vs it will infinitely concerne vs both instantly and exactly to cast vp all the accōpts of our Conscience to be cordially sorry for all our sinns to confesse them distinctly to purpose an amendment firmely and to satisfy for them intierly For this is a busines which must not be dispatcht after a cursory and superficiall manner but we are to consider with what care we would consult about our estats if they were in danger or about our liues if they lay on bleeding And heer we must not faile to vse so much more deligēce then there as Eternity is of more importance then a moment of Tyme And in fine we are to do it so as at the hower of our death when we shall go to stand before our Iudge we would be glad that we had done it For without this true repentance which signifieth a flight from sinne with griefe and supposeth a flight towards God with loue it is no Faith in Christ our Lord which will serue the turne to preserue vs out of that lake of eternall torment But rather the more knowledge we shall haue had of him by Faith the greater will our torment be if we do not pēnance for the sinns which we shal haue cōmitted against that Maiesty of his Which the same Fayth telleth vs to be infinite and that his hatred against sinne is also infinite and that as with strange mercy he will assume to incomprehensible immortall ioy the soule which at that day he shall find to be free from sinne so in whomsoeuer he he shall perceaue that sin remaines the same soule will he then instantly adiudg to that sea of fire brimston where it will saile in sorrow blaspheme and rage for all eternity To the pretious Death Passion of Christ our Lord we owe must acknowledg amongst innumerable others this vnspeakeable benefit for which let all the Angells for euer blesse praise his holy name That through the infinite merit therof we may be receiued to grace by meanes of true contrition and pēnance how often and how wickedly soeuer we shall haue offēded that high Maiesty But that Death Passion will neuer saue the soule of any one creature vnlesse both that mystery and all the other mysteries of Catholike faith be well beleeued al sinne be cordially detested which sinne is a monster so fierce and cruell as that it did cost the very sonne of God his life By that life and by that death I begge that thou wilt giue ouer to trample with thy durty feete in the sacred Bloud Royall of our B. Sauiour which he shed for thee vpon the Crosse For so thou dost preferring Barabbas before him as often as thou cōmittest any mortall sinne and so long thou hast continued to doe it as thy soule hath beene spotted with that crime Or if thou haue so little of the noble in thee as to be moued more by thine owne interest then by the consideration of that immense benefit which the foūtain of Maiesty vouchsafed with such excesse of loue to this wicked creature man then do I coniure thee euen by that very interest of thine owne that instantly thou make hast into thy selfe and that discharging thy soule by pēnance of whatsoeuer may be offensiue to the pure eyes of God thou implore his mercy now which may saue thee from that inflexible iustice of his in the last dreadful day At which tyme euen this very paper will appeare to thy extreme and euerlasting confusion if thou forbeare to serue thy selfe of this admonition Heauen and earth shall passe away but the word of God shall remayne for euer Matth. 24. v. 30. And that word hath thus aduised vs and thus assured vs by the mouth of the most B. Apostle S. Paul speaking to the Galathiās Gal. 6.7 Nolite errare Deus non irridetur Quae enim seminauerit homo haec metet Quoniam qui seminat in carne sua de carne metet corruptionem qui autem seminat in spiritu de spiritu metet vitam aeternam The plaine and cleere sense whereof is as followeth Take heed you frame not certaine fantasticall and false opinions to your selues as if you could ouer-reach Almighty God euacuate his truth make him belieue that he gaue you a free law wherby to liue thē indeed he gaue But be well assured that the very truth is this Let euery man aliue consider seriously what he sowes for iust so and no otherwise shall he reape If you sow works of flesh which are particulerly cited before in this Preface out of a former Chapter of S. Paul to the same Galathians yow shall reape nothing but corruption but destruction but euerlasting damnation But if yow sowe workes of the spirit which are wholy contrary to those others and are there expressed to be Charity Ioy Peace Patience Benignity Goodnes Longanimity Meekenes Fayth Modesty Continency Chastity yow shall in vertue of that spirit wherewith you liue and whereby you are to walk passe on from this transitory to an eternall life then at the most liberal hands of God you shal receaue a most precious crowne of immortall glory A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS OF THIS DISCOVRSE chapter 1 HOW the office of being our Iudg doth belong to Christ our Lord as he is man and of the great benefite which God imparteth to vs in giuing him to be our Iudge Chap. I. chapter 2 Of the great desire which Christ our Lord hath for as much as concerneth him not to condemne any one in his iudgmēt but to saue them al. Chap. II. chapter 3 Of the benefit which Christ our Lord imparteth to vs in giuing vs to vnderstand and feele the grieuousnes of sinne by the meanes and manner of his Iudgement to the end that we may in tyme do pennance for it Chap III. chapter 4 How we are to haue great sense of the grieuousnes of sinne by reason of the demonstrations which shall be made by all the creatures of God before the Iudgement Chap. IIII. chapter 5 How Christ our Lord discouereth the hate which he carryeth towardes sinne by the so particuler account which he taks thereof Chap. V. chapter 6 How Christ our Lord declares to vs the detestation which he carryeth against sinne whereof the wicked are conuinced by that sentence which he pronounceth against them Chap. VI. chapter 7 How Christ our Lord discouereth the grieuousnes of sinne the hatred which he carryeth against it by the last sentence whereby he is to condemne the wicked and by the punishment which he inflicteth vpon them Chap. VII chapter 8 How the grieuousnes of sinne is yet more discouered by the causes of the Iudgmēt which are alleadged by Christ our Lord. Chap. VIII chapter 9 How a Christian is to draw a detestation of sinne out of the consideration of this Iudgement of God and great vigilancy in the leading of a good life Chap. IX chapter 10 Of other Considerations from which
of hope but let him instantly be conuerted to God confessing his sinnes and doing pennance for the same because we haue an Aduocate and Mediatour before the eternall Father which is Iesus Christ the Iust and the very fountaine of Iustice who made satisfaction for al our sinnes CHAP. III. Of the benefit which Christ our Lord imparteth to vs in giuing vs to vnderstand and feele the grieuousnes of sinne by the meanes manner of his Iudgement to the end that we may in tyme do pennance for it ANOTHER most singular benefit which Christ our Lord imparteth to vs vnder the quality of his being our Iudge is to make vs know and feele the grieuousnes of of sinne that so we may be drawne to abhorre it greatly to conceaue a true feare of falling into any offence of God This knowledg and this holy Feare do we fetch from the consideration of that diuine Iudgment since notwithstanding that Christ our Sauiour is of his owne Nature most pitteous and most benigne being the very fountaine of pitty and mercy and being most profoundly meeke and sweet and the very fountaine of sweetnes and being so great a louer of men that he dyes for them and so much desiring and esteeming the saluation of their soules that he giues his life for the same we a The terrour wherwith Christ our Lord will appeare at the later day yet see that in his Iudgment he will come extremely full of cause to make vs horribly feare and most terrible wil he be in the highest degree and full of wrath and fury for zeale of iustice against sinners He will come sitting downe vpon those horses of the heauen which are the cloudes Matt. 25. he will come in a warlike manner accompanyed by all the squadrons and armies of heauen Sap. 5. he will draw with him the whole world of creatures being all ranged placed in forme of battaile against sinners Sopho. c. 1. Yea and euen the very Saintes and Blessed soules themselues who are so full of pitty and haue beene the Aduocates of sinners will come armed shall be made both Iudges and the Ministers of diuine Iustice against them He shall haue for the Messenger which speakes of his comming Psal 96. a most furious fire which shall burne and purge all corporeall creatures a most hideous frightfull sound of mysterious trumpets which shal spēd themselues ouer the whole world shall make all creatures tremble and shal passe and pierce euen to the lowest bottome of hell and shall make those soules spring out of those infernall habitations of theirs full of horrible confusion to resume their bodyes and appeare in Iudgment In this manner doth the Scripture describe the comming of Christ our Lord to Iudgement Let vs now consider who it is that causeth this mutation of Christ our Lord. Who changeth him in so strang a fashion Who maketh him of most pittifull so extremly fierce Who of most profoundly meeke so full of wrath Of must delightfully sweet so full of fury and terrour Of peaceable so giuen to warre Of a refuge and shelter for sinners to be growne such a seuere punisher of the faulty Sinnes b See heere if sinne be not a dangerous companion to liue withall they are which cause this great mutation and which do so farre estrange him from