in the day of Adversity But the Lord is not slack in performing his Promise as Men count slackness There is not the least reason to question his Fidelity and Power or to suspect his Love and Remembrance of his People And as the Stars of Heaven enlighten the Earth but the Candles on Earth cannot enlighten the Heavens so the Wisdom of God's Counsel and Providence should direct us patiently to expect his appointed time but our glimmering Reason cannot direct him 4. The serious belief of future Judgment is the most effectual restraint from secret Sins Men are apt to encourage themselves in evil upon the account of secrecy 't is the usual tinder of Temptations If solitude and silence if the darkness of the night or any disguises may conceal their Wickedness from humane Eyes they are bold and secure as to God The Psalmist declares what is the inward principle that acts them what is the language of their hearts All the workers of Iniquity boast themselves they say The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But O the brutish folly of Men to think that because they do not see God that he does not see them As if one should shut his Eyes in the face of the Sun and do some foul abominable thing thinking himself to be unseen because he sees no person How vain is the impure diligence of the Adulterer the crafty diligence of the Deceiver the sollicitous diligence of other Sinners to hide things from the Judge of all Shall not God search it out for he knows the very secrets of the heart What a confounding discovery will be made of secret Wickedness at the last day Here obscurity is the mask of Shame that conceals it from the World Or if only Children and Fools that are not capable to judg of the indecency and turpitude of Actions be Spectators Men are not touch'd with shame for foul things But then their Wickedness shall be displayed before God the holy Angels and Saints The actual belief of this would deprive Satan of one of his greatest Advantages and be a blessed Preservative from many Sins that allure the consent by the temptation of secrecy A considering Christian will reject them with indignation saying with Joseph How can I do this great Wickedness and sin against God The Sins undiscovered and upunish'd by temporal Tribunals shall then receive a just recompence 5. The remembrance of that strict Judgment is the most natural and powerful remedy against sensual Temptations that so easily insinuate and engage the Hearts of Men. S. Peter reckoning up the Heathens Sins Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings and abominable Idolatries tells the Christians that the Gentiles thought it strange that they did not run with them to the same excess of riot As the Disciples when our Saviour walk'd upon the Waters thought he had been a Spirit judging that no real Body could tread on them without sinking thus Men are apt to think it impossible to restrain their carnal appetites when allured by pleasing Objects But the belief of the Terrors of the Lord will damp the sensual Affections when most strongly enclin'd to forbidden things and extinguish delight in Sin for Delight and Fear are inconsistent Therefore the wise Preacher gives this Counsel Rejoice O young Man in thy youth and let thy Heart chear thee in the Days of thy Youth and walk in the ways of thy Heart and sight of thine Eyes but know thou for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment This will change the apprehensions of the mind and alter the taste of the appetite and make the most enticing and irresistible Lusts the objects of our greatest detestation 6. The consideration that the Son of God clothed with our Nature shall judg the World affords strong Consolation to his People and is a motive of great terror to the Wicked How comfortable is it to his People that he who loved them above his Life and was their Redeemer on the Cross shall be their Judg on the Throne He is the same Jesus Christ yesterday to day and for ever the same indulgent Saviour in the exaltation of his Glory as when under Sufferings Reproach and Shame He is described in that glorious Appearance by the conjunct Titles of his Majesty and Power The Great God and of his Compassion and Mercy Our Saviour to signify his Ability and Affection to make them happy When he comes with a heavenly Train of Angels to Judgment he will be as tender of his Servants as when he suffered for them in his humble state He that paid their Debt and seal'd their Pardon with his own Blood will certainly publish the Acquittance How is it possible he should condemn those for whom he died and who appear with the impressions of his reconciling Blood upon them How reviving is it that Christ whose Glory was the end and perfection of their Lives shall dispose their states for ever that he who esteems every act of their Charity and Kindness done to his Servants as done to himself shall dispense the blessed Reward Then the King will say to them plac'd on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World O the transports of Joy to hear those words from his Life-breathing Lips The Prophet breaks forth in an Extasy How beautiful are the feet of the Messengers of Peace those that bring glad-tidings of Salvation but how much more beautiful is the face of the Author of our Peace and Salvation O how