XXV sermons preached at Golden-Grove being for the vvinter half-year, beginning on Advent-Sunday, untill Whit-Sunday / by Jeremy Taylor ...

SERMON, II. [ A] Part II. [ B] (Book 2)

1. IF we consider the person of the Judge, we first perceive that he is interested in the injury of the crimes he is to sentence. Videbunt quem crucifixerunt, and they shal look on him whom they have pierced. It was for thy sins that the Judge did suffer such unspeakable pains as were enough to reconcile all the world to God: The summe and spirit of which pains could not be better understood then by the consequence of his own words, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? meaning, that he felt such hor∣rible, pure, unmingled sorrowes, that although his humane nature [ C] was personally united to the Godhead, yet at that instant he felt no comfortable emanations by sensible perception from the Divi∣nity, but he was so drenched in sorrow, that the Godhead see∣med to have forsaken him. Beyond this, nothing can be added: but then, that thou hast for thy own particular made all this in vain and ineffective, that Christ thy Lord and Judge should be tormented for nothing, that thou wouldst not accept felicity and pardon when he purchased them at so dear a price, must needs be an infinite condemnation to such persons. How shalt thou look upon him that fainted and dyed for love of thee, and thou didst scorn his miraculous mercies? How shall we dare to behold that [ D] holy face that brought salvation to us, and we turned away and fell in love with death, and kissed deformity and sins? and yet in the beholding that face consists much of the glories of eternity. All the pains and passions, the sorrowes and the groans, the humili∣ty and poverty, the labours and the watchings, the Prayers and the Sermons, the miracles and the prophecies, the whip and the nails, the death and the buriall, the shame and the smart, the Crosse and the grave of Jesus shall be laid upon thy score, if thou hast refused the mercies and design of all their holy ends and purposes. [ E] And if we remember what a calamity that was which broke the Jewish Nation in pieces, when Christ came to judge them for their murdering him who was their King and the Prince of life, and consider that this was but a dark image of the terrors of the day of Judgement, we may then apprehend that there is some

strange unspeakable evill that attends them that are guilty of this [ A] death, and of so much evill to their Lord. Now it is certain if thou wilt not be saved by his death; you are guilty of his death; if thoa wilt not suffer him to save thee, thou art guilty of destroying him; and then let it be considered what is to be expected from that Judge before whom you stand as his murtherer and betrayer. * But this is but half of this consideration.

2. Christ may be crucified again, and upon a new account put to an open shame. For after that Christ had done all this by the direct acti∣ons of his Priestly Office, of sacrificing himself for us, he hath also done very many things for us which are also the fruits of his first love [ B] and prosecutions of our redemption. I will not instance in the strange arts of mercy that our Lord uses to bring us to live holy lives; But I consider, that things are so ordered, and so great a value set upon our souls since they are the images of God, and redeemed by the Bloud of the holy Lamb, that the salvation of our souls is reckoned as a part of Christs reward, a part of the glorification of his humanity. Every sinner that repents causes joy to Christ, and the joy is so great that it runs over and wets the fair brows and beauteous locks of Cherubims and Seraphims, and all the Angels have a part of that banquet; Then it is that our blessed Lord feels the fruits of his [ C] holy death, the acceptation of his holy sacrifice, the graciousnesse of his person, the return of his prayers. For all that Christ did or suffer'd, and all that he now does as a Priest in heaven, is to glorifie his Father by bringing souls to God: For this it was that he was born and dyed, that he descended from heaven to earth, from life to death, from the crosse to the grave; this was the purpose of his resurrection and ascension, of the end and design of all the miracles and graces of God manifested to all the world by him; and now what man is so vile, such a malicious fool, that will refuse to bring joy to his Lord by doing himself the greatest good in the world? They who refuse to do this, are said to cru∣cifie [ D] the Lord of life again, and put him to an open shame: that is, they, as much as in them lies, bring Christ from his glorious joyes to the labours of his life, and the shame of his death; they ad∣vance his enemies, and refuse to advance the Kingdome of their Lord; they put themselves in that state in which they were when Christ came to dye for them; and now that he is in a state that he may rejoyce over them, (for he hath done all his share towards it) every wicked man takes his head from the blessing, and rather chuses that the Devill should rejoyce in his destruction, then that [ E] his Lord should triumph in his felicity. And now upon the sup∣position of these premises, we may imagine that it will be an in∣finite amazement to meet that Lord to be our Judge whose per∣son we have murdered, whose honour we have disparaged, whose purposes we have destroyed, whose joyes we have lessened, whose

passion we have made ineffectuall, and whose love we have tram∣pled under our profane and impious feet. [ A]

