of hope but let him instantly be conuerted to God confessing his sinnes and doing pennance for the same because we haue an Aduocate and Mediatour before the eternall Father which is Iesus Christ the Iust and the very fountaine of Iustice who made satisfaction for al our sinnes CHAP. III. Of the benefit which Christ our Lord imparteth to vs in giuing vs to vnderstand and feele the grieuousnes of sinne by the meanes manner of his Iudgement to the end that we may in tyme do pennance for it ANOTHER most singular benefit which Christ our Lord imparteth to vs vnder the quality of his being our Iudge is to make vs know and feele the grieuousnes of of sinne that so we may be drawne to abhorre it greatly to conceaue a true feare of falling into any offence of God This knowledg and this holy Feare do we fetch from the consideration of that diuine Iudgment since notwithstanding that Christ our Sauiour is of his owne Nature most pitteous and most benigne being the very fountaine of pitty and mercy and being most profoundly meeke and sweet and the very fountaine of sweetnes and being so great a louer of men that he dyes for them and so much desiring and esteeming the saluation of their soules that he giues his life for the same we a The terrour wherwith Christ our Lord will appeare at the later day yet see that in his Iudgment he will come extremely full of cause to make vs horribly feare and most terrible wil he be in the highest degree and full of wrath and fury for zeale of iustice against sinners He will come sitting downe vpon those horses of the heauen which are the cloudes Matt. 25. he will come in a warlike manner accompanyed by all the squadrons and armies of heauen Sap. 5. he will draw with him the whole world of creatures being all ranged placed in forme of battaile against sinners Sopho. c. 1. Yea and euen the very Saintes and Blessed soules themselues who are so full of pitty and haue beene the Aduocates of sinners will come armed shall be made both Iudges and the Ministers of diuine Iustice against them He shall haue for the Messenger which speakes of his comming Psal 96. a most furious fire which shall burne and purge all corporeall creatures a most hideous frightfull sound of mysterious trumpets which shal spēd themselues ouer the whole world shall make all creatures tremble and shal passe and pierce euen to the lowest bottome of hell and shall make those soules spring out of those infernall habitations of theirs full of horrible confusion to resume their bodyes and appeare in Iudgment In this manner doth the Scripture describe the comming of Christ our Lord to Iudgement Let vs now consider who it is that causeth this mutation of Christ our Lord. Who changeth him in so strang a fashion Who maketh him of most pittifull so extremly fierce Who of most profoundly meeke so full of wrath Of must delightfully sweet so full of fury and terrour Of peaceable so giuen to warre Of a refuge and shelter for sinners to be growne such a seuere punisher of the faulty Sinnes b See heere if sinne be not a dangerous companion to liue withall they are which cause this great mutation and which do so farre estrange him from that most benigne and sweet condition of his The hatred and profound detestation which he hath of sinne the liuely feeling he hath to see himselfe so foulely offended the greiuous weight which our faultes do carry in his diuine presence wherby his will is transgrest and his law despised do make him grow so frightfull and so very fierce towards the doing of iustice and taking vengance vpon sinners So saith the Apostle of Christ Iudas Thadaeus Iud. 1. speaking of this Iudgment Marke well for our Lord doth come accompanied with the innumerable troupes of holy Angells to passe a Iudgment vpon all wicked men to conuince them of all the euill workes which they haue comitted and of all the euill words which they haue spoken contrary to the law of God and to pronounce a sentence of condēnation against them Since then the hatred which God doth carry against sinne is so very great since the punishment which he will execute vpon sinners in that Iudgment of his is so immense O it is full of reason that from the faith and infallible notice which we haue of this truth all we who are beleeuers should fetch a knowledge of the grieuousnes of sinne and a perfect detestation of the same and a profound griefe and sorrow for such sinne as we haue already cōmitted much feare in respect of them which we may commit heerafter That so we may fly them and be freed from the fury of that diuine Iudgment and from that sentence of eternal damnation which is to be thundered out against sinners For c The true vse which we are to make of considering the terrour of the day of Iudgement this is the true reason why this Iudgment is discouered and notified to vs as S. Paul affirmed whilst he was preaching to the Athenians to this effect God doth now anounce the truth of his Ghospell to men to the end that all men and in all places may do penance of their sins since he hath with firme deliberation ordeyned a day at which tyme he will iudg the whol world with great vprightnes of iustice giuing to euery one that reward and punishment which his workes deserue And this Iudgment he will passe vpon the world by the meanes of Christ our Lord who as man hath authority from the eternall Father to giue visible Iudgment vpon all men Act. 17. CHAP. IIII. How we are to haue great feeling of the grieuousnes of sinne by reason of the demonstrations which shall be made by all the creatures of God before the Iudgement TO the end that from the declaration of the office which Christ our Lord hath of being the Iudge of the Iudgement which is to passe vpon the whole world we may draw the great fruite of knowing and feeling the greiuousnes of sinne and of abhorring it and doing penance for it and that we may also draw from thence a feare of sinne and of the punishment therof we will go dedeclaring those points and misteries of this diuine Iudgment which may best discouer to vs the immensnes of the hate which God doth carry towards sinne and of the punishment which he inflicteth vpon sinners The first point which doth discouer to vs the hate which God doth carry toward sinne is that in this his terrible Iudgment he will not onely punish the sinners who did offend him by their sins Matt. 24. but a How insensible creatures shall after a sort be punished for hauing been made the instrumēt of mans sinne he will after a sort punish all the Creatures of the whole world wherby sinners were assisted
we may draw the detestation of sinne the care of leading a good life Chap. X. chapter 11 How a Christian is to draw out of the consideration of the diuine Iudgement a great feare of offending God that so he may fly far from it Chap. XI chapter 12 How it is very necessary ful of profit that a Christian do exercise himselfe in this holy feare accompany it with the exercise of diuine loue Chap. XII chapter 13 Of how great value and merit this holy Feare is Chap. XIII chapter 14 Of the fauours which Christ our Lord will do to the good at the day of Iudgement and of the Ioy which they shall conceaue by seeing the signes which precede that Iudgment and by beholding the glory of the Crosse which shall go before Christ our Lord. Chap. XIV chapter 15 Of the fauour which Christ our Lord will do his seruants at the day of Iudgment by separating them from the wicked Chap. XV. chapter 16 Of the fauour which Christ our Lord imparteth to his seruants at the day of Iudgment by giuing them his benediction and communicating his kingdome to them Chap. XVI chapter 17 Of the felicity which Christ our Lord will communicate to his seruants in the kingdome of heauen Chap. XVII chapter 18 Of other benefits which Christ our Lord cōmunicateth to his seruants in his heauenly kingdome and of the fruit of gratitude which we must gather from the Consideration of this reward Chap. XVIII chapter 19 How all the things of this life which are good and which giue delight do induce vs to a desire of the kingdome of heauen Chap. XIX chapter 20 How from this knowledge concerning the kingdome of Heauen which Christ our Lord will giue his seruants we are to gather a resolute purpose to fly from sinne and to fullfill the Commandments of God and to despise the commodityes of this life Chap. XX. chapter 21 How we are much to animate our selues towardes the exercise of good works considering the great estimation which Christ our Lord doth make of them at the day of Iudgement the reward which he also imparteth to them Chap. XXI THE IVDGE CHAP. I. How the office of being our Iudge doth belong to Christ our Lord as he is man and of the great benefit which God imparteth to vs in giuing him to vs to be our Iudge ALTHOVGH the indignation wrath of Christ our Lord against the wicked and the punishment which he inflicteth vpon their sins do belong to the office which he hath of being a Iudge yet so also doth it belong to him vnder the same Title to doe fauour to such as are Good to defend them to imparte benefites to them and both to expresse mercy towardes them in the Iudgment which he exerciseth vpon their faults to giue thē reward for their good deeds and for this reason it is that I wil declare the benefits and fauours which we obtaine by Christ our Lord in respect that he is our Iudge It a Why it was wholy fit for the second Person of the most holy Trinity to be our Iudg at the last day belongeth to Christ our Lord that he be our Iudge in regard that he is a man and because he tooke the nature of man vpon him as being a most conuenient thing that the Iudge be seene by all such as are to be iudged by him and that the guilty may wel vnderstand and heare the sentence that shal be giuē against them that for as much as men are composed of a body a soule they may perceaue it with their soule and heare it with the senses of their body Now if Christ our Lord as he is only God were to be the Iudge he could not then be seene by the wicked and the sentence which immediatly he should pronounce would not interiourly be perceaued by them and therefore it was fit that he should be our Iudge as man and should passe his Iudgment vpon men that so he might be seene and heard by all This Mystery was discouered to vs by Christ our Lord and Sauiour himselfe whilest he was saying Ioan. 5. The Father iudgeth no man but he hath giuen all iudgement to the Sonne and he gaue him au hority to exercise Iudgement as