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with the Thunderings and Lightenings which accompanied it, was fo extremely terrible even to Mofes, Heb. 12. that, as the Text tells

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the Friend of God, us, he did exceedingly quake and tremble. Or if St. Paul, before his Converfion, upon that little Glimpse he had of that glorious Light, wherein Chrift fhall appear at the laft Day, was fo aftonished, that he fell down from his Horse, and lay as a dead Man: Oh, how shall they, who are the Enemies of Chrift, who have highly offended and provoked him, and are conscious to themselves of what they have deferved from him, how shall they be able to abide his Presence at that Day, when the Gloriousness, and Majefty, and Terribleness of his Appearance will infinitely exceed all that the Tongue of Man can exprefs, or the Heart of Man conceive?

4. Another Thing which the Scriptures affure us of concerning the general Judgment, is this; That then there fhall be a perfonal Appearance of all Mankind before this Tribunal of Chrift. St. Paul, in the Rom. 14. Texts before quoted, tells us, We must all appear, we must all stand before the Fudgment Seat of Chrift. Our Saviour tells us, Matt. 25. that before Him fhall be gathered all Nations. And St. John, in his Vifions of the JudgRev. 20. ment, tells us, that he saw the Dead, both Small and great, ftand before God. And the

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2 Cor. 5.

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32.

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Sea

Sea gave up the Dead which were in it; and v. 13. Death and the Grave delivered up the Dead which were in them, and they were judged

every Man. And St. Paul, that the Lord Theff. 4. fball defcend from Heaven with a Shout, with 16, 17. the Voice of the Arch-Angel, with the Trumpet of God: and the Dead in Chrift shall rife firft; then we which are alive, and remain, Thall be caught up together with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air. From thefe Texts of Scripture put together, several remarkable Things may be gathered, viz.

(r.) In the genèral, that all Men and Women that ever have been, or are, or shall be in the World, fhall, at the general Judgment, appear in Perfon before the Tribunal of Chrift.

(2.) That, in order thereto, the Dead, as well thofe in the Sea as those in the Earth, fhall, by the effectual Power of Christ, (going along with the Trumpet, which fhall then found) be raised up, and fummoned to this general Rendezvous.

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(3.) From hence likewife it may be gathered, that all Perfons fhall not die But thofe that are living, when the Judgment comes, fhall be caught up alive to meet the The: 4 Lord Jefus in the Air. This is to be understood only of virtuous good Men, such as are the true Difciples of Chrift, for to fuch only the Context reftraineth it. The fame Obfervation may alfo be deduced from that R 3 Paffage

die;

1 Cor. 15. Paffage in the 15th of the Corinthians, Be51, 52. hold, 1 fhew you a Mystery: we shall not all but we shall all be changed, in a Moment, in the Twinkling of an Eye, when the Trumpet fhall found.

(4.) From which Text we further gather, that thofe good Souls that shall be then alive, and are to be mounted up into the Air, fhall have their Bodies changed in a Moment, i. e. melted from a grofs earthly Confiftency, to a pure, fubtle, fpiritual Nature, fo that they fhall be of a Contexture and Temper fuitable to those pure Regions where they are going to inhabit: For Flesh and Blood (fuch as we now have) is V. 50. far too grofs and impure to inherit the Kingdom of God, as the Apoftle there expreffeth it. And these are thofe Spiritual, incorruptible, immortal Bodies, that he speaks of in that Chapter, and in several other Paffages.

V. 24.

(5.) Laftly, from thefe Texts we obferve further, that this general Appearance at the Judgment Seat of Chrift fhall not be all at once: But holy Men, they who are dead in Chrift, fball rife first, and, together Theff. 4 with thofe good People who are alive and remain, be carried by Angels with Joy to meet their Saviour. And after they have received their Sentence of Juftification and Abfolution, they shall fit with Christ, as his 1 Cor. 6. Affiftants, in the judging of wicked Men and the fallen Angels; and then afterwards shall

15, 17.

2,3.

the

the Wicked be raised and brought to the Tribunal,

I cannot stay to make any Reflexions on these Observations, tho' they afford Matter for many curious and pious ones. But I proceed to the next Point.

10, 12,

5. That which follows upon this Appearance before the Tribunal, is the giving up our Accounts to the Judge. This St. Peter tells us: We shall give an Account to 1 Pet.4.5 him, who is ready to judge the Quick and the Dead. And St. Paul, We shall all stand be- Rom. 14 fore the Fudgment Seat of Chrift, and every one of us fhall give an Account of himself to God. But of all other Texts this Particular is most lively fet forth to us by our Saviour in the Gospel of St. Matthew, viz. in the Parable of the Mafter that went into a Matt. 25, far Country, and called unto him his Ser-14, &c. vants, and delivered unto them his Goods; giving unto one fo many Talents, and to another fo many, to every Man according to his Station. And after a long Time the Lord comes home and reckons with them, and according to their Improvements or Abuse of thofe Talents doth he proportionably reward or punish every one of them. So fhall it be at the Day of Judgment. The Lord of all the Families of the Earth will call every Man to account of his Management here upon Earth. He will enter into a fevere Scrutiny how we have employed R 4

all

all thofe Talents that he hath entrufted us with. Then fhall all the Powers and Faculties that have been given us, all the Favours and Benefits we have enjoyed, all the Means and Opportunities that have been afforded us for the living virtuously and holily, and thereby bringing Honour and Glory to our Mafter, be brought into our View, and an Account be demanded of them. He will account with us for our Senfes, how we have employed them, whether to the Purposes they were given us for, the furnishing our Underftandings, and the right governing of our Bodies, or whether we have made them only Inftruments of Sin, and Inlets to Vanity. He will account with us for our Reafon and Confcience, how we have employed them, whether we have done our beft to improve them, and whether they have been faithful Guides of our Actions, or we have fuffered them to be abused with Folly and falfe Principles, and to be led captive by our Lufts and Paffions. He will call us to account for our Memories, how we have employed them, whether we have been careful to treafure up in them fuch Things as might be useful to our Lives, or have only made them the Repofitories of Things idle, and impertinent, and unprofitable. He will call us to account how we have spent our Time in this World, whether we have employed it to good Purpofes,

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