with Augustine August de Symb. l. 3. Iudex ille nec gratiâ praeuenietur nec misericordiâ flectetur nec fletibus mitigabitur This Iudge will not be preuented with fauour moued with mercy nor mitigated with teares nec sententia eius lata vnquam reuocabitur neither will the sentence once past against them euer bee reuoked any more which is the third thing that I am to speake of This sentence is the more dreadfull because it is irreuocable sentence proceeding from the Iudgement seate of mortall men may be reuoked or stopped by sundry meanes as first by appealing vnto some higher Iudge as Paul appealed vnto Caesar but at this great Assise there is no higher Iudge for he is the onely and blessed Prince the King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1. Tim. 6.15 And the Father hath committed all Iudgement vnto him Ioh. 5.27 2. The Iudge vpon better and more mature deliberation may alter his opinion but there is no alteration of Iudgement when it is once gone forth from the Throne of the Lord whose Iudgements are more resolute then the Decrees of the Medes and Persians which might not bee altered When Esau came to his father for a blessing which was formerly past to Iacob his father said I haue blessed him and hee shall be blessed Gen. 27.33 So resolute shall the Lords sentence be at the day of Iudgement I haue cursed them and they shall bee cursed and as Balaam said vnto Balak The Lord hath blessed and he cannot reuerse it Numb 23.20 So say I The Lord will not reuerse this his sentence of malediction Goe ye cursed neither will hee alter the thing that is gone out of his lippes 3. By supplication but because the wicked turned away their cares from hearing the Lord whē he entreated them by his Word it shall bee iust with God not to lend an eare when they doe call and cry vnto him there is not any of that glorious Court of Heauen that will friend them so much as to speake a word in their behalfe Should the Saints whom they euer despised accounting their life madnesse and their end to be without honour Wis 5.4 Should the Angels whose Ministry they haue refused and abused if they did should God himselfe heare them whose Spirit they haue so oftentimes grieued And therefore Iob said well There is no vmpire when God and man are at oddes Iob 9.33 Reas 6 Now the last Reason which doth aggrauate the horrour of the wicked is the punishment of losse Schol. poena damni the consideration of Heauens banishment and Hels eternall imprisonment is a sufficient torture vnto the soule of the wicked and as Chrysostome iudgeth it to bee much more bitter and irksome then the paines of Hell Duplex est damnatorum poena nam mentem vrit tristitia corpus flamma Isidorus de meditatione Ignis gehennalis yea worse then a thousand Hells if there were so many Chrysost super Mat. Hom. 33. according to our Sauiours saying There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when they shall see Abraham Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God and they themselues thrust out of dore Luk. 13.18 VVhere shal be Dogges and Enchanters and VVhoremongers and Murtherers and Idolaters and whosoeuer loueth or maketh lies Reuel 22.15 And not only shall they be debard of the ioyes of Heauen and glory of the Saints but they shall be depriued of all Earthly comforts and all their former delights The Pome granat tree the Palm tree the Apple tree shall wither the Apples after which their soule lusted shall depart from them and they shall finde none Yea if a drop of cold water would comfort them it shall be denied them The Epicure shall bee depriued of his daintie dishes the Drunkard of his bowles of wine the Adulterer of his wanton Mistris the Couetous and Vsurer of their gold which they made their God To conclude they shall be depriued of all Heauenly ioyes of all earthly comforts But I will begin to sing a Song of melody and proclaime a yeere of Iubile vnto the children of God Consolemini consolemini Lift vp your heads saith our Sauiour Christ for your redemption draweth neere Luke 21.28 There is a great Emphasis in the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which doth signifie a freedome from captiuity a restoring vnto a former libertie As if our Sauiour should say The Church as lōg as she is in this world she is like Israel vnder Pharaoh held captiue in imprisonment and slauerie But now at this great Assise there shall be a gaole-deliuerie an euerlasting freedome from all euils whatsoeuer our life is wouen full of miseries Psal 90.10 Diu viuere est diu torqueri Aug. Tertul. vita carcer the best of it is but labour and griefe We are borne into the world weeping and bewailing as it were our owne ensuing miseries the progresse of our life is labor the end is griefe Ioseph was neuer wearier of the dungeon Daniel of the Den of Lions Dauid to dwel in the Tents of Kedar then the children of God are to remaine so long in the Land of Egypt in the Prison of this world and therefore it is said that they looke and long for a Citie to come whose Builder and Maker is God But then shall we be euerlastingly deliuered from all the miseries and calamities which now we are subiect vnto the soule shall be deliuered from disordred passions as hope feare ioy and sorrow the body from sundry outward calamities as sicknesse paine