him; he must withdraw himself from the authority and jurifdiction of the univerfal King of the world, and declare that he hath nothing to do to rule over him, that he doth not stand obliged to him for his being, nor did receive from him those talents of life, and health, and reason, and other bleffings which he enjoys; and, confequently, that he is not concerned to make any improvements of them, being accountable to none for the good or bad ufe of them.

Now, if any man can think thus, that he is none of God's creatures and fubjects, he may hope to decline and escape his judgments: but every man that owns God for his Creator and Sovereign, mult yield himfelf to be subject to his laws, and liable to his judgment. Upon this account the Apostle St. Paul concludes all the world, the Gentiles as well as the Jews, to be liable to the judgment of God; because they are all equally fubject to his laws. Rom. iii. 19. Now we know, fays he, that whatfoever things the law faith, it faith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world, that is, bath Jews and Gentiles, may become guilty before God. In the Greek it is dinos Yental Tea, that all the world may be fubject, or liable to the judgment of God. Now, though this be immediately fpoken of the Jews, who were under a written law; yet he had told us before in what fenfe the Gentiles alfo, as well as the Jews, are under the law of God, Rom. ii. 14. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, thefe having not the law, are a law to themselves, fhewing the work (or effect) of the law written in their hearts, their confciences also bearing them witness, and their thoughts in the mean while accufing, or else excufing one another. His meaning is, that there is no perfon in the world, but though he hath not the knowledge of divine revelation, and that law of God which is written in the fcriptures; yet he hath the light of natural confcience, he hath a law which is born with him, enacted, as I may fay, in his very nature, and written upon his heart; which will acquaint him with the material parts, and great lines of his duty; and, by virtue of this law, he is obnoxious to the judgment of God,

and

and ftands accountable to him for all his breaches and violations of it. So that from the common nature of man, and that which is effential to all men, it is evident, that we are all equally liable to the judgment of God.

2. If we confider the nature of God, who is impartially juft, and no accepter of perfons, this likewife will furnifh us with an argument for the proof of this truth, that none fhall be exempted from the judgment of God. Juftice requires that every one fhould have that which of due belongs to him: but of due it belongs to every reasonable creature, to give an account of himfelf, and of his actions, to the great Judge of the world; and to exempt any from this account, would be partiality, and that which the fcripture calls #poofia, "refpect or acceptation of perfons, and which the fcripture doth every where remove at the greatest distance from God. Deut. x. 17. The Lord your God is Lord of Lords, and God of Gods; a great God, mighty and terrible, he regardeth not perfons. 2 Chron. xix. 7. There is no iniquity with the Lord your God, nor accepting of perfons. Job. xxxiv. 18. 19. fpeaking of the impartial juftice of God, fays he, He accepteth not the perfons of princes, nor accepteth the rich more than the poor: for they are all the work of his hands. 1 Pet. i. 17. If we call on the Father, who without refpect of perfons judgeth every man.

Now, refpect of perfons is, in the diftribution of juffice, to have refpect to fome qualities and circumftances of perfons, which do not at all appertain to the merits of the cause, and upon that account to deal unequally with thofe whofe cafes otherwise are equal. As when two perfons are equally guilty, and obnoxious to the law, to bring one upon his trial, and condemn him, but to exempt the other from juftice; or, if he come upon his trial, to abfolve and acquit him upon fome account of relation, or intereft, or friendship; or, becaufe he is rich and powerful, the other mean and poor; or, upon any other account befides the pure merits of the caufe. Now, the impartial and inflexible juftice of the divine nature is fuch, that he is not to be moved and wrought upon by any confideration whatsoever, to exempt any perfon from appearing at his bar, and re

ceiving

ceiving his trial there, and having judgment past upon him, according as upon his trial his caufe fhall appear to be. We must all appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift. No perfon whatever, of what condition foever, fhall be exempted from it.

All that now remains is to apply this to ourselves, and that in these following particulars:

I. From what has been faid, we learn that this do&trine of a future judgment equally concerns every one of us, and ought in reason to have the like influence upon us, because we are all of us, without difference or exception, equally liable to the judgment of God; not one of us, of what age or quality, or condition foever, fhall be exempted from it. Whoever thou art, how great, or rich, or powerful foever, though never fo big and confiderable among men, thou shall not escape the judgment of God. It may be thou art a prince, and

bearest rule over others: but thou alfo art liable to the judgment of God; and therefore oughteft to remember, that they that rule over men, must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and of that great account which they must one day give of that high charge committed to them. It may be now thou judgeft others, and canft call them before thy bar, and make them tremble, having power and authority to abfolve or condemn them; but remember that for all this thou must come into judgment thyself, and give an account how thou haft judged others, and whether thou haft fat and proceeded in thefe inferior courts, as one mindful of the high tribunal of God, and with a juft fenfe of the judgment of the great day, when all the causes which thou haft tried here upon earth, will be reviewed and severely fcanned in that higher court, from which there can be no appeal.

It may be thou art rich and powerful, and one of thofe great flies that can break through the cobwebs of human laws, and escape the judgment of them: but the judgment of God will take fast hold of thee, and in defpite of all thy intereft and might, will take a fevere revenge upon thee. As powerful as thou art, thou art but a man, and God is infinitely too ftrong for thee;

thou

thou canst not escape out of his hands. Thinkeft thou, 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 else we are, we ought to stand 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 whatsoever plead any privilege or exemption

from it.

II. The confideration of this confounds all thofe differences and distinctions 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 thefe 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 these things will be had in any confideration, and where the foolish pride and arrogance of men fhall be confounded; and thofe who were wont to look down with fo much feorn upon others, as fo infinitely below them, fhall find themselves upon an equal level with the poorest and most abject part of mankind, and shall be ready to fay with the wife man in the wisdom of Solomon, chap. v. 8. What hath pride profited us, or what hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All these things are passed away as a fhadow, and as a poft that hafteth by. So that we ought to use well all thofe advantages which we have above others in this world; if we do not, they will be of no ufe and benefit to us in the other. Riches profit not in the day of wrath.

All thefe 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 poorest man that ever lived in this world, and as little to his own fafety and fecurity. All that power and in

tereft

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 arrefted 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 describes the ftate of men after death, Job iii. 17. 18. 19. There the wicked ceafe from troubling; and there the weary be at reft. There the prifoners reft together, they hear not the voice of the oppreffor. The fmall and the great are there, and the fervant is free from his master. While we are upon the stage 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 fhall then be undreffed, we fhall be ftripped 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 judgment-feat of Chrift, we fhall all ftand upon equal terms. For God refpects not the perfons of the mighty in judgment, 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 himself reprefents the univerfality and impartiality of his dealings with men in that day: Before him fhall be gathered all nations, and he fball feparate them one from another, as a fhepherd dipideth his fheep 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 fhall then be made, fhall 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 vanish 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

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