with all the Festival Expressions of Joy will not immediately turn him out of his Family to seek his Fortune No Christ has shed his Blood for us all and the more he saves the greater Reward he has of his Sufferings the more numerous his Train and Retinue of redeemed Souls is and Numbers add to the Glory of the Triumph this may convince all Mankind how merciful our Judge will be and if we must be judged at all could God do more for us then to appoint the Man Christ Jesus who is our Saviour to be our Judge But then consider on the other hand what a terrible thing will it be to be condemned by the Man Christ Jesus the Saviour of the World What Tumults and Convulsions of Thoughts must such Sinners labour under they must be Self-condemned they must feel all the Agonies of Guilt and Despair for if they could reasonably excuse themselves or the most merciful Man in the World could excuse them their Judge would excuse them too I know not how to bear the thoughts of this the very imagination of it amazes and confounds me to be damned is a tolerable Punishment in comparison of being damned by the Saviour of the World And might I have been saved will such a Sinner say did my Saviour who is now my Judge a terrible Judge shed his his Blood for me did he purchase Heaven for me and does he now condemn me to Hell and deservedly too against his own inclinations though he lose the Purchase of his Blood by it O Wretch that I am might I have been saved and must I be damned and damned by the Saviour of the World What Fury and Passion will accompany these thoughts is not to be expressed by words and I pray GOD none of us may ever feel it 3. Another thing which made it so fitting and congruous that the Son of Man should Judge the World is that he will be a visible Judge It is very fitting the World should be visibly judged for without this all the Pomp and Triumph of Judgment nay some of the principal Ends of Judgment are lost God judges the World in so publick a manner to convince the World of his Power and Justice and Goodness in the final Destruction of all bad Men and the final Rewards of Vertue and therefore this must be a visible Judgment and then there must be a visible Judgment-seat and a visible Judge a visible Glory and Power bad Men must know for what they are judged and see the Hand that executes Vengeance on them or for ought I know they might go Atheists and Infidels to Hell and see no more of God in a fired World then they do in Plague or Sword or Famine or such other Judgments as God sends upon the Earth they might curse their hard Fate but neither accuse themselves nor own the Divine Power and Justice and could they sink into Hell without owning the Being and Justice of God or acknowledging their own Guilt and Deserts and accusing themselves as the Authors of their own Misery and Destruction God would lose the Glory of his Justice and Power and Hell itself would be a very tolerable place to Sinners there would be Fire there to burn them but no Worm to gnaw their Consciences no inward Furies to torment them the Justice of the last Judgment which will stop the Mouths of Sinners and make them confess their own Guilt and Deserts will make the Flames of Hell so furiously rage and devour So that it is necessary that the last Judgment should be executed by a visible Judge that it may not be thought the Effect of Chance and Accident or Fate but the Result of the Divine Wisdom and Counsel that the World may see and know that God is come to Judge them and to take Vengeance on all the Workers of Iniquity and this also makes the Son of Man a very proper Judge of Mankind because he is a visible God and can appear in a visible Glory and as visibly Judge the World as any Earthly Prince or Judge when he ascends the Judgment-seat This will be the Glory of that Day to see the visible Appearance of the Son of Man in the Clouds of Heaven attended with Myriads of Angels to his Throne of Glory where he sits incircled with the Heavenly Host and all Mankind standing before his Tribunal expecting their final Doom from his Mouth Good Lord how will such a Sight as this affect us could we but paint a lively Image and Representation of Judgment upon our Fancies how would it warm our Hearts how would it disparage all the pompous Pageantry of this World how would it revive the Spirits of good Men inspire them with Courage and Resolution with Zeal and Activity in serving Christ looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ What terror would the thoughts of it strike into Sinners how would it cool the heat of Lust how would it make their Countenance change and loosen the Joynts of their Loyns and make their Knees knock one against another like the Hand writing upon the Wall while they are carousing in their full Bowls and drinking away the Thoughts of God and Judgment Who can possibly conceive the Joy and Exultation of that Day when good Men shall see their Lord coming in the Clouds of Heaven clothed with a Humane Body but bright and glorious as the Sun a Body which still retains the Marks of his Sufferings and the Tokens of his Love How will it transport us to see him whom our Soul loveth to see him whom we have so passionately longed and desired to see to see him whom we love though we have not seen him To see him I say not as the