A SERMON Preached before the PEERS IN THE Abby-Church at Weslminster October 10th M. DC LXVI BY SETH Lord Bishop of EXON LONDON Printed by E. C. for James Collins and are to be sold at the Kings-head in Westminster-Hall 1666. A SERMON Preached before the House of Peers AT WEST MINSTER ECCLRS xi 9. But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment Rejoyce O young man c. THE great and general design of the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel is to bring men to Christianity not in the outward profession but in the true spirit and power thereof to the end they may be justified and sanctified and finally saved through Christ for ever The particular design of this Days Observation is to humble our selves under the mighty hand of God in Consideration of his Judgments especially that late one in consuming with Fire the Ancient and noble Metropolis of this Nation and to endeavour to appease the wrath of God gone out against us To compass both these designs whereof the later is subordinate to the former I know no better expedient than to reason a while upon that important argument suggested in the Text. Who can think upon the Conflagration of our late Glorious City and not call to mind the great and terrible day of Judgment Who can think seriously of Judgment and not be compelled to come in driven to Christianity that he may be saved from the wrath to come The great Instructor and Example of Christian Preachers he who saith of himself that Christ sent him to preach and not to baptize found no means so powerful to perswade men to Christianity as to reason upon this argument as first to lay before them the terror of Judgment and then whilst that was warm upon their hearts to make them a tender of the Gospel This is the great Advantage and use the Apostle makes of the Doctrine of the Text. We must all appear saith he before the Judgment-seat of Christ Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men Upon these Considerations I shall hope for the pardon of this Noble Auditory if without affectation of Science I shall in a practical and familiar way of reasoning endeavour to imitate our Apostle in this particular If in the mean time it will be irksome and unpleasant to hear of the Judgment to come we shall do well to consider what it will be to undergo it we shall do well to reflect upon our Souls and search out the ground of this averseness Is it because we do not believe a Judgment to come or that we our selves shall be brought to Judgment Is it because we never consider Who it is before whom we must appear or what things will be charged on our own account Is it because we are so far gone in our arrears that it is to no purpose to call these things into our remembrance What ever it be we may perhaps hear of that which may meet with and remove the prejudice and Imposture that is upon us It is neither our Negligence nor Infidelity that will make void the Truth of God Whether we will hear or Whether we will forbear the Words which I have read remain firm and unalterable and they clearly contain these Propositions 1. There is a Judgment to come 2. Thou shalt be brought to Judgment 3. God will bring thee to Judgment 4. God will bring thee to Judgment for these things the ways of thy heart c. 5. God will bring thee to Judgment for All these things 6. All this is certain and evident for it is not think or believe But Know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment I. First then There is a Judgement to come This is no Politick invention found out to fright thee from thy pleasures this is no Engine of State devised to keep you in a subordination to your Brethren this is no vain Thunder or foolish fire to affright you into a blind obedience but it is the Tenor of the Scripture of the voyce of God King Agrippa believest thou the Prophets I know that thou believest saith St. Paul Brethren do we believe the Scriptures I hope we do believe them this we do all profess to believe so often as we repeat our Creed and I hope the dissolution of our times has not yet shatter'd that foundation of our faith the ground work of our hopes even the Salvation of our souls Surely there are rewards for men doubtless there is a God which judgeth the Earth What though the foundations of the world be out of course the pillar of Faith remains unshaken the Rod of the ungodly shall not for ever rest upon the back of the righteous I desire to make a little use of your faith for that which anon will be obtained from your reason There is a Judgment to come it 's as sure as death nay farr surer they shall be judged which shall not dye they have been judged which could not dye the one at the end the other at the beginning of the world There is a Particular and a General Judgment the one at the dissolution of the lesser the other of the greater world the one at the hour of death the other at the day of Judgment A Judgment I say a strict examination an exact account a severe sentence words which make no thundering noise or tragical sound and so they may pass our hardned hearts without any motion wherefore let us judge of the tenor and moment of them by their antecedent signs Before one of them the evil days come The other is called the evil day Before one Solomon tells us that the Sun and the Moon and the Light and the Starrs shall be darkned Before the other a greater than Solomon tells us that the Sun shall be turned into Darkness and the Moon into Bloud and the Starrs shall fall from Heaven Before one the Keepers of the House shall tremble and the Strong men bow