Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	hell_n	sin_n	sting_n	5,056	5	11.5139	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43607	Syntagma theologicum, or, A treatise wherein is concisely comprehended, the body of divinity, and the fundamentals of religion orderly discussed whereunto are added certain divine discourses, wherein are handled these following heads, viz. 1. The express character of Christ our redeemer, 2. Gloria in altissimis, or the angelical anthem, 3. The necessity of Christ's passion and resurrection, 4. The blessed ambassador, or, The best sent into the basest, 5. S. Paul's apology, 6. Holy fear, the fence of the soul, 7. Ordini quisque suo, or, The excellent order, 8. The royal remembrancer, or, Promises put in suit, 9. The watchman's watch-word, 10. Scala Jacobi, or, S. James his ladder, 11. Decus sanctorum, or, The saints dignity, 12. Warrantable separation, without breach of union / by Henry Hibbert ...	Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678.; Hibbert, Henry, 1601 or 2-1678. Exercitationes theologiae.	1662 (1662)	Wing H1793; ESTC R2845	709,920	522

eo complacentiam ad redimendum reconciliandum genus humanum As the salt waters of the Sea when they are straitned thorow the earth they are sweet in the rivers so saith one the waters of Majesty and justice in God though terrible yet being strained and derived through Christ they are sweet and delightful In many things we offend all who then can be saved Our sins for number exceed the sands of the sea and the least sin is sufficient to throw us into hell without Christ But by Christ we are reconciled to the father and have peace with him Hence we may have a blessed calme lodged in our consciences as when Jonah was cast over board there followed a tranquility Let the meditation of this Eph. 4.32 cause a reconciliation amongst Christians forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake forgave you Consider 1. God himself offers reconciliation to us Jer. 3.1 and shall we be so hard-hearted as not to be reconciled one to another Let us be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful 2. All we do is abominable in the sight of God without it Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bring thy gift to the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother Thou shouldst have done it before yet better late than never First seek the Kingdome of God God should be first served yet he will have his own service to stay till thou beest reconciled to thy brother If I speake with the tongues of men and Augels if I come to Church and heare never so many sermons talk never so gloriously of Religion c. and dwel in hatred be not reconciled I am but a tinkling cymbal 1 Cor. 13.1 3. We can have no assurance of our reconciliation to God without it Mat. 18.35 As the King dealt with his servant so God will cast such into the Prison of hell for ever This should make us all to quake 4 We have no certainty of our lives This night may our souls be taken from us Jovinian the Emperour supped plentifully went to bed merrily yet was taken up dead in the morning And if death take us before we take one another by the hand as a token of hearty reconciliation what shall become of us We should not suffer the sun to go down upon our wrath Johannes Eleemosynarius Arch-Bishop of Alexandria Eph. 4.26 Soc est in occasu vir maximè honorande being angry in the day with Nicetus a Senator towards night sends this message to him My honourable brother the Sun is in setting let there be a setting of our anger too If we do it not within the compass of a day yet let us do it within the compass of our lives Aculeus apis not Ataleus serpentis Let not our anger be like the fire of the Temple that went not out day nor night Let us not say with Jonah I do well to be angry even unto death Cap. 3.9 Let our anger be the sting of a Bee that is soon gone not the sting of a Serpent that tarries long and it may be proves lethall Christ is a merciful and faithful High-Priest Hebr. 2.17 in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people He hath made peace through the blood of his Cross Colos 1.20 God hath reconciled us to himself by Jefus Christ 2 Cor. 5.18 19 20. and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation viz. that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God If when we were enemies Rom. 5.10 we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Glorie to God in the Highest Luke 2.14 and on earth peace good will towards men General Calling It is the estate and condition of Christianity For herein we are called to the service of God in all parts of holiness with promise of eternal reward through the merits of Christ So it is termed because the means by which God worketh upon us ordinarily is his Word or the voice of his servants calling upon us for amendment And because through the mighty working of the Spirit of Christ the voice of Gods servants speaking out of the Word is directed unto us in particular with such power and life and our dead hearts are so revived that the doctrine is as if God did speak to us in particular we receiving the word of the Minister as the very voice or word of Christ Thus the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live As also because God would hereby note unto us the easiness of the work he can do it with a word As he made the world and calleth up the generations of men as the Prophet sheaketh so can he in an instant with a word convert a sinner He said Let there be light and there was light So if he say Let there be 〈◊〉 grace there is presently true grace There is a twofold calling 1. External that general invitation which by the preaching of the Gospel is made unto men to invite them to come in unto Jesus Christ most in the world are thus called both good and bad 2. Internal when the Spirit of God accompanies the outward administration of the Word to call a man from ignorance to knowledge and from a state of nature to a state of grace So that the first is alone by the outward sound of the Word But the other not by the trumpet of the Word alone ringing in the ear but by the voice of the Spirit also perswading the heart and moving us to go to Christ Of this calling spake our Saviour Christ No man cometh to me Inanis est serm● docentis nisi intus sit qui docet except the Father draw him namely by his Spirit as well as by his Word Judas was called He was not a Professor alone but a Preacher of the Gospel Simon Magus was called he believed and was baptized Herod w●s called He heard John Baptist sweetly and did many things that he willed him Sundry at this day come to Church hear Sermons talk of Religion that do not answer Gods call Therefore let us intreat the Lord to call us effectually by his blessed Spirit out of our sins to holiness and newness of life If we be thus called we shall receive the eternal inheritance which Christ hath purchased for us Let us be suiters to God that he would make us partakers of this calling that makes an alteration of us 1 Cor. 6.9 11. If we were Idolaters as Manasseh to call us out of our superstition and idolatry If persecutors as Paul to call us out of our persecuting If we are Adulterers as David to call us out of our uncleanness If Drunkards out of our d●unkenness If

