impossible for the Sinner to deny any particular but he will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Self-condemned Secondly As there will be no denying 2. No Extenuation so there will be no room for extenuation this was one of the Sinner's hiding places while in the Land of the Living Sinners have their buts Eccle. 5.6 Iâ— was an Errour per exteruationum It was but a mistakâ— now It was but thus and thus it was but a little one c. Great sins were but small sins and small sins were no sins Now the Sinner will have no such Sanctuary to fly unto the Account will now be inverted Those that were no sins before will be sins now small sins will be great sins and great sins will be infinite the last Judgment will give sin its just proportion that which the Law could never do though it were given on purpose the Fire of the day of Judgment will effectually do make sin appear exceeding sinful The Popish distinction of mortal and venial sin will vanish before that fire into smoak while Penitent reforming Sinners will find all their sins Venial in the blood of Christ secure impenitent Sinners will find every sin mortal and damning in its own merit and nature the Carnal Protestant will then find to his cost there is no such thing as a small sin because then he will be convinced there is no small God against whom sin is commited no small Law whereof sin is the violation no small Christ whom sin hath Crucified no small Heaven which sin hath forfeited no little Hell which sin hath merited and by its merit hath justly now plunged him into for ever Thirdly 3 No translating of sin there will be no translating of sin upon others as here below there was the Thief enticed me the Drunkard seduced me Gen. 3.13 the Harlot deceived me the Serpent beguiled me yea what bold Sinners are not afraid to speak will not then be heard amongst the Malefactors at Christ's Bar God tempted me Jam. 1.13 or God decreed it no these and all other palliations and colours wherewith men do wash the face of sin will melt before the fire of the day of Judgment God will say to the Sinner Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured these things to thy self yea Sinners shall then own their own guilt confess that their destruction is of themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—ut de seâ—â Num. vindict their heart shall cry out as Apollodore dreamt his heart cried to him in a Cauldron of boyling Lead O Apollodore I am the Cause of this Vengeance how have I hated Instruction and my heart despised Reproof and have not obeyed the voyce of my Teachers nor inclined mine Ear to them that instructed me Fourthly There will lye no appeal from this Tribunal 4. No appealing once there lay an appeal from Moses to Christ from the Law to the Gospel but proud Sinners scorned it or securely presumed they had made the appeal by a loose verbal Application of Jesus Christ whil'st yet they stuck in themselves and their own foolish presumptions their serving of God their good works and their good meanings and their good desires and why should not they be saved as well as others but now if they should appeal their appeal's with themselves will be cast out as Reprobate Silver this is now the supream and last Judicatory from hence is no appeal once doomed here the sentence is irreversible for ever Fifthly 5. No Pardon Neither is there any Pardon to be expected at this Judgment Seat Pardons were tendered in the Gospel upon gracious terms but ungracious Sinners would have none of them or would have them upon their own terms Sin and Pardon too their Pardons were nothing unless they might have dispensations also such as the Pope sells often times but Christ's Pardons sc Pardon Repentance Pardon of sin and forsaking of sin Pardon of sin and Hatred of sin Act. 5.31 Prov. 28.13 Jude 23. Heb. 12.14 Pardon and Holiness would not be accepted and now the time of Pardons is out the day of Grace is expired no cries nor entreaties will prevail with the Judg no though the Sinner would fall upon his knees and weep as many Seas of Tears as once the Ministers wept Tears of Compassion over them or as Christ himself shed drops of blood upon the Cross Christ was once upon his knees in the Person of his Ministers beseâ—ching them to be reconciled 2 Cor. 5.19 20. Though the Sinner was first in the Transgression yet God was first in the Reconciliation and followed the Sinner as it were on his knees intreating him to accept of Mercy as if God had stood in as much need of the Sinner as the Sinner did of Mercy but nothing would prevail a deaf ear was still turned to Christ's importunity and now Repentance is hid from the eyes of the Judg as once Repentance was hid from the eyes of the Sinner the things of their peace are everlastingly hid because they knew them not in that the day of their Vision As Sinners obdurated their heart against Christ's voyce so Christ will harden his heart against