1. Inquire what Assurance we have of a Future Judgment 2. The Time when this Judgment shall be God hath appointed a day for it 3. Who shall be our Judge God will judge the world but not immediately by himself but by that a man whom he hath ordained that is by Christ Jesus who is a Man and the Son of Man as well as the eternal Son of God 4. The publick and awful Solemnities of Judgment 5. The Persons who shall be judged The world or all Mankind 6. For what we shall be judged whatever we have done in this body whether it be good or bad 7. The Rule whereby we shall be judged and the Righteousness of the Judgement CHAP. I. The Proof of a Future Iudgment IN treating of Death there was no need to prove That all Men must die for this is too visible to be denied but Judgment is not seen nor can it be seen because it is not yet Could Men indeed look into the other World they would soon be convinced by the different state of good and bad Men there that God has appointed a Day for Judgment but that is an invisible State to us and the Thoughts of Judgment are so uneasie to bad Men now that they are very unwilling to believe it and this makes it necessary to lay the Foundation of all in the Proof of a Future Judgment Now there are two ways of proving this First By the Principles of Reason Secondly By Revelation By Reason we can prove that God will judge the World as that signifies that God will call all Men to an account for their Actions and that he will reward good Men and punish the Wicked in the next World This the Heathens themselves discovered by the Light of Nature they talked very much of the Internal Judges and of the Rewards and Punishments of good and bad Men after Death and therefore in this sence did believe a Future Judgment But yet the Revelation of the Gospel has given us a more plain and undeniable assurance of this and has discovered something more than the Light of Nature could discover The Light of Nature and Reason may satisfie us as it did the Heathens that God will reward good Men and punish the wicked in the next World but it could not tell us that God had appointed a general Day of Judgment wherein all the Dead shall rise again out of their Graves and re-assume their Bodies and be summoned to Judgment it could not tell us who shall be our Judge with what Glory and Majesty he shall appear and with what Pomp and awful and terrible Solemnities he shall judge us The World knew nothing of this before the Gospel was preached for it depends wholly upon the will and pleasure of God and therefore can be known only by Revelation I shall begin with the Proofs from Reason and shew you what Moral Evidence and Assurance we have that God will judge the World as that signifies that he will reward good Men and punish the wicked in the next World
Appearances of Providence prove that God does judge the World at present and that he will judge it hereafter For the Providence of God does very often make such a remarkable difference between good and bad Men in this World as is sufficient to satisfie us that God does govern and judge Mankind at present and yet the present Administrations of Providence do not always make a sufficient distinction between good and bad Men in this World good Men being very often afflicted and bad Men prospeaous which gives us a reasonable expectation of a more just and righteous Tribunal in the World to come where Rewards and Punishments shall be more equally dispensed But to discourse this more particularly I observe that the external Appearances of Providence prove that God does govern and judge the World at present as much as is necessary to the ends of Government in this World I confess did it appear that God took no care of the Government of the World at present I should very much question whether he would judge the World hereafter but when there are plain and evident proofs that a wise and just Providence does govern the World that God makes such a difference at present between good and bad Men as the good Government of this World requires this is a sufficient reason to expect a more exact impartial universal Judgment of good and bad Men in the next World To state this matter plainly and to make a very sensible Argument of it I shall 1. shew you what evidence we have of a Divine Justice and Providence which governs the World at present 2. The Force of this Consequence from the Providence of God in this World to a Judgment in the next I. What evidence we have of a Divine Justice and Providence which governs the World and I shall begin 1. With that Divine Justice which is interwoven in the Nature of Things for if God have no contrived the Nature of Things that Wickedness is a punishment to itself and wicked Men a Plague and Scourge to each other it is a plain demonstration that when God made Man he intended to govern him too since he has annexed such natural Rewards of Punishments to a vertuous or vicious Life I am sure this is as good an Argument for a Providence as the wise Contrivance of Things is for God's making the World We think it very absurd to say that the World was made by Chance or without a wise Creator when there is such admirable Art and Curiosity in the Make of the meanest Creature as the wisest Philosophers are not able to understand much less to imitate And if all Humane Art and Philosophy cannot make a Flie nor so much as understand the make of it how can we possibly imagine that such a World as this which consists of such infinite variety of Creatures and every Creature made up of so many natural Wonders and all so admirably fitted to each other as to make up an uniform regular and beautiful World should own any other Author but an infinitely wise and perfect Being who has all Power and all possible Ideas of Usefulness and Beauty that is to say since there are such apparent Characters and Impressions of an excellent and unsearchable Wisdom in the Frame of the World a wise Being must be the Maker of it and is it not as good an Argument That if Humane Nature be so contrived that Man who is a free Agent shall be happy or miserable as he is good or bad that God made him to be governed and therefore intended to govern him nay did more than intend it for he contrived his Nature so as to govern itself for though he has made him a free Agent yet he has left nothing at his liberty but whether he will be happy or miserable the one he must be and he may indeed choose which he will but there could not be a greater natural Restraint upon a free Agent than to make Happiness or Misery the reward of his Choice especially since Nature teaches all Mankind to love themselves and to be happy if they can That this is so is so evident to our very Senses that it is a good Subject to declaim on but needs no proof What is there that can make any Man miserable in this World which is not the natural and necessary effect of some Sin or other Will irregular and furious Passions make a Man miserable a confounding Shame distracting and terrifying Fears raging Anger Malice Revenge great Perplexity Solicitude Anxiety of Thoughts if the pain and torment of Mind is Misery these Passions must make Men miserable Now all these are the passions of a sinful Mind Sin is the Parent and the Nurse of them a vertuous Man who always takes care to do his Duty and what becomes him knows not what Shame means if he be slandered reproacht and vilified he may blush a little to be thought a bad Man but his own Conscience does not reproach him nothing is truly infamous but what is wicked and therefore Shame can never disturb an innocent and vertuous Mind Good Men may be afraid of some Temporal Evils and Calamities but it is Sin which distracts Men with guilty Fears which are so unsupportable to Humane Nature nay when our wordly Fears are excessive and tormenting they are raised and aggravated by some Vice or other either by too great a passion and fondness for this World or a distrust of the Divine Providence and Protection which is the true Cause also of that Thoughtfulness Anxiety and Solicitude which the love of Riches and the fear of loosing such uncertain Treasures create A raging Anger Malice Revenge is owing to Self-love Pride Covetuousness Injustice and such other Vices as make Men injurious to each other and impatient of Injuries Man had been a Stranger to all these troublesome tormenting Passions had he continued Innocent and whoever would enjoy Peace and Contentment and Satisfaction of Mind quiet and easie and chearful Passions must root out those Vices which make such a Ferment and raise such unnatural Tempests in our Breasts Is Pain and Sickness Poverty and Disgrace an Untimely or Infamous Death a great punishment to Men these would be the punishments of some kinds and degrees of Sin though neither God nor Men should judge Sinners Drunkenness and Gluttony and Lust will destroy our Health and afflict us with tormenting Diseases and shorten our Lives and wast our Estates and make us infamous If you want a proof of this go visit the Hospitals and the Goals see the miserable Spectacles of Rottenness and Poverty there and inquire into the causes of them and how many Martyrs and Confessors there are to Intemperance and Lust or some other destructive Vice inquire into the Decays of Noble and Flourishing Families how goodly Lordships and Mannors come so often to change their Masters what makes Riches such uncertain and mutable things look into the Streets and see what Crowds of miserable
