Secondly There are degrees of Torments in Hell and therefore by the Rule of Contraries there shall bee degrees of Glory in Heaven Now that there are degrees of torments in Hell is most evident from several plain Scriptures as from that 10th of Matth. v. 14 15. And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words when yee depart out of that house or City shake off the dust of your feet Verily I say unto you Contempt of Christ and his Gospel is worse than Sodomy it shall be more tollerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgement than for that City Sodom and Gomorrah shall have an easier and cooler Hell than such Cities shall have that have contemned the tenders of Grace and the offers of Mercy 'T is very observable that the punishments that God in this life hath inflicted upon the Jews for their contempt of Christ and his everlasting Gospel have been more terrible than his raining Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah for on a sudden and in a moment God consumed them and burnt them up but God hath for above this sixteen hundred years been a raining Hell out of Heaven upon the Jews hee hath for a long time vext them with all manner of adversity and to this very day hee hath made them all the world over a spectacle of his dreadful severity but all those plagues and punishments that the Jews have been and still are under are but flea-bitings and scratches on the hand to those dreadful and amazing judgements that God in the great day of account will inflict upon all Christs refusers and Gospel-despisers And so chap. 11.20 21 22 23. Then began hee to upbraid the Cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they repented not Woe unto thee Chorazin wee unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you it shall bee more tollerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of Judgement than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted up to Heaven shalt bee brought down to Hell for if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day The more mercy hath been upon the bare knee intreating sinners to repent the more earnest the Lord Jesus hath been in wooing sinners to beleeve on him and to resign up themselves wholly and only to him the more clearly and sweetly the everlasting Gospel hath sounded in sinners ears and the more neer and the more often Heaven hath been brought to sinners doors and yet they have bid defiance to all and hardened themselves in their sins with the greater violence and with the more dreadful vengeance shall such be plunged into the lowest Hell And so in that Mat. 23.14 Woe unto you Scribes Pharisees and Hypocrites for yee devour Widdows houses and for a pretence make long prayer therefore yee shall receive the greater damnation Hypocrites shall bee double-damned the hottest and the darkest place in Hell is reserved for them Give him his portion with hypocrites for number and weight there are no torments in Hell to the torments of hypocrites Counterfeit sanctity is double iniquity and therefore 't is but justice that the hypocrite should have double torment And so in that Luke 12.47 48. That servant that knows his Masters will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes and hee that knew it not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall bee beaten with few stripes Sins against light and knowledge are sins against the noblest remedy they waste and wound the conscience most they most open sinners mouths to blaspheme God and they most harden sinners hearts in sinning against God and every way they dare God most and provoke God most to strike with an Iron-Rod and to whip the knowing transgressor not with Rods but with Scorpions 'T is very observable that the more light and knowledge men sin against in this world Rom. 1.21 22 23. the greater judgements God gives them up to even in this life take a remarkable instance in the most refined and civil Heathens who are presumed to have most light and knowledge who were given up to the most beastly errours about the nature of God as the Romans and Grecians who worshipped Feavers and humane passions yea every paltry thing c. whereas the Scythians and more barbarous Nations worshipped the Sun and the Thunder c. things terrible in themselves Oh how much more then will God in the great day give them up to the greatest judgements who have given themselves up to the greatest sins Certainly the Professors of this age yea of this City whether they go to Heaven or Hell will be the greatest debtors that shall be in either place the one to the Free-grace of God and the other to his Justice that they that have most of Hell in their mouths and most of Hell in their hearts and most of Hell in their lives should have most of Hell in their souls at last is but justice I shall conclude this second Argument with a saying of one of the Antients Augustin Look saith hee as in Heaven one is more glorious than another so in Hell one shall be more miserable than another Now if there be degrees of torments in Hell which I suppose the Scriptures but now cited doth undeniably prove then doubtless there will be degrees of glory in Heaven Thirdly God in this life dispenses the gifts and graces of his Spirit unequally among his Saints to some hee gives two Talents to others five and to others ten Hence 't is you read both of a weak Faith and of a strong Faith Matth. 25. and ch 8.10 26. ch 15.28 Why are yee afraid O yee of little Faith And O woman great is thy Faith And Verily I have not found so great Faith no not in Israel And hence it is that you read both of weak Christians and of strong Christians Hee that is weak in the Faith receive Rom. 14.1 2. 1 Cor. 9.22 2 Cor. 12.10 Heb. 5.13 14 1 Pet. 2.2 v. 1. Another who is weak eateth herbs And to the weak I became as weak that I might win the weak Wee then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please our selves When I am weak then am I strong And hence 't is that you read of Babes and of Children and of young Men and of old Men in the Scripture Saints are of different growths Some are but babes in gifts and grace others are children others young men and others old men That God that distributes the good things of this world unequally among the Sons of men as to some more to others less to some great things to others little things to some high things to others low things that God unequally distributes
that had rather be vessels of wrath then vessels of honour and that had rather be fire-brands of hell then glorious Saints in heaven Ephes 2.12 Rom. 9.22 And so I have done with those reason◠that may satisfie the Reader concerning my Dedication of this Treatise to all sorts ranks and degrees of persons Having premised these things in the general give me leave to say That if this Treatise should fall into the hands of any of the Learned Judges of this Land or into the hands of any of the Justices of this Nation I would then take the humble boldnesse to offer this to their most serious consideration viz. That if they would discharge the duties of their places so as to give up their accounts at last with joy and cheerfulness to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords it highly concerns them to study this doctrine of holinesse yea to fall in love with holinesse and highly to prize it and earnestly to presse after it and to be restlesse in their own spirits till they have experienced the powerful operations of holinesse in their own souls for till then they will never be able so to administer Justice and Judgement as becomes those that have the name of God and the name of profession upon them and that judge themselves to be in a higher Form then those Heathens were who were famous for justice and righteousnesse Cato Fabricius Scipio Cambyses c. and yet never heard of a Christ nor salvation by him and as becomes those that would not stand trembling and quaking in the great and terrible day when Christ the Lord-chief-Iustice of heaven and earth shall passe a righteous and impartial judgement upon all the Judges and Justices that ever were on earth Joel 2.11 31. Acts 17.31 2 Tim. 4.1 2. Where justice is God is and where God is there is no want of men or fortitude said Herod at the head of his Army the better to encourage his souldiers My Lords and Gentlemen you know that the wisest Prince that ever set upon a Throne hath told us that Righteousnesse exalts a Nation Prov. 14.34 It is not valour in war but righteousnesse it is not policie in Government but righteousnesse it is not wittinesse of invention but righteousnesse it is not civility in behaviour but righteousnesse it is not antiquity of forms but righteousnesse it is not largenesse of dominion but righteousnesse nor it is not greatnesse of command Iustice is conservatrix Humanae conjunctionis quae ad beatitudinem via est c. Amos 5.24 The Hebrew word Veiiggalchat is here rendred run down is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Galal that signifies to roul down f eely plentifully plainly vigorously constantly Where justice thus rouls down all the world shall never make that Nation miserable but righteousnesse that is the honour and the safety that is the renown and the security of a Nation That Nation that exalts righteousnesse that Nation shall be certainly exalted by righteousnesse It is not Achitophels policy it is not Jeroboams calves in Dan and Bethel it is not Jehues pompous zeal it is not Goliahs sword it is not rich Mines of Gold and Silver nor Magazines nor Armies nor Counsels nor Fleets nor Forts but Justice and Righteousnesse that exalts a Nation and that will make a mean people to become a great a glorious and a famous people in the world The world is a Ring and Righteousnesse is the Diamond in that Ring The world is a body and Righteousnesse and Justice is the soul of that body Ah England England so long as judgement runs down as waters in the midst of thee and righteousnesse as a mighty stream thou shalt not die but live and bear up bravely against all gain-sayers and opposers but if injustice shall grow rampant and thou shalt brandish the sword of Justice in the behalf of the friends of Baal Balaam and Bacchus and turn the wheel upon the righteous if the sword of justice shall be a sword of protection to the desperate swearer and to the cruel oppressor and to the roaring drunkard and to the cursing monster and to the Gospel despiser and to the Christ contemner c. and shall be a devouring sword to the upright and peaceable in the Land Divine vengeance will dig thy grave and divine Justice will tumble thee into it though all the Nations of the earth should labour to prevent it It is a base and ignoble spirit to pity Cataline more then to pity Rome to pity any particular sort of men more then to pity the whole It is cruelty to the good to justifie the bad It is wrong to the sheep to animate the Wolves It is danger if not death to the Lambs not to restrain or chain up the Lyons but from all these vanities the Lord deliver all your souls And O that you would for ever remember this that as the constitution of a mans body is best known by his pulse if it stir not at all then we know he is dead if it stir violently then we know him to be in a Fever if it keep an equal stroak then we know he is sound well and whole so the estate and constitution of a Kingdom or Common-weal is best known by the manner of executing justice therein for justice is the pulse of a Kingdom if justice be violent then the Kingdom is in a Fever in a very bad estate if it stir not at all then the Kingdom is dead but if it have an equal stroak if it be justly and duely administred then the Kingdom is in a good a safe and sound condition When Vespasian asked Apollonus What was the cause of Nero 's ruine he answered That Nero could tune the Harps well but in Government he did alwayes wind up the strings too high or let them down too low The Application is easie Now having premised thus much in the general give me leave to tell you that there are eight special Rules that you are carefully and faithfully to observe in the administration of Justice and Righteousnsse And how you will be able to act sutable to those Rules without a Spirit of holinesse without principles of holinesse and without an experience of the powerful influences and operations of holinesse in your own souls I cannot for the present understand Now my Lords and Gentlemen the first Rule that you are to observe in your administring of Judgement and Justice Psalm 82.1 6. Luke 20.21 Mat. 22.16 is this You must do Justice impartially you are called Gods and in this you must be like to God who is no acceptor of persons Audi alteram partem said Lotharius the second Duke of Saxony he accepts not the rich man because of his Robes neither doth he reject the poor man because of his Rags Deut. 1.17 Ye shall not respect persons in judgement but you shall hear the small as well as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of
