for all these shall without any remorse (except his own) be condemned by the horrible sentence. 66 4. That all may think themselves concerned in this con→ sideration, let us remember that even the righteous and most innocent shall pass through a severe trial. Many of the ancients explicated this severity by the fire of conflagration, which (say they) shall purify those souls at the day of judgment, which in this life have built upon the foundation hay and stubble, works of folly and false opinions, and states of imperfection. So Saint Austin's doctrine wasd, "Hoc agit caminus, alios in sinistra separabit, alios in dextra quodam modo eliquabit: The great fire at doomsday 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 by Origen and Lactantius; and St. Hilary thus expostulates, Since we are to give an account for every idle word, shall we long for the day of judgment," "in quo est nobis indefessus ille ignis obeundus in quo subeunda sunt gravia illa expiandæ a peccatis animæ supplicia: wherein we must every one of us pass 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 judgment." And St. Ambrose adds, that if any be as Peter or as John, they are baptized with this fire, and he that is purged here, had need to be purged there again: "Illic quoque nos purificet, quando dicat dominus, intrate in requiem meam; Let him also purify us, that every one of us being burned with that flaming sword, not burned up or consumed, we may enter into paradise, and give thanks unto the Lord, who hath brought us into a place of refreshment f." 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, d In Psalm. ciii. e In Jerem. hom. 13. et in Luc. hom. 14. et Lactantius, lib. vii. Instit. c. xxi. Hilarius in Psal. cxviii. octon iii. et in Mat. can. 2. f In Psalm cxviii. serm. 3. although he runs to no rocks to hide him, yet he runs to the protection of the cross, and hides himself under the shadow of Divine mercies: and he that shall receive the absolution of the blessed sentence, shall also suffer the terrors of the day, and the fearful circumstances of Christ's coming. The effect of this consideration is this, that "if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the wicked and the sinner appear?" "Quid faciet virgula deserti, ubi concutietur cedrus paradisi? Quid faciet agnus, cum tremit aries? Si cœlum fugiat, ubi manebit terra?" said St. Gregory. And if St. Paul, whose conscience accused him not, yet durst not be too confident because he was not hereby justified, but might be found faulty by the severer judgments of his Lord; how shall we appear with all our crimes and evil habits round about us? If there be need of much mercy to the servants and friends of the Judge, then his enemies shall not be able to stand upright in judgment. 5. But the matter is still of more concernment. The pharisees believed that they were innocent, if they abstained from criminal actions, such as were punishable by the judge; and many Christians think all is well with them, if they abstain from such sins as have a name in the tables of their laws but because some sins are secret and not discernible to man; others are public but not punished, because they were frequent and perpetual, and without external 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 wantonness and revelling, doing petty spites, and rudeness, and churlishness, lying and pride: and beyond this, some are very like virtues; as too much gentleness and slackness in government, or too great severity and rigour of animadversion, bitterness in reproof of sinners, uncivil circumstances, imprudent handlings of some criminals, and zeal; nay, there are some vile things, which, through the evil discoursings and worse manners of men, are passed into an artificial and false reputation, and men are accounted wits for talking atheistically, and valiant for being murderers, and wise for deceiving and circumventing our brothers; and many irregularities more, for all which we are safe enough here. But when the day of judgment comes, these shall be called to a severe account, for the Judge is omniscient and knows all things, and his tribunal takes cognizance of all causes, and hath a coercive for all, "all things are naked and open to his eyes," saith St. Paul; therefore nothing shall escape for being secret: “Απανθ ̓ ὁ μακρὸς κἀναρίθμητος Χρόνος And all prejudices being laid aside, it shall be considered concerning our evil rules, and false principles; "cum cepero tempus, ego justitias 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 judgments:" 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 judgments which men here make of things below; and the fighting men shall perceive the noise of drunkards and fools that cried him up for daring to kill his brother, to have been evil principles; and then it will be declared by strange effects, that wealth is not the greatest fortune; and ambition was but an ill counsellor; and to lie for a good cause was no piety: and to do evil for the glory of God was but an ill worshipping him; and that good-nature was not well employed, when