that most benigne and sweet condition of his The hatred and profound detestation which he hath of sinne the liuely feeling he hath to see himselfe so foulely offended the greiuous weight which our faultes do carry in his diuine presence wherby his will is transgrest and his law despised do make him grow so frightfull and so very fierce towards the doing of iustice and taking vengance vpon sinners So saith the Apostle of Christ Iudas Thadaeus Iud. 1. speaking of this Iudgment Marke well for our Lord doth come accompanied with the innumerable troupes of holy Angells to passe a Iudgment vpon all wicked men to conuince them of all the euill workes which they haue comitted and of all the euill words which they haue spoken contrary to the law of God and to pronounce a sentence of condēnation against them Since then the hatred which God doth carry against sinne is so very great since the punishment which he will execute vpon sinners in that Iudgment of his is so immense O it is full of reason that from the faith and infallible notice which we haue of this truth all we who are beleeuers should fetch a knowledge of the grieuousnes of sinne and a perfect detestation of the same and a profound griefe and sorrow for such sinne as we haue already cōmitted much feare in respect of them which we may commit heerafter That so we may fly them and be freed from the fury of that diuine Iudgment and from that sentence of eternal damnation which is to be thundered out against sinners For c The true vse which we are to make of considering the terrour of the day of Iudgement this is the true reason why this Iudgment is discouered and notified to vs as S. Paul affirmed whilst he was preaching to the Athenians to this effect God doth now anounce the truth of his Ghospell to men to the end that all men and in all places may do penance of their sins since he hath with firme deliberation ordeyned a day at which tyme he will iudg the whol world with great vprightnes of iustice giuing to euery one that reward and punishment which his workes deserue And this Iudgment he will passe vpon the world by the meanes of Christ our Lord who as man hath authority from the eternall Father to giue visible Iudgment vpon all men Act. 17. CHAP. IIII. How we are to haue great feeling of the grieuousnes of sinne by reason of the demonstrations which shall be made by all the creatures of God before the Iudgement TO the end that from the declaration of the office which Christ our Lord hath of being the Iudge of the Iudgement which is to passe vpon the whole world we may draw the great fruite of knowing and feeling the greiuousnes of sinne and of abhorring it and doing penance for it and that we may also draw from thence a feare of sinne and of the punishment therof we will go dedeclaring those points and misteries of this diuine Iudgment which may best discouer to vs the immensnes of the hate which God doth carry towards sinne and of the punishment which he inflicteth vpon sinners The first point which doth discouer to vs the hate which God doth carry toward sinne is that in this his terrible Iudgment he will not onely punish the sinners who did offend him by their sins Matt. 24. but a How insensible creatures shall after a sort be punished for hauing been made the instrumēt of mans sinne he will after a sort punish all the Creatures of the whole world wherby sinners were assisted
by it that he would rather chose death then it And what then shall they feele who burning in that hideous fire are possessed with such a most raging thirst wheras yet they shall not get the least drop of water for all eternity For as S. Iohn affirmeth Apoc. 14. The smoke of their torments shall ascend for euer and for euer and neuer shall they rest either by day or night They l The indissoluble chains of hell shall also continue in that euerlasting prison bound hand and foot and so are they to be cast into that fire as Christ our Lord signifyeth when giuing sentence against him that came into the Feast which is the bosome of his Church without his wedding garment which is charity and grace he sayd thus to the Ministers of his Iustice Bind him hand foot and so cast him bound into exterior darknes where shal be weeping gnashing of teeth Matt. 22. That is the wicked shall remaine obstinate hardned for euer without meanes of remedy or deliuery And this is to haue the hands and feet tyed vp To be incapable of doing any one work or conceauing any one good desire in such sort as that whatsoeuer they shall do or thinke for all eternity is to be wickednes and sinne And as a man who being bound hand foot and cast into the bottome of the sea cannot swimme nor scape from being drowned so those wretches can neuer wrastle out of those paynes For if there could be any remedy it must be by pennance and amendement of their liues but that can neuer