and Forgiveness and loving Enemies leaving Vengeance to God who is the just Judge of the World For vengeance is mine I will repay it saith the Lord which supposes that Vengeance is due to Sin though Christ requires his Disciples to leave it to publick Magistrates or to God who is the Judge of the World As for those Sins which are not so properly the Objects either of publick or private Revenge as doing no direct and immediate injury to any but those who commit them such as Gluttony Drunkenness Prodigality Sloth Idleness a vagrant useless fantastical Life and the like besides some gentle Restraints which publick Laws lay on them they have this punishment that they make Men contemptible and infamous neglected and disregarded as a Reproach to Humane Nature and useless Members of the Common-wealth and such publick Infamy is a very great punishment for it is one of the worst Ingredients in all Publick Punishments This I think shews what the sence of Mankind is about the desert of Sin that Punishment is its just due and they have given very ample testimonies also to the merits of Vertue for though there are no Laws to reward a private Vertue as there are to punish Vice yet publick Honours by the consent of Mankind are thought the just Rewards of an eminent Vertue This has procured the favour of the People and advanced such deserving Men to the highest places of Trust and Dignity in the Commonwealth when such Men are advanced it is with a publick Applause as due to them no Man envies their Greatness or grudges to come behind them whereas publick Honours are thought misplaced on bad Men and set so ill-favouredly on them as exposes them to publick Scorn and Envy Let us then sum up this Argument and consider the just Consequence of it There is an essential difference between Vertue and Vice and according to the sence of all Mankind Vertue deserves to be rewarded and Wickedness punished and can we think then that if God governs the World he will not judge Mankind that he will not reward the Good and punish the Wicked Has he implanted a Natural Principle of Revenge and Justice in Men and taught them to erect publick Courts of Justice for the punishment of Vice and will he not punish it himself Has he given such a natural grace and beauty to Vertue as attracts to itself the love the praise the admiration the rewards of Men and will he himself have no regard for it Has he made Vice infamous and contemptible and will he cast no shame no reproach on it Would not the very Order of Nature complain of this should the God of Nature have no regard to it For we must observe that according to the general sence of Mankind Vertue and Vice deserve to be rewarded and punished not only by Men but by God too this is the foundation of that terrible Objection against Providence that good Men are many times great Sufferers in this World and the wicked very prosperous which supposes that if God govern the World he must punish bad Men and reward the good because the nature of Things require it and he cannot be a just Governour if he do not either Men ought never more to make this Objection against Providence or they must allow that if there be a God he will judge the World And indeed there is much more reason to expect this from God then from Men especially since the Administration of Justice among Men is so corrupt imperfect or defective that neither Vertue nor Vice will ever have their just Rewards unless he take it into his own hands And this brings me to a third branch of this Argument for a Future Judgment III. That the Natural Notions we have of God prove that he will judge the World All Men who believe a God acknowledge him to be the Soveraign Lord of all the World infinitely wise holy good and just now it seems impossible to me though we had no Revelation of his Will what he would do that such a Being as this should not judge the World As to consider this matter particularly but very briefly 1. If he be the Soveraign Lord of the World then he has Power and Authority to judge nay there is no other Being has Power and Authority to judge the World but himself that if he will not judge the World the World can never be judged And yet as I have already proved the essential differences of Good and Evil necessarily require that Man should be judged that good Men should bâ— rewarded and the wicked punished and if there must be a Judgment then God who is the Soveraign Lord and the only Judge of the World must judge Mankind If Judgment be necessary as the nature of Things prove and as the general consent and unbyassed reason of Mankind agree it is if we cannot hence conclude that God will judge the World I am sure we can never know any thing certainly of God by Reason for there is nothing which Reason concludes more expresly and positively than this 2. As for the other Attributes and Perfections of the Divine Nature such as Wisdom Holiness Goodness Justice if God be the Soveraign Lord of the World we must consider them as the Attributes of a Soveraign it is the Wisdom the Holiness the Goodness the Justice of a Soveraign Lord and therefore the proper exercise of these Attributes in God consists in the exercise of a Soveraign Authority and Power that is in governing and judging Mankind wisely holily with Goodness and Justice and this certainly proves that God as Soveraign Lord does govern and judge the World for he cannot exercise his Wisdom or Holiness or Goodness or Justice as Soveraign if he exercise no Acts of Soveraignty He cannot judge wisely holily or righteously if he do not judge at all and therefore though he be wise and holy and jâ—st and good yet he is not a wise and holy and just and good Soveraign for as Soveraign he exercises none of these Attributes if he does not judge the World if he do not reward good Men nor punish the wicked which the Wisdom the Holiness the Goodness of a Soveraign requires And therefore if the Natural Notion all Mankind have of God joyns his Soveraignty with his other Attributes as it must do unless we can divide God from himself that he is not only a wise and holy and just and good Being but that he is a wise and holy and just and good Soveraign Lord of the World we must confess that God does govern the World and display all these Attributes and Perfections in the Government of it I might add a great deal more upon this Argument but this is so very plain and demonstrative that there is no need of it SECT III. The External Appearances of Providence prove a Future Iudgment III. AS the Natural Notions we have of GOD proves that he will judge the World so the External
Government nor invested any particular persons with Authority and Power to govern others yet Men if they would live together which is necessary to the happiness of Humane Life must set up a Government themselves by mutual consent and intrust some persons with the administration of it to be sure thus it is there is no Nation in the World without some kind of Government and God who made the World has made it necessary that it should be so and whatever the nature of things makes necessary ought to be ascribed to the design and contrivance of the wise Maker of them I have often despised the Reasonings of a late Atheistical Philosopher who has contributed so much to the debauching this Age who will by no means allow that there is any such thing as a Law of Nature but what other Men call Laws of Nature he resolves into arbitrary Compacts and Agreements among Men and industriously proves how necessary it is for Men to consent to such Laws if they would live happily together as if there could be a plainer demonstration or a better definition of a Law of Nature than what the Nature of things makes necessary to the Happiness of Mankind and of Humane Societies for if this be not a Law of Nature nothing is And whatever Laws and Institutions necessarily result from the Nature of Things must be owing to the Author of Nature This is sufficient to the design of my present Argument to prove that God does take care of the Government of the World in that he has instituted Humane Government which is so great an Instrument of his Providence which indeed our Experience tells us lays greater Restraints in many cases upon the Lusts and Passions of Men than the Hopes and Fears of the other World do Now will any Man say that God takes no care of the Government of the World when in all Nations he has his Officers and Ministers to execute Justice and to maintain Peace and Order We may as well say that a Prince neglects the Government of his Kingdom because he does not do every thing in his own Person but by his Ministers it becomes the Wisdom and Majesty of the Divine Providence to govern the World by Humane Methods and by the Ministry of his Creatures as far as it can be so governed and not to interpose by an immediate Power but in urgent Necessity where Humane Methods fail 3. And this we have plain Proofs of also that God does interpose by a secret and invisible Providence to supply the Defects or correct the Miscarriages of Publick Government or to reward and punish Men and take care of his Creatures in such Instances as fall not under the cognizance of Humane Government I confess it is no easie matter in ordinary cases to prove the interposal of the Divine Providence because God brings great things to pass by Natural Causes Unseen Accidents or the Ministry of Men while they seem to follow their own Natures and to pursue their private Interests Designs and Passions For in all such Events we know not what to attribute to God and what to Creatures when God concurs with Creatures by a secret and invisible Influence and Power which makes such Men as are unwilling to believe a Providence to ascribe all to Creatures who are the visible Actors in it and therefore to satisfie you that God does by a wise and just though many times an invisible Power and Influence over-rule all Humane Affairs consider with me 1. That we have many Examples of God's governing the World by an immediate and visible Power which proves that at least in such cases he does concern himself in Humane Affairs to reward good Men and to punish the wicked If we will allow the Books of Moses and Ioshua to be a true History we need no other proof of this there we read that God destroyed the Old World by a Deluge of Water and preserved Noah and his Family in the Ark that he destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah with Fire from Heaven and sent his Angels to fetch Lot out of it there we read all the Miracles God wrought in AEgypt by the hand of Moses for the punishment of the AEgyptians and the deliverance of Israel how God overthrew Pharaoh and his Host in the Red Sea which divided its Waters and gave a safe passage to the Armies of Israel by what a long series and succession of Miracles God led Israel through the Wilderness punished their Rebellion and Wickedness destroyed their Enemies and gave them possession of the promised Land how he delivered them his Laws from Mount Sinai in an audible Voice and with a terrible Appearance placed his Tabernacle among them where he dwelt and from whence he gave forth his Oracles and Responses and governed Israel as visibly as a Temporal Prince governs his Subjects This is an irresistible Proof that God did govern the World in the days of Noah when he destroyed the whole World for their Wickedness that in the days of Abraham and Lot he was not an idle Spectator of the Wickedness of Men that in the days of Moses he undertook the Punishment of AEgypt with his own Hand and governed Israel by an immediate Power And why then should we doubt whether God governs the World at other times when he does not interpose by such an immediate and miraculous Power Is God less concerned in the Government of the World now than he was in former days Is he less concerned to govern other Nations than he was to govern the Iews Is God the God of the Iews and is he not the God of the Gentiles The Prophesie of Daniel concerning the Rise and Growth and Decay of the four Monarchies is a plain proof that the Providence of God was not confined to Iudea Or do we think that nothing is to be attributed to God but only some miraculous and super-natural Effects as if God could not govern his Creatures without offering a perpetual Violence to their Natures which would be a great blemish to his Wisdom in making the World if he cannot govern it without unmaking it again for to alter the Nature of Things is in part to unmake them as if God could not steer and direct the Course of Nature by an invisible Hand as if he could not influence the minds of Men and govern their thoughts and counsels and passions without an audible Voice from Heaven God never intended to govern the World by a constant Series of Miracles for he can govern the World without them and it is much better that he should for it offers less Violence to Mens minds and is a greater trial of their Faith and Vertue but since bad Men are so desirous to deliver themselves from the fears of an invisible Power and Justice it was fitting that God should give the World some plain and undeniable Testimonies of his Providence and Government to convince them that when he does not seem to take notice he still
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
16 Mark 16. And therefore St. Peter tells the Iews Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved 4 Acts 12. And if there be no other Name whereby Men must be saved Infidelity must damn us Would some Men in our days seriously consider this they would not think themselves so secure in their Infidelity nor take so much pains to make themselves Infidels for if after all their pains to disbelieve the Gospel it should prove true at last they must be damned for disbelieving it If Christ came into the World to save Sinners and there is no other Name under Heaven whereby Sinners can be saved those who will not believe on his Name must eternally perish As if there were but one Physician in the World who could cure such a mortal Distemper those who labour under this Distemper and will not go to this Physician for their Cure must necessarily die by their neglect their Infidelity in that case would kill them what reasons soever they could pretend for their Infidelity by neglecting the only means of their Recovery But besides this Infidelity is a very great Crime when we have sufficient Reasons and Motives of Faith for this destroys all Commerce and Intercourse if I may so speak between GOD and Men If Men may be allowed to disbelieve a Revelation which has all the Evidence and Proof that any Revelation can have it makes it impossible for God to reveal his Will to the World at least to give us such a standing Revelation as may be a certain Rule of Faith to all Ages And besides this Infidelity is not owing to want of Evidence but to an evil Temper of Mind which is prepossessed with such vicious Lusts and Passions as will not suffer Men to believe thus our Saviour tells us That men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil and tells the Pharisees How can ye believe who receive honour one of another and seek not that honour which cometh of God So that Infidelity is more in Mens wills than in their understandings and therefore is as punishable as any other Vice and though such Infidels will pretend to Reason for their Infidelity and despise and laugh at the easie Credulity of the rest of the World they may have a great force and byaâ—s upon their understandings for all that and would they be honest and sincere they themselves must be sensible of it however God who sees their hearts sees that it is so and it is reason enough to By-standers to suspect it is so when they observe that the more vertuously Men are inclined the more readily they embrace the Gospel and the more firmly they believe it whereas Infidels commonly make little pretence to Sobriety or Vertue but are Men of this World who design no more than to please themselves in the enjoyment of it and when Mens understandings in other matters are equally good it is very reasonably suspicious that it is only their different Inclinations and Passions which make them judge so differently of things If this be the Case as our Saviour assures us it is and as our own Reason and our Observation of Mankind may give us sufficient cause to suspect all Men must grant that it is as fit Men should be judg'd for their Infidelity as for any other Vice And this is reason enough to make Men afraid of Infidelity for if they may be damned for being Infidels they have no reason to be secure in their Infidelity Infidels themselves must confess that if there be sufficient reason to believe the Gospel they deserve to be punished for their Unbelief and if it should prove true at last it will be too late to dispute it in the other World whether God had given them sufficient Evidence of it That great Number of Believers who were as wise and cautious Men as themselves will convince them that there was Evidence enough for wise thinking Men to believe the Gospel And when they shall be ashamed to plead want of Evidence for their Unbelief what Excuse will they find for their Infidelity This may convince Infidels themselves that their Infidelity is no security to them for whether they will believe Heaven and Hell or not if there be an Heaven they shall lose it and if there be an Hell they shall fall into it for their Infidelity and deservedly too if their Infidelity be caused by the fault of their Wills not by a want of Evidence and therefore no Man can be secure in his Infidelity till he be secure that his Infidelity is not wilful that there is no corrupt nor vicious affection which byasses and perverts his Judgment and there is but one way of trying this that I know of and I am pretty confident it would cure all the Infidelity in the World Let Men renounce all their sinful Lusts and Vices which make them infamous to the World let them obey the Laws of the Gospel which are for the good of Humane Societies for the good of their Families which are the Ornament and Perfection of Humane Nature whether the Gospel be true or not and then if they can disbelieve the Gospel it is not because their Deeds are evil not because they have some Lust or other to serve by their Infidelity and this would make their Infidelity very excusable but I know not of such an Infidel as this in the World It is apparent and visible that the Infidels of our Days promise themselves security in their Vices from their Infidelity they laugh at Heaven and Hell because they will not be at the pains to go to Heaven and are afraid of Hell Whatever Wit and Reason they pretend to all Mankind see which way their Inclinations lead them and if they do not see it themselves nor suspect that this may be the cause of their Infidelity whatever Wit they may have they have no Sense III. We shall be judged also for not improving those Talents we are entrusted with that is for not doing Good in the World This many Men are apt to forget To squander away and wast their Master's Goods to do that which is evil this they think they must give an account of but if they do no hurt they are not much concerned what good they do But our Saviour in the Parable of the Talents informs us better that we must give an account of our Improvements for he who received but one Talent went and digged in the Earth and hid his Lord's Money and when his Lord came to reckon with him he said Lord I knew that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth lo there thou hast what is thine But his Lord answered and said unto him Thou wicked servant thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I
