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
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
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
Fiftly there shall bee false Prophets and false Christs and this is verified euen in our daies For who can be a falser Christ then the sonne of perdition Antichrist And need wee goe far for false Prophets when the Prophets of Rhemes and Rome nest and swarme I will not say onely at Rome but almost in euery roome S. Mat. Sixtly iniquitie shall abound and charitie wax cold And alas that our sin were but greene and our iniquitie but in the blade would wee were not growne ripe in sin and that wee were not ready for the sickle would our offences like Nabucodonosors tree were not grown vp to heauen and did not couer the whole land O that there were but a plenty and not an excesse of sinning Oh that that sinne of excesse did but remaine and not raigne among vs But alas our age hath now another deluge not of water but of wine And though Lucifer lie bound in hell yet walkes hee loose and free vpon the carth Nay more wee may take vp that of the Orator ferae propria homo omnia habet vitia Beasts are faultie in some things but men in all things are most vitious Abundauit iniquitas iniquitie hath abounded And as for charitie that is not cold but ded nay twise ded and pluck'd vp by the root For men will feede their hawkes and hounds and horses and that with diet and with their owne hands and yet suffer poore soules whose soules were as dearely bought as theirs to pine and die for want of foode Seuenthly the Gospel shal be preached to al the world S. Matth. And hath not the sound thereof gone through the earth Hath not Asia had her seuen churches Hath not S. Peter been the Tutor of the Iew and S. Paul the Doctor of the Gentiles Did not the Apostles those seeds-men of the word preach the Gospel to euery creature And though they call vs Et penitus toto diuisos orbe Britannos Brittaines set apart from all parts of the world yet hath the Gospell sounded vnto vs and that so lowd that there is no nooke nor angle of this I le where the language of the gospel is not heard And O Lord let the light of thy Gospel shine for euer in this our little Goshen Let our candlesticke neuer be remoued not our candle put vnder a bushell Let not darknes couer this Land nor grosse blindness our people but let thy truth like the Sunne breake forth dayly more more till it come to her full brightnes Lastly S. Matth. the abomination of desolation shall bee set vp in the holy place And though Rome were once the holy citie though her faith as then it was were famous throughout the world yet is not the abomination of desolation set vp in hir Rom. Looke into the liues of the Popes and Cardinals how some haue beene idolaters some sorcerers some Sodomites some adulterous some incestuous all or the most more or lesse impious tell mee where abomination can be if it be not here Holkot Holkot one of their own coÌ„fesseth that among them they who in the morning did worship virginem matrem the blessed Virgin-mother did at night make virgines matres of maides mothers O double abomination Thus you see that these eight fore-running signes are past already and haue ouerrun vs and therefore what remaines now 1. Tim. 4. but a fearefull expectation of iudgement We reade in Timothy that in the last daies Quidam discedent some shall depart from the faith Et quidam transfugae and some of our runnagates of Rhemes and Rome that were in but not of our church haue fled to the Popish sinagogue from our christian Catholique church but they were Quidam but certain vncertaine men that hauing nothing but hope fortune to be their guides would venter vpon any fortune S. Bern. so that as S. Bernard speakes desperatio fecit Monachos they became MoÌ„kish not out of iudgment but despaire Secondly saith Timothy some shall attend to the Spirit of errours 1. Tim. 4. and our Separists of Amsterdam haue clothed euery naked and reuiued almost euery ded errour These bee those our English Pharisees which will not bee sicut reliqui as others but diuiding themselues from all they onely will bee the singular and elected brethren but to these I say that God is the God of vnitie and that Christ was neuer the author of diuision Thirdly 1. Tim. 4. some shall maintaine doctrine of Diuels and doe not the Papists while they deny marriage and allow stewes and simple fornication in the one teach in the other tolerate a doctrine vnfit for any but a Diuell Lastly saith Timothie in the last dayes 1. Tim. 4. men shall haue their consciences seared and had wee but windowes in our breasts mutually to behold each others conscience I feare mee we should see the conscience of the rich man seared with pride the yong mans conscience seared with wrath the old mans with auarice the great mans with vaine-glorie and all men both great and small with some greater or lesse impietie Thus then as Christ our iudge came to fulfill all so wee may conclude that all that should come before the comming of Christ is now fulfilled Therefore I will now speake of that which shall follow the iudgement Here I obserue that there shall bee two attendants and followers of the iudgement praemium poena reward and ruine The reward shall bee euery way absolute First in place as being in Heauen not on Earth Secondly in continuance as beeing not for time but for euer Thirdly in essence as being not in body onely or in soule onely but in soule and bodie In the bodie glorified and rewarded shall bee as the Schoole obserues foure things Thomas First claritas beautie and clearenes insomuch that Saint Chrysostome saith S. Chrysostome that the bodies of the Saints shall be septies clariora sole seuen times brighter then the Sunne Secondly in bodies glorified there shall be spirituall agilitie and hence it is that some ascribe the actiuitie and quicknes of our soule and spirit to a glorifide bodie saying that such bodies are not spirits but spiritualized bodies Thirdly in a glorifide body there is impâ—ssibilitie for though here wee suffer of euery thing yet there we shall be subiect to no corruptiue passion or suffering Lastly there shall be in a glorious bodie S. August immortality here indeed orimur morimur at our birth we begin to die accedimus we enter into the world succedimus we succeed one another in the world and at last decedimus Iob. we depart all out of the world but when wee shall see God in our bodie as Iob speakes we shall haue immortall bodies Secondly after iudgement there is a reward for the soule and that reward consists principally in two things in our vnion with GOD and our vision of God both these may bee gathered out of that of