go out of these Bodies they shall go to Christ 2 Cor. 5.6 8. and this made it so difficult a Choice to St. Paul whether he should desire to live or die by living he might do great service to the Church and therefore he was very well contented to live but if he departed he should be with Christ which is best of all For I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you 1 Phil. 23 24. And it is universally pronounced Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them 14 Revel 13. This evidently proves that good Men shall be happy as soon as they die and besides the express Authority of our Saviour in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus the reason of the thing proves that bad Men must be miserable that as the Happiness of good Men commences with their death so must the Miseries of the Wicked Bad Men indeed many times live very happily in this World for this is the time of God's Patience while he waits to be gracious not being willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but the Day of Grace ends with this Life the next World is for Retributions we must there receive according to our Works and therefore though we should suppose that the perfect Rewards of good Men and the perfect Miseries of the wicked should be deferred till the Day of Judgment when the final Sentence shall be pronounced which shall bestow Heaven upon good Men and condemn the wicked to Hell yet the Punishment of bad Men must begin when they leave this World because God's Patience is then at an end and the Rewards of good Men must begin too because their Work and Labour is at an end And this has been the universal Belief of Mankind who have believed a future State though they knew nothing of a General Judgment when all Mankind should be summon'd before God's Tribunal yet they all believed that when bad Men died they immediately went to a place of Punishment and good Men to Elysium a place of Rest and Happiness for if we shall be rewarded and punished in the next World for what we have done in this it is natural and reasonable to think that our Rewards and Punishments shall begin as soon as we go into the next World 2. And yet we read of no other formal Judgment but that great and general Judgment when the Son of Man shall descend from Heaven with a glorious Retinue of Angels to Judge the World if we examine all those express Declarations of Christ and his Apostles concerning Judgment or those Parables of our Saviour which relate to it we shall plainly find that they concern the last and general Judgment It is in that day which relates to a certain determined Day of Judgment that many shall say unto him Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name 7 Matth. 22. It is at the end of the World when the Angels shall separate between the Wheat and the Tares between the good and bad Fish which were taken in the same Net 13 Matth. It is when the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels that he shall reward every man according to his works 16 Matth. 27. that is as St. Paul speaks when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Thess. 8 9. God hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man And when he must do this he tells us The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation 5 John 27 28 29. And in his account of his Judging the World he tells us When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separateth his sheep from the goats 25 Matth. 31 32. Then it is when the Man who travelled into a far Country returns and calls his Servants to an Account how they have improved their Talents v. 14 c. Christ is the only Judge of the World for all Judgment is committed to the Son and he does not judge the World till his second Appearance till he returns in the Glory of his Father with his Angels The Apostle to the Hebrews indeed tells us It is appointed unto men once to die and after death the judgment which might seem to intimate a particular Judgment of all Men as soon as they die but he adds when this Judgment shall be in the next Verse So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many he died once for us because we must once die and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation That is he shall appear the second time to judge the World which shews that this Judgement after Death is the general Judgement 9 Heb. 27 28. And the truth is if all Men have a final Sentence past on them as soon as they go into the other World it is very unaccountable why Christ at the last Day shall come with such a terrible Pomp and Solemnity to Judge and Condemn those who are judged and condemned and executed already as much as ever they can be And therefore in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus we have no mention of their being judged but Lazarus was carried by an Angel into Abraham's Bosom the Angels being ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 1 Heb. 14. Thus they minister to good Men in this World and do a great many kind Offices for us which we know not of and thus they minister to us when we go out of this World and conduct us to a place of Ease and Rest carry us safe through the Crowds of evil Spirits which fill these lower Regions into Abraham's bosom but the rich man was dead and buried and lift up his eyes in hell or Hades not Gehennah which signifies the State of separate Souls and it seems of wicked Souls and was in Torment but how he came thither it is not said there is no notice given us of any Judgment which sat on him or who carried him thither and therefore if we may guess by the Analogy of the Parable as Lazarus was carried by an Angel into Abraham's Bosom so Dives having no good Angel to guard him fell into
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
it cannot continue so much longer there are some Prophesies to be accomplished still but how soon they may be accomplished we know not no Man questions but that the World now grows to an end and therefore it is time for every Man to think of Eternity CHAP. III. Who shall be our Iudge viz. the Man CHRIST IESVS III. LET us now consider who shall be our Judge That man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath giveâ— assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead where are two things to be considered First The Person who is to Judge us Secondly What Assurance we have that He shall be our Judge First The Person who is to Judge us That man whom he hath ordained that is the Man CHRIST JESUS for thus both Christ and his Apostles assure us that God hath appointed him to be the Judge of the World The Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son 5 John 22. The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels and then shall he reward every man according to his works 16 Matth. 