his first Creation a bright shining Lucifer beautified as a precious stone and more excellent than al the Angels of Heauen in resplendant brightnesse through his pride against God lost his light glory and beautie and as he was worthy became a foule féend deiected from heauen into this Elementall world lower than al the Spheares into the Fire Ayre Earth and Water 5 I saw saith S. Iohn a starre fall from Heauen to the earth Apoc. 1. and to him was giuen the key of the bottomlesse pit Further he saith There was a battel in heauen Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon Chap. 12. the Dragon fought and his angels But they preuailed not neither was their place found any more in Heauen And the great dragon that olde Serpent called the Deuill and Sathan was cast out which deceiueth all the world He was cast euen into the earth and his Angels were cast out with him And being thus deiected hée now neuer ceaseth compassing the whole earth Iob. 1. but in his circuite séeketh like a roaring Lyon whom hee may deuoure 1. Pet. 5. Luk. 22. Apoc. 12. For the which cause S. Iohn pronounceth this woo saying Wo to the inhabitants of the earth and of the Sea for the diuel is come down vnto you which hath great wrath knowing that he hath but a short time 6 For albeit the world séemeth to be the parent the bringer foorth and nourisher of bodies yet is it the prison of Spirits the exiling of soules and a place of all wretchednesse and paines For as the worlde is a place of sinne and transgression a Station of Pilgrimage and of woe a habitation of wailing of teares of trauaile of wearines of fearefulnesse and of shame of mouing of changing of passing and of corruption of insolence and of perturbation of violence and opprssion of deceit and of guile and finally the laystall of all wickednesse and abhomination so also by GODS Iustice it is appointed the place and pitte of punishment and euerlasting torment wherin the euill Angels that rebelled with Lucifer and the damned spirites of wicked men departed this life haue endlesse paine without rest 7 And albeit the Apostle calleth Sathan a Prince that ruleth in the Ayre Ephe. 2. yet is that Rule so slane-like and his power so weakened by the Almightie that when the Lorde intending to punish the sonnes of Adam and to strike the earth with tempestes of lightning and thunder Hée thereby also beateth Sathan and the whole rable of his hellish féendes that in their fury and rage therewith they terrifie men by ougly shapes and aparitions and by GODS permission to murther man and beast sometimes do ouer-throwe buildings Iob. 1. and doe fire and consumne houses leauing a most noysome and horrible stinke behinde them of the hellish place from whence they come For it is not the diuell but the glorious God that maketh the thunder and as testifieth Syrach Psal 29. Eccle. 43. It is the sound of the Lords thunder that beateth the earth 8 Thus by Gods iust iudgement hée raungeth like a runagate in the sphere of his Hell vntill the day of doome for which season he is let loose and yet with such prohibition and restraint that in his mallice hée can procéed no further than shal séeme fit to the mightie Iehouah his Creator and then hée shall receiue that punishment whereof S. Iude speaketh in these words The Angels which kept not their first estate 2. Pet. 3. Apoc. 21. but left thier owne habitation hee hath reserued in euerlasting chaines vnder darknesse vnto the Iudgment of the great day at which time there shall be a new heauen and a newe earth wherein shall dwell nothing but righteousnes when the are refined with the fire of Gods iustice and then al the creatures of those new heauens and new earth shall be made perfit for which perfection and restauration euery creature waiteth being now subiect to vanitie Rom. 8. for the which they groane that they may be deliuered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God For albeit the fashion and forme of this world goeth away as saith the Apostle yet they subtance shall reamine 1. Cor. 7. whether of the heauens themselues or of the Elements or of men al which shall abide for euer 9 At this time of restauration when al things shall become new and when the dead are raised vp againe to life in their corporall bodyes then shal be prepared an out-set habitation which shal be a Chaos ful of confusion deuoyd of the first most excellent thing that God made Light and in steed thereof replenished with darknesse a thousand times worse theÌ„ the palpable darknes of Aegypts plague Exod. 10. wherein the burning and intollerable tormenting fire giueth no light where the freezing colde which causeth gnashing of téeth Iob. 10. mittigateth nothing at al the burning heate 10 The holy Scripture to inable the weake capacitie of man to comprehend and vnderstand the excéeding horror and most feareful torment of this place calles it a Bottomles pit â—ophet á Dùnge on déepe large Apoc. 1. Esai 30. Apoc. 21 