and Physician to their unavoidable ruine Exempla hujus Peccati Saul Judas Arrius item Julianus Apostata But it is indeed difficult to judge of this sin Sine rarishmis inspirationi●us Be● because now in this Age of the Church the spirit of discerning is not so distributed as of old Manasses for many years furiously persecuted the Word of God erected abominable Idols and shed much innocent blood in Jerusalem whereby this sin was incoated but not consummate because at last he came to have Repentance given him Take heed of three things principally 1. Of every beginning of evil of denying Christ though but through infirmity so far Peter was in a dangerous way and it was time for Christ to look at him Satan teacheth his children first to go and then to run 2. Of acting wilfully and willingly against the known Truth of the Gospel there are sins of frailty through impotency and of simplicity through ignorance but take heed of sins of malignity through envy this is Giant-like to war against God 3. Of continuing to sin against conscience A man may sin till it be as impossible for him to repent as to come out of Hell being once plunged there Most justly may it be said of the man committing this sin what once most unjustly by Paul Away with him from the earth its pity that such a one should live There is a sin unto death 1 John 5.16 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man it shall be forgiven him Mat. 12.31 32. but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven him neither in this World neither in the World to come Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins Psal 19 13. let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression Sinners By one man sin entred into the World Non intelligendum hoc de exemplo imitationis sed de contagio propagationis Johan Polyand praefat ad Com. Nemo mundus à peccato coram te nèc infans cujus est unius diei vita super terram Aug. Imbecillitas enim infantilium innocens est non animus infantium God at the first created men with their faces as it were turned towards himself that is doing his Will But now they are like him whom a wicked spirit is said to have caught by the pate and wrested his neck about that his face stood behind his back Fixa mutari nescia nam quis Peccandi finem posuit sibi quando recepit Ejectum semel attritâ de fronte pudorem Quisuam hominum est quem tu contentum videris uno Flagitio The three sorts of dead raised by our Saviour aptly resemble saith Augustine three sorts of sinners viz. 1. A sinner is dead in the house like Jairu's Daughter when he doth imagine mischief in his mind 2. Perseverare in malo Diabolicum digni sunt perire cum illo quicunque in similitudine ejus permanent in pecca●o Bern. A sinner is carried out in the Coffin like the Widows son of Naim when he brings forth ungodliness both in word and in deed 3. But then is he stinking in the Grave like Lazarus if he sin habitually without any remorse drawing iniquity with cords of vanity and heaping up wrath against the day of wrath One said wittily That the angry man made himself the Judge and God the Executioner there is no sinner that doth not the like The Glutton makes God his Eater and himself his Guest and his belly his God especially in the new-found Feasts of this Age in which profuseness and profaness strive for the Tables end The lascivious man makes himself the lover and as Vives said of Mahomet God the Pandor The covetous man makes himself the Usurer and God the Broker The ambitious man makes God his state and honour his God Of every sinner God may say justly as once by the Prophet Servire me fecisti Isa 43.24 Thou hast made me to serve with thy sins yea with the Salvages of Calecutt they place Satan in the Throne and God on the Footstool If Zions Daughter converse with sinners she ties her self to the bondage of iniquity Deaths Garden brings forth no other flowers but death The Rose of pride buds forth vanity envies wormwood is but bitterness the fair lilly of luxuriousness is but sorrow and contrition the stinging Nettle of careful avarice is but dolou● and affliction There is the soul the Daughter of Deity like a Bond-slave led into captivity from danger to danger vice to vice sin to sin thought to thought from thought to consent from consent to delight from delight to custom from custom to hardness of heart from thence to an evil death and from an evil death to damnation We may say of every sinner as Salust said of Catiline Magnâ vi animi fecit sed ingenio malo pravóque Sinners resemble those Monsters that are half like men and half like beasts Sinners may think they see God to favour them but 't is but imaginary as we read of Brutus that he saw his own Angel They are like mad men who imagine many things which indeed are not Wickedness overthroweth the sinner Prov. 13.6 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times and his dayes be prolonged It shall not be well with him neither shall he prolong his dayes which are as a shadow Eccl 8.12 13. because he feareth not before God The sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 Guilt of sin The priviledge of greatness neither must nor will be any subterfuge for guiltiness Guilt of sin increaseth as sin is propagated therefore the sorrow of sin comes with much and daily addition For as he is an happy man who can be a beginner in good things having a share in all the good that follows the beginning even when he is gone So cannot he but be a most unhappy man who is a Ring-leader in evil for as it is easie to set fire on an house but not so easie to quench it so he hath begun mischief and all the sins and evils of that unhappy spark committed many Generations after him shall be upheaped on him to his greater condemnation Men may communicate in other mens sins divers wayes By counsel and advice when though another is the hand yet thou art the head and adviser Absalom committed the incest but by the counsel of Achitophel And the daughter of Herodias is the mouth that said Give me John Baptists head but it was by the counsel of her mother By commandment 1. Whether by word Doeg murdered the Priests of the Lord but it was Saul's fact who commanded him The high Priests servants struck Paul but their stroak was their Masters for he commanded it and Paul deals

short of an invention how to scape his sury and obtain his favour how to satisfy his justice and redeem our lives from hell and death Behold before the foundation of the world was laid he resolved to send his own only Son begotten by an eternal generation who should quell the power of our afflicting enemies stop the mouth of the roaring lyon overcome the world sin death the grave and hell and lay open a plain passage into the Kingdom of heaven Which eternal resolution was in the fulness of time perfectly effected for God then sent forth his Son into the world to assume our nature that we might assume his grace to suffer for our sins what we should of merit suffer to be obedient to the cursed death of the crosse that we might escape the curse of God and not be subject to the second death And albeit hereby he made himself of no reputation who thought it no robbery to be equall with God yet by this meanes he did make way to be highly exalted to get a name which is above every name and to be glorified with the glory which he had with the Father Ne Jesum quidem a●ias gloriosum nisi videris crucisixum Luther to Melanchton before the world was This he himself in a conference with some of his Disciples after his resurrection wherein doubtless he did recapitulate his several sufferings certified to the world Ought not Christ to have suffered those things and to enter into his glory Luk. 24.26 This Scripture points at Christ considered in part of his twofold state 1. His state of humiliation quoad mortem as touching his death Christ's suffering or passion 2. His state of exaltation quoad resurrectionem as touching his resurrection In his humiliation we find him ignominiously crucified and made a curse for us In his exaltation gloriously raised that he might be supereminently glorified and our selves blest in him for ever In this he shall judge as in the former he was judged My pen is now conversant about the first part Wherefore assistance O my souls Saviour and Soveraign I intreat thee that in all humility of soul I may declare what for our salvation thy Majesty didst suffer in all humility And first of my Saviours humiliation in general Of all the works of God done for and to the children of men Some are Opera potentiae works of power Some opera pietatis works of mercy Some opera justitiae works of justice all righteous works Yet if we seriously fix our thoughts upon the humiliation of our alsufficient-Redeemer we shall find it to be a work of 1. Power 2. Mercy 3. Justice All these that otherwise are disperst in his several works are compacted and meet together in this one First then it is a work of