An exposition of the Creed: or, An explanation of the articles of our Christian faith. Delivered in many afternoone sermons, by that reverend and worthy divine, Master Iohn Smith, late preacher of the Word at Clavering in Essex, and sometime fellow of Saint Iohns Colledge in Oxford. Now published for the benefit and behoofe of all good Christians, together with an exact table of all the chiefest doctrines and vses throughout the whole booke

SERMON XLIIII.

ACTS 17. 30, 31.

But now commandeth all men every where to re∣pent,

Because hee hath appointed a day in the which hee will judge the world in righteousnesse, by that man whom be hath ordained.

IT is a profitable and a fruitfull thought (as one saies) to thinke of the last end, not onely of the day of Death, but also of the day of Iudgement; How this whole World shall bee dissolved, and that wee must stand before God to give an ac∣count of all our thoughts, words and actions; How wee have lived and passed our dayes here. Philosophers say, That it is the end that moveth all Agents; and the Schoolemen say, that All actions are determined in regard of the end. Therefore they compared it to the Sterne of a Ship, which is behinde the Ship; when the Ship goes before it, and yet the little Rud∣der that hangs at the Sterne of it, that doth order and governe the Ship this way and that way; so the end of a man is the best thing that should order all the Actions of his life, therefore it is a profitable thought, not onely to thinke of the day of Death, but also of the day of Iudgement, therby to prepare themselves, that they may stand before God to give in their accounts: for certaine it is, because men do not thinke of their last end, they run jnto all sin and disorder: Moses complaines of this, Deut. 32. 29. Oh that they were wise, that they would understand this, that they would consider their last end: And so in Lament. 1. 9. it is said of Ierusalem, shee re∣membred not her last end, therefore shee came downe mightily, shee had no com∣forter: Here wee see it is a profitable thought to thinke of our last end, and not onely of the day of Death, but also of the day of Iudgement; that there shall be an end of this whole world, and that we must give in our accounts of all our thoughts, words, and actions. Philip king of Macedonia, had a little boy to knocke at his chamber doore every mor∣ning, and to say unto him, Remember Philip, thou art but a mortall man, and

thou must die; so much more wee that are Christians should thinke of our last end, every night when we goe to bed, and every morning when we rise, and every time wee goe into the World, that Christ shall judge us, and that we must give in our accounts of all our thoughts, speeches, and actions. When Paul preached to Felix, of temperance, and of the last judgement, he shifted away the matter, and could not abide to heare of it; because he had a naughtie conscience; for Iosephus tels us he was a naugh∣tie man, for the woman that was with him (whose name was Drusilla) he had inticed from her husband, and therefore his conscience accusing him, hee shifted away this thought; but the people of God bee often thinking of this, that so they may be fitted for it; as Iob 31. considered with himselfe, What shall I doe when God standeth up, and when hee visiteth me, how shall I answere? so should we doe.

The last day we spake of the persons that shall be judged, and shewed you out of Scripture, that they were all men, of what estate and condi∣tion soever they be; I that speake, and you that heare; they which are absent, and they which are present; both the quicke and the Dead, as it is in the Creed, that is, all men and women that ever were, or shall be, past, present, or to come; no man shall be exempted from that day: So Saint Paul saith, Wee shall all appeare before the Iudgement seat of God: and Revel. 20. 12. I saw the Dead both great and small stand before God: Therefore, it is a sure thing that all shall come to judgement; the Hils cannot hide us, nor the Mountaines cover us, so there is no man can escape it, nor no man can avoide it. Here in this World there bee many shifts to escape mens Courts, and Tribunals; they may flie the Countrey, or bribe the Iudge, or compose and agree the matter with their adversary, or if these doe not serve, Death may acquit them; but there is no flying from God; whither can wee goe where hee will not finde us out? If wee were in Hell, he would fetch us thence: Neither will this Iudge take bribe, for he is a severe Iudge, and will not be bribed; nor can wee compose the matter with our adversary, for it is the Divell, and he will not bee satis∣fied; he is so cruell that he will not take the whole World to agree the matter; nor shall wee be acquitted by death, for wee see, Revel. 20. that Death and Hell gave up their Dead that were in them: so there is no way to escape the Iudgement seate of God, but all shall appeare before him, from the first man that entred into the World, to the last that shall bee borne, and therefore this should make us the more carefull to passe our dayes in reverence, and feare before him. Acts 19. 20. as when there was a commotion in Athens, the Towne Clerke staid all with a word, (as it were) saying, We stand in jeopardie to be accused of this daies sedition: So if men would thinke of this, when they be in the heate of their affe∣ctions, and in the course of sinne, it would stoppe them, that one day they shall come to judgement, and give in their accounts for all that they have done, there is no man that can escape it, no man that can a∣voide it. When we have sinned through weaknesse and infirmity, wee should not be at rest, till we have gotten a pardon for it, sealed with the blood of Christ: As a man that is guilty of Treason, cannot take con∣tentment

in any thing, hee cannot eate, drinke, or sleepe in rest till hee hath gotten a pardon from the King; so seeing we are guilty of Treason before God, and have sinned many wayes against him, wee should not bee at rest, till wee have a pardon, sealed with the blood of Christ, and shewed it to God, saying, Lord, I confesse I have sinned against thee, but here is a pardon sealed with the blood of Christ, I know thou wilt not deny it.

