not serue God in action it shall serue him in passion Where voluntarie obedience is denied involuntarie anguish shall be suffered Know this thou swearer that as thy tongue spets abroad the flames of Hell so the flames of Hell shall be powred on thy tongue As the Drunkard will not now keepe the Cup of satietie from his mouth so God shall one day hold the Cup of vengeance to it and he shall drinke the dregges thereof As the Vsurers are tormentors to the Common-wealth on earth so they shall meete with tormentors in Hell that shall transcend them both in malice and subtiltie and load them with bonds and executions and which is strangely possible heauier then those they haue so long traded in The Church-robber incloser ingrosser shall find worse prolling and pilling in Hell then themselues vsed on earth and as they haue beene the worst Deuils to their Countries wealth so the worst of Deuils shall attend them The vncleane adulterer shall haue fire added to his fire And the couetous wretch that neuer spake but in the Horse-leaches language and carried a mouth more yawning then the graues is now quitted with his nunquam satis and findes enough of fire in the depth of Hell The Deuill hath feasted the wicked and now the wicked feast the Deuill and that with a very chargeable Banket For the Deuill is a daintie Prince and more curious in his diet then Vitellius He feedes like the Caniball on no flesh but mans flesh He loues no Venison but the Hart no fowle but the Breast no fish but the Soule As the vngodly haue eaten up Gods people as bread so themselues shall be eaten as bread â—t is iust that they be deuoured by others that haue deuoured others As they haue beene Lyons to crash the bones of the poore so a Lyon shall crash their bones they are Satans Feast he shall deuoure them Thus they that were the guests are now the Banket as they haue beene feasted with euils so they feast the Dâ—uils Make a little roome in your heaâ—ts ye fearelesse and desperate wretches for this meditation Behold now as in aspeculatiue glasse the Deuils hospitalitie Once be wise beleeue without triall without feeling Yeeld but to be ashamed of your sinnes and then I can with comfort aske you â—hat fruit they euer brought you Let me but appeale from Philip of Macedon when hee is drunke to Philip of Macedon when he is sober from your bewitched lusts to your waked consciences and you must needes say that breuis haec non vera voluptas All the workes of darknesse are vnfruitfull except in producing and procuring vtter darknesse Sinne is the Deuils earnest-peny on earth in Hell he giues the Inheritance Temptation is his presse-money by rebellion oppression vsurie blasphemie the wicked like faithfull Souldiours fight his battels When the field is wonne or rather lost for if he conquers they are the spoile in the depâ—h of heâ—l hee giues them pay Who then would march vnder his colours who though he promise Kingdomes cannot performe a Hogge Alas poore beggar he hath nothing of his owne but sinne and death and hell and torment Nihil ad effectum ad defectum satis No positâ—ue good enough priuatiue euill Euen those that passe their soules to him by a reall Couenant he cannot enrich they liue and dye most penurious beggars as pernicious villaines And they vpon whom God suffers him to throw the riches of this world as a sâ—are ouer their hearts which he cannot doe but at second hand haue not enough to keepe either their heads from aking or their consciences from despairing Thus though God permit him â—o helpe the rich man to sill his Barnes the Vsurer to swell his Coffers the Luxurious to poyson his blood the malicious to gnaw his bowels the sâ—crilegious to amplifie his reuenewes the ambitious with credit yet therâ— is neither will in God nor willingnesse in the Deuill that any of these should be a blessing vnto them All is but borrowed ware and the Customers shall pay for day the longer they abuse them the larger arrerages they must returne Onely here I may say that bona sunt quae dona sunt they are goods that are gifts God giues his graces freely the Deuill his Iunkets falsly for the guests must pay and that deerely when the least Item in the bill for paines is beyond the greatest dish of the Feast for pleasures Solomons Sermon spends it selfe vpon Tvvo Circumstances the Persons Tempting Shâ—â— â— right Harlot as appeares by her Prostitution Prodition Perdition Tempted The Dead All death is from sinne whether Corporall Spirituall Eternall Attempted He knoweth not Whose ignorance is either Naturall Inuincible Affected Arroganâ— Place Where their misery is amplified in part personally in part locally Per infirmitatem By their â—eaknes to resist soone in Per Infâ—rnitatem In hell Per profunditatem In the depth of Hell The person tempting or the Harlot is Vice vgly and deformed Vice that with glazed eyes surphâ—ld cheekes pyed garments and a Syrens tongue winnes easie respect and admiration When the heate of tentation shall glow vpon concupiscence the heart quickly melts The wisest Solomon was taken and snared by a woman which foule adulterie bred as foule an issue or rather progeniem vitiosiorem a worse Idolatrie Satan therefore shapes his Temptation in the lineaments of an Harlot as most fit and powerfull to worke vpon mans affections Certaine it is that all delighted vice is a spirituall adulterie The couetous man couples his heart to his gold The Gallant is incontinent with his pride The corrupt Officer fornicates with briberie The Vsurer sets continuall kisses on the cheeke of his securitie The heart is set where the hate should be And euery such sinner spends his spirits to breed and see the issue of his desires Sinne then is the Deuils Harlot which being tricked vp in tempting colours drawes in visitants praemittendo suaâ—ia promittendo perpetua giuing the kisses of pleasure and promising them perpetuall We may obserue in this Strumpet 1. Prostitution Pro. 7.13 So she caught him and kissed him and with an impudent face said vnto him c. Shame now-a-dayes begins to grow so stale that many vices shall vie impudent speeches and gestures with the Harlot Come let vs take our fill of loue as Putiphars wife to Ioseph without any ambagious or ambiguous circumlocutions or insinuations come lye with me Sinne neuer stands to vnty the knot of Gods interdiction but bluntly breakes it as the Deuill at first to the rootes of mankind ye shall not die The Vsurer neuer looseth so much time as to satisfie his conscience it is enough to satisfie his concupiscence A good Morgage lies sicke of a forfet and at the Vsurers mercie It is as surely damned as the Vsurer himselfe will be when he lyes at the mercie of the Deuill These are so farre â—rom that old Quare of Christians
better life is the soule spoiled of when sinne hath taken it captiue The Adultresse will hunt for the precious life She is ambitious and would vsurpe Gods due and claime the heart the soule Hee that doth loue her destroyeth his owne soule Which shee loues not for it selfe but for the destruction of it that all the blossomes of grace may dwindle and shrinke away as bloomes in a nipping Frost and all our comforts runne from vs as flatterers from a falling Greatnesse or as Vermine from an house on fire Nay euen both thy liues are endangered The wicked man goâ—â—h after her as a foole to the correction of the stâ—ckes till a 〈◊〉 strike through his liuer as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life It is as ineuitably true of the spirituall Harlots mischiefe For the turning away of the simple shall slay them Saue my life and take my goods saith the prostrate and yeelding Traueller to the theefe But there is no mercy with this enemie the life must pay for it She is worse then that inuincible Nauy that threatned to cut the throates of all Men Women Infants but I would to God shee might goe hence againe without her errand as they did and haue as little cause to bragge of her conquests Thus haue wee discribed the Temptresse The Tempted followes who are here called the Dead There be three kindes of death corporall spirituall eternall Corporall when the body leaues this life Spirituall when the soule forsakes and is forsaken of grace Eternall when both shall be throwne into hell 1. is the seperation of the soule from the body 2. is the seperation of body and soule from grace 3. the seperation of them both from euerlasting happinesse Man hath two parts by which hee liues and two places wherein he might liue if hee obayed God Earth for a time Heauen for euer This Harlot Sin depriues either part of man in either place of true life and subiects him both to the first and second death Let vs therefore examine in these particulars first what this death is and secondly how Sathans guests the wicked may be said liable thereunto 1. Corporall death is the departure of the soule from the body whereby the body is left dead without action motion sense For the life of the body is the vnion of the soule with it For which essentiall dependance the soule is often called and taken for the life Peter said vnto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay downe my soule for thy sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soule meaning as it iâ— translated his life And He that findeth his soule shall loose it but hee that looseth his soule for my sake shall finde it Here the Soule is taken for the Life So that in this death there is the seperation of the soule and body the dissolution of the person the priuation of life the continuance of death for there is no possible regresse from the priuation to the habite except by the supernaturall and miraculous hand of God This is the first but not the worst death which sinnâ— procureth And though the speciall deaâ—nesse of the guests here be spirituall yet this which we call naturall may be implied may be applied for when God threatned death to Adams sinne in illo die mâ—riâ—ris in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die yet Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeares after There was notwithstanding no delay no delusion of Gods decree for in ipso die in that very day death tooke hold on him and so is the Hebrew phrase dying thou shalt dye fall into a languishing and incurable consumption that shall neuer leaue thee till it bring thee to thy graue So that hee instantly dyed not by present seperation of soule and body but by mortallitie mutabillitie miserie yea by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of Death Thus said that Father After a man beginneth to be in this body by reason of his sinne he is euen in death The wicked then are not onely called Dead because the conscience is dead but also in respect of Gods decree whose inviolable substitution of Death to Sinne cannot be euaded auoyded It is the Satute-law decreed in the great Parliament of Heauen Statutum omnibus seâ—el mori It is appoynted vnto men once to die Tâ—is is one speciall kindnesse that sinne doth vs one kisse of her lippes Shee giues her louers three mortall kisses The first kils the conscience the second the carkase the third body and soule for euer Death passed vpon all men for that all haue sinned So Paul schooles his Corinths For this cause many are weaâ—e and sicke among you and many sleepe And conclusiuely peccati stipendium mors The wages of sinne is Death This Death is to the wicked death indeed euen as it is in it owne full nature the curse of God the suburbes of Hell Neither is this vniust dealing with God that man should incurre the death of his body that had reiected the life of his soule nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae numquam corporis mors in supplicio sequerâ—tur If sinne had not first wounded the body death could not haue killed the soule Hence saith Augustine Men shunne the death of the flesh rather then the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather then the cause of the punishment Indeed Death considered in Christ and ioyned with a good life is to Gods elect an aduantage nothing else but a bridge ouer this tempestuous sea to Paradice Gods mercy made it so saith S. Augustine Not by making death in it selfe good but an instrument of good to his This hee demonstrates by an instance As the Law is not euill when it increaseth the lust of sinners sâ— death is not good though it augmâ—nt the glory of suâ—ferers The wicked vse the law ill though the law be good The good die well though death be euill Hence saith Solomon The day of death is better then the day of ones birth For our death is not obitus sed abitus not a perishing but a parting Non amittitur anima praemittitur tantum The soule is not lost to the body but onely sent before it to ioy Si duriùs seponitur meliùs reponitur If the soule be painfully laid off it is ioyfully laid vp Though euery man that hath his Genesis must haue his Exodus and they that are borne must dye Yet saith Tertullian of the Saints Profectio est quam putas moâ—tem Our dying on earth is but the taking our iourney to Heauen Simeon departs and that in peace In pace in pacem Death cannot be euentually hurtfull to the good for it no sooner takes away the temporall life but Christ giues eternall in the roome of it Alas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpora cadauera Our graues shall as
