shall not be Judged 1 Cor. 11.31 no such way shall we finde for the Prevention of that heavy vengeance which in that Day will otherwise too surely overtake us as to take a Private and Early Revenge upon our selves making us our own Accusers Judges Executioners Putting in Execution the severe Sentence of unfained Repentance and Mortification for all our sins that so these sins of ours may be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from his gracious Presence And for whatever time in this valley of Tears we may have remaining our wisdome shall be to improve our utmost care and Study for the writing of whatsoever we shall Enrol in this Book with the fair hand of Integrity and Innocency No soul for the present can conceive the comfort that our Hearts in that Day shall be sensible of if at the Bar of this Judicatory we shall be able fearlesly to justifie our Handwriting as upon the Bench did Pilate sometimes his Quod Scripsi Scripsi what I have written I have writen And yet have we not thoroughly Surveyed this Judges Library There is yet his Book of Records remaining of which we shall only take a Cursory view and so Claudite jam Rivos shut up for the present And another Book was opened which was the Book of life What the Preacher sometimes of Making Eccles. 12.12 no less just reason shall we have to say of Reading There is no end of Reading many Books Multitudo Librorum destruit Animum saith the Oratour A Multitude of Books doth rather puzle and perplex then furnish and inrich the understanding and Memory Nay it fareth with the Readers of Books as with some Travailers of Countries which they only Cursorily run through a superficial account may they give of their Names and Sites but unless they Stay and Sojourn in them for some time little use or Fruit will there appear of all their Travails Nay of the reading of any Books but those we have here now before us and God knoweth how soon we shall see opened whether History or Philosophy or Philology much more of Romances of Pasquils of Play-books or whatever other Pamphlets what St. Augustin sometimes of works that are not grounded upon Faith in Christ that it is Cursus celerrimus preter viam a pretty kinde of Course for the passing away of time but still besides the way Nay the most Studious and Solicitous reading of all such as these unless as our Divine Apostle sometimes it be for the unbending the Bows of our Minds and loosing their strings for a time that may the more vigorously and chearfully return to them we shall in Conclusion finde to be but as that Bread of deceit in the wiseman Pro. 20.17 such as shall fill the Mouth yea the Stomack with nothing but Gravel and so shall leave a Man in an imminently perishing Condition So that then when we have proved our selves Helluones Librorum such exquisite Cormoants of all these kinds of Books as to appear to have sucked out and swallowed down all their Marrow and Quintessence yea so as to be able to make our Discourses Centoes of them perhaps yet at last when we have thoroughly examined our selves too just cause may we finde for the bemoaning and bewailing us as doth the Prophet himself in another Case Isaiah 49.4 I have laboured in vain I have spent my strength for nought Yea when all these shall appear to be no other but as small Straws and Sticks and Sand gathered up by a whirle-winde making a strange shew and Noise for a time but immediately vanishing into nothing of those other shall we have only reason to say in comparison of these what David sometimes of Goliahs Sword 1 Sam. 21.9 There is none like unto them for that these only we shall finde to prove unto us as Eliahs fiery Chariot 1 Kings 2.11 the only present means to convey us to Heaven and therefore only of true use indeed for the making up of a Christian Library Two of these Gods Statute-book and his Day-book his Statute-book made of three Tomes in the first whereof is the Law of Nature in the second the Law from Sinai in the third the Law from Sion his Day-book of two whereof the one is that of our own Conscience the other of Gods Remembrance we have already taken a Summary view of the third his Book of Records we are now as far as will consist with the dull Edge of our Mortal Eysight at least with the practise of our Christian Modesty to look into And then another Book was opened which was the Book of life And this Book as Zanchy. L. 5. c. 2. Q. 3. de Nat. Dei hath will observed is of a twofold nature The one is that wherein the Church registreth those for the Sons of God that by an outward Profession of their Faith whether in their own Persons or their Delegate God-fathers and God-mothers are received into her bosome notwithstanding that many of them afterwards appear upon Trial to be Impostours and Hypocrites And of this Book is it that St. Augustin interprets those passages of Holy Writ that seem to import an Apostaticall falling away of some after Grace received It is impossible saith the Author to the Hebrews for those that were once Inlightned and have tasted of the Heavenly gifts and been made partakers of the Holy Ghost if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance Heb. 6.6 upon which words the same Father hath well observed that there are more then