susceptible of contrary qualities without corruption of their substance Euen as the right of gouerning and of iudging the world is deuolued and fallen to him by inheritance not happened by election so neither is he iust and righteous to be conformable to lawes that any hath imposed to him but as his Empire so his Iustice is naturall This righteousnesse being necessarily ioyned with goodnesse Abraham had reason to presuppose that it was more conuenient and befitting this vpright goodnesse to support the wicked for the good mens sake then to destroy the good for the wickeds sake Notwithstanding it seemes this beares many exceptions and hath many difficulties For not to speake of afflictions for Gods cause which befall the faithfull alone while that the vngodly prosper as Christ saith Yee shall weepe but the world shall reioyce because these afflictions are honourable a glorious reproach honest brands blemishes scarfe and liueries of our warfare and conformities to Iesus Christ I will speake onely of euils and afflictions wherewith God punisheth the good with the wicked and that because of the wicked God had foretolde by his Prophets that by reason of the sins of the people the land should vomit out her Inhabitants which was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar did lead the people captiue into Babylon with the multitude of this rebellious people Daniel and Ezekiel were led also away as also those three men who by the heate of their faith ouercame the heate of the burning furnace There were the good afflicted for the wicked mens sake There were seauen thousand in Samaria and among the ten tribes that had not bowed their knees vnto Baal were those exempted from the publicke calamitie when as Salmanazar Tiglatpilezer kings of Syria did leade the ten tribes into captiuitie Doth not God say by his Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 21. that his sword shall cut off from the land of Israel the righteous and the wicked And when God saith in the 18. Chapter of the Reuelation Come out of Babylon my people that ye be not partakers of her sinnes and that ye receiue not of her plagnes doth hee not warne them that if any of his people remaine there he shall be partaker of the plagues of Babylon And if God would now at this time afflict a kingdome giuen ouer to idolatry and should finde there a generall plague who doubts but that the faithfull mixt with the Idolaters should incurre the same danger To explaine vnto you this point Obserue that when God visits a kingdome or a Citie with a generall affliction by reason of the wickednesse of the people then those of the faithfull mixt with the wicked shall escape whom God intends to make as yet vse of and to imploy them for his glory and for the good of his Church So hee saued Noah from the vniuersall Floud because hee would reserue him and make vse of him for the preseruation of mankinde So also in the dayes of the Emperour Vespasian the Church of the Apostles that was in Ierusalem was warned to goe out of the Citie and withdraw her selfe to Pella on the other side of Iordan least shee should be inclosed by the enemies in the besieging of the Citie whereby it was razed down and the people destroyed And in the 14. Chapter of Ezekiel God speakes after this manner Sonne of man when the land sinneth against my by trespassing grieuously then will I stretch out mine hand vpon it and will breake the staffe of the bread thereof and will send famine vpon it and will cut off man and beast from it though those three men Noah Daniel and Iob were in it they should deliuer but their owne soules by their righteousnesse saith the Lord God they shall not deliuer neither sonnes nor daughters they onely shall be deliuered Because that the conseruation of these men was profitable to the Church of God But if God who prouides for his worke as it pleaseth him will imploy no more such a one and will quickly giue him the possession of eternall life then maruell not if he die as the rest doe and if the like and semblable accidents do befall him notwithstanding in his common afflictions with the wicked he hath particular consolation God giues him grace to profit by his chastisements and to take these banishments for flights from the world and walking towards God Pouerty is vnto him a wholesome and profitable dyer and an exercise of abstinence In his death-bringing sickenesse Gods Angel assists him who wipes off from him his sweaty drops of bloud and Christ Iesus neere him shewing him the crowne of Glory His death is as farre different from the death of others as there is difference betweene the gates of hell and the Kingdome of God So Threshers with the same flaile doe alike thresh both the corne and the straw but to diuers endes which are as Christ Iesus saith To gather the Wheate into the Barne but to binde the straw in bundles to burne it in the vnquenchable fire So the passage through the red Sea was the ruine of the Egyptians but