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• Ĝen, iv. 7.

† A&s xvii. 31.

the one appointment as certain as the other. Upon the first remarkable Action after the Fall, a fufficient Intimation is given to angry Cain; if thou doft well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou dost not well, Sin lieth at the door *; which the most antient Jewish Interpreters po fitively 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 Judg ment upon all, &c. His Words might immediately refpect the Waters which were to overflow the World; but their ultimate Intention look'd thro' that Fire which fhall 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 so known, that both their Nunaber and their Plainnefs will excufe 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 ftanding before Him.

and

II. As to the Person who shall 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 hath appointed a day in which He will judge the World, in Righteousness, by that Man whom He hath ordained t. The Father judgeth no Man, but hath committed all Judgment to the Son hath given Him Authority to execute this Judgment, because Joh. v. 22. 27. He is the Son of Man*; that is, because of the Three Per fons which are GOD, He only is Man, and therefore for his Affinity with our Nature, for his Senfe of our Infirmities, for his Appearance to our Eyes, moft fit to reprefent the greatest Mildness and Equity, amidft the Severity of that moft juft 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 Firnefs of this Judge appears in refpect of us, fo does it likewife in refpect of Himfelf: That He fhould be rewarded with the Ho

nour

nour 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 Absolution and Condemnation, who was by us condemn'd 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 ftand before the Tribunal, and receive that Sentence, Let him be crucified; at the fame time declaring this infallible Confequence, and implying this irrefragable Reafon, Hereafter fhall ye fee the Son of Man, fitting on the right hand of Power, and coming in the Clouds of Heaven t. In this Office and Dignity of a † Mat. xxvi. 64. 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 Fisherman, gathering up the good Fish, cafting the bad away; as a Bridegroom, receiving the Wife, excluding the foolish Virgins; as a Mafter, diftinguishing the Servants of his Family, rewarding the Faithful, punishing the Unprofitable; as a Shepherd dividing the Sheep from the Goats: All which bear a manifest resemblance to the great Separation, the laft judicatory Distinction 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 fhall judge the Quick and + 1 Pet. 4.5. the Dead at his appearance And this Phrafe, tho' by 2 Tim.4. I. 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 these laft fhall alfo fuffer a fudden and universal Death, and be immediately reftor'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 laft Day, by St. Paul, one to the Theffalonians, and another to the Corinthians, taken together, utterly exclude fuch a Conceit. W which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, fhall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself fhallTM defcend from Heaven with a fhout, with the Voice of the Arch angel and the Trump of GOD, and the dead in Chrift fhall

&c.

*1.Cor. xv. 51.

rife first, then we which are alive and remain, fhall be caught up together with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the +1 Theff. iv. 15, Air, and fo fhall we be ever with the Lord t. Again: Bebold I fhew you a Mystery, we shall not all fleep, but we shall all be changed. In the former Paffage, thofe 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 those who remain fhall not fleep; as it follows, the Dead fhall be railed incorruptible, and we (which fhall t1 Cor. xv. 52. not fleep,) fhall be changed t: So that their Change fhall be to them as a Refurrection.

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+ Ecclef. xij. 14.

1 Cor. iv. 5.

+ Dan. vii. 10.

Rev. xx. 12.

IV. The manner of the Performance is not so certain to us, as the Reality of the A&t. 'Tis fufficient that we find it represented under the Form of a Judiciary Procefs. In which, Firft, there is defcrib'd a Throne, a Tribunal, a Judgment-Seat: In the Regeneration, the Son of Man shall shall fit on the Throne of his Glory*: Ifaw 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 saw the Dead ftand before the Throne of GOD†: 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 Secret thing t: He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifeft the Counsels of the heart: Thus in the Vifion of Daniel, when the Judgment was fet, the Books were opened: And in that of St. John, the Books were opened, and the Dead were judged out of these things which were written in the Books, according to their Works *. Fourthly, after the manifeftation of all their Actions, there follows a definitive Sentence, according to them; the Sentence of Abfolution, Come ye Blessed, &c. the Sentence of Condemnation, Depart ye Curfed, &c. And, laftly, the execution of this Sentence: Thefe shall go away into Everla fting Punishment; but the Righteous into Life Eternal. In the first of thefe Particulars appears the Majefty of Chrift; in the fecond, the Authority; in the third, the Knowledge and Wifdom; in the fourth, the Juftice and Mercy; in the laft, the Power.

(d) The Belief of a Future Judgment is in the higheft manner neceffary; to prevent the dangerous Doubts

againft

against 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 other ways difpenfed 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 Conscience void of Offence, toward GOD, and toward Man. All external Rules and Pre- Acts xxiv, 16. fcriptions are burthenfom to us, and did we not expect to give an account, we fhould fee little reafon to fatisfie any Defires but our own. Efpecially the Coяimands of GOD are fo preffing and exact, that to fecure our Obedience, it is not only neceffary to believe that an Account fhall be given, but that it shall 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 Gospelt. And what must the Hardness be + Róm. ii. 16. of that impenitent heart, which treajureth up unto it Jelf wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous Judgment of GOD? Were there, indeed, no other * Rom. ii. s. Judge befides our Soul, we fhould be regardlefs of our own Sentence, and unconcern'd at our own Condemnations. But if our Confcience is to be a Witnefs before the Tribunal of GOD, we fhall above all things endeavour that it may witness a good Confeffion. Reafon it 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 should live Joberly, righteously, and godly, in this prefent World, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearance of the great GOD, and our Saviour Jefus Christ †. † Tit in. 11, 12, And this leads us to confider, That the Belief of a Judgment does not more incite us to Duty, than the Belief 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 that Chrift fhall fit upon the Throne, that our Redeemer, our Brother, our merciful and faithful HighPrisf

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13.

Eph.iii. 12.

+ Joh. v. 24.

Priest, our powerful Advocate, and Interceffor, fhall pafs 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 Gofpel; and may reflect not only on the Precepts, but on the Promises 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 unto you, he that heareth my Word, and believeth on Him that fent me, has Eternal Life, and shall not come into Condemnation, but is pals'd from Death unto Lifet.

ARTI

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