avarum liberalem tibi reddam da timidum jam Cruces ignes Phalaridis taurum contemnit da libidinosum continentem reddam tanta Doctrinae vis est c. that is Give me an angry man and with one Word of God I will make him as meeke as a Lambe give mee a covetous man and I will render him againe liberall give me a fearefull timerous man and by and by hee shall contemne Gallowes Fire yea and Phalaris his Bull give me a lecherous man and I will make him chaste and continent such is the force of Doctrine As the Load-stone draweth not Iron except it bee pure So the Word of God doth not draw men from the mire and dirt of sinne except they be purified with the Spirit Briefly in one word I say with Tertullian in Apologetico Fiunt homines Christiani non nascuntur Men are made Christians not borne Ephes 2. 2. Tit. 3. wee are by nature the children of Wrath by grace wee are the Sonnes of God Once againe Christ is not profitable the Gospell is not availeable but to them that are called but being called it is powerfull When the men of Cyprus and Cyrene spake unto the Grecians and preached the Lord Iesus The hand of the Lord was with them that is the power and vertue of the Spirit so that a great number Acts 11. 21. beleeved and turned unto the Lord Whereupon Chrysostome libro adversus Gentiles proveth the deity of Christ that using no Arms but twelve poore Apostles silly weake unlearned men subdued the whole world to him He overthrew the Lawes of the Fathers he abrogated the ancient customes A marvelous power by the Doctrine of Fishers Toll-gatherers Tent-makers to raise the dead to cleanse the Lepers to expell Divels to vanquish Tyrants to put death to flight to stay the tongues of the Philosophers to shut the mouthes of the Orators to conquer Kings and Princes Barbarians Grecians and all men Alexander with the sword and the Apostles with the Word to conquer the World For their sound went out through all the earth and their Rom. 10. 18. words unto the ends of the World Pray therefore that God by his Spirit would make the Word effectuall to be odorem vitae a favour of life to life and not a fauour of death unto death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely God even God by his Spirit doth all In a word God calleth us else we come not and his calling is diverse 1. In respect of time 2. In respect of place In respect of time For God calleth in divers houres of the day that is in divers ages of the world and in divers yeeres of our age Gods calling diverse both for time and place Some before the Law as Abel Enoch Noah Abraham some under the Law as Moses David Iosias Esay with other Kings and Prophets Some after the Law as the blessed Apostles Martyrs Confessors Some in the first houre their childhood as Samuel Ieremy Iohn Baptist some in the third houre their youth as Daniel and Iohn the Evangelist some in the sixth houre their middle age as Peter and Andrew some in the eleventh houre their old age as Gamaliel Ioseph of Arimathea some in the last houre of the day the last houre of their life as the Theefe upon the Crosse In respect of place For God calleth some from their ship and some from their shops some from the Markets some from under the hedges This diverse calling at divers times and in divers places intimates A Caveat A Comfort A Caveat for such as are called that they magnifie not themselves and vilifie others Nemo dicat ideo me vocavit quia colui Deum quomodo coluisses si vocatus non fuisses let no man say God August de verb. Apost hath called me for that I worship him how shouldest thou worship him if thou wert not called A Comfort for them that feele not themselves sufficiently called that they rest in hope God can and will call when where and whom he will either at the last houre with the theefe upon the gallowes or out of oppressing Egypt with the Israelites Luke 23. Exod. 3. or in the middest of the persecution of the Saints of God as he did Saul Let us then patiently attend our calling Deus adversum Acts 9. vocat credentem docet sperantem consolatur diligentem exhortatur conantem adjisvat precantem exaudit tamen Deus solus fidem spem charita tem laborem preces operatur God calleth the adverse teacheth the beleever comforteth him that hopeth exhorteth him that loveth helpeth him that laboureth and yet God alone worketh faith hope charity c. Ille vocat aversos vocatos justificat justificatos sanctificat sanctificatos glorificat Hee calleth the averse justifieth them that are called sanctifieth them that are justified and glorifieth them that are sanctified The Whelpes of a Lion are borne dead but at the yelling and roaring of the Lion they are quickned and raised from death So we are borne dead dead in our trespasses Ephes 2. 1. Phil. 2. 16. and sinnes but by the calling of the Gospell as by the roaring of the Lion wee are quickned It is a word of life our calling and all good is wrought by it As it is verbum scientiae prudentiae a word of knowledge and wisedome potentiae 1 Cor. 1. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 23. Acts 14. and of power gratiae and of grace sic est verbum vitae so it is the word of life Nulla scientia nec potentia nec gratia nec vita sine Evangelio there is no knowledge nor power nor grace nor life without the Gospell Well God calleth inwardly by his Spirit outwardly by his Our Vocation what it teacheth us Sanctification Word This should teach us first to walke worthy our calling that as he which hath called is holy so should we be holy in all our life and conversation according as it is written Bee yee holy for I am holy We are called not to ncleannesse but unto sanctification Levit. 11. 44. 1 Thes 4. for unto this end hath the grace goodnesse and bountifulnesse of our Lord appeared that we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world because sancta conversatio confundit inimicum aedificat proximum glorificat Deum a holy life a godly conversation doth confound and stop the mouthes of our enemies doth edifie and build up our Brethren doth glorifie God Secondly Seeing the internall meanes of our calling is the Spirit this should teach us never to grieve the Spirit by whom we are called out of darkenesse into light Nature teacheth us not to grieve our naturall parents and Religion should teach us not to grieve the Spirit Grieve not the Spirit by whom ye are sealed Ephes 4. to the day of Redemption Last of all seeing we are called not onely inwardly by the Spirit but outwardly by the holy Word This word
Ier. 20. 3 4. Balaam say Moriatur anima mea Let my soule dye the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like unto his Iulian tooke his bloud Numb 23. 10. in his hands being strooken with an arrow from Heaven and threw it up into the Ayre saying Vicisti Galilaee O man of Galile thou hast gotten the victory Calvin writing upon the hundred and fifteenth Psalme verse sixteene telleth a notable story how God suddenly shut up the mouth of a Blasphemer and made him dumbe who derided God saying Coeli coelorum Domini The Heaven of Heavens unto the Lord and the Earth hath he given to the children of men as though men in Earth might live at randome Thus Esay traverseth the scorners of Ierusalem saying Heare the Word of the Lord yee scornefull men because yee have Esa 28. 14 15. said Wee have made a covenant with Death and with Hell are wee at an Scoffers and mockers punished agreement though a scourge runne over and passe thorow it shall not come at us for wee have made falshood our refuge and under vanity are wee hid But saith God I will lay Iudgement to the rule and Righteousnesse to the ballance and your covenant with Death shall bee disannulled and your agreement with Hell shall not stand now therefore bee no mockers lest your bonds increase So heare this yee scorners of Norfolke God will meete with you one day Hee will wound the head of his enemies and the hairie scalpe of him that walketh in Psal 68. 21. Psal 21. 8 9. his sinnes and his right handshall finde out all these mockers that hate him Hee shall make them like a fiery Oven in the time of his anger The Lord shall destroy them in his wrath and the fire shall devoure them These mockers shall not alwayes doe him this dishonour but God will draw his hand yea his right hand out of his bosome and consume them Psal 74. 11. Foure notable scoffers I knew in my time that held of one ging the first dyed mad the second hanged himselfe the third is a begger and yet was richly left the fourth is strooken blind Let men take heed if God be God they shall not goe unpunished for they open their mouth against Heaven David cryeth out that hee was a worme and not a man a shame of men and Psal 22. 6. 7. the out-cast of all people that all that saw him had him in derision they made a mow and nod the head at him but yet hee gathereth heart and insulteth over these his enemies saying Let the wicked be put to confusion and to silence in the grave and let these lying lips bee made Psal 31. 17 18. dumbe which cruelly proudly and spightfully speake against the righteous Herod and Pilate scoffed at the Lord Iesus his simplicitie made a May-game of him the rascall souldiers flouted Iuke 22. him but hee left the vengeance to his Father who met with them all One saith that the scoffers shall bee punished in Hell in their tongues quoting Luke 16. 24. for said hee In quo membro peccamus in codem plectemur In what member wee sinne in the same must wee be punished as the Envious in their eyes the Gluttons in their throats the Lecherous in their bodies the Malicious in their hearts the Covetous in their hands the Scoffers in their toungs but this is but a speculation a quiddity for surely the damned are tormented in all parts but yet chiefely in that part that hath offended paena peccato respondet the punishment is answerable to the sinne The World is full of these mockers for men are come to a wonderfull height of sin and are growne to be most notoriously wicked and ungodly so it is said that cursed Cham mocked his Father Noah I smael mocked godly Isaac because it is like I smael Gen. 2. 22. Gen. 21. seeing godly Isaac performing some duties of Religion Prayer Thankesgiving or the like hee laughed him to scorne The Athenians mocked Paul What will this babbler say So the Scribes Act. 17. Mat. 26. 68. and Pharisees mocked our Saviour saying Haile King of the Iewes The Iewes mocked Saint Peters Sermon saying These Scoffing a kind of persetion men are ful of new wine they are possessed with the spirit of the Buttery The children of Bethel mocked Elisha saying Goe up bald pate This was the complaint of godly Ieremy O Lord I am in 2 Reg. 2. 22. Ier. 20. 