grones and suddain cryes the fire slakes not the worm dies not the chains loose not the links wear not revenge tyres not but for ever are the torments fresh and the fetters on fire as they came first from their Forge What a strange kind of torture falls upon the wicked they are bound to fiery pillars and Devils lash at them with their fiery whips Is there any part of man scapes free in such a fray the flesh shall fâ—â— the blood boil the veins be scorcht the sinews rackt Serpents shall eat the body furies tear the soul this is that wofull plight of Tares which he bound in Hell The sick man at Sea may go from his ship to his boat and from his boat to his ship again the sick man in his bed may tumble from his right side to his left and from his left to his right again onely the Tares are tied hand and foot bound limme and joynt their feet walk not their fingers move not their eyes must no more wander as before loe all his bound O these manacles that rot the flesh and pierce the inward parts O unmatchable torments yet most fit for Tares sin made them furious hell must tame their Phrensie the Judge thus commands and the Executioners must dispatch fetter them fire them Bind them in bundles to burn them I have lead you through the Dungeon let this fight serve for a terrour that you never come nearer To that purpose for exhortation consider Alas all hangs on life ther 's but a twine thread betwixt the soul of a sinner and the scorching flames who then would so live as to run his soul into hazard the Judge threatens us Devils hate us the bonds exspect us it is onely our conscience must clear us or condemn us Search then thy waies and stir up thy remembrance to her Items hast thou dishonoured God blasphemed his name decayed his image subduing thy soul to sin that was created for heaven repent these courses ask God forgiveness and he will turn away thy punishments I know your sins are grievous and my soul grieves at the knowledge many evills have possessed too many drunkenness and oathes and malice and revenge are not these guests entertained into all houses banish them your hearts that the King of glory may come in Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Would God bestow mercy and should we refuse his bounty as you love heaven your souls your selves leave your sins Vse 2 And then here is a word of consolation the penitent needs not fear hell Gods servant is freed from bonds yea if we love him who hath first loved us Ephes 5.2 all the chains and pains of hell can neither hold nor hurt us Vse 3 O then ye Sons of Adam suffer a reproof what do ye that ye do not repent you of your sins is it not a madness above admiration that men who are reasonable creatures having eyes in their heads hearts in their bodies understanding like the Angels and consciences capable of unspeakable horrour never will be warned untill the fire of that infernall Lake flash and flame about their eares Let the Angels blush heaven and earth be amazed all the Creatures stand astonished at it I am sure a time wil come when the Tares shal feel what now they may justly fear you hear enough such weed must be bound thus straight is the Lords command Binde them in bundles to burn them But all is not done Chains have their links and we must bring all together Sinners are coupled in hell as Tares in Bundles But of these when we next meet in the mean while let this we have heard Binde us all to our duties that we hear attentively remember carefully practice conscionably that so God may reward accordingly and at last crown us with his glory The tares must be bound up in bundles but Lord make us free in Heaven to sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in thy blessed kingdome In bundles THe command is out what Bind whom them how in bundles The tares must on heaps which gives us a double observation Generall Speciall In the generall it intimates these two points the gathering of the weed and its severing from the wheat both are bound in bundles but the wheat by it self and the tares by themselves as at that doom when all the world must be gathered and severed some stand at the right hand others at the left so at this execution some are for the fire and others for the barn they are bundled together yet according to the difference of the severall parties each from the other Observ 1 First the tares must together Woe is me saith David that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech Psal 120.4 and if David think it wofull to converse with his living enemies then what punishment have the wicked whom the Devill and damned the black angels and everlasting horrour must accompany for ever The tares must be gathered and bundled and the more bundles the more and more miseries Company yields no comfort in hell fire nay what greater discomfort then to see thy friends in flames thy fellowes in torments the fiends with flaming whips revenging each others malice on thy self and enemy It was the rich mans last petition when he had so many repulses for his own ease to make one suit for his living brethren he knew their company would encrease his torment to prevent which he cries out I pray thee father Abraham Luk. 16.27 28. that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my fathers house for I have five brethren that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment Why it may be God will hear him for them especially making such a reasonable request as this was that Lazarus might onely warn his brethren of future judgment no but to teach you if you sell your souls to sin to leave a rich posterity on earth you shall not onely your selves without all remorse and pity be damned in hell but your posterity shall be a torment to you whilest they live and a greater torment if they come to you when they are dead To converse with Devils is fearfull but altogether to accompany each other is a plague fit for tares In this life they flourished amongst the wheat Let them grow both together corn and tares untill the harvest But the harvest come God will now separate them both asunder and as in heaven there are none but Saints so in hell there are none but reprobates to encrease this torment as they grow together so all their conference is to curse each other Moab shall cry against Moab father against son son against father what comfort in this company The Devill that was authour of such mischiefs appears in most grisly forms his angels the black guard of hell torture poor souls in flames there live swearers
