The justice of God in the damnation of sinners. Illustrated in a sermon

1. To give an account, before the great Judge, of their behaviour 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 or rulers in the house of God, ⟨p. 107⟩"that watch for souls, as those that must give account." And we see by the forementioned Luke xiv. that ministers must give an account to their master, not only of their own behaviour in the discharge of their office, but also of their peoples 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.