Thomas Manton · 30 of 67

Verse 6. · Part 3

Let me now come to some observations.

Obs. 1. Darkness is the devils’ punishment, the highest misery of the highest rank of reasonable creatures. Oh! why should we love that which is the misery of the fallen angels? as our Saviour speaketh of some that ‘love darkness rather than light,’ John iii. 19; that is, error rather than truth, lusts rather than Christ, ignorance rather than knowledge. It is one of the saddest arguments of man’s dreadful fall, that he is in love with his own misery. We should hate sin, and we hate the light that reproveth it: ignorant people love a foolish ministry, God’s faithful witnesses are their torment, Rev. xi. 10. The carnal world would fain lie down upon the bed of ease and sleep; light is troublesome: those that let them alone are their idols and darlings; ‘the blind lead the blind, and both fall into the ditch.’ It is evil not to know the will of God; it is doubly evil when we desire not to know; the one sort err in their minds, the other in their hearts. Spiritual darkness is far worse than bodily. When Elymas was stricken blind he ‘desired somebody to lead him by the hand,’ Acts xiii. 11. In such a case we count our happiness to light upon fit guides. In spiritual darkness it is quite otherwise; we cannot endure a faithful guide: ‘The prophets prophesy lies, and the people love to have it so;’ a blind people are all for blind guides.

Obs. 2. Light that yieldeth us no comfort is but darkness. Satan hath knowledge left, but no comfort: James ii. 19, ‘They believe and tremble.’ The more sense they have of God’s being and glory, the greater horror have they upon their spirits. It is very miserable when we have only light enough to awaken conscience, and knowledge enough to be self-condemned. To know God but not to enjoy him, that is the devils’ punishment. Oh! then, never leave till your thoughts of God are sweet and comfortable, Ps. civ. 34. Satan cannot but abominate his own thoughts of God, for he cannot think of him without torment; but it is otherwise with gracious hearts; that meditation which is the devil’s terror is their solace and support. God’s name to them is as ‘an ointment poured out,’ Cant. i. 3, full of fragrancy and reviving. Best not, then, till you can see God with such a light as giveth you fruition and comfortable enjoyment of him: ‘In thy light shall we see light,’ Ps. xxxvi. 9; there is light in thy light, but all other light is but darkness.

Obs. 3. Do but observe the difference between God and Satan. God is light, 1 John i. 5, and Satan darkness; God dwelleth in light, and Satan is reserved in chains under darkness. The first creature that God made in the world was light, and the first gift of the Spirit is illumination; but now all Satan’s aim and work is to bring in darkness, to blind the mind, 2 Cor. iv. 4; ignorance is the very foundation of his kingdom, Eph. vi. 12. Well, then, the more dark, the more like Satan. A child of God is a child of light, and what have we to do with ‘works of darkness’? Eph. v. 11. There should be such a contrariety between you and sin as there is between God and Satan; say then, These actions would only become my night of ignorance and folly; night-work is unseemly for the day: Rom. xiii. 12, ‘The day is at hand, let us cast off the works of darkness;’ leave these things to the bats and the owls. If there be a difference and contrariety between Christ and Belial, who are the chiefs of either state, so between the persons that herd under them: ‘What communion is there between Christ and Belial, between light and darkness?’ 2 Cor. vi. 14.

Obs. 4. So much darkness as remaineth in you, so much advantage hath Satan against you. The dark part of the world is the seat of his empire: ‘Rulers of the darkness of this world,’ Eph. vi. 12. His subjects are ‘the children of darkness,’ and all the advantage that he hath over the children of light is because of the darkness that is in them: whosoever, therefore, lieth under a state of darkness is under the power of Satan. The great work of the ministry is to recover them, ‘to turn them from darkness to light,’ Acts xxvi. 18, and so ‘from Satan to God.’ Oh! the sad condition of such persons that are bound together with Satan in chains of darkness! Poor creatures, how are they hurried to and fro! from wrath to pride, from pride to lust, from lust to filthiness, from filthiness to worldliness! Oh, then, ‘awake you that sleep, and the Lord shall give you light,’ Eph. v. 14. What a blessing is it when it can be said of us, what the apostle said of the Ephesians, ‘Ye were darkness, but now are light in the Lord,’ Eph. v. 8. As soon as you have received light and grace, you are translated out of Satan’s power and kingdom, and put into the Lord’s.