surely be Coffins to our bodies as our bodies haue beene Coffins to our soules The minde is but in bondage whiles the body holds it on earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato affirmes Of whom saith an Anthony that when hee saw one too indulgent to his flesh in high Diet he asked him What doe you meane to make your prison so strong Thus qui gloriatur in viribus corporis gloriatur in viribus carceris He that boasteth the strength of his body doth but bragge how strong the Prison is wherein he is â—ayled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The body is the disease the graue the destinie the necessitie and burden of the soule Hinc cupiunt metuuntque dolent gaudentque nec auras Respiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco Feares ioyes griefes and desires mans life do share It wants no ills that in a Prison are It was a good obseruation that fell from that Stoicke Homo calamitatis fabula infaelicitatis tabula Man is a Storie of woe and a map of miserie So Mantuan Nam quid longa dies nobis nisi longa dolorum Colluvies Longi patientià carceris aetas It appeares then that Death is to the good a procurer of good Mors intermittit vitam non eripit Venit iterum qui nos in lucem râ—ponat dies Their Death is but like the taking in sunder of a Clocke vvhich is pulled a pieces by the makers hand that it may bee scowred and repolished and made goe more perfectly But Death to the wicked is the second step to that infernall Vault that shall breede either an innouation of their ioyes or an addition to their sorrowes Diues for his momentanie pleasures hath insufferable paines Iudas goes from the Gallowes to the Pit Esau from his dissolution in earth to his desolation in Hell The dead are there Though the dead in soule be meant literally yet it fetcheth in the body also For as originall sinne is the originall cause of Death so actuall sinnes hasten it Men speede out a Commission of Iniquities against their owne liues So the enuious man rots his owne bones The Glutton strangles the Drunkard drownes himselfe The male-content dryes vp his blood in fretting The couetous whiles he Italionates his conscience and would Romanize his estate starues himselfe in plaine English and would hang himselfe when the Market falls but that hee is loath to be at the charges of a Halter Thus it is a Feast of Death both for the present sense and future certaintie of it The dead are there 2. Spirituall death is called the death of the soule which consisteth not in the losse of her vnderstanding and will these she can neuer loose no not in Hell but of the truth and grace of God wanting both the light of faith to direct her and the strength of Loue to incite her to goodnesse For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace The soule is the life of the body God of the soule The spirit gone vtterly from vs wee are dead And so especially are the guests of Satan dead You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes And the Widdow that liueth in pleaâ—ure is dead whiles she liueth This diuorcement and seperation made betwixt God and the soule by sinne is mors animae the death of the soule But your Iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God But we liue by faith and that in the Sonne of God His spirit quickens vs as the soule doth a lumpe of flesh when God infuseth it Now because these termes of spirituall death are communicated both to the elect and reprobates it is not amisse to conceiue that there is a double kinde of spirituall death 1. In regard of the Subiect that dieth 2. In regard of the Obiect whereunto it dieth Spirituall death in the faithfull is three-fold 1. They are dead to Sinne. How shall wee that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein A dead nature cannot worke He that is dead to sinne cannot as hee is dead sinne Wee sinne indeede not because wee are dead to sinne but because not dead enough Would to God you were yet more dead that you might yet more liue This is called Mortification What are mortified Lustes The wicked haue mortification too but it is of grace Matth. 8. They are both ioyntly expressed Let the dead burie the dead Which Saint Aâ—gustine expounds Let the spiritually dead bury those that are corporally dead The faithfull are dead to sinne the faithlesse are dead in sinne It is true life to bee thus dead Mortificatio concupiscentiae viâ—ificatio animae so farre is the spirit quickened as the flesh is mortified So true is this Paradoxe that a Christian so farre liues as he is dead so farâ—e he is a Conquerour as he is conquered Vincendo se vincitur à se. By ouercomming himselfe he is ouercome of himselfe Whiles hee ouer-rules his lustes his soule rules him When the outward cold rageth with greatest violence the inward heat is more and more effectuall When Death hath killed and stilled concupiscence the heart begins to liue This warre makes our peace This life and death is wrought in vs by Christ who at one blow slew our sinnes and saued our soules Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit One and the same hand gaue the wound and the cure Vulneratur concupiscentia sanatur conscientia The deadly blow to the concupiscence hath reuiued the conscience For Christ takes away as well dominandi vim as damnandi vim the dominion of sinne as the damnation of sinne He died that sinne might not raigne in our mortall body he came to destroy not onely the Deuill but the workes of the Deuill Hence if you would with the spectacles of the Scriptures reade your owne estates to God Reckon your selues to be dead indeede vnto sinne but aliue vnto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. This triall consists not in being free from lusts but in brideling them not in scaping tentation but in vanquishing it It is enough that in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loued vs. 2. They are dead to the Law For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might liue vnto God Wherein hee opposeth the Law against the Law the new against the olde the Lawe of Christ against that of Moses This accuseth the accusing condemneth the condemning Law The Papists vnderstand this of the ceremoniall Law but Paul plainely expresseth that the Law morall which would haue beene to vs a Law morâ—all is put vnder wee are dead vnto it As Christ at once came ouer death and ouercame death et super it eâ— superat So we in him are exempted from the condemning power and killing letter of the Law and by being dead vnto it are aliue ouer it
banket haue this death in present the precedent and subsequent are both future the one naturally incurred by sinne the other iustly inflicted for vnrepented sinne For all shall dye the corporall death Hee that feareth an oath as well as hee that sweareth the â—eligious as the profane But this last which is Eternall death shall onely cease on them that haue before hand with a spirituall death slaine themselues This therefore is called the second death Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first resurrection which is the spirituall life by grace On such the second death hath no power Hee that is by Christ raised from the first death shall by Christ also scape the second But hee that is dead spiritually after hee hath died corporally shall also dye eternally This is that euerlasting seperation of body and soule from God and consequently from all comfort Feare him saith our Sauiour that is able to destroy both body and soule in Hell And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and euerlasting contempt This is that death that God delights not in His goodnesse hath no pleasure in it though his iustice must inflict it Man by sinne hath offended God an infinite Maiestie and therefore deserues an infinite miserie Now because he is a nature finite hee cannot suffer a punishment infinite in greatnesse simul et semel together and at once hee must therefore endure it successiuè sine fine successiuely without end The punishment must be proportioned to the sinne because not in present greatnesse therefore in eternall continuance Christ for his elect suffered in short time sufficient punishment for their sinnes for it is all one for one that is eternall to dye and for one to dye eternally But he for whom Christ suffered not in that short time must suffer for himselfe beyond all times euen for euer This is the last Death a liuing death or a dying life what shall I tearme it If it be life how doth it kill If death how doth it liue There is neither life nor death but hath some good in it In life there is some ease in death an end But in this death neither ease nor end Prima â—ors animam dâ—lentem pellet de câ—rpore secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore The first death driues the soule vnwillingly from the body the second death holdes the soule vnwillingly in the body In those dayes shall men seeke death and shall not finde it and shall desire to dye and death shall flye from them Their worme shall not dye Thus saith the Scripture morientur mortem they shall dye the death Yet their death hath much too much life in it For there is a perfection giuen to the body and soule after this life as in heauen to the stronger participation of comfort so in hel to the more sensible receiuing of torment The eye shall see more perspicuously and the eare heare more quickly and the sense feele more sharply though all the obiects of these be sorrow and anguish Vermis conscientiam corrodet ignis carnem comburet quia et corde et corpore deliquerunt The worme shall gnaw the conscience the fire burne the flesh because both fleâ—h and conscience haue offended This is the fearfull death which these guests incurre this is the Shoâ— at the Diuells Banket God in his Iustice suffers him to reward his guests as hee is rewarded himselfe and since they loued his worke to giue them the stipend due to his seruice These are the tempted guests dead The vlgar Latine translation I know not vpon what ground hath interpreted here for mortui Gigantes thus hee knoweth not that the Gyants are there Monstrous men that would dart thunder at God himselfe and raise vp mountaines of impietie against Heauen As if they were onely great men that feasted at Sathans Banket whose riches were able to minister matter to their pleasures And surely such are in these dayes of whose sinnes when we haue cast an inventory account we might thus with the Poet sum vp themselues Viâ— dicam quid sis magnus es Ardelio Thou hast great lands great power great sinnes and than Dâ—st aske me what thou art th' art a great man The Gyants in the Scripture were men of a huge stature of a fierce nature The Poets fained their Gyants to be begotten and bred of the Sunne and the Earth and to offer violence to the Gods some of them hauing an hundred hands as Briareiu was called centimanus meaning they were of great command as Helen wrot to Paris of her husband Menelaus An nescis longas regibus esse manus This word Gyants if the originall did afford it must be referred either to the guests signifiing that monstrous men resorted to the Harlots table that it was Gigantoum conviuium a tyrannous feast or else and that rather to the tormentors which are laid in ambush to surprise all the commers in and carry them as a pray to Hell But because the best translations giue no such word and it is farre fetched I let it fall as I tooke it vp The third person here inserted is the Attempted the new guest whom she striues to bring in to the rest He is discribed by his ignorance Nescit Hee knoweth not what company is in the house that the dead are there It is the Deuils pollicie when hee would ransacke and robbe the hoâ—se of our conscience like a theefe to put out the candle of our knowledge That wee might neither discerne his purposes nor decline his mischeefes Hee hath had his instruments in all ages to darken the light of knowledge Domitian turnes Philosophie into banishment Iulian shuts vp the Schoole-doores The barbarous souldiours vnder Clement the seauenth burned that excellent Vatican library Their reasons concurred with Iulians prohibition to the Christans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 least they kill vs with our owne weapons For it is said euen of Gentile learning Hic est Goliae gladius quo ipse Goliah ingulandus est Hic Herculis claua qua rabidi inter Ethnicos canes percutiendi sunt This is that Goliahs sword whereby the Philistine himselfe is wounded This is that Hercules clubbe to smite the madde dogs amongst the heathen Habadallus Mahomets scholler that Syrian Tyrant forbad all Christian children in his dominions to goe to schoole that by ignorance hee might draw them to superstition For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be destitute of learning is to dance in the darke These were all Sathans instruments yet they come short of the Pope whose pollicie to aduance his Hierarchie is to oppresse mens consciences with ignorance teaching that the fulnesse of zeale doth arise from the emptinesse of knowledge euen as fast as fire flasheth out of a fish-pond There are degrees in sin so in ignorance It is a sin to be ignorant of that we
