BOOK 10. THE JUDGEMENT.
CHAPTER 2.
10.2.9. Of Conforming to Jesus in that Respect.
Of Conforming to Jesus in that Respect.
Let us conform to Jesus as coming again to judge the world. Looking to Jesus contains this; when the apostle would persuade Christians to patience under the cross, he lays down first the cloud of witnesses, all the martyrs of the church of Christ; and secondly, Jesus Christ himself, as of more virtue and power than all the rest; the martyrs suffered much, but Christ endured more than they all; and therefore, saith the apostle, "Look unto Jesus," Heb. xii. 2. Surely he is the best examplar, the chief pattern, to whom, in all his transactions, we may, in some way or other, conform.
But how should we conform to Christ in this respect! I answer, --
1. Christ will, in his time, prepare for judgment; Oh let us, at all times prepare for his judging of us; doth it not concern us to prepare for him, as well as it concerns him to prepare for us? If Christ come, and find us careless, negligent, and unprepared, what will become of us? The very thought of Christ's sudden coming to judgment, might well put us into a waiting, watching posture, that we might be still in readiness: it cannot be long, and alas, what is a little time when it is gone; How quickly shall we be in another world, and our souls receive their particular judgments; and so wait till our bodies be raised, and judged to the same condition, or salvation? It is not an hundred years, in all likelihood, till every soul of us shall be in heaven or hell; it may be within a year, or two, or ten, or thereabouts, the greatest part of this congregation will be in heaven or hell; and I beseech you, what is a year, or two, or ten? What is an hundred, or a thousand years to the days of eternity? How speedily is this gone? and how endless is that time, or eternity that is to come? Is it not high time then to prepare our lamps, to trim our souls, to watch, and fast, and pray, and meditate, and to remember, that for all our deeds, good or evil, God will bring us to judgment? Herein is our conformity to Christ's coming; before he comes he prepares for us. Oh let us, against his coming, prepare for him.
2. Christ at his coming, will summon all his saints to arise, to ascend, and to come to him in the clouds; O let us summon our souls to arise, to ascend, and to go to Christ in the heavens. What Christ will do really at that day, let us do spiritually on this day. It was the prodigal's saying, "I will arise, and go to my father, and say unto him, etc." Luke xv. 18.
We are naturally sluggish, we lie in a bed of sin and security; and we are loath to arise, to ascend, and to go to God. Oh then, let us call upon our own souls! "Awake, awake Deborah? Why art thou so heavy, O my soul?" Let us stir up our spirits, consciences, wills, affections, every day; let us wind them up as a man doth his watch, that it may be in a continual motion. Alas! alas we had need to be continually stirring up the gifts and graces that are in us; it is the Lord's pleasure that we should daily come to him, he would have us on the wing of prayer, and on the wing of meditation, and on the wing of faith; he would have us to be still arising, ascending, and mounting up in divine contemplation to his Majesty; and is it not our duty, and the saints disposition to be thus? "Wheresoever the dead carcase is, thither will the eagles resort," Matth. xxiv. 28. If Christ be in heaven, where should we be, but in heaven with him? "For where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also." Oh! that every morning, and every evening, at least our hearts would arise, ascend, and go to Christ in the heavens.
3. Christ will at last judge all our souls, and judge all the wicked to eternal flames; Oh let us judge ourselves, that we may not be judged of the Lord, in that sad judgment! "If we would judge ourselves, (saith the apostle) we should not be judged," 1 Cor. xi 31. Good reason we have to conform to Christ in this point; or otherwise, how should we escape the judgment of Christ at the last day? But in what manner should we judge ourselves? I answer, (a). We must search out our sins. (b). We must confess them before the Lord. (c). We must condemn ourselves, or pass a sentence against our own souls. (d). We must plead pardon, and cry mightily to God in Christ for the remission of all those sins, whereof we have judged ourselves, and condemn ourselves.
(a). We must search out our sins: "Winnow yourselves, O people! not worthy to be beloved," Zeph. ii. 1. There should be a strict scrutiny to find out all the profaneness of our hearts and lives, all our sins against light and love, and checks, and vows, winnow yourselves. If you will not, I pronounce to you from the eternal God, that ere long the Lord will come in the clouds, and then will he open the black book, wherein all your sins are written, he will search Jerusalem with candles, he will come with a sword in his hand, to search out all secure sinners every where, and then will all our sins be discovered to all the world. O that we would prevent this by our search and scrutiny aforehand!
(b). We must confess our sins before the Lord: we must spread them before the Lord, as Hezekiah did his letter; only in our commissions, observe these rules. As, --
(i). Our confessions must be full of sorrow, "I will declare my iniquity, (saith David) I will be sorry for my sin," Psal. xxxviii. 18. His confessions were dolorous confessions, he felt sin, and it wrought upon him as an heavy burden, "They are too heavy for me," verse 4. There is nothing in the world can make an heart more heavy, than when it feels the weight and heaviness of sin.