Shepherds did a poor helpless Infant wrapped in Swadling-clouts and lying in a Manger to see him not arraigned for a Malefactor nor hanging in a shameful manner upon the Cross but to see him in all his Majesty and Glory to see him a Triumphant Conqueror and Judge to see him with Crowns and Laurels in his hands and in him to see the Certainty of our Faith the Completion of our Hopes the Rewards of our Patience and Sufferings and our final Conquest over Death and Hell O joyful Day when this Royal Bridegroom shall come in the Glory of his Father to meet his Spouse the Church to conduct her to his Father's House there to see and there to partake in his Glory and never to part more Methinks I see holy and devout Souls in the highest Raptures and Extasies of Joy embracing and comforting one another at the appearance of their Lord Here comes the Blessed Jesus it is he himself the true Image of God the very Brightness of his Father's Glory This is that blessed Day we have so long expected and hoped for let us go forth and meet him let us hasten into the Embraces of our Saviour He is come to Judgment but let those
condemn or absolve Bad Men indeed are very much afraid of their own Consciences because they reprove and condemn them and threaten them with hell-Hell-fire and therefore they fly from their Consciences will not hear them and will not suffer them to speak but what do they get by this but to drop securely and quietly into Hell and then Conscience will speak and never be silent more If they will not hear their Consciences now they must hear their Judge at the last Day Though Conscience be never so severe in its reproofs and censures they are the reproofs of a Friend the Judgment of Conscience is only to warn us of the Judgment of God to warn us to fly from the Wrath to come and would Men hearken to their own Consciences it would give check to them and reform their Lives if we would patiently hear Conscience threaten us with hell-Hell-fire it would be the most effectual means to prevent our falling into it But what is the Joy and Triumph of a good Conscience which speaks Peace to us and gives us a secure hope in God which gives us the joyful prospect of Eternal Rewads of a Crown and a Kingdom of those Rivers of Pleasures which are at God's right hand When with St. Paul we can say I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which God the righteous Iudge will give me at that day 2 Tim. 4.7 8. This is a happy state indeed a plerophory and full assurance of hope which makes good Men impatiently long for the Day of Judgment to be put into the possession of so great a happiness and there is no way to have this but from the Testimony of our own Consciences The Holy Spirit indeed does give Testimony to good Men and fill them with joys unspeakable and full of glory but then the spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the sons of God 8 Rom. 16. Unless our Consciences give testimony to us the Holy Spirit never does all pretences to the Testimony of the Spirit without this are cheats and delusions and Conscience will never give this testimony to us without a tried and experienced Vertue till the Flesh be subdued to the Spirit till our Minds are refined and purified and our Conversations adorned with all Divine and Heavenly Graces Every new conquest we gain over this World every new degree of strength and vigour in serving God our increase in Charity and all good Works will add new degrees to our hope our Consciences will give the more ample testimony to us and that gives us greater confidence towards God which will make us joyfully expect that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. The END BOOKS Published by the Reverend Dr. SHERLOCK Dean of St. Paul's Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to Their Majesties AN Answer to a Discourse Entituled Papists Protesting against Protestant Popery Second Edition 4 o An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Differences between the Representer and the Answerer 4 o A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Calamy D. D. 4 o A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church-Unity and Catholick-Communion from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome 4 o A Preservative against Popery Being some plain Directions to unlearned Protestants how to Dispute with Romish Priests First Part. Fifth Edition 4 o A Second Part of the Preservative against Popery Second Edition 4 o A Vindication of Both Parts of the Preservative against Popery in Answeâ— to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran Jesuit 4 o A Discourse concerning the Nature Unity and Communion of the Catholick Church First Part. 4 o A Sermon Preached before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London on Sunday Novemb. 4. 1688. 