but labour and sorrow cut off and we soone gone Psal 90 10. And Hier. saith Sin amplius vixerimus If wee liue aboue 80. yeeres it is no life to be called but a death rather Now when we die the world is at an end with vs we goe to the house of our age and come forth no more to tell any tales Wherfore Iesus make vs ready against death comes and then Mercy will make vs happy when iudgemēt coms The very period of the Iudgement time some say shall be at midnight Quia illahora Angelus Egyptum deuastauit eademque hora electos suos de mundo liberabt Because in that houre say they the Angel did slay the First-borne in Egypt and that in that houre will hee deliuer his elect from Egypt of this world Some say Econtra The iudgement time shall be in the day either because the Prophets doe call it The day of the Lord Or else because that night if the time of night shall be as bright as the day Others say whose opinion Isodore citeth that The generall Resurrection shall be in the same night wherein our Sauiour made his Resurrection that is On Easer euen a the feast of the Pasouer and for that cause saith hee many in the Primitiue Church of the faithfull did watch that whole night as expecting the Iudges comming if we may beleene this Author But these men I answere first with that worthy father Haec est fidei regnla dixit Christus dixit Apostulus This is the rule of Faith to say Thus said Christ thus the Apostle Now this is more then Christ or his Apostles saide and so more then you or I must beleeue Next for that they speake of the Night time I answere either with Aug. It shal be Nocte rerum In the niht of the knowledge of actiōs Non temporum Not in the night seasn of time Or els I say with he meaning of the Text He shall come in the night that is Suddenly vnexpected when no man so much as dreameth on his then comming and as in the night things are done that men know nor so that time shall be when men thinke not This is sure whensoeuer it shall be A Trumpe shall blowe Inerrorem To terrifie As Theophilact in Mat. 24 ait And a shrill cry shall bee so lowde that All Soules in Heauen and Hell and bodies in the graue shal heare and at the hearing thereof appear before the Iudge Who as Beda in cap. 21. Lucae saith Ea forma electis apparebit qua in monte apparuit reprobis vero in ca forma qua in Cruce pependit Sall appeere to his chosen in that forme wherein hee appeared to Peter lames and Iohn on the mountaine that is gloriousl his face and clothes glistering Mat. 17.2 But to the reprobate hee shall appeare in that forme and shape which he had when hee hanged on the Crosse Let vs then who desire and hope for saluation worke it by faith and serue God here that that blessed day may be welcome to vs hereafter and how God will be serued Old Hier. tels you It will bee better by Aduerbs then by Verbs Videat quisque vt bonum opus bene bona intentione faciat quia non bonum facere sed bene facere laudabile est non enim in eo quod facimus sed quod bene facimus Let euery one saith he do good workes well and with a good minde for the praise is not in the doing good but in the doing well Example be the Pharisie he did good I fast twisea week I giue tythes of all I possesse I am no Extortioner vniust adulterer Lu. 18.2 But he did not well for he wanted a good intention which hee had not and waned not a proud heart which he had Wherefore he said Not like this Publican Ver. 2. And Christ saide Not iustified Vers 14. Thus all vnregenerate persons may doe Bonum Good but not Bne Well they cannot doe good well because they haue not in the sight of God a good will the person before God is not plausible because bee wants Faith nor the worke to GOD acceptable sith it wants not sinne What is not of Fath is sinne Romanes 14.23 3. The end to iudge the world is the third part of my text and this third part is taken in fiue sneses First for all creatures in the world Secondly for all mankinde Thirdly for the elect Fourthly for the reprobates Fifthly for the desires of the world as lusts of the yes desire of the heart pride of life and in the second senese for all mankinde is worlde in my text properly taken for God shall iudge all mankinde good and badde and bring them all to iudgement In the twentieth Chapter of the Reuelation and twelfth verse Saint Iohn saw the dead both great small stand before God for their iudgeent and the bookes were opened and euory one was iudged acording to the things written in those bookes and the Sea gaue vp her dead and death hell gaue vp his dead A question is heere mooued how the damned soules in hell and the Diuels the fallen Angels shall be iudged at the last day that are iudged already at this day Solu I answere that in respect of condemnation they shal not at the last day be iudged seeing they before hand are condemned by Gods eternall decree by his word by their