THE Grand Assizes: OR, THE Doctrine of the Last General Judgement, with the Circumstances thereof: Comprised and laid forth In a SERMON Preached at the Assizes holden for the County of Southampton at Winchester, on Wednesday, July 28, 1652.  
By WILLIAM SCLATER Doctor in Divinity, Preacher of the Word of God in Broadstreet, London.  2 Cor. 5.10. 
We must all appear before the Judgement 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.  
Nemo futurorum metum cogitat, diem Domini, & iram Dei, & incredulis futura supplicia, & statuta perfidis aeterna tormenta nemo considerate: quod metueret conscientia nostra, si crederet, quia non credit omnino nec metuit, si crederet, & caveret, si caveret, evaderet.  S. Cyprian. de Unit. Eccles. sect. 23. 
London, Printed by E. Cotes, and are to be sold by John Sweeting at the sign of the Angel in Popes-head-alley, 1653.   

To the Honble John Wyld L rd. Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer, a Patriot of Justice, & an Exemplary Patron of true Piety; All Heavenly Benedictions.  
MY LORD,  
IT cannot but be known to your Lordship (being so full and rich a Magazine of all Learning, and Eloquence) that the two main 
(a) 1 King. 7.21.  Pillars, which as Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's Temple, do support a Church and Commonwealth, are 
(b) Eph. 4.12.  Ministry and 
(c) Ti●. 3.1.  Magistracy; the one upholding Religion, and Divine Worship; the other, Order, and Civil Justice: Happy is that people which is in 
(d) Ps. 144.15  such a case, where both of these do not as those twins within Rebecca 
(e) Gen. 25.22  struggle together, but rather as Righteousness and Peace sweetly 
(f) Psa. 85.10.  embrace, and kiss each other: It's very remarkable in Holy Writ, how the Spirit of 
(g) Eph. 4.3, 4.  Unity (to engage, no doubt, an harmonious accord between them) hath been pleased to denominate the persons 
(h) 1 Tim. 1.11.  entrusted with either 
(i) 1 Tim. 3.1.  Office, by one and the same name, styling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Public 
(k) Rom. 15.16. 1 Cor. 3.5. & Rom. 13.4.  Ministers of God for good; the one acting as Stewards of the 
(l) 1 Cor. 4.1.  Mysteries of God; the other as Dispenser's of Righteousness and 
(m) Ames 5.24  Judgement unto men; Both by Gods own 
(n) Rom. 10.15.  sending, and 
(o) Rom. 13.1.  appointment: And methinks, the serious meditation of this their so sacred institution, might powerfully put to 
(p) 1 Pet. 2.15.  silence the murmur whether of 
(q) 2 Tim. 3 4  heady sons of 
(r) 1 Sā. 10.27.  Belial (impatient even of the 
(s) Matt. 11.30.  easiest 
(t) The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belial is of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 jugum, id est absque juge. Hieren.  yoke of the Lord Christ) against them, or the repine of other Christians not well informed, or mistaken about either: Yea, indeed, it might prove a potent argument to 
(u) 1 Thess. 5.13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  esteem, or 
(w) Heb. 13.17.  obey the one, and to be 
(x) Tit. 3.1.  subject unto the other, even for 
(y) Rom. 13.5.  conscience of God. I can assure your Lordship, that those beams of encouragement (seconded also by that learned and godly 
(z) My Lord Ed. Atkins one of the Justices of the Court of Common pleas.  Judge then in the Western Commission with you) darted, and with so cheering a diffusion displayed from your splendour, as from a bright star of the greater magnitude, upon worthy Ministers, whom you have professed to reverence, even for their 
(a) 1 The. 5.13.  work sake, owning them (in your solid, religious, and elegant Charges given upon the public Bench of Judicature) under the title of The Lords 
(b) 2 Cor. 5.20.  Ambassadors, holding such as are found 
(c) 1 Tim. 1.12.  Faithful, as the Philippians did Epaphroditus, in 
(d) Phil. 2.29.  reputation; say those beams, by a sweet reflection, and influence, so warmed the breasts, and revived the drooping spirits of the godly Ministers, that the mention thereof proveth as an amulet, or even as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against all present misapprehensions, or future disconsolations: It is that which shall welcome your approach whithersoever Providence may direct your Judiciary Circuit, and embalm your Name with Honour, the fragrant odour whereof, shall be resented with a pious, and gladsome Commemoration in following generations.  
How willingly could I now wish myself a chrysostom, or a Nazianzen, some Thucydides, or Cicero, yea the Quintessence of all their Oratory united into one, and that as by some Pythagorical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transmigrated into my breast, that so I might but in some measure express (it being a skill beyond Apelles himself graphically and fully to delineate) your eximious endowments and perfections, which render you first a complete Christian, and so by far the better and more accomplished Magistrate.  
Should I mention your Ethics, or Moral part, if Plato, Aristotle, or the whole Chorus of the most refined Philosophers had lived in your days, your practice might have given them exact rules for all their descriptions, or characters of the Virtues; or if we look unto what is any way perfect in them, there needs no better Comment on them than your practice, in Justice, Temperance, Liberality, Mansuetude, and that architectonical virtue, which mainly steers all (for which also Sergius Paulus a governor is comm●nded in Scripture) 
(e) Act. 13.7.  Prudence.  
In your Theological or religious part, as is recorded of Cornelius, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, you are a 
(f) Act. 10.2.  Devout man, one that feareth God with all your house, a lover and frequenter of all Gods public Ordinances, giving much Alms to the people, and praying to God always; your retinue also, and attendants qualified after the perfect Canon of Scripture, with 
(g) Ps. 101.6, 7.  truth, 
(h) Tit. 2.10.  fidelity, and 
(i) Ephes. 6.5, 6, 7. Col. 3.22, 23.  single-hearted 
(k) Tit. 2.9.  obedience, and all sobriety.  
In your Noble profession, a Promptuary of the laws, a learned 
(l) Act. 5.31.  Gamaliel had in singular reputation; in the administration of Justice 
* 2 Sam. 23.3.  upright, and 
† Deut. 1.17.  impartial, and where is a meet Subject capable, full of clemency, bowels, and indulgence: A terror to none but to the evil, giving 
(m) Rom. 13.3.  praise and encouragement to every good man and work.  
All which considered, How can I but excecdingly congratulate unto myself the so unexpected Happiness of your Lordship's favour, and countenance! especially when I meditate the occasion thereof to have proceeded from your candid approbation of these my weak endeavours shown in this and some other Sermons, which you were pleased to desire (where as you might have commanded it) to the Press: The subject of it was seasonable, I hope, for that occasion, and generally useful for these times, intended as a Preservative against the growing malady of this corrupt age, Atheisin; Being straitened by the time, and your important business ensuing, this copious Theme, as a Camel passing through a needle's eye, was compendiated into a narrow compass: If your Lordship do look upon it as in itself, it is too mean a present for your acceptation, but if on the affectionate Heart wherewith it is tendered to your Patronage, you may judge it a great one: It's sometimes as Noble to accept small things as to confer great: such as it is, it prostrates itself at your feet, beseeching an entertainment, in finding whereof, his Devotions shall be enlarged for your bliss, Who is  
MY LORD, Your Lordship's humble Orator and Servant William Sclater.   

A SERMON Preached at the Assizes holden for the County of Southampton at Winchester, on Wednesday, July 28, 1652.  REV. 20.11, 12. 
And I saw a great white Throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the Earth and the Heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.  
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.  
HONOURABLE & BELOVED,  
I Cannot but esteem it as the great favour of Heaven, that in the revolution of a few months, the Divine Providence hath brought me again hither, and called me to this Public service, on the same occasion: I having the happiness to speak in such a presence, wherein not the pomp of any elaborate, or acquaint Humane Oratory; but the power of solid and sacred Divinity will be best regarded: of which whilst I rest persuaded, I shall humbly crave your Devotions, that the same Hand which gave this opportunity, would add also a success to this business.  
It were a facility (had I a mind to build a large Portall to my narrow house) to entertain your patience, a while, with a discourse of this Book of the Revelation, wherein there are so many 
* Rev 5.7.  sealed Mysteries almost, as Words, or Sentences; so 
(a) Mihi tota Apocalypsis valde obscura videtur, & talis, cujus explicatio citra periculum vix queat tentari: fateor me hactenus in nullius scripti Biblici lectione minus proficere, quàm in hoc obscuro vaticinio. Grascrus.  abstruse Aenigmas, as none but a Divine Oedipus can unriddle them: Insomuch that some of the greatest, and those too most sanctified Scholars have acknowledged, that they had rather 
(b) D. Rainolds of Oxford, Divis 4. against Hart. c. 8.  learn, than teach it: However some others, who to themselves have seemed as the sons of 
(c) Num. 13.33  Anak, of tall Imaginations, have yet proved, in the issue, but like 
(d) Luk. 19.3.  Zacheus, little in the stature of sound Judgement; and whilst they have gone about to give other men eyes to see John's. Visions more clearly, they have been overtaken, unawares, by their own 
(e) Job 20.8.  Dreams, and many of them outlived the date of their weak, yet bold, and daring Interpretations: I cannot but appland the modesty of Cajeian, (none of the meanest among the Schoolmen) who, after he had Paraphrased the Epistles, and Acts of the Apostles, professed, thus, Apocalypsin fateor me nescire exponere juxta sensum literalem, He was posed about the Literal sense of this Scripture, more meet for his Wonder, than his Exposition: And good reason, for it consisting of many Prophecies of things to come, and those too clothed with Allegories, and clad in Metaphors, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (to speak with 
(f) Sophocles in Antig. Nescia mens hominum fati, sortisque futurae. Virgil.  Sophocles) who could directly tell the sense, till the event was seen? that being the best Interpreter of dark predictions.  
Nevertheless, sith, as it is in our English Proverb, that Bones bring Meat to town, that is, Difficulties bring Comforts; as, in Sampson's Riddle, Judg. 14.14. Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness, that of the Ancient being true, Paseit apertis, excrect obscurts, as the Lord is pleased to delight us with the clearer, so to exercise us with the obscurer parts of Holy Writ; and as the Doctor of the Gentiles assures us, Rom. 15.4. Whatsoever was written, was written for our Learning: there being likewise some rills and brooks for the Lamb to wade in, as well as deeps for the Elephant to swim in: Give me leave, I beseech you, (sigh not of curiosity to feed fancy, but of a zealous disquisition to discover verity, I attempt it) to withdraw the Curtain, and to set open the Windows of this Text, that so the 
(g) 2 Cor. 4 6.  light of divine truth, in a bright serenity, may 
(h) 2 Per. 1 19  shine in upon your Minds, and Hearts, to illuminate the one, and to inflame the other, for the best advantage of the whole soul.  And I saw a great white throne, etc. 
Under which form of words we have, me thinks, according to St. John's Vision, The Grand Assizes, held upon the Day of the last general Judgement, described in variety of circumstances, which as the carving, or enamelling of some curious Watch, do exceedingly illustrate and adorn the same.  
And as in some solemn business of great importance there are usually some antecedaneous introductories to raise expectation, and win the greater veneration thereto: so here, we have something observable by way of praeparation; and something also by way of action, or dispatch: The Praeparation consists of the supposals foregoing, Men were dead, and those dead men again risen, and brought out of the prison of the grave, and set to the Bar: Death; and the Resurrection from Death precede the Judgement, I saw the dead, great and small, stand before God: The matter of Action, or Dispatch, is the Judgement itself following this Death, and Resurrection, The dead were judged, according to their works.  
The carriage, or managing of this Judgement is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, much what after the similitude of 
(i)  judicii species notior fieret Hominibus, judicandi forma ex his, quae inter Homines geruntur, assumpta est. Anselm. Comment. in Rom. 14.  Humane Judicatures here upon earth; save only with this odds, or difference: That in this Grand Assizes in my Text, the Judges themselves must then stand forth before the God of all Judges, even before the most dreadful Tribunal of the only Potentate, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords.  
Regum timendorum in proprios greges, 
Sen. tragoed.   
Reges in ipsos Imperium est Jovis.  
For, howsoever it be the style of Magistrates in the Scripture, to be called Gods, Psal. 82.6. namely, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in regard of the Dignity of their office; yet, though they be sons of the most High, they must die like Men; they being, as 
(k) Agapetus in Paraen. ad justin.  Agapetus told Justinian, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the substance, or nature of their Bodies, composed of the same brittle materials with other men; though (as I said on the last like occasion) they be Gods with Men, yet are they but Men with God: so that all subordinate thrones must then be cast down, Dan. 7.9. all Commissions given up, and a strict account be taken both of themselves, and of their stewardship, even before Him, who by Daniel (who was the John of the Old, as John was the Daniel of the New Testament) is described under the title of The Ancient of Days, sitting upon his throne [Imperial and Paramount,] whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool, his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels like burning fire; A fiery stream issued, and came forth from before him; Thousand thousands ministered unto him, and Ten thousand times Ten thousand stood before Him, The Judgement was set, and the Books were opened: So Daniel.  
Now, this great Judicature is, in this Text, described after this manner.  

The Division.  
1. By the Judicatory, or Seat of Judgement, with its Epithets, or Adjuncts, ver. 11. I saw a throne, and that a great, and a white throne.  
2. By the Judge sitting on that throne, who is God himself, set forth under expressions of Majestic terror; from whose face the Earth, and the Heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.  
3. By the persons to be judged, and that impartially, The Dead, small, and great.  
4. The Arraignment of all those persons, They stand before God.  
5. The Indictment, The Books were opened.  
6. The Evidence, The things written in those Books.  
7. The Sentence, They were Judged.  
8. The Rule, ordering that Sentence, According to their Works.  
9 The means of the Discovery of all this to S. John. and by him unto us, and that was by revelation, or special vision; so himself acquaints us, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I saw, saith he, twice; this vision (as sometime Pharaoh's dream, Gen. 41.32.) was [doubled,] to show the certainty and assurance of what he thus had seen: I saw a great, white Throne— and, I saw the dead, great and small stand before God, etc.   
