SECT. VI. The Improvement of this Doctrine in some Practical Inferences, as, 1. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged. 2. To keep our Eye upon a Fu∣ture Iudgment for the Government of our Lives.

HAving thus proved the Certainty of a Future Judgment, both from Rea∣son and Scripture, before I proceed, it is necessary to consider, how we must im∣prove this Belief for the Government of our Lives; for that is the onely end of Faith and Knowledge, and if we be never Page  124 the better Men for our Faith, we may as well be Infidels; and this I shall do in these following Particulars:

I. To live as it becomes those who shall certainly be judged. I suppose I need no• prove this Consequence, That those who must be judged, ought to live as those who must be judged; for if Judgment be of any concernment to us, I am sure it is of great concernment to prepare ourselves for Judgment: And if we must be judged for Eternity, Judgment is of as great con∣cernment to us, as Eternal Life and Death▪ Nor is there any great difficulty to know, how those Men ought to live, who must be judged; every Man knows this with∣out a Teacher, who will give himself leave to think: A Steward, a Factor, a Labour∣er, any Person who is liable to the Cen∣sure and Judgment of a Superiour, who will call him to an Account, knows what he is to do, to prepare his Accounts; and there is no greater Mistery in preparing ourselves for God's Judgment, than for the Judgment of Men. But because all Men will not consider things as they ought, though they be never so plain and obvi∣ous I shall briefly suggest some Rules to you, which you must all acknowledge ve∣ry Page  125 reasonable at the first hearing, and which if well observed, would make us lift up our Heads in the Day of Judgment, and expect it without Astonishment and Terrour:

1. If we must be judged, it becomes us to act with great Consideration and Ad∣vice: Rafhness, Precipitancy, Inadverten∣cy, to do we know not what, in a Heat and Impetus, without considering whe∣ther it be good or evil, right or wrong, does not become those who must be judg∣ed. To be judged is to be called to an account, to give a reason for what we do, and therefore we ought to consider what reason to give, before we do it. We must be judged by a Rule, as you shall hear more hereafter; and therefore we ought to live by Rule too, which no Man can do, who does not consider well, what he does, before he does it: It will be no Plea at the Day of Judgment to say, That we did not consider what we did; that we lived without Care, without Thought, without Observation; for this is not an allowable Plea for a reasonable Creature, much less for one who knows he must be judged: For why did you live without Thought? without Considerati∣on? had you not the power of Thinking, Page  126 of Reasoning, of Considering? and did not God give these Powers and Faculties to you, to direct and govern your Lives? did he not make you reasonable Crea∣tures, that you might consider, and live by Reason? and is it any Excuse then for a reasonable Creature, that he lived and act∣ed without Reason, and a wise Considera∣tion of things? This is the great Degene∣racy of Humane Nature, the abuse and corruption of those Natural Powers which God ha•h given us, the Source of all the Evils that are in this World, and therefore can be no Excuse; much less, when we know that God will judge us, and require a reason of our Actions: for not to con∣sider our own ways, when we know God considers them, and will require an ac∣count of them, is a contempt of his Judge∣ment; for did we reverence our Judge we must consider: and yet how many mad, extravagant, wicked Actions are there daily committed, which those who do them, never think why they do them, nor what reasonable account they can give of them either to God or Man.

Some Men are very •ond of what they call a Frolick; that is, to lay aside all Thought and Consideration, and to give thems•lves up to the government of 〈◊〉 Page  127 very sudden and unaccountable Fancy, and the more wild and extravagant it is, the more entertaining, without any re∣gard to Vertue or Vice, to Decency and Honour, the least thought of which is a Prophanation of these Bedlam Misteries: they drink themselves drunk in a Fro∣lick, blaspheme GOD, and his Son JE∣SUS CRIST, and his most holy Re∣ligion, abuse Wives and Virgins, mur∣der innocent People, and affront all they meet, in a Frolick; but it is ridiculous to imagine, if we must be judged, that such Frolicks as these shall be allowed in the Account, or pass for Cyphers and empty Scenes of Life, to signifie no more than they were intended for; that because we choose at such a time to act without Rea∣son and Consideration, therefore GOD should demand no Reason nor Account of such Actions.

