that it is so the Diuines collect it thus for whereas the true worship and seruice of God doth consist in these three in diligendo honorando Bonauen Centiloq part 1. sect 22. in ipso confidendo In louing God in honoring God in putting our whole confidence and trust in God The Mammonists of this world do take all these from God and giue them to their riches For first though the precept runne thus Deut. 6.5 Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule and with al thy might yet do these men take this loue from God and bestow it on their wealth and therefore Saint Iohn that he might meet with this 1. Epi Ioh. 2.15 Psal 62.2 he giueth this caueat Loue not the world and the Prophet Dauid If riches increase yet saith he do not set your hearts vpon them And for the second which is honor wheras it is the Angels speech vnto vs that dwell vpon the face of the earth Reuel 14.7 Honor and worship him that hath made the heauen the earth the sea and the fountaines of waters these men as it is in the eight of Hosea and fourth verse Of their siluer and their gold do they make them Idols their siluer and gold is the god they worship And lastly for confidence and trust Prou. 16.20 whereas the wise man saith Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord these are like vnto the man of whom the Prophet Dauid speaketh Psal 52.1 Behold the man that tooke not God for his strength but trusted in the multitude of his riches So that the riches of the world as wel as the honors of the world are occasions you see vnto men of many sinnes by which they are drawne from the wayes of life If therefore we are desirous to preuent these and the like inticements of the world least by them we be deceiued and so caused to erre from the paths of life our best course is euermore to consider of this world as it is and not as it seemeth Caligula the Emperour set golden loaues and other seruices of whole gold before his guests and bad them eate Indeed they had a glorious shew to looke vpon but there was nothing in them to eate and to drinke for the contentation of nature And such no other are the dainties which the world proposeth vnto vs both in wealth and honour they haue I confesse a glorious shew to the eye but the substance of them being well considered is but vanitie First for honor let Haman speake who was next vnto the King Ester 2.1 and with him was alone inuited to the banquet of Queen Hester Ester 5.4 and when he hath said all that he can for his honor yet the conclusiō of all must be this that it was but vanitie for in that day in which he was entertained with such royaltie at the banquet of Queene Hester Ester 7.1.10 in that same day was he hung vpon the gallowes which he made for Mordecay at the commandement of the King who before had highly honoured him at the request of the Queene who before had inuited him How highly was our Sauiour graced and dignified by the people of the Iewes In the 6. Iohn 6.15 of Iohn they would haue made him King in the 12. Iohn 12.13 of Iohn they cut downe branches of palme trees and meete him singing sweetly Hosanna Blessed art thou that comest in the name of the Lord but see the inconstancy of this people and the mutabilitie of this worldly honour they who before had cried Hosanna Blessed art thou that comest in the name of the Lord not many daies after euen the fift day In cap. 2. Mat. as Saint Hierome hath obserued they crie as earnestly against him Crucifige let him be crucified So true is that which Saint Bernard hath concerning worldly honour Vanitas est huius seculi dignitas cum magna expectatione speratur vt veniat sed non potest teneri cum venerit The honours and preferments of the world are but meere vanities they are long looked for of men to come with great expectation but when once they haue them they are so short and fleeting that they cannot keepe them And for the wealth and riches of the world if you will not beleeue Salomon vpon his word when he calleth them vanity Eccles 1.2 yet beleeue them to be vanitie euen for this because they will haue either thy end or their end Iob 1. their end as they had in Iob who from great wealth came vnto a low ebbe of pouerty or thy end as they had in the rich man who when he sung a long lasting requiem to his soule in the multitude of his riches Luk. 12.19.20 had his soule the same night taken away frō him And is there then beloued such vanity in this world in the best things which this world proposeth both in wealth and honor and shall we for the gaining of this leaue the gaining of such a world as is not subiect vnto vanitie Shal we leaue gold for drosse pearle for glasse heauen for earth the permanent euerlasting ioyes of the one for the momentary and transitory delights of the other The eyes of the brute beasts are turned downward to the earth to seeke for nothing but meate for their bellies At os homini sublime dedit But the face and countenance of man is lifted vpward vnto heauen to behold God who hath made all for man and man for himselfe let vs then leaue the world and the things of the world vnto the beasts to whom properly it belongeth and let vs send vp the affections of our hearts vnto heauen where our inheritance is reserued Gen. 28.11 And as Iacob in that his iourny vnto Padan-Aram is said to sleepe in the way so while we liue here in this world which is nothing else but a passage to a better life or if you will so call it our way and iourney to the heauenly Canaan let vs sleepe and be at rest from the desire of temporall things whatsoeuer let heauen become our obiect and earth become our abiect The desires of our hearts let them be placed vpon things aboue as for things beneath let them be vnto vs as vnto Saint Paul Philip. 3.8 euen losse and dung in regard of the excellent knowledge of Iesus Christ as vnto Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a shadow and a dreame and lighter then these as vnto Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing and worth nothing Let vs say with Peter and with Peters affection Behold master Math. 19.27 we forsake all and follow thee let vs say with Saint Paule I am non ego sed viuit in me Christus Now it is not I Galat. 2.20 but Christ which liueth in me that is as Saint Bernard expounds those words very fitly to this purpose Ad alia quidem omnia
