but hee onely findes helpe in adversity that sought it in prosperity and ther can be no great hope of repentance at the houre of death where there was no regard of honesty in the time of life God useth not to give his heavenly and spirituall graces at the houre of death to those who have contemned them all their life yea it is sensles to think that God should accept of our dry bones when Sathan hath suckt out all the marrow that he should accept of the lees when we have given to his enemy all the good Wine But heare what himselfe saith by the Prophet Malachy c. 1.8 and S. Ierome upon the place it is a most base and unworthy thing to present God with that which man would disdaine and think scorne to accept of Wherefore Admonition not to deferre repentance as you tender your owne soule even to day heare his voyce set upon the work presently he that begins to day hath the lesse work for to morrow And proroge not your good purposes least ye saying unto God in this life with those wicked ones in Iob depart thou from mee for a time God say unto you in the life to come depart from me ye cursed and that for ever Hee hath spared thee long and given thee already a large time of repentance but he will not alwayes wait for denyals his patience at length wil turn into wrath Time was when hee stayed for the old world an hundred and twenty yeares he stayed for a rebellious Nation forty yeares he stayed for a dissolute City forty dayes but when that would not serve his patience was turned into fury and so many as repented not were cast into hell If in any reasonable time wee pray hee heares us if we repent he pardons us if we amend our lives he faves us but after the houre prefixt in his secret purpose there is no time for petition no place for Conversion no meanes for pacification The Lord hath made a promise to repentance not of repentance if thou convertest to morrow thou art sure of grace but thou art not sure of to morrowes conversion so that a fit and timely consideration is the onely thing in every thing for for want of this Dives prayed but was not heard Esau wept but was not pitied the foolish Virgins knockt but were denied and how many at the houre of death have offered their prayers supplications and services unto God as Iudas offered his money to the Priests and could not have acceptance but they died as they lived and went from despaire unto destruction § 154. BUt thou wilt say unto me Objection that must men are of a contrary judgement and practice if this be so that all the promises are conditionall that mercy is entayled onely to such as love God and keepe his Commandements that none are reall Christians but such as imitate Christ and square their lives according to the rule of Gods word that of necessity we must leave sinne before sinne leaves us and that God will not heare us another day when we call to him for mercy if we will not heare him now when he calls to us for repentance how is it that so few are reformed that most men minde nothing but their profits and pleasures yea count them fooles that doe otherwise I answer VVhereof a double reason there be two maine reasons of it though one be the cause of the other 1 Ignorance 2 Vnbeleife First First few men beleeve the whole written word few men beleive what is written of God in the Scripture especially touching his justice and severity in punishing sinne with eternall destruction of body and soule for did they really and indeed beleeve God when he saith that his curse shall never depart from the house of the swearer Zack 5. they durst not sweare as they doe Did they beleive that neither Fornicâ—tors nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Theeves nor Murtherers nor Drunkards nor Swearers nor Raylers nor Lyers nor Covetous persons nor Extortioners nor Vnbeleivers nor no Vnrighteous men shall inherit the Kingdome of Heaven but shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death 1 Cor. 6.9.10 Rev. 21.8 they durst not continue in the practise of these sinnes without feare or remorse or care of amendment Did they beleive that except their righteousnesse doe exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees they shall in no case enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Matth. 5.20 and that without holinesse no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 with many the like it were impossible they should live as they doe Yea if they did in good earnest believe that there is either God or Devill Heaven or Hell or that they have immortall soules which shall everlastingly live in blisse or woe and receive according to that they have done in their bodies whether it be good or evill 2 Cor. 5.10 they could not but live thereafter and make it their principall care how to be saved But alas they are so farre from beleiving what God threateneth in his Word against their sinnes that they blesse themselves in their heart saying we shall have peace we shall speede as well as the best although we walke according to the stubbornnesse of our owne wills so adding drunkennesse to thirst Deut. 29.19 yea they preferre their condition before other mens who are so abstemious and make conscience of their wayes even thinking that their God deceiveth them with needlesse feares and scruples as once Rabshekah would have perswaded the Iewes touching their trust and confidence 2 King 18.22.25.30.32.33.35 They beleive what they see and feele and know they beleeve the lawes of the Land that there be places and kinds of punishment here below and that they have bodies to suffer temporall smart if they transgresse and this makes them abstaine from Murther Fellony and the like but they beleeve not things invisible and to come for if they did they would as well yea much more feare him that hath power to cast both body and soule into Hell as they doe the temporall Magistrate that hath onely power to kill the body they would thinke it a very hard bargaine to winne the whole world and lose their owne soules Luk. 9.25 but enough of this having proved the Drunkard an Atheist Sect. the 146. § 155. SEcondly 2 Ignorance is the cause of all sinne another maine reason is ignorance yea ignorance if we rightly consider it is the cause of all sinne sinne indeed at first was the cause of ignorance but now ignorance is the cause of sinne Swearing and lying and killing and stealeing and whoring I may well adde drunkennesse abound saith the Prophet because there is no knowledge of God in the Land Hosea 4.1.2 It is a people that doe erre in their hearts saith God why because they have not knowne my wayes Psal 95.10 yee are deceived saith our Saviour because ye know not the
Word Judgements Mercies c. doe but obdure their hearts instead of melting them as we see in the example of Pharach We know the same Sunne which procuretha sweet savour from flowers makes carrion to stink And as the same water which washes other things cleane makes clay more dirty so this which hath been collected out of the Word instead of diminishing their sinne will as may bee feared increase it like as Physick if it worketh not upon choller turneth into choller their nature being serpentine in lapping this sweet milk they turn it forthwith into poyson Let one charme never so sweetly these Adders will not onely stop their owne eares but stop the charmers mouth too if they can At least if we play upon David's harp to drive away the evill spirit from these Sâ—ul's they will let flie the darts of reproach and the arrowes of slander at us yea whereas I offer them Wine as Christ did to the Iewes they will returne me Vineger as the Iewes did to Christ or they have lost their old wont What should I say if thou beest a drunkard and a scorner thou art dead in sinne only thy sinne is alive and not only dead as Iairu's daughter was Matthew 9.25 nor onely dead laid out and coffind as the Widowes Sonne of Naum was Luke 7.14 but dead coffind and buried as Lazarus was Iohn 11.39 even tell thou stinkest in the nosthrils of God and all good men And what rubing can fetch heat in such a dead body So that to admonish thee were as if a man should knock at a deaf mans doore yea it were almost as ridiculous as that Ceremony which the Mahometans use of flinging stones to stone the divell with If you would have a president to make good what hath beene spoken see Matth. 