the deserued fall of this you haue which is euermore enuironed with miserable feare and blindnes with feare to loose that they haue by sundrie casualties And so blinde as not able to beholde the miserie of that ende which hath none other heauen then this present earth But Oh come and beholde the state of these blessed that are not godly rich O yée sonnes of men and you shall bée enforced if you hunger to bée truely blessed to pray with that holy rich Dauid Psal 17.14 Deliuer my soule from the wicked with thy sworde from men O Lorde by thine hande from men of the worlde who haue their portion in this life whose bellyes thou fillest with thine hidde treasure their children haue ynough and leaue the rest of their their substance for their children But I will beholde thy face in righteousnesse and when I awake I shall bee satisfied with thine image That is When I shall arise from the sleepe of naturall death it shall bée full felicitie to me that thou in thy mercy O Lord hast made mee thy creature and liuely image formed by and after thée in holynesse and righteousnesse and to enioy the fulnesse of thy face Colloss 2. which is true blessednesse The tormentes of Hell in Diues might sufficiently teach vs howe false is the felicitie of earthly beautie brauerie dignitie riches and greatest glorie If Christ bée not in them your ende shall bée wéeping and woe Iames. Hée was braue but now is the Godly Lazar beautifull he was of great possessions but Lazarus hath the kingdome Luke 16. He gaped after gold gay clothes delicate fare but the despised man of God is truely rich decked with glory delicately fed with the countenance of the Lord. Diues supposed rich is buried in hel And by that he greatly offended in that he is greatly punished For his tongue is vehemently tormented in the flame he cryeth for fauour but cannot obtain for hée had no part of the first resurrectiō which is true beatitude and therefore must he néedes dwell for euer in the seconde death He would haue his brethrē warned that they dreame not of false felicitie but the very way to blessednesses is there taught him and also vs not to bée learned from the deade Luke 16. but of the liuing Lawe of the Lord. They haue Moses the Prophets let them heare them Esai 8.19.20 Be afraide ye gallants of the earth you delicate Nymphes of these deayes which term it now most delicate to you iudge your selues that ye be not iudged of the Lorde 1. Cor. 11. Burie not your mindes in fained felicitie but séeke you after true happinesse If riches honours Castels Lordships Lands Reuenues wordly goods greatly increase set not your hearts vpon them Be not locked into the Coffer of thy gold with Diues but haue a godly liberal hart with Abrahā Rather sit at the doore of thy house ready to benefite thy countrie thē hauing many to runne from al thy homestedes to lye aloofe to féede thy selfe Haue a Christian eye to the whéele of false felicitie For the more swéete shée séemeth the sharper is her loose whom she most fauoureth him maketh she most fottish Truely the prosperitie of fooles destroyeth them Prou. 1.32 But if by grace from God in thy part of the first resurrection thou withstandest her pleasures and vngodly desires Sizach thou crownest then thy life with felicitie in him Which God grant vs for his holy Christs sake And thus much of false flattering felicite But that we may be partakers of this blessednes approued to vs here by the spirite of god let vs lend our hearts to heare Truely this felicitie is first by the Lorde diffused to vs in this life but possessed by vs more amplie in heauen at the houre of death yet neuer fully obtained till the time héere mentioned for the iust namely at the second resurrection When we shal be fréed from all woe and shal be filled with all fulnesse of ioy and bée the priestes of God and Christ to raigne with him a thousand yeare that is for euer and euer Blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection for on such c. This text doth first then yeld a resolute answere to this demand who are they which be truly blessed Truely saith our text euen whatsoeuer he that hath part in the first resurrection whether he be king or caytiffe prince or potentate preacher or people rich or poore he or she yong or old one or other Come vp hither ye sōns of mē raise vp you your heauy harts for the catholik curse of Adams loines behold an vniuersal beatitude in our common Christ This absolute happinesse is not shut vp to a few but as many as can be partakers of the first resurrectiō so many I say shal be blessed frō the second death which is the infernall lake of fire brimstone But for your better helpe to the comfort of this place note héere with mée two thinges The first what is this first resurrection The seconde how we may assure our selues to be partakers therof Now we must cōsider our text doth insinuate vnto vs a duple resurrectiō namely a corporal a spiritual 2. Cor. 5.2.20 The corporal resurrection is the supplie of this article I beleeue the resurrection of the deade and is common to all for all fleshe shall die and ryse agayne to iudgemente But the spirituall resurrection is particular to the sōnes of God alone is called the first because