XVIII.

SERM. cient Fathers conceived were not yet exalted to Heaven.

But that we may not reft the Point, we are difputing, upon one Text only; I fhall proceed to fhew you that the Doctrine we affert is the genuine Doctrine of the Scripture in general. And because they who imagine that the Souls of the Deceased are already in confummate Happiness or Mifery, found their Notion upon another Mistake, viz. that every Soul, as foon as it departs, presently appears before Chrift's Tribunal, and there receives it's Judgment or Doom, according to what it has done in the Body, whether good or bad, and confequently is immediately received into Heaven, or elfe immediately caft into Hell, and there has immediately its Punishment or Reward; their firft Notion, I fay, being founded upon this, I fhall therefore prove that this latter is a mistaken Notion too; I fhall fhew that no Man whatever fhall be judged before the Judgment of the laft Day, nor any perfect Rewards or Punishments be conferred on any one till then.

A Task not difficult to be performed:
For we may challenge those of the contrary
Opinion, to produce one Text out of all the
Scripture, that speaks of any
other Judgment,

than

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XVIII.

than that great and folemn one when the SoulS ER M. of Man fhall defcend in the Glory of his Father, with his Holy Angels to judge the World. If we examine either the Parables of our Saviour, which plainly relate to it, or the exprefs Revelations of him and his Apostles, we fhall find they all point to that general Judgment at the laft Day, without any Intimation, Hint, or Suppofition, that any particular Judgment fhall precede it. The Parable of the Tares, and that of the Net caft into the Sea, Mat. xiii. 24. &c. and 47, &c. as interpreted by our Saviour, plainly fhew that it is at the End of the World that the Son of Man fhall fend forth his Holy Angels to fever the Wicked from among the Juft. And that particular Defcription which our Lord gives us in the 25th of St. Matthew evidently relates to the Judgment that shall be paffed upon all Mankind, when the Son of Man fhall come in his Glory, and all the Holy Angels with him. It is then that they fhall be rewarded, every one according to what they deferved, the Wicked by going away into everlasting Punishment, the Righteous by being received into Life eternal. This again St. Paul affures us is the Time when the Lord Jefus fhall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Augels,

XVI.

SERM. in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gofpel of our Lord Jefus Chrift, 2 Thef. i. 7, 8. It is then again that they who despise our Saviour's Words fhall be judged by them: He (faith he) that rejecteth me and receiveth not my Words, bath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken the fame shall judge him at the laft Day, John xii. 48. And here, if any where (were every one to undergo a particular Judgment, as foon as he comes into the other World) we might expect to have been told of it: Our Saviour is fpeaking in the fingular Number, of the Judgment that every fingle Man is to pafs. If therefore every one was to be fingularly judged when he died for rejecting our Lord, and not receiving his Word; would not our Saviour, do you think, have told us fo, when he is mentioning what shall be every one's Fate for fo grievous a Crime? And yet (faith he) the Word that I have spoken, the Jame shall judge him at THE LAST DAY: There is no Hint given of any Judgment before; and therefore furely we may boldly affert, that till the laft Day, no Judgment fhall be.

And indeed if every one were judged as foon as he left this World, if the Juft and Un

juft

XVI.

just were immediately separated, the one in- SER M.
to Heaven, the other into Hell; why should
Christ come with fo much Solemnity at the
Day of Judgment, to justify or condemn
those that have been justified or condemned
already, and fo long before? What Room
should there be for a future Judgment? What
Occafion to do what is already done? To
judge a thing already judged? Is there any
Error in the former Sentence, that the Cause
should be reheard? Or have those who are
condemned any other Judge, to whom they
may appeal? Thefe Suppofitions are all ab-
furd, and confute themselves.

But further the very Account that our Saviour gives us of the Proceedings of that Day intimates that the Sentence which fhall then be paffed, will not be paffed upon any Man before. In that Day (faith he) many will fay unto me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophefied in thy Name? And in thy Name caft out Devils, and in thy Name done many wonderful Works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work Iniquity, Mat. vii. 22, 23. And again in that Description of the Day of Judgment recorded in the twenty fifth of St. Matthew we are told that the Wicked fhllexpoliu

Ee 3

XVIII.

SER M. poftulate with their Judge in hopes of Mercy, When he lays to their Charge, their neglecting and flighting him, their Want of Charity and Compaffion to him, when in Anguish or Diftrefs; They shall answer him and fay, Lord, when faw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a Stranger, or fick, or in Prifon, and did not minifter unto thee? Now these Pleas must undoubtedly be put in, in hopes of moving the Judge to lighten their Doom : And if fo; it is plain that their Doom is ftill to be paffed, and confequently that it is not pronounced upon them at the Time of their Death, or at any Time before the Day of Judgment.

1

This I apprehend is fufficient to convince us that it is a Miftake to imagine that a particular Judgment is immediately to pass upon every Man at his Death: And being fatisfied in this, we fhall be the better able to discover the other Miftake, which indeed is only a Confequence of the former: viz. That the Souls of good Men are immediately received into the Joys of Heaven, and the Souls of the Bad immediately thrown down into the Torments of Hell, as foon as they are got into the other World. Were it indeed true that Men were judged as foon as they die; it

would