27. where when Iesus cried with a lowd voice and yeelded up the Ghost the vaile of the Temple rent in twaine from the top to the bottome the earth did quake the graves did open themselves and the dead Saints came forth and went into the holy City the Sunne was forsaken of his light c. as if all were sensible of their Maker's suffering when as the generality of the people yea those great Clarkes the Scribes and Pharisees were altogether insensible and worse then all the rest of the creatures the very stones of the Temple were soft in comparison of their stony hearts and they which were dead in their graves were alive to those which were dead in their sinnes So that I have no other message to deliver unto thee then that which the vigilant captaine delivered together with a deaths wound to his sleeping watchman dead I found thee and dead I leave thee Onely thou O Father to whom nothing is hard if it be thy good pleasure as why not seeing it will make much for the glory of thy great Name to save such a mighty sinner who Manasset-like hath multiplied offences above the number of the sand of the Sea and is bound downe with many Iron bands say unto his soule live It 's true thy angry threatning towards sinners is importable but thy mercifull promise is unmeasurable and unsearchable thou therefore that art able to quicken the dead and make even of stones children to Abraham mollifie these stony hearts with the blood of the Lambe and make of these children of the Devill members of thy Sonne Iesus Christ § 169. ANd so much of the Drunkards Character Much of him hath beene spoken but nothing neere all though I might expatiate for he is a creature made up of many ingredients to which every vice contributes something as the gods did to Vulcan toward the making of his Pandora for as many vices challeng part in him as Cities did of Homer the true tosse-pot is deficient in no evill under the Sunne though few or scarce any sufficiently discerne and deplore the same by reason of custome and the commonnesse of this sinne Much of him hath beene said O how much more might be said I could carry you a great way farther and yet leave more of him before then behinde for he is like some putrid Grave the deeper you digge the fuller you shall find him both of smitch and horror Yea as in Hercule's Monster there was still fresh headsarising one after the cutting off of another and as in Ezekiel's Vision after the sight of some abominations still more so as the Lord said to his Prophet I should yet shew you more abominations in him then these but that it would crave a longer time then I am willing to afford him or my Reader me with patience If any marvell at this which hath been discovered he would marvell much more if all should be told and say it was a true report that we heard of his sin of our danger of the Churches losse but the one halfe was not told us Yea if halfe so much were knowne to man as God knowes of him how would all drunkards hang downe their heads for shame or if we had but a window into his breast which Momus would have had in Vulcan's man or that he had written on his forehead what he thinkes as Tully so much wisht or that himselfe might discerne unpartially in an instant as Mercury made Charon in Lucian by touching of his eyes what strange monsters would there appeare to be what ugly odious hiddious feinds would represent themselves O what swarmes what litters what legions of noysome lusts are couched in the stinking stye of a drunkards heart which I may rather wish then hope to unbowell or anatomize for man saith St. Augustin is a great deepe one may better tell the haires of his head then the thoughts of his heart and God only hath reserved it as a prerogative Royall to himselfe exactly to search it to the bottome Iem 17.9.10 Then what am I that I should attempt to empty the same when the Well is not more deepe then my pitcher is narrow little brittle my plummet light my line too short and weake to sound it For if I cannot see it how should I describe it if I cannot know it how should I make you know it Yet as well as I can I have deliniated this monster given you as in a small Map the Drunkard set forth in his colours together with his skill will and power in seducing and by this you may guesse at the residue for as huge as the Sea is we may tast the saltnesse of it in a drop If these be their words and actions what thinke you are the secrets of their hearts certainely if all their thoughts did but breake forth into action they would not come farre short of the Devills them selves § 170. IF any shall thinke I have beene too bitter The foulenes of this sin constrained me to be so bitter let them pardon this holy impatience and blame the foulnesse of this sinne not my just vehemency considering that the medicine is but fitted to the disease the
if it be a digression either pardon it or passe on to Section 113 they being the Divels children must imitate him in all things yea partaking of his cursed nature they can doe no other as the children of God partaking of the Divine nature can not but resemble God and in nothing more then in being holy as he is holy and in striving after perfection of holinesse Abundance of men giving the raines to their wicked nature and wanting both the Bit of Reason and the Curb of Religion more then imitate Iehu for as Iehu said in dissimulation Ahab served Baal a little but Iehu shal serve him much more so these in the uprightnesse of their hearts seeme to say such and such a wicked wretch serves the divel a little but I wil serve him much more Yea knowing the divel is like that King which Montaigne speaks of with whom that Souldier only which in one or diverse combates hath presented him with seven enemies heades is made noble many of them count it the greatest honour to commit the greatest sinnes and are sorry they cannot commit a sinne unpardonable and without or beyond a president imitating Aristides of Locris who dying of the biting of a Weasell was grieved that he had not beene bitten by a Lion I have heard a cauterised Gallant boast of his lying with women of all conditions save Witches and protest that should be his next attempt but what doe I mentioning such a novice or speaking of that which was only heard by a few I would faine know Many examples of mon sters and superlative sinners I say how men in this and other ages before us could wholly imploy their time and strength and meanes how they could take such paines and be at such cost to commit robberies rapes cruell murthers treasons blow up whole States depopulate whole Towns Cities Countries seduce millions of soules as Mahomet and the Pope have done make open war against the Church of God as Herod Antiochus and others did persecute the known truth as Iulian the Apostate did invent all the new vices they can and destroy the memory of all ancient vertues as Heliogabalus did make it their trade to sweare and for-sweare if any will hire them as our post-Knights do not unlike those Turkish Priests called Seitie and Cagi who for a Ducket will make a thousand false oathes before the Magistrate and take it to be no sinne but a worke deserving praise by lies swearing and forswearing to damnifie Christians what they can did they not strive tooth and naile as wee use to say to imitate their father the Divel O that our Land had not such monsters who upon an howers warning can lend Iezabel an oath to rob poore Naboth of his life and Vineyard that we had not such Vultures irreligious harpies that have consciences like a Barne-doore and seldoâ—e wake but to doe mischiefe some men and women that will bee bauds to their owne wives and daughters O that the Sunne should shine upon her that will sell for gaine unto hell that body which she brought forth with such pains to this earth certainly there was never woman more deserved to bee called the Divells damme then shee some that dare the day to witnesse their ungodlines and doe their villanies as the Pharisies gave their almes and said their prayers to be seene of men who Zimry-like dare bring whores to their Tents openly yea like Absâ—lom dares spread a Tent on the top