Future Judgment makes this necessary 3 dly Let us then consider how this matter may be reconciled that we are saved by Grace and justified by Faith in Christ and yet must be judged by our Works And this is very easily done for we shall be judged by our Works according to the Gracious Terms of the Gospel The Faith of Christ was never intended to give us a liberty in sinning or to excuse us from the necessity of a holy life and as far as the necessity of holiness is reconcilable with the Grace of the Gospel so far our being judged by our Works is reconcilable with our being saved by Grace upon the same Terms that the Gospel promises Pardon and Forgiveness we shall be pardoned at the Day of Judgment whatever the Gospel promises to reward shall be rewarded at the Day of Judgment and thus we are judged by Grace and by Works too This is easily understood by those who know any thing of the Gospel of Christ and therefore I shall at present but just mention it The Gospel of Christ promises Pardon of sin to true Penitents who are heartily sorry for their sins abhor themselves for them make restitution for the Injuries they have done to Men beg God's Pardon in the Name and Mediation of Christ and amend their Lives for Christ has made atonement and expiation for such Sinners and therefore at the Day of Judgment no Man shall be condemned for such sins as he has heartily repented of and reformed and this is to be judged by Grace as well as by our Works for the Law prescribes our Duty but promises no Pardon no not to Penitents this is owing to the Grace of God through the Merits and Mediation of Christ but though the Grace of the Gospel pardons true Penitents yet the same Gospel threatens eternal damnation against impenitent Sinners The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness To them who are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil And therefore impenient Sinners will be judged and condemned for their sins at the last Day by the Mediatour of the Covenant of Grace for the Gospel itself condemns them Thus the Grace of God that bringeth salvation and hath appeared unto all men teacheth us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world And therefore without holiness no man shall see God Heaven is the Reward only of good Men who live in the Exercise of all Christian Graces and Vertues and therefore good Men must be judged must be rewarded according to their Works and yet this is Gospel-Grace too for such a glorious Reward as Heaven is above the Merit of the most perfect Vertue in this World The best Man cannot challenge such a Reward from the Justice of God and therefore it is owing to Gospel-Grace the wages of sin is death but eternal life is the gift of God not the merit and desert of our Works through our Lord Iesus Christ. Especially when we consider that this great and perfect Reward is bestowed upon a very imperfect Vertue the Obedience of the best Men is very defective stained and sullied with Human Weaknesses Indiscretions Follies Ignorances Mistakes indecent Surprizes of Passion or coldness and flatness of Devotion and too often interrupted with wilful and scandalous sins such as nothing but Grace can pardon and therefore much more nothing but Grace can reward and therefore good Men are judged by Grace and rewarded by Grace though according to their Works We are all Sinners we are all obnoxious to the Justice of God would he be extream to mark what is done amiss but since a perfect Vertue is not to be expected from Mankind in this lapsed state God is pleased to accept of sincerity instead of perfection and through the Merits of Christ and Faith in his Blood to account him a righteous Man who sincerely loves and fears him and obeys his Laws though with the Weaknesses and Infirmities incident to Humane Nature So that our being judged by our Works signifies no more but that we are distinguished by the Good or Evil we do into good or bad Men according to the favourable allowances of the Gospel and then bad Men receive the just desert of their sins and good Men receive those Rewards not which they have merited but which the Grace of God and the Merits of Christ have prepared and purchased for them This is a plain account how Christians may be judged by their Works and yet saved by Grace and by Faith in Christ and the righteousness and equity of the last Judgment seems to entitle Heathens themselves thô they have no Covenant Right to it to some degrees of this Grace for I cannot think that God in judging the World will deal more rigorously and severely with Heathens than he will with Christians that he will demand most where he has given least which is contrary to our Saviour's Rule of Judgment and therefore I cannot but hope that Christ in judging of their Works will make the same favourable allowances to them which the Gospel makes to those who do believe in Christ that is to say that he will allow of the Repentance of a Heathen if it were sincere and hearty and did reform his Life as well as of the Repentance of a Christian that he will overlook the same Defects and Imperfections in the good Actions of Heathens who lived vertuous Lives who worshipped the One true God and observed the natural Rules of Sobriety Justice and Righteousness that he will in the Actions of Christians That if any Heathen should be found equally vertuous with the meanest Christian who shall be finally saved that Heathen at least will not be damned and indeed would seem to have reason to complain of unequal usage if he should St. Paul tells us both with respect to Jews and Heathens as well as Christians That God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Iesus according to the Gospel And if the Gospel be the Rule of judging all Mens Actions they must be all equally judged with respect to the Good or Evil of their Actions and be judged as the Gospel judges I grant the Heathens had no promise of Pardon upon their Repentance but yet all Mankind believed so well of the Goodness and Mercy of God that they hoped for Pardon upon their Repentance thus we find the Ninivites did and they had it and indeed it was this perswasion that taught them to pray to God and to offer Sacrifices which had been insignificant things had they not been perswaded that God both could and would pardon sin when Sinners repent Nor have the Heathens any Covenant Title to Salvation and yet they were generally perswaded that good Men shall be rewarded and the
and this Proof consists of several Branches and though each particular considered apart by itself may not be thought sufficient yet if we unite them into one and take them in their natural order they add such light and strength to each other that I perswade myself they will convince any Man of a Future Judgment who is not obstinately resolved against this belief SECT I. That Man is by nature an accountable Creature FIrst then I observe That the very make and frame and condition of Humane Nature proves that Man is an accountable Creature who can give an account of his Actions and therfore may be called to an account for them and that is a strong Presumption that he will be called to an account that is that he will be judged There are four things necessary to make any Being accountable 1. That he have a Principle of Reason to know what he does and to judge for himself 2. That he have a Rule to live by to direct him what to do and what to avoid 3. That he have liberty of Choice and the free government of his own Actions 4. That he be an inferior and subordinate Creature who has some above him to call him to an account I. As for the first we know a Beast which is governed by Instincâ— not by Reason can't be judged because such brute Creatures know not what they do and therefore can give no account what they do which is the case also of Infants of Fools and mad Men who must be governed that they may do no hurt but can't be judg'd but a reasonable Creature as Man is who knows what he does and can judge of his own actions may be judged for them too II. Where there is no Rule to live by there is nothing to be judged for when nothing is commanded and nothing forbid all actions are alike indifferent and in this case there is no other Rule but for every Man to please himself and to do what he likes best and he who does so gives a good account of himself and cannot be blamed for it if there were no Rule of Good and Evil there could be no place for Rewards and Punishments and consequently no place for Judgment but when we have a Rule to live by as all Mankind have either the Laws of Nature or the revealed Will of God we may do either good or evil and may deserve either rewards or punishments and then we may be judged too III. Whatever Being acts by Necessity or Fate not by Choice is no more capable of being judged then the Winds and Seas are or any other natural and necessary Causes for where there is no choice there is neither moral good nor evil but Man is a free Agent who not only knows the difference between good and evil but can choose the good and refuse the evil and therefore he is capable of praise or blame of rewards or punishments for the good or evil which he does that is he may be called to an account and be judged for what he does Especially IV. if he be an inferior and subordinate Creature who has a Superior to judge him to judge indeed is an act of Superior authority and power and therefore those who have none above them cannot be judged but an Inferior is by the condition of his nature or circumstances of life obnoxious to the judgment of his Superiors for the very Notion of a Superior and Inferior signifies to govern and to be governed to judge and to be judged An Inferior is obnoxious to the judgment of his Superior who may judge him if he pleases and this is the condition of all Mankind if we believe that there is a God above us who is our Natural Lord. So that Man by his very nature and condition was made to be judged which is a very good argument that he shall be judged if we will but allow that God will govern all Creatures according to their natures which is essential to the wisdom and justice of his Goverment As to take a particular Review of this matter 1. If it be naturally decent and fitting that a reasonable Creature should give a reason of his actions why should we doubt whether the wise Governor of the World will require a reason of him and call him to an account Reason makes us capable of giving an account of our actions and which is more than that it makes us sensible that we ought to give an account our own minds exact an account of us and when we cannot give a good account to ourselves we blush alone when nobody sees us nay Reason makes us so liable to give an account that it requires no Authority to ask it it is what we owe to all Mankind and the meanest Man may expect it from us as well as our Judge and when we cannot give a reasonable account of our actions a Child or Beggar shall shame and confound us whatever our Quality or Character be And it would seem strange if Reason should make us accountable to all the World but only to God who is the Soveraign Lord of all that God should make us accountable to ourselves and to all other reasonable Beings but noâ— to himself 2. If GOD have given Man a Rule of Life and a natural Measure of Good and Evil can it be thought that he will require no account of him whether he keeps or breaks these Laws for to what purpose then did he give ' em how contemptible are Laws without a Sanction or a Sanction without a Judge to dispense Rewards and Punishments to give Laâ—s without taking notice how they are observed or punishing the breach of them is so very absurd that no Humane Government was ever wholly guilty of such Folly and why should we charge God with such Absurdities in Government as would be ridiculous in Men If we will but allow God as much wisdom and discretion as an earthly Prince we may certainly conclude that if he have given Laws to Men he will judge them by those Laws 3. There is no way of governing a free Agent as Man is but by Hopes and Fears by Rewards and Punishments for Force and Violence is not the Government of a free Agent because it destroys its Liberty so that if God govern Mankind at all he must judge them that is he must reward or punish them according to the good or evil they do and though this does not directly and immediately prove a Future Judgment yet it is a fair step towards it as will appear more heareafter All that I desire to conclude from hence at present is only this That if God govern Men like reasonable Creatures he must judge them and if we have as great assurance that God will judge the World as we have that he governs it there is an end of this Dispute to Men who believe a God and a Providence Nay indeed we need onely suppose that Man was made by a wise Being to