And these (at least as to my weak observation they occur) are the proper, and genuine parts of this Scripture; the present measures of my Sermon, and your Christian patience: Each of them being so important as they are do so invite your attentions, that I need not to stand courting your ears at all to obtain them: And so I address myself to my business, and that after this order, First, beginning with the Divinity, and the explication of the Text; and then proceeding unto the Morality, or the effectual application of the whole: Please to favour me with your patience, whilst I am (by God's blessing) in the dispatch of my Sermon, I shall be as contracted, as this deep matter, and your weighty affairs ensuing will give leave.  
But before I come directly to the several parts, I must of necessity say a few words of the supposals foregoing this last and Grand Assizes; and those are Death, and the Resurrection; Men were Dead, and those Dead men again risen, (for surely not deadmen, as dead, but as risen) were presented to the Bar, and there stood before God: (Wherefore the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead, and of eternal Judgement are conjoined, Heb. 6.2.) I saw the Dead, great and small stand before God.  
Mors a Morsu, saith 
(l) S. August. l. 1. Hypagnost. contr. Pelag. circamed.  Austin; No sooner had the serpent fastened the venom of his teeth on the Protaplasts, or our first Parents, and his temptation bitten them; but they by't the forbidden 
(m) Gen. 3.6.  apple, and death immediately bit them again; And so in in Adam all dye, saith the great 
(n) 1 Cor. 15.22.  Apostle, in as much as he was not Vnus but Vniversitas, as the Schoolmen express it, not considerable as a single man, by himself alone, but as a public person, representing the Universality of all mankind, the Nature whereof being contaminated in the first Fall, that infection runs still as tainted blood in the veins of Posterity to this day; so that now, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Damascen, The whole sublunary Creature is become subject to mutation, and as 
(o) Phil●, de Mundo.  Philo saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to Generation succeedeth a dissolution: Had man indeed stood in the honour of his first Creation, and not blotted the eximious pulchritude, and beauty of that 
(p) Gen. 1.26.  Image, in which he was first stamped, he had needed, as no Jesus to redeem his soul, so no Aesculapius, or Physician to cure his body, He should have had temperamentum ad pondus, as the Philosophers speak, so equal a temperature in the exact symmetry of parts, that no qualities in the Elements, of which he is compounded, should have contended for such a conquest, as should have routed him into his grave; For howsoever the Schoolmen (more curious, ofttimes, to raise doubts, than judicious to assoil them) had a conceit, that if the first Adam had never fallen; yet the second Adam, (the Lord Christ) had come in the flesh, ad decus & ornamentum generis humani, for the Honour, and ornament of the Humane nature; yet that is but the play of some wanton wits, it is not the plea of any solid judgement; sigh it disappoints, at least misapprehends the proper end of Christ's coming in the Flesh, which was, to suffer for, and to 
(q) 1 Tim. 1.15.  save sinners, even such as by what Names, or Titles soever they are distinguished above ground, like to the several Chessemen as they stand in the game, under several notions, on the table, yet being shuffled all together into one common bag, they have no distinction in the dust at all: But in 
(r) Mat. 27.33.  Golgotha (as saith the Hebrew Proverb) are skulls of all fizes, as well great as small: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Agapetus, for all have reason to say to Corruption, Thou art my 
(s) Job 17.14.  Father, and to the Worms, Thou art my Mother, and my Sister: some Great ones, perhaps, like Teeth, may here dwell as in the mouth of Honour, eat up or oppress a man and his 
(t) Mic. 2.2.  heritage, as the Prophet speaks, grinding the face of the poor; or as Sapor King of Persia writ Brother to the Sun and Moon; or as the twelve Caesars divide the twelve months between them, washing their steps in 
(u) Job 29.6.  Butter, housing themselves like snails, in their golden shells, and painting the earth as they pass with their silver slime, and on the Theatre of this world act their parts so, as they can blast with their breath, thunderstrike with their frown, and crush with their singer; but the Interlude will end anon, and then they must all get them along down to Death's tiring House, as well as others, as well Alexander as Dametas, fair Nereus as deformed Thersites; there is no remedy, they must unstrip, they must uncase, and be all unclothed, they must exchange their Canopies of state for costins, their Ivory couches for graves, their Palaces for charnel houses, their Tapestry for shrowds, and all their embroidered Mantles for coverlets of dust; Sic in non Hominem vertitur omnis Homo; Dust at the first was man's Composition, and into dust at the last will be his resolution, Gen. 3.19. Homo ab 
(w) Man is named in Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adam, of Adamab, the earth, or, the red earth.  Humo; and whilst even the best men carry about them a 
(x) Rom. 7.24.  Body of death, they must unavoidably (for the abolishing of the remainders of Corruption, the Law in their members) expect the death of the body, for the wages of Sin is Death, Rom. 6.23. They say there stands a Globe of the world at one end of a great Library, and the Sceleton of a man at the other end; which may not unfitly be thus moralised, though a man were Lord of all that he sees in the Map of the world, yet he must die, and become himself a map of morttlity; even provant for worms to revel with in the grave: It's true indeed what 
(y) Stitius lib. 9 Theb.  Statius utters in his losty verse, Mille modis Lethi miseros mors una fatigat.  
Though there be many ways to one, and the same 
(z) Solomon, Eccles. 12.5. calls the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domum seculi the House of age.  long home, yet we must all meet together at last in the same 
(a) Job 30.23.  House, and in the chambers of death must be our dwelling: that Grammarian who can decline a Noun in every Case, yet cannot decline Death in any Case: In short, this being a Doctrine which more needs application, than proof, sith, as 
(b) In ortu adhue suo, ad finem nativitas proper at. S. Cyprian. contr. Demetrian. Tract. 1.  one saith, Naseimur morituri, we are no sooner born, but instantly we begin to die; as M●ses had no sooner wrote his Book of Genesis, but soon after his Book of Exodus; we die from infancy into childhood, from childhood into youth, from youth into age, and from age into old age, and perhaps into dotage, and at length into the grave: surely, it were well, if every one of us could (as one observes) out of the Acrostic Letters in the four degrees, or steps of man's Age, to wit, Puerit a, Juventus, Virilitas, Senectus, experimentally make up Pius; that piety might be the golden thread to run through all; that we would die before we do die, so that when we do die, we may not die; that is, that we would die daily unto 
(c) Rom. 6.7. 1 Pet. 2.24.  sin by continual mortification of all our vile, and corrupt affections, before we do die into our graves, by a natural dissolution, so that when we do die a natural death, we may not die the death eternal; which death eternal doth not consist in the annihilation, or utter abolition of the Body and Soul in regard of their being, or subsistence, as the Epicures might sancy, 1 Cor. 15.32. but only of the cessation of their well-being, in regard of the everlasting separation of both from the gracious and glorious 
(d) 2 Thes. 1.9.  presence of Almighty God, and withal of the plunging of both into the sense of torments in both unto all eternity, even for ever and ever: By this occasion, sigh we are sure we must die 
(e) Heb. 9.27.  once, and but once, as the day hath but one star, but it is the Sun, the Lioness but one young one, but it is a Lion; so we having but one death, it had need be a good one: We perhaps securely contemplate our Natural complexions, having milk in our breasts, and 
(f) Job 21.24.  marrow in our bones, blithe, and buxom at the present, may be apt to say to the summons hereof, as sometimes Felix did to S. Paul reasoning of righteousness, temperance, and judgement to come, Act. 24.25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Go, thy way for this time, till a more convenient season; whereas, it may be, in respect of the Lords Divine Prescience, according to which from eternity every man's days are 
(g) Job 14.5, 14.  appointed, it may be this night, before we know what 
(h) Prov. 27.1. Jam. 4 14.  to morrow may bring forth, our 
(i) Luk. 12.20.  souls may be taken from us: But yet, if we consummate, and finish a good life before Death seize on us, so that the thought of our 
(k) Deut. 32.29. Eccles. 7.36.  end be still at the end of our thoughts; it will not be to the godly in insidiis, as a snare, but always in januis, under expectation as at our doors: the stroke of Death can never be too sudden, when to a mortified soul it's always under expectation; Thus, qui moritur, non moritur, quando moritur, as S. 
(l) August. lib. 65. quaest. qu 32.  Austin made his riddle, so prepared, he doth not die, when he doth die.  
Yea, he so dyeth, that he both is, and shall be sure to live, and rise again: and so shall all others of all sorts whatsoever: None ever but a 
(m) Luk. 10.27.  Sadduce, or men infected with the same leaven, denied it: those dry bones in Ezekitl, chap. 37. which being made to live again, having breath, and sinews, and flesh drawn over with skin, did immediately indeed represent new vigour to be shortly put into the dead hopes of the Jews; but yet by many, or most Divines taken notice of likewise as 
(n) Peter Martyr. loc. Com. Class. 1. p. 82. num. 24.  a Type of the Resurrection: foredenoted, say some, in Aaron's rod, which being plucked up by the roots, withered and dry, 
(o) Numb. 17.8.  budded afresh; so 
(p) Rabanus Maurus Comment. in jerem. cap. 1. fol. 7.  Rabanus Maurus; hanselled it was also in those raised under the Old Testament, as the 
(r) 2 King. 4.36.  Shunamites son. and the man 
(s) 2 King. 13.21.  who touched the bones of Elisha, etc. and some others raised by Christ, under the New Testament, as 
(t) Joh. 11.44.  Lazarus, the widow's 
(u) Luk. 7.15.  son of Naim, the 
(w) Mar. 5.42.  daughter of Jairus, those Candidates of immortality, as one calls them; and in express texts, there is enough in both Testaments to evince it; both the 
(x) Cant. 4.5.  breasts of the Spouse yield us milk, which we may thence 
(y) Isa. 66.11.  suck out, and be satisfied with as with the breasts of consolation: so Isa. 26.19. Thy dead men shall live, and the earth shall cast out the dead; the almost whole fifteenth chapter to the Corinthians is spent on the same subject: yea, some Christian Philosophers have attempted to draw as much for the thing itself from grounds of regulated reason; even from the very desire that the separated soul hath to be reunited again to the body; for, consider the foul, not as absolutely in itself, a spiritual, immortal substance: but respectively, and with relation to the body, as it was forma informans, or, as by 
(z) Aristot. lib. de Anima.  Aristotle, under that notion, it's called, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that specifical form, or first act which gave individuation to that body, which in toto composito, in conjunction with itself, denominates the reasonable creature Man: now, in this respective consideration, the soul, under separation from the body, which it did inform, during that state, subsists in an imperfect kind of being: Now, as all things naturally desire to be preserved in being, so also in the most perfect kind of being, suitable to the end of their first Creation; so the soul desires naturally a reunion again with that body which it did inform, ratione Termini, in regard of the Term, or end of that desire; although indeed ratione modi, in regard of the manner, and means, how this should be accomplished, this is supernatural, and requires a divine power to effectuate: The sum is, (for I must hasten to my main intention) thus all both Saints, and castaways shall be raised up, at the last day, the one sort by the Spirit of Christ, Rom. 8.11. for Christ himself being the 
(a) Eph. 4.15.  Head of the Church, quod praecessit in Capite, sequetur in Corpore, He being the First-fruits of them that sleep in him, 1 Cor. 15.20. Cumeadem sit ratio primitiarum, & tetius cumuli, as Beza glosseth it, there being the same reason of the whole lump as of the 
(*) Deut. 26.  First-fruits, in point of Consecration, all 
(b) Resurrexit Christus, ut resurrecturum se, non dubitet Christianiae. S. August. ser. 162. de Temp.  members of Christ's Mystical Body must, and shall be raised also from their dormitories, and beds of rest to take possession of their Glory: and the other sort by the power of Christ, (being Lord both of the dead, and living, Rom. 14.9.) shall be summoned likewise from their graves, as Malefactors are startled from their dungeons to be 
(c) Joh. 5.29.  brought forth to their Executions: Both these sorts like to the Letter of 
(d) Litera Pythagorae discrimine secta bic●●● Humanae vitae speciem preferre videtur.  Pythagoras, (the letter Y) having two ends divided at the top, they are raised up, but unto several ends, according to what we read most oppositely to this purpose, Dan. 12.2. Job. 5.28, 29. (with which saying I shall now close up all that I have now to say of these two supposals, or praecedaneous praeparatives to my main business) Marvel not at this, saith our Saviour; for the Hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice; and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the Resurrection of Life, and they that have done evil, unto the Resurrection of Condemnation. And thus fare of what was observable by way of praeparation to this great Assizes: we now come to the matter itself of Action, or of Dispatch therein.  
In my discourse of which I shall follow the order wherein the words are here set down by S. John, and then, the first particular, that as Abraham in his Tent, stands here in the 
(e) Gen. 18,1.  door of the Text, to invite your observation, is the means of Discovery, by which S. John came to have the knowledge of all this, and that was by Revelation, or by special vision; for he saith, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I saw: where we must take notice by the way, that he doth express himself, more Prophetico, after the manner of the Prophets, in the Praetertence, speaking by way of anticipation, of a thing as it were already past, though it was wholly future, and to come, to show the certainty thereof, assuredly to come to pass, as if it had been actually passed already, and over.  
But the point that we have here offered to our consideration is this; viz. Quaere. Whether in these days, Visions be extraordinarily vouchsafed, and so may be expected as means of imparting to us what the mind of God is in the affairs of life, and salvation to the Church of God?  
