A godly Sermon of repentance and amendment of life, together with the account which we must render at the day of judgement. Preached at the Rolls Church in London the second of may, and taken out of the fifth Chapter of Saint Paul his Epistle to the Corrinthians.  Cor. 5. vers. 10. 
We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that every man may receive the things, which are done in his body, according to that which he hath done, whether it be good or evil.  
AT LONDON Printed by Thomas Purfoote, and are to be sold at his shop, right over against S. sepulchres Church. 1585.   

A Sermon preached at the Rolls Church in London, the 2. of may being sunday, taken out of the 5. Chapter of S. Paul his second Epistle to the Corinthians: verse 10.  
The Text.  
2. Cor. 5.  We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that every man may receive the things, which are done in his body, according to that which he hath done, whether it be good or evil. 
THe holy Apostle, at such time as he wrote this Epistle to the Corinthians, being persecuted for the testimony of his conscience, and the profession of the glorious Gospel of jesus Christ, protesteth solemnly, that the troubles, which be suffered in his body did not only not discourage him, nor cause him to faint, but either That they did add zealo and 〈…〉, 
2. Cor. 4. 9  causing him to continue constant in his calling, and to account those afflitions but tuomentary & light in respect of that most excellent and eternal weight of glory, wherewith all in the end he knew he should be crowned, the earnest desire whereof caused him to sigh and groan in spirit, that he might shortly be loosed out of his body, and clothed with his house, which the Lord had prepared for him in heaven, not that be thought he could prevent the time, which the Lord in his secret counsel had already determined. For he knew that the Days of man surely are determined, 
job. 14. 5.  and that his number of months are known of God, who hath appointed him his bounds, 
2. Cor: 5. 1. 6. 8. & 9  which can not go beyond, but we know (saith he) that if our earthly house of that tabernacle be destroyed, we have a building given of GOD, that is, a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens, being absent from the Lord, whilst we are at home in this body. Howbeit whether it be the Lord his good will and pleasure, that we shall still dwell at home in the body, or remove from home out of this body and dwell which him, we endeavour ourselves, that we may be found acceptable in his sight at all times, and in all places. Whereof he giveth this reason, For we must all appear, etc. Exhorting all men both by his example and doctrine, in life to meditate of death, in prosperity to fear adversity, in the day of mercy to think of the day of judgement, and so to live in their several callings, as to remember they must give account of their callings, so to use the benefits and blessings of God, as not forgetting from whence they have them, and when they must resign them, according to that counsel of the wise man, Remember thy end, 
Eccle. 7. 3●.  That is, the certainty of thy end, the uncertain hour of thy end, the reward thou shalt receive at thy end, the place of joy or pain, that thou must go to at thy end, In all thy doings remember these things, and tho●●●● shal● never do amiss.  
For what causeth such looseness of life in all sorts, but the forgetfulness of death in all sorts? What causeth the wicked always to presume of God his mercy, but the contempt of his justice? What causeth such general security in sin, but the general oblivion of the reward of sin? Whereas if we did always remember our particular ends and our general judgements, it would cause us to walk more circumspectly in our callings, which more care of conscience, and greater consideration of all our actions, which one day must be brought to judgement. To this end doth the Apostle preach of the day of judgement in this place, putting us in remembrance of three things necessary to be thought of, and considered of all men before that tyme.  
1 First, who and what they are which must appear at that day.  
2 Secondarily, where and before whom they must appear.  
3 Thirdly, to what end they must appear.  
If you ask who they are which must appear at that day, the Apostle saith All.  
If you ask where and before whom those All must appear, the Apostle answereth, Before the judgement seat of Christ.  
If you ask to what end, those All must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, the Apostle doth answer, To receive every man according to that which he hath done in his body, whether it, etc.  

The first part.  
TOuching the substance of that doctrine, which here is delivered by the Apostle, it was prophesied long since by S. Peter, that towards the letter end of the world, this doctrine of the general judgement and resurrection of all flesh should of all other to the opinions of the wicked seem most absurd, ridiculous and foolish. 
2. Peter. 3. 3.  There shall come in the last days mockers 
jud. 18.  (saith he) 
1. Tim. 4. 1.  which will walk after their lusts, 
2 Tim. 3. 1.  and say, 
2. Peter. 2. 1.  where is the promise of his coming? For since the Fathers dayed, all things continue a like from the beginning of the creation. He termeth the despisers and contemners of this doctrine mockers, he saith, the days they shall live in shallbe the last: the manner, how they shall mock it, will appear both in their lives and speeches, in their lives for that they shall not walk after the laws of God, but after the laws of their flesh, fulfilling the lusts thereof, as profane and reckless persons void of all godliness, and given over to all sin and iuniquirye. In speeches not ashamed to profess, that they believe nothing less, then that, that should be performed, which is promised in the scriptures concerning the coming of Christ in judgement. The reason, that move them to think and say so, is the observation of nature his constant course in all the works and creatures of God continuing in the same state, wherein they were first created without any alteration or change in any of them, as those great lights, the sun and the Moon observing their usual and ordinary time of their uprising and down sitting, 
Gene. 1. 16.  according to the several seals and times of the year, the one ruling and giving light to the day, 
Gen. 1. 18.  the other in the night, the stars remaining firm and fixed as lights in the firmament of heaven, where they were first planted in the beginning to divide the day and the night, and to be as signs and seasons for days and years: the earth being unremovable under our feet, bringing forth bud and green herb apt to seed, and fruitful trees, every one yielding fruits after his kind, and all these together with the beasts of the field, fowls of the air, and fishes of the sea to be subject to man, who likewise according to Gods first ordinance is borne at his appointed time, and at his appointed time also returneth again to dust, from whence he came, and so observing all the works of God to hold on that course of nature at this day without any change, which he gave to every one of them in their kind & at their first creation many years since, thereupon they promise and presume of an eternal perpetuity in all things, concluding with the preacher, Mundus duravit hactenus, ergo finem non habebit, The wor● hath endured hitherto, ergo it shall have no end, and thus (as much as in them lieth) both in the examples of their lives, and words of their lips discrediting, nay deriding the promise of the coming of Christ, and mocking the threatenings of God his judgements. Such mockers in these days of ours, 
Mockers.  which the Apostle termeth the last, are many. 
Psal. 14. 1.  One sort of them say in their hearts, there is no God. In which number the most and greatest part of us (I fear me) may be comprehended, we are not so impudent to say with our tongues, there is no God, but look into our lives, our offices and functions, mark how every man walketh in that state of life, wherein he is placed of the Lord, and you shall see, we are not ashamed to say in our hearts, There is no God. We all say with our tongues, that we esteem our souls a thousand times more dear than our bodies, but compare that which we do to the one with that which we say of the other, and you shall see, that in our hearts we have a greater care to preserve our filthy carcase, then to instruct our conscience we all say with our mouths, we would go to heaven, if wishing would bring us to heaven, but we frame our lives, as though in our hearts we neither hoped for heaven, nor believed there is a hell, but looked always to live upon earth. We cry out with our mouths, fie of the flesh, and we deft the Devil in our words, but we are ready to take his part in our works, and the least temptation that is offered us, is able to vanquish us, and cause us to give the Devil our consent with our hearts. Thus we mock God, and we deceive ourselves, but the Devil he will neither be deceived nor mocked of us, when time shall be, that the secreats of all hearts shall be opened, and the deeds of all men judged, he will challenge that, which is his, and bring in good and sufficient evidence to prove us to be his, then by our own works, and not his. whose now we pretend to be with our mouths. Then shall we find that in earnest, which now being preached to us, and yet not felt of us, we esteem but as a mock or jest.  
A second sort of mockers there is who although they confess there is a God, yet say they, non veniet dies judicii, that God will never come in judgement. 
isaiah. 22. 13.  Let us therefore eat and drink, 
1. cor. 15. 32.  for to morrow we shall die, there is noman known to have returned from the grave. 
Sap. 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 & 10.  We are borne at all adventure, and we shall be hereafter, as though we had never been, our breath is like a smoke in our nostrils, and words like a spark raised out of our hearts, which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air, our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and come to nought as the mist that is driven away with the beams of the same, and put down with the heat thereof: our name also shallbe forgotten by little and little, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, for our time is a day shadow, that passeth away, and after our end, there is no returning. Come on therefore, let us enjoy the pleasures, that are present, and let us cheerefullye use the creatures like as in youth. Let every one of us be partakers of our voluptuousness, let us leave some token of our pleasure in every place: for this is our portion, and this only our lot. Let us oppress the poor righteous, let us not spare the widow or old man, let us not regard the heads, that are grey for age, and so forth as it followeth in the book of wisdom, where the life and manner of these second sorts of moekers and epitures is lively described and set forth at large. The Apostle termeth them 
Phil. 3. 17. & 19●  enemies to the cross of Christ, whose end is damnation, 
Rom. 16. 18.  whose God is their belly, and glory to their shame, minding only earthly things, and not seeking after those things that are above. 
col. 3. 1. & 2.   