27. Thus St. Peter assures Cornelius concerning Christ He commanded us to preach unto the people and to testifie that it is he which was ordained by God to be the judge of quick and dead 10 Acts 42. But there is no need to multiply Texts in so plain a Case it is of more concernment to inquire why Christ who is the Eternal Son of God and a God Incarnate when he is spoke of as Judge of the World is most usually described as a Man or the Son of Man thus He is that man whom God hath ordained and the Son of man nay Christ himself tells us For this reason God hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man 5 John 27. Now the reason why our Saviour is described as a Man and the Son of Man when he comes to Judgment is because he shall visibly appear in Humane Nature to judge the World and therefore will be and will appear as much a Man as he did when he dwelt on Earth though he will appear also more like a God thus the Prophet Daniel describes it He saw in the night-visions and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him And there was given him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed 7 Dan. 13 14. It is the Son of Man who has this Glory and Kingdom given him and which he must administer as the Son of Man And this seems the true reason why our Saviour so often calls himself the Son of Man not as some imagine with respect to the mean Circumstances of his Appearance in the World for this Phrase The Son of Man no where in Scripture relates to such an external Meanness and Poverty as distinguishes one Man from another but it either signifies no more than a Man or it respects the common Weaknesses of Humane Nature and when this Name is applied to any particular Persons it is never used of mean Men but always of Princes or Prophets But by this Title of the Son of Man our Saviour gives us to understand that he is that Great and Extraordinary Person known by the name of The Son of Man in Daniel's Visions whom God hath ordained to be the Lord and Judge of the World But I shall not pass over this Argument thus but shall more particularly consider the great Wisdom of this how necessary congruous and fitting it is that the Son of Man should Judge the World which will suggest a great many useful Meditations to us Now I shall reduce what I have to say to these two Heads 1. That it is very fitting and necessary that the Saviour of Mankind should be their Judge also 2. And therefore that the Man Christ Jesus who is the Saviour of the World should Judge it I. That it is very fitting and necessary that the Saviour of Mankind should be their Judge also and that upon two Accounts 1. Because the Authority to Judge is essential to the Notion and Authority of a Saviour To save Sinners signifies to save them from their sins which is the true Interpretation of the Name Jesus 1 Matt. 20. And to save them from their Sins is to deliver them from the Punishment of Sin that is from the Wrath of God from the Curse of the Law from Death and Hell to raise them from the Dead and to bestow Immortal Life on them Now there are several Acts must concur to perfect this Salvation but the last concluding and finishing Act is Judgment And he only is a complete and perfect Saviour who has Authority to Judge to Pardon and to Reward God is a Holy and Pure Being and can never be reconciled to Sinners till they are renewed and sanctified which makes it necessary for the Saviour of the World to instruct Mankind in their Duty and by the Power of his Grace to change their Natures and make them Holy as God is since without holiness no man shall see God and therefore he must be a great Prophet and Preacher of Righteousness to turn men from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God God is a very righteous Judge and has threatned Death against Sin and therefore the Saviour of Sinners must make Atonement and Expiation for Sin must deliver us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us that is must be our Priest and our Sacrifice must die for our Sins and intercede for us with God but all this while a Sinner is not saved till he is finally acquitted and absolved till he is actually delivered from the Curse of the Law and possessed of Eternal Life and Glory all things else are only Preparatory Acts but the Final Judgment perfects our Salvation for he who finally Pardons and bestows Heaven on us is our Saviour Christ might have been our Prophet our Priest and our Sacrifice without being our Judge but he could not have been our Saviour without it and therefore after Christ's Resurrection from the Dead after he had preach'd the Gospel and died upon the Cross to expiate our Sins he tells his Disciples All power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth 28 Matth. And St. Peter tells the Sanhedrim Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins 5 Acts 31. So that he saves by Power he is our Saviour and our Prince and this Power is the Reward of his Obedience and Sufferings Therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name
if our Saviour will judge us it is dangerous to neglect so great Salvation That God did not intend meerly to fright Sinners with his Threatnings is evident from the Sufferings of our Saviour he could not save us without making Atonement and Expiation for our Sins and if he must undergo the Curse of the Law if he must suffer Death to redeem Sinners it is certain Sinners must have died if Christ had not died for them as St. Paul argues If one died for all then were all dead for would God have laid the Punishment of our Sins on Christ if he had not intended to execute the Curse of the Law against Sinners would he have delivered up Christ to Death for us if he had not intended that Sinners should die without a Sacrifice And when the Saviour of the World who came to lay down his Life for us to â—edeem us from the Curse of the Law threatens everlasting Destruction against impenitent and unbelieving Sinners what reason have we to hope that he will not execute his Threatnings those who are not redeemed by his Death must die themselves and it cannot be otherwise expected but that he who died to save us will execute the Sentence of Eternal Death on all those who will not be saved by him When he comes to Judgment he will remember the Shame and Agony the Infamy and Torments of the Cross which he under went for Sinners and this will make him revenge the Contempt of his dying and suffering Love he suffered for Sin once and though he were the Son of God he bowed and sweat and died under the weight of it but all this is despised by Sinners and goes for nothing and now he will die no more for them but they shall die for themselves shall feel the weight of God's Wrath themselves shall sweat and groan and die under it to Eternity II. It is very fitting and congruous that the Man Christ Jesus who is the Saviour should be the Judge of the World and that upon three Accounts 1. This is a very fitting Reward of his Humiliation and Sufferings 2. It gives great advantage to the Future Judgment that the Son of Man is the Judge of Mankind 3. It adds to the Glory and Triumph and Terrour of that Day to have a visible Judge 1. The Glory and Authorâ—ty of a Judge is a very proper and fitting Reward of Christ's Humiliation and Sufferings He became Man to save Mankind though he was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God yet he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross 2 Phil. 6 7 8. This was a very low Condescension for the Son of God to conceal his Eternal Majesty under so mean a Disguise of Flesh and Blood to become Man as we are to submit to all the Weaknesses and Infirmities of Humane Nature to choose a low and mean Fortune to be treated with Contempt and Infamy and to die a painful and accursed Death upon the Cross. All this he submitted to in Obedience to his Father's Will for the Redemption of Mankind but it was not fitting this Son of Righteousness should always lie under an Eclipse he must break forth at last with a new and surprizing Glory the World must see what a great and excellent Person he was who came to visit them in great Humility who took upon him the form of a servant and was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief and therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father V. 10 11. Christ is now exalted to the right Hand of God as a Reward of his Humiliation and Sufferings and appears in the true Glory of an Incarnate God but his Glory is now visible onely to the blessed Inhabitants of Heaven those who despised him persecuted him spit on him nailed him to the Cross those who in all Ages since have derided the Crucified Jesus and scorned his Religion and Worship see nothing of his Glory but