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the thrower. They now walk abroad, as it were, with their keeper; but then they shall be closely confined, yea, dungeoned: now they contain their hell, then their hell shall contain them. In short, as the punishment of wicked men shall be at the full, when their souls and bodies are reunited, and both cast into hell; so the torment of these angels shall be completed, when at the last day they shall be so fettered in their infernal prison, as that there will be no possibility of stirring forth. They are now entered into divers degrees of punishment, but the full wrath of God is not poured out upon them till the day of judgment.

Obs. 1. No secrecy can shelter sin from God's observation. He who will make sins known to conscience and all spectators, must needs know them himself. Sins are undoubtedly written in, if they be read out of the book. God need not rack, no, nor ask the offender, to know whether he has sinned or no; he searcheth the heart, he trieth the reins, Jer. xvii. 10; “his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men," Psal. xi. 4. He compasseth (he winnoweth) our paths, and is acquainted with all our ways. Whither shall we fly from his presence ? Psal. cxxxix. He understands our thoughts afar off; knows them long before they come into us, and long after they are gone away from us. All the secrets of our hearts are dissected, anatomized, and barefaced in his eyes. He who knew what we would do before we did it, must needs know what we have done afterwards. There is nothing existing in the world but was before in God's knowledge; as the house is first in the head before erected by the hand of the artificer. He made us, and therefore knows every nook, and corner, and turning in us; and we are sustained and moved by him in our most retired motions. How plainly discerned by him is the closest hypocrite, and every devil, though in a Samuel's mantle! We can only hear, but God sees hollowness. We do but observe the surface, but God's eye pierces into the entrails of every action: he sees not as man sees; man looketh on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart. How exact should we be even in secret walkings, we being constantly in the view of so accurate an Observer! We should set the Lord always before us. The eye of God should ever be in our eyes: the presence of God is the counterpoison of sin. Whenever thou art sinning, remember that all thou dost is booked in God's omniscience. Latimer being examined by his popish adversaries, heard a pen walking behind the hangings, to take all his words; this made him wary how he expressed himself but more cause have we to fear sin, since God writes down every offence, and will one day so read over his book to conscience, that it shall be compelled to copy it out with infinite horror. God did but read one page, one line of this book, one sin, to the conscience of Judas, and the terror thereof made him his own executioner.

Obs. 2. How foolish are sinners, who are so despairing at, and yet so fearless before, the pronouncing of the last sentence ! Most irrational is that resolution, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set to do evil," Eccl. viii. 11. How wise were it to argue contrarily, Because the sentence is deferred, therefore let us labour to have it prevented; and to say with the apostle, "What manner of persons ought we to be!" 2 Pet. iii. 11. The deferring of judgment is no sign of its prevention; the speedy repentance of sinners would be a much more comfortable prediction. Wrath, when it is to come, may be fled from; when once it is come, it is unavoidable. Christians! be as wise for your souls as the Egyp

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tians were for their cattle; who, fearing the threatening of hail, took them into houses: faith in threatenings of judgment, may prevent the feeling of judgments threatened. For your souls' sake, be warned to get your pardon in the blood, if ever you would avoid the sentence of the mouth of Christ. If the Judge give you not a pardon here, he will give you a sentence hereafter. It is only the blood of Christ which can blot the book of judgment. Judge yourselves, and pass an irrevocable sentence upon your sins, if you would not be sentenced for your sins. Repent at the hearing of ministers in this your day; for if you put off that work till God speaks in his day, repentance itself will be unprofitable. If you harden your hearts here in sin, the heart of Christ will be hardened hereafter in his sentencing, and your suffering. The great work of poor ministers is the prevention of the dreadful sound of the last sentence: knowing the terror of the Lord, they warn you. All the hatred we meet with in the world, is for our loving plainness herein; but we will not cease to warn you with tears, as well as with sweat : we can better bear your hatred here, than either you or we bear God's hereafter; and we had rather your lusts should curse us here, than your souls to all eternity. If our voice cannot make you bend, God's will make you break: if you will not hearken, is it not because the Lord will slay you?

Obs. 3. Great is the sinfulness of rash judgment. It is a sin that robs Christ of his honour, whereby a man advances himself into Christ's tribunal, and which takes the work of judgment out of Christ's hand; and therefore the apostle, Rom. xiv. 10; 1 Cor. iv. 5, strongly argues against it from the last judgment. Christians commit this sin, both by a curious inquisition into the ways of others, for this end, that they may find out matter of defamation; and principally, by passing of sentence, or giving of censure, against the persons and practices of others without necessity, and not according to the law of charity, which binds us to judge the best of others, so far as may stand with a good conscience and the word of God. Judgment may either be of persons, or their practices in persons, their future or their present state is to be considered. All judgment of men's future state is to be forborne; God may call the worst as well as thee. Three things, saith Augustine, are exempted from man's judgment; the Scriptures, the counsel of God, the condemnation of any man's per

son.

For men's present state; if we see men live in whoredom, drunkenness, swearing, we may judge them wicked while continuing in this state, and that they shall be damned if they repent not. We may judge the tree by the fruit, and this is not rash judgment, because it is not ours, but the judgment of the word of God. Practices are either good, bad, indifferent, or doubtful. Good actions are to be commended. If actions be evil, judge the facts, not the persons; yet study withal to excuse the intention, if thou canst not the fact. Indifferent or doubtful actions are to be free from censure; Christian liberty exempts our neighbour from censure for the former, charity allows us not to be censurers of the latter. If it be doubtful whether a thing were spoken or done, or no; or being certain to be done, whether well or ill; in charity judge the best. If a man lay with a betrothed damsel in the fields, the man was only to die, because it was in charity supposed that the damsel cried; the best being supposed in a thing doubtful, Deut. xxii. 25, 27. In matter of opinion, if it be uncertain whether an error or no, suspend thy judgment till thou know more certainly; thy brother may see as much and more than thyself into that which is doubtful. Our ignorance as men, though

never so knowing, should be a strong bar from rash judgment. Besides, who are we that judge another man's servant? this is to reproach God himself for receiving him. We are fellow servants with our brethren, not fellow judges with God; we must love, not judge one another; our Master's house is to be ordered by our Master's will. He who by rash judgment destroys the good name of another, is, by some, termed the worst of thieves, in stealing away that which is better than riches, and can never be restored; and the worst of murderers, in killing three at once, his own soul in thus sinning, his neighbour whose name he ruins, and the hearer who receives his slanders. And yet, take away this sinful censuring from many professors, there will nothing remain to show them religious; whereas a just man is a severe judge only to himself.

Obs. 4. How happy are they who shall be able to stand in the judgment! I know it is doubted by some, whether at the last judgment the sins of the saints shall come into the judgment of discussion and discovery; Scripture seems to many most to favour the affirmative, Rev. xx. 12; Matt. x. 26; but that they shall escape the judgment of conVid. Aquin. q. 87. suppl. Est. in demnation, it is not doubted. That sun 1.4. Sent. dist. 47. which discovers the sins of the wicked, shall scatter those of the godly. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus; who shall lay any thing to their charge?" Rom. viii. 1, 33. The greater their sins are, the greater will their deliverance appear. The more punishment they deserved, the more they escape. The sins of the saints will prove, as the matter of their songs, so the trophies of victorious mercy. The wicked shall have judgment without mercy, and the godly shall have mercy in a day of judgment, 1 Cor. xi. 32. How contentedly may they here undergo that chastisement whereby they escape judgment! It is better to hear the reproofs of a father, than the sentence of a judge; and the correction of a son is much lighter than the condemnation of a malefactor. It matters not what shall ever be said or done against them, to whom Christ shall never say, "Depart from me." "Do with me what thou wilt," said Luther, "since thou hast pardoned my sins." Obs. 5. The greatest enemies of God will be but contemptible creatures at the last judgment. What underlings then shall those appear and be, who now are principalities and powers! Satan, who has had so many followers, adorers, who now is the prince of the air, yea, the god of this world, shall then openly appear to be a trembling malefactor at the bar of Christ. As once Joshua's soldiers set their feet upon the necks of the Canaanitish kings, so the poorest saint shall at the last judgment trample upon these fallen angels. Death speaks the impotency of men, but judgment even that of angels. Legions of angels shall no more oppose Christ, than can a worm all the angels of heaven. Methinks even all the crowned, sceptred, adorned, adored monarchs of the world, if enemies to Christ, should tremble at the approach of judgment. The greatest safety and honour, even of a king, will then be to be a subject to Christ, and what the emperor Justinian was wont to call himself, the meanest servant of Christ. Robes will Ultimus Dei ser- then fall off. The dimmer light of human glory will be obscured when the Sun of righteousness shall appear. Let us neither fear nor admire the greatness of any but of Christ, much less that which is set against Christ. How great is the folly of Satan's subjects! they serve a master who is so far from defending them, that he cannot defend himself, from judgment.

