desireth the more to haue thy companie to death whom thou canst not better obey than if thou daily sinne by his suggestion and being fallen carest not to rise againe Wherein whilest thou yeeldest thy consent thou seemest to haue made a sure bargaine with him and because thou art irrecouerably fallen thou must necessarily be his companion in his fall too To liue to thee that art infected with the dangerous plague of so many sinnes is not to liue but to confound life and to approch neerer and neerer to the gates of hell Thou art aliue in thy bodie but dead in thy minde That life is not to be called life whereby thou liuest only vnto death for it were better for thee that euery day doest die in thy soule that in bodie thou die quickly better that thou liue not at all that thou wert not borne than by sinne to die daily As often as thou sinnest so often thou deseruest eternall death which if for one sinne thou deserue what doest thou for many for millions of sinnes For so manie and so great sinnes how intolerable shall hell be when for one so many and so vnspeakeable torments must be endured For there shall euerie man haue his damnation so much the more intolerable by how much the greater iniquitie he hath heere But to thee that hast no good thing to alleage for thy selfe but whole mountaines of sinne against thy selfe it is not possible to vtter what plagues and punishments do belong I can not woonder sufficiently how thou canst sleepe securely and enioy thy pleasures without feare For if thou wert odious to a King whom thou hast offended and diddest euery houre expect from him the sentence of a cruell death wouldest thou laugh and attend thy pleasures Now then â—ince for thy many and great offences the sentence of eternall death is pronounced against thee and the Lord to the end he may haue mercy on thee still expecting thy conuersion hath deferred his sentence which perhaps to day nay this very houre he will execute vpon thee how canst thou as it were in an assured peace be secure Thou art in greater danger that goest to thy rest with a conscience clogd with one mortall sinne than with seuen of thy deadliest enemies Doubtlesse if thou diddest but see thine owne soule thou wouldest blush at the foulenesse thereof and if thou knewest how great dangers thou runnest into by sinne thou wouldest thinke of nothing more than how to auoid it By sin thou makest God thine enemie the diuell dry lord and thou that wert first by adoption the sonne of God after sinne art made the seruant and slaue of the diuel yea of sinne it selfe and that which is woorst of all of so many lords as of sins Whosoeuer committeth sinne Ioh. 8.34 is the seruant of sinne A wicked man though he reigne is a seruant of sinne a iust man though he serue is a free man nay hee wanteth not kingly power that knoweth how to rule his owne affections God so hateth sinne that for the hatred thereof he destroyed almost all his works the whole world by a generall flood yea to the end he might vtterly kill it he gaue vnto death yea the shamefull death of the crosse his only begotten sonne And is not his hatred great towards his enemie that to be reuenged vpon him will kill his owne sonne God neither in heauen nor vpon earth hath a friend so deare vnto him but if he finde him polluted with mortall sinne he is presently odious vnto him and that vessell of sinne that is that sinner hee throweth downe into hell fire for a wicked man and his wickednesse are alike odious vnto God As if thou haddest rather to cast a vessel ful of corruption yet of great price into the sea than to scoure and clense it of the filth therof must not that filth and corruption be very hatefull vnto thee for which thou art content to lose so precious a vessell And as a louing mother if shee should cast her little infant whom she dearly loueth into a burning furnace there to perish must it not be some great matter very hatefull vnto her that can vrge her to such crueltie against her owne childe Sinne as much as it displeaseth God so much it pleaseth the diuel insomuch that from the creation of the world he hath euer watched without wearinesse how to allure men vnto sinne and though he obtein his purpose with innumerable numbers of men yet he is neuer satisfied After thou hast once sinned thou art so farre foorth in the power of the diuell that presently by his owne right he may challenge thee to be his and cartie thee with him to eternall torments if he were not staied by the great mercie of God expecting thee to repentance It were better for thee to haue a thousand diuels in thy body than one deadly sinne in thy minde And therefore saith Anselme If I should here see the shame of sinne and there the horror of hell and that I must necessarily bee ouerwhelmed by the one I would rather cast my selfe into hell than suffer my selfe to fall into an insensible feeling of my sinnes yea I had rather being purged and purified from sinne to enter into hell than polluted with the contagion of sinne if it were possible it might be so possesse the kingdome of heauen If sinne be more to be detested than hell what can be more detestable than sinne If there were no sinne there were no torment in hel No aduersitie could hurt if no iniquitie did beare rule for it is only sinne that can hurt and bring to passe that no other thing can do good So long as thou continuest in sinne thou canst doe nothing that is good For as a root giueth no moisture to a rotten bough nor the sunne any light to a blinde eye so thou as a rotten and dead member of the Church for who will say thou art liuing that hast no feeling of compunction in thy heart art depriued of al that good that is or can be in the Church and thou art robbed of all that good that euer thou hast done in thy whole life and of all those virtues and graces which at the first thou receiuedst at Gods hands in as much as they stand thee in no stead to the attainment of eternall life as a dead man hath no power either to enioy his owne goods or to get others And besides a thousand other euils that follow sinne the miserable torment of thine owne conscience followeth thee whithersoeuer thou goest For sinne whilest it is committed pleaseth being committed it tormenteth for the worme thereof neuer dieth and in this life the torment thereof is but an entrance to that which is to come Ps 49.20 O man when thou wert in honour thou vnderstoodest not but wert compared to the beasts that perish and art made like vnto them Thou that through the merits of Christ Iesus wert made woorthy of heauen and all
interposest the barre and partition wall of thy sinnes betwixt God and thee for as a wall makes a separation betwixt the eie and the light so sinne betwixt God and man And as the life of the body is the soule so the life of the soule is God and as the bodie dies if the soule forsake it so the soule dies if God forsake it as the outward death separateth the soule from the bodie so the inward death the soule from God O how great a wretchednesse is it to bee farre from him that is euery where and to bee without him without whom no man can be in safetie And yet he alwayes departed vnwillingly from man and by his will forsaketh no man He is neuer absent if not first expeld whom whilest by sinne thou shuttest out of doores thou excludest thy selfe from thy own saluation but God thou harmest not As if from the root of the vine I am the vine Iohn 15. you the branches sayth the Lord a branch bee not plucked it beareth much fruit and receiueth nourishment from the root which if it be plucked from the vine hurts not the vine because the vine ministreth vitall nourishment to the branches not they to the vine so to those that are in Christ Iesus and Christ in them many gists and graces flow from him which are beneficiall vnto Christians not to Christ One branch being plucked from the vine another springeth from the root thereof but that which is pluckt can not liue without a root but withereth and is gathered vp and cast into the fire And as he that turneth his eyes from the light hurts not the light but himselfe in changing darknesse for light so whilest thou refusest to stick vnto God who is the light of thy soule thou fallest into blindnesse and darkenesse not of thy eyes but of thy maners not of thy outward eyes wherewith thou discernest white from blacke but of thy inward wherewith thou shouldest iudge of that which is iust and vniust For as in that place that is not lightned by the beames of the sunne the motes are not discerned so thou that art fallen from the grace of Gods diuine illumination committest manie things that are sinnes and yet perceiuest it not wheras they that are inlightned with the sunne of righteousnesse doe both diligentlie prie into them and straitly reprehend them Thou that art fallen from the inward grace of Gods diuine illumination but yet not altogether so long as thou art in this life into the inward darknesse blindnesse of thy minde if thou persist in this thy blindnesse to the end and neglectest the