prove that he shall be judged i. e. that he shall be rewarded or punished for all the good or evil that he does in the World for a wise Being will take care to govern the Creatures which he makes and to govern them in such a way as is agreeable to the natures he has given them and since Man who is a free Agent can be governed only by Hopes and Fears God would never have made Man had he not intended to judge him that is he would never have made such a Creature as can be governed only by the hope of rewards and by the fear of punishments had he not resolved to lay these restraints upon him to reward and punish him according to his works how necessary rewards and punishments are to the Government of Mankind we see in Humane Societies which cannot subsist without them notwithstanding the severest Laws and the severest Executions every Age and every Country produces great Prodigies of Wickedness which no doubt would be much greater and more numerous were there no Laws and Government to restrain them and when the universal experience of Mankind convinces the World of the necessity of Laws and Government why should we think that the wise Maker of Man should not over-awe him also with a sence of his own Power and Justice which is a more effectual restraint than the Rods and Axes of Princes 4. Thus if Man by the condition of his nature be an inferior depending Creature he iâ— by nature accountable to God who is his Soveraign Lord and this is a good argument that he must give an account of himself to God for there is no reason to think that God will not call Man to an account when he has made him by nature accountable to himself for the nature of things is the most certain Rule to know how God will govern them at least the nature of things is a strong presumption unless there be plain and positive evidence to the contrary He who acknowledges that Man is by nature an inferior Creature who is acâ—ountable to God for all his actions must reasonably take it for granted without any further proof that God will judge him and call him to an account for God has declared his intentions to judge him by making him such a Creature as is to be judged and there is no pretence and shew of reason to say that God will not take an account of Man whom he has by nature made an accountable Creature unless we can produce a plain and express Revelation of God's Will that he will not judge Mankind No Man can prove by Reason that God will not judge Mankind for no reason can be good against the nature of things and the nature of things do most reasonably prove a Judgment and therefore we ought to take it for granted that God will judge the World till we see a plain Revelation that he will not This is worth observing because it puts the proof upon those who deny a Judgement where in reason it ought to lie for those who have the reason and nature of things on their side have as good natural evidence as they can have and need seek no farther but those who will believe contrary to the nature of things ought to prove their exemption from the Laws and Condition of their Nature I desire you seriously to consider this and to lay it to heart for it is a very sensible Argument and if well managed will convince you how foolish and unreasonable all your hopes are of escaping the Judgment of God unless you have some secret Revelation of this which the rest of Mankind know nothing of To represent this as plainly and familliarly as I can give me leave to ask you some few questions or rather seriously ask your selves such questions as these Why do I hope that God will not judge me am I not obnoxious to the Judgment of God am I not his Creature and is he not my Soveraign Lord and is he not then my Judge and why should I expect that my Natural Lord and Judge will not judge me Do not Parents judge their Children and Masters their Servants and Princes their Subjects and all Superiors their Inferiors and can I think that God alone who is the Soveraign Lord of all and from whom all inferior Power and Authority is derived should not himself judge his Creatures has God renounced his Authority or is the exercise of it too troublesome to him has he made us accountable Creatures but to give no account has he made us in subjection to himself to exercise no authority over us We had better say that God has made us all soveraign independent unaccountable Creatures which is less absurd then to say that God is our Soveraign Lord but will not judge us that is will not exercise his Soveraign Authority All this seems to be self-evident and to carry its own proof and conviction with it and there is but one Evasion that I know of by the help of which Men flatter themselves still into the Opinion that God will not judge them or at least that it is not evident from the Light of Nature that he will and that is that all this proves indeed that God may judge us if he please but not that he will we are his Creatures and obnoxious to his Power and Justice and this proves that he may judge us if he please but he is under no force and therefore if he please also he may not judge us and while this is possible Men who love their sins are apt to flatter themselves that God will not judge them Now this is no Objection to us Christians who have a plain and express Revelation of God's Will in this point that he will judge the World though it is an additional satisfaction to see that the nature and reason of Things do so well agree with Revelation but however at present I shall set aside Revelation and consider whether what I have now discoursed do not as well prove that God will as that he may judge the World Now to prove this I will only suppose one Principle which I will thank no Man to grant me That what the reason and nature of Things proves ought to be done that God will do for though God is under no force and necessity yet his own Nature is a Rule and Law to him what ought to be done every wise and good and just Being will do and therefore God will certainly do it who is infinite Wisdom and what the nature of Things require to be done that is the prescription of his own Wisdom for he made all things and therefore by giving such natures to his Creatures he has made a Law for himself and sufficiently declared what he intends to do Now let any Man consider what I have already discoursed and tell me whether a reasonable Creature who is a free Agent and under the power and authority of a Superior who prescribes him
the Laws and Rules of Action ought not to be called to an account for his actions whether a wise Father or a wise Prince would not do this and whether it be not a great neglect and fault in the Superior if it be not done I 'm sure all Mankind would think so and then we must grant that the state and condition of Humane Nature proves that God not only may but will judge the World unless we can suppose that he will be guilty of such a neglect as would be thought a great fault among Men. There are some things indeed which we cannot know that God will do without a Revelation such free and arbitrary acts of Goodness as he had no way obliged himself too nor had given any natural notice of such as is the whole Oeconomy of Man's Salvation by Jesus Christ but what either his own nature or the nature of Things which he has made exacts from him that we may be sure a wise and just and good Being will do For though God is under no force and constraint yet he must because he will act agreeably to his own Nature and the nature of Things and we may as well say that we are not sure that God will do what is good and just and wise because he is under no force to do it as that he will not judge Mankind for to judge the World is as essential to the Soveraignty of God as to do what is wise and good is to his Wisdom and Goodness And it is as absurd to say that God is the Soveraign Lord of the World but need not exercise his Soveraign Authority in governing or judging Mankind as to say that God is infinite Wisdom and Goodness but need never do what is wise or good such dormant and unactive Perfections are a contradiction to the very Notion of a God whose Nature is a pure and simple Act all Life and Energy if he be good he will do good and if he be the Soveraign Lord and Judge of the World he will govern and judge Mankind This is the first natural Evidence of a Future Judgment taken from the Frame and Condition of Humane Nature which I have insisted on much longer than I intended for the more I think of it the more plain and convincing it seems to be for what imaginable reason is there to question whether God will judge Mankind when he has made Man just such a Creature as he must have made him if he had intended to judge him endowed him with Reason and Understanding and liberty of Choice given him Laws and Rules of Action and made him in subjection to Himself obnoxious to his own Power and Justice which are plain natural Indications that God does intend to call him to an account SECT II. The essential Differences between Good and Evil and the Natural Notions we have of GOD prove a Future Iudgment II. THe essential Differences between Good and Evil prove that Mankind ought to be judged and this is somewhat more then that God has made Man such a Creature as is by nature accountable and may be judged just as much more as the difference is between may be and must be for though as I observed before this may be does very strongly infer a will be that is that God having made Man an accountable Creature is a reasonable Presumption that he will judge him and call him to an account yet this is not so direct and immediate a Proof that God will judge Mankind as it is to shew that the essential difference of Good and Evil makes it necessary that Man should be judged that he should be rewarded and punished according to his works I premise this to shew you what a new advance this makes towards the proof of a Future Judgment and now come to explain the force of this Argument That there is an essential difference between Good and Evil as unwilling as some Men are to own it is demonstrable to every Man's sence and experience which is a more undeniable Proof then some Nice and Metaphysical Speculations and that what is good ought to be rewarded and what is evil ought to be punished is acknowledged by the universal consent and practise of Mankind and I think the necessary and unavoidable consequence of this is that good Men shall be rewarded and the wicked punished that is that Mankind shall be judged according to their Works This is in short the Argument and if I can make good each part of it I have no more to do but to leave it to your serious consideration I. That there is an essential difference between Good and Evil that is that there are some things in their own natures very good for Men and other things which are very hurtful to them And will any Man deny this This is the Good and Evil which is in the nature of Things and so immutably there that all the Art and Power of the World can never alter them without altering the nature of Things cannot make that good which is hurtful nor that hurtful which is good which is all the Good and Evil which I know of for whereas we distinguish between Moral and Natural Good and Evil the only difference between them is this that Moral Good and Evil is in the Will and Choice Natural Good and Evil is in the Nature of Things that which is good or hurtful to ourselves or others is naturally good or evil to love to choose to do that which is good or hurtful to ourselves or others is morally good or evil or is the good or evil of our Choice and Actions If you will but recollect yourselves you will all find that you have no other Notion of Good or Evil but this When you say such a Man has done a very good or a very evil action what do you mean by it do you not mean that he has done something very good or very hurtful to himself or others When you hear that any Man has done good or evil is not the next question What good or what hurt has he done And do you not by this mean Natural Good or Evil which is a plain evidence that you judge of the Moral Good or Evil of Actions by the Natural Good or Evil which they do and the essential difference between Moral Good and Evil is founded on the essential difference between Natural Good and Evil and therefore is as unalterable as the Nature of Things This is evident from that universal Rule of Justice and Goodness Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you do you that also unto them which is an Appeal to our own sense and feeling for the good and evil of our Actions which must therefore signifie the natural good and evil of them We feel what is for our good or hurt and we desire Men should do good to us but that they should not hurt us and therefore we must do good and no injury to them and this
is the sum of the Law and the Prophets The universal Rule of Moral Justice and Goodness which is to do that which is for the natural good of Mankind whatever our sense and experience tells us is naturally good and beneficial to ourselves which would be a very imperfect Rule if there were not an inseparable connexion between Moral and Natural Good The not observing this is the true reason why some Men can form no Notion at all of Moral Good or Evil but think Vertue and Vice to be meer arbitrary Notions which have no foundation in the Nature of Things as indeed they can have none but only this that Vertue is to love and choose and do that which has a natural good in it which is good to ourselves or others that Vice is to love and choose and do that which has some natural evil in it or which is hurtful to ourselves or others as for instance Charity which is one of the most excellent Vertues of the Christian Life consists in doing every thing which is for the good of Men in feeding the Hungry clothing the Naked relieving the Injured and Oppressed the Fatherless and the Widdow in directing advising assisting comforting Men in difficulties and distress in forgiving Injuries concealing Faults judging charitably and in all such other acts of Goodness as are greatly for the benefit of Mankind whereas the contrary Vice does all the contrary Evils and Mischiefs to the great hurt and injury of Men and whoever considers this must confess that Moral Good and Evil is as real a thing as Natural Good and Evil is and I suppose no Man who has his senses about him will deny that there is such a thing as Natural Good and Evil as for instance Pain and Pleasure and then his same senses will in abundance of instances tell him the essential difference between Moral Good and Evil On the other hand the true and onely reason why Men so vastly differ in their Notions of Moral Good and Evil is because in many instances they are not agreed what Natural Good and Evil is some Men call nothing good or evil but what is good or evil to their Bodies such as Pain and Pleasure and the Causes and Instruments of them Health and Sickness Riches and Poverty and the like others think and with much greater reason that we should take our Souls into the account too that whatever is for the ease and pleasure of our Minds whatever adorns and perfects a reasonable Nature is a Natural Good to Men as Wisdom and Knowledge and regular and well-govern'd Appetites and Passions do and therefore these are the foundation of Moral Vertues too but whatever debases our Natures and is a reproach to the reason and understanding of a Man whatever thrusts him down into the rank of brute Creatures and either disturbs his ease or changes the pleasures of a Man for those of a Beast are great Natural Evils too if the perfection and happiness of Humane Nature be a Natural Good and therefore to choose and to act such things is morally evil This is enough to shew what Moral Good and Evil is that it has a necessary relation to Natural Good and Evil and it were easie here to prove were it not too long a Digression that all the Laws of the Gospel do either command what is for the good and happiness of Mankind of every private Man and of publick Communities or forbid such things as are hurtful and prejudicial to them but my present Design will not suffer me to straggle so far out of the way II. The second branch of this Argument is That according to the â—eneral sence of Mankind what is good ouâ—ht to be rewarded and what is wicked ought to be punished For the proof of this I shall appeal in the first place to all Civilized Nations who live under Laws and Government for there is no such Nation but thinks fit to restrain Wickedness by a publick Vengeance on those who commit it indeed their Laws and Punishments are not always the same nor do they all punish the same Crimes nor with the same Punishments but all of them punish such Crimes as they think injurious to the Publick which is the principal concernment of Civil Government and inflict such Penalties on them as they judge proportioned to such Crimes or sufficient to restrain the commission of them some Capital some Pecuniary Mulcts Confiscation of Goods loss of Honour Corporal Punishments Imprisonment Banishment or some publick Marks of perpetual Infamy which is a certain argument that the Wisdom of all Nations thinks it fit that Wickedness should be punished that those who do Evil should suffer evil and indeed all Mankind is so sensible of this that there is not a greater Reproach to any Government then the Impunity of Vice nor a greater Glory to it than the strict and equal Administration of Justice Where publick Justice fails as it does in a great many instances we must next appeal to private Revenge to understand what the sence of Mankind is about the desert of Sin for there is not a more natural nor more eager Passion in Humane Nature all Men naturally desire to return the Injury they suffer upon the heads of those who do it and account it no Injury but a great act of Justice to do so In many Nations some private Injuries have been left to private Revenge and the Jewish Law itself permitted a Retaliation of Injuries an Eye for an Eye and a Tooth for a Tooth though it did not permit the injured Person to take this Revenge himself but made the publick Magistrate the Judge of it It may be you will wonder I should appeal to the impatient thirst and appetite of Revenge to prove the sence of Mankind that Sin ought to be punished when private Revenge itself is a great Evil and forbid by the Gospel of our Saviour but for all that Revenge is a natural Passion and speaks the furious rage and language of Nature that Sin ought to be punished It is that Passion in us which ministers to punitive Justice as a natural tenderness and compassion does to Charity and therefore the passion itself is not sinful though the irregular exercise of it is it is implanted in all Mankind as the love of Justice is but all Men must not execute Revenge no more than every Man can administer Justice where every Man is a Minister of Justice he may execute his Revenge too that is where there are no publick Laws and Government but when we are incorporated into Civil Societies private Revenge is superseded by publick Justice and to revenge ourselves is an Offence against the State but this publick Justice is executing Revenge still tho' without that partiality and passion which Men betray in their own cause and tho' our Saviour forbids private Revenge it is not because Sin does not deserve to be punished but to teach us those great Christian Vertues of Patience
