A second volume of sermons preached by the late reverend and learned Thomas Manton…

First, Of the certainty of his coming: 'Tis needful to premise that, because the efficacy of the whole Discourse dependeth upon it. Reason saith he may come, but Faith saith he will come.

First, Reason saith he may come: It argueth,

1. From the Nature of God. There is a God, and this God is just: 'Tis agreeable to his general Justice, that it should be well with them that do well, and ill with them that do evil; these Principles are out of dispute, and supposed as ⟨p. 33⟩the Foundations of all Religion: Now supposing these Principles, there must be a day or reckoning, for in the World the best go to the walls many times, and are exercised with Poverty, Disgrace and Scorn, when the wicked are full of Plenty, and live at ease, Luk. 16.25. 1 Cor. 15.19. Sure it is that there is a God, and sure it is that he taketh care of humane affairs, and will judge accordingly; what is the reason then of this disproportion? the wicked are reserved to future punishment, and the godly to future reward: Now the distinction that is put between men at death doth not suffice, for that is private, and doth not vindicate the Justice of God in the eyes of the world, and that is but upon a part: We read of the Spirits of just men made perfect, and the Spirits that are now in Prison, but nothing of a reward for the Body, or punishment for the Body; the bodies of men being Servants of Righteousness, or instruments of sin, surely ought to partake of weal or woe, of the curse or blessing that is due to the person: for the Body is (as Tertullian saith) the Souls sister and coheir, and is to share with it in its Estate; but at Death the Body is senseless, and mouldereth into dust, and 'till it be raised up again and joined to the Soul, it can neither partake of weal or woe; therefore there is a day when God will deal with the whole man: Otherwise how shall the Goodness of God (who is a liberal rewarder of Virtue) appear, unless he render to the Body a full recompense of the Service it hath done the Soul, in yielding up all its natural Appetites, Pleasures, Interests and Satisfactions to the conduct of Reason and Grace, for the practice of that which is good: Or the Justice of God, which is the avenger of sin, which would be too narrow and defective, unless it punish the Body with the Soul. Usually the affections of the Body debauch the Soul, and the pleasures of the senses blind and misguide our reason: Certainly the love of sin being rooted in bodily pleasures, 'tis fit it should be punished with pain, and such pain as is proportionable to the dignity of him against whom the offence is committed.