concealeth the time and expresseth onely the manner of his coming And therefore for any man to thinke himselfe sufficiently instructed of the time of Christ his coming by reason of those prognosticke signes which our Sauiour hath set downe it is a grosse and a foolish impiety Yea saith Saint Austin Epist 7 8. to take a computation of times that therby we may know when the end of the world and Christ his coming shall be Nihil videtur aliud quà m scire velle quod Christus ait scire neminem posse It is nothing else but to be desirous to know that which our Sauiour Christ hath said no man can know For of that day and houre knoweth no man saith Christ Mat. 24.36 no not the Angels of heauen but my Father onely Nay in the 13. of Saint Marke and 32. verse he excepteth against himself to leue the high knowledge therof to his Father Of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels which are in heauen neither the Sonne himselfe as he is man only saue the Father And therfore that the world might be the better resolued in this point in the vncertainty of his coming vnto iudgment besides those many watchwords of his to the world It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the father hath put in his owne power Math. 24.42 Math. 25.13 Mark 13.33 You know not what houre your maister will come You know not the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man will come Yee know not when the time is and the like He hath in the Gospell compared his coming vnto three things which come most sodainly and before we are aware and these are a snare a thiefe and the floud of Noah In the 21. of Luke and 34. verse he resembleth the day of his coming vnto iudgement to a snare Take heed vnto your selues least at any time your hearts be ouercome with surfetting and drunkennesse and the cares of this life and least that day come on you at vnawares for as a snare shall it come on all theÌ„ that dwell on the face of the whole earth A snare you know entaÌ„gleth on the sodaine and the birds and wilde beasts whilst fâ—arelesse of danger they are intentiue to their foode they sodainly fall into it And so it is with man saith Solomon he considereth not his end Eccles 9.12 But as the fishes which are taken in a net and as the birds which are caught in a snare so are the children of men snared in the euill when it falleth sodainly vpon them Men may feast it merrily with Iobs children Iob. 1.19 Dan. 5.3 and be frolick with their companions amidst their cups with Balthassar and as it is in the 21. of Iob they may call for the Tabret and the Harpe and reioyce in the sound of Organs but on the sodaine euen before they be aware August Epist 80. they go downe into the graue saith Iob that is they fal into the snare of death and so consequently into the snare of iudgement For Qualis in die isto quisque moritur talis in die illo iudicabitur as the day of mans death leaues him so the day of Gods last iudgement shall finde him And as Christ for the sodainesse vncertainty of his coming compareth it to a snare so he compareth it likewise to the coming of a theefe Math. 24.43 If the good man of the house did know at what houre the theefe would come he would surely watch and not suffer his house to be digged through And therefore be ye also ready for in the houre ye think not wil the son of man come The Apostle Peter in his second Epistle 3.10 makes the same resemblance The day of the Lord will come euen as a theefe in the night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a noyse and the elements shall melt with heat and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt vp And Saint Paule 1. Thess 5.2 handling the same argument hath the very same The day of the Lord shall come as a theefe in the night and when men shall say peace and safety then shall come vpon them sodaine destruction as the trauell vpon a woman with child and they shall not escape And as the day of Christ his comming is compared for the vncertaintie thereof vnto a snare and a theefe so for the same cause it is compared by him to the floud of Noah Math. 24.36 As the dayes of Noah were so likewise saith Christ shal the comming of the Sonne of man be For as in the dayes before the floud they did eate drink mary 〈◊〉 giue in mariage vnto the day that Noah entred into the Ark and knew nothing til the floud came and tooke them all away so shall also the comming of the sonne of man be And therefore â—hat answer which our Sauiour gaue to the Pharises question Luk. 17. and 20. vâ—â— may well be the conclusion of this point The kingdome of God cometh not with obseruation that is saith the Glosse it cometh not with the obseruation of the time as if he had said haply some Astronomer or other is so cunning as to tell you when the cloudes will drop but at what time the Sonne of man shall come to iudgement in the cloudes no Astronomer is so cunning as to tell you that for of that day houre knoweth no man no