the way of righteousnesse is chaiim lives so the Hebrew hath it in the way of righteousnesse there are many lives in that way there is spiritual life and eternal life and natural life and all the comforts and sweets and blessings and happinesse of that life without which mans life would be but a lingering a languishing death yea a hell rather then a heaven unto him And in the path thereof there is no death There is no spiritual death there is no eternal death yea there is no corporal no temporal death to hurt or harm the them Death is not mors hominis but mors peccati not the death of the man but the death of his sin Phil. 1.23 2 Cor. 5.12.4.7 8. Death is a Christians Quietus est it is his discharge from all trouble and misery to sting or terrifie them to dammage or disadvantage them for death is an out-let and an in-let to a holy man it is an out-let to sin to sorrow to shame to suffering to afflictions to temptations to desertions to oppressions to confusions and to vexations and it is an in-let to a more clear full and constant fruition of God and Christ and an in-let to the sweetest pleasures the purest joys the highest delights the strongest comforts and the most satisfying contentments Death is the funeral of all a holy mans sins and miseries and it is the resurrection of all his joyes and the perfection of all his graces and spirituall excellencies Death to a holy man is nothing but the changing of his grace into glory his faith into vision his hope into fruition and his love into perfect comprehension The Persians had a certain day in the year in which they used to kill all Serpents and venemous creatures such a day as that will the day of death be to a holy man Peccatum erat obstetrix mortis mors sepulchrum peccati Sin was the Midwife that brought death into the world and death shall be the bearers that shall carry sin out of the world When Sampson died the Philistines died together with him so when a holy man dies his sins die with him Death came in by sin and sin goeth out by death As the worm kills the worm that bred it so death kills sin that bred it Vltimus morborum medicus mors Acts Mon. fol. 1733. Death cures all diseases the aking head and the unbelieving heart the diseased body and the defiled soul At Stratford Bow were burned in Queen Maries dayes a lame man and a blind man after the lame man was chained casting away his crutch he bade the blind man be of good comfort for saith he Death will cure us both it will cure thee of thy blindnesse and me of my lamenesse Death will cure the holy man of all natural and spiritual distempers Death is the holy mans Jubilee it is his greatest advantage it puts him into a better estate then ever he had before It is Gods Gentleman Usher to conduct us to heaven it will blow the bud of grace into the flower of glory O! Death is but an entrance into life Miseri infideles mortem appellant fideles vero quid nÃsi pascham Bernard Miserable â—nbelievers call it death but to faithfull believers what is it but a Passeover but a Jubilee who would not go through hell to heaven who would not go through a temporary death to an eternal life who would not willingly march through mortality to immortality and glory O Sirs holinesse will make you look upon death as a welcome guest a happy friend a joyfull messenger it will make you kisse it and embrace it as Favinus the Italian Martyr kissed and embraced his executioner it will make you desire it long after it with tears as holy Bradford did By all this you see that holiness will deliver you from death in death and therefore I shall close up this head as that wise witty man Sr. Francis Bakon closed up a paper of verses What then remains but that we still should cry Not to be born or being born to die Fifthly and lastly by holinesse you shall gain the greatest boldnesse in the day of judgement Job 19.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies boldness of face a lifting up of the face countenance in the sight or face of many beholders It signifies a freedom and liberty of speech nothing will imbolden a man in that great day like holinesse holinesse will then make the face to shine indeed 1 John 4.17 Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldnesse in the day of judgement because as he is so are we in this world That which will make Christs last appearance delightfull to Christians will be their likenesse to Christ in holinesse in nature and grace likenesse begets the greatest boldnesse As there is no child so bold with the Father as he that is most like the Father so there is no Christian so bold with Christ as he that is most like to Christ A holy Christ is most famiiar with a holy Christian and a holy Christian is most bold with a holy Christ The more a Christian is like to Christ in holinesse of heart and life in holinesse of affecti-and conversation the more divinely bold and familiar will that man be with Christ both in this world and in the great day of account when he that was a brat of Satans is made a Saint when he that was like hell is made like heaven when he that was most ugly and uncomely is made like him that is the holy of holies this is that which gives boldnesse both here and hereafter O Sirs it is not wit nor wealth but holinesse it is not race nor place but holinesse it is not power nor policy but holinesse it is not honour nor riches but holinesse it is not natural excellencies nor acquired abilities but holinesse that will give boldnesse in the day of Christs appearing 1 Pet. 1.5 6 7. A well-tried faith which is but a branch of holinesse shall be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ At the coming of Christ holiness shall be a mans praise and honour Rev. 6.15 16 17. and glory In that great day when shame and everlasting contempt shall be poured forth upon the great Monarchs of the world who have made the earth to tremble when the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men c. shall cry out to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them and to hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb then I say then shall the righteous shine as the Sun in the firmament Dan. 12.1 2 3. Prov. 28.1 In life and death and in the day of account a righteous man will be as bold as a Lion Real holinesse will make a man death proof and hell proof and
as it were strings in their rails but in plain positive downright terms he tels you that there were stings in their tails ver 10. he tells you that their stings were true stings real stings certain stings And so while men remain unholy there are sure and certain stings in the tails of all their comforts Job 29.14 contentments and enjoyments The best way on earth to have a sure a sound a solid a lasting peace with God with our selves and with others is to put onholinesse as a Robe upon us to put all inquity far from us Job 11.13 20. O Sirs the worser the times are the better should every man labour to be Many complain of burdens Taxes oppressions Isa 59.9 10 11 14 15. and vexations and they say with those That Judgement is turned backward and that Justice standeth afar off and that truth is fallen in the street and that equity cannot enter and that he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey that judgement is far from us and that Justice doth not overtake us that we wait for light but behold obscurity for brightnesse but behold darknesse that we grope for the wall like the blind that we grope as if we had no eyes that we stumble at noon-day that we roar all like Bears and mourn sore like doves that we look for Judgement but there is none and for salvation but it is far off from us These and a thousand more such complaints may be found amongst us This Scripture last cited puts me in mind of a strange but yet of a very true saying viz. That there is more justice and equity in hell then there is in France for in hell the oppressor is oppressed in hell he that would not give a crumb of bread shall not have a drop of water In hell such as shed innocent blood have blood to drink in hell there are no bribes in hell there is none to plead an unrighteous cause in hell there is no respect of persons in hell every man hath according to his deserts but in France it is otherwise c. And do not the strong cries tears sighs groans and complaints of the poor and needy of hirelings orphans and widows c. in most Nations strongly demonstrate that there is more Justice and Equity in hell then there is in most of the Nations of the earth But now what is the choicest salve for all these fores certainly holinesse What is the most soveraign Remedy against all these maladies nothing but holinesse O Sirs the more holinesse rises in a Nation the more will righteousnesse run down as mighty streams and the more the hearts of the poor and needy will leap and sing for joy There is no way to make a Nation happy but by making of it holy O Sirs as you are men as you are English-men as you love your Countrey as you honour your King and Countrey and as you desire the peace prosperity and felicity of your Countrey labour to be holy O England England it is holinesse that will be a wall of fire about thee and a glory in the midst of thee it is holinesse that will make thee happy at home and prosperous abroad Among all English men there is no man to the holy man Certainly that man that is most busie about mending his own heart and life contributes most to the mending of the times There are many sturdy blades that will talk stifly for their Countrey and that say that they will stand stoutly for their Countrey and yet by their daily ungodlinesse they do undo their Countrey these men destroy by their lives what they seem to build with their hands And therefore as ever you would have all things that are out of order in order labour for a well ordered heart and a well ordered life Holinesse of conversation is the best means under heaven to prevent confusion and desolation Again If you will look upon the present times as times wherein the Judgements of God are abroad in the world I say if you will thus look upon them then I say the times call aloud upon you for holinesse Isa 26.9 When thy Judgements are abroad in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousnesse O Sirs when garments are rowld in blood when the sword devours the flesh of the slain when Justice laies heap upon heap when pestilence and famine destroyes all on the right hand and on the left O! then every one will say Come let us break off our sins let us turn to the Lord let us mend our wayes and reform our lives and get holinesse into our hearts We behold many sorer heavier and worse judgements then these are upon us this day if we had but eyes to behold them O! that hardnesse of heart Psalm 78. Psalm 81.12 That which was wont to be said of Asrick that it was ever a producing some new monster or other may be said of the Age yea of the land wherein we live 2 Thess 1.8 9. Amos 8 11 12. that barrennesse of soul that blindnesse of mind that searednesse of conscience that perversnesse of Spirit that Superstitious Will-worship and that loosnesse of life that multitudes are given up to this day O! those God-dishonouring those Christ-denying those Ordinance-despising those Conscience-wasting those life-corrupting and those Soul-damning opinions principles blasphemies and practices that multitudes are given up to this day O! the spiritual decayes the spiritual witherings the spiritual slumberings the spiritual faintings the spiritual langiushings that are to be found among a professing people this day Now certainly there are no judgements to spiritual judgements none reach the soul like these none seperate between God and the soul like these none lay men open to temporal and eternal judgements like these Spiritual judgements are the most insensible judgements they are the most dreadfull judgements they are the most incureable judgements they are the most damnning judgements of all judgements Spiritual judgements have most of wrath and most of horror and most of hell in them O that now these terrible judgements are abroad in the earth you would learn righteousnesse that you would learn to be holy For as there is no such sence against temporal judgements as holinesse so there is no such sence against spiritual judgements as holinesse O the spiritual strokes the spiritual Arrows the spiritual diseases the spiritual sicknesses the spiritual plagues that are abroad in the world and O that the dread and sense of these might provoke you and prevail with you to labour after real holinesse to labour after the power of godliness which will be your greatest security against these most deadly and soul-killing maladies Again the dayes and times wherein we live call aloud for holinesse if you look upon them as dayes and times of grace what greater and higher engagements to holinesse were ever put upon a people then those that God hath put upon us who enjoy so many wayes means and
the Roman Emperour with his incestuous Herodias the suggester of that murder they were banished and fell into such misery and penury that they ended their wretched lives with much shame and misery Herod Agrippa was a great persecutor of the Saints Acts 12. Joseph Antiq. l. 19. ch 7. and he was eaten up of wormes In the third yeare of his Reigne as Josephus observes he went to Caesarea to keep certain Playes in the honor of Caesar the Gowne he was in as the same Author relates was a Gowne of silver wonderfully wrought and the beames of the Sun reflecting upon it made it so glister that it dazled the eyes of the beholders and when he had made an end of his starched Oration in this his bravery his flatterers extolled him as a God crying out 'T is the voice of a God Acts 12.21 22 23. Joseph Antiq lib. 18. ch 13. Thales Milesius the prime wise man of Greece being demanded what he had observed to be of most difficulty in the world Answered Tyrannum senem To see a Tyrant live to be an old man and not of a man whereupon he was presently smitten by the Angel of the Lord and so dyed with wormes that eate up his very intrailes the blow the Angel gave him was an inward blow and so not visible to others and his torments more and more increasing upon him the people put on sackcloth and made supplication for him but all in vaine for his paines and torments growing stronger and stronger every day upon him they seperated his wretched soule from his loathsome body within the compass of five dayes And 't is very probable that the prayers of the persecuted Church did helpe to speed this persecutor out of the world * Euseb Caiaphas the high Priest who gathered the Councel and suborned false witnesses against the Lord Christ was shortly after put out of his Office and one Jonathan substituted in his roome whereupon he killed himself †Euseb Hist li. 2. c. 7. Not long after Pontius Pilate had condemned our Lord Christ he lost his Deputiship and Caesars favour and being fallen into disgrace with the Roman Emperour and banished by him he fell into such misery that he hanged himselfe Nero that Monster of men who raised the first bloody persecution to pick a quarrel with the Christians set the City of Rome on fire and then charged it upon them under which pretence he exposes them to the fury of the people who cruelly tormented them as if they had been common burners and destroyers of Cities and the deadly enemies of mankinde yea Nero himself caused them to be apprehended and clad in wild Beasts skins and torne in pieces with Doggs others were crucified some he made Bonfires of to light him in his night-sports to be short such horrid cruelty he used towards them as caused many of their enemies to pitty them but God found out this wretched persecutor at last for being adjudged by the Senate an enemy to mankinde he was condemned to be whipt to death for the prevention whereof he cut his own throat Domitian the Author of the second persecution against the Christians was by the consent of his wife slaine by his own houshold servants with daggers in his privy chamber his body was