4 o A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Holy and Ever-Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God Occasioned by the Brief Notes on the Creed of St. Athanasius and the Brief History of the Unitarians or Soâ—iâ—ians and containing an Answer to both The Second Edition 4 o The Case of the Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers stated and resolved according to Scripture and Reason and the Principles of the Church of England with a more particular Respect to the Oath lately enjoyned of Allegiaâ—ce to their present Majesties King William and Queen Mary Sixth Edition 4 o A Vindication of the Case of Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers In Reply to an Answer to a late Pamphlet Entituled Obedience and Submission to the present Government demonstrated from Bishop Overal ' s Convocation-â—ook with a Postscript in Answer to Dr. Sherlock ' s Case of Allegiance 4 o A Practical Discourse concerning Death The Fifth Edition 8 o A Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment 8 o Printed for W. Rogers Books lately Printed for Will. Rogers A Sermon Preached at White-Hall before the Queen on the Monthly-Fast-Day September 16th 1691. 4 o A Persuasive to Frequent Communion in the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper The Eighth Edition 12 o Both by the most Reverend Father in God John Lord Archbishop of Canterbury A Sermon Preached on the 28th of Iune at St. Andrew's Holbourn By the Right Reverend Father in God Iohn Lord Bishop of Norwich 4 o A Sermon Preached on the 28th of Iune at St. Mary it Bow on Sunday the fifth of Iuly 1691 at the Consecration of the Most Reverend Father in God Iohn Lord Archbishop of Yoâ—k and the Right Reverend Fathers in God Iohn Lord Bishop of Norwich Richard Lord Bishop of Peterborough and Edward Lord Bishop of Gloucester By Ioshua Clark Chaplain to the Right Reverend Father In God the Bishop of Norwich 4 o The Necessity of Serious Consideration and Speedy Repentance as the only way to be safe both living and dying By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Nottingham-shire 8 o Reflections upon two Books one Entituled The Case of Allegiance to a King in Possession The other An Answer to Dr. Sherlock ' s Case of Allegiance to Soveraign Powers in Possession on those parts especially wherein the Author endeavours to shew his Opinion to be agreeable to the Laws of this Land In a Letter to a Friend 4 o In the Press The Folly of Atheism demonstrated to the Capacity of the most unlearned Reader By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Notting-hamshire 8 o 9 Heb. 27. 1 Tim. 6.3 Practical Discourse of Death Ch. 2. Sect. 1. 2 Pet. 3.5 6. 22 Matth. 30. 49 Ier. 18. 25 Iob. 6. 80 Psal. 17. 146 Psal. 3. 2 Ezek. 1. 3 Phil. â—2â— 13 Mat. 43. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— Rom. 1. 3 Rom. 20 21 22 24 25. 4 Rom. 5 Rom. 1. 2 Eph. 8 9. 3 Tit. 5. 2 Rom. 6. 2 Cor. 5.10 7 Mat. 21.22 23. 1 Rom. 18. 2 Rom. 8 9. 2 Titus 11 12. 6 Ron 23. 10 Act. 34 35. 2 Cor. 8.12 2 Cor. 5.14 Nimquam vir magnus sine Divino afflatu 119 Psalm 5 10 14 18 19 27 28 34 35 36 37. 51 Psal. 10 12. P. 415. 2 Tit. 13.
own Consciences nor hearken to the Importunities of their Friends nor be perswaded to consider what the probable end of all their Actions will be both in this World and in the next These are all unthinking unconsidering Sinners but you will all confess that these Men do not live as if they were to be judged and therefore if we believe that we shall be judged none of us ought to live thus we ought to consider well before-hand what we do that we may be able to give a reasonable account of it when we have done it for if we must give a reason of our Actions when we have done them we ought to know a reason for them before we do them and therefore we must accustom our Minds to a grave and serious consideration of things to live by Reason not by Humour and Fancy not by the Impetus and Fury of Passion which is a very ill Counsellor much less to pursue our Lusts with an affected and resolved Ignorance and Blindness for all this will not prevent our being judged but will make us very unable to give a good account of ourselves when we are 2. As we must act with great Consideration so we must make it the standing Principle and Rule of our Lives never to do any thing but what we can give a good account of either what we know is our Duty or at least what we are satisfied is very lawful and innocent to be done for if we do those things which we cannot account for for which our own Minds condemn us how can we appear with any hope and confidence at the Tribunal of God When Men transgress a known Duty they are Self-condemned and God need not judge them but only execute the Sentence and Judgement of their own Conscience To believe that God will judge us and yet to venture upon such Actions for which our own Consciences condemn us and for which we know God will as certainly condemn us as our own Consciences do is folly and distraction since we must be judged our great care and concernment should be that when we are judged we may not be condemned and the most effectual way to prevent this is to do nothing which our Conscience condemns It is possible indeed that Men who sin wilfully against a known Duty may recover themselves by Repentance and obtain Mercy through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ but it does not become any Man who believes a Judgement to sin that grace may abound these hopes very often deceive Men and will always do so till they come to this Resolution Never to violate a known Duty to provoke the Justice or to exercise the Patience and Forbearance of GOD. There is no other way to escape the Condemnation of the last Judgment but by a resolved Obedience to the