for_ thee, that _bore all_ thy _sins in his own body on the tree_,
and he saveth thee from all condemnation, by his blood continually
applied. Thus it is that we continue in a justified state. And when
we go on _from faith to faith_, when we have faith to be cleansed from
indwelling sin, to be saved from all our uncleannesses, we are likewise
saved from all that _guilt_, that _desert_ of punishment, which we felt
before. So that then we may say not only
Every moment, Lord, I _want_
The merit of thy death:
But likewise, in the full assurance of faith,
Every moment, Lord, I _have_
The merit of thy death!
For by that faith in his life, death and intercession for us, renewed
from moment to moment, we are every whit clean, and there is not only
now no condemnation for us, but no such desert of punishment as was
before, the Lord cleansing both our hearts and lives.
5. By the same faith, we feel the power of Christ every moment resting
upon us, whereby alone we are what we are, whereby we are enabled to
continue in spiritual life, and without which, notwithstanding all
our present holiness, we should be devils the next moment. But as
long as we retain our faith in him, we _draw water out of the wells of
salvation_. Leaning on our Beloved, even Christ in us the hope of glory,
who dwelleth in our hearts by faith, who likewise is ever interceding
for us at the right hand of God, we receive help from him to think, and
speak, and act what is acceptable in his sight. Thus does he prevent
them that believe in all their doings, and further them with his
continual help, so that all their designs, conversations and actions,
are “begun, continued and ended in him.” Thus doth he “cleanse the
thoughts of their hearts, by the inspiration of his holy Spirit, that
they may perfectly love him, and worthily magnify his holy name.”
6. Thus it is, that in the children of God, repentance and faith
exactly answer each other. By repentance we feel the sin remaining in
our hearts, and cleaving to our words and actions. By faith we receive
the power of God in Christ, purifying our hearts and cleansing our
hands. By repentance we are still sensible that we deserve punishment
for all our tempers and words and actions. By faith we are conscious,
that our Advocate with the Father is continually pleading for us,
and thereby continually turning aside all condemnation and punishment
from us. By repentance we have an abiding conviction, that there is
no help in us. By faith we receive not only mercy, but _grace to help_
in every _time of need_. Repentance disclaims the very possibility of
any other help. Faith accepts all the help we stand in need of, from
him that hath all power in heaven and earth. Repentance says, Without
him I can do nothing: faith says, _I can do all things through Christ
strengthening me_. Through him I cannot only overcome, but expel all
the enemies of my soul. Through him I can _love the Lord_ my _God, with
all my heart, mind, soul and strength_: yea and _walk in holiness and
righteousness before him all the days of my life_.
III. 1. From what has been said we may easily learn the mischievousness
of that opinion, that we are _wholly_ sanctified when we are justified:
that our hearts are then cleansed from all sin. It is true, we are
then delivered (as was observed before) from the dominion of outward
sin: and at the same time the power of inward sin is so broken, that we
need no longer follow or be led by it. But it is by no means true, that
inward sin is then totally destroyed, that the root of pride, self-will,
anger, love of the world is then taken out of the heart, or that the
carnal mind and the heart bent to backsliding are entirely extirpated.
And to suppose the contrary is not, as some may think an innocent,
harmless mistake. No: it does immense harm; it entirely blocks up the
way to any farther change. For it is manifest, _they that are whole
do not need a physician, but they that are sick_. If therefore we
think we are quite made whole already, there is no room to seek any
farther healing. On this supposition it is absurd to expect a farther
deliverance from sin, whether gradual or instantaneous.