the burning whereof is fyer brimstone the lake of the second death which burneth with fyer and brimstone And in regard of the weeping howling roaring secréetching in that place it is compared to the valley of Hynnom neere Hierusalem where the idolatrous people at the sacrificing of their children so the Idole Moloch Iere. 32. made a confused noyse of crying howling together with singing and sounding of Instrumments that the pitifull screetching of the children tormented in that diuellesh sacrifice might not be heard And for this cause Christ calleth Hell Gehennon which the Prophet Dauid calleth the neithermost Hell 11 And albeit to men that measure all things by Philosophy and humane reason it may seeme absurde that Fyer should aflict the soules of the reprobate departed and the damned spirites in Hell forsomuch as the Agent is euer reputed more noble than the patient but no corporal body is more noble than the Spirit and according to the minde of the Philosopher in his booke of Generation Those things are only agent and patient in themselues which communicate in the same matter yet in this poynt as also in many other things which leane onely on Faith and not on humane reason we must beléeue it because the word of God so deliuereth it For the soule of Diues in Hell cryeth and shall crye for euer Luke 16. I am tormented in this flame Which is no Parable but really acted This then is no immaginarie fyer but a true corporal fyer working really vpon body soule on the soule before the day of Iudgement and on both together in a higher degrée of torment after the day of doome not by a proper vertue and naturall action which the fyer hath but as the
instrument of Gods iustice not consuming but afflicting after a certaine manner of perpetuall detaining in the torment of reall punishment 12 But is this place of Hell so to bée vpholden onely by Faith that humane reason cannot conceiue it to be such or as it is deliuered to be in the word of God yes verely and for this cause the conceite of Poets was not altogether idle and deuoyde of reason in saying that Saturnus deuiding his Kingdome among his sonnes gaue the West part toward the lower Sea to Pluto his yongest sonne the East part to Iupiter and the Ile-landes to Neptune of the Sea And héeuppon they fayned that Iupiter was King and God of Heauen Pluto of Hell and Neptune of the Sea And to describe Hell they could not bethinke them of a more fit place in the earth to make a resemblance thereof than a certain territory in Italie betwéene Baiae Cuniae where the Cimerii inhabite a place in very déede so inuironed with high hilles that the Sunne from the first rising to the setting thereof neuer shineth there by reason of which continual darknesse this Prouerbe is vsed Cimmeriis tenebris atrior More blacke then the darknesse of Cimmeria And here they place Acherusia a darke Dungeon or way to Hell Out of which Hercules drew Cerberus the dogge of Hel Thus these Poeticall fictions grouÌ„ded vpon earthly darknesse represent and set before vs that inuisible darknes which no man euer liuing on earth hath seene nor tongue is able sufficiently to expresse 13 Geographers tell vs of the mountaine Aetna in Cicile Plinie at this day called Gibello Monte on the toppe whereof is a barren ground mixt with ashes in the winter time couered with snowe the circuit of which mountaine is twentie furlongs and is inuironed with a banke of ashes on the height of a wall In the middle of this mount is also a round hill of the same cooller and matter wherein be two great holes called Crateres out of which do rise sometimes sundry great flames of fyer sometime horrible smoke sometime are blowne out burning stones in infinite numbers before the visible fight of which fyer there is also heard within the ground terrible noise and roaring 14 What else can these fearefull fierie flames horrible smoke burning stones in such hydeous manner blowen vp and the terrible roaring within that Mountaine Aetna import but a certaine subterraneall part of Hell As also it may bee in like manner thought of the marine Rocke of Barry in Glamorgan-shire in Wales Giraldus by a certaine cleft or rift whereof if a man lay his eare thereon is heard the worke as it were of a Smythes Forge one while the blowing of bellowes another while the sound of hammers beating on a stithie or Anuile the noyse of knyues made sharpe on a Whet-stone and the cracking of fyer in a Furnace and such like very strange and admirable to heare 15 Nauigators report that there is a sea in the Voiages to the West Indyes called the Burmudas which is a most hellish Sea for thunder lightning and stormes Also they assure vs of an Ile-lande which they call the Ile-lande of Diuels for that to such as approach néere the same there doth not only appeare fearefull sights of Diuels and euill spirits but also mightie tempests with most terrible and continuall thunder lightning and the noise of horrible cries with