II. To observe to what purposes they shall then meet.
1. To give an account, before the great Judge, of their behavior one to another in the relation they stood in to each other in this world.
Ministers
are sent forth by Christ to their people on his business, are his servants and
messengers; and, when they have finished their service, they must return to
their master to give him an account of what they have done, and of the
entertainment, they have had in performing their ministry. Thus we find, in Luke
xiv. 16-21, that when the servant who was sent forth to call the guests to the
great supper had done his errand and finished his appointed service, he
returned to his master, and gave him an account of what he had done, and of the
entertainment he had received. And when the master, being angry, sent his
servant to others, he returns again, and gives his master an account of his
conduct and success. So we read, in Heb. xiii. 17, of ministers being rulers in
the house of God, “that watch for souls, as those that must give account.” And
we see by the aforementioned Luke xiv., that ministers must give an account to
their master, not only of their own behavior in the discharge of their office,
but also of their people’s reception of them, and of the treatment they
have met with among them.
And therefore, as they will be called to give an account of both, they shall give an account at the great day of accounts in the presence of their people; they and their people being both present before their Judge.
Faithful ministers will then give an account with joy, concerning those who have received them well and made a good improvement of their ministry; and these will be given ’em, at that day, as their crown of rejoicing. And, at the same time, they will give an account of the ill-treatment of such as have not well received them and their messages from Christ: they will meet these, not as they used to do in this world, to counsel and warn them, but to bear witness against them, and as their judges and assessors with Christ, to condemn them. And on the other hand, the people will, at that day, rise up in judgment against wicked and unfaithful ministers who have sought their own temporal interest more than the good of the souls of their flock.
2. At that time ministers, and the people who have been under their care, shall meet together before Christ, that he may judge between them, as to any controversies which have subsisted between them in this world.
So it very often comes to pass in this evil world, that great differences and controversies arise between ministers and the people that are under their pastoral care. Though they are under the greatest obligations to live in peace, above persons in almost any relation whatever; and although contests and dissensions between persons so related are the most unhappy and terrible in their consequences, on many accounts, of any sort of contentions; yet how frequent have such contentions been! Sometimes a people contest with their ministers about their doctrine, sometimes about their administrations and conduct, and sometimes about their maintenance; and sometimes such contests continue a long time; and sometimes they are decided in this world according to the prevailing interest of one party or the other, rather than by the word of God and the reason of things; and sometimes such controversies never have any proper determination in this world.
But at the day of judgment, there will be a full, perfect and everlasting decision of them. The infallible Judge, the infinite fountain of light, truth and justice, will judge between the contending parties, and will declare what is the truth, who is in the right, and what is agreeable to his mind and will. And in order hereto the parties must stand together before him at the last day; which will be the great day of finishing and determining all controversies, rectifying all mistakes and abolishing all unrighteous judgments, errors and confusions, which have before subsisted in the world of mankind.
3.
Ministers, and the people that have been under their care, must meet together
at that time to receive an eternal sentence and retribution from the judge, in
the presence of each other, according to their behavior in the relation they
stood in one to another in the present state.