receiuing of the grace of his illumination from the Sunne of righteousnesse at the last thou fallest into vtter darknesse and a night of eternall damnation being far remooued from him that dwelleth in that light that is inaccessible Moreouer whils by sinne thou departest from God who is all good onely good without whom nothing is good thou no way damnifiest God who hath no need of thee or thine but being depriued of thy chiefe and greatest good thou fallest into the greatest miseries that may be And this let me tell thee that though of thy selfe and by thy owne will thou haddest power to fall from good to euill yet of thy selfe and by thy onely will thou hast not power to arise from euill to good thou art fallen by thine owne will into the pit of sinne but yet at thine owne will and pleasure thou canst not be freed from thence For the wound is not so easily cured as giuen and no man can so easily get out of the pit as fall into it But as he can hardly get out except some one or other let downe a line vnto him which he taking hold of may dragge him out so except the grace of God descend vpon thee thou canst neuer get out of the pit of sinne but yet thou must know that this grace of God is alwaies ready to help thee and to draw thee foorth of the pit doe thou only take hold of the mercy of God when it is offered and applie thy will vnto his will and all shall be well It is not therefore in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy who like a carefull nurse directeth and beareth vp her little infant vntill it bee able to goe of it selfe So the Lord who can denie himselfe to none in the beginning of our conuersion beareth with our infirmities and annointeth our wounds with the oile of his mercy lest the danger of our disease and the difficultie of the cure should any way terrifie or amaze vs. And this he doth foure maner of wais For to a man that by repentance turneth vnto him but yet by long custome is entangled in his sinnes sometimes out of his mercie hee sendeth tribulations which possesse the minde of him that repenteth and expell that delight of sin that stealeth vpon him Sometimes he taketh away the opportunitie of falling and suffereth not the weaknesse of a man to bee tempted Sometimes hee giueth strength to resist temptations which manfully resisting he may feele but not yeeld vnto Somtimes he cureth the affections that he doeth not onely not consent but not feel the power therof But to a sinner that neglecteth the grace of God and refuseth to follow the good inspiratiōs of his spirit he giueth not his grace in so great a measure but yet so long as he liueth he doeth not altogether withdraw it but he standeth and knocketh at the doore of his conscience to awakē his drowsy wil dead desires But yet many times he withdraweth some speciall helpes heereunto as infirmities of the body losse of temporall goods the like which are meanes to draw a miserable sinner to repentance For many times hee giueth temporal blessings out of his anger which out of loue hee would not haue giuen and permitteth a sinner to doe that which he should not so much as intertaine into his thought As a Physitian that hath vsed all the Art hee can to cure a disease so soone as he seeth his patient to refuse that Physicke he ministreth vnto him he leaueth him to himselfe as a man that refuseth to liue and because hee despaireth of his health he giueth him leaue to take whatsoeuer hee desireth So God in his iust iudgement suffereth a sinner to be giuen ouer according to the desires and lusts of his owne heart to a reprobate sense as into the hands of a cruell master to doe those things that are not sit Not because God inclineth his affections vnto euill but because hee withdraweth his grace whereby man should bee conuerted Yea and hee sometime permitteth a man to doe wickedly and yet to liue happily not exercising his furie vpon him nor reuenging his sinne with any temporall punishment but reserueth him to eternall damnation than which nothing can be worse for then is the anger of God greatest when hee sheweth not himselfe to bee
spirituall graces by sinne art made vnworthy the bread that thou eatest and being depriued of thy greatest good art fallen into thy greatest miserie As vertue is the beauty of the soule so sin is the deformity thereof If thou sawest thy soule thou wouldest blush at the basenesse and misery thereof and wouldest endeuour to recouer the grace of her ancient dignitie If thou haue an arrow in thy body thou hastenest to plucke it out and if thou fall into the durt thou arisest presently The hurt silth of thy bodie doest thou with such diligence desire to free thy selfe of and yet art thou content to suffer thy soule to wallow in her pollution And though the soule was not made for the bodie but the bodie for it yet thou neglectest the care of thy soule and followest that of the bodie with all that is in thee Thou that neglectest thy soule though thou take care to trim vp thy body yet thou neglectest them both whereas if thou tookest care to adorne thy soule though thou neglect thy body thou sauest both CHAP. VI. How miserable the despaire a sinner is at the point of death Consider a little my deare brother how often and how grieuously thou hast offended thy Lord God yea more often more grieuously than many who are now deseruedly tormented in the fire of hell and then call vnto minde how great a benefit God hath bestowed on thee in staying and attending that he might haue mercy on thee in yeelding vnto thee out of his mercy a time of repentance who long since shouldest haue beene tormented in hell fire Whereas if God a iust Iudge strong and patient in al those houres and moments wherein thou hast offended him had permitted thee as he hath diuers others to haue died a sudden death alas where had thy soule beene The Lord hath brought thy soule out of hell Psal 30. hee hath reuiued thee from them that goe downe into the pit and yet thou ceasest not to sinne but more and more thou drawest neere to the gates of hell If all that are damned in bel had but halfe an houre of thy life that by repentance they might rise to a glorious life dost thou think that as thou doest so they would spend it vnprofitablie and neglect their present opportunitie What would they not doe to free themselues from the torment of that fire But thou on the other side whilest the merciful God giueth thee a time of repentance abusest it out of the malice of thy nature to the committing of greater wickednesse The daies will come yea they wil come and not faile Luk. 23. wherin despairingly thou shalt say to the hilles fall vpon me to the mountaines couer mee and then thou shalt crie out for a time of repentance but thou shalt crie not be heard For it is iust that thou that wouldest not turne vnto God whilest â—hou mightest shouldest not haue power to doe it when thou wouldest doe it too late God after death forgiueth not him that before death thought scorne to aske forgiuenesse Wherefore whilest thou hast time doe good for the night will come when thou canst not labour Consider a little vnhappie man that thou art if sudden death should haue inuaded thee impenitent ouerladen with many sinnes not giuing thee any time of repentance in the time instant of death how miserable had thy despaire beene How great had the terror of thy mind been how vnspeakable the feare of the Iudge how great a horror of imminent torment in hell had inuaded thee Then with million of teares thou wouldest thus haue bewailed thine owne damnation O fading and deceitful life full of many snares The complaint of a sinner dying Yesterday I did reioice now I am sorie then I laught now I weepe then I was strong now I am weake then I liued now I die then I seemed happie now am serable and a wretched creature I do not so much lament my departure out of this life as the losse of those daies and moneths and yeeres wherein I haue laboured in vaine and in vaine haue spent the strength of my daies All the time that was giuen mee to liue I haue spent in all maner of sinne and iniquitie and so long as I liued I rather obeied mine own concupiscence than the inspirations precepts of God This rotten carcase of mine which the wormes are presently to denoure I euer tooke care to helpe and to comfort but my soule which presentlie shall be brought before God and his Angels vnto iudgement I contemned 2 King 4.27 tooke no care with vertue and religion to adorne it and this is the cause why my soule is vexed within mee O my vanitie ô my pride ô my pleasure whether are yee gone what haue you profited me What haue you left vnto me for all the seruice I haue done vnto you in the whole course of my life Nothing but a gnawing and tormenting conscience For your seruice I made my selfe an enemie vnto God a slaue to the diuell I lost heauen and got hell I lost infinite ioies and got eternall lamentation I am depriued of the societie of Angels and haue made my selfe a companion to the citizens of nell Pleasures and riches and honors with all the