The Unspotted HIGH-COVRT OF IVSTICE Erected and Discovered in Three SERMONS Preached in LONDON and other Places By THOMAS BAKER Rector of St. Mary the More in EXON. Jam. 5.9 Behold the Iudge standeth before the Door Ambros. l. 5. d. Fid. c. 8. Cum cuncta futuri Iudicii momenta nescimus semper tanquam in Excubiis constituti in quadam virtutis Specula collocati peccandi consuetudinem declinemus ne nos inter vitia Dies Domini deprehendat Printed for the Author 1657. THE EPISTLE To his justly honoured friend Jonathan Prickman Esq the happiness of this life and a better SIR THe diet of Ephraim in the Prophet cannot but by al that have tried it be interpreted and entertained for very spare and thin that is nothing else but what the Apostle disclaimeth the fighting with a poor blast of empty Aire That Ixion is in a very sorry condition that embraceth a cloud of such vacuity in stead of the Iuno of a well-furnished table Mine entertainment Sir by you from time to time hath been of another nature that have still every day more and more abounded in pregnant testimonies of your real favours towards me These poor labours which when preached you were pleased highly to approve of shall you but now vouchsafe to look upon in a dead letter where they cannot but lose much of their lustre with a favourable eye you shall every day more then other lay a strong obligation of a continued sacrifice of prayer still to be offered up before the Throne of grace for all manner of blessings both spiritual and temporal to be showred down upon you and yours by Sir Your most humbly devoted Friend and Servant T. B. The Epistle to the Reader Courteous Reader FOr for the general upon my late trial of thee by the three Sermons of mine lately published I finde thee to deserve no other compellation however some Magni nominis umbrae shadows of great names have winced and so upon the result professed themselves galled with a passage in the Epistle to the first of the Knaves every day turning beest thou Presbyterian or Independent wilt thou be but pleased to lay aside thy self-interest the less reason shalt thou have as Felix to startle at this theam of Iudgement Beest thou a right unbiassed Protestant Christian as with the Creature in the Apostle thou wilt find in the an inclination to a restless groaning till thou beest delivered from the bondage of corruption so withal a propension every day more and more to lift up thine head in a joyful assurance that the day of thy Redemption draweth nigh Beest thou what thou wilt leaving this following discourse upon the Text for thee to advise with that thou mayest so demean thy self that the sound of the last Trumpet may not affright thee is and shall be the assiduous prayer of Thine in our common Iudge and Saviour T. B. The first SERMON Apoc. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great stand up before God and the Books were opened and then another Book was opened which was the book of life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works NOt to look back for Cohaerence as but so far as the immediately preceding verses wherein our divine Evangelist acquainteth us with what he has discovered of Gog and Magog devoured by fire from Heaven and their great Lord and Master the Divel cast into a lake that is for ever to burn with fire and brimstone I shall for the present content my self with that Statutum est of the Apostle Heb. 9.27 for an Introduction to lead me into the Text it is appointed for all men once to die and after that the judgement Death is nothing else but as that adversary in the Gospel that delivereth us up to the Judge Or as an alarm for the awaking of us to prepare for a sharp encounter with judgement And then since death hath of late dayes especially and that for a long continued Tract of time been gallopping upon her pale horse amongst us not all-arming us onely but beating up our quarters yea bathing her footsteps in our blood nay and God only knoweth how soon she may be charging us with a fresh Cariere drereful Heralds unto us that it is to probable that ere long we shall be delivered up to this Judges Capital sentence yea that unless those two powerful Advocates a lively faith and hearty repentance shall seasonably interpose must needs doom us to irreparable destruction both of body and soul this sentence of judgement in all rational discourse may not seem strange or uncouth unto us Nay may that the Apostles argument upon his Romans he presseth for their speedier awaking out of sleep Rom. 13.11 pass for irrefragable that their salvation is now nearer then when they first believed of all hands can it not but be agreed upon that a strongerty for the contemplation of this Judgement must needs lieupon us that have far greater reason to say of our times then the Apostle of his above sixteen hundred years ago Cor. 10.11 that we are they upon whom the ends of the world are come then upon any Patriarch or Prophet before or under the Law yea or Evangelist or Apostle since the death or Sepulture thereof that had but a dim sight of this so considerable a spectacle by the glimering light of Prophesie or vision yea or Revelation as hath our divine Evangelist and Apostle here I saw the dead small and great stand up before God c. The Text then you cannot but see what just reason I shall have to term a lively Effigies and Representation of the great and general and unspotted High-Court of Justice that at the last day shall be erected in the Heaven of Heavens wherein I shall only point out unto your considerations these ensuing particulars the Prisoners to be arraigned the Iudge to pass sentence the Evidence to be given in the Legal proceeding of the Court the Infallible certainty of all The Prisoners to be arraigned you may see to be the Dead small and great The judge to pass sentence God The Evidence to be given in Recorded in Books The Legal proceedings of the Court appeareth clearly in that the dead without any the least distinction or discrimination are to be judged according to their works And the infallible certainty of all is conspicuously apparant by that our divine Evangelist and Apostle professeth that he hath been {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an eye-witness of all These the parts of these plainly briefly and orderly And first are we to take a view of the Prisoners to be arraigned which we see are the Dead small and great I saw the dead small and great stand up before God Not to mention those that shall alive be caught up with those that are dead to meet the Lord in the Ayre 1 Thes. 4.17 this mention of dead small and great hath ministred matter of
as the time of Harvest to make a separation between them The one of them is as a Mass of Gold and Dross blended together the other as a Fire to distinguish and divide them asunder The Letter of the former may scarce be of a visible impression the Character of the latter is indeleble Be our names never so fairly written in the former they may yet afterwards be obliterated but once Recorded in the latter they can never possibly be Blotted out I cannot stand here at large to exagitate the Malepert Humours as of those Chymick Spirits that will needs be preproperously drawing the Elixir and Quintessence of a Church out of a Church whereinto none shall be received but Saints of their own Canonization Qui vult ante egressos Angelos c. saith St. Greg. They that will be separating the Reprobate from amongst the Righteous before it shall please the Lord to send forth his Angels to that purpose he neither understandeth the Scriptures nor his own Bounds or Limits so neither of those Finde or rather Make-faults that will needs be Quarrelling with the Paper of this Book as if it were not able to bear Ink certainly not to preserve the Letters of those Names fair that are therein Registred Exegi Monumentum AEre perennius No Monument of Brass so Retentive as the Paper no Characters therein engraven so Lasting as the Letters of this Book Which therefore that they be not Blurred or Sullyed by any bold or prophane Hand that may prematurely offer at the opening of this Book are to be kept close and Shut up until the Day of our Common standing up both Small and Great before God And yet this Book which this Great Judge hath designed not to be locked up within his Archives only but there laid up and that clasped yea Sealed yea and that with no less then seven Seals in the 5. of this Book and 1. for the Concealment of the Contents from the discovery of the most Curious piercing and Searching Eye there want not yet uncommissioned Inquisitors that will not only be breaking open but will be therein Impudently Enrolling and Cancelling what Names they please In the 12. of Daniel where the Prophet heareth of a Time and Times and half a Time for which the wonders foretold him shall â—ast he presently groweth Inquisitive O my Lord saith he what shall be the end of these things But the Answer he receiveth is no less Sharp then Short Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed and Sealed up until the time of the End When we hear of a Book wherein this Great Judge of Heaven and Earth hath Registred the Names of his chosen ones we presently with the Prophet have an Itch in our Fingers for the searching of the Records Yea and not only so but a restless pain in our Tongues They stretch forth their Mouth unto the Heavens saith the Kingly Prophet and their Tongue walketh through the Earth Psal. 73.9 until we have published and proclaimed yea not seldom fained and fabled the Contents We Saints of the last Edition and our own Canonization have our Names only written in this Book and have therefore exclusively Title not for the future only to Heaven but to Earth for the present Whereas all the men of the World besides are left out as Reprobates and so divested of all manner of Interest whether in Temporal or Eternal Inheritance Which distinction yet either for Number or Names of Persons much more may in no wise be expected shall come to any Mans Cognizance until the Dead Small and Great Arising to stand up before God this Book with the others come to be Opened Certainly this Book is yet so fast shut up and Sealed until the last Day that whoever he be that shall arrogate to himself a Faculty of the Knowledge of the Contents and in the mean time much more assume a Power of publishing the Names therein recorded of such an one and that with modesty shall I have reason to say that he speaketh without Book And now then how well will it become us in this Case {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to bewise unto Sobriety Mollia sunt Parvis Prata terenda Rotis to be wary how we adventure upon the Plowing up of Deep Lands with slight and slender Carriages Certainly it will be wisdome as Charity enough in every one of us to look to one There is none so lawful none so useful a Scrutiny as leaving others to Stand or Fall to their own Master to make a diligent enquiry every one of us for our Particular Names whether they be Enrolled in this Book or no And in this Scrutiny this Enquiry in no wise can we better satisfie our selves then I say not by breaking open the Seals of this Book but by looking into the other books whereof each we are to look upon but as an Index to this See we that our Conversations be as far as Humane Frailty shall enable us with a Capacity composed unto the Dictates of the Law of Nature the Law from Sinai the Law from Sion being such in one word as in the word of the Apostle Phil. 1.27 may become the chief of these Books the Glorious Gospel of Christ See we every one that in the Book of our Conscience and the Book of Gods Remembrance the Blots of all our sins whatsoever may as in a Table-Book appear written Spunged out by the precious waters of unfained Repentance be now henceforth be all over written with the fair Characters of Righteousness and Holiness And then shall we not need to distrust but that we shall appear clear when we shall come to be Judged out of those things which shall appear written in these Books according to our works Which might fitly bring me to the survey of the two last remaining Particulars the Equal Proceedings of the Court and the Infallible certainty of all but for that their but Cursory view would take up more time then for the present can be well afforded leaving them for a competent Argument which may well take up our next Days entire Perusal beseech we the Almighty in the mean time to grant that the words we have this Day heard with our outward Ears c. The Third SERMON Apoc. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great c. Iohn 5.27 And shall come forth those that have done Good to the Resurrection of Life and those that have done Evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Justine Martyr Quemadmodum omnibus Corporibus à Deo procreatis hoc insitum est ut Vmbram habeant sic Deum quoque qui Iustitia praeditus est tum iis qui virtutem sibi colendam proposuernut tum iis qui vitium amplexari maluerint pro cujusque Merito Praemia Poenasque tribuere consentaneum est Apoc. 20.12 I saw the Dead Small and Great stand up before God and the Books were opened and then another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and
Bello acies saith St Chrysost. as we use to set an Army in Battle-aray against an enemy before us what things we have done I have sometimes heard of an harsh answer that an hard-hearted chuffe made a poor man when he begged an Alms of him that if the day of judgement were at hand he would not give him a Penny To whom the poor man maketh no other reply but this that did he but believe that that day were at hand he would give him a Penny Doubtless the most flinty-hearted amongst us would be far from shutting up the Bowels of his compassion against his distressed Brother much less would he what is the worlds present guise for the general trample upon him and tirannize over him nor would any of us ruffle in Pride revel in excess dally in wantonness roar in Blasphemie mask under the visour of Hypocrisie as more then a good many of us familiarly do did we but duly contemplate with our selves that this great day of Judgement may be at hand nay did we but entertain a certain perswasion that there will be a day of Judgement And therefore those Arms wherewith Gideon furnished his Souldiers for their encounter with the Midianites Every one an empty Pitcher a burning Lamp and a Trumpet in his hand Iud. 7.16 will be proper for us still to have in a readiness in our thoughts for our encounter with the Hellish Midianites an emptie Pitcher even the apprehension of the brittle Pitchers of our bodies empty of strength and life of a burning Lamp a Lamp still lighted by a stream of Fire and Brimstone in the Infernal Tophet and a Trumpet which we know not how soon shall rouze us out of our Graves to try our strength Integrity before this Judgement seat Without all peradventure it is that the Midians or Jerichoes term them which you please shall never be able to stand or hold out shall they at all essays be surrounded with the due recognition of this Trumpets sound as a Signal for the opening of the Books Which might fitly bring me to the view of the third particular I commended to your observations the evidence to be given in which we see here is recorded in Books But I fear that I have already exceeded the limits both of my time and your patience Leaving therefore what remaineth for some other Days Essay beseech we the Almighty to grant that the words we have this day heard with our outward Ears may through his grace be so inwardly graffed in our hearts that they may bring forth in us c. The Second SERMON Apoc. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great c. Mat 24.44 Be ye also ready for in such an Hour as you think not the son of man commeth Abbas Elias Ego tres stimeo una est quando egressura est Anima de Corpore aliam quando occursurus sum Deo tertiam quando adversum me proferenda est sententia Apoc. 20.12 and the latter part of the Verse ANd the Books were opened and then another Book was opened which was the Book of life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works The whole Verse when I first undertook it I termed and that perhaps not unfitly a lively Effigies and Representation of the Great and General and Unspotted High-Court of Justice that at the last day shall be erected in the Heaven of Heavens Wherein having given you a summary view as of the Prisoners to be arraigned the Dead Small and Great and the Judge to pass sentence God we are now according to our proposed Method to heed the Evidence to be given in the equal proceedings of the Court and the Infallible certainty of all And first the Evidence to be given in offereth it self to our considerations which we see is Recorded in Books And the Books were opened What cannot be denyed of any what ever Judge of this supream Judge of Heaven and Earth must needs Ex abundanti be granted and confessed that he is Lex loquens a speaking Law yea Quicquid libet licet as that gross Parasite sometimes to the King of Persia so exact a Rule of Law is his will that to question the equity of what ever he willeth were Crimen laesae Majestatis no other then an height of Rebellion And then Books for the information of the understanding and so guidance of the will of this Judge may justly seem superfluous But he that is the Fountain of Justice and would therefore by his own Exemplary practise prescribe a course of unerring Justice unto all that under him will needs lay claim to any Judiciary Power as in the first piece of justice he did upon our first Parents though taking them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the very Act he doth not presently without further enquiry pass sentence upon them but first calleth man to the Bar Adam where art thou Where man appearing he apposeth him with a question which yet hath the nature of a smart charge Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat Yea and then what Nicodemus now boldly alledgeth in the behalf of his Mr. Iohn 7.51 whom in the preceding verse for fear he sought In tenebris by Night with patience he heareth what this guilty Person can say for himself before he giveth him his Doom so here for the making up the exact complement of his Justice in the last Judgement that the most clamorous Delinquent may have no just cause of exception against his just way of proceeding he passeth sentence not as many a Brain-sick Enthusiast preacheth without Book but out of Books and these known Books of Law and those opened And the Books were opened For the number of these Books I know no Penman of holy Writ so proper and present to acquaint you as this our signally Divine Evangelist and Apostle St Iohn who here giveth us an intimation of three at least which he here professeth and that by Revelation to have seen And I saw the Books opened and then another Book was opened which was the Book of life For their Titles if you please to take them amassed into one great volume you may stile them all collectively by the name of Gods Doom-day Book If in several pieces you may not unfitly stile the first Secundum quem the second Ex quo the third In quo the first his Statute-Book the second his Day-Book the third his Book of Records And every of these Books shall we see opened when we come all both Small Great to stand up before this Righteous judge of the whole Earth I saw the Dead Small and Great stand up before God The first of these his Statute-Book is made of three Tomes in the first whereof is written the Law of Nature in the second the Law from Sinai in the third the Law from Sion For the first of these the Law of
the Dead were Iudged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works A Sight have you had as of the Prisoners to be Arraigned the Dead Small and Great of the Judge to pass sentence which though for the Judgement of Principal Authority it shall be every Person in the Trinity for which cause we finde this Day Signally stiled Gods Day 2 Pet. 3.12 Looking for saith he and hastening unto the Day of God yet for the Judgement of Promulging and Pronouncing of sentence it shall be the second Person in that Trinity and that in regard of his Humane Nature The Father saith our Apost. hath given Power to the Son to execute Iudgement because he is the Son of Man Iohn 5.27 So of the Evidence to be given in Recorded in Books and those three principals whereof the first is Gods Statute-Book made up of three Tomes in the first whereof is written the Law of Nature in the second the Law from Sinai in the third the Law from Sion the second his Day-book made up of two whereof the first is of that our own Conscience the second of Gods Remembrance the last his Book of Records and that you have seen to be of a two-fold nature the one that wherein the Church Registreth those for the Sons of God that by an outward Confession of their Faith are received into her Bosome notwithstanding that not a few of them prove afterward Impostours and Hypocrites the other that of his Eternal Fore-knowledge whereby from all Eternity he hath and beyond all Tract of time will acknowledge those for his whom he hath Predestinated to the Adoption of Sons and Ordained to be Heirs of Eternal Life The Equal Proceedings of the Court and the Infallible certainty of all remain only for the present to be discussed And first are we to examine the equal Proceedings of the Court whose impartial Judge shall Examine the whole World upon the works whether Good or Evil they have done And the Dead were Judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works It is the Lords own word to his People Isa. 55.8 My wayes are not as your wayes And this difference of wayes between him and them the same Lord no less justly then precisely may you hear Contesting with them in point of Equity Ezech. 18.29 Are not my wayes Equal saith he and yours Vnequal Betwixt Heaven and Earth there is not so great a Distance as there is Difference between God and more then a good many Men in the exercise of Judiciary Power The Law which the Civilians say is Sanctio Iusta Iubens Honesta Prohibensque Contraria a Just Constitution commanding things that are Honest and Forbidding the Contrary is in the Court of Heaven reputed the only straight Rule whereunto the subjects of that court are to conform their works ways for their Deviation and Declination from its Rectitude are only punishable For which cause our Evangelists description of sin is that it is the Transgression of the Law in the 1. of his Epistle the 3. Chapter and 4. V. And therefore that word of that other Apostle just reason that it obtain with us the Credit of an Oracle Rom. 4.15 where there is no Law there is no Transgression So that then that word of that other Apostle yet 2. Pet. 1.19 for the word of Prophesie our parts it shall be to conceive directed unto every one of us for the Law that we shall do well to take heed thereunto as unto a Light that shineth in a Dark Place No otherwise then you may observe some careful Mariner for the better guidance of his Ship in a Dark Night to heed a Light which from some Eminent watch-towr may discover it self The Conduct of which Light therefore whose Beams every one of us may clearly discern as the Pilot his Light from the Tower darting out from Heaven upon him for the better steering him a course through the surges of this world shall he not heed no marvel if Straying from the right Path of Justice he wander in Darkness and in the shadow of Death The Proceedings of too too many a Man that assumeth unto himself a Power to Execute Justice not seldome runneth a clean contrary Bias to this They say as those in the Wiseman Wisd. 2.11 Our will is the Law of Iustice And therefore take unto themselves a liberty of Proscribing Imprisoning Condemning yea Executing too whom they please though guiltless of the Transgression of any Law Nor shall the Law be the Rule whereby to examine the work of supposed Dilinquents but their causeles fears and Jealousies shall make Delinquents whomsoever they shall please Whilst themselves in the mean time notwithstanding that they are dipped in as deep a Dye of villany as the blackest Fiends of Hell must yet have Precedence of all the Apostles nay the Virgin Mary her self in Saintship as long as did Saul with an Image in stead of David 1 Sam. 19.13 they can impose upon the purblinde World with empty Shadows and semblances in stead of the true and real Body of Religion and what AEschines sometimes objected to Demosthenes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} can New-dip Extortion Oppression Perjury Tyranny Sacriledge Murther yea very Atheisme with the fair and specious Names of Reformation Beloved As this Great Judge is far from being so Sophistical as to impose upon us with a Fallacy of Non causa pro Causa and so not so Rigid as to Condemn us without the least transgression of any of his Laws so neither may we conceive him to be so Facile and Easie as that he shall be wone to accept of a bare Shew and Profession of Saint-Ship for a perfect observation of this Law of his That Rule of this great Judge By their Fruits you shall know them Mat. 7.16 holdeth as true for all manner false Pretenders as Prophets They are the Fruits of good works only and not the Leaves or Blossoms of vain Ostentation or Profession that shall Acquit or condemn us at the last Day And the Dead were Iudged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works But how The Dead to be Judged according to their works Durus est hic Sermo this is an hard saying and who may abide it What hope of Salvation then shall the most Righteous have to entertain Yea and then as is St. Peters passionate Quaere in the 1. of his Epistle Chapter 4.18 Where shall the Vngodly and the Sinners appear So that then well may David Holy David deprecate this manner of Trial before God Psal. 143.2 Enter not into Iudgement with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be Iustified He that hath found no stedfastness in his Servants but hath charged his very Angels with Folly how much more then Man which dwelleth in an House of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust Alas As the Priest
such good-works which may become Newness of Life as that we have any thing of Abomination or defilement about us for the keeping us out the last v. of the last Chap. of this Book And therefore however for the work of our Justification God may say unto us as to the two Blind-men Matth. 9.29 According to your Faith be it unto you yet if now upon this foundation of our whatever Faith we shall be so far from building up the Gold or Silver Superstruction of Pious and Religious works as that we shall lay on nothing but the Hay and Stubble of all manner of vanities yea Impieties and Enormities so far shall such a Faith be from saving us that most woful must our condition needs appear when we shall all come to stand up before God to receive our sentence either of Acquital or condemnation according to our works Every Mans works shall be made manifest saith Saint Paul for the Fire shall try every mans works of what sort it is 1 Cor. 3.13 where by Fire will we hear St. Augustin and diverse others of the Antients We are to understand either the Fire of all manner of Temptations and Tribulations and Persecutions which as Fire are to try and prove sound Doctrin and reduce to nothing the Hay and Stubble of Humane Invention When the Lord shall wash away the filth of the Daughter of Sion by the Spirit of judgement and Fire saith the Prophet Isa. 4.4 or the Fire of the Holy Ghost He shall Baptize saith the Baptist with the Holy Ghost and with Fire Matth. 3.11 or our Saviours appearance at this Day of Judgement either for the brightness of his Presence Who is the true Light that lightneth every one that commeth into the world Iohn 1.9 or for his consumptive quality that as is the same Psalmists Prediction Mat. 3. â—2 is to burn up the Chaffe with unquenchable Fire So that then finde we in our selves some ability for the bearing of Tribulations and Persecutions Some eminent graces of Gods Spirit Some Light of Illumination of our understandings for the discerning of those things that are Excellent Some consumption of the Hay and Stubble of all manner of Corruptions within us Upon these and no other Terms just reason shall we have to conclude that we are truly justified by Faith in the free Grace of Christ and so shall be counted worthy to stand before this Son of Man as himself speaketh Luke 21.36 Let then the Light of our Faith so shine before Men that they seeing our goods works may thereby be induced yea enforced to glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Let not our Lean Profession of Faith devour and swallow up the Fat of all manner of good works amongst us But let the Pomegranats of all manner of Fruits of Gods Spirit every where appear in the Coat of our Christianity as well as the Bels of our loud Profession of Faith Let Faith which commeth by hearing be as Mary conversant about one thing the Hearing of the word whilst the other as Martha is careful for many things the entertaining of Christ in all his needy Members Let Faith sing the Plain-song and Good-works the descant for the making up of a Melodious Harmony in the Ears of the Highest Let Faith and good works in every of us prove as Rachel and Leah fruitful for the building up of the House of our Christian Profession That so being Justified by Faith and having good works for the Justifying of this Faith of ours in the End of our Days we may receive the End of our Hopes the