in this life his holy spirit doeth kill the members of sinne to death in vs rayseth vs vp togither in Christ Ephesi 2. to a newnesse of life But so necessarie a doctrine it is to bée delyuered vs of either resurrection that I may not omit but speake of them both And as many scriptures doe testifie the first so it is my purpose to charge your memories but with one but that so sufficiēt as may alone suffice our purpose at this time and your vnderstanding of Gods good pleasure in that iudgement viz. Apoc. 20.11.12.13.14.15 And I sawe a great white throne and one that sate on it from whose face fled away both the earth and heauen and their place was no more founde And I sawe the dead both great and small stand before God the books were opened and an other booke was opened which is the booke of life and the deade were iudged of those things which were written in the books according to their workes And the sea gaue vp her dead which were in her and death and hell deliuered vp the deade which were in them and they were iudged euery man according to their workes And death and hel were cast into the lake of fire this is the seconde death And whosoeuer was not founde in the booke of life written was cast into the lake of fire This holy scripture beloued doth most playnely
lay abroad the order and maner of iudgemēt at the last day And first the maiestie of the iudge in his comming is described Secondly the maner of the iudgement who they be and wherof the Apparants be iudged The Lords comming is with great glory he sitteth on a mightie seat farre passing the iudicial thrones of the greatest princes And of necessitie that must bée a greate Seate Titus 2.13 Luk. 1.32 which must beare the God of might It is a bright shining seate all glorious not with corruptible golde or precious stone but with the heauēly gleames more bright then the Sunne beames euen lightned with the brightnesse of his diuine glorie as Christ hath saide Matt. 25.31 The sonne of Man shal come in his glorie and he shall sit vppon the seate of his glorie and all the holy Angels shall come with him Whose glorious throne doth euen teach vs that the Lords iudgements are pure and without spotte No pleading at the barre no bribing of the iudge no frending by aquest no fauour found for siluer nor loue or hate shall beare a sway but equitie alone in him shall then bee séene Also his brightnesse in comming shal perce into the hearts and actes of al men to manifest and lay open the hidden secrets of the conscience according to the sentence of Paul 1. Cor. 4.5 Iudge nothing before the time vntill the Lord come who wil lighten things that are hide in darkenes make the councels of the hearts manifest and then shal euery man haue praise of God viz. as his labour asketh Likewise the shinning sunne and moone the glittering starres yea heauen earth shall be darkened faile of their brightnes before him For like as the glorious sunne shinning causeth the blasing torch to loose his brightnes in respect of him So shall that most beawtifull planet be as darkened with the great glorie of this shining throne in the comming of the Amightie Christ But my beloued if these glorious creatures shal flée from the presence of this mighty CHRIST comming to iudgement which euer haue béene obedient to his holy will yea that but when he is comming how shal it fare with vs when he is set vpon that terrible throne whose sinnes haue béene so many and the accusers so ready as the Lord his witnes sathās accusation Zopho and thine owne conscience which is to thée 1000. witnesses when the sunne is blacke the Moone as blood the stars fall Malach. like the gréene figges from their trées in a mightie wind the heauens depart away like a scroll Reue. 6.12 and all ysles and montaines are moued out of their places And the kinges the of earth the great men and the rich men the chiefe captaines and the mightie men and euery bondman and euery frée man hide them selues in dennes Esa 2.19 Hos 10.8 Luk 23.30 and amongst the rocks of the mountaines and shall say to the mountaines and rockes fall on vs and hide vs from the presence of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lambe In cause hereof let me say vnto vs with that holy Dauid Oh Psal 50.22 cōsider this you that forget God least the Lorde teare you in péeces and there bée none to deliuer you Séeing therefore that all these thinges must be dissolued and come to passe what manner of persons ought we to bée 2. Pet. 3.11 in holy conuersation godlinesse But when this iudge our Lorde Christ is thus gloriouslyset then these foresaid persons of ech degrée shall stand before him euen great smal for neither heauen nor earth can hid them or their crownes their dignities Lordships or warrelike courage wealth wil or wit shall be able to kéepe them from his presence or escape the iust iudgemēt which the balance of his equitie shal cast vnto thē Looke to this now ye knights and gentils here present and you rich in possessions be not careles of your life for godly preuention nowe shal embolden your persons then to lift vp your heades because your redemption is thē at hand Luk. 21.28 This order then shall be obserued The bookes shal be laid open before