be an abhorring vnto all flesh Which words are againe in some sort thrice repeated by the same Lord Mark 9.44.46 48. In Hell fire their worme dyeth not the fire never goeth out In which places Hel fire and the worme of conscience being foure times ioined togither by him that is the wisedome of the Father as I take it doe shew evidently that the kinde of speach in both is alike Now there is no man so carnally minded as by this worme of cōscience to vnderstand a materiall worme It is a Metaphor and signifieth that cursed and damnable torment of conscience which continually shall gnaw vpon the children of vnbeliefe like vnto a worme whose property is to eate weare away any thing wherein it breedeth This worme then being immateriall why should we iudge this fire to be corporall I graunt indeed that the body is subiect to burning with bodily fire but that the soule which is spirituall should be subiect to such burning I cannot finde it proved and therefore do cōclude that Hell fire meant in my text is not any materiall fire or any bodyly flame but a grievous torment fitly thereby resembled even a seazing of the fearefull and terrible wrath of God on body and soule for ever For our Lord God the Lord of Heaven and earth giving certaine names to such punishments as shall be inflicted vpon the damned to make vs carefull by shunning sinne to be freed from Hell dealeth no otherwise then he doth in giving names also to such blessings as are prepared for the godly to make vs willing by doing wel to seeke for Heaven In both he dealeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applying himselfe to our weake capacities who are not able by our deepest meditations to conceiue in any meane what either the ioyes of Heaven or torments of Hell may be For vs therefore and for our good for our easier vnderstanding it hath pleased the Holy Ghost to shew vnto vs the ioyes of Heaven vnder the types of temporall blessings and eternall torments vnder the figures of earthly punishments Touching the ioyes of Heaven we may see almost in all the Prophets when they come to speak of Christs kingdome how they set it forth with abundance of all good things teaching that his kingdome shall be o Psal 2.8 very farre enlarged that his p Esai 9.7 increase of governement and peace shall be without end that there no nation shall q Esai 2.4 lift vp a sword against another but that their swords shall be turned into mattockes and their speares into sythes that nor r Esa 60.18 violence nor desolation nor destruction shall be within her borders that the ſ Esa 11.6 wolfe shall dwell with the lambe and the leopard with the kid that every child there shal fill his t Esai 65 20 daies that from our faces u Esai 25.8 all teares shall then bee cleane wiped away that we shall goe in through the gates into the citte and there x Rev. 2.7 eate of the tree of life and of the hidden y Vers 17. manna and be cloathed z Rev. 3.5 in white aray and receaue a Rev 2.17 white stones and bee made b Rev. 3.12 pillers in Gods Temple and the like All which speeches of sensible and temporall blessings are so many figures leading vs as it were by the hands to some reasonable knowledge of those ioyes spirituall and eternall In like sort and by the like types of temporall and earthly punishments we are brought to haue some vnderstanding of hel torments Luk. 19.27 Christ saith those mine enimies which would not that I should raigne over them bring hither and slay them before me Could he in more familiar tearmes signifie that eternall death prepared for the vnbeleeuers blasphemers Only he alludeth to the custome of the princes of this world in whose presence rebels many times are put to death Luke 16.23 there is much vttered in common and sensible speeches to signifie the gluttons torments endured in Hell as his seeing Abraham a farre off and Lazarus in his bosome the burning of his tongue and the cooling thereof the dipping of Lazarus finger into the water the great gulfe betweene them both and the like all which though it be spoken as of things corporall yet hath it a spirituall meaning And that which is spoken Matt. 22.13 of the state of Hell that there is weeping and gnashing of teeth must needes haue some other sense then the letter will afford because the damned soules which now suffer torments in Hell haue neither teeth to make any gnashing nor eyes to shed teares What shall I further trouble you with the relation of divers other attributs vsed in the word diversly to expresse the horror of Hell As the names of outward darknesse of the deepe of the lake burning with fire and brimstone of the never dying worme and such like Our iudgement of all these may be the same as it was of the former even that the Holy Ghost doth vse them all as a table to represent vnto vs the state and condition of the damned Which estate of theirs because it is represented vnto vs onely vnder types and shadowes that according to the wisdome of the spirit we must not curiously prye farther into it but rather lay our hands vpon our mouthes and stop the course of our lips lest medling with such secrets we falter in our speeches before the LORD It followeth