A practical discourse concerning a future judgment by William Sherlock ...

SECT. VII. Third Inference: To refer all Iudgmen•• to GOD.

III. IF GOD will certainly Judge the World, let us refer all Judgme•••• to God; or as St. Paul speaks, Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will ma•••• manifest the counsels of the hearts; a•••• then shall every man have praise of God▪ 1 Cor. 4.5. Nothing is more indecen••, nor more dangerous than for Men, wh•• must be judged themselves; to take God•••• Work out of his hands, and to assume 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Praetorian Power to Judge, Acquit, an•• Condemn whom they please, without ex∣pecting the Judgment of God: to Judge is God's Prerogative, and he will Judge the World; And what hast thou to do 〈◊〉〈◊〉 judge another man's servant? to his ow•• master he shall stand or fall. Why 〈◊〉〈◊〉 much hast to prevent the Judgment o•• God by our rash, ignorant, uncharitable Judgments? Judgment will come time e∣nough for us all, and therefore judge no∣thing before the time.

This is so common a Fault, and does so much Mischief in the World, and yet is so very unreasonable, considering a Fu∣ture Judgment, that it will be of great use to Discourse it more particularly, and if it be possible, to Correct this Miscar∣riage, which is one of the greatest Plagues of Humane Society.

It is very obvious to ask here, What is the Fault of this? Is there any living in the World without judging of Men and Things? Must we not say, that he is a very bad Man, whom we see do very bad things? Must we not distinguish between Vertue and Vice, and between good and bad Men? Must we not make good Men our Friends, commend and imitate their Vertues, and reject the Conversation of the wicked, and beware of Knaves, and Men of ill Principles and Designs? And is it not necessary then to distinguish be∣tween good and bad Men? that is, to judge who are so. Must we wholly refer the Punishment of Wickedness, and the Rewards of Vertue to the Day of Judge∣ment, and because God will Judge the World, must not Princes and Magistrates execute Justice, and separate between the Pure and the Vile?

This is so very unreasonable, so incon∣sistent with the wise Conduct and Go∣vernment of our Lives, and a prudent Care of ourselves, so destructive to Hu∣mane Societies, gives such encouragement to Wickedness, and so confounds the Di∣stinction of Good and Evil, that I need not tell any Man, that this is not meant by referring all Judgment to God: We must judge of Men and Things as far as is necessary to the prudent Government of our Lives, and to the Preservation of Peace, and Justice, and good Order in the World; this does not intrench upon a Fu∣ture Judgment, nor upon God's Preroga∣tive of being the sole Judge of the World, but is necessary in this present state of Things, so necessary that neither Publick Societies, nor private Persons can be safe without it; but then we assume such a Judgment to ourselves as belongs only to God, when we judge Mens Hearts, and secret Thoughts, and Intentions, and when we pass Judgment on their final State:

First, When we judge Mens Hearts, and Thoughts, and secret Intentions: For the Heart of Man is known only to him∣self, and to God who is the Searcher of

Hearts; and the Counsels of the Heart will never be made manifest, till God comes to Judge the World.

Indeed no Man will pretend to know another Man's Heart; and yet it is too plain in many cases, that Men undertake to judge of Hearts: And the great Fault in judging is, that whether Men will own it or no, yet they undertake to judge of Hearts.

Thus all those do, who charge Men with more Guilt then is visible in their Actions; for if we can discover any Guilt which is not visible in their Actions, we must look into their Hearts, and Thoughts, and Intentions, to find it.

Thus those do, who charge Men with Guilt upon account of innocent and indif∣ferent Actions, which have no necessary good or evil in them, but are as they are taken, and as they were intended, and those who can find any hurt in such Acti∣ons, as have no intrinsick evil and mis∣chief in them, must find it in the Heart.