7. derision dayly everie one mocketh me and as it was so it is still and shall bee the World is full of such lewd and wicked men as Nilus of Crocodiles such mockes-God that mocke and mow at all good duties scoffing and scorning all Religion flowting and misusing all Gods faithfull Ministers raile upon them and revile them yea if any man feare God and worke righteousnesse attend to reading exhortation and doctrine pray evening and morning and at noone-day instruct their families with Abraham and will not sweare with the swearer drinke with the drunkard nor runne with the prophane in all excesse of riot this man shall bee derided mocked scorned jested at and railed upon branded with many odious names but let these mockers take heed God will come in judgement hee will bee a swift witnesse and a sharpe Iudge against them Looke on that cursed Cham and scoffing Ismael behold Gods vengeance upon those fortie two boyes that mocked Elisha What became of them that mocked and misused the Prophets of the Lord What became of them that mocked and misused Christ Iesus our Saviour and yee shall see none of them escaped unpunished This mocking is a kinde of persecution these mockers are persecutors Ismael did but gybe and fleere and flout at Isaac yet Gen. 21. Gal. 5. 29. Mat. 27. 39. Paul calleth it persecution those that railed on Christ despited him as much as they that crucified him with their hands as those that ranne him to the heart with a speare The wicked now persecute the Saints and laugh and gybe and fleere at them to the full but God shall laugh at them another day hee will yee mockers Hee will laugh at your destruction and mocke you when Prou. 1. 26 27. your feare commeth like suddaine desolation and your destruction shall come like a whirlewind when affliction and anguish shall come upon you c. The rich mans tongue burned in Hell and could not have a spoonefull of water and shall not these tongues fry in Hell Luke 16. that raile that jest that mocke at Honesty and Religion Who say that they will beleeve their hound before a Preacher for hee will not hunt counter God will burne one day these tongues For if that tongue that mocketh his earthly Father and Mother shall bee pulled out As Agur said The eye that mocketh Prov. 3. 17. his Father and despiseth the instruction of his Mother let the Ravens in the valley pick it
his feet Hee rebuketh the Sea drieth it he drieth up all the rivers The mountaines tremble for him and the hills melt and the earth is burnt at his sight yea the world and all that dwell therein who can stand before his wrath if his wrath be kindled yea but a little blessed are all they that put their trust in him God telleth the Idumaeans Though thou exalt thy selfe like an Eagle and make thy nest among the starres thence will I bring thee downe saith Obadiah vers 4. the Lord. Paul applieth the example of Gods justice on Israel to the Church of Corinth and all Churches I would not have you ignorant quoth he that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed thorough the Sea c. but with many of them God was not pleased for 1 Cor. 10. 1. 5. 6 7 8 9 10 11. they were overthrowne in the wildernesse Now these are examples to us to the intent that wee should not lust after evill things as they lusted neither be yee idolaters as were some of them As it is written the people sate downe to eate and drinke and rose up to play Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed fornication and fell in one day three and twenty thousand neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted him and were destroyed of serpents neither murmure yee as some of them murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer Now all these things came unto them for examples and were written to admonish us upon whom the ends of the world are come The continuance of Gods mercy for a long time doth not assure us of perpetuall safety but of greater destruction if we beleeve not Quantò gradus altior tantò casus gravior the higher we are in dignity the more grievous our fall and misery as was said of the whore of Babylon Inasmuch as shee glorified herselfe and lived in pleasure so much give yee to Apoc. 18. 7. Mat. 11. 23. Ier. 18 18. 21. her torment and sorrow And so Capernaum that was lift up to heaven was threatned to bee throwne downe to hell The Iewes thought that the dignity of their Priesthood should have continued for ever and therefore they said The law shall not perish from the priest nor counsell from the wise nor the word from the Prophet Therfore saith God deliver up their children to famine and let them drop away The higher exalted the lower dejected if impious by force of the sword and let their wives be robbed of their children and be widdowes and let their husbands be put to death and let the yong men be slaine with the sword in the battell They bragged of Moses that he was their teacher they boasted of Abraham and a succession from Abraham but Iohn answereth them saying Say not to your selves wee have Abraham to our father For God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham of them came the Fathers of them came Luk. 3. 8. Christ yet were they not all Israel that came of Israel neither are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham This augmented the punishment of Israel that God had beene so good unto them for every blessing is as good as a bill of enditement preferred against us at the great Assise-day for listen what God himselfe saith O my people what have I done unto thee Michea 6. 3. 14 15. or wherin have I grieved thee testify against me surely I brought thee up out of the land of Aegypt and redeemed thee out of the house of servants I have sent before thee Moses Aaron Miriam And thus the Lord goeth on intimating unto them that hee never hurt them but bestowed infinite blessings and benefits upon them but because they misused them God threatneth them That they shall eate and not be satisfied and thy casting downe shall be in the middest of thee meaning that they shall be consumed with inward griefe and evill and further he threatneth them saying Thou shalt sow but not reape thou shalt tread the Olives but thou shalt not annoint thee with oyle and make sweet wine but shalt not drinke wine This also augmented the punishment of Eli's house that whereas God did chuse him out of all the tribes of Israel to bee his Priest and to offer upon Gods Altar and to burne Incense and to weare an Ephod before God yet because he honoured his children more than God God 1 Sam. 2. 28. 31. threatned to cut off his arme and the arme of his Fathers house and that there should not be an old man in his house for ever Esay and Michah prophesied unto Iuda sixty yeares Hosea and Amos in Israel seventy yeares yet God sealed neither the one nor the other an obligation of perpetuall mercy The one was carried into Assyria a captivity irreturnable the other into Babylon where they 2 Reg. 17. 6. Psal 137. Amos. 8. 10. could not sing the Lords songs in a strange land God turned their songs into mournings and their feasts into lamentations The Papists speake of our overthrowes in Ireland as the Syrians said that God was the God of Israel in the mountaines but not in the vallies So they say he is our God in England but not in Ireland they say that hee was a God in the beginning of the Queenes raigne but not now Zidkia of Rome the Iesuites have made them hornes of iron as 1 Reg. 22. 11. saying that they will push England Herod of Rome hath sent us word of our destruction but if wee repent we may answere him as Christ did Herod Goe yee Luk. 13. 32. Mat. 9. 15. and tell the Foxe c. Wee are the children of the wedding and therefore cannot mourne yet The arrow of our deliverance is as yet in the Kings hands against the Aramites the Papists If wee Where God spareth long he punisheth more if impenitent repent all our enemies shall be but the Thistles of Lebanon but if we bring not forth the fruits of the Gospell wee may rather weepe with Elisha to thinke what evill Hazael the Papists will doe to the Church of God Surely God will do to us as to Israel God bare long with them but afterwards he destroyed them 2 Reg. 14. 9. 2 Reg. 8. 11 12. God hath hands of iron and feere of lead hee commeth slowly but when he commeth he payeth surely Deus tardus est ad iram sed tarditatem gravitate poenae compensat God is slow to anger but he recompenseth his slownesse with grievousnesse of punishment Hereupon saith Paul But thou after thy hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heape unto thy selfe wrath against the day of Rom. 2. 5 6 7 8 9. wrath and declaration of the iust iudgement of God who will reward every man according to his works To them which by continuance in wel-doing seeke glory and honour and immortality eternall life but unto them that
the old world there were but eight beleevers but two Iosua and Caleb and in Christs time we read but of an hundred and twenty beleevers As Aegypt was full of lice Nilus full of Crocodyles Golgotha full of dead mens skulls so is the world full of Infidells He destroyed them that beleeved not And hence commeth it to passe that so many are damned even because they want faith Perditio tua ex te ô Israel thy destruction commeth of thy selfe ô Israel Ex nobis quod damnamur It is of our selves that wee bee damned blame not God but thine owne infidelity For all things Hos 13. Man 5. are possible to them that doe beleeve And therefore Hemingius in his Enchiridion distinguisheth of the word that There is Duplex verbum Damnans Salvans That there is a double word a Damning and a Saving word The damning word is the Law the saving word is the Gospell The Law offereth grace to them that doe it Yee shall keepe therefore Deut. 2. 27. Gen. 3. 5. Levit. 18. 5. Rom. 10. 4. 9. my statutes and my iudgements which if a man doe he shall live in them But the Gospell offereth grace to the beleevers For Christ is the end of the Law unto every one that beleeve For if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and beleeve in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Faith is ever a chiefe doer in matters of salvation and therefore said Hemingius in his Enchiridion that Causa imperans salutis est pater the Iohn 3. 16. commanding cause of our salvation is God For God so loved the world that hee gave his only begotten Sonne to save the world Causa obsequens est filius the obedient pliant cause is the Psal 40. 7. Sonne In the volume of thy booke it is written of me that I should doe thy will I am content to doe it thy Law is written in my heart Causa consummans est Spiritus Sanctus the consummating cause is the holy Ghost so saith the Apostle But yee are washed but yee are sanctified 1 Cor. 6. 11. but yee are iustified by the grace of the Lord Iesus and by the spirit of God The instrumentall cause is double Exhibens Recipiens Rom. 1. 18. The exhibiting Cause is the word the receiving cause Faith as therefore a Smith worketh not in cold iron so a preacher worketh not on an Infidell There is no life of God in us till we beleeve Ephes 4. 18. till then our cogitation is darkened and we are strangers from the life of God He that beleeveth in him shall not be condemned but hee that Iohn 3. 