fading allurements of this deceitful world are past and gone and they are as if they neuer had been Wisd 1. they quickly appeared and as speedily they vanish yea they are past away like a shadow like an arrow flying in the aire like a messenger that passeth and is gone like a ship in the sea whose path is not seene The time of my life is past and glided away it cannot return in whose though shortest delay ô how much good could I haue done ô how great a treasure of spirituall goods could I haue gathered vnto my selfe which now in my fading time might haue made mee friends in the eternall tabernacles of God! of the least whereof I should now more reioice than of millions of gold and siluer But a good purpose without a beginning a will without worke good promises without execution and the expectation of a morrow that neuer came haue vndone me Wo be vnto me that so long put it off so long delayed my conuersion How happie is a mature repentance and conuersion because secure Whereas hee that repenteth too late can neuer bee sure because hee knoweth not whether hee repent truely or fainedly for it is likely that hee rather repenteth out of a feare of punishment than out of loue towards God O my gold and siluer ô my possessessions my precious garments wherein I was wont to content my selfe I faile you you faile not me I leaue you I can not carrie you with mee Oh that I had beene so happie as neuer to haue seene you that of all men liuing I had beene the poorest for then had I neuer beene called to an account either for misspending or vniustly detaining you O
life the intermission of paine is some comfort to a sicke man and the fruition of the comfort and conference of his friends but in hell for the greater increase of torments there is no interruption but an eternall continuance therof comforts cease on all sides and plagues and punishment gather strength In hell there is no redemption no ease of paine In the world feare hath no griefe nor griefe feare because feare afflicts not the minde wheâ— it begins to suffer what it did feare whereas they that are condemned to the torments of hell in the middest of their punishment suffer griefe and sorrow and with the extremitie thereof doe euer feare inasmuch as what they feare they do incessantly beare and againe what they beare they incessantly feare The inflicting of the punishment is the augmentation of the feare All things in the world as â—vel good as euill are mingled with their contraries and aâ—taine not to the highest degree of perfection but that they alwaies may be increased and diminished and possessed more or lesse but in hell all euils are in the highest degree neuer mixt with their contraries but yet euery man as hee hath sinned more or lesse so he suffereth There is extreame sorrow extreame miserie and desolat on in all things in the bodie and the soule affliction in the highest degree fire vnquenchable heat immitigable the worme immortall stench intollerable sorrow comfortlesse horrible darknesse fearefull spectacles confusion of euils and desperate despaire of all goodnesse whatsoeuer The damned haue in their eies weeping and lamentation terror in their eares stench in their nostrels gnashing in their teeth groning in their voices bands in their hands and feet and intollerable heat and torment in all their members As if thou shouldest set before thine eies any man that as well in the very apple or sight of his eyes as in all his other members on both sides both within and without hath a hot burning non fastened insomuch that neither the marrow in his bones nor his entrailes no not the least part of his whole bodie be freed from torment or feeleth it lesse than the very apple of his eie what wilt thou not confesse such a one to be in great extremities and strangely to bee tortured And yet what is this one torment to the multitude and magnitude of the intolerable torments of one damned man vpon whom millions of miseries doe fall besides this The torment of one damned creature is so great that if it were diuided equally among all that haue been are and shall be and euery particular man should beare his owne particular punishment yet so great would the torment of euery one be so great the griefe and so horrible the punishment that it would far excell the torments of all the martyrs in the world conferred vpon one and all the euill that can be seene felt or vnderstood The punishment therfore of one damned soule can not but bee very great which being distributed into innumerable multitudes would bee neuerthelesse insupportable The eye hath not seene the eare hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what God hath prouided for those that offend him All the punishments afflâ—ctions torments which may be thoght of in this life if they be conferred to the least pain of hel are solaces and comforts and a damned creature would rather chuse to endure them all a thousand yeeres than to be tormented with the torments of hell one day What punishment thinkest thou will God require there of those he hath forsaken if heere so strictly he correcteâ—h those whom he loueth If heere in this life hee so scourge his chosen children for their triall how will he torment the reprobate for their punishment If the diuels doe so much afflict holy men as inst Lob diuers others notwithstanding they can doe nomore against them than God doeth permit them how much will they afflict those whom God hath deliuered vnto their hands for euer to be tormented O what will they be in their torments if the very sight of them be intolerable They are neuer weary with torturing neither doth a sinner die in his torments but as hee shall be tormented without end so shall he be compelled to liue in paine without end For if golde shine in the fire and is not consumed by it and the mountaines in Sicilia from the beginning of the world vnto this day burn with continuall fire and yet continue whole and entire if the Salamander can liue in the fire without paine how much more possible is it that the body and soule may feele the paine of this fire and yet alwayes liue Againe as the soule giuing life vnto the bodie can suffer griefe but yet can not die euen so whilest the bodie hath put on immortalitie and incorruption the soule with the body shall alwayes be tormented but not consumed for by a fire vnquenchable which in a moment in the twinkling of an eye is able to consume the greatest hill that is a sinner shall not be extinguished nor consumed but euer there shal remaine and abound something in him to be extinguished And because there is no true life but where a man liues happily and where an vnhappy man is not permitted to die in him death it selfe dies not therefore a sinner that hath both lost his well being and yet hath not left essentially to be that is euer dead to eternall life and for euer liuing to eternall death is compelled daily to suffer both death without death and want without want and end without end So hee dies that hee may alwayes liue and so hee liues that he may alwayes die so he decayes as that he may alwayes subsist and so he subsisteth that hee alwayes decayes so he is ended that he is without end and so is hee with an end that he is neuer ended And he whose dead life was heere in sinne there his liuing death is in paine There hee desireth onely death which heere hee so much hated hee seeketh death and findeth it not he desireth to die and death flieth from him heere it is vnwillingly drawen forth of the body there in the body it is vnwillingly deteined the death of nature doth violently driue the soule out of the body the death of hell more violently detaines it in the body of both deaths that is commonly had that the soul suffereth of the bodie what it would not What end of yeeres may be imagined so it be finite to the damned is exceeding comfortable but out and alas in hell there is no redemption neither was there euer any man knowen to haue returned from thence for hell is so deepe that no man may ascend from thence so close that no man may get out so kept that no men can escape he that is once gone thither can no more returne that is once entred can neuer get forth whom the iustice of God hath once drawen to punishment the mercie of God neuer
