haue giuen his last sentence At that day when Quaesitor scelerum veniet vindexque reorum the searcher of all and punisher of wicked hearts shall giue his double voyce of dread and ioy when hauing spoken peace to his Saints hee shall thunder out condemnation to the wicked Goe ye into euerlasting fire dent ocyus omnes Quas meruere pati sic stat sententia poenas And if here on earth Seiudice nemo nocens absoluitur a mans owne conscience condemne him for his sinnes how much greater shall be the iust condemnation of God Then all murdering Cains scoffing Chams persecuting Sauls theeuish and sacrilegious Achans oppressing Ahabs couetous Nabals drunken Hâ—lofernesses cruell Herods blasphemous Rabshaceh's vniust Pilates shall reape the seed in their eternall deaths which they haue sowne in their temporall liues There shall be scorching heate and freezing cold Ex vehementissimo calore ad vehementissimum frigus Without either act of refreshing or hope of releasing Euery day hath beene their Holy-day on earth euery day shall be their workie-day in Hell The Poets fained three furies Scindet latus vna slagello Altera tartareis sectos dabit anguibus artus Tertia fumantes incoquet igne genas One brings a Scorpion which the Conscience eates Another with yron whips the blacke flesh beates Whiles the third boyles the soule in scalding heates Nemo ad id sero venit vnde nunquam cum semel venit poterit reuerti No man can come too late to those sufferings from whence being once come hee can neuer returne This is Hell where darknesse shall be their prison euerlastingnes their fetters flames their torments angry Angels their tormenters Vbi nec tortores deficiant nec torti miserimoriantur Where the scourgers shal neuer be weary of afflicting nor the scourged faile their suffering But there shall be alwayes torments for the body and a body for torments Fire shall be the consummation of their plagues not the consumption of their persons Vbi per millia millia annorum cruciandi nec in secula seculorum liberandi Myriades of yeeres shall not accomplish nor determine their punishments It shall be their miserie Semper velle quod nunquam erit semper nolle quod nunquam non erit to haue a will neuer satisfied a nill neuer gratified 3. Per profunditatem The depth of Hell The Scripture is frequent to testifie Hell a deepe place and beneath vs. Capernaum shall be cast downe to Hell Solomon so speakes The way of life is aboue to the wise that hee may depart from Hell beneath And of this Harlot Her house is the way to Hell going downe to the chambers of death Her feete goe downe to death her steps take hold on Hell Downe and beneath doe witnesse the depth of Hell There are three places Earth Heauen Hell Earth wee all enioy good and bad promiscuously Heauen is prepared for the good and it is vpwards If ye be risen with Christ seeke the things that are aboue Hell is ordained for the wicked and it is downeward called here profundum a depth To define the locall place of Hell it is too deepe for me I leaue it to deeper iudgements I doe not giue Dâ—monax answere being asked where Hell was Expecta simul ac illuc venero et tibi per literas significabo Tarry till I come thither and I will send thee word by letters No I onely say this There is one wee are sure of it let vs by a good life be as sure to scape it But to confine my speech to the bounds of my Text I take it that by Hell the depth of it here is ment the deepe bondage of the wicked soules that they are in the depth of the power of Hell Sathan hauing by sinne a full dominion ouer their consciences For Hell is often allegorically taken in the Scriptures So Ionas cryes vnto God out of the belly of Hell Dauid sung de profundis Out of the depth haue I cryed vnto thee oh Lord. So Christ speakes of the vnbeleeuer that hee is already damned And the reprobate are here affirmed in the depth of Hell This exposition I esteeme more naturall to the words For as the godly haue a Heauen so the wicked a Hell euen vpon Earth though both in a spirituall not a literall sence The reprobates Hell on earth is double or of two sorts 1. In that the power of Hell rules in his conscience Hee walkes according to the course of this world and according to the Prince of the power of the Ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience Hee is taken and ledde captiue of the Deuilâ— as hereafter in the chaines of damnation so here in the bands of dominion which Solomon cals funes peccatorum as he hath drawne iniquitie with the cords of vanitie so hee shall be holden with the cords of his sinnes 2. There is a Hell in his conscience So Saint Augustine Sunt duo tortores anime Timor et Dolor The soule hath two tormentors euen in this life griefe for euill felt feare of euill to be felt Whereof the Poet. Sic mea perpetuos curarum pectora morsus fine quibus nullo consiciantur habent These are the fearefull terrours whereof the guilty heart cannot be quitted cannot be quieted though pleasure it selfe were his phisitian and the whole world his minstrell Domino priuante suo gaudio quid esse potest in gaudium when God withholds his musicke and peace what can make the heart merry Polidore Virgill thus writes of Richard the third's dreame the night before Bosworth-field That hee thought all the Deuils in Hell pulled and haled him in most hideous and vgly shapes And concludes of it at last Id credo non fuit somnium sed conscientia scelerum I doe not thinke it was so much his dreame as his wicked conscience that brought those terrours When this euill spirit comes on a wicked Saul let him goe to his merriest good fellowes beguile at once the time and himselfe with playes and sports feast away his cares at his owne table or burie them together with his wits at a Tauerne alas these are pitteous shifts weaker then wals of paper Sleepe cannot make his conscience sleepe perhaps the very dreames are fearefull It will not leaue thee till it hath shewed thee thy Hell no nor when it hath shewed thee it will it leaue thee quiet The more thou offerest to damme vp this current the more ragingly it swels and gusheth ouer the resisting banckes This wounded Conscience runnes like the stricken Deare with the arrow of death in the ribbes from thicket to thicket from shelter to shelter but cannot change her paine with her place The wound ranckles in the soule and the longer it goes on the worse still it festers Thus sinne that spake thee so faire at her inuiting to the Banket now presents to thy waked
sinne that vvhiles men commit it it commits them either to the high-way or the Hedges and from thence either by a Writ or a Warrant an Arrest or a Mittimus to the prison Solomon saith Hee shall not be rich The Gut is a Gulfe that vvill easily swallow all his commings in Meat should be as wise Agur praied food conuenient for thee or as the Hebrew phrase is the food of thy allowance This dish is to feed on all dishes that may pleasâ— the appetite or rather may delight surfet for appetite dares not lodge in an Epicures house This Sinne is instar omnium like the Feast it selfe saue that the Glutton feedes on Gods good â—reatures corporally but on Sathans mysticall boord is set nothing but what is originally euill and absolutely banefull So that here Gluttony that feeds on all Dishes is but a priuate Dish it selfe and though perhaps for the extent and largenesse it takes vp the greater roome yet for the number it is but one It is most rancke Idolatrie sayes Paul and so neere to Atheisme vvith a no-God that it makes a carnall God In mea paâ—ria Deus venter as profound and profane as the Babilonians sacrifice they to their Bell these to their Belly Perhaps you will say they are more kinde to themselues not a whit for they vvrappe vp death in their full morsels and swallow it as Pilles in the Pappe of delicatie They ouerthrow nature vvith that should preserue it as the Earth that is too rancke marres the Corne. They make short vvorke vvith their estates and not long vvith their liues as if they knew that if they liued long they must bee beggars therefore at once they make haste to spend their liuings and ende their liues Full Suppers midde-night Reuels Morning Iunkets giue them no time to blow but adde new to their indigested surfets They are the Deuils crammed Fowles like Aesops Henne too fat to lay to produce the fruites of any goodnesse They doe not dispensare but dissipare bona Domini wisely dispence but blindely scatter the gifts of GOD. They pray not so much for daily Bread as for daintie Bread and thinke God wrongs them if they may not Diues-like fare diliciously euery day Sense is their Purueyour Appetite their Steward They place Paradise in their throates and Heauen in their guts Meane time the state wastes the soule pines and though the flesh be puffed and blowne vp the spirits languish they loue not to liue in a Fenne but to haue a Fenne in them It is not plague enough that GOD withall sends leannesse into their soules but their estates sincke their liues fall away they spinne a webbe out of their owne bowels vvorse then the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men-eaters they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-eaters they put a Pleurisie into their bloods a Tabe and Consumption into their states an Apoplexie into their soules the meat that perisheth not is fastidious to their palates that they may feede on that which feeds on them and so at once deuoure and be deuoured drinke of a cup that drinkes vp them 3. The third Viall is Idlenesse a filching water to for it steales away our meanes both to get goods and to be good It is a rust to the Conscience a theefe to the estate The Idle man is the Deuâ—ls Cushion wherevpon he sits and takes his ease He refuseth all works as either thankelesse or dangerous Thus charactered he had rather freeze then fetch wood hee had rather steale then worke and yet rather begge then take paines to steale and yet in many things rather want then begge Ignaui sunt fures saith Melancthon Sluggards are theeues they robbe insensibly the Common-wealth most sensibly themselues Pouertie comes on him as an armed man The Idlesbie is pouerties prisoner if hee liue without a calling pouertie hath a calling to arrest him When the Cisterne of his patrimonie is emptied and seemes to inuite his labour to replenish it hee flatters himselfe with enough still and lookes for supply without paines Necessitie must driue him to any worke and what hee can not auferre he will differre auoyd hee will delay Euery get-nothing is a theefe and lazinesse is a stollen water if the Deuill can winne thee to plye hard this liquour hee knowes it will whet thy stomach to any vice Faction Theeuerie Lust Drunkennesse blood with many Birds of this blacke wing offer themselues to the Idle minde and striue to preferre their seruice Would you know sayes the Poet how Aegistus became an adulterer In promptu causa est desidiosus erat the cause is easie the answere ready hee was Idle Hee that might make his estate good by labour by Idlenesse robbes it This is a dangerous water and full of vile effects for when the lazie haue robbed themselues they fall aboard and robbe others This is the Idle-mans best end that as hee is a Thiefe and liues a beast so to dye a beggar 4. The fourth Cup is Enuie Water of a strange and vncouth taste There is no pleasure in being drunke with this stollen water for it frets and gnawes both in palates and entralls There is no good rellish with it either in tast or digestion Onely it is like that Acidula aqua that Plinie speakes of which makes a man drunke sooner then wine Enuie keepes a Register of Iniuries and graues that in Marble which Charitie writes in the dust Wrong It cannot endure that any should be conferred with it preferred to it Nec quemquam iam ferre potest Caesarue priorem Pompeiusue parem Caesar can brooke no Greater Pompey no riuall Iohn Baptist was of another spirit when he heard that the people had left him to follow Christ he spake with the voice of content My ioy is fulfilled He must encrease and I must decrease Inuidus non est idoneus auditor The enuious man is an incompetent hearer his eares are not fit to his head If hee heares good of another hee frets that it is good if ill he is discontent that he may not iudge him for it If wronged hee cannot stay Gods leasure to quit him he is straight either a Saul or an Esau by secret ambushes or by open hostillitie he must carue himselfe a satisfaction No plaister will heale his pricked finger but his heart-bloud that did it if he might serue himselfe he would take vnreasonable peny-worthes S. Augustine would coole his heate Vis vindicari Christiane Wilt thou bereuenged of thine aduersarie oh Christian tarry a while Nondum vindicatus est Christus Thy Lord and Sauiour is not yet auenged of his enemies Malice is so madde that it will not spare friend to wreake vengeance on foes So Garnet told the Powder-traitours that some innocent mighâ— be destroyed with many nocent if the publicke good could not otherwise be perfected His instance was that in a Towne besieged though some friends were there yet no wrong nor offence at
better life is the soule spoiled of when sinne hath taken it captiue The Adultresse will hunt for the precious life She is ambitious and would vsurpe Gods due and claime the heart the soule Hee that doth loue her destroyeth his owne soule Which shee loues not for it selfe but for the destruction of it that all the blossomes of grace may dwindle and shrinke away as bloomes in a nipping Frost and all our comforts runne from vs as flatterers from a falling Greatnesse or as Vermine from an house on fire Nay euen both thy liues are endangered The wicked man goâ—â—h after her as a foole to the correction of the stâ—ckes till a 〈◊〉 strike through his liuer as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life It is as ineuitably true of the spirituall Harlots mischiefe For the turning away of the simple shall slay them Saue my life and take my goods saith the prostrate and yeelding Traueller to the theefe But there is no mercy with this enemie the life must pay for it She is worse then that inuincible Nauy that threatned to cut the throates of all Men Women Infants but I would to God shee might goe hence againe without her errand as they did and haue as little cause to bragge of her conquests Thus haue wee discribed the Temptresse The Tempted followes who are here called the Dead There be three kindes of death corporall spirituall eternall Corporall when the body leaues this life Spirituall when the soule forsakes and is forsaken of grace Eternall when both shall be throwne into hell 1. is the seperation of the soule from the body 2. is the seperation of body and soule from grace 3. the seperation of them both from euerlasting happinesse Man hath two parts by which hee liues and two places wherein he might liue if hee obayed God Earth for a time Heauen for euer This Harlot Sin depriues either part of man in either place of true life and subiects him both to the first and second death Let vs therefore examine in these particulars first what this death is and secondly how Sathans guests the wicked may be said liable thereunto 1. Corporall death is the departure of the soule from the body whereby the body is left dead without action motion sense For the life of the body is the vnion of the soule with it For which essentiall dependance the soule is often called and taken for the life Peter said vnto him Lord why cannot I follow thee now I will lay downe my soule for thy sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his soule meaning as it iâ— translated his life And He that findeth his soule shall loose it but hee that looseth his soule for my sake shall finde it Here the Soule is taken for the Life So that in this death there is the seperation of the soule and body the dissolution of the person the priuation of life the continuance of death for there is no possible regresse from the priuation to the habite except by the supernaturall and miraculous hand of God This is the first but not the worst death which sinnâ— procureth And though the speciall deaâ—nesse of the guests here be spirituall yet this which we call naturall may be implied may be applied for when God threatned death to Adams sinne in illo die mâ—riâ—ris in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die yet Adam liued nine hundred and thirtie yeares after There was notwithstanding no delay no delusion of Gods decree for in ipso die in that very day death tooke hold on him and so is the Hebrew phrase dying thou shalt dye fall into a languishing and incurable consumption that shall neuer leaue thee till it bring thee to thy graue So that hee instantly dyed not by present seperation of soule and body but by mortallitie mutabillitie miserie yea by sorrow and paine as the instruments and agents of Death Thus said that Father After a man beginneth to be in this body by reason of his sinne he is euen in death The wicked then are not onely called Dead because the conscience is dead but also in respect of Gods decree whose inviolable substitution of Death to Sinne cannot be euaded auoyded It is the Satute-law decreed in the great Parliament of Heauen Statutum omnibus seâ—el mori It is appoynted vnto men once to die Tâ—is is one speciall kindnesse that sinne doth vs one kisse of her lippes Shee giues her louers three mortall kisses The first kils the conscience the second the carkase the third body and soule for euer Death passed vpon all men for that all haue sinned So Paul schooles his Corinths For this cause many are weaâ—e and sicke among you and many sleepe And conclusiuely peccati stipendium mors The wages of sinne is Death This Death is to the wicked death indeed euen as it is in it owne full nature the curse of God the suburbes of Hell Neither is this vniust dealing with God that man should incurre the death of his body that had reiected the life of his soule nisi praecessisset in peccato mors animae numquam corporis mors in supplicio sequerâ—tur If sinne had not first wounded the body death could not haue killed the soule Hence saith Augustine Men shunne the death of the flesh rather then the death of the spirit that is the punishment rather then the cause of the punishment Indeed Death considered in Christ and ioyned with a good life is to Gods elect an aduantage nothing else but a bridge ouer this tempestuous sea to Paradice Gods mercy made it so saith S. Augustine Not by making death in it selfe good but an instrument of good to his This hee demonstrates by an instance As the Law is not euill when it increaseth the lust of sinners sâ— death is not good though it augmâ—nt the glory of suâ—ferers The wicked vse the law ill though the law be good The good die well though death be euill Hence saith Solomon The day of death is better then the day of ones birth For our death is not obitus sed abitus not a perishing but a parting Non amittitur anima praemittitur tantum The soule is not lost to the body but onely sent before it to ioy Si duriùs seponitur meliùs reponitur If the soule be painfully laid off it is ioyfully laid vp Though euery man that hath his Genesis must haue his Exodus and they that are borne must dye Yet saith Tertullian of the Saints Profectio est quam putas moâ—tem Our dying on earth is but the taking our iourney to Heauen Simeon departs and that in peace In pace in pacem Death cannot be euentually hurtfull to the good for it no sooner takes away the temporall life but Christ giues eternall in the roome of it Alas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corpora cadauera Our graues shall as
