FROM AN
EXPOSITION OF THE CREED
by JOHN PEARSON, D.D.,
FORMERLY LORD BISHOP OF CHESTER
First Published 1659
[see original text for extensive footnotes]
ARTICLE VII
- CHAPTER 6-
He shall come to judge.
[see sections 18 to 20 for a summary]
6.—For
the explication of this action, as it stands in the article, three
considerations will ,be necessary: First, how we may be assured that there is a
judgment to come, that anyone shall come to judge. Secondly, in case we be
assured that there shall be a judgment, how it appeareth that he which is
ascended into heaven, that is, that Christ shall be the judge. Thirdly, in case
we can be assured that we shall be judged, and that Christ shall judge us, it
will be worthy our inquiry in what this judgment shall consist, how this action
shall be performed; and more than this cannot be necessary to make us understand
that he shall come to judge.
7.—That
there is a judgment to come after this life will appear demonstrable, whether we
consider ourselves who are to undergo it, or God who is to execute it. If we do
but reflect upon the frame and temper of our own spirits, we cannot but collect
and conclude from thence that we are to give an account of our actions, and that
a judgment hereafter is to pass upon us. There is in the soul of every man a
conscience, and whosoever it is, it giveth testimony to this truth. The
antecedent or directive conscience tells us what we are to do, and the
subsequent or reflective conscience warns us what we are to receive. Looking
back upon the actions we have done, it either approves or condemns them; and if
it did no more, it would only prove that there is a judgment in this life, and
every man his own judge. But being it doth not only allow and approve our good
actions, but also doth create a complacency, apology, and confidence in us;
being it doth not only disprove and condemn our evil actions, but doth also
constantly accuse us and breed a fearful expectation and terror in us; and all
this prescinding from all relation to anything either to be enjoyed or suffered
in this life: it followeth that this conscience is not so much a judge as a
witness, bound over to give testimony for or against us at some judgment after
this life to pass upon us. For all men are a law unto themselves, and have the
work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing
witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or excusing one another, in
the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.' [Rom. ii. 14-16]
8.—Again,
if we consider the God who made us and hath full dominion over us, whether we
look upon him in himself, or in his word, we cannot but expect a judgment from
him. First, if we contemplate God in himself, we must acknowledge him to be the
judge of all mankind, so that a man shall say, verily he is a God that
judgeth in the earth. [Psalm lviii. 11] Now the same God who is our judge
is, by an attribute, necessary and inseparable, just; and this justice is so
essential to his godhead, that we may as well deny him to be God as to be just.
It was a rational expostulation which Abraham made, Shall not the
judge of all the earth do right [Gen. xviii. 25]. We may therefore
infallibly conclude that God is a most just judge; and if he be so, we may as
infallibly conclude that after this life he will judge the world in
righteousness. For as the affairs of this present world are ordered, though
they lie under the disposition of providence, they show no sign of an universal
justice. The wicked and disobedient persons are often so happy, as if they were
rewarded for their impieties; the innocent and religious often so miserable, as
if they were punished for their innocency. Nothing more certain than that in
this life rewards are not correspondent to the virtues, punishments not
proportionable to the sins of men. Which consideration will enforce one of
these conclusions: either that there is no judge of the actions of mankind; or
if there be a judge, he is not just, he renders no proportionable rewards or
punishments; or lastly, if there be a judge, and that judge be just, then is
there a judgment in another world, and the effects thereof concern another life.
Being then we must acknowledge that there' is a judge which judgeth the earth;
being we cannot deny but God is that judge, and all must confess that God is
most just; being the rewards and punishments of this life are no way answerable
to so exact a justice as that which is divine must be; it followeth that there
is a judgment yet to come, in which God will show a perfect demonstration of his
justice, and to which every man shall in his own bosom carry an undeniable
witness of all his actions. From hence the heathen, having always had a serious
apprehension both of the power of the conscience of man and of the exactness of
the justice of God, have from thence concluded that there is a judgment to come.