buried without honour his memory cursed to posterity and his Armes and Ensignes were thrown downe and defaced Trajan raised the third persecution against the Church and the vengeance of God followed him for first he fell into a Palsie then lost the use of his senses afterwards he fell into a Dropsie and dyed in great anguish There was not one of those persecuting Emperours that carried on the Ten bloody persecutions against the Saints but came to miserable ends yea Histories tell us of three and forty persecuting Emperours who fell under the revenging hand of God and came to untimely ends Among the many thousand thousands of instances that might be given of the Judgements of God that have fallen upon the persecutors of the people of God in these latter dayes I shall only give you a few Faelix Earle of Wartenburge was a great persecutor of the Saints and swore that ere he dyed he would ride up to the spurs in the blood of the Lutherans but the very same night wherein he had thus sworne and vowed he was choaked with his own blood nothing would serve him but the blood of Gods people and God makes him drunk with his own blood Sir Thomas More once Lord Chancelour of England was a sworn enemy to the Gospel and persecuted the Saints with fire and faggot and amongst all his praises he reckons this the chiefest that he had been a persecutor of the Lutherans i. e. the Saints but what became of him he was first accused of Treason and then condemned and at last beheaded Judge Morgan was a great persecutor of the people of God but shortly after he had passed the sentence of condemnation upon that vertuous Lady the Lady Jane Grey he fell mad and in his mad raving fits he would continually cry out Take away the Lady Jane take away the Lady Jane from me and in that horror he ended his wretched life Drahomira after the death of her husband usurped the Government of Bohemia and was a cruell persecutor of the people of God but by a righteous hand of God it so fell out that on that very place where the Ministers bones lay unburied the earth opened of it self and swallowed her up alive with her Chariot and those that were in it which place is now to be seen before the Castle of Prague Acts and Mon. 1911. The Arch-Bishop of Toures was an earnest Sutor for the erection of a Court called Chamber Ardent for the condemning of the French Protestants to the fire but before he dyed he had fire enough for he was stricken with a disease called The Fire of God which began at his feete and so ascended upward which occasioned one member to be cut off after another and so he ended his miserable dayes Thomas Arundell Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was a grievous persecutor of the people of God and a great suspender and silencer of good Ministers he made use of his tongue braines and power to stop the mouthes and tye up the tongues of Gods faithfull Ministers but God in his righteous Judgement so struck him in his tongue that it swel'd so big that he could neither swallow nor speak for some dayes before his death and so he was starved choked and killed by this strange tumour of his tongue Mr. Groves Gleanings p. 155 156. I have read of one Mr. W. who was very busie in prosecuting an Indictment against his Minister at a Quarter Sessions for omitting the Cross in Baptisme and being a man in high favour with the Justices he made no question of prevailing at night according to his usual manner he falls to drinking till he was so extream drunk that he was faine
more eyes then it hath done good to hearts O this golden-wedge this silver squinsie hath made many men silent and speechlesse in good causes Titus Vespasian was so delighted in doing of justice that if a day had past over his head wherein he had done no 〈◊〉 of justice he would cry out Amici diem perdidi O my friends I have lost a day And so Epaminondas a Heathen though he was very poor and often tempted with great bribes and presents to be unjust yet he refused and scorned all and would commonly say that if the cause were good he would do it without a bribe because it was good but if the cause was bad he would not meddle with it for a world These Heathens will one day rise in judgement against all such corrupt Judges and Justices that will not do justice without a bribe If this Treatise should fall into the hands of any such I would then let them know that God will one day make good that dreadful word against them that you have in Job 15.34 For the Congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Or as the Septuagint reads it of men that take gifts fire shall consume or rather as the Hebrew hath it Fire shall eat the Tabernacles it shall feed on their Tabernacles as greedily as a hungry man doth feed on his meat O the sumptuous buildings and brave structures that have been built by the hands of bribery shall be set on fire by a hand of justice Prov. 10.2 3. and chap. 3.33 If bribery brings in a thousand one year Divine justice will cast away two for it the next year God will one day burn up on both hands all the comforts and all the contentments and all the enjoyments of corrupt Magistrates Judges and Justices I have read of a Polonian Judge that stood up very stoutly and resolutely a long time for a poor Plaintiff against a rich Defendant but at last he received from the Defendant a great summe of money stamped with the usual stamp of that Countrey which is a man in compleat armour and at the next Session in open Court he adjudged the Cause in the favour of the Defendant and being sharply blamed by his friends for it he shewed them his large bribe and demanded of them Who could stand out against so many men in compleat armour Ah England England it would be better with thee if this spirit did not still survive but alas what good will all these mens men in armour do them in the great day of our Lord when the thoughts of all such corrupt Magistrates Judges and Justices shall be exceedingly troubled their countenances changed their hearts terrified their consciences awakened their souls amazed and their knees dashed one against another O that all Judges and Justices would for ever make Isa 5.23 their daily companion Wo to them which justifie the wâ—cked for a reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him I have read of Sysamnes a covetous tenacious Judge who for filthy lucre pronounced a false sentence whereupon Cambyses King of Persia commanded him to be killed and flead and his skin to be nailed over the Tribunal and then he commanded his son to sit as Judge there that so this sight might arm him against all injustice and be a terrour to all that succeeded him If Princes did but exercise such Royal justice upon all corrupt covetous Judges and Justices justice would be had at a cheaper rate and poor men would not be so often put to pawn their Coats nor rich men would not so often empty their Purses nor mortgage their inheritances But Fourthly As you must do justice sincerly so you must do justice deliberately you must have one ear for the Defendant and another for the Plaintiff Deut 17.4 or else you will tell the world at once that you are both weak and wicked Deut. 19.17 18 19. vide It argues much weakness and emptiness of spirit to judge a matter before all is heard that can be said Job 29.16 Jobs piety and prudence shined forth eminently in this that the Cause that he knew not he searched it out Before God would pronounce judgement upon Adam Gen. 3. he first examins him and propounds several interrogatories to him And in those two great and famous acts of justice when God confounded Babels builders Gen. 1. and chap. 18. and rained hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorah he tells you that he will go down and see You are called gods in this it is as much your glory as it is your duty to imitate the great God Though Solomon was in all his glory yet he had patience to hear both what the mother and the harlot had to say The Holy-Ghost puts the fool upon him that answers a matter before he hears it Prov. 18.13 It was the usual custom of Philip King of Macedon to step one of his ears whilest the accuser was speaking that so he might reserve it for the defendant I have read of some who have deeply suffered both in their civil liberties and in their consciences for their rash and hasty passing of judgement upon others Why hath God given the Judges of the earth two ears and but one tongue 〈◊〉 that they should be swift to hear and slow to speak I have read of Lewis King of France that when he had through inadvertency granted an unjust suit as soon as ever he had read those words of the Psalmist Blessed is he that doth righteousness at all times Psalm 106.3 he presently recollected himself and upon better thoughts gave his judgemâ—nt quite contrary Certainly all acts of justice ought to flow from mature deliberation All Magistrates Judges and Justices in their administrations of justice and judgement should wisely observe by what principles they act and by what Rules they act and by what Authority they act and in what manner they act and to what ends they act and how all these important things can be done without serious deliberation I cannot for the present understand Justice in the Emblem is represented with a Ballance in the one hand and a Sword in the other to note that matters must be first delibâ—rately weighed in the Ballance before Judgement can be passed He that only useth the Sword and not the Ballance may smite an innocent Naboth and acquit a guilty Ahâ—b The Civil Law concludes it very unreasonable for any man to give Advice or Judgement before he hath considered and weighed the whole Cause Civile dig 4. de legis senatusque consul And therefore by your own Laws you are bound to deliberate before you give Judgement Unlesse you will tell the world that you even you are unreasonable men who above all others should be the Masters of the greatest reason as well as men of the greatest measures of grace and holinesse But Fifthly As you must do Justice deliberately so you must
do Justice resolutely couragiously valiantly As soon as Joshua came into the office of Magistracy God charges him no lesse then three times in a breath as it were to be very couragious in Joshua 1.6 7 9. A Judge that is timerous will quickly be treacherous A Judge that is fearfull can never be faithful Solomons Throne was supported with Lyons to shew that Magistrates should be men of courage and mettal The Athenian Judges sate in Mars street Acts 17.22 Job 31 31 34. to shew that they had Martial hearts and that they were men of courage and mettal Job was a Judge of rare courage and magnanimity nothing could fear him nothing could daunt him nothing could terrifie him nothing could discourage him from doing Justice and Judgement The Graecians placed Justice betwixt Leo and Libra to signifie that as there must be indifferency in determining so there ought to be courage in executing Where there is courage without knowledge there the eye of Justice is blind and where there is knowledge without courage there the sword of Justice is blunt Judges and Justices should be men of courage for God and godlinesse Why should not the standard be of steel and the chief posts in the house be heart of Oak I have read of Agesilaus how that he was by all concluded fit to be made their King but that he halted Men of the best choicest accomplishments if they are not couragious and magnanimous but lame and halting they are no wayes fit for Magistrates Judges and Justices should have Martial Spirits high Spirits for Justice and Righteousnesse Every Judge every Justice should have a Lyons heart an Eagles eye and a Gyants arm Such men whose hearts are faint whose heads are dull whose ears are heavy whose eyes are dim whose hands are weak and whose feet are lame are more fit to sit in a Chimney corner then to sit Judges and Justices upon the Bench. It hath been long since said of Cato Fabritius and Aristides that it was as easie to remove the Sun out of the Firmament as to remove them from Justice and Equity they were men of such couragious and magnanimous Spirits for Justice and Righteousnesse No scarlet Robe doth so well become a Judge as holy courage and stoutnesse doth I have read of Lewis the eleventh King of France who going about to establish some unjust Edicts which when some of his chief Courtiers perceived they went altogether to him in Red-Gowns the King asked them what they would have the President La Vacqueri answered We are come with a full purpose to lose our lives every one of us rather then by our connivency any unjust Ordinance should take place The King being amazed at this Answer and at the courage constancy and resolution of those Peers gave them gracious entertainment and commanded that all the former Edicts should be forthwith cancelled in his presence Courage and resolution may prevent many a Publick mischief and misery But Sixthly As you are to do Justice resolutely couragiously so you are to do Justice and Judgement exactly Exod. 23.6 7.13 The Egyptians had a notable practise when their Judges were set they caused the Image of a divine Numen by them called truth to be hung about his neck who sate next unto the Judges to make them the more exact and heedfull in Iudgement 2 Chro. 19.5 6 7. And he set Judges in the Land throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah City by City And said to the Judges Take heed what you do for ye judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the Judgement Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you Take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of person nor taking of gifts God is exact in all his wayes and he is exact in all his works he is exact in all his promises he is exact in all his threatnings he is exact in all his Rewards and he is exact in all his punishments he is exact in the exercise of his mercy and he is exact in the exercise of his Justice And therefore you that are called Gods should in this be like God O Sirs some by force others by flattery some by large presents to your relations and others by promising great rewards to your selves may indeavour to corrupt you and blind you and induce you to judge rashly inconsiderately irregularly c. And therefore you have the more cause to be exact in transacting all your judicial affairs O remember that the most sharp piercing eye of God is still upon you O remember that the severe eye of Jesus Christ who is the Judge of Judges is never off of you And the Angels those Princes of glory are very strict Observers of you When the Ethiopian Judges were set in their seats of Judicature certain empty chairs were placed about them into which they conjectured the holy Angels came and were spectators of all their transactions and this they thought would work such an awe such a dread such a care such a fear and such a resolution in them that they could not but manage all their Judicial proceedings with much exactnesse and heedfulnesse And as the Angels have their eyes upon you so Satan hath alwayes his eyes upon you Cave spectat Cato was a watch-word among the Romans O how much more should Cave spectat Dominus be a watch-word amongst you he hath alwayes a watchfull eye an envious eye a malitious eye a crafty eye and a revengfull eye upon you witnesse his disswading you sometimes from your duty and witnesse his distracting and disturbing of you whilest you are in your duty and witnesse his accusing of you for the neglect of your duty and witnesse his endeavours to pride you and puffe you up upon the discharge of your duty And as the eye of Satan is upon you so the eyes of good men are upon you and the eyes of bad men are upon you And if all this doth not bespeak you to be very exact and accurate in all your Judicial transactions I know nothing My Lords and Gentlemen if all this will not do then remember that the lives liberties consciences rights priviledges estates and interests of persons next to God and Christ and Grace are the most choice and precious the most desireable and delectable Jewels that men have in all the world and therefore you had need be very exact and accurate in all your Judicial transactions Yea once more remember that God will one day bring you to an exact account concerning all your Judicial proceedings That same mouth that tells you that you are Gods Psalm 82.6 Heb. 9.27 tells you also that you must die like men And after death comes Judgement You that now call others to Judgement shall shortly be called to Judgement your selves Acts 17.32 you that now sit in Judgement upon others shall ere long be Judged by him that will
