* Gen. iv. 7.

*Gen. xviii. 25. libly do right *; and yet this Right is not done in temporal Rewards and Punishments; it remains, that He is hereafter to judge the World in Righteousness, and to give a perfect Demonstration of his exact and accomplish'd Justice. And what we infer from his Nature, He has exprefly declar'd and proclaim'd in his Word. It is ap+ Heb. ix. 27. pointed unto Men once to die, but after this the Fudgment † ; the one appointment as certain as the other. Upon the firft remarkable Action after the Fall, a fufficient Intimation is given to angry Cain; if thou doft well, fhalt thou not be accepted? and if thou dost not well, Sin lieth at the door *; which the most antient Jewish Interpreters pofitively refer to his Acceptance, or Condemnation, at the Day of the great Judgment. The Prophesy of Enoch, before alledg'd for the Coming of our Lord, declares likewise the End of his Coming; to execute Fudgment upon all, &c. His Words might immediately refpect the Waters which were to overйow the World; but their ultimate Intention look'd thro' that Fire which shall confume the World preferv'd from Water. The Teftimonies which follow in the Law and the Prophets, the Predictions of Chrift and his Apoftles, are fo many and fo known, that both their Number and their Plainnefs will excuse the Profecution. The Throne has been already feen, the Judge has appeared fitting on it, the Books have been open'd, the Dead, fmall and great, have been beheld standing before Him.

II. As to the Perfon who fhall judge, we must diftinguish between the Original and Supreme Judiciary Power, and the Judiciary Power delegated, and derived, and given by Commiffion: Chrift, as GOD, has the firft, together with the Father and the Holy Ghoft; as Man He has the fecond, from the Father exprefly, from the Holy Ghoft concomitantly. GOD bath appointed a day in which He will judge the World, in Righteousness, by that † Acts xvii. 31. Man whom He hath ordained t The Father judgeth no Man, but hath committed all Judgment to the Son; and bath given Him Authority to execute this Judgment, because "John v. 22,27. He is the Son of Man*; that is, because of the Three Perfons which are GOD, He only is Man, and therefore, for his Affinity with our Nature, for his Sense of our Infirmities, for his Appearance to our Eyes, moft fit to re

prefent

prefent the greatest Mildness and Equity, amidst the Severity of that most just and impartial Judgment. If the Children of Ifrael could not bear the Prefence of GOD as a Law-giver, but defired to receive the Law by the hand of Mofes; how fhould we appear before the Prefence of GOD, judging us for the Breach of his Law, but that we believe our better Mediator fhall come to be our Judge? And, as the Fitnefs of this Judge appears in refpect of us, fo does it likewife in refpect of Himfelf: That He fhould be rewarded with the Honour of judging the World, who humbled himself to come into the World, and to be judged here; that he fhould be invested with full Power of Abfolution and Condemnation, who was by us condemned to die, and died that he might abfolve us; That all the Sons of Men fhould bow before his Throne, who did not difdain for their fake to stand before the Tribunal, and receive that Sentence, Let him be crucified; at the fame time declaring this infallible Confequence, and implying this irrefragable Reason, Hereafter shall ye fee the Son of Man fitting on the right hand of Power, and coming in the Clouds of Heavent. In † Mat. xxvi. 64 this Office and Dignity of a Judge is our Lord reprefented by many figurative Defcriptions and Allufions in the Gofpel. As an Husbandman feparating the Wheat, fometime from the Chaff, fometime from the Tares; as a Filherman gathering up the good Fish, cafting the bad away; as a Bridegroom, receiving the Wife, excluding the foolish Virgins, as a Master, distinguishing the Servants of his Family, rewarding the Faithful, punishing the Unprofitable; as a Shepherd dividing the Sheep from the Goats: All which bear a manifeft refemblance to the great Separation, the last judicatory Diftinction between Man and Man.

III. As to the Object of the Action, or the Perfons who fhall be judged, we are told exprefly, that they are the Quick and the Dead. Chrift was ordained of GOD to

be the Fudge of Quick and Dead *. He is ready to judge Acts x. 42. the Quick and the Dead +: He ball judge the Quick and + 1 Pet. iv. s. the Dead at his appearance*. And this Phrafe, tho' by * 2 Tim. iv. 1, fome applied to the Soul and Body, by others to the Juft, and the Wicked, yet can only be expounded of thofe who fhall have been dead before the Judgment, and those who fhall be found alive at it. That thele last shall alfo fuffer

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fuffer a fudden and univerfal Death, and be immediately restor❜d to Life again, has been fometimes thought, from the common Condition of Mortality, and the Appointment of all Men once to die. But the Defcriptions of the last Day, by St. Paul, one to the Theffalonians, and another to the Corinthians, taken together, utterly exclude fuch a Conceit. We which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself fhall defcend from Heaven with a fhout, with the Voice of the Archangel, and the Trump of GOD, and the dead in Chrift shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air, and fo fhall we be +1 Theff. iv. 15 ever with the Lord+. Again: Behold I fbew you a Myftery, we shall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed. In the former Paffage, those which remain alive at the Coming of Chrift are oppos'd to those which are afleep: In the latter, the Oppofition appears to be, that thofe who remain fhall not fleep; as it follows, the Dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (which fhall not fleep,) ball be +1 Cor. xv. 52. changed: So that their Change shall be to them as a Refurrection.