Especially those, who judge and con∣demn Men for the most vertuous Actions, for the most imitable Examples of Piety, and Devotion, and Charity, and a severe and mortified Life; and call this Affecta∣tion, and Popularity, and Pharisaism, and

charge them with carrying on some world∣ly and secular Designs under the Masque and Disguise of Religion. Now I gran•• this may be done, and sometimes it may be visible enough, as it was in the Phari∣sees; but to charge any Man with this, without some plain and manifest Indicati∣on of it, is to judge their Hearts, when we know nothing of them.

Nay, to charge Men with the utmost possible Guilt, even of their bad Actions, is to judge their Hearts; for it is to say, that they have done such a wicked A∣ction with all the internal Wickedness of Heart and Mind, which such an Action can be committed with; which no Man can say without judging the Heart.

The same wicked Action may be the effect either of Ignorance or of Knowledge, of Rashness and Surprize, or of mature and deliberate Counsel, of habitual Wick∣edness, or of some accidental Temptati∣on, of our own free Choice, or the Per∣swasions of Friends, and the Inticements of our Companions, and the Prevalency of Shame or Fear; now this makes a vast difference in the Guilt and Sin, and if the same Action may have different degrees of Guilt, we must charge it with no more than what is visible, unless we will un∣dertake

to judge the Secrets of Hearts.

Thus to charge a Man with acting a∣gainst his Conscience, when he himself de∣clares a full satisfaction in what he does; or to say, that he only pretends Consci∣ence, when it is nothing but Humour, or Pride and Popularity, or Interest and Po∣liticks, is to judge Mens Hearts; for these things are not to be known without know∣ing Mens Hearts: There may be great Symptoms, and strong Presumptions, that some Men have no Conscience at all, or no regard to it; for those who in the ge∣neral course of their Lives govern them∣selves by no Rule, are ridiculous when they pretend Conscience in any thing; but those who in their other Actions shew, that they are Men of Conscience, ought to be believed, when they pretend Con∣science, unless there be manifest Evidence to the contrary.

All these things belong to the Judge∣ment of God, who will judge the Secrets of Mens Hearts by the Gospel of Christ, but we are not concerned to judge of them; for it serves no good end, but does very great Mischief to the World.

All the Ends of Humane Government both in Church and State, may be attain∣ed without this; for Humane Govern∣ments

do not pretend to judge Me•••• Thoughts and Hearts, any otherwise than as they are declared in Words and Acti∣ons, and some very plain and significant Circumstances, which betray and speak their Intentions and Designs: Humane Go∣vernments take notice only of what ap∣pears, and this is sufficient to secure the external Purity of the Church, and to preferve Justice and good Order in the State; but the Mischief of judging Mens Thoughts and Hearts, is chiefly seen in private Conversation.

How often does this dissolve the most intimate Friendships, and beget mortal Quarrels, that Men read each others Thoughts and Hearts in their Actions, and very often read very false, and di∣rectly contrary to the sence of the Ori∣ginal: when an indiscreet Word or Acti∣on is interpreted a designed Affront, an•• a careless or forgetful Neglect is though•• a Contempt; when an intended Kindness miscarries, and proves an Injury, and is then thought to be intended so; it is easi∣ly observed, that meer Actions anger no Man, and make no Quarrel; for we ca•• easily bear with that from one whom we believe our Friend, which we will not bear with from a Stranger, or a supposed

Enemy or Rival; but when Men appre∣hend a thing ill intended, then they take it ill; that is, they judge Mens Hearts and Intentions, which they cannot see, and which they often mistake, and that makes the Quarrel.

Another Mischief of this judging is, that many times the most exemplary Vertue is greatly discouraged, and the most useful Men eclipsed, and made un∣serviceable to the World: when the most conspicuous Piety, and Devotion, and Charity is accused of Pride, Ambition, Popularity, or some other base and low Design, it makes such good Men afraid of appearing Good, to avoid the suspici∣on of being Vain and Wicked; it makes their Examples useless to the World; for Men will be afraid to imitate them, when they who set the Example, get nothing but an ill Name by it: It makes some Men think that all Religion is a Cheat, and has nothing but this World at the bottom, when the more zealous Men ap∣pear in doing good, the more they are suspected of Hypocrisie, and worldly De∣signs.