their Appetites and Passions and to make them good Men if there be no Reward for Vertue and Piety in the next World Why should he afflict good Men all their Lives whose Vertue deserves a more prosperous Fortune only to exercise their Faith and Patience and to advance them still to more Divine Perfections unless he intended to reward their present Sufferings and their eminent Vertue with a brighter and more glorious Crown There are many Passages of Providence which there can be no other account given of but that they are Methods of Discipline to conquer Mens love to Sin or to improve their Graces and Vertues And I am sure there can be no account given of this why God should with so much Patience and Forbearance expect the Repentance of some Sinners and exercise good Men with so much Severity to make them better unless the Providence of God in this World have a principal regard to the Rewards and Punishments of the next that is unless there be a Judgment to come to reward good Men and to punish the wicked This I hope is sufficient to make good this Consequence That if God govern the World at present he will judge it-hereafter SECT IV. The Natural Presages of Conscience prove a Future Iudgment and if there be a Future State there must be a Future Iudgment V. THe Natural Presages of Conscience are another good Argument or a Future Judgment that is all Men naturally expect to be judged to be rewarded or punished for the Good or Evil they do and this is a strong Natural Presumption that God will Judge the World This is an Argument of great moment and therefore deserves to be particularly explained to which purpose I shall I. shew you That it is so 2. That this is not an artificial Impression but the natural Sence of our own Minds And 3. That this does prove that God will Judge the World and render to every Man according to his Works I. That it is so that all Men have a natural Presage of Judgment there is indeed a very â—ormidable Objection against this That very few Men live as if they did expect to be judged But this is as good an Argument against Mens belief of the Gospel of Christ and the express Revelation of a Future Judgment as it is against the Natural Sence and Presages of Conscience for there are too many who profess to believe the Gospel but do not live as if they did believe a Judgment But I need not trouble myself about this because it is an Objection only to Atheists and Infidels if indeed it be an Objection to them Other bad Men who live as if they did not believe a Judgment yet feel in themselves that they do believe it and when they think of it they believe and tremble too as the Devils do though at other times they are over-powered by the World and the Flesh to act contrary to the Convictions of Conscience and the Fears of Judgment The Heathens themselves who had only the Light of Nature to direct them were very sensible of the private Judgement of their own Consciences which did either accuse them when they did ill and fill them with remorse and fear of Vengeance or excuse commend and applaud them when they did well and give them great and chearful Hopes of a Reward as St. Paul tells us 2 Rom. 14.15 and is frequently observed by the Heathen Philosophers Poets Orators and Historians as a thing universally acknowledged and indeed I know no Man at this day who denies it and therefore I need not prove it All Men feel this in themselves even Atheists and Infidels whenever they are serious and thoughtful when the Judgements of God overtake them or they see the near Approaches of Death and another World The greatest Power cannot defend Men from these Fears Princes and Politicians are equally exposed to them with meaner Subjects those whom no Humane Power can touch are over-awed by an invisible Justice II. Since this is universally acknowledged the onely question is To what Cause to attribute these Fears and Rebukes of Conscience The Atheist will by no means allow these Fears to be Natural but only the Effect of a Superstitious Education as they say the Belief of a God and the differences of Good and Evil are Men have been taught from their very Infancy that there is an invisible Power that governs the World which will reward good Men and punish the wicked and have been frighted with the Fairy Stories of Infernal Judges and Styx and Acheron or Hell-fire and this made such an Impression upon their tender Fancies as can never be wore out at least not without great Industry and Resolution of Mind and this they say makes weak Men conclude that they are Natural But this is a very absurd and ridiculous Account of the Matter as will appear if you consider by what Rules we are to judge what is Natural and what not for if these Presages of Conscience have all the marks and signs of being natural that we can have that any thing is natural we must either say that nothing is natural or that we cannot tell what is natural and what not or we must confess it great Perversness of Mind to deny that to be natural which has all the signs and Marks of being natural that any thing can have Now I. That is Natural which is universal or common to the whole Kind for we have no other way of knowing what the Natures of Things are but by observing what is common to all Creatures of the same Kind and Species for nothing is common to all Individuals but a common Nature and if what is universal and common to all Mankind is Natural these Censures and Rebukes of Conscience are Natural for they are common to all Men for though we should grant that some few Atheists had wholly conquered these Fears and never feel the Lashes and Rebukes of their own Consciences such few and rare Examples ought to be lookt on as the Corruption of Humane Nature not as the Measure and Standard of it for it is no news to say that Humane Nature may be corrupted that the very essential Principles of it may be depraved and in such cases we always judge and that with very good reason that what is most common and universal is Natural not what is as rare and as ominous as a monstrous Birth 2dly Especially when we consider that that is most Natural which is born and bred with us and is the Original State of Humane Nature for Nature is before Art and before the voluntary Corruptions and Degeneracy of Nature This Atheists see and confess and therefore attribute the Belief of a God and the Checks of Conscience and the Fears of Judgment to Education that these Principles were instilled into us from the beginning and grow up with us into confirmed and setled Prejudices and I readily grant that Education has a great stroke in forming our
pray for and therefore it teaches us Having Food and Raiment there-with to be content But who could be contented with such a scanâ—y Provision while he sees the greater Prosperity of bad Men who dissolve in Ease and Luxury were there not a happy state reserved for them in the next World Where is the Man who would not comply with the Devil's Temptation to fall down and Worship him for all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were he not to lose a brighter and a richer Crown for it Some times indeed God does bless good Men with great Plenty and Honour but he has no where promised to do so in the Gospel of Christ sometimes he does it not so much to reward good Men for Temporal things are not the proper Rewards of Piety and Vertue as to serve the ends of his Providence in the World he takes care of good Men to supply their wants and necessities here which is all that a perfect Vertue requires but he rewards them hereafter and yet this is not absolutely promised neither for our Saviour teaches us to take up his Cross to expect Sufferings and Persecutions for his Name sake and then we must be contented to want Food and Raiment to part with Houses and Lands and Life itself for his sake and our condition may be so afflicted and calamitous here that it may force us to say as S. Paul does If in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable And who would be the Disciple of Chriâ—â— upon these Terms to suffer so much for him in this World and to gain nothing by it in the next Thus on the other hand there is a terrible Vengeance threatned against wicked Men in the next World Lakes of fire and brimstone blackness of darkness the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out but the Gospel threatens no Temporal Punishments against Sin Bad Men are very often punished in this World when the Wisdom of the Divine Providence sees fit and they very often escape too and are much more prosperous than good Men are here that there is no Threatning in the Gospel to restrain the Impieties of Men but only the Fears of the other World and a Future Judgement and if you take away these you destroy the Gospel of our Saviour 2. Many of our Saviour's Laws are founded on the supposition of a Future Judgment and are extreamly unreasonable if there be no Rewards or Punishments after this Life that if we will but allow him the ordinary Prudence of a Lawgiver a Future Judgment must be the Foundation of his Religion If there were no other Life after this the only Rule of our Actions would be to live as long and to enjoy as much of this World as we can But Christian Religion in many cases will not allow of this and therefore is no Religion for this World were there not another World to follow To begin with the Enjoyments of this World How many Restraints does the Christian Religion lay on us to lessen the Pleasures and Satisfactions of this Life It teaches us a great Indifferency to all the things of this World but how unreasonable is that if this World be our only place of Happiness For who can be indifferent whether he be happy or not It commands us to mortifie our sensual Appetites to crucifie the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts to live above the Pleasures of the Body to pluck out our right Eyes and to cut off our right Hands but what reason can there be to deny our selves any of these Enjoyments as far as is consistent with preserving our Health and prolonging our Lives if we have no expectations after Death nay if Men are contented to live a short and a merry Life what hurt is there in it if death puts an end to them It forbids us to lay up for ourselves Treasures on Earth which were a strange Command were there not greater Treasures to be expected in Heaven It forbids earthly Pride and Ambition an affectation of Secular Honours