THE BOOKS OPENED Being several DISCOURSES on REV. 20.14 By HENRY PENDLEBURY A. M. late Minister of the Gospel at Rochdale in Lancashire Author of the Plain Representation of Transubstantiation LONDON Printed by J. D. for Ann Vnsworth of Manchester and sold by Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1696. The EPISTLE to the Reader Christian Reader THere are two things which if firmly believed and duly considered would have a great Influence upon Men and Womens Lives viz. First That they are mortal Secondly Accountable Creatures It is the indispensible Statute-Law of Heaven that never will be repealed or dispensed withal Heb. 9.27 Death is a Debt which all Men owe and how soon the great Creditor may exact it none can tell We are all here as Tenants at Will in Cottages of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust These earthly Tabernacles are continually mouldring down about our Ears do what we can by Food and Physick to patch them up for a little while There is no Man liveth and shall not see Death And Death hath always Judgment attending at the very Heels of it And as the Tree falls so it lies As Death leaves us Judgment will find us And as it is with us when we go out of this World so it will fare with us for ever This short uncertain Life we have here is the only time of Preparation we have for another World Death sets Men on the other side the Water there will be no working there no praying nor repenting and believing and seeking to get our Sins pardoned and an Interest in Christ and a Right to Heaven if this Work be to be done then we shall be undone to all Eternity If we once die in a Christless and graceless Condition we shall perish for being so to all Eternity There will be no Time then to correct former Mistakes At Death we must all appear before an impartial Judg to receive our final conclusive determining Sentence to a fixed eternal unchangeable State of Misery or Happiness in another World And things will then appear quite otherwise than they were stated and did appear here Then all Vizards and Masks will be pluck'd off and naked Breasts will be in fashion What hath been here concealed will then be made manifest what hath been spoken in secret will then be told on the House-top Nothing hid but shall then be made manifest At this opening Day there will be a Manifestation of the Sons of God then all the Sincerity and secret Graces and Holiness of Believers will be openly declared and all those Marks and Evidences of the Truth of Grace which here are often clouded and obscured will evidently appear And all the secret Wickedness and Hypocrisy and False-heartedness of Vnbelievers will then be discovered and laid open And the Apostle lets us know what an Influence the Belief and Consideration of this had upon himself and other Ministers of the Gospel to quicken them to Diligence and Faithfulness in their Ministerial Function 2 Cor. 5.9 10. We must all appear 1st All without Exception High and Low Rich and Poor Young and Old Ministers and People there will be no declining or escaping of it 2dly All in our own Persons without a Proxy there will be no hiring of another to appear for us every one of us must give an Account of himself to God Rom. 14.12 Now the great Design of the worthy Reverend Author in these ensuing Sermons is to quicken and direct Persons to prepare and make ready for this opening Day And herein he shews himself a skilful Workman that needeth not to be ashamed dividing the Word of Truth aright and giving to every one their Portion He doth not put the two-edged Sword of the Spirit into a silken Scabbard and flourish it in the Air but dexterously weilds it that it might reach the Consciences of Men he speaks plainly but pertinently and substantially his Words are not only intelligible but also penetrating And tho these plain Discourses are posthumous and want the polishing that he was able to have given them had he designed them for the Press yet they are genuine copied from his own Notes and you have the truest Character of him in the constant Course of his Preaching amongst his People Some serious Christians that were affected with them themselves have desired to have them printed that others might share in the like Benefit with them And that thy Heart may be warmed as others have been upon the reading of them and thou be quickned and helped in this Preparation for the great opening Day as it was the Design of the Author in preaching of them so it is of others in the publishing them and of none more than of one of the meanest and unworthiest of Christ's Ministers R. S. THE BOOKS Opened REV. xx 12. 