fo indeed it might have proved, if not to them, yet to those who follow; who obferving their Mistake about the Day of Judgment confuted, as all fuch Miftakes are, by the Event, might have concluded, that the whole was a Mistake, and that there fhould be no Day of Judgment, because it did not come when it was expected; and therefore the Apoftle thought fit to warn them against it: Now we beseech you, Brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not foon fhaken in Mind, or be troubled, neither by Spirit, nor by Word, nor by Letter, as from us, as that the day of Chrift is at hand, 2 Theff. 2. 1, 2.

And to fatisfy them in this, he does not undertake to tell them when the Day of Judgment fhall be, for that he did not know; but only tells them, That there must come a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition, who oppofeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God. And this Man of Sin not being then revealed, it was plain, that the Day of Judgment could not fo fuddenly come as they expected: And now we find by Story, that it was fome Ages after this, before the Man of Sin was revealed.

After this, St. John wrote his Book of the Revelations; and did we thoroughly' understand that, though we fhould not certainly know the precife time of Judgment, yet we should know how many things are ftill to be done before the Day of Judgment; for that con

tains an entire Prophecy of the Chriftian Church, from the beginning of it to the end of the World. And though I will not pretend to understand those Myfteries, especially what is there called the Thousand Years Reign of Chrift upon the Earth, which, whatever it fignifies, feems to be before the end of the World, and the final Judgment; yet we certainly learn from thence, that the Man of Sin muft be deftroyed before the laft Judgment; and if this be the Popish Hierarchy, as I doubt not but it is, it is plain this is not done yet; and I wish his final Overthrow be fo near as fome Learned Men think it is.

But I think there is another Prophecy of St. Paul himself, which has not been accomplished yet, which muft receive its Accomplishment before the Day of Judgment; and we fee no profpect of its prefent Accomplishment, I mean the Converfion of the Jews, and the Re-union of them to the Chriftian Church.

This we have an account of in 11. Rom. which, whatever fome learned Men imagine, I can by no means think has received its juft Accomplishment by those few Jews which were converted by the Preaching of the Apoftles, and the Destruction of Jerusalem; for Verse 15. he tells us, If the cafting away of the Jews is the reconciling of the World, (that is, if the Gospel was Preached to the Gentiles upon the obftinate Infidelity of the Jews) What shall the reconciling of them be, but Life from the Dead? That is, the Converfion of the Jews fhall be a new Life to the Gentile World, a new Refurrection of Christianity

among

among us. But was ever any fuch thing done yet? In Ver. 25, 26. he tells them, For I would not, brethren, that ye fhould be ignorant of this myftery, (lest ye fhould be wife in your own conceits) that blindness in part is happened to Ifrael, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And So all Ifrael Shall be faved: As it is written, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Now has any fuch thing yet been done? has all Ifrael, or the generality of the Jews been converted to Chriftianity? and yet the Apostle affures us, this must be done by virtue of God's Covenant with Abraham. As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your fake; (God fo ordered it, that by their Infidelity the Gofpel fhould be preached to the Gentile World) yet as touching the election, they are be loved for the father's fake: As the Pofterity of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, whom God chofe as his peculiar People. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. God will never wholly reject the Pofterity of Abraham, whom he hath chofe for his People, but will ftill eftablifh his Covenant with them: And that God has now rejected them for their Infidelity, is no argument that he will never own them again; for fo he had rejected the Gentiles for their Unbelief, but now he has received them into his Church, upon their Faith in Chrift; and thus he will again graft the Jews into his Church, if they abide not ftill in their unbelief, ver. 30, 31. which the Apostle prophefies they fhalf not, For as ye in times past have

not

not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy thro their unbelief: even fo have these also now not believ'd, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. Now fuch a Conversion as this of the Jews, I think, has not been yet, and therefore must be expected before the Day of Judgment, and the end of the world, which fhews that the end of the world will not be yet; and how long it may be deferred, we cannot tell.

II. How long foever the end of the world, and the Day of Judgment be delayed, yet we have great reafon immediately to prepare for it; for indeed this Life is the only time we have to prepare for it, Death puts an end to our Account for Eternity; for we fhall be judged according to what we have done in the Body, whether it be good or bad; and the Final Sentence fhall pafs. on us according to that state which Death finds us in; which feems to be the reason why our Saviour warns us always to be upon our watch, as not knowing at what hour our Lord will come; for whatever the intermediate State be, how long foever it be between Death and Judgment, yet our Account is the fame, and to be furprized by Death before we are provided for it, is the fame thing as to be furprized by Judgment: 24. Matth. 42, 43, 44. Watch therefore, for ye know not at what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have fuffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye alfo ready for in such an hour

as you

think

think not, the Son of man cometh. Which if it concern all Chriftians, muft relate to the hour of Death, as well as to the day of Judgment.

And therefore flatter not your felves, that Judgment is a great way off, when you know not how near Death is, which will finish your Account. The State of bad Men is very miserable, as you have already heard, as foon as they go out of these Bodies, and they are referved for the terrible Judgment of the great Day; and though the Day of Judgment is not yet, is it not a terri ble thing to be certainly referved for it? Which how long foever it be delayed,has an Eternity to follow.

III. But if the near approach of the end of the World, and the Day of Judgment be confiderable, it is certain that is not far off neither; the World has continued now fome thousand Years, and if the time of Christ and his Apostles were the laft Days, after Sixteen hundred Years we must be pretty near the end of the laft Days: We have a nearer prospect of Eternity, than those had who lived fome thousand Years ago, at leaft if they had known how long this World would have continued; but tho' they might not think it would have continued fo long, we know now, that it cannot continue fo much longer: there are fome Prophefies to be accomplished ftill, but how foon they may be accomplished, we know not no Man queftions but that the World now grows to an end, and therefore it is time for every Man to think of Eternity.