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
a Man who is possessed with this true Divine Charity has all Christian Graces A Man who has not this divine Principle has no good in him and that is enough to damn him without enquiring what evil he has done It concerns us all seriously to consider this for if all uncharitable Men shall certainly be damned Charity is the only certain mark whereby we can judge of our future state whatever other good qualities we seem to have if we be not charitable there is nothing good in us nothing that God will accept or reward we shall be condemned to the Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels with all our other glittering and counterfeit Vertues but if to our other Vertues we add an universal Charity we may then joyfully and securely expect to hear from our Lord when he comes to Judgment Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world I say if to our other Vertues we add Charity for if we live in any wilful sin how liberal and bountiful soever we are to the Poor this is not Charity St. Paul supposes That Men may give their bodies to be burnt and all their goods to feed the Poor without charity 1 Cor. 13.4 And though our Saviour only mentions the external Acts of Charity in feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and visiting the sick and the prisoners because he will not allow of the pretence of Charity without charitable Actions yet he supposes that these charitable Actions flow from a true Principle of Divine Charity from the love of God and Men which it is certain those Men have not who allow themselves in any wickedness And therefore the plain state of the Case is this whatever other Vertues we pretend to without Charity will avail us nothing at the Day of Judgment for the uncharitable Man shall certainly be condemned though he were guilty of no other Crime that how charitable soever we are to the Poor in all the external acts and expressions of Charity this will avail us nothing unless we discharge all the other Duties and Offices of Religion because where there is not an universal regard to the Divine Laws there are charitable Actions without this Divine Principle of Charity but when Men have a respect to all the Laws of God and exercise themselves in all the Acts of Kindness and Charity to Men they unite the Principle and the Practise and have that Divine Charity which our Lord will reward with the Kingdom of Heaven 3 dly This is a manifest proof that the Rewards of good Men at the day of Judgment are wholly owing to the Grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ which confirms what I have already discoursed that we are judged by Grace as well as by our Works Christ has made atonement and expiation for our sins he has reconciled us to God by his Death and that puts us into a capacity of happiness but the reason our Saviour gives why he adjudges good Men to the Kingdom of Heaven proves that the Reward is of Grace not of Debt The only reason he assigns is the kindness they have shewn to himself When I was an hungred ye fed me when I was thirsty ye gave me drink when I was naked ye clothed me when I was sick ye visited me when I was in prison ye came unto me 1. Now in the first place it is great Kindness and Grace to Mankind that he should reckon all Acts of Kindness done to Men done to himself That Glorious Being who needs nothing that we can do for him from whom we receive the very power and ability of doing any kindness and yet Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me 2 dly And therefore he bestows Heaven upon them as a Reward of their kindness to himself now we all know the difference between rewarding Kindnesses and paying Debts or rewarding Men according to their Deserts In rewarding Kindnesses we reward their Love not their Works we don't consider what the actual Service was whether small or great but what the kindness and affection was that did it if the kindness and affection was great which would have done greater things if it could the affection is valued and rewarded though not the work as our Saviour tells us That whoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple verily I say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward 10 Mat. 42. And the Apostle tells us That where there is a willing mind it is accepted according to what a man hath not according to what he hath not But still it is Grace which values and rewards the affection which is not considered at all in making a Bargain which is so much work for so much pay And therefore in rewarding kindnesses we have no regard to proportions as we have in paying Debts or rewarding Services If we pay what we owe that is all that Justice requires if we pay a Labourer according to our Contract with him or according to the common estimation of his Labour this is all that is expected but there is no Rule no Proportion in rewarding Kindnesses where Men do not traffick for Kindnesses which is thought the most sordid Spirit in the World the least external expression of kindness we can shew may have the greatest return and no Man blames prodigality or excess in such returns And thus it is here our Saviour rewards our Kindness not our Work and that makes such a vast disproportion between the Work and the Reward between some few Acts of kindness done to Men and the Eternal Glories of the Kingdom of God No Works we can do can deserve such a Reward but when Christ rewards our Kindness not our Works the Reward must bear proportion to his own Grace not to our Deserts he may reward as liberally as he pleases for when the Reward is of Grace not of Debt no Reward can be too great for infinite Grace to bestow though it may be too great for our Works to deserve But this still convinces us that Heaven cannot be the Merit of our Works but the Reward of our Charity Works have a stinted Merit and the best Actions we can do cannot merit Heaven but Grace may reward Charity as it pleases and nothing but Charity has any Title to the Rewards of Grace which justifies our Saviour's account of the Future Judgment which assigns no other reason of bestowing Heaven upon good Men but only their Charity for Works bear no proportion to such a Reward and Grace can reward nothing but Charity all our Acts of Kindness to Men out of Love to God and our Saviour Christ. All the expressions of our Love to God and our Saviour Christ may be rewarded by Grace as we reward the Kindnesses which are shewn to us without
thing Thus when we are said to be justified by Faith some by Faith understand such a firm and steadfast belief of the whole Gospel of all that concerns the Person and Mediation of Christ the Expiation of his Blood his Resurrection from the Dead and Intercession for us in Heaven his Laws his Promises and Threatnings as renews and sanctifies our Nature governs our Lives conquers the World subdues the Flesh to the Spirit and makes us truly Divine and God-like Creatures the Sons of God not meerly by external relation but by a participation of his Nature Now this Notion of justifying Faith that we shall be justified by a living working Faith is very reconcilable with being judged by our Works for if we cannot be justified by Faith without Works if no Faith can justifie but that which is fruitful in all good Works then we may be judged by our Works since Holiness is essential to a justifying Faith Others by justifying Faith understand a reliance and recumbency on Christ for Salvation a receiving and embracing Christ and rowling their Souls on him as they are pleased to express it which when taken out of Metaphor can signifie no more than to hope and trust in Christ that he will save them and to be willing to be saved by him without any Works and Righteousness of their own Now if the bare Act of relying on Christ would justifie and save Men I cannot see how such Believers should be judged by their Works though Infidels may But this Antinomian Conceit of justifying Faith is not so plain and certain as it is that we shall be judged by our Works Not to dispute the Point now these Men may be mistaken in their Notion of justifying Faith but there can be no dispute made what the meaning is of being judged according to our Works Thus when we are said to be justified by Faith in opposition to Justification by Works it is matter of Controversie what is meant by Works Some think that when Works are rejected as contributing nothing to our Justification the Apostle means only the Works of the Ceremonial Law such as Circumcision and Sacrifices Washings and Purifications the Observation of New Moons and Sabbaths c. for this was the great Dispute St. Paul had with the Iews whether the Observation of the Mosaical Law were necessary to the Justification of Christians and in this sence the Apostle with good reason asserts our Justification by Faith without Works We are now justified by the Faith of Christ not by the Rites and Ceremonies of the Mosaical Law Others and with very good reason too not only reject the Works of the Ceremonial Law but also of the Moral Law from the Justification of Sinners not as if Sinners could be justified without good Works but that they are not justified by them that is that no Man is justified by the Merit of his own Works but by the Merit and Expiation of the Death of Christ. But though no Man is justified or saved for the Merit of his Works yet he may be judged according to his Works Though no Man shall be saved by the Merit of his good Works yet no Man shall be saved without good Works and wicked Men shall be damned for their evil Works which leaves room enough for our being judged according to our Works So that though we be not justified by Works but by Faith as St. Paul tells us yet we must be judged by our Works wicked Men shall be condemned for their Wickedness and none but good Men shall be justified and saved by the Merits of Christ and who are wicked and who are righteous shall at the Last Day be judged by their Works And indeed this is plainly confessed by those who contend most zealously foâ— Justification by Faith alone which makes this a very needless and impertinent Controversie as appears from their way of reconciling St. Paul and St. Iames. St. Paul tells us we are justified by Faith without the Works of the Law St. Iames tells us That by works a man is justified and not by faith only 2 Jam. 14. To reconcile these two great Apostles they tell us That the Man is justified by Faiâ—h and his Faith is justified by Works Now whether this be the true way of reconciling St. Paul and St. Iames I shall not at present dispute but it grants all that I desire that notwithstanding our being justified by Faith we shall be judged by our Works for whether a Man or his Faith be judged and justified by Works I think is the same thing for if the Man must be justified by Faith and his Faith justified by Works I doubt the Man cannot be justified without Works unless he can be jâ—stified by an unjustified Faith Before Fâ—ith can justifie the Man it must be justified itself and Faith must be justified by Works and what this differs from judging a Believer by his Works I cannot tell So that as many Disputes as there are about Justification by Faith we ought firmly to believe that we shall be judged by our Works for most of the Notions of Justification by Faith in opposition to our Justification by Works are very reconcilable with this Doctrine of being judged by our Works and those that are not are not so plain and certain as it is that we shall be judged by our Works 3. However since this is so plainly expressed in Scripture that there is no avoiding it nor any other possible sence to be made of it whatever our Notions of Justification be it is much the safest way to believe and expect that we shall be judged according to our Works that if we live wickedly we shall certainly be condemned at that Day and though we shall be acquitted and finally absolved by the Mercies of God and the Merits of Christ yet not without Holiness not without good Works not without partaking of the Divine Nature and being conformed to Christ our Head To entertain any other hopes will undo us for ever for we shall be very ill prepared to give an account of our Lives and Actions when our Lord comes to call us to an Account if we can possess our selves with such Notions of Justification as deliver us from the Fears of Judgment if we can perswade our selves that we shall not be judged according to our Works but by the Merits of Christ that we shall not receive the things done in the Body whether good or evil but shall receive the purchase of Christ's Obedience and Righteousness without regard to our own These are the dangerous Conclusions which some Men draw from their mistaken Notions of Justification and this is the great danger of such mistakes While Men acknowledge the Grace of God and the Merits of Christ in the Justification of Sinners and believe that they shall be judged according to their Works whatever other Disputes there may be there is no danger in them but if Men by some uncertain Reasonings can perswade themselves
regard to the Merit of the Work but we must do something to reconcile the Love and Favour of God to us before we can expect the Rewards of Grace and there is no other way if I may so speak of obliging God but by doing good to Men for God's sake This I take to be a very reasonable account of the great Rewards of good Men so vastly disproportioned to their Works and very agreeable to our Saviour's Account of the Future Judgment that God rewards our Love and Charity not our Works which makes the Reward not of Debt but of Grace which has no proportion but what Grace the infinite Love and Goodness of GOD will give it which lays all manner of Obligations on us to be very charitable for if we would be rewarded by Grace if we would be rewarded for Kindnesses we must shew kindness 4 thly Our Saviour's Account of the Future Judgment with reference to the final Sentence of uncharitable Men justifies the Righteousness of it to all Mankind For how can Sinners be saved but by Grace And what Title have those to Grace and Mercy who will shew none Is there any thing in the World more hateful to Mankind or which all Men think more deserves punishment than Ill-Nature And if God damn Men only for their Ill-nature will not all Mankind justifie the Righteousness of his Judgments Will such Men find any Apologists Nay can they Apologize for themselves And what is Uncharitableness but Ill-nature What Cruelty and Barbarity is it to see Men want Food and Cloths and all the Necessaries of Life when we are satised their Wants are real not counterfeit not to indulge their Idleness and Luxury and not relieve them If nothing but Ill-nature shall be damned nothing but Ill-nature can complain of God and there is no scandal in that But we must consider Mankind as Sinners obnoxious to the Judgments of God who must be pardoned before they are rewarded now when both the Pardon and the Reward is wholly of Grace and Mercy has that Man any Title to either who will shew no Mercy Is it reasonable to expect that God in meer grace and kindness should bestow Heaven upon that Man who will not give a Morsel of Bread nor a Cup of Drink to the Poor and Necessitous for God's sake Do Men deal thus with one another Do we think that Man deserves any kindness who will shew none That he should be fed and clothed when he is in want who would never feed and cloath others That he should be forgiven who would never forgive Unless Sinners be saved by Grace they can never be saved for it is Grace must forgive those sins which Justice would punish It is Grace which must bestow Heaven on us which is a Reward too big for our best Works to deserve and therefore too big for Justice to give If our sins be not pardoned we must sink into Hell and if we have no Title to the Grace of God which alone can forgive sins they can never be pardoned and this gives a plain account how Uncharitableness must necessarily damn us for an uncharitable Man has no Right to the Grace of God Innocence may challenge Impunity and Meritorious Works may challenge a Reward but nothing but Kindness can challenge Kindness and as a Sinner cannot merit Heaven so an unmerciful and uncharitable Man does not deserve to have it given him and if Heaven be not given him he can never have it if his Sins be not pardoned by Grace Justice must lay hold on him and sentence him to everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and Angels This is agreeable to the Reason of Mankind it is what all Men approve what all Men justifie when it shall appear at the last Day that though other sins have deserved Hell yet it is only our uncharitableness that hinders our Pardon and brings the Sentence of Condemnation on us all Mouths will be stopped before God Sinners themselves must confess the Righteousness of it their own Consciences must tell them that they have deserved no Mercy because they have shewn none and therefore we find in the account our Saviour gives us of it that when he condemned these uncharitable Men to Hell they made no exception against the Righteousness of the Sentence but only deny the Fact Lord when saw we thee hungry or thirsty or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Though Mercy and Compassion and Forgiveness becomes the God of Love yet it does not unbecome Love itself infinite Love to condemn Ill-nature to everlasting Fire and there is nothing else which eternal and infinite Love will finally condemn and punish And this gives a plain account why Forgiveness of Sins is promised to no other particular Grace and Vertue but to Mercy and Charity Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy 5 Mat. 7. And the Psalmist tells us That with the merciful God will shew himself merciful but with the froward he will shew himself froward 18 Psal. 25 26. Our Saviour has taught us to pray for forgiveness upon the condition of our forgiving those who trespass against us For if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will forgive you but if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses 6 Mat. 14.15 Which our Saviour represents at large in the Parable of the King who called his Servants to an account and finding one who ought him Ten thousand Talents and had nothing to pay he commands him and his Wife and Children to be sold and payment to be made but upon his earnest importunity forgave him the Debt this Servant meets his Fellow-Servant who ought him an Hundred Pence and cast him into Prison which his Lord hearing of revokes his Pardon and delivers him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was undue to him So likewise saith our Saviour shall my heavenly Father do also unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses 18 Mat. 23. c. Thus St. Peter tells us That Charity all Acts of kindness shewn to Men covereth a multitude of sins 1 Pet. 4.8 And the Prophet Daniel advises Nebuchadnezzar to break off his sins by righteousness and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Heaven itself is promised to Acts of Charity Give and it shall be given unto you good measure pressed down and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom for with the same measure that ye meet withal it shall be measured unto you again 6 Luke 38. which plainly signifies the Rewards of the next Life This is to lay up treasures in heaven 6 Mat. 20. To make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations 16 Luke 9. As our Saviour tells the rich young Man If he would sell all he had and give to the poor he should