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 Apostle Paul tells us that we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Of this Judgment to come and which we must all come unto we have a Description in this part of Sacred Writ as it was shewed unto John in a Vision where are set forth 1. The Person of the Judg ver 11. who is described 1. By his Posture Sitting the ordinary Posture of Judges in the Administration of Justice and Judgment and a Token of Dominion and Authority 2. By the Place where he sat a great white Throne Not in a Manger as at his first Coming not on the Ground as when in Flesh he dwelt amongst us nor on a Cross as at his leaving the World but on a great white Throne He that lay in a Manger that stood at Man's Bar falsly accused and wickedly condemned he that hung upon the Tree shall sit supreme Judg Sedebit Judex qui stetit sub Judice What this Throne is or of what it shall be made tho some say the Angels others a glorious Rainbow others a bright Cloud Scripture being silent you must not know of me 3. By his Power and Glory From whose Face the Earth and the Heaven fled away and there was found no Place for them At his first Appearance Herod seeking his Life he is forced to fly Mat. 2.14 At his second and glorious Coming Heaven and Earth shall flee away not being able to abide his Majesty and Power 2. The Persons to be judged ver 12. And I saw the Dead small and great stand before God the Dead of all sorts and degrees We must here include those that shall be found alive at this day who shall pass through a Change that shall be to them instead of Death 3. The Form
of this Judgment the manner how the Judg shall proceed viz. by Books that shall be opened 4. Sentence is passed on the Parties brought to Judgment according to what is found written in the Books when thus opened And the Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their Works 5. The Execution of this Sentence ver 14 15. And Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire This is the second Death And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire The Words which are the Subject of the ensuing Discourse contain in them the third Particular in this Description sc the manner of Process in this great Work the Books shall be opened The word Book is in Scripture used 1. Properly for a Volume wherein something is written or for the things writ in that Volume Isa 30.8 Luke 4.17 Gal. 3.10 2. Improperly and metaphorically for the certain Knowledg and Remembrance that one hath of a Person or Matter and all the Circumstances thereto belonging Mal. 3.16 Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkned and heard it and a Book of Remembrance was written before him According to this twofold Acceptation of the Word God is said to have a double Book 1. Materialis i. e. the Bible which is called the Book of the Lord Isa 34.16 Luke 4.17 the Book containing the Mind and Will and Ways of God 2. Metaphoricus which is ascrib'd to him after the manner of Men who use to note those things in Books that they would preserve the Knowledg of Thus there is a threefold Book figuratively ascribed to him viz. 1st The Book of Providence which is the certain Knowledg he hath of all Persons Actions and Things with all their Circumstances Psal 56.8 139.16 2dly The Book of Life Rev. 20.12 This is the certain Knowledg he hath of the Elect and Reprobate 3dly The Book of Universal Judgment Dan. 7.10 We are not to understand this Phrase literally as if there should be some material Books produced and opened at this day No the Lord hath neither Need nor Use for them But it must be interpreted metaphorically as a Form used for the Help of our Understanding spoken 1. By way of Allusion to Courts of humane Judicature into which are brought and wherein are produced Charges Accusations Proofs Depositions of Witnesses Confessions of Parties and all other Writings that contain Matter of Fact relating to such Causes as are to be try'd 2. To show that the Judgment will be as accurate and particular in the Examination and Trial Durham p. 743. and as just in the Determination as if all had been recorded Nothing shall be omitted nor the least Circumstance mistaken but things shall be so equal in themselves and so manifested to others as if an exact Register had been kept and then published From the Words observe That in the great Day of Judgment the Books shall be opened or There is a Day a coming when the Books shall be opened The Judgment was set and the Books were opened Dan. 7.9 10. That this Truth may be prepared for Application it must be enquired I. What Books they are that shall be opened II. What the opening of these Books implies III. Who they are these Books are to be opened about IV. About what are these Books to be opened I. What Books are they that shall be opened They are of three sorts viz. Those wherein 1. All things have been recorded 2. All things shall be discovered 3. All things shall be judged First Those wherein all things have been recorded and they are 1. The Book of Divine Omniscience Here all things stand on Record and will hence be as certainly known as had they been writ in a Book for there is not any Creature that is not manifest in his Sight but all things are naked and open to the Eyes of him with whom we have to do Heb. 4.13 His Eyes are upon the Ways of Man and he seeth all his Goings There 's no Darkness nor Shadow of Death where the Workers of Iniquity may hide themselves Job 34.21 22. He knows our Works Rev. 2.13 There is not a Word in our Tongue but lo he knows it Psal 139.4 Here are our Thoughts writ Thou understandest my Thoughts afar off v. 2. No Thought can be with-holden from thee Job 42.2 Here are the Hearts described 1 Chron. 