full of Serenity and Clemency and Glory The expectation of this makes them languish with impatience for his Coming Though the Preparations of that Day are so dreadful when the Sun shall be darkned and the Moon turned into Blood and the Stars fall like leaves in Autumn yet 't is stiled a Day of Refreshment to the Saints But how dreadful will his Coming in Majesty to Judgment be to the Wicked They shall see him whom they have pierced and with bitter lamentation remember the Indignities offered to him What Excuses can they alledg why they did not believe and obey the Gospel Our Saviour revealed high Mysteries but confirm'd them with great Miracles He requir'd strict Holiness but offer'd Divine Grace to enable Men to do his Will He poured forth his Spirit upon them but their Hearts were as hard as the Rocks and as barren as the Sands Then he will reproach them for their insolent Contempt of all the Perfections of his Divine Nature and the bleeding Sufferings of his Humane Nature to reconcile them to God for their undervaluing neglect of the great Salvation so dearly purchased and so freely and earnestly offered to them for their Obstinacy that the purple Streams that flow'd from his Crucified Body that all the Sorrows and Agonies of his Soul were not effectual Perswasives to make them forsake their Sins for their
consummate act of his Regal Office after a righteous Trial pronounce Judgment upon which the eternal Destiny of the World depends And immediately the Saints shall ascend with him to the everlasting Mansions of Glory and the Wicked shall be swallowed up in the fiery Gulph for ever To define the particular Time when this shall be accomplish'd is beyond the knowledg of the Angels of highest Dignity 'T is inter Arcana Imperii among the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is observable that God has revealed the Times precisely wherein some great Events should come to pass after how many Years the Israelites should be freed from Egyptian Bondage after what space of Time they should be restored from the Captivity of Babylon when the Messiah should die for the expiation of Sin but there is no designation by certain Characters of the particular Day nor Year nor Age in any Prophecy of our Saviour's coming to Judgment And of this an Account may be given The special End of those Predictions was that those who lived to see their accomplishment notwithstanding the seeming Impossibilities might believe the Truth and Power of God to fulfil the Revelation of his Purposes for the Time to come But at the last Day all the Promises and Threatnings will be fulfilled nothing will remain to be the Object of Faith and consequently it was superfluous to declare the certain Time since the exact accomplishment of it according to the Prediction will neither be useful to confirm Believers or convert Infidels Lastly The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most convincing and commanding Evidence of this Doctrine that he shall judg the World For he was charged with Blasphemy deserving of Death for this Testimony I say unto you hereafter shall you see the Son of Mand sitting on the right Hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven He dedicated Martyrdom in his own Sufferings Now God in raising him from the Dead confirmed the Truth of his Testimony by that visible Miracle and the belief of it converted the World to Christianity I will now proceed to illustrate and prove the main Point which is this That God will judg the World in Righteousness by Jesus Christ. The Mediator who shall be Judg in the Union of both Natures considered as the Son of God is essentially Holy and Righteous and considered as the Son of Man was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners In him all Vertues shin'd in their absolute Purity and who is so worthy and qualified to reward Holiness and punish Wickedness as the holy One of God 'T is said of him Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore thy God hath anointed thee with Oil of gladness above thy Fellows Consecrated him to the Regal Office and enrich'd his humane Nature with Endowments suitable to it 'T was prophesied of him The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledg and of the Fear of the Lord and shall make him of quick understanding in the Fear of the Lord and He shall not judg after the sight of his Eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his Ears But with Righteousness shall he judg the Poor and reprove with Equity Humane Judgments are often unrighteous from vicious Respects and Affections that pervert the Will or fair appearances that deceive the Understanding by Gifts or Guile Innocence is cast and Guilt acquitted but the Judg of the World is inflexible to Partiality and all things are entirely open to his sight In the Act of Judgment he is represented sitting on a white Throne the Emblem of unspotted Holiness The Righteousness of God's Judicial Proceedings will appear by considering three Things I. The Equity of his Law the Rule of the great and final Judgment II. The Evidence of the Facts and Matter which shall be produc'd as the Reason of the Judgment III. The Impartiality of the Sentence I. The Equity of the Law which shall be the Rule of the last Judgment This will appear by considering the Law of