vias semitas Prou. the high broad and beaten waies of man as also there by-waies and smallest paths and in all our waies nullum ignorat factum qui omnia fecit he sees and spies out the least fault who made euery thing without fault That Sonne of God who is principium sine principio the beginning without beginning will iudge all that hath been done from the beginning Hee that is α and ω the beginning and the end Reuel will iudge all that haue liued from the beginning of the world vnto the end The day of this life is the day of mortal man but the day of iudgement is the day of the liuing God not but that all daies are his but such is his mercy as that though he shew mercie euery day yet hee hath reserued but one day for his iudgement but that is a day of blacknes and of wrath insomuch that the Prophet Malachy cries out Malac. Ecce dies domini behold this is with a witnes the Lords day it burnes like a furnace and all the wicked are but as stubble The powre of the Lord had her day in the Creation of the World the mercy of God had her day in the Redemption of Man that little world and the iustice of God must haue her day in the iust punishment of the vniust and wicked of this world For fulminabit e coelo the Lord will thunder from heauen and the highest will giue his voice And if the thunder and ratling of a cloud bee so terrible what terrour shall there be when hee shall thunder that sits aboue the clouds the thunder doth but eradicare turres demolish towres and root vp trees but when God shall thunder out his iudgement extirpabit homines he will crush and cast downe King Prince and people that haue not made him their fortresse and their towre The thunder doth but quatere nebulas make clouds flye like birds vp and downe the aire but when GOD shall thunder out his iudgement quatiet conscientias hee will appale and astonish the hart and conscience yet shal there be then great difference betwixt a good and a guilty conscience for a good conscience shall bee mooued sed vt folium but as a leafe with a little winde and breath of Gods displeasure but the guiltie-one shall be remoued vt fundament◠terrae as the foundations of the earth are shaken with the full rigour of Gods wrath For then as Saint Hierome hath it terra tremet mare mugiet the earth shall quake the sea roare the aire ring the world burne and all this All become as a firebrand and burning coale And if tota terra the whole pillars of the earth must moue quî glebam terrae how then should this moue man who is but a clod of earth if that virtutes coeli the powres of heauen must tremble what will befall those minds of mud and earth that haue neuer minded heauen if the Angels of God shall stand then at a gaze how agast will the wicked ones bee whose portion is with the Diuell and his Angels Si soluantur coeli if the Heauens must cleaue and the elements be rent a sunder quid corda terrena how will earthly hearts faile and breake in this day of sorrow and of wonder if the righteous shall scarse bee saued vbi impius where will the wicked and the sinner appeare if iust Iob but thinking of iudgement come with his Quid faciet what shall he doe alas then Quid fiet what shall be done to the vniust whose bodies must boile and whose soules must frie for it when GOD shall come vnto iudgement When God shall come vnto iudgement what shall I doe This text of iudgement diuides it selfe as the world shall bee diuided in the day of iudgement in deum hominem into the Maiestie of God the iudge and the miserie of man that cannot stand out in the iudgement So that here may be obserued first a iudge secondly people to be adiudged and thirdly a iudgment In the Iudge and iudgement there bee these heads first the time when secondly the person who thirdly the manner how non mittet seà veniet he will not send but come fourthly the end wherefore to iudge fiftly the order by which quaeret he will sift and scan aske and visite he wil make a priuy search a strict inquisition into the works words thoughts of men In those that must be iudged there is a double misery first they shal not know Quid facere what to do for quid faciant contra factorem How shal they make their part good against their Maker and secondly they shall not know Quid respondere what to say for Quae verba valeant aduersus verbum what word can they haue against him that hath the words of eternal life against him that is the word the life against him that is the life of the word the word of life Againe for iudgement there is first a time for factor temporis qui natus tempore He that created time and that was borne for vs in the fulnes of time wil iudge vs for our not vsed or abused time and then ô quae destructio what ruine wil come and how much would we giue to redeeme a little time Secondly there is a person God and in him ô quae perfectio O what perfection for the Cherubins couer themselues from his face and Libanus shaketh at his voice Thirdly hee shall not send his Deputie his Legate Embassador Agent or Factor but hee shall come in his owne person and there ô quae consolatio O what comfort will there be when he shall come for vs that went vp to send the comforter vnto vs Fourthly he shall come non indicare not to finger or point out our sinne sed iudicare but to iudge vs for euery euen the least sin and here ôquae desolatio O what desolation wil he work on the wicked workers of the earth Briefely God and not an Angell or meere man will come and not send to iudge and not saue and in iudgement quaeret non teget he will reueale not conceale sinnes and then Quid facient when sinners are vndone what can they doe Quid respondebunt when the mouth of iniquitie wickednes shal be stop'd what can the wicked say But first of the time of iudgement Some like forward Marchants and bold aduenturers haue presumed to define and determine the terme and precise time of iudgement of which some prefixe the yeare saying it shall bee in the immediate end of the sixe thousand yeare and there ground is this because a thousand yeares are with the Lord as one day whence they inferre that as God made the world in six daies so hee will destroy it in six thousand yeares Others out of the Prophet Malachy Ecce dies domini Malac. Behold the day of the Lord auerr that God will come to Iudgement in the day Others out of
Iudicat homo hominem in opere sed deus in corde that though God onely iudge the heart yet man may iudge of the fact of man And so I come to my third part will come when God shall come In God rising for so reades the vulgate and comming for so hath the English vnto iudgement I obserue two things First the certaintie then the vicinitie of the iudgement It is not said Deus venit God doth or hath come but Deus veniet God will come and yet according to the rule of the Schoole Futurum in Deo aeque certum quam aut praesens aut praeteritum that which is to come in God is as sure as if it were either present or past And God wil come to iudgement both for the glorie of God and of Man and of Christ both God and Man First for the glorie of God for God hath promised a iudgement and all the promises of God are yea and Amen The Prophets and the Apostles both the Law and the Gospell beare witnes of a iudgement I wil contend with thee in iudgement saith God in Ieremie Ier. The Nations shall see my iudgement Ezek. saith God in Ezekiel I will sit and iudge all people Ioel. saith God in Ioel. In Saint Paul wee reade Statutum est Death is appointed and after it commeth the iudgement And in Saint Peter wee finde a Iudicaturus est S. Pet. that as if God had put on his robes and were set on his iudgment seate hee is now ready to iudge the quicke and dead God promised a floud and it came Et qui verus diluuâ—o cur non iudicio hee that performed in the particular shall he not also performe in a generall iudgement In Philosophie posito vno contrariorum if we grant one contrarie the other will follow but wee haue had experience of Gods mercie which is opposite to iudgement and shall wee not also haue a triall and a iudgement GOD hath shewed iustice in Heauen on rebellious Angels and will hee not shew iustice on men if they rebell vpon earth Secondly there must be a iudgement for the good of man for here the holiest and most heauenly men be in most heauiness Hic optimi pessime agunt here the righteous man hath most wrong and therefore God will iudge and do him right Here Iezabel sits brauing in a window while Ieremie lies sticking in the mudd Here Diues sits in his pallace S. Luke clothed richly faring daintily while Lazarus lies at his gate naked and hungry Here Herod wil please his Herodias though it be with the head of Iohn the Baptist Nonne visitabit shall not God visite and come to iudgement for these things Here the condition of the godly Christian is much like to the state of Christ his maister nec viuus domum nec mortuus sepulcrum habet they haue scarse a house wherein to liue and such hath been the Popish furie their bones haue not had rest after their death while they liued they found exilium equuleum banishment and the racke and being dead the wicked did saeuire in manes not let them rest when they were at rest Euseb Much like to the storie in Eusebius where they were not content to burne the bodies of the Saints but they cast there ashes vppon the water with this obloquie colligat Deus Reuel let the Lord gather them if hee will haue them But O LORD holy and true how long how long the bloud of thy Saints is shed round about this round world and they are cut in peeces euen as men cut and hew wood and wilt thou not yet come to be auenged on such a people as this Yes saith the Psalme Psal the Lord will come and not keepe silence and as it is in another Psalme Doubtlesse there is a God that will iudge the earth Psal And as in a balance or a scale that which is lightest mounteth highest so those that were of light or no esteeme in the world shall then be taken vp vnto the highest Gemunt boni though the godly mourne here like a Doue yet fruentur summo bono then they shall be comforted by that Spirit who appeared in the likenes of a Doue Though the good haue pressuram in terrâ griefe and oppression vpon earth yet they shall finde vsuram in coelo interest and increase of glorie in the Kingdome of heauen Lastly as there must be a iudgement for the glorie of God and good of man so it must also bee for the honour of Christ Iesus God and Man For the world did not beleeue Christ to bee the Messias the Iew held him but a meere and miserable man the Gentiles derided him as a crucified God and therefore will hee call heauen and earth and come and iudge his people and hee will come in such power and maiestie that the whole world shall confesse him a Messias that the Iew shall acknowledge him a God and that both Iew and Gentile shall feare and grieue to see him so highly glorified whom they basely slew and crucified Secondly I obserued the neerenes and vicinitie of the iudgement It is not said in the Apostles Creede veniet Symbo Aposto sea venturus est iudicare hee will come but hee is at hand he hath as it were set forth and is on his way comming to iudgement Non instat iudiciam sed ferè extat the day of iudgement is not so much future and to come as it is already present and in sight Iudex adianuam now is the iudge riding his circuite now hath hee sent forth his summons now hath hee put on his robe now is he set vpon his throne now is thy inditement reading now is thy cause pleading and now euen now the sentence of thy eternall life or death may bee passing witnes that of the Apostle Nunc est iudicium hee doth not say nunc erit now the iudgement shall bee as if it were comming but nunc est now is the iudgement of this world as if this moment this instant and present now were allotted for the iudgement The world that great man hath the throwes and panges of death now seazing on him And as man the little world when hee hath liued many yeares draweth then neere vnto his end so the world that hath liued now almost six thousand yeares must needes consume and haue an end In the time of the Apostles the Kingdome of God was at hand and now after so long a time as from the Apostles is it yet farre off When the Sunne hath passed the twelue signes Malac. wee know then the yeare ends Now Christ our Sunne hath passed through these signes and therefore the yeare of the world must haue an end Christ in his birth passed through Virgo for hee was borne of a pure and blessed Virgin Inchino He passed Gemini in his incarnation for there was both a Diuine and humane Nature Hee passed Cancer in his
being more weakned in the outward man bee made stronger to Christ who is God and Man And if any part of this house bee out of order wee must labour to order it and that well and in euery part Esay 38. Else when it shall bee said to thee as it was to Ezekias thou shalt die what wilt thou answere to the liuing God in that iudgement which must follow after death What will the hypocrite answere then who doth now couer Luciferum suum his pride vnder the mantle of humilitie when after death hee shall haue no part in Christ that humbled himselfe vnto the death what will the blasphemer answere then who now comes too neere vnto God with his lips and sweares him ouer from head to foot part after part when in the sweet mercies of his God hee cannot haue the least part What will the furious spirits and vnmanly manhood answere then who now count it their greatest grace to mangle and murther a man for a lie or a lesse disgrace and cannot stay till they wash their hands in bloud when they shall bee bard the benefit and blessing of Christ and his most precious bloud In this strict Visitation of the Lord the malitious cannot answere wee are men and cannot forgiue our enemies for they shall see Saint Steuen a man Acts not onely pardoning but praying for his enemies In this visitation the deuouring gluttons who doe nothing but feast and ryot cannot say wee were men and could not fast for they shall see Iohn Baptist a man S. Hierome whose life was a perpetuall fast What then shall wee answere Wilt thou say with Saint Paul nihil sum conscius I know nothing against my selfe alas thou canst not For as Saint Iames speakes S. Iames. in many things we offend all yet if thou couldst this will not acquit thee this will not iustifie Better were it with the Publicane to stand farre off S. Luke as knowing thy filthinesse to looke on the ground as confessing thy vnworthinesse to knocke thy brest as shewing thy pensiuenes to cry miserere Lord haue mercie as being guiltie and that on me a sinner as beeing laden with miserie Or wilt thou answere with Saint Peter Non noui hominem I know not the man when euer did I see Christ hungry and did not feede him or naked and did not cloth him alas good Christians Christ himselfe will reply thus against this answere inasmuch as you haue not fedde the hungry Christian you haue not fed Christ◠in that you haue not clothed the naked Christian you haue not clothed me as then in him you haue not knowne me so now Nescio vos I know you not you shall not raigne with me And here like him in the Gospel that wanted his wedding garment wee must needes stand speechlesse and no maruell For if we be not able to answere sicknes when it speakes vnto vs how then shall wee answere saluti nostrae that iudge that Iesus who is the Lord both of sicknes and health If wee bee not able to answere death when it shall question and arrest vs how then shall we answere the God both of life and death But what wilt thou flie from answere to petition and come with a supplicat to the iudge Why in this dreadfull iudgement and day of miserie there is no place left for mercie yet doth a good father bring in thus a sinner and his iudge sweet Sauiour saith the sinner remember now thy bitter passion true saith the iudge but yet now there is nor time nor place for cōpassion yet Iesus let me come vnto thee no for in thy life thou saidst Depart thou maist not come neere vnto mee Yet Iesus hast thou but one blessing giue me a blessing before I part no thou art vnder the curse of the Law and therefore goe from mee you cursed Yet since wee are accursed let vs feele no other punishment then thy curses Yes as you haue burnt with the fire of lust so goe you cursed into the fire ah but who is able to endure this flame Let it not sweet Iesus continue long yes as you would haue sinned for euer so shall this fire last for euer Go into euerlasting fire Yet giue vs some comfortable mates and fellowes which may refresh vs in this flame no but as you were of your father the Diuell so goe into that flame which was prepared for the Diuell What now shall a soule thus surprized doe whither shall it flye from Christ vnto Christ from Christ as hee will bee our iudge vnto Christ as hee is yet our Iesus It is a terme among those that be graduates in the schoole Respondebit pro me Aristoteles that Aristotle the eye of nature and heart of Philosophie shall answere for them so wee that are blanke and dumbe of our selues haue no other anchor of hope but this Respondebit pro nobis Iesus that Iesus our blessed Sauior will intercede and mediate for vs. And sweete Iesus let thy wisedome answere for our folly thy humilitie for our pride thy meeknes for our cruelty thy righteousnes for our sinne Thou O Iesus art a lambe without any spot answere thou for vs who like Iacobs Lambes are full of spots And if God blessed Laban for Iacobs sake much more will hee giue vs a blessing for Iesus sake Gen. Ostende patri latus vulnera Present sweet Iesus to thy Father thy side S. Bernard that as thy side was opened so his heart may be open vnto vs present also thy bleeding wounds that those wounds may heale vs from those sinnes that like the bloud of Abel cry against vs. So I come to speake in a word of the last word of my text answere him 3 We are but vermiculi little wormes that crawle and creepe on the face of the earth and what can we answere him who is Lord both of heauen earth We are but vernaculae S. Bernard the vassals and slaues of sinne and what can wee answere him who in heauen earth and hell angels men and diuels hath punished and will punish sin The heauens melt the mountaines smoke the earth quakes and the Cherubins couer their faces from him and the foure and twenty Elders cast downe their crownes before him Et quid coenum coelo O then how shall we euer be able to answere him He is goodnes it selfe and we are euill hee is wisedome it selfe and wee are foolish hee is powre it selfe and wee are weake non sumus respondendo we cannot be able to answere him For if that readie Philosopher were daunted and silenced at the sight of Hannibal Plut. and his manly presence Dan. if the Prophet Daniel were dismaied at the view of an Angell how will the approch of him who is the God both of Angell and Man daunt and dismay vs When Christ came into the world to saue his people yet then those that came to take him fell down before him
descension for hee descended and came as it were backe from God to man He passed Libra in his Passion where his mercie and his merits ouer-wayed our misery and sinne And not to be although I might bee curious in all hee passed Leo in his resurrection when hee rose strong as a Lyon and ouercame the graue death and hell and that hellish roaring and deuouring Lyon Now then that Christ hath passed all these signes it is a signe that the world and all must passe away Alas then why doe some and some Christian men so liue as if there were no iudgement after this life Nay more as if they were Aduocates and Orators and Sophisters for the Diuell why doe they dispute against the iudgement of our God For say some why should God iudge man after his death since hee hath his iudgement at his death I answere S. August that in death wee haue a particular iudgement but God will also haue a generall Secondly S. Bern. in death we haue the iudgement of the Soule but God will iudge both Body and Soule Lastly S. Hiero. in death wee haue a secret doome but God will haue an open assise a publike Sessions and a manifest iudgement O then put not farre from you the euill day but so liue as if you were to make your personall appearance before your God this present day For be you sure if any heare mee this day and regard not in his heart the iudgment day that euen this Text these words this Sermon of iudgement will rise vp against them in the day of