18. beleeveth not is condemned already because he beleeveth not in the name of the only begotten Sonne of God A tree liveth not without moisture Without faith no accesse to God nor a bird without aire nor a fish without water nor a Salamander without fire So the soule liveth not without faith The just doth live by his faith this is the spirit and soule of the inward man we Hab. 2. have a name to live yet are we dead if we want faith I live by faith in the Sonne of God saith Paul who loved me and gave himselfe for Gal. 2. 20. me Infidels therefore are dead men What is the cause that wee profit no more by the word wee beleeve not the preacher that may bee verified of our people which God said to Ezechiel concerning the Iewes They come unto Ezech. 33. 31 32. thee saith God as people useth to come and my people sit before thee and he are thy words but they will not doe them For with their mouthes they make jests and their heart goeth after their covetousnesse and loe thou art unto them as a jesting song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can sing well for they heare thy words but doe them not So we come to the Sermon heare the preacher but we doe not heare him with such zeale and affection as we should wee beleeve not but abuse the word to our owne condemnation why care wee no more for heaven but are so worldly truely we beleeve not God what is the cause that wee live in sinne seeing it is damnable For the wayes of it is death wee beleeve not the Scriptures what is the Rom. 6. 23. 2 Cor. 4. 4. cause of all disorder even infidelity The God of this world hath blinded their eyes our eares are open to heare but not our hearts to beleeve Satan stealeth away the word lest we should beleeve and so be saved But let us make much of the word that wee may Mat. 13. 19. have faith to beleeve For faith nay one dramme of faith is of more worth than all the treasure in the world This that good merchant well knew that sold all to buy it For hee that beleeveth shall not be condemned for every beleevers cause is removed Mat. 13. 24. from the Court of Gods justice into the Court of Gods mercy where hee that beleeveth is not condemned Therefore our care must be with S. Paul that we may be found having the righteousnesse of Christ by faith For there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Phil. 3. 9. Rom. 1. Iesus as all beleevers are and untill thou beest a beleever thou belongest not to God For as the Eagle refuseth her birds till they can mount and soare to the Sunne and as the Raven acknowledgeth not her young ones till they be blacke So God rejecteth the infidels and receiveth none till they beleeve None are the Sonnes of God but the faithfull the rest are bastards I confesse there be degrees in faith The first is a rudiment or entrance Gal. 3. Mat. 12. 20. Rom. 14. 1. Hebr. 10. 22. Rom. 4. 18. which Christ calleth Smoking flaxe The second is a weake faith Him that is weake in faith saith Paul receive unto you The third is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assurance of Faith Such a faith was in Abraham who above hope beleeved under hope But no faith is abominable and may easily be discerned from a weake faith As a sicke man is knowne from a dead man So a weake faith from no faith Even a desire of Faith is a token of faith For Gods spirit worketh God giues grace according to the measure of Faith that but no faith is accursed For he that beleeveth not is còndemned already There be degrees in faith three examples we have The first of the Ruler of the Synagogue who beleeved that his daughter should revive if Christ would but touch her But the Iohn 3. 18. Iohn 4. woman with the bloody issue beleeved that she should be whole if she touched but the hemme of his vesture But the Centurion beleeved that his servant should doe well if Christ spake but the Luk. 8. Mat. 8. word here is Gradus positivus the positive degree the
Aegypt So Satan cannot hold us in bondage longer than God will Satan is the strong man but Christ is stronger than he As the water-spaniell watcheth the shot to fetch the fowle that is striken as the Iaylors watch at the judgement seats and the hangman for the dayes of execution So Satan and his Angels waite on Gods Majestie to bee set aworke but of themselves can doe nothing therefore are they said to be delivered into chaines and reserved How Satan is said to be loosed yet ever bound in everlasting chaines As in my text For the Lord dealeth with Divels as men use to do with curst bandogs which will flie at the throate of every one whom they met they tye chain them up 2 Pet. 2. 4. for feare of doing hurt For proofe whereof note what God said to the Divel under the serpent Thou shalt bruise his heele By which Gen. 3. 15. phrase is implied a restraint namely that hee should not come so high as the Saints head to crush it he should onely snarle at the heele and bite it that is he should not be able utterly to destroy their soules I but Satan is now losed and the thousand yeares wherein hee Apoc. 20. 7. was chained are expired and therefore now he hath liberty to do what he can But brethren ye shal understand that this is spoken Comparativè comparatively in regard of former restraint as when a dogge hath beene somtime tyed up very close and afterward his chaine is let further he may be said to be loosed But the Lord limiteth this his libertie he can goe no further than God will give him leave For if it were not limited the Divell should soone devoure all mankind if hee were not restrained no creature could resist him and stand before him As the Sea if it 1 Pet. 5. 8. had not bounds would soone overwhelme the whole world So would the Divel soone turne all topsi-turvy bring all to the very depth of Hell where he himselfe is Therefore saith the Apostle Iam 4. Rom. 16. 20. Resist the Divell and he shall flie from you And Paul telleth the Romanes that The God of peace shall tread Satan under their feet shortly And in that Christ calleth him the Strong man Luke 11. And the holy Ghost the Prince of the World Iohn 12. The God of the World 2 Cor. 4. The Spirit that ruleth in the Ayre Ephes 2. A Roaring Lion 1 Pet. 5. 8. A Flying Dragon Apoc. 12. The Angel of the bottomelesse pit Apoc. 20. Powers dominations c. Ephes This is not to feare us or to make us dread him too much but to awake us As Saint Peter saith Be sober and watch not to 1. Pet. 5. 8. bee faint hearted not to despaire He may sorely assault us but hee shall never prevaile against us He may winnow us as hee did Peter but hee shall not finally overthrow us Our Faith shal Ephes 17. quench all his firie darts though he let them flie at us as thicke as haile stones as he did at Iob being deprived of Goods Cattel Children and all that he had yet these darts we shall keepe off by faith Hellgates shall not prevaile against us Saint Augustine Mat. 16. 18. compareth the Divels to Mastives Qui latrant non mordent which bark but bite not to Serpents which hisse but sting not Permitti◠illos Deus saevire aut ut probet fidem electorum aut ut Aug. corrigat mores malorum God suffereth them to rage either to prove the faith of his Elect or otherwise to correct the manners The Divell as yet punished in part of the evill Well God hath reserved them in everlasting chaines under darknes they are punished already but their full punishment is not before the day of judgement As yet they are but as prisoners in fetters and irons the great Assises the day of execution is yet to come For neither are the wicked nor yet the Divell punished as they shal be The wicked departed are now punished in Hell in soule For it is appointed for all men once to dye and then commeth the judgement but they shal be more tormented Hebr. 9. 27. when soule and body shall be united together For now they Eccles. 12. 7. smarte but in one part that is in soule so the full torment of the Divels is not untill the last day For as the joyes of the elect shall then be fuller and the paines of the damned grievouser So the glory of the good Angels and the torments of the bad the fuller rivers of brimstone shall be powred out upon them So the Divell said to Christ that he tormented them before their time For it is torment to the Divell here to want the presence Luk. 5. of Christ but it shal be greater after the Iudgement day when 2 Thess 1. the hope of killing mo soules shal be frustrate then shal be fletus stridor dentium weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 22. Note these two Aphorismes that the joyes of the elect and blessed Angels shal be greater and that the torment of the Divels and the damned shal be heavier than their double punishment shall be more grievous than ever it was that is poena damni poena sensus their paine of losse and paine of sense Wherof Divines make mention For the elect shal be more nearely united unto God than now they are and the damned shal be more further removed from him than now they be The captivitie of Hell is like the captivitie of Israel in Assyria that is irreturnable the joyes of the elect shal be so great as no tongue can utter them and the paines of the damned shal be so extreme as no eare can heare them no heart conceive them Christ having reckoned up many plagues as how that Nation shall rise up against nation and kingdome against kingdome and great earthquakes Luk. 2 1. 10. 11. shal be in divers places and hunger and pestilence and fearefull things c. At last concludeth Initium autem dolorum haec these are but the beginnings of sorrow As if he had said All these things are but smoke in respect of a terrible fire ensuing As a mustering of souldiers before the said battell What will then the end be if the beginning be so grievous The damned quoth Gregorie suffer an end without end a death without death a decay without decay For their death ever liveth their end ever beginneth their decay never ceaseth they are ever healed to be new wounded and alwayes repaired to be new devoured they are ever dying and never dead eternally broiled but never burnt up ever roring in the pangs of death and never rid of those pangs For these evill Angels with all the wicked shall have The wicked shall be punished in hell in those parts they sinned punishment without pity miserie without mercie sorow without succour crying without comfort mischief