owne consciences but in regard of aggrauation they shal be iudged because their pains shall be increased themselues strictly lookt vnto for hurting the godly any more In this world Peter was sitted Iob was wounded in the next world they are and shall be blessed the blessed shal be crowned crowned with a crowne of immortality white array Apoc. 3.5 And thus much by the way let me tell you as I passe along this third part of my text that White shall be the last apparell that we shall lastly weare it shall be the last weare which we shall weare and it wil weare lastingly euen so long as this mortall shall weare immortality after this mortall hath put on immortality White is a colour betokening purite and so the fitter colour for Heauen where al 's is Puritie It is the colour which wee shall haue in Heaen where no impure nor vncleane thing is Ephe. 5.5 This white was the colour wherewith Christ was mocked and this where shall bee the colour wherewith wee shall be crowned White was a color wherewith Christ was clad when hee was in miserie Luk. 23.15 And white shall bee that colour wherewith wee shall be clothed when we are in maiestie In the 1. of Iohn chap. 3. ver 2. It is said Wee shall bee like vnto him that is as Caluin saith Corpus nosrum humile reddet conforme corpori suo glorioso Hee shall make our clay bodies like his gloriou body And in the 17. of Mat ver 2. the Text saith When he ea transfigured his face didshine like the Sonne and his
THE VVORLDS ASSISES Or A Sermon Preached at Paules Crosse the tenth day of Iuly 1614. being the Sunday before the end of Trinity Terme By NATHANAEL KITCHENER Student in Diuinitie and Preacher of Gods word at Grauenhurst in Bedfordshire Looke vp and lift vp your heads for your Redemption draweth neers Luk. 21.28 Aug. ad Iulianum Epist iij. Tria sunt in hoc mundo deteriora omni malo Anima peecatoris in peccatis perseuerans quae nigrior est coruo mali Angeli qui eam rapiunt infernus in quem inducitur non exim sunt deteriora his tribus Imprinted at London by Lionell Snowdon for Iohn Harison at the golden Anchor in Paternoster-rowe 1616. TO THE RIGHT HONORABL LORD CHARLES Earle of Kent Lord of Hasting Weisforde and Ruthin and his Maiesties Lieftenant of the Shire of Bedford RIght Honorable there be two things which make any great house truely Noble Loue to God Loyaltie to Prince with the former this great noble house of KENT is now inuested in the latter it euer continued nener tainted in both a succession hopefull still expected Religion which is better then that lot of inheritance giuen by Iacob to his sonne Ioseph hath in your Lordship bin so long a Resident that any good man euen by popular report might present an Orphāt in hope of succour much more my selfe who know so well am so much bounden and can so truely speake that of you which the Spirit did of the Church of Theatyra I know thy Loue and Seruice and Faith and thy Patience and thy Workes and that they are moe at the last then at the first I haue here exposed myne Infant a formelesse Embrion to the mercie of the Presse and the Parent to the mercilesnesse of censure the poore abortiue resembling Alcibyades childe of whom the querulous mother made complaint That Nature begunne it but did not compleatly finish it shrowding both vnder your worthy Patronage as an Aiax buckler for defence All is done in benefit of the Church wherein I liue in token of dutie to your person whō I honour to satisfie my friends whom I loue and to content any good man whom I like Thus desiring the happinesse of Heauen and Earth to attend your soule and body I beseech him who made all to adde much honour to your dayes and many daies to your honourable life In hope whereof I take my humble leaue and rest Your Lordships Chaplaine in all obseruance N Kichener To the Reader REader if curteous I must thanke if captious I can indure there be two sorts of beasts whereof I warne my Youngling moone-eyde Ignorance and bleere-eyde Enuie the one with Melitides cannot iudge at all the other with Zoilous will iudge too much the fathers councell is That his child auoid both But if the constellations be maleuolous why yet the Poet saith Scribimus indoctidoctique c. So some of those cattell may prooue with young themselues and then others may doe as much for theirs If happily at any time mine Ospring be conuented before Felix eares itching after newes it answereth for it selfe that of Salomon Non est qnidquam noui sub sole Far as the Comedian said Nihil est iam dictum quod non sit dictum prius If it be taxed by soothing Zidkiah that with Ioseph it weareth a parti-colored coate or that Iay-like it borroweth feathers from other birds In promptu causa est It pleads antiquity as the first Apoligie It haue bin the ancient custom euen of the learned so to do Tum vt certiora scribant tum vt iucundius legantur