O man, that thou fhalt efcape the judgment of God? fays the Apostle, looking upon it as a foolish and abfurd imagination, for any man to think, that he can, by any means, avoid the judgment of God.

So that, fo long as we are men, whatever elfe we are, we ought to ftand in awe of the judgment of the great day; because, let our rank and condition be what it will, we are all equally obnoxious to that, and can, upon no account whatfoever, plead any privilege or exemption from it.

II. The confideration of this confounds all thofe differences and diftinctions of men, which make fuch a noise in this world; and whatever they may fignify in this world, makes them very inconfiderable as to the other. Why then should men be puffed up, and look fo big upon account of any of these things, when there is a day not far off, and which will certainly, and for ought we know, fhortly overtake us, which will level men in all these refpects, and fet them upon even ground, before an impartial bar, where none of thefe things will be had in any confideration, and where the foolish pride and arrogance of men fhall be confounded; and those who were wont to look down with fo much fcorn upon others, as fo infinitely below them, fhall find themfelves upon an equal level with the poorest and most abject part of mankind, and fhall be ready to fay with the wife man in the Wifdom of Solomon, chap. v. 8. What hath pride profited us, or what hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All these things are paffed away as a fhadow, and as a poft that hafteth by. So that we ought to ufe well all thofe advantages which we have above others in this world; if we do not, they will be of no use and benefit to us in the other. Riches profit not in the day of wrath.

All these petty civil differences and difcriminations of high and low, rich and poor, honourable and base, they only hold in this world, and are in vogue on this fide the grave: but when we come into the other world, they will all ceafe and fignify nothing. There the powerful oppreffor can do nothing to the injury of the pooreft man that ever lived in this world, and as little to his own fafety and fecurity. All that power and intereft

tereft which is now fo confiderable, and makes its way every where, and does what it pleaseth, will be of no ufe and fignificancy in the other world. The great and the mighty, when death hath once arrested them, and bound them over to the judgment of the great day, their glory and strength departs from them, and they are then but like other men. Job elegantly defcribes the ftate of men after death, Job iii. 17, 18, 19. There the wicked ceafe from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. There the prifoners reft together, they hear not the voice of the oppreffor. The small and the great are there, and the fervant is free from his mafter. While we are upon the ftage of this world, we fuftain feveral perfons; one is a Prince and a great man, another is a Captain and a mighty man; and whilft this life lafts, thefe differences are confiderable. But when we retire and go off the ftage, we shall then be undreffed, we shall be stripped of all our titles, and of all our glory, and go out of the world as naked as we came into it. Death and judgment level all mankind, and when we come to appear before the judg ment-feat of Christ, we shall all stand upon equal terms. For God refpects not the perfons of the mighty in judg ment, he will fhew no reverence to the great ones of this world, but will deal impartially and alike with all. Matth. xxv. 32. You may. there fee how the Judge himfelf reprefents the univerfality and impartiality of his dealings with men in, that day: Before him fhall be gathered all nations, and he shall feparate them one from another, as a fhepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. All mankind fhall then be gathered into one common flock, among which there fhall no other diftinction be made, but of sheep and goats, the feparation which shall then be made, shall not be of the high from the low, of the rich from the poor, of the honourable from the bafe, of the learned from the ignorant; there fhall be but one diftinction then made, of the good from the bad, and the righteous from the wicked; there fhall no confideration be then had, but only of the moral differences of men; all civil difference will then vanifh and be of no account in that day, either to exempt any man from that judgment, or to gain any favour and refpect to him in the hearing or

de

decifion of his caufe. This fhould make all men very modeft and humble in this world, to confider how they 'fhall be levelled in the next.

III. How fhould the confideration of this dafh all our fenfual mirth and jollity, and put a damp upon our fpirits, when they are too light and vainly transported with the pleasures and delights of this world! If a man be to prepare himself to be tried for his life after a few days, how will he look about him, with what care and ferioufnefs will he provide for fo folemn an occafion, and neglect nothing that may ftand him in ftead, and help to bring him off when he fhall receive his trial? The thoughts of this will fpoil all his mirth, and turn the lightnefs of his fpirit into fober fadnefs. Much more ought the confideration of a judgment infinitely more terrible, and in the confequence of it, of far greater concernment to us, to compofe our minds into a ferious frame. For, if we believe a future and general judgment, and that none of us can by any means poffibly escape it, then certainly it highly concerns every one of us to be ferious, and to pafs the time of this life in a perpetual awe of it. So that St Peter argues from this confideration, 1 Pet. i. 17. And if ye call on the Father, who without refpect of perfons judgeth every man, pafs the time of your fojourning here in fear. This thought fhould interpofe itself in all our mirth, that we must appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift. And therefore Solomon admonifheth young men, in the midst of their sports and pleasures, to think of a future account, Ecclef. xi. 9. Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the fight of thine eyes: But know that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.

IV. And lastly, From hence we learn that the bufinefs of religion does equally concern every man. For, if we must all be judged, we are all concerned to prepare and provide for it: And a religious and virtuous life is the only preparation for it. How fhould we order our lives with a refpect to this great and general affize, when every one of us fhall be brought upon his trial, and stand at the bar of God to be judged by him! Many live as if they thought the business of religion below them, and

not

>

not at all appertaining to them: but if the judgment of God will equally reach all perfons, then I am fure it equally concerns all to mind religion, and a holy and virtu ous life; for that alone will make us worthy, as our Saviour himself expresseth it, to escape all these things that Shall come to pass, and to ftand before the Son of man.

And this is the result of Solomon's enquiry, and of his long difcourfe upon that argument, what is the great work and business, the great interest and concernment of men in this life; which we find in the conclufion of his sermon, called, the book of the preacher, Eccl. xii. 13, 14. Let us, fays he, hear the conclufion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments; for this is the whole of man. Religion is the great business and concernment of men in this world, because God will bring every man, and every work into judgment, whether it be good or evil.

SERMON

CLXXXI.

Of the actions for which men will be accountable.

2 COR. V. 10.

For we must all appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

I

The fourth fermon on this text.

Proceed to the third propofition contained in thefe words, viz. that all the actions which men have done in this life fhall then come to account, and men shall be judged for them. That every man may receive the things done in the body, radia T Caual, the things proper and due to the body, fo fome very good copies have it and then the meaning will be, that every one VOL. VIII.

:

K

may

may receive the reward due to him; the word body, by a frequent Hebraifm, being put for the perfon; as if he had faid, the reward due to himself, according to the actions he hath done in this life, good or bad. But in moft copies it is, die Caual, the things done in, or by the body, as our tranflation. renders it, that every one may receive the reward of the actions which he hath done in this life; and then this phrase doth import what it is that fhall be the matter of our account at the day of judgment, viz. the things done in the body; that is, all the actions of this life, while we are in this world, in this ftate of union of the foul and body.

Whether there be any peculiar emphasis in this phrase, què dià võ Cámal☺, the things done by, or in the body, as if it did exclude thofe things which fhall be done after death, in the state of separation of our fouls' from our bodies, from being accounted for at the refurrection in the day of judgment; I fay, whether there be any fuch emphafis in thofe words, the things done in the body, I cannot certainly affirm; though, according to the nature and reafon of the thing, it feems very probable, as the Schoolmen have generally determined in this cafe, that meritum eft viatoris," merit and demerit are proper to this state "of trial;" and that wicked men, when they are in termino, and their ftate is finally concluded, and the trial of their obedience is at an end, do not demerit by their fins, nor increase their punishment. For although that hatred and enmity of God which is in the damned fpirits, be a monstrous irregularity in a creature, yet it cannot well in reafon be otherwife, but that a creature which is extremely miferable, and withal desperate, and paft all hopes of remedy and recovery out of that difmal ftate; I fay, it cannot well in reafon be otherwise expected, but that a creature in fuch a condition should rage against the author of its torment and punishment, and do all the despite to him that he can, and wish that he were not, though it be in vain to wish fo; and it seems probable that God will not bring this to a new account, because it seems fo natural and neceffary a confequent of a miferable and defperate flate but though this be probable, I am far from being peremptory in it, much leis am I confident that it

: