11.9 Observe here again this last For all these things God will bring thee into Judgment And some of all these things are done every day by the young Man So that the consequence is evident that of every day after we are come to the knowledge of Good and Evil we shall certainly be called in question yea and be called to the Bar of God for to give an account for the same Many think of what is past as if it were over and there is no more to be said thereof It seems forgotten and perished and to be come to an utter end But the word saith otherwise God requireth that which is past Eccl. 3.15 yea all one as the present for what is past was once present also and what is now present will soon be past The judgment of God will be retrograde or by way of rehearsal or remembring or ripping up of former miscarriages as we commonly say or by reciting up the several Thoughts Words and Actions of this Life that now is These things hast thou done and I kept silence thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thy self but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes Psal 50.21 That is in order and succession of time as each thing was done and committed together with the other circumstances of place and manner and such like as also with the several aggravations belonging thereunto some instances whereof are given in this same Fiftieth Psalm and many more there are throughout the Book of the Lord. Another great Scripture which proves the extensiveness and comprehensiveness of the future Judgment as before explained is 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the Things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad It is said Deeds indefinitely which reaches to all the deeds done in the Body Like as when it is said in general words It is appointed unto men once to die That is It is so appointed unto all men once to die as we sensibly know And truly even common Reason manifesteth the very same for if we were to receive for some Deeds done in the Body Why not for other Deeds as well as for them and so on till it comes to all as indeed the Decree of God and our case is The Lord looketh upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth he considereth all their Works Psal 33.14.15 And give to every man according to his way whose heart thou knowest for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the Children of Men. 1 Kings 8.39 And so all those other places of Scripture as there are many which speak of Gods rewarding or rendring unto the Children of Men according to their works and according to their deeds and such like all these do manifest and make known the comprehensiveness and extensiveness of the future Judgment And so all these Deeds done in the Body the several works and ways are done in the several days of our Life some in one day and some in another so that the same Truth holds firm that of this day and of all the past days and of all the succeeding days between this time of my publishing this unto ye and the day of our several respective Deaths we shall be called to an account We must give account of this Concourse whereof I hope we shall give a good one with joy and comfort our only end and design herein being to worship the God of Heaven and Earth and to hear his word I must give account of every Sermon that I preach or publish that I be faithful in the handling thereof not shunning to declare unto ye the whole Counsel of God and to make known the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth whether it pleases or displeases Man for if I yet pleased Men I should not be the servant of Christ. Through good and evil Report as Deceivers and yet true And ye must give account of your Hearing whether ye do mind and are attentive unto the same and how ye profit and edifie thereby How ye ponder and remember it in your hearts But chiefly that ye continue therein Good God! how much dost thou delight in this one thing of continuing The Children of thy Servants shall continue Psal 102.28 But whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty and continueth therein he being not a forgetful Hearer but a doer of the Word this man shall be blessed in his deeds James 1.25 This is the principal Matter to be doers of the Word and not Hearers only Though ye are to be Hearers also before ye can be doers For a man cannot do a thing before he knows it God will likewise call the Non-hearers of his Word to an account for the same for their disobedience and rebellion for their stubbornness and perverseness therein which is the same as if a Son or Servant should be obstinately resolved not to Hear what his Father or Master will say unto him All those Threatnings and evil Things as they are many which are written and spoken forth in the Book of the Lord against such who refuse to hear his words will be fulfilled upon them unto their greater Condemnation So it will be of the several Seasons and Opportunities of Prayer whether it be private Prayer in ones Closet or Family-Prayer or Prayer in the Cougregation and Assemblies of his People of all this we must give an â—â—count as also of all our other holy Things and of all acts whatsoever pertaining to Religion and so likewise of all the doings of common Life otherwise than what are meerly natural and necessary and so of all the Transactions between Man and man There is nothing done by any Men or Women under the Sun in any Country or Language of the Earth whether the same be done by Nations Families or single Persons in any Time or Generation but what will come into account and examination and to be heard and decided over again at the Judgement of the Great God Indeed there will be multitudes multitudes in the Valley of Decision Joel 3.14 So that what appearance is ever at the greatest Assizes or at the Rendezvous of the most numerous Armies or the greatest Concourse of People to see some extraordinary sight in populous Cities all this will be no more to the multitude and number of Creatures which shall be then gathered together in the great Day of God then a single Man is now in comparison of an hundred thousand or a million I have heard to this purpose that the Schoolmen should say That because of the multiplicity of Business and the multitude of Creatures which shall appear then thereupon they suppose that the Day of Judgment will last a thousand years But herein they imagine and talk after the manner of Men For known unto God are all his works from the Beginning of the World as also the Times
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 â— 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 abundanâ—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
is within the Body so the substance or vital parts of Religion which is to the saving of the Soul is inward and invisible also Where any one or any sort of People speak according to the Scriptures of Truth there Truth from whencesoever it spring up is to be received and embraced But if it speaks not according to the Word there it is to be rejected and not admitted according to that spiritual Wisdom and Divine method of separating the Precious from the Vile and gathering the good Fishes into Vessels and casting the bad away When we see our selves already acquitted and cleared out of that Word whereby we must be judged at the last Day this must be a mighty Comfort and Assurance And that same Word having promised and annexed a Crown of Life unto Faithfulness to the Death Rev. 2.10 Therefore my beloved Brethren Be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 From all this put together will appear the Necessity of Persevering and continuing in the work of the Lord in order to have a well grounded hope evidence and assurance Right and Title to have this Crown of Life and to have our Labour in the Lord recompenced According as himself hath promised For thy works shall be rewarded saith the Lord. Jer. 31.16 There is no Point in Divinity more clear and certain and of more undoubted Truth than the necessity of Perseverance in order unto Salvation As also nothing is more put in mind of repeated and inculcated over and over in common Preaching for the abundant care and safety of Souls The same is also understood by common People whether learned oâ— unlearned He that knows any thing of God and Religion knows this also That if we would be saved it is necessary in order thereto to continue unto our Lives end in the Worship and Service of God in doing his Will and finishing his Work For He and he only that endures unto the End shall be saved Whosoever once puts his hand to this Plow and looks back he is not worthy of the Kingdom of God In those Scriptures which are given to make wise unto Salvation there are abundance of Truths and Affirmations to this purpose so that there is no need to cite or rehearse any more But yet there are several people who are for serving God for a spurt and for a season and they come to the Place of Hearing his Word for once and away I have told ye often this will not do A fit of Holiness for a season will not bring any one to Heaven But God who cannot lye hath promised to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory Honour and Immortality Eternal Life Rom. 2.7 Without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. But that is such holiness as is ingrafted fixed constant and universal The Souldiers of the antient Roman Empire according to the Laws and Constitutions thereof were disbanded and dismissed from any further Service in the Military Employment after the fiftieth Year But the Souldiers of Jesus Christ are never disbanded or dismissed from his Service and if any should desert dismiss or disband themselves from his Service they lose their Crown and they become liable unto punishment We read of Mnason an old Disciple and those that be planted in the House of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruit in old Age they shall be fat and flourishing Psal 92.13 14. As long as any of us have the knowledge of Good and Evil remaining with us we are to do the Good and eschew the Evil. As long as any one hath all his senses left as there is none who lives out all his five senses to discern between Good and Evil he is to do the first and leave the last undone according as he hath Power of Action The Soul thinks as long as ever it is in the Body and as long as one thinks his thoughts are to be bent and lifted up towards God and Goodness and Truth and not to admit of but cast out all such Evil and Vanity which would lodge or lurk there And this it signified and required by that great and Indispensable command Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Bless his holy name Psal 103. â—… So by all that is within us and to our very utmost God is to be served and obeyed and also to the utmost Period and Duration of time As our Souls in their creation and making have a beginning in time but they are without end of days they being Properly Immortal Even such an obedience and service doth the Lord our Creator require of us which did and doth once begin and never end until our service here is crowned and consummated with Glory hereafter What remains But that ye who shall hear or read this be in the visions of God as Daniel and John was to see the dead small and great stand before God and seeing that they were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works therefore in every thing so think speak and do as ye that must give Account The word of Instruction which arises hence is this that each of us severally do order our Life and Conversation in this short Time and mean while as near as ever we can according to all the words which are Written in those Books which are the Books of Scripture and the Book of Conscience That is to live up and according to all those Thoughts of Good and Truth which Conscience doth suggest unto Man FINIS