A Discourse of the Judgments of God, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. The third Reaſon expreſſes the connexion of theſe with Eternal Judgment.
Reaſ. 3 THat men may have aſſurances of Judgment to come; for theſe are but the little pieces and ſcalings of that great mountain of it with God, leſſer vials of that great Sea, which in favour to the world are diſtributed to forewarn it of the laſt day: In favour, I ſay, to the world, there being nothing of like moment to communicate to it either as a warning againſt ſin, or obligation to repentance, ſeeing it is a Judgment that comprehends all, whereas poſſibility of eſcape leſſens the motives from preſent puniſhment; and alſo becauſe the ſettlement it makes is unchangeable, but many outlive their preſent calamities, or at leaſt are ranſomed from them by death. God therefore teaches us before-hand that ſo great vengeance: Theſe leſſer ſums are arguments of that treaſure, for he that is infinitely rich, hath provided a great abundance of all things; and from a little we may argue there is a whole Element of the ſame within his command, when he ſees good, and that the like or greater reaſon calls for and requires it in the ſame or greater meaſures: when God had uſe of the water for a deluge, not only that we ſee and account for, but unknown Cataracts were opened. There are hidden powers in God to create things, of which we ſee no prints, nor are ſo much as able to conceive, who are in every thing confined by what we ſee and know is done; becauſe of the little graſp of our mind, we call into queſtion of impoſſibility what we have never ſeen, and of improbability what we ſeldom ſee. That we may therefore be led to further conviction of ſuch a Judgment, then the bare affirmation of it (though from him whoſe word is a Creation, that were enough) God ſets the realities of it before us; in which we may behold all in a little, as a man is drawn in an infant; and therefore he uſes to expreſs that little by the whole, that we might be the more acquainted with it: we ſee his power hereby to call to account whom he pleaſes, how, and when he pleaſes; he accuſtoms Nature to frequent diſlocations before that final remove. And becauſe our incredulity of it is ſo much and ſo faulty, beſides our other demerits, like Zachary, we are confirmed by a puniſhment inflicted on us for the time being: In our fleſh is printed the certainty of an Eternal Judgment by a temporary one, God chaſtiſing our unbelief as well as our ſins by this his hand; or as Chriſt evinced his pardoning authority in Heaven by his pardon of ſins on Earth, that was by an act of his goodneſs expreſſed in ſuch effects of it, as men upon Earth meaſure the power of cauſes by: So theſe his Judgments drawn down to us where we are, and compoſed to our preſent ſentiments, are the fitteſt demonſtrations of that which is as much above us as the Heaven above the Earth, & of that to come; of which we are always doubtful, whether it will be or no: For with ſlender reaſon can we diſpute againſt the futurity of ſuch a Tribunal that is out of the reach of our calculation, whether it ſhal be or not (had we not a revelation of it) who are daily ſurprized with the wonders wrought before us, which we would not have believed, if they had been told us before they came to paſs, though much more near our Prognoſticks then the other. From whence we may well infer, All the declarations we have of theſe things from God, ſhall certainly be fulfilled in their ſeaſon; ſince things ſo unexpected to us, the ſearch of which, and their likelihoods of event is not ſo far out of our depth, do yet appear, and all we have to ſay againſt them is but this, we never thought it. What may not then be, that is aſſured ſhall be in thoſe things we can pretend to no acquaintance with, though we are not aware of them before?
But further then this: when we ſee ſome times and perſons that have the marks of Judgment upon them, and that look as ſmitten of God; & others again that have no ſuch ſcars, and yet we cannot but ſay, deſerve puniſhment, and often equally with the others: if there were not a Judgment to come, it would argue a partiality in that Juſtice, which yet we know is ſo great and free, that it accepts no mans perſon for being great, nor over-looks any as too ſmall for its eye.
If there were not a Judgment to come, and that univerſal, our Saviours diſcourſe, that we ſhould not rate ſin and ſinners by their ſufferings here, would fall, when he ſays, All that do not repent ſhall periſh in like manner, that is, as notoriouſly as thoſe upon whoſe deſtruction the eyes of the world are ſet; and yet we ſee many flagitious perſons paſſing impune out of this life, having given charity it ſelf no hopes of their penitence: His perſwaſives of the neceſſity of repentance from thence, would be of no force or ſtrength, if there were not a Judgment to come, and a periſhing beyond all we ſee here.
There were no place of Argument, if it could eſtabliſh it ſelf ſo great againſt Divine Providence and Righteouſneſs, or againſt all Religion and Chriſtianity, as that which ſuppoſes, there is no everlaſting and final determination further off then now, to reconcile the great inconſiſtencies of things with their diſorders, which do but ſeem to be, becauſe there is a Judgment, but would indeed be, if there were none.
If then there be ſuch a day of God, and his righteous Judgment, and the leſſer acts of it deſerved meſſengers of ſo immediate a miſſion, ſealed often with miracles; that which is ſo much greater, and in which all is ſummed by proportion, ſhould have the moſt ſolemn embaſſie; accordingly God takes care, for the Doctrine of it is delivered by his Son, and confirmed by his Reſurrection from the dead.
All the Judgments of God from the very beginning down to the end, offer themſelves as the premonitions of that Day; the eldeſt Prophets ſpake of it, Enoch the ſeventh from Adam ſaid, The Lord cometh with ten thouſands of his Saints; and the moſt ancient of Judgments, the Angels thrown into chains of darkneſs, declare the Judgment of that great Day; becauſe it is the acquittal of Providence that hath ſeemed crooked here, while it hath run through the mazes of the froward and ſtrange ways of men, and therefore appeared as confuſed and intangled as they. God not depending upon time, as an unqueſtionable or indiſputable repreſentation of his Rule of the world, hath throught it worthy of himſelf to provide by a laſt Judgment to aſſoil his Government of it from all poſſible calumny, by ſhewing the greatneſs of his skill then, in thoſe croſs lines, thoſe ſhades and lights that encounter one another now, and look like perplexity and errour in the parts, but in the whole picture will preſent adorable wiſdom, excellent in this above all, that it hath made every thing with ſuch aſpects upon this end of things, and with ſuch direct motions to this center: If that therefore were taken away, the ſeveral lines and paths in the world would lead no whither, nor reſt any where; and not only ſo, but the great points of Chriſtianity leaning upon this Poſtulare, would fall. As therefore God doth indeed haſten all things hither, that they might not wander over-long, though by a meaſure of time, that ſeems tedious to us, yet without any delay in himſelf, or in the thing it ſelf: For yet a little time, and he that ſhall come, will come, and will not tarry: So doth he ſupport the inclining faith of men concerning it with all reaſonable aſſurances of it; that what it will fully do at laſt, it may proportionably do now, if it be not wilfully diſbelieved and ſlighted.