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it; yet the greatest of them cannot chufe but tremble fometimes at the Apprehenfion of it.

Though now,

IVthly, and Laftly, It too often happens to fuch Perfons as we fee it did to this unfortunate Man here; that the effect. of these Terrors is not to bring them to repentance of their fins; but to engage them by any means to put off the thoughts of their future ftate, which are fo troublesome and amazing to them.

But before I enter upon these Particulars, there is one thing which I cannot but obferve with reference to thofe other Points mention'd in the Text, as part of St. Paul's Difcourfe before Felix, Righteoufnefs and Temperance: And the Application whereof, may ferve to reproach the Complaifance of too many of his Succeffors among us in the Gofpel; whofe Tendernefs in reproving the Vices of Great Men, and fometimes even their Connivance at them, does but very illy agree, either with that great Obligation which our Holy profeffion lays upon us, or with that admirable Example which the Apoftle here fet us for our Imitation.

It is the Character which Hiftorians have given us of this Felix, That he was a Man, who, in his Government, managed

Fofephus,

Hift. 1. 20.

his Power with all the Violence and Injuftice that can poffibly be imagined; and breaking through all the Ties of Juftice and Continence, had, by the help of one Simon a Tacitus, Hift. Magician, gain'd the Affections of Drufilla, the Wife of Azis, King

1. 5.

of

of the Emiljeni, and lived in a flate of Adultery

with her...

Now this being the Cafe of Felix, 'tis plain that the Subject of St. Paul's Difcourfe, was to remonftrate to him his Injuftice, and Intemperance; and let him freely know, that however he might carry it out by his Power and Authority now, yet there was a time coming, a future Day of Fudgment, when he fhould be called to a fevere Account for all his Wickedness.

This was indeed an Addrefs becoming the Zeal of an Apoftle, and the Spirit of St. Paul. And too plainly thews, how little we have left in us of that Primitive warmth which inflamed this Holy Man, by our different management on the like Occafions.

There can hardly be imagined any greater difcouragement to fuch a freedom, than what our Apoftle here labour'd under. To touch an Unjust Governor in the point of his Violence and Injustice; a luftful Adulterer in the bufinefs of his Incontinence, this one would think fhould have been a pretty bold undertaking for any One. But for St. Paul, a Prifoner, one that was to appear as a Criminal before him; for him, inftead of flattering this great Man, as his Adverfary Tertullus had done Inftead of Applauding the great quietnefs which the people enjoy'd under his government, and the

Verse 2.

very worthy deeds that had been done by his providence, to call him to repent of his Rapine and Cruelty of his Intemperance and

;

Adultery And this too in the pre- Verse 24. fence of that very Woman whom he

fo much loved, and for whofe fake he had done fo many vile things; this was an Honeft freedom and I

plain

plainnefs, becoming an Apoftolical Age; but which, I fear, in thefe days of ours, would be cenfur'd as rudeness and indifcretion; any thing rather than a commendable Zeal for the Glory of God, and the Salvation of Souls.

But alas! St. Paul had not learnt that tender Application that is now a-days made to Great Perfons. He had no Intereft of his own to purfue; and therefore did not addrefs himself affer the manner of those who are more afraid of offending Men, than of difpleafing God, and of difparaging their Charafter. He knew the Doctrine to be feasonable to Felix, and that if he pleafed to make a good ufe of it, it might be profitable too: And he never ftood to confider, whether Felix would like it or no; or whether it might not perhaps provoke him to run to any Extremities against him for his freedom. In fhort, he had an Unjuft, Adulterous Man to preach to; and he knew nothing fo fit to reafon of before him, as of Righteoufnefs, Tempe rance, and the Fudgment to come. And had we but the fame honeft Courage, and Indifference that he had, we fhould fpeak, not only with the fame freedom that he did; but, by the Grace of God, with the fame efficacy too: And poor and defpicable as we are thought by many, yet in the power of that Divine Truth which we are fent to preach to the World, make the greatest Sinners tremble to think, That for all these things, God will bring them to judgment.

And that this is the Cafe, is the first thing I am to fhew:

JA, That the Doctrine of a Judgment to come, is fo highly reasonable, that the greatest Infidel cannot but acknowledge the probability of it.

2.

In

1

In pursuance of which Point, it is not my Delign to fhew what Grounds the Holy Scriptures give us for the belief of a future Judgment, which we all of us every day profefs as an Article of our Faith, and therefore cannot be fuppofed any of us to doubr of it. What elfe do we meet with almoft throughout the New Testament, but Exhortations to live. well upon this Ground, That God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteoufnefs: That we muft all stand before the JudgmentSeat of Christ, That we must all ap- Rom. xiv. 10. pear before the Judgment-Seat of

Acts xvii. 31.

What 2 Cor. v. 10.

1 Theff. iv. 15, &c.

I Cor. xv.

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"Chrift, every one to receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or evil: What Revelation has there ever been more clearly made, I do not fay than this, That there fhall be a final Fudgment, but of the manner and Circumstances of it? How the Trum-. pets fhall found, and the dead arife, and those that are alive be changed. How the juft fhall be caught up into the air, and the finners lie groveling below, in vain crying out to the Mountains to fall upon them, and to the Hills to cover them: How the Fudgment shall be fet, and the Books open'd, and every man judged out of the things contained in thofe Books, according to his works. Then fhall the Son of Man come in his Glory, and fit down upon the Throne of his Glory: And before him fhall be gathered all Nations, and he shall Separate them the one from the other, as a Shepherd divideth his Sheep from the Goats: And he fhall fet his Sheep on his Right Hand, and the Goats on his Left: And he

I 2

Matth. xxv. 31, &c.

Shall

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Shall fay to them on his right hand, Come ye Bleffed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World. But to thofe on the left, Depart from me ye Curfed, into everlafting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And thefe shall go away into Everlasting Punishment, but the Righteous into Life Eternal..

In a word; So particular is the Account which we here find of all the Circumftances of this great Audit, that I fcarce know any thing left unrevealed to us, but only the Day and Hour when this Judgment fhall be: And which, indeed, God has in Mercy kept up from us, that fo we might always live in Apprehenfion of that, which we can never tell how foon it may arrive.

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But this is not that which my Text leads me to confider: And indeed, however,, it may be useful enough to call upon the most faithful Chriftians to think fometimes on this future Fudgment; yet it would certertainly be a very needlefs Undertaking. to reafon with fuch Perfons concerning it, and ufe any long Arguments to convince them of the futurity of it. That which I have now to do, is of a quite different nature; 'Tis to offer fuch Reafons for the belief of a Judgment to come, as may convince the greatest Infidel of the probability of it: And fhew them that, whether they will believe us in other things, or no, yet here at least they cannot with any Reafon doubt of the Truth of our Do&trine; but muft refolve to become Good Men, if they will not be perfuaded to become Faithful Chriftians.

And indeed in this Sceptical Age, in which we now live, it may not, for ought I know, be altogether unfeasonable, to argue fometimes with Men

upon

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