Next it answereth for it selfe with Patricius Me parum admodum fidei rebus meis adhibuisse si solū authoritati meae in terarer Thirdly it puts in that plea of Lipsius for his politicke Ceutons in it owne behalfe Nil nostrum omnia Only the kingly policie of Astyages is the fear of my young One who vpon his dreame married his only daughter to a poore shepheard That the means of the father might derogate from the childs minde In fine Cor Agrippa said Inter Diuos nullos non carpit Momus and how then shall Mortals thinke to escape Grauenhurst Octob 1615. Thine if thou loue the Lord Iesus N K. Vpon this Sermon touching the Iudgement of the World Preached at Paules Crosse by N K. Encomiasticall Verses of A W. in loue to the Author his especiall friend and his Booke a Iudicious Worke. IN naught saue in Christs Crosse Paul glory had In naught more then Pauls Crosse maey we be glad Whereby men doe this Triple honour raise God glory this Land Good Theirselues praise Amongst the rest let me Iudicious friend Commend thy Booke thy Booke shal thee commend By thee the Iudgement of the World 's explain'd Wherein a World of Iudgement is containd Thy Iudgement of the Worlds Iudgement we see Feare not the Iudgement of the World of thee The Worlds Iudgement thy Booke so well displai's The Iudgement of thy Booke the World must praise Thy Booke may mend the world by sinnes detection But the World cannot mend thy Booke 's perfection Both Booke and World shall surely once decay But both shall last vnto the latter Day Ni frustra Augurium vani docuere parentes A. Wilbore Ma. Art Syd Coll. Cant. The VVorlds Assises RIght Honourable right Worshipfull worthy and Christian men and brethren it is a receiued opinion in Philosophie that the motion of the inserior Orbe is gouerned by the motion of the superior I may well compare this Chaire to a dimmy heauen wherein the Ecclesiasticall Orbe of our blessed Horizon doe often moue I may likē it to the Firmament wherein the fixt startes being set doe twinckle and glitter to the admiration of most The Orbe wherein my selfe am carried is one of the lowest yet now according to the will of God the Primus motor and my worthie friends that mooued I am here in motion In this my motion I desire with the Israelites to the king of Hesbon Deut. 2.27 to passe along the high-way of my Text turning neither to the right-hand nor to the left onely as Michaiah said to Ahabs messengers 2. Chron. 18.13 As the Lord liueth what my God saith that will I speake So say I what my Text hath put into my hand and the Lord shall put into my heart the one will I touch the other will I teach It may be expected by some that mine inferior Orbe shall bee carried according to the propper motion of the Primum Mobile or that it shall imitate the wonted motion of the Superiour Orbe or sith some say it s A natura huius loci The custom of this place to summon the manners of this citie that therefore mine shall wade into those abuses wherein it selfe is a stranger I answere No it shall not For min own part I say with the Prophet Puer sum nescio loqui ler. 1.6 I am a stranger here no traueller in the world I know that
clothes were as white as the light So hee is white and wee shall be white Now to this great Iudgement to which wee must come when our corruptible shall haue on this incoruptible white there are three Apparators that doe summon the World as my text hath it Vs I say Mankind who liue in the world 1. Infirmitas paenalis Infirmitie penall 2 Senectus temporalis Age temporarie 3 Mors ineuitabilis Death ineuitable And these three sammon all to Iudgement because all are sublunary and subiect to corruption all had a beginning ad must haue an ending euen ended by him by whom they were begunne him I say That hath appointed a day in which hee will Iudge the World The first of these Apparators doth threaten the second doth prosecute the third doth produce Infirmitie threatneth misery Age doth prosecute calamitie and Death doth bring vs with him into the High Commission Court of Iudicium speciale Our particuler Iudgement before the Iudge of the World to answere for iniquitie where if our Lawyers bee not good the Cause will goe against vs. We see in these daies that booke-cases alter and what is Law before one Iudge is ouerruled by another but sure I am that what is Law in this world shall not bee Law in the world to come Else would I deeme no people sooner saued then Lawyers because they who are good and conscionable Lawyers as we haue diuers such as will talke for their Clyents now I suppose they would plead harder for themselues then 1. Infirmitie doth summon vs for that is a punishment for the first sinne which whether it was Lust as many of the old writers held it out of Gen. 6.2 or whether it was ignorance as sme say or whether Pride to haue an equalizing of themselues with