Beza in loc Tert. ad Mar. l. 5. to bring man from nothing Exinanivit se hath made himself nothing or of no reputation Phil. 2.7 Phil. 2.7 How nothing yes saith Beza He that was all in all hath reduced himself to that which is nothing at all and Tertullian little less Exhausit se He hath emptied himself or as our translation gives it He hath made himself not of little but of no reputation Lo here those steps the Scripture lighting us all the way by which our Saviour descended he that is God for us became an Angell a man a Serving-man a poor man a sheep a lamb a worm a nothing in esteem a man of no reputation Vse 1 Let every soul learn his duty from hence what should we do for him who hath done all this for us There is a crew of unbelievers that hear and heed not all the sufferings of our Saviour cannot move them a jot either towards God or from sin and is not this a wofull lamentable case I remember a passage in Cyprian how he brings in the Devill triumphing over Christ in this manner As for my followers I never dyed for them as Christ did for his I never promised them so great a reward as Christ hath done to his and yet I have more followers then he and they do more for me then his doe for him hear O heaven and hearken O earth Was ever the like phrensie The Devill like a roaring Lion seeks ever and anon to devour our souls and how many thousands and millions of souls yield themselves to his service though he never died for them nor will ever do for them the poorest favour whatsoever but pay them everlastingly with pains and pangs death and damnation On the other side see our Saviour God Almighty take on him the nature of a man a poor man a sheep a lamh a worm a nothing in esteem and why all this but onely to save our souls and to give them heaven and salvation yet such is the condition of a stubborn heart that to choose it will spurn at heavens crown and run upon hell and be a slave to Satan and scoffe at Christs suffering yea and let out his bloud and pull out his heart and bring him a degree lower then very beelzebub himself rather then it will submit to his will and march under his banner to the kingdome of heaven Hence it is that the Devill so triumphs over Christ As for my followers saith he I never died for them as Christ did for his no Devill thou never diedst for them but thou will put them to a death without all ease or end Think of this yee unbelievers me thinks like a thunderbolt it might shake all your hearts and dash them into pieces But a word more to you of whom I hope better things let me exhort the Saints that you for your parts will ever love and serve and honour and obey and praise the Lord of glory for this so wonderfull a mercy I pray have you not cause had your Saviour onely sent his creatures to serve you or some Prophets to advise you in the way of salvation had he onely sent his Angels to attend you and to minister unto you or had he come down in his glory like a King that would not onely send to the prison but come himself to the dungeon and ask saying Is such a man here or had he onely come and wept over you saying Oh that you had never sinned all these had been great mercies But that Christ himself should come and strive with you in mercy and patience that he should be so fond of a company of Rebels and Hel-hounds and yet we are not at the lowest that he would for us become a man a mean man a lamb a worm a nothing in esteem O all ye stubborn hearts too much stubborn are we all if judgement and the hammer cannot break your hearts yet let this mercy break you and let every one say O Iesu hast thou done all this for me certainly I will love thee and praise thee and serve thee and obey thee as long as I live Say so and the Lord say Amen to the good desires of your hearts To whet this on the more remember still it is you that should have suffered but to prevent this it is he that was humbled it is he that was crucified it is he that was purged what needs more John 18.5 I am he said Christ to the Iews when they apprehended him He what he I know not what but be he what he will he it is our Saviour Redeemer Physician Patient VVho had by himself purged our sinnes Thus far we have measured his steps downwards and should we go up again the same stairs we might bring him as high as vve have placed him lovv but his asscent belongs rather to the words following my Text for after he had purged then he sate down on Gods right hand on high Come we then to the next words and as you have seen the Person so let us look for a companion This may in miserie yield some comfort if but any society bears a share in his misery But me thinks I hear you say to me as the Athenians said 〈◊〉 32. to Paul We wil hear thee again of this matter another time By himself THe Time and Physician have prepared a Purge but who is the Patient to receive it it is man is sick and it is man must purge or otherwise he dies without all remedie or recoverie but alas what Purge what Purgatory must that be which can evacuate sinne Should man take all the virtue of herbs and mineralls and distill them into one sublime and purest quintessence yet impossible were it to wash away sinne or the least dregs of its corruption Not Galen nor Hippocrates nor all the Artists or Naturalists that ever lived on earth could find out or invent any remedie for sinne this must be a work of Grace and not of Nature yea and such a grace as neither man nor Angel could afford Behold then who it is that both administers and takes the receipt prepared it is man that sinned and God is become man that so being both he might administer it as God and receive it as man the same Person being Physician and Patient Compounder and Purger But what a wonder is this Are we a-dying and must he purge for it can Physick given to the sound heal the party that is sick It was the saying of our Saviour Matth. 9.12 The whole need not the Physician but they that are sick and Christ Jesus for his part is whole indeed No fault in this man saith Pilate Luke 23.14 Matth. 27.19 and he is a just man said Pilates wife of him to what end then should he purge that is whole and we escape it that are sick O this is to manifest the dearest love of our Soul-Physician our endeared Saviour the whole indeed need not the
and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow so soon passeth it away and we are gone Psal 90.10 Psal 90.10 Here is halfs of halfs and if we half it a while sure we shall half away all our time nay we have a custome goes a little further and tells us of a number a great deal shorter we are fallen from seventie to seven in lifes leases made by us Nay what speak I of years when my text breaks them all into dayes Few and evil have the dayes been so our former translation without any addition of years at all and if you mark it our life in Scripture is more often termed dayes then years the book of Chronicles which writes of mens lives are called according to the interpretation Words of dayes to this purpose we read David was old and full of dayes 1 Chron. 23.1 1 Chron. 23.1 and in the dayes of Iehoram Edom rebelled 2 Chron. 21.8 2 Chron. 21.8 So in the New Testament In the dayes of Herod the King Matth. 2.1 Matth. 