it spent itself in vicious company and evil compliances; and that piety was not softness and want of courage; and that poverty ought not to have been contemptible; and the cause of that is unsuccessful, is not therefore evil; and what is folly here shall be wisdom there; then shall men curse their evil guides, and their accursed superinduced necessities and the evil guises of the world; and then when silence shall be found innocence, and eloquence in many instances condemned as criminal; when the poor shall reign, and generals and tyrants shall lie low in horrible regions; when he that lost all shall find a treasure, and he that spoiled him shall be found naked and spoiled by the destroyer; then we shall find 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 evil by the severities of the word of God, by the sermons of Christ, and the four gospels, and by the epistles of St. Paul, by justice and charity, by the laws of God, and the laws of wise princes and republics, 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 holiness of Christ's sermons shall be manifest to all the world; that the word of God shall be advanced over all the discourses of men, and "wisdom shall be justified by all her children." Then shall be heard those words of an evil and tardy repentance, and the just rewards of folly, "We fools thought their life madness;" but behold they are justified before the throne of God, and we are miserable for ever. Here men think it strange if others will not run into the same excess of riot; but there, they will wonder how themselves should be so mad and infinitely unsafe, by being strangely and inexcusably unreasonable. The sum is this, the Judge shall appear clothed with wisdom, and power, and justice, and knowledge, and an impartial spirit, making no separations by the proportions of this world, but by the measures of God; not giving sentence by the principles of our folly and evil customs, but by the severity of his own laws and measures of the Spirit. "Non est judicium Dei, 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 consider that men at the day of judgment, that belong not to the portion of life, shall have three sorts of accusers. 1. Christ himself, who is their judge. 2. Their own consciences, whom they have injured and blotted with characters of death and foul dishonour. 3. The devil, their enemy, whom 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 unworthiness, of unkindness and ingratitude; and the accusation will be nothing else but a plain representation of those artifices and assistances, those bonds and invitations, those constrainings and importunities, which our dear Lord used to us, to make it almost impossible to lie in sin, and necessary to be saved. For it will, it must needs be a fearful exprobration of our unworthiness, when the Judge himself shall bear witness against us, that the wisdom of God himself was strangely employed in bringing us safely to felicity. I shall draw a short scheme, which him although it must needs be infinitely short of what God hath done for us, yet it will be enough to shame us. 1. God did not only give his Son for an example, and the Son gave self for a price for us, but both gave the Holy Spirit to assist us in mighty graces, for the verifications of faith, and the entertainments of hope, and the increase and perseverance of charity. 2. God gave to us a new nature, he put another principle into us, a third part, a perfective constitution: we have the Spirit put into us to be a part of us, as properly to produce actions of holy life, as the soul of man in the body does produce the natural. 3. God hath exalted human nature, and made it in the person of Jesus Christ to sit above the highest seat of angels, and the angels are made ministering spirits, ever since their Lord became our brother. 4. Christ hath by a miraculous sacrament given us his body to eat, and his blood to drink; he made ways that we may become all one with him. 5. He hath given us an easy religion, and hath established our future felicity upon natural 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, than to be happy. 6. God hath found out rare ways to make our prayers acceptable, our weak petitions, the desires of our imperfect souls, to prevail mightily with God; and to lay a holy violence, and an undeniable necessity upon himself: and God will deny us nothing but when we ask of him to do us ill offices, to give us poisons and dangers, and evil 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 evil turn, or to grant him one mischief; in that only God can deny us. 7. But in all things else, God hath made all the excellent things in heaven and earth to join towards holy and fortunate effects; for he hath appointed an angel to present the prayers of saints', and Christ makes intercession for us, and the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groans unutterable; and all the holy men in the world pray for all and for every one; and God hath instructed us with scriptures and precedents, and collateral and direct. i Rev. viii. 3. k Rom. viii. 26. |