VeR. 31.] SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. 27
be saved.' His work then was to hold out the way of life, or to open the way of salvation to lost man, as a meek saviour and mediator. So John xii. 47, ' If any man hear my words, and believe them not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.' ' I judge not,' that is, as yet. He laid aside the person of a judge then, and took on him the office of a Saviour, to ofier and pur- chase mercy ; that was his proper errand when he came first into the world. So Luke ix. 56, ' The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.' And to comply with that end, he cast a veil upon his glory, and endured the enmity and contradiction of the world ; but now it is otherwise, so that the scandal of his first estate is fully taken off.
2. He appeareth in this great glory to beget a greater reverence and fear in the hearts of all those that shall be judged by him. He telleth them aforehand, that ' the Son of man will come in great glory and majesty ;' to daunt and quell the haughty minds and proud conceits of the potentates, oppressors, and great ones of the earth, who often abuse their power to wrong and violence : Eccles. v. 8, ' If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and the violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter ; for he that is higher than the highest regardeth, and there be higher than they.' Here is swaying and swaggering, and bearing high upon the thought of their title and greatness ; but there they and all their greatness and power shall meet with a judge that is able by the breath of his mouth to consume them. What meaneth the insolency of the mighty, the pride of the great heroes of the earth, that swell and grow haughty with their greatness, to look and speak so big ? Nothing is so jirofitable to allay the excesses of power, or to fortify us against the fears of it, as the consideration of this mighty judge, who will review all matters, and cause the great men of the earth to tremble. Power is an unwieldy thing, apt to degenerate, and to put men upon unwarrantable prac- tices ; therefore, it needeth to be allayed and balanced with the con- sideration of a greater power, Alas ! all the power and glory of the world is but a fancy, a vain pageantry, compared to Christ's power and glory. AVhat is their authority to his, their splendour to his, their guard to his? Nothing can excuse them; this judgment must and shall pass upon them.
3. For the comfort of his people ; for Christ is a pledge and pattern of what shall be done in them ; in all things he must first it, Eom. viii. 29 ; and we are made conformable to his image and likeness. All privileges come to us not only from Christ but through Christ : he as mediator is the first possessor. Are we elected ? he was elected first : 'My elect servant,' Isa. xlii. 1. Are we justified .5^ so was he as our surety : 1 Tim. iii. 16, ' Justified in the Spirit.' Are Ave sanctified ? first he received the Spirit of holiness. Are we glorified ? so was he : Col. iii. 4, ' When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory ;' 1 John iii. 2, ' We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.' There will be a manifestation of the sons of God, Rom. viii. 19 ; first the first-born, then all the rest of the brethren. Yea, we participate of his judicial power: the saints shall not only be judged, but the judges, 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. The evil spirits a long time
28 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SeR. XIX.
ago had their punishment, but then their solemn doom. The saints shall sit down with him as justices upon the bench. Here the saints judge the world by their doctrine and conversation, there by their vote and suffrage. There is the relation between Christ and the church of wife and husband ; 'iixo?- fidget radiis mariti ; as tlie husband riseth in honour so doth the wife : of head and members, Avhen the head is crowned all the members are clothed with honour. His mystical body shares Avith him, that there may be a proportion in the body. He is the captain of our salvation, and he will dignify and reward his soldiers, Heb. ii. 10. David, when he w-as crowned at Hebron, his followers were made captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties. Masters and servants : ' My servant shall bo where 1 am.' He will put marks of honour and favour upon all his servants. Here they were disgraced with him, suffered with him, slighted with him ; then they shall be glorified with him, for still there is a likeness. We must be contented to lie hid till he be publicly manifested to the world, for we have all our blessings at secondhand. So much for the first thing, his personal glory.