glorious Coronation when Palms of victory shall be put into their hands and upon their heads shall be set a Crowne of incorruptible glory Oh what a joy and comfort will it be to see the holy Patriarchs Priests Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessours and all the rest of the crowned and triumphant Saints gathered into one companie and standing at the right hand of Christ How will the faithfull be ravished to see Christ their Brother their Advocate their Head their Husband their Redeemer to sit in the Seat of Judgement But especially to heare him from thence to pronounce to them this blissefull sentence Come ye blessed of my Father inherit a kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world Matth. 25.43 thus joyfull comfortable and glorious will the day of Judgement be to all such as live in the feare of God and the faith of Jesus Christ Which considered I cannot but think it a strange infirmitie of the Church in the dayes of Tertullian when they usually prayed pro mora finis For the protraction and delay of the last end Rather let all the godly pray with the Spouse in the end of the Canticles Make hast my beloved and as Saint Iohn did in the close of his Revelation Come Lord Iesus For when Christ comes he comes to free us from all infirmities to redeeme us from all miseries to deliver us from all sins and in full and perfect manner to endow us with Heaven and with all Happinesse 3. This Doctrine of the last Judgement serves for the Admonition of us all To warn us while God doth afford us time means to take such a course that we may gain the favor of the Judge escape the severity of the last judgment And to this end with diligence and good conscience put in practice these six duties 1. Be thine own accuser in the free confession of thy sins to God Considering what St. Iohn saith If we confesse our sins God is just and faithfull to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse 1 Ioh. 1.9 2. Be thine own Judge and that in the strictest censure and severest condemnation of thy self Considering what Saint Paul saith If we would judge our selves we should not be judged 1 Cor. 11.31 3. Pray earnestly unto God for pardon Considering that so long as the day of Grace lasteth mercy may be found if we will but seeke it 4. Beware of Judging the Persons and Actions of thy brethren When a man doth well do not judge ill when he doth ill do not make it worse when his speeches or actions are doubtfull take nothing in the worst sense considering what our Saviour saith Iudge not and ye shall not be judged Matth. 7.1 5. Labour to get a lively faith in Christ Jesus relye wholly upon his merits for salvation Considering what Christ saith He that beleeveth hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation Iohn 5.24 6. Endeavour to keepe a good conscience in all things voyd of offence before God and all men considering what the Prophet David saith Marke the upright man and behold the just for the last end of that man is peace Psal 37.37 And now to wind up all in a word If we be mindfull of these important directions If we confesse our sins freely condemne our selves severely pray for pardon earnestly judge our brethren charitably beleeve in Jesus Christ stedfastly and sincerely desire and endeavour to lead a godly righteous and sober life then we shall finde Christ not a severe Judge to condemne us but a mercifull Redeemer to absolve and save us in that day on which God hath ordained him to Judge the world in righteousnesse And now that our hearts may be so full of graces and our lives so full of good works that we may have in the end of our life a comfortable death and in the end of the World a glorious resurrection to a blessed immortalitie let us all joyne together in faithfull and servent Prayer O Most glorious and most gracious Lord God who hast taught us to know and beleeve that there shall be a day of judgement on which we and all the world shall stand before the Tribunall Seat of Christ to render an account of all things done in the flesh whether good or evill and to receive a just reward according to our works We most humbly beseech thee to teach us to make a right and religious use of this faith and knowledge Oh let these last things be ever in our Meditation and so sanctifie to us the remembrance thereof that it may be a Bridle to restraine us from all sin and wickednesse and a Spur to provoke us powerfully and effectually to unreined repentance for all our sins to constant patience in all our sufferings to a stedfast faith in Iesus Christ and to a true feare of thee in all our thoughts words and actions throughout the whole course of our conversation That so at whatsoever watch of the night or houre of the day Christ shall come to Iudgement he may finde us watching for him walking with him worthy to stand before him and to enter with him into that kingdome wherein thou dwellest and the righteous onely shall dwell with thee in unutterable joy and glory for evermore This Grace here this Glory hereafter Lord grant unto us all for his sake who is the Son of thy Love the Mediatour of thy chosen Iesus Christ To whom with thee O Father and the Spirit of Comfort be ascribed by us and all the world Kingdome Power and Glory now and for evermore Amen FINIS
