the king and deserue no better then death it selfe euen so are they the Children of death who teach their Traditions in the Church which is the kingdome of Christ for the doctrines of God and deuise new articles of saith not heard of in the ancient Church and presse them vpon vs as necessarily to be beleeued and they likewise who destroy the faith or maime it by their subtractions and denialls of Articles necessarily to be beleeued Let them looke to it therefore that deny the Trinitie or the Diuinitie of Christ and which deny saluation by Christ alone and they that teach worshipping of images adoration of reliques prayer for the dead transubstantiation and all they that beleeue it is of necessitie to saluation for euery Christian to be subiect to the Bishop of Rome affirming all to be Heretiques that refuse him to bee their chiefe Pastor on earth Finally all wicked and impenitent Sinners without exception of any shall dye this death Wit wealth birth beauty strength friends attendants these things cannot exempt them Tophet is prepared for Kings if wicked and Christ as Iude speaketh out of an ancient Prophecie will rebuke All the vngodly Saul shall not bee deliuered by his crowne nor Nabal by his Coffers Achitophel shall not bee helpt by his counsell nor Absalon by his beautie nor Haman by his honour nor Caiaphas by his priesthood nor any man by his greatnes by his high Offices and spacious Kingdomes These things cannot saue the body from Death much lesse able are they to saue the soule from Hell Nec prece nec pretio the Iudge will not bee perswaded by prayer nor blinded by bribing nor peruerted by any meane but vvill reward euery man according as his worke shall be without respect of persons The nature of this death is not easily to bee described to the full for neither hath the eye seene nor the eare heard neither hath it entered into mans heart to conceiue the panges and torments that are prepared for the wicked Only they that feele them are able if able to expresse them Neuerthelesse seeing the Scriptures are not wholly silent wee may be bold to speake by their direction First therefore the damned are depriued of the fauour of GOD and the comfort of his presence Secondly they doe indure horrible and very painefull punishments both in Soule and bodie Thirdly their paines are endlesse their tortures abide without ease for euer All these three Saint Paul affirmeth in one Verse together when he saith they shall be Punished with euerlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and from the glorie of his power Here is Paena Damni the punishment of losse and lack at the least exprest and the eternitie of it if not also Paena Sensus the punishment of feeling panges and torments but our Sauiour sheweth that the wicked shal suffer Euerlasting Paine and Esay saith that their worme shall neuer dye nor their fire bee quenched There shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth Planè fltetus ex dolore stridor dentium ex furore They shall weepe saith Bernard for sorrow and grinde their te-th through rage Hell fire is full of paine and altogether voide of comfort In fire there are two things heate and light Hell-fire is hot but darke if it giue light it is not the light of comfort but of miserie to let the damned see those things which might affright and grieue them But this fire is not as I suppose such fire as ours is neither is their worme such a worme as creepes vpon the earth or as is bred in our body but it pleaseth the Holy Ghost by these words to point out and as by simitudes to shew vnto vs the griefes and gripes of the damned which shall be with much paine and horrour as the burning of a fire or the gnawing of wormes The Diuell and the wicked saith Damascene shall bee deliuered vp into euerlasting fire Non materialem qualis est apud nos not vnto a materiall fire as is with vs but into such as is knowne to God And Saint Austen doth thus somewhere dispute about this point If the fire of Hell bee corporall it must bee fed by corporall fuell which beeing once wasted it also must goe out But it 's certen that hell-fire shall neuer fayle therefore it is spirituall but if it bee a corporall fire but by creation euerlasting then must the soules of men feele a corporall fire The Gluttons Soule in the parable was tormented greeuously burnt extremely but vvith vvhat fire with hell-fire indeed but it is improbable that elemenrary or bodily fire could affect a spirit out of the body But let vs not dispute vvhat kinde of fire it is but rather studie to keepe our selues from feeling it This fire saith Christ is euerlasting semper vrens nunquam exurens torquet non extorquet punit sed non finit it alwaies burnes but neuer burnes them vp it paines them but kils them not it afflicts but endes not It is called Ignis inextinguibilis fire vnquenchable for it neither is put out it