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
and distressed People Sloth and Idleness and other Vices have sent thither What loud Clamours should we have against the Justice of the Divine Providence did men suffer half so much by Piety and Vertue as they do in the service of their Lusts If Mens own Vices be not a sufficient punishment to them we may consider in the next place how bad Men punish one another There are infinite instances of this even in well-governed Kingdoms where the Vices of Men are restrained by publick Laws and the severest Executions of Justice yet how many Outrages do they commit Rapes Murders Thefts Oppression Injustice and all sorts of Violence What work does Pride and Covetuousness and Lust make especially when such Vices as these infect great Men and are armed with Power to do Mischief witness all the bloudy Wars of Aspiring and Ambitious Princes attended with the Ruins and Desolations of flourishing Countries and all the Miseries and Calamities which the most frightful Fancy can conceive or the most Poetick Wit desâ—ribe But then on the other hand Vertue has its natural Rewards it gives peace and satisfaction to the Mind governs our Appetites and Passions that they cause no pain or disturbance to us it is the best means to preserve our Health to encrease our Fortune to procure Friends to reconcile Enemies to give us Credit and Reputation to escape the Injuries of bad Men and to pass through the World with as little Envy and Opposition and Justling as it is possible that is it is not of itself sufficient to make a good Man compleatly happy in this World for there is no such thing to be had here but it is the only thing that can make him as happy as he can be here it will prevent a great many michiefs which other Men fall into and enable him to bear those patiently which it cannot prevent This is the first step of God's governing Mankind that natural Provision he has made for the punishment of Wickedness and the rewards of Vertue for I suppose all Men will grant that this is God's own act for none but He who made Man could so fit and temper his Nature to the Laws of Vertue as to make his Duty his natural Reward and Happiness and his Sin his Punishment this is admirable and stupendious Wisdom and the most effectual means for the good government of the World and which was necessary to make all other acts of Government successful but this is so useful an Argument that I cannot dismiss it without some farther Remarks and Observations 1. God has by this means taken care that Vertue shall never be wholly unrewarded nor Sin unpunished for they are a reward and punishment to themselves and such rewards and punishments as are founded in the Nature of Things are unavoidable 2. This in ordinary cases supersedes the necessity of God's interposing by an immediate Providence to reward good Men and to punish the wicked these natural rewards and punishments when there is no occasion for more signal examples of God's Goodness and Justice will serve for this World for this reason indeed some Men conclude that God takes no notice of Humane Affairs because he does not always visibly interpose for the punishment of Wickedness and the defence and protection of vertuous Men but God has made a standing provision for this in the Nature of Things and that will serve the ordinary ends of Providence and when he sees occasion for it he can soon rectifie any great Disorders by a more immediate Hand this is most agreeable to the wisdom and to the majesty of Providence Thus God governs the Inanimate World the Heavens and the Earth and all the Creatures in it by keeping this great Machine in that regular and uniform Motion which he at first gave it and suffering all Creatures to follow the tendency of their own natures excepting such cases as require some extraordinary and preter-natural events as when God thinks fit to work Miracles for the Conviction of Infidels and to give Authority to his Prophets or to punish a wicked World with Drought or Famine or Pestilence to infect their Air and to make the Earth Iron and the Heavens Brass the less the Divine Providence deviates from the Nature of Things while the World is well and wisely governed the more admirable is his Wisdom who has so contrived the World that he can govern all Creatures by the Springs and Principles of their own Natures 3. Thus these Natural Rewards and Punishments give a sacred and venerable Authority to the Divine Laws for this proves that they are not Arbitrary Constitutions which depend wholly upon the Will and Pleasure of God who might if he had pleased have made Vertue Vice and Vice Vertue as some Men venture to talk with equal Ignorance Impudence and Prophaneness for unless God had made us other Creatures than we now are he could have given us no other Laws unless he could have given us Laws destructive to our Nature and Happiness for none but a vertuous Man can be happy and Sin must make us miserable 4. Nay these natural rewards and punishments are a glorious Justification of all the other acts of God's Providence for the rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked for this is to dispense rewards and punishments according to the nature and deserts of Things which becomes the Just Governour of the World for Happiness is the natural effect and reward of Vertue and Wickedness of Vice and therefore to reward good Men and punish the wicked is to reward Men for making themselves happy and to punish them for making themselves miserable to encourage them to make themselves as good and happy as possibly they can by rewarding them with new additions of Happiness and to restrain and terrifie them from making themselves wicked and miserable by threatning and inflicting more severe punishments on them and can there possibly be a more gracious Government than this What hath any Man to quarrel at in it unless it be that God is so greatly and passionately concerned that we should be happy for this is the apparent intention and design of his Providence in this World both in rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked 5. Nay further these Natural Rewards and Punishments which God has enterwoven in the Nature of Things whereby he has made Vertue a reward and Wickedness a punishment to itself are not onely a particular instance of God's Providence in that natural Provision he has made for the rewards of Vertue and the Punishment of Vice but are a natural Earnest and Pledge of all other acts of Providence which are necessary to this end When God made Vertue and Vice the natural Causes and Instruments of our Happiness and Misery it is certain that he intended that good Men should be happy and the wicked miserable Now does God ever intend things by halves will he not certainly effect what he intends These natural Rewards and Punishments are one
Secular Affairs will furnish us with frequent opportunities of exercising great and excellent Vertues yet the World is apt to gain too much upon us by our constant Conversation with it and as Flesh and Sense prevails so the Spirit loses and if this does not defile the Soul with worldly Lusts yet it takes us off very much from the frequent and vigorous acts of a Divine Life which is the true Happiness of a reasonable Soul But then these mortal Bodies are exposed to great Wants and Sufferings bad Men are injurious and Meekness and Patience and such tame and gentle Vertues incourage their Injuries nay true Piety and Religion itself may be the cause and reason of our Sufferings and when the Body suffers the Soul suffers with it and this stifles the present pleasures and satisfactions of Vertue and nothing can support the Spirits of good Men under such Sufferings but the future expectations of great Rewards So that in this State Vertue alone is not a sufficient reward to itself for either its pleasures are but faint and languid or its sufferings over-ballance its pleasures But yet if we will but suppose a good Man removed into such a State where Vertue and Piety will have its free unrestrained undisturbed Exercise and can produce its natural Effects without any hindrance and interruption then it is demonstrable that Piety and Vertue must make Men happy and this secures the Happiness of good Men when ever they remove out of these Bodies and out of this World When these Bodies and this World can no longer tempt or disturb us with its Pains or Pleasures when the Care and Business of this World can no longer divert and employ our Thoughts when Bad Men can no longer injure us when our Souls are set at liberty to exercise all their Rational Powers when we remove into a World of Spirits and converse only with Spiritual Objects which will as strongly affect our Minds as the things of this World do our Senses then Vertue will and must be a Reward unto itself then the Pleasures of Wisdom and Knowledge and Divine Passions will be ravishing and transporting Thus on the other hand the Nature of Vice is such as to make a reasonable Creature miserable but yet a great Prosperity in this World and a confluence of all sensual Enjoyments may at present palliate and dissemble or suspend these malignant Influences of a vicious Nature may make Men unsensible of the want of true Rational and Divine Pleasures or of the pain and disturbance of sinful Passions may bind up our Reason and Conscience and give such an empire and predominancy to Sense that we can neither understand nor relish any other Pleasures but those of the Body and think ourselves compleatly happy while we have these but if we will suppose such Men stript of Flesh and Sense thrust out of these Bodies and out of this World and there is an end of their sensual Happiness and a sensualized Soul is capable of no other and when all other Objects are removed and such sinful and distempered Minds are brought acquainted with themselves when the Vertue of these Opiates is spent and the Soul recovers its sense again then every vicious Passion proves a Fury then Guilt and Shame and Fear and Despair and raging Remorse act their several Tragedies in such a miserable Soul This is the true Nature of sinful and disordered Passions and thus they must do when they act like themselves and thus they will do when they are let loose upon us in the other World So that the natural Rewards and Punishments of Vertue and Vice that Vertue in its own nature is the Life the Happiness Vice the Death and Misery of a reasonable Soul do necessarily prove that if good and bad Men remove out of this World of Sense into a World of Spirits Piety and Vertue must make Men happy and Vice miserable and we may take it for granted that God will reward a happy and punish a miserable Nature 7. These natural Rewards and Punishments of Vertue and Vice are a great Instrument of Providence as they are a most effectual Antidote and Remedy against Superstition which corrupts the Manners of Men and debauches the World By Superstition I mean all those hypocritical Arts of appeasing God and procuring his Favour without obeying his Laws or reforming our Sins infinite such Superstitions have been invented by Heathens by Iews by Christians themselves especially by the Church of Rome which abounds with them Now these Superstitions do not only spoil all Religion but corrupt Mens Lives and give them great security and impudence in sinning which overturns the good Government of the World For while Men perswade themselves that they may live as they list and commit what Villanies they please and yet escape the Wrath and Vengeance nay obtain the Favour of God both in this World and in the next it sets them free from all Laws and Government and leaves no restraint on them but what the Laws of Men and the Rods and Axes of Princes lay on them But when Men consider that God has so contrived the nature of things that Vertue must make Men happy and Vice miserable they cannot imagine that God can be reconciled to wicked Men unless they think that he will alter the nature of Vertue and Vice for them the Rewards and Punishments the Happiness and Misery of good and bad Men are not now arbitrary things at the disposal of God's arbitrary will and pleasure but God must new make Man again to make good Men miserable and bad Men happy they may as well expect ease in a Fit of the Gout or Stone or Health in the Paroxysms of a Feavor as that a wicked and corrupt Nature should receive the Rewards of Religion and Vertue This is the first Evidence we have of a Divine Providence which governs the World that Divine Justice which is interwoven in the nature of things which has annexed such natural Rewards and Punishments to Vertue and Vice and thereby marked them out for the proper Objects of God's Favour or Vengeance II. Another Evidence of God's Providence and Government is the Institution of Humane Governments for the Punishment of Wickedness and the Rewards of Vertue it is very plain in Scripture that Humane Power and Authority is ordained by God I need only direct you to 13 Rom. for the proof of it though indeed the nature of the thing proves itself if we allow that God made the World for he has made Man such a creature that Humane Government is absolutely necessary and to make Humane Government necessary is a natural Institution of it Man is a sociable Creature who cannot live alone but must unite into Societies and the experience of Mankind proves that Societies cannot be preserved without Civil Government to maintain the Rights and to restrain the Violences and Injuries of Men that if God had not by any direct and immediate Institution set up any
their Appetites and Passions and to make them good Men if there be no Reward for Vertue and Piety in the next World Why should he afflict good Men all their Lives whose Vertue deserves a more prosperous Fortune only to exercise their Faith and Patience and to advance them still to more Divine Perfections unless he intended to reward their present Sufferings and their eminent Vertue with a brighter and more glorious Crown There are many Passages of Providence which there can be no other account given of but that they are Methods of Discipline to conquer Mens love to Sin or to improve their Graces and Vertues And I am sure there can be no account given of this why God should with so much Patience and Forbearance expect the Repentance of some Sinners and exercise good Men with so much Severity to make them better unless the Providence of God in this World have a principal regard to the Rewards and Punishments of the next that is unless there be a Judgment to come to reward good Men and to punish the wicked This I hope is sufficient to make good this Consequence That if God govern the World at present he will judge it-hereafter SECT IV. The Natural Presages of Conscience prove a Future Iudgment and if there be a Future State there must be a Future Iudgment V. THe Natural Presages of Conscience are another good Argument or a Future Judgment that is all Men naturally expect to be judged to be rewarded or punished for the Good or Evil they do and this is a strong Natural Presumption that God will Judge the World This is an Argument of great moment and therefore deserves to be particularly explained to which purpose I shall I. shew you That it is so 2. That this is not an artificial Impression but the natural Sence of our own Minds And 3. That this does prove that God will Judge the World and render to every Man according to his Works I. That it is so that all Men have a natural Presage of Judgment there is indeed a very â—ormidable Objection against this That very few Men live as if they did expect to be judged But this is as good an Argument against Mens belief of the Gospel of Christ and the express Revelation of a Future Judgment as it is against the Natural Sence and Presages of Conscience for there are too many who profess to believe the Gospel but do not live as if they did believe a Judgment But I need not trouble myself about this because it is an Objection only to Atheists and Infidels if indeed it be an Objection to them Other bad Men who live as if they did not believe a Judgment yet feel in themselves that they do believe it and when they think of it they believe and tremble too as the Devils do though at other times they are over-powered by the World and the Flesh to act contrary to the Convictions of Conscience and the Fears of Judgment The Heathens themselves who had only the Light of Nature to direct them were very sensible of the private Judgement of their own Consciences which did either accuse them when they