power 1. In it self 2. Towards us In it self 't is a work of power God was made man but not sinful man which none could bring to passe but God that first made man without sin The Creator of all made himself a creature which none could do but the Creator of all Whereupon it was that at the conception of the Son of God in the Virgins womb Luk. 1.35 the holy Ghost came upon her and the power of the most high did overshadow her Hence saith one after God had made man he left nothing but to make himself man A dignity to which the Angels are not call'd wherewith our nature above all is blest Tom. 10. Pag. 595. It is Austins speech In creatione mundi homo factus est ad imaginem Dei in nativitate Christi ipse factus est ad imvginem hominis when the world was created man was made in the image of God when Christ was born God was made in the image of man Both which are to be refer'd to divine Omnipotencie For that God and man might be one in Covenant Lib. 2. Institut Ood used his power to make himself and man both one in person Non communicatione gratiae fed naturae veritate non consusione substantiae sed unitate personae saith Trelcatius not by communication of grace Epiphanius but by reality of nature not by an undistinct confusion of substance but by a personal unity So that as Epiphanius speaks Christ was homo in veritate natus Isa 7.14 Deus in veritate existens true God and true man in one and the same person which is implied by the Prophet calling him Immanuel that is God with us or God in our nature Luk. 1.35 Exprest by the Angel calling him the Son of God that should be born of the Virgin Mary And manifested by the Apostle averring him to come of the Fathers as concerning the flesh Rom. 9.5 and yet to be over all God blessed for ever This might seem exceeding strange yet it proves not more strange then true God and man who stood at an infinite distance are now everlastingly linkt together in one person according to the mighty working of his power Thus Christ's humiliation in being incarnate is a work of power in it self It is likewise a work of power towards us Since Adams rebellion we were all captives unto sin and Satan untill God incarnate did vindicate our liberty We were extremely weakened our spirits fail'd us until the Lords anointed the mighty God of Jacob did infuse into our hearts the strength of his Spirit His Incarnation made way for our salvation and his taking unto him our humanity makes us by faith to partake of his Divinity Anselme moves three questions Anselm Meditat c. 8. to which he gives one solid resolution the questions are these 1. What offence could man commit which the Son of God made man could not exprate 2. Who could be so much swell'd up with that uncharitable vice of pride which so great humility could not pull down 3 What dominion could death have over us which the death of the Son of God could not destroy for us The answer 's this Certainly if the iniquity of sinful man and the grace of my unspotted Lord were wigh'd in an even ballance the East is not so much distant from the West nor the lowest hell from the highest heaven as my Redeemers goodnesse in his humility doth exceed the wickednesse of a sinner To this I adde he hath shewn greater power in this act for our redemption than the malice of all the Devils in hell could put in practice for our confusion Thus Christ's humiliation is a work of power towards us And so much the rather he being after this sort humbled was once offered to bear the sins of many Again it is a work of mercy Deus propter hominem sactus est homo ut esset redemptor qui est Creator ut de suo ridimeretur homo saith Austin Aug. Manual c. 26. God for mans sake was made man that he might be our Redeemer who is our Creator and so we have of our own wherewith to be redeemed

nature he had made ours by grace And here we may be as bold as to conclude we are the sons of God because the natural Son of God assumed body of our body flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones that he might be the same with us and we the same with him Thus he became our Kinsman to whom of property by the old Law it did belong to redeem his brethren Which that he might effect he did conquer Death and who could do this but he who is our Life He did vanquish Sin and who could do this but Righteousness it self He did bring into his subjection the Forces of the world and the Powers that rule in the air and who could do this but he that is the Power of God And who is this Life this Righteousness this Power of God but Jesus Christ very God of very God and yet the Son of Man Christ was God and Man Man that sin might be punished in the nature offending yet Man without sin to fulfill that Righteousness which none of us sold under sin can fulfill He was Man that as by the disobedience of the first Adam sin entred into the world so by the obedience of him who is the second Adam righteousness should bring justification to life And as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous By the righteousness of his obedience Active and Passive Active in perfecting all the duties injoined by the Law Passive in suffering the wrath of God the punishment of our disobedience Thus our confusion is taken away and life and righteousness are restored unto us And he was God withal that the Justice of God might receive compleat satisfaction by a punishment that should be infinite or equal to infinite which none but God could give And therefore Christ is said as God to have purchased his Church with his own blood Act. 20. 1 Joh. 3.16 and to lay down his life for us And though his punishment was not so infinite but that it was finite yet it was only finite for time but was for value as it ought to be infinite Thus the Son of True God did bear the burden of his Fathers wrath in our nature which no other Nature ought to do but the soul that sinned which no other but God could do because God is a consuming fire and his wrath unquenchable by any creature Forasmuch as God alone could not die because not subject to passion nor Man alone overcome death because too weak It was requisite that our Redeemer who should die for our sins should be both that by the weakness of the one nature he might submit himself to the power of death thereby to undergo punishment due to sin and by the strength of the other he should by sustaining the Manhood make good his part against death and swallow it up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory But thanks be to God Sarcasmo conflat hostili derisione quâ mors ridenda propinatur saith one that hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ And thus much of the Person humbled which is Christ God and Man The next point to be discuss'd is Wherein his Humiliation did consist that is in general He suffered From the time of his nativity to the very hour of his death was he not free from suffering He was no sooner born but Herod sought his life He was subject to the infirmities of our nature sin excepted He was hungry and thirsty weary and faint sorrowful and discontented his poverty was extream though Lord of all and Possessor of heaven and earth he had not so much as whereon to lay his head Grievous was the temptation he suffered by Satans onset infinite were the injuries that were offered him by the cursed brats of Satan both in word and deed In word by false calumnies and forged accusations by contumelious detractions and cursed blasphemies In deed by framing of projects and laying of plots how to take away his life He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrowes and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him Isa 53. He was despised and we esteemed him not surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrowes Yet we esteemed him stricken smitten of God and afflicted His whole life was a perpetual passion He was never let alone until upon the Cross he gave himself a ransom for all and his enemies never ceased until they drew out his hearts blood which he for our redemption in his loving kindness was willing to part withall He had power in his own hand to lay down his life and he had power to assume it again For albeit his life lay at the stake yet could he were he so disposed command legions of Angels beside his own power which was alsufficient to deliver him either by putting his enemies to flight or by repressing their violence that either they would not or they should not hurt him or by utterly subverting them But being that he came into the world to the end to suffer to compass for us a world without all end he withdrew not his neck from the yoke but set himself forward to bear the iniquity of us all laid upon him Thus Christ was subject to passion but not according to his divine but humane nature For as he is God he is Actus purissimus and cannot suffer but yet he being God suffered in the nature assumed which was capable of suffering that is in his Manhood So that here we have the highest Person and the lowest Humiliation met together Wherefore in this suffering of our Lord there are three things according to Bernards observation specially noted Bernard Opus modus causa In opere patientia in modo humilitat in causa charitas commendatur Patientia singularis humilitas admirabilis sed charitas inestimabilis There are the work the manner of performing and the cause In the work which is suffering his patience is commended in the manner his humility in the cause his charity for charity moved him to suffer with patience and humility His patience is singular none like it his humility admirable none ever came never shall come near it his charity inestimable for it is incomparable All which may appear unto you by presenting to your view his special sufferings immediately preceding his death In these sufferings of our Saviour you may see the foulest act of Treason that ever was committed the greatest Cruelty that was ever heard of both hatcht in the pit of hell Judas his familiar friend comes and betrays him with a false-hearted complement a Kiss his love was only from the teeth outward deceit was in his heart and the poison of asps under his lips but no wonder the Devil was in him Peter his Disciple than whom none more forward in times past to confess him to be

Quia exercitiis stultitiae delectatur Pro. 10.23 5. Quia stultitiam suam spargere aliis communicare amat Pro. 12.23.13.16 6. Quia contemnit opponit sese mediis instructionis Pro. 15.5 7. Mediis illis quae maximè faciunt ad sapientiam abutitur Pro. 26.9 8. Omnes suas facultates applicat ad nequitiam exercendam manifestandam Pro. 6.12.13.14 Thus Sin and Folly are more than like one another for they are the same He is a fool who hath not wisdom to direct himself but he is the fool who will not follow the counsel and direction of the wise He is a fool that hath no knowledge and he is a fool who makes no use of the knowledge which he hath A fool is not able to judge of the nature of things and therefore he is angry with every thing that hits not his nature or his humour Hence Solomon Eccl. 7.9 Be not hasty in thy Spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools They that are emptiest of understanding are fullest of will and usually so full that we call them wilful And surely those men are more foolish than others inasmuch as they think themselves wiser than all Stustorum plena sunt omnia Wisdom like the Rayl flyes alone but foolishness Partridge-like by covies Mr. Adams There is the 1. Sad fool 2. Glad fool 3. Haughty fool 4. Naughty fool The sad fool that 's the envious man an enemy to all Gods favours if they fall from him he dies languishing The glad foll or rather mad fooll the dissolute man ready with a jest to put goodnesse out of fashion he dies laughing The haughty fool the ambitious man ever climbing towers though he never looks how to get down he forsakes peace at home to seek war abroad The naughty fool the coveteous man the very fool of all losing his friend time body soul and yet having no pleasure for it Jer. 17.11 He wasts him self to preserve his meanes Christ calls him fool which might best do it Luk. 12.20 As for the Atheistical fool he is that meer animal that hath no more than a reasonable soul and for little other purpose than as salt to keep his body from putrefying When an heire is impleaded for an Ideot the Judge commands an apple or a counter with a peece of gold to be set before him to try which he will take if he takes the apple or the counter and leaves the gold he is then cast for a fool and unable to mannage his estate for he knows not the value of things or how to make a true election Wicked men are thus foolish and more for when which is infinitely more sottish Heaven and hell life and death are set before them they chuse hell rather than heaven and death rather than life They take the mean transitory trifling things of the world before the favour of God Pardon of sin a part in Jesus Christ and an inheritance among the Saints in light Fools make a mock at sin Prov. 14.9 Shame shall be the promotion of fools Cap. 3.35 Sèe then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wìse Eph. 5.15 Sincerity It is the bottome grace especially commending us to God It is conceived not to be so properly a distinct grace as the perfection of every grace It s the filling up of all our duties without this they are as empty sounds A sincere man is like a Chrystal-Glass with a light in the midst which appeareth through every part thereof so as that truth within breaketh out in every parcel of his life There is in his obedience to God 1. An universality 2. Uniformity 3 Ubiquity He hath respect unto all Gods Commandments so far as he knows them without prejudice or partiality and is the same at home as abroad in the closet as in the Congregation His faith is unfained his love cordial his wisdom undissembled his repentance a renting of the heart he truly aims at pleasing God and not at by-respects Christ is said to be girt about the paps with a golden girdle Rev. 1.13 So the Angels are brought in girded there Cap. 15.6 to signifie the best estate of their Pastours coming nearest then in sincerity to Christ In the first age of the Church they wore their girdle about their middle but the more spiritual they became their girdle went the more upward To this the Apostle may seem to allude Eph. 6.14 And truely here as one saith well if ever unbelt unblest he is a loose man that wants this girdle of sincerity There is a devilish proverb passeth amongst men That plain dealing is a Jewel but he that useth it shall die a beggar But the contrary may be asserted that it is both a means formally enabling to outward happinesse and also a special qualification that hath in a peculiar manner the promises annexed to it Pro. 14.11 Cap. 11.3.2 Chro. 16.9 And whereas it may be said that it often falls out that uprightness is oppressed This is easily answered if we consider 1. That many of the outward calamities that befal godly persons are not simply evils as the world judgeth but rather markes of special honour God puts upon them Jobs body was full of ulcers but his heart was pure and those tribulations he grapled with were onely probatory to trie his strength to draw out his graces and increase his glory 2. We must not limit God to every moment of time when he will honour and cleer his people The world at first was a confused Chaos but at the end of six dayes it was a curious work So God hath his time and we should not desire God should break off his work before he hath made an end of it Jam. 5.11 And David calls upon us to mark the upright man Psal 33.37 The beginning may be trouble but the end is peace Qualis Majorisreatus minoris infamia es tali● appare For secret sins 1. They are as visible to God as the most open 2. As damnable to the soul 3. And what they want in number they have in nature and frequently in delight Encouragements to sincerity 1. It s the onely perfection we attain here Deut. 30.6 2. It makes us acceptable to God Eph. 6. ult 3. Where it is God passeth by many infirmities 2 Chro. 30.19 4. It is the best policy Psal 101.1 Pro. 11.3 5. It brings wonderful comfort and support under all afflictions and temptations 2 King 20.3 2 Cor. 1.12 That sincerity is most opposed by Satan is plain Job 2.3 As if the Holy Ghost would intimate this unto us that Satan pulled more at that than at his estate Satan did not care at all to pull Jobs Oxen c. from him but to pull his grace and sincerity from him As this gotten and improved is the joy of Angels so could it be stoln away or destroyed it would be the joy of Devils Sinceritas quasi sine carâ pure honey without the wax