scréeching which doth in such wise afright amaze those that come nere that place that they are glad with all might and mayne to ply and spéede them thence wiâ—h all possible haste they can 16 Cosmographers also informe vs of a certaine wonderfull Whirle-poole in the frozen sea not farre from Ise-land towards the Ile-laÌ„ds of the Hebreedes whereunto al the waues of the sea froÌ„ far haue their course recourse without stop with their conueying theÌ„selues into the secret receptacles of nature are swallowed vp as it were into a bottomles pit and if chance any ship to passe this way it is pulled drawen with such violence of the waues that eftesoones without remedy the force of the Whirle-poole deuoureth the same 17 I doubt not but there are some which ascribe all these things to natural causes and workings or els will account them no better than fables as they do all things els which concerne Religion But yet let such men now know as one day with wofull experience they shall féele that these and many mo wonderfull workes of God in earth his wonders in the déepe beside his counsels iudgements reuealed in his word doth assure those which feare God that there is a Hell 18 Who is so ignorant that hée doth not sée and knowe how in all things both naturall and supernaturall there is an opposition and a contrarietie and therefore also a God and a Diuel a Heauen and a Hell This Hell in the day of doome as touching the paynes and torments to be layed on the diuel and his adherents shall be therein so inlarged and redoubled that the darkenes of Cimeria and all the darknesse of the earth beside the fire in the Region that compasseth the earth the fierie flames lightnings thunder and tempestes the smoke terrible noyce and roaring in the mountaine Aetna the fearefull visions néere the Ile-land of Deuils the chilling colde and frozen Ise in Frygida Zona the indraughts and swallowing Gulphes of Waters the whole barrennesse of the earth with all bitternesse stench and whatsoeuer else may offend the sences of damned men the punishments of sinne shall bee gathered together into one Chaos of confusion whereinto Sathan with his Legions of damned Spirites which are nowe for a time let loose to remaine and conuerse in the fierie Region in the Ayre in the hollowe Caues and Dungeons of the earth and in the waters and where it hath pleased God to appoint them shal bée plunged for euer and euer 19 Therefore let Hell be where it hath pleased God in his secret counsel to place it to men vnknowne whether in the North or in the South vnder the frozen zoane or vnder the burning zoane Or in a pit or gulph that shal excéedingly participate of both it maketh to vs no matter of exception For most true it is that Saint Gregory saith Gregor super illud Mat. Eiâ—cientur in tenebras The wicked shall be cast into vtter darkenesse that they may there gnash their teeth which delighted here in nothing but gluttonie For heat and burning coÌ„monly maketh men to wéep and colde causeth men to beate and gnashe their teeth In Hell saith he there shall be cold intollerable fire vnquenchable the worme immortal stinke that cannot be indured darkenes palpable the horrible scourges of diuels and the fearefull sight of diuels 20 Thus much then we learne hereby concerning Hell that it is a most feareful and horrible place into the which the soules of all that lyue vngodly in this present world Esay 5.14 and in vnbeléefe
but God sent his sonne for vs to suffer most méekely of wicked men euil sayings reproaches spitting vpon buffetings whipping crowning with thornes wounding and at last death it selfe Thou contemnest great things and magnifiest smal trifles if thou sinnest thou sayest it is nothing if thy head doe ake but a little thou thinkest it to bée a great matter To loose thy soule thou makest no great reckoning but if thou be in perill to loose but a finger thou wilt call together all the Physitions and Chirurgians in the Cittie But Christ with his true example of life taught that there is no euil so much to bée feared as sinne and hel that nothing was so much to be desired as God the glorie of God saluation and vertue and that he is rich noble wise and beautifull indéede which is indued with patience humilitie charity chastity and with other vertues that he is a poore man vile deformed and witlesse which is a fornicator a drunkard a couetous and proude person and which is polluted with other vices as with a leprie and scabbe For Christ being God and hauing all thing in his power to choose what manner of life hée would during the time that hée liued on earth chose the most vile and abiect state of life and therfore for his house had a stable for his bed a manger for clothes of Tapistry hay and the same none of his owne a poore mother thin and a spare diet apparel suteable to bée short he sought no manner of pompe riches or pleasure of this world And contrariwise he refused no labours no afflictions no