Manton - BX8915 M26 1684 v1

152 SF,R.MONS upon the SERM.X1X' Secondly, His Royal Attendance : And all the holy Angels with him : Chryfcftom fàith, ! -The whole Court of Heaven removeth with him ; lurely there are many of them, Jude t4. The Lord cometh with ten thou/and of his Saints to execute fudlmrnt on a, to convince all that are ungodly : 'Tis likely there Angels will put on fume vifible Ihape, for the greater Glory and Majef }y c Chrifts appearing : For as lie will appear in a Body upon his glorious Throne, fò will his Legions round about him ; whole Order, Power and formidable Holls, mutt force way or other be Peen of the wic- ked, for their greater terrour : Their attendance upon Chrifl, féemeth to be for titele Realous. {r.) Partly for Train, to make his Appearance the more full of Majelty : We find Angels waiting upon Chrilt at his Afcenfion, and lb at his return to Judg_ ment : Publick Minifters of Juftice are made formidable by their attendance, and Chrit} will come as a Royal King in the midi of his Nobles. And, (a.) Partly that by their lbhmflry, the work of the .day may be the more fpeedi- ly and powerfully difpatched : They are to gather the Elea from the four winds, Math. 24. 31. The Angels that carried their Souls to Heaven, .fhall be imployed in bringing their bodies out of the Graves, Luk. 16. 22. Carried 6y Angels into Abrahams bofòm : They are fti11 ferviceable about the Saints, this is the laft O,ñee they perform to them ; they are as it were under Chrif }, Guardians of their Bones and Duff : Now to the wicked, they are to bind the Tares in bundles, Math. 13. 41. that they may be burnt in the fire : They force and prefent wicked men be- fore the Judge, be they never .fo obftinare ; they are witneffes, they attend upon Congregations, t Cor. t I. t o. In Allemblies there is more Company meets than is vifible, Devils and Angels meet there ; the Devils to divert your minds as loon as they begin to be ferious, to catch the good word out of your Heart : and An- gels oblerving you ; here fhould be no indecency ; fo in your ordinary Conver- lations, they are converfant about you : and then for Execution, no footle'. is Sen- tence pronounced but executed : As Hampn's face was covered, and he led away to Execution as loon as the King had but laid the word. Thus the Scripture in a condelcention to our Capacity, reprelenteth to us the Miniftry- of .Angels in that great and terrible day i We can better underhand the Operations of An- gels than of God himlelf, they being nearer to us in Being, and of an Elfence finite and limited, their.ac}s are more compréhenfible. .(3.) There may be a third Reafon imagined why the Angels fhould come to this Judgment, which will give us an occafion for handling a Qeltion, Whether they fhall be judged yea or no? I anfwer : For the good Angelo, I think not. For the bad, the Scripture is ex- preis and plain. t. For the good Angels, 'cis clear by what bath been fold already, that they (hall be pretent at this aaion, not to be judged, but to bring others to Judgment ; as Officers, not as Parties. I fuppole this, if men had continued in their Inno- cency, and Integrity of their Creation, fuch a day of univerfal Judgment had been needlefs, for then there had been none to be Condemned, becaufè none had finned ; the Covenant of God would have been enough to have fecured their Happinefs: fò the good Angels continuing in that hate wherein they were Created, there is nothing doubtful about them, that needeth any judiciary Debate and difcuffion : and being already confirmed in the full fruition of God and Happinefs, as to their whole nature, their eftáte is not to be put to any tryal : whereas good men, though their Souls be in Heaven, yet their Bodies are not admitted there, tome part of thèm as yet lyeth under the effe&s of fin, and their glorification is private, and Gods goodnefs as yet path not been manifefted to them iu the eyes of all the world, nor their uprightnefs fufficiently vindicated ; therefore a Judgment need. eth for them, but not for the ,Angels, who were never as yet cenlured and tradu- ced in the world and they in their whole nature and perron enjoy molt abfolute felicity in Gods heavenly San[uary : No fuels great change will happen to them after the Judgment, as l appeneth to the Saints when their whole perfons are ta- ken into glory. 'Tis true, they have a Charge and Miniltry about the Saints, Hub. t. 14. But of that Minif}ry and .Charge they give an account daily in the fight of God, to whom they do approve themfelves in it : So that there is no canfè for further inquifition concerning that thing, there being no neceíl'iry of Judgment concerning them ; I think they (hall not be Judged. 2. For

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