in my text that this fire shall devoure the aduersaries SIC vorabit vt perdat non consumat saith Calvin this zeale of fire shall greedily consume them Consumet saith AQVINAS non totaliter consumendo sed in perpetuum cruciando this zeale of fire shall feed vpon them not to bring them to naught or consume them vtterly but to torment them eternally What heart is able to sound the depth of this punishment that a man should bee devoured yet not cease to be that hee should be eaten vp yet not consumed that he should bee taken away by death eternally and yet liue eternally Never haue any descended to that firy lake and returned thence to tell vs the torments thereof Yet as by one drope of Sea water wee may giue some iudgement of the saltnesse of the rest and as wee may guesse at the stature and pitch of a mightie gyant by the length of his foot so by a tast of bitternesse wherewith this present life is seasoned wee may haue some conceit of the sorrow and vexation to bee endured by the wicked in the life to come The griefe of mans heart in this world may bee exceeding great as great as ever mortalitie may be able to endure Cā we read of the mournings of Ioseph of Hanna of David of Iob of Ieremie of Ierusalem and not be moved Could wee Our hearts certainely should be harder then the hardest yron Can we thinke of the hideous torments invented and inflicted by Tyrāts as the
as S. Paule sheweth when he saith comfort him lest he be swallowed vp of overmuch heavines 2. Cor. 2.7 So true is one part of our former position the childe of God may fall grievously may fal dāgerously For he may quench the spirit within him after repentance he may sinne againe he may sin presumptuously he may sinne desperatly The childe of God may fall grievously may fall dangerously yet cannot fall finally in the end nor vtterly at any time The reason hereof is this after that he is sanctified he receiveth from God an other speciall grace you may call it corroboration the strengthning power of Christ Hence is it that Paul praieth for the Ephesians that they may be strengthened in the inner man Ephes 3.16 and for the Colossians that they might be strengthened with the glorious power of Christ Coloss 1.11 and of himselfe he saith that he is able to doe al things through the power of Christ that strengtheneth him Philip. 4.13 This corroboration this strengthening power is that that raiseth vp the children of God as oft as they are fallen DAVID in the anguish of his soule may say I am cast out of thy sight O Lord Psal 31.22 Marke how this strengthning power lifteth him vp first it maketh him confesse that he spake that in hast and then it putteth into his minde a Veruntamen a particle of better grace wherewith he correcteth his hasty speech Veruntamen audisti vocem deprecationū mearum cum vociferarer ad te I said in my hast I am cast out of thy sight YET thou hardest the voice of my praier when I cryed vnto thee And in the same Psalme verse 12. he vseth those harsh words iarring very vnpleasantly in his owne eares striking out of tune I am forgotten as a dead man out of minde I am like a broken vessel And here see how this strengthning power helps him with a verò a note of better sound Ego verò in te confido IEHOVA dicens Deus meus es I am forgotten as a dead man out of minde I am like a broken vessell BVT l Psal 11.14 I trusted in thee O LORD I said thou art my God When Ionas had beene cast into the bottome m Ion. 2.3 in the middest of the Sea and the floods had compassed him about when all the surges and all the waues had past over him then looking on his former disobedience he said I am cast away out of thy sight O Lord Ion. 2.4 and here also this strengthning power revived Ionas spirits with a Veruntamen and an Attamen words of comfort Veruntamen pergā intueri in templum sanctitatis tuae Attamen eduxisti à corruptione vitam meam IEHOVA Deus mi. I said I am cast away out of thy sight O Lord n Vers 4. YET will I looke againe toward thy holy temple The o Vers 5. waters compassed me about vnto the soule the depth cloased me round about and the weedes were wrapt about mine head p Vers 6. I went downe to the bottome of the mountaines the earth with her barres was about me for ever q Vers 7. YET hast thou brought vp my life from the pit O LORD my God One hath noted vpon this place that if it were not for Attamen verò and veruntamen but yet notwithstanding and such like comforting particles our hearts might quake within vs to see such passions in the Saints of God But it is the Lords property ever to send a gracious raine vpon his inheritāce to refresh it when it is weary Psal 68.9 and true it is that Hosea saith though we looke for a day or two as if we were dead and forlorne yet r Hos 6.2 after those two daies he will reviue vs and the thirde day he will raise vs vp and we shall liue in his sight So true is the other part of our former position the childe of God cannot fall finally in the end nor vtterly at any time For God hath blessed his children with repentant hearts And ever blessed shall they be that are so blessed by the Lord. For he hath made a decree with himselfe it belongeth to the new Testament it is ratified by the death of the Testator it is witnessed by three in heavē by three in earth never shal it be altered and this is the DECREE At what time soever a sinner ſ Ezech. 