point should moue us all to repent us of our sins past to reforme our selues throughout to be plentifull in all good works And undoubtedly if wee seriously thinke upon it it will holde us more straitly to all good duties then if with the Papistes we held iustification by workes Furthermore in this triall tvvo things must be skanned I. how all mens workes shall be made manifest II. by what meanes they shall be examined Of the manifestation of euery mans vvork S. Iohn speaketh And I saw saith he the deade both great and small stande before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were iudged of these things which vvere written in the bookes according to their workes God is saide to haue books not properly but because al things are as certen and manifest to him as if he had his Registers in heauen to keepe rolles and recordes of them His bookes are three the book of Prouidence the book of Iudgement the book of Life The book of his providence is the knowledge of all particular things past present to come Of this the Psalmist speaketh Thine eyes did see me when I vvas vvithout forme for in thy booke vvere all things vvritten vvhich in continuance vvere fashioned vvhen there was none of them before The booke of iudgement is that whereby he giues iudgement and it is two-folde The first is Gods knowledge or prescience in which all the affaires of men their thoughts wordes and deedes are as certenly knowen and set downe as if they were put in bookes of record Wee may forget our sinnes but God keepes them in a register he knovves them euery one The seconde booke is euery mans particular conscience which also brings to remembrence and testifies what men haue done and what they haue not done The booke of life is nothing els but the decree of Gods election in which God hath set downe who be ordained to life eternall Now the opening of these bookes is a thing wherin the endlesse power of God shall most notably shewe it selfe For when we shall stand before the iudgement seate of Christ he then knowing all things in his eternall counsell shall reueale unto euery man his owne particular sinnes whether they were in thought worde or deede and then also by his mightie power hee shall so touch mens consciences that they shall a fresh remember what they haue done Now indeede the wicked mans conscience is shut up as a closed booke but then it shall be so touched and as it were opened that he shall plainly see and remember all the particular offences which at any time he hath committed his very coÌ„science shall be as good as a thousand witnesses whereupon hee shall accuse and utterly condemne himselfe The consideration of this ought to terrifie all those that liue in their sinnes For howsoeuer they may hide them from the worlde yet at the last day God will be sure to reveale them all Now after that mens workes are made manifest they must further be tried whether they be good or euill And that shall be done on this maner They that neuer heard of Christ must be tried by the law of nature which serues to make them inexcusable before God As for those that liue in the Church they shall be tried by the Law and the Gospell as Paul saith As many as have lived in the law shall be iudged by the law And againe At the day of iudgement God shall iudge the secrets of our hearts according to his gospell And By faith Noah builded an arke whereby he condemned the olde world If this be true then we must in the feare of God heare his word preached taught with all reuerence make coÌ„science to profit by it For otherwise in the day of iudgement when all our workes shalbe tried by it the same word of God shall be a bill of indiâ—ement and the fearefull sentence of condemnation against us Therefore let us be humbled by the doctrine of the lawe and willingly embrace the sweete promises of the gospell considering it is the onely touchstone whereby all our wordes thoughts workes must be examined The sixt pointe in the proceeding of the last iudgement is the giuing of sentence which is twofolde the sentence of absolution and the sentence of condemnation both which are to be obserued diligently that we may receiue profit therby And first of al Christ shal begin his iudgemeÌ„t with the seÌ„teÌ„ce of absolutioÌ„ which shews that he is ready to shew mercy slow to wrath In this sentence wee are to consider foure pointes I. a calling of the elect to the kingdome of heauen II. the reason thereof III. a reply of the elect IV. the answere of Christ to them againe The calling of the elect is set downe in these wordes Come yee blessed of my father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world And the wordes are to be obserued one by one Come ye blessed Though Christ now sit in glorie and maiestie in iudgement yet hee ceaseth not to shew his tender affection of loue unto his chosen And this ouerthroweth the opinion of the Church of Rome which would haue us rather to come vnto Christ by the intercession of saints then by our selues immediatly because he is now exalted in glorie and maiestie But mark when he was heare on earth hee saide Come vnto me all yee that are heavy laden and I vvill ease you And when hee shall be most glorious in maiestie and power at