Tortuosae viae Crooked craneld waies and Malimores Bad and worse conditions are neerely allyed yet how the kindred comes in I desire not to search the Records least happily without desire I might loose my selfe While I was musing vnder the burthen of my thoughts what text to take that behooued many this my text met me offering it selfe to me and you and it concernes all It was at my choise to choose and speake what all know but in my choise I choose to speake what the most know not I might speake to you reuerend Iudges to take heed of peruerting iudgement least you euert your selues when your selues shall come to iudgement but I would faine suppose that they who know equitie will doe right I might speake to this Honourable worthy Lord Maior that he would be a father to the fatherlesse and defend the cause of the widow that he would eleuate virtue and debelitate vice but I heare so much of you that this hortatory speech I heare will be needlesse notwitstanding I heare that sin so abounds here that vnlesse the whippe scourg it the scourge is like to whip al. I might speake to the noble learned Clergie my brethren that they like Iohn Baptist would be burning lights and not like Demas burnt-out lights but this they know as well as I and I must striue as well as they I might speake to the speakers at the Law that they with care would maintaine their Clients as their Clients at cost retaine them but they are wise and know much and in their wisdome cannot but know this I might speake to the fashion-mongers men and women of our age that they would imbrace Pauls counsel Rom 12.2 Not to fashion themselues like vnto this world but this hauing beene a fashion among many my predecessours heretofore my selfe am willing to leaue this fashion now I might speake to all with my Sauiour Ioh. 5.14 and so I will and doe Sinne no more because each one must die and come to iudgement All must giue account of all to the Iudge of al. The Philosopher saith Primus motor mouet primum mobile Primum mobile caetera omnia the chiefe mouer moues the first mouable it all the rest Be God almighty the first mouer suppose me for this time place the chief mouable your selues my iudicious Auditors the bodies to be moued Meane while God grant my spirit of mediocritie the voice of the Bird of Paradise of whom I reade that she moues all to repentance to whom she sings which if I asking shal receiue I will think this a blessed time bestowed in defire wherof I craue your atteÌ„tiue hearts to that portion of scripture which I finde thus written Act. 17.31 He hath appointed a day in the which he wil iudge the world in righteousnes by that man whom he hath appointed BLessed Paul who of a Peelar became a Pillar of an earnest persecuter Act. 8. became a zealous Preacher Act. 13. being guided by the spirit from citie to citie to preach in the end he came to Athens as appeares in this 17 chapter vers 15. Where being he was brought into the Streete of Mars ver 19. there passing along he stood and told them what he had obserued An altar wherein was written vnto the vnknowne God vers 23. Whereupon Paul took occasion to preach vnto theÌ„ The liuing God declaring vnto them tâ—at he was the framer of this worlds Architecture that he dwelt not in haÌ„dmade temples that he is not worshipped with bandie workes ver 25. that he giues breath to all and appointed to euery thing his season that in him we liue and mooue and haue our being vers 28. and therefore that we who liue and mooue and be should Repent vers 30. Because as my text hath it in this verse 31. He hath appointed a day in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath appointed In which words I note fiue things 1. Parts 5. The certainety of the day set downe by a double Affidauit first the Author He that is God 2. The resclution Hath appointed 2. The vncertaintie of the day in that it is not limited coacted or restrained to a day definitiue This or that day but to a day indefinite A day The end of the appointment to Iudge the world 4. The manner how In righteousnesse 5. The Partie who By that man whom he hath appointed In speaking of which words I craue this sole fauour that all things may be taken and not mistaken as they are spoken 1. For the certaintie The Power of God hath an appointed day for the creatioÌ„ of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The great world the mercy of God had it appointed day in the redemptioÌ„ of man the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The little world now the iustice of God must haue the appointed day for the iust punishment of the vniust little world that soiourns in the great world for Fundamenta The foundations of the Continent shall be shaken and then Blandamenta The follies of the contained shall be ouerthrowne The Apostle speaking of the certainety of this day saith The day of the Lord will come as a thiefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a noise the elements shall melt with heate and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt vp and we must looke for new heauens and new earth 2. Pet. 3.10 For I doe beleeue that at the end of the world there shall goe a great and terrible fire either hard before or with the comming of the Iudge But now whether this fire shall be Elementum ignis the element of fire in it owne proper sphere or whether all the fires on the earth or in the earth among the stones and minerals or whether such a fire Qualem excitabit tum deus as the almighty shall then raise whether I say it shall be all of these Coniunctim in one or any of these Deuisim seuered that I know not And that fire shall consume this world it shall Corpora incinerare terrae nascentia absumere in nihilum redigere burne bodies not all into ashes consume all the vegetatiue things on the earth and bring them to nothing Also I looke for new heauens and new earth but how new Quoad formam non quoad substantiam New in regard of the forme and fashion not new in respect of the matter and substance In this I hold with Aug. Ciuit. lib. 20. cap. 16. Elementa id est Caelum terram non esse abolenda sed in melius commutanda figurem id est imaginem mundi non substantiam berituram That is The Elements heauen and earth shall not be taken quite away but changed into better the fashion that is the likenesse of the world shall perish but not the substance therrof Iumping with this opinion of Augustin is that of Saint Greg. Mor. lib. 17. cap. 5. Caelum terra
per eam quam nunc habent imaginem transeunt sed tamen per essentiam sine fine subsistunt caelum igitur terra transit erit quoniam ab ea quam nunc habet specie per ignem tergitur tamen natura sua seruatur That is Heauen and earth passe away through that Image which they now haue but in their Being they remaine without end therefore beauen and earth shall both not bee and be because from it now-shape it is scoured and made cleane by fire but the nature and condition thereof is still continued agreeing to that of Psal 101. Thou shalt change them they shall be changed Now that this great dreadfull day will come Pie credendum we must vndoubtedly and holily beleeue The Prophet Malichi saith The day of the Lord will come burning like an ouen ca. 4.1 and it is a rule among the Schoolemen Futurum in deo aeque certum quam aut presens aut praeteritum Will in God giue as much certaintie as Is the future tence is as sure as the present tence or preter-perfect tence that which is to come in God is as certaine as what is either present or past Therfore the Prophet Ioel happily hauing reference to this position saith The day of the Lord is come for t is at hand c. 2.1 The Prophet Esay in the 13. chapter of his Prophesie and Abdi in his short Prophesie say both It is at hand The Prophet Zephaniah saith It is hard by Therefore there needes no doubt be made of the certaintie neither is there any question of the miserie Esay cals it a day of trouble ruine cap. 22. Ieremie cals it a day of vengeāce c. 46. Ioel cals it a fearfull day c. 2. Amos cals it a darke day c 8. Zephoniah cals it a day of wrath c. 1. Zephany cals it the special day c. 14. Bern. speaking of the dreadfulnes of this day saith Plaugent Iudaei plangent gentiles Plangent Christiani plangent ones qui magis mundum amarunt quam deum plangent suam culpam quam commiserunt suam stultitiaem quam nen corrererunt suam gloriam quam amiserunt suam paenam quam incorrererunt Iewes shall weepe Gentiles shall weepe Christians shall weepe all shall weepe that loued the world more then God They shall lament the faults they haue committed their follie they haue not corrected the glory that they haue lost and the punishment that they haue incurred And indeede well may they weepe for aboue they shall see the angrie Iudge whom they haue offended Beneath hell gaping which they haue deserued Without the world burning which they haue delighted Within the conscience stinging which they haue surcharged On the right hand their sinnes accusing which they haue commited on the left hand euill Angels tugging them about them good Angels driuing them into hell Therefore let me say with the Apostle What manner of men ought wee to be in holy conuersation of life 2. Pet. 3.11 For the time is come that Iudgement must beginne at Gods house If it beginne at vs first what shall bee the end of them that obey not the Gospell of God And if the righteous scarce be saued where shall the vngodly and sinner appeare 1. Pet. 4 17. The first iudgement was in water to coole the riotous heate of lust that then did abounde when Bigamie and Polygamie was suffered but the last iudgemēt shall be in fire to purge this away raining desire of gold and heate the lukewarme charitie that