Heb. xii.

23.

14.

Rom. ii. 5.

of God, and none hath any right to judge the fub jects and fervants of God, but that God whofe fervants they are. The Law by which we are to be judged was given by him, the actions which are to be difcuffed were due to him, the perfons which are to be tried are fubject to his dominion; God therefore is the Judge of all. He fhall bring every work Eccl. xii. into judgment, with every fecret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil; and fo the last day, that day of wrath, is the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. Now if God, as God, be the Judge of all, then whofoever is God is Judge of all Men; and therefore being we have proved the Father and the Son, and shall hereafter alfo prove the Holy Ghoft to be God, it followeth that the (m) Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghoft fhall judge the world; because the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, in refpect of the fame Divinity, have the fame autocratorical power, dominion and authority.

But notwithstanding in that particular day of the general Judgment to come, the execution of this judiciary power fhall be particularly committed to the Son, and fo the Father and the Holy Ghost shall actually judge the world no otherwise but by him. Acts xvii. For God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteoufnefs, by that Man whom he bath ordained. It is God who judgeth, it is Chrift by John v.22. whom he judgeth. For the Father judgeth no man,

31.

but bath committed all judgment to the Son. There is therefore an original, fupreme, autocratorical, judiciary power; there is a judiciary power delegated, derived, given by commiffion. Chrift as God hath the firft together with the Father and the Holy Ghoft: Chrift as Man hath the second from the Father exprefsly, from the Holy Ghoft concomiJohn v. 27. tantly. For the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man; not fimply because he is a Man, therefore he fhall be Judge, (for then by the fame reafon every Man fhould judge, and confequently none, because no Man could be judged if every Man fhould only

judge)

judge) but becaufe of the three Perfons which are God, he only is (n) alfo the Son of Man; and therefore for his affinity with their nature, for his fenfe of their infirmities, for his appearance to their eyes, moft fit to represent the greatest mildness and sweetnefs of equity, in the feverity of that just and irrefpective Judgment.

Nor was this a reafon only in respect of us who are to be judged, but in regard of him alfo who is to judge; for we muft not look only upon his being the Son of Man, but also upon what he did and fuffered as the Son of Man. He humbled himself fo far as to take upon him our nature; in that nature fo taken, he humbled himfelf to all the infirmities which that was capable of, to all the miferies which this life could bring; to all the pains and forrows which the fins of all the world could caufe: and therefore in regard of his humiliation did God exalt him, and part of the exaltation due unto him was this power of judging. The Father therefore, who is on- John v. 22, ly God, and never took upon him either the nature 25, 27. of Men or Angels, judgeth no man (and the fame reason reacheth alfo to the Holy Ghost); but hath committed all judgment to the Son; and the reason why he hath committed it to him, is because he is, not only the Son of God, and fo truly God, but also, the Son of Man, and fo truly Man; because he is that Son of Man, who fuffered fo much for the Sons of Men.

From whence at last it clearly appeareth not only that it is a certain truth that Chrift fhall judge the world, but alfo the reafons are declared and manifefted unto us why he hath that power committed unto him, why He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. For certainly it is a great demonstration of the juftice of God, fo highly to reward that Son of Man, as to make him Judge of all the world, who came into the world and was judged here; to give him abfolute power of abfolution and condemnation, who was by us condemned to die, and died that he

VOL. I.

might abfolve us; to caufe all the Sons of Men to bow before his throne, who did not difdain for their fakes to (o) ftand before the tribunal and receive that fentence, Let him be crucified; which event as infallible, and reafon as irrefragable, Chrift himself did fhew at the fame time when he stood before the Matt. xxvi. judgment-feat, faying, Nevertheless I fay unto you, Hereafter fhall ye fee the Son of Man fitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

64.

Again, if we look upon ourselves which are to be judged, whom can we defire to appear before, rather than him who is of the fame nature with us? If the children of Ifrael could not bear the prefence of God as a Law-giver, but defired to receive the Law by the hand of Moses; how should we appear before the prefence of that God judging us for the breach of that Law, were it not for a better Mediator, of the fame nature that Mofes was and we are, who is our Judge? In this appeareth the wisdom and goodness of God, that making a general Judg ment, he will make a visible Judge, which all may fee who fhall be judged. Without holiness no man shall ever fee God; and therefore if God, as only God, should pronounce fentence upon all men, the ungodly (p) fhould never fee their Judge. But that both the righteous and unrighteous might fee and know who it is that judgeth them, Chrift who is both God and Man is appointed Judge; fo as he is Man all shall see him, and as he is God they only shall see him who by that vision shall enjoy him.