the Sinner's cry Prov. 1.24 Sixthly There shall be no mitigation of the punishment not a farthing abated of the whole debt 6. No mitigation Math. 5.26 there was once Mercy without Judgment before the Sinner now there shall be Judgment without Mercy now Sinners shall know that God is not mocked that the Lamb of God is also the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda His voyce was once Fury is not in me Isa 27.4 now the voyce will be Meckness is not in me mercy is not in me now must the Sinner expect nothing but the utmost severity of divine justice who once despised the yearnings of Christ's bowels the lowest condescentions of divine Grace the Sinner in his day knew no moderation in sin the Judg now in his day will know no mitigation of Judgment there will be a Sea of wrath without a drop of Mercy Seventhly Not a word of any good that ever the wicked did 7. No mention of any good that ever Sinners did shall now be mentioned to their honour or advantage as none of the sins which ever the Saints committed were mentioned to their shame in their Process so none of the good that ungodly Sinners have done shall be once named unless it be by way of aggravation of their sins for indeed they mannaged the good they did at such a rate Splendida peccata Aug. as even their duties differed not from their sin As under the Law the Sacrifice of the Wicked was abomination to the Lord killing Oxen but Murder Prov. 15.8 Isa 66.3 Sacrificing Lambs but cutting off Dogs necks Oblations as Swines blood Incense as Idolatry so under the Gospel their Prayers were but so many takings of God's Name in vain and hearing the Word mocking of God Fasting but holding
on the contrary as to true real Saints God owneth what themselves dare not own but though they have forgotten God is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love which they have shewed towards his Name Math. 2◠7 in ministring to the Saints but all shall be remembred even from the Alabaster-box of costly Spikenard to the Cup of cold water given in the name of a Disciple and proclaimed in the Audience of that general Assembly Math 25 40. For as much as you have done it to one of these little ones ye have done it unto me yea those very acts of Charity which have been done so secretly that the left hand did not know what the right hand did Math. 6.3 shall be now published upon the house-top the great house of Heaven and Earth they were not so closely done but they shall as openly be rewarded the book of God's remembrance shall be brought forth and opened and publickly read that all the good which any of the Saints of God ever did may be mentioned to their everlasting praise and that with a double circumstance of signal honour First A twofold advantage of the Recital made of the Saints Graces That in that large Recital which shall then be read of the Saints lives there is not the least mention made of sin they had sure enough the remainders of their original corruption surviving their conversion defiling molesting their most holy Services which were as so many scourges in their sides and Thorns in their eyes uncessantly tempting them and exposing them to temptation forcing from them sad laments and out-cryes Rom. 7.24 O Wretch that I am who shall deliver me They had and not rarely their actual Surprises and Seductions their Lapses and Relapses which brought them upon their knees with holy Job's Confession Job 7.20 I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou Preserver of men but none of these things come up into remembrance against them in that day As here below God saw no Iniquity in Jacob nor perversness in Israel to impute it to them so in their appearance before the Judge God remembreth no iniquity against the Saints to charge it upon them or to reproach them with it In the petty Sessions which Christ held with some of his Saints and Churches here on Earth amongst their Commendations there were some Exceptions and some faultinesses were charged upon them an Howbeit 2 Chron. 22.33 a Nevertheless Ch. 33.17 as abatements of their excellencies Nevertheless I have a few things against thee Rev. 2. So in the Process against the Church of Ephesus verse 4. Nevertheless a But against Pergamos verse 14. Against Thyatira v. 20. a Notwithstanding c. But now in the judicial Process of this last and Vniversal Assizes there is not found in all those voluminous Records which shall be opened so much as one unsavoury But to blemish the fair Characters of the Saints as if even before they got into Heaven they had obtained that priviledg to be just men made perfect This is very wonderful Had Reprobate men and Angels had the drawing up of the Report of the Saints lives Heb. 12.23 See the reason of it page 134. sub fine what a black Bill of Inditement would they have preferred against them to be sure all the evil which they ever did in their whole lives with all their blackest aggravations