3. But there is yet a third part of this consideration. As it will be inquir'd at the day of Judgement concerning the dishonours to the person of Christ, so also concerning the profession and insti∣tution of Christ, and concerning his poor Members; for by these also we make sad reflexions upon our Lord. Every man that lives wickedly disgraces the religion and institution of Jesus, he discou∣rages strangers from entring into it, he weakens the hands of them that are in already, and makes that the adversaries speak reproachfully of the Name of Christ; but although it is certain [ B] our Lord and Judge will deeply resent all these things, yet there is one thing which he takes more tenderly, and that is, the uncha∣ritablenesse of men towards his poor: It shall then be upbraided to them by the Judge, that himself was hungry and they refu∣sed to give meat to him that gave them his body and heart-bloud, to feed them and quench their thirst; that they denyed a robe to cover his nakednesse, and yet he would have cloathed their souls with the robe of his righteousnesse, lest their souls should be found naked in the day of the Lords visitation; and all this unkindnesse is nothing but that evill men were uncharitable to their Brethren, they would not feed the hungry, nor give drink to the thirsty, nor [ C] cloath the naked, nor relieve their Brothers needs, nor forgive his follies, nor cover their shame, nor turn their eyes from deligh∣ting in their affronts and evill accidents; this is it which our Lord will take so tenderly, that his Brethren for whom he died, who suck'd the paps of his Mother, that fed on his Body and are nourished with his Bloud, whom he hath lodg'd in his heart and entertains in his bosome, the partners of his Spirit and co-heirs of his inhe∣ritance, that these should be deny'd relief and suffered to go away ashamed, and unpitied; this our blessed Lord will take so ill, that [ D] all those who are guilty of this unkindnesse, have no reason to ex∣pect the favour of the Court.

4. To this if we adde the almightinesse of the Judge, his infinite wisdome and knowledge of all causes, and all persons, and all cir∣cumstances, that he is infinitely just, inflexibly angry, and impar∣tiall in his sentence, there can be nothing added either to thè greatness or the requisites of a terrible and an Almighty Judge. For who can resist him who is Almighty? Who can evade his scrutiny that knows all things? Who can hope for pity of him that is inflexible? Who can think to be exempted when the Judge is righteous and impartial? But in all these annexes of the great Judge, that which I shall now remark, [ E] is that indeed which hath terror in it, and that is, the severity of our Lord. For then is the day of vengeance and recompenses, and no mer∣cy at all shall be shewed, but to them that are the sons of mercy; for the other, their portion is such as can be expected from these premises.

1. If we remember the instances of Gods severity in this life, [ A] in the daies of mercy and repentance, in those dayes when Judge∣ment waits upon Mercy, and receives lawes by the rules and mea∣sures of pardon, and that for all the rare streams of loving kind∣nesse issuing out of Paradise and refreshing all our fields with a moisture more fruitfull then the flouds of Nilus, still there are mingled some stormes and violences, some fearfull instances of the Divine Justice, we may more readily expect it will be worse, in∣finitely worse at that day, when Judgement shall ride in triumph, and Mercy shall be the accuser of the wicked. But so we read, and are commanded to remember, because they are written for our ex∣ample, [ B] that God destroyed at once five cities of the plain, and all the country; and Sodome and her sisters are set forth for an exam∣ple, suffering the vengeance of eternall fire. Fearfull it was when God destroyed at once 23000 for fornication, and an extermina∣ting Angell in one night killed 185000 of the Assyrians, and the first born of all the families of Egypt, and for the sin of David in numbring the people threescore and ten thousand of the people dyed, and God sent ten tribes into captivity and eternall oblivion and indistinction from a common people for their idolatry. Did not God strike Corah and his company with fire from Heaven? and [ C] the earth open'd and swallowed up the congregation of Abiram? And is not evill come upon all the world for one sin of Adam? Did not the anger of God break the nation of the Jewes all in pieces with judgements so great, that no nation ever suffered the like, be∣cause none ever sin'd so? And at once it was done, that God in anger destroyed all the world, and eight persons only escaped the angry Baptisme of water, and yet this world is the time of mercy; God hath open'd here his Magazines, and sent his holy Son as the great channell and fountain of it too: here he delights in mercy, and in judgement loves to remember it, and it triumphs over all [ D] his works, and God contrives instruments and accidents, chances and designs, occasions and opportunities for mercy: if therefore now the anger of God makes such terrible eruptions upon the wicked people that delight in sin, how great may we suppose that anger to be, how severe that Judgement, how terrible that ven∣geance, how intolerable those inflictions which God reserves for the full effusion of indignation on the great day of vengeance?