have Treasure in Heaven 19 Mat. 21. What is the meaning of this Does the Gospel preach Merit to us must we merit forgiveness by forgiving must we purchase Heaven with our Money Every body sees that this can be no Purchase because there is no Proportion in the value but though Charity cannot merit our Pardon yet it deserves some favour to be shewn it and God will be merciful to those who shew mercy though our Alms and Works of Charity cannot merit Heaven yet they make us Friends as our Saviour speaks and such Friends as will receive us into Everlasting Habitations They will make God and Christ our Friend who will bestow Heaven on us not as the Merit of our Works but out of Grace and Favour which such Acts of Charity deserve This is a plain account why our Saviour in the last Judgment takes notice of no other Works but Acts of Charity and shews us how we may be judged by our Works and pardoned and rewarded by Grace and if this will not convince us of the necessity of Charity it is in vain to urge any other Arguments 2 dly Another Rule and that a very righteous Rule of Judgment is that God will judge us according to our Receipts as our Saviour expresly tells us To whomsoever much is given of them shall much be required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more 12 Luke 48. As for the righteousness and equity of this our Saviour's Appeals to the Practice of Mankind they think it very reasonable to ask the more of him to whom they have committed much And we have no reason to complain of God if he deals with us as we think it just and reasonable to deal with one another There is no need to prove the righteousness of this Rule which all Men own and confess but the consequence of it deserves to be considered by Christians who have received so much more from God than the rest of Mankind have done for by this Rule at the Day of Judgment more will be required of us than of the rest of the World as we have received more Very few Christians seem to think of this they pity the rest of the World who they say are under the Law and a Covenant of Works by which no Man can be justified who is a Sinner as all Men are and therefore their Salvation is desperate but a little matter will save a Christian if he be a true Believer if they are but sorry for their sins and confess and bewail them before God as often as they commit them and trust in the Merits and Righteousness of Christ nay if they do but retract their wicked Lives with some dying Groans and Resolutions of living well when they know they can live no longer if they wish they had lived better when they come to die and promise that they would live better if they could live over their Lives again this will secure their Salvation and this is the glorious Priviledge they enjoy by being Christians this is Gospel-Grace this is the Purchase of Christ's Blood But not to enter into this Dispute which I have said enough of already certainly these Men are mistaken and these vain hopes will deceive them if our Saviour's Rule be true That to whom much is given of them shall be much required For has not God given more to us than he has to the rest of the World And is that a reason why he should ask less Let us briefly consider what God has done more for us than he has done for the rest of the World and see whether what God has done more for us does excuse us from any part of our Duty or rather whether it does not exact a more perfect Vertue from us The Gospel of Christ has given us a more perfect knowledge of the Will of God and of our Duty to him nay has given us a more perfect Law and Rule of Life has in many instances advanced our Duty above what the Law of Nature or the Law of Moses required at least above what the generality of Men thought they did require Now is this a reason why God should excuse us from doing our Duty because we know it better than other Men Or why God should expect less from us than from other Men because we know more This is directly contrary to what our Saviour tells us That servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes 12 Luke 47 48. This seems a hard saying that he which knew not should be beaten at all but our Saviour does not by this understand a total ignorance but an imperfect knowledge which will excuse Men from such parts of their Duty as they were ignorant of if this ignorance was not their own fault but the more we know the more is our Duty enlarged and therefore as our Knowledge increases our Account must encrease with it and that will increase our punishment if we know the Will of God and disobey it Is there any use of Knowledge but to direct our Lives And could God then intend any thing in revealing his Will to us but that we should obey it The Jews had these vain Conceits they boasted in Circumcision and in their Knowledge of the Law and condemned the Heathen World for those sins which they themselves securely committed as if they should be saved in their sins because they knew the Law which forbids them but the ignorant Heathens should be damned for theirs But St. Paul very sharply and sarcastically exposes the folly of this in the Second Chapter to the Romans throughout the whole Chapter which I would desire you seriously to read and consider and then I need add no more about it The Gospel gives us a more abundant assurance of a future State and of the Rewards and Punishments of it than the World had before for life and immortality is brought to light by the Gospel and the more certain our Faith and Knowledge is of another World in all reason it may be expected to work more powerfully upon our Minds to conquer all the Temptations of this Life to terrifie us from every thing that is wicked to make us steadfast unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord as knowing that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 The certainty of Faith is the strength and vigour of the Mind and therefore every new degree of evidence requires proportionable degrees of resolution activity caution and circumspection in doing our Duty and as this is reasonable to be expected so God does expect it from us The times of ignorance God winked at but now commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
IMPRIMATUR G. Royse R. R. in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Iohanni Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domest Iuly 28th 1691. A Practical Discourse CONCERNING A Future Judgment By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties LONDON Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun over-against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1692. TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAjESTY May it please Your Majesty TO accept of this Treatise a small Part of which being Preached in Your Royal Chappel Your Majesty was pleased to Excuse the Printing of it then that it might wait for the Publication of the Whole which Your Majesty was given to understand I intended which I now humbly Present to Your Sacred Majesty rejoycing that I have so good an Occasion of Acknowledging Your Great and Vndeserved Favours to me and of professing with all the Sincerity that the Subject of this Treatise requires that I am Your MAjESTY'S Most Humble and most Obedient Subject and Servant William Sherlock The CONTENTS THE Introduction containing a Distribution of the Work Page 1 CHAP. I. The Proof of a Future Iudgment 3 Sect. I. That Man is by Nature an Accountable Creature 5 Sect. II. The Essential Differences between Good and Evil and the Natural Notions we have of God prove a Future Iudgment 19 Sect. III. The External Appearances of Providence prove a Future Iudgment 34 Sect. IV. The Natural Presages of Conscience prove a Future Iudgment and if there be a Future State there must be a Future Iudgment 89 Sect. V. The Scripture Proof of a Future Iudgement 106 Sect. VI. The Improvement of this Doctrine in some particular 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 123 Sect. VII Third Inference To refer all Iudgement to God 144 Sect. VIII Fourth Inference To refer all Difficulties to the Day of Iudgment 168 Sect. IX Fifth Inference To affect our Souls with a strong and vigorous and constant Sence of Iudgment 189 CHAP. II. Concerning the Time of Iudgment 208 Sect. I. Concerning a Particular Iudgment at the time of every Man's Death ibid. Sect. II. That the Day of Iudgment is appointed 233 Sect. III. The Day God has appointed is a General Day of Iudgment 255 Sect. IV. The Day of Iudgment is at the End of the World 278 CHAP. III. Who shall be our Iudge viz. The Man Christ Iesus 300 CHAP. IV. The Manner and Circumstances of Christ's Appearing and the Awful Soâ—emnities of Iudgment 336 CHAP. V. Who are to be judged viz. The World or all Mankind 360 CHAP. VI. For what we shall be judged 403 CHAP. VII Concerning the Righteousness of the Future Iudgement and the Rule whereby we shall be judged 439 Conclusion How to know what our Sentence will be at the last Iudgment with an Exhortation to Reverence our own Consciences 521 ERRATA PAge 154. l. 28. for froward r. forward p. 240. l. 18. r. that this is p. 279. l. 5. f. shall r. should p. 369. l. 26. f. Peâ—sions r. Persons p. 496. l. 30. f. undue to r. due unto A Practical Discourse CONCERNING A Future Judgment xvii ACTS xxxi Because 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 The INTRODUCTION HAVING in a former Treatise discours'd largely concerning Death the next thing to be considered is Judgment for so the Apostle tells us After death the judgment And a very grave and serious Thought it is if ever Men will be serious for nothing can be of greater concernment to us than a Future Judgment which will determine our final state and condition to Eternity In treating on this Subject I shall observe this Method 1. Inquire what Assurance we have of a Future Judgment 2. The Time when this Judgment shall be God hath appointed a day for it 3. Who shall be our Judge God will judge the world but not immediately by himself but by that a man whom he hath ordained that is by Christ Jesus who is a Man and the Son of Man as well as the eternal Son of God 4. The publick and awful Solemnities of Judgment 5. The Persons who shall be judged The world or all Mankind 6. For what we shall be judged whatever we have done in this body whether it be good or bad 7. The Rule whereby we shall be judged and the Righteousness of the Judgement CHAP. I. The Proof of a Future Iudgment IN treating of Death there was no need to prove That all Men must die for this is too visible to be denied but Judgment is not seen nor can it be seen because it is not yet Could Men indeed look into the other World they would soon be convinced by the different state of good and bad Men there that God has appointed a Day for Judgment but that is an invisible State to us and the Thoughts of Judgment are so uneasie to bad Men now that they are very unwilling to believe it and this makes it necessary to lay the Foundation of all in the Proof of a Future Judgment Now there are two ways of proving this First By the Principles of Reason Secondly By Revelation By Reason we can prove that God will judge the World as that signifies that God will call all Men to an account for their Actions and that he will reward good Men and punish the Wicked in the next World This the Heathens themselves discovered by the Light of Nature they talked very much of the Internal Judges and of the Rewards and Punishments of good and bad Men after Death and therefore in this sence did believe a Future Judgment But yet the Revelation of the Gospel has given us a more plain and undeniable assurance of this and has discovered something more than the Light of Nature could discover The Light of Nature and Reason may satisfie us as it did the Heathens that God will reward good Men and punish the wicked in the next World but it could not tell us that God had appointed a general Day of Judgment wherein all the Dead shall rise again out of their Graves and re-assume their Bodies and be summoned to Judgment it could not tell us who shall be our Judge with what Glory and Majesty he shall appear and with what Pomp and awful and terrible Solemnities he shall judge us The World knew nothing of this before the Gospel was preached for it depends wholly upon the will and pleasure of God and therefore can be known only by Revelation I shall begin with the Proofs from Reason and shew you what Moral Evidence and Assurance we have that God will judge the World as that signifies that he will reward good Men and punish the wicked in the next World
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
self-evident Consequence that if God govern the World he will judge it that is reward every Man according to his Works for the principal Act of Government is to Judge and it is impossible he should be a wise and just Governour who does not judge The difference between the Providence of God or his present Government of the World and a Final Judgment is no more but this That they have different Ends and therefore must have different Rules and Measures but they are both God's judging the World and therefore if God begins his Judgment of Mankind in this World there is no reason to doubt buâ— he will finish and perfect his Judgment in the next if he judges Mankind now aâ— far as is proper to the state of this World it is a sufficient reason to believe that iâ— the next World he will exercise such act of Judgment as are proper for that State The great Ends of Providence in thiâ— World are the Preservation of Human Societies the Incouragement of Piety anâ— Vertue and the Discouragement of Vicâ— to keep Men under Discipline to lay Râ—â—straints upon their Lusts and Passions 〈◊〉 wean them from the love of this Worlâ— to exercise their Graces their Faith and Patience and Charity and by the different methods of Kindness and Severity as his own Wisdom judges best and fittest to reclaim the wicked and the wandering Prodigals and to advance good Men to greater degrees and perfections of Goodness the end of God's judging Mankind in the next World is to allot Men such Rewards and Punishments as are proportioned to their Works and Deserts to bestow Eternal Life on good Men and to execute the threatning of Eternal Death upon bad Men which is the Final Conclusion and Consummation of Judgment and if God judges all Men in this World as far as is necessary for this World it is reasonable to think that he will perfect his Judgment in the World to come Now it is plain he does the first as will appear from particulars He corrects the Miscarriages of Publick Government Publick Injustice and Oppression a Publick Contempt of God and of Religion and of all things sacred a General Corruption of Manners and an Inundation of Wickedness such Nations seldom escape long without a severe Scourge unless God makes use of them to scourge other Nations as wicked as themselves but a Righteous and Religious Nation which preserves Justice among Men and the Knowledge and Reverence and Worship of God is the Darling and Favourite of Providence and is blessed with all prosperous Successes both at Home and Abroad So the wise Man tells us That righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is the reproach of any people Thus it is apt to do of itself but the Divine Justice and Providence takes care that it shall do so for though every particular good Man is not rewarded nor every particular bad Man punished in this World yet God governs Kingdoms and Nations by a more equal and steady Justice for indeed publick Societies are the principal Objects of his Rewards and Punishments in this World because the good Government of Mankind depends so much upon it the Vertues or Vices of private Men have but a narrow influence and can do but little good or hurt but publick Government is a publick Good or Mischief and the Disorders of it are like an Eclipse of the Sun which brings Darkness upon the World and therefore such a very wicked Nation is seldom long unpunished or a righteous Nation oppressed And this is a visible Exercise of God's Judgment in this World in rewarding or punishing Kingdoms and Nations which are the great Wheels of Providence whereon the regular Motion and good Government of the World depends as I observed to you before that God governs the World by erecting Humane Governments and therefore is more especially concerned to govern them Thus in order to discourage Wickedness and to encourage true Piety and Vertue which is another End of Providence it is not necessary that God should reward every good Man or punish every bad Man in this World some few great Examples of such Rewards and Punishments are sufficient to this purpose especially if they are so many and so frequent that no bad Man can promise himself Impunity even in this Life nor any good Man have reason to despond or distrust Providence and as many Complaints as there are of the Prosperity of bad Men and the Sufferings of the good yet every Age and every Country nay almost every Village will furnish us with so many Examples of miserable Sinners and of the visible Rewards of Vertue as are abundantly enough to make all considering Men reverence the Divine Justice and Providence and therefore God exercises as great as frequent as visible Acts of Judgment as the State of this World requires Especially when we consider that this World is a State of Discipline a School of Vertue where we must learn to govern our Passions and Appetites to conquer vicious Habits and to live above the Body and the Pleasures of it to forgive Injuries to love Enemies to Suffer patiently to be contented with a Little to trust Providence to live by Faith and Hope of unseen Things now such a State as this will not admit of an exact Distribution of Rewards and Punishments Bad Men must not always be punished for their Sins because sometimes External Prosperity and a Sence of the Divine Goodness may work more kindly on them or if they be punished their Punishments must be rather Corrections than Acts of Justice that is they must not always bear proportion to their Deserts but to their Cure as a Father corrects his Child not so much to punish his Fault as to reform it And for the same reason good Men must not always be prosperous for they may need Adversity to exercise encrease and brighten their Vertues and to make them greater Examples to the World or if God sees fit to reward them it must be in such instances and such proportions as they can bear not always what they may deserve but what will be for their good Thus God governs the World with great Justice and Judgment as far as the State of this World requires and admits and what reason then is there to question whether God will judge Mankind in the World to come His Exercise of Justice and Judgment in this World proves that he is the Jâ—dge of the World not an idle and unconcerned Spectator of Humane Actions that he interests himself in the Affair of Mankind is solicitous to make all his Creatures happy is an Enemy to Wickedness and to wicked Men but the Friend Protector and Father of good Men and if God be the Judge of the World why should we think that he will not judge it nay if he actually execute Justice and Judgment in this World why should we think that he has reserved no Acts of Judgment for the next World which is a more