the sonne of man That is to say Although the eternal Father haue the supreme authority and power of Iudging that to him it doth principally belong to approue reward that which is good as also to reproue and punish that which is euill the same also hath the Sonne and the holy Ghost the same as being one the same God with the Father yet the office of Iudging exteriourly and after a visible manner to be seene in the Tribunall and with the authority Maiesty of a Iudge to giue exteriourly a sentence which may sensibly be perceaued by such as are Iudged this doth only belong to the person of the Sonne of God Who by meanes of the most sacred humanity which he hath immediatly vnited to himselfe by the power which frō all eternity he hath as God and by that which in Tyme was communicated to him as man he is to make this visible and exteriour Iudgment this being an execution of the interiour inuisible Iudgmēt which is made of all the most Blessed Trinity And although this exteriour Iudgment be also ascribed to the Father and to all the Blessed Trinity as to the prime cause of all things yet he who is the immediate executour of this Iudgement is Iesus Christ the Sonne of the liuing God because the sacred Humanity is only vnited immediatly to the person of the Sonne that Humanity doth make this Iudgment as the instrument of Diuinity Now b An vnspeakable benefit of God who gaue vs Christ our Lord for our Iudge an immense benefit and an imcomprehensible mercy it was for God the Father to giue vs Christ Iesus for the Iu ge of our cause as he is man as he is our brother and our Sauiour If a delinquent were in prison for greiuous Crymes deseruing death and that he had a brother who most tenderly loued him and esteemed him and did so much desire his liberty and his good that to deliuer him out of prison and from death he had spent his fortune and had exposed himselfe to many troubles and euen to the hazard of death and if the king should assigne that brother of the party for the Iudge of his cause with Soueraigne power to Iudge him without appeale what kind of fauour what clemency would it be which heerin should be vsed towards that man How full of ioy and comfort would he be vpō the naming of such a Iudge How confident and secure would he make himself that the sentence would be full of pitty and as fauourable to him as possible his cause might beare Well therfore since all men according to the c From which Christ our Lord his B. Mother
will do it with great Maiesty and very manifestly to all the world yet for as much as concernes the tyme the day and houre wherein he is to come aswell in the vniuersall Iudgment as in the particular he will do it suddenly and conceald and so as that men shall not know either of the houre or day He will come like a theefe who hath a mind to robbe when men are sleeping and inconsiderat so I say will he come suddenly at vnawares to passe his Iudgment vpon many when they liue carelesly in their sinnes Therefore h Take heed of sloath in Gods seruice we who are faithfull Christians and who by liuely faith are made the sonnes of light we I say must not slumber nor giue place to the sleepe of negligence and sinne as others are content to do who want this faith But let vs watch in prayers and good workes following the light of faith and the word of God and let vs carry our selues in al things with sobriety That is we must be very temperate moderate as the Euāgelicall law as the example of Christ our Lord and of his Saints doth exact at our hands both in our eating drinking clothing sleeping speaking and whatsoeuer els This fruit doth holy Iob draw out of the consideration of of the diuine Iudgement as himselfe expressed saying Iob. 19. I did obserue examine my workes with much reflection care to the end that none of them might be wicked and to the i It is not inough to doe good thinges but they must also be well done end also that all they which were good might be well done for I know that in thy Iudgement thou art not to let any sinne passe without punishment Which yet is to be vnderstood of k When due pennance is done for sinne it is no longer lyable to any punishment sinns which formely shall not haue beene purged and discharged by pennance CHAP. XI How a Christian is to draw out of the Consideration of the diuine Iudgement a great feare of offending God that so he may fly far from it THE faythfull Christian from the consideration of this diuine Iudgement is to draw a very reall true feare of God And this feare of God and of his Iudgment is the most particuler and proper fruite which from that Iudgment is to be drawn So doth the Psalmist signify when he speakes to God and sayth Psalm 118. O Lord I haue feared thy Iudgments and vpon the consideration how thou dost exercise them vpon the wicked I haue conceaued an excessiue feare And Salomon his Sonne speaking to God in the prayer which he made in the Temple declared the same truth by saying 2. Paral. 6. Giue O Lord to euery one in thy Iudgment the reward which is fit for their workes according to the desire of their harts to the end that they may feare thee and may walke in the way of thy Commandments all the dayes of their liues And the Angell whome S. Iohn saw did say Apoc. 14. Feare our Lord for the houre of his Iudgement is come When a a A seruile feare man delights in wickednes yet calleth to mind the diuine Iudgment the punishment which God doth exercise vpon sinners he doth conceaue a feare of the payne and being principally moued by that feare he abstaines from sinning which feare is a feare of slaues and therfore it is called seruile And although this feare be good and doth grow from a root which is supernaturall it is yet imperfect and insufficient for the obtayning of euerlasting life or for the iustification of a soule Nor is it meritorious but it is a ground from whence iustification may rise and it is a disposition towards grace wherby we may merit and this it is wherof the Wiseman sayth Prouer. 2. That the Feare of God is the beginning of Wisedome Which is as much as to say That it is a beginning for the obteyning of an experimental knowledge of God which growes from Charity And so doth Ecclesiasticus declare it saying Cap. 25. The feare of God is the beginning of the loue of God But b Of filial feare when a man who loueth vertue and is resolued to serue God doth by cōsidering the diuine Iudgment ponder the grieuousnes of sinne by meanes of the seuerity of the same Iudgment the excessiue greatnes of those paynes wherewith God doth punish it and therupon he doth incline himselfe to a great feare of sin and doth tremble to thinke of doing any thing which may offend the pure eyes of God this feare is a feare of sonnes therfore it is called a filiall feare because he feareth God his heauenly Father more then he doth the punishment which otherwise is due to him for the same So also when a faithfull seruant of God through the desire which he hath to flye from al offence of his diuine Maiesty and in all thinges to comply with his holy wil doth settle himselfe after a sincere and serious manner to consider the Iudgements of God and those eternall punishments and tormentes whereby he is to take vengance vpon the wicked thereby to moue himselfe so much the more to a feare of those Iugdmēts and paynes and the more to animate himselfe to flye from all offence of God and to keep his diuine Commandments this feare howsoeuer it carry a kind of respect to paine is not yet to be accōpted a seruile feare Nor doth it spring from selfe loue but it is a filiall loue and it growes from Charity Because c A clear proofe of the truth which he deliuered before of the two Feares in these thinges which are morall and voluntary the nature and denomination of the work is principally taken from the end at which it aymes And as a man who should steale money wherby he would enable himselfe to commit an adultery were more to be esteemed an adulterer then a theef so the iust man who disposeth himselfe to feare the punishment due to sinne that so he may feare and abhorre the sinne is rather to be accompted to feare the sinne then the punishment So therefore the feare of this man is a holy feare and belongeth to a sonne friend of God this very feare maketh a man iust and holy yea it is euen iustice and sanctity it selfe This feare doth make a man acceptable to God and is meritorious of eternall life and it maketh also the workes which proceed from thence to be acceptable to God and meritorious both of grace and glory Holy d The places of holy scripture reconciled which seemed to differ Iob sayth of this feare Iob. 18. The feare of God is wisedome it selfe And Ecclesiasticus sayth Eccles 1. To feare God is entire and perfect wisedome A seruile feare is sayd to be the beginning of wisedome because it disposeth a soule towards wisedome and so is this filiall feare
al things they dispose themselues to consider the diuine IudgmeÌ„t so to know the better and as it were to feele the greiuousnes of sinne and the punishment that falls vpon it and the much that God abhors it so to procure a sorrow and hatred of sinne as being an offence of God and to feare it much and to fly from it with great care as being contrary to his diuine will and so exercysing this chast feare which is an effect fruit of diuine loue he exerciseth loue with all which is the cause of that feare for this it is that we haue said that the iust man exercising this filiall feare doth not loose the least graine of the excellency and merit of his loue and that the exercise of filiall feare is not lesse pious and acceptable to God then that of loue For in fine this is the feare of Saints to all whome the Psalmist speakes by saying Psal 33. O all yow Saints feare our Lord. And this is that feare which hath for a reward That it obteyneth of God what it will as the Psalmist doth also witnes saying Psal 140. God will fullfill the will of them that feare him and will heare their praâ—ers granting all which they aske To b True hope riseth out of filiall Feare conclude this is that feare which maketh men happy in this life through the liuely hope and pledge it giues of glory in the other life it will giue the possession therof For a truth it is deliuered by the holy Ghost Prou. 28. Blessed is the man who alwaies liues in the holy feare of God CHAP. XIIII Of the fauours which Christ our Lord will do to the good at the day of Iudgement and of the Ioy which they shall conceaue by seeing the signes which precede that Iudgment and by beholding the glory of the Crosse which shall go before Christ our Lord. GREAT are the benefits which we find in that diuine Iudgment the fruits which we gather thence by our considering that which Christ our Lord will shew vpon the wicked For as we haue declared it doth cleerly discouer the greiuousnes of sinne and how mightily it is abhorred by our Lord God and it moueth vs to a hatred and a feare therof But yet greater are the blessings which we find in the Iudgement of God and the profit which we reap from theÌ„ce by considering that which Christ our Lord will then do for his seruants the fauours which he will impart and the felicity which he will communicate For in this doth he discouer his goodnes and the much that he loueth such as are good and the estimation which he makes of vertue he awaketh and prouoketh vs much to loue him and he doth animate and incourage vs much to labour hard in his seruice and that for the pleasing of him and complying with his holy will we must imploy our selues in all kind of vertue Let vs therfore go declaring the fauors which Christ our Lord will impart to the good in this his Iudgment to the end that we may gather this fruite from thence A great a How differeÌ„tly the same things do worke vpon the good and the bad benefit and fauour shall it be for the good that those very signes which are to precede the diuine Iugdment as namely the darkening of the Sunne the Moone Starres the swelling vp of the Sea the opening of the earth withal the rest which are to strike such excessiue horrour into the wicked and will cause in them such an extreme affliction and dismay so far as that they shall goe like persons euen distracted and mad with griefe shal euen be dryed vp and withered thorough the deadly paine and sorrow which they shal receaue as our Lord himselfe declareth saying Luc. 21. Men shall whither with the feare they will be in of those miseryes which they expect and of which those signes are the forerunners That these very signes I say shal giue to those iust men the seruants of God whome they shall find aliue great strength courage great confidence and security in God shall cause them great alacrity and comfort and they shall go all refresh't and fully at ease as being animated with a new spirit of hope and ioy For b The great reasons which good men haue to be glad of death and the day of Iudgment iust men who cordially doe loue Almighty God do much desire to leaue the miserable estate of this life where God is so many wayes offended and when themselues cannot forbeare to fal into some defects which although they be light veniall yet for as much as they goe against the will of God they feele theÌ„ much and much paine by them where they also find that they haue many impedimentes to keepe them from communicating with God from louing him and tasting him as they desire These persons do extremely couet the state of immortality glory where they shall most perfectly both in body and soule enioy the fauours and benedictions of God as the Apostle declareth c The sense is of the B. Apostle and it is opened and explained by our Authour saying Rom. 8. We know that all creatures that is to say all the whole machine of the world which conteyns all the sensible creaturs is groaning vnder the weight and mutability and corruption which it is subiect to And as a woman who being in labour of her child doth expect to bring him forth so doth it remaine with a kind of wearines and griefe from the very first beginning of the world till this instant desiring hoping to see it self free from this corruption and mutability to be all renewed according to the imitation and resemblance of that glorious liberty of the sonnes of God And we the disciples seruants of Christ our Lord who haue receaued the chiefe and first fruits gifts of the holy Ghost doe sigh groan withal the affectioÌ„ of our harts towards the perfect complete adoptioÌ„ of the sonnes of God which is the glory not only of our soules but euen of our bodyes also whereby the whole man shall be deliuered from all mortality and corruption and from all euill inclination concupiscence and shall perfectly enioy both in body and soule the redemption which was wrought by Christ our Lord. This is of the Apostle And for as much as this desire is of iust persons and that in it selfe it is so very internall and so vehement when they shall see the signes of the diuine Iudgement they shal know that the tyme is then close at hand wherein that desire of theirs is to be satisfyed and when they are to be possessed of that happy state and wherein they are to be free both in body and soule froÌ„ all corruption and misery both of sin and pennance And they shall be ful of glory in their soules and their bodyes being adorned
with the glorious stole of immortality are to enioy God eternally in his kingdome Now d The ioy which the elect will haue to see thēselues so neere the end of their hope by this so certaine secure hope that God wil be so gracious to them as to graunt that they may possesse enioy that immense good which they so mightily desire and to which then they shall be brought so neere they will reioyce and be reuiued in a wonderfull manner and giue strange thankes to God for hauing brought them to see that day and for hauing continued them in his seruice and vouchsafed to giue them such tokens pledges of his glory All this did Christ our Lord vnfold in the Ghospell For hauing reckoned vp the signs which are to appeare before his comming to Iudgement and the feare and sorrow wherewith they shall be receaued by the wicked turning then his discourse to his disciples and in their persons to all such as would be their imitatours and were to be aliue at that tyme he sayth after this manner When these thinges shall arriue which are to precede my comming do you lift vp your heads Be not disquieted be not dismayd giue no place to sorrow none to feare or to distrust as the louers of the world will do who will go with the head all hanging downe like men afflicted and dismayd But haue you great confidence conceaue great courage be cheerefull and reioyce and with this confidence and ioy lift vp your harts your face to God for now your redemption draweth neere The tyme approacheth and so doth that most happy state and complete redemption which now with my Passion and Death I am about to gain for you and that is both security from all kind of misery and immortall glory both to body and soule Another great fauour to the iust will be to see appearing in the ayre and that high vp neer heauen and before the person of Christ our Lord the signe and standard of the most holy e Happy soules which heere are deuoted to the Crosse of Christ our Lord Crosse not made of wood or mettall but of other most glorious matter and more brightly shining incomparably with more beauty then the sunne and in proportion so very large that being plac't on high it may be seene ouer the whole earth by all the inhabitāts thereof For a matter and motiue it is of incomparable comfort ioy for them to see in such high honour and glory that Crosse which they adored as the Image of Christ and which they loued by enduring and suffering affronts and paynes for his sake When f A profound yet a plain consideration a worldly man doth hate any thing or any person and seeth it or him aduanced to honour it puts him to payne Wicked men in this life did abhorre the Crosse of Christ because they did extremely loue the pleasures and delicacyes transitory honours of this world they detested to suffer paine sham in the vertue and for the loue of Christ our Lord. So doth S. Paul expresse it saying Phil. 3. There are many who liue and conuerse among you of whome I haue aduertised you many tymes now againe I repeate it with griefe sorrow of my hart who are the enemies of the Crosse of Christ since they giue themselues to delights and delicacyes and to ambition and pride which the Crosse of Christ doth condemne and they flye from pennance and mortification and abstinence and from the exercises of humility to which the Crosse of Christ doth perswade and teach When therefore these men shall see in that diuine Iudgment that the Crosse of Christ is so highly honoured and made so glorious which they with their workes did so abhorre it shall replenish them with paine and griefe For thereby they shall more cleerely see their errour and the eternall condemnation which is prepared for them For that is to be the end of such men as the same Apostle declareth saying VVhose end is death and the destruction of their soules On g The same consideration continued the contrary side whosoeuer he be that doth greatly loue any thing or person he reioyceth taketh comfort to see that it is honored esteemed by others And now for as much as the seruantes of God do cordialy loue the Crosse of Christ which is To mortify thēselues with thinges of difficulty to flesh and bloud and to suffer paines and tribulations and affronts for his loue and in the imitation of his Passion For as S. Paul sayth Galat. 5. They who are of Christ and who re liuely members of him and who haue his spirit and who are gouerned by him doe crucify their flesh and chastise it with penances and by willingly imbracing those affronts paynes which God presents And by afflicting their flesh in this manner they doe withall destroy and kill the vices and ill desires which sprout from thence Now when the seruants of God shal see that Crosse h And haue we not reason to loue it since it was the instrumēt of our redemption which they loued so much and wherein they did so greatly reioyce become exalted and so glorious and so highly honoured by Almighty God and so reueared by the whole world they shal receaue thereby excessiue ioy and consolation to see how well they chanced in following the Crosse of Christ our Lord and they shall hold it as an expresse signe of the glory which God will giue to them For a truth of God it is which is pronounced by his Apostle That whatsoeuer tribulation or paine or trouble is suffered in this life for the loue of God which how long soeuer it lasts is but momentary since it liues no longer then we liue which how grieuous soeuer it may seeme yet to the soules that loue God and are assisted by his holy grace is light and easy doth worke in vs and that as a meritorious cause a weight of most soueraigne glory ouerflowing beyond all measure and exceeding all that which we can so much as euen imagine this is not to be of temporall glory but a glory which shall neuer end CHAP. XV. Of the fauour which Christ our Lord wil do his seruants at the day of Iudgement by separating them from the wicked ANOTHER benefit fauour and that a great one will Christ our Lord do to his seruants in the day of Iudgment and that will be to separate them from the company of the wicked This was signified by Christ our Lord who said Matt. 25. When the sonne of man shall come to iudge he shall sit vpon the throne of his Maiesty all the nations of the earth shal be assembled before him and as the shepheard deuides the sheepe from the Goates so shall he deuide the good and bad from one another The good he calleth sheep for the innocency simplicity meeknes fruitefulnes in good works