2.1 and in the dayes of Herod the King of Iudea Luke 1.5 Luke 1.5 In a word thus Iob speaks of us our life is but dayes our dayes but a shadow we know nothing saith Iob and why so our dayes upon earth are but a shadow Iob 8.9 Job 8.9 Lo here the length of our little life it is not for ever no Adam lost that estate he that lived longest after Adam came short of the number of a thousand years nay that was halfed to somewhat lesse then five hundred and that again halfed to little more then two hundred Iacob yet halfs it again to a matter of seven score and Moses halfs that again to seventy or a little more nay our time brings it froÌ„ seventy to seven nay Iacob yet brings it from years to daies few and evil have the dayes of the year of my life been Vse 1 Teach us O Lord to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome Psal 90 12. Moses Arithmetick is worthy your meditation learn of him to number pray to God your teacher think every evening there is one day of your number gone and every morning there is another day of miserie coming on evening and morning meditate on Gods mercy and your own miserie Thus if you number your dayes you shall have the lesse to account for at that day when God shall call you to a finall reckoning Vse 2 But miserable men who are not yet born again their dayes run on without any meditation in this kind What think they of but of long dayes and many years And were all their dayes as long as the day of Joshuah when the Sun stood still in the midst of heaven yet it will be night at last and their Sun shall set like others True God may give some a liberall time but what enemies are they to themselves that of all their dayes allow themselves not one 1. Pet. 3.10 If any man long after life and to see good dayes let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile How live they that would needs live long and follow no rules of pietie many can post off their conversion from day to day sending Religion afore them to thirty and then putting it off to fourtie and not pleased yet to overtake it promise it entertainment at threescore at last death comes and allows not one hour In youth these men resolve to reserve the time of age to serve God in in age they shuffle it off to sicknesse when sicknesse comes care to dispose their goods loathnesse to die hope to escape maâ—tyrs that good thought O miserable men if you have but the Lease of a Farm for twenty years you make use of the time and gather profit but in this precious farm of Time you are so ill husbands that your Lease comes out before you are one penny worth of grace the richer by it Matth. 20.6 Why stand ye here all the day idle there are but a few hours or dayes that ye have to live at last comes the night of death that will shut up your eyes in sleep till the day of doom You see now the term of our Lease our Life lasts but Dayes and although we live many dayes Luke 19.42 Matth. 6.12 yet in this thy day saith Christ and Give us this day our daily bread say we as if no day could be called thy day but this day if there be any more we shall soon number them my text tells you they are not many but few Few and evill have the dayes of my life been Few OUr Lease is a Life our Life is but Dayes our Dayes are but Few The Phoenix the Elephant and the Lion fulfill their hundreds but man dieth when he thinks his Sun yet riseth before his eye be satisfied with seeing or his ear with hearing or his heart with lusting death knocks at his door and often will not give him leave to meditate an excuse before he comes to judgement Is not this a wonder to see dumb beasts outstrip mans life The Phoenix lives thousands say some but a thousand years are a long life with man Methushalem you saw the longest liver came short of this number and yet could we attain to so ripe an age what are a thousand years to the dayes everlasting If you took a little mote to compare with the whole earth what great difference were in these two and if you compare this life which is so short with the life to come which shall never have end how much lesse will it yet appear As drops of rain are unto the sea Ecclus 18.9 and as a gravell stone is in comparison to the sand so are a thousand years to the dayes everlasting But will you haue an exact account and learn the just number It was the Arithmetick of holy men to reckon their dayes but Few as if the shortest cut were the best account The Hebrews could subduct the time of sleep which is half our life so that if the dayes of men were threescore years and ten Psal 90.10 here 's five and thirty years struck off at one blow The Philosophers could subduct the time of weakness which is most of life so that if vivere be valere that onely a true life which enjoyes good health here 's the beginning and the ending of our dayes struck off at a second blow The Fathers could subduct all times not present and what say you to this account were the dayes of life at noon man grown to manhood look ye back and the time past is nothing look ye forward and the time to come is but uncertain and if time past and time to come stand both for ciphers what is our life but the present and what is that but a moment Nay as if a moment were too much look
perforce your sinnes originall and actuall of omission and commission of your bodies and souls And I must tell you herein is a great policie of Sathan he lets you alone in your securitie a while if you will not trouble him he will not trouble you if you will not tell your own sinnes neither will he tell you of them but he will change his note at furthest when your few evil dayes finish it is the very case as many creditours deal with their debtors while they have any doings as they say and are in trading they will let them alone in policie they will say nothing but if once down the wind in sickness povertie disgrace or the like then comes Serjeant after Serjeant arrest upon arrest action upon action just thus is Satans dealing with the unregenerate man if you will but sinne and never call your selves to a reckoning inpolicie he will say nothing but when the score is full and death comes to arrest you then will he bring out his black book of all your sinnes committed all your dayes O I tremble to speak of it then shall your sins fall as foul on your souls as ravens on the fallen sheep and keep you down for ever in the dungeon of despair Secondly in respect of the regenerate that you have readie by you or by heart a catalogue of your sinnes is necessary in many respects First to humble you for no sooner shall the poor soul look on all the sinnes he hath committed both before and after his regeneration but confessing them in prayer it will pull down his heart and make the wound of his remorse to bleed a fresh as before and therefore this catalogue is most necessary in dayes of humiliation Secondly it is necessarie to prepare you for the receiving of the Sacrament for indeed I would have none to presume to taste on that Supper but first to view over all his sinnes and to confess them in payer to his heavenly Father there be many that in Confession look on their sinns as they do on the stars in a dark cloudie night they can see none but the great ones of the first or second magnitude it may be here one and there one but if they were truly illightened and informed aright they might rather behold their sinns as those innumerable stars that appear in a fair frostie winters night they are many and many and therefore take a little pains in composing your catalogue that so you may confess all at least for the kinds before you presume to come near that Table of the Lord. Thirdly it is necessarie in times of desertion or visitation yea if the Lord shall please to exercise you with any crosse or disgrace or discountenance losse of goods disease of bodie terrour of soul or the like you may be sure as no miserie