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Obs. 6. The reason why Satan rages is, he knows that his time is but short; and after this last judg

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ment his furious and spiteful temptations shall be ended: and he labours to supply the shortness of his time with the sharpness of his assaults; like the besiegers, who having often stormed a town or a castle, make their last onset the most resolute and terrible. A traveller who desires to go far, will go fast if the sun is setting. The shortness of Satan's season occasions his swiftness in wickedness; besides, he is in a state of desperation, he knows there is no possibility of his recovery; and as faith is the furtherer of holiness, so is despair of all impiety. It was the logic of despair which argued thus, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die." I wonder not that these last are the worst and the most perilous times. Satan now strives to add to his number, to seduce and pervert souls, because after his judgment he shall never be suffered to do so any more. At all times holy vigilancy over our hearts and ways is needful; but in these times, wherein Satan's judgment draws so near, it should be our care more than ever to keep our hearts with all diligence, to beware of seduction and atheism, and of "being led away with the error of the wicked, lest we fall from our own stedfastness." If Satan double his rage, let us double our guard. Doctor Taylor reports of a noble lord, who was wont to say, "That he never would go without a sword so long as there was a papist about the court." Never let us lay off our spiritual weapons, till Satan be taken from us by judgment, or we out of his reach by death. Let us, even taught thus much by our adversary, make the shortness of our time a motive to lay out ourselves the more for God: short seasons require speedy services. The nearer we come to judgment, the fitter let us labour to be for it. Let the sweetest part of our lives be at the bottom, and, as Samson's, let our last prove our greatest goodness. To conclude this, let those poor souls who are daily buffeted by Satan, consider that his judgment is approaching; that all conflicts with him shall then be at an end; and that the fury of his assaults prove not their success, but the shortness of continuance.

Thus far of the first particular considerable in the punishment of these angels at the bar, viz. that to which they are reserved, "to judgment."

II. The time when they shall be brought to judgment, viz. at the "great day."

Two things for the explication of this season. 1. How the word "day" is here to be understood. 2. In what respect it is called a "great day." 1. For the first. There are three opinions. (1.) Some take the day here spoken of precisely and properly, as if the day of the last judgment should not exceed that space and proportion of time. (2.) Some conceive that by the "day" is meant a thousand years, because some are said to sit on thrones, and have judgment given unto them, (that is, power of judging,) and to live and reign with Christ a thousand years, Rev. xx. 4. But I conceive that this judgment and reign of a thousand years cannot be understood of the last judgment, because death, the last enemy, shall, in the resurrection, be destroyed: now after the end of the thousand years mentioned by St. John, Satan shall be loosed out of prison, and the nations deceived by him shall compass the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire shall come down from God out of heaven and devour them. (3.) Others seem more safely to apprehend that the day here men-jun extendationed is to be taken improperly, for tur, incertum est: time indefinitely, it being in Scripture more diem poni very ordinary to put a day for time: solere pro tempo"In an acceptable time have I heard Aug. 120. de Cir. thee, in a day of salvation have I succoured thee," Isa. xlix. 8. "If thou hadst known in

Per quot dies hoc

Scripturarum

re nemo nescit.

Dei, cap. 1.

this thy day," Luke xix. 42. "Your father Abraham | rejoiced to see my day," John viii. 56, &c. There must be a day wherein that great work of judgment shall begin, but its duration is to be measured by the nature of the thing, and the counsel of God. With Augustine, I determine nothing peremptorily concerning the continuance of the last judgment-day. 2. For the second, the greatness of this day. The titles given it in the Scripture speak it great; it being called "that day," Matt. vii. 22; Luke xxi. 34; 2 Tim. i. 12, 18; iv. 8; the "last day," John vi. 39, 40, 44, 46, 54; "the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men," 2 Pet. iii. 7; the day of God the Lord; "the day when God shall judge the secrets of men," Rom. ii. 16; a day wherein "he will judge the world in righteousness," Acts xvii. 31; "the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," Rom. ii. 5; the day of the Lamb's wrath, Rev. vi. 17; "the day of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 6, 10, &c. More particularly, this day of judgment is called "great" in respect of the Judge, the judged, and the properties of the judgment.

(1.) The Judge, who is Jesus Christ. And herein two particulars are considerable.