proper place for it and requires some different Acts of Judgment peculiar to that State If God reward good Men and punish wicked Men in this World why should we think that he has reserved no Rewards or Punishments for them in the next especially if we consider these two things I. That it is very evident that the Judgment of God in this World is not Final that is that the Blessings God bestows upon good Men in this World are not the onely Rewards he intends for them nor the present Evils and Calamities he brings upon bad Men their onely Punishments this is very plain and expresâ— in Scripture but I must not Appeal to Scripture now while I am arguing from Reason and therefore must consider what Natural Indications we have of this As 1. That good and bad Men live together intermixt in this World in the same Country the same Neighbourhood nay the same Family and therefore God does not intend finally to reward good Men or punish the wicked here for that requires a Separation of them the same place will not admit of perfect Happiness and perfect Misery which must be the effect of a Final Judgment for their very Neighbourhood will necessarily allay each other Unless God should make good Men other Creatures than they now are it would be impossible for them to see the perpetual Executions and the amazing Miseries of Sinners without disturbing their own Ease and Rest and then they could not be perfectly happy in this World As things now are the many Miseries and Calamities of Humane Life exercise the pitty and compassion of good Men and afflict them with a tender and painful sence of other Mens Sufferings and what would it then do were all wicked Men punished in this World according to their Deserts which would make this World the very Image and Picture of Hell a very unfit place for good Men to be happy in and if good Men were all perfectly rewarded in this World bad Men who live and converse among them could not be perfectly miserable for to live in a happy Place and among happy People is some allay of Misery at least it is not like being condemned to Eternal Night and Darkness to the Company of Devils and damned Spirits Besides this without a miraculous Providence good Men cannot live among the wicked but they must suffer from them nor bad Men live among the good but they must receive good from them and therefore neither of them can be perfectly happy or perfectly miserable while they live together Were there no more in it but this the very Wickedness of Men their Leudness Injustice Oppression Prophaneness Comtempt of God and Religion would be a perpetual Trouble and Vexation to the Good as the Soul of righteous Lot was grieved with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked and this makes a great a batement in their Happiness and yet it would not be a less Miracle to preserve all good Men from the Injuries of the wicked who live among them especially when they are the prevailing Numbers and have great Power to do Mischief then it was to preserve Daniel in the Lions Den from being devoured by those hungry and ravenous Beasts Nay it is impossible that God should punish all wicked Men in this World without involving some good Men in their Calamities and Sufferings when God punishes a wicked Nation with Plague or Famine or Sword when he fires a City and reduces all the Buildings of it to a Heap of Rubbish how is it possible but that good and bad Men who live together must suffer in such a Common Calamity there is reason enough why God should now sometimes permit â—â—is because even good Men may deserve such Corrections and he can easily recompense them other ways but this would be no reason if good Men were to receive their Final Rewards in this World for then they ought to be exempted from the Punishments of the wicked Thus how impossible is it for God to punish all bad Men here without punishing good Men in them Have not many good Men very wicked Relations for whom they have a very tender affection Parents or Brethren or Children or those who are nearer to them than all these and can they be contented to be Witnesses of their Sufferings This cannot be unless good Men in such cases could divest themselves of natural Affections which we see is not and cannot be done and if it could would be a greater Mischief to the World than the Sufferings of bad Men would do good to it And for the same reason bad Men cannot be perfectly miserable in this World while good Men live among them for unless God should forbid the exercise of some of the most excellent Vertues of the Christian Life and which are in themselves most beneficial to the World good Men will exercise great Charity and Goodness Forgiveness and Patience towards the wicked will relieve their Wants and pitty their Sufferings and be their Patrons and Advocates both with God and Men that is will do good to them and procure Blessings for them The Intercessions of good Men very often divert Judgments and obtain great Blessings for a very wicked Nation Sodom itself had escaped upon the Intercession of Abraham had there been Ten righteous Persons found in it And God very often spares a wicked Nation for the sake of good Men who live among them and must suffer by such Publick Judgements that is he spares bad Men to save the Righteous Thus God bestows many Temporal Blessings upon the Friends Relations and Posterity of good Men though they are wicked and this is part of the Reward of Piety and Vertue in this World and therefore all good Men cannot be rewarded and all wicked Men punished in this World because many good Men must be punished in the Punishments of the wicked and many wicked Men must escape nay must prosper in the World as a Reward of the good which is not considered by those who make the Impunity and Prosperity of some bad Men an argument against Providence when the very Prosperity of these bad Men is many times the Reward of Vertue and a design'd Favor and â—ndulgence to the good But what I have now said plainly proves that God's Judgment in this World is not Final because good and bad Men live together and it is absolutely necessary that they should be parted when God comes to render to every Man according to his Works as our Saviour declares that they shall be at the Final Judgment when the Sheep shall be placed on his right Hand and the Goats on the left 2. That God's Judgment in this World is not Final appears from this that all good Men are not rewarded nor all wicked Men punished in this World as they ought to be if God did not intend to Judge Men in the next World for what they have done in this That this is so I need not prove because we every day see
it and this is made a great Objection against Providence That many bad Men are prosperous and many good Men afflicted And a foolish Objection it is against Providence but a very good Argument for a Future Judgment When we have so many Arguments to prove that God does govern the World that he does even in this Life reward good Men and punish the wicked as much as is necessary for the good Government of the World it is very absurd to confute all this only by saying that he does not govern the World as we think he ought to govern it that is that he does not punish every bad Man nor reward every good Man in this Life Whoever would make good this Argument must prove that there is no other World after this wherein God can reward those good Men and punish those wicked Men whom he has not sufficiently rewarded or punished in this Life or he must prove that it is absolutely necessary to the ends of Government to reward every good Man and to punish every wicked Man in this World and not to defer their final Rewards and Punishments to the next for if it be granted that there is another World after this and that God if he sees fit may defer the final Rewards and Punishments of good and bad Men to the next World then this is no Objection at all against Providence But then instead of being an Objection against Providence it becomes a very strong Argument for a Future Judgment For if God does Govern and Judge the World and yet Justice is not equally and impartially administred to all Men but some good Men are greatly afflicted and some wicked Men are greatly prosperous it is little less than a Demonstration that there is some other Judgment to come besides what God exercises in this World for it is certain if God judge the World at all he will judge it righteously and will render to every Man according to his Works for Justice and Righteousness is essential to the Notion of a God and therefore since we see this is not always done in this World we must conclude that God's Judgment of Mankind does not end with this World but extends to a Future State that is that there is a Judgment to come after this Life when we shall be rewarded according to our Works 3. That the Judgment of God in this World is not Final appears from this that the Rewards and Punishments of this Life cannot be the final and proper Rewards and Punishments of good and bad Men External Prosperity and external Miseries and Sufferings are the only Rewards and Punishments we are capable of in this Life and therefore when God would visibly express his Kindness and Favour to good Men he makes them prosperous and when he would express his Anger and Displeasure against the wicked he punishes them with some Temporal Evils and this is all that can be done in this World except the peace and satisfaction or the guilty remorse of our own Consciences which God can heighten as he sees fit But now it is certain that external Prosperity is not the proper and peculiar Reward of Vertue nor external Sufferings the peculiar Punishment of Sin for if they were a just and righteous Judge could never permit bad Men to be prosperous nor good Men to be afflicted if Prosperity were due only to Vertue and Afflictions and Sufferings to Vice The promiscuous Distribution of the good and evil Things of this World both to good and to bad Men proves that Prosperity is not always good nor Adversity always evil that Prosperity is rather a present Encouragement then the proper Reward of Vertue and external Calamities rather a Curb and Restraint than the proper Punishment of Vice and therefore when God can serve the ends of his Providence by it he may make bad Men prosperous and afflict the good for this is not to transfer the necessary and peculiar Rewards of Vertue upon bad Men nor to inflict the peculiar Punishments of Sin upon good Men which cannot be done by a just and righteous Judge Now if the Happiness and Miseries of this Life be not the proper and peculiar and inseparable Rewards and Punishments of Vertue and Vice then there are some other Rewards and Punishments reserved for good and bad Men in the next World such Rewards as no bad Man shall share in and such Punishments as shall not be inflicted on any good Man that is besides the Providence and Judgement of God in this World God will Judge good and bad Men in the next and render to every Man according to his Works II. The Nature of the Divine Providence and Government and the Manner and Circumstances of its Administration in this World are a plain Indication of a Future Judgment The visible design of Providence is not to reward all good Men and to punish the wicked in this World for this is not done but to curb and restrain Wickedness and to encourage Piety and Vertue and therefore God gives us such Examples of his Justice as are sufficient to over-awe Mankind and make them fear his Power and Vengeance and such Examples of his Favour Kindness and Regard to good Men as may encourage them to be good and vertuous with the expectation of great Rewards But what does all this signifie unless it proves that God will punish bad Men and reward the good and if it proves this it must prove that God will do it in the next World for it is plain that he does not do it here And therefore if we will allow that God governs the World wisely we must confess that the Examples of God's Goodness and Justice in this World prove a Future Judgement for they are not so universal as to answer the ends of Justice in rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked in this World and unless they prove a Future Judgment they are not sufficient either to over-awe and restrain bad Men or to encourage the good for though the frequent Examples of God's Justice and Severity against Sin destroys Mens security in sinning for no bad Man can be sure that God will not punish him as he does a great many other bad Men yet we daily see they would venture this did not the present execution of Justice threaten them with the more terrible Judgement of the next World Thus if we consider the Providence of God as a Method of Discipline whereby he conquers Mens love to Sin and breaks the Habits of Vice or exercises and improves their Vertues this is a very unaccountable thing without a Future Judgement Why should God exercise so much Patience towards wicked Men and bare so long with them to conquer them by Methods of Kindness were it not in great Goodness to give them time for Repentance that they may escape Eternal Miseries Why should God exercise Men with such long and repeated Severities to conquer their Love to this World to teach them to govern
for the first How dangerous such curious Inquiries into Providence are this is plain in the evil Effects of it 1. For first this either makes Men Atheists or at least is made a pretence to justifie Atheism The Natural Notion all Men have of God is That he is an infinitely Wise and Good and Just and Powerful Being now when Men observe such things either in the Make or Frame of the World or in the Conduct and Government of it as they cannot reconcile with the Notions they have of Wisdom and Justice and Goodness they presently conclude that there is no God or that he is nothing to them that he neither made nor governs the World This indeed is a very rash and hasty Conclusion to deny the Being of God because we cannot find out God to Perfection when we must confess that it is impossible for a finite Understanding to comprehend all the reasons of an infinite Mind but thus it must be when Men wont be contented to be ignorant of any thing nor permit God to do what they can't understand but will have a reason of every thing God does or will not allow him to be God A modest Inquirer sees enough in the Works of Creation and Providence to satisfie him that the World was made and is governed by a wise Being but those who think themselves wise enough to make and govern a World a great deal better then this World is made and governed or are upon other accounts averse to the Belief of a God and have a mind to quarrel with him take no notice of what is wise and good and proves God to be infinitely Wise and infinitely Good tho' they cannot open their eyes without seeing a thousand such instances of Wisdom and Goodness but imploy the little Wit they have to find Faults and account every thing they can't understand a Fault This is such irreverence to God such Presumption and Arrogance and such Impiety that they seem to be Atheists first and then to quarrel with God's Works to find out some Pretence to deny his Being it is certain whoever indulges himself in this has in a great measure lost his Reverence for God and Atheism is a natural consequence and just punishment of that and such a terrible punishment it is as should make us afraid of being over-curious in matters so far above us 2. If this does not make us Atheists yet it is apt to give us very wrong Notions concerning God which is a very great Evil next to Atheism itself This we know tempted some Men to assert two Principles or two Gods a good and a bad God for when they observed such a mixture of Good and Evil in the Nature of Things they thought it impossible that a good God should be the Author of so much Evil as is in the World and because they could not answer this Difficulty nor give an account how a good God should make and govern the World and yet there be so much Evil and Wickedness in it they concluded that there was a bad God who was the Author of all the Evil in the World and a good God of all the Good But this starts a much more unaccountable Difficulty how a good and a bad God should agree together in making and governing the World