comes but for sinne so then the enumeration of your sinns from a bleeding broken heart is the prime and first means to cause that Sun of mercie to break through the clouds and to beget a clear day alas our dayes are evil and sure we have as good reason as ever Jacob had to confess it for my part though I keep my catalogue to my self yet in the generall I cannot but confesse to you all My dayes have been evil evil evil Few and evil And now we have done with the work it rests that you should know your wages there be dayes of sinn and then dayes of sorrow as you have spent your dayes so must you have your rewards first we trespasse and then we pay for it first we sin and then we suffer evil 2. The evils that we suffer may be ranked in this order first evils originall fill up the scene and what a multitude of evils do enter with them No sooner had Adam sinned but a world of miseries fell on man so that as the infection in like manner the punishment distills from him Rom. 5.12 By one man saith the Apostle entred sin into the world what sin alone no but death by sinne and so death went over all men Rom. 5.12 Infants themselves bring their damnation with them from their wombs or if that be omitted how many are the miseries of this life as the fore-runners of that judgement Look at the mind and what think ye of our ignorance not onely that of wilfull disposition but as the Schools distinguish of pure negation if it be not a sin what is it but a punishment for sinne that our understanding should be obscured and darkened our knowledge in things naturall wounded in supernaturall utterly extinguished O the miserable issue of that monster Sin But as evils come by heaps so of the same parent here is another brood Ignorance and Forgetfulness and is not this a miserie after all our time and studie to get a little knowledge quickly to forget that we are so long a learning Man in his whole state before the fall could not forget things taught him but now as the hour-glass we receive in at the one ear and it goes out at the other or rather like the sieve we alwayes keep the bran but let the flowre go so apt are we to retain the bad but we verie easily forget the good And is this all nay yet more evils see but our affections and to what a number of infinite sorrows griefs anguishes suspicions fears malices jealousies is the soul of man subject So prone are we to these miserable passions that upon any occasion we fall into them or for want of cause from any other we begin to be passionate with our selves Why hast thou O Lord set me against thee I am become irksome and burdensome even unto mine own self Job 7.20 Job 7.20 Alas poor man how art thou beset with a world of miseries and yet as if all these summed up together could not make enough look at the body and how many are its sufferings In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread said God Gen. 3.19 Gen. 3.19 The Spider spins and weaves and wastes her very bowels to make her net and when all is done to what purpose serves it but to catch a flie If this be vain work how vain is man in his fond imitation the birds and beasts can feed themselves without any pains onely man toils night and day on sea and land with bodie and mind yet all is to no purpose but to catch a flie to protract a life or to procure some vanitie And yet as if miserie had no mean besides our industry how is this bodie stuffed with many an infirmitie all the strength of man is but a reed at best shaken perhaps broken howsoever weakened by every wind that blows upon it The Physicians distinction of Temperamentum ad pondus justitiam gives us thus much to learn that no constitution is ever so happie to have a just temper according to its weight some are too hot others too cold all have some defects and so
judgment seat the rosie wounds of our Saviour still bleeding as it were in the prisoners presence These are the wounds not as tokens of infirmity but victory Aquin. supplem Q. 90. A. 2. ad secundum and these now shall appear not as if he must suffer but to shew us he hath suffered See here an object full of glory splendor majesty excellency and this is He the man the judg the rewarder of every man according to his works The Judge we have set in his Throne and before we appear let us practice our repentance that we answer the better Vse 1 Think but O sinner what shall be thy reward when thou shalt meet this Iudge The adultery for a while may flatter beauty the Swearer grace his words with oathes the Drunkard kiss his cups and drink his bodies-health till he bring his soul to ruine but remember for all these things God will bring thee to judgment Eccles 11.9 Cold comfort in the end the Adulterer shall fatisfie his lust when he lies on a bed of fire all hugged and embraced with those flames the swearer shall have enough of wounds and blood when Devils torture his body and rack his soul in hell the Drunkard shall have plenty of his Cups when scalding lead shall be poured down his throat and his breath draw flames of fire in stead of air as is thy sin so is the nature of thy punishment the just Iudge shall give just measure and the ballance of his wrath poize in a just porportion Vse 2 Yet I will not discomfort you who are these Iudges dearest favorites Now is the day if you are Gods servants that Sathan shall be trod under your feet and you with your Lord and Master Christ shall be carried into the holiest of holies You may remember how all the men of God in their greatest anguishes here below have fetcht comfort by the eye of faith at this mountain Iob rejoyced being cast on the Dung-hill that his Redeemer lived and that he should see him at the last day stand on the earth Iohn longed and cried Come Lord Iesus come quickly and had we the same precious faith we have the same precious promises why then are we not ravished at the remembrance of these things certainly there is an happy faith wheresoever it shall be found that shall not be ashamed at that day Now therefore little children abide in him 1 Joh. 2.28 that when he shall appear we may have confidence Confidence what else I will see you again saith our Saviour-Iudge and your heart shall rejoyce Joh. 16.22 and your joy no man taketh from you O blessed mercy that so triumphes against judgment our hearts must joy our joyes endure and all this occasioned by the sight of our Saviour for Hee shall reward every man according to his works We have prepared the Iudge for sentence he hath rid his circuit in the Clouds and made the Rain-bow his chair of state for his judgment seat his Sheriffes are the Saints that now rise from the Dust to meet their Iudge whom long they have exspected the summons is sent out by a shout from heaven the cry no sooner made but the graves flie open and the dead arise stay a while till I ready them you have seen the Iudge and now we prepare the judged He is the Iudge every man the judged and He shall reward every man according to his works Every man THe persons to be judged are a world of men all men of the world good and bad elect and reprobates but in a different manner To give you a full view of them I must lead your attentions orderly through these passages there must be a Citation Resurrection Collection Separation follow me in these pathes and you may see both the men and their difference before they come to their judgments First there is a summons and Every man must hear it it is performed by a shout from heaven and the voice of the last Trump Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Jeronymus super Mathaeum Verc vox tubae terribilis cui omnia obediunt elementa petras scindit inferos c. Chrysost 1. ad Corin. 