and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them But when they are once in they finde themselues deceaued for the dead are there c. Then put no trust in so weake comforts that will be vnto you as Egypt to Israel a Reed which when you leane vpon it will not onely faile you but the splinters shall run into your hand You shall be ashamed of your weake confidence The Burden of the beasts of the South Into the land of trouble c. I am no Prognosticator Yet if Cosmographie affirme that wee liue in a Southerne Climate and experience testifie that wee haue many beasts among vs methinkes these words lie as fit for vs as if they were purposely made How many in our land by losse of Conscience are become Atheists and by losse of Reason beasts who run so fast to this Egiptian feast of wickednesse that hee speakes easiest against them that speakes but of a Burden These hauing found Sathans temptations true for the daintinesse iudging by their owne lusts dare also take his word for the continuance But if the great Table of this Earth shall be ouerthrowne what shall become of the dainties that the hand of nature hath set on it To which purpose saith Ierome Oh si possemus in talem ascendere speculam de qua vniuersam terram sub nostris pedibus cerneremus iam tiâ—i ostenderem totius orbis ruinas c. If it could be granted vs to stand on some lofty Pinacle from which wee might behold the whole earth vnder our feete how easily perswasion would make these earthly pleasures seeme vile in thy opinion You saâ— your pleasures are for number manifold for truth manifest for dimension great grant all though all be false yet they are for time short for end sowre Breue est quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat It is short that pleaseth them euerlasting that plagueth them Pleasure is a channell and Death the sea whereinto it runs Mellifâ—uus ingressus fâ—llifluus regressus yeeld your ioyes sweet at the Porch so you grant them bitter at the Posterne Securus et Securis must meete Wickednesse and wretchednesse must be made acquainted The lewd mans dinner shall haue that rich mans Supper Thou foole this night thy soule shall be required of thee The Deuill then you see is a crafty and cheating hoast whose performance falls as short of his promise as time doth of eternitie Let then the Apostles caueat be the vse of this obseruation Let no man deceiue you with vaine words for because of these things commeth the wrath of God on the children of disobedience The punishments of the wickâ—d are most vsually in the like proper and proportionable to their offences 1. Solomon here opposeth the house of mourning to the house of feasting as in expresse termes Eccleâ— 7. for as it is fit in the body that surfet should be followed with death so these that greedily make themselues sicke with sinne become iustly dead in soule 2. They haue affected the workes of hell therefore it is iust that hell should affect them and that euerie one should be granted their â—wne place 3. As they would not know what they did till they had done it so they fitly know not the place whither they shall goe till they are in it Nescit hee knoweth not c. 4. For the high places which their ambition climbed to Ver. 14. They are cast downe like Lâ—cifer to the lowest place the depth of Hell As Simon Magus would flye with arrogance so he came dowâ—e with a vengeance and broke his necke See how fitly they are quâ—ted They eate the bread of wickednesse and drinke the wine of violence now they are scanted of both except they will eate the bread of gall and drinke their owne teares Thus Pharaoh drownes the Hebrew males in a Riuer Exod. 1. therefore is drowned himselfe with his army in a sea Exod. 14. He had laide insupportable burdens on Israell God returnes them with full weight number measure When Israell had cut off the thumbs and great toes of Adoni-bezek heare the maimed King confesse the equitie of this Iudgment Threescore and ten Kings hauing their thumbs and great toes cut off gathered their meate vnder my table as I haue done so God hath requited me As proud Baiazeth threatned to serue Tamberlaine being conquered to imprison him in a cage of iron and carry him about the world in triumph so the Scithian hauing tooke that bragging Turke put him to the punishment which hiâ—selfe had lesson'd carrying and carting him through Asia to be scorned of his owne people Thus Haman is hanged on his owne gallowes Perillus tries the tricke of his owne torment The Papists that would haue fired vs in a house were themselues fired out of a house Gunpowder spoyled some of their eyes Musket-shot killed others the Engines of their owne conspiracie and the rest were aduanced higher by the head then the Parliament-house that would haue lifted vs higher of purpose to giue vs the more mortall â—all God hath â—etaliated their workes into their owne bosomes They trauelled with iniquitie conceiued mischiefe and loe the birth is their owne sorrow They haue digged a pit for vs and that low vnto Hell and are falne into it themselues Nec enim lex aequior vlla est Quà m necis artifices artâ— perire sua No iuster Law can be deuis'd or made Then that sinnes agents fall by their owne trade The order of Hell proceedes with the same degrees though it giue a greater portion yet the same proportion of torment These wretched guests were too busie with the waters of sinne behold now they are in the depth of a pit where no water is Diues that wasted so many Tunnes of Wine cannot now procure water not a Pot of water not a handfull of water not a drop of water to coole his tongue Desiderauit guttam qui non dedit micam A iust recompence Hee would not giue a crumme he shall not haue a drop Bread hath no smaller fragment then a crumme water no lesse fraction then a drop As he denied the least comfort to Lazarus liuing so Lazarus shall not bring him the least comfort dead Thus the paine for sinne answeres the pleasure of sinne Where now are those delicate moisels deepe carowses loose laughters proud poâ—t midnight reuels wanton songs Why begins not his fellow-guest with a new health or the Musicke of some rauishing note or if all faile hath his foole-knauish Parasite no obscene iest that may giue him delight Alas Hell is too melancholly a place for mirth All the Musicke is round-ecchoing groanes all the water is muddie with stench all the food anguish Thus damnable sinnes shall haue semblable punishments and as Augustine of the tongue so wee may say of any member Si non reddet Deo faciendo quae debet reddâ—t ei patiendo quae debet If it will
without his suâ—ficient sorrow actiue and passiue mischiefes if the morning wine should not enflame them They that are daily guests at the Deuils table know the fashions of his Court they must be drunke at the entrance It is one of his lawes and a Physicke-bill of hell that they must not wash till they haue drunke These Waters are to be applied inwardly first and once taken downe they are fitted to swallow any morsell of damnation that shall afterwards be presented them Water was the first drinke in the world and Water must be the first drinke at the Deuils Banket There is more in it yet The Deuill shewes a tricke of his wit in this title Water is a good creature and many coelestiall things are shadowed by it 1. It is the element wherein wee were baptised 2. And dignified to figure the grace of the holy Spirit Yet this very â—ame must be giuen to Sinne. Indeede I know the same things are often accepted in diuers senses by the langâ—â—ge of Heauen Leauen is est-soones taken for hypocriâ—ie as in the Pharises for Atheiâ—me as in the Sâ—dduces for Profâ—nenesse as in the Hâ—rodians And generally for Sinne by Paul 1 Cor. 5. Yâ—t by Christ for grace Luke 13. God is compared to a Lyon Amos. 3. And Christ is called the Lyon of the Tribe of Iudah Apocal. 5. And the Deuill is called a Lyon A roaring Lyon c. 1. Pet. 5. Christ was figured by a Serpent Ioh. 3. And to a Serpent is Satan compared 2 Cor. 11. Stones are taken in the worst sense Matth. 3. God is able of these stones to raise c. Stones in the best sense 1. Pet. 2. Liuing stones and Christ himselfe the headstone of the corner Psal. 118. Be like children saith Paul and not like children be children in simplicitie not in knowleâ—ge Graces are called Waters so here vices but the attribute makes the difference Those are liuing Waters these are the Waters of death The Deuill in this playes the Machiauell but I spare to follow this circumstance here because I shall meete it againe in the next branch Bread of secrecies Sinnes may in some sense be likened to waters yea euen to waters in the Cup for to waters in the Sea they are most like The one drownes not more bodies then the other soules They know the danger of the Sea that proâ—ecute their businesse in great waters they might know the hazards of Siâ—ne that saile in the Deuils Barge of luxurie I may say of them both with the Poet. Digitis à morte râ—moti quatuor aut septem si sit latissimataeda They are within foure or seauen Inches of death how many soules are thus shipwrackt how many weepe out a De profundis that would not sing the songs of Syon in the Land of the liuing they forgot Ierusalem in their mirth and therefore sit downe and howle by the waters of 〈◊〉 but these here are Festiuall not Marinall wateâ—s 1. Water is an enemie to digestion so is Sinne clogging the memorie the soules stomach with such cruditâ—es of vice that no sober instructions can bee digested in it especially Waters hurt digestion in these cold Countries naturally cold in regard of the Climate but spiritually more cold in deuotion Frosen vp in the dregs of Iniquitie Surely many of our Auditours drinke too deepe of these Waters before they come to Iacobs Well our Waters of heauenly doctrine will not downe with them The Waters of sinne so put your mouths out of tast that you cannot rellish the Waters of Life they are Marah to your palates It seemes you haue beene at the Deuils Banket and therefore thirst not after righteousnesse The Cup of the old Temptation hath filled you you scorne the Cup of the New Testament If you had not drunke too hard of these Waters you would aske Christ for his liuing Water but Achan hath drunke cursed Gold when hee should come before Ioâ—uah Gehâ—â—i hath drunke Bribes when hee should come to Elisha No maruell if you sucke no Iuyce from the Waters of God when you are so full and drunken with the Waters of Sathan 2. Water duls the braine and renders the spirits obtuse and heauie It is an enemie to literature saith Horace merrily Who in a Rithme rehearses That wâ—ter drinkers neuer make good Vearses Wee haue no skill in the himnes of the spirit no alacritie to praise God no wisedome to pray to him why wee haue drunke of these stollen waters The chilling and killing colde of our Indeuotion the morose and raw humours of our vncharitablenesse the foggy dull stupid heauinesse of our inuincible ignorance shew that wee haue beene too busie with these Waters nothing will passe with vs but rare and nouell matters Ieiunus rarò stomachus vulgaria temnit and in these we study to admire the garbe not to admit the profit 3. Wee finde Grace compared to Fire and gracelesnesse to water the Spirit came downe on the Apostles in the likenesse of firie tongues at the day of Pentecost and Iohn Baptist testifies of CHRIST that hee should Baptise with the Holy Ghost and with Fire The spirit of sinne falls on the heart like a cold deaw It is implied Reuel 3.15 that zeale is hote wickednesse colde neutrallitie luke-warme Fire is hot and drie Water is cold and moyst praedominantly and in regard of their habituall qualities so zeale is 1. hote no incendiary no praeter-naturall but a supernaturall heate equally mixed with Loue and Anger such was Elias zeale for the Lord of Hostes he could not be cold in this life that went vp in Fire to Heauen 2. Drie not like Ephraim a Cake baked on the one side but crude and raw on the other no the heate of zeale hath dried vp the moisture of prophanenesse But wickednesse is 1. colde a gelid nature a numnesse in the Conscience that as when the Ayre is hotest the Springs are coldest so when the Sunne of Grace warmes the whole Church is yet shaking of an Ague nay and will not creepe like Simon Peter to the fire 2. Moist not succus sanguinis plenum full of iuyce and sappe but sinne runnes like a colde rheume ouer the Conscience This metaphor followes Saint Paul Quench not the Spirit wherein hee fully iustifies this circumstance forbidding the water of impietie to quench the fire of Grace Here then see the impossibilitie of vniting the two contrary natures in one conscience as of reconciling Fire and Water into the same place time and subiect If sinne keepe court in the Conscience and sit in the Throne of the Heart Grace dares not peepe in at the gates or if it doth with colde entertainement I haue heard report of a generation of men that carry Fire in the one hand and Water in the other whose conuersation mingles Humentia siccis Wet and Drie together like the Syriphian Frogs in Pliny whose challenge
but the worshipper had better part with a talent of gold The Deuill indeed keepes open house noctes atque dies c. Hee makes the world beleeue that hee sels Robin-Hoods peny worths that he hath manum expansam a prodigall hand and giues all gratis but vijs modis hee is paid for it and such a price that the whole world comes short of the value Onely hee is content to giue day and to forbeare till death but then hee claps vp his debtors into euerlasting prisonment and layes an heauy execution on them that eue◠the Spanish Inquisition comes short of it Thus as the King of Sodome said to Abraham Da mihi animas Giue me the soules take the rest to thy selfe The Prince of darkenesse is content that thou shouldest haue riches and pleasures cheape enough onely giue him thy soule and hee is satisfied The Deuill would haue changed his Arithmeticke vvith Iob and rather haue giuen addition of vvealth then substraction if hee could haue so wrought him to blaspheme God Sathan seemes marueilous franke and kinde at first Munera magna quidem praebet sed praebet in hamo They are beneficia viscata ensnaring mercies As the Tree is the Birds refuge when shee flies from the snare and loe there shee findes Bird-lime that teares off her flesh and feathers Conuiuia quae putes insidiae sunt They are baites which thou takest for bankets The poore man is going to prison for a small debt the Vsurer lends him money and rescues him two or thee winters after his fit comes againe and by how much an Vsurer is sharper then a meere Creditour hee is shaken with the vvorse Ague that kindnesse plungeth him into a deeper bondage the first was but a thredden snare which he might breake but this is an infrangible chaine of yron Men are in want and necessitie is durum telum a heauy burden the Deuill promiseth supply Behold the drunkard shall haue Wine the theefe opportunitie the malious reuenge if they be hungry he hath a Banket ready but as I haue seene Emperickes giue sudden ease to a desperate inueterate griefe yet eyther with danger of life or more violent reuocation of the sickenesse so their miserie ere long is doubled and that vvhich vvas but a stitch in the side is now a shrewd paine in the heart The Stagge and the Horse sayth the Fiction were at variance the Horse being too vveake desires Man to helpe him Man gets on the Horses backe and chaseth the Stagge Vsque ad fugam vsque ad mortem to flight to death Thus the Horse gets the victorie but is at once victor victus Captaine and captiue for after that he could neuer free his mouth from the bit his backe from the Saddle Non equitem dorso non fraenum depulit ore Man is beset vvith exigents hee vvailes his vveakenesse the Deuill steps in with promises of succour Iudas is made rich Gehesi gets change of suites Nero is crowned Emperour but vvithall hee gets possession of their affections whence all the power of man cannot vntenant him Thus the last slauerie is worse then the first and the cheare is not so cheap at sitting downe as it is deare at rising vp This is the Deuils cheapenesse no euery good and perfect gift is from aboue The Deuill giues nothing but God giues to all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 richly or abundantly so that when he giues hee takes nothing backe for the gifts of the spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without repentance Ho euery one that thirsteth come ye to the waters of life and he that hath no money c. God hath waters no stollen water but waters of freedome and other blessings if ye loue liquid things o◠an answerable nature greater vertue and those whereof hee is a true proprietarie Wine and Milke Milke to nourish Wine to cherish the heart of man buy them without money let not your pouerty keepe you backe here is cheapnesse if you haue a sauing desire come freely and take your filles The Gospell is preached to the poore Thinke not to buy the graces of God with money lest you and your money perish Onely take your time and come whiles God is a giuing for there is a time when the dore of bountie is shut Though hee stretch forth his hand of mercy all the day yet the night comes when hee drawes it backe againe They that answere him proffering grace as Daniel to Belshazzar Keepe thy rewards to thy selfe and giue thy gifts to another may knocke at his gates and be turned away emptie Now spare to speake and spare to speed Then though you cry vnto mee I will not heare To day then harden not your hearts Pray vnto him and he will giue good things to them that aske him Hee doth not sell but giue not the shadowes but the substances of goodnesse The conclusion then is cleere blessings and graces are truly cheape And no good thing will God withhold from them that walke vprightly All things shall worke to their good that are good The Deuill giues nothing but sels all for price neither are they good things he selleth but figuras boni the meere formes counterfeits of goodnes But if the cheapenesse of sinne so affect men vvhat meane they to runne to Rome for it where I doe not say onely that sinne and damnation hath a shrewd price set vpon them but euen blisse and comfort and no Pilgrim can get the least salue-plaister to heale his wounded Conscience but at an vnreasonnable reckoning But soft it is obiected that Rome is still baited in our Sermons and when we seeke vp and downe for matter as Saul for his Asses wee light vpon the Pope still I answere that I can often passe by his dore and not call in but if he meets me full in the face and affronts mee for good manners sake non praetereo insalutatum I must change a word with him The Pope is a great Seller of these Stollen waters yet his Chapmen thinke them cheape He thrusts his Speare into the Mountaines and sluceth out whole floods as it is fabled of Aeolus Hee vsurpes that of God that he can spanne the waters in his fist that he hath all the graces of God in his owne power and no water can passe besides his Mill as if hee could call for the waters of the Sea and powre them out vpon the face of the Earth or as Iob speaketh of Behemoth Behold he drinketh vp a Riuer and hasteth not and trusteth that he can draw vp Iordan into his mouth As if all the graces of God were packed vp in a bundle or shut into a boxe and the Pope onely was put in trust to keepe the Key and had authoritie to giue and denie them So Aeolus the God of Windes sayth the Poet gaue Vlisses a Maile wherein all the
likewise Lazarus euill things but now hee is comforted and thou art tormented AVGVST de Ciuitate Dei Lib. 22. Cap. 3. Prima mors animam dolentem pellit de corpore Secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore The soule by the first death is vnwillingly driuen from the body the soule by the second death is vnwillingly held in the body LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for Ralph Mab and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Grey-hound 1614. TO THE VERY VVORTHY GENTLEMAN Mr. FRANCIS CRAVVLEY sauing Health SYR There are foure sorts of Bankets which I may thus distinguish Laetum letiferum bellum belluinum The first is a ioyfull Feast Such was the Breake-fast of the World in the Law or the Dinner in the Gospell or yet the future more fully the Lambes Supper of Glory this is a delicate Feast Yet not more then the next is deadly the blacke Banket which is prepared for the wicked in Hell Which consists of two Dishes sayth the Schoole Poena damni and poena sensus or as the Philosopher distinguisheth all miserie into copiam inopiam copia tribulationis inopia consolationis Or after some of three amissio coeli priuatio terrae positio inferni the missing of that they might haue had the priuation of that they had the position of that they haue and would not haue torment or according to others of foure Mercilesse miserie extremitie vniuersallity eternitie of anguish Our Sauiour abridgeth all into two or rather one for they are homogenea weeping and gnashing of teeth This is a bloody Banket where crosse to the festiuall prouerbe the more the merrier the multitude of guests shall adde to the horror of miseries so afflicting one another with their ecchoing and reciprocall grones that it shall be no ease socios habuisse doloris This is a lamentable but the third a laudeable Feast It is that the Christian maketh eyther to man which is a Feast of Charitie or to God which is a Feast of Grace Whereunto God hath promised to be a Guest and to suppe with him The last is a beastiall Bankeâ— wherein either man is the Symposiast and the Deuill the discumbent or Sathan the Feastmaker and man the Guest Sinne is the food in both The dyeâ— is not varied but the Host. Sathan feasts the wicked whiles they feed on his temptations to surfet The wicked feast Satan whiles their accustomed sinnes nourish his power in their hearts Sâ— Sâ— Hierome Daemonum cibus ebrietas luxuria fornicatio vniuersa vitia Our iniquities are the very dyet dainties of the Deuils With this last onely haue I medled endeuouring to declare it to disswade it according to the dichotomiz'd carriage of all our Sermons by explication by application Sin is the white or rather the blacke marke my arrow flies at I trust he that gaue ayme to my tongue will also direct leuell and keepe my Penne from swaruing But since reproofes are as Goads and Beasts will kicke when they are touched to the quicke and he that speaks in Thunder shall bee answered with Lightning by which consequence I may suspect stormes that haue menaced stormes therefore behold it runnes to you for shelter not to instruct your knowledge who can giue so exquisite counsell to others in the Law to your selfe in the Gospell being qualified as that perfect Rhetorician should be vir bonus dicendi peritus but that through your Name I might offer and adde this poore Mite into the treasurie of the Church ascribing the Patronage to your selfe the vse to the world the successe to God Accept then this poore testimonie of my gratitude who haue vowed my selfe Your VVorships in all faithfull seruice THOMAS ADAMS THE SHOT OR The vvofull price vvhich the wicked pay for the Feast of Vanitie The fourth Sermon PROVERB 9.18 But hee knoweth noâ— that the dead are there and that her guests aâ—e in the depth of Hell SAtans guests are vnhappily come from the end of a Feast to the beginning of a fray As the Sodomites eate and drunke till the fire was about their eares so these are iouiall and sing care away but it seemes by the sequell that the Deuill will not be pleased with a Song as the Host in the Fable with the singing guest Hee cries out as the Vsurer at his spawning houre Giue mee my money Arguments are held complements perswasions intreaties promises of speedie satisfaction will doe no good on him that hath no good in him hee is like the Cuckoe alwaies in one tune Giue mee my money The Debter may intreat this Creditour will not retreat he will to warre you know the Vsurers warre except he may haue his money So the great Vsurer the Deuill I hope Vsurers doe not scorne the comparison when the Feast is done lookes for a reckoning The Vsurer perhaps will take securitie so will the Deuill Securitie and deadnesse of heart will a great while please him But when Diues hath dined the Deuill takes away Death is his knife and Hell his voyder Hee takes away one Dish more then he set downe in stead of the reuersion the Feasters themselues nay the Feast-maker too for Diues is the founder and Sathan is the confounder the one prouides meate for the belly the other by Gods sufferance destroyes them both Sathan according to the tricks of some shifting Hostes bids many friends to a Feast and then beates them with the Spit Dainty cheere but a sawcie reckoning The Feast is vanitie the Shot vexation Thus they that worship their belly as God temple themselues in Hell and as their end is damnation so their damnation is without end Therefore shall they goe captiue with the first that goe captiue and the banket of them that stretched themselues shall be remoued I would willingly lead you through some Suburbs before I bring you to the maine Citie of Desolation and shew you the wretched conclusion of this Banket and confusion of these Guests All which arise from the conterminate scituation or if I may so speake from the respondent opposition of these two Sermons Wisedomes and Follies that is Gods and Sathans For this sad sequell is if not a relatiue yet a redditiue demonstration of their miserie for after the infection of sinne followes the infliction of punishment The turrets I would leade you by are built and consist of Farewels and Welcomes of some things deposed and some things imposed positiue and priuatiue circumstances valedictions and maledictions they take their leaues of temporall and affected ioyes and turne vpon eternall and cursed sorrowes I will limit these generall obseruations into foure All sinfull ioyes are dammed if not damned vp with a But. They are troubled with a But-plague like a Bee with a sting in the taile They haue a worme that crops them nay gnawes asunder their very root though they shoote vp more hastily and spread more spatiously then Ionas gourd There is great preparation
Indeede the Law still abides as Christ when hee rose from the graue the graue remained still Peâ—er freed from the Prison the Palsey from his Bed the young man from his Coffin the Prison Bed Coffin remaine still the persons are deliuered So the Law abides to mortifie our lustes still more and more but our conscience is freed from the bondage of it Wee are dead vnto it 3. They are dead to the world This Death is double Actiue and Passiue 1. Actiue The world is dead vnto vs. The vanitie of carnall ioyes the varietie of vanities are as bitter to vs as pleasant to the Cosmopolite or worldling And since wee must giue our voyces either to God or Mammon when God asketh as Iehu Who is on my side who We stand out for our God Angustum est stratum pectoris humani et vtrumque operire non potest Mans heart is too narrow a bed to lodge both God and the world in at once Qui vtrumque ambit in vtroque deficiet The Hound that followes two Hares will catch neither Nemo potest duobus Dominis neque dominijs inseruire No man can serve two Masters with true seruice especially when they command contrary things Thus is the world dead to vs For since the world is not so precious as the soule wee leaue the world to keepe our soule since both cannot well be affected at once Therefore we account all things drosse and losse for the excellent knowledge of Christ. 