Dim Rusâ—â—aâ—ale which the Heathen had in their Notions about the Burning and the â—udging of the World might be much â—ighted at the Lamp of the Israe◠〈◊〉 Sanctuary But yet meer Natural Conscience did use to warn the Rudest Pagans of a Judgment which God will at Last bring mankind into Hence Felix the Governour before Paul the Prisoner Trembles at the Tidings of a Iudgment to come he had a Preacher in his Bosome that gave him a terrible Premoâ—ition of it The very proceedings of the Last Iudgment are antedated in our Consciences and the Triumphs of Conscience upon our Well-doing the Horrours of Conscience upon our Wickedness the Inferences of Conscience from the Intricate Things every Day happening in the World are so many most penetrating Intimations of that Judgment wherein we are to stand before the Lord. Now the certainty of that Notable Day being a thing as clear and sure as Day it self it becomes us to silence all the Cavils of Carnal Reason against any oâ— its Unfathomable Circumstances by aâ— Faith acquiescing in this Assurance of it Thus saith the Lord. Indeed whaâ— Paul says about the first of the Transactions belonging to this Day of thâ— Lord may I say about the whole Afâ—yr of the Day Why should it be Thought 〈◊〉 thing Incredible with you All the Cavils which our Unbelief caâ—â— make â—gainst this Word of God are Sufficiâ—atly and Eternally taken off with Demanding Is any thing too hard for â—e Lord But some of the Cavils that â—ave seem'd Specious will upon Second Thoughts be found so Absurd that â—ven Common sense it self would hiss â—t them Such is that Objection Where will there be room for such a Vast Multitude as Adam with all his Chilâ—ren The whole surface of the Earth â—ould not hold them all Ridiculous Exâ—eption Allow that this World should â—ast no less than Ten-Thousand Years which it will not Allow that there â—re at once alive a Thousand Millions of men which there are not Allow all â—hese to march off every Fifty years with a New Generation rising up in â—heir stead and allow each of these â—ndividuals a place Five foot Square to â—tand upon I think these are Fair Alâ—owances I would now pray the Obâ—ector if he have any skill at Arithmetick to Compute Whether a Spot of Ground much less than England which contains perhaps about Thirty Mâ—llions of Acres but about a Thousandth Part of the Terraqueous Glob and about the Three Hundred thirty third part of the Habitable Earth would not hold them all I say then we have something else to do than to Cavil the unexceptionable Doctrine of the Last Iudgment it is our Interest and Business to Improve it with deep Impressions thereof upon our Souls S. 4. Of such an Aspect are all Things in the Day of Judgment as that the Apostle might well call it The Terror of the Lord. But me thinks there is nothing that gives more Dread unto a Soul awakened out of Sinful Slumbers than that ETERNITY wherein this Day Expires that Eternal Issue that Eternal Event which depends upon the Day The last Judgment fixes the Children of men like so many Rocks in the Ocean of Eternity Men will then be Immortalized and their State of Weal or Wâ—â— will be so inwrought into the very Beings of them that Immortal Things â—ay as easily cease to Be as for a â—ighteous or Wicked man to pass â—nto another State than what he is â—hen Confirmed in T is a Passage in â—hat Memorable and Perhaps Historical â—arable which decribes the State of â—en in the other World that after â—his Day men have A Great Guilf â—â—xed unto them there is by the Deâ—ree of God such a Vast Pit about the Children of men that they cannot pasâ— put of the State wherein they are The Nature of things will then require â—hat they be Vnalterable the Children of men will then be most Immediately Siezed either by the Goodness or by the â—ustice of God and because our God Himself Changes not therefore the state of men becomes then Vnchangeable nor will it stand with the Wisdom of the most High to alter the Sentence â—hen Pronounced about the State of Weal or Wo which will then belong unto us At the Day of Judgment all Righteous men shall be adjudg'd unto a State of Eternal Happiness T is a Life Eternal t is an Eternal Salvation t is an Eternal Inheritance t is an Everlasting Habitation and they are Pleaâ— sures for ever more of which the Believer shall be made Partaker Afteâ— he ha's been in the mansions of thâ— Blessed as many Millions of Ages aâ— there are Sun-beams in the Universeâ— he will still continue there Thâ— stately Pillars in Solomons Temple werâ— thence removed but the Believeâ— shall now become a Pillar in the Temple of his God from whence he shalâ— no sooner go out than the Temple iâ— self â—â—all Tumble down A Deyoâ—â— Person at a â—easâ— said well In Heaven there is Good Cheer and Gooâ— Company and so there is here but in Heaven there is no Taking away The â—â—â—â—estial Satisfactions of the Believer â—â—ll never be disquieted with such a Thought as this At the Long run these things will have an end God will not Repent of the Love which He has freely set upon him â—â—nor will Christ ever Suffer one of His own Members to be Pluck'd away But at the Day of Judgment all Wicked men shall be adjudg'd unto a State of Eternal Miâ—ry T is a Worm which Dyeth not and 〈◊〉 Fire which is not Quenched whereâ—ithal the Sinner shall be Cruciated 〈◊〉 is an Eternal Damnation and it is 〈◊〉 Everlasting Destruction Suppose an â—eap of as many Little Poppey-seeds 〈◊〉 according to the old Ptolemaick â—ystem would fill the whole Machin â—f the World and no more than one â—f them in a Thousand years fetch'd â—way but the Sinner in Anguish till â—he heap were all wasted so behold â—nd be amazed All this Long while â—ould be but as a Drop to the Ocean â—ompar'd with that Forever that â—orrible Forever whereto the Torâ—ents of the Damned shall be Lengthâ—ned Fifty two Cyphers and One Fiâ—urt at the Head of them would Comâ—rehend as the Learned and Noble â—tto de Guerick affirms it the Numâ—er of the Little Poppey-seeds in the prodigious Heap newly mentioned But I say then suppose a Scroll as â—arge as the Starry Heaven it self all â—illed with Figures of Nine and yet â—o many Myriads of Ages as would be therein deciphered are Nothing to that Endless Duration which the Torments of the Damned shall be made Exquisite withal It may be said unto the sinner Are not thine Iniquities Infinite A Sin Committed against an Infinite God Exposes a man unto an Infinite Wrath. The sinner makes himself a prey to an Infinite Vengeance and the Exercises of that Vengeance must be Infinite or they bear no Proportion to the Desert of the sinner now they cannot be Infinite for the Degree
of them of such the sinner would be Incapable so then they must be Infinite for the Durance of them they must abide World without End Lord what Rocks are our Hearts that they do no more Tremble at the Fore-thoughts of such an ETERNAL JUDGMENT S. 5. To be Seriously Constantly Vigorously Preparing for the Day of Judgment is indeed The thing which our Hand finds to Do and O that we may to it with our Might Now t is our Cordial Closure with the Lord Jesus Christ and the Consent of our Souls to the Gospel-way of Salvation by Him in the New Covenant Exhibited which is the Preparation whereby alone we may be Ready for the Terrible Day It was the study and the Desire of the Apostle O that I may be found in Him We are to give out selves unto the Lord Jesus Christ as unto our Prophet and our Priest and our King for ever and now before Him Judge our selves for all our Sins from which we would have Him to save us Our Judge will then become our Friend and we shall be safe in the Day that shall Burn like an Oven and Consume all the Wicked of the Earth When the Watery Flood overwhelmed the old World O how many Wishes had people then for An Ark An Ark to Shelter them At the Day of Judgment there will be what the Ancients called a Dlluvium Ignis or Fiery Flood upon the World and O what a rate will A Christ A Christ be then Esteemed at May we Now make sure of Him by Faith in Him If once that were done we might Rejoyce before the Lord for He comes He comes to Judge the Earth Suppose that before to Morrow Morning the Lord Jesus Christ should set the World on a Light Fire and Melt the Pillars of Heaven with the Brightness of His Appearing Suppose that we should awaking at the next Midnight hear such fearful and rattling Thunder claps see such hideous slashes of Lightning as made Mount Sinai shake at the Giving of the Law yet our Hearts might even Leap with Joy within us at it as John did within his Mother when Jesus came into the room Only when That is done we are to Remember that our Faith will have this Happy Symptom to Justify it That it will cause us to Abound in the Works of the Lord. May we then by a Spirit of Fore-sight Consider how Comfortable in the Day of Judgment it will be unto us to Look back and say I once made it my Care to be every Day all the Day long at Work for God And When the Lord put His Talents into my Hands I husbanded them unto the best Advantage that I could â—nd Here can I in this Great Assembly point at Multitudes of Persons to whom I was not Vnserviceable when I had my Opportunities And may we Do Accordingly There will be a Day of Judgment and the Plain Deduction from it is What manner of Persons ought we to be in all Holy Conversation and Godliness S. 6. T is to be added That some of the most hopeful Preparations for the Day of Judgment would be attain'd in our Solemn Anticipations of that most Great and Notable Day of the Lord. Let us afore hand Act over the Day of Judgment not in a Play Like