the Lorde and euery man high and low rich and poore shall be iudged with the scepter of trueth euen according as his déedes are written in those bookes Note héere beloued by an elegant Metaphor howe the spirite of GOD doth display the iudgementes of the Lorde He alludeth vnto the iudiciall courtes of kinges and Potentates where the bookes of recorde beare memorie of the faultes of men conuicted by good proofe Not that the Lord hath néede of bookes for he knoweth the thoughts words and workes of all men of euery idle word Math. 12.36 shall man be iudged but that héereby he would sende vs to our owne senses to knowe and féele that all our actions and heartes are in his sight and cannot be wiped out of his remembrance by other pensill then onely by true faith repentance And as we are fallen into this Metaphor of the Lords bookes So let vs know that the holy scriptures Ezech. 18. Heb. 6. attribute thrée bookes vnto God viz. liber prouidentiae Iudicii vitae The booke of his prouidence The booke of his iudgement and the blessed booke of life Of his prouidence Dauid saith thus Psal 139 16. Thine eyes did see mee when I was without fourme for in thy booke were all things writtē which in continuaunce were fashioned when there was none of them before O Lorde sayth hée when as yet I was not formed in my mothers wombe thine eyes did see me in the book of thy foreknowledge prouidence of thy diuine mind were all men written from the foūdation of the earth when as yet there was not one begotten The booke of his iudgementes this former text doth enforce the consideration of which bookes were opened and signifieth the certaine knowledge of al the words and workes of euery man from Adam tyll that instant according to the which they shall be all then iudged For those things which the Lord now knoweth as if he had them written in bookes those thinges that either our heartes wordes or workes haue imagined spoken or done the same then shall he then lay before vs as if he redde them out of them Apoc. 20. and shall thereby builde a reason vnto vs all why some shall by iudgement goe to hell some other vnto life Be not deceiued therefore good people God is not mocked or beguiled Gal. 6.7 for we shall be adiudged of euery idle worde that shall be spoken howe much more of wicked déeds as of idolatrie whordome blasphemie and such like Nowe go too you that put farre away the euill day Amos. 6.3 and approch the seat of iniquitie which take singular pleasure in ribauldry and filthy iesting which can laughe the lowdest when your lewde seruants are most disposed to lie Doe
you thinke indéed ther is a God that knoweth this A Scribe that recordeth it A iudge that will reuenge it and a day that shall reueale it by the bookes of your heauie iudgement And dare you continue your delight in lying whoring in filthy iestinges that are not comely in such the workes of darkenesse which rather you ought to reprooue in others then to fauour or practise them your selues But these euils dwel not altogether in beggers but you you euē you I say whō the Lord hath blessed with landes and reuenewes in great aboundance which for your birthes are called gentlemen for your chiualrie knights but for your follie flattered as fooles to winne of you preferment euen of you I said there are that dare dispise the spirit of trueth with the false spirit of lying ribauldry and filthy whoredome Your seruantes perceyuing your foolishnesse are contented to sell themselues to hel to gaine some earthly preferment at your handes For séeing your diuellish disposition they frame their practise to your pleasurs but you shal be iudged of those thinges most seuerely Oh you seruing-men absteyne from pleasing your maisters with this egregious lewdenes of lying Wotte you what you doe and whose ye are Io. 8. you do make your soules the slaues of sathan and you are herein the children of the deuill your father which is a lyer from the beginning Cast of these works of darkenesse haue no fellowship with them but rather reprooue them and those that vse them yea though they be your great masters For you are not called to serue men but God And you shall then be founde best profitable to your maisters when you shall take sinne from their bodies and exhort vertue to their soules And be it knowne to you you knightes héere present and the rest that that noble Naaman had not béene clensed from his leprosie had he not humbled his soule to the admonition of his godly seruing-men 2. Kings 5.13 2. King 5.13 The Lorde GOD worke our conuersion in tyme that wee may dye to sinne and haue parte in the firste resurrection so shall we bee sure not to taste of the seconde death because our names are founde written in the booke of life Whereof nowe wee are to speake And it is notable that it is saide euery man was iudged accordinge to his workes that hée had done in his life time not what others haue done for him after Yea aswell the godly as the reprobate are in thēselues vnder the censure of the seconde booke that is condemnable to the seconde death But now there is an other cause why the godly are saued namely that their names are written in the booke of life Ephe. 1.2 This booke of life is not of this life