Answ. The better to clear my passage to a direct resolution of this Quaere, it shall not be amiss on this occasion, (but succinctly) to present you as in a Man, the several ways of extraordinary revelations mentioned in the Scripture, concerning the will of God, or the issues, and events of things.  
These were either 
(f) Vid. Pet. Martyr. loc. Commun. sect. 6. p. 8.  Oracles, or Signs, or Urim, or Lots, or Prophets, or Dreams, or Visions.  
Oracles were, when by 
(g) Act. 7.38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  lively voice God was pleased to inform his servants of his will, as in the Sanctuary from betwixt the two Cherubims, Exed. 25.22. God was pleased, in the exigents of his Church to reveal his will unto his people, by the High Priest; in this manner spoke He to Abraham, to Moses, to Samuel, and to other eminent and eximious Saints recorded for Heaven's favourites, in holy writ.  
Omina, or Signs, by which men might understand his will; as in the instance of 
(h) Gen. 22.  Abraham's offering up his only son, in a 
(i) Heb. 11.19.  type of Christ's own oblation of himself, 
(k) Heb. 10.14. & Heb. 9.28.  once for all; in Moses typical lifting up the 
(l) Num. 21.9. joh. 3.14.  brazen serpent in the wilderness; in gideon's 
(m) judg. 6.37.  fleece; in Jeremiah's, and Ezekiel's using of 
(n) jer. 27.2.  yokes, and 
(o) Ezek. 7 23.  chains, and such like visible representations of what should, under certain terms expressed, ensue.  
Urim, whereof we read, Exod. 28.30. Numb. 27.21. 1 Sam. 28.6. a stone, or stones in the Breastplate of the High Priest, which (as some out of 
(p) josephus' Antiq. l. 3. c. 9  Josephus, and Suidas conceive) if it became shining, it boded victory, or good success, if of a bloody colour, war, and if black, death.  
Lots were sometimes used to determine doubtful issues, or elections, Prev. 16.33. as in the choice of Mathias the Apostle, Act. 1.26.  
That of the Prophets is known, who sometimes in 
(q) Numb. 12.6.  Dreams had by the Lord represented to their fancies, or minds what he would have believed, or done, or expected.  
And the last way was by 
(r) Gen. 1.15. Psal. 89.19. Prov. 29.18. Isa. 1.1.  Visions, when the Lord, either to the understanding, or to the imagination, or else 
(s) Act. 10.11.  visibly to the fight was pleased to exhibit the representation, or semblance of what he purposed to effect; which kind of Revelation Ezekiel, Daniel, Zachary, and here St. John were acquainted with.  
Now, as concerning all the former sort in use during the dispensations under the Old Testament, I suppose the question is out of question with us all about their cessation: Quaest. We are to inquire, whether such like Visions, (or else immediate instincts, or Enthusiasms) may be expected, or will be afforded to ordinary Christians, under these days of Gospel-dispensations.  
Answ. To which I answer, that Howsoever we may not tie the Lord to his ordinary means, for we know, he can work above, yea without them; as there was 
(t) Gen. 1.2.  light before the Sun and Moon were made; yet we have reasons many to persuade us, that the Lord now deals not by Visions, or Revelations extraordinary; and whosoever do pretend such directions, it's to be feared, they are but vain, delusive apparitions, or dangerous, and Satanical impostures.  
My reasons are these. 1. Because the Lord hath now made perfect the 
(v) Gal. 6.16 Phil. 3.16.  Rule of Faith, and Life, and given us an absolute Canon of Doctrine, to which there may nothing be added, nor from which the least jota be detracted, 2 Tim. 3.15, 16. So that to instruct us in a matter of faith, or moral practice, Visions are all now unnecessary.  
2. For particular Events, and accidents of the Church of God, which were the usual matter of Visions and Revelations, he hath given us reason to think, that he will no longer instruct his Church by that means extraordinary, because the charge runs so precisely, to add nothing to the words of the Prophecy of St. John's Book, under penalty of having addition made to our plagues, Rev. 22.18. He would intimate in that charge, that by that Prophecy he hath fully instructed his Church in all things convenient for it to know, unto the end of the world.  
3. Even then, when was place for Visions and Revelations, the Rule was, to 
(w) Isa. 8.20. Act. 17.11.  examine all by the Word of God; so that if any thing came under colour of Divine Revelation, obtruded upon the Church of God, that held not currant at that Touchstone, it was, as a probation (in God's permission) of his people, Deut. 13.13. So, in itself, and in the issue, a fanatical 
(x) Isa. 66.4.2 Thess. 2.11.  delusion, like to some Meteor, or Comet, fed only by unwholesome exhalations, which speedily vanish without heat or light; it was not say of the true 
(y) Mal. 4.2. Rev. 12.1.  Sun Christ Jesus, in whose 
(z) Psal. 36 9  light alone it is, that the Saints of God do see the solid light of the Truth; Wherefore, saith the Prophet, Isa. 8.20. To the Law and to the Testimony; if they speak not according to this 
(*) Quae libeo legis non cominem us, ca nec nosse debemus. Hilar.  Word, it is because there is no light in them.  
And yet those grand Impostors of Rome, to this day, boast of I know not what lumen Propheticum, continued in their Church; and for most of their paradoxes in the questions of Purgatory, Prayer for the Dead, Invocation of Saints, etc. when other arguments drawn from dark, Allegorical texts, or Apocryphal books fail them, at length, they come to Visions, and Apparitions of Souls, that have appeared to the living, and testified, some, their tortures, some, their deliverances, by prayers, and suffrages of the Living: others pretending the lively voyee of the blessed Virgin from Heaven, as that, Benede me scripfisti, Thoma, applauding what Thomas had written of her: at another time, speaking through her image, or statue in the Temple, giving the Good morrow to St. Bernard, who yet to confute the imposture, gave answer, that she had forgotten St. Paul's rule, It was not lawful for a woman to speak in the 
(a) 1 Cor. 14.34  Church: But I forbear to offend your patience with these vanities; I only touched at them in my way, the more to fasten on all Gods holy people (truly such) the persuasion, to keep themselves praecisely to the written Word inspired by, and joined with the Spirit of all truth. Isa. 59.21. even that [sure] Word, 2 Pet. 1.19. as St. Peter, that Word of Truth, as St. Paul calls it, 2 Tim. 2.15. Gal. 2.5.  
This of St. John was an Apostolical, Personal privilege, (not to be drawn into common imitation, or into ordinary expectation) He being immediately acquainted of this secret of the manner of the last Judgement, by Vision extraordinary: It is not privilegium, but pravilegium, not a warrantable favour to be expected, but a praesumptuous tempting of God to be avoided; if ordinary Christians, with slighting, or omission of the Word written, do for their direction, expect Visions now, after the prophecy of St. John's Book is finished.  
And thus much, if not too much, of the means, by which St. John first came to have to him revealed, for the general information of the Church of God, this carriage of the Grand Assizes: It was by Vision; so we read in the Text, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, I saw.  
And so I hasten to the sight itself, or to what he did see, and that is here described, first, to be the Judicatory, or Seat of Judgement itself, with its Epithets, or Adjuncts, I saw a throne, and that a great, and a white throne.  
A Throne, is a Seat of majesty, and glory; as when Solomon would be seen in his might, ascends his royal 
(b) 1 King. 10.19, 20.  throne, supported by twelve Lions, the emblems of power, and of undaunted courage: Now, whether St. John saw any 
(c) Vid. Geyard. e. 5. ●om. 6. sect. 58.  created Seat, visibly in some shining clouds, in the which Christ shall come, any material Throne, or rather such a semblance of majesty presented to him, is no point of curious disquisition: under this expression of a Throne, or of the Throne of his glory, mentioned here, and in St. Matthew, ch. 19.28. & 25.31. I apprehend is meant the 
(d) Dieteric. In Festo Convers. Pauli, p. 180, 181.  glory, the mighty power, and justice of the Lord Christ; in the manisestation of himself as the 
(e) 2 Tim. 4.1.  Judge of Quick and Dead, in his glorious appearing, as St. Paul calls it, Tit. 2.13. or in the presence of his glory, as St. Judas, v. 24 It hath the Epithet of Great, to denote his Majesty; and of White, to declare his Purity, and the 
(f) Psal. 51.4. Rom. 3.4.  clearness of his just proceed Venit Christus 
(g) S. August. l. 3. c. 8. de Symb. ad Catech.  occulte judicandus, veniet &  judieaturus, 2 Thess. 1.7. or thus, Great, to show his Severity, White, to denote his Lenity, even in the midst of that Severity; and both these exercised, when Actually [upon] his throne, namely, when Seated, when the Judgement, as Daniel speaks, was 
(h) Dan. 7.10.  set, commonstrating thereby the wise deliberation observed in this final Judicature: I might speak to each of these, and as the Disciples, by 
(i) Luk. 6.1.  rubbing of these ears, come to the solid grain, by discoursing on them find out the very 
(k) Psa. 63.5.  marrow and sweetness therein contained: First, for the severity of this Judge, it's to the life resembled by Daniel, ch. 7.9, 10. when he saith, that his throne was like the fiery flame, a fiery siream issued, and came forth from before, him, and so in his wrath God is said to be a consuming fire, Heb. 12. ult. and the Psalmist, to express it, in the Actual execution, compares it to the Hills melting like wax at the presence of the Lord: at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth, Psal. 97.5. To this purpose tends that expression, in the person of the Lord Christ, Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before my face, Luk. 19.27. Nor is it more than equal, that those, who in the fury and rage of their impetuous corruptions 
(l) Psal. 2 3.  tear the bonds of Christ's injunctions in sunder, (at least in their attempts), should when he is advanced, and got into his throne, bind them fast in 
(m) Psa. 149.8.  chains, yea and though they were Nobles themselves, in links of iron; the meaning is, to crush them as Christ, an anointed 
(n) Psal. 2.6.  King; who refused him for a Jesus, a redeeming Saviour.  
And yet, if ye peruse Rev. 4.3. ye shall there read, that howsoever He who sat upon the throne, was to look upon, like a Jasper, and a Sardinstone, which sparkled with radiant, blazing, and dazzling colours, or coruscations; yet even then he had a rainbow round about that throne, in sight like unto an Emerald; the 
(o) Gen. 9.13.  rainbow was a sign of the Covenant of favour, after the great deluge of the old world; and the Emerald being green, and fresh, delighteth the eyesight: Whereto tendeth all this? but to show a strong propensity to mercy even in the 
(p) Hab. 3.2.  midst of severity; yea, the very damned in hell find this, for though a greater judgement could not befall them Extensive, in regard of Continnance, for it's Everlasting; yet Intensive, he could lay more upon them than they suffer: It's an old word in Orthodox Divinity, God rewardeth Ultra condignum, punisheth citra condignum, Ezra 9.13. Christ is said in the Revelation, 1.13. to wear his girdle about his paps, or breast; we, about our loins; we, about our loins 
(q) Luk. 12.35.  the seat of Concupiscence, to curb that; Christ, about his breast, these at of Anger, to restrain it, to wit, in point of Execution; the motion of anger in Christ's bosom was like the stirring of pure water in a crystal glass, without all disorderly 
* His girding about the paps and breasts signifieth, that there is no defect, or aberration in any motion, or affection in our Saviour Christ; but every thought, and inclination of his heart is kept in order by the fullness of the Spirit. Mr. Ed Leigh Annot. ib  perturbation, such as is in the defiled, muddy, and polluted breasts of sinful men; indeed, the Lord is so propense to snew 
‖ There is a sweet expression in ludg. 10.6. His soul was [grieved] for the misery of 〈◊〉 he doth not afflict [willingly] nor grieve the children of men, Lam 3.33 In all their affliction he is afflicted, Isa. 63.9. Atque delet quoties cogitur esse serox: Therefore in the Psalms we read that God as he had a red to Correct, so withal a staff to Support, Psal. 23.4.  the acts of benignity rather, than the contrary of extreme rigour, that even when he is proceeding to the very act of Execution, his very Heart is turned within him, and his repentings are kindled together, making many expostulations both with the sinner, and with his own mercy, How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? etc. Hos. 11.8. Justice and Mercy strive, as it were, which shall first manifest itself; Justice like Zarah, one of Tamars' twins, Gen. 38.28. puts out the hand, on which is bound a scarlet thread of a bloody colour; but it draws back the hand again, till Mercy like to Pharez breaketh forth before it, and carries the priority, ver. 29, 30. But I must hasten, ye see here in the Text, as the Throne was Great, to strike terror into the hearts, even of the mightiest Potentates upon earth; so also it was White, the colour, as of Clearness, and Innocence; so, of Lenity, Kindness, and of Indulgence.  
And, (which must not be passed over) both these exercised, when actually upon his Throne, Seated there; not, in any posture of haste, as on any sudden to pass sentence, before due pausing, examination, or conviction; He first sits down, and ponders the whole cause; As much as this was intimated in the Lords proceeding with Sodom, Gen. 18.21. the enormities whereof, though they were exceeding clamorous, and cried to heaven for judgement; yet before the execution of fire and brimstone upon them, he is said, first, to go down, and see whether all things answered that loud and lewd report of their unnatural and most prodigious crimes: I saw (saith St. John) a great while throne; Great, for Terror, and Severity; White, for Lenity, and Moderation; a Throne, for Counsel, and sage Deliberation.  
And so I come to the next particular, which the Text in order presents us with, and that is the Judge fitting on his throne, who is here said to be God himself, set forth under expressions of Majestic terror, from whose face the earth and the heaven flee away, and there was found no place for them.  