selfe neither doth it extinguish those whom it doth torment Hell-fire saith S. Gregorie seeing it is incorporeus not bodily it is neither kindled by the help of man nor fed with wood but beeing once made it continueth vnquenchable and stands not in neede to bee kindled neither wants it heate Neither must it seeme hard that the paines of the wicked must indure euer For though indeede their liues had an end some sooner some later yet if we consider the infinitie of his person whom they sinned against and againe that their sinnes left an immortall and indeleble staine in their soules and finally the eternall auersion of their willes that if they had liued euer they would haue sinned euer if we consider these things I say it will appeare there is no cruelty or iniustice in the Lord to punish them with eternall perdition so as that their death shall be without death their wants without want their destruction without destruction And that which doth aggrauate their misery is that their companions are no better then the Diuels and the place of their abode no sweeter no better then Hell it selfe which of all places in the world is the worst the habitation of Diuels voide of order full of horror vbi nulla spes boni nulla desperatio mali where there is no hope at all of any good and no despaire of euill But yet in Hell there shall be differences and degrees of paines euen as in heauen there will be degrees of glory For pro disparibus ponderibus peccatorum erunt etiam disparia tormenta paenarum as Saint Augustine speaketh according to the different degrees of sinnes there shall bee different degrees of torments The seruant that knowes his Maisters will and doth it
damnation only Take heede therefore and deale plainly with thy selfe I know many men thinke well of themselues and would count themselues much iniured if they should bee censured as euill members which yet how they will auoide I cannot see This is my reason they are notorious and ordinarie prophaners of the Lords day euen those houres that are destinated to the publique worship of GOD euen those very houres are mispent vsually in eating and drinking in buying and sclling and gaming This is a mortall sinne stat against the Law of God and his Church and is commonly practised of manie how is it possible for these Sinners to haue any true comfort How can they be saued Vndoubtedly so continuing they are in the state of death and not in the state of grace For hee that oheyes sinne is the Seruant of sinne is not borne of God doth not serue God And there is no way to scape but by true repentance which consists in Auersion from sinne and in Conuersion vnto God these are the two celestiall Poles or Hinges whereon repentance turneth I name this one sinne but there are others as drunkennesse whoredome and such like which beare sway with many and if they looke not to it will sway and weigh them downe into the pit of Hell It behoues vs all therefore to looke vnto our selues Death and the Iudgement are the things most certaine but when or how or where our death shall happen that we know not If wee should bee taken away in our sinnes all the world could not saue vs but if we repent vnfeignedly then happie are wee death cannot come amisse wee may embrace it kisse it welcome it wee loose the earth but wee find Heauen wee goe forth of the wildernesse into Canaan out of the Region of death into the Land of the liuing the euer-liuing wee goe from Sinners to Saints from Men to Angels to God with him to liue in immortall glorie and in glorious immortalitie in that Kingdome wherein all shall be Kings and of which there shall neuer be an end vnto the which God for his mercie bring vs through Iesus Christ vnto whom with their Holy Spirit be all honour praise and glory this day and euermore Amen Hauing finisht our discourse of Corporall or temporarie death it remaineth that we say something of Spirituall and Eternall deatb Spirituall death is either of the wicked or of the godly The spirituall death of the wicked is a certaine spirituall separation of them from spirituall and Christian grace and goodnesse when as they lie dead without all godly feeling in sinnes and trespasses their hearts being alienated from God and true godlinesse This is a most miserable kind of death for they that are thus dead are the Seruants of sinne the Vassals of Satan the Children of wrath out of the state of grace and in the Region and shadow of death liable to damnation which to escape they can haue no hope while they continue in that estate The spirituall death of the godly is threefold The first is whereby they are dead to sinne This death stands in the disallowing and condemning sinne in the iudgement in the nilling and refusing it in the will in the hatred of it and grieuing for it in the affections and finally in the declining and forsaking it in the life and conuersation