these silly dumbe creatures it is a maruell that they doe not break their league with man and shake off the yoke of obedience toward him It is a maruell that y e earth doth not rent in sunder vnder man as he walkes vpon it séeing it is so plagued with barrennesse for the sinne of man It is a maruell that our oxen and our horses with their hornes and hooues doe not make warre against vs séeing we are such vnrighteous tyrannicall Lords ouer them not content to haue their vse and seruice except wée plague them besides into such vndeserued vengeance of GODS wrath by our sinnes and transgressions Let vs therefore forbeare and eschew sinne and flye from it as from a Serpent séeing by it wée doe not onely draw downe Gods heauy iudgements vpon our heads but also wée plague our posteritie and the very dumbe and vnreasonable creatures into the wrath of Gods vengeance by our sinnes and transgressions And let vs further learne the perfect hatred of GOD against sinne who doth not onely punish it in maÌ„ which committeth it but in all things which any way serue man in his sinfull courses and let vs estéeme no sinne small séeing the infinite maiestie of God is offended by it infinite torments are prepared for it and nothing can satisfie for it but the inestimable price of Christes blood applyed to the conscience by a true and liuely faith Now it remaines that in the last place we examine the cause why the Lord brought such a fearefull destruction vpon this land and people There must néeds be some great cause that did exasperate the Lord to execute such a fierce strange iudgemeÌ„t vpon them The cause is not hard to be found out for nothing doth separate man from God but sinne nothing doth prouoke God to punish plague and destroy man but sin nothing doth draw downe the iudgements of God vpon man but sinne and sinne it was that mooued the Lord to reuenge himselfe thus seuerely vpon this land and people as it appeares by the wordes of Almightie God to Abraham Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is exceeding grieuous I will go downe now saith the Lord. Sin brought death into the world they are twinnes bred and borne in one day sinne and destruction are Relatiues admit the one and the other followes death and destruction growes foorth of sinne as fruite from the tree and therefore if we sin we may surely expect to be punished and if we be punished we need not doubt of the cause but we may safely thinke with our selues it is for our sinnes Therefore as we haue considered the punishment of Sodom so let vs consider the sins of Sodom which were the cause of her ouerthrow and destruction The Prophet Ezechiel doth make knowne vnto vs the sinnes of this people to be foure Pride fulnesse of bread idlenesse and vnmercifulnesse towardes the poore But these were not all the sins of SodoÌ„ for the Scripture layes downe another sinne practised amongst this people which because it did either beginne amongst them or was more practiseâ— amongst them then amongst any other people beside deriued the name from them and so holds it to this day but the Prophet doth reckoÌ„ the forenamed sinnes to be the sinnes of this people because they were the principall causes of that vnnaturall sin which wiâ—h the cry thereof brought such a fearefull vengeance vpon them In speaking of the sinnes of Sodom I will kéepe the same order that the Prophet obserueth in the place before cited placing Pride in the first ranke as though it were the Ring-leader to the rest and the roote from whence all other vices doe follow and so it is indéed and therefore it is called the Center in the sphere of mans life from whence are drawne lines to the circumference of iniquitie If a man haue any good gifts or qualities in him pride doth expell and abandon them if a man haue none pride will not giue place for any to enter and the first thing that pride works in maÌ„ is an irrespectiue care and an incurious respect of God hee cares not for God he séekes not for God hée doth not trust and relye vpon God nay he thinkes alwayes there is no God for the obiect of his pride is his God and in it he doth trust vpon it he doth relye and he sets it vp as an Idoll not onely in his owne heart but in the eyes and view of the world to the end all men may applaud admire honour and magnifie it as if a man be proude of his Nobilitie of his dignitie and greatnesse of his wealth and riches of his credit and estimation of his learning and wisdome of his apparel of his costly and goodly buildings or whatsoeuer else is the obiect of his pride he doth not onely set his heart vpon it himselfe séeking all meanes to vphold and maintaine it deriuing all his ioy and contentment from it depending vpon it as vpon the staffe and stay of his strength but he must haue all other men likewise to commit Idolatry with it and as the finger is alwayes where the paine is and the eye where the affectioÌ„ is so is the heart of a proud man alwayes setled fixed vpon y e thing whereof he is proud And therefore it is true that Dauid speaks of him he cares not for God he séekes not for God he thinks alwayes there is no God as he is thus careles inrespectiue of God so is he most iniurious to his neighbor in