And thus on the other hand, (as we know Mankind are very partial in their Affections) when t••ose who do very

wicked Actions, shall still be thought good Men, and maintain their Reputation in the World, as having the root of the mat∣ter in them, though they are not without their Failings; this makes Men believe, that they may be good, and yet live wick∣edly, if they do but take care of their Hearts; and they can easily perswade themselves, that their Hearts are very good.

It were easie to reckon up a great ma∣ny Mischiefs of this judging Mens Hearts, especially when Censures fall upon the Ministers of Religion, whick weakens their Authority, and Counsels, and Ex∣amples, and Reproofs; which was the Case of St. Paul himself, who it seems was censured on all hands, but Appeals from Man's Judgment to the Judgment of God, With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judge∣ment: yea, I judge not myself. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby ju∣stified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart: and then shall every man have praise of God, 1 Cor. 4.3, 4, 5.

Let us then judge of Mens Actions ac∣cording to those Rules of Good and Evil, which the Gospel has given us, but leave their Hearts to God, who alone knows the Secrets of Hearts, and who alone can judge them; this is God's Prerogative, and it is Presumption in us to intermeddle with it, and worse then that, it is very dangerous too, with respect to our own Account at the last Judgment▪ as our Sa∣viour tells us, 7 Matth. 1.2. Iudge not, that ye be not judged: For with what judg∣ment ye judge, ye shall be judge, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured unto you again. So that if we will judge we ought to be favourable and charitable in our Judgment, if we defire to be judg∣ed favourably by God: and I believe there is none of us but will confess, that we stand in need of a very favourable Judgment; that God should make great Allowances for the Weakness, Ignorance, Folly, Mistakes, Inadvertencies, Surprizes, Temptations of Humane Nature; and if we are so far from making any favoura∣ble Allowances for the Miscarriages of our Brethren, that we search into their very Hearts and Thoughts, to find some∣thing to quarrel with; either to aggra∣vate visible Faults, or to turn appearing

and visible Vertues into Faults; what may we expect from the Just and Righteous Judge of the World? It is a known Rule of Righteousness, To do as we would be done to; and all Mankind think it very just, to suffer what we do, to receive the same measure we mete to others; and therefore we may make a Law to our selves, and by a severe, rigorous, uncha∣ritable Judgment of Men, make God, not an Unjust, but yet a Severe and Rigorous Judge of us; And if he be severe to mar•• what we have done amiss, who can stand be∣fore him?

2dly, As we must not judge Mens Hearts and Thoughts, much less must we judge their final State; to condemn them to e∣ternal Miseries, or to advance them to e∣ternal Glories, as we please: for this is to pre-judge the Judgment of God, and to prescribe to him, whom he shall save, and whom he shall damn, by our own byaft and partial Affections. It becomes us to take care of our own Accounts, and to leave other Men to the merciful Judge∣ment of God: it is an argument of a ve∣ry ill temper of Mind, when Men are ha∣sty and froward in pronouncing the Sen∣tence of Damnation against others; it

looks as if they had a mind such Men should be damned; as if they would di∣rect God what to do, least he should be too merciful: It is enough for us to con∣sider what the Terms of Salvation are, which the Gospel has proposed to us, and to take care to perform these Terms our selves; whether other Men have perform∣ed them or not, is none of our business to judge; that God will do, when he comes to judge the World: But all pious and charitable Christians, who consider what it is to be Damned, are very unwilling to pronounce this Sentence upon any Man.