for can any thing be more opposite to each other than essential Good and essential Evil They can never agree and therefore they must be either equal in power or must destroy each other if they be equal neither of them are Omnipotent for two Omnipotents is a Contradiction and then neither one nor both could make the World which is a Work of Omnipotence At least since it is impossible they should agree togther to make a World as impossible as that essential Goodness should consent to any thing that is evil or essential Evil consent to any thing that is good they must necessarily hinder each other in making the World if their power were equal and then the World had never been made But I shall not trouble you with the Confutation of this but only point you to the Source and Origine of this Mischief which in its Consequence overthrows all Religion Others to ease themselves of these Difficulties of reconciling all the Passages of Providence to God's Wisdom and Justice set them both aside and resolve all into God's Arbitrary and Soveraign Will and Pleasure who makes himself and the advancement of his own Glory his sole end They lay it down indeed as an agreed Principle That all that God does is wise and good and just but we must not examine this by Humane Rules and Measures of Goodness and Justice for God is an Absolute Soveraign and unaccountable to his Creatures his Will is the Rule of Justice and he wills what is most for his own Glory he magnifies his Goodness and Grace in a free and arbitrary Kindness to some of his Creatures and magnifies his Justice in as free and arbitrary Severities to others he makes some Creatures to be the Objects of his Love and others to be the Objects of his Vengeance and Displeasure and thus they cut the Knot which they can't untie But this is a greater Difficulty then all the rest to a considering Man who would much rather chuse to give no account of the Divine Providence then to give so ill an account of the Nature of God Arbitrary Will and Power is the very worst Notion we can have of God it destroys our Love to him and our Hope and Confidence in him unless we can fancy him as partial to us as we are to ourselves it turns Religion into a superstitious Dread of God or Hypocritical Flatteries destroys the Notions of Good and Evil or all regard to them while we think God takes no notice of them himself This may satisfie us how dangerous it is to be too inquisitive into the Misteries of Providence which God hath thought fit to conceal from us which should make us careful to keep our distance and humbly to reverence and adore God and trust his Wisdom beyond our own Understanding of things and in order to Cure this Curiosity consider II. How unreasonable it is to disturb our Minds with such Difficulties of Providence as we cannot answer or to draw any such Conclusions from it as shall either shake our Faith as to the Being or Providence of God or corrupt our Notions of Him and there are two things which may satisfie any Man in this 1 st That there are a great many things which are called Difficulties which may be very fairly accounted for and therefore the difficulty is not in the things but owing to our want of Understanding which is reason enough to presume that thus it may be in other cases too since as Mens Knowledge increases so the Difficulties of Providence lessen which should make us never quarrel at Providence but bewail our own Ignorance and grow modest under a sence of it 2 dly That in
go out of these Bodies they shall go to Christ 2 Cor. 5.6 8. and this made it so difficult a Choice to St. Paul whether he should desire to live or die by living he might do great service to the Church and therefore he was very well contented to live but if he departed he should be with Christ which is best of all For I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you 1 Phil. 23 24. And it is universally pronounced Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them 14 Revel 13. This evidently proves that good Men shall be happy as soon as they die and besides the express Authority of our Saviour in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus the reason of the thing proves that bad Men must be miserable that as the Happiness of good Men commences with their death so must the Miseries of the Wicked Bad Men indeed many times live very happily in this World for this is the time of God's Patience while he waits to be gracious not being willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but the Day of Grace ends with this Life the next World is for Retributions we must there receive according to our Works and therefore though we should suppose that the perfect Rewards of good Men and the perfect Miseries of the wicked should be deferred till the Day of Judgment when the final Sentence shall be pronounced which shall bestow Heaven upon good Men and condemn the wicked to Hell yet the Punishment of bad Men must begin when they leave this World because God's Patience is then at an end and the Rewards of good Men must begin too because their Work and Labour is at an end And this has been the universal Belief of Mankind who have believed a future State though they knew nothing of a General Judgment when all Mankind should be summon'd before God's Tribunal yet they all believed that when bad Men died they immediately went to a place of Punishment and good Men to Elysium a place of Rest and Happiness for if we shall be rewarded and punished in the next World for what we have done in this it is natural and reasonable to think that our Rewards and Punishments shall begin as soon as we go into the next World 2. And yet we read of no other formal Judgment but that great and general Judgment when the Son of Man shall descend from Heaven with a glorious Retinue of Angels to Judge the World if we examine all those express Declarations of Christ and his Apostles concerning Judgment or those Parables of our Saviour which relate to it we shall plainly find that they concern the last and general Judgment It is in that day which relates to a certain determined Day of Judgment that many shall say unto him Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name 7 Matth. 22. It is at the end of the World when the Angels shall separate between the Wheat and the Tares between the good and bad Fish which were taken in the same Net 13 Matth. It is when the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels that he shall reward every man according to his works 16 Matth. 27. that is as St. Paul speaks when the Lord Iesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ 2 Thess. 8 9. God hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man And when he must do this he tells us The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation 5 John 27 28 29. And in his account of his Judging the World he tells us When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all his holy Angels with him then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separateth his sheep from the goats 25 Matth. 31 32. Then it is when the Man who travelled into a far Country returns and calls his Servants to an Account how they have improved their Talents v. 14 c. Christ is the only Judge of the World for all Judgment is committed to the Son and he does not judge the World till his second Appearance till he returns in the Glory of his Father with his Angels The Apostle to the Hebrews indeed tells us It is appointed unto men once to die and after death the judgment which might seem to intimate a particular Judgment of all Men as soon as they die but he adds when this Judgment shall be in the next Verse So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many he died once for us because we must once die and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation That is he shall appear the second time to judge the World which shews that this Judgement after Death is the general Judgement 9 Heb. 27 28. And the truth is if all Men have a final Sentence past on them as soon as they go into the other World it is very unaccountable why Christ at the last Day shall come with such a terrible Pomp and Solemnity to Judge and Condemn those who are judged and condemned and executed already as much as ever they can be And therefore in the Parable of Dives and Lazarus we have no mention of their being judged but Lazarus was carried by an Angel into Abraham's Bosom the Angels being ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation 1 Heb. 14. Thus they minister to good Men in this World and do a great many kind Offices for us which we know not of and thus they minister to us when we go out of this World and conduct us to a place of Ease and Rest carry us safe through the Crowds of evil Spirits which fill these lower Regions into Abraham's bosom but the rich man was dead and buried and lift up his eyes in hell or Hades not Gehennah which signifies the State of separate Souls and it seems of wicked Souls and was in Torment but how he came thither it is not said there is no notice given us of any Judgment which sat on him or who carried him thither and therefore if we may guess by the Analogy of the Parable as Lazarus was carried by an Angel into Abraham's Bosom so Dives having no good Angel to guard him fell into
until the day that Noah entred into the Ark and knew not until the flood came and took them all away so shall the coming of the Son of man be The like we have 17 Luke 26 27. to which he adds the destruction of Sodom Likewise also it was in the days of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they built but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all even thus it shall be in the day when the Son of man is revealed 28 29 30. 2. This exactly agrees with what I have now discoursed that God will not destroy the World till the wickedness of Mankind is almost universal and incurable for if this be true God cannot destroy the World till Men are secure and fearless of Judgment that is till they are such Atheists and Infidels so immerst in sensual Pleasures so given up to a Reprobate sense that they have no thoughts of God and another World nor any concernment for a future Judgment Till the generality of Mankind are come to this secure state they are not so hopeless nor so outragiously and irreâ—everably wicked as to provoke God to a final destruction of the World a sense of God and the fear of Judgment will restrain the wickedness of Mankind and make them more modest and cautious give check to their Vices alarm and awaken their Consciences whether they will or no while this sense and belief is preserved in the World there must be a great many good Men and a great many more who pretend to Piety and Vertue and though there may be here and there an Atheist among them this is not considerable this does not make the state of Mankind hopeless and desperate and does not come up to the description of those times when God will destroy and Judge the World And to observe this by the way this is the true account why the Judgments of God in this World either upon private Persons or publick Societies Kingdoms and Nations surprize Men when they are most secure and think least of Judgment when as the Prophet Ieremy speaks They cry peace peace when there is no peace 6 Jer. 14. I need not tell you that this is not to take us at an advantage as a weak Enemy sometimes does who wants strength and power to hurt us but upon a surprize for no sinner all the sinners of the World cannot resist God's Power though they had never so much warning to make their defence Nor is it that God takes so much pleasure in punishing us and in executing his Judgments upon the World that he will give us no warning of it that we may not prevent it by a timely Repentance and make our Peace with him for he is infinitely good and merciful he delights to do good and to shew mercy but Judgment is his strange work and he has sufficiently denounced his Judgments against incorrigible sinners if they would believe him and take warning by it But the reason why the Judgments of God so often surprize Men in their Security while they are asleep and dreaming of nothing but what is prosperous and happy of the return of Astroea and the Golden Age is because their sins which make them ripe for Judgment and will not suffer God to stay his hand any longer have made them also secure either they have sinned away all belief of God and his Providence and a future Judgment or have sinned away the sense of those particular sins which they are guilty of or to make themselves secure they have by the help of Enthusiasm and Superstition reconciled the hopes of Heaven and the sense of God's love and favour with the practice of the most provoking Impieties that is their love to sin has made them secure and then there is little hope that they will ever forsake their sins and this makes them very fit to be the Examples of God's Justice and Displeasure And the same account is to be given of the day of Judgment it will surprize Men as a Thief in the Night not because they never heard that God would Judge the World for God has sufficiently declared this and given us timely notice to prepare for it but Men will at that time have sinned away the belief of a God and of a Judgment to come or have laid this belief asleep with some intoxicating Superstitions and Formalities and this is so hopeless and irrecoverable a state that it makes it time forGod to Judge the World 3. And this may give some probable account both why the day of Judgment is deferred so long as some Men are apt to speak though God knows they have little reason to think it long considering what Account they are able to give and what Sentence they are like to receive and why the particular time of Judgment is concealed from us While the sense of Judgment continues in the World it must make a great many good Men and restrain the Wickedness and Impiety of bad Men and as you have heard God will not destroy the World while it is in an hopeful and recoverable state but the long delay of Judgment as Men are apt to call it wears off the sense and belief of it and then Men grow wicked without fear and restraint and then it is time for God to judge the World Thus if God fixes and determines the Day of Judgment upon the foresight of such a general Impiety as will deserve a final excision God cannot reveal this to the World For one would think it impossible did the World know this before-hand but the Age of Judgment should be the most Devout and Religious Age that ever had been from the beginning of the World and then that would not be a fit time to destroy the World and God could not fore-see it the properest time of Judgment It is abundantly sufficient that God gives us all reasonable Evidence and Assurance that he will Judge the World but there is no reason to tell us at what particular time he will judge the World nay it is not fitting that we should know it Had Men known some thousand Years ago how long the Day of Judgmenâ— should be deferred it had so much weakned the Argument of a Future Judgment by removing it a great way off that the World might much better have deserved to be destroyed at any other time than in likelihood it would do if Men certainly knew the time when the Day of Judgment comes and if the general belief of Judgment will not make us good Men it is not fit that we should certainly know the time of Judgment no more than that we should know the time of our Death or be converted by a sight of Heaven or Hell God reserves this as a Secret in his own Breast which neither Men nor Angels shall know which is the best way to make the belief of a Future Judgment effectual
be made better by their Company as to escape the better with them but they should remember that the Tares and the Wheat grow together in the same Field but yet have a very different end the one is gathered into the Barn and the other is burnt and that good and bad Fish are taken in the same Net but they are separated at the Day of Judgment All our Separations now will avail us nothing unless we take care to be found in the Number of Christ's Sheep when we come to Judgment for if we be concealed Hypocrites and rotten and corrupt Members of a Sound and Orthodox and Pure Church though we have conversed with good Men all our lives here yet we must part Company at last the angels at that day will gather forth 〈◊〉 of Christ's kingdom and Church all things which offend and work iniquity The Judge being thus seated on his Throne and all Mankind before him the Books are opened which is another Circumstance to be considered in the last Judgment 20 Revel 12. And I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works The like we have 7 Dâ—â— 10. This opening of the Books seems to be an Allusion to the Form of Process in Humane Judicatures for we cannot think that God keeps Books of Record in a literal sence as Men do for such Books are onely Helps to Memory and therefore God needs them not but this represents to us the exact and impartial Justice of the last Judgment for there are two sorts of Books which shall be opened and out of which we shall be judged 1. The Laws of God which are the Rule of our Actions by which we shall be judged 2. The Records of our Lives and Actions which contain the Matters of Fact or that for which we shall be judged I shall discourse more particularly of this hereafter and shall only observe at present that God is a curious Observer of all our Actions and keeps a faithful Record of them though we take little notice of our Sins ourselves and forget them presently and then think they are gone and past yet God remembers them and we shall find fair and fresh Records of them when we come to Judgment And how will it amaze and confound bad Men to see all the Sins of their Lives called to remembrance to see a black Catalogue of all their Impieties and Blasphemies Injustice and Oppression Uncleanness and Impurities to see an exact Counterpart of a most wicked and ungodly Life Nothing can blot our Sins out of God's Book but a sincere Repentance and Reformation of our Lives for then God has promised to blot out all our iniquities which is somewhat more then crossing the Account for when the Account is only crossed it is visible still but what is blotted-out don 't so much as appear it no longer stands upon Record it is forgot and shall never be alleadged against us there shall be no mention made of it at the Day of Judgment for St. Iohn tells us there is another Book shall be opened the Book of Life out of which good Men shall be judged which records their Faith and Patience and Charity and all the good they have done but none of their Sins which God has blotted out of his Remembrance and has promised to keep no Record of them And is not this a mighty encouragement to true Repentance that all our Sins shall be blotted out before the Day of Judgment that there shall be no mention no remembrance of them then Some very good Men have been guilty of very great Wickedness which it may be none but God and their own Consciences know and the best Men have so many Failings Weaknesses Miscarriages that should all the Sins of good Men be exposed to the View and Censure of Men and Angels at the Day of Judgment tho' they were finally absolved and acquitted yet it would cause great Shame and Confusion and overcast the Glory of that Day but their Sins are done away and forgot and they have washed their Garments and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb this is the only way to conceal your most secret Sins to blot them out of God's Book by Repentance for if they remain there upon Record how successful soever you may be in concealing them at present the Books will be opened at the Day of Judgment and then all the World will know them Thus in our Saviour's Account of the last Judgment none of the Sins which good Men ever committed are mentioned but only the Graces and Vertues for which they are rewarded nor is there any notice taken of any good Actions done by bad Men but only of their Sins 25 Mat. as God expresly declares it shall be 32 Ezek. 13 14 16. When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if he trust to his own righteousness to the good he hath already done and commit iniquity all his righteousness shall not be remembred but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall die for it Again when I say to the wicked Thou shalt surely die if he turn from his sin and doth that which is lawful and right None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall surely live And now let us consider in what order Christ will Judge the World When he has separated between the Sheep and the Goats between good and bad Men he first calls good Men to Judgment and pronounces them blessed as we see 25 Matth. And this very much becomes the Person of our Judge who is the Saviour of the World and therefore to save is his proper Work and must take place of all Acts of Justice and Vengeance the Saviour of the World as I observed before must be our Judge that he may be a complete and perfect Saviour that he may finally acquit and reward us and therefore this is his first care to separate his Elect from the Company and to deliver them from the Destruction of the Ungodly This demonstrates to all the World that God takes more pleasure to save then to destroy this convinces Sinners that their Destruction is from themselves that they might have been saved as well as others for Christ came to save them and they see now that he would have done it would they have been saved by him in the Glory which is conferred on good Men they see what they have lost before they hear that terrible Sentence pronounced Go ye cursed into everlasting fire and this is a double Damnation to see the Happiness of good Men and to feel their own Misery for when we come to Judgment to lose Heaven will be thought a terrible Punishment though there were no Hell
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
have not strawed Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury Take therefore the talent from him And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth 25 Matth. Here we plainly see that this Servant was not punished for spending his Master's Money for he returned him the Talent which he gave him Lo here thou hast what is thine but for not improving it as his other Servants had done He was an unprofitable Servant who had brought no advantage to his Master And thus it is plain Men judge of Servants He is a very wicked Steward indeed who embezels his Master's Goods but he is an unprofitable Servant who makes no Improvements and thus God will judge of us as we think it reasonable to judge of our Servants And good GOD when we consider how many Talents we are entrusted with it should make us tremble to think whaâ— little Improvements we make of them Every thing that is improveable to the Service and Glory of God is a Talent and if we do not improve it to God's Glory and to do good in the World it is a Talent hid in a Napkin or buried in the Earth As to give some short Hints and Intimations of this for a just Discourse about this matter would be too long a Digression Power must be allowed to be a Talent and a very improveable Talent for every degree of Power gives Men great opportunities of doing good some Men move in a high Sphere and can give Laws to those below their very Examples their Smiles or Frowns are Laws and can do more to the Reforming of the World then the wisest Instructions the most convincing Arguments the most pathetical Exhortations of meanner Men. But though few Men have such a Power as this yet most Men have some degree of Power to be sure every Father and Master of a Family has his Authority reaches his Children and Servants and were this but wisely improved it would soon reform the World But how few are there who improve this Talent who use their Power to make those who are under their Authority obedient to God which is the true Use and Improvement of Power Riches I suppose will be allowed to be another very improveable Talent for what Good may not a rich Man do if he have a Heart to do it He may be Eyes to the Blind and Feet to the Lame a Father to the Fatherless and a Husband to the Widow a Tutelar Angel and even a God to Men. And Riches are a Trust and a Stewardship of which we must give an Account To spend them upon our Lusts in Rioting Luxury and Wantonness this is to wast our Master's Goods and to keep them safe without doing any good with them is to hide them in the Earth as the unprofitable Servant did his Talent and if we must be judged and condemned for not improving our Talent for not putting our Lord's money to the exchangers that when he comes he may receive his own with usury as our Saviour tells us rich Men ought to examine their Accounts and see what Encrease they have made of their Talent not how they have multiplied their Gold and Silver but what good they have done with it Once more Wisdom and Knowledge especially the Knowledge of God and of Religion is a very improveable Talent for there is nothing whereby we can more advance the Glory of God or do more good to Men To Instruct the Ignorant to Confirm the Doubtful to Vindicate the Being and Providence of God to Shame and Baffle Atheism and Infidelity to Expound the Doctrines and Laws of our Saviour and Rescue them from perverse Glosses and Comments this makes the Glory of God more visible to the World and serves Mankind in their greatest and dearest Interests it feeds their Souls with Knowledge and Understanding directs them in the Way to Heaven and minds them to take care of their Eternal State This indeed is the peculiar Care and Charge of the Ministâ—â—s of Religion they are the stewards of the mysteries of GOD those whom our Lord has made rulers over his houshold to give them meat in due season 24 Matth. 25. And St. Paul tells us It is required of these stewards that they be found faithful But this is a Talent which those may have in great perfection who are not by Office the Guides of Souls and where-ever it is it must be improved and must be accounted for We may many times do more service to God and more good to Men by giving wise and wholesome Instructions than by giving an Alms This every Man who knows enough to take care of his own Soul can do in some measure and this he must and ought to do as well as he can but so few Men think of this or charge themselves with it as belonging to their Account that it is fit to mind you of it IV. We shall be judged not only for our own personal Sins but in many Cases for the Sins of other Men which we have made our own There are a great many ways whereby we may bring the guilt of other Mens Sins upon ourselves when we tempt and provoke Men to sin by our Authority Counsels Examples when we perswade intice threaten or shame Men into Sin when we neglect our Duty to those who are under our Government do not instruct them better do not forewarn them of the danger they are in of being miserable in this World and in the next when we do not restrain them when we can nor punish them for their Sins when we are Partners with them in their Wickedness or the Instruments of it when we corrupt and debauch their Understandings with the Principles of Atheism Infidelity or Scepticism whatever Wickedness Men are drawn into by these means is chargeable upon ourselves and must be added to our Account as in reason it ought to be for if we are the cause of other Mens Sins we must bear the guilt of them too And if this be so what a terrible Account have some Men to make which they never think of How many have they corrupted by their Examples or Counsels or some other way And how will this aggravate their own Condemnation when they carry a long Train and Retinue of undone Souls to Hell with them That if Men will not be good themselves they ought to take care how they make others wicked this they get nothing by but a double Damnation and they will find it enough to be damned for themselves V. We shall be judged also for our Secret Sins Thus Solomon tells us God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 12 Eccl. 14. And St. Paul tells us That God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ according to the gospel 2 Rom. 16. And therefore David
careful of our Words CHAP. VII Concerning the Righteousness of the Future Iudgment and the Rule whereby we shall be judged ST Paul tells us That God will judge the world in righteousness which had been a terrible saying did Righteousness always signifie strict and severe Justice For who then could be saved But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies Mercy Goodness Equity as well as Justice or Justice tempered with Equity and Mercy And what the Apostle adds That God will judge the World in Righteousness by that man whom be hath ordained that is by Christ Jesus proves that Righteousness signifies an equal kind and merciful Justice For Christ is a Mediatory King and a Mediatory Judge He judges between God and Man He sets Bounds and Measures to Justice and makes allowances for the folly and weakness of Human Nature and with a Soveraign Authority dispenses not only the Justice but the Mercies of God When God appoints the Great High-Priest and Mediator to be the Judge of the World all Mankind may expect a very merciful Judge for the High-Priest and Mediator must judge with Equity and Mercy or else he does not maintain his Character of Mediator when he judges and yet the Final Judgment is the concluding Act of his Mediatory Kingdom and therefore an Act of his Mediation We know not certainly how God will deal with the Heathen World who never heard of Christ and never had the Gospel preached to them but it seems to look very favourably on them that the Saviour of Mankind the merciful and compassionate Jesus is their Judge also which promises all the Mercy that their Condition is capable of and how much that is we cannot tell for the Saviour of the World must judge with Mercy and Equity not by the Rules of severe and rigoâ—ous Justice Of which more presently Leaving then the Heathen World to the Mercies of God which are over all his Works it more concerns us to enquire by what Rule Christ will judge us who have had the Gospel preached to us Now in general St. Paul tells us God will judge the secrets of men by Christ Iesus according to my Gospel 2 Rom. 16. that is by the Gospel which I preach The Gospel of our Saviour is the Rule whereby we shall be judged by which our Lives and Actions shall be examined and as the Gospel acquits or condemns any Man so he shall be acquitted or condemned at the last Judgment So that we need not go far to know what our Doom shall be we need not search into the secret and hidden Counsels of God the Gospel lies open before us and though we cannot find our Names there we may read our Sentence for God will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that 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 of the Iew first and also of the Gentile but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Iew first and also to the Gentiles for there is no respect of persons with God 2 Rom. 6 7 8 9 10 11. What this good and this evil is the Gospel acquaints us and if we do what the Gospel commands we shall be acquitted and rewarded if we do what it forbids we shall be condemned So that we certainly know that all wicked Men who live in the wilful commission of any known sin shall be finally condemned Christ will at that Day profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity 7 Mat. 23. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. But the righteous shall shine forth like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father And who these Righteous are St. Iohn tells us Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous He that committeth sin is of the devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning for this purpose was the Son of God manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God in this the children of God are manifested and the children of the devil Whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God neither he that loveth not his brother 1 Joh. 3.7 8 9 10. This is very plain and so expresly taught in Scripture that every Man may as certainly know whether he shall be saved or damned at the last Day as he can know whether he be a good or a bad Man whether he doth righteousness or commits iniquity But most Men are conscious to themselves of so much wickedness that they don't love to hear of this For what will become of them if they must be rewarded or punished according to their Works What difference is there between the Law and the Gospel if they must still be judged according to their Works For what could the Law do more than condemn the wicked and reward the good But they are very Sound and Orthodox Believers they believe in God who justifieth the ungodly they believe in Christ and trust in him for Salvation and there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Iesus they expect to be justified by Faith to be saved by Grace and that without the works of the law And what has the Law then to do to condemn them who believe in Christ who have satisfied the Law in Christ who have fulfilled the Law in him who are washed from their sins in his Blood and are clothed with his Righteousness imputed to them Those who are not in Christ must indeed be judged by their Works but all true Believers are justified by their Faith and saved by Grace Now it must be confessed this is very expresly taught in Scripture that we are justified by Faith and saved by Grace and that without the Works of the Law By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God which is by faith in Iesus Christ Being justified freely by his grace thorough the redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God That Abraham our Father was not justified by Works but by Faith That being justified by faith we
have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. By grace you are saved tbrough faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works least any man should boast Not by works of righteousness which we have done but by grace hath he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost But then it is as plain on the other hand that God will render to every man according to his deeds that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in the body according to what we have done whether it be good or bad That Christ will condemn all wicked Christians whatever their Faith be Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven Many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity What shall we say then to this matter both these Propositions must be allowed to be undoubtedly true We are justified by Faith we are saved by Grace without the Works of the Law and we shall be judged according to our works and shall receive what we have done in this body whether good or evil That is we are justified by faith justified freely by God's grace through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus and through faith in his blood and yet shall be condemned at the last Judgment if we live wickedly This is a matter of very great consequence to be plainly stated because a great many Christians encourage themselves in sin with vain hopes and eternally perish by a presumptuous Faith and Reliance on Christ. I. Now in the first place that whatever mistakes or misapprehensions Men may have about the nature of Faith and Justification may not endanger their Souls by encouraging them in sin I observe that we must reconcile the Doctrine of Justification by Faith without Works to our being judged by our Works not expound away the Doctrine of our being judged according to our Works to reconcile it to our Notions of Justification by Faith And there are manifest Reasons for this 1. Because it is as expresly taught in Scripture that we shall be judged by our Works as it is that we are justified by Faith and therefore we must not oppose our Justification by Faith to our being judged by our Works for that is not to expound Scripture but to confute one Scripture Doctrine by another to prove that we shall not be judged by our Works though the Scripture says we shall because the Scripture also teaches that we are justified by Faith without Works Now if it be allowable to reject any Scripture Doctrine or to confute one Doctrine by â—â—other we may with as good reason 〈◊〉 them both by each other and belâ—â—â—â— neither for if they can't be reconciled but we must deny one our being judged by our Works does as plainly prove that we are not justified by Faith without Works as Justification by Faith proves that we shall not be judged by our Works We must distinguish between expounding and reconciling Scripture and confuting it and therefore whatever we believe about Justification by Faith we must still confess we shall be judged by our Works For 2. There is great reason to expound Justification by Faith by our being judged by Works because when we are told in Scripture That God will render to us according to our deeds that every man must receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad These are plain proper expressions without any Figure or Metaphor in them and therefore are capable of no other sence than what the words at first view signifie We shall receive what we have done if we have done good we shall be rewarded if we have done evil we shall be punished good Men shall be received into Heaven and all wicked Men even wicked Believers as well as wicked Infidels shall 〈◊〉 cast into Hell this every Child understands to be the meaning of these Words and no other sence can be made of them and therefore since this is so plainly and so frequently taught in Scripture whatever we believe else we must believe this if we believe the Scripture But now when we read of being justified by Faith without Works every word is capable of very different sences and we know is expounded very differently by learned Men according to the different Hypothesis they intend to serve by it and then we must confess it is not so certain what is meant by Justification by Faith without Works as what is meant by being judged according to our Works at least so much must be allowed that we must prefer that sence of Justification by Faith which agrees with our being judged by our Works before any other interpretation which contradicts or overthrows this plain sence of a Future Judgment As for instance Some by justifying understand making just and righteous that to justifie the ungodly is to make a wicked Man good by the power and efficacy of Faith but then to justifie the ungodly without the Works of the Law or to make a wicked Man good without good Works does not found very well and therefore others more reasonably and more agreeably to Scripture understand justifying in a forensick sence for absolving acquitting declaring and accounting Men just and righteous and treating them as such that is imputing righteousness to them though in a strict and proper sence they are not inherently righteous And then this forensick Justification may either signifie our being justified at Baptism when by the profession of our Faith we are incorporated by Baptism into Christ's Church and are made the Members of his Mystical Body and have all our sins washed away in his Blood and come pure and innocent out of the laver of Regeneration and thus the most ungodly Sinners are justified by Faith in Baptism without Works or any antecedent righteousness of their own or else this Justification may be extended to the Future Judgment that at the last Day of Account we shall be justified acquitted absolved rewarded by Faith without Works but this does not agree very well with our being judged and receiving according to our Works the Scripture expresly teaches that we are justified by Faith without Works and that we shall be judged by our Works but never saith we shall be judged by our Faith which seems to make a great difference between being justified and being judged for if we are justified without Works and judged by our Works justified by Faith without Works but not judged not acquitted and rewarded by Faith without Works to be justified and to be judged cannot signifie the same
against the express Declarations of Scripture that they shall not be judged according to their Works this will make them careless of a Holy Life and then when Christ comes to Judgment how Orthodox Believers soever they are he will say unto them I know you not depart from me ye that work iniquity 2 dly But whatever Notions we have of Grace nothing is more plain from the very Nature of Things than that the righteousness of the Future Judgment consists in judging Men according to their Works and therefore if God judge the World in Righteousness he must judge every Man according to his Works For 1. The Righteousness of the Future Judgment consists in rewarding good Men and punishing the wicked and in rewarding and punishing none else Now there is no other distinction between good and bad Men but what their Works make He is a good Man who does good and he is a wicked Man who does that which is wicked As St. Iohn tells us Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous he that committeth sin is of the devil 1 Joh. 3.7 8. The nature of Righteousness is certain and unchangeable and cannot alter with Mens Opinions of it It is our likeness and conformity to God to be righteous as He is righteous and therefore is as immutable as the Divine Nature God may change our Natures and make a wicked Man holy by the Power of his Grace bâ—t he cannot change the Nature of Vertue and Vice no more than he can change his own Nature he can't make a wicked Man to be a Saint while he lives wickedly nor a Saint to be a wicked Man while he lives in the Practice of Holiness and Vertue the Nature of Good and Evil can't be changed and therefore a good Man cannot be wicked nor a wicked Man good without changing their Natures and God cannot account a wicked Man righteous nor a righteous Man wicked without judging contrary to the Nature of Things It would be impossible for wicked Men did they duly consider this to flatter themselves that God will so impute the Righteousness of Christ to them as to account them perfectly righteous without any inherent Righteousness of their own or without doing righteously For when they know themselves to be so far from being righteous that they are very wicked why should they think that God will judge of them otherwise than they are That he will call good evil and evil good light darkness and darkness light sâ—eet bitter and bitter sweet when he himself has pronounced a Woe against those who do it 5 Isai. 20. I am sure a Righteous Judgment is to judge of things â—s they are to judge Good to be Good and Evil to be Evil to judge the Tree by the Fruit that a good Tree is that which bringeth forth good Fruit and an evil Tree which bringeth forth corrupt Fruit. This is Truth and Righteousness in judging of the Natures of Things and Righteousness in judging as that signifies rewarding and punishing is to reward and punish Men according to their Natures Qualities and Deserts to reward those and those only who do such things as deserve a Reward or at least as make them capable of being rewarded and to punish those who do such things as deserve punishment for to give every Man his Deserts is to judge righteously All this is very plain and it is as plain that Righteousness and Vertue deserve a Reward and Wickedness deserves to be punished and therefore a just and righteous Judge must reward good Men and punish the wicked This all Mankind agree in they have no other Notion of judging righteously but this to reward the good and to punish the wicked but to bless and prosper and reward the wicked and to punish the good is without dispute confessed to be unjust Some Men dispute the essential difference between Good and Evil but all confess that what we call Good deserves Praise and Reward and what we call Evil deserves Punishment and this Distinction between Good and Evil the Laws of all Nations make and if this be accounted a righteous Judgment among Men if God will judge the World and judge in Righteousness he also must judge Men according to their Works unless he means something else by judging righteously than what Mankind understand by it And thus he has every-where declar'd he will do as I need not prove to those who have read the Scripture All the Threatnings both of the Law and the Gospel are against the Workers of Iniquity all the Promises are made to Holiness and Obedience and if this be the Rule of Righteousness and Justice it must be the Rule also of a righteous Judgment for to judge righteously is to judge by the Rule of Righteousness Now if this be a righteous Judgment to reward or punish Men according to the Good or Evil they have done how can God judge the World in Righteousness if he does not judge Men according to their Works If he should acquit the Wicked and bestow Heaven on them or condemn any good Man to Hell For will any Man say this is just And therefore let the Grace of the Gospel be what it will if it cannot make a wicked Man righteous without doing Righteousness it can never make it just for God to save a wicked and ungodly Man The Grace of God cannot change the Natures of Things Righteousness and Justice is the same thing under the Gospel that it was under the Law and therefore to judge righteously is the same thing too and that always did and always will signifie to judge Men according to their Works to judge those righteous Men who do Righteousness and those wicked Men who do Wickedness and to reward the Righteous and punish the Wicked 2 dly The Righteousness of the Future Judgment consists in the equality of it to deal equally by all Men now there is no other equal Rule of Judgment but to judge Men by their Works for there is nothing else for which all Mankind can be judged and if some Men must be judged for the Good oâ— Evil of their â—ctions an equal Justice requires that all Men be judged by the same Rule Men must either be judged by their Works 〈◊〉 by their Knowledge or their Faith As for Knowledge and Faith it is evident that Mens natural Capacities and the Circumstances of their Lives and Fortunes and Educations which are not of their own choosing and therefore cannot be imputed to them make a very great difference One Man has naturally a better Understanding a quicker Apprehension a more piercing Judgment than another or if their natural Abilities be equal yet the Circumstances of their Fortunes and Education make a difference One is better instructed trained up in the Art of Thinking and Reasoning and Judging and has leisure and opportunity to improve his Knowledge by Study while another as capable as he is either ill-taught or
not taught at all or only taught the Art of Living in the World by Labour and Industry that God might as well judge Men for being Rich or Poor when their Fortune is not at their own disposal but owing to their Birth or to prosperous or adverse Events of Providence as to judge Men by the different Degrees and Improvements of Knowledge Thus as for Faith some never heard of Christ at all or if they did it was only under the Character of an Imposter or of a Fable but never had the true Reasons of Faith explained to them others have been very ill instructed in the Faith of Christ and never had opportunity to rectifie their mistakes and yet as no Man is bound to know what Nature does not teach unless it be revealed to him so no Man is bound to believe what he has not so much as heard of nor to believe every thing he does hear without sufficient Evidence nor to receive the true Faith of Christ which he was never taught So that should God divide the World at the Last Day only into Believers and Infidels this would be a very unequal distribution because great part of the World never had the Faith of CHRIST preached to them and though Infidelity will condemn those Men who have been instructed in the Faith of CHRIST and would not believe yet it cannot in Reason and Justice be imputed to those Men who never heard of Christ. But now the Being and Providence of God and the Differences of Good and Evil are known to all Mankind Nature teaches this and therefore all Mankind are bound to know it and all Mankind may be judged by this Rule whether they know God and worship him as God and take care to do that which is good and to avoid the evil This account St. Paul gives us of it For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened 1 Rom. 18 19 20 21. And the same Apostle tells us That the Gentiles which have not the Law no Divine written Law do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves which shew the work of the law written in their hearts their consciences also bearing witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another 2 Rom. 14 15 16. So that all Mankind even Heathens themselves have a natural knowledge of GOD and of Good and Evil and therefore may be judged for what they know and condemned by God for transgressing those Laws of Righteousness for which their own Consciences condemn them for this leaves them without excuse And if God will judge the Heathens by their Works and condemn them for those sins they commit against the Light of Nature an equal Justice requires that Christians shall be judged by their Works also For is it equal to damn a Heathen for those Sins which a Christian may commit and be saved Will equal and impartial Justice allow that when a Heathen and a Christian are equally wicked the Christian shall be saved and the Heathen damned Is not this to accept the Persons of Men in Judgment to make a difference between the Men when there is no difference in their Actions And yet the same Apostle tells us There is no respect of persons with God for as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law 2 Rom. 11 12. And that this is the Rule of Judgment in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ according to the gospel v. 16. There is no other common and general Rule whereby all Mankind can be judged but only this to render to every Man according to his Works for there is nothing else for which Men must be judged that is common to all Men but the natural knowledge of God and the differences of Good and Evil Christians indeed know more than the Light of Nature taught Heathens and therefore have more to account for than Heathens have but if Heathens shall be condemned for their sins against the Light of Nature if they shall be judged according to their Works Christians have more reason to expect this for if God be a righteous and impartial Judge he cannot condemn one Sinner for his Sins and save another as wicked as he The nature of Vertue and Vice is the same in all Mankind whether Heathens Jews or Christians and deserves in itsself the same Rewards and Punishments if it be righteous in God to punish the Sins of Heathens it is righteous in God to punish the same Sins of Christians to render to all Men whoever they be according to their Works for this is to deal equally with all Men. 3 dly I add farther that nothing else is the proper Object of Judgment but the Good or Evil of our Actions and therefore if we be judged at all we must be judged for the Good or Evil we have done For does Judging signifie any thing else but Examining what Good or Evil such a Man hath done and rewarding or punishing him according to the Good or Evil he has done And therefore a righteous Judge cannot judge Men cannot reward or punish them for that which is neither Good nor Evil. Now is there any thing Good or Evil but Vertue or Vice What is Knowledge good for which does not direct and govern our Lives What is Faith good for which does not renew and sanctifie us Are there not very knowing and believing Devils Does not Faith and Knowledge make every sin we commit against Faith and against Knowledge the more inexcusable Does not our Saviour tell us That he who knows his master's will and does it not shall be beaten with many stripes What Merit or Vertue is there in a presumptuous reliance on Christ for Salvation to call him Lord Lord and not to do the things which he has commanded And can we think then that God will reward us for our Knowledge or our Faith and overlook all the Evils and Impurities of our Lives Will he reward us for that which deserves no Reward and not punish us for that which deserves punishment Is this to judge the World in Righteousness This is abundantly enough to prove that we must be judged according to our Works that we must receive the things done in the Body whether Good or Evil since the Righteousness of the
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