18.21 whosoever he be shall repent him of his sinnes whatsoever they be and shall doe iudgement and iustice he shall surely liue he shall not die If he truely repent of his wickednes he neede not be troubled either by the vexations of this wretched life or by the horror of conscience or by the malice of many foes be they men or Devils and if Devils be they seaven in one a legiō in an other all the principalities all the powers of darknesse in the third for he shall be assured to haue forgiuenes therefore I say againe At what time soever a sinner whosoever he be shall repent him of his sinnes whatsoever they be and shall doe iudgement and iustice he shall not die Hitherto haue you seene how willingly this sinne is cōmitted and how Gods children though sinning also willingly are freed from it In the third place must I speake of the sinne it selfe THE SECOND SERMON HEB. 10. VER 26. 26 For if we sinne willingly after that we haue receaved the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinne NOW are we to speake of the sinne frō which we are in this Scripture dehorted This sinne seated in such a subiect as they are who haue receaved the knowledge of the truth and proceeding from such a cause as is a willing a set an obstinate malice against God and against his Christ is the Sin against the holy Ghost The very naming whereof before I proceed to the handling of it causeth me to remēber you and my selfe of two blemishes wherewith the spirit of man in such a businesse as now we haue in hand vseth very much to be infected 1 Too much boldnesse 2 Too much feare Solomon hath said there is a generatiō which are pure in their owne conceite and yet are not washed from their filthines Prov. 30.12 Experience maketh me presume that I may as truely say there is a generation that are wise and learned in their own conceit and yet they are not washed from their folly yet they are not washed from their ignorance Many men will boast every one of his owne goodnes but who can finde a faithfull man saith the wise man Prov. 20.6 So many thinke they stand yet stand not many thinke they beleeue yet beleeue not they knowe not what faith meaneth many looke to be saved yet are ignorant who shall saue them many would be counted a Ioh. 3.10 masters in Israel teachers of others yet knowe they no more then Nicodemus what it is to be b Vers 9. borne againe So
convince any one of a crime committed For thus saith the Lord One witnesse shall not testifie against any person to cause him to die Num. 35.30 One witnesse shall not rise vp against a man for any trespasse or for any sin or for any fault that he offendeth in but at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses shall the matter be established Deut. 19.15 At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death die but at the mouth of one witnesse he shall not dy Deut. 17.6 Vnder two or three witnesses This is spoken disiunctiuely not as if the testimony of two were alwaies true but because it is so to be accounted if it be the testimony of two For we know that the testimony of two may be forged Two wicked men did falsly witnes against Naboth that he blasphemed God and the King 1. Kings 21.13 Two wicked men did falsly witnesse against Steven that he spake blasphemous words against Moses and God Act. 6.11 Two wicked men did falsely witnesse against Christ that hee should say I can destroy the Temple of God and build it in three daies Mat. 26.60 One witnesse shall not testifie against a man to cause him to die two may and their testimony may be false Two three or more may for at their mouthes shall every matter be established He that despiseth Moses law shall die the death c. Out of these words thus vnderstood we may for our instruction take two lessons 1 Necessity is laid vpon vs and woe is vnto vs if we despise mans law For he that despiseth Moses law dyeth without mercy 2 A caveat is given vs that we be not too credulous that we open not our eares to private reports tending to the discredite of any for He that despiseth Moses law dyeth not but at the mouth of two or three witnesses Our first lesson we comprehend within this proposition Every one is bound to subiect himselfe to honest and iust politique lawes and this even for conscience sake Our second within this It is a breach of the rule of charity to conceiue ill of any one for any private report Touching the first namely That every one is bound to subiect himselfe to honest and iust politique lawes and this even for conscience sake we may note that all such lawes politique civill mans lawes are either iust or vniust if iust then without doubt they bind our consciences to due obedience And this they doe not because they are set forth and published by man but partly because they haue their original from the law of Nature whervnto our consciences stand bound and partly because God in expresse commaundement hath made vs subiect to such lawes If vniust then are wee not in conscience bound