corporall but spiritual and hath his beginning in these our dayes but is perfited in the last resurrection and is called the most sure and swéete election and predestination of god which doth seale and sanctifie to himselfe those that be his whom he hath chosen to be partakers of the first resurrection before the beginning of dayes Ephe. 1.2 and therefore they cannot perishe in the ende of time Of this booke speaketh Paule The Lord knoweth who bee his And though sparingly I would speak in singular reuerence of this hiddē mystery 2. Tim. 2.19 to many in the world comfortable only to the childrē of life when their eyes be opened to reade this booke yet in humblenesse of heart I say thus much of it This booke of life is the most certaine sure firme and eternall foreknowledge in the most holy minde of God Zanch. To. 2 lib. 3. cap. 3. 712. by the which hee euer hath and doeth in his Christ and for him alone appoint and choose vs to be his children adopted to grace and heires of eternall life approueth them for his and taketh peculiar and perpetuall care on them I knowe my sheepe saith Christ I knowe whome I haue choosen c. And those whome the Lorde writeth in this booke those only shall haue saith and life And whosoeuer is not written in this booke without doubt he shall be cast into the seconde death But howe shal we know that wee are written in this booke Surely euerie man is to séeke the knowledge héereof To some it is giuen at morne to other at noone and to some onely at night euen gasping at breath The ordinarie way to this knowledge is elegātly set downe by Paul to the Romans where the graces of God are so linked in one so easie to be perceiued that euerie man may haue an insight of this golden cheine that feareth God Rom. 8.28 We know that all thinges saith he worke together for the best to to them that loue God euē to them that are called of his purpose For those whō he knew before he also predestinate to be made like to the image of his sonne that he might be the first borne amonge manie brethren Moreouer Whome he predestinate them also hee called and whome hee called them also hee iustified and whome he iustified them also he glorified Héere beloued the booke is gods purpose to choose and our writing in it is that we are elected to liue in Christ before all times a life conformable to the following of Christ to bée holy and blameles sober godly religious iust peaceable and blessed in this present worlde And not to be worldly bent and to blaspheme with rebellious spirites saying what should I feare to to robbe to kil to spoile to whore it and brace it and to followe my lust For if I be elected I shal be saued if I be not elected I shal be dāned But beloued Oh hateful spirit against Gods holy spirit of our electiō Do you draw hence an other nature in the grace of this book namely learne to sée how those that are elected those shal be called to féele their election And they shal be iustified from their former corruptions sanctified from after sinnes and glorified to God But as we haue said those that be not found writtē in this booke those shal be iudged by the other bookes of iudgement and that according to their workes This doctrine is héere deliuered vs to note Iohn speaketh of the generall iudgement executed long after the natural death and he speaketh generally of all when as no doubte great heapes of infinite thousands haue had the works of Popes and Cardinals popish priests and sacrilegious Masses trentals doles and chauntrie fées moonkish builde and frierish helpes for them All whose works of darknesse notwithstanding euery man shall rise vnchaunged from his former state For euen so as he dyed such shall he arise and shall haue iudgement after his owne works and not according to the merite of other mens labours for him after his death Thus saith Gods spirite which cannot lye Away therefore with your prayer for the deade your almes and dole to the poore at the place and day
vp in his heart those things which the Prophet spake Take héede that you spurne not at your Phisicions for then your health is at an ende Did Esay cry in his time Esa 53.1 lord who beléeueth our sayings And may not we cry nowe Lord who doeth credite our report We are the ofscowring of the people the laughing-stockes of the worlde wée are counted contentious seditious slaunderous railers lyers troublers of the state But as for this people though thou O Lord speake in vs vnto them yet will they not bend their eares to heare thy voyce in vs. Though the earth be wearie of her sinnefull burthen as surcharged with the heauinesse of sinne doth vniuersally totter as a dronken man Aprill 8. 