God himself then is the Judge, seated upon his throne; so is his style, Heb. 12.23. God the Judge of all, even Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity; which howsoever distinguished in regard of Personal subsistence, and peculiar appropriations of operations, yet are still but One, and the same in Essence, and divine Being; even as if you take water, and ice, and snow, though in Apprehension distinct things, yet put together into one vessel, and dissolved, all prove but one water: or, as 
(r) Gregor. Nyssen Catech. 15.  Gregory Nyssen makes the observation, in Abraham, Gen. 18.2, 3. who though, as it's said, He saw three men from his tent door, yet he called all but [my] Lord, in the fingular; as for the device of the Rabbins, that these three Men were three Archangels, Michael, who foretold the birth of Abraham's Son; Raphael, who healed him of his wound received in his Circumcision; and Gabriel, who rescued Lot out of Sodom; this conceit we may reckon among those which St. Paul calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, foolish and unlearned questions, 2 Tim. 2.23. the mystery of the Text is to represent the Trinity of Persons, in the Unity of the divine Essence: so Isa. 33.22. The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, this threefold repetition of the word Jehovah, implieth the mystery of the Holy Trinity, as 
(s) joh. Gerard. loc. Com. tom. 9 c. 3. sect. 26. tract. de Extremojudicio.  Gerard apprehends it: To the Father judgement is given, Psal. 9.8. The Lord hath prepared his throne for judgement, and he shall judge the world in righteousness; & Joh. 8.50. There is one that judgeth, saith Christ of his Father; compare we 1 Pet. 1.17. To the Son it is ascribed, Act. 10.42. 1 Cor. 4.4. 2 Tim. 4.1.8. to the Holy Ghost, Isa. 4.4. called the Spirit of Judgement: The ground of this is that known Maxim in Divinity, Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa, look as the Essence of the three Persons is equal, individed, and the same, so is the power, and work one, in relation to the Creature.  
And yet, howsoever this be orthodox truth, that the whole Trinity do judge, in regard of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or consubstantiality, Authoritatively; nevertheless, the whole execution of this Judgement, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in regard of Dispensation, is committed unto the Son; the Father, and the Spirit judge, but by the Son; so Dan. 7.13, 14. Act. 17.31. He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained, So Rom. 2.16. God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ; in which respect, the Judgement Seat is said to be Christ's, Rom. 4.10. 2 Cor. 5.10. And this is also an Article of our Creed.  
The reasons of it are principally these two.  

1. First, because the proceed of the last Judgement being to be Visible, it seemed good to the blessed Trinity, to appoint the managing thereof to the man Christ Jesus, that so the Judge might be seen in Majesty; hence it's said, Joh. 5.27. He hath given him Authority to [execute] judgement also, [because] He is the Son of many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as 
(t) Pelargus in lo●. p. 62.  Pelargus expounds it, that is, according to his Humanity; for, this particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because, in this place, is not Aitiologicall, Causal, for the Humane nature is not the Cause, of which that Judiciary power doth depend; but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Demonstrative, showing the Nature, in respect of which that power is said to be communicated unto Christ, the second Person: Now, the Godhead being invisible, 1 Tim. 1.17. & 6.16. it is said truly, Matth. 24.30. They shall [see] the Son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven, with power and great glory; and Zach. 12.10. compared with Rev. 1.7. They shall [look] on him, whom they have pierced; so likewise Act. 1.11. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner, as you have [see] him go into Heaven.  
2. Secondly, because it is a part of the recompense of his Humiliation, I am sure an especial part of his Regal authority, by virtue whereof all the enemies of his Spiritual Kingdom shall be forced to submit to the equity of his Sentence, Rom. 14.11. Every knee shall how to him, and at his Name, Phil. 2.10. that is, all Creatures shall yield him homage, and be forced to acknowledge his power, sceptre and sovereignty: The Apostles indeed, Matt. 19.28. are said to judge the world, by their solid Doctrine, and eminent Example, convincing them of their error, and ungracious courses; and all the Saints in general likewise, 1 Cor. 6.2. shall judge even the Angels; however, not by Original, and Supreme authority; yet, as 
(v) Ephe. 2.6.  Assessors with the Lord Christ, as it were upon the same Bench, by approbation, applauding the 
(w) Rev. 19.1.  Justice of him, who being, as Abraham styles him, Gen. 18.25. the Judge of all the earth, cannot but do right.   
Now, for the majesty under which he is here described, in these words; From whose face the earth and the Heaven flee away, and there was found no place for them; many are the conjectures for the sense; some understanding it of the abolishing, and utter annihilation of the whole frame of this present Universe, being totally dissolved, and melted by the fire of Conflagration at that day: some modern Expositors incline to this, for that they read, Rev. 21.2. I saw a new Heaven, and a new Earth; for the first Heaven, and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea: though 
(x) S. August. de Civ. cap. 14. & 16. Ambros. Primas. Bede, Arethas, Ribera, ad loc. P. Lombard. l. 4. Dist. 47. D.  others, with as much judgement, apprehend it only to be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a mutation, or alteration, in respect of qualities, and the present species, or corrupt form, not of the actual destruction of their Essence, or Being; a change of them into a melioration, not an abolition by annihilation; and they expound it by that in the Psalmist, Psal. 102.25, 26. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the Heavens are the work of thy hands, they shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: As a Vesture] Now, you know the substance of the Body may remain the same, though the Vesture that covers it be exchanged from an old [
(*) 1 Cor. 7.31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  fashion], to a new: Now as a Diamond is not so well cut as by a Diamond, no more is the Scripture interpreted comparably, as by itself: And to the same purpose is that, we read in 2 Pet. 3.13. where is mention made of new Heavers, and a new Earth, after those that now are, vers. 7. being reserved unto fire, are purged by it: Which fire at the last day, as 
(z) Bonaventur. ad 4 sent. D. 48. qu. 1.  Bonaventure 
(a) Durand. in 4. sent. D. 47. qu. 3. , Durandus, and Schooltmen are of opinion, shall not, (even as the waters were not in the old deluge) be anew created, as a new material Element; But, it shall be only Ignitio quaedam elementi purgandi, A certain fiery inflammation, even as iron is made hot by a vehement heat, not by receiving any new substantial form of fire into its self; By virtue of which Ignition, the old dross which sin had contracted over the face of the Creation, shall be defaecated, and repurged, and a new, fresh face, or beauty restored to it.  
And yet, notwithstanding all this, under the favour of more deep judgements, me thinks, by this flying away of the Heaven and Earth from before the face of this great Judge, is, as by a Periphrasis expressed, in effect, no more but this; namely, how the whole Creation shall be overwhelmed, after a sort, and vanish, as it were, at the glorious Presence, and clarity of the Lord Christ: They shall see the 
(b) Mat 24.30. Bellarm. l. 2. cap. 28. de Imag. so Maldonat. Co●el. a Lap.  sign of the Son of man, by which the Papists generally underrstand the ensign of the Cross, by which he got the victory over all his Enenties; others, some 
(*) See the elaborate Annotations collected by Mr. Edward Leigh, a choice Linguist, of various learning, and of great industry, on Mat. 24.30.  bright signal testimony of his dreadful, and majestic approach to judgement, when the powers of heaven shall be 
(c) See Heb. 12.26, 27.  shaken, the earth tremble, the mountains be overturned: 
(x) 2 Thess. 1.7.8.  the stars shall fall from Heaven, though not really (for if one star be bigger than the whole globe of Earth, as Astronomers acquaint us, what shall receive them all, in their fall?) but seemingly, as it were frighted from their stations; and the Sun shall lose its light, though not in regard of its innate Being, yet in regard of the more glorious splendour of Christ's appearance; even as S. Paul comparing the Gospel with the Law, the Spirit with the Letter, saith, 2 Cor. 3.10. Even that which was made glorious, bade no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth: In a word, as the Psalmist hath it, Psal. 98.7. The sea shall roar, and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein, before the Lord, for he cometh to judge the earth; with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity; yea, and that impartially, even without respect of persons.  
Which leads me to the next particular, that here the Text in order presents us with, and that is the consideration of the persons, thus impartially to be arraigned, before this formidable, and majestic Judge: and these are small, and great; I saw the dead, small and great stand before God.  
Small and Great] that is, as well young, as old, as Ribera: poor and rich, so 
(d) Dionysius Carthusianus l. 2. c. 5. de quatuor Novissimis.  Dionysius Carthusianus, Kings and Caesar's, as well as Subjects, and Peasants; in which regard, we may say as the Psalmist, Psal. 49.1, 2. Hear this all ye People, give ear all ye Inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together; even men of low degree, and men of high degree, Psal. 62.9. all the Heathen round about, Joel 3.12. all nations, Mat. 25.32. All must appear before the Judgement seat of Christ, 2 Cor. 5.10. Christians and Pagans; yea, the righteous, as the wicked, Eccles. 3.17. Rom. 14.12. Whether 
(e) 2 Tim. 4, 1.  quick, that is, whom the last day shall find alive, or by a 
(f) 1 Cor. 15.51.  change, aequivalently dead, and revived again; or else having indeed been dead, are raised up again, even all the world, Psal. 98.9.  
Judicium faciet gestorum quisque suorum,  
Cunctaque cunctorum cunctis arcana patebunt.  
There is no respect of persons with God, Rom. 2.11. 1 Pet. 1.17.  
Some curiosities there are coined in the Mint of acquaint heads, (as they would be accounted) about this universality of appearance in Judgement: As, in what age, or stature, Infants, and others very young shall arise from the dead; and they have taken the boldness to determine, that it shall be about that Age, wherein Christ was in his fullness upon earth, to wit, about 33; misapplying to this purpose that Text, Eph. 4.13 They shall all come, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to the measure of the stature of the Fullness of Christ; or of the Age (as the original bears it) of the Fullness of Christ; whereas that place (if in my poor understanding, I misapprehend not) is more genuinely meant of that spiritual proficiency, which under the power of the Ordinance, by the work of the Ministry, must by be Believers improved to the highest degree: Another conceit of the Pontificians is, that Infants dying unbaptised appear not in Judgement, and their fancy is thus drawn out; Then, there shall be made a distribution into Sheep, and Goats; but such being unbaptised cannot be reckoned among the Sheep, by reason of their sin original, nor among the Goats, for the want of actual sin; whereas yet the Text saith, that S. John saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, small and little, as well as great and grown: Besides, that opinion is founded on a false supposal, to wit, of the absolute necessity of the work done in Baptism; so, as if, without the external application of the water in the Sign, there were an impossibility of sharing in the thing signified; against the orthodox Judgements of the Reformation, according to the Scriptures. Another tiffany dispute is this, How Solomon saith, Eccles. 3.17. That the righteous, as well as the wicked shall be judged; whereas it is said, that the Saints themselves shall be Judges of the world, as ye heard but now? To which the Resolution may be this, that the very Saints themselves, as well as others, shall in respect of 
(*) Gerard.  presentation be first presented before the Tribunal of Christ; but having received the 
(g) Rom. 2.5.  Declarative sentence of their absolution, of Come ye Blessed, they then meet the Lord in the air; partly, by the assistance (happily) of Angels, and partly, by the agility of their own glorified bodies, being caught up to be Assessors with Christ, in the splendid Clouds of his glorious appearance, as the Judge of all men, 1 Thess. 4.17.  
But to speak my mind freely, I am, in such 
(h) Vbi de re obscurissima disputatur, non adjuvantibus Divinarum Scripturarum certis, clarisque documentis, cohibere se debet Humana praesumptio, nihil faciens in alteram partem declinando. S. August. lib. 2. de Peccat. merit. cap. ult.  abstruse mysteries as these, of opinion, that it's safer to offend of too much modesty (if at least, that be an offence) then of too much audacity, and presumption to determine: 
(i) Quo modo atque or dine illud sit suturum magis tunc docebit [experientia] quam nunc valet consequi ad perfectum Hominum intelligentia. S. August. lib. 20. de civ. Dei, cap. 30.  Experience must, and will be, in this, the surest Umpire, in that great, and glorious Day of Revelation: In the mean time, in this grave assembly, I shall not present finespun opinions, as ornaments to be worn only in the ear; rather think it my duty to enforce the evidence of my Text; which is clearly, to convince us, that all, and every, small and great, shall impartially, and without respect of persons be presented before this awful, and majestic Judge of all the earth; For so saith expressly S. John in the Text, I saw the dead small and great stand before God.  
Which now brings me next in order to that part, which I styled the Arraignment of all persons, of what rank and condition soever they be, noted from this expression, They stand before God.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, as the word imports, as before the face of God; so that, whatsoever cunning Artifice there may be, to contrive Maeanders, or crafty fetches of wit, or machinations to conceal the hidden and forbidden things of darkness; saying with those in the 
(k) Psal. 10.11.  Psalm: Tush, the Lord shall not see; yet than all those pavilions, all those mantles of Darkness shall be to no purpose at all, nor of any more advantage to hid them from the all-seeing eye of this piercing, soul-searching Judge, than were those 
(l) Gen. 3.7.  fig-leaves to cover Adam's first nakedness, or that bush in Paradise, to shelter him from the voice, or wrath of Heaven: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉], saith the great Apostle, 2 Cor. 5.10. We must all appear, or [be made manifest] as the word imports, before the Judgement Seat of Christ: In this great Harvest day of the Lord, the Angels, as God's Reapers, shall from all the four corners of the world gather up all Nations, and then, as it is Matth. 25.32. Before him shall be gathered all Nations, all must come forth, as St. John expresseth it, Joh. 5.29. When the Lord cometh, saith Paul, 1 Cor. 4, 5 he both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: And again, Rom. 2.16. God shall judge the [secrets] of men by Jesus Christ; neither is there any Creature, that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked, and open unto the eyes of him, with whom we have to do, Heb. 4.13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 'tis in that Text by a Metaphor borrowed from Anatomists, who, to discover how 
(*) Psal. 139.15.  curiously the Lord had wrought all the parts of Nature within a man, are wont to dissect him even from the neck, per spinam dorsi, down through the very chine bone, and so the very inmost cells, and closerts, every nerve, and vein, and artery, and vessel is discovered, and laid open to the eye, and view of the dissector: Even so is the whole man, in his closest thoughts, imaginations, and intentions to the Lord the Judge: and the extent of this reacheth as well to the good, as to the bad, Eccles. 12.14.  