The third sort of mockers there is, which say with the ill servant Tardat dominus venire, these prove there is agod, & that God will at last come in judgement, but yet presuming of his mercy, & life they differ their repentance to the hour of death, thinking they may repent them, when they will, & that they shall have leisure enough when they are old & ready to die. But O ye fools and mockers of God remember with yourselves, that like as God is merciful, so goeth wrath from him also, & his indignation cometh down upon sinners. 
Ec. 5. 6. & 7.  Make no tarrying therefore to turn to the Lord, and put not off from day to day, for suddenly shall his wrath come, and in the time of vengeance he shall destroy thee. Put not of thy repentance therefore in hope to attain to old age, or to find God merciful at the last hour. For thou knowest not, whether thou shalt live, till thou art old, and death when he cometh, he asketh not, how long a man hath lived, but as he findeth him, so he taketh him. But suppose, 
Eccl. 4. 1.  thou livest, till thou art old, how art thou sure, that thou shalt have the space of an hour, on quarter, or minute of an hour, before that death doth strike thee with his dart. Old father Isaac confessed, 
Gen. 27. 2.  he knew not the day of his death, much less dost thou know, 
Preach. 9 11.  the hour of thy death. For as fishes are taken with the angle, and birds caught in the share, even so are men overtaken with death. But when thou dost sicken, what if thou dost live an hour, a day, a week before thou die, art thou sure in the hour, day, or week to have a mind to call for God his grace and repent thee of thy life misliked: Or dost thou think, that a wicked man can repent him, when he will, and when he list? why then did not Cain repent, why did not Saul, why judas, why Esau? who (as the apostle saith) found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. 
Heb. 12. 17.  No repentance is the free gift of the grace of God, who giveth it to every man, when he will, to whom he will, and in what measure he will according to the riches of his mercy, which is free, and not tied to the will and pleasure of man. And commonly the judgement of God is such, they forget themselves at the hour of death, who in their lives thought not upon GOD.  
Age poenitentiam ergo (saith Augustine) dum sanus 〈◊〉. Nam si poenitentiam agis, quando peccare non potes peccatate demiserunt non tu illa. Repent thee therefore in time of thy health: For if thou dost repent thee in time of sickness, when thou canst not sin, 
Math. 9  thy sins have there left thee, and not thou them. Such was the repentance of that same blasphemous Antiochus, who in despite of God (as it were) had vowed to make Jerusalem a heap of stones, would take upon him to command the floods of the sea, weigh the mountains in a pair of balance, reach up to the stars, and pull God out of heaven: yet suddenly in his greatest bravery God cast him violently down from his chariot, smote him with an incurable plague, a horrible pain of his bowels, and inward parts, in so muth, that the worms came serauling out of his guts, his flesh rotten, and fell from his bones, which stancke so horribly that no man could abide the savour of him, nor he of himself, and thus with extremity of pain either the remorse of conscience he was brought to this point, that he confessed, It is reason to be obedient to God, and that man which is mortal, think not through pride to be equal with God. A like kind of repentance did the Lord wring out of hard hearted Pharaoh who in time of his prosperity and welfare 
Exo. 5.  was nota shamed to extol himself above God, acknowledging no Lord better than himself, and therefore despising God, and his messengers Moses and Aaron, who were sent in embassage to him. But in the end when he felt such plagues laid upon him, as he could neither drive them away with tyrannical courage, assuage them by counsel, put them from him by policy, nor resist them with power, he was so humbled and brought down thereby for the present time, as he confessed, The lord is righteous, and I & my people ungodly. 
Exod. 9 27.  But when the lord ceased to plague him, by and by did he cease to remember him, much like to those same backeslyding people of Israel, who, when the lord slew them, sought him, and inquired after GOD remembering that he was their strength and redeemer. But they did but flatter him with their lips, and dissembled in their tongue, for their hearts were not whole with him, neither continued they steadfast in his covenant. So that we may set, that even hypocrites and ●irauntes, such as have neither cast of God his mercy, nor sear of his justice, in time of their health, wealth and presperitie, are yet humbled and brought to knowledge of themselves, and constrained to acknowledge the majesty and power of GOD with their mouths, when they feel the execution of his judgements laid upon their bodies.  
But this manner of repentance as it is but hypocritical & dissembled and not proceeding from the heart in us, so neither doth it move the lord, who lercheth the heart, to have pity and compassion upon us, but doth ●●ther aggravate his heavy wrath and displeasure against us. who disposing the riches of his goodness, patience, & long sufferance, whereby he leadeth us to repentance, 
Rom. 3. 4. 5. & 6.  according to our hardness and hearts, who cannot repent do heap up wrath to ourselves against the day of wrath, and declaration of the righteous judgements of GOD, who will reward every man according to his deeds. Let us take heed therefore, mock not with God, but always endeavour ourselves by the example of the Apostle here, to be the same men inwardly in conscience before GOD, which we will seem to be outwardly in conversation before the world, lest in the end we be accounted among those mocking fools, which say in their hearts, 
1. john. 23  there is no God. If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. Neither let us think with ourselves, that because the Lord doth not as yet come in judgement, therefore we may live in security without all fear or dread of his judgement, as the second sort of mockers do, which think he will never come in judgement, but rather as it becometh good christians. Semper vigilemus bene vivendo, ne novissimus dies cuiusque nostrum inveviat nos imparatos. Let us watch and wait for his coming in honest conversation of life, that the latter day of every one of us find us not unprepared, believing always that he will come, whom we are ignorant, when he will come. Neither let us think the lord is slack in coming, as the third sort of mockers due. 
2. Pet. 3. 9  For he is not slack, as they count slackness, but he is patiented to us ward, because he would have mercy of all and none to perish. Howsoever we mock with him, or how mercifully soever he dealeth with us, or how long soever he deferreth his coming to us, yet in the end, he will come, and will not tarry, at which time of his coming We must appear before his judgement seat, etc. whereof that we should be the more assuredly persuaded, the apostle not without great vehemency of spirit aswell as of speech, telleth us that we must appear. As though he should say, how long soever the Lord may seem to linger his coming, and how loath soever we be to have him come, yet in the end come he will, and necessity of his coming is ineschuable, it cannot any way, or of any creature be avoided.  
This Oportet or must, in this place is suppriced by diverse reasons, 
Oportet.  whereof the first is grounded of the eternal purpose, decree, & counsel of God, and therefore of necessity it must be accomplished. If it were the counsel, purpose, or determination of man, it were possible either to frustrate it, or at least to alter and change it. Men are men, constant in nothing so much as inconstancy, which they will to day they will to morrow, that which they fully purpose at one time, upon better advise, they will dispose themselves to the contrary at an other. But this is the purpose of God. If the Lord of hosts determine a thing, who is able to disannul it. 
isaiah. 14. 27.  Since this therefore is determined by God, it followeth of necessity that we must appear, etc.  
The second reason is taken from the undoubted truth, and virtue of his word and promise, whereupon we grounded our faith, and which in all points shall be fulfilled and performed accordingly as he hath spoken it. 
Mat. 2 ●. 64.  Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of the sky. His Apostles seeing him taken up into heaven in a cloud, were promied by two Angels, which stood by them that the man jesus, 
Act. ●. 11.  which was taken up from them into heaven, should so come as they had seen him go into heaven, at whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies, and shall give account for their own works.  
It is of necessity therefore, that we must appear, 
1. Cor. 15 15 10. 17. & 18.  etc. Otherwise (saith the Apostle) our prearching is in vain, your faith is also vain, yea and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God, how that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be the dead rise not: besides you are yet in your sins, and they which are fallen a sleep are perished. But the preaching of the Apostles is true, our faith grounded upon the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles is true, and we believe and receive it for an undoubted truth, that GOD hath rayfed up jesus from the dead and that by virtue of his resurrection we all must rise again, and they likewise Must appear.  
A third reason may be taken from the justice of GOD. For (as the Apostle saith) if in this life only we have hope in Christ, then are we of all men most miserable. 