be because they are to remaine obstinate in euill and disabled to do any thing which is good These miserable damned creatures shal also be subiect to most m The filthy smells of hel offensiue smells which shall extremly afflict and torment them This is signifyed by S. Iohn who sayth Apoc. 14.19.20 That into that lake of fire which is Hell the Diuell shal be cast who is the occasion of the paynes of Hell and of death for which cause he is called sometymes by the name of death and hel it selfe Aug. de ciuit Dei l. 20. c. 14. that into the same lake all the wicked who are not written in the booke of life shal be also cast and that this lake of fire shall burne with brimstone which signifyeth the detestable smell of that horrible prison which is caused supernaturally either by brimstone or some such thing These and innumerable other paynes there are in that most hideous prison and although they be all so immense as that they exceed all expression Riber in Apoc. c. 19 num 37. yet the n If thou belieue not this truth it is a sign that thou art extraordinarily in ill case greatest of thē all is hauing lost the glory of God and then being to want it for al eternity For as the greatest good and suprem felicity of man is to see God and to enioy him so the greatest misery and mischiefe and torment is for euer to want the sight of God the possession of his celestiall Kingdome This is that which aboue all things doth torment those most vnhappy soules of the damned to see that they might haue gained an infinite good and that they had tyme commodity for it and that through their owne fault negligence they gained it not nor did serue themselues well of their tyme and of those other meanes which were giuen thē by our Lord for that purpose And to see that innumerable other men of their owne naturall condition fraile like themselues doe for the good imployemēt which they made of the guifts of God obtaine to enioy so great a good and to possesse it with a perpetuall security whereas they by their negligence or malice lost it The remēbrāce heerof which for euer shall be imprinted in their minds will be so liuely and fresh as that they will neuer be able to cast it off and this will breed in them an intollerable griefe beyond all griefs and a most vehement indignation a hoat boyling rage against themselues for hauing so lost God But yet this torment doe they not feele for the respect of God for they doe not loue but do abhorre him but only for the interest profit which they might haue had by his glory And this torment of indignation is that which Christ our Lord did signify by the gnashing of teeth which springeth from the inraged wrath of the hart That o Note this certain truth so piously deliuered excellent writer Rusbrochius doth ponder the grieuousnes of these torments very excellently well and particulerly he sayth That the hauing lost the glory of God is the greatest of them all and he expresseth it by these wordes Rusbroch Epist 1. Belieue me that whatsoeuer can be sayd of the paynes of hell if it be compared with that which there is felt in very deed is lesse then a drop of water is in respect of the whole Sea and yet neuerthelesse all those paynes of hell put togeather are nothing in respect of that one only payne which is felt by hauing for euer lost the sight of God And of this paine S. Iohn Chrysostom said Chrys in Matt. c. 7. hom 24. If thou put before me a thousand hells they are not all so great a mischiefe as is to loose the glory of Christ our Lord to be abhorred and driuen away by him with those p O infinite affliction wordes I know you not CHAP. VIII How the grieuousnes of sin is yet more discouered by the causes which Christ our Lord alleadgeth as the reasons of his Iudgment ANOTHER point very worthy of Consideration in this diuine Iudgment which discouereth also the mighty hatred which Christ our Iudg doth carry against sinne which sheweth also the greiuousnes of those paines wherewith he is to punish the same are the faults which he relates and which he alledgeth at the tyme of his Iudgment in the sentence of damnation which he pronounceth against the wicked saying Matt. 25 a So that men shall not be iustifyed by faith alone since they are to be dāned for want of Charity I was hungry and you did not giue me to eate I was thirsty and you did not giue me to drinke I was a stranger and you did not harbour me I was naked and you did not cloth me I was sicke and in prison you did not visit me For it is euident that amongst all mortall sins the very least and they whereof men make least accompt and scruple are the forbearing to succour their neighbours euen in those cases of necessity wherin yet they are bound to do it by the precept of Charity And for this reason Christ our Lord who had no meaning in this relatiō which he makes at the tyme of his Iudgment to reckon vp all those sins for which he is to cōdemne the wicked for that