and Power but why must we submit to Meanness and Contempt in this World if this be the only Scene of Action we shall ever be concerned in for a mean and base Spirit is no Vertue and for the same reason it can be no Vertue to be contented with a low Fortune to be patient under Sufferings which if they will never be rewarded is to be patiently miserable and that is Stupidity and Folly but to have our Conversation in Heaven to live upon the hopes of unseen Things is Madness and Distraction if there be no Heaven no unseen Things for us The Laws of our Saviour require us in some cases to sacrifice the dearest Interests we have in this World and Life itself for his sake which is a sensless and unreasonable Command if he does not intend to bestow a better Life on us If there were no other Life after this no wise Man would forfeit more for any Religion than it is worth in this World and that would reach but a little way in Suffering Nor is our Saviour so unreasonable as to require it upon these Terms but tells us plainly Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 16 Mat. 25 26. The Reasons of most of the Evangelical Commands must be fetched wholly from the other World and a Future Judgement and therefore we should have had the same Evidence for a Judgment to come that we have for the Christian Religion tho' there had been no such express mention made of a Future Judgment I cannot but observe here the true Reason of the Corruption of Christian Morals which are as much corrupted as the Christian Faith is That in expounding the Laws of our Saviour some Men have no other regard but to fit them to the ease and the conveniences of this Life and therefore reject any Interpretation of them which is severe to Flesh and Blood or will hazard their Ease and Fortunes in this World It is sufficient to Confute any Law of our Saviour or to Interpret it away to shew that there are great Temporal Inconveniences in it that to observe such Laws in such a sence would be very injurious to Mens present Interests and deprive them of many Pleasures and Advantages of Life It were easie to give many Instances of this but it shall suffice at present to confess that considering the State of this World and the Propensities and Inclinations of Humane Nature some Laws of our Saviour are very unreasonable were there not a Future Judgment to reward the Severities and Sufferings which good Men must undergo in observing of them and therefore we must have a care of rejecting any plain and express Law
of our Saviour for any Temporal Inconvenience which attends it or to think that the best sence of the Christian Law which is most for the Ease and Comfort of this present Life This may serve for the Proof of a Future Judgment for if this will not prove it nothing will There are indeed another sort of Arguments to prove it but they principally relate to the Person of our Judge or who shall be our Judge viz. The Son of Man Christ Jesus who is God Incarnate and to which St. Paul refers 17 Acts 31. That God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead but I shall defer that till I come to speak of the Person of our Judge SECT VI. The Improvement of this Doctrine in some Practical Inferences as 1. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged 2. To keep our Eye upon a Future Iudgment for the Government of our Lives HAving thus proved the Certainty of a Future Judgment both from Reason and Scripture before I proceed it is necessary to consider how we must improve this Belief for the Government of our Lives for that is the onely end of Faith and Knowledge and if we be never the better Men for our Faith we may as well be Infidels and this I shall do in these following Particulars I. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged I suppose I need noâ— prove this Consequence That those who must be judged ought to live as those who must be judged for if Judgment be of any concernment to us I am sure it is of great concernment to prepare ourselves for Judgment And if we must be judged for Eternity Judgment is of as great concernment to us as Eternal Life and Death Nor is there any great difficulty to know how those Men ought to live who must be judged every Man knows this without a Teacher who will give himself leave to think A Steward a Factor a Labourer any Person who is liable to the Censure and Judgment of a Superiour who will call him to an Account knows what he is to do to prepare his Accounts and there is no greater Mistery in preparing ourselves for God's Judgment than for the Judgment of Men. But because all Men will not consider things as they ought though they be never so plain and obvious I shall briefly suggest some Rules to you which you must all acknowledge very reasonable at the first hearing and which if well observed would make us lift up our Heads in the Day of Judgment and expect it without Astonishment and Terrour 1. If we must be judged it becomes us to act with great Consideration and Advice Rafhness Precipitancy Inadvertency to do we know not what in a Heat and Impetus without considering whether it be good or evil right or wrong does not become those who must be judged To be judged is to be called to an account to give a reason for what we do and therefore we ought to consider what reason to give before we do it We must be judged by a Rule as you shall hear more hereafter and therefore we ought to live by Rule too which no Man can do who does not consider well what he does before he does it It will be no Plea at the Day of Judgment to say That we did not consider what we did that we lived without Care without Thought without Observation for this is not an allowable Plea for a reasonable Creature much less for one who knows he must be judged For why did you live without Thought without Consideration had you not the power of Thinking of Reasoning of Considering and did not God give these Powers and Faculties to you to direct and govern your Lives did he not make you reasonable Creatures that you might consider and live by Reason and is it any Excuse then for a reasonable Creature that he lived and acted without Reason and a wise Consideration of things This is the great Degeneracy of Humane Nature the abuse and corruption of those Natural Powers which God haâ—h given us the Source of all the Evils that are in this World and therefore can be no Excuse much less when we know that God will judge us and require a reason of our Actions for not to consider our own ways when we know God considers them and will require an account of them is a contempt of his Judgement for did we reverence our Judge we must consider and yet how many mad extravagant wicked Actions are there daily committed which those who do them never think why they do them nor what reasonable account they can give of them either to God or Man Some Men are very â—ond of what they call a Frolick that is to lay aside all Thought and Consideration and to give themsâ—lves up to the government of 〈◊〉 very sudden and unaccountable Fancy and the more wild and extravagant it is the more entertaining without any regard to Vertue or Vice to Decency and Honour the least thought of which is a Prophanation of these Bedlam Misteries they drink themselves drunk in a Frolick blaspheme GOD and his Son JESUS CRIST and his most holy Religion abuse Wives and Virgins murder innocent People and affront all they meet in a Frolick but it is ridiculous to imagine if we must be judged that such Frolicks as these shall be allowed in the Account or pass for Cyphers and empty Scenes of Life to signifie no more than they were intended for that because we choose at such a time to act without Reason and Consideration therefore GOD should demand no Reason nor Account of such Actions And yet a very great part of the World tho' they do not run into such outragious Frolicks as these are yet their Lives are little better than a train of incoherent and independent Fancies and Humours they live without Thought or any wise Design any extempore Project has them which starts up in their Minds or strikes their Fancies they scarce know what they have to do the next day nor how they spent the last But is this a Life for Men who are to be judged Others there are who give themselves up to the government of their Passions which are so vehement and impetuous and always in so much hast that they will neither hear Reason nor allow any time for it and then no wonder if they do such things as they can give no good account of when their Passion is over Others are more fixt and resolved in their way they have chose such a course of Life as they like best and they are resolved to pursue it and that nothing shall put them out of it and therefore they resolve against thinking too lest that should disturb them and give check to their Enjoyments they will neither lissen to their
