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
A SVMMONS TO IVDGEMENT OR A SERMON APPOINTED FOR THE CROSSE BVT DELIVEred vpon occasion in the Cathedrall Church of S. Paul London the 6. day of Iune 1613. beeing the first Sunday of Midsommer Terme By THOMAS BAVGHE student of Christ-Church in Oxford HEB 10.37 For yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tary LONDON Printed by G. ELD for WILLIAM IONES and are to bee sold at his shop neere Holborne Conduit at the Signe of the â—unne 1614. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD IOHN LORD BISHOP OF LONDON continuance of all grace and peace by IESVS CHRIST Right Reuerend Father in God YOV that from the first haue beene a Father to my studies and are now by Gods most gracious blessing to our Church set as a Father ouer it suffer mee with fearefull boldnes and humble ambition to offer vp to your Lordship not any Lordly but this meane and lowly present For my Vniuersitie my Colledge my place my person my profession my liuing and all enioyne and enforce me to vow and consecrate to your Lordship if it were possible more then my all And on what fairer Obiect can the eies of Oxford and the hearts of Christ Church be set then vpon you who are one of the great blessings of Oxford the very ioy of Christ Church hearts True it is that being conscious of my owne priuat meannesse and euer most feareful timorous to appeare in publicke I had purposed to haue laide aside this Sermon as I my self lie in obliuion obscuritie But since it hath been once and againe desired prodire in lucem to see the light that by some high and honorable personages such as are eminent both in place power it was not in my power to conceale and keep in that which their graue wisedomes thought fit to goe abroad And I might haue beene condemned of rudenes should I haue denied the world that which vnworthy though it be yet men of such worth iudged might profit the world And now right Reuerend Father I shal euer esteem it my greatest happines if this too soone and vntimely borne infant which cries to you for succour may be accepted fauoured of you For weak though it be in it self yet beeing armed with your powerfull name it will thence gather and collect strength I must confesse the world will finde it is an Embrio an imperfect and formeless issue for I had not time Lambere foetum so much as to cloath and coate this though my first borne child and therefore the more bare and naked that it is so much the more it needs to bee couered vnder the wing of your gracious fauour It was S. Pauls speech Quis idoneus who is fit for these things and I may say Quî idoneus how can I fit this liuing thing the Presse that am pressed and almost oppressed with a world of labour care And yet I esteeme all my labour but ease and my yoke were it heauier then it is seemes but light since I liue vnder your Lordship who haue euer been and to your immortall honor continue still vir laborum a holy and heauenly laborer in the Lords vineyard Againe it cheares vp my spirits and glads my heart that I serue sit at the feet of so godly a Gamaliel as the learned religious most studious painfull Doctor the reuerend Doctor Spencer whose name as it is famous through the Church so shal it euer be most deare pretious vnto mee But I feare in publica commoda pecco Qui longo sermone moror tua tempora therefore to conclude all I pray from the ground of my heart that your Lordship may long and long liue happy in our Church and that our Church may still be happy in you and that you and yours and all your holy endeauours may euer be blessed from aboue by Iesus Christ the sole head of the Church Your Lordships deâ—â—â—â—ed and euer to be commanded in all Christian obserâ—â—â—â—e THO BAVGHE Quid faciam cum surrexerit ad iudicandum Deus Et cum quaesierit quid respondebo illi When God shall come vnto iudgement what shall I doe when he shall aske what shall I answere him Iob. 31.14 THE Apostle Saint Paul was rapt vp on a suddaine into Heauen 2. Cor. 12. and I that am not worthy to name a Saint or to be called an Apostle am rapt vp on a suddaine vnto this place which I euer reputed an earthly heauen and that the rather since the most splendent and glorious Sunnes of our kingdome shine here and the most gratious Starres of our Land nay of the world are placed in this Orbe 2. Cor. 12. And though Saint Paul in his vision knew not whether hee were in or without his body yet I that come now with my vision vnto you know that I am in my bodie but in a weake a brused a broken body yet well is it with me if like not a Lamp but a smal candle I consume my selfe to enlighten others For we reade that virtus Dei infirmitate perficitur the power of God is most strongly seene in a weake man and my hope confidence is that the Spirit of the Lord which quickens all bodies all spirits will cheere vp a decaying body and animate my fainting Spirit When the Disciples were sent to speake before Iudges Christ bids them take no care for dabitur illa in horâ a word of wisedome shal be giuen them in that houre and beeing I am to speake before you graue reuerend Iudges my prayer is vt detur hac in hora that a doore of vtterance may be opened and a tongue of the learned may be giuen mee for this houre And since I come hastily before you what fitter text what apter message can I bring then a foresight of the iudgement which is ready to hasten nay fall vpon vs all Now that your graue wisdomes are assembled to exercise the iudgements of this Land what better present or president could I haue for you then a touch and straine of that iudgement which must come vppon all lands that so iudicium iudicia the iudgement of God might direct the iudgements of men Et iudex iudices and your righteous iudge might aduise you to iudge righteously When I was first sent to this second Niniue this great Citie I came not like Ionas with fortie dayes and destruction but I came like the Doue cum oliuâ pacis Gen. with a branch of Peace and Oliue in my mouth yet now my Maister Christ that came with a whip into the Temple hath sent me cum virgâ iudicii with a rod of iudgement in my hand When Saint Paul spake of iudgment there was a ferè persuasit one almost perswaded to bee a Christian would to God this my denouncing of iudgement might perswade not one but all not partly but fully to be not nominall but reall Christians for God ponders
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
are called gods the gods of the earth are lifted vp and yet though these be Kings in this world they shall not be Iudges in another but as it is in the booke of Wisedome Wisedome Potentes potenter mighty Kings shal be mightily punished if they sinne against the Almightie Fiftly Priests are called gods offerte Dii let the Priests offer and yet these shall not iudge vs for both Priest and people congregetur coram Deo must stand before the tribunall of God Sixtly Magistrates are called gods Diis ne detrahas speake not euill of the Magistrates and yet nor they shall be our iudges for they are but Gods stewards vnder God and must render rationem villicationis an exact account of their Stewardships vnto God Lastly Iudges they are called gods the cause was brought ad Deos vnto the Iudges and yet though these execute the iudgements of God vpon earth God himselfe shall come from heauen to iudge them For habent vel supremi iudices superiorem iudicem the Lord chiefe Iustices of this world haue there Lord aboue that shall doe them iustice So then we must now excluding al these conclude all Iudex vniuersalis deus vniuersi that hee that made all will iudge all Hee that is God will iudge the gods hee that is the Angell of the great counsell will iudge the Angels hee that is a King will iudge the Kings hee that is a Priest will iudge the Priests Iudex iudices homo homines Christus omnes iudicabit Hee is Iudge that will censure and sentence Iudges hee that is man will conuent and conuict man and yet there shall bee but one iudge of all men euen IESVS CHRIST God and Man Againe since God shall iudge and there be though but one God yet three persons it may be questioned which of the three persons shall be our Iudge And this the Psalmist seemes to answere Psal when hee saith Deus vester veniet Hee shall bee your Iudge that is most yours Now the second person is most ours for hee was borne to vs he liued with vs hee died for vs and what he either did or suffered it was all for the good of vs. But why doth the second person iudge and not the first S. Iohn Why the Sonne and not the Father First because Saint Iohn tels vs the Father hath giuen all iudgement to the Sonne and to the Sonne S. Bern. as Saint Bernard expounds it non quà filius suus sed hominis filius not as hee is the Sonne of God begotten before the world but as he is the Son of the blessed Virgin borne in the world Secondly the Son iudgeth and not the Father because it best fitteth a King to iudge his owne Subiects and we are now the immediate subiects of the Son Indeed in our Creation wee were absolutely the subiects of God but by rebelling against God wee became the slaues and vassals of Satan and not the Subiects of our God yet now beeing bought out of the subiection of Satan by the precious bloud of the Sonne of God wee become the subiects of the Sonne Not that this is to be vnderstood exclusiue as excluding from the worke of our Redemption the Father or the Holy Ghost Sed appretiatiue as the Schoolemen speake but because the price of our Redemption was paide by the Sonne and not the person of the Father or holy Ghost and in that the Sonne did sustinere poenas vndergoe our punishment procurare praemia and purchase our reward he must dispensare praemia poenas both dispose of our punishment and reward Yet once more since in the Sonne there is a double forme a Diuine an humane nature it may bee questioned in what forme and nature he shall iudge Saint Augustine answeres S. August eâdem formâ iudicabit nos Hee shall iudge vs in the same forme wherein he stood before the iudge for vs he shall iudge vs not as God but as Man according to that of the Scripture yee shall see filium hominis the Sonne not of God but of Man coÌ„ming in the clouds Veniet qui deus non quà deus He that shall iudge vs is God but he shal not iudg vs as he is God not as he is God because as Esay hath it Esay tollatur impius the wicked must be taken away that he neuer see the glory of God but as man vt homines videant that men may see behold the iudge of men The Papists ad that not only the iudg shal be visible but out of that of the gospel they shal see signum filii hominis S. Matth. the signe of the Son of Man they would euict that the crosse shall come before him as a verge rodde and scepter vnto iudgement but this opinion deserues correction and a rod for though with Saint Paul we preach Christum crucifixum Christ crucifide vpon earth yet I neuer finde that the crosse and crucifixe of Christ was euer taken as Saint Paul was vp to Heauen Lastly since Christ shall Iudge vs as hee is Man it may be questioned whither there shall be no difference betweene the man Christ liuing vpon earth and the man Christ as hee shall come a Iudge from Heauen Yes doubtlesse much difference not in substance but in qualitie for he that was here a man natus praesepio borne in a stable is there also a man Sed regnans coelo but commanding in the heauens Hee that was here inter homines a man amongst men is there supra Angelos a man aboue the Angels Hee that was here corpore infirmo in a bodie of frailty is there corpore glorioso in a bodie of glorie He that was here Saluâ—tor verus a true Sauiour is there iudex seuerus a sharpe iudge Hee that came here pati pro dilectis to suffer for his beloued sits there triumphare cum electis to triumph with his chosen and elect he that came here mori ad tempus to die for a time is there deus viuens liuing with God for euer and the euerliuing God Yet graue and Reuerend Iudges before I close vp this point I must say one thing that concernes you that toucheth your scarlet and your iudgement seates For where it is said the Father hath giuen all iudgement to the Son then the Anabaptists inferre S. Iohn why then doe other the Sonnes of men iudge and so learned Fathers of the Law would they wound nay ded you who are the pillars of truth the life of the liuing and the defence of men appointed vnto death But I answere God hath giuen all iudgement to the Sonne that is omne futurum iudicium all the generall vniuersall and future iudgement and secondly for you non tam vos quam deus per vos iudicat it is not so much you as God that iudgeth in and by you according to that of Deutero Deut. you exercise the iudgements not of man but of God and thirdly
Saint Iohn S. Iohn when he shal appeare we shall be like vnto him and shall see him as he is we shall bee like vnto him there is our vnion and shall see him as hee is there is our vision Others adde to the beatitude of the soule two other actes one the fruition another the eternall retention of God And it is controuers'd among the learned in which of these foure actes the felicitie of the soule doth consist Henri Ganda Henricus Gandauensis thinkes the soules happinesse resides in her vnion with GOD because that vnion doth deifie the essence of the Soule Thomas laies it to the vision of the Soule because Aquin. that vision doth blesse and beatifie the vnderstanding of the Soule Scotus Scotus drawes it to the fruition of the Soule because that fruition doth satisfie the will of the Soule Aureo Aureolus puts it to the retention of the Soule because that and that only doth fully glad and reioice the Soule I will not determine Onely I say blessed soules and bodies shall haue triumphum gaudium triumph and ioy They shall haue triumph first ouer death for death shall be no more Secondly ouer him that hath the power of death that is the Diuell for they shall be freed from his power Againe they shal haue ioy first in the Maiestie of God secondly in the humanity of Christ and thirdly in the societie of Angels and Saints There is also after iudgement poena a punishment for wicked soules And this punishment is double Aquin. sensus damni of sense and losse of sense for there the wanton eye shall see fearefull obiects the delicate smell feele filthy odors the dainty eare heare ghastly howlings In so much that a good Father breakes out thus O si O that we could lay our eares to the mouth of hell O that we could heare and see what men suffer in hell doubtless we would descend viui ad inferos to a liuely consideration of hell in this life that so we might escape it after this life For there is a fire for the body and a spirituall worme for the soule and both these eternall For well were it with the damned if they might bee no longer in hell but till a Doue could take vp all the sand of the shore or a Wren drinke vp all the water of the Sea or a Child gather all the grasse of the earth or a man count all the starres of heauen for then there might be at length some hope of release but this is Orcus orci the hell of hell that the wicked must reside for euer in hell So I come to the order that God will vse in iudgement Quaeret hee will question all our wayes and workes God will resolue foure questions in the day of iudgement First the question An sit Deus against the Atheist who shall then finde that there is a God Secondly the question Quid sit Deus against the Papist who shall then see that stockes and stones are not God Thirdly the question Quotuplex Deus against the presumers and despairers for then the presumer shall feele that God is iust as well as mercifull and the despairefull behold that God is mercifull as well as just Lastly the question Propter quid homo against all the wicked who shall then know that though God made the world for man yet hee made man for himselfe and not the world And in this Quaere and inquisition of the iudge though it will extend to all things yet suffer me to obserue but two things Quid Quos what and whom God will then visite and enquire of First Quid what will God visite Man and the estate of man Man to see if man remember whence he was and had his creation and whither hee haue not lost the image of his Creator God will demand of man what he was by nature who hee was in person of what ranke and order hee was in life and conuersation Nay God will scan and sift all that is in man He wil demand if our wisedome haue not beene craft our seueritie rigor Musso our iustice crueltie and our gouernment tyranny Hee will aske if our autoritie haue not beene oppression and our zeale contention He will visite and see if our humblenes haue not been basenes and our curtesie haue not beene flatterie our iesting scurrilitie our free life dishonestie and our silence singularitie He will demand if our simplenes were not folly and our feruor in religion formall hypocrisie And if we dare contest with God and say Quid mali What euill haue I done the Lord will aske at quid boni but hast thou not left much good vndone If thou say I haue not hindered alienaā vitam the life of another he wil aske at qutuam but how hast thou ordered thy owne life If thou say non blasphemaui Christum I haue not blasphemed Christ hee will aske nonne blasphemasti Christianum but what didst thou neuer speake ill of any Christian If thou say Neminem occidi I haue kild no man hee will aske but hast thou not hated so killed thy brother in thy hart S. Luke If thou say I fast God will visite and see whether thou fast for thy purse or for the poore if thou say as did the Pharisee I giue almes God will visite and see if thou haue giuen them for his glorie or thy owne pride and vaine-glorie Secondly I obserued Quos visitabit whom God will visite Indeed God will visite all sinners but because a world of time would not serue me to open all the sinnes of the world suffer me to set but three regnant and praedominant sinnes before you First then God will visite the Vsurer Thesaur nonus and if that of the Postill be true this will be a heauy Visitation for him For he is a bloudy a crimson a scarlet sinner nay wurse then any other sinner Hee is wurse then the thiefe for the theefe takes it priuily and in the night but the Vsurer takes openly and in the day nay hee takes both night and day Secondly a Vsurer is wurse then the graue for the graue restor'd hirded at the Passion of Christ but hee neuer restores though the poore bee ready to fall into many and many a bitter passion Thirdly a Vsurer is wurse then hell for hell tormenteth only the euill but hee crusheth and oppresseth both good and euill Fourthly a Vsurer is wurse then a Iew for a Iew will not take of a Iew but a Christian Vsurer will take and ouer-take a Christian Fiftly a Vsurer is wurse then death for death kils but the body but hee pines and kils both body and soule Sixthly a Vsurer is wurse then Iudas for Iudas sold Christ but once but he buyes and sels Christ in his Christians euery day Lastly the Vsurer is wurse then any sinner for the Glutton will sometime fast the proud man wil sometime be humble euery
those dedly sinnes which haue too much life in this your Citie if you be not a father to the Orphane a righter of the Widdow and the Poore if you that beare the name and office and sword of God faint in your office and protect not with Gods sword the Name of God if you doe not iustifie and condemne those good and bad that appeare before you here is a Quid facies for you what will you doe when you shall appeare before the Lord And you learned Counsellers of the Law you that are factors for the truth and the agents and instruments of peace if you hinder as it is in Zacharie Zacha. the iudgement of peace and truth if you kindle debate and bee as the seeds-men of sedition Plutar. if like Camels you trouble the water that you your selues may drink the better if your Counsels infringe Gods precepts if you come sometime with querkes and trickes of Law sometime with color and pretext of conscience but to subuert both law and conscience if you that should plead for right and iustice make iustice a stranger in hir owne Court here is a Quid facietis for you what will you doe when you are called to that heauenly Court Take heed periculosum est S. Ambro. saith Saint Ambrose in foro versari it is great danger to follow Courts for Iudas in foro in a Law-Court sold Christ and Simon Magus in foro in a Law-Court would haue bought the holy Ghost You the holy Ministers of the holiest you that bee the Angels and Embassadors of GOD the seruants of the Lord and the tongue of the LORD vnto his seruants if you haue before your mouth non ostium not a doore which may open and shut sed obstaculum but a wall which will neuer open if you affect to ouersee Christs flocke not as it is opus bonum a good worke 1. Tim. 3. but as it may gaine you opes bona goods and wealth if you take the houses of the Lord in possession and take no care to build vp the Lords house if you say and doe not if you bee not like cockes S. Greg. first beating downe sinne in your selues and then crowing out against the sinne of others if you that be sal terrae the salt of the earth loose your sauour if you that bee sol mundi the light of the world giue no light here is a Quid facietis for you what will you doe when God shall bring euery thing to light Eccl. You Gentles and Gallants of this age that be in the very pride and glorie of your time and the May and Floure of your youth if you remember not that remember thy creator in the dayes of thy youth but make your selues vassals to any euen the fayrest creature if you seeke for not the true glorie of GOD but the vaine glorie of this vainest world if you desire rather a gorgeous rich back then with true valour and vertue to enrich your minde if you bee hot and feruent spirits and yet more forward for the flesh then for the spirit here is a Quid facietis for you what will you doe when you shall bee stripped of flesh and spirit You beauteous Ladies and faire matrons and damzels of this Honorable Citie you that are the obiect of euery eye and perhaps the desire of many hearts if you come hither clothed like Salomon in his royaltie rather to draw the eyes and chaine the hearts of others vnto you then to lift vp your owne eyes and hearts vnto your God if you take more care to powder the haire and plaister the face then to seeke God and his face if you make the hayre of ded men and women to liue againe vpon your heads if you make Esay as the Prophet speakes a tinckling with your feet and thinke the ground too base for you to goe on if any of you be as I hope none is either like Semiramis lasciuious or like Cleopatra proud and ambitious if like Thamar you sit in the way for to ensnare or like Dalila you offer a bosome but to murther if like Herodias you loue to daunce and striue rather to keepe measure in your footing then your liuing if you more regard a glittering and garish suite then a gracious and godly soule if you more weigh a light feather then the Law of your heauenly Father here is a Quid facietis for you what will you doe when you shall be excluded from God your Father And if as ashamed of Gods image and scorning that forme and face which hee hath lent you you picture and paint out to your selues annointed faces suffer not mee but Saint Ambrose to tell you S. Ambrose that this dawbing and parjetting of the face is in some respect wurse then adulterie it selfe For in that foule act persona vitiatur onely the person is polluted but in this vngodly and vnnaturall painting natura laeditur euen nature her selfe is more then too much corrupted To summe vp all in a word you who like Absalon stand faire yet bee ambitious you who like Achab be rich and yet be couetous you that like Achitophel be wise and yet malitious You Marchants that venter more for gold then for God you artizans in generall that loue more the gaining of a noble or a crowne then you feare the losse of a heauenly and eternall crowne here is a Quid facietis for you all what will you doe when you shall stand before the iudge of all 2 Secondly we shall not know what to answere Quid respondebo What shall I answere It is in the singular what shall I answer to shew that God will single out and set apart euerie one to answere for himselfe In this iudgement we cannot answere by a proxie a deputie a sollicitor or atturney nay the Kings of the earth cannot send their Vice-royes and Legates to answere for them before the King of Heauen For God will send out his atachment and as it were his sub poenâ to make euery one appeare either to paine or rest in his owne person Let vs then follow that counsell which Moses gaue vnto the Hebrew attende tibi looke vnto thy selfe since euerie man must answere for himselfe Let vs remember that S. Matth. 9. of Christ in the Gospel vade in domum tuam goe into thy owne house the house of thy familie the house of thy bodie the house of thy soule and the house of thy conscience which is kept within thy soule for euerie man must answere for the order or disorder of his owne house And domus tua Musso ipse tu man himselfe is the house of man Therefore if the head of this house rebell it must submit if the eyes those windowes of this house be vaine they must be shut if the senses those doores and gates of this house bee loose they must be kept if the flesh the wall of this house be weake it must by
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