we may draw the detestation of sinne the care of leading a good life Chap. X. chapter 11 How a Christian is to draw out of the consideration of the diuine Iudgement a great feare of offending God that so he may fly far from it Chap. XI chapter 12 How it is very necessary ful of profit that a Christian do exercise himselfe in this holy feare accompany it with the exercise of diuine loue Chap. XII chapter 13 Of how great value and merit this holy Feare is Chap. XIII chapter 14 Of the fauours which Christ our Lord will do to the good at the day of Iudgement and of the Ioy which they shall conceaue by seeing the signes which precede that Iudgment and by beholding the glory of the Crosse which shall go before Christ our Lord. Chap. XIV chapter 15 Of the fauour which Christ our Lord will do his seruants at the day of Iudgment by separating them from the wicked Chap. XV. chapter 16 Of the fauour which Christ our Lord imparteth to his seruants at the day of Iudgment by giuing them his benediction and communicating his kingdome to them Chap. XVI chapter 17 Of the felicity which Christ our Lord will communicate to his seruants in the kingdome of heauen Chap. XVII chapter 18 Of other benefits which Christ our Lord cōmunicateth to his seruants in his heauenly kingdome and of the fruit of gratitude which we must gather from the Consideration of this reward Chap. XVIII chapter 19 How all the things of this life which are good and which giue delight do induce vs to a desire of the kingdome of heauen Chap. XIX chapter 20 How from this knowledge concerning the kingdome of Heauen which Christ our Lord will giue his seruants we are to gather a resolute purpose to fly from sinne and to fullfill the Commandments of God and to despise the commodityes of this life Chap. XX. chapter 21 How we are much to animate our selues towardes the exercise of good works considering the great estimation which Christ our Lord doth make of them at the day of Iudgement the reward which he also imparteth to them Chap. XXI THE IVDGE CHAP. I. How the office of being our Iudge doth belong to Christ our Lord as he is man and of the great benefit which God imparteth to vs in giuing him to vs to be our Iudge ALTHOVGH the indignation wrath of Christ our Lord against the wicked and the punishment which he inflicteth vpon their sins do belong to the office which he hath of being a Iudge yet so also doth it belong to him vnder the same Title to doe fauour to such as are Good to defend them to imparte benefites to them and both to expresse mercy towardes them in the Iudgment which he exerciseth vpon their faults to giue thē reward for their good deeds and for this reason it is that I wil declare the benefits and fauours which we obtaine by Christ our Lord in respect that he is our Iudge It a Why it was wholy fit for the second Person of the most holy Trinity to be our Iudg at the last day belongeth to Christ our Lord that he be our Iudge in regard that he is a man and because he tooke the nature of man vpon him as being a most conuenient thing that the Iudge be seene by all such as are to be iudged by him and that the guilty may wel vnderstand and heare the sentence that shal be giuē against them that for as much as men are composed of a body a soule they may perceaue it with their soule and heare it with the senses of their body Now if Christ our Lord as he is only God were to be the Iudge he could not then be seene by the wicked and the sentence which immediatly he should pronounce would not interiourly be perceaued by them and therefore it was fit that he should be our Iudge as man and should passe his Iudgment vpon men that so he might be seene and heard by all This Mystery was discouered to vs by Christ our Lord and Sauiour himselfe whilest he was saying Ioan. 5. The Father iudgeth no man but he hath giuen all iudgement to the Sonne and he gaue him au hority to exercise Iudgement as the sonne of man That is to say Although the eternal Father haue the supreme authority and power of Iudging that to him it doth principally belong to approue reward that which is good as also to reproue and punish that which is euill the same also hath the Sonne and the holy Ghost the same as being one the same God with the Father yet the office of Iudging exteriourly and after a visible manner to be seene in the Tribunall and with the authority Maiesty of a Iudge to giue exteriourly a sentence which may sensibly be perceaued by such as are Iudged this doth only belong to the person of the Sonne of God Who by meanes of the most sacred humanity which he hath immediatly vnited to himselfe by the power which frō all eternity he hath as God and by that which in Tyme was communicated to him as man he is to make this visible and exteriour Iudgment this being an