1. cor. 15. 19  The best Christians are and always shall be most hated. The world shall hate you, in the world you shall have tribulation, 
2. T●. 3. 12.  and agapae, They that will live godly shall sister persecution. And therefore their state, who will ●iue godly of all other may seem to be most miserable and unhappy, and contrariwise the state of the wicked most happy and blessed. For they for the most part are in no peril of death, but lusty and strong, they come in no such misfortune as other folk, neither are they plagued as other men, they prosper in the land, and have ryd●● in possession. They come to old age, thi●e children live in their sight, and theirc generation before their eyes, their houses are safe from all fear, and the rod of GOD is not upon them, their bullock engendereth, and that not out of time, their Cow caluethe, and is not unfruitful, they send forth their children by flocks, and their sons dance, they bear with them tabretes, and haps, and rejoice in the iustrumentes of music, etc. What shall we say to this. Is God unjust, which thus heapeth his benefits and blessings upon the wicked? Or is he unfaithful of his promise, that forgetteth the poor whom he hath received into his charge? God forbidden, yea let God be true and every man a liar. me hath promised, 
Rom. 3. 4.  that no good deed shallbe unrewarded nor no ill deed unpunished, and be will perform it. I grant, we see it fall out contrary many times in this life, but yet her that hath, promised, is faithful, he cannot deny himself, and though sometime he doth dissemble himself to his children in this life, yet the truth & consideration of his justice do preach unto us the performance thereof shall be in an other life, And therefore We must appear, etc.  
Neither must any man think himself 
Math. 25.  exempted from the general necessity of this judgement, challenging any prerogative as privileged from it by his pedigree, parentage, person, power, riches, honour, learning, wisdom or authority. For saith the Apostle, this necessity is common to all. We must all appear, etc. All. All flesh, all Nations, jews, Gentiles, Turks, insidels & Christians, high and low, Princes aswell as their subjects, Magistrates and mean men, rich and poor, men and women, fathers and mothers, masters and servants, young and old. I saw the dead (saith john in his revelation) both small and great standing before God, 
Apoc. 20 21  Not small in respect of their stature, nor great in respect of kodilye proportion, but in respect of the great or small credit they carry in the world. 
Math. 25.  These All the scripture divideth into two sorts foolish or virginswise, 
Math. 3.  chaff or wheat, 
Math. 13.  corn or else cockle, good stshes or bad, sheep or goaces, the children of this world or the children of height: which two sorts only shall appear in judgement, 
Math. 25.  whereof one is blessed, the other cursed, the one chosen before the foundation of the world, the other rejected, as also there shall be but 〈◊〉 forms of judgement, Come and go, but two places mentioned for these two sorts to go unto, heaven or hell, no mention of any third, either before judgement or after judgement, which were requisite, if there were any collects or third sore of people, as they fandly imagine to themselves, which dream of a third place. And these two sorts shall all be found alive or dead (not half alive or half dead, as they may seem to be, which are supposed to be in the third place) according to the articles of our Christian faith, wherein we believe, that he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, which the Apostle also witnesseth, when he saith, We shall not all die, but we shall all be changed, not meaning, that we shall he changed in substance or quality of our bodies, 
1. Cor. 15. 51.  but in the quality and nature of our bodies, 
Psa●. 25. 81  The tears being wiped from our eyes, 
Apoc. 21 4.  all sorrow and grief taken out of our minds, 
Apoc. 7. 17.  All infirmities and blemishes out of our bodies and cur hearts replenished with such, psalms of joy, as no man can take from us. Besides this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortalilye, and as we have borne the image of earth, so we shall be are the image of heaven. Our bodles are sown in corruption, they shall rise again in incorruption, 
1. Cor. 15. 53 & 54.  they are sown in dishonour, they shall rise again in honour, they are sown in weakness, they shall rise again in power, they are sown natural bodies, they shall rise again spiritual bodies, and death shall be swallowed up into victory. If any man be so curious to ask, whether those, that shall be found alive, or those, which shall be dead, shall appear first, 
1. Thes. 4. ●5 1●. & 17.  the Apostle doth answer him, That those which be alive, and which remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them that sleep.  
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven in a shout, and in the voice of the archangel, and in the trump of God, 
Mat. 24. 31.  and the dead in Christ shall rise first, 
1. Cor. 15. 52  than we, which live, and which remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, to remain and live with him for ever. So that whether we remain alive, or be found dead at his coming, We must all appear, etc. All, whether we died at home or abroad, in our beds, or in the field, whether we were drowned in the sea, or slain on the land, or whatsoever becometh of our bodies in this life to come. 
Apoc. 20. 13  We must all appear etc. I saw the sea give up her dead, death and hell (saith S. john) delivered up the dead, that were in them, and all stood before God. Many think, that those bodies, which are buried in Christian burial (as they term it) that is, such as are laid in graves and included with in Church walles-shall rise again, but as for those bodies, which have been brent and consumed to ashes, slain in fields, and vevoured of wild beasts, or corn in pieces with vermin, or which have miscarried on the seas, they think it impossible, that those bodies should be brought again. But that which is impossible to man is possible with God, & all is one with him, whether the sea hath received us or land, the Church or the Chancel, earth or water, and as easy it is for him to raise up our bodies out of the earth, sea, or land, as it was easy for him at the first of nothing to make us something, and with the breath of his spirit to breath into us a living soul, which before were void of life. Dost ●oe thou see, it is possible for thee being but a man and the creator of God, to strike star out of the hard flint, where before thou flindest it, it may seem impossible to have fire? And why shouldest thou think it were impossible thy creator and maker, which hath given that nature to the stone, & that power to thee, himself having greater power to raise thy body out of the dust, water or cinders, seeing at first he gave thee thy body. Those that find not themselves thus satisfied with the consideration of the omnipotent power of God, but require to be further satisfied with reason, 
1. Cor. 15. 36  the apostle saith there are fools & mad men, as though he should say, the resurrection of the body is either to be believed that it shallbe, then to be reasoned upon, how it can be & they but fools & mad men, that will stand reasoning about it, when they are bound simply to believe it. Nay he, that will call in question every kind of doctrine in the scriptures, whereof he cannot conceive or give a reason, may chance to doubt of the highest points of a christian man's faith and religion. For what reason in there, that there should be one, and one three, as that the Father should be God, the son God, and the holy Ghost God, & yet not three Gods, but one God, a trinity in unity, and an unity in trinity. What reason is there, that a Virgin should conceive with child, bear a child, and yet after her conception and birth, remain a pure and undefiled virgin still? What reason is there, that a man dead, buried, & laid in his grave three days, should rise again alive? Or what is he, that bearing the name of a Christian dare deny, or doubt of the truth of these things, because he seethe not the reason of them. No God almighty his mysteries are hid and inserchable, not to be construed by reason, but conceived by faith. And we are taught in the scriptures, & bound to believe many things, whereof our reason can conceive but few. I come to the lord his table, who hath hidden me under the sign of bread & wine to receive his body and drink his blood and I do nothing doubt, but he doth truly offer himself to me, and I do truly receive him. Howbeit if any man ask me, how he being in heaven should be received in earth. I answer as Master Caluine. De modo si quis me interrogat, 
4. Instit. cap 17. sect 32.  fateri me non pudebit, sublimius esse attamen, quam ut vel meo ingenio comprehendi vel enarrari verbis queat, atque ut apertius dicam, experior magis quam intelligam: Itaque veritatem dei, in qua acquiescere tuti licet, hic sine controversia amplector. That is, If any man ask me of the manner how Christ is present in the Sacrament, I will not shame to confess, that it is a higher mystery, than can either be conceived with my wit, or expressed with my tongue, and to speak more plainly, I rather feel it, then understand it, And therefore in this point I do willingly embrace God his truth, wherein I do safely rest & stay. So for the resurrection of the dead, though I see no reason in it, or that the reason is hid from me, yet I do acknowledge it to be an article of my Christian faith, and therefore do undoubtedly believe, that the spirit of him that raised jesus from the dead shall raise my mortal and corruptible body, and that my body, and all men's bodies, through his omnipotent power and might being so raised Must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, etc. But here now least any man should think, that among such a multitude as must then appear, it were possible for some to hide themselves, from the presence of their judge, and so escape the severity of his sentence, therefore the Apostle saith we shall not only be summoned by the trump of the Lord, and so dismissed again, but of necessity We must add appear before him, and can no way hide ourselves from him. The word Apparere, that is, appear, is very emphatical in this place, noting unto us the appearance of the soul as the body, the inward heart and conscience, as well as the outward man. And because the nature of the wicked is to promise themselves perpetual impunity of those simes before God, whereof they can not be detected before the world, to confute and confound that vain hope of theirs, the Apostle telleth them plainly, they must then appear. Which importeth so much, as if he should say, whereas we have here played the Hypocrites, dissembled ourselves and our sins before men with a counterfeit show of uprightness not being the same men before God in our consciences, now we must have the vizards pulled of from our faces and be uncased, laid wide open to the whole world, Even as though our bodies were ripped in pieces for every man to view us, to look over us, under us, round about us, and into us. Nay either the very hearts in our bodies, which now we 〈◊〉 count the most feereat parts of us shall be so 〈◊〉 sought and searched into; as if they were 〈◊〉 in smell peers, for every 〈…〉, and discern the secrets thereof, which now are only known to ourselves. Let us take herd therefore we be no bescher encouraged to be 〈◊〉 for the 〈◊〉 of our 〈◊〉, or the 〈◊〉 〈…〉 of the place, wherein we do 〈◊〉. For how 〈…〉 we be in ourselves, or how 〈…〉, yet will our wickedness one day appe●●● when nothing can hide it. 