of the house and goe in to their Concubines in the sight of all men yea Gallants that in a bravery will assemble themselves to their Minions by companies I must not say they are harlots houses and there commit their adulteries in the presence of each other not much unlike Diogenes the Cynick an impudent fellow who would openly commit filthinesse even in the streets And when their bodies have beene the Organs of unrighteousnesse their mouths shall after be the Trumpets to proclaime it much like those savage womenwhich as Montaigne relates for a badg of honour weare as many fringed tossells fastned to the skirt of their garment as they have lyen with severall men you shall often heare old men glory in their fore passed whoredomes boast their homicides c. yea perhaps if it be possible make themselves worse then ever they were yea rather then men will want matter of ostentation they will boast of the fowlest vices as Agesilaus bragd of his stumpt foote Sertorius of his one eye and Rathrond of his scabs for their excrements they account ornaments and make a scarf of their halter but this is a cursed commemoration Againe men there are who like them of Gibeah Iugd. 19. and the Sodomites Gen. 19. are not content with the common way of sinning but are mad with a prodigious and preposterous lust bring forth the men that wee may know them verse 5. And hath not this age some who equall Lycaon that was turned into a Woolfe by Iupiter for his cruelty who seeme to have beene suckled with the milke of Woolfes as it is reported of the first founder of Rome who through custome have made sinne so familiar unto them that the horror of it is turned into a pleasure who being inured to blood make killing of men but a sport as it fared with Abner who called it playing when every one thrust his sword into his fellowes side 2 Sam. 2.14.16 some you shall haver hazard land life soule yea more if more could bee on the fortune of a Rapiers point when but aske whence the cause of that contention ariseth they cannot tell you without blushing so vaine and so frivolous is the occasion many men had rather see a combate fought wherein one man kills another then heare a Sermon or partake of a rich banquet being of Hannibal's humour who seeing a ditch swim with mans blood profest never to have seene a sight which more delighted him or of Herods who thinking hee could not shed blood and bee cruell enough while hee lived and to make the Iewes sorry for his death whether they would or no commanded and made sure that they should slay all the Noble-mens children in Iury as the breath went out of his body some resemble Cajus Caligula who amongst other tyrannies caused at his meales ordinarily one to cut off before him the heads of poore prisoners wherein hee tooke great pleasure or Nero and Domitian who studied strange deaths to afflict the Saints and to suppresse the Gospell or Iustinian who being restored againe to his Empire as oft as hee moved his hand to wipe the filth from his nose which was cut off he commanded one of his enemies or some of their allies to be put to death or lastly the Numantines who being besiedged by the Romanes and brought to great misery made a vow no day to eate meat unlesse the first dish might bee of a Romans flesh nor drinke any drinke unlesse their first draught were Romans blood Againe are there
between a godly wise man and a deluded worldling Want of consideration the cause of all impiety neglect of obedience that which the one doth now judge to be vaine the other shall hereafter finde to be so when it is too late O the want of consideration what is spoken and who speaks is the cause of all impiety and neglect of obedience The reason why Samuel returned to his sleepe one time after another when God called him was he ignorantly thought it was only mans voyce and for the same reason thou wilt not listen to what justice and truth speakes in this behalfe otherwise thou wouldest search the Scriptures and try whether my doctrine and allegations be of God or no Acts 17.11 and being of God and agreeing with the pensell of the Holy Ghost for otherwise thou art free entertaine these lines as if they were an Epistle sent unto thee from heaven and writ by God himselfe to invite and call thee to repentance and though thou canst not imitate Zacheas who was called but once and came quickly to Christ yet thou wouldest imitate Peter and at this last crowing of the Cocke remember the words of Iesus which saith take heed to your selves least at any time your hearts be oppressed with surfeiting and drunkennesse and cares of this life least that day come on you at unawares Luke 21.34 and againe whatsoever ye doe unto the least of mine ye do it unto me and weighing them with thy selfe goe out of thy sinnes by repentance as he went out of the high Priests Hall And so doing it should bee unto thee as Ionathans three Arrowes were to David which occasioned his escape from Saul's fury or as David's Harpe was to Saul which frighted away the evill spirit from him 1 Samuel 16.23 yea as the Angels was to Peter that opened the Iron gates loosed his bands brought him out of Prison and delivered him from the thraldome of his enemies yea if thou beest thine owne friend it shall serve thee as a Buoy to keep thy the ship of soule from splitting upon the Shelf of presumption which is my prayer and hope and should bee my joy to see it these things have I said that ye might be saved You know the good counsell of Sauls servant ledd him in a doubt to the man of God but his owne curiosity ledd him to the Witch of Endor 1 Sam. 9.6 And that little which Craesus King of Lydia learn'd of Solon saved his life and if Pilate would have taken that faire warning which his wife gave him as hee sate to judge Christ it might have saved his soule Matth. 27.19 and so may this thine if thou wilt be warned by it But if this nor no other warning wil serve thee if neither present blessings nor hope of eternall reward will doe any good if neither the Preachers of God in exhorting nor the goodnesse of God in calling nor the will of God in commanding nor the Spirit of God in moving can prevaile with thee tremble to think what a fearefull doome will follow for they shall tremble at the voyce of his condemnation that have shut their eares at the voyce of his exhortation Prov. 1.24 to 33. And so much of the sixth aggravation § 130. SEventhly 7. He not onely commits foule crimes but drawes others into the same sinnes this will above measure aggravate thy doome and adde to thy torment that thou seducest yea enforcest others to sinne and drawest them to perdition with thee for the infection of sinne is much worse than the act and misleades into evill sinne more and shall suffer more then the actors and although to commit such things as thou doest single and alone were enough yea too much to condemn thee yet because thou drawest others with thee to the same sins thy damnation shall be farre greater For they whom thou hast taught to doe ill increase thy sinne as fast as they increase their owne Now if their reward in heaven be so great that save one soule from death Dan. 12.3 how great shall their torment bee in Hell that pervert many soules to destrustion Matth. 