have indeed well done So truly will he at this day distinguish their good and bad and when both are manifest by the righteous Judgment of Christ he will burn up their bad with all their labour travail and paints in it for ever He can tell how to save his people and yet take vengeance on their Inventions Psal. 99. 8. That is an observable place in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and the third Chapter If any man build saith he upon this foundation Christ Gold Silver Pretious Stones Wood Hay Stubble every mans work shall be manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is If any mans work shall abide that he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward If any mans work shall be burnt that man shall suffer losse but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire 1 Cor. 3. 11 12 13 14 15. Now observe first as I said before the Foundation is Christ Vers. 11. 2. The Gold Silver and Pretious Stones that here are said to be built upon him are all the actings in Faith and Love according to the Word that the Saints are found doing for his sake in the World 1 Pet. 1. 7. Rev. 3. 18. 3. To build on him Wood Hay and Stubble it is to build together with what is right in it self humane Inventions and carnall Ordinances fathering them still on God and his allowance 4. The Fire that here you read of it is the pure Word and Law of God Jer. 23. 29. Joh. 12. 48. 5. The day that here you read of it is the day of Christ's coming to Judgment to reveal the hidden things of darkness and to make manifest the Counsels of the heart 1 Cor. 4. 5. 6. At this day the Gold Silver pretious Stones Wood Hay and Stubble and that of every man shall be tryed by this fire that it may be manifest of what sort it is the Wind the Rain and Flouds beat now as vehemently against the house upon the Rock as against that on the Sand Luke 6. 48 49. Observe again 1. That the Apostle speaks here of the saved not of the reprobate He himself shall be saved 2. That this saved man may have Wood Hay and Stubble that is things that will not abide the tryal 3. That neither this mans goodness not yet Gods love to him shall hinder all his Wood Hay or stubble for coming on the stage Every mans work shall be manifest the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is 4. Thus a good man shall see all his Wood Hay and stubble burnt up in the tryal before his face 5. That good man then shall suffer loss or the loss of all things that are not then according to the Word of God If any mans works shall be burnt or any of them he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire that is yet so as that all that ever he hath done shall be tryed and squared by the Word of God From all which it must be unavoidably concluded that the whole Body of the Elect must count with their Lord for all things they have done whether good or bad and that he will destroy all their bad with the purity of his word yea and all their pains travel and labour that they have spent about it I am perswaded that there are now many things done by the best of Saints that then they will gladly disown and be ashamed of yea which they have and do still do with great devotion Alas what gross things do some of the Saints in their devotion father upon God and do reckon him the Authour thereof and so he also prompts them forward to the doing thereof and doth give them his presence in the performance of them yea and as they father many superstitions and Scriptureless things upon him so they die in the same Opinion and never come in this World to the sight of their evill and ignorance herein But now the Judgment day is the principall time wherein every thing shall be fet in its proper place that which is of God in its place and that which is not shall now be discovered and made manifest In many things now we offend all and then we shall see the many offences we have committed and shall our selves judge them as they are The Christian is in this World so candid a Creature that take him when he is not under some great temptation and he will ingeniously confess to his God before all men how he hath sinned and transgressed against his Father and will fall down at the feet of God and cry Thou art righteous for I have sinned and thou art gracious that notwithstanding my sin thou shouldest save me now I say if the Christian is so simple and plain-hearted with God in the days of his imperfection when he is accompanied with many infirmities and temptations how freely will he confess and acknowledge his miscarriages when he comes before his Lord and Saviour absolutely stript of all temptation and imperfection Rom. 14. 11. Phil. 2. 10 11. As I live saith the Lord every knee shall how to me and every Tongue shall confess to God Every knee shall bow and reverence God the Creator and Christ the Redeemer of the World and every Tongue shall confess that his will alone ought by them to have bin obeyed in all things and shall confess also and that most naturally and freely I mean the Saints shall in how many things they were deceived mistaken deluded and drawn aside in their intended devotion and honour to God But yet take notice that in this day when the Saints are thus counting for their evill before their Saviour and Judg they shall not then as now at the remembrance and confession of sin be filled with that guilt confusion and shame that now through the weakness of Faith attendeth their Souls neither shall they in the least be grieved or offended that God hath before the Angels and the rest of their holy Brethren laid open to a tittle their infirmities from the least and first to the biggest and last For first the God to whom they confess all they will now more perfectly then ever see he doth love them and free them from all even when and before they confess and acknowledg them to him and they shall I say have their Soul so full of the ravishing raptures of the life and glory that now they are in that they shall be of it swallowed up in that measure and manner that neither fear nor guilt nor confusion can come near them or touch them Their Judge is their Saviour their Husband and Head who though he will bring every one of them for all things to Judgment yet he will keep them for ever out of condemnation and any thing that tendeth that way Perfect love casts out fear even while we are
Sixthly The dependence that all the Creatures have upon God they teach thee to depend on him that made thee yea and will in the Judgement condemn thee for thy unlawful practices and dealings for thy preservation The young Ravens seek their food from God and will condemn thy lying cheating over-reaching defrauding and the like they provide neither Store-house nor Barn but thâ— art so greedy of these things that thou for them shuttest thy self out of the Kingdom of Heaven Psal. 147. 9. Job 38. 41. Luk. 12. 24. Prov. 17. 16. Seventhly The love and pitty that is in their hearts to their young and one another will judge and condemn the hard-heartedness that is in thee to thy own Soul What shall I say The Heavens shall reveal thy iniquity and the Earth shall rise up against thee Job 20. 27. That is all the Creatures of God they will by their fruitfulness and subjection to the will of their Creator judge and condemn thee for thy disobedience and rebellion against him Now as these Creatures do every day call unto thee and lay before thee these things so he hath for thy awakening in case thou be asleep and senseless Creatures of another nature as 1. Thy Bed when thou lyest down in it preacheth to thee thy Grave thy sleep thy death and thy rising in the morning thy Resurrection to Judgement Job 14. 12. Job 17. 13. Isa. 26. 19. 2. The Goal that thou seest with thy eyes and the Felons that look out at the Grate they put thee in mind of the Prison of Hell and of the dreadful state of those that are there Luke 12. 58 59. 3. The fire that burns in thy Chimney it holds forth the fire to Hell unto thee Isa. 10. 16. Rev. 20. 14. 4. The ugly smell stench and steam of the burning Brimstone it shews thee the loathsom odious and dreadful torments of Hell Rev. 19 20. 5. The darkness of the night in solitary places and the fears that do commonly haunt those that walk therein it preacheth to thee the fears and frights the scares and amazements that will for ever attend all damned Souls Matth. 8. 12. Deut. 28. 65 66 6. 7. 6. By thy delighting when thou art cold to lay sticks on the fire to warm thy self not caring how fiercely they flame therein so thou canst be warm and be refreshed thereby by this I say God preacheth to thee with what delight he will burn sinners in the flames of Hell for the easing of his mind and the satisfaction of his Justice Ah! saith he I will ease me of my adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies Isa. 1. 24. 7. Yea by thy blowing the fire that it may fasten upon the wood the better thou preachest to thy self how God will blow the fire of Hell by the rigour of his Law to the end it may be its flames to purpose kindle upon damned sinners Isa. 3. 33. All these things as inconsiderable and unlikely as they may appear to you now yet in the Judgement will be found the Items and warning words of God to your Souls And know that he who could overthrow the Land of Egypt with frogs lice flies Locusts c. will overthrow the World at the last day by the Book of the Creatures and that by the least and most inconsiderable of them as well as by the rest This Book of the Creatures it is so excellent and so full so easie and so suiting the capacity of all that there is not one man in the World but is catched convicted and cast by it This is the Book that he who knows no letters may read in yea and that he who neither saw New Testament nor Old may know both much of God and himself by 'T is this Book out of which generally both Job and his friends did so profoundly discourse of the Judgements of God and that out of which God himself did so convincingly answer Job Job was as perfect in this Book as we are many of us in the Scriptures yea and could see further by it then many now a dayes do see by the new Testament and old This is the Book out of which both Christ the Prophets and Apostles do so frequently discourse by their Similitudes Proverbs and Parables as being the most easie way to convince the World though by reason of their ignorance nothing will work with them but what is set on their heart by the holy Ghost One word further and I have done with this and that is God hath sealed the Judgement of the World by the Book of the Creatures even by mans own carriage unto such of them which through any impediment have disappointed his expectations As thus if thou hast but a Tree in thy Orchard that neither beareth fruit nor ought else that is good why thou art for hewing it down and for appointing it as fewel for the fire now thou little thinkest that by thy thus judging thou shouldest passe sentence upon thy own fruitless Soul but it is so For now is the Ax laid to the Roots of the Trees and every Tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire For as truly as thou sayest of thy fruitless Tree cut it down why doth it cumbet the ground so truly doth thy Voyce cause Heaven to Eccho again upon thy head Cut him down why doth he cumber the ground Mat. 3. 10. Luk. 13. 6 7 8. Ezek. 15. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Further The inclination of thy heart towards fruitless and unprofitable Creatures doth fore-preach to thee the inclination of the heart of God towards thee in the Judgement If thou hast either Cow or any other Beast that is now unprofitable to thee though thou mayst suffer them for some time to be with thee as God suffereth sinners in the World yet all this while thy heart is not with them but thou wilt take thy time to clear thy hands of them Why just so shall thy Judgement be as God saith Though Moses and Samuel stood before me that is to pray me to spare this People yet my heart could not be towards them therefore cast them out of my sight and let them go forth Jer. 15. 1. Ezek. 14. 13 14. Thus I say will God judge the World at the last day he will open before them how they have degenerated and gone back from the Principles of nature in which he created them Also how they have slighted all the instructions that he hath given them even by the obedience fruitfulness wisdom labour fear and love of the Creatures and he will tell them that as to their Judgement they themselves have decided it both by their cutting down that which was fruitless and by the withdrawing of their hearts from those things which to them were unprofitable As therefore the Tarâ—s are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of this World As men deal with weeds and rotten Wood so will God
