my Father which is in heauen The Apostle hath set it downe for an irrefrugable conclusion we shal all appeare before the iudgement â—eate of Christ Answerable to this is this his other Aphortâ—me we must al appeare before the iudgement seate of Christ that euerie man may receiue the thinges which are done in his bodie c. But the Godly shal make a very easie reckoning For Christ is their comfortâ—â— their conscience there cleergâ— as witnesse of their 〈◊〉 heauenly possession But the wicked because their conscience shal condemne theÌ„ the deuil shal accuse thâ—â— Christ shal be against theÌ„ shal haue a world of woâ—â—n answer to make answers They shal say to the mountaine hide vs and to the hilles coâ—er vs. But from hence groweth a question how the Godly can bee iudged seeing they shall sitte Assistants with Christ in the iudgement as Esai saieth The Lord shall enter into iudgement with the ancients of his people and the Princes thereof that is to say with the elect companie as Christ saith to his Apostles Ye shal sit vpon twelue Thrones and iudge the twelue Tribes of Israel as Paul saith Know ye not that wee shall iudge the Angels We answer that iudgement is of double nature there is a iudgement of Absolution there is another iudgement which is of Condemnation In the iudgement of Condemnation are the wicked only wrapped adulterers adultresses fornicators vncleane persons vsurers oppressors slanderers blasphâ—mers hers deceiuers epâ—cures Machiâ—ilians Atheists The godly haue onely but iudgement of Absolution that is to say they are iudged to be quit and deliuered and blessed They shall be absolued of all the slanderous imputatioÌ„s of the world and wicked men against them Besides men the euill spirite also shall be iudged Christ denounceth infernall fire to the diuell and his angels Goe yee cursed into Hell fire prepared for the diuell and his angels Of this their condemnation speaketh Peter thus God spared not the Angels that had sinned but cast them downe into hel and deliuered them into chaines of darknes to bee kept vnto condemnation Of this Paul speaketh when he saith Rnow yee not that we shall iudge the Angels Iude consenteth with the rest expresly saying The Angels also which kept not their sâ—st estate but leâ—t their own habitation he hath referred in euerlasting chaines vnder darknes vnto the iudgement of the great day These are to be iudged as ringleaders of all 〈…〉 of all the band of sinners as Iudas did the band of souldiers against Christ Also this iudgement shall extend it selfe vnto the senslesse vnreasonable creature the heauen the earth and whatsoeuer is conteined in them Esai speaketh of new heauen and a new earth that are promised The new heauens and the new earth which I will make shall remaine before me Paul sheweth somuch saying The feruent desire of the creature waiteth when the sons of God shal be reuealed because the creature is subiect to vanitie not of its own wil but by reason of him which hath subdued it vnder hope because the creaturs also shal be deliuered froÌ„ the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God Lastly antichrist is rankt in the ranke of those that shall haue condemnatorie iudgement His damâ—ation decréed against him is thus spoaken of Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirite of his mouth and shall abolish with the brightnes â—f his comming Thus haue we the seuerall persons that shall be iudged seuerally the senâ—les creature shal be purged the godly shal be absolued the wicked shall be condemned Sathan the muster maister of malignant men shall be throwne downe into hell and Anti-christ as the sonne of perdition the opposite aâ—uersarie to our Sauiour Christ shall be destroâ—ed by the wrathâ—â—lâ— indignation of Christ The eleuenth Chapter The thinges that are to be iudged AS all persons are to be iudged so they shall bee â—asted to their coâ—rsest branne Their thoughtes wordes workes shal be as throughly ransacked as euer Laban did raâ—sacke Rachels stâ—ffâ— That all thinges shal be scanned Saint Iohn hath declared I saw the dead bâ—th great and small â—â—and before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was openâ—d which is the booke of life and the deade were iudged of these things which were writteÌ„ in the bookes aâ—cording to their works God is said iâ— haue counting bookes by him because all thinges are as certaine to him as if he had Acâ—â—â—ries and Clarkes in heauen to make enrolement thereof and to keepe the recordes of them 〈◊〉 hath three seuerall 〈◊〉 or Bookes 1. The booke of prouidence 2. Of Iudgement 3. Of life The booke of his prouidence is the absolute knowledge of a particularities pâ—st present to come This Book is meâ—â—oned by Dauid in these wordes Thine eyes did see my substance yet being vnperfect and in thy bookes were al my members written which day by day were â—ashioned when as yet there were none of them As in another place thus Thou tellest my â—â—ttings puttest my teares into thy bottel are not these things noted in thy bookes The booke of Iudgement is that wherebâ— he giueth iudgement which is of two sections The first is his â—ore knowleâ—ge in whâ—ch all the affaires of men their designmeâ—ts and 〈…〉 as plainely set downe to him as if they were pâ—nned Wee may â—et them slippe in a carelesâ—e