at ease in my house, when he was in prison, and did not visit him? But now the tables are turned: Christ's servants shall eat, but I shall be hungry; his servants shall drink, but I shall be thirsty; they rejoice, but I am ashamed, Isa. Ixv. 13. They are taken in, but I am cast out, and bid depart: they are clothed with robes of glory, but I walk naked, and they see my shame, Rev. xvi. 15. They are now raised up on high, beyond the reach of sickness or pain: but I must now lie down in sorrow, Isa. l. 11. Now shall they go to the palace of heaven, but I must go to the prison of hell.

But if our Lord thus resent men's neglecting to help his people under these, and the like distresses, what may they expect, who are the authors and instruments of them? If they shall be fed with wrath, who fed them not, when they were hungry; what shall become of those, who robbed and spoiled them, and took their own bread away from them? What a full cup of wrath shall be the portion of those, who were so far from giving them meat or drink, when hungry or thiristy, that they made it a crime for others to entertain them, and made themselves drunken with their blood! they must lodge with devils for evermore, who took not in the Lord's people, when strangers: then, what a lodging shall those have, who drove them. out of their own houses, out of their native land, and made them strangers? Men will be condemned for not clothing them, when naked: then how heavy must the sentence of those be, who have stripped them, and make them go without clothing? Surely, if not visiting of them in sickness, or in a prison, shall be so severely punished: they shall not escape a most heavy doom, who have cast them into prisons, and have put them under such hardships, as have impaired their health, brought sickness on them, and cut short their days, in prison, or out of prison.

To put a face upon such wicked practices, men will pretend to retain an honour for Christ and religion, while they thus treat his members, walking in his ways, and keeping the truth. They are here represented to say, When saw we thee an hungered, or a-thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" ver. 44. As if they should say, Our bread, drink, lodging, clothing, and visits, were indeed refused, but not to Christ; but to a set of men, of a bad character, men who "turned the world upside down," (Acts xvii. 6,) who "troubled Israel," (1 Kings xviii. 17,) an humorous and fantastic sort of people, having laws diverse from all people; factious and rebellious, (they did not keep the king's laws) and therefore a very dangerous set of men; it

was "not for the king's profit to suffer them," Esther iii. 8. But although men cast iniquity upon the godly, and give them ill names, that they may treat them as criminals; all these pretences will avail them nothing in the great day, before the righteous Judge, nor before their own consciences neither; but the real ground of their enmity against the saints, will be found (to their own conviction) to be their enmity against Christ himself. This seems to be the import of the objection of the damned, (ver. 44, and of the answer to it, ver. 45,) much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me."

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LASTLY, Sentence being past on all parties, follows the full execution of the same, ver. 46, "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." The damned shall get no reprieve, but go to their place without delay; they shall be driven away from the judgment-seat into hell: and the saints shall enter into the King's palace, (Psal. xlv. 16,) namely, into heaven, the seat of the blessed. But our Lord Christ, and his glorious company, shall keep the field that day, and see the backs of their enemies; for the damned go off first.

In this day of the Lord, the great day, shall be the general conflagration; by which those visible heavens, the earth, and sea, shall pass away. Not that they shall be annihilated, (or reduced to nothing) that is not the operation of fire: but they shall be dissolved, and purged by that fire, from all the effects of sin, or of the curse upon them; and then renewed, and made more glorious and stable. Of this conflagration, the Apostle Peter speaks, 2 Pet. iii. 10, "But the day of the Lord will come, as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat: the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up." See also ver. 11, 12. And of the renewing of the world, he adds, ver. 13, "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

It seems most agreeable to the Scriptures, and to the nature of the thing, to conceive this conflagration to follow after the general judgment; sentence being past on both parties before it. And I judge it probable, that it will fall in with the putting of the sentence in execution against the damned; so as they shall (according to their sentence) depart, and the heavens and the earth pass away, together and at once, at that furious rebuke from the throne, driving away the damned out of the world, (in this fire) to the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and

his angels. Even as in the deluge, with which the Apostle Peter compares the conflagration, or burning of the world, (2 Pet. iii. 6, 7,) the world itself, and the wicked upon it perished together; the same water which destroyed the earth, sweeping away the inhabitants. For it is not likely, that the wicked shall at all stand on the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, (2 Pet. iii. 13,) and as for this earth, it shall flee away; (which seems to denote a very quick despatch,) and it shall flee from his face who sits on the throne, Rev. xx. 11, "And I saw a great white throne, and him that set on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens fled away.' The execution of the sentence on the wicked, is also thus expressed: they "shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence, or, from the face of the Lord, 2 Thess. i. 9. The original word is the same in both texts, the which being compared, seem to say, that these creatues abused by the wicked, being left to stand as witnesses against them in the judgment, are, after sentence past on their abusers, made to pass away with them from the face of the Judge. It is true, the fleeing away of the earth and heaven, is narrated (Rev. xx. 11,) before the judgment; but that will not prove its going before the judgment, more than the narrating of the judgment, ver. 12, before the resurrection, ver. 13, will prove the judgment to be before it. Further it is remarkable, in the execution of the sentence, (Rev. xv. 14,15,) that not only the reprobate are cast into the lake, but death and hell are cast into it likewise; all effects of sin, and of the curse, are removed out of the world, (for which very cause shall the conflagration be,) and they are confined to the place of the damned. Besides all this, it is evident the end of the world is by the conflagration; and the Apostle tells us, (1 Cor. xv. 24,) that "then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father: when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet." The which last, as it must be done before the end, so it seems not to be done, but by putting the sentence in execution, past in the day of judgment, against the wicked.

