the other world, which every finner is in danger of whilst he continues impenitent; for as according to the tenor of the gospel, godliness hath the promises of this life and of that which is to come, fo impenitency in fin expofeth men to the evils of both worlds, to the judgments of the life that now is, and to the endless and intolerable torments of that which is to come. And what can be more dreadful than the dif pleasure of an almighty and eternal Being, who can punish to the utmoft, and who lives for ever, to execute his wrath and vengeance upon finners? fo that well might the Apoftle fay, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Confider this all ye that forget God, that neglect him, and live in continual disobedience to his holy and righteous laws; much more those who defpife and affront him, and live in a perpetual defiance of him. Will ye provoke the Lord to jealousy? are ye ftronger than he? Think of it feriously, and forget him if you can, defpife him if you dare; confider this, left he take you into confideration, and rouze like a lion out of fleep, and tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. This is the firft obfervation, the infinite danger that a wicked and finful courfe doth expofe men to, the wrath of God, which doth not only fignify more than all the evils that we know, but than all thofe which the wildeft fears and fufpicions of our minds can imagine.

Secondly, The next thing obfervable, is the clear and undoubted revelation which the gofpel has made of this danger, the wrath of God is revealed, &c. By which the Apostle intimates to us, that this was but obfcurely known to the world before, at leaft in comparison of that clear difcovery which the gofpel hath now made of it; fo that I may allude to that expreffion in Job, which he applies to death and the grave, that hell is naked before us, and deftruction hath no covering.

Not but that mankind had always apprehenfions and jealoufies of the danger of a wicked life, and finners were always afraid of the vengeance of God pursuing their evil deeds, not only in this life, but Gg 2

after

after it too; and though they had turned the punish-ments of another world into ridiculous fables, yet the wifer fort of mankind could not get it out of their minds, that there was fomething real under them; and that Ixion's wheel,which by a perpetual motion carried him about; and Sifyphus his ftone, which he was perpetually rolling up the hill, and when he had it near the got tumbled down, and ftill cretop,. ated him a new labour; and Tantalus his continual hunger and thirst, aggravated by a perpetual nearnefs of enjoyment, and a perpetual difappointment; and Prometheus his being chained to a rock, with an eagle or vulture perpetually preying upon his liver, which grew as falt as it was gnawed, I fay, even the wifer among the heathens looked upon these as fantastical reprefentations of fomething that was real, viz. the grievous and endless punishment of finners, the not to be endured, and yet perpetually renewed torments of another world: for in the midst of all the ignorance and degeneracy of the heathen world, mens confciences did accufe them when they did amifs, and they had fecret fears and mifgivings of fome mighty danger hanging over them from the difpleafure of a fuperior Being, and the apprehenfion of fome great mifchiefs likely to follow their wicked actions, which fome time or other would -overtake. them; which because they did not always in this world, they dreaded them in the next. And this was the foundation of all thofe fuperftitions, whereby the ancient. Pagans endeavoured fo carefully to appease their offended deities, and to avert the cadamities which they feared they would fend down upon them. But all this while they had no certain affurance by any clear and exprefs revelation from God to that purpose, but only the jealoufies and fufpicions of their own minds, naturally confequent upon thofe notions which men generally had of God; but fo obfcured and depraved by the lufts and vices of men, and by the grofs and falfe conceptions which they had of God, that they only ferved to make them fuperftitious, but were not clear and ftrong enough to make them wifely and feriously religious,

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And to fpeak the truth, the more knowing and inquifitive part of the heathen world had brought all these things into great doubt and uncertainty, by the nicety and fuotity & difantes about them; that le so was no great wonder that thefe principles had no greater effect upon the lives of men, when their ap prehenfions of them were fo dark and doubtful.

But the gofpel hath made a moft clear and certain revelation of these things to mankind. It was written before upon mens hearts as the great fanction of the law of nature, but the impreffions of this were in a great measure blurred and worn out, fo that it had no great power and efficacy upon the minds and manners of men; but now it is clearly difcovered to us, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, which expreffion may well imply in it these three things:

First, The clearness of the difcovery; the wrath of God is faid to be revealed.