Divine Laws and therefore if we believe we shall be judged nothing can be more necessary nor more becoming then to make this the constant Rule of our Actions Never to do any thing for which we know God will condemn us nothing but what can we account for and then we shall be prepared for Judgment whenever it comes 3. It becomes those who must be judged to judge themselves and to take a frequent and impartial account of their own Lives and Actions This is no more then every Steward does who casts up his Books and adjusts his Accounts himself before he presents them to his Lord. The truth is it is impossible for any Man who knows he shall be judged not to be very solicitous to know what his Judgment shall be and this every Man may in a great measure know who impartially examines his own Conscience for so St. Iohn tells us If our heart or conscience condemn us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things but if our heart condemn us not then have we confidence towards GOD 1 John 3.20 21. So that if our Lives have been innocent and vertuous and such as a well-inform'd Conscience approves this will give infinite Peace and Satisfaction to us and fill us with Divine Joys with a Plerophory of Hope and Assurance but if we should not find things so well though upon such a strict Examination our Consciences should be very quarrelsome and uneasie and threaten the Vengeance of God against us yet it is much more desirable to hear our Consciences chide and condemn us than to hear our final Sentence from the mouth of our Judge Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels The Judgment of Conscience is not final for Conscience is rather our Monitor than our Judge it tells us what will be if we do not take care to prevent it not what certainly is and shall be and therefore we have this advantage by the Rebukes and Censures of Conscience to know what is amiss and what we must correct and amend Nay a frequent Examination of our selves would keep a perpetual Watch and Guard upon our Lives After our greatest care and caution a great many things will be hastily done and said which we cannot reconcile with the Rules of Prudence and Decency and strict Vertue but he who frequently calls himself to an account and observes all these Defects which it may be other Men are never sensible of will attain an habitual Caution and Watchfulness and improve into great Exactness of Conversation and all the Graces and Beauties of Vertue Some of the Philosophers thought it a very good Rule to call themselves to an account every night for what they had done that day which would make us reverence ourselves and our own Consciences but there is much more reason to do so when we remember that God observes all our Actions and will judge us for them The Judgment of our Consciences as I observed to you before is a Natural Presage of God's Judgment for there is no other reason why our Consciences should judge us but that God will and then the reason is very strong also that if God will judge us we ought to judge ourselves for this is the proper Office and Ministry of Conscience in subordination to the Judgment of God II. Let us keep our Eye perpetually on a Future Judgment for the Direction and Government of our Lives for this will furnish us with such Principles of Action as cannot be so well learnt any other way 1. As first it teaches us above all things to take care to approve ourselves to God which is the only Principle of true Religion and universal Obedience Nothing is an Act of Religion but as it respects God and is referred wholly to him to perform all the Acts of Worship though with never so great Pomp and Ceremony and external Appearances of Devotion to do never so many good Actions to be seen and to be praised by Men or to serve some Secular Interest by it is not Religion but such Men if they meet with what they expected have their Reward all that
cannot deceive us for if we judge of our selves by the same Rule by which God will judge us every Man knows himself so well that he cannot mistake and when GOD and Conscience judge by the same Rule their Judgment must be the same but if we will alter our Rule of Judging if Conscience judge by one Rule and God by another then there is no wonder if their Judgments differ if GOD condemn those whose Consciences acquit them and absolve those whose Consciences or rather whose private Opinions and Fancies condemn them This is plain from the instances before us some Men justifie themselves in doing very wicked Actions but the reason is because they mistake the Nature of Things they call Good Evil and Evil Good and then their Consciences applaud and commend them for doing that which is very wicked but which they call good As our Saviour tells his Apostles The time cometh when every one that killeth you will think that he does God good service 16 Joh. 2. Others who know they are guilty of very great wickedness are yet very confident of their Salvation and full of assurance because they do not judge of themselves by the good or evil which they do but rely upon other marks and evidences for their Salvation Raptures Extasies Enthusiasms a presumptuous Faith in Christ an ineffectual sorrow for sin some arbitrary and fanciful signs of Election c. Now indeed these Mens Consciences do condemn them