SERMON XVIII.
When
the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all
nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.—Mat. XXV. 31-33.
this latter
paragraph I cannot call a parable, but a scheme and draught or a delineation of
the last judgment, intermingled with many passages that are plainly parabolical; as that Christ setteth
forth himself as a king sitting upon the throne of his glory, and as a shepherd
dividing his flock; that he compareth the godly to
sheep and the wicked to goats. Those allegations and dialogues between Christ
and the righteous, Christ and the wicked,' When saw we thee an
hungry?' &c., have much of the nature of a parable in
them. In these three verses we have described—
1.
The appearance, or sitting down of the judge.
2.
The presenting the parties to be judged.
The former is in ver. 31, the latter in ver. 32, 33. In ver. 31 we have
[1.]
The person who shall be the judge, the Son of man.
[2.]
The manner of his coming; it shall be august and glorious. Where note
(1.)
His personal glory, he shall come in his glory.
(2.) His royal attendance, and all the holy angels with
him.
(3.)
His seat and throne, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.
First, The person is designed by
this character and appellation, [Pg. 15] 'the Son of man.' He is called so to
show that he is true man, and descended of the present race of men. He might
have been true man if God had framed his substance put of nothing, as he did
Adam out of the dust of the ground. And this title w given him here, as
in many other places, when the last judgment is spoken of, as I shall show you
by and by
1.
Partly to recompense his foregoing humiliation, or despicable appearance at his
first coming.
2.
Partly because of his second coming: he shall appear visibly in that nature as
he went from us: Acts i. 11, 'In like manner,'
&c. Christ shall come in the form of a man, but not in the same humble and
mean appearance as now when he spake these things to
them; for it is added for the manner—
[1.]
For his personal glory, 'He shall come in his glory.' Not in the form of a
servant, but becoming his present state. All infirmities shall be removed from
his soul and body. It is not a borrowed glory, but he shall come in his own
glory. It is said, Mat. xvi. 27, 'The Son of man shall come in the glory of his
Father.' Here, in his own glory. The Son of man and the son of God is only one
person; and is glory as God and his Father's glory is the same. So that he
'shall come in his glory,' noteth either—(1.) His divine power and majesty, which shall then conspicuously shine
forth; or (2.) The glory put upon the human nature; and so it will note
his plenary absolution as our surety. The Father sendeth
him from heaven in power and great glory: 'He appeareth
without sin,' Heb. ix. 28. He doth not say, They that
look for him shall be without sin; but' He shall appear the second time without
sin unto salvation;' that is, fully discharged of our debt. First, he came in carnem; he showed himself in the nature of
man to be judged: then, in came; he shall show himself in the nature of
man to judge the world. At his first coming he was holy, yet in the garb of a
sinner; we judged him as one forsaken of God: his second coming shall make it
evident that he is discharged of the debt he took upon himself.
[2.]
His royal attendance. The angels shall attend him, both to honour
him and to be employed by him.
[3.]
His royal posture, he shall' sit upon the throne of his glory.' A glorious
throne, beseeming the Son of God and the judge of the quick and the dead, shall
be erected for him in the clouds, such as none can imagine how glorious it
shall be till they see it.
Secondly,
The next thing that is offered in these words is the
presenting the parties to be judged; and there you may take notice
1. Of their congregation, and before him shall be gathered
all nations.
2. Their segregation, and he shall separate them one from, another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. In the segregation we have
[1.]
The ordering them into two several ranks and companies, sheep-and goats, ver.
32.
[2.] As to posture and place, ver. 33, 'And he shall set
his sheep-on the right hand and the goats on his left.' Not
only a separation as to Christ's knowledge and discerning them, but a
separation in place. [Pg. 16] I begin with the first branch, the
appearance and sitting down of the judge.
Two
points I shall observe:
Doct. 1. That the judge of
this world is Jesus Christ
Doct. 2. That Christ's
appearance for the judgment of the world shall be glorious and full of majesty.
