Clause 7

Testimonies out of the Prophetes and Apostles

Daniel 7.13. I did see in a vision by night & behode one like the sonne of man came in the cloudes of heauen, and approached vnto the auncient of dayes, and they brought him before him, and he gaue him dominion & honour and a kingdome, that all people nations and languages, shoulde serue him: his dominion is an euerlasting dominion, which shall neuer be taken away, and his kingdome shal neuer be destroyed. And in the Epistle of Iude, verses 14.15. And Enoch also the seauenth frō Adam, prophecied of these, saying, beholde the Lorde commeth with thousandes of his sainctes, to giue iudgement against all men, and to rebuke all the vngodly among them, of all their wicked deedes, which they haue vngodly committed, and of all their cruell speakings, which wicked sinners haue spoken against him, Matth. 25. And when the sonne of man commeth in his glorie, and all the holy Angels with him, Then shall he sit vppon the throne of his glorie, and all nations shall bee gathered before him, and hee shall separate them one from an other, as a sheepehard separateth the sheepe from the goates. And he shal set his sheepe on his right hand, and the goates on the left. Then shall the king say to them on his right hande, Come ye blessed of my father: take the inheritance of the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye gaue me to eate, I thirsted, and you gaue me to drinke. &c. 2. Pet. 3. verse 9. The Lorde is not slacke (as some men count slackenesse) of that promise he hath promised, but is patient toward vs, and woulde haue no man to perish, but all to come to repentance. But yᵉ day of the Lord wil come as a theefe in the night, in yᵉ which yᵉ heauens shall passe awaye with a noise, and the elements shall melt away with heate, and the earth with the workes therein shall be burnt vp. Seeing therefore that all these thinges must be dissolued, what maner of persons ought ye to be in holy couersation and godlinesse, looking for and hasting vnto that day of the Lord, by the which the heauens being on fire shall bee dissolued and the elementes shall melt with heat?

Why this article is added vnto the former

This article is added vnto the former, for the greater confirmation of our faith. For because Christ sitting at yᵉ right hand of his father, doeth so exercise his kingly power of iudging, partly by defending his that are in couenant with him, that yet in the meane while hee keepeth them vnder the crosse and wronges of their enemies, to mortifie sinne: partly so bridling the vngodlie, Actes 12. that in the meane season he leaueth many thinges vnpunished, to the ende his long sufferaunce may exclude all excuse: and therefore Christ our Lorde will to the ende that wee bee not troubled with any miseries or crueltie of enemies, that we shoulde lift vp our heades with true confidence of minde to looke for his comming, that the greater our miserie shall bee, the more certaine wee may bee, that the daye of our triumph is at hande, and of the righteous destruction of all the wicked enemies of God.

That the generall and last iudgement must of necessitie be, that we may bee armed against those scorners, whome the holy Ghost hath foreshewed shoulde be, by Peter the Apostle in these last times

A sure foundation may bee taken from the righteousnes of God, and the state of the righteous in this life, as Paul hath concluded in the 1. Thes. 1. For it is a righteous thinge with God, to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you which are troubled, release with vs, when the Lorde Iesus shall shewe himselfe from heauen with his mightie Angels in flaming fire, &c. Forasmuch therefore as that recompence is not in this life, which the righteousnes of God requireth, and this notwithstanding this righteousnes remayneth firme & vnmoueable with God for euer, that the wicked may be punished, the Godly may receiue that same promised release, there vpon the Apostle inferreth, that that is a manifest token of the iust iudgement of God to followe of the comming of the Lorde; Furthermore this foundation being laide, the destruction of the citie of Ierusalem maie bee added: which Christ ioyned with the prophecie of the last iudgement, not without a great & weightie cause, that is to say, the figure with the thing signified: that wee might no more doubt of his wrath to come vppon the vngodly in the day of iudgemēt, then of the shame of the Iewes foreshewed of Christ, which yet they beare before our eyes. Matth. 24. Luke 21.

Of the meaning of this Article

The meaning of this article is: I doe beleeue that Iesus Christe doeth not onely nowe exercise his kingly power of iudgeing, by his vertue from heauen by diuerse examples aswell in defending the godly, as repressing the wicked: but also that he shall solemnly come from heauen from the right hande of the power of God in a corporall presence, thorowly to iudge all men, as well those that are departed out of this life frō the beginning that the worlde was created, whose bodies shal rise againe; as those whome that day shall finde remaining yet liuing in this worlde, who shall soudenly be changed. Nowe forasmuch as to iudge is to absolue the innocent & to beautifie them, and to condemne the wicked, and to punish them: I beleeue that he shall so iudge, that hee shall fully deliuer the godly, and beutifie them with eternall glorie: & contrariwise that he shall fully execut the condemnation vppon the contemners of so great long suffering & patience, and so shal drowne sathan (as Pharaoh) with all his armie in euerlasting destructiō, but he shal bring in his confiderats fully deliuered from al tyrannie of the wicked into yᵗ same true heauenly inheritance, as into the lande of promise: to which Paul would haue vs to loke, whē he saith, as often as ye shall eat of this bread, & drinke of this cup, ye shal shew forth the Lords death vntil his comming againe.