not the Angels in heauen nor the Sonne himselfe but the Father onely Well then beloued these three points being thus cleared First that their will be a comming of the Sonne of man to iudgement Secondly that this his comming vnto iudgement will be fearfull and terrible And thirdly that the time of this his comming is vncertaine we know not when what remaineth now but the vse which we are to make of all these and that is a vigilant and carefull preparation of our selues against his comming prescribed in the first words Vigilate igitur Watch therefore In the first of Ieremy the Prophet at the first saw nothing but a rod but after saith the text he beheld seething pot And so the wicked and vngodly people haply they may see and feele in this world nothing but rods light and slight punishments but the time will come when Salomons rods shall be turned into Rehoboams Scorpions and the Prophet Ieremies rod will proue a seething pot For as flesh is pâ—â— into a seething pot so the bodies and soules of men in regard of their sinnes committed in the flesh shall be cast into the seething and boyling lake of hell At which time they shall haue nothing to comfort them either aboue them or beneath them on the right hand or on the left within them or without them Aboue them shall be the angry Iudge for their wickednesse condemning them beneath them shal be hel open and the fornace boyling to receiue them on their right hand shal be their sinnes accusing them on
THE NARROW WAY AND THE LAST IVDGEMENT Deliuered in two Sermons the first at Pauls Crosse the other elsewhere by G. B. Preacher of the word at Alphamston in Essex 2. TIM 2.7 Consider what I say and the Lord giue thee vnderstanding in all things LONDON Printed for MATTHEW LOWNES 1607. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVL SIR VVILLIAM VVALGRAVE KNIGHT OF BVERS IN ESSEX RIght Worshipfull the generall report of your worthinesse your peculiar affection to the Author as I vnderstand and the knowne dignitie of this his worke are the onely motiues of this my seeming boldnesse in committing this Sermon to the generall view vnder your countenance and protection which though I confesse I haue done without his leaue as being modestly vnwilling to encounter censure or to oppose himselfe an obiect to enuie yet in that it hath receiued the currant stampe of approbation in the iudgement of the wisest and your self as I haue heard an auricular iudge of the gracefull deliuery I haue in my selfe dissolued doubt and confidently thwart imputation with this assurance that it cannot but be gratefull to the Reader and come no lesse acceptable to you And though my selfe am vtterly vnknowne to you yet as one bound to loue vertue euen in strangers I honour it in you and haue bene so much the rather induced to this dedication by how much I am informed you are truly affected to this my deare friend and a cherisher of his endeuors Sir you cannot lose by it for learning will still be prest to honour her Mecaenas and such as fauour Arts chiefly those that labor in Gods vineyard like lamps consume thēselues to giue light to others I say such goodnes and loue extended to religion and the professors therof is the treasure layd vp in heauen and shall remaine with the world of perpetuall record Thus hauing done as I thinke a thankfull office not greatly fearing the Authors displeasure if you but approue my act I referre you to the ensuing matter resting Yours in deuotion for your vertue-fauouring inclination C. B. MATTH 7.14 And few there be that find it IT is the nature of euery man to affect long life here in this world and this Almightie God knew well and therefore when he commaunded the Israelites that they should honour their parents as a prouocation to the performance of that dutie he proposeth this reward vnto them Exod. 20.12 that their dayes should be long in the land which their Lord their God should giue them But albeit we are desirous to liue long and to see many dayes here in this life yet because reason and experience teacheth vs that though we liue long yet at one time or other we shall be dissolued into our first dust for terraes Gen. 3.19 in terram reuerteris it was God his sentence against all flesh Dust thou art and into dust thou shalt againe returne therefore the desire of mans nature stretcheth it selfe further and not only content with long life here in this world it affecteth a longer life nay it affecteth an eternal life in the world to come S. Pauls earnest desire was this I desire to be dissolued and to be with Christ Philip. 1.23 and old Symeon when he had once seene our Sauiour in the flesh he sung this sweete requiem to his owne soule Lord now let thy seruant depart in peace Luke 2.29 Albeit life were no doubt sweete vnto these two Saints of God yet their desires aimed at a better thing they were desirous to change corruption for incorruption mortalitie for immortalitie a life temporall and full of sorrowes for a life eternall and full of comfort Now as this was the desire of these Saints of God so no doubt it is or at least it should be the desire of all the sonnes of men they should not onely content themselues with the present possession of this life temporall but they should hope looke for a life to come which is eternall But in this it fareth with the world as with those old Israelites which came with Moses out of Aegypt for though they were for their number many thousands and all of them had a longing desire to enter into the land of Canaan yet it was only granted but vnto two of them Numb 14.30 vnto Caleb and vnto Iosuah so in the Aegypt of this world in this