A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, writtenA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written

That there shall be a judgment, is universally granted:^l I speak the Law to th•• that know the Law. Though there be a particular judgment precedent, this hinders not the general subsequent. Here the wicked condemn themselves, there God shall condemn them. Qualis conscientia, talis sententia. As is their conscience, suc• shall be their sentence.^m If our own heart condemn us, God is greater than our hea•. Besides the common reasons that be given, 1 That the godly here suffer for we• doing, therefore shall be crowned for well suffering. It is fit that they whom […] world hath unjustly condemned, shall by the Lord be justly acquitted. Ut app•••• tam patientis innocentia, quàm persequentis injustitia. If there be Judas to censure M•• and not a Jesus to Justify Mary; Truth shall be utterly lost. 2 That many notor• ous sinners are punished here; which is but the little Image and earnest of the general Sessions hereafter. God strikes some, ne ipsi pereant, to save themselves: and so•• again, ne reliquos perimant, lest they should destroy others. Graceless sinners e• boldening themselves to riot by the remoteness of judgement, are often cut off before hand.ⁿ Some mens sins are open before hand, going before the judgement. Th•• have not the patience to tarry so long for their own damnation. As when the desperate Pirate, ransacking and rifling a bottom, was told by the master, that tho••• no law could touch him for the present, he should answer it at the day of judgment: replied, nay, if I may stay so long ere I come to it, I will take thee and thy Vessel too. A conceit wherewith too many land-thieves, oppressors, flatter themsel••• in their hearts, though they dare not utter it with their lips. These God judg before hand, as he did Herod immediately upon his elevation: the people called […] a god, but the worms soon confuted their ridiculous deity. That as when Ms had powdered the calf, he might upbraid Israel, behold your God: so when the Ang had wormed that Idol, he might say, Behold your king. Beside these, and […] other beaten arguments, I fasten upon two instances.