[1] That Christ shall be Judge.

[2] Wherein his being Judge shall make the day great."

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The first is evident, 1. From the frequent and express mentioning him as Judge in Scripture, Acts x. 42; Phil. iii. 20; iv. 5; 1 Tim. vi. 14, 15, which assures us that "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ," Rom. ii. 16; that " Jesus Christ shall judge the quick and the dead," 2 Tim. iv. 1; that "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven," 2 Thess. i. 7; that "the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father," Matt. xvi. 27; that "they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory," Matt. xxiv. 30; that "the Son of man shall come in his glory," Matt. xxv. 31; that hereafter we "shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven," Matt. xxvi. 64; that the same Jesus who is taken into heaven, shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into heaven, Acts i. 11; that "he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him," Rev. i. 7. In which respect the day of judgment is called, "The day of the Lord Jesus Christ," I Cor. i. 8: so chap. v. 5; 2 Cor. i. 14; Phil. i. 6, 10; ii. 16. And the seat of judgment is called, "The judgment-seat of Christ," Rom. xiv. 10; 2 Cor. v. 10. And some understand that place, Heb. iv.12, "The word of God is" pirikòs," a discerner of the thoughts," concerning the hypostatical Word. Nor is the Old Testament destitute of testimonies of this kind, though somewhat more obscurely expressed. Abraham speaks to the Son of God, when he said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Gen. xviii. 25. And the Father spake to the Son, when he said, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel," Psal. ii. 9. And that of Isaiah xlv. 23, " By myself have I sworn, Unto me every knee shall bow," which the apostle, Rom. xiv. 11, applies to Christ, and thence proves that we shall all stand before his judgment-seat. 2. By God's appointment of him, and giving him authority to judge: "He is ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead," Acts x. 42. "He will judge the world by that man whom he hath ordained," &c., Acts xvii. 31. "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed Humilitas carnis all judgment to the Son; he hath given dicatoris honorata him authority to execute judgment," John v. 22, 27. And all power is given him in heaven and in earth. 3. By his former state of humiliation. As he emptied and humbled him

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damnabit veros

Aug. Homil. 150.

self according to his human nature, so in that he is to be exalted. "He humbled himself, Sedebit judex qui and became obedient to death," &c., stetit sub judice, "wherefore God hath highly exalted reos, qui factus him," Phil. ii. 8, 9. And as Christ in his est falsus reus. human nature was unjustly judged, so in that nature shall he justly judge. "Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and he shall appear the second time without sin," Heb. ix. 28. 4. By reason of the necessity of the visibility of the Judge and judicial proceedings at the last day. He executes judgment "because he is the Son of man," John v. 27, and every eye shall see him. The Judge is to be beheld and heard by the judged. "God will judge the world by that man," &c. In respect of the judicial process, a man must be our Judge; for God is invisible, and the Judge Talis apparebit shall so appear, as to be seen both of dex, qualis, posthose whom he shall crown, and of quos coronaturus, those whom he shall condemn. Nor damnaturus est. can it be but that God will be the more justified, and men without all excuse, having one who is bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh, to be Judge between God and them. Notwithstanding all which immediate, audible, visible administration of the last judgment by the Second Person, this judgment belongs to the other Persons in Trinity, κατ' αὐτοκρατορίαν κριτικὴν, in respect of authority, dominion, and judiciary power, though to the Son only κατ' οἰκονομίαν, in respect of dispensation and office, and external exercise.

sit videri ab iis et ab iis quos

Prosp.

[2.] For the second, viz. Wherein the Judge makes the day of judgment "great."

He makes it a great day, 1. As he is considered in himself. 2. As he is attended and accompanied by others.