Judge the world in righttousness My Lords and Gentlemen give me leave to tell you Tennes the son of Cyrnus who was worshipped as a god was so strict and exact in Judgement that he caused an Ax to be held over the witnesses heads to execute them out of hand if they were taken with falshood and from thence was the Proverb Tenedia bipennis that that Judge to whom you must be responsible is no ignorant Judge nor no covetous Judge nor no partial Judge nor no fearful Judge nor no doating Judge nor no trifling Judge though such there may be in the world but he is an omniscient Judge an omnipotent Judge an impartial Judge a holy Judge a couragious Judge a serious Judge a severe Judge an unbiassed Judge a righteous Iudge and a resolute Iudge Alas Sirs it is not your scarlet Gowns nor your Titles of honour nor your great estates nor your interest in Princes nor your noble relations nor your applause among men that will stand you in stead when you shall stand before that Iudge that is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult Well Gentlemen remember this there is never a professing Iudge nor Iustâ—ce in the world that will be able at last to give up their accounts with joy and to stand in judgement when the Lamb shall sit upon his Throne but such as have made it their great businesse to take the spirit of the Lord for their guide and to set up the glory of the Lord as their great end and to make the Word of the Lord their principal Rule and to eye the example of the Lord as their choicest and chiefest pattern and therefore it is much to be feared that the numher of such Iudges and Iustices that will be able to stand before the Iudge of all the world will be but few But Seventhly As you must do justice and judgement exactly so you must do justice to others as you would have others do justice to you For Judges and Justices to do as they would be done by is the Royal Law the golden Rule and the Standard of equity Judges and Justices should think of others as they would have others think of them and speak of others as they would have others speak of them and do to others as they would have others do to them Mat. 7.12 Severus the Emperour had this Scripture often in his mouth and whensoever he punished any of his souldiers for offering of injuries to others he still commanded this Scripture to be proclaimed by the Cryer Whatever by the light of nature or by the light of conscience or by the light of Scripture a Judge a Justice would have another do to him the same must he do to another In all just things for so this Law of Christ is only to be understood we must do to others as we would have others do to us as we would have others carry it equally justly and righteously towards us so we must carry it equally justly and righteously towards others and as we would not have others to wrong us in our names estates rights liberties lives so we must not wrong others in their names estates rights liberties lives c. This Law of Christ is the summe of all righteousnesse it is the foundation of all Justice and Equity Self-love doth so commonly blind the sons of men that to judge righteously they must change the person they must put themselves in others room All Princes Judges Justices Parents Masters Subjects Servants Children should so act in their relations as they would have others act in the correlation All injustice will be repaid one time or another and therefore men had need be just and do to others as they would have others do to them I have read of a Citizen of Comun in the Dukedom of Farrara who being cast into prison upon suspitâ—on of murder his wife could get no promise of his deliverance unlâ—sse she would give the Captain whose prisoner he was two hundred Ducats and yield her body to his pleasure which with the consent of her husband she did but after the Captain had his desire he notwithstanding put him to death The Duke Gonzala hearing of it commanded the Captain to restore the two hundred Ducats to the widow with an addition of seven hundred Crowns then he enjoyned him to marry her presently and lastly before he could enjoy his new wife the Duke caused him to be hanged for his treachery and injustice Sometimes in this life injustice is repaid upon the heads of unjust Judges My Lords and Gentlemen before I close up this head give me leave heartily to recommend to your Justice those wrongs and injuries which more immedâ—ately strike at the honour and glory of the great God God hath put his name upon you Psalm 82.6 I said that ye are gods yet it must be granted that you are gods in a smaller letter mortal gods gods that must die like mâ—n all the sons of Ish are sons of Adam And as God hath put his name upon you so he hath made you his Vice-Royes 2 Chron. 19 6. Ye judge not for your selves but for the Lord. Rom. 13.2 Exod. 16.7 8. 1 Sam. 8.7 And therefore God takes all affronts that are done to you as done to himself as you may see by comparing the Scriptures in the margin together And God hath provided for your honour among men Exod. 20.28 Thou shalt not revile the gods Rom. 13.7 Josh 4.14 i. e. the Magistrates nor curse the Ruler of thy people I have read of Fabius Maximus who highly reverenced and honoured his own son being Consul this Heathen will one day rise up in judgement against all such that scorn to give to Magistrates that honour that by the fifth Commandment is due unto them 2 Pet. 2.9 10. 1 Sam. 10.2 Iude 8.2 1 Sam. 8.7 And God is very severe in revenging the wrongs that are done to you He interprets all the injuries that are done to you as done to himself And why then will you not revenge the wrongs and injuries that are done to the great God Give me leave Gentlemen in the behalf of the great God a little to expostulate with you Shall the least dishonourable word that is spoken against an earthly Prince be severely punished and shall all those horrid and hellish blasphemies by which the Prince of the Kings of the earth is dishonoured and reproached all the Nation over passe unobserved Rev. 1.5 Shall all affronts that are offered to Embassadors be deeply resented and justly censured as high indignities done to the Prince that employed them And shall the Embassadors of the great God I mean such as are called commissionated spirited gifted and graced for that high office by God himself be scorned defamed injured reviled and on all hands evilly intreated and yet no man say Why do you thus wickedly 2 Chron. 36.15 ult to provoke the great God to your own destruction Shall it be
use 2. So Christ is said to sanctifie himself when he dedicated himself to be a sacrifice for the sins of his people c. so it takes in a dedication and devoting of them to a holy use And thus the Nazarites Temple Mount Zion the Sabbath day and other Festival dayes are said to be holy under the Law In short the whole Jewish Religion did lie in holy times holy places holy persons and holy things and certainly without this holiness without this dedicating of our selves to God we shall never come to a glorious fruition of God he that doth not dedicate himself really to God wholly to God only to God and alwayes to God on earth shall never come to a sight and vision of God in heaven if we do not give up our selves to God God will never give up himself to us Hos 3.3 And I said unto her Thou shalt abide for me many dayes thou shalt not play the harlot and thou shalt not be for another man so will I also be for thee God will be only theirs that are really his and he will be altogether theirs that are wholly his he will only be a husband to them that dedicate themselves to him as a wife doth to her husband he will devote himself theirs who devote themselves his he will avouch himself to be theirs who avouch themselves to be his Deut. 26.17 18 19. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in his wayes and to keep his Statutes and his Commandments and his Judgements and to hearken unto his voice And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people as he hath promised thee and that thou shouldst keep all his commandments And to make thee high above all Nations which he hath made in praise and in name and in honour and that thou mayst be a holy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken That is an apt saying of Tertullian Negotiatio est aliquid amittere ut majora lucreris That is right merchandise when something is parted with to gain more God will resign himself up to them who resign themselves up to him he will give up himself to them that have given up their names and their hearts to him He will bestow himself as the greatest pearle of price upon them that shall make a surrender of themselves to him There is no way to be higher then others happier then others more noble and honourable then others then by making a dedi-gift of our selves to God He that dedicates himself to God dedicates all he that doth not dedicate himself dedicates nothing at all What Eschines once said to Socrates Others said he give thee Gold Silver Jewels but I give thee my self That must a Christian say to his God Ah Lord there are some that give thee their lips but I give thee my heart others give thee good words good expressions but I give thee the best of my affections others give thee a few cold prayers but I give thee my whole soul and had I as many hearts in my body as I have hairs on my head I would give them all to thee for thou art worthy thou only art worthy What the King of Israel once said to the King of Syria 1 Kings 20.4 I am thine and all that I have that must a Christian say to his Christ I am thine O Lord and all that I have A Christian must cry out with him who cried Lord I have two mites a soul and a body and I give them both to thee Bernard And this was the honour and commendations of the Macedonians that they gave up themselves to the Lord 2 Cor. 8.5 Having no better present at hand they present themselves to God and certainly there is no present more honourable Romans 12.1 dilectable and acceptable to God then this of giving up our selves to God Well remember this That man was never really holy that is not relatively holy nor that man will never be really happy that is not relatively holy without Relative holiness there will be no vision of God in everlasting happiness We must be separated from the corruptions and pollutions of the world and we must dedicate our selves to God or we shall never come to a future fruition of God But Fifthly There is an imputative holiness and that is the holiness of Christ imputed to us For to prevent mistakes you may please to take notice that there is a twofold holiness in Christ Consult these Scriptures Luke 1.35 Mark 1.24 Heb. 7.26 Rom. 5.19 Col. 1.22 Rom. 2.3 4. 2 Cor. 5.21 22. Galat. 3.13 Jerem. 23.6 first there is his essential and personal holiness as he is God Now this essential holiness of Christ cannot be imparted nor imputed to any mortal man it is essential to him But Secondly there is his mediatory holiness or that holiness which he wrought for us as Mediator Now the holiness of Christ as Mediator did consist both in the habitual holiness of his person in the absence of all sin and in the rich and plentiful presence of all holy and supernatural qualities as also in the actual holiness of his life and death by his active obedience by his subjecting of his heart and life to divine precepts he perfectly fulfilled the commands of the Law and by his passive obedience his voluntary sufferings he fully satisfied the comminations penalties and curses of the Law Now this mediatory holiness of Christs is ours by imputation and by vertue of which we stand recti in curia justified in the sight of God 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption This Mediatory holiness of Christ reckoned unto a believing sinner is that whereby he is constituted holy in foro Dei and upon this account they are said to be all fair Cant. 4.7 Nemo-bonus qui non ex malo bonus Aug. to be without spot or wrinckle Ephes 5.25 26 27. to be compleat in him Col. 2.10 and to be without fault before the throne of God Rev. 14.4 5. And certainly without this mediatory holiness of Christ there is no appearing before God there is no glorious vision nor fruition of God Hab. 1.13 God is a God of that infinite purity and holiness that no holiness below the imputative holiness of Christ can make a man stand before him or bring a man to the fruition of him It was a very sweet and excellent saying of Bernard when in his own opinion he was at the point of death I confess said he I am not worthy Guliel Abbas in vita Bern. lib. 1. cap. 12. I have no merits of mine own to obtain heaven by but my Lord had a double right thereunto An hereditary right as a Son and a Meritorious right as a Sacrifice He was contented with the one right himself the other right he hath