For the
first point, that Jesus Christ is the world's judge
1.
Here I shall inquire why he is judge.
2. In
what nature he doth act or exercise this judgment, whether as God or man, or
both.
First,
Let us inquire how Christ cometh to be the world's judge,
and with what conveniency and agreeableness to reason
this honour is put upon him? To a judge there belongeth these four things—(1.) Wisdom;
(2.) Justice; (3.) Power; and
(4.) Authority.
1.
Wisdom and understanding, by which he is able to judge all persons and causes
that come before him, according to the rules and laws by which that judgment is
to proceed; for no man can give sentence in a cause wherein he hath not skill,
both as to matter of right and wrong, and sufficient evidence and knowledge as
to matter of fact Therefore, in ordinary judicatures, a prudent and discerning
person is chosen.
2.
Justice is required, or a constant and unbiassed will
to determine and pass sentence, ex oequo, et bono, as right and truth shall require. He that giveth wrong judgment because he doth not accurately
understand a thing is imprudent, which in this business is a great fault; but
he that doth rightly understand a matter, and yet is biassed
by perverse affections and aims, and giveth wrong
judgment in the cause brought before him, that is highly impious and
flagitious; therefore, the judge must be just and incorrupt.
3.
Power is necessary that he may compel the parties judged to stand to his
judgment, and the offenders may receive their due punishment; for otherwise all
is but precarious and arbitrary, and the judgment given will be but a vain and
solemn pageantry.
4. There is required authority; for otherwise, if a man
should obtrude himself of his own accord, they may say to him,' Who made thee a
judge over us?' Or if he by mere force should assume this power to himself, the
parties impleaded have a pretence
of right to decline his tribunal, and appeal from him. Certainly he that
rewards must be superior, and much more he that punisheth;
for he that punisheth another bringeth
some notable evil and damage upon him; but for one to bring evil upon another,
unless he hath right to do it, is unjust; therefore good authority is required
in him that acts the part of a judge. These things, as they stand upon evident
reason, and are necessary in all judicial proceedings between man and man, so
much more in this great and solemn transaction of the last judgment; for this
will be the greatest court that ever was kept both in respect, of the persons
to be judged, which shall be all men and evil angels, high and low, small and
great, rich and poor, princes and subjects; and in respect of the causes that
shall be produced, the whole business of the world for six thousand years, or
thereabouts; or the retributions made, which shall be punishments and rewards
of the highest nature [Pg. 17] and degree, because everlasting. And therefore
there must be a judge sought out that is exactly knowing not only of laws, but
of all persons and causes: 'That all things should be naked, and open to him with whom we have to do,' Heb. iv. 12,
13, and 1 John iii. 20. Again, exceeding just, without the least spot
and blemish of wrong dealing: Gen. xviii. 25, 'Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?' and Rom. iii.
5, 6, 'Is God unrighteous, that taketh
vengeance? God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?' It cannot be
that the universal and final judgment of all the world
should be committed to him that hath or can do anything wrongful and amiss. And
then, that power is necessary both to summon offenders, and make them appear,
and stand to the judgment which he shall award, without any hope of escaping or
resisting, will as easily appear; because the offenders are many, and they
would fain hide their guilty heads, and shun this tribunal, if it were
possible: Rev. vi. 16, 'Say to the mountains And
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.' But that must not, cannot be:
Ps. xc. 11, 'Who knoweth the power of thine anger? According to thy fear, so
is thy wrath.' Authority is necessary also, or a right to govern and to dispose
of the persons judged into their everlasting estate; which being all the world, belongeth only to
the universal king, who hath made all things, and preserveth
all things, and governeth and disposeth
all things for his own glory. Legislation and execution both belong to the same
power. Judgment is a part of government Laws are but shadows if no execution follow. Now, let us particularly see how all this belongeth to Christ.
[1.] For wisdom and understanding. It is in Christ twofold—
divine and human; for each nature hath its particular and proper wisdom
belonging to it As God, it is infinite: Ps. cxlvii.
15, 'His understanding is infinite.' And so by one infinite view, or by one act
of understanding, he knoweth all things that are,
have been, or shall be, yea, or may be, by his divine power and
all-sufficiency. They are all before his eyes, as if naked and cut down by the
chine-bone. We know things successively, as a man readeth
a book, line after line, and page after page; but God at one view. Now his
human wisdom cannot be equal to this. A finite nature cannot be capable of an
infinite understanding, but yet it is such as it doth far exceed the knowledge
of all men and all angels. When Christ was upon earth, though the forms of
things could not but successively come into his mind or understanding, because
of the limited nature of that mind and understanding, yet then he could know
whatever he would, and to whatsoever thing he would apply his mind, he did
presently understand it; and in a moment, by the light of the divinity, all
things were presented to him; so that he accurately knew the nature of whatever
he had a mind to know. And therefore then he was not ignorant of those things
that were in the hearts of men, and were done so
secretly as they were thought only to be known to God himself. Thus he knew the
secret touch of the woman, when the multitude thronged upon him, Luke viii. 45, 46. So Mat. ix. 3, 4, 'When
certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth:
Jesus knowing their thoughts, said, Why think ye evil in your hearts?' He discerneth [Pg.
18] the inward thoughts, and turneth out the inside
of the scribes' minds. So Mat xii. 24, 25, Jesus knew their thoughts when they
imagined that 'by Beelzebub the prince of the devils he cast out devils.' But
most fully, see John ii. 24, 25, 'He committed not himself to them, because he
knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man; for he knew what
was in man.' It may be they knew not themselves, but he knew what kind of
belief it was, such as would not hold out in time of temptation. We cannot
infallibly discern professors before they discover themselves; yet all
hypocrites are seen and known, of him, even long before they show their
hypocrisy, not by a conjectural, but a certain knowledge, as being from and by
himself, as God. He doth infallibly know what is most secret and hidden in man.
Now, if he were endowed with such an admirable understanding even in the days
of his flesh, while he grew in wisdom and stature, Luke ii., and his human
capacity enlarged by degrees, what shall we think of him in that state in which
he is now glorious in heaven? Therefore, to exercise this judgment, he shall
bring incomparable knowledge, so far exceeding the manner and measure of all
creatures, even as he is man; but his infinite knowledge as God shall chiefly
shine forth in this work. Therefore he is a fit judge, able to bring forth the
secret things of darkness and counsels of the heart into open and manifest
light, 1 Cor. iv. 5, and
disprove sinners in their pretences and excuses, and pluck off their disguises
from them.
[2.]
For justice and righteousness. An incorrupt judge, that neither doth nor can
err in judgment, must be our judge. As there is a double knowledge in Christ,
so there is a double righteousness; one that belongeth
to him as God, the other as man; and both are exact.nd
immutably perfect. His divine nature is holiness itself: 'In him is light, and no darkness at all.' The least shadow of
injustice cannot be imagined there. All virtues in God are his being, not
superadded qualities. God's holiness may be resembled to a vessel of pure gold,
where the substance and lustre is the same; but ours
is like a vessel of wood or earth gilded, where the substance and gilding is
not the same. Our holiness is a superadded quality. We cannot call a wise man,
Wisdom; or a righteous man, Righteousness. We use the concrete of man, but the
abstract of God. He is love, he is light, he is
holiness itself; which noteth the inseparability of
the attribute from God. It is himself; God cannot deny himself: his act is his
rule. Take Peter Martyr's similitude: A carpenter chopping a piece of wood by a
line or square, may sometimes chop right and sometimes wrong; he cannot carry
his hand so evenly; but if we could suppose that a carpenter's hand were his
rule, he could not chop amiss.
Christ's human nature was so sanctified, that upon earth he
could not sin, much more now glorified in heaven. And there will be use of both
righteousnesses in the last judgment; but chiefly of
the righteousness that belongeth to the divine
nature; for all the operations of Christ are theandrical;
neither nature ceaseth to work in them. ah in all the works of men, the body
and the soul do both conspire and concur in that way which is proper to either;
only, as in the works of his humiliation his human nature did more appear, so
in the works that belong to his exaltation and glorified estate, his divine
nature {pg. 19] appeareth most; especially in this
solemn action, wherein Christ is to discover himself to the world with the
greatest majesty and glory.
[3.]
For power. A divine power is plainly necessary, that none may withdraw
themselves from this judgment, or resist or hinder the execution of this
sentence; for otherwise it would be passed in vain: Titus ii. 13, 'Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the
great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.'
Christ is then to show himself the great and powerful God. His power is seen in
raising the dead, in bringing them together in one place, in opening their
consciences, in casting them into hell: Mat. xxiv. 30, 'The Son of man shall
come from heaven with power and great glory.'
[4.]
For authority. I shall the longer insist on this, because the main hinge of all
lieth here, and this doth bring the matter home. That
Jesus Christ, and none but Jesus Christ, shall be the world's judge. By the law
of nature, the wronged party and the supreme power hath right to require
satisfaction for the wrong done. Where no power is publicly constituted,
possibly the wronged party hath power to require it; but where things are
better constituted, lest the wronged party should indulge his revenge and
passion too far, it rests in the supreme power, and those appointed by it, to
judge the matter, and to make amends to those that are wronged in their body,
goods, or good name. Now, to God both these things concur.
(1.)
He is the wronged party, and offended with the sins of men. Not that we can
lessen his happiness by anything that we can do; for our good and evil reacheth not unto him; his essential glory is still the
same, whether we obey or disobey, please or displease, honour
or dishonour him. That which is eternal and immutable
neither is lessened nor increased by anything that we can do. He is out of the
reach of all the darts that we can cast at him. Hurt us they may, but reach him
they cannot. But sin, it is a wrong to his declarative glory as sovereign lord
and lawgiver, as it is a breach of his law. There was hurt done to Bathsheba
and Uriah, Ps. li. 4, but
the sin and obliquity of the action was against God and his sovereign
authority. If the injury done to the creature could be severed from the offence
done to God, it were not so great. God is the
author of the light of nature, and that order which begetteth
a sense of good and evil in our hearts. God is the author of the law given by
Moses, and the gospel revealed by his Son. Therefore, whatever things are
committed against the law of nature, or the law of
Moses, or the gospel, certainly it is a wrong to the justice of God, as being a
breach of that order which he hath established: 1 John iii. 4, 'He that committeth sin, transgresseth also the law; for sin is a transgression of
the law.' Laws cannot be despised, but the majesty of the lawgiver is
contemned, disparaged, and slighted. Therefore upon this right God might come
in as a very proper judge. But, indeed, God doth not punish merely as offended,
or as a private man revengeth himself, where there is
no power publicly constituted to do him right; but he properly judgeth.
(2.) A supreme and sovereign lord, and governor of the
world, to-whom it belongeth, for the common good, to
see that it be well with them that do well, and ill with them that do evil, and
that no compassion be showed but where the case is companionable, according tis [Pg. 20] that declaration he hath made of himself to
the creatures. To declare this more plainly, we shall see how this right accrueth to God. It may he supposed to accrue to him two
ways—either because of the excellency
of his being, or because of his benefits which he hath bestowed upon mankind.
(1st)
The excellency of his being.
This is according to the light of nature, that those
that excel should be above others; as it is clear in man, who is above the
brute creatures; he is made to have dominion over them, because he hath a more
excellent nature than they. And when God said, 'Let us make man after our own
image,' he presently upon that account gave him dominion over the beasts of the
field, and fowls of the air, and fishes of the sea. So God, being infinite, and
far above all finite things, hath a power over the creatures, angels or men,
who are as nothing to him, and therefore to be governed by him. But chiefly
(2d.)
