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formation of mankind; I fay, what more congruous, than that this very perfon fhould be honoured by God! to fit in judgement upon the world, and to condemn thofe, who, after all the means that had been tried! for their recovery, would not repent and be faved! and what more proper, than that men, who are to be judged for things done in the body, thould be jud ged in the body, and confequently that the refurrec tion of the dead fhould precede the general judge♦ ment ?

And what more magnificent and fuitable to this glorious folemnity, than the awful circumstances which the fcripture mentions of the appearance of this great Judge; that he fhall defcend from heaven in great majefty and glory, attended with his mighty angels; and that every eye shall fee him; that upon his appearance the frame of nature fhall be in an a gony, and the whole world in flame and confufion; that thofe great and glorious bodies of light fhall be obfcured, and by degrees extinguished? The fun fhall be darkened, and the moon turned into blood, and all the powers of heaven shaken; yea, the heavens themfelves fhall pass away with a great noife, and the ele ments diffolve with fervent heat; the earth alfo, and all the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. I appeal to any man, whether this be not a reprefenta tion of things very proper and fuitable to that great! day, wherein he who made the world fhall come to judge it; and whether the wit of man ever devised a ny thing fo awful, and fo agreeable to the majefty of God, and the folemn judgement of the whole world ?. The defcription which Virgil makes of the judgement of another world, of the Elyfian fields, and the infernal regions, how infinitely do they fall fhort of the majefty of the holy fcripture, and the defcription there made of heaven and hell, and of the great and terrible day of the Lord! fo that in comparison they are childish and trifling; and yet perhaps he had the moft regular and most governed imagination of any man that ever lived, and observed the greatest deco rum in his characters and descriptions. But who can'

declare

declare the great things of God, but he to whom God Jhall reveal them?

2. This expreffion of the wrath of God being revealed from heaven, doth not only imply the clear discovery of the thing, but likewife fomething extraordinary in the manner of the discovery. It is not only a natural impreffion upon the minds of men, that God will feverely punifh finners; but he hath taken care that mankind should be inftructed in this matter in a very particular and extraordinary manner. He hath not left it to the reafon of men to collect it from the confideration of his attributes and perfections, his holiness and juftice, and from the confideration of the promifcuous adminiftration of his providence towards good and bad men in this world; but he hath been pleafed to fend an extraordinary perfon from heaven, on purpose to declare this thing. plainly to the world: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven; that is, God fent his own Son from heaven, on purpofe to declare his wrath against all obftinate and impenitent finners, that he might effectually awaken the drowsy world to repentance; he hath sent an extraordinary ambaffador into the world, to give warning to all thofe who continue in their fins, of the judgement of the great day, and to fummon them before his dreadful tribunal. So the Apoftle tells the Athenians, Acts xvii. 30. 31. Now he commandeth all men every where to repent; because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteoufnefs, by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given affurance unto all men, in that be hath raifed him from the dead.

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3. This expreffion implies likewife the certainty of this difcovery. If the wrath of God had only been declared in the difcourfes of wife men, though grounded upon very probable reafon, yet it might have been brought into doubt by the contrary rea fonings of fubtle and difputing men. But to put the matter out of all queftion, we have a divine teftimony for it, and God hath confirmed it from heaven, by figns, and wonders, and miracles, especially by the refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the dead; for

by

by this he hath given affurance unto all men, that it is he who is ordained of God to judge the quick and dead.

Thus you fee in what refpect the wrath of God is faid to be revealed from heaven, in that the gospel. hath made a more clear, and particular, and certain discovery of the judgement of the great day, than ever was made to the world before. I proceed to the III. Third observation, which I fhall. fpeak but briefly to; namely, that every wicked and vitious. practice doth expofe men to this dreadful danger. The Apostle inftanceth in the two chief heads to which the fins of men may be reduced, impiety towards God, and unrighteousness towards men; and therefore he is to be understood to denounce the wrath of God against every particular kind of fin comprehended under thefe general heads; fo that no man that allows himself in any impiety and wickedness of life, can hope to efcape the wrath of God. Therefore it concerns us to be entirely religious, and to have refpect to all God's commandments; and to take heed! that we do not allow ourselves in the practice of any kind of fin whatsoever, because the living in any one known fin is enough to expofe us to the dreadful wrath of God. Though a man be juft and righteous in his dealings with men, yet if he neglect the wor fhip and fervice of God, this will certainly bring him under condemnation: and on the other hand, though a man may ferve God never fo diligently and devoutly, yet if he be defective in righteousness towards men, if he deal falfely and fraudulently with his neighbour, he shall not escape the wrath of God., Though a man pretend to never fo much piety and devotion, yet if he be unrighteous, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If any man over-reach and de fraud his brother in any matter, the Lord is the aven ger of fuch, faith St Paul, 1 Theff. iv. 6.