2. Passiue Wee are dead to the world As wee esteeme it drosse it esteemes vs filth Wee are made as the filth of the world and as the off-scowring of all things vnto this day As wee in a holy contempt tread it vnder in our workes and vilefie it in our words so it lookes vpon vs betwixt scorne and anger and offers to set his foote on our neckes But vicimus wee haue conquered Whosoeuer is borne of God ouercommeth the world and this is the victorie that ouercommeth the world euen our faith Let vs reioyce therefore in our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to vs and wee to the world These are good deaths blessed soules that are thus dead Their death is Mortification and like the Phoenix they are no sooner dead but they are new borne Their old mans Autumne is their new mans Spring-tide There are none thus dead at this Feast The dead here haue seared consciences poisoned affections warped withered rottâ—n soules Twice dead faith Saint Iude and some without hope of growing plucked vp by the rootes Though the Pythegorean error the transanimation or the departure of the soule from man to man was brought to the Basilideon heresie Nay which was more grosse though the Poets fained that the soules of men departed into beasts Orpheus into the Swanne Aiax into the Lyon Agamemnon into the Eagle Polititians into Bees and Ants the luxurious into Hogges tyrants into Wolues which were positions for Machiauell and Articles of Lucians faith Yet they might rather and that more fauourably to their owne credites speaking according to mens liues haue affirmed that the spirits of beasts might rather seeme to haue entred men if at leasâ— the beasts doe not preserue their nature better then men They liue whiles they liue men are dead euen liuing Impiè viuere est diu mori A wicked life is a continuall death And we may say of an old wicked man not that hee hath liued but that hee hath beene long Deus vita à qua qui distinguitur perit God is the true life without whom we cannot liue The heart of a wicked man thus becommeth dead The Deuill workes by suggesting man by consenting God by forsaking He forsakes thus 1. By suffering a hard heart to grow harder 2. By giuing successe to ill purposes which hee could haue disappointed 3. By not imparting the assistance of his spirit Thus he leaues them in darknesse that would not chuse the light and finding their hearts vndisposed to beleeue deliuers them vp to Infidelitie His not willing to soften is enough to harden his not willing to enlighten is to darken Dei claudare est clausis non aperire God is then said to shut vp when he doth not open to them that are shut vp God is able to soften the hard heart open the blinde eye pierce the deafe eare when hee doth it is mercie when not it is Iustice. Onely our falling is from our selues Oh Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe For God is euer formost in loue but last in hate He loued vs before we loued him but wee hate him before hee hates vs. Multi ne laberentur detenti nulli vt laberentur impulsi God preserues many from falling but hee thrusteth none downe By his strength we stand by our owne weakenesse we fall As in the sicknesse of the body so of the soule there are criticall dayes secret to our selues but well knowne to God whereby hee sees our recouerie vnlikely and therefore turnes vs ouer to the danger of our sicknesse That now too late Ierusalem knowes what was offred her in the day of her visitation God blindes the soule blinded before by Satan and hardens againe Pharaohs selfe-hardned heart Et quia non faciunt bona quae cognoscunt non cognoscent mala quae faciunt Because they would not doe the good they knew they shall doe the euill they knew not Thus is the soules death degreed vp Sinne gathers strength by custome and creepes like some contagious disease in the body from ioynt to ioynt and because not timely spied and medicined it threatens vniuersall hazard to the whole It swels like the Sea Vnda leuis maiora volumina sluctus ad coelum An Egge a Cockatrice a Serpent a fierie flying Serpent Custome indeede kills the soule The Curse that the Cretians vsed against their enemies was not fire on their houses nor rottennesse on their beasts nor a sword at their hearts but that which would in time trebble to them all these mischiefes that they might be delighted with an euill custome Temptation assaults the heart consent wounds it it lyes sicke of action it dies by delight in sinne it is buried by custome The Bell hath tolled for it Gods word hath mourned the Church hath prayed for it but quid valeant signa precesiâ—e What good can signes prayers doe when we voluntarily yeeld our heart to him that violently kils it Thus God leaues the heart and Satan ceaseth on it whose gripes are not gentler then Death Thus the habite of sinne takes away the sense of sinne and the conscience that was at first raw and bleeding as newly wounded is now seared vp with an hote iron The conscience of a wicked man first speakes to him as Peter tâ— Christ Master looke to thy selfe But he stops her mouth with a violent hand Yet shee would faine speake with him like the
haue giuen his last sentence At that day when Quaesitor scelerum veniet vindexque reorum the searcher of all and punisher of wicked hearts shall giue his double voyce of dread and ioy when hauing spoken peace to his Saints hee shall thunder out condemnation to the wicked Goe ye into euerlasting fire dent ocyus omnes Quas meruere pati sic stat sententia poenas And if here on earth Seiudice nemo nocens absoluitur a mans owne conscience condemne him for his sinnes how much greater shall be the iust condemnation of God Then all murdering Cains scoffing Chams persecuting Sauls theeuish and sacrilegious Achans oppressing Ahabs couetous Nabals drunken Hâ—lofernesses cruell Herods blasphemous Rabshaceh's vniust Pilates shall reape the seed in their eternall deaths which they haue sowne in their temporall liues There shall be scorching heate and freezing cold Ex vehementissimo calore ad vehementissimum frigus Without either act of refreshing or hope of releasing Euery day hath beene their Holy-day on earth euery day shall be their workie-day in Hell The Poets fained three furies Scindet latus vna slagello Altera tartareis sectos dabit anguibus artus Tertia fumantes incoquet igne genas One brings a Scorpion which the Conscience eates Another with yron whips the blacke flesh beates Whiles the third boyles the soule in scalding heates Nemo ad id sero venit vnde nunquam cum semel venit poterit reuerti No man can come too late to those sufferings from whence being once come hee can neuer returne This is Hell where darknesse shall be their prison euerlastingnes their fetters flames their torments angry Angels their tormenters Vbi nec tortores deficiant nec torti miserimoriantur Where the scourgers shal neuer be weary of afflicting nor the scourged faile their suffering But there shall be alwayes torments for the body and a body for torments Fire shall be the consummation of their plagues not the consumption of their persons Vbi per millia millia annorum cruciandi nec in secula seculorum liberandi Myriades of yeeres shall not accomplish nor determine their punishments It shall be their miserie Semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit to haue a will neuer satisfied a nill neuer gratified 3. Per profunditatem The depth of Hell The Scripture is frequent to testifie Hell a deepe place and beneath vs. Capernaum shall be cast downe to Hell Solomon so speakes The way of life is aboue to the wise that hee may depart from Hell beneath And of this Harlot Her house is the way to Hell going downe to the chambers of death Her feete goe downe to death her steps take hold on Hell Downe and beneath doe witnesse the depth of Hell There are three places Earth Heauen Hell Earth wee all enioy good and bad promiscuously Heauen is prepared for the good and it is vpwards If ye be risen with Christ seeke the things that are aboue Hell is ordained for the wicked and it is downeward called here profundum a depth To define the locall place of Hell it is too deepe for me I leaue it to deeper iudgements I doe not giue Dâ—monax answere being asked where Hell was Expecta simul ac illuc venero et tibi per literas significabo Tarry till I come thither and I will send thee word by letters No I onely say this There is one wee are sure of it let vs by a good life be as sure to scape it But to confine my speech to the bounds of my Text I take it that by Hell the depth of it here is ment the deepe bondage of the wicked soules that they are in the depth of the power of Hell Sathan hauing by sinne a full dominion ouer their consciences For Hell is often allegorically taken in the Scriptures So Ionas cryes vnto God out of the belly of Hell Dauid sung de profundis Out of the depth haue I cryed vnto thee oh Lord. So Christ speakes of the vnbeleeuer that hee is already damned And the reprobate are here affirmed in the depth of Hell This exposition I esteeme more naturall to the words For as the godly haue a Heauen so the wicked a Hell euen vpon Earth though both in a spirituall not a literall sence The reprobates Hell on earth is double or of two sorts 1. In that the power of Hell rules in his conscience Hee walkes according to the course of this world and according to the Prince of the power of the Ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Hee is taken and ledde captiue of the Deuilâ— as hereafter in the chaines of damnation so here in the bands of dominion which Solomon cals funes peccatorum as he hath drawne iniquitie with the cords of vanitie so hee shall be holden with the cords of his sinnes 2. There is a Hell in his conscience So Saint Augustine Sunt duo tortores anime Timor et Dolor The soule hath two tormentors euen in this life griefe for euill felt feare of euill to be felt Whereof the Poet. Sic mea perpetuos curarum pectora morsus fine quibus nullo consiciantur habent These are the fearefull terrours whereof the guilty heart cannot be quitted cannot be quieted though pleasure it selfe were his phisitian and the whole world his minstrell Domino priuante suo gaudio quid esse potest in gaudium when God withholds his musicke and peace what can make the heart merry Polidore Virgill thus writes of Richard the third's dreame the night before Bosworth-field That hee thought all the Deuils in Hell pulled and haled him in most hideous and vgly shapes And concludes of it at last Id credo non fuit somnium sed conscientia scelerum I doe not thinke it was so much his dreame as his wicked conscience that brought those terrours When this euill spirit comes on a wicked Saul let him goe to his merriest good fellowes beguile at once the time and himselfe with playes and sports feast away his cares at his owne table or burie them together with his wits at a Tauerne alas these are pitteous shifts weaker then wals of paper Sleepe cannot make his conscience sleepe perhaps the very dreames are fearefull It will not leaue thee till it hath shewed thee thy Hell no nor when it hath shewed thee it will it leaue thee quiet The more thou offerest to damme vp this current the more ragingly it swels and gusheth ouer the resisting banckes This wounded Conscience runnes like the stricken Deare with the arrow of death in the ribbes from thicket to thicket from shelter to shelter but cannot change her paine with her place The wound ranckles in the soule and the longer it goes on the worse still it festers Thus sinne that spake thee so faire at her inuiting to the Banket now presents to thy waked
and the intelligencer betweene the vestall and the Nunne betweene the proud Prodigall and his vnconscionable Creditor Indeede the greatest sinner shall haue the greatest punishment And hee that hath beene a principall guest to the Deuill on earth shall and that on earth were a strange priuiledge hold his place in Hell Reward her euen as she rewarded you and double vnto her double according to her workes in the cup which shee hath filled fill to her double How much shee hath glorified her selfe and liued deliciously so much torment and sorrow giue her Diues that fedde so hartily on this bread of Iniquitie and drunke so deepe draughts of the waters of sinne reserues his superioritie in torment that hee had in pleasure Behold hee craues with more floods of scalding teares then euer Esau shed for the blessing but one drop of water to coole his tongue and could not be allowed it But what if all the riuers in the South all the waters in the Ocean had beene granted him his tongue would still haue withered and smarted with heate himselfe still crying in the language of Hell a non sufficit It is not enough Or what if his tongue had beene eased yet his heart liuer lungs bowells armes legges should still haue fryed Thus hee that eate and dranke with superfluitie the purest flower of the Wheate the reddest blood of the Grape his body kept as well from diseasâ—â— as soft linnen and fine rayment could preserue it here findes a fearfull alteration From the table of surfet to the table of torment from feeding on Iunkets to gnaw his owne flesh from bowles of wine to the want of cold water from the soft foldes of fine silkes to the winding lashes of furies from chaines of gold for ornament to chaines of yron for torment from a bed of downe to a bed of flames from laughing among his companions to howling with Deuils from hauing the poore begging at his gates to begge himselfe and that as that Rich-man for one drop of water Who can expresse the horrour and miserie of this guest Non mihi si centum linguae sint oraque centum Ferrea vox omnes scelerum comprendere formas Omnia poenarum percurrere nomina possim No hart of man can thinke no tongue can tell The direfull paines ordain'd and felt in hell Now sorrowes meete at the Guests hart as at a feast all the furies of hell leape on the Table of his Conscience Thought calls to Feare Feare to Horrour Horrour to Dispaire Dispaire to Torment Torment to Extremitie all to Eternitie Come and helpe to afflict this wretch All the parts of his body and soule leaue their naturall and woonted vses and spend their times in wretchednesse and confusion Hee runnes through a thousand deaths and cannot dye Heauie irons are locked on him all his lights and delights are put out at once Hee hath no soule capable of comfort And though his eyes distill like fountaines yet God is now inexorable His Mittimus is without Bayle and the Prison can neuer be broken God will not heare now that might not he heard before That you may conceiue things more spirituall and remote by passions neerer to sense Suppose that a man being gloriously roabed deliciously feasted Prince-like serued attended honoured and set on the proudest height of pleasure that euer mortallitie boasted should in one vnsuspected moment be tumbled downe to a bottome more full of true miseries then his promontory was of false delights and there be ringed about with all the gory Mutherers blacke Atheists sacrilegious Church-robbers and incestuous Rauishers that haue euer disgorged their poyson on earth to re-assume it in Hell Nay adde further to this supposition that this depth he is throwne into was no better then a vast Charnell-house hung round with lamps burning blew and dimme set in hollow corners whose glimmering serues to discouer the hideous torments all the ground in stead of greene rushes strewed with funâ—rall rosemary and dead mens bones some corpses standing vpright in their knotted winding-sheetes others rotted in their Coffins which yawne wide to vent their stench there the bare ribs of a Father that begat him heere the hollow skull of a Mother that bare him How direfull and amazing are these things to sense Or if Imagination can giue being to a more fearefull place that or rather worse then that is Hell If a poore man sodainely starting out of a golden slumber should see his house flaming about him his louing Wife and loued Infants breaâ—hing their spirits to heauen through the mercilesse fire