to obserue them Such vniust humane lawes haue their difference for first they are said to be vniust either because he that makes them hath no authority so to do or having authority because he makes them rather for his own private then for any common good or making them for the common good because he bids and commaundes that which is aboue a mans power to performe And in this first sense vniust humane lawes though they tie vs not in cōscience to obserue them yet because they put nothing that may detract either from the law of nature or from the law of reason or from the law of nations or from the law of God and his glorie they leaue vnto vs a liberty either to keepe them as well as we shall bee able or not to keepe them at all vnlesse charity which chargeth vs in any wise to beware of giving offence to our neighbours commaundeth vs to obserue them Rather then we breake this bond of charity rather then we giue iust offence to our neighbours it is our Saviours coūsaile Mat. 5.39 40 41. Whosoever shall smite vs on the right cheeke that wee turne to him the other also whosoever suing vs at the law shall take away our coate that we let him haue our cloake also whosoever shall compell vs to go one mile that wee sticke not to goe twaine with him The care then we are to haue not to offend the weake consciences of our neighbours may binde vs to the observing of those humane lawes before spoken of which albeit in regard of their maker and his private respects they are called vniust are notwithstanding otherwise left to our free choice to bee kept or broken because without any repugnancie they may stand together with those eternall lawes the law of nature the law Celestial the law of reason the law of God the iust law of mā the law of nations So in a first sense the lawes of mā are called vniust if he that makes them hath no authority so to doe or having authority if he makes them rather for his owne private then for any common good or making them for the cōmon good if he bids and commaundes that which is aboue mans power to performe In a second sense humane lawes are said to be vniust if they bid that which is contrary to Gods lawes to Gods revealed will to Gods glory and these lawes are so farre from binding vs to their observance as that the loue of God dwelling in our soules deepely chargeth vs with all our might to resist them The answer which Peter and Iohn made to those of Ierusalem Act. 4.19 well fitteth this place whether it be right in the sight of God to obey you rather then God iudge yee And as fit is the protestation made by Peter and the rest of the Apostles Act. 5.29 We ought rather to obey God then men Thus we see that the lawes of men if they are vniust doe not simply binde vs in conscience to any obedience and if they bee so vniust as to detract from Gods lawes and his glory we see againe that we are in conscience bound to disobey them Obedience is first due vnto God and next vnto men for Gods sake And therefore if men shall require any thing of vs which by anie meanes may redound to Gods dishonour leaue we men to thēselues and reserue we all due obedience for our God We ought rather to obey God then men Yet are there humane lawes iust lawes lawes of equity and vprightnes binding the consciences of all that are placed in publike societies whether civill or spirituall In such societies though the lawes of nature and of reason be of necessary force yet those lawes suffice not over and besides them somewhat is necessary namely humane positiue law together with that law which is of commerce of merchādise of exchange between the greatest societies the law of nations and of nations Christian Humane laws are measures in respect of men to direct their actions Measures they are yet to be measured by higher rules Those rules are two the law of God and the law of nature Humane lawes then must be made according to the
Good men are so overlaid with miseries that their words are even swallowed vp but the wicked are in such prosperitie that b Vers 7. their eyes stand out for fatnesse Good men are even cast downe into desolation but the wicked haue more theÌ„ heart can wish c Cicer. de nat â—â—or lâ—b 3. DIOGâ—NES the Cynicke in his time seeing one Harpalus a notable thiefe liuing a long time happily was bold to say Harpalum contra Deos testimonium dicere quod in illâ fortunâ tam diu viveret Wicked Harpalus liuing long in prosperitie was some argument to Diogenes that God respected not mans affaires The like experience hath shaken even the very Saints of God It made Iob to say chapter 24.12 MEN cry out of the the citie and the soules of the slaine cry out yet God doth not charge them with folly It made Ieremie to expostulate with the LORD chap. 12.1 O Lord let me talke with thee of thy iudgments wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse It makes the Godly to whome â—â—al 73 10. waters of a full cup are wrung out many times to take into their mouthes that passionate complaint Psal 73.11 How doth God knowe it is there knowledge in the most high Loe these are the wicked yet prosper they alway and increase in riches Certainely wee haue cleansed our hearts in