gospel shed upon repentant sinners by the mouth of his minister? Have I a true and solid consolation, (without shift, or disguise, or flattering of my conscience) when I receive the seal of his pardon in the Sacrament? Beloved, not in any moral integrity, not in keeping the conscience of an honest man, in general, but in using well the means ordained by Christ in the Christian church, am I justified. And therefore this judgment of justification is his too. And then the third and last judgment, which is the judgment of glorification, that is easily agreed by all to appertain unto Christ, Idem Jesus, the same Jesus that ascended, shall come to judgment, Videbunt quem pupugerunt, Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him"; then the Son of man shall come in glory, and he, as man, shall give the judgment, for things done, or omitted towards him as man, for not feeding, for not clothing, for not harbouring, for not visiting. The sum of all is, that this is the overflowing goodness of God, that he deals with man by the Son of man; and that he hath so given all judgment to the Son, as that if you would be tried by the first judgment; are you elected or no? The issue is, do you believe in Christ Jesus, or no? If you would be tried by the second judgment, are you justified or no? The issue is, do you find comfort in the application of the Word, and Sacraments of Christ Jesus, or no? If you would be tried by the third judgment, do you expect a glorification, or no? The issue is, are you so reconciled to Christ Jesus now, by hearty repentance for sins past, and by detestation of occasion of future sin, that you durst welcome that angel which should come at this time, and swear that time should be no more, that your transmigration out of this world should be this minute, and that this minute you might say unfeignedly and effectually, Veni Domine Jesu; come quickly, come now; if this be your state, then are you partakers of all that blessedness, which the Father intended to you, when for your sake, he committed all judgment to the Son.

21 Rev. i. 7.

206

SERMON XCIV.

PREACHED AT LINCOLN'S INN.

JOHN viii. 15.

I judge no man.

THE rivers of paradise did not all run one way, and yet they flowed from one head; the sentences of the Scripture flow all from one head, from the Holy Ghost, and yet they seem to present divers senses, and to admit divers interpretations; in such an appearance doth this text differ from that which I handled in the forenoon, and as heretofore I found it a useful and acceptable labour, to employ our evening exercises, upon the vindicating of some such places of Scripture, as our adversaries of the Roman church had detorted in some point of controversy between them and us, and restoring those places to their true sense, (which course I held constantly for one whole year) so I think it a useful and acceptable labour, now to employ for a time those evening exercises to reconcile some such places of Scripture, as may at first sight seem to differ from one another; in the morning we saw how Christ judged all; now we are to see how he judges none; I judge no man.

To come then to these present words, here we have the same person Christ Jesus, and hath not he the same office? Is not he judge? certainly though he retained all his other offices, though he be the redeemer, and have shed his blood in value satisfactory for all our sins, though he be our advocate and plead for us in heaven, and present our evidence to that kingdom, written in his blood, sealed in his wounds, yet if he be not our judge, we cannot stand in judgment; shall he be our judge, and is he not our judge yet? Long before we were he was our judge at the separation of the elect and reprobate, in God's eternal decree. Was he our judge then, and is he not so still? still he is present in his church, and clears us in all scruples, rectifies us in all errors, erects us in all dejections of spirit, pronounces peace and reconciliation in all apprehensions of his judgments, by his Word and

by his Sacraments, was he, and is he, and shall he not be our judge still? I am sure my Redeemer liveth, and he shall stand the last on earth'. So that Christ Jesus is the same to-day, and yesterday, and for ever, before the world begun, and world without end, Sicut erat in principio, as he was in the beginning, he is, and shall be ever our judge.

So that then these words are not de tempore, but de modo, there was never any time when Christ was not judge, but there were some manner of judgments which Christ did never exercise, and Christ had no commission which he did not execute; for he did all his Father's will. 1. In secularibus, in civil, or criminal businesses, which belong merely to the judicatures, and cognizance of this world, Judicat neminem, Christ judges no man. 2. Secundum carnem, so as they to whom Christ spake this; who judged, as himself says here, according to fleshly affections, Judicat neminem, he judges no man: and 3, Ad internecionem, so as that upon that judgment, a man should despair of any reconciliation, any redintegration with God again, and be without hope of pardon, and remission of sins in this world, Judicat neminem, he judges no man; 1. Christ usurps upon no man's jurisdiction, that were against justice. 2. Christ imputes no false things to any man, that were against charity. 3. Christ induces no man to desperation, that were against faith; and against justice, against charity, against faith, Judicat neminem.

