The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

by John Welch; John Knox; Hugh Latimer

Now he calls it great, because of him that sits on it; great, because of them that stand about it; great, because of them that shall be judged there; and last of all, great, because of the judgment itself. Now, who sits on it? O! the Judge of the whole world, God himself, that infinite Essence that men and angels have borrowed their being from, even he whose glorious face the seraphims and cherubims cannot behold for the brightness thereof; and therefore they have wings to cover their faces, because they cannot bear to see him, much less so then can any mortal man see his face and live; he that rides on his white horse, and tramples under foot all his enemies, and treads them in the wine-press of his wrath without the city; therefore rejoice, all ye whose garments are made white in the blood of the Lamb, for his throne shall not terrify you, because of the Judge that sits thereon: for he is thy brother, thy Advocate, and thy Saviour. O blessed for evermore is the soul of the righteous, and of such as are reconciled with the great God, before he come to sit on this throne.

Now, I said, it was great in respect of him that sits thereon; next, in respect of them that stand about it. Ye see a judge has his assizers that sit in judgment with him, and consent to his sentence; so this great Judge has his assizers, for there is not one of his angels shall be left in heaven, but all shall stand about this throne, and all the saints on earth shall be caught up in the air, and they shall all have thrones set about his throne. O the fairest parliament that ever was in the world! O! behold the King crowned with many crowns, standing in the midst, and all the King's servants with their crowns on their heads, and also the saints with palms in their hands, sitting on thrones about that throne.

Thirdly, Great is this throne, because great is the number of persons that shall be there. All men and women in the world must be judged here; there is never a reprobate that ever took life, but he shall be judged here, and all the elect and saints of God shall be judged here also, (so fair is this parliament,) six thousand years' generations shall all stand there, waiting to receive an eternal and final judgment.

Last of all, Great is this throne, because great shall be the judgment that shall come forth from this throne. Lords of the Session think their judgments great; but come out here, and see to whom the new city Jerusalem in heaven shall be given, and who shall be cast into the lake of fire. Now, compare all these together, and see if this throne be not great; great is he that sits on the throne, even the Prince of life, and God of glory, and the Judge of all the world; [pg 009] great is his synod, even all the elect angels and saints, from the beginning of the world to the end of the world; for ye that are in Christ shall be glorified in the clouds, and the sight of your glory shall aggravate the torment of the reprobates, because they might have had it, and would not take it; and then you shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as a potter's vessel they shall be broken; and great is the number of them that shall be judged; for let all flesh prepare them for it, even kings and emperors, those that wore many crowns on the earth, must appear naked before the throne. Alexander, thou worest many crowns, conquered many nations, but yet thou must stand up naked as thou was born, and thou must render a reckoning of thy conquests.

But I leave this. Again, you see this throne is white. What means this whiteness? It is innocency or righteousness, and full of shining brightness, of an unspeakable joy. Innocent and righteous; how so? Because the Judge is white, innocent, and righteous; all his assizers that shall sit round about him, they are white, innocent, white and righteous; all his citations, summonses and convictions, sentences and executions, are innocent and righteous; so all is white, the Judge, the unspotted innocent and undefiled Lamb of God, sitting on his throne of justice, and ordained deputy of his Father, to judge both the quick and the dead, he in whose heart was never found guile; therefore Abraham said, “Shall not the Judge of the world judge righteously?” So this Judge is white, innocent, and he is bright and glorious. Peter, James, and John, saw him white on the mount Tabor, when he was transfigured, “and his face shined as the sun, and his raiment white as the light; and when Peter said, Master, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” Matth. xvii. 1, 2, 3. Ay, Peter, but this shall be a whiter appearing, and thou shalt think it better to be with him here. Ay, Lord, it is true, white wast thou upon mount Tabor, but whiter shalt thou be in the clouds.

He is white again, in respect of his citations. O that our hearts were ravished with the consideration of thy righteous and just citing and summoning of all men, when thou shalt cause the earth, grave, hell, and the sea, and all places, thrust out of them all their dead; just shalt thou be in glorifying the souls and bodies of them that glorify thee on earth; and just shalt thou be in glorifying thyself, by tormenting the souls and bodies of them that dishonoured thee on earth.

He is white in respect of his accusations, for there shall be nothing read in thy ditty, but that which shall be found written either in one leaf of thy conscience or other; there the sins of thy conception, there the sins of thy youth, there the sins of thy ignorance, there the sins against the light of thy conscience, and there the sins against the [pg 010] law, and there the sins against the gospel, and all shall be presented to thy conscience. O! well is the soul and conscience that dare lift up the head with rejoicing, and can say, “Thou Lamb of God, thou takest away the sins of the world,” thou tookest away my sins when thou wast on the tree. And can any body tell how ye will compear before this throne that were never cleansed with the blood of Jesus? O! that blackness and darkness, which is abiding that soul which never yet ran to the blood of the Lamb, to make itself white in it; so the raising of all, the compearing of all, the accusation of all, the conviction of all, shall be just, and God shall be glorified in all.