whose hands are full of blood The Drunkard whose body is as the swill-tub the irreligious person that seldome prayeth seldome giveth thankes or heareth Gods Word Quaeres quae spes quoad animi solatium hisce What hope of heaven and happinesse can these men have how thinke they to escape this fire of hell Scientes prudentes vivi videntesque pereunt knowing understanding alive and seeing they shall perish GOD shall raine upon them snares fire brimstone this shall bee their portion to Psal 11. drinke So much for the first punishment of the reprobate Fire The second punishment of the reprobate is eternall fire fire and eternity of fire All paines here have an end but the paines of hell have no end Whereupon Augustine Miseris erit mors fine morte finis sine fine defectus sine defectu c. To these miserable Aug. lib. de Spiritu anima cap. 56. wretches there shall be a death without death an end without end a decay without decay because their death shall ever live and their end shall ever begin and their decay knoweth not how to decay death shall presse them but not extinguish them sorrow shall torment them and not drive away their feare the fire shall burne them and not consume them nor yet dispell their darkenesse for in this fire is obscuritie darkenesse and in this obscurity and darkenesse feare and trembling and in this combustion and burning sorrow they shall alwaies suffer torment and alwayes shall feare because they shall be tormented without hope of pardon If after so many thousand yeeres as Eternity of torments in hell aggravate misery they have haires on their heads they might have an end of their torment there were some hope and they might indure those torments more quietly but because they have no hope that ever their paines shall be either eased or ended desperatione deficiunt they faile they faint and quaile thorow despaire Et ad tormenta non sufficiunt and they are no way able to indure those torments Ibi erit tortor semper caedens there shall be a tormentor ever beating them Et vermis semper corrodens and a worme alwayes gnawing them Etignis semper comburens a fire alwayes burning them For their worme shall not dye neither shall their fire be quenched sinnes shall bee detected and the sinnes shall be punished Esa 66. 24. and that for ever they shall see divels but not God Quod est omnium meseriarum miserrimum which of all miseries is most miserable For if Absalom tooke it so grievously that hee 2 Sam. 14. 32. was banished his Fathers presence and could not see his face how grievously shall the Reprobate be afflicted to be banished Gods presence and not to see his face for they shall be punished with eternall perdition from the presence of God and glory 2 Thes 1. 9. of his power But to follow this point a little further all men in misery comfort themselves with hope of an end the prisoner with hope of a gaole-delivery the mariner with hope of arrivall the souldier with hope of victory the prentise with hope of liberty the gally-slave with hope of ransome onely the poore caitiffe in hell hath no hope he shall have end without end death without death night without day morning without mirth sorrow without solace bondage without liberty Let fire and eternall fire move us common fire is quenched with water wilde fire with milke and vinegar but hell fire is not quenched their worme dyeth not and the fire never goeth out And Mar. 9. 44. why should not wee beleeve this seeing that their is a certaine stone in Arcadia called Asbestos which being once kindled never goeth out never can be quenched If this be in a stone how much more in the power of God This earthly fire except it be nourished with wood and other combustible matter will out but the fire of hell never goeth out it alwaies burneth and never ceaseth The reason is because our fire is not In loco proprio in his proper place sed violenta but in a violent The fire of hell is in his proper place for the breath of the Lord kindleth it We Greg in moralibâ—â— see Aetna to burne alwayes for it hath burnt from the beginning of the world and still doth burne why should not then hell fire burne alwayes and why should not we beleeve that men shall alwayes live in the fire of hell seeing wee see and know the Salamander to live in the fire If this may be by the power of nature why may not that by the power of God The paines of hell be such that all the Arithmetitians in the world cannot number them nor all the Geometritians measure them The terrours of hell should deterre from sinne nor all the Rhetoritians expresse them Quid hora ad diem c. saith one what is an houre to a day a day to a month a month to a yeere a yeere to a thousand yeeres and a thousand yeeres to eternity Mathuselah lived almost a thousand yeeres but the yeeres that are past are nothing we have nothing of time but that which is present The Pigmaeans lived onely seven yeeres never reached unto eight yeeres And their be certaine creatures bred and borne at the river Hispanis that live but a day in the morning they are bred and brought forth at noone they are at their full strength at night they make their end and are gone compare our yeeres with eternity and wee are in the same state and condition The reason of this endlesse punishment is the infinite Majesty of God words against common persons beare but common actions against noble men they be Scandala magnatum against Princes they be treason so the person of God aggravateth the sinne If any aske then how Christs death could satisfie the justice of God seeing it was not eternall I answer that he did it thorow the excellency of his Person and the perfection of his merits The remembrance of these paines in hell will drive away the remembrance of sinne as the Adamant is contrary to the Loadstone and suffereth it to draw no iron to it behold the weight of hell paines in Christ How sweat he how cryed he Deus meus deus meus quare dereliquisti me My God my God why hast thou forsaken me How did teares of blood trickle from him If hell paines were so grievous unto him what will they be to us Onely this difference is betwixt Christ and us that hee sustained all mens sinnes wee but our owne sinnes our paine therefore not so great as his but yet of greater and longer continuance his was but temporall ours eternall if we repent not We must suffer the vengeance of eternall fire The remembrance of fire and eternall fire swalloweth up all our cogitations How can our hearts endure or how can our hands be strong in that day When the Lord shall have to doe with us the
of the law as judgement and mercie that they make cleane the out-side of the cup and platter but inwardly are full of briberie and excesse One saith that hypocrisie is the Greg. l. 8. moral cloaking of a secret vice under the shew of vertue and that the life of an hypocrite is nothing else but Quaedam visiâ— phantasmatis the shew of an imaginary matter which appeares some thing and is nothing and compares the hypocrite to Simon of Cyrene that bare Christs Crosse but dyed not with Christ so every hypocrite professeth to live to Christ but will not dye to sinne and the world and Saint Chrysostome likens the hypocrite to Herod Super Mat. 12. that promised devotion and performed persecution he saith that a sincere man is like to a faire woman that needs no external ornaments but hath naturall beauty but the hypocrite is like Hom. 57. a filthy deformed harlot which useth many meretricious colourings that cannot cover her filthinesse but the neerer any drawes vnto her the more hee mislikes her And againe hee saith that an hypocrite is like a Woolfe clothed in a sheeps skin Super Mat. 7. but that he is found out by his voyce and by his doing for the sheepe bleats and lookes toward the earth and eateth grasse which is a signe of humility but the Woolfe howles and looks towards heaven which is a signe of pride and cruelty the hypocrite hath Iacobs voyce but the hands of Esau that is hee talketh religiously and zealously but hee walkes impiously and prophanely the hypocrite is like the statues of Mercury that were wont to be set in high wayes to direct travellers to some Citie or Towne but did not travell nor move themselves the Hypocrisie hath many woes denounced against it hypocrite is like the Stage-player that when he cried O heaven he pointed with his finger to the earth when he cryed O earth hee pointed with his finger to Heaven and therefore the wise Polemon gave him no reward being Iudge of the Actors saying Hic manu Solaecismum fecit he hath spoken false Language and committed an errour with his hand And to conclude the hypocrite is like a deafe and hollow Nut which hath no kernell within but is wasted with the worme and fit for nothing but the fire Heereupon it came to passe that Christ dealt not so hardly with any sinners no not with Atheists that denied the Resurrection and Gods power nor with Temporizers that are alwayes of the same Religion that the company is that can blow hot and cold with one breath as with hypocrites for having to deale with Sadduces he shaketh them off as damned creatures as vessels of destruction children of wrath whose judgement was just and their damnation slept not hee telleth them that they erred Ye erre saith hee not knowing the Scriptures neither Mat. 22. 29. the power of God but when hee hath to doe with Pharisees with Hypocrites he doubleth and redoubleth and tripleth and multiplieth woes and curses hee thundereth like Iames and Iohn his zeale stayeth not with a little O woe to you Scribes and Pharisees yee Hypocrites and so the second the third the fourth the fift the sixt time Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees yee Hypocrites as though all the woes and curses in this life and in the life to come were not ynough for them And it is not to bee forgotten that God calleth it blasphemie to speake one thing and to doe another with man it is hypocrisie but to doe so with God it is blasphemy the sinne increaseth as the dignity of the person increaseth as for example speake a word against a common person and hee hath but his action of the Case against thee speake against a noble man it is Scandalum Magnatum against the Prince it is death against God it is damnation of body and soule double and dissemble with men it is hypocrisie halt with God counterfeit with him it is blasphemy Therefore saith Christ to the Church of Smyrna I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Apoc. 2. 19. Iewes and are not but are the Synagogue of Satan And it is further to be observed that Christ speaketh of hypocrites as if Hell were onely prepared for them for intreating of the evill servant that said in his heart My master will defer his Mat. 24. 51. comming he saith that he will cut that servant in pieces and give him his portion with hypocrites there shall bee weeping and gnashing of teeth And Christ our Saviour asketh them how they shall escape Hell O yee Serpents and generation of Vipers how shall yee escape Mat. 23. 33. the damnation to come And to shew the certainty of their damnation besides this interrogation how shall yee escape the damnation to come As if he should say It cannot bee but yee must Hypocrites make a shew of Religion being irreligious be damned For the interrogation implieth an affirmation He saith of the wicked that They shall have their portion with Hypocrites to shew that the condemnation of hypocrites is most surely sealed And this aggravated the sinne of Corazin and Bethsaida and Mat. 24. 51. Capernaum that they pretended Religion but in painted boxes they did hide deadly poysons in beautifull sepulchers rotten bones and under Iezabels painted face a whores behaviour Woe therfore to thee Corazin woe to thee Bethsaida for if so be the miracles Mat. 11. 21 23. that had beene done in thee had beene done in Tyre and Sidon they bad repented long agoe in sackloth and ashes And thou Capernaum which art lifted up on high shalt be brought dowue to hell And verily of all sinners the hypocrite is the worst he is ovis habitis vulpis actu crudelitatelupus Eern. a sheep in shew a fox in deed and a wolfe in cruelty for an hypocrite hath vulpem in cerebro a Fox in his braine milvum in manu a kyte in his hand lupum in corde and a woolfe in his heart a fox in his braine subtill and crafty to insnare hee hath a kyte in his fist to hold fast and when hee hath caught hold he hath a wolfe in his heart to devoure and therefore saith our Saviour Christ Beware of false prophets which come to Mat. 7. 16. you in sheeps cloathing but inwardly they are ravening woolves beware of them they are like Swannes that have white feathers black flesh and one thinkes the Swanne was forbidden to be eaten of the Iewes to shew that God abhorres all hypocrisie But in that he compareth hypocrites to clouds that have no raine in them to trees that have no fruite to starres that have no light and some others doe compare them to the raine-bow that hath many colours and yet never a colour to broken glasses that have many faces and yet never a face to Copper that resembleth gold and is nothing lesse We have to note that none make greater shewes of
