that which I rather obserue is These two Disciples aboue the rest had a strong conceite of Christs earthly Kingdome which made them carnally both ambitious and zealous Of their ambition wee read elsewhere where One of them desired to sit on Christs right hand and the other on his left here they shew themselues zealous But their indignation is carnall and so is the weapon where with they doe expresse it My Obseruation is One grosse conceite breedes another It did so in them It doth so in the Church of Rome who dreaming of a temporall power which Christ hath giuen vnto his Church is forward to execute temporall paines vpon whomsoeuer is not conformable vnto her will But I leaue the Persons and come to their Passion Wherein notwithstanding marke that though they are bold to propose yet to resolue they are not bold They are bold to propose their Desire their Reason Their desire is Fire a sharpe weapon especially seeing Saint Paul for dissention in Religion prescribeth other which they would not haue to spare they would haue it Consume their Enemies Rom 16. Fire is their Weapon Quid mirum filios tonitrus fulgurare sayth Saint Ambrose It may be the very place put them in minde of the Element because it was in the Region of Samaria that God executed a fearefull vengeance by Fire 2. Kings 1. Or haply because this Element is in the Scripture made the ordinary attendment vpon Gods Iudgement therefore they especially affect that weapon Iohannes Magnus reporteth that Carolus an ancient King of the Gothes amongst his great Lawes ordained this for one That if any man were thrice conuicted to haue denied entertainement to strangers his house should be set on fire Vi aedibus proprijs iuste priuaretur qui earum vsum inhumaniter negavisset Surely whereas there are foure Elements the Earth the Water the Ayre the Fire euery one of the three first are hospitall the Earth entertaines beasts and men the Water fishes the Ayre birds only the Fire is inhospitall and therefore though they might haue wished for an earth-quake to founder the Village or a floud to drowne it or a venemous Ayre to poyson the Inhabitants of it as that King thought so did these Apostles think that the other 3 Elements were too compassionate and only this vnmerciful Element â—iâ— to take vengeance on these merciles men Sure they would haue no mercy shewed them for they would not only haue fire out Consuming fire Li 2 〈◊〉 Seneca obserues well Non vt in beneficijs bonestum est meritameritis compeâ—sare ita in iniurijs illic vinci turpe hic vincere inhumanum and the rule of the Law is Fauores ampliandt restringendaodia and God is the Patterne hereof whose mercy doth indeede permit him to doe vs good Vltra condignum but his Iustice neuer strikes vs but Citra condignum 〈…〉 81. 〈…〉 40. 〈◊〉 131. God is more admirable in sparing then punishing because Cedit iure suo in the one Exigit in the other read Hosea 1.6 Wisd 12. It is our riches to exact our debts but Gods to forgiue his What bowels then had these Apostles that would so repay wrong with reuenge a Iesse wrong with so sharpe a reuenge for it was but a common discourtesie which for many yeares the Samaritans bad vsed towards all the Iewes and that out of no other malice then such as proceeded from a rooted ignorance they were then rather to be pâ—tied for their ignorance then thus to be hated for their malice But I see now the truth of King Dauids answere to the Prophet Gad when he was offered his choice of three plagues Famine 〈…〉 Pessilence or the Sword I am in a wonderfull straight Let vs fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let not mee fall into the hands of men for men are bowelles euen Iames and Iohn which asking fire shew themselues to be worse then fire for as Chrysostome obserueth Fire can stay it selfe if God commaund though it be the nature of fire to burne as appeareth in the case of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego but men though it be contrary to their nature as appeares in that it is painefull to be furious and rage cannot hold though God lay his commandement vpon them The voluntary Agent whose property it should be Statuere actiont suae modum becomes a naturall Et agit ad extremum potentiae suae Vnto whom I say no more but this Wouldest thou O man that God should so deale with thee and send fire such a fire so soone as thou deniest entertainment vnto him Thou wouldest not see then how euery man desireth mercy for himselfe the tenderest mercy but for his enemy Iustice the extreamest Iustice and because it is so Seneca's rule is good Irascenti tibi nihil volo licere quia dum irasceris omnia putas licere In a word the Apostles offend twice first in that being Pastors they desire a