5.19 they shall bee maximi in inferno greatest in the kingdome of hell he that can damn many soules besides his owne supererogates of Sathan and hee shall give him a double fee a double portion of hell fire for his paines Who then without a shower of teares can think on thy deplorable state or without mourning meditate thy fad condition Yea if Ely was punished with such fearefull temporall judgements onely for not admonishing and not correcting others which sinned what mayest thou expect that doest intise others yea enforce them though to intise others were wicked enough Let me say to the horror of their consciences that make merchandize of soules that it is a question when such an one comes to hel whether Iudas himself would change torments with him How fearefully think you do the seducer and seduced greet one another in hell me thinks I heare the Dialogue between them wher the best speaks first and saith Thou hast beene the occasion of my sinne and the other thou art the occasion of my more grievous torment c. Evill men delights to make others so one sinner maketh another as Eve did Adam but little doe they thinke how they advance their owne damnations when the blood of so many soules as they have seduced will be required at their hands and little doe sinners know their wickednesse when their evill deeds infect by their example and their evill words infect by their perwasion and their looks infect by their allure ments when they breath nothing but infection much lesse do they know their wretchednesse till they receive the wages of their unrighteousnesse which shall not be paid till their work be done and that will not be done in many yeares after their death For let them dye they sinne still For as if we sowe good works succession shal reape them and we shall be happy in making them so so on the contrary wicked men leave their inventions and evill practises to posterity and though dead are still tempting unto sinne and still they sin in that temptation they sinne as long as they cause sinne This was Ieroboam's case in making Israel to sinne for let him bee dead yet so long as any worship his Calves Ieroboam sinned neither was his sinne soone forgotten Nadab his sonne and Basha his successor Zimry and Omry and Ahab and Ahaziah and Iehoram all these walked in the wayes of Ieroboam which made Israel to sinne and not they alone but the people with them It is easie for a mans sinne to live when himselfe is dead and to leade that exemplary way to hell which by the number of his followers shall continually aggravate his torments The imitaters of evill deserve punishment the abetters more but there is no hell deepe enough for the leaders of publike wickednesse he that invents a new way of serving the
escape yea what vengeance shall bee prepared or is enough for them If God will come in flames of fire to render vengeance unto them which knowe him not how terrible will hee appeare to these his profest enemies who wittingly willingly and maliciously oppose him and his image all they can § 132. OBjection That the use their tongues only a frivolous excuse But thou hast only used thy tongue against them whereas some have shed the blood of the Saints Well suppose it bee so yet what should they suffer from thee if they were at thy mercy It is not so materiall what thou doest as what thou desirest the very purpose of treason though the fact bee hindered is treason not the outward action but the inward affection is all in all with God who measures the work by the will as men measure the will by the worke But to take only what is confest the persecution of the tongue is a greater evill then thou art aware of Wee reade that Chams scoffing only brought his Fathers curse and God's upon that And that their sinne which brought a scandall upon the holy Land and made all the people to murmure against Moses dyed by a plague from the Lord and was the cause that they never entered into it they found it was no jesting matter Numbers 14.37 Now wee may judge of their sin by their punishment yet their sinne was not halfe so bad as theirs is who amongst us cause the way of truth to be evill spoken of for this is either atheisme or frenzie or blasphemy or rather all these and thou shalt one day wish with Hecebolus that thy tongue had been rivetted to the roof of thy mouth from thy conception rather then thou haddest sinned so against the brethren wounded their weake consciences and so risen up against Christ 1 Cor. 8.12 yea to be a scoffer is the depth of sinne such an one is upon the very threshold of hell as being set downe in a resolute contempt of all goodnesse Besides some men will better abide a stake Some can better abide ast ake then others ascoffe then some others can a mock Zedechiah could happily have found in his heart to have harkened to the Prophets counsell but that this lay in his way I am afraid of the Iewes least they deliver me unto the Chaldeans hands and they mocke me Ier. 38.19 It was death to him to be mocked A generous nature is more wounded with the tongue then with the hand yea above hell there is not a greater punishment then to become a Sannio a subject of scorne Sampson bore with more patience the boring out of his eyes then the ludibrious scoffes of the Philistims they made a feast to their gods no Musitian would serve but Sampson he must now be their sport that was once their terror every wit every hand playes upon him who is not ready to cast his bone and his jest at such a captive so as doublesse he wished himselfe no lesse deafe then blind and that his soule might have gone out with his eyes oppression is able to make a wise man mad Eccl. 7.9 and the greater the courage is the more painefull the insultation Alcibiades did professe that neither the proscription of his goods nor his banishment nor the wounds received in his body were so grievous to him as one scornefull word of his enemy Clestiphon Yea O Saviour thine eare was more painefully pierced then thy browes or hands or feete it could not but goe deepe into thy soule to heare those bitter and girding reproaches from them Thou camest to save And hereupon good Queene Esther in her prayers to God for her people doth humbly deprecate this height of infelicity O let them not laugh at our ruines And David acknowledg'd it for a singular token of Gods favour that his enemies did not triumph over him Psal 41.11 Thou thinkest not tongue-taunts to be persecution but thou shalt one day heare it so pronounc't in thy bill of inditement Ishmael did but flout Isaac yet St. Paul saith he persecuted him Gal. 4.29 God calls the scorning of his servants by no better a name then persecution and whatsoever thou conceivest of it let this fault be as farre from my soule as my soule from Hell Alasse this is no petty sinne for one malicious scoffe made Foelix nothing day and night but vomit blood till his unhappy soule was fetcht from his wretched Carkasse And Pherecydes did no more but give religion a nick-name a small matter if thou mayst be made judge yet for that small fault he was consumed by Wormes alive And Lucian for barking like a dog against Religion was by a just judgment of God devoured of Dogs Yea suppose the best that can come namely that God gives thee an heart to repent of it before thou goe hence and that thy soule hath her pardon sued out in the blood of Christ as it fared with St. Paul that chosen vessell yet know that thy body and mind shall smart for this sinne above all doe but heare the Apostles owne testimony of himselfe 2 Corinthians 11.23 to 34 did he make havocke of the Church the world made havocke of him for it did he hale men and women to prison himselfe was often imprisoned did he helpe to stone Steven himselfe was also stoned did he afflict his owne countrimen his owne countrimen no lesse afflicted him did he lay stripes upon the Saints the Iewes layd stripes upon him was he very painefull and diligent to beate downe the Gospell he was in wearinesse and painefulnesse frequent watchings and fastings in hunger and thirst cold and nakednesse to defend the Gospell c. Thus he endured when he was Paul what he inflicted as he was Saul and yet he did it out of ignorance 1 Tim. 1.13 from whence we may argue by way of concession thus If he that found mercy felt the rod which scourged him so smart what shall their plagues be in whose righteous confusion God insulteth Pro. 1.26 Isay 1.24 If he who had his booke felt so much paine what shall they feele that are sentenced to eternall death If he that did it of ignorance and out of zeale was lasht with so many stripes what will become of them that doe the same knowingly and maliciously If Christ will be ashamed of them when he comes to judge that onely were ashamed to confesse him when he came to suffer how will he reject those with indignation that rejected him with derision If the wretched Gergasites who repelled Christ for feare are sent into the fire what doe they deserve who drive him away with scorne § 133. NOw the reason why God punisheth this sinne so severely VVhat is done to the godly Christ takes as done to himselfe And well h◠may for their hatred is against God and Christ is this What wrongs and contumelies are done to his children he accounts as done to himselfe as we may plainely perceive by Psal
