yet if for lack of one thing I should fall short of it What if this covetousness and base spiritedness this worldly-mindedness and uncharitableness this passion and peevishness this stubbornness this stiffness and opposition and disobedience to my Governours this desire of revenge and heart-burning and animosity what if this or any of these should ruine all and shut me out of Heaven Lord therefore prays he let me part with every thing that thou dost hate and embrace that which thou dost love and command that I may appear before thy Tribunal with courage and comfort Thus the thoughts of Judgment strike a holy awe and dread into the hearts of God's Children and do successfully affright 'em from sin It is thus a Terrour even to good men And especially 't is a Terrour to wicked men and impenitent Sinners when under any affliction or the apprehension of approaching Death But after Death especially 't will be so when the Judgment-Day is come 't will be Terrour with a Witness 'T is suppos'd 't will be a kind of Terrour to good men which is gathered from that expression in the Thessalonians 1 Thess 1.10 To be admir'd in all them that believe Even in admiration it self there is a kind of mixture of fear and Terrour through an overplus and overslowing of expectation and ravishing exuberant wonder as some are observ'd to weep for joy But in wicked men all that 's purely dreadful shall meet together But more particularly this dread and Terrour which will fall upon wicked men the Enemies of our Lord ariseth from these four things 1. The sight of the Judge 2. The manner of his coming to Judgment 3. The Accusation of their own Consciences 4. The Nature and Characters of the Judgment Which will be 1. An Universal a General Judgment 2. An exact an accurate and critical Judgment 3. A just and righteous Judgment 4. The final Judgment 5. A Judgment that will sentence to an eternal state either of happiness or misery But perhaps some may be here dissatisfied being ready to demand Whether none shall be sentenc'd to an eternal state till the last and general Judgment What then shall become of departed Souls after Death till the General Judgment Shall they be kept in some Middle Place in some Limbus Patrum or Infantum To this I answer As there is a General Judgment at which the Body and Soul being re-united shall appear and receive Sentence together so there is a particular Judgment of the Soul by it self at its departure from the Body That the Souls of good men immediately after Death are carried to Heaven by the Angels to receive the Sentence of Absolution which shall be pronounced by Christ who will place them in the Mansions of Glory is most certain as may be gathered from the Case of Lazarus Luke 16.22 compared with 2 Cor. 5.1 And I humbly conceive with submission which is not unwarrantable by Scripture as is intimated in the Case of Dives Luke 16.23 that Christ Jesus the Judge of the World by virtue of his Regal Office which he doth now execute as he sends out his Angels which are ministring Spirits to carry holy Souls into Heaven so he commissions his Angels too to take the Souls of wicked men immediately after their separation and deliver 'em to the Devil that cruel Jaylor the Keeper of the Infernal Prison who instantly draggs 'em away to Hell there to be bound as 't is said of the evil Angels in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day Jude 6. and in the mean time to be tormented and punished according to their capacity and that in pursuance of the ancient Sentence pronounced long ago He that believeth not is condemn'd already John 3.18 36. and the wrath of God abideth on him Thus having discours'd Doctrinally of that great Fundamental Point of Religion the certainty of Judgment to come a Day of Judgment after this Life together with the dreadfulness of it styled here The Terrour of the Lord It remains now IV. and Lastly that we make some improvement of it by Application And here first of all I hope I need not use Saint Peter's Apology to you how needful soever 't is amongst others in the World for the Lord's slackness and delay in coming to Judgment which he directs to those Scoffers of the last times 2 Pet. 3.3 Knowing this first that there shall come in the last days Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the Creation I hope there are no such Scoffers here though with sorrow and sadness and lamentation I might speak it and observe it they abound too much in the World yea in Christendom it self and this reformed Part of it men of an Atheistical shall I say or Anti-Christian Spirit who laugh and mock at the Doctrine of a Day of Judgment as a wild Chimaera the idle Dream and fancy of a melancholy Preacher the effect of an inquisitive contemplative Head and the strength of imagination being ready to say in the Words of these Scoffers here mentioned by St Peter Where is the promise of his coming c. i. e. Where is the Promise or Prophecy fulfill'd that Christ shall come to judge the World for since the death of Adam and the Patriarchs and the Prophets and Christ himself who told the World of a Day of Judgment the World continues as it was no alteration appears and 't is like to continue so for ever Now this mocking and scoffing and infidelity owes it self St Peter observes partly to their Lusts partly to their wilful ignorance and inadvertency and inconsideration Which in regard there are so many in the World that are ready to join Issue with these Scoffers here I will take particular notice of both to obviate their Atheistical Objections and Anti-Christian scoffs and to antidote you against the infection of a contagious Air. 1. Then It owes it self partly to their Vices and Lusts Scoffers walking after their own lusts Some men so long abandoning themselves to Vice become Athestical and deny God for 't is their interest there should be none and upon the same Grounds they become Anti-Christian and deny Christ deny his Divinity and Authority and Veracity his Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and his coming to Judgment For 't is their interest that he should never come whose coming will be so terrible to all his Enemies 't will be to the perdition of ungodly men 2. It owes it self partly to their wilful ignorance and inadvertency and inconsideration and that of three things First God's Power and Providence both in the Creation and destruction of the World Secondly The nature of God and his measure and account of time Thirdly His patience and long-suffering First God's Power and Providence both in the Creation and destruction of the World ver 5 6 7.
educated None of these things then could be Motives to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ to set on this Business What Motives then could prevail Would they be so mad and indiscreet to press Gospel-Piety upon the supposition of a Terrour that they should never hear of or feel and which themselves did not believe and not hope to be advantag'd by it either here or hereafter What encouragement were this nay what madness rather to press an idle and unprofitable Vertue an uncommanded Obedience with design only to terrifie and affright the World and in the mean time expose themselves to disgrace and shame and contempt and reproach and hatred and persecution With what courage or comfort could they hold out to press this impertinent unprofitable business and that with so much sweat and labour weakning their Bodies and wasting their Spirits endangering their lives and livelihood If there were no other Motive but this how soon would they have hung the Wing how soon would the Tongue have faulter'd and been silent and the Spirits faint and the Hands and Feet have been weary 'T is then certainly no less no more inseriour Motive than the certain knowledge of the Terrour of the Lord that put them with such earnestness upon this great business 'T was this brought Christ from Heaven Knowing the Terrour of the Lord he came down to perswade men knowing I say the Terrour of the Lord the displeasure of the Great God against sin and Sinners and the certainty of Divine vengeance and everlasting wrath knowing this he came into the World to perswade men This made him with so much zeal and earnestness to set upon this Business to perswade men and that both by his Doctrine and Miracles his Life and his Death by his bitter Passion and Sufferings his Tears and Bloud his Resurrection and Ascension and Mission of the Holy Ghost and still continues to perswade them by his Ministers and Ambassadors whom he commissions and commands to perswade and entreat and beseech by all the endearments and compellations of Love to flee from the wrath to come to be reconcil'd to God to embrace and improve the means of Grace and Salvation Which hath transported their Spirits with zeal and courage counting nothing dear but God's Glory and mens Souls counting I say nothing dear neither health nor strength nor reputation nor honour nor livelihood nor their dearest bloud which they were content should melt away in the Flames and be expos'd to the hands of violence rather than cease to perswade men knowing the Terrour of the Lord. And this by the way may serve as an Apology for Ministers When you hear them boldly and severely rebuking Vice and reproving sin and Sinners laying open the horrid and abominable nature and sad effects and consequents of sin and so passionately and earnestly perswading men to repentance to the practice of Vertue and Holiness and that from the consideration of rewards and punishments to be dispensed in the other World and those dress'd up in the different habit of recommending or astonishing and affrighting circumstances proper to each distant state when you hear this do