Commission, that is, declare and manifest Himself to be the Judge of all the earth, sent by the God of Heaven to judge them that had condemned Him, and in that very body that once was crucified upon the cross at Jerusalem for our sins. So that all the world shall then behold Him shining in all His glory and majesty, and shall acknowledge Him to be now what they would not believe Him to be before, even both God and man, and so the Judge of all the world, from Whom there can be no appeal. And having thus declared His Commission, I believe the first work He will go upon will be to open the "book of God's remembrance," and to [Mal.3.16.] cause all the indictments to be read that there are found on record against those on His right hand; but behold all the black lines of their sins being blotted out with the red lines of their Saviour's blood, and nothing but their good works, their prayers, their sermons, their meditations, their alms, and the like, to be found there; the Righteous Judge, before Whom they stand, turning Himself towards them, with a serene and smiling countenance, will declare to them, before all the world, that their sins are pardoned, and their persons accepted by Him, as having believed in Him; and therefore will He immediately proceed to pronounce the happy sentence of election upon them, saying, "Come, ye blessed of [Matt. 25. 34.] My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

The sentence being thus pronounced, the righteous (and I hope myself among the rest) shall go up with shouts of joy and triumph, to sit with our Blessed Redeemer to judge the other parts of the world, who stand at the left hand of the Tribunal, with ghastly countenances and trembling hearts, to receive their last and dreadful doom. Against these, all the sins that ever they committed, or were guilty of, shall be brought up in judgment against them, as they are found on record in the book of God's remembrance, and the indictment read against every particular person, high or low, for every particular sin, great or small, which they have committed.

And the truth of this indictment shall be attested by their own consciences, crying, Guilty, guilty:' I say, by their own consciences, which are as a thousand witnesses; yea,

and by the Omniscience of God too, which is as a thousand consciences. And therefore, without any further delay, shall the Judge proceed to pronounce the sentence, the doleful [Matt. 25. sentence of condemnation upon them, "Depart, ye cursed, 41.] into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels."

This, I believe, or such like, will be the method of Christ's proceeding with us in that great and terrible day of trial and retribution.

Oh! may these awful thoughts and ideas of it always accompany me, and strike such a deep and lively impression upon my heart, in every action of life, as to deter me from

offending this just and Almighty Being, in Whose power it [ch. 10.28.] is to "destroy both body and soul in Hell;" and engage me in such a regular, strict, and conscientious course of life, as to be always ready, whenever He shall be pleased to summon me, to give in my accounts at the Grand Audit, and with a holy assurance fly for mercy and succour into the hands of my Redeemer, and be permitted to enter into the joys of His rest.

ARTICLE XII.

I believe there are two other worlds besides this I live in, a world of misery for unrepenting sinners, and a world of glory for believing saints.

WHEN death hath opened the cage of flesh wherein the soul is penned up, whither it flies, or how it subsists, I think it not easy to determine, or indeed to conceive. As for the Platonic aërial and ethereal vehicles succeeding this terrestrial one, I find neither mention of, nor warrant for them in the Word of God. And, indeed, to suppose that a spiritual substance cannot subsist of itself, without being supported by a corporeal vehicle, is in my opinion too gross a conceit for any philosopher, much more for one that professes himself a divine, to advance or entertain. Only this I am sure of, that according to the distinction of lives here into good or bad, and the sentences passed upon all

hereafter, of absolution or condemnation, there will be a twofold receptacle for the souls of men, the one of happiness, the other of misery.

As to the first, I believe, that at the great and general assizes of the world, there will be a glorious entrance opened for the righteous into the holy of holies, the seat and fountain of all bliss and happiness, where they shall draw nigh to the Most High God, behold His presence in righteousness, and reign with Him for ever in glory, where they "shall see Him face to face," "and know Him, the 1 Cor.13.12. only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent." And John 17. 3. this knowing and beholding God face to face, is, I believe, the very Heaven of Heavens, even the highest happiness that it is possible a creature should be made capable of: for, in having a perfect knowledge of God, we shall have a perfect. knowledge of all things that ever were, are, shall, yea, or can be, in the world. For, God being the Being of all beings, in seeing Him, we shall not only see whatsoever hath been, but whatsoever can be communicated from Him: the contemplation of which cannot but ravish and transport my spirit beyond itself; especially when I consider, that in knowing this One-All-Things, God, I cannot but enjoy whatsoever it is possible any creature should enjoy. For the knowing of a thing is the soul's enjoyment of it; the understanding being to the soul what the senses are to the body. And therefore as the body enjoys nothing but by its senses, so neither doth the soul enjoy any thing but by its understanding and as the body is said to have whatsoever affects its proper senses, so may the soul be said to have whatsoever comes under its knowledge. Nay, the soul so far hath what it knows, that, in a manner it is what it knows; itself being in a spiritual manner, enlarged according to the extent of the objects which it knows, as the body is by the meat it eats; the truths we know turning into the substance of our souls, as the meat we eat doth into the substance of our bodies. But O! what a rare soul shall I then have, when it shall be extended to every thing that ever was or ever could have been! What a happy creature shall I then be, when I shall know and so enjoy Him that is all things in Himself! What can a creature desire more?