labour reproch from prouocations and intisements of the wicked world from the power of the deuil frō the slauery of sin from death from hell it is our marriage day when our rotten bones shall be raised out of the dust of the earth we shal be clad with glory shal meet Christ in the clouds 1. The. 4 1◠shal be euer with the Lord Where we shall haue an euerlasting Sabbath ioy vpon euery ones head sorrow sighing shal flee away Thē shal we see God face to face that with these eyes saith Iob. God shall wipe away all teares from our eyes there shall be nö more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shal there be any more paine Reuel 21.4 There shall be no more Winter nor Summer heat nor cold day nor night death nor hel But there shall be Vita sine morte Dies sine nocte securitas sine timore c. There shall be life without death day without night security without feare pleasure without paine tranquillity without labour beauty without deformity strength without weaknesse euery thing that is good without any thing that is bad To conclude Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him Isa 64.4 1. Cor. 2.9 Let the faithfull soule sigh out this meditation with blessed Gregory Bone Iesu
from the al-discerning eie of Almightie God though in their life time they thinke that they shall neuer be remooued but are as seemingly safe as Nebuchadnezar or as secure from danger as Edom though now their greatnesse reacheth vnto heauen and their dominion to the ends of the earth Dan. 4.19 though now they build themselues stately houses for the honour of their Maiesty vers 27. Though now they seeme to dwell in the clefts of the rocks secure and farre inough remote out of danger mounting aloft like Eagles in the aire making their nest among the Starres Obad. v. 3. as though no danger should euer come nigh their dwellings Yet Kings with their Armies then shall flie and be discomfited and yet cannot flie from the presence of God nor from beyond the reach of his arme Thus you see that the truth of this doctrine is confirmed by many proofes that the estate and condition of the wicked is full of horror at the dreadfull day of Iudgement Reason 1 Ob signorum multitudinem Now the reasons of this doctrine are many the first is this by reason of the manifold signes and fearefull apparitions both in heauen and earth which will strike an horror dread and amazednesse into the hearts of the wicked Saint Matthew describes them thus the Sunne shall bee darkened and the Moone shall not giue her light the Stars shall fall from heauen and the Powers of heauen shall be shaken Mat. 24.29 The words are to be vnderstood not metaphorically but properly of the alteration of the works of nature as adiuncts circumstances and fearefull presages of that dismall day when the Sunne shall not stand still only as at the prayer of Iosuah Ios 10.12 neither shall it onely goe backward ten degrees as vpon Ahaz Diall Isa 38.8 but it shall be as blacke as a sackcloth of haire Reuel 6.12 We reade that there was an exceeding great darknesse of the Sunne at our Sauiours Passion throughout all the land and many bodies of the Saints which slept arose Matth. 27.52 How fearefull then and how wonderfull shall the comming of Christ vnto Iudgement be when the Sunne the Moone and the Starres and all the powerfull influences of heauen shal grow blacke duskie and vtterly be obscured when all the dead Saints and sinners great and small both in Sea and land shall come forth of their graues whereof the first was a type and figure Mat. 24.31 when the Lord himselfe shall descend from heauen with a shoute and with the voice of the Archangell and with the trumpet of God 1. Thes 4.16 Saint Luke likewise describes the circumstances of that day thus There shall be signes in the Sunne and in the Moone and in the Starres the Sea and the waters shal roare mens harts shall faile them for feare and for looking after these things that shall come vpon the world Luk. 21. vers 25. An Earthquake of it selfe is very fearefull as threatning the ruines of Citties hazarding the subuersion of many stately buildings shaking the very foundations of Kings Palaces and the inundation of waters hath beene very terrible as our Westerne parts can very well witnesse when men euen wisht for Noahs Arke againe and sought the highest places for refuge against the mercilesse waues of the Sea some climbing the clifts of craggy rockes some steeples some the tops of houses some trees some floated vpon the waters like Paul his companions many were drowned But now when the Seas shall roare Rockes shall rent Mountaines shake and shiuer and the glorious Heauens become darke and dusky how shall the hearts of men be appaled with dread and terrour to behold the same and yet notwithstanding these things are but the beginning of sorrowes saith our Sauiour Christ but a Preamble but a Proem but a Prologue to the Tragedy I am not ignorant but that the darkning of the Sunne the Moone and the Starres in the holy Scripture may sometimes bee taken for some kind of calamity ready to fall vpon some particular Kingdome and that these signes doe not alway denotate properly the last day of Iudgement but may be referd to some other particular times of iudgement as the great ouerthrow of the Babylonish Kingdome Isa 13. or