miseries nor any euils sauing onely sinne only which euil hée would haue his Disciples and professors vtterly to abhorre 9 And thou canst not say that he neither could nor knew how to choose a better state For hée which was God most mightie was also most wise And what other thing doth Isaias commend in him more Isaia 7. then that hée should bée called Emanuel and hée should know how to shun the euill and choose the good Hath not Christ then plainely and euidenly by his example of life taught that there is no euil so much to be eschewed thée as with a shielde who hath saide I am the way the truih and the life him therfore follow in this pilgrimage here on earth so shalt thou neuer erre CHAP. XI Concerning the crosse and tribulations of this life IF in all other things it behooueth a wise man to haue skill to behaue and gouerne himselfe how much more in aduersity the which is of such force to shake discomfort the mind of man that thereof come heresies desperation thefts homicides and all manner of wickednesse with the which all men doe so abound that whether we be small or great rich or poore noble or base or whatsoeuer else we haue more calamity then felicity 2 The efficient cause of these calamities is God himselfe as he testifieth by the mouth of Isay the Prophet saying Isay 45.7 I am the Lord and there is no other I forme the light and create darkenesse I make peace and create euill I the Lord doe all these things And holy Iob whenin one day he had lost all his riches all his children and the health of his body vnderstanding that hée was thus afflicted partly by the Sabeians and partly by the Chaldeans partly by the winde and partly by fire which the diuell in his malice raised and therewithall consumed and spoiled his goods did hée say the Lord hath giuen and the diuell hath taken No verily but hée saide The Lord hath giuen Iob. 1. and the Lord hath taken blessed bee the name of the Lord. And in another place Shall we receiue good from the handes of the Lord and not euill also 3 Wherefore whatsoeuer befall vs whether storme or tempest théeues or murderers losses at the sea or on the land famin or pestilence sicknesses or imprisonment or whether we be afflicted with heretiques or scismatiques with Angels or diuels with heauen or earth or from whence soeuer any tribulation doth come God alone is to be feared to be prayed vnto to be pacified to his will and commaundement all things obey For fire water haile snowe frost raine winde storme and tempest these when they séeme to be grieuous vnto men what do they else but fulfil his word 4 There are two gates then to be considered by which tribulations doe enter into the worlde the one is Gods prouidence the other is sinne Concerning his prouidence Salomon saith Wisdo 6. Chap. 14. Hee hath made the small and great and careth for all alike And againe Thy prouidence O Father gouerneth it And our Sauiour Christ himselfe saith Are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing and one of them falleth not to the ground without your heauenly father Math. 6. The very haires of your head are numbred 5 Not only the scriptures but that most excellent and comely order by which we sée so many seuerall things gouerned being so different so diuers and so disagréeing in natures and in places doth proue vnto vs that all things in the world are gouerned and ruled not by fortune and chance but by the prouidence of God Euen as if thou heare a harpe sound pleasantly or if thou sée a wagon or a ship to goe forward by arte reason and order although thou sée not the harper wagoner or maister of the ship yet thou art out of doubt that there is a harper which causeth the hary to sound in good tune a wagoner and a shipmaister which maketh both the wagon and ship to moue and goe 6 We are two maner of waies afflicted by God For sometimes we are troubled by those things which without any fault of their owne doe hurt vs and sometime by those things which hurt vs not without their fault and sinne The first followe the lawes of nature by which it is ordained that among mortall creatures the weaker shal alwaies giue place vnto the stronger The other doe breake the lawe of God As when we suffer and sustaine any thing at the hands of wicked men God hath a worke therein so farreforth as it may be to our good and therefore suffereth the euil to be done drawing out of the euil a greater good 7 For God is said to work in that which is good for there is nothing so euill which hath not some good ioyned with it And there is no good so small whereof God cānot make a bottomlesse fountaine and as it were an Ocean of all good things As for example behold a lame man What is it to halt To halt is to walke but yet not without a maladie To walke is good but the maladie is euil Whereof or from whence hath the man that walking which is good From the power of his wil and mouing instrument of the mind From whence commeth the maladie commeth it from his will No verily but either of the shortnesse or