was to the Church of God a passage to arriue vnto the promised inheritance In a word the chastisements wherewith God doth visite the faithfull shall neuer be fully distinct and separated from those of the wicked before the day of iudgement for then the sheepe shall be called out from among the goates diuided and set a part and the tares growen pell-mell and confusedly mingled with Wheate and that hath together endured both storme and weather winde and havle shall be picked vp by the Angels euen vnto the very last slip and sprig and be bound in bottles to be cast into the euerlasting fire Notwithstanding Abraham might seeme to passe the limits of modesty in this demaund as ready to controule the actions of God Wilt thou saith hee destroy the righteous with the wicked that be farre from thee as shewing vnto God his duty Then afterwards hee seemes to vse policy and Art towards God endeuouring to obtaine of God by retaile and parcels that which hee thinkes hee shall not get by the whole and all at one time saying If there be fifty righteous in the Citie wilt thou notspare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein And this being granted vnto him from fifty he comes to forty fiue and from that to forty and from that to thirty and so at last vnto ten Hardly I suppose is there to be found any Prince be hee neuer so meane and pettie that would endure that any of his seruants should leade him so by degrees and abuse thus his gentlenesse and yet notwithstanding there is some comparison betweene the greatest Prince of the world and the meanest begger yea betweene the excellentest Angell and betweene the Pismire and worme the distance and inequalitie is not infinite for they are creatures and there can be no infinite distance betwixt two finite things but there is no comparison betweene God and the most
whom doe ye spore your selues c. Nay which is more God hauing lifted vp his hand to turne vpside downe heauen and earth because they are become a temple of idols and the kingdome of the deuill is stopped and withheld from doing it because there are a few of the faithfull mingled among the wicked least in rooting vp the darnell hee should also plucke vp by the rootes the good corne therefore it is said to the soules of them that were slaine for the Word of God that were vnder the altar and cryed for vengeance against them that dwell on earth Apocal. 6. that they should rest yet for a little season vntill their fellow seruants and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled that being once done the end of the world will necessarily follow for should the world be so possest by the diuell that God should haue no part in it or should the Sunne rise onely to giue light to those that doe euill It is therefore one of the reasons for the which the faithfull are called the salt of the earth Matth. 5. Because it is that part that preserues the rest of the Inhabitants of the earth and protects the world from corruption And to apply these things to our selues I esteeme that these last dayes past when our Churches were in great danger God cast his eyes vpon vs hee considered therein many mischiefes and maladies that infect the flocke that couetousnesse is very rise among vs so that wee esteeme of men as wee esteeme of bagges of money that is to say according to the money they haue the man is esteemed as nothing as the bagge is nothing esteemed That euery one tels lyes and liues subtilly with his neighbour That destruction hatred suspition are among vs in the highest degree that vsury whoredome and blasphemies are to be found among vs to the great dishonour of the Gospell that so soone as there is neuer so little prosperitie excesse not and superfluity of apparell doe incontinently appeare and that charity towards the poore and the zeale of the honour of God is waxed colde while as the superstitious powere out their goods at the feete of an Idoll doe lay foundations of new religions build Churches giue offrings buy masses and seruices at a great rate and with an extreame cost that is to say that superstition is seruent in them but true religion key-cold in vs that they to make a molten Calfe doe contribute euen vnto their iewels and golden eare-rings whiles that the seruice of the honour of God is ill maintained For these causes he had already sent his destroying Angels and had snatcht away his word from vs had it not beene that euen hee the same vnto whom Abraham spake who is his onely Sonne our Lord and Sauiour Iesus hath stayed his wrath and therevpon hee hath considered ten righteous amidst this corruption that is to say some few of the number of the true faithfull and of holy soules that feare him and groane vnder the generall corruption for whose sake he suspends as yet his iudgements and spares the flocke and those perhaps not the greatest ones nor the richest nor the most noble but perhaps some poore whom we know not and to whom we as vngratefull con little thankes