know not the end of thy life who canst not comprehend the beginning thereof Thou knowest not with what beginning thou enterest Man is a bubble because that like a bubble the life of man vanisheth in a moment and thou art as ignorant with what end thou â—halt depart out of this life And therefore it is rashnesse â—o promise vnto thy selfe maâ—y yeeres a long life when â—hou hast not manie dayes nay not an houre in thy own power And therefore why doest thou think to liue long when thou canst not be secured of a day of an houre Nay why art thou greedy of life and a wicked life too as if thou wert immortall The dayly death of many Euery day thou seest such as are yoong and lustie and sound of body suddenly to be arrested with an vnexpected death euen in the middest of their delights insomuch that of those infinite numbers that euery day come into the world almost three parts die before they come to the age of fiftie yeeres The good are called of the Lord that they may no more bee oppressed by the wicked The wicked are taken away that they may no longer persecute the godly Tell mee where are all those wordlings which not long since haue liued with thee Iob 21. They haue spent their dayes in wealth and suddenly they are gone downe to their graue and nothing remaineth of them but dust and ashes and an intollerable stench O how much care did they take to prouide for this present life How long a race did they promise vnto themselues but suddenly and vnlooked for death hath ouertaken them whereas if they had alwaies looked for it death could neuer haue hurt them And cannot that feuer that death that came so suddenly vpon them as suddenly oppresse thee and thy procrastinations draw vpon thee as sudden a damnation The bird that sits singing vpon a bough A similitude of a bird vpon a bough thinks he hath libertie to flie whither he will but before he can stretch out his wings an arrow strikes him to the heart and downe he falles So thou promisest vnto thy selfe a long life many and happie dayes and thou hast a purpose to worke woonders in the world and yet thou knowest not whether thou shalt liue till night till thou canst stirre thy foot from the place where thou standest To morrow vncertaine and though thou know what thou art to day yet how knowest thou what thou maiest be to morrow If thou be not prepared to die to day how wilt thou be ready to morrow Qui non est hodiè cras minus aptus erit He that is not fit to day will bee lesse fit to morrow It may be God hath appointed this day to be the end of thy life and it can not possiblie be auoided which if it bee so why art thou secure why doest thou not set thy house in order 2. Kin. 10. for thou shalt die and not liue Doest thou not see the inutilitie of thy life past the little comfort that there is in thy earthly blessings The losse of time the preciousnes of thy time misspent and lost the wickednesse of thy sins committed and to conclude all thy age thy yeeres thy monethes thy dayes nay thy moments past and spent in sinne and iniquitie If therefore thou put off thy conuersion to the last houre ten to one thy last houre wil be thy worst houre and thy procrastination hasteneth thy condemnation for thou must appeare before the tribunall seat of God in the presence of a seuereiudge whom thou hast many a time offended and crucified with the wicked Iewes by iterating those sinnes that brought him to the crosse There is no auoidance but thou must stand to the fearefull iudgement of God and that perhaps euen this verie day where and when thou shalt giue an account of all thou hast done What wilt thou say what canst thou doe when thou shalt appeare emptie void of all goodnes before so great a Iudge O how fearfull shall hee be at this houre whose presence is incomprehensible whose power infallible whose iustice inflexible whose anger implacable Consider with thy selfe how fearefull a thing it would be vnto thee if one should tell thee and assure thee of it that some great and cruell Iudge were resolued to burne thee aliue for some great offence thou hast committed doubtlesse vpon the hearing thereof if there were but one daies respit left vnto thee thou wouldest leaue nothing vnattempted to auoid so heauie a sentence such as were friends vnto the Iudge thou wouldest endeuour to make thy friends that by their intercession thou mightest haue hope to escape thou wouldest leaue no stone vnturned no way vntried to free thy selfe from so cruell a doome yea so thou mightestwin thy life thou wouldest willingly lose all that thou hast And aboue all things thou wouldest not faile to call to minde and to consider with thy selfe what might be obiected against thee and what thou couldest answer thereunto that thou maiest not appeare gultie before thy Iudge And why wouldest thou doe all this The preposterous seare of the iudgement of God of man Is it because there thou art free from all doubt assured thou must die if thou acquit not thy selfe the better but of the iudgement of God thou art euer in doubt O wretched man and of a preposterous beliefe doest thou beleeue man rather than God who is the Creatour of man Doth God threaten an euerlasting torment and doest thou neglect it thy earthly Iudge a temporall and doest thou feare and tremble at it For who or what is he Euen he that after he hath beene a man must be a worme and hauing been a worme must bee turned into stench and rottennesse Since then thou must appeare not before a man a worme rottennesse it selfe but before thy Creator and the sentence thou art to heare is the eternall damnation of thine owne soule how canst thou be secure How canst thou still giue thy selfe to thy delights and pleasures and not feare the immutable sentence of so seuere a Iudge If thou be ashamed and confounded at the iudgement of a man of dust and ashes what wilt thou do when thou shalt stand to the iudgement of thy Maker Creator The sentence of God irreuocable The sentence of a humane Iudge may be reuoked but this is irreuocable Thou shalt giue an account to this seuere Iudge of all thy yeeres euen in the bitternesse of thy own soule and for thy many and great offences committed against him hee shall deliuer thee to the diuell and his angels to bee tormented in hell fire Who shall then take thee from that place shall free thee from those that descend into the pit For in hell there is no redemption But perhaps thou wilt fay that God is louing and mercifull Ezâ—ch 33. and by his Prophets hath promised that at what time soeuer a sinner repenteth him of his
â—ody For thither is the whole intention of the minde carried where the griefe is What astonishment of heart â—s there at that houre What â—emembrance of all fore-passed sinnes What forgetfulnesse of pleasures past What â—orror and fearefull consideration of the Iudge Doubtlesse the griefe of the disease and the feare of the iudgements of God doe hinder the true vse of our sense and vnderstanding insomuch that at that houre there can hardly bee any true contrition of heart Then is the Diuell most diligent to tempt vs The assaults of the Diuell are most violent at the houre of death and to lay his snares to intrap vs when hee perceiueth our end to be at hand and when he seeth it standeth him vpon to win or lose that soule which so many yeeres by so many sleights so many suggestions he hath endeuoured to make sure vnto him then especially he tempteth him touching the verity of his beleefe and perswadeth him to infidelity setteth before the eies of his minde the greatnesse of his sinnes the seuerity of the Iudge the inequality of all the good he hath done in his whole life to that eternall blessednes which God hath prepared for those that are his children Thus and by these meanes hee assaieth to driue a miserable sinner into despaire and whom in his â—ife time he deceiued by flatâ—eries at his death hee tyranâ—iseth ouer him The feare of a iust man at the houre of death And this is â—he cause why many godly â—nd zealous men who in the whole course of their life â—aue serued God doe neuerâ—helesse feare this last houre â—f death lest that then they â—hould yeeld to those violent â—mptations of the Diuell or opeare emptie before so â—eat a Iudge And yet doest thou thinke at that houre to be conuerted when the iustest men that are feare to be peruerted Wilt thou aduenture the state of thy saluation to that time wherin thou art subiect to greatest danger And thinkest thou to perfect that great and difficult worke of thy conuersion which in the best strength of thy body and in the whole race of thy life thou couldest hardly performe in a moment of time when thou art compassed with so many griefes so many dangers The departure of a sinfull soule out of his body not one but innumerable legions of Diuels doe attend to require their hire for their seruice presenting before his eies those sinâ— they haue tempted him vnto so carry him with them into vtter darknesse Ioh. 14. Yea they faile not to attempt the souls of Gods children when they depart out of their bodies alleging vnto them that this and this they haue done for them and that they haue returned this and this seruice vnto them If the Prince of this world the Diuell sought after something of his euen in Christ himselfe dying according to the flesh though nothing hee could finde confider how carefull and cruell â—e will be to require his own of thee at thy houre of death â—t is apparent and thou canst â—ot deny but that hee may â—inde much of his in thy selfe â—nd miserable and wretched man that thou art what wilt thou then do when he shal arrest thee for that that is his own what wilt thou answer Doest thou thinke that the Angels of God will be ready at hand to rescue thee and to deliuer thee out of his hold Forasmuch therefore deare Brother as it cannot but plainly