they think Patience and Forbearance a greater Fault in them then it is in God who beareth with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction Why are they so unmerciful as to hurry away these poor Wretches immediately to Hell when God is contented to let them live on to let the Tares and the Wheat grow up together till the Harvest Why do they envy them the short and perishing Contentments of this Life when they are to suffer an Eternity of Misery Methinks it should satisfie the most implacable Hatred to know that they must be miserable for ever though their Miseries should be adjourned for some few Years but if this be the Effect of damning Men you may guess that the Cause is not very good though an uncharitable Judgment will hurt no Body but themselves yet it is of dangerous consequence when such rash Judges will be as hasty Executioners too 2. Though the effects of saving Men and voting them to Heaven be not so Tragical as those of damning them yet this has its Mischiefs too when any Party of Men have voted themselves the only true Church wherein Salvation is to be had or the only Saints and Elect People of God then all who will be saved must herd with them and most Men think it enough to secure their Salvation to get into their Number Thus the Church of Rome frightens Men into her Communion by threatning Damnation against all who are out of that Church and this reconciles Men to all their Superstitions and Idolatries for fear of Damnation and encourages them in all manner of Looseness and Debauchery when they arâ— got into a Church which can save them and it has much the same effect when Men list themselves with any Party where they hope to be saved for Company while all the rest of Mankind even those who profess the Faith of Christ are no better then the World and the Ungodly and Reprobates who tho' they may have more Moral Vertues then some others yet have no Grace And the mischief of this encreases when Men are Sainted after death Had it not been for this Trick the Church of Rome had had very few Saints to Worship none but the Virgin Mary and the Apostles whom they might certainly conclude to be in Heaven but as for their other Saints who were the great Founders and Examples of their Superstition they are Saints of their own making just as the Heathens made their Gods and it is the Stories and Legends of these Saints which support the Superstition of the Church of Rome for who dares question the Examples of those who are canonized Saints in Heaven Hac arte Pollux vagus Hercules innixus arces attigit igneas And there are another sort of Men who are not behind-hand with them in this who have a great many more Saints than the Church of Rome though they don't pray to them who send great shoals to Heaven especially if they have been zealous for promoting a Party which hides all other Faults and sanctifies very doubtful Actions and how powerful must the Example of such Saints be to excite others to an imitation of their Vertues In a word when we pretend to send Men to Heaven we make them our Rules and Examples we hope to go to Heaven with all the Faults they had and those who knew them possibly knew a great many what they were eminent for we conclude were great Vertues and fit for our imitation tho' otherwise of a doubtful and suspicious Nature There is not a more dangerous thing than to make any Man our Rule and Example and yet that we necessarily do when we send him to Heaven for who would not think himself safe in imitating those whom he believes to be in Heaven And if we consider at what rate both the Church of Rome and others make Saints we must needs be sensible how infinitely dangerous this is to Mens Souls To conclude this Head Let us judge charitably of all Men and hope well according to the different reasons we have to hope but let us leave their final State to God neither peremptorily damn nor save them it is to be feared that Humane Judgment has sent many Men to Heaven who will never get thither and to be hoped that many Men shall meet with a more favourable Sentence in the next World than they do in this God is the Judge of the World and he will certainly judge us and there is no Inconvenience in staying till the Day of Judgement to see what Mens final Sentence shall be but very great Mischief in pronouncing a rash and hasty Judgment our selves SECT VIII Fourth Inference To refer all Difficulties to the Day of Iudgment IV. IF God will Judge the World let us refer all Difficulties to the Day of Judgment It must be confessed that there are very great Difficulties in Providence such as the wisest Men cannot understand and I can by no means say it is a Fault for Men to search into Providence and to be very inquisitive into the reasons of it for what can more become a reasonable Creature then to study the Works of God and what Works more worth our study then the Divine Providence and the wonderful Mysteries of God's governing the World But the Difficulty is to set Bounds to the Curiosity of Mankind to teach them to study Providence with the Modesty of Creatures and with the just Reverence which we owe to God whose Wisdom is infinite and unsearchable to be contented to discover what we can to admire and adore the Wisdom and Goodness and Justice of Providence in what is plain and there is enough plain to exercise our devout Meditations to be matter of our Praise and Thanksgivings anda sure foundation of our Trust in God And this wise and good Men are contented with but most Men take least notice of what is plain as if that were of no use and not worth notice but puzle their thoughts and lose themselves in those vast Depths and Abysses which no Humane Understanding can fathom To Correct this Miscarriage would do great service to Religion would give great peace and satisfaction to Mens minds and prevent a great many scandalous Disputes about the Divine Providence and therefore if I discourse this a little more at large then my present Argument requires I hope it will be no great Fault Now to set Bounds to our Curiosity and to make us Modest in our Inquiries into Providence I shall shew you I. How dangerous it is to search too narrowly into the Secrets of Providence II. How unreasonable it is to disturb our Minds with such Difficulties as we cannot answer III. That what cannot be known in this World it is time enough for us to know in the World to come IV. That we have all the reason in the World to believe that what we cannot know in this World will be made very plain and easie at the Day of Judgment I. As
29. They knew it seems there was a time of Torment appointed for them but it was not yet and yet there was then some place of Confinement for them which is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Deep whatever that signifies whither they were unwilling to go and therefore when Christ cast them out of the Man whom they had long and furiously possessed they beg of him that he would not command them to go into the Deep 8. Luke 31. I shall only observe farther That the Devils are said to believe and tremble Now what is it they believe and what is it they tremble at but the last Judgment and that terrible Condemnation which they then expect and therefore they are not under it yet for Faith respects what is absent and future and Fear does not respect what we suffer at present but what we expect But these are great Mysteries which we cannot now understand but thus much we do understand that if these fallen and apostate Angels have not yet received their final Punishment but are only reserved in Chains of Darkness till the Judgment of the great Day there is less reason to think that wicked Men who are to be punished with the Devil and his Angels should immediately go to Hell as soon as they go out of these Bodies and therefore whatever is meant by those Flames wherein Dives was tormented it is not the last Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels As for good Men those Expressions of Scripture of their going to Paradise especially of their going to Christ or being present with the Lord seem to bid very fair for their going directly to Heaven where Christ is but the Primitive Christians understood them otherwise that Paradise and Abraham's Bosom was a place of Ease and Happiness but not Heaven that no Man ascends into Heaven till after the Resurrection which Ireneus and Tertullian prove from the Example of Christ to which we must be conformed for Christ himself did not ascend into Heaven till after the Resurrection but as his Body rested in the Grave so his Soul went into the State of Souls departed and when he arose again then he ascended into Heaven and thus they say we must do also When we die our Souls shall live in those places which God has prepared for separate Souls and when we have re-assumed our Bodies we shall be admitted into the highest Heavens whither Christ is ascended and this seems very reasonable that we should not ascend into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God which signifies our perfect Reconciliation to him without our Bodies the want of which is an argument of our Apostasie and his Displeasure and all the Marks of his Displeasure ought to be removed before we appear in his immediate Presence But is not Christ in Heaven and how then can good Men be present with the Lord after Death if they do not immediately ascend into Heaven Now as for this they tell us That the Souls of just Men in Paradise have the sight and conversation of Angels and Archangels and the Vision or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of our Saviour which they think is what is meant by being present with the Lord though they did not affirm that no good Men did immediately ascend into Heaven when they died but expressly taught that all Martyrs did who died for the Name and Religion of Christ and this was the thing which made them in that Age so fond of Martyrdom that they thought all Martyrs ascended directly into Heaven And if they could have proved this as it is plain they believed it that Martyrs did immediately ascend into Heaven and that other Christians did not who would not have coveted to die a Martyr Thus I have very fairly and truly represented this Matter and that no Man who has not so carefully considered this may take Offence at it I shall 1. shew you how useful this Doctrine is at this time And 2. that it gives no discouragement to Vertue nor any encouragement to Vice 1 st As for the first we may consider In the first place That in such an Age as this wherein we have to deal with so many Atheists and Infidels we ought to take care to make Religion reasonable and intelligible for if we do not they expose it to Scorn and Ridicule and both harden themselves in their own Infidelity and corrupt others and therefore we must take care of representing any thing absurdly and inconsistently Now to say that Men who are already judged and either condemned or absolved and actually sent to Hell or to Heaven should be solemnly judged over again and condemned