himselfe inringed with it calling for despaired succour the miserable Churle his next neighbour not vouchsafeing â—o answere when the putting forth of an arme might â—aue him such shall be their miseries in Hell and nor an Angell nor a Saint shall refresh them with any comfort These are all but shadowes nay not shadowes of the infernall depth here expressed You heare it feare it fly it scape it Feare it by Repentance flye it by your Faith and you shall scape it by Gods mercie This is their Poâ—na sensus positiue punishmenâ— There is also Poena damni to be considered their priuatiue punishment They haue lost a place on earth whose ioy wâ—s temporall they haue missed a place in Heauen whose ioy is eternall Now they finde that a dinner of greene hearbes with Gods loue is better then a stalled Oxe and his hatred withall A feast of sallets or Daniels pulse is more cherisâ—ing with mercie then Belshazzars Banket without it Now they finde Solomonâ— Seâ—mon true that though the bread of deceit â—e sweâ—t to a man yet the time is come that the mouth is filled with grauell No no â—he blessing of God onely maketh fat and hee addeth no sorrow vnto it Waters the wicked desired and Bread they lusted after behold after their secure sleepe and dreamed ioyes on earth with what hungry soules doe they awake in Hell But what are the Bread and the Waters they might haue enioyed with the Sainâ—s in Heauen Such as shall neuer be dryed vp Ieâ— thy presence is the fulnesse of ioy and at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore Happy is the vndefiled soule who is innocent from the great offence all whose sinnes are washed as white as Snow in that blood which alone is able to purge the conscience from dead workes He that walketh righteously c. he shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munitions of rockes Bread shall be giuen him his Waters shall be sure His ioyes are certaine and stable no alteration no alternation shall empaire them The wicked for the slight breakfast of this world loose the Lambs supper of glory Where these foure things concurre that make a perfect feast Dies lectus locus electus coetus bene collectus apparatus non neglectus A good time eternitie A good place Heauen A good companie the Saints Good cheere
oyle that feâ—ds the lampe of his life beginne to dry vp all his limbes loose their former agillitie As the litâ—le world thus decaies in the great so the great decaies in it selfe that Nature is faine to leane on the staffe of Art â—nd to be held vp by mans industrie The signes which Christ hath giuen to fore-run the worlds ruine are called by a Father aegritudines Mundi the diseases or sicknesses of the world as sicknesse naturally goes before death Warres dying the earth into a sanguine hew dead carkases infecting the aires and the infected aires breathing about plagues and pestilences and sore contagions Whereof saith the same Father nullâ— magis quam nos testes sumus quos mundi finis inuenit none can be more certaine witnesses then wee vpon whom the ends of the world are come That sometimes the influences of Heauen spoyle the fruits of the earth and the fogs of earth soile the vertues of the Heauenly bodies that neither Plannets aboue nor plants below yeeld vs expected comforts So God for our sinnes brings the heauen the earth the ayre and whatsoeuer was created for mans vse to be his enemie and to warre against him And all because omnia quae ad vsum vitae accipimus ad vsum vitij conuertimus we turne all things to vices corruption which were giuen for natures protection Therefore what we haue â—iuerted to wickednesse God hath reuerted to our reuenge We are sicke of sinne and therefore the world is sicke of vs. Our liues shorten as if the booke of our dayes were by Gods knife of Iudgement cut lesse and brought from Folio as in the Patriarchs before the flood to Quarto in the Fathers after the flood nay to Octauo as with the Prophets of the Law nay euen to Decimosexto as with vs in the dayes of the Gospell The Elements are more mixed drossie and confused the ayres are infected neither wants our intemperance to second all the rest We hasten that we would not haue Death and runne so to riot in the Aprill of our early vanities that our May shall not scape the fall of our lâ—afe Our great Landlord hath let vs a faire house and we suffer it quickly to runne to ruine That whereas the Soule might dwell in the body as a Pallace of delight shee findes it a crazy sickish rotten cabinet in danger euery gust of dropping downe How few shalt thou meete if their tongues would be true to their griefes without some disturbance or affliction There lyes one groning of a sicke heart another shakes his aking head a third roares for the torments of his reines a fourth for the racking of his gowty ioynts a fift grouels with the Falling-sicknesse a last lyes halfe dead of a Palsie Here is worke for the Physitians They ruffle in the roabes of preferment and ride in the Foote-clothes of reuerence Early and deuout suppliants stand at their study dores quaking with ready mony in their hands and glad it will be accepted The body if it be sicke is content sometimes to buy vnguentum areum with vnguentum aureum leaden trash with golden cash But it is sicke and needes Phisicke let it haue it There is another Phisitian that thriues well too if not best and that 's the Lawyer For men goe not to the Phisitian till their bodies be sicke but to the Lawyer when they be well to make them sicke Thus whilâ—s they feare an Ague they fall into a Consumption He that scapes his disease and fals into the hands of his Phisitian or from his trouble of suites lights into the fingers of his Lawyer fulfils the old verse Incidit in Scyllam dum vult vitare Charibdim Or is in the poore Birds case that flying in feare from the Cuckooe lighted into the tallonâ— of the Hawke These are a couple of thriuing Phisitians Alter tuetur aâ—gros alter tuetur agros One lookes to the state of the person the other of the purse so the old verse testifies Dat Galenus opes dat Iustinianus honores Phisicke giues wealth and Law Honour I speake not against due reward for iust deserts in both these faculties These Phisitians are both in request but the third the Phisitian of the soule of whom I am now occasioned to shew there is most neede may stand at the dore with Homer and did hee speake with the voyce of Angels not to be admitted The sicke Rich man lyes patiently vnder his Phisitians hands hee giues him golden words reall thankes nay and often flattering obseruance If the state lye sicke of a Consumption or if some contentious Emperick by new suits would lance the impostum'd swellings of it or if perhaps it lye sullen-sicke of Naboths Vineyard the Lawyer is perchance not sent for but gone to and his help imploâ—ed not without a Royall sacrifice at least But for the Minister of his Parish if hee may not haue his head vnder his girdle and his attendance as seruile as his Liuerie-groomes hee thinkes himselfe indignified and rages like the Pope that any Priest durst eate of his Peacocke How short doth this Phisitians respect fall of both the others Let him feed his Sheepe if hee will with the Milke of the Word his Sheepe will not feede him with the Milke of reward He shall hardly get from his Patron the Milke of the Vicaredge but if he lookes for the fleeces of the Parsonage hee shall haue after the Prouerbe Lanam caprinam Contempt and scorne Haman was not more madde for Mordecais Cap then the great one is that as much obseruance ariseth not to him from the blacke coate as from his owne blew coate The Church is beholden to him that hee will turne one of his cast Seruitours out of his owne into her seruice out of his Chamber into the Chancell from the Buttry-hatch to the Pulpit He that was not worthy enough to waite on his Worship is good enough for God Yeeld this sore almost healed yet the honour of the Ministerie thriues like Trees in Autumne Euen their best estimate is but a shadow and that a preposterous one for it goes backe faster then the shadow in the Dyall of Ahaz If a Rich man haue foure Sonnes the youngest or contemnedst must be the Priest Perhaps the Eldest shall be committed to his Lands for if his Lands should be committed to him his Father feares hee would carie them all vp to London hee dares not venture it without binding it sure For which purpose he makes his second Sonne a Lawyer a good â—ising profession for a man may by that which I neither enuie nor taxe runne vp like Ionas gourd to preferment and for wealth a Clustre of Law is worth a whole Vintage of Gospell If hee studie meanes for his third loe Physicke smels well That as the other may keepe the estate from running so this the body from ruining For his youngest Sonne hee cares not if he puts him into Gods seruice and make him
capable of the Church-goods though not pliable to the Churches good Thus hauing prouided for the estate of his Inheritance of his Aduancement of his Carkasse he comes last to thinke of his Conscience I would to God this were not too frequently the worlds fashion Whereas heretofore Primogeniti eo iure Sacerdotes the first-borne had the right of Priesthood now the younger Sonne if he fit for nothing else lights vpon that priuiledge That as a reuerend Diuine saith Younger Brothers are made Priests and Priests are made younger Brothers Yet alas for all diseases Nature prouideth Art prepareth Medicines He is fed in this Country whom that refuseth An estate lost by Shipwracke on Sea may be recouered by good-speede on Land And in ill health for euery sore of the bodie there is a salue for euery maladie a remedie but for the Conscience Nature hath no cure as Lust no care Hei mihi quod nullis anima est medicabilis herbis There is no hearbe to heale the wounds of the soule though you take the whole world for the Garden All these professions are necessarie that mens Ignorance might not preiudice them either in wealth health or grace God hath made men fit with qualities and famous in their faculties to preserue all these sound in vs. The Lawyer for thy wealth the Physitian for thy health the Diuine for thy soule Physitians cure the body Ministers the Conscience The Church of Israell is now exceeding sicke and therefore the more dangerously because she knowes it not No Physicke is affected therefore no health effected She lyes in a Lethargie and therefore speechlesse She is so past sense of her weakenesse that God himselfe is faine to ring her Passing-bell Aarons bells cannot ring lowd enough to waken her God toles from Heauen a sad knell of complaint for her It is I â—hinke a custome not vnworthie of approbation when a languishing Christian drawes neere his end to tole a heauie Bell for him Set aside the preiudice of Superstition and the ridiculous conceits of some olde Wiues whose wits are more decrepit then their bodies and I see not why reasons may not be giuen to proue it though not a necessarie yet an allowed Ceremonie 1. It puts into the sicke man a sense of mortallitie and though many other obiects should do no lesse yet this seasonably performes it If any particular flatterer or other carnall friends should vse to him the susurration that Peter did once to Christ Master fauour thy selfe this shall not be vnto thee though sicknesse lyes on your bed Death shall not enter your Chamber the euill day is farre off feare nothing you shall liue many yeeres or as the Deuill to our Grandmother you shall not dye Or if the May of his yeeres shall perswade himselfe to the remotenesse of his Autumne or if the loue of earthly pleasure shall denie him voluntarie leasure to thinke of Death As Epâ—minondas Generall of the Thebans vnderstanding a Captaine of his Armie to be dead exceedingly wondred how in a Campe any should haue so much leasure as to be sicke In a word whatsoeuer may flatter him with hope of life the Bell like an impartiall friend without either the too broad eyes of pittie or too narrow of partiallitie sounds in his owne eares his owne weakenesse and seemes to tell him that in the opinion of the world hee is no man of the world Thus with a kinde of Diuinitie it giues him ghostly counsell to remit the care of his Carkasse and to admit the cure of his Conscience It toles all in it shall tole thee in to thy graue 2. It excites the hearers to pray for the sicke and when can Prayers be more acceptable more comfortable The faithfull deuotions of so many Christian-neighbours sent vp as Incense to Heauen for thee are very auaileable to pacifie an offended Iustice. This is S. Iames his Physicke for the sicke nay this is the Lords comfort to the sicke The prayer of faith shall saue the sicke and the Lord shall raise him vp and if hee haue committed sinnes they shall be forgiuen him Now though we be all seruants of one familie of God yet because of particular families on earth and those so remoued that one member cannot condole anothers griefe that it feeles not non dolet cor quod non nouit The Bell like a speedie Messenger runnes from house to house from eare to eare on thy soules errand and begges the assistance of their Prayers Thy heart is thus incited to pray for thy selfe others excited to pray for thee Hee is a Pharisee that desires not the Prayers of the Church he is a Publican that will not beseech Gods mercie for the afflicted Thy time and turne will come to stand in neede of the same succour if a more sodaine blast of Iudgement doe not blow out thy Candle Make thy sicke Brothers case thine now that the Congregatioâ— may make thine theirs hereafter Be in this exigent euen a friend to thine enemie least thou become like Babell to be serued of others as thou hast serued others or at least at best in falling Nero's case that cried I haue neither friend nor enemie 3. As the Bell hath often rung thee into the Temple on earth so now it rings thee vnto the Church in Heauen from the militant to the triumphant place from thy pilgrimage to thy home from thy peregrination to the standing Court of God To omit manie other significant helps enough to iustifie it a laudable ceremonie it doth as it were mourne for thy sinnes and hath compassion on thy passion Though in it selfe a dumbe nature yet as God hath made it a creature the Church an instrument and Art giuen it a tongue it speakes to thee to speake to God for thy selfe it speakes to others that they would not be wanting Israell is sicke no Bell stirres no Balme is thought of no Prophet consulted not God himselfe sollicited Hence behold a complaint from Heauen a knell from aboue the Clouds for though the words sound through the Prophets lips who toles like a Passing-Bell for Israell yet they come from the mouth of the Lord of Hoasts The Prophet Ezekiell vseth like words and addes with them the Lord of Hoasts saith it There is no doubt of his spirituall inspiration all the question is of his personall appropriation It is certaine that the Prophet Ieremie speakes here many things in his owne person and some in the person of God Now by comparing it with other like speeches in the Prophets these words sound as from a mercifull and compassionate Maker Why is not the health of my People recouered Mei populi saith God who indeede might alone speake possessiuely Mine for hee had chosen and culled them out of the whole world to be his people Why are not My people recouered There is Balme and there are Physitians as in Esay What could I haue done more for my Vineyard The words are