place of palpable darknesse though the desires of most men be to enter into the kingdome of heauen to raigne with Christ for euer yet this heauenly blessing is not granted to all Math. 20.16 for as Christ himselfe saith Many are called but few are chosen and as the way is broade and the gate wide that leadeth to destruction in the verse going before that is as the way of sin which leadeth men vnto hell is easie and many there be which enter in thereat so in the beginning of this verse straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth vnto life that is a holy and a religious conuersation in this world which is the high way to leade men to the kingdome of heauen is full of difficulties and as our Sauiour addeth in the words which I haue read they are but few that find it To shew you how a holy and religious conuersation in this world is that straight gate and that narrow way that leadeth vnto life wold be a discourse both pleasing and profitable but because that lies without the bounds and limits of my text and the drift of my text is onely this that few men and few women doe find out this way of life therefore the summe of my discourse out of these words must be this to examine those lets and hinderances why among so many as seeme to be in the way of a godly life which is the way that leadeth to eternall life so few there be that find it that if we haue not found out this way of life we may now seek after it and find it and if we haue already found it that then we may perseuere and continue in it The lets then and the hinderances why so few there are that do finde the way of life are of two sorts ex parte quaerentis and ex parte retrahentium they either concerne our selues which are to seeke the way or they are such as do allure vs and withdraw vs from the search of it Hinderances in our selues that are to seeke the way are especially these three the first is coecitas rationis the blindnesse of our reason and vnderstanding which is not able of it selfe to discerne good from euill the way of life from the way of death The second is peruersitas voluntatis the peeuishnesse and peruersnesse of our wils which albeit we discerne the way refuseth to walke in it And the third is defectus perseuerantiae a want of perseuerance For although in our reason and vnderstanding we are able to discerne good frō euill the way of life from the way of
aspexit Remember Lots wife how she was brought indeed out of Sodome because she beleeued God but was changed by the way into a pillar of salt because she looked backe God hath commaunded vs as he did Lot and his wife that wee should come out of Sodome that is that we should forsake our sinnes and not so much as looke back vnto sinne but runne in hast till we come into heauen which is our Zoar. If therefore with Lots wife we wil looke backe in our way to the pleasantnesse of sinne we shall be sure with her to tast the bitternesse of her punishment for as she vbi respexit Gen. 19.26 ibi remansit where she looked backe there she stood still and came not vnto Zoar where her life should haue bene saued so if once we haue abandoned sinne which is the broade way that leadeth vnto death and haue entred into a holy and religious course which is this narrow way that leadeth vnto life if then with Lots wife we go not forward but looke backward to our former delights of sin it is impossible for vs to come to Zoar that is vnto heauen where our soules and bodies should be saued They are our Sauiour Christ his own words in the ninth of Luke and the last verse No man putting his hand vnto the plough and looking backe is fit for the kingdome of God Exod. 16.26 The Israelites were commanded not once in a moneth nor once in a weeke but euery day to gather Manna except vpon the Sabboth day to teach them and to teach vs that till such time as we come vnto that eternall Sabboth of our euerlasting rest in heauen we must neuer stand still in the way of a godly life but euery day be going forward Apelles posie was Nulla dies sine linea Let no day passe from me without drawing one line at the least and Titus the Emperor was wont to say Sueton. in Tit. Amici diem perdidimus Ezech. 47.4 that he had lost that day in which he did no good As the waters in Ezechiel rose by degrees first to the ankles then vnto the knees then vnto the loines and lastly to the head and as the wheate which Christ speakes of Mark 4.28 grew vp riper and riper first there was a blade then the eare then the full corne and lastly came the haruest so like those waters we must grow higher and higher till we come vnto our head Christ and like that wheate we must grow riper and riper til we come to the haruest which is the end of the world There is in Persia a stone called Selenites Plin. lib. vlt. cuius interior candor cum Luna crescit decrescit whose inward whitenesse increaseth and decreaseth as the Moone The deuotion of Christians must not be like this stone still changing and continuing no longer in one moode then a sparrow lights vpon the ground but we must proceed in the way of righteousnesse euen as Abraham went to Canaan that is we must eundo pergere still be going and as those kine of the Philistines which bare the Arke of God 1. Sam. 6. though they were milch had calues at home yet without turning either to the right or left hand they kept on their way to Bethshemesh so hauing once ioyned ourselues vnto the yoke of Christ and bearing the arke of his law vpon our shoulders in the way of a vertuous life though we haue many allurements to draw vs backe as those kine had their calues yet without turning either to the right or left