another but never overtake each other In youth men resolve to afford themselves the time of age to serve God in age they shuffell it off to sicknesse when sicknesse comes care to dispose their goods lothnesse to dye hope to escape c. martyres that good thought and their resolution still keepes before them Or else it fares with them as with many an unthrifty Trades-man who is loth to turne over his books and cast up his debts least it should put him into sad dumps and fill him with melancholly cares When Christ went about to cast out divels they said he tormented them before the time Matthew 8.29 so whensoever thou goest about to dismisse thy sinnes and pleasures though thou stay till thou be an old man yet they will still say thou dismissest them before the time but then is the time when the divell saith the time is not yet for the divell is a lyer Alasse how many men post off their conversion and at twenty send Religion before them to thirty then put it off to forty and yet not pleased to overtake it they promise it entertainment at three score at last death comes and will not allow thâ—â— one hâ—â—re and perchance when their souâ—e 〈…〉 lips ready to take her slight 〈…〉 for the Minister 〈…〉 them how to die well But as in such extremity the Apothecary gives but 〈…〉 Physick so the Minister can give 〈…〉 Divinity a cordiall that may benum them no solid comfort to secure them her is no time to ransack for sins to search the depth of the ulcer a little balme to supple but the core is left within for though true repentance is never too late yet late repentance is seldome true But here is great hope thou wilt say as it is the Divinity of diverse let men live as they list in ignorance and all abominable filthinesse so they call at last and but say Lord have mercy upon me we must infallibly conclude their estate as good as the best as though the Lord had not said you shall cry and not bee heard Prov. 1 I know the mercy of God may come inter pontem fontem inter gladium jugulum betwixt the bridg and the brook betwixt the knife and the throate and repentance may bee suggested to the heart in a moment in that very instant but this only may bee there is no promise for it many threatnings against it little likelihood of it it were madnesse for thee to break thy necke to try the skil of a Bone-setter But how many on the other side dye in Spira's case who being willed in his sicknesse to say the Lords prayer answered I cannot find in my heart to call him father whereas not one of many leave a certaine testimony or sure evidence behind them that their repentance is true and sound And indeed how is it likely they should dispatch that in half an howre which should be the busines of our whole life For as hee which never went to Schole will hardly when he is put to it reade his neck-verse so hee that never learn'd the doctrine of repentance in his life will find it very hard if not impossible at his death Let men therefore repent while they live if they would rejoyce when they dye let them with Noah in the dayes of their health build the Arke of a good conscience against the floods of sicknesse yea if they have spent a great part of their time in the service of sinne as Paul did let them for the refidue of their life make the world amends by their double yea treble endeavour to redeeme that time by a holy life and godly conversation for else we may justly suspect the truth and soundnesse of their repentance and conversion We seldome 〈…〉 that were long barren either in soule 〈…〉 but they had the happiest issue afterwards witnesse Sarah Manoah's Wife Hannah Elizabeth Saul Mary Magdalen c. As for the purposes of repentance which men frame to themselves at the last houre they are but false conceptions that for the most part never come to bearing and indeed millions are now in hell which thought they would repent hereafter not being wise enough to consider that it is with sinne in the heart as with a Tree planted in the ground the longer it groweth the harder it is to be pluck'd up it is too late to transplant Trees after two seaven yeares or a Nayle in a Post which is made faster by every stroke or a Ship that leaketh which is more easily emptied at the begining then afterwards Or a ruinous house which the longer it is let runne the more charge and labour will it require in the repairing Yea sinne out of long possession will plead prescription custome of any evill makes it like the lawes of the Medes and Persians which may not be altered or removed an old vice is within a degree of impossible to be amended which maketh the Lord say by his Prophet Can the Black-more change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also doe good that are accustomed to de evill Ier. 13.23 All other men have but three enemies to encounter with the Divel the World and the Flesh but he that hath long continued in the practise of any evill hath a fourth which is worse then the worst of them even custome which is a second or new nature § 153. BUt suppose after many yeares spent in the service of sinne 3 Or suppose thou offer thy best devotions to God wil be accept of thy dry bones wheÌ„ Sathan hath suk'd out all the marrow and Sathan thou art willing to relinquish thy lusts and offer thy seruice and best devotions at the last gasp to God will he accept them no in al probability he will not for heare what himself saith Pro. 1. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out mine hand and ye would not regard but despised all my counsell and would none of my correction I wil also laugh at your destruction and mocke when your feare commeth when your feare commeth like suddaine desolation and your destruction like a whirlewind When affliction and anguish shall come upon you then shall you call upon me but I will not answer you shall seeke me early but you shall not find me because you hated knowledge and did not choose the feare of the Lord. You would none of my counsell but despised all my corrections therefore you shall eat the fruit of your owne way and bee filled with your owne devises ver 24. to 32. And this is but justice if God be not found of those that were content to loose him if he heare not them that would not heare him if he regard not them that disregarded him if he shut his eare against their prayer crying to him for pardon that stopt their eares against his voyce calling upon them for repentance as Salvian speakes Alasse no child would bee whipt if he might scape for crying
dayes but most rageth on the Lords day this mad and unruly sin that knowes neither Magistrate nor Minister nor Father nor King nor Caesar this murtherous sin which kill more then the sword this adulterous sin which fils all corners with whore dome and uncleannes this thievish sinne that steals away mens time wealth wits that robs the poore of their due this flanderous sin that loades the world with tales and slanders against the Host of the living God this Atheisticall sinne that believes no more the threates and promises of God then if some Imposter had spoken them this hellish sinne which hardens and makes up the heart against all repentings this unnaturall sinne 1 Lay to heaeâ—â— the things delivered that puts off al thoughts of ones familie ones selfe and sends him on grazing with Nâ—buc hadnezzar this sinne this vile sinne thus transcendent let him first dwell upon and lay to heart the things formerly delivered that by this tast hee may learne to detest the drunkards qualities 2. Avoid the causes formerly haâ—dled let him remove and take heed of all the forenamed causes especially of affecting popular applause and reputation of good fellowship that so the causes being removed and taken away the effect may cease to unlearn evill is the best kind of learning Next observe these Rules which I shall but touch whereof some are generall some more proper and peculiar The generall meanes are § 174. FIrst 3 Believe their state danâ—ero us and that there is no â—ay to help ut by a change to the couâ—trary believe thine estate dangerous and that there is but one way to helpe thee viz. to repent what thou hast done and never more to doe what thou hast repented not fostering one knowne