those Germans who turned the parable of the Virgins into a Comedy whereat a Prince then present fell into an Astonishment that immediately ended his Dayes but by Seriously bringing our selves Now to such Trials as will then be pass'd upon us T is among the Oracles of God in 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would Judge our selves we should not be Judged and surely if we would now proceed Against our selves with a most Exact and Humble Judgment upon our own Miscarriages it would be the way for us to stand in the Day when the Lord shall Mark Iniquities If we are not Christians of Lean Souls within us we sometimes do set a part our Dayes for Fasting with Prayer before the â—ord thus we do sometimes more particularly when we are Perfuming of our selves for our Approches to the Sâ—pper of the Great King now let such Dayes be so many little Dayes of Iudgment with us all On such a Day let us Examine our selves by all the Ten Commandments of our God and among other Things Let us be Inquisitive I. Have I not Grievously Forgotten the God that made me And given unto the Flesh the World and the Divel the Homage which is due to Him alone Or let Creatures have the Affection the Obedience and the Dependance which He alone may lay claim unto II. Have I not shamefully Neglected the Instituâ—ions wherein the Lord Jesus Christ ha's taught me to mentain Communion with Him And Humoured the Superstitions of a Vains Conversation III. Have I not Irreverently Treated the Names Aâ—tributes Words Workâ— â—nd Ordinances whereby the Almighty God makes Himself known unto us And been without awful Apprehensions of His Majesty under His Various Dispensations IV. Have I not been Carnal Careless Weary in the Ordinary Sabbaths of God and been Indisposed unto the Extraordinary ones V. Have I not been Perverse and Haughty towards my Superiours Unkind Foolish towards my Inferiours Envious towards my Equals and miserably Selfish in my Conduct of my self VI. Have I not impaired my own Health by Intemperancies or been towards others Passionate Revengeful and Contentious VII Have I not been Vnchast in my Acts my Thoughts my Words or been a Companion of the Fools that are so VIII Have I not by Fraud or Force wronged my Neighbour nor been too Prodigal when I should not have spent but when I should have spent then too Niggardly IX Have I not uttered or fomented what ha's been Contrary unto Truth nor given Countenance to a False Report X. Have I not been Discontent with my own Condition or harboured in my Heart a Roving and a Craving Lust after an undue Alteration of it XI Have not I despised the Offers of the Lord Jesus in the New Covenant and the Wonderful Provision therein made for Unhappy Sinners And permitted my Earthly Affayrs to keep me at a Distance from the Lord Redeemer who ha's been Waiting to give me Repentance and Remission of Sins XII Is not the Fountain of all these Bitter and Cursed Streams the Corrupt Nature which I have derived from my first Parents a Nature filled with a depraved Prejudice against what is Holy and Just and Good Upon the Discovery of our Guilt in These and such Articles Let us now Judge our selves as Worthy of Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord. And if the Iudgment which we now pass upon our selves be attended with the Self Abhorrencies and Self-Condemnations and New-Resolutions of a true Repentance it will Prevent our coming under the like Iudgment on the Day of our Appearance before the most High Tribunal But indeed the Evening of Every Day is also to be reckoned a fit Opportunity for us to call our selves
THE GREAT DAY OF JUDGMENT Handled In a SERMON Preached at the Assizes at New-Bristol Octob. 7. 1687. By the Reverend and Learned SAMVEL LEE M. A. sometimes Fellow of Wadham Colledge in Oxon. Accompany'd With Preparatory Meditations 〈◊〉 THE DAY OF JUDGMENT By Mr. COTTON-MATHER Boston in New-England Printed by Bartholomew Green for Nicholas Buttolph at the Corner of Gutteridg's Coffee-House 1692. Price bound 1 s. THE EPISTLE To the Worthy and Pious Auditory before whom this Subject was treated upon Grace and Peace in Christ Jesus our Lord. VVHereas by the Call and Invitation of some of your very much Honoured and Respected Society â—his Serious Summons to the great day of Judgment was proclaimed in your Ears at Bristol near Mount-Hope in New England at the Assâ—ze â—here hold on Friday Octob. 7. â—687 Being also moved to the Publication thereof I do here humbly present it under divine Protection and Blessing to your Candid Acceptation and Defence who sometime Composed the quire of a most attentive benigne and soâ—emn Audience in the time of its delivery Honourable and Beloved As these Papers tend with your kind leave toâ—re inkindle the the memorial of that dayes Soul awakening Subject so let me I pray in this proem beg you to ruminate on a saying of an Emâ—nent Divine at Bury a Town of great note in Suffolk of old England That Sermons are never done Mr. Edmund Calany Sâ—n. till they are Done and let me add If never Done the hearers are undone for ever Especially in such weighty momentous Points as these about the formidable day of Judgment The tears of Auditors said Jerom as J.M. are the Jewels of Preachers and if Sincere Presage a Crown of Eternal joyes to both There are among many others in Divinity three illustrious Doctrines 1. Justification by Faith in Christ alone 2. Sanctification by the Spirit 3. Resurrection to Glory In whose Compass and Bosome was our present Subject about the Vniversal Judgment As to which Give me leave to present three things and Close with the Apostolical Prayer 1. State your own Eternal State while yet in the State of this Life Matter not the day or Censures of mans Judgment They 'l Fluctuate in their love as the wind of their Passions 1 Cor. 4 3 Interests and Envious or false informations turâ—s the fane of their Constructions if they are not both wise and godly And sometimes hastily Carp your innocence as if they had forgotten Plâ—tarch and Senecas memorials about natures gift of two Ears before they determin matters in question Gal. 6.1 not pondering as they ought in the Spirit of meekness the many Tentations the best of men are incident to Tim. 3.2 their own freqâ—ent infirmities and others proud and invidious detractions and your own vertuous Slander-Shaming Apologies Taking little heed to the Fifteenth Psalm and how unworthily these blast others usefulness lay up Scourges for their own Consciences in the day when God shall visit them and give their abused Friends Exod. 32.34 the greatest favour at last Prov. 18. â—â— 38.23 when his Neighbour Searches him out and then thy Brothers Mote may swell to a Beam in thine eye by the rubbing of others inflamed Censures upon thee when thy turn comes We all need Contrition Confession and Pardon 2. Make Peace with God betimes and Expedite it The â—ands of times hour Glass never stop and are more precious then the golden ones of Tagus Do this work seasonably sincerely speedily to frustrate the trouble of the New Repentance and prevent the divine Judgment Delay not lest Tardy neglect 2 Cor. 11.31 3â— quicken Goul-Confounding horrors and Sudden wracks of Conscience will draw out the funeral-Song of Epimetheus O non putaram Prov. 2â— 19 or that of the Fool in Solomon Was I not in jest and cry out in earnest concerning laughter Eccl. 2.2 Eccl. 9.6 that 't is mad and of mirth What doth it but as the Crackling of thornes under a Pot whose Prickles fly in his Eyes leave him in utter darkness wringing his hands in the bloud of his heart and streaming out bitter groanes that he did not think the Evening Shadows were so nigh O Sirs this tremendous work cryes aloud for the greatest deliberation the swiftest Execution and perseverance without end O Blessed Lord help us out of the woful Tentations and intricate Labyrinths of delay Aesop lest when Death comes indeed as in the ancient Apologue it prove an other guess work than most are now aware of You 'l stand in need of more then all your Graces Experiences Reliances and Restaurations out of deep and dark desertions Yea and all little Enough and will prove scarce able to list you out of the dungeon of terror unless the gracious Supplies of the Spirit come in upon a Spring tide from Heaven and list up the Ark of Conscience above the floud gates and Rocks of Confusion 3. Labour to provide against the formidable Thunders of Death that the Sun-shines of the Evidences of glory may brighten the dark passages of the Grave The beauty of grace first darted into thy Breast in a beam from the Eye of the Electing Love of God and shall never cease the shining and warming influences till like new Stars that at last Concenter all their motions in the Sun so shall the rayes of thy joyes be inbosomed in the Eternal Love of God When thou hast done this work John 6.19 which the Father hath given thee to do then that TO PHOBEROTATON Aristotles grand King of Terâ—ers shall sling down his Crown with amazement at the foot of Christ Heb. 3 14â— 1 Cor. 15â— 5â— 57. and that Dragon who hath the power of death shall himself be slung to Death by the Cross of Christ first upon his illustrious Tomb at Mount Golgotha or like the standard of Constantine carrying TO SEMEION the Labarum or signe of the Son of man Mat. 34 3 set upon the back-bone of the Serpent as you may see it on the Reverse of that Emperors Coin Spelman Aspilogiâ— P. 20 Ed. Loâ—d 1654 cu uptem Yea and aâ—â— holy Christians are like the Roman Draconiseri the Dragoniers of the ancient Empire carrying the Exuviae or case of the old Serpent in triumph and yielding up their Spirits into the hands of a most faithful Creator who once form'd us and will shortly as faithfully Redeem us out of the dust and inform us a new with the same Immortal Souls to inherit the same Body in a State of Immortality to Co-inhabit the Temple of Heaven in an immortal State of Glory ever beginning and never ending When the day of the last Redemption that great day of the feast when the ruddy morning shall Climb the Eastern hills of Mount Olivet with its pleasant Blushes to cure all the dark Solitudes and Sollicitudes of this Vally of Immortal Souls by the Lord Jesus Christ before whom they Appear when â—heir