Secondly, The extraordinary manner of it; it is faid to be revealed from heaven.

Thirdly, The certainty of it; not being the refult of fubtle and doubtful reafonings, but having a divine teftimony and confirmation given to it, which is the proper meaning of being revealed from hea

ven.

First, It imports the clearness of the difcovery. The punishment of finners in another world is not fo óbfcure a matter as it was before; it is now exprefly declared in the gofpel, together with the particular circumftances of it, namely, that there is another life after this, wherein men fhall receive the jult recompence of reward for all the actions done by them in this life; that there is a particular time appointed, wherein God will call all the world to a folemn account, and thofe who are in their graves fhall by a powerful voice be raised to life, and thofe who fhall then be found alive, fhall be fuddenly changed; when our Lord Jefus Chrift, the eternal and only begotten Son of God, who once came in great humility to fave us, fhall come again in power and great glory, attended with his mighty Angels, Gg 3

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and all nations shall be gathered before him; and all mankind fhall be feparated into two companies, the righteous and the wicked, who, after a full hearing, and fair trial, fhall be fentenced according to their actions, the one to eternal life and happiness, the other to everlasting mifery and torment.

So that the gofpel hath not only declared the thing to us, that there fhall be a future judgment; but, for our farther affurance and fatisfaction in this matter, and that these things might make a deep impreffion, and frike a great awe upon our minds, God hath been pleafed to reveal it to us with a great many particular circumftances, fuch as are very worthy of God, and apt to fill the minds of men with dread and aftonishment, as often as they think of them.

For the circumstances of this judgment revealed to us in the gospel, are very folemn and awful, not fuch as the wild fancies and imaginations of men would have been apt to have drett it up withal, fuch as are the fictions of the heathen Poets, and the extravagancies of Mahomet; which though they be terrible enough, yet they are withal ridiculous; but fuch as are every way becoming the majesty of the great God, and the folemnity of the great day, and fuch as do not in the leaft favour of the vanity and lightnefs of human imagination.

For what more fair and equal, than that men fhould be tried by a man like themselves, one of the fame rank and condition, that had experience of the infirmities and temptations of human nature? So our Lord tells us, that the Father hath committed all judgment to the Son, because he is the son of man, and therefore cannot be excepted against, as not being a fit and equal judge. And this St. Paul offers as a clear proof of the equitable proceedings of that day; God (fays he) has appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained.

And then what more congruous than that the Son of God, who had taken fo much pains for the falvation of men, and came into the world for that purpofe, and had used all imaginable means for the reformation

formation of mankind; I fay what more congruous, than that this very perfon fhould be honoured by God to fit in judgment upon the world, and to condemn thofe, who after all the means that had been tried for their recovery, would not repent and be faved? And what more proper, than that men, who are to be judged for things done in the body, fhould be judged in the body, and confequently that the refurrection of the dead fhould precede the general judgment?

And what more magnificent and fuitable to this glorious folemnity, than the awful circumftances which the fcripture mentions of the appearance of this great Judge; that he fhall defcend from heaven in great majefty and glory, attended with his mighty Angels; and that every eye shall fee him; that upon his appearance the frame of nature shall be in an agony, and the whole world in flame and confufion; that thofe great and glorious bodies of light fhall be obfcured, and by degrees extinguished the fun fhall be darkened, and the moon turned into blood, and all the powers of heaven fhaken; yea, the heavens themfelves fhall pass away with a great noife, and the elements diffolve with fervent heat; the earth also, and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. I appeal to any man, whether this be not a reprefentation of things very proper and fuitable to that great day, wherein he who made the world fhall come to judge it, and whether the wit of man ever devifed any thing fo awful, and fo agreeable to the majefty of God, and the folemn judgment of the whole world? The defcription which Virgil makes of the judgment of another world, of the Elyfian fields, and the infernal regions, how infinitely do they fall fhort of the majefty of the holy fcripture, and the defcription there made of heaven and hell, and of the great and terrible day of the Lord! fo that in comparison they are childish and trifling; and yet perhaps he had the moft regular and moft governed imagination of any man that ever lived, and obferved the greatest decorum in his characters and defcriptions. But who

can