again to Hell or advanced to Heaven sounds oddly to such Men but if the Scripture does not expresly teach such a Doctrine we are at liberty not to teach it especially if we can give another Account of it which seems as agreeable to Scripture and more agreeable to the Reason and Understanding of Mankind 2. Some there are who observing that Mankind shall not be judged till the Day of Judgment conclude that there is no intermediate State but that the Soul sleeps with the Body till the Day of Judgment A very Foolish and Unphilosophical Opinion for we may as reasonably think that the Soul dies as that it sleeps in a state of Separation if the Soul be a spiritual Substance distinct from the Body it may live and act without it and it is as easie and reasonable to defend the Mortality of the Soul as its sleeping for if the Soul must sleep when it is separated from the Body it must sleep for ever if it never be re-united to the Body again that is it must live and die with the Body for such a sleep as this is not meerly an Image of Death but Death it self But from what I have now discoursed it appears that though there be a great distance between Death and Judgment yet the Soul does live and act is happy or miserable in the mean time 3. This Notion does very great Service also against Popery For 1. it gives an account of a middle State without Purgatory This has greatly imposed upon unlearned Men that the Advocates of Popery have proved from the Ancient Fathers that they owned a middle State which was neither Heaven nor Hell and then presently conclude that this must be Purgatory Now it is very true the Ancient Christians did own a middle State between Death and Judgment which was neither Heaven nor Hell but yet never dreamt of a Popish Purgatory they believed bad Men were in a State of Punishment as soon as they left these Bodies but not in Hell and that good Men were in a State of Rest and Happiness but not in Heaven but they never thought of a place of Torment to expiate the Temporal Punishment due to Sin when the Eternal Punishment is remitted which is the Popish Purgatory and the most barbarous Representation of the Christian Religion though the most profitable
too to the Church of Rome that ever was invented 2. This utterly overthrows the Worship of Saints in the Church of Rome at least of all Saints who were not Martyrs for Saint-worship is founded on this Belief that these Saints when they die are received into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God and therefore can there powerfully intercede for us but if these Saints are not yet received into Heaven nor shall be till the Resurrection which was the Faith of the Primitive Christians and seems very agreeable to the Doctrine of theGospel as I have now shewn you then there is an end of the Worship and Interâ—ession of Saints 2 dly This Doctrine neither discourages Vertue nor encourages Vice I cannot indeed say but that Heaven is a much happier place then Paradise and therefore it is more desirable for good Men when they die to go directly to Heaven then to Paradise but yet it is a sufficient encouragement to the exercise of the most perfect Vertues that as soon as we die we shall be carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom or into Paradise a place of perfect Ease and Rest and as perfect Happiness as can be enjoyed out of Heaven such a Paradise where holy Souls dwell Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs and Confessors with Heaven at the end of it is a sufficient an abundant Reward for all the most difficult and laborious Services of this Life that Heaven is not yet is no greater Discouragement then that we shall not rise from the Dead till the Day of Judgment that we shall not have our Bodies again till they are awakened by the last Trumpet Bodies which will be bright and glorious as the Sun which will rise with eternal Youth and Strength and Beauty this is a much greater Happiness then to live either in Paradise or in Heaven without our Bodies but this we must stay for and so we may for Heaven and we may be very well contented to wait for Heaven and for the Resurrection of our Bodies in Paradise when we are as happy as Paradise can make us we may very patiently expect the full Completion of our Happiness in the Resurrection of our Bodies and our Admission into the highest Heavens to the immediate Throne and Presence of God Thus though Hell is a place of the most perfect Torment and Misery for it is the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and therefore it is much more formidable for Sinners to drop immediately into Hell when they die then to suffer any other State of Punishment between Death and Judgment yet he is a very unreasonable Man who does not think the Day of Judgment time enough to be condemned to Hell and who does not think it Misery enough to fall under the Power of evil Spirits in the mean time If God thinks this Punishment enough methinks Sinners should and those who cannot fear Hell at the distance of the Day of Judgment will not fear Hell tho' it were no farther off than Death those who are not afraid of being tormented as Dives was when they go out of these Bodies will not fear Hell though we allow Hell to be a State of more perfect Misery I am sure Dives thought those Torments so great that they were sufficient to have made his Brethren true Penitents had they known what they must suffer for their Sins as soon as they die and those who will not allow that bad Men are immediately condemned to Hell as soon as they die yet must allow that they may be tormented as Dives was In short if wicked Men do not drop into Hell as soon as they die yet they shall be condemned to Hell at the Day of Judgment and in the intermediate State between Death and Judgment shall suffer all those unknown Miseries which are prepared for wicked Souls till the Day of Judgment and those who will not be perswaded by this will live and die in their Sins though you could convince them that they shall drop into Hell as soon as they die SECT II. That the Day of Iudgment is appointed HAving thus considered the State between Death and Judgment let us now more strictly consider the Time of Judgment and here are several things to be observed and explained I. That the Day of Judgment is appointed He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world II. That this is a General Day for the Judgment of the whole World III. That this Day of Judgment will be at the End of the World I. That the Day of Judgment is appointed He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world This is a matter of pure Revelation and can be known no other way for though we have great evidence from Reason that God will judge the World yet to appoint a Day is a free Act of God's Wisdom and Counsel and this must be learnt from Revelation and we cannot have a more express Revelation for any thing than we have for this for St. Paul tells us in plain words that God hath appointed a Day to Judge the World and our Saviour in express words several time refers to this Day as appointed and determined by God In that day many shal say unto me Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name which refers to some certain Day 7 Matth. 22. And the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice 5 John 28. And of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the angels of heaven but my Father only 24 Matth. 36. Which plainly signifies that the Day is determined and fixed because God knows when it shall be that is he knows when he has appointed it and if it were not appointed it had been no great wonder that neither Men nor Angels know it Now this Consideration that God hath appointed a Day wherein he will judge the World is not without its Use For 1 st This proves the Certainty of a Future Judgement that the Day of Judgement is appointed For we cannot think thaâ— God would appoint a Day to judge the World unless he absolutely resolved to judge it 2 ly This answers the Objection against a Future Judgment from the long Delays of it This St. Peter tells us would be a great Objection in the last Days or towards the end of the World 2 Pet. 3.3 4. Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation That is consider how old the World now is and how long Mankind have been frightned with the Fears of Judgment many Ages and successive Generations have lived in expectation of it but it is not yet nor any more signs of it then when the World was first made and since it has been so long expected to no purpose it is time to despise