28.9 The Lord searcheth all Hearts and understandeth all the Imaginations of the Thoughts The Lord knows and remembers all the Actions Thoughts and Words of all Men and shall make it appear at this day that he doth so as fully and plainly as if he had kept a Diary from the Beginning of the World to the end thereof and therein writ in order every particular Action of every individual Man and Woman O remember this God sees thee round about always can tell all that thou dost and this Book wherein all is written shall one day be opened 2. The Book of Conscience this carries all our Actions in it Volumen grande quo omnia conscribuntur It is a great Volume in which all we do is writ Austin takes that other Book mentioned in the Text to be the Book of Conscience which is the Book of each Man's Life wherein all the Passages thereof are recorded Tho this Interpretation agree not with this Place yet Conscience is such a Book as he here describes Quocunque vadis ubicunque es semper Conscientia tua tecum est c. Whithersoever thou go where-ever thou art thy Conscience is always with thee carrying in it whatever thou put'st therein whether good or bad Conscience is not always speaking nor always chiding many have silenced it but it is always writing when we are at our Tables when on our Beds when we are alone or in Company it keeps an exact Account and this Book also shall be opened Secondly The Books shall then be opened whereby all things shall be clearly discovered and attested These are 1. The Book of Divine Omniscience As all things are inclosed herein so this shall then be opened and all the things contained in it thereby disclosed He will by the opening of this make manifest to all that which is now hid from Men and Angels and only known to himself God knows all things and will make all Men know that he doth so by setting in order before their Eyes all things at this day Psal 50.21 2. The Book of Conscience Herein all things are writ and by the opening hereof shall appear Quod in cujusque Conscientia occultum fuit id omnibus manifestum fiet In this day Conscience shall be enlightned and awakened Memories shall be rouz'd and strengthned all past things shall appear new and come in fresh upon the Sons of Men. Then every Thought of thy Heart every Word of thy Mouth every Action of thy Life with the Circumstances thereof then
will serve you to plead at this opening Day Do you think that the bearing the Name of Christians the bare Profession of Christ your coming to and sitting under Ordinances or your layings out in the performance of external Duties are Evidences sufficient of your Interest in Christ If so you are mistaken for Christ tells you Mat. 7.22 23. That in that Day many will say Lord Lord have we not prophesi'd in thy Name and in thy Name cast out Devils and in thy Name done many wonderous Works to whom he will profess I never knew you Nothing short of spiritual Incomes of Grace from him and Conformity to him will be enough to evidence an Interest in him 2. Must the Books be opened Then live for an opening Day as those that look for and account that they must come to this Opening It was the Orator's advice to his Hearers Ita vivamus ut rationem nobis reddendam arbitremur Cicer. 4. in Verr. Let us so live as those that must give account of all It 's the Apostle's Exhortation James 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty i.e. the Law that spareth none but dealeth with all freely without respect of Persons though higher or richer than others So speak ye and so do ye as those that must come to the opening of the Books Live now each Day as those that are living for an opening Day Live as you would be found to have lived when this Day comes 1. In passing your precious Time that God puts into your Hand Sirs God takes notice what Time he gives every one of us what we do with every Hour thereof and will require it again at our Hands O spend your Time as you would meet it at the last in the Books Would you meet with empty Time large shreds of Time that nothing has been done in Would you meet with Time that hath been spent in vain Thoughts wasted with idle Words consumed about Trifles and Impertinencies Would you meet with Days and Hours that have been spent in sinful Sports and Recreations as Carding Dicing Revelling Hunting and the like Practices Days and Nights that have been passed in Taverns Alehouses and Whorehouses in Rioting and Drunkenness in Chambering and Wantonness Would you then meet with Weeks and Years that have been lost on your Lusts one while on this Lust another while on that Consider this would you meet Time thus spent wasted lost consumed at the opening of the Books Sure you would not but if you do know of a certain that it will be a very sad Meeting As you would not thus meet it take heed how you now spend it for if you spend it after this manner you must meet it so But O carry as those who are going to an opening Day in placing and bestowing your Time So pass your Time that you may be found to have lived long in a short space It was the saying of Erasmus That nothing is more amiable than well to place our Hours This will certainly prove so when the Books begin to open and Time begins to come out as it hath been past in secret before all the World 2. Live for this Opening in improving your Opportunities your Days and means of Grace improve these as you would meet them in the Books Will the Books bring any good News to you at their Opening if then you be found to have wasted your Means and Helps that God gave you in order to Salvation if Opportunities stand on Record that you have neglected out of laziness that you missed to gratify your Lusts and that passed while you were passing your Time at drinking Matches Would you meet Sabbaths that have been spent in Recreations Sermons that you have slept away Ordinances that you have been under but made no use of O no no! Therefore when Opportunities and Advantages are offered unto you that you have liberty to close with think thus in your selves Would I have it recorded in the Books that I mist this Opportunity or that I made it not my Business to profit by it See that you be ready to close with and diligent to improve Days and Means of Grace Our Saviour came from Nazareth to Bethabara to be baptized of John Mat. 3.13 John 1.28 which some compute to be fifty six of our English Miles But O our laziness who will not now go a fourth part of that way to partake of Ordinances I have read of a good Man who when his time for Devotion came what Company soever was with him would take his leave of them with this fair Excuse he had a Friend that staid to speak with him he meant his God But alas how little Matters do we suffer to be Avocations and Interruptions Any thing will serve many for an excuse to shift off an Ordinance 3. Live for this Day in performing of Duties as Prayer Reading and Hearing the Word perform these as you would meet them again Would you meet cold heartless customary overly Duties Duties that your Hearts have not been in Duties that you have run over without Affection or Intention It will be but a poor Comfort to meet a Company of these and yet what sad Work do many make this way There are many says Dr. Preston that will not omit Prayer they pray from Day to Day from Time to Time and yet tho they pray every Day they make not a Prayer all their Life there being nothing of Life or Power in their Performances they only do them of Course or in a cursory Way O Christians beware of this beware of Miscarriages in your Duties when Formality Deadness Sleepiness Wandrings creep on you think how you can meet face and own those Duties those Duties at the opening of the Books carry these Thoughts with you as often as you go to any Duty publick or private 4. Live for it in the Affairs and Business of your particular Callings learn to manage the Business of your several Callings and go through all your worldly Imployments on such a manner as you would meet them again at this opening Think how you would be found then to have gone through all your Matters with what Integrity Plainness Simplicity and Faithfulness and study now to go through them on such a manner keep your Hands clean keep your Hearts above the World when your Hands are in it Buy not under-Foot sell not at over-Rates fetch not your Gain out of others certain and apparent Loss be not all for your selves without respect to their Indemnity with whom you have to do use not false Weights Measures or Lights take not in any of those numberless Tricks that all Trades are full of resolve either to be rich with Truth or poor with Content That passage of King Charles the first in a Letter to the late King Charles viz. Do not think any thing worth obtaining by foul and unjust Means was of great Weight with me when I first read
it and is worthy to be written in Letters of Gold There is nothing under Heaven worth obtaining by these means or that being thus obtained will bear its cost or prove a saving Bargain when the opening and accounting Day comes O do nothing in your Callings and Affairs in the World that you would not meet at last You would not meet the Tears and Cries of those that you have wronged the poor sunken Families that you have oppressed the Widows or Fatherless whose Land-marks you have removed O do no such things as these now or if any of you have done make Restitution make Restitution otherwise ye will as Father Latimer in his last Sermon before Edward the sixth said to the Kings Officers cough in Hell that all the Devils there will laugh at your Coughing 5. Live for this great Day in ordering the whole of your Conversation in the World walk so as you would meet your ways again let your Lives be uniform and all of one piece It is Solomon's advice Prov. 23.17 Be thou in the Fear of the Lord all the Day long If you would for an opening Day practise this be in the Fear of the Lord all the Day and every Day let to morrow be as this Day and the next Day as to morrow There are some Gurn. Part 2. p. 138. if you would see their Goodness and be acquainted with their Godliness you must hit the right Time or else you will find none like some Flowers that are seen but some Months in the Year or like some Physicians that they call Forenoon Men they that would speak with them to any purpose must come in the Morning because commonly they are drunk in the Afternoon Thus may be in the Morning you may take the Hypocrite upon his Knee in the Saints Posture but when that fit is over you shall see little of God in all his Ways till Night brings him again of course to the like Duty Thus Sirs too many are of different and contrary Tempers changes of Time of Place and Company make strange alterations in their Frames and Carriages As it is said of the Women in Italy that they are Saints in the Church Goats in the Garden Devils in the House Angels in the Streets so it is with many you may see them Praying at one Time Cursing or Swearing or Lying at another Time Serious in one Place Light and Vain in another Religious and for Religious Exercises in one Company but Ranting and Drinking and Healthing in another carrying as Christians in some Things as Infidels or Atheists in other Things But such Carriages as these will not serve for an opening Day they are sad now and a great reproach to Religion but however any of you make them serve now they 'll never serve the turn when the Books are opened for our Actions and Carriages of all Times Places and Companies must be put in the Books one as well as another not only what we have done at such a Time in such a Place among such Company when in our better Moods but also what we have done at another Time Place and Company when we were in a worse Frame If thou pray in the Morning and drink and live loosely all the Day and yet come to thy Knees again at Night these things shall be pieced and put together just as thou hast acted them but such Mixtures will make mighty bad work for an opening Day it will be dismal to find the Books thus writ over Here a Bible in the Hand and next a pair of Cards or Dice here on thy Knees in thy Family next drunk in the Street or Tavern here taking a turn in God's way next walking in Sins way Books thus written will open terribly If you would live for this opening you must study an oneness and equality of Carriage and be Holy in all manner of Conversation 1 Pet. 1.15 not in some turnings of your Life but in your whole Course you must do Righteousness at all Times Psal 106.3 one and another without Exception If we Ride Holiness unto the Lord should be writ on our Bridles if we Drink Holiness unto the Lord of Hosts should be upon our Pots Zecha 14.20 21. 6. Live for this opening in laying out your Receivings and imploying all your Talents the right way whether Spiritual Graces or Temporal Blessings We find in the Parable Mat. 25.14 30. that the Servants who were entrusted with Talents were called to a Reckoning at last This is that you must come to the Lord will require from you an account of your Stewardship Would you live for an opening an accounting Day lay out your Talents in a right manner Hath God betrusted you with a Talent of Grace or Gifts or Wealth or Authority Take heed what use you put them to endeavour in your Place and to your Power to profit others by them use your Gifts and Graces in Comforting Exhorting and Counselling others Have you Wealth and Estates think what good you may do with it It 's lamentable to see what use many that have useful Estates are making of them One hath a fair Talent in this respect but he laps it up in his Napkin the Church hath no help the Poor fare no better no good Work goes on faster for him Another hath the like Talent and he uses it but how Why as Beasts do their Horns in acts of Violence and Oppression through Usury and pinching Bargains he sucks the Blood and eats the Flesh of many poor Neighbours about him thriving as People on the Sea-Coasts by the Wrecks of Ships Another sort waste their Estates in Riot and Excess in Surfeiting and Drunkenness in Pleasures and Pastimes Were these to be painted says Baines on the Ephesians p. 552. they must be brought in with Dogs Hawks Dice Cards Curtizans not clothing the Naked not feeding the Hungry nor converting any of their Estate to any good Use But what will these do when the opening and reckoning Day comes O beware of such Practices And whatever God betrusts you with be it more or less make now the Use of it that you would be found to have made when the Books are opened This the second Word remember it and remember to practise it O look on your Actions every Day and think with your selves will this and this serve for an opening Day will this do at the great Assizes Would I meet my Time thus spent my Opportunities thus entertained Duties thus performed Business thus transacted Conversations thus ordered Talents thus imploy'd at the opening Day Will these Prayers these Performances these Bargains these Ways do in that Day Thus commune with your selves and live as those that must come to the opening of the Books 3. Shall there be an opening of the Books then prepare and get ready for it Make it your Work Night and Day to get into a Readiness for a comfortable meeting of this great opening Day be perswaded to this whatever you leave undone For