Bodies here are by Death made â—ntenantable and from whom they â—hen Receive Order Either to be Admitted among the Spirits of Just men made perfect or to be Reserved in Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day That Separate Souls thus Exist â—n an Invisible World is a thing whereof I know some who have such palâ—able Evidences that were the Scripâ—ures wholly Silent which Blessed by God they are not about it yet they could no more Qustion it than they Question their own Existence in the World But there is a more General Work of this kind shortly to be done â—n a Vast Assembly of all mankind unto â—hat end Summoned by the Mighty God and called from the Rising of the Sun unto the Setting thereof The Souls of men shall reassume a fit Portion of the Dust whereunto they were formerly United by the Almighty God fetch'd out of the Various matter whereinto it has been Dissolved and Dispersed but now become as were the Keel where upon shall be Builâ— Incorruptible Bodies and some that shall then be found alive shall by 〈◊〉 Translation have their Bodies made iâ— a like manner Spiritual In their Bodies thus Raised and Changed they shalâ— stand before a Tribunal of our Lord Jesus descended from the Heavens into our Atmosphere and after aâ— Exact Examination of their Behaviours While God was upon Earth Trying oâ— them they shall have One of these two Sentences pronounced upon them Either Come ye Blessed Inherit the Kingdom Or Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire Which will be accordingly Executed on them Such 〈◊〉 Day of Judgment is there to come upon the World Amen Come Lord Jesus come quickly Indeed about the Circumstances of this most Illustriouâ— Day t is more easy than lawful for us to Enquire into such things as wâ— are not yet Able to Aâ—swer nor haâ— the Lord Indulged our Curious and Critical Enquiries after Particularities which He ha's not Revealed It seem Revealed That this Last Day will be a Long Day It will be a Day of â—ublick Hearing and all Doings of all â—eople must be called out Cunctaque Cunctorum Cunctis Arcana patebunt So that things will not be Hastily â—uddled and Suddenly Shuffled over â—ea It seems Revealed That the â—orning of This famous Day will â—ake up at least a Thousand Years wherein our Lord will be managing His Davidical Kingdom with a New Heaâ—en and a New Earth wherein shall â—well Righteousness and Reigning before His Ancient People Gloriously at the Close whereof it seems to some that The Rest of the Dead Live again all tâ—â— Dead Small Great stand before God The Hour when it shall be Commenced and â—he Spot where it shall be Cheâ—fly managed seem not Revealed nor a thousand â—hings more that concern the proceedings of the Day But whatever may be yet Unrevealed it is abundantly Plain and Sure unto us That the Son of man shall come in the Glory of His Father with His Angels and then He shalâ— Reward every man According to hiâ— Works This is Revealed and it iâ— a Damnable Thing to Cherish anâ— Doubt of This That we must aâ—l appeaâ— before the Judgment-Seat of the Lord Jesus Christ S. 3. The Judgment of the Great Day Or a Day wherein all men shall bâ— Raised and Changed into a State oâ— Immortality and appear before the Soâ— of Man within the Bounds of our Air to be Judged according unto whaâ— they Did before they Dyâ—d This is 〈◊〉 thing which the People of God in alâ—â—ges have given their Assent unto Even in Old Times long before thâ— Flood the Church of God made this aâ— Article of their Creed We havâ— some short Notes of what was delivered by the Venerable Enoch abouâ— it so long ago in Jude 14. Behold â—he Lord comes to Execute Judgmenâ— upon all Yea This was a main Controversy between the Antediluviaâ— Saints and the Impious Impure Geâ—â—â—â—tion of Atheists then upon thâ— Stage The Godly did Assert There â—ali be a Day of Judgment but the proâ—ne did with Hard Speeches Deride â—xplode the Belief of that awful Truth We read in Gen. 4.8 Cain spake to Abel his Brother the Hebrew Bibles â—sually leave a Blank at the end of his clause and the ancient Jewish â—argumâ— presume to put in the Disâ—urse which they had they say that â—he Quarrel between Cain and Abel â—as upon this point Abel said There 〈◊〉 to be a Day of Judgment and there is Judge and there shall be another World â—nd the Godly shall be Rewarded and the Wicked Punâ—shed But Cain said There 〈◊〉 no such Thing and as the Targum â—f I. Ben. Vzziel adds Et Propter haâ—um Rerum Causam Contendebant Superâ—acies Agri. And methinks the Aâ—ostle in the Beginning of his Eleventh â—hapter to the Hebrews may seem to â—ountenance this Tradition It seems â—s if Abraham also saw this Day aâ—r off inasmuch as there are those â—ho put his Plea for Sudom into this â—nglish in Gen. 18.25 Wâ—ll not the Judge 〈◊〉 all the Earth Execute Judgment 〈◊〉 q d. Lord Thou dost intend hereafter to appear for a Judgment upon aâ— the World in such Flames of Devouring Fire as thou art now going to destroy this miserable Place withal bâ— Entreated therefore to spare these Towns until that Revolution come Indeed all Christians have alwayes Agreed in this Acknowledgment long before as well as ever since the Dayeâ— of Job I know that my Redeemer Lives and that He shall stand at the Eatteâ— Day upon the Earth and though Worms Destroy this Body yet in my Flest I shall see God And even in that Confession of Faith which the Jews themselves at this Day embrace their Eleventh Fundamental Article is the Eternal Judgment To what the People of God have thus Received as the Faith delivered unto the Saints they have had the Scriptures of God most abundantly given their Infallible Testimony There is hardly any one part of the Old Testament which has not Considerable Glances aâ— the Day of Iudgment But in the New â—estament it is yet more plentifully insisted on Very many of the Sermons Preached by our Lord Jesus Christ â—nd all the Letters written by His Aâ—â—stles do set the Day of Iudgment before our Eyes Yea not only the Approach but also the Process of this wonderful Day is diverse times Expressed in these Lively Oracles The Holy Spirit of God hath Chosen to make one of the East Clauses in the Bible an Admonition unto us hereâ—bout the very last Lines of the last â—dvice we have had from Heaven are â—o this purpose The Lord Jesus Christ will shortly come to Iudge the World And with the Assertions of Scripture â—oncerning this matter the Apostle in 〈◊〉 certain place tells us the Accusingâ— â—nd the Excusingâ—s of Conscience do join â—heir Testimony thereunto 〈◊〉 The Verâ—ict of Conscience upon the Sinner is â—s Tertallian calls it Futurâ— Judiciâ— Prejudicium a presage of a future â—udgment It is true the
unto an Account about our whole Behaviours in the Day It becomes us with Self-judging Hearts every Night before we Sleep to make a Process like what would be in the Day of Iudgment and this as not knowing but that before we Wake out of that Sleep a Come away to Judgment may Surprize us Nightly Recollections have been Commended by Sober Pagans and should not be Omitted by Pious Christians but when we have Considered What ha's been Gods Providence towards my self in the foregoing Day We may do well also to Consider What ha's been my Behaviour towards God in the Day We may now particularly take an Account Q. 1. Have I Lived this Day under a Deep sense of Mortality and Eternity Q. 2. Have I Devoutly Read the Word of God this Day and Seriously sought the Face of God both in my Retirement and with my Family Q. 3. Have I had many Ejaculations this Day both in a way of Petition and in a way of Thanksgiving unto God Q. 4 Have I had most affectionate Meditations upon Heavenly Things this Day have I made Earthly Things to occasion some of my Profitable Reflections Q. 5. Have I been careful of my Discourse this Day Spoken with a Tongue Bâ—idled by the Fear of the Lord Q. 6. Have I been Diligent in my Calling this Day and avoided all Needless Expence of my Precious and Golden Minutes in Diversions Q 7. Have I this Day Endeavoured all Usefulness unto those to whom I am Related or with whom I have been Concerned Q. 8. Have I this Day Controlâ—'d and Conquer'd my Master Sin and ha's my Watchfulness issued in my Victory over my own Iniquity Q. 9 Am I in a fit State and Frame to appear before the Judgment-Seat of God if I should before To Morrow Mornning be Summoned thereunto And therefore Do I still choose the Great God as my best Good and my last End and the Lord Jesus Christ as my Prophet my Priest my King And is it my Desire to be Employ'd as a Witness for His Truths and Wayes for ever Did we not let any Day pass us without such Representations of the Last Day unto our minds we should be Alwayes Ready Reader let us Aspire after such a Continual Readiness S. 7. But none of the least Exercises in our Preparation for the Day of Judgment would be our Meditation of it Or Our Looking for the Glorious Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ He was an Holy man among the Ancients who