â—orge fulnesse but God hath â—ckets of our dooings by him and keepeth them in perâ—ect remembrance Of which the Prophet Dauid saith thus Thou hast set my misdeedes before thee and my secret sinnes in the sight of thy countenance So that be they neuer so olde they are as new to him as if they had beene doon but yesterday For he rippeth vp the sâ—ane of Amalek doone more then three hundreth yeares before and commaundeth Saul to conferre it He yâ— numbreth the stars calleth them all by their names hath numbred our sins and will name them vnto vs as periuries blasphemies adulteries lyes vsuries and such like The second leafe or tome of this second Booke is euerie mans particuler conscience which maketh conuulsions thinges in vs and is instead of a thousand witnesses setting before vs the thinges that we haue done The booke of life is the decree of Gods election in which God hath set downe who are sealed vp vnto eternal life The opening of these bookes is Gods reuealing vnto euerie man his owne proper sins in thought word and deede committed against heauen and against him and then also by his omnipotent power hee that can of stones by Iordans brooke side raise vp Children to Abraham shall breake a sunder our stonie consciences so that wee shall haue compunction and remembrance of all sorepassed actions Now the conscience of the wicked is feared with a hot yron and is past feeling but then it shall be so sensible
coherence is good for the head and the members go together it were absâ—rd to part the one from the other But Christ is the head and we are the members conglutinated and coaâ—nuuated to that head The antecedeut and forepart of the argument is accompanied by sundrie consequences in the following verses That if Christ our head be not risen 1 Our preaching is vaine 2 your faith is vaine 3 we are false witnesses who hâ—ue testified so much 4 ye are yet in your sinnes 5. They which are asleepe in Christ are perished The analogie of head and members maketh good the consequent That therefore we shal liâ—e as Christ hath risen wherfore the fathers call the resurrection of Christ the misterie of our resurrection and the Apostle termeth it The first fruits of them that slept 3 Thirdly from the purifit of the contraries he formeth his matter thus It by one man came death by one man must also come the resurrection from the deâ—de But the first is true therefore the second The argument holdeth the contraries so answering one another Adam and Christ Death and the Resurrection But wee all die in bodie thâ—ough Adam therefore wee must liue in bodie againe by Christ 4 The forme that the Apostle so accurately descriâ—eth of the resurrection thus We shall not all sleepe but we shall be all changed in a moment in the twinckling of an eie at the last Trumpet for the trumpet shall blow and the deade shall be raised vp incorruptible and we shal be changed And thus For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heauen with a shout with the voice of the archaÌ„gel with the trumpet of God the dead in christ shal rise first theÌ„ shal we which liue and remaine bee caught vp with them also in the cloudes to meet the Lord in the aire so shall we euer be with the Lord. This Graphicall and ordâ—râ—ie description of the resurrection euicteth the necessarie also intallâ—â—le certaintie of the resurrection For if it were not a matter vndoubted to what purpose is it that it is thus described These are the chiefe arguments wherewith the Apostle vrgeth the resurrection in that famous fiftéenth charter of his first Letter to the Corinthians Vpon which subiect hée disputed often as at Athens where he preached vnto the people of Iesus and the resurrection as in the Consistorie before Faelix where he maketh this constant profession I haue hope towards God that the resurrection of the dead which they themselues looke for also shall bee both of iust and vniust Of the resurrection of the dead am I accused of you this day Peter in sundrie places witnesseth the resurrection as when he saith Which shall giue accounte to him that is readie to iudge quicke and dead and thus when the chiefe shepheard shall appeare yee shall receiue an incorruptible Crowne of glorie Also his last Chapter of his last Epistle is nothing else but illustration of this Article S. Iohn deliuereth like diuinitie thus We know that when he shall appeare we shal be like him for we shal see him as he is In the Reuelation yâ— spirit speaketh euidently thus And I saw the dead both great and small stand before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which was the book of life and the dead were iudged of those things which were written in the bookes according to their workes And the Sea gaue vp her dead which were in her and death and hell deliuered vp the dead which were in them and they were iudged euerie man according to their works In the next Chapter we haue this discourse which openeth the resurrection vnto vs God shall wipe away all teares from their eies and there shall be no more death neither sorrow neither crying neither shall there be any more paine Saint Iames auoucheth as much saying Be patient vnto the comming of the Lord. Be patient and settle your heart for the comming of the Lorde draweth neere the Authour of the Epistle to the Hebrews hath much good matter in the behalfe of the resurrection In the tenth Chapter after much discourse appertaining thereunto he summeth it vp thus Knowing in your selues how that ye haue in heauen a better and enduring substance c. In the next chapter he saith Others also were racked and would not be deliuered that they might receiue a better resurrection Thus haue we the old and new Testament on the side of this doctrine which is sufficient but because Atheists who pester this land as the Frogs and Caterpillers did Pharaos Court doe arraigne the integritie of the Scriptures and iudge of this matter by naturall reason it is not amisse tâ— stop their mouthes by confuting and confounding them this way Wherefore we set vpon them thus 1 The soule did not sinne without the body therfore the bodie must be punished with it Therefore the bodie must rise againe The Philosophers doe denie the sequence and say that it is enough that the minde bee rewarded according to the actions thereof and that it is not néedefull that the bodie which was not principall but accessarie in the sinne and only but the instrument to serue sins turne should partake with the mind And they shew comparisons for the same of Artificers and craftsmen who for making a house or any other peece of worke haue their hire and couenants when as the instruments wherewith they wrought are not rewarded neither are they damnified though the worke by them be not accordingly performed Of a poisoned pot which is not therefore dissolued and broken in péeces especially if it be of any price though many haue drunke their destruction out of it Of a sword which a man will not breake or cast from him because a man hath beene slaine with it But yet by their leaue who take these similitudes for such sure studdes there be many in their vnstaied affections that will dash in peeces such intoxicated cups and breake that weapon against a wall that hath beene the occasion of a mischiefe But we turne away all the force of such reasoâ—ing by distinction of instruments as they are of coniunct and diuided nature The bodie the souls instrument is of the first difference and is conioyned and coupled with the mind wherfore it duâ—ly taketh such part as the mind doth The minde draweth on the bodie to commit vncleannesse the bodie therefore falleth thereupon iustly into diuers maladies The mind is disposed to fel onie for which the hands and the feete are manacled and the necke is hazarded and the whole bodie vndergoeth the penaltie This argument deducted from the rule of Gods iustice pleaseth Paul so wel as he maketh vse of it hauing proâ—ed the resurrection Therefore my beloued brethren be ye stedfast vnmoueable aboundant alwaies in the worke of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vaine in the Lord But this labor commeth
Others there are that are carried away with oracle deriued from the traditions of the Hebrewes which they would beare vs in hand they had learned of Elias and out of his schoole house and restraine the worlds duration to 〈◊〉 thousand of yéeres which they to part equally into these 〈…〉 1. Two thousand spent be oâ—e the time of the law 2. Two thousand vnder the law 〈◊〉 3. The last two thousand to the kingdome of Christ depâ—ted so as 〈◊〉 â—eeing the yeere of grace reuealed 1603. as it pleaseth learned men so suppâ—te this is the fiue thousand fiue hundreth 〈◊〉 eight yeere of the worldes age So that of this account there 〈◊〉 yee foure hundred â—eeres to be consummased This reckoning hath â—â—nne the more currantly in that they applie these six thousand yeeres to the six dates wherin God created yâ— worldâ— inasmuch as the Prophet saith A thousand yeers in thy sight are as yesterday and it â—â—in Peter One day is with the Lord as a thousâ—â—d yeers and a thousâ—nd yeers as one day Héereâ—pon they make this interence as in hâ—daâ—es the worlde was 〈◊〉 and in the seauenth wâ—s the sâ—bbath of the Lord wherein hée tested So after six thousand yeeres accomplished the world shall bee â—estâ—oâ—ed and in the seauenth shal our eternal fabbâ—th hee fulfilled and in the eight the puritie of our circumcision reâ—oâ—ed Wee read also of another fraternitie and brotherhoode who â—â—liuer that the â—â—sticali bodie the church shal abide three and thirtie yéeres héere in caâ—th as Christ himselfe 〈◊〉 so long in the bodâ—e which he tooke from the Virgin But they make euery of those â—éeces of a wonderful widenes putting fiftie yéeres to euery one to make euery yere a yéere of Iubilee But this and such like are verâ—e frâ—â—uolous fictions It is naturally engrafted in the mind of man to desire nouelties and to affect strange courses and so see is after a knowledge beyond al sobâ—tetâ—â— to be curiously â—â—quisttiue after â—â—ages to come and carelesly respectiue of such thinges as are present This is the cause why some giue themselves vnto â—â—lawfull artes and 〈◊〉 themselues to be mocked and misled bâ—â—ste Deuill So did Saul who perceiuing God to bee angrie with hâ—m and the hand of the Philistiâ—â—s to be sore vpon him neuer sought vnto God for his Quietus est to haue couÌ„saâ—le or comfort from 〈◊〉 But decâ—â—ous to know the censequent of the case hee deliberated with 〈◊〉 women who draue him headlong to deâ—petation and destruction Such madnesse now blindeth and beâ—â—teâ—eth too manie who