Nature and the Law of Faith in their Precepts and Penalties annex'd to enforce the Observation of them 1. The Law of Nature which is the Rule of Mans Duty will be the Rule of Judgment for without the Law there is no Transgression and consequently a Person is unaccountable for his Actions This Law is composed of such Rules as are most becoming the wise and gracious Creator to give and the reasonable Creature to receive and obey for they entirely agree and concenter in his Glory and the Good of his Subjects The Apostle adorns the Law with the most excellent Elogy 't is Holy Just and Good Holy as it enjoins all Acts of Piety to God the adoration of his Majesty resulting from his inexpressible Divine Perfections the imitation of his Purity a reliance on his Goodness a resignation to his most wise Providence and a dutiful obedience to his Will Such a sense of our dependance and subjection to God is the proper Character of the reasonable Creature as dignified above inanimate and mere sensitive Beings The Law is just as it directs us how to demean our selves in our various Relations Justice is the Cement of Societies without which they disband and fall into Confusion And the Sum of the Law is virtually comprized in one Rule to do to others as we would they should do to us than which nothing is more equal 'T is good to Man that keeps it commanding nothing but what is influential upon his Well-being here and for ever It does not infringe his true Freedom but allows him unstain'd Delights and enjoins what is proper to advance and secure his Dignity Felicity and Perfection It forbids every thing that defiles and debases him and causes a degeneration from his native Excellency If we prescind in our thoughts the sacred Authority of the Law-giver all the Precepts of the Law for their moral Goodness deserve our esteem and choice and entire observation The sanctified Mind approves them universally I esteem all thy Precepts concerning all things to be right saith holy David Nay in the Wicked there is an intellectual assent to the Goodness of the Law though the corrupt Will doth not embrace it there are some Inclinations and Wishes to obey it but controul'd by vicious Desires 'T is said of the convinced Sinner Thou knowest his Will and approvest the things that are more excellent It may be objected That the Law being pure and Man in a frail state surrounded with innumerable Temptations to require perfect Obedience from him and condemn him for his Failings seems hard The Law lays a restraint upon all the Senses and forbids all fleshly Lusts this may be easy to separate Souls but for Men to live in the Body as if they were out of it to be always vigilant against the insinuations or attacks of Sin is impossible
As there will be no vain-boasting in Heaven where the Reward is the Gift of pure Bounty so there will be no righteous Complaint against God in Hell where the Punishment is inflicted by powerful Justice He that voluntarily sins by consequence chuses the Punishment due to it 5. The estimation of an Offence is taken from the disposition of him that does it When 't is done with pleasure and obstinacy there is no place for Favour Now final Impenitence alone makes Sin actually and eternally damning to the Sinner Those that notwithstanding all gracious Means live continually in Rebellion against God those that impenitently die in their Sins those that desire to live here for ever that they might enjoy their sweet Sins those that are so hardned and naturalized in their Vices that if they were revived and brought again into this World of Temptations would certainly return to the Pleasures of Sin is it not righteous that their incorrigible Obstinacy should be punish'd for ever Is it not just that those who would continue under the dominion of Sin should forfeit all their claim to the Divine Mercy For if we consider them as unrepentant and irreclaimable from their Wickedness there are in them the just provocations and true causes of God's final rejection and hatred and if we consider God as revealed in his Word and Works his essential Properties Wisdom Purity Justice necessarily work upon such Objects in such a manner How zealous an Indignation did the Son of God express against the obdurate Pharisees You Serpents you Generation of Vipers how should you escape the Damnation of Hell They in despite of all his Miracles the equal Expressions of his Goodness and Power resisted his Authority blasphemed his Person and slighted his Salvation Now though other Sins are of an inferiour Nature and weaker Evidence yet Obstinacy added to them makes a Person unworthy and uncapable of Mercy From hence the Misery of the Damned is without Redemption without Hope without Allay for ever II. I shall now proceed to consider the Evidence of the Facts that is produc'd as the Reason of that Judgment The temper of Divine Justice is very observable in the particular Judgments recorded in Scripture In the first process of Justice on Earth we read that God made the enquiry of Adam Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat and by palpable Evidence convinc'd him before he condemn'd him Thus before the fiery Vengeance upon the wicked Cities the Memory of which will never be extinguish'd The Lord said to Abraham Because the Cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their