Spirituall presence hee is with his Church unto the end of the world secundum ineffabilem invisibilem gratiam impletur illud Ecce vobiscum sum according to his unspeakable and invisible grace that is fulfilled I am with you alwayes to the end of the world but according to the flesh which the Word did take and as hee was borne of a Virgin and apprehended of the Iewes and fastned to the Crosse and as he was taken from the Crosse and wrapped in linnen clothes and laid in the grave that is fulfilled which is said Mee yee shall not have alwayes for forty dayes after Iohn 20. his resurrection hee ascended Et non est hîc and hee is not here for hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father in Heaven est hîc and yet he is here for he departed not from them in regard of his Majesty and power but is still with them Magna quidem sententia tali viro digna A worthy saying fitting so worthy a Father As the soule is whole in the whole body and whole in every part of the body so Christ secundum potentiam by his power and might is all whole in Heaven all whole in earth and all The Christian is strong in Christ who is all sufficient whole in every part of the earth and this is our comfort for in his passion love is kindled in his resurrection faith is confirmed in his resurrection hope is strengthned for while our Head by his power ascended into Heaven wee also with him shall together ascend For all power is given unto him If Iacob understanding that Mat. 28. Ioseph was alive could say Sufficit mihi quòd filius meus vivit It suffiseth me that my sonne liveth much more ought every faithfull Gen. 45. soule to say It sufficeth mee that Christ liveth and sitteth at the right hand of his Father who is unto me in mourning mirth in hunger meate in sicknes health in poverty wealth in darkenes light in weakenes power in death life and this is to give power to God alwayes to depend and hang on his power not to say as the Aramites to make him weake in one place and at one time and strong in another place and at another time but strong 1 Reg. 20. 28. for ever in his strength wee are strong in his victory wee overcome In all things wee are more than conquerors through him that loved Rom. 8. 37. us Conquerers and more than conquerers What is this more than Conquerors O noble Apostle thou wantest words to expresse thy meaning what men or Angels can expresse it fitly what wee shall call this more Rest in him trust in him though your bodies bee weake your beauty fraile your health uncerten your life short your honours vaine your pleasures brittle your troubles great your wisdome little your vertues few your affections many and turbulent and one day yee shall bee conquerours and more then conquerours for his power is made perfect through weakenes he can bring strength out of weakenes light 1 Cor. 12. 9. out of darkenesse life out of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and make the weake things of the world to confound the mighty 1 Cor. 1. 27. Thomas Aquinas doth set out unto us the power of God by the Aquin. order of naturall things Nam majora sunt quae semper nobiliora for they be the greater which are alway the most noble saith hee As in the Elements the Water is ten times more then the earth in greatnes the ayre is greater than the water the fire which wee call the ayre is greater than the ayre and the Heavens are greater than the fire and the highest Heaven greater than the rest because it containeth and is not contayned God therefore which made all is more noble more great than all and is infinite in his essence and power Sum qui sum I am that I am is his name he is of himselfe as Kings are of themselves in their owne Kingdomes we of him as the authority of Magistrates dependeth on the King I am that I am is his name As the eye Exod. 3. which is ordayned to see all colours wanteth all colour otherwise all things should seeme to bee of the same colour so the first Mover is subject to no body and yet can rule all bodies by his power and to bee ruled of none his power is incomprehensible The meditation of Christs power is sweet and comfortable who can despaire knowing that in him is fulnes of power Thus the Christ is all in all unto us Apostles solaced themselves among the middest of their persecutions thus let us solace our selves for who can doe as Christ Act. 4. hath done Aesculapius among the Heathen is adored as God in physicke but Christ hath cured all diseases he hath given sight to the blind and tongues to the dumbe and legges to the lame Mat. 9. Luk. 7. and life to the dead Aesculapius did it by hearbes but Christ by his Word Hercules is adored for his strength for killing men beasts and monsters but Christ hath overcome Divels and death it selfe Bacchus is worshipped for wine and Ceres for bread but Christ Hebr. 2. turned water into wine and fedde five thousand men with five 1 Cor. 15. Iohn 2. cap. 6. loaves and two fishes Minerva is famous for learning but Christ by twelve unlearned men subdued the world Alexander with the sword and the Apostles with the Word one of the greatest miracles in the world Athanasius libro de incarnatione Christi layeth out the power of Christ foure wayes that at his first comming the miralces of Boetia Licia Lybia Aegypt Cabirus ceased and secondly all the oracles of the Divels in Delphos Dido Delos and all Greece thirdly their magicke of Chaldaea and India vanished then away and lastly that the wisdome and eloquence of Philosophers was silenced and suppressed by the doctrine of the Apostles Whereupon libro de Passione Dei he thus crieth out O Christe tu lumen nobis in tenebris illuminasti thou ô Christ our light didst Iohn 3. 19. lighten us in darkenes thou at the right hand of thy Father hast Act. 2. loosed our sorrowes thou being life hast quickened us being dead Col. 2. thou being poore hast inriched us with thy poverty thou being 2 Cor. 8. Rom. 8. 38. our Mediatour hast reconciled us to thy Father thou art to us all in all If any object that hee cannot doe some things for hee cannot lie I answere that Gods power doth not fight with Gods truth Dicitur omnipotens faciendo quod vult non patiendo quod non vult he is called Omnipotent in doing what hee will not in suffering what Aug. lib. 5. de Civitate Dei hee will not Nil Deo difficile There is nothing hard for God Potest Deus omnia sed non vult God can doe all things but hee will not
the old world there were but eight beleevers but two Iosua and Caleb and in Christs time we read but of an hundred and twenty beleevers As Aegypt was full of lice Nilus full of Crocodyles Golgotha full of dead mens skulls so is the world full of Infidells He destroyed them that beleeved not And hence commeth it to passe that so many are damned even because they want faith Perditio tua ex te ô Israel thy destruction commeth of thy selfe ô Israel Ex nobis quod damnamur It is of our selves that wee bee damned blame not God but thine owne infidelity For all things Hos 13. Man 5. are possible to them that doe beleeve And therefore Hemingius in his Enchiridion distinguisheth of the word that There is Duplex verbum Damnans Salvans That there is a double word a Damning and a Saving word The damning word is the Law the saving word is the Gospell The Law offereth grace to them that doe it Yee shall keepe therefore Deut. 2. 27. Gen. 3. 5. Levit. 18. 5. Rom. 10. 4. 9. my statutes and my iudgements which if a man doe he shall live in them But the Gospell offereth grace to the beleevers For Christ is the end of the Law unto every one that beleeve For if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Faith is ever a chiefe doer in matters of salvation and therefore said Hemingius in his Enchiridion that Causa imperans salutis est pater the Iohn 3. 16. commanding cause of our salvation is God For God so loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Sonne to save the world Causa obsequens est filius the obedient pliant cause is the Psal 40. 7. Sonne In the volume of thy booke it is written of me that I should doe thy will I am content to doe it thy Law is written in my heart Causa consummans est Spiritus Sanctus the consummating cause is the holy Ghost so saith the Apostle But yee are washed but yee are sanctified 1 Cor. 6. 11. but yee are iustified by the grace of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God The instrumentall cause is double Exhibens Recipiens Rom. 1. 18. The exhibiting Cause is the word the receiving cause Faith as therefore a Smith worketh not in cold iron so a preacher worketh not on an Infidell There is no life of God in us till we beleeve Ephes 4. 18. till then our cogitation is darkened and we are strangers from the life of God He that beleeveth in him shall not be condemned but hee that Iohn 3. 18. beleeveth not is condemned already because he beleeveth not in the name of the only begotten Sonne of God A tree liveth not without moisture Without faith no accesse to God nor a bird without aire nor a fish without water nor a Salamander without fire So the soule liveth not without faith The just doth live by his faith this is the spirit and soule of the inward man we Hab. 2. have a name to live yet are we dead if we want faith I live by faith in the Sonne of God saith Paul who loved me and gave himselfe for Gal. 2. 20. me Infidels therefore are dead men What is the cause that wee profit no more by the word wee beleeve not the preacher that may bee verified of our people which God said to Ezechiel concerning the Iewes They come unto Ezech. 33. 31 32. thee saith God as people useth to come and my people sit before thee and he are thy words but they will not doe them For with their mouthes they make jests and their heart goeth after their covetousnesse and loe thou art unto them as a jesting song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can sing well for they heare thy words but doe them not So we come to the Sermon heare the preacher but we doe not heare him with such zeale and affection as we should wee beleeve not but abuse the word to our owne condemnation why care wee no more for heaven but are so worldly truely we beleeve not God what is the cause that wee live in sinne seeing it is damnable For the wayes of it is death wee beleeve not the Scriptures what is the Rom. 6. 23. 2 Cor. 4. 4. cause of all disorder even infidelity The God of this world hath blinded their eyes our eares are open to heare but not our hearts to beleeve Satan stealeth away the word lest we should beleeve and so be saved But let us make much of the word that wee may Mat. 13. 19. have faith to beleeve For faith nay one dramme of faith is of more worth than all the treasure in the world This that good merchant well knew that sold all to buy it For hee that beleeveth shall not be condemned for every beleevers cause is removed Mat. 13. 24. from the Court of Gods justice into the Court of Gods mercy where hee that beleeveth is not condemned Therefore our care must be with S. Paul that we may be found having the righteousnesse of Christ by faith For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 1. Iesus as all beleevers are and untill thou beest a beleever thou belongest not to God For as the Eagle refuseth her birds till they can mount and soare to the Sunne and as the Raven acknowledgeth not her young ones till they be blacke So God rejecteth the infidels and receiveth none till they beleeve None are the Sonnes of God but the faithfull the rest are bastards I confesse there be degrees in faith The first is a rudiment or entrance Gal. 3. Mat. 12. 20. Rom. 14. 1. Hebr. 10. 22. Rom. 4. 18. which Christ calleth Smoking flaxe The second is a weake faith Him that is weake in faith saith Paul receive unto you The third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assurance of Faith Such a faith was in Abraham who above hope beleeved under hope But no faith is abominable and may easily be discerned from a weake faith As a sicke man is knowne from a dead man So a weake faith from no faith Even a desire of Faith is a token of faith For Gods spirit worketh God giues grace according to the measure of Faith that but no faith is accursed For he that beleeveth not is còndemned already There be degrees in faith three examples we have The first of the Ruler of the Synagogue who beleeved that his daughter should revive if Christ would but touch her But the Iohn 3. 18. Iohn 4. woman with the bloody issue beleeved that she should be whole if she touched but the hemme of his vesture But the Centurion beleeved that his servant should doe well if Christ spake but the Luk. 8. Mat. 8. word here is Gradus positivus the positive degree the
as Chaffe the least blast of Gods wrath will overthrow all their happinesse and felicity which at the best is most uncertaine and mutable Iob saith They spend their dayes in pleasure and suddenly goe downe to Hell And hee saith The Lord Iob 21. 18. doth make them as stubble before the winde and as chaffe shall they bee dispersed for in a moment they are gone and like chaffe scattered abroad the godly are as trees the wicked are as chaffe there is difference betweene chaffe and trees Ieremy layeth out the estate of the wicked by comparing them to sheepe Let us talke with thee of thy judgements saith Ieremy Ier. 12. 1 2 3. to God Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse Thou hast planted them and they have taken roote they grow and bring foorth fruit thou art neere in their mouth but farre from their reynes and at last hee saith Pull them out like sheepe for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter Now they live and within an houre are led to the shambles Iob compareth them to a dreame or vision in the night and saith That the rejoycing of the wicked is but Iob 20. 5 8 9. short and the joy of hypocrites is but for a moment hee shall flee away as a dreame and they shall not finde him and shall passe away as a vision in the night so that the eye which had seene him shall see him no more and his place shall see him no more Moses compareth them to a tale that is told and hee saith that they bring their yeeres to an Psal 90. end as a tale that is told and Saint Iames to a vapour that continueth but a little season How soone is the yee moulten How soone Iam. 4. is the flowre withered How soone is a vapour consumed of the Sunne How soone is a dreame vanished How soone is a tale told How soone is a ship past How swift is the flight of an Iob 4. 25. Eagle And such is our life so elegantly David setteth out their fall I have seene saith hee the wicked strong spreading himselfe like a greene Bay tree yet he passed away and he was gone I sought him but hee could not bee found they are gone they shall no more returne Psal 37. 35 36. to their faire houses and their places shall know them no more where they dwelt how they lived we know but where they dyed where they are God knoweth they were here but they are gone Ederunt biberunt riserunt luserunt they have eaten drunken laughed sported and made themselves merry but suddenly No mans estate permanent they are gone Feare dwelleth in their houses and brimstone is scattered in their habitations their rootes are dried up beneath and above is his branch cut downe his remembrance shall perish from the earth and Iob 18 15 16 17. hee shall have no name in the street David in his Epitaph cryeth out Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mighty overthrowne So how are these wicked ones overthrowne So Saint Ambrose made it the foot of his song speaking of the death of the three noble Emperours Valentinian Gratian and Theodosius Omnibus O Valentiniane Gratiane speciosi fuistis O Valentinian and Gratian that have beene Oratione funebride Theodosiâ— obitu Gratiani beautifull to all and admired of all conjoyned in life not divided in death one grave did not separate them whom one affection joyned together meeker than Doves swifter than Eagles stouter than Lions gentler than Lambes the bow of Gratian never turned backe neither did the sword of Valentinian returne empty Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mightie fallen O quomodo O how how Againe speaking of Theodosius hee saith Obitum ejus omnia elementa moerebant All the Elements mourned for his death the Sunne was eclipsed the Moone did not shine the Ayre was darkened the Earth trembled the Waters roared and the whole World bewailed the losse of such a man Quomodo ceciderunt potentes O quomodo corruerunt How are the mighty fallen How are the mighty overthrowne c. No mans state is permanent let no man trust his present state for how soone are rich men impoverished How suddenly are wise men infatuated How soone are the honourable abased How suddenly are the strong weakened How suddenly are the faire blemished Laban hath lost his sheepe Achitophel his wisedome Haman Gen. 30. 2 Sam. 16. Ester his honour Samson his strength Absolon his beautie Dionysius his kingdom How suddenly do the wicked perish The wicked are as men in the fire ready to be burned as prisoners adjudged ready to be executed as sheepe for the shambles For behold Pharaoh now sitting in his chariot now drowned in the Sea Exod. 14. and meate for Haddockes Behold Balthasar now tossing the pots and by and by quaking like a beast behold Herod now sitting in a chaire of gold and the people crying The voyce of a God and not of a man and presently strucken of an Angell and eaten of Wormes behold Dionysius to day a King in Syracuse to morrow a Schoole-master in Corinth Lastly behold Cardinall Woolsey with silver pillars pollaxes and golden crosses writing I and my King and within a while dead at Leicester of an Italian Figge with his stinch putting out the torch To these examples of Balthasar Pharaoh Dionysius and others â—erome addeth many more Nam feriunt summes fulmine montes subitò The Lightnings strike the high mountaines suddenly Constantins Death comes not sudden to the godly dyed suddenly in a Village called Mopsi Iulianus was suddenly hit with an arrow from Heaven Iovinianus stifled with stinch in a vomit of bloud Valius perished in the warres against the Goths Gratian was slaine suddenly at Lions Valentinianus the younger was hanged Procopius Maximinus Eugenius quoth he dyed suddenly on the sword they say that Gregorie the thirteenth died suddenly of a Rheume of whom Beza wrote Nec panifex nec potifex sed carnifex Papa pater pontifex This is the case of all men But what wicked man will beleeve this till hee feele it Every man flatters himselfe till the plague come and then hee cryeth out that it came too suddenly it came ere hee looked for it For certainely when a man shall heare the words of the curse and Deut. 29. 19 20. blesse himselfe in his heart and saith I shall have peace although I walke after the stubbornnesse of mine owne heart thus adding drunkennes to thirst the Lord will not bee mercifull unto him but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and every curse that is written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall put out his name from under Heaven Salomon noteth three things in the wicked their plague commeth shortly suddenly and without recovery for marke his words His destruction
of his little Mat. 18. 10. ones saith The Angels of his little ones doe alwaies behold the face of his Father which is in Heaven Miraculously doth hee keepe us untill the day of our death Therefore saith David Thou hast shewed mee great troubles and adversities but Psal 71. 18. thou wilt returne and revive mee and wilt come againe and take mee from the depth of the earth Miraculously doth he continue his benefits towards us Therefore saith the sweet Singer of Israel Cast me not away in the time of my age forsake me not when my strength Psal 71. 8. faileth me let it be our Prayer If God had not aswell preserved us and kept us it had beene to small purpose to call us and sanctifie us This Doctrine then is a Doctrine of comfort that God preserveth us it is as Davids Harpe which rejoyced Saul in his melancholy God hath not onely made us but also preserved us in a wonderfull mercy He telleth all our steps He numbreth Iob 14. Psal 56. Psal 38. Psal 139. Psal 34. Mat. 10. our teares He counteth our dayes and times He telleth our members He reckoneth our bones Yea he telleth our haires Our steps our teares our dayes our members our bones our hayres are told and yet all these are but little a steppe is but a little space a teare is but a little water a member is but a little flesh a bone a little substance our dayes a little time our haire a little exerement yet all these are kept of God he that keepeth these little things will keepe our bodies and soules As Paul prayed for Thessalonica Now the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your whole spirit soule and body may 1 Thes 5. 23. bee kept blamelesse untill the comming of our Lord and Saviour â—esus Christ. God therefore is continually to be praised quoth Ambrose The Saints though afflicted yet delivered In prosperis quia consolamnur in adversis quia corrigimur in prosperity because we are comforted in adversity because we are corrected before we were borne because he made us after we were borne because he saveth us in our sinnes because hee Ambr. in ora fu nebri in Theodosium Apoc. 2. 10. pardoneth us in our conversion because hee helpeth us in our preservation because he keepeth us and crowneth us But some will say doe we not see good men take harme sometime breake an arme a legge yea and sometime their necke Where is Gods providence how are they preserved I say that GOD sometime throwes them down and leaveth them to themselves that they may the better see their weakenesse and Gods power and being delivered glorifie him in it according to that precept of the Almighty call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Hereof come all those tragicall Psal 50. 15. speeches of the Saints that God maketh them as Buts and all his arrowes sticke deepe in them that hee feareth them with Iob 7. 12. 14 19. dreames and astonisheth them with visions and will not give them so much rest as to swallow their spettle that their heart panteth that their strength faileth the light of their eyes is Psal 38. 5. 8. 10. gone that their wounds are putrified and corrupt that they are weakened and sore broken and doe rore for the very disquietnesse of their hearts that they are as water powred out that all their bones be out of ioynt that their heart is as waxe melted Psal 22. 14. in the middest of their bowels that God bruiseth them as a Lion like a Crane or Swallow so God maketh them to chatter and to mourne like Doves True it is that they bee often Esay 38. 12 13. 14. in perill for a time Iacob lyeth in the Fields Gen. 30. 1 Sam. 24. Psal 125. Ier. 20. Dan. 3. David in the Wildernesse Ioseph in Prison Ieremy in the Dungeon The Three Children in the Oven Iohn in the hot Oyle at Ephesus Elias among Crowes Moses among Sheepe 1 Reg. 17. Exod. 2. Mat. 12. Dan. 6. Luke 16. Acts 27. Ionas among Fishes Daniel among Lions Lazarus among Dogges Paul among Snakes But at last commeth the yeere of Iubile and they are freed the cloud is dispersed and the Sunne shineth the clay is removed and the water runneth the ashes is scattered and the fire burneth the snare is broken and the Birds are delivered It is God that preserveth all things that he may have the glory Psal 174. 7. He kept the old world many yeeres from perishing and when it was destroyed he reserved a seed of 8. persons He will keep Gen. 8. this new World in the great burning For there shall bee a new God hath preserved his Scriptures God preserves Bodies and Soules Heaven and a new Earth Hee kept the primitive Church from ten great persecutours when the rivers were dyed with bloud when five thousand died every day except the Calends of Ianuarie hee kept the Scriptures from Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dioclesian the one made monthly Inquisition for the Bibles and 2 Pet. 3. beheaded them that kept them the other commanded all to bee burnt yet Ezra and they continue to our good hee kept the knowledge of his Name in all the darkenesse of the World For as Iosephus saith Adam made two tables of stone or pillars Euseb lib. 1. in the one hee wrote Hominis lapsum Mans fall In the other Promissionem de Messia the promise of the Messiah and so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continueth to this day hee kept the Religion in the dayes of Queene Mary as hee kept the Law in the dayes of Manasses and Amon two or three Berries were left on the top of the tree some grapes after the vintage some eares of corne after the gleaning Hee kept our late blessed Queene when Stephen Gardiner bad Hew at the roote and when some others used her roughly when the plot of her death was layd Let our Soules praise the Lord and Psal 103. all that is within us praise his holy name God preserved the Fathers Aegypt received Athanasius from exile having beene seven yeeres in a Cisterne at Treveris France received Hilary returning from battell Antioch received Chrysostome from the malice of Arcadius and Eudoxia Italy welcomed Eusebius from exile and Millaine entertained Ambrose from the rage of Valentinian and Iustina God preserveth the World and all men in it and this preservation of the World is greater than the Creation of the World greater than the Ios 10. Iohn 2. John 6. drying up of the redde Sea greater than the standing of the Sunne and Moone in Aialon greater than the turning of Water into Wine greater than the feeding of five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes Et tamen haec omnes mirantur non quia majora sed quia rariora Vilescunt miracula