when he comes to Judge the World then his Glory and Power shall be visible to all this will put an end to the Reproach of the Cross and turn it into Surprize and Wonder when they shall see what a glorious Person he is who submitted to so infamous a Death When he came into the World he appeared as other Men do as mean as the meanest Men clothed with a mortal Body of Flesh and Blood without any external Splendor of Birth or Fortune to recommend him but when this Son of Man shall return again to Judge the World his external Appearance will then be glorious so bright and transplendent that he will Eclipse the Sun as the Sun does the lesser Lights of Heaven then God will be as visible in him as Man was on Earth and shine through Humane Nature as the Soul does through the Body that an Incarnate God will be as visible as a Man Humane Nature will no longer veil and conceal the Glory of the Godhead but shall bear all the visible Impressions of the Deity and appear with the awful Majesty of God and this is a proper Reward for his mean appearance on Earth for when God becomes Man though there may be wise Reasons why he should conceal himself in Humane Nature for a while yet it cannot and ought not to be always so but if God becomes Man he will at one time or other make his Glory visible to all the World in Humane Nature It was a low and vile submission for the Son of God to be arraigned as a Male-factor before Pontius Pilate to be falsly accused unjustly condemned made a Mock King buffetted scourged reviled with the most bitter and insulting Scorn and nailed upon the Cross betwixt two Thieves but the Scene will be changed when he comes to Judge the World when his Crown of Thorns shall be bright Rays of Glory when the Wound in his Side and the Print of the Nails in his Hands and Feet shall be Springs and Fountains of Light when his Cross shall be turned into a Triumphant Charriot and Throne of Judgment and his Judge and Accusers and all the Enemies and Despisers of his Cross shall stand trembling before him this is the Triumph of the Crucified Jesus this is the Reward of his Infamy and Death and a proper Reward it is to make him the Judge of the World who was judged and condemned himself by Sinners The firm belief and perswasion of this now that God has made him the Judge
Quality too and deal with them like Princes or Nobles or Gentlemen as one unfortunate Gentleman expressed himself not many Years since at the Gallows and I fear therein spoke the secret Thoughts and Hopes of many others so that if these Men believe they shall be judged yet they perswade themselves that they shall not be judged like other Men that God will wink at their Faults and have respect to their Rank and Quality and excuse them from the strict Observation of those Laws which were made for meaner Persons I suppose you do not expect I should gravely and seriously confute such vain Conceits as these which few Men dare profess and own and defend though they secretly flatter themselves with such Hopes as is too visible in their lives but since Men are apt to think such things as they dare not speak it will be useful to suggest some wiser Thoughts to them which may prevent such Imaginations and bring the greatest Men living under the Awe and Terrour of the Future Judgment For what a vain Imagination is it That God will have regard to Earthly Greatness in judging the World For what is this World and all the Greatness and Glory of it to him who made it Great and small are but comparative Terms and nothing is great when compared with that which is greater Consider the Glory of our Judge as I have already represented it to you when he shall come attended with Myriads of Angels and then think what little creeping Worms you are to him We may observe in this World that every Rank and Degree of Men appears considerable to those below them but those above use them as Inferiours and are not afraid to Judge and Correct them for their Faults and is there not a much greater Distance between GOD and the greatest Emperour than there is between the greatest Emperour and a petty Constable Consider the Case of the Apostate Angels of the Devil himself who is the Prince of the Power of the Air and was a very glorious Spirit and if as great and glorious as he was God flung him down from Heaven for Sin and as powerful as he now is who is the God of this World will judge and condemn him at the last Day why should any Man think that his Power and Greatness which be it what it will can neither be compared to what the Devil was nor to what he is should excuse him from the Judgment of God And since you boast of your Power and Greatness who made you so who made you to differ from the meanest Beggar who advances Princes to the Throne and cloaths them with Glory and Majesty is not all power of God are they not his Ministers and Servants and is any Minister too great to be corrected by his Prince who made him so are not all Ministers accountable to their Lord and the greater their Trust and Power is have they not a greater account to give and is this a reason why they should give none why they should be exempted from Judgement and from giving an Account But it is a wonderful thing to me that any Man should glory in Power and Greatness or think himself too big to be judged by God or that God will have any regard to his Greatness in judging him for did he but reflect upon his own state and condition in this World it would convince him what a little inconsiderable Creature he is As great as any Man is he is exposed to every Accident to all the Changes and Vicissitudes of Fortune God can and very often does punish him in this World and then there is no reason to expect thaâ— he will not judge him in the next Pain and Sickness stand in no awe of his Greatness and Death is no more afraid of him than of a Beggar Those who are Gods 〈◊〉 earth must die like Men which is the Curse and Punishment of Sin and this puts an end to all their Greatness for after a little Funeral Pomp is over and they are laid in their Graves with a little more Ceremony than meaner Men they are forsaken of all their Guards and Retinue and Dependants and are left to be a Prey for Worms And is this the Creature too great to Reverence and Worship God and too big to be judged whom Wormâ— eat and Beggars walk over his Grave This is the weak and frail State of the greatest Men on Earth they go naked and unarmed into another World stripe of their Power and Fortunes of Riches and Honours which dazled the Eyes of Men here and when they are gone all Men speak their Minds freely of them judge tâ—eir Lives and Actions arraign their Memories and revenge their Injuries upon their Graves and when they are become little enough to be judged by Men surely they are not too big for God's Judgement Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men as well as â—very bond-man and every free-man shall hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and say to the rocks and mountains Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb For the great day of his wrath is come and who shâ—ll be able to stand 6 Revel 15 16 17. Consider this ye Rich and Great Men who are so apt to forget God and a Future Judgment Riches profit not in the Dâ—y of Wrath they cannot bribe God as they do Men no power can prevail against the Almighty proud and swelling Titles are meer empty Bubles which burst and vanish into nothing in the next World Men ye are and ye shall die like Men and shall be judged like Men and have much more reason to think of Judgment then other Men have for ye have a greater Account to give and are in more danger of giving a very bad Accounâ— if you do not frequently and seriously think of Judgment What a mighty Trust and a mighty Temptation are Riches and Honour and Power How much good and how much hurt may such Men do in the World And what a formidable thing is it to give an account of all the Good that we might and ought to have done and have not and of all the Evil we have done by the abuse of those Blessings of Heaven which we were entrusted with to do good Honour and Power always carry some great Duties with them they are not meerly intended to set some Men above others to command the Cap and the Knee and external Respects but they are for the good Order and Government of the World to suppress and punish Wickedness and to protect and incourage Innocence and Vertue such Men are like the great Lights of Heaven to direct and cherish the World with their Light and Influence their Examples are visible and conspicuous and carry great Authority with them and if their Motions be irregular
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
the Prophets about this matter And though it cannot be denyed but that many Christians deceive themselves with the same vain hopes yet this is much more unpardonable in them because God has given a more undeniable proof of the evil of Sin and his irrecoverable displeasure against it then either Iews or Heathens had For can there be a more certain evidence of the evil of Sin than the Death of Christ He dyed for Sin and as the Apostle speaks condemned sin in the flesh 8 Rom. 3. Not only condemned Sin by his excellent Sermons wise Exhortations sharp Reproofs and terrible Threatnings while he lived in the Flesh but by dying in the Flesh by offering up his Body a Sacrifice for Sin Whatever Christ suffered was not upon his own Personal account but for Sin and therefore what he suffered was the just demerit of Sin or else he ought not to have suffered it in him God shews us what our Sins deserve Infamy Reproach and utmost Scorn and Contempt the Agonies of the Mind the Pain and Torments of the Body and Death it self it was Sin that was Crucified that was exposed to all this Shame and Suffering in the Person of our Saviour and therefore in his Sufferings we have a lively Image of the Evil and Deserts of Sin which is a more convincing and satisfactory Evidence then the fine and subtile Reasonings of Philosophy which some Men cannot understand and which none but purified Minds can feel And though God declared his great love to Sinners in giving his own Son to dye for them yet hereby also he expressed his irreconcileable hatred against Sin Sinners may be reconciled to God by the Death of Christ but Sin never can that is Condemned is Crucified in the Death of Christ. Christ expiated Sin and reconciles Sinners by killing and destroying Sin by putting it to shame and Death upon his own Cross And this is the Method of our reconciliation to God in Conformity to the Death of Christ we must be crucified with Christ must be planted into the likeness of his Death that is we must crucifie Sin in us we must crucifie the flesh with its affections and lusts we must die to sin the body of sin must be destroyed that we may no longer serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin as St. Paul Argues 6 Rom. and in several other places And do we need any other proof of God's hatred of Sin than that he gave his own Son to be a Sacrifice for Sin that Christ could not expiate our Sins without undergoing that Infamy and Scorn and Pain and Death which is the desert of Sin that the Death and Destruction of Sin is represented in that very Sacrifice which expiates our Sins and must be acted over again in us in the real Crucifixion and Death of Sin before we can have any Interest in the Expiation of Christ's Death And can there be a more powerful Disswasive from Sin than this Thus it is a mighty encouragement to Repent of our Sins and forsake them to be assured of Pardon and Forgiveness if we do Now whatever Reasons Iews and Heathens had to hope for Pardon upon their Repentance it is certain they had not that assurance which the Death and Sacrifice of Christ gives us We have now an express Covenant of Grace and Pardon sealed with the Blood of Christ who is that lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world and God cannot condemn repenting Sinners without denying the purchase of Christ's Blood that precious Blood of infinite Price and Value that Blood which our great High Priest hath carried into the Holy of Holies and which there pleads the Pardon of penitent Sinners at the Throne of Grace God cannot deny himself cannot deny his own Covenant cannot deny his Sons Blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel cannot deny our great High Priest who appeareth in the presence of God for us who died for us and now liveth for ever to make intercession for us and he who wants greater security than this must tell us what greater security Sinners can have then the Oath and Covenant of God and the Blood and Intercession of Christ. When I consider this matter with what infinite Wisdom God has contrived the Redemption of Sinners to cure the degeneracy of our Natures and to raise us to a perfect Vertue to bind us faster to himself in those soft and charming Fetters of Love to spur us forward with all the Zeal and Impetus that Hope and Fear and Indignation and Love the Passions and Paroxysmes of a divine inflamed Love can give us it amazes me to think that any Christians should flatter themselves that Faith in Christ will save them without Works that there is less need for them to be so exact and circumspect in their Lives that sin is not so damning a thing now since Christ has made atonement for it and reconciled God to Sinners as it was before Had they no Saviour indeed it would concern them to be very good when they must merit for themselves had they not such a meritorious Sacrifice for Sin and such a powerful High-Priest it would be a very dangerous thing to commit sin but now Christ has Righteousness and Merit enough for us all and we need none of our own nothing but Faith to apply his Righteousness to us Christ has pulled out the Sting of Sin that it cannot greatly hurt it cannot kill a Believer though it may slightly wound him a 〈◊〉 and draw some Tears of Repentance from him and that heals all again This if any thing in the World is to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness to be wicked because God is good to sin because grace does abound whose damnation is just I beseech you for the love of Christ and for the Honour of his Undertaking of his Death and Intercession for us to consider this a little better Consider what the Gospel teaches us to believe of Christ and how absurd and contradictious it is to say that such a Faith will save us without holiness and purity of heart and life Do you not believe 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 Titus 14. And is it reasonable to think that our believing this will save us unless we be redeemed from all iniquity unless we be purified unless we be a people zealous of good works If Christ saves those who are not redeemed from all iniquity who are not purified who are not zealous of good works it is certain he must save those for whom he did not give himself or must save them contrary to his own intention of giving himself for them but however to believe that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity does not seem to be such a Faith if our Faith be true as will justifie us without being redeemed from all
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
Failings this makes Men believe that they may be good and yet live wickedly if they do but take care of their Hearts and they can easily perswade themselves that their Hearts are very good It were easie to reckon up a great many Mischiefs of this judging Mens Hearts especially when Censures fall upon the Ministers of Religion whick weakens their Authority and Counsels and Examples and Reproofs which was the Case of St. Paul himself who it seems was censured on all hands but Appeals from Man's Judgment to the Judgment of God With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgement yea I judge not myself For I know nothing by myself yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God 1 Cor. 4.3 4 5. Let us then judge of Mens Actions according to those Rules of Good and Evil which the Gospel has given us but leave their Hearts to God who alone knows the Secrets of Hearts and who alone can judge them this is God's Prerogative and it is Presumption in us to intermeddle with it and worse then that it is very dangerous too with respect to our own Account at the last Judgment as our Saviour tells us 7 Matth. 1.2 Iudge not that ye be not judged For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judge and with what measure ye meet it shall be measured unto you again So that if we will judge we ought to be favourable and charitable in our Judgment if we defire to be judged favourably by God and I believe there is none of us but will confess that we stand in need of a very favourable Judgment that God should make great Allowances for the Weakness Ignorance Folly Mistakes Inadvertencies Surprizes Temptations of Humane Nature and if we are so far from making any favourable Allowances for the Miscarriages of our Brethren that we search into their very Hearts and Thoughts to find something to quarrel with either to aggravate visible Faults or to turn appearing and visible Vertues into Faults what may we expect from the Just and Righteous Judge of the World It is a known Rule of Righteousness To do as we would be done to and all Mankind think it very just to suffer what we do to receive the same measure we mete to others and therefore we may make a Law to our selves and by a severe rigorous uncharitable Judgment of Men make God not an Unjust but yet a Severe and Rigorous Judge of us And if he be severe to marâ— what we have done amiss who can stand before him 2 dly As we must not judge Mens Hearts and Thoughts much less must we judge their final State to condemn them to eternal Miseries or to advance them to eternal Glories as we please for this is to pre-judge the Judgment of God and to prescribe to him whom he shall save and whom he shall damn by our own byaft and partial Affections It becomes us to take care of our own Accounts and to leave other Men to the merciful Judgement of God it is an argument of a very ill temper of Mind when Men are hasty and froward in pronouncing the Sentence of Damnation against others it looks as if they had a mind such Men should be damned as if they would direct God what to do least he should be too merciful It is enough for us to consider what the Terms of Salvation are which the Gospel has proposed to us and to take care to perform these Terms our selves whether other Men have performed them or not is none of our business to judge that God will do when he comes to judge the World But all pious and charitable Christians who consider what it is to be Damned are very unwilling to pronounce this Sentence upon any Man Our Church has been extreamly blamed by some Men for that Charity she has expressed in her Office of Burial towards all that die in her Communion when she teaches us to pray We meekly beseech Thee O Father to raise us from the death of Sin unto the life of Righteousness that when we shall depart this Life we may rest in Him as our hope is this our Brother doth And yet it may be the Person then buried is known to have lived a very wicked and profligate Life And how can we express our hope of the Salvation of such a Man Now the truth is our Church never intended this Office of Burial for Men of profligate Lives no more than she intended that such Men should live and die in her Communion for this Office is only for those who die in the Communion of the Church and were Church-Discipline duely exercised all such notorious Sinners must have been flung out of Church-Communion And those who raise the Clamour about this have been one great Hindrance of exercising Discipline having weakened the Power and Authority of the Church by their Schisms and Factions but taking things as they are I confess I can see no Impiety in it nor any such mighty Fault as is pretended The Church does not pretend to judge any Man's final State how wicked soever his Life was that is God's Work and she leaves them to him and what great Fault is it to hope well when we cant pretend to know enough of the worst os Men especially of the end and conclusion of their Lives to pass a final Sentence on them There are a great many degrees of Hope and one degree but the next remove from Despair that is but the next remove from pronouncing Damnation against them and if we must not do that we may say we hope still Suppose our Hope be no more than a charitable Wish how can that offend God that we wish well even to very bad Men an excess of Charity an Unwillingness that any Man should be eternally miserable is no Fault I am sure it is a greater to pronounce the final Sentence of Damnation against any Man But it is said that this encourages his wicked Companions who attend his Funeral to hope they may be saved too though they persist in their Wickedness to the last as he did now indeed what little matters may encourage such Men in sin I cannot say but there is no reason that a faint and charitable Wish should do this If they know the Gospel of Christ they know that He has threatened eternal Damnation against all impenitent Sinners if they know the Doctrine of the Church they know she teaches the very same thing if they saw their wicked Companion die they saw his dying Horrors and Agonies too which few of them die without if they have any time to consider their State and when they know and see all this is there any reason
such matters as we can give no account of there may be plain Reasons assigned why no account can be given of them in this World 1. As for the first it is easie to give many Instances of it There are many things which Mankind greatly complain of and for which they think themselves very hardly used by God which upon a true Estimate of things considering the corrupt State of Humane Nature are greatly for the Happiness of the World and though they were inflicted as Punishments by God yet have an excellent temperament of Wisdom and Goodness This I have formerly shewed you as to that Sentence of Death which God pronounced against Mankind after the Fall of our first Parents Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return and as to his shortning the Lives of Men after the Flood and I shall now give another Instance in that Curse God pronounced upon the Earth for the Sin of Man to which we owe most of that Pain and Toyl and Labour which is under the Sun and most of the Miseries and Calamities of Humane Life and if in this also the Wisdom and Goodness as well as the Justice and Severity of God appears I hope it will convince us how reasonable it is to be modest in our Censures of Providence and to conclude that God is equally wise and good in those things which we do not understand The Justice of this is very evident for when Man who was the Lord of the Creation had rebelled against God it was very just for God to punish him and the most proper Punishment which he could inflict on him next to his own Mortality was to Curse those Creatures which were made for his use and delight as God told Adam when he had eaten the forbidden Fruit Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife and eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee saying Thou shalt not eat of it cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread until thou return to the ground for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3 Gen. 17. For I need not tell you this Curse upon the Ground was no punishment to the Ground which was sensible of no hurt but to Man who was to live upon it it defaced the Beauty and Glory of the Creation and entailed a toilsome and painful Life on him it made his Food less wholsome and more hard to come by and whereas all Creatures before were in perfect subjection to Man according to the grand Character of the Creation Have dâ—minion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth on the earth 1 Gen. 28. Now we find by experience that they have cast off this Yoke and very often revenge the Quarrel of their Maker upon apostate Man Thus Man fell from the Glory and Happiness of his Nature and yet if we wisely consider things we shall find excellent Wisdom and Goodness even in this Curse For Man having corrupted himself the best State he could be put into was an industrious and laborious Life to force him to work hard to get his living and to earn his Bread with the sweat of his Brows which was the necessary and immediate Effect of God's cursing the Ground that whereas before the Earth would have supplied Man with all things for his Necessity and Delight without his care and labour now it would not yield its Increase of itself but brought forth Briars and Thorns And as difficult a State as this is it was very fit for fallen Man 1. A laborious Life is of great use to subdue the fleshly Principle and to prevent the opportunities and occasions and temptations to Sin The experience of the World tells us that nothing more corrupts Mens Manners than Idleness the Flesh grows rampant with Sloth and Luxury and Time it self is so uneasie and troublesome when we have nothing to do that Men rather chuse to be wicked then to be idle and therefore God who foresaw the Degeneracy of Mankind by the Fall hath provided work for us that with the sweat of our Brow we must eat our Bread 2. This does not only imploy the Bodies but the Minds of Men Puts them upon the study of Philosophy and the invention of Arts and Sciences upon observing the Works of Nature and Dependence of Causes and Effects to observe the Motions of the Heaven the Sun and Moon and Planets thereby to know the Seasons of the Year and to fix the time of their return it is this Necessity to which we owe the most useful Discoveries in Nature which is not only very beneficial to the World but a very delightful Entertainment and the most natural Ornament and Perfection of our Minds 3. The Necessities of Humane Life are the foundation of Humane Societies and make Men combine together for mutual Help and Comfort for though Man is a sociable Creature and delighted with Humane Conversation yet in this degenerate State nothing is a greater endearment than our mutual Dependence upon each other that we cannot live single and apart because we want a great many things which the Skill and Labour of other Men must supply us with Now this obliges us to the exercise of all friendly and sociable Vertues brings us under Government without which Humane Societies cannot subsist and this lays great Restraints upon the Lusts of Men and by a strict Discipline trains them up to the practice of Moral Vertues which is a good means to correct the Degeneracy of Humane Nature it inspires us with Principles of Love and Humanity of Justice and Charity and softens and polishes our Natures by the mutual Endearments of Conversation it makes us Friends to Mankind gives us a sence of Injuries and an Abhorrence of them and which is more then this it gives publick Countenance and Encouragement to Religion for Publick Government must encourage Religion because Religion is its greatest Defence and Support and this makes some Men sincerely Religious and Devout and forces some external signs of Honour from those who have little sence or reverence of a Deity which though it does no good to them is for the advantage of the World So that this Curse in the necessary Consequences of it is the greatest Blessing to Mankind which is an abundant Justification of the Wisdom and Goodness of God in it A more easie State of Life did better become a State of Innocence but since the Fall such an easie careless unconcerned Life would have sunk him lower into Sensuality and made his Recovery more desperate and hopeless It were easie to give many Instances of this nature to justifie the Divine Wisdom and Goodness in such passages of
a Sight as all of you who saw it cannot but confess it was what will it be to see the whole World on Fire and yourselves incompassed in the Flames of 〈◊〉 to see all those tempting Objects all the Instruments of your Pleasures all the Riches and Glory of the World which were the Fuel of your Lusts now turned into a devouring Fire to torment you to expiate those Flames they kindled in your Souls by sensible and material Flames Who would make this World his Portion and Inheritance who considers the end of it It looks charmingly indeed at present it invites and caresses and lays Baits and Snares for us but if we will have the World for our Portion it must be our Portion too at the Day of Judgment and consider how you shall like its Courtship when it incircles you with Flames and Smoke and Darkness those who choose this World for their Portion can never remove out of it and therefore must be contented to share Fortunes with it to smile when it smiles and to burn when it burns With what Triumph will good Men at that Day see themselves out of the reach of a burning World They betimes made their Escape out of this World as foreseeing its approaching Ruin they were not of the World while they lived in it but disintangled their Affections from this World while their Bodies were confined below And such Divine Souls whose Conversation was in Heaven as soon as they get loose from these Bodies ascend far above this Sphere of Corruption out of danger either of being tempted or being hurt by this World With what Triumph will they behold God erect a new World for them to inhabite create a new Heaven and new Earth where he will place his Throne and Tabernacle and dwell among them and be their God! What bad Man can hear these things without Terrour and Amazement What good Man does not long for this happy Day for this Marriage of the Lamb when the new Ierusalem shall come down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband 21 Revel 2. 3. That the Day of Judgment is at the end of the World proves that this Judgment is final and irreversible because this present state of Things is come to an end and as this puts a final Conclusion to this World so to all accounts relating to it This World is a changeable Scene but the next World is eternal and therefore as good and bad Men are disposed of in the next World they must continue for ever This World will be destroyed and therefore bad Men can never return into it again to act over a new part and to correct the Sins and Follies of their former Lives as Origen conceived they should after a long time of Punishment when the fleshly Principle is thoroughly subdued by the Torments they have suffered Which Opinion how much mercy and good nature soever there may be in it has not the least countenance from Scripture nor any foundation that I know of in Reason when the World where they lived and where they sinned is at an end I think there is an end also of their acting any new part in it And that new World where good Men shall dwell in the immediate Presence of God shall last for ever there is no death no pain no crying for there can be no sin there there is no Devil no World to tempt and nothing within to be tempted they enter clean and pure into that holy Place