Godly men are, in this life, under a threefold cloud, hidden, Psal 83.3. and as it were unobserved, because obscured: The first is a cloud of Hypocrisy: it's an old word, Mundus universus exercet Histrioniam; as Players upon the Stage come on disguised under the habits of several Persons, they being nothing less indeed, than what they seem to be in show; and yet, till they be all unmasqued, are mistaken for what they only seem to be; by which occasion, tinsel often passeth for silver, and copper for gold, Hypocrisy for sincerity, a wooden leg with a silken stocking, a dunghill covered with snow, are taken for sound, and fair, till the sun discover the quite contrary: or, as Maginus writes, in his Geography, of the river Jordan, which ariseth at the foot of the mountain Libanus from a double head, the one being called Jor, and the other Dan, which glideth along in a sweet, and silver stream, pleasant to behold, but it emptieth itself at last, in mare mortuum, into the dead sea; so these hollow professors seem to 
(m) Isa. 12.3.  draw water, and to be refreshed from the Word and Sacraments, as from the two springs of Jor and Dan, and swim along in a stream of complacency to all beholders, not to be detected till, in the upshot, and 
(*) See 1 Cor. 4.5.  end of all, (which will be their trial) they empty themselves out into the dead sea of Apostasy: and indeed usually it proves true, whosoever gins in Hypocrisy ends in Apostasy: But yet till the Scene is over, and the Act done, during the time of the stage, it had need be a Lyncean eye to discriminate a true Nathanael, an Israelite indeed, from an opposite in disguise. And sigh it hath so pleased the Lord of the field to suffer tares to grow together with the wheat, until the Harvest, the nettle, and the myrtle, the hemlock, and the rose in the same garden, good fish and bad to be in the same Net, clean and unclean beasts in the same Ark, Simon Magus, and Simon Peter in the same Church among visible Professors, till the last 
(n) Mat. 3 12.  fan make a final 
(o) Mat. 25.23.  separation, the godly will be here under a cloud, by Hypocrisy.  
The second is a cloud of Sin and Corruption, which like a 
(*) Josh. 15.63. & 23.13.  Jebusite in Canaan will not out of their coasts, that Hydra of original evil will still be repullulating; as in the womb of Rebecca, so in the wills of the best men, Carnal Esau's often 
(p) Gen. 25.22.  struggle with Spiritual Jacob's; and, to speak with 
(q) Tertullian. l. 1. c. 5. contr. Nationes.  Tertullian in his African style, Caelum ipsum nulla serenitas tam colata purgat, ut non alicujus nubeculae flocculo resignetur, In the clearest serenity of the Firmament, some speckling cloud may be discovered, as a mole was in the very face of Venus, or a foil nigh set to some precious Diamond; some blots, ofttimes, in the face of the Church, as in the face of the Moon, to which she is resembled, Cant. 6.10. Yea, many times, when we would wind up our thoughts to the sweetest meditation upon God, they do like the pegs of an instrument, slip down between our fingers, and prove untunable; Now it falling out so, that the 
(r) Gal. 6.1.  slips of the Saints, though but of infirmity, being more both watched, and observed, than their firmest standing, these set them often under a cloud, and they become obscured.  
The third and last is a cloud of sorrows, and afflictions, to which they are appointed, Act. 14.22 A Christians life is not like the Hill Olympus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, wholly clear, without Clouds; Christianus is quasi Crucianus, as one saith, it comes from Crux, as well as Christus; nor can there be a truer inscription, wherewith to encircle so despised a coin as the Church is, then that in Can. 2.2. As a Lily among Thorns, so is my Love among the Daughters, sure to be torn by Adversity: she is like to the bush of Moses, preserved from 
(s) Exod. 3.2.  consuming, yet seldom out of the flames of Trial by sufferings; or, as the Ark of Noah, though saved from sinking, yet tossed in a sea, and 
(t) Gen. 7.17.  upon the billows of sorrow: and during that state, she is often beclouded under showers, and storms.  
But now, when the day shall come, wherein men make their general appearance, before this great Tribunal, in the Text; then shall all these clouds be removed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Mat. 13.43. Then, shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun, in the Kingdom of their Father: They shall not only come [to] Judgement, but be able also to stand [in] Judgement; yea, to lift up their heads with joy, and with alacrity stand before the Son of man, Luk. 21.28, 36. But, as for the ungodly, it is not so with them, They shall not stand in the judgement, Psal. 1.5. but, when the last shrill Trump shall blow, and the Dead arise, they shall, though all in vain, endeavour to hid their heads for horror, calling for rocks and mountains to 
(u) Rev. 6.16.  cover them from the presence of the Judge, who then shall set all their sins (though never so secret) in order 
(w) Psal. 50.51.  before their faces; even then, when they shall be dragged from the prison of their graves, shackled in the chains of guilt, and so arraigned, and set to the Bar of Justice, to stand before God.  
And so I pass from what I termed the Arraignment, to that, which in the order of Judicature, is called the Indictment, which here stands entered upon record, The Books were opened.  
I saw the Dead, small and great, stand before God, and the Books were opened.  
I hasten.  
By these Books thus here, and in Dan. 7.10. said to be opened, we may not apprehend any 
(x) Si hic liber carnaliter cogitetur, quis ejus magnitudinem, aut longitudinem valeat aestimare? etc. S. August. de Civ. Dei c. 4.  material Volumes presented before the Lord, with a Catalogue of the Names, or actions of all men to be Judged, as if the Lord did stand in need of any such Information; Lo, saith the Prophet, Psal. 139.5. Thou O Lord, hast beset me behind and before, searched me, and known my thoughts, words, and actions; Psal. 11.4. The Lord's Throne is in Heaven, his eyes behold, his eyelids, try the children of men: to the same purpose, Job 34.21. 
(y) Hesiod. lib 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as the Poet hath it; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, said an old Poet Philemon, mentioned by 
(z) justin. Martyr. lib. de M●narchia Dei.  Justin Martyr; the Platonists therefore called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the inspector of all things; and some Critics in the Greek tongue are of an apprehension, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, signifying God, is derived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of a word which denoteth an Universal seeing, or beholding of things: This searcher of all men's hearts doth alone 
(a) Hooker l. 3. p. 82. Eccles. Polit.  Intuitively know who are his, saith learned Hooker; The Lord Christ knoweth all things, saith Peter, Job. 21.17. & 2.25. to the same purpose are those many other Texts, Jer. 17.10. & 23.24. 1 King. 8.39. Psal 
(b) Cor & renes in occulto latitant: significatur ergo Deum abscondita cogitationum nostrarum scire.  7.9. Job 42.2, 3. But these Books are only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ascribed to the Lord, by way of dignation, or gracious condescension, God speaking after the manner of men, that men might the better conceive of the things of God; and the meaning of them is, that all things thought, or said, or done by men, stand all as it were upon record, and are all exactly remembered by the Lord, and brought likewise afresh unto the memories of all men, Psal. 50.21. Setting them all in order before their eyes; so that Austin thinks thereby, quaedam vis est intelligenda divina, a certain power of God is understood, by means, or by virtue whereof all the deeds of men are in a wonderful serenity recalled to the remembrance, ut accuset, vel excuset scientia conscientiam, that, according as they prove to be, science may either accuse, or else excuse conscience: And they are all called Books, in the plural number, not, in respect of the mind, or of the knowledge of God, which is a most pure, and simple act; but, in respect of the variety of the objects, or diversity of the things therein inscribed.  
And yet Divines both for order, and distinction sake, have given several Titles to these my sticall, and spiritual Books.  
1 The first is the Book of Nature, or of Providence, whereof Psal. 139.16. In thy Book are all my members written.  
2 The second is of God's Remembrance, Mal. 3.16. Psal. 56.8.  
3. The Book of Man's Conscience, which is Volumen grande, as one calleth it, a large volume, wherein all things are written by the style of Verity, and for the amending of which Book all other Books were invented; so 
(c) S. Ambros. ad Psal. 1.  S. Ambrose, What are these Books opened, saith he, but Conscience? Non atramento scripti, sed vestigiis delictorum, & flagitiorum inquinamento? not written with Ink, but stamped with the Impression of black Sins, and most ugly Offences.  
4. The Book of Life, Phil. 4.3. Rev. 3.5. by which is understood Catalogus Savandorum, the Catalogue of the Elect, whom God in Christ hath chosen from all Eternity unto Salvation; who though they now be unknown, yet shall then be more manifestly declared.  
5. To which some add, fifthly, the Books of the Scriptures, the Two Testaments.  
All of these Books shall be, perhaps, at that day brought forth, bound up together in one volume, which being unclasped shall discover all matters, how they have been transacted, managed and done in the body, 1 Tim. 5.25, 26. Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to Judgement, and some men they follow after; likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid; that is, some evil deeds are punished in this world, to give notice that there is an eye of Providence that observes them here; and some likewise are reserved for hereafter, to show that there is a Judgement to come: The good works likewise of some follow them, Rev. 14.13. that is, the reward of their good works shall be imparted hereafter: In sum, The general resolve in this matter is, that by these Books opened are mainly meant the Consciences of all men; the office of which is to 
(d) Rom. 2.14, 15.  accuse, or to excuse, according to the 
(e) Dr. Field l. 4. c. 33. of the Church.  privity that the soul hath to things good or ill, known to none, but to God, and itself: the Conscience being, as it were, God's Register Book, wherein all the sins of the Impenitent, and Unregenerate, or castaways, with all their several circumstances of aggravation, are kept under their guilt uncancelled, unstruck-out: It's true indeed, that Actus transit, but Reatus permanet, the act of Sin was transient, and momentany, not so the guilt; no, that is written with a 
(f) Jer. 17.1.  pen of Iron, and with the point of a Diamond, and graven (as it were in characters indelible) upon the table of their heart, Jer. 17.1. And this is the Act of Conscience, to be its own Testimony, yea, a thousand witnesses against itself: Hence was that saying of 
(g) Lactant. l. 6. c. 24.  Lactantius, Quid prodest non habere Conscium, habenti Conscientiam? It is a true word of the Apostle, God is greater than our Conscience, 1 Joh. 3.20. and surely none but He: Yet under that great God, the Supreme power on earth, (within a man) is the Conscience: In this Microcosm of Man, (saith a devout 
(h) B. H. Soliq. 51. edit. 1651.  Divine) there is a Court of Judicature erected, wherein, next under God, the Conscience sits as the Chief Justice, from which there is no appeal; if that condemn us, or our actions, in vain shall all the world besides acquit us, and if that clear us, all other doom on earth is frivolous, and ineffectual: O the agonies of a guilty bosom unacquitted within itself! like Pashur, it's a 
(i) Jer. 20.4. & Psal. 73.19.  terror to itself: yea, very Ethniques many experimenting sometimes the stroke but of Natural Conscience, were wont to set it forth by their Erinnes, or Hellish Furies pursuing the flagitious with flaming firebrands, tormenting with all extremity; the noise of a leaf 
(k) Leu. 26.36.  shaken startles them, being afraid, alas! where no fear is; For Wickedness (saith Wisdom, ch. 17.11.) condemned by her own witness is very timorous, and being pressed with Conscience, always forecasteth grievous things, that fear being nothing else but a betraying of the succours, which Reason offereth: Guiltiness can never think itself secure; if there were no Fiends to torment it, like a Bosome-devil, it would like trembling 
(l) Dan. 5.6.  Belshazzar, and as Cain the 
(m) Gen. 4.15.  marked vagabond, ever torture itself; There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked, Isa. 57.21. Aut si pax, bello pax ea deterior; yea, the wicked are like the troubled Sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire, and dirt: all the winds in the world, from without, cannot make a mountain shake, but the imprisoned vapours that are within: Truly spoke one, once, All the world for a clear Conscience! wonder we at the wish? A wounded Spirit, saith Solomon, who can bear? Prov. 18.14. On the other side again; I say, on the other side, (For, we 
(n) Mar. 1.17.  Fishers of men must have our Cork, as well as our Lead; our Cork, to boy up penitent souls from sinking in the mighty waters of Despair, as well as our Lead to sink them into hell, who persevere incorrigible) O the tranquillity of a spotless breast! when these Books are opened, and the characters of guilt are found to be expunged, no sin at all 
(o) Psal. 32.1.  imputed to so blessed a soul: Beloved Christians, there is but one remedy of the forementioned malady, but one principal Receipt to eat out, or to fret away that canker which sin hath brought into the spirit, or rather to wash away the spots which 
(p) Tit. 1.15.  defile the Conscience, and that is in Heb. 9.14. the blood of sprinkling, even the precious blood of the Lamb 
(q) 1 Pet. 1.19.  without spot, even the blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanseth from all sin, 1 Joh. 1.7. even that blood which 
(r) Heb. 12.24.  speaketh better things than the blood of Abel, the one cried to Heaven for Judgement, but the Lord Christ's for Mercy; one line, or as it were but one red strake of his blood drawn through that Book, cleareth and acquitteth all: Let such an one be arraigned, let him be indicted, yea, perhaps by the grand Accuser of the Brethren, Rev. 12.10. accused before God, day and night; yet bring him to the Test, and the proof will be all, According to the Evidence.  
And so I proceed in order, to the next particular, which after the Indictment, I styled the Evidence, the things written in the Books; The Dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books.  