neither savour Gods threatnings of wrath nor promises of grace they will still draw iniquity with cordes of vanity and sinne like cartropes But to follow this matter of hell and of the torments thereof a little more fully As the paines of hell be vnvtterable For all the tortures and torments of the world are but flea-bitings to the torments of hell so are they everlasting they abide not for a day a weeke a moneth a yeere but for ever Hell is like the stone in Arcadia called Abestos which being set on fire never goeth out facilis est descensus adinfernum difficile revertere gradum It is an easy matter to descend into hell but not easy to returne backe To all men in misery there is hope that once they shall have an end the mariner comforteth himselfe with arrivall the souldier with hope of victory the prisoner with a gaole-delivery the prentice with freedome but in hell nulla res nulla spes there is no end of that misery the captivity of Hell is not like the Hell torments everlasting captivity of Israel in Aegypt which lasted foure hundred and thirty yeeres Exod. 12. 40. nor like the captivity of Babylon which continued seventy yeeres but the captivity of Hell is like the captivity of Israel in Syria they never returned againe So in hell there is no redemption The greatest crosse that can bee laid upon man in this life is to bee cast into perpetuall prison to lose lands and goods and want the company of our wives and children and other our friends that love us but yet in this case wee alwayes live in hope of liberty and release of our punishment or if our hope bee vaine yet God will stirre up the hearts of strangers to visit us to pittie us to comfort and releeve us some with meate some with money some with cloth some with counsell every man as hee is able and hath compassion and feeling of our estate but out of hell there is no redemption no hope of paines to bee ever ended or eased no frineds to pitty us to see us to speake with us or to comfort us If a barne were full of corne and a bird once every yeere should carry away one kernell thereof at last it would bee all gone If a mountaine twenty miles about had taken from it once every yeere a shovell full at last it would bee all consumed but it would be long first yet at last there would be an end but in hell there is no end those torments are everlasting the dayes of the hellish torments of the damned shall never weare out nor their yeeres come to an end the longer they continue the lesse hope they have when as many yeeres are expired as there bee men in the world and starres in the heavens when as many thousand yeeres are ended as there bee stones and sands by the sea-shore yet still there bee tenne hundred thousand times so many moe to come the miseries of the wicked shall last as long as God shall live that is ever For he is Alpha and Omega Apoc. 1. The covenant of the day and night shall one day bee changed the starres shall finish their race the Elements melt with heate heaven and earth bee renewed summer and winter have an end but the plagues of the prisoners in hell shall never be released For in hell as Gregory saith there is Mors sine morte finis sine fine an end not ending a death not dying unquenchable fire yet a darkenesse therewithall to accompany it more palpable than the frogges of Aegypt and blacker then blacknesse it selfe everlasting burning but not consuming For the damned quoth Greg. suffer an end without an end a death without a death a decay without a decay for their death ever liveth their end alwayes beginneth their decay never ceaseth they are ever healed to bee new wounded and are alwayes repaired to bee new deuoured they are ever dying and never dead eternally broiled and never burnt up For the fire of Hell differeth from our fire in many properties First in Heate for our fire compared to hell fire is but as fire painted upon a wall yet is it a painefull thing Hell fire compared with elementary and ordinary fire for a man to hold his finger in the fire an houre the smart is so grievous but it is more painefull to hold his hand in the fire an houre and yet more painfull to hold his whole arme but yet more painefull to hold his whole body O how great will it be to have our bodies and soules tormented in the flames of Hell fire all the tongues of men and Angels cannot expresse the griefe and smart thereof Secondly the fire of Hell differeth from our fire in continuance for our fire may bee quenched hell-fire cannot For the breath of the Lord is as a river of brimstone to kindle it And therefore so long as the Lord breatheth that is liveth so long that fire burneth and that is ever therefore it is called everlasting hell-fire Mat. 25. If any man aske how that fire can be everlasting cum sit corruptibile elementum yee shall understand that this fire is not nourished and continued with wood and other matter sed sola Dei voluntate it is the will of God that it should ever burne and therefore it burneth everlastingly Aug. lib. 21. de Civitate Dei proveth it by the examples of the mountaines of Sicilia which have ever burned since the beginning of the world and yet doe burne and are not consumed Finely saith a Schooleman Lacus inferni tali igne repletus est ut si totum mare in eo influeret non extingueretur infoelix anima quae tanto tam diuturno igne cruciatur The infernall lake is filled with such fire that if the whole sea should overflow it it would not put it out unhappy soule the which is tormented with such and so lasting fire Thirdly the fire of hell differeth from our fire in light for our fire yeeldeth light hell fire nothing but darkenesse and therfore hell is called darkenesse Blacknesse of darknesse and blacknesse of darknesse for evermore Take him saith the Gospell bind him hand and foote Mat. 22. What no more but so I lictor liga manus Goe Sergeant bind his hands yes cast him into utter darkenesse outward to those inward wherein they delighted before blindnesse of mind and understanding outward because the whole man body and soule shall bee folded and comprehended therein outward because in extremity without any limits and borders of any favour of God to bee extended where neither the light of Sunne Moone and Starres and much lesse the sight of Gods glorious face shall ever shine Isidore saith Ignis Gehennae lucebit miseris ad miseriae augmentum ut videant unde doleant non ad consolationem ut videant unde gaudeant Hell fire gives light to the damned soule to increase their misery that they may see wherefore to
Word 2. A preparation to heare 3. A purpose to obey And such as in hearing bring 1. Attention 2. Circumspection 3. Application And such as when they have heard the Word use 1. Meditation 2. Action 3. Continuation To these the Word is a savour of life unto life but unto those that regard not these things it is a savour of death unto death I have read of many florishing memories Seneca writeth of himselfe that he was able to recite by heart 2000. names in the same order wherein they were spoken Portius Latro had such a memory that yee could not name that martiall man but hee would runne thorow his acts presently and Cyneas the next day hee came to Rome could salute all the Senators of Rome in order and all the people that stood round about him whom he never saw nor knew before and Tully for memory commendeth Hortentius and Lucullus Lucullus for matter the other for words Now the excellentest matter of all others either for the memory to account or for any part of the soule to conceive is the Word of God therefore saith Iude Remember the words which were spoken c. Memory is as the verticle of the soule and the habitacle of the Word as the meate in the stomacke so the Word in the memory The belly is the bodies storehouse and the memory the soules treasury Thesaurus custos omnium In this storehouse Esdras is reported to store up the Bible and Mary the sayings of our Saviour in this Carindes did lay up volumes Aug. prologo in lib. 1. de doctrina Christi and Cyrus of Persia 300000. Souldiers and Antony the unlearned Eremite of Aegypt by hearing remembred and by remembring came to understand the Scriptures The beasts that chew not the cud were holde for uncleane the mind that remembers not the Word is unpure uncleane there is Memoria reminiscentia the habituall actuall memory the present and recalling remembrance which some resemble to a booke and the reading in the booke unseparable twinnes in matters of Divinity lest our memory unpractised bee turned like Pharoes butler to forgetfulnesse is well compared to a game at tennise which so long indures quà m diu pila inter èos proijciatur as the ball is tossing and the Scriptures so long profit as they are remembred Sicut nullum momentum est quo homo non utetur vel fruatur Dei bonitate Ita nullum debet esse momentum quo Verbum in Hugo de anima memoria non habeat The Word of God ought to be so frequent in out memories as Gods blessings are to our ordinary senses the one is ever present the other ought never to bee forgotten but ourmemory as touching this Word of God it is as an unthrifts purse that holdeth no mony like a riven dish that holdeth We are dull to heare careless to remember Gods Word no water ut Danaidum dolium which runneth out so soone as it is filled our eares are like a riddle or five which letteth go cleane water and keepeth gravell and stones still but they must be like a glasse window that shutteth out a tempest admitteth the light they must be stopped at vaine things and opened to good things yee must not be like them of whom Paul prophesied Which will not suffer wholesome doctrine but having their eares itching 2 Tim. 4. 3. shall after their owne lusts get to themselves an heape of teachers Men are so dull deafe carelesse that God sometime is enforced to speake to the Heavens saying Heare ob Heavens and harken oh Earth for the Lord hath spoken Sometimes to the Earth O Earth Earth Earth heare the Word of the Lord sometime to the Esa 1. Ier. 22. 