the last totall and finall destruction of the Iewes by the Romanes Luk. 21. or that celestiall and truely Diuine victory of Constantine the Great against Maxentius and the Romane Gouernours in the which the great power of almighty God miraculously shone from heauen in reuenging the precious bloud of the blessed Martyrs So the Wise-man exhorting vs to thinke on God in youth and not to deferre repentance vntill we be old drawes one of his motiues and arguments to induce vs thereunto ab incommodo from the manifold inconueniences and impediments accompanying old age that will hinder vs from the true performance of so waighty a worke Repent saith he and turne to God while the Sun is not darke nor the Moone nor the Starres Eccles 12.2 that is before old age approacheth when thou shalt haue no more pleasure in thy dayes then if thou wert shut vp in a darke dungeon and debard of the comfort and benefit of those great and glorious lights of Heauen The second reason Why the state and condition of the wicked is full of horrour at the day of Iudgement Ob Iudicis Maiestatem is the Maiesty of the Iudge the beholding of whose countenance so full of glory and maiesty shall possesse the hearts of the wicked with amazement and astonishment Now the Iudge at this great Assise and generall Audit is Christ himselfe he that once stood before the iudgement seat of Pontius Pilate to receiue his sentence shall now summon Pontius Piliate and all the Potentates of the earth vnto his Consistory to receiue their dreadful doome That Christ is the sole Iudge at the last day they are his owne words The Father iudgeth no man but hath committed all iudgement vnto the Sonne Iohn 5. v. 22. And hath committed vnto him all power and authority to execute iudgement because he is the Sonne of man v. 27. Because hee is the Sonne of man and this cause yeelds vs comfort else were we in a miserable case hee doth partake of our nature and therefore is pittifull compassionate yea farre beyond humane reach or reason the Apostles likewise were commanded to testifie this truth and to preach this point that Christ is ordained by God to bee Iudge of the quicke and dead Act. 10. v. 42. So likewise in the 17. Act. 31. Paul preaching to the Athenians presseth repentance and the argument which he vseth to prouoke them thereunto is the consideration of the day of Iudgement when God will iudge the world in righteousnesse by that man that is Christ whom hee hath ordained So likewise the Apostle in the second to the Romanes ver 16. God shall iudge the secrets of men by Iesus Christ And in the second to Timothy c. 4. vers 1. Iesus
only bee made of the thoughts of the heart but wee must also giue an account of the words of the mouth They are the words of him that is the word of truth Of euery idle word that men shall speake they shall giue an account thereof at the day of Iudgement Matth. 12.36 If a man might be called to an account but for his grosser sort of sinnes as for his Whoredom Swearing Cheating Stealing Vsuries Briberies Extortions dishallowing of Sabbaths and the like there were some hope of safety although God knowes there is no hope of the saluation of such without a speedy and vnfained repentance which doth consist in an holy confession of their sinnes in an hearty sorrowing for the same Sermonem otiosum vocat inanem nullius vtilitatis qui sc nihil aedificatienis vel fructus adfert Marlor ex Cal◠in a faithfull restitution of that which hee hath taken from any man by falsity and wrong and in a godly reformation of his forepast life but God will bring into iudgemēt not onely euery secret thought but euery idle word and who alas shall be able to answere him one of a thousand Iob 9.3 Now an idle word is that which is spoken without a fruitfull edification of the hearers for our wordes ought not onely to be few but also they must be good and gracious they must be sauoury and well seasoned with the salt of the Sanctuary and therefore Iob cals the eare the taster of the Word that as we in the common foode of our body swallow not any thing downe into the stomack but what the pallat approues to be good and the grinders prepare for digestion so the eare will not giue passage vnto any word vnlesse it rellish of the Spirit of sanctification and bee truely good to the vse of edifying and may conuay some spiritual nourishmēt vnto the soule and therefore it is the exhortation of the blessed Apostle Let no cōmunication proceed out of the mouth but that which is good to the vse of edifying that it may minister grace vnto the hearers Ephes 4.29 The tongue is the Harbinger of the heart and the truest Ambassador both of the minde and meaning it will soone discry and make manifest vnto others what Countreymen we are whether we belong vnto the Prouince of Babel or the Land of Canaan If wee belong vnto the Prouince of Heauen then our speech is of this Countrey our language is heauenly we are frequent in praising of God in talking of his Word and in telling forth what great things the Lord hath done vnto our soules as our affections are in heauen so is our talke of heauen and heauenly things But if we belong vnto that infernall Kingdome then is the speech carnall sensuall diabolicall then is the tongue exercised in the language of that Countrey in swearing false-swearing