the day of iudgement hee will then also say Come ye blessed of my father and therfore we may resolue our selues that it is his will now that we should come unto him without any intercessioÌ„ of saints Yee blessed of my father The elect are here called the blessed of God because their righteousnes saluation and all that they haue springs of the meere blessing of God Nothing therefore must be ascribed to the workes of man Inherit that is receiue as your inheritance therefore the kingdome of heauen is Gods meere gifte A father giueth no inheritance unto his sonne of merite but of his free gifte whereupon it followes that no man can merit the kingdome of heauen by his workes The kingdome that is the eternall estate of glorie and happinesse in heauen therfore in this life we must so use this worlde as though we used it not all that we haue here is but vaine and transitorie and all our studie and endeauour must be to come to the kingdome of heauen Prepared Here note the unspeakeable care of God for the faithfull Had he such care to prouide a kingdome for his children before they were then wee may assure our selues he will haue greater care ouer them now when they haue a being For you that is for the elect and faithfull Hence it appeares that there is no uniuersall election whereby God decrees
God to serve In the sixe dayes of the weeke manie men vvalke verie painefully in their callings but when the Lordes day commeth then every man takes license to doe what hee will and because of the princes lawes men will come formally to the Church for fashions sake but in the meane time how many do nothing else but scorne mocke and deride and as much as in them lieth disgrace both the worde and the ministers thereof so that the cōmon saying is this oh he is a precise fellow he goes to heare Sermons he is too holy for our cōpanie But it stands men in hand to take out a better lesson which is if we will haue God to be our father wee must shewe our selues to be the children of God by repentance and newnesse of life he can not be but a gracelesse child that will lead a rebellious life flat against his fathers minde Let us then so behaue our selves that we may honour our father which is in heauen and not dishonour him in our liues and callings rather let us separate our selues from the filthinesse of the flesh loathing those things which our father lotheth and fleeing from those things which our father abhorreth And thus much for the duties Now follow the consolations which arise from this point But first we are to know that there are three sortes of men in the world The first are such as will neither heare nor obey the word of God The second sort are those which will heare the word preached vnto them but they will not obey both these sortes of men are not to looke for any comfort hence Now there is a third sort of men which as they heare Gods worde so they make conscience of obeying the same in their liues and callings and these are they to whome the consolations that arise out of this place doe rightly belong and must be applyed unto First therefore seeing God the father of Christ and in him the father of all that obey and doe his will is our father here note the dignitie and prerogative of all true beleeuers for they are sonnes and daughters of God as saith S. Iohn So many as received him to them he gaue a prerogatiue to be the sonnes of God even to them that beleeve in his name This priviledge will appeare the greater if we consider our first estate for as Abraham saith We are but dust and ashes and in regard of the deprauation of our natures we are the children of the deuill therefore of such rebels to be made the sonnes of God it is a wonderfull priviledge and prerogative no dignitie like unto it And to enlarge it further he that is the sonne of God is the brother of Christ fellow heire with him and so heire apparant to the kingdom of heauen and in this respect is not inferiour to the verie angels This must be laid vp carefully in the hearts of Gods people to confirme them in their conversation among the companie of vngodly men in this world Secondly if a man doe indeauour himselfe to walke according to Gods worde then the Lord of his mercie will beare with his wants for as a father spareth his owne son so will God spare them that feare him Now a father commaunds his child to write or to apply his booke though all things herein be not done according to his mind yet if he find a readinesse with a good indeavour he is content and falls to praise his childs writing or learning So God giueth his commandement and though his servants faile in obedience yet if the Lord see their heartie indeavour and their vnfeigned willingnesse to obey his will though with sundry wants hee hath made this promise and will performe it that as a father spareth his sonne so will he spare them If a child be sicke will the father cast him off nay if thorough the grievousnesse of his sicknesse he can not take the meat that is giuen him or if he take it for faintnesse pick it up againe will the father of the childe thrust him out of dores no but he will rather pitie him And so when a man doth indeauour himselfe through the whole course of his life to keepe Gods