Luk. 8. 17.  Nothing so secret; but it shall 〈◊〉, Saith Christ it is not always revealed; as it is done but it shall be. The wicked presumptuous sinner, who 〈…〉 ●he world with his glozing speech and mocketh God with his abominable life, thinking that his hypocrisy shall never be found out, because it is not always pi●nished and detected of God. But God by the Prophet telleth him an other ca●e. 
Psal 5●. 19 20. 21. & 22.  When thou sawest a thief, thou didst consent to him, and haste been partaker with the adulterers. Thou hast let thy mouth speak wickedness, and with thy tongue thou hast set forth deceit. 
Rom. 2. 5.  Thou sattest and spakest against thy brother, yea thou hast slandered thy own mother's son, these thing hast thou done, and I held my tongue, and thou thoughtst wickedly, that I was suen a one, as thou thyself, but I will reprove thee, and lay before thee the things that thou hast done. Let us not flatter our selves in our sins therefore, thinking bicaus God doth dissemble them; & make as though he saw them not, that therefore be doth forges them, or allow of them, but assure ourselves, that one day he will reprove us, and lay our faults before our eyes, We do many things in secret and huggermugger, which for shame we would not if we knew we were seen of any how much less ought we to do than, since we are seen of God. We have many secret thoughts, & fantastical imaginations, wherein we much please ourselves and delight our flesh, and would blush to have them known of others, which one day the Lord will make known to our neighbours, 
1. Corr. 4. 5.  when he shall make manifest the things of the dark, and open the secrets of all hearts. I will search Jerusalem (saith the Lord) in that day with a lantern. 
Sop●o. 1. 4.  Alas who can hide himself so secretly, or dissemble so deeply, but the Lord will find him, and found even the unsearchable depth of his heart, when he shall search Jerusalem with a lantern? Let us remember this all the sort of us (lest as the Prophet David saith) 
Psal 53. 20.  we forget God and perish from the right way. The witnesses, which shall come in against us, shall be especially the testimony of our own hearts and consciences. 
Dan. 12. 2.  The books shall be opened, and the dead shallbe judged of these things which are written in the books. 
Apoc. 20. 12  These books are the consciences of our good deeds and bad, which (as the Apostle witnesseth) shall then excuse us, or accuse us, iustiste us or condemn us, 
Rom. 2. 15.  make with us, or against us. And there is no man, to whom God hath not given one of these books to carry with him always in his bosom, neither is any man so ignorant, but the Lord hath given him knowledge to read them. But most men are so careless to unclapse them, as they never read or mark the contents of them, till it is to late for them. When God had placed Adam in Paradise, forbidding him to eat of the fruit in the midst of the garden, he gave him a book, and for his memory's sake he wrote in it, What day soever thou eat thereof, thou shalt die the death, 
Gen. 2. 1●.  But Adam never unclaspt this book, till he had in deed transgressed Goods commandment, and then his book being opened, he saw the uglesome deformity of this sin, whereto he had brought himself, 
Exo●●. 2●. 〈◊〉  and his posterity, but it was too late. Cain carried this book in his bosom, but he never opened it, till he had murdered his brother, and then unclasping it, he found written in it, Thou shalt not kill, but thou hast killed thy brother, ergo saith he, My su●e is greater, than that it can be forgiven. That same frantic 〈◊〉, of whom mention is made in Euripides, 
Gen. 4. 15.  after he had stain adulterers Egisthus, and Clytaemnestra his own mother, having no man to accuse him, but his own conscience, he looked in his book, and there he found written, Blood will have blood, and thereupon though he was acquit by the law, he presemlye ran mad, and was never his own man afterward. One demanding the cause thereof in Euripides, Quid muli te perdidit Orestes, What ill hath betide, or what hath caused thee lose thy wits, Orestes? He answereth him, conscientia, my conscience. for Quid si omnes excusant; & sola consc●en●ia accusat, what if all men in the world excuse a man, if his own conscience accuse him, which is instead of a thousand witnesses, & shall more & fo●er confound him, than they al. 
S●neca.  And therefore, Nullam peccatorum tuorum conscium magis timueris, quam teipsum, alium potes effuger●, teipsum nun quam, fear no man y● in privy to thy sins so much as thyself: thou mayst avoid an other man, but thou canst not flee from thyself nor thy own knowledge & conscience, which (according to the Etimologye of the word) is nothing else, but a joints knowledge, which an other hath with thee, and thou with him, which is God and thyself, and is very aptly termed of Chrisostom in psal. 50. Coae●, in quo conscriban●● quotidiana peccata. A book, wherein is recorded our daily sins, which howsoever they be dissembled of us now shall then be revealed, brought to light, and punished, when we must appear, etc. And therefore is this day and time of our appearance termed of the Apostle, dies declarationis, the day of declaration, not that any thing shall then be declared to the Lord more than he knoweth already (For he that planes the care, how can he but hear? he that made the eye how can he but see? heaven is his seat, earth is his footstool, what can be d●n in heaven or earth, 
Psa. 139. 2. 3. 4 5. 8. 9 10. & 12  whereof he hath not knowledge? he knoweth our down sitting, our uprising, he understandeth all our thoughts long before, he spieth out all our ways, not a word in our tongue, but he knoweth it altogether, if we climb up into heaven, he is there, if we go down into hell, he is there, if we remain in the uttermost parts of the sea, he is there also, if we think darkness shall hid us, the darkness is no darkness with him, but the night is as clear as the day, darkness & light are both alike. To conclude, all things are naked and open to his eyes, and there is no creature, that is not manifest in his sight, but wherefore is the day of judgement termed of the Apostle, 
Hebr. 4. 13.  the day of declaration, for that nothing is so secretly concealed of us now, 
Rom. 2. 5.  but it shall be manifestly revealed then. 
Mar. 4. 22.  The day of this life, is one day, and may be termed, the day of our dissimulation, the day, which followeth immediately after this life, is the lords, and is termed, the day of declaration. For then the very heavens (saith job) 
Lib. 20. 2●.  shall declare the wickedness of the wicked, and the earth, which now doth bear him, shall then take part against him. Now the ten virgins go together, walk together, talk together, eat and drink together: but at that day, it shall appear, who are wise, who foolish, who have slept, & who have watched, which of them had oil in their Lamps, and which way, which of them shallbe admitted unto the marriage, 
Matth. 25.  and which excluded and shut out. Now the corn & chaff lie together on a heap in one flower, and are not yet scucrd, but at that dtye, 
Matt. 3. 12.  the Lord shall come with his ●ari in his hand, and purge his flower thoroughly, carry his wheat into his garner, but burn his chaff with unquenchable fire, Now the wheat and tars grow together in one field, and are not yet weeded out, 
Mat. 13. 30.  but at the day the lord of the harvest, will say to the reapers, gather the ears, and bind them up in bundles to burn them, but carry the wheat into the barn. Now the sheep and goats go together, feed together, and are folded together, but at that day shall the chief sheapehard separate the sheep from the gouts, placing the sheep one his right hand, and the goats on the left. Now the world doth deride, and the children of GOD do weep and lament, but at that day they shall be comforted, and the other shall be tormented. 
Rom. 8. 19 & 21.  Now all the creatures of God do groan and travail in pain with us, looking when the sons of God shall appear but at that day they shall be freed of the bondage of corruption, and vanity, whereunto they are now subject. Now the very heavens are not pure in his sight, but at that day the heavens being on fire shallbe dissolved, and the elements shall melt with heat, and we look for a new heaven and a new earth, 
2. Pet. 3. 12. &. 13.  according to his promise, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 
Luk. 21. 19  In the mean time let us possess our souls in patience, and rejoice to be partakers of Christ his sufferings, 
1. Pet. 4. 13.  that when his glory shall appear, we may be glad and rejoice being certainly persuaded, 
Rom. 8. 18.  that the afflictions of this life are not worthy of that glory which shall then be showed upon us. 
2. Pe. 3. 14.  Only let us be diligent, that we may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless in holy conversation and godliness, 
Heb. 10. 22. & 5.  our hearts being pure from an ill conscience washed in our bodies with pure wator, and that so much the rather, because we see the end of all things to draw near, and the day of our appearance to be even at hand. Thus much of the first part.   

The second part. Where and before whom we must appear.  