by staring vpon the startes will prognositcat the euent and successe of euery yeere and so determine of the estate of it as if they had the heauens water in an brinall with an impudent rashnes denouncing warres fore-promising peace prophisying of maladies in men and beasts giuing vs many good words of a good yéere telling vs a faire tale of the free passage of religion and comprehending in their speculation the perturbations and mutations of all kingdomes In the meane while they let slip greater matters that are certaine reuealed by the scriptures touching faith hope charitie and other godlie duties requisite for a christian man weil to know and to bée familiarly conuersant in which haue no perpleritie or obscuritie in them But in this Article especially which is of the end of the world men at all times haue bene singularly busie and bolde Wheras the prophecies thereof as Augustine well saith are sooner perfected then perceiued This is one of the Deuills notable stratagems and deuises to set our braines a worke with circuler questions endles and fruitles thereby to withdraw our mindes from points of greatest néedfulnes The Apostle toucheth such and willeth the Thessalonians not to héede them that drop into their eares the present comming of Iesus Christ in glory Our age haue brought forth men of no base learning who in their bookes and sermons haue bene ouer sawcie and malipert in this matter as if they had bene furnished with heauenly reuelations and as if God had familliarly talked with them as the father deth with the childâ— Now what heinous and detestable boldnes is this to affect such a metaphisicall and supereminent knowledge which goeth beyond the wisdome of angells and the wisdome of the sonne of man as he is barely the sonne of man So wée be wise vnto saluation wée must content our selues with that which the word deliuereth vs and séeke no other scholmaâ—ster no though it were an angell I care not what any Angell saith if he take not his text from the written word of God which wée haue with vs. That which wée say of an Angel is to be vnderstode likewise of the spirites of those that are departed as the historie of the rich man and Lazarus sheweth who putting vp his bil of request vnto AbrahaÌ„ that some doctor out of another world from the company of the dead might be sent to preach vnto his brethren hée was denied his sute and tolde that Moses and the Prophets were sufficient and that if they could not reclaime them their case was incurable this his new found affected monster could doe no good vpon them What néed haue we to séene beyond the scriptures for any thing belonging to the worke of our saluation when as Paul saith an Angell is not to bee credâ—ted but so farre as he commeth with scripture The obiect and subiect of the word being Christ how should it not be stored with all kinde of wisdome Who of God is made vnto vs wisdome and righteousnes and santification and redemption The written word of God endited by the spirit is in all numbers absolute as Paul teacheth The whole scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable to teach to improue to correct and to instruct in righteousnes that the man of God may be absolute being made perfect vnto all good workes It was requisite that this time should be concealed and not discouered to vs. That we might arise the better from that bed of securitie into which wée were cast as Iezabell was cast vpon abedde of fornication Christ taketh vp this argument as an instigation to vs to more forwardnes and faithfullnes in our dutie Watch therefore for yee know not when the maister of the house will come at euen or at midnight at the cocke crowing or in the dawning It is our manner to serue God as lawâ—ers do their cliants with delaies and to put off duties of religion and deuotion to after times promising our selues that wée shall liue long and sée many good daies But while we are in the fashion of the world in Zacharie â—in time of which it is said All the world sitteth still and is at rest the Eccho and answering voice from heauen will be this When they shall say peace and safetie then shall come vpon them sodaine distruction as trauell vpon a woman with child and they
their eyes shall haue better obiect before them their feete shall be exalted aboue the cloudes and the whole bodie shall be mantled with immortalitie as sayeth Chrysostome If to infringe this which hath beene deliuered any shall obiect this saying of the Apostle Flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God and so inferre hereupon that the bodies of men shall not rise againe we answer them thus that by fleth and blood is not meant the bodies of men simply but as they are now in the state of corruption that which the Apostle calleth animale corpus The fleshly man or the earthly man and what soeuer is of nature without the spirite which being depraued and corrupted must needes be renued Wherefore Christ said to Nicodemus vnles a man be regenerate and borne a new he cannot enter into the kingdome of God The vnregenerate man is called Flesh therefore Christ immediatly after the former words said That which is borne of the flesh is flesh wherefore of force wee must be regenerated neither onely the flesh the bodie or a part of the minde is to be renued which couetteth and is angry