execution of the interiour inuisible Iudgmēt which is made of all the most Blessed Trinity And although this exteriour Iudgment be also ascribed to the Father and to all the Blessed Trinity as to the prime cause of all things yet he who is the immediate executour of this Iudgement is Iesus Christ the Sonne of the liuing God because the sacred Humanity is only vnited immediatly to the person of the Sonne that Humanity doth make this Iudgment as the instrument of Diuinity Now b An vnspeakable benefit of God who gaue vs Christ our Lord for our Iudge an immense benefit and an imcomprehensible mercy it was for God the Father to giue vs Christ Iesus for the Iu ge of our cause as he is man as he is our brother and our Sauiour If a delinquent were in prison for greiuous Crymes deseruing death and that he had a brother who most tenderly loued him and esteemed him and did so much desire his liberty and his good that to deliuer him out of prison and from death he had spent his fortune and had exposed himselfe to many troubles and euen to the hazard of death and if the king should assigne that brother of the party for the Iudge of his cause with Soueraigne power to Iudge him without appeale what kind of fauour what clemency would it be which heerin should be vsed towards that man How full of ioy and comfort would he be vpō the naming of such a Iudge How confident and secure would he make himself that the sentence would be full of pitty and as fauourable to him as possible his cause might beare Well therfore since all men according to the c From which Christ our Lord his B. Mother
are excepted ordinary law are faulty and guilty it being necessary according to the diuine Iustice and wisedome that Iudgment be giuen vpon them the cause of all them who haue comitted mortall sinne being so important that either they must be condemned to immense euerlasting torments or be declared not guilty but worthy to enioy the kingdome of heauē what greater fauour what clemency could be desired or euen thought of then that God the Father should be pleased to giue vs for our Iudg Christ Iesus who is our brother and of the selfe same nature with vs and who loues vs with an vnspeakeable loue and who doth so much esteeme and desire both our liberty our glory that for the procuring therof he hath offered himself to most bitter paines and scornes and euen to the death of the Crosse O how great a comfort O how incomparable a ioy is this for those sonnes of Adam who feele the greatnes of this benefit O how confident and secure ought they to be that Iudgment shall goe vpon them with greate mercy and that the rigour of Iustice shal be tēpered with much pitty and that the sentēce shall passe in fauour of them for as much as shal be possible without impeachment of the holy law most sweet ordination of Almighty God CHAP. II. Of the great desire which Christ our Lord hath for as much as concerneth him not to condemne any one in his Iudgment but to saue them all THIS most mercifull Iudg hath giuen vs some most euident testimonies of the most ardent desire which he hath not to condemne vs in his diuine Iudgment but to deliuer vs as free safe that the sentence may wholy passe in fauour of vs. One of these testimonies and that a very admirable one is this That before he would come the second tyme to make an vniuersall Iudgment of sinners to condemne punish such as he should finde to be faulty a Marke this excellent doctrine for it is ful of truth and comfort he came in that first cōming of his to passe a Iudgment vpon sinns themselues to destroy and to consume and to depriue them of being and life and in like manner also to passe a Iudgement against all the enimies of our soules namely the World the Flesh and the Diuell and to ouercome and dispossesse them of all power and Tytle which they might make to men and to defeate those forces which they mainteyned to the preuidice of mens soules and to giue men strength and meanes wherby they might defend themselues and obteine perfect victory against them all That so when he should come to passe a Iudgment vpon men he might finde them free from sinne and if not all of them yet so many at least as would take profit by the grace he gaue them and consequently that he might haue nothing to punish in them Yea and moreouer that he might finde them conquerours ouer their enemies that so he might giue them that reward of glory for their victory which he had promised to such as should ouercome This is that high Mystery which Christ our Lord discouered to vs in the Ghospell somtyme saying Ioan. 3. That he came not to Iudge the world but to saue the world At other times he saith that he came to make iudgment vpō the world as he teacheth vs by the Euangelist saying Ioan. 12. I came into the world to Iudge it And yet in another place Ioan. 8. Now is Iudgmēt to passe vpon the