And yet a very great part of the World, tho' they do not run into such outragious Frolicks as these are, yet their Lives are little better than a train of incoherent and independent Fancies and Humours; they live without Thought, or any wise De∣sign, any extempore Project has them, which starts up in their Minds, or strikes their Fancies; they scarce know what Page  128 they have to do the next day, nor how they spent the last: But is this a Life for Men who are to be judged?

Others there are who give themselves up to the government of their Passions, which are so vehement and impetuous, and always in so much hast, that they will neither hear Reason, nor allow any time for it; and then no wonder if they do such things as they can give no good ac∣count of, when their Passion is over.

Others are more fixt and resolved in their way; they have chose such a course of Life as they like best, and they are re∣solved to pursue it, and that nothing shall put them out of it; and therefore they resolve against thinking too, lest that should disturb them, and give check to their En∣joyments: they will neither lissen to their own Consciences, nor hearken to the Im∣portunities of their Friends, nor be per∣swaded to consider, what the probable end of all their Actions will be, both in this World, and in the next.

These are all unthinking unconsidering Sinners; but you will all confess, that these Men do not live as if they were to be judg∣ed; and therefore if we believe that we shall be judged, none of us ought to live thus; we ought to consider well before-hand, Page  129 what we do, that we may be able to give a reasonable account of it, when we have done it; for if we must give a rea∣son of our Actions, when we have done them, we ought to know a reason for them, before we do them; and therefore we must accustom our Minds to a grave and serious consideration of things, to live by Reason, not by Humour and Fancy, not by the Impetus and Fury of Passion, which is a very ill Counsellor, much less to pur∣sue our Lusts with an affected and resol∣ved Ignorance and Blindness; for all this will not prevent our being judged, but will make us very unable to give a good account of ourselves when we are.

2. As we must act with great Consi∣deration, so we must make it the stand∣ing Principle and Rule of our Lives, ne∣ver to do any thing, but what we can give a good account of; either what we know is our Duty, or at least what we are satisfied is very lawful and innocent to be done; for if we do those things which we cannot account for, for which our own Minds condemn us, how can we appear with any hope and confidence at the Tribunal of God? When Men trans∣gress a known Duty, they are Self-con∣demned, and God need not judge them, Page  130 but only execute the Sentence and Judge∣ment of their own Conscience. To be∣lieve that God will judge us, and yet to venture upon such Actions, for which our own Consciences condemn us, and for which we know God will as certainly condemn us as our own Consciences do, is folly and distraction: since we must be judged, our great care and concernment should be, that when we are judged, we may not be condemned; and the most effectual way to prevent this, is to do no∣thing which our Conscience condemns: It is possible indeed, that Men who sin wilfully against a known Duty, may re∣cover themselves by Repentance, and ob∣tain Mercy through the Merits and Me∣diation of Jesus Christ; but it does not become any Man, who believes a Judge∣ment to sin, that grace may abound; these hopes very often deceive Men, and will always do so, till they come to this Re∣solution, Never to violate a known Du∣ty, to provoke the Justice, or to exercise the Patience and Forbearance of GOD. There is no other way to escape the Con∣demnation of the last Judgment, but by a resolved Obedience to the Divine Laws, and therefore if we believe we shall be judged, nothing can be more necessary, Page  131 nor more becoming, then to make this the constant Rule of our Actions, Never to do any thing for which we know God will condemn us, nothing but what can we account for, and then we shall be prepar∣ed for Judgment, whenever it comes.

3. It becomes those who must be judg∣ed to judge themselves, and to take a fre∣quent and impartial account of their own Lives and Actions: This is no more then every Steward does, who casts up his Books, and adjusts his Accounts himself, before he presents them to his Lord. The truth is, it is impossible for any Man, who knows he shall be judged, not to be ve∣ry solicitous to know, what his Judgment shall be; and this every Man may in a great measure know, who impartially ex∣amines his own Conscience; for so St. Iohn tells us, If our heart, or conscience, condemn us, God is greater then our heart, and knoweth all things: but if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards GOD, 1 John 3.20, 21. So that if our Lives have been innocent and vertuous, and such as a well-inform'd Con∣science approves, this will give infinite Peace and Satisfaction to us, and fill us with Divine Joys, with a Plerophory of Hope and Assurance; but if we should Page  132 not find things so well; though upon such a strict Examination, our Consciences should be very quarrelsome and uneasie, and threaten the Vengeance of God a∣gainst us; yet it is much more desirable to hear our Consciences chide and con∣demn us, than to hear our final Sentence from the mouth of our Judge, Go ye cur∣sed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: The Judgment of Conscience is not final; for Conscience is rather our Monitor than our Judge; it tells us what will be, if we do not take care to prevent it, not what certainly is, and shall be; and therefore we have this advantage by the Rebukes and Censures of Conscience, to know what is amiss, and what we must correct and amend.

Nay, a frequent Examination of our selves would keep a perpetual Watch and Guard upon our Lives: After our great∣est care and caution, a great many things will be hastily done, and said, which we cannot reconcile with the Rules of Pru∣dence and Decency, and strict Vertue; but he who frequently calls himself to an account, and observes all these Defects, which it may be other Men are never sensible of, will attain an habitual Cauti∣on and Watchfulness, and improve into Page  133 great Exactness of Conversation, and all the Graces and Beauties of Vertue: Some of the Philosophers thought it a very good Rule to call themselves to an account e∣very night, for what they had done that day; which would make us reverence ourselves and our own Consciences; but there is much more reason to do so, when we remember that God observes all our Actions, and will judge us for them: The Judgment of our Consciences, as I obser∣ved to you before, is a Natural Presage of God's Judgment, for there is no other reason why our Consciences should judge us, but that God will; and then the rea∣son is very strong also, that if God will judge us, we ought to judge ourselves, for this is the proper Office and Mini∣stry of Conscience in subordination to the Judgment of God.

II. Let us keep our Eye perpetually on a Future Judgment for the Direction and Government of our Lives; for this will furnish us with such Principles of Acti∣on, as cannot be so well learnt any other way.

1. As first, it teaches us above all things to take care to approve ourselves to God, which is the only Principle of Page  134 true Religion, and universal Obedience: Nothing is an Act of Religion, but as it respects God, and is referred wholly to him; to perform all the Acts of Wor∣ship, though with never so great Pomp and Ceremony, and external Appearances of Devotion, to do never so many good Actions, to be seen and to be praised by Men, or to serve some Secular Interest by it, is not Religion; but such Men, if they meet with what they expected, have their Reward, all that they deserve, and all that they proposed to themselves; their Reli∣gion is a Courtship to Men, not the Wor∣ship of God; and this Principle will reach but a little way, only to some external and popular Acts, and is calculated only for the prosperous Times of Religion, when it is in Fashion and Reputation, and will give Men Credit, and raise their For∣tunes in the World; but those who are Religious, and do good for God's sake, to approve themselves to him, have a sted∣dy and universal Principle of Righteous∣ness, which is as certain and immutable as God is; and if God will certainly judge us, if we must receive our final Doom and Sentence from his Mouth, I know not whom we are concerned to please but him, I am sure none in opposition to him; Page  135 As for Instance: The Censures of the World are a great Temptation to most Men; when instead of Praise and Honour an unfashionable Vertue meets with Infa∣my, and Reproach, and Pulick Scorn; but St. Paul's answer will fit all such cases, It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful; but with me it is a very small thing, that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; —he that judgeth me is the Lord, 1 Cor. 4.2, 3, 4. While we can approve ourselves to God, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have our conversation in this world: The different Judgments of Men ought to be despised; whatever Sentence they pronounce can have no effect, for they are not our Judges, but must be judged themselves; and if we can appeal to God, who is our Judge, all the rest is but Pageantry and Childrens Sport, a Ludicrous Imitation of Judgment, which sometimes ends Comi∣cally enough, when their Parents or Ma∣sters happen to see them; the Judge and Jury are whipt, and the condemned In∣nocent escapes: But what will it avail us, when we come before God's Tribunal, that we have been not only absolved, but prais∣ed, admired, applauded by Men, who are incompetent, ignorant or partial Judges?