now the world being old waxeth cold Our Sauiour speaking of the fearfulnes of this day saieth The Sun shal be darkned the Moon shal not giue her light the Stars shal fall from heauen the powers of heauen shall be shaken all kindreds of the earth shall mourne and ye shall see the sonne of man comming in the clouds of heauen with power and great glory Mat. 24.29 That is the heauēly bodies shall indure great alteration to terrifie the wicked and be Criers as it were vnto them to sūmon them before the great Tribunall But how the sunne shall be darkned how the moone shall not giue her light how the stars shall fall from heauen which really cannot be because the least starre is so much bigger then the whole earth and how the powers of heauen shall be shaken to say truth we cannot now iustly determine let me therefore say with that worthy Aug. Ciuit. lib 20. cap. 30. Magis tum docebit rerum experientia quam nostra iam consequi possit intelligentia The experience of things which we shall see then shall teach vs better then we can conceiue now But howsoeuer it shall be terrible yea so terrible that as Aug spak of God Verius cogitatur deus quam dicitur verior est quam cogitatur God is truer thought of then spoke of and yet himselfe much truer then both So say I of iudgements terror it is sooner imagined then expressed easier thought then spoken and yet in it selfe more hideous then either imagined expressed spoke or thought Terribele est illud iudicium in euitabilis paeua intollerabile tormentum It is a terrible iudgement a paine ineuitable a torment intollerable but yet Quid sit Directly what one it is as Aug. Eucher c. 38 said of the diuersity of the Angels Potentiality say I of this Dicaut quipossint dummodo qd dicunt probare valeant Let them speak who can so be what they speake they can proue This is and thus is the secōd comming of Christ this far different from that that was In humilitate in humilitic like a seruant this shal be in magistate in magistie like a king that was in infirmitate in infirmitie like a sheepe to the ssaughter this shall be in potestate in power like a Lion to his prey that was in pouerty being Infans in praesepio an infant in a manger this shal be in dignitie being Index in iudicio A iudge to giue sentence that was in misericordia in mercie to confirme al this shall be In iusticia In iustice to confoūd most He was then Homo inter homines a man amōg mē he is now Deus supra Angelos A God aboue Angels yet thogh a God he will come like a man to iudge men wicked Angels there was a time when he did Pati pro peccatis suffer for our sins after a time ther wil be a time when yet there shall be no time whē we shall with him as he doth now Triumphare cum liberatis Triumph with freemē freely freed what time he wil seuer vs A damnatis frō those whom his rigor hath appointed to be damned I remember the Scriptur speaks of Dauid that he was wrath with Nabal for denying him victu al 's at his sheepshearing whē Dauid was an hungred in his flight so Abigaile was faine to appease him 1. Sam. 25. ◠But whē Iesus Christ shall come in flaming fire to render vengeāce on thē that
THE VVORLDS ASSISES Or A Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse the tenth day of Iuly 1614. being the Sunday before the end of Trinity Terme By NATHANAEL KITCHENER Student in Diuinitie and Preacher of Gods word at Grauenhurst in Bedfordshire Looke vp and lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth neers Luk. 21.28 Aug. ad Iulianum Epist iij. Tria sunt in hoc mundo deteriora omni malo Anima peecatoris in peccatis perseuerans quae nigrior est coruo mali Angeli qui eam rapiunt infernus in quem inducitur non exim sunt deteriora his tribus Imprinted at London by Lionell Snowdon for Iohn Harison at the golden Anchor in Paternoster-rowe 1616. TO THE RIGHT HONORABL LORD CHARLES Earle of Kent Lord of Hasting Weisforde and Ruthin and his Maiesties Lieftenant of the Shire of Bedford RIght Honorable there be two things which make any great house truely Noble Loue to God Loyaltie to Prince with the former this great noble house of KENT is now inuested in the latter it euer continued nener tainted in both a succession hopefull still expected Religion which is better then that lot of inheritance giuen by Iacob to his sonne Ioseph hath in your Lordship bin so long a Resident that any good man euen by popular report might present an Orphāt in hope of succour much more my selfe who know so well am so much bounden and can so truely speake that of you which the Spirit did of the Church of Theatyra I know thy Loue and Seruice and Faith and thy Patience and thy Workes and that they are moe at the last then at the first I haue here exposed myne Infant a formelesse Embrion to the mercie of the Presse and the Parent to the mercilesnesse of censure the poore abortiue resembling