vp in his heart those things which the Prophet spake Take héede that you spurne not at your Phisicions for then your health is at an ende Did Esay cry in his time Esa 53.1 lord who beléeueth our sayings And may not we cry nowe Lord who doeth credite our report We are the ofscowring of the people the laughing-stockes of the worlde wée are counted contentious seditious slaunderous railers lyers troublers of the state But as for this people though thou O Lord speake in vs vnto them yet will they not bend their eares to heare thy voyce in vs. Though the earth be wearie of her sinnefull burthen as surcharged with the heauinesse of sinne doth vniuersally totter as a dronken man Aprill 8. 1580. at our iniquities and thy heauie iudgements yea though the waters here below the heauens planets farre aboue though blasing gleames and burning lampes haue summoned vs and vgly shapes in monstrous birth haue and yet doe cite vs to the preuentiō of thy heauie wrath in true repentaunce Iere. 8.6 yet no man sayth to himselfe and what haue I done But euerie man goeth to the corruption of his owne heart and fetcheth thence the labor of his life in Hypocrisie Popery Drunkennesse Whoredome couetousnesse pride ambition atheisme such like And all this commeth hereof that being almost all dead we féele not that we are once touched with sickenes We goe on in our wickednes and séeke credit against our reprouers scorne at Gods iudgementes and when most séeming is of imminent daunger wee assure our selues of great securitie Oh people of this waywarde nation and you here present let vs his ministers bee the Lordes cockes to rowse you out of this deadely sléepe hauing first with Peters teares examined well our selues Let vs bee the trumpettes of the Lord to warne you of the greate and mightie battel of the God of hostes against vs. And nowe accept you this labour of me the watchman of the Lorde and hearken with comfort to this my crye Arise you that sleepe in your sinnes and shamefull securitie O Christians by name Arise from the first death of sinne by the operation of Gods holy spirite in you and walke in newnesse of life by the light of the glorious gospell of GOD giuen you in Christ so shal not the second death haue any power of you because you haue taken parte in the first resurrection And now I perceiue this first parte hath taken my whole time allotted me so as I can not speake of the seconde which is so depending of the first that well they can not bee disioyned But in asmuch as your ciuill solemnities aske more tyme then possibly the forenoone woulde afforde vs I will deferre my seconde part till some other time except I receiue your pleasures farther to procéede Well then knowing now your godly desires by the harald at armes that I shoulde procéede Let vs read our second part and it is thus For on such the second death hath no power Text ver 6. but they shal be the priestes of god and Christ and shall raigne with him a thousand yeare In this part dearely beloued the Euangelist doth by a most elegant phrase describe the state conditiō of the faithfull affirming thē so farre of to be once touched after the punct of natural death with the paines of hell or false fained popish purgatorie that contrarily they presently are in blisse with God singing with the spirits of the iust the due prayses of the Lord saying for on such c. But to the further openyng of this excellent part let vs obserue these thrée thinges First what is to be vnderstoode by this second death Secondly of what prerogatiue power the same is And last of al for a final conclusion what wher is the ful felicitie of the iust which haue their part in the first resurrection The second death to be shorte is that which followeth the firste as a merite of his deserte But death is said to be twofold in the holy scriptures For as there is a death of the body so is there likewise a death of the soule But of death of the bodie we haue saide before And of the naturall death Gods holy booke our common experience and the dead body of this departed Christian before vs beareth perfecte testimony Of which the Apostle Paule sayth It is decreed that man shall once die and then cometh his iudgement And our Apostle in this booke Heb. 9.27 Apoc. 14.13 Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord or for the Lords cause for they rest from their labours so saith the spirite and their works follow them Their owne workes followe them not the workes of other for them And be it knowne vnto you that the first death of the soule which is sinne and iniquitie is the verie cause procuring Gods iudgement to strike the bodie with naturall death and is héere called the first death of the body For the which the soule that dieth in sinne shall abide much paine torment in hel when yet the body therof sléepeth quiet in the graue expecting his woeful resurrection And now of the second death which Christ Iesus Matt. 10.28 and our Apostle Iohn calleth hell the lake of fire Feare not thē saith Christ which kill the body but are not able to kill the soule but rather feare him which is able to destroy both body soule into hel Here is the death of the body the first death the death