iudgement So I come to my fourth obseruation the end of Christs comming it is to iudgement 4 And here I note these things First the multiplicitie of iudgement Secondly the qualitie of Gods iudgement Thirdly the prodromi and fore-runners of the iudgement Lastly the followers and attendants on this iudgement There is a manifold and various iudgement Bonauen For as Bonauenture notes their is in God iudicium praescientiâ— a iudgement for those sinnes that were but intended Secondly there is iudicium causae a iudgment for the cause whence they sprang and the end wherevnto they tended Thirdly there is iudicium operationis a iudgement for euerie euill act committed And lastly iudicium approbationis a iudgement of euery iust punishment inflicted There is a iudgement of retribution for the good a iudgement of reprobation for the euill and a iudgement of discussion both for good and euill There hath beene already a iudgement of water S. Peter which did wash away sinners but not sinne and there shall bee a iudgement of fire which shall burne away both sinne and sinners Secondly I noted the qualitie of Gods iudgement and first it is full of Maiestie for the King of heauen shall come cum militia caelesti with all the armie troupe and traine of heauen He shall send forth as it were his Herald and Beedle and call a Conuocation of Angels and Saints heauen and earth to cull and seuer and marke out his sheepe from the goates Posuit thronum God is come as it were to the Kings Bench of his iustice hee hath opened a booke and another booke as it is in the Reuelation Reuel to wit the booke scientiae diuinae of diuine knowledge and science and a booke humana conscientiae of mans guilty and accusing conscience O wretched man saith a good Father tanta contra te fit praeparatio doth God so prepare so muster vp his men for thy iudgement and wilt thou either not feele thy imminent iudgement or if thou feele it not amend thy life that thou maiest escape in that fierie triall and fierce iudgement If our gracious King whom the King of Kings set for euer as a signet vppon his right hand should take his Peeres and Nobles Bishops and Iudges to iudge a rebell or a malefactor how would the countenance of that Traitor fall his tongue faulter his bodie tremble and his heart and spirit euen thawe and melt away And yet good God such is our frailtie that though we be traitors to our iudge our Sauior and our own soules yet we more awe feare a temporall then an eternall iudgement and are more daunted with him that can but kill the bodie and that for a time then with him that can destroy both bodie and soule and that for euer Secondly there is mercie in this iudgement For Christ will iudge vs not by the letter and rigor of the Law but as it were in a Court of Conscience Et Conscientia qualis sententia talis and our verdict shall bee giuen in according and agreeing with the Conscience wee haue within Neither will our mercifull iudge proceed against vs without witnesse nay not without a thousand witnesses and those no forraine aliene or strange witnesses but such as are in our owne bosome such as are more inward with vs then that soule which is within vs For vnlesse our conscience which is as the soule of the soule doe like another Cerberus barke within vs we shall escape that true Cerberus and dog of hell Besides our mercifull iudge will not condemne vs for one accuser for except Moses and the Law accuse vs S. Iohn as Saint Iohn hath it except Singuli errores our particular and singular errors single vs out and become singuli accusatores ech of them accusers of vs nay more except man himselfe doe condemne himselfe Christ who is God and Man will not condemne Nay more except Sin and Satan come with plaine direct and vnauoidable euidence against vs it shall yet maugre all their malice goe well with vs. And Lord how will that accuser of his brethren in that day accuse vs S. August S. Augustine brings him in thus inditing man Iuste iudex marke he doth not say Bone Deus good God to mooue clemencie and mercie but iust iudge to whet and sharpen him on to rigor and seueritie and the bill of his enditement runnes thus Indeed iust iudge these sinners were thine per gratiam by thy grace to them committed but they are become mine per culpam by that sin which they committed They were thine per misericordiam in thy mercie but they are become mine through their own misery They were thine per passionem through thy crosse and passion but they are become mine per persuasionem by my slie subtle perswasion They were thine creatione in the creation but they are become mine destructione since they haue brought themselues to their destruction They haue forsaken Sacramenta tua thy Sacraments haue followed blandimenta mea my allurements and therefore iust iudge since they belong to mee let them bee condemned with me Alas good Christians being thus arraigned at the barr of Gods iustice by whom will you bee tried By your God Why he must be iust by a Iurie of Angels and Saints why they cannot quit you For it is God that condemnes and who can iustifie by your owne hearts