corporall reuenge Secondly in that being Christians they desire so sharpe a reuenge Nazianzene thinks they wished for the fire of Sodome Sharpe it is but it is not singular though they haue no Rule yet they haue an Example for it Elias did so In this Chapter is report made of the Transsiguration of Christ wherein appeared Moses and Elias â— Moses the meekest of men Elias a seuere man they saw them both but see whom they remember they might haue remembred Moses and so haue intreated Christ not to take iust displeasure at so bad vsage if he had beene feeling of his owne wrongs but while he is calme they storme and they colour their passion by Elias his example So prone is our nature to imitation and in imitation to pitch vpon the worst The knowledge of Rules is too painefull few will study them and know good and euill by them men take a shorter course and thinke that well done wherein they are like vnto others So liueth the most part of the world and careth not much for any farther enquiry into their actions But when they fall vpon examples according to which they square themselues their liues commonly are exemplifications of the worst It is the obseruation of a very leud Writer but heerein hee hath deliuered a remarkable truth When men read the liues of good men they read them with content and cannot without detestation read the liues of those that are bad yet when they are but to expresse whom they wil be like they forget their owne vpright iudgment and yeeld themselues to their inordinate Passions Certainely these Apostles not so much out of iudgement as out of rage chose rather to bee liâ—e Elias then Moses and wherein are they better then the Samaritans For the Samaritans ranne vpon the same ground that they did they called for fire because Elias did and the Samaritans had the same argument They would not receiue Christ because their Fathers had not vsed to to do it Certainely in the
see what feeling we haue of dreadfull obiects You haue a prouer be touching the eare 〈◊〉 5. which the holy Ghost vseth more then once I will doe a thing which whosoeuer heareth both his eares shall tingle Experience doth discouer this that hideous noyses worke a commotion in our spirits and make them flie vp into the head ring there as it were an amazed alarum and that in diuers formes which are better discerned by our feeling then I can expresse in words And as for our eye such spectacles how doe they fixe them as if they could not moue dazell them as if they had no sight melt them as if they were a fountaine of water God could not present these Obiects to such eyes such eares but they will be confest to be dreadfull Dreadfull in their owne nature for so are flashes of lightning huge duskie flames of fire great claps of Thunder the sound of such a Trumpet whose loud sound might be heard of so many hundred thousand people And if they were dreadfull in their owne nature as experience teacheth how much more when they are cloathed with such circumstances as these were The circumstance of Place for these meteors were wrought in the lower Region of the Ayre whereas the middle Region is their naturall place In the Deserts of Arabia a drie parched Countrie which yeeldeth no exhalations no vapours which are the matter of these meteors Adde hereunto the season of the yeare for it was now the moneth of Iune 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 3 2â—.4 a time wherein these Meteors are not vsuall But specially obserue out of Nyssen that as at the destruction of Sodome so now the skie was cleare there was no prognostication in the Ayre of such an imminent storme So that it could not be imputed vnto nature it must needs bee confest that the finger of God was there Iob 38 And God whom the Booke of Iob doth set forth as the father and treasurer of Raine of Winds of Thunder of Lightning can at his pleasure immediately by his word or else if it please him by his Ministring spirits the bad Angels as it appeares Iob 1. how much more by the good who attend his Throne and whom he vsed at this time produce such Meteors when and where hee he will But the more vnexspectedly hee produceth them the more dreadfull they are and were at this Time and Place I am not yet come to the quicke It is a good rule in Diuinitie that these harbingers or attendants vpon Gods apparitions are an Image not onely of his greatnesse but of his prouidence also In them as in a looking Glasse you may behold the worke which he hath in hand I will shew it you in this present one you may make vse of the rule in vnderstanding other of Gods workes God was now about to deliuer his Law and these harbingers represent the dreadfulnesse thereof The dreadfulnesse of the precept that is noted