diuided to our hands by the rule of three A tripartite Metaphore that willingly spreads it selfe into an Allegorie 1. Gods word is the Balme 2. The Prophets are the Physitians 3. The People are the Patients who are very sicke Balme without a Physitian a Physitian without Balme a Patient without both is in fausta separatio an vnhappy disiunction If a man be ill there is neede of Physicke when he hath Physicke he needes a Physitian to apply it So that here is miserie in being sicke mercie in the Physicke Not to disioyne or disioynt the Prophets order let vs obserue that the words are spoken 1. In the person of God 2. In the forme of a question 3. By a conclusiue inference Onely two things I would first generally obserue to you as necessarie inductions to the subsequent Doctrines Both which may naturally be inferred not tyrannously enforced from the words That which first obiects it selfe to our consideration is the Wisedome of God in working on mens affections which leades vs here from naturall wants subiect to sense to supernaturall inuisible and more secret defects from miseries to mysteries That as if any man admired Solomons House they would be rauished in desire to see Gods House which transcended the former so much as the former transcended their expectation So heere wee might be led from mans worke to Gods worke from things materiall to things mysticall and by the happinesse of cure to our sicke bodies be induced to seeke and get recouerie of our dying soules The second is the fit collation and respondent relation of Diuinitie and Physicke the one vndertaking to preserue and restore the health of the body the other performing much more to the soule 1. God leades vs by sensible to the sight of insensible wants by calamities that vexe our liuing bodies to perils that endanger our dying Consciences That wee might inferre vpon his premisses what would be an eternall losse by the sight of a temporall crosse that is so hardly brooked If a famine of bread be so heauie how vnsupportable is the dearth of the Word saith the Prophet Man may liue without bread not without the word If a wearie Traueller be so vnable to beare a burden on his shoulders how ponderous is sinne in the Conscience which Zacharie calls a talent of Lead If blindnesse be such a miserie what is â—gnorance lf the night be so vncomfortable what doth the darknesse of Superstition afford If bodily Disease so afflict our sense how intollerable will a spirituall sicknesse proue Thus all earthly and inferiour Obiects to a Christian soule are like Marginall hands directing his reading to a better and heauenly reference I intend to vrge this poynt the more as it is more necessarie both for the profit of it being well obserued and for the generall neglect of it because they are few in these dayes that reduce Christianitie to Meditation but fewer that produce Meditation to practise and obedience Diseases destined toward Death as their end that can by Nature neither be violently endured nor violently repelled perplexe the flesh with much paine but if Diseases which be Deaths capitall Chirurgions his preceding Heraulds to proclaime his neerenesse his Ledgers that vsurpe his place till himselfe comes be so vexing and full of anguish what is Death it selfe which kils the Diseases that killed vs For the perfection of sicknesse is Death But alas if the sicknesse and Death of the body be such what are Sinne the sicknesse and Impenitencie the death of the soule What is the dimmed eye to the darkned vnderstanding the infected members to the poysoned affections the torment of the reynes to the stitches girds and gripes of an aking Consciencâ— what is the Childes caput dolet my head akes to Ierusalems cor dolet my heart akes The soule to leaue the body with her offices of life is not so grieuous as Gods spirit to relinquish the soule with the comforts of grace In a word it is farre lesse miserable to giue vp the ghost then to giue vp the holy Ghost The soule that enters the body without any sensible pleasure departs not from it without extreame paine Hee that is animans animas the soule of our soules forsakes not our spirits but our paine is more though our sense be lesse As in the Warres the cut of a sword crossing the Fibres carries more smart vvith it though lesse mortallitie then the fatall charge of a Death-thundring Cannon The soule hath two places an Inferiour which it ruleth the body a Superiour wherein it resteth God! Mans greatest sorrow is when hee dyes vpwardly that GOD forsakes his God-forsaking soule His greatest sense when he diâ—s downewards and sicknesse disperseth and dispatcheth his vitall powers Let then the inferiour suffering vvaken vs to see the Superiour that doth vveaken vs. Thus God drawes our eyes from one obiect to another nay by one to another by that which wee loue on earth to that which wee should loue in Heauen by the prouidence for our bodies to the prouision for our soules So our Sauiour hauing discoursed of carefulnesse for terrene wants drawes his speech to the perswasion of celestiall benefits giuing the coherence with a But. But first seeke ye the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these inferiour things shall be added vnto you Vt ad excellenâ—iam diuinarum rerum per corporalia homines attollat That at once hee might lesson vs to holy duties and lessen our care for earthly things Thus quios homini sublime dedit cor subliâ—ius eleuare voluit Hee that gaue man a countenance lifted high meant to erect his thoughts to a higher contemplation For many haue such groueling and earth-creeping affections that if their bodies curuitie was answerable to their soules incederent quadrâ—pides they would become foure-footed beasts It is a course preposterous to Gods creation disproportionable to mans fabricke that he should fixe his eyes and thoughts and desires on the base earth made for his feete to stand on and turne his feete against Heauen in contempt lifting vp his heele against God Hee whose ill-ballancing Iudgement thinkes Heauen light and Earth onely weightie and worthie doth as it were walke on his head with his heeles vpward I haue heard Trauellers speake of monstrous and praeternaturall men but neuer any so contranaturall as these Christ knew in the dayes of his flesh what easie apprehension worldly things would finde in vs what hard impression heauenly would finde on vs therefore so often by plaine comparisons taught secret Doctrines by Histories Misteries How to the life doth he explaine the mercie of God to the miserie of man in the lost Sheepe in the lost Groat in the lost Sonne How sweetly doth hee describe the different hearers of Gods Oracles in the Parable of the Seede which howsoeuer it seemed a Riddle to the selfe-blinding Iewes yet was a familiar demonstration to the beleeuing Saints So the Prophets found
of Christ. A weake body is a kinde of occasion to a strong faith It was good for me saith the Psalmist that I was in trouble It was good for Naaman that he was a Leaper this brought him to Elisha and Elisha to GOD. It was good for Paul that hee was buffeted by Satan It is prouerbially spoken of a graue Diuine that as pride makes sores of Salues so Faith makes Salues of sores and like a cunning Apothecarie makes a Medicinall composition of some hurtfull simples Of all hearbs in the Garden onely Rue is the hearbe of grace And in what Garden the rue of affliction is not all the flowers of grace will be soone ouer-runne with the weedes of impietie Dauid was a sinner in prosperitie a Saint in Purgatorie The afflicted soule driues vanitie from his dore Prosperitie is the Play-house Aduersitie the Temple Rarae fumant foelicibus arae The healthie and wealthie man brings seldome Sacrifices to Gods Altar Israels miserie had beene enough to helpe her recouerie if shee had gathered and vnderstood her vexation to God by Gods visitation on her and guessed the soules state by the bodies Shee did not therefore her sicknesse abides As Christ to the Pharises You say you see therefore be blinde still 3. As she did neither directly feele it nor circumstantially collect it so shee neuer confessed it Prima pars sanitatis est velle sanari The first entrance to our healing is our owne will to be healed How shall Christ either search our sinnes by the Law or salue them by the Gospel when we not acknowledge them Ipse sibi denegat curam â—ui Medico non publicat causam He hath no care of his owne Cure that will not tell the Phisitian his griefe What spirituall Phisitian shall recouer our persons when wee will not discouer our sores Stultorum incurata pudor malus vlcera celat Lay the guilt on your selues if you ranckle to death It is heauy in thy friends eares to heare thy groanes and sighes and plaints forced by thy sicke passion but then sorrow pierceth deepest into their harts through their eyes when they see thee growne speechlesse The tongue then least of all the losse doth mone When the lifes soule is going out or gone So there is some hope of the sinner whiles he can groane for his wickednesse and complaine against it and himselfe for it but when his voyce is hoarâ—'d I meane his acknowledgement gone his case is almost desperate Confession of sinnes and sores is a notable helpe to their Curing As Pride in all her Wardrobe hath not a better garment then humility many clad with that was respected in the eyes of God So nor humillity in all her store-house hath better food then Confession Dum agnoscit reus ignoscit Deus Whiles the vniust sinner repents and confesseth the iust God relents and forgiueth The confident Pharise goes from Gods dore without an Almes what neede the full be bidden to a Feast tolle vulnera tolle opus medici It is fearefull for a man to binde two sinnes together when hee is not able to beare the load of one To act wickednesse and then to cloake it is for a man to wound himselfe and then goe to the Deuill for a playster What man doth conceale God will not cancell Iniquities strangled in silence will strangle the soule in heauinesse There are three degrees of felicitie 1. non ofâ—endere 2. noscere 3. agnoscere peccata The first is not sinne the second to know the third to acknowledge our offences Let vs then honour him by Confession vvhom vvee haue dishonoured by presumption Though we haue failed in the first part of Religion an vpright life let vs not faile in the second a repentant acknowledgement Though wee cannot shew GOD with the Pharise an Inuentory of our holy workes Item for praying Item for fasting Item for paying Tythes c. Yet as dumbe as we are and fearefull to speake we can write with Zachaay His name is Iohn Grace grace and onely grace Meritum meum misericordia tua Domine My merit oh Lord is onely thy mercie Or as another sung well T is veré pius ego reus Miserere mei Deus Thou Lord art onely God and onely good I sinfull let thy mercie be my food Peccatum argumentum soporis confessio animae suscitatae Sinfulnesse is a sleepe Confession a signe that we are waked Men dreame in their sleepes but tell their dreames waking In our sleepe of securitie we leade a dreaming life full of vile imaginations But if wee confesse and speake our sinnes to Gods glory and our owne shame it is a token that Gods spirit hath wakened vs. Si non confessus lates inconfessus damnaberis The way to hide our iniquities at the last is to lay them open here Hee that couereth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall haue mercie Thiâ— is true though to some a Paradoxe The way to couer our sinnes is to vncouer them Quae aperiuntur in praesenti operiuâ—tur in vltimo die If wee now freely lay open our iniquities to our God he will conceale them at the latter day Else cruciâ—nt plus vulnera claâ—sa Sinnes that are smothered will in the end â—ester to death The mouth of Hell is made open to deuoure vs by our sinnes when we open our owne mouthes to confesse wee shut that Israell is not then restored because her sicknesse is not declared 4. The last defect to Israels Cure is the want of application What should a sicke man doe with Phisicke when hee lets it fust in a vessell or spils it on the ground It is ill for a man to mispose that to losse which God hath disposed to his good Beloued Application is the sweet vse to be made of all Sermons In vaine to you are our Ministeries of Gods mysteries when you open not the dores of your hearts to let them in In vaine we smite your rocky hearts when you powre out no floods of teares In vaine we thunder against your sinnes couetous oppresâ—ions of men treasonable Rebellions against God when no man sayes Master is it I Quod omnibus dicitur nemini dicitur Is that spoken to no man which is spoken to all men Whiles Couetousnesse is taxed not one of twenty Churles layes his finger on his owne sore Whiles Lust is condemned what Adulterer feeles the pulse of his owne conscience Whiles Malice is enquired of in the Pulpit there is not a Nâ—bâ—â—ish neighbour in the Church will owne it It is our common armour against the sword of the spirit It is not to me he sâ—eakes For which God at last giues them an answerable plague they shall as desperatâ—ly put from them all the comforts of the Gospell as they haue presumptuously reiected all the precepts of the Law They that vvould particularise no admonition to themselues nor take one graine out of the vvhole heape of Doctrines for