heavens and a new earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into mind Which St. Peter understands in a literal sence not meerly of a more prosperous state of Things in this World And thus St. Iohn as the Conclusion of his Revelations immediately after his Account of the last Judgment gives us a Description of this new Heaven and new Earth 21 Rev. 1 c. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea And I Iohn saw the holy city new Ierusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying The tabernacle of God is with men and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away And the rest of that Book is spent in describing the Glory of the Great City the Holy Ierusalem the River of the Water of Life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb and the Tree of Life which bore twelve manner of Fruits These are great Mysteries which we cannot perfectly understand yet especially what St. Iohn says about the new Ierusalem's coming down from Heaven to take up its Seat and Habitation on this new Earth that there is the Throne of God and of the Lamb where God dwells and which he enlightens with his Presence and from whence he drives away Death and Sorrow and Pain which seems to signifie that as the old Heavens and old Earth are destroyed by Fire in Vengeance on its wicked Inhabitants so this new Heaven and new Earth which God makes after the Destruction of the old is the Seat of the Blessed after their Resurrection from the Dead which I confess I know not how to understand But this gives a plain account why the final Judgment when good Men shall receive their final Reward shall not be till the end of the World because this old World must be destroyed before GOD makes those new Heavens and new Earth The final Destruction of bad Men will begin with the Destruction of this old World and the Rewards and Happiness of good Men shall be consummated in the new World whatever that be where they shall dwell for ever in the immediate Presence of God and of the Lamb. Now that God defers the Day of Judgment to the end of the World May 1. convince us of God's great Patience and Long-suffering towards Sinners for he forbears their Execution as long as he can forbear destroying the World and that we may be sure is as long as Wisdom and Justice will permit To destroy a World is a Work of as great Wisdom and Counsel as to make one nay the Divine Goodness will easily justifie the making of a World at any time for no time is unfit to exercise such acts of Goodness as will justifie themselves but for God to destroy the World which he has made without great necessity for it reflects upon his Wisdom and Goodness in making it The wise Maker of the World can have no inclination to destroy it and though the Justice of Providence may require some more hasty Executions to maintain good Order and Government and to give check to Vice yet the final Destruction of the World requires all wise Delays and Sinners can expect no more of God than to defer their final Sentence as long as he can defer the end of the World It is great pitty that such Goodness and Patience should be so monstrously abused that Men should harden themselves in sin and conclude that God will not judge the World because he is so unwilling to destroy it but this will justifie the Severity of the last Judgment that it is not the Effect of a hasty and sudden Fury but of mature Counsel that God did not want Goodness to spare Sinners as long as Wisdom and Justice could spare them To be slow to execute Judgment is as essential to Goodness as it is to Justice at last to punish and to conclude that God will not punish at all because he is patient and delays to punish is to prove that God cannot be just because he is good 2. That God destroys the World when he judges it is an undeniable Proof of the Severity of the last Judgment for what a terrible Vengeance is that which fires the World and dissolves this present Frame of Nature this is a fiery indignation indeed to devour the Adversary 10 Heb. 27. when bad Men and wicked Spirits shall be encompassed with Flames and Smoke without any possibility to escape for whether can they flie out of a fired World when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with â—ervent heat the earth also and all that is therein shall be burnt up There are a great many brave Sinners who mock at Fear and harden themselves against Hell itself but if they can be serious but for some few Minutes let them imagine all the World on fire about them the Heavens covered with thick Darkness and the whole Earth but one Vulcano one AEtna or Vesuvius Vomiting up Rivers of Burning Sulphur and themselves plunged in the midst of it let them try how they can bear this Thought before they laugh at Hell for this will certainly be the State of Sinners at the Day of Judgment and should not this make us fear and tremble before that great and powerful Judge Who knoweth the power of his wrath who can live with devouring fire who can dwell with everlasting burnings What an irresistible Judge is he who can destroy the World and all Sinners with it the World that was their God and now will be their Funeral Pile according to the Fate of some Heathen Idolaters they shall be sacrificed to their own God and tormented in the Embraces of a burning Idol The Destruction of the World gives a terrible Pomp and Solemnity to the last Judgment it will astonish bad Men and break their stout Hearts to see the World in Flames it will convince them to purpose that God is come to judge them and that he is very severe and terrible in his Judgments Who can describe the Horrours and Agonies and Consternation of that Day Cast your thoughts back a little upon that terrible Day when you saw London on Fire when you saw your Houses and Treasure all vanish into Dust and Smoke What did you think then of the Power and Justice of God And yet this was no more than a little Boan-fire compared with the Universal Conflagration though you could not save your Houses and Furniture and Treasure from its Rage and Fury yet there was room left for your own Escape and if this were so amazing
in this he does not undertake to tell them when the Day of Judgment shall be for that he did not know but only tells them That there must come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God And this Man of Sin not being then revealed it was plain that the Day of Judgment could not so suddenly come as they expected And now we find by Story that it was some Ages after this before the Man of Sin was revealed After this St. Iohn wrote his Book of the Revelations and did we thoroughly understand that though we should not certainly know the precise time of Judgment yet we should know how many things are still to be done before the Day of Judgment for that contains an entire Prophesy of the Christian Church from the beginning of it to the end of the World And though I will not pretend to understand those Mysteries especially what is there called the thousand Years Reign of Christ upon the Earth which whatever it signifie seems to be before the end of the World and the final Judgment yet we certainly learn from thence that the Man of Sin must be destroyed before the last Judgment and if this be the Popish Hierarchy as I doubt not but it is it is plain this is not done yet and I wish his final Overthrow be so near as some learned Men think it is But I think there is another Prophesy of St. Paul himself which has not been accomplished yet which must receive its accomplishment before the Day of Judgment and we see no prospect of its present accomplishment I mean the Conversion of the Iews and the Re-union of them to the Christian Church This we have an account of in 11 Rom. which whatever some learned Men imagine I can by no means think has received its just accomplishment by those few Iews which were converted by the Preaching of the Apostles and the Destruction of Ierusalem for Verse 15. he tells us If the casting away of the Iews is the reconciling of the world that is if the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles upon the obstinate Infidelity of the Iews what shall the reconciling of them be but life from the dead That is the Conversion of the Iews shall be a new Life to the Gentile World a new Resurrection of Christianity among us But was ever any such thing done yet In Verse 25 26. he tells them For I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in And so all Israel shall be saved as it is written There shall come out of Sion the deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob Now has any such thing yet been done has all Israel or the generality of the Iews been converted to Christianity and yet the Apostle assures us this must be done by Vertue of God's Covenant with Abraham As concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake God so ordered it that by their Infidelity the Gospel should be preached to the Gentile World yet as touching the election they are beloved for the fathers sake As the Posterity of Abraham Isaac and Iacob whom God chose as his peculiar People For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance God will never wholly reject the Posterity of Abraham whom he hath chose for his People but will still establish his Covenant with them and that God has now rejected them for their Infidelity is no argument that he will never own them again for so he had rejected the Gentiles for their Unbelief but now has received them again into his Church upon their Faith in Christ and thus he will again graft the Iews into his Church if they abide not still in their unbelief v. 30 31. which the Apostle prophesies they shall not For as ye in times past have not believed God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief even so have these also now not believed that thro' your mercy they also may obtain mercy Now such a Conversion as this of the Iews I think has not been yet and therefore must be expected before the Day of Judgment and the end of the World which shews that the end of the World will not be yet and how long it may be deferred we cannot tell II. How long soever the end of the World and the Day of Judgment be delayed yet we have great reason immediately to prepare for it for indeed this Life is the only time we have to prepare for it Death puts an end to our account for Eternity for we shall be judged according to what we have done in the Body whether it be good or bad and the final Sentence shall pass on us according to that state which Death finds us in which seems to be the reason why our Saviour warns us always to be upon our watch As not knowing at what hour our Lord will come for whatever the intermediate State be how long soever it be between Death and Judgment yet our account is the same and to be surprized by Death before we are provided for it is the same thing as to be surprized by Judgment 24 Matth. 42 43 44. Watch therefore for ye know not at what hour your Lord doth come But know this that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man cometh Which if it concern all Christians must relate to the Hour of Death as well as to the Day of Judgment And therefore flatter not yourselves that Judgment is a great way off when you know not how near Death is which will finish your Account The State of bad Men is very miserable as you have already heard as soon as they go out of these Bodies and they are reserved for the terrible Judgment of the great Day and though the Day of Judgment is not yet is it not a terrible thing to be certainly reserved for it which how long soever it be delayed has an Eternity to follow III. But if the near approach of the end of the World and the Day of Judgment be considerable it is certain that is not far off neither the World has continued now some thousand Years and if the time of Christ and his Apostles were the last Days after sixteen hundred Years we must be pretty near the end of the last Days We have a nearer prospect of Eternity then those had who lived some thousand Years ago at least if they had known how long this World would have continued but though they might not think it would have continued so long we know now that