thou mayest at the last obtaine the reward which our Sauiour Christ hath promised Come ye blessed of my Father c. Which Lord for thy mercie sake graunt vs Amen CHAP. III. Concerning the generall day of Doome FOrsomuch as the feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome and al for the most part are restrayned from sinne and wickednes by the feare of punishment paines and are brought to a good mind and purpose they which exclude this feare out of their hearts doe shut vp against themselues the true and wholesome repentance For as the Scripture testifieth the feare of the Lord expelleth sinne and he which is without feare cannot he iustified August in Ioan. Tract 9. The which St. Augustine by a very proper similitude setteth foorth If there be no feare there is no entrance for loue euē as we sée when a man soweth the thréed is brought in with a néedle the néedle first entereth but except the néedle goe out also the thréed followeth not Euen so feare first possesseth the minde but feare remaineth not there alone because it therefore entred to bring in loue Wherefore to awake vs sléeping in sinnes and to ingender feare in our minds the Lord doth oftentimes in the Gospel threaten vtter darknes gnashing of teeth euerlasting fire and other torments of hell that at the leastwise for feare of paines and torments we might bridle our mindes our eyes and our hands from sinne and wickednesse 2 This feare is not onely probable but also very necessarie For if now after so many threatnings of our Creator so fearefull and so greeuous we scarcely forsake our sins what would we do if God did not threaten at all Therefore I holde this that the feare of the Lord is as it were the parent and kéeper of righteousnesse temperance loue and of all vertues 3 But there is nothing that doeth more worke this feare in vs then the remembrāce of that great day wherein al the causes of al men are to be pleaded and their matters determined Insomuch that Saint Augustine affirmeth if Christian men should heare no other Gospel then that wherein the general iudgement is set foorth that one might suffice both to reuoke sinnefull men from their wickednesses and also being reuoked to cōteine them in their dutie 4 Wherefore in this Chapter wée will handle two notable points concerning the iudgement to come The first shal be concerning the greatnes horror of that day and of the fearefull signes that shall go before the same The second shal be concerning the raising vp of the dead bodies and the comming of the Iudge 5 The greatnesse and horror of that last day may be knowen hereby that it is called in holy Scripture a great day and the day of the Lord. And shall it not indéede be a very great day which shal cōprehend all the daies of all ages aswell those that are past as those that are to come For in that day men shall render an account of all the dayes that are past In that day God will poure out that infinite treasure of his wrath and indignation which he hath heaped vp in the space of al the worlds that are past In that day the motions of the heauens shall cease the course of the starres the reuolution of yéeres the vicissitude or returne of moneths and dayes the decay of mortal things al the cogitations of men al their studies al their Artes al their disciplines all their affaires shall rest in eternall silence 6 Also in that day it shal be decréed by the sentence and irreuocable constitution of the most high and eternal Iudge what state and condition euery one of vs shall haue and retaine in al eternitie of worlds 7 And not without cause the holy scriptures haue called it the day of the Lord. For as al the dayes of men going before are called their dayes because men watch in them and do whatsoeuer they will and God beareth suffereth endureth expecteth and after a sort sleepeth resteth in them Euen so then the day of the Lorde shal shine wherein hée shal be continually waking shal do whatsoeuer he wil and we whether we wil or no must suffer and endure 8 Thou now doest adde sin vnto sinnes and ceasest not to offend God dayly God is silent at al these things And why so Because this day is thy day But the day shall come beléeue me the day of the Lorde shall come which shal bring an ende to so long silence and wherein he wil take vengeaunce of all the iniuries that haue béene done vnto him 9 Thus we sée that al Eternitie comprehendeth two dayes onely The one of man the other of God In the one men shal watch and God shal sleepe In the other men shal sleepe and God shal watch 10 How horrible this day shall bée wée cannot plainly vnderstand and yet we may gesse at it by the present calamities For then the hoast of al punishments which their confederate battel of al offences shal assaile vs with maine force 11 But as in the warres of men before the last and general battel there are many excursions and short skirmishes euen so before that great and