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duty_n good_a great_a time_n 3,206 5 3.6108 3 true
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A93736 A discourse on the extensiveness and comprehensiveness of future judgment of God In another method than what hath been hitherto extant in any other books or sermons upon this subject. By Richard Stafford. Stafford, Richard, 1663-1703. 1697 (1697) Wing S5115A; ESTC R230355 16,898 16

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and Seasons which the Father hath kept in his own Power or rather that will be the Inhabitation of Eternity where is no such thing as the numbering or reckoning of Times and Seasons So that they had better let alone such kind of Imaginations as to what time it shall last But rather purifie our hearts by Faith by believing and always bearing in Mind that these things shall certainly be in the General although we know no more as to the exact Method of procedure How that God and Christ will make that Great Final and Everlasting decision between the Righteous and the Wicked between those who serve God and obey the Gospel and who did not As to the Particulars hereof nor to what exact method of Duration all this shall last for time will then be no longer than Brute Beasts do now know those Rules by which Kings reign and Princes decree Justice But we are to be as wise Stewards to cast up and prepare our Accounts beforehand and to do nothing but what our Lord will approve and like of Such as was in the way of Service and Management but not what will be found fault withal or blamed by him So much sin or evil as hath been committed This shall be a witness against them It is an heaping up Treasure together for the last days Jam. 5.3 It is a treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 And though already the Pile thereof is fire and much wood Isa 30.33 which is ordained for the punishment of the Devil and his Angels and condemned Sinners Yet here again the more Sin and Transgression which they have committed is an adding more Fuel to that Fire which shall torment but not consume them So on the other and better hand the doing good works is a laying in a foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal Life these works follow them So that to do good works is a storing up to ones self true and solid Comfort in a Dying-day which reaches and extends it self throughout all Eternity Besides that it is sweet and sensible in the greatest time of need So that it will be certainly better for each Man or Woman the more Obedience and Duty Godliness and Good he hath done throughout his foregoing Life Here is a real Argument not to continue in Sin one moment longer for notwithstanding the present pleasure or conveniency hereby he misses of so much more Happiness and Advantage in the future Recompence Again we should not a minute longer neglect obedience and doing good for this would be to lose so much of a full Reward 2 Joh. 8. Thus much is signified from the righteous judgment of God who will render to every one according to his deeds Rom. 2.5 ● And so it is written For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his holy Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Mat. 16.27 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you for great is your reward in Heaven Mat. 5.11 12. Every man shall receive his own Reward according to his own Labour 1 Cor. 3.8 Wo unto their Soul for they have rewarded evil unto themselves Say to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat the fruit of their doings Wo unto the Wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.9 10 11. According to their deeds accordingly he will repay Isa 59.18 The great God that formeth all things both rewardeth the Fool and rewardeth Transgressors Prov. 26.18 As thou hast done it shall be done unto thee thy reward shall return upon thine own head Obad. 1.15 Receiving in themselves that Recompence of their Error that was meet Rom. 1 27. Like as the Lord of Hosts thought to do unto us according to our wayes and according to our doings so hath he dealt with us Zech. 1.6 All the Churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the hearts and reins And I will give unto every one of you according to his works Rev. 2.23 And behold I come quickly and my Reward is with me to give every Man according as his work shall be Rev. 22.12 There are sundry other like places of Scripture which the more they are considered of and looked into they do the more shew how that the future Judgment and Retribution shall be proportioned and measured out Mat. 7.1 and exactly adjusted judgment will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet according to the Deeds of Men. As it will be yet more clearly seen at the revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God It shall be openly disclosed and shewed unto every one though it hath been hitherto hidden from some because they would not search the Scriptures for there they might have found it so and accordingly have prepared to have given up their Accounts The Good may be hence Quickened to do more to lay hold of every opportunity to lay up for themselves a greater foundation against the time to come by Good works and seek and do the work of the Lord diligently and to improve every Talent to the utmost And the evil might have presently ceased to do wickedly they should have turned and have been yet more zealous in the other way Like unto Mary Magdalen who loved much because much had been forgiven unto her And Paul because he had been a Persecutor he laboured more abundantly than the other Apostles and yet not He but the Grace of God which was in him And so the same Instruction is to all whether in their foregoing Life they have been sinuers or religious yet to labour more abundan●ly for the the time to come than the rest of his Brethren and Fellow-creatures And see well to it that he exceed them in great Seriousness and Holiness Purity and strictness of Life In the time of my late Adversity and Trouble a fond Imagination and vain desire did arise in my mind I would fain have God do more for me than he usually doth for other peeple in like cases But this same kind of Imagination and vain Desire was beaten back answer'd and satisfied again by this inward Reasoning which at the very same time did spring up in my Heart Why should I expect that God should do more for me than for other People when I did not exceed my Brethren and come out from among them and get above them in the Godly and holy Life For though I have been sometimes in the heights all for God and Seriousness and in the Spirit for a little time whilst I was by my self and in Retirement and I resolved what I would do How that I would still keep unto that Strictness yet I was again like the Children of Ephraim who being harnessed and carrying Bows turned themselves back in the day of Battle So though I had Grace and Preparation beforehand to arm