and the immediate Sight and Presence of God will eternally keep them so Had we no positive Revelation of the Eternity of Rewards and Punishments it were yet reasonable to conclude that if the Day of Judgment put an end to this World without putting an end to good or bad Men but only translating them to a new state of Happiness or Misery that their Happiness or Misery must last as long as that new State does and their Sentence can never be reversed without a new Day of Judgment and therefore if this be the last and final Judgment good and bad Men must then enter upon an unalterable and eternal State of Happiness or Misery and this is the most comfortable and most terrible Consideration of all How will the Souls of good Men rejoyce in God their Saviour when they shall see themselves possest of an eternal and unchangeable Happiness when this mutable Scene is vanished and they have an abiding City whose Builder and Maker is God when they can look forward to Eternity without fearing Death or any Change or Diminution of their Happiness which may encrease to Eternity and be always new and fresh but can never admit of any interruption or allay But I will not pretend to describe the Confusion the Distraction the Raging Despair of those wretched Sinners who shall be condemned to Everlasting Fire who see an end of all their Happiness and but the beginning of their Miseries in a Fired World our Thoughts cannot reach this now we have no Passions yet big enough for such a Misery Eternal Torment Blessed JESU have Mercy upon us and let the present Fear and Dread of it preserve us from ever knowing what it means If you should ask me When the end of the World and the Day of Judgment will come I must confess to you I do not know for our Saviour has before told us Of that day and hour knoweth no man not the angels in heaven nor the Son but the Father only That we are not concerned to know when this shall be nay that God has very wise Reasons to conceal this from us I have shewed you before I shall now add 1. That it is not likely to be yet 2. That how long soever it be delayed we have great reason at present to provide for it Especially 3. when we are sure that the time now hastens after so long an expectation of it I. That it is not likely to be yet In St. Paul's time some Christians were in great apprehension that the Day of Judgment was near and it seems were in a terrible Fright about it but the Apostle thought fit to correct this Mistake and that with some Earnestness as if it were a Mistake of ill consequence and so indeed it might have proved if not to them yet to those who followed who observing their Mistake about the Day of Judgment confuted as all such Mistake are by the Event might have concluded that the whole was a Mistake and that there should be no Day of Judgment because it did not come when it was expected and therefore the Apostle thought fit to warn them against it Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand 2 Thess. 2.1 2. And to satisfie them
That at the name of Iesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Iesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father 2 Phil. 9 10 11. His Power to save is attributed to his Intercession or Mediatory Kingdom Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make iâ—tercession for them 7 Heb. 25. And in like manner St. Paul attributes our Reconciliation to God to the Death of Christ but our Salvation to his Life that is to that Power he was invested with at his Resurrection from the Dead For if when we were enemies we were reconciled â—nto God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life That is actually delivered from the Wrath of God by the Power and Authority of a Living Saviour 5 Rom. 10. Upon the same account Christ is said to be delivered for our offences and to be raised again for our justification That is finally to Absolve and Justifie us at the Day of Judgment 4 Rom. 25. for we must observe that though Christ by his Death has made a general Atonement and Expiation for Sin and those Men are said at present to be justified who are in a justified State that is who are within the Terms of the Covenant for Justification who are such as Christ in his Gospel hâ—s promised to justifie yet properly speaking no Man is finally justified till he is finally acquitted and absolved at the Day of Judgment till he is judicially delivered from the Wrath of God threatned against Sin and actually sentenced to Life and Glory And if Christ cannot do this for us whatever other Benefits we receive by his Ministry and Death he is not a complete and perfect Saviour for he does not actually save us unless he have Power and Authority to Judge us that is finally to Absolve us from all our Sins and to bestow Heaven on us Which shews that the Saviour of Sinners must be their Judge because we are not actually saved till we are finally judged Moses was not a complete Saviour of Israel because tho' he brought them out of AEgypt yet he left them in the Wilderness but Ioshua was their Saviour and therein a Type of Christ who gave them Possession of the Promised Land 2. But besides the nature of the Thing that our Saviour must be our Judge that is must actually save us there is very great reason it should be so because this gives Authority and Efficacy to all the Methods of Salvation It will make Sinners afraid not to be saved by him when they know that he must Judge them As to shew this particularly It will give great Authority to his Laws and Counsels and great Credit to his Promises and Threatnings 1. It will give great Authority to his Laws and Counsels to remember that our Lawgiver will be our Judge that he who came into the World in Humane Nature to declare the Will of God to us shall come again to Judge us by that Gospel which he preached When God sends his Prophets to us there is great reason to reverence the Authority of God in them but much more when our Judge comes to preach to us himself for we may be sure he will not preach in vain the Laws he preached to us at his first coming shall be the Rule whereby he will Judge us at his second coming Especially when we consider that both our Prophet and our Judge is the Saviour of Mankind We may possibly flatter our selves that when God comes to Judgment he may relax somewhat of the Rigour and Severity of his Laws that he has reserved to himself a liberty of Dispensing with our Obedience to those Laws which by his Prophets he commanded us to Obey but we cannot think that our Saviour would lay any unnecessary Burden on us that he would require any thing of us under the Pain of Damnation but what he expects we should do that he will dispense with the Terms of the Gospel whicâ— are themselves a Dispensation with the Rigour of the Law for there must be an end of Dispensing somewhere unless Grace can dispense away all our Duty and dispense unreformed and impenitent Sinners into Heaven if this could be done there was no reason why the Saviour of the World should have preach'd at all or have given any Laws to Mankind if he would have no regard to them in judging the World but if the Judge of the World become a Preacher it concerns us diligently to hearken to him for whether we will obey his Laws or no we shall be judged by them 2. This gives great Credit to his Promises and Threatnings when they are made by our Judge himself who has Authority to execute them Has Christ promised Pardon of Sin to all true Penitents has he promised to raise our dead Bodies out of the Grave immortal and glorious to bestow a Crown and Kingdom on us then we may depend on it that he will do what he has promised for he who has promised is able also to perform He has Authority to forgive Sins to raise the Dead to receive all his Disciples into