29. Mountaines Heare O yee Mountaines the Lords quarrell and yee mighty foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people sometime to the trees so he may speake to the pillars roofe and glasse windowes for wee will not heare him or if we heare him wee remember it not Aristotle saith that the Thracians doe not count above five they cannot remember to five but wee can remember five hundred things of the World but not five things of Gods doctrine Can a maid forget her ornament or a bride her attire yet my people have forgotten mee dayes without number Ier. ◠32. we neither remember the text nor any doctrine nor any exhortation delivered from it like the Philosopher that remembred not his owne name like the Ostrich that remembreth not her egges left in the dust but wee must heare to learne and learne to remember to follow it and follow it to continue in that good that wee have heard then are wee blessed so saith our Saviour Blessed are they that heare the Word of God and keepe it that is that keepe it in his life and keepe it in his memory that wee Luk. 11. 28. may say of our Sundayes as Titus Vespasian said of his dayes wherein he gave not an Almes Hoc Sabbatum perdidi I have lost the Sabbath Yea a thousand yea tenne thousand Sabbaths have we lost we are no whit the better for comming unto Church as Peter said to Christ Master wee have laboured all night and have catched nothing so may we say We have come to the Church and have heard the Word of Life and Salvation but we have learned nothing we can remember nothing we are now hit the better for comming to the Church Frustrà Dei gratiam accipimus wee have received the Word of God in vaine Memorie is as a chest If a ◠Cor. 16. 1. man have all the gold of Ophir and the silver of Tharsis and the treasures of Ganges it is nothing except he hath a place to keepe them in if a man heare tenne thousand sermons it is nothing except hee remember them they are gotten in the Church and forgotten and scattred in the Churchyard like Hannibal that could get the victory but could not keepe it Tell mee O tell me what day in the weeke doe we give so evill The doctrine of Christ and his Apostles the foundation of the Church example of sitting and lulling in our beds as on the Sabbath either we come not to Church or if we come wee heare not or if we heare we remember it not O filthy favour that ariseth out of this loathsome channell I spare to speake I shame to see I rue to know what I fully know against our soules in this respect how can we escape if we neglect so great salvation Hebr. 2. 2. Sinnes past be gone and the Lord forgive us some be to come and the Lord strengthen us lye wee may not the Lord beeing judge cleere our selves wee cannot our consciences bearing witnesse of so many negligences and our great forgetfulnesse How great might our knowledge have beene How strong our faith How ardent our love How fierie our zeale How reformed our lives if we had heard
compassion as appeareth by his own words saying Oh that my head were full of water and myne eyes a fountaine of teares that I might weepe day and night for the slaine of the daughter of Ier. 9. 1. my people How greeved it Samuel after that God had cast away Saul The text doth say that Samuel mourned for Saul and God did chide him for it saying How long wilt thou mourne for Saul seeing 1 Sam. 15. 25. Cap. 16. 1. I have cast him away for reigning over Israel Samuel did not say as many doe Let him perish Let him die He is a reprobate Let him goe but mourned and sorrowed for him Yea the Lord Iesus wept over Ierusalem so saith the Evangelist When he came neere and beheld the City he wept over it saying Oh if thou haddest Luk. 19. knowne at the least in this thy day the things that do belong unto thy peace c. As if hee should have said Alas poore towne alas poore people yee are now merry and jocund but oh poore soules you know not your state how neere your fall is whereupon one noteth We read that Christ was hungry weary sorry angry how he wept often but wee read not that hee laughed for even this Mat. 21. Iohn 4. Iohn 11. Mat. 3. Mat. 12. 25. laughter proceedeth from vanity Ea sola ridentur quae notant turpitudinem aliquam non turpiter As Christ was God he said I give thee thanks O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth because thou hast hidde these things from the wise and prudent and hast opened them to children But as he was man he sorrowed for the wicked and here by the way note for the weake and penitent that when wee speake roughly and denounce menaces wee doe it not to them but to the impenitent For as a Father sometimes layeth Rats-bane to kill mice and the children ignorantly fall upon it so the weake apply the menaces done to the reprobate to themselves but yet they pertaine not to them but to the bastards to the impenitent The Lord will try the righteous but the wicked and him that loveth Psal 11. 5. 6. iniquity doth his soule abhorre upon the wicked hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormy tempest this is the portion of their cup. Wherefore heare the Word of the Lord ye scornefull men You say that you made a Covenant with death and are with Hell at agreement but your Covenant with death shall bee dissolved and your agreement with Hell shall not stand but the scourge shall runne over you and passe thorow you c. Againe though we must have compassion of some and pitty them yet this compassion and pitty must chiefely extend to the We must imitate Christ in mercy compassion soule of a sinner as partly was touched before for Saint Iude speaketh here of the soule this is the highest and greatest point of compassion in the world to pitty the soule to helpe it Learne this of the Schoolemaster of the world of the wisdome of the Col 2. Hebr. 2. Apoc. 1. Father of the brightnesse of glory the Ancient of dayes for he had pitty on the ignorance of the people saith the Evangelist When he saw the multitude he had compassion upon them because he saw Mat. 9. 36. them destitute as sheep wanting a shepheard He weepeth now over many a congregation in England that is without a pastour hee pittieth all sinners He is a mercifull and faithfull high Priest and hee Hebr. 2. 17. cap. 4. 15. is touched with the feeling of our infirmities Wee are all to learne of Christ to have pitty on our ignorant brethren to instruct them to teach them to exhort thē to do them good blessed are such so saith Salomon He that winneth soules that is that bringeth thē to the knowledge of God is wise the tongue of such a one is as fined Prov. 11. 30. Prov. 10. 20. silver those pastours feed best that are pittifull and compassionate Papists pretend to follow Christ in those things that are impossible as in fasting forty dayes in giving the Holy Ghost to their shavelings in opening the eyes of the blind in doing miracles but in teaching and preaching shewing mercy to the peoples soules they never come neere him they seeke not the rest of their soules as Christ did I am commanded to have compassion on the body of my brother as To deale bread to the hungry to bring the poore that wandreth into my Mat. 11. 29. Esay 58. 7. house to cover the naked and never to hide my face from mine owne flesh but specially I must have compassion on the soule of my brother for the more precious that a thing is the more care is ever to be had of it herein standeth the love of a father to his children of the Prince to his subjects of the minister to his flocke of one friend to another for you know the Commandement Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart but thou shalt Levit. 19. 17. plainely rebuke thy neighbour and suffer him not to sinne It is strange to see how wee pitty an Oxe or an Asse fallen into a ditch but not a brother drowned in sinne it is vile to set an house on fire but it is vile also to passe by it and not to quench it when it is in our power it is vile to wound a man but it is vile also to passe by him as the Levite did and as the Priest did and not to helpe him as the Samaritane did it is vile to sinne it Luk. 10. is vile also not to reprove a sinner and in time of need not to comfort him to save a soule He that hath converted a sinner from going Iam. 5. 20. astray out of the way shall save a soule from death and he shall hide a multitude of sinnes We thinke it a great matter to give a penny or two to a poore man but what though I helpe his need fill his belly cloath his nakednesse and yet pitty not his ignorance blasphemy and to increase knowledge zeale and the feare of the Lord in him our liberality is maimed wee pitty but the worst and weakest part that is the body follow therefore the Obstinate sinners must bee terrified counsell of the Apostle Instruct with meeknesse them that are contrary minded meaning such as are not come to the knowledge of the trueth but fall through ignorance proving that God at any 2 Tim. 2. 25. time will give them repentance that they may know the trueth Againe as some men are to be pittied so other some are to be reproved and must have the judgements of God denounced against them and must be terrified with menaces for that they sinne of malice not of weakenesse in knowledge not in ignorance they be pertinaces stubborne obstinate opinionative so to be handled For as we must not be too sharpe against a weake brother