15. the clangor of this Trump could ever sound in Ieroms eares Arisr yee dead and come to judgment the clangor of this Trump will sound in all mens eares it shall wake the dead out of their drouzy sleep and change the living from their mortall state make devils tremble and the whole world shake with terrour A terrible voice a Trumpet shall sound that shall shake the world rend the rocks break the mountains dissolve the bonds of death burst down the gates of hell and unite all spirits to their own bodies What say you to this Trump that can make the whole Universe to tremble no sooner shall it sound but the the earth shall shake the mountains skip like Ramms and the little hills like young sheep it shall pierce the waters and fetch from the bottome of the Sea the dust of Adams seed it shall tear the rocky Tombes of earthly Princes and make their haughty minds to stoop before the King of heaven it shall remove the center and tear the bowels of the earth open the graves of all the dead and fetch their souls from heaven or hell to reunite them to their bodies A dreadfull summons of the wicked whom this suddain noise will no less astonish then confound the dark pitchy walls of that infernall pit of hell shall be shaken with the shout when the dreadfull soul shall leave its place of terrour and once more re-enter into her stinking Carrion to receive a greater condemnation what terrour will this be to the wicked wretch what wofull salutations will there be between that body and soul which living together in the height of iniquity must now be re-united to enjoy the fulness of their misery Joh. 5.28 29. The voice of Christ is powerfull the dead shall hear his voice and they shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of condemnation You hear the summons and the next is your appearance death the Goaler brings all his prisoners from the grave and they must stand and appear before the Judge of heaven The summons is given and every man must appear Death must now give back all their spoils and restore again all that she hath took from the world What a gastly sight will this be to see all the Sepulchers open to see dead men rise out of their graves and the scattered dust to flie on the wings of the wind till it meet together in one compacted body Ezekiels dry bones shall live thus saith the Lord I will lay sinewes upon you and make flesh grow upon you and cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall know that I am the Lord Ezek. 37.6 Ezek. 37.6 This dust of ours shall be
in some to receive but others to depart this must needs be a disgracefull vexation so when the glory of heaven and those unvaluable treasures shall be opened and dealt about to the faithfull what horrour will it be to the reprobates to be cast off with a depart no share accrues to them no not so much as one glimpse of glory must chear their dejected countenances but as ill-meriting followers they are thrust from the gates with this watch-word to be gone Depart But whence there is the losse from me and if from me then from all that is mine my mercy my glory my salvation Here is an universall spoil of all things of God in whom is all goodnesse of the Saints in whom is all solace of the Angels in whom is all happinesse of heaven wherein all pleasures live ever and ever Whither O Lord shall the cursed go that depart from thee into what haven shall they arrive what Master shall they serve is it thought so great a punishment to be banished from our native soils what then is this to be banished from Almighty God and whither but into a place of horrour to whom but to a cursed crew of howling reprobates Depart from me Who are they Ye cursed Christ hath before invited you with blessings but these refused now take you the curse to your despight Psal 109.17 the wicked man saith the Prophet as he hath loved cursing so let it come unto him hath he loved it let him take his love as he hath cloathed himself with cursing as with a garment so let it come into his bowels like water and like oyl into his bones Psal 109.18 Psal 109.18 No sooner our Saviour cursed the Fig-tree but leaves and boughs body and root all wither away and never any more fruit grows thereon and thus shall the wicked have a curse like the Ax which put to the root of the tree Matth. 3.10 shall hew it down and cast it into the fire Go ye cursed But whither must they go into everlasting fire O what a bed is this for delicate and daintie persons no feathers but fire no friends but furies no ease but fetters no light but smoak no Chimes nor Clock to passe away the night but timelesse eternitie A fire intollerable a fire burning never dying O immortall pains Esai 33.14 which of you saith the Prophet is able to dwell in the burning fire who can endure the everlasting flames it shall not be quenched night nor day the smoak thereof shall go up evermore the pile is fire and much wood Esai 30.33 and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone kindles it What torment what calamitie can be compared with the shadow of this the wicked must be crowded together like brick in a fiery Furnace there is no servant to fanne cold air on their tormented parts not so much as a chink where the least puff of wind might enter in to cool them it is a fire an everlasting fire For whom prepared for the Devil and his Angels heavy companie for distressed souls the Serpents policie could not escape hell nor can the craft of our age so deal with this Serpent as thereby to prevent this fire it was sure prepared for some as some have prepared themselves for it burning in lust in malice in revenge untill themselves their lust malice revenge and all burn together in hell Tophet is prepared of old Esai 30.33 whither that day-starre as fallen from heaven and a black crew of Angels guard him round in that lake of hell there must these howling reprobates keep their residence the last sentence that never is recalled is now pronounced what Go Who ye cursed Whither into everlasting fire to what companie to a crew of Devils and their Angels O take heed that ye live in Gods fear least that leaving his service he give you this reward Depart ye cursed Vse And is not this worthy your meditation Consider I pray you what fearfull tremblings seiz on their souls that have their sentence for eternall flames If a Lord have Mercy on thee Take him away Jaylour will cause such shedding of tears folding of arms and wringing of hands what will this sentence do Go ye cursed c. O which way will they turn or how will they escape the Almighties wrath to go backward is impossible to go forwards intolerable whose help will they crave God is their Judge heaven their fo the Saints deride them Angels hate them