did ill and fill them with remorse and fear of Vengeance or excuse commend and applaud them when they did well and give them great and chearful Hopes of a Reward as St. Paul tells us 2 Rom. 14.15 and is frequently observed by the Heathen Philosophers Poets Orators and Historians as a thing universally acknowledged and indeed I know no Man at this day who denies it and therefore I need not prove it All Men feel this in themselves even Atheists and Infidels whenever they are serious and thoughtful when the Judgements of God overtake them or they see the near Approaches of Death and another World The greatest Power cannot defend Men from these Fears Princes and Politicians are equally exposed to them with meaner Subjects those whom no Humane Power can touch are over-awed by an invisible Justice II. Since this is universally acknowledged the onely question is To what Cause to attribute these Fears and Rebukes of Conscience The Atheist will by no means allow these Fears to be Natural but only the Effect of a Superstitious Education as they say the Belief of a God and the differences of Good and Evil are Men have been taught from their very Infancy that there is an invisible Power that governs the World which will reward good Men and punish the wicked and have been frighted with the Fairy Stories of Infernal Judges and Styx and Acheron or Hell-fire and this made such an Impression upon their tender Fancies as can never be wore out at least not without great Industry and Resolution of Mind and this they say makes weak Men conclude that they are Natural But this is a very absurd and ridiculous Account of the Matter as will appear if you consider by what Rules we are to judge what is Natural and what not for if these Presages of Conscience have all the marks and signs of being natural that we can have that any thing is natural we must either say that nothing is natural or that we cannot tell what is natural and what not or we must confess it great Perversness of Mind to deny that to be natural which has all the signs and Marks of being natural that any thing can have Now I. That is Natural which is universal or common to the whole Kind for we have no other way of knowing what the Natures of Things are but by observing what is common to all Creatures of the same Kind and Species for nothing is common to all Individuals but a common Nature and if what is universal and common to all Mankind is Natural these Censures and Rebukes of Conscience are Natural for they are common to all Men for though we should grant that some few Atheists had wholly conquered these Fears and never feel the Lashes and Rebukes of their own Consciences such few and rare Examples ought to be lookt on as the Corruption of Humane Nature not as the Measure and Standard of it for it is no news to say that Humane Nature may be corrupted that the very essential Principles of it may be depraved and in such cases we always judge and that with very good reason that what is most common and universal is Natural not what is as rare and as ominous as a monstrous Birth 2dly Especially when we consider that that is most Natural which is born and bred with us and is the Original State of Humane Nature for Nature is before Art and before the voluntary Corruptions and Degeneracy of Nature This Atheists see and confess and therefore attribute the Belief of a God and the Checks of Conscience and the Fears of Judgment to Education that these Principles were instilled into us from the beginning and grow up with us into confirmed and setled Prejudices and I readily grant that Education has a great stroke in forming our
Notions and in awakening and cultivating our Natural Reason for though we are born with a Power and Faculty of Reason and our Minds are so framed as to understand and assent to such Truths when they are proposed to us to know and acknowledge prime and original Principles at first view as the eye discerns Light and distinguishes Colours yet we are not born with the exercise of Reason but it must be put into Act and formed by Education but this I say that it is an argument how natural these Notions are to our Minds that they are the first Principles all Mankind assent to without difficulty or dispute and such Principles as when Men grow up they find lie even and easie in their Minds they are the first things which Atheists themselves did naturally believe and that they do not believe them now is the effect of great Industry and Violence It is a piece of Art to be an Atheist which they are a great while a learning which very few Men though well disposed to it can ever learn but to believe a God and to fear and reverence his invisible Power and Justice is not Art but Nature and therefore common to all Mankind and the first thing they learn to believe 3dly Another Mark of what is Natural is that it is absolutely inseparable from Nature or at least not without extream Difficulty and Violence and this proves the Hopes and Fears of good and bad Men to be very natural For how impossible it is to conquer these Fears I appeal to your own Sence and Experience as many bad Men as there are who would be very glad to get rid of these Fears and to laugh them out of the World there are but very few that can do it Some Men indeed stifle their Consciences and lay them asleep by the various Arts of Superstition whereby they hope to appease God and to keep their Sins still or by the deceitful Vows and Promises of Repenting before they die or by perpetual Business and Entertainments which imploy their Thoughts and keep off all melancholy Reflections or by such perpetual Debaucheries as stupifie their Minds and make them insensible now these Mens Fears are silenced for a while but not conquer'd whatever makes them reflect upon themselves and consider their own state awakens their Fears again and makes them more out-ragious and tormenting than ever The Atheist is certainly so far in the right that there is no way to get rid of these Fears but by banishing the Belief of a God and of another World out of their Minds but few Men can do this and Atheists themselves when they have impudently enough derided the Superstition of the rest of the World and think they can answer all the Arguments for the being of a God and a Future State yet cannot wholly deliver their Minds from these Fears they ever and anon recur upon them and after all their pretended Assurance and Confidence they are very jealous what may be and many times some cross Accidents and Events or the approach of Death opens their eyes and makes them acknowledge a God and tremble at the thoughts of Judgment which they had so long despised This is a certain proof that these Fears are not owing to Education but spring from Nature for the Mistakes of Education may be rectified by Reason and Experience especially when they are such troublesome Mistakes that Mankind are desirous to get rid of them no such Mistakes could ever hold out long against Reason and Interest whatever is a Mistake may be confuted by Reason and when it is Mens Interest to discover the Mistake this will make them very sagacious in their Enquiries and very ready to see their Mistake that had the Fears of bad Men been the effect only of Idle Tales and Traditionary Fables it is impossible they should have withstood all the Wit and Reason of Philosophical Atheists that such Men with all their Arguments should not be able to make themselves absolutely secure much less to make many Converts though every Age and Nation has been filled with Men whose lives have disposed them to be Atheists These are the general Marks and Signs of what is Natural that which is universal and common to all Mankind that which is the first and original sence of Humane Nature and that which is so deeply fixt in our Minds that no Art or Industry can wholly root it out and all this proves that these Presages of Conscience the Hope 's good Men have of a Reward and the Fear of Punishment and Vengeance which haunts bad Men are the natural Sence of Mens Minds 3dly Let us now consider the force of this Argument how these Hopes and Fears of good and bad Men are Natural Presages of a Future Judgment 1. Now in the first place I think I may lay it down as a certain Principle That Nature or the Natural Sence of our own Minds does not deceive us for if we should say it may there is an end of all Certainty we must be Scepticks in every thing if we cannot believe the Natural Impressions upon our Minds for I know not then why we should believe our external Senses what we see or hear or feel if Man was made by God who is Eternal Truth the natural Sence of our Minds must be as true and certain as our Bodily Senses are for though the Deductions of Reason are not always so necessary and certain because Men may reason wrong yet if the first Principles of Reason and the immediate Sence of our Minds which are common to Humane Nature should misguide us this were the fault not of Reasoning and Discourse but of Nature itself and therefore must be charged upon the Author of Nature and certainly there cannot be so ill a contrived Creature made as Man is who is pursued with the Fears of Justice and Vengeance when he does ill and flattered with the promising Hopes of great Rewards when he does well if there be no Future Judgment to reward good Men and to punish the wicked 2. For secondly these Natural Hopes and Fears of good and bad Men immediately respect the Judgment of God not of Men and concern the Rewards and Punishments of the other World more than of this Let bad Men be never so powerful and prosperous though they fear no hurt from Men nor any change and alteration of their Fortune yet the sence of Guilt distracts and terrifies them with the Fears of an Unseen and Almighty Vengeance and though good Men suffer very hard things from the World and have no prospect of better Usage here yet their Consciences speak Peace to them and support them with great Hopes and therefore unless these Natural Hopes and Fears deceive us good Men shall certainly be rewarded by God and bad Men punished either in this World or in the next or in both 3. We may consider farther that these Hopes and Fears of good and bad Men give a Natural Confirmation
to all those other Arguments which I have already urged for the proof of a Future Judgement As to shew this in a few words 1. This proves a natural Sence in all Men that they are accountable Creatures and shall be called to an Account for their Actions For unless Men were sensible of this why should their Consciences acquit or condemn them Why should they judge themselves but in relation to some higher Tribunal which will certainly judge them especially when the Consciences of bad Men do not only condemn but threaten them and the Consciences of good Men do not only acquit and absolve but promise a Reward for they can neither punish nor reward themselves 2. This proves the natural Sence we have of the essential difference between good and evil and that what is good deserves a Reward and what is evil deserves Punishment because good Men expect a Reward for the good they do and bad Men fear Punishment when they have done evil which shews a natural Sence of the just merits and deserts both of Good and Evil and that they shall receive their just Rewards 3. This proves also that natural Sence Mankind have that God is the Supream and Soveraign Lord and Judge of the World and will judge Mankind for there is no other Tribunal which all Mankind can be accountable too the common Sence of Humane Nature must respect the Universal Lord and Judge of the World who has a Natural Right to Govern and to Judge Mankind he who made us imprinted this sence upon our Minds for what is natural is owing only to the Author of Nature and therefore these natural Hopes and Fears can only relate to the Government and Judgment of our Maker and Natural Lord and then they must prove that God will judge us that he will reward or punish us according to our Works Nay 4ly This proves that Natural Sence Men have of a just Providence which governs this World at present for tho' these natural Hopes and Fears do not give Men any assurance that they shall be rewarded or punished in this World as they deserve yet a good Conscience especially some great and eminent Vertues give good Men great hopes in God and a secure trust and dependance on his Providence even in this Life and a great sence of Guilt makes Men afraid of present Vengeance though God may think fit to delay the Punishment of bad Men till the next World yet a guilty Conscience never thinks itself safe here So that if there be any force in these Arguments the Accountableness of Humane Nature the essential Differences of Good and Evil the Natural Notions of God's Dominion and Soveraignty and that just Providence which governs the World at present to prove a Future Judgmenâ— they all receive strength and confirmation from the natural Hopes and Fears of good and bad Men which are a natural Presage of Judgment And this is a fifth Argument of a Future State The natural Presages of Conscience 6ly To add no more the removing Mankind out of this World into the next proves the necessity of a Future Judgement If Mankind after death subsist in another State they must be judged and therefore Judgment is as certain as a Life after death which I must take for granted in this Argument the reason I believe of this is not obvious at the first proposal but it will be plain if you consider but some few things 1. That when we go into the next World we must remove into a State of Happiness or Misery I do not mean that when we go into the next World good Men shall be certainly happy and the wicked miserable for that is to beg the thing in question and to take that for granted which is to be proved but 〈◊〉 we live in the next World it is certain we must be happy or miserable there for every thing that lives is so in proportion to the capacities of its Nature 2. That our State and Condition in the next World must have relation to our Behaviour and Deserts in this When God first makes Man he puts him into such a State as is fitted to his Nature for when he has done neither Good nor Evil it is not what he deserves but what God sees him fit for that must allot him his Rank and Station but when Man is removed out of one State of Life into another his Behaviour in the first State must be taken into consideration when God allots him a second for though his State of Life is changed the Person is the same and his Deserts are the same and if he deserved ill in this World he cannot deserve well in the next and if he deserved well in this World he ought to be well used in the next Some Philosophers who believed that the Souls of Men did pre-exist in a former State before they came into these Bodies thought this a very good account of the different Fortunes of Mens Birth Education Condition and Circumstances of Life that they were proportioned to their Merits and Deserts in that former State and were this true that the Soâ—â—s of Men did live in a former State before they came into these Bodies this might be a very fair and reasonable account of it for when Men have deserved well or ill whether they are continued in the same State or translated into some other the Justice of the Divine Providence in allotting their State and Condition of Life must have respect to their former Deserts before Creatures have deserved well or ill their Condition must be allotted by thâ— Divine Wisdom and Goodness with respect to the capacities of their Natures when they have deserved well or ill their Condition must be allotted by Justice with respect to their Deserts this is so plain that it will admit of no Dispute III. And then it necessarily follows that God must Judge Mankind in the 〈◊〉 World must reward or punish Men according to their Works that is musâ— put them into such a State of Happinesâ— or Misery as they have deserved anâ— have made themselves fit for those wâ—â— have obeyed God and purified and refined their Natures by the Habits of Graâ—â— and Vertue are fit Objects of his Goodness and have made themselves capablâ— of a Divine Happiness of seeing God and dwelling in his Presence but those who have debased their Natures with the love of this World and have defiled their Souls with impure Lusts deserve to be banished from God's Presence as Rebels and apostate Creatures and having made themselves uncapable of Divine Joys must suffer the Miseries of damned Spirits So that if we will but allow that God allots Men their Condition in the next World as he does in this and that in allotting their Condition in the next World he has any regard to their Behaviour and Deserts in this as Wisdom and Justice requires he should and this proves a Future Judgment or that God will reward and punish Men according