mocked at the Virgin dâ—ughter of Sion but his scoffs issued in the destruction of his Army by the hand of an Angel and in his own by the hands of his two Sons Julian the Emperour was a great mocker and scoffer at the Christians but God struck him with an Arrow from heaven which made him cry out Vicisti Galilee thou Galilean meaning our Lord Jesus hast overcome me Felix for one malicious scoff did nothing day and night but vomit blood till his unhappy soul was separated from his wretched body Lucian for barking against religion as a dog was by the just judgements of God devoured of dogs History tells us of some scoffers that God hath stricken with madness Others with blindness others with loathsome diseases and some God hath stricken dead and others he hath left to be their own Executioners Scoffing at holiness is a Metropolitan sin and therefore no wonder if God executes upon scoffers Metropolitan judgements Mockers and scoffers are the worst of sinners Among the three sorts of sinners that David mentions Scorners have the chair The chair of Pestilence as the Septuagint translateth it Scorners are the pests of mankind Psalm 1.1 In Cathedra pest lentiae The eye of the Scorner is blinded the heart of the scorner is hardned the judgement of the scorner is perverted the will of the scorner is enthralled and the conscience of the scorner is seared and this makes the scorner fall mad upon scoffing at holy men and holy things Look as they are the worst of servants that will scoff and mock a child in the family because he is his Fathers picture though they take wages of his Father and live by his Father so they are the worst of sinners who scoff at holiness which is the very picture of God though they live by him and cannot live without him Yet this world is full of such monsters who count it a grace to disgrace holiness and to lade holy ones with all the names of scorn and contempt that they can invent or that Satan can help them to These are your holy brethren these are Phanaticks these are your holy Sect these are your pure souls these are your strict Precifians these are the Saints forsooth these are the brotherhood Erasmus saith that that Proverb A young Saint and an old devil was devised by the Devil himself to scoff and mock men out of their holiness It hath been the common portion of men most eminent in grace and holiness to be most scofft and scorned in all Ages Iob 17.2 Nehem. 4.1 Isaiah 28.22 Luke 18.32 witness Noah Isaac and Elisha but now cited and witness Job Chap. 21.3 Suffer me that I may speak and after that I have spoken mock on Chap. 12.4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour who calleth upon God and he answereth him the just upright man is laughed to scorn So David Psalm 35.16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts they gnashed upon me with their teeth Psalm 44.14 Thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen Psalm 79.4 We are become a reproach and derision to them who are round about us Psalm 109.25 I am become a reproach to them when they looked upon me they shaked their heads So Isa 8.18 Behold I and the children that the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel So Jeremiah Chap. 20.7 I am in derision daily every one mocketh me So Paul Acts 17.18 What will this babler say So the Apostles Acts 2.13 Others mocking said These men are full of new wine So those Worthies of whom this world was not worthy Heb. 11.36 Mat. 26.68 Ch. 27 29 31. Luke 22 63. Chap. 23.11 Mark 15 31. Yea the Philosophers called Christ a Magician and affirmed that he did all by Necromancy Calv. Jnst Advers Libert c. 9. Others had tryal of cruel mockings But above all how sadly how frequently yea how fearfully was our Lord Jesus Christ scoffed and scorned by Herod and Pilate and flouted by the rascally souldiers but the vengeance of his Father overtook them all And in the Primitive times as Tertullian observes the Saints were called heards of Asses vile fellows the Disciples of a man crucified Galileans Nazarites Eaters of mens flesh and drinkers of mens blood The Heathens as the same Author observes painted the God of the Christians with an Asses head and a book in his hand to signifie that though the Christians pretended to knowledge yet they were a company of silly ignorant Asses The Libertines of old have cast much scorn and contempt upon all the Apostles they call Matthew an Usurer Lam 3.45 1 Cor. 4 45. Lam 2.15 16. Ch. 4 2. vide Peter an Apostate Luke a pelting Physitian Paul a broken vessel and John a foolish young man c. by way of scorn and contempt Athanasius was called Sathanasius and Cyprian was called Coprian one that gathers up dung and so Luther Calvin and almost every one that hath attained to any eminency in holiness they have been commonly accounted as the off-scouring and refuse among the people Now certainly if holiness be the only way to happiness c. then such as are scorners and scoffers at holiness are out of the very way to happiness and how such are like to come to heaven that scorn the very path that leads to heaven I shall leave you to judge If the Ravens of the valley shall pick out his eyes that mocketh his Father and the young Eagles eat out his eyes that despiseth the instruction of his Mother Prov. 30.17 The first thing that Eagles do when they have found a carkass is to pick out its eyes as Solomon speaks then of how much sorer punishment are they guilty off who mock and scoff at holiness which is the very Image picture and glory of God himself holiness is so near akin to God that no man can deride holiness but he derides God himself As he that mocks the poor derides him that made him Prov. 17.5 so he that mocks holy ones derides that God that made them holy And will God take this at the scorners hands no he will retaliate he loves to retaliate scorn upon the scorner Proverbs 3.34 Surely he scorneth the scorners God will pay home scorners in their own coyn scorners shall be sure to have scorning enough Prov. 1.24 ult Psalm 2.4 Isa 37.36 God so scorns the persons and prayers of scorners that he will have nothing to do with them The Angels so scorn scorners that instead of being a life-guard to them they stand ready prest to execute the vengeance of heaven upon them And Saints are so far to scorn them by a divine precept as not to reprove them Prov. 9.8 Reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee Yea God in his just judgements will make scorners to be an abomination to all sorts of men Prov. 24.9 The scorner is an abomination to men that is to all sorts of men the scorner is an abomination
may be much like his own should attempt to come in yet the Father will keep him out and wish him to repair to his own home So when the night of death comes the Father of Spirits will only take into the family of heaven his own child viz. the child of holiness but now if the child of gifts which is so like the child of holiness should press hard upon God to come in as that child of gifts Baalam did Numb 23.10 Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his God will answer him No he will say to him as he did to that child of gifts Judas Acts 1.25 Mat. 8.12 Go to your own place In the night of death and judgement the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out the children of the Kingdom that is of the Church now the children of the Kingdom are children of gifts and yet there will come a day when these children shall be cast out Gen. 25.6 c. As Abraham put off the sons of the Concubines with gifts but entailed the inheritance upon Isaac So God puts off many men now with gifts but he entails the heavenly inheritance upon holiness Psalm 24.3 4. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully Heaven is for that man and that man is for heaven who hath clean hands and a pure heart whose holy conversation is attended with heart-purification a pure heart is better then a golden head a heart full of holy affections is infinitely beyond a head full of curious notions there is no Jewel there is no anointing to that of holiness he that hath that hath all and he that wants that hath nothing at all But Eightly and lastly if real holiness be the only way to happiness if men must be holy on earth or they shall never come to a blessed fruition of God in heaven then by way of conviction let me say that this truth looks very sowerly and angrily upon those who are so far from being holy themselves that they cannot endure holiness in those that are about them or any waies related to them Ah how many unholy people be there that cannot endure holiness in their Ministers and how many unholy husbands are there that cannot endure holiness in their yoak-fellows and how many unholy parents are there that cannot endure holiness in their children and how many unholy Masters are there that cannot endure holiness in their servants The Panther say some when she cannot come at the man she rendeth and teareth his picture in pieces so many unholy husbands unholy fathers and unholy masters when they cannot rend and tear the persons of their relations in pieces ah how do they do their best to rend and tear the image of God upon them Matth. 23.14 15. 2 Sam. 6.16 20. viz. holiness in pieces These forlorn souls will not be holy themselves nor suffer others to be holy neither they will neither go to heaven themselves nor suffer others to go thither who are strongly biased that way Some despise their gracious relations even eâ— nomine for that very reason because they are holy sometimes you shall hear them speak at such a rate as this Well our relations are wise and witty but so holy they are very knowing and thriving but so precise they have good parts and sweet natures but they are so strict they are so round that they will not endure an oath a lye c. and therefore I cannot abide them I cannot endure them These are like he in Seneca which was so fearfully idle that his sides would ake to see another work So these are so fearfully wicked that it makes their sides their heads their very hearts ake to see others holy How far these are in their actings below Heathens you may see in Rom. 16.10 11. Aristobulus and Narcissus that are spoken of in this Scripture were both Heathens and yet they had in their families those that were in the Lord those that were gracious c. Heathens were so ingenuous that they would not despise that holiness in others that they wanted in themselves they were so noble that they would give holiâ—ess house-room though they knew not how to give it heart-room Gen. 39.1 2 3 4. So Potiphar though he was an Heathen yet he gave holy Joseph both house-room and heart-room These and several other heathens of the like spirit with them will one day rise in Judgement against many in these dayes that are so far faln out with holiness as that they will not endure it under the roof of their houses yea as that they make it the greatest matter of scorn and derision Like those in Lam. 2.15 16. All that pass by clap their hands at thee they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole earth All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee they hiss and gnash the teeth they say We have swallowed her up c. Ah how many such monsters are there in these dayes who express their derision disdain and contempt of holiness and holy persons by all the scornful gestures postures and expressions imaginable that clap their hands that hiss that wag their head that gnash their teeth and that say Lo these are your Saints these are your holy ones your perfect ones your beautiful ones It is very sad to want holiness but it is saddest of all to deride holiness to disdain holiness Of this evil spirit Salvian complained in his time Salvi de Guber lib. 4. What madness is this saith he amongst Christians that if a man be good he is despised as if he were evil if he be evil he is honoured as if he were good And as great cause have we to complain of the prevalency of the same evil spirit in our times If the wife be holy 1 Cor. 7.16 how is she despised by her unholy husband as if she were wicked If she be wicked how is she honoured as if she were holy So if the child be gracious how is he disdained as if he were gracless if he be gracless how is he admired as if he were gracious So if a Servant be godly how is he scorned as if he were godless if he be godless how is he applauded as if he were godly Certainly God will never endure such to stand in his sight who cannot endure the sight of holiness Doubtless Psalm 1.5 God will never give them any room in heaven who will not so much as give holiness a little house-room I say not heart-room here He that now despises and disdains holiness in others shall at last be eternally despised and disdained for want of holiness himself Vse 2. THe second Use is
