Depart from me, ye curfed: he shall adjudge them to everlafting fire, and the fociety of devils for evermore. And this fentence alfo, we fuppofe, fhall be prenounced with an audible voice, by the man Christ. And all the faints fhall fay, Hallelujah, true and righteous are his judgments, None were to compaffionate as the faints, when on earth, during the time of God's patience. But now that time is at an end; their compaffion on the ungodly is fwallowed up in joy, in the Mediator's glory, and his executing of just judgment, by which his enemies are made his footstool. Though fometimes, the righteous man did weep in fecret places for their pride, and because they would not hear; yet then he ball rejoice when he feeth the vengeance, he hall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, Pfal. Iviii. 10. No pity fhall then be fhewn to them, from their nearest relations. The godly wife fhall applaud the juftice of the Judge, in the condemnation of her ungodly husband: the godly husband fhall fay Amen to the damnation of her whọ lay in his bofom: the godly parents shall fay Hallelujah, at the paffiog of the fentence against their ungodly child: the the godly child fhall, from his heart, approve the damnation of his wicked parents, the father who begat him, and the mother who bore him. The fentence is juft; they are judged according to their works, Rev. xx. 12.

There is no wrong done them. For I was an hungry,' faith our Lord, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink, I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; fick, and in ' prison, and ye vifited me not, ver, 42, 43.' These are not only evidences of their ungodly and curfed state, but most proper caufes and grounds of their condemnation; for though good works do not merit falvation, yet evil works merit damnation. Sins of one kind only, namely of omiffion, are here mentioned; not that these alone fhall then be difco vered, (for the opening of the books lay all open) but becaufe thefe, though there were no more, are fufficient to damn unpardoned finners. And if men fhall be condemned for fins of omiffion, much more for fins of commiffion. The omiffion of works of charity and mercy, is condefcended on particularly, to stop the mouths of the wicked; for it is most juft, that he have judgment without mercy,

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State IV. that bath fhewed no mercy, James ii, 13. The mentioning of the omiffion of acts of charity and mercy towards the diftreffed members of Chrift, intimates, that it is the judgment of thofe who have heard of Chrift in the gospel, that is principally intended here, in this portion of fcripture; and that the flighting of Chrift will be the great caule of the ruin of thofe who hear the gofpel: but the enmity of the hearts of the wicked against himfelt, is difcovered by the entertainment they now give to his members.

In vain will they fay, When Jaw we thee an hungred, or a-thirft? &c. ver. 44. For the Lord reckons, and will reckon, the world's unkindness to his people, unkindness to himfelf; in as much as ye did it not to one of the leaf of these, ye did it not to me, ver. 45. O meat and drink unhappily fpared, when a member of Chrift was in need of it! O wretched neglect, that the ftranger faint was not taken in ! it had been better for them, they had quitted their own room, and their own bed, than he had wanted lodging, O curfed cloathing, may the wicked fay, that was in my houfe, locked upin my cheft, or hanging in my wardrobe, and was not brought out to clothe fuch a one! O that I had Aripped myself, rather than he had gone away without cloathing? Curfed bufinefs, that diverted me from visiting fuch a fick faint? O that I had rather watched whole nights with him. Wretch that I was? why did I fit at eafe in my houfe, when he was in prison, and did not vifit him? But now the tables are turned: Chrift's fervants hall eat, but I shall be hungry; his fervants hall drink, but I fhall be thirfty; they rejoice, but I am afhamed, ja, lxv. 13. They are taken in, but I am caft out, and bid depart; they are cloathed with robes of glory, but walk naked, and they fee my fhame, Rev. xvi. 15. They are now raised up on high, beyond the reach of fickness or pain; but I must now ly down in forrow, Ifa. Now shall they go to the palace of heaven, but I must go to the prison of hell.

1. 11.

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But if our Lord thus refents mens neglecting to help his people under thefe, and the like diftreffes: what may they expect, who are the authors and inftruments of them? If they fhall be fed with wrath, who fed them not, when they were hungry; what shall become of thofe, who robbed and poiled them, and took their own bread away from them?

What

What a full cup of wrath fhall be the portion of those who were so far from giving them meat and drink, when hungry or thirsty, that they made it a crime for others to entertain them, and made themselves drunken with their blood! they muft lodge with devils for evermore, who took not in the Lord's people, when ftrangers: then, what a lodging fhall those have, who drave him out of their own houses, out of their native land, and made them ftrangers? Men will be condemned for not cloathing them, when naked: then, how heavy must the fentence of those be, who have ftript them, and made them go without cloathing? Surely, if not vifiting of them in fickness, or in a prison, fhall be fo feverely punished: they fhall not escape a most heavy doom, who have caft them into prisons, and have put them under fuch hardships, as have impaired their health, brought fickness on them, and cut their days in prison, or out of prison.