themselves Before the other the Mountains shall quake and the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken Before one we shall rise at the voyce of the Bird Before the other at the sound of the Trumpet Before one the silver Cord shall be loosed and the golden Bowl broken and the Pitcher broken at the Fountain and the wheel broken at the Cistern Before the other the silver Zone of the ecliptick and the golden Globe of the Sun the Orbs and the Vortices shall be confounded the wheel within a wheel the Heavens shall be rivel'd as a scrowl of Parchment and the Earth and the Elements shall melt away with fervent heat In the one the dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave it at the other the dust shall return from the earth to be as it was and the spirit from God that gave it Come now and let us reason together Are all these the fore-runners and symptomes of approaching Judgment then
why art thou so drowsie O my careless soul and why art thou so secure within me What strange Lethargy hath seised on thee Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light The time of thy dissolution is a coming and after death the judgment Retire therefore a while into thy self and commune with thy heart Enter thou into thy Closet and shut thy Door upon thee Let us examine our selves before we come to that strict Examen Let us make a Judgment of our expectation before we come to Judgment Do we believe a Judgment will come Then how are we provided against that Day Are our accounts ready Art thou able to stand in Judgment Shalt thou be clear when thou art judged When Paul reasoned before Felix concerning the Judgment to come Felix trembled and because it was an unpleasant argument he put him off to another time There is no doubt but our treacherous hearts would gladly put off these Considerations and deferr them to a more convenient season Nay but there is no time so convenient as the present when we are wrought into some apprehension of Judgment If we stay till our present thoughts are over we shall again be brought to lose the apprehension to forget the import and moment of the Judgment we shall come again to hear the Name thereof and to neglect it as an idle Noise and empty Sound Let us therefore not neglect this opportunity Let us search our selves to the bottom Let us make a discovery of our final Resolution and secret Reserves in reference to Judgment We profess openly to believe that Christ shall come with Glory to judge both the Quick and Dead What are our inward thoughts in that particular and how are we provided against the Day of Judgment There is a Judgment to come that Judgment terrible the Examination strict the Condemnation insupportable and most of us utterly unprovided yet for all this it 's possible it may be avoided All these things are true in Judgments here below and we see the proof of them at every Assizes yet all Offenders are not brought to Judgment but many Thieves and Murderers escape it It may be thus in the Judgement to come 't is possible it may be avoidable A miserable hope if this be all for Thou shalt be brought to Judgment That 's the second Proposition And it contains the Universality or Particularity of the Judgment which you please thou and every man singuli generum genera singulorum all sorts of men and every man of every sort from Him that sitteth on the Throne to Her that grindeth in the Mill For we must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ. It is appointed for all men once to die and after death the judgment Death shall deliver up our Souls to the first and Death shall deliver up our Bodies to the second Judgment The Grave shall deliver up her spoils and the bodies of all men devoured of Beasts consumed of Fire swallowed by the Sea scattered to the four Winds in a moment in the twinckling of an eye shall be brought to Judgment And here shall I bewaile the infirmity or inviegh against the negligence of us Men that suffer our selves to be hurried he adlong by the power of our imaginations against the striving of our consciences that suffer our Senses to carry away the crown from our Understanding and give over our selves to the impetuous stream of our passions That when we have a full information a compleat judgment a clear dictate of conscience we will suffer all these to be overborn in us by the Idola Specûs tribûs c. which are brought into our imaginations That having clear and evident Principles we can yet doubt of their immediate consequences or whilst we profess an universal truth never descend to think of the particulars We know there is a vast difference between the things present and those to come and yet we form our thoughts of those according to the analogy of these deluding our selves with idle and childish imaginations God keeps silence we think he is such a one as we Vengeanc is not presently executed we set our hearts to do wickedly We profess that all men must die and come to judgement yet ve do not really believe that we our selves shall die and come to judgment This is the fountain of our misery and the original of our spiritual miscarriages the discovery of the causes and remedy whereof lies deep in the Philosophy concerning Humane Nature but the thing it self is of every days observation we may recount it in these authentical examples David knew full well what belong'd to Murder and Àdultery and what himself had done in the matter of Uriah yet he cried not out that he had sinned till Nathan had charged him Thou art the man Abab undoubtedly had read the Law of Moses and knew the guilt of