that good cause which he hath begun Let vs all both heare and with great fidelity obey the voyce of that Prophet who sayth 2. Paral. 25. You who are the people of God do you encourage and animate yourselues to serue him and to continue in that seruice of his without dismay for in fine your labours shall 〈◊〉 answered with a great reward CHAP. XXI How we are much to animate our selues to the exercise of good workes considering the great estimation which Christ our Lord doth make of them at the day of Iudgement and the reward which he also imparteth to thē THERE is also another particular consideration belonging to this diuine Iudgment and to the reward of good workes which doth greately moue the soule to labour hard in the seruice of God And this is the Reason and Tytle which Christ our Lord alledgeth in giuing his benediction and reward to the iust when he saith Matt. 25. Come yee blessed of my Father possesse the kingdom which is prepared for you For I was hungry and you gaue me to eat I was thirsty and you gaue me to drinke I was a stranger you receiued me into your howse I was sicke and in prison and you came to visit me For a The great valew which our Lord doth make euen of our least good workes by these words Christ our Lord doth mightily discouer the estimation and price which he hath stamped vpon good workes which are done in grace and the great fauour and honor which they receiue in his diuine presence the much that they please him and the immense glory wherwith he rewardeth them since so meane workes so very easy to be wrought as it is to giue a peece of bread to a poore hūgry body or a cup of water to a thirsty or a shirt to couer the naked or a nights lodging to a stranger or a visit to an imprisoned or sick person though it be but to comfort him with good words for we see he doth not say I was sicke and you cured me or I was imprisoned and you freed me but such easy workes as are those other and which put vs to so little cost and trouble that excellent Maiesty of his is pleased to publish proclaime in that great Theater vpon the day of Iudgement in the presence of the whole world and he setteth out and praiseth them which his owne sacred mouth he sublymes then so high as to take them for seruices and deare fauours imparted to his owne persō which giue him great contenment gust And so much b That which maketh a good worke meritorious is the flowing of it from the grace of God in Christ our Lord and the being seconded by his promise of a reward which promise makes the reward due account he makes therof as to esteeme them for merits which are worthy of eternall life and he receaues them as a price of the kingdome of heauen And he esteemeth them for meritorious that not only all together but euery one of them a part and a part he takes euery one of them for the price of glory and of that kingdome which hath no end But c What will not our Lord do to vs for greater worke since he doth so much for the lesse now if Christ our Lord who so highely esteemes and vouchsafes the fauour of so great reward to so light and easy workes as those what will he do to such workes of mercy as are great hard and which grow out of much Charity As when a man doth giue all his goods or a great part therof to the poore or lodge Pilgrims for a long tyme and serue them and prouide them of all things necessary depriue himselfe of clothes to cloth the poore naked Christian and to serue sicke persons day and night and that in the case of troublesome and contagious diseases as when they may be struckē with the plague and to drawe with much trouble of person and charge of purse such as are prisoners or Captiues out of their chaines How much I say will Christ our Lord esteeme such works as these which cost much labour and money and for the performing whereof a man endures much incommodity and imbraceth many paineful things and wrastling with store of difficulties and mortifies himselfe much to comfort others renounces his owne will in many things that so others may be comforted and releeued There can no doubt be made but that much more he will esteeme them and will afford them the fauour in that day of Iudgement of a reward so much higher as the works are more excellent more acceptable in his eyes for being growne vp out of greater Charity And if the Corporall works of mercy which are exercised vpon the bodyes of men which must quickly dy and for the maintenance and preseruation of this corporall life which is soone to haue an end be so much esteemed and fauoured and so highly rewarded by Christ our Lord what will he be sure to do to the workes of spirituall mercy wherby immortall soules are succoured redrest and wherby they being deliuered from the death of sinne and euerlasting paine there is imparted to them saluation and a life of euerlasting glory A plaine d How much therefore are we bound to such as do assist our soules though it be with hazard of their liues case it is that the worke of mercy wherby a soule is assisted is more excellēt then that other wherby a body is releeued that these works of piety wherby the spirituall and eternall life is holpen is of much more valew and merit then that other wherby that corporall and fraile life is succoured For as much as according to S. Thomas D. Thom. cont Gen. l. 4. cap. 55. Amongst all those things which are created no one is greater then the saluation of a reasonable soule which consisteth in the enioying of God So also there is no other greater almes then that wherby this saluation and this life of grace and glory is procured consequently a much greater benefit doth he impart to another who remedieth the necessityes of his soule then if he had giuen him a great sūme of money And since they who giue a little bread to the hungry and a little water to the thirsty and they who retyre a Pilgrime to their house and apparel a naked person with a peece of cloth and visit a man who is in prison or sicke giuing him a little temporall comfort be so esteemed and honoured by Almighty God in the presence both of heauen earth in that terrible tribunall of his Iudgment and are so enobled and sublymed with the Crowne of celestiall glory and with the dignity of the euerlasting kingdome what will Christ do that most iust and righteous Iudge and that most liberal God with them who dispense the bread of heauenly doctrine to such as haue need and are hungry after it
persons as long as they did perseuere they had signes in them of being predestinated and they who receaued not the fayth according to their then present state were wicked reprobate This did our Lord declare whē he sayd I came into this world that they who see not might se◠they who see might be blind Which was as much to say Vpon my comming did this iudgment follow and this distinction was made amongst men that many who in their soules were blind through ignorance and errour and vice and who did not see the truth nor did walke in the right way to heauen by beleeuing in me with a liuely fayth they I say might see the truth and follow it And that many others who saw and had knowledg of the Scriptures and did know the law and the Prophets who both in their own and in the peoples opinion estimation were held wise and had a spirituall light wherwith to looke into diuine things they I say for their pride and ingratitude should remaine blind and going astray from the right way should not find their errour and perdition Another diuine and most singular testimony which Christ our Lord hath giuen vs of the desire which he hath in this iudgment of his not to finde any sinnes which he might punish nor any sinners whom he should be so obliged to condemne is That d Let all Angells adore him for this inestimable benefit to men at his first comming he made a law which was to last till the end of the world wherby he gaue faculty to all sinners that during the whole tyme whilst their life should last they might passe a Iudgement vpon themselues acknowledging their sinns and accusing themselues therof with greefe and confessing them to a Priest who should hould the place of Christ our Lord and satisfying for them according to the iudgment of the same Ghostly father and that they performing this he would not in his Iudgment either cōdemne or punish them but would declare them to be not Guilty and would impart the kingdome of heauen to thē And that if hauing once passed this Iudgement vpon themselues they should yet return againe to sinne become abnoxious therby to eternall condemnation yet stil as long as their life should last they might returne to passe the same Iudgment vpon themselus as often as they would and that if they should do it according to e Confessing them all clearely with great sorrow firme purpose of amendmēt Truth he would not condemne them but would admit them into his company and make them happy O Iudgment which is so deerely sweet O Iudge who is so ful of mercy and how vnanswerable is it proued by this most pitteous Iudge that his intention and desire is not to punish but to pardon not to condemne but to absolue and saue since before he comes to passe his Iudgment he vseth so many meanes applyes so many remedies to the end that he may finde no sinnes to punish nor no sinners to condemne If an earthly Iudge had his prison ful of delinquents theeues murtherers and should make a kind of agreement and bargaine with them that f Consider seriously heerof admire the infinit goodnes of God in that wherein the blind world thinkes it hath hard measure namely in the Institution of the Sacrament of Confession euery one of them might choose what friend or kinsman of his owne he would and in secret should declare his offence to him deliuering to him the whole truth and vndergoing but that penalty which he should impose vpon him for the same And that vpon some day of the same yeare himselfe would come to the prison to Iudge them and that he would pronounce them to be free who had declared their offences to friend or kinsman of theirs who had performed the penalty which he had imposed and that he would only cōdemne those others who would not haue recourse to that remedy what would you say of this Iudge of this agreement You would say that there nether is nor euer was nor euer will be in the world any Iudge who sheweth or is to shew any such mercy nor who euer made or will euer make any such Capitulation with persons who had deserued to dye nor are there any laws on earth which can permit any such thinge And if there were any Iudge who would submit himselfe to the like cōdition there would no delinquent be found who would not ioyfully performe this agreement and so be declared for not guilty Well then Christ Iesus the Eternall Iudge and who is of infinite power and Maiesty doth shew this mercy to all such sinners as are worthy of eternall death And he hath made this bargaine and agreement with them all and that is yielded to by the laws of heauē which the laws of earth will not endure Let vs therfore serue our selues of this mercy let vs performe the articles of this agreement and let vs in tyme passe a Iudgment vpon our selues let vs confesse our sinnes with true sorrow let vs amend our liues to the end that when at the houre of our death in the particuler Iudgment and at the end of the world in the Vniuersal iudgment we shal come before this great Iudge he may find no sinnes to punish or condemne in vs. For it is sayd by S. Iohn the Apostle concerning this Lord 1. Ioan. 1. If we confesse our sins repenting our selues truly of them before God and his substitute God is iust and faithfull in fulfilling the promises and rewarding the meritts of Chri◅ our Sauiour and so he will pardon vs our sinnes through his merits and will cleanse vs from all wickednes as he hath promised O most vnhappy men who deferring to do pennance and to make amendment of their liues despise this mercy of God as S. Paul sayth by making ill vse thereof Rom. 2. And g Woe be to thē who will needes be wicked euen because God is so infinitely good by this meanes they treasure vp the wrath and punishment of God for themselues against the day of his wrath which is that of his Iudgement These lawes of mercy were not made nor are they proclaimed vnto men to the end that thereupon they should take such a wicked strange presumption to sinne but that if they haue sinned they should not be dismaid but that in hope of this diuine mercy they should instantly correct themselues and reforme their liues and obtaine pardon So doth the glorious Apostle S Iohn aduertise vs for hauing sayd That if we confesse our selues well God will pardon vs he instātly addeth this 1. Ioan. 2. These thinges haue I written to you my children to the end that you may not sinne but that you may fly from sinne at full speed but yet if any man do sinne we haue an Aduocate before the Father That is to say let him not be dismaid nor out
and serued The Sunne shall grow darke not as now it doth somtymes by naturall causes or in respect that any cloude may ouershadow it or because the Moone may cast it self betweene it and the earth as it hapneth in the case of an Eclipse but it is to be obscured by a supernaturall and miraculous cause and so it is to be vnderstood that for a while it shall loose the whole light it had The Moone shall also loose her light The Stars shall fall from heauen Ioel. 2. either because when they are without light it shall seeme to be as if they were fallen or els for that in very deed they shall dislodge themselues from that high firmament where they are fixt and for some tyme shall fall from thence and deteine themselues in the ayre till they returne againe into their place The powers of the heauen shal be moued that is those celestiall bodies with their naturall vertue shall tremble and so shift their places as in an earthquake the earth is wont to do or if it be vnderstood of Angells the meaning is how in that day they shall make some kind of spiritual demōstration motion of great admiratiō The Sea shal be troubled shal be moued in a most wōderful māner and with the waues thereof shall make such a hideous noyse as will astonish the whole world oppresse and afflict with excessiue feare and horrour the harts of mortall men will make them euen whither againe with woe The Earth shall tremble 2. Pet. 3. and shal be open in many partes and shall disclose euen the pits of hel The Ayre with the same Earth and Sea shall burne by that most ardent ouerflowing of fire which shall consume al the liuing bodyes of fishes beasts and men God in his law commanded the children of Israel Deut. c. 13. v. 20. that when they should be to fight against the Idolatours and Pagans who dwelt in the Land of Promise and whome he was pleased to punish for their sinnes not only that they should kill the men but euen the very beasts which did them seruice and so in particuler he b A sign of this truth in the old Testamēt exacted this of Saul when he went to fight against the Amalecites and because he did not punctually comply with this cōmandment but suffered some of the Cattle to liue God was offended Saul was punished 1. Reg. 3. Let vs now see why God did not content himselfe with causing the men who had sinned to be put to death but the beasts also which had no fault It was to make men vnderstand and feele that sinne is so great a mischeife and is so worthy to be abhorred and punisht and that God doth indeed so much abhor it that it is a most cōuenient thing not onely to punish sinners with eternall tormēts death but to destroy also and consume and as it were to chastice the creatures wherof they did serue help thēselues towards their sinnes Therfore is it that resoluing in the Vniuersall Iudgment to chastice the wickednes of all men in a most complete manner he will not content himselfe to deliuer ouer sinners themselues to those eternall ardours of fire those other immense paines of hell but to the creaturs also wherof they made some vse in sinning he giues as it were a kind of payne and punishment in detestation of the sins themselues as also to the end that they may be purged and cleered frō that indecency and deformity which grew to them by the seruice which they did to sinners For thus it is that the Sunne the Moone Stars which did illuminate sinners whilest they were committing their sinnes shal be depriued by him for a whyle of all the light beauty which they haue he shall conuert it into thick darknes And as for the Sea the Earth Ayre which gaue food to sinners did maintaine them whilest they were offending God he will make them as it were feare and tremble will depriue them for a tyme of the naturall quality and disposition they haue and will consume and kill all those liuing creatures and plantes which were the food of sinners and wil destroy al those buildings which were the habitation of wicked men And thus through the mutation demonstration desolation which in the Iudgment God will shew in al the creatures which serued sinners he doth teach and testify the infinite hatred which he hath against sin And he doth induce perswade vs that now through the knowledge of this truth we may be drawn to abhor detest them and that with a penitentiall holy life we may cleanse our soules as well as possibly we can frō al fault offence of his diuine Maiesty 2. Pet. 3. S. Peter c This truth is insinuated by S. Peter doth admonish vs of the good effect which we are to draw from the change which is to be made vpon the creatures by saying to this effect Since there is a day of the vniuersall Iudgement to come wherin all the creatures for hauing serued sinners are to be purged with fire and burnt inferre my brethren from hence how diligent and constant it is fit for you to be in the leading of a good life and how holily and purely you are to conuerse in this world and how vigilant and carefull it will becom you to be in performing the works of piety towards God and of mercy towards your Neighbour expecting with a liuely fayth that day of our Lord and approaching and drawing neere to him with speed not with paces of the body but with the desires affections of the soule desiring and louing this day and preparing to see your selues at that tyme accompanyed with purity of life and with the exercise of vertue CHAP. V. How Christ our Lord discouereth the hate which he carryeth towardes sin by the so particuler account which he taketh of them all ANOTHER mystery of this diuine Iudgement discouering the mighty demonstration and detestatiō which God doth expresse against the faults whereby he is offended is the so particuler accompt which he will take of vs which we all must giue of all the facultyes or powers al the senses both of our body and soule of all the creaturs which we haue vsed and a If you beleeue this point of fayth to be true I shall not need to wish you to looke wel about you of all the workes which we haue performed all the wordes which we haue spoken and all the thoughts which we haue conceaued how little soeuer they fall out to haue beene without leauing out so much as any one idle word or any one idle thought We shall giue accompt of how we imployed our Vnderstanding if we did set it on worke vpon the inquiry and search of God and his truth and in contemplating on him his holy Cōmandments and the workes of
his handes and the diuine words of his mouth As for the memory we shal be questioned if we haue vsed it in calling our Lord God to mind togeather with his presence his goodnes his power and all his benefits and mercies We shal be arraigned vpon the point of our Will if perhaps it haue beene busyed in the loue and estimation and desire of God and the accomplishment of his Law and of his will and in the search of all those thinges which concerne the glory of our Lord God We shall b We shall not only giue account of our sinnes the faculties of our mind but also of the senses of our body and of the vse of all Gods creatures giue account of how we put the senses of our body on worke if we imployed our eyes vpon behoulding this fabrike of the world and these Heauens and Elements and the other works of God that so behoulding in these creaturs the trace and sent which they carry in them of all his diuine perfections we may raise our selues vp by them So to consider with our soules the power and the wisedome and the goodnes and the beauty of God and by this meanes to loue and praise him with our whole harts So also if we imployed our ears to hear the words of the true God and those instructions and doctrines admonitions and examples which were profitable to the soule and in hearing the sweet musicke of mans voice and of the instruments which he can vse of the birds also of the ayre so to stir our selues vp towardes deuotion to contemplate the much sweetnes of that Celestiall musicke and so to loue and esteeme the blessinges of heauen And concerning the Smell if we imployed it onely vpon those things which are necessary for mans life through the sent of creaturs if we aspir'd towardes the sweet sauour of vertues and of good example of the glory of the next life So also for the Tongue if it was mouing in the prayse of our Lord God in offering him deuout prayers in learning and teaching those thinges which are necessary both for our selues and our Neighbours and in discouering and confessing our sinnes for the obtayning of pardon and redresse thereof and in taking but that food which was necessary for the sustenance of our life and in drawing out of the gust sauour of corporal meate a consideration and feeling of the vnspeakeable sweetnes and sauour of those spirituall foods of grace and glory So also if we haue imployed the sense of Feeling with our handes and all the rest of our body vpon the onely taking of those thinges which were necessary for the same body and profitable for our soule and for our Neighbours and for the vse of our life and for the exercise of the workes of Charity and Mercy This good vse of all the powers of our souls senses of our body doth our Lord God demaund of vs when he saith Deut. 4. Keepe thy selfe and keepe thy soule with great care and of this are we to make a very exact accompt in his diuine Iudgement Wee shall also giue accompt in the same Iudgment of all our sinnes of speach such as are vaine Oathes Reproaches murmurations cursings scoffing of our neighbours and words of anger and impatience of lying of sowing discord Of these and others which are either lasciuious or curious or vaine of euery idle word saith Christ our Redeemer Matt. 12. shall men giue accompt in the day of Iudgment and that word goeth for idle which is neither necessary nor profitable Accompt must also be giuen of all sinnes of deed such as are disobedience to parents and other Superiours reuenge ill in treaty of our neighbours dishonesty iniustice vsurping detayning the goods of others against right vnlawfull bargaines pride in gouernement excesse in the furniture of houses of clothes of expences otherwise and in the intertainemēt of seruants excesse also in dyet in play and in other superfluous and vaine things Of all these and of all other euill deeds accompt must be giuen as Ecclesiastes saith Eccles 12. All things which are done by man both good bad shall be presented in that diuine Iudgemēt to be there examined for euery work which shal be found erroneous and ill he shal be punished We shall giue accompt of al our thoughts such as are rash Iudgmēt consents which are giuen to reuenge or els vncleanes or voluntary delights in any thing which is ill or to inward hatred or in fine to thoughts which are vnprofitable For as the Wise man saith Sap. 1 God will examine iudge the thoughts of the wicked Besides this we shall giue c A point of great moment and little thought on accompt of our sinnes of Omission which are the most in number and ly most hidden from our sight For hauing forborne to pray to read good bookes to fast to performe other penances and mortifications and to confesse and communicate For hauing omitted to do the workes of Iustice and mercy in certaine cases and at certaine tymes when either some particuler precept or the great necessity of doing those workes did oblige vs to them For hauing fayled to comply with many dutyes of our calling and offices to which we were bound by the obligations either of God or man We shall giue accompt how we haue profitted by those spirituall and supernaturall graces which God hath giuen vs such as are his Sacraments the guifte of Fayth the Doctrine of the Ghospell good Sermons holy exampls vertuous conuersations the admonitions and reprehensions of our Superiours and Ghostly Fathers and the interiour inspirations which God hath giuen vs. We shall giue account how we haue vsed our naturall and temporall benefits as namely our Health if we haue imployed it vpon the seruice of that Lord who gaue it Our Tyme if we haue spent it profitably our Reputation if we vsed it to the glory of God and the good of our Neighbour Our Estate temporal goods if we haue imployed them onely to the succour of the true necessities of our selues our family and our neighbours and of those things which are profitable to the life of a Christian man and to the honest Condition of euery one The accompt which is to be giuen for these sinnes of Omission and the punishment which is allotted to them Christ our Lord declared in that Parable of the Talents when he told that vnprofitable seruant that the Talent which God gaue him which are his naturall and spirituall guifts as also his temporall goods was not well imployed by him nor vsed in those workes which were agreable to God and he said thus to him Matt. 25. Thou negligent and wicked seruant since thou sayst that I am rigorous and that I expect more then I laid out why didst thou not put out that Talent to profit which I gaue thee That is why didst thou not make
abhorre sinne extremely to grieue vnfaygnedly for those which we haue committed to feare it with our whole harts and to fly from it with cōtinual care For it is all reason that we should abhorre that which God doth so highly abhorre and that we should be mightily grieued for hauing committed such things against God as he mislikes so much wherby he is so much offended And it is most iust fit to feare a Iudgment which is so seuere and ful of terrour and such torments as are so excessiue and so without all end And now that we may with the more efficacy rowse our selues vp towards a perfect hatred of sinne and a feare of the diuine Iudgement let euery one of vs go casting vp his accompt after this manner God b Resolue thy selfe to suffer eternally in hel if thou refuse the grace which God is desirous to giue thee euen very now if thou wilt concurre who is my Creatour hath resolued that the day shall come when he will Iudge me and from this Iudgment it is impossible for me to flye So also hath he resolued that he will reward me in this Iudgment according to my works If he find me in the state of Grace and with the stocke of a good life in my hand he will giue me the reward of eternall felicity If he find me in mortall sinne and that I haue ill imployed my life he will driue me out of the sight of his glory wil cōdemne me to euerlasting torments Now that I consider my selfe I see that I haue lead a carelesse kind of life that I haue committed many offences against his holy Commaundmentes If now he should call me to his Iudgment I am sure that I should be condemned for I haue not done pennance for the sinnes which I haue committed nor haue I yet reformed my life At least I am in much doubt of my saluation for the pennance which I haue done was luke-warme I haue sought to mend m life but slackly It is necessary therefore now euen very now that I change my course that I betake my selfe to my pennance that I do it in good earnest I will obey the voyce of God who commands me by Ecclesiastious saying Before thou come to the diuine Iudgement prouide thy selfe of workes which may be holy and iust to the end that it may succeed well with thee Before thou come into the hāds of God to be iudged by him aske thy selfe the question examine thy conscience well passe an vpright Iudgement vpon thy selfe reprouing thy selfe with griefe punishing thy faults with pennance and so thou shalt find mercy in the sight of God thou shalt find him a fauourable Iudge and he will cast the sentence on thy side Let c Attention the Christian man consider further in the bottome of his hart let him reason thus within himselfe If I d Of the litle difference which there is to be for vs in substāce betweene the day of our death the day of the last Iudgement knew now that the end of the world and the Vniuersall Iudgment were to be held within ten or twenty yeares it would more seriously worke vpon me and would make me more carefull to do pennance and to endeauour a totall renouation of my life and I should more cordially feare the Iudgement and eternal punishment of God the sinnes which make me subiect to euerlasting damnation Yet certainly for as much as concerns me the day when I shall dye is after ◅sort the very day of the Vniuersal Iudgement and of the end of the world For the chiefe of that which passeth in the Vniuersall Iudgement and which maketh it to be feared so much is the irreuocable sentence of eternall damnation which is then to passe vpon the wicked e This maketh not against purgatory but sheweth only that if a man dye in state of sinne he shall continue so for euer and if in state of grace he shall also for euer continue so thogh till all be satisfyed he shal stay in purgatory and then he flyes vp to heauen that where a man shall then be lodged he shall lye for all eternity And he shall then no more haue any vse of any creature of this world or of tyme wherin he may do pennance or procure saluation Now this is in effect the same thing which is to be done with me in the houre of my death For then I shall be iudged and if then I be found guilty an irreuocable sentence of damnation shall passe vpon me and where I shall then be cast I shall remayne for euer and in the Vniuersall Iudgment there is no more to be done but to confirme and proclaime the sentence which was giuen in the particuler Iudgment And in the houre of my death for as much as concerneth me the whole world is at an end so is the vse of all the creaturs therof since I shall returne to it or them no more and so is the Tyme also at an end wherein pennance might haue beene performed and merit might haue been procured If therfore it be so that the houre of my death is to be the same thing for me which the Vniuersall Iudgment and the end of the world and the same it is to be for all men and f The certainty of death and the vncertianty of the houre of our death since it is most certain that the day of my death will arriue eare long and that according to my age and to the tyme which men are wont to last it cannot exceed twenty or thirty years and since it is so casuall as that perhaps it may be eare night it followeth as a most iust and necessary consequence that I should euen from this very instant dispose my selfe to do pennance for my sins with greater care and to make a totall amendment of my life to do that which Christ our Lord commandes me saying Matt. 24. Watch for you know not the houre when your Lord will come and that also which the Apostle S. Peter 2. Pet. 3. in the name of the same Lord doth aduise me saying Brethren the day of our Lord will come like a theefe Now the theef who steales by night comes without giuing any news of himselfe and then he doth it when he is lookt for least Iust so will christ our lord come to iudg vs in the end of the world and in the houre of our death and no man shall know when he is to come the tyme will be at hand when many will be least ready for it Doe you therefore earnestly labour to lead a vertuous life that so you may be free from sinne and that there be nothing in you which may deserue reproofe but that with a quiet and safe conscience you may expect our Lord when he shall come to iudge CHAP. X. Of other Considerations from which we may draw the detestation of sinne