1. As we consider him in himself; and that either, as God, or man.

(1.) As God. He who shall be the Judge is the mighty God; it is Jehovah, to whom "every knee shall bow," Isa. xlv. 23. Hence the apostle calls the appearance of this Judge, who is God, glorious, in those words, Tit. ii. 13," The glorious appearing of the great God." If the great God be Judge, the day of judgment must needs be a great day. How great is the day of an earthly judge's appearance, a man, a worm, dust and ashes! one who, though he can give, yet cannot avoid the sentence of death; and one who has scarce a faint reflection of that majesty with which this King of glory is adorned: think then, and yet thoughts can never reach it, what it is for God, before whom the whole world, though full of judges, is as nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity, to come to judge the world. God is a Judge omnipotent, and therefore one whose voice, as the living who are distanced so many thousands of miles shall hear and obey, so even the dead shall hear, being quickened, and shall at his beck come and stand before his judgment-seat. He shall come with great power; and the wicked "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the glory of his power," 2 Thess. i. 9. Nor shall he use the ministry of angels for necessity, but majesty. God is an omniscient Judge, infinitely, only wise; his eyes are clearer than ten thousand suns; one who will, in the day wherein the brightness of his omniscience shall shine in its full lustre, bring every hidden work to light, and tell to all, as the woman of Samaria said, all that ever they did; one who does not, as earthly judges, only know what to ask, but what every one will answer; who wants no witnesses; nor needs he that any should testify of man, for he knows what is in man. God is a true and a just Judge. The apostle, 2 Tim. iv. 8, calls him "the Lord, the right

eous judge;" he will render to every one according to his works. The apostle proves the righteousness of God from his judging the world, Rom. iii. 6; and Abraham's question asserts it strongly, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Other judges may do righteously, but God cannot do otherwise. The wills of other judges must be regulated by righteousness; but so righteous is God, that righteousness itself is regulated by his will, which is the root and rule of all righteousness.

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of the law upon Mount Sinai angels waited upon
him, Gal. iii. 19; Deut. xxxiii. 2, how readily will
they serve him when he shall come to judgment for
the execution of that law! What glory shall be in
that day, when the very servants of the Judge, who
shall wait upon him, run at every turn, and upon
every errand; who shall blow the trumpet, summon
the world to appear, bring the prisoners before the
bar, and take them away again; when even these
waiters, I say, shall be angels of power, 2 Thess. i. 7.
the heavenly host, every one being d
stronger than an earthly army; holy news.
angels; creatures of unspeakable agility and swift-
ness; glorious angels, who as much exceed in glory
the greatest emperor in the world, as the sun in the
firmament does a clod of earth, Matt. xxiv. 31; Psal.
ciii. 20. Nor can it be but the day must be very
illustrious, if we consider that the saints shall appear
also with Christ in glory, Col. iii. 4, that they shall

witnesses for, nay, assessors with Christ in judgment, and partakers of that victory which in the last day he shall have over all his enemies; that all the enemies of Christ and his church shall stand before the saints to be justly judged, whom they in this world have judged unjustly; and in a word, that every one of these saints shall in their spiritual bodies shine as the sun, Matt. xiii. 43, when it appears in its perfect lustre.

(2.) This Judge shall make the day great as he is man. Greatly amazing and dismaying must his appearance as Judge in man's nature needs be to sinners who have denied him, persecuted, crucified, and put him to an open shame; all whose designs have been to crush and keep him under. With what horror shall the Jews then see their delusion, who would not heretofore believe him to be the Messiah! Needs must they and others who would not have this man to reign over them, to whom he was a stumbling-"meet the Lord in the air," 1 Thess. iv. 17, and be stone when low and small, contemptible in his former discoveries upon earth, now find and feel him a rock to fall upon them from heaven, and crush them to powder. Greatly comforting and refreshing must the appearance of this man be to believers, who shall not only behold him to be the great Judge of the whole world, who has taken upon him their nature; but who has also given to them his Spirit, whereby, through faith, they are mystically united to him as their Head and Husband; upon whom they have fixed all their hopes and expectations of happiness; for and with whom they have so long suffered from the world; whom they look upon as their treasure, their portion, and for whose coming they have so longed, and sighed, and groaned. In a word, how greatly glorious shall his appearance in our nature be both to good and bad, when in it he shall be decked and adorned with majesty, and clothed with unspeakable glory above all the angels, as he will "come in the glory of his Father," Matt. xvi. 27, "with power and great glory!" Matt. xxiv. 30. The glory of a thousand suns made into one will be but as sackcloth to that wherein Christ shall appear in man's nature that great day. The glory of the sun scatters the clouds, but from the glory of Christ's face the very earth and heaven shall fly away, Rev. xx. 11. The beams of his glory shall dazzle the eyes of sinners, and delight the eyes of saints. The wicked "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from his presence, and the glory of his power," 2 Thess. i. 9; and "when his glory shall be revealed," the saints shall be glad with exceeding joy, 1 Pet. iv. 13.

2. The Judge shall make this day of judgment great, considering him, not only in himself, but as he is attended by others; and so he will make the day great, if we consider by whom, and by how many, he shall thus be attended.