Sin is grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the Cry of it that is come up unto me viz. whether they were so numerously and excessively wicked if not I will know God is pleased to incarnate himself in Man's Expression to declare more sensibly to us that he never punishes with precipitation but after an equal trial of the Cause Thus we read of that profane King of Babylon Belshazzar That he was weighed in the Ballance and found wanting before he was sentenc'd to be deprived of his Kingdom and Life And the Destruction of the Antichristian State is attended with solemn Hallelujahs for the Righteousness of that Judgment And in the last Day the Righteousness of God's Proceedings shall be universally manifest and magnified 'T is therefore called the Day of the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God Now in order to this the Scripture informs us that all the Works of Men shall be brought into Judgment even every secret thing whether good or evil And the Apostle saith That 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 All Sins whether secret or openly visible shall be accounted for Those Sins that have been acted in the most secret Retirement so that no Eye of Man could take cognizance of them Sins concealed from the Eye of the Day the Light of the Sun and from the Eye of the Night the Light of a Candle shall then be made manifest Nay the Sins of the Thoughts and Affections of which Satan could not accuse Men when the inward Fire of Lust or Malice is not discovered by the least smoak or sparkles by no expressions all those shall be brought to Judgment God will judg the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ. The Sins of Omission of our Duty that are so numerous from carelessness and diversions from slothfulness and delays and that now so little affect us for we are more sensible of what we do than of what we have not done the guilt of all these shall then be heavily charged on the Conscience of the Sinner I was an hungry and you gave me no Meat I was thirsty and you gave me no Drink was the Accusation of the Reprobates from the Judg himself To him who knoweth to do Good and doth it not to him it is a Sin The neglect of improving all the Means Advantages and Opportunities of doing or receiving Good will be a great part of that Judgment The Lord called his Servants to an account for the Talents committed to their Trust and required Profit in proportion to their Number and Worth All Sins of Commission in Youth and Age whether gross Sensuality as Lasciviousness Lusts excess of Wine Revellings Banquetings and abominable Idolatries and all excess of Riot shall be accounted for to him who is ready to judg the quick and the dead or Acts of Unrighteousness to others He that doth wrong shall receive according to the Wrong he has done And Sins of a lesser guilt for which the most are not touch'd with grief or shame shall then be produc'd in Judgment All the Sins of our Words so easily committed and not so easily observed shall then be call'd to a heavy remembrance The Judg himself tells us I say unto you that every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment And if vain Words the Signs and immediate Effects of a vain Mind shall sadly encrease our Accounts how much more all the contentious fierce and revengeful Words the detracting false contumelious and injurious Words the impure filthy and contagious Words the prophane blasphemous and impious Words that slow from the evil Treasure of the Heart O their dreadful Number and oppressing Weight And all the Aggravations and Circumstances of Mens Sins that raise their Guilt to such fearful heights shall be enumerated in order to Judgment For thus 't was foretold Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodly committed and all their hard Speeches
Order establish'd in the Gospel Thus the King at the last Day speaks to the Elect Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you before the Foundation of the World for I was hungry and ye fed me naked and ye clothed me And according as the Saints have excel'd in Fidelity Zeal in God's Service they shall be rewarded with a more excellent Glory The Stars of the supreme Heaven are of a different brightness and greatness as the Stars of the visible Firmament Indeed all are perfectly happy without jealousy that any is equal or superior to them in that Kingdom But God will crown his own Graces as the Saints have improved them Our Saviour valued the Widow's two Mites as transcending all the magnificent Gifts of others because of the degrees of Love in the Giver There was a richer Mine of Affection in her Heart Gold of a more noble Vein more pure and precious than all their Riches This was of greater price in God's Account who weighs the Spirits in his Ballance God will accept and reward according to what a Man has and not according to what he has not He that improves but two Talents with his best skill and diligence shall have a greater Reward than another that had ten Talents and was remiss and less careful to employ them for his Master's Profit The Rule will be exactly observed He that sows bountifully shall reap bountifully and he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly And if God will be thus impartial in rewarding the Saints