should have been raked up and produced against them Yea if the Saints themselves had been trusted with giving in the story of their own lives they would not have dealt much more kindly by themselves than the Seed of the Serpent would have done to be sure if there were any thing worse than other they would not have concealed it vilifying the good and aggravating the bad as somtimes they were wont to do in their desertions even beyond truth and justice as if Satan had hired them to bely themselves I but now the Righteous Judg of Heaven and Earth He is far from dealing so with them but as if he himself had never known any evil by them he brings in Omnia bene in his presentment all fair and well and so it is proclaimed in that High Court of Justice This is no small Encouragement for the poor self-accusing Saints of God! Use Rev. 12.10 Although the accuser of the Brethren and his seed do not cease to accuse them before God day and night yea and doth often taking advantage of their natural distempers even to force them to accuse themselves not much more Righteously then He himself doth yet will not the Righteous Judg accuse them But is it not Prophesied of the day of Judgment Object Eccles 12.14 that God shall bring every work into judgment whether it be good or whether it be evil How then is there no mention made of their sins That Scripture is to be understood Respective Sol. sc with a just respect to the two great parties which are to be judged good and bad godly and ungodly that is to say All the good of the good shall be brought into the judgment of mercy and all the evil of the wicked into the judgment of Condemnation the godliness of the godly that it may be gratiously rewarded and the wickedness of the wicked that it may be righteously punished Here Caution I say is encouragement for the Saints howbeit not to sin such a vile Conclusion would ill become such Premisses and were sufficient evidence to un-Saint any person that should deliberately make such Inferences as being a Logick taught in the Devils School not in Christ's and exploded by all real Saints with the greatest abhorrency Ab sit God forbid Rom. 6.1 Comfort then here is for the Saints but such as will make them more Saints 1 Jo. 3.3 Every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure But Secondly Secondly The Crown of praise is put on the Saints Head Another Circumstance of honour in Christ's acknowledgment of the Graces in and Duties performed by his Saints is that although their Graces were nothing else but so many drops of Christ his own fulness Grace for Grace and their duties so many operations of his own Spirit in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 1.16 nothing their 's but the very act of Believing and the act of Repentance and the act of Love to Christ and the act of Prayer sic in caeteris yet Christ is pleased to ascribe all the Praise and all the Glory both of their Graces and Duties unto the Saints assuming nothing to himself to whom the whol was wholly due as if not only the act it self but the principle also from whence they acted had been their own This is truly wonderful here is the bredth and length depth and height of the Love of Christ Eph. 3.18 19. which passeth knowledg Christ then will indeed be glorified in his Saints and admired in
one another and yet unseparable by reason whereof when but one of them is mentioned both of them are to be understood 6. If satisfaction be imputed Righteousness must be imputed also both being the peculiar and proper Office of the Mediator neither of them falling within the capacity of the Creature standing at the Bar of Divine Justice The third end of the Saints meeting with Christ in the Air â— Psal 116. 3d. End Consummation of the Saints Nuptials is The solemn Consummation of the Saints Nuptials with Christ their Bridegroom They were Contracted here on Earth when Christ and the Saints gained one another's consent Jesus Christ did then solemnly Espouse the Saints to himself Hos 2.19 20. I betrothed thee unto me for ever yea I betrothed thee unto me in Righteousness and in Judgment and in loving kindness and in Mercies I even betrothed thee unto me in faithfulness Indeed the Church in her self when Christ came to make Love to her was a very unlovely Creature whose emblem therefore is a poor wretched Infant in the Blood of its Nativity Ezek. 16.4.6 But Jesus Christ did first Love her with a Love of Pity Ezek. 16.6 I saw thee polluted in thine own Blood I saw thee that is I cast an Eye of Pity upon thee my bowels yearned towards thee And then as Love-less as she was that he might have a Legal right to her Eph 5.25 he Purchased her of his Father He Purchased her at a dear rate for He gave himself for her first He gave himself for her and then He gave himself to her They were wont to buy their Wives of the Father of the Damosel but never did Husband buy a Wife at such a Rate as the Lord