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
clothed him with their own Weaknesses and Passions made him either a Tyrant and a Devil or such a tame easie fond Being as Men may make bold with without danger others prophane his Name corrupt his Worship or neglect and despise it some think themselves too big to serve God others too little to be observed by him some ridicule his Laws others take no notice of them and there are very few who are sincere Worshippers of him and acknowledge and submit to his Authority and Power and when God has been so much dishonoured in the World I think it is very fit that when he judges the World he should vindicate his own Glory make it publick and visible and force all his Creatures to own and confess it and the most effectual way to do this is by summoning all Mankind before him and judging them according to their Works Thus we see what reason there is with respect to God why he should not judge Men singly and send them privately and silently to Heaven or Hell but appoint a general Day of Judgment II. There is great reason for this too with respect to Men both to good and to bad Men for this is part of the Reward of Vertue and of the Punishment of Vice Many good Men have been used with the utmost Contempt and Scorn if they cannot comply with their Company and do as their Neighbours do if they boggle at popular and fashionable Vices they are gazed on as so many Comets and Prodigies and would be contented to be gazed on were they as far out of the reach of danger too as those Meteors are some call them Fools others Knaves and Hypocrites and treat them accordingly and is it not fit that God should vindicate these Men who have suffered Infamy and Reproach for his sake that he should publickly own them applaud and reward their Vertue And what a glorious Vindication is this if we can but have patience to expect it what a little contemptible Scene is this World nay this little Corner of the World where we live for whether we be praised or reproached it is likely we are never heard of out of the Parish and Neighbourhood or City oâ— Kingdom where we live and can't we be contented to let a whole Parish or City or Kingdom despise us to be publickly owned by God in the General Assembly of Men and Angels Good Men do a great many good actions privately which few or none are conscious to but God and themselves and therefore they lose the Praise which is due to such secret Vertues in this World but our Saviour has promised that such Men shall have praise of God that if we Pray and Fast and give Alms in secret Our Fâ—ther which seeth in secret shall reward 〈◊〉 openly 6 Matth. And this is a great encouragement to the practice of the moâ—â— secret Vertues that we shall be openly towarded for them Good Men are many times great Sufferers in this World are not only reproached but persecuted lose their Estates their Liberties their Lives foâ— Christ's sake and though God has strictly forbid them to avenge themselves yet he will execute Vengeance on their Enemies and do it publickly and make them the Spectators and Witnesses of it On the other hand Wickedness is many times very glorious and triumphant in this World is so far from suffering Shame which is the just Reward of it that it is applauded and courted and the greatest Prodigies of Wickedness are adored for their prosperous Villanies but yet Shame is the just Reward of Sin and it must have it at one time or other and nothing can more effectually cast Shame and Contempt upon Sinners then a General Judgment when they shall be publickly arraigned and condemned in the great Assembly of Men and Angels This will confound the most glorious Sinner who never blushed before for though while bad Men are supported with Power or are the most numerous Party and can out Vote and out Laugh the rest of the World they can secure themselves against the sence of Shame yet when they appear before such a Judge and have their Villanies exposed to all the World when they are stript of their Riches and Honours and Power and see all their Admirers and Companions past Laughing and Flattery and themselves despised and scorned by God and his holy Saints and Angels and condemned to everlasting Miseries it will then be impossible for them any longer to glory in their Shame Confusion will then cover their Faces and it would be thought very mercifâ—l to be damned privately without seeing their Judge and being exposed to publick Scorn and Censure Thus there are a great many wicked things done privately and concealed from the Eyes of Men and many times gildeâ— over with a form and counterfeit appearance of Religion and such secret Villaiâ— not only escape publick Shame but 〈◊〉 thought very extraordinary Men and great Saints now it is very fitting that such Men also should have their Masquâ— and Disguise taken off and be exposed to the View of the World just as they are and this God will do in that Day wheâ— he will judge the Secrets of Mens Hearts and bring to light the hidden Works oâ— Darkness And then what will it avaâ—â— them to pass for Saints in this World when at the Day of Judgment they shalâ— be known and be doubly scorned botâ— for their Wickedness and for their Hypocrisie What a severe Aggravation will it be of the Condemnation of the Wicked to see good Men whom they despised and persecuted whose Lives they thought Folly and Madness now owned and rewarded by God as our Saviour speaks To see them come from the East and from the West from the North and from the South and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdom of God and themselves sâ—ut out This will be a confounding Sight at that Day and as little as such Men now value Heaven to see the bright and dazling Crowns of those blessed Saints will pierce their Souls and wound them to Eternity This justifies the Wisdom of God in appointing a general Day of Judgment to reward good Men and to condemn the wicked but there is one good natured Objection against this which respects good Men for there are few good Men but may have some very wicked Relations who yet are very dear to them and how can they bear to be Witnesses of their final Condemnation to hear that Sentence pronounced on them Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels We tremble at the thoughts of it now and one would think it should over-cast the Glory of that Day to such blessed Saints to see such a terrible Execution upon those who were so dear to them but this is such a Mistake as the Sadduces Objection against the Resurrection concerning the woman who had had seven husbands whose wife she should be of the seven at the resurrection for they