hand we must keepe our way to Bethshemesh that is vnto the house of the Sunne for so the word signifieth where the Son of God raigneth In the 13. of Saint Matthew the kingdome of God is described in this manner It is as a grain of Musterdseed at first the least of al seeds Math. 13.31 but when a man hath sowne it in his field it becometh first an herbe then the greatest of herbs thirdly a tree lastly the birdes make arbours and shades in the bowes of it Now why should the kingdome of God be compared vnto this seede which is still increasing verily no better reason can be giuen for it then this that we may all learne not to stand still in our Christian growth but to preseuere and go on from grace vnto grace till we become perfect men in Christ Iesus As the star neuer ceased going Math. 2.9 till it came vnto the house where Christ was so if we be once entred into the way of a holy and religious life we must neuer stand still but continue still going till we come vnto heauen where God is If we haue faith we must then go from faith to faith if we haue loue we must continue and abide in loue if we haue zeale we must labor to be consumed with zeale if we giue almes we must go a step further and giue it with chearfulnesse and as God hath continued a chaine of his good graces vnto vs first by predestinating secondly by calling Rom. 8.30 thirdly by iustifying fourthly by glorifying vs so must we continue a chain of our graces towards God by giuing al diligence 2. Pet. 1.5.6 as the Apostle Saint Peter speaketh to ioine vertue with our faith and with our vertue knowledge and with our knowledge tēperance and with our temperance patience and with our patience godlinesse and neuer leaue ioyning the linkes of that golden chaine there ioyned till our bodies and soules come to be disioined But beloued if the want of any vertue is to be lamented in this age it is the want of this vertue of all vertues perseuerance For if we take a view of all estates of men euen from the highest to the lowest shall we not be so far frō finding any increase or growth in Christian duties any going forward in the way of righteousnesse from grace vnto grace Indies deficit in agris agricola Cyp. con Deme. and from strength vnto strength that we shall rather finde an vniuersall falling away and defection in them Is there not now as S. Cyprian iustly complained in his time a daily defectiō in the world both of men and of mens manners Is there not a defection of the husbandman in the field of the marriner at the sea of citizens in townes of townsemen in villages Is there not a defection of innocency in the court of iustice in iudgement of concord in friendship of workmanship in arts of discipline in manners Where is that zeale vnto the word that hunger thirst after the waters of the wel of life that was wont to be amōg vs Do we still thirst after these waters of the well of life 2. Sam. 23. as Dauid for the waters of the well of Bethlem Nay rather are we not come vnto that fulnesse and satietie Numb 11.7 that we euen loath these waters of life as Israel loathed Manna If it were not so
then should we not see so many in all places to loue better the thresholds of their doores and their benches in aleboothes then they loue the courts and seates of the Lords temple The time was when with gladnesse we haue receiued this word vpon al occasions and entertained this heauenly food of our soules as Elias foode for his body with all thankfulnesse 1. King 17. euen then when a blacke Rauen hath brought it vnto vs I meane men but meanly qualified But now vnto so low an ebbe is our zeale and deuotion come that though Angels from heauen bring it I meane men excellently qualified and able sufficiently to performe the worke of right faithfull Euangelists yet men reiect it nay which is worse they euen resolue with Ahab not at all to heare Michea 1. King 22. not because Michea prophesieth euill vnto them and not good 2. Kin. 13.14 but because Michea is not a preacher qualified in all points according to their humours But to leaue our loue vnto the word let vs descend vnto our loue to those that labor in the word and for which loue many places in this land haue bene much commended True it is we haue bin as affectionate vnto them as king Ioas was to Elizeus ascribing more vnto them for the good of the whole land then to al our chariots and our horsmen It is true we haue entertained them as the Galathians did Saint Paul not onely as the Angels of God but as Iesus Christ himselfe yea we haue giuen no lesse honour vnto them Gal. 4.13 then the men of Lysia vnto Barnabas Paul freely coÌ„fessing of these as they confessed of them Act. 14.11 that gods were come down vnto vs in the likenesse of men I adde yet more that you may see vnto what a fearefull relapse we are now in this age come Aquin. in hunc locum lâ—ct 3. that double honor both of countenance and maintenance of countenance for their place of maintenance for their seruice which they that labour in the word are worthy of saith S. Paul 1. Timoth 5.17 this double honour haue we yeelded and offered vnto them as their due in the amplest manner But haue we so continued haue we perseuered in this loue I must be faithful in my maisters house with Moses and speake a truth without flattery I say boldly in the feare of God concerning this as the Angell saith vnto the Church of Ephesus we are become changelings Reuel 2.4 and haue lost our former loue For first for countenance now euery vpstart that hath scraped but a little pelfe together by the patchings of his braine will be deadly opposite vnto no man more then to Gods minister And