Insomuch that when St. Paul reasoned of righteousness and temperance and
judgment to come, Felix trembled. [Acts xxiv 25.] The discourse of
righteousness and temperance touched him who was highly and notoriously guilty
of the breach of both, and a pre-conception which he had of judgment after
death, now heightened by the apostle's particular description, created a horror
in his soul and trembling in his limbs. The same apostle discoursing to the
Athenians, the great lights of the Gentile world, and teaching them this
article of our CREED, that God hath appointed a day in the which he will
judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he
hath given assurance to all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead;
[Acts xvii. 31, 32] found some which mocked when they heard of the
resurrection of the dead, but against the day of judgment none replied.
That was a principle of their own, that was confessed by all who either
believed themselves, or a God; a conscience, or a deity.
9.—But
yet, beside the consideration of the eternal power of conscience in ourselves,
beside the intuition of that essential attribute, the justice of God (which are
sufficient arguments to move all men), we have yet a more near and enforcing
persuasion grounded upon the express determination of the will of God. For the
determinate counsel of the Almighty actually to judge the world in righteousness
is clearly revealed in his word. It is appointed unto men once to die, but
after this the judgment! There is a death appointed to follow this life, and a
judgment to follow that death, the one as certain as the other. For in all ages
God hath revealed his resolution to judge the world. Upon the first remarkable
action after the fall, there is a sufficient intimation given to angry Cain,
If thou doest well shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin
lieth at the door; [Gen iv. 7] which by the most ancient interpretation
signifieth a reservation of his sin unto the judgment of the world to come.
Before the Flood Enoch prophesied of a judgment to come, saying, Behold the
Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, 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 14, 15] His words might have an aim
at the waters which were to overflow the world; but the ultimate intention
looked through that fire which shall consume the world preserved from water.
The
testimonies which follow in the law and the prophets, the predictions of Christ
and the apostles, are so many and so known, that both the number and the
plainness will excuse the prosecution. The throne hath been already seen, the
judge hath appeared sitting on it, the books have been already opened, the dead
small and great have been standing before him; there is nothing more certain in
the Word of God, no doctrine more clear and fundamental, than that of eternal
judgment." I shall therefore briefly conclude the first consideration from the
internal testimony of the conscience of man, from the essential attribute, the
justice of God, from the clear and full revelation of the will and determination
of God, that after death, with a reflection on this and in relation to another
life, there is a judgment to come, there shall some person come to judge.
10.—Our
second consideration followeth (seeing we are so well assured that there shall
be a judgment), who that person is which shall come to judge, who shall sit upon
that throne, before whose tribunal we shall all appear, from whose mouth we may
expect our sentence. Now the judiciary power is the power of God, and none hath
any right to judge the subjects and servants of God, but that God whose servants
they are. The law by which we are to be judged was given by him, the actions
which are to be discussed were due to him, the persons which are to be tried are
subject to his dominion; God therefore is the judge of all. [Heb xii.
23.] He shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing,
whether it be good or whether it be evil; [Eccles. Xii. 14] and so the last
day, that day of wrath, is the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
[Rom ii. 5] Now if God, as God, be the judge of all, then whosoever is God is
judge of all men, and therefore being we have proved the Father and the Son, and
shall hereafter also prove the Holy Ghost to be God, it followeth that the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost shall judge the world;. because the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in respect of the same divinity have the same
autocratorical power, dominion. and authority.
11.—But
notwithstanding in that particular day of the general judgment to come, the
execution of this judiciary power shall be particularly committed to the Son,
and so the Father and the Holy Ghost shall actually judge the world no otherwise
but by hint. For God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained. [Acts xvii. 31]
It is God who judgeth, it is Christ by whom he judgeth. For the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. [John v. 22.]
There is therefore an original, supreme, autocratorical judiciary power; there
is a judiciary power delegated, derived, given by commission. Christ as God hath
the first together with the Father and the Holy Ghost; Christ as man hath the
second from the Father expressly, from the Holy Ghost concomitantly. For the
Father hath given him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of man
; [John v. 27] not simply because he is a man, therefore he shall be judge (for
then by the same reason every man should judge, and consequently none, because
no man could be judged if every man should only judge), but because of the three
persons which are God, he only is also the Son of man; and therefore for his
affinity with their nature, for his sense of their infirmities, for his
appearance to their eyes, most fit to represent the greatest mildness and
sweetness of equity in the severity of that just and irrespective judgement.