appeare vnto thee that death lies in wait for thee in all places and at all times and that it followeth thee as thy shadow doth thy body if thou be wise doe thou likewise expect it in all places and at all times being euery day euery houre ready as iâ— euery day euery houre were the houre of thy death Thou knowest not in what place at what houre it will encounter thee and therefore expect it in all places and at all times If it hasten to come vnto thee doe thou make as good speed to be ready for it to liue well and like a good debtor bee euer prepared to pay Nature hir due whensoeuer it shall bee demanded So husband and order euerie day as if it were the last day of thy life when thou risest in the morning thinke not thou shalt liue till night and when thou goest to thy bed thinke thou goest to thy graue and that thou shalt neuer see the morning light From this time forward so liue that at the houre of death thou maist rather reioice than feare and that thou maist die well learne to liue well that thou maist flie from the vengeance to come yeeld fruits worthie repentance before it come That feare that vseth to be in a man dying let it be alwaies in thee liuing So shalt thouvanquish death when it comes if before it come thou alwaies feare it CHAP. III. That our last day is hidden from vs to the end that all the daies of our life should bee as our last BVT perhaps thou wilt say that I tell thee that death attends thee and euerie houre of thy life hangs ouer thy head like a sword hanging by a haire point pendant that I perswade thee to bee as readie to fall vpon thee that thou hast obeied my counsell and oftentimes prepared thy selfe to entertaine it whensoeuer it come but it hath as often deceiued thee and neuer came and therefore I do thee wrong to perswade thee by an euerlasting cogitation of death to liue a dying life and to let slip the pleasures and delights of this world Resp O my good brother suspend thy iudgement a while for I dare make good vnto thee that by this continuall cogitation of death thou losest not the delights of this World Prouer. 15 For a good conscience is a continuall feast and thou shalt receiue greater coÌ„fort by seruing the God of all comfort consolation than this wretched world replenished with miseries yea there is no torment greater than a wicked conscience for where God is not there can no comfort be found No tormeÌ„t to a wicked conscience O that thou haddest but tasted euen with the tip of thy toong the vnspeakable sweetnesse of a spirituall delight thou wouldest contemne all the fading pleasures of this life Cantic 1. and runne after the sweet odours of those heauenly comforts Thou seest the crosses and afflictions of spirituall men their wounds but not their ointments thou seest them outwardly cast downe like abiects but inwardly thou discernest not their happinesse Outward torments of spirituall men inward ioies for their spirituall ioy is as insensible as it is vnspeakable and can neuer be in any man that admitteth any other Be not therefore so peremptorie in thy censures and thinke not that the feare of death and the seruice of God doe robbe thee of the ioies of this life But be it as thou saiest we will yeeld so much vnto thy obstinacie A continuall preparation for death is good Why doest
not to please the eye Our garments couer our shame and the tender delicacie of thy flesh but to couer thy nakednesse For as the cleere beauty and light of the Sunne is a sufficient ornament vnto it selfe and colour and sweetnesse to the Rose so before sinne man needed not a garment but his owne proper beautie sufficed him but by sinne hee was made vgly and ashamed of his nakednesse and so had need of a garment to couer himselfe not to be proud of Thou hast not therefore in thy apparell any matter of glorie but rather cause of shame as it is no glory to him that hath but one leg to haue a woodden leg which is but a supplie of his infirmitie Thou that art proud of thy gay apparell art like a sicke man that is proud of the varietie of his drugges and medicines If a sacke of good corn â—ay bee sufficiently bound with a halfpenny string a vessell of pretious wine with 〈◊〉 woodden hoope it is a â—hildish follie in a man to â—inde vpon his panch stuffed with filthinesse a girdle of golde The ornaments of â—he outward man by how much the more they are desired by so much the greater hurts and hinderances they are to the inward man and by how much the more they are despised by so much the more doe they giue beautie and ornament to the inward man Thou that desirest proud garments canst not haue humble thoughts If there were not a sinne in â—ich and beautifull garments the Lord would neuer haâ— commended his Fore-runneâ— for the basenesse of his apparel Luke 7. he would neuer so expresly haue said that the rich man that was tormented in hell was clothed with purple and silke Luke 16. and the Apostle Saint Paul in an Epistle would neuer haue exhorted women from the desire of costly apparell 1. Tim. 2. saying Let women array themselues in comly apparell with shamefastnesse and modestie not with broidred haire or gold or pearles or costly apparell Thinke therefore with thy selfe how great a fault it is in thee that art a man to desire that from which the Apostle warneth women for the Lord requires not the beautie of the bodie but of the minde Thy rich apparell in despight of thy selfe at thy death thou must leaue Thou camest naked out of thy mothers wombe and naked shalt thou returne again Thou shalt trauell that iourney alone thy workes onely good or euill shall follow thee Where then shall thy precious garments be where thy multitude of followers Is there any of them that shal dare to take thee out of the hands of the liuing God That shall plucke thee out of the snare of the hunter and shall saue thee What shalt thou then gain by possessing thy riches Because thou wert lord of much in this life doest thou thinke that in the other life thou shalt haue the more of him that is King of kings Lord of lords God who accepteth no mans person waigheth al mens works with an equall ballance hee preferreth not the king before the beggar nor the beggar before the king but according to euery mans work shall his reward bee There the last shall be first and the first last Wherfore deare Brother feare God and then thou shalt not feare men and take heed lest whilest thou seekest to please men thou incur the displeasure of God and whilest thou desirest to please the eies of men thou be execrable to God and to thy selfe Let not the vaine reports of men terrifie thee from doing well but let the feare of God driue away all humane shame It is far better to displease men that thou maist please God than to please men and to displease God CHAP. III. That the grace of God is to bee preferred before all temporall riches BVT perhaps thou wilt say If I shall make amends for all the wrong I haue done I feare I shall bee poore and in want my selfe Res Yea rather my deare brother I dare say according to that in the 28. Prou. 11. of the Prouerb He that giueth vnto the poore shall not lacke and he that despiseth him that asketh shall want himselfe If hee shall want that despiseth the praier of the poore much more shalt thou want that takest from the poore what is their owne For ill gotten goods neuer prosper and there is not any to whom oppression hath succeeded luckily that hath long inioied it Some scatter their owne and are the more rich others take from other men and are still the poorer Pro. 11. Hee that slandereth the poore to increase his riches shall giue to him that is rich and want himselfe For for the most part when a man scrapeth much together it melteth away by gluttony and luxurie and goods ill gotten are worse spent what couetousnesse is a long time gathering gluttony and luxiury doe speedily consume or at least some aduersity or other hapneth that in a moment cuts off the labours of many yeeres If thou cast thy care vpon the Lord hee will care for thee and if thou serue him hee will minister all necessarie things vnto thee for hee neuer forsaketh those that put their trust in him Hee that so made man that hee should haue need of nourishment will not suffer him to perish by withdrawing from him things necessary For if God out of his goodnesse feed and cloth a little sparow doest thou thinke hee will forsake that man that putteth his trust in him will not hee that promiseth to man great and heauenly things bestow vpon him small and earthly Yes doubtlesse hee that hath giuen thee far greater things than these will likewise giue thee the lesse Small matters suffice nature life is short what needest thou then great prouision for a short iorney And therefore let the shortnesse of the way shorten thy desires In vaine thou ladest thy selfe with many things when the place whither thou goest is hard at hand Consider the course of thy life and thou shalt quicklie know a little may suffice thee But admit my deare brother that if thou restore thy ill gotten goods thou shalt be poore and beggerly If to gaine God thou lose all thy temporall substance canst thou bee poore and needie God will giue thee greater things than those yea himselfe that created these What are these to faith and pietie and the goods of the inward man whereby thy soule is made rich before God Yea before God thou shalt bee made rich in good works receiue a hundred fold possesse eternall life Such as abound in temporall goods for the most part want the spirituall or at leastwise haue them in a lesse proportion A true Christian in comparison of those spirituall goods hee hopeth makes no more account of gold than of dust Christ to him is the onelie ioy who in heauen must be the onely reward Let the heathen to whom heauenlie things are not due seeke after earthly blessings let them desire things present who