No peace to the wicked in which we fall from the Lord of life One day in thy Courts saith David is better than a thousand other where I had rather be a doore keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tabernacles of wickednesse Sed impiis non est pax there is no peace unto the wicked their hearts never rest they are never quiet their sinne lyeth at the doores Esa 57. 20. Gen. 4. 7. alwayes dogging them and ever ready to pull out the very throat of their soules As good men have the first fruits of the Spirit and certaine tastes of heavenly joyes in this life So on the contrarie the wicked have certaine flashings of hell-flames on earth and are as the sea which alwayes rageth and never resteth And as the good man when he dyeth bequeatheth his body which is earthly to the earth and sinnes which are divellish unto the Divell and his goods that are worldly to the world and his soule that is heavenly to heaven So the wicked when he dyeth bequeatheth his goods to the world his body to the earth his soule to the Divell But some will say The wicked are merry and quiet none so merrry as they they sing like birds in May like Nightingales in a cleare night I must distinguish and say that some wicked are blockish and senselesse like swine their consciences are seared like dead flesh Mat. 7. 6. 1 Tim. 4. 2. others are desperate having an hell in their conscience trembling like Agag but yet both states damnable For is the fish that skippeth in the net or the bird that singeth in the snare or the prisoner that is merry in the iayle in any good case No 1 Sam. 13. 1 Thes 5. 3. Esa 9. 6. Ephes 2. 17. no Even so is it with the wicked when They crie peace peace sudden destruction shall come upon them as upon a Woman in travell But there is peace to the godly Peace shall come they shall rest in their beds c. Christ is their peace Pacem Evangelizavit iis qui prope iis qui procul he preached peace unto them that are neare and unto them that are afarre off To this end he died rose againe ascended into heaven the first was the lowest step of his humiliation in earth the second the highest steppe of his exaltation in earth the third the highest steppe of his glorification in heaven In the first he suffered in the second he conquered in the third he triumphed the first tooke away sinne and destroyed death and him that had the Lordship of Death The second brought Righteousnesse for he rose againe for our justification The third Heb. 2. 14. Rom. 4. 25. bringeth glory and all to this end to make peace between God and man Thirdly peace is taken for prosperitie and happy successe of all things as in the Psalme O pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall Psal 122. 6. prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls and plenteousnesse be within thy palaces Peace and plentie are here Synonymies the one openeth the other he prayeth for plentifull peace or peaceable plentie God hath promised his Church this peace saying The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods in the fruit of thy body in the Prosperitie is termed peace fruit of thy cattell in the fruite of thy ground the Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure even the Heaven to give raine unto thy land in due season and to blesse all the workes of thy hands thou shalt lend to many Deuter. 28. 11 12 13. nations and not borrow thy selfe The Lord shall make thee the head and not the taile thou shalt be above only not beneath c. Iacob blessing Iudas saith That he shall bind his Asse fole to the Vine his Asses colt to the best Vine he shall wash his garments in wine his Cloake with the Gen. 49. 11 12. blood of the grape that is he shall have all prosperitie and this prosperitie Iude wisheth unto them saying peace be multiplied upon you Esay prophecied of the wealth and abundance of the Church saying Thou shalt sucke the milke of the Gentiles and shalt Esa 60. 16 17. sucke the brests of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy redeemer the mightie one of Iacob For brasse I will bring gold and for Iron I will bring thee silver and for stones Iron I will also make thy government peace and thine exactors righteousnesse violence shall no more be heard in thee neither desolation nor destruction c. And God wisheth that his Church had hearkened to his commandements Then had thy prosperitie beene as the Flood and thy righteousnesse as the Waves of the Sea In six evils God would have delivered Esa 48. 18. Iob. 5. Psal 65. 11. Mal. 3. Iob. 1. Gen. 26. 1 Reg. 10. 27. it the clouds shall droppe fatnesse upon it God would open the windowes of heauen and powre downe a blessing with plenteousnesse God hath inriched the members of his Church in all ages as Iob in Huz Isaac in Gerar Salomon in Israel who had silver as stones Yea this peace and plentie is proper and peculiar to the Church onely to the godly the wicked have no right nor interest in the blessings of the earth For the elects sake God made Gen. 1. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Iohn 3. Mar. 13. Apo. 6. Rom. 8. the world For them he enriched it for them he redeemed it for their sakes he preserveth it for their sakes hee deferreth his comming to judge this world That the wicked enjoy ayre fire water let them thanke the godly who are coheires with Christ in all things the wicked are usurpers intruders into all Gods blessings they have no right to any furrow or foot of land The faithfull only are coheires with Christ in whose right they are invested into all the benefits of this life Thou art no more a servant but a Sonne saith Paul now if thou be a Sonne those art also the heyre of Gal. 4. 7. God through Christ As a bastard hath no inheritance among the legitimate Children So the wicked as bastards have no inheritance among the faithfull They may say of God and heaven as the tenne Tribes said of David and his Kingdome What portion have we in David we have no inheritance in the Sonne of Ishai So they have no portion in heaven no inheritance in the Sonne of God Christ Iesus they are Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant and promise But the godly have right and interest in earth and heaven also In their elder brother Christ Iesus heaven is theirs heaven and earth is theirs land and sea are theirs yea all theirs men and Angels are subject unto them Prosperitie oft hurt to the Church All things are ours saith the Apostle whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World
divine power have yee not heard it hath it not beene told you from the beginning have yee not understood it by the foundation of the Earth Hee sitteth upon the circle of the Earth and the inhabitants thereof are as Grasse-hoppers he stretcheth out the Heavens as a curtaine and spreadeth them out as a Tent to dwell in And Salomon reasoneth thus Who hath ascended up to Heaven and descended who hath gathered the Wind in his Prov. 30. 4. fist who hath bound the Waters in a garment who hath established all the ends of the World what is his name or his Sonnes name if thou canst tell And God reasoning with Iob saith Where wast thou when Job 38. 4 5 6. 8. I layd the foundations of the Earth declare if thou hast understanding who hath layd the measures thereof if thou knowest or who hath stretched the line over it whereupon are the foundations thereof set or who hath layd the corner-stone thereof or who hath shut up the Sea with doores When it issued and come forth out of the Wombe c. The world is Schola Dei the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke And the Apostle affirmeth Psal 19. 1. that God left not himselfe without witnesse in that hee did good and gave us raine from Heaven and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladnesse O every showre of raine is a Preacher and tels us there is a God Note this that nothing was made of it selfe nor for it selfe but for another The Heavens we see doe serve the Ayre the Ayre serveth the Earth the Earth the Beasts the Beasts serve Man Man therefore not made of himselfe was made to serve another which can bee no other but God The Lord hath made all things for his owne sake If all things therefore Man which Pro. 16. 4. confuteth Atheisme Againe it is an arrow yea a hammer against Atheisme that all men have a conscience of sinne and are affraid of it Conscience is a witnesse either with us or against us either to excuse us or accuse us It beareth witnesse of what of secret particular actions Against whom against thy selfe To whom to God seeing neither men nor Angels know the secrets of thy heart Let all Atheists barke against the God-head as long as they will Intùs est vermis qui illos mordet within there is a worme that gnaweth them In that men are afraid and ashamed of sinne it argueth that there is a God we see that all creatures purge themselves of their corruption The Sea her froth the water her skumme the earth her vapours the birds their feathers the wine his lees the fire his smoke the oile his some Man therfore that would avoid his sinne and be rid of it hath a conscience of God and proveth there is a God But alas Religion beggeth in these dayes Probitas laudatur alget our religion is in imagination not in faith in opinion not in judgement in the braine not in the heart in word not in deed and effect They professe they know God but inwardly in their works they doe denie him being abominable disobedient and unto every Few truly religious but many Epicures and Atheists good worke reprobate they have a shew of godlinesse but have denyed the power thereof O vile times the worst that have beene ever since the creation of the world and if these dayes should not be shortned no flesh should be saved but for the Elects sake God hath shortned them We Tit. 1. 16. 2 Tim. 3. 5. Mat. 24. 22. Esa 58. 1. 1 Reg. 19. Mar. 3. had need crie aloud and not spare lift up our voices like trumpets For ordinary speaking hath no proportion with extraordinary sinning We cannot come to you as God came to Elias in a still wind in a soft voice we must have Stentors voice be like Iames and Iohn the sonnes of thunder The Heathen said of their infidels Plus amant bovem quā Iovem they love the oxe more than Iupiter we may say of many Christians Plus amant coenam quam coelum cibum quam Christum they love more their supper than heaven more their meat than Christ they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like lapwings that delight in dung like Vespatian who took a tribute of urine Many nations have lived without cloaths without King without armour but never any without God as Tullie said Nulla gens tamfera tamimmanis c. never nation was so wilde so cruell so barbarous but have acknowledged and confessed that there was a God Neere the river Ganges in India be men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without mouthes that live by the sent of flowers among us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men without hearts that beleeve nothing Socrates said Hoc scio quod nihil scio I know this that I know nothing and they hoc credo quod nihil credo I beleeve this that I beleeve nothing they have set downe their rest Non esse Deum non esse daemonem non esse coelum non esse infernum there is no God there is no divell there is no heaven there is no hell and therefore they say Our life is short and tedious and in the death of a man there is no recovery neither was any knowne that have returned Wisd 2. 1 2 3. 4 5. from the grave wee are borne at all adventure and wee shall be hereafter as though we had never beene for the breath is as smoake in our nosthrills and the words as a sparke raised out of the heart which being extinguished the body is turned to ashes and the spirit vanisheth as in the soft ayre c. Come therefore let us enjoy the pleasures that are present c. These wilde Bores roote up the Lords vineyard these Foxes destroy the grapes these Ionas's trouble the ship of England For Christs Psal 80. 13 14. Church is Christs ship tossed with waves but let us runne with the Apostles and awake our Saviour that hee may hurle out Mat. 14. these Ionas's Thirdly the wicked are here described by their carnalitie and libertie they turne grace into wantonnesse for ungodlinesse hath two branches iniquitie in life and manners and impuritie in religion of the first he saith They turne grace into wantonnesse of the second it is said that they denied God and Christ Iesus Of the Act. 6. Rom. 8. first sort were the Libertines that disputed with Steven Paul had to doe with such hereticks vile men that said faciamus mala ut inde veniat bonum Let us doe evill that good may good come thereof Gods grace ought to lead to repentance Or let us be evill that God may be good let us commit iniquitie that Gods glorie may bee revealed let sinne abound that grace may superabound But their judgement is just and their damnation sleepeth not such are all presumptuous sinners Rom. 6. 1. that will sinne of purpose
which are given by our Pastour that is God the word of God is the water of life the more it is waved the fresher it runneth it is the fire of Gods glory the more it is blowen the clearer it burneth it is the bread of heaven the more it is broken the more remaineth as it did in the five loaves and two fishes wherewith Christ fed five thousand men in the wildernes the more it is repeated the more knowledge it breedeth the more faith it begetteth the more consolation it affordeth Therfore Paul rubbeth the memories of the Corinths in the things 1 Cor. 6. 2 3. 9. 19. that they knew doe yee not know that the Saints shall iudge the world know yee not that we shall iudge the Angells know yee not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdome of God know yee not that your bodies are the temples of the holy Ghost As if he should say yee know these things yet I helpe your memories otherwise yee may forget even that yee know This order Paul as a carefull master prescribeth to Timothie a painefull Scholler saying If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things thou shalt be a good minister 1 Tim. 4. 6. of Iesus Christ c. The Ephesians where Paul had preached three yeares day and night knew much yet Paul would have them put in remembrance and thereupon he chargeth them to Watch and Act. 20. 31. to remember that by the space of three yeares he ceased not to warne every one of them So said S. Peter of the Iewes seeing his race was at an end his life short and his tabernacle ready to be laid downe I will not saith he be negligent to put you alwayes in remembrance of 2 Pet. 1. 12 13. these things though that yee have knowledge and be established in the present truth For I thinke it meete so long as I am in this tabernacle to stirre you up by putting you in remembrance Gutta cavat lapidem non vi sed saepè cadendo Sic homo fit fidelis non vi sed saepè audiendo As the drops of water make a hole in the stone not by force but by often falling so man becommeth faithfull not by force but by often hearing Et idem audiendo in hearing the same we are like flint or marble that is not easily pierced like sieves which in the water are full but out of it are empty So in the Church our eares are full of doctrine but it is scattered in the Church-yard by and by wee are emptie Ne apicem tenemus we carry not a tittle home But as to eate meate and not to keep it in the stomacke is a signe of the death of the body so to heare and not to remember that argueth the death of the soule For whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God but hee Variety delighteth but the same thing repeated profiteth that continueth in the doctrine of Christ he hath both the Father and the Son Remember then how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent Let no man say I wil not come to the Sermon I know the man I know his gifts I know what hee will say though wee doe 2 Iohn 9. Apoc 3. 3. yet may we be remembred The incarnation of Christ was revealed to Marie by an Angell and yet afterwards it was revealed by the shepheards If Marie had beene curious shee would have said Dic quod nescio tell me that I know not I have heard this Luk. 1. Luk. 2. already why tell you me it againe here is Cooleworts twice sodden Crambe bis posita mors est t is as bad as death to heare a thing twice repeated Wee cannot abide to heare one doctrine twice wee surfet of preaching as Israel did of Manna Numb 11. 2 Tim. 4. 3. we have itching eares many cannot abide wholesome doctrine but after their owne lusts get them an heape of teachers Wee come to the Church as the Athenians did ad forum Iulium to heare newes like Perillus that would not heare one sound of musicke Act. 17. twice like Heliogabalus that fed of nightingales tongues provided that he might not eat twice of one meate like Xerxes which propounded great rewards to them that could devise new pleasures and therefore wee crie out unjustly of vaine repetitions idle Anaphoraes and Tautologie We come to the preacher as men come to a minstrell to have our eares tickled So saith God to his Prophet They come unto thee as people use to come and my people sit before thee and heare thy Words but they will not doe them Ezech. 33. 31. For with their mouthes they make jests and their heart goeth after their covetousnesse It is no Sermon except there bee some new and strange thing in it that wee never heard before that may bring us into a wonderment of that we understand not Then the preacher hath with Esay a learned tongue with Peter a fiery cloven tongue and with Apollo a fine eloquent tongue or else hee is Esa 50. Act. 2. Act. 18. but a plaine man an English Doctor a Dunce c. But wee say with Paul That we have cast from us the cloakes of shame and walke not in craftinesse neither handle we the word of God decetfully The oft preaching of the word serveth to put us in remembrance of all things that concerne God and our dutie to him otherwise wee soone forget all as the Israelites did Who made a Calfe in Horeb Psal 106. 19 20 21. and worshipped the molten Image thus they turned their glorie into the similitude of a bullocke that eateth grasse and forgat God their Saviour The Israelites in forty dayes forgat God so bee you forty dayes absent from a Sermon and you will forget God Come therefore to be put in remembrance A number say Sermons are too oft wee heare too many Communia sordent Common things waxe vile they must come as strawberries once a yeare Rara praeclara seldome things are excellent things But I wonder that any blasphemous mouth dare say that there is too much preaching once a quarter or once a The preaching of the Word alwayes necessary moneth is enough but this is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach in season and out of season Paul did not so Hee night and day for the space of three yeares ceased not to warne every one Moses was but forty dayes absent and the people that had tasted 2 Tim. 4. 2. Act. 20. 31. Exod. 32. so lately and miraculously of Gods goodnesse fell to Idolatrie To prosecute this point If men could indent with the Divell to tempt but once in a moneth or once in a quarter preaching once in a Moneth were sufficient but if hee tempt continually wee must preach continually and you must heare continually and wee all must be sober and watch so long as our adversary the Divell goeth about
triumphing in fifty two set battells looke againe and thou shalt see him to receive fifty two wounds in the Senate and every one of them mortall Thou seest Sennacherib glorying at the gates of Ierusalem that hee would dry up the rivers with his horses feet that men should eate their ordure and 2 Reg. 19. drinke their owne pisse but looke againe and thou shalt see him slaine in the temple by his owne Sonnes Adramelech and Sharezar Looke on Manasses and thou shalt see him triumphing in 2 Chro. 33. 11. blood looke againe and thou shalt see him a poore distressed prisoner Looke on Herod and thou shalt see him in his royall Act. 12. apparell assuming to himselfe the title of a God looke againe and thou shalt see him stroken of Gods Angell and eaten up of wormes Thou seest Cardinall Woolsie with his silver pillars and pollaxes writing Ego Rex meus I and my King but looke againe and thou shalt see him dead at Leicester with stench and infamie The wicked are like the coggs of a wheele now up now downe like a Player that now playeth the King and when the play is ended he is but a begger like a counter now a pound now a penny now nothing Deus ut apis habet mel aculeum God as a Bee hath hony and a sting As he is unmeasurable in mercy so is he exceeding great in justice very ready in pardoning and very ready in punishing vengeance is his and he will reward Rom. 12. THE TWELFTH SERMON VERS V. Which beleeved not Infidelity the root of all other sinnes BVT to come unto the sinne it selfe that was their destruction that was their infidelity They beleeved not Of this the Prophet spake saying They spake against God saying Can God prepare a table in the Psal 78. 19 20 21 22. Wildernesse behold he smote the rocke that the water gushed out and the streames overflowed Can hee give bread also or prepare flesh for the people Therefore the Lord heard and was angry and the fire was kindled in Iacob and also wrath came upon Israel because they beleeved not in God nor trusted in his helpe Moses reckoneth up their infidelity in order and he saith Remember Deut. 9. 7 8. 22 23 24. and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord to anger in the Wildernesse since the day that thou diddest depart out of the land of Aegypt untill yee came to this place yee have rebelled against the Lord. Also in Horeb yee provoked the Lord to anger so that the Lord was wroth with you to destroy you Also in Taberah and in Massah and in Kibroth-hattaavah yee provoked the Lord to anger likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadeshbarnea saying Goe up and possesse the Land that I have given you then yee rebelled against the Commandement of the Lord your God and beleeved him not nor harkened to his voyce yee have beene rebellious ever since I knew you you were never good egge nor bird first nor last The Apostle urgeth this sinne in Israel and insisteth in it above Hebr. 3 19. Cap. 4. 2. all others saying They could not enter in because of unbeleefe And againe The word that they heard did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith in those that heard it For hee that will heare and Infidelity reprooved as the roote of all other sinnes understand with profit must temper and mixe the word with faith that is he must beleeve it No doubt this people had many sinnes For they were a rebellious people but the capitall arch-sinne was unbeleefe the roote and well-spring of all other their sinnes Paul nameth five sinnes to have beene in Israel 1. Lusting 2. Idolatry 3. Fornication 4. Tempting of God 5. murmuring 1 Cor. 10. 6. but yet the originall of them all was unbeleefe and all these were the fruits of this corrupt tree unbeleefe So Paul ascribed all his evills to this sinne of unbeleefe I was saith he a blasphemer and 1 Tim. 1. 13. a persecutour and an oppressour but I was received into mercy for I did it ignorantly through unbeleefe Christ reproved his disciples bitterly for this sinne his words were as thunderbolts Be not saith he carefull for your lives what yee shall eate or drinke or for your bodies Mat. 6. 25. 30. what rayment yee shall put on Is not the life more worth than meate and the body more of value than rayment If God cloath the grasse of the field which is to day and to morrow is cast into the fornace shall hee not doe much more to you ô yee of little faith and againe ô fooles and slow of heart to beleeve all that the Prophets have spoken And after his resurrection appearing unto the eleven he reproved them of their Luk. 24. 25. unbeleefe and hardnesse of heart and for this sinne he did chide Peter Wherefore doest thou doubt ô thou of little faith And for this sinne hee made Thomas ashamed saying thus unto him Put thy Mar. 16. 14. Mat. 14. 31. Iohn 20. 27. finger here and see my hands and put forth thy hand and put it into my side and be not faithlesse but faithfull And here by the way let me answer a slaunder of the Papists who raile of the Gospell and aske where bee the fruits of it as Osorius Allen Bristow As Christ said shew me the tribute mony Mat. 22. 19. Mar. 11. 1. Reg. 3. so say they shew us the fruits of their profession they call us the cursed figge-tree that had leaves but no fruit and barren Rachel which had no child and Salomons harlot with the dead child But wee answere that if there be any fault it is in our lives not in the Gospell For it worketh in them that beleeve but all beleeve 1 Thes 2. 13. not therefore all worke not whom doth the Gospell save only them that beleeve For seeing the world by wisdome knew not Ged 1 Cor. 1. 20. it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to save them that beleeve To whom is it the power of God surely to them that beleeve The Gospell is the power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth Rom. 1. 16. Now this faith is Gods gift and cannot be commanded For though Christ had done many miracles and preached many heavenly Sermons unto the Iewes yet they beleeved not That the saying of Esayas the Prophet might be fulfilled that hee said Lord Iohn 12. 37 38 39 40. who beleeved our report and to whom is the arme of the Lord revealed Therefore could they not beleeve because Esayas saith againe He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and should bee converted and I should heale them Therefore is it said that so many received the word As beleeved Faith is an anchor but God must Faith the gift of God fasten