most fearefull conflict which shal be in the day of the Lorde God is wont with his seueral bands to make certaine excursions and one while to send vpon vs famine another while pestilence another while warre another while earth-quakes another while floods of waters and another while drougth as it were his horsemen to inuade vs who when they haue damnified vs retire and abide in their tents If therefore we so greatly feare pestilence warre famine earth-quakes and such like when as they are but the beginning of sorrowes and short excursions what I pray you wil wée doe when the last and general conflict shal come at what time al tribulations extremities calamities and miseries shal also fight against vs 12 And if wée doe yet more fully desire to know the greatnes and horror of that last day let vs consider those signes which shal a little while come before that day Therefore before the comming of that great day heauē and earth and all the Elements shall giue signes For there shal be signes in the Sun in the Moone and in the stars Luke 21. and vpon the earth trouble among the nations with perplexitie the Sea and waters shal roare and mens heartes shal faile them for feare and for looking after those things which shal come vpon the world 13 For as man which is a litle worlde when he draweth néere to his end the humors in him as certaine Elements are troubled and his eyes which are as the Sunne and Moone are obscured lose their light and the rest of the sences as the lesser Starres do by little little fall and faile and yet his minde and reason as the power of heauen is mooued from his seate wandereth erreth Euen so in the dissolution and fall
of this whole frame which is called the great worlde the Sunne shal be turned into darknes and the Moone into blood and the Starres shal fall from heauen the Ayer shall be full of whirlewindes stormes corruscations slashing meteors and thunders the earth with fearefull tremblings and swallowing gulphes the floods of the sea shal swel so high as if they would ouer flow the whole world and the roaring and raging noyse of the fretting billowes and tossing waues shal greatly terrifie Men therefore shal wither and waxe pale with feare and horror and trembling shal vexe them more and more expecting what these new monsters wil bring foorth at the last and what wil be the end of such horrible beginnings 14 When a tempest ariseth at the Sea and the boisterous waues begin to tosse and beat the shippe and the men which are in the same do beholde the horrible lightnings and fierie flashings in the ayre and the furious winds also making the sea to swel and rage in such wise that now they sée themselues tossed aloft and then anon caried down into the déepe they begin presently to cry to feare to tremble to call for mercie to multiplie their prayers to craue time of repentance to commend their saluation to almightie God and to be short they begin to thinke of the amendement of their manners and to haue better purposes Then thinke with thy selfe what manner of minde men wil haue when they shal sée heauen and earth and all the elementes to haue their peculiar and proper tempestes when the Sun shal strike a horror into mens harts with his fearful darkenesse and the Moone being turned into blood shal terrifie them that beholde it and the starres with their falles shal threaten for they shal fal so thicke that the Firmament shal séeme to be quite without light and the aire with continual fierie meteors shal séeme to burne the sea shal swel excéedingly and the most high mountaines being shakē with earthquakes shal fal with excéeding great noise 15 Who then wil take pleasure to eate who wil take delight in drinke who wil then haue any desire to sléep Nay who dare once then slumber or take the least rest amidst so many tempests and stormes O miserable and vnhappy sinners ouer whose heads al these signes doe hang and doe foreshew vnto them extreame calamitie O happie men yea thrise four times tenne times yea a thousand times happie and blessed whose conscience in that time wil make them merry and glad 16 Thus farre we haue considered the greatnesse of the last day the signes going before the same now let vs cal to minde certaine thinges concerning the resurrection of the dead and the comming of the Iudge 17 Therefore after those signes wonders which shal goe before the day of the Lord an Archangel shal come downe from heauen and with the feareful sounde of a Trumpette shal giue a signe to all that are dead to rise againe and to come to Gods iudgement This is that Trumpet which Saint Hierome thought that hée euer heard sounding in his eares whatsoeuer he were doing and not without cause For who can appeale from this citation who can refuse this iudgemēt who can pretend sicknes busines or any other excuse 18 Then shal death be compelled to make surrender of al the spoiles in a momēt which hée had taken away from the world and she shal be sent away