as for maintenance the time indeed was when with the good Shunamite you haue prouided for Elias a chamber 2. King 4. a stoole a table and a candlesticke and haue come vnto the Prophets as Christ vnto the lame man at the poole of Bethesda Iohn 5.6 Vis sanus fieri wilt thou be maintained wilt thou be beneficed But now so are the times and with the times so are men changed that you take from Elias his chamber his stoole his table and his candlestick You do come vnto the Prophets not as Christ to the man before mentioned Vis sanus fieri wilt thou be beneficed but as Iudas to the high Priest when he sold his master Quid mihi dabitis ego tradam vobis what will you giue me and I will giue you a presentatioÌ„ And though the visible iudgment of God be vpon such sacriledge for it thriues with them as the Arke of God among the Philistines 1. Sam. 5.1 and as the flesh which an Eagle sometime caried from an altar to her nest a coale of Gods wrathfull indignation is caried with it which in time consumeth them and their yong though I say this visible iudgement of God be vpon such sacriledge yet the eies in our heads may faile with the expectation of that day when the chambers of the Lord his house which Tobiah the Ammonite hath seized into his hands Nehem. 13. shold be restored againe to their ancient institution for the maintenance of the Leuites What should I speake in particular of that stedfastnesse in faith that modestie in words that vprightnesse in our actions that mercie in our works that discipline in our manners that loue and vnitie among neighbours and brethren which in the Primitiue Church was the glory of the first Christians and in some good measure hath heretofore bin seene among vs Verily our coldnesse in all these as in the former is a plaine demonstration that albeit we haue layed our hands vnto the plough of the best husbandry in the whole world yet we haue looked back and albeit we haue made some small entrance into the way of a vertuous life yet we haue started aside and fallen from it again for want of perseuerance To draw this then to a conclusion If we looke vpon all the sons of Adam who are bound by the commaundement of God to seeke after the way of life and in them if we wel consider first the blindnesse of their reason which is not able of it selfe without Gods assisting grace to discerne the way of life from the way of death secondly the peruersnesse and obstinacie of their wils which albeit they know the way yet refuseth to walk in it and lastly their back-sliding and want of perseuerance when haply they haue begun if I say we consider all these bearing sway for the most part with most of Adams sonnes we may then say and say truly euen as our Sauiour Christ saith in my text They are few yea very few that do find the way of life Now as this is a manifest and certaine truth that there be few that do find the way of life if we consider the hinderances in our selues that seeke the way so in the next place if we shall take a view of those things which do retrahere which do allure vs and withdraw vs from the search of this way it will appeare more plaine vnto vs. The things then which do vsually detaine and keepe vs backe from the search of this way of life are these three old and ancient enemies of man Bern. medit cap. 14. Mundus Caro Diabolus the world the flesh the diuell and these three hauing drawne as many men vnto their part as the Dragon drew the starres of heauen with his taile Reuelat. 12.4 it must needs follow that their number should be very small that go on in the way of life I wil touch them all three in their order and giue you such caueats out of Gods booke against each of them that if we be once entred into the way of a godly life which is the narrow way that must leade vs to eternall life neither the world with his inticemeÌ„ts nor the flesh with her alluremeÌ„ts nor the diuell with his suggestions
a sinner in the day of iudgement Our first mother Eue so much as in her lay she did hide her sin from God and so did Cain the death of Abel and haply saith S. Ambrose Ambros in Psa 118. in affectu habemus abscondere non in effectu we may with them affect the hiding of our sins from God but we neuer can effect it In the 20. of S. Luke and the 20. verse the Scribes and Pharises come with cunning contriued speeches vnto Christ hoping to intrap him but as cunning as they were our Sauiour was too cunning for them for in the 23. verse Quid tentatis hypocritae Why tempt you me ye hypocrites And surely if craft and subtiltie could not ouertake our Sauiour when he came in humilitie much lesse shall he be ouertaken thereby when he shall come in glory And fourthly though neither of these three doe happen in our earthly iudgements yet we see by experience that witnesses are oft kept backe and by that meanes the prisoner is set free but at Christ his comming vnto iudgement there is no such aduantage to be expected For as Saint Bernard well obserues in a mans owne house and in a mans owne family Deuotis medit cap. 13. he shal not faile of his accuser his witnesse and his iudge Accusat conscientia testis est memoria ratio index his conscience that will be his accuser his memory that will be his witnesse and his reason that will be his iudge to condemne him And least it should be obiected that a mans memory may faile and so consequently the witnesse behold then a witnesse whom nothing can cause to faile Because they haue done villany in Israel and committed adultery with their neighbours wiues euen I see it and I testifie it saith the Lord. Ier. 29.23 And fiftly though neither of these fall out yet if a man be