Now, if the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, that are set forth for an example, (Jude 7,) were so dreadful, how terrible will that day be, when the whole world shall be at once in flames! How will wretched worldlings look, when their darling world shall be on fire? Then shall strong castles, and towering palaces, with all their rich furniture, go up together in one flame with the lowest cottages. What heart can fully conceive the

terror of that day to the wicked, when the whole fabric of heaven and earth shall at once be dissolved by that fire! when that miserable company shall be driven from the tribunal to the pit, with fire within them, and fire without them; and fire behind them, and on every hand of them; and fire before them, awaiting them in the lake; whither this fire (for ought appears) may follow them.

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As for the particular place of this judgment, though some point us to the valley of Jehoshaphat for it, yet our Lord, who infallibly knew it, being asked the question by his disciples, "Where Lord?" told them only, "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together," Luke xvii. 37. After which answer, it is too much for men to renew the tion. As for the time when it shall be; in vain do we search for what the Lord hath purposely kept secret, Acts i. 8, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power." The Apostle Paul, after having very plainly described the second coming of Christ, 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17, adɩs, (chap. v. 1, 2,) "But of the times and seasons, brethren, y have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." Nevertheless, some in several ages, have made very bold with the time; and several particular years, which are now past, have been given out to the world, for the time of the end, by men who have pried into the secrets of God. Time has proclaimed to the world their rashness and folly: and it is likely they will be no more happy in their conjectures, whose determinate time is yet to come. Let us rest in that he cometh. God hath kept that day hid from us, that we may every day ready for it, Matth. xxv. 13, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour, wherein the Son of man cometh." And let us remember, that the last day of our life will determine our state in the last day of the world: and as we die, so shall we be judged.

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I shall now shut up this subject, with some application of what has been said.

USE I. Of comfort to all the saints. Here is abundance of consolation to all who are in the state of grace. Whatever be your afflictions in the world, this day will make up all your losses. "Though you have lain among the pots, ye shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold," Psal. lxviii. 13. Though the world reproach, judge, and condemn you, the Judge will, at that day, absolve you, and bring forth your righteousness as the light. The world's fools will then appear to have been the only wise men

who were in it. Though the cross be heavy, you may well bear it in expectation of the crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge will then give you. If the world do despise you and treat you with the utmost contempt, regard it not: the day cometh wherein you shall sit with Christ in his throne. Be not discouraged, by reason of mainfold temptations; but resist the devil, in confidence of a full and complete victory; for you shall judge the tempter at last. Though you have hard wrestling now with the body of sin and death: yet ye shall get all your enemies under your feet at length, and be presented faultless before the presence of his glory. Let not the terror of that day dispirit you, when you think upon it; let these who have slighted the Judge, and continue enemies to him, and to the way of holiness, droop and hang down their heads when they think of his coming; but lift ye up your heads, with joy, for the last day will be your best day. The Judge is your Head and Husband, your Redeemer and your Advocate. Ye must appear before the judgment-seat, but ye shall not come into condemnation, John v. 24. His coming will not be against you, but for you. He came in the flesh, to remove the lawful impediments of the spiritual marriage, by his death; he came in the gospel to you, to espouse you to himself: he will come, at the last day, to, solemnise the marriage, and take the bride home to his Father's house. "Even so come Lord Jesus."

USE II. Of terror to all unbelievers. This may serve to awaken a secure generation, a world lying in wickedness, as if they were never to be called to an account for it; and slighting the Mediator, as if he were not to judge them. Ah! how few have the lively impressions of the judgment to come! most men live, as if what is said of it, from the word, were but idle tales. The profane lives of many, speak the thoughts of it to be far from their hearts; and in very deed, make a mock of it before the world, saying in effect, "Where is the promise of his coming?" The hypocrisy of others, who blind the eyes of the world with a splendid profession, being in appearance Christ's sheep, while they are indeed the devil's goats, is an evidence that the great separation of the sheep from the goats, is very little laid to heart. How do many indulge themselves in secret wickedness, of which they would be ashamed before witnesses? not considering that their most secret thoughts and actions will at that day be discovered before the great congregation! How eagerly are men's hearts set on the world, as if it were to be their everlasting habitation! The solemn assemblies and public ordinances, wherein the Judge is upon a transaction of peace with the criminals, are undervalued: men's hearts will swim like