sin in thy soule for the only way to become good is first to believe that thou art evill and by accusing our selves we prevent Sathan by judging our selves we prevent God And lastly one hole in a Ship may sinke her one Bullet may kill a man aswel as twenty neither is repentance without amendment any more then to pump and never stop the leake 2. Secondly if thou beest convinced and resolvest upon a new course 4. Be constant and peremptory in their resolutiou let thy resolution bee peremptory and constant If with these premonitions the Spirit vouchsafes to stirre in thy heart by good motions and holy purposes to obey God in letting thy sinnes go as once the Angel in the Poole of Bethesda take hold of opportunity and having eares to heare hark en what the Spirit saith and take heed you harden not againe as Pharaoh and the Philistins did Thou knowest Pharaoh had many purposes to obey God in letting the children of Israel goe but still hardens againe as often as he purposed untill God had almost destroyed the whole Land yea after hee had stood out nine plagues when death entred within his Palaces he dismissed the people but presently after in all hast makes after them to fetch them back againe yea he could seeme religious when the fit tooke him every great plague put him into a Feaver and then he was godly of a sudden O pray for me now but when the fit was over Pharaoh was Pharaoh againe as prophane as ever nine times hee began to relent and nine times againe hee hardened his heart but he was never good egg nor bird his beginning was naught his proceeding worse and who could looke for better at his later end and the Philistins being five times punished five times repented themselves and at last returned to their old by as againe in which they remained constant 1 Samuel 5. and 6. Chapters Againe Pilate had strong purposes and desires to let Christ goe yet at lenght condemned him to content the people Luke 23.22 to 25. The young man in the Gospel resolved verily to follow Christ but turned backe and went away sorrowfull when hee heard the condition propounded of giving that he had to the poore Mat. 19.22 Iudas was grieved for murthering Christ yet no change ensued hee after murthered himselfe all these conceptions dyed before they came to the birth therfore take heed least it should fare so with thee How many thousand good motions of the Holy Ghost prove still-borne and abortive through our negligence or be over-laid with our vanities we use them as Iulius Caesar did the Paper that concerned his owne life all the other petitions he read only that he put in his pocket and never look'd on it Men commonly regard the songs of Sion as they doe musicke which they heare at night in the streets whiles they are in bed perhaps they will step to the window and listen to it awhile as if they lik'd it but presently to bed againe O doe not like the Israelites who are said to heare God and in the same Chapter to worship the Calfe quench not the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 If thou be upon the mountaine looke not backe againe upon Sodome as Lot's wife did If thou be within the Arke fly not out againe into the world as Noah's Crow did If thou bee well washed returne not againe to the mire as the Hog doth If thou beest clean purged turne not againe to thy filthy vomit as the Dog doth If thou be going towards the land of Canaan think not of the flesh-pots of Egypt If thou have set thy hand to the plow looke not behind thee for better not begin then leave off having begun better remaine cold then first bee hoâ— then luke-warme and after key-cold againe For as in naturall things as water that which hath beene a little warmed becommeth more cold then if it had never had any heat in it so in spirituall the evill spirit having once forsaken a man if he returnes to that house after it is empty swept and garnished he bringeth with him seven more spirits worse then himselfe and the latter end of that man is worse then his beginning Matth. 12.43.45 Thus it fared with Iulian the apostate and Iudas the traitor who suffering the divell to enter into him when he had newly received the Sacrament he could never afterward be driven out againe so if the divell enter into thee after thouhastreceived this warning had these good purposes and made these holy resolutions he will possesse thee like Iudas stronger then he did before Oh it is a fearefull thing to receive the grace of God in vaine and a desperate thing being warned of a Rock wilfully to cast our selves upon it Wherefore resemble not the Chelidony stone which retaineth his vertue no longer then it is rub'd wiâ—h gold nor the Iron which is no longer soft then it is in the fire Be not like those which are Sea sicke who are much troubled while they are on ship-board but presently well againe when they come to shore for that good saith Gregory will doe us no good which is not made good by perseverance § 175 3 NOw if thou intendest to hold
medicine saith St. Austin yea admit thou wert put to this extremity that thou must either drinke excessively against thy stomacke and conscience or else thou must die for it as sometimes it falls out either drinke or I 'le stab thee it is farre better saith the same Augustine that thy sober and temperate flesh should bee slaine by a sword then that thy soule should be evercome by this sinne of drunkennesse And indeed the magnanimous Christian will lose his life rather then the peace of a good conscience like Iohn Baptist he will hold his integrity though he lose his head for it And indeed Death in a good cause shall pleasure not hurt us let a man but keepe a good corespondence with God and his owne conscience and then he may answer all as he did when the Tyrant threatned him I will take away thy house yet thou canst not take away my peace I will breake up thy schoole yet shall I keepe whole my peace I will confiscate all thy goods yet there is no Premunire against my peace I will banish thee thy countrey yet I shall carry my peace with mee so mayst thou say take away my riches yet I have Christ take away friends liberty wife and children life and all yet I have Christ that is to me both in life and death advantage Suppose thou beest kild for obeying God rather then man what greater honor can be done thee Queene Anne Bolane the Mother of blessed Queene Elizabeth when she was to be beheaded in the Tower thus remembred her thankes to the King Of a private Gentlewoman said she he made me a Marquesse of a Marquesse a Queene and now having left no higher degree of earthly honour for mee he hath made me a Martyr And what said Iustine Martyr to his murtherers in behalfe of himselfe and his fellow Martyrs you may kill us but you can never hurt us And Francisco Soyit to his adversaries you deprive me of this life and promote me to a better which is as if you should rob me of counters and furnish me with gold The sooner I die quoth another the sooner I shall be happy and even in the very act of suffering God gives courage with the one hand and holds out a crowne with the other 2 Cor. 1.5 and 12.10 When Pyrrhus tempted Fabricius VVhich hath made many preferre it before the greatest pleasure profit or honour the first day with an Elephant so huge and monstrous a beast as before he had not seene the next day with money and promises of honour he answered I feare not thy force and I am too wise for thy fraud He will never feare to be killed who by killing is sure to be crowned His resolution is like that of Consalvo who protested to his souldiers shewing them Naples that he had rather die one foote forwards then to have his life secured for long by one foote of retrait And good reason for doth not our Saviour say whosoever shall seeke to save his life in this case shall lose it I more he shall lose both body and soule eternally for so the words imply but whosoeuer shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospells he shall save it Mat. 10.39 Luke 17.11.33 This priviledge hath God given to those that feare him that they need not to feare any thing else Yea though every paine they suffer were a death and every crosse an Hell they know they have amends enough when they heare the Holy Ghost say Apoc. 2.10 be thou faithfull unto the death and I will give thee the crown of life And indeed this promise which is added should me thinkes be a notable spurre to our perseverance should exceedingly sharpen the commandement and drive it more deepely into our minds making us to say with Pompey being to cary corne to Rome in time of dearth and the Sea tempestuous it is necessary that I goe on not that I live Many have thought health worthy to be purchased with the price of Cauthers and Incisions how painefull soever but alasse eternall life is a precious pearle which a wise Merchant will purchase though it cost him his life yea had he a thousand lives and all that he hath Mat. 13. The women told Naomy that Ruth was better unto her then seven Sonnes Ruth 4. but Christ is better then seventy times seven lives for what is life together with a perpetuated fame from Adam till doomes day in respect of salvation for eternity or what are they that can only kill the body to Him that after he hath kild the body can cast both body and soule into Hell But as warme cloathes to a dead man But others preferre the worlds favour before Gods so are the motions of valour to a fearefull heart say what can be said cleare mens judgements cure their prejudice many will yet feare the worlds opinion more then Gods displeasure which is to runne into the fire to avoid the smoake and more dread the mockes and flouts of men on earth then they doe the grinning mockes of the Devills in Hell which makes them cease to be good Christians that they may be thought good companions wherein they put downe Aesop's foolish fishes that leapt out of the warme water into the burning fire for ease or Timocrates who as Thucydides relates kil'd himself for feare least he should be drowned Wherefore seeing all men cannot receive this gift of fortitude save they to whom it is given I will yet shew you if not a more excellent yet a more safe way to avoid this danger and all other their allurements § 194. IF thou wouldest neither bee intised nor enforced to pledge them VVe must refraine their company and not dispute with them o◠we shall not hold out in any of their wicked customes divorce thy selfe from all acquaintance and society with the vicious yea entertaine no parly with them There are some vices of that nature that they cannot be vanquished but by avoiding such is fornication fly fornication saith the Apostle 1 Corinth 6.18 that is flee the company of fornicators for to be in a lewd womans company saith Salomon and depart innocent and to take fire in a mans bosome and not singe his cloaths or go upon live coles and his feet not be burnt are equally possible Prov. 6.27 28. such is the frailty of mans nature that if the eye but see or the eare heare or the hand but touch a whorish woman the heart will goe nigh to catch and take fire verse 29. And thus is fares with this sinne bid a man consort a while with drunkards and depart from them innocent you may as well put a match to dry powder and forbid it to take fire except he be very well stayed and of better governd affections then ordinary It is not safe to commit a little Wherry to the Seas violence A sticke that hath once been in the fire much more a Torch newly extinguisht being forth with
think it a disgrace though the great exchange the World should judge it so Even modesty in some is a vice when out of a weake flexibility of nature Even modesty in some is a vlce a man hath not courage enough to deny the request of a seeming friend If a man never abandoneth evill untill he abandoneth evill company it is high time to take courage yea the longer wee have beene with them the more need have we to hasten out of them If this satisfie not as the Emperor Frederick said to certaine of his Minions that vvere importunate to get into their hands the ancient demeasne of the Empire that hee would rather be accounted of small liberallity then perjured even so had vve in this case rather be accounted inconstant then be unconscionable To the second part of the objection True love and friend ship only among good men I ansvver That true love and friendship is only among good men The vvicked may talke of it and one drunkard may professe to another that hee loves him as well as himselfe and therein speake truth for saith Augustine most elegantly to such an one thou lovest thy selfe so as thou wilt destroy thy selfe and thou wilt destroy him whom thou lovest as thy selfe yea better then themselves for you shall have one Ruffian salute another with God save you Sir but after some strange attestations sweare away himselfe with God damn me Sir now how can any wise man thinke him a friend that is his own enemy he that is evill to himselfe to whom will he be good But see the depth of such a mans love and whether it be not to damn thy body and soule everlastingly S. Ambrose tels us of one who solicited a godly woman to incontinency saying he infinitely loved her she answers if you love me so well as you seeme put one of your fingers into the flame till your flesh be burnt off he replys that was no part of love in her to require it yes said she if yours be love to cause both my body and soule to be burnt in hell fire for ever which by consequence will follow if I yeeld to your request and take your counsell Oh that thou hadst the wit to answer the drunkard when he tempts thee thus Indeed there is a kind of agreement which is strengthened by sinne it selfe as if one fee the keeper of a wench his secrecy is bought for ever But all this while if one call another friend it is but to give him a nick-name whereof hee is not guilty for true friendship is so sacred holy and pure that it will not be used in evill which made Pericles when hee was desired by a friend of his to aide him with false witnesse answere that hee would befriend him as farre as the Altar meaning so farre as stood with piety and religion or his duty to God but no further and Phecion refuse to help his son in law Cariles in judgement being accused for bribery saying withall that hee had made him his friend and allie in just and reasonable matters and in them only and this likewise made Papinian a Pagan being commanded by the Emperor Caracalla whose Steward and familiar he was refuse to defend an unjust cause as Marcellinus records and thus it fares with all that are truly religious There is not any one quoth the sincere Christian either in blood or otherwise so neare unto me but if he fall from God I will fall from him why our Saviour Christ hath taught me both by precept and example that I should acknowledge none so as to be led by them for my brother sister or mother but such as do the will of my Father which is in heaven Matth. 12.46 to 51. Whereas on the contrary Nothing rivils hearts so close as religion in things lawfull nothing rivits hearts so close as religion it unites them together as glew doth boards together it makes a knot even betweene such as never saw one anothers face that Alexander can not cut yea Tyrants will sooner want invention for torments then they with tortures bee made treacherous How many have chosen rather to embrace the flames then to reveale their companions and brethren in Christ There is no friendship like the friendship of faith There is Amor among Beasts Dilectio among Men Charitas among Christians that is their peculiar nature makes husband and wife but one flesh grace makes them even one spirit and it is a question whether naturall Parents are to be loved above spirituall we know that Christ preferred his spirituall kindred to that of the flesh and major est connexio cordium quà m sanguinum saith Beza Why should wee love them more that brought us into this sinfull and miserable world then those that bring us into a better world where is neither sinne nor misery why them that live with us on earth but a while equall to them that shal live with us in heaven for ever But to goe on Surely as grace in her selfe is farre above nature so is she likewise in her effects and consequently unites in a farre more durable bond Christians hearts are joyned one to another with so fast a glew that no by respects can sever them as you may see in that paire of friends Ionathan and David none had so much cause to disaffect David as Ionathan none in all Israel should be such a looser by David's successe as he Saul was sure enough setled for his time only his successor should forgoe all that which David should gaine so as none but David stands in Ionathan's way to the Crowne and yet all this cannot abate one dramme of his love As also in Ruth and Naomy whom nothing but death could part Ruth 1. If you will see other examples looke Rom. 1.10 11. 