in the old law was to make an atonement for the Holy offerings of the People that they might be accepted Exod. 28.38 never may the best of our Services without some Atonement and Expiation hope to be sped of Acceptance at his Hands in whose Eyes the Stars are not clear Iob 25.5 but is of Purer Eyes then to behold any Iniquity Hab. 1.13 And then if in our best Dresses we may not hope to appear Acceptable in our worst how Abominable must we needs appear in his sight And therefore St. Aug. word to the Lord cannot but be concluded to be very pregnant Vae etiam laudabili vitae Hominum si remota Misericordia discutias eam Woe to our most laudable course of Life saith he if thou O Lord without the Spectacle of Mercy shall be pleased to look upon it Nay this way of work-trial the whole Stream of the Divine Pen-men seemeth every where to cross setting up Grace and Faith not in competition only with but in a direct opposition unto works in the work of our Salvation and so in this Day of Trial we conclude saith St. Paul Dogmatically that a Man is justified by Faith without the works of the Law Rom. 2.28 There is a Remnant according to the Election of Grace saith the same Apostle in the 11. of the same Epistle 5. and 6. and if by Grace then is it no more of works otherwise Grace is no more Grace And if by Grace and Faith we are to look for Justification then how is it that according to our works we shall be Judged It will not be so difficult a Task perhaps upon a full discussion of the whole matter to reconcile this so much seemingly jarring Triumvirate as at first sight may appear Grace is the first yea Principal Impulsive cause of our Justification Being Iustified freely by his Grace saith the same Apostle Rom. 3.24 faith the instrumental for the laying hold of this grace in Christ The righteousnes of God saith the same Apostle in the 22. of the same Chapter by the Faith of Jesus is upon all them that Believe Good works are for the present to every one of us as at this last Day they shall be in the Presence of the whole world Sole but sufficient Evidence that we by Faith apprehend this unspeakable Grace and Mercy in Christ And therefore the same Apostle may you observe to be so far from opposing of either of these to other that Ephes. 2.8 you may see him Coupling Grace and Faith By Grace saith he are you saved through Faith Nay 1 Tim. 1.14 both Grace and Faith and good works together The Grace of our Lord was exceeding Abundant with Faith and Love the sourse of all Good works in Christ Jesus The lively Emblem and Representation of all three may you clearly discover in the Eye of a Man The Light we know is the only Object this Eye contemplateth And the Eye the sole Organ for the Contemplation of this Light And yet little comfort shall there be found by any Man in this object of Light nor will this Organ of the Eye be of any use if by any means it shall be divorced from the other Members of the Body To the Eye Light cannot be more welcome then is the Grace and Mercy of God that bringeth Salvation to the soul You are kept saith St. Peter by the Power of God unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1.5 Salvation the clearest Evidence as of the Mercy so Power of God And Faith the only means for the sealing up unto us this Evidence And yet shall Faith though of this Intuitive and Obsignative Efficacy as the Eye from the other Members be divided and separated from all other Gifts and Graces of the soul as Humility Meekness Temperance Patience it shall appear no better then Dead For Faith without works is Dead alone Iam. 2.17 Briefly by the Grace of God I am what I am you know is our Apostles word of himself 1 Cor. 15.10 whatever we may have in us whether of the Seeds of Faith or the Fruits of good works may in no wise be Pimarily ascribed to any cause but the Grace of God So that then for that both for the best Plerophory of our Faith we shall have too just reason to cry out as that Father of the Daemoniaque Mark 9.24 Lord I Believe help mine unbelief and for our choisest works for that they are so far from holding any the least conformity unto the Rule of Gods Law sadly to bemoan our selves before him as doth the Royal Prophet Psal. 130.3 If thou Lord wilt be extream to mark what is done amiss who may abide it Nay for that we cannot conceive the least hope of Salvation by our best works without borrowing much out of the inexhaustible Treasury not of Gods gracious Interpretation only but his Imputation of his Son Merits unto us Christ was made sin for us saith our Apostle that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 who seeth not how more then suffient ground there will be for our saying one to another what Zorobabel sometimes of the stone of the great Mountain Zach. 4.7 Grace unto it Grace unto it And for those two Faith and Good-works thus genuinely and equally springing from the same Root the grace of God far be it from us from becomming such Boutifeaus and Incendiaries as to blow and kindle the Coals of any Division between them which without the least prejudice or disgust nay without the extream prejudice of the destruction of our souls cannot be set or kept at the least distance Indeed without Faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 And yet never shall Faith be able to please God without the Observation of his Commandements It is Faith that apprehendeth the Merits of Christ Being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through Iesus Christ our Lord Rom. 5.1 And yet Opera mea testantur de me as our Saviour sometimes of himself Iohn 5.36 They are good works that must justifie our Faith for true and sincere Faith as the Kings Daughter Psal. 45.14 cannot but appear gratious and amiable in her Heavenly Fathers Eyes yet may she not be brought into his Presence until she appear in her Raiment of Needle-work and the Virgins of all other spiritual Graces for the keeping her Company V. 15. and 16. Faith like one part of a pair of Compasses must still center in the free grace of God through Christ But then must Love like the other be moving about the Circumference of the relief of our distressed Brethrens necessities So that then for our Faith however possibly we may conceive of it as our Apostle sometimes of his Faith of Miracles Heb. 11.33 34. that it is of force to subdue Kingdoms stop the Mouths of Lions quench the violence of Fire yet may we not fancy that it shall be able to open the Gates of the Kingdome of Heaven as long as we are so far destitute of
they shine with subtlety they appear shattered through their vanity that upon those words of St. Peter 2 Peter 3.8 One day with the Lord is as a thousand years a thousand years sa one day have dogmatically concluded that as the world was created in six dayes and then followed the Sabbath so was the world to continue for six thousands years Whereof two thousand before the Law two thousand under the Law two thousand six hundred fifty six since the Law being fully elapsed as soon as the remainder of three hundred forty four foure shall be run out the Day of Judgement shall immediately auspicate the worlds rest whose solemnity yet wherein will we hear our Cock-brained Millenaries our Saviour shall reign in all manner glorious Pomp and State upon earth shall continue for a thousand years no otherwise then the first Sabbath was a Day of equal length with any other of the Days of the Creation And now were it proper to fly out into Tropological excursions how present and easie were it for me to give you an account of signs not so much immediately preceding as actually accompanying this Days Advent as our Sun turned into Blood our Moon not giving her Light our Stars faln from Heaven and shut up in black Abysses of obscurity But this judge himself seemeth advisedly to labour the stay of our bold adventures for the fathoming of this depth by whatever whether Literal or Metaphorical signs Of that Day and Hour knoweth no man no not the Angels in Heaven nay not the Son man himself Mark 13.32 Non novit i. e. non notificavit saith Damascene he is said not to know it for that he is not pleased to make it known A gloss yet should we smoothly swallow the light of this knowledge we might upon the same ground as justly deny the Father as him for that the one is no more pleased to make it known then the other Much better therefore St. Gregory in Humanitate novit non ex Humanitate In his Divinity as God though made man in no wise may he be charged with the guilt of any ignorance but in his Humanity in the mean time as meer man justly may he disavow all such manner of knowledge And shall we then poor worms and no men be curiously inquisitive nay positively Definitive where the Son of man himself is deliberately content to be ignorant The Prophet Isaiah 6. his Prophesie And the 2. seeth God on his Throne and the Seraphins above it with two wings covering his Face and his Feet with two His face with two saith St. Hierome thereby shutting up from our Eyes the secrets of his Predestination from the beginning and his Feet with two thereby concealing the certain time of his comming to Judgement at the last day And then as the Egyptian in Plutarch to him that would needs be prying into his covered Basket Gum vides velatam quid inquiris in rem absconditam Since we finde the precise time of this Judges comming deliberately shut up in secrecy from us how can we without the gross forfeiture of I say not all Christian onely but even Natural modesty adventure upon a bold enquiry thereinto much more a Positive Definition thereof And as Antigonus sometimes to his son Demetrius demanding of him when the Camp should move Num te solum metuis Art thou afraid that thou only shalt not hear the sound of the Trumpet how can we without even a profession of steely forheads be prying into this recluse Mystery whereof the sound of the last Trumpet is the only certain signal to be expected And of the designation of the certain time of this Days advent from the search much more discovery of any mortal Eye St. Augustin seemeth to give a pregnant reason Latet Dies ultimus ut omnes Dies observemus no certain notice have we given us of the time of this last days comming to caution us to expect and prepare for its comming every Day And the contemplation of this Dayes so near and uncertain approach the son of Sirach before we enterprize any thing would still have us to propose to the Eyes of our Minde as the best Line and Square whereby to regulate the whole course of our lives Whatsoever saith he thou takest in hand remember thine end this thy last end and thou shalt never do amiss Eccles. 