watcheth stands sits upon thorns while he is here O mihi ●am longè mant●at pars ultima vitae because he panteth and desireth to be dissolved and to be with Christ We may desire life upon a threefold account To 1. Bring more glory to God 2. Get more grace 3. Do more good to others Epaminondas saith aptly We may salute Young men with Good morrow or welcom into the world Old men with Good night because they be leaving the world Only those of middle age with Good day Our pilgrimage on earth is called a Day for 1. The shortness of this life 2. That after this our day is spent we shall no longer work Magna vitae pars elabitur malè Senec. Epist. 1. agentibus maxima nihil agentibus tota aliud agentibus Similis an ancient man who lived seven years well caused this to be written on his tomb-stone Hîc jacet Similis cujus aetas Multorum annorum fuit Diu vixi diu peccavi ipse Septem duntaxat annos vixit Many and great are the miseries of this life Cogita unde veneris et crubesce ubi sis et ingemisce quò vadis et contremisce A mans life when it declines casts of the lees Qui bene latuit bene vixit Vivere est bene valere Non anto ●illam fortunam rude●●vi●● aptam Aurum sitisti aurum bibe Bernard speaking unto man saith Think from whence thou camest and be ashamed where thou art and sign for sorrow whither thou goest and themble with anguish Like unto him saith Austin Intelligas ergo in quantum sit ingressus tu●● flebilis progressin tune debilis egress● 〈◊〉 horribilis The meer natural mans life is comforted in three things especially 1. Quiet rest 2. Liberal diet 3. Good apparel When one brag'd unto Lacon of the multitude of his ships and shipping he answered he little esteemed that felicity that hanged upon ropes and depended on cables But such is all mundane prosperity Crassus that so greedily hunted after the Pa●●●●ans gold perishing miserably had his head cast into a vessel of gold with this inscription or Motto Thou that hast thirsted after gold now drink thy fill Tertullian reports of the Indians and Ethiopians that they made no more account of gold than dirt Wise Solomon saith there is a time to be born and a time to die you do not hear him say a time to live Death borders upon our birth and our cradle stands in our grave We lament the losse of our Parents how soone shall our 〈◊〉 bewa●le ours Out of those words of Job c. 1.21 N●ked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither It plainly appears the life of man is nothing else but a coming and a returning here is nothing said of staying or ●●●ding We have here no continuing City while we are here we can hardly be said to continue here and after a few dayes we shall not be here at all It is but a coming and going Natura hic nobis diversorium commorandi dedit But this riddle passeth the worlding as the fisher mans did Homer Quae cepimu● reliqu●mus quae non cepimus nobiscum portamus Mat. 10.39 Con●es ● Vita is●a in corpore umbra est vitae et imag● non veritas Ambr. in Psal 118. Jam. 4.14 it is but a ●●oud and an ebbe and then we are carried into the Ocean of eternity It were well if the world were as our Tent yea as our Inne if not to lodge yet to bait in What shall a wicked man say when death comes fiercely and pulls him by the throat and summons him to hell Who can but tremble the messenger being terrible but the message worse Then the raging despairs of an evil conscience finding no peace within lesse without Contrariwise the gracious soul hath no leisure to care for sufferings that beholds her crown which if she were enjoyned to fetch it thorow the flames of hell her faith would not stick at the condition Austin doubted whether to call it a dying life or a living death Nescio an ●icenda sit vita mor●alis an vitalis mors The whole course of life is but a flying shadow a little spot of time between two eternities So that it is improper to ask when we shall die but rather when we shall make an end of dying for first the infancy dieth then the childhood then the youth then age and then we make an end of dying This life in the body is a shadow and an image of life not the truth of it What is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Age of Man De dinturnita●e vitae humanae bifariam loqui● possumus Viz. 1. Ante Diluviam Zanard de gen et corrup cap. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disceptabis ●rem 2. Post Diluvium Loquendo de eâ ante diluvium notum est multos per multa secula vixisse ut sacra nos docent historia At loquendo de vita humana post diluvium jam audivimus dominum dicentem non perma●abit spiritus meus in homine quica●o est suntque dies hominis centum viginti annorum But since then Scripture makes mention of seventy years So Solon in Lacresus and to the same sense speaketh Macrobius also saying Septi●s dein Anni 〈◊〉 Physicis creditur meta vivendi hoc vitae humanae perfectu●● spaoium termi● natur c. The Fathers lived longer but as mans wickednesse increased so their dayes decreased and now their lives are daily shortned the generations dispatcht away that the world may sooner come to an end Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is Psal 39 4. that I may know how fraile I am Old age This once come saith the Philosopher youth is no more to be expected as when once winter is come no more of the past summer As in an house Stillicidi● praecedunt r●inam so in a man gray haires sore-signify dea●l● Therefore when the Palm-tree is full of blomes the map of age is figured in the forehead and the Calenders of death appear in the furrowes of the face then it is high time for a man to be think himself of death Annus octogessimus me admonor ut sarcenas colligam said Varre It is high time for me to pack up and to be gone out of this life Cleanthes was wont sometimes to chide himself Ariston wondering ●hereat Qui canos qui●●● habet sed mentem non habet asked him whom chidest thou Cleanthes laughed and answered I chide an old fellow who hath gray haires in deed but wants understanding and prudence worthy of them Such are sick of Ephraims disease Hos 7.9 Quò magis sen●scunt cò ma●is stult●s●unt Or of our neer neighbours disease if that of Erasmus who conversed among them be true The elder they are the foolisher they are

a thing of evil is made good as in Regeneration Create in me a clean heart 3. When the bodies shall be raised out of the dust at the Resurrection The first is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Resurrection is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a new creation There be several Pillars for the Resurrection to lean upon Resurrectio mortuorum fiducia Christianorum 1. The Power of God Idoneus est reficere qui fecit 2. The Justice of God Psal 58.11 3. The solemn Funerals that be in all Nations When we go to a Burial we go to a lowing of seed 4. The Resurrection of Christ 1 Cor. 15.20 Facilius est restituere quàm constituere The First-fruits the Head the Husband is in heaven therefore the second fruits the members the Wife shall be there also Adde hereunto 1. Bonitas Dei Absit ut Deus manuum suarum operam ingenii sui curam afflatus sui vaginam libertatis suae haeredem testimonii sui militem Tertul. Spiritus sancti templum in aeternum destituat exitium 2. Exempla resurgentium in the Old and New Testament Christ raised up three The one in demo the daughter of Jairus the other in feretro the Widows son of Naim the third in sepulchro which was Lazarus when he began to stink These are praeludia nostrae resurrectionis 3. Dulcis titulus mortis 1 Thess 4.13 14. Joh. 11.12 The dead are but asleep Quaedam partes ab animantibus divulsae Zanard de gen corrup arte medici iterum reliquis uniuntur Imo D. Aug. super Psal 101. Refert à quibusdam traditum