cursing banning and blaspheming then is our communication such as may helpe to aduance the Kingdome of Satan whereof wee our selues are limmes and whereof hereafter without repentance wee shall be euerlastingly burning and neuer consuming fire-brands To conclude therefore if euery man must giue-an account of euery idle word not tending to the edification of himselfe and others and of all corrupt and filthy cōmunication whereby hee hath grieued the holy Spirit of God Ephos 4.30 Tremble then thou swearing and false swearing tongue whose Rhetorick and Eloquence of cōmon talke is an execrable oth nay as many othes as wordes thou that canst not sell a penny worth or a pound weight without dozens of othes we haue a world full of such tongues and because of such kind of tongues the lād mournes Gods heauy iudgements are gone out against it if account must bee made of euery idle word what shall become of that tongue that hath pleaded an vniust cause to the peruerting of Iustice wresting the Law to the vtter vndoing of the fatherlesse widdowes what shall become of that tongue that cannot speake a word in the defence of the poore vnlesse it be well tipt with gold the oyle that makes euery ioynt to bee nimble and euery bad cause to goe for current If account must bee made of euery idle word then stand amazed thou vaine and wanton tongue vnderstand and quake when thou hearest mentioned the terrible day of Iudgement thou whose words doe not only not tend to edification but to disgrace the Scripture the word of God it selfe thou that thinkest no iest wil goe for current vnlesse it be seasoned with the salt of the Sanctuary such is the profanenesse of the age in which wee liue that euery Actor vpon the stage euery profane Swaggerer and euery mincing Minion cānot speake a word but must haue a fling and gird at sanctified Scripture assuredly thine account is the greatest thy case fearefull thy iudgement intolerable Let euery man therefore take heede vnto his waies that he offend not in his tongue let him refraine his tongue from euill let him desire the Lord to set a watch before his lips that he may not speake his owne wordes but such as the Lord by his word cōmands him to speake for if our wordes are not such as they ought to be wee shall giue an account for them at the day of Iudgement 3. We shall not only be called vnto an account for our thoughts De operibus and wordes but also of our works wheresoeuer and whensoeuer committed whether by day or by night whether in the field or in the Citie whether in the City or in the house whether in the house or in our chamber whether in our chamber or in our bed there is nothing couered that shall not bee reuealed nothing hid that shall not bee knowne and made manifest before God before the Angels before Saints before the whole world at the day of Iudgemēt so saith the blessed Apostle We must all appeare before the Iudgement seate of Christ and there receiue according to our workes 2. Cor. 5.10 God will giue vnto euery man according to his waies and according to the fruit of his works they that haue done good shal goe into euerlasting life but they that haue done ill shal goe into euerlasting fire This God himselfe reuealed to S. Iohn for truth it selfe I saw the dead great and small stand before God and they were iudged according to their workes Apoc. 20.12 To this purpose saith August In quibus actibus quisque homo inuentus fuerit quando exierit de corpore in his iudicabitur in what sins soeuer man goes out of the body vnrepented of of the same hee shall be iudged at the day of Iudgement as the Preacher therefore concludes his Booke so will I conclude this point God will bring euery worke vnto Iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill Eccles 12. v. 14. 4. Neither shall we bee onely called vnto an account for our thoughts our words and workes but also for our goods and possessions how we haue gotten them how
Disciples It is not for you to know the times and the seasons Act. 1.7 I will conclude with the saying of Augustine Ne nos addamus inquirere quòd ille non addidit dicere Aug. Epist 146. Secret things belong vnto the Lord reuealed things vnto vs Deu. 29. verse 29. Let vs not dare to pry into the Arke of the Lord striuing to know that which is impossible for vs to know it being reserued vnreuealed within the secret bosome of his sacred Maiesty The word of God affoordeth vs certayne signes and prognosticks whereby wee may conclude of a certainty that that day is not farre off the first is this The reuealing and comming of Antichrist Antichrist must first come Antichrist the forerunner of the end of the world so saith the Apostle That Man of sin must first bee reuealed before that day come that sonne of perdition 2. Thess 2. ver 3. Little children saith S. Iohn it is the last time and as you haue heard Antichrist shall come euen now are there many Antichrists whereby we may know that it is the last time 1. Ioh. 2.18 I neede not proue that the Pope of Rome is Antichrist many by their writings haue made this plaine and apparent and discouered that Man of sinne vnto the whole world as manifest to bee Antichrist as he is Pope The second signe that the day is at hand is an Apostasie from Faith and from sound Doctrine of which the Apostle speaketh Now the Spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giuing heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Deuils 1. Tim. 4.1 And is not this time come to passe already are not many carryed about like vapours in the ayre with euery blast of vaine Doctrine hauing itching eares affecting alwayes some new fangled point or other what a dispute beginnes there to bee about that Twinne of our saluation Faith and Repentance touching the priority of them which makes me thinke that either men haue no repentance or else no faith vnlesse both consist vpon the tippe of the tongue in prattling not in practice The third is the promulgation of the Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 throughout the whole world So saith our Sauiour Christ And this Gospell of the Kingdom shall bee preached throughout the whole world and then shall the end come Mat. 24.14 It must bee published among all Nations Mar. 13.10 And is not the sound thereof already gone forth into the ends of the earth is it not spred already from Dan euen vnto Beersheba from one Sea coast vnto another The fourth is the rising vp of false Christs and false Prophets Many shall come in my name saith our Sauiour Christ saying I am Christ and the time draweth neere Luke 21.8 And many false Prophets shall arise and deceiue many Matth. 24.11 The fift signe is Iniquity shal abound The fift signe is the generality of sinne Matth. 24.12 There shall bee such a generall infection of sinne Men shall be louers of their owne selues couetous bosters proude blasphemers disobedient to parents vnthankefull vnholy without naturall affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good Traytors heady high minded louers of pleasures more then louers of God hauing a forme of godlines but deny the power thereof 2. Tim. 3.1.2.3.4 And this is Gods ordinary proceeding against sinne hee doth neuer punish generall vntill sinne bee growne generall God neuer washt away the inhabitants of the earth with the waters of his wrath vntill all flesh had corrupted his way vpon the earth vntill the earth was filled with cruelty and all the imaginations of the thoughts of mans heart were euill onely euill continually euill Gen. 6.5.11.12 The Lord neuer rayned downe fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heauen vpon those two Cities Simeon and Leui like sisters in sinne vntill hee had made enquiry whether there were any righteous men amongst them for the Lord had it not derogated from his Iustice and so consequently from his glory in not being a iust reuenger of sinne was as willing and as well contented as Abraham that Sodom should be saued for euery petition returned vnto Abraham with some aduantage and most comfortable is it the Lord neuer ceased graunting till Abraham ceased asking but in the end there being such a penury such a scarcity such a nullity of good men that the Lord destroyed them with fire and brimstone and so it remaines vntill this day as a monument of Gods wrath Mare mortuum a Sea of fire and brimstone If we trauell vnto that great City Ierusalem the Metropolis of the world the Lady of the earth the perfection of beauty wee shall finde it but a heape of stones But what did moue the Lord to destroy so famous a City called the City of God the habitation of the most Highest a place where he did delight to dwell yet sin had made her infamous and odious in the sight of God the contagion and infection of sinne was generall and that not only some kinde of sinnes but all sinne all oppression that is all kinde of sinne Synechdoche speciei and well may it bee for oppression is a crying sinne and they that make no conscience of great sinnes surely will not make conscience of lesser and these sinnes were not committed in corners or by-lanes but in the open streets in the market place men were growne impudent in sinne all oppression was in the midst of Ierusalem Ierem. 6. vers 6. sinne was growne generall Ierusalem was a denne of Theeues there was no righteous man found throughout the whole City that executed iudgement and sought the truth No nor at the Court amongst the great Men amōgst the Rulers amongst the Noblemen These haue altogether broken the yoke and burst the bond no nor yet amongst the Prophets for they prophesie falsely and the Priests beare rule by their meanes that is both agree together in a mutuall and meere collusion of the people as the Pope with his orders of begging Fryers first they robbe and deceiue the people and then they diuide the spoile Ierem. 5.1.5.31 To conclude sinne was as generall in Ierusalem as euer it was in the old world when it was destroyed with water or in Sodome that City of pride luxury idlenesse when it was burnt with fire so Ierusalems punishments were paralell to her sinnes her sinnes were generall her iudgements were as generall There is not one stone left vpon another of so many stately buildings on which the Iewes so confidently presumed Ioseph l. 6. hist Iud. and so presumptuously insulted ouer the Romanes saying that if the Romans had wings yet they could not flye ouer their wals and inuade their City And is not sinne growne as generall in this world as euer 't was in the old world or in Sodome or in Ierusalem may we not as iustly take vp the complaint of Isay in his time Both head is sicke