2. We may also guesse at it by this; if God upon all single in∣stances, and in the midst of our sins, before they are come to the full, and sometimes in the beginning of an evill habit be so fierce in [ E] his anger, what can we imagine it to be, in that day when the wicked are to drink the dregs of that horrid potion, and count over all the particulars of their whole treasure of wrath? This is the * 1.1 day of wrath, and God shall reveal, or, bring forth his righteous Judgements. The expression is taken from Deut. 32. 34. Is not this

laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, [ A] I will restore it in the day of vengeance, for the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants. For so did the Lybian Lion that was brought up under discipline, and taught to endure blowes, and eat the meat of order and regular provision, and to suffer gentle usages, and the familiarities of socie∣ties; but once he brake out into his own wildnesse, Dedidicit pacem subitò feritate reversâ, and kil'd two Roman boyes; but those that sorrage in the Lybian mountains tread down and devour all that they meet or master; and when they have fasted two dayes, lay up an anger great as is their appetite, and bring certain death to [ B] all that can be overcome: God is pleased to compare himself to a Lion; and though in this life he hath confin'd himself with promises and gracious emanations of an infinite goodnesse, and li∣mits himself by conditions and covenants, and suffers himself to be overcome by prayers, and himself hath invented wayes of atone∣ment and expiation, yet when he is provoked by our unhandsome and unworthy actions, he makes sudden breaches, and tears some of us in pieces, and of others he breaks their bones or affrights their hopes and secular sayeties, and fils their house with mourning and Cypresse, and groans and death: But when [ C] this Lion of the tribe of Judah shall appear upon his own moun∣tain, the mountain of the Lord, in his naturall dresse of Majesty, and that Justice shall have her chain and golden fetters taken off, then Justice shall strike, and Mercy shall not hold her hands; she shall strike sore strokes, and pity shall not break the blow; and God shall account with us by minutes, and for words, and for thoughts, and then he shall be severe to mark what is done amisse; and that Justice may reign intirely, God shall open the wicked mans trea∣sure, and tell the sums, and weigh grains and scruples: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, said Philo upon the place of Deutero∣nomy [ D] before quoted: As there are treasures of good things; and God hath Crowns and Scepters in store for his Saints and servants, and Coronets for Martyrs, and Rosaries for Virgins, and Phials full of Prayers, and bottles full of tears, and a register of sighs and penitentiall groans: so God hath a treasure of wrath and fury, of scourges and scorpions, and then shall be produced the shame of lust, and the malice of envie, and the groans of the oppressed, and the persecutions of the Saints, and the cares of covetousnesse, and the troubles of ambition, and the insolencies of traitors, and the [ E] violences of rebels, and the rage of anger, and the uneasinesse of impatience, and the restlesnesse of unlawfull desires; and by this time the monsters and diseases will be numerous, and intolerable, when Gods heavie hand shall presse the sanies and the intolerable∣nesse, the obliquity and the unreasonablenesse, the amazement

and the disorder, the smart and the sorrow, the guilt and the pu∣nishment [ A] out from all our sins, and pour them into one chalice, and mingle them with an infinite wrath, and make the wicked drink off all the vengeance, and force it down their unwilling throats with the violence of Devils and accursed Spirits.

3. We may guesse at the severity of the Judge by the lesser strokes of that Judgement which he is pleased to send upon sinners in this world, to make them afraid of the horrible pains of Dooms∣day: I mean the torments of an unquiet conscience, the amaze∣ment and confusions of some sins and some persons. For I have sometimes seen persons surpriz'd in a base action, and taken in the [ B] circumstances of crafty theft, and secret unjustices before their ex∣cuse was ready; They have changed their colour, their speech hath faltered, their tongue stammer'd, their eyes did wander and fix no where, till shame made them sink into their hollow eye-pits to retreat from the images and circumstances of discovery; their wits are lost, their reason uselesse, the whole order of their soul is discomposed, and they neither see, nor feel, nor think as they use to do, but they are broken into disorder by a stroke of damna∣tion and a lesser stripe of hell; but then if you come to observe a guilty and a base murtherer, a condemned traytor, and see him [ C] harrassed first by an evill conscience, and then pull'd in pieces by the hangmans hooks, or broken upon sorrows and the wheel, we may then guesse (as well as we can in this life) what the pains of that day shall be to accursed souls: But those we shall consider afterwards in their proper scene; now only we are to estimate the severity of our Judge by the intolerablenesse of an evill conscience; if guilt will make a man despair, and despair will make a man mad, confounded and dissolved in all the regions of his senses and more noble faculties, that he shall neither feel, nor hear, nor see any thing but spectres and illusions, devils and frightfull dreams, [ D] and hear noises, and shriek fearfully, and look pale and distracted like a hopelesse man from the horrors and confusions of a lost battell upon which all his hopes did stand, then the wicked must at the day of Judgement expect strange things and fearfull, and such which now no language can expresse, and then no patience can endure.