the Prophets about this matter And though it cannot be denyed but that many Christians deceive themselves with the same vain hopes yet this is much more unpardonable in them because God has given a more undeniable proof of the evil of Sin and his irrecoverable displeasure against it then either Iews or Heathens had For can there be a more certain evidence of the evil of Sin than the Death of Christ He dyed for Sin and as the Apostle speaks condemned sin in the flesh 8 Rom. 3. Not only condemned Sin by his excellent Sermons wise Exhortations sharp Reproofs and terrible Threatnings while he lived in the Flesh but by dying in the Flesh by offering up his Body a Sacrifice for Sin Whatever Christ suffered was not upon his own Personal account but for Sin and therefore what he suffered was the just demerit of Sin or else he ought not to have suffered it in him God shews us what our Sins deserve Infamy Reproach and utmost Scorn and Contempt the Agonies of the Mind the Pain and Torments of the Body and Death it self it was Sin that was Crucified that was exposed to all this Shame and Suffering in the Person of our Saviour and therefore in his Sufferings we have a lively Image of the Evil and Deserts of Sin which is a more convincing and satisfactory Evidence then the fine and subtile Reasonings of Philosophy which some Men cannot understand and which none but purified Minds can feel And though God declared his great love to Sinners in giving his own Son to dye for them yet hereby also he expressed his irreconcileable hatred against Sin Sinners may be reconciled to God by the Death of Christ but Sin never can that is Condemned is Crucified in the Death of Christ. Christ expiated Sin and reconciles Sinners by killing and destroying Sin by putting it to shame and Death upon his own Cross And this is the Method of our reconciliation to God in Conformity to the Death of Christ we must be crucified with Christ must be planted into the likeness of his Death that is we must crucifie Sin in us we must crucifie the flesh with its affections and lusts we must die to sin the body of sin must be destroyed that we may no longer serve sin for he that is dead is freed from sin as St. Paul Argues 6 Rom. and in several other places And do we need any other proof of God's hatred of Sin than that he gave his own Son to be a Sacrifice for Sin that Christ could not expiate our Sins without undergoing that Infamy and Scorn and Pain and Death which is the desert of Sin that the Death and Destruction of Sin is represented in that very Sacrifice which expiates our Sins and must be acted over again in us in the real Crucifixion and Death of Sin before we can have any Interest in the Expiation of Christ's Death And can there be a more powerful Disswasive from Sin than this Thus it is a mighty encouragement to Repent of our Sins and forsake them to be assured of Pardon and Forgiveness if we do Now whatever Reasons Iews and Heathens had to hope for Pardon upon their Repentance it is certain they had not that assurance which the Death and Sacrifice of Christ gives us We have now an express Covenant of Grace and Pardon sealed with the Blood of Christ who is that lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world and God cannot condemn repenting Sinners without denying the purchase of Christ's Blood that precious Blood of infinite Price and Value that Blood which our great High Priest hath carried into the Holy of Holies and which there pleads the Pardon of penitent Sinners at the Throne of Grace God cannot deny himself cannot deny his own Covenant cannot deny his Sons Blood which speaketh better things then the blood of Abel cannot deny our great High Priest who appeareth in the presence of God for us who died for us and now liveth for ever to make intercession for us and he who wants greater security than this must tell us what greater security Sinners can have then the Oath and Covenant of God and the Blood and Intercession of Christ. When I consider this matter with what infinite Wisdom God has contrived the Redemption of Sinners to cure the degeneracy of our Natures and to raise us to a perfect Vertue to bind us faster to himself in those soft and charming Fetters of Love to spur us forward with all the Zeal and Impetus that Hope and Fear and Indignation and Love the Passions and Paroxysmes of a divine inflamed Love can give us it amazes me to think that any Christians should flatter themselves that Faith in Christ will save them without Works that there is less need for them to be so exact and circumspect in their Lives that sin is not so damning a thing now since Christ has made atonement for it and reconciled God to Sinners as it was before Had they no Saviour indeed it would concern them to be very good when they must merit for themselves had they not such a meritorious Sacrifice for Sin and such a powerful High-Priest it would be a very dangerous thing to commit sin but now Christ has Righteousness and Merit enough for us all and we need none of our own nothing but Faith to apply his Righteousness to us Christ has pulled out the Sting of Sin that it cannot greatly hurt it cannot kill a Believer though it may slightly wound him a 〈◊〉 and draw some Tears of Repentance from him and that heals all again This if any thing in the World is to turn the grace of God into lasciviousness to be wicked because God is good to sin because grace does abound whose damnation is just I beseech you for the love of Christ and for the Honour of his Undertaking of his Death and Intercession for us to consider this a little better Consider what the Gospel teaches us to believe of Christ and how absurd and contradictious it is to say that such a Faith will save us without holiness and purity of heart and life Do you not believe 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 Titus 14. And is it reasonable to think that our believing this will save us unless we be redeemed from all iniquity unless we be purified unless we be a people zealous of good works If Christ saves those who are not redeemed from all iniquity who are not purified who are not zealous of good works it is certain he must save those for whom he did not give himself or must save them contrary to his own intention of giving himself for them but however to believe that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity does not seem to be such a Faith if our Faith be true as will justifie us without being redeemed from all
him may securely hope and rejoyce in God for whatever other defects the pure Eyes of God may see in him they are all within the Grace and Mercy of the Gospel and therefore cannot hinder either his Pardon or his Reward Thus we see that when Conscience absolutely condemns or when without any doubt or hesitancy it commends acquits and absolves its Sentence is a Divine Oracle and assures us what our Judgment shall be at the last Day if we be then found in such a state But there is a middle state between these two which deserves to be considered when Men are neither so wicked as to be absolutely condemned by their own Consciences nor so good as to be acquitted and absolved which is an uncertain state between hope and fear This is the case of those Men who have been guilty of very great sins which they had lived in many years and though they are very sensible of their past wickedness and heartily sorry for their sins and seriously resolved by the Grace of God to forsake them yet they are not satisfied of the sincerity of their Repentance because they have not with all their Sorrow and Resolutions conquered their Inclinations to sin nor broken the habits of it but are guilty of frequent Relapses and fall into the commission of the same sins again and then repent and resolve again and as time wears off their sorrow for their last Offence their old inclinations revive and a new Temptation conquers again Now such men's Consciences neither absolutely condemn nor absolutely acquit them for the Event is doubtful they are not Conquerors yet and it is uncertain whether ever they will Conquer and therefore their Consciences cannot yet speak Peace to them and yet they are not perfect Slaves and Captives to Sin but contend for their liberty and therefore their Consciences do not absolutely condemn them but as they prevail or yield so their hopes or fears encrease And this also is the case of those Men who if they commit no notorious wickedness yet do very little good nothing that their Consciences can commend them for who worship God rather in compliance with the Custom of the Place they live in than from a vital sence and reverence of God and therefore are not for any Works of Supererogation a little will content them and they are glad of any excuse to lessen that little and all Men who pretend to greater Devotion they suspect of Hypocrisie and some Secular Interests As for Charity though they must own Charity to be a Vertue yet when any particular Act of Charity is pressed on them they never want Arguments to prove either that it is not Charity or that they are not concerned in it whatever kindnesses they do for others are extorted by great importunity and done very thriftily just as Men do what they have no mind nor inclination â—o Now these Men commonly are pretty quiet and secure unless something extraordinary awaken them for they do nothing greatly to terrifie their Consciences nor any thing to please them and therefore their Consciences neither absolve nor condemn Such Men don't well know what to think of themselves nor do they much think of these matters if they be gay and in good humour all is very well if any cross accident disturbs them and makes them thoughtful and fall out with this World or works upon a Melancholly Constitution then they are over-run with black and dismal Thoughts and all the Ministers in the Neighbour-hood are sent for to answer Cases of Conscience and to speak such Comfort to them as their own Consciences cannot and will not speak Now this case our Apostle took no notice of for indeed nothing is to be said to it such Men cannot know by the Judgment of their own Consciences what Judgment God will pass on them because their Consciences pass no certain Judgment on them but when Conscience does give Judgment of us when it absolutely acquits or absolutely condemns us we may depend on it that God will judge us as our Consciences do There are some Objections against this which are easily answered from that plain state of the case which I have now given As to name some There are a great many very bad Men who go on in their sins without any checks and rebukes of their own Consciences much more without being condemned by them and will not God condemn these Men because their own Consciences do not condemn them Yes no doubt but he will for he will condemn all bad Men whether their own Consciences at present condemn them or not But by not condemning the Apostle means acquitting and absolving which these Mens Consciences do not though they do not condemn they do not commend nor absolve neither that is they pass no Judgment at all but are seared and stupified by Atheism or a long Custom in sinning When Conscience does judge and does not condemn God will not condemn neither but there is a great difference between not judging and not condemning and therefore notwithstanding what the Apostle says God may condemn when Conscience does not judge though he will not condemn when a judging Conscience does not condemn And the difference between these two between not judging and not condemning is very evident for it is often seen that Men whose Consciences have given them no disturbance for many years in a course of sin that is have never judged them yet whenever their Consciences are awakened as they are sometimes by severe Providences or at least by the approach of Death then they condemn them and fill them with Terrour and Amazement There are other bad Men who do very wicked things and yet their Consciences are so far from condemning them that they commend and applaud them Nay we know there have been those whose Consciences have indulged them in all manner of wickedness and flatter'd them into an Opinion of their being great Saints and dear to God all the while and will not God condemn these Men because their Consciences do not condemn them but promise them not only Impunity but great Rewards Thus on the other hand many very good Men who to all appearance have lived very innocent and vertuous Lives fall under great Disorders of Mind and not only condemn but pass a final irreversible Sentence upon themselves that they are not only at present in a state of Damnation but that it is impossible for them ever to get out of it and that they must be certainly damned now will God condemn these good Men because their Consciences condemn them I have put these two Cases together because the same Answer will serve both This is not the Judgment of Conscience which St. Iohn speaks of but the Judgment of Opinion and mistaken Notions in Religion or of Melancholly and a distempered fancy The Judgment of Conscience is that Judgment which we pass on our selves from comparing our Lives with the Rule whereby we shall be judged and this Judgment
cannot deceive us for if we judge of our selves by the same Rule by which God will judge us every Man knows himself so well that he cannot mistake and when GOD and Conscience judge by the same Rule their Judgment must be the same but if we will alter our Rule of Judging if Conscience judge by one Rule and God by another then there is no wonder if their Judgments differ if GOD condemn those whose Consciences acquit them and absolve those whose Consciences or rather whose private Opinions and Fancies condemn them This is plain from the instances before us some Men justifie themselves in doing very wicked Actions but the reason is because they mistake the Nature of Things they call Good Evil and Evil Good and then their Consciences applaud and commend them for doing that which is very wicked but which they call good As our Saviour tells his Apostles The time cometh when every one that killeth you will think that he does God good service 16 Joh. 2. Others who know they are guilty of very great wickedness are yet very confident of their Salvation and full of assurance because they do not judge of themselves by the good or evil which they do but rely upon other marks and evidences for their Salvation Raptures Extasies Enthusiasms a presumptuous Faith in Christ an ineffectual sorrow for sin some arbitrary and fanciful signs of Election c. Now indeed these Mens Consciences do condemn them for they accuse them of great wickedness but they will not believe the Judgment of their own Consciences but judge of their final state by their own mistaken Fancies and Opinions and therefore according to the Apostle's Rule God will condemn these Men for their own Consciences condemn them though they will not believe the Judgment of their Consciences but justifie themselves in contradiction to it when Conscience condemns Other Men who are not condemned by their own Consciences that is who cannot charge themselves with any great guilt who are not conscious to themselves that they have lived in any known Sin or in the habitual neglect of any material and essential part of their Duty yet they strongly fancy that GOD will condemn them that they are under the Sentence of Reprobation that they have sinned against the Holy Ghost though what that Sin is they know not They want the testimony of the Spirit to assure them of their Election they have never felt the Spirit of Bondage and therefore they fear they have not the Spirit of Adoption that is they have never felt the Horrours and Agonies of guilty Sinners because by the Grace of GOD and the Blessing of a pious and vertuous Education they have always been preserved from those frightful sins which amaze the Conscience and therefore they fear it is but a false Peace they feel that God is not in this soft and calm Voice of Conscience because they have never heard nor seen the Thundrings and Lightnings from Mount Sinai Or though they maintain a great reverence for God and worship him with all humility of Soul and Body yet they do not feel those flights of Devotion those melting and languishing Passions which some good Men â—eel or if at any time they are transported beyond themselves and feel their Hearts all on fire with Love and Devotion these Fits are but short these Boylings and Fermentations go off and they return to a calm and even Temper and then they think they grow cold and that the Spirit of GOD hath forsaken them Now it is plain also that these Mens Consciences do not condemn them for they charge them with no such guilt as the Gospel of Christ will condemn them for but they are condemned only by false Opinions or by a misguided and disturbed Fancy In both these Cases Men absolve or condemn themselves not by the judgment and testimony of Conscience but by their mistaken Notions and Opinions and God is not concerned to confirm and ratifie such a Judgment The Sum is this When St. Iohn tells us That if our Conscience condemn us God will condemn us but if our Conscience do not condemn us neither will God condemn us he means by Conscience that Judgment which Men make of themselves by comparing their Lives and Actions with the Rule by which GOD will judge us for Conscience judges not by making new and arbitrary Rules of Judgment but by giving Testimony to our Lives and Actions The Judgment of Conscience is no more but this Whether we have obeyed or disobeyed the Laws of the Gospel whether we have done those things which the Gospel threatens to punish or which it promises to reward but when we judge our Actions by false Notions of Good and Evil contrary to the Gospel of our Saviour we judge by a false Rule and then our Judgment must be false and when we judge our selves not by the Nature of our Works as God will judge us and as Conscience judges but by Opinions and Fancies and some Arbitrary and Enthusiastick Marks and Signs this is not the Judgment of Conscience which judges only of our Works but the Judgment of private Opinions Conceits and Fancies and though God will judge us as Conscience judges yet he will not judge us as Opinion Fancy Enthusiasm or Melancholy judge us Thus we see how we may know what our Sentence shall be at the Day of Judgment Two sorts of Men may certainly know what their Sentence shall be and a third sort may know the great danger they are in if they will but listen to the Judgment of their own Consciences Men whose Consciences absolutely condemn them may certainly expect that God will condemn them For when their guilt is so notorious that they are forced to condemn themselves why should they think that a just and righteous Judge will not condemn them Those whose Consciences do not condemn them shall certainly be pardoned and rewarded by the Mercies of God those whose Consciences will neither condemn nor absolve them but do both by turns are in a very doubtful and hazardous state their Salvation as yet is very uncertain and it concerns them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure And should not this teach us to reverence the Judgment of Conscience as a Divine Sentence not to provoke our Consciences to condemn us to obey their Admonitions and to reform at their Rebukes and Censures What would Sinners think should they hear themselves condemned by God every time they commit a known and wilful sin And yet Conscience is the Tribunal of God judges for God and condemns us in God's Name and by his Authority and God will confirm and execute its Sentence and therefore Conscience is a very venerable Judge And ought we not diligently to hearken to that Judgment which Conscience passes on us This I am sure is of vast concernment both to bad and to good Men whether it