THe place, where we shall appear the apostle calleth it, The judgement seat. The person, before whom we must appear, is Christ, For the father hath given all judgement to the son, & the articles of our Christion faith do teach us to be leeve, 
john. 5. 22.  that he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, not that God the father and God the holy ghost shall then be excluded and not joined in judgement with him, but for that the visible execution of this judgement shall be done by the second person in trynitye God the son, who shall then sit one his seat of judgement to give every man etc. Now he sitteth one his seat of mercy as our mediator and advocare making continual intercession, to God his Father for us: Sitting on his seat of judgement he shall pronounce the sentence of condemnation against us. Now be offereth himself to be entertained & calleth all men to be his clientes, that are oppressed with their enemies, the world, flesh or devil, come to me all ye that labour and are laden, and I will refresh, 
Mat. 11. 28.  & give ease to your souls. Those, which now resist to come, when he thus calleth them in mercy he will refuse them, when he shall come in judgement and whereas now he biddeth them come, & they will not come, he will then command them to departed. Now he knoweth those, that are his: but those, that now will not know him, be will not know them.  
Now he hath neither beauty nor favour, 
isaiah. 53. 2. & 3.  now the world hath no lust to him, now he is despised, and abhorred of all men now he is counted so vile, as men are ashamed of him, and hide their faces from him, now he is reckoned as a worm and no man, a reproach of men, & the very ●f come of the people. But when he shall come in judgement as the son of God in glory. of his father, accompanied with a multitude of heavenly soldiers, in the sound of the trump, 
Mat. 25. 31.  and in flaming for to render vengeance to such as know not God, nor believe not the gospel, 
2. Thes. 1. 7. & 8.  his presence shall be so hot, that no man shall be able to abide it, his lips full of indignation, his tongue as a consuming fire, 
Esa. 30. 7. & 8.  his breath is a vehement flood of water, that reacheth to the neck, insomuch that even kings of the earth, great men, rich persons, grand captains and mighty men, 
Apoc. 6. 15. 16. & 17.  every bondman & freeman shall hide themselves in dens and amongst rocks of the mountains, 
Isai. 2. 19  saying to them, fall on us, 
Hose. 10. 8.  and hide us from the presence of him, 
Apoc. 6. 16.  that sitteth on the throne, & from the wrath of the lamb, 
Apoc. 9 6.  for the great day of his wrath is come, 
Kuk. 23. 30.  and who can stand, Now he appeareth in him little, then be shall appear in majesty, now we see him in poverty, than we shall see him in glory. Now he seemeth to be but a man then shall be show himself to be god. Now is he judged of all men, then shall he come to judge all men, Now he cometh as a lamb, then shall he come as a lion, Now be cometh to call, then shall he come to condemn▪ Now he cometh entreating of us, then will he come three a●e●nge of us. 
Matt. 24. 6.  The signs and tokens, which shall go immediately before this his seas 〈◊〉 coming, the scripture showeth to be many, Christ himself saith you shall hear of wars, and rumors of wares, Hearing hath relation to speaking. And therefore when be saith, you shall hear of wars, he thereby signifieth unto us, that towards his coming the devil shall disperse seditiously messengers of news into the world, which shall raise up rumours & tales, filling the peopls heads full of news, & those no joyful or good news (as the angels reported at his first coming,) 
Luk. 20. 10.  but heavy & troublesome news, news rending to sedition, the disturbance of public peace, & disquieting of people's minds, breeding disoledience in subjects against their souer●igues, in prince's jealousy of their Subiertes, in Magistrates and men of honour secret hearted & disliking one of an other both in religion & government. After which rumours & news dispersed abroad of war & that men's hearts are, (as it were) prepared to wars, wars shall flow indeed both foreign, civil and domestical. For nation shall rise against nation, realm against realm etc. Bitter contentions and contrariety of opinions, & controversies for matters of religion shall ensue & sollow. They shall put you to trouble and shall kill you, & you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Many shallbe offended, 
Mat. 2. 6. & 10.  betray & hate one another, & that which is wonderful, & against the common course of nature, 
Mat. 10. 21. 35. & 36.  a man shallbe at variance with his father, the daughter with the mother, 
Luk. 21. 16.  the daughter in law with the mother in law, insomuch that the brother shall betray the brother unto death, the father the son, children shall rise against their own parents, & shall cause them to die, & a man's foes shallbe those of his own household. 
Micah. 7. 6.  For nullu est 〈◊〉 saith Hier●m, in 〈◊〉 non sint infidele● & 〈◊〉. There is no house, 
Hier. 11. 10.  where in they are not both infidels & bele●●ers. 
Matth.  And therefore no 〈◊〉 though they be thus divided in kingdoms, in cities, towns & houses. For non potest (saith he (eorum fidies esse affectus, quorum diversa est fides: They cannot be true on to another in heart & affection, the differ in faith & religion.  
Another sign going before his coming is, The Gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness of all nations, whereby he noteth unto us, that towards his coming the gospel shall be preached to all nations, professed also of many, but practised of a few, but be a witness and testimony against him. For notwithstanding the preaching of the Gospel, 
Tim. 4. 1. 2. & 3.  some shall depart from the faith and shall give heed to spirits of error, 
2. Tim. 3. 1.  and doctrines of devils, 
2. Pet. 3. 3.  which speak lies through hypocrisy, 
lud. g18.  and have their consciences burned with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with giving of thanks of them, which believe & know the truth.  
another sign is, that faith shall fail, charity wax could, and iniquity abound. For men shall be lovers of themselves, 
2. Tim. 3. 2. 3. 4. & 5.  covetous, proud boasters, cursed speakers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, without natural affection, truthbreakers, false accusers, intemperate, fierce, no lovers at all of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than of GOD, having a show of Godliness, but denying the power thereof. But for all this the end is not yet, For that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and that the man of sin be disclosed, even the son of perdition, which is an adversary and exalteth himself against all that is called God, 
2. Ehe. 2. 3. & 4.  or that is worshipped sitting as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.  
These are the heginninges of sorrows, the manifest demonstrations of his coming, and the experience of them in our days do plainly Prognosticate unto us, that he can not be far of. For daily do we hear of wars and tumours of wars: never was the world so full of news, and fearful rumours: nation doth rise against nation, and realm against realm. And even now is the time, that the son is at variance with the father, the father with the son, etc. Even now can one state hardly abide another without grudging, disliking or disdain, or if they agree in matters of policy & government, yet do they hardly agree in matters of faith and religion in one house, where they are nighly joined together, it is hard to find two of one mind, & among those that seem to consent in opinions, not to have the self same man in some things to dissent from themselves. Even now is the Gospel preached, & yet even now in the time of the Gospel do some departed from the truth, giving heed to spirits of error and doctrine of Devils, forbidding to marry and eat meats, who the Lord bathe ordained to be received with thanksgiving. Even now also doth faith fail, faith in religion, faith in word of promise, in bargaining, buying, and selling, and no truth to be found, charity kaiecold, a care to each man, common abuses remains in many, pity, mercy, and compassion, and judgement remaineth in few. Iniquity is grown to such perfection in both sects, all states, ages and callings, that it hath almost gotten the upper hand. For when was there ever such self love? when was there ever so liet len●ig h●orly love? when were ●teneue● so 〈◊〉? when were there eure such boasters & bragger's? when was there ever the like pride? when were men's mouths fuller of cursing & bitterness? where were Children so disobedient to their parents? when were men ever so unthankful? either to God, their prince or their private friends? when were men ever so void of compassion: when so falls hearted? when so many false tongs? when so many riotous ruffians & so fierce? when was virtue, godliness & godly men more abhorred? when so many traitors public & private, open & secret? when were there ever so many bayrebraines? when so many high minded merchants? In what age were pleasures in greater price, and God had in less honour? when was religion ever more in show, when was there ever less among all men generally in truth? And to make iniquity consummate hath not the man of sin●● long since been disclosed? hath not the child of perdition be●●t manifestly devealed? are not his dangerous practices daily discovered, and through the wanderfull working of God miraculoustye confounded?  
Since these things therefore are the signs of his coming, and are gone before, let us assure ourselves, the time of his coming which they prognosticate, can not be far of. And yet 〈◊〉 not I speak this, as though A 〈◊〉 scem● precisely to determine of the very day or hour, week or year of his coming. I know what Christ answered his Apostles, when they 〈◊〉 yred of his return. 
A●●. 13. ●.  It is not for thee to know, the times and seasons, 
Mat 24. 32  which the father hath put in his own power. And de die & hora, etc. 