(1.) By whom. They shall be creatures of great glory and excellence. The glorious angels shall be Christ's attendants at the great day; in which respect Christ is said to "come in the glory of the holy angels," Luke ix. 26; and in Matt. xxv. 31, it is said that "the Son of man shall come, and the holy angels with him ;" and Luke xii. 9, that Christ will deny some before the angels of God; and 2 Thess. i. 7, that "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." These angels that excel in strength are his heavenly hosts, his ministers, to do the pleasure of Christ their great Lord and Commander. If at the time of his nativity, Luke ii. 13, temptation, passion, resurrection, ascension, they readily gave Christ their attendance; how much more shall they do it at the great day, when all the glory of Christ shall be revealed! If at the promulgation

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But, (2.) Christ as attended will make the day great, if we consider by how many he shall be attended. At that great day there shall be a general assembly, a great number, even all his servants waiting upon him, both saints and angels; hence, I Thess. i. 13, is mentioned the "coming of the Lord Jesus with all his saints;" and Eph iv. 13, the meeting of all. In this glorious concourse there shall not be one wanting. If Christ will raise up every saint from the grave, then doubtless shall every saint appear in glory at the last day, John vi. 39. He will not lose his cost laid out upon them. But if he bestows new liveries upon his servants, they shall all, when adorned with them, wait upon him. Nor shall there be one angel but shall glorify him in that day. If all the angels of God are commanded to praise and worship him, Psal. cxlviii. 2; Heb. i. 6, then undoubtedly will they perform this duty at that day wherein the glory of Christ shall be so eminently manifested: all the holy angels shall come with the Son of man, Matt. xxv. 31. And if all the angels and saints must wait on Christ, the number must needs be vast, and the multitude exceeding great: of angels there must be an "innumerable company," Heb. xii. 22, myriads, ten thousands of saints, Dan. vii. 10, or holy ones, Jude 14 (a definite number being put for an indefinite). And "about the throne" are said to be "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands," Rev. v. 11, ten thousands of saints. An innumerable company of angels attended the solemn delivery of the law at Mount Sinai, Deut. xxxiii. 2, in allusion to which the triumphant ascension of Christ into heaven is described, Psal. Ixviii., to be with "twenty thousand chariots, even thousands of angels ;" and of those who "stood before the throne, clothed with white robes, and having palms in their hands, there was a great multitude, which no man could number," Rev. vii. 9. Now if the glory of one angel was so great, that those who of old time beheld it expected death thereby, Judg. vi. 22; xiii. 22; and if for fear of an angel, whose countenance was like lightning, the keepers" did shake, and became as dead men," Matt. xxviii. 4; how great shall be the glory of all the millions of angels and saints at the great day, when

Vid. Rivet. in loc.

God shall let out his glory unto them, and fill them as full of it as they can hold, that he may be admired in them! Who can imagine the greatness of that day, wherein the Judge shall be attended with so many millions of servants, every one of whom shall have a livery more bright and glorious than the sun? The splendour of this appearance at the great day will ten thousand times more surpass that of the attendance of the greatest judges and kings in the world, than theirs excels the sport and ridiculous acting of their more serious solemnities by children in their play.

2. This day of judgment shall be great, in respect, as of the Judge, so likewise of the judged; and the judged shall make the day great, as they fall under a fourfold consideration, or in four respects:

1. In respect of the greatness of their company and number.

2. The greatness of their ranks and degrees. 3. The greatness of their faults and offences.

πάντες παρα

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4. The greatness of their rewards and recompences. (1.) In respect of the greatness of their numbers. When many persons are tried and judged, many prisoners cast and condemned, we ordinarily say that the assizes or sessions are great, though the number of the persons judged are not so great by a hundred parts as the number of those who stand by to hear the trial. How great then shall the day of judgment be, wherein all shall be tried and judged! It was of old prophesied by Enoch, that the Lord would execute judgment upon all. Before the throne of the Son of man all nations shall be gathered, Matt. xxv. 32. And in 2 Thess. ii. 1, the day of judgment is called the time of our gathering together unto Christ. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may στησόμεθα. receive the things done in the body," Rom. xiv. 10; 2 Cor. v. 10; Acts xvii. 31. He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him," Rev. i. 7. He is called the Judge of the whole earth, Gen. xviii. 25. All men are divided into two sorts or ranks, living and dead, 2 Tim. iv. 1; 1 Pet. iv. 5; Rev. xx. 12; and both these shall Christ judge, Acts xvii. 31; who hath power over all flesh, John xvii. 2; who "shall reward every one according to his works," Matt. xvi. 27; and to whom God hath sworn "every knee shall bow," Isa. xlv. 23; Rom. xiv. 11. So that if there should but one be exempted from appearing before Christ at the last day, the oath of God would be broken, which is impossible. If God number all the hairs of our head, Matt. x. 30, how much more all the persons whose those hairs are! If he number all our steps, how much more all those who take those steps! Psal. Ivi. 10. And whereas it is said that believers shall not come into judgment, and that the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, Psal. i. 5: the former is to be understood of the judgment of condemnation, as it is translated, or rather expounded, saith one, in John