evill communications that is often conversation with the wicked noted by the plurall number corrupt good manners yea the Apostle is so severe in this point that hee will not have a wicked person suffered in the Congregation and therefore hee commandeth the incestuous Corinthian to bee cast out that is excommunicated and hee giveth the reason Know yee not that a 1 Cor. 5. 5. little leaven sowreth a whole lumpe Intimating thereby that one evill person might corrupt the whole Church and a little Colloquintida marreth a whole messe of pottage one scabbed sheepe 1 Reg. 4. 39. infecteth a flocke one sparke of fire may burne an house and one infected house may spoyle a Citie one roote of bitternesse Hebr. 12. 15. suffered to spring up may trouble and defile many sinne is as contagious as any disease and wee are as apt to take the contagion of sinne as of the plague This knew David well enough and We must hate sinne because God hates it in all therefore hee crieth out Depart from me yee wicked keepe aloofe come not neere me to infect my Royall person For I tell you plainely I will keepe the Commandements of my God Even so wee Psal 16. should not brooke the society of them that bee vile and wicked and hate to bee reformed and cast Gods Words behind them Psal 50. 17. But some will say This is a doctrine of precisenesse they say wee need not be so severe against sinners peccata eorum sunt parva pauca their sinnes be but small and few But small sinnes may wound the conscience and damne us if wee looke not to them to strive against them A mouse is but litle yet killeth he an Elephant if he get into his truncke a Scorpion is little yet able to sting a Lion unto death the Leopard being great is poysoned with an head of garlicke a little spittle of a man fasting will kill a serpent and the Divell by little sinnes will wound us to death The sinne and the coate of the sinne is to be hated quoth Ambrose Lib. 6. Hexameron A reason may be drawne from the blessed Trinity God the Father hateth sinne The foolish shall not stand in his sight and hee hateth them that worke iniquity Therefore we his children must hate Psal 5. 5. it God the Sonne hateth sinne saith the Apostle Thou hast loved righteousnesse and hated iniquity therefore we his fellow brethren Hebr. 1. 9. fellow heires must hate it that wee may be like our elder brother God the Holy Ghost hateth it therefore it is said Greeve not the Spirit by whom we are sealed unto the day of Redemption Ephes 4. Gen. 3. 15. Therefore wee the temples of him must hate it wee must hate the serpent and the seed of the serpent By the hatred of God against the sinne of Achan judge of all sinne As great as the Eagle is yet one may see her vertue in a feather for it consumeth all feathers as mighty as the fire of Aetna is yet one may feele the heate of it in a sparke as huge as the sea is yet one may taste the saltnesse of it in a droppe as great as the Whale is yet we may feele the power of him in one breath Hercules body was knowne by the length of his foote and wee by this sinne of Achan may know Gods hatred against all sinnes For the theft of Achan buried close under the ground brake forth such a stinch in the nostrils of God as that his garment brought the plague to the whole host and God no lesse hateth it in all men Finely saith Augustine Deus in non renatis odit peccata personas God hateth in the not regenerate both their sinnes and also their persons in renatis verò odit peccata non personas in the regenerate hee truly hateth their sinnes but not their persons as the physician hateth the disease of the sicke man not his person or body of the sicke Againe From whence commeth sinne but from the Divell What meane we then to joyne with Satan our enemy and the enemy of God Hee that committeth sinne is of the Divell for the Divell sinneth from the beginning Resist the Divell therefore give 1 Iohn 3. 8. no place to him He is an adversary and shall wee love him Hee Sinne must be hated as it tends to Gods dishonor is a serpent and shall we trust him Hee is a murderer and shall we intertaine him Sin is furthered by him therefore let us hate it I grant that some enemies are to bee loved because they are our enemies onely whereupon saith our Saviour Love your Iam. 4. 7. 1 Pet. 5. 8. Apoc. 10. â—ohn 8. 44. Mat. 5. 44. enemies doe good to them that hate you pray for them that persecute you And some are to be hated because they are Gods enemies and the friends of Satan so Iohn the sonne of Hanani the Seer went out to meete Iehosaphat and said unto him Wouldest thou helpe the 2 Chro. 19. 2. wicked and love them that hate the Lord Therefore for this thing the wrath of the Lord is upon thee And so the wrath and judgement of God is over all those that support the wicked and will not shew themselves enemies to all such as hate the Lord. Wicked men must be hated but yet for their evill not as the evill concerneth any way us but as the evill tendeth to the dishonour of God Simeon and Levi hated the Sychemites for the Gen. 34. 25. sinne of their sister Dinah but this hatred sprang not in that God was dishonoured by this sinne but from a regard of themselves because that hereby they might receive some disgrace So Absalon is said to have hated his brother Amnon because hee had forced his sister Tamar and two yeeres after he murdered his 2 Sam. 23. 22. brother for this fact this hatred of Absalon against Amnon though it were for Amnons wickednesse yet it was not good but wicked for the originall of this his hatred was not simply the sinne of Amnon as committed against God but because Absalon had some speciall disgrace hereby For Tamar was borne to David of the same woman that was mother also to Absalon But we must hate the wicked for their dishonoring of God and not suffer them to goe unreproved nor unpunished Immmunity and impunity cause much iniquity I would learne this Are Papists the friends of God or his enemies If they bee friends Why have wee professed otherwise these many yeeres If they bee enemies then doe wee well not to suffer them You know what Christ said to the Church of Pergamus I have a few things against Apoc. 2. 14. thee because thou hast there them that maintaine the doctrine of Balaam which taught Balac to put a stumbling blocke before the children of Israel Vers 15. that they should eate of things sacrificed unto Idols and commit fornication even so
our selves and take up our crosse and follow Christ Againe Iude here nameth vestem maculatam the spotted garment so the sinne must bee haâ—ed not the person that sinneth the person must bee loved the sinne hated For the person is made after the Image of God and Gods Image must not be hated the person is redeemed with Christs blood and seeing hee Gen. 9. loveth them wee must love them Againe hee can make of Woolves Lambes Exvasisirae vasa misericordiae of vessels of Reprobates not to bee loved or prayed for wrath vessels of mercy therefore seeke thou to save him and instruct them with meekenesse proving if God at any time will give them repentance Quis potest odisse hominem cujus naturam similitudinem videt in humanitate Christi Who can hate a man whose nature 1 Tim. 1. 15. 2 Tim. 2. 25. August and similitude he may behold in the humanity of Christ Deum odit qui hominem odit he hateth God that hateth man therefore amorem cum hominibus odium cum vitijs have love with men hatred with their vices so it is said of Ephesus that they hated the deeds of Apoc. 2. Gen. 49. the Nicolaitans not their persons but their errors so Iacob cursed the wrath of his sonnes but blessed their persons so Paul having bitterly enveighed against the Corinths yet loved the men and spake it not to shame them for so hee himselfe saith I write not these things to shame you but as my beloved children to admonish you 1 Cor. 4. 15. thus would hee have us deale with a bad man with an excommunicate man not to account him an enemy but admonish 2 Thess 3. 15. 1 Cor. 5. him as a brother hee would have his body punished that his soule may be saved But yet in some cases the wicked may bee hated and cursed when they shew open signes of a reprobate mind such God hateth so saith the Prophet Thou art not a God that loveth wickednesse Psal 5. 4 5. neither shall evill dwell with thee the foolish shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all them that worke iniquity Such must not bee prayed for The Church therefore prayed not for Iulian but against him they knew him to bee a reprobate For there are two Iudgements the judgement of Faith and Love The first is in God the second is left to us Multi enim lupi sunt intùs there bee many woolves within if wee respect the first Et multaeoves foris many sheep without if wee respect the latter and yet wee may judge when men give signes of reprobation and hate such persons thus David hated the wicked bade them be packing Away from mee yee wicked I will keep the Commandements Psal 119. 115. of my God And againe I have not haunted with vaine persons neither kept company with the dissemblers I have hated the assembly of the evill Psal 26. 4 5. and have not companied with the wicked But to leave this Againe it is not inough to leave sinne but wee must leave it with a conscience with a hatred of it many leave it to get credit and some lest they suffer losse by it but not of conscience to God and of many it may bee said they leave not sinne but sinne leaveth them the drunkard leaveth drinking because his stomacke is decayed the Adulterer whoredome for that the strength of nature faileth him the quarreller leaves sighting for that hee is crooked and lame hee cannot bestirre him as in times heretofore the covetour leaves oppressing because hee can oppresse no longer but all this is nothing For the body must not onely leave the act of sinne but the heart must leave the desire of sinne Abhorre that which is evill and cleave unto that Sinne must be hated for conscience which is good And againe wee must cast away the works of darkenesse and put on the armour of light Thus must wee leave sinne of conscience with an hatred of it else it is nothing But many hold Rom. 12. 9. Rom. 13. 12. sinne as Cinegerus the Athenian held the ships of his enemies loden with the rich spoiles of his Countrey and now ready to hoise saile and to be gone First hee held them with his hands till his hands were cut off then with his stumpes till his armes were cut off then with his teeth till his head was cut off and when all was done still he held them in desire So many when God hath cut off all occasions of sinne yet they hold it in heart the old man is sorry that he cannot be young to play the wanton the prisoner that he cannot be abroad to steale and robbe the sicke man that hee cannot revell nor rowte among his companions the disgraced man that hee hath not authority to oppresse the envious man that hee cannot revenge if they might live ever they would sinne ever they are sorry they cannot offend God any more like Iulian who sorrowed at his death because hee could not bee revenged of the Galilaean but wee must leave our sinnes and be angry greeved and displeased with our selves for our sinnes Thus Paul was angry with himselfe with his flesh with his spirit and cals himselfe Wretch Yea miserable miserable wretch for thus he saith Miserable wretch that I am who Rom. 7. 24. shall deliver me from this body of sinne Hee speakes in the excesse hee cals himselfe the first the greatest sinner but when he nameth 1 Tim. 1. 15. 1 Cor. 15. his vertue hee speakes in the defect that hee is the least Apostle the first and greatest sinner but the last and least Apostle Note his zeale against sinne If men could weepe teares of blood for their sinne if they could die a thousand times in one day for very griefe yet could they not bee greeved enough if thou knewest sinne and the reward of sinne in the damned thou wouldest not sinne willingly for ten thousand worlds for the wages of sinne is death not onely the death of the body temporall Rom. 6. 23. death but also the death of body and soule everlasting death when men shall alwayes be a dying and never dead For there men shall seeke for death shall not find it We hate Iudas Herod Pilate Apoc. 9. But hate thine owne manners thy sinnes with theirs were the nayles the speares the thornes that pearced the Lord Iesus All Hebr. 10. say that Christ died for sinne that hee was wounded for our sinnes and smitten for our transgressions yet all make him a Esay 53. patrone of their sinnes the theefe makes him the receivour the murderer his sanctuary the whoremonger his bawde they live in sinne and yet they say Christ died for sinne kill sinne Caluiâ— in Gal. 6. 1. and kill the Divell kill sinne and kill death the first and second death Hee that will encounter with Samson must cut off his lockes hee that will encounter with a