73. tongue to have a further skill than of himselfe howsoever it must needs be that their fall was before the fall of man for otherwise this Homicida this murtherer could not have been so ready in the Angell to bring man to confusion Hereupon Gen. 3. Christ said Est homicida hee is a murtherer The Scripture speaketh Iohn 8. 44. of his fall Christ saith I saw Satan like lightning fall downe Luke 10. 18. from heaven It is enough that he fell though we know not the day the yeere the houre of his fall But this is ridiculous that of the Angels that fell some make some to be better and truer than others as those that fell in the ayre and fire to be purer than those that fell in the earth and water for they make them to have falne at the first into all the foure elements but these bee toyes for they bee all Lyers Iohn 8. 44. Againe they fell not by weight as a solid substance to sticke in a place but their fall consisteth in quality that they fell from the grace wherein they were created their fall was not locall being Spirits Againe Paul speaketh as hardly of them in the ayre as Christ doth of them in the earth For the Apostle saith of them in the Ephes 2. 2. ayre That they worke in the children of disobedience As Christ saith of them in the earth He walketh saith Christ through dry places seeking rest and findeth none And then he saith I will returne to my Mat. 11. house whence I came out and when he commeth hee findeth it swept and Divels many in number yet one head among them garnished then taketh hee seven other spirits worse than himselfe and entreth in and dwelleth there and the end of that man is worse than the beginning Againe note here that Iude nameth Angels plurally where observe with me that the Scripture speaketh sometime plurally as here The Angels also which kept not their first estate And so Paul speaketh plurally We wrastle not against flesh blood but against principalities Ephes 6. 12. against powers against worldly governours princes of the darkenesse of this world And sometime singularly for Paul speaking of these evill Angels he calleth him The prince that ruleth in the ayre the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience As if Ephes 2. 2. there were but one spirit in the ayre And this it doth partly because there is a chiefty among the evill Angels one is principall and the rest are called his angels The Scripture therefore speaketh singularly as if there were but one divell So doth Saint Peter Your adversary the divell goeth about like a roaring Lion The Scripture nameth Beelzebub the prince of divels and Abaddon 1 Pet. 5. 8. king of locusts the Angel of the bottomelesse pit and the great red Dragon that fought with Michael and Asmodaeus who slew seven men in seven nights The Apostle nameth him the God of the world and the prince that ruleth in the ayre and in respect of this chiefty he is said to have a kingdome as God hath his Kingdome so the divell hath his witnesse our Saviour If Satan be divided against Satan how can his Kingdome endure I speake not of it as if Mar. 2. there were but one divell for there are infinite one man had both a deafe and dumbe divell Mary had seven divels the man Luke 7. Mat. 8. in the Gospell had a Legion That which is said of Lucifer How art thou falne from heaven ô Lucifer sonne of the morning c is utterly mistaken For surely Esa 14. 12. there are infinite divels as many as men on the earth infinite Angels fell as infinite now stand Hence commeth the world Dan. 7. to be so full of mischiefe Art thou prone to any sin thou shalt not want a divell to helpe thee forward If David bee proud of his people Satan will provoke him to number them that hee 2 Sam. 24. may be prouder If Ahabs Prophets be given to flatter the divel straightway will become a lying spirit in the mouths of foure 1 Reg. 22. hundred of them If Mary Magdalen be whorish and unchast seven divels of lechery will enter into her and make her become at last a mecenary drab If Iudas will bee a Traytor Satan will Luke 7. quickly enter into his heart and make him sell his Master If Ananias will be covetous and lye for advantage Satan will fill Iohn 13. 2. his heart and he will bend his tongue like a bow to speake lies Acts 5. Doth Absalom want a counsellor to advise him in mischiefe 2 Reg. 15. why here is Achitophel to supply his wants Doth Ahab want a comforter to rid him of his griefe for the not possessing of Naboths 1 Reg. 21. vineyard here is Iezabel to comfort him and advise him which way to effect his purpose will Achitophel hang himselfe Though the divels bee malitious spirits yet they agree in evill Go thy way saith the Divell here is an halter Is Iudas desperate will hee needs be his owne hangman and hang till he burst too here is a rope saith the Divell The Divell waiteth as a Spaniell to raise the game to increase sinne in all men hee hath an oare in every boat a hand in everie sinne in the World If yee aske how the Divell is in the wicked seeing that hee hath no Locall dimensions I answer that hee is in us as the soule is in us Intellectuall Mar. 9. Mar. 2. not sensible And hee is in us two wayes by his essence as in the Child and in the deafe man or by his Working and operation not bodily but spiritually in the minde by suggesting evill things to us so he was in Ananias he spake not vocally but by Act. 5. inspiration For so are the words of Saint Iohn to be expounded when as hee saith There was given unto him a mouth that spake great things and blasphemies c. Hee spake by the mouth of a greater beast than himselfe quoth Iohn yet hee speaketh not vocally for he wanteth the nine instruments of nature Duo labia the two lips quatuor dentes foure teeth guttur the throat c. Seven Luke 7. Divels were in Magdalen by their essence so seven and seven are in us though not by essence yet by operation and working For as the spirit of God is not in us by his essence for then we were Gods but by his graces So the evil spirit is not in all the wicked by his essence but by operation Hee worketh in the Children of disobedience Once againe I say that sometime Divels are named in the plurall number sometime but one to note a Chiefety to note that they all joyne together to uphold one kingdome For though they cannot love one another in deed yet the hatred they beare against God is as a fagot-bond that doth
without measure torment without ease Where the worme dieth not and the fire is never quenched Where the wrath of God shall seaze upon body and soule as the flame of fire doth on pitch and brimstone Oh who can expresse the paines of fire and brimstone stinch and darknesse Without hope of release and comfort Men and Angels cannot doe it if that they should summon a Parliament together for the same end and purpose For as S. Iohn said of the 1 Iohn 3. 2. elect It doth not appeare what we shal be so say I of these evill Angels and of all the rable of the reprobats it doth not appeare what they shal be Iudas Herod Pilate have been many hundred yeares in fire already but yet the greatest is to come Then shall thy lascivious eyes be afflicted with the sight of ghastly spirits thy curious eares affrighted with the hideous howling of damned Divels and reprobates thy dainty nose shal be cloyed with noysome stinch of Sulphur thy delicate tast pained with intollerable hunger thy drunken throate shal be parched with intollerable thirst thy mind tormented to thinke how foolish thou wert for earthly pleasures to lose heavens joyes and incurre hellish paynes thy conscience shall ever sting thee like an Adder and thou shalt weepe more teares than there is water in the Sea For the water of the sea is finite but the weeping of a reprobate shall be infinite If any man will aske how it can stand with Gods justice to punish a finite sinne with an infinite punishment S. Gregorie Greg lib 4. Moral cap 12. answereth two manner of wayes First he saith Corda non facta pensat deus God pondereth our hearts not our deeds peccant cum fine qui vivunt cum fine their sinne hath an end because their life hath an end but if they could have lived without end they would have sinned without end Aequum ergo est ut nunquam careat supplicio qui nunquam voluit carere peccato ut nullus daretur illi terminus ultioni qui noluit ponere terminum crimini It is right and just that he should never want punishment which never would want sinne that no end should be given to him of revenge which would make no end of sinning Secondly he answereth thus Quantò major est persona eò major est injuria in illum commissa The greater the person is so much the greater is the trespasse and injurie done unto him An injurie a trespasse done to a meane man a common person that person can bring but his action upon the case against him but a trespas done against a noble man is scandalum magnatum against thy prince and Sovereigne it is death for it is Crimen lesae Majestatis Seing then God is infinite the punishment of the trespasse done against him must be infinite also An other objection is made quomodo paenae inferni perpetuae esse possunt how the paines of hell can be everlasting and how bodies How the pains of hell are eternall can live in those everlasting fires Augustine answereth that the Salamander liveth in the fire and is not consumed in the fire and we have certaine creatures called Crickets that live in hot Aug. de Civitat Dei lib. 21. cap. 2. 4 5. Ovens and Chimnies take them out of those hot places and they dye And further he saith that the ashes of Iuniper being raked up in the coles of Iuniper keepe fire all the yeere an end And againe saith he Take me a Peacocke and dresse it and it will not putrifie but abide sweet all the yeere an end Take me snow and wrap it up in chaffe and it preserves it but take fruit and lay them in chaffe it melloweth and rotteth them Take unslaked lyme and bring it into the Sunne it is cold and throw it into the water and it burneth The adamant is not broken but with the blood of a goat and who can give a reason of this Apud Garamantas there is a fountain so cold in the day that a man cannot drink of the water thereof and so hot in the night that a man cannot touch it for scalding There is a fountaine in Epirus if ye bring torches that burne unto it it puts them out but if ye bring torches that be out it kindleth them There is a stone in Arcadia called Asbestos which being once kindled can never be quenched And there is a stone in Thracia that burneth in the water but put out with oyle The horses of Cappadocia conceive with the wind Thus God dealeth strangely with his creatures why not with the fire of hell these evill Angels and all the damned besides Semper comburentur nunquam consumentur they shall alwayes be burning but never consumed Thirdly it is demanded how the evill Angels and mens bodies Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 21. cap. 10. can be tormented in the same fire Augustine answereth as the soule of the Epulo was tormented in this fire when his body was in hell Lastly note that the day wherein the Angels shall be judged is called a great day He hath reserved in everlasting chaines under darkenesse unto the iudgement of the great day It is called a great day and it is so called in three respects Great in respect of the Iudge who is thus described by Daniel I beheld till the thrones were Dan. 7. 9 10. set up and the ancient of dayes did sit Whose garments was white as snow and the hayre of his head like the pure wooll his throne was like the fiery flame and his wheeles as burning fire A firy streame issued and came forth from before him c. And he is described by Saint Iohn thus Apoc. 20. 11 12. And I saw a great white throne and one sitting thereupon from whose face fled heaven and earth and I saw the dead both small and great stand before the throne and the bookes were opened and there was another book opened which was the booke of life and the dead were judged after those things which were written in those bookes And againe the same beloved Disciple describeth him thus I saw heaven open and behold a Apoc. 19. 11 12 16. white horse and he that sate upon him was called faithfull and true and he judgeth and fighteth righteously and his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crownes and he had a name written which no man The day of the last judgemenr why called the great day knew but himselfe and hee hath upon his garment and upon his thigh a name written The King of Kings and Lord of Lords Thus yee see the greatnesse of the Iudge and in respect of him this day is called a great day Secondly it is called great in respect of the Assistants the Angels Dan. 7. 10. For Thousand thousands shall minister unto him and tenne thousand thousands shall stand before him And hee shall come to judgement Mat.
25. In the glory of his Father with all his holy Angels Thirdly great in respect of the prisoners that shall be arraigned For when he shall come in the clouds of heaven every eye shall see him even those that peirced him and all the kindreds of the earth shall wayle Apoc. 1. 7. before him Nay then The Kings of the earth and great men and rich Apoc. 6. 15. men and the chiefe Captaines and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man shall be arraigned And therefore it may well be called a great day for if the particular day of the destruction of Ierusalem was so grievous that the Prophet cryed out The great Zeph. 1. 14 15 16 day of the Lord is neer it is neer hasteth greatly even the voice of the day of the Lord the strong man shall cry there bitterly That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and heavinesse a day of destruction and desolation a day of obscurity and darkenesse a day of clouds and blacknesse a day of Iâ—â—l 2. 10. 11. the trumpet and alarum against the strong Cities c. And againe the earth shall tremble before him the heavens shall shake the Sunne and Moone shall be darke and the starres shall withdraw their shining and the Lord shall utter his voyce before his host for his host is very great For he is strong that doth his work For the day of the Lord is great very terrible and who can abide it What shall be the generall day of the destruction of the whole world when the Elements shall melt with 2 Pet. 3. heat the heavens shall passe away with a noyse the earth shall reele and stagger like a drunken man and the world shall burne Good Lord what a great day will this be when all the Saints out of heaven all the damned out of hell all the dead bodies out of the earth must appeare Not an Angell spared not a divell respited not a Saint or sinner rescued but all must be summoned to give their attendance and to make their appearances Once the world was destroyed with water but now it shal be consumed with fire For the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty Angels 1 Thes 1. 7 8. in flaming fire rendring vengeance unto them which know not God and which obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ Let thy heart dwell seriously in this meditation but a little imagine that thou sawest the world on fire the Iudge sitting the dead standing before him the sinnes of all men revealed the divels accusing Eccles 7 38. them it would beat downe many sinnes in thee Remember the end and thou shalt never doe amisse Christ speaking of that day saith That there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and Luke 21. 25 26 upon the earth trouble among Nations with perplexity the Sea and the waters shall rore and mens hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that shall come on the world for the powers of heaven Iudgement terrible to all but especially to the wicked shall be shaken Others Sessions and assizes be fearefull to malefactors what shall Gods assizes bee when the Ancient of dayes shall sit whose garments are white as snow and the haire of his head is like pure wooll and his throne like a firy flame Then Dan. 7. 9. fulminabit dominus e Caelo the Lord shall thunder from heaven and the highest will give his voyce And if the thunder and ratling of a cloud be so terrible what terrour shall there bee when he shall thunder that sits above the clouds For then Terra tremet Mare mugiet the earth shall quake the Sea rore the ayre ring the World burne and if Tota terra the whole pillars of the earth must move how should this move man who is but a cold of earth If virtutes Coeli the powers of heaven must tremble what will befall those mindes of mudde and earth that have never a thought of heaven If the Angels of God shall stand then at a gaze how agast will the wicked be whose portion is with the Divell and his Angels If the Heavens must cleave and the Elements bee rent asunder how will earthly hearts faile and breake If the righteous shall scarce be saved Vbi impius Where shall the wicked and the sinner appeare If S. Ciprian is said so Ciprian much to feare diem Iudicii the day of Iudgement that he cleane forgot diem martyrii the day of Martyrdome and earthly torment and no marvell Nam timor mortis nihil ad timorem Iudicis the feare of temporall death is nothing to the feare of him that hath power of eternall life and death And if they be in such amaze Ad quos judex For whose glorie and good the Iudge shall come how shall they stand amazed Contra quos Index against Apoc. 20. whom and for whose eternall shame and paine the Iudge shall 1 Coâ— 1. 25. come If Heaven and earth shall flie before him Quomodo stabimus ante potentissimum quem nemo potest vincere how shall we be 1 Tim 1. 17. able to stand before the most mightie whom none can vanquish For the weakenes of God is stronger than men Ante prudentissimum quem nemo potest fallere before the most wise whom no man can deceive For he is God only Wise and in him are hid all the treasures of wisdome knowledge and understanding Ante piissimum quem nemo potest corrumpere before the most just whom no man can corrupt His judgement will be Rectum judicium a right and a true judgement he cannot faile either Ignorantia legis as not knowing the Law For he gave the Law and he will judge according to the Law nor yet ignorantia facti As not seeing the fact For his eyes goe thorow the World Ye may interprete them if ye will 7. thousand thousand eyes For he is Totus oculus All eye Aug. The consideration of this should stirre us up to be carefull and circumspect in all our wayes that we never treade our shooe awry nor offend this Iudge in any thing that at this great day we may find him a gentle and a loving Lambe and not a Lion of Iuda For as to the wicked the Iudge is terrible so to the godly friendly and as to the wicked this great day is a day How can the wicked stand before the uncorrupt Iudge of redemption But to proceed a little further this day is called a day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an excellencie For never day was like unto it In the day of Israel when he went out of Aegypt The Sea fledde Iordan was driven backe the mountaines skipped like Rammes and the little hills like yong Sheepe In the day of Iosua the Sunne stood still in Psal 114. Heaven from morning to noone