exercises of Religion But Eleventhly True holinesse is conformable to the holinesse of Christ The holinesse of Christ is that first and noble pattern that real holinesse makes us conformable to 1 John 4.17 1 John 2.6 Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldnesse in the day of judgement because as he is so are we in this world there is no grace in Christ which is not in some degree formed in a holy heart and therefore the work of grace and holinesse is called a forming of Christ in the soul Gratiam super gratiam say some Gratiam gratiae accumalatam say others Certainly Christ is a seminary of graces He is clara Epitome virtutum An exact Epitome of graces Gal. 4.19 Holy hearts have the very prints stamps and impressions of the graces of Jesus Christ upon them 1 John 16. Of his fulnesse we have all received grace for grace Look as face answers to face so the graces that are in real Christians answer to the graces that are in Jesus there is such love as answers to the love of Christ and such lowlinesse as answers to the lowlinesse of Christ and such heavenly mindednesse as answers to the heavenly mindednesse of Christ and such meeknesse as answers to the meeknesse of Christ and such patience as answers to the patience of Christ and such faith as answers to the faith of Christ and such zeal as answers to the zeal of Christ and such fear as answers to the fear of Christ in truth and reality though not in degree and quantity Look as in generation the child receives member for member or as the paper from the Presse letter for letter or the glasse from the face image for image or as the wax from the seal stamp for stamp so holy hearts receive from Christ grace for grace Look as wine in the bottle is conformable to that in the Butt and as water in the Cistern is conformable to that in the river and as light in the Air is conformable to that in the Sun and as milk in the sawcer is conformable to milk in the breasts and as money in the pocket is conformable to money in the bagg So the graces that are in a holy Christian are conformable to the graces that are in Christ 2 Cor. 3.17 18. To be a Philosopher saith Plato is to know God to be in love with God and to imitate God So say I to be a holy person is to know a holy Christ to be in love with a holy Christ and to imitate the vertues of a holy Christ It was the height of Caesars glory to walk in the steps of Alexander And of Selymus a Turkish Emperour to walk in the steps of Caesar And of Themistocles to walk in the steps of Miltiades so it is the height of a Christians glory to tread in the vertuous steps of his dearest Lord. And as Scipio accounted it no small disparagement for him to walk one foot awry from that course of life which Cyrus in Xenophon had gone before him in so a holy heart counts it no small disparagement to him in the least to step awry from that holy pattern that Christ hath set him Look as the holy Prophet did lay his mouth to the Shunamites childs mouth 2 Kings 4.34 and his eyes to his eyes and his hands to his hands So a holy Christian layes his mouth to the mouth of Christ and his eys to the eyes of Christ and his hands to the hands of Christ and his breasts to the breasts of Christ and his heart to the heart of Christ that is 1 Pet. 2.9 he doth in all things labour to resemble Christ to be like to Christ especially in those holy vertues which were most shining in the heart and life of Christ Now certainly they are far from being holy who count it a crime to be vertuous and so are they who walk directly contrary to Jesus Christ he was holy but they are prophane he was humble but they are proud he was heavenly but they are earthly he was spiritual but they are carnal he was zealous but they are luke-warm he was meek but they are contentions he was charitable but they are covetous he was courteous but they are malitious Will you call these men holy surely no. But Twelfthly He that is truly holy Joshua 7.9 Psalm 69.9 Ezra 9.3 Nehemiah 9. Daniel 9. Micah 1.8 Ierem. 13.17 is much affected and afflicted with the unholinesse of others Psal 119.53 Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy Law Ver. 158. I beheld the transgressors and was grieved because they kept not thy Word Ver. 136. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes because they keep not thy Law By this Hyperbolical phrase he sets forth the greatnesse of his sorrows and that not because his enemies had wronged him but because they had dishonoured his God It was a great grief to him ro see others a grieving his God So Jer. 9.1 2 3. O that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night Oh that I had in the wildernesse a lodging place of wayfaring men that I might leave my people and go from them But why doth the holy Prophet thus take on why doth he thus lament why doth he wish himself turned into waters and into a fountain of tears why doth he prefer a habitation amongst the wild beasts before his habitation among his own people Why the cause you have in the following words for they be all Adulterers an Assembly of treacherous men And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth for they proceed from evil to evil and they know not me saith the Lord. So Ezek. 9.4 And the Lord said unto him Go through the midst of the City through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof There were holy hearts in Jerusalem that did sigh and cry and cry and sigh for the wickednesse of the times the abominations of the times did lye in such full weight upon them that they did fetch many a sigh from their hearts and many a tear from their eyes Holy hearts are able to tell you many sad stories of the groans griefs and gripes that other mens sins hath cost them When most were a sinning Gods marked ones were a mourning when others were with a high hand a cursing blaspheming and a rebelling Gods marked ones were deeply sorrowing they mourned cordially they sighed greatly they grieved wonderfully they groaned lamentably and that not for some but for all for all Court sins and Church sins and City sins and family sins And so holy Paul could not with dry eyes make mention of those belly-gods and earth-worms that were in his time Phil. 3.18 So holy Lot was
judgement proof The day of judgement will be to a holy man a marriage day a day of redemption a day of coronation a day of exaltation and therefore he may well lift up his head and rejoyce Look as the Israelites who had the blood of the Passeover on their door-posts Exo. 12.7.11 though the destroyer was abroad and a dreadfull cry was all over Aegypt yet they were not slain not stricken they did not fear not tremble but had their loyns ready girt and staves in their hands boldly and cheerfully expecting when the happy and joyful hour of their redemption would come Heb. 9.14 So those that have the door-posts of their hearts and consciences sprinkled with holinesse in this terrible day of the Lord they shall with boldnesse and cheerfulnesse lift up their faces because the day of their redemption is come Sermon de Signis prae extr Júd And this made Luther say that he had rather never have been born then not to be in hope of this day This day to Gods holy ones will be melodia in aure Psalm 1.5 2 Thess 2.7 8 9 10. jubilum in corde like musick in the ear and a Jubilee in the heart It is true the ungodly shall not stand in Judgement Stand they must to be arraigned sentenced and condemned Stand they shall but not with any boldnesse or cheerfulnesse comfort or content Stand they shall but not to be approved acquitted or absolved Chaff and stubble cannot stand before that God that is a consuming fire When Belshazzar saw the hand writing upon the wall Heb. 12. ult Dan. 5.5 6. O how was he affrighted how was his countenance changed his joints loosed and his knees dashed one against another O how do many ungodly men now tremble at a thunder-crack in the clouds and at a flash of lightning in the air but how will they tremble and quake when the whole frame of heaven and earth shall break in pieces and be set in a flame about their ears O what trouble of mind what horror and terror of conscience what weeping and wailing what crying and roaring what wringing of hands what tearing of hair and what gnashing of teeth will there be among the ungodly in this day when they shall see their sins charged on them on the one side and divine Justice terrifying them on the other side when they shall look upward and there see an angry God frowning upon them and look downward and there see hell gaping ready to receive them and look inward and there find conscience accusing and gnawing of them When they shall look on their right hands and there behold the good Angels standing with so many flaming swords to keep them out of heaven and look on their left hands and there behold the devil and his Angels ready prest to dragg them down to the lowest hell O now how will they wish for the Rocks to fall upon them and the mountains to cover them how will they wish that they had never been born or that they might now be unborn how will they now wish that their immortal souls were mortal or that their souls might be turned into the nature of Beasts Birds Stones Trees or Air or any thing rather what they are I have read a story of two Souldiers Holcot who being in the valley of Jehosaphat in Judea the one said to the other Here in this place shall be the general Judgement and therefore I will now take up my place where I will then sit and so lifting up a stone he sate down upon it as taking possession before hand but being sate and looking up to heaven such a quaking and trembling fell upon him that falling to the earth he remembred the day of Judgement with horror and amazement for ever after But alas what heart is able to conceive or what tongue is able to expresse the fear and dread the horror and terror the astonishment and amazement that will fall upon all ungodly persons in this day And yet even now Gods holy ones shall lift up their heads and hearts they shall be bold and stedfast they shall be far from fear shame or trembling And thus you see that godlinesse that holinesse is the most gainfull trade And therefore Sirs as you love gain as you tender your own profit and advantage labour to be holy But Twelthly Consider this that holinesse will put the greatest splendour and majesty upon persons that can possibly be put upon them Job 29.8 9 10 11. vide Prov. 12.26 There is nothing that imprints such a reverence and Majesty upon man as holinesse doth There is nothing that is such a grace to man as grace It is holinesse that puts the greatest excellency and majesty upon man Psalm 16.3 But to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight Saints are the most excellent ones Arias Montanus Junius c. The Hebrew word Veadire from Adar that is here rendred excellent signifies magnificis the magnificent ones or the noble glorious or wonderfull ones Saints or holy persons are the most excellent magnificent noble glorious ones And in Dan. 8.24 the holy people are called mighty because there are no people upon the earth that have might and Majesty stampt upon them as they have Cant. 6.10 Some by the Moon understand inherent righteousness and by the Sun they understand imputed righteousness Who is she that looketh forth as the morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun and terrible as an Army with banners The light grace glory and holinesse of the Church rises by degrees and this makes her terrible to all her enemies Every degree of holinesse is terrible to the unholy but the higher the Church rises in holinesse the more terrible and majestical it grows Holinesse puts such a splendor and graceful Majesty upon all persons that have it as even dazles the eyes sometimes of wicked men and begets in them an awe and reverence As it is evident in Saul 1 Sam. 24.17 And Saul said to David Thou art more righteous then I for thou hast rewarded me good whereas I have rewarded thee evil So Herod in Mark 6.20 it is said That he feared John knowing that he was a just man and holy and observed him Holinesse is very Majestical the greatest Monarchs fall down before it Herod reverences John not for his birth or breeding but for his holinesse not for his Arts or Parts but for his holinesse not for his Schollarship or greatnesse but for his holinesse 2 Kings 11.1 2. So that great Monarch King Joash fell down before the holinesse of Jehojada whilest he lived And so did the holinesse of the three children command tespect and honour from that great Monarch Nebuchadnezzar And so did the holinesse of Daniel Daniel 3. cause King Darius to reverence him and to cast a favourable Aspect upon him And so did the Holinesse that was written upon
Traveller mend his pace when he sees the night comes on and shall the Smiâ—â— strike when the Iron is hot and shall not we take the present opportunity of repenting and turning to the Lord Remembring that there will be a time when time shall be no more He. 12.17 Luke 13.24 27. and when there shall be no place found for repentance though it should be sought carefully with tears and remembring that there will be a time when thy glass will be out when the door will be shut and when there will be no entrance at all And remembring that it is a safer course with prudent Prometheus to foresee a danger and shun it then with foolish Epimetheus to go on unadvisedly and be punished Ah friends it is a dangerous thing to make repentance What madness and folly is it for a man that hath many young strong stout horses and a long journey to go to let these pass by and to lay his carriage and get up himself upon an old feeble jade that can hardly bear himself The application is easie Mal. 1.13 14. which should be the practice of all your dayes to be the task of old Age. Doth not common experience tell us that the longer the Ship leaketh the harder it is to be emptied and that the longer the house goes to decay the worse it is to repair and that the further the nail is driven the harder it will be to get out and so certainly the longer any man defers his repentance the more difficult it will be for him to repent his heart will every day grow more and more hard his will more and more perverse and his judgement more and more corrupted and his affections more and more disordered and his conscience more and more benummed or enraged and his whole life more and more defiled and debauched Friends do not deceive your selves old age is but a sad a sandy a tottering and sinking foundation for you to build your hopes and happinesse upon for you to build your everlasting condition your eternal making or marring upon Are the dog dayes of old age are the trembling hands the wrinckled face the dazeled eyes the stinking lungs the fainting heart the feeble knees and the failing leggs are these a sacrifice worthy of God is a body full of sores aches and diseases and a soul full of sin an offering becoming a God surely no. O what madnesse what wickednesse is this to serve Satan your lusts and this world with full dishes and to put off God with scraps to serve these in the flower in the prime and primrose of you days and to put off God with the dregs of old age Certainly repentance is rather a work for youth then old age it is a work rather for strength then weaknesse and for health then sicknesse O do not let Satan deceive you do not let your own hearts delude you but fall upon the work of repentance presently knowing that as you have one day more to repent of so you have one day lesse to repent in What a piece of vanity is it that while the Ship is sound the tackling sure the Pilot well the Sailers strong provisions laid in and the wind favourable that the Mariners and passengers should lie in the Rode carding drinking diceing dancing and idling And when the Ship is