Serm. CXXVII. Men lrill be accountable. 159 and by thy Words thou 'halt be condemned. And therefore Men mutt not think, that all their lewd and filthy Talk, all their rath Oaths and Imprecations,' all their atheiftical Difcourfe, and profane Jells upon Religion and the Holy Scriptures, all their Calumnies and Slanders of good Men, all their officious Lies to ferve a prefent Turn and Occafion, will pats for nothing at the Judgment of the Great bay. No the judge himfelf bath exprefiy told us, that of all InchWords Mete (hall give an Account in the Day of Judgment. And St. pude tells us, out of att ancient Prophecy of Enolh, that the Lord (hall come with Ten thoujands of his Saints, to execute fudgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly,' not only of all their ungodly Deeds which they have ungodly committed, but likewife of all their hard Speeches which ungodly Sinners havefpoken againji him. Our moll fecret Thoughts and A&ions alfo, as well as our open and publick Deeds, (hall then be brought upon the Stage, Ecclef 12. 14. For Godwill bring every Work into Judgment, with every fecret Thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Rom. 2. 16. In the Day when God (halljudge the Secrets of Men by yefm Chrijl according to my Gofpel. And this likewife is the Meaningof that prover- bial Speech fo often ufed by our Saviour, There is nothing covered that fhall not be revealed 5 neither hid, that (.hall not be known. There is nothing fo fecret, which flìall not be difclofed and made manifeft in that great Day of Revelation, and be laid open in the Face of the wholeWorld; efpecially the Cunning, Diffmu- lation, and Hypocrify of Men with God and Men. Men are apt to think them- felves fafe enough, if they canbutefcape the Eye ofMen, and committheir Sins fecretly, and in the Dark. But this is either dire& Atheifm, or downright Folly ; becaufe the Eye of God is continually upon us, and the Darknefs hideth not from him, but the Night fhineth as the Day, the Darknefi and the Light are both alike to him. And if we be always under the Infpe&ion of our Judge, if all that we think, and fay, and do, be open and naked to the Eye of him, e+eic av F to Troy0-, towhom we muff give an Account, what will it profit us to diffemblebefore Men, and to conceal any ofour Mtions from them ? Nay, if we could hide them from our felves (as we cannot our wilful and deliberate Sins) yet that would be of no Advantage to us, becaufeGod is greaterthan ourHearts, andknows all hings. And then likewife, we mutt be accountable to God for all the Negle&s and Omiffions of our Duty, as well as for the pofitive Commiffion of Sin, and that in Proportion to the Advantages and Opportunities we have had of doing more and greater Good. Soour Saviour tells us, that uxto whonrfoever much is given, of hint muchfhall be required, Luke t2. 48. Many are apt to think, that ifthey do but abstain from notorious and fcandalous Vices, if they do no Body harm, tho' they do not ferve God fo fervently and constantly as others do, though they feldom think of him and pray to him, though they have no Manner of Activityor Concernment to do Good, either to the Bodies or Souls of Men, yet that this negative Virtue will ferve their Turn at the Day of Judgment. But the Matter is quite otberwife, as our Saviour hath molt exprefly declared. Agood Tree, faith he, will bring forth good Fruit. And by the Parable of the foolUh Vir- gins, who for want of Oil in their Lamps were flint oueof the Kingdom of God, he declares to us the dangerous. State of thofe who Jlumber away their Lives in a drowfie Inactivity, and are not careful either to keep alive Grace in their Hearts, or to thew forth the Light of good Works intheir Converfation. And in the Parable of the Talents, Matth. 25. he paffeth a molt revere Sentence upon that flothful Servant, whohid his Lord's Talent in a Napkin, and buried it in the Earth,wíthout making any Mannerof Improvement of it ver. COye the un- profitable Servant into outer Darknefr, therefhall be weeping and gnafhing of Teeth. And in the fame Chapter, where our Saviour reprefents to us the Proceedings of the Great Day, the Charge there drawn up agatnft them, confifts of Sins of Omif liion, and grofs Neglects to do the Good which they had the Ability andOp- portunity to do, v. 42, 43, &c. Depart fromme, ye Curfed, into everlajling Fire, preparedfor the D:vil and his Angels ; for I was hungry, and ye gave me no Meat ; tbirfly, andye gave me no Drink ; a Stranger, andye took me not in;. naked, andye' 5 cloathod
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