In all regular, or legal Judicatures, before the Sentence, there goes Conviction, and that grounded upon some clear Evidence, according to some rule of Law, which directs, and orders Justice in that respect: Now, that which directs the business in the Text, is no other than the Word of God, the observation, or the violation of the commands whereof, clears, or charges the Conscience, to receive the Sentence of Absolution, or of Condemnation, according to the Evidence: Do not think, saith our Saviour, (the Judge in my Text) that I will accuse you to the Father, there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust, Joh 5.45. by Moes he means the Writings of Moses, ver. 47. Again, Joh. 12.48. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words; hath one what judgeth him, the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him at the last day: Compare Jam. 2.12. and it is therefore said to be Organically, or Instrumentally, A discerner of the thoughts, and of the intents of the heart, Heb. 4.12. & Rom. 2.16. God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel, that is, in a general acception of the Word, according to the whole system of Doctrine preached by Christ, his Prophets, and Apostles, epitomised into the Gospel: The righteous shall be judged, specially, (saith 
(s) Gerard. sect. 70. ubi supra.  one) according to the terms of the Gospel, and be absolved; the wicked, out of the Law, (collustrated by the light of the Gospel) thereby being convinced of sin and infidelity, and be condemned; and indeed, Divines are of opinion, that there shall not be in the last day any other norma, or rule to order, or to direct the Judgement, than what is already passed before in the Ministry of the Word: The Conscience is 
(t) Joh. 10.23. Matth. 18.18  bound or loosed Before, as the Keys are rightly applied: The Sentence of the Judge at the last day, is not a new making of Salvation, or Damnation; but only a solemn, and public testification, propalation, or definitive ratihabition of what was before passed in the particular Judgement by the Word, or instantly after Death, Heb. 9.27. Wherefore the last day is styled the [Revelation] namely, public, of the righteous judgement of God, that is, of that particular, righteous Judgement, passed upon discussion, between God and the Conscience, before, Rom. 2.5. thus we read the sentence of the word to be this, Tribulation, and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil, but glory, honour, and peace to every one that worketh good, Rom. 2.9, 10. & 2 Thess. 1.6, 7. all which, in the equivalent, is declared, and more openly ratified in the Come ye Blessed; and in the Go ye Cursed, at the last day; each of these, according to the Evidence, out of what is written in the Books.  
Upon this occasion, I have read of one much retired, and given to devotion, who being asked, what book he was most of all seen in, and accustomed to read, made answer, That he read especially one, and that was a book of three leaves, a red lease, a black lease, and a white leaf; in the red lease he read the Passion of Christ; in the black lease, the Punishment of the Damned; and in the white lease, the joys of the Blessed; by perusal, and meditation of which three leaves, he more profited, then if he had evolved all the Philosophers in the world.  
And thus, at length, we are come to the Judgement, or Sentence-giving itself, in the next words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, The Dead were judged.  
This Doctrine of the Judgement to come was never more needful to be preached then now among us, upon whom the 
(v) 1 Cor. 10.11.  ends of the world are come; all the lees and dregs of former times seeming to be about to settle, in this last, and corrupt age; wherein, alas! whilst Atheism, like the 
(w) Jon. 4.7.  worm in Jonah's gourd, hath eaten out the sap of Religion, and almost damped the very life, and power of godliness, we meet with those 
(x) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod significat ludo pueriliter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, veluti puer, puerorum more; such as make children play of the Terrors of the Lord. M. L.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, those scoffers, of whom S. Peter makes mention, 2 Pet. 2.3, 4. also Judas, v. 18. walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? vainly, and scoffingly putting 
(y) Jam. 1.22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  paralogismes, or deceive upon themselves, sophistically reasoning from the delay of the time to a Nullity of the thing itself, and because Sentence is not executed speedily against their evil works, therefore, as Solomon long ago observed, Eccles. 8.11. the heart of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil; and so believe the Doctrine of the Judgement to come to be but fabulous, together with the torments of Hell that follow after it, upon all such mockers: To whom I shall only now say thus much, Vae quibus haec experienda sunt prius, quam credenda, as 
(z) Granatense tom. 2. Conc. d. Temp. Conc. 1.  Granatensis expresseth it, Woe be to those besotted, and impenitent miscreants, whose sad experience may anticipate their Credulity in this, and prevent their Faith! O how well had Felix (that corrupt Governor) answered his name, and been happy, if as the reasoning about this truth made his conscience to tremble, he had instantly reform his practice, and shunned the danger of it, Act. 24.25.  
But, for the attestation of this Doctrine, the Firmament is not more bespangled with stars, than the Scriptures are stored throughout with proofs thereof: Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied hereof, saith Judas, v. 13, 14. Behold, the Lord cometh with Ten thousand of his Saints, to execute Judgement upon all, both for their deeds and speeches: From whence St. Judas had that Prophecy, whether by undoubted tradition, as Paul is said to have received the names of Jannes and Jambres, the Magicians that withstood Moses, 2 Tim. 3.8. or by some 
(a) Vid. Scalig. in notis ad Euseb. p. 244. etc.  book written of the translation of Enoch, extant in that Apostles days, but since intercepted by time; (though I am praecisely of 
(b) S. August. lib. 18. de Civ. Dei, cap. 38.  Austin's opinion, that however some records might be lost, which did pertinere ad ubertatem Cognitionis, appertain to the plenty of Knowledge; yet the Church hath been so faithful a Keeper of the sacred Canon, that nothing is escaped her custody, which doth belong ad Authoritatem Religionis, to the Authority of Religion) It's most likely S. Judas might receive it, by Apostolical and immediate Revelation: some praeludiums whereof were seen in the destruction of the old world by 
(c) Gen. 7. 2 Pet. 3.6.  Water, and of the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by 
(d) Gen. 19 2 Pet. 2.6. & S. Jud. ver. 7.  Fire; the two colours in the Rainbow figure it; the caerulean colour minds us of the watery Deluge passed, and the flame colour, of the 
(e) 2 Pet. 3.10.  fiery Conflagration to come.  
It would be a large, if not a tedious task for me to enumerate all those Texts, which in Moses, in the Psalms, in the Prophets, and almost in each page of the New Testament make mention hereof, and prove the Doctrine: Two places (which I have also named already) may be in stead of all, Act. 17.31. 2 Cor. 5.10. and the manner of it is expressed in the 24, and 25. Chapters of S. Matthew: But yet to say something of it. 1. This may be proved from what hath been already seen in those particular Judgements inflicted, in the course of God's providence upon impenitent sinners inwardly, and outwardly, as upon Cain, Ahitophel, Judas, Herod, whom God was pleased to make visible Examples here, and thereby also to give intimation of what, in the last day of wrath, is like to be inflicted on such, as committing like sins are [reserved] with the apostate and damned Angels to the day of Judgement to be punished, 2 Pet. 2.9. 2. Besides this, the justice of God, and the truth of his promise, in regard of the righteous requires it, whose afflicted estate in this life shall be recompensed with a glorious one hereafter, and all their persecutors have shame and consusion poured upon their faces forever, 2 Thess. 1.5. 3. That there may be a public acknowledgement of the Lord Christ's Dominion, purchased by his passion to himself, over men, and Angels, so that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess unto him, and own his Sovereign power, Rom. 14.9, 10, 11. 4. Equity requires it, that though the soul and body be separated in death, yet having sinned or obeyed together, they should accordingly be tormented or rejoice together unto all eternity. In a word, some of the wiser Heathen have discoursed of a future reward, upon trial of men's actions, after death, making mention of Pluto, Minos, Rhadamanthus, etc. as grim Judges, supposing the flakes of Aetna, to smell of the sulphur of Hell: and moreover, what they also speak of the Elysian fields, implies an apprehension of some future estate of Happiness in another world. What need I add more to this proof, sigh it is an express Article of our Creed, that Christ shall come again to judge the quick and the dead? proved also, 2 Tim. 4.1. & 1 Pet. 4, 5. Heb. 6.2.  
Now, (which I thought not amiss to mention, on this occasion) howsoever our Saviour interdicted his Disciples the curious in quisition after the times, and seasons, Act. 1.7. sigh the Father hath put [that] in his own power; yet there have been found some, in all ages, very adventurous, who (as 
(f) Bullinger lib. 2. advers. Anabap. c. 1.  Bullinger writes of some Enthusiasts) have presumed to define a set time for this general Assizes: though the Scripture indeed mention a set day determined by God for the same, as Act. 17.31. 2 Pet. 2.9. and as St. John acquaints us, Rev. 1.10. that, as there is Dies Dominica, the Lords day; so St. Paul, 1 Thess. 5.2. that there is Diens Domini, the day of the Lord, or the day of God, 2 Pet. 3.12. In the one, it is for us to give him, here, the Glory of his Public service; in the other, himself will give us that believe, then, and there, his Glory for our reward. Though this be said in the general, yet of the very Day, and 
(g) Mar. 13.32.  Hour beforehand, no man, no not the Son of man (as man) himself knoweth, at least, thinks it not fit to acquaint us with so much.  
There is, as 
(b) Pet. Galatin. lib. 4. c. 20.  Petrus Galatinus well styleth it, a Thalmudisticall tradition, but no true Prophetical prediction, (and yet it is mentioned almost by all, who treat on this subject) of one Elias, who undertook to foretell that the world should last just 6000 years, 2000 before the giving of the Law, 2000 under the Law, and 2000 under the Gospel; gathering it, they say, from David, Psal. 90.4. & from Peter, 2 Pet. 3.8. that a thousand years with the Lord are but as one day, and one day as a thousand years, and so allowing one day of the week for a thousand years, by way of a resembling computation, the time is made up; and the seventh day, as it was sometimes a day of a Spiritual (but of a Temporary) rest, so than it should be an everlasting and glorious rest to all true Belcevers: and the same, say men of that apprehension, was after a sort presigured in the Translation of Enoch; for the six persons, who were before him dying after the usual manner of dying, Enoch being the seventh, as S. Judas saith, died not after the ordinary way, but was translated, as it were in a figure hereof, extraordinarily, by God himself, Gen. 5.24.  
Thus have these men spun a thread upon the wheel of their own imaginations, not uttered an opinion upon sufficient warrant from God's Word: for this cannot be proved to be the Prophecy of 
* 1 King. 17.1.  Elijah the Tishbite, who prophesied under King Ahab, about the Three thousand and fortyeth year of the World, and Nine hundred and odd years before Christ, as some 
* Vid. Gerard. ubi supra, tom. 9 sect. 77. ca 7.  Chronologers compute it; but of one Elias, a Jewish Rabbi, about some Two hundred years before Christ: But (by the way a little) if this conceit should be Authentic, and hold right, then that other opinion of the Chiliasts, or Millenaries, first mentioned by one 
* Euscb. lib. 3. Ecclesiast. Hist. cap uli. Nicephor. Hist. c. 20. & Hieronym, in Catalogo Scriptor. in vita Papiae. vid. Ribcram Comment. in Apocal. c. 20. v. 6. p. 380, 381. etc.  Papias of Hierapolis, (as Irenaeus reports it) but much exploded in that age, yet of late taken up again by many, who have found more leisure to raise doubts, than (under that odd affectation of Singularity) declared any satisfactory resolves unto them hereabout; that opinion I say, must vanish: They pretend, that Christ shall come personally, and visibly to reign a thousand years upon earth, before the Day of the last general Judgement: and all those who died Patriarches, or Prophets, or Apostles, Martyrs, or Confessors, or any eminent Saints, and Israelites, and Christians 
(i) Joh. 1.47.  indeed, shall then be raised up from the dead to reign with him; and this they think is understood by the first Resurrection, Rev. 20.6. Thus an Error; or, in a modest expression, a Mistake confutes a Presumption; for if Christ must reign a thousand years visibly upon earth, before the day of Judgement, and that first Resurrection being not yet past, then, of necessity, the world must continue above 6000 years, for that we are now within 400 years' expiration of those 6000, and yet that bodily Resurrection is not come to pass.  
But, as to this latter opinion, besides the known maxim in Divinity, Scriptura symbolica non est argumentativa; many sound, orthodox Divines do conceive it to have in it too worldly, and too carnal an apprehension of the Nature of Christ's Kingdom, sigh Himself hath said it, that it was not of this world, Job. 18.36. in the outward 
(k) Act. 25.23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  fantasies and pomp thereof; but Christ's Kingdom is within, Rom. 14.17. in the inner man, spiritual and mystical: And it is no new thing in the Scriptures to call our New birth in grace a Resurrection, by arising spiritually out of the graves of our Natural corruptions to a life of Holiness, even so it's understood, Col. 3.1. Besides, this were to make some addition to the Articles of our Creed, which neither mentions, nor implies three visible Comings of the Lord Christ; but only two, the one at his first appearance in the Flesh to be Judged, and the other in Glory to Judge the world; even so the Holy Ghost expressly by his Divine Apostle, Heb. 9.18. He shall to them that look for him appear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, [the second] time, without sin, unto salvation: Christ comes but 
(l) D. Taylor.  twice Corporally, once to merit salvation, and again, to perfect it.  
