me into prison but I was sicke and in prison and yee came not to me So the inhabitants of Meroz were accursed not for taking part with the enimie but for not taking the Lords part against his enimies Iudg. 5.23 And the axe is laid to the roote of euery tree that bringeth forth no good fruit though it bring forth no bad for the cutting of it downe to death hell Mat. 3.10 though Christians who should be trees of righteousnes in the Church as it were garden of God beare no euil fruit yet if they beare no good there hangeth ouer their heads an axe of cutting downe Our good workes cannot saue vs but our euill or want of good are able to condemne vs. This plea in mans Court that we haue done no man harme is good but it will not hold in that Court where not onely the euill done is iudged but the good vndone must be answered for To this agreeth that prouerbiall speech of Salomon He that turneth away his care from the crie of the poore he saith not he that makes him cry shal cry himselfe and not be heard Prou. 21.13 That is though he fall into such miserie as shall make him crie and that to God and man for helpe yet neither God nor man shall helpe him So it is proued not only that we should not hurt the poore if we will be saued but that as their needes shall require we must helpe them to our best abilitie if we will not perish with the cruell that cannot be saued The reasons are Euery breach of the commandement deserueth hell and second death Gal. 3.10 and this is one Secondly and more particularly to omit this duty when there is cause and we haue abilitie what is it but with sinne to keepe in our hands that which is Gods part and the poores portion and so to be guilty of both sacrilege against God and robbery against men Prou. 3.27 When God makes vs rich he makes vs but rich Stewards with a charge not to keepe the Maisters goods in our owne hands but to giue them to the proper owners the poore Neither is it robbery onely to neglect this seruice of God to Gods poore but a kind of murther Ecclus. 34.22 or a killing of those by cruelty whose liues we might saue by almes If then either theft or sacriledge or murther or all three deserue death eternall then that which is all the three not to minister to the necessities of Gods poore deserueth it Thirdly the vnfruitfull tree is cut downe for the fire Math. 3 10 and so must all vnfaithfull that is vnworking Christians be for hel-fire A reproofe of those who thinke and say Vse 1 they may doe what they will with their owne where first they are much deceiued by calling that theirs which is their Masters Luk. 16.1 2. For the earth is his Psalm 24.1 and these things that are in it he hath deliuered vnder account to rich men as to his Stewards to lay them out not as to Treasurers to lay them vp or if as to Treasurers to lay them vp yet so to keepe them that they be ready alwaies to bring them outfor the seruice of their Soueraigne and the good of their fellow seruants or if these earthly goods were theirs were it lawfull or reasonable to vse them against the glory of the bountifull Giuer If my Prince should rayse mee to honour were it tolerable were it not vilany to turne it against his Crowne and Honour or if a man should giue mee a dwelling house in the midst of a Towne might I set it on fire because it is mine and may I kill a man with a weapon because the weapon is mine owne wherewith I slew him Did Noah well to bee drunken with the fruite of his owne Vineyard Gen. 9.20 21. And who knoweth not that a man may abuse his owne and that he should doe not all he may but what he lawfully may But to put the matter out of question He that is Lord of all these things of whom wee hold in capite that is in chiefe hath but leased them out to the sonnes of men and hee that is Master of this great house wherein we are but Tennants for liues as hath pleased him to set our terme therein hath committed his goods to wealthy men but with a limitation to vses appointed by himselfe who is absolute may do with his owne what he will Math. 20.15 He is the owner and soueraigne owner of all and we haue but leases in these things from Him and that with certaine reseruations As first that we make no waste or spoile for we may not consume these good things on our lusts Secondly that we performe the Lords seruice keepe his Sabbaths as it were Court-daies and appeare in the assembly when the people come together to worship before the face of Iehoua Thirdly that we doe not denie him his rents the praise which is due vnto his name and when hee sends to vs by the poore his receiuers that we send to him by them the fruits of his owne ground by dealing mercifully with them and not euill entreating them as did those cruell husbandmen in the Gospel whom therefore the Lord of the Vineyard destroied Math. 21.34.35.36 c. For the godly poore are his Baliues and the gatherers of his rents whoÌ„ he sendeth to vs. Fourthly that we acknowledge our homage by submitting to his lawes and the orders of his Court. Fifâ—ly that we abuse not our Lords land and goods to the maintenance of his enimies as they who feede the bellies of the wicked and starue his poore Sixthly that we plucke not vp his quichesets and ioine land to land till there be no more roome Esa 5.8 or place to wit to be taken for our money And lastly that when any seruice is to be done for him in the Church by the Minister and in the common-wealth by the King and his Ministers we giue willingly vnto Caesar his tribute and to the Minister his tithes Failing in these the Lord of our wealth and liues may take these leases from vs and pronounce all the estates we hold of him forfaited and voide by misbehauiour So he dealt with his Steward from whom he tooke away the office and place which he abused Luk. 16.2.3 And it is his great mercy that he doth not in like sort presently enter vpon vs and our estates who haue so often and long by sundry misprisions deserued a casting off Now then let vs giue all these considerations their due respect and say if these things may be called our owne for the which we are to giue to the Maister so strict account when he shall say by death to euery one of vs thou canst no longer be Steward Luke 16.2 which being so men haue smal cause to be proud of this that God hath set them vp in worldly riches and greatnes For to whom much is committed of them much shall be required againe Luk.
to me Gen. 25.32 Where contrarily promising to themselues long life and their lease may be out to morrow they lay vp all their treasure in their barnes and full bagges Luk. 12.19 not caring for their other house till this be taken from them A reproofe therefore to those Vse 3 who as if they forgate the common way of all the liuing make it a strange thing to die and who liue as if there were no house of darknes to passe vnto nor way in death to walke in but the ignorance of a way so beaten by so many how can it be excused And yet if we find any little alteration or change in our stomacke in our body or bones how doe we wonder at it how passionate be we and how pettish for it as if it were some great wonder that any of Adams children should sicken die How will such be able quietly and with any peace to beare the comming of death the Lord himselfe when they are so agast at the approch of these his purueiers or petti-deaths whom he sends before to prepare for his comming How haue such remembred euery day to looke for death and euery houre to prepare to die or rather how haue such forgotten to esteeme of euery day as of their last day and to prepare for euery houre as for their dying houre But of this I haue spoken largely in my Sermons of life and death specially the first and second theâ—e Thus we haue heard that it is common both to rich and poore to die Yet in the order obserued in the text this poore godly man he that was in such misery pained with such hunger died first It was to hasten him to glory and from the euils he endured here And so we secondly learne Doctr. 2. that the deaths of the righteous are their gaine or a speedy taking of them from euils present and to come So saith Esay the righteous that is they that loue righteousnes and haue it imputed are taken away or gathered from the euill to come Esa 57.1 That is both from the euill of sinne and from the euils that come by sinne and this taking away is in their bodies for the graue in their soules for glory Thus was d 2. King 22 20. Iosuah taken away a good King and a good King young Euils were neare therefore was he taken from those euils and plagues at hand Enoch also he that is reported of that he pleased God Heb. 11.5 was for his great gaine walking among sinners taken vp to God Gen. 5.24 And thus the Lord sheweth himselfe to be a rewarder of them that seeke him Hebr. 11.6 or that walke with him as Henoch did The blessed dead that die in the Lords as Christians or for the Lord as Christian martyrs are taken or haue rest from their labours that is euils present saith S. Iohn Apoc. 14.13 And when the cheekes of the godly are blubbered with weeping for the euils they see and euill things they suffer of the vnworthy world God doth not delay by taking them out of the world to himselfe to wipe all such teares of paine and crying from their eyes Apoc. 21.4 Esa 25.8 The reasons The Lord remembreth whereof they are made and knoweth that as dust they will quickly be moued with the wind of long troubles and therefore will not contend for euer with them that is ouerlong lâ—st the spirit should faint before him Esa 57.16 Also if the rod of the vngodly did rest alwaies vpon them they might put foorth their hand to wiâ—kednesse Psal 125.3 So should God lose his good subiects which he will not doe and therefore will not suffer them to be tempted aboue that they be able 1. Cor. 10.13 Secondly the world is not worthy of such Hebr. 11.38 or the righteous are a blessing that the world cares not for Now a blessing vnregarded or vsed vnworthily may worthily be taken away Where therefore the wicked set so little by the righteous God doth hasten to take them away for their plague and the euerlasting good of his children Thirdly in this life the godly haue nothing but losse vpon losse as the losse of their good labours the losse of their good name and the losse of their time here Besides for their afflictions their death onely makes an end of them life and misery being as two twins that are borne together and must die together And is it not then the great aduantage of the righteous and their great preferment by death that by it they are drawne out of so many and fatall euils into the blessed rest and glory of God in the which they shall continue euer So long as they abide here in their tents of warre they must not put off their harnesse at any time day and night they must lie in the field expecting a battell wherein is no time of truce For if Satan be ouercome at one time at another hee will set vpon them onely death ends the battell not to his auaile but to theirs They that die in those battells are ouercome in those other the Saints neuer ouercome till they die and is not their death then their vndoubted aduantage and gaine that so die But doth God take away the righteous speedily and soonest because the world is not worthy of them Vse 1 as the wicked are vnworthy to liue in the world Then they that suruiue the righteous haue iust cause to feare that for their vnworthinesse such are taken from them and because they no better regarded them nor Gods loue by them Some reioice when a good man dies not because he is taken from labour to rest from death to life but because they hated him for his goodnes and desired rather his roome then his company here but let such know that Lot being departed out of Sodome fire and brimstone will come quickly after Gen. 19.17.23.24 For the wheate being gathered into the barne what shall be done with the tares shall they not being bound vp for the fire be set on a burning Math. 13.30 When the godly Lazarus is dead not long after dieth the vngodly Dines but Lazarus is in Abrahams bosome and the rich man in hell in torments Assoone as Noah is in the Arke the world that mocked him is in their graue of waters and most of them in their center of fire Therefore when the righteous perish the wicked behind them haue great cause to howle and weepe but no cause to laugh or be merry except this may make them glad that making no good vse of their happy ends their owne vnhappy end is not farre off that waiteth for them to damnation Now consider this yee that forget God lest he teare you in peeces and there be none to deliuer you Psal 50.22 Let Lazarus let the godly be regarded while they liue with you lest for your contempt of such God take them to blisse and send you to hel Or if God remoue some yong and in their tender bud
ease in hell Doct. 1. The fiâ—st branch of it nor end of hell or no going out of hell nor end of torments in hell For where hell is there are torments and in hell there is no redemption that is comming out This is the doctrine and this doctrine is a roote of two branches The first that there is an extremitie of torments in hell The second that these torments in hell are endlesse For the extremitie of the torments it is expressed in the Scriptures by things most dreadfull and terrible out of measure as vnquenchable fire Math. 3.12 a lake of fire burning with brimstone Apoc. 19.20 and a lake of fire and brimstone Apoc. 20.10 Of all torments none is so extreame as by fire for fire and all destruction by fire is terrible But it is more and most terrible euer to flote vpon a riuer of fire nay euer to be ouer head and eares in a burning lake of fire and brimstone Terrible needes must this be iâ— any thing in the world be terrible Therefore Esay crieth out Who can dwell with the deuouring fire who can dwell with the euerlasting burning Esa 33.14 As if he had said no man can And yet the damned whom God will throwe into it shall by the power of his iustice be strengthened for their greater increase of torments vnspeakeable to be in it and to burne in it world without end Further and for further terrour it is called vtter darknesse Math. 22.13 where is fire yea a whole lake of it and no light or a darke land couered with deadly obscuritie where the light that â—s is darkenesse Iob. 10. â—1 22 It were terrible to be in a dungeon of darknes for a short time how terrible then to be in this hell of darknesse for euer They that loue darknes more then light shall haue inough of it here and passe from