First then, Christ judgeth not in secular judgments, and we note his abstinence therein; first, in civil matters, when one of the company said to him, Master, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me2, as St. Augustine says, the plaintiff thought his cause to be just, and he thought Christ to be a competent judge in the cause, and yet Christ declines the judgment, disavows the authority, and he answers, Homo, quis me constituit judicem, Man, who made me a judge between you? To that general, which we had in the morning, Omne judicium, the Son hath all judgment; here is an exception of the same judge's own making, for in secular judgments, Nemo constituit, he had no commission, and therefore judicat neminem, he judges no man; he forbore in criminal matters too, for when the woman taken in adultery

was brought before him, he condemned her not; it is true, he absolved her not, the evidence was pregnant against her, but he condemned her not, he undertook no office of a judge, but of a sweet and spiritual counsellor, Go, and sin no more, for this was his element, his tribunal.

When then Christ says of himself, with such a pregnant negative, Quis me constituit judicem, may not we say so too, to his pretended vicar, the bishop of Rome, Quis te? Who made you judge of kings, that you should depose them, in criminal causes? Or who made you proprietary of kingdoms, that you should dispose of them, as of civil inheritances? when to countenance such a pretence, they detort places of Scripture, not only perversely, but senselessly, blasphemously, ridiculously (as ridiculously as in their pasquils, when in an undiscreet shamelessness, to make their power greater than it is, they make their fault greater than it is too, and fill their histories with examples of kings deposed by popes, which in truth were not deposed by them, for in that they are more innocent than they will confess themselves to be) when some of their authors say, that the primitive church abstained from deposing emperors, only because she was not strong enough to do it, when some of them say, that all Christian kingdoms of the earth, may fall into the church of Rome, by faults in those princes, when some of them say, that de facto, the pope hath already a good title to every Christian kingdom, when some of them say, that the world will never be well governed, till the pope put himself into possession of all (all which several propositions are in several authors of good credit amongst them) will he not endure Christ's own question, Qius te constituit? Who made you judge of all this? If they say Christ did; did he it in his doctrine? It is hard to pretend that, for such an institution as that must have very clear, very pregnant words to carry it; did he do it by his example and practice? we see he abstained in criminal causes, when they come to their last shift, that is, that Christ did exercise judiciary authority, when he whipped merchants out of the temple, when he cursed the fig-tree, and damnified the owner thereof, and when he destroyed the herd of swine, (for there, say they, the devil was but the executioner, Christ was the judge, to all these, and such as

these, it is enough to say, all these were miraculous, and not ordinary; and though it might seem half a miracle how that bishop should exercise so much authority as he hath done over the world, yet when we look nearer, and see his means, that he hath done all this by massacres of millions, by withdrawing subjects from their allegiance, by assassinating and murdering of princes, when we know that miracles are without means, and we see the means of his proceedings, the miracle ceases, howsoever that bishop as Christ's vicar can claim no other power, than was ordinary in Christ, and so exercised by Christ, and so judicarit neminem; in secular judgment, Christ judges no man, and therefore that bishop as his vicar should not.

Secondly, Christ judges no man by calumny, by imputing, or laying false aspersions upon him, nor truths extrajudicially, for that is a degree of calumny; we enter into a large field, when we go about to speak against calumny, and slander, and detraction, so large a field, as that we may fight out the last drop of our blood, preach out the last gasp of our breath, before we overcome it, those to whom Christ spake here, were such as gave perverse judgments, calumniating censures upon him, and so he judges no man, we need not insist upon that, for it is manifeste verum; but that we may see our danger, and our duty, what calumny is, and so how to avoid it actively, and how to bear it passively, I must by your leave stop a little upon it.

When then we would present unto you that monster slander, and calumny, though it be hard to bring it within any compass of a division, yet to take the largeness of the school, and say, that every calumny is either direct, or indirect, that will comprehend all, and then a direct calumny, will have three branches, either to lay a false and unjust imputation, or else to aggravate a just imputation, with unnecessary, but heavy circumstances, or thirdly to reveal a fault which in itself was secret and I by no duty bound to discover it, and then the indirect calumny will have three branches too, either to deny expressly some good that is in another, or to smother it in silence, when my testimony were due to him, and might advantage him, or lastly to diminish

In the folio edition it stands "how that should exercise." VOL. IV.