(ii). Our confession must be a full confession, we must pour it out. Thus David stiles one of his psalms, "A prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord," Psal. cii. preface. We must pour out our complaints, as a man poureth water out of a vessel. "Arise, cry out in the night, in the night, in the beginning of the watches, pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord," Lam. ii. 19. Water runs all out of a vessel, when you turn the mouth downward, never a spoonful will then stay behind; so should we pour out our hearts before God, and (if it were possible) leave not a sin unconfessed, at least for the kinds, if not for the particular sins.
(iii). Our confession must be with full aggravation: we should aggravate our sins, by all the circumstances that may show them odious. Thus Peter when he had denied Christ, it is said. That "he thought thereon, and he wept," Mark xiv. 72. He thought thereon, or he cast in his thoughts one thing upon another, q.d. Jesus Christ was my master, and yet I denied him; he told me of this before hand, that I might take heed of it, and yet I denied him; I professed to him that I would never do it, I would never forsake him, and yet I denied him; yea, this very night, and no longer since, I said it again and again, that I would not deny him, and yet I denied him, yea, I said, "Though all others deny thee, yet will not I;" and yet worse than all others, I denied him with a witness, for I affirmed desperately that I knew not the man, nay, I swore desperately that I knew not the man, nay, more than so, I swore and I cursed too, "If I knew the man, let God's curse fall upon me," and all this I did within a few strides of my Lord, at that very time when I should have stood for my Lord, in that all the world forsook him: why, these were the circumstances of Peter's sin, and meditating on them, "He went out, and he wept bitterly." And thus we should aggravate our sins in our confessions; O my sins were out of measure sinful! O they were sins against knowledge, and light, against many mercies received, against many judgments threatened, against many checks of conscience, against many vows and promises; thus oft, and in this place, and at that time, and in that manner, I committed these and these sins; but of all the aggravations let us be sure to remember how we sinned against the goodness, and patience, and love, and mercy of God; surely these circumstances will make our sins out of measure sinful. The angel that reproved the children of Israel at Bochim, after the repetition of his mercies towards them, and of their sins against him, he questions them in these words, "O, why have you done this?" Judges ii 2. q.d. The Lord hath done thus and thus mercifully unto you. Oh! why have ye done thus unthankfully towards him? Why was his mercy abused, his goodness slighted, his patience despised? Do you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? In like manner should we confess and aggravate our sins; "O my God! thou art my father; was I ever in want, and thou didst not relieve me? Was I ever in weakness, and thou didst not strengthen me? Was I ever in straits, and thou didst not deliver me? Was I ever in sickness, and thou didst not cure me? Was I ever in misery, and thou didst not succour me? Hast thou not been a gracious God to me? All my bones can say, who is like unto thee? Lord, who is like unto thee? And shall I thus and thus reward the Lord for all his mercies towards me? Hear, O heavens, and hearken, O earth; sun stand thou still, and thou moon be amazed at this! hear angels, and hear devils; hear heaven, and hear hell, and be you avenged on such a sin as this is! O the sinfulness of my sin, in regard of these many circumstances!"
(c). We must condemn ourselves, or pass a sentence against our own souls: Lord, the worst place in hell is too good for me; Lord, there is my soul, thou mayest if thou pleasest send Satan for it, and give me a portion among the damned. This self-judging, or self-condemning is exemplified to the life in Ezra; For, --
(i). "He fell on his knees," Ezra ix. 5. He did not bow down his knees, but like a man astonished, he fell on his knees; he had before rent his garment and mantle, and plucked off the hair of his head, and of his beard, and sat down astonished; and now at the evening sacrifice he falls on his knees, and on the ground, in great amazement.
(ii). "He spread out his hands unto the Lord," ver. 5. q.d. "Here is my breast, and here is my heart blood, I spread my arms and lay all open, that thou mayest set the naked point of thy sword of justice at my very heart.
(iii). He is dumb and speechless (as it were) before the Lord, "And now, O our God! what shall we say after all this, for we have forsaken thy commandments?" ver. 10. q.d. "Shall I excuse the matter? Alas f it is inexcusable; What shall we say after all this? Shall we call for thy patience? We have had it, but how did we abuse it? Should we call for mercy? Indeed we had it, but our stubborn hearts would never come down, O our God! what shall we say? I know not what to say, for we have sinned against thee.
(iv). He lays down his soul, and all the people's souls at God's feet, q.d. Here we are, thou mayest damn us if thou wilt, "Behold, we are all here before thee in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before thee, because of this, ver. 15. Behold, here we are, rebels we are; here are our heads and throats before the naked point of thy vengeance, if now thou shouldst take us from our knees, and throw us into hell, if we must go from our prayers to damnation, we cannot but say, That thou art just and righteous: Oh! it is mercy, it is mercy indeed that we are spared, it is just and righteous with God that we should be damned.