Obs. 5. The darkness of sin is punished with the darkness of misery The light whereby w r e are directed and perfected is the same; the state of grace is a ‘marvellous light,’ 1 Peter ii. 9, and the state of glory ‘the inheritance of the saints in light,’ Col. i. 12. So sin is but darkness begun. Hell is called ‘utter darkness,’ Mat. viii. 12, τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον, a darkness beyond a darkness; as Augustine glosseth in his homilies, In tenebras ex tenebris infeliciter exclusi—the damned are but thrust out of one darkness into another, from ignorance to sin, from sin to torment. It is very observable when Solomon compareth the way of the just and the way of the wicked, he compareth the one to light, the other to darkness: Prov. iv. 18, 19, ‘The way of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day; and the way of the wicked is as darkness.’ By the rule of contraries, as one is a growing light, so the other is an increasing darkness; from twilight to starlight, from starlight to thick darkness; they quench the light of nature, choose worldly happiness, grow regardless of eternity, are hardened in their way, and at length given up to everlasting horror and confusion of faces, to whom ‘the mist of darkness is reserved for ever,’ 2 Peter ii. 17. Mists of error are justly punished with mists of darkness. The men there spoken of were clouds and mists in the church; and therefore the mists of eternal darkness are kept for them, as a fit and proper portion.

Obs. 6. The danger of refusing and abusing light. Those that were angels of light are now held in the chains of darkness: see it every where made good; the blackest evening hath been sent usually after a glorious day; those that once enjoyed Noah’s preaching were afterwards ‘the spirits in prison,’ 1 Peter iii. 18, 19; he that had not a wedding garment on for the feast was cast into ‘utter darkness,’ Mat. xxii. 13. Abuse of light and means and privileges will surely make our condition gloomy and uncomfortable.

Obs. 7. When we are cast out from God, nothing but darkness ensueth, utter darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. It is our utmost happiness to enjoy God, and it is our utmost misery to want him; the devils know it, and we shall one day know it. Pray for the light of God’s countenance more than for corn, and wine, and oil, Ps. iv. 6. One glimpse of the favour of God would turn hell into heaven, and give us such a strong and sweet joy as would swallow up all kind of sorrows. It is the absence of the sun maketh night; certainly they have hard hearts that do not mourn when they have lost the sight of God: ‘When the bridegroom is gone, then shall they mourn,’ Mat. ix. 15. Alas! how the drooping hearts and withered face of nature seem to mourn for the absence of the sun; and how are all things cleared and revived at spring again! And shall not we mourn for God, the sun of the intellectual world? Pharaoh was most affrighted with the plague of darkness, Exod. x. 4. Yea, the devils themselves are sensible of the loss of the light of God’s countenance: when God shutteth himself up in a cloud, let our bowels be troubled for him. Lam. iii. 44.

Obs. 8. The world in comparison of heaven is but a dark place. It is the place where the devils are cast, and they are held under darkness. It is an obscure corner of the creation, a place fit for our trial, but not for our reward. In a spiritual consideration it is but a great and vast dungeon, where we cannot have so dear sight of God as else where. It is Satan’s walk, a place of danger and defilement. It is much if we can keep ourselves unspotted in such a nasty hole, James i. 27; 2 Peter ii. 20. The inheritance which is given to the saints is given to them ‘in light,’ Col. i. 12. Let us look for that, and long for that; and ‘God dwelleth in light,’ 1 Tim. vi. 16; he dwelleth there where he discovereth most of his glory, and that is in heaven.

We have done with the present punishment of the angels; we come now to that which is future, implied in these words, unto the judgment of the great day. By judgment is meant the sentence of condemnation which shall pass upon them before the eyes of the whole world, and then the consequences, which are eternal misery and torment.