first by the lightning and then by the thunder By the lightning for the precepts of God are like sire they search and discouer the duetie of a man It is a shallow conceite that the naturall man hath of his duetie to God or to his Neighbour Rom. 7. Saint Paul confesseth what a stranger hee was in it till hee was better nurtured by the Law and giueth this for a generall rule By the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne So that the Law suffereth not a man to be ignorant of his Obligation but setteth it most legible before his eyes This is the Lightning of the precept of the Law And this lightning commeth not without a clappe of Thunder for when a man from the Law reflecteth vpon himselfe and seeth how short he commeth of fulfilling the Law what perplexing terrours will arise in his thoughts what vnquietnesse will distresse his soule His spirit within him will bee ouerwhelmed and the tumult of his Conscience will drowne the sound of all consolation that shall be ministred vnto it many haue had wofull experience hereof As you haue seene the Image of the precept of the Law so must you also behold the Image of the Sanction For the Trumpet calleth to iudgment the flaming fire is an Image of the doome the wicked shall bee summoned with much terrour and they shall bee sent into endlesse torments For the summons shall be by the Trumpet and the wicked shall goe into euerlasting fire I cannot stand to amplifie these things onely take these few obseruations that if this high Parliament of God bee kept with so great terrour how dreadfull shall the grand Assises bee Our Sauiour Christ in the Gospell hath set it forth by three Euangelisls Matth. 24. whom you may paralell with Marke and Luke where you shall find that if this be terrible that is much more terrible Secondly obserue that things corporall come short of things spirituall and no words can fully expresse those things which are here meant for much more is meant then can be said and according to the meaning doth the terrour arise Gods Motto may well be Nemo me impunè lacesset Thirdly we must consider the wonderfull patience of God and stupiditie of men God sheweth vs in this spectacle of Thunder Lightning c. what he can doe what we deserue But what sometimes Caesar said to the Questor who would haue hindred him from entring into the Treasurie at Rome shaking his sword It is easier for my Power to dispatch thee then for the goodnesse of my Nature to bee willing to strike thee may much more truely bee said of God His Power maketh him Mercifull and his Mercie doth manage his Power The Author of the Booke of Wisdome openeth this at large Chap. 11. c. But what stupiditie is there in the meane time in men in prouoking of God that is armed with such power and hath in readinesse such instruments of death Yea which giueth such euidence of them to the intent that they may feare before him It is true that mocking Atheists aske 2. 〈◊〉 3. Where is the promise of his comming But this is vox coeci surdi they doe winke with their eyes and stop their eares other wise there is no man but in all ages God hath discouered vnto him the Ensignes of his reuenging power For haue we not Thundring and Lightning in all ages You will say they are but ordinary Meteors no more is a Rainbow And yet that Meteor hath a mysterie in it and that Bow of Heauen is called Gods Bow because it containeth a perpetuall Prophesie that the world shall be no more destroyed with water Gen. 9. Numb 10. And are not the Thunder and Lightnings called Gods voice And why because they signifie that God will come to iudgement with a tempestuous fire Wee may also make the same vse of the Trumpets Sure Saint Hierome had a good meditation when he said That whether he did eat or drinke or whatsoeuer hee did hee heard
to be made a vessell of mercie this man flyeth and the more he exerciseth himselfe in these the swifter he flyeth from the wrath to come But to come closer to the text flight from the wrath to come is the benefit of Baptisme for these Iewes came to the Baptisme and Saint Iohn mouing then this question thereupon doth shew that flight from the wrath to come is the right vse of Baptisme Baptismus aqua est sed quae igneÌ„ aeternum possit extinguere which Nazianzen doth wittily intimate when he saith that Baptisme is such a water as is able to quench the eternall fire Saint Peter more plaine in his Paralel of Baptisme to Noahs Arke sheweth that in Baptisme there is to be considered not the washing away of the filth of our flesh but a good Conscience maketh request vnto God through the resurrection of Iesus Christ This is the manner of flight But from what must wee flie Marke From wrath from wrath to come From wrath there is the