scorning disdaining despising vildly estéeming him Superbus nesâ—at esse socius A proud man acknowledgeth none to be his equall A proud man is alwayes contentious and by reason he is wholy possest with selfe-loue a man shall neuer haue iustice at his haÌ„ds for which cause Moses gaue warning to the Israelites not to chuse a King that should lift vp his heart aboue his brethren for when the chiefe Magistrate is proud and haughty all iustice and iudgement is peruerted he gouerns all things after the rule of his owne proud conceyts And euen as when a man winnoweth wheate the chaffe mounts aloft though it be light and vnprofitable but the wheate falls downe vnto the grouÌ„d though it be more precious and excellent then the chaffe eueÌ„ so when a proud man sits in gouernment vanity is preferred but iustice and iudgement are depressed Dauid complayneth of the proud that they had him excéedingly in derision and in another place that they imagined a lye against him noting vnto vs thereby that in the first place they scorne and disdayne all men and in the second place that they wrong maligne and deale vniustly with euery man Thus is a proud man fouÌ„d impious towards God iniurious to his neighbour not capable to receyue any good gifts or graces as a certain Philosopher told Alexander perceyuing his pride God
baggage of ransome or tribute hoped for but when they saw the heauens open aboue their heads and sending downe fire and brimstone vpon them whē they saw their houses on fire about their eares no place of refuge or safegard to flye vnto no meanes to escape when they felt the fire fall vpon their soft and tender bodyes as thick as rayne when they felt it scorche their flesh when they saw one another lye sprawling vpon the ground drawne to like a scrowle of parchment with y e scalding heat of the fire none able to help another none able to cōfort another what a miserable face of a citie was there thinke you quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis For the Lord rayned vpō these cities brimstone fire from the Lord out of heauen Now the reasons which moued the Lord to send this strange and terrible iudgement vpon these cities and people were especially 3. This God so wonderfull in power might and so feareful in his punishment had before this time drownd the world for sin but the people of Sodō Gomorrha were nothing terrified with that iudgemēt but were as wreched wicked in their courses as if they had heard of no exāple of Gods wrath against sin therefore now God sends fire to destroy them to let all the vngodly of the earth know that all the Elements and all creatures in heauen earth and hell are readie and prest to take vengeance vpon man for his sin when it pleaseth God to command enioyne them the Lord is not so bare of iudgements that he hath but one kinde to reuenge himselfe vpon y e vngodly he hath more thē one arrow of vengeance to the bow of his wrath he hath water to drawn thée fire to consume thée plague pestilence to destroy thée dearth famine to pine thée a thousand grieuous diseases to bring thée to thine end The earth is at his beck to open and swallow thée vp quick the Angels are at his commandment to strike 〈…〉 sudden death The deuils wayt vpon his will and if he bid them goe they haue power to tempt thée to bee thine owne butcher and executioner as to hang thy selfe to throw thy selfe downe headlong and break thy neck to cut thine own throat This God would haue y e sinner know And therefore let all the vngodly of the world feare this God trēble at his iudgmēts be careful cōscionable to serue please him take héed how they offend him for if they prouoke him he wil not spare them They haue not so many wayes to anger him withall as hée hath plagues punishments to destroy them withall And from hence an impenitent sinner may gather that there is no place of safety nor security for him a walled citie is no place of defence for a sinner his house is no castle vnto him his bed is no place of safegard for him for in al these places God hath messengers of death and destruction to attach him The second 〈◊〉 why the Lord brought this kind of iudgement vpon these cities people was y t the maner of their punishmēt might be suteable correspondēt to the maner of their sin for wheras they burned in the filthy lust of concupiscence one towards another against the order course of nature the Lord to punish this vnnatural heat of lust in thē brought a supernatural fire vpon them as they delighted in the filthy odious pleasure of sin defiled themselues with the hellish contagion of impietie so the Lord punished them with brimstone mingled with fire that as their sins made them stinke in the nosethrills of Almighty God so they might be choked stifled with the detestable stinking smell of brimstone as the Lord made the punishment of this people suteable to their sinne so he would haue al sinners know y t wherewith a mā sinneth by the same also shal he be punished for it was not vnpossible to the Almighty hand of God which made all the world of nought to haue drowned this people their land with the ouerflowing streames of Iordan or to haue deliuered them into the hands of y e foure kings as once before or to