This death is the separation of the soule from the approbation loue and embracing of wickednesse It is of God through Christ and with much comfort and contentment For hee that dies to sinne shall neuer die fot sinne he that dies to sinne doth liue to God and whosoeuer liues vnto God in this world shall liue for euer with GOD in the world to come To die to sinne is to liue a Saint and precious in the sight of the Lord is both the life and the death of his Saints They be like the Moūtaine that was not to bee toucht They that touch you sayth the Lord touch the apple of mine eye and wee know that the apple of the eye is very tender The second Spirituall death of the Godly is whereby they are dead to the Law and this is because the Law doth not condemne them that are in Christ Iesus who by iustifying vs through his righteousnesse doth deliuer vs from the curse of the Law and rids the conscience of those terrours which the Law might cause by sinne vnpardoned The third death Spirituall of the Godly is whereby the world is crucifyed or dead to them and they dead vnto the world The World is dead to them when as they dote not on the world but contemne all worldly things and account them as nothing in comparison of Christ Iesus and his benefits This death is very needfull for he that liues to the World liues not vnto GOD and hee liues to the World to whom the World is not dead but who doteth on the World shall perish with the World hee that liues not to God in this life shall not liue with God in the life to come Godly men are said to bee dead to the World when the World coutemnes them hates them persecutes them and wisheth as it were to be rid of them This kind of death is the ordinarie portion of the Godly For they being not of the World but of God whom the World knowes not and being but as Forrainers and Strangers it is no maruell if the World frowne on them and shew her selfe an vnkinde Step-mother towardes them it is no wonder though wicked Worldlings beat them bite them barke at them and flie at their throats for thus Dogges vse to deale with Strangers which they know not And thus much wee haue seene what death is in respect of the World to wit the Separation and abalienation of our hearts from the World or of the World from vs and so much also for Spirituall death The third kind of death is called Eternall death or the second death which is the Separation of the soule from God or the euerlasting punishment of the whole man consisting of soule and bodie from the comfortable presence of GOD in hell fire The Prouider and Inflicter of this death is God who is a most iust Iudge Whose very soule doth hate the wicked and him that loues iniquitie Tophet which indeed is Hell is prepared of old Hee hath made it deepe and large the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a Riuer of brimstone doth kindle it By which we see that Hel-fire is prepared and kindled by the Lord. Now God doth not ordaine and inflict death for it selfe as if he did delight in death and destroying but it is for the clearing of his iustice for if wicked men should neuer be punished they would imagine either GOD is not or that he is not iust But all the world shall
know that God both is and that he is iust and therefore hee will punish wicked sinners and by that meane declare his iust iudgement against vicious wretches The deseruing cause of death of sinne as ignorance of God disobedience of the truth especially of the Gospell of Christ Iesus and obedience of vnrighteousnesse as the Apostle sheweth as also want of charitie and charitable behauiour towardes the poore and needie members of Christ Iesus as hee himselfe doth teach vs. Neyther are these sins only meritorious of death but euen euery sinne though the smallest want of that which the law requireth is in it selfe odious and deadly For the wages of euery sinne is death The persons subiect to this death are all the Sons of Adam is as much as all are Sinners yet all of them shall not die this death namely they that are redeemed by the bloud of Christ who by his death hath deliuered them from this death by them through sinne deserued Those then shall die this death that were reprobated of God and who by their wickednesse and hardnesse of heart which could not repent haue treasured vp vnto themselues wrath against the day of wrath Depart from me ye cursed saith Christ into euerlasting fire The cursed then are they that must die this accursed death I neuer knew you saith Christ Depart from me ye workers of iniquitie They that shal die this death are such as Christ knew not owned not neuer acknowledged for his and such as whiles they liued were very hypocrites nourishing some sinne or other in their bosomes though they did many glorious and good works as preach baptise eiect diuels cure diseases and were perhaps of great account with men The Apostle saith that