understanding What blindnesse hath possessed our braine And how hath a covering of brawne covered our hearts that wee give no Majestie to God That which Paul said of the Gospel If our Gospell bee hid it is hid to them that 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded their mindes So say I of Gods wonders This sinne of England is written with an Iron penne and with a point of a Diamond God revealeth himselfe Ier. 17. 1. to the World six wayes 1 By his Word 2 By Visions Act. 26. 18. Esa 1. 1. 3 By Dreames 4 By Wonders or Miracles Numb 12. Iohn 5. Mat. 28. 19. 5 By Sacraments 6 By Types and figures By foure or five of these meanes God hath made himselfe knowne to us especially by wonders yet wee know him not wee are greater fooles than Nabal and verier beasts than ever was Nabuchadnezzar 1 Sam. 25. Dan. 4. Ier. 8. 5 6 7. God must end us before hee mend us wee are turned backe to a perpetuall rebellion Wee give our selves to deceit and will not returne no man repents him of his wickednesse saying What have I done Every one turneth to his race as the horse to the battell Even the Storke in the ayre saith God knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow observe the time of their comming but my people knoweth not the judgement of the Lord. This is a nation that heareth not the voice of the Lord nor receiveth Discipline shall not these two great earth-quakes this yeere the one in the day the other in the night worke in us a feare of Gods majestie It is a token Amâ—â— 1602. that God is angry and so applied by the Prophet The earth trembled and shoke the very foundations of the Earth were seene at thy chyding at the blasting of the breath of thy displeasure Psal 18. When God would take revenge of the people in the dayes of Tiberius hee overthrew with an earth-quake twelve Cities of Asia and in Constantines dayes ten or eleuen townes in Campania Lipisius when the Iewes under Iulian had tooles of silver to reedify Gods dominion is in all creatures especially in man Ierusalem the earthquake in the night destroyed their worke in the day fire from heaven burnt up their tooles The righteous will see this and rejoyce and all iniquity shall stop her mouth and who is wise that hee may observe these things that God is a God of Majesty and magnificence for it is he alone that doth wondrous things The fifth thing here attributed to God is Dominion which is the authority of commanding and making Lawes unto all men in the world by which meanes God ruleth and hath a dominion or Kingdome in every one of us whereof the Lord Iesus speaketh in the knitting up of his prayer to God For thine is the Kingdome c. Of this David speaketh The Lord hath prepared his Mat 6. 13. Psal â—03 19 22. Throne in Heaven and his Kingdome ruleth over all And againe Praise the Lord all works of his in all places of his dominion And againe Thy Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome and thy dominion endureth Psal 145. 13. throughout all ages And here learne a profitable lesson that when wee obey the Word of the Lord and suffer it to rule and overrule our passions then hath God a Kingdome and wee ascribe Dominion to him hereof the Lord Iesus spake For when Luk. 17. 20 21. hee was demanded of the Pharises when the Kingdome of God should come He answered them and said The Kingdome of God commeth not with observation neither shall men say Loe here or loe there for behold the Kingdome of Heaven is within you he meant not the Kingdome of glory but of grace For this dominion or Kingdome is threefold of Power Grace Glory The Kingdome of Power is whereby God subdueth his enemies and Tyrants of his Church and crusheth them in pieces like a potters vessell and of this Kingdome the Prophet thus Psal 2. 9. Psal 93. 1. Psal 97. 1 2. speaketh The Lord reigneth and is cloathed with Majesty the Lord is clothed and girded with power c. And againe the Lord reigneth let the people tremble hee sitteth betweene the Cherubins let the earth bee moved the Lord is great in Zion and high above all people His Kingdom of Grace is that wherby God ruleth in his elect through his Spirit inwardly as his Word outwardly whereof the Prophet speaketh thus With righteousnes shall he judge the poore Esa 11. 4 5 6. and with equity shall hee reprove c. Iustice shall bee the girdle of his loynes and faithfulnesse the girdle of his reines the Wolfe shall dwell with the Lambe and the Leopard shall lye with the kidde and the calfe and the Lion and the fatte beast together and a little Child shall lead them When the corruption of our nature beginneth to bee like the house of Saul weaker and weaker and faith repentance zeale knowledge and other graces of the Spirit stronger and stronger in us and wee now beginne to love feare trust and serve and obey God then is the Kingdome of grace in us The Kingdome of Glory is that wherein the Angels and Saints We count our selves subjects of Christs Kingdome of grace but are rebellious departed now are and wee shall bee hereafter when mortality shall be swallowed up of life when wee shall sing the songs of our triumph O death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory The songs of our joy such as none can understand save the hundred forty and foure thousand which are received up from 1 Cor. 15. the earth But here hee meaneth chiefely the Kingdome of grace for God is a King everlasting immortall invisible and onely wise Wee 1 Tim. 1. 17. are then his subjects The Lawes are the Word Psal 2. 8. Psal 119. 105. Ephes 6. 12. The enemies of this Kingdome are Satan sinne death Hell domination the flesh and the wicked The time of it is to the worlds end Mat. 28. 20. The place is this world and the world to come Apot. 5. 10. But ô foolish men how doe wee pray for this dominion and Kingdome of the Lord when in our works wee destroy it When wee rebell against the Word like a rebellious nation Ezech. 2. 3 4. and like impudent children and stiffe-hearted As the horse rusheth into the battell so we rush into our sinnes we sinne Ier. 8. 6. Ephes 4. 19. with greedines wee draw it with cordes of vanity wee love the wicked we loath the godly we freeze in love we boile in malice Esa 5. we sell vertue we buy vice we refuse Christ we chuse Barrabas wee lay away life and embrace death wee overthwart the will of God in all things wee follow our owne wills and desires wee are traytors to God in
Spirituall presence hee is with his Church unto the end of the world secundum ineffabilem invisibilem gratiam impletur illud Ecce vobiscum sum according to his unspeakable and invisible grace that is fulfilled I am with you alwayes to the end of the world but according to the flesh which the Word did take and as hee was borne of a Virgin and apprehended of the Iewes and fastned to the Crosse and as he was taken from the Crosse and wrapped in linnen clothes and laid in the grave that is fulfilled which is said Mee yee shall not have alwayes for forty dayes after Iohn 20. his resurrection hee ascended Et non est hîc and hee is not here for hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father in Heaven est hîc and yet he is here for he departed not from them in regard of his Majesty and power but is still with them Magna quidem sententia tali viro digna A worthy saying fitting so worthy a Father As the soule is whole in the whole body and whole in every part of the body so Christ secundum potentiam by his power and might is all whole in Heaven all whole in earth and all The Christian is strong in Christ who is all sufficient whole in every part of the earth and this is our comfort for in his passion love is kindled in his resurrection faith is confirmed in his resurrection hope is strengthned for while our Head by his power ascended into Heaven wee also with him shall together ascend For all power is given unto him If Iacob understanding that Mat. 28. Ioseph was alive could say Sufficit mihi quòd filius meus vivit It suffiseth me that my sonne liveth much more ought every faithfull Gen. 45. soule to say It sufficeth mee that Christ liveth and sitteth at the right hand of his Father who is unto me in mourning mirth in hunger meate in sicknes health in poverty wealth in darkenes light in weakenes power in death life and this is to give power to God alwayes to depend and hang on his power not to say as the Aramites to make him weake in one place and at one time and strong in another place and at another time but strong 1 Reg. 20. 28. for ever in his strength wee are strong in his victory wee overcome In all things wee are more than conquerors through him that loved Rom. 8. 37. us Conquerers and more than conquerers What is this more than Conquerors O noble Apostle thou wantest words to expresse thy meaning what men or Angels can expresse it fitly what wee shall call this more Rest in him trust in him though your bodies bee weake your beauty fraile your health uncerten your life short your honours vaine your pleasures brittle your troubles great your wisdome little your vertues few your affections many and turbulent and one day yee shall bee conquerours and more then conquerours for his power is made perfect through weakenes he can bring strength out of weakenes light 1 Cor. 12. 9. out of darkenesse life out of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and make the weake things of the world to confound the mighty 1 Cor. 1. 27. Thomas Aquinas doth set out unto us the power of God by the Aquin. order of naturall things Nam majora sunt quae semper nobiliora for they be the greater which are alway the most noble saith hee As in the Elements the Water is ten times more then the earth in greatnes the ayre is greater than the water the fire which wee call the ayre is greater than the ayre and the Heavens are greater than the fire and the highest Heaven greater than the rest because it containeth and is not contayned God therefore which made all is more noble more great than all and is infinite in his essence and power Sum qui sum I am that I am is his name he is of himselfe as Kings are of themselves in their owne Kingdomes we of him as the authority of Magistrates dependeth on the King I am that I am is his name As the eye Exod. 3. which is ordayned to see all colours wanteth all colour otherwise all things should seeme to bee of the same colour so the first Mover is subject to no body and yet can rule all bodies by his power and to bee ruled of none his power is incomprehensible The meditation of Christs power is sweet and comfortable who can despaire knowing that in him is fulnes of power Thus the Christ is all in all unto us Apostles solaced themselves among the middest of their persecutions thus let us solace our selves for who can doe as Christ Act. 4. hath done Aesculapius among the Heathