8o S E R 0 N S upon the Serin: XIII. juftice ofGod towards the wicked,is not enough nianifefted, therefore there is a day when hisJudgment (hall be brought to light, and his different refped to good and bad made more Confpicuous. 2. From the providence of God. There are many Judgments which are pledges of the general Judgment,that at length God will Judge the whole world for fin :As .the drowning o f the Old Worid,the burning of Sadom,the deftrudion of Jerufalem ;theft are as a warn- ing to all, for'sis faid, Jude 7. thefe are fet forth as a warning to all that fl.-ould live un- godly. God is the fame fä11, Gal. 3. zo. God is one ; that is, in one mind of punifhing the' wicked, without variation and change ; he hateth the fuss of one, as well as ofano. the/. : If he would not put up the iniquities of the Old World, he will not put up the iniquities of theNew ; if he punifhed the iniquities of Sodom, lie will pundls the iniqui- ties of others who finned in like manner. God is not grown more indulgent to fin elssn he Was before ; though it be not now, there will be a time when he will call them to a reckoning. In every Age he keepeth a petty Seflions, but then will be the general AfIizes. When man firit finned, God did not immediately execute the Sentence of his Law upon him, but giveth him time of Repentance till he dicth : As he giveth every man time and )Pace, fo he giveth all the World ; for he would not have all the World to be born at once, and die at once, but to live in feveral fuccetfions of Ages, from Fa- ther to Son thrghout divers generations, till we come to that Period which his Pro- vidence hath fixed. Now, as he reckoneth with every man particularly at his death, fo with all the World at the end of time. Particular Judgments fhew that God is not afleep, or unmindful of humane Affairs, but the general Judgment is deferred till then. 3. From the Feelings of Confcience. After fin men are troubled, though there be none about them in the World to call them to an account, or though the fact be done fo fe- cretly, that it is not liable to an humaneTribunal. Nature is fenfible that there is an higher Judgment, that Divine Juftice muff have a folemn Triumph ; Confcienceis afraid of it. Heathens are fenfible offuch a thing, Rom. 1. 3a. Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit fact) things are worthy of death. Feelix trembled at the mention of it, which fheweth there is an eafie reception of fuch a Truth, Ails 24.25 There is an hidden fear in the Confciences of all men, which is föon revived and awaken- ed by the Thoughts of this Truth, Every guilty perfon is more or lets held in the Chains of darknefs, which fheweth how eafily, this Truth can inunuate it felf into a ra. tional Mind. 2. FaithJbeweth that it (hall be: The light of Faith is more certain,' and more di- flinil. 'Tis more certain; for itbuildeth upon a Divine Teftimony, which is more in- fallible than the ghefres of Reafon. A nd "cis more deJiinl1; for Nature could never find out the circumftances of that day; as by whom this Judgment !hall be managed, and in what manner, that God bath appointed one Man by whom he will judg the World in Righteoufnefs, that he thall come in the glory of his 'Father, and all the holy Angels with him. Faith concludeth this certainty, s. From that Revelation which God bath made in his Word, Matth, 13. 49, 5o. So Thall it be at the end of the World, the Angels !ball come forth, and fever the wicked from among the jufl, and ,Jb°aScull them into, he Furnace of Fire, thereLisa/ be weeping and gnaJhing of Tee b. Joh. 5; z8, 29. The hour is corning, in the which all that are in their graves ¡ball hear his voice, and ¡hall come forth; they that have done good unto the re- fúrreilion of life, and they that have done evil unto the refurretlion of damnation, Heb. 9. 27. And it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment, Rom.; 4.12. So then, every one of us (hall give an account of himfelf to God. Mattis. 1 z. 36, 37. But I fry unto you, that every idle word that men ¡hall [peak, they ¡ball give account thereof in the day of Judgment. For by thy words thou 'halt be jufliffed, and by thy words thou ¡halt be condemned. Rev, 20,12. And Ifaw the dead, fmall and great, flan/ 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 chafe things which were written in the Books, 'according to their works. And in many other places ; for this being a necefrary Truth, is more plenti- fully revealed than others'of lefrer importance. This was the great Promife ever kept afoot in the Church. Scoffers took notice of it, faying, Where is the Promife of his coming? The Apoftle Jude intimateth the Ancient Promife of it, jade v.e4. AndEnoch alto the feventh Son from Adam prophefied of theft things faying, Behold the Lord cometh with ten thoufands of his Saints. And it hath been revived in all Ages; by Mofes, and David, and Daniel, and Joel, Zecbary and Malachi, and more clearly by Cbrifi himfelf, and
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