rewarded by our Maker with fresh bounties, we have reason to conclude that our happiness, far from ever ending, will be continually increasing to all eternity. It is true, the greatest, the ablest, the best of us merit no such blessedness: far from it. But still, what God only wise hath not thought too much to promise, the meanest and most ignorant may humbly expect. They are as capable, as others, of love and duty to him, good-will to their fellow-creatures, and moral government of themselves. Now these are the things which he values; the true seeds of future bliss; and whoever cultivates them faithfully, will be sure to reap their fruit, each in proportion to his improvement. And thus every one shall be happy to the height of his capacity, neither despising those below him, nor envying those above him. though we ought to dwell upon this most delightful and useful subject, in our thoughts, much more than we do, we must now turn our eyes from it to a very different view, set before us: But, IV. That the souls and bodies of the wicked shall undergo everlasting punishment. This, it must be owned, is not explicitly mentioned in the Creed. And God had rather, that we should be moved to obey him by love, and hope of his favour, than by fear of his anger. But both motives are implied in this article. For though life in Scripture more especially means happiness; yet its original sense is only continuance in being, whether happy or miserable: and as the wicked are raised, and judged, in order to suffer what they have deserved, so they must live afterwards for the same purpose. *Rom. xvi. 27. 1 Tim. i. 17. Jude, ver. 25. That disobedience to God can never end well, is the plainest truth in the world for nothing is hid from his knowledge, nothing can escape his power: he is holy as well as good; besides that goodness itself requires the incorrigibly bad to be made examples, for the sake of deterring others. Yet lest, after all, they should promise themselves that he will spare them, he hath solemnly and repeatedly declared, that he will not. In this world, however, many such com off, to all appearance, with impunity: committing much evil, and enjoying much good. And they, who are punished, are often but slightly punished; and seldom according to the degree of their crimes: for the deliberate and artful sinners, who are the worst, usually fare best here below. As sure therefore as God is just and true, another state remains, in which all this will be set right. What sufferings, in particular, the divine justice will then inflict on unpardoned sinners, reason cannot determine: and revelation hath given us only general and figurative descriptions of them; but such descriptions, as are beyond all things terrible: and I shall lay them before you, not in my own words, but those of holy writ. The Judge of all shall say unto them, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels*. There they shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out, without mixture, into the cup of his indignation, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone ; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest, day nor night † : their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. + Rev. xiv. 10, 11. * Matt. xxv. 41. How severe soever these denunciations may appear to us, assuredly the threatenings of God will not be vain terrors. We are partial and incompetent judges in our own case: prone to flatter and deceive ourselves. But he knows exactly what sin deserves, and what the honour of his government requires; from his declarations therefore we are to learn our fate. He hath set before us life and death : and whether we like, shall be given us*. If therefore the latter be our wilful choice, in which we obstinately persist; what wonder, if we are left to it? For sin and misery must and will be companions for ever. Not that in any case, the anger of God shall prevail over his justice: but the degree of each person's condemnation shall be so exactly proportioned to that of his guilt, that when the eyes of sinners, which here they endeavour to shut, are opened, as they shall be hereafter, to see what their deeds have merited, every mouth shall be stopped †, and all flesh be silent before the Lord. For every circumstance, that can either aggravate, or excuse, will be impartially weighed; and some be accordingly beaten with many stripes, and some with few §. But what the lowest degree of the Almighty's final vengeance may amount to, God forbid we should any of us try: for whoever sins, purposely or carelessly, in hopes of a small punishment, will for that very reason deserve a heavy one. Let us all therefore make the use that we ought, both of the terrors and the mercies of the Lord; awing ourselves by the former from transgressing our duty, and encouraging ourselves by the latter to the Ecclus. xv. 17. Zech. ii. 15. + Rom. iii. 19. utmost diligence in performing it: that so we may pass through life with comfort, meet death with cheerfulness, and having faithfully served God in this world, be eternally and abundantly rewarded by him in the next. LECTURE XVIII. FIRST COMMANDMENT. THE whole duty of man consists in three points: renouncing what God hath forbidden us, believing what he hath taught us, and doing what he hath required of us: which accordingly are the things promised in our name at our baptism. The former two I have explained to you. And therefore I proceed at present to the third. Now the things, which God requires to be done, are of two sorts: either such, as have been always the duty of all men: or such as are peculiarly the duty of Christians. And our Catechism very properly treats of the former sort first, comprehending them under those ten commandments, which were delivered by the Creator of the world, on mount Sinai, in a most awful manner, as you may read in the 19th and 20th chapters of Exodus. For indeed though they were then given to the Jews particularly, yet the things contained in them are such, as all mankind from the beginning were bound to observe*. And therefore, even under the Mosaic dispensation, they, and the tables on which they are engraven, and the ark in which they were put, were distinguished from the rest of God's ordinances by a peculiar regard, as * Decem sermones illi in tabulis nihil novum docent, sed quod obliteratum fuerat admonent. Novatian. de lib. Judaicis, c. 3. |