Death Judgment Hell and Heaven, Part · Section 2
About the last IVDGEMENT, Consider,
1. How *Nota quo demùm tempore conspiciant improbi ac obstinati CHRISTI gloriam, nempè non priùs quàm ipsum persequ…i suerint, ac tum quidèm cogentur …um videre cum admiratione maximā & stup…e; & cum dolore conscientiae ineffabili, cum videbunt judicem sibi constitui cum, quē tàm indignis modis tractârunt in vitâ istâ. Nemo est▪ qui non id serat aeg…, si quem interfecit, …um habeat sibi judicem. Ro…oc. In Iohan. Cap. 8. mihi pag. 518.cuttingly, and how cold the very first sight of the Son of Man comming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, will strike unto thine heart, who hast refused to turne on His side, and take His part all the time of thy gracious visitation. Then wilt thou begin with extremest griefe and bitternesse of spirit to sigh and say within thy selfe: Oh! He that I now see sitting downe upon yonder flaming white and glorious Throne, is that IESVS CHRIST, the mighty GOD, the Prince of Peace, that sweetest Lambe, whose precious bloud was powred out as water upon the earth, to save His people from their sinnes. And He it was, who so fairely invited and wooed me (as it were) by His faithfullest Messengers, and intreated me with termes of dearest love, all my life long; but even to leave my lusts, and bi… the Devill adieu; and He, even He, would become my all-sufficient and everlasting Husband; and now as at this time have set an immortall crowne of blisse and glory upon my head with His owne all-mighty hand. But I alas! like a wilfull desperate wretch, did not onelyonly neglect so great salvation, forsake mine owne mercy, and so judge my selfe unworthy of everlasting life: but I also (a bloudy butcher to mine owne soule) all my few and evill dayes, basely and bitterly oppos'd His blessed kingdome; the purity, power and holy precisenesse thereof, as quite contrary to my carnall heart, and that current of pleasures and worldly contentments into which I had desperately cast my selfe: I indeed wretchedly and cruelly against mine owne soule persecuted all the meanes which should have sanctified me, and all the men which should have sav'd me. Happy therefore were I now, if I could intreat the greatest Rocke to fall upon me, or be beholding to some mighty mountaine to cover me; there to lie hid everlastingly from the face of Him that s…teth on the Th…one, and from the wrath of the Lambe. O that I now might be turned into a beast, or bird, or stone, or tree, or aire, or any other thing! Blessed were I, that ever I was borne, if I could now be unborne: That I might become nothing, and in the state I was, before I had any being! Ah that my immortall soule were now mortall, that I might *Flammas infernales sustinebit, ubi est fletus & st…idor dentium, ubi …lutarus, lamentatio & poeniten…a sine ull… reme dio, ubi est vermis ille, qui non moritur, & ignis qui nunquam extinguitur; ubi mors quaeritur, & non invenitur. Quare in inferno mors quaeritur & non invenitur? Quà quibus in hoc saeculo rita offertur, & nolunt accipere▪ in inferno quae…uat mortem, & non poterunt invenite Vbi e…it nox sine di… ▪ amaritudo sine …, obscuritas sine lumine, &c. Aug. de …emp. Serm. 152.die in hell, and not lie eternally in those fiery torments, which I shall never be able either to avoid, or abide! Let us then betime in the name and feare of GOD, kisse the Son, lest he be angry at that Day; and so we perish everlastingly. Let us now, while the day of our visitation lasts, before the Sun be s…t upon the Prophets, addresse our selves unto Him▪ 1. With hearts burdened and broken with sight of si…ne, and sense of divine wrath, Mat. 11. 28. 2. Prize Him infinitely and above all the world, Matth. 13▪ 46. 3. Sell all, part with all sinne, Ibid. Out of Egypt quite, leave not an hoofe behind, Exod 10. 26. 4. Take Him as our Husband and LORD, whereby we become the sonnes of GOD, Iohn 1. 12. 5. Take his yoke upon us, and learne to be meeke and lowly, Matth. 11. 28. 6. Enter into the way, which is called the way of holinesse, Isa. 35. 8. 7. And there continue Professours of the Truth, and of the power of the Truth, and of the power of the Truth in truth: (For otherwise, thou mayest be a Professour, and perish eternally:) That CHRIST may owne thee, at that Day. Many professe the Truth, and not the power of the Truth: some professe both the Truth and the power of it, but are false-hearted. Where then shall the non-Professour appeare? Nay, the Persecuter of the Sect, which is spoken against every where, Acts 28. 22.