banket haue this death in present the precedent and subsequent are both future the one naturally incurred by sinne the other iustly inflicted for vnrepented sinne For all shall dye the corporall death Hee that feareth an oath as well as hee that sweareth the â—eligious as the profane But this last which is Eternall death shall onely cease on them that haue before hand with a spirituall death slaine themselues This therefore is called the second death Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first resurrection which is the spirituall life by grace On such the second death hath no power Hee that is by Christ raised from the first death shall by Christ also scape the second But hee that is dead spiritually after hee hath died corporally shall also dye eternally This is that euerlasting seperation of body and soule from God and consequently from all comfort Feare him saith our Sauiour that is able to destroy both body and soule in Hell And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and euerlasting contempt This is that death that God delights not in His goodnesse hath no pleasure in it though his iustice must inflict it Man by sinne hath offended God an infinite Maiestie and therefore deserues an infinite miserie Now because he is a nature finite hee cannot suffer a punishment infinite in greatnesse simul et semel together and at once hee must therefore endure it successiuè sine fine successiuely without end The punishment must be proportioned to the sinne because not in present greatnesse therefore in eternall continuance Christ for his elect suffered in short time sufficient punishment for their sinnes for it is all one for one that is eternall to dye and for one to dye eternally But he for whom Christ suffered not in that short time must suffer for himselfe beyond all times euen for euer This is the last Death a liuing death or a dying life what shall I tearme it If it be life how doth it kill If death how doth it liue There is neither life nor death but hath some good in it In life there is some ease in death an end But in this death neither ease nor end Prima â—ors animam dâ—lentem pellet de câ—rpore secunda mors animam nolentem tenet in corpore The first death driues the soule vnwillingly from the body the second death holdes the soule vnwillingly in the body In those dayes shall men seeke death and shall not finde it and shall desire to dye and death shall flye from them Their worme shall not dye Thus saith the Scripture morientur mortem they shall dye the death Yet their death hath much too much life in it For there is a perfection giuen to the body and soule after this life as in heauen to the stronger participation of comfort so in hel to the more sensible receiuing of torment The eye shall see more perspicuously and the eare heare more quickly and the sense feele more sharply though all the obiects of these be sorrow and anguish Vermis conscientiam corrodet ignis carnem comburet quia et corde et corpore deliquerunt The worme shall gnaw the conscience the fire burne the flesh because both fleâ—h and conscience haue offended This is the fearfull death which these guests incurre this is the Shoâ— at the Diuells Banket God in his Iustice suffers him to reward his guests as hee is rewarded himselfe and since they loued his worke to giue them the stipend due to his seruice These are the tempted guests dead The vlgar Latine translation I know not vpon what ground hath interpreted here for mortui Gigantes thus hee knoweth not that the Gyants are there Monstrous men that would dart thunder at God himselfe and raise vp mountaines of impietie against Heauen As if they were onely great men that feasted at Sathans Banket whose riches were able to minister matter to their pleasures And surely such are in these dayes of whose sinnes when we haue cast an inventory account we might thus with the Poet sum vp themselues Viâ— dicam quid sis magnus es Ardelio Thou hast great lands great power great sinnes and than Dâ—st aske me what thou art th' art a great man The Gyants in the Scripture were men of a huge stature of a fierce nature The Poets fained their Gyants to be begotten and bred of the Sunne and the Earth and to offer violence to the Gods some of them hauing an hundred hands as Briareiu was called centimanus meaning they were of great command as Helen wrot to Paris of her husband Menelaus An nescis longas regibus esse manus This word Gyants if the originall did afford it must be referred either to the guests signifiing that monstrous men resorted to the Harlots table that it was Gigantoum conviuium a tyrannous feast or else and that rather to the tormentors which are laid in ambush to surprise all the commers in and carry them as a pray to Hell But because the best translations giue no such word and it is farre fetched I let it fall as I tooke it vp The third person here inserted is the Attempted the new guest whom she striues to bring in to the rest He is discribed by his ignorance Nescit Hee knoweth not what company is in the house that the dead are there It is the Deuils pollicie when hee would ransacke and robbe the hoâ—se of our conscience like a theefe to put out the candle of our knowledge That wee might neither discerne his purposes nor decline his mischeefes Hee hath had his instruments in all ages to darken the light of knowledge Domitian turnes Philosophie into banishment Iulian shuts vp the Schoole-doores The barbarous souldiours vnder Clement the seauenth burned that excellent Vatican library Their reasons concurred with Iulians prohibition to the Christans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 least they kill vs with our owne weapons For it is said euen of Gentile learning Hic est Goliae gladius quo ipse Goliah ingulandus est Hic Herculis claua qua rabidi inter Ethnicos canes percutiendi sunt This is that Goliahs sword whereby the Philistine himselfe is wounded This is that Hercules clubbe to smite the madde dogs amongst the heathen Habadallus Mahomets scholler that Syrian Tyrant forbad all Christian children in his dominions to goe to schoole that by ignorance hee might draw them to superstition For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To be destitute of learning is to dance in the darke These were all Sathans instruments yet they come short of the Pope whose pollicie to aduance his Hierarchie is to oppresse mens consciences with ignorance teaching that the fulnesse of zeale doth arise from the emptinesse of knowledge euen as fast as fire flasheth out of a fish-pond There are degrees in sin so in ignorance It is a sin to be ignorant of that we
oyle that feâ—ds the lampe of his life beginne to dry vp all his limbes loose their former agillitie As the litâ—le world thus decaies in the great so the great decaies in it selfe that Nature is faine to leane on the staffe of Art â—nd to be held vp by mans industrie The signes which Christ hath giuen to fore-run the worlds ruine are called by a Father aegritudines Mundi the diseases or sicknesses of the world as sicknesse naturally goes before death Warres dying the earth into a sanguine hew dead carkases infecting the aires and the infected aires breathing about plagues and pestilences and sore contagions Whereof saith the same Father nullâ— magis quam nos testes sumus quos mundi finis inuenit none can be more certaine witnesses then wee vpon whom the ends of the world are come That sometimes the influences of Heauen spoyle the fruits of the earth and the fogs of earth soile the vertues of the Heauenly bodies that neither Plannets aboue nor plants below yeeld vs expected comforts So God for our sinnes brings the heauen the earth the ayre and whatsoeuer was created for mans vse to be his enemie and to warre against him And all because omnia quae ad vsum vitae accipimus ad vsum vitij conuertimus we turne all things to vices corruption which were giuen for natures protection Therefore what we haue â—iuerted to wickednesse God hath reuerted to our reuenge We are sicke of sinne and therefore the world is sicke of vs. Our liues shorten as if the booke of our dayes were by Gods knife of Iudgement cut lesse and brought from Folio as in the Patriarchs before the flood to Quarto in the Fathers after the flood nay to Octauo as with the Prophets of the Law nay euen to Decimosexto as with vs in the dayes of the Gospell The Elements are more mixed drossie and confused the ayres are infected neither wants our intemperance to second all the rest We hasten that we would not haue Death and runne so to riot in the Aprill of our early vanities that our May shall not scape the fall of our lâ—afe Our great Landlord hath let vs a faire house and we suffer it quickly to runne to ruine That whereas the Soule might dwell in the body as a Pallace of delight shee findes it a crazy sickish rotten cabinet in danger euery gust of dropping downe How few shalt thou meete if their tongues would be true to their griefes without some disturbance or affliction There lyes one groning of a sicke heart another shakes his aking head a third roares for the torments of his reines a fourth for the racking of his gowty ioynts a fift grouels with the Falling-sicknesse a last lyes halfe dead of a Palsie Here is worke for the Physitians They ruffle in the roabes of preferment and ride in the Foote-clothes of reuerence Early and deuout suppliants stand at their study dores quaking with ready mony in their hands and glad it will be accepted The body if it be sicke is content sometimes to buy vnguentum areum with vnguentum aureum leaden trash with golden cash But it is sicke and needes Phisicke let it haue it There is another Phisitian that thriues well too if not best and that 's the Lawyer For men goe not to the Phisitian till their bodies be sicke but to the Lawyer when they be well to make them sicke Thus whilâ—s they feare an Ague they fall into a Consumption He that scapes his disease and fals into the hands of his Phisitian or from his trouble of suites lights into the fingers of his Lawyer fulfils the old verse Incidit in Scyllam dum vult vitare Charibdim Or is in the poore Birds case that flying in feare from the Cuckooe lighted into the tallonâ— of the Hawke These are a couple of thriuing Phisitians Alter tuetur aâ—gros alter tuetur agros One lookes to the state of the person the other of the purse so the old verse testifies Dat Galenus opes dat Iustinianus honores Phisicke giues wealth and Law Honour I speake not against due reward for iust deserts in both these faculties These Phisitians are both in request but the third the Phisitian of the soule of whom I am now occasioned to shew there is most neede may stand at the dore with Homer and did hee speake with the voyce of Angels not to be admitted The sicke Rich man lyes patiently vnder his Phisitians hands hee giues him golden words reall thankes nay and often flattering obseruance If the state lye sicke of a Consumption or if some contentious Emperick by new suits would lance the impostum'd swellings of it or if perhaps it lye sullen-sicke of Naboths Vineyard the Lawyer is perchance not sent for but gone to and his help imploâ—ed not without a Royall sacrifice at least But for the Minister of his Parish if hee may not haue his head vnder his girdle and his attendance as seruile as his Liuerie-groomes hee thinkes himselfe indignified and rages like the Pope that any Priest durst eate of his Peacocke How short doth this Phisitians respect fall of both the others Let him feed his Sheepe if hee will with the Milke of the Word his Sheepe will not feede him with the Milke of reward He shall hardly get from his Patron the Milke of the Vicaredge but if he lookes for the fleeces of the Parsonage hee shall haue after the Prouerbe Lanam caprinam Contempt and scorne Haman was not more madde for Mordecais Cap then the great one is that as much obseruance ariseth not to him from the blacke coate as from his owne blew coate The Church is beholden to him that hee will turne one of his cast Seruitours out of his owne into her seruice out of his Chamber into the Chancell from the Buttry-hatch to the Pulpit He that was not worthy enough to waite on his Worship is good enough for God Yeeld this sore almost healed yet the honour of the Ministerie thriues like Trees in Autumne Euen their best estimate is but a shadow and that a preposterous one for it goes backe faster then the shadow in the Dyall of Ahaz If a Rich man haue foure Sonnes the youngest or contemnedst must be the Priest Perhaps the Eldest shall be committed to his Lands for if his Lands should be committed to him his Father feares hee would carie them all vp to London hee dares not venture it without binding it sure For which purpose he makes his second Sonne a Lawyer a good â—ising profession for a man may by that which I neither enuie nor taxe runne vp like Ionas gourd to preferment and for wealth a Clustre of Law is worth a whole Vintage of Gospell If hee studie meanes for his third loe Physicke smels well That as the other may keepe the estate from running so this the body from ruining For his youngest Sonne hee cares not if he puts him into Gods seruice and make him
made such rebellious creatures It is long before his wrath be incensed but if it be throughly kindled all the Riuers in the South are not able to quench it Daily man sinnes and yet God repents not that he made him Woe to that man for whose creation God is sorrie Woe to Ierusalem when Christ shall so complaine against her Stay the Bells ye Sonnes of wickednesse that ring so lowd peales of tumultuous blasphemies in the eares of God Turne againe ye wheeling Planets that moue onely as the sphere of this world turnes your affections and despise the directed and direct motion of Gods Starres Recall your selues ye lost wretches and stray not too farre from your Fathers house that your seekers come againe with a non est inuentus least God complaines against you as heere against Israell or with as passionate a voyce as once against the world It repents mee that I made them If wee take the words spoken in the person of the Prophet let vs obserue that hee is no good Preacher that complaines not in these sinfull dayes Esay had not more cause for Israell then we for England to cry Wee haue laboured in vaine and spent our strength for nought For if we equall Israell in Gods blessings wee transcend them in our sinnes The bloud-red Sea of warre and slaughter wherein other Nations are drowned as were the Egiptians is become dry to our feete of peace The Bread of Heauen that true Manna satisfies our hunger and our thirst is quenched with the waters of life The better Law of the Gospell is giuen vs and our sauing health is not like a curious piece of Arras folded vp but spread to our beleeuing eyes without any shadow cast ouer the beautie of it We haue a better high Priest to make intercession for vs in heauen for whom he hath once sacrificed and satisfied on earth actu semel virtute semper with one act with euerlasting vertue We want nothing that heauen can helpe vs to but that which wee voluntarily will want and without which wee had better haue wanted all the rest thankefulnesse and obedience We returne God not one for a thousand not a dramme of seruice for so many talents of goodnesse We giue God the worst of all things that hath giuen vs the best of all things Wee cull out the least sheafe for his Tyth the sleepiest houre for his prayers the chippings of our wealth for his poore a corner of the heart for his Arke when Dagon sits vppermost in our Temple He hath bowels of brasse and an heart of yron that cannot mourne at this our requitall We giue God measure for measure but not manner for manner For his blessings heapen and shaken and thrust together iniquities pressed downe and yet running ouer Like Hogges we slauer his pearles turne his graces into wantonnesse and turne againe to rend in pieces the bringers Who versing in his minde this thought can keepe his cheekes dry Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe night and day c. No maruell if animus meminisse horret The good soule tremble to thinke it especially when all this wickednesse ariseth not from Sodome and Sidon and Edom but from the midst of the daughter of Sion Hinc illae Lachrimae Hee that can see this and not sigh is not a witnesse but an agent and sinne hath obstructed his lungs he cannot sorrow Forbeare then you captious sonnes of Belial to complaine against vs for complaining against you Whiles this Hydra of Iniquitie puts forth her still-growing-heads and the sword of reproofe cannot cut them off what should we doe but mourne Quid enim nisi threna supersunt Whither can wee turne our eyes but wee behold and lament at once some rouing with lewdnesse some rauing with madnesse others reeling with ebrietie and yet others railing with blasphemie If we be not sad wee must be guilty Condemne not our passions but your owne rebellions that excite them The zeale of our God whom wee serue in our spirits makes vs with Moses to forget our selues Wee also are men of like passion with you It is the common plea of vs all If you aske vs why we shew our selues thus weake and naked we returne with Paul Why doe you these things Our God hath charged vs not to see the funerals of your soules without sighes and teares Thus saith the Lord Smite with thy hand and stampe with thy foote and say Alas for all the euill abominations of the house of Israell for they shall fall by the sword by the famine and by the pestilence Shall all complaine of lost labours and we brooke the greatest losse with silence Merchants waile the shipwracke of their goods and complaine of Pyrates Shepheards of their deuoured Flockes by sauage Wolues Husbandmen of the tyred earth that quites their hope with weedes And shall Ministers see and not sorrow the greatest ruine the losse of the world were lesse of mens soules They that haue written to the life the downfall of famous Cities either vastate by the immediate hand of God as Sodome or mediately by man as Ierusalem as if they had written with teares in stead of Inke haue pathetically lamented the ruines Aeneas Syluius reporting the fall of Constantinople historifies at once her passion his owne compassion for it The murthering of Children before the Parents faces the slaughtering of Nobles like beasts the Priests torne in pieces the Religious flea'd the holy Virgins and sober Matrones first rauished and then massacred and euen the Reliques of the Souldiours spoile giuen to the mercilesse fire Oh miseram vrbis faciem Oh wretched shew of a miserable Citie Consider Ierusalem the Citie of God the Queene of the Prouinces tell her Turrets and marke well her Bulwarkes carrie in your minde the Idaea of her glories and then on a sodaine behold her Temple and houses burning the smoke of the fire wauing in the ayre and hiding the light of the Sunne the flames springing vp to Heauen as if they would ascend as high as their sinnes had erst done her Old Young Matrons Virgins Mothers Infants Princes and Priests Prophets and Nazarites famished fettered scattered consumed if euer you read or heare it without commisseration your hearts are harder then the Romanes that destroyed it The ruine of great things wring out our pitie and it is onely a Nero that can sit and sing whiles Rome burnes But what are a world of Cities nay the whole world it selfe burning as it must one day to the losse of mens soules the rarest pieces of Gods fabricke on earth to see them manacled with the chaines of Iniquitie and led vp and downe by the Deuill as Baiazeth by that cruell Scithian stabbed and massacred lost and ruined by rebellious obstinacies and impenitencies bleeding to death like Babell and will not be cured till past cure they weepe like Rahell and will not be comforted to see this
