(3.) Those that war against his enemies, the devil, the world, and the flesh : Ptev. iii. 21, ' To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with ray Father in his throne.'
VeR. 10.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 63
(4.) Those that obey his hiws and imitate his example : 1 John ii. 28, ' And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.' And 1 John iv. 17, 'Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we ia this world.'
[2.] "What is the comfort that they have ?
(1.) The judge is their friend, their kinsman, their brother, their high priest, to mal^e atonement for them, the propitiation for their sins, their advocate and intercessor, one that died for them.
(2.) He cometh to lead them to their everlasting mansions. Christ is a pattern of what shall be done to them. He rose from the dead, and is become ' tlie first fruits of them that slept.' He now ' sitteth at the right hand of God, making intercession for them.' And ' he will come again, and receive them to himself. That they may be where he is, and behold his glory.'
SERMON XV.
For we must all appear hefore the Judgment-seat of Clirist, — •
2 Cor. v. 10.'
We have handled — 1. The necessity; 2. The universality; 3. The judge ; 4. The manner of judging. This last we are now upon. The word (f)avepcodi]vac signifieth both to appear and to be made manifest. We may conjoin. the senses; we must so appear, as to be made manifest.
First. To appear ; that ive mzist all appear, every individual person. Four things evince tliat, —
1. The wisdom and the justice of the judge.
2. The power, im})artiality and faithfulness of his ministers.
3. The nature of the business requireth an appearance.
4. The ends of the judgment.
1. The wisdom and justice of the judge. Such is his wisdom and perspicuity, that not one sinner or sin can escape him : Heb. iv. 13, ' There is not any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.' This scripture informeth us of the perfect knowledge of God, as he is a judge, without which his judgment cannot be just and perfect ; he knoweth all the persons and causes of men that are brouglit before him. All things in general, and every thing in particular, are manifest to him, fully, clearly, and evidently discovered to him : Ps. Ixix. 5, ' 0 God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee.' He is neither ignorant of man, nor any- thing in man, who must have to do with him, that is to be judged by him. So Jer. xvii. 10, ' I, the Lord, search the heart and try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and the fruit of his own doing.' The force of the reason is this: that seeini;: we must be
64 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. XV.
judged by a most exact, impartial and all-knowing judge, there can be no hope of lying hid in the throng, or escaping and avoiding the judgment. It concerneth the judge of the world to do right, which he cannot do, unless all sins and persons be manifest to him, that he may render to every one according to his deeds.
2. The power, impartiality and faithfulness of his ministers, who are the holy angels. Much of the work of that day is despatched by the ministry of angels: Mat. xxiv. 31, 'They shall gather the elect from the four winds.' In the particular judgment they have a ministry ; they convey the souls of men to Christ : Luke xvi. 22, 'Carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.' They that carried their souls to heaven, shall be employed in bringing their bodies out of their graves. Now this ministry is not confined to the elect only ; they do not only carry the corn into the barn, but the tares into the furnace: Mat. xiii. 39-41, 'And the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered together, and burnt in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that do offend, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire ; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' It is the angels' Avork to separate the wicked from the godly, to bind up tlie tares in bundles, that they may be burnt in the fire. They force and present "wicked men before the judge, be they never so unwilling and obstinate. So in the parable of the drag-net. Mat. xiii. 49, 50, ' So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' There is a mixture unavoidable of good and bad in the church, but then a perfect separa- tion by the ministry of angels.