condemn or absolve Bad Men indeed are very much afraid of their own Consciences because they reprove and condemn them and threaten them with Hell-fire and therefore they fly from their Consciences will not hear them and will not suffer them to speak but what do they get by this but to drop securely and quietly into Hell and then Conscience will speak and never be silent more If they will not hear their Consciences now they must hear their Judge at the last Day Though Conscience be never so severe in its reproofs and censures they are the reproofs of a Friend the Judgment of Conscience is only to warn us of the Judgment of God to warn us to fly from the Wrath to come and would Men hearken to their own Consciences it would give check to them and reform their Lives if we would patiently hear Conscience threaten us with Hell-fire it would be the most effectual means to prevent our falling into it But what is the Joy and Triumph of a good Conscience which speaks Peace to us and gives us a secure hope in God which gives us the joyful prospect of Eternal Rewads of a Crown and a Kingdom of those Rivers of Pleasures which are at God's right hand When with St. Paul we can say 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 which God the righteous Iudge will give me at that day 2 Tim. 4.7 8. This is a happy state indeed a plerophory and full assurance of hope which makes good Men impatiently long for the Day of Judgment to be put into the possession of so great a happiness and there is no way to have this but from the Testimony of our own Consciences The Holy Spirit indeed does give Testimony to good Men and fill them with joys unspeakable and full of glory but then the spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God 8 Rom. 16. Unless our Consciences give testimony to us the Holy Spirit never does all pretences to the Testimony of the Spirit without this are cheats and delusions and Conscience will never give this testimony to us without a tried and experienced Vertue till the Flesh be subdued to the Spirit till our Minds are refined and purified and our Conversations adorned with all Divine and Heavenly Graces Every new conquest we gain over this World every new degree of strength and vigour in serving God our increase in Charity and all good Works will add new degrees to our hope our Consciences will give the more ample testimony to us and that gives us greater confidence towards God which will make us joyfully expect that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. The END BOOKS Published by the Reverend Dr. SHERLOCK Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties AN Answer to a Discourse Entituled Papists Protesting against Protestant Popery Second Edition 4 o An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Differences between the Representer and the Answerer 4 o A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Calamy D. D. 4 o A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and Catholick-Communion from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome 4 o A Preservative against Popery Being some plain Directions to unlearned Protestants how to Dispute with Romish Priests First Part. Fifth Edition 4 o A Second Part of the Preservative against Popery Second Edition 4 o A Vindication of Both Parts of the Preservative against Popery in Answeâ— to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran Jesuit 4 o A Discourse concerning the Nature Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church First Part. 4 o A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London on Sunday Novemb. 4. 1688. 4 o A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Holy and Ever-Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God Occasioned by the Brief Notes on the Creed of St. Athanasius and the Brief History of the Unitarians or Soâ—iâ—ians and containing an Answer to both The Second Edition 4 o The Case of the Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers stated and resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England with a more particular Respect to the Oath lately enjoyned of Allegiaâ—ce to their present Majesties King William and Queen Mary Sixth Edition 4 o A Vindication of the Case of Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers In Reply to an Answer to a late Pamphlet Entituled Obedience and Submission to the present Government demonstrated from Bishop Overal ' s Convocation-â—ook with a Postscript in Answer to Dr. Sherlock ' s Case of Allegiance 4 o A Practical Discourse concerning Death The Fifth Edition 8 o A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment 8 o Printed for W. Rogers Books lately Printed for Will. Rogers A Sermon Preached at White-Hall before the Queen on the Monthly-Fast-Day September 16th 1691. 4 o A Persuasive to Frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Eighth Edition 12 o Both by the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury A Sermon Preached on the 28th of Iune at St. Andrew's Holbourn By the Right Reverend Father in God Iohn Lord Bishop of Norwich 4 o A Sermon Preached on the 28th of Iune at St. Mary it Bow on Sunday the fifth of Iuly 1691 at the Consecration of the Most Reverend Father in God Iohn Lord Archbishop of Yoâ—k and the Right Reverend Fathers in God Iohn Lord Bishop of Norwich Richard Lord Bishop of Peterborough and Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester By Ioshua Clark Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father In God the Bishop of Norwich 4 o The Necessity of Serious Consideration and Speedy Repentance as the only way to be safe both living and dying By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Nottingham-shire 8 o Reflections upon two Books one Entituled The Case of Allegiance to a King in Possession The other An Answer to Dr. Sherlock ' s Case of Allegiance to Soveraign Powers in Possession on those parts especially wherein the Author endeavours to shew his Opinion to be agreeable to the Laws of this Land In a Letter to a Friend 4 o In the Press The Folly of Atheism demonstrated to the Capacity of the most unlearned Reader By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Notting-hamshire 8 o 9 Heb. 27. 1 Tim. 6.3 Practical Discourse of Death Ch. 2. Sect. 1. 2 Pet. 3.5 6. 22 Matth. 30. 49 Ier. 18. 25 Iob. 6. 80 Psal. 17. 146 Psal. 3. 2 Ezek. 1. 3 Phil. â—2â— 13 Mat. 43. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Rom. 1. 3 Rom. 20 21 22 24 25. 4 Rom. 5 Rom. 1. 2 Eph. 8 9. 3 Tit. 5. 2 Rom. 6. 2 Cor. 5.10 7 Mat. 21.22 23. 1 Rom. 18. 2 Rom. 8 9. 2 Titus 11 12. 6 Ron 23. 10 Act. 34 35. 2 Cor. 8.12 2 Cor. 5.14 Nimquam vir magnus sine Divino afflatu 119 Psalm 5 10 14 18 19 27 28 34 35 36 37. 51 Psal. 10 12. P. 415. 2 Tit. 13.
to their Works And this may suffice for the first thing proposed What Natural Evidence we have of a Judgment to come SECT V. The Scripture Proof of a Future Iudgement II. HAving shewn what Evidence we have from the Light of Nature for a Future Judgment let us now consider the Scripture Proofs of it And this might be dispatched in a very few wordâ— by turning you to some plain Texts of Scripture which expresly assert it but â— shall do something more than this which if it be not necessary for the proof of 〈◊〉 Future Judgment yet will be of use for the better understanding the Christian Religion and to rivet this Belief faster 〈◊〉 our Minds that is I shall represent to you those Parabolical Reasonings whereby our Saviour insinuates this Belief into ouâ— Minds and shew you that the whole Christian Religion is founded on and adapted to the belief of a Future Judgement and is a very unintelligible Institution without it 1. Let us consider those plain and express Proofs the Gospel of our Saviour contains of a Future Judgment and some few Texts will be sufficient for this purpose This is expresly affirmed by St. Paul 17 Acts 31. That God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness The Apostle to the Hebrews tells us It is appointed for men once to die and after that the judgement 9 Heb. 27. Our Saviour tells us that we shall be judged 7 Matth. 1 2. Iudge not that ye be not judged For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure ye meet it shall be measured unto you again And v. 22 23. he tells us That in that day that is the Day of Judgment many will say unto me Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name have cast out devils and in thy Name done many wonderful works And then will I profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity Thus he tells us 16 Matth. 27. The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works And 25 Matth. 31 c. he gives us a lively Description of the Future Judgment 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 And before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats And he shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left And then hâ— Judges them and pronounces their Fiâ—â—â— Doom and Sentence according to theâ—â— Works as it follows in that place 〈◊〉 were easie to turn you to many Texts 〈◊〉 this purpose as every one knows who 〈◊〉 acquainted with the Scripture but theâ—â— is no need of it these few are so expreâ—â— that if we believe the Gospel we must believe that we shall be judged 2. Our Saviour does not only expresly declare this that there shall be a Judgement but insinuates the Belief and Reasonableness of this by some proper Allâ—â—â—ons and Comparisons which is the 〈◊〉 scope and design of many of his Parables As to instance in some of them 1â— Luke 12 c. he tells us of a certain â—ble man who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return where he describes his own leaving thâ— World and ascending into Heaven to take possession of his Kingdom from whenâ—â— he shall return again at the last Day tâ— Judge the World This noble man called his servants and delivered them ten pounds and said unto them Occupy till I come Bâ—â— his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying We will not have this man to reign over us This describes our State in this World which is a State of Labour and Industry where we must improve our Master's Money all the advantages and opportunities of doing good to his Service and Glory Now as it is reasonable to expect when such a King returns that he will call his Servants to an Account reward the Diligent and punish the Slothful and destroy his Enemies the same Usage we must expect from our Lord when he returns again he will judge us will reward or punish us according to our Works To the same purpose is that Parable 25 Matth. 14 c. of a Man travelling into a far Country who called his Servants and delivered to them his Goods and at his return rewarded them proportionably to the Increase and Improvement they had made and punished that wicked Servant who hid his Talent in a Napkin The Parable of the unjust Steward who had wasted his Master's Goods and was turned out of his Stewardship for it is founded on the same reason that we are but Stewards of God's Gifts in this World and that God will as certainly call us to an Account for our Stewardship as an earthly Master will 16 Luke 1. The Parable of the Housholder who hired Labourers into his Vineyard and gave them every Man his Peny at night 20 Matth. signifies to us that in this Life we must work in God's Vineyard and finish the Work he has given us to do and that at Evening when this Life ends God will reward us in the next and this we may as certainly and reasonably expect from God as an hired Labourer expects his Wages when he has done his Work The Parable of the King 22 Matth. who made a Marriage for his Son and sent forth his Servants to call them who were bidden to the Wedding but they refused to come and evil entreated his Servants and slew them upon which the King was wroth and sent forth his Armies and destroyed those Murderers and burnt up their City and sent and invited others to the Marriage though it primarily refer to the Destruction of the Iewish Nation for their rejecting their Messias and calling the Gentiles into the Church yet is founded on the same reason that God will punish our Abuse of his Grace and all the Invitations of the Gospel as a gracious but affronted Prince would punish his Subjects in such a case But the Parable of the Wheat and Tares 13 Matth. 24 c. is very observable because it gives an account why God does not destroy all bad Men in this World and yet that he will punish the Wicked and reward the Good in the next World A man sowed good seed in the field and while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares but when the blade sprung up and brought forth fruit then appeared the tares also This our Saviour expounds v. 37 c. He that sowed good seed is the Son of man the field is the world the good seed are the children of the kingdom that is good Christians but the tares are the children of the wicked one that is bad Men. The
enemy that sowed them is the devil as our Saviour tells such Men Ye are of your father the devil and his works ye do The Servants of the Housholder having informed their Master of what had happened ask him Whether they should go and gather up the Tares But he said Nay lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them Let them both grow together till the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers Gather ye together first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn Which he thus expounds The harvest is the end of the world and the reapers are the angels for so our Saviour tells us he must come in the glory of his Father with his Angels who are the Ministers and Executioners of his Justice Aâ— therefore the tares are gathered and burn in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world The Son of man shall send forth his Angels and they shall gather out of hiâ— kingdom all things that offend and theâ— which do iniquity and shall cast them iâ— to a furnace of fire there shall be wailiâ—â— and gnashing of teeth Then shall the righteous shine forth like the Sun in the kingdom of their Father This we must confess was wisely considered by the Housholder not to destroy the Wheat with the Tares but rather suffer them both to grow up together till the Harvest then to pluck up the Wheat before it be ripe together with the Tares and this is as good a reason why God does not destroy all bad Men in this World because good and bad Men are intermixt and all bad Men cannot be destroyed here but good Men must suffer with them as I have already shewed you at large And therefore bad Men cannot be finally punished nor good Men finally rewarded till they are first parted for to root up the Tares here signifies the final Extirpation and Destruction of all bad Men not the casting bad Men out of the Communion of the Church nay not putting Hereticks to Death to which some apply these words which were it reconcileable with the other Laws and with the Genius and Spirit of Christianity as it is not would be as reconcileable with this Parable as the Execution of any other Malefactors is this may be done without destroying the Wheat nay in some cases the Wheat may be preserved by it for the Punishment and Execution of some bad Men is necessary to preserve the Innocent but when the Tares are more than the Wheat grow close together and are intangled in each other as the Interests of good and bad Men are intermixt and interwoven in this World there is great reason to spare the Tares for the sake of the Wheat But the Tares must not expect to escape thus always a wise Housholder in the time of Harvest will order the Reapers to separate between the Tares and the Wheat and then the Tares shall be burnt and the Wheat gathered into the Barn and thus Christ will separate between good and bad Men at the last Judgement and allot them very different Portions All this is very reasonable thus a wise Man will do and therefore this we must expect from the Wife and Just Judge of the World This Parable of the Wheat and Tares which grow together in the same Field represents the mixture of Believers and Infidels the Christian Church and the Men of this World here but the following Parable of the Net v. 47. which was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind represents the mixture of good and bad Men in the Communion of the Christian Church for thus our Saviour tells his Apostles that he would make them Fishers of Men and gave them a Figure of the success of their Ministry in that miraculous Draught of Fishes after they had toiled all the Night and had taken nothing 5 Luke 5.6 which he repeated again after his Resurrection from the Dead 21 Iohn 6 c. So that the Net signifies the Communion of the Christian Church which gathers both good and bad but when this Net is drawn to shore they gather the good into Vessels but cast the bad away that is at the end of the World the Angels shall not only separate between the Church and the World between Believers and Infidels but between good and bad Christians who live together in the same Communion in this World The Angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth Thus we see in these Parables our Saviour does not only prove that God will Judge the World but convinces us of the Necessity and Reasonableness of this by appealing to the common Rules of Prudence and Justice among Men Thus all wife and just Princes and Housholders will do destroy Traitors and Rebels revenge the abuse of their Favours call their Stewards to an account reward the Labour and Improvements of faithful Servants and punish the slothful and unprofitable separate the Wheat and Tares at Harvest though they grow up together in the same Field and separate between the good and bad Fish though caught in the same Net and therefore thus God will do who is not less Wise and Just and Holy than Men are And this gives Authority to all-the Arguments for a Future Judgment drawn from the Reason and Nature of Thingâ— thus our Saviour reasons and thus he has taught us to reason for the fundamental Principle on which all these Parables rest is this That whatever is manifestly just and wise and reasonable for Men to do that God will do If this be not true the Parables of our Saviour have his authority but have no reason though the nature of such Parables is an Appeal to the Reason of Mankind and if this be true then we may argue thus in other cases which are equally plain and obvious and are sounded upon the same Reason which gives a kind of Divine Authority to the plain and necessary Dictates of Reason in this matter and then I 'm sure I have furnished you with Reasons enough already for the Belief of a Future Judgment 3. The whole Christian Religion is founded on and adapted to the Belief of a Future Judgment and is a very unintelligible Institution without it and therefore this must be a first Principle to all who call themselves Christians if they understand the Religion they profess as to shew this particularly 1. The chief Promises and Threatnings of the Gospel relate to the other World Godliness indeed hath the promise of the life that now is as well as that which is to come but the Temporal Promises made to a holy and vertuous Life are such as worldly minded Men cannot much value they extend no farther than Food and Raiment to our daily Bread which is all our Saviour has taught us to