of Christ. A weake body is a kinde of occasion to a strong faith It was good for me saith the Psalmist that I was in trouble It was good for Naaman that he was a Leaper this brought him to Elisha and Elisha to GOD. It was good for Paul that hee was buffeted by Satan It is prouerbially spoken of a graue Diuine that as pride makes sores of Salues so Faith makes Salues of sores and like a cunning Apothecarie makes a Medicinall composition of some hurtfull simples Of all hearbs in the Garden onely Rue is the hearbe of grace And in what Garden the rue of affliction is not all the flowers of grace will be soone ouer-runne with the weedes of impietie Dauid was a sinner in prosperitie a Saint in Purgatorie The afflicted soule driues vanitie from his dore Prosperitie is the Play-house Aduersitie the Temple Rarae fumant foelicibus arae The healthie and wealthie man brings seldome Sacrifices to Gods Altar Israels miserie had beene enough to helpe her recouerie if shee had gathered and vnderstood her vexation to God by Gods visitation on her and guessed the soules state by the bodies Shee did not therefore her sicknesse abides As Christ to the Pharises You say you see therefore be blinde still 3. As she did neither directly feele it nor circumstantially collect it so shee neuer confessed it Prima pars sanitatis est velle sanari The first entrance to our healing is our owne will to be healed How shall Christ either search our sinnes by the Law or salue them by the Gospel when we not acknowledge them Ipse sibi denegat curam â—ui Medico non publicat causam He hath no care of his owne Cure that will not tell the Phisitian his griefe What spirituall Phisitian shall recouer our persons when wee will not discouer our sores Stultorum incurata pudor malus vlcera celat Lay the guilt on your selues if you ranckle to death It is heauy in thy friends eares to heare thy groanes and sighes and plaints forced by thy sicke passion but then sorrow pierceth deepest into their harts through their eyes when they see thee growne speechlesse The tongue then least of all the losse doth mone When the lifes soule is going out or gone So there is some hope of the sinner whiles he can groane for his wickednesse and complaine against it and himselfe for it but when his voyce is hoarâ—'d I meane his acknowledgement gone his case is almost desperate Confession of sinnes and sores is a notable helpe to their Curing As Pride in all her Wardrobe hath not a better garment then humility many clad with that was respected in the eyes of God So nor humillity in all her store-house hath better food then Confession Dum agnoscit reus ignoscit Deus Whiles the vniust sinner repents and confesseth the iust God relents and forgiueth The confident Pharise goes from Gods dore without an Almes what neede the full be bidden to a Feast tolle vulnera tolle opus medici It is fearefull for a man to binde two sinnes together when hee is not able to beare the load of one To act wickednesse and then to cloake it is for a man to wound himselfe and then goe to the Deuill for a playster What man doth conceale God will not cancell Iniquities strangled in silence will strangle the soule in heauinesse There are three degrees of felicitie 1. non ofâ—endere 2. noscere 3. agnoscere peccata The first is not sinne the second to know the third to acknowledge our offences Let vs then honour him by Confession vvhom vvee haue dishonoured by presumption Though we haue failed in the first part of Religion an vpright life let vs not faile in the second a repentant acknowledgement Though wee cannot shew GOD with the Pharise an Inuentory of our holy workes Item for praying Item for fasting Item for paying Tythes c. Yet as dumbe as we are and fearefull to speake we can write with Zachaay His name is Iohn Grace grace and onely grace Meritum meum misericordia tua Domine My merit oh Lord is onely thy mercie Or as another sung well T is veré pius ego reus Miserere mei Deus Thou Lord art onely God and onely good I sinfull let thy mercie be my food Peccatum argumentum soporis confessio animae suscitatae Sinfulnesse is a sleepe Confession a signe that we are waked Men dreame in their sleepes but tell their dreames waking In our sleepe of securitie we leade a dreaming life full of vile imaginations But if wee confesse and speake our sinnes to Gods glory and our owne shame it is a token that Gods spirit hath wakened vs. Si non confessus lates inconfessus damnaberis The way to hide our iniquities at the last is to lay them open here Hee that couereth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall haue mercie Thiâ— is true though to some a Paradoxe The way to couer our sinnes is to vncouer them Quae aperiuntur in praesenti operiuâ—tur in vltimo die If wee now freely lay open our iniquities to our God he will conceale them at the latter day Else cruciâ—nt plus vulnera claâ—sa Sinnes that are smothered will in the end â—ester to death The mouth of Hell is made open to deuoure vs by our sinnes when we open our owne mouthes to confesse wee shut that Israell is not then restored because her sicknesse is not declared 4. The last defect to Israels Cure is the want of application What should a sicke man doe with Phisicke when hee lets it fust in a vessell or spils it on the ground It is ill for a man to mispose that to losse which God hath disposed to his good Beloued Application is the sweet vse to be made of all Sermons In vaine to you are our Ministeries of Gods mysteries when you open not the dores of your hearts to let them in In vaine we smite your rocky hearts when you powre out no floods of teares In vaine we thunder against your sinnes couetous oppresâ—ions of men treasonable Rebellions against God when no man sayes Master is it I Quod omnibus dicitur nemini dicitur Is that spoken to no man which is spoken to all men Whiles Couetousnesse is taxed not one of twenty Churles layes his finger on his owne sore Whiles Lust is condemned what Adulterer feeles the pulse of his owne conscience Whiles Malice is enquired of in the Pulpit there is not a Nâ—bâ—â—ish neighbour in the Church will owne it It is our common armour against the sword of the spirit It is not to me he sâ—eakes For which God at last giues them an answerable plague they shall as desperatâ—ly put from them all the comforts of the Gospell as they haue presumptuously reiected all the precepts of the Law They that vvould particularise no admonition to themselues nor take one graine out of the vvhole heape of Doctrines for
nor a Tap-house-Lecture oâ—â—ly as among Drunkards that fetch authoritie from the pot like Augustus Caesar to taxe all the world but a Citie-lecture such a one as Iesabell read to Iezreell a publike Preaching her Pulpit being excelsa ciuitatis top-gallant filling eminent places with emanant poisons 2. Solomons Pulpit is yet transcendent and aboue it for it is a â—hrone a Throne of Iuorie ouerlaid with gold such a Throne as no Kingdome could follow it The Preacher is a King the Pulpit a Throne nay an Oracle de Solio rex oracula fundit For God gaue him wisedome yea such a wisedome that no man but his Antitype God and man did euer excell him 5 Their Commissions 1. The Deuill gaue Sinne her â—rrand guilded her tongue and poâ—soned her heart put a cup of damnation into her hand and the Sugar of Temptation to sweeten it allowed her for his Citie-Recorder or his Towne-â—laâ—ke and sealed her a commission from Helâ— as Saul had from the High-Priest to binde with snares Filios Tâ—rrae the Sonnes of Men. 2. But God gaue Solomon a celestiall roule to eate as to Ezâ—kiel and touched his lips with a coâ—le from his owne Altar as to Esay putting into his mouth documenta vitae the ordinances of eternall life God hath set this day before you two diuers Pulpits aduerse Preachers dissonant Texts declares who speakes by his warrant who besides it against it Behold as Moses said I haue set life and death before you take your choyse The Dialogue of both the verses present vs with a Banket conuiuium or conuitium rather a Feast but a Fast were better a Banket worse then Iobs childrens or the Dagonals of the Philistins like the Bacchanals of the Moenades when for the shutting vp of their stomachs the house fell downe and broke their neckes You haue offered to your considerations verse 17. supplying but the immediatly precedent word Dixit 1. The Inviter 2. the Cheare Solomon comes after as with Salt and Vinegar and tels you 3. the Guests 4. and the Banketting-house verse 18. But the dead are there c. The Inviter It is a woman She saith to him but that name is too good for she hath recouered her credit a woman as she brought woe to man so she brought forth a weale for maâ— causa dâ—licti solatium relicti an instrumentall cause of transgression and no lesse of Saluation If you say she brought forth Sinne without man so she brought forth a Sauiour without man as the Diuell tempted her to the one so the Holy Ghost ouershadowed her to the other This not a woman then but a Harlot meretricia mulier a degenerate woman vnwomaned â—t pudore pudicitia of both modestie and chastitie The feast is like to be good when an Harlot is the Hostice And sure the Scriptures found some speciall parietie if not identâ—tie betweene these two not making their names conuertible which had beene much but expressing by one word both of them which is more as if it concluded their professions and conditions names and natures all one which is most of all Impleta in nostris haec est Scriptura diebus Experience hath iustified this circumstance A Harlot then bids and feasts and kils what other successe can be looked for If Dalilah inuite Sampson waâ—e his lockes shee will spoile the Nazarite of his hayres there are many Dalilahs in these dayes I haue read of many Inviters in the holy Writ some good many indifferent most euill this worst of all 1. Good Matth. 22. you haue the King of Heauen a Feast-maker Cant. 5. you haue the Kings sonne a Feast-maker Iesus Christ bids Eate oh friends drinke abundantly oh beloued Reuel 22. you haue the Spirit of glorie a Feast-maker and an Inviter too The Spirit and the Bride say Come To this Feast few come but those that doe come are welcome well come in regard of themselues for there is the best cheare Blessed are they that are called to the Mariage-Supper of the Lambe welcome in respect of God who doth not grudge his mercies 2. Many indifferent and inclining to good Abrahams feast at Isaac's weaning Sampsons at his marriage The Wedding-feast in Cana where the King of glory was a Ghest and honoured it with a Miracle with the first Miracle that euer hee wrought 3. Euill Nabals feast at his Sheepe-shearing a drunken feast Belshazzars feast to a thousand of his Lords surfetting with full carouses from the sacred Boles a sacrilegious Feast The Philistins feast to the honour of Dagon an Idolatrous feast Herods birth-day-feast when Iohn Baptists head was the last course of the seruice a bloody feast The rich Churles a quotidian feast a voluptuous surfet all bad 4. This yet worst of all the Harlots feast where the Ghests at once comedunt comeduntur their soules feast on euils and are a feast to Deuils for whiles men deuoure sins sins deuoure them as Actaeon was eaten vp of his owne dogs This is a bloody Banket where no ghest escapes without a wound if with life for if Sinne keepe the Reuels Lusts are the Iunkets Ebrietie drinkes the Wine Blasphemie sayes the Grace and Bloud is the conclusion But allegorically Sinne is heere shadowed by the Harlot Voluptuousnâ—sse meretricum meretrix the Harlot of Harlots whose Bawde is Beâ—lsebub and whose Bridewell is broad Hell Wickednesse foeminei generis dicitur is compared to a Woman and hath all her senses Lust is her eye to see Briberie her hands to feele Sensualitie her palate to taste Malice her eare to heare Petulancy her nose to smell and because shee is of the foeminine sexe we will allow her the sixtsense tittle-tattle is hâ—r tongue to talke This is the common Hostice of the world Satans house-keeper whose dores are neuer shut nocâ—es atque dies patet c. There is no man in the world keepes such hospitalitie for hee searcheth the ayre earth sea nay the Kitchen of Hell to fit euery palate Vitellius searched farre and wide for the rarities of nature Birdes Beasts Fishes of inestimable price which yet brought in the bodies are scorned and onely the eye of this Bird the tongue of that Fish is taken that the spoyles of many might bee sacrifices to one supper The Emperour of the low Countries Hell hath delicates of stranger varitie curiositie Doth Iudas stomach stand to treason there it is hee may feede liberally on that dish Doth Nero thirst for homicides the Deuill drinkes to him in â—oles of bloud is Ieroboam hungry of Idolatrie behold a couple of Calues are set before him hath Absolon the Court-appetite Ambition loe a whole Kingdome is presented him for a messe a shrewd baite Machiauâ—ls position faith-breach for Kingdomes is no sinne The Deuill thought this Dish would please CHRIST himselfe and therefore offered him many kingdomes for
shamefull spewing shall be for your glory We haue all drunke liberally of these waters too prodigally at Sinnes fountaine Quando voluimus et quantum valuimus when we would as much as we were able not onely to drunkennesse but euen to surfet and madnesse if we keepe them in our stomachs they will poyson vs Oh fetch them vp againe with buckets of sighes and pumpe them out in riuers of teares for your sinnes Make your heads waters and your eyes fountaines weepe your consciences emptie and dry againe of these waters Repentance onely can lade them out They that haue dry eyes haue waterish hearts and the Prouerbe is too true for many No man comes to heauen wiâ—h drie eyes let your eyes gush out teares not onely in compassion for others but in passion for your selues thaâ— haue not kept Gods Law Weepe out your sullen waters of discontent at Gods doings your garish waters of pride freezing obduracie burning malice foggie intemperancâ— base couetise Oh thinke thinke how you haue despised the waters of life turned Iesus Christ out of your Inne into a beastly Stable whiles Pride sits vppermost at your Tables Malice vsurpes the best Chamber in your mindes Lust possesseth your eyes Oathes imploy your tongues Ebrietie bespeake your tastes Theft and iniurie inthrone themselues in your hands Mammon obsesseth your affections Sicke sicke all ouer you may cry with the Shunamites Sonne Caput dolet my head my head and with Ierusalem my bowels my bowels Oh let faith and repentance make way that the bloud of our Sauiour may heale you We are not onely guilty of auersion from God but of aduersion against God Oh where is our reuersion to God the waters of lusts are aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of folly and madnesse but our teares are aquae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the waters of change of minde and repentance Poenitentia est quasi poenae tenentia Repentance is a taking punishment of our selues oh take this holy punishment on your soulâ—s Weepe weepe weepe for your vanities Achan cannot drinke vp his execrable gold nor Gehazi deuoure his bribes nor Ahab make but a draught of a vineyard mingled with bloud nor Iudas swallow downe his cousenage and treason without being called to a reckoning Nos quare non credimus quod omnes astabimus ante tribunal Why account wee not of our future standing before a Iudgement Scate Omnium aures pulso All we whom these walls compasse haue beene drunken with these waters some that hate Swearing with dissembling some that abhorre Idolatrie with profanenesse some that auoid notoriousnesse with hypocrisie many that pretend ill-will to all the rest with those Lares et Lemures household-Gods or rather household-Goblins and Deuils which almost no house is free from Fraud and Couetousnesse Wee know or at least should know our owne diseases and the speciall dish whereon wee haue surfetted oh why breake wee not forth into vlulations mournings and loud mournings for our sinnes cease not till you haue pumped out the sinnes of your soules at your eyes and emptied your consciences of these waters And then behold other behold better behold blessed waters you taste of them in this life and they fill your bones with Marrow and your hearts with ioy they alone satisfie your thirst without which though you could with Xerxes Armie drinke whole Riuers drie your burning heat could not be quenched Here drinke Bibite et inebriamini Drinke and be drunken in this Wine-celler onely hauing drunke hearty draughts of these waters of life retâ—ine them constantly be not queasie-stomached Demas-like to cast them vp againe the token of a cold stomach not yet heated by the spirit for as the loathing of repast is a token that Nature drawes toward her end so when these holy waters proue fastidious it is an argument of a soule neere her death Take then and digeâ—â— this water Recipitur aure retinetur corde perficitur opâ—re The eare receiues the heart retaines the life digests it but alas we retaine these waters no longer then the finger of the Holy Ghost keepes them in vs like the â—arden-pot that holds water but whiles the thumbe is vpon it Leaue then Beloued the Deuils Wine-Celler as Venerable Bede calls it Vbi nos dulcedo delectationis invitauit ad bibendum Where the sweet waters of delight tempt vs to drinke But Dauid though he longed for it would not drinke the water of the Well of Bethlehem which his three Worthies fetched because it was the water of bloud brought with the danger of life and shall wee drinke the waters oâ— the Deuils Banket the venture of bloud with the hazard of our dearest soules No come wee to this aqua Coelestis be wee poore or rich haue wee money or none all that come are welcome And know that hauing drunke liberally at the fountaine of grace you shall haue yet a larger and pleasanter draught at the fountaine of glory that riuer of life cleare as Christall proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lambe to which the Spirit and the Bride are Inviters and say come It is a delightfull banket we enioy heere The Kingdome of heauen is rightâ—ousnesse and peace and ioy in the holy Ghost None know the sweetnesse of these ioyes but they that feele them but the Supper of ioy the Banket of glory the Waters of blessednesse are such as no â—ye hath seene c. Illic beata vita in fonte There is the Spring-head of happinesse they cannot want water that dwell by the Fountaine Nam licet allata graâ—us sit sapor in vndâ— Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibantur aquae That which is deriued to vs in Pipes is pleasant oh what is the delight at the Well-head The Deuill like an ordinary Host sets forth his best wine first and when the guests haue well drunke worse but thou oh Lord hast kept the best wine tâ—ll the last They are sweet wee taste heere but medio de sonte leporum surgit amari aliquid There are some persecutions crosses to imbitter them the sweet meate of the Passeouer is not eaten without sowre hearbs but in thy presence oh Lord iâ— the fulnesse os ioy at thy right hand there are pleasures for euermore There is no bitternesse in those waters they are the same that God himselfe and his holy Angels drinke of so that as for Christ his sake wee haue drunke the bitter Cup of persecution so we shall receiue at Christ his hands the Cup of saluation and shall blesse the name of the Lord. To whom three persons one onely true and eternall God be all praise glory and obedience now and for euer Amen FINIS THE Second Seruice OF THE DEVILS BANKET BY THOMAS ADAMS Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire ZACHARIAH 5.4 I will bring forth the curse saith the Lord of Hostes and it shall enter into