beleeue not things to come possesse fading riches that with them they may perish for euer The soule cannot bee without delight for either it is delighted with heauenlie things or earthly and by how much the more it is inflamed with the desire of earthlie things by so much the more doth it grow cold towards heauenly For the eie cannot at one and the same instant looke towards heauen and earth too But what doe full bagges benefit thee if thou haue an emptie conscience Wilt thou be accounted good and not be good Wilt thou haue good meat good garments good seruants to be short all good and thy selfe onely euill Preferre thy life before them let not al these be good and deare vnto thee thou onely vile and base and villanous to thy selfe If thou wilt bee lord of so many good things indeuour that they haue thee a good lord too which thou canst hardly bee except thou make restitution of that which thou vniustly detainest A good life is better than to possesse much goods Temporall goods are only good inasmuch as they are helpes to vertue but if they exceed this end and hinder the vse of vertue they are no more good things but to bee accounted among the euill Canst thou thinke that another mans goods vniustly deteined which make thee euill can be good vnto thee Or canst thou thinke those things good that subiect thee to eternall euils What good soeuer there is in this world whose gift is it but his that created it But that gift of God ought not to please thee that by the delight thereof separateth thee from the loue of God Preferre not the gift before the giuer when thou receiuest good things bee not euill thy selfe and let not that that should encrease thy loue towards God separate thee farther from him and so thou loue a base creature more than thy Creator to whem thou owest all that thou art and all that thou hast who hath made thee and made thee good who when it pleaseth him can take that from thee that he hath giuen thee who can cast both thy bodie and soule into hell and bestow thy temporall goods vpon another man But thou that louest thy gold more than God honorest it more than God for if thou diddest not so thou wouldest not for that lose the grace and loue of God Thou sellest God for a halfe-penny because for the gaine of a halfe-penny thou breakest the commandement of God God forbids thee to steale and thou obeiest him not couetousnesse bids thee to steale and that thou doest God commands thee to cloth the naked and that thou omittest couetousnes mooues thee to take from another what is his and that thou art ready to put in execution Thou possessest riches no otherwise than a prisoner doth his shakles which hee seemeth rather to be enthralled to than to haue For thou art not a little afflicted with thy self when thou beatest thy brains with wearisome desires and a wounded conscience deuisest which way thou maiest make such a mans goods thine owne by flatterie get such a bargaine by threats such a farme by cosenage and deceit and watchings and labours such a lordship and still the more thou gettest the more thou seekest For as wood cast into the fire seemeth for a time to presse downe the flame and dead the fire but presently maketh it burne with greater violence so thy couetousnesse is not extinguished with gaine but more inflamed And when by right or by wrong thou hast heaped thy riches together and glutted as it were thy own desires whereas before thou diddest hope for rest out of abundance thou shalt finde thy selfe more afflicted than euer by the care thou hast to keepe that thou hast gotten and thou shalt euer keep thy riches with no lesse fear than with labour thou hast got them Thou art euery day in feare to bee assaulted and the wrongs thou hast offered to others thou fearest will be offered by others vnto thee If thou see one mightier than thy selfe thou fearest his power his violence if poorer than thy selfe thou suspectest his theft and so thou that in aduersitie didst hope for prosperitie in prosperitie fearest aduersitie and art caried hither and thither as it were with so many billowes and tormented with the diuers vicissitude of thy owne fortunes Doest thou that art a Christian the disciple of Christ and his pouerty that art called to the heauenly riches of Paradise admire as matters of greater moment these temporall goods which doe more with care and anxietie afflict thy miserable soule than refresh it with the vse of them and in them place thy greatest felicitie and in a countrie where as a stranger for a few daies thou dwellest doest thou place thy whole heart and thy whole affections So long as thou desirest transitorie things and either vnderstandest not eternall or vnderstanding them contemnest them thou wallowest in the dung of thy earthly riches and thinkest of nothing but earth and earthly things in stead of thy countrie thou louest that exile which thou sufferest and in that darknes thou liuest in thou exultest as in the cleere light The helpes of this thy peregrination thou makest thy stumbling blockes and being delighted with the nightlie light of the Moone thou refusest to behold the bright beautie of the Sunne and the benefit of thy passing life thou turnest into an occasion of eternall death Is not that traueller besides himselfe that in his iourney passing thorow beautiful and delightfull medowes there stayes and forgets to goe to his iourneyes end If thou haddest power to rule some small countrie so long as vpon a swift horse thou canst run it ouer wilt thou be content to lose thy right of rule for euer in a far greater countrie for that transitorie dominion What is the time of this present life but a continuall race vnto death wherein no man is permitted to stay a little or to slacken his pace What is it to liue but incessantly to run vnto death By how much the longer thou liuest by so much the neerer thou art vnto death and as life passeth so death draweth on As a barrell the more it runneth out the more it is emptied and yet is not sayd to be emptie till the last drop be fallen from it so by certaine droppes of time the life by little and little droppes away but yet vntill the last moment of thy life thy bodie is not said to be dead In the middle of thy life thou art in death and whether thou watch or fleepe thou diest continually Euery day thou diest euery day thou art changed and yet doest thou thinke thy selfe immortall Hee easilie contemneth all things that thinks euery day is his dying day If thou diddest thinke that these earthly blessings must one day perish thou wouldest vse them whilest thou hast them for the benefit of thy soule In death with sorrow enough thou shalt see how base and worse than nothing that
of her Form attend my miserable soule when it shal depart out of the prison of this my bodie that they may catch it and carrie it to bee tormented in hell O wretch that I am where shall my soule be this night Out alas hell is my house for euer and euer there I must dwell because whilest I daily sinned against mine owne conscience I made my selfe a fit inhabitant for so infernall a place Psa 18.4 The sorrowes of death haue compassed mee the snares of hell haue ouertooke me O great God to what end diddest thou make mee and broughtest mee into the world Why was I not carried from my baptisme to my graue It had been better for me neuer to haue been born and therefore let the day perish wherein I came into the world Cursed be my creation and thou accursed Satan be thou more accursed with all thy hellish rabble all thy suggestions cursed be the earth that bred mee the wombe that bare me the parents that begot mee cursed be euery creature vpō earth What is that my friends you talke together Do you not counsell mee to confesse my sinnes Do you not tell me that the mercy of God is great That is true I confesse but yet my sinnes are greater than that they can be forgiuen by the iust iudgement of God I am condemned what hee hath written hee hath written his sentence is irreuocable When I was in health and the strength of my bodie I could hardlie confesse my sinnes they were so numberlesse much lesse now in this agonie of death the sentence of my condemnation being pronounced am I able to do it O repentance