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SERM. his Reward, because his Work was use XVII. lefs; yet, if he was truly fincere and up

15.

right in his intention, for the integrity of 1 Cor. iii. his Heart, He himself fhall be faved, though fo as by Fire; that is, with great Difficulty, as a man escapes with his Life out of a house on Fire, wherein his Goods are confuming. Laftly, the different Degrees of the Reward of good men, are most elegantly set forth by St John in his Description, of the heavenly Jerufalem, as of a royal City; the City, as our Saviour himself stiles it, the City of the Great King; within which, the Glory of God's prefence did more immediately fhine, and the Lamb, was the Light thereof; and without, the Nations of them that are faved did walk in the Light of it, Rev. xxi, 23; and ch. xxii. 2. In the midst of it, was the Tree of Life,

which yielded her

Fruit every Month, and the Leaves of the Tree were for the Healing of the Na tions.

AGAIN on the other fide, as in the diftribution of Rewards, fo in the allotment of the Degrees of Punishment likewise, does the Scripture clearly fet forth to us the exact Impartiality of the Divine Juf

tice. The words of our Saviour are ex-SER M.

XVII.

prefs and full, St Luk. xii.
That Ser-
47.
vant which knew his Lord's Will, and pre-
pared not himself, neither did according to
bis Will, fhall be beaten with many
Atripes; But he that knew not, and did
commit things worthy of Stripes, shall be
beaten with few stripes: For unto whomso-
ever much is given, of him shall be much
required; and to whom men have commit-
ted much, of Him they will ask the more.
Accordingly, against the Pharifees, who
had the best opportunities of feeing and
confidering his mighty Works, our Saviour
always denounces his fevereft Judgments
for their Hypocrify and Unbelief. Other
forts of Sinners, he always reproved with
fingular Tenderness, and exhorted to Re-
pentance with all Meekness and Compaf-
fion;
But the Pharifees, who finned a-
gainst the clearest Light, and with the
greatest Obftinacy, he conftantly chal-
lenged with the utmost sharpness, as in-
corrigible hypocrites, as a generation of
Vipers. To him that knoweth to do good,
and doth it not, to Him, it is Sin, Jam. iv.
17. The Pharifees had a learned and a
religious education; and they defpifed

the

SER M. the rest of the people, as, in comparison XVII. with with themselves, blind and ignorant : Yet their Lives were vitious, notwithstanding that Knowledge; and then, the very thing they boasted of, was their great Condemnation. Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye fhould have no Sin; but Now ye fay, we fee; Therefore your Sin remaineth, Joh. ix. 41. It remaineth; that is, you ftand most clearly and most inexcufably convicted of it, Their Learning and Knowledge in the Law and the Prophets qualified them to hear the words of Chrift, and to obferve his Works, with greater Advantage: And therefore he fays unto them, Job. xv. 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had Sin; (that is, comparatively fpeaking, their Sin had been nothing to what it Now is ;) But Now, they have no cloak for their Sin; If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had Sin; but Now they have both feen and hated, both Me, and my Father. And in proporti

to This aggravation of their Fault, does he accordingly enhance the Severity of their Punishment; Thefe, faith he, fall

0

fhall receive greater Damnation; Mar. xii.SER M. XVII. 40. He does not only threaten them with God's final wrath in general, in common with all other wicked men; O ye generation of vipers, how can ye efcape the Damnation of Hell? Mat. xxiii. 33; but he adds moreover in particular, ver. 14. Ye fhall receve a greater Damnation: In the original it is, a more abundant condemnation; à Meafure of Wrath, over and above the general Sentence which fhall pafs upon the World of the Ungodly.

IN like manner, comparing the whole Nation of the unbelieving Jew's, with the infidel Heathen World; and confidering how wilfully and with what aggravating circumftances They rejected thofe means of Salvation, which perhaps many of the Heathen would in the like cafe gladly have accepted; he accordingly declares concerning them, Matt. x. 15. Verily I fay unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that City.

Lafly, IN that fublime and affectionate defcription of the great judgment, Rev. xx. 11. and 19, 20. there is made a very remarkable diftinction of this

SERM. kind: I saw a great white throne, and him XVII. that fat on it; from whofe face the Earth and the Heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them: And I saw the dead, fmall and great, ftand before God; and the books were opened,- -and the dead

were judged out of those things which were written in the Books, according to their Works: And whosoever was not found written in the book of Life, was caft into the lake of Fire. But the Beast and- -the falfe Prophet, which deceived the Nations, thefe Both were caft Alive into the lake of Fire burning with Brimstone. The Distinction made by Mofes in the cafe of the first Death, Num. xvi. 29. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the vifitation of all men; then the Lord hath not fent Me; But if the Lord make a new thing, and the Earth open her mouth and fallow them up, -and they go down Qnick [or Alive] into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord: The fame diftinction (I fay) feems to be made by St John in the cafe of the fecond Death; Thefe two (faith he) were caft Alive into the lake of fire, burning with Brimstone;

That

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