Jesus did the Church Shechem bid fairly for Dinah Gen. 34.12 Jacobs Daughter Ask me never so much dowry and gift and I will give according as ye shall say unto me Jacob served seven years for Rachel as it fell out twice over c. yea but the Lord Jesus gave himself for his Church he purchased her with his own blood Act. 20 2â— Thirdly That he might love her with a love of Complacency he doth sanctifie her Eph. 5.27 and cleanse her by the washing of water by the word As he doth purchase the Church with his blood so he doth purifie the Church by his Spirit compared to water for the cleansing vertue thereof in the Ministry of the word as Ahashuerus had the Virgins first purified and perfumed before he took them into his bed Fourthly He woeth her by the Ministers of the Gospel who love their Lord and poor Souls so well that they will take no denial at her hand as Eleazer Isack's Steward Gen. 24.33 would not eat before he had sped for Rebeccah to Wife for his Master's Son 2 Cor. 11.2 And when they have gained her consent then they present her as a chast Virgin unto Christ Fifthly Christ and his Church upon their mutual interview like one another so well that they mutually engage and contract themselves one to another Cant. 2.16 they do mutually give away themselves one for and one to another My Beloved is mine and I am His. Sixthly Christ doth nourish her and cherish her until she be of age fit for his Marriage-Bed Seventhly And then He cometh for her and meets her by the way as Isaack met Rebeccah sc in the Air as here in the Context Lastly Consummation of the Marriage Then and there he Consummates the Marriage before God and Angels and Men and Devils he doth take her to himself as his Royal Queen saying Come my Love my Dove my Vndefiled one He embraceth her and kisseth her with a Marriage kiss and takes her to Wife The Marriage knot is knit Heaven and Earth are witnesses to it thousand thousands yea ten thousand times ten thousand even a great multitude whose voyce is as many waters and as the voyce of mighty thunderings This was the Wedding unto which John was invited Rev. 21.9 Come hither I will shew thee the Bride the Lamb's Wife He that had the Bride was the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus King of Kings c. but John the Friend of the Bridegroom Jo. 3 29. stood and rejoyced greatly to hear the Bridegrooms Voyce then indeed was his joy fulfilled At the Consummation of this Marriage what inconceivable Triumph and Rejoycing will there be the loud Musick of Heaven shall sound the voyce of mighty thundrings all the Angels Cherubims Seraphims with all the Blessed Quoire of Celestial Spirits who attend this glorious King of Saints shall praise God with the still Musick of their Hallelujahs yea all the Saints of God whether Patriarchs or Prophets and Apostles all the Martyrs and Confessors of Jesus Christ with the whole number of the Redeemed who are both Guests and Bride in this glorious solemnity will make the Arches of Heaven to Eccho when they shall be joyful in glory and the high praises of God shall be in their mouths Rev. 19.7 singing one to another Let us rejoyce and be glad for the Marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready The Gates of Hell and the very foundations of the Kingdom of darkness shall tremble and be confounded at the report of this Triumphant Jubilâ—e This Nuptâ—ll solemnity finished Fourth end of Saints meeting Christ To sit as Assessors with him Psal 45.9 the next and fourth act in that solemn meeting will be that the Bridegroom will take the Queen his Bride and set her upon his Throne at his right hand as King Agrippa did Bernice Act. 25.27 as a Confessor with himself in the following part of the Judgment which He as Judg shall pass upon the Reprobate world of men and Devils who have all this while stood trembling below upon the Earth beholding to their infinite shame and horror all this glory put upon the Saints and fearfully looking for their own Judgment and that fiery indignation which shall devour the Adversaries which now succeeds For the Elect Angels who are appointed to be the Satellites or Posse comitatus to attend the Judg shall now drag that miserable company of Jale-birds those reprobate Caitifs of infernal Spirits The judgment of the wicked and wicked Men before the Tribunal of the great Judg there they shall pass under a most impartial exact and severe Tryal Mal. 3.16 the books shall be opened the book of Gods Remembrance and the book of their own Consciences and out of them they shall be judged for all the evils which ever they committed from the time they first had a being in the world The Reprobate Angels shall then be judged for their first Apostacy Ad solomen calamitatis suae non desinunt perditi perdere Min. Fel. Oct. and for all their malice and revenge which since that cursed defection they ever acted against God and against his Saints yea and against the