Future Judgment makes this necessary 3 dly Let us then consider how this matter may be reconciled that we are saved by Grace and justified by Faith in Christ and yet must be judged by our Works And this is very easily done for we shall be judged by our Works according to the Gracious Terms of the Gospel The Faith of Christ was never intended to give us a liberty in sinning or to excuse us from the necessity of a holy life and as far as the necessity of holiness is reconcilable with the Grace of the Gospel so far our being judged by our Works is reconcilable with our being saved by Grace upon the same Terms that the Gospel promises Pardon and Forgiveness we shall be pardoned at the Day of Judgment whatever the Gospel promises to reward shall be rewarded at the Day of Judgment and thus we are judged by Grace and by Works too This is easily understood by those who know any thing of the Gospel of Christ and therefore I shall at present but just mention it The Gospel of Christ promises Pardon of sin to true Penitents who are heartily sorry for their sins abhor themselves for them make restitution for the Injuries they have done to Men beg God's Pardon in the Name and Mediation of Christ and amend their Lives for Christ has made atonement and expiation for such Sinners and therefore at the Day of Judgment no Man shall be condemned for such sins as he has heartily repented of and reformed and this is to be judged by Grace as well as by our Works for the Law prescribes our Duty but promises no Pardon no not to Penitents this is owing to the Grace of God through the Merits and Mediation of Christ but though the Grace of the Gospel pardons true Penitents yet the same Gospel threatens eternal damnation against impenitent Sinners The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness To them who are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil And therefore impenient Sinners will be judged and condemned for their sins at the last Day by the Mediatour of the Covenant of Grace for the Gospel itself condemns them Thus the Grace of God that bringeth salvation and hath appeared unto all men teacheth us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world And therefore without holiness no man shall see God Heaven is the Reward only of good Men who live in the Exercise of all Christian Graces and Vertues and therefore good Men must be judged must be rewarded according to their Works and yet this is Gospel-Grace too for such a glorious Reward as Heaven is above the Merit of the most perfect Vertue in this World The best Man cannot challenge such a Reward from the Justice of God and therefore it is owing to Gospel-Grace the wages of sin is death but eternal life is the gift of God not the merit and desert of our Works through our Lord Iesus Christ. Especially when we consider that this great and perfect Reward is bestowed upon a very imperfect Vertue the Obedience of the best Men is very defective stained and sullied with Human Weaknesses Indiscretions Follies Ignorances Mistakes indecent Surprizes of Passion or coldness and flatness of Devotion and too often interrupted with wilful and scandalous sins such as nothing but Grace can pardon and therefore much more nothing but Grace can reward and therefore good Men are judged by Grace and rewarded by Grace though according to their Works We are all Sinners we are all obnoxious to the Justice of God would he be extream to mark what is done amiss but since a perfect Vertue is not to be expected from Mankind in this lapsed state God is pleased to accept of sincerity instead of perfection and through the Merits of Christ and Faith in his Blood to account him a righteous Man who sincerely loves and fears him and obeys his Laws though with the Weaknesses and Infirmities incident to Humane Nature So that our being judged by our Works signifies no more but that we are distinguished by the Good or Evil we do into good or bad Men according to the favourable allowances of the Gospel and then bad Men receive the just desert of their sins and good Men receive those Rewards not which they have merited but which the Grace of God and the Merits of Christ have prepared and purchased for them This is a plain account how Christians may be judged by their Works and yet saved by Grace and by Faith in Christ and the righteousness and equity of the last Judgment seems to entitle Heathens themselves thô they have no Covenant Right to it to some degrees of this Grace for I cannot think that God in judging the World will deal more rigorously and severely with Heathens than he will with Christians that he will demand most where he has given least which is contrary to our Saviour's Rule of Judgment and therefore I cannot but hope that Christ in judging of their Works will make the same favourable allowances to them which the Gospel makes to those who do believe in Christ that is to say that he will allow of the Repentance of a Heathen if it were sincere and hearty and did reform his Life as well as of the Repentance of a Christian that he will overlook the same Defects and Imperfections in the good Actions of Heathens who lived vertuous Lives who worshipped the One true God and observed the natural Rules of Sobriety Justice and Righteousness that he will in the Actions of Christians That if any Heathen should be found equally vertuous with the meanest Christian who shall be finally saved that Heathen at least will not be damned and indeed would seem to have reason to complain of unequal usage if he should St. Paul tells us both with respect to Jews and Heathens as well as Christians That God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Iesus according to the Gospel And if the Gospel be the Rule of judging all Mens Actions they must be all equally judged with respect to the Good or Evil of their Actions and be judged as the Gospel judges I grant the Heathens had no promise of Pardon upon their Repentance but yet all Mankind believed so well of the Goodness and Mercy of God that they hoped for Pardon upon their Repentance thus we find the Ninivites did and they had it and indeed it was this perswasion that taught them to pray to God and to offer Sacrifices which had been insignificant things had they not been perswaded that God both could and would pardon sin when Sinners repent Nor have the Heathens any Covenant Title to Salvation and yet they were generally perswaded that good Men shall be rewarded and the
wicked punisht in the next World and their Consciences did either condemn or absolve terrifie or comfort them as ours do us which are very vain hopes if there be no Reward for them thô they should observe the Laws of Vertue St. Peter tells us what he had learnt from the Case of Cornelius a Roman Centurion but a devout Worshipper of God and one who gave much Alms Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every nation be that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted of him What does St. Peter mean that God will accept Heathens who are perfectly innocent and righteous and never committed any sin He knew very well there were no such Men in the World much less among the Heathens and therefore he must mean that God will accept of all honest sincere Worshippers of him though guilty of many human Frailties of what Nation soever they be It is true no Man's sins shall be forgiven nor his Vertue rewarded but for the sake of Christ who is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world for there is no other Name given unto Men whereby they can be saved but only the Name of Christ but if all who shall be saved from the beginning to the end of the World shall be saved by Christ as it is certain they must be if there be no other Name whereby Men can be saved it is to be hoped that many thousands will be saved by Christ at the Day of Judgment who never had any explicite Knowledge or Faith in him for though I grant God promised a Saviour to Man immediately after the Fall and renewed this Promise to Abraham and afterwards to David and prefigured him in the Types and Sacrifices of the Law yet Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins was never publickly preached in his Name till he gave that Commission to the Apostles after his Resurrection from the Dead And now little the Jews understood of the Nature or Office of their Messias is very plain from the ignorance of Christ's own Disciples and Apostles who expected that he should be a Temporal Prince and Saviour and understood so little of his being a Sacrifice for Sin or of their being saved through Faith in his Blood that St. Peter himself could not with any patience hear of his dying and when he was put to Death his Disciples thought all their great hopes and expectations from him utterly disappointed till they saw him again after he was risen from the dead So that those good Men even among the Jews who lived before Christ's appearing in the World though they had the Promises of the Messias yet do not seem to have had any explicite knowledge what kind of Saviour the Messias