leak the Pilot sick the mariners faint provisions spent and the winds boisterous then to weigh Anchors and hoist up sail to make a voyage into a far Countrey And yet such is the vanity of most men who in the dayes of their youth health and strength who when their memories are strong and their fancies quick and their Reason ripe c. do sin away and fool away and trifle away the day of grace the offers of mercy the motions of the Spirit and the intreaties of Christ and when old age comes when their wits are crackt their souls distracted their senses stupified their hearts astonied their minds darkned and their bodies diseased and distempered O then they think to leap into heaven with a Lord have mercy upon me in their mouthes and though they have lived like devils yet they hope they shall die like Saints and though they never took no care of Gods honour yet they hope that God will take care of their souls but when the thred of their lives is cut the next news that ever you shall hear of these is that they are gone to hell I have read of a young man who being admonished of the evil of his way and course and being pressed to leave his wickednesse and to break off his sins by repentance upon the consideration of Judgement Eternity and Death a coming he answered what do you tell me of these things I warrant you I will do well enough for when death comes I will speak but three words and that will help all so he went on in his wickednesse but in the end coming to a Bridge on Horse-back to go over a deep water the Horse stumbling and he labouring to recover his Horse could not but at last he let go the Bridle gave up himself and his Horse to the waters and was heard to say these three words Devil take all Here were three words with a witnesse And ô that all that think to repent at last with a Lord have mercy upon me would lay this instance to heart The light of thy life may be put out before thou canst once say Miserere mei Deus Lord be mercifull to me a sinner Though the Chariot wheels run all the day long very near one another yet they never overtake one another O take heed of delaying thy repentance for the more thou delayest it the more will thy account be increased thy debt augmented Satan strengthned thy body infeebled thy lusts imboldned thy soul endangered and all the difficulties of conversion more and more multiplied by delaying of thy repentance thou goest the way to gratifie Satan to cozen thy self to lose the opportunities of grace and to damn thy soul for ever and ever Well remember this if thou wilt not repent to day God may swear in his wrath to morrow that thou shalt not enter into his rest and then wo to thee that ever thou wert born And thus much for the preventing of these sad mistakes about repentance which mistakes keep off many a man from looking and labouring after that holinesse without which there is no happinesse Secondly If ever you would be holy O then take heed of a Witch take heed of the world the world often swells the heart with pride â—eut 32.15.22 it makes men forget God neglect Christ slight Ordinances and despise holinesse Ah the time the thoughts the strength That Cardinal was wretched as well as rich that would not leave his part in Paris for a part in Paradise the spirits that this enticing world hath made many to spend and consume whilest their souls have lien a bleeding and
be thou clean his prayer was short and sweet and his answer was sudden and gracious Eighthly Tell him that thou art unwilling to be miserable for ever tell him that thou canst not bare the thoughts of an eternall separation from him and yet this must be thy portion except he will glorifie the riches of his grace in bestowing of that pearle of price holiness upon thee oh tell him that thy want of holiness is now thy greatest hell tell him that thou art now fully resolved to give him no rest till he has changed thy heart and made thee in some measure to be what he would have thee to be c. It is observable amongst the worst of men the Turks yea amongst the worst of Turks the Moores that by their Law it is a just exception against any witness that he hath not prayed six times every natural day it being a usual custome with them to pray for day before the day brake and when 't is day they give thanks for day light and at noone they give thanks to God that halfe the day is past and then at last they pray that they may have a good night after their day Ah sinners sinners shall not these Turks rise up one day in Judgement against you that thinke not holiness worth a praying for Object But the prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord Pro. 15.8 Chap. 28.9 and he casts their sacrifices as dung in their faces Isa 1.11 16. Ch. 58.1 7. their very prayers are sinfull and therefore they were better neglect prayer till God shall worke graciously and savingly upon them then to pray and so to sin as often as they pray c. To this I answer First The prayers of the wicked may be materially good when they are not formally good yea when they are Theologically evil 2 Chron. 25.2 Amaziah did that which was perfect in the sight of the Lord as to the matter but not with a perfect or sincere heart he failed not in the matter but in the manner he did not doe that good he did from principles of faith love c. nor to a right end divine glory many unsanctified persons may have the gift of prayer that have not the spirit of prayer Psal 78.36 37. Pro. 1.27 28. Isa 58.1 2 3 4. nor the grace of prayer Math. 7.21 Ch. 23.14 Now certainly where God gives such a gift he requires the use of it the gift of prayer is from the Spirit as well as the grace of prayer and who can tell but that upon the use of the gift of prayer the Spirit may give the grace of prayer however 't is dangerous to neglect a gift the sloathfull servant was not cast into utter darkness for rioting out his Talent but for not improving of his Talent Math. 25.30 That the prayers of a wicked man are not formally good must be granted yea that they are abominable and ineffectual cannot be denied they are like the precious stone Diacletes which though it hath many excellent Soveraignties in it yet it looseth them all if it be put in a dead mans mouth so prayer though it hath many vertues and excellencies in it yet it looseth them all when 't is performed by a man that is spiritually dead that is dead God-wards and Christ-wards and heaven-wards and holiness-wards but if you consider the matter of a wicked mans prayers so they may be good yea so good as that they may prevaile with a good God for much temporal good as I shall shew you before I close up all my answers to this objection But Secondly 'T is a less sin for an unholy person to doe a religious dutie then 't is to omit it now of two sins whereupon not God but a mans selfe hath inevitably put him to commit one of them he must chuse the least he must chuse rather to sin in the manner in not doing of it so well as he should then to faile in the matter and so quite neglect the duty it selfe for this is most certain when God commands a duty absolutely to be done it is a greater sin not to doe it at all then to doe it amiss and the reason is evident because our disobedience is totall in not doing at all and but only partial in doing it otherwise then we ought As for a man wilfully and peremptorily to refuse to heare the word is a greater and a fouler fault then to heare it with a forgetful or a disobedient heart there being more hope of the latter then of the former for some that have come to catch have been caught by the word John 7.46 And therefore come saith Latimer to the word though thou comest to sleepe it may be God may take thee napping Joh. Sleidani Comment When Mr Henry Sulphen was preacher at Breme several Roman Catholiques sent their Chaplains to trap him in his words but the power of God was so wonderfully seen in his preaching that the greatest part of them that came to ensnare him were converted by him 'T is good to come to the word though a man comes with an ill intent to come though he should come with a purpose to catch for in so coming he may be catch'd as Augustine was by Ambrose without doubt there is no disobedience to that which is total partial disobedience is no disobedience to that which is total That wife that totally disobeys her husband and that child that totally disobeys the father and that servant that totally disobeys his Master is much more to blame and doe much more provoke then those that are onely partiall in their disobedience and so 't is between God and sinners c. Thirdly If there were any strength in this objection it would lye as strong against a wicked man's civil actions as it do's against his religious actions Prov. 21.4 The plowings of the wicked is sin not only the prayers of the wicked but also the plowings of the wicked are sin not only the spiritual but also the natural and civil actions of a wicked man are sin and therefore according to their arguing a wicked man must not exercise himselfe in his calling in his plowing and sowing c. because that his civil actions are sinfull as well as his religious and 't is as impossible for him to please God in the one as 't is to please him in the other but surely all men that are in their wits will either sigh or laugh at such kinde of reasonings But Fourthly This objection lyes as strong against wicked mens natural actions viz. their eating drinking and sleeping c. as it do's against their praying 1 Cor. 10.31 when a wicked man eats he is to eate to divine glory and when he drinks he is to drinke to divine glory and when he recreates himselfe he is to recreate himselfe to divine glory and when he sleeps he is to sleep to divine glory in all these natural and common actions he is
to poor sinners without their using of the means but he won't being resolved that they shall use the means of hearing reading praying and conference c. and when they have done leave the issue of all their labors and endeavors to his good Will and pleasure I have taken the more pains fully and clearly to answer this objection that it may never more have a resurrection in any of your souls Ninthly If ever you would be holy then when you have done all wait Oh hear and wait and wait and hear pray and wait and wait and pray read and wait and wait and read confer and wait and wait and confer watch and wait and wait and watch Oh sirs shall the husbandman wait for a good harvest Jam. 5.7 8. and the Merchant for good returns and the Watchman for the dawning of the day and the Patient for a happy cure and the poor Client for a day of hearing c and will not you wait for Christ and wait for the spirit and wait for pardon and wait for grace and wait for glory c Oh sinners sinners remember you are at the right doore and therefore wait Oh remember that whilst you are waiting for mercy God is preparing of mercy Oh remember that 't is mercy that you may wait for mercy devils and damned spirits can't wait for mercy wait they must but O 't is for more wrath anger and fiery indignation Oh remember your condition bespeaks waiting for you are poor halt lame blinde and miserable creatures Oh remember that mercy is sweetest when it comes after a patient waiting Deut. 32.13 He made him to suck honey out of the rock and oil out of the flinty rock That is he made him to suck water that was as sweet as honey out of the rock out of the flinty rock Oh remember that a patient waiting for mercy is the onely way to greaten your mercy The longer said the Emperors son the Cooks are a preparing the meat the better the chear will be his meaning was the longer he staid for the Empire the greater it would be So the longer a soul waits for mercy the greater and the better it will be when it comes as you may see in that famous instance of the poor man that lay eight and thirty years at the Pool of Bethesda Joh. 5.2.16 Famous was the patience of Elijah's servant 1 King 18.8 who in obedience to his Masters command went seven several times up and down steep Carmel which could not be without danger and difficulty and all to bring news of nothing till his last journey which made a recompence for all the rest with the tydings of a cloud arising Oh so do but patiently wait upon the Lord and that grace that favour that mercy will come at last which will fully recompence you for all your waitings remember that the mercies of God are not styled the swift Isa 55.3 but the sure mercies of David mercy may be sure though it be not presently upon the wing flying towards us And the same Prophet saith the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward Isa 58.8 now this we know comes up last to secure and make good all the rest for where Grace leads the Front Glory at last will be in the Rere Oh do but patiently wait Heb. 10.37 and he that shall come will come and will not tarry not a year not a quarter not a month not a week not a day no not an hour beyond the prefixed time that he hath set of shewing mercy to poor sinners O how sad was it that Saul should lose his Kingdom for want of two or three hours patience but O how much more sad will it be if thou shouldst lose all the prayers that thou hast made and all the Sermons that thou hast heard and all the tears that thou hast shed and all other pains that thou hast taken and all for want of a little more patience yea how woful sad would it be if thou shouldst lose thy God and lose thy Christ and lose thy soul and lose an eternity of glory and all for want of a little patience to wait the Lords leisure O therefore resolve to hold on waiting to the death and if thou must perish to perish in a waiting way which if thou shouldst thou wouldst be the first that ever so perished O remember that if God should come and mercy come and pardon come and grace come when thy Sun is near setting when thy glass is almost out and when there is but a short step between thee and eternity it will infinitely recompence thee for all thy waiting and therefore wait still and to keep up thy spirits and to uphold thy soul in a waiting way O! that thou wouldest make these following promises thy daily food thy daily friends thy daily companions Psal 27.14 Waâ—t on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. Prov. 20.22 Wait on the Lord and he shall save thee Isa 30.18 And therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you for the Lord is a God of judgement Blessed are all they that wait for him Chap. 40. ult But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings as Eagles they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint Chap. 49.23 They shall not be ashamed that wait for me And Chap. 64.4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear neither hath the eye seen O God besides thee what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him Pro. 8.34 Blessed is the man that heareth me watching daily at my gates waiting at the posts of my doors O how should these precious promises encourage your hearts to wait on the Lord O how should they lengthen and draw out your patience to the utmost But Tenthly and lastly Dwell much upon the memorable judgements of God that even in this life has faln upon unholy persons Remember Lots wife O! remember her sin and punishment that so fearing the one Luk. 17.32 you may learn to take heed of the other Isa 26.9 When thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness that is they should learn righteousness for so the words may be read they should learn to fear thee and learn to turn unto thee and learn to forsake their sins and amend their lives When thy judgements thy memorable judgements are abroad in the world it highly concerns all the sons of men to look after holy dispositions holy affections and holy conversations that so it may go well with them in the day of the Lords wrath others sense the words thus When thy judgements are on the earth the inhabitants of the world that is sinners as well as Saints