Page  136So that if God be our Judge, we have nothing else to do, but to approve our selves to him; we have but one Maste• to please, and he more easily pleased too then Men commonly are, who are never all of a mind, and therefore can never all be pleased, and seldom continue long of the same mind, and therefore cannot al∣ways be pleased: our Saviour himself ex∣perienced this Inconstancy, when the loud∣est Hosannahs in three or four days time▪ were changed into Crucifie him.

So little regard is there to be had to the good or bad Opinion of Men; no wise Man will be contented to stand or fall by it; and whoever makes this the Princi∣ple of his Actions, can never be a good Man long; but he who approves himself to GOD, will like Religion never the worse for being reproached; will be con∣tented with the private Applauses of his own Conscience, to shelter him against the most outragious Obloquies; will take as great care of the frame and disposition of his Mind, as of his outward Actions, be∣cause tho' Men cannot see his heart, God does; will be as devout in his Closet as at Church; will fast without any exter∣nal show and appearance of Fasting, and give Alms without the sound of a Trum∣pet, Page  137 with such secrecy, as if it were pos∣sible to conceal it from himself, that his left hand shall not know what his right hand does; for he is not concerned that Men should know any thing of this, and nothing is so secret, but God knows it, and his Father which seeth in secret, shall reward him openly, 6 Matth. 1, &c.

2. As we must approve ourselves to God, who is our Judge, so we must fetch the Reasons and Motives of Obedience from a Future Judgment, from those Re∣wards God has promised to bestow at that day on good Men, and those Punishments he will inflict upon the wicked: these, as far as concerns Rewards and Punishments, are the only Gospel-Motives of Obedi∣ence; I say, as far as concerns Rewards and Punishments, because there are other Gospel-Motives of Obedience, besides Re∣wards and Punishments; such as the great Love of God in giving his Son for us, the great Love of Christ in giving him∣self a Sacrifice for us, which is a powerful Obligation on us to live to him, who died for us; and the powerful Assistances of the Holy Spirit to work in us both to will and to do, which renders our Obedi∣ence possible and easie; but the Motives of Obedience from the Rewards of Ver∣tue, Page  138 and Punishment of Wickedness, mu•• be fetched from a Future Judgment; for these unseen and absent Rewards and Pu∣nishments are the only Object of Faith▪ which is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, 11 Heb. 1. And Faith is the only true Principle of Gospel-Obedience: present Rewards and Punishments were the Motives of the Mosaical Covenant, and this is a legal Spi∣rit to serve God in expectation of a pre∣sent Reward, or for fear of some Tempo∣ral Punishment; but future Rewards and Punishments are the Motives of the Go∣spel, the Exercise of Faith, and the true Spirit of Sons; the not observing which was the occasion of that foolish Mistake, that to serve God for a Reward, is a le∣gal and servile Spirit; which is true, if we speak of Present and Temporal Re∣wards, but not of those which are Spiri∣tual and Eternal: And if we will be true and sincere Christians, here we must fix our eye, and with Moses have respect to • future Recompence of Reward; for no o∣ther Motives will fit all Times, nor con∣quer all Temptations, nor extend to all Acts of Religion.

Those who serve God for a present Re∣ward, to make their Fortunes in this World, Page  139 must quit his Service, when Religion ex∣poses them to Sufferings and Persecutions, and to the loss of all things for Christ's sake; those who abstain from Sin, for fear of some Temporal Punishments, must commit such Sins, when they shall suffer more by not committing them; when Men serve God for Temporal Hopes or Fears, whenever the World promises great∣er Prosperity, or threatens more terrible things, they must necessarily change their Master, for they must take that side on which the present Advantage lies.

Good Men sometimes meet with a Re∣ward in this World; Vertue may in some Junctures make Men Rich and Honoura∣ble; but whoever courts Vertue for Rich∣es and Honours, will never court a poor and despised Vertue; that is, he does not indeed court Vertue, but Riches and Ho∣nours, and will rather take as much Ver∣tue with them, as is necessary to that pur∣pose, than go without them; but Riches and Honours with or without Vertue are always welcome: Whoever makes the Ad∣vantages of this Life his Reasons and Mo∣tives to Vertue, will do no more good than will advance his present Interest, and will be good no longer; and this is a ve∣ry sorry Vertue, it had need have some Page  140 Reward in this World, for it will ha•• none in the next.