could say Wherever I am and Whatever I do Methinks I have the Sound of the Last Trumpet in my Ears ARISE YE DEAD AND COME TO JUDGMENT We should Labour to get a Proper a Lively Character of the Day when God shall Judge the Secrets of men and often Raise it in our minds It was said Wo to them that put far away the Evil Day Truly The Day of Judgment will be an Evil day indeed unto them that put it far away Thoughts upon the Day of Judgment should continually Lodge in our Hearts and however we are imploy'd we should think What shall I do when God rises up and when He Visits what shall I answer Him Now for the Assistence and Nourishment of our Private Meditations upon The Day of God we are happily Supply'd with the Published Meditations of many Worthy Pious Learned Writers upon that Important Subject and I pray that we may not be Unthankful or Unfruitful under such Advantages The Carnal Jewes when they Read the Book of Ecclesiastes have the last Verse but one which has in it Fear God and keep His Commandments Printed over again at the Close of all because they would not have the Remembrance impression of the Last Verse which has in it God shall bring every Work into Judgment to be too strong upon them whereas if men would Think more of the Latter they would probably Do more of the Former God forbid that we should any of us have any Indisposition to such Meditations on the Day of Judgment as are Laid before us in the Books of some that are Longing for the Day Dear New-England Thy Little Presses too do now afford more than two or three Savoury Treatises upon the Day which will not bundle such Books for the Fire that shall then Burn up the Hay Stubble of Innumerable Volumns No Such are some of the Books that shall be Opened for a Witness against Impenitents In thee is Reprinted the Zealous Thomas Vincents Discourse On our Lords certain sudden Appearance to Judgment In thee is Printed a Sermon on The Day of Judgment whose Author is the Father of him that now addresses thee In thee is now Printed the Reverend Samuel Lee's Assize-Sermon of Warning to the Great Day of Judgment Left among us as his Mantle by that Elias when he went away for Europe These besides other Books has New-England had for the Loudening of that Midnight Cry among us Behold the Bridegroom comes And indeed if upon the passing away of the second Wo the Third comes quickly which brings on The Time of the Dead that they should be Judged we that now see the Second Wo coming a pace unto its Period should count no Awakenings too many to rowse us out of that profound Sleep wherein the World shall be fast When the Son of man comes I am verily perswaded The Judge is at the Door I do without any hesitation venture to say The Great Day of the Lord is Near it is Near and it hastens Greatly O That our Minds may be as deeply Engaged in Thinking on the Second coming of our Lord as the Saints of old were in Thinking on His First and that the Books by which we may Vnderstand much of what concerns that matter may have a due Entertainment and Efficacy with us A Person of some Quality having Wasted much Time at Unlawful Games could not Sleep the Night following mentioned unto an Inquisitive Friend the Ground of it Yesterday casting my Eye into a Book that I saw open I read the Word ETERNâ—TY and this Word has broke my very Heart within me Truly we that have so many Books about ETERNAL JUDGMENT have our Hearts harder than the Nether Milstone if at the sight of that Word ETERNAL JUDGNENT they do not break But it is unto the God of Grace that we are now to bow our Knees with Petitions for Mercy in the Day of the Lord. A SUMMONS Or WARNING to the Great Day of JUDGMENT In a SERMON Preach'd at the Assizes at Bristol in New-England Octob. 7. 1687. now some-what Amplified and Fitted to the Service of others Luke 21.36 Watch and Pray alwaâ—es that ye may be accounted worthy to Escape all those things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man A-kempts de Imit Christi l. 1. c. 24. Vere non potâ—s duo gaudia habere bic dilâ—ctaâ—â— in mando postea regâ—are cum Christo Verily thou canst not expect two joyes To
here arraigned before you for Murder I. As to you the Worthy Reverend Judges that are to sit in judgment before the Lord this day I shâ—ll not inlarge but only present unto you what King Jehoshaphat gave in Charge to them from God 2 Chron. 29.6 when he set them about this work City by City Take heed what your doe for ye judge not for man but for the Lord Vers 5. who is with you in the judgment Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you Take heed do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of Persons non taking of Gifts II. To you that are the People and auditors this day Count it a great Mercy that you have been preserved by Restraining or Sanctising grace not to stand in the place of the nocent and so to become Obnoxious to the wholesome Law Righteous Judgment of the Majestrate Bless God for that Singular Mercy If it were not for Majestracy that great Ordinance of God in the World Jere. 9 8. mens tongues would be like Poysoned Arrows shot sorth speaking deceit treating their Neighbour peaceably with their mouthes and laying wait in their hearts Some such Sons of Belial that a man cannot speak to them 2 Sam. 23.7 they are so surly and interrupting ought to be thrust away like thornes If a man touch them he must be senced with Iron the staff of a Spear Men would prove Wolves Vipers 1 Sam. 25.17 Tygers Dragons mixt in one and the same person to each other O Bless God for this great gift of Princes Judges to Rule the wicked Enormous World and to sway the Scepter of Righteousness in the Earth O Remember to speak Honourably of Rulers and dignityes Jude 8. Rom. 13. 2 Pet. 2.10 for they are Ordained of God for the Praise of them that do well and Gods Ministers and Avengers upon them that do Evil. Were it not for them such as are now but Secret Malicious backbiters would soon prove Badgers and bite through the bone to the very heart Have then a Special care of two Originating Sins that lead to many foul Enormities that is Pride Envy First in your selves that you be not tempted thereby to hurt others and Secondly in others that you do not hurt them For wherever you see manifest Signatures tokens of these Sins lurking or putting out their forked tongues against others beware of them they are Persons markâ—t of God and alwayes have graven upon your breast that famous Embleme of a Righteous man Quod non vis tibi ne seceris alteri Do as you would be done by Luke 31. T is our Lords most golden Rule of Equity Then Judge your selves before God as to all infirmities and otherwise insuperable weaknesses then fear not mans day having presented your selves by Faith as Clothed with the Righteousness of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 and in some sweet measure prepared for that Solemn appearance at His Tribunal III. A word or two also to the poor guilty Person which has Murdered her own unlawful infant and so I Conclude As for thee poor Creature What was it that inticed intangled inflamed thee to the Commission of these Sins against the Laws of God the light of nature and the just Laws of the Land I understand thus much from thee in the Prison that thy Parents were very negligent of thy Education and so becamest a great neglecter of Sabbaths and Sermons and then fellest into the fellowship of Lew'd Companions which may be a just warning to all others All that I shall say at present because of the great Sorrow remorse Repentance which thou hast manifested be fore many witnesses and I hope may prove Sincere If thou fleest from the horror staine shame of these thy Crying Sins unto the most precious blood of Jesus Christ and layest hold upon it with a true though but a weak Faith thou hast Patterns of Mercy in the blessed Book of God Manassch Mary Magdalen and the Thief upon the Cross to dispell the black and dismall Cloud of despaire and to lead and incourage thee to hope in His Mercy Rom. 14.9 To which I humbly and heartily Commed thee in the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord both of Dead and Living AMEN FINIS AN APPENDIX Containing only some Heads of Meditation on the DAY OF JVDGMENT more largely and fully delivered in a Sermon Preached at Charlestown By the Reverend SAMVEL LEE On Math. 25.6 At Midnight there was a Cry THE Scope of a Parable is the best Expositor of it The Design of this is to Express The Suddenness of our Lords Advent and the Supidity and Security of the World with reference thereto Observe Blessed Christians Three Things FIRST A dolorous Exclamation with the dismal season of it The out cry here is like that of drowning-Marriners or routed Souldiers SECONDLY The matter of the Exclamation thus amazing which causes all the great Hectors and Herods and Belshazzars of the World to tremble Yet it is not Behold the Judge Cometh but the Bridegroom the Delight of our Souls T is good Advice Are you Ready Dr. Vsher used to say unto some Persons of Quality Madam Be ready Be ready THIRDLY A Command unto all Especially the Virgins Go out to meet Him Even Hypocrites count themselves in a fair way to meet the Lord. Of old Marriage was at Midnight to show the Modesty of Marriage You are by Ministers now Contracted and are to be by Angels at last Conducted into Jesus Christ The Ten Virgins are professors of all Sorts A Wise Virgin is a Soul that takes the seasons of Grace and is affected with the Beauty of Jesus Christ A Foolish is one that regards not the Word of God Midnight is the End of the World before the Morning of the Resurrection The Cry is an Angelical Voice as soon as the Clock strikes Twelve then the Angel sets his Trumpet to his mouth and proclameth so The Apantesis the Meeting here Expressed is the Resurrection When the Earth and Sea too shall yield their Dead and the very Entrails of the Fishes shall be raked by the Trident of the Archangel Never was there such a Terror as then will be But the Saints are then led unto the Nuptial in the New Jerusalem NOTE At the Coming of Jesus Christ to Judgment the whole World shall be in a state of great Security and Insensibility of His Coming I. There shall be a Great Day of Judgment How many Warnings have you had about this Day of the Lord But alas How many of the then Raised shall say Non Putaram or This I thought not of which is a sign of a great Fool. Oh that we could be like Jerom alwayes having a Come to Judgment in our Ears believe you all make a Day of Judgment an Article of your Creed Why The Heathen had a sense of it II. Near and At that very times