yea, what more can a creature be made capable of enjoying or desiring? And that which will always accompany this our knowledge and enjoyment, is perfect love to what we enjoy and know, without which we should take pleasure in nothing, though we should have all things to take pleasure in. But who will be able not to love the chiefest good, that knows and enjoys Him, and therefore enjoys Him because he knows Him? Questionless, in Heaven, as I shall enjoy whatsoever I can love, so shall I love whatsoever I enjoy. And this therefore I believe to be the perfection of my happiness, and the happiness of my perfection, in the other world, that I shall perfectly know and love, and so perfectly enjoy and rejoice in the Most High God; and shall be, as known, so perfectly loved and rejoiced in by Him. And, questionless, for all our shallow apprehensions and low estimations of these things now, they cannot choose but be vast and unconceivable pleasures, too great for any creature to enjoy whilst here below.

If we have but the least drop of these pleasures distilled unto us here upon earth, how strangely do they make us, as it were, beside ourselves, by lifting us above ourselves! If we can but at any time get a glimpse of God, and of His love to us how are we immediately carried beyond all other pleasures and contentments whatsoever! How apt are we [Matt. 17. to say with Peter, "It is good for us to be here!" And if 4.] the foretastes of the blessings of Canaan, if the dark intimations of God's love to us be so unspeakably pleasant, so ravishingly delightsome, O what will the full possession of Him be! What transporting ecstasies of love and joy shall those blessed souls be possessed with, who shall behold the King of glory smiling upon them, rejoicing over them, and shining forth in all His love and glory upon them! O what astonishing beauty will they then behold! What flowing, what refreshing pleasures shall then solace and delight their spirits unto all eternity! Pleasures far greater than I am able either to express or conceive, much less to enjoy, on this side Heaven. My faculties are now too narrow and scanty for such an entertainment; and therefore, till they are spiritualized and enlarged, they cannot receive it. This is the portion only of another world, this the "crown of

righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge❞ reserves in Heaven for me, and which, at His second coming, He has promised to bestow upon me, and not upon me only, but "upon all them also that love His appearing."

[2Tim.4.8.]

As to the other state, viz. that of the wicked in another · life, I believe it will be as exquisitely miserable and wretched as that of the righteous is happy and glorious: they will "be driven for ever from the presence of the Lord," from [2 Thess. 1. those bright and blessed regions above, "where Christ sits [Col. 3. 1.] at the right hand of God," to those dark and dismal dungeons below, where the Devil and his angels are for ever doomed to be tormented.

What sort of torments or punishments they are there to undergo, I am as unable to express as I am unwilling ever to experience; but according to the notions which Scripture and reason give me of these matters, I believe they will be twofold, viz. 1. Privative, and, 2. Positive; that is, the wicked will not only be deprived of all that is good and happy, but actually condemned to all that is evil and miserable, and that in the most transcendant degree.

The first part of their punishment will consist in envious, melancholy, and self-condemning reflections, upon their having defeated and deprived themselves, not only of their carnal mirth and sensual enjoyments, their friends, fortunes, and estates in this world, but also of all the infinite joys and glories of the next, the presence of God, the society of saints and angels, and all the refreshing and ravishing delights which flow from the fruition of the chiefest good and what adds yet further to their anguish and remorse is, that they have lost the very hopes of ever regaining any of these enjoyments.

O how infinitely tormenting and vexatious must such a condition be, which at once gives them a view both of the greatest happiness and the greatest misery, without the least hopes either of recovering the one, or being delivered from the other! How must they tear, torment, and curse themselves for their former follies; and, too late, wish that they had been stifled in the womb, or drowned in the font which was to be their second birth!

And if the bare privation of Heaven and happiness be so

9.]