namely under the black Rod in the Kings black Book where he hath Recorded all his Enemies and Traytors It shall be said of this man of this ungodly man that he was born there Psal. 87. 4. That he lived and dyed in the state of nature and so under the curse of God even as others for as he said of wicked Coniah Jer. 22. 30. Write this man childless so he saith of every ungodly man that so departeth out of this World Write this man Graceless Wherefore I say among the Babylonians and Phylistians among the unbelieving Moors and Pagans his name will be found in the day when it will be inquired where every man was born for God at this day will divide the whole World into these two Ranks the Children of the World and the Children of Zion Wherefore here is the honour the priviledge and advantage that the Godly above the wicked will have at the day of their counting When the Lord maketh mention of Zion it shall be then acknowledged that this and that good man was born in her the Lord shall count saith the Prophet when he wrighteth up the People that this man was born there Psal. 87. 5 6. This man had the work of Conversion of Faith and Grace iâ— his Soul This man 〈◊〉 Child of Zion of the Heavenly Jerusalem which is also written in Heaven Blessed is the People that are in such a case Gal. 4 26 Heb 12. 22 23. Psal. 144. 1â—â— But poor Soul Counters will not go for Gold now for though so long as thou didst judge thy self by the crooked rule of thy own reason fancy and affection thou wast pure in thy own eyes yet â—ow thâ—u must be judged alone by the words and rule of the Lord Jesus Which word shall not now as in times past be wrested and wrung both this way and that to smooth thee up in thy Hypocrites hope and carnall confidence but be thou King or Keser be thou who thou wilt the Word of Christ and that with this interpretation onely It shall judge thee in the last day Joh. 12. 44. Now will sinners begin to cry with loud and bitter cryes Oh! ten thousand Worlds for a saving work of Grace Crowns and Kingdoms for the least measure of saving Faith and for the love that Christ will say is the love of his own Spirit Now they will begin also to see the work of a broken and a contrite spirit and of walking with God as living 〈◊〉 in this World But alas these things appear in their hearts to the damned too late as also do all things else This will be but like the repentance of the Thief about whose neck is the â—alter and he turning off the ladder for the unfortunate hap of the damned will be that the glory of Heavenly things will not appear to them till out of season Christ must now indeed be shewed to them as also the true nature of Faith and all Grace but it will be when the door is shut and mercy gone they will pray and repent most earnestly but it will be in the time of great Waters of the flouds of eternall wrath when they cannot come nigh him 1 Tim. 6. 15. Matth. 25. 10 11. Psal. 32. 6. Well then tell me sinner if Christ shouâ—d now come to judge the World canst thou abide the tryal of the Book of Life Art thou confident that thy Profession that thy Conversion thy Faith and all other Graces thou thinkest thou hast will prove Gold Silver and precious Stones in this day behold he comes as a Refiners fire and as Fullâ—rs Soap shalt thou indeed abide the melting and washing of this day Examine I say before hand and try thy self unfeignedly for every one that doth â—ruth cometh to the light that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 21. Thou sayest thou art a Christian that also thou hast repented dost believe and love the Lord Jesus but the question is whether these things will be found of equall length heighth and bredth with the Book of Life Or whether when thou art weighed in the ballance thou wilt yet be found wanting Dan. 5. 27. How if when thou comest to speak for thy self before God thou shouldest say Siboleth instead of Shiboleth that is though almost yet not rightly and naturally the Language of the Christians Judg. 12. 4 5 6. If thou miss but one letter in thy evidence thou art gone for though thou mayst deceive thy own heart with Brass instead of Gold and with Tin instead of Silver Gal. 6. 7. yet God will not be so put off You know how confident the foolish Virgins were and yet how they were deceived They herded with the Saints they went forth from the gross pollutions of the World they every one had shining Lamps and all went forth to meet the Bridegroom and yet they mist the Kingdom They were not written among the living in Jerusalem they had not the true powerful saving work of Conversion of Faith and Grace in their Souls they that are foolish take their Lamps but take no Oyl no saving Grace with them Mat. 25. 1 2 3 4. Thus you see how sinners will be put to it before the Judgment-Seat from these two parts of this Book of Life But Thirdly There is yet another part of this Book to be opened and that is that part of it in which is Recorded those noble and Christian acts that they have done since the time of their Conversion and turning to Christ. Here I say is Recorded the Testimony of the Saints against sin and Antichrist their suffering for the sake of God their love to the members of Christ their patience under the Cross and their faithful frequenting the Assemblies of the Saints and their incouraging one another to bear up in his wayes in the worst of times even when the proud was called happy and when they that wrought wickedness were even set up As he there saith Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard it and a Book of Rememrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his Name Mat. 3. 14 15 16. For indeed as truly as any person hath his name found in the first part of this Book of Life and his Conversion in the second so there is a third part in which there is his noble spiritual and holy actions Recorded and set down As it is said by the Spirit to John concerning those that suffered Martyrdom for the truth of Jesus Write blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14. 13. And hence it is that the labours of the Saints and the Book of Life are mentioned together signifying that the travels and labours and acts of the godly are Recorded therein Phil. 4. 3. And hence it is again that the Lord