haue sent the infectious noysom pestilence among them but God chose rather to destroy thē with fire brimstone from heauen to giue notice to all posterities y t as they sin so shal they be punished Aarōs sonnes offred strange fire vpon the Altar therfore a strange fire from heauen destroyed them Samson suffering the eyes of his mind and the light of his reason to be extinguished was for his punishment depriued of his bodily eyes and lost the comfortable sight of this world And as he suffered himselfe to be captiuated and inthralled to the wil of a woman so was he made a slaue to the will of his vncircumcised enemies compelled by them to grinde in a mill like an horse then which there could not be a more seruile seruitude And it séemeth by the example of Diues that in hel there shal be some thing in the torments of the damned which shall haue some correspondency with their sinnes for Diues being vnmerciful in the world while he liued can finde no mercy nor compassion when he is dead either in hell or heauen he that would not giue a crum of bread to Lazarus in his life time cānot now get a drop of water to coole the typ of his tongue Howsoeuer therfore there be generall torments in hell for the damned yet it should séeme that there shall be some particular thing in their torments which shall haue some semblance with their sins the reason is because they might to their greater griefe be put in minde of their sinnes which were the cause of those tormēts The third last reason why the Lord from heauen sent downe this strange feareful iudgement vpon these cities people was because their sinnes cryed vp to heauen therefore God answered the cry of their sins with a punishmēt from heauen And this God doth to let vs sée how sin turneth heauen into hell and maketh the mercifull Sauiour of mākind to be an vnmerciful destroyer of mankind God is by nature a preseruer of men The shepherd of Israel A refuge for men to fly vnto for safegard succour but such is the strong effects of sin and so strangely worketh it with God y t of a preseruer of men it makes him a destroyer of men of a shepheard it makes him a leopard of a lambe a lyon The heauēs by nature giue rayne vnto the earth in due season to make it fruitefull and fertile to bring forth things necessary for the vse of man But sinne makes the heauens to bée brasse vnto vs causeth them to send downe fire brimstone storme tempest to make the earth barren fruitles destroy both man beast from off
mourning yet her plagues shall come vpon her in one day death sorrow and famine and she shall bee burnt with fire The disciples woonder at the faire and goodly building of the Temple but our Sauiour Christ tells them that there should a time come euen the time when God should visit that people for their sinnes at which time there should not one stone be left vpon another of all that beautifull building that should not bée throwne downe We therefore of this land and citie ought to take this Alarum for a warning giuen vs by Sodom other places most excellent eminent in their times yet al destroyed ouerthrowne for their sins and impieties for though England be a Paradise for pleasure a storehouse of wealth and a rich Exchequer of all plenty and delights And though London be the Kings Chamber the seat of the Nobles the Mart of rich and worthy Marchants indéede the beauty of the whole land yet if God once visit this land and citie for the sinnes of the inhabitants thereof neither this nor that neither the largenes of their territories nor their beauty excellencie riches or multitude of people shall excuse them but he will make them as Sodom and like vnto Gomorrha If God would haue spared any place for the outward worthinesse of it he would haue spared Zion in which place the Lord appeared in perfit beautie and of which place God gaue this testimony that he loued the gates of Syon more then all the habitations of Iacob And in another place the Lord hath chosen Syon saying This is my rest for euer here wil I dwell for I haue a delight therein And yet this place is so defaced spoyled and ruinated at this day that it lyes abhorred desolate being a cage of most vncleane birds and a filthy denne of Turkes miscreants and Infidels And how can England or London secure themselues or promise any immunity of Gods iudgements vnto themselues by reason of any outward worthinesse or excellency wherewith they séeme to be blest aboue other Nations for whensoeuer God shall visit this Land City for their sinnes nothing shall exempt vs frō his iudgements except we preuent them by repentance Concerning the generality of this Iudgement which the Lord brought vpon Sodom and Gomorrha it is furthermore said that he destroyed all the Inhabitants of those Cities the whole people of the Land not men onely but women too not men women onely but men women and children euen all the Inhabitants of those Cities perished in this ouerthrow not the poore onely but poore and rich not the base and inglorious Pezant but the Noble and honorable amongst them not the subiect but their Kings and Rulers not those which were in the field but all that were in the cities euen all the Inhabitants of those cities were ouerthrowne in