my spirit that Christ Jesus is mine and that through him heaven shall be mine hereafter And hereupon like the blessed virgin Her soul did magnifie the Lord and her spirit rejoyced in God her Saviour One thing more I desire to acquaint you with which in my judgement was most remarkable an argument that her soul was Angelized in her body and emparifed there before it could get out to heaven It was this Upon the Sunday before her departure towards the Evening of the day her spirit fainted and she fell into a swound or it may be some heavenly rapture in which for some space she continued but breath being perceived to be in her they who were about her did strive to revive her and by Gods blessing upon the means used by her learned Physician she not onely came to her selfe but some reasonable strength and vigour was added to her And having first praised God as her accustomed manner was upon every receipt of comfort from him she desired that all her children might be brought to her which done like a most gracious Mother she blessed them all saying The God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Iacob blesse you and bestow upon you not greatnesse but goodnesse not riches but righteousnesse and the Graces of his holy Spirit that every one of you may live in the feare of God in the faith of Christ in all dutie and obedience to your father and true love to one another all the dayes of your life These and many other gracious Exhortations she uttered to her children And having given a holy and heavenly farewell to them she commanded that all her servants might come before her And to every one of them she uttered gracious words Exhorting them to live godly righteously and soberly and warning them particularly to beware of those sins which she had observed them to be most addicted to And having made an end of blessing her children and servants and taught them how to live she then in a most gracious manner prepared her selfe to die Spending the time that remained behind in fervent prayer to God to enable her to resist the assaults of the Divell and to endure the pangs of death and that would send her a blessed departure and a mercifull admission of her soul into his heavenly Kingdome At length feeling her self at the very gates of death she desired a reverend Minister then with her once againe to pray for her His prayer being ended and her life almost ended too she thus commended her selfe to God The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with me to the end and in the end Amen And this prayer she repeated againe and againe till her breath grew so short that she was not able to repeat it any longer and then she sealed up her prayer and her life too with Amen Ingeminating of it till her soul departed A heavenly Conclusion of a holy life Sic mihi contingat vivere sicque mori God grant my life and my and my latter end may be like to hers And he perswade all your hearts to a gracious Imitation of her And so leaving her in happinesse in Heaven I desire you with feare reverence and attention to hearken to those instructions which by Gods assistance I shall deliver to you from the words of Saint Paul written as you have heard Act 17.31 ACTS 17.31 Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead IT is most pious and profitable counsell which the sonne of Sirach gives Ecclesiasticus 7.36 Remember the last things and thou shalt never doe amisse These last thus commended to our remembrance and meditation are foure Death which is most certaine Iudgement which is most strict Hell which is most fearefull Heaven which is most delightfull The daily meditation of these foure last things the Wise man presumes will breed in every one of us a due care so to live that we may be blessed in Death and after death may escape the severitie of Judgement the torments of Hell and obtaine the unspeakable joyes and happinesse of Heaven Now this portion of Scripture which I have read unto you containes in it the second of these four last things namely the day of Judgement The serious meditation whereof is a powerfull means to provoke us to timely and true repentance Sure I am Saint Paul thought it so and therefore he useth no other argument to turne the superstitious Athenians from their Idolatry and to perswade them and all men every where to repent but onely this Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousnesse by the Man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Which words being taken in the whole lump together may very fitly be called Gods Statute for generall judgement by Christ the righteous Iudge More particularly they offer to our consideration these sixe points 1. The certaintie of the day of Judgement Because God hath appointed it and what God hath decreed shall certainly be accomplished 2. Who shall judge he will Iudge which hath reference to God mentioned in the verse immediately fore-going 3. Who shall be judged the world which comprehends Angels in Heaven Divels in Hell Men and unreasonable and Inanimate Creatures on earth 4. How God will judge in righteousnesse rewarding every man according to his works 5. By whom God will judge by the man whom he hath ordained that is by Jesus Christ He is the Man ordained to be Judge of quick and dead Acts 10.42 6. The warrant to assure us that Christ shall judge the world whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Thus within the narrow Compasse of this text we have a day for Judgement a God to judge a World to be judged a righteous Sentence to be pronounced Christ Jesus in Commission and his Resurrection for our assurance Of all which particulars in that order as I have ranked them and as the Text offers them to our consideration 1. The Certaintie of the Day of Judgement That there shall be a Day of Judgement is a truth of infallible certaintie 1. Scripture teacheth it 2. Conscience testifyeth it 3. Reason concludeth it 4. Particular judge ments premonstrate it 1. Scripture plainly and plentifully teaches it in which we often meet with these and the like sayings God will bring every worke to Iudgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evill Eccles 12.14 We must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Adde to