but especially the reason the minde the will And Christ else where teacheth that the whole man as he is in the state of nature is called flesh and bloud For thus Christ answereth Peter Blessed art thou Simon Bar Iona for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed these thinges but the spirite of my father In which wordes Christ comprehendeth the better parts of the mind For they be those by which we vnderstood and the truth is reuealed vnto vs. Therefore these must be turned and transposed and created a new that we may be as Christ saith like the Angells in resurrection For the infirmitie of this mortall bodie is such as it cannot take the least taste or smack of heauenly glorie as we perceiue in the Prophets and Apostles who were men without soules when at anie time God did appeare vnto them And not without cause said God to Moses Thou canst not see my face neither shall man see me and liue Wherefore the German and right sence of the wordes of the Apostle is this as we are nothing else but flesh and bloud weake mortall sinfull Curuae in terris animae coel est ium in mes wée cannot inherite the kingdome of God Lastly if that of Salomon shall be laid against vs The condition of the children of men and the condition of beasts are euen as one condition and so argue that a man shall rise no more from the dead then a beast we will answere them by Salomon who explaineth himselfe in the words following they are like in dying As the one dieth so dieth the other but in their estate after death they differ of which Salomon speaketh not The sixt Chapter Of the certaintie of the iudgement or the day of doome THe general iudgement being the consecution of the resurrection the end therof yâ— last blast of that shril truÌ„pet giuing this Eccho surgite mortui venite ad IudiciuÌ„ Arise ye dead come to iudgement We are to enter into the tractation hereof in this place This subiect matter though it be of vnquestionable assurance Yet because the schoole of Cyclopical Atheists Epicures carnal minded men is so great who as seâ—pents grouel wholly in the dust only giue themselues to earthly things licking vp this Aphorisme of Socrates the Philosopher Quae supra nos nihil ad nos Those things that are aboue vs appertaine not vnto vs we list to light a candle before the Sun and aswel by scriptures as irrefragable reasons determine the absolute certaintie of this matter 1. The scriptures are plaine and plentifull in the point Hanna the mother of Samuel thus prophecieth hereof saying The Lords aduersaries shall be destroied and out of heauen shall he thunder vpon them the Lord shall iudge the ends of the world and shall giue power vnto his kinge and exalt the horne of his anointed which is Christ Isaiah sermoneth it thus Then shall they goe into the holes of the rockes and into the caues of the earth from before the feare of the Lord and from the glorie of his maiestie when he shall arise to iudge the earth That the prophet by these wordes aimeth at doomes day appeareth by the Angells exposition of the same And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the cheif captaines and the mighty men and euery bondman and euery free man hid themselues in dennes and among the rockes of the mountaines And said to the mountaines rocks fal on vs and hide vs froÌ„ the presence of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe For the great day of his wrath is come and who can stand In another place he preacheth thus Behould the day of the Lord cometh cruell with wrath and fierce anger c. But in another place â—e is most pathetical in the point The lord wil come with fire his charets like a wirlewind that hee may recompence his 〈◊〉 with wrath and his indignatioÌ„ with the flame of fire For the Lord wil iudge with fire and with his sword all flesh Daniel deliuereth the like doome saying And at that time shal Michael stand vp the great prince which staÌ„deth for the childreÌ„ of the people and there shall be a time of trouble such as neuer was since there began to bee a nation vnto that same time and at that time thy people shall be deliuered euery one that shall be found written in the booke And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt And they that bee wise shall shine as the brightnes of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnes shall shine as the starres for euer and euer Ioel writeth thus of it I will shew wonders in the heauens and in the earth bloud and fire and pillars of smoke The Sunne shall be turned into darknes and the moone into bloud before the great terrible day of the Lord come Zephaniah singeth the same songe with the rest The great day of the Lord is neere it is neere and hasteth greatly euen the voice of the day of the Lord the strong man shall crie there bitterly That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and heaumes a day of destruction and desâ—lation a day of obscuritie and darknes a day of cloudes and blacknes a day of the trumpet and a â—arume against the strong citties c. Malachie hath also good matter to this purpose The day commeth that shal burne as an ouen and all the proud yea all that do wickedly shal be stuble the day that coâ—meth shall burne them vp saith the Lord of hosts and shall leaue them neither roote nor branch In the new testament we haue verie