not censure it as a common Lecture of Terrour to awe and affright Children and the weaker sort who are easily imposed upon as words of course and so not much to be regarded as a Tryal of Skill and a cast of our Office much less as a design out of malice and hatred to your persons to expose and abuse you which will provoke you to be angry to storm and rage at the Word and the Preacher of it No but rather look upon it and receive it as Words spoken in the deepest seriousness and out of true compassion and charity to your Souls Alas Sirs were not sin so dangerous and hurtful to men were there no future Account to give at the tremendous Audit were there no such flaming wrath and fiery vengeance as you hear of from the Pulpit were there no future Rewards for good and no Punishments for bad men we would never trouble you For we come upon an unwelcome Message to many to ravish their Dalilahs out of their Arms which may turn their Stomachs and make them rage as Herod did at John the Baptist to take them off from that which they so dearly love which 't is as as hard to part with as to part with a dear Member with a right Eye or a right Hand and therefore sin is compar'd to the Members of the Body Mortifie therefore your Members which are upon the earth Col 3.5 fornication c. And no wonder now that the Sinner storms and grows angry but we must not value that The Chirurgeon would be unfaithful if he should be loth or forbear to put his Patient to grief when he sees his danger No he will cut and lance and search the Wound or Sore to the bottom though he put his Patient to pain though he cry and lament sore and grow angry he will not spare a dear Member if a Gangrene calls for amputation The Physician will deal plainly with his Patient and tell him the nature of his Disease and his danger and will make him sick with bitter Pills and loathsome Potions in order to his Cure The Lawyer will deal faithfully with his Client and critically examine and search into every Creek and Corner of his Evidences and tell him the worst and not flatter him if he finds any thing defective that he may consult a Remedy Now Sirs our Work is much like the Work of these like the Chirurgeon we are to cut and lance with the Sword of the Spirit and the Knife of Mortification and to search the Sinners Wounds and ulcerous Sores to the bottom yea and to amputate and dismember too Like the Physician we must tell men of their Sickness and their danger and dose them with bitter Pills and loathsome Potions We are Physicians in Ordinary to the King of Kings and the World is his great Hospital where do lye abundance of impotent Folk of blind and lame and sick and diseased who are our Care we are bound ex Officio to look after them and must deal faithfully and in such methods as the nature of the Disease requires Like the Lawyer we must search and examine our Peoples Evidences for the heavenly Inheritance yea like Ambassadours we must deliver our Message whether of Peace or War And would you have us flatter and deceive Now were there no need of this we would not trouble men But alas who can see his Neighbour's or his Friend's danger and not be concerned What an uncharitable man is he that sees his Neighbour's House on Fire and will not tell him of it and endeavour to save him from or pluck him out of the Burnings that sees him drowning and will not help him that sees Thieves breaking in upon him and will not cry out and assist him especially 't is the Watchman's Office so to do who will not be loth
or forbear to cry out Fire at Midnight or make an Alarm to give notice or Thieves and Robbers lest he awake or disturb the secure sleeping man who is in danger And what shall the Watchmen of Israel who ex Officio are bound to give notice of and help to quench the spiritual Flames hold their peace and be silent Shall we see men all in Flames expos'd to the devouring Fire the Fire of Lusts burning within them evidenc'd by the Flames of Vices without the Flames of wrath and Divine Vengeance over them and the Flames of Hell underneath them into which they are ready to drop every moment Shall we see this and be silent and not cry out and endeavour to quench the Flames and pluck them out of the Burnings and save them from that consuming Fire Shall we see them upon the Precipice of destruction just falling headlong into ruine and not stretch out a hand to save them Shall we see Thieves and Murderers the Devil and his Agents breaking in upon Souls and not give them notice of it and run to their assistance You ought therefore Brethren to put a candid construction on the severest Lectures from the Pulpit to take the sharpest Reproofs the most bitter Invectives against Sin the most earnest and passionate Adjurations as instances of compassion and love to your Souls and faithfulness to him that sent us Believe it 't is the sin we hate