there shall be a deadly Stupefaction in the World As to sit under Night-Shade breed a Stupor This will be the Effect of being in the Night shade Walks of the World How are most of us asleep so that one can hardly get so much at any good Discourse on foot among us See Math. 24.39 And knew not till the Flood came and took them all away so shall also the Coming of the Son of man be Remember that on your Knees ¶ This comes from want of Consideration God says O that they would Consider See Psal 119.59 T is said They Considered not for their Hearts were hardened No Hammer can break this stone but Gods T is only Gods Fire and Vinegar that can cause the Nether Milstone of our Hearts to Crack And it works in Consideration Consideration is the Glory of a man and it would be our Happiness But for Inconsiderateness This comes 1. From an Innate Inclination People be not of Thinking Spirits They are for Pastime Oh dreadful Word a Word for the Divel to put into our Hearts The Fatness of Heart spoken of by Isaiah is mention'd Six times in the New Testament No Text of the Old Testament so often cited Which is to be thought on Blood is sometimes Congealed like a Serpent in the Heart Such Hearts have we Men are against Prick't Hearts though the Corruption cannot otherwise come out but the Divels will â—uck their Blood for ever 2. From a Judicial Obsignation God says to His Ministers Go Preach at such a place and harden the People there Oh with uplâ—fted Hands beg Lord let me not be Sealed up under this hardness This Hardness will be turned into shrieks in Hell See Exod. 9.10 From this Hardness t is that men will Scoff at a Little Expression of a Minister but every such Scoff shall cost you a Thousand years in Hell This Nigrum Theta marks for Hell 3. From a Confaederation with Sin and with Sinners T is not our Cannot but our Will not that undo's us Famous Fenner ha's Writ well of this Self-Murder Sinners as Cleopaira take the Asp of Inconsiderateness and put it to their Breasts And Sinners harden one another They are for a Priest that will be Drunk with them and for a faithfull Preacher they think much Learning ha's made him mad They are as Psal 50. end So I should come to our Saviours Question What do ye more than others III. But our Lord ha's given us a gracious Premonition about the Day of Judgment You have the Voice of the Archangel now in your Ears God forewarns 1. By notable foregoing Judgments Every Feavour is a warning of the Fire of Hell Every Dropsy is a Warning of the River of Styx Every causualty is a Warning Have you not been sick and said If God spare me I will be better Well said Pharaoh Have you not heard of the late Earth quakes in Italy and one at New-Haven lately Have you not Rumours of War with the lygre Heathen Our Saviour speaks of these things as Warnings 2. By Ministerial Denunciations As Loud as I can I tell you all in the further Corners yonder The Day of Judgment is Coming And 3. By Angelical Ministration We have their Inward Workings on our Spirits We have Heavenly Infusions from them and we have Operations of Gods Holy Spirit The Knock then is as in Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand at the Door and Knock if any man hear my Voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sâ—p with him and he with me Besides this Near the Time the Voice of the Son of God shall be heard through the Whole World lâ—ke the Roaring of the Sea This is when the Judgment is just beginning And â—â—e Angels shall Trumpet with a greater Noise than that at Sinaâ—â— Upon the whole Observe and Bewayl the horrible Stupidity of the World The Inconsiderate soon grow Debauched Speak to them of Judgments they will kick and say Out be gone you Hypocrite Well The Divel is in that Tongue Lament these as Monica did her Filium tot Lacrymarum Be much with God for them Leave not until God strike the Arrow of His Loveing Vengeance into their Hearts What if this Bible be Gods Word Sinners Where are you then As in the story of the Hermite Remember The Seasons of Grace are sew When the Spirit of God comes nigh to the Heart And row Take some Antidotes against security Antidote I. Consider the Wonderful Suddenness 〈…〉 Day of Judgment 〈…〉 â—â—at if you Dy before you go 〈◊〉 of the Assembly A Last Day â—ill come Who knows which Palâ—â—â— Mors will take first Antidote II. Consider As our Lord comes like Theef like Lightening so the sentâ—nce will be Irreversible and the Judgâ—ent Unavoidable Gold will not bribe Charon The Wicked shall not stand in Judgment but they shall be there Antidote III. Consider the Impossibility of Escapeâ—â—â— Judgment is past There can 〈◊〉 no Writ of Error no Appeal Think on Eternity and let the â—â—pressions of it be kept in the Imaâ—â—â—ation of the Thought of your Hearts 〈◊〉 ever FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THere is lately Published 〈◊〉 little Book Intituled The Cause and Cure of a Wounded Spirit in a Discourse which Layeâ— open the Manifold and Amazinâ— Wounds of a Troubled Conscience and Pours the Balsame of Seasonable Counsils and Comforts into those Terrible Wounds By the Reverend Cotton Mather Sold at the Book-seller's Shops 〈◊〉 Boston Price bound 1 s. Stich'd 8 d.
be solaced in this World and afterward to Reign with Christ By SAMVEL LEE M. A. and sometimes Fellow of Wadâ—am Coll. in Oxon. BOSTON Printed by B. Green for N. Buttolph at the Corner of Gutteridg 〈◊〉 Coffee-House 1692. Price bound 〈◊〉 Preparatory Meditations upon THE DAY OF JUDGMENT S. 1. THE Great Apostle PAUL according unto the Wisdom given unto him Writing unto the Hebrewes hath with Good Reason erected Those as the Two Pillars even the Jachin and Boaz of all Religion GOD IS and HE IS A REWARDER Nor are the mountainous Pillars of Heaven more stable or more lasting than these two moâ—â— Glorious Principles That there is a GOD or a JEHOVAH is a Truth more Engraven in the whole Fabric of the World than the Name of the Artificer was of old into the Image of his Minerva Even the Dumb and Mute Creatures do so loudly proclame the Being of a GOD Presentenque docet quaelibet Herba Deum that I may say with Job Ask now the Beasts and they shall Teach thee and the Fowls of the Air and they shall Tell thee Or speak to the Earth and it shall Teach thee and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare unto thee The World must necessarily have a Beginning that it could not have its Beginning from it self is evident inasmuch as Nothing would have then been the cause of Something Nor dos any thing less than the Power of a GOD the Wisdom of a GOD and the Goodness of a GOD appear in the Constitution of the Universe And as all the Creatures are so many Letters in the Book of Creation from which we may spell the Existence of a GOD so â—o's the Book of Providence give us a Continuation of the Demonstration which proves a Deity For therein besides the Extraordinary Occurrents In Prophecies and Miracles and Retaliations upon the sight which every one cryes out The Finger of God! the Excellent Order wherein all things 〈◊〉 preserved abundantly argues a GOD whose Kingdom Ruleth all But indeed I may say What need we any further Witnesses Or what Need of any Coming from the Dead unto us with such Advice as the Spectre of Major Sydenham gave to Captain Dyke a while ago I am come to tell you that there is a GOD and that He is a Just a Terrible God! The Notion of a GOD is imprinted so deeply in the Spirit of man it self that it can be ascribed unto none but such an Author and therefore such an Author there is as a GOD who Forms the Spirit of man within him Had this Idea in the Soul of man been a Meer Tradition of our Ancestors why is it not all this while detected like other Vulgar Errors of much less Importance Or Had it been a meer Policy of our Governours whence is it that Rulers themselves as much as any other Mortals are smitten with the Terrors of it The Notion is as Natural as t is Powerful man is born with an Inclination to acknowledge a GOD and he will have Many rather than have None Atheism has not been so agreeable to mankind as Polytheism The Notion also is as Geâ—eral as t is Natural t is not peculiar to any one Kingdom or Kindred they which Differ in all other things yet Vnite in their sense of a GOD and the Salvage Indians themselves in the most hideous and Barbarous Thickets of America own a Koutantowit as the First Cause of all Yea I do considently affirm That of all the Few Professed Atheists which have been known among the Brutify'd part of mankind there has been hardly so much as One which hath stedfastly Believed That there is no God without Vehement Suspicions of the Contrary T is by some Remarkable