imperfections Gal. 5.17 6. They are no way profitable and beneficiall to God Psal 16.2 Rom. 11.35.7 They are no way comparable to that glory which hereafter shall be revealed Rom. 8.18 2 Cor. 4.17 Now these things considered how shall we say that good works are or can be meritorious that is such as by any value or worth in them should bind God to give a reward to them especially such a transcendent excellencie and waight of Glory as is that of the kingdome of heaven And who but onely they to whom the Lord hath sent strong delusions that they should beleeve a lye doth not discover the absurditie of that collection which the Papists doe inferre from our Apostles words who saith not that God will reward very man for his works but according to his works which phrase doth not intimate the cause why eternall life is given but the qualification of the persons to whom eternall life is given that they are such as by faith are united to Christ and bring forth good works the fruits and evidences of that faith whereunto in the Covenant of Grace God hath made the promise of Salvation Wheresoever therefore in Scripture a reward is said to be rendred to good works of justice as 2 Thes 1.7 2 Tim. 4.8 the Scripture hath relation to the merit of Christ not to any desert of our own Also wheresoever mention is made of our worthinesse as 2 Thes 1.5 Luc. 20.35 Apoc. 3.4 the Scripture means not that any are or can be worthy by the merit and dignitie of their own works but that they are worthy in Gods gracious acceptation through the worthinesse of Jesus Christ imputed to them and made theirs by a true and lively faith And so much for the first question Quest 2. If God reward every man according to his works How can God be just in punishing for ever those that sinned for a short time To this I answer 1. In the words of a learned and judicious writer of our own Iustum est ut reprobi nunquam careant supplicio quia nunquam voluerunt carere peccato Reprobates must justly suffer for ever because they would never have ceased to sin if they had lived for ever 2. The greatnesse of a sin must not be measured by the Time in which it was acted but by the Person against whom it was committed Now men sin against God who is infinite and therefore justice requiring a portion between the offence and the punishment though sin be temporary yet it is most just with God to punish it with eternal torments And so much for the fourth point I proceed to the fift By whom God will Iudge By that Man whom hee hath ordained saith the Text. And this man can be no other but the Man Christ Iesus 1 Tim. 2.5 So Saint Peter preached and Christ commanded him and the rest of his Apostles to preach so Act. 10.42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people and to testifie that it is He which was ordained of God to be the Iudge of quick and dead If respect be had to the power and authoritie of Judging then to judge us doth belong to the whole Trinitie and that equally as I said before But if respect be had to the Administration of Judgement and the visible act of Judging then to judge us doth belong to Christ onely For he onely shall be seene to descend with a guard of Angels to open the books of accounts to examine the severall causes to pronounce the finall sentence and to execute the same by the happy admission of the Elect into the kingdome of Heaven prepared by the Father and purchased by Christ to be the glorious and eternall inheritance of the Saints and by the heavy and uncomfortable dismission of reprobates into that Lake which burnes with fire and brimstone before the Throne of God for ever and ever Thus you see Christ shall be the immediate manager and administrator of judgement The Scripture is plentifull in the proofe of it Wherein he is called the Wise Husbandman that severeth the corne from the chaffe the Wheat from the Tares the good Shepherd that divideth the Sheepe from the Goats the heavenly Bridegroome that separateth the Wise from the foolish virgins the great Lord that committed sundry talents to his servants at their going and called them to account how they had employed and improved them at his returne More plainly Act. 10.42 where he is called the Iudge of quick and dead and 1 Cor. 5.5 where the day of Judgement is called the day of the Lord Iesus and 2 Cor. 5.10 where the seat of judgement is called the judgement seat of Christ and Matth. 16.27 where Christ himself saith The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works Now if you aske a reason why the administration and Execution of Judgement is committed to Christ I referre you to Ioh. 5.27 He hath given authoritie to him that is the Father hath given authoritie to Christ to execute judgement because he is the Son of Man Here you see Christs commission to execute judgment and the reason of it because he is the Son of man About these last words I find some difference amongst expositors Some will have these words read with the words following after this manner Because he is the Son of man marvell not at this for the time shall come when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Son of God and shall come forth c. That is if it seeme wonderfull or incredible to any that the Son of man shall have such power to judge you must consider that he is the Son of God also and at the day of judgement he shall mightily declare his Godhead by the resurrection of the dead Others read the words thus in quantum or secundum quod filius hominis est that is in respect of his Humanitie or as he is the son of man And so make it a reason not of Christs giving judgement but of his receiving power to judge For as Christ was the Son of God power could not be given to him for it was naturally and essentially in himself and as he was the Sonne of man he could not have power to execute judgement untill it was given him of the Father Others understand this reason to be of the same force with that Phil. 2.8 9. He humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the crosse Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name So here because the Son of God humbled himself so low to become the son of man therefore God hath recompensed his infinite humilitie with this infinite glory to be the Judge of all the world Others interpret the words thus That God hath given to Christ power to execute judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by and according to his humanitie For the