2. The profitableness of insisting upon the last judgment, that we
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may persuade you, and you may suffer yourselves to be persuaded. It is the great awe-bond to beget in us a sense of our duty and sin ; for (1.) It is an impartial judgment, that must pass upon all, high or low, rich or poor : Rev. xx. 12, ' And I saw the dead,'small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the' books, according to their works.' Outward friend or foe, heathen or christian, officer or private person : 1 Peter i. 17, ' And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth every man according to his work,' (2.) It is a strict and just judgment: Acts xvii. 31, 'He hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness.' Now God winks at many faults, ver. 30. (3.) It is our final doom ; our eternal estate dependeth on it ; we must be judged to everlasting joy or everlasting torment. (4.) It is near and sure : ' For the judge standeth before the door,' James v. 9, Every week, day, hour, minute, we approach nearer to it.
3. The soreness of a bad conscience, and upon what unsound terms it is with God. Felix is set a trembling by Paul ; Belshazzar's edge taken off in the midst of his carousing : Dan. v. 6, * Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.' So true is that, Heb. ii. 15, 'Who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'
4. The necessity of a strict obedience. We should carry ourselves so that the word may comfort us, not make us afraid ; discharging our duties to God, to our neighbour, and to ourselves : Titus ii. 12, ' Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberiy, righteously, and godly in this present world.' Paul men- tioneth here two parts, as suiting to his purpose, but there are three — ■* Godly,' the chief part of which is to seek our reconciliation with God by Christ, then to love him and delight in him, and serve him faith- fully, doing his will, seeking his glory. ' Eighteously,' that we may be just to our neighbour, doing to others as we would be dealt with our- selves. * Soberly ; ' sobriety and temperance lieth in self-government, that he possess his vessel in sanctification and honour, keep himself unspotted from the world, subdue the flesh, that it may not wax wanton, that the heart be not hardened, nor conscience stupefied, and so become incapable of spiritual things, and so still crucify the flesh, and inure the mind to heavenly things.
5. The sottishness of them who are not moved so far as Felix was, who hear of righteousness, temperance, judgment to come, and are not .a whit moved.
Object. But you will say, Our hearts are established by grace, why should we be afraid of the future judgment ? I answer —
1. To be only moved with fear and terror is slavish.
2. You should have a deep reverence of his majesty, and so be afraid to displease him.
3. You must distinguish between a perplexing distrustful fear and an holy, preventive, eschewing fear.
4. There are great reasons why this fear should have an influence upon us while we dwell in flesh — (1.) Because the wrath of God was
366 SEKMON UPON ACTS XXIV. 25.
once our due ; (2.) We still deserve it ; (3.) It is certainly a great and extreme difficulty to get free from so great an evil. [See the Sermon on 2 Cor. v. 11.]
Use 2. Caution, which is double —
1. Do not lose the advantage of this common work, but when the waters are stirred, put in for a cure. It may be lost — (1.) Partly by delays or dreams of a more convenient season. The sinner's morrow will never come ; delay is but a plausible denial ; the sinner's non vacat is non placet : Luke xiv. 18, * And they all with one consent began to make excuse.' (2.) Partly by disobedience or relapses into our old crimes ; so Felix returned to his bribery and licentious course. There- fore let us open our hearts to Christ's knocking.
Reasons. (1.) It is very dangerous. None so bad as those that quench these convictions. The Holy Ghost by the power of the word setteth them a trembling many times at the thoughts of their condition, and they have some kind of mind to let sin go, but it cometh to nothing. Iron often heated and often quenched is the more hard ; the parts are more united and condensed ; as water heated in cold weather, being more rarefied, freezeth the faster : Prov. xxix. 1, * He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.'
(2.) You lose your season, the time wherein God will be found. There is a twofold season — the time of God's grace, and our capacity. (1.) The time of God's grace. God the Father's time is while he waiteth : 1 Peter iii. 20, ' When once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.' The Son's time is when the gospel ofiers are made to us : ' To-day, if you will hear his voice/ Heb. iii, 7 ; 2 Cor. vi. 1, 2, 'We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain ; for he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee ; behold, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of sal- vation.^ The Spirit's season is the time of the motions of his Spirit : Gen. vi. 3, ' My Spirit shall not always strive with man ; ' Acts vii. 5, • Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.' (2.) The time of our capacity. When conscience is awakened, the word is most likely to make an impression upon us, as when the wax is hot it will receive the impression of the seal.