142 PEOVIDENTIAL CHANGES,
day. So Jucle tells us that, in the destruction of Sodom and Gomor- rah, " God set forth an example of them that shall suffer the ven- geance of eternal fire," verse 7. And Peter calls the time of the destruction of the Jndaical church and state expressly " the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men," 2 Epist. hi. 7. So to the full is the destruction of the Roman persecuting state expressed, Dan. vii. 9, 10, 14. The solemnity of the work and whole procedure be- speaks a great day, a day of judgment; it is so, and a representation of that which is to come. And the like also is set forth, chap. xii. 1-3 ; and the same description have we of the like day of Christ, Mai. iv.-l.
Every such day, I say, then, is a lesser day of judgment, wherein much judging-work is accomplished. This Daniel tells us, chap, xii. 10, — it is a trying, a purifying, a teaching, a hardening, a bleeding- time. There are great works that are done upon the souls and con- sciences of men by Christ in such a day, as well as outwardly ; and all in a way of judgment. To let pass, then, the outward, visible effects of his wrath and power, of his wisdom and righteousness, I shall con- sider some few of the more secret judiciary acts that the Lord Christ usually exerts in such a day : —
(1.) He pleads with all flesh that are concerned in the alterations and desolations he makes. God puts this as one act of his in judg- ment, that he pleads with men, Ezek. xxxviii. 22. In his judgments he pleads with and against men about their sins. And in that great representation of the day of judgment, Joel hi. 2, God is said to " plead with all nations." Now, I say, in general, Christ in such a day pleads with all men concerned. His providences have a voice, and that a contending, pleading voice. Unless men are utterly blinded and hardened (as, indeed, the most are), they cannot but hear him, in his great and mighty works, contending with them about their sin and unbelief, — representing to them his righteous judgment to come. Though men now cast off things, on this account and that ; and, being filled with their lusts, passions, fury, revenge, or ease, sen- suality and worldliness, think these things concern them not ; yet the day will come wherein they shall know, that the Lord Christ in his mighty works was pleading even with them also, and that in a way of judgment about their sin and folly.
(2.) In such a day Christ judges and determines the profession of many a false hypocrite, who hath deceived the church and people of God. One great work of the last day shall be the discovery of hypo- crites : it is thence principally called, " The day wherein the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed." Many a fair pretender in the world shall be found to have been an enemy of Christ and the gospel. So is the day of Christ's coming in the flesh represented, Mai. iii. 1, 2. All were high in their professions of desiring his coming, and of de-
AN ARGUMENT FOR UNIVERSAL HOLINESS. 143
lighting in him ; but when he came, what was the issue ? How few endured the trial ! The false, hypocritical, selfish hearts, who had treasured up the hopes of great things to themselves, being discovered by the trials and temptations wherewith his coming was attended, themselves were utterly cast off from their profession into open enmity to God and his Son. So dealeth the Lord Christ in and under the dispensations whereof we speak, to this day. What by the fury of their own lusts, what by the temptations which lie in their way, what by the advantages they meet withal for the exercise of their vile affections, their hypocrisy is discovered, and themselves cast out of their profession. Notable effects of this acting of Christ as a judge have we seen in the dispensation that is passing over us. Some he hath judged by the sentence and judgment of his churches. How many false wretches have been cast out of churches, that have withered under their judgment, and returned no more ! Some who have not walked in the order of his churches by him appointed, he hath judged by the world itself; — suffered their sin and folly so to break forth, that the world itself hath cast them out from the number of professors, and owned them as its own. Some have been judged as to their profession of him by strong temptations ; that is, their lusts, ambition, selfishness, which have carried them into ways and compliances wherein they have been compelled to desert, and almost renounce all their former profession. Some have been tried and judged by the errors and abominations of the times, and turned aside from the sim- plicity of the gospel. Now, though there have been, and are, these and many other ways and means of casting men out of and from the profession that they have made, some good, some bad, some in them- selves of a mere passive nature, and indifferent; yet they all proceed from Christ in a judiciary way, — they are acts of his in his day of judgment; — and O that England might not yet be farther filled with instances and examples of this kind !