this destruction So that as God spares no place for any respect of outward excellency no more doth he spare any person for his owne worthinesse or eminency but when he brings his Iudgements vpon man for sinne the wise and the foole perish both together the King that sits vpon the Throne and the begger that sits vpon the ground they beare both a part and drinke of the same cup when he is angry This the Spirit of God doth testify vnto vs by the Prophet Dauid You shall dye like men and ye Princes shall fall like others And the Prophet Ieremy tells Ieconiah King of Iuda that though he were the signet of the Lords right hād yet he should be pluckt from thence No title of honour eminency or excellency can frée a man from Gods iudgements The plagues of Egypt were vpon Pharaoh as well as vpon the people And therefore Kings and Princes and the honorable and renowmed personages of the world must not flatter themselues nor suffer the pompe of y e world to deceiue them for whether their honour and dignity consist in authority or in wealth and riches or in the voluptuousnes and pleasure of life none of these can frée them from GODS iudgements Nay if we marke the procéedings of God in the execution of his iudgements we shall often sée that the mē in chiefest place do soonest taste of his iudgements Ahab king of Israel was first slaine in the battell at Ramoth Gilead Among all the people that met Iehu as he went to Izreel we read of none that was slaine but the 2. kings Iehoram king of Israel Ahaziah king of Iudah .1000 princes did profane the golden and siluer vessels which were brought out of the Temple at Ierusalem together with Belshazzar King of the Chaldeans as also did his wiues and concubines yet the Scripture makes mention of none that was slayne that night but onely the King This should teach Kings and Rulers and such as are of note and place to take no more liberty of sinning vnto themselues then those of the vulgar sort and condition for they are as subiect to Gods Iudgements as the meanest among the people But now wonder all ye that read this History let your hearts melt with griefe and your eyes be resolued into teares of sorrow when you heare that not onely those of discretion yéeres but euen children Infants and sucking babes that hangd vpon their mothers brests which knew not their right hand from their left which neuer cōmitted sinne actually were also destroyed in this ouerthrow The tendernesse of their age might haue pleaded for them they stucke to their mothers brests as Apples to their trées they could not speake stand nor helpe themselues Their innocency harmelesse simplicity might haue pleaded for them they knew not their right hand from their left they could not distinguish betwéene good euill right wrong straight and crooked Those of elder yéeres had iudgement will in themselues therfore they were iustly punished for their transgressions but what had these infants done which had not as yet attayned to yéeres of discretion But so fierce is the wrath of God against sinne that nothing could excuse these silly infants for the Lord destroyed all the inhabitants of these cities he reserued neyther man womā nor child aliue Neyther was there any cruelty or iniustice in God in destroying the childrē of Sodom together with those that were of elder yéeres discretion for foure reasons may be yéelded of this action The first reason why the infants and sucking babes in Sodom were destroied aswell as those of elder yéers was because they were the branches of such cursed trées children of such vngodly parents for howsoeuer it be true that the Lord speakes by the Prophet Ezechiel that the child shall not beare the fathers sin it is true also that the Lord himselfe speaketh in the second Commandement He will visit the sinne of the fathers vpon the children So that if a wicked and vngodly man beget a child that child shal not beare the
sayd he is able to giue wisdome vnto men but Alexander is so proud that there is no place for wisdome to take place in him And lastly a proud man is in danger to lose those good gifts and qualities which hée already hath according to that old prouerbe Inficit egregios adiuncta superbia mores Where pride is there all excellent conditions are infected and poysoned so that they eyther dye or grow so weake that they are not able to performe any good office or duety This made Dauid pray Let not the foot of pride come against mee for well he was assured that if pride set in a foot against him hee should haue extreme wrong offered him Pride then being one of the sins of Sodom it is manifest that there was no religion there no séeking after God nor any care of his worship or seruice neither was there any iustice iudgement or equitie in the land but all kinde of oppression and wrong all grace goodnesse was exiled thence neither was there any place for vertue godlinesse in that place and therefore no maruel it was if God brought such a fearefull destruction vpon such a proude place and people for pride brings alwayes destruction with it as Salomon saith Pride goes before destructiō and an high minde before a fall So that a man is neuer néere a mischiefe till hée grow proud for thē he procures Gods hatred towards him as it is in y e Prophet The Lord hath sworne by himselfe I hate the excellency of Iacob And this hatred that God beares against pride prouoketh him to resist the proud to crosse them and by sundry meanes to reuenge himselfe vpon them This shall they haue for their pride sayth the Prophet The Lord will be terrible vnto them as he hath threatned by the Prophet Ieremy saying Behold I come vnto thee O proud man And The proud shall stumble and fall and none shall raise him vp and I will kindle a fire in his cityes and it shall deuoure all about him All these threatnings against pride did the LORD bring vpon Sodom and her Cityes in such sort as they are héere remembred for an example vnto all posterityes the same threatnings he will likewise bring vpon all those that are infected with it The second sinne of Sodom was fulnes of bread By bread is signified all such meats drinks as are vsed for the nutriment of the body which this people of Sodom did vse with such saturity and ingurgitation as did not relieue nature but destroy Grace Nature is content with a little Grace with lesse but where this fulnesse and repletion of bread is there nature is depraued and grace destroyed This sinne is the baite which the diuell vseth to prouoke men to yéeld vnto all his temptations for as the Faulconer when he would call his Hawke to his fist doth not hold out his bare fist vnto her but sheweth her a piece of flesh vnto which shee willingly comes and so is taken so the deuill when he would tempt a man to any sinne he offers him the baite of deliciousnesse knowing that the more the body is repleate the more emptie is the soule of all grace and goodnesse One cause why Diues was so vnmercifull towards poore Lazarus was because he fared deliciously euery day for a full belly is neuer touched with the féeling of others miseries The cause why the Israelites were not sorry for the affliction of Ioseph nor pitied the distressed estate of their brethren was because they ate the lambs of the flocke and the calues of the stall and drunke their wine in bowles The cause why euery man among them neyed after his neighbours wife was because they did rise in the morning like fed horses And the cause why they committed idolatry and worshipped the golden calues which Aaron made them was because they cram'd themselues excessiuely with meat drinke and that made them forget God which had done so great things for them Whereby it is euident that the repletion of the belly is the confusion of the soule and that the deuill hath the greatest aduantage against vs to tempt vs and wee the least strength to withstand him in this repletion and fulnesse of bread therefore Dauid calleth the table of delicious féeders a snare for euen as birds are caught in that place where they come to féed euen so are they that fare deliciously caught in the Deuils net whiles they féed For this cause the Wise man forbids vs to bée companions with those which cramme themselues with flesh lest by eating and drinking excessiuely we giue the deuil aduantage to tempt vs to some grieuous sinne And in like maner did Almighty God forbid the Prophet to go into y e house of feasting to sit there to eate and drinke for as he saith in another place When men are filled their hearts are exalted and then they forget God And as this fulnesse of bread plungeth the soule into many inexplicable dangers makes it subiect to diuers temptations so is this vnmeasurable féeding hurtfull obnoxious to the body for when the stomake receiueth such aboundance so many kindes of meat and drink it is oppressed rather then relieued Therefore saith Salomon that the saciety of the rich will not suffer him to sleepe his body is so distempered by his féeding that his quiet rest departeth from him We estéem the goodnes of a medicine not by the pleasantnes nor by y e great quantity but by the wholesome good operation of it so ought we to estéeme of meat not by the deliciousnesse of it nor by the abundance of it but by the health it bringeth to our bodyes Nothing bréeds a surfet sooner then this fulnesse of bread out of all doubt this vnmeasureable féeding hath brought many to an vntimely death If therefore thou wilt kéepe thy body in health vse thy meat and drinke as thou vsest medicines that is seldome and in small measure for in fiue things doe wée especially offend in eating and drinking First when wee make it our first worke in the morning being no sooner out of our beds but our minde is vpon our meat for which cause Salomon denounceth a wo vnto that land whose Princes eat in the morning for such as eate in the morning are fit for nothing all the day after Secondly wée offend in eating and drinking when we are too curious and nice in our dyet not contenting our selues with ordinary and common meates and drinkes but longing after strange and vnusuall things and those must be most costly and curiously drest this was the sinne of the Israelites which loathing Manna desired flesh for their lust for which curiositie of theirs God destroyed them euen whiles the meat was in their mouthes And the Emperour Augustus did cause one Erotes a Lieutenant in Egypt to bée naild to the mast of a ship