Christ Jefus then, the Son of God, and the Son of Man, he which was born of the Virgin Mary, he which fuffered under Pontius Pilate, he which was crucified, dead and buried, and defcended into hell, he which rofe again from the dead, afcended into heaven, and is fet down on the right hand of God; He, the Matt. xvi. fame Perfon, in the fame Nature, fhall come to judge the quick and the dead. For the Son of man fhall come

27.

in the glory of his Father, with his Angels, and then he Shall reward every man according to his works. He then which is to come is the Son of Man; and when he cometh, it is to judge. The fame Jefus which A&ts i. 11. was taken up from the Apoftles into heaven, fhall fo come in like manner as they faw him go into heaven. That Son of Man then, which is to judge, is our Jefus, even the fame Jefus, and fhall come in the fame manner, by a true and local tranflation of the fame nature out of Heaven. For God will judge Acts xvii, the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath 31. ordained; whereof he hath given an affurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. He then which afcended into Heaven, was the fame which was raised from the dead; and by that Refurrection God affured us that the fame Man fhould judge us. For to this end Chrift both died, and rofe and Rom, xiv.gi revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. It appeareth therefore by God's determination, by Chrift's Refurrection and Ascension, that the Man Chrift Jefus is appointed Judge.

This office and dignity of the Son of Man was often declared by feveral figurative and parabolical defcriptions. John the Baptift reprefenteth him that cometh after him, by this delineation of an hufbandman; (9) Whofe fan is in his hand, and he will Mat.iii. 12. throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. The Son of Man defcribes himself as an Houfholder, faying to the reapers in the time of harvest, (r) Ga- Mat. xii. ther ye together firft the tares, and bind them in bundles 30, 39. to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn: and this harvest is the end of the world. He reprefenteth himself under the notion of a Fisherman, cafting a Mat. xiii. net into the fea, and gathering of every kind; which, 47, 49. when it was full, he drew to fhore and fat down, and gathered the good into veffels, but caft the bad away. He is the Bridegroom who took the wife Virgins with him to the marriage, and fhut the door upon the Mat. xxv Gg 2 foolish. 10.

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foolish. He is the Man who, travelling into a far country, delivered the talents to his Servants, and Mat xxv. after a long time cometh again, and reckoneth with 19, 21, 30. them, exalting the good and faithful, and cafting the unprofitable fervant into outer darkness. Laftly, he is the Shepherd, and is fo exprefsly described in relaMat. xxv. tion to this Judgment. For When the Son of Man 31, 32, 33. fhall come in his glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then fhall be fit upon the throne of his glory: and before him fhall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats and he shall fet the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Being then the Son of Man is thus conftantly reprefented as making the great decretory separation, and the last judicatory diftinction between Man and Man; as an Hufbandman feparating the wheat, fome time from the chaff, fome time from the tares; as a Fisherman gathering the good fish, cafting the bad away; as a Bridegroom receiving the wife, excluding the foolish virgins; as a Mafter diftinguishing the fervants of his family, rewarding the faithful, punishing the unprofitable; as a fhepherd, dividing his fheep from the goats, placing one on the right hand, the other on the left; it plentifully proveth that the Son of Man is appointed the Judge of all the Sons of Men. And thus it appeareth that Chrift is he who fhall be the Judge, which is the fecond confideration fubfervient to the prefent explication.

Thirdly, It being thus refolved that the Son of Man fhall be the Judge, our next confideration is, what may the nature of this Judgment be: in what that judicial action doth confift; what he fhall then do, when he shall come to judge. The reality of this act doth certainly confift in the final determination, and actual difpofing of all perfons in foul and body to their eternal condition: and in what manner this fhall particularly be performed is not fo (s) certain unto us; but that which is fufficient for us, it is

reprefented