all had her but our Saviour told them at the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are as the angels of God in heaven Thus it is here those natural Affections and Passions which are of so great use in this World and make us so nearly concerned for Children and other Relations are not the Measures of our Kindness and Friendship and Concernment in the other World they are necessary here many times to supply the place of Reason and Vertue and to prompt us to do those good Offices by the impatience and uneasiness of a Passion which the generality of Mankind would not do from wiser Principles but the end of these Passions is served in this World and there is no occasion for them in the next and therefore we shall feel no uneasiness or disturbance from them good Men will have no Friends no Relations in the other World but those who are truly good who are Members of the same Mystical Body of Christ the Children of God and Heirs of the same Happiness and Glory To conclude I shall only observe this farther How vain it is for bad Men to hope to defend themselves from Shame and Punishment by their Numbers they may I confess do it in this World when they have to deal with Men tho' when God comes to judge them even in this World the most powerful Combinations of Sinners are but like Chaff before the Wind But if ever Numbers would do it would be at the Day of Judgment when the Devil and his Angels and all bad Men shall be summoned together and if they cannot then defend themselves when their whole Force is united but stand as Criminals before their Judge and receive their Sentence from him it becomes us to fear and tremble before that powerful Judge who has all Nature at his command and all Devils and wicked Men in Chains and with the Word of his Mouth can condemn them to Eternal Torments SECT IV. The Day of Iudgment is at the End of the World III. THe Day of Judgment is at the End of the World That it will be so and the Reasons why it will be so are very plain from what I have already discoursed our Saviour tells us that it is at the end of the World when the Angels shall separate between the Wheat and the Tares which grew in the same Field between the good and the bad Fish which were taken in the same Net 13 Matth. It is in the Evening of the World when the Lord comes to reckon with his Servants and to reward those who have laboured in his Vineyard 20 Matth. for when Christ comes to Judgment this World shall be set on fire and this present visible Frame of Things shall be dissolved as St. Peter tells us 2 Pet. 3.10 11 12. Upon which account Christ is said to come in flaming Fire of which more hereafter and if God will judge all Mankind together the Day of Judgment must be at the end of the World But besides this it seems very reasonable and congruous that the final Judgement and the End of the World should come together or that when God finally Judges all Mankind he shall put an end to this habitable Earth For this Earth was made for the Habitation of Man and all things in it for his use and delight and therefore it receives its Fate and Destiny with Man too Paradise was the Habitation of innocent Man and had Man continued Innocent and Peopled the World with an innocent and holy Race the whole World must have been a Paradise but when Man had sinned and had no Right to so easie and happy a Life the Ground was cursed for his sake 3 Gen. 17 18 19. Cursed be the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee and thou shalt eat the herb of the field In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread till thou return unto the ground When all Flesh had corrupted their ways excepting Noah and his Family God destroyed the Old World with its wicked Inhabitants and to this day besides that Original Curse which still rests upon the Earth Nature suffers for the Sins of Man and revives and flourishes again as he returns to his Duty He turneth rivers into a wilderness and the water-springs into dry ground a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein And on the other hand He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water springs And there he maketh the hungry to dwell that they may prepare a city for habitation 107 Psal. 33 34 35 36. It were easie to Harangue here and describe the Ruines and Desolations which the Judgments of God have brought upon the most flourishing Countries for the Sins of the Inhabitants Famine and Pestilence and Sword The Sword which carries all other Judgments along with it but God knows we live in an Age wherein there is no need of haranguing about it this is seen and felt and heard every day such Miseries as are beyond the Description of the most Eloquent Tongue or Pen God grant we may only hear of them that we may take warning by what others suffer and appease the Wrath of God by a timely Repentance Now for the same reason when God Judges all Mankind he will put an end to this present state of Things when Man for whom this Earth was framed shall dwell no longer on it but all good Men shall be received into Heaven and all bad Men condemned to Hell this World has lasted as long as it was made for and must now be cast into a new Mould and Frame For so indeed the Scripture represents it not that this World shall be destroyed but that it shall be new made that as the whole Creation is made subject to Vanity by Adam's Curse so it shall be redeemed from Vanity and Corruption too when Man is It shall be purged by Fire and a new incorruptible World shall spring out of its Ashes 8 Rom. 19 20 21 22. For the earnest expectation of the creature which must signifie this visible Creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God For the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God Or when the Sons and Children of God shall be delivered from Corruption For we know the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in pain until now And thus St. Peter tells us That at the last Judgement this World shall be destroyed with Fire Nevertheless we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness 2 Pet. 1 â—â— where St. Peter refers to the Prophesy of Isaiah 65.17 For behold I create new