Alcibyades childe of whom the querulous mother made complaint That Nature begunne it but did not compleatly finish it shrowding both vnder your worthy Patronage as an Aiax buckler for defence All is done in benefit of the Church wherein I liue in token of dutie to your person whō I honour to satisfie my friends whom I loue and to content any good man whom I like Thus desiring the happinesse of Heauen and Earth to attend your soule and body I beseech him who made all to adde much honour to your dayes and many daies to your honourable life In hope whereof I take my humble leaue and rest Your Lordships Chaplaine in all obseruance N Kichener To the Reader REader if curteous I must thanke if captious I can indure there be two sorts of beasts whereof I warne my Youngling moone-eyde Ignorance and bleere-eyde Enuie the one with Melitides cannot iudge at all the other with Zoilous will iudge too much the fathers councell is That his child auoid both But if the constellations be maleuolous why yet the Poet saith Scribimus indoctidoctique c. So some of those cattell may prooue with young themselues and then others may doe as much for theirs If happily at any time mine Ospring be conuented before Felix eares itching after newes it answereth for it selfe that of Salomon Non est qnidquam noui sub sole Far as the Comedian said Nihil est iam dictum quod non sit dictum prius If it be taxed by soothing Zidkiah that with Ioseph it weareth a parti-colored coate or that Iay-like it borroweth feathers from other birds In promptu causa est It pleads antiquity as the first Apoligie It haue bin the ancient custom euen of the learned so to do Tum vt certiora scribant tum vt iucundius legantur Next it answereth for it selfe with Patricius Me parum admodum fidei rebus meis adhibuisse si solū authoritati meae in terarer Thirdly it puts in that plea of Lipsius for his politicke Ceutons in it owne behalfe Nil nostrum omnia Only the kingly policie of Astyages is the fear of my young One who vpon his dreame married his only daughter to a poore shepheard That the means of the father might derogate from the childs minde In fine Cor Agrippa said Inter Diuos nullos non carpit Momus and how then shall Mortals thinke to escape Grauenhurst Octob 1615. Thine if thou loue the Lord Iesus N K. Vpon this Sermon touching the Iudgement of the World Preached at Paules Crosse by N K. Encomiasticall Verses of A W. in loue to the Author his especiall friend and his Booke a Iudicious Worke. IN naught saue in Christs Crosse Paul glory had In naught more then Pauls Crosse maey we be glad Whereby men doe this Triple honour raise God glory this Land Good Theirselues praise Amongst the rest let me Iudicious friend Commend thy Booke thy Booke shal thee commend By thee the Iudgement of the World 's explain'd Wherein a World of Iudgement is containd Thy Iudgement of the Worlds Iudgement we see Feare not the Iudgement of the World of thee The Worlds Iudgement thy Booke so well displai's The Iudgement of thy Booke the World must praise Thy Booke may mend the world by sinnes detection But the World cannot mend thy Booke 's perfection Both Booke and World shall surely once decay But both shall last vnto the latter Day Ni frustra Augurium vani docuere parentes A. Wilbore Ma. Art Syd Coll. Cant. The VVorlds Assises RIght Honourable right Worshipfull worthy and Christian men and brethren it is a receiued opinion in Philosophie that the motion of the inserior Orbe is gouerned by the motion of the superior I may well compare this Chaire to a dimmy heauen wherein the Ecclesiasticall Orbe of our blessed Horizon doe often moue I may likē it to the Firmament wherein the fixt startes being set doe twinckle and glitter to the admiration of most The Orbe wherein my selfe am carried is one of the lowest yet now according to the will of God the Primus motor and my worthie friends that mooued I am here in motion In this my motion I desire with the Israelites to the king of Hesbon Deut. 2.27 to passe along the high-way of my Text turning neither to the right-hand nor to the left onely as Michaiah said to Ahabs messengers 2. Chron. 18.13 As the Lord liueth what my God saith that will I speake So say I what my Text hath put into my hand and the Lord shall put into my heart the one will I touch the other will I teach It may be expected by some that mine inferior Orbe shall bee carried according to the propper motion of the Primum Mobile or that it shall imitate the wonted motion of the Superiour Orbe or sith some say it s A natura huius loci The custom of this place to summon the manners of this citie that therefore mine shall wade into those abuses wherein it selfe is a stranger I answere No it shall not For min own part I say with the Prophet Puer sum nescio loqui ler. 1.6 I am a stranger here no traueller in the world I know that