commandements God will not cast him away though through weakenesse he faile in sundry things and displease God This prerogatiue can none haue but he that is the child of God as for others when they sinne they doe nothing else but draw downe Gods iudgements upon them for their deeper condemnation Thirdly hence we learne that the childe of God can not wholly fall away from Gods fauour I doe not say that hee can not fall at all for he may fall away in part but hee can not wholly and so oft as he sinnes he depriues himselfe in part of Gods fauour David loued his sonne Absolon wonderfully but Absolon like a wicked sonne played a lewde pranck would haue thrust his father out of his kingdom And David although he was sore offended with Absolon shewed tokens of his wrath yet in heart he loued him and neuer purposed to cast him off Hereupon when he went against him he commanded the Captaines to intreat the yong man Absolon gently for his sake And when he was hanged by the haire of the head in pursuing his father then David wept and cried O my sonne Absolon my sonne Absolon would God I had dyed with thee Absolon my sonne And so it is with God our heauenly father when his children sinne against him and thereby loose his loue and fauour and fall from grace he forsakes them but how farre Surely he shewes signes of anger for their wickednesse yet indeed his loue remaines towards them still and this is a true conclusion the grace of god in the adoptiō of the elect is unchāgeable he that is the childe of God can neuer fall away wholly or finally On the contrary that is a bad and comfortlesse opinion of the Church of Rome which holdeth that a man may be iustified before God and yet afterward by a mortall sinne finally fall from grace and be condemned Fourthly the child of God that takes god the father for his father may freely come into the presence of god haue liberty to pray unto him We know it is a great priviledge to come into the chamber of presence before an earthly prince and fewe can alwaies haue this prerogatiue though they be great men yet the kings owne sonne may haue free entrance speake freely vnto the king himselfe because he is his sonne Now the children of God haue more prerogative then this for they may come into the chamber of presence not of an earthly king but of Almightie God the king of kings and as they are the sonnes of god in Christ so in him they may freely speake unto God their father by prayer And this ouerthrowes the doctrine of such as be of the Church of Rome which
panteth after thee O Lord and the benefits of thy death The second that a sponge full of vineger tied vpon an hyssope stalke was reached to Christ vpon the crosse Now it may be demaunded how this could be considering the stalke of the hyssope is not past a foote long Answer As the tree of mustard seede with the Iewes is farre greater and taller then with vs in so much that the birds of heauen build their nests in it so it may be that hyssope groweth much longer in those countries then with vs. Or as I take it rather the hyssope stalke was put vpon a reede and by that meanes the sponge was put vp to the mouth of Christ. The third point is that Christ drinketh the vineger offered but when Not before all things were finished that were to be done on the crosse And by this he shewes his exceeding care for our saluation He laide aside all thinges that would turne to his owne ease that he might fully worke our redemption and fulfill the will of his father who sent him into the world for that ende The like care must euery one of vs haue to walke dutifully and as it were to goe with thorough-stitch in our particular callings that God may be glorified by vs. When Abrahams seruant came to Bethuel to get a wife for Isaac meâ—t was set before him but he said I will not eate before I haue said my message so likewise we must first see Gods glorie procured in our affaires and then in the second place if commoditie or praise redound to vs we must afterward take it The last point is that when Christ had drunke the vineger he said It is finished VVhich words may haue a double sense one that such things as were figured by the sacrifices of the old testament are accomplished the other that now vpon the crosse he had finished his satisfaction to the iustice of his father for mans sinne And this of the twaine I rather thinke to be his meaning If it be said that the buriall and resurrection and ascension of Christ c. which are very necessarie to mans redemption were not yet begunne the answer is that the works of Christs priesthoode which follow his death serue not to make any satisfaction to Gods iustice for sinne but onely to confirme or applie it after it is made and accomplished on the crosse And if this be so that Christ in his owne person accomplished the worke of redemption and made a full and perfect satisfaction for vs as these words import It is finished then humane satisfactions to Gods iustice for sinne are altogether superfluous The fifth euent that fell out when Christ was vpon the crosse was that he cryed with a loud voice and said Father into thy handes I lay downe my spirite that is I commende my soule as being the most pretious thing which I haue in this