pray for and therefore it teaches us Having Food and Raiment there-with to be content But who could be contented with such a scanâ—y Provision while he sees the greater Prosperity of bad Men who dissolve in Ease and Luxury were there not a happy state reserved for them in the next World Where is the Man who would not comply with the Devil's Temptation to fall down and Worship him for all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory of them were he not to lose a brighter and a richer Crown for it Some times indeed God does bless good Men with great Plenty and Honour but he has no where promised to do so in the Gospel of Christ sometimes he does it not so much to reward good Men for Temporal things are not the proper Rewards of Piety and Vertue as to serve the ends of his Providence in the World he takes care of good Men to supply their wants and necessities here which is all that a perfect Vertue requires but he rewards them hereafter and yet this is not absolutely promised neither for our Saviour teaches us to take up his Cross to expect Sufferings and Persecutions for his Name sake and then we must be contented to want Food and Raiment to part with Houses and Lands and Life itself for his sake and our condition may be so afflicted and calamitous here that it may force us to say as S. Paul does If in this life only we had hope we were of all men the most miserable And who would be the Disciple of Chriâ—â— upon these Terms to suffer so much for him in this World and to gain nothing by it in the next Thus on the other hand there is a terrible Vengeance threatned against wicked Men in the next World Lakes of fire and brimstone blackness of darkness the worm that never dieth and the fire that never goeth out but the Gospel threatens no Temporal Punishments against Sin Bad Men are very often punished in this World when the Wisdom of the Divine Providence sees fit and they very often escape too and are much more prosperous than good Men are here that there is no Threatning in the Gospel to restrain the Impieties of Men but only the Fears of the other World and a Future Judgement and if you take away these you destroy the Gospel of our Saviour 2. Many of our Saviour's Laws are founded on the supposition of a Future Judgment and are extreamly unreasonable if there be no Rewards or Punishments after this Life that if we will but allow him the ordinary Prudence of a Lawgiver a Future Judgment must be the Foundation of his Religion If there were no other Life after this the only Rule of our Actions would be to live as long and to enjoy as much of this World as we can But Christian Religion in many cases will not allow of this and therefore is no Religion for this World were there not another World to follow To begin with the Enjoyments of this World How many Restraints does the Christian Religion lay on us to lessen the Pleasures and Satisfactions of this Life It teaches us a great Indifferency to all the things of this World but how unreasonable is that if this World be our only place of Happiness For who can be indifferent whether he be happy or not It commands us to mortifie our sensual Appetites to crucifie the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts to live above the Pleasures of the Body to pluck out our right Eyes and to cut off our right Hands but what reason can there be to deny our selves any of these Enjoyments as far as is consistent with preserving our Health and prolonging our Lives if we have no expectations after Death nay if Men are contented to live a short and a merry Life what hurt is there in it if death puts an end to them It forbids us to lay up for ourselves Treasures on Earth which were a strange Command were there not greater Treasures to be expected in Heaven It forbids earthly Pride and Ambition an affectation of Secular Honours and Power but why must we submit to Meanness and Contempt in this World if this be the only Scene of Action we shall ever be concerned in for a mean and base Spirit is no Vertue and for the same reason it can be no Vertue to be contented with a low Fortune to be patient under Sufferings which if they will never be rewarded is to be patiently miserable and that is Stupidity and Folly but to have our Conversation in Heaven to live upon the hopes of unseen Things is Madness and Distraction if there be no Heaven no unseen Things for us The Laws of our Saviour require us in some cases to sacrifice the dearest Interests we have in this World and Life itself for his sake which is a sensless and unreasonable Command if he does not intend to bestow a better Life on us If there were no other Life after this no wise Man would forfeit more for any Religion than it is worth in this World and that would reach but a little way in Suffering Nor is our Saviour so unreasonable as to require it upon these Terms but tells us plainly Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 16 Mat. 25 26. The Reasons of most of the Evangelical Commands must be fetched wholly from the other World and a Future Judgement and therefore we should have had the same Evidence for a Judgment to come that we have for the Christian Religion tho' there had been no such express mention made of a Future Judgment I cannot but observe here the true Reason of the Corruption of Christian Morals which are as much corrupted as the Christian Faith is That in expounding the Laws of our Saviour some Men have no other regard but to fit them to the ease and the conveniences of this Life and therefore reject any Interpretation of them which is severe to Flesh and Blood or will hazard their Ease and Fortunes in this World It is sufficient to Confute any Law of our Saviour or to Interpret it away to shew that there are great Temporal Inconveniences in it that to observe such Laws in such a sence would be very injurious to Mens present Interests and deprive them of many Pleasures and Advantages of Life It were easie to give many Instances of this but it shall suffice at present to confess that considering the State of this World and the Propensities and Inclinations of Humane Nature some Laws of our Saviour are very unreasonable were there not a Future Judgment to reward the Severities and Sufferings which good Men must undergo in observing of them and therefore we must have a care of rejecting any plain and express Law
of our Saviour for any Temporal Inconvenience which attends it or to think that the best sence of the Christian Law which is most for the Ease and Comfort of this present Life This may serve for the Proof of a Future Judgment for if this will not prove it nothing will There are indeed another sort of Arguments to prove it but they principally relate to the Person of our Judge or who shall be our Judge viz. The Son of Man Christ Jesus who is God Incarnate and to which St. Paul refers 17 Acts 31. That God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead but I shall defer that till I come to speak of the Person of our Judge SECT VI. The Improvement of this Doctrine in some Practical Inferences as 1. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged 2. To keep our Eye upon a Future Iudgment for the Government of our Lives HAving thus proved the Certainty of a Future Judgment both from Reason and Scripture before I proceed it is necessary to consider how we must improve this Belief for the Government of our Lives for that is the onely end of Faith and Knowledge and if we be never the better Men for our Faith we may as well be Infidels and this I shall do in these following Particulars I. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged I suppose I need noâ— prove this Consequence That those who must be judged ought to live as those who must be judged for if Judgment be of any concernment to us I am sure it is of great concernment to prepare ourselves for Judgment And if we must be judged for Eternity Judgment is of as great concernment to us as Eternal Life and Death Nor is there any great difficulty to know how those Men ought to live who must be judged every Man knows this without a Teacher who will give himself leave to think A Steward a Factor a Labourer any Person who is liable to the Censure and Judgment of a Superiour who will call him to an Account knows what he is to do to prepare his Accounts and there is no greater Mistery in preparing ourselves for God's Judgment than for the Judgment of Men. But because all Men will not consider things as they ought though they be never so plain and obvious I shall briefly suggest some Rules to you which you must all acknowledge very reasonable at the first hearing and which if well observed would make us lift up our Heads in the Day of Judgment and expect it without Astonishment and Terrour 1. If we must be judged it becomes us to act with great Consideration and Advice Rafhness Precipitancy Inadvertency to do we know not what in a Heat and Impetus without considering whether it be good or evil right or wrong does not become those who must be judged To be judged is to be called to an account to give a reason for what we do and therefore we ought to consider what reason to give before we do it We must be judged by a Rule as you shall hear more hereafter and therefore we ought to live by Rule too which no Man can do who does not consider well what he does before he does it It will be no Plea at the Day of Judgment to say That we did not consider what we did that we lived without Care without Thought without Observation for this is not an allowable Plea for a reasonable Creature much less for one who knows he must be judged For why did you live without Thought without Consideration had you not the power of Thinking of Reasoning of Considering and did not God give these Powers and Faculties to you to direct and govern your Lives did he not make you reasonable Creatures that you might consider and live by Reason and is it any Excuse then for a reasonable Creature that he lived and acted without Reason and a wise Consideration of things This is the great Degeneracy of Humane Nature the abuse and corruption of those Natural Powers which God haâ—h given us the Source of all the Evils that are in this World and therefore can be no Excuse much less when we know that God will judge us and require a reason of our Actions for not to consider our own ways when we know God considers them and will require an account of them is a contempt of his Judgement for did we reverence our Judge we must consider and yet how many mad extravagant wicked Actions are there daily committed which those who do them never think why they do them nor what reasonable account they can give of them either to God or Man Some Men are very â—ond of what they call a Frolick that is to lay aside all Thought and Consideration and to give themsâ—lves up to the government of 〈◊〉 very sudden and unaccountable Fancy and the more wild and extravagant it is the more entertaining without any regard to Vertue or Vice to Decency and Honour the least thought of which is a Prophanation of these Bedlam Misteries they drink themselves drunk in a Frolick blaspheme GOD and his Son JESUS CRIST and his most holy Religion abuse Wives and Virgins murder innocent People and affront all they meet in a Frolick but it is ridiculous to imagine if we must be judged that such Frolicks as these shall be allowed in the Account or pass for Cyphers and empty Scenes of Life to signifie no more than they were intended for that because we choose at such a time to act without Reason and Consideration therefore GOD should demand no Reason nor Account of such Actions And yet a very great part of the World tho' they do not run into such outragious Frolicks as these are yet their Lives are little better than a train of incoherent and independent Fancies and Humours they live without Thought or any wise Design any extempore Project has them which starts up in their Minds or strikes their Fancies they scarce know what they have to do the next day nor how they spent the last But is this a Life for Men who are to be judged Others there are who give themselves up to the government of their Passions which are so vehement and impetuous and always in so much hast that they will neither hear Reason nor allow any time for it and then no wonder if they do such things as they can give no good account of when their Passion is over Others are more fixt and resolved in their way they have chose such a course of Life as they like best and they are resolved to pursue it and that nothing shall put them out of it and therefore they resolve against thinking too lest that should disturb them and give check to their Enjoyments they will neither lissen to their
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
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
both of the Quick and Dead takes away the Shame of the Cross Let who dare mock at it we do not blush to own our selves the Worshippers of the Crucified Jesus who suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried for him God raised from the Dead and hath made him both Lord and Christ we can read the History of his Arraignment and Condemnation without taking Offence at his Sufferings though a Christ crucified was to the Iews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness because by an Eye of Faith we now see him advanced to the right Hand of God clothed with Majesty and Power and expect shortly to see him come again in the Clouds of Heaven to Judge the World Thus the Primitive Christians defended themselves against the Reproaches of Jews and Heathens and thus we may to this day defend ourselves against the Scoffs of Atheists and Infidels for a Crucified Jesus will appear a very glorious Prince when he comes to Judge the World It is very fitting as you heard before that the Saviour of Mankind should be the Judge of the World and it made it reasonable for our Saviour to submit to such an ignominious Death for the Salvation of Mankind when the Ignominy of the Cross should be rewarded and done away by the Glory and Triumph of the last Judgment and therefore the Apostle tells us That for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross despised the shame and is set down on the right hand of God 12 Heb. 1 2. 2. It gives great advantage to the Future Judgment that the Son of Man shall Judge the World he who became Man that he might be the Saviour of Mankind for the very appearance of the Son of Man to Judge the World will convince all Men of the Justice Equity and Compassion of the last Judgment and then God will be glorified in judging the World when Men and Angels shall see and acknowledge the Justice and Equity of it Now 1. What could Mankind have desired more had they had the choice of their own Judge than to be judged by a Man by a just and good and compassionate Man It is a formidable thing to be judged by God who is a Pure and Holy Being and who so holy that he dares appear before his Tribunal He chargeth his angels with folly and the heavens are not clean in his sight But we are apt to expect a more favourable Judgment from a Man who has a kindness for Humane Nature who is sensible of the Follies Temptations and Infirmities of it who will not judge us as if we were Angels or unbodied Spirits but will remember that we are Men that we are the Race of Apostate Man that we have a corrupt Nature within a tempting World and a tempting Devil without If this then will satisfie us God has appointed a Man for our Judge one who is our Brother Flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone one who has suffered and has been tempted as we are who has lived in the midst of a wicked World and knows the Conversation of Mankind how easily Men are turned aside by Example and Perswasion and Interest by Fears and Flatteries and has a great Pitty for the Weaknesses of Men and will make all favourable Allowances for them Nay more than this we have not onely a Man but God-Man for our Judge a God personally united to Humane Nature All Mankind have a great perswasion of God's Goodness that the kindest and most compassionate Man in the World falls infinitely short of the Goodness of God but they are afraid of his Holiness and of his Justice that these Attributes will not suffer him to make sufficient Allowances for the Weakness of Humane Nature On the other hand tho' Men know enough to pitty each others Infirmities yet they are not always the most favourable â—udges to one another in reason they should be so that those who are exposed to the same Temptations themselves who feel the Weaknesses and Infirmities of Humane Nature should pitty those who are overcome by them but it is not always so and therefore we cannot always rely on it but when God becomes Man we have all the Goodness of God and all the tender Compassion of a Man in their utmost perfection that when God-Man is our Judge if either God or Man can help us we are safe no Man need be afraid of such a Judge who has not out-sinned the Mercies of a God and the tender Compassions of a Man and he who has must perish and the most merciful Man must vindicate the Justice of God in it Especially 2. when we remember that this Man is the Saviour of Mankind He who is our Judge became Man that he might be our Saviour and can we desire a more equal and favourable Judge then the Saviour of Mankind We may be sure he has all the Kindness for us that we can desire it was a mighty Love to Humane Nature which brought him from Heaven and clothed him with Flesh and Blood and exposed him to all the Miseries and Sufferings of this Life for our sakes and when he did and suffered all this for us can we suspect he will be a severe and unequal Judge that he who died for Sinners will condemn any Sinners whom he can save Has he then forgot his Agony and Bloody Sweat his Cross and Passion has he forgot that Love which brought him into the World and which nailed him to the Cross for the Salvation of Sinners We need not doubt but the Saviour of Mankind is more strongly inclined to save than to destroy than to destroy did I say far be it from the great Lover of Souls that he should have any inclination to destroy This is foreign to his Design this is against his Will this is a force upon his Nature and Government he is Incarnate and Embodied Love Mercy is the Temper and Complexion the Glory and Triumph of his Kingdom and therefore none shall eternally Perish but those whom Infinite and Incarnate Love cannot save For we must remember that he has now purchased us with his own Blood that he has an Interest in us that every Sinner he condemns he pronounces Sentence against himself he rejects what might have been and what he passionately desired should have been his own and therefore we may be certain he will condemn none whom according to the most favourable Construction of the Terms of the Gospel he can save I say we may be as certain of this as we are to allude to some Parables of our Saviour that a Man who has travelled into the Wilderness to find a lost Sheep will bring it Home upon his back rejoycing and not leave it to perish there when he has found it or that a Woman who sought diligently for her lost Groat and rejoyced at the finding of it will not immediately fling it away again or that a Father who has received his Prodigal Son
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
have them not but this does not hinder but that they may give an account of their Poverty and those Graces which become a poor and low Fortune They shall not be examined about their Charity when they had nothing to give but they may for their Thankfulness to God and to their Benefactors They shall not be examined how they used their Riches which they had not but they may be how they bore their Poverty whether external Poverty has taught them true Poverty of Spirit Humility Modesty Patience in Want and Sufferings Contentment with a little Submission to the Will of God and a chearful Dependance on Providence for their daily Bread whether they have constantly prayed to God for the supply of their Wants as well as begged an Alms of Men and implored the Help and Assistance of the Rich these are Duties and Vertues which Poverty teaches and which poor Men ought to exercise and therefore which God may challenge from them and Judge them for It is a very wild Imagination to think that Poverty will excuse Mens Pride and Rudeness and Insolence unless it be a Vertue to be Proud when Men have no Temptation to it when they have nothing to be proud of Will Poverty excuse Sloth and Idleness when Men have nothing to live by but their Hands is that a Reason why they should not work When Men are able to work and get their own living is Poverty an excuse for begging and living idly upon the Charity and Industry of other Men when they work hard all day to get Bread for themselves and Families is this a reason to go to the Ale-house and spend it all at night to make themselves Beasts and leave their Wives and Children to starve ought not God and Men to judge them for this But above all things Poverty is the most unreasonable and senseless Excuse for Irreligion for neglecting the Worship of God For certainly if any thing will make us sensible how much we stand in need of God Poverty will Rich Men whose Coffers are full of Treasure who have Goods laid up for many Years are apt to forget God because they think they have no present need of Him they know how to live without him They have no occasion to beg their daily Bread of him who have enough to last their lives and to maintain their Posterity in Luxury when they are gone But methinks poor Men who have no Provisions before hand and know not where they shall have their Bread the next day should be very sensible that they live upon Providence that they have nothing else to trust to and would not any one reasonably expect that such Men would be very devout Worshippers of GOD would pray constantly and heartily to him to take them into his Care when they have nothing but the Providence of God to depend on One would think such Men should above all things take care to please God and to make him their Friend and Patron for if he cast them off they have no other Refuge that is a prophane irreligious Mind indeed whom Want and Distress will not drive to God But what would you have such poor Men do They han't time to spare for their Prayers unless they should spare it from eating or sleeping they must be up early at work and have not leisure for their Devotions as those have who live at ease But did they believe the Divine Prodence it would satisfie them that the time of Prayer is the best spent of any time in the day and contributes more to make a comfortable Provision for them then their hardest Labour for the Blessing of God is more then our Diligence and Labour he can succeed and prosper our Work he can raise up unexpected Friends to us and by some unseen Accident can change the whole Scene of our Lives for a more easie and prosperous Fortune However want of time for Prayer and Devotion is always a pretence and nothing but a pretence to excuse the Indevotion of our Minds a Man who loves and reverences God never wants time for Prayer whatever his state of Life be a poor labouring Man can't every Day spend an Hour at Church at his Prayers but if he have a Mind prepared and disposed for it he can fall upon his Knees and offer up a short Prayer to God as soon as he rises which takes up very little time and though he cannot be long upon his Knees yet he can raise up his Heart to Heaven in short and pious Ejaculations no business can hinder a devout Mind from this and therefore no business can excuse the not doing it and this will be accepted by God when we have no time for more Solemn Prayer So that you see Religion is the Business and ought to be the Care of poor Men as well as of the rich there are Graces and Vertues for them to exercise proper for their state of Life and therefore they shall be judged as well as the Rich and ought frequently to think of a Future Judgment and to live under the constant awe and sence of it The constant sence of a Future Judgement is very necessary for all Mankind to govern their Lives and to prepare their Accounts but besides this it is of the greatest use to poor Men of any other for it will in a great measure help to cure their Poverty or to make it easie In ordinary cases a Man who lives under a constant sence of Judgment cannot be poor to extremity for the sence of Judgment will make him diligent and industrious and honest and frugal and temperate and a devout Worshipper of God which are all thriving Vertues and will not suffer a Man to be miserably poor The diligent hand maketh rich and when it does not make Rich it at least prevents Poverty inflexible Honesty gives a Man Reputation in the World brings him into Business and Employment and that is a way to thrive Frugality and Temperance save what is got and encrease the Store and Reverence and Devotion for God brings down Blessings on them gives success to their honest Labours and we know it is the Blessing of God which maketh Rich. The Experience of the World as well as the Reason of the Thing proves this The miserable Poor are generally the most corrupt and profligate part of Mankind the very Reproach of Humane Nature and if you make any curious Observations about it you will generally find that it is not their Poverty which makes them wicked but their Wickedness makes them poor you shall very rarely see an honest industrious sober pious Man but makes a very good shift to live comfortably in the World unless the Times prove very hard that there is but little Work and Provisions dear or that his Family encreases so quick upon him that he has a great charge of Children before any of them are capable of working for their living and in this case such industrious Men seldom want Friends
for every one who knows them is ready to help them and therefore poor Men ought to think of a Future Judgment not only to save their Souls but to teach them to live in the World to deliver them from the extream pressures of Want And this is a double Obligation upon poor Men to think frequently of a Future Judgment that it is necessary to provide a comfortable Substance for them in this World and to save their Souls in the next But whether this remove their Poverty or no it will support them under it make them patient and contented with their Portion here if they govern their Lives under the sence of a Future Judgement it will support them under the Meanness and Calamities of their present Fortune with better Hopes they will then contemplate Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom and comfort themselves with the happy Change of their Condition as soon as they remove into the other World there they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more their Wants and Sufferings in this World if they bare them well shall be greatly rewarded and tho' they grovel in the Dust here and are Worms and no Men they shall then shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father it is a miserable condition indeed to remove from a Dung-hill to Hell but a Dung-hill is a Palace if it will advance us to Heaven nothing but these things can make extream Poverty tolerable but such Hopes as these will make the poorest Man rich and happy 3 dly None have more reason to be put in mind of a Future Judgment than Young Men for none are more apt to forget it As Solomon intimates in his Counsel to Young Men 11 Eccl. 9. Rejoyce 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 in the sight of thine eyes But know that for all these things GOD will bring thee to judgment But to make this Discourse as useful as I can I shall 1. Perswade Young Men to possess themselves with a serious and hearty Belief that they shall be judged 2. Perswade them frequently and seriously to think of a Future Judgment 1. Let me perswade Young Men to possess their Minds with a serious and hearty Belief that they shall be judged For though they dare not own that they have the least hope of escaping the Judgement of God more than other Men yet there is reason to suspect that they flatter themselves that their Age will excuse their Crimes that God will take little notice of the Folly and Giddiness of Youth but will wink at it as he did at the Times of Ignorance For though Young Men commonly think themselves the wisest part of Mankind and despite the Experience and Counsels of Age yet they are contented to plead their Ignorance and Folly their Rashness and Giddiness when they hope to escape Judgment by it They are but lately come into the World and every thing is new and surprizing to them they admire before they understand and are tempted by meer Curiosity to tast forbidden Pleasures Sense is very strong and vigorous in them and Reason is weak their Passions eager and vehement and yet soft and tender to every Impression they are led by Examples and there are more bad then good Examples in the World and the Examples of the most are most prevalent especially when they tempt them to Ease and Softness and Luxury which are great Temptations to Youth without Examples And can we think that God won't make great Allowances for such a weak and deceivable State of Humane Nature This is the fairest Plea that can be made for Youth why God should indulge their Extravagancies and not exact so strict and severe an Account from them as from those of riper Years But if we consider this over again we shall find as great reason why God should judge Youth as why he should judge any other Age of Men 1. For first Young Men are accountable for their Actions as well as the Old they understand the difference between Good and Evil they know that there is a God whose Creatures they are and whom they ought to Worship and Obey and this as I observed before makes Man an accountable Creature and that makes it fit for God to call him to an account and if this be a good Argument to prove that Mankind shall be judged it proves that all Men must be judged who are capable of giving an account and then Young Men must be judged as well as the Old Unless we will allow that Reason and Understanding makes Men liable to be judged I would desire to know at what Age God must begin to judge Men No doubt but every Age will find something or other to plead for its Exemption from Judgment as well as Youth of which more anon But if Reason makes Men the Subjects of Laws and Government then we must begin to be obnoxious to Judgment with the beginnings of Reason and our Account will encrease as our Reason does that is as far as our Reason extends we must give an account what our Reason and Understanding does not reach we shall give no account of This is very just that the degrees of our Knowledge when it bears proportion to our Age should lessen or encrease our Account but it is reasonable too that Men should give an account of their Actions proportionable to their Knowledge and this indeed will make a difference in the Account of young and older Men though it will not wholly excuse Young Men from giving an Account This may excuse a great many Follies Indiscretions and Mistakes of Youth but it can excuse no known and wilful Sin There is a certain Age indeed before Humane Laws will take cognizance of the Actions of Children as not looking on them as reasonable Agents they must be governed by the Rod and kept under Discipline but have not Understanding enough to govern themselves by Laws but Humane Laws will Judge and Punish those who hope to plead their Youth as an Exemption from the Judgment of God But why should Young Men expect that God will not judge them for those Crimes for which Men will judge and condemn and execute them too This is either unjust in Men or very just in God before they flatter themselves that God will excuse the Lewdness and Extravagancies and Frenzies of their Youth let them try whether this Plea will pass in Humane Courts and not think it unreasonable that God should judge and punish Youth when the Wisdom of all Nations has thought it just and reasonable 2. Consider farther whether you can think it fitting that God should suffer Young Men to live as they list without judging them for it that he should lay the Reins on their Necks and let them indulge their Lusts and Appetites and take their fill of sensual Pleasures and commit all manner of Villanies without restraint For can
