III. He is a perpetual patron and advocate in our behalf, to plead our cause, to follicite our concernments,

His exalta

to represent our wants, and to offer up our prayers tion or of and requests to God, by virtue of his meritorious fice in hea facrifice, which he offered up on the crofs for the ven. fins of the whole world. And,

Proved by

fcripture.

This his fitting at the right-hand of God, is exprefsly foretold in these words, The Lord faid unto my Lord, fit thou on my right-hand, till I make thine enemies thy foot-ftool. And we are affured by the holy penmen, that our Jefus is actually there; for one tells us, that he was received up into heaven, and fitteth on the right-hand of God; and another records, that God raised him from the dead, and fet him at his own right-hand in heavenly places. But

Such scripture phrases are not to be taken in a strict and proper, but in a figurative fenfe, as fpoken in Explained. condefcenfion to our capacities, and after the manner of men, and by way of comparison to what belongs to mankind. And as the fitting at a prince's right-hand is efteemed a place of the highest honour, the firft import of this phrase seems to be, that Chrift is invested with the higheft glory from God, and exalted to the highest dignity: and fince by the hand of God his infinite power may be fignified, this phrase may further import Chrift's having received the highest power and dominion from God: but where Christ is faid to be fitting, we are not to understand that he is determined to fuch a particular posture of body as is commonly meant by fitting; for, he is fometimes reprefented as standing at God's right-hand, fometimes in general as being there, without expreffing the particular manner of it; but by his fitting, we are to understand his fecure and quiet continuance in that high glory, majesty, and judicature.

And this confirms our faith; because it gives us a farther proof of our Saviour's divine miffion. For, had he not been fent into the world by God, he had not approved of the mesfage Chrift delivered to man. His visible afcenfion into heaven, ftrengthens our hope; for, by feeing our own nature thus advanced, we are af

It's benefit

to man.

fured

is

upon

fured that duft and ashes may thither afcend also; and the bleffed Jefus being our head, as members of his body, we may expect admiffion into that heavenly court, where he fits in glory, fince we have his word that can never fail, that he gone to prepare a place for us: and, it exalts our affections by putting us in mind that our treasure is above, and that therefore we ought not to fet our affections fuch things as must perish in this world; that heaven is the true and only happiness of a chriftian; and that our great defign in this world ought to be, to fit and prepare ourselves for the enjoyment of a bleffed eternity; that our conftant endeavours ought to tend towards the qualifying ourselves to be received into our Saviour's prefence, to whom we have the greatest obligations of gratitude and duty; that by trampling upon our fins, and fubduing the lufts of the flesh, we may make our converfation correfpond to our Saviour's condition, that where the eyes of the apoftles were forced to leave him, thither our thoughts may follow him, even into the highest heavens.

fit by this

faith.

teacheth.

It is our bounden duty to adore him in all his How to pro- works; and in particular fo to believe this pledge of his goodness, as both in heart and lives we may fhew that with us it has it's defired effect to confirm our faith, to ftrengthen our hope, and to raise our affections to thirst after the enjoyments of the faints in light. So that the profeffion of our faith in Christ's fitWhat it ting at the right-hand of God, should put us in mind of that fubjection, which is due to him; and since we must be fubject, whether we will or no, should incline us to yield him hearty and chearful obedience, which we shall find to be the most perfect freedom; and not, by perfifting in our rebellion, render ourselves the miferable objects of his irrefiftible wrath and vengeance at the last day. We should also learn from hence to have an affurance of the pardon of our fins, acceptance of our fincere, though imperfect obedience, and of protection and defence in our fpiritual warfare, as knowing that at last we shall be more than conquerors; and it should raise in us a noble ambition of being made partakers of that glory, to which Chrift our head already is advanced; who has promised that to him who overcometh,

power.

The

cometh, he will grant to fit with him in his throne. Father is ftyled Almighty, to admonish us that the power with which the captain of our falvation is Declares his invested, being infinite, we may furely depend on his ability to accomplish all thofe great and glorious things, which he hath promised for the good of his church, which his faithful fervants have in all ages with fo much comfort expected, and which unbelievers fhall one day find verified to their utmost confufion, when they fhall fee him in the clouds fitting on the right-hand of God the Father. And, Our profeffion of God's omnipotency fhould work in us, an awful fear and reverence of fuch dread majefty, and teach us to humble ourselves under his migh- How it ty hand, and tremble at the thoughts of provoking fluence us. him who is able to deftroy both body and foul.