world Our Lord meanes to say heerby as himself declares That at his first cōming when he came in a mortal and passible body he came not to passe a Iudgement vpon men to chastise condemne the wicked by doing Iustice and pronouncing a sentence of condemnation against them For if he had come to this end and that he would haue passed this Iudgement at his first comming he would in effect haue bin obliged to comdemne all the world for in effect he found them all in sin and euen those few Iust persōs who were free were so in vertue of his being come to saue them And if that first coming of his had beene to Iudge men euen those few had also bene in state of sinne and had beene condemned He therfore explicates himselfe by saying I came not to iudg the world but to saue it That is I came not as a Iudge but as a Sauiour I came not to condemne sinners by doing Iustice on them by passing a sentence of condemnation against them But b Christ our Lord deliuereth no man from the paynes of hell by his sacred Passion but such as first are deliuered by it from sinne I came to saue them by suffering and dying for them and by communicating my Iustice and merits to them that so I might free them from sinne and Iustify them and giue them the spirituall health of grace and of eternall glory And to this very office of sauing men is ordeyned that Iudgement which he saith he came to make in that first comming and which he was to passe against sinnes against the diuell also in fauour of men So doth he declare himselfe saying Through my Passion and Death Iudgment is now to passe and sentence is to be giuen in fauour of the men of this world against the diuell For till now he held men subiect and captiued vnder his power and tyranny but now by the payment which I am making for thē they are to remaine safe and free Now the diuell who is the Prince of this world who held men subiect vnder sinne is to be deposed from that dominion which he held in the world for innumerable soules which were captiued in error and sinne are to be conuerted and saued and remedy shal be imparted to them all wherby they may be deliuered from him and may obtaine eternall glory So also in that first cōming of Christ our Lord to saue mankind he made a kind of distinguishing and deuiding Iudgement betweene the good and the bad the elect and the reprobate For when he was preaching and working miracles and procuring the saluatiō of the world some did profit by his comming receauing his fayth and obeying his Ghospell participating of his merits And others againe because they would not belieue in him nor serue themselues of his remedyes did still remaine in their sins yea through their ingratitude and the hardnes of their harts they grew therein And thus by the occasion of the comming of Christ our Lord the distinction grew more apparent betweene the faythful the vnfaithfull between Iust persons and sinners betweene the elect and such as were reproued by God For they who receaued the faith of Christ did follow him by the imitation of his life by the taking vp of his Crosse according to their c That is according to the state wherein they were at that tyme. present iustice were iust
feare of his diuine Maiesty And S. Thomas giuing a reason why the Apostle saith not that we should doe it with the loue but with the feare deliuereth these words D. Thom. in 2. Cor. c. 7. The Apostle saith not with charity but with feare of God To teach vs that the affection of loue which we are to carry towards God is to be accompanyed by a solicitude and reuerentiall feare For this loue causeth security wherby many tymes a man groweth carelesse and negligent in the seruice of God but he who accompaineth that affect of loue with feare is watchfull in the seruice of God and runs diligently towards it and flyes speedily frō any offence of him This is deliuered by S. Thomas And for this reason it wil be fit many tymes to vse the cōsiderations of the diuine Iudgement from whence this holy chast feare may be fetcht And so we may comply with that which the holy Apostle aduiseth vs saying Worke your saluation with feare and trembling Which is as much as to say With an interiour feare to offend God which may be so great as that it may appeare by your exteriour vigilancy and care to performe your workes whereby you may obtayne that true and euerlasting saluation S. Bernard f A sweet secure guide for vs to follow left this truth confirmed both by his doctrine and example in these words Bernar. in Cant. ser 7 Happy is that soule wherin Christ our Lord hath set the print of his two feet and wherin he hath left the markes and footestps of them both which are the feare of his diuine Iudgment and the hope of his diuine Mercy For the consideration of the diuine Iudgment alone breeds disconfidence and despayre and the memory and consideration of his mercy