of the soule in hell the second Of the same seconde death speaketh S. Iohn in this receiued text Goe too you worldlings Iam. 5.1 Rom. 2.5 that treasure vp wrath to your selues for the last day tribulation and anguish death and hell shall be your portion Looke to this you scorners that put far off the last day here is to you endles woe You haue made a couenant with death but death it selfe and hell viz. the damned soules in them shall henceforth be cast both bodie and soule into the burning lake of fire brimston which is the second death For be the day neuer so long at the last cōmeth Euening Oh beloued that wéepe nowe then shall you laugh and reioyce if so that you kisse embrace the Sonne of God fal before his presence condēning your selues for sin killing sinn in you by the power of his spirit you shal thē sée the proud antechristiā Pharaoh al his popish Egyptiās cast into the sea gulfe of vnquenchable fire when your selues by your mighty Moses captain christ shall be ledd into the heauenly lande of promise there to raigne with him for euer euer Many men mooue much dispute about the site and place of hell this firie lake But I say onely this of it It is a forbidden curiositie engendring strife deuoide of profit to question where and in what place it is But it is a commanded diuinitie to séeke the
you thinke indéed ther is a God that knoweth this A Scribe that recordeth it A iudge that will reuenge it and a day that shall reueale it by the bookes of your heauie iudgement And dare you continue your delight in lying whoring in filthy iestinges that are not comely in such the workes of darkenesse which rather you ought to reprooue in others then to fauour or practise them your selues But these euils dwel not altogether in beggers but you you euē you I say whō the Lord hath blessed with landes and reuenewes in great aboundance which for your birthes are called gentlemen for your chiualrie knights but for your follie flattered as fooles to winne of you preferment euen of you I said there are that dare dispise the spirit of trueth with the false spirit of lying ribauldry and filthy whoredome Your seruantes perceyuing your foolishnesse are contented to sell themselues to hel to gaine some earthly preferment at your handes For séeing your diuellish disposition they frame their practise to your pleasurs but you shal be iudged of those thinges most seuerely Oh you seruing-men absteyne from pleasing your maisters with this egregious lewdenes of lying Wotte you what you doe and whose ye are Io. 8. you do make your soules the slaues of sathan and you are herein the children of the deuill your father which is a lyer from the beginning Cast of these works of darkenesse haue no fellowship with them but rather reprooue them and those that vse them yea though they be your great masters For you are not called to serue men but God And you shall then be founde best profitable to your maisters when you shall take sinne from their bodies and exhort vertue to their soules And be it knowne to you you knightes héere present and the rest that that noble Naaman had not béene clensed from his leprosie had he not humbled his soule to the admonition of his godly seruing-men 2. Kings 5.13 2. King 5.13 The Lorde GOD worke our conuersion in tyme that wee may dye to sinne and haue parte in the firste resurrection so shall we bee sure not to taste of the seconde death because our names are founde written in the booke of life Whereof nowe wee are to speake And it is notable that it is saide euery man was iudged accordinge to his workes that hée had done in his life time not what others haue done for him after Yea aswell the godly as the reprobate are in thēselues vnder the censure of the seconde booke that is condemnable to the seconde death But now there is an other cause why the godly are saued namely that their names are written in the booke of life Ephe. 1.2 This booke of life is not of this life corporall but spiritual and hath his beginning in these our dayes but is perfited in the last resurrection and is called the most sure and swéete election and predestination of god which doth seale and sanctifie to himselfe those that be his whom he hath chosen to be partakers of the first resurrection before the beginning of dayes Ephe. 1.2 and therefore they cannot perishe in the ende of time Of this booke speaketh Paule The Lord knoweth who bee his And though sparingly I would speak in singular reuerence of this hiddē mystery 2. Tim. 2.19 to many in the world comfortable only to the childrē of life when their eyes be opened to reade this booke yet in humblenesse of heart I say thus much of it This booke of life is the most certaine sure firme and eternall foreknowledge in the most holy minde of God Zanch. To. 2 lib. 3. cap. 3. 