7.36 For as a Ship is best guided by the Stern so is the course of our life best ordered by having a continual recourse unto this our last end And as he shooteth best that still eyeth the Mark so that man in semblance best levelleth the Shafts of all his actions that hath the mark of this his last end still in his eye And then as is the old Philosophy Rule Primum in intentione Vltimum in Executione Since this last end of ours is the last thing to put in Execution how can we but conclude it highly reasonable and seasonable that it precede and go before every act of ours in intention and consideration O! that Men were therefore so wise saith Moses as still to remember this their last End Deut. 32.19 And with St. Hierom to be so sagely fanciful as still to conceive they heard the sound of this last Trumpet still ringing in their ears The serious recognition whereof could not but make the most Heathenish Felix to tremble when as Bias sometimes on Ship-board that there was but an Inch between him and Death we shall come duly to consider that there may not be a Days yea perhaps not an Hours nay possibly not a Moments distance between my present Speaking your Hearing and this Judges Appearing to Judge the World Iob in that his excellent description of a War-horse amongst many other eminent properties of his reckoneth this for one most highly remarkable that he doth Procul odorari Bellum Smell the Battle afar off in the 39th of his Book and 25th And what just reason then that we be sentenced for worse then Horse or Mule that have no understanding shall we not with the Nostrils I know not whether to say of Faith or Fear sent that bloody day we know not how near at hand wherein he whom by our sins from time to time we have been still provoking every day more and more to become our Adversary shall yet come to sit in judgment upon us And shall not therefore send out our Ambassadours Preces Lachrymas Cordis Legatos saith St. Cyprian our Prayers and our Tears the Ambassadours of our souls for the making of our Peace and Atonement with him whilst he is yet upon the way and may still be at some distance from us Certainly with Habakkuk in the 2. of his Prophsie 1. It shall stand us in hand at all Essays to stand upon our watch-tower and see what we shall answer him when he shall come to reprove us for these our whatever Enormities and as himself speaketh Psal. 50.21 shall set in order Sicut solet in
grace of Christ shall be of Energy and Efficacy sufficient to save us St. Augustins Caution in the mean time for the Law of Nature cannot but seem very Poinante Adolet non abolet Naturam Gratia this Law from Sion this Law of Faith doth not disanul but Corroborate and confirm and actuate Natures Law And for the Law from Sinai however Christ by being made a Curse for us hath taken away the Curse thereof Gal. 3.13 yet as that was our School-Master to bring us unto him Gal. 3.24 so is he our Exemplary Guide to lead us to the fulfilling thereof I came not to destroy but to fulfil the Law Mat. 5.17 And this may you see to be the Apostles clear Determination after his most Solicitous Debate of the Point Rom. 3.31 Do we then make void the Law of God through Faith God forbid rather we establish the Law The drift of this Law is far from broaching or countenancing any Doctrin of such a Liberty of conscience as with the Saints of the new Calendar is no better then Licentiousness that Sanctification and Obedience is no less the scope of this then either of the former Lawes And therefore St. Peters Caveat in the 2. of his 1. Epistle to his scattered strangers you may see to be that they use not their Liberty for a Cloak of Malitiousness or wickedness for the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the Original equally importeth both but that by well-doing they put to silence the Ignorance of Foolish Men And St. Iames his peremptory conclusion it is in the 1. of his Epistle and 25. whoso looketh into the perfect Law of Liberty this Law of Faith is a Law of Liberty indeed but such an one as is far from taking off the Yoak of Obedience from our Necks and therefore immediately may you see to follow and continueth therein being not a forgetful Hearer but a Doer of the work that Man only shall be Blessed in his Deed Indeed it cannot be denied but that Christ beareth a great part of this Yoak for us that which may justly cause him to minde us that that part of the Yoak he hath left for us to bear Is easie Mat. 11.30 Howbeit {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} there are as the Apostle seasonably Itemeth his Colossians in the first of that Epistle 24. as after-sufferings so After-doings of his likewise to go thorough with in the weak Endeavours and Evidences of which poor Patience and Performance shall we at last notwithstanding all this our Book-learning prove defective or faulty so that if either our chearfulness in suffering after his example or promptness in Acting according to his commands shall not prove such as shall become this our Prime Book his glorious Gospel too just reason shall we at last finde for our Concluding and complaining as the Preacher Eccles. 