vaine and in vaine haue we washed our hands in innocencie for dayly haue we beene punished and chastened every morning From this experience grewe that disputation among the heathens whether God regardeth men and their businesses Tâ—LAMON puâ—s downe the state of it in one verse Tully cites it lib. 3. de nat Deor. NAM si curent benè bonis sit malè malis quod nunc abest Doubtles if God had any care of men their actions good men should be in good estate and wicked men in worse But now we haue experience of the contrarie Improbis optimè bonis malè est wicked men haue their hearts ease but good meÌ„ are in miserie TELAMON was no fitt man to make any construction of Gods proceedings We in Christianity for the thing do know it to be true Wicked Diues hath the world at will whilest poore Lazarus is hunger bitten full of soares and miserable every way The coÌ„struction we make of it is grounded vpon diverse texts of holy Scripture Giue me leaue for mine owne comfort and the comfort of the rest of you that are any way afflicted to repeate for this purpose two or three sentences well knowne vnto you It 's written 1. Pet. 4.17 Iudgement beginneth at the house of God It 's writen 1. Cor. 11.32 When we are iudged we are chastned of the Lord because wee should not bee condemned with the world It 's written 2. Tim. 3.12 All that will liue godly in Christ IESVS shall suffer persecution This being so that the wicked flourish and the Godly are kept vnder it remaineth of necessitie that there must be a second comming of Christ a last iudgement when the Godly shall receiue fulnesse of ioy and glory the vngodly fulnesse of woe and miserie Now for the removall of the scruple which I entended I must explicate the places which it troubleth To that place Ioh. 5.24 I say that by iudgement is meant the iudgement of CoÌ„demnation The beleeuer shall not come into iudgement the iudgement of Condemnation for already he is passed from death to life already he hath everlasting life non re sed spe non fruitione sed fide We are already passed from death to life spe non re for we are saued by hope as saith the Apostle Rom. 8.24 We haue already life everlasting fide non fruitione for wee walke by faith and not by sight as the same Apostle speaketh 2 Cor. 5 7. The truth is as long as this flesh encombreth vs wee cannot fully possesse eternall life yet in this flesh wee haue a tast feeling of it For in this flesh wee knowe God to bee the only very God and whom he hath sent IESVS Christ and this is life eternall It 's Christ's assertion Iohn 17.3 Whereto may be added that 1. Cor. 13.9 We knowe in part and prophecy in part And that Coloss 1.13 God hath translated vs into the kingdome of his deare sonne And that 1. Ioh. 3.14 Wee knowe that we are translated from death to life Thus already are wee passed from death to life by an assured hope already we haue everlasting life by a liuely faith and therefore shall wee never come into iudgement the iudgement of Condemnation But there is a iudgement of Absolution then to be executed when the Lord himselfe shall descend froÌ„ Heaven with a shout 1 Thess 4.16 and with the voice of the Archangell and with the trumpet of God At that great day the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which liue and remaine shall with theÌ„ bee caught vp in the clouds to meet the LORD in the aire at whose right hand wee shall bee set to receiue to the eternall ioy of our hearts that happy sentence Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world To that other place Ioh. 3.18 I say that the vnbeleeuer is coÌ„demned already in effect and substance 3. waies In the counsell of God in the word of God and in his owne conscience Hee is condemned in Gods counsell and purpose before ever he commeth into the world as Esau was Rom. 9.11 Hee is condemned in the word of God wherein sentence is already passed against him Ioh. 1.9 for that light being come into the world hee yet loveth darknesse rather then light He is condemned in his owne conscience the torment whereof like a worme ever gnaweth him and never suffereth him to be at rest So many waies are the vnbeleeuers already condemned already that is in this world their condemnation is begunne but the manifestation finishing of it shall be hereafter and therefore the meaning of the place is this they that beleeue not are already iudged in part but the full manifestation thereof shall bee at the day of wrath Then shall they see the Sonne of man comming in the cloudes of Heaven with power great glory at whose left hand they must be set to receiue to their eternall horror that irrevocable sentence Depart from me yee cursed into everlasting fire which is prepared for the Divell and his Angels The scruple now remoued hath remembred vs of two of Gods iudgements his iudgement of CondemnatioÌ„ for the wicked and his iudgement of Absolution for his chosen Neither of them is meant in the present clause of my Text for which I point at two other iudgements of God familiar vnto him when he dealeth with his owne people The one I call his iudgement of Protection the other his iudgement of Correction His iudgement of Protection is meant