By virtue of the benefits bestowed by him; for great benefits received from
another do necessarily beget a power over him that receiveth
them; as parents have a power and authority over their children, who are a
means under God to give them life and education; the most barbarous people
would acknowledge this. How much greater, then, is the right of God, who hath
given us life, and breath, and being, and well-being, and all things 1 He
created us out of nothing; and being created, he preserveth
us, and giveth us all the good things which we enjoy.
And therefore we are obliged to be subject to him, and to obey his holy laws,
and to be accountable to him for the breach of them. Therefore, let us state it
thus: As the excellency of his nature giveth him a fitness and a sufficiency for the government
of mankind, his creation, preservation, and other benefits give him a full
right to make what laws he pleaseth, and to call man
to an account whether he hath kept them, yea or no. His right is greater than
parents can have over their children; for in natural generation they are but
instruments of his providence, acting only the power which, God giveth them; and the parents propagate nothing to the
children but the body, and those things that belong to the body; called,
therefore, 'The fathers of our flesh,' Heb. xii. 9. Yea, in framing the body
God hath a greater hand than they; for they cannot tell whether the child will
be male or female, beautiful or deformed. They know not the number and posture
of the bones, and veins, and arteries, and sinews; but God doth not only concur
to all these things, but 'form the spirit of man in him,' Zech. xii. 1. And all
the care and providence of our parents cometh to nothing, unless the Lord directeth it, and secondeth it
with his blessing. Therefore God naturally is the governor and judge of all
creatures, visible and invisible; so that, from his empire and jurisdiction
they neither can nor ought to exempt themselves. So that to
be God and judge of the world is one and the same thing expressed in divers
terms.
Well,
then, you will ask, Why is Christ the judge of the
world, rather than the Father and the Spirit, who made us, and gave the law to
us? I answer
1. That we have gone a good step to prove that it is the
peculiar right of God, common to the three persons, Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost; 'for these three are one,' 1 John v. 7. They have one [Pg. 21] common
nature, and the operations that, are with the divine
essence are common to them all. So that as the creation of
all things is equally attributed to all, so also the right of this act of
judging the world doth alike agree to all. So that as yet the thing is
not explained enough, unless we should grant that it shall be exercised by all,
or can prove out of the scriptures that one person of these three is ordained,
and by mutual consent chosen out by the rest to exercise it for himself and for the other. Indeed, at the first, when the
doctrine of the Trinity was not as yet openly revealed, it was not needful to
inquire more diligently after it; but this general truth sufficed, that God is
the judge of the world. As when Enoch said, Jude 14.,
'Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints;' and as David, Ps. lxiv. 2, 'Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth;' and
Ps. 1. 6, 'God is judge himself;' and in many other places. It was enough to
understand it of one only and true God, without distinction of the persons; but
when that mystery was clearly manifested, then the
question was necessary, which of the persons should be judge of the world?
2. As
there is an order among the persons of the blessed Trinity in the manner of
subsisting, so there is also a certain order and economy according to which all
their operations are produced and brought forth to the creature; according to
which order their power of judging fell partly to the Father, and partly to the
Son.
[1.]
In the business of redemption. The act of judging, which was to be exercised
upon our surety, who was substituted in our room and place, and offered himself
not only for our good, in bonum nostrum, but toco et vice nosiri, to
bear our punishment, and to procure favour to as;
there the act of judging belongeth to the Father, to
whom the satisfaction is tendered, 1 John ii. 1; the advocate is to plead
before the judge. But
[2.]
As to the judgment to be exercised upon us, who either partake of that
salvation which was purchased by that surety, or have lost it by our negligence
and unbelief; there the Son, or second person, is our judge. In the former, the
Son could not be judge, because in a sense he made himself a party for our good, and in our room and place; and the same person cannot
be both judge and party too; give and take the satisfaction both; that cannot
be. Well, then, in this other judgment the Holy Ghost cannot be conveniently
the judge; for in this mystery he hath another part, function, and office
prepared; and being the third person in the order of subsisting, the Son was
not to be passed over, but it fell to him.