the care of leading a good life LET a man also consider with himself the sentence punishment which followeth this Iudgment and let him be perswaded to feare God vpon this ensuing reason What a Is it possible that thou shouldest be so mad as not to be able to frame this argument in thyne owne person are those things which a man in this life will not do for the auoyding of paine and griefe A man who is in prison and expects or feares a sentence of violent death what doth he not for the deliuering of himselfe He thinks of nothing but how he may escape he neuer giues ouer to make friends who may intercede for him he humbles himselfe to all such as are able to do him fauour and to giue him helpe he spends his meanes vpon Atturneyes Lawyers and in sending presents to ◅ch as may do him any good A mā who lyes sicke vnder great pains which torment him day and night without ceasing being caused by some surcharge of humours which he hath in his body or by some stony grauell which perhaps he hath in his bladder or by some Melancholy which is lodged at his hart what will he not do for his recouery How willingly doth he imploy what he hath in giuing fees to Phisitians and in paying of Apothecaries bills for druggs which way giue him ease With what facility and diligence doth he take purges and permit that issues be made and buttons of fire be applyed yea and he endureth to be cut opened offring himself to one extreme paine daunger to excuse another which is a greater if he can tell how If this be so what then will it be fit for me to do that I may free my selfe from those miseries torme◅s to which the wicked must be sentenced in that diuine Iudgement Which b Torments both intolerable eternall besides that they are in thēselues extrem beyond al that can be said or thought they are neuer to haue any end but in their contynuance they are to equall the eternity of God himselfe For as God in his owne nature is eternall so are those torments to be eternall by the determination of God which can neuer faile Although these torments were no greater then for a man to be cast into fire such as heere we haue but so as that he shold not dye of it for the space of thirty yeares the very thinking of it would strike into him extreme horrour and there is nothing imaginable which a man would not do to keepe himselfe from vndergoing such a torment Nay although it were no more but that a man were to remaine thirty yeares laid in a bed without being able once to rise or stirre from thence it would be of intollerable paine to him and he would performe things of very great difficulty and labour to deliuer himselfe from the same But what then will it be to remaine in the fire of Hell together with all those other torments which there are felt and that for the space of all eternity and what then will it not be fit for a man to do that so he may not be to endure those tormēts And c If thou desire to vnderstād eternity thou must procure to take it thus in sunder to the end that a man may haue some little tast of this eternity let him thinke of so many thousands of yeares which are to passe ouer the head of the damned as there are grains of dust in the whole world or drops of water in the sea or moates in the ayre and that at the end of all those thousands of yeares they shall not get out of those torments but still shal be as if they did but then beginne to suffer and that then as many more thousands of years are so to passe and then againe as many more and that still that wheele shal be running round without any end And let him also knowe that by this so large contynuance his torments are not yet to cease nor to be in the diminution of a haires breadth but that they shall be as d The tormentes of hell are not made more tollerable by a custome of enduring them a while liuely felt at the end of so many thousandes of yeares as at the first instant Because those torments do not worke after a naturall manner that so they might be the lesse felt by custome but they worke as instruments of the diuine Iustice which is inuariable and doth conserue them at the end of innumerable yeares in the same force and fury which they had at the first O with how great reason did the Prophet Hieremy exclaime to God say Hier. 10. Who is he that will not feare thee O thou King of the Nations Thyne is supreme Dominion and there is none like thee in wisedome and power By these Considerations a Christian being assisted by God will get out of the diuine Iudgement agreat remorse and griefe for sinne which doth so much offend God and which is so greatly abhorred and so greiuously punished by him And e The cure of sin is pennance with this griefe he is to accuse and reprehend and condemne and with penances and mortifications to inflict punishment and take reuenge vpon himselfe So did holy Iob when he confessed saying Iob. 23. Place me before God and I will come to Iudgement and consider what he is to do with me and I will loade my selfe with reprehensions For as S. Gregory Greg. ibid. f Thus S. Gregory sayd thus he did sayth vpon these wordes A man contemplating the so strict and perfect examen which God doth make of his sinnes in that terrible Iudgment of his he turneth in vpon against himself he reprehends himself with griefe and sorrow for the offences which he hath committed against God The g A man is to carry a quick watchfull eye ouer all his workes faithfull seruant of God is also to drawe from this diuine Iudgement a great watchfulnes and deligence to consider well and with attention al the workes that he doth and to see that they be good and be wrought with a pure intention of pleasing God Not being negligent in the performing of exteriour workes much lesse giuing place in his hart to the desire or loue of any thing that is ill or consenting to any thing which is contrary to the will of God nor principally to seeke his owne interest in any thing but onely the glory and good pleasure of God To the end that when our Lord shall come to iudge vs he may find vs prepared and may meete with nothing in vs which he will punish This Counsell was giuen vs by S. Paul who said Thess 5. You know well my brethren that the day of our Lord is to come vpon vs like a theefe in the night For although it be true that when he will come to make the vniuersal Iudgment he
the guifts of grace what kind of profit what kind of comfort will it be to haue communication with so many Saints both men and Angells in the guifts of glory O with how much reason is it sayd Psal 23. Blessed are they O Lord who dwell in thy house they shall prayse thee there through the eternity of all eternityes Amen CHAP. XVI Of the fauour which Christ our Lord imparteth to his seruants at the day of Iudgment by giuing them his benediction and communicating his kingdome to them THIS benefit and fauour is followed by another which yet is greater For the good being once separated from the wicked being plac't vpon the right hand of Christ our Lord this celestiall King shall cast towards them his most gracious countenance being all full of suauity and delight And passing his sentence of fauour on them he will say Come yee blessed of my Father The benediction of God is the good guift of God and so to be blessed by him is to be filled withal those good gifts and graces which God communicates to his seruants That is withal those principall benefits which the Saints haue heere on earth when once they are made pure and cleane from all imperfections and withall those others also which the Angells doe possesse in heauen which is more with all those goods graces which the King of heauen himselfe doth possesse and enioy For as S. Iohn affirmeth 1. Ioan. 3. When he shall appeare we shall be made like to Iesus Christ our Lord participating of his power of his beauty of his wisedome of his goodnes of his ioy of his glory He a How grace and glory proceed from God the Father and how also from the other persons of the most B. Trinity calleth them Bl ssed of his Father to declare the fountayne first ofspring from whence all the benefits of grace and glory spring and this is the eternall Father and besides because all that which the Father operateth is also the worke of God the Sonne as he is God as also it is the worke of God the holy Ghost For the Diuinity the Goodnes and the Power is the very same in all the three Persons and to attribute them all to the Father as to the first Authour of all that is good is to offer them also to the Sonne as he is God and it is also to offer them to the holy Ghost who is one God with the Father and the Sonne O happy men who are to receaue such a benediction A benediction giuen by Christ our Lord in the face of heauen and earth of all the creaturs A benediction authorized by all the most Blessed Trinity as the Authour and fountaine of the same A benediction which comprehendes all the chiefe guifts of grace al the guifts of glory A benediction full of benefits vnspeakable most high and truly heauenly which containe all the most chiefe