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A74676 Quatuor novissma: Or, Meditations upon the four last things, delivered in four common-place discourses: by Thomas Longland ... Longland, Thomas, 1629 or 30-1697. 1657 (1657) Wing L3002; Thomason E1633_2 52,017 143

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lastly We must not condemn our brother for some particular failing we clearly see in his life either to the safety of his estate here or the final security of his condition hereafter My meaning is this If I see one the more constant tenor of whose life hath been towards God and the remembrance of his Name through temptation hurried or invigilancy intangled in any sin I must not censure this man to have been alwayes an Hypocrite or condemn him as one who shall ever be a Reprobate No I am to look upon him as a dislocated joynt in Christs Mystical Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 6.1 and therefore I must endevour to restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering my self lest I also be tempted That mans tongue had out-run his wits and charity also who should have as it is to be thought many one did counted David a Hypocrite before or a Reprobate after his two great sins Murther and Adulteny But the Sun was never totally eclipsed nor shall the candle of the righteous be put out in obscurity Ps 37.24 A righteous man may fall but he shall not utterly be cast down and it is the confidence of the Church When I fall I shall rise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me Mic. 17.8 Let me adde Though the constant tenor of a mans life in sin Duo autem sunt in quibus temerarium judicium evitare debemus cumincertum est quo animo factum fuerit quic quid quum incertum sit qualis futurus sit qui nunc vel honus vel malus apparet Aug de Serm. Dom. l. 2. c. 18. may give us ground to think a man at the present to be no better than a childe of wrath yet this cannot warrant us to say Hereafter he shall be a son of perdition for INTER PONTEM ET FONTEM MISERICORDIA DOMINI God maketh our Necessity of help his Opportunity to bestow mercy And he who here hath wallowed with Swine in the mire of sin may before he die be washed white in the blood of the Lamb and made fit to lodge in Abraham his bosom Apud apertissimos adversarios praedestinati amici latitant ad huc ignotictiam sibi Aug. de Civ Dei l 1. c. 35. He who here had fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness may through Gods renewing Grace be made meet to be partaker hereafter of the inheritance of the Saints in light We must not then we cannot judge any scarce as to their estate here not at all to their weal or woe hereafter The Third Vse Vse 3 is that Jam. 2.12 So spe●k ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty He founds his Exhortation upon the Rule of Judgement The Law of Liberty He doth not say Liberty your Law which Judge many one would with their hearts and good will stand to but that Law the observance of which makes you speaks you free is certainly meant by the Apostle Now he that will practise this duty must observe these Directions which will prepare him for the last and final Judgement by the Law of Liberty the future Rule of our judgement FIRST that in Act 17.30 Let our actions answer Gods injunctions which is that all men every where do repent God gives a reason of this Command in the following verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Because God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness c. This is the great Audit of Heaven and God expects our Accounts should be ready It is Heavens Assizes and God would give us notice to make sure of our Advocate lest we be impleaded It is the day of Hearing and God expects that our cause should not then be to be commenced and because we cannot say we are innocent God desires we should meet him with Repentance that so he may not lead us forth with the workers of iniquity ●ic agat anima paenitentiam ut illapossit mutaare sententiam Aug. de Sym. ad Cat. tract 3. c. 8. He warns us to flee from the wrath to come which cannot be but by flying to his mercy in Christ offered at the present we should meet him with sorrow that he may not cover our faces with shame open our mouthes to him in confession lest we stand speechless before him at that great day Let every one of us say QVID FECI What have I done lest hereafter in the bitterness of our Souls each of us cry out QVID FACIAM What shall I do for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Secondly Let us practice that Constitue te ante te ascende tribunal mentis tuae esto ribi judex torqueat te timor erumpat confessi● c. Aug. in Psal 49. 1 Cor. 11.31 Judge our selves that we may not be judged We shall not be condemned at the Great Assizes if we judge our selves in our own Private Sessions If we would consider our wayes God would not set our iniquities in order before us When God doth open the Books amongst the which that of his Omniscience will be one all our debts will be found cancelled wiped out with the blood of our Redeemer if we wash them with the tears of true Repentance Assure we our selves God will not seal up that mans iniquity in a bag whose tears he putteth into his bottle In that day the penitent sinner shall lift up his head for joy and know his Redeemer liveth when the obstinate sinner shall not stand when he is judged He who hath opened his mouth to God in Confession shall stop the Devils mouth by preventing his Accusation Then shall that Promise have its full accomplishment Pro. 28.13 He that confesseth his sins shall finde mercy when he that hideth them shall not prosper A Third thing is that Act. 24.16 To Exercise our selves to have alwayes a Conscience void of offence towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost de Fut. Jud. Hom. 25. Tom. 6. and toward men This the Apostle tells us was the result of his Faith in the Resurrection which doth immediately precede the Judgement 2 Cor. 5.9 10. to which also St. Paul had special regard as an excellent Motive to a holy life The same Conscience which doth Absolve us in this life will also under God Acquit us in the other A Conscience which is here void of offence will not hereafter be filled with Complaints but if our hearts condemn us God is greater than our hearts and knoweth all things 1 John 3.20 Repentance indeed is TABVLA POST NAVFRAGIVM But no man will sink his Ship trusting to a possibility of escaping drowning by a floating Plank Nor should we sin because the Grace of God doth abound No man runneth into Debt the more because he hopes for a Purse to discharge it Next to having our sins blotted out of Gods Book
he nill he shall set those sins before his eyes Psa 50.21 51.9 from which God hath not hid his face Secondly not onely Conscience which is the Clerk of the Assizes but God who is the great Custos Rotulorum shall produce and prefer all the Bills of Indictment that can be brought against a sinner and reade all the Pardons which have been sealed to a Saint who stands now at Gods Tribunal for his Trial upon Life and Death Thirdly The Book of the Scriptures This shall be NORMA JVDICII The Rule of Judgment And so we hear the Judge himself say Joh. 12.48 The word that I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day And one of his chief Retinue tells us the same God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 2.16 according to his Gospel delivered by me Men shall be judged according to their Works their Works according to the Gospel The wicked shall be judged SECVNDVM ET PROPTER OPERA according and for their Works by the Law The godly SECVNDVM SED NON PROPTER OPERA according but not for their Works by the Gospel Which Gospel shall condemn the wicked for their neglect of so great Salvation and shall acquit the godly of their sins against the Law Praeveniunt judicium fide suā Aug. Serm. 121. de resur mort by reason of this that they believe in Christ and so have accepted the Reconciliation tendred in the Gospel THE third thing in this manner of Judgement considerable is ASSESSORES IN JVDCIO the Assistants or Associates in the Judgment and these God doth use out of indulgence not indigency to honour them not to help him And they are 1 Holy Angels 2 Glorified Saints Christ formally the Angels instrumentally the Saints declaratively shall Judge the Word FOR the first I have touched somewhat upon this already onely let me adde He is said formally to Judge who passeth the definitive Sentence of Life or Death Absolution or Condemnation upon the Innocent or Nocent and that Christ with his own mouth shall do this and that as I have said as a part of his Regal Office see Matth. 25.34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand c. SECONDLY The Holy Angels instrumentally or ministerially for with the sound of a Trumpet they shall gather together the Elect from the four winds from the one end of heaven unto the other Mat. 24.31 And whether or no Christ will use them as instruments to execute his Sentence I shall not here determine the Affirmative seems evident Mat. 13.49 56. The Saints declaratively shall judge the World 1 Cor. 6.2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world This honour then shall the Saints have that they who are now trodden down as mire in the streets shall hereafter sit upon the Bench with the Judge of the Earth They shall judge the World how Not as Counsellors to this Judge For who hath been his Counsellor Rom. 11.24 but declaratively that is to say either by consenting to his Judgement as just and true as in Courts of Civil Judicature they are said to do when by rising up or some such sign they shew an assent to the Sentence pronounced by the Judge as the Judgement of the Court or else declaratively that is to say their Faith good Conscience Integriry shall then so appear that they shall make the wicked inexcusable And thus even in this life Noah is said by preparing an Ark Heb. 11.7 to have condemned the world And in the life to come our Saviour saith Mat. 12.41 The queen of the South shall rise up in judgement with that generation which heard him and his Gospel and shall condemn it And he also tells his Disciples Luk. 22.30 that they shall sit on Twelve Thrones and shall judge the Twelve Tribes of Israel that is to say the Faith of the Apostles Non est aliter intelligendum Marlorar in loc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 4.13 who were Israelites yea ignorant men and yet embraced Christ and were Ministers of his Kingdom shall take away all excuse from the Israelites O how shall the sparkling Beauty of a Saint who is but in this world accounted as the filth thereof and the off-scouring of all things break forth in that day when God shall make up his Jewels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyri● Catec 15. p. 382. even to the dazling of the eyes and tying the tongues of those whose malice or detraction did so far hinder them that they would or could not behold the Majesty of Heaven in their lives whilst in this world They shall then look upon them with an eye of envy whom before they viewed with supercilious contempt and disdain and with their tongues shall say We fools counted their lives madness but behold they are numbred amongst the righteous And thus much for this third Particular We shall next speak to JVDICII EVENTVM The Event of this general Judgement and it is set down Mat. 25.46 The wicked shall go away into everlasting punisment but the righteous into life eternal the former shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power 2 Thess 1.9 The latter shall meet the Lord in the air and so shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 It may be expected I should now speak somewhat to the LOCVS JVDICII The Place of Judgement And truly some have curiously disputed none I know of clearly determined this thing Some would have it in the Valley of Jehosaphat which is situated betwixt the City of Jerusalem and Mount Olivet which is toward the East which opinion is grounded from that of Joel 3.2 where God saith He will gather thither all Nations and plead with them there for his people and the Argument is enforced from Act. 1.11 where the Angel tells our Saviours Disciples whilst they stood gazing up into heaven that the same Jesus which was taken up from them into heaven should so come in like manner as they had seen him go into heaven Others think it shall be in the Air Grotius Amesius c. out of 1 Thess 4.7 For my part I I desire to be wise unto sobriety and till I better understand the aforesaid places of Scripture I shall believe if God will finde a time when he will also finde a place where to judge the World Temerè definire non audeo quod excogitare non valeo August de Civ Dei l. 21. c. 30. In the mean time I shall leave it amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the secret things which belong to God as knowing that those things which are revealed alone belong to us As for the TEMPVS JVDICII the particular time of this general Judgement some may possibly be inquisitive after and some with more confidence than success have undertaken to define it But I