pofes, in an honeft laborious Pursuit of a lawful Calling, fetting a due Portion thereof apart for the more immediate Service of God, and fpending the Remainder innocently and wifely; or we have fquander'd it away in Idlenefs, in Play, in Revelling, in impertinent or vicious Converfation, in the Neglect of our main Bufinefs. He will call us to account for the good Creatures he hath from time to time bestowed upon us for our Support and Refreshment, how we have employed them: whether we have ufed them thankfully, and foberly, with Temperance and Moderation, or we have abused them to Luxury and Excefs, to Gluttony or Drunkennefs, making therewith Provifion for the Flesh to fulfil the Rom. 13. Lufts thereof. He will call us to account for our Learning and intellectual Accomplishments, for the Advantages of our Eduducation, for our Health and Strength, for our Wealth and Riches, for our Greatnefs, Power, and Reputation, and all thofe fpecial and eminent Talents that he hath entrufted us with above others, how we have employed them, whether we have made them Inftruments of doing a great deal of Good, and being eminently useful in our Generation, or they have only miniftred to Pride, and Vanity, and Self-pleafing, if not to the worfe Purposes of Vice and Wickednefs. Laftly, He will call us to account for all the Opportunities of Grace and Means

14

of.

of Salvation which we have enjoyed; for all the good Counfels and wife Exhortations that have been given us; for the Revelation of his Son that hath been made known to us; for the Ufe of his Word and Sacraments; for all the Motions and Suggestions of his holy Spirit within us, diffuading us from Sin, and alluring and folliciting us to a Course of Virtue and Holiness: For all thefe, I fay, he will call us to account how we have employed them; whether we have improved them to the Purposes they were given for, as we fhould have done; whether we have grown in Grace, and brought forth Fruit fuitable to so many Helps and Advantages, or have been idle Matt. 25. and unprofitable Servants. These, and a great many other Things, which we now fcarce think of, fhall we be accountable for to the Judge at that Day. And then fhall all our Actions, good or bad, the moft fecret as well as thofe that were publick, be inquired into. Then shall all the Intents, and Thoughts, and Defigns of our Hearts be reveal'd and thoroughly fcann'd; Rom. 2.5. for this is the Day of the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God. Then shall the Wisdom and the Juftice of the divine Providence appear eminently to all the World, Matt. 16. in rewarding every Man according to his Works. In vain will it be then to expect Favour, any otherwife than as we have laid the Grounds for it by our Repentance

30.

27.

in

in this Life; for we are then before an impartial Tribunal. In vain will it be for us to think of fhuffling and evading; for however we may by our Artifices blind the Eyes of Men in this World, yet we have one to deal with then, who can easily fee thro' all our Shifts and Disguises. In vain will it be to endeavour to conceal any Thing at that Day, for all Things are naked Heb.4.13. and open to the Eye of him with whom we have to do: Nay, then our Confciences will be as a thousand Witneffes, either for the acquitting or condemning us; and will bring to our Remembrance the whole Series of our Actions, as fresh as if they were but newly done. All thofe Sins which we here made it our Business to forget as foon as we could, fhall then, with all their aggravating Circumftances, be fet in order before us. Nay, then shall all our Actions, even thofe that we are moft afhamed of, those that we always used the greatest Care to conceal from the Knowledge of others, be expofed to the View of the whole World. Our Hearts fhall then be laid open, and Angels and Men fhall fee what Principles and Defigns they were that influenced our Actions. This the Scripture fully affures us of, telling us, that when God comes to judge the World, he will 1 Cor.4.5. both bring to Light the hidden Things of Darkness, and will make manifeft the Counfels of the Heart, And in another Place,

I

God

Ecclef. 12. God hall bring every Work into Judgment, with every fecret Thing, whether it be good,

4.

V.34.

V.41.

or whether it be evil.

6. But I haften to the laft Particular which the Scripture acquaints us with concerning this Matter; and with it I fhall fhut up this Difcourfe: and that is, the final Sentence that fhall follow upon this Examination and Difcovery of all Actions, and the Execution of that Sentence. This Sentence is two-fold, according to the two different States of Men that fhall be found at that Day; viz. the Sentence of Abfolution, and that fhall be pronounced upon all the Godly; and the Sentence of Condemnation, and that fhall be pronounced upon all the Wicked, and upon the apoftate Angels. Both thefe we have fully declared in the 25th of St. Matthew fo often mentioned; The King fhall fay to them on the right Hand, Come, ye blefed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. And then follows the Sentence of Condemnation a little further; He fhall fay unto them on the left Hand, Depart from me, ye curfed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And then, in the last Verse, follows the Execution of both thefe Sentences, Thefe hall go away into everlasting Punishment, but the Righteous into Life eternal.

Oh!

Oh! the infinite and inexpreffible Horror, and Confufion, and Anguifh, and Defpair, that will feize upon all wicked and ungodly Perfons when this fhall come upon them. When they fhall hear the Judge pronounce that terrible Sentence, and at the fame time find themselves drag'd away to fuffer it in Extremity, Depart from me ye curfed. Oh, dreadful Words! Depart from him who is the Life of our Lives! and without whofe Prefence and comfortable Influence, it is infinitely more defireable not to be at all, than to live and have the whole World. Time indeed hath been, when they have often bid God to depart from them; when they defired nothing more, than to keep as far from him as they could, and endeavoured nothing more, than that he should not be in their Thoughts. But they will not always be abused and cheated with thefe falfe Notions. They will then be awakened, and their Understandings will faithfully reprefent to them what an unfpeakable Lofs it is to be deprived of the Prefence of God. They will then fee clearly (tho' too late) what a mighty Happiness the Saints enjoy, in loving, in adoring, in admiring his infinite Majefty, and in being filled with the Senfe of his Love, and enravifhed with the perpetual Emanations of his Goodness. They will then find, that to depart from God is to be miferable in the highest De

gree,