VeR. 6.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDK. 215
ter the tree appeareth not what it is, the sap and life is hidden in the root, but when summer cometh all is discovered : so now it doth not appear who are God's, nor what they shall be, but at this day all is manifest. ' When Christ shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory ; ' they shall attain to that fulness of glory as their hearts could never conceive. It is said, 2 Thes. i. 10, ' Christ will be admired in them.' The angels shall stand wondering what Christ is about to do with creatures but newly crept out of dust and rottenness. Every one of them shall shine as the sun ; and what a great and glorious day must that be, when there is a constellation of so many suns ! They shall share with Christ in the glory of his kingdom, as being associated with him in judging the world. ' The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning,' Ps. xlix. 14; those that are now scorned, persecuted, opposed everywhere, in the morning of the resurrection, when they awake to meet Christ, then shall they have dominion over the carnal world ; therefore, sentence beginneth with the godly, as execution doth with the wicked. The elect are first acquitted before the ungodly are condemned, that they may join afterwards with Christ in judging the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2.
Again, it is great in regard of the manner of process, but of that see ver. 15.
3. The consequences ofthisday ; they are three : — (1.) The sending of the persons judged into their everlasting state ; (2.) The resigning up of the kingdom to the Father ; (3.) The burning of the world.
[1.] The sending of the persons judged into their everlasting estate, the elect into glory, and the wicked into torments: Mat. xxv. 34, ' Come, ye blessed of my Father,' &c. You have been too long absent from me ; come receive the fruit of your faith and hope ; but ver. 41, ' Go, ye cursed,' &c : they are banished out of Christ's presence with such a terrible ban and proscription as shall never be reversed. As Haman's face was covered, and so led away to execution, so are they chased out of Christ's presence with horror, yelling and howling with the voice of dragons, and begging for mercy, but find none. Now from this sentence there is no appeal ; it is pronounced by Christ as God-man. On earth many times God's sentence is repealed if the nation will repent, &c., Jer. xviii. 8 ; and so though God doth never change his decree, he doth often change his sentence ; but the day of patience is now past, and therefore this sentence can never be recalled. Again, the execution is speedy. Here many times the sentence is passed, but ' sentence is not speedily executed ' upon an evil-doer, Eccles. viii. 11. Once more, this execution beginning with the wicked in the sight of the just, irpwTov ^i^dvia : ' Gather ye first the tares,' &c., Mat. xiii. 30 ; which worketh the more upon the envy and grief of the wicked, that they are thrust out whilst the godly remain with Christ seeing execution done ; and the godly have the deeper sense of their condition, avriKeifxeva TraprjWayfxiva, &c. Contraries put together do more heighten one another ; in the execution of the wicked they may see from what they are delivered by grace. Again the sentence is executed upon the whole man, and that for ever; body and soul are partakers, as in the work, so in the punishment and reward ; and it is eternal, for the reward is built on an infinite merit ; and the punish-
216 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 6.
ment is eternal, because an infinite majesty is offended ; and in the next world men are in their final estate, without possibility of change ; therefore God is never weary blessing the good and cursing the wicked.
[2.] The next consequent is the resigning and giving up the kingdom to the Father, spoken of 1 Cor. xv, from 24 to 28. Kingdom may be put for royal authority, or subjects governed, as the people we call sometimes the kingdom of England or kingdom of France. Christ is ever head of the earth, and in heaven we subsist not only by virtue of bis everlasting merit, but everlasting influence, for he is ' the life,' John xiv. 6. And therefore I take kingdom here in the latter sense for the subjects or the church, who are resigned or presented to God, Eph. V. 27, as the fruits of Christ's purchase, as a prey snatched out of the teeth of lions. The form of presentation you have, Heb. ii. 13, ' Behold I and all the little ones which thou hast given me.' Oh ! what a great and glorious day will this be, Avhen we shall see Christ and all his little ones following him, and the great Shepherd of the sheep going into his everlasting folds, and all the elect in his company, with their crowns on their heads, singing, ' 0 grave ! where is thy victory ? 0 death ! where is thy sting ? ' When all enemies shall be broken, and the church lodged in those blessed mansions, what ap- plause and acclamations will there be between them and Christ, be- tween them and the angels, them and their fellow saints ! How should we strive to be some of this number !