362 SERMON UPON ACTS XXIV. 25.
doth no more, it shall leave them under a conviction of the truth. Sometimes to conversion ; as 2 Cor, iv. 6, * God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Chri?t.' God concurreth with his own ordinance by his omnipotent and creating power.
[2.] Particularly the day of judgment is to be insisted upon in our ministry. The apostles, in planting the faith, observeth this point of wisdom, to insist much upon the judgment-day: Acts x. 42, 43, 'And he €ommanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead ; and to him give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever be- lievetli on him shall receive remission of sins.' This was the great point which his chosen witnesses were to insist upon. So also Acts xvii. 30, 31, 'But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteous- ness, by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.' The apostles observed the tempers of those they dealt with ; when with the brutish multitude, they invite them by arguments of providence : Acts xiv. 15-17, ' Sirs, why do ye these things ? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you, that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that are therein ; who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways ; nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, ■and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.' When with the learned, he speaks of the first cause and chief good : Acts xvii. 28, ' For in him we live, move, and have our being ; ' and binds all by his coming to judgment, ver. 31. So he deals with Felix here ; he urges principles of known equity and sobriety, from the day of judg- ment. See also 2 Cor. v. 10, 11, ' For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether good or evil. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.' This was their great and powerful argument.
Beasons.
(1.) Because this made their access into the hearts and consciences of men more easy, because of its suitableness to natural light. That man is God's creature, and therefore his subject, is evident by reasons drawn from our dependence on the first cause and fountain of all being. That man hath failed in his subjection to his creator and Lord is evident by daily experience ; that therefore God may call him to an account, and man should fear his wrath, is a principle as evident as the former, and justified by the guilty fears incident to mankind because of their offences : Kom. i. 32, ' Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death.' Divine justice must once publicly appear, and rectify the disorders of the world. Now because of the sentiments of nature, the doctrine of the final judgment doth easily enter into the thoughts and consciences of men.
SERMON UPON ACTS XXIV. 25. 363
(2.) This doth most befriend the great discovery of the gospel, which is justification by Christ and pardon of sin, by submitting to his instruction. If he be our judge, we ought to take the hiw from his mouth, and put ourselves into his hands, to be guided and ordered by him, that we may find favour in that day. This is evident ; every one would seek to be approved by his judge ; and that Christ is our judge is evident by his resurrection ; and his doctrine alone, with any pro- bability of reason, pretendeth to the reparation of mankind, and to set them in joint again, that they may live to God. Let men have but the sense of a judgment to come soundly laid up in their hearts and consciences, and they can have no rest while they keep off from the gospel.
(3.) This doth best solve the doubts about present providence. Paul doth not teach Felix that the christian religion doth make any difference between the just and unjust as to their outward condition in the world, or between the temperate and intemperate. No ; for the just may be oppressed and the unjust thrive, or else Felix had never been in power ; and as for the temperate, their religion would make them miserable while they deny the desires of the flesh. No ; here ' there be just men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked ; and there be wicked men to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous,' Eccles. viii. 4. But there is a judgment to come, wherein every man shall be judged according to what he hath done in this life ; all men must appear and receive their doom, and some go into everlasting life, others into everlasting punishment.