But I must contract this discourse, and all I have to add more under this Head is a double advice; The one, not to search beyond a precept after a Revelation unrevealed, Noluit Deus prsdicari, quod videbat non utiliter seiri, saith 
(m) S. August. Epist. 80. ad Helychaum.  Austin, God would not have it known, because He saw it more profitable unknown: Neo tamen negatum est ad Detrimentum, quod ignoratum tribuit inerementum, as 
(n) Hilar. l. 9 de Trin.  Hillary: If God had foreseen it advantageous for us, He would undoubtedly have revealed it unto us, Deut. 29.29. But this He hath assured us of, that there is such a day, and that it shall come as a thief in the night, suddenly, 2 Pet. 3.10. and S. James is express, chap. 5.8, 9 That the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and (in most of the 
* Read Mat. 24 & 2 Thess. 2 3.  praecursory signs thereof) it's evident, that the Judge standeth before the door, as it were, now ready to sound the last Trump, summoning all to the last general Tribunal. Well then, what others give to a curious indagation of the time, let us (by casting off thoughts of security) bestow upon a serious, and hourly praeparation against that time, and hour, whensoever it shall be, or how long soever that day shall continue, (which some have also unsatisfactorily, if not praesumptuously discoursed upon) or wheresoever it shall be, whether in the vale of Jehoshaphat, or in the Centre of the earth; let us, I say, leaving these unrevealed, 
* Deut. 29.29.  secret things to God, get into the Ark before the flood come, that we may be safe, when it doth come: Praeveniendus est Dies, qui praevenire consuevit, saith a Father in a kind of Prophecy, prevent that day by a sedulous 
(o) 2 Pet. 3.12.  expectation, which may otherwise prevent us, and come upon us as at 
(p) Luk 21.34.  unawares, 
(q) Latet ultimus Dies, ut chserventur omnes Dies. S. August. l. 50. Hom. 13.  thinking every day to be it. The Rabbins have a Proverb, Qui colligit in vespere sabbati vescetur in Sabbato, Who so gathers his Manna before the Sabbath come, in the Eve, shall be fed with the same Manna, in the morrow, when the Sabbath is come: to which purpose give me leave I beseech you, to offer to your considerations a 
(r) Vide librum, cui Titu. lus est Destru●orium vitiorum, a quodam no nine Carpentero conscriptum, sub. 41.6.  story of a religious King, sometimes of Hungaria, who took a resolution to retire himself, and so to take an exact survey of himself, and of his actions, how he should give up the last 
(s) Luk. 16.2.  account of himself, and of his great stewardship, both as a Christian, and as a King, in that 
(t) Act. 2.20. Rev. 6 17.  great day, when after that general Audit, he must be no longer Steward: The Nobles about his Court 
(u) Amos 6.3, 4, 5, 6.  chanting it to the noise of the viol, drinking wine in bowls, inventing to themselves instrumen's of music, anointing themselves with the chief ointments, and stretching themselves upon Ivory couches, these put far from them the thought of this great day: (in like sort as many of our supine christian's every where, who have it often in their lips, upon any mis-accident, Alas! they thought no more of it, then of their Dying Day; no nor or Doomsday neither; an ill-beseeming expression!) I say these jovial gallants about the Court would needs by a vehement instigation stir up the Duke the King's brother to adventure to the King's closet, to interrupt, or to remove the sullen fits of his melancholy, to persuade him to mind his greatness, to take the liberty of his pleasures, and forget sorrows: To this advise the King, for that instant, makes him no returns of answer, or of reply: but soon after makes an edict, and gives it abroad, that at whose door a Trumpet should sound, that man should immediately be put to death: accordingly it sounded at his Brother's lodgings, and the Sergeants apprehend him for execution; at which unexpected surprisal being startled, he makes his way to the King, becomes prostrate at his feet, implores pardon, and mercy: under that prostration, and posture, then, (and not till then) the King speaks to him, and said, Ah my brother, are you so afraid of my Trumpet, who can but 
(w) Luk. 12.4.  take the body, or afflict the outward man; and shall not I tremble, and be afraid under the apprehension of that great Day, and of that dreadful Tribunal of the supreme Potentate, the Lord of Lords, and the 
(x) 1 Tim. 6.15.  King of Kings, when I shall be summoned thither by the last, and terrible 
(y) Thess. 4.16.  Trump of the Archangel? Which saying was enough to have appalled his ranting brother, yea to have put bowels into a rock, and have taught marble the art of relenting: I presume the application to be easy: Wherefore, to end this part, it shall be not my admonition only, but my prayer also, that every one of us may always bear in remembrance that not more known, then serious saying of S. Hiecome, Sive comedam, sivebibam, sive aliud quid agam, semper videtur tuba illa terribilis insonare auribus meis, Surgite mortui, & venite ad judicium, that is, Whether I eat, or drink, or whatsoever else I am about, me thinks that terrible Trumpet soundeth this saying in mine ears, Arise ye Dead, and come to Judgement: which the learned 
(z) Vossius disputat. Theolog. p. 234 edit. 1628.  Vossius hath, for memory sake, turned into this Distich, 
Seu vigilo intentus studiis, seu dormio, semper  
Judicis extremi nestras Tuba personat aures.   
And thus, at length, I am come to the last observable (at least according to my division) in this Text, and that is the Regulation of the final sentence itself, whether of Absolution, or of Condemnation; and this is expressed in the last words, According to their Works.  
The Quaere here is, whether Thoughts; and Words, and Omissions come not into account with the Lord, at the last Day? The Quaestion is out of quaestion, undoubtedly they shall all, however the denomination here be given to the more noted part: For the Thoughts its clear, 1 Cor. 4.5. Mal. 3.16. Eccles. 12.14. Psal. 50.21. For the Words, Mat. 12.36. S. Jud. v. 14. For sins of Omission it's evident from the form of the sentence, Mat. 25.42, etc. You did not feed me, etc. And for all other Works, 2 Cor. 5.10. Even for whatsoever men have done in the Body: yet with this difference or odds, to the godly, and to the wicked; to the godly it shall be secundum, non propter opera; not [for] their Works, as if the merit of them did deserve a recompense of bliss, as a meritorious cause of salvation; for all [that] merit, is in Christ their Head, and mediator: and indeed, of all their most accomplished works of the greatest Saints it may be said, as Andrew did of the five Loaves, and two Fishes, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; Alas! Lord, 
(a) Joh. 6 9 It was the saying of Luther, Cave non tanturn a peccatis, sed etiam a bo nis operibus. see Isa. 64 6. Vae etiam laudabili justitiae lominum, si remota inisericerdia discutins eam, S. Austin.  what are these 〈◊〉 if laid in the balance they would be found too lighty and thy Justice would infinitely praeponderate; but Christ with the 
(b) Rev. 8.3.  incense of his merits hath perfumed the performances of the Saints unto an acceptation with God: the faith of the Righteous lays them as John in the 
(c) Joh. 13 23  bosom of Christ, and their good Works as S. 
(d) Mat. 26.58.  Peter follow 
(e) Rev. 14.13.  after them, as the evidence, and manifestation of their Faith: But with the wicked, and impenitent reprobate the case is otherwise, because the sentence is pronounced upon them, propter opera, for their wicked, and sinful Works. Nor will this seem strange, if we shall consider what it is; that makes sins culpable of damnation; what our weak services capable of heavenly glory: we shall discover great odds, men's sins are culpable of death by their own Nature being committed against an endless Majesty, that cannot be satisfied but by a punishment come surate and proportional to his infinite Justice: but good Works become capable of their reward, 1 By the graoious promise of God, (promittendo se fecit debitorom, saith 
(f) Augus. de verbu Apost. ser. 16.  Austin) who by promise only hath made himself a debtor. 2 By the merit of Christ, that hath purchased unto us a cover of their blemishes, and that they might be capable of eternal glory. Now, for the sins of the obstinate, incorrigible, and impenitent, the Lord hath received no satisfaction in the blood of Christ, which they 
(g) Heb. 10.29.  trampled under feet; so that they lie still under the guilt of all their sins, and of all the several aggravatlons of the same, together with all the wrath, and formidable curses, which the Lord hath in store for all ungodly miscreants, who by the abuse of God's patience, and their own impenitent hearts have so treasured up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous Judgement of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds, Rom. 2.5, 6.  
To conclude this part; in a just dispensation of the several rewards of both; the great 
(h) Heb. 12.23.  Judge of all adorned with majesty, attended with the glorious retinue of 
(i) Heb. 12.22.  innumerable Angels, and glorified 
(k) Dan. 7.10. S. Jud. v. 14.  Saints, seated upon his royal glorious throne, with 
(l) Mat. 25.31. Mat. 24.30.  power, great glory, shall call the one Sheep, and the other Goats, and making a final, and everlasting 
(m) Mat. 25.31, 32.  separation between them shall say unto the one, Come ye blessed, inherit the Kingdom praepared for you, from the beginning of the world; and to the other, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire; and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal.  
The sum of all I find to be epitomised into these four Latin verses: 
Quam tristis vox est, 
Vide hos versus apud joh. Gerardum, tom. 9 c. 4. sect. 60.  cum judex dixerit, Ite,  
Tam duleis vox est, cum dixerit Ille, Venite.  
Mortis, vel vitae breve verbum est, Ite, Venite,  
Dicetur Reprobis, Ite; Venite, Piis.   
So that this sentence is like to that pillar of the cloud which was darkness to the Egyptians, but light to the Israelites, Exod. 14.20. The word, or sentence of Life, or Death eternal it is but short; yet curt and sharp to the Reprobate, or castaways; but short, and sweet to all God's Elect, and Christ's redeemed precious Holy ones.  
Use. And thus, (my beloved Hearers) after my weak measure, though not (as I fully desired) after the expectation happily of such an auditory, I have dispatched the Divinity, or Explication of the Text: It remains, now, that under the same favour of your continued patience, I descend to the morality, or the effectual Application of the same: Thus much I shall assure you all, that I have it in my wishes, that my remaining words may fall like Manna upon every ear, and heart; for [that] they say, had a taste, which every man did like, or wish for; I know its difficult to please all, yet it shall not be my aim (justly) to displease any, only, my main intention is, to 
(n) 2 Tim. 2.15.  approve myself to God, the 
(o) Heb. 12.23.  Judge of all, in the discharge of my conscience.  
And now, if any look that I should, in the first place, assume the boldness to advise, or admonish these learned, and reverend Judges, who like Castor and Pollux appearing [together] promise good to the Commonwealth, as that Asterisme doth to the Mariners at Sea; I shall disappoint that expectation, sigh their great abilities, and their cordial both aims and endeavours to do Justice [for Justice sake] are so well known to the chiefest seats of Judicature, and to this Nation already: I shall therefore in stead of exhorting them, take this occasion to persuade all you that hear me this day, to be enlarged towards God in thankfulness, that by his propitious providence, he hath furnished the seats of public Justice with so accomplished Magistrates as these are: seeing therefore that by you we enjoy great 
(p) Act. 24.2, 3.  quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this Nation by your providence; we accept it always, and in all places, (Honourable Lords) with all thankfulness.  
My Admonitions must be directed unto all such, who enjoy the benefit, and blessing of government, which in the just administration thereof is a Terror to the wicked, lawless, and ungodly; and an encouragement to those that be good, Rom. 12.3, 4. Yea, a 
(q) Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Xenophon expresseth it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Those who are good men, by beholding the dishonour cast upon vicious persons (by the Justice of the Magistrate) for their unlawful deeds, and their illegal perpetrations, do by far more cheerfully follow, and embrace virtue; and not only so, but exemplary Justice upon some proves a common terror unto all; When a scorner is smitten, the simple will beware, saith the wise man, Prov. 19.25. or, as Moses expresseth it, When any praesumptuous sinner was punished, all Israel must hear, and fear, and do no more praesumptuously, Deut. 17.12.13.  
To all the people in general, then, let me say as Elisha the Prophet did by the mouth of Gehazi his servant to the Shunamitish woman, 2 Kin. 4.13. Behold thou hast been careful for us with all this care; What is to be done for thee? So say I, Behold our Governors have been careful for you with all the care they can take, that you may every one dwell safely under your own 
(r) 1 King. 4.25. Zech. 3.10.  Vines, and Figtrees, in peace and quietness; that there may be no 
(s) Psal. 144.12, 13, 14.  leading into captivity, nor complaining in your streets, but that your sons may grow up as Plants, and your daughters as the polished corners of the Temple, that your sheep may bring forth thousands, and ten thousands in your streets, etc. If ye ask me then, What is to be done for the Magistrates? I answer, They must be spoken for: If ye desire to know, to whom? I answer, To the King of Heaven, even to that 
(t) 1 Tim. 6.15.  King of Kings, of whose Kingdom there can be 
(u) Dan. 7.14 Luk. 1.33.  no end. If ye demand further, How this King of Heaven must be spoken to for them? I answer, or rather the great Apostle for me, 1 Tim. 2.1, 2. In supplications, and Prayers, and intercessions: If you would know, for what? that same Text resolves you; namely, that we may lead a quiet, and peaceable life, in all godliness, and honesty; intimating hereby, that men in lawful authority are, (or should be) the prime supporters both of Religion; and moral Honesty, and therefore being subject to many temptations, and undergoing many difficulties, they stand in need of many, and those too the most fervent Prayers of all those good people, who expect protection, support, encouragement from them: Yea, if men did seriously ponder but the weight of the Magistrates office, they would double the zeal of their devotions for them: some of the Rabbins went so high in their expressions this way, as to say, qui funguntur magistratu non veniunt in judicium, as Paulus 
(w) Paulus Fagius. senttenanor. 3. Ben Syra.  Fagius acquaints us to have been the sentence of Rabbi Ben Syra, that is, such as conscientiously undergo the office of Magistracy, were exempted from the Judgement to come; as if their present vigilancy, care, study, travel, and other laboriousness, which they underwent for the good, and weal of Community, had been so great, that it had after a sort, excused them, for all things else: but we will take notice of this as an hyperbolical expression, and an excessive speech in the Rabbi: Yet, nevertheless, we read in Scripture that Moses (however then the 
(x) Num. 12.3.  meekest man upon earth) being in the office of a Governor, found cause to call it a [
(y) Num. 11.11. confer, Exod. 18.22.  Burden] yea, and to call out too for some 
(z) Num. 11.14.  help to stand under it: Pray we then to the God of wisdom 
(*) Isa. 28.6.  to be for a spirit of Judgement to them that sit in Judgement, to inspireour 
(a) Psal. 105.22.  Senators with a spirit of wisdom, and counsel, to direct all their consultations so, as they may in the issue tend to the glory of God, the credit of the Gospel, the discovery, 
2 King. 20 19  and suppression of Blasphemy, Heresy, Atheism, with the Authors of it, and for the establishing of 
(b) Zech. 8.19.  Truth, with public Peace, in the Nation.  