was to be nor by what means he should save us though the Types and Figures and Promises of the Law seem very plain to us now since Christ expounded them to his Disciples and they to us and therefore they could not be saved by such a Faith in Christ's Blood as is now required from us for they did not know that he was to save us by the merit and expiation of his death and if those good Men might be saved by the Blood of Christ who had no knowledge of his dying for our sins and therefore no explicite Faith in his Blood why not those also who had never heard of Christ if they lived so as to be capable of Salvation For that Promise of a Saviour made to Adam immediately after his Fall That the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head was in him made to all Mankind who descend from his Loyns And though Christ has not been preached to all Ages nor to all parts of the World yet he is the Judge of all Men and he judges as Mediator between GOD and Man as I observed before and therefore judges all Mankind not by the Rules of strict and rigorous Justice for that is not the Office of the Mediator but by the mercy and equity of the Gospel This makes a very fair representation of the equal Justice Righteousness and Mercy of the last Judgment that no Man shall perish meerly for the misfortune of his Birth that he lived before Christ was preached to the World or in such Countries where Christ was never preached but though the Gospel was never preached to him yet he shall be judged by Gospel Grace and if he were a true Penitent and a sincere Worshipper of God shall have liberty to plead his Repentance and the sincerity of his Obedience at the Tribunal of Christ when he comes to Judgment which will be so undeniable a Justification of the Righteousness of the Last Judgment that were there no other reason for it it would mightily incline any Man who thinks honourably of God to believe it And this will teach all Christians what I am sure some have great need to be taught that the benefit they receive by the Knowledge and Faith of Christ is not to be saved upon easier terms than the rest of the World for it will appear at the Day of Judgment that a great deal more is expected from them than from ignorant Heathens but the true benefit of having the Gospel preached to them is that they are more perfectly instructed in the Will of God and the means of Salvation have more express Revelations of the Rewards and Punishments of the next Life have more express Promises of Pardon and Forgiveness are delivered from the Cheats and Impostures of evil Spirits and have the powerful assistances of the Divine Grace that is all the Helps Advantages Encouragements and Obligations to improve in Christian Graces and Vertues to avoid the threatned Miseries and to obtain the Glorious Rewards of the next Life this is an inestimable advantage which we Christians enjoy above Jews or Heathens which if we improve well we cannot fail of being happy for ever we may by diligence and caution make our Calling and Election sure these great advantages the Heathen World wanted and therefore were overrun with Idolatry and all manner of Wickedness and seldom saw any great Examples of Vertue to shame them or teach them better This is a great difference God has put between us and the Heathen World and we need not envy them as favourable a Judgment as we hope to have our selves for certainly they want it more and therefore it becomes the righteous and merciful Judge of the World to give it them Thus we see in general by what Rule we shall be judged and the Righteousness of such a Judgment but there are some things which though they have been briefly mentioned before deserve a more particular consideration As 1. Though we shall be judged for all the Good or Evil we have done yet our Saviour in describing the Process of the Last Judgment makes no mention of any thing but Acts of Charity 25 Mat. 34 c. When he shall have separated the sheep from the goats
whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead 17 Acts 30 31. While Men were ignorant of the other World or had only some uncertain Reports of it mixed with fabulous Stories to increase and nourish Superstition their wickedness was very pitiable and shall meet with a more favourable Judgment but we can now pretend Ignorance no longer and therefore now God commands us to repent Upon this Principle it is that our Saviour upbraided those cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes but I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of Iudgment than for you And thou Capernaum who art exalted unto heaven shalt be brought down to hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day but I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee 11 Mat. 20 21 22 23. Those mighty Works our Saviour wrought in these Cities were such powerful Convictions as rendred their Infidelity inexcusable and that aggravated their Condemnation And for the same reason our Saviour threatens that unbelieving Generation who saw all his mighty Works and heard his admirable Wisdom which was so much beyond whatever was seen or heard before The men of Niniveh shall rise in judgment against this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Ionas and behold a greater than Ionas is here The Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here 12 Luke 41 42. The greater the Preacher is the greater Works he does and the greater Evidence he gives of his Divine Authority still the guilt and condemnation proportionably increases and then the Infidelity of those who live in a Christian Nation and the Wickedness of professed Believers who have so much greater certainty of the Rewards and Punishments of the next World than either Chorazin or Bethsaida or Capernaum then had exceeds them all and their Punishments will proportionably exceed Thus the Gospel has fully acquainted us with the whole Dispensation of Grace in the Redemption of the World by our Lord Jesus Christ That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life 3 John 16. That Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works 2 Tit. 14. That he has made atonement for our sins by his Blood That herein God hath commended his love towards us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us that when we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son 5 Rom. 8.10 And we know the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ that though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poor that we through his poverty might be rich 2 Cor. 8 9. Here is a new Scene of Grace and Love opened which the World was unacquainted with before which presents us with new Arguments and lays new Obligations on us to serve God Arguments and Obligations so endearing so powerful that one would think Human Nature could not resist them could not get loose from them If we will not reverence the Authority of God yet how can we resist his Love If it be not enough to entitle God to our Service that he made us shall we deny his Purchase too When he has bought us with a price the inestimable Blood of his own Son Ought not the love of Christ to constrain us Could he do any thing more for us than redeem us from Death and Hell Could he redeem us at a dearer rate than with his own Blood When he could get nothing by it but the pleasure and satisfaction of making us happy and the glory of being the Saviour of Sinners It is a reproach to Humane Nature to think that such Love as this should not convert the World and subdue Mankind to the Obedience of God It is plain this gives God a greater Right to us than meer Creation and therefore gives every sin of Christians a double guilt if Heathens sinned against their Maker Christians sin against their Maker and their Saviour too And to sin against Love against suffering redeeming forgiving saving Love is a very different thing from sinning against Authority We may call it folly or madness to disobey our Soveraign Lord who can and will punish our Disobedience but to abuse to affront to grieve Love is not the sin of Men though too many Men are guilty of it but of a diabolical Nature I have nothing to say of it but that it is the greatest provocation in the World and all Men think so and thus much worse the sins of Christians are than the sins of Heathens But the Love of God and the Grace of Christ are not the only motives and arguments which our Redemption by the Death of Christ furnishes us with but there are a great many other and such powerful ones as must greatly aggravate our guilt to sin against them There is not a greater preservation against sin than to have a just sense of the Evil of it and a thorough Conviction of God's irreconcileable hatred and displeasure against it and that he will certainly punish it Now indeed Nature does in some measure teach this the Reason of Mankind condemns it Modesty preserves us from some sins Natural Aversions from others till both the Modesty and Aversions of Nature are conquered by a Custom of sinning but then on the other hand the inclinations of Flesh and Blood very strongly tempt us to some sins which are very grateful to Flesh and Blood and to other sins to gain opportunities to gratifie those inclâ—â—ations and when Men taste the sweets of sin and find the present advantages of it this bribes their Reason to speak more favourably of it and to attribute the shame and aversions of Nature to Education and Popular mistakes Thus though men have a natural Sense of God's displeasure against sin and natural Conscience threatens the Judgments of God against sinners yet the experience of the World tells us that most Men flatter themselves that God may be appeased and reconciled to them without forsaking their sins not only the Heathens but even Iews themselves thought this might be done by their sacrifices and the other external rites and ceremonies of their Religion as appears from the frequent complaints of