stroake which wee feele and the stampe of Gods displeasure in that stroake that wherewith wee must be moued most and from which we must especially flie is Gods displeasure which is the sharpest part of the stroke As good men out of grace in this world when they repent doe grieue more for that they haue offended God then that they haue cast themselues in danger of Hell so by Gods prouidence to the damned shall the losse of Gods fauour be more gricuous then the torments of Hell which is answerable to the nature of sinne wherein auersion from God is more grieuous then the conuersion to the world therefore in our flight our eye must bee principally not vpon the stripes which wee might feele but vpon Gods disfauour Thus must we flie from wrath And our flying from it must be whiles it is yet wrath to come no flying from it when it is present there is no Oyle to bee bought by the foolish Virgins when the Bridegroome is come Noah entred the Arke before the floud came Lot went out of Sodome before it rained fire and brimstone the children of Israel sprinkled the bloud of the Paschall Lambe on their doores before the destroying Angell slue the first-borne of Egypt in Ezekiel in the Reuelation the seruants of God are marked and sealed before Gods wrath is executed all these are but Types signifying that if we meane to escape wee must take aduantage of the time agree with our Aduersarie in the way Luke 12. left hee passe vs ouer to the Iudge the Iudge to the Serieant the Serieant to the Goaler neuer to bee released vntill wee haue paid the vtmost farthing then hath God no eares to heare our crie no eyes to pitie our state but Wisdome will laugh at our destruction and reioyce when our feare commeth wherefore prouide Phisicke before thou art sicke and Righteousnesse before Iudgement You haue heard the Euill and the Remedie the miserie of these Iewes was this that they wanted this Remedie and why They wanted one that should forewarne them to flie Wee can cast our selues into danger but foresee that whereof we are in danger wee cannot it is the Deuils policie to hoodwinke vs in this respect or to busâ—e vs with other obiects lest we should be reclaimed by this therefore it is Gods second mercie that wee haue forewarners The word signifieth to shew and to foreshew Intus apparens excludit alienum to shew to Sense and Reason Touching our Sense that Axiome is true If there be any Obiect that busieth it other Obiects are not discerned by it Now hee that draweth vs into sinne taketh order that wee shall not want varietie of other obiects therefore this obiect needeth a Remembrancer we need haue a Map of Hell to bee set before vs not such an apish or rather impious one as is depainted in the Iesuites Chamber of Meditations whereby they make Proselytes treacherous Proselytes such as this Age hath had too much proofe of but such a Map as the Scripture maketh and which by the finger of the Spirit is able to make a solid impression in our soules as it is excellently described in Iob. Chap. 33. So must he shew to Sense There is a shewing also to Reason for euen when we see these things flesh and bloud hath sophisters wherewith to stay this flight they that doe not denie there is a Hell yet thinke that Gods prouidence doth not see them amongst so many thousands or cares not for that which they doe therefore there must be a confutation of that sophistrie such a one as is Psal 94. Vnderstand yee brutish among the people and yee fooles when will yee be wise He that planted the eare shall not he heare and he that framed the eie shall not hee see Hee that chasteneth the Heathen shall not hee correct Thus must the forewarner shew Neither shew only but foreshew also for if there bee no flying but from the wrath to come then before the wrath come it must be shewne for when it is present it shall need no shewing the testimonie of our owne conscience shall the cleere our fancie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and resolue our reason our sense shall then haue nothing else to apprehend neither shall our reason cast any doubts of the truth thereof whosoeuer then is iudged of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall also be condemned of his owne conscience he shall set to his seale That God is true and that his Iudgements are most iust you haue such a confession in the fift of Wisdome Foreshew then he must But all foreshewing is not enough for many can indure to see it afarre off Amos 6.3 as they in Amos that did not denie but put farre off the euill day and so the euill seruant in the Gospel My Master will come but after a long time therefore the word here vsed signifieth to foreshew a thing imminent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who