as a Hammer to breake the stone in the heart The stone in the reines is dangerous in the bladder painefull but none so deadly as the stone in the heart This Balme supples the stonie heart and turnes it into a heart of flesh 3. They commend their Balme for a speciall ease to the anger of a venomous biting But our Balme is more excellent in aculeum Draconis imò mortis against the sting of that great red Dragon nay of Death it selfe Oh Death where is thy sting Three Serpents giue vs vâ—nomous wounds Sinne first stings vs the Deuill next and Death last This Balme of Christ fetcheth out all their poysons 4. Others say of this Balme that it is the best solution to the obstructions of the Liuer I haue heard the Liuer in the body compared with zeale in the soule The Liuer according to Phisitians is the third principall member wherein rest the animall spirits In the soule two graces precede Zeale Faith and Repentance I say not this in thesi but in hypothesi not simply but in respect and that rather of order then of time For a man is begotten of immortall seed by the Spirit at once Now as the Liuer calefies the stomach like fire vnder the Pot and thence succours digestion so doth zeale heate a mans workes with an holy feruour which are without that a cold sacrifice to God A soule without zeale doth as hardly liue as a body without a Liuer Haly calles the Liuer the Well of Moisture wee may say of zeale it is the very Cisterne whence all other graces as liuing there doe issue forth into our liues The Liuer is called Hepar and Iecur because it draweth iuyce to it selfe turneth it into blood by vaines serueth the body as the water-house doth a Citie by pipes Nay it ministreth a surging heate to the braine to the eyes to the wits saitâ— Isidore The Pagan Nigromancers sacrificed onely Liuers on the alâ—ar of their God Phaebus before his oraculous answeres were giuen In the soule other graces as Faith Hope Charitie Repentance did first rather breede zeale but zeale being once inkindled doth minister nutrimentall heate to all these and is indeede the best sacrifice that wee can offer to God Without zeale all are like the oblation of Caine. Now if any obstructions of sinne seeme to oppresse this Zeale in vs this Balme of Gods word is the onely soueraigne remedy to cleanse it For the zeale is dangerous as the Liuer either by too much heate or too much cold to be distempered To ouerheate the Liuer of zeale many haue found the cause of a perillous surfetin the Conscience whiles like the two Disciples nothing could content them but fire from heauen against sinners If euer Bishop was in the time of Poperie away with the office now If euer Masse was said in Church pull it downe Though some depopulatours haue now done it in extreame coldnesse nay frozen dregges of hart making them either no Churches or polluted ones whiles those which were once Temples for Gods shepherds are now coates for their owne Yet they in vnmeasurable heate wished what these with vnreasonable cold Liuers affected Such miserable theeues haue crucified the Church one by a new religion in will the other by a no religion in deed They would not onely take away the abuse but the thing it selfe not onely the Ceremonie but the substance As the Painter did by the picture of King Henry the eight whom hee had drawne fairely with a Bible in his hand and set it to open view against Queene Mary's comming in triumph through the Citie for which being reproued by a great man that â—aw it and charged to wipe out the booke he to make sure worke wiped out the Bible and the hand too and so in mending the fault hee maymed the picture This is the effect of praeter-naturall heate to make of a remedie a disease Thus whiles they dreame that Babilon stands vpon Ceremonies they offer to race the foundations of Ierusalem it selfe Well this Balme of Gods word if their sicke soules would apply it might coole this vngentle heate of their liuers For it serues not onely to inkindle heate of zâ—ale in the ouer-cold heart but to refrigerate the preposterous feruour in the fiery-hote This is the sauing Balme that scoures away the obstructions in the Liuer and preuents the dropsie For the dropsie is nothing else saith the Philosopher but the errour of the digestiâ—e vertue in the hollownesse of the Liuer Some haue such hollownes in their zeale whiles they prâ—tend holinesse of zeale as was in the yron hornes of that false prophet Zedekiah that for want of applying this Balme they are sicke of the dropsie of hipocrisie Innumerable are the vses of Balme if wee giue credit to Phisitians vel potum vel inunctum It strengthens the nerues it excites and cherisheth the natiue heate in any part it succoureth the paraliticke and delayeth the fury of convulsions c. And last of all is the most soueragine help either to greene wounds or to inueterate vlcers These all these and more then euer was vntruely fained or truely performed by the Balsame to the body is spiritually fulfilled in this happy heauenly and true intrinsique Balme Gods word It heales the sores of the conscience which either originall or actuall sinne haue made in it It keepes the greene wound which sorrow for sinne cuts in the hart from ranckling the soule to death This is that Balsame tree that hath fructum vberrimum vsum saluberrimum plenteous fruit profitable vse and is in a word both a preseruatiue against and a restoratiue from all dangers to a beleeuing Christian. It is not onely Phisicke but health it selfe and hath more vertue sauing vertue validitie of sauing vertue then the tongues of men and Angels can euer sufficiently describe You haue heere the similitudes Heare one or two discrepancies of this naturall and supernatural Balmes For as no Metaphore should of necessitie runne like a Coach on foure wheeles when to goe like a man on two sound legges is sufficient so eartâ—ly things compared with heauenly must looke to fall more short then Linus of Hercules the shrub of the Cedar or the lowest Mole-banke of the highest Pyramides 1. This earthly Balme cannot preserue the body of it selfe but by the accession of the spirituall Balme Euen Angels food so called not because they made it but because they ministred it cannot nourish without Gods word of blessing For euery creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be receiued with thanksgiuing for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer If the mercie of God be not on our sustenance we may dye with meate in our mouthes like the Israelites If his prouidentiall goodnesse with-hold the vertue were our garments as costly as the Ephod of Aaron there is no benefit in them When many are sicke they trust to the Phisitians as Asa
the other side of Iordan The fetching ouer their Merchandise was no long nor dangerous voyage Yet was this spirituall Balme neerer to them it lay like Manna at their dores Venit ad limina virtus The Kingdome of Heauen is among you saith Christ. There needed no great iourney for naturall Phisicke but lesse for spirituall comfort Behold God himselfe giues his vocall answeres betweene the Cherubins Yet alas as it was once iustly prouerb'd on the Monkes and such spirituall or rather carnall Couents in that night of Popery that the neerer they were to the Church the further from God So it was euen verefied of the Iewes that by how much they were of all next to the Sanctuary by so much of all remotest from sanctitie And therefore he that once said Gilead is mine and of the Temple in Iuda this is my house called by my name afterward left both the hill of Gilead and the Mount Syon and the holy Sanctuary a pray to the Romanes who left not a stone vpon a stone to testifie thâ— ruines of it or for succeeding ages to say This was the Temple of God Thus saith the Prophet Hosea Gilead is a Citie of them that worke iniquitie and is polluted with blood Therefore God turned that fruitfull Land into barrennesse for the wickednesse of them â—hat dwelt therein For not content with the fertillitie of their soile they manured it with blood saith the Prophet Hence no maruell if it became at last like the cuâ—sed Mountaines of Gilboah that drunke the blood of Saul and Ionathan You haue heard the Balme the next subiect that offers it selfe to our speech is the Phisitians Is there no Balme at Gilead is there no Phisitians there The Prophets are allegorically called Phisitians as the word is Balme So are the Ministers of the Gospell in due measure in their place To speake properly and fully Christ is our onely Phisitian and wee are but his Ministers bound to apply his sauing Phisicke to the sickly soules of his people It is he onely that cures the carkasse the conscience 1. No Phisitian can heale the body without him The Woman with the bloudy issue was not bettered by her Phisitians though she had emptied all her substance into their purses till Christ vndertooke her cure The Leper in the 8. of Mathew was as hopelesse as haplesse till hee met with this Phisitian and then the least touch of his â—inger healed him Phisitians deale often not by extracting but protracting the disease making rather diseases for their cure then cures for diseases prolonging our sicknesses by Art which Nature or rather natures defect hath not made so tedious Therefore as one saith wittily the best Phisicke is to take no Phisicke or as another boldly our new Phisicke is worse then our old sicknesse But when our diseases be committed to this heauenly Doctour and hee is pleased to take them in hand our venture is without all peraduenture wee shall be healed The least touch of his finger the least breath of his mouth can cast out the euill in vs that can cast out the diuell in vs he can hee will cure vs. 2. No Minister can heale the Conscience where Christ hath not giuen a blessing to it Otherwise he may lament with the Prophet I haue laboured in vaine I haue spent my strength for nought Or as the Apostle I haue fished all night and caught nothing yet at thy command c. Who then is Paul or who is Apollo but Ministers by whom â—ee belieued â—uen as the Lord gaue to euery man I haue planted Apollo watered but GOD gaue the increase If any be blinde Hee is the Oculist if any be lame He sets the Bonâ—s if any be wounded Hee is the Chirurgion if any be sicke Hee is the Phisitian They write of the Indian Phisitians that they cure the wound by sucking the poison Christ heales after a manner I know not whither more louing and strange by taking the disease vpon himselfe Who his owne selâ—e bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree He was wounded for our transgressions hee was bruised for our iniquities and with his stripes we are healed And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquitie of vs all As the scape-goaâ—e was said to beare vpon him the sinnes of Israell so saith the Prophet of his antytipe Christ morbos portauit nostros hee hath borne our griefes too vnsupportable a burthen for our shoulders able to sincke vs downe to hell as they did Caine and Iudas if they had beene imposed Tulit Iesus Christ carried our sorrowes Neuer was such a Phisitian that changed healths with his sicke Patient But Hâ—e was humbled for vs. Mans maker is made man the worlds succourer takes sucke the Bread is hungry the Fountaine thirsty the Light sleepy the Way weary the Truth accused the Iudge condemned Health it selfe is become sicke nay dead for our saluation For mans sake such was our weaknesse Christ descended such was his kindnesse tooke one him to cure vs such was his goodnesse and performed it such was his greatnesse It was not Abanah nor Pharphar nor all the riuers of Damascus not the water of Iordan though bathing in it 70. times not Iobs â—now-water nor Dauids water of Isope not the poole of Bethesda though stirred with a thousand Angels that was able to wash vs cleane Onely fusus sanguis Medici factum medicamentum phrenetici the bloud of the Physitian is spilt that it may become a medicine of saluation to all beleeuers This is the Pelican that preserues her young with her own blood This is the Goat that with his warme gore breakes the adamants of our harts This is that lambe of God that with his owne blood takes away the sinnes of the world When the Oracle had told the king of Athens that himselfe must dye in the battaile or his whole army perish Codrus then King neuer stucke at it but obtruded his owne life into the â—awes of ineuitable death that hee might saue his peoples The King of heauen waâ— more freely willing to lay downe his for the â—edemption of his Saints when the eternall decree of God had propounded him the choise Is there no means to recouer the sicke world but I must dye that it may liue then take my life quoth Life it selfe Thus pro me doluit qui non habuit quod pro se doleret He was made sicke for me that I might be made sound in him This then is our Phisitian in whom alone is sauing health As Sybilla sung of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virginij partus magnoque aequaeua Parenti Progenies superas coeli quae missa per auras Antiquam generis labem mortalibus aegris Abluit obstructique viam patefecit Olympi Hee wrought all things with his word and healed euery disease with his power To Him let vs resort confessing our sores our sorrowes They that be