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and fuch fecret Villains not only escape publick Shame, but are thought very extraordinary Men and great Saints: Now it is very fitting, that fuch Men alfo fhould have their Mafque and Difguife taken off, and be expofed to the View of the World juft as they are; and this God will do in that Day, when he will judge the Secrets of Mens Hearts, and bring to light the hidden Works of Darknefs: And then what will it avail them to pafs for Saints in this World, when at the Day of Judgment they fhall be known, and be doubly fcorned, both for their Wickedness, and for their Hypocrify?

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What a fevere Aggravation will it be of the Condemnation of the Wicked, to fee good Men, whom they defpifed and perfecuted, whofe Lives they thought Folly and Madness, now owned and rewarded by God; as our Saviour fpeaks, To fee them come from the Eaft and from the Weft, from the North and from the South, and fit down with Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of God, and themselves fhut out? This will be a confounding Sight at that Day; and as little as fuch Men now value Heaven, to fee the bright and dazling Crowns of thofe Bleffed Saints, will pierce their Souls, and wound them to Eternity.

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This juftifies the Wisdom of God, in appointing a general Day of Judgment, to reward Good Men, and to condemn the Wicked: But there is one good-natur'd Objection against this, which refpects Good Men; for there are few Good Men, but may have fome

very wicked Relations, who yet are very dear to them; and how can they bear to be Witneffes of their Final Condemnation; to hear that Sentence pronounced on them, Go ye curfed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. We tremble at the Thoughts of it now; and one would think it fhould over-caft the Glory of that Day to fuch bleffed Saints, to fee fuch a terrible Execution upon those who were fo dear to them: but this is fuch a Mistake, as the Sadduces Objections against the Refurrection, concerning the Woman who had feven Hufbands, whofe Wife fhe fhould be of the feven at the Refurrection, for they all had ber; but our Saviour told them, at the Refurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the Angels of God in Heaven: Thus it is here; thofe natural 28.Matth. Affections and Paffions which are of fo great 30. ufe in this World, and makes us fo nearly concerned for Children, and other Relations, are not the Meafures of our Kindness, and Friendship, and Concernment in the other World; they are neceffary here many times to fupply the place of Reason and Virtue and to prompt us to do thofe Good Offices by the impatience and uneafinefs of a Paffion, which the generality of Mankind would not do from wifer Principles: but the end of these Paffions is ferved in this World and there is no occafion for them in the next; and therefore we shall feel no uneafinefs or difturbance from them: Good men will have no Friends, no Relations in the other World, but those who

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are truly good, who are Members of the famė Myftical Body of Chrift, the Children of God, and Heirs of the fame Happiness and Glory.

To conclude, I fhall only obferve this farther; How vain it is for bad men to hope to defend themselves from Shame and Punishment by their Numbers; they may, I confefs, do it in this world, when they have to deal with men; tho' when God comes to Judge them even in this world, the most powerful Combinations of Siriners are but like Chaff before the Wind; But if ever Numbers would do, it would be at the Day of Judgment, when the Devil and his Angels, and all bad men fhall be fummoned together; and if they cannot then defend themselves, when their whole Force is united, but ftand as Criminals before their Judge, and receive their Sentence from him, it becomes us to fear and tremble before that powerful Judge, who has all Nature at his command, and all Devils and wicked men in Chains, and with the Word of his Mouth can condemn them to Eternal Torments.

SECT.

SECT. IV.

The Day of Judgment is at the End of the

World.

HE Day of Judgment is at the End of the World That it will be fo, and the Reasons why it will be fo, are very plain, from what I have already difcourfed: Our Saviour tells us that it is at the End of the World, when the Angels fhall feparate between the Wheat and the Tares which grew in the fame Field; between the good and the bad Fish which were taken in the fame Net, 13. Matth. It is in the Evening of the World, when the Lord comes to reckon with his Servants, and to reward those who have laboured in his Vineyard, 20. Matth. for when Chrift comes to Judg ment, this World fhall be fet on fire, and this prefent visible Frame of Things shall be dif folved, as St. Peter tells us, 2. Pet. 3. 10, 11, 12. Upon which account Chrift is faid to come in Flaming Fire;, of which more hereafter: And if God will judge all Mankind together, the Day of Judgment must be at the end of the World.

But befides this, it seems very reasonable and congruous, that the Final Judgment, and the End of the World fhould come together; or that when God finally judges all Mankind, he should put an end to this habitable Earth.

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For this Earth was made for the Habitation of man, and all things in it for his use and delight, and therefore it receives its Fate and Destiny with Man too.

Paradife was the Habitation of Innocent Man; and had Man continued Innocent, and peopledthe world with an Innocent and Holy Race, the whole world must have been a Paradife; but when Man had finned, and had no Right to fo eafy and happy a Life, the Ground was curfed for his fake, 3. Gen. 17, 18, 19. Curfed be the ground for thy fake; in forrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thiftles fhall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the fweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return unto the ground.

When all Flesh had corrupted their ways, excepting Noah and his Family, God deftroyed the Old World with its wicked Inhabitants : And to this day, befides that Original Curfe which still refts upon the Earth, Nature fuffers for the Sins of man, and revives and flourishes again, as he returns to his Duty: He turneth rivers into a wildernefs, and the water-fprings into dry ground: a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. And on the other hand, He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-Springs. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for babitation, 107. Pfal. 33, 34, 35, 36.

It were eafy to Harangue here, and defcribe the Ruins and Defolations which the

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