There is also the absolution of the righteous, and the condemnation of the wicked; and therefore the throne is called white, because of the innocency and righteousness of the Judge. Now, brethren, I will go no further at this time than this that follows or remains to be spoken of, the majesty and terror of the Judge sitting on his throne, “and him that sat on it.” Many shall sit on thrones in that day, but one shall sit above all the rest, for the saints shall be caught up in the air, and shall all sit on thrones, and give out sentence both of absolution and condemnation, and they shall say, “Hallelujah, salvation, and glory, and power, be to the Lord our God, for true and righteous are his judgments.” I could never yet rightly consider the majesty of this Judge. O heavens! what aileth thee to flee from the face of this Judge. O earth! what aileth thee to flee, and why art thou chased away, and never seen again? What ails thee, O heavens, that never sinned, and, O earth, that never sinned neither, for they had never understanding to be capable of a law, nor to be subject to keep a law. What means this? O but I must leave this! for who can but wonder at this! Yet I will tell you the cause. You and I, and the generations before that this firmament has seen, and this earth seen or born, since the first day that God made the earth, and established this heaven and earth, and since that day that Adam eat of the forbidden tree, since that day heaven and earth have been eye-witnesses of our sins, and subject to vanity, and since that day they have been defiled with our iniquities, and since that time they have been subject to bondage and corruption, and therefore they groan with us also, and travail with pain together until this present; and therefore, in that great day, they cannot abide the face of the Judge.

Now, what is the fruit ye should make of this? I thank my God that I preach unto you so sure a gospel, even the oracles of the eternal God; the earth and the heavens shall pass away, but this word and oracles shall never pass away; therefore it is not a doubtsome message that I carry unto you, for it is surer than the heavens, and surer than the earth; and these eyes of yours, that have seen both the truth of this spoken here. O [pg 011] that the Lord would fill my heart, with this verity, that I might eat it and drink it, and feed upon it continually, and that he would fill me with the spirit of exhortation, that I might exhort you to meditate on this truth, both day and night, that the remembrance of that day might never go out of your hearts. O that you would do it, even for his sake that left you his heart's blood to slocken that fire which will burn both the heavens and the earth: therefore hear, hear! What should you hear? things of the last importance. Is hell, is heaven, is the terror of that day of any importance? And this is not the blessing of mount Gerizim, but that everlasting blessing which the Judge of all the world shall pronounce out of his mouth, saying, “Ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world.” And it is nothing to the curse of the mount Ebal, but it is that everlasting curse and malediction which the Son of God shall pronounce, saying, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” (And what shall I say to you?) This day is coming, and the Lord is preparing himself to come down through the clouds, to sit on a great white throne, and the archangel is putting the trumpet to his mouth, and he is near to the blowing of it, and the rest of the angels are but waiting when they shall give the last shout, “Rise, dead, and come to judgment,” the Bridegroom is coming, and the heaven and the earth are waiting when the Lord shall come in his glory, in flaming fire, to burn them up.

Now, brethren, what should ye do then? It is but this one thing that I will charge you with, hear what I am to say to you, I bear the message of God, and I preach the Gospel that shall judge you; and I am here sent of God to tell you what is his will towards you; therefore I charge you all before God, and his Son Christ Jesus, every man and woman, let this be your occupation this day, turn over the leaves of your conscience, and see there what is the ditty that thou hast pinned up against thyself, since the day that thou wast born, and look on thy sins before the Lord, and come and spread them before the Judge, and crave pardon of them, now in the day of grace; for he is ready to forgive thee and thy sins, were they never so great; for aye the redder that thy soul has been, the virtue of his blood shall appear the greater in cleansing thee from thy sins; therefore let none of you scare at the greatness of your sins; for here I testify unto you, that if any of you be condemned, it shall not be for your sins, but it shall be for contempt of that blood which shall condemn you. O God! full of mercy and goodness, and of fatherly care and providence, and never a greater providence found I in my lifetime, than I found this last time in my journey, I thank my God for it; and here I avow, if this blood of mine should go for it, it was acceptable service [pg 012] to God we did that day; I know there were many that sent up their prayers to God for the maintenance of his liberty, I am sure the Lord heard you; for I say to you, the room was never that I came to, but I found the Lord meeting me there, and confirming me that all was well and acceptable to him; so that I never found sweeter providence since I was born; I see the Lord's hand is not shortened. O Scotland! O that thou wouldst repent, and mourn for the contempt of this so great a light that has shined in thee; then thou shouldst see as glorious a day on God's poor Church within this land, as ever was seen in any church before from the beginning; then the Lord should be strong, and glorious, and wonderful in all the hearts of his own. What is it to him to run sixteen or eighteen score of miles to London, and then run to the hearts of kings, princes, and nobles of the land, and humble them, and subject them to the crown and kingdom of Jesus Christ; but, let them think of it what they will, I know who has approven of us, for it is the running of the Gospel through the whole land, and it is that the net of Christ may be spread over all, that if it were possible we may gather in a world in it, that they might not perish; it is that which we seek, and when I look to the eternity of wrath that is abiding the wicked of this world, then I may say, who would not pity a world of sinners? But I leave this, and I will give God the praise of his own glory, that he can begin and he can perfect his own work in you: therefore this is my petition to God, that ye may all be presented blameless before him in that great day. Therefore I beseech you all, for Christ's sake, that every one of you would come in time, by speedy repentance, and that you would take up Christ in the arms of your souls, and that ye would take a fill of his flesh and blood, that ye may never hunger and thirst any more; and, in like manner, he may know you in that great day to be his own sheep, marked with his own blood. Will ye have any pleasure at his coming, when ye have eaten and drunken, and taken your pleasure here, and then shall be flung into hell hereafter? So I would beseech you, in all lenity and meekness of mind, for Christ's cause, ye would not delay at least to mint at repentance; and if ye cannot get your hearts melted as ye would, yet run to God, and say, “Father have mercy upon me; Father, forgive me,” and cause me to repent; Father, send down thy Spirit to soften my heart. Now, if ye would do this, ye should be welcome to him; for I assure you he delights to shew mercy on poor penitent sinners, that would “repent, and hunger, and thirst for righteousness.” Now, I say no more now, but I commend you all to him that is able to give you repentance and remission of sins in the blood of his Son Jesus Christ: to Father and with the Holy Ghost, be all honour, Amen.