52 SERMOXS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XIV.
4. There is required authority ; for otherwise, if a man should obtrude himself of his own accord, we may say to him as they to Lot, Who made thee a judge over us? If by force he should assume this to himself, or have a pretence of right, I may decline and shift his tribunal, and appeal from him. Certainly he that rewards must be superior, and much more he that punisheth ; for he that punisheth another brings some notable evil, detriment, and damage upon liim, but to do that to another, unless w^e have right to it, is a high degree of injustice.
Now wisdom, and justice, and power, and authority, do all concur in the case ; for these things, as they are necessary in all judicial proceedings between man and man, much more in this great and solemn transaction of the last judgment, whicli will be the greatest that ever was, both in respect of the persons judged, high and low, rich and poor, prince and subject ; in respect of the causes to be judged, the whole business of the world for 6000 years, or thereabouts ; and in respect of the retributions that shall ensue, this judgment, the punishments and rewards in the highest degree, the highest punishment that ever was inflicted, and the highest reward that ever was distributed, and that infinite and everlasting. Therefore there must ])e a judge that hath an exact knowledge, knowing not only the laws, but all persons and causes — that all things should be ' naked, and open, to him with whom we have to do,' Heb. iv. 13 ; such a judge who knows the thoughts of our hearts, 1 John iii. 20, and can proceed upon sufficient evidence against every one that comes before him. Again, he must be exceeding just, without the least spot and blemish of wrong-dealing, for otherwise he cannot sustain his office, if he be not immutably just. >See how the judge of the world is described, Gen. xviii. 25, ' (Shall not the judge of all the world do right ? ' So when something was spoken which seemed to blemish the justice of God, the apostle saith, Eom. iii. 5, 6, 'Is God unrighteous? How then shall he judge the world ? ' That were impossible. Judgment may be put into a person's hands that possibly may be unrighteous, but it cannot be that the universal and final judgment of all the world should be committed to him that hath, or can do, anything that is unlawful or amiss. Again, power is necessary to summon the offenders, to gather up the'dead from all places of their dispersion, to give every dust its own body, and to make them appear and stand to the judg- ment which he will award, without hope of escaping or resisting. That power is very necessary will easily appear, because the offenders are so many, and are scattered to and fro, some in the sea, some in the earth, some buried in the bodies of wild beasts, multitudes in the maws of fishes. It must be a mighty power that can give every one his own body again. If it were possible, they would fain decline the tribunal, and hide themselves from the throne of the Lamb, Rev. vi. 16 ; but it cannot be. And authority is necessary also, whicli is a right to govern and to dispose of the persons judged, which being all the world, it belongs only to the universal king ; it must be such a person that made all things, that preserves all things, that governs and disposes of all things to his own glory. Legislation and execution both belong to the same power. Judgment is part of government. Laws are but
VeK. 10.] SERMON'S UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 53
shadows, if no execution follow. And therefore let us come particularly, and see how all this belongs to Christ ; that he is the only wise God ; and he is the just God, that cannot err; that he is the mighty God, whose hand none can escape ; and he is the universal king, that hath an absolute and supreme authority ; therefore he must be the judge of tlie world.
1. For wisdom and understanding, it is in Christ twofold — divine and human (for each nature hath its proper wisdom belonging to it). As Christ is God, his wisdom and his understanding are infinite, as it is said in the Psalms ; and so by one act of understanding he knows all things that are, have been, yea, that shall be, or may be. He knows all things that shall be in his own decree, and all things that may be by his divine power and all-sufficiency ; they are all before him naked, as the apostle infers, Heb. iv. 13, cut down as it were by the chine-bone. As when we cut down a beast by the chine-bone, and divide his body, w^e may see all things within him ; so all things are naked and open to God. We know things successively, God knows them all at once. If a man were to read a book, he must go from line to line, or from page to page ; but God's knowledge is just such a thing as if a man should see through a book by one act of his mind, by one view, could know all that was contained in that book by one glance of his eye. Well, this is his divine wisdom. For his human wisdom, that cannot be equal to this, for a finite nature is not capable of an infinite under- standing. But yet his human wisdom is such as doth far exceed the knowledge of all men and angels. When Christ was upon earth, though the forms of things could not but successively come into his mind (as a man, he must understand as men do in understanding, because of the limited nature of the mind and understanding), yet then he could know whatever he would. To whatsoever thing he did apply his mind he did presently understand it, and that in a moment all things were presented to him ; so that he accurately knew the nature of things he had a mind to know. You find upon all occasions he was not ignorant of the thoughts and hearts of men, and when done ever so secretly, yet Christ knew them ; as when the woman came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment undiscernibly (as she thought) by a secret touch, then saith Christ, ' Who touched me ? for virtue is passed from me,' Luke viii. 4.5. Christ knew the touch of faith, knew the woman that came behind him, and would not be seen. And Mat. ix, 3, 4, ' When certain Pharisees said within themselves, This man bla.sphemes ; ' within their hearts, though they durst not say it publicly ; and Christ discovers their inward thoughts, and turns out the very inside of their souls ; so Mat. xii., Jesus knew their thoughts, when they imagined that by Beelzebub, the prince of devils, he cast out devils. But more fully see that notable place which will set forth that no subtle devices we can use are sufficient to escape his knowledge : John ii. 23-25, ' When he was at Jeiusalem at the passover, on the feast-day, many believed in his name when they .saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man ; for he knew what was in man.' Mark, they are .said to believe in Christ. Certainly their faith was not pretended only, but real,