[3.] In the Son there is a double relation or
consideration—one as he is God, the other as he is mediator; the one natural
and eternal, and shall endure for ever; the other of mediator, which as he took
upon himself in time, so in the consummation of time he shall at length lay
aside: in this latter respect, as mediator, he is judge by deputation.
The primitive sovereign and judge is God; and the king and judge by derivation
is Jesus Christ the mediator, in his manhood, united to the second person in
the Godhead; and so the judgment of the world is put upon him. In regard of the
creatures, his authority is absolute and supreme, for there can be no appeal
from his judgment; but in regard of God, it is deputed. He is ordained; so it
is said, [Pg. 22] John v. 27, 'The Father hath given him authority also to
exercise judgment, because he is the Son of man.' He hath the power of life and
death, to condemn and to absolve. So Acts x. 42, 'He is ordained of God to be
the judge of the quick and the dead;' and Acts xvii. 31, 'He hath appointed a
day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained.' In all which he acts as the Father's vicegerent; and after he hath
judged, 'He shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father.' 1 Cor. xv. 24 So that the right of
Christ as mediator is not that which befalleth him
immediately from the right of creation; but is derivative, and subordinate to
that kingdom which is essential to him, common to the Father, Son, and Spirit.
[4.]
This power which belongeth to Christ as mediator is
given to him partly as a recompense of his humiliation; of which I shall speak
in the second point. But chiefly
(1.) Because
it belongeth to the fulness of his mediatory office;
and therefore, being appointed king by the Father, his last function as a king
was to judge the world. The Mediator was not only to pay a price to divine
justice, and to separate the redeemed from the world, by his Spirit converting
them to God, but also to judge the devil, and all those enemies out of whose
hands he had freed the Church. He was to fight against the blind world, and
triumph over them; and when the world is ended, to judge them, and cast them
into eternal torments.
(2.)
His office is not full till this be done. It is a part
of his administration as mediator. The last act of conquest is overcoming his
enemies, and glorifying and redressing injuries and wrongs of his saints.
Secondly,
In what nature he doth act and exercise the judgment,
as God, or man, or both.
I
answer—In both. Christ is the person, as God-man; yet
the judgment is acted visibly by him in the human nature, sitting upon a
visible throne, that he may be seen of all, and heard. Therefore Christ is so
often designed by this expresion, 'Son of man;' as in
the text, and Mat. xvi. 27, and Acts xvii 31, and Mat. xxvi. 64, 'Ye shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds, with power and great glory;' John v. 27.
The Son of man is the visible actor and judge. Because the judgment must be
visible, therefore the judge must be such as may be eeen
with bodily eyes. The Godhead puts forth itself by the human nature, in which
all these great works are acted.
Use. You see what need there is to get in with Christ. Rom.
viii. 28, 'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in
Christ; 1 John ii. 28, 'And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall
appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.' Oh!
what a comfort will it be to have our Redeemer in our
nature to be our judge! Then we shall see our goel,
our kinsman, whom we have heard so much of, whom we have loved, and longed
for. But the contemners of his mercy will find the
Lamb's face terrible: Rev. vi. 16, 'And
said to the mountains and rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of
the Lamb.' But believers will find their advocate their judge, to reward those
that trust in him, Ps. ii. 12. He that [Pg. 23] hath so often pleaded with God
for us, he is to pass sentence upon us. Would a man be afraid to be judged by
his dearest friend, or think his sentence would be terrible? If the devil were
our judge, or wicked men, we might be sad; but it is your dear Lord Jesus;
therefore let us comfort ourselves with the thoughts of it. David's followers
were afraid; but when he came to be crowned at