12.12 There is no end of making and setting before us many Books and with Nero when he was sometimes to Signe a sentence of Death the mildest Speech that ever fell from so Bloody a Monster in extream Anguish of Spirit wish utinam nescirem Literas O! that I had never known Letter in a Book I can but turn over the Books in haste The second that shall be opened is Gods Day-book which yet hath two Tomes that serve to the making it up whereof the one is that of our own Conscience the other of Gods Remembrance For the first of these Annals and Diaries I finde thus distinguished by Tacitus that the former is a Register of the greater the latter of the less matters of State In this Diary or Day-book you shall be sure to meet with a Rhapsody of all sorts of matters both greater and less together not the works of your Hands only and the words of your Mouths but even of the most secret and recluse thoughts of your Hearts No sooner is there any Evil acted or Spoken or but conceived by us but that Inimici viri Domestici ejus our conscience which is our House-hold Enemy is ready accordingly as Iob sometimes wished in the 31. of his Book and 35. to write a Book So that for whatever sin of ours whether Manual or Vocal or but Mental our Conscience will still be present to put in Execution what the Lord sometimes gave in charge to his Prophet Esay 30.8 to note it in a Book And however a Malefactor here may have just reason to interpret his being put to his Book for a special Act of Mercy whence the old word amongst us of a mans being saved by his Book this Book-trial of all we shall in conclusion finde to be the most Severe for that this Great Judge himself shall at the time of our Arraignment without any just censure of Entrenchment or Usurpation assume the Ordinaries Place and will then without the least Extention of any favour to be looked for clearly and candidly publish and proclaim in the Audience of the whole Earth whatsoever he shall finde written In Libro Aperto in this Book when it commeth to be opened The first way of writing I ever read of was in Stone and the first Writer God himself who writeth the Law in two Stony Tables with his own Hand Exod 30.18 Conscience is not Ignorant of this way of writing but after the example of God himself whose vicegerent she is writeth as is Iudahs sin written Ier. 17.1 with a Pen of Iron with the Point of a Diamond the Characters of our several misdeeds in the Stony Tables of our Hearts Whose Thoughts therefore as the Apostle Rom. 2.5 shall at the last Day either Accuse or Excuse us After this another way of writing in Barks of Trees was found out whence our Books amongst the Latins still retain their Names Libri Barks or Books Nor is Conscience unacquainted with this way of writing neither A Book a Register-Book she keepeth of all our Enormities and Impieties whereof every Page shall appear filled with the sad Items of our Blasphemies our Perjuries our Debaucheries our Dalliances our Oppressions our Extortions our Murthers So that every one of us by way of an heavy Position shall have too just reason to bespeak our Consciences for all these as doth David the Lord by way of an anxious question for his Members Psal. 139.15 In thy Book are all these things written The Egyptians after this found out another way of writing by Hieroglyphicks strange and uncouth Characters and these impressed in Paper then made of Reeds as now amongst us of Rags And the Destruction of these Reeds the Prophet Isaiah seemeth to bewail as a dreadful part of Gods doom upon Egypt in the 19. of his Prophesie and 7. The Paper-reeds saith he by the Brooks shall wither and be no more And at this time of the standing up of the Dead Small and Great before this Righteous Judge of the whole Earth as we shall see the sign of the Son of Man Mat. 24.30 which even by the
the Dead were Iudged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works A Sight have you had as of the Prisoners to be Arraigned the Dead Small and Great of the Judge to pass sentence which though for the Judgement of Principal Authority it shall be every Person in the Trinity for which cause we finde this Day Signally stiled Gods Day 2 Pet. 3.12 Looking for saith he and hastening unto the Day of God yet for the Judgement of Promulging and Pronouncing of sentence it shall be the second Person in that Trinity and that in regard of his Humane Nature The Father saith our Apost. hath given Power to the Son to execute Iudgement because he is the Son of Man Iohn 5.27 So of the Evidence to be given in Recorded in Books and those three principals whereof the first is Gods Statute-Book made up of three Tomes in the first whereof is written the Law of Nature in the second the Law from Sinai in the third the Law from Sion the second his Day-book made up of two whereof the first is of that our own Conscience the second of Gods Remembrance the last his Book of Records and that you have seen to be of a two-fold nature the one that wherein the Church Registreth those for the Sons of God that by an outward Confession of their Faith are received into her Bosome notwithstanding that not a few of them prove