hath foreshewed you to flie from the wrath hanging ouer your heads that the Iudge is at the doore that yee are at the gate of Hell such a kind of foreshewing is that that will shake off carnall securitie and will if any thing make men betake themselues to this flight Finally marke that the forewarning must be not only of the wrath to come but also of the flight If the forewarning were only of the wrath to come and wee had only the torments of Hell set before our eyes what could this doe but make vs at our wits end and ouerwhelme vs with despaire but here is the comfort of the forewarning that it setteth before vs the flight also and as it fixeth one eye vpon the danger to humble vs so doth it the other vpon the Remedie wherewith it is Gods pleasure to relieue vs. The Ministers for they are chiefly these Forewarners haue two branches of their power to bind to loose to bind the obstinate to the wrath to come and
his workes which we haue sauour of so great Mysteries for he was an Egyptian and from the Egyptian Priests had the Platonists their more than heathenish Theologie But when the tenne Tribes were carried into Assyria and after them the Iewes into Babylon this mysterie was spread much more by the dispersed of the twelue Tribes whereof there were some dwehing in all Nations vnder heauen as you may gather by comparing St. Lukes words Acts 2. with the entrance to the Epistles of St. Iames and 1 Peter It could not bee but that by these the world should haue some notice of a Messias to come especially after the Bible was translated into Greeke Surely the Sybils wrote so plainely hereof that not onely the Fathers alledge them against the Heathens to proue the comming of Christ but the Latine Poets also relate what they finde in them though they mis-apply it witnesse that Verse Iam noua progenies Coelo demittitur alto Yea they so misapplyed it Baron apparat ad Annal. that sundry did affect a Kingdome in the Common-weale of Rome onely working vpon the common opinion that was in the hearts of men that a great King about that time should be borne into the world Thus farre wee finde in histories that there was an indefinite report of a Messias to come whom the world therefore had an indefinite desire to see But this will not yet satisfie our Prophet and indeede his words are a prophecie rather of that which should be vpon the comming of Christ than a report of that which should be before And not he only but other Prophets testifie that Christ should bee no sooner reuealed vnto but hee should be receiued by the world that the Nations should flocke to him as if they had formerly longed for him The Nations I say in opposition to the Iewes Luke 1. Mat 8. not but that many of the Iewes did looke for him and entertaine him but few in comparison of the Gentiles themselues therefore he was rather the expectation of the Gentiles The Gentiles entertained what the Iewes refused as appeares Acts 13. Rom. 11. and it was foretold Deut. 32. Matth. 8. The propagation of the Gospell amongst the Gentiles was strangely sudden the Psalme compares it vnto the dew Psal 110. The fruit of thy wombe is like the morning dew Malachie to the rising of the Sunne And you know Cap. 60.49.11 that both of them as it were in an instant couer the face of the earth Esay's similies are of a Woman that is deliuered before she is in trauell and of the flocking of Doues vnto their house Zachary tels vs that they should come so fast that the City could not containe them Christ that the kingdome of heauen should suffer violence In Apol. Tertullian reckons vp the Nations which in his daies beleeued and shewes that Christianity had out-spread the Romane Empire Which was the more to be maruelled because the conquest was made by so meane men and that not ouer the bodies Iustin Martyr Dial. cum Tryphon but ouer the soules of them with whom they dealt They subdued the soules of the greatest Potentates and brought them vnder Christ and made the simple pesants that followed the plow to sing hymnes and psalmes vnto his praise And no maruell for the Apostles were inabled to speake to euery Nation in their owne language and their tongues were tipt with the fire of Heauen which suddenly illightned their vnderstandings to whom they preached and filled their hearts with a deuout zeale by this efficacie Christ became the desire of all Nations And vntill wee come thus farre we haue not the full meaning of our Prophet though I haue brought you hereto by many degrees all comprehended vnder common desire A common desire there could not bee except God had purposed that Christ should be a common good neyther could it be that this common good should take place except there were a