9. Before Christ's second coming, there shall come scoffers in the world, walking after their own lusts (2 Peter 3:3) and if ever this scripture was fulfilled, it is fulfilled on these men called quakers: For they are the men, that at this day make a mock at Christ's second coming, which shall be from heaven without (1 Thess 1:10; Phil 3:20); and therefore saith the Holy Ghost, these mockers shall be such as shall say, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were, as 2 Peter 3:3-7 says. And there you shall see their mocking and the reason for it. Read, and the Lord give thee understanding. But I would not have thee think that I speak at random, in this thing. Know for sure, that I myself have heard them blaspheme; yea, with a grinning countenance, at the doctrine of that man's second coming from heaven above the stars, who was born of the Virgin Mary. Yeah, they have told me to my face that I have used conjuration and witchcraft because what I preached was according to the scriptures. I was also told to my face that I preached up an idol, because I said that the Son of Mary was in heaven, with the same body that was crucified on the cross. Many other things have they blasphemously vented against the Lord of life and glory, and his precious gospel. The Lord reward them according to their work.
I could have hinted at many other things which Christ and his Apostles have shewn to be signs of his coming. But I shall commend the holy scriptures unto thee, which can make the man of God perfect in all things, through faith in the Lord Jesus (2 Tim 3:17).
Now you have also the manner of his coming how it shall be, most notably laid down in the scriptures. I shall hint in a few things touching it.
1. He will come when there are very few looking for his coming. 'When they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh' (1 Thess 5:1-3). Which sudden destruction will be at his second coming, for that is what the Apostle spoke of in those three verses. Then will all the world be caught at such an unexpected time, that it will come upon them, even as a snare cometh upon those creatures that are seen in it. As it is written (Luke 21:35), 'For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.' Which is all of a sudden, before they are aware.
2. He cometh with all his saints and angels. Then will the Lord descend from that heaven, into which he is now ascended, as it is written in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Then will he come, and all his saints with him, as Jude saith in his Epistle, 15. then shall Abel and Enoch, Noah and Abraham, David and Job, Peter and Paul: Together with all the saints which have been, now are, or hereafter shall be, and they shall sit on the throne with the Lord Jesus Christ, as in Matthew 19:28. Before whom shall all the nations of the world be gathered, as it is written (Joel 3:12). 'Let the heathen be wakened [or raised out of their graves (Dan 12:2)] and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge the heathen round about.' Which never was yet accomplished, though it shall certainly be, in God's time: To the astonishment, and everlasting damnation of all those that shall continue mocking, or sinning against God and his Christ.
3. He shall come in a flaming fire, (when he doth come again: he will come in such a manner, as will make all that shall be found in their sins instead seek to creep under a mountain, than to meet the Lord of glory (Rev 6:15)). As Isaiah saith, 'For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire' (Isa 66:15). 'To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him' (Jude 15), as I shall shew farther by and by.
Third, and therefore in the next place, I shall shew you what shall be done when he is come.
1. When Christ comes the second time, they that are in their graves shall arise, and come forth of their graves (as I said before) in which they have lain according to that in John 5:28, 29. Where Christ saith, 'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' You will say, Are these graves spoken of here, the graves that are made in the earth? Yea, that they are, and for a further proof of the same, look into Daniel 12:2. Daniel there speaking of the same thing saith, 'And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, [or arise] some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt' (or damnation).
I shall not stand here to dispute any distinctions of the resurrections, only prove that the dead shall arise; and that is a clear truth from the scriptures (Acts 10:42; Rev 20:11-14; 1 Thess 4:16; 1 Cor 15:52). 'The dead shall be raised.'
2. He shall call all men and women to an account for all their[3] close sinful thoughts, words, and actions; then will the secrets of all hearts be made manifest. Then shall all thy adulterous, and thievish, and covetous, idolatrous, and blasphemous thoughts be laid open, according to that saying, 'Their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean [time, or] while accusing or else excusing one another' (Rom 2:15). But when? Why, 'In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ' (v 16). See also 1 Corinthians 4:5, 'Therefore judge nothing before the time.' What time is that? Why, when the Lord comes, what will he do? He 'will bring to light the hidden things of darkness,' that is, all those cunning, close, hidden wickednesses that thou in thy lifetime hast committed; yea, he will 'make manifest the counsels of the hearts'; that is, the most hidden and secret things that are contrived and plotted by the sons of men. Then shall all the midnight whore-mongers be laid open with all their sins; Then thou (it may be) who has committed such sins as thou wouldest not have thy neighbour, thy father, thy wife, thy husband, or any one else know of for thousands, then thou shalt have them all laid open, even upon the house tops (Luke 12:3). Then thou that hatest God's children; his ways, his word, his Spirit; then thou that makest a mock at Jesus of Nazareth's second coming, then thou that livest in open prophaneness, or secret hypocrisy, then I say, will be such a time of reckoning for you, as never was since the world began, then you that shall die in your sins, will cry to the mountains, Fall on us, and cover us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb (which Lamb is the Man Christ Jesus (John 1:29)). And ah, my friends! If the exceptional looks of God be so terrible, what will his blows be, think you? Then if all thy idle words shall be accounted for, as it is written, 'But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment' (Matt 12:36) and also all thy filthy actions shall be then regarded in such sort, as thou shalt receive a just recompense for them. And know, saith the scripture, 'that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment' (Eccl 11:9). Then
No comments:
Post a Comment