to duft, yet the foul will awake and live; will be configned to an intermediate state of glorious expectation; and wait, full of hope and joy, for the restoration of the body. To the righteous the fting of death is taken away, for after their departure hence, they reckon to receive the reward of their good deeds; but this reward is only to be obtained by a virtuous and godly life: if we continue firm in the covenant we entered into with God at our baptifm, we are promised an inheritance which will last for ever. CHAPTER V. Of the last general Judgment. WHE HEN the whole world, by general fummons, is to be arranged in regular order around the divine throne, and eternal fentence to be paffed according to their deferts; then will the angels come forth in the execution of their office, and fever the wicked from among the juft; and cause the one to enter upon an eternity of torments, but will introduce the latter into a ftate of everlasting felicity. In handling this fubject, these two things offer themfelves to our confideration: ift. The Ift. The certainty of a future judgment. 2dly. The manner of proceeding according as it is declared in the scriptures. We learn from the gospel, that the last judgment is to be the immediate confequent of a refurrection, to which all men are to be cited, that they may receive the due reward of their deeds. That God has appointed a day for this judgment, before the creation of the world, appears from the 25th chapter of Matthew, and the 34th verfe: Come ye bleffed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Almighty God has manifefted this irrevocable decree, at various times, even in the old testament, though more obfcurely both in the law and the prophets 13th Hof. v. 14. I will ranfom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death. And again in the 12th chapter of Daniel: And many that fleep in the duft of the earth shall awake and come forth, fome to everlasting life, and fome to fhame and everlasting contempt. The wife author of Ecclefiafticus, after meditating on the state of human affairs, and the common occurrences of life, and obferving that the righteous and the wicked fared alike; that God, to all appearance, was impartial in the difpenfations of his favours favours and of his displeasure; he therefore infers, that there must be a future judgment paffing upon all men, both good and bad; whereby these feeming incongruities in the administration of providence, may be rectified his words are thefe, I faid in my heart, God fhall judge the righteous and wicked; and, as an inducement to piety and the observance of God's commandments, he further adds, For God fhall bring every work into judgment, with every fecret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. But the circumstances, and the certainty, of the last day, are more clearly revealed in the new testament; where it is faid, the Son of Man fhall come in the glory of his Father with the angels, and then fhall he reward every man as his work fhall be. And in the 12th chapter of St. Luke, our Saviour gives this affurance: There is nothing covered that fhall not be revealed, neither hid that fhall not be known. Therefore, whatfoever ye have fpoken in darknefs, fhall be heard in the light; and that which ye have fpoken in the ears, in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the houfe tops. For the Lord hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereby he hath given affurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead; and, as expreffed expreffed in our creed, he afcended into heaven, and fitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he fhall come to judge the quick and the dead. : It is neceffary and fit that there should be a future judgment, as well as reasonable for us to expect it and the scriptures give us full fatisfaction of this expectation. For God every where declares himself a lover of righteousness, and a hater of iniquity therefore we may be affured that he will reward the good, and punish the wicked, if not in this world, yet moft certainly in another. We frequently fee the righteous, in this life, afflicted with heavy calamities, immersed in trouble, or expofed to the fcorn and infults of their enemies; while the wicked abound in wealth and plenty, and, to all outward appearance, are entirely at eafe, all things happening according to their wifh from hence it is evident that there will be a day, in which God will render to every one according to their works: and will affign to the one, a reward proportionable to their fervices; and to the other, a punishment fuitable to their crimes; this, in the 3d chapter of Acts, is called, the times of reftitution of all things. In the present confused state of things, the wicked, mixed with the good, live fecurely; fecurely; and with refpect to outward felicity, it is impoffible to form any judgment of the piety or impiety of any one, or of God's love or hatred; for they promifcuously enjoy the good things of the world, equally partake of the bleffings and bounties of nature; for God fendeth rain upon the fields of the just and the unjuft, and causeth the fun to fhine on the evil and on the good. But the tares grow up together with the wheat, yet in the last day God will allot to every one their proper portion, and will feparate the tares from the wheat; for according to the 13th of St. Matthew, The angels will gather out of the kingdom of the Son of Man, all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and will make a dif tinction between the juft and the unjuft: as was foretold by the prophet Malachi, 3d chapter: Then fhall ye return and difcern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that ferveth God, and him that ferveth him not. To what is already mentioned of the certainty of a future judgment, I will add the testimony of conscience, which accuses and tortures the guilty, not from the fear of human punishment; for it is poffible for the wicked to fin fo fecretly, that none are witnefs to their crimes but God and themfelves therefore their trouble arifes from |