worlde into thy custodie who art a most faithfull keeper therof These words are taken by Christ out of the Psalmes for when Dauid was in daunger of his life by reason of Saul and had no friend to trust he makes choice of God to be his keeper and said Into thy hands O Lord doe J commend my spirite Nowe our Sauiour Christ beeing in the like distresse both by reason of the Iewes who euery way sought his finall destruction and confusion and especially because he felt the full wrath of God seazing vpon him doth make choice of Davids words and applie them to himselfe in his distresse And by his example we are taught not onely to read the generall historie of the Bible but also to obserue the things commaunded and forbidden and to applie the same vnto our selues and to our particular estates and dealings whatsoeuer thus the Prophet Dauid saith In the rolle of the booke it is written of me that I should doe thy will O my God! Howe can this be for no part of Scripture penned before the daies of Dauid saith thus of him True indeede but as I take it Dauids meaning is that he read the booke of the Lawe and found generall precepts and commaundements giuen to Kings and Princes that they should keepe all the ordinances and commaundements of God which he beeing a King applies particularly to his owne person and thereupon saith In the volume of the booke it is written of me c. And this dutie is well practised by the people of God at this day for the Psalmes of Dauid were penned according to the estate of the Church in his time and in these daies the Church of God doth sing the same with the same spirite that Dauid did and doth applie them to their seuerall estates and conditions Now in that Christ commends his soule into the hands of his father he doth it to testifie that he died not by constraint but willingly and by his owne practise he doeth teach vs to doe the like namely to giue vp our owne soules into the hands of God And because this dutie is of some difficultie we must obserue three motiues or preparatiues which may induce vs to the better doing of it The first is to consider that God the Father of Christ is the creator of our soules and therefore he is called the father of spirits And if he be a creator of them then is he also a faithfull preseruer of them For sure it is that God will preserue his own workmanship Who is or caÌ„ be so careful for the ornament and preseruation of any worke as the crafts-master and shall not God be more carefull then man wherefore Saint Peter exhorteth vs to commit our soules vnto God as vnto a faithfull creator The second motiue is this we must looke to be resolued in our consciences that God the Father of Christ is our Father euery man for himselfe must labour to haue the assurance of the pardon of his owne sinnes and that the corruption of his soule be washed away in the blood of Christ that he may say I am iustified sanctified and adopted by Christ. And when any man can say thus he shall be most desirous and willing to commit his soule into the hands of God This was the reason which mooued Christ to lay downe his soule into the handes of God because he is his Father The third motiue or preparatiue is a continuall experience and obseruation of Gods loue and fauour towardes vs in keeping and preseruing him as appeares by Dauids example Into thy handes saith he I commit my soule for thou hast redeemed me O thou God of truth The time when wee are specially to commende our soules into the hande of God is first of all the time of any affliction or daunger This was the time when Dauid commended his soule into the handes of God in the Psalme before named VVee knowe that in any common daunger or perill as the sacking of a citie or burning of an house if a man haue any pretious iewell therein
churches elect II. they are called elect of the principal part and not because euery member thereof was indeed elect as it called an heape of corne though the bigger part be chaffe Secondly it is alleadged that Dauid praies that his enemies may be blotted out of the booke of life which is the Election of God and that Moses and Paul did the like against themselues Answear Dauids enemies had not their names written in the booke of life but onely in the iudgement of men Thus Iudas so long as he was one of the disciples of Christ was accounted as one hauing his name written in heauen Now hence it follows that mens names are blotted out of Gods booke when it is made cleare and manifest vnto the worlde that they were neuer indeede written there And where Moses saith forgiue them this sinne if not blotte me out of thy booke and Paul I could wish to be accursed c. there meaning was not to signifie that men elected to saluation may become reprobates onely they testifie their zealous affections that they could be coÌ„tent to be depriued of their owne saluation rather then the whole bodie of the people should perish and God loose his glorie As for that which Christ saith Haue I not chosen you twelue and one of you is a deuill is to be vnderstood not of election to saluation but of election to office of an Apostle which is temporarie and changeable The third point is that there is an actuall election made in time beeing indeede