Secondly, To the Magistrates there is due Honour belonging, to be (besides in the inward awful thoughts of their power) manifested in Reverential speeches, and Externall homage; you must nor revile the Gods; or as it is in your margin the Judges, nor curse the Ruler of the people; it was the charge of Moses a Prophet, Exod. 22.28. Wherefore, when Paul had overshot himself, in a sudden passion, that way, and given the nickname of a Whited wall to the High Priest (than his Judge), he, upon advertisement thereof, gave himself a check for it, upon the consideration of that very text, Act. 23.5. Moses a chief Governor is styled by Joshua [My Lord] Moses, Num. 11.28. and the people in taken of civil homage, and observance, [bow the knee] to Joseph, when a Governor in Egypt, Gen. 41.43. And moreover (which for some reasons, I will not omit to note on this occasion) for the greater gracefulness of their Office and Persons, they have been, in all Ages, arrayed in robes of Majesty, and honour before the people; chief when placed in the Seat of Judicature, and under the actual execution of their so honourable Function; which may be gathered from 1 King. 22.10. Matth. 6.29.  
Render then honour to the Magistrate, to whom it is so many ways due, Rom. 13.7. and it's well observed by chrysostom, that the Apostle saith not simply, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Give, as if the thing were Arbitrary; but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
* See Matt. 22.21. & Luk. 20.25.  render it, as of Duty, in all obedience to Authority.  
Thirdly, there is due to the public Magistrates 
(c) Matt. 17.25. Rom. 13.7.  Tribute, and Custom, appertaining to them for all their public care, providence, protection; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, they attending continually upon this very same thing, carrying public spirits in their public places, being contented not only to spend, but to be 
* 2 Cor. 12.15.  spent for the good of the Community the words in the original Greek, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, put for Tribute, and Custom, in a generality of use are ofttimes confounded, and indifferently put to signify any kind of payment made to the Governors; yet critically say some learned Authors, Tribute is of that which ariseth out of what is grown within the land, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from being carried, or brought into the Exchequer, or Treasury appointed: Custom is that which is paid for what is, according to Contracts in Traffic, imported or exported, into, or out of a Nation, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so 
(d) Strabo. lib. 17.  Strabo calls such things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and so the Latin word vectigal hath its name ex vectura: But before so learned an Auditory, I may not waste time about words: 
(e) Bodinus, l. 6. c. 2. de Republ.  Bodinus reckons up divers kinds of both; the determination of the manner, or of the measure of either, whether ordinary, or extraordinary, is left to the prudence and piety of lawful Superiors, according as the state of important affairs, the faculty and ability of the people, or the necessity of Subsidiary supplies, for the support, honour, and safety of a Commonwealth may require: Now, an obedient people may assure themselves, that equal, just, and godly Governors, will not turn Judgement into gall, Amos 6.12. but remember, that God, (for 
(f) Chr. 19 6.  whom they judge) is pleased to style them 
(g) Isa. 44.28. Numb. 27.17.  Shepherds, whose office is not to 
(h) Mic. 3 3. Ezek. 45.  flay off the skin from off the backs of the flock, but to shear the sheep so for their own use, that withal the wool may grow again for the warmth of the flock itself; even as it's reported to have been the saying of Tiberius, A good Shepherd should tondere pecus, non deglubere, as 
(i) Sueton in 〈◊〉.  Suetonius records it: Oppression (saith Solomon) maketh even a wise man 
(k) Eccles. 7.7.  mad, yea, and it may make a good man 
(l) Exod. 2.23. Psal. 12.5.  sigh: But when (as I noted in my former Sermon) these things are expected, and imposed, after the old Charter of England, salvo contenemento, in a tender moderation, Tribute must be rendered to whom it is due; our Saviour himself paid it, Matth. 17.25. and such payment was in use even in the days of King Solomon, 1 King. 4.6.  
In sum, who do, or should, carefully guard your Religion, your Possessions, but Governors? Who protect you by land, and fence you by sea, but they? And what can you bethink to purchase a solid peace on the land? or to fortify your wooden walls at sea? And if Governors lay out themselves for the good of Community, so that themselves shall become a general, and a public good; it will be a great Ingratitude in those who reap the comfort, not to yield such all lawful assistance.  
And thus having shown the duties of the people at large, in their relation to Governors, and to Government: It only remains, that I add but a few words more, suitable to the present season, and occasion of this meeting.  
And here I might begin my advice to Mr. High 
* Mr. john Trott of Laverstake Esq  Sheriff: but why should I go about to paint a Diamond, or to enamel a pearl? whose modesty whilst it declined Honour, it overtook him: He hath set a fair Copy for his Successors in that Office, and Authority, to write after: I shall only desire him to continue doing as he doth do, and then both his 
(m) Cant. 1.3  Name, and his Actions shall be as an Ointment poured forth to presume Posterity as with some fragrant odour, that may provoke Imitation.  
I might next direct my Exhortation to the Gentlemen of the Grand Inquest, upon whose Information, 
Advice to the Grand Jury.  and Presentments depends almost the main transaction of the present proceed in Judicature, for the 
(n) Gal. 5.12.  cutting off of incorrigible Malefactors, and the reformation of all disorders, and illegal irregularities; If you would be esteemed as the Eyes of your whole Country, you had need to see clearly; but if in any particulars you would desire to be of Lyncean, and discerning eyes indeed, Let me desire you to have special regard to the Violators of Gods sacred, and precious 
(o) 1 Cor. 11.2.  Ordinances, in the promoting whereof, as you shall advance the glory of God, and therein your own felicity, so (as I am assuredly persuaded) extremely gratify these learned, and religious Judges, to whom nothing is more dean, than the promotion of God's 
(p) 1 Sam. 2.30.  Honour: one thing, above many others, that I might mind you of, is the Discovery of those Artifriall, and Grand Impostors, or Church-cheaters, the Jesuits, by whose cunning in sinnations, (under the several habits, or shapes, as well of Mechanics, as otherwise) it's more than probable, that all the combustions, at the present, in the Christian world are raised, and not a little in Great Britain; if you have your own souls, the prosperity, and welfare of the Church, and State of England, use your best endeavours to detect, and to present those Stygian, and Infernal Emissaries, for their mature extirpation; Take heed, and do it.  
And as for you Jurors of another order, 
Advice to the Petty-Jury and Witnesses.  and all those who are in any kind of Causes to give Evidence; I hope none of you are become Antinomians, to reject, 
(q) Psal. 119.126.  or evacuate the Moral law of God, if not, then be mindful of the Third Commandment, wherein you cannot but take notice, how upon no terms, the Lord hath protested to hold him 
(r) Exod. 20.7.  guiltiesse, who by rash, or 
(s) Zech. 8.17.  false Oaths shalt dare to take his Name in vain, or contest his dreadful Omniscence to an injustice: against all 
(t) 1 Tim. 1.10.  [perjured] persons the Law stands in full force, and vigour, 1 Tim. 1.10. The very Heathens had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Perjury-revenging Gods, to whose vindictive powers they left the Violators of their Deities, as if themselves were at a loss how to proportion a punishment to so foul a crime: And grave men are of opinion, that in taking Oaths men are to look to the sense of the Imposer, otherwise they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, swear falsely; and if they perform not what is sworn by them, they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, forswear and perjure themselves: It's sad, when amongst Christians that Apophthegm in Plutarch stall be made use of, in good earnest, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that Children are to be cozened with Rattles, and Men with Oaths: But I hope 
* Heb. 6.9.  Better things of you.  
I had prepared also some more viands for some other 
* The Lawyers.  guests, but finding them not present, it's possible their stomaches are not up so early, or, perhaps, with some of them durum potabile may go down sweeter, than the gold of the Sanctuary, to which Gods word is resembled Psal. 19.10.  
To my reverend Brethren of the Ministry, 
To the Clergy.  I shall not presume to say much, only to the learned, and godly among them be a short Remembrancer of persisting in the great and important Labour of 
(u) Col 4.17.  Fulfilling their Ministry, in which regard I wish from my heart, that we might be all as so many Colossian 
(w) Cor. 4.17.  Archippusses: Times have been, when with too many sound Preaching hath been esteemed, but a sound of Preaching; and whereas S Paul professed of himself, and of his fellow-labourers, We 
(x) 2 Cor 4.5  preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus and him 
* 1 Cor 3.11 Gal. 6.14.  Crucified, the saying might have been inverted, we ourselves preach not; and yet, (upon what pretence who knows?) like some Antics in old buildings they with Issachar 
(y) Gen. 49.14.  couched down, and bended the shoulders, as if the whole stress of Ecclesiastical building had lain upon their shoulders.  
Let us have not only our 
(z) Exod. 28.33.  Bells, but also our 
(a) Exod. 28.34  Pomegranates, our Bells to toll, and call men into the Temple of piety, but our Pomegranates as emblems of our fruitful conversations; and as Aaron the Priest had the names of the twelve Tribes engraven upon his 
(b) Exod. 28.21.  Breastplate, thereby to intimate the dear, and hearty affection, that, as one that 
(c) Heb. 13.17.  watched for their souls, he should bear to them all; so let us have all the people committed to our charge, in our 
(d) 1 Thess. 2.8.  hearts, as if our very 
(e) 1 Thess. 3.8.  life, and welfare were bound up in their spiritual 
(f) 1 Thess. 4.1.  Proficiency: The Schoolmen are somewhat divided in opinion about Theology, or Divinity, whether it be a Science? and if so, of what kind? Thomas makes Theologiam, speculativam; Scotus, practicam; Hales, affectivam; but, as when three stars are in conjunction, there usually followeth some admirable effect, so where there is a concurrence of all these, they make up an accomplished Divine: Well then, let us lift up our voices like 
(g) Isa. 58.1.  Trumpets, as the Prophet speaks; and why like Trumpets? are there not other sounds as loud? Lo, the 
(h) Psal. 29.3.  Thunder of the Lord giveth out a 
(i) Ps. 77.17, 18.  voice, and that a mighty voice; yea, the Sea 
(k) Ps. 93.7.  roars, and makes a very loud noise; yet not like Thunder, nor like the Sea, which both are louder, but lift up we our voices like Trumpets, because in sounding of Trumpets, the Hand is used, as well as the Mouth, to intimate, that a preacher must take heed to 
(l) 1 Tim 4.16. Read Ho ker lib. 5. Eccles. polit. sect. 81. per tot.  himself in matter of Action, as well as to his Doctrine, in matter of Elocution; as Noah is observed to have taught the old world as well by his 
(m) Heb. 11.7.  hand, in building the Ark, as by his lips in forewarning their destruction, and both conjoined gave him the denomination of a Preacher of Righteousness, 2 Pet. 2.5. Verbum sapientibus; and I crave pardon for this boldness.  
To end this Discourse, and lest I be further 
(n) Act. 24.4.  tedious unto you: To all this people in general, let me say, as S. Jan. 2.12. So speak ye; and so do, as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty: ye have heard the certainty, and impartiality of all your Dissolutions, and the same likewise of all your Resurrections: ye have heard moreover of Books, and Registers wherein stand recorded all your thoughts, words, and actions whatsoever done in the Body, and according to what is written in those Books, ye must all be Judged at the last day: so then, be exhorted all of you, from the highest to the lowest, to labour to keep these Books, these lasting Records clear; and remember, that here Heaven is either won, or lost; after death men are, say Schoolmen, Extra statum merendi, & demerendi, out of a condition to procure any thing by acting, as who are then in a state, or condition to receive their several 
(o) 2 Cor. 5.10.  rewards, whether of good, or ill, according as they have done before in the body: wherefore as our Saviour, Let us work the works of God, whilst it is Day, Joh 9.4. that is, as chrysostom expounds it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, during the continuance of the Day of this Life: Take notice that your Time, and your Day is 
(p) Ps. 39 4, 5.  short, your account large, and the Judge before whom this 
(q) Rom. 14.12.  Account is to be given up, 
(r) Mat. 25.24.  strict, and 
(s) 2 Tim 4.8.  just, and no 
(t) 1 Pet. 1.17.  Respecter of persons at all.  
In one word, to close up all; act vigorously for God, for his Christ, for his Gospel, and that as well in the Precepts, and Duties thereof, as in the Privileges, and Promises of the same; be as well resolved to have Christ for a Lord to rule thee, as for a Jesus to savethee: In sum, as I said in the conclusion of my last Sermon, in this very place, on the same occasion; So live, and strive for holiness, as if thou hadst no mean of salvation but that; I mean, in regard of zealous earnestness, and Christian endeavours: And yet so rest, and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, as if, in point of self-desert (which is nothing) thou hadst no holiness at all: This, this alone is the way, by grace to arrive at glory.  
Amen, Amen. Soli Deo Gloria.  
FINIS.   

ERRATA.  
PAg. 5. lin. 38. read Protoplasts. p. 11. l. 3. r. mortality. p. 11. l. 3 r. apposite. p. 19 l, 4. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 23. l. 6. r. must be by believers. p. 28. l. 25. r. for serenity, dexterity. p. 43. l. 19 r. Rom. 13.3, 4. and as Xenophon. p. 48. l. 23. r. Omniscience.