12.—Nor
was this a reason only in respect of us who are to be judged, but in regard of
him also who is to judge; for we must not look only upon his being the Son of
man, but also upon what he did and suffered as the Son of man. He humbled
himself so far as to take upon him our nature, in that nature so taken he
humbled himself to all the infirmities which that was capable of, to all the
miseries which this life could bring; to all the pains and sorrows which the
sins of all the world could cause; and therefore in regard of his humiliation
did God exalt him, and part of the exaltation due unto him was this power of
judging. The Father therefore, who is only God, and never took upon him either
the nature of men or angels, judgeth no man (and the same reason reacheth also
the Holy Ghost), but hath committed all judgment to the Son; and the
reason why he hath committed it to him is because he is not only the Son of God,
and so truly God, but also the Son of man, [John v. 22, 25, 27]
and so truly man; because he is that Son of man, who suffered so much for
the sons of men.
13.-From
whence at last it clearly appeareth not only that it is a certain truth that
Christ shall judge the world, but also the reasons are declared and manifested
unto us why he hath that power committed unto him, why he shall come to judge
the quick and the dead. For certainly it is a great demonstration of the
justice of God so highly to reward that Son of man as to make him judge of all
the world, who came into the world and was judged here; to give him absolute
power of absolution and condemnation, who was by us condemned to die, and died
that he might absolve us; to cause all the sons of men to bow before his throne,
who did not disdain for their sakes to stand before the tribunal and receive
that sentence, let him be crucified; 2 which event as infallible, and reason as
irrefragable, Christ himself did show at the same time when he stood
before the judgment seat, saying, Nevertheless I say unto you, hereafter
shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in
the clouds of heaven. [Matt. xxvi. 64.]
Again, if
we look upon ourselves which are to be judged, whom can we desire to appear
before, rather than him who is of the same nature with us? If the children of
Israel could not bear the presence of God as a lawgiver, but desired to receive
the law by the hand of Moses, how should we appear before the presence of that
God judging us for the breach of that law, were it not for a better mediator, of
the same nature that Moses was and we are, who is our judge? In this appeareth
the wisdom and goodness of God, that making a general judgment he will make a
visible judge, which all may see who shall be judged. Without holiness no man
shall ever see God, [Heb. xii. 14.] and therefore if God, as only God,
should pronounce sentence upon all men, the ungodly should never see their
judge. But that both the righteous and unrighteous might see and know who it is
that judgeth them, Christ who is both God and man is appointed judge; so as he
is man all shall see him, and as he is God they only shall see him who by that
vision shall enjoy him.
Christ
Jesus
then, the Son of God, and the Son of man, he which was born of the
Virgin Mary, he which suffered under Pontius Pilate, he which was
crucified, dead, and buried, and descended into hell, he which
rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and is set down on the
right hand of God; he, the same person, in the same nature, shall come to
judge the quick and the dead. For the Son of man shall come in the glory
of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to
his works. [Matt. xvi. 27.] He then which is to come is the Son of man, and
when he cometh, it is to judge. The same Jesus which was taken up from the
apostles into heaven, shall so come in like manner as they saw him go into
heaven. [Acts i. 11.] That Son of man then, which is to judge, is our
Jesus, even the same Jesus, and shall come in the same manner, by a true and
local translation of the same nature out of heaven. For God will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given
an assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. [Acts
xvii. 31.] He then which ascended into heaven was the same which was raised
from the dead, and by that resurrection God assured us that the same man should
judge us. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he
might be the Lord both of the dead and living. [Rom. xiv. 9.] It appeareth
therefore by God's determination, by Christ's resurrection and ascension, that
the man Christ Jesus is appointed judge.
14.—This
office and dignity of the Son of man was often declared by several figurative
and parabolical descriptions. John the Baptist representeth him that
cometh after him by his delineation of an husbandman, Whose fan is in his
hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the
garner, but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. [St. Chrysostom,
Matt. iii. 12.] The Son of man describes himself as an householder saying to the
reapers in the time of harvest, Gather ye together first the tares and bind
them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn: and this
harvest is the end of the world. [Matt. xiii. 30, 39]...