while we reprove but yet love the Sinner Phil. 1.15 And though some perhaps may preach Christ out of envy as the Apostle speaks and others for the sake of the Bag with Judas yet I doubt not there are many who have higher Ends and aims viz. God's Glory and the salvation of Souls who can truly say with the Apostle here Knowing therefore the Terrour of the Lord we perswade men I will shut up this with that wholesome Advice of St James and St Peter concerning hearing and receiving of the Word preached Jam. 1.19 20 21. Wherefore my beloved Brethren let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to wrath for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted Word which is able to save your Souls To which let me add that of St Peter 1 Pet. 2.1 2. Wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings as new-born Babes desire the sincere Milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby But here may some say If all this is true that there is a future State a Day of Judgment coming such a Terrour of the Lord to be reveal'd hereafter Ministers do well to be so earnestly and passionately concern'd for the Souls of men to cry aloud and spare not to tell them of their Sins and warn them to flee from the wrath to come but are you sure you are not under a mistake that you do not erre in the Foundation Are you sure there is such a future Judgment as you speak of What evidence or assurance have you of the certainty of it This I shall answer and therein I hope give you satisfaction in the next Particular which I am to speak to viz. to shew you II. The infallible certainty of the future Judgment Now the certainty of a future Judgment after Death is declar'd and evidenc'd to the World by a threefold voice The Voice of Scripture the Voice of Conscience and the Voice of God's Justice First The Voice of Scripture The Jews had a confident Tradition amongst them That blessed Enoch who was translated to Heaven had left two Pillars as sacred to Posterity wherein were fairly engraven those two great Prophecies one of the first Desolation of and Judgment upon the World by water not many years before which came God remov'd him as a Jewel to an heavenly Cabinet that his eyes might not see it The second Prophecy in a Pillar of Stone of the Dissolution of the World by Fire against the final Judgment The latter Prophecy concerning the final Judgment is warranted by Scripture Jude 14 15. And Enoch also the seventh from Adam prophesied of these saying Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute vengeance upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly Sinners have spoken against him There is nothing that the holy Scripture is more plain and positive in than asserting a Day of Judgment Death and Judgment are the Twin-Sisters of the same Womb of Decree Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that the Judgment The sad certainty of Judgment closeth up that Ironical Expression of the Wise man or rather a wiser than He in reproof of wanton youthful Sinners Eccles 9.11 Rejoice O young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth and walk in the ways of thy heart and in the sight of thine eyes But know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment Our Saviour does often very positively and expresly mention a Day of Judgment as we may see in all the four Evangelists And the Apostles are often beating upon this Argument It were endless to enumerate Particulars So positive is the Scripture in this Point that it observes to us that the very Day is appointed and the Judge named Acts 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which 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 There are three Days have an Emphatical Note set upon them the Day of Creation the Day of Redemption and the Day of Judgment 1. The Day of Creation which open'd the Door of Time 2. The Day of Redemption which is call'd Gal. 4.4 The Fullness of Time 3. The Day of Judgment This shall shut out Time and usher in Eternity And this Day is Emphatically call'd The Day of the Lord 1 Thess 5.2 Phil. 2.16 Jude 6. Joel 2.31 Eph. 4.30 the Day of Christ and the great Day and the great and terrible Day of the Lord and the Day of Vengeance and the Day of Redemption and the Day of refreshing That 's the first Evidence of the certainty of the future Judgment the Voice of Scripture The Second is Secondly The Voice of Conscience and that both natural and enlightned 1. Natural Conscience which is affrighted at the hearing of a Judgment to come Felix trembled at it Acts 24.25 And as he reasoned of righteousness and temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled As St Paul preached to him of righteousness and temperance his guilty Conscience reflected on all his past acts of injustice and intemperance and when he heard of the Grand Audit the dreadful Judgment