2. That thou must presently passe to an impartiall strict, the highest and last Tribunall, which can never be appeal'd from, or repeal'd: there to give an exact account of all things done in the flesh: *Thy conscience shall then be suddenly, clearely, and universally irradiated and enlarged with extraordinary light, to lookt upon all thy life at once, as it were: Causae cognitio sita est in revelatione omnium, quae quis que per vitam universam fecerit, dixerit, cogitârit. Voss de Iud. Extr. p. 2. Thes. 1. Atq…id est quo… foreign de aperiendis libris de Apoc. 20. 12. Nempe per apertionem librorum …gnificatur, ut uni…ui que conscientia sua (nec enim opus erit testibus externis) sugge…ura si… omnem suam vitam Idem. Ibid. Iuditium sedit, & … &c] Conscientiae & opera singulorum in utram que partem, vel bona vel mala omnibus …cvelantur▪ Hieron. In …an. 7. Quaedam igitur vis est intelligenda divina; quâ fiet, ut cui que opera sua, vel bona, vel mala cuncta in memoriam revocentur, & mentis intuitu m…â celeritate cernantur: ut accuset, vel excuset scientia conscientiam▪ at que it a simul & omnes & singuli judicentur. Aug. de Civit DEI Lib. 20. Cap. 14. Necesse igitur non e…it, ut manifestatio fiat voce sensibili ac humanâ; sed satis erit, si menti representetur, & ma…festetur. Hugo Victorin. Lib. 1 de animâ. cap 11. In hoc judicio fiet ape…tio Librorum, sc. conscientiarum, quibus merita & demerita universorum sibi ipsis & cae…eris innotescent, faciente hoc virtute illius Libri▪ vitae; verbise. incarnati. Bon. Brevilo Cap. 1.For, every thought of thine heart, every word of thy mouth, every glance of thine eye, every moment of thy time, every omission of any holy duty, or good deed, every action thou hast undertaken, with all the circumstances thereof, every office thou hast borne, and the discharge of it in every point and particular, every company thou hast come into, and all thy behaviour there, every Sermon thou hast heard, every Sabbath thou hast spent, every motion of the Spirit which hath been made unto thy soule, &c. Let us then, while it is called To Day, call our selves to account, examine, search and trie thorowly our hearts, lives, and callings, our thoughts, words, and deeds: let us arraigne, accuse, judge, cast and condemne our selves: and prostrated before GODS Mercy-Seat, with broken and bleeding affections, lowlinesse of spirit, and humblest adoration of His free grace, upon the same ground with the Aramites, 1 Kings 20. 31. (We have heard that the Kings of the House of Israel are mercifull Kings: let us I pray thee, put sack cloth on our loines, and ropes on our heads, and go out to the King of Israel, peradventure he will save thy life.) Let us there give our mercifull GOD no rest, untill we have sued out our pardon by the intercession of the LORD IESVS, &c. And then we shall find the reckoning made up to our hand, and aHine sidelium peccata non prodibunt in judicium: quum enim in ist hac vita per sententiam justificationis … ▪ te…ta sunt & ablata; & ultimum illud judicium confirmatio erit, & manifestatio ejusdem sententiae; non esset consentaneum, ut in lucem denuò tum temporis proferantur. Ames Medul Theol Lib. 1 Cap 4… ▪ …ect. 22.all matters fully answered before-hand. And (which is a Point of unconceiveable comfort) He that was ourbQui modo est Advocatus noster, ipse tune erit Iudex noster.—Si haberes causam apud aliquem judicem agendan, & instrue…es Advocatum esse, susceptusab Advocato, ageret causam tuam sicut posset▪ & si non illam …inisset, & audires illum in judicio venturum, quantum gaude…es, quià Ipse potuit esse Iudex tuus, qui fuit paulò antè Advocatus tuus?—Quià Advocatum praemisimus, securi Iudicem venturum speremus. August, de Tem. Serm. 119. Advocate upon earth, and purchased the Pardon with His owne hearts bloud, shall then be our Iudge.