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Then only it can truly be said that he is inflexible and inexora∣ble. No prayers then can move him, no groans can cause him to [ E] pity thee: therefore pity thy self in time, that when the Judge comes thou mayest be one of the sons of everlasting mercy, to whom pity belongs as part of thine inheritance; for all else shall without any remorse (except his own) be condemned by the hor∣rible sentence.

4. That all may think themselves concerned in this considera∣tion, [ A] let us remember that even the righteous and most innocent shall passe through a severe triall. Many of the Ancients expli∣cated this severity by the fire of conflagration, which say they shall purifie those souls at the day of Judgement, which in this life have built upon the foundation hay and stubble, works of folly and false opinions, and states of imperfection. So S. Austins Do∣ctrine was, Hoc aget caminus, alios in sinistrâ separabit, alios in * 1.2 dextrâ quodam modo eliquabit, The great fire at Dooms-day shall throw some into the portion of the left hand, and others shall be purified and represented on the right: and the same is affirmed [ B] by Origen * 1.3 and Lactantius; and S. Hilary thus expostulates, Since we are to give account for every idle word, shall we long for the day of Judgement, in quo est nobis indefessus ille ignis ebeundus in quo subeunda sunt gravia illa expiandae à peccatis animae supplicia,

Wherein we must every one of us passe that unwearied fire in which those grievous punishments for expiating the soul from sins must be endured; for to such as have been baptized with the Holy Ghost it remaineth that they be consummated with the fire of Judgement.

And S. Ambrose addes, That if any be as Peter or as John, they are baptiz'd with this fire, and he that is purged here had need to be [ C] purged there again: Illic quoque nos purificet quando dicat domi∣nus, Intrate in requiem meam, Let him also purifie us, that every one of us being burned with that flaming sword, not burned up or con∣sumed, we may enter into Paradise and give thanks unto the Lord * 1.4 who hath brought us into a place of refreshment. This opinion of theirs is, in the main of it, very uncertain, relying upon the sense of some obscure places of Scripture, is only apt to represent the great severity of the Judge at that day, and it hath in it this only certainty, that even the most innocent person hath great need of mercy, and he that hath the greatest cause of confidence, although [ D] he runs to no rocks to hide him, yet he runs to the protection of the Crosse, and hides himself under the shadow of the Divine mercies: and he that shall receive the absolution of the blessed sen∣tence, shall also suffer the terrors of the day, and the fearfull cir∣cumstances of Christs coming. The effect of this considerati∣on is this: That if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the wicked and the sinner appear? Quid faciet virgula deserti, ubi con∣cutietur cedrus Paradisi? Quid faciet agnus, cum tremit aries? Si coelum fugiat, ubi manebit terra? said S. Gregory. And if S. Paul whose conscience accus'd him not, yet durst not be too confident, [ E] because he was not hereby justified, but might be found faulty by the severer Judgement of his Lord; how shall we appear with all our crimes and evill habits round about us? If there be need of much mercy to the servants and friends of the Judge, then his ene∣mies shall not be able to stand upright in Judgement.

5. But the matter is still of more concernment. The Pharisees [ A] beleeved that they were innocent if they abstained from criminall actions, such as were punishable by the Judge; and many Chri∣stians think all is well with them, if they abstain from such sins as have a name in the Tables of their Lawes: But because some sins are secret and not discernible by man; others are publick, but not punished, because they are frequent and perpetuall, and without ex∣ternall mischiefs in some instances, and only provocations against God; men think that in their concernments they have no place: and such are jeering and many instances of wantonnesse, and revel∣ling, doing petty spites, and doggednesse, and churlishnesse, lying [ B] and pride: and beyond this, some are very like vertues; as too much gentlenesse and slacknesse in government, or too great severity and rigor of animadversions, bitternesse in reproof of sinners, un∣civill circumstances, imprudent handlings of some criminals, and zeal; Nay there are some vile things, which through the evill dis∣coursings and worse manners of men are passed into an artificiall and false reputation, and men are accounted wits for talking Atheistically, and valiant for being murderers, and wise for decei∣ving and circumventing our Brothers; and many irregularities more, for all which we are safe enough here. But when the day [ C] of Judgement comes, these shall be called to a severe account, for the Judge is omniscient and knows all things, and his tribunall takes cognisance of all causes, and hath a coërcitive for all, all things are naked and open to his eyes (saith S. Paul) therefore nothing shall * 1.5 escape for being secret:

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And all prejudices being laid aside it shall be considered concerning [ D] our evill rules, and false principles; Cum cepero tempus, ego justitias * 1.6 judicabo; when I shall receive the people, I shall judge according unto right: so we read; [When we shall receive time, I will judge justices and judgements] so the vulgar Latin reads it; that is, in the day of the Lord, when time is put into his hand and time shall be no more, he shall judge concerning those judgements when men here make of things below; and the fighting man shall perceive the noises of drunkards and fools that cryed him up for daring to kill his Brother, to have been evill principles; and then it will be declared by strange effects, that wealth is not the greatest fortune; [ E] and ambition was not but an ill counsellor; and to lye for a good cause was no piety; and to do evill for the glory of God was but an ill worshipping him; and that good nature was not well imploy'd when it spent it self in vicious company, and evill compliances; and that piety was not softnesse and want of courage; and that po∣verty

ought not to have been contemptible; and that cause that is [ A] unsuccessefull, is not therefore evill; and what is folly here, shall be wisdome there; then shall men curse their evill guides and their ac∣cursed superinduced necessities, and the evill guises of the world; and then when silence shall be found innocence, and eloquence in many instances condemned as criminall; when the poor shall reign, and Generals and Tyrants shall lye low in horrible regions; when he that lost all shall finde a treasure, and he that spoil'd him shall be found naked and spoil'd by the destroyer, then we shall finde it true, that we ought here to have done what our Judge, our blessed Lord shall do there, that is, take our measures of good and evill [ B] by the severities of the word of God, by the Sermons of Christ, and the four Gospels, and by the Epistles of S. Paul, by Justice and charity, by the Lawes of God and the lawes of wise Princes and Republicks, by the rules of Nature and the just proportions of Reason, by the examples of good men and the proverbs of wise men, by severity and the rules of Discipline: for then it shall be, that truth shall ride in triumph, and the holinesse of Christs Ser∣mons shall be manifest to all the world; that the Word of God shall be advanced over all the discourses of men, and Wisdome shall be justified by all her children. Then shall be heard those words of [ C] an evill and trady repentance, and the just rewards of folly; [We fools thought their life madnesse; but behold they are justified be∣fore the throne of God, and we are miserable for ever.] Here men think it strange if others will not run into the same excesse of riot; but there they will wonder how themselves should be so mad and infinitely unsafe by being strangely and inexcusably unreasonable. The summe is this; The Judge shall appear cloathed with wisdome, and power, and justice, and knowledge, and an impartiall Spirit, ma∣king no separations by the proportions of this world, but by the measures of God, not giving sentence by the principles of our [ D] folly and evill customes, but by the severity of his own Laws and measures of the Spirit. Non est judicium Dei sicut hominum, God does not judge as Man judges.

6. Now that the Judge is come thus arrayed, thus prepared, so instructed, let us next consider the circumstances of our appearing and his sentence; and first I consider that men at the day of Judge∣ment that belong not to the portion of life, shall have three sorts of accusers, 1. Christ himself, who is their Judge. 2. Their own conscience, whom they have injured and blotted with characters of death and foul dishonour. 3. The Devill, their enemy, whom [ E] they served.

1. Christ shall be their accuser, not only upon the stock of those direct injuries (which I before reckoned) of crucifying the Lord of life, once and again, &c. But upon the titles of contempt and unworthinesse, of unkindnesse and ingratitude; and the accusation