1580. at our iniquities and thy heauie iudgements yea though the waters here below the heauens planets farre aboue though blasing gleames and burning lampes haue summoned vs and vgly shapes in monstrous birth haue and yet doe cite vs to the preuentiō of thy heauie wrath in true repentaunce Iere. 8.6 yet no man sayth to himselfe and what haue I done But euerie man goeth to the corruption of his owne heart and fetcheth thence the labor of his life in Hypocrisie Popery Drunkennesse Whoredome couetousnesse pride ambition atheisme such like And all this commeth hereof that being almost all dead we féele not that we are once touched with sickenes We goe on in our wickednes and séeke credit against our reprouers scorne at Gods iudgementes and when most séeming is of imminent daunger wee assure our selues of great securitie Oh people of this waywarde nation and you here present let vs his ministers bee the Lordes cockes to rowse you out of this deadely sléepe hauing first with Peters teares examined well our selues Let vs bee the trumpettes of the Lord to warne you of the greate and mightie battel of the God of hostes against vs. And nowe accept you this labour of me the watchman of the Lorde and hearken with comfort to this my crye Arise you that sleepe in your sinnes and shamefull securitie O Christians by name Arise from the first death of sinne by the operation of Gods holy spirite in you and walke in newnesse of life by the light of the glorious gospell of GOD giuen you in Christ so shal not the second death haue any power of you because you haue taken parte in the first resurrection And now I perceiue this first parte hath taken my whole time allotted me so as I can not speake of the seconde which is so depending of the first that well they can not bee disioyned But in asmuch as your ciuill solemnities aske more tyme then possibly the forenoone woulde afforde vs I will deferre my seconde part till some other time except I receiue your pleasures farther to procéede Well then knowing now your godly desires by the harald at armes that I shoulde procéede Let vs read our second part and it is thus For on such the second death hath no power Text ver 6. but they shal be the priestes of god and Christ and shall raigne with him a thousand yeare In this part dearely beloued the Euangelist doth by a most elegant phrase describe the state conditiō of the faithfull affirming thē so farre of to be once touched after the punct of natural death with the paines of hell or false fained popish purgatorie that contrarily they presently are in blisse with God singing with the spirits of the iust the due prayses of the Lord saying for on such c. But to the further openyng of this excellent part let vs obserue these thrée thinges First what is to be vnderstoode by this second death Secondly of what prerogatiue power the same is And last of al for a final conclusion what wher is the ful felicitie of the iust which haue their part in the first resurrection The second death to be shorte is that which followeth the firste as a merite of his deserte But death is said to be twofold in the holy scriptures For as there is a death of the body so is there likewise a death of the soule But of death of the bodie we haue saide before And of the naturall death Gods holy booke our common experience and the dead body of this departed Christian before vs beareth perfecte testimony Of which the Apostle Paule sayth It is decreed that man shall once die and then cometh his iudgement And our Apostle in this booke Heb. 9.27 Apoc. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord or for the Lords cause for they rest from their labours so saith the spirite and their works follow them Their owne workes followe them not the workes of other for them And be it knowne vnto you that the first death of the soule which is sinne and iniquitie is the verie cause procuring Gods iudgement to strike the bodie with naturall death and is héere called the first death of the body For the which the soule that dieth in sinne shall abide much paine torment in hel when yet the body therof sléepeth quiet in the graue expecting his woeful resurrection And now of the second death which Christ Iesus Matt. 10.28 and our Apostle Iohn calleth hell the lake of fire Feare not thē saith Christ which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both body soule into hel Here is the death of the body the first death the death of the soule in hell the second Of the same seconde death speaketh S. Iohn in this receiued text Goe too you worldlings Iam. 5.1 Rom. 2.5 that treasure vp wrath to your selues for the last day tribulation and anguish death and hell shall be your portion Looke to this you scorners that put far off the last day here is to you endles woe You haue made a couenant with death but death it selfe and hell viz. the damned soules in them shall henceforth be cast both bodie and soule into the burning lake of fire brimston which is the second death For be the day neuer so long at the last cōmeth Euening Oh beloued that wéepe nowe then shall you laugh and reioyce if so that you kisse embrace the Sonne of God fal before his presence condēning your selues for sin killing sinn in you by the power of his spirit you shal thē sée the proud antechristiā Pharaoh al his popish Egyptiās cast into the sea gulfe of vnquenchable fire when your selues by your mighty Moses captain christ shall be ledd into the heauenly lande of promise there to raigne with him for euer euer Many men mooue much dispute about the site and place of hell this firie lake But I say onely this of it It is a forbidden curiositie engendring strife deuoide of profit to question where and in what place it is But it is a commanded diuinitie to séeke the