fhould in

And fuch a belief as this removes all pretence of difbelieving of the miracles, recorded for the confirmation of our faith, from the strangeness or difficulty of them; for, nothing can be too hard for him, that is able to do all things. It strengthens our reliance on the promises of God, as knowing that he is able as well as willing to perform them; and gives life to our devotions, as knowing that however great our wants, difficulties, and dangers may be, however powerful and terrible our enemies; yet our almighty Father, who has invited us to call upon him in our troubles, to fly to him for refuge, and to rely on his protection, is always able to relieve us, to fave and to defend us, and deliver us out of them all. IV. When we profefs our belief that Christ will come again to judge the quick and the dead, we declare that we stedfastly believe, that our Lord Jefus judge. Chrift fhall at the end of the world defcend from heaven in his humane nature, and fummon all mankind to appear before his dreadful tribunal, where they fhall come upon their trial, have all their actions strictly examined, according to the nature and quality of them, and be adjudged to eternal happiness, or eternal mifery, according to their deeds. And though this may be fomewhat obfcured by the ignorance and corruption of nature, it

Christ our

Of what.

is

is agreeable both to the principles of reason, and the clear and express testimonies in the word of God.

able:

pu

V. For, if we confult only the light of nature, A laft judg- it will discover to us an effential difference between ment reafongood and evil; whence by the common confent of mankind, rewards are affixed to the one, and nishments to the other: and according as men govern their actions in relation to these real differences of good and evil, so are their hopes and their fears in refpect to a future ftate. A virtuous life is attended with prefent quiet and fatisfaction, and with the comfortable hope of a future recompence; whereas the commiffion of any wicked action, though never fo fecret, fits uneafy upon the mind, and fills it full of horror: all which would be very unaccountable, without the natural apprehenfion of future punishments and rewards. This is the reason why many of the Heathens efteemed virtue and honefty dearer than life, with all it's advantages, and abhorred villany and impiety worse than death itself. Moreover the difpenfations of God's providence towards men in this world are not confined; good men often fuffer, even for the fake of righteousness; and bad men as frequently profper and flourish, and that by the means of their wicked practices. Wherefore, to rescue God's proceedings with man, from the imputation of injuftice, it seems reasonable that there should be a future judgment, for a fuitable diftribution of punishments and rewards. And this principle of a judgProved from ment to come, one of our primitive writers in favour of christianity, propounds to the Gentiles, as generally acknowledged by all their writers, and as the great encouragement for his apology for the christian religion, which he defended. And, if we fearch the scriptures, there we shall find God hath given affuBy fcripture. rance unto all men, that he will judge the world by Jefus Christ, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And the method by which God will proceed with his creatures in that day, is fully defcribed by the judge himself in his gofpel. The apoftle of the Gentiles declares expressly, that we must all appear and stand before the judgment-feat of Christ. And the apoftle of the circumcifion fays, that the

univerfal

confent:

day

day of the Lord fhall come, in which the heavens fhall pafs away with a great noife, and the elements fhall melt with fervent heat.

Where

The day of

the Lord, when.

By the day of the Lord is meant the end of the world, for when the state of our tryal and probation fhall be finished, it will be a proper season for the diftribution of publick juftice, for the rewarding all those with eternal life, who by patient continuance in well doing, feek for glory and honour, and immortality: And for rendering to them that obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. And,

ments.

Reafons for

Notwithstanding we may collect from fcripture, that good men, when they die, pafs into a state of happinefs, and bad men into a state of mifery; yet all Two judgthe declarations of our Saviour and his apoftles concerning judgment, with the parables that relate to it, plainly refer to the laft and general judgment; for, it is only in that day that the whole man fhall be compleatly happy, or compleatly miserable, or in that day it is that the bodies of men fhall be raised; and as they have been partakers with the foul, either in obeying or offending God, fo fhall they then fhare in the rewards or punishments of it, and in that day only can the degrees and measures of their happiness and mifery be adjufted; for, even after death, the effects of mens good or bad actions may add to their punishment, or increase their reward, by the good or bad examples they have given, by the foundations they have established for piety and virtue, or by the cuftoms they have introduced to countenance immorality and vice. In that day, the reasonableness of God's providence, in relation to the fufferings of good men in this world, will be juftified, and his juftice cleared by thofe fevere punishments that shall be eternally inflicted upon the wicked, that have forfaken the God of their falvation.

a general

judgment.

The neceffity of this general judgment alfo appears in difplaying the majefty and glory of our bleffed Saviour; that by this publick act of honour and authority, he may receive fome recompence for the contempt and ignominy, which he

H

met