417 SERMON CLXXX. Of the perfons who are to be judged. 2 CO R. v. 10. For we must all appear before the judgment-feat of CHRIST, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. I Thefecond Proceed to the fecond propofition contained in SERM. the words, viz. that all men are liable to this CLXXX. judgment, and that no man that ever lived in the world, except our bleffed SAVIOUR the judge him- fermon on felf, fhall be exempted from it. "We must all this text. 66 pear before the judgment-feat of CHRIST." ap I fhall firft endeavour to illuftrate and confirm the truth of this proposition; and then apply it to ourfelves. Firft, For the confirmation of it. This I fhall endeavour to do from exprefs teftimonies of fcripture; and then by arguments drawn from reason and scripture together. I. I fhall endeavour to confirm the truth of this point from exprefs teftimonies of scripture. And we find that the fcripture ufeth words of the greatest latitude and extent, to exprefs this matter more emphatically to us. Gen. xviii. 25. GOD is called " the "Judge of all the earth. Shall not the Judge of all "the earth do right?" Matt. xxv. 32. 'tis said, that "when CHRIST fhall fit upon the throne of his glory, all nations fhall be gathered before him." Acts x. 42. he is faid to be ordained of God to be VOL. IX. Dd 66 Judge SERM. " Judge of quick and dead." And fo likewise, 1 Pet. CLXXX. iv. 5. "Who fhall give an account to him who is "ready to judge the quick and the dead." This expreffion is purposely used to take in all perfons that have ever lived in the world; not only thofe that fhall be already dead at the coming of CHRIST, but those that fhall be found alive at his coming, who though they fhall not die, yet they fhall undergo a fudden and equivalent change, as St. Paul tells us from particular revelation, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. " Behold, I "fhew you a mystery: we shall not all sleep," that is, we fhall not all die, and fleep in the grave, “ but "we fhall all be changed, in a moment, in the "twinkling of an eye, at the laft trump (for the "trumpet fhall found, and the dead fhall be raised incorruptible, and we fhall be changed;)" that is, they that are already dead fhall be then raised, and their corruptible bodies changed into incorruptible; and they that shall be found alive, though they fhall not die, yet their bodies fhall undergo the fame change with those that are raised. And this is the reason why CHRIST is often in fcripture called " the "Judge of quick and dead.” But to proceed to other texts. Acts xvii. 31. "He hath appointed a day, in which he will judge "the world in righteousness." The world, that is, all men that ever lived in it. "He commands all because he will judge "men every where to repent," stand before the judgment-feat of CHRIST; for it " is written, as I live faith the LORD, every knee "fhall bow to me, and every tongue fhall confefs to "GOD. So then every one of us fhall give an ac"count of himself to God." Heb. ix. 27. "It is 66 appointed for all men once to die, and after this "the "the judgment." That is, as death fhall pass upon SERM. all men, or a change equivalent to it, fo after death CLXXX.. the judgment shall pass upon the fame perfons. Heb. xii. 23. ." And to GOD the judge of all." 1 Pet. And to express this the more fully, the scripture reckons up the feveral ranks and conditions of men, to fhew that none fhall be exempted. Rev. vi. 15, 16, 17. where you have a reprefentation of the day of judgment, and feveral forts of men in vain endeavouring to hide themfelves from it and efcape it. "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, "and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the "mighty men, and every bondman, and every free66 man, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks "of the mountains, and faid to the mountains and "rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of "him that fitteth on the throne, and from the wrath "of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath is "come, and who fhall be able to ftand?" Which words are a lively representation of the univerfal appearance, that all perfons in the world, of all ranks and conditions, must make before God at that great day. If any be exempted, they must either be fecured by their power and intereft, or overlooked for their meanness and inconfiderablenefs; but none shall either be privileged for their greatness, or neglected for their meanness. If any can pretend to be privileged, it must be those of greatest dignity and authority," the kings and great men;" or of the greatest esteem," the rich men of the earth;" or of the greatest strength and power, "the chief captains, and the mighty men;" but these have no protec Dd 2 tion SERM. tion against the arrest of that judgment. Nor fhall CLXXX any be overlooked for their meannefs. If any sort of men be contemptible and inconfiderable, it must be those who are in the lowest condition of debafement, bondmen and flaves: but every bondman as well as every freeman, fhall be brought before this tribunal. And fo likewife, Rev. xx. 12, 13. where all perfons are diftributed into two ranks, fmall and great. " I "faw the dead, both finall and great, ftanding be"fore Gon, and the books were opened, and the "dead were judged out of the things which were "written in thofe books; and the fea gave up the "dead which were in it, and death and the grave 66 gave up the dead which were in them; and they "were judged every man according to their works." You fee the whole world is ranfacked and fearched, fea and land, that none may escape this judgment. For which reason it seems to be called by the apostle St. Jude, ver. 6. " the judgment of the great day;" for that will be a great day indeed, in which all men that ever lived in the world fhall appear and receive their trial. The fum of all is this, that all perfons that ever were upon the face of the earth, none excepted, of what fex or age, of what rank or quality, of what country or nation, in what times or places foever they were born or lived; high or low, rich or poor, knowing or ignorant, good or bad, young or old, the greatest princes and potentates, as well as the meaneft fubjects and flaves; the deepest ftatefmen and politicians, the learned clerks and difputers of this world, as well as the idiots and the fimple; in short all, without any diftinction or exception, without any privilege or respect of perfons, fhall at this great day appear before this high tribunal, and give an account of of themselves, and all their actions, and receive the SERM. proper doom and sentence respectively due to them. CLXXX. I proceed to the IId thing I propofed, which was to confirm this yet farther by arguments drawn from reafon and fcripture together. And this will appear, whether we confider the nature of man,or the nature of God. And, 1. If we confider the nature of man. We are all God's creatures, who have received all that we have from him, and depend wholly upon him, and are entirely fubject to him, to be governed by fuch laws as he hath prescribed to us, and to be accountable to him for our observance or violation of them; all this is effentially included in the nature of a reasonable creature, and as fuch we all ftand equally related to him. As we are creatures, we are not our own, but wholly another's, and perfectly at the difpofal of him who made us, and from whom we received all that we have: and as we are reasonable creatures, we are all equally endowed with free choice and power over our actions; by the good or bad ufe whereof, we are capable of doing well or ill, and confequently of deferving well or ill for our doings, and of receiving rewards and punishments accordingly; we are all capable of being governed by laws, and therefore under the authority of GoD, as our lawgiver, and liable and accountable to him as our judge. And all this is neceffary and univerfal, because it is confequent upon the condition of our nature and being; and whoever pretends to be exempted from the judgment of GOD, he muft exempt himself out of the creation of GoD, he must “ deny the GOD that made him," and renounce his relation to him as a creature, must difclaim his dependance upon him, and fubjection to him; he must withdraw himself Dd 3 from |