propension thereunto in men And this propension is euident in the miserie of mans state without Christ more euident in the feeling that man hath thereof the euidence increased when men discouered but an indefinite hearkning after him but it is made compleate when they distinctly discerne him and their affections desire ardently to be partakers of him There is one point more which I may not omit and that is the strange construction of the words in my Text they are desiderium venient the desire they shall come a nowne singular and a verbe plurall There is a mysterie in it As the Articles of our Faith are beyond the strength of nature so doth the holy Ghost often times in vttering them vary from the prescript of Grammar rules I will shew it you in the two first Articles of our Creed The first is of the Trinity of Persons wherein there is an Vnitie of Nature to note this in the beginning of the Bible you haue a plurall nowne ioyned with a verbe singular Elohâ—m bara The second Article is this is Christs incarnation wherein though there bee but one Person yet are there two Natures and to note these two Natures in one Person doth the holy Ghost vse this phrase desiderium venient A significant phrase and puts vs in minde that eyther nature in Christ will not satisfie our desire if hee come only as God his maiestie will be too great for vs to endure if onely as man his infirmity will bee too weake for to relieue vs he that comes must bee both God and man Againe though the natures that come bee two yet is our desire but one because it apprehends them both in one person and it is the vnitie of the person whereupon our desire doth finally rest it selfe But I will conclude This Text doth checke our cold zeale and should make vs blush when we try our selues by it or by them that in the Primitiue times did iustifie the Truth of it their early flocking to pray and to heare their long perseuerance at it and often returnes to it shewed that they delighted to sit vnder the tree of life and that the fruit thereof was sweet vnto their soule they were euen loue-sick with the spouse and their thirstie soules did with King Dauids Cant. 2. Psal 42. like the chased hart breathe as it were and bray after the water brookes Euen in our Fathers daies vpon the reuiuing of Gods truth amongst vs some of this heauenly fire burned in the hearts of our people but it is long since quenched and our liues manifest the difference betweene factus Tertull. and natus Christianus when a man first becomes a Christian hee is at the best and then if euer his soule will poure out those passionate speeches In the way of thy iudgements O Lord haue I watted for thee Esay 26. the desire of my soule is to thy Name and the remembrance of thee with my soule haue I desired thee in the night yea with my spirit within me
you that are the Penitents that it doth not you should not be here to doe penance if you had such doome as GODS Law requireth you are therefore bound to thanke GOD for the clemencie of the State and make good vse of this time of grace remembring that though you scape the corporall fire there is another fire which you haue cause to feare which St IVDE telleth vs was figured out in the perpetuall burning of Sodome and Gomorrha the fire of Hell and assure your selues that if the Land of Canaan spued out those impure persons Heauen will receiue no such and if they that transgressed MOSES Law perished ciuilly without all mercie most wofull shall their destruction be that are reserued for that fire which shall deuour the aduersaries the fire of Hell You shall doe well therefore to quench that fire before you come at it and there are three waters with which you must quench it The first is the water of your teares you must imitate King DAVID who all the night long washt his bed watered his couch with his teares there he sinned and there he bathed himselfe so must you But mans teares are too weake a water to wash away either the guilt or staine of sinne which are the fewell of that fire you must therefore moreouer vse two other waters the water of CHRISTS blood to wash away the guilt and the water of his Spirit to purge out the corruption of your sinne If you make good vse of these three waters that fire will neuer seize on you otherwise assure your selues that though we spare you GOD will not spare you he will one day punish you most seuerely And it were good that our Law did not spare so much as it doth considering the growth and ouer-spreading of impuritie It were to be wisht that our temporall Sword did strike as deepe as the Sword of MOSES did it may when it pleaseth the State and it shall not doe it without example of other Countreys Or if that may not be obtained at least it