2. On the contrary, a deep conviction that we are not yet whole, that
our hearts are not fully purified, that there is yet in us _a carnal
mind_, which is still in its nature _enmity against God_; that a whole
body of sin remains in our heart, weakened indeed, but not destroyed,
shews beyond all possibility of doubt, the absolute necessity of a
farther change. We allow, that at the very moment of justification,
we are _born again_: in that instant we experience that inward change,
from _darkness into marvellous light_; from the image of the brute
and the devil, into the image of God, from the earthly, sensual,
devilish mind, to the mind which was in Christ Jesus. But are we then
_entirely_ changed? Are we _wholly_ transformed into the image of
him that created us? Far from it: we still retain a depth of sin: and
it is the consciousness of this, which constrains us to groan for a
full deliverance, to him that is mighty to save. Hence it is, that
those believers who are not convinced of the deep corruption of their
hearts, or but slightly and as it were notionally convinced, have
little concern about _entire sanctification_. They may possibly hold
the opinion, that such a thing is to be, either at death, or some time,
they know not when, before it. But they have no great uneasiness for
the want of it, and no great hunger or thirst after it. They cannot,
until they know themselves better, until they repent in the sense above
described, until God unveils the inbred monster’s face, and shews them
the real state of their souls. Then only, when they feel the burden,
will they groan for deliverance from it. Then and not till then will
they cry out, in the agony of their soul,
Break off the yoke of inbred sin
And fully set my spirit free!
I cannot rest, till pure within,
Till I am wholly lost in thee!
3. We may learn from hence, secondly, that a deep conviction of our
_demerit_ after we are accepted, (which in one sense may be termed
_guilt_) is absolutely necessary, in order to our seeing the true value
of the atoning blood; in order to our feeling that we need this as much,
after we are justified, as ever we did before. Without this conviction
we cannot but account the blood of the covenant _as a common thing_,
something of which we have not now any great need, seeing all our
past sins are blotted out. Yea, but if both our hearts and lives are
thus unclean, there is a kind of guilt which we are contracting every
moment, and which of consequence would every moment expose us to fresh
condemnation, but that
He ever lives above,
For us to intercede,
His all-atoning love,
His precious blood to plead.
It is this repentance and the faith intimately connected with it, which
are expressed in those strong lines.
“I sin in every breath I draw,
Nor do thy will, nor keep thy law
On earth as angels do above:
But still the fountain open stands,
Washes my feet, my heart, my hands,
Till I am perfected in love.”
4. We may observe, thirdly, a deep conviction of our utter
_helplessness_, of our total inability to retain any thing we have
received, much more to deliver ourselves from the world of iniquity
remaining both in our hearts and lives, teaches us truly to live upon
Christ by faith, not only as our priest, but as our king. Hereby we
are brought to “magnify him” indeed, to “give him all the glory of
his grace,” to “make him a whole Christ, an entire Saviour,” and truly
to “set the crown upon his head.” These excellent words, as they have
frequently been used, have little or no meaning. But they are fulfilled
in a strong and a deep sense, when we thus, as it were, go out of
ourselves, in order to be swallowed up in him; when we sink into
nothing, that he may be all in all. Then his almighty grace having
abolished _every high thing which exalted itself against_ him, every
temper, and thought, and word, and work is _brought to the obedience
of Christ_.
LONDONDERRY,
_April 24, 1767_.
SERMON XV.[28]
THE GREAT ASSIZE:
ROM. xiv. 10.
_We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ._
1. HOW many circumstances concur, to raise the awfulness of the
present solemnity? The general _concourse_ of people of every age, sex,
rank and condition of life, willingly or unwillingly gathered together,
not only from the neighbouring but from distant parts! _Criminals_,
speedily to be brought forth, and having no way to escape: _officers_
waiting in their various posts, to execute the orders which shall be
given: and the _Representative_ of our Gracious Sovereign, whom we so
highly reverence, and honour. The _occasion_ likewise of this assembly,
adds not a little to the solemnity of it: to hear and determine causes
of every kind, some of which are of the most important nature: on which
depends no less than life or death; death, that uncovers the face of
eternity! It was doubtless in order to increase the serious sense of
these things, and not in the minds of the vulgar only, that the wisdom
of our forefathers did not disdain to appoint even several minute
circumstances of this solemnity. For these also, by means of the eye or
ear, may more deeply affect the heart. And when viewed in this light,
trumpets, staves, apparel, are no longer trifling or insignificant,
but subservient in their kind and degree to the most valuable ends of
society.
2. But as awful as this solemnity is, one far more awful is at hand.
For yet a little while, and _we shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. For as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to
me, and every tongue shall confess to God._ And in that day, _every one
of us shall give account of himself to God_.
3. Had all men a deep sense of this, how effectually would it
secure the interests of society? For what more forcible motive can be
conceived, to the practice of genuine morality? to a steddy pursuit
of solid virtue? an uniform walking in justice, mercy, and truth? What
could strengthen our hands in all that is good, and deter us from all
evil, like a strong conviction of this, _the Judge standeth at the
door_: and we are shortly to _stand before him_?
4. It may not therefore be improper, or unsuitable to the design of the
present assembly, to consider,
I. The chief circumstances which will precede our standing before the
judgment seat of Christ.
II. The judgment itself, and,
III. A few of the circumstances which will follow it.
I. Let us, in the first place, consider the chief circumstances which
will precede our standing before the judgment seat of Christ.
And 1st, _God will shew signs in the earth beneath_:[29] particularly
he will _arise to shake terribly the earth. The earth shall reel to
and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage. There
shall be earthquakes_[30] κατὰ τόπους not in divers only, but _in all
places_: not in one only, or a few, but in every part of the habitable
world: even _such as were not, since men were upon the earth, so mighty
earthquakes and so great_. In one of these _every island shall flee
away, and the mountains will not be found_.[31] Meantime all the waters
of the terraqueous globe will feel the violence of those concussions:
_the sea and waves roaring_,[32] with such an agitation as had never
been known before, since the hour that _the fountains of the great
deep were broken up_, to destroy the earth which then _stood out of the
water and in the water_. The air will be all storm and tempest, full of
dark _vapours and pillars of smoak_;[33] resounding with thunder from
pole to pole, and torn with ten thousand lightnings. But the commotion
will not stop in the region of the air: _the powers of heaven_ also
_shall be shaken.[34] There shall be signs in the sun and in the moon
and in the stars_; those fixt, as well as those that move round them.
_The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before
the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.[35] The stars shall
withdraw their shining_,[36] yea and _fall from heaven_, being thrown
out of their orbits. And then shall be heard the universal _shout_[37]
from all the companies of heaven, followed by _the voice of the
arch-angel_, proclaiming the approach of the Son of God and man, _and
the trumpet of God_, sounding an alarm to _all that sleep in the dust
of the earth_. In consequence of this all the graves shall open, and
the bodies of men arise. _The sea also shall give up the dead which
are therein_,[38] and every one shall rise with _his own body_: his
own in substance, although so changed in its properties, as we cannot
now conceive. For _this corruptible will_ then _put on incorruption,
and this mortal put on immortality_.[39] Yea, _death and hades_, the
invisible world shall _deliver up the dead that are in them_. So that
all who ever lived and died since God created man, shall be raised
incorruptible and immortal.
2. At the same time _the Son of man shall send forth his angels_ over
all the earth, _and they shall gather his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other_.[40] And the Lord himself shall
_come with clouds, in his own glory, and the glory of his Father, with
ten thousand of his saints, even myriads of angels_, and _shall sit
upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all
nations, and he shall separate them one from another, and shall set the
sheep_, the good, _on his right hand, and the goats_, the wicked, _upon
the left_.[41] Concerning this general assembly it is, that the beloved
disciple speaks thus: _I saw the dead_, all that had been dead, _small
and great, stand before God. And the books were opened_ (a figurative
expression, plainly referring to the manner of proceeding among men)
_and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books according to their works_.[42]
II. These are the chief circumstances which are recorded in the oracles
of God, as preceding the general judgment. We are secondly, to consider
the judgment itself, so far as it hath pleased God to reveal it.