affected darknes to vtter darknes from one darknes to another We reade of torments inuented by men and of cruell ones indeede inflicted by heathen-men vpon Christians as fornaces of fire caldrons of boiling oile brasen Bulles and that Moloch in the valley of Hinnom where Idolators burnt their children to the dwell 1. King 11.7 But hell is larger then so and the thing exceedes all report 1. King 10.7 Nebuchadnezars fornace was heated seuen times Dan. 3.19 this more then seuenty times seuen To be shut vp in the belly of a brasen Bull ouer a small fire and there to be till the heate kill him must needes be a lingring and terrible death but hell is much worse and without end Therfore doth the Prophet Esay compare hell to Tophet Esa 30.33 and Mathew speaking of it calles it Gehenna Math. 5.22 That is Tophet because of the lamentable screakings of children sacrificed in that fire but the screakings of young and old in the Tophet of hell the fire and burning there is both intollerable and eternall Thus hell torments must needes be great in respect of the extremitie The reasons The greater sufferings the greater torment The sufferings spoken of are exceeding great and yet farre lesse then any of those that are prepared for the damned in the Tophet of hell For these earthly may be expressed and conceiued those in hell cannot Secondly the wrath of God shall then be executed to the full against sinners and vpon sinne which is executed more fauourably here and with some mixture of clemencie Also the diuels are in place and put in office to further the affliction in that lake of torments Thirdly if those torments that afflict the body onely be so great and intollerable how great and intollerable must they be that shall afflict both soule and body in hell The torments of hell are vniuersall in all the parts of the body and tender powers of the minde together all at once shall be tormented The paines of this life are for the most part particular in some part of the body or in some facultie of the soule and yet how extreame they sometimes proue to be and how insufferable they that feele them can tell The tooth-ache is but the griefe of one part perhaps but of one tooth and yet some hauing it in some extremitie haue wished themselues out of the world the like of the stone strangury and the like What then when euery part shall be racked and euery facultie tormented and when they shall crie out in hell with this rich man O I am tormented in this flame Luk. 16.24 One speaking at the crosse of those tortures to which that cursed parricide M. Henry Greenwood at 〈◊〉 crosse Rauilliack the murderer of the last french Henry was put vnto writeth thus His arme that did that cursed act was taken from his shoulder his nailes pulled from his hands and feete his flesh piece by piece fet from him with hote burning pincers and burnt before his face and he rent asunder in the end with foure horses This is much but the booke written of his terrible and deserued death speaketh of much more and yet all this and more might without any pulles or the least touch of the soule haue bin endured if the cause had bin good for which he so died But in this lake of brimstone and fire that is neuer quenched all parts as head armes legs hands feet what not all shal be tormented and euer tormented not in an artificiall fornace as that of France but in the great wine presse of the wrath of God Apoc. 14 â—9 and in that horrible burning which the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle continually Esa 30.33 Some pieces of flesh shall not onely be set from them as from that french parricide with burning pincers but if this be a torment as who can deny it all the flesh on their backes shall be so or rather much worse tormented by diuels in hell His nailes were pulled from his fingers and feete once they shall be tormented euer as if theirs were euer so One arme was taken from his shoulder c Books of the terrible and deserued death of 〈◊〉 Râ—uillâ—acke the booke saith by consuming it in terribl maner in fire and brimstone here all the members of their body shall euer burne in fire and brimstone and neuer be consumed Hee was rent by horses and diuels shall racke these in euery member If his breasts were pinched and seared the brawne of his armes and thighes the calfe of his legges and other fleshy parts of his body if into the holes of his flesh that the burning pincers made were powred scalding oyle rosin pitch and brimstone as the booke saith which made the tormented creature to yell out with horrible outcries like some tormented soule in hell surely the damned in hell shal haue inough of such things hippe and thigh And yet I haue said nothing of the soule nor her torments that exceede all this besides that it shall be so and much worse for euer Now who will deny these things well