Ma●k. 13. 32  Of thatday and that hour no man knoweth, not the angels in heaven, nor the son of man himself. But even as lightning: flash 〈◊〉 in a man's face unawares, and as the byed is 〈◊〉 in the snare before he thinketh: himself within danger of the net, and as a chief enmmeth suddenly in the night, so shall the coming of the son of man be: yet because men are so senseless of their sins, and live in such security of life, crying peace, peace, safety, safety, thinking least of those dangers which hang over their heads, giving themselves wholly to eating and drinking, planting and building, buying and selling, chapping and changing, wiving & marrying, etc. even as they did in the days of 〈◊〉, when the bloods came and destroyed them all, and in the time of Lord, when fire and Brimstone came down from heaven, and consumed them all upon earth. This general security, I say, and these peritous times of ours, whereas men live, as though they were either wedded, or bewitched of this world without any word or remembrance of the world to come is a most plain and manifest argument, that he is at hand, even at the door, who cometh to judge the world.  
And therefore, if thou will be counted worthy to stand before the son of man, and avoid those dangers, which shall fall upon them, that dwell on them face of the earth, 
Luke. 21. ●4.  Take heed that your hearts be not at any time overcome with surffeting and drunkenness, and the ears of this life, but being on earth let your conversation be in heaven. 
Colo. 3. 1. 1. 2  Seek those things that are above, where christ sitteth on the right hand of god: set your affection on things above, and not on things on earth, and take unto thee the whole armour of God, 
Eph●s. 6. 13. 14. 15. 16. & 27.  that thou may be able to resist in the evil day, that having finished all things thou may stand fast, having your loins girt with truth, and the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shod in the preparation of the gospel of peace, your souls armed with the shield of faith, 
Luke. 12. 36. 37. & 36.  your head with the helmet of salvation, holding in the hands of our hearts the sword of the spirit with your lights and lamps burning in your hands, and yourselves like unto men, which look for their Lord, when he shall come from the wedding, 
Mat. 24. 46.  that when soever he shall come and knock, 
Luk. 12. 43.  whether at even, or at midnight at the cock crowing, or dawning of the day, thou may open unto to him immediately. Happy is that servant, whom the Lord, when he cometh shall find so doing.   

The third part. To what end we must appear.  
THe end of the appearing shall be To receive every man according to that, which he hath done in his body, whether it be good or evil. Where first the Apostle noteth unto us the integrity and uprightness of him that shall be our judge by two excellent points of justice, one in that he will reward every man, the other is in that he will reward them according to that, which they have done.  
The first property, which the Apostle noteth, giveth us to understand, that he will respect no persons, but minister justice to all alike without particularity showed to one, or extremity to another, rewarding every man according, etc.  
If any man therefore living in the fear of God, and with the testimony of a good conscience findeth himself vexed, injuried, hurt or oppressed pouring forth his grieved soul before God without ease or release of these evils, let him not therefore faint, or think himself forsaken of God, but patien●lye abide his leisure, till he reward every man, etc.  
When David saw Saul sought his life, 
1. Sam. 29.  Abner after saul's death to enjoy 
2. Sam. 2.  his welfare and seek to overthrow his state, and then Abso●on his own child to seek his life, and thirst for his kingdom before his death, with a number of such like calamities, wherewith all it pleased the Lord to try him mithall, he was in that perplexity, that he protesteth he had utterly fainted, but that he did verily believe to see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living. As though he should say, the remembrance of the Lord his goodness, which I was sure to see and taste of at last in the land of the living, was that which comforted me in the midst of all my troubles.  
When the Lord had laid upon job all those plagues, which might fall upon man, rob him of his riches, spoiled him of his goods and cattle, vereft him of his children, marked him with botches and biles, that from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head he had not one clean place, & that which was his greatest ge●e● plagues him with untrusty friends upbraiding him with the hypocrisy of his conscience, and the calamities of his life, adding this moreover to the perfection of his manifold miseries, namely a wi●●●ust, froward, & wicked wise mocking and scoffing his misery, yet saith he, The lord gave and the lord hath taken away. If the Lord should kill me, yet will I still trust in him. For I know that my redeemer liveth, 
joh. 19 25. 26. & 27.  & that I shallbe clothed with my skin, and see God with these eyes, etc. As though he should say, as for these temporal blessings he hath taken them, that gave them, blessed be his holy name for them, if he should take my life with them too, yet have I this hope left, that whatsoever I lose, I have a redeemer, whom I cannot lose, and who will not lose me, but in his time, reward me and every man according, etc. In all thy troubles fore whatsoever look unto jesus the captain and finisher of thy faith, who in the end will reward every man, whether he be bound or free I have been 
Ephes. 6. 8.  young (saith David) and now am old, yet did I never see the righteous man for saken, 
Psal. 37. 25.  nor his seed beging their bread, confessing as it were, that he had seen them, have their crosses to be persecuted, hated and oppressed, but that he never saw them fully forsaken. For the patiented abiding of the poor shall not always be forgotten. The lord may dissemble his loving affection towards them for a time, and seem to forget them, but at last he will remember them. 
Pray. 37. 3. 4. 5. & 6.  Put thy trust in the lord therefore, and be doing good and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight in the lord and he shall give thee thy heart's desire, commit thy words to him, and he shall make the righteous as clear as the light, & thy just dealing as the noon day when every man shall receive, etc. In the mean time fret not thyself, because of the ungodly, neither be thou envious at evil doers, nor grieved at the wicked or ungodly, whom thou seest in prosperity. For prosperity neither cometh from the east, nor from the West, nor yet from the South, but the Lord setteth up one and pulleth down an other.  
And though for a time the wicked flourish like a green bay tree, 
Psal. 37. 35. 35.  yet suddenly do they go down to the ground, where they are kept to the day of destruction, and shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, and come to a fearful end, and not be able to stand in judgement, 
job. 21. 30. 31. & 32.  nor in the congregation of the righteous, 
Preach. 1. 5.  but receive according to that which they have done, etc.  
The second note of his uprightness is in this, that he will reward every man, and every man shall receive according to his doing, whereby the holy Ghost signifieth unto us, than he will proceed in judgement according to the circumstance evidence, and matter hanging before him in judgement, nor respecting the man, whose the cense is, but the matter what it is. For where the man is not respected & not the matter, their justice is perverted, but where the matter is weighed, & the man not regarded, there is justice truly ministered. To show therefore the exact and precise form of God his judgement, the Apostle saith, Every man shall receive according to that, which he hath done, etc. The judges of this world they are men and no gods, and therefore as men they proceed in judgement and give sentence according to such evidence, as they see with their eyes, or hear with their ears, & therefore do err many times in their judgements, 
isaiah. 11. 3. & 4.  and serve from the truth. But he that is lord and judge of all men, shall not give judgement after the thing that is brought before his his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness & according to the truth of the heart shall he judge the earth, & his people with equity, every man receiving according to that which he hath done in his body etc. Let us not deceive ourselves therefore being only vain speakers of the word, and not doers, thinking at last to win heaven with speaking heavenly, if we live wickedly and ungodly. For at the latter day men shall receive according to that, which they have done, & not according to that which they have professed and spoken. Many shall say unto me in that day (saith Christ,) Lord we prophesied in thy name, 
Matt. 7. 22. & 23.  cast out devils, and done many great works in thy name, and yet for all their so saying, Christ saith, he will term them workers of inniquitie, 
ver. 21.  and bid them departed from him. For not every one that saith, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he, that doth the will of my father, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, so that many good words shall be found in hell, but good works go all to heaven. I speak not this as holding, 
Rom. 11. 16.  that we are justified by our works. 
2. Tim. 1. 9  No, 
Tit. 3. 5.  we are saved by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves, 
Ephes. 2. 8.  it is the gift of god. But if thou braggest of faith shows me that saith of this heart by the sruictes of thy life. for true christianity consisteth of owo parts, profession & practice, or, (to use the phrase of the scripture,) of faith and good works, and to the perfection of a christian man both are necessary, and each doth mutually accompany other as the shadow goeth with the body. And as the body is known to have life by it moving, so is the life of faith perceived by working. The life of the body is the soul, and the life of faith is love: and as the body is dead without the soul, so is faith without love, and as circumcision profited the jews nothing without the law, so neither doth faith profit us without charity. Whatsoever we profess, how muth soever we know, our saviour Christ pronounceth us so far foorth blessed, 
joh. 13. 17.  as we do that we profess, and follow, 
joh. 15. 14.  that we know. They that profess the faith of christians, and do not confirm it with a Christian life are like bells in the steeple which call others to churthe with their sound, but never come into it themselves, like fair painted sepulchres, which are full of gay golden pictures and immages without, but full of dead carcases and filthy corruption within, like salt, which hath his colour, but lost his savour, like a candle, which is light, but hidden under a bushel. But let your light, (saith Christ, speaking to Christians.) so shine before men, 
Matth. 5 16.  that they may see your works etc. 
john. 8. 39  If you be the sons of Abraham, 
Math. 7. 21.  do the works of Abraham. If ye call me Lord, 
Luke. 6. 46.  Lord, 
john. 15. 14.  do the works that I command you. 