and bring him quickly into our Ladies bands and make him sinke by beggerie The Apostle Paul useth many reasons against it able to move an heart of flint if there be any droppe of grace in him if he pertaine to Gods election if he be not vas irae a vessell of wrarh a reprobate a firebrand in Hell 1 Cor. 6. 13 14 a member of the Divell His first reasons is that The body was made for the Lord a swell as the soule his second That the body shall 15 16 18 19. be raised up at the last day to an incorruptible estate His third That our bodies are the members of Christ His fourth He that coupleth himselfe with an harlot is one body with an harlot the fifth This is sinne in a speciall sense against our owne bodies the sixth The body is the temple of the holy Ghost finally The body is bought with a price and therfore is not our owne These are the reasons that the Apostle useth against this sinne to make all men to deny it and defye it But to proceede the wrath of God against this sinne of whordome is as the fire of Aetna not only to burne the whrne and the whoremonger but their seed as one said the bastard shall be a faggot a firebrand in Hell to burne the parents For the children of adulterers shall not be partakers of the holy things and the seed of the wicked bed shall be rooted out and though they Wisd 3. 16 17 18 19. live long yet shall they be nothing regarded and their last age shall be without honor if they dye hastily they have no hope neither comfort in the day of triall For horrible is the end of the wicked generation And againe the bastard-plants shall VVisd 4. 3 4. take no deep root nor lay any fast foundation For though they bud forth in the branches for a time yet they shal be shaken with the wind for they stand not fast they shal be rooted out As The divell prevailes most by uncleannesse one said of the theefe on Christs right hand that Luke nameth one theefe to let us see that all theeves are not damned and yet but one theefe to let us see that all theeves are not saved So say Luke 23. I of Iephta that God nameth one bastard to let vs see that all Iudg. 11. 1. are not rejected of God and yet but one to let us see that all are not accepted of God I exclude them not from the Covenant of life I abridge not the mercies of God I clip not the wings of his compassion towards them For it is as great a sinne to abridge the mercies of God to the penitent as to dilate it and prostitute it to the reprobate For the Lord is stronge mercifull Exod. 34. 6 7. and gracious slow to anger and abundant in mercy and truth reserving mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne And againe Hee is gracious and slow to anger and of great kindnesse Ioel. 2. 13. and repenteth him of the evill But this is it that I insist upon and take in hand to prove that God punisheth the uncleane and incontinent persons even in their seed aswell as in their bodies goods and name and let all men that take pleasure in this sinne assure themselves that the end will be bitter as worme-wood Prov. 5. 4. and sharpe as a two-edged sword For hee that followeth a strange woman is as an Oxe that goeth to the slaughter and as a foole that goeth Prov. 7. 22. to the stockes for correction till a dart strike thorow his liver as a bird hasteth to the snare not knowing that she is in danger For they that goe to a strange woman seldome returne againe neither take they hold of the Prov. 2. 18. way of life If they reply that David did commit adultery and yet did returne I answer it is true of many thousand adulterers one David did returne but thou hast cause rather to feare to perish wirh the multitude than to returne with David But before I prosecute this point further note the mercy and wisdome of God in the decalogue In the first precept he provideth for our callings that no man contemne us but honour us in the sixth for our bodies that no man kill them in the eighth for our goods that no man steale them in the seventh for our wives that no man abuse them that none violate their chastity and therefore severely hath God revenged this sinne he hath punished it in the great ones hee hath set a marke a brand of vengeance upon them as upon Pharoah in Egypt and Abimilech Gen. 12. Psal 160. 30. in Gerar and yet they touched not Sara but onely intended it So Phinees ranne thorow a Lord and Lady Moses Numb 25. hanged the heads and Princes of the people And if God hath not spared the high cedars of lebanon looke not that he will spare the low shrubs Potentes potenter punientur the mighty shall Wisd 6. 6. Acts 10. 34. be mightily punished and meane men shall bee punished also Deus non est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God is no accepter of persons Eusebius Cremonensis reporteth of Ierome that on his death-bed he used these words unto his Disciples Ensis diaboli est luxuria ô quot illa romphaea inter fecit lechery is the sword of the divell ô how many hath this sword slaine Est rete diaboli ô quot illud rete inescavit Many of the Saints have beene overtaken by adultery it is the net of the divell O how many hath it deceived Est esca diaboli it is the bait of the divell O how many hath this baite entrapped There is no sinne in the second table wherein the divell hath more prevailed and gone away a greater conquerer than in this sin of Whoredome and therefore it is noted that in Mary Magdalen there were seven divels For this sinne wee read Luke 7. Gen. 6. that it repented God that ever he made man and indeed the mischiefes that come of this sinne be manifold Nam luxuria corpus debilitat memoriam hebitat cor aufert oculos caecat famam denigrat marsupium evacuat furta homicidia infert iram Dei provocat for lechery weakneth the body infeebleth the minde dulleth the memory taketh away the heart blindeth the eyes hurteth the good name emptieth the purse causeth thefts murders and all other sinnes kndleth Gods wrath For this sinne God brought a floud of water upon the old world and for this sinne the Lord reigned fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven and destroyed Gen. 6. Sodome Yea for this sinne God slew foure and twenty thousand Cave vinum cave mulieres take heed of wine take heed of women he that useth wine carryeth fire in his bosome and a woman is sagitta diaboli the arrow of the divell Homo mulier sunt ignis palea
up thy Dan. 5. 2. 22. selfe against the Lord of heaven c. And so a number that see the judgement of God upon their fathers and friends and yet they come not their owne hearts and say with David It is I that have sinned and my fathers house and what have these sheepe done let thy 2 Sam. 24. 17. hand be upon mee and my fathers house and not upon this people The fall of Adam was the juster in that he tooke no heed by the fall of Angels The sinne of the old world was the greater they saw Gen. 8. and heard both of the fall of Angels and of the fall of Adam and yet these examples could not make them beware Thus Paul reasoned with the Romanes for that they learned not by the example of the Iewes he calleth them to a second view of it Behold saith hee the bountifulnesse and the severity of God towards them which have fallen severity but towards thee bountifulnesse if Rom. 11. 22. thou continue in this bountifulnesse or else thou shalt be cut off This is the end of all Scripture to apply examples and doctrines to us for the increase of knowledge and conscience Thus Absalom is an example to all rebels how they lay their hands on the Lords 2 Sam. 17. 2 Sam. 15 Acts 5. 2 Pet. 2. 2 Reg. 9. annointed Achitophel to all bad counsellors Ananias to all lyers Herod to all persecutors Balaam to all greedy wretches Iezâ—bel to all proud women Therefore Moses upbraideth Israel that they seeing the examples of them that worshipped Baal-peor yet runne into the same sin he maketh them stocks blocks beasts without eyes saying The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day Deut. 29. 4. To apply this Hath France been plagued so that their channels have overflowed with blood not with water Hath God plagued Flanders that their children be fatherlesse their wives widdowes their houses turned over unto strangers their lands to aliens hath Germany been grieved Scotland distressed and we regard it not we are blinder than Pharoah and more beasts than Nebuchadnezzar To tame a Lion they use to beat a little dogge before him So to tame us of a Lion-like nature God hathbeaten France Flanders Germany c. Tune tua res agitur paries cum proximus ardet O England looke unto thy selfe end let thy neighbours fire make Examples not regarded aggravate punishment thee take heede of approching flames As God said of Babell Come downe and sit in the dust so virgin daughter Babel c. So say I Come downe and sit in the duste o virgin daughter England There is no throne o daughter of the Chaldeans For thou shalt no more be Esa 47. 1. called tender and delicate Take the milstones and grinde meale lose thy locks make bare thy feete uncover thy legges passe thorow the flouds Thy filthynes is discovered and thy shame shal beseen Thou shalt no more be called the mother of kingdomes Lay thy hand therfore O virgin daughter England upon thy heart repent of thy sinnes and God will repent of his plagues turne away from thy sinnes and God wil turne his face from thy sinnes and blot out all thy misdeeds And thus much being spoken as touching the end of Sodomes punishment I come now unto the punishment it selfe and that is double First fire Secondly Eternall fire But first fire For among the judgements of God fire ever hath beene a principall We use to say that fire and water have no mercy and it is so therefore when God would punish notorious sinnes he plagued them with fire When the uncleane lusts of Sodome cried up to heaven The Lord rained fire and brimstone from Gen. 19. the Lord out of Heaven upon them and destroied them When Israell lusted after flesh God sent fire into the host which burnt amongst Numb 11. 1. them and consumed the utmost part of the Host When the Captaines of Ahaziah came prowdly against Elisha the man of God they 2 Reg. 1. and their Fifties were consumed with fire The two notable whoremongers of Iuda were burnt with fire in so much as it Luk. 9. grew to a proverbe in Iuda The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and Gen. 6. like Abab whom the King of Babell burnt in the fire The Samaritans refusing to lodg the Lord Iesus the Apostles would have prayed 2 Pet. 3. for fire to come from heaven to destroy them When Christ Iesus will come to judgement he will come in fire Once the world was drowned and then it shal be burned For The heavens shall passe in manner of a tempest the Elementes shall melt for servent heat the earth Mat. 25. 41. and all that is therupon shall burne And when he will judge the 2 Thess 1. 8. world to a certaine set punishment it is to fire Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire This is the punishment of the damned For when the Lord shall shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty Angels In flaming fire they shal be throwen into a burning Lake The paines of hell are described many wayes they are called Vermis conscientiae a worme of Conscience Tenebrae exteriores utter Mar. 9. 4. Mat. 22. 13 Apoc. 20. Luk. 6. 25. Mat. 25. 41. 2 Thes 1. 8. Esa 30. Apoc. 19. darkenesse Secunda mors the second death fletus stridor dentium weepings and gnashing of teeth the place of Divels losse of Gods presence want of his countenance Tophet and the vallie of mourning but chiefly fire and the burning lake O what an horror is it ever to feele a gnawing worme ever to lie in darknesse to see death ever to weepe and gnash our teeth to be among Divels to fry in fire But as the Poet unable to se out the sorrowes of Niobe Fire fearefull hell fire more fearefull was driven to wrappe up her heade in a cloud so words fayle me you cannot heare it my tongue cannot expresse it all our hearts cannot comprehend it the paines of hell are unspeakeable as the joyes of heaven are incomprehensible As the one cannot be 1 Cor. 2. 8. perceived by the eye nor received by the eare nor conceived by the heart no more can the other If a man were in the fire an hower He would give a hundred thousand pound to come out of it and yet our fire is no more to hell fire than a painted fire is to our fire Horresco referens I tremble I quake rehearsing it Tremble o tremble yee blaspemers that tosse Gods name like to a tennis balle The flying booke of Gods vengeance which is Zach. 5. 1. 2. 3. twenty cubites long and tenne cubites broad wherein is written Ier. 5. 8. 9. the curse that goeth forth oyer the whole earth will seize upon them and cut them of on this side and on that Tremble yee whoremongers which like stoned
horses neigh after your neighbours wives For God will visite for these things and his soule wil be avenged on you Tremble you greedy men that sell the poore for shoes and the needy for silver For God will not forget any of your workes he hath sworne it by the excellencie Amos. 8. 6. 7. of Iacob the land shall tremble for this and every one mourne that dwelleth therein Tremble ye contemners of Gods 2 Poâ— 3. word that deride his preachers as the old world did Noah The Lord himselfe will have you now in derision And let all sinners tremble Let them beware by Dives that cries for a spoonefull of water to coole his tongue tormented in the flames with more rivers of teares than ever Esau did for the blessing and yet cannot have it But if they will not beleeve hell fire they shall feele it before Luk. 16. 27. they beleeve it They shall lie in Hell like sheepe death shall devoure them There lie many jollie fellowes that would give tenne Psal 49. 14. thousand worlds to come out if they had them The very Poets by some flash of Gods spirit intimate Hell in naming Caron Phlegeton Archeron Erebus with Tantalus his apples and Ixions wheele and Titius his liver and Sysiphus his stone we Christians speake of Gods judgement seate and they name Minos Rhadamanthus Aeacus Triptoleme we have heaven they name Campâ—s Tert. in Apologetico adversus Gemes Elysios we speake of God they speake of Dis Pluto Proserpina For as Tertullian said potaverunt poetae de Prophetarum fonte The Poets dranke of the fountaines of the Prophets Inde Philosophi sitim ingenii sui rigaverunt There the Philosophers refreshed the thirst of their wits Antiquior enim omnibus est veritas Truth is more ancient than all omnia adversus veritatem de veritate constructa sunt All things against the truth were heaped togither and made of the truth But to returne to our matter The Schoolemen distinguish of fire that there is Ignis ardoris faetoris terroris Fire of heate of stench and of terrour Of heate as in Mount Aetna of stench they the have heaven here must have hell hereafter as in mount Heda of terrour and feare as Ignis fulguris the fire of lightening in America All those fires say they are in Hell But omitting the Schoolemen the holy Ghost noteth this fire to be most terrible even to Kings therefore to meane men Tophet that is to say Hell where the wicked are tormented is prepared Esai 30. 33. of old it is even prepared for the King so that their estate and degree cannot exempt them if they be wicked It is made deepe and large the burning thereof is fire and much Wood the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Multi in hac vita quaerunt suavia potius quam gravia varia quam sana delicacia quamutilia amara ergo gustabunt in inferno Many in this world seeke more after sweet than grave things more after vaine than sound things more after daintie then profitable things therfore shall they tast of bitter things in Hell As Abraham said to the rich man Sonne remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasure and Luk. 16. 25. contrarywise Lazarus received paine but now is be comforted and thou tormented Nemo potesthic illic voluptate frui no man can enjoy pleasure in this life and in the life to come also For twise happy men cannot be but the way to heaven is to saile by Hell For by many tribulations we must entre into the kingdome off heaven A Schooleman that wrote sermones disciplè maketh five differents Act. 4. betwene our fire and Hell fire First in regard of heate For our fire being compared to Hell fire is like a fire painted upon a wall and therfore called a lake of fire and brimstone where the beast Apot. 20. 10. and false prophet shal be tormented day and night Secondly our fire burneth the body alone it tormenteth not the soule but the fire of Hell tormented and burneth body and soule Hereupon saith our Saviour Feare not him that can hurt the body and have no power over the soule but feare him that is able to send both body and soule into Mat. 13. 28. Hell Thirdly our fire where it burneth there it shineth there it lighteneth but the fire of Hell burneth but giveth no light at all Therfore Christ calleth it utter darknesse Mat. 23. 13. Fourthly our fire wasteth and consumeth whatsoever is cast into it but the fire of Hell consumeth nothing For as the Salamander liveth in the fire so shall the wicked live in the fire of Hell they shall seeke for death but they shall not find it Semper cumburentur nunquam consumentur they shall alwaies be burned Aug. but never consumed Fourthly one fire may be quenched but the fire of Hell cannot and therefore called unquenchable vna scintilla ignis Gehennae Mar. 4. 44. plus laedit impium quam si mulier in partu mille annis perseveraret one sparke of Hell fire doth more torment the wicked than if a woman should continue in her travell a thousand yeares Bern Another Schooleman nameth these paines in Hell first heat and therfore called a Luke of fire Apoc. 19. 20. Secondly stinch and therfore called a Lake that burneth with Hell terrible to all but especially to the wicked fire and brimstone which stinketh horribly 3. Bands Take and bind him hand and foot 4. Darkenesse Cast him into utter darkenesse 5. Visions of divels Goe ye cursed into hell fire prepared for the divell Mat. 22. 13. Ibidem Mat. 25. and his Angels 6. The howling of the damned and therefore it is said that all the kindreds of the earth shall waile before him Apoc. 1. 7. 7. Separation from God for they shall be punished with eternall perdition from the presence of God and from the glory of his power And 2 Thes 1. 8. this Gregory calleth Paena damni the paine of losse Finely said Bernard Paveo Gehennam Iudicis vultum contremisco ab ira potentis à facie furoris ejus à fragore ruentis mundi à conflagratione elementorum Bern. Ser. 26. in Cant. à voce Archangeli à daemonibus rugientibus paratis ad escam I feare Hell and the countenance of the Iudge I tremble for the wrath of the Almighty for the face of his fury for the noyse of the falling world for the burning of the elements for the voyce of the Archangell and for the roaring Divels prepared to devoure But if Bernard feared what may the wicked doe whose hearts tell them that they have done little or no good in the world The Glutton whose faith is his kitchin and whose God is his belly The Whoremonger who hath eyes full of adultâ—ry The Oppressor Phil. 3 17 2 Pet. 2. 14. Esa 1. 15.
whose hands are full of blood The Drunkard whose body is as the swill-tub the irreligious person that seldome prayeth seldome giveth thankes or heareth Gods Word Quaeres quae spes quoad animi solatium hisce What hope of heaven and happinesse can these men have how thinke they to escape this fire of hell Scientes prudentes vivi videntesque pereunt knowing understanding alive and seeing they shall perish GOD shall raine upon them snares fire brimstone this shall bee their portion to Psal 11. drinke So much for the first punishment of the reprobate Fire The second punishment of the reprobate is eternall fire fire and eternity of fire All paines here have an end but the paines of hell have no end Whereupon Augustine Miseris erit mors fine morte finis sine fine defectus sine defectu c. To these miserable Aug. lib. de Spiritu anima cap. 56. wretches there shall be a death without death an end without end a decay without decay because their death shall ever live and their end shall ever begin and their decay knoweth not how to decay death shall presse them but not extinguish them sorrow shall torment them and not drive away their feare the fire shall burne them and not consume them nor yet dispell their darkenesse for in this fire is obscuritie darkenesse and in this obscurity and darkenesse feare and trembling and in this combustion and burning sorrow they shall alwaies suffer torment and alwayes shall feare because they shall be tormented without hope of pardon If after so many thousand yeeres as Eternity of torments in hell aggravate misery they have haires on their heads they might have an end of their torment there were some hope and they might indure those torments more quietly but because they have no hope that ever their paines shall be either eased or ended desperatione deficiunt they faile they faint and quaile thorow despaire Et ad tormenta non sufficiunt and they are no way able to indure those torments Ibi erit tortor semper caedens there shall be a tormentor ever beating them Et vermis semper corrodens and a worme alwayes gnawing them Etignis semper comburens a fire alwayes burning them For their worme shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched sinnes shall bee detected and the sinnes shall be punished Esa 66. 24. and that for ever they shall see divels but not God Quod est omnium meseriarum miserrimum which of all miseries is most miserable For if Absalom tooke it so grievously that hee 2 Sam. 14. 32. was banished his Fathers presence and could not see his face how grievously shall the Reprobate be afflicted to be banished Gods presence and not to see his face for they shall be punished with eternall perdition from the presence of God and glory 2 Thes 1. 9. of his power But to follow this point a little further all men in misery comfort themselves with hope of an end the prisoner with hope of a gaole-delivery the mariner with hope of arrivall the souldier with hope of victory the prentise with hope of liberty the gally-slave with hope of ransome onely the poore caitiffe in hell hath no hope he shall have end without end death without death night without day morning without mirth sorrow without solace bondage without liberty Let fire and eternall fire move us common fire is quenched with water wilde fire with milke and vinegar but hell fire is not quenched their worme dyeth not and the fire never goeth out And Mar. 9. 44. why should not wee beleeve this seeing that their is a certaine stone in Arcadia called Asbestos which being once kindled never goeth out never can be quenched If this be in a stone how much more in the power of God This earthly fire except it be nourished with wood and other combustible matter will out but the fire of hell never goeth out it alwaies burneth and never ceaseth The reason is because our fire is not In loco proprio in his proper place sed violenta but in a violent The fire of hell is in his proper place for the breath of the Lord kindleth it We Greg in moralibâ—â— see Aetna to burne alwayes for it hath burnt from the beginning of the world and still doth burne why should not then hell fire burne alwayes and why should not we beleeve that men shall alwayes live in the fire of hell seeing wee see and know the Salamander to live in the fire If this may be by the power of nature why may not that by the power of God The paines of hell be such that all the Arithmetitians in the world cannot number them nor all the Geometritians measure them The terrours of hell should deterre from sinne nor all the Rhetoritians expresse them Quid hora ad diem c. saith one what is an houre to a day a day to a month a month to a yeere a yeere to a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres to eternity Mathuselah lived almost a thousand yeeres but the yeeres that are past are nothing we have nothing of time but that which is present The Pigmaeans lived onely seven yeeres never reached unto eight yeeres And their be certaine creatures bred and borne at the river Hispanis that live but a day in the morning they are bred and brought forth at noone they are at their full strength at night they make their end and are gone compare our yeeres with eternity and wee are in the same state and condition The reason of this endlesse punishment is the infinite Majesty of God words against common persons beare but common actions against noble men they be Scandala magnatum against Princes they be treason so the person of God aggravateth the sinne If any aske then how Christs death could satisfie the justice of God seeing it was not eternall I answer that he did it thorow the excellency of his Person and the perfection of his merits The remembrance of these paines in hell will drive away the remembrance of sinne as the Adamant is contrary to the Loadstone and suffereth it to draw no iron to it behold the weight of hell paines in Christ How sweat he how cryed he Deus meus deus meus quare dereliquisti me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How did teares of blood trickle from him If hell paines were so grievous unto him what will they be to us Onely this difference is betwixt Christ and us that hee sustained all mens sinnes wee but our owne sinnes our paine therefore not so great as his but yet of greater and longer continuance his was but temporall ours eternall if we repent not We must suffer the vengeance of eternall fire The remembrance of fire and eternall fire swalloweth up all our cogitations How can our hearts endure or how can our hands be strong in that day When the Lord shall have to doe with us the