Sixthly, The manner of the judgement, whereto there belong divers Actions, so that at the day of judgement there shall not be one Act one∣ly, but divers.

The first, The burning up of the whole World, even the whole frame of Nature, all Creatures visible and sensible shall be destroied and brought downe into the dust; Once the World was destroyed by water, and now it shall be destroyed by fire: God that set Sodome and Gomorrah on a fire in an instant, and destroyed it, shall set this whole World on a fire, and no man shall be able to quench it, and put it out: David saith, Psal. 50. 3. Our God shall come, and shall not keepe silence; A fire shall devoure before him, and a mightie tempest shall be moved round about him. Daniel 7. 9. And he ancient of dayes did fit, whose Garment was as white as snow, and the haire of his head like purple wooll, his Throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheeles like the burning flame; A firie streame issued and came forth. So 2 Thes. 1. it is said, When the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty An∣gels in flaming fire, rendring vengeance unto them which know not God, nor obey him in the Gospell: so that in small time the whole World shall be consu∣med, and all the glory of it shall be brought to nothing.

Now if any man shall demand and say, What be the particulars that shall be destroyed? I answer, The Apostle sheweth, 2 Pet. 3. 10. That the earth with all the workes thereof shall bee consumed and burnt up: all the habitations where we now dwell, shall bee consumed and come to no∣thing: many times if ordinary and slight houses be burnt, such as be of bricke and stone escape, but at the day of judgement, not only the slight buildings shall be burned, but also the stronger houses, such as are made of no combustible matter, of bricke and stone. We see 1 King. 18. The fire that came downe upon Elias his sacrifice, did not onely burne up the sacri∣fice and the wood, but it did licke up the water, and burne up the stones and the dust; so the fire of heaven will not onely burne the slight buil∣dings, but also the strongest houses that bee made of solid matter, of bricke, and stone, and marble, yea if they were houses of iron, they shall be destroyed and dissolved, and brought to the matter they were made of: so all the world shall be dissolved, and burnt up. From hence wee learne these Uses.

First, seeing the earth with all the workes thereof shall be consumed and burnt, therefore this should teach us to moderate our care for the things of this life, that wee bee not so eager and greedy of them, as to scrape and scratch together these things unconscionably, seeing the fire of Gods wrath shall fall upon them, and consume them; they shall bee dissolved and burnt up; all these goodly houses, and gardens, hawkes,

and hounds, all shall be burned with fire; therefore we should moderate our selves in the things of this life. For which cause Matth. 20. when the Disciples came to Christ, and shewed him the goodly buildings of the Temple, saith Christ, Doe yee so admire these things, and dote upon them, the time shall come that there shall not be left one stone on another: so may we say, when men dote on the things of this life, and doe not seeke after hea∣ven and happinesse, Why doe yee so dote on these things, the time shall come that there shall not bee a stone left upon a stone. Zerxes when hee had a purpose to goe to warre, did muster his men in a place, and he saw seven hundred thousand men, whom he went up unto an hil to take view of, and at the sight of them wept; his nobles asked him why hee did weepe? he said, that hee wept to consider how in the revolution of an hundred yeares, there should not one of all these be left: so it is good for a man to doe as Zerxes did, to muster up all his delights, pleasures, and profits, to take a view of them, and to consider that after the revolution of a few yeares, all shall come to nothing.

