----- -·------·~---------------~ IDoome~-nap. 4' r; --------~--~~~ ~~--~----------------- t f memory· but God keeps them in a Regifl:er, and not one lhall be forgotten; ~~~~~uis~ bo;k..and Boo"', and when all the dead }halljftmd before God to receive their fentencc, then mt~ft theft boo"' be opened. ~Gods memory. . That is the book of Mans confcience. ' Eternallife. There is abook_ofGods memory, and herein are aH the aC1s and monuments of all ~en whatfoevcr enrolled and reg11lrcd; A ba.k._,ofremembr,mce was wrmen b_efore God, for them thatfeared the Lord, and thought upon his Name,. Malach. 3. :6. Th1s IS that \~h1ch manifells all fecrets, whether mental or aC1ual ; th1s IS that whtch reveals-all domgs, whether good or evil. In thefe Records are found at large ,Abets fncnficc, Cams murther, .Abfalomsrebcllion, Da·u.ds devotion, the Jewescruclty, the Prophets l~nocency, goocl mens inrenfions and the finners acbons; Nothmg ilia!! be h1d when th1s book IS opened, for all may run and read it, frand and hear it. How fond arc we that imagine Heavens eye (fuch is this boof<.)to be lhut upon us?Do we not fee many run-to corners to commit their fins? There can they fay, L et ustak.e our fill oflow umil themor~ing, for darkneffe hath covered us,and who feeth m .<who k!toweth us? Ef•y 29. I 5. But are not the Angels of God about you? We are ~t{pe[fltcleto the .Angels (faith the Apofrle ;) I am .fure we mull be to .Angels, and to men, andto all the world: 0 do not that before the Anoels of God, yea before the God of Angels, which you would lhame to do in the ftghtund prefcncc of an earthly !llan! Alas I mull: our thoughts be known, and lhall not dark-corner-fins be reve,aled? Mull.cvery word and fyllable we fpcak be writ 1nd recorded in Gods memorable book, and mull: not ill deeds, ill dcmeanours, ill works ofdarkneffc be difclofcd at that day? Yes, Godjha/1 bring every work.. unto judgement, with cvcryfccretthin,g,be itgood or cvil,Ecolef. I~· '4· \~ail ye wicked, and tr~mblc in afronifhment. Now your clofet-fins mull be d1fclofed; your pnvate faults la1d o.pen ; God keeps the acccount-book of every fin, every tranfgrelfion: Imprimis, for adultery, Item, for cr.vy, blafphemy, oaths, i:lrunkenneffe, violence, murther, and every fin, from the beginning to this time, from our birth to our burial; the total fumme, e- .ternal death and damnation : this is the note of accounts: wherein are all thy offences writt~n, the debt is death, the pay perdition, which fury pay~s over to delhuCI:ion. But there is another book.., that fhall give (a more full, I cannot fay, but)a more fearful evidence than the former, which is thebook_of every mans_confcience: Some call it the book_ofTcftimony, which every man ll:ill bears about him. There is within us a book_. and Secretary, the book_is Confciencc, and the Secretary is our Soul : whatfoever we do is known to the Soul, and writ in our book_ of Confciencc: there is no man can fo much as commit one fin, but his Soul, that is privy to the fa&, will write it in thisbook., In what a woful cafe will thy heart then be? in what firange terrour and trembling mull: it lland poffell:, when this mull: be opened, and thy fins revealed? It is nolv perhaps a, book_jhut up andJealed, bm in the day ofJu,gdemcnt jhall be opened: ~nd if once opened; what lhall be the evidence that itwill bring forth? There is a private Se{Jions to be held in the breafr of every condemned finlicr; the memory is Recorder, grief an Accufer, truth is the Law, damnation the Judgement, hell the Prifon, Devils the Jaylours, and Confc~encc both W1tnclfe and Judge to paffe fentcnce on thee, What hopes he at the general Alfize, whofc confcience hath condemned him before he appear? Look well to thy life, thou bcarcll: about thee~ book of tefrimony, which though for a time it be lhut t1ll1t be full fraught With accufatwns, yet then (at the day of Doom) it mufi be opened, when thou fhalt read,and weep, and read; every period f!op with a figh, every word be enough to break thy heart, and every fyllablc revcallt-me fecrct, thy own confcience (upon the matter) being both Witnefs, Judg, Accufer, and Condemner. ~ut yet there IS another book_ we read of, and that is the book of Life. Herein are wrttten all the names of Gods cleCl,from the beginning of the world till the end thereof, thefe are the golden leaves; this is that precious book.. of Heaven, wherein if we are rcgtfrrcd, not all the powers of hell, or death, or devils lhall blot us out again. Hete is th~ glory of ea.eh devout fouldier of our Saviour; how tmny have fpent their lives, fp1It thcrr bloods,run upon fudden deaths to gain a perpetual name?And yet for all their .Gomgs, many of there are dead and gone, and their memories perilhed with them; onety Chnlls f?uld1er hath immortal fame : he, and oncly he is writ in that book, than n1ull: n~ver penlh, Conw hither ye ambitious ! your l]ltrnes may b,e writ in Chtenicles, yet Frov. 7· 18. Ef•J •9· •s· • I Cor•4•9' Eccle[,12. 14• ; Liber figr.ruJ . & cldi4fus, in die j14d;cii aPe: rienduJ,
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=