a fruit of Gods decree and answearable vnto it and therefore I added in the description these words whereby he hath chosen some men All men by nature are sinners and children of wrath shut vp vnder one and the same estate of condemnation And actuall election is when it pleaseth God to â—euer and single out some men aboue the rest out of this wretched estate of the wicked worlde and to bring them to the kingdome of his owne sonne Thus Christ saith of his owne disciples I haue chosen you out of the world The fourth point is the actuall or reall foundation of Gods Election and that is Christ and therefore wee are said to be chosen to saluation in Christ. He must be considered two waies as he is God we are predestinate of him euen as we are predestinate of the father and the H. Ghost As he is our Mediatour we are predestinate in him For when God with himselfe had decreed to manifest his glorie in sauing some men by his mercie he ordained further the creation of man in his owne image yet so as by his owne fall he should infold himselfe and all his posteritie vnder damnation this done he also decreed that the Word should be incarnate actually to redeeme those out of the former miserie whome he had ordained to saluation Christ therefore himselfe was first of all predestinate as he was to be our head and as Peter saith ordained before all worlds and we secondly predestinate in him because God ordained that the Exequution of mans Election should be in him Here if any demaund how we may be assured that Christ in his Passion stoode in our roome and steade the resolution will bee easie if wee consider that hee was ordained in the eternall counsell of God to be our suretie and pledge and to be a publike person to represent all the Elect in his obedience and sufferings and therefore it is that Peter saith that he vvas deliuered by the foreknovvledge and determinate counsell of God And Paul that grace vvas given vnto vs through Christ Iesus before the vvorlde vvas The fifth point is concerning the number of the Elect. And that I expressed in these words hath chosen some men to saluation If God should decree to communicate his glorie and his mercie to all and euery man there could be no Election For he that takes all can not be said to choose Therefore Christ saith Many are called but few are chosen Some make this question how great the number of the Elect is and the answeare may be this that the Elect considered in themselues be innumerable but considered in comparison to the whole world they are but fewe Hence it follows necessarily that sauing grace is not vniuersall but indefinite or particular vnlesse we will against common reason make the streames more large and plentifull then the very fountaine it selfe And this must excite vs aboue all things in the world to labour to haue fellowship with Christ and to be partakers of the speciall mercie of God in him yea to haue the same sealed vp in our heartes Benefits common to all as the light of the sunne c. are not regarded of any Things common to fewe though they be but temporall blessings are sought for of all God giues not riches to all men but to some more to some lesse to some none And hereupon how doe men like drudges toile in the world from day to day and from yeare to yeare to inrich themselues Therefore much more ought men to seeke for grace in Christ considering it is not common to all We must not content our selues to say God is mercifull but we must goe further and labour for a certificate in the conscience that we may be able to say that God is indeede mercifull to vs. When the Disciples would haue knowne how many should be saued he omitting the question answeares thus Striue to enter in at the straight gate The last point is the ende of Gods Election and that is the manifesting of the praise and excellencie of the glorious grace of God Thus hauing seene what Election is let vs nowe come to the Exequution thereof Of which remember this rule Men predestinate to the ende that is eternall life are also predestinate to the subordinate meanes whereby they come to eternall life and these are vocation iustification sanctification glorification For the first he that is predestinate to saluation is also predestinate to be called as Paul saith Whome he hath predestinate them also he calleth Secondly whome God calleth they also were predestinate to beleeue therefore sauing faith is called the faith of the elect And in the Acts as many as were ordained to life euerlasting beleeued Thirdly whome God hath predestinate to life them he iustifieth as Paul saith whome he hath predestinate them he calleth and whome he calleth them he iustifieth Fourthly whome he hath predestinate to life them he hath predestinate to sanctification and holines of life as Peter saith that the Iewes were Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father vnto sanctification of the spirit Lastly they that are predestinate to life are also predestinate to obedience as Paul saith to the Ephesians Ye are the workemanship of God created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes vvhich God hath ordained that vve should walke in them This rule beeing the truth of God must be obserued for it hath