a good many Temporizers that assume unto themselves the Shapes of true Believers that seem to have received the Grace of the Holy Ghost but have nothing less then so And from this Grace it is not possible only but ordinary to fall away Which Grace yet in the mean time is no more true Grace then a Falling-Star is a true Star of the Firmament They went out from us saith our Apostle because they were never of us in the 1. of this Epistle cap. 2. v. 19. Let them be wiped out of the Book of the living is the Kingly Prophets dreadful Execration against the Blood-thirsty Enemies of his son and Saviour Psal. 69.29 and not be written amongst the Righteous i. e. saith the above praised Father since they are Formal Hypocrites Personating true Professours unmask O Lord their Hypocrisie and make them appear in their genuine Shapes that so whatever counterfeit Shews and Semblances they have hitherto made as their Names were never written in the Calendar of Saints in the Church-Triumphant rase them out likewise of the List of the Church-Militant Saints The other Book of life is that certain and immutable Foreknowledge of God 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 Everlasting Life The one of these is as a Cornfield overspread with Tares as well as Wheat The other
finde they themselves designed for the slaughter-house of Hell Whilst the Righteous in the mean time that are fain to content themselves with no better feeding then the bare commons ofl poverty and all kinde of misery are yet reserved as choise store to remain yea Reign with him for evermore So that then whilst the Righteous even when they are most anxiously groaning under the heaviest pressure of their afflctions shall have no reason to despair of an happy change of chear and therefore in a passionate hastiness of Spirit to cry out as David sometimes Psal. 31.24 We are cast out of the sight of thine Eyes or as Sion Isa. 49 4 The Lord hath forsaken and forgotten us So neither shall the Reprobate in the highest Flux of their brain-intoxicating happiness have reason to promise themselves a perpetual and unchangeable continuance thereof as the same David in his wanton estate Psal. 30.6 I shall never be removed much less as those Rulers courage themselves in mischief and say as it is Isa. 28.15 We have made a Covenant with Death and with Hell we are at an agreement when that overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come nigh us we have made lies our refuge and under falshood have we hid our selves Say ye to the Righteous is the Lords own close of that {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sweet-sowr word of his that it shall be well with him for he shall eat the fruit of his doings but woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hand shall be given him Isa. 2.10 11. As it is the same Lords gracious declaration of himself to his Church In a little wrath hid I my face from thee for a moment but with everlasting kindness will I have Mercy upon thee Isa. 54.8 So is it his no less just then dreadful doom upon Babylon the Churches Maule that as much as she hath glorified her self and fared deliciously so much torment and sorrow shall be given her the 18. of this Book and the 7th As there is a fearful woe thundered out against those that laugh for the present Luke 6.25 So is there a chearful Benedictus carolled out unto those that mourn here for that hereafter they shall be comforted Mat. 5.4 The rich glutton hath first his good things and Lazarus evil and therefore is there a time by either to be expected for their turning of Tables their change of conditions when the one must be comforted and the other Tormented Luke 16.25 It is a just thing with God saith the Apostle enforcing this change with an argument we See drawn from his Justice to render Tribulation unto them that trouble you 2 Thes. 1.6 whilst the Righteous will we hear the Psalmists shall reioyce to see the vengeance Psal. 5.9 Tribulation shall be the just Recompence of those that have troubled the Righteous whilst a principal part of the joy of the Righteous shall be the sight of just vengeance to be executed upon those that have troubled them So that a man shall say will he nill he shall be driven to confess that the Righteous shall not finally go unrewarded verily there is a reward for the Righteous nor shall the wicked for ever escape unpunished doubtless there is a God that judgeth the earth Which fitly bringeth me to the consideration of the second particular the Judge that is to pass sentence God I saw the Dead small and great stand up before God Three things there are as one hath well observed which the Lord hath reserved as peculiar to himself The knowledge of things to come It is not for you to know the times and seasons saith our Saviour to his inquisitive Disciples which the Father hath put in his own Power Acts 1.7 The revenge of injuries Vengeance is mine is the Lords own word and I will repay it Deut. 32.35 And the judgement of secrets judge nothing before the time until the Lord come Who shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the heart 1 Cor. 4.5 The School yet for the more precise pointing out the Person of this Judge unto us distinguisheth of a threefold manner of Judgement First there is Iudicium Approbationis a judgement of suffrage or Approbation And in this sense shall the Saints act the parts of Judges Know ye not saith the Apostle that the Saints shall judge the world 1. Cor. 2.6 Secondly there is Iudicium Principalis Autoritatis a Judgement of supream Authority And this way of Judgement is peculiar to the Divine Essence Wherein yet Opera Trinitatis ad Extra sunt Indivisa saith the same School every subsistence in the Trinity may justly challenge an equal interest God shall bring every work to judgement saith the Preacher Eccles. 12.14 For which cause I finde the day of this Judgement by St. Peter 2 Epist. 3.12 signally stiled Gods day looking for saith he and hastning unto the Day of God Thirdly there is Iudicium Promulgationis a Judgement of passing sentence And with this power is the second Person in the Trinity exclusively invested and that meerly in regard of his Humane Nature The Father is his own word hath given the Son power to execute judgements because he is the son of man Iohn 5.27 And this whether it be for the making of the equity of his proceedings in this Judgement the more conspicuous upon which ground I meet with Divines that will needs make that word of the Lord Ioel 3.2 matter of an undeniable conclusion that the seat of this Judgement shall be Perpendicularly erected over the valley of Iehosaphat near Ierusalem for that being the center of the earth as by Geographere is unanimously agreed on thither from all parts of the worlds circumference may the lines of all Nations most commodiously be drawn to take the fairer and fuller view of the justice of these his proceedings or whether as we use to help a lame Legge with a Crutch it be for the more eminent Exaltation of this Judge in the condition of his Humane Nature wherein {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith the Apostle Phil. 2.8 he made himself of no reputation or as the word more properly importeth he emptied himself and made him nothing becomming obedient unto death even the death of the Cross the eminent reason given by him for our bowing at the Name of Jesus rather then any other name of his I forbear for the present to determine Certainly as the Pillar of the cloud that gave light in the Israelitish was darkness in the Egyptian Camp Exod. 14.20 when the sight of this Iudge in the visible shape of his Humanity shall dart out beams of unspeakable comfort into the souls of his Elect when they shall now see him set upon the Throne of Glorious Majesty whom they have heretofore followed through much Tribulaon and Misery when what the people sometimes passionately petitioned Exod. 20.19 they shall hear
Bello acies saith St Chrysost. as we use to set an Army in Battle-aray against an enemy before us what things we have done I have sometimes heard of an harsh answer that an hard-hearted chuffe made a poor man when he begged an Alms of him that if the day of judgement were at hand he would not give him a Penny To whom the poor man maketh no other reply but this that did he but believe that that day were at hand he would give him a Penny Doubtless the most flinty-hearted amongst us would be far from shutting up the Bowels of his compassion against his distressed Brother much less would he what is the worlds present guise for the general trample upon him and tirannize over him nor would any of us ruffle in Pride revel in excess dally in wantonness roar in Blasphemie mask under the visour of Hypocrisie as more then a good many of us familiarly do did we but duly contemplate with our selves that this great day of Judgement may be at hand nay did we but entertain a certain perswasion that there will be a day of Judgement And therefore those Arms wherewith Gideon furnished his Souldiers for their encounter with the Midianites Every one an empty Pitcher a burning Lamp and a Trumpet in his hand Iud. 7.16 will be proper for us still to have in a readiness in our thoughts for our encounter with the Hellish Midianites an emptie Pitcher even the apprehension of the brittle Pitchers of our bodies empty of strength and life of a burning Lamp a Lamp still lighted by a stream of Fire and Brimstone in the Infernal Tophet and a Trumpet which we know not how soon shall rouze us out of our Graves to try our strength Integrity before this Judgement seat Without all peradventure it is that the Midians or Jerichoes term them which you please shall never be able to stand or hold out shall they at all essays be surrounded with the due recognition of this Trumpets sound as a Signal for the opening of the Books Which might fitly bring me to the view of the third particular I commended to your observations the evidence to be given in which we see here is recorded in Books But I fear that I have already exceeded the limits both of my time and your patience Leaving therefore what remaineth for some other Days Essay beseech we the Almighty to grant that the words we have this day heard with our outward Ears may through his grace be so inwardly graffed in our hearts that they may bring forth in us c. The Second SERMON Apoc. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great c. Mat 24.44 Be ye also ready for in such an Hour as you think not the son of man commeth Abbas Elias Ego tres stimeo una est quando egressura est Anima de Corpore aliam quando occursurus sum Deo tertiam quando adversum me proferenda est sententia Apoc. 20.12 and the latter part of the Verse ANd the Books were opened and then another Book was opened which was the Book of life and the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works The whole Verse when I first undertook it I termed and that perhaps not unfitly a lively Effigies and Representation of the Great and General and Unspotted High-Court of Justice that at the last day shall be erected in the Heaven of Heavens Wherein having given you a summary view as of the Prisoners to be arraigned the Dead Small and Great and the Judge to pass sentence God we are now according to our proposed Method to heed the Evidence to be given in the equal proceedings of the Court and the Infallible certainty of all And first the Evidence to be given in offereth it self to our considerations which we see is Recorded in Books And the Books were opened What cannot be denyed of any what ever Judge of this supream Judge of Heaven and Earth must needs Ex abundanti be granted and confessed that he is Lex loquens a speaking Law yea Quicquid libet licet as that gross Parasite sometimes to the King of Persia so exact a Rule of Law is his will that to question the equity of what ever he willeth were Crimen laesae Majestatis no other then an height of Rebellion And then Books for the information of the understanding and so guidance of the will of this Judge may justly seem superfluous But he that is the Fountain of Justice and would therefore by his own Exemplary practise prescribe a course of unerring Justice unto all that under him will needs lay claim to any Judiciary Power as in the first piece of justice he did upon our first Parents though taking them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the very Act he doth not presently without further enquiry pass sentence upon them but first calleth man to the Bar Adam where art thou Where man appearing he apposeth him with a question which yet hath the nature of a smart charge Hast thou eaten of the Tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat Yea and then what Nicodemus now boldly alledgeth in the behalf of his Mr. Iohn 7.51 whom in the preceding verse for fear he sought In tenebris by Night with patience he heareth what this guilty Person can say for himself before he giveth him his Doom so here for the making up the exact complement of his Justice in the last Judgement that the most clamorous Delinquent may have no just cause of exception against his just way of proceeding he passeth sentence not as many a Brain-sick Enthusiast preacheth without Book but out of Books and these known Books of Law and those opened And the Books were opened For the number of these Books I know no Penman of holy Writ so proper and present to acquaint you as this our signally Divine Evangelist and Apostle St Iohn who here giveth us an intimation of three at least which he here professeth and that by Revelation to have seen And I saw the Books opened and then another Book was opened which was the Book of life For their Titles if you please to take them amassed into one great volume you may stile them all collectively by the name of Gods Doom-day Book If in several pieces you may not unfitly stile the first Secundum quem the second Ex quo the third In quo the first his Statute-Book the second his Day-Book the third his Book of Records And every of these Books shall we see opened when we come all both Small Great to stand up before this Righteous judge of the whole Earth I saw the Dead Small and Great stand up before God The first of these his Statute-Book is made 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 For the first of these the Law of
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
as the time of Harvest to make a separation between them The one of them is as a Mass of Gold and Dross blended together the other as a Fire to distinguish and divide them asunder The Letter of the former may scarce be of a visible impression the Character of the latter is indeleble Be our names never so fairly written in the former they may yet afterwards be obliterated but once Recorded in the latter they can never possibly be Blotted out I cannot stand here at large to exagitate the Malepert Humours as of those Chymick Spirits that will needs be preproperously drawing the Elixir and Quintessence of a Church out of a Church whereinto none shall be received but Saints of their own Canonization Qui vult ante egressos Angelos c. saith St. Greg. They that will be separating the Reprobate from amongst the Righteous before it shall please the Lord to send forth his Angels to that purpose he neither understandeth the Scriptures nor his own Bounds or Limits so neither of those Finde or rather Make-faults that will needs be Quarrelling with the Paper of this Book as if it were not able to bear Ink certainly not to preserve the Letters of those Names fair that are therein Registred Exegi Monumentum AEre perennius No Monument of Brass so Retentive as the Paper no Characters therein engraven so Lasting as the Letters of this Book Which therefore that they be not Blurred or Sullyed by any bold or prophane Hand that may prematurely offer at the opening of this Book are to be kept close and Shut up until the Day of our Common standing up both Small and Great before God And yet this Book which this Great Judge hath designed not to be locked up within his Archives only but there laid up and that clasped yea Sealed yea and that with no less then seven Seals in the 5. of this Book and 1. for the Concealment of the Contents from the discovery of the most Curious piercing and Searching Eye there want not yet uncommissioned Inquisitors that will not only be breaking open but will be therein Impudently Enrolling and Cancelling what Names they please In the 12. of Daniel where the Prophet heareth of a Time and Times and half a Time for which the wonders foretold him shall â—ast he presently groweth Inquisitive O my Lord saith he what shall be the end of these things But the Answer he receiveth is no less Sharp then Short Go thy way Daniel for the words are closed and Sealed up until the time of the End When we hear of a Book wherein this Great Judge of Heaven and Earth hath Registred the Names of his chosen ones we presently with the Prophet have an Itch in our Fingers for the searching of the Records Yea and not only so but a restless pain in our Tongues They stretch forth their Mouth unto the Heavens saith the Kingly Prophet and their Tongue walketh through the Earth Psal. 73.9 until we have published and proclaimed yea not seldom fained and fabled the Contents We Saints of the last Edition and our own Canonization have our Names only written in this Book and have therefore exclusively Title not for the future only to Heaven but to Earth for the present Whereas all the men of the World besides are left out as Reprobates and so divested of all manner of Interest whether in Temporal or Eternal Inheritance Which distinction yet either for Number or Names of Persons much more may in no wise be expected shall come to any Mans Cognizance until the Dead Small and Great Arising to stand up before God this Book with the others come to be Opened Certainly this Book is yet so fast shut up and Sealed until the last Day that whoever he be that shall arrogate to himself a Faculty of the Knowledge of the Contents and in the mean time much more assume a Power of publishing the Names therein recorded of such an one and that with modesty shall I have reason to say that he speaketh without Book And now then how well will it become us in this Case {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to bewise unto Sobriety Mollia sunt Parvis Prata terenda Rotis to be wary how we adventure upon the Plowing up of Deep Lands with slight and slender Carriages Certainly it will be wisdome as Charity enough in every one of us to look to one There is none so lawful none so useful a Scrutiny as leaving others to Stand or Fall to their own Master to make a diligent enquiry every one of us for our Particular Names whether they be Enrolled in this Book or no And in this Scrutiny this Enquiry in no wise can we better satisfie our selves then I say not by breaking open the Seals of this Book but by looking into the other books whereof each we are to look upon but as an Index to this See we that our Conversations be as far as Humane Frailty shall enable us with a Capacity composed unto the Dictates of the Law of Nature the Law from Sinai the Law from Sion being such in one word as in the word of the Apostle Phil. 1.27 may become the chief of these Books the Glorious Gospel of Christ See we every one that in the Book of our Conscience and the Book of Gods Remembrance the Blots of all our sins whatsoever may as in a Table-Book appear written Spunged out by the precious waters of unfained Repentance be now henceforth be all over written with the fair Characters of Righteousness and Holiness And then shall we not need to distrust but that we shall appear clear when we shall come to be Judged out of those things which shall appear written in these Books according to our works Which might fitly bring me to the survey of the two last remaining Particulars the Equal Proceedings of the Court and the Infallible certainty of all but for that their but Cursory view would take up more time then for the present can be well afforded leaving them for a competent Argument which may well take up our next Days entire Perusal beseech we the Almighty in the mean time to grant that the words we have this Day heard with our outward Ears c. The Third SERMON Apoc. 20.12 I saw the dead small and great c. Iohn 5.27 And shall come forth those that have done Good to the Resurrection of Life and those that have done Evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Justine Martyr Quemadmodum omnibus Corporibus à Deo procreatis hoc insitum est ut Vmbram habeant sic Deum quoque qui Iustitia praeditus est tum iis qui virtutem sibi colendam proposuernut tum iis qui vitium amplexari maluerint pro cujusque Merito Praemia Poenasque tribuere consentaneum est Apoc. 20.12 I saw the Dead Small and Great stand up before God and the Books were opened and then another Book was opened which was the Book of Life and