for they accuse them of great wickedness but they will not believe the Judgment of their own Consciences but judge of their final state by their own mistaken Fancies and Opinions and therefore according to the Apostle's Rule God will condemn these Men for their own Consciences condemn them though they will not believe the Judgment of their Consciences but justifie themselves in contradiction to it when Conscience condemns Other Men who are not condemned by their own Consciences that is who cannot charge themselves with any great guilt who are not conscious to themselves that they have lived in any known Sin or in the habitual neglect of any material and essential part of their Duty yet they strongly fancy that GOD will condemn them that they are under the Sentence of Reprobation that they have sinned against the Holy Ghost though what that Sin is they know not They want the testimony of the Spirit to assure them of their Election they have never felt the Spirit of Bondage and therefore they fear they have not the Spirit of Adoption that is they have never felt the Horrours and Agonies of guilty Sinners because by the Grace of GOD and the Blessing of a pious and vertuous Education they have always been preserved from those frightful sins which amaze the Conscience and therefore they fear it is but a false Peace they feel that God is not in this soft and calm Voice of Conscience because they have never heard nor seen the Thundrings and Lightnings from Mount Sinai Or though they maintain a great reverence for God and worship him with all humility of Soul and Body yet they do not feel those flights of Devotion those melting and languishing Passions which some good Men â—eel or if at any time they are transported beyond themselves and feel their Hearts all on fire with Love and Devotion these Fits are but short these Boylings and Fermentations go off and they return to a calm and even Temper and then they think they grow cold and that the Spirit of GOD hath forsaken them Now it is plain also that these Mens Consciences do not condemn them for they charge them with no such guilt as the Gospel of Christ will condemn them for but they are condemned only by false Opinions or by a misguided and disturbed Fancy In both these Cases Men absolve or condemn themselves not by the judgment and testimony of Conscience but by their mistaken Notions and Opinions and God is not concerned to confirm and ratifie such a Judgment The Sum is this When St. Iohn tells us That if our Conscience condemn us God will condemn us but if our Conscience do not condemn us neither will God condemn us he means by Conscience that Judgment which Men make of themselves by comparing their Lives and Actions with the Rule by which GOD will judge us for Conscience judges not by making new and arbitrary Rules of Judgment but by giving Testimony to our Lives and Actions The Judgment of Conscience is no more but this Whether we have obeyed or disobeyed the Laws of the Gospel whether we have done those things which the Gospel threatens to punish or which it promises to reward but when we judge our Actions by false Notions of Good and Evil contrary to the Gospel of our Saviour we judge by a false Rule and then our Judgment must be false and when we judge our selves not by the Nature of our Works as God will judge us and as Conscience judges but by Opinions and Fancies and some Arbitrary and Enthusiastick Marks and Signs this is not the Judgment of Conscience which judges only of our Works but the Judgment of private Opinions Conceits and Fancies and though God will judge us as Conscience judges yet he will not judge us as Opinion Fancy Enthusiasm or Melancholy judge us Thus we see how we may know what our Sentence shall be at the Day of Judgment Two sorts of Men may certainly know what their Sentence shall be and a third sort may know the great danger they are in if they will but listen to the Judgment of their own Consciences Men whose Consciences absolutely condemn them may certainly expect that God will condemn them For when their guilt is so notorious that they are forced to condemn themselves why should they think that a just and righteous Judge will not condemn them Those whose Consciences do not condemn them shall certainly be pardoned and rewarded by the Mercies of God those whose Consciences will neither condemn nor absolve them but do both by turns are in a very doubtful and hazardous state their Salvation as yet is very uncertain and it concerns them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling and to give all diligence to make their calling and election sure And should not this teach us to reverence the Judgment of Conscience as a Divine Sentence not to provoke our Consciences to condemn us to obey their Admonitions and to reform at their Rebukes and Censures What would Sinners think should they hear themselves condemned by God every time they commit a known and wilful sin And yet Conscience is the Tribunal of God judges for God and condemns us in God's Name and by his Authority and God will confirm and execute its Sentence and therefore Conscience is a very venerable Judge And ought we not diligently to hearken to that Judgment which Conscience passes on us This I am sure is of vast concernment both to bad and to good Men whether it