Judgment to come: For 'tis hard to fuppofe, that they would not honeftly and heartily conform to all God's Laws, did they believe and confider that they should be rewarded and punished hereafter, according to the Lives they have led here.

Now 'tis my Design, in difcourfing from the Text which I have chofen, to convince, and put Men in mind of this important Truth; and from thence to perfuade them to Amendment of Life. In profecuting which Defign, Ifhall endeayour in the

First Place, To prove the Certainty of a Judgment to come.

Secondly, I fhall fhow who is appointed to execute this Judgment.

Thirdly, I fhall confider fome of the Circumstances of his coming to execute it. Fourthly, I fhall enquire bow he will exe

cute it.

Fifthly and Laftly, I fhall make fome Application from the Whole.

I begin with the First of thefe Heads, namely, to prove the Certainty of a Judgment to come. Now the Certainty of a Judgment to come, may be made evident both from Reafon and Revelation.

H 2

First

First from Reason. The Notions that are in Men confider'd fimply, as Men, concerning the Nature of Virtue and Vice, are an Argument for this Doctrine. Tis manifeft that Men, confidered fimply, as Men, that is, before they have been blef fed with the external Revelation of God's Will in his Word, have always thought that Virtue was eflentially Noble and Beautiful, and that Vice was as effentially Base and Ugly. Now that whereby these effential Differences of Virtue and Vice were determined, and discovered by Men' confidered as fuch, must be a Law of Nature written upon their Hearts: And when the Gentiles, which had not the outwardly revealed Law, did by Nature the Things contained in that Law; thefe having not that Law were a Law unto themselves; which fhow'd the Work of that Law written upon their Hearts. For how should Juftice, Truth, and other Virtues become the Objects of their Love and Praise? Or Difhonefty, Falfhood, and other Vices, be difapproved of and condemn'd by them, unless they had Law within them, to which the Former were agreeable, and the Latter contrariant? From whence it follows, that as there is a fupreme Being which hath impreffed upon Men's Minds

fuch

fuch a Law, fo he will not fail to confirm the fame, to difcourage Tranfgreffion, and encourage Obedience, with fuitable Sanctions of Punishment and Reward; because without fuch Sanctions 'tis unreafonable to fuppofe that a juft Honour and Obedience fhould be paid to it.

And indeed the Sanctions of Punishment and Reward are known to be fo neceffary to the very Being, Confirmation, and Establishment of all Laws in general; that Men have ever fear'd the one, and hop'd for the other, according as they have walked by, or deviated from, this Law of Nature in particular. For, as it hath been frequently obferved, thole who have fquared their Lives according to the Dictates of Virtue, have enjoy'd not only a prefent calmness and serenity of Mind, but the comfortable Expectation of future Happinefs. On the other Hand; it has been no less remarkable, that wicked Men have not been able (notwithstanding all their Endeavours) rid themselves of that fmiting and tinging of Confcience, that inward Horror and Dread of future Vengeance; which generally follow the most private Commiffion of any great Sin. Now, I'd fain know, from whence proceed the joyful Hopes, the undisturb'd Tranquility H 3

which

which good Men have the Fruition of; and the fecret Lashes, and the dreadful Apprehenfions with which wicked Men are tortur'd, but from the Suggestions of Nature, that there will certainly be an Af ter-Reckoning, when they fhall be rewarded for their Good, and punished for their bad Lives.

Thofe Perfons indeed that are unwilling to believe this Doctrine may pretend, that fuch pleafing Expectations, and fearful Ap prehenfions, are owing to Education; to the Stories which Men have heard front their Parents, Teachers, or Priefts, whereby they meant to govern their Behaviour, and bring it in Subjection to their own Humour and Interest.

But if fuch Hopes and Fears had their Original from hence, How comes it to pals that Men can't banish them out of their Minds after they are arrived to Maturity of Years, and are capable of thinking freely upon the Reasons of them? The Prejudices of Education are not fo great, but that Men can fee the Vanity of other Things wherewith they were fattered, or frighten'd in their Childhood, and perfectly free themfelves from all Concern about them; and if the Hopes and Fears of future Rewards and Punishments had no folider Founda

tion than the bare Report of others, they might as easily be shaken off too; but now as to thee Things, the clofelier we look into them, the more impartially we confider them, the greater Reason appears for them, and the more deeply they become engraven upon the Table of our Hearts: And therefore they ought not to be reckon'd among the Prejudices of Education; but are rather to be ascribed to the Exercise of thofe Faculties of Reason which God has planted in the Soul; and which flourish and encrease according as Men cultivate and improve their Underftandings.

But farther, another Argument from Reason to prove the Certainty of a Judgment to come, may be taken from the uncertain and promifcuous Difpenfations of Divine Providence. 'Tis undeniably manifeft, that God doth not in this Life, difpence Profperity only to the Virtuous, and Adverfity only to the Vicious: There be juft Men to whom it hapneth according to the Work of the Wicked; again, there be wicked Men to whom it hapneth according to the Work of the Righteous. The Ungodly (as the Plalmift fays) are often feen in great Power, flourishing and Spreading themselves, like green Bay

Trees;