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To put a face upon fuch wicked practices, men will pretend to retain an honour for Chrift and religion, while they thus treat his members, walking in his ways, and keeping the truth. They are here reprefented to fay, When faw we thee an hungred, or a-thirft, or a stranger, or naked, or fick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?' Ver: 44. As if they should fay, Our bread, drink, lodging, cloathing, and vifits, were indeed refufed, but not to Chrift; but to a fet of men, of a bad character, men who turned the world upside down, (Acts xvii. 6.) who troubled Israel, (2. Kings xviii. 17.) an humorous and fantastic fort of people, having laws diverfe from all people; factious and rebellious (they did not keep the king's laws) and therefore a very dangerous fet of men; it was not for the king's profit to fuffer them, Efther iii. 8. But although men caft iniquity upon the godly, and give them ill names, that they may treat them as criminals; all these pretences will avail them nothing, in the great day, before the righteous Judge, nor before their own confciences neither; but the real ground of their enmity against the faints, will be found (to their own conviction) to be their enmity against Chrift himself. This feems to be the import of the objection of the damned. (ver 44, and of the answer to it, ver. 45.) • In as much as ye • did it not to one of the leaft of thefe, ye did not to me,'

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Laftly

State Lafly, Sentence being paft on both parties, follows fall execution of the fame, ver. 46. And these thall go a into everlofting punishment, but the righteous into life e nal. The damned fhall get no reprieve, but go to their p without delay; they fhall be driven away from the j ment feat into hell: and the faints hall enter into the ki palace, (Pfal. xiv. 15.) namely, into heaven the feat of bleffed. But our Lord Chrift, and his glorious comp fhall keep the field that day, and fee the backs of all enemies; for the damned go off first.

In this day of the Lord, the great day, fhall be the ral conflagration; by which thofe vifible heavens, the e and fea fhall pass away. Not that they fhall be annihila (or reduced to nothing) that is not the operation of but they fhall be diffolved, and purged by that fire, fro the effects of fin, or of the curfe, upon them; and the newed, and made more glorious and ftable. Of this co gration, the Apoflle Peter fpeaks, 2 Pet. iii. 10. Bu

day of the Lord will come, as a thief in the night: ⚫ which the heavens fhall pafs away with a great noife,an elements fhall melt with fervent heat: the earth alf the works that are therein fhall be burnt up.' See ali 7, 12. And of the renewing of the world, he adds, ve Nevertheless we, according to his promife, look fo heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteou

It seems most agreeable to the fcriptures, and to t ture of the thing, to conceive this conflagration to foll ter the general judgment; fentence being paft on bot ties before it. And I judge it probable, that it will with the putting of the fentence in execution again damned: fo as they fhall (according to their fentenc part and the heavens and the earth pass away, togeth at once, at that furious rebuke from the throne, driv way the damned out of the world (in this fire) to the lafting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. E in the deluge, with which the Apofle Peter compar conflagration, or burning of the world, (2 Pet. iii. the world itfelf and the wicked upon it, perished trg the fame water which deftroyed the earth, fweeping the inhabitants. For it is not likely, that the wicked all ftand on the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteo

The

(2 Pet. iii. 13.) and as for this earth, it fhall flee away, (which feems to denote a very quick difpatch) and it fhall flee from his face, who fits on the throne, Rev. xx. 11. And I faw a great white throne, and him that fat on it, from whofe face the earth and the heavens fled away. execution of the fentence on the wicked, is alfo thus expreffed; they shall be punished with everlafting deftruction from the prefence, or from the face of the Lord. 2 Theff. i. 9. The original word is the fame in both texts, the which, being compared, feem to fay, that thefe creatures abused by the wicked, being left to ftand, as witneffes against them in the judgment, are, after fentence paft on their abusers, made to pass away with them from the face of the Judge. It is true, the fleeing away of the earth and heaven is narrated (Rev. xx. 11.) before the judgment: but that will not prove its going before the judgment, more than the nar rating of the judgment, ver. 12. before the refurrection, ver. 13. will prove the judgment to be before it. Further, it is remarkable, in the execution of the fentence, Rev. xx. 14, 15. that not only the reprobate are caft into the lake, but death and hell are cast into it likewife: all effects of fin, and of the curfe, are removed out of the world, (for which very cause shall the conflagration be) and they are confined to the place of the damned. Befides all this, it is evident the end of the world is by the conflagration and the Apostle tells us, (1 Cor. xv. 24, 25.) that Then cometh the end, when he fhall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father: when he fhall have put down all rule, ⚫ and all authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.' The which laft, as it must be done before the end: fo it feems not to be done, but by putting the fentence in execution, paft in the day of judgment, against the wicked.

Now if the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, that are set forth for an example, (Jude 7.) was fo dreadful: how terrible will that day, be, when the whole world fhall be at once in flames! how will wretched worldlings look, when their darling world fhall be all on fire? Then fhall ftrong caftles, and towering palaces, with all their rich furniture, go pp together in one flame with the loweft cottages. What heart can fully conceive the terror of that day to the wicked