the Lord Iesus will render vengeance at his appearing vnto them that know not God and obey not the Gospell So that all which are ignorant of God and which disobey the Gospell of his Sonne shall die this death This then I say All impenitent sinners shall be damned all that beleeue not in Iesus Christ as Mahometaus incredulous Iewes and all other Infidels and all that professe Christ in name but denie him in example All these liuing and dying without sound repentance shall die this death And I proue it thus Except ye beleeue saith Christ that I am he you shall die in your sinnes but the Iewes beleeue not that Iesus the sonne of Mary was the Messias foretold therefore they shall die in their sinnes Hee that obeyes not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him but neyther Iewes nor Mahometans obey Christ Iesus Therefore neyther of them shall liue but die Peter being full of the holy Ghost said that Christ is the Stone euen the fundamentall stone of mans saluation Neyther is there quoth he saluation in any other for among men there is giuen none other Name vnder heauen whereby we must be saued All therefore that either denie him or beleeue not in him and do not know him whether Iew Turke Persian Moore Indian American or who else soeuer all such shall bee damned cannot bee saued For by his knowledge shall my righteous seruant Christ Iesus Instifie many And we which are Iews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles know that a man is not iustified by the works of the law but by the faith of Iesus Christ God saith Saint Iohn hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in that his Sonne Hee that hath that Sonne hath that life and hee that hath not that Sonne of God hath not that life But Mahometans Iewes and Infidels haue not that Son therefore they haue not eternall life in spe and shall not haue it In Re but so continuing shall vndoubtedly die the damned death of the wicked for ought that man can tell I say further that those which professe Christ in word and in shew but denie him by their deeds addicting themselues to wicked lusts as whoredome pride drunkennesse auarice idlenesse epicurisme those I say shall vndoubtedly perish without mature and true repentance Know ye not saith Saint Paul that the vnrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Be not deceiued neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor wantons nor buggerers nor theiues nor couetous nor drunkards nor raylers nor extortioners shall inherite the kingdome of God But among Christians there are offenders in all kinds of the sinnes aforesaid therefore if they shall die in them they cannot possibly scape damnation Our Lord saith that The fearefull and vnbeleening the abhominable and murtherers whoremongers sorcerers idolaters and all lyars wherewith the Christian world aboundeth shall haue their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death And finally S. Iude speaking of sundrie wicked Epicures cept into the Church saith that for them is reserued the blacknesse of darknesse for euer Thirdly I say that all they which professing Christ doe notwithstanding adde vnto the faith of Christ and coyne articles which they doe propose as necessarily to be beleeued to saluation all such I say by this their presumption do cut themselus off from Christ and shall vndoubtedly perish except they shall repent In like manner they that doe take from the faith any essentiall point and needfull absolutely to saluation they also are subiect to damnation which without repentance they cannot scape Ye shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom It was twise at least giuen in charge by Moses When Moses was now dead and the gouernment cast vpon Ioshuah God gaue him the same lesson in effect Thou shalt not turne away from it to the right hand nor to the left In like manner Agur saith Put nothing vnto his words least he reproue thee and thou be found a lyar I protest saith Christ to euery man that heareth the words of the prophecie of this booke If any man how precise how pure how holy how austere how sanctified soeuer he seeme or how learned soeuer he be and wit tie in the iudgement of men shall adde vnto these things God shall adde vnto him the plagues that are written in this booke and if any man shall diminish of the words of the booke he meaneth the true sense and substance of the words of this prophecie God shall take away his part out of the booke of life and out of the holy Citie and from those things which are written in this booke If any subiect or subiects shall presume to repeale the lawes of the kingdome or to make new lawes and to vrge men to receiue and obey them the king in the mean time vnacquainted with their proceeding or disliking it they shew themselues busie bodies rebellious turblent and taking vpon them as kings they incurre the displeasure of