the Inditement a rebellion against our Soueraignes Crowne and Dignitie Ambitious theefes in the Court Simoniacall theeues in the Church hollow-hearted theeues in the Citie oppressing and men-eating theeues in the Country all must be summoned their debts summed their doome sentenced The impartiall conscience from the booke of their liues shall giue in cleere euidence There is no retaining of Counsell no bribing for a partiall censure no tricke of demure no putting off and suspending the sentence no euading the doome The cursed generation of thefts are now easily borne and borne out Subtiltie can giue them the helpe of a conueyance and money purchase a conniuence But then alasse what shall become of them and of many soules for them what shall become all the Traitours gory Murtherers impudent Atheists secret Church-robbers speckled Adulterers rusty Sluggards nasty drunkards and all the defiled wretches that haue sucked damnation from the breasts of blacke Iniquitie An impenetrable Iudge an impleadable Inditement an intolerable anguish shal ceaze vpon them Mountaines of Sand were lighter and millions of yeeres shorter then their torments Oh thinke thinke of this ye Sonnes of rapine that with greedinesse deuoure these stollen waters You can not robbe God of his glory man of his comforts your selues of your happinesse but God Man your owne Soules shall cry against you What thunder can now beat into you a feare of that which then no power shall ease you of why striue wee not Niniueh-like to make the message of our ouerthrow the ouerthrow of the message and so worke that according to Sampsons Riddle the Destroyer may saue vs Wherefore are wee warned but that wee might be armed and made acquainted with Hell in the speculation but that wee may preuent the horrour of it in passion Let me tell you yee theeues that sit at Sathans boord there is a theefe shall steale on you steale all from you The day of the Lord will come as a Theefe in the Night in the which the heauens shall passe away with a great noyse c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Theefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to take away priuily or by stealth or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of hiding or couering Fur a furuo quia in obscuro venit A theefe as well for stealing on vs as for stealing from vs. He comes in the darke when no body sees treads on wooll that no body heares watcheth an houre that no body knowes This Theefe shall steale on you perhaps Banketting at this Feast of Vanitie as the Flood came on the old World vvhiles they ate and dranke and were merrie Watch therefore for you know not what houre your Lord doth come So Chrysostome on that place from our Sauiours comparison of the good man of the house non laederetur ille furto si sciret venturum vos scitis paratiores esse debetis The theefe should not hurt him if he knew of his comming you know he wil come prepare for his welcome We are all housholders our bodies are our houses our soules our goods our senses are the Doores and Windores the Lockes are Faith and Prayer The day of our doome will come as a theefe let our Repentance watch let it neuer sleepe lest we perish Si praescirent homines quando morituri sint deligentiam super cam rem ostenderent If men foreknew the time of their death they would shew carefulnesse in their preparation how much more being ignorant But alas Ignorance couenants with death and securitie puts far away the euill day and causeth the seat of violence to come neere When the Prophets of our Israell threaten Iudgements you flatter your selues with the remotenesse The vision that he seeth is for many dayes to come and he prophecyeth of the times that are farre off As if it concerned you not what ruine laid waste the Land so peace might be in your dayes But there is no peace sayth my God to the wicked our Rose-buds are not vvithered our daunces are not done sleepe Conscience lye still Repentance Thus with the sentence of death instant and in a prison of bondage to Satan present saith S. Augustine Maximo gaudio debacchamur wee are drunken we are franticke with pleasures There may be other there can be no greater madnesse Loe the successe of these stollen waters You heare their nature time hath preuented their sweetnesse God of his mercie that hath giuen vs his Word to enforme our Iudgement vouchsafe by his Spirit to reforme our consciences that wee may conforme our liues to his holy precepts For this let vs pray c. What here is good to God ascribed be What is infirme belongs of right to me FINIS THE Breaking vp of the Deuils Banket OR The Conclusion BY THOMAS ADAMS Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire ROM 6.21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof you are now ashamed For the end of those things is death TERTVL lib. ad Martyres Pax nostra bellum contra Satanam To be at warre with the Deuill is to be at peace with our owne Conscience LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for Ralph Mab and are to be sold in Paules Church-yard at the signe of the Grey-hound 1614. TO THE RIGHT VERTVOVS AND VVORthy Sisters the Lady Anne Gostwyke and Mris DIANA BOVVLES sauing Health THat I haue clothed this SERMON in the Liuery of your Patronages I might giue many reasons to satisfie others But this one to mee is in stead of all that you affect the Gospell Not with the suddaine flashes of some ouerhote dispositions but with mature Discretion and sound Obedience I could not therefore suffer any thought of mine owne vnworthinesse to disswade mee from presenting this poore labour to your hands who haue so fauourably accepted my weaker seruices I owe you both a treble debt of Loue of Seruice of Thankefulnesse The former the more I pay the more still I owe. The second I will be ready to pay to the vttermost of my power though short both of your deserts and my owne desires Of the last I will striue to giue full paiment and in that if it be possible to come out of your debts Of all these in this small Volumne I haue giuen you the earnest As you would therefore doe with an ill debtor take it till more comes It shall be the more currant if you will set thereon the seales of your acceptance It is the latter end of a Feast yet it may perhaps afford you some Christian delicate to content your well affected spirits It shall let you see the last seruice of Sinnes Banket the harsh and vnpleasant closure of vanitie the madnesse of this doating Age the formall dislike and reall loue of many to this World the euill works of some criticall others hypocriticall dispositions the ending conclusion and beginning confusion of the Deuils Guests The more perfectly you shall hate sinne the more constantly you shall hold your erst
but the worshipper had better part with a talent of gold The Deuill indeed keepes open house noctes atque dies c. Hee makes the world beleeue that hee sels Robin-Hoods peny worths that he hath manum expansam a prodigall hand and giues all gratis but vijs modis hee is paid for it and such a price that the whole world comes short of the value Onely hee is content to giue day and to forbeare till death but then hee claps vp his debtors into euerlasting prisonment and layes an heauy execution on them that eue◠the Spanish Inquisition comes short of it Thus as the King of Sodome said to Abraham Da mihi animas Giue me the soules take the rest to thy selfe The Prince of darkenesse is content that thou shouldest haue riches and pleasures cheape enough onely giue him thy soule and hee is satisfied The Deuill would haue changed his Arithmeticke vvith Iob and rather haue giuen addition of vvealth then substraction if hee could haue so wrought him to blaspheme God Sathan seemes marueilous franke and kinde at first Munera magna quidem praebet sed praebet in hamo They are beneficia viscata ensnaring mercies As the Tree is the Birds refuge when shee flies from the snare and loe there shee findes Bird-lime that teares off her flesh and feathers Conuiuia quae putes insidiae sunt They are baites which thou takest for bankets The poore man is going to prison for a small debt the Vsurer lends him money and rescues him two or thee winters after his fit comes againe and by how much an Vsurer is sharper then a meere Creditour hee is shaken with the vvorse Ague that kindnesse plungeth him into a deeper bondage the first was but a thredden snare which he might breake but this is an infrangible chaine of yron Men are in want and necessitie is durum telum a heauy burden the Deuill promiseth supply Behold the drunkard shall haue Wine the theefe opportunitie the malious reuenge if they be hungry he hath a Banket ready but as I haue seene Emperickes giue sudden ease to a desperate inueterate griefe yet eyther with danger of life or more violent reuocation of the sickenesse so their miserie ere long is doubled and that vvhich vvas but a stitch in the side is now a shrewd paine in the heart The Stagge and the Horse sayth the Fiction were at variance the Horse being too vveake desires Man to helpe him Man gets on the Horses backe and chaseth the Stagge Vsque ad fugam vsque ad mortem to flight to death Thus the Horse gets the victorie but is at once victor victus Captaine and captiue for after that he could neuer free his mouth from the bit his backe from the Saddle Non equitem dorso non fraenum depulit ore Man is beset vvith exigents hee vvailes his vveakenesse the Deuill steps in with promises of succour Iudas is made rich Gehesi gets change of suites Nero is crowned Emperour but vvithall hee gets possession of their affections whence all the power of man cannot vntenant him Thus the last slauerie is worse then the first and the cheare is not so cheap at sitting downe as it is deare at rising vp This is the Deuils cheapenesse no euery good and perfect gift is from aboue The Deuill giues nothing but God giues to all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 richly or abundantly so that when he giues hee takes nothing backe for the gifts of the spirit are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without repentance Ho euery one that thirsteth come ye to the waters of life and he that hath no money c. God hath waters no stollen water but waters of freedome and other blessings if ye loue liquid things o◠an answerable nature greater vertue and those whereof hee is a true proprietarie Wine and Milke Milke to nourish Wine to cherish the heart of man buy them without money let not your pouerty keepe you backe here is cheapnesse if you haue a sauing desire come freely and take your filles The Gospell is preached to the poore Thinke not to buy the graces of God with money lest you and your money perish Onely take your time and come whiles God is a giuing for there is a time when the dore of bountie is shut Though hee stretch forth his hand of mercy all the day yet the night comes when hee drawes it backe againe They that answere him proffering grace as Daniel to Belshazzar Keepe thy rewards to thy selfe and giue thy gifts to another may knocke at his gates and be turned away emptie Now spare to speake and spare to speed Then though you cry vnto mee I will not heare To day then harden not your hearts Pray vnto him and he will giue good things to them that aske him Hee doth not sell but giue not the shadowes but the substances of goodnesse The conclusion then is cleere blessings and graces are truly cheape And no good thing will God withhold from them that walke vprightly All things shall worke to their good that are good The Deuill giues nothing but sels all for price neither are they good things he selleth but figuras boni the meere formes counterfeits of goodnes But if the cheapenesse of sinne so affect men vvhat meane they to runne to Rome for it where I doe not say onely that sinne and damnation hath a shrewd price set vpon them but euen blisse and comfort and no Pilgrim can get the least salue-plaister to heale his wounded Conscience but at an vnreasonnable reckoning But soft it is obiected that Rome is still baited in our Sermons and when we seeke vp and downe for matter as Saul for his Asses wee light vpon the Pope still I answere that I can often passe by his dore and not call in but if he meets me full in the face and affronts mee for good manners sake non praetereo insalutatum I must change a word with him The Pope is a great Seller of these Stollen waters yet his Chapmen thinke them cheape He thrusts his Speare into the Mountaines and sluceth out whole floods as it is fabled of Aeolus Hee vsurpes that of God that he can spanne the waters in his fist that he hath all the graces of God in his owne power and no water can passe besides his Mill as if hee could call for the waters of the Sea and powre them out vpon the face of the Earth or as Iob speaketh of Behemoth Behold he drinketh vp a Riuer and hasteth not and trusteth that he can draw vp Iordan into his mouth As if all the graces of God were packed vp in a bundle or shut into a boxe and the Pope onely was put in trust to keepe the Key and had authoritie to giue and denie them So Aeolus the God of Windes sayth the Poet gaue Vlisses a Maile wherein all the
surely be Coffins to our bodies as our bodies haue beene Coffins to our soules The minde is but in bondage whiles the body holds it on earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Plato affirmes Of whom saith an Anthony that when hee saw one too indulgent to his flesh in high Diet he asked him What doe you meane to make your prison so strong Thus qui gloriatur in viribus corporis gloriatur in viribus carceris He that boasteth the strength of his body doth but bragge how strong the Prison is wherein he is â—ayled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The body is the disease the graue the destinie the necessitie and burden of the soule Hinc cupiunt metuuntque dolent gaudentque nec auras Respiciunt clausae tenebris et carcere caeco Feares ioyes griefes and desires mans life do share It wants no ills that in a Prison are It was a good obseruation that fell from that Stoicke Homo calamitatis fabula infaelicitatis tabula Man is a Storie of woe and a map of miserie So Mantuan Nam quid longa dies nobis nisi longa dolorum Colluvies Longi patientià carceris aetas It appeares then that Death is to the good a procurer of good Mors intermittit vitam non eripit Venit iterum qui nos in lucem râ—ponat dies Their Death is but like the taking in sunder of a Clocke vvhich is pulled a pieces by the makers hand that it may bee scowred and repolished and made goe more perfectly But Death to the wicked is the second step to that infernall Vault that shall breede either an innouation of their ioyes or an addition to their sorrowes Diues for his momentanie pleasures hath insufferable paines Iudas goes from the Gallowes to the Pit Esau from his dissolution in earth to his desolation in Hell The dead are there Though the dead in soule be meant literally yet it fetcheth in the body also For as originall sinne is the originall cause of Death so actuall sinnes hasten it Men speede out a Commission of Iniquities against their owne liues So the enuious man rots his owne bones The Glutton strangles the Drunkard drownes himselfe The male-content dryes vp his blood in fretting The couetous whiles he Italionates his conscience and would Romanize his estate starues himselfe in plaine English and would hang himselfe when the Market falls but that hee is loath to be at the charges of a Halter Thus it is a Feast of Death both for the present sense and future certaintie of it The dead are there 2. Spirituall death is called the death of the soule which consisteth not in the losse of her vnderstanding and will these she can neuer loose no not in Hell but of the truth and grace of God wanting both the light of faith to direct her and the strength of Loue to incite her to goodnesse For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace The soule is the life of the body God of the soule The spirit gone vtterly from vs wee are dead And so especially are the guests of Satan dead You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sinnes And the Widdow that liueth in pleaâ—ure is dead whiles she liueth This diuorcement and seperation made betwixt God and the soule by sinne is mors animae the death of the soule But your Iniquities haue seperated betweene you and your God But we liue by faith and that in the Sonne of God His spirit quickens vs as the soule doth a lumpe of flesh when God infuseth it Now because these termes of spirituall death are communicated both to the elect and reprobates it is not amisse to conceiue that there is a double kinde of spirituall death 1. In regard of the Subiect that dieth 2. In regard of the Obiect whereunto it dieth Spirituall death in the faithfull is three-fold 1. They are dead to Sinne. How shall wee that are dead to sinne liue any longer therein A dead nature cannot worke He that is dead to sinne cannot as hee is dead sinne Wee sinne indeede not because wee are dead to sinne but because not dead enough Would to God you were yet more dead that you might yet more liue This is called Mortification What are mortified Lustes The wicked haue mortification too but it is of grace Matth. 8. They are both ioyntly expressed Let the dead burie the dead Which Saint Aâ—gustine expounds Let the spiritually dead bury those that are corporally dead The faithfull are dead to sinne the faithlesse are dead in sinne It is true life to bee thus dead Mortificatio concupiscentiae viâ—ificatio animae so farre is the spirit quickened as the flesh is mortified So true is this Paradoxe that a Christian so farre liues as he is dead so farâ—e he is a Conquerour as he is conquered Vincendo se vincitur à se. By ouercomming himselfe he is ouercome of himselfe Whiles hee ouer-rules his lustes his soule rules him When the outward cold rageth with greatest violence the inward heat is more and more effectuall When Death hath killed and stilled concupiscence the heart begins to liue This warre makes our peace This life and death is wrought in vs by Christ who at one blow slew our sinnes and saued our soules Vna eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit One and the same hand gaue the wound and the cure Vulneratur concupiscentia sanatur conscientia The deadly blow to the concupiscence hath reuiued the conscience For Christ takes away as well dominandi vim as damnandi vim the dominion of sinne as the damnation of sinne He died that sinne might not raigne in our mortall body he came to destroy not onely the Deuill but the workes of the Deuill Hence if you would with the spectacles of the Scriptures reade your owne estates to God Reckon your selues to be dead indeede vnto sinne but aliue vnto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. This triall consists not in being free from lusts but in brideling them not in scaping tentation but in vanquishing it It is enough that in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loued vs. 2. They are dead to the Law For I through the Law am dead to the Law that I might liue vnto God Wherein hee opposeth the Law against the Law the new against the olde the Lawe of Christ against that of Moses This accuseth the accusing condemneth the condemning Law The Papists vnderstand this of the ceremoniall Law but Paul plainely expresseth that the Law morall which would haue beene to vs a Law morâ—all is put vnder wee are dead vnto it As Christ at once came ouer death and ouercame death et super it eâ— superat So we in him are exempted from the condemning power and killing letter of the Law and by being dead vnto it are aliue ouer it
Indeede the Law still abides as Christ when hee rose from the graue the graue remained still Peâ—er freed from the Prison the Palsey from his Bed the young man from his Coffin the Prison Bed Coffin remaine still the persons are deliuered So the Law abides to mortifie our lustes still more and more but our conscience is freed from the bondage of it Wee are dead vnto it 3. They are dead to the world This Death is double Actiue and Passiue 1. Actiue The world is dead vnto vs. The vanitie of carnall ioyes the varietie of vanities are as bitter to vs as pleasant to the Cosmopolite or worldling And since wee must giue our voyces either to God or Mammon when God asketh as Iehu Who is on my side who We stand out for our God Angustum est stratum pectoris humani et vtrumque operire non potest Mans heart is too narrow a bed to lodge both God and the world in at once Qui vtrumque ambit in vtroque deficiet The Hound that followes two Hares will catch neither Nemo potest duobus Dominis neque dominijs inseruire No man can serve two Masters with true seruice especially when they command contrary things Thus is the world dead to vs For since the world is not so precious as the soule wee leaue the world to keepe our soule since both cannot well be affected at once Therefore we account all things drosse and losse for the excellent knowledge of Christ. 2. Passiue Wee are dead to the world As wee esteeme it drosse it esteemes vs filth Wee are made as the filth of the world and as the off-scowring of all things vnto this day As wee in a holy contempt tread it vnder in our workes and vilefie it in our words so it lookes vpon vs betwixt scorne and anger and offers to set his foote on our neckes But vicimus wee haue conquered Whosoeuer is borne of God ouercommeth the world and this is the victorie that ouercommeth the world euen our faith Let vs reioyce therefore in our Lord Iesus Christ by whom the world is crucified to vs and wee to the world These are good deaths blessed soules that are thus dead Their death is Mortification and like the Phoenix they are no sooner dead but they are new borne Their old mans Autumne is their new mans Spring-tide There are none thus dead at this Feast The dead here haue seared consciences poisoned affections warped withered rottâ—n soules Twice dead faith Saint Iude and some without hope of growing plucked vp by the rootes Though the Pythegorean error the transanimation or the departure of the soule from man to man was brought to the Basilideon heresie Nay which was more grosse though the Poets fained that the soules of men departed into beasts Orpheus into the Swanne Aiax into the Lyon Agamemnon into the Eagle Polititians into Bees and Ants the luxurious into Hogges tyrants into Wolues which were positions for Machiauell and Articles of Lucians faith Yet they might rather and that more fauourably to their owne credites speaking according to mens liues haue affirmed that the spirits of beasts might rather seeme to haue entred men if at leasâ— the beasts doe not preserue their nature better then men They liue whiles they liue men are dead euen liuing Impiè viuere est diu mori A wicked life is a continuall death And we may say of an old wicked man not that hee hath liued but that hee hath beene long Deus vita à qua qui distinguitur perit God is the true life without whom we cannot liue The heart of a wicked man thus becommeth dead The Deuill workes by suggesting man by consenting God by forsaking He forsakes thus 1. By suffering a hard heart to grow harder 2. By giuing successe to ill purposes which hee could haue disappointed 3. By not imparting the assistance of his spirit Thus he leaues them in darknesse that would not chuse the light and finding their hearts vndisposed to beleeue deliuers them vp to Infidelitie His not willing to soften is enough to harden his not willing to enlighten is to darken Dei claudare est clausis non aperire God is then said to shut vp when he doth not open to them that are shut vp God is able to soften the hard heart open the blinde eye pierce the deafe eare when hee doth it is mercie when not it is Iustice. Onely our falling is from our selues Oh Israel thou hast destroyed thy selfe but in mee is thy helpe For God is euer formost in loue but last in hate He loued vs before we loued him but wee hate him before hee hates vs. Multi ne laberentur detenti nulli vt laberentur impulsi God preserues many from falling but hee thrusteth none downe By his strength we stand by our owne weakenesse we fall As in the sicknesse of the body so of the soule there are criticall dayes secret to our selues but well knowne to God whereby hee sees our recouerie vnlikely and therefore turnes vs ouer to the danger of our sicknesse That now too late Ierusalem knowes what was offred her in the day of her visitation God blindes the soule blinded before by Satan and hardens againe Pharaohs selfe-hardned heart Et quia non faciunt bona quae cognoscunt non cognoscent mala quae faciunt Because they would not doe the good they knew they shall doe the euill they knew not Thus is the soules death degreed vp Sinne gathers strength by custome and creepes like some contagious disease in the body from ioynt to ioynt and because not timely spied and medicined it threatens vniuersall hazard to the whole It swels like the Sea Vnda leuis maiora volumina sluctus ad coelum An Egge a Cockatrice a Serpent a fierie flying Serpent Custome indeede kills the soule The Curse that the Cretians vsed against their enemies was not fire on their houses nor rottennesse on their beasts nor a sword at their hearts but that which would in time trebble to them all these mischiefes that they might be delighted with an euill custome Temptation assaults the heart consent wounds it it lyes sicke of action it dies by delight in sinne it is buried by custome The Bell hath tolled for it Gods word hath mourned the Church hath prayed for it but quid valeant signa precesiâ—e What good can signes prayers doe when we voluntarily yeeld our heart to him that violently kils it Thus God leaues the heart and Satan ceaseth on it whose gripes are not gentler then Death Thus the habite of sinne takes away the sense of sinne and the conscience that was at first raw and bleeding as newly wounded is now seared vp with an hote iron The conscience of a wicked man first speakes to him as Peter tâ— Christ Master looke to thy selfe But he stops her mouth with a violent hand Yet shee would faine speake with him like the
Nothing in grace though somthing in nature knowledge humane is a good stirrop to get vp by to preferment Diuine a a good gale of winde to wast vs to Heauen But charity is better Knowledge often bloweth vp but charitie buildeth vp Aristotle calles knowledge the Soules eye but then saith our Sauiour if the light be darknesse how great is that darknesse True it is that knowledge without honesty doth more hurt The Vnicornes horne that in a wise mans hand is helpfull is in the beasts head hurtfull If a man be a beast in his affections in his maners the more skilful the more illfull Knowledge hath two pillars Learning and Discreation The greatest Scholler without his two eyes of Discreation and Honestie is like blinde Sampson apt to no good able to much mischiefe Prudence is a vertue of the soule nay the very â—oule of vertue The Mistresse to guide the life in goodnes All morall vertues are beholding to wisedome She directs Bounty what to giue when to giue where to giue And Fortitude with whom for what and how to sight Knowledge is excellent to preuent dangers imminent and to keepe vs from the snares of this strange woman But if the Deuill in our dayes should haue no guests but those that are meerely ignorant his roomes would be more emptie then they are and his Ordinarie breake forwant of Customers But now a-dayes alas when was it much better and yet how can it be much worse we know sinne yet affect it act it Time was we were ignorant and blinde now wee haue eyes and abuse them Tyre and Sidon burne in Hell and their smoake ascends for euermore that had no preaching in their Cities but our Country is sowne with mercies and our â—elues fatted with the doctrine of life who shall excuse our lame leane and ill-fauoured liues Let vs beware Bethsaida's woe If the Heathen shall wring their hands for their Ignorance then many Christians shall rend their harts for their disobedience He that despised Moses Law died without mercie vnder two or three witnesses He that despiseth not he that transgresseth for so do all He that reiected and departed from the Law Church of Israel died without mercy eternally for other transgressors died without mercie temporally Of how much sorer punishment shal he be thought worthy c. that treads vnder his foot not Moses but Christ counts not the blood of Goats but of Gods Son vnhely and despiteth which is more then despiseth the spirit not of feare bondage but of grace All the learning of the Philosophers was without an head because they were ignorant of God Seeing they were blinde speaking they were dumbe hearing they were deafe like the Idol-Gods in the Psalme We want not an head but an heart not the sense of knowledge but the loue of obedience wee heare and see and say and know but doe not If you know that Gods cheare is so infinitely better why doe you enter commons at Satans Feast The Schoole calls one kind of knowledge Scientia contristans a sorrowfull knowledge Though they intend it in another sense it may be true in this for it is a wofull knowledge when men with open eyes runne to Hell This is Vriahs letter contayning his owne death These tell Christ wee knew thee Christ tels them I know not you These times are sicke of Adams disease that had rather eate of the tree of knowledge then of the tree of life speculatiue Christians not actiue obedient Saints You cannot plead that you know not the dead are there behold wee haue told you Quit your selues But many mens Ignorance is disobedience they will not know that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depth of Hell Which now presseth vpon vs to be considered Solomon hath described the persons feasting and feasted The place remaines the depth of Hell This is the Banketing house It amplifies the miserie of the guests in three circumstances 1. their weaknesse they are soone in 2. the place Hell 3. the vnrecouerablenesse of it The depth of Hell 1. Per infirmitatem In regard of their weaknesse No sooner come to the Banket but presently in the Pit they are in they are soone in They would not resist the tentation when it was offered they cannot resist the tribulation when it is to be suffered They are in No wrastling no contending can keepe them from falling in Into the pit they runne against their will that ranne so volently so violently to the brinkes of it As a man that hath taken his careere and runnes full fling to a place cannot recoile himselfe or recall his strength on the sodaine Hee might haue refused to enter the race or recollected himselfe in time but at the last step he cannot stop nor reuocare gradum rescue himselfe from falling The guests that hasten themselues all their life to the feast of vanitie and neither in the first step of their youth nor in the middle race of their discreetest age returne to God doe at last without Christs helpe precipitate themselues into the depth of Hell Thinke oh thinke ye grâ—edie Dogges that can neuer fast enough deuoure your sinfull pleasures if in the pride of your strength the May of your blood the marrow and vertue of your life when you are seconded with the gifts of nature nay blest with the helps of heauen you cannot resist the allurements of Satan how vnable will you be to deale with him when custome in sinne hath weakened your spirits and God hath withdrawne his erst afforded comforts They that runne so fiercely to the pit are quickly in the pit The guests are in the depth of Hell 2. Per infernitatem In regard of the place it is Hell The Prophet Esay thus describes it Topheth is ordained of old hee hath made it deepe and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of Brimstone doth kindle it Topheth was a place which the children of Israell built in the valley of Hinnon to burne their sonnes and daughters in the fire to Moloch Which valley was neere to Iebusi afterwards Ierusalem as appeares Iosuah 18. The Councell of Ierusalem whiles their power lasted vsed to punish certaine offenders in that valley being neere their Citie By this is Hell resembled And that in Peter Martyrs opinion for three reasons 1. Being a bottome a low valley it resembleth Hell that is beleeued to be vnder the earth 2. By reason of the fire wherewith the wicked are tormented in Hell as the children were in that valley burnt with fire 3. Because the place was vncleane and detestable whither all vile and lothsome things were cast out of the Citie Ierusalem So Hell is the place where defiled and wicked soules are cast as vnworthie of the holy and heauenly City This place shall begin to open her cursed iawes when the Iudge of all men and Angels shall