Plague from our Injured and Provoked GOD upon the more Atheistical sore of them things which would be called Men That none use the Name of GOD in the profane Aâ—â—ses of Swearing and Cursing so much as those Monsters do and Calvin as I Remember mentions one of them that upon a Blow given him Cry'd out O God help me though he had just before been Vehemently â—isputing that there was no God at all â—ut bâ—sides those Vndesigned Confessions of a GOD from the Mouiks of those Miscreants there are at some times usually before they Dy such Flashes of Lightening from Heaven darted into their Souls as force 'em Deliberately to Recant the Folly which acted them when they said that is wish'd rather than Thought in their Hearts NO GOD. Some that have in their Lives pretended unto the more than Divillish Bravery of Renouncing the Belief of a GOD yet have declared at last that their Minds inwardly and frequently twitch'd 'em with direful Remonstrances against their Impiety and Read 'em Lectures upon the Reality of a GOD which made 'em alwayes Live uneasily And if some Wretches by the Constant Practice Lerry of their Vices have laid the sense of a GOD in their Souls a sleep yet our great GOD na's Commonly rows'd them into some waking Minutes wherein they might have said When I Consider I am afraid of GOD GOD makes my Heart Soft and the Almighty Troubles me Wicked men that Forget God would fain also Destroy him and that they may go as far as they can they Labour to Shake Off and Root Out that Remembrance of GOD in their Souls which gives 'em so many Vexations in their Courses of Ungodliness but it will not Off it will not Out the Almighty GOD makes the most haughty Criminals to stoop under this Instance of His Empire over them A Certain Spark a while since in Company begun to brag Well Ill prove for I am now able to prove There is no God A Gentleman if a Beast may be called so then present reply'd Prethee Do and Iâ—l give thee a thousand Guinnies for thy Pains But all the Guinnies in the World will not rescue a man from the force of this perswasion That there is a GOD and such are the Circumstances of the perswasion as that it must be From the GOD OF whom it is Now from the Faith of a GOD we are led presently to Conceive of a JUDGE JEHOVAH will be ELOHIM t is to be Concluded that He ha's given Lawes according whereunto Mankind is under His Moral Government and in the Execution of this Government He will dispence Rewards unto the Children of men according to the Rules for the Distribution thereof by Himself Prescribed S. 2. There are Various Dispensations of Providence wherein the God of Heaven discovers Himself a REWARDER unto that People which He has formed for Himself that they may show forth His Praise And were there more Collections with fit Reflections made of Dispensations this way Remarkable it would be a Work full of Service and Honâ—ur into our God They that were so Wise as to Observe these things would certainly Vnderstand the Loving kindness of the Lord even in the Remarkable Things that would be done for themselves But it is not
in this World that our God has the glory of His being A REWARDER so fully and so clearly display'd as it ought to be We dayly see Godliness Oppressed and Wickedness Advanced in this Present evil World and neither the Appeals of Afflâ—cted Innocence nor the Affronts of Outrageous Vallany have a Sufficiently Sensible Notice taken of them There is therefore an Eternal State of Blessedness and Misery whereinto the Righteous God will bring every one of us according to our Behaviours here Our Short Condition in this World is but a Condition of Probation or of Stewardship and according to our Carriage in this Condition we shall in the Issue as the mouth of our faithful Saviour Himself has long since asâ—â—ned us Go away into Everlasting Punishment Or else Into Life Everlasting But at the Threshold of that Eternal State it is but proper that a Distinct Account should be taken of what every man ha's done in the Body that so the Lustre of that Justice which Dooms them to their Interminable Blessedness or Misery may strike the very Consciences of all Beholders Hence t is that the Oracles of Truth have told us God ha's appointed a Day in which He will Judge the World by that man whom He hath Ordained Whereof He hath given Assurance unto aâ— men in that He ha's Raised Him from the Dead There is indeed a Particular Disposal of Dragons and our Blessed Redeemer standing upon Mount Zion Zech. 13 4 shall proclaim to all His Saints Lift up your Heads for the day of your final Redemption is come Le ts end with that apprecation of holy Paul Heb. 13.20 21. Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepard of the Sheep through the blood of the everlasting Covenant Make you perfect in every good Work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen Yours in Gospel Service SAMVEL LEE A SVMMONS or WARNING to the Great DAY of JVDGMENT Revelation 20.12 On Friday Octob. 7. 1687. At Bristâ—â— by Mount Hope in New England And I saw the Dead Small and Great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were Judged out of those things which were Written in the Books according to their Works THE Preceding Verse presents this Evangelical Prophet with a Visionary scene Preparatory to the Day of Judgment and here in the Text we have a further Procedure in the amazing Concernments of that trâ—mendous Session where in may be observed 1. The Apostles place or station in the I le of Patmos now Patina neer the Shore of the Aegaean Sea Rev. 13.1 looking Eastward toward Ephesus and Jerusalem Zech. 14 4. as you may suppose Act. 1.11 because our Lord is represented standing upon Mount Olivet in that day Where in Speculo Visionis in a Visionary Glass he beholds with great attention what the Angel presented to him 2. The Several Persons and things Exhibited to his strict Observation which I may properly Conjoyn together under several Heads and therein I. We have first the Character or Denomination of the Persons attending set forth under the style of the Dead that is not such as were now really Dead in this greaâ— Morning of the Resurrection but which very lately had been involved in the state of the dead Vers 13 but now raised out of their dolesome Graves and had newly Shaken off the Chains of Rottenness and some come Dropping out of the stormy Seas and hastning with more shaking horror to a yet more direfull Shipwrack Death Hell must give up all their dead at the formidable Summons of that Arch-Angels Trumpet 1 Cor. 1â— 52. By Hell or Hades we understand under a metonymy the Souls of men delivered out of their invisible State under the manutenency of divine power to be reinvested with their Bodies and to appear aâ— this astonishing Bar. For so the Greek Fathers understood by HADES q. AIDES the Souls of men in Statu Separato according to that of Hâ—mir POLLAS D' IPTHIMOUS PSUCHAS AIDI PROIAPSEN He dismist many Valiant Souls i.e. Persons into Hades II. Their various quality Both small and great The Shortest Dwarfs can't Creep into so deep holds or corners not the Blustring Nimrods can't Ruffle it away in their Pride and Jollity but every Soul must drag his Prison-Chain into this most Solemn and Splendid presence Nay the Small are named to come first to set forth the impossibility of their Exemption and these meaner persons must stand out before the great onâ—â— that all may be seen in their Proportion thiâ— I speak only by allusion But to be sure none shall Shuffle behind Noon and abscond from that Meridian Glory or he Vailed from this all Searching Eye And the all revenging hand of God The Summoners Apparitors of all these inferior Courts must there appear and quiver and tremble for Summoning of Gods Saints here upon Earth Heb. 9.27 Iâ—ts appointed for all to dy and then to Judgment We must all stand at the dreadful Tribunal Seat of Jesus Christ Where Judges themselves devested of all their formalities like so many unhappy Felixes will Clatter their knees together at the MENE TEKEL Dan. 5.25 graven upon the Chrystal Walls of the Caelestial Firmament and glad men could they but undergoe such an Earthly Sentence they pass't upon others III. Observe their posture they must stand Pro Tribunali before that adamantine Bar let down before them They I have little Stomach to come too near Rom. 14.10 no rude audacious Crowding into the presence of that most awful Judge There will be but little pressing to see His Soveraign August Countenance that shines brighter then the Sun in his greatest glory but as forced by the Angelical Messengers while they continue Crying to the Deaf Mountains and the Inflexible Rocks to hide them from Him that Sitteth on the Throne and from the Wrath of the Lamb. Rev. 6.16 IV. The Ireful face of that most dreadful Judge before whom the Heavens all on a light flame shall Crackle like a Parchment Scrol and fly away 2 Pet. 3.11 12 when Christ the Son of God and God man that Impartial Judge of quick and dead from whom there is no appeal shall put on an other guess purple Robe to judge Pontius Pilate and Herod â—ark 15.17 and his men of War Luk. 23.11 that mock't Him in the day of His Humiliation This will be a day of horror to all those Wretches also that mockt and fleer'd at Gods Messengers when they denounced against them the Judgments of the great day Then comes out a Quo Warranto with a witness to inquire what woful work they made at Jerusalem and who impowered them to Judge the Son of God Jude 15. and to utter hard
speeches and commit ungodly deeds for a trace of some thousands of years without Controul or Impeachment V. The Allegations proofs and evidences produced out of the black Books and bloody Registers of all Ages which before were shut up and Sealed in Gods Archiva or treasure Chambers above are now all opened and if they cannot Read their Psalms of Mercy Rev. 6.20 there is no hope of Exile to a Patmus or any forreign Islands at that day for they shall flee away VI. The final process and they were judged out of the things written in the Books whence there is no appeal no recalling or reversion There will be that Positive and final Conclusion OBSERVATION Obser Most formidable and dreadful will be that great and general Day of Judgment It 's a Coming and hastning towards us Nay t is near at hand Jam. 5.9 The Judge is even at the Door If you ask how long I Answer He that was at the Door in the Apostle James his time may be now stept over the Threshold in our dayes and well forward in His Journey towards Mount Oliver and ready to ascend into the Seat of Judgment Nay Besides it is so near to every Particular Person when he strides over the black Threshold of Death that we cannot certainly tell How little a moment it will seem from the time of his Death to his Solemn appearance before Jesus Christ and then 't will indeed determine the truth of that Scripture Heb. 10 31. that 't is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God and most dreadful to all out of Christ at that day If without Christ having been without God in this World they shall like Dogs be cast out of the Holy City in the World to come into a lake Burning with Fire and Brimstone Rev. 22.15 Judicial dayes here under the Sun are but like Pictures and Stories in hangings and all Executions but like Painted Fire to this great and terrible day of the Lord which will make all the Ruffians quake like an Aspen leafe Eccl. 3.16 17. Those fools which now make a mock of Sin Those Careless Gallios grave Eelixes Pâ—ov 14.9 Act. 24 26 that put off the hearing of this day till another time That allarm Trumpet will make your Ears to tingle above all other and will ye nill ye up you must hasten to Judgment There are three things which Command into the inmost Chambers of your hearts most dreadful most amazing thoughts and high reverence with deepest astonishment If so be ye fall into the Snare of Death in a State unreconciled to God and not purged from your Scarlet Sins by the precious blood of Christ 1. The infinitely glorious Majesty of the Judge 2. The Exact rule of Procedure according to things found written in the Books before the Judge 3. The stupendious quality or property of this Judgment Of which in order 1. Let us call to mind with all Reverence and trembling the infinite Majesty of the Judge who will then sit down upon the throne of Judgment No less Person than the Maker of Heaven and Earth before whom all the Divels tremble Vers 11 and the Pillars of Heaven are astonisht and confounded the foundations of the Earth flee away and Vanish into Smoak and nothing at the fiery Breath of His Nostrils whose single Word Shrinks the Universe into less than the Shadow of an Atom at His pleasure But let us here Remember Isai 40.17 we are not to Consider of this Almighty and Eternal Judge as God Essential onely but more Personally the Son of God who cometh with Ten Thousand of His Saints that is His Holy Angels Jude 14 15. to Execute judgment in that day for all the Violent actions against His Church and People or any of His Redeemed ones 2. The several strict rules of Procedure according to the Various Books all lying patent before the Judge upon the Table which are these following I. The Books of Creation and Providence like two Volumns joyned and bound up together wherein the distinct Successions of all Generations are delineated God knows all the Stars of Heaven and all the Lamps of the Intellectual beings by name The genealogical stemmes of all persons are fairely written in that Register and he will call their bodies up out of their Graves at that day from the Rising to Setting Sun Psal 50.3 to meet their Souls and to accept a new Animation from them When the El-Elohim-Jehovah as some gloss those Titles in the Fifteth Psalm Isai 27.13 that Powerful just merciful God will cause the great Trumpet to sound and awaken all out of the dost of Dan. 12.2 Death and then God will call thee to account for the abuse of every Limb Psal 135 16. and member written in that Venerable book II. The particular books of Record or Remembrance which whether written by an Empyraean Pen drawn from a Seraphims Wing I mean whether the Holy Angels are the Scribes and Recorders is not revealed to us It s true the Lord Himself or they in His Name injoyn holy John to write Rev. 1.11 19 22 6 16. 19 9 10 Psal 104 4. what they are Commanded to dictate to him Besides we find them registred as Presidents of Nations and to have the Guardianship of Saints Heb. 1.14 and to be Ministers of the Divine Pleasure and of mighty influence in Slaying God's and His Churches Enemies and to manage the great turns and overturnings of Kingdoms That 's certain as in the case of Egypt Psal 78.49 when God sent evil Angels among them that is the Executioners of woful evil Judgments among them like as the Angelus Percussor the smiting Angel may be said to make a way for His wrath Ezek. 9.3 Such instruments were used in Executing divine wrath upon Sennacheribs army Psal 78.50 and upon poor Jerusalem in her sad day 2 King 29.35 and afterward in the destruction of Babylon Ezek. 9 3 when the Captain of the Lords army Marched before the Red and Speckled Horses in Zachary's Visions Zech. 1.11 In like matters both as to Nations Citys and Persons we may conceive of things as in the Glass of a continued Allegory that there is a particular book for every Person in several cases 1. There may be I mean Allegorically a dreadful black Book for every mans Sins And truly this is a matter of heavy concernment that though it should not be so Specifically yet t is Equivalently and Eventually that there is a particular Book in the Court of Records in Heaven with thy name on the out side where every Sin of thine is written down with the bloud of Dragons mixt with the galls or Cruel Venome of Asps Deut. 32.33 durably as if with the point of of a Diamond upon a Rock Jere. 17.1 Truly it s all one nay worse then if so really for t is
writ in the memorials of that tremendous Judge For every Secret Sin is set down in the Light of His Countenance Psal 90.3 beyond all the Noctiluca's in the World Every Secret is determin'd to come to Judgment Eccl. 12.14 Ten times have the Children of Israel Murmured against Me Num. 14.22 sayes the Lord and so again the Sacred Pages number up Six Captivities under the Judges Judges Ch. 10 1â— answering to Six several prevarications in the Worship of God Petav. raâ—ionarie P. 84. Isai 65.6 â—â—s written before me sayes the Lord by Isaiah and I will recompence into their Bosome And so t is now Ten times Drunk such a man Ten times Forsworn such another Ten times such a Proud Jezabel with her Painted Eyes Strutting in the Streets of Jerusalem write him down set her down sayes God Paint her to the Life that all the World may then behold her with Peacocâ—s Feathers and mincing â— King 9.30 Isa 3.16 tinkâ—ing motions with her feet How should it strike as with a Poysoned arrow to the heart to think of these dreadful tradegies of that terrible day 2. Mens Repentant sorrowful Sighs and Actions are also set down in Gods day book and this I speak for the comfort of all humble Mourners in Zion The Confession of that Renitent Thief at Golgotha's Mount Lord Luke 24.42 Remember me in they Kingdom We never drop a sincere tear but it drops up-ward Contrary to all other tears it ascends up into Heaven and Runs into the Chryst all Bottle upon the Shelfe with thy name ingraven upon it in Letters of Gold and 't is often taken up and Lookt upon to see how it fills Are they not in thy Bottle Psal 56.8 sayes David and in thy Book But wo to them that have none Every hearty Sigh that Reeks e sulco pectoâ—is from the inmost Closets of thy Soul are Pencilled with Vermillion under the bloody lines streaming from the Cross of Life 3. Mens gracious discourses and good works are all written in that Book When serious Persons doe but meet and think upon the Name of the Lord in evil times and talk often ingether Mal. 3â— 16. Every time you meet every Heavenly thought and every holy word you speak is written down Nay all your Prayers and Almes deeds like those of Correlius goe up in Remembrance before God Act. 10.1 Every Penny you puâ— into Gods Treasury Nay every Mite you give to Temple uses as in the case of the poor Widows Mark 12 â—â— is put down in Gods Debt Book and will be Converted into so many Pearls to adorn your Crown in Glory III. The Books of mens Consciences shall then all be laid open Here mens thoughts Excuse or Accuse one another till that day Rom. 2.15.16 â— Cor. 3. â—1 when God shall Judge the Secrets of all men by Jesus Christ according â—o the Gospel Preached by Paul and let me tell you that every faithful Sermon which you hear Consonant to the Word of God will come up in Judgment as a Testimony against you if disobeyed so that if our hearts Condemn us not that is our Conscience 1 john 4.17 as to Irreverence Negligence or Disobedience to we may have Confidence in the Day of Judgment before God 1 john 3.20 21. who is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things and this will give us a holy freedom of Spirit in that Solemn time There will be no Shuffling Tricks no False Treacherous accounts no Tâ—ffany Cheats no Fine-Spun-flams but all fly away like Spiders Webbs before a Beesome The flaming Eyes in the Scepter of that day sees through all in a moment IV. The Book of the Scriptures shall then be taken down and the Parchment Rolls all unfolded The Act Forensia the Publick Commentaries the Regu a Juries the Institures of the Law Rom 2.16 and the Cannons of the Gospel shall be all produced for Conviction of Sâ—nners All their in quities written in that Book mentioned by Jeâ—emy with the point of a Diamond jere 17.1 or graven with an iron Pen in focules or leases of Lead mentioned by Job job 19.24 25. or in a Rock for the ever of this World Dan. 12.1 till our Redeemer standeth upon the Earth at mount Olivet at the latter day to Judge the World Zâ—ch 14 4. V. The particular and singular Book of Election when all that are written in that ivory Volumns shall come forth and Shine as Stars for ever and ever Dan. 12.1 3. The Sheep of Christ's little Flock Rev. 3.5 13 8.17 8. that are written in the Lambs Book of Life shall then pass under the rodaccount for the Sanctuary of Glory Exod. 32 32. Nay God Himself is said to write down the names of those Chosen Vessels that are prepared and fitted for Salvation Luke 10 20. The names of the Holy Apostles and Saints are deciphered and set down in Heaven Psal 68 28. Phil. 4. â— when others are written in the Dust and shall be legible by the flames of Hell And so much for the Second particular the rules of Procedure and its branche In the Third Place we are to Consider the quality or property of this astonishing Judgment in Five Particulars 1. It 's most accurate and Critical Exactness as to Equity and Commensuration to Every ones actions be they good or bad The Judge sits down in His Sella Curulis or seat of Judgment Dr Stoughtons felicitas ultimi Seculi â— all of ivory or unspotted Alablaster like the Sun when He Shines in Libra among the Caelestial Ballances near the Milky way The Eyes of Justice are Covered with a Purple Mantle no accepting the Person of any as to Earthly dignities and distinations but its Eares are with all diligence and Curiosity attentive to the impending causes 2. Impartiality in determining Cuts off all demurrers and delayes and gives speedy dispatches to persons of all Degrees There will be no favouring of Rich and Great men to sit down neer the bench as here among fellow Worms nor no pittying of a poor man in his cause from a seeming Comiseration to the mean and Afflicted Lev. 19. â—5 The dispensation of justice will be Equal to a tittle no pleading Sub forma pauperis at that day 3. Vniversality as to Comprehensivenes of both persons and times All Ages both Sexes all Qualities and degrees of men must make personal appearance without any Proxy in this Dooms-day Parliament no Slye Excuses or writs of Error to impeach or turn by the gravity of that most awful judicature no querks nor tricks nor jugling account shall Velum Pretendere cast a mist before the Sagacious inspection of that quick and all searching Judgment 4. The Irresistible doom There is no Subtle arguing no wresting of the Text of the Law or the intentions of the Sacred Law Maker No pleading of old Customes or the Opinions of Reverend
Ruffes here upon Earth There is no Versilingâ—es Procuratores no Tongue flexible Proctors that have no strait bone of Equity in their Tongues but turns up and down like a Serpents be the cause good of bad like the Counsellor at Athens that had bos in lingua a bag of Silver-oxen a Coine so called to hang upon their Tongues and to tip them with justice-perverting Eloquence The cause will be stated in a moment The Universal Conscience that Publick notary stands by with flaming Eyes and makes instruments of Recognisance without any fees or private Audience There 's no Appeals to any Superior Court. 5. The Eternily of its Issue Either to be with our Blessed Lord Christ and His Saints or with the Devil and his Angels for ever Matt. 25 41. Ever Oh dreadful Ever Oh that word of terror that Shoots barbed Arrows PHLOGOENTA BELEMNA flaming darts through the stoutest hearts of the Proudest Nimrods in the World Ever Oh irrevocable Doom Of which lamentable Doom that poor Bird which appeared to the Scholars in a garden who were then Assembled as I Remember at the Council of Constance Sang Melodiously and then Cried out O Eternity Eternity Eternity and then flew away But let us now retire to some Uses Vse 1 Vse I. Of Earnest Advice to all of you to Exercise your selves with deep Consideration of the strictness of the Process the Exactness and Inquisitions of that Sacred Judge in the management of that dreadful day The brightness of the Sun in his highest Apogy is like Sackcloth and his beams like streaming Pitch to the amazing glory of that time Oh that the Presentment or Fore-thoughts thoughts of that day might alwayes press upon our hearts to a Serious Preparation for that appearance If Jeroms Trumpet as to the advent of that day did alwayes sound in our Ears we should be better Christians and keep Sabbaths more Holy and hear with more Attention and practice with more Conscientious diligence then we do but we are drowned in Sensuality Supine Stupidity and negligence till that day take us like Birds in an evil Snare Vse 2 Vse II. But Secondly be Exhorted to an anxious and sedulous Care as to every Vain and Idle Word Crave dayly pardon and beg strength and watchfulness against their dayly incursion As to evil thoughts in duty and as to any Omission Sins Cry out with that Holy man Bishop Vsher Lord forgive me my Sins of Omission For all these things without Pardoning Purging healing grace must come into the golden Seale of that Critical Judgment The Vain thought in one Scale and the golden weight of the Precept in the other Scale the balance Poised in the hand of that most Holy and Righteous Judge PAN ARGON REMA q. AERGON Every Idle word or thing that is Matt. 1â— 36 whatever is not attended with some real Service to God or benefit to man that cannot plead some useful Scope at the end of it must be arrested and brought to that Sacred touch stone Every Secret thing that is Eccl. 12.12 in the depth of the thoughts must pass by the Bar ad limam revocari be brought to the silâ— and to the Virgula censoria to be Examined by the censure of divine justice Rev. 21.27 22.19 No person can enter within the Gates into the City but must pass this fiery Trual Teque his ait eripe flamis Deliver thy self by Faith and Holiness from the dirt of these dreadful flames Vse 3 Vse III. Remember that this day may Quadaniâ—nus in some sort be said to be Placed between time and Eternity T is set in internodio in the very juncture In aequilibrio in the very poise center of that weighty concernment of Eternity As that day fixes so all ends and determines Then shall the Sins in the bag Job 14.17 as Job speaks be pulled out Eccl. 9.6 Not to instance in many Then Envy shall cease that blody Cain that monster of humane Confusions that speckled Viper must have its Aril Rhet l. 2. c. 10. â—laâ—o in Tim. Râ— Edit H. Steâ—h Vol. 〈◊〉 p. 27. Specious Coloured skin pull'd off when all the Secret defamations backbitings and slanderings of men better then themselves shall be brought to light We shall then know perfectly Noâ—â— Envy does at any time befall a good man what ill aspected malevolent persons they were that durst not endure the lustre of virtue the faithfulness of Pious reprovers the brightness of a Holy Friends presence without biting his heel like the old Serpent and must now be all Scann'd and Sifted to the bottom from whence the base abuses of good mens Credit have issued spâ—â— from their Cankred mouthes must now appear in their Venemous Colours in the light of Gods Countenance Psal 90.8 All those and other Secret Enormityes must stare the affrighted Consciences of such Envious malignants in the face before all the World and gnaw their Vitals with fresh Wounds to all Eternity Vse 4 Vse IV. Remember before thou set thy hand to any new affair whether the Transaction of it will stand in the Day of Judgment with approbation 〈◊〉 11. Rejoyce O Young man in thy youth let thy heart Cheer thee Walk in the â—ayes of thy heart and in the sight of thine Eyes but Remember God will bring thee to judgment for all these things Sing and Swagger beat your fellow Servants drink and be drunken Luk. 12.46 but Remember the bord will come in an hour unlookt for and cut you in pieces and divide your portion among Hypocrites Mat. 24 4â— where weeping and gnashing of teeth for over in a place that has no bottom where is Fire without light and Shivering in the midst of burning O Remember thou must come to Judgment Vse 5 Vse V. Be sure thou be well acquainted and get into favour with the Judge that shall sit upon the throne and happy O thrice happy man If He give you a promise to stand your Brimed in that day shall plead with the Father on your behalf nay with Himself and His own most Blessed Bowels To be assured that He dyed for youâ— and that your peace is made before you dy to nature that you may live to grace and then you shall certainly live in glory Heb. 7.25 For this Son of God will ever Live to enterceed for you who art one of the most Blessed Creatures that ever were born that hath power given thee to become one of the Adopted Sons of God Joh. 1 1â— stand before the Son of man in that joyful day Thy Crimson Sins are all washt away in His Crimson Blood and shall never come into judgment to shame thee much less to condemn thee Now give me leave to Conclude with a serious though short paâ—aenesis or humble admonition or Exhortation to Three Sorts of Persons 1. To the Reverend Judges themselves 2. To the People present 3. To the guilty Person