to full view. The defign of the judicial inquiry will not be to inform the omnifcient Judge, but to convince all worlds of the juftice of his proceedings; and this defign renders it neceffary that all these things fhould be laid open to their fight, that they may fee the grounds upon which he paffes fentence. And may not the profpect of fuch a difcovery fill fome of you with horror? for many of your actions, and efpecially of your thoughts, will not bear the light. How would it confound you, if they were now all published, even in the fmall circle of your acquaintance? How then can you bear to have them all fully expofed before God, angels, and men! Will it not confound you with fhame, and make you objects of everlasting contempt to all worlds? by These are the facts to be tried. But by what rule fhall they be tried? From the goodness and juftice of God we may conclude that men will be judged fome rule known to them, or which at leaft it was in their power to know. Now the light of reafon, the law of nature, or confcience, is an univerfal rule, and univerfally known, or at least knowable by all the fons of men, Heathens and Mahometans as well as Jews and Chriftians: and therefore all mankind fhall be judged by this rule. This the confciences of all now forebode; for when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, thefe, not having the law, are a law unto themfelves, which fhew the works of the law written in their hearts, their confcience alfo bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accufing or elfe excufing one another. Rom. ii. 14, 15. By this rule their confciences now acquit or condemn them, because they know that by this rule they fhall then be judged: this feems to be a kind of innate prefentment of human nature. the heathens were invincibly ignorant of every rule but this, they fhall be judged by this only. But as to thofe parts of the world that enjoyed or might enjoy the advantages of revelation, whether by tradition As with the Ante-Mofaic world, or in the writings of Mofes and the prophets with the Jews, or in the clearer difpenfation of the gofpel with the chriftian world, they shall be judged by this revealed law. And by how much the more perfect the rule, by fo much the ftricter will their account be. That which would be an excufable infirmity in an African or an American Indian, may be an aggravated crime in us who enjoy fuch fuperior advantages. This is evident from the repeated declarations of facred writ. As many as have finned without the law, (that is, without the written or revealed law) fhall also perish without the law; and as many as have finned in the law fhall be judged by the law, in the day when God fhall judge the fecrets of men according to my gofpel. Rom. ii. 12, 16. If I had not come and spoken unto them, fays the bleffed Jefus, they would not have had fin; that is, they would not have had fin fo aggravated, or they would not have had the particular fin of unbelief in rejecting the Meffiah: but now they have no cloak for their fin, John xv. 22. that is, now when they have had fuch abundant conviction, they are utterly inexcufable. This, fays he, is the condemnation; that is, this is the occafion of the most aggravated condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. John iii. 19. That fervant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himfelf, neither did according to his will, fhall be beaten with many ftripes; but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of Stripes (obferve, ignorance is no fufficient excufe, except when invincible) fhall be beaten with few fripes; for unto whomsoever much is given, of him fhall be much required. Luke xii. 47, 48. Upon these maxims of eternal righteoufnefs, the Judge will proceed in pronouncing the doom of the world; and it was upon thefe principles he declared, in the days of his fleih, that it should be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah, for Tyre and Sidon, than for thofe places that enjoyed the advantages of his ministry, and mifimproved it. Matt. xi. 21, 24. Whether upon these principles finners among us have not reason to expect they will obtain an horrid precedence among the millions of finners in that day, I leave you to judge, and to tremble at the thought. There is another representation of this proceeding which we often meet with in the facred writings, in allufion to the forms of proceedings in human courts. In courts of law law-books are referred to, opened, and read for the direction of the judges, and fentence is paffed according to them. In allufion to this cuftom, Daniel, in vifion, faw the judgment fet, and the books were opened. Dan. vii. 10. And St. John had the fame representation made to him: Ifaw the dead, fays he, fmall and great, ftand 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 the things which were written in the books, according to their works. Rev. xx. 12. Should we pursue this fignificant allufion, we may fay, then will be opened the book of the law of nature; and mankind will be tried according to its precepts, and doomed according to its fentence.This is a plain and vaft volume, open and legible now to all that can read their own hearts; that have eyes to look round upon the works of God, which fhew his glory and their duty; and who have ears to hear the lectures which the fun and moon, and all the works of creation, read to them night and day. Then too will be opened the book of fcripture-revelation, in all its parts, both the law of Mofes and the gofpel of Chrift; and according to it will those be judged who lived under one or other of these difpenfations. Then it will appear that that neglected, old-fashioned book called the Bible, is not a romance, or a fyftem of trifling truths, but the ftandard of life and death to all who had access to it. Then will alfo be opened the book of God's remembrance. In that are recorded all the thoughts, words, actions, both good good and bad, of all the fons of men; and now the immense account shall be publickly read before the affembled univerfe. Then likewife as a counterpart to this will be opened the book of confcience; confcience which, though unnoticed, writes our whole history as with an iron pen, and the point of a diamond. Then alfo, we are exprefsly told, will be opened the book of life, Rev. XX. 12. in which are contained all the names of all the heirs of Heaven. This feems to be an allufion to those registers which are kept in cities or corporations, of the names of all the citizens or members who have a right to all the privileges of the fociety. And I know not what we can understand by it fo properly as the perfect knowledge which the omnifcient God has, and always had from eternity, of thofe on whom he purposed to beftow eternal life, and whom he has from eternity, as it were, registered as members of the general affembly and church of the first born, who are written in heaven, or as denizens of that bleffed city. These, having been all prepared by his grace in time, fhall be admitted into the New Jerufalem in that day of the Lord. Farther, the reprefentation which the fcripture gives us of the proceedings of that day leads us to conceive * O treacherous Conscience! while fhe feems to fleep While fhe feems, nodding o'er her charge, to drop And give us up to licence unrecall'd, Unmark'd-as from behind her fecret ftand The fly informer minutes ev'ry fault, Writes our whole history; which Death fhall read And Judgment publifh, publifh to more worlds YOUNG. conceive of witneffes being produced to prove the facts. The omnifcient judge will be a witness against the guilty. I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a fwift witness against the forcerers, and against the fwearers, and against the adulterers, and against thofe that opprefs, and against thofe that fear not me, faith the Lord of Hofts. Mal. iii. 5. And he will no doubt be a witnefs for his people, and atteft their fincere piety, their intereft in Chrift, and thofe good difpofitions or actions which were known only to him. Angels alfo, that miniftered to the heirs of falvation, and no doubt infpected the affairs of mankind, will be witneffes. Devils too who once tempted, will now become accufers. Confcience within will also be a witness? it fhall acquit the righteous of many unjuft imputations, and atteft the fincerity of their hearts and their many good actions. But, O! it will be the moft terrible witness against the ungodly!— They will be witneffes against themselves (Jofh. xxiv. 22.) and this will render them self-tormentors. Confcience will re-echo to the voice of the Judge, and cry Guilty, guilty, to all his accufations. And who can make the wicked happy when they torment themfelves? Who can acquit them when they are selfcondemned? Confcience, whofe evidence is now fo often fuppreffed, will then have full scope, and fhall be regarded. Whom confcience condemns, the righteous Judge will also condemn : for if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things, 1 John iii. 20. knoweth many more grounds for condemning us than we, and therefore much more will he condemn us. In fhort, fo full will be evidence against the finner, that the fcripture, which is full of ftriking imagery to affect human nature, gives life to inanimated things upon this occafion, and represents them as fpeaking. Stones and duft fhall witness against the ungodly. The duft under the feet of their minifters fhall witness against them. Matt.x. 14. The stone fhallery out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall anfwer |