where art thou By the iust iudgement of GOD heereafter I can not repent when I might I would not now I would I can not All yee that are present my friends learne to be wise by my fall and deferre not your repentance till your dying day lest doing as I haue done ye suffer as I doe Remember my iudgement such shall be yours also mine to day yours to morrow happie is he that by other mens harmes can learne to beware For euer farewell my friends and againe and againe fare ye well Beholde the diuels take holde of my miserable soule and carry it with them into hell Isa 30.10 I go to the gates of the graue I am depriued of the residue of my yeeres I shall not see the Lord in the land of the liuing I shall see man no more among the inhabitants of the world Now heare how God vpbraiding thee with his benefits condemneth thee O wretched man of no worth vnprofitable worme of the earth what could I haue done for thee that I haue not done I created thee not a stone a tree a toad a bird nor any other creature but a man capable of reason according to mine owne image similitude and forsomuch as I made thee like my selfe by nature it was thy part to haue done thy best endeuour to make thy selfe like vnto me by will which forasmuch as thou hast not conformed to my will thou hast prophaned my similitude in thee Neuerthelesse though thou louedst me not I loued thee yea thou displeasing me I so loued thee as to work that in thee wherby thou mightest please me being proud thou didst contemne my commandements but I thus contemned ceased not to loue thee though thou wert proud but to the end I might recall thee vnto me I gaue thee my law and my faith To thee I sent my preachers nay for thee I once appeared visible to the world in the flesh of thy mortalitie and from the abundant plenitude of the kingdome of heauen I descended poore vpon the earth I raised the dead gaue sight vnto the blinde reduced the wanderers and iustified the wicked Three and thirty yeeres being seene vpon the earth and conuersant with men I refused not to serue thee and to procure thy saluation by preaching by labour by watching by fasting and that I might take away thine infirmities I willingly became weake for thee I was solde betrayed bound spit vpon hudwinckt buffeted scourged crowned crucified derided of all dranke vineger and gaule and that I might be the death of thy death for the nocent I died innocent For thee base worme as thou art I powred out not my golde nor my siluer but my pretious blood and for the redemption of so base a worm I spent my most pretious wares yea I spared not my selfe but I willingly offered me wholly to redeem thee all my members I gaue to the redemption of thee but thou hast imployed all thine to offend me for thee I gaue mine eyes to weeping wheras thou hast giuen thine to beholde the vanitie of this world I gaue mine eares to the hearing of wrongs and opprobrious speeches wheras thou hast giuen thine to the hearing of detractations and filthy speeches I gaue my mouth to taste vineger mixt with gaule whereas thou hast giuen thine to gluttony and lying and blasphemie I gaue my hands and my feete to be fastned with nailes to the crosse whereas thou hast giuen thine to murther and the spoile of the poore I gaue my hart to be wounded with a launce whereas thou hast giuen thine to the delights and pleasures of this life I haue loued more thy saluation than mine owne glorie with men whereas thou hast loued more a vile base creature than thy Creator to whom if thou be indebted for thy creation how much doest thou owe mee for thy recreation thy redemption ◠If thou did dest owe thy selfe vnto me when I gaue thee to thy selfe thou shouldest twice owe thy selfe vnto mee for restoring thee to thy selfe when thou wert lost Because thou wert both giuen and restored to thy selfe thou doest owe thy selfe wholly vnto me once and againe to mee I say who gaue thee thy life thy senses thy vnderstanding who made thee made thee good gaue thee thy being and thy well being Neither was it enough for me to offer my selfe for thee an oblation to God my Father but that I must-euerie day offer my selfe vnto thee to be seene and kissed and handled yea eaten too by a liuely faith though not carnally Comming into the world I gaue my self vnto thee as a companion Iam. 1.17 more stricken in yeres as thy sustenance dying as thy prise reigoing as thy reward What better thing could I euen I from whom euery good gift and euery perfect gift commeth bestow vpon thee than my selfe What should I say more Tit. 3.5 My Angels I haue giuen vnto thee as thy gardians but thou contemnest their charge By the washing of the new birth I clensed thee from all thy sinnes I haue instructed thee in my faith hauing often died a spirituall death I haue often raised thee and iustly depriued of the kingdome of heauen I haue restored thee to thine ancient inheritance I haue often spared thee and thou fallest the more often I haue opened
into the broad and spacious way that would haue led them to destruction afterwards to haue found the strait way that leadeth vnto life thou shouldest not despaire to finde the same as they did and when thou seest many vnrighteous men by the grace of God iustified and saued thou likewise shouldest not cast away the hope of thy saluation Aaron Exod. 28. Numb 15. Marie Aaron after his repentance for the molten Calfe was chosen by God to be high Priest Marie his sister after she was stricken with a leprosie because she murmured against Moses by repentance was cured and receiued her ancient gift of Prophesying Dauid Dauid who was a king and a prophet a man that God had found out according to his own heart and out of whose loynes the Messias was promised to come into how foule and grieuous sinnes did he fall Hee receiued by the mouth of the Prophet Nathan strange comminations of a grieuous reuenge and yet all that anger of GOD with two words hee turned into mercy I haue sinned saith hee against the Lord and presently the Prophet did not onely answer him The Lord hath remoued thy sinnes from thee but that spirit of prophecie which by sinne he had lost he recouered againe and for Dauid his seruants sake God turned away much euil from the children of Israel Achab. Achabs hart was hardned he many times contemned the Lord chiding him he added sinne vnto sinne 1. Kin. 21. and Naboth being slaine hee possessed his vineyard yet at the last being terrified by the threatnings of God and guilty of his owne sinne hee repented in sackecloth and ashes and so prouoked the Lord God vnto mercy And the word of the Lord came to Eliah saying Seest thou how Achab is humbled before mee because he submitteth himselfe before mee Manasseh I will not bring that euill in his daies Manasseh exceeded all that were before him in the impiety of his sinnes 2. Chro. 33. ouer threw the obseruation of the Law and the worship of God and yet after those bloody finnes hee was reduced to his kingdom and numbred amongst the sonnes of God Nabuchadnezzar Dan. 4. Nabuchadnezzar of all men the proudest acknowledging no Lord did arrogate to himselfe diuine honour and yet God being willing to reclaime him after he had beene seuen yeeres a madde man and liued like a beast hee brought him to himselfe againe and restored him to his kingdome who being thus restored and hauing thus made triall of the mercy of God hee praised and glorified his holy name But to omit innumerable examples in the old Testament The prodigal child Luke 15. The prodigall childe who had consumed his substance with harlots being returned to his father by repentance receiued not onely a kisse from him but had the fat calfe killed and receiued his former grace and fauour Zacheus Luke 19. Zacheus a Publican yea the chiefe amongst them made restâ—tution foure fold of all he had taken from other men and receiued Christ into his house Mathew Mathew of a Publican became an Apostle and an Euangelist Marie Magdalen Mary Magdelen consumed the vnlawful loue of the flesh that was in her with the firie zeale of the loue of God and so much fauour she found with God that she was a messenger to the Apostles themselues of the resurrection of our Sauiour Peter Peter an Apostle and pillar of the Church 〈◊〉 Christ but he went forth and wept bitterly and so was receiued vnto mercy Paul Paul of a persecutor of the Church of God became a Doctor and an Apostle of the Gentiles Dismas the theefe Luke 23. But that which giueth vs greatest hope of remission is the theefe vpon the crosse who euen by his own iudgement had deserued death whose offence was certaine and therefore had deserued both temporall and eternall damnation who now was condemned to a temporall death and was neere an eternall and yet at the verie instant of death acknowledging Christ he only said Lord remember mee when thou commest into thy kingdome and presently it was answered This day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise To a theefe hee promised a kingdome to one crucified heauen and to one condemned paradise The grace