cut from the body of his Country This envy is compared in some respect by some learned men unto the Sunne for as the nature of the Sunne is to obscure and darken things which be cleare and manifest and likewise to lighten and to illustrate that which is obscure so envy endeavoureth to obscure the glory of those which are famous and in the gifts and graces of the spirit excell others for none are more subject to envy than those which for vertue and religion are renowned but let them envy the good and maligne them to the uttermost Rumpanturilia Codro yet let us lay aside all maliciousnesse and all guile and dissimulation and all envy The eye of envy lookes ever upward who is above who riseth who prospereth who is well spoken of well thought of or favoured of God and asmuch grieved is an envious man at the good of another as at the harme of himselfe which Diogenes noted when he saw a knowne envious knave looke sad no man can tell quoth he whither harme hath happened to this fellow or good unto his neighbour for both vexe him alike Envy was the first venome which the Divell powred forth against mankind Hinc periit primus perdidit by this the first Cypr. man perished himselfe and destroyed others what was the cause that Caine slew his brother his onely comfort in that new borne world was it not envy when he saw the gift of his brother accepted of God and his owne rejected he was very wrath And his countenance fel down as not able to endure the sight of his brother Gen. What was the cause why the Patriarkes sold Ioseph to the Ismalites Envie theroot of all mischiefe and then came and told their Father That a wicked beast had devoured him Surely it was because they envied him for his dreames Gen. 37. Because the women sang in the streets Saul hath slaine his thousand and David his ten thousand therefore was Saul exceeding 1 Sam. 18. wroth and had envy to David ever after It was saith the King of Preachers a venimous mischievous eye such as the burning eyes of Witches or the Basiliske or Gorgon that he cast towards him The elder brother when he understood of the entertainement that his father gave to his prodigall brother and with what joy and rejoycing he was entertained Hee was angry at the matter and would not goe in he envied it Examine the reason why Innocencie it selfe was hunted and followed unto death with Crucisie him crucifie him hee is not worthy to live Was it not Mat. 27. envy Let Pilat be judge He knew that for envy they had dilivered him Doe wee looke that envy should favour the honour and welfare of men when it favoureth not the life of a man No not the life of the Lord himselfe Poyson they say is life to the Serpent death to a man and that which is life to a man his spittle and naturall humidity is death to a Serpent I have read it thus applied Vertue and Felicity which is life to a good man is death to the envious and that which the envious live by is the misery and death of a good man for envy endevoreth either that men may not live at all or that they may live miserably And therefore amongst other fruits of a reprobate minde these two are joyned together Envy and Murther and likewise Rom. 1. Gal. 5. amongst the workes of the flesh they are in the same combination as if they were twinnes growing in one body and could not be separated Envy is the roote of all mischiefe in the World this is that Troiane horse that Pandora's boxe full of all deadly poyson that Hydra not with seven heads but with seven hundred heads of mischiefe We marvell that there is so much evill in the world but cease to marvel at it seeing there is so much envious pride in the World For envy commeth from this master sinne Pride which is as a master-pock and cannot be healed Pride is a liking of our selves and envie is the hatred of another mans felicity where the first is there is the second Superbia est metropolis omnium vitiorum Pride is the chiefe or mother sin of all sins Minores despicit majoribus invidet ab aequalibus dissentit She scorneth her inferiors envieth her betters and dissenteth from all equals as was said of Caesar and Pompey the one could not abide a superiour the other an equall Two things be in the Lord Glory and justice the proud man robbeth God of the one as Herod who would not give the glory to God and the malitious envious of Act. 12. the other For he revengeth whereas all men should give roome to vengeance for it is written Vengeance is mine and I will reward The etymology of envie it implying to be in the eye saith the Lord. Envy is as the dung of swallowes which put out the eyes of Father Tobias our pride and envie is infinite wee would be Kings nay wee would bee Gods The Bactrians said of Alexander that if his body were answerable to his heart Rom. 12. 19. He would touch the East with one hand the West with another hee would set one foote in the Land and the other in the Sea the same may be said of many of us for truely wee envie the Aire Fire Water to others If wee could stop the Sunne or inclose the waters into one fist or draw up all the Ayre into one mouth we would doe it to hinder others The Poet describeth envy thus First with a pale face without bloud Secondly with a leane body without any juyce in it Thirdly with squint eyes Fourthly with blacke teeth Fiftly with an heart full of gall Sixtly with a tongue tipped with poison And last of all with a countenance never laughing but when others weepe never sleeping because he studieth and thinketh continually upon mischiefe Invidia dicitur quiavel non videt Cypr. vel nimis intuetur It is câ—lled Envy either because it will not see at all that which in the blessings of God is to bee seene or because it prieth too deepe Envious men are like Mermaides which never sing but in a tempest and mourne in a calme so they rejoyce at the hurt of their neighbours and sorrow at their welfare The housholder said to his servant that murmured at his bounty to others is thine eye evill because I am good enviest thou me because of my liberality Even so is thy eye evill because thy neighbour is wealthier than thou his wit sharper than thine his learning more than thine his credit greater than thine we would have no man fare well but our selves Like Nero who when he died wished that all the world might dye with him Me mortuo Coelum terra misceatur Ier. 6. 10. Psal 120. 3. Psal 14. Esa 1. 5. Phil. 3. 17. Esa 59. 2 Pet. 2. said Nero. Divers sinners have divers properties The
in heart and therefore he shall not inherit the earth which hee so much wisheth Cursed be the covetous for he doth not long after righteousnesse but after riches and therefore hee shall never be satisfied Cursed bee the covetous for he is not mercifull but hard-hearted therefore he shall finde no mercy Cursed be the covetous for he is no peace-maker but a make-bate and therefore he shall be called the child of the divell Cursed be the covetous for he is not pure but filthy in heart and therefore he shall never see God Cursed be the covetous for he cannot suffer the losse of his wealth for righteousnesse sake and therefore the Kingdome of Hell is his And is it thus is covetousnesse the occasion of so much evill Let us take heed and beware of covetousnesse and let us have our conversation Luke 12. 15. farre from covetousnesse for it is Gods owne saying I will never forsake thee nor leave thee so that thou maist boldly say Heb. 13. 5 6. The Lord is my helper Let us not bee like Moles which make Covetousnesse excludes out of heaven many holes and digge many dens in the earth and yet are not satisfied but still labour and digge Let us not build many houses digge many cellers fill many barnes and yet bee unsatiable and unthankefull and in all abundance and plenty will not say Blessed bee the name of the Lord which Iob did in his greatest Iob 1 21. poverty The covetous Cormorant when his barnes were full and his houses furnished was satisfied saying as it were Soule thou hast sufficient Eate drinke and take thine ease but many having ynough and more than ynough are not satisfied but as the Luke 12. 19. Beare seeketh after hony and the Hart chased for the soile and the Eagle for the carkasse and the Woolfe for bloud so the covetous man for gold for gaine Vbi hoc cadaver ibi hae aquilae Where this carkasse is there be these Eagles Their feet run to evill and make haste to shead bloud such are the wayes of every one that is Prov. 1. 16 19. greedie of gaine hee would take away the life of the owners thereof As Vultures smell a dead carkasse a great way off As Eagles flying aloft in the Ayre behold the little fishes swimming below in the waters and deuoure them Sic avari lucrum longè Aug. odorantur so the covetous smell their gaine afarre off they say with Vespatian who tooke a tribute of the peoples urine Suavis odor lucri ex re qualibet the savour of gaine is sweet from every thing according to that of Salomon The bread of deceit is sweet Prov. 20. 17. to a man but afterward his mouth shall bee filled with gravell Iosephs golden cup was found in Beniamins sacke and if God rifle us and search us and our sackes I feare that much evill gaine will bee found amongst us Protestants That as a Cage is full of birds Ier. 5. 27 29. so our houses are full of deceit whereby many are become great and waxen rich Shall I not visit for these things saith the Lord or shall not my soule be avenged on such a people as this is These covetous men have no part with God no portion in Christ no fellowship with the Saints As there be no Serpents in Ireland no Owles in Crete no wild beasts in Lebanon so there be no covetous men in Heaven For without shall be dogges and inchanters and whoremongers and murtherers and Idolaters but covetous Apoc. 22. 15. men are Idolaters therefore not in Heaven Yea and moreover they lose both Heaven and earth like Aesops dogge that lost both the shadow and the beefe Therefore Salendine the Emperour of the East dying caused a man to carry a sheete in Damascus on the end of a speare and to say Ecce trophaea Imperatoris Behold the King of the East carryeth nothing with him but a winding sheet And surely As wee brought nothing into the world so we may carry nothing out Great men have their Porters to 1 Tim 6 7. see that men carry no more out than they brought in and if he chance to spie a silver spoone or a piece of plate in a mans bosome Soft sirrah saith he whither carry yee this plate you brought it not in you must not carry it out Now death is Gods Porter and performeth this O terra cinis O dust and ashes Earthly minds uncapable of heavenly things why art thou greedy and yet men are most greedy of the world and then too when they are ready to leave the world as old men which is monstrous in them Membra frigescunt cupiditas autem calescit their members grow cold but their desire still waxeth warme Caro senescit at affectus iâ—venescunt the flesh waxeth old but their affections grow yong gray heads but greene affections Finis vitae non imponit finem avaritiae the end of their life makes no end of their covetousnesse but still he loadeth himselfe with thicke clay for gold is but red clay and silver white clay Hab. 2. 6. These men are like the dogs snowt that is ever cold like Tantalus that standeth in the water and yet is ever dry Hee hath enlarged his desire as Hell and is as death that cannot bee satisfied As Hab. 2. 5. the Raven feedeth not her yong till they be blacke as the Eagle acknowledgeth not her birds till they can soare to the Sun So God acknowledgeth not them that are drowned in the world and are carryed away by the deceit of Balaams wages that is covetousnesse If yee be risen with Christ seeke the things that are above Col. 3 1 2. where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God set your affections upon heavenly things and not upon worldly These bastard Eagles they cannot mount like Noah's Raven they seize upon carrion As dust cast into the eyes hindreth sight so covetousnesse hindreth our sight that we looke not to heaven it is like the Swallowes dung that put out the eyes of Tobias Wee see not the powers of the Heb. 6. 5. 2 Pâ—â— 2. 14. world to come Our hearts are brawned and exercised with covetousnesse they thinke on nothing else from Munday to Sunday from Ianuary to December The Wise man saith that there is not à viler thing than to love â—â—ney Money doth all now in the world Give Balaam money and Eccles 10. 9. he will curse the people of God whom before he blessed Give 2 Pet. 2. Iehoakin money and he will spoile the poore rob the fatherlesse undoe the widdow pervert all justice Give Achan money and Ier. 22. Ios 7. he will steale the execrable thing the Babylonian garment and the wedge of gold give Iudas mony and he will sell his Master betray Christ Iesus give the Souldiers money and they will Mat. â—6 â—ap 28. lye cog sweare resweare forsweare Christs Resurrection and say that
danger except he take great heed But wherein is wealth so dangerous I answer that it is very troublesome to the outward man the rich mans plenty will not suffer him to sleepe his wealth is like a long garment too side that a man treads upon it often and catcheth a fall So wealth maketh him many times to fall into many maladies and makes him obnoxious to envy and so subject to malice that none are more But to the soule the desire of wealth is most pernicious For first it makes the soule vainely confident The rich mans riches is a strong tower in his imagination Hee thinkes himselfe by them walled Prov. 10. 5. and moated about though indeed hee is as open to danger as other men Hee thinkes himselfe safe if he have Balaams wages wealth and puts his trust in his uncertaine riches The Prophet sayes they Sacrifice to their Nets and burne Incense to their Yarne the meaning is that the same 1 Tim. 6. Abac. 1. 16. confidence which by Sacrifice and incense wee protest to God they put in their wealth And it is noted to bee a passion of the covetous to delight in wealth to flatter themselves in their abundance as if gold were their Sun by day and silver their Moone by night The wise man saith Gold and silver fasten the feet that is the covetous man Eccles 40. 25. he thinkes he stands firme on no ground but on that which is paved with gold But there is yet more evill in wealth it maketh men proud Charge rich men saith the Apostle that they bee 1 Tim. 6. 17. not high-minded and Bernard saith that pride is the rich mans Cousin It is the nature of wealth when it falleth into vile mens hands to blow up the heart as a bladder Pride blowes up the heart is blowne with a quill And therefore Paul saith The rich fall into lusts and temptations To conclude from wealth growes security as a dead sleepe from drunkennesse Let us then beware of this sinne that wee never bee carryed away with the deceit of Balaams wages that wee be not covetous as hee was THE TWO AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XI And perish in the gaine-saying of Core After Mercy followes Iudgement I Am come to the third sin which is the Rebellion of Core whose story is recited by Moses in the Booke of Numbers where is registred and set downe unto us how they rebelled Numb 16. against Moses in the Common-wealth and Aaron in the Church and how the earth opened and swallowed them up for as it can hardly beare any sinnes so most hardly a Rebell the Sunne would give him no light the Ayre would give him no breath the fire no heat the water no cleansing the earth no place but that God for a time disposeth of these creatures to draw men to repentance So saith the Apostle The Lord is not slacke but is patient towards us and would have no man to perish but 2 Pet. 3. 9. would all men come to repentance The Idolaters were slaine with Exod. 32. the sword but the Rebels were swallowed up of the earth as was Iericho and Hierapolis in the primitive Church and twelve Numb 16. Cities of Campania in the dayes of Constantine and many Cities Ios 7. in Greece in the raigne of Tiberius The Minister in the 2 Thes 2. 8. Church is Gods mouth and the Magistrate in the Common-wealth is Gods hand If Aarons Vrim and Thummim would have served Moses Rod and his staffe should not have needed but when the tongue could not perswade the Rod and the Staffe Exod. 32. compelled After a shepheards whistle commeth a dogge after Doctrine God the Author of Government commeth justice GOD led his people like sheepe by the hands of Moses and Aaron the one is to governe the soules the other the bodies of men in good order The Magistrate must kill sin Psal 80. with the Sword the Minister must destroy it with the Word The Magistrate must carefully protect and defend the Sacraments of grace the Minister must faithfully dispence and deliver the Word of truth The Magistrate must behold the outward person the Minister must regard the inward man the Magistrate must punish sinne the Minister reprove iniquity the Magistrate must respect the publicke peace of the Common-wealth the Minister the inward peace of the conscience the Magistrate must correct the body the Minister reforme the soule the Magistrate must prohibit outward wickednesse the Minister forbid the inward corruption of the heart the Magistrate must subdue with his hand the Minister reprove with his tongue the Magistrate must force with violence the Minister teach with patience and when Magistrate and Minister the Sword and the Word goe thus hand in hand together then Kingdomes prosper like the Apple Tree of Persia that beareth fruit monthly for then Are there thrones set for judgement even the Psal 122. 5. thrones of the house of David And therefore Ieremy lamented the overrhrow of the Kingdome and of the Priest as the decay of Ierusalem the Eclipse of all their light God governed his people Exod. 12. Acts 13. of Israel first with a Prophet then with Iudges foure hundred and thirty yeeres Thirdly with Kings as 1 Sam. 8. Fourthly with Dukes and Nobles after the captivity but what the superiour be Hag. 1. it skilleth not so there be a superiour Nam malum quidem est ubi nullus est principatus it is passing evill whereas there is no government For when as there was no King in Israel every man did that which seemed good in his owne eyes The learned make three kindes of Government and all to bee obeyed As first a Monarchie Secondly an Aristocracie Thirdly a Democratie To the which they oppose Tyrannidem Oligarchiam Anarchiam Our regiment is a Monarchy that of the Germanes and Switzers seemeth to be an Aristocracie that of the Low-countries a Democratie which of these three is the best is not agreed upon among the learned Some doe advance the government of many because many are not so soone corrupted as one may be even as a great quantity of water will not so soone putrifie as will a small portion But these must on the other side consider that it is a great deale more hard to find many good than one Reasons why Monarchy is the best forme of government and it is most likely that such an one will prove best whom the Nobility of Royall bloud and Princely examples of predecessors doe invite unto vertue Others doe advance the government of one because it is first most agreeable to nature as Ierome doth witnesse saying In apibus principes sunt grues unum sequuntur ordine literato Imperator unus Dux unus provinciae in navi unus gubernator in domo unus dominus c. Bees have their chiefe governour the Cranes doe follow one another in an exquisite order there is one
nothing more foolish nothing more base nothing more inhumane nothing more impious then pride yet there is no end of this humour men are proud in death and life yea and beyond death like Abimelech who bade his Page kill him that it might not be said that he died by the hand of a woman yet a Iudg. 9. 55. woman gave him his deadly wound This made men to call their houses and their townes after their owne names that they might live in spight of God if not in themselves yet in their posterity but they are notably travised by the Spirit of God when he saith Wise men dye aswell as fooles and leave their riches for Psal 49. 10 11 12. others yet they thinke that their houses and habitations shall continue for ever and call their Lands after their owne names but man shall not continue in honour but is like the beasts that perish Many desire to live if it be but in an Epitaph in an Inscription on their grave yet names are rotten many times before their carkases Sir Thomas More sent unto Erasmus for verses to be ingraven upon his tombe At patibulum erat illi pro sepulchro the blocke was to him for a sepulcher quoth Calvin who compareth him to Shebna unto whom God said What hast thou to do here that thou shouldest here hew thee out a sepulcher as he that heweth out his sepulcher in an high place or that graveth an habitation for himselfe in a rocke for whereas Shebna thought to make his name immortall by his famous sepulcher he dyed most miserably among the Assyrians So Sir Thomas More thought to make his name immortall by his tombe epitaph there written he perished as a traitour Stately tombes and epitaphs are nothing every passenger censureth and saith Thy pompe is brought downe to the grave the worme is spred under thee and Esa 14. 11 the wormes cover thee Thou saidst I will ascend up to heaven and exalt my throne above besides the starres of God but thou shalt be brought down to the grave to the sides of the pit So Caesar an heathen derided the pride of Cyrus for his sepulcher and said Coelo tegitur qui non habet True zeale burnes out by degrees till it come to full flame urnam superbiain coelo nata est sed velut immemor qua via inde cecidit illuc ideo redire non potuit Pride as one prettily speaketh was bred in heaven but having as it were forgotten which way it fell from thence it could never afterwards finde the way thither againe Hugo lib. de anima Let us therefore abandon this sinne of pride and hate it as the Divell himselfe nay more then the Divell For the Divell cannot hurt thee till pride hath possessed thee And there be two things that make a man proud Scientia Divitiae Knowledge and Riches Scientiainflat saith Paul Knowledge puffeth up Divitiae inflant Riches also puffe up therefore saith Paul to Timothy Charge 1 Cor. 8. 1. 1 Tim. 6. 17. rich men that they bee not high-minded As hee that drinkes wine shall feele it fume into his head though he be never so sober so wealth is a cup of fuming wine which the best man that lives shall feele fuming in his heart and some are made starke drunk withall They are drunke but not with wine and as wormes breed Esa 29. 9. Aug. in the hearts of trees so pride the Worme of wealth for so a Father cals it commonly breedeth in the hearts of rich men And this pride God hateth let us hate it also For it is Radix cuncti mali Regina omnium vitiorum It is the roote of all evill and the Greg. in M◠Queene of all vice The third vice that hee chargeth them with it is hypocrisie in that they being in malice like Cain in covetousnesse like Balaam in rebellion like Chore yet eate and feast with the godly Clouds without raine waves without water trees without fruit starres without light And here is to be observed the greae zeale of the Apostle which as fire kindling by little and little is now come to his height and heate he cannot forbeare them any longer but must needs paint them out in their colours Iames and Iohn were Mar. 3. filii tonitrui sonnes of thunder And surely wee had need thunder in this age men are so asleepe By these degrees did the zeale of Paul grow to this height Yee cannot drinke of the cup of the Lord and the cup of Divels yee cannot bee partaker of the Lords table 1 Cor. 10. 21 22. and of the table of Divels doe wee provoke the Lord to anger are wee stronger than hee as if he should say God will either breake thee or bend thee there is no striving against him David speaking of Idols at last bursteth out They that make them are like unto Psal 135. 18. them and so are all they that put their trust in them and God will binde them both in one bundle and cast them into the fire So Debcra having spoken of the wickednesse of Sisera concludeth with an execration against all the wicked rising ab Hypothesi ad Thesim saying They fought from Heaven even the Searres in their courses Iudg. 5. 20 21 26 31. fought against Sisera The river Kison swept them away the ancient river the river Kishon Shee put her hand to the naile and her right hand to the Workmans hammer with the hammer smote shee Sisera shee God loveth sincerity and detesteth hypocrisie smote off his head after she had wounded and pearced his temples So let all thine enemies perish ô Lord c. But to leave this and to come to the sinne here condemned which is hypocrisie In speaking whereof he clappeth on all his sayles and goeth with full wind For he compareth hypocrites to clouds which promise raine and yet they be dry clouds they deceive the husbandman they bring no raine at all Hee compareth them to trees which blossome and flourish but bring forth no fruit and unto starres which promise light and yet do but deceive the poore traveller for they be wandring stars The Lord detesteth nothing more then for men to make his religion a cloake to their wickednesse and to thinke the bare profession of his name inough God requireth truth in the inward parts And in another Psal 51. 6. Psalme he bringeth in the Lord thus reasoning against hypocrites and counterfets which pretend but not intend Why doest thou take my Covenant in thy mouth and hatest to be reformed c Psal 50. 16. For this sinne God destroyed Shilo and removed his Arke from it the Arke had remained in Shilo about three hundred yeeres but after it was taken the Priests slaine and the people miserably discomfited Hereupon saith God Will yee steale murder and commit adultery and sweare falsely and burne incense unto Baal and Ier. 7. 7 8 9.
