or publick Ignominy? and you may be fure he will not spend much Time in deliberating upon the Matter, because a private Difgrace is the leffer Evil of the two.

Now this is the very Cafe of a Perfon guilty of fome Crime committed against God. He muft either fubmit to a private Confufion, in accufing himself of it to his Confeffor, or undergo the publick Ignominy of having it one Day expofed, to his eternal Shame and Confufion, before the Eyes of all the World. One of the two muft be; and he has it now in his Power to choose either the one or the other. The first is but a momentary Confufion, follow'd immediately by an entire Repose and Eafe of Confcience; and fo private, that no Man alive but his Confeffor can have any Knowledge of it. The other is a pubdick Difgrace, in the Face of God, and all his Saints and Angels: And the violent Impreffion of Shame and Confufion, which it makes upon the Soul in that Moment, will laft for all Eternity. I afk then, whether a Perfon can pretend to be in his right Senfes, if he prefers the latter? The Cafe is too plain against him to admit of a Difpute.

Let us then befeech Almighty God to imprint in our Hearts fo deep a Senfe of his infinite Knowledge, and the ftrict Ac

count

count we shall be called to, that whether. we be in Publick or Private, in Company or alone, we may be afraid to do any thing displeasing to his pure Eyes, and for which we shall be exposed to everlafting Confufion hereafter.

The Tenth ENTERTAINMENT.

Two other Qualities of the Judge: He will render to every one according to his Deeds, Rom. ii. 6.

N my last Difcourfe I promised to confider three Things in the Judge before whom we are to appear: 1. His infinite, Knowledge, from which nothing can be concealed: 2. His being the very Perfon, whom we offend, by every Sin, we commit: and, 3. His being infinitely juft. I have already spoken of the firft. The two latter Confiderations fhall therefore be the Subject of this Entertainment,

We fhall be able to conceive, in fome. measure, how great a Terror it will be to appear before a Judge, who is the very Perfon that has been offended and injured by us, if we but confider the Repugnance all Men naturally have to fee thofe to

whom

whom they have done any remarkable Injury or Affront. A Perfon who is confcious to himself of having been notoriously ungrateful to his Benefactor, fuffers a fen-. fible Mortification in appearing before him. His Blushes betray the inward Shame and Trouble of his Mind; because the Prefence and Sight of his Benefactor revive in it the Idea of his Favours, and the ill Returns he has made for them. A Wife, that has abufed the Conjugal Bed, unless fhe be an abandoned Creature, and loft to all Shame, cannot bear the Sight of her. Husband, if she knows for certain that he is informed of the Injustice fhe has done him. So a Subject, who has betray'd his Prince, dreads nothing more than to appear before him; because his very Prefence is a Reproach to his guilty Conscience, and upbraids him with the Foulness of his Crime. Thus Adam had no fooner eaten the forbidden Fruit, but he hid himself from the Face of the Lord; and that which till then had been his greatest Glory and Delight, became all on a fudden his greatest Terror.

But the Hiftory of Jofeph and his Brothers affords one of the most remarkable Inftances of this Truth. You all know how they contrived his Death; but upon the Remonftrances of Judah, fold him to

certain

He knew

certain Merchants, who carried him away into Egypt, and there fold him for a Slave; where fome Years after he was, by God's Providence, raised to the highest Dignity, and made Superintendant of all Egypt. At which time, by the fame Difpofition of Providence, there happened a great Dearth all the World over, and Jofeph's Brothers amongst others were obliged to go into Egypt to buy Corn of him. them all at the very first Interview, but was not known by them till fome Days after he discovered himself in the following Manner: Having ordered those who were present to withdraw, and being alone with his Brothers, he gave full Vent to the Tenderness of his Heart, and bursting out into a Flood of Tears, he only spoke thefe kind Words to them; Fear not, I am your Brother Jofeph: Is my Father ftill alive? At which Discovery of himself, tho' in fo tender a Manner, the Scripture tells us, they were all struck dumb with exceffive Fear. Non poterant refpondere fratres, nimio terrore perterriti. The unexpected Sight of a Brother, and that in fuch happy Circumftances, which would have caufed a Tranfport of Joy in others, feized them with Terror and Confufion; because his Prefence revived in an Inftant as fresh a Remembrance of all the Injuf

tice they had done him, as if they had committed it that very Day.

This is a weak Reprefentation of what will happen to reprobate Sinners in the Moment that Chrift fhall manifeft himfelf vifibly to them: For as the Sight of him, all Glorious, Impaffible, and Immortal, will be the Glory, Joy, and Comfort of the Elect, fo will it be the Terror of the Wicked. Videntes turbabuntur timore borribili: Seeing him they fhall be ftruck with a dreadful Fear, fays the Word of God; because they fhall fee in him a Benefactor, whom they have repaid with Ingratitude; a Spouse, whom they have abused; a Sovereign, whom they have betrayed; and a Brother, whom they have many times fold for a fordid Intereft, or brutal Pleasure.

But he will not then fay to them as Jofeph did, Fear not, I am your Brother, nor fhed Tears of Compaffion over them; but, on the contrary, the very Terror and Majesty of his Looks will in an Inftant convince them, that he, who till then has been their injured Saviour and Redeemer, is now come to be their Judge. Horrende apparebit, fays the wife Man: He will appear to them in a dreadful Manner. He will then fhew them the precious Blood they have trampled upon, by their facrilegious Communions;

the