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which they ought not to do, though no man can charge them with it, or call them to an account for it.

Now, thefe hopes and fears do argue, if not the firm belief and perfuafion of a future judgment, yet great fufpicions and mifgivings of it in bad men; and in good men, fecret and comfortable apprehenfions concerning it. From whence elfe can it be, that good men, though they find that virue is difcountenanced, and goodness many times fuffers, and is perfecuted in this world, and that the best actions and defigns are often unfuccefsful; whence, I fay, is it that good men, notwithstanding this, bear up and perfift in their course, but because they have this inward apprehenfion and perfuafion, that there will be a time, when virtue and goodnefs will be confidered and rewarded, though not in this world? And whence is it, that bad men, though they profper in their impiety, are yet guilty, and fearful and timorous, but because they stand in awe of a being, greater and more righteous, and more powerful than them. felves; but because they have fome fecret apprehenfions of an invifible judge, and inward prefage of a future vengeance, which fooner or later will overtake them; and because they believe there will be a time when all the wickedness they have done shall be accounted for? Infomuch that when they have done what they can, they cannot fhake off these fears, nor quit themselves of these apprehenfions of divine juftice, threatening and pursuing them for their evil deeds. All which are plain acknowledgments of a natural apprehenfion and perfuafion born with us, and riveted in our minds, concerning a future judgment.

II. This will farther appear from the natural notions which men have of a God, and his providence. This is effential to the notion of a God, that he is good, and holy, and just; and, confequently, that he loves goodnefs, and hates iniquity; and therefore it must be agreeable to his nature, to countenance the one, and to difcountenance the other, in fuch a manner as becomes the wife Sovereign and Governor of the world. Now, this cannot be folemnly and openly done, but by a publick diftribution of rewards and punishments; and this, we fee, is not done in this world. The difpenfations of

God's

God's providence in this world, toward good and bad.
men, are many times very promifcuous, and very cross,
and contrary to what might be expected from the wife
and juft Sovereign of the world, from one whom we be-
lieve to love righteousness, and to hate iniquity. For
virtuous and holy men are often ill treated in this world,
grievously haraffed and afflicted, and that for righteousness
Jake: and bad men many times flourish, and are profper-t
ous, they are not in trouble like other men, neither are they
plagued like other men. And this is a very great objection
against the providence of God; if there were no other
confideration had of virtue and vice, no other kind of
retribution made to good and bad men, but what we see
in this world. And therefore the juftice of the divine
providence feems to require, that there fhould be a day
of recompence, and a folemn and publick diftribution of
rewards and punifhments to the righteous and to the
wicked. For this is plainly a state of trial and probation,'
of patience, and forbearance to finners, and of exercise to
good men; and being a ftate of trial, it is not fo proper a
feafon for the diftribution of publick juftice. But fince
the justice of God doth not appear in this world, it seems
very reasonable to believe, that there will be a time when
it will be made manifeft, and every eye fhall fee it; that
God will one day fully vindicate his righteoufnefs, and
acquit the honour of his juftice, and that there fhall be a
general affize held, when all men fhall have a fair and o-
pen trial, and God will render to every man according to
his works.

Now, the juftice of God's providence is in a great measure hid and covered, but there will come ἀποκαλύψεως (as the Apofile calls the day of judgment, Rom. ii. 5.) A day of the revelation of the righteous judg ment of God; when he will bring forth his righteousness as the light, and his judgment as the noon-day, and every mouth jhall be stopped; and every confcience and heart of man acknowledge the righteous judgment of God."

And, in the mean time, God contents himself to give. fome particular and remarkable, inftances of his rewarding and punishing juftice in this world, which may be to us an earneft of a future and general judgment; he is pleafed fometimes, in the difpenfations of his providence, clearly

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clearly to separate and diftinguish the precious from the vile, remarkably to deliver good men, and to fnare the wicked in the works of their own hands. Sometimes he gives good men fome foretalles of heaven, fome earnest of their future happiness in this life: And, on the other hand, he many times gives finners fome præjudicia divini judicii, fome intimations of a future judgment, and fhadows of that utter darkness, where they are to dwell for ever; he drops down now and then a little of hell into the confcience of a finner. That fire which is kindled in fome mens confciences in this life, that unfpeakable anguish, and those inexplicable horrors, which fome finners have felt in this world, may ferve to give us notice of the extreme feverity of the divine juftice towards impenitent finners: that miraculous deluge that fwept away the old world; thofe ftupendous and terrible fhowers of fire and brimstone, which confumed Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about; that dreadful earthquake which fwallowed up Corah and his company, and let them down, as it were, quick into hell, may ferve for pledges and earnests to us of the difmal punishments and torments of the next world.

But notwithstanding all these particular and remarkable inftances of the divine juftice, yet confidering how unequal and promifcuous the greateft part of God's providences are in this world, it is highly requifite, that there fhould be a general judgment, for a more clear and full manifestation of the juftice and equity of the divine providence.

III. But this will most evidently appear from the clear and exprefs revelation of the holy fcripture. I will not cite texts out of the Old Teftament to this purpose, because these things were but obfcurely revealed to the Jews in comparifon, Life and immortality being brought to light by the gospel. Yet St. Jude tells us, that there was an early revelation of this to the old world, ver. 14. 15. And Enoch alfo the feventh from Adam, prophefied of thefe, faying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his faints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly. But whether this refer to the flood, or the final judgment of the world, is not fo clear and certain; however, this is

moft

most plainly revealed by our blessed Lord and Saviour, in the New Teftament. The procefs of this great day, with feveral of the particular circumftances of it, are fully defcribed by our Saviour, Matth. xxv.; and in the vifion of St. John, Rev. xx. 11. 12. 13.; and the apoftles of our Lord and Saviour do moft frequently declare and inculcate it, Acts xvii. 30. 31. But now commandeth all men every where to repent: 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 afsurance unto all men, in that he bath raifed him from the dead. Rom. ii. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. where, fpeaking of the day of judgment, he calls it, The day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them, who, by patient continuance in welldoing, feek 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 anguifh upon every foul of man that doth evil. 1 Pet. i. 17. And if ye call on the Father, who, without refpect of perfons judgeth according to every man's work. 2 Pet. iii. 10. But the day of the Lord will come, in which the heavens fhall pass away with a great noife, &c.

Thus you fee the truth and certainty of a future judgment confirmed, from the acknowledgments of mens natural hopes and fears, from the natural notions which men have concerning God and his provi dence, and from plain revelation of fcripture.

All that I fhall do farther, at prefent, fhall be to make fome reflections upon what hath been delivered, concerning the certainty of a future general judgment. And,

I. If there be fuch a day certainly a-coming, it may justly be matter of wonder and astonishment to us, to fee the general impiety and ftupidity of men, how, wicked they are, and how careless of their lives and actions, and how infenfible of that great and terrible day of the Lord, which is coming upon all fiefh; and, for any thing we know to the contrary, may be very near us, and even at the door. How fecurely do the great part of men pafs away their time, some in worldly business, others in worldly pleasures and vanity, and a great many

in wickedness and vice? Surely fuch men have no apprehenfions of a future judgment: furely they do not believe that there will be any memorial of their actions in another world, and that they fhall be called to a strict and fevere account for all the actions of this life they do not think that there is a juft and powerful being above them, who now observes every thing that they do, and will one day judge them for; that there is a pen always writing, and making a faithful record of all the paffages of their lives; and that these volumes fhall one day be produced and opened, and men fhall be judged out of the things that are written in them; and all our thoughts, words, and actions, fhall pass under a moft fevere trial and examination.

Or if men do believe thefe things, they ftifle and fupprefs this belief, and detain this great truth of God in unrighteousness; they do not attend to it, and confider it, that it may have its due awe and influence upon their lives. For it is not imaginable, that if men were poffeffed with a firm belief and perfuafion of this great and terrible day of the Lord, they fhould be fo careless and fecure, as we fee they are, and have fo little regard to what they do; that they fhould pafs whole days, and weeks, and years, in the grofs neglect of God and religion, and of their immortal fouls; that they should fpend their days in vanity, and their years in pleafure: that they should live in a continued courfe of impiety and profaneness, of leudnefs, and intemperance, in the curfed habits of fwearing and curfing; which are now grown fo common among us, that a man cannot walk in the street, without having his ears grated with this hellish noife; and that they fhould go on in thefe courfes, without any great regret or difturbance, as if no danger attended them, as if justice were afleep, and all their actions would be buried with them, and never rife up against them.

What can we refolve this into, but either into habitual or actual atheism and infidelity? Either men do not at all believe a judgment to come; or elfe they do not actually confider it, and attend to the natural and proper confequences of fuch a belief. One of thefe two is neceffary. It seems very hard to charge the generality of

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