Heaven into the immediate Presence of God there to live and to rejoyce for ever and when he who came to save us and 〈◊〉 promised this great Salvation to us has Power to give it when he who has made these Promises has the disposal of Life and Glory and Heaven in his own hands this is a mighty Encouragement to us to be stedfast unmovable always abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as we know that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And have not all impenitent Sinners as much reason to expect that Christ will certainly execute that Vengeance on them which he has threatned that he will condemn them to Eternal Night and Darkness to Lakes of Fire and Brimstone where there is Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth for evermore For he is the Judge of the World who has Power and Authority to do it and has declared that he will do it and then we have reason to take his word for it Men are apt to shelter themselves from the Terrors of the Law by the Merits and and Mediation and Mercies of a Saviour God indeed is very just and severe a consuming Fire and who can abide his comming But the Blessed Jesus is a merciful and compassionate Saviour He is so infinitely merciful but yet this merciful Saviour has threatned Everlasting Fire against incorrigible Sinners and he is our Judge too and if he will condemn us at the last Day what hope is there for us where shall we find another Saviour to deliver us It seems he is not all Mercy as Sinners are apt to flatter themselves No! he is a Judge and a terrible Judge and
God 5 John 25 28 29. Verily verily I say unto you The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Which may indeed be understood of a Metaphorical or Spiritual Death and Resurrection that those who were dead in Sin should be raised to a new Spiritual Life by hearing the Voice of the Son of God and believing on him but though our Saviour might intend this sence yet he meant somewhat more by it as appears from what follows Marâ—â— not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation So that the Voice of Christ shall raise the Dead which may well be called the Trump of God when it shall found through all the World and give a new Life to the Dead and summon 'em to Judgment For this is another very material Circumstance of the Future Judgment that all the Dead both good and bad shall be raised to Life again and appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that as we must give an account of whatever we have done in this Body whether good or bad so we must re-assume our Bodies again when we come to Judgment I shall noâ— now discourse to you of the Nature or Possibility of the Resurrection which belongs to another Argument but the Man Christ Jesus is the Judge of Mankind he appears in Humane Nature himself cloathed with an Humane Body though infinitely bright and glorious and he comes to Judge Men not unbodied Souls and therefore we must be reunited to our Bodies again for a Humane Soul is not a perfect Man without its Body An unbodied Soul is guilty of none of those Sins for which we must be judged for we must be judged for what we did in the Body the Man sinned and the Man must be judged and the Man must be either happy or miserable for ever Lord with what Horrour and Reluctancy will bad Souls enter into their Bodies again not to enjoy their old beloved Sensualities but to be judged for them when the very sight of their Bodies shall call to mind all the Villanies they acted in them when they must appear before their Judge with all the Instruments of Wickedness about them with those very Bodies whose members they had made servants of uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity with Eyes full of Adultery with Hands stained with Blood or full of Bribes or Rapine with a blaspheming a lying a reviling a perjured Tongue to unite a Soul to such a Body again is like tying a Man to his murdered Friend which will both scare and torment his Conscience and poison him with a noisom Stench The Body which was the Tempter and the Instrument in all this Wickedness will now be a Witness against him and an Instrument of his Punishment too But holy Souls will give a better Welcome to their Bodies Bodies in which the Flesh was subdued to the Spirit which were preserved pure and clean from all sensual Lusts which were the ready Instruments of Righteousness and Vertue which were offered up living holy and acceptable Sacrifices to God which suffered loss and want and torment and death for the sake of Christ good Men would desire to be judged in such Bodies as these which are visible Testimonies of their Faith and Patience and Mortification and Self-denial which are the Members of Christ and the Temples of the Holy Ghost Thus all Mankind shall rise out of their Graves and appear before the Judgment seat of Christ and therefore now let us Contemplate our Lord sitting upon his Throne the Throne of Judgment as he himself tells us 25 Matth. 31. When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory Thus it is described in the Revelations of St. Iohn 20 Revel 13. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them What this Throne is or where it shall be placed we are not told but the most probable Conjecture is that this Throne is a bright resplendant Cloud in the form of a Magnificent Throne placed in the Air at some distance from the Earth for he is said to come in the Clouds of Heaven and St. Paul plainly intimates to us that his Throne shall be in the Air when he tells us that those good Men who shall be alive at Christ's coming shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and it is not improbable but this may be near Ierusalem where the Temple of God was where he conversed while he lived on Earth and where he was judged and condemned as a Malefactor and treated with the utmost Scorn and Contempt and nailed in an infamous manner upon the Cross for it seems to add to the Triumph of that Day to appear in all his Glory to Judge the World at that very place when he suffered Shame and Reproach and Death for the Sins of Men and from the hands of Sinners But this is all Conjecture though not without some appearing Probability and therefore I shall build nothing on it The Judge being sat all Mankind appear before him to give an account of their Actions and to receive their finaâ— Sentence Before him shall be gathered 〈◊〉 nations and he shall separate them 〈◊〉 from another as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats 25 Mat. 32. This 〈◊〉 I observed before our Saviour attributes to the Ministry of Angels who separate the Wheat from the Tares and the good Fiâ—â— from the bad for the angels we know 〈◊〉 ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 1 Heb. 14. and therefore they know how to distinguish between good and bad Men and to separate them from each other This is the last and final Separation good and bad Men shall never meet and intermix with each other after this they live together in this World and conveâ—â— together are united by Relation and Inâ—â—rest are Members of the same Church and Worship God together in the same Holy Communion of Prayers and Sacraments but they must part Company at the Day of Judgment the one to the right Hand and the other to the left Men are very apt to flatter themselves now that they shall fare the better for the Company they keep no Church and no Communion is pure enough for them not that they are so much Holier than their Neighbours but they are of Opinion that God will judge of them by the Church they are of and therefore whatever Church strikes their Fancy most with an appearance of Sanctity and Holiness there they joyn themselves not so much to
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