Obs. 1. That at the day of judgment the punishment of the devils will be greater than it is now.

The devils’ punishment is for the present great, as you have heard, but they are in expectation of greater: Mat. viii. 29, ‘Art thou come to torment us before our time?’ There is a time coming when the wrath of God shall be increased upon them, and this time is the day of judgment, the great day of the Lord, when they shall be brought forth before the tribunal of Christ and his saints. The good angels shall come as Christ’s companions, and the evil angels as his prisoners. See Mat. xxv. 31; 2 Thes. i. 7, and 1 Cor. vi. 3. This is a day that will work upon their envy, thwart their pride, to see the glory of Christ, and of the good angels and the saints. After this they shall be adjudged to horrible torments. Hell is their freehold and portion, ‘prepared for the devil and his angels,’ Mat. xxv. 41. The quality and nature of their torment we cannot so easily determine, nor what that fire is that shall burn spirits; only the scripture showeth they are ‘cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone,’ Rev. xxi. 8, where they shall suffer torments without end and without ease. When heaven’s joys are full, then are hell’s torments full also; and therefore, though for the present they are under God’s wrath, yet they do not taste the dregs of it; he exerciseth some patience towards them. They have an empire and a ministry in the world, but when all former things are done away, and Christ’s glory is fully shown to the world, then will he take full vengeance of his enemies. Well, then, from hence learn:—

1. That the wicked’s judgment is not as yet full. At the great day then shall it be more increased upon the union of soul and body; they shall drink ‘the dregs of the cup of wrath unmixed,’ In this life we are adding sin to sin, and in the next God will be adding torment to torment. Oh! what a sad train of judgments followeth a sinner! For the present he hath hell in his own conscience; they sip of the cup of wrath in the bondage and horrors now upon them, and at death these are more revived, and made more lively and active. But consider, after all this there is worse behind, torments insufferable, presently upon the separation, for then they are in prison, 1 Peter iii. 9, detained in a fearful expectation of further judgment: Luke xvi. 24. ‘I am horribly tormented in this flame.’ But after this, at Christ’s coming to judgment, these torments are increased, and therefore the apostle speaketh as if he did not take vengeance before: 2 Thes. i. 7, ‘He shall come in flaming fire to render vengeance,’ &c; because then it is fully executed. Do not add drunkenness to thirst, lest God add to your plagues.

2. The most miserable creatures are suffered to enjoy some degree of God’s patience. For the present God is patient. As to the fallen angels, sure I am to sinning man, ‘in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die.’ The full execution of that sentence is put off to the day of judgment; reprobates are endured ‘with much long-suffering.’ Rom. ix. 22. Intermissions God gives in this life, respite to bodies till the last day. Adore his goodness, do not abuse it.

3. Origen’s charity was too large, who dreamed of καθάρσιον πῦρ, a flaming river, through which all creatures were to pass, and so to be purged, and then at length to be saved, even the devils themselves; whereas they are kept for a severer judgment.

4. When you see wicked men endured, and not presently cast into hell, be not astonished; God hath a ministry for them as for the evil angels. Some are ‘reserved to the day of judgment,’ 2 Peter ii. 9; that is, their punishment is respited for the greater triumph of that day.

5. One judgment may make way for another, the chains of darkness for the judgment of the great day. Let no man please himself in that he suffereth afflictions in this world; these may be but the beginnings of sorrow. God is terrible to poor sinners as well as rich. You may be miserable here, and yet not escape in the world to come. Do not think the worst is past. Some have a double hell, such miseries here as are pledges of everlasting torments hereafter.

6. Devils fear the great day. An atheistical loose Christian is worse than Satan. He scoffeth at that at which the devil trembleth. There are atheists in the church, but there are none in hell.

7. Angels are brought to judgment. None are exempted. At the great day you shall see those glorious creatures bound with chains of darkness. The kings and captains are brought in trembling before the Lamb’s throne, Rev. vi. 15, and great as well as small appear be fore that great tribunal, Rev. xx. 12.