1 Thes 2.17 19.20 Galathians 4.18 19. Act. 20.37 38. and 16.15 Luke 4.42 2 Kings 2.4.9 and 4.9 10. As grace is the greatest attractive of love so is it the surest bond it is like varnish that makes seelings not onle shine but last Where God uniteth hearts carnall respects are too weake to dissever them since that which breakes off affection must needs be stronger then that which conjoyneth it and why doth S. Iohn use these words once to the elect Lady 2 Iohn 1.2 and againe to Gajus 3 Iohn 1. whom I love in the truth but to shew that to love in the truth is the only true love Indeed religion is the surest cement of all societies the loser joynts of all naturall and civill relations are compacted and confirmed by the sinewes of grace and religion and such a lose joynted friendship cannot hold long which wants the nerves of religion Wherefore give mee any foe rather then a resolved Christian no friend unlesse a man truly honest § 205. BUt here it will be objected Object That wee hate and contemne all Another objection answered who are not like our selves that wee remember them so much to
c. 770. Degrees Sathan workes men by degrees to the heigth of impiety and not all at once 423. Drunkennesse seven causes of it 259. the transcendency of the sin 694. it is the root of all evill 27. the rot of all good 33. it disables and indisposeth a man to all good 32. the cause of adultery 54. and of murther 50. brings poverty 62. deformes a man 66. debilitates the body 40. beastiates the soule 59. findes men fooles or makes them so 124 examples of drinke besotting men 129 discovers all secrets 82. makes dry and they cure sinne with sinne 78 no dispossessing of a drunken divel 231. wee ought not bee drunk to save our lives 768. Drunkards not to be reckoned among men 2. for they are beasts and wherein 7. yea they exceed beasts in beastlinesse 5. are inferiour to them in five particulars 10. they shame their creation 14. the drunkards outward deformities 37. his inward infirmities 40. he is his own executioner 19.47 one drunkard tongue enough for twenty men 80. his vaine babling 85. scurrilous jesting 86. wicked talking 87. impious swearing 89. his discourse and behaviour on the Ale-bench 115. to drink is all his exercise 144. all his labour is to satisfie his lusts 74. they drink not for the love of drink if you will believe them 272. which being so doubles their sin 274. they drink more spirits in a night then their flesh and brains be worth 145. Drunkards transform themselves into the condition of evill Angels 25. and practise nothing but the art of debauching men 307. how they intise 319. what they thinke of him they cannot seduce 521. but in time of their distresse they think otherwise ibid. how they will enforce men to pledg their healths 320. how impatieut of deniall 321. an unpardonable crime not to drinke as they doe 137. to damne their own soules the least part of their mischiefe 331. one true drunkard makes a multitude 332. if the divel would surrender his place it should be to some good fellow or other 334. the divell speakes in and workes by them as once he did by the Serpent 299. how drunkards smarme in every corner 336. Sathan more men on earth to fight for him then the Trinity which made us 301. Drunkards like Iulian who never did a man a good turn but it was to damn his soule 339. wher efore keepe out of their reach 714. see the danger and know their aime 714. refraine dispute with them or thou wilt not hold out 773. punishment of drunkards 147.456 they are reserved to the great day ibid. the drunkard hath beene too long sicke to bee recovered 690. they have a way to evade all Gods threatnings 542. E ENmity betweene the wicked and godly 341. proclaimed by God in Paradise 430. Envie if drunkards cannot seduce us they will envie and hate us 341. how their enuy vents it self at their mouths 1. by censuring the sober 347. whereof foure reasons 349. secondly by slandering them 358. whereof seven reasons 366. againe at their hands many wayes 391. of which five reasons 402. Evill we are more prone to then good 717. Example of the greatest Number 165. the greatest Men 169. the greatest Schollers 177. the best men 197. let Custome 162. Reason 202. Good intentions 206. bee added no safe rule to walk by without a precept 162. Excuses of drunkards taken away 154. F FAith 653. Drunkards would flout us out of our faith 381. Feare and cowardise a cause of drunkennesse 282. Fooles the greatest polititian the greatest foole 613. in five particulars made good 621. some wise in foolish things and foolish in wise things 638 bray them in a mortar they will not leave their sinnes 624. though the Divel makes fooles of them yet he makes them wise enough to make fooles of any that will trust them 636 the voluptuous fooles 643. the greatest bousers the greatest buzzards 121. the greatest humanist without grace little better 604. Forsake none but counterfeits will forsake Christ for all they can do 534. Friends wicked men wrong none so much as their best friends to whom they owe their very lives 515. love and friendship only among good men 843 G GOd his gifts numberlesse 481. Godly what is done to them Christ challengeth as done to himselfe 508. Goodnes alone the whetstone of a drunkards envie 386. Good and bad agree together like the Harp and Harrow 821. good men must be imitated only in good things 157. good intentions cannot justifie evill acts 206. good-fellowes who 820. reputation of goodfellowship 277. Guilty we may be of anothers sin divers wayes 825 H HAnds hatred and malice of drunkards would break out at their hands were they not manacled by the Law 391. Heart to get an humble heart 649. Hatred against the religious the most bitter and exorbitant 343. they hate none but the good 411. but they are sure of opposition 412. how their hatred vents it selfe 345. their hatred is against God and Christ 508. not to tell our neighbour of his faxlts is to hate him 826. to hate the vices of a wicked man but love his person 849. wee should hate evill in whomsoever 850. Hell a description of it and the last judgement 458.461 good men draw all they can to Heaven 440. wicked men all they can to Hell ibid. none helpe to people Hell like drunkards 451. they would have our company in Hell 436. and why 446. the covetous man can finde in his heart to go to Hell so his sonne may be left rich 629. Healths a shoinghorne to all excesse 309. they drinke others healths their owne deaths 323. of which many examples and of the just judgement of God upon drunkards 314. healths great in measure or many in number 310. if small the liquor is stronger or the number more 311. healths upon their knees 313. not more forward to drinke healths then zealous and carefull that other pledge the same 318. the rise and originall of health drinking 313. Honesty he the soberest and honestest man that resembles the drunkard least 691. good-fellowship the utmost of a drunkards honesty 139. Honour misprision of it and reputation 322 Hope easily blown into a wicked man and as soone blowne out of him 444. Hurt drunkards would hurt and maime us for being sober and conscionable if they durst 392. I IDlenesse a cause of drunkennesse and drunkennesse a cause of idlenesse 72. an idle person good for nothing but to propagate sin 73 Ignorance of drunkards 121.107 and all naturall men 177.600 the cause of all sin 593. drunkards in sensible of their sinne and danger because ignorant 107. Ingratitude and great folly of wicked men 526. Intention of soule-murther shall bee rew arded as if they did it 539. Ioy if true only enjoyed by good men 817. the joy of worldlings more talked of then felt 817. objections touching joy and good-fellowship answered 817. Iudge wicked men judge of things 757. and persons 759. by contraries 761. their judgement