will furely come, he will not tarry, it is coming, be will come, and will not delay beyond his appointed time. Thus again; whereas it is faid in feveral Places of St. Paul's Epiftles, that the Day of the Lord approached; that it draweth high; he cannot mean the Inftant Approach of the Day of Judgment, because of, as you have already heard, he had elsewhere cautioned them against that, as an Error. But he muft either mean the Destruction of the Jewish Nation by the Romans; or the fulfilling of all their Types and Prophecies in Chrift; the Diffolution of their Common-wealth, and Temple, and Worship, that after the Times of the Gofpel, God would make no more Changes and Revelutions in his Church, till the End of all Things come. And this, of Neceffity, muft be the Senfe of thefe Words of St. Peter. The 4.7. End of all Things is at hand, be ye therefore Sober and watch unto Prayer; and of St. Paul 1 Cor. 10. Thefe Things are written for our Admonition, upon whom the Ends of the World are come. But, II. a Thirdly, Such a Doubt concerning the coming of Chrift was groundless, because in a very allowable Senfe, the Thing was true, i. e. with refpect to God, and according to his Account of Time. And this very Reafon St. Peter takes notice of, and urges against these Atheistical Scoffers in this Chapter. They indeed feem'd to triumph in this, that Chrift had fail❜d of his Promife. Where (fay they) is the Promife of his coming? Since the Fathers fell asleep, all "Volvitur & Volvetur in omne volubilis "avium. Nor is there any difcernible Varia❝tion or Amendment in the Moral World ; "Men live and follow the fame Courses they always did; Virtue and Vice pass undiftinguifh'd; Wickedness is ftill profperous and "fuccefsful. What therefore do thefe Men (ye "call Apostles) mean thus to alarm and fright "the World, with their dreadful Stories of "Chrift's coming to a fpeedy Judgment? Is "it not now plain, that all is Mistake cr Imposture? That they are very Ignorant, or very Difhoneft, thus to impofe upon your Credulity, or take Advantage of your Fears? "But St. Peter answers, and quite spoils the fine Harangue. Beloved, be not ignorant of this 2 Pet. 3.8 one Thing, That one Day with the Lord is as a Thousand Tears, and a Thousand Years as one Day. As if he had faid, "Take heed "that you be not deceived in this Matter; be not too bold, and forward in arguing, either "from God's Patience, or Chrift's feeming Delay. Confider who it is that makes the "Promife; and what a vaft difference there is, betwixt his Computation of Time, and yours; for though (by Reafon of the Incapacity of your Minds, and the Shortness L 66 "'of "of your Lives) the Revolution of a Thou "fand Years, has a very long Profpect; yet " with God, who is Infinite, who fees all "Things as prefent, 'tis but fmall and incon"fiderable. So that, confidering the Narrownefs of our Comprehenfion, in Comparison of the Immenfity of God; and the Shortnefs of this World, with refpect to that long Eternity which is to fucceed after it; there is no Rea fon to think that Chrift delayeth his Promife, or to doubt of his coming to Judgment; efpecially if we add Fourthly, The Confideration of the Time of Man's Life in this World. The Life of Man is made up of apparent Uncertainties and Changes; expofed to a thousand Accidents, and Diseases; and he that is this Day in the most probable and hopeful State of Health, may, e'er to Morrow come, be ftept into another World; or, if by the Favour of Providence, or the Strength of Nature, any of us weather through thefe Storms, yet after we have measured Three or Fourfcore Years, Life is fecretly spent in us; we grow Infirm and Decrepid, we Droop and Moulder away, and haften apace to the Congregation of the Dead. And what are Threefcore or Fourfcore Years, when they are paft and gone? How few and empty do they appear? In the Pfalmift's Com73. 20. putation, like a Dream when one waketh ; which leaves nothing behind it, but the faint Remembrance of a pleasant Delusion: And yet yet when we have reached that Period, and Stint of human Life; when we have finished our Courfe in this World; with Refpect to us Chrift is come, the Day of Judgment is at Hand. Not that the General Judgment of the World will then commence, but because our particular Doom is fixt, because in that very State and Condition, in which Death leaves us, will the Son of God, when he comes to Judgment find us. As the Tree falls, fo it lies. There is neither Knowledge, nor Redemption in the Grave; Pardons and Indulgences; Prayers and Maffes (if they have any Vertue or Merit at all in them) yet they come too late, the Juftice of God hath feiz'd us, and there is no efcaping till we have paid the utmost Farthing. It is most certain, that the Day of Grace, and Repentance concludes with our Lives; and if fo, thofe that have gone out of this World in an Impenitent and Unreformed State, with their Guilts and Pollutions about them; in the very fame Pofture fhall they meet, and appear before their Judge. From all thefe Things laid together, I fuppofe it appears how groundless thofe Doubts and Queftions were, concerning the Promife of our Saviour Chrift's coming to Judgment; which was the Second Thing obferved under this Head: I proceed now in the Third Place, 3. To make fome practicable Ufe, and Improvement of the whole. And L 3 Firft, First, Hence I infer. That if those Primitive and Holy Men, who lived fo many Hundred Years ago, had very fenfible and awful Apprehenfions of the coming of our Saviour Chrift to Judgment, we ought much more to have fo: We, I fay, who are certainly advanced much nearer to the Time of his coming; we who live in this Declination and Old Age of the World. How near, or how far off it may yet be, is wholly unknown to us, nor can we attain unto it; and therefore we ought not to indulge our vain Curiosity in enquiring into the precife and critical Time of his coming: Yet thus much is certain, and beyond all Peradventure, that, fooner or later, he will appear; and that's as much as is needful for us to know; that's enough to make us Wife and Holy; that's enough to engage us upon the Practice of all thofe Duties which the Seriousness and Dread of a Judgment to come require. The Apoftle St. Paul mentions two Things, as the Introductions and Signs of that dreadful Day; and they are Apoftacy from the Faith, and great Corrup Thef.2.3.tions of Manners. That Day fhall not come, except there be a falling away first, and that Man of Sin be revealed. I dare not be pofitive in determining particularly what these are. But if profeffed Atheism and Infidelity; if Herefie, and denying the Lord that bought us; if thinking freely, and fpeaking boldly of the dreadful Things of Religion; if a general Indevotion and neg lecting |