712. by the which hee euer hath and doeth in his Christ and for him alone appoint and choose vs to be his children adopted to grace and heires of eternall life approueth them for his and taketh peculiar and perpetuall care on them I knowe my sheepe saith Christ I knowe whome I haue choosen c. And those whome the Lorde writeth in this booke those only shall haue saith and life And whosoeuer is not written in this booke without doubt he shall be cast into the seconde death But howe shal we know that wee are written in this booke Surely euerie man is to séeke the knowledge héereof To some it is giuen at morne to other at noone and to some onely at night euen gasping at breath The ordinarie way to this knowledge is elegātly set downe by Paul to the Romans where the graces of God are so linked in one so easie to be perceiued that euerie man may haue an insight of this golden cheine that feareth God Rom. 8.28 We know that all thinges saith he worke together for the best to to them that loue God euē to them that are called of his purpose For those whō he knew before he also predestinate to be made like to the image of his sonne that he might be the first borne amonge manie brethren Moreouer Whome he predestinate them also hee called and whome hee called them also hee iustified and whome he iustified them also he glorified Héere beloued the booke is gods purpose to choose and our writing in it is that we are elected to liue in Christ before all times a life conformable to the following of Christ to bée holy and blameles sober godly religious iust peaceable and blessed in this present worlde And not to be worldly bent and to blaspheme with rebellious spirites saying what should I feare to to robbe to kil to spoile to whore it and brace it and to followe my lust For if I be elected I shal be saued if I be not elected I shal be dāned But beloued Oh hateful spirit against Gods holy spirit of our electiō Do you draw hence an other nature in the grace of this book namely learne to sée how those that are elected those shal be called to féele their election And they shal be iustified from their former corruptions sanctified from after sinnes and glorified to God But as we haue said those that be not found writtē in this booke those shal be iudged by the other bookes of iudgement and that according to their workes This doctrine is héere deliuered vs to note Iohn speaketh of the generall iudgement executed long after the natural death and he speaketh generally of all when as no doubte great heapes of infinite thousands haue had the works of Popes and Cardinals popish priests and sacrilegious Masses trentals doles and chauntrie fées moonkish builde and frierish helpes for them All whose works of darknesse notwithstanding euery man shall rise vnchaunged from his former state For euen so as he dyed such shall he arise and shall haue iudgement after his owne works and not according to the merite of other mens labours for him after his death Thus saith Gods spirite which cannot lye Away therefore with your prayer for the deade your almes and dole to the poore at the place and day
of Funerals And euen this day I exhort in the Lord whom it doth most concerne that as I knowe and doe affirme your hate to that pestilent péece of popery and your sinceritie in Christ so yée faithfully shewe it at this instant Féede these poore assembled but foster not that popishe opinion to pray for the soule departed Forget not the Lord at this present who hath not forgottē to bring you to great things Abstain saith the Apostle not only from euill but euen also from the shadow shew of euill If it might be take some other day for them giue them with warning that you meane no procuring of prayer for the dead For I know that you are assured that euery man shall appeare and aunswere for his owne factes as well this reuerend corps going to his graue as all you and wee here assembled in cause of him We must all appeare saith Paule before the iudgement seate of Christ 2. Cor. 5.10 that euery man may receiue the things that are done in his bodie according to that he hath done whether it be good or euill The Lord in mercy blesse vs with his grace that liuing in him we may die in the Lorde Christ and so rest in peace till our returne to this bodily resurrection when we shall resigne to our soules our newe bodies though burned to ashes eaten with vermine in Sea or by lande For death lande and sea shall giue vppe not newe creatures but her receiued deade to be revnited to this resurrection And so with holy Iob we shall all sée our redéemer not with other but with these eyes that nowe we haue and with the selfe same bodies which nowe we beare shall wée all both small and great stande before the almightie Christ the iudge of quick and deade To whom be glory for euer And nowe time requireth to speake of the first resurrectiō which earst we called spirituall And of this resurrection Paul speaketh thus Ephe. 2.4 And when we were deade by sinnes God in his rich mercie through his great loue wherewith hee loued vs hath quickened vs together in Christ by whose grace wee are saued And hath raised vs vp together made vs sit together in the heauenly places in Christ Iesus Rom. 6.4 And againe to the Romans thus We are buried then with Christ by baptisme into his death that like as Christ was raised of God the father so wee shoulde walke in newnesse of life And nowe of these places we are to obserue First that there is a death that goeth before this resurrection Then that by an other power beyonde our selues we are reuiued and raised from that death