8. The angels are plunged into the depths of hell, when saints enter into their master’s joy. God loveth a returning sinner before an apostate angel.

Obs. 2. There is one point yet behind, with which I shall conclude this verse, and that is, that the day of judgment is a great day. It is so in many regards.

First, Because it is the consummate act of Christ’s regal office. Of all offices, Christ’s kingly office is the most eminent. Now the kingly office was never discovered with so much lustre and glory to the world as then. The eminent act of other offices do more belong to his abasement. As his oblation, an eminent act of his priestly office, was to be performed upon earth, so his prophetical office was much discharged in delivering the doctrine of the gospel whilst he was here; but of his kingly office we had but a very little glimpse during his abode upon earth, in his whipping the buyers and sellers out of the temple, and his entrance into Jerusalem, when they cried Hosanna in the streets, Mat. xxi. And now in heaven Christ is supreme; but his sovereignty lieth under a cloud and veil: ‘All things are put under him.’ But carnal sense objects, ‘We see not as yet all things put under him,’ Heb. ii. 8. But at the last day Christ will show himself to be king indeed, both in rewarding his friends, and in an absolute conquest over his enemies, which are the two great parts of his regal office. Therefore the day of judgment is called ἡμέρα κυρίου, ‘the day of the Lord,’ 2 Peter iii. 10, as being the day wherein Christ shall manifest himself to be a Lord indeed: (1.) In rewarding his friends. When David was crowned at Hebron, then all that followed him in the wilderness were rewarded according to the merit of their place and service. Before they had hard service and little wages, but then were made captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties. So they that are true to the interest of Christ may meet with many a frown and hard entertainment in the world, but you will not repent of it in the day of Christ’s royalty: Mat. xxv. 34, ‘Then shall the king say,’ &c. He is called ‘the Son of man’ before; but then you will find a ‘king’ rewarding all his subjects. Peter was troubled about his petty losses; ‘Master,’ saith he, ‘we have forsaken all and followed thee.’ What had Peter to forsake? A net, a cottage, a fishing-boat. A great all! We are apt to think much of what we part with upon Christ’s score. If we suffer but a disgraceful word, a small inconvenience, a frown, we presently say, ‘What shall we have therefor?’ But we need not seek another paymaster than Christ. He will not be behindhand with us when the day of payment cometh. See Mat. xix. 27, 28, ἐν παλιγγενεσίᾳ, ‘In the regeneration ye shall sit with me on thrones of glory,’ &c.; that is, at the day of judgment, which is the great regeneration. When heavens are new, earth new, bodies new, souls new, all is new, then we shall be no losers by Christ. (2.) In an absolute conquest over his enemies. The stoutest faces shall then gather blackness, and the stiffest knees bow to him. There is an expression, Isa. xlv. 23, ‘I have sworn by myself, and the words shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, and every mouth shall swear.’ Now this expression cloth concern Christ’s sovereignty and full victory over his enemies; for this scripture is twice alluded unto in the New Testament, and in both places applied to Christ. The first place that I shall take notice of is Phil. ii. 10, where the apostle saith, that to Christ ‘every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall call him Lord,’ which is the same with that which is spoken in the prophet, and is there made to be the first of Christ’s ascension, when he was solemnly inaugurated into the kingly office; but the prophecy receiveth not its full and final accomplishment till the day of judgment. To which purpose the same scripture is cited by the apostle, Rom. xiv. 11, ‘We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and mouth shall confess.’ So that the bowing of knees or stooping of enemies is not fully accomplished till then. Christ doth now often overrule the counsels and projects of his enemies, and smite them with a sore destruction; but there is no such crouching and trembling so sensibly now to be discerned as there will be at that day.

Secondly, The day of judgment is a great day, because great things are then done, which will appear if you consider—(1.) The preparations for that day; (2.) The day itself; (3.) The consequence of it.

1. The preparations for Christ’s approach: the scripture mentioneth two—(1.) The archangel’s trumpet; (2.) The sign of the Son of man.