into euerlasting banishment beyond al lands and seas and beyonde the world and the borders of al liuing things For as Saint Iohn sheweth in his Reuelation then shal the sea yéelde vp her dead which it hath swallowed and death and hel shal doe the like 19 What a sight shal there bée then when sea and land shal bring forth in al places so many bodies so vnlike one to the other so different and so vnequal And when as at one and the selfe same place so many armies shal come together from all parts of the world In that place Adam the father of al the Nations of the earth shal sée al his posteritie come together and shal meruaile There we shal sée Xerxes Darius Alexander Caesar other Monarches of the world but yet hauing another forme other maners and other mindes then they had when they liued here For at the sound of the Trumpet kings and Nations and all the worlde shal tremble they shal strike their breastes and mourne 20 Moreouer although all men shal be restored vnto life yet neuerthelesse there shal be great difference betwéen those bodies which shal be restored to holy men and those which the wicked and vngodly shal receiue For they shal be more shining then the sun and shal bee beautified with vnspeakeable brightnes but the others most foule and vgly and more terrible then death it selfe 21 What pleasure I pray you shal the blessed soules haue when they shal be ioyned againe to their bodies as to their most swéet brethren after so long banishment neuer to feare any more a seperation What I beséech you shal flesh féele when it shal be raysed from dust and shal sée an vnwonted light and when the soule shal come vnto it and say God saue thée my sister and most swéete Spouse the winter is now gone the storme is past away arise my beloued and come the Lord hath fulfilled our desire thou hast bene the companion of my trauels and laboures thou hast for the Lordes sake suffered with me persecutions and iniuries thou hast bene with me in watchings in fastings and vnder the crosse of repentance thou hast liued with a temperate and spare diet to féede the poore thou hast not excéeded in apparrel that thou mightst cloath the naked Equitie therefore and reason requireth that the things which thou hast sowen with mée in teares thou shouldest also reape with me in ioy and that séeing thou hast bene a companion with mée in my labours thou shouldst also be partaker with me of my pleasures riches and glorie Then shal the soule swéetely imbrace the bodie and the bodie ioyfully kisse the soule and they shal be ioined together with most happy and indissoluble knots And then with how great ioy and gladnesse shal they dwel together in one for from thencefoorth appetite shal not contend with wil nor sence with reason but being ioined together in one with the league of amity peace and concord they shal enioy the delights and ioyes of heauen euerlastingly 22 And contrariwise with what anguish shal the soule of the sinner be tormented whē that foule il fauoured deformed and feareful body is offered vnto him With what words thinkest thou wil they salute one another O vnhappy body wil the soule say O the beginning and end of my calamities thou hast brought me to these torments with thy entisements and now I am come not as it were into a house to rest but as it were into a prison to be tormented I am compelled to enter into thée againe against my
make the eares of them that heare it to tingle O sentence intollerable which depriueth sinners of all good things and bringeth them to all woe The Lord sometime accursed the Fig-trée and immediately not onely the leaues but also the body and rootes were wholy withered Euen so that feareful curse of the last day shal be no lesse effectual For on whomsoeuer it falleth it shal so scortch them and shal so make them destitute of Gods grace that they shal neuer more be able to doe to speake to thinke or to hope for any good thing 31 Then therefore the wicked being stricken with this thundering sentence will lift vp their mouthes towards heauen wil spue foorth their shamefull blasphemies against God the Iudge they will curse this day and the houre wherein they were borne and their Parents which begat them and the wombs which bare them the aier which gaue them breath and the Earth which hath borne them but they shal not be suffered any long time to speake these things against the Iudge 32 For suddenly the Spirite of the Lord shal ouerwhelm them and shal with great violence caste them downe headlong into the déepe Apoc. 18. as in Saint Iohns Reuelation appeareth in these wordes Then a mightie angell tooke vp a stone like a great Milstone and cast it into the Sea saying With such violence shall the Citie of Babilon bee cast Apoc. 20. and be found no more And againe Whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the Lake of fire And this déepe shal be shut vp with gates of brasse and with yron barres which cannot bee broken with any force nor cut in sunder by any arte and there they shal drinke of the cup of the Lords wrath and the smoke of their torments shal ascend worlde wtout end they shal not rest day nor night 33 On the contrarie part the iust being in the fruition of ful blessednesse and of euerlasting glorie shall haue in their mouthes the prayses of the Lorde and giuing of thankes and shal with singing and with mirth extol the name of their Lorde and God with whom they shal reigne without ende 34 But although wée heare of those things often yet neuerthelesse wée are not awaked from the sléepe of sinne before wee be ouerwhelmed with the night of death and of darkenes Why doe we which haue this time now looke for another time which peraduenture wée shal neuer haue Now is the accepted time now is the day of saluation There is nothing more profitable for a man then to knowe his time and therefore in our worldly businesse wée obserue times and seasons as a conuenient time to eare a fitte time to sowe to plant and such like Yea the brute beast by the instinct of nature can make choyce of his time for benefite The Swallowe when winter approacheth prepareth himselfe to take his flight into a warmer Countrey The Bée and the Ant in the time of summer prepare their foode against winter And the Prophet Ieremie saith that the Storke knoweth his appointed time If brute beastes deuoide of reason haue this foresight to make choise of time for their good and if man him selfe in a worldly regarde can make choyse of a fitte and due time to gette earthly and transitorie things how much more prouident ought hee to bee for heauenly things that to attaine these hée lose not his fittest time to attaine saluation 35 The olde worlde that liued in the dayes of Noah knewe not their time that was the cause they then perished with the flood The Cities of Sodome and Gomer knew not their time that brought fire and brimstone from heauen vpon their heads to their destruction The foolish Virgins knewe not their time therefore when their Lorde came they being altogether vnready were shut out of the Lords ioy Let vs then knowe the season how it is time now that wee should awake out of sleepe Rom. 13.36 1. Thes 5. Let vs watch and be sober for they that sleepe sleepe in the night and they that are drunken are drunken in the night But let vs which are of the day be sober least the darkenesse come vpon vs wherein we can neither walke nor worke Let vs alwayes haue before our eyes that day and time wherein we shall appeare before God and his Angels and before the whole worlde to answere our cause and either to receiue a Crown of glory or else perpetual shame and confusion Let vs know that we haue here a very short time limitted vnto vs. wherein wée must so endeuour our selues that for short and transitory things we lose not that which is eternall If wee haue this consideration of that great day of the Lorde wée shal not only be the more secure in death but also be the better prepared to méet with our Lord and Sauiour when he shal come to iudgement CHAP. IIII. Concerning Hell and the torments thereof THere is nothing that the Diuell laboureth more then to perswade men that there is no hel that so the more easily hée may leade them thether as it were blindfolde by the way of sinnes while they haue no feare of any punishment euen as shéeues are wont to bee ledde with a vaile before their faces when they are going to the gallowes as Ezechias was serued whose eyes Nabuchadnezer commanded to be put out whē he was caried away captiue into Babilō 2 But it may bée shewed by many reasons and authorities that there is a hel For as a Princely magnificence requireth that a King haue a beautiful Pallace for to entertaine the best sort of men and a prison for the worst Euen so the king of kings and Lord of all glorie and principalities hath a Pallace wherein there are many mansions as our Sauiour Christ in the Gospel testifieth which is the kingdom of heauen and he hath also a darke prison or dungeon which is hel 3 The lawe of nations requireth that malefactors for their offences be driuen into exile for euer euen so God doth banish from his presence Luke 16. the impenitent sinners into hel For so it is said of Diues that he dyed was carried into hel Esay 5 And the prophet saith Hel hath inlarged it self hath opened his mouth with out measure and their glorie and their multitude and their pompe and he that reioyceth among them shall discend into it Also S. Iohn saith that the feareful and vnbeleeuing and murderers Apoc. 21. the whormongers sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyers shall haue their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And Christ Iesus saith Feare him which hath power to cast body and soule into hell 4 But forsomuch as God hath not made Death nor the kingdom of Hell vpon earth Wisd 1. We must vnderstand that the principal procurer of this Hell is Sathan the Prince of darkenesse who béeing in