And thirdly what this life is where vnto we are raised To the first this death is spiritual and is none other but sinne as here is saide and when we were deade in sinne And rightly is sin called death for it killeth all the vitall partes of the soule and maketh it not onely vnapt but vnable to serue the liuing God It depriueth vs of the grace of God It separateth Christ Rom. 6. which is our life from vs it bringeth sathan to possesse our soules and haleth vs to the second death which is the infernal lake This is the nature of euery sinne and therefore they are rightly saide to bée deade which be possessed of it as wholly cut off from God estraunged from his life 1. Tim. 5.6 and deade to godlynesse So are the lashing widowes called deade in spirite though they liue by nature which giue themselues to carnalitie fleshly lusts And of such men also spake Christ the Lorde saying Let the deade burie their dead Matth. 8.22 Nowe beloued drawe hence this doctrine We are by course of naturall life sinners but by our selfe delights we are become deade in trespasses but he that is dead is so frée from life that he hath no part of whatsoeuer is done vnder the sunne as the preacher saith Eccle. 9.4.5.6 So now that I speake to you that you conceiue and we all féele the power of the voyce it is by that wee liue but this Corpes héere present is so frée from all this that he neither heareth or conceiueth féeleth or partaketh whatsoeuer by his occasion héere is done for hée is deade and his life is not in him Euen so beloued the deade in sinne are as frée from righteousnes and the true féeling thereof as this sanctified corpes is cut from our present action Moreouer this corps can neither goe nor stir hinder or let those that list to carry conuey him whether they woulde Neither can the deade in sinne withstande the guide of his deadly soule the killing diuell the prince of hell but is ledde and drawen euen whether and to what him lust to whoredomes murthers lying blasphemie and what not Ion. 8.34 Rom. 6.20 2. Pet. 2.19 For of whom so euer a man is ouercome his seruant he is whether of sinne vnto death or of grace vnto life Last of all it is not in the power of any deade man to arise againe till his life be returned to him No more is it in the power of man once deade in sin to rise againe from it vntill his life which is Christ returne to reuiue him Wherefore the Apostle saith hee hath quickned vs euen God the father by the spirite of his Christ hath raised vs vp with Christ Where is then thy frée will and power to kéepe the wayes of God when thou hast eares but fatted eares that cannot heare a heart but blinded Matt. 13.14 that cānot perceiue the good wil of god a soule but deade and estraunged from the life of God Ephe. 41.8 And for this cause God is saide to raise vs from the deade that Christ may giue vs light that by his mighty operation through faith in him It is his mighty operation Colos 2.12 not mans weaknesse to raise vs from sinne For sathan is stronger then we 2. Tim. 2.26 holdeth vs once dead euē at his wil as Paul saith so as it is not possible for vs to arise from his bōos til our life Christ which is the strōger Luk. 11.29 Math. 12.29 Mark 3.22 enter combat with him bind him take vs his spoile away from him The workeman then to raise vs in this first resurrection is not man but God And he vseth heereto as his finger to forme vs anewe his worde and his spirite both from him selfe that he might haue the whole glorie of our life Embrace then this holy meanes come to the word there is his spirit If thou be his he will drawe thée to it lighten thée by them raise thée from this spirituall death as the Apostle hath saide Rom. 3.11 If the spirite of him that raised vp Iesus from the deade dwell in you hee that raised vp Christ from the deade shall also quicken your mortall bodies because that his spirite dwelleth in you Nowe
Secondly the popish doubtfulnes taketh away the benefite of Christ his sonne For we are taught to beleue the Christ is dead for vs that he is the lambe of God which taketh away our sinnes that nothing can condēne vs because our Christ hath iustified vs and is deade risen againe and set at the right hand of God for vs so that in him we that truely beléeue are more then conquerours so as neither hell or heauen man or Angel prince or diuell things present or to come can separate vs from our benefite and loue of Christ This certaintie the booke of God doth teach vs but from this anchorholde the diuell and poperie laboureth to drawe vs. Thirdly it taketh all godly consolation from vs in the day of tentation layeth vs open to Sathans iawes For who can lift vp his heart in tentation that fighting with his enimy much stronger thē he hath no hope of his captaine Christ the strongest of all or in the mercie of God to defende him It also taketh away ardent earnest prayer to God for who can with comfort crie in triall that standeth in feare he shall not be hearde but in the ende he falleth into dispaire hate of God to all loosenesse of life and ruffianlike boldnes taking lust to liue in sinne not expecting other then hell at the ende Laste of all the popish doctrine of doubtfulnesse