to have their whole Lives to unlive again to abhor themselves for what they have done and to look forward with trembling into the other World for such late Penitents generally carry the Marks of their Repentance in Shame and Sorrow to the Grave with them All this Young Men may prevent if they will but think of Judgment in their Youth and govern their Lives under a sence of it This will make them remember their Creator in the days of their youth and consecrate their tender Age to his Service it will preserve them from youthful Lusts from all enormous Crimes and give them the humble Assurance and Confidence of dutiful Children in their Addresses to God when they draw near a conclusion of their Lives they review their past Victories over the World and the Flesh with the securest Triumphs The little Follies and Indiscretions and Miscarriages which the best Men are subject to will keep them humble and teach them to trust only in the Merits and Intercession of Christ but when they have made it the whole business of their Lives to please God though with the common Weaknesses and Infirmities of Humane Nature they feel great Peace of Mind and assurance of the Love of God and the nearer their Work is to an end the more securely they triumph What a happy State shall we think this when Death and Judgment are in view to feel so sweâ—â—â— Calm in our Breasts to have so joyful a Prospect before us And who would not think of Judgment when he is young that the hope and expectation of it may be the Comfort and Support of Age that then he may review his past Life not to undo what he has done but to tast the Pleasures and to reap the Rewards of it in present Peace of Mind and great Hopes 2 ly There is another Advantage which Young Men may make of the early thoughts of Judgment which old Sinners have lost and can never retrieve by all their Repentance viz. To make great Advances and Attainments in Piety and Vertue which will greatly augment their Reward Men who sin on till old Age though they prove true Penitents at last can never recover this for their time is past and their youthful Strength and Vigour spent and the Scene of Action over they can never re-call thirty or forty Years past in which if they had improved their time well they might have done great Service to God and to Religion and great good to Men but those who are beginning their Lives if they start right at first and pursue an even and steady Course of Piety and Vertâ—â— if they keep the Future Judgment and the next World always in their Eye what Improvements will they make what rich Treasures and glorious Rewards may they expect from that Righteous Judge who will render to every Man according to his Works The most that a Penitent can expect after a long Life spent in Wickedness and Folly is to get to Heaven and it is infinite Mercy in God to accept of such Penitents but the bright and dazling Crowns are reserved for those who have spent their Lives well and glorified God on Earth and finished the Work he gave them to do such Men will triumph at the Conclusion of their Race and Warfare as St. Paul did I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness I know this will not affect those Men now who love their Sins and desire to keep them as long as they can they will be very well satisfied if they can but get to Heaven at last how mean soever their Station be there for they are not so desirous to go to Heaven as to escape Hell and if they can but keep out of Hell it is all they hope for but Men must have a greater Spirit a more Divine and Generous Temper of Soul before they can get to Heaven If ever they prove true Penitents the loss of so many opportunities of doing Good and the loss of any degrees of Glory they might have had will both shame and afflict them I am sure the greater Rewards we expect in the other World the greater degrees of Glory and Happiness the greater will our Joy and Triumph be Are not Men in this World as fond of Happiness as they are afraid of Misery Does not a great Mind despise little things and aim at what is great And is there not as much reason to aim at the highest Happiness we are capable of in the next World as well as in this This is the noble Prize I would propoâ—e to Young Men You are now beginning your Race your Day is but in its Dawn if you rise with the Sun and work hard all day and spend your whole Lives in God's Service what a great deal of work will you do and what a proportionably great Reward will you have This you will do if you make the Thoughts of Judgment familiar to you this will keep a constant Guard upon your Actions this will excite and quicken your Industry this will make you stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord as knowing that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. CHAP. VI. For what we shall be Iudged VI. LET us now enquire What we are to be judged for And the general Answer to this is very plain That we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 That is we shall be judged for all the Good and Evil we have done This is obvious to all Men and acknowledged by all who believe a Judgement and it may be thought impertinent to prove that we shall be judged for such or such particular Crimes when it is universally confessed that we shall be judged for all But as I observed under the former Head though all Men who believe a Future Judgment profess also to believe that all Men shall be judged yet some Men are very apt to forget it and to flatter themselves that they shall escape better than others so it is here Though Men will in general acknowledge that we must give an account of whatever we have done in the Body yet there are a great many things which in themselves are very great Crimes and yet many Men think there is no account to be given of them I shall not instance in particular Sins though a great many such there are which few Men take any great notice of but shall confine myself to what is of a more General Nature for Particulars would be endless I. First then we must remember we shall be judged for our Ignorance which some Men are so far from suspecting that they take Sanctuary in their Ignorance to Skreen them from the Judgment of GOD. If they can but keep out the Light they
and impudent and are not so much concerned to be private what at first they were ashamed the World should know in time they think no Shame A Custom of Sinning though in private wears off the Modesty of Humane Nature and when Men forget to blush they despise Reproach and Censure and then publish their own Wickedness and seek for Retirement and Privacy no longer The most impudent Sinners in the World were at first modest but if they can find any Excuse to make a beginning how modest soever their beginnings are they quickly improve and lose the sence of Sin and aversion to it by their repeated Commissions and then cannot bear the Restraints of Modesty and Retirement And this shews what little hope there is that secret Sinners should ever prove true Penitents for the most impudent and hardened Sinners sinned very secretly at first and of all those Sinners who make very modest and bashful beginnings I doubt for one true Penitent some hundreds sin away all thoughts of Repentance For the only effectual Restraint upon Humane Nature is an Awe and Reverence for God and the Fear of Future Judgement and Men may sin away this in private as well as in publick When once they conquer a Reverence for God and for their own Consciences which a Custom of Sinning will do be it never so secret they will have little regard to what the World says of them they may fear Humane Punishments but they are sunk below the sence of Shame If ever God reclaim such Men it must be either by some great and severe Afflictions which carry the Marks of a Divine Vengeance on them or by discovering their Wickedness and exposing them to publick Shame before they have lost all sence of it But if Men sin secretly and are very fortunate in concealing their Sins they will never think it time to repent till they can sin no longer And therefore since GOD sees our most secret Sins and will judge us for them let us maintain a constant Awe for God in our greatest Retirements let us remember that God is always present with us that he sees us when no other Eye sees that he abhors our most secret Sins that it is a great Contempt of God to retain a Reverence for Men and to cast off the Reverence of God to be ashamed that Men should know and see that Wickedness which we are not ashamed to commit tho' we know God looks on But then on the other hand we must remember that at the Day of Judgment God will reward all the good we do how private and secret soever it be as our Saviour assures us with reference to our private Devotions private Alms and private Fasts 6 Mat. That our Father who seeth in secret will reward us openly It is too often seen that Men make Religion itself minister to their Lusts and Secular Interests as the Pharisees did all their Works to be seen and to be admir'd of Men and therefore their great care was for what is external and visible they prayed in the Corners of the Streets and gave their Alms with the sound of a Trumpet and disfigured their Faces that they might appear unto Men to Fast. This was all vain Glory and Hypocrisie and when they were admired by Men for it they had the Reward they aimed at and all the Reward they must expect But true Religion does not court the Applause of Men A good Man must set a good Example to the World in his publick Conversation but such Acts of Vertue as may be private he is contented should be known to none but God and his own Conscience This is highly acceptable to God for it is to do good only for God's sake and that satisfaction we take in doing good Here is no mixture of Secular Ends but God is the whole World to us that he sees it is more than all Humane Applause though the whole World were the Theatre we expect our Reward from him and from him only for we let no body else know it which is such a Perfection of Obedience of Faith of Hope and Trust in God as deserves the greatest Rewards Those who industriously conceal the good they do from Men can expect nothing from Men for it neither Praise nor Rewards and therefore can have no other Motive to do good but the Love and Reverence of God and Faith in him or the pleasure they take in doing good for Goodness sake which are such Noble and Divine Principles of Action as command Reverence from all Men when they are discovered do great Honour to the Divine Nature and will procure great Rewards which is a mighty encouragement to the most secret Vertues to the most secret Acts of Devotion and Charity That our Father who seeth in secret will reward us openly in the presence of men and angels VI. We shall be judged for the Sins of our Thoughts and though all Men will confess this also yet few consider it Good God! could we look into one anothers Thoughts how should we blush and be confounded to see each other Men who seem to make Conscience of their external Behaviour and Conversation make very little Conscience of governing their Thoughts and secret Passions Those who appear so modest as to blush at any indecent Word and Action too often at the very same time burn with Lust and entertain their Fancies with all impure and unclean Imaginations The most affable and courteous Men whose Words and Behaviour are soft endearing and obliging can yet cherish revengeful Thoughts Anger Malice Hatred and please themselves with the Imagination of some Tragical Scenes which they dare not Act. Nay many times those who appear Humble to a Fault who seem as free from Ambition as any Men in the World who arrogate nothing to themselves nay seem to admire every body but themselves are yet very full of themselves swoln with vain Conceits of their own Worth and Merit and please themselves with their own Deserts and that the World takes notice of their Deserts and then they consider how they ought to be rewarded and preferred and will be sure to choose very well for themselves and thus entertain their deluded Fanices with vain and empty Scenes of Greatness and Glory The Pharisees thought all this very innocent that to lust after a beautiful Woman and please themselves with amorous and wanton Imaginations were no Crime if they did not commit Adultery that Anger and Malice and Revenge were very innocent while confined to thought but our Saviour teaches his Disciples better Ye have heard it hath been said to them of old Thou shalt not commit adultery But I say unto you Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart You have heard it hath been said unto them of old Thou shalt not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment But I say unto you Whosoever shall be angry with his brother
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
iniquity I shall add but one thing more wherein Christians have a great advantage of Jews and Heathens and have received more from God than they I mean the plentiful Effusions of the Holy Spirit on the Christian Church I dare not say that Heathens themselves wanted all internal assistances to Vertue for I can by no means perswade myself that God who is an infinite Spirit should for so many Ages together have no commerce with Mens Minds and Spirits that he who governs the inanimate World who steers the Motions of the Heavens and keeps Nature in its regular course should wholly neglect the Rational World and the Moral Springs of Action should not influence the Thoughts and Passions of Men should not lay invisible Chains on their Lusts nor inspire them with great and vertuous Designs especially since he is a great Lover of Vertue and abhors Vice and knows the corruption and wickedness of Humane Nature without some restraints and its weakness and indisposition to Vertue without Divine impulses I am sure Heathens themselves called Vertue the Gift of God and ascribed all extraordinary Excellencies and Perfections of Men to the secret Influences and Assistance of their Gods The Jews had these internal assistances to illuminate their Minds to influence their Wills to direct their Choice to give warmth and vigour to their Affections as is plain from the Psalms of David wherein there are many Prayers to this purpose which prove what his belief was for had he not known that the Divine Spirit did use to assist good Men he would not have prayed for such assistance and yet this he frequently does O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes With my whole heart have I sought thee O let me not wander from thy commandments Blessed art thou O Lord O teach me thy statutes Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law I am a stranger upon earth hide not thy commandments from me Make me to understand the way of thy precepts Strengthen thou me according to thy word Teach me O Lord the way of thy precepts Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law Incline my heart unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness Turn thou mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken me in thy way And in his Penetential Psalm he prays Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit But as devout Men among the Jews had a greater Portion of the Holy Spirit than the Heathens had so there was still a more plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit on the Christian Church not only in those miraculous Gifts and Powers which were bestowed upon the Apostolick Age and continued in some measure in After-Ages till Christianity was well planted in the World but as to the renewing and sanctifying Influences of the Holy Spirit We are now born not only of Water but of the Spirit in Baptism 3 Iohn 5. And by one spirit we are all baptized into one body And have been all made to drink into one spirit 1 Cor. 12.13 So that at Baptism we are born of the Spirit which signifies that the Holy Spirit gives Life and is a new principle of Life to us in the Lord's Supper we drink into one spirit which signifies the fresh supplies and communications of Grace as we daily receive new supplies of Spirits from our natural Meat and Drink and I know not how we should have the Spirit in a more perfect manner than as a constant Principle of Spiritual Life But it is not my business to prove what all Orthodox Christians own that the Holy Spirit is more plentifully bestowed upon the Christian Church than ever it was upon Jews or Heathens which makes our Obedience to the Divine Laws more easie by encreasing our strength and exacts from us more perfect Attainments as we all expect more perfect Services from our Children as their age and strength increases All this God has done more for us Christians than he has done for the rest of the World and all this which he has done more for us makes it our Duty to live better and to do more Service for God than other Men and that makes it very just for God to expect more from us and proves that he does so and then we should consider what manner of persons we Christians ought to be in all holy conversation and godliness If Heathens shall be damned for their sins against the weak and glimmering Light of Nature and the feeble Convictions of a Natural Conscience corrupted by Education by Examples by prevailing Customs by the Cheats and Impostures of wicked Spirits what shall the Condemnation of Christians be who neglect so great salvation who when light is come into the world love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil who sin against the clear and bright Light of the Gospel against the Love of GOD against the Grace of CHRIST against the powerful Restraints and Assistances of the HOLY SPIRIT If those that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath troden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace 10 Heb. 28 29. Which is true not only of final Apostasie but of all wilful Disobedience The Grace of the Gospel makes our Work easie but our Duty more and the danger of a miscarriage greater It does not require unsinning Obedience but it requires greater measures of Purity â—nd Goodness and Universal Righteousness and has threatned an hotter Hell against wicked Christians Thus Christians will have a greater Account to give than Jews or Heathens because they have received more and as the Receipts of Christians are very unequal so their Accounts will proportionably differ Some Christians have but One Talent others Two others Five and as no Man shall account for more than he has received so how much soever we have received we must account for it all This needs no proof and it has been sufficiently explained and applied above The CONCLUSION How to know what our Sentence will be at the last Iudgment With an Exhortation to Reverence our own Consciences HAving thus largely discoursed concerning a Future Judgment I need not mind you of what Concernment it is to know what Sentence Christ will pass on us at that Day whether Come ye blessed of my Father or Go ye cursed into everlasting fire For if we must be happy or miserable for ever how can we content our selves to live in doubt and suspence which of these shall be our Portion What a Hell is this to live in perpetual fear of Hell How can we sleep without dreaming of Lakes of Fire and Brimstone without the