to fhew that this glorious Kingdom and Reign of the Saints with Chrift in the thoufand Years, will be Contemporary with that great Day of Judgment, which must be wholly over among the Saints before the judging of the wicked begins, as has fo of ten been expreffed.

Sixthly, I fhall take Notice but of one Text more upon this Head, and that is in the 2 Tim. iv. 1. I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord, Fefus Chrift, who fall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing, and his Kingdom: Preach the Word, be infant in Seafon, out of Seafon, &c. Here are four or five things to be noted in thefe Words, First, that the Lord Jefus Chrift will certainly appear again, and come from Heaven. Secondly, That this coming will be a vifible perfonal coming in the Clouds, with Power and great Glory. Thirdly, When the Lord Jefus Chrift fhall thus come from Heaven, he will come to judge the quick and dead. Fourthly, When the Lord Jefus comes to judge, the quick and dead, then will be the time of the * Kingdom. Fifthly, That the Confideration of these things fhould make the Minifters of Chrift diligent in preaching the Gospel conftantly, faithfully, in Seafon and out of Seafon. Each one of thefe may ibe eafily proved, and much inlarged upon; but I hall only hint upon two or three of them.

Firft, That the appearing and coming of the Lord Jefus Chrift, will be a vifible and perfonal, Coming from Heaven, with Power and great Glory, Moft certain it is, that this cannot be otherwife understood, becaufe at this time, he will come to judge the quick and dead; which he will not judge under this Confideration, until his Perfonal Appearance

pearance, as is very full in the Texts, befide many other Places of Scripture.

Secondly, That this time of Chrift's coming will be the time of his judging the quick and dead. The Truth of this lies very full in the Words, and is it felf a fufficient Proof of the Doctrine evidently fhewing, that when the Lord Jefus fhall come in his perfonal Glory, then will be the time of the Fudgment.

But for Explanation: The Perfons who are to be judged, We find them diftinguifhed into two Sorts; firft, the quick; fecondly, the dead. Now by the quick are meant fuch that fhall be found living in their Bodies when Chrift comes. Secondly, by the dead, must be meant of all thofe that lie buried in the Grave, who at this time, when the Lord fhall defcend from Heaven, will hear his Voice and come forth.

By the quick and dead, as they have a Refpect to the Wicked. The quick means the punishing and deftroying of fuch who fhall be found living in their Bodies, at the time of Chrift's coming, for fo the Word judging is fometimes to be taken, and therefore Chrift is faid to come to fuch, in flaming Fire, to take Vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the Gospel, by believing on the Lord Fefus Chrift. 2 Theff. i. 8. By the dead Wicked, takes in the whole Number of all that was, is, or ever will be, who fhall be judged (their Souls in the mean while punished) at the end of the thousand Years, when the reft of the Dead are to rife or live again, which I call the laft Judgment.

If fome fhould object and fay, what then, will there be two Days of Judgment I anfwer no,

there

there will be but one Day of Judgment; though there will be above a thoufand Years betwixt the judging of the one, and the judging of the other.. And upon the Account of this long Duration of Time, that there will be, in the judging of both, the godly and the ungodly, I do humbly conceive it is, that we read of an eternal Judgment. Heb. vi. 2. the Word Eternal, or Everlasting, being often taken for a long Duration of time. This great Day of Fudgment we fo often read of in the Word of God, is not to be understood of a natural Day, confifting only of twenty four Hours; as fome (foolishly) do understand it, for a Day with the Lord is (to him) as a thousand Tears, and a thousand Tears but as one Day. 2 Peter iii. 8. Therefore this Day of Judgment will not be hufsled over all at once, or in fo quick and fhort a time as fome do imagine. Because there will be a laying of all thofe things, that have been acted in the World, from the beginning to the end thereof, before the Judgment Seat of Jefus Chrift. The Patience of God hath for near thefe fix thousand Years been exercifed, in bearing with a wicked and an ungodly World; wherefore he will take fome time to weigh the Works and Actions of all Men, that a Reward may be given unto each, as they fhall be found written in the Books.

That is a very weak Argument, in my Apprehenfion, which fome make ufe of, in faying, there is no need for the Lord to take up fo long a time in judging, because he knows all things; and eve ry thing lies open and naked before him, with whom webave to do. What then, this makes nothing againft me, for you may as well fay from the fame Argu

ment,

ment; there is no need for a Day of Judgment at all, and fo confequently no need for every fecret thing, whether it be good or evil, to be laid open, or made manifeft in that Day; upon the Account that he hath a perfect Knowledge of them already; and fo, according to this way of reafoning, there never must be any general Day of Judgment; notwithstanding the Word of God hath to often afferted it.

And therefore we may fee, that those who are for the Day of Judgment to be hufsled over fo quickly, have nothing of weight in their Arguments that it will be fo; but a great deal of weight and reafon too appears in the Arguments which are brought to prove the contrary. For this great and general Alize, which the Scriptures give us fo large an Account of, will not be for to give the Lord Jefus Chrift an Information of the Works and Actions of all Men; but the Perfons who are to be judged; and all the Saints who are to join with Chrift in judging of the World. It is for this end that the Judgment fhall continue fo long a time, that the Lord may convict and make each particular Perfon fenfible of all their particular Work and Actions, which they have done whilft in the Body, whether it be good, or whether it be bad. And that all the glorious attributes of the Lord Jehovah might fhine forth in the Salvation or Glorification of his People, and the juft deserved Condemnation of the Wicked and Ungodly. Who fhall each one in their particular Order be called forth to appear before that great Judge of Heaven and Earth.

But now I am upon this, I fhall endeavour to remove two or three more Objections; and that is, if

the

H

the great Day of Judgment fhall continue fo long a time, as I have been speaking of, then this will be a deferring or a delaying, the full, perfect, and compleat Happinefs of the Saints; and alfo a de-. laying or putting off to a longer time, the full Punishment of the Ungodly; and a Derogation to the Honour of the Lord Jefus Chrift.

Here may feem to lie a great deal in the way, (as to this) in the Minds and Apprehenfions of fome, which, if duly confider'd, will amount to juft nothing at all. I fhall begin with the laft.

What Derogation can here be to the Honour of Chrift, from the long Continuance of the Judg ment; when the Lord Jefus fhall be all this time exalted upon the Throne of his Glory, in bis Kingdom, furrounded with an innumerable Company of glorified Saints and Angels on each fide of him. Be L fides his own Effential Glory, which is as a Hea ven to himself, it being his glorious Prefence that makes all Heaven where he is, unto his People round about him. Then this cannot be a diminishing the Honour of Chrift, no, but for the magnifying the Glory and the Honour of the Lord Jefus, (as Mediator) in his judging of the Secrets of all Men, in that great Day of Judgment.

Again, in the next Place, neither can this long Continuance of the Judgment defer the full and compleat Happiness of the Saints. For this I affirm from the Word of the Lord, that both the dead Saints raised, and the living changed, fhall be perfect in their Glorification, upon the perfonal coming of the Lord Jefus Chrift from Heaven; when he fhall change our vile Bodies, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body, &c. Phi. iii. 21

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