all creatures cry for vengeance on them God Lord what a world of misery hath seized on these miserable souls their Executioners are Devils the Dungeon Hell the earth stands open and the cruell Furnace ready-boyling to receive them into what a shaking fit of distractions will these terrours drive them every part shall bear a part in this dolefull ditie eyes weep hands wring breasts beat hearts ake voyces cry horrour dread terrour confusion are lively equipages of this tragick Scene Now O man of earth what will all thy wealth avail thee what can all thy pleasures profit thee one drop of water to cool thy fiery tongue in hell is more worth then a world of treasures all the gold and precious stones the world affords will not buy one bottle of water all thy golden gods and silver plates cannot prevail one drammme of comfort but rather as they were thy bane on Earth so they will aggravate thy pain in Hel. Who pities not the vilest creature to see it suffer torments and no way to release it who then will not pitie this end of the wicked when they must suffer and suffer yet never feel ease of pain nor end of torments A sentence not to be revoked yet unsufferably to be endured torment on torment anguish on anguish fire upon fire and though a River nay a sea of tears drop from their eyes yet cannot one spark be quenched the worm never dies Mark 9.44 the fire never goes out Go ye into everlasting fire not piled of consuming wood or the black moulds turning to white ashes but kindled by the Judges breath of pitch and sulphure Rivers of boyling Brimstone runne from everlasting springs in these hot Bathes was that Dives dived when those fierie words came flaming from his mouth as spitting fire Luke 16.24 Let Lazarus dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue Alas what should a drop of water do on a finger when rivers cannot quench the tip of his tongue he lies on a bed of never-dying flames where brimstone is the fuel devills the kindlers the breath of an offended God the bellows and hell the furnace where bodie and soul must ever lie and frie in scorching torments O let the heat of these flames quench the heat of our sinne if once the sentence passe there is no reprieve to be hoped for this is the last Day of Doom when our sinns must be revealed our Reward proportioned and as we have
of Megiddon O weep or if you will not weep for him yet weep for your selves and your own sinnes alas have you not cause your sins were his murtherers and your hands by your sins were imbrued in his bloud Secondly stay not here but when you have mourned and wept over your Saviour then hate those sinnes that wrought this evil on your Saviour Which that you may do effectually send your thoughts a far off and see your Saviour in his circumcision in the garden and when you have done so then follow him a little further behold the tears in his eies and the clodded bloud that came from him when his cheeks were nipped his head crowned his back scourged his hands and feet nailed his side opened and then O then see if you can love those sins that have done all this villany love them said I no if you have any share in Christ I hope you will rather be revenged on your sins rather you will every one say O my pride and my stubbornness and my looseness and my uncleanness and my drunkenness these were the nailes and the whips and the spear that drew bloud from my Saviour therefore let me be for ever revenged of this proud subborn rebellious heart of mine own let me for ever loath my sin because it brought all this sorrow on my Saviour Is not this ordinary with men should any one murther your Father or friend whom you highly regarded and honoured would you brook his sight or endure his company nay would not your hearts rise against him would you not prosecute the Law to the uttermost and if you might be the Executioner would you not wound him and mangle him and at every stroak cry out Thou wast the death of my Father thou wast the death of my Father and is the heart of a man thus inraged against him that hath but murthered his friend or his father O then how should your hearts be transported with infinite indignation not against the man but against sinne that hath shed the precious bloud of your father your Master your God your King your Saviour O follow follow after these sins with an Hue and Cry bring them to the Bar set them be-the Tribunall of that great Judge of heaven and cry Iustice Lord justice against these sins of mine these slew my Saviour Lord slay them these crucified my Saviour Lord crucifie them Why thus persue and never leave them untill if it possible may may you see these sins bleed their last never think you have done enough but still give your corruptions one hack more confess your sins once more and say Lord this pride and this stubbornness and this looseness of heart these are they that killed my Saviour and I will be revenged of them Thirdly stay not here neither but when you have mourned for your sins and sought revenge on them then by Faith cast them all on the Lord Jesus Christ ease your own souls of them and hurle your care on him that careth for you all Certainly there is no way to wash you clean from your sin but onely by Christs blood and how must you apply this but by Faith now then in the last place have faith rence your soul as it were in the bloud of this immaculate Lamb and though you are polluted and defied yet questionless the bloud of Jesus Christ will purge you from all sin Heb. 9.13 14. If the bloud of Buls and Goats saith the Apostle and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God You may talk of a Purgatory why here is the Purgatory that true Purgatory the fountain that is laid open for the house of Iudah to wash in and I pray you mark it it is not onely for justification but being applyed by faith as effectuall for sanctification not onely for the expiation of sin that it be not laid to your charge but withall to purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God O then as you tender your souls believe and cast your selves upon Christ for salvation and for pardon of sins Do you not see him bleeding on the Cross Do you not hear him graciously offering to receive your sin-wearied souls into his bleeding wounds what should you do then but cast your selves with all the spirituall strength that you can at least with infinite longings and most hearty desires into the bosome of your Saviour say with your selves the fountain is opened and here will we bathe for ever Come life or come death come heaven or come hell come what come can here will we stick for ever nay if you must perish tell God and man Angels and devils they shall pluck you out of the hands and rent you from between the armes of your blessed bleeding Redeemer your soul-purging Saviour Thus if you believe you need not to droop for your sins but to go on with comfort to everlasting happiness the bloud of Christ no question will make way for you into heaven Yea saith the Apostle by the bloud of Iesus we may boldly enter into the holy places by the new and living way which he hath prepared for us Heb. 10.19.20 through the veile which is his flesh Such is the blessed