Our Church has been extreamly blam∣ed by some Men, for that Charity she has expressed in her Office of Burial, towards all that die in her Communion, when she teaches us to pray, We meekly beseech Thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of Sin, unto the life of Righteousness, that when we shall depart this Life, we may rest in Him, as our hope is, this our Bro∣ther doth. And yet it may be the Person then buried, is known to have lived a ve∣ry wicked and profligate Life; And how can we express our hope of the Salvation of such a Man?

Now the truth is, our Church never intended this Office of Burial for Men of

profligate Lives, no more than she intend∣ed, that such Men should live and die in her Communion; for this Office is only for those who die in the Communion of the Church; and were Church-Discipline duely exercised, all such notorious Sinners must have been flung out of Church-Com∣munion: And those who raise the Cla∣mour about this, have been one great Hin∣drance of exercising Discipline, having weakened the Power and Authority of the Church by their Schisms and Facti∣ons: but taking things as they are, I con∣fess I can see no Impiety in it, nor any such mighty Fault as is pretended. The Church does not pretend to judge any Man's final State, how wicked soever his Life was, that is God's Work, and she leaves them to him; and what great Fault is it to hope well, when we cant pretend to know enough of the worst os Men, especially of the end and conclusi∣on of their Lives, to pass a final Sentence on them? There are a great many de∣grees of Hope, and one degree but the next remove from Despair; that is, but the next remove from pronouncing Dam∣nation against them; and if we must not do that, we may say, we hope still: Sup∣pose our Hope be no more than a chari∣table

Wish, how can that offend God, that we wish well even to very bad Men? an excess of Charity, an Unwillingness that any Man should be eternally miserable, is no Fault; I am sure it is a greater to pro∣nounce the final Sentence of Damnation against any Man.

But it is said, that this encourages his wicked Companions, who attend his Fu∣neral, to hope they may be saved too, though they persist in their Wickedness to the last, as he did; now indeed what little matters may encourage such Men in sin, I cannot say, but there is no reason, that a faint and charitable Wish should do this: If they know the Gospel of Christ, they know that He has threatened eter∣nal Damnation against all impenitent Sin∣ners; if they know the Doctrine of the Church, they know she teaches the very same thing; if they saw their wicked Companion die, they saw his dying Hor∣rors and Agonies too, which few of them die without, if they have any time to con∣sider their State; and when they know and see all this, is there any reason to hope they shall be saved in their Wick∣edness, only because the Church will not damn them, but reserves them to the Judgment of God, and sends her charit∣able

Wishes after them? at least this can be no Encouragement, when they are fore∣warned before hand of it, which is the chief reason, why I take notice of it at this time.

Upon the same Principle, I am not a∣shamed to own, I have always been a∣verse to that Dispute about the Salvation of Heathens; for this is to set in Judge∣ment on three parts of the World; and I am not the Judge of the World, nor of any part of it; and yet I know not, what Character and Censures this plain Confes∣sion may bring upon me; for some Men do as peremptorily Damn all the Heathen World, as if it were an Article of their Creed, and think all those Enemies to the Grace of Christ, who do not: but for my part I dare neither damn nor save them, for I know nothing of the matter.

By what Rule God will Judge the Hea∣then World, I cannot tell: St. Paul tells us, As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law, 2 Rom. 12. And there is the same reason as to the Gospel too, that those who never heard of the Gospel, shall be judged without the Gospel; and who can tell, what this signifies? what

mighty Allowances God may make for their invincible Ignorances, and the un∣happy Circumstances of their Education? who can tell, how little God will accept from those to whom he has given little? I am sure our Saviour tells us, To whom∣soever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have commit∣ted much, of him they will ask the more, 12 Luke 48. Which by a parity of Rea∣son supposes, that where God has given little he requires little. St. Paul seems to intimate a very favourable Judgment, which such Men shall have, and a vast difference that God makes between the times of Pagan Ignorance, and the Light of the Gospel, The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every-where to repent, because he hath appointed a day, &c. 17 Acts 30, 31. where God's winking at the Times of Ig∣norance must signifie, that he is not so severe and curious an Observer of their Actions, not so strict to mark what is a∣miss, nor so rigorous in exacting punish∣ment as he will be now. They are in the hands of God, and there we ought to leave them, with this general perswasion, That God will be very just, and very merciful in judging them; and this eases