quà m cogitentur No man can tell or imagine the miseries of hell as they for they are worser than may bee conceived O brethren let us therefore feare hell before wee feele hell For hell is a lake without bottome broad without measure deep without sounding full of incomparable burning intolerable stinch and unspeakable sorrow quoth Hugo If the theefe feare the Assise day and moment any paines how ought we to feare eternall torments so exactly noted by Christ Ter uno oris halitu thrice with one breath saying If thy hand cause thee to offend cut it off it is better Mar. 9. 43 44 45. for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to goe into Hell into the fire that never shall bee quenched where the worme dyeth not and the fire goeth not out Likewise if thy foote cause thee to offend cut it off it is better for thee to goe halt into life than having two feete to be cast into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where the worme dyeth not and the fire never goeth out If thy eye cause thee to offend plucke it out it is better for thee to goe into the kingdome of God with one eye than having two eyes to bee cast into Hell fire where the worme dyeth not and the fire goeth not out Common fire is quenched with water wilde fire with vineger and milke Hell fire cannot be quenched Let us therefore feare hell before we feele hell All creatures feare that which may hurt them Elephas timet murem Leo ignem Feare of hell torments should worke repentance Lupus lapidem ceruus canem columb a accipitrem canis baculum ovis lupum avis laqueum piscis hamum latro patibulum An Elephant feares the mouse a Lion fire the Wolfe a stone the Hart a dogge the Pigeon an Hawke the Dogge a cudgell the Sheep a Wolfe a Bird the net a Fish the hooke a theefe the Gallowes and shall not we feare hell but many neither feare nor beleeve there is a hell Heu viuunt homines tanquam mors nulla sequatur Et velut infernus fabula vana foret Men live now as though no death should follow and hell were but a tale We lie downe in sinne wee sleep in sinne wee rest in sinne we live in sinne and we dye in sinne for what sinne is there that we could have committed but we have committed What Bethsabe have we not defiled with David what forbidden fruit have wee not eaten with Adam What Babylonish garment have we not stollen with Achan what usury have we not taken with Zachee what vineyard have we not coveted with Ahab If a man were at a table of dainties and his friend his deare friend should say unto him Eate nothing Touch nothing Meddle with nothing there is poison in these delicates he would not taste nor touch them nor meddle with them yet in sinne there is poison there is mors in olla and yet we will venture upon it Hell and damnation and blacknesse of darkenesse which is the reward of sinne cannot make us leave sinne and clense our selves from all filthinesse of the flesh and spirit And though we heare that the paines of hell be intolerable and that a man may say of them as Aeneas said in another case Non mihi si linguae centum sint or à que centum c. Had I an hundred tongues mouthes to hold them a mouth of iron yet can I not uphold them We heare this all of us but we know not how long we shall heare it Many that heard this since this day twelve-moneth yea since this day moneth are gone to give an account of their life either to God or to the Divell where their state is unchangeable We use to say that he that dieth this yeere is excused for the next But away with this vile proverbe for he that dieth this yeere and not in the Lord is excused never but dieth for ever for there is a second death Death is foure-fold there is a death in sinne a death unto sinne a death of the body and a death of body and soule As the Iudge telleth the prisoner You shall goe from hence to the place of execution and there hang till you be dead So God saith unto the wicked You shall goe from hence to the place from whence yee came that is to the earth and from thence to the place of execution in hell and there thou shalt hang in torments intolerable and perpetuall prepared for the Divell and his angels Feare and terrour shall bee dealt for thy dole and the curses of the people shall follow thee to thy grave and brimstone shal be scattered upon thy habitations thy roote Nothing so hard as the impenitent heart shal be dried up beneath and above thy branch shall bee cut downe thy remembrante shall perish from the earth and thou shalt have no name in the streets c. Thou shalt not depart out of this place of hell till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing that is thou shalt never bee Iob 18. 14 15. Mat. 5. 25. delivered from thence O brethren marke this doctrine and feare hell that I may say of this towne as Christ said to Zachees house Salvation is happened unto it For hell is as the Lions denne O mnia adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum there is an ingresse but no egresse Facilis est descensus Averni the descent into hell is easy we goe to hell as a boule runneth downe the hill What hearts have we then of flesh or of flint of folly or of madnesse that this moveth us not O caeci ad videndum propriam miseriam ô ignari ad intelligendum proprium damnum ô corda Adamante duriora quae non contremiscunt audire haec O blind men that cannot see their owne misery ô ignorant men that cannot understand their owne danger ô hearts harder then the Adamant that cannot tremble to heare these things Granatensis said Nil tam durum quà m cor hominis nothing so hard as a mans heart Omnia dura metalla igne liquescunt all hard metals are softned with fire the iron is dissolved in the furnace the Adamant broken with the blood of a Goate the congealed ice and snow molten with the Sunne the hard marble pearced with droppes the hard rocks rent asunder with strokes At cor humanum durius petra durius ferro durius Adamante but the heart of man is harder than the rocke harder than the iron harder than the Adamant nec amor Deite mollat neither can the love of God mollify thee nec sanguis Christi te frangat nor the blood of Christ breake thee nec ignis inferni te moveat nor the fire of hell move thee For vile men savour nothing either of the ioyes of heaven or paines of hell they are as men without taste whose palates are corrupted with humours that they are not able to discerne betweene hony and gall they
of the Ayre He counteth all the haires of our head Hee putteth all the teares of the afflicted into his bottle Hee knoweth the cattell upon a thousand mountaines All our members were written in his booke before we were borne Now if hee call the starres by their names if hee number our steps if hee tell the sparrowes if hee count the haires of our head if hee register the teares of the afflicted if hee know all the cattell on the mountaines if he wrote our members in his booke long before wee were borne then surely hee hath written all our sinnes in his booke as is said by Ieremy The sinne of Ier. 17. 1. Iudah is written with a penne of â—ron and with a point of a Diamond graven upon the table of his heart Infinite are the sinnes of one yeere of one moneth of one weeke yea of one day how many vaine thoughts idle words ungodly workes passe from us in one day David said they passed the haires of his head hee said that hee could not number them Job said that wee drinke iniquity like water Esay said Wee draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sinne like cart ropes Salomon saith that the mouth of the wicked swalloweth iniquity A thousand idle words yea oaths wee utter in one day Septi es in die cadit justus the righteous sinneth seven times a day that is many times in a day what by committing of evill what by omitting of good how often then in our whole life and yet not one sin doth escape God What is done in earth is registred in heaven in one moment it is in Gods debt-booke And herein is Gods omniscience herein differeth the knowledge of God from that of Thoughts and words shall be iudged as well as workes men and divels Deus scit praesentia praeterita futura God knoweth things past present and future they know not things future God onely knoweth the thoughts of our hearts they onely our words and workes not our thoughts Yea every thought also shall bee judged We say Thought is free but God shall arrest it indite it arraigne it it shall hold up the hand at the barre of God for the Law is spirituall and bindeth as well the spirit as the body so saith the Apostle We know that the Law is spirituall so that it can judge the affections of Rom. 7. 14. Psal 44. 21. the heart God knoweth the secrets of the heart A true hand and a true heart a chast body and a chast minde must goe together else all is lost O Ierusalem wash thy heart from thy wickednesse Ier. 4. 14. that thou maiest be saved how long shall thy wicked thoughts remaine within thee Not deedes but thoughts must bee washed and cleansed As our deeds and thoughts so our words shall be judged All the cruell speakings which wicked sinners have spoken against God shall come to iudgement It will bee said here that none are so mad as to speake against God Yes and men speake against God two wayes First when they speake against any ordinance of God 1 Secondly when we speake against the servants of God 2 Against the ordinance of God as thus Stephen charged the Iewes that they resisted the holy Ghost yet resisted they but his Act. 7. 51. 1 Cor. 10. 21. word The Corinthians were said to provoke God for being present at Idols feasts The Apostle charged the Iewes to rise up against the Lord Iesus for that they resisted the preaching the doctrine of Act. 4. 27. Iesus Againe men speake against God when they speake against the servants of God as thus Christ codemneth Paul for persecuting Act. 9. 4. him yet persecuted he but the Saints of Ierusalem The people in contemning Samuel cast God away So God told Samuel 1 Sam. 8. 7. They have not cast thee away but mee away And well said said Gamaleel that to strive against the Apostles had beene to strive Act. 5. 39. against God So Moses told Israel Your murmurings are not against Exod. 16. 7 8. us but against the Lord. But among all that speake against God our swearers are the chiefe The Prophet said Hee was a man of polluted lips but no Esay 6. lip more polluted than the swearers they spue out their venim against God spit him in the teeth justle with him for his chaire throw him into the channel trample upon him with their filthy feet making his name a tennise ball a page and waiting-man to their choller Because of oaths the land shall mourne and mens mouthes now are dyed red with oaths they make no conscience to speake against God many mens hearts be all earth their stomakes all water their braines all ayre and their tongues all fire being set on fire of hell Saint Ambrose telleth us of a dogge that pulled Swearing and falshood came into the world together out the throate of him that murdered his master Shall a dogge doe this for him that giveth him a crust of bread and shall not our wrath kindle against them that have killed the Iam. 3. 6. Ambr. libr. 6. Hexam Lord Iesus Mens sinnes mens oathes mens blasphemies and perjuries have pierced him and nailed him and let out his heart blood These were the nailes and speare that lanced him Iudas Pilate Herod could have done nothing unto him if these our sinnes had not given them strength One saith that three members of the body are hardly governed the heart the reines the Vinaldus libr. de cont tongue In the heart is vanity in the reines is pleasure in the tongue is falshood perjury blasphemy He that can rule these three is a persect man So saith the Apostle If a man sinne not in Iam. 3. 2 3 4. word he is a perfect man and able to bridle all the body behold wee put bittes into the horses monthes that they should obey us and wee turne about all their body behold also the ships that though they be great and are driven of sierce winds yet are they turned about with avery small rudeer wheresoever the governour listeth Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth of great things Behold how great a thing a little fire kindleth and the tongue is a fire yea a World of wickednesse c. Better it is that men should never speake then to sweare and blaspheme and so speake against God Vita mors est in potestate linguae life and death is in the power of the tongue Metalls are iudged by the sound whether they be gold or brasse A man is iudged by his speech whether he be good or evill if his words be brazen his heart cannot be golden Chrysostome noteth that swearing came into the world when all untrueth entred into the World and all villany In the first age men were beleeved on their word but in the ages following they were scarce beleeved on their oath lying brought swearing swearing brought per
jury into the world Ex multis iâ—ramentis perventum est â—andem in peâ—iuâ—ia in multilâ—quio non deest peceatum From many oathes men Chrysost came at last to perjury and in much speaking there is sinne with much water there goeth some gravell with much fire some smoke and with many words some lies as among many wounds some skarres Aquinas saith that we must use an oath as we use physicke which is not used but in necessity in diseases So an oath is to be used in necessity when the trueth otherwise cannot appeare Parcè utenda medicina parcè iur amentum A medicine Aquin. is to be used sparingly and an oath sparingly yet a number cannot talke but they must sweare As the girle said of Peter Thou art of Galilee for thy speech bewrayeth thee So these Mat. 26. swearers that thus speake against God are of the Divell By thy barking I know thee to bee a dog by thy hissing to bee a serpent and by thy swearing to bee a vile man Shall I call that a sweet fountaine that sendeth out nothing but brine salt water and sulphurous Shall I call that good earth that yeldeth nothing but briers and brambles And shall I call him a Christian The generall Iudgement most certaine that cannot speake five words but one shall bee against God one shall be an oath by God and by God As she said Call me not Naomi but call me Mara So call not these Christians but beasts monsters Divels as Christ called Iudas These men Iohn 6. 70. as S. Iohn said have the hornes of the Lambe but they speake like the dragon they have a shew of religion but they sweare like reprobates they speake by the mouth of a greater beast Apoc. 13. then themselves These men are like belles that hang in the steeple but they are not seene but heard so these men though they be nor seene they may be heard in the Ale houses and Tavernes as men passe by there they roare and sweare and speake against God and count it a gentlemenly quality In times past Gentlemen were knowne by three properties Learning Armes and Gentlenesse but now by swearing wantonnesse and taking of Tobacco I speake not of all God hath his number Lord how are men degenerated from that they have beene What a Metamorphosis is in the world Have men drunke of Circes cup or are they changed with Hecuba for railing at the siedge of Troy into dogges that they barke thus against God Well they shall come to Iudgement one day for this Christ will come and we expect it To give iudgement against all men and to rebuke all the ungodly among them of all their wicked deeds that they have committed and of all their cruell speakings which ungodly sinners have spoken against And Come Lord Iesus come quickly Apoc. 22. One thing further let me observe unto you that he saith Behold the Lord commeth with thousand of his Saints to give iudgement against all men c. That hee speaketh in the present tense not in the future tense to note the certainty of his comming So Esay Esay 9. said of Christ Vnto us a Child is borne yet was he not then borne but five hundred yeeres at the least after So Iohn spake Ecce venit Apoc. 1. 7. in nubibus Behold he commeth in the clouds and yet hee is not come but to note the trueth of his comming he affirmeth that he commeth The Apostle saith That Faith overcommeth the World and yet we are striving with the world as yet wee are in the 1 Iohn 5. 1. mayne battell as yet the plowers plough long furrowes on our backs as yet we strive unto bloud and yet he saith We have overcome the world because wee shall overcome it The Shepheards said that the words of the Angell were come to passe yet had they Luk 2. 15. Rom. 3. Numb 23. 19. not been a Bethelem Let God be true and all men liers He is not a man that hee should lye neither as the Sonne of man that hee should repent hath be said and shall he not doe it and hath he spoken and shall he not accomplish it Heaven and earth shall passe before one iot or tittle of his Luk 16 17. Word shall passe As for him that thinkes that the Lord will never come to iudgement nor that this body shall rise againe Let him remember that he who bringeth the Sunne out of his Chamber daily who reneweth the dead hornes of the Moone Psal 19. Psal 104. every moneth who dried up the sea in one night who caused None so vile but sometime feareth iudgemeÌ„t inwardly Aarons withered rod in one night to beare ripe Almonds who quickened Sara her dead wombe who revived the dead corne in the ground can raise againe this body and howsoever the Exod. 14. Gen. 18. 1 Cor. 15. wicked seare up their consciences with a hot iron yet I am perswaded there is none so wicked but sometime trembleth at the iudgement That the Lord shall come with thousand of his Saints to give Iudgement on all flesh c. None so riotous but sometime he saith Esca ventri venter escis Meate for the belly and the belly for 1 Cor. 6. 13. meate but God shall destroy both it and them None so covetous but sometime saith The rust of these things will be a witnesse against me None so blasphemous but at one time or other Iam. 5. 3. saith The plague departeth not from the house of the swearer None so adulterous but saith I may not make the Ecclus 23. 12. members of Christ the members of an harlot I may not make the 1 Cor. 6. temple of God the stable for the Divell And to conclude none so past all feare of God but sometimes saith This geare will not last alway what shall become of me when I stand before Gods iudgement seate Foelix trembled when he heard Paul preach of Iudgement and Adrian the Emperour said at his death Animula Act. 24. vagula blandula quo nunc vagaris O my little wandring tender soule whither doest thou now goe Thou wouldest not have the conscience of a damned creature to gaine tenne thousand worlds and to bee the Monarch of them for so many thousand yeers Well yee see there shall be a Iudgement yee see the person that shall be our Iudge The Lord he shall come in his owne person to iudge us and what a comfort will this be that hee shall come for us that went up to send the Comforter unto us Yee see the manner of his comming with thousand of his Saints The end of it to rebuke all the ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all the cruell speakings that wicked sinners have spoken against And now to make some use of all this that hath been spoken concerning this Iudgement The use of it is triple 1. For terrour 2. For comfort
the Bible forty times thou not twice not once yet boastest that thou art a Christian Doest thou glory in thy workes O foole es seruus invtilis thou art an unprofitable servant And what deserveth hee but stripes and blowes And yet obiter by the way to them that insult Luk. 17. over us as if we were Metropolitan or Captaine sinners we say as Paul said As touching me I passe very little to be judged of you or of mans judgement no I iudge not mine owne selfe And againe We give 1 Cor. 4. 3. 2 Cor. 6. 3 4. none occasion of offence in any thing that our ministery should not bee reprehended but in all things we approue our selves as the Ministers of God So said Ambrose Non it a vixi ut me vixissepudeat nec mori timeo quia bonum habemus Dominum I have not so lived as that I am a shamed to live neither am I afraid to dye because we have a good Lord. If we have to doe with God we say O Lord righteousnesse belongeth unto thee and unto us open shame O Lord to us appertaineth open shame Dan. 9. 7 8. to our Kings to our Princes and to our Fathers because wee have sinned against thee But if with men that slander us we say with Ieremy Ier. 15. 10 15. woe is me my mother that thou hast borne me a contentious man and a man that striveth with the whole earth I have neither lent on usury nor men have lent to me on usury yet every one doth curse me O Lord thou knowest remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors take me not away in the continuance of thy anger know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke Iudges may say with Samuel Whose oxe have I taken Or whom have I done wrong to Or whom have I hurt Or of 1 Sam. 12. 3. whose hands have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith and I will restore it you Ministers must say We have cast from us the clokes of shame and walke not in craftinesse neither handle we the Word of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. deceitfully but in declaration of the truth we approove our selves to every mans conscience in the sight of God And every Christian must say with Iob My witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high And againe he must say with Paul Our rejoycing is this the testimony of Iob 16. 19. 2 Cor. 1. 12. our conscience that in simplicity and godly purenesse and not in fleshly Wisdome but by the grace of God wee have had our conuersation in the world c. They speake proud things To speake things hath beene a frequent sinne from the beginning of the primitive Church to this day like Noahs deluge it hath overflowed and like another Alexander conquered it was in the Gnosticks the roote of their heresy For Simon Magus their Prince as saith Irenaeus called himselfe the Sonne of God the power of God and under Claudius the Emperour his Image was set up and worshipped as God after him came Menander and spake proud things affirming that he was sent a Saviour from invisible things for the salvation of the world After him Apelles Montanus Manes which affirmed that they were sent by the Holy Ghost such in our time were Act. 8. the Quintinists and Libertines in Germany which call themselves meere spirituall such are the Henry Nicolaitans who say that they It is ordinary to them that are vile to speake ill are codeified with God and God cohominified with them such was the traitour Hacket Anno. 1591. who blasphemed God and called for fire to consume the world that beleeved not in him Thus men now swell in pride in opinion in words in deeds in all things Hagar waxeth proud against her dame Sara Aesops crow jetteth in the plumes and feathers of other birds and the Cumane Asse walketh up and downe with his long eares in a Lions skinne For commonly none are prouder then the unworthiest As the Holy Ghost noteth of the bramble who would be King over the trees when as the figge-tree the olive-tree and the vine-tree refused it For the figge-tree would not leave his sweetnesse nor the olive-tree her fatnesse nor the vine her wine wherewith shee did cheare the heart both of God and man to rule over the trees only the scratching bramble he was so proud that he would Pan will compare with Apollo Arachne with Minerva Silenus with Mercury Phaëton will manage his fathers teame Icarus will mount up with his wings of waxe the Fly Farsalla will sport with the candle the Pharise will say there is no sinner like the Publican The Laodicians will boast of their wealth knowledge and all graces The yong man will say that he hath kept all the precepts of God Naminania dolia acutissimè resonant the emptiest tubbes make the greatest sound The Apothecaries boxes which have nothing in them are best painted but the bramble was burned Phaëton spoiled the frame of the world Icarus wings melted the Fly is burnt in the flame the Pharise went home unjustified the Laodicians were throwne downe to hell the yong man went away sorrowfull God will humble the proud Let every man therefore thinke better of another then of himselfe But we forget that sequitur superbos ultor è tergo Deus that God followeth the proud man at the heeles to plague him and punish him nay wee forget that we are men and weake men and so our pride groweth to be infinite Iulius the second would make no water but in silver basons Heliogabalus would avoid no excrements but in vessels of gold Sardanapalus would eate no meate but Nightingales tongues Sapor the King of Persia would use no footstoole but the necke of the Emperour Valerian in Arabia foelix the Nobles would kindle no fire but of Cinamon the grand Cham of Tartaria will not be drawne of horses but of Elephants our pride is infinit our words our deeds our thoughts Majesticall Sed quid superbis terra cinis Why art thou proud dust and ashes And yet this proud man catcheth nothing but smoke and gaineth nothing but smoke We marvell at the Emperour who passed all his festivall daies in killing of flies but how much more may we marvell at him who passeth all his dayes in catching of smoke and the blast of mens mouthes A certaine King therefore appointed this punishment Flatterers applaud others to enrich thēselves for proud men that they should bee suffocated and choaked with smoke saying that it was right and meet that they should perish in smoke which have spent their whole life in catching the smoke of vanity and vaine-glory The end of all this clawing is gaine men speake for advantage they have sugred tongues oyled mouthes dulced words but suspect them for they speake for gaine like Aesops-Foxe that telleth the Crow that she was the fairest bird in the heavens if she could sing and therewithall she