Marder and Oppression yet he goes on triumphantly he kills and also takes possession but when Elijah charges him home In the field of Jezereel shall Dogs lick thy blood even thine then he cries out Hast thou found me O mine enemy 1 King 21 and having applyed things to his particular he Rent his cloaths and put on sackcloth he fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly Once more 'T is likely Belshazzar had a general Judgment and an universal Maxime in his mind That it was unlawful to spoil the House of God to plunder those things which were dedicated to the Lord and to debauch in the bowles of the Temple and probably he had seen the hand writing of the book of God to that purpose yet all this does not restrain him But when the Fingers write upon the VVall Mene Mene c. thou art weighed c. then his countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him the joynts of his loyns were loosed and his knees smore one against another This then is the Office of this second Proposition it charges us home it lays down the Universal and it brings it down to the Particular Thou shalt be brought to Judgment Thy Judgment is unavoidable O but then thy Evasion is crossed O my stupid Soul Thou art spoiled of thy frivolous ground of hope Thou shalt surely be cited and thou must appear if thou refuse to come thou shalt be brought to Judgment Return then again into thy self and take a review of thy condition what will the issue be of that Judgment to which thou must be brought What hopes are now remaining that thou shalt not be condemned when the Officers have haled thee before the Judge that thou be not delivered to the Executioners If thou art called to Examination Canst thou elude thy Judge by thy wily answers or Canst thou baffle or suborn the witnesses Canst thou work off thy Jury not to find the Verdict or bribe the Judge to favour thee in thy Doom Canst thou withdraw him from the Rigour of Justice by the mediation of thy
and with Thousands of our Brethren who were better and more righteous than we Let us once more then return into our selves Let us consider our condition let us veiw over and ballance the grounds of our hopes and the reasons of our fears Let us take an exact account of our whole estate and interest in reference to all our concernments National and Personal Temporal and Eternal Let us deliberate and advise what is to be done and what to be avoided Did I say deliberate Whether we shall save our souls from utter darkness and everlasting burnings Whether we shall save the Nation from final ruine and desolation Nay rather Let us break off our sins by repentance and our Iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor Let us make our selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that-when we fail we may be received into everlasting habitations Let us lend unto the Lord that we may have treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor theives break through and steal Let us fast the fast that the Lord hath chosen Loose the bands of wickedness feed the hungry cloath the naked he that hath two Coats let him give to him that hath none and he that hath meat let him do likewise Such an occasion scarce happens in many hundreds of years and for motives to charity they are all comprised in that great argument of the Judgment to come When the Son of Man shall come to Judgment and shall sit upon the Thnone of his Glory When all Nations shall be gathered before him and he shall set the Sheep on his right hand and the Goats on his left This shall be the mark of their discrimination He shall say to those on his right hand I was hungry and ye fed me thirsty and ye gave me drink naked and ye cloathed me sick and in prison and ye visited me Come ye blessed of my Faiher receive the Kingdom prepared for you And he shall say unto them on the left hand I was hungry and ye fed me not thirsty and ye gave me no drink c. Wherefore go ye cursod into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The way is short and compendious to save all our interests What doth the Lord require of us but to do justly to love mercy to walk humbly before the Lord our God Let us be merciful therefore as our heavenly Father is merciful and let us humble our selves under the Almighty hand of God as we pretend to do this day Let us betake our selves afore-hand to our Judge and pour out our complaints before him Let us confess our wickedness and be sorry for our sins Let us lay hold on the feet of our Blessed Redeemer and give him no rest till he hath sealed our pardon Let us bathe with our tears the wounds that we have made Let us cry mightily to the Throne of Grace Let us wrestle and strive with our Redeemer and not les him go until he bless us Until he open our eyes to see the dangers we are in and through his mercy shew us a way to escape them Till he quicken us up to resolutions of amendment and carry us strongly through these resolutions Until he heal our back-slidings and make up our breaches Until he save our souls from death and our Nation from destruction To work our selves to these Resolutions and to fix us in them to make them abide upon us all our days let us remember what hath been spoken and let us frequently meditate upon that Sarcastical Concession of the Text Rejoyce O young man in thy youth and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth walk in the ways of thy heart and the sight of thy eyes But know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgment FINIS I. II. III. IV. V. VI. Applic. general Esai 66. 15. Applic particular Esai 9.