my mind of a great many troublesome thoughts. I know not what pleasure o∣ther Men take in it, but it is terrible to me, when I consider, what eternal Dam∣nation is, to think, that so much the great∣est part of the World, who never had the Means and Opportunities of Salvation, as we have, shall be eternally damned: I dare judge nothing, but that great love I have for Mankind, inclines me to hope better for them, (as far as the circumstances of their Condition will admit of a favoura∣ble Judgment;) and that strong perswa∣sion I have of the Justice and Goodness of God inclines me to believe better of him; for so I am apt to think, that the merci∣ful side of the question is most agreeable to the Divine Justice and Goodness.

Such another curious Question is that about the Salvation of Infants, who di•• before they know good or evil; especial∣ly the Children of Heathen Parents: now it is certain, they have no Legal and Co∣venant Title to Salvation; nor have they any thing of their own to answer for, but that Original Guilt they contracted by their Birth: now God has not told us, how he will judge these Infants, nor are we con∣cerned to know.

The Infants of Christian Parents indeed have a Covenant-Title to Salvation, for the promise is made to us and our children; and to say, That such Children dying af∣ter Baptism, before they have committed a∣ny actual Sin, shall certainly be saved, is not an Act of Judgment, but only a de∣claring the Vertue and Efficacy of Baptis∣mal Grace and Regeneration; that the Grace of Baptism will save those who do not afterwards forfeit this Grace by wilful Sins: and therefore if the Children of Christian Parents have a Right to Baptism, they have a Right to the Salvation of Bap∣tism; and if they die before they have forfeited this Right by their own Act, they must be saved: And to deny this, is to de∣ny the Vertue and Efficacy of Baptism to Salvation; and that I am sure is to deny, or to lessen the Gospel-Grace.

The sum is, God is the Judge of the World, and we must leave Men to the Judgment of God, and judge nothing be∣fore the time, nor disturb our thoughts with some curious Questions, how God will judge the World; we certainly know how we shall be judged, even by the Go∣spel of our Saviour, and therefore ought to take care to prepare our Accounts: but how those shall be judged, who never

heard of the Gospel, we know not, and are not concerned to know; but if we will be judging, we ought to judge very charitably, because as I observed before, With what judgment we judge, we shall be judged, and with what measure we mete, it shall be measured unto us again.

But before I dismiss this Argument, I cannot but take notice of some great and visible Mischiefs of this judging Mens final State, whether we damn or save them:

1. As first for Damning, especially when we damn them by whole-sale, as the Church of Rome damns all Hereticks; and as others with as much Charity damn all Papists and Malignants, or whoever they are pleased to vote for Hereticks Now what the effect of this is, is visible to all the World: It destroys not only Christian Love and Charity, but even common Humanity; when Men have vo∣ted one another damned, and believe God will damn those whom they have adjudg∣ed to Damnation, then they are the Ene∣mies of God, and they think they do God good service to destroy them: God hates them, and therefore they think it a sin in them, to love those whom God hates, or

to have any pitty or compassion for those whom God will damn. And thus they burn Hereticks, or cut their Throats, or Confiscate their Estates, and drive them out from among them, and treat them with all the Barbarity and Indignities which a damning Zeal and Fury can in∣vent. All other Villanies may meet with some Pitty and Charity, but Charity is Lukewarmness and want of Zeal in God's Cause; there is no Fire burns so furious∣ly, nor so outragiously consumes as that which is kindled at God's Alter. And thus the Christian Church is turned into a great Shambles, and stained with the Blood of Humane, nay of Christian Sa∣crifices: though were they in the right, that God would damn these Men, whom they have damned, why should they think Patience and Forbearance, a greater Fault in them then it is in God, who beareth with much long suffering, the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? Why are they so unmerciful as to hurry away these poor Wretches immediately to Hell, when God is contented to let them live on; to let the Tares and the Wheat grow up toge∣ther till the Harvest? Why do they envy them the short and perishing Content∣ments of this Life, when they are to suf∣fer