[1.] There is that great noise and terror of the voice of the Lord, which is to be managed by some special angels, by which all the world shall be, as it were, summoned to appear before Christ’s tribunal. See 1 Thes. iv. 16, and Mat. xxiv. 31. Some expound this trumpet analogically, some literally. They that expound it analogically think it signifieth the power and virtue of Christ forcing all the world to appear before his judgment-seat, which is therefore called a trumpet, because the solemn assemblies among the Jews were summoned by sound of trumpet. But why may we not take it literally, and in propriety of speech, for the audible sound of a trumpet? Sure I am at the giving of the law ‘the voice of the trumpet was exceeding loud;’ and the like may be when he cometh to take an account of our keeping the law, a sound of a trumpet, as a terrible summons to all the world, and a near sign of Christ’s approach; as John Baptist was the forerunner of his first coming, who was ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness;’ so is the arch angel at his second coming; a terrible blast there shall be, such as shall be heard all the world over, startling the dead out of their graves. Men do not hear the voice of God now, for now he speaketh by his angels or messengers, in a still voice; but then all the dead shall hear and live.

[2.] The ‘sign of the Son of man,’ spoken of Mat. xxiv. 30. What it is we certainly cannot tell, till experience manifest it. Some think a strange star, as, at his first coming, the wise men were conducted to him by a star; others the sign of the cross, as being Christ’s badge by which he is known in the world; for the great subject of the gospel is Christ crucified, called therefore ‘the word of the cross,’ and this they think shall appear in the heavens, as it did to Constantine when he went to fight against Maxentius, with this word, ἐν τουτῶ νικήσεις—by this shalt thou overcome; though, by the way, Eusebius describeth that vision as in the figure of X, the first critical letters of Christ’s name. This way go many of the ancients, making the cross to be Christ’s ensign and royal banner, which he will, display in the heavens; as kings, when they make their triumphant approach, have their banners carried before them. But I dare not thus dogmatise. Others, more probably, interpret it of some forerunning beams of majesty and glory, like those streaks of light before the sun be risen, which shall darken the great luminaries of the world, and strike a terror into the hearts of men, as Paul was stricken with such a terror at the sight of Christ: Acts xxvi. 13, he saw ‘light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about him.’ Notable it is, that these forerunning beams of Christ’s majesty and glory are sometimes expressed by light and sometimes by fire; by light to express the comfortableness of it to the godly, as the light of the sun doth not scorch but revive and refresh; by fire, 2 Thes. i. 8, ἐν πύρι φλόγος, to show the dreadfulness of it to the wicked; to them it is as flames and devouring burnings.