1. The person by whom God _will judge the world_ is his only begotten
Son whose _goings forth are from everlasting, who is God over all,
blessed for ever_. Unto him, being _the out-beaming of his Father’s
glory, the express image of his person_,[43] the Father _hath committed
all judgment, because he is the Son of man_:[44] because tho’ he was
_in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
yet he emptied himself, taking upon him the form of a servant, being
made in the ♦likeness of men_.[45] Yea, because _being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself_ yet farther, _becoming obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted
him_, even in his human nature, and _ordained him_ as man to try the
children of men, to be the _judge both of the quick and dead_; both
of those who shall be found alive at his coming, and of those who were
before _gathered to their fathers_.
2. The time, termed by the prophet, _the great and the terrible day_,
is usually in scripture stiled _the day of the Lord_. The space from
the creation of man upon the earth to the end of all things, is _the
day of the sons of men_: the time that is now passing over us, is
properly _our day_. When this is ended, _the day of the Lord_ will
begin. But who can say, how long it will continue? _With the Lord
one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day._[46]
And from this very expression some of the ancient fathers drew that
inference, that, what is commonly called, _the day of judgment_, would
be indeed a thousand years. And it seems they did not go beyond the
truth: nay, probably they did not come up to it. For if we consider
the number of persons who are to be judged, and of actions which are
to be enquired into, it does not appear, that a thousand years will
suffice for the transactions of that day. So that it may not improbably
comprise several thousand years. But God shall reveal this also in its
season.
3. With regard to the place where mankind will be judged, we have no
explicit account in scripture. An eminent writer (but not he alone;
many have been of the same opinion) supposes it will be on earth, where
the works were done, according to which they shall be judged, and that
God will in order thereto employ the angels of his strength,
“To smooth and lengthen out the boundless space,
And spread an area for all human race.”
But perhaps it is more agreeable to our Lord’s own account, of his
_coming in the clouds_, to suppose it will be above the earth, if
not “twice a planetary height.” And this supposition is not a little
favoured, by what St. _Paul_ writes to the _Thessalonians_. _The dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we who remain alive, shall be caught
up together with them, in the clouds_,[47] to meet the Lord in the air.
So that it seems most probable, the _great white throne_, will be high
exalted above the earth.
4. The persons to be judged, who can count any more than the drops
of rain, or the sands of the sea? I beheld, saith St. _John_, _a great
multitude which no man can number_, clothed with white robes, and
palms in their hands. How immense then must be the total multitude, of
all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues? Of all that have
sprung from the loins of _Adam_, since the world began, till time shall
be no more? If we admit the common supposition, which seems no ways
absurd, that the earth bears at any one time, no less than four hundred
millions, of living souls, men women and children: what a congregation
must all those generations make, who have succeeded each other for
seven thousand years?
“Great Xerxes world in arms, proud _Cannæ’s_ host,
They all are here: and here they all are lost.
Their numbers swell to be discerned in vain;
Lost as a drop in the unbounded main.”
* Every man, every woman, every infant of days that ever breathed the
vital air, will then hear the voice of the Son of God, and start into
life, and appear before him. And this seems to be the natural import
of that expression, _the dead, small and great_: all universally, all
without exception, all of every age, sex or degree; all that ever lived
and died, or underwent such a change as will be equivalent with death.
For long before that day the phantom of human greatness disappears and
sinks into nothing. Even in the moment of death, that vanishes away.
Who is rich or great in the grave?
5. And every man shall there _give an account of his own works_, yea,
a full and true account, of all that he ever did while in the body,
whether it was good or evil. O what a scene will then be disclosed,
in the sight of angels and men! While, not the fabled _Radamanthus_,
but the Lord God Almighty, who knoweth all things in heaven and earth,
_Castigatque auditque dolos; subigitque fateri
Quæ quis apud superos, furto lætatus inani,
Distulit in seram commissa piacula mortem._
Nor will all the actions alone of every child of man, be then
brought to open view, but all their words: seeing _every idle word
which men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of
judgment_.[48] So that _by thy words_ as well as works, _thou shalt be
justified; or by thy words thou shalt be condemned_. Will not God then
bring to light every circumstance also, that accompanied every word or
action, and if not altered the nature, yet lessened or increased the
goodness or badness of them? And how easy is this to him, who is _about
our bed and about our path, and spieth out all our ways_? We know,
_the darkness is no darkness to him, but the night shineth as the day_.