fruit of this bloud and the Lord make it effectuall unto us to bring us into heaven even for his sake who by himself thus purged our sins You see the Purge given and taken onely a time it must have and then follows the Evacuation Hee purged What the ill humour is Sin the extent of it Our sin of both these together at our next meeting Now the Lord so prepare us that this Purge may work in us the everlasting wel-fare and health of our souls Our sins SIn is our sickness and to cure us of it the Law yields corrasives the Gospell lenitives but especially Christ yields that Physick Purgative which evacuates sin To consider Christ as a man of sorrows and not a Saviour of sinners were but a melancholick contemplation to behold his wounds and not so to think on 'em as they were our selves addes but more sorrows to our other miseries but when we call to mind that his bloud was our ransome that his stripes were our cures then with all our hearts we pray his bloud be upon us and our children And why not this bloud saith the Apostle speaks better things then the bloud of Abel Heb. 12.24 For Ables bloud cryed revenge but Christs bloud speaks mercy and to our comfort be it spoken if God heard the servant he will much rather hear the son yea if he heard his servant for spilling how much more will he hear his Son for saving and regaining our souls In the words are two parts 1. The ill huâ—our evacuated Sin 2. The extent
of this sin it is mine yours Ours every ones What is it but Sin which our Saviour purged this is that ill humour derived from our Parents inherent in our selves imputed to our Saviour and therefore saith the Prophet he bare the sins of many Esay 53.12 Esay 53.12 to whoâ— agrees the Apostle that he his own self bare our sins in his own body 1 Pet. 2.24 1 Pet. 2.24 What a load then lay on his shoulders when all our sins the sins of all the world were fastened upon him one mans sin is enough to sink him into hell and had not our Saviour intervened every one of us had known by a wofull experience how heavy sin would have been upon the soul of each man but O happie we the snare is broken and we are delivered To prevent sins effect Christ Jesus hath purged and washed it away And is this all the matter wherefore our Saviour suffered was sinne all the disease of which he laboured when he had by himself purged yes it was all and if we consider it rightly we may think it enough to cause sufferings in him when merely for its sake God was so wroth against us O loathsome sinne more ugly in the sight of God then is the foulest Creature in the sight of man he cannot away with it nor so righteous are his wayes could he save his own Elect because of it but by killing his own sonne Imagine then what a sicknesse is sinne when nothing but the bloud of the sonne of God could cure it imagine what a poyson is sin when nothing but a spirituall Methridate compounded and confected of the best bloud that ever the world had could heal it we need not any further to consider its nature but onely to think of it how hatefull it was to God how hurtfull to his Sonne how damnable to men Vse And was it Sinne he purged this may teach us how hatefull sinne is that put him thus to his Purge Every sinne is a nail a thorn a spear and every sinner a Jew a Judas a Pilate howsoever then we may seek to shift it on others yet are we found the principall in this act our selves you know it is not the Executioner that properly kils the man sin onely is the murtherer yea our sinnes onely are the crucifyers of the Lord of glory yea if you will please to hear me I will yet say more our sinnes onely did not crucifie him but do crucifie him afresh Heb. 6.6 Heb. 6.6 and herein how farre do we exceed the crueltie of the Jews then his body was passible and mortall but now it is glorified and immortall they knew not what they did 1 Cor. 2.8 for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory but we know well enough what we do and say too they buried Christ in the earth and the third day he rose again from the dead but we through sinne so bury him in oblivion that not once in three dayes three weeks he ariseth or shineth in our hearts O shame of Christians to forget so great a mercie O sinne past shame to crucifie afresh the Sonne of God! Think of it beloved sin is the death of Christ and would you not hate him that kills your brother your father your Master your King your God beware then of sinne that does it all at a blow and if you are tempted to it suppose with your selves that you saw Christ Jesus coming towards you wrapt in linnens bound with a kercher and crying after you in this gastly manner beware take heed what you do once have your sinnes most vilely murthered me but now seeing my wounds are whole again do not I beseech you rub and revive them with your multiplyed sinnes pity pity me your Jesus save me your Saviour once have I dyed and had not that one death been sufficient I would have dyed a thousand deaths more to have saved your souls why then do you sin again to renew my sufferings O my Saviour who will not leave to sinne that but hears thy voice in the gardens Cant. 7.13 lo the companions hearken unto thy voice cause me to hear it it is I that have sinned and if this be the fruit of it let me rather be torn of beasts be devoured of Worms be violently pulled or haled with racks then wittingly or wilfully commit a sinne Secondly he purged sinne whose but our sinne and this tels us of the universality of this gracious benefit together with its limitation First of the universality he tasted of death for every man Heb. 2.9 Heb. 2.9 and he gave himself a ransome for all men 1 Tim. 2.6 1 Tim. 2.6 and he purged our sinnes saith my Text what ours onely no saith the Apostle he is the propitiation not for our sinnes onely but for the sinnes of the whole world 1 John 2.2 1 John 2.2 You will say all do not actually receive the fruit of his death you say indeed truly but I wonder through whose default Our blessed Saviour what is he but like a Royall Prince who having many of his subjects in captivity of thraldome under a Forrein enemie pays a full ransome for every one of them and then sending forth his Embassadours he woes them to return to their home and to enjoy their libertie some there are that reject the offer they will rather serve the enemy then return to the freedome of their Lord and are these all the thanks they give their Redeemer O sweet Saviour he made upon the crosse a full perfect and sufficient sacrifice oblation and satisfaction for the sinnes of the world but not all receive the benefit because many by their own demerit have made themselves unworthy and yet howsoever some despise liberty Num. 11.23 is the arm of the Lord shortned no see his arms spread on the Crosse to embrace all and here is the universality of this gracious benefit Vse The use hereof is full of comfort if any man any sinner will now come in with a truly penitent soul thirsting heartily for Christ Jesus and resolve unfeignedly to take his yoke upon him there is no number or notoriousnesse of sinne that can possibly hinder his gracious enterment at Gods mercy seat O then how heinously do they offend who refuse to take Christ Jesus offered thus universally if you ask who are they I answer they are offenders on both hands First those that too much despair secondly those that too much presume to begin with the latter Some there are that howsoever Christ and heaven and salvation be offered unto them yet so close do they stick and adhere to their sinnes that they are loath to leave them and they hope God is so mercifull that they can have Christ and their sinnes too Alas deceive not your selves though the dearnesse and sweetnesse and freenesse and generality of Christs offers be a doctrine most true we propound it unto you as a