of God promising was more abundant than the praier of the theefe intreating for he promised more than the theefe asked Hee that came such vnto the crosse by sinne see what hee departed from the crosse by grace From the prison he ascended to the crosse and from the crosse into paradise from the punishment of his offence hee mounted to the reward of his vertue But to what end doe I produce so many examples so many testimonies of the mercy of God There is not a leafe in the booke of God wherein the mercie of the Lord doth not shine yea the whole earth is replenished therwith Thou that hearest how many there haue beene cured of their sinnes what receiuest thou else but an earnest penny of the mercie of God Therefore hath the omnipotent God permitted his elect in some fiâ—â— to fall that as they haue risen againe so they that haue fallen in the like should likewise hope to arise and whom they followed sinning they should likewise follow repenting What other thing in all these canst thou see but the vnspeakable mercie of our Redeemer who hath set those before thine eies as examples of true conuersion whom after their fall by repentance he made to liue But if yet thou heare mee not and beleeuest not that a sinner can bee saued heare God rather than my selfe beleeue him not me he is the trueth it selfe hee cannot be deceiued hee cannot deceiue I will not saith he the death of a sinner but that hee conuert and liue God will not the death of a sinner who would die for his sinnes his will is that his death be fruitfull and by it his redemption plentifull Yea the verie name of Iesus that is our Sauiour what else doth it promise to a sinner than mercie and saluation He came into the world to faue sinners and to free them from that damnation wherewith they were held Mat. 9. The whole need not the Physician but they that are sicke and therefore hee came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Mat. 15. He was sent vnto the lost sheepe of the house of Israel It is not the will of the sheapheard that one of his sheepe should perish who hauing a hundred sheepe if he lose one of them leaueth ninetie nine in the wildernesse and seeketh him that he hath lost vntill hee haue found him Euen so it is the will of our Father and our Creatour that not one of his children perish and if he perish it is by his owne will not the will of God for the mercy of God is common to all granted to euerie one that asketh and he offereth himselfe to euery one that seeketh him No man wants his
iust and hateth sin and will not suffer it to goe vnpunished but yet he is likewise mercifull and pardoneth sinne to him that repenteth hee keepeth iustice in mercy and mercy in iustice and therefore it cannot bee but that a iust God will iustly haue mercy vpon thee And therfore can it seeme vnto thee but iust requisite that thou confesse thy selfe a miserable creature that thou maist obtaine mercy Wilt thou that thy sinnes be forgiuen thee and yet wilt thou not seem a sinner What can it profit thee to haue a close a hidden conscience since thou hast God a witnesse of all thy wickednesse Whatsoeuer thou doest God is a spectatour and a perpetuall obseruer of all euen the least thoughts of thy heart And as when wee know that our enemy lies in wait for vs by so much the more we fear him by how much the lesse we see him when we cannot find his snares where they are we fear them where they are not So the creatour of Heauen and Earth who being whollie euerie where seeth thee and cannot be seen of thee is so much the more to be feared by how much the more being inuisible when and how and what he seeth of thy actions thou knowest not Sin there where thou knowest him not to be and if there be no such place but that hee is euer present with thee and seeth all thy secrets how much reason hast thou to watch thy hands and thy tongue and thy hart too that doest all things in the presence of an alseeing God Which if thou wouldest duly consider of thou wouldest bee ashamed of many shamefull actions thou committest in the sight of so great and so omnipotent a God The Fifth Part of the exhortation to repentance CHAP. I. That God is not subiect to passion and neuer forsakes a sinner before a sinner forsakes him FIftly thou wilt say that thou couldest bee content to repent but that God who hath mercy on whom he wil Rom. 9.18 whom he wil he hardneth for thy manifold and grieuous offences hath withdrawen his grace from thee hath forsaken thee and hardned thee in thy sins And therfore since it is not in him that willeth Ibidem nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy to shake off the yoke of sinne from thy shoulders thou despairest of power to decline from euill and to do good because thou hast made God without whom thou canst not so much as thinke a good thought thine enemie Ibidem Res O man who art thou that pleadest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made mee thus Forasmuch 〈…〉 is made of the earth 〈…〉 worthy to enter into the bottemelesse depth of the iudgements of God neither are the senses of thy flesh sufficient to penetrate into the secrets of so high a maiestie Better is faithfull ignorance though ignorance of good things cannot be good than rash knowledge God hath created thee not to prie into him but to honour him to the end thou shouldest bee an obedient seruant to his precepts not a Iudge of his actions It should suffice a Christian who liueth by faith and as yet seeth not what is perfect but onely hopes to see it to beleeue that with God there can bee no iniustice though the cause of his iustice may bee vnknowen otherwise he that searcheth into the maiesty of God shall bee oppressed by his glory But yet thou iudgest of God in whom there is no gall nor bitternesse who is immutable impassible as thou iudgest of men It seemeth iust vnto man to reuenge his wrong to God to remit and forgiue an offence to him that is penitent It is the maner of a master when he is offended by his seruant to forbidde him his sight to turne his face from him to denie him forgiuenesse but yet betwixt God and thee it is otherwise for thogh thou by the pride of thy heart be turned from God and God in iustice turned from thee yet when with an humble contrite heart thou turnest to him hee disdaineth not with mercie and compassion to turne vnto thee And yet notwithstanding he that from all eternities hath beene alwaies immutable is no way subiect to change or alteration the simplicitie of his nature no perturbation can wound no passion can affect But forasmuch as wee can not speake of God but after the maner of men therefore wee call the temporall punishment of God his anger the sentence of eternall damnation his furie the free bountie of his goodnesse his mercie and so of the rest because these are the works of a man angrie furious mercifull and diuersly affected but yet so that alwayes we censure him a good God we seeke him in the simplicitie of our hearts and we assure our selues there is nothing in him that is not God himselfe For he executeth a heauy iudgment without passion and punisheth the vnrighteous being milde and mercifull Neither in these or any his other works whatsoeuer is there in him any alteration or shadow of changing And as heere by the heat of the sunne manie things are brought to passe without any change in it self or in the heat thereof but onely in those things vpon which it worketh so the God of the whole world according to his eternall will doth euery day create many things and giues them existence without any motion or change of himselfe But yet as a mariner when the ship lancheth from the shore thinks the shore parts from him whereas that remaines firme and immoueable he departeth from it And as if a man shut his eyes refusing to beholde the sunne there is no alteration in the sun but in his eyes so God whilest he doth any thing that seemeth new vnto vs though it were in his will before all beginnings and either sheweth mercie or powreth his vengeance vpon a man whilest man by sinne is turned from God there is no change in God but only in man carying himselfe after a diuers maner But thou departest from God not by any locall distance because as the soule of a man is all in all the body and all in euery part thereof and yet because it hath the greatest operation in the hart is sayd especially to reside there so God though especially he be said to be in heauen because there hee communicateth his glorie to his saints yet he is wholly euery where substantially and filleth the globe of the whole world though to our carnall eyes the simplicitie of his nature bee inuisible This his presence in all places is knowen euery where whilest in all things that are created there appeareth his cooperation sustentation and gubernation without which they would presently vanish and fall to nothing as the presence of our owne soules can no otherwise bee descried than by the vitall operations thereof in it own body Thou departest therfore from God not by any locall separation because thou