6. Yea, he _will bring to light_ not _the hidden works of darkness_
only, but the very _thoughts and intents of the hearts_. And what
marvel? For he _searcheth the reins, and understandeth all our thoughts.
All things are naked and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to
do. Hell and destruction are before him without a covering. How much
more the hearts of the children of men?_
7. And in that day shall be discovered every inward working of every
human soul: every appetite, passion, inclination, affection, with the
various combinations of them, with every temper and disposition that
constitute the whole complex character of each individual. So shall it
be clearly and infallibly seen, who was righteous, and who unrighteous;
and in what degree every action, or person, or character was either
good or evil.
8. _Then the king will say to them upon his right-hand, Come ye
blessed of my Father. For I was hungry and ye gave me meat, thirsty
and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye
cloathed me._ In like manner, all the good they did upon earth, will
be recited before men and angels: whatsoever they had done either _in
word or deed, in the name_, or for the sake, _of the Lord Jesus_. All
their good desires, intentions, thoughts, all their holy dispositions,
will also be then remembered; and it will appear, that though they were
unknown or forgotten among men, yet God _noted_ them _in his book_. All
their sufferings likewise for the name of Jesus, and for the testimony
of a good conscience will be displayed, _unto_ their _praise_ from
the righteous Judge, their _honour_ before saints and angels, and the
increase of that _far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory_.
9. But will their evil deeds too (since if we take in his whole life,
_there is not a man on earth that liveth and sinneth not_) will these
be remembered in that day, and mentioned in the great congregation?
Many believe they will not, and ask, “Would not this imply, that their
sufferings were not at an end, even when life ended? Seeing they would
still have, sorrow, and shame and confusion of face to endure?” They
ask farther, how can this be reconciled with God’s declaration by
the prophet. _If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath
committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and
right; all his transactions that he hath committed, they shall not be
once mentioned unto him._[49] How is it consistent with the promise
which God has made, to all who accept of the gospel-covenant, _I will
forgive their iniquities, and remember their sin no more_?[50] Or as
the apostle expresses it, _I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more_?[51]
10. * It may be answered, it is apparently and absolutely necessary,
for the full display of the glory of God, for the clear and perfect
manifestation of his wisdom, justice, power and mercy toward the heirs
of salvation, that all the circumstances of their life should be placed
in open view, together with all their tempers, and all the desires,
thoughts and intents of their hearts. Otherwise how would it appear
out of what a depth of sin and misery the grace of God had delivered
them? And, indeed, if the whole lives of all the children of men were
not manifestly discovered, the whole amazing contexture of Divine
Providence could not be manifested: nor should we yet be able in a
thousand instances,
To “justify the ways of God to man.”
Unless our Lord’s words were fulfilled in their utmost sense, without
any restriction or limitation, _there is nothing covered that shall not
be revealed, or hid that shall not be known_,[52] abundance of God’s
dispensations under the sun would still appear without their reasons.
And then only when God hath brought to light all the hidden things
of darkness, whosoever were the actors therein, will it be seen that
wise and good were all his ways: that he _saw through the thick cloud_,
and governed all things by the wise _counsel of his own will_: that
nothing was left to chance or the caprice of men, but God disposed all
_strongly and sweetly_, and wrought all into one connected chain of
justice, mercy, and truth.
11. And in the discovery of the divine perfections, the righteous
will rejoice with joy unspeakable; far from feeling any painful sorrow
or shame, for any of those past transgressions, which were long since
blotted out as a cloud, washed away by the blood of the Lamb. It
will be abundantly sufficient for them, that _all the transgressions
which they had committed, shall not be once mentioned unto them_, to
their disadvantage; that _their sins and transgressions and iniquities
shall be remembered no more_, to their condemnation. This is the plain
meaning of the promise: and this all the children of God shall find
true, to their everlasting comfort.