If I should please men saith the Gal. 1. 10. Apostle I am not the servant of God Now chuse whether thou wilt serve God or men we must learne of the Lord Iesus His enemies could say though temptingly That he was true taught the way of Mat. 22. 16. God truly neither cared for any man for he considered not the person of men As touching the outward quality as whether a man be rich or poore some workes of Christ are our instruction as his miracles some are our imitation as his deeds vertues Learne not therefore of Christ to rebuke the Wind to still the Sea to turne Mar. 5. Iohn 2. Luke 7. Iohn 9. Water into Wine to raise the Dead to open the eyes of the Blind for these thou canst not doe all these are thy instruction but learne to speake truely this thou mayest doe and this is thy imitation speake truth and that truely for God liketh better of Adverbes than of Nounes Christ spake without regard of men let us learne to speake so The word flatterer in Greeke signifieth servility or slavishnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he is a Page a Servant a Slave to other mens affections there is no difference betweene a Gally-slave and him but that the one is fettered in body the other in minde the one serveth the Turke the other the Divell the one chained for a time the other for ever For the Flatterer is in the snare of the Divel and is taken of him at his will Tot vincula habemus quot peccata we have so many bands as we have sinnes I would that there were not 2 Tim. 2. 26. of these Flatterers amongst the Church-men who should rather rebuke then flatter Surely the vulgar people delight to Soothing Preachers the most base flatterers be flattered and would not by their willes heare the Law of the Lord and hence is it That they say to the seers See not and to the Prophets Prophesy not unto us right things but speake flattering things unto us Prophesy errours But such flattering prophets the Holy Ghost Esay 30. 10. calleth the taile and saith The Lord will cut off from Israel head and taile branch and rush in one day the ancient and the honorable man hee Esay 9. 14 15. is the head and the prophet that teacheth lies he is the taile But as touching these flattering prophets that will sow pillowes under mens elbowes and sooth them up in their sins God will punish them He will feed them with Wormewood and make them drinke the water of gall The Holy Ghost compareth them to bad surgeons Ier. 23. 15. that bring toothsome but not wholesome medicines They have Ier. 8. 11. healed the hurt of the daughter of my people with sweet words saith God saying Peace peace when there was no peace Hence grew the ruine of Ierusalem hence is the ruine of England that we are not playne with our people we monish them not the complaint of God against the false prophets may bee taken up against many of us Thy prophets have looked out vaine and foolish things for thee and they have not discovered thine iniquity to turne away thy captivity but Lament 2. 14. looked out for thee false prophesies c. Ministers are called The salt Mat. 5. Ier. 8. of the earth the light of the World Physicians Surgeons Salt must needs be sharp to a rotten wound light is painefull to a sore eye a good Physician must trouble his patient ere hee heale him A Surgeon must lance a festred wound God will have Esay crie aloud Esay 58. 1. lift up his voice like a trumpet shew the people their offences and the house of Iacob their sinnes Ieremy must speake all that God commandeth He must not be afraid of mens faces Esay would not flatter Princes but told them that they were rebellious and companions of Ier. 1. 8. Esay 1. 23. theeves that they loved gifts and followed after rewards that they iudged not the fatherlesse and the Widowes complaints came not before them He that shall deale so with the Nobles of England shall have small thankes yet are they men and not God flesh and not spirit sinnefull aswell as they of Iuda Iames and Iohn were Boanarges sonnes of thunder we had need thunder and lighten as Pericles did Mar. 3. in Greece speaking will do little good we must not sow pillowes under Ezech. 13. 10. Gal. 4. 16. mens elbowes We say as Paul said to the Galatians Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth Better you hate us then God For they that flatter you serve not the Lord Iesus Christ but their owne bellies and with faire speeches and flattering deceive the hearts Rom. 16. 18. of the simple Flattery is a sinne but we are the cause of it the fault is in our selves No man can be flattered but he first flattereth himselfe no vermine breedeth where hee findeth no warmth no flies swarme where they see no flesh no Eagles light where they see no carcasse no man claweth but where he seeth pride in the partie to worke upon These men are as brasse-pots which be they never so huge yet a man can carry them by the eares where hee Reproofe profits more then flattery will so may these men bee carried by the eares and yet it is to their owne hurt For flatterers are like wormes and mothes which eate wooll and garments but it cannot be seene till the knop be off so proud men see not their sinnes till it bee too late Si fueris Thraso non deerit tibi Gnato If thou wilt be a boasting bragging Thraso thou shalt never want a flattring parasitical Gnato Thus by these flatterers many Gentlemen be cōsumed before they be aware their flattering followers undoe them There be two kindes of persecutions Manus persequentis Lingua adulantis the hand of the Tyrant and the tongue of the flatterer the latter is the worser as it is most pernicious to the soule it doth the soule good to be reprooved it driveth away sin as the North-wind doth the raine Multi culpāt amicos Many blame their friends but those accusations are but like water in a Smithes-forge to kindle not to quench the fire Let us blame and rebuke men not to make them worse but better not viler but warier David prayed Corripiat me justus Let the righteous smite me For that is a benefit Psal 41. 5. Let him reprove me and it shall be a precious oyle that shall not breake my August ser 59. de verbis Domini head Well said Augustine Non omnis qui parcit est amicus nec omnis qui ferit est inimicus Not every one that spareth us is a Friend nor every one that striketh us is an enemy Melius cum sinceritate diligere quà m cum levitate decipere better to love with sincerity then to deceive with levity
to content their owne sinnefull humour But so to reprehend is no way lawfull wee must deale with sinners as Samuel did with Saul chide them for their sinne yet pray for their soule as Moses did with the Israelites who corrected their iniquities yet would be blotted out of Gods Booke for their safeties as David did with Absalom who detested his fault and yet would have died for his sake then shall wee shew our selves true physicians that seare the sore to preserve the person and hate the sinne to preserve the soule THE NINE AND TVVENTIETH SERMON VERS XVIII How that they told you that there shall bee mockers in the last time c. Scorning and mocking the highest degree of sin NOw he commeth to the words that he will have them to remember they be these That there shall come in the last dayes mockers hee calleth the wicked mockers for in mustering up their sinnes hee beginneth with their flouting as an arch sinne a capitall sinne hee placeth it in the forefront as Ioab did Vrias it is a Metropolitan sinne as Salomons harlot 1 Reg. 3. was among women the worst of all as the beast in the Apocalyps Apoc. 13. which inspired the other with blasphemy like Antiochus who did more hurt then all the Tyrants before him Of these mockers speaketh Peter as though he had followed Iude verbatim word for word but he hath answered them so fully that we need not go any further for their confutation There shall saith he come in the last dayes mockers which will walke after their lusts and say Where 1 Pet. 3 3 4 5 6 7. 8 9. is the promise of his comming for since the Fathers died all things continue alike from the beginning of the creation For this they willingly know not that the Heavens were of old and the earth that was of the water and by the water by the Word of God wherefore the world that then was perished overflowed with the water but the Heavens and earth which There have beene scorners in all ages are now are kept by the same Word in store and reserved unto fire against the day of Iudgement and of the destruction of ungodly men Dearely beloved be not ignorant of this one thing that one day with the Lord is as a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres as one day The Lord is not slacke concerning his promise as some men count slacknesse but is patient toward us c. Salomon had to doe with such All things come alike to all Eccles 9. 2. and the same condition is to the just and to the wicked to the good and to the pure and to the polluted and to him that sacrificeth and him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner he that sweareth and he that feareth an oath so they said in Chrysostomes time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Give me something here let hereafter go to others Mat. 22. such were in Christs dayes the Sadduces they denied the Resurrection Paul had to doe with these beasts which said Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye But if Peter reasoned well 1 Cor. 15. 32. 1 Pet. 47. saying Now is the end of all things at hand be yee therefore sober and watching in prayer The Epicures in Pauls time reasoned vilely and beastly nam contrariorum contraria est ratio for of contraries there is a contrary reason Such skummes have beene in all ages when Esay spake of sackloth they spake of slaying of oxen and Esa 22. drinking wine when the Apostles spake with new tongues they spake with their old tongues and said that they were drunken with new wine when Paul spake of the true God the Athenians Act. 2. 13. called him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a babbler a rascall a trifler when Christ wrought miracles they said that he did them by the Divell and Mat. 12. now that we speake of God and the Kingdome of God they say that we are idle and must say something and that our doctrine is good for those that have little to doe they deride us as simple men that know nothing with the Corinthians they call our preaching foolishnes with the Aegyptians they call our resort unto the Church idlenesse with the Captaines they call our Exod. 8. 2 Reg. 9. Act. 26. 1 Cor. 1. 21. Act. 26. 25. preachers madde men with Festus they call our zeale plaine dotage and madnesse and with Pliny they call our meetings conventicles but wee will answere them as Paul did the Corinths It pleaseth God through the foolishnes of preaching to save them that beleeve As the Apostle did Festus Wee are not mad but wee speake the Words of truth and sobernes As the Christians did Plinie Trajane and others for their night meetings our witnesse is above our praise is not with men but with God The Latines for mocking use a triple Synonyme Irrisio subsannatio Rom. 2. illusio à risu â—â—gatu ludo a laughing to skorne a mocking by snuffing up the nose and a scorning by way of jesting the first two are open the third more secret when we breake a jest upon our neighbour that tends to his disgrace Of these mockers there be sundry kindes Some that mocke God Some that mocke Gods man They that mocke God are of two sorts the open that deny Divers sorts of mockers both of God and men God in word and in deed as Pharaoh And the secret that professe in shew but deny in truth like the Sonne in the Gospell who in word said I go father but in truth went not at all Multi adorantes Crucem exteriùs Crucem spiritualem per contemptum conculcant Many will beare the Crosse in their bosomes that never imprint it in their hearts and many fall before it in their closet that never follow it in their lives Irrisor non poenitens qui adhuc agit quod penitet He is a 〈◊〉 Iside no repenter whose works are not answerable to their words These mocke-Gods shall one day feele the hand of God Glaucus that scoffed at Venus was torne in pieces with his mares Lycurgus despising Bacchus chopt his owne legs asunder as hee lopt his vines Holofernes acknowledging no God but Nabuchodonozer Iudith 13. was murthered by a woman the people that will sacrifice to the Queene of heaven were consumed with the sword of famine Nicanor that derided the Lord of the Sabbath lost his head hand shoulder Phericides in derision of the God-head bragged Ier. 44. 17. abroad that himselfe had as much prosperity that never did sacrifice as they that offred an hundred Hecatombs to the gods but was as Herod coÌ„sumed with lice Daphida a scoffer in derision Act. 12. 23. of Apollos Oracle at Delphos enquired of it whether he should find his horse that he lost when indeed hee had none the Oracle made this answere Inventurum quidem sed ut co turbatus periret that
be adulti of ripe age But alas our English people want judgement therefore all Sects bud in our age The Papists charge us with Sects and variety of opinions that we have Brownists Barrowists Separatists that some will weare Cap and Surplesse some will not they derive twenty Sects from Luther as Anabaptists Adiaphorists Sacramentaries Zwinglians Calvinists c. But we may retort it upon them For they swarme in Staphilus Sects and multitude of opinions as Nominals Reals Augustins Dominicans Franciscans Benedictins as Thâ—mists against Scotists and Canonists against Schoolemen and one against another and God against them all I might speake of Pope against Pope as Stephanus against Formosus one digging vp the grave of another cutting off of their fingers thrusting â—hem into a sack and throwing them into Tyber Councell against Councell as that of Arimine against the Councell of Nice and the two Nicene Councels under Irene against that of Frankford the whole Vniversity of Paris against Iohn 22. Denying the immortality of the soule an opinion condemned there with the blast of trumpets I might name Sir Thomas Moore and Fisher of Rochester striving about Purgatory the one to prove no water in it alledging the place of Zacharie I have loosed the prisoners out of the pit where is no water the other Zach. 9. 11. to prove both fire water in it alledge the saying of the Psalme We went thorow fire and water but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy Psal 66. 12. place I might name Howlet lately condemning all our English Papists for comming to the Church of which mind is Dowanus a late Papist I passe over the stirres between Cardinall Caietane and Cardinall Turrecremata so that if we differ in the shell they in the kernell if wee in the bone they in the marrow if wee in ceremonies they in matters of substance if our contentions be motes theirs bee beames if ours mole-hils theirs bee mountaines Turpe est doctori cum culpa red arguit ipsum it is a shame to rebuke being guilty of the same fault They name us Sectaries for leaving Rome commended so by the Apostle Their faith was published thorowout the world But wee have not left old Rome but Rom. 1. 8. this new Rome the mother of whoredomes as the Spirit of God cals her the denne of theeves as the Prophet speaketh Non Apoc. 18. 2 3. Esay 1. 21. à civitate sed à peste wee are departed not from the City but from the plague in the City not from Rome but from the heresy of Rome Daemonum paschua quoth Bernard Satans chiefe enemis to overthrow the Church division and dissentiori But to leave this Let not us be of the number of these wicked ones which are makers of Sects For a Christian must be carefull to keep three things His heart His minde and conversation His heart from infidelity His minde from false opinions and his conversation from Schisme and scandall By Sects and divisions the Communion of Saints the society of Christians the fellowship and unity that wee should have among our selves is quite overthrowne When God would confound their proud attempt in building Babel He devided their language Gen. 11. 8. and so scattered them abroad into all places of the earth So the Divell knowing unity to be the overthrow of his Kingdome soweth the tares of Sects of Schismes and Heresies amongst us that so he may scatter the workemen that should pull downe his kingdome and set up the kingdome of Christ When King Cyrus would passe over to conquer Scythia as saith Herodotus comming to a great and broad River which hindered his journey his policy was this to cut it and divide it in many armes sluces and so made it passable for all his Army This policy is most ready and common with the Divell also who bringing his power of darkenesse to invade us and overrunne us and finding his passage stopped by the flowing streames of Love and concord hath put in execution his wonted meane practice to separate us divide us into many parts factions For as S. August saith CoÌ„cordes nos scit quòd sic possidere non potest he knoweth August ser 16. de util Ieiâ—nij that being at concord and unity together he canot possesse us he cannot now divide one true God among us he can no more inforce false gods upon us Well he hath yet another way sentit vitam nostram esse charitatem mortem dissentionem hee seeth that love and charity is our life and discord and diffention our death and destruction and therefore lites immisit inter Christianâ—s hee hath sent strife and debate among Christians and because hee cannot frame us to many gods hee laboureth to multiply and distract our opinions and soweth tares of Sects and errors in the Lords field Salomon inhibiteth us to meddle with these men Prov. 24. â—1 Keep no company with the seditious Sedition is moved either for matters Ecclesiasticall or Temporall When for matters Ecclesiasticall it is called Schisme which signifieth a rent a division or a cutting asunder and thereupon comes the word Schismaticks or Sectaries dividers hewers cutters asunder For they divide the body of Christ breake the unity of the Church which is an haynous sinne Hemingius saith Qui violat Ecclesiastic ampolitiam multis modis peccat he that violateth Ecclesiasticall policy offendeth many wayes yet some like Naturall men n either relish grace nor discerne spirituall things Diotrephes because they cannot have the chiefe place in the Church Ideirco illam scindunt vel ab eo deficiunt either they will cut the Church in pieces or forsake it These Sects and Schismes among us have done much hurt as they of Athens said of their dissentions Auximus Phillippum nostris dissentionibus We have augmented and strengthened Philip by our dissentions so wee the Pope and his favourites Remember that it is a mans honour to cease from strife but every foole will bee meddling Remember Prov. 20. 3. that there is but one body and one spirit one hope of your calling one faith one baptisme one God and Father over all for his Ephes 4. 4. bloud that died for us Let all these ones make us one indeavouring to our dying day to avoid these makers of sects and to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace Thirdly he calleth them naturall men No marvell though they jest and mocke at all Religion with Michol flout and fleere with the adversaries of Iude and Beniamin deride and raile with the 2 Sam. 6. Esdr 4. Esa 28. scorners of Ierusalem for why they are meere naturall men and such savour not the things of God as Christ said to Peter Come behinde me Satan thou savourest not the things that are of God but the things that are of men for their understanding is as the Mat. 16. 23. Sunne under a cloud not lightned and their
did undoe in the night so wee learne and unlearne whatsoever wee learne on the Sunday wee forget in the weeke day we may say of our comming to Church as Peter said of his fishing Master wee have Luke 5. 5. travelled all night and have taken nothing So wee have come to the Church twenty thirty forty fifty sixty yeeres some more and have gotten nothing have learned nothing got no Faith no Zeale no Knowledge But to proceed As they must edifie themselves increase and goe forward so the thing that they must increase and goe forward in is Faith for that is the foundation of all Christian Vertues it is Alpha and O mega absque ea nemo potest placere Deo Heb. 11. 6. Rom. 14. 23. Without it no man can please God for whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Omnia ergo splendida opera Paganorum Infidelium sant splendida peccata all the glistering workes of Pagans and Infidels bee glistering sinnes their prayers almes fastings the patience of Socrates the justice of Aristides the piety of Epaminondas Faith the originall of all good workes the constancie of Phocion they were but bastard-workes not right workes they are begotten of Hagar not of Sara the free-woman they spring from the waters of Marah not of Siloh from the bitter poole Exanthe not the sweet flood of Hispanis they proceed from feare or vaineglory not from faith For as unto the Tit. 1. 15. pure all things are pure so unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but their mindes and consciences are defiled It is true in all workes that Paul said of prayer How shall they call on him in whom Rom. 10. 14. they have not beleeved Even so how can they glorifie God or love God or serve God in whom they never beleeved Paul making a Catalogue of good men beginneth with Faith and saith By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11. 4 5 7. 8 20 21 33-34 By faith Enoch was taken away that hee should not see death c. By Faith Noah being warned of God of the things which were not yet seene moved with reverence prepared the Arke c. By Faith Abraham when hee was called obeyed God offered Isaac c. By Faith Isaac blessed Iacob and Esau By Faith Iacob when hee was a dying blessed the sonnes of Ioseph and thus hee goeth on and at the last concludeth that by faith they subdued Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse obtained the promises stopped the mouthes of Lions quenched the violence of fire escaped the edge of the sword of weake were made strong waxed valiant in battell turned to flight the armies of the Aliants c. In every good worke three things are to be considered Origo Finis Vsus The beginning The end and Vse The originall or beginning of every good worke is faith faith is as the Mother and the holy Ghost the Father of all good workes Faith begetteth Love and Love blossometh forth in Vertue and Vertue buddeth foorth in good Workes whereupon Saint Peter inferreth this exhortation Ioyne moreover Vertue with your Faith and with Vertue Knowledge and with Knowledge 2 Pet. 1. 5 7 8. Temperance and with Temperance Patience and with Patience Godlinesse and with Godlinesse Brotherly-kindnesse and with Brotherly-kindnesse Love Secondly the end is the glory of God Hereupon saith the Apostle Whether yee eate or drinke or whatsoever yee doe doe all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 1 3â— Thirdly the use is manifold First they are unto us signes of our election and therefore Saint Peter would have us to make our election calling sure by them Indeed our election is sure in it selfe 2 Pet. 1. 10. for God cannot change yet we must confirme it in our selves by the fruits of the Spirit Secondly they edifie others Hereupon saith our Saviour Let your light so shine before men that they may see No life of grace without Faith your good works and glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Thirdly that they may stop the mouth of the Adversary For which cause we are willed to have honest conversation among the Gentiles that wheras they doe backbite us as evill doers they may see our good works and glorify Mat. 5. 16. 1 Pet. 2. 12. our Father which is in Heaven Here is the triall of a Christian that proveth us either sonnes or bastards this proveth us dead or alive by Faith wee live this is the spirit and soule of the inner man wee have a name to live yet are wee dead if wee want Iohn 1. 12. Faith There is a double life of grace and of nature Infidels Vnbeleevers are strangers from the life of grace As a tree liveth not without Ephes 4. 18. moysture nor a bird without aire nor the fish without water nor a body without a soule so neither the soule without faith For in that wee live now in the flesh wee live by the Faith of the Sonne of God who hath loved us and gave himselfe for us Yee see Infidels eating Gal. 2. 20. drinking sporting playing yet are they dead they are alive to the world but dead unto God but the faithfull they are dead with Christ unto the world but their life is hid with Christ with God and when Christ which is their life shall appeare then shall they Col. 2 3 4. also appeare with him in glory Pandora carried deadly poyson in a painted boxe and Lusimachus the cutter a leaden sword in a golden sheath and many men a dead soule in a living body the body is alive but the soule is dead as Paul said of the voluptuous widow But shee that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth To conclude faith joyneth us to Christ For Christ dwelleth in 1 Tim. 5. 6. our hearts by Faith Christ uniteth us to God 1 Iohn 5. God assureth Ephes 3. 17. us of life For in him wee live and move and have our being So that no faith no Christ no Christ no God no God no life God Act. 17. 28. so loved the world that hee gave his only be gotten Sonne that whosoever Iohn 3. 16 18. beleeveth in him should not perish but have life everlasting hee that beleeveth in him shall not bee condemned but hee that beleeveth not is condemned already because hee beleeveth not in the name of the only begotten Sonne of God Knowledge is the fountaine of all vertue and Faith is the sea in which they all runne and where they jointly end their course But it is to bee observed that hee calleth it not simply Faith but holy Faith yea most holy Faith he riseth to the superlative degree as David extolled Bashan above all mountaines saying The mountaine of God is like the mountaine of Bashan it is a high mountaine Psal 68. 15. as the mount Bashan As Salomon extolled his huswife above all women saying Many daughters
with a true Heb. 10. 22. heart in assurance being sprinkled in our heatts from an evil conscience and washed in our bodies with pure water All living creatures have their nourishment every one in their kinde some live of the Earth as Molles other some of the Water as Fishes some of the Ayre as the Camelion some of the fire as the Salamander other creatures more noble than they live by meat as the naturall man but others more noble than he as the Angels by meditations contemplations The Soule therefore being a spirituall substance as the Angels is nourished and fed with the same meate that they bee Here is the difference their vision of God is Col. 3. 3. Ephes 4. 18. cleere and manifest ours obscure and darke their life perfect ours imperfect their life is a life of glory ours is called the life of grace As the sea followeth the moving of the Moone for as shee increaseth that waxeth so the perfection of a Christian life dependeth on prayer as our prayers increase so doth our perfection in Christianity increase also For seeing the heart is the beginning of life and of workes Et quale cor talia opera and as our heart is such be our workes if the heart therefore be devout and well ordered our workes will bee devout and good also if otherwise our workes will be vile and naught For unto Tit. 1. 15. the pure all things are pure but unto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their mindes and consciences are defiled To conclude it is no little proofe of the vertue of prayer to behold the two principall glories and testimonies which the Father gave to Christ Iesus in prayer for in his transfiguration while hee prayed His face did shine as the Sun and his cloathes were as Mat. 17. 2. white as the light and in his Baptisme while he praied The Heavens were opened unto him the Spirit of God descending like a Dove lighted Mat. 3. 15. upon him This should incourage us to pray and to pray alwayes to pray and to pray continually even every moment as the least occasion is offered prayer should bee the key to open the day and the locke to shut in the night when wee rise in the morning we should pray with Abrahams servant and say O Lord God Gen. 14. 12. I beseech thee send me good speede this day when we lay us down at night to pray with the sweet Singer of Israel Lighten mine eyes that I sleepe not in death and whatsoever wee take in hand Psal 13. 3. either by day or night to prevent it with the blessing of the Psalme Prosper the worke of our hands O prosper thou our handy worke Egredientes de hospitio armet oratio regredientibus de platea occurrat Psal Ier. Ep. intercessio when thou goest out of the house let prayer arme thee Prayer the means whereby wee receive all good things when thou returnest into thy house let prayer meete with thee prayer is vinculum invincibile wouldest thou binde the Almighty that he may not hurt thee Prayer is the band by which hee is tyed and wouldest thou untie him to doe thee good Prayer must doe it Prayer is Clavis Scripturae it is our Oedipus to resolve our doubts it is our Commentary to understand Gods Word Oratio est Deo sacrificium Diabolo flagellum oranti subsidium Prayer is a sacrifice to God a scourge to the Divell and a helpe to our Aug. selves in all our troubles And againe Orationis purae magna est virtus velut fidelis nuntius mandatum peragit penetrat quò caro non pervenit Great is the power of pure prayer for it is a faithfull Aug. in Psal 36. messenger shee delivers her errand and pierceth thither whither flesh cannot come And this was it which made Bernard to say Nemo nostrûm parvipendeat orationem suam dico enim vobis quodipse ad quem oramus non parvipendet eam postquam egressa est ab ore nostrùm ipse scribit eam in libro suo unum in duobus indubitanter sperare possumus quoniam aut dabit quod petimus aut quod novit utilius Let none of us lightly esteeme his prayer I tell you that hee to whom we pray doth not lightly esteeme it after it is out of our mouth he writes it in his booke and one of these two wee may doubtlesse expect either that hee will grant our petition or that which hee knoweth to bee better for us Call upon mee and I will heare thee saith God Aske and you shall have saith Christ Before they cry I will heare them saith Iehovah The Lord is nigh to all that call upon him saith David O then let us call and cry unto him by earnest and hearty prayer night and day but let us pray in knowledge with understanding in faith by beleeving in remorse with seeking in zeale without cooling in attention without wandering in reverence without contemning in constancy without revolting and in love without revenging Let our eyes bee fastned hearts fixed knees bowed mouthes opened and our hands lifted up as to the King of Kings and as Iacob would not let the Angell goe till he were blessed so let not God goe till wee be heard Finely said one Orat misericordia non orat miseria orat innocentia non orat nequitia orat judex desiderat parcere non orat reus ut indulgentiam mereatur accipere Doth mercy pray and shall not miserie piety intreate and shall not iniquity the Physician request and shall not the sicke the rich begge and not the poore the innocent pray and not the guilty the just and he that never sinned fall downe and the sinnefull sinner stand upright the Sonne of righteousnesse bee humbled and the sonne of wickednesse waxe proud shall the judge intreate and desire to pardon and the traytor not begge to bee forgiven Is not Christi actio Christiani institutio Christs practice our president But hee prayes and shall not wee pray Wee must pray for our bodies that they may be preserved for our soules The Holy Ghost the Author of prayer that they may bee saved for our estates that they may bee maintained for our thoughts that they may bee sanctified for our words that they may bee seasoned for our actions that they may bee ordered by Gods Spirit But Saint Iude doth not onely exhort to prayer but also sheweth how wee must pray In the Spirit the which words may be understood two manner of wayes either of the Author of prayer or of the Manner of praying If we understand it of the Author the sense is good for Gods Spirit causeth prayer and every good worke For wee know not how to pray as wee ought but the Spirit it selfe maketh requests for us Rom. 8. 26 27. with sighs that cannot bee expressed for hee that searcheth the