afterward Impostours and Hypocrites the other that of his Eternal Fore-knowledge whereby from all Eternity he hath and beyond all Tract of time will acknowledge those for his whom he hath Predestinated to the Adoption of Sons and Ordained to be Heirs of Eternal Life The Equal Proceedings of the Court and the Infallible certainty of all remain only for the present to be discussed And first are we to examine the equal Proceedings of the Court whose impartial Judge shall Examine the whole World upon the works whether Good or Evil they have done And the Dead were Judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works It is the Lords own word to his People Isa. 55.8 My wayes are not as your wayes And this difference of wayes between him and them the same Lord no less justly then precisely may you hear Contesting with them in point of Equity Ezech. 18.29 Are not my wayes Equal saith he and yours Vnequal Betwixt Heaven and Earth there is not so great a Distance as there is Difference between God and more then a good many Men in the exercise of Judiciary Power The Law which the Civilians say is Sanctio Iusta Iubens Honesta Prohibensque Contraria a Just Constitution commanding things that are Honest and Forbidding the Contrary is in the Court of Heaven reputed the only straight Rule whereunto the subjects of that court are to conform their works ways for their Deviation and Declination from its Rectitude are only punishable For which cause our Evangelists description of sin is that it is the Transgression of the Law in the 1. of his Epistle the 3. Chapter and 4. V. And therefore that word of that other Apostle just reason that it obtain with us the Credit of an Oracle Rom. 4.15 where there is no Law there is no Transgression So that then that word of that other Apostle yet 2. Pet. 1.19 for the word of Prophesie our parts it shall be to conceive directed unto every one of us for the Law that we shall do well to take heed thereunto as unto a Light that shineth in a Dark Place No otherwise then you may observe some careful Mariner for the better guidance of his Ship in a Dark Night to heed a Light which from some Eminent watch-towr may discover it self The Conduct of which Light therefore whose Beams every one of us may clearly discern as the Pilot his Light from the Tower darting out from Heaven upon him for the better steering him a course through the surges of this world shall he not heed no marvel if Straying from the right Path of Justice he wander in Darkness and in the shadow of Death The Proceedings of too too many a Man that assumeth unto himself a Power to Execute Justice not seldome runneth a clean contrary Bias to this They say as those in the Wiseman Wisd. 2.11 Our will is the Law of Iustice And therefore take unto themselves a liberty of Proscribing Imprisoning Condemning yea Executing too whom they please though guiltless of the Transgression of any Law Nor shall the Law be the Rule whereby to examine the work of supposed Dilinquents but their causeles fears and Jealousies shall make Delinquents whomsoever they shall please Whilst themselves in the mean time notwithstanding that they are dipped in as deep a Dye of villany as the blackest Fiends of Hell must yet have Precedence of all the Apostles nay the Virgin Mary her self in Saintship as long as did Saul with an Image in stead of David 1 Sam. 19.13 they can impose upon the purblinde World with empty Shadows and semblances in stead of the true and real Body of Religion and what AEschines sometimes objected to Demosthenes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} can New-dip Extortion Oppression Perjury Tyranny Sacriledge Murther yea very Atheisme with the fair and specious Names of Reformation Beloved As this Great Judge is far from being so Sophistical as to impose upon us with a Fallacy of Non causa pro Causa and so not so Rigid as to Condemn us without the least transgression of any of his Laws so neither may we conceive him to be so Facile and Easie as that he shall be wone to accept of a bare Shew and Profession of Saint-Ship for a perfect observation of this Law of his That Rule of this great Judge By their Fruits you shall know them Mat. 7.16 holdeth as true for all manner false Pretenders as Prophets They are the Fruits of good works only and not the Leaves or Blossoms of vain Ostentation or Profession that shall Acquit or condemn us at the last Day And the Dead were Iudged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works But how The Dead to be Judged according to their works Durus est hic Sermo this is an hard saying and who may abide it What hope of Salvation then shall the most Righteous have to entertain Yea and then as is St. Peters passionate Quaere in the 1. of his Epistle Chapter 4.18 Where shall the Vngodly and the Sinners appear So that then well may David Holy David deprecate this manner of Trial before God Psal. 143.2 Enter not into Iudgement with thy Servant O Lord for in thy sight shall no Man living be Iustified He that hath found no stedfastness in his Servants but hath charged his very Angels with Folly how much more then Man which dwelleth in an House of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust Alas As the Priest