will be nothing else but a plain representation of those artifices and [ A] assistances, those bonds and invitations, those constrainings and im∣portunities which our dear Lord used to us to make it almost im∣possible to lye in sin, and necessary to be sav'd. For it will, it must needs be a fearfull exprobration of our unworthinesse, when the Judge himself shall bear witnesse against us, that the wisdome of God himself was strangely imployed in bringing us safely to felicity. I shall draw a short Scheme, which although it must needs be infinite∣ly short of what God hath done for us, yet it will be enough to shame us. * God did not only give his Son for an example, and * 1.7 the Son gave himself for a price for us, but both gave the holy [ B] Spirit to assist us in mighty graces, for the verifications of Faith, and the entertainments of Hope, and the increase and perseverance of Charity. * God gave to us a new nature, he put another prin∣ciple * 1.8 into us, a third part of a perfective constitution: we have the Spirit put into us, to be a part of us, as properly to produce acti∣ons of a holy life, as the soul of man in the body does produce the naturall. * God hath exalted humane nature, and made it in * 1.9 the person of Jesus Christ, to sit above the highest seat of An∣gels, and the Angels are made ministring spirits, ever since their Lord became our Brother. * Christ hath by a miraculous Sacra∣ment * 1.10 [ C] given us his body to eat, and his bloud to drink, he made waies that we may become all one with him. * He hath given us * 1.11 an easie religion, and hath established our future felicity upon na∣turall and pleasant conditions, and we are to be happy hereafter if we suffer God to make us happy here; and things are so ordered, that a man must take more pains to perish, then to be happy. * God hath found out rare wayes to make our prayers acceptable, our * 1.12 weak petitions, the desires of our imperfect souls to prevail migh∣tily with God; and to lay a holy violence, and an undeniable ne∣cessity upon himself; and God will deny us nothing but when we [ D] aske of him to do us ill offices, to give us poisons and dangers, and evill nourishment, and temptations; and he that hath given such mighty power to the prayers of his servants, yet will not be moved by those potent and mighty prayers to do any good man an evill turn, or to grant him one mischief; in that only God can deny us. * But in all things else God hath made all the excellent * 1.13 things in heaven and earth to joyn towards holy and fortunate ef∣fects; for he hath appointed an Angell to present the prayers of * 1.14 Saints, and Christ makes intercession for us, and the holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groans unutterable; and all the ho∣ly * 1.15 men in the world pray for all and for every one; and God hath [ E] instructed us with Scriptures, and precedents, and collaterall and direct assistances to pray; and he incouraged us with divers excel∣lent promises, and parables, and examples, and teaches us what to pray and how, and gives one promise to publique prayer, and

another to private prayer, and to both the blessing of being heard. [ A]

* Adde to this account that God did heap blessings upon us * 1.16 without order, infinitely, perpetually and in all instances, when we needed, and when we needed not. * He heard us when we pray'd, * 1.17 giving us all and giving us more then we desired; * He desired * 1.18 that we should aske, and yet he hath also prevented our desires; * He watch'd for us, and at his own charge sent a whole order of men whose imployment is to minister to our souls: and if all this * 1.19 had not been enough, he had given us more also. * He promi∣sed * 1.20 heaven to our obedience, a Province for a dish of water, a [ B] Kingdome for a prayer, satisfaction for desiring it, grace for re∣ceiving, and more grace for accepting and using the first. * He * 1.21 invited us with gracious words and perfect entertainments; * He * 1.22 threatned horrible things to us if we would not be happy; * He * 1.23 hath made strange necessities for us, making our very repentance to be a conjugation of holy actions, and holy times, and a long suc∣cession; * He hath taken away all excuses from us, he hath called * 1.24 us off from temptation, he bears our charges, he is alwaies before∣hand with us in every act of favour, and perpetually slow in stri∣king, and his arrowes are unfeathered, and he is so long, first in [ C] drawing his sword, and another long while in whetting it, and yet longer in lifting his hand to strike, that before the blow comes the man hath repented long, unlesse he be a fool and impudent; and then God is so glad of an excuse to lay his anger aside, that cer∣tainly if after all this we refuse life and glory, there is no more to be said; this plain story will condemn us: but the story is very much longer, and as our conscience will represent all our sins to us, so the Judge will represent all his Fathers kindnesses, as Na∣than did to David, when he was to make the justice of the Di∣vine Sentence appear against him. * Then it shall be remembred [ D] that the joyes of every daies piety would have been a greater plea∣sure * 1.25 every night, then the remembrance of every nights sin could have been in the morning; * That every night, the trouble and labour of the daies vertue would have been as much passed and tur∣ned * 1.26 to as very a nothing, as the pleasure of that daies sin; but that they would be infinitely distinguished by the remanent effects. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, So Musonius expres∣sed the sense of this inducement; and that this argument would have grown so great by that time we come to dye, that the cer∣tain [ E] pleasures, and rare confidences, and holy hopes of a death-bed would be a strange felicity to the man when he remembers he did obey, if they were compared to the fearfull expectations of a dy∣ing sinner, who feels by a formidable and afrighting remembrance that of all his sins nothing remains but the gains of a miserable

eternity. * The offering our selves to God every morning, and the [ A] thanksgiving to God every night, hope and fear, shame and de∣sire, the honour of leaving a fair name behinde us, and the shame * 1.27 of dying like a fool, every thing indeed in the world is made to be an argument and an inducement to us to invite us to come to God and be sav'd; and therefore when this, and infinitely more shall by the Judge be exhibited in sad remembrances, there needs no other sentence, we shall condemn our selves with a hasty shame, and a fearfull confusion, to see how good God hath been to us, and how base we have been to our selves. Thus Moses is said to accuse the Jewes; and thus also he that does accuse, is said to con∣demn, [ B] as Verres was by Cicero, and Claudia by Domitius her accu∣ser, and the world of impenitent persons by the men of Nineveh, and all, by Christ their Judge. I represent the horror of this cir∣cumstance to consist in this, besides the reasonablenesse of the Judge∣ment, and the certainty of the condemnation, it cannot but be an argument of an intolerable despair to perishing souls, when he that was our Advocate all our life, shall in the day of that appearing be our Accuser and our Judge, a party against us, an injur'd per∣son in the day of his power, and of his wrath, doing execution upon all his own foolish and malicious enemies. * [ C]