Pelicanum restro pullos suos occidere sed post seipsum sauciando sanguinem effundere eoque super pullos effuso eos ad vitam revocare Deus pari modo nuntium nobis mortem mittit ut ad vitam restauraret In Ireland there are birds called Martins as some write which if they be hung in a dry place when they are dead Grimst p. 34. they renew their feathers every year The husbandman prizeth as much the corn sowen in the field as that which is in the garner Tertul. Dies moritur in noctem tamen rursus cum suo cultu universo orbi reviviscit Hinc Job 17.12 Post tenebras spero lucem Fear not saith God to Jacob Gen. 46.4 to go down to Egypt for I will go down with thee and I will also surely bring thee up again The like may be said to every godly person going down to the grave All shall rise again good and bad Cain shall rise with the same hand wherewith he slew his brother Jezabel with the same body that was eaten up by the dogs Rabsekeh with the same tongue wherewith he railed on the God of Israel Judas with the same lips wherewith he traiterously betrayed our Saviour Christ Such like as these shall rise with horror of conscience But the godly that have stuck to Christ shall rise with comfortable consciences Sive comedo Hierom. sive bibo sive aliquid aliud facio semper vox illa terribilis sonat in auribus meis Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Marvel not at this Joh. 5.28 29. for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice And shall come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation Judicium Vltimum After the Resurrection comes Judgment Death were nothing if there were no Judgment The Assises were nothing if there were no Execution Dies judicii exinde probatur Si non sit judicium tum non est Deus justus Si non est Deus justus tum non est Deus si non Deus tum non est mundus si non sit mundus tum nulli sunt homines Sic ratione probatur Then shall be signes in the Sun The Sun of Righteousness appears in three signes Viz. 1. Leo Roaring in the Law as the people could not endure the voice thereof 2. Virgo Born of a Virgin in the Gospel 3. Libra Weighing our works in his ballance at the last and dreadful Audit Which Bernard uttered elegantly saying Christ comes three manner of ways Viz. 1. Ad homines 2. In homines 3. Contra homines Christ ha tha fourfold Exaltation and the last is the greatest Viz. In 1. Mount Tabor his Transfiguration 2. Jerusalem his Resurrection 3. Mount Olivet his Ascension 4. The Clouds his coming to Judgment If the Queen of Sheba condemned the men of that age how shall she condemn us She was a Queen and we but Subjects she left her kingdom and country we sit under our own vines under our own fig-trees in our own soil in our own country she came from the farthest part of the earth to Solomon but Christ cometh from heaven to see us she was moved only by his fame we both hear Christ in his Word and see him in his Sacraments she coming to Solomon brought presents Christ coming to us gives us rewards she came to behold Solomon a meer man but we may behold Christ God and Man A greater than Solomon greater in wisdom for never man spake as he did He did all things well therefore greater in might He made the deaf to hear the blind to see the lame to go c. never man did as he did Greater in Majesty for Solomon in all his royalty was but a type of our King coming in the clouds Without repentance surely this Queen shall arise up with a witness in judgment against us and condemn us at the dreadful day Poena damni poenalior est quàm poena sensus If Esau Erugiit clamore magno to see his younger brother Jacob to have got the blessing roared with a great cry out of measure how loud will the Reprobate roar when he shall behold the Saints figured in Jacob to have got the benediction of the Heavenly Father Venite benedicti If Belshazzar at the sight of an hand-writing against him which only concerned the losing of his temporal Kingdom was so changed in his look and troubled in his thoughts that the joints of his bones were loosed and his knees smote one against another how shall the Reprobate be perplexed in his wits and crossed in his will when he shall see and hear Christ thundring out against him Ite maledicti Memento 1. Peccati ut doleas 2. Mortis ut desinas 3. Divinae justitiae ut timeas 4. Misericordiae ne desperas Above all remember those four last things viz. 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Heaven 4. Hell But the chiefest is Judgment for all the rest attend it Death is usher to Judgment going before and Hell the execution following after Death would not be so fearful if Judgment did not follow Hell would not be so painful if Judgment went not before Italians in great Thunder use to ring their Bells and

and Charon the ferry-man of hell And Aetua which they fancied to be hell Saxum ingens volvunt alii And hell it self to be a continual rowling of stones upon dead bodies with many other fancies Inque tuo sedisti Sisyphe saxo Ovid. Metam l. 10. But to let them passe such a woful place there must needs be 1. That so the wicked may receive proportionable punishment both in soul and body That of Jerom was not true Infernum nihil esse nisi conscientiae horr orem to the sins they committed here upon earth 2. Therefore of necessity there must be an hell to keep men to all eternity that by their everlasting torments Gods justice might be satisfied which otherwise it could not be 2 Thes 1.5 3. The very tetrors of conscience that are in wicked men at least when they are dying declare there is a hell a place of torment provided for them There are many words in Scripture by which hell is exprest 1. Sheol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we lye buried there in a second death 2. Abaddon all are there in a perishing state 3. Tsalmaveth or the shadow of death death never triumphs so much in its strength as it doth in hell It s the strength and power of death 4 Etachtithrets signifying both the lowest and most inferior earth whence hell is called the bottomlesse pit And also it imports fear vexation and trembling hell is a land of trembling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is a land of fear 5. Bor shachath that is the pit of corruption though the wicked shall be raised immortal yet filthinesse shall be upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. Erets Nesciah the land of forgetfulnesse God will remember them no more to do them any good but to their torment and confusion he will remember them for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 7. Erets choscec a land of darknesse Darknesse was their choyce in this life and it shall be their curse in the next 8. Gehinnom whence the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the valley of Hinnom in which the Idolatrous Israelites did sacrifice their children with horrible cruelty There are other terms which set out Hell this place of the damned As Unquenchable sire Dicitur stagnum quia ut lapis mari ita animae illue immerguatur Anselm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Kings 23.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 3.17 A Furnace of sire Matth. 13.42 A Lake of fire Rev. 19.20 Eternal fire Jude 7. Utter darknesse Matth. 22.13 The blacknesse of darknesse Jude 13. Chains of darknesse 2 Pet. 2.4 Damnation Mat. 23.33 A place of torment Luke 16.28 Wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 A Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 Tophet Isa 30.33 A bottomlesse pit Rev. 9.1 The second death Rev. 2.11 Destruction Matth. 7.14 Everlasting punishment Matth. 