2. Let us consider the day itself, and the great things done therein. It is a day of congregation of all mankind; there Adam may see all his posterity at once; but especially is it a day of congregation in respect of the saints, who are now scattered in divers countries, towns, houses, where God hath any work and service for them, but then shall meet together in one assembly and rendezvous, called, Ps. i. 6, the great ‘congregation of the just,’ as the wicked shall be herded together like straws and sticks bound in a bundle to set one another on fire, drunkards together, and adulterers together: ‘They shall be bound in bundles,’ &c., Mat. xiii. 41, and so increase one another’s torment. So shall the godly meet in a congregation, and never separate more. Here the godly are dispersed as the stars are scattered throughout the firmament; here they live intermingled with wicked men—Jacob’s cattle and Laban’s cattle together; but then the sheep shall be separated from the goats, and be all drawn into a body by themselves. Again, it is a day of manifestation; the Lord’s decrees and counsels are manifested. Creation and providence are but subservient means in order to the triumphs of this day, that the glory of his grace may be advanced in the salvation of the elect, and the glory of his justice in the punishment of the wicked, who, upon this account, are said to be ‘made for the day of evil,’ Prov. xvi. 4, where the Holy Ghost pitcheth upon that part of the decree which is hardest to be digested, the making of the wicked for the glory of the Lord’s justice in that day. The wisdom of God in the courses of his providence is then manifested, for the story of the world is brought before the saints. We see providence now by pieces, but then the whole contexture of it; the secrets of men are then manifested, and upon what principles and ends they have acted, 1 Cor. iv. 5. The truth of the promises and threatenings is then manifested; in the day of God’s patience there is a darkness and veil upon the scriptures, we cannot see how they are made good; but in the day of God’s recompense we shall, what promises, threatenings, prophecies mean; but chiefly is it a day of ‘manifestation’ in regard of ‘the sons of God.’ Rom. viii. 19. All is now hidden, Christ is hidden, and the saints are hidden; their life is hidden, Gal. iii. 3; their glory is hidden, 1 John iii. 2; but then ‘Christ shall appear, and we shall appear with him in glory.’ As Moses told the rebels, Num. xvi., ‘To-morrow the Lord will show who are his.’ The first-born and only-begotten Son of God then is manifested, Christ will appear in all his royalty and glory, as the great God and Saviour and judge of the world, as the great God; therefore it is said he will appear ‘in the glory of the Father,’ Mat. xxiv. 13; xvi. 27. The mystery of his person will now be discovered to the uttermost, and therefore he will appear in such a glory as never creature was capable of, nor can he guess at it. We may by the glory discovered at the giving of the law, when Moses shook for fear, Heb. xii. 19; by the light that shone at his incarnation, Luke ii.; at his transfiguration, Mat. xvii.; by those beams of majesty which broke out from him when the soldiers came to take him, John xviii. 6; by his appearance to Paul—it struck him blind for three days, Acts ix; by Isaiah’s terror when he saw God in a vision, Isa. vi. And as he will manifest himself to be the great God, so the true Saviour of the world. The manner of his appearance shall make a full recompense for his abasement. At his first coming, John was his forerunner, as we have said, now an arch angel; then he came with a few fishermen, now with a multitude of angels; then riding on the colt of an ass, now upon the clouds; then as the Son of man, now as the Son of God; then in the form of a servant, now in the glory of the Father; then crowned with thorns, now glory and honour; then to teach righteousness, now to reward righteousness; then ‘in the similitude of sinful flesh.’ Rom. viii. 3, now, the second time, ‘without sin,’ Heb. ix. 28. At his first coming he was not a sinner, but he came in the garb of a sinner, afflicted, miserable—‘we judged him as one forsaken of God;’ but now he cometh as one discharged of that debt and burden, and as one highly honoured by God the Father. Once more, he cometh in all things befitting the world’s judge, accompanied with angels as his attendants, sitting upon a visible throne that he may be seen of all, heard of all. In earthly judicatories, when great malefactors are to be tried, the whole majesty and glory of a nation is brought forth; the judge in gorgeous apparel, accompanied with the flower of the country, nobles and gentry, and a great conflux of people. So here, Christ cometh forth as the judge, accompanied with angels and saints, powerfully executing the work of that day. And the only-begotten Son of God is manifested; but this is a day of manifestation, not only of ‘the Son,’ but of ‘the sons of God,’ namely, the saints, who are then set forth in their best robes. In winter the tree appeareth not what it is, the sap and life is hidden in the root, but when summer cometh all is discovered: so now it doth not appear who are God’s, nor what they shall be, but at this day all is manifest. ‘When Christ shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory;’ they shall attain to that fulness of glory as their hearts could never conceive. It is said, 2 Thes. i. 10, ‘Christ will be admired in them.’ The angels shall stand wondering what Christ is about to do with creatures but newly crept out of dust and rottenness. Every one of them shall shine as the sun; and what a great and glorious day must that be, when there is a constellation of so many suns! They shall share with Christ in the glory of his kingdom, as being associated with him in judging the world. ‘The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning,’ Ps. xlix. 14; those that are now scorned, persecuted, opposed everywhere, in the morning of the resurrection, when they awake to meet Christ, then shall they have dominion over the carnal world; therefore, sentence beginneth with the godly, as execution doth with the wicked. The elect are first acquitted before the ungodly are condemned, that they may join afterwards with Christ in judging the world, 1 Cor. vi. 2.