2. Our conscience shall be our accuser,] but this signifies but these two things; 1. that we shall be condemned for the evils that we have done, and shall then remember; God by his power wiping away the dust from the tables of our memory, and taking off the consi∣deration and the voluntary neglect and rude shufflings of our cases of conscience. For then we shall see things as they are, the evill circumstances and the crooked intentions, the adherent unhandsome∣nesse and the direct crimes: for all things are laid up safely, and though we draw a curtain of cobweb over them, and few figleaves before our shame, yet God shall draw away the curtain, and for∣getfulnesse [ D] shall be no more, because with a taper in the hand of God all the corners of our nastinesse shall be discovered. And se∣condly it signifies this also, that not only the Justice of God shall be confessed by us in our own shame and condemnation, but the evill of the sentence shall be received into us, to melt our bowels and to break our heart in pieces within us, because we are the au∣thors of our own death, and our own inhumane hands have torn our souls in pieces. Thus farre the horrors are great, and when evill men consider it, it is certain they must be afraid to dye. Even they that have liv'd well, have some sad considerations, and the tremblings of humility, and suspicion of themselves. I remember [ E] S. Cyprian tels of a good man who in his agony of death saw a phantasme of a noble and angelicall shape, who frowning and an∣gry said to him, Pati timetis, exire non vultis, Quid faciam vobis? Ye cannot endure sicknesse, ye are troubled at the evils of the

world, and yet you are loth to dye and to be quit of them, what shall I do to you? Although this is apt to represent every mans [ A] condition more of lesse, yet concerning persons of wicked lives, it hath in it too many sad degrees of truth; they are impatient of sor∣row, and justly fearfull of death, because they know not how to comfort themselves in the evill accidents of their lives; and their conscience is too polluted to take death for sanctuary, and to hope to have amends made to their condition by the sentence of the day of Judgement. Evill and sad is their condition who cannot be contented here, nor blessed hereafter; whose life is their misery, and their conscience is their enemy, whose grave is their prison, [ B] and death their undoing, and the sentence of Dooms-day, the be∣ginning of an intolerable condition.

3. The third sort of accusers, are the Devils; and they will do it with malicious and evill purposes; The Prince of the Devils hath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for one of his chiefest appellatives: The accuser of the Brethren he is by his professed malice, and imployment; and therefore God who delights that his mercy should triumph, and his goodnesse prevail over all the malice of men and Devils, hath appointed one whose office is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to reprove the ac∣cuser, and to resist the enemy, and to be a defender of their cause [ C] who belong to God. The holy Spirit is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a defender, the evill spirit is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the accuser, and they that in this life belong to one or the other, shall in the same proportion be treated at the day of Judgement. The Devill shall accuse the Brethren, that is, the Saints and servants of God, and shall tell concerning their follies and infirmities, the sins of their youth, and the weak∣nesse of their age, the imperfect grace, and the long schedule of omissions of duty, their scruples and their fears, their diffidences and pusillanimity, and all those things which themselves by strict examination finde themselves guilty of, and have confessed, all [ D] their shame and the matter of their sorrowes, their evill intenti∣ons and their little plots, their carnall confidences, and too fond adherences to the things of this world, their indulgence and easi∣nesse of government, their wilder joyes and freer meals, their losse of time and their too forward and apt compliances, their trifling arrests and little peevishnesses, the mixtures of the world with the things of the Spirit, and all the incidences of humanity he will bring forth and aggravate them by the circumstance of ingrati∣tude, and the breach of promise, and the evacuating all their ho∣ly purposes, and breaking their resolutions, and rifling their vowes; [ E] and all these things being drawn into an intire representment, and the bils clog'd by numbers, will make the best man in the world ••••em foul and unhandsome, and stained with the characters of death and evill dishonour. But for these there is appointed a de∣fender; The holy Spirit that maketh intercession for us, shall then