Those Temporal Promises which are contained in the Gospel, were never in∣tended by our Saviour as the Rewards or Motives of our Obedience, but only to e•∣courage and support us in our Pilgrimag• in this World, that if we seek first t•• kingdom of God, and his righteousness, 〈◊〉 we give up ourselves to the Obedienc• of the Gospel, and live upon the Hopes o• unseen Things, and lay up Treasures i• Heaven, all other things shall be added 〈◊〉 us; God will provide what is needful for our passage through this World, whateve• Difficulties and Discouragements we may meet with from Men.

The design of the Gospel is to take ou• Hearts from this World, to teach us no• to lay up for ourselves Treasures on Earth but in Heaven, not to love this World nor the things that are in the World; an• therefore it is impossible that Tempor•• Blessings should be a Gospel-Motive: no¦thing in this World can be a Motive, un∣less we love the World, and therefore thi• can be no Motive of the Christian Reli∣gion, which teaches us not to love the World; unless the love of the World ca• be a proper Motive and Argument to Page  141 make us despise it, and live above it.

And therefore I confess, I have some∣times wished that there had been less stress laid upon the Temporal Rewards and Advantages of Vertue, to perswade Men to Religion, and upon the Tempo∣ral Evils and Miseries of Sin to discour∣age Men from it; for this is not always true, and if it were, it is an Argument which will perswade no Men, and if it did, it cannot advance them to the heights and perfections of a Christian Vertue, and therefore is no Gospel-Motive. As for Instance:

Some Vertues are very healthful, pro∣long our Lives, and prevent a great ma∣ny painful and mortal Diseases, which the contrary Vices expose Men to, such as Temperance and Chastity; other Vertues are very proper Methods of Thriving in the World, such as Diligence, Prudence, Justice; others give us Reputation and Honour, advance us to Rule and Empire, and Publick Trusts: Now this is some∣times true and sometimes not, as the State of the World now is, as I shewed you be∣fore, that whatever natural Efficacy Ver∣tue may have to make Men happy, or Vice to make them miserable, this may be in a great measure defeated by the ex∣ternal Page  142 Circumstances of our Condition in this World; and therefore this can never be a Motive, that is, it cannot be a reason why we should choose Vertue, because it is not always a reason; nay, is as often a reason for Vice as for Vertue; and if it be a good reason for one, I cannot see, why it should not be a good reason for the o∣ther: for if it be a reason at all, it is a reason for that side on which at present it is, whether that be Vertue or Vice: In∣deed these Temporal Advantages of Ver∣tue are not so much Reasons for Vertue as against Vice, and that too only against such Vices, or such Degrees and Instan∣ces of Vice, as are destructive to Mens Health, or Fortunes, or Reputation: how∣ever this Reason, be it what it will, will reach no farther than to such a degree of Vertue as will contribute to a happy and prosperous Life in this World, and there∣fore will not raise us above this World, will not teach us to despise Riches and Honours, and Bodily Pleasures, nay, is not consistent with a mean Value and great Indifferency to present Things, and there∣fore it cannot make us Christians; and is a very improper Argument to perswade Men to be Christians; it never made a Christian yet, and never will do.

Page  143And therefore let us not think to con∣quer the Deceits and Flatteries of the World and the Flesh with such Argu∣ments as these, which have no strength •n them, which are more apt to make Men fond of this World, then to conquer •t: But this is our victory, which over∣•omes the world, even our faith; the hope •nd fear of unseen Things, or a Future •udgment, when God will eternally re∣ward good Men, and punish the wicked. This is an Argument in all Times, and in •ll Conditions; it will make us despise the World when it Smiles and Flatters, and •corn its Frowns: Here are Hopes too big •or this World, and Fears too great and •owerful for its Fears; such Hopes as can •upport us under the greatest Sufferings; •uch Fears as can imbitter all the sweets of Sin; and therefore let us keep the Future •udgment always in our eye; let us fetch our Supports and Comforts from thence; •et us oppose these Hopes and Fears against all Temptations, for here is our strength; •ll other Arguments are easily baffled, but nothing can answer the Argument of Eter∣nal Life and Death.