soule her true forme and playes the make-bate betwixt God and thee betwixt thee and thy selfe So long as securitie hath kept thee sleeping in thy delighted impieties this quarrell is not commenced The mortallest enemies are not alwayes in pitched fields one against another This truce holds some till their death-beds neither doe they euer complaine till their complaints can doe them no good For then at once the sicke carkase after many tossings and turnings to finde the easiest side moanes his vnabated anguish and the sicker conscience after triall of many shifts too late feeleth and confesseth her vnappeased torment So Cain Iudas Nero in vaine seeke for forraine helps when their executioner is within them The wicked man cannot want furies so long as he hath himselfe Indeede the soule may flye from the body not sinne from the soule An impatient Iudas may leape out of the priuate hell in himselfe into the common pit below as the boyling fishes out of the Caldron into the flame But the gaine hath beene the addition of a new hell without them not the losse of the old hell within them The worme of Conscience doth not then cease her office of gnawing when the fâ—ends begin their office of torturing Both ioyne their forces to make the dissolutely wicked desolately wretched If this man be not in the depth of Hell deepely miserable there is none Loe now the Shot at the Deuils Banket A reckoning must be payd and this is double 1. the earnest in this life 2. the full payment in the life to come The earnest is whiles Hell is cast into the wicked the full satisfaction is when the wicked shall be cast into Hell Whosoeuer was not found written in the booke of life was cast into the Lake of fire I will take leaue to amplifie both these a little further 1. The earnest is the horrour of an euill conscience which sparkles with the beginnings of future torments I know that some feele not this in the pride of their vanities or at least will not seeme to feele it Some whorish for-heads can out-face their sinnes and laugh them out of countenance Wide gorges that can swallow periuries bloodynesse adulteries vsuries extortions without trouble But it may be the heart doth not laugh with the looke He dares be an hypocrite that durst be a villaine If hee would speake truth of himsâ—lfe he would testifie that his thoughts will not affoord him sleepe nor his sleepe affoord him rest but whiles his senses are bound his sinne is loose No command of reason can quiet the tempest in his heart No sonne of Sceua no helpe of the world can cast out this Deuill The blood of the body often being stopped in the issue at the nostrils bursts out at the mouth or finds way into the stomach The conscience thus wounded will bleed to death if the blood of Iesus Christ doe not stanch it Thinke of this ye that forget God and are onely indulgent to your selues the time shall come you shall remember God neither to your thankes nor ease and would forget your selues Happy were it for you if you hauing lost your God could also loose your selues But you cannot hide your selues from your selues Conscience will neither be blinded in seeking nor bribed in speaking You shall say vnto it as that wicked Ahab to Elias hast thou found me oh thou mine enemie yet alas all this is but the earnest A hell I may call it and a deepe hell and as I â—ay say a little smoake reâ—king out of that fiery pit whereby the afâ—licted may giue a guesse at Hell as Pythagoras guessed at the stature of Hercules by the length of his foote But else per nulla figura gehâ—nnae nothing can truely resemble Hell 2. The earnest is infinitly short of the totall summe And his Lord was wroth and deliuered him to the tormenters till hee should pay all that was due vnto him The guest must indure a death not dying liue a life not liuing no torment ends without the beginning of a worse The sight afflicted with darknesse and vgly Deuills the hearing with shrikes and horrible cries the smelling with noysome stenches the tast with rauenous hunger and bitter gall the feeling with intollerable yet vnquenchable fire Thousands poynting at not one among thousands pitying the distressed wreâ—ch I know this Earth is a dungeon in regard of Heauen yet a Heauen in respect of Hell wee haue miserie enough here it is mercie to what is there Thinke of a gloomy hideous and deepe Lake full of pestilent dampes and rotten vapours as thicke as cloudes of pitch more palpable then the fogs of Egipt that the eye of the Sunne is too dull to peirce them and his heate too weake to dissolue them Adde hereunto a fire flashing in the reprobates face which shall yeeld no more light then with a glimpse to shew him the torments of others and others the torments of himselfe yet withall of so violent a burning that should it glow on mountaines of steele it would melt them like mountaines of Snow This is the guests reckoning a sore a sowre payment for a short and scarce sweet Banket All his senses haue been pleased now they are all plagued In stead of perfumes fragrant odors a sulphurous stench shall strike vp into his nosthrils In stead of his lasciuious Dalila's that fadomed him in the armes of lust behold Adders Toades Serpents crawling on his bosome In stead of the Dorian musicke charming his eares Man-drakes and Night-rauens still shriking to them the reuerberating grones of euer and neuer dying companions tolling their funerall not finall knels and yels round about him In stead of wanton kisses snakes euer sucking at his breath and galling his flesh with their neuer blunted stings Thinke of this feast you riotous feasters in sinne There is a place called Hell whither after the generall and last assises the condemned shall be sent through a blacke way death is but a shadow to it with many a sigh and sobbe and grones to those cursed fiends that must be their tormentors as they haue beene their tempters Behold now a new feast a fatall a finall one To suppe in the vault of darknesse with the princes and subiects of horror at the table of vengance in the chaire of desperation Where the difference on earth betwixt Master and Seruant drudge and commander shall be quite abolished Except some Atheisticall Machiauell or trayterous Seminary or some bloody delegate of the Inquisition be admitted the vpper-end of the table But otherwise there is no regard of age beauty riches valour learning birth The vsurer hath not a cushion more then his broker There is not the bredth of a bench betweene Herod and his Parasites The Pope himselfe hath no easier a bed then the poorest Masse-priest Corinthian Lais speeds no better then her chambermaid The Cardinall hath not the vpper hand of his Pander There is no prioritie betweene the plotter
capable of the Church-goods though not pliable to the Churches good Thus hauing prouided for the estate of his Inheritance of his Aduancement of his Carkasse he comes last to thinke of his Conscience I would to God this were not too frequently the worlds fashion Whereas heretofore Primogeniti eo iure Sacerdotes the first-borne had the right of Priesthood now the younger Sonne if he fit for nothing else lights vpon that priuiledge That as a reuerend Diuine saith Younger Brothers are made Priests and Priests are made younger Brothers Yet alas for all diseases Nature prouideth Art prepareth Medicines He is fed in this Country whom that refuseth An estate lost by Shipwracke on Sea may be recouered by good-speede on Land And in ill health for euery sore of the bodie there is a salue for euery maladie a remedie but for the Conscience Nature hath no cure as Lust no care Hei mihi quod nullis anima est medicabilis herbis There is no hearbe to heale the wounds of the soule though you take the whole world for the Garden All these professions are necessarie that mens Ignorance might not preiudice them either in wealth health or grace God hath made men fit with qualities and famous in their faculties to preserue all these sound in vs. The Lawyer for thy wealth the Physitian for thy health the Diuine for thy soule Physitians cure the body Ministers the Conscience The Church of Israell is now exceeding sicke and therefore the more dangerously because she knowes it not No Physicke is affected therefore no health effected She lyes in a Lethargie and therefore speechlesse She is so past sense of her weakenesse that God himselfe is faine to ring her Passing-bell Aarons bells cannot ring lowd enough to waken her God toles from Heauen a sad knell of complaint for her It is I â—hinke a custome not vnworthie of approbation when a languishing Christian drawes neere his end to tole a heauie Bell for him Set aside the preiudice of Superstition and the ridiculous conceits of some olde Wiues whose wits are more decrepit then their bodies and I see not why reasons may not be giuen to proue it though not a necessarie yet an allowed Ceremonie 1. It puts into the sicke man a sense of mortallitie and though many other obiects should do no lesse yet this seasonably performes it If any particular flatterer or other carnall friends should vse to him the susurration that Peter did once to Christ Master fauour thy selfe this shall not be vnto thee though sicknesse lyes on your bed Death shall not enter your Chamber the euill day is farre off feare nothing you shall liue many yeeres or as the Deuill to our Grandmother you shall not dye Or if the May of his yeeres shall perswade himselfe to the remotenesse of his Autumne or if the loue of earthly pleasure shall denie him voluntarie leasure to thinke of Death As Epâ—minondas Generall of the Thebans vnderstanding a Captaine of his Armie to be dead exceedingly wondred how in a Campe any should haue so much leasure as to be sicke In a word whatsoeuer may flatter him with hope of life the Bell like an impartiall friend without either the too broad eyes of pittie or too narrow of partiallitie sounds in his owne eares his owne weakenesse and seemes to tell him that in the opinion of the world hee is no man of the world Thus with a kinde of Diuinitie it giues him ghostly counsell to remit the care of his Carkasse and to admit the cure of his Conscience It toles all in it shall tole thee in to thy graue 2. It excites the hearers to pray for the sicke and when can Prayers be more acceptable more comfortable The faithfull deuotions of so many Christian-neighbours sent vp as Incense to Heauen for thee are very auaileable to pacifie an offended Iustice. This is S. Iames his Physicke for the sicke nay this is the Lords comfort to the sicke The prayer of faith shall saue the sicke and the Lord shall raise him vp and if hee haue committed sinnes they shall be forgiuen him Now though we be all seruants of one familie of God yet because of particular families on earth and those so remoued that one member cannot condole anothers griefe that it feeles not non dolet cor quod non nouit The Bell like a speedie Messenger runnes from house to house from eare to eare on thy soules errand and begges the assistance of their Prayers Thy heart is thus incited to pray for thy selfe others excited to pray for thee Hee is a Pharisee that desires not the Prayers of the Church he is a Publican that will not beseech Gods mercie for the afflicted Thy time and turne will come to stand in neede of the same succour if a more sodaine blast of Iudgement doe not blow out thy Candle Make thy sicke Brothers case thine now that the Congregatioâ— may make thine theirs hereafter Be in this exigent euen a friend to thine enemie least thou become like Babell to be serued of others as thou hast serued others or at least at best in falling Nero's case that cried I haue neither friend nor enemie 3. As the Bell hath often rung thee into the Temple on earth so now it rings thee vnto the Church in Heauen from the militant to the triumphant place from thy pilgrimage to thy home from thy peregrination to the standing Court of God To omit manie other significant helps enough to iustifie it a laudable ceremonie it doth as it were mourne for thy sinnes and hath compassion on thy passion Though in it selfe a dumbe nature yet as God hath made it a creature the Church an instrument and Art giuen it a tongue it speakes to thee to speake to God for thy selfe it speakes to others that they would not be wanting Israell is sicke no Bell stirres no Balme is thought of no Prophet consulted not God himselfe sollicited Hence behold a complaint from Heauen a knell from aboue the Clouds for though the words sound through the Prophets lips who toles like a Passing-Bell for Israell yet they come from the mouth of the Lord of Hoasts The Prophet Ezekiell vseth like words and addes with them the Lord of Hoasts saith it There is no doubt of his spirituall inspiration all the question is of his personall appropriation It is certaine that the Prophet Ieremie speakes here many things in his owne person and some in the person of God Now by comparing it with other like speeches in the Prophets these words sound as from a mercifull and compassionate Maker Why is not the health of my People recouered Mei populi saith God who indeede might alone speake possessiuely Mine for hee had chosen and culled them out of the whole world to be his people Why are not My people recouered There is Balme and there are Physitians as in Esay What could I haue done more for my Vineyard The words are
diuided to our hands by the rule of three A tripartite Metaphore that willingly spreads it selfe into an Allegorie 1. Gods word is the Balme 2. The Prophets are the Physitians 3. The People are the Patients who are very sicke Balme without a Physitian a Physitian without Balme a Patient without both is in fausta separatio an vnhappy disiunction If a man be ill there is neede of Physicke when he hath Physicke he needes a Physitian to apply it So that here is miserie in being sicke mercie in the Physicke Not to disioyne or disioynt the Prophets order let vs obserue that the words are spoken 1. In the person of God 2. In the forme of a question 3. By a conclusiue inference Onely two things I would first generally obserue to you as necessarie inductions to the subsequent Doctrines Both which may naturally be inferred not tyrannously enforced from the words That which first obiects it selfe to our consideration is the Wisedome of God in working on mens affections which leades vs here from naturall wants subiect to sense to supernaturall inuisible and more secret defects from miseries to mysteries That as if any man admired Solomons House they would be rauished in desire to see Gods House which transcended the former so much as the former transcended their expectation So heere wee might be led from mans worke to Gods worke from things materiall to things mysticall and by the happinesse of cure to our sicke bodies be induced to seeke and get recouerie of our dying soules The second is the fit collation and respondent relation of Diuinitie and Physicke the one vndertaking to preserue and restore the health of the body the other performing much more to the soule 1. God leades vs by sensible to the sight of insensible wants by calamities that vexe our liuing bodies to perils that endanger our dying Consciences That wee might inferre vpon his premisses what would be an eternall losse by the sight of a temporall crosse that is so hardly brooked If a famine of bread be so heauie how vnsupportable is the dearth of the Word saith the Prophet Man may liue without bread not without the word If a wearie Traueller be so vnable to beare a burden on his shoulders how ponderous is sinne in the Conscience which Zacharie calls a talent of Lead If blindnesse be such a miserie what is â—gnorance lf the night be so vncomfortable what doth the darknesse of Superstition afford If bodily Disease so afflict our sense how intollerable will a spirituall sicknesse proue Thus all earthly and inferiour Obiects to a Christian soule are like Marginall hands directing his reading to a better and heauenly reference I intend to vrge this poynt the more as it is more necessarie both for the profit of it being well obserued and for the generall neglect of it because they are few in these dayes that reduce Christianitie to Meditation but fewer that produce Meditation to practise and obedience Diseases destined toward Death as their end that can by Nature neither be violently endured nor violently repelled perplexe the flesh with much paine but if Diseases which be Deaths capitall Chirurgions his preceding Heraulds to proclaime his neerenesse his Ledgers that vsurpe his place till himselfe comes be so vexing and full of anguish what is Death it selfe which kils the Diseases that killed vs For the perfection of sicknesse is Death But alas if the sicknesse and Death of the body be such what are Sinne the sicknesse and Impenitencie the death of the soule What is the dimmed eye to the darkned vnderstanding the infected members to the poysoned affections the torment of the reynes to the stitches girds and gripes of an aking Consciencâ— what is the Childes caput dolet my head akes to Ierusalems cor dolet my heart akes The soule to leaue the body with her offices of life is not so grieuous as Gods spirit to relinquish the soule with the comforts of grace In a word it is farre lesse miserable to giue vp the ghost then to giue vp the holy Ghost The soule that enters the body without any sensible pleasure departs not from it without extreame paine Hee that is animans animas the soule of our soules forsakes not our spirits but our paine is more though our sense be lesse As in the Warres the cut of a sword crossing the Fibres carries more smart vvith it though lesse mortallitie then the fatall charge of a Death-thundring Cannon The soule hath two places an Inferiour which it ruleth the body a Superiour wherein it resteth God! Mans greatest sorrow is when hee dyes vpwardly that GOD forsakes his God-forsaking soule His greatest sense when he diâ—s downewards and sicknesse disperseth and dispatcheth his vitall powers Let then the inferiour suffering vvaken vs to see the Superiour that doth vveaken vs. Thus God drawes our eyes from one obiect to another nay by one to another by that which wee loue on earth to that which wee should loue in Heauen by the prouidence for our bodies to the prouision for our soules So our Sauiour hauing discoursed of carefulnesse for terrene wants drawes his speech to the perswasion of celestiall benefits giuing the coherence with a But. But first seeke ye the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and all these inferiour things shall be added vnto you Vt ad excellenâ—iam diuinarum rerum per corporalia homines attollat That at once hee might lesson vs to holy duties and lessen our care for earthly things Thus quios homini sublime dedit cor subliâ—ius eleuare voluit Hee that gaue man a countenance lifted high meant to erect his thoughts to a higher contemplation For many haue such groueling and earth-creeping affections that if their bodies curuitie was answerable to their soules incederent quadrâ—pides they would become foure-footed beasts It is a course preposterous to Gods creation disproportionable to mans fabricke that he should fixe his eyes and thoughts and desires on the base earth made for his feete to stand on and turne his feete against Heauen in contempt lifting vp his heele against God Hee whose ill-ballancing Iudgement thinkes Heauen light and Earth onely weightie and worthie doth as it were walke on his head with his heeles vpward I haue heard Trauellers speake of monstrous and praeternaturall men but neuer any so contranaturall as these Christ knew in the dayes of his flesh what easie apprehension worldly things would finde in vs what hard impression heauenly would finde on vs therefore so often by plaine comparisons taught secret Doctrines by Histories Misteries How to the life doth he explaine the mercie of God to the miserie of man in the lost Sheepe in the lost Groat in the lost Sonne How sweetly doth hee describe the different hearers of Gods Oracles in the Parable of the Seede which howsoeuer it seemed a Riddle to the selfe-blinding Iewes yet was a familiar demonstration to the beleeuing Saints So the Prophets found