3. That all the beastly and impure abominatitions of thine heart; all thy secret sinnes and closet-villanies, that no eye ever looked upon, cSed tu quem times major est omnibus. Ipse timendus est in publico, Ipse in secreto. Procedis, videris: intras, videris. Lucerna a…det, videt te: Lucerna e…tincta est, videt te. In cubile intras, videt te. In corde versaris, videt te. Ipsum time, illum cui cura est, ut videat te, & vel timendo castus esto Aut si peccare vis, quaere ubi te non videat, & fac quod vis. Idem de Verb. Dom. Serm 46.but that which is ten thousand times brighter than the Sun; shall all then be dIn…quitates tuae omnibus populis nudabuntur, & cunctis agminibus patebunt universa scelera tua, non solum actuum, verum cogitationum, & locutionum▪ Multa verò tune venient ex improviso, quasi ex insidijs, quae modò non vides, & forsitan plura & terribiliora his quae vides. Vndi que erunt tibi argustiae, hinc erunt accusantia peccata, tremenda justitia, subtus patens horridum chaos, desuper iratus Iudex, intùs ve…mis conscientiae, foris ardens mundus. Bern. de corsc. Ad Fin. Scio quod anima tamamaram, non aequè sert memoriam, sed cogamus cam, & constringamus. Melius est nanc eam ipsa morderi memoria, quàm per illud tempus, supplicio▪ Si nunc peccatorum sis memor, & ea continuò proferas, & pro ipsis depreceris, ea citò delebis: si nunc verò fueris oblitus, tunc & invitus…oram omni mundo …orum commonefies: ipsis in medium seferentibus, & coramostentantibus, & amicis & inimicis & Angelis. Chrysost Ad Pop. Antioch. Hom. 41. Cum hosrelinquat, & captos Angeli quidam invitostrahant, & lachrymis perfusos, & deorsum tacentes in gehennae flammas, priùs coram toto terrarum orbe ad dedecus productos▪ quantum dolorem esse putas? Idem. Hom. 48. detremendâ Iudicij die. Pensant sancti viri quanta sit illa verecundia in conspectu tunc humani generis, Angelorum omnium Archangelorum que confundi.disclosed and laid open before Angels, Men, and Devils, and thou shalt then and there be horribly, universally, and everlastingly ashamed. Thou now acts perhaps securely some harefull and abhorred worke of darknesse, and wickednesse not to be nam'd, in thine owne heart, or one way or other in secret, which thou wouldst not for the whole world, were knowne to the world, or to any but thy selfe, or one or two of thy cursed companions curbed by their obnoxiousnesse: but be well assured in that Day, at that great assize, thou shalt in the face of heaven and earth, be laid out in thy colours to thine eternall confusion. Never therefore go about, or encourage thy selfe to commit any sinne, because it is mid-night, or that the doores are lockt upon thee; because thou art alone, and no mortall eye seeth thee, neither is it possible to be reveal'd: (And yet I must tell thee by the way, secret villanies have and may be discovered, 1. In sleepe. 2. Out of horrour of conscience, or in time of distraction.) For, suppose it be concealed, and lie hid in as great darknesse, as it was committed, untill that last and great Day: yet then shall it out with a witnesse, and be as legible in thy fore-head, as if it were writ with the brightest starres, or the most glittering Sun▪beame upon a wall of Crystall.