much more in punishing the Wicked For the remuneration of our Duty is the effect of his most free Favour but the recompences of Sin are due and decreed by Justice in Number Weight and Measure The severity of the Sentence will be in proportion as Mens Sins have been more numerous and heinous Although all the Damned shall be equally miserable in Despair all broken on an endless Wheel yet the degrees of their Torment are different Sins of Ignorance are extenuated in comparison of rebellious Sins against Knowledg The first are like a Servant's dashing against his Master in the dark the oother like the insolent striking of him in the light And as they incur greater Guilt will expose to greater Punishment Accordingly our Saviour predicts That the Servant which knew his Lord's Will and prepared not himself neither did according to his Will shall be beaten with many Stripes But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of Stripes shall be beaten with few Stripes Unactive Knowledg is worse than Ignorance For this reason the Case of Heathens will be more tolerable than of the Jews for though some natural Principles were strong and quick in their Minds that made them sensible of their Duty and Danger yet they were not so clear and perfect as the Law delivered by Moses Those Sins that were Infirmities in a Pagan were presumptuous in a Jew And the Case of the Jews will be more tolerable than of disobedient Christians who enjoy the Gospel less charged with Ceremonies and more abundant in Grace than the Mosaical Dispensation Those that have set before them the Life of Christ the Model of all Perfection that are excited by such loud Calls to flee from the Wrath to come and yet are deaf and regardless to the Commands nay to the melting Invitations and precious Promises of the Gospel shall have a more intolerable Judgment than the most guilty Sinners even the Sodomites and Sidonians that were Strangers to it The precious Blood of the Son of God despised induces a Crimson Guilt And as Sins are committed with Pride and Pleasure with eager Appetite and Obstinacy the revenge of Justice will be more heavy upon Persons More particularly Sins of Consesequence whereby others are drawn to Sin will heighten the Guilt and the retribution of Justice will be to every Man according to his Ways and according to the fruit of his Doings This will principally concern Superiours in eminency of Place whose Dignity has always a concomitant proportion of Duty Their vicious Actions are Examples and their Examples more powerful Rules than their Laws and give countenance to others to sin licentiously They sin with an high Hand and involve the Ruin of innumerable Persons that depend upon them As the Dragon in the Revelation whose Fall from Heaven drew a Train of lesser Stars with him And all inferiour Magistrates who by personal commission or partial connivance encourage and harden others in Sin and by their Power discountenance serious Religion and obstruct the Progress of it heap up Damnation to themselves And the Ministers of the Word who are obliged to watch for the Souls of Men and should like the Heavens by their Light Influence and Motion their Doctrine and Lives guide and quicken others in the Ways of Holiness if by their Neglect and Wickedness others are lost for ever their Account will be most heavy and undoing Of this Number are those who by their unholy Conversation weaken the Authority and Efficacy of the Word and more successfully perswade Men to do Evil than by their Preaching to do well for we are apt to take deeper impression through the Eye than thro' the Ear and to follow the Physician 's Practice rather than his Counsel These perish not alone in their Iniquity And such who are unfaithful Dispensers of the Treasures of their Lord and by loose Doctrines corrupt the Minds of Men to fancy a Mercy in God derogatory to his Holiness that although they live indulgently in Sin they may obtain an easy Pardon and Happiness at last And such who employ their high Commission for low and base Ends Those who instead of preaching Jesus Christ and him Crucified the pure and saving Truths derived from the Fountain of the Gospel entertain their Hearers with flashy Conceits and studied Vanities to give a relish to Curiosity and to have the applause of Fools and obscure the native Majesty of the Word enervate its Force and render it powerless to Conscience And those who spend their Zeal in things of no moment to Salvation and let fly bitter Invectives against those that dissent from them in unconcerning Matters by which they harden Atheistical Scorners in vilifying the Office of the Ministry as a Carnal Invention set up and used for Secular Ends and induce others to place Religion in Formalities and slight colours of it as if Conformity to needless Rites would exclude the Defects of substantial Holiness 'T is observ'd in the Chaldee Paraphrase when God was inquiring of Cain concerning Abel that he charges him The Voice of thy Brother's Blood cries unto me As if Cain were a Murderer not of a single Man only but of a numerous Race that might have descended from his Brother Thus a wicked Minister will be charg'd not only for murdering himself but as many precious Souls as might have been converted and saved if he had faithfully performed his Duty And