and choice part of heauen A Benediction of eternall benefit A Benediction irreuocable which can neuer be changed as long as God shall be God! O how highly is this benediction to be esteemed O how much is it to be desired procured which maketh men so truely happy as our Lord himselfe declareth saying Come and possesse the kingdome which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world Kingdoms b The great differences which are betweene an earthly a heauenly kingdom dominions you had on earth but temporall kingdoms dominions they were of little valew cōfort or ratherful of miseries whatsoeuer they were they are now growne to an end Laying aside those miserable kingdomes which already are ended come and possesse another kingdome which is celestiall full of incomparable happines a kingdome of infinite value a kingdome which eternally shall contynue And although euery one of you is to be a king of this kingdome and is to raigne and possesse the same yet the kingdom is still but one For all of you are to be subiect and obedient but it is to be with supreme loue to this Soueraigne King in whose company you are to raigne And because all of you are to be of one hart and of one will vnited by most perfect loue in such sort that the blessings belonging to any one in particuler to be of you all so farre forth as to reioyce therin and they of you all to be of euery one to reioyce with them to whome in particuler they belonge this kingdome is also to be but one Yet still though this kingdome be but one you shall all be kings and you all shall raigne For the kingdome is infinite in the greatnes of the felicity which is possest therin and it is infinite also in the contynuance since it is eternall And to the end that you may discerne the altitude of this kingdome and the great affection wher with it is giuen you Behould it hath bene prepared for you since the beginning of the world The election c Of our election to the kingdom of heauen and the preparation which is made for vs toward the same of the inhabitants of this kingdome was made before the world was created for they were chosen and predestinated from all eternity to raigine therin But the preparing of those things which concerne this kingdome and the putting of those meanes in practice which had relation to the obteyning therof did begin at the beginning of the world From that tyme were framed those most sumptuous pallaces those most beautifull habitations and those most glorious seats and thrones where the inhabitants of this kingdom were to liue raigne Then were created and were made happy those first Cittizens of this kingdom which are the Angels who were to keepe men company therin and to augument the glory which men were to possesse in this kingdome And so also from the first begining of the world ther were gifts of graces which came to be communicated to men wherby they were to obteyne this kingdome And for God to create man and withal to communicate iustice grace to him wherby he might procure this kingdome all that was done at once from that tyme to this nothing hath beene done but to dispose and help men giue them meanes that they might come to possesse and perfectly inioy this kingdome in glory both of body and soule This is that most blessed sentence which Christ our Lord will giue in fauour of his seruants that being done he will instantly rayse them vp togeather with himselfe and will inuest them with the most glorious possession of his celestiall kingdome CHAP. XVII Of the felicity which Christ our Lord will communicate to his seruants in the kingdome of heauen LET a A most excellent most sweet most profound yet most plaine description of the ioyes of heauen throughout this whole Chapter vs yet more particulerly cōtemplate the Maiesty of this kingdome which Christ our Lord imparteth to
and who powre out the drink of spiritual comfort and ease to such as are afflicted and deiected that so they may beare their miseryes with patience who cloath their soules with vertues and celestiall guifts who are naked depriued of al spiritual graces and who cure and recouer out of their miserable infirmityes and who draw and deliuer out of that horrible captiuity them who are sicke of sinne and are taken prisoners and made slaues by Sathan Most certain it is that although all they who expresse mercy towards their neighbours shall be esteemed honored in that Tribunal shal be sublimed with glory and royall dignity yet these others who haue imparted it towards the soules of mē shal be much more esteemed and honoured by Christ our Lord and his Angels shal be raised to greater glory more aduaūced in the kingdom of heauen It is also to be considered that although these works of mercy whether they be corporall or spirituall and which respect the spirituall or corporall good of our neighbour are excellent and of great value and merit as we haue already sayd yet the interiour and exteriour workes of Fayth Hope Charity and Religion which haue e How highly gratefull those acts of vertue are which do immediatly respect Almighty God imediate relation to Almighty God and to the worship seruice which is due to him as our God and our Creatour are more excellent and of greater value merit then the workes of mercy which ayme but at the cōfort of our neighbours And so much more as any vertue doth draw neere approach to God so much more is the vertue more excellent Now the vertues which are called Theological which are Fayth Hope Charity do looke vp and serue immediatly honour Almighty God belieuing his truth and louing his goodnes and hoping in his mercy And the vertue of Religion doth respect and exercise the worship and veneration which is due to God as being soueraigne Authour and Lord of all thinges And these vertues being more excellent then that of Mercy towardes our Neighbour it is cleare that those faythfull Christians who with firme and liuely fayth haue beleeued in Christ our Lord and who confessed his fayth in the face of Tyrants who placed all their confidence in Christ searching with care after his glory and resigning themselues entirely to his most holy will and honoring him reuering him with true worship with pure prayers and with an exact performance of their promises and the vowes which they make to his diuine Maiesty certaine I say it is that in the day of his diuine Iudgment they shall be more esteemed and honoured by Christ for hauing done and suffered these thinges then either they or any others shall be for any other inferiour works which they may haue wroght towardes their Neighbours And therefore the reward of glory being so illustrious and so high which for the workes of spirituall and corporall mercy they shall receaue considering that yet the reward which these others shall obtayne is to be much more eminent and great and since notwithstāding that the kingdome which is to be giuen in reward of these workes of mercy is celestiall eternall yet for these acts of faith and Charity and Religion a greater and a better portion shall be allotted and set out in the same kingdome let vs be most diligent in the leading of a good life in cōseruing our soules pure and cleane in exercysing our selues in the acquisitiō of vertue And let vs be full of feruour towards the works of mercy whether they be spirituall or corporall euery one according to his Tallent O happy f Conclusion and for euer most happy they who shall thus imploy themselues Happy because they were elected from all eternity by almighty God Happy because they were called in Tyme to his faith and Religion and were instructed therin Happy because they did correspond to that vocation of God and did begin to lead a good life Happy because they did contynue therin Happy because if they fell they quickly rose againe by penance and were constant therin And Happy beyond all happies because when our Lord came to call them to accompt at the houre of their death he found them imployed in a good life and watchfull in the exercise of good workes expecting the tyme of his comming to receaue the reward of their labours at his mercifull and most liberall handes For it is sayd by no lesse then Truth it selfe Luc. 12. Happy is that seruant whome his Lord when he commeth shall find watching and imployed in the discharge of his duety with fidelity and prudence and complying with his obligations whether they be common to all Christians or particulerly belonging to his state I tell you as an vndoubted truth that to such a seruant as this his Lord shall deliuer vp the possession of all his goods That is Christ our most mercifull Lord and our God will rayse him vp from the blessinges of grace in this life to the blessinges of glory in the next and from the basenes of this earth to raigne eternally together with himselfe in heauen Amen THE CONCLVSION TO THE READER MAKE accompt good Reader that this discourse is a Letter this which now thou art reading is the Postscript of it Thou hast seene the torments of Hell and the ioyes which are imparted to the elect in heauen Thou hast seene that if thou dye in mortall sinne thou wilt for euer be chayned in those torments for euer be depriued of those ioyes Take heed therefore of all sinne and especially take heed of the sinne either of Schisme or Heresy which are of the greatest that can be cōmitted The nature of Heresy consisteth in this That a man will make election of some one doctrine or more which is contrary to the beleefe of that true Church which is celebrated in the Creed of the first Councell of Nice to be One to be Holy to be Catholike to be Apostolike Be sure thou be of that one true Church which soeuer that be for thogh myself be resolued yet I will not heere handle that question by way of Controuersy but there is but one wherin a Christian can be saued one in the faith which it professeth howsoeuer it may be accounted many in respect of the infinite persons which it conteyneth and consequently of the particular Churches which it imbraceth The nature Wher in the nature of heresy doth indeed consist therfore of heresy doth not consist in the multitude or quality of the Articles of Religion which are held in difference from the dotrine and direction of the holy Catholike Church but it consisteth properly in the pride and presumption of that hart which dares preferre a priuate opinion of any one or seuerall Countries or any interpretation of holy Scripture which interpretation is also no more then a For he will make the scriptur affirm