4. In what a wofull case thy heavy heart will be, and with what strange terrour, trembling, and desperate rage, it must needs be possest, and rent in peeces, when thou shalt heare that dreadfull sentence of damnation to eternall torments and horrour, pronounced over thine head: Depart Mat. 25. 41.from me *Though the sentence be pronounced generally, yet every reprobate wi… take it to himselfe with infinite anguish of spirit by particular application. Quaeritis a scholasticis, utrum unâ general… sententiā, & electi recipiendi sint in coelum, & reprobi con…iciendi in gehennam. Sanè sic videtur, quià non nisi generalis a Mattheo sententia adfertur. Tamen dixerit aliquis, opus esse, ut sua singulis sententia dicatur, quià & praemiorum & poena…um ce…i erunt gradus. Ad hoc pleri que respondent, sensibili quidem voce pronunciatum i…i sententiam generalem▪ … eam, quià particulatim omnes sciant, quantum praemium, quant…e poena maneat ipsos, id cujus que menti esse representandum, ita ut ejus…e manifestationis non minùs aperta alijs futura sunt judicia, quàm si singulis sua diceretur sententia. Vossius de Iud. extr. The. 3….thou cursed wretch into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devill and his angels: Every word breathes out nothing but fire and brimstone, vengeance and woe, bites deeper, and terrifies more than ten thousand Scorpion stings. To depart from that glorious presence were hell enough: but thou must also go with a curse: nor onelyonly so, but into fire: and that must be everlasting, fed continually with infinite rivers of brimstone, and kept still in flame and fiercenesse, by the unquenchable wrath of the most just GOD, thorow all eternity. And in that horrible dungeon and fiery lake, thou shalt never have other company or comforters but wicked devils, and they insulting over thee everlastingly with much hellish spite, and stinging exprobrations, for neglecting so great salvation all thy life long; and losing heaven, for some base lust, and believing their lies. If the drowning of the old world, swallowing up of Korah and his complices, burning up of Sodome with brimstone, were attended with such terrours, and hideous out▪cries: How infinitely transcendent to all possibility of conceipt, expression, or beliefe, will the confusions and tremblings of that Day be; when so many millions of men shall be drag'd downe with all the Devils of hell, to torments without end, and past imagination. There was horrible scryking, when those five filthy cities first felt fire and brimstone drop downe upon their heads; when those rebels saw the ground cleave asunder; and themselves and all theirs go downe quicke into the pit; when all the sonnes and daughters of Adam found the floud rising and ready to over-flow them all at once▪ But the most horrid cry that ever was heard, or ever shalbe in heaven or earth, in this world, or the world to come, will be then, when all the forlorne condemned reprobates, upon sentence given, shalbe violently and unresistably haled downe to hell, and pulled presently from the presence not onelyonly of the most glorious GOD, the LORD IESVS, Angels, and all the blessed Ones, but also of their Fathers, Mothers, Wives, Husbands, Children, Sisters, Brothers, Lovers, Friends, Acquaintance; *Beati coelites non tantum non cognatorum, sed nec pare…tum sempiternis suppliei…s ad ullam miserationem …entur. Imo verò …tabuntur …usti cum viderint vindictam; Manus s…as … in sanguine pecc…to rum. Malum autem quem… ▪ … DEVS om nes… ▪ bo…i habebunt odio, ut … …ilius quidem pietatem habe… de … in poenis conspecto. …. de similitud. Cat. 62.who shall then justly and deservedly abandon them with all detestation and derision: and forgetting all nearenesse and dearest obligations of nature, neighbourhood, alliance, any thing, rejoyce in the execution of divine justice in their everlasting condemnation. So that no eye of GOD o… man shall pitie them; neither shall any teares, prayers, promises, suits, cries, yellings, calling upon rocks and mountains, wishes never to have been, or now to be made nothing, &c. be then heard or preva…e i… their behalfe; or any one in heaven or earth be found to mediate or speake for them; to reverse or stay that fearefull doome of eternall woe: but without mercy, without stay, without any farewell, they shall be immediately and irrecoverably cast downe into the bottomlesse pit, of easelesse, endlesse, and remedilesse torments, which then shall finally shut her mouth upon them. Oh! What then will be the guawings of the never▪dying worme; what rage of guilty consciences; what furious despaire; what horrour of mind; what distractions and feares; what bitter looking backe upon their mis-spent time in this world; what *Damnati DEVM, Sanctos, seips…s, … ash…uis execrationibus dev…vebunt: pa…entem …ilius, …ilium parens, matrem …, … ma…er execrab… omnes vi… dies, annosque, & ipsam qua quis que …tus est ho…am maledictis onerabit.banning of their brethren in iniquity; what cursing the day of their birth; and even blaspheming of GOD Himselfe blessed for ever; what tearing their haire and gnashing of teeth; what wailing and wringing of hands; what desperate roaring; what hideous yellings, filling heaven, and earth, and hell, &c. No tongue can tell, no heart can thinke! Be fore-warned then, in a word, To thirst, long and labour infinitely more to have IESVS CHRIST in the meanetime, say in the Ministry to thy truly humbled soule; I am thy salvation; than to be Possessour (i… it were possible) of all the riches, glory and pleasures of moe worlds, than there are starres in Heaven.