25 46. Corruption Gal. 6.8 So that Hell is a place of torment ordained by God for Devils and reprobate sinners wherein by his justice they are deprived of his favour and confined to everlasting punishment both in soul and body If any ask whether Hell were created of God I answer Consider Hell as a place simply And it is very probable that Angels falling hell making was both together it was created at first by God when he distinguished all places but as it is Hell a place of torment it was not so by creation Satan and mans sin brought that name and use unto it And thus Tophet may be said to be prepared of old as a punishment for sin and a place for justice to be inflicted upon sin committed against God For the locality of Hell all agree in this that there is such a place only where that place of the damned should be Omnia entia sinita necesse est in aliquo ubi there are variety of opinions about it Gregory Nyssen and his followers hold it is in the air groundlesly grounding on Ephes 2.2 and cap. 6.12 Isidore but nothing probable will have it under the Globe of the earth A third confutable enough in the valley of Jehoshaphat from Joel 3.12 A fourth opinion owned of many learned men but without foundation from the Word is that Hell is in the very center of the earth Others with Keckerman that Hell is in the bottome of the Sea this they build upon that phrase Matth. 8.29 Luke 8.31 Aug. lib. 2. Retract c. 24. This indeed seems to carry some show of reason but cannot be the sense of the place Those that write with most sobriety say only in general Gehennam esse locum subterranenm The truth is Scripture doth not relate the very particular place where Hell is and perhaps it is concealed to prevent curiosity in many to keep faith in use and exercise as also to rouze men from security and to make them fearful of sin in every place yet there is warrant enough for the belief of two things in general 1. That there is such a place as Hell that is a place distinct from Heaven 2. That this place wherever it is it must be below Heaven Prov. 15.24 Luke 8.13 Rev. 14.11 Job 11.8 Deut. 32.22 Psal 55.15 If any should aske any farther I answer in anothers words Vbi sit sentient qui curiosiùs quaerunt where it is they shall find one day who over-curiously enquire At least I may say as Socrates did I was never there my self nor spoke with any that came from thence Let us labour more to avoid Hell than endeavour to find out the place where it is else Hell where-ever it is will find us out Though we know not the place for certain yet we may certainly know this that sin is the very high road to Hell and the direct way thither Prov. 7.26 And let us take heed of sin in every place seeing we know not where the particular place of Hell is Hell follows sin at the heels If we sin against God God knows how near Hell we are A guilty and galled conscience joyned with a profane wicked life is the lively picture of Hell it selfe Gebenuâ nihil grovius sed ejus me●● nibil u●●lius Hell is called by the Latins Infernus ab inferendo from the Devils continually carrying in souls to that place of torment I conclude with Chrysostom There is nothing more grievous than Hell but nothing more profitable than the fear of it Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is prepared Isa 30.33 he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it Hells Torments We silly fishes see one another jerked out of the pond of life by the hand of death but we see not the frying-pan and the fire that they are cast into that die in their sins and refuse to be reformed Cast they are into utter darknesse Vtinam ubique

that soul alone that hath Christ it hath the Spirit of Christ Happy that soul alone that hath the Spirit of Christ it hath God Happy that soul alone that hath God it hath all things The sins of true Believers and all their imperfections do like the Morning-dew at the Suns approach vanish away and dissolve into nothing by the beams of the Sun of Righteousness by whom we have access by faith into his grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God Here 's a remedy to stanch a bleeding heart here is rest for a troubled spirit here is a Cordial restorative for a Christian soul that aforetimes did surfeit with the luscious bewitching pleasures of a sinful life and after trembled at the killing fears of the pangs of Hell To say something more how our peace with God was wrought which is worthy of all observation Know the condition of the Obligation of the first Covenant was this Do this and thou shalt live the transgression whereof by necessary consequence must have brought death To reduce us then into grace with God again after our desertion Doing and Suffering was requisite the one serving to give us life the other to save from death both for expiation of our offences and satisfaction of the offended Justice Our peace then is made by Christ's 1. Doing 2. Suffering By Christ's doing For if by our ill doing we undid our peace our peace must be m●de up by well doing which we being unsufficient for Christ whose grace is abundantly sufficient for us performed in our stead His conversation i● the days of his flesh besides his unspotted and pure Conception was unblemished He came to fulfill all righteousness and did so In the volume of the book it is written of me Heb. 10.9 saith our Saviour Lo I come to do thy will O God I can quickly impannel a sufficient Jury out of the three Kingdoms the Kingdom of this World the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of Glory some friends others foes by their just verdict given up already to justifie the Innocency of our Blessed Redeemer An Angel in the 9. of Daniel calls him The most Holy And the same Angel tells his Virgin Mother that That Holy thing which should be born of her should be called the Son of God The Prophet Isaiah by Divine inspiration saith That he did no sin neither was there guile found in his mouth S. Peter saith He was a Lamb without blemish and without spot The Apostle to the Hebrews describes him to be Holy harmless undefiled separate from sinners S. John insorms us that We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous He is said by the Spouse in the Cantieles to be white and ruddy Ruddy in respect of his bloody Passion and whire in regard of his unstained Innocence Pilate though Christs enemy ingenuously professeth that he could find no fault in him Traiterous Judas when the fact was done confesseth that he did betray the innocent blood Habemus consitentem reum There was Herod's action in causing him to be arrayed in a gorgeous white robe as an implicite testimony of his innocence Pilate's wife bids her husband sitting on the seat of Judgment to have nothing to do with that Just man The Thief upon the Cross condemning himself and his fellow makes this his last and his best confession This man hath done nothing amiss The Centurion when he saw what fell out upon the death of Christ concluded with himself Verily this was the Son of God Luk. 4.34 or as S. Luke hath it Of a truth this was a just man The Devil too I know thee who thou art the Holy one of God For more evidence I can produce from heaven a cloud and innumerable company of witnesses as that Rev. 15.3 Part of the Saints heavenly song is Just and true are thy ways thou King of Saints Lastly take with us the sentence of the just Judge of all the world uttered from Heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased I need to say no more in it 't is a plain case here 's a threefold cord Vox Dei vox populi vox populi Dei The voice of God the voice of the people the voice of the people of God Now for our comfort know thus much Christ's active righteousness was meritorious for our salvation for our peace wherefore Christ is said to be made to us of God righteousness and sanctification and that he knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him By Adam's fatal disobedience the peace was broken by Christs perfect and absolute obedience the peace is renewed As by the disobedience of one man the first Adam many were made sinners and so enemies to God so by the obedience of one man the Man Christ Jesus the second Adam many are made righteous and so reconciled to God Our peace then is made by Christs doing in fulfilling the Law in every point which in every point we did unrighteously violate He did work upon the Earth to work our peace in Heaven Which in like manner he did by suffering as well as doing Which I will by Divine assistance also briefly prosecute Were we not sinners Christ had no need to suffer Had he not now suffered we should not be saved because sinners