an Eternity of Misery? Methinks it should satisfie the most implacable Hatred to know, that they must be miserable for ever, though their Miseries should be ad∣journed for some few Years: but if this be the Effect of damning Men, you may guess that the Cause is not very good; though an uncharitable Judgment will hurt no Body, but themselves, yet it is of dan∣gerous consequence, when such rash Judges will be as hasty Executioners too.

2. Though the effects of saving Men, and voting them to Heaven, be not so Tra∣gical as those of damning them, yet this has its Mischiefs too; when any Party of Men have voted themselves the only true Church, wherein Salvation is to be had, or the only Saints and Elect People of God, then all who will be saved must herd with them; and most Men think it e∣nough to secure their Salvation, to get in∣to their Number: Thus the Church of Rome frightens Men into her Communion by threatning Damnation against all who are out of that Church; and this recon∣ciles Men to all their Superstitions and I∣dolatries for fear of Damnation, and en∣courages them in all manner of Looseness and Debauchery, when they ar•• got into

a Church, which can save them: and it has much the same effect, when Men list themselves with any Party, where they hope to be saved for Company, while all the rest of Mankind, even those who pro∣fess the Faith of Christ, are no better then the World, and the Ungodly and Repro∣bates, who tho' they may have more Mo∣ral Vertues then some others, yet have no Grace.

And the mischief of this encreases, when Men are Sainted after death: Had it not been for this Trick, the Church of Rome had had very few Saints to Worship, none but the Virgin Mary and the A∣postles, whom they might certainly con∣clude to be in Heaven; but as for their other Saints, who were the great Foun∣ders and Examples of their Superstition, they are Saints of their own making, just as the Heathens made their Gods; and it is the Stories and Legends of these Saints, which support the Superstition of the Church of Rome; for who dares que∣stion the Examples of those who are ca∣nonized Saints in Heaven? Hac arte Pol∣lux, & vagus Hercules innixus, arces at∣tigit igneas.

And there are another sort of Men, who are not behind-hand with them in

this, who have a great many more Saints than the Church of Rome, though they don't pray to them; who send great shoals to Heaven, especially if they have been zealous for promoting a Party, which hides all other Faults, and sanctifies very doubt∣ful Actions; and how powerful must the Example of such Saints be to ex∣cite others to an imitation of their Ver∣tues.

In a word, when we pretend to send Men to Heaven, we make them our Rules and Examples; we hope to go to Heaven with all the Faults they had; and those who knew them, possibly knew a great many: what they were eminent for, we conclude were great Vertues, and fit for our imitation, tho' otherwise of a doubt∣ful and suspicious Nature.

There is not a more dangerous thing than to make any Man our Rule and Ex∣ample, and yet that we necessarily do, when we send him to Heaven; for who would not think himself safe in imitating those whom he believes to be in Heaven? And if we consider, at what rate both the Church of Rome, and others make Saints, we must needs be sensible, how infinitely dangerous this is to Mens Souls.

To conclude this Head: Let us judge charitably of all Men, and hope well ac∣cording to the different reasons we have to hope, but let us leave their final State to God, neither peremptorily damn nor save them: it is to be feared, that Hu∣mane Judgment has sent many Men to Heaven, who will never get thither; and to be hoped, that many Men shall meet with a more favourable Sentence in the next World, than they do in this. God is the Judge of the World, and he will certainly judge us, and there is no Incon∣venience in staying till the Day of Judge∣ment, to see what Mens final Sentence shall be, but very great Mischief in pro∣nouncing a rash and hasty Judgment our selves.