v. 24; the latter of prevailing in judgCausa cadent. ment, by receiving a judgment of absolution. Men may hide themselves, and fly from men's courts and tribunals, but the judgment-seat of Christ cannot be avoided. It will be in vain to call for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them and hide them, for the mountains shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord. There is no flying from this Judge but by flying to him; and death itself, which prevents judgment among men, shall give up its dead to this great judgment.

(2.) The day shall be great in respect of the judged, as they are considered in the greatness of their ranks and degrees. Among men, not the judging of every mean, contemptible person, but of noblemen, princes

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of the blood, or great monarchs, makes the day of their judgment great. How solemn in this world is the judiciary trial of a king! But how glorious and magnificent shall be the arraignment of great and small persons, of all ranks and degrees, at that great day! Rev. xx. 12; angels and principalities as well as men, good as well as bad. "Watch and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of man," Luke xxi. 36. "He that judgeth me is the Lord,” 1 Cor. iv. 4; and, "Every one of us must give an account of himself to God," Rom. xiv. 12; they who have been high and mighty, emperors, as well as the poorest outcasts. The tallest cedar, the stoutest oak, must bend, yea, break, at that great day. Christ, he shall "strike through kings in the day of his wrath," Psal. cx. 5. The grave and the judgment-seat put no difference between monarchs and vassals. The grave-dust of a queen smells no sweeter than that of a beggar: none can distinguish between the ashes of an oak and those of a humble shrub. There will be no other crowns worn at that day than the crowns of righteousness; no other robes than those washed in the blood of Christ; and these will better fit the head and back of a Lazarus than a rich glutton. True greatness, goodness I mean, will be the only greatness at that truly great day. The glorious sunshine of this day will extinguish the candle of worldly glory. O great day! wherein majesty shall lie and lick the dust of the feet of Christ; the stiffest knee bend before his majesty, and the strongest back of sinners break under his wrath; when the great swordmen and emperors, the Alexanders, the Cæsars, who once made the earth to tremble, shall now tamely tremble before him!

(3.) The day of judgment shall be great in respect of the judged, if we consider them as great offenders. When men are tried before human judicatories for common crimes, as for pilfering or stealing some small or inconsiderable sum, the day of their trial is soon forgotten, and not greatly regarded; but when they are arraigned for such horrid and heinous offences as the ears of the hearer tingle to hear, and his heart trembles to think of, some sodomitical villany, wilful murder of some good king, the blowing up of a parliament, &c., the day of their judgment is great, and greatly observed: there is great wonder at their boldness in sin, great indignation against them for it, great joy when they are sentenced, and greater when they are executed. How great then shall this judgment-day be; for how great at that day shall every sin appear to be! Sin can never be seen to be what it is, or in its due dimensions, but by the light of the fire of God's wrath. In the dim and false light of this world, it is nothing, it is nothing, a trick of youth, a toy, a trifle; but at the appearing of the light of Divine disquisition, when conscience shall be searched with candles, and all paint, pretexts, and other refuges swept away, the least sinwill appear infinite. The cloud awhile since no bigger than a man's hand, will overspread the face of the heavens. The least breach of a law infinitely holy, and the smallest offence against a God infinitely just and powerful, will then appear inconceivably more heinous than any breaches of the peace, or offences against the greatest of men: there is nothing little which, as sin does, kills and damns the soul; yea, omne peccatum est deicidium, the least sin will then be looked upon as striking even at God himself. But how great shall that day be made by the judging of those prodigious abominations, the commissions whereof the earth groaned to bear! scarlet, crimson transgressions, at which even natural conscience is affrighted, as blasphemies, murders, open oppressions, unnatural uncleanness! How

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