were to be wisht that the old Canons of the CHVRCH were reuiued and ghostly discipline exercised more seuerely for certainly the scandall is great which such sinnes bring vpon the CHVRCH and they that slander vs without a cause when they haue iust cause how will they open their mouthes against vs Our care then should be to stop their mouthes but principally we should prouide that there be no wickednesse amongst vs which is the end of the doome and the last point of my Text. I will touch it briefly The Iudgement was seuere but it was necessarie Necessarie for the State which is to preserue it selfe free from guilt there must no wickednesse be amongst you No wickednesse that is impossible in this world for viuitur non cum perfectis hominibus they that haue most of the Spirit haue some-what of the Flesh and the Field of GOD till haruest will haue Tares as well as good Eares and the good eares will haue chaffe as well as good graine and the good graine will haue bran as well as flower We may not looke then for any State wherein there is no wickednesse The Law therefore requireth onely that there be Nullum scelus no haynous wickeduesse no tantum scelus as the Vulgar speaketh enormous transgressions there must be no crying sinnes the State must haue a vigilant eye vpon such sinnes and execute vengeance vpon notorious sinners they must not be amongst vs. But they will the Serpent will be in Paradise yea Lucifer was in Heauen the Arke had a CHAM and amongst CHRISTS Disciples there was a IVDAS Be then they will amongst vs. But the meaning of the Law is they must not be indured by vs they must not scape vnpunished if they doe they will proue contagious such sinnes are like fretting Gangreenes they are like vnto Leauen they infect all about them and if they doe not infect they will make guiltie and for sparing such a one GOD will not spare a whole State And there is good reason for Qui non vetat cum potest iubet GOD taketh them for abettors that will not when they may reforme inordinate liuers Therefore the State must put away from amongst them such inordinate liuers 1 Cor. 5. Hierusalem below must as neere as may be be like vnto Hierusalem aboue Apoc. 22. of that aboue St IOHN saith Extracanes impudici no vncleane person commeth thither neither must any be indured here so soone as they appeare they must be made expiatorie Sacrifices and their death must free the State from guilt But I draw to an end A word to you that are the Malefactors Origen Ad paenitentiae remedium confugite qui praeuenti estis tam graui peccato Seeing you haue beene ouertaken with so foule a fault neglect not the remedy which GOD hath left you heartie and vnfained repentance for your sinne the rather because you haue to do with a most mercifull Iudge who doth not onely moderate the punishment but commute it also commute the punishment which you should suffer in Hell with a punishment which the CHVRCH inflicteth here on Earth Consider the qualitie consider the quantitie of these different punishments and you will confesse that it is a most mercifull commutation Cast then your eyes backe and consider what you haue done how haynous your offence hath beene and cast your eyes forwards likewise and consider what you haue deserued how great a danger you haue incurred by inioying a short and beastly pleasure Thinke vpon both these often and thinke vpon them seriously so shall you yeeld GOD the greater glorie for the mercie which he vouchsafeth you and he shall worke the greater comfort in your soules by assuring you of the remission of that sinne wherewith you haue so greatly prouoked him And to vs all this I say Eligamus priùs affectus castigare quà m propter ipsos castigemur Let vs plucke out our eyes cut off our hands rather then by retayning them to be cast into Hell-fire Let this spectacle remember vs often to set before vs the shame of the world and the horror of a guiltie conscience which befall enormous sinners in this life And if that will not hold in our corrupt nature let vs set before vs the neuer-dying Worme the euer-burning Fier Or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let vs begin here our life in chastitie Nazian that we may one day be in the number of those Virgins that follow the Lambe whether soeuer he goeth Reuel 14. And let Magistrates and Ministers both be iealous ouer the State with a godly iealousie that as by the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments it is espowsed to one Husband 2 Cor. 11. so it may be presented as a chast Virgin vnto CHRIST when those heauenly Nuptials shall be solemnized wherein standeth our euerlasting happinesse This God grant for Jesus Christs sake by the operation of the Holy Spirit To which one