nobly borne descend from honorable and princely parents then none almost dare meddle with him or once call his sinnes in question But as Mordocay in the fourth of Ester and 15. verse said vnto the Queene when as the sentence of death was past vpon all the people of the Iewes in the kingdomes of Assuerus thinke not with thy selfe that thou shalt escape in the Kings house more then all the Iewes so at the day of iudgement when all our sins shall be layd open before God men and Angels it is not our noble and honorable bloud it is not a Kings house nor a Kings linage that can exempt vs. But may not mony procure vs fauour with the Iudge and be a meanes to stay the course of iustice Indeed I confesse that mony may do much with earthly Iudges it may turne iudgement into mercy and mercy into iudgement but it is not the multitude of gifts saith Iob in his 36. chap. and 18. verse that can deliuer thee frō the wrath of the Iudge of heauen But say none of all these do preuaile in our earthly iudgements yet either by the conniuencie of the Iailor or the weaknesse of the prison a condemned man may escape but after the sentence is once pronounced in this last iudgement both these comforts will faile a sinner For first the diuell who is Iaylor will be so vigilant as no prisoner committed to his iayle shall haue leaue to depart And for the second which is breaking of prison that is impossible for those who are bound hand and foote and so are sinners bound after iudgement Matth. 22.13 Take him and bind him hand and foote and cast him into vtter darknesse And yet suppose that they could vnloose themselues as some that are bound may do yet is there no hope of euasion for in the 16. of Luke and 26. verse it is Abrahams speech vnto the rich man in hell Betweene you and vs there is a great gulfe so that we cannot come vnto you neither can you come vnto vs. So that hitherto you see this comming of Christ vnto iudgement to be terrible But if we shall now a little farther consider the rigor seueritie of the sentence which shall be thundered from the mouth of the Iudge against the wicked I make no question but the terror thereof wil appeare much greater The sentence is set downe in the 25. of Mathew and 41. verse Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the Diuell and his Angels In which words Poena damni first the punishment of losse as the Diuines terme it contained in these words Depart from me doth declare the seueritie of the sentence For if one day in Gods courts be better then a thousand elsewhere as the Prophet Dauid saith in the 84. Psalme and 10. verse then to be not onely a thousand yeares but for euer elsewhere and not one day in the courts of God it must needs be a grieuous and a great punishment For a man to lose his lands here in this world what a vexation and griefe is it to many men it doth oft times driue men vnto their wits end how then thinke we will sinners be affected and afflicted in mind who when Christ Iesus by his most precious bloud hath purchased for them no worse land then the land of the liuing the kingdome of heauen they by their wilfull rebellion will be the occasion of the losse of it Were not the Israelites grieued thinke you when from a sorrowfull heart they told Moses that he had brought them from a land which flowed with milke and honey into a barren wildernesse to destroy them with famine And will it not be a greater torment to the wicked in the last day when they shall heare and see themselues banished from heauen and the presence of God in whose presence as the Psalmist saith Psal 16. and last verse there is fulnesse of ioy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for euermore and then sent into a place where there is a famine of all good things a famine of ioy a famine of ease a famine of the comfortable presence of God Surely if the Apostles for that litle time that Christ told them he was to be absent from them they were so sorowfull and sad Iohn 16.21 that Christ himselfe measureth their mourning by the mourning of a woman in her trauell And if Peter to whom Christ had said Iohn 13.8 If I wash thee not thou shalt haue no part with me was so loth to part with Christ that he said Lord not my feete onely but my hands and my head also in what case shall miserable and accursed sinners be who not for a time onely but for all eternitie are shut out and banished from the sight of God As then the rigor and seueritie of the Iudiciall sentence appeareth in the punishment of losse so is it greatly amplified by the punishment of sense Poena sensus for they are not only banished by the Iudge from heauen Depart from me but they are sent into a place of
punishment into hell fire The Epicure saith Tertullian doth estimate all sorrow and punishment after this maner Modicus cruciatus est contemptibilis Tertul. aduers Gentes cap. 45. magnus non est diuturnus If the punishment be but small then a man of any spirit will contemne it and if it be great this is the comfort that it cannot last long But saith he the Epicure deceiues himselfe because the lawes of God do promise either an euerlasting reward to the obseruers or a perpetuall punishment to the breakers And therfore the sentence runs not thus Ite in ignem Go into fire though that had bin a great and a grieuous punishment but to make it the more grieuous and the more terrible they are commended in ignem aeternum into euerlasting fire Grieuous were the punishments that were inflicted vpon Adam for his sin Gen. 3. for first he was cast out of Paradise and then he was sent into a place of thornes and thistles there to eate his bread in the sweat