I

&c.

1 Cor. xv. 51.

*Mat.xix. 28.

† Rev. xx. 11.

* 2 Cor. v. 10. † Rev. xx. 12.

* Mat. xxv. 3.

+Ecclef. xii. 14.

* 1 Cor. iv. 5.

† Dan. vii. 10.

IV. The manner of the Performance is not so certain to us, as the Reality of the Act. "Tis fufficient that we find it reprefented under the Form of a Judiciary Procefs. In which, First, there is defcrib'd a Throne, a Tribunal, a Judgment-Seat: In the Regeneration, the Son of Man (ball fit on the Throne of his Glory *: I faw a great white Throne, and him that fat on it, from whofe face the Earth and the Heaven fled away t. Secondly, there is to be a perfonal Appearance of all Men before this Throne, or Seat of Judicature: We must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Chrift *: I faw the Dead ftand before the Throne of Godt: All Nations fhall be gathered before Him*, &c. Thirdly, at this Univerfal Appearance, all Secrets fhall be open'd, all Actions reveal'd: GOD will bring every work into Judgment, and every fecret thing t: He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifeft the Counfels of the heart*: Thus in the Vifion of Daniel, when the Fudgment was fet, the Books were opened: And in that of St. John, the Books were opened, and the Dead were judged out of those things

which were in the Books, according to their Works t. † Rev. xx. 12. Fourthly, after the manifestation of all their Actions, there follows a definitive Sentence, according to them; the Sentence of Abfolution, Come ye Bleffed, &c. the Sentence of Condemnation, Depart ye curfed, &c. And, laftly, the execution of this Sentence: Thefe fhall go away into Everlasting Punishment: but the Righteous into Life Eternal. In the first of these Particulars appears the Majefty of Chrift; in the fecond, the Authority; in the third, the Knowledge and Wisdom; in the fourth, the Justice and Mercy; in the laft, the Power.

(d) The Belief of a Future Judgment is in the highest manner neceffary; to prevent the dangerous Doubts a gainst the Providence of GOD, that old Rock of Offence, upon which fo many Souls have fuffered Shipwrack. The confpicuous Profperity of the Wicked, and apparent Miseries of the Righteous, the frequent Perfecutions of Virtue, and eminent Rewards of Vice, are not easily to be accounted for, except there be a Life to come after that Death which we daily fee, and except in that Life Rewards and Punishments be otherways dispensed than they are here. Again, we fhould, with St. Paul, exercife our felves in the Belief of a Judgment to come, that we may keep a Confcience void of Offence, toward GOD, and toward Man *. All external Rules and ❤ Acts xxiv. 16. Prescriptions are burthenfom to us, and did we not expect to give an account, we should see little reason to satisfie any Defires but our own. Efpecially the Com. mands of GOD are so preffing and exact, that to secure our Obedience, it is not only necessary to believe that an Account shall be given, but that it fhall be given according to the Rule of GOD's revealed Will; that GOD fhall judge the Secrets of Men, by Jefus Chrift, according to the Gospel t. And what must the Hardness be † Rom. ii. 16. of that impenitent heart, which treasureth up unto it felf wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righ

teous Fudgment of GOD*? Were there, indeed, no other • Rom. ii. 5. Judge befides our Soul, we fhould be regardless of our own Sentence, and unconcern'd at our own Condemnations. But if our Confcience is to be a Witness before the Tribunal of GOD, we shall above all things endeayour that it may witness a good Confeffion. Reason it

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felf

13.

felf will tell us this in general; but more particularly and exprefly, the Grace of GOD that bringeth Salvation, teacheth us, that denying Ungodliness and worldly Lufts, we fhould live foberly, righteously, and godly, in this prefent World, looking for that bleffed hope, and the glorious appeaTit. ii. 11, 12, rance of the great GOD, and our Saviour Fefus Chrift t And this leads us to confider, That the Belief of a Judgment does not more incite us to Duty, than the Beliet that Chrift fhall be our Judge augments our Hope, and enfures our Comfort. As we all have finn'd, and every Sin deferves the Sentence of Death, fo the best Actions bear no proportion to an Eternal Weight of Glory: And therefore if we look on the Judgment, in it felf, there is not one of us can expect Life at that Tribunal, or endlefs Happiness at the laft Day. But when we believe

*Eph. iii. 12.

John v. 24.

that Chrift fhall fit upon the Throne, that our Redeemer, our Brother, our merciful and faithful High-Prieft, our powerful Advocate, and Interceffor, thall pass our Sentence, we may then expect to receive it, not according to the Rigour and Severity of the Law, but according to the Mildness and Mercies of the Gospel; and may reflect not only on the Precepts, but on the Promifes of GOD. Well may we have Boldness and accefs with Confidence by the faith of Him *, who will not by his Word at the laft Day condemn us, because He has already, in the fame Word, abfolv'd us, faying, Verily, verily, I fay unbe that beareth my Word, and believeth on Him that fent me, has Eternal Life, and shall not come into Cordennation, but is pass'd from Death unto Life †.

to you,