fighteth flat against the nature of our Christian faith which is not a light opinion of our God and Christ his loue to vs and our saluation in him but a most firme stable and sure foundation setled in our soules so as neither fire in earth nor powers in hell can burne or raze it out of our heartes that wee are sealed by his spirite in the faith of his Christ Rom. 8. to be his children and fellowe heires with our eldest brother Christ our Lorde in his great loue wherw t he hath loued vs yea euen when we were his enimies Wherefore we are taught that bee faithfull Rom. 5. to holde this for most certaine that though wee be wicked of our selues yet are wee iustified by his grace in our faith and haue peace with God and frée accesse in one spirite to God our father nowe and shal be receiued to him of Angels when we departe this life as this our text doth also tell vs. Hell shall not touch vs but we shall raigne with God his priestes and holy ones for euer Cast off popish fearefulnesse therfore acquaint your selues with the hearing of the word of God so shal yée learne to be firme in faith sure to liue Here be touched also all those which feare men rather then God and in time of persecution runne from religion or in the presēce of popish princes iudges tormentours or before a balde Masse-priest dare not confesse the Lorde but to saue his momentary life doth cast away the eternall Hee that will saue his life shall lose it Matt. 10.38 Mark 8.35 Luk. 9.23 Io. 12 2◠he that shal lose his life for my sake and the gospels shall saue it saith our sauiour Christ Pray pray pray the Lorde to pull you out of poperie beloued and in speede come out of Babilon Apoc. 18. which is appointed to be cast into the fierie lake least being partakers of her sinnes yée also féede of her plagues The thirde sort which shall to hell are the abhominable murtherers harlots and such like These abhominable are to be vnderstoode of such persons as hauing once professed the trueth of God are now not onely become to hate it but most filthily they blaspheme it persecute and torment those that professe it to whom is reserued fire brimstone Heb. 6. Heb. 10. The rest are so manifest as néede no commentarie onely let vs knowe that murtherers be they which kill wound or hurt themselues or their neighbours either with the sworde of an hateful heart 1. Io. 3.15 as Iohn saith or with the sharpned tongue as Dauid saith or with the hande as Caine did his brother Habell Psa 120.3.4 And forget not that the seconde death is the receptacle for all such as die impenitent hereof The seconde parte of deathes power in hell is fast to retaine her captiues from the houre of their death with Diues vntil the day of the last resurrectiō which thing is most plainely proued by the storie of Diues and Lazarus Luk. 16. Nowe beloued the papists graunt with vs that in the hel 's there is no redemption but they say that in the earth there are distinct thrée sorts of mē One sort most holy another sort most wicked and the thirde sort of a certain mixture neither so holy as straight vpon death they demerite to goe to heauen or yet so wicked as at all they can be sent to hell but are for a time committed after death vnto the paines of Purgatorie and must thence bée delyuered not by mercie but by merite of Masses dirtie diriges popes paltries called pardons and such like And here is your foundation and your cause of prayer for the deade In aunswere wherof we graunt some persons are so sanctified in earth that straight from hence they goe to heauen but not for any their merite For they are taught to holde that hauing done all they can Luke 17.10 yet they are none other but wasting and vnprofitable seruauntes And that some are so wicked that straight they goe to hell as all obstinate rebellyous and trayterous papistes feareful wretches and abhominable persons we firmely beléeue But that there are any so imperfect that for their imperfection they are stayed from heauen and for their remnant of holynesse cannot come to hell and therefore of necessitie must tumble into a popish purgatorie this we flatly affirme to be a foolish opinion without warrant from God And touching these mixed persons surely the Church neither hath had or shall haue any other Of women was not that most holy maide Marie the blessed mother of Christ one most sacred Io. 2.3.4 But both the holy scriptures and her owne confession conuinceth her of sinne but she is saued by her Christ Luk. 2. saying My spirit doth reioyce in God my sauiour And for her daily sinnes she as al other is taught to pray forgiue vs our sinnes So also in her blessed bodie was sure faith great loue a pure heart and much godlynesse wherefore beholde a certaine mixture Also of men the Apostles were the most pure and yet not without the bodies of sinne What else moueth Paul to crie to the Romans Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from the body of this death And this our most holie Iohn in his first Epistle doth accuse himselfe 1. Io. 1.8 all other Apostles of sin saying If we say that we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues c. Thus they liued thus they dyed with this battel against sinne but had