Imagine Christ, like the general of an army, mentioning with honour, on the head of all the hosts of heaven and earth, all the services that the saints have done for him in this world : then sen- tentially justifying them by open proclamation ; then mounting with him to the third heavens, and entering the gates of that city of God, in that noble train of saints and angels intermixed ; and so for ever to be with the Lord. O what a great day must this be !
Secondly, As it will be an awful and solemn judgment, so it will
530 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XLIT.
be a critical and exact judgment, every man will be weighed to his ounces and drachms. The name of the judge is Kaodioyvuzns, the Searcher of hearts. The judge hath eyes as flames of fire, which pierce to the dividing of the heart and reins. It is said, Matth. xii. 36. That men shall then " give an account of everv idle 44 word that they shall speak." It is a day that will perfectly fan the world. No hypocrite can escape ; Justice holds the balances in an even hand : Christ will go to work so exactly, that some di- vines of good note think, the day of judgment will last as long as this day of the gospel's administration hath lasted, or shall last.
Thirdly, it will be an universal judgment, 2 Cor. v. 10. " We '* must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.T> And Rom. xiv. 12. " Every one of us shall give an account of himself " to God." Those that were under the law, " and those that " having no law, were a law to themselves," Rom. ii. 12. Those that had many talents, and he that had but one talent, must ap- pear at this bar ; those that were carried from the cradle to the grave, with him that stooped for age : the rich, and poor ; the father, and the child ; the master, and servant ; the believer, and the unbeliever, must stand forth in that day. " I saw the dead, " both small and great, stand before God, and the books were " opened," Rev. xx. 12.
Fourthly, It will be a judgment full of convictive clearness. All things will be so sifted to bran, (as we say), that the sentence of Christ, both on saints and sinners, shall be applauded. " Righ- " teous art thou, O Lord, because thou hast judged thus." His judgments will be as the light that goeth forth. So that those poor sinners whom he will condemn, shall be first avroxaraxptrot self- condemned. Their own consciences shall be forced to confess, that there is not one drop of injustice in all that sea of wrath, into which they are to be cast.
Fifthly, and lastly, It will be a supreme and final judgment, from which lies no appeal. For it is the sentence of the highest, and only Lord. " For as the ultimate resolution of faith is into the " word and truth of God, so the ultimate resolution of justice is " into the judgment of God*." This judgment is supreme and imperial. For Christ is the only Potentate, 1 Tim. vi. 5. and there- fore the sentence once passed, its execution is infallible. And so you find it in that judicial process, Matth. xxv. ult. just after the .sentence is pronounced by Christ, it is immediately added, " these " shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous " into life eternal." This is the judgment of the great day.
Thirdly, In the last place, I must inform you, that God, in or-
* A't Dei verbum sit ultima resolutio fctlei, ad Dei tribunal ultima resolvtio judicii.
SEItM. XLTI. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 53l
darning Christ to be tlie Judge, has very highly exalted him. This will be very much for his honour : for in TJ f ft ' > ' rf
this, Christ's royal dignity will be illustrated, , V •' ¥m
11,,.J-J.i;>Ji rnent makes for
beyond whatever it was since he took our na- , ,, . ., , u
. J -u .1.1 i mi • i • Christ's honour.
ture, till that day; now he will appear in his
First, This act of judging pertaining properly to the kingly office, Christ will be glorified as much in his kingly office, as he hath been in either of the other. We find but some few glimpses of the kingly office, breaking forth in this world : as, his riding with Hosannas into Jerusalem ; his whipping the buyers and sellers out of the temple, his title upon the cross, $c. But these were but faint beams : Now that office will shine in its glory, as the sun in the midst of the heavens. For what were the Hosannas of little children, in the streets of Jerusalem, to the shouts and accla- mations of thousands of angels, and ten thousands of saints ? what was his whipping the profane out of the temple, to his turning the wicked into hell, and sending his angels to gather out of his kingdom every thing that offendeth ? what was a title written by his judge, and fixed on the ignominious tree, to the name that shall now be seen on his vesture, and on his thigh, King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Secondly, This will be a display of his glory in the highest, before the whole world. For they will be present at once, and together, all the inhabitants of heaven, and earth, and hell ; angels must be there to attend and minister ; those glittering courtiers of heaven must attend his person ; so that heaven will, for a time, be left empty of all its inhabitants : men and devils must be there to be judged : and before this great assembly, will Christ appear in royal Majesty. He will, (to allude to that text, Isa. xxiv. 23.) reign before his ancients gloriously. " For he will come to be glorified " in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe,1' 2 Thess. i. 10. The inhabitants of the three regions, heaven, earth and hell, shall then rejoice, or tremble before him, and acknow- ledge him to be supreme Lord and King.
Thirdly, This will roll away for ever the reproach of his death: for Pilate and the High-priest, that judged him at their bars, shall now stand quivering at his bar; with Herod that set him at nought, the soldiers and officers that traduced and abused him : there they that reviled him on the cross, wagging their heads, will stand, with trembling knees, before his throne. For " every *' eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him,1' Rev. i. 7. O what a contemptible person was Christ in their eyes once? As a worm, and no man. Every vile wretch could freely tread and trample on him ; but now such will be the brightness of his glory,
532 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. SERM. XLIL
such the awful beams of majesty, that the wicked shall not stand in his presence, or " be able to rise up,*' (as that * word imports, Psal. i. 5.) " before him." So that this will be a full and universal vindication of the death of Christ, from all that contempt and ig- nominy that had attended it. We next improve it.