also interpose, and against all these things shall oppose the passion [ A] of our blessed Lord, and upon all their defects shall cast the robe of his righteousnesse; and the sins of their youth shall not pre∣vail so much as the repentance of their age; and their omissions be excused by probable intervening causes, and their little escapes shall appear single, and in disunion, because they were alwaies kept asunder by penitentiall prayers and sighings, and their seldome re∣turns of sin by their daily watchfulnesse, and their often infirmi∣ties by the sincerity of their souls, and their scruples by their zeal, and their possions by their love, and all by the mercies of God and the sacrifice which their Judge offer'd, and the holy [ B] Spirit made effective by daily graces and assistances. These there∣fore infallibly go to the portion of the right hand, because the Lord our God shall answer for them. But as for the wicked, it is not so with them; for although the plain story of their life be to them a sad condemnation, yet what will be answered when it shall be told concerning them, that they despised Gods mercies, and feared not his angry judgements; that they regarded not his word, and loved not his excellencies; that they were not perswa∣ded by the promises, nor afrighted by his threatnings; that they neither would accept his government, nor his blessings; that all the [ C] sad stories that ever hapned in both the worlds, (in all which him∣self did escape till the day of his death, and was not concerned in them save only that he was called upon by every one of them, which he ever heard or saw or was told of, to repentance, that all these) were sent to him in vain? But cannot the Accuser truly say to the Judge concerning such persons, They were thine by creation, but mine by their own choice: Thou didst redeem them indeed, but they sold themselves to me for a trifle, or for an un∣satisfying interest: Thou diedst for them, but they obeyed my com∣mandements: I gave them nothing, I promised them nothing but [ D] the filthy pleasures of a night, or the joyes of madnesse, or the delights of a disease: I never hanged upon the Crosse three long hours for them, nor endured the labours of a poor life 33 years together for their interest; only when they were thine by the me∣rit of thy death, they quickly became mine by the demerit of their ingratitude, and when thou hadst cloathed their soul with thy robe, and adorned them by thy graces, we strip'd them naked as their shame, and only put on a robe of darknesse, and they thought themselves secure and went dancing to their grave like a drunkard to a sight, or a flie unto a candle; and therefore they that did par∣take [ E] with us in our faults, must divide with us in our portion and fearfull interest? This is a sad story because it ends in death, and there is nothing to abate or lessen the calamity. It concerns us therefore to consider in time, that he that tempts us will accuse us, and what he cals pleasant now he shall then say was nothing, and

all the gains that now invite earthly souls and mean persons to va∣nity, [ A] was nothing but the seeds of folly, and the harvest is pain and sorrow, and shame eternall. * But then since this horror pro∣ceeds upon the account of so many accusers, God hath put it in∣to our power by a timely accusation of our selves in the tribunall of the court Christian to prevent all the arts of aggravation which at Dooms-day shall load foolish and undiscerning souls. He that accuses himself of his crimes here, means to forsake them, and looks upon them on all sides, and spies out his deformity, and is taught to hate them, he is instructed and prayed for, he prevents the anger of God and defeats the Devils malice, and by making [ B] shame the instrument of repentance, he takes away the sting, and makes that to be his medicine which otherwise would be his death: and concerning this exercise, I shall only adde what the Patriarch of Alexandria told an old religious person in his hermitage; ha∣ving asked him what he found in that desert; he was answered, only this, Indesinenter culpare & judicare meipsum; to judge and con∣demn my self perpetually, that is the imployment of my solitude. The Patriarch answered, Non est alia via, There is no other way. By accusing our selves we shall make the Devils malice uselesse, and our own consciences dear, and be reconciled to the Judge by the severities of an early repentance, and then we need to fear no ac∣cusers. [ C]

Notes

• * 1.1

  Rom. 2. 5.
• * 1.2

  In Psal. 103.
• * 1.3

  In Ierem. hom. 13. & in Luk. hom. 14. & Lactantius lib. 7. instit. c. 21. Hilarius in Psal. 118. octer. 3. & in Mat. can. 2.
• * 1.4

  In Psal. 118. serm. 3.
• * 1.5

  Heb. 4.
• * 1.6

  Psal. 74.
• * 1.7

  1.
• * 1.8

  2.
• * 1.9

  3.
• * 1.10

  4.
• * 1.11

  5.
• * 1.12

  6.
• * 1.13

  7.
• * 1.14

  Revel. 8. 3.
• * 1.15

  Rom. 8. 26.
• * 1.16

  8.
• * 1.17

  9.
• * 1.18

  10.
• * 1.19

  11.
• * 1.20

  12.
• * 1.21

  13.
• * 1.22

  14.
• * 1.23

  15.
• * 1.24

  16.
• * 1.25

  17.
• * 1.26

  18.
• * 1.27

  19.