All our deaths could not have wiped away one sin much less all our sins and therefore not made our peace Eternity of torments is satisfaction indeed to Gods Justice but then what hope of mercy of peace of life What we therefore could not do by suffering eternally Christ hath effected for us by a timely death Rom. 5.10 Act. 20.28 1 Joh. 1.7 We being sinners Christ died for us and being enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son Hence he is said to have purchased his Church that is the peace of his Church with his own blood and his blood to cleanse us from all sin Divine Truth terms him The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world The sin of the world that takes away the world from God the removing where of out of the way makes way for grace and so for peace for a world of men Princeps vitae est interfectus ut nos ad vitam restitueret Dominus gloriae crucifixus est ut nos ad gloriam exaltaret The Prince of life was put to death to restore us from death of life The Lord of glory was ignominiously crucified to exalt us unto glory He was content to be for saken of his Father and to bear his indignation to make peace for us through the blood of his cross to reconcile us who were sometimes aliens and enemies in the body of his flesh through death to present us holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight Col. 1.21 22. Eph. 5.2 For this very purpose he became a Peace-offering for us Christ loved us and hath

of such difficulty that if he withdraw the supporting assistance of his active Spirit from us we cannot hold out Do we preach 't is as the Spirits gives us utterance do we pray the Spirit helpeth our infirmities do we beleeve he increaseth our faith and helps our unbelief do we live the life of grace Christ liveth in us by his Spirit Are we constant in our profession and holy exercises of Religion that constancy cometh from above by the effectual working of the divine power In all these his grace is sufficient for us and in doing them his Spirit worketh with us Thus much concerning Gods good will towards men expressed in spiritual matters As for his good will in temporal it is as clear as the sun we need no demonstration But because the extraordinary favours of God may not slip out of our memories think upon our deliverance from that intended invasion in eighty eight how that part of the invaders became as weak as water and part were over whelmed in the depths of the sea alive like Pharaoh and his host Think upon that horrid work of darkness the Gunpowder plot how vain the conspiratours were in their imaginations The Lords stretched out arme overcame the one his all-seeing eye discovered the other See thy Regína Dierum and by his Providence were both brought to nothing Think upon the Stupendious works of Divine Providence in the wonderful safegarding and happy restoring of our gracious King to which I have abundantly spoken upon occasion Without doubt all these and infinite more are sensible tokens of Gods good will in Christ toward us Wherefore 1. We may with comfort confidently approach to the throne of grace where we may receive of the Father whatsoever we ask in his Sons name for for his sake he will deny us no good thing seeing that in him he beares good will toward us Thus much the occasion of this text may assure us of which is the incarnation and birth of our Saviour It being the foundation of all our joyes and all good things we enjoy By it God comforts Adam the seed of the woman shall break the serpents head Jacob is comforted by the vision of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth and the Angels ascending and descending by it the mystery whereof may be this The ladder is Christ the foot of it on earth noteth his humanity man of the substance of his mother born in the world the top reaching to heaven noteth his divinity Job 19.25 God of the substance of his Father begotten before all worlds perfect God and perfect man by which union of natures he hath joined earth and heaven together that is God and man The going up and down of Angels by the ladder sheweth how by Christ the service of Angels is purchased unto us all which accordeth with that in Joh. 1.51 Verily verily I say unto you faith our Saviour hereafter ye shall see the heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man Job again comforts himself in this that his Redeemer of his own flesh as the word signifieth liveth In the Old Testament they which sought to God came to the Ark or Propitiatory and there were they heard and received Gods blessing Now Christ God and man is instead thereof his Godhead being the fountain of all good things and his flesh or Manhood a pipe or conduit to conveigh the fame unto us Wherefore let us rejoyce in God our Saviour and comfort our selves in his good will towards men Moreover 2. We may the better bear temptations and afflictions and slight the assaults of the world That which in Spaniards deserveth the greatest commendations is an unmoved patience in suffering adversity accompanied with a settled resolution of overcoming them This if we attain unto in Christianity will shield us from despair and distrust for we may be well assured that God to his distressed servants is the neerest when he seemeth furthest then sweetest when he seemeth sowrest and then up in wrath to revenge our wrongs when the world doth think he hath forgot us For still he beares goad will towards us Lastly we must acknowledge Gods good will through Christ to be the sole cause of all our happiness It is a true Maxime in Divinity Publisht in Austins time Vniversa salus nostra Aug. Ned. Cap. 34. magna miserecordia tua Our safety on earth our salvation in heaven proceed from thy abundant mercies O Lord. Thus the Father the Son and the holy Ghost do all join together in one immutable resolution to prove their good will towards men The issue whereof cannot be but exceeding good For as Astronomers do well observe that when three of the superiour lights do meet in conjunction it bringeth forth some admirable effects So now seeing that these three infinite lights of the world three persons of the Deity are met together in one good-will towards men this benevolous aspect produceth this admirable effect that all true beleevers shall be hereby exalted into glory For which with thankful hearts we ought ever to pay the tribute of obedience And in assurance whereof to rest in Gods promises which can never faile In his name I end as I did begin To whom as the Angels did before us and duty ever binds us be rendred all honour and glory both now and for ever Amen The Necessity of CHRISTS PASSION AND Resurrection ACTS 17.3 Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead I Am induced by these words to relate the greatest wonder of the world wherein is comprehended the profoundest Mystery of our salvation That the Son of God should become the Son of man that the Lord of glory should come in the forme of an humble and dejected servant that the Sun of righteousnesse should be deprived of light and then that the sole Author of our life should be put to death Weigh but the reason and the wonder is the greater It was for our redemption all this was effected and can there be a greater wonder then that he that knew no sin would putting on mortality suffer unutterable tortures both in soul and body and be content to die to save those that knew nothing but sin certainly there cannot be a greater wonder The most professed enemy to sinners herein did become to sinners the most professed friend He is ready to save who might be more ready to destroy But mercy binds the hands of justice and justice is overcome of mercy The eternal wisdome beholding from above with the gracious eye of pay the forlorne estate of mankind after their apostasy and treacherous violation of the sacred Covenant contrived a project not to be contrived by the Art of man whereby our Redemption should be wrought and liberty obtained Gods love to us did exceed our sins Our sins are not so great are not so many but his love can cover them and his mercy pardon them And where men come