to countermaund a Monarch Christ that was buried in a graue shall bruise the nations and breake them with a rod of yron Peter a Fisher shall catch whole Countries A little Balme heale a world of people Well it spreads let vs get vnder the shadow of the branches Happy and coole refreshing shall the soule scorched with sinnes and sorrowes finde there Neuer was shade more welcome to the sweltred Traueller then this word is to the afflicted conscience It is fructuall let it be so to vs in operation It giues vs the fruits of life let vs returne it the fruits of obedience Gods word is significatiue to all operatiue to his It is a powerfull voice whither it giue life or kill Man and Musicke haue virtutem vocis the power of voyce God onely reserues to himselfe vocem virtutis the voyce of power Loe he doth send out his voyce and that a mighty voyce Ascribe ye strength vnto God I might speake of his thunders in Sinai but I turne to the Songs of Syon the sweet voyce of his Gospell whereof I am an vnworthy Minister tâ—â— voyce that speakes Christ and his death Christ and his life Christ and his saluation Hee that was annointed pro consortibus and prâ— consortibus for his fellowes and aboue his fellowes Who is the way the truth and the life Via sine deuio veritas sine nubilo vita sine termino The way without errour the truth without darknesse the life without end Via in exilio veritas in consilio vita in praemio The way in exile the truth in counsell the life in reward Oh whiâ—her shall we goe from thee Lord thou hast the words of eternall life All the word calls vs to Christ. Post me per me ad me Aster me by me to me After me because I am truth by me because I am the way to me because I am life Qua vis ire Ego sum via Quo vis ire Ego sum veritas Vbi vis permanâ—re Ego sum vita How wilt thou goe I am the way Whither wilt thou goe I am the truth Where wilt thou abide I am the life Now there is no action without motion no motion without will no will without knowledge no knowledge without hearing Ignoti nulla cupido There is no affection to vnknowne obiects God must then by this word call vs to himselfe Let vs come when and whiles hee cals vs leauing our former euill loues and euill liues for mali amorâ—s make malos mores saith Saint Augustine Bad affects produce bad effects And let vs shew the power of this Balme in our confirmed healths Solummodo bene conuersus est qui bene conversatus est A good conuersion is proued by a good conuersation Perhaps these effects in all may not be alike in quantitie let them be in quallitie God hath a liberall not an equall hand and giues geometrically by proportion not arithmetically to all alike Onely magis minus non tollit substantiam the dimensions of greater or lesse doe not annihilate the substance Our Faith may be precious nay like precious though lesse and weaker Sanctification admits degrees Iustification no latitude Luther saith wee are as holy as Mary the Virgin not in life which is actiue holinesse but in grace of adoption which is passiue holinesse Come wee then faithfully to this Balme so shall wee bâ— safe vnder the shadow and filled with the fruits thereof Thus in generall let vs now search for some more speciall concurrences of the Simillitude 1. The leaues of the Balsame are white the word of God is pure and spotlesse Peter saith there is sinceritie in it Perfection it selfe was the finger thâ—t wrote it neither could the instrumentall pennes blot it with any corruption the Spirit of Grace giuing inspiration instruction limitation that they might say with Paul Quod accepi a Domino tradidi vobis I receiued of the Lord that which I deliuered to you neither more nor lesse but iust waight It is pure as Gold fined in a seauen-fold fornace Euery word of God is pure saith Solomon There is no breath or steame of sinne to infect it The Sunne is darknesse to it the very Angels are short of it It is white immaculate and so vnblemishable that the very mouth of the Diuell could not sully it Euen the known Father of lyes thought to disparage the credit of the Scriptures by taking them into his mouth hee could not doe it They are too vnchangeably white to receiue the aspersion of any spot 2. The Balsame say the Phisitians is gustu mordax acrâ— sharpe and biting in the taste but wholesome in digestion The holy word is no otherwise to the vâ—regenerate palate but to the sanctified soule it is sweeter then the hony-combe The Church saith his fruit is sweet vnto my taste It is Folly to the Iewes and a stumbling blocke to the Gentiles but to the called both of Iewes and Gentiles the power of God and the wisedome of God Saluberrimararo â—ucundissima Rellish and goodnesse are not euer of the same congruence The Gospell is like leauen sowre to the naturall spirit yet makes him fit for holy bread It is said of the Leauen to which Christ compares the Word that â—assam acrore grato excitat it puts into the lumpe a sauoury sowrenesse It is acror but gratus sharpe but acceptable The Word may rellish bitter to many but is wholesome There cannot be sharper pils giuen to the Vsurer then to cast vp his vniust gâ—ines The Potion that must scowre the Adulterers reines makes him very sicke Hee that will let the proud mans Plurisie blood must needs pricke him To bridle the voluptuous beast will make him stampe and fret All correction to our corruption râ—nnes against the graine of our affections Hee that would bring Mammon to the barre and arraigne him shall haue Iudge Iury sitters and standers a whole Court and Sessions against him These sâ—nnes are as hardly parted with of tâ—e owners as the Eye Hand or Foote necessary and ill-spared members Forbid the Courtly Herod of his Herodias the Noble Naaman of his Rimmon the gallant Sampson of his Delilah the Citie Diues of his quotidian feast the Country Naball of his churlishnesse the rusticall Gergesites of their hoggishnesse the Popish Laban of his liâ—tle Gods the Ahabish Landlord of his enclosings and you giue them bitter Almonds that will not digest with them like the queasie Masse-Priest whose God would not stay in his stomach But let God worke the heart with the preparatiues of his preuenting Grace and then this Balme will haue a sweet and pleasing sauour There are too many that will not open their lips to tast of this Balme not their eares to heare the Word But as one mockes the Popish-Priest celebrating the Masse who vseth one trick amongst other histrionical gestures of stopping his eares that hee doth it least he
should heare the crackling of his Sauiours bones Digitis tunc obserat aures Nâ— collisa crepent Christi quem conterit ossa So these become voluntarily deafe Adders and will not heare Christ crucified the preaching of the crosse of Christ as Paul calls it which is able to kill our sinnes and quicken our soules I haue read it reported that the Adders in the East and those hote Countries did so subtilly euade the Charmers thus When she heares the Pipe she will couch one eare close to the ground and couer the other with her taile So doe worldlings they fill one eare with earth as much couâ—tous dirt as they can cramme into it the other eare they close vp with their lewd lâ—sts as the Adder with her winding taile that they haue none left for their God for their good And being thus deafe to holy and heauenly incantations they are easily by Sathan oueâ—-reached ouer-rul'd ouer-throwne So vnweldy is Christs yoake to the raging Mule so heauie his burden to the reluctant horse so hard his Law to the carnall Capernaite so sowre his Balme to the wicked palate Though to the godly his yoake is easie and his burden light Woe vnto them for they call sweet sowre Gods Balme distastfull and sowre sweet the worlds Boleno sauoury They are not more propitious to vice then malicious to goodnesse For others they loue a Barrabas better then a Barnabas For themselues euery one had rather be a Diues then a Diuus a rich sinner then a poore Saint No maruell if the blinde man cannot iudge of colours nor the deafe distinguish sounds nor the sicke rellish meates Gods word is sweet how euer they iudge it and their hearts are sowre how euer they will not thinke it My wayes are equall but your wayes are vnequall saith the Lord of hoasts 3. They write of the Balsamum that the manner of getting out the iuyce is by wounding the tree Sanciata arbor praebet opobalsamum Prouided that they cut no further then the â—â—nde for if the wound extends to the body of the tree it bleedes to death I haue read no lesse of Vines that vniustly pruin'd they bleede away their liues with their sappes The issuing Balme is called opobalsamum as some from the Greeke opo which signifies a Denne or rather of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iuyce A trebble lesson here inuites our obseruation 1. The Balsame tree weepes out a kinde of gumme like teares the word of God doth compassionately bemoanâ— our sinnes Christ wept not onely teares for Ierusalem but blood for the world His wounds gush out like fountaines and euery drop is blood Ecce in lachrimis in sanguine locutus est mundo His whole life was a continuall mourning for our sinnes Nunquam ridere dictus flere saepissimè Hee may adiure vs to repentance and obedience by more forcible arguments then euer Dido vsed to Aeneas Ego vos per has lachrymas per hos gemitus per haec vulnera per corpus sanguine mersum I entreate you by teares by groanes by wounds by a body as it were drown'd in it owne blood by all these mercies of Christ whereby wee doe not onely perswade you of our selues but God doth beseech you through vs. If those teares sighes wounds bloud moue not our consciences we haue impenetrable soules If the heart-blood of Christ cannot make thy heart to relent and thy feete to tremble when thy concupiscence sends them on some wicked errand thy hands tongue and all parts and powers of thee to forget their office when thou wouldst sinne obstinately thou art in a desperate case These were the teares of this Balme tree The word doth in many places as it were weepe for our sinnes panting out the grieuance of a compassionate God Why will ye dye oh you house of Israell What Prophet hath written without sorrow One of them Threnos suspirat sighes out a booke of Lamentations which Greg. Nazianzene saith Nunquam à se siccis oculis lectos esse that he could neuer read with dry eyes The other Prophets also like Quailes curas hominum gesserunt tooke on them the burden of many mens sorrowes Cyprian had so compassionate a sympathie of others euill deedes euill sufferings that cum singulis pectus meum copulo cum plangentibus plango saith hee I ioyne my breast with others and challenge a partnership in their griefes A Minister saith Chrysostome debet esse lugens sua et aliena delicta should be still lamenting his owne sinnes and the sinnes of his people Monachus est plangentis officium The office of a Minister is the office of a Mourner All these are but as Canes to deriue to our obseruation the teares of this Balme 2. The way to get out the iuyce of Balme from Gods word is by cutting it skilfull diuision of it which S. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rightly diuiding the word of truth It is true that Gods word is panis vitae the bread of life but whiles it is in the whole loafe many cannot helpe themselues it is needfull for children to haue it cut to them in pieces Though the Spice vnbroken be sweet and excellent yet doth it then trebble the sauour in delicacie when it is pounded in a Morter All the Balme-tree is medicinall yet the effectuall working is better helped by cutting the stocke by taking out the iuyce and by distributing to euery man a portion according to the proportion of his wants With no lesse heedfulnesse must the word be diuided that some may receiue it gentle and mollifying and others as a sharper ingredient As there is a double composition in men pride and humillitie so there must be a double disposition in preaching the word of meekenesse of terrour Aarons Bells must be wisely rung sometimes the Trebble of Mercie sometimes the Tenour of Iudgement sometimes the Counter-tenour of Reproose and often the Meane of Exhortation There is no lesse discretion required to application then to explication As Phisitians prescribe their Medicines by drammes or ounces according to the Patients strength or weakenesse So Diuines must feed some with milke others with stronger meate The learned should haue deeper points the simple plainer principles How easie is it for many a weake stomach to surfet euen on the food of life though the fault lies not in any superfluitie of the word but in the deficiencie of his vnderstanding The absence of sobrietie in the speaker is more intollerable then in the hearer The people must take such meate as their Cookes dresse to them Let none of Eli's Sonnes slubber vp the Lords Sacrifice or Seruice Let not good Balme be marr'd by a fustie vessell Seasonable discretion must attend vpon sound knowledge Wisedome vvithout Wit is meat without salt Wâ—t without Wâ—sedome is salt without meate Some Wells are so deepe that a man can draw no water out of them these bury their gifts in the graue
or to this Balme fastning their eyes and hopes on that whereas Balme with the destitution of Gods blessing doth as much good as a branch of hearbe-Iohn in our Pottage Nature it selfe declines her ordinary working when Gods reuocation hath chidden it The word without Balme can cure not the best Balme without the word 2. So this naturall Balme when the blessing of the word is euen added to it can at vtmost but keepe the body liuing till the lifeâ— taper be burnt out or after death giue a short and insensible preseruation to it in the sarcophagall graue But this Balme giues life after death life against death life without death To whom shall we goe Lord thou hast the words of eternall life The Apostle doth so sound it the Saints in Heauen haue so found it and we if we beleeue it if we receiue it shall perceiue it to be the word of life And as Augustine of God Omne bonum nostrum vel ipse vel ab ipso All our good is either God or from God so all our ordinary meanes of good from God is vel verbum vel de verbo either the word or by the word The Prophet deriues the Balme from the Mount Gilead demaunding if Gilead be without Balme It seemes that Gilead was an aromaticall place and is reckoned by some among the Mountaines of spice It is called in some places of Scripture Galaad and by an easie varying of the points in the Hebrew writing Gilead This Mountaine was at first so called by Iacob by reason of that solemne Couenant which hee there made with his Father in law pursuing Laban Though it be called Mount Gilead before in the chapter ver 21.23.25 He set his face toward Mount Gilead c. Yet it is by anticipation spoken rather as the hill was called when the Historie was written by Moses then as it was saluted and ascended by Iacob who abode in it till Laban ouer-tooke him where the pacified Father and the departing Sonne made their Couenant Laban called it Iâ—gar-Sahadutha but Iacob called it Galeed It signifies a heape of witnesse a name imposed by occasion of the heape of stones pitched for the league betweene them Laâ—an said this heapâ— is a witnesse betweene mee and thee this day Therefore was the name of it called Galeed There was one Gilead sonne of Machir sonne of Manasseh of whom because it is said that Machir begat Gilead and of Gilead â—â—me the family of thâ— Gileadites some ascribe the attribution of this name to Mount Gilead But this Mount had the name long before the sonne of Machir was borne We read of it that it was 1. a great mountaine 2. fruitfull 3. full of Cities 4. abounding with Spices 1. It was a great Mountaine the greatest of all beyond Iordan in length fifty miles But as it ranne along by other Coasts it receiued diuers names From Arnon to the Citie Cedar it is called Gilead From thence to Bozra it is named Seir and after Hermon so reaching to Damascus it is ioyned to Libanus So Hierome conceiteth on those words of God vnto the Kings house of Iudah Thou art Gilead vnto me and the head of Lebanon that therefore Lebanon is the beginning of Gilead 2. Fruitfull abounding with great varietiâ— of necessarieâ— and delights yeelding both pleasure and profit This euery part and corner thereof afforded euen as farre as Mount Sâ—ir which the Edomites the generation of Esau chose for a voluptuous habitation This the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and halfe the Tribe of Manasseh when they saw the land of Gilead that the place was a place for catâ—ell desired of Moses and of the Princes of the Congregation that they might possesse it for it is a land for cattell and thy seruants haue cattell The condition that Moses required beâ—ng by them graunted that they should goe armed with their brethren till the expulsion of their enemies had giuen them a quiet seate in Canaan Thy seruanâ—s will doe as my Lord commandeth Onâ—ly our little ones our wiâ—es our flockes and all our cattell shall be in tho Cities of Gilead The fertillitie of Gilead contented them though with the separation of Iordan from their brethren Our Sauiour describing the beautie of his Spouse Behold thou art faire my Loue behold thou art faire inwardly faire with the gifts of his spirit and outwardly faire in her comely administration and gouernment Thou hast Doues eyes within thy lockes thy eyes of vnderstanding being full of puritie chastitie simplicitie hee addes withall that her haire her gracious profession and appendances of expedient ornaments are as comely to behold as a Flocke of well-fed Goates grasing and appearing on the fruitfull hills of Gilead Which made them so pregnant that like a Flocke of sheepe euery one brings out Twinnes and none is barren among them The same praâ—se is redoubled by Christ chap. 6. c. 3. It was full of Cities a place so fertile that it was full of Inhabitants â—lair the Gileaeditâ— who iudged Israel had thirty sonnes that rode on thirty Asse-Colts and they had thirty Cities which are called Hauâ—th-â—aiâ— vnto this day which are in the land of Gilead It was as populous as fructuous and at once blessed with pregnancie both of fruits for the people and of people for the fruits It was before Israel conquâ—red it in the dominion of the Amoritâ—s and more specially of Og king of Bashan that remained of the remnant of the Giants whose bedsted was a bedsted of yron nine cubites long and foure cubites broad after the cubite of a man It was not onely full of strength in it selfe but guarded with Cities in the plaine All the Cities of the plaine and all Gilead and all Bashan c. So the Inheritance of Gad is reckoned by Iosuah Their coast was lazer and all the Cities of Gilâ—ad It appeares then that Gilead was full of Cities So blessed as if the Heauens had made a Couenant of good vnto it as Iacob did erst with Laban vpon it A hill of witnesse indeede for it really testified Gods mercie to Israel God calls it his owne Gilead is mine Manasseh iâ— mine The principall or first name of Kingdome that vsurping Iâ—â—bosheth was by Abner crowned ouer was Gilead And hee made him King ouer Gilead and ouer the Ashurites c. 4. It was lastly a Mountaine of Spices and many Strangers resorted thither for that Merchandise Euen when the malicious brethren hauing throwne innocent Ioseph into the pit sate downe in a secure neglectfulnesse to eate bread Behold surely the Lord sent and directed a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their Camels bearing Spicery and Balme and Myrrhe By which it appeares to be mons aromatum a hill of Spâ—ces Therefore God here Is there no Balme at Gilead The Iewâ—s were neerâ— to Gilead it was but on