Salvation of our Souls when this great God of Heaven and Earth shall judge the Dead Small and Great out of those things that are written in the Books according to their works And thus far shall it serve to have examined the equal Proceedings of the Court which clearly appeareth in that the Dead Small and Great shall without any further distinction or discrimination be thus as you see Judged I shall only give you a short glimpse of the infallible certainty of all that which is irrefragably evident in that our Divine Evangelist professeth himself to have been {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} an Eye-witness of all I saw the Dead Small and Great stand up before God The Poets word it is Segnius irritant Animos The objects of Hearing make not so sudden an impression upon the Ear as those of seeing do upon the Eye And the reason hereof given by the Phylosopher cannot but be concluded to be very pregnant for that those things we see saith he come to the Eye {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in a direct Line but the things we Hear to the Ear {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} oblickly and as we say on every side Had our Apostle by Hear-say only by Tradition from others acquainted us with the Dead Small and Great standing up in this wise before God and yet this same Evangelist of our Ears conceiveth but even such a Relation to be Edged with Authority sufficient what we have heard saith he declare we to you in the 1. of his 1. Epistle and 5. the less strange might it seem did we appear to distrust the Relation not only for that our Age to palpably aboundeth with Lies much more then Truth but for that much more the greatest part of us that have led the Lives of Infidels would gladly cry down this Christian Truth rather for a Fabled Romancee then a Divine Oracle Sed cum certissimus Index Eplicuit presens oculus quem Fabula nescit But now what the greatest Sceptick can in the least measure question the Truth of this Report which so Authentick an Author as this our Evangelist reporteth himself to have seen and this by so unquestioned away as this of Revelation I saw and that with mine own Eyes and that by so unerring Evidence as Revelation the Dead Small and Great stand up before God Indeed I am not Ignorant that there are Revelations that may to justly be stooped to draw in the same Yoak with Dreams Hearken not to your Prophets is the Lords own word to the King of Sidon of Tyre of Moab and Ammon nor to your Diviners nor Dreamers Ier. 27.9 Every even the meanest of us hath for a long time as the Corinthians of old in the 1. of those Epistles 14. and 26. hath a Revelation an Interpretation of his own Of every of which therefore far greater reason shall we have to Quaere then those Philosophers sometimes of our Apostle Acts 17.18 what will this Babbler say But when we meet with a Testificemur quod vidimus as from this our Evangelist Iohn 3.11 we Testifie that which we have seen and that no Prophesie of Scripture is of Private Interpretation but Holy Men of God spake still as they were moved by God 2 Pet. 1.20 that Sceptick must needs be concluded to be above measure Sceptical that shall distrust the Credit of such a Relation I saw the Dead Small and Great stand up before God Let it then be the careful Provision and Circumspection of every one of us that his dreadful sight of the Dead Small and Great standing up before a most impartial Judge and of the Books made up of three volumns in the first whereof is written the Law of Nature in the second the Law from Sinai in the third the Law from Sion the second â—is Day-book of two whereof the first is that of our own Conscience the second of his Remembrance the third his Book of Records and this of a twofold Nature the one wherein the Church Registreth those for his Sons that by an outward Profession of their Faith are received into her Bosome notwithstanding that many of them afterwards prove gross Impostours and Hypocrites the other that immutable Fore-knowledge whereby from Eternity he hath and beyond all Tract of Time will acknowledge those for his whom he hath Predestinated to the Adoption of Sons and ordained to be Heirs of Everlasting Life let this spectacle I say what the Lord sometimes to his People of the Book of the Law Ioshua 1.8 depart never out of our Mouths but meditate we therein Day and Night And let it be the Hing of the same Care of ours to consider that we shall be saved or condemned not by the Leaves or Blossoms of faire Shews or Semblances but by the Fruits of Good-works And then having laboured as much as in us lieth to conform us to his Example that is the Resurrection and the Life when he which is this Life of ours shall appear just reason shall we have to become confident that we shall also appear with him in Glory with the Lustre of which Appearance in thy good time O Lord irradiate every one us for thy Mercies sake c. FINIS