He hath stopt and stayed Gods iudgements and hath stood in the gap and hath beene in the publicke commotion like the lifting vp of the hands of Moses that did more then Iosuahs sword which is the obseruation that the wise-man makes in the 9. of Ecclesiastes That there was a little City and few men within it and there came a great King against it and besieged it and built great bulwarkes against it now there was found in it a poore wise-man and he by his wisedome deliuered the City yet no man remembred that poore man Seing then that the number of those that feare the Lord among vs is the defence and the safety of the Church and as King Ioram said of Elisha the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof for whose sake God pardoneth the rest Let vs labour to increase the number of them and that notten not thirty not fifty but that the whole troupe and flocke be truely the holy nation and the portion of the Lord. Let vs make our sinnes hold their peace that cry and that their crie be ouercome with the crye of repentance which powres vnto the feete of our Sauiour Iesus that precious ointment with an holy griefe and bedewes them with herteares as heretofore Mary did whose teares were a thousand times more odoriferous then her precious ointment for this filled the chamber with a sweet pleasing smell but her repentance is euen yet of good fauour in the Church of God And in stead of that heauy burthen of sinnes wherof Christ Iesus doth discharge vs Let vs charge and take vpon vs his yoake which is easie and his burthen which is light whether by this yoake and burthen we vnderstand his crosse or whether wee take it in generall for our subiection vnto his word that hereafter we haue no other will then his no other trust and confidence then in his promises no other ioy then in his loue And that wee may make vse of our vices and giue to our desires a lawfull imploiment and occupation let not the violent haue hereafter any other violence then that which taketh by force the Kingdome of heauen Let vsurers giue themselues to giuing to the poore for that is to lend vnto God by vsury Let the couerous gather a treasure in heauen Let the quarrellers make an irreconcillable warre against their vices Let the haughty and ambitious glory in the knowledge of God and in that they are the children of the most high If ye doe so God who desires not the death of a sinner but his conuersion whose compassions are alwaies open towards those that seeke him will watch for your safegard hee will blow vpon the enterprizes of our enemies and will frustrate their hopes his prouidence shall be as a wall of fire about his Church If you feare GOD you will not feare men Beare your selues couragious against mens threatnings but tremble at Gods Word who hath bought and redeemed you with too great a price to leaue you He will not deny you things necessary for this present life seeing that from the foundation of the world he hath prepared for you an euerlasting kingdome as he himselfe will proclaime in the last day Come yee blessed of my Father inherito the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world To whom be ascribed all honour power and dominion for euer and euer Amen FINIS
it were worship your bodies and goods which you serue much more and better then you serue God You condemne spirituall whoredome and you pollute your selues with corporall fornication You condemne those that esteeme to merit Paradise by their good works in the meane time you liue as if you would go into hel by your euill workes or as hoping to be saued without your good workes Wee blame auricular confession but are we for all that now carefull to confesse our sinnes to God Wee blame those that thinke to redeeme their sinnes by money giuen to the Church but the money we spare on that side is it bestowed in almes-deedes and that which we withdraw from the idle is it consecrated to Gods seruice Contrariwise the poore languish and accuse the rich to be little charitable the cry of the poore is mounted and entred into the cares of the LORD of hostes And therefore doe not take it as an iniurie to be compared to Sodome and Gomorrah for although we are guiltlesse of that sin for the which God consumed them with fire notwithstanding there are other sinnes that cry as loude as that and for the which many hearers of the Word of God shal be more roughly handled in the day of Iudgement then Sodome and Gomorrah as it is denounced vnto Capernaum Corazin and Bethsaida Mat. 11. that had seene the miracles of Iesus Christ and heard his word which they had reiected and were not conuerted And indeed the Scripture teacheth vs that beside the sinne of Sodome there are other sinnes that cry and call for the vengeance of God There is the cry of the innocent bloud witnesse the bloud of Abel that cryed from the earth vnto God There is the cry of the labourers and Seruants whose hire is kept backe by fraude whereof Saint Iames speaketh Iam. 5.4 There is the cry of the widdow and of the orphan whereof Moses speaketh Exod. 22. Yee shall not afflict any widdow or fatherlesse childe if thou afflict them in any wise and they cry at all vnto me I will surely heare their cry and my wrath shall waxe hot and I will kill you with the sword and your wiues shall be widdowes and your children fatherlesse Which is a sinne that is to be found among vs besides which example of violent snatching and vsury are to be found Such a one fasteth this day from flesh and meat that eateth at his house the flesh of the poore and consumeth his neighbours substance Many ouerturning Gods commandement that forbids to come vnto the altar with voide hands bring to the Lords Table hands full of violence and extortion farre from cloathing Iesus Christ in his members seeing that they strip them thereof And what thinke yee of the mortall or rather immortall quarrels of those that haue not learnt to forgiue that aske of God euery day that hee forgiue them not their sinnes seeing they forgiue not those that haue trespassed against them that hate a thousand times more their neighbour then they loue God seeing they defame the Church of God by their quarrels and put it to an open shame What doe yee thinke that these things cry not against heauen Doe ye thinke that the Heathen souldiers hauing not torne Christs coate those can be suffered that teare his body which is the Church and seeing that he who offendeth one of the least ones deserues to be thrown and drowned in the depth of the Sea with a milstone about his necke hee which offends the whole Church deserues he not to be cast into Hell Or do ye thinke that he can haue peace with his father that is alwayes in quarrell with his brethren It is good also to obserue the causes of the destruction of Sodome and by what degrees she came to be corrupted The Prophet Ezekiel tels vs in the 16. Chapter Behold this was the iniquitie of thy Sister Sodome pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse neither did she strengthen the hand of the poore and needy These selfe-same vices doe infect our flocke charity diminisheth amongst vs and couetousnesse increaseth the quarrels are hot and the prayers cold the word of GOD ill planted in our hearts rancour and hatred firmely rooted in them the parents are careful to hoord vp goods for their children but not to teach them to make good vse of them and to forgoe them willingly for the Gospels sake In poore families you shall find in an extream pouerty an extreame pride idlenes drunkennes they had rather see their children go naked then apply themselues to labour and sobriety Yee shall see in many of the Nobility a prophane humour an arrogant ignorance vncleane and filthy words ordinary swearing a distaste of Gods Word They are couragious to reuenge their owne iniuries but cowards to resist their vices or to defend Gods cause sumptuous in cloathes but niggards in almes-deeds They are not such as our forefathers were in olde time ready to run to Martyrdome but they are ready to runne to euery publike faction and sedition Are these those whom God hath raised to vnderprop support his Church or doe we hope that God will deliuer his people by their hands Of all in generall wee make this complaint with the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 9. The people turneth not vnto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the LORD of hostes Thou hast strucken them and they haue felt no paine thou hast consumed them and they haue refused to receiue instruction they haue hardened their faces like stone they haue refused to turne themselues and as it is in the 29. Chapter of Deuteronomie They haue blessed themselues in their hearts that is to say flattered themselues saying I shal haue peace though I walk in the imagination stubbornes of mine heart to adde drunkennes to thirst By this meanes Gods patience that should serue to amend vs serues to marre vs. God will giue vs thereby leasure to repent vs of our sinnes and we take leasure thereby to reioyce in our wickednes God commands vs to be holy but we will make him a sinner winking at our prophane humour Hee will haue vs expect his helpe and we will haue him expect our amendment at our leasure This is the right brimstone that puls downe fire from heauen that sulphurous earth of Sodome neuer had such force to draw downe Gods inflaming anger consuming them with fire as the contempt of Gods Word hath power to pull downe his iudgements on our heads Let vs feare least his patience being in the ende ouercome by his wrath we find no more place of repentance as Godthreatneth by his Prophet Isaiah Chap. 1. Therefore when you spread foorth your hands I will hide mine eies from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not heare But as for them that turne themselues vnto the LORD Gods familiarity with Abraham and the free accesse he giues to his Seruant ought to giue them a holy confidence to speak vnto God