God as Hierome Gregory Nazianzene prooue and Augustine Tract in Iob. 49. affirmeth that I leaue because my text doth not find it And this infirmity is partly in the soule which delighteth not in heauenly things as it should but in earthly things as it should not partly in the body subiect to hunger cld nakednesse and as Iob saith Man borne of a woman hath but a short time to liue and is full of miseries Iob. 14.1 For befides miseries naturall of which as Gallen saith there are three hundred as yes sbiect to blindnesse bleerednesse thicknesse Eares to deafenesse impostumes foulenesse Mouth and tongue to cankers toothache dumbnesse Head to rewmes megrims giddines Throat to stuffings stranglings hoarcenes hands and legs to palsies gowtes feeblenes there are also miseries accidentall imprisonings venummings peril 's by fire waters cattell men These all are miseries and all these miseries are all messengers euen Remembrancers to put vs in mind of the iudgement day at hand for mans miseries are like Iobs bad tidings chap. 1.23 the end of ne euill message was the beginning of another 2. Age doth cite vs that when we see our hairs gray our bodies bend our eies dimme all decline wee cannot choose but thinke of our ende at hand vnlesse Nolumus agnoscere quod igno norare uon possumus Wee will not know what wee cannot but know The very passing by graues the vewing of Monuments fading memories for monuments and all must dye the sleeping of Nature the impayring of strength these things me thinks being cnsidered should teach vs to remember that which will close vp our eyes stoppe vp our breath lay vs in a companilesse bed a darke narrowe six foote grae 3 Death this Vltimum terribilium Last of all terrible things as Aristotle cals it doth serue a certaine vncertaine Summon vpon vs for Iudgement sith after the one instantly comes the other and there is no purging third place as the Papists vainely vilely salsely hold Diues dyed and was in Hell in torments Lazarus dyed an was carried into Abrahams bosome Duo sunt habitacula in igne aeterno in regno aeterno non est quis medins Locus vt possit nemo esse nisi cum Diabalo qui non est cum Christo Ther 's but two places saith Augustine in the euerlasting kingdome in eternall fire and there is no third place that he who is not with God must needes be with the diuell Many things there are that put vs in minde of death death puts in minde of iudgement and when Mors fecit quod potuit death hath done what must be Indicium faciet quod erit Iudgement will performe what shall be One faith God will one day aske vs all at the last day three questions 1. Qui. 2. Qnales 3. Quanti What we are by creation what by continuation how we haue profited Suppose the Almighty examine any of vs here vpon these interrogatories we cannot but answer Ad idem directly to the quesion for it is follie to lie to him who knowes better then we 1. Well then for our creation we will confesse that wee are Ad imaginem dei facti Vessels take heeue we make not our selues vassels made after his owne image 2. If we be asked what we are by continuation why that the Diuell without who fees our actions harts our counsels knows our very thoughts Quatenus animus externis se prodit sigus As our minde bewraies it selfe by outward signes as P. Mat. in 1. Sam. saith who shall Astare iudicio be by the Lord at iudgement as one saith and whom Augu. brings in pleading his inditement against vs thus These sinners O iust iudge are thine Per gratiam through grace in which they were made but mine Per culpam through sinne by which they are marde thine as they were framed mine as they are fowled thine in mercie mine in iustice thine by thy death mine by their life c. can tell and our conscience within which is as a thousand witnesses can testifie 3. But when he comes to Quantum profecimus How much wee haue profited though with that idle seruant Luk. 19.22 Ex ore nostro Out of our owne mouth he might iudge vs ye out of his mercie fraught with iustice he goes to his owne bookes searcheth the records there hee waies our sinnes and Christs merits together in a ballance to see how our faith can cacth holde to turne the scales I pray God therefore we may liue in this world like iust men for they liue like Paul and Paul liued by the Faith of the Sonne of God Gal. 2.20 So if wee liue like iust men wee shall haue the rewards of iust men euen the kingdome of heauen where God and his Sonne is and whethe God and his Sonne Iesus send vs all A question more curious then needfull is moued by some about this day of iudgement to wit whether the definitiue sentence shall goe and pasle on vs Mentally or Vocaly that is whether it shall bee onely in mens mindes hearts and consciences or whether wee shall all be called name by name It should seeme Augustine thought it to bee Vocall for De ciuit liber 20.