and therefore rather then Daniel shall be hurt God will by a miracle preserve him he will stop the mouthes of the hungry Lyons and he will tame their rage and over-master their cruelty rather then a hair of Daniels head shall perish when Daniel was taken out of the Den there was no hurt no wound no sore no bruise found upon him Daniel was a harmless man and God keeps him from harms in the midst of harms Acts 18.9 10. Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision be not afraid but speak and hold not thy peace For I am with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee for I have much people in this City Paul met with many trials and troubles bonds and prisons oppositions and persecutions Acts 20.23 and yet none of all these hurt him but God miraculously preserved him even to old age All the troubles Phil. 9. afflictions and persecutions that attends holiness can never reach a Christians soul they can never diminish a Christians treasure they reach the shell not the kernel the Case not the Jewel the lumber not the goods the out-house not the Palace the ribbon in the hat not the gold in the purse the most fiery trials and persecutions can never deprive a Christian of the special presence of God nor of the light of his countenance Psal 23.4 2 Cor. 1.8 9 12. nor of the testimony of a good conscience nor of the joys of the spirit nor of the pardon of sin nor of fellowship with Christ nor of the exercise of grace nor of the hopes of glory and therefore certainly they can't hurt a Christian they can't wronge a Christian in his greatest and chiefest concernments O Christian let persecutors do their worst they can't reach thy soul thy God thy comfort thy crown thy Paradise c. and therefore let no man be kept off from pursuing after holiness because of afflictions or persecutions seeing none of these can reach a Christians great concernments When the Emperor Valens threatned to confiscate Basils goods and to torment him and to banish him or kill him Basil makes this noble reply He needs not fear confiscation of goods that hath nothing to loose nor banishment to whom heaven onely is a country nor torments when his body may be dash't with one blow nor death which is the onely way to set him at liberty the Emperor hearing of him thus undantedly to speak told him that he was mad to whom he replyed opte me in aeternum sic delirare I wish that I may be for ever thus mad Basil knew that no torments nor sufferings could hurt him or harm him and therefore he bravely triumphs over them They may kill me said Socrates of his enemies but they cannot hurt me So may a Saint say they may kill my body but they cannot hurt my soul they may take away my natural life but they cannot take away my spiritual life for that is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 they may take away this and that outward comfort Heb. 11. but they cannot take away my Christ they may take away my costly ornaments but they cannot take away that Robe of righteousness that Christ has put upon me Isa 61.10 they may take away my earthly crown but they cannot take away that crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous Judge 2 Tim. 4.8 has laid up for all that love his appearing Methinks said one of the Martyrs I tread upon pearls when he trod upon hot burning coals Vincentius and I feel said he no more pain then if I lay in a bed of Doune and yet he lay in flames of fire I have read of Nero that he had a shirt made of a Salamanders skin so that if he walk't through the fire in it it would keep him from burning it would keep him from being hurt or harmed by the fire our Lord Jesus Christ is this Salamanders skin that will keep the Saints from burning yea from being hurt or harmed by the most fiery afflictions and persecutions that can befall them in this world But Fourthly I answer That the condition of persecutors of all conditions under heaven is the most sad and deplorable condition and this will appear by the consideration of these five things First By the prayers and enditements that the Saints have preferred against them in the highest court of Justice I mean in the Parliament of Heaven Psal 35.3 9. Psa 69.22 29. Neh. 4.3 4 5. turn to it Draw out the Spear and stop the way against them that persecute me say unto my soul I am thy salvation Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt Let them be as chaffe before the winde and let the Angel of the Lord chase them Let their way be dark and slippery or darkness and slipperiness and let the Angel of the Lord persecute them For without cause have they hid for me their net Both good and evil Angels are at Gods beck ready to execute vengeance upon his and his peoples enemies and persecutors and therefore the Text may be understood of both in a pit which without cause they have digged for my soule Let destruction come upon him ar unawares and let his net that he hath hid catch himselfe into that very destruction let him fall So in that 83 Psalme David sighs out his sad complaints against his persecutors from ver 2. to ver the 9th and from ver the 9. to ver the 18. he prayes against them turne to it 't is a text that is worthy of your most serious meditation Psal 119.84 How many are the dayes of thy servant when wilt thou execute judgement on them that persecute me Jer. 15.15 O Lord thou knowest remember me and visite me and revenge me of my persecutors take me not away in thy long suffering know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Chap. 17.18 Let them be confounded that persecute me but let not me be confounded let them be dismayed but let not me be dismayed bring upon them the day of evill and destroy them with double destruction or break them with a double breach Lam. 3.61 ult Thou hast heard their reproach O Lord and all their imaginations against me The lips of those that rose up against me and their device against me all the day Behold their sitting down and their rising up I am their musick or I am their song Render unto them a recompence O Lord according to the work of their hands Give them sorrow of heart thy curse unto them Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the Lord. 2 Tim. 4.14 Alexander the Copper-smith did me much evill the Lord reward him according to his works Thus you see how the hearts of the Saints have been drawn out against their persecutors Prayers are the Armes that
sake the least dram of which being more worth then a thousand thousand of those things for which they have suffered such exquisite paines and torments Ah what great things what hard things doe many men daily suffer to gratifie their own lusts and to satisfie the lusts of others Ah how frequently doe many venture their lives their estates their names their consciences yea their very souls to court a Dalilah Oh the hell of horrors and terrors which are worse then a thousand deaths that many a sinner daily wades thorough to enjoy his sin and why then shouldst thou be startled in thy pursuit after holiness because of afflictions and persecutions that may attend thee when they are nothing to what many suffer from within and without to enjoy that which will undoe them to all eternity c. But Eleventhly I answer Though persecutions may attend the pursuit of holiness yet God has a thousand thousand wayes to preserve his people from being ruined and destroyed by perseting hands 2 Tim. 3.11 Compared with that 13 and 14. of the Acts. Severall afflictions and persecutions befell Paul at Antioch at Iconium at Lystra but out of them all the Lord delivered him As a righteous cause led him into sufferings so a righteous God led him out of sufferings both Jews and Gentiles Barbarians and Grecians Princes and people were as madly set upon persecuting of him as he was once madly set upon persecuting of the Saints but God delivered him from every hand of violence divine power and wisdom wrought gloriously for him both in six troubles and in seven it brought him clearly off and bravely out not of some but out of all his dangers and distresses afflictions and persecutions c. First Now God sometimes preserves his people from being ruined and destroyed Gen. 41.32 Chap. 11.33 Chap. 4. ch 31.29 compared by laying a law of restraint upon the spirits of their persecutors as he did upon Labans and Esaus that they could not hurt him yea in stead of kicking and killing behold kissing and embracing God tyed up those curst Doggs and laid such a restraint upon their wrath rage and malice that they could not so much as touch a hair of Jacobs head God stop't their mouthes and bound their hands that they were not able to act any thing to the prejudice of Jacob. That God that laid a restraint upon the fierce wild creatures in Noahs Ark that they might not prey upon the tamer and that chain'd up the Lyons from preying upon Daniel that God chained up these two Lyons that they could not make a prey of innocent Jacob. But Secondly God does this sometimes by setting persecutors one against another When the Moabites were confederated with the Ammonites and those of Mount-Seir against Judah 2 Chron. 20.22,23,24 Judg. 1.22 Chap. 9.55 56 57. compared God made them turn their swords into one anothers bowels and so they mutually became their own executioners and by this means poor Judah escaped God sometimes saves his Lambs by setting the Wolf and the Dogg together by the ears When that Wolf Saul was even ready to devour David the Lamb God le ts loose those Doggs the Philistines upon Saul 1 Sam. 23.27 and so by this means David was pâ—eserved and secured Acts 23.6 7 8. And so Paul by setting the persecuting Pharisees against the persecuting Scribes he escaped persecution And so the Lord by stiring up the Persians against the Babylonians he brought about the deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity and afterwards by stirring up the Grecians against the Persians and the Romans against the Grecians and the Gothes and Vandals and other barbarous Nations against the Romans he brought about the deliverance of his people In all Ages God by engaging one furious Lyon against another has preserved his sheep in quiet When the Emperor of Germany threatned utter ruine to all the Protestants within his Empire God let loose the Turk to fall with great fury upon his Empire and by that means diverted the Emperors rage and preserved his poor people which were as sheep appointed to the slaughter Ah England England if God had not set thine enemies together by the ears year after year how had they combined and conspired together to have swallowed thee up long before this day But Thirdly God does sometimes save his people from persecutions by passing a sentence of death upon their persecutors And thus by his sudden and fearful judgement upon Herod he gave rest liberty and quiet to his people Acts 12.23 24. And so by his vengeance on persecuting Emperors he gave rest to his people When Julian the Apostate had vowed to to make an oblation of all the lives of the surviving Christians as Gregory Nazianzen reports God struck him with an Arrow from heaven Orat. 4. in Iul. so that he died reviling of Christ and casting up his blood to heaven as if he would have cast it into the very face of Christ And when Eugenius the Tyrant endeavored to destroy the Armies of the Christians under the Emperor Theodosius God gave the very winds a command to wrest the weapons out of their enemies hands and so preserved his people And in 88. how did God make the very winds to fight for his people and so saved them from that bloody invasion by causing his winds to blow and their enemies to sink as Lead in the mighty waters And by giving Achitophel Rope enough he preserved David from perishing But Fourthly God does this sometimes by altering and changing the very hearts and natures of their persecutors And thus by changing Pauls nature Acts 9.31 by turning that Wolf into a Lamb that devil into a Saint he gave the Churches rest throughout all Judea Galilee and Samaria and this is one of the most desirable things in the world that God would save his people from outward ruine by ruining their persecutors sins and by changing their hearts and saving their souls This way God has taken and this way God may take being a free Agent to work when and where and how and on whom he pleases but I can't turn to a promise wherein he has engaged himself to make converts of persecutors his common way of dealing with such is to give them up to blindness of mind and hardness of heart and searedness of conscience and perversness of spirit that so their hell may be the hotter at last But Fifthly God does this sometimes by taking persecutors feet in the same snares that they have laid for others Psal 9.16 Psal 57.6 The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah Higgaion Selah signifies matter of great admiration and of deep meditation that the wicked should be snared in the work of his own hands is matter of perpetual admiration and of most serious meditation Who won't admire that Goliah should be slain with his own sword and that proud Haman should hold Mordecaies stirrup and