hearts and producing it effectually in your liues that God who gaue me power to begin this worke will also assist me to finish it without whom neither my tongue can vtter nor your eare receiue any sauing benefite of instruction A word or two for exhortation and then I will leaue in your bosomes and your selues in the bosome of God First for vs the Physitians then for you the Patients onely so farre as may concerne you in the former point For vs. 1. We must administer the meanes of your redresse which our God hath taught vs doing it in dilectione in delectatione with loue with alacritie Though it be true that the thing which perisheth shall perish and they which are ordayned to perdition cannot by vs bee rescued out of the Wolues iawes Yet spirituall Physitions must not deny their helpe lest dum alios perdant ipsi percant whiles their silence damnifieth others it also damneth themselues When I say vnto the wicked saith the Lord Thou shalt surely dye and thou giuest him not warning to saue his life the same wicked man shall dye in his iniquitie but his bloud will I require at thine hand The Physitian knowes that if the time of his patients life be now determined by God no art can preserue his taper from going out yet because hee knowes not Gods hidden purpose he with-holds not his endeuour To censure who shall be saued who damned is not iudicium luti sed figuli the iudgement of the clay but of the Potter Who onely hath power of the same lumpe to make one vessell to honour another to dishonour We know not this therefore wee cease not to beseech your reconciliation Nay we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God doth beseech you by vs and wee pray you in Christs stead be yee reconciled to God Thus hauing applyed our Physicke we leaue the successe to God who alone can make his word the sauour of death or of life preseruing or condemning destructiue to your sinnes or your selues as his good pleasure willes it 2. The Physitian that liues among many Patients if he would haue them tenderly and carefully preserue their healths must himselfe keepe a good dye among them It is a strong argument to perswade the goodnesse of that he administers The Clergy mans strict dyet of abstinence from enormities of fasting and prayer against the surfets of sinne of repentance for erâ—ours is a powerfull inclination to his people to doe the like Habet quantacumque granditate dictioniâ— maiâ—â— pondus vita dicentis The preaching of life is made more forcible by the good life of the preacher An euill conuersation is an euill engine to ouerthrow the walls of edification Citharisante Abbate tripudiâ—nt Monachi When the Abbot giues the musicke of a good example the Monkes daunce after him as was their prouerbe Plenè dixit qui benè vixit He hath spoken fully that hath liued fairely There are foure sorts of these Physitians 1. That neither prescribe well to others nor liue well themselues these are not Phisitians indeede but Italian Quacksaluers that hauing drunk poyson themselues minister it to the people and so destroy the soules that God hath bought with his bloud Wretched Priests that are indeed the worst diseases allowing in precept and approuing in practise the ryot of drunkennesse or the heate of lustfulnesse or the basenesse of couetice or the phrensie of contention These instead of building vp Christs Church pull it downe with both hands not lux but tenebrae mundi not the light as Ministers should bee but the darknesse of the world as the sonnes of Belial are A foolish Shepheard is Gods punishment to the flocke Loe I will raise vp a Shepheard which shall not visite those that bee cut off nor seeke the young one nor heale that which is broken but hee shall eate the flesh of the fatte and teare their clawes in pieces 2. That prescribe well in the Pulpit but liue disorderly out of it so making their patients beleeue that there is no necessitie of so strict a dyet as they are enioyned for then sure the Physitian himselfe would keepe it since it cannot be but he loues his owne life and holds his soule as deare to himselfe as ours are to vs. Thus like a young scribbler what hee writes fayre with his hand his sleeue comes after and blottes it This Priest builds vp Gods Tabernacle with one hand and puls it downe with the other Though this Physitian can make very good billes preach good directions yet as sick as he is he takes none of them himselfe 3. That prescribes very ill preacheth seditiously and lewdly yet liues without any notorious crime or scandalous imputation This is an hypocriticall tricke of hereticall Physitians Beware of falsâ— Prophets that comes to you in sheepes clothing but inwardly are rauening wolues Thus the Popish Fryers like the false visionists in Zacharies Prophecie will will weare a rough garment to deceiue withall Their austeritie shall be stricter then Iohn Baptists but not with intent to bring one soule to Christ. This cautelous demurenesse in them so bewitcheth their Patients that they receiue whatsoeuer these administer though it poysons them Thus couered ouer with the mantle of sobrietie and zeale as a crafty Apothecary vents his drugges so they their dregges without suspition To keepe the metaphore as an naturall Physitian out of honest pollicie couers the bitter pill with gold or delayes the distastfull potion with sugar which the abhorring stomach would not else take So this mystical one for he is a seruant to the mysterie of iniquitie so amazeth the people with a faire shew of outward sanctimony that whiles they gaze at his good parts with admiration they swallow the venime of his doctrine without suspition 4. That teacheth well and liueth well prescribeth a good dyet of obedience and keepes it when he is well or a good medicine of repentance and takes it when hee is sicke thus both by preaching and practise recouering the health of Israel Wee require in a good garment that the cloth bee good and the shape fitting If we preach well and liue ill our cloth is good but not our fashion If we liue well and preach ill our fashion is good but our cloth is not If we both preach well and liue well our garment is good let euery spirituall Physitian weaue it and weare it This for our selues For you I will contract all into these three vses which necessarily arise from the present or precedent consideration 1. Despise not your Physitians You forbeare indeed as the Pagans at first and the Papists since to kill burne torture vs whether it bee your good will or the law you liue vnder that preuailes with you God knowes yet you proceed to persecute vs with your tongues as Ismael smote Isaac to martyr vs with your scornes in our ciuell life our good names In discountenancing our Sermons discouraging our zeales
Eden whence runne those foure Riuers of Wisedome to direct vs of oyle to soften vs of comforts to refresh vs of promises to confirme vs. As lightly as you regard the word and as slightly as you learne it you shall one day finde more comfort in it then in all the world Lye you on your Death-beds grone you with the pangs of nature-oppressing Death or labour you with the throbs of an anguished conscience when neither naturall nor spirituall Phisitian stands by you to giue you succour then oh then one dramme of your old store taken from the treasurie of the Scriptures shal be vnto you of inestimable comfort Then well-fare a Medicine at a pinch a drop of this Balme ready for a sodaine wound which your memory shall reach forth and your faith apply to your diseased soules afflicted hearts Thinke seriously of this and recall Gods Booke from banishment and the Land of forgetfulnesse whither your securitie hath sent it Shake off the dust of neglect from the couer and weare out the leaues with turning continually imploring the assistance of Gods spirit that you may read with vnderstanding vnderstand with memorie and remember with comfort that your Soules Closset may neuer be vnstored of those heauenly recâ—ites vvhich may ease your griefes cure your wounds expell your sicknesses preserue your healths and keepe you safe to the comming of Iesus Christ. Trust not all on your Ministers no nor on your selues but trust on the mercies of God and the merites of our blessed Sauiour Nothing now remaines but to shew you in what need you stand of this Phisicke by reason of your ill heâ—lths and the infected ayre of this world you breath in Meane time preserue you these instructions and God preserue you with his mercies For which let vs pray c. FINIS a Hâ—br 11.25 b Hebr. 3.13 c 2 Tim. 3.16 d 2 Thes. â— 11 1 King 22 2â— Verse 17. Verse 18. f Psal. 1.1 g 1 Kin. 21.10 h 1 King 10.18 i Verse 20. 1 King 4.31 k Act. 9.1 l Ezâ—k 2.9 m Esa. 6..6 n Iob 1.19 o Iudg 16.30 Verse 17. Verse 18. 1 Tim. 2.14 Gal. 4.4 p Gen. 3.4 q Luke 1.35 Iosh. 2.1 Matth. 22.1 Canâ— 5.1 Reuel 2â— 17 r Luke 14.21 s Reu. 19.9 t Gen. 21.8 u Iudg. 14.10 * Primum miracuâ—um aâ—firmatur quod ex primis non dubitatur a Ioh. 2.11 b 1 Sam. 25 36 c Dan. 5.2 d Iudg 16 23. e Mark 6.28 f Luke 16.19 g 1 Kin. 12.28 2 Sam. 15. Matth. 4 9. h Matth. 2.16 i 1 King 21.4 k Acts 23.14 l Reuel 17.4 Obseruat Marke 5.9 Iob 2.2 Psal. 105.30 f Ier. 2.13 g Luke 22.38 h Matth. 16.19 Common Barrâ—tours Prou. Iudg. 15.5 Esa. 3.18 c. Vse Rom. 8. Esay 10 5. with Esay 14.25 Iob. 21.17.30 Psal. 73.19 Claudian a Gen. 1.2 b Esay 44.3 c Ioh. 5.4 d Ezek. 47.8 e Exod. 15.25 f Psal. â—44 7 g Exod. 7.17 h 2 Sam. 22 17. 1 Sam. 14.43 Exod. 14. Psal. 51.7 Luk. 16.24 a Ioh. 4.14 b Reuel 22.1 d De aquis non supâ—r aquas Obseruat 1. Exodus 36. * The foure mother-elements alter one into another earth to water water is raâ—ified into ayâ—e aire râ—fined c and so backe agâ—â—ne Inde râ—trâ— redâ—unt idemque râ—â—â—xitur ordo Metam 15. Act. 28 1â— a Esa. 29.9 Dan. 5 Pers. Non principalis a Principâ— â—ed principalis a prinâ—ipio * Acrasia praeiâ— Acrisia sequitur b Reuel 17.2 c Esay 5.11 d Act. 2.13.15 e Matth. 6.34 â— Obseru 2. Matth. 3.11 f 1 Cor 5 7. g Luk. 13.21 Amos. 3.8 Râ—uâ—l 5.5 1 Pet. 5.8 Ioh. 3 14. 2 Cor. 11.3 Matth 3.9 1 Pet. 2.5 Psal. 118.22 Obseru 3. a Psal. 108 23. Similitudes of sinnes to waters Iohn 4. Matth. 5. a Ioh. 4.10 Iosh 7. 2 King 5. Carmina non scribunâ—ur aquae potoribus Hor. Ser 2. Acts 2.3 Matth 3.11 2 King 2.11 1 Thes. 5.19 b Holinesse and Wickednesse 2 Cor. 6.14 c Esa. 51.17 d Phil 3.20 Psal. 104.9 Though no Element is simply heauy but Earth yet Water is coâ—paratiuely heauy e Amos 4.1 f Amos 6.6 Plin. Et terit et teritur The dissimilitude of sinnes to waters Non maculati sed maculae Iude 12. Obseru 4. Plato Hose 4.3 Vâ—rse 1. Verse â— Iam. 3. 1 Cor. 10.7 Matth. 7.13 Eccles. 4.10 Rom. 13.13 Ier. 23.10 â—er 2.13 Phil. 3.19 Gal. 5.26 Amos 1.3.6 c 1 Ioh. 2.16 Gal. 5.19 Chrys. Serm. de Ielunijs Vse 1. Alexius lib. 5. cap. 2. Mich. 2.11 Matth. 4.9 Iudg. 15. Ion. 2.8 Vse 2. Matth. 20.22 Diodor. Sicul. Psal. 49.5 Vse 3. Ier. 9.1 a Psal. 119.136 b Psal. 6.6 c 2 King 4.19 d Ier. 4.19 Orig. hoâ— 5. in Lâ—uit Vse 4. Ioh. 4.14 Matth. 5. Cant. 2.4 Bed Exhortat 139. 1 Chron. 11.19 Esa. 55.1 Reu. 22.1 Ver. 17. Rom. 14.17 1 Cor. 2.9 August Ioh. 2.10 Psal. 16.11 Seâ— 1 Cor. 10.11 Eccles. 1.14 2 Sam. 18.22 Valer max. lib. 1. cap. 2. Hor. 2 Sam. 1.20 Marl. in 2 Pâ—t 3 Matth. 11.12 Luke 16 16. Iustice giueâ— cuique suum Deo religionem sibi munditiam parentibus honoreâ— familiaribus prouidentiam filijs cor rectionem â—ratribus amorem Dominis subiectionem subiectis benigâ—itatem aequitatem omnibus Ardens a Peccare est quasi pâ—ccucare to play the beast or â—ather neerer to the Scripture phrase peccare est quasi pellicare to be an Harlot or an Harloâ—-hunter to comâ—it spirituall adulterrie b Pro. 17.18.19 a Psal. 10.11.13 b Psal. 14.1 c Matth. 26.63 d Iam. 2.19 e Matth. 8.29 f 2 Pet. 3.4 Leâ— 10. Baleus Met. lib. 7. a Act. 19.15 b Esa. 1.12 c Mal. 3.8 The sacrilegious that I specially meane amongst vs are such as with-holde those rights from the Church that the law of the land rightly vnderstood alloweth her As those that will not present without reseruation c August Nehe. 13.5 Ier. 5.9 B. Babing in Gen. cap. 47. a Gal. 6.6 b Mal. 3.10 2 Macch. 3. c Gen. 13.8 Instit. lib. 4. cap. 17. Sect. 43. d Ioh. 14 9. e 2 King 15.16 e Reuel 3.20 f Cant 3.4 g Mattâ— â— 34 h Matth. 3.10 i Ier. 3.3 k 2 Tim. 3.5 Guid. Carthus l Phil. 3.18 m Heb. 10.29 Aelian Var. hist. lib. 4. Iob 21. Cic. de Fate n Gen. 21. o Mark 6. p Prou. 16.31 q Rom. 13.5 r Prou 30.17 Ouid. de rem amor lib. 1. * Psal. 12.4 s Iam. 3.8 Vers. 6. t Numb 16.3 Est haec rudis cacodamâ—nis techna Luth. v Psal. 106.38 * Microcosmos est Homo x Exod 7.19 y Heb. 12.24 z Mumb. 35.33 Owen Adrian a Heb 13.4 Ier. 23.10 Alea vina Venus c. b 1 Cor. 7.9 Gen. 3.1 Mâ—â—aâ— 10. Triâ—t 2. Gell. lib. 3. Act. 19. Esa. 5.20 Mart. Epig. Aen. Sylu. Ephes. 4.28 Prou. 22.1 a Gen. 9.22 25. b 1 Sam. 23.19 c 1 Sâ—â— 22.9 d Iosh. â— 5 Iâ—ro Psal. 37.6 Ber. Reu. 3.17 f Iam. 3. g Lukâ—
Glory 1. God himselfe is the feast-maker he is Land-lord of the world and â—illeth euery liuing thing with goodnesse The Eagles and Lions seeke their meate at God But though all the sonnes of Iacob haue good cheare from Ioseph yet Beniamins messe exceeds Esau shall haue the prosperitie of the earth but Iacob goes away with the blessing Ismaell may haue outward fauours but the inheritance belongs to Izhak The King fauoureth all his subiects but they of his Court stand in his presence partake of his Princely graces Gods bountie extends to the wicked also but the Saints shall onely sit at his table in Heauen This is that feaster qui est super omnia et sine quo nulla sunt omnia Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for euer 2. The cheare is beyond all sense all science Eye hath not seene nor eare heard nether haue entred into the heart of man the things God hath prepared for them that loue him The eye sees much the eare heares more the heart conceaues most yet all short of apprehension much more of comprehension of these pleasures Therefore enter thou into thy Masters ioy for it is too great to enter into thee 3. The company is excellent the glorious presence of the blessed Trinitie the Father that made vs the Sonne that bought vs the Holy Ghost that brought vs to this place The holy and vnspotted Angels that reioyced at our conuersion on earth much more at our consolation in Heauen All the Patriarchs Prophets Saints before the Law in the Law in the Gospell the full Communion of Saints Here the more the mirrier yea and the better cheare to Oh the sweet melodie of Halleluiahs which so many glorified voyces shall sing to God in Heauen the hoarcenesse of sinne and the harshnesse of punishment being separated from vs with a bill of euerlasting diuorce 4. Admirable is the Banketing place the high Court of Heauen where our apparell shall be such as beseemeth the attendants on the King of Kings euen the fashion of the glorious body of Christ. The purest things are placed highermost The earth as grossest is put in the lowest roome the water aboue the earth the ayre aboue the water the fire aboue the ayre the sphaeres of Heauen aboue any of them and yet thâ— place where this feast is kept is aboue them all the Heauen of Heauens Take here a slight rellish of the cheare in Gods kingdome where your welcome shall be answerable to all the rest Eate oh my friends and make you merry oh well-beloued And then as those that haue tasted some delicate dish finde other plaine meates but vnpleasant so you that haue tasted of heauenly things cannot but contemne the best worldly pleasures As therefore some dainty guest knowing there is so pleasant fare to come let vs reserue our appetites for that and not suffer our selues to be cloyed with the course diet of the world Thus as wee fast on the Eues that we may feast on the Holy-dayes let vs be sure that after our abstinence from the surfets of sinne we shall be euerlastingly fed and fatted with the mercies of God Which resolution the Lord grant vs here which Banket the Lord giue vs hereafter Amen FINIS THE Sinners passing-Bell OR A complaint from Heauen for Mans Sinnes Published by THOMAS ADAMS Preacher of Gods Word at Willington in Bedford-shire 1 CORINTH 11.30 For this cause many are weake and sickly among you and many sleepe AVGVST EPIST. 188. Ipse sibi denegat curam qui Medico non publicat causam Hee hath no care of his owne cure that declares not to the Phisition his griefe LONDON Printed by Thomas Snodham for Iohn Budge and are to be sold at the great South-dore of Paules and at Brittaines-Bursse 1614. TO THE TRVLY-NOBLE KNIGHT Sr. Anthony Sainct-Iohn sauing health Right Worshipfull THe sicknesse of this World is growne so lethargicall that his recouery is almost despaired and therefore his Phisitians finding by infallible symptoms that his consumption is not curable leaue him to the malignancie of his disease For the eye of his faith is blinde the eare of his attention deafe the foote of his obedience lame the hand of his charitie numm'd and shut vp with a griping couetousnesse All his vitall parts whereby he should liue to goodnesse are in a swoune he lies bed-rid in his securitie and hath little lesse then giuen vp the Holy Ghost It cannot be denied but that he lies at the mercie of God It is therefore too late to tolle his Passing-bell that hath no breath of obedience left in him I might rather ring out his knell Yet because there are many in this world that are not of this world many sicke of the generall disease of Sin whose recouerie is not hopelesse though their present state be happelesse and some that if they knew but themselues sicke would resort to the Poole of Bethesda the waters of life to be cured I haue therefore presumed to take them apart and tell them impartially their owne illnesse Oh that to performe the cure were no more difficult then to describe the Maladie or prescribe the remedie I haue endeuoured the latter the other to God who can both kill and giue life who is yet pleased by his word to worke our recouery and to make me one vnworthy instrument to administer his Phisicke Now as the most accurate Phisitians ancient or moderne though they deliuered precepts in their facultie worthy of the worlds acceptance and vse yet they set them forth vnder some Noble Patronage so I haue presumed vnder the countenance of your protection to publish this phisicall or rather metaphysicall Treatise for as the Sicknesse is spirituall so the cure must be supernaturall Assuring my selfe that if you shall vse any obseruation here and giue it your good word of Probatum est many others wil be induced the more redily to embrace it My intent is to doe good and if I had any better Receite I would not like some Phisitians I know not whither more enuious or couetous with an excellent Medicine let it liue and die with my selfe God conserue your either health and giue you with a sound body a sounder faith whereby you may liue the life of Grace heere of Glory hereafter Your VVorships humbly deuoted THOMAS ADAMS THE Sinners Passing-Bell OR A Complaint from Heauen for Mans Sinnes The fift Sermon IEREM 8.22 Is there no Balme in Gilead Is there no Phisitian there why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered THis is a world to make Phisitians rich if men loued not their purse better then their health For the world waxeth old and old age is weake and sickly As when death begins to ceaze vpon a man his braine by little and little groweth out of order his minde becomes cloudy and troubled with fantasies the channels of his blood and the radicall moisture the