amaenitas Veris abundantia Autumni Bern. requies Hiemalis There shall bee the fairenesse of Summer the sweetenesse of the Spring the pienty of the Autumne and the Winters rest Nay God shall bee all in all unto us Heaven is described in the Apocalyps that the walls are of precious stones 1 Cor. 13. the gates pearles the porters Angels the streetes payed with gold the City Interlaced with crystall rivers the bankes set with trees of life which beare fruit monethly and the leaves cure the Nations Their Sunne is the countenance of God their day never endeth their felicity never decayeth their state never altereth You have beene in mount Horeb where you saw thunderings and lightenings now are yee called to mount Thabor where yee shall injoy the glory of Christ Iesus and say with Peter Bonum est hic esse It is good to bee here Let them make account of this life who make their Lusts their guides their Belly their god their Kitchin their faith the World their Friend and are not onely in it but of it But our Countrey is Heaven our friends Angels our companions the Saints our Father God our mother the Church our brother Christ our guyde the holy Ghost our inheritance Ierusalem that is from above The Saint by loving another as himselfe hath as many joyes as fellowes and for that they all love God more than themselves they take more pleasure of his blisse than all their joyes besides the damnation of their friends grieveth them not because it standeth with the glory of God which is more to them than all their blisse And thus yee see the joyes of life and yet all that I have said of Heaven where wee shall leade a life eternall and possesse a Paradise of infinite pleasure is nothing it is but stilla mari a drop of water to the whole sea scintilla igni comparata as a sparke compared to the great fire of Aetna it is nothing there In Heaven no decay or damping of ioy needeth no Sunne to shine no Moone to give light no porters the gates of it are open continually there is food better than the Mann that fell from Heaven apparell finer than Aarons Ephod Ecclus. 18. 9. Exod. 16. Exod. 30. Psal 133. 2. Mat. 24. Apoc. 2. Hebr. 12. 22. Mat. 17. Esa 11. perfume sweeter than the perfume of the Tabernacle a building more stately than Salomons Temple there is Paradise without any Serpent to tempt us Mount Horeb without any Thunder to feare us Mount Thabor without any change to greeve us Libanon without any Wildernesse to rent us there is mirth without mourning and such joyes and delights that if all the plants of the Earth were Pennes if all the Earth were Paper if all the Sea were Inke if every Man Woman and Childe were a good Pen-man yet they were not able to expresse the thousandth part of these joyes Hic in terris omnium rerum est vicissitudo here in earth all things alter and change after Day commeth Night after Winter Summer after Sickenesse Health after Life Death after Youth old Age after Pleasure Paine but there is Day without Night Summer without any Winter Health without any Sicknesse or Sorrow Life without Death Youth without old Age Pleasure without any Paine there is the Beauty of Absolon without Deformity the Strength of Samson without any Debility the Wisedome of Salomon without any Folly We shall come from Faith to Sight Aug. Epist. 121. Proâ—e Viduae from the Glasse to the Face from Aenigma to a plaine Truth Hic enim ambulamus per fidem non per aspectum here wee walke by Faith and not by Sight Nunc in spe â—unc in re Now in Hope then in Deede Nuncforis tunc domi Now abroad then at home For when this earthly house of this Tabernacle shall bee destroyed wee shall have an house not made with hands but eternall in Heaven For 2 Cor. 5. 1. as the Father said Quid ibi deesse potest ubi Deus est cui nihil deest What can there bee wanting where God is to whome nothing is wantings O beati visio videre Regem Angelorum Sanctum sanctorum Deum Coeli Rectorem terrae Patrem viventium O blessed sight to behold Aug. lib. despir c. cap. 57. the King of Angels the Holy of holies the God of Heaven the Ruler of the Earth the Father of the Living Woe to mee miserable creature quoth August which am not where the holy Saints bee for your life is without all gunne-shot and danger of death your knowledge without errour your love without offence your joy without any annoy I alas am in the region of the shadow of death I know not my end I would depart hence but I know not when I would dye and this haply shall bee my last day But many have no regard at all of this life they looke too much to the pleasures of the world which makes them not to looke into the powers of the life to come not to looke to eternity It is said of Moses that he chose rather to suffer afflictions with the Hebr. 11. 25. people of God in Aegypt then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season The wicked the Infidels have made a Covenant with death and are Divers errors concerning eternall life with Hell at an agreement they beleeve not eternall life they hold with the Sadduces that there is no resurrection nothing maketh us loth to dye but unbeliefe Withipoll wished to live five hundred Esa 28. 15. Mat. 22. yeers though but in the shape of a toade Paulus tertius said at his death Nunc tria experiar Now shal I trie three things Num sit Deus whether there bee a God num anima sit immortalis whether the soule bee immortall num sit vita post mortem and whether there be a life after death The Borussians and the Irish cry to their dead Quare mortuus es Why diddest thou dye Thou hadst wife children corne cattell oh why didst thou dye They have no hope But brethren things present will bee past and things future will 1 Thess 4. bee present and last for ever this life is no life It were long to rehearse all the errors that Satan hath troubled the Church withall in this point I will name but some of many first the Libertines erre who say that all men shall be saved all shall goe to Heaven contrary to that which our Saviour saith Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter the Kingdome of Heaven And Mat. 7. 14. againe Many shall come in that day and shall say Lord Lord have not wee prophesied in thy name cast out Divels in thy name and done many miracles in thy name But he shall answere them Depart from me for verily I know you not And the Prophet telleth us That though the Esa 10. 21. number of the children of Israel bee as the sand
tendeth the exhortation of Saint Iames See that yee bee doors of the Word not hearers only deceiuing your owne selves So did the Thessalonians Iam. 1. 22. they received the Word not as the word of man but as it is 1 Thess 2. 1. indeed the Word of God 4. It must expell dishonest things as namely all maliciousnes and all guile all dissimulation and envy and all evill speaking So did 1 Pet. 2. 1. the Antiochians for the hand of the Lord was with them so that a great Act. 11. 21. number beleeved and turned unto the Lord. All these benefits come by the teacher under God For as the nurse hath two brests to give milke to the Infant so the Minister hath two also doctrine and life the one for example the other for instruction touching both wee will say as Paul said Yee are witnesses and God also how 1 Thess 2. 10. holily and justly and unblameably wee behaved our selves among them that beleeve Wee appeale not to the Infidels but to the beleevers For if an inquest of Infidels bee impannelled on us certenly wee goe downe Elias shall be said to trouble Israel the Apostles shall bee seditious Iohn Baptist shall have the Divell 1 Reg. 18. Christ is an enemy to Caesar wee appeale therefore from Infidels to beleevers and wee hope they will acquite us for wee may labi in domo fall in the house but not à domo from the house they shall find us sine crimine without offensive fault though not sine peccato without fault Ministery the meanes of salvation Well said the women of Rome to Constantius the Emperour when hee would have deposed Foelix the Bishop or have joyned with him Liberius the hereticke Vâ—us Deus unus Christus una fides unus Episcopus One God one Christ one faith one Bishop quoth he Pretty is the fable of Demostenes how the woolves made league of peace with the sheepe so that the dogges might bee removed but when the dogges were removed the sheep were woorried so the Divell maketh league with worldlings so that they will put away their Ministers but when they are removed bee sure the Diuell will woorry and devoure the soules of the people as the woolves did the sheepe For the great redde Dragon that hath seven heads and ten hornes and seven crownes upon his heads and who with his taile drawes down the third part of the starres of Heaven and casts them to the earth stands before the woman travelling with Child to devoure the Child as soone as it is brought forth For when the shepheard is smitten the flocke will be scattered and your adversary Mat. 26. 1 Pet. 5. 8. the Divell as a roaring Lion goeth about seeking to devoure Well of all the indignities offered to us we will say as Mauritus said to Phocas murdering his children Videat Dominus judicet So let God judge betwixt you and us wee labour to save you and you are like the dogge in the water who biteth him by the hands who would save him from drowning When Fulvius cóquered over the French Scipio over Numantia the people cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Saviour A Saviour the earth rebounded and the birds of the ayre fell down dead with the resound of the earth yet these saved but mens bodies Ministers save mens soules As wee cannot have trees without planting 1 Tim. 4. 13. nor corne without sowing nor houses without building so wee cannot come to heaven without teaching the clowds powre downe rayne and make the earth fruitfull Ministers are the Ephes 4. 20. Deuter. 32. clowds and their doctrines as the dew to make our hearts fruitfull Can a bird live without aire or a fish without water or a body without a soule No more can the soule without the Word It is Verbum vitae the Word of life Triplex est vita there is a threefold life Vitanaturae brutis peculiaris a life of nature peculiar Iobn 6. Eccles 2. Col 3. 3. Ephes 4. 18. to beasts Vita gloriae Angelis A life of glory proper to the Angels Vita gratia elect is and life of grace to the elect and this life is had by the Word of God Pregnant are the similitudes that the Holy Ghost useth in the Scriptures where hee compareth Ministers to Fathers to mothers nurses watchmen 1 Cor. 4. 15. Gal. 4. Ezeeb 3. 1 Reg. 13. Hebr. 13. 7. Apoc. 12. 2. and souldiers overseers starres Children cannot bee without fathers nor brought up without mothers nor tended without nurses Cities in warre cannot bee kept without watchmen nor kingdomes without souldiers nor men walk in the dark without sta-light Solem mundo tollunt qui Verbum Dei tollunt They take the Sunne out of world that take away the Word they are the Without the light of the Ministery all in darkenesse light of the world the salt of the earth all would wander and ranckle in their affections if they were not they should bee as the men of Cimmeria who never saw the Sunne men should sit in the Church as the Aegyptians did in their houses not able to Exod. 10. Wisd 5. 6. arise in three dayes Men might say We have erred from the light of trueth the light of righteousnesse hath not shined unto us and the Sunne of Vnderstanding rose not up uponus Philip rejoiced that Alexander was borne in the dayes of Arislotle Socrates rejoiced that he was borne an Atheuian and rejoice thou that thou art a Christian that thou livest in the dayes of a learned Ministery The Queene of Sheba pronounced Salomons servants happy for hearing him 1 Reg. 10. how happy then shall wee thinke our selves that heare God speake to us by a Minister O blessed men that may heare God speake to us every Sunday and every Thursday for the increase of faith and repentance in every one of us Blessed bee that day and happy bee that houre wherein God speaketh unto thee by a man How happy was Galatia then How did all the Churches count that a blessed Church Philip thought Alexander happy that hee was borne in the dayes of Aristotle and wee thinke our selves unhappy that wee are borne in the time of Light and doctrine We wish a change we wish Mariana tempora we say that it was a good world then men loved one another yet then they knew no love no faith no hope no God no Christ they beleeved as the Church beleeved and the Church beleeved as they beleeve and neither could tell what they beleeved O blind times ô vile dayes If a Prince should send an Ambassadour to Rebels to proclaime pardon and they should take and abuse him would it not kindle the ire of the Prince So standeth the case betwixt God and his people Ministers being Gods Legats Gods Harolds men having runne all the dayes of their life the broad way when death commeth then they call for a Guide but then
19. Rom. 9. thy day the things that belong unto thy peace The like wee reade in Paul who wished himselfe to be separate from Christ for his brethren the Israelites And it is all our parts to greeve at sinne in another man and to take pitty upon him according to the words of my Text Have compassion on some but where shall we single out one among the sonnes of Adam that is so compassionate as that hee will sorrow for sinne in another man When he seeth his brother to bee a vicious liver one wedded to wickednesse and sunke in sinne hee will salve it up with humanum est Cato is said never to laugh except once and that was when hee saw an Asse eate thistles that the senslesse beast should take pleasure in prickes which should have been spurs to him to take paines so we seeing our brethren eating up sinne as bread and drinking iniquitie like water rather laugh with Democritus at their follies than with Heraclitus lament their faults And what compassion is in this Cadit asinus est qui sublevet perit anima non est qui curat men will pitie the poore Asse for when hee falleth they will helpe him up againe but they will shew no compassion on mens soules for though they perish they care not herein they are like the base-minded Gergesites who had more care of their swine than of their soules Mat. ◠25. The Elephant if hee meete a wounded person in the Wildernesse hee bringeth him into his way againe and the like is fathered on the Dolphin who when Arion was cast into the Sea speedily conveyed him unto the shoare I could wish that men were Elephants or Dolphins in sparke of good nature one to another To sorrow one for anothers sinne it is not our custome The compassionate Samaritane to the poore passinger may teach us to shew mercy unto sinners his wounds resemble afflicted sinners Mat. 18. his descension from Ierusalem to Iericho his falling from the service of God his spoyling by theeves sinners overthrow by Satan the Priest and Levite which went aloofe Sunt mali ecclesiae ministri bad ministers Now the stranger that infused Oleum misericordiae vinum justitiae the oyle of mercie Lir◠and the wine of Iustice is any good man moved with mercy and compassion at a sinners wretched estate and useth all good meanes to reclaime him To this purpose tendeth the counsell of the Apostle Beare yee one anothers burden and as Christ stretched out his hand to take fast hold on Peter when hee was ready Gal. 6. 2. to sinke into the Sea so ought we towards our faithfull brethren overwhelmed with the waves of wickednesse to have compassion on them and by counsell and comfort out of the Word of God We should not envy the sinner but pitty him to save their soules and this is compassion indeed Augustine speaking of the drunkennesse and other sinnes in Africa said Tollantur ista sed tamen cum commisseratione non asperè non duriter Let these sinnes quoth August be taken away yet with compassion with mercy not sharpely not bitterly Docendo potius quà m jubendo monendo non minando by teaching rather than by commanding by monishing rather than by menacing for those Iewes whom the thunders of Sinai could not terrifie Saint Iohn with the sweete song of Sion did Mat. 3. perswade Againe the same Father aforenamed saith thus Qui phreneticum ligat lethargicum excitat hee that bindeth a phranticke man and awaketh a man sicke of a Lethargie ambobus molestus ambobus tamen utilis hee is troublesome to both yet profitable for them both Rogat charitas hunc ligare illum excitare ambos tamen amare Charitie obligeth a man to binde the one and to awake the other yet to love both Let all bee done in love and pittie and as the Apostle counselleth us Let us follow the truth in Ephes 4. 15. love The Drunkards Vsurers Swearers raile on us in all places in all Faires and Markets What then O pittie them Have compassion on them alas poore soules their state is pittifull Luke 23. not odious Nesciunt quid faciunt they know not what they doe Nec deludendi nec minandi sed plangendi these men are not to bee Aug. mocked nor menaced but mourned for I say to them as Christ said to the woman of Samaria If thou knewest the gift of God and Iohn 4. 10. who it is that saith unto thee c. so if these men knew the gift of God the power of the Word they would not doe as they doe fret not then at these men as David counselleth thee saying Fret not thy selfe because of the ungodly neither bee thou envious for the evill doer for they shall soone bee cut downe as the grasse and wither Psal 37. 1 2. like a greene hearbe And as Christ commandeth thee Breake not a Mat. 12. 20. bruised Reede quench not the smoaking flaxe Paul that so hated sinne and sharpely reproved it in Elymas the Sorcerer saying O full of Acts. 13. 10. all subtilty and all mischiefe the Childe of the Divell and enemy to all righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to pervert the straight wayes of the Lord Yet writing to the Corinthians hee saith I feare lest when 2 Cor. 12. 21. I come againe my God abase me among you and I shall bewaile many of them which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanenes and fornication and wantonnesse which they have committed For as there was nothing that did so much rejoyce his heart as when his preaching profited so nothing did more cast downe his heart then when his labour did no good and againe hee saith We are fooles for Christs sake and yee are wise in Christ wee are weake and yee 1 Cor. 4. 10 11 12 13 21. are strong yee are honourable and wee are dispised unto this houre wee both hunger thirst and are naked and are buffeted and have no certaine dwelling place and labour working with our owne hands wee are reviled and yet we blesse Wee are persecuted and suffer it wee are evill spoken of and we pray we are made as the filth of the world the off scouring The godly bewaile the fearefull estate of the wicked of all things unto this day He came not with a rod but in love and in the Spirit of meeknes he wept over the Philippians Ieremy cries out against the sinnes of the Iewes saying I harkened and heard but no man spake aright no man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done every one turned to their race as the horse Phil. 3. 18. Ier. 8. 6 7. into the battell even the Stork in the ayre knoweth her appointed time and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord Yet did he it with great
compassion as appeareth by his own words saying Oh that my head were full of water and myne eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of Ier. 9. 1. my people How greeved it Samuel after that God had cast away Saul The text doth say that Samuel mourned for Saul and God did chide him for it saying How long wilt thou mourne for Saul seeing 1 Sam. 15. 25. Cap. 16. 1. I have cast him away for reigning over Israel Samuel did not say as many doe Let him perish Let him die He is a reprobate Let him goe but mourned and sorrowed for him Yea the Lord Iesus wept over Ierusalem so saith the Evangelist When he came neere and beheld the City he wept over it saying Oh if thou haddest Luk. 19. knowne at the least in this thy day the things that do belong unto thy peace c. As if hee should have said Alas poore towne alas poore people yee are now merry and jocund but oh poore soules you know not your state how neere your fall is whereupon one noteth We read that Christ was hungry weary sorry angry how he wept often but wee read not that hee laughed for even this Mat. 21. Iohn 4. Iohn 11. Mat. 3. Mat. 12. 25. laughter proceedeth from vanity Ea sola ridentur quae notant turpitudinem aliquam non turpiter As Christ was God he said I give thee thanks O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hidde these things from the wise and prudent and hast opened them to children But as he was man he sorrowed for the wicked and here by the way note for the weake and penitent that when wee speake roughly and denounce menaces wee doe it not to them but to the impenitent For as a Father sometimes layeth Rats-bane to kill mice and the children ignorantly fall upon it so the weake apply the menaces done to the reprobate to themselves but yet they pertaine not to them but to the bastards to the impenitent The Lord will try the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth Psal 11. 5. 6. iniquity doth his soule abhorre upon the wicked hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormy tempest this is the portion of their cup. Wherefore heare the Word of the Lord ye scornefull men You say that you made a Covenant with death and are with Hell at agreement but your Covenant with death shall bee dissolved and your agreement with Hell shall not stand but the scourge shall runne over you and passe thorow you c. Againe though we must have compassion of some and pitty them yet this compassion and pitty must chiefely extend to the We must imitate Christ in mercy compassion soule of a sinner as partly was touched before for Saint Iude speaketh here of the soule this is the highest and greatest point of compassion in the world to pitty the soule to helpe it Learne this of the Schoolemaster of the world of the wisdome of the Col 2. Hebr. 2. Apoc. 1. Father of the brightnesse of glory the Ancient of dayes for he had pitty on the ignorance of the people saith the Evangelist When he saw the multitude he had compassion upon them because he saw Mat. 9. 36. them destitute as sheep wanting a shepheard He weepeth now over many a congregation in England that is without a pastour hee pittieth all sinners He is a mercifull and faithfull high Priest and hee Hebr. 2. 17. cap. 4. 15. is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Wee are all to learne of Christ to have pitty on our ignorant brethren to instruct them to teach them to exhort thē to do them good blessed are such so saith Salomon He that winneth soules that is that bringeth thē to the knowledge of God is wise the tongue of such a one is as fined Prov. 11. 30. Prov. 10. 20. silver those pastours feed best that are pittifull and compassionate Papists pretend to follow Christ in those things that are impossible as in fasting forty dayes in giving the Holy Ghost to their shavelings in opening the eyes of the blind in doing miracles but in teaching and preaching shewing mercy to the peoples soules they never come neere him they seeke not the rest of their soules as Christ did I am commanded to have compassion on the body of my brother as To deale bread to the hungry to bring the poore that wandreth into my Mat. 11. 29. Esay 58. 7. house to cover the naked and never to hide my face from mine owne flesh but specially I must have compassion on the soule of my brother for the more precious that a thing is the more care is ever to be had of it herein standeth the love of a father to his children of the Prince to his subjects of the minister to his flocke of one friend to another for you know the Commandement Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt Levit. 19. 17. plainely rebuke thy neighbour and suffer him not to sinne It is strange to see how wee pitty an Oxe or an Asse fallen into a ditch but not a brother drowned in sinne it is vile to set an house on fire but it is vile also to passe by it and not to quench it when it is in our power it is vile to wound a man but it is vile also to passe by him as the Levite did and as the Priest did and not to helpe him as the Samaritane did it is vile to sinne it Luk. 10. is vile also not to reprove a sinner and in time of need not to comfort him to save a soule He that hath converted a sinner from going Iam. 5. 20. astray out of the way shall save a soule from death and he shall hide a multitude of sinnes We thinke it a great matter to give a penny or two to a poore man but what though I helpe his need fill his belly cloath his nakednesse and yet pitty not his ignorance blasphemy and to increase knowledge zeale and the feare of the Lord in him our liberality is maimed wee pitty but the worst and weakest part that is the body follow therefore the Obstinate sinners must bee terrified counsell of the Apostle Instruct with meeknesse them that are contrary minded meaning such as are not come to the knowledge of the trueth but fall through ignorance proving that God at any 2 Tim. 2. 25. time will give them repentance that they may know the trueth Againe as some men are to be pittied so other some are to be reproved and must have the judgements of God denounced against them and must be terrified with menaces for that they sinne of malice not of weakenesse in knowledge not in ignorance they be pertinaces stubborne obstinate opinionative so to be handled For as we must not be too sharpe against a weake brother