Secondly, seeing this earth with all the workes thereof shall be burnt up, therefore to labour for the rich graces of Christ: which is the use Saint Peter makes thereof, 2 Pet. 3. 11. Seeing therefore that all these things must be dissolved, what manner of persons ought wee to bee in holy conversation and godlinesse? and indeed how ought we to labour to get Faith and Re∣pentance, to be brought to an estate of grace, that so we may be saved and stand with comfort at that day? If a man should gather a great deale of wealth together, and put it into an house, if one should come and set the house on fire and burne up all, he would cry; I am undone, I am undone; so if we lay up all our comfort and joy here in this world, when the fire of Gods wrath shall come downe from heaven, and consume all these things, wee may cry out, Wee are undone; and therefore it must bee our wisedome to lay up our treasure in heaven, and then it will be safe; this is the counsell that Christ gives us; Matth. 6. Lay not up for your selves treasure upon earth, where the moths and canker corrupt, and where theeves digge through and steale, but lay up treasure for your selves in heaven, where neither the moth nor the canker corrupteth, and where theeves neither dig through or steale. Hereupon Augustine saith well, there was a friend that came to a friends house, that he had laid up his Corne in a low darke roome, telling him that if hee laid it there, it must needs corrupt and putrifie, but lay it up on an high loft, and then it will keepe safe; so saith he, Christ is this friend that commeth to a friends house, hee sees that we lay up our treasures in this World where they will corrupt, and come to nothing; therefore he gives us this Counsell, that wee should lay up our treasures in Heaven in an high loft, where wee may bee sure they will be safe.

If any man here make a doubt, and put this question; What is there nothing but this world and the workes thereof that shall bee consumed, and burnt? I answere him, from the same place of Peter, not onely the earth and the workes thereof, but the heavens shall melt with heate, and the elements, so much as is visible and sensible; even those that are most

true and regular, and constant in their courses, clockes may deceive us, but these will not, they be true in their courses, and yet these shall melt with heare, and shall passe and runne away from the presence of Christ. Heere we may see the lothsomenesse of sinne, that doth not rest in the center of the earth, but goeth thorough the clouds, and doth infect the ayre, almost to the seate of God himselfe. I would to God men would thinke of this; when wee see a man strangely taken away by untimely death, or a house on fire, we thinke it strange, but for the sinne of man, God will destroy the heavens and the earth. Wee see in the Law, that if a man had the Leprosie upon him, he should bee shut up, and the wals of the house should bee scraped, and if it brake out againe, then the house should be pulled downe, and the timber, and the stones, and the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 carried away, that it might not infect the people, Levit. 40. 41. so the Lord doth scrape us (as it were) by his judgements, but because sinne breakes out still, he will pull downe the house, even destroy this whole world: so that at the last day no man shall know his former house, or his land, to say here is my house, or here is my land, as Iob speakes, When a man dyeth, he knoweth neither house, nor land.

Now heere another question may be demanded, seeing the heaven and the earth shall be dissolved, and burnt up, what shall become of the people of God? To this I answere out of the Apostle Pauls words, where he tels us, as a Mystery, We shall not all sleepe, but we shall all be changed, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is, all shall not dye, for those that bee alive, or that bee living at Christs comming shall be changed from mortality to immortality, this shall be their estate at that day; the creatures appointed for the fire shall bee burned, and the fire shall fall on the wicked, but all the people of God shall be preserved, as the three Children were in the firy furnace: Hence we learne what a comfortable thing it will be, when Gods peo∣ple shall see all the world on a fire about them, over their heads, and un∣der their feet, but it shall not touch them; Moses told the Children of Israel, that the Lord would bring great plagues on the Egyptians, which should not touch any of them, so the Lord at the day of judgement will bring downe fire on the wicked, and the ungodly, which shall not touch any of the people of God, howsoever they be set light by here, not ac∣counted of, nor regarded, yet at that day they shall see what a comfor∣table thing it is to be a Christian.

Thirdly, seeing the heavens and the earth shall bee dissolved, and burnt with fire, let us labour to be found in Christ, to be one of the peo∣ple of God, and then the Lord will worke strangely for us: if a towne or a country should be on fire, and there should be a little house of stone, where whosoever could get into it, should be preserved from the fire, O how men would thr•• and throng thither: Beloved, Christ is as a little house of stone, and whosoever is in him shall bee preserved from the fire, when the fire shall fall on the wicked and ungodly, and burne them, then they that be in Christ shall bee safe from danger; therefore every man should labour to be in Christ, that so hee may be saved: we see Phil. 3. the Apostle Paul saith, that hee accompts of all things to bee but

dung, and drosse, that he may be found of Christ; so it should be with a Chri∣stian, to esteeme all things but dung and drosse, that he may be found in Christ, let who will take the world with all the delights and pleasures thereof; wee must labour to lay up our comfort in Christ, and to make God our friend, and then we shall bee preserved when this world shall be dissolved. When the unjust steward in the Gospell knew his master would turne him out of his office, hee made a friend with his masters goods; so because we know not how soone the Lord may turne us out of our offices, out of our dwellings; therefore let us labour to make God our friend, and then it shall goe well with us howsoever.

Notes

• SER. XLIV
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Sixthly, the manner of the iudgement.
• 1
• Quest.
• Sol.
• Simile.
• Vse 1.
• Simile.
• Vse 2.
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Quest.
• Sol.
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Quest.
• Sol.
• Vse 3.
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Simile.
• Simile.