Rom. 2. 23.  The tree is not commended for bearing leaves but fruits, 
jame. 1. 22.  even so the commendation of a Christian consisteth not in speaking but in doing They shall leave their words behind them, but their works shall follow them, and they receive according to that which they have done.  
Doing is double and of two sorts.  

1 Well doing.  
2 Ill doing.   
And both shall be rewarded accordingly. He that hath done well, shall receive according to his well doing, not that any man doth well of himself. For all flesh hath corrupted his way, and all the imaginations, of our hearts is evil every day, There is not one, that doth good, no not one, our lips are full of cursing and bitterness, not apt or able to utter a good word, much less are we able to do a good work. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles, & we being shapen in wickedness & conceived in sin are as unapt & as unable to bring forth good fruits, as thorns are to bring forth grapes, or thistles figs. But yet as the stock of a sour crab may bring forth a sweet apple, if the graff be good: so we being the children of wrath by nature may bring forth good fruits by grace, if Christ be engraffed into our hearts by faith. For without me (saith he) you can do nothing. I am the vine, 
john. 15. 4.  you are the branches, he that abideth in me, and in whom I bide he bringeth forth much fruit. But as the branch cannor bring forth fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can you, except you abide in me.  
To make our works good therefore it is necessary to observe these four circumstances, 
1. Tim. 1 5.  that we do them in love, with a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, How glorious a show of godliness or good intention soever our works do carry before men, if these four conditions be not observed in doing them, we that are the doers of them (as saith the Apostle,) are but vain janglers and no frutifull workers. 
1. Tim. 1. 6.  To make the work good (saith Augustine). It is not only requisite, ut aliquid fiat, quod in suo genere bonum sit, sed pr●cipue ut bene fiat. 1. that the thing which is done, be in his own nature good, but especially that it is well done.  
For many things being of their own nature good may be done, they notwithstanding not doing them well, of whom they are done. It is good to help any man in necessity, but he that seeketh the glory of men thereby rather then of God, bonum facit non bene, saith Augustine, he doth that which is good, but he doth it not well, because he doth it not with a good mind and conscience. Hence it is, 
M●t. 6. 1. & 2.  that Christ condenmeth the prayers, fasting and alms of the scribes and pharisees, who sought not to please God therein, but rather to procure themselves a name and credit before men. Many excellent moral virtues were in the heathen philosophers, which notwithstanding because they referred them not to God, were no better than sins before him, 
Amb. devocatio●e gentia 〈◊〉 lib. 10. cap. 3.  Sine cultu veri dei, etiam quod virius videtur esse. peccatum est, nec placere ullus deo si deo non potest, that is, without the worship of the true God, that which seemeth a virtue is a sin, neither can any man please God without god. Omnis vita infidelium peccatorum est, 
Ansel. in 14. Rom.  & nihil bonum sine summo hono. The whole life of infidels is sin, and nothing good without him, that is the perfection of all that is good. And to say all in one word, without faith it is impossible to please God. why (saith julianus to Augustine) if a Pagan should clothe a naked christian, because it is not of faith, were it sin? yea indeed were it saith Augustine. Ipsa miserico dia per se opus est bonum, at hoc bonum malefacit, qui infideliter facit. i. non fideli sed infideli 〈◊〉 Mercy itself is a good work, but this good work doth he evilly, which doth as infidels, that is, not with a faithful, but an unbelieving heart.  
And whatsoever is not of faith is sin, 
Rom. 14 .23  Whereupon Prosper de vita contemplatina lib. 30. cap. 10. Apostl. non dicat quicquid non est ex fide, nihil est, sed dicend●, peccatum est, declaravit, quod si non fuerint ex fide, non sunt aliqua bona credenda, sed vitia, que non iwant suos operarios, sed eadem mane, that is the Apostle said not, whatsoever is not of faith is nothing, but saying, it is sin, declareth that whatsoever things are not of faith, they are not to be decided as good things, but as vices rather which justify not the doers of them, but rather do condemn them. When the scripture therefore saith in this place. Every man shall receive according to that which he hath done, & in other places, that every man shallbe rewarded according to that, which he hath done, that manner of speaking is not meant of the merit of our doings (for that we should all be rewarded with everlasting damnation and hell fire) but that we shall receive and be every man rewarded according to the testimony of that, which he hath done bearing witness of our faith with us, or of want of saith against us. If that which we have done proceed of faith, then doth God accept it and impute it to us for a good woorlie, not in respect of the work itself or for our sakes, or for our faith sake, but for jesus Christ's sake, in whom he is well pleased, and in whose name we do it, and he doth accept it, and in mercy reward it.  
Now we are to consider, that the Apostle saith, Every inan shall receive according to his well doing, so likewise, Every man, that hath done evil shall receive according to his doing ill, which must not be 〈◊〉 con●●ued of us, as though man at the lantter judgement should receive only according to that ill, which he hath done, and not answer at all, nor receive any punishnent for that ill, which he hath spoken. For I tell you (saith our saviour Christ) a man shall 
Mat. 12 36.  give account for every evil word. 
Psa. 5. 1. 1. 2.  Quid oft in omni vit a nostra, cutus nos minus rationis habeamus, quam verborum. what is there in the whole course of our life: whereof we have less regard, then of our words and therefore in what danger stand we before God, if we shall answer every idle word, wherein we have offended before men? Or if we shall answer every idle word. Alas how shall we answer every idle word. If we must answer every idle word, how shall we answer every lying word, every blasphemous word, every flandorous word? Or if we cannot answer our idle words, how shall we answer of one idle deeds, and time misspent? Or if we cannot answer our idle deeds, how shall we be able to sustain the punishment which we must receive for our ill deeds? Hear we may all cry out. and appeal from God his justice, and our deservings, to his mercy, Enter not into judgement with thy servants O lord for no flesh is righteus in thy sight, and have mercy upon me O God, not according to my merits but according to the mercy do away my offences, etc. For otherwise we must all prepare ourselves to taste of the reward of sin, which, be our sin never so light or little, committed in thought, word, or deed, is death of body and death of soul to every one according to that, which he hath done. Upon the ungodly shall come snares, fire, & brimstone, stormy & tempest, this shallbe their portion to drink. The Prophet useth many words, where of every one may seem more grievous than other, to teach us, that the greater shallbe the punishment, which the sinner shall receive according to that, which he saith in the second chapter to the Romans, that the impenitent presumptuous sinner doth heap up wrath to himself etc. as who should say God will heap damnation upon his head in life to come as he hath heaped one sin upon an other in this life, not that there are many hells, or many siers in bell, 
Greg. sap. illus.  but that the justice of God requireth to measure out the grievousness of their punishment accor to the grievousness of their sins, 
Mat. Egerientur in tenebras. etc.  ut et ignem non dissimilem habeant & tamen eosdem singulos exurat, 
Psa. 5. 1. 1. 2.  that not having a diverse fire yet every one to be tormented the same with fire, even as we feel in our do dies, whereas many stand together in the sun, & the sun hath like power of them, all alike, yet do they not all feel the like heat, but some feel it hotter than other some, every man according to the complexion and constitution of his body. Even so according to the quality of his sin shall every man receive his punishment. And therefore in the day of judgement it shall he easy for Sodom and Gomortha then for those Cities. Towns and persons, which have hard remission of sins preached in the name of jesus, & yet have not repent. For the servant, that knew his masters will and did it not shallbe beaten with many stripes. If that reverend and childish fear of God therefore cannot win us to eschew evil and do good, yet let this servile and slavish fear, the fear of punishment stay us and make us afraid to persever in our ill, least according to the grievousness of the same in our souls, at last we recceive double damnation in our bodies.  
For although every man, so soon as the soul and body are parted by death, hath his particular judgement, and receiveth in his soul (which presently mounteth either to heaven, or is carried to hell) the reward of joy or pain, which either thorough sin he hath deserved, or the Lord in merry doth freely give him, yet doth he nor receive the same in body (which remaineth in the grave) till the general resurrection and judgement of all flesh, at what time the body shall be united to the soul, and be made partaker of the same everlasting joys in heaven, or eternal torments in hell, as it was partaker with the body in sin upon earth. If any man therefore ask, wherefore and what there should need to be a second judgement, since every man hath his judgement already, I answer out of the Apostle; that every man may receive in his body that which he hath already received in his soul. L●● us forbear therefore to judge of 〈…〉 men's sins, to look into other men's lives, and either every man, that calleth upon the name of the Lord depart from iniquity, and learn to amend himself. For every man shall receive according to that which he hath done in his body. I shall not receive according to that, which thou hast done in thy body, nor thou shalt not receive according to that which I have done in my body, but I according to that which I have done in my body, and thou according to that, which thou 〈◊〉 done in thy body, and so forth every man according to that, which he hath done in his own? body. That soul, that hath sinned, that soul shall die the death. Though the father have eaten sour grapes, the children's teeth shall not be set on edge. 