of his brow all the dayes of his life but far more grieuous wil be the punishmēt of Adams wicked children at the day of iudgement for first they shall be depriued of heauen a place more beautifull then Paradise and then they shall be cast into a burning lake which is a farre worse place then a place of thornes and thistles And whereas Adam found this comfort in his punishment that there was a donec in terram in it that at last there wold be an end the end of his life was the period of his punishment yet the punishment of his wicked posteritie shall admit no limitation of time but they shall go saith the Iudge into euerlasting fire that is they shall burne for euer and euer in that lake of fire Indeed is were some comfort if they were to suffer this punishment no more thousands of yeares then there be sands on the sea shore or grasse piles vpon the ground or no more millions of ages then there are creatures in heauen in earth and in the sea for then were there some hope that at last there would be an end But to be sent in ignem aeternum into euerlasting fire that is continually to burne and neuer to be burned vp and after infinite millions of ages to be as farre from an end as at the first entrance into this torment this is so seuere and rigorous a doome as neither the tongues of Angels or of men are able to expresse it And as the rigor of the doome appeares first by the punishment of losse in that they are commaunded out of Gods presence Depart from me and secondly by the punishment of sense in that they are sent not onely into fire but into euerlasting fire So to make it euery way complete that nothing more might be added to it vnto the former words of this sentence Depart frō me into euerlasting fire the Iudge doth adioyne these latter which is prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Men that are in misery they are commonly of this mind and nature that they would not haue their friends and acquaintance come into the like misery and therefore the purple glutton Luke 16.27 being in hell maketh this request vnto Abraham Father Abraham send Lazarus I pray thee to my fathers house that he may testifie vnto my fiue brethren least they also come into this place of torment And as men are loth to haue their friends companions in their misery so are they as loth to haue those their companions who wil helpe to augment and increase their miseries but the wicked that their sentence of condemnation might appeare the greater they shal not only alwayes burne but their companions in this fire shall be the Diuell and his Angels When the Iewes sate in iudgement vpon our Sauiour Christ they resolued vpon these three things against him first that he must be taken from among them secondly that he must die the shamefull and ignominious death of the crosse and thirdly to do him the greater disgrace as they thought to vexe him the more he must die in the companie of two theeues And therefore hereafter when Christ shall come in his glory to iudge the sinnes both of Iewes and Gentiles he will resolue vpon three the like for them which they resolued for him For first as they could not abide his presence and therefore they cryed tollite take him away so he will not abide their presence but will say vnto them Discedite a me Depart from me And secondly as they resolued vpon no honorable death for him but such a death as was inflicted vpon vile and ignominious persons so the maner of dying which he allotteth vnto thē is such as belōgeth only vnto people that are cursed And last of all as they which did die with Christ were no better then theeues so their friends in tormēt are the fiends and their companions in fire are the diuell and his angels And therfore for the conclusion of this point remember onely that short but sweete caueat which S. Austin giueth writing vpon the 80. Psalme Si non times mitti quó vide cū quo If thou art not afraid to burn for thy sinnes in hell yet be afraid to burne with such hellish companions as are the diuell and his Angels And thus haue you seene the terror of Christ his cōming vnto iudgement as by other other circumstances so especially by the rigor seuerity of the Iudgement sentence which first depriueth them of heauen Depart from me and thē adiugeth them to hell Go into fire Thirdly there to burne not for a time but for euer into euerlasting fire and that with no better cōpanions then the diuell and his Angels I come now to the third point and this is 3. That the time of this terrible coming vnto iudgment is vncertaine For we know not saith my text either day or houre when it will be In the third verse of the chapter going before the 24. of Mathew the disciples of our Sauiour being desirous to be resolued of a double doubt first at what time the temple of Ierusalem shold be destroyed and secondly when his last coming vnto iudgment should be our Sauiour Christ for their better instruction telleth them that there shall be warres and rumours of warres that nation shall rise against nation and kingdome against kingdome that there shall be pestilence and famine earthquakes in diuers places All which signes with many other in that chapter though some haue restrained to the first question of the destruction of Ierusalem yet according to the iudgement of the most interpreters they containe a mixt answer vnto both and are signes not only of the particular desolation of Ierusalē but also of the finall dissolution of the whole world in the day of iudgemēt And grant this yet no other collectiō can fitly be gathered hence but that which Saint Austin long since obserued Modum patefecit tempus celare voluit He