motive and incouragement to bring you in yet not so much as one drop of all that bottomless depth of Christs mercie and bountie doth as yet belong unto any that lie in the state of unregeneratenesse or in any kind of hypocrisie whatsoever Away then with this presumption bethink you what a grievous and fearfull sin you commit time after time and day after day in neglecting so great salvation by chusing upon a free offer of his soul saving bloud to cleave rather to a lust O horrible indignity then to Christ Jesus blessed for ever what height and perfection of madnesse is this that whereas a man but renouncing his base rotten transitorie pleasures might have Christ Jesus and with him a full and free discharge of hell pains a sure and known right to heavens joys yet should in cold bloud most wickedly and willingly after so many intreaties invitations and offers refuse this mighty change Heaven and Earth may be astonished Angels and all creatures may justly be amazed at this prodigious sottishnesse and monstrous madnesse of such miserable men they are the words of a late Divine The World saith he is wont to call Gods people precise fools because they are willing to sell all they have for that one Pearl of great price to part with profits pleasures preferments their right hand their right eye every thing any thing rather then to leave Jesus Christ but who do you think now are the true and great fools of the world and who are likeliest one day to groan for anguish of spirit and say within themselves Wisd 5.3 4. This was he whom we had sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach we fools accounted his life madnesse and his end to be without honour now is he numbered amongst the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints Nay if it once come to this with what infinite horrour and restlesse anguish will this conceit rent a mans heart in pieces and gnaw upon his conscience when he considers in hell that he hath lost heaven for a lust and whereas he might at every Sermon had even the Son of God his husband for the very taking and have lived with him for ever in unspeakable blisse yet neglecting so great salvation must now lie in unquenchable flames without all ease or end Sure it is the highest honour that can be imagined that the Sonne of God should make suit unto sinfull souls to be their husband Rev. 3.20 and yet so it is he stands at the door and knocks if you will give him entrance he will bring himself and heaven into your hearts 2 Cor. 5.20 We are Christs Embassadours saith the Apostle as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God We are Christs spokes-men that I may so speak to woo you and winne you unto him now what can you say for your selves that you stand out why come you not in if the Devil would give you leave to speak out and in plain tearms one would say I had rather be damned then leave my drunkennesse another I love the world better then Jesus Christ a third I will not part with my easie and gainfull trade of Vsury for the treasure hid in the field and so on so that upon the matter you must needs all confesse that you hereby judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life that you are wilfull bloudy murtherers of your own souls nay and if you go on without repentance you may exspect that the hellish gnawing of Conscience for this one sinne of refusing Christ may perhaps hold scale with the united horrours of all the rest whatsoever O then make haste out of sinne and come come to Christ so freely offered unto you Heark how he calls Come unto me all sinners see my arms spread my heart open O how gladly would I entertain you if you would come unto me here is a generall invitation indeed all men all sinners of all estates of all kindes of all conditions whosoever you are he keeps open house for you Come and welcome Secondly they offend on the other side who after invitation come not through a kind of unmannerly modestie or a bashfull despair Some there are that may perhaps go so farre as to acknowledge their sinnes and to confesse that without Christ they are utterly undone and everlastingly damned that may be ravisht with the thoughts and apprehensions of this invitation of Christ and would ever think themselves happie if they had their hungrie souls filled with Christ Jesus but yet so it is that considering their manifold grievous sinnes sinnes of a scarlet die of an horrid strain against knowledge against conscience and that which troubles them most for all these sinnes their sorrow being so little and poor and scant and in no proportion answerable to them they cannot dare not will not meddle with any mercy or believe that Christ Jesus in any wayes belongs unto them To these I speak or rather let them hear our Saviour himself speak to them Revel 21. Whosoever will saith he let him come and drink of this water of Life freely yea those that think themselves furthest off he bids them come Matt. 11.28 Come all that are weary and heavy laden if they find sinne a burthen then Christ invites them they whosoever they are that stand at the staffs end he desires them to lay aside their weapons and come in or if they will not do it he layes his charge on them for this is his Commandment 1 John 3.23 that we should believe on the Name of his Sonne Jesus Christ nay he counts it a sinne worse then the sinne of Sodom a crying sinne not to come in when the Gospel is proclaimed and therefore let them never pretend their sinnes are great and many but rather because of his offer invitation and command it being without any restraint of person or sinne except that against the holy Ghost if they will not come in and cast themselves upon Christ let them say it is not the greatnesse of their sinne but a willingnesse to be still in their sinnes which hinders them or otherwise let them know that sinnes when men are truly sensible of them should be the greatest incouragement rather then discouragement to bring them in to our Saviour Matt. 9.12 Those that be whole need not a Physician but they that are sick is it not for the honour of a Physician to cure great diseases a mighty God and Saviour loves to do mighty things therefore in any case let them come in and the greater sinners they are no question the greater glory shall Christ have by their coming And indeed to take away all scruple it is a Maxime most true That he which is truly wearie of his sinnes hath a sound seasonable and comfortable calling to lay hold upon Christ Do they feel the heavie load of their sin just then is Christ ready to take