In this more especially lies self-condemnation: it makes a man to trample upon his own self, it makes a man freely to accept of damnation, "They shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity, and then will I remember my covenant with Jacob," Lev. xxvi 41, 42. They save God (as it were) a labour, judging themselves, that they may not be judged.
(d). We must plead pardon, and cry mightily to God in Christ, for the remission of all our sins. This is the way of judging ourselves, we see nothing but hell and damnation in ourselves, but then we fling down ourselves at God's gate of mercy; we despair not in God, though in ourselves; God in Christ is gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin; and hence we make bold to entreat the Lord for Christ's sake, to be merciful to us; surely herein lies the difference betwixt nature and grace; the natural man may see his sins, and confess his sins, and judge himself for his sins, thus Saul did, and thus Judas did; but then they despaired in God, and were damned indeed; now the gracious man hath a conscience within, that represents to him his damned estate, but withal it represents to him the free grace of God in Jesus Christ, and so he only despairs in himself, and not in his God; now thus far good. Come Christians! do we despair in ourselves? Do we fling off all our own hopes, and our own dependencies, hangings, holding on duties, purposes, graces, performances? And do we go to God in Christ, and tell him, "We hang upon nothing but the mere mercy, the free grace of God in Christ; and therefore, Lord pardon, Lord forgive, for thy name's sake, promise sake, mercy's sake, and for the Lord Jesus' sake; O let free grace have his work, Lord, glorify thy name, and glorify the riches of thy grace in saving us. Why, this is the best hold in the world, though the world cannot abide it; surely if we thus judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
4. Christ at his coming will be glorified in his saints; not only in himself, but in his saints also, whose glory, as it comes from him, so it will redound to him; Oh! let him now be glorified in us, let us now, in some high way conform to the image of his glory; let us look on Christ till we are like Christ, not only in grace, but in glory; and this glory, as it comes from him, so let it redound to him. I will not say, That the kingdom of heaven and glory is in this life, I leave this opinion to the dreamers of this time, I mean to the Emilists, Quakers, and such like; but this I say, That even in this life the saints of God enjoy a begun and imperfect conformity to Christ's glory, and this is that I would now press upon us, let us so behold the glory of the Lord, in the glass of the gospel, as that "we may be changed into the same image from glory to glory," 2 Cor. iii. 18. (From a lesser measure, to an higher measure of glory.) The day is a coming, that Christ will be glorified in himself, and he will be glorified in his saints; O! the glories that then will be accumulated and heaped upon Jesus Christ! come now, let us behold this glory of Christ till we are changed in some high measure into the same glory with Christ; Christ's glory rightly viewed, is a changing glory; and herein the views of Christ surpass all creatures' views; if we behold the sun we cannot possibly be changed into another sun; but if, with the eye of knowledge and faith, we behold Jesus Christ, we shall be changed into the glorious image of Jesus Christ: if the sun of righteousness cast forth his golden beams upon us, and we enjoy this light, why then, "who is she that looketh forth as the morning, (as Aurora, the first birth of the day) fair as the moon, clear as the sun?" Cant. vi. 10.
I know this glorious change is but a growing change by degrees, "from glory to glory;" and yet who can deny but there is some conformity to Christ's glory, even in this life? Do not these very texts speak the self-same thing? "These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full," John xv. 11, And,"these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full," 1 John i. 4. And, "ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full," John xvi. 24. And, "rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her, -- that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory," Isa. lxvi. 10, 11. And, "the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing," Rom. xv. 13. Surely "all joy and peace," are synedochically put for all other indications of glorification. But how is a saint in this life filled with all joy? I answer; --
(a). In regard of the object, God and Christ.
(b). In regard of the degrees; though not absolutely, yet so far forth as the measure of joy is in this life attainable; I might instance in the joy of Mr Peacock, Mrs Brettergh, and of some martyrs, who sung in the fires.
(c). In regard of duration, "rejoice always," Phil. iv. 4. Not only in the calm of peace, but in the storm of violent opposition. A saint may have his troubles, but these troubles can never totally or finally extinguish his joy, "Your joy no man taketh from you," John xvi. 22. He rejoiceth always.
O! that something of the glory of Christ might rest upon us! Oh! that having this glory of Christ in our thoughts, we could now feel a change from glory to glory! is it so that the Lord Jesus will be glorified in all his saints? And shall we have inglorious souls, base and unworthy affections and conversations? Or, shall we content ourselves with a little measure of grace? O be we holy, even as he is holy: let our conversations be heavenly, let us purify ourselves, even, as he is pure; let us resemble him in some high measure of grace. And lastly, let us glorify him in our bodies and spirits; all our glory is from him, and therefore let all our glory redound to him; let us now begin that gospel-tune of the eternal song of free grace, which one day we shall more perfectly chant in glory! "Allelujah! and again, Allelujah! and Amen, Allelujah! salvation, and glory, and power, and praise, and thanksgiving, and obedience, be unto him that sits on the throne, the Lamb blessed forever and ever. Amen."