alone doth occasion a sly deceipt of a mans selfe ingendreth a very dangerous kind of security And so haue I experimented in my selfe For the benignity of God sometymes hath graunted to me miserable creature that I might sit downe at the feet of Iesus Christ my Sauiour and that I might with entier deuotion imbrace the one foot of feare at other tymes the other foot of confidence and of loue And if at any tyme it hapned to me that being forgetfull for his mercy I detayned my self long in the consideration and apprehension of the diuine Iudgment I grew all dismayd distempered with an incredible kind of feare and a miserable confusion and all trembling I would be crying out with the Psalmist Psal 8◠O Lord who shall be able to conceaue or comprehend the power of thy wrath And who through the feare he hath shal be able to measure out the greatnes and mightines of that indignation which thou wilt execute against sinners in the other life And g See imitate the great humility of this excellent Saint and learne heereby to know thy selfe if on the other side giuing ouer the consideration and exercise of this feare I detayned my selfe long in the consideration and meditation of the mercy of God I should be grown to fall into such a deale of carelesse negligence that euen then already my prayer would become more remisse my selfe more sloathfull towards a◅ good workes and I should be more disposed towards laughter and such idle intertaynements more free and liberall in my speach and more vnsetled both in my inward outward man Being therefore taught by experience which hath bin a faythfull Maister to me I wi◅ sing to thee O Lord not only Iudgement nor only Mercy but Mercy Iudgment both togeather and both these meanes of iustification will I exercise and vse as long as the tyme of Pilgrimage in this banishment of myne shall last and till I arriue to be possessed of that most happy state wherein all misery and all cause of compunction and feare shall cease and all my glory shall be to prayse thee for all eternity This saying is of S. Bernard wherin by the testimony of what he experienced in himselfe he confirmeth that which the holy Scripture and the doctrine of the Saints doe teach concerning the necessity wherein all the seruants of God are towards the keping of themselues still his seruants to ioyne holy feare with loue and the considerations of the diuine Iudgement the punishments inflicted by his Iustice with the considerations of the mercy of God and of the fauours benefits which he cōmunicateth with a most liberall hand to such as keepe his Law CHAP. XIII Of how great value and merit this holy Feare is THIS is the first way of answring that which was demaunded The a The second answere of the former obiection second is that when we speake of seruile feare of accompaning the same with the loue of God it is true that the exercise of loue is much more excellēt thē that of feare For as we haue said seruile feare which hath the eye vpon punishment is imperfect and but of beginners it is found euen in them who are not yet in state of grace nor can it be meritorious nor wholly acceptable to our Lord God But speaking of filiall feare wherby a man feareth and flyeth from sinne because it is the offense of God and of that reuerenciall feare wherby the soule reueareth his diuine Maiesty and doth humble her selfe to him by doing his diuine wil and comparing this kind of feare with the loue of our Lord God and considering that which indeed doth passe in iust persons it is not an exercise lesse excellent nor lesse pleasing to God nor lesse meritorious then is that of loue For b Filiall fear riseth out of loue this holy feare springeth out of the true loue of God and imbraceth the same loue as the fountaine roote from whence it springs For from louing of God doth grow the feare of offēding him and from the loue of vertue groweth the feare of loosing it frō the high estimation which the soule makes of God and the fulfilling of his will doth growe a profound reuerence of God and the keeping of his law and the feare of doeing any thing which is contrary to the same And so the good Christian whilst he is exercising the chast feare of a sōne of God he doth also exercise the loue of God So saith S. Augustine Aug. in psal 118. serm 25. The feare through which a man loues not vertue but flyes from the punishment of vice is a seruile feare and this feare is that which shutteth Charity out of doores and the same Charity which also shutteth out this kind of fear doth produce and breed that other chast feare through which the soule feares to sinne though it were neuer to be punished And this is that holy feare which iust mē do exercise in the consideration of the diuine Iudgement because as we haue declared through the great desire which they haue to please God and to do according to his wil in