So that here is a very powerful argument to take men off from all fin, and to engage them to a con ftant and careful difcharge of their whole duty to ward God and men, and to reform whatever is amifs

either in the frame and temper of their minds, or in the actions and courfe of their lives; because any kind of wickednefs, any one fort of vitious course, lays men open to the vengeance of God, and the pu nifhments of another world: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteoufness of men. There is no exception in the cafe ; we muft forfake all fin, fubdue every luft, be holy in all manner of converfation, otherwife we can have no reafonable hopes of escaping the wrath of God, and the damnation of hell. But I proceed to the

IV. Fourth obfervation, namely, That it is a very great aggravation of fin, for men to offend against the light of their own minds. The Apostle here aggravates the wickedness of the Heathen world, that they did not live up to that knowledge which they had of God, but contradicted it in their lives, holding the truth of God in unrighteoufnefs. And that he speaks here of the Heathen, is plain from his following difcourse, and the character he gives of thofe perfons of whom he was fpeaking, who hold the truth of God in unrighteoufnefs; because that which may be known of God is manifeft in them, for God hath fhewed it unto them; and this he proves, because those who were deftitute of divine revelation, were not without all knowledge of God, being led by the fight of this vifible world, to the knowledge of an invifible being and power that was the author of it: ver. 20, 21. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly feen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; fo that they are without excufe: because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God; (Haec eft fumma delicti, nolle agnofcere, quem ignorare non poffis, faith Tertullian to the Heathen ; This is the height of thy fault, not to acknowledge him whom thou can't not but know, not to own him, of whom thou canst not be ignorant, if thou wouldft);" neither were thankful : They did not pay thofe acknowledgements to him which of right were due to the author of their bes

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ing, and of all good things, but became vain in their imaginations ; ἐματαιώθησαν ἐν τοῖς διαλογισμοῖς αὐτῶν, they fooled with their own reafonings. This he fpeaks of the philofophers, who in thofe great arguments of the being and providence of God, the immortality of the foul, and the rewards of another world, had loft the truth by too much fubtilty about it, and had disputed themselves into doubt and uncertainty about those things which were naturally known; for nimium altercando veritas amittitur; "Truth is many times "loft by too much contention and difpute about it; "and by too eager a pursuit of it, men many times "outrun it, and leave it behind :" ver. 22. and profeffing themfelves to be wife, they became fools. Men never play the fools more, than by endeavouring to be over fubtle and wife: ver. 23. And changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and to four-footed beafts, and creeping things. Here he fpeaks of the fottifhnefs of their idolatry, whereby they provoked God to give them up to all manner of lewdnefs and impurity: ver. 24. Wherefore God also gave them up unto uncleanness, through the lufts of their own hearts; and again, ver. 26. For this caufe God gave them up to vile affections; and then he enumerates the abominable lufts and vices they were guilty of, notwithftanding their natural acknowledgement of the divine juftice ver. 32. Who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit fuch things are worthy of death, not only do the fame, but have pleafure in them that do them. By all which it appears, that he fpeaks of the Heathen, who offended against the natural light of their own minds, and therefore were without excufe. Quam fibi veniam fperare poffunt impietatis fuæ, qui non agnofcunt cultum ejus, quem prorfus ignorari ab hominibus fas non eft? faith Lactantius: How can "they hope for pardon for their impiety, who deny to worship that God of whom it is not poffible man"kind fhould be wholly ignorant?"

So that this is to hold the truth in unrighteousness,

injuriously

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