Why the comming of Christ is not so feareful vnto the faithful

First yᵉ cause doth cōfort yᵉ faithful for which he shal come to iudge. Now yᵉ chiefe end of yᵉ cōming againe of Christ to iudgement, is the glorifying of the Church, that is to say, that sinne and death being fully ouercome, and the enemies of the kingdome being adiudged by yᵉ iust iudgemēt of Christ to euerlasting paine, and so all offences and impediments remoued which did let the glory of the sons of God, God might appeare without any let fully & perfectly glorious in his saints, Eph. 5.1. Cor. 15. Christ setteth this same cause or rather ende & scope before our eyes, whilest he calleth that day the day of redemption. Secondly yᵉ very person of the iudge doth take frō vs al feare: For euen, for this cause the father hath deliuered al iudgmēt to the son, as he is the sonne of man yᵗ he might make our consciences quiet, & take from vs all terror of condemnation. Ioh. 5.22.27. Both because yᵗ now we beleeue yᵗ he shall be iudge, and also because we shal behold him with our eyes in whose body our sinnes are cleansed, and all yᵉ curse taken away. Heb. 9.28. Tit. 2.13.14. Last of al the commandement & promise of Christ doth free & deliuer vs frō al feare. The cōmandement is plaine in Luk. 21. Whē ye shal see these thinges come to passe, be of good comfort, & lift vp your heades. Math. 24. It shall come to passe, that yee shall heare of wars and rumors of warre, but see that yee be not troubled, for these things must be. The promise is plaine in third of Ioh. He that beleeueth in the son, is not iudged or cōdēned. And cap. 5.24 1. Thes. 4.14.17. & cap. 5, ver. 9.10. Ioh. 17. ver, 22.24. yea & let yᵗ promise be cōsidered which is in 1. Cor. 6. doe yee not knowe that the sainctes shall iudge the worlde? And a little after, bee yee ignorant that it shall come to passe, that wee shall iudge the Angels? And surely seeing all the Articles of the faithe are deliuered for our consolation, it must needes be that this article also of iudgement is deliuered, not to shake, but to confirme and establishe our faith.

Howe we ought to make our selues readie to iudgement

We must prepare our selues to the iudgement of Christ, by faith and a good conscience: that is to say, by a faith which leaneth vppon a fast and sure foundation: and by the fruites of faith which doe beare witnesse of it, and with which it is exercised: Nowe the foundation of faith is not our merite, neither in whole, nor in part: but of Christ alone, who deliuereth vs from the wrath to come. 1. Thess. 1. For no man can lay any other foundation, then that which is laide alreadie, to wit, Iesus Christ. 1. Cor. 3. The which also is manifestly vnderstood by the wordes of the iudge himselfe: For first he saith, Come ye blessed of my heauenly father: Nowe wee are not blessed by, or in our selues, but by Christ, by whome we are both deliuered from the cursse, and also adopted to be sonnes of the meere good will, and free purpose of God. Galat. 3. Ephesi. 1.2. The iudge further addeth, Possesse for an inheritance the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the worlde. If an inheritance; then no merite: If prepared from the beginning of the worlde; then not gotten by vs which yet were not. And these things concerning the foundation wherevppon our faith leaneth. Nowe after that I am assured through faith, that I am one of the sheepe of Christ, which he hath redeemed not with golde and siluer, but with his owne blood: I must endeuour that I may haue those same markes where with by his spirite hee is wont to marke his sheepe, to wit, fruits worthie repentance: which are, that I feede Christ being hungrie, and giue drinke vnto him being thirstie in his mēbers: that I receiue Christ by hospitalitie in strangers, &c. But the faithfull rest not vppon these workes of thankefulnesse, like as also they shall say in the iudgement, Lord, when saw we thee, hungrie and thirstie, and gaue meate & drinke vnto thee? But they shall onely reste vppon Christ, who is made vnto them of God, wisedome, righteousnes, sanctification and redemption. 1. Cor. 1. To these fruites and exercises of faith, belong sobrietie, calling vpon the name of God, and watchfulnesse. For it is a precious deceit of sathan, whilest he persuadeth men that that same iudgement is yet farre off: or that there is no neede euerie houre or moment to looke for it: when as notwithstanding the comaundement of Christe, and the doctrine of the Apostles require speciall watchfulnesse, Luke 21. Matth. 24. verse 44.45. 1. Thessa. 4. vers. 15.17. and chapter 5. verse. 1.2. 1. Pet. 3. Besides these, the looking for iudgement, doeth admonish the faithful, that aboue all thinges they take heede vnto themselues, least they defile their bodies or their soules with the idolatrie of Antichrist or with the like, & that they vnderprop their mindes with patience, concerning which matter there are extant graue admonitions Mat. 24. ver. 24.25. & Apo. 14. ver. 7.7.11.12. & chap. 18. ver. 4. To conclude, wee must keepe a good conscience in al things, euen vntil the Lord shal come, who shall make manifest yᵉ secretes of darkenes, & shal lay open the coūsels of the hart. 1. Cor. 4.5. So Paul saith, Act. 24. In this therefore I exercise my selfe that alwayes I may haue a conscience without offence before God and men.