Ezech 18. 2. & 20.  The son shall not bear the father's iniquity, nor the fathers bear the sons. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, the wickedness of the wicked upon him also,, and every man shall die in his own sin, or live in his own righteousness. Noah, Daniel, and job shall in their own righteousness deliver but their own souls, not the souls of their sons, daughters, servants or wives, 
Ezech. 14. 14 & 16.  but every man receive his wages (saith the Apostle) according to his own labour. Let no man therefore trust to other men's works & prayers after he is dead, thinking to be relieved by them, as he that was sent for to the great supper though he might be excused by the messenger, though he came not himself, & many in these days having lived very wickedly themselves, think to compound with God almighty for their sins & life misled by alms deeds and prayers, not doing themselves in their own lives, but making other men their factors, & posting them over to their executors to be done for them after their deaths. But thou foolish man, than that good which after thy death is done by others, is theirs, and not thine, and they shall receive for it and not thou. While thou hast time therefore, make sure thy salvation thyself, and as much, 
Gal. 6. 10.  as in thee lieth Do good to all men, 
preach. 12. 1  especially to the household of faith. Remember thy maker in thy youth before the days of adversity come, 
Preach. 9 10.  put thy righteousness before judgement, & so shalt thou find grace in the sight of the Lord. 
1. cor. 9 9  For the grave which thou goest unto, there is neither work, counsel, nor wisdom, but what a man soweth now he shall reap then. 
Hebre. 6. 10.  He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly, 
Ephesi. 6. 8.  he that soweth liberally, shall reap also liberally. For God is not unrighteous to forget our works and labours of love, But what soever good thing any man doth, he shall receive of the Lord at the resurrection of the righteous, 
Luke. 14. 14.  where his reward shall be great in the kingdom of heaven, 
Math. 5. 12.  and every man receive according to that, which he hath done. And thus we see the end & use of this doctrine concerning the general resurrection & judgement, 
john. 5. 28 & 29.  the sum whereof is no more, but this. All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of God and shall come forth, 
Math. 25. 46  they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of damnation. They that by continuance in well doing seek for glory, honour & immortality, shall have eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, & do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall come indignation. and wrath, tribulation and iniquity A sweet and comfortable doctrine to the children of God, who then shall have an end of all those miseries, whereto in this life they were subject, resting at last in joy, peace, and tranquillity with the angels and saints in heaven. The sun shall be no more the day light, 
Apo. 21. 23.  the light of the Moon shall not shine to them, 
Apoc. 22. 5.  but the Lord himself shallbe their everlasting light, 
Isai. 60. 19  and God their glory. 
Isai. 25. 8.  He shall take the care from thine eyes, neither shall they taste of death, heaviness, sorrow, or pain, but freed from all such calamities have the full fruition of all those joys, 
Sap. 5. 16.  which the lord hath prepared for them that fear him, and look for his coming. They shall receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown at the lords hand, for with his right hand shall he carry them, and with his arm shall he defend them. But on the contrary most terrible and fearful to the wicked. 
Sap. 5. 17. 18. 19 20. 21. & 22.  For the jealousy of the lord of hosts shall take on harness, and he shall arm the creature to be avenged of his enemies. He shall put on righteousness for a breastplate, an stake unfeigned judgement in stead of a helmet. His fierce wrath shall be sharpen for a sword, and the whole compass of the world shall fight with him against the unwise. Then shall the thunder bolts go right out of the lightnings, and come as out of the well bent bow of the clouds to the place appointed. And as from an angry caster of stones their shall fall thick hail, and the water of the sea shall be wroth against them and the wind shall stand up against them to scatter them abroad. Then shall the righteous stand in great boldness before the face of such, as have dealt extremely with them, and taken away then labours. When the ungodly shall see it they shall be vexed with horrible fear, and shall onder at their health so far beyond all, that they looked for. And changing their opinions with groaning for redress of mind, they shall say, this is he whom sometime we had in derision and jested upon. We fools thought his life very madness, and his end to be without honour. But lo, how he is counted among the children of God, and his portion is among the saints. Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, & the sun of understanding hath not rose upon us. We have wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction, but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it, What good hath pride done unto us? Or what profit hath the pomp of riches brought unto us. All these things are passed like a shadow, and as a Post that hasteth by, etc. As soon as we were borne, we began immediately to draw to our end, and have showed no token of virtue, but are consumed in our own wickedness. If they should have no other judge to condemn them, if there were no devil to watch for them, no hell to receive them, no fire in hell to torment them, what greater torment may be imagined, than this woeful complaint & mutual accusing of the worm of their own consciences, and the sensible feeling of their sins past, acknowledging with their own mouths themselves deservedly deprived of all those heavenly joys, whereof they shall see the children of God to be made partakers. But not only to be deprived of those heavenly joys, but to be partakers of everlasting torments, to be tied with perpetual chains, to be cast into palpable darkness of the devils dungeon, where the worm dieth not, where the fire goeth not out, but continual weeping and gnashing of teeth, howling, yelling, and crying without ease of pain, or comfort of mind, this is such endless misery as the grief thereof can neither be conceived of us, that speaketh of it, nor expressed of them that feel it.  
The greatest cross, that can be said upon man in this life, is to be cast into perpetual prison, lose our lands and goods, and want the company of our wives, our children & other our friends that love us. But yet in this case we always live in hope of liberty, and release of our punishment. Or if our hope be vain, yet will God stir up the hearts of strangers to visit us, to pity us, to comfort and relieve us, some with meat, some with money, some with cloth, some with counsel, every man as he is able hath compassion of feeling of our state. But out of hell there is no redemption, no hope of redemption, no hope of out pains to 〈◊〉 ever ended or eased. No friends to pity us, to see us, to speak with us, or comfort us. Nay if No●, job and Daniel, even these three righteous persons, or any other holy Patriarch, Prophet, Apostle, Saint, or Angel should see their own friends, Father, mother, wife or children in that hellish place of the damned, and would make intercession for them, they could not deliver their souls. Nay that which is more, and more lamentable, those that shall be placed in the joys of heaven shall be so far from having any natural compassion, either the father, which shall be saved, of the child, which shall be damned, or the child, which shall be saved, of the father's which shall be damned, 
john. 15. 4.  or the child, which shallbe saved of the father, which shallbe damned, or the wife which shallbe saved, of the husband, which shallbe damned or the husband, which shallbe saved of the wife, which shall be damned, that they shall continue none more than these their friends, whom they saw given over to all sin and wickedness in their lives, and by God's just judgement to be now tormented in hell s●re after their deaths. Thus we see, there are but two ways of all flesh, heaven or hell, two rewards, the one of joys the other of pains, two rewarders God and the Devil, two ends, good and evil, two sorts of people, the wretched in this life, and cursed in the life to come, the other happy through hope in this life, but most blessed in the life to come, when they shall enjoy the full fruition of that they hoped for, inheriting the kingdom, which hath been prepared for them from the foundation of the world through death, passion, and meditation of. jesus Christ their saviour, to whom with the father, and the holy Ghost, three persons and one God, etc.   

A Letter.  
SIR according to my promise, & your request I here send you a copy of my sermon preached before the right worshipful and my very good Patron the M. of the Rolls, and others the company of the six Clerks, praying you particularly (as with whom by occasion of a suit I had in Chancery, I was first acquainted, and through whom my acquaintance grew with the rest of your brethren) to impart the same unto them, not for any cause of desert in it, but for that it was their pleasures to desire it, and I gave promise to send it. Howbeit if it shall not so please their ears in the reading, as it doth move their hearts in the speaking, they must remember, it wanteth that spirit and action, wherewithal it was first delivered. And a sermon which hath been uttered with the tongue, and afterward is written with the pen, will seem no more like itself to those, that did first hear it, and shall now read it, than a dead image is like a living creature, or a dumb man like him, that can speak. Besides it wanteth divers cotations, which I would have added, if opportunity and leisure had served for it between the writing of it, and the sending of it. But whatsoever it wanteth in form or in words, I trust, you shall find it the same, that was delivered in substance. And so with hearty thanks for that general courtesy which I received at all your hands, I take my leave, praying you to account of me as yours deservedly always to be commanded in the Lord, according to the final tallente he hath lent me. The Lord jesus have you in his keeping, bless you with his holy spirit, and continue you in his fear. From Oxbrough this 18. of june.  
Yours and the whole Churches in the Lord. Thomas Scott.