Ver. 34. xxvth. Chapter of St. MATTHEW. 167 (4.) For the Wicked ; that they may underftand, and be affeaed with their Lofs, and fo be made more fenfible of their own Folly. Chr/ will, in their fight, put Glo- ry and Honour upon his good Servants, that they may have a flinging and vexatious Senfe of that Happinefs which they have forfaken. Whether it be for this, or that Reafòn, let us the better bear it here. When Judgment beginneth at the Houfe of God,. as it often doth, I Pet. 4. 17. there Abfolution beginneth¡ at the Houfe of God : And if upon us God firft Phew his difpleafirre againft Sin, 'tis for the bettéring of the Saints, and reforming the World. Ftrft Chrifl will take in hand our Ablolu- tion tfnd Coronation, before he paffeth Sentence againft the Wicked. Secondly, The next thing obfervable, is, the Title given to Chrifi : [ Then ¡hall the King fay.] Chrilï firft calleth himfelf, The Son of Man, Verf. 3i. becaufe in Humane Nature he adminiftreth this Judgment : Afterward lets forth himfelf by the Noti- on Of a Shepherd, Verf. 32. becaufe of his Office and Charge about the Flock ; and then to fhew it in the exalt Difcrimination he (hall make between Cattel and Cat- tel. But now the Notion is varied ; The King Thal fay : Partly becaufe it belongeth to his Kingly Office, to pats Sentence, and prefer his faithful Subjeas to Dignity and Honour ; as allo, to punifh the,Difobedient : Partly becaufe in that Day he £hall difcover himfelf in all his Royal Magnificence, and call the Godly to him ; and folemnly put them in poffeflion of the promifed Glory. The King fhall Crown and Abfolve us : It (hall be . a Tribunal AEl ; and therefore valid, and authentick. When the Redeemer of the World, as King, (hall then fit in Judgment in all hisRoy- alty, he (hall then put this Honour upon the Saints. 'Thirdly, The next thing is, I. The Compellation ufed, [ Come ye blef ed of my Father. ] ( r.) Obferve in the general, 'tis a Friendly Compellation, uled to fuch as were thought to be in favour, with Grid : Witnefs Laban's Words to Abraham's Servant; Gen. 24. 31. Come in Chou Bleffed of the Lord. And 7udg. 17. 2. Bleffed bé thou of the Lord. Thole that were counted dear, and beloved of the Lord, were thus treated, and fpoken to : And becaufe of the high Favour vouchfafed to the Virgin Mary, in be- ing the Mother of the Son of God, 'tis Paid, All Generations ¡ball call thee Bleffed, Luk. 1. 28. 42. 48. But what an Honour is this, when Chrifl fhall pronounce us to be fo with his own Mouth; Come ye Bleffed of my Father ! (z.) More particularly, two Terms mull be explained : 1. Bleffed. z. Of my Father. Firft, Bleffed. his Term is, (a.) Oppoled to the Worlds judgment of them: The World defpifeth them, and counteth them execrable, vile and curled. Therefore, 'tis laid, Matth. 5.44. Biefs them that curie you ; and Matth. 5. 11. Bleffed are ye, when Men ¡hall fay all manner of Evil of you far my Names fake. He is bleffed, whom Chrifl bleffeth : The World rails at us as curled Mifcreants, unfit to live in Humane Societies. The World faith, Abite Malediiii, Away ye Curled ; 'tis not fit for fuch an one to live : But Chrilt faith, Venite Benedidli, Come ye Bleffed. We fhould let one againft the other. The leaft thing intended in this Compellation, is an Ab falution from the Reproaches of the World, and their Cenfures ; whether ralhly vented, or pronounced under a colour of Law, and Church - Power. They are not fo ready to curie and fulminate dreadful Cen- fures on the true Worfhippers of Chri/l, as he is to acquit and abfolve them. Their Redeemer in Judgment will call them Blefred, and publifh to theWorld, that all the Cenfures of wicked Men were prepofterous, and perverfe. (a.) The Term is oppofed to the Sentence of the Law. TheWorlds Obloquy is the lets to be flood upon, as being the Produa of Wrath, Bitternefs and Hatred. But the- Law of God, that containeth in it the higheft Reafon in the World, pronounceth . them accurfed : Gal. 3. t o. Curfed is every one that eontinueth not in all that is writ- ten in the Law, to do them. And to this Sentence we were once fubjea,' and were fo to look upon our (elves, Ephef. z.;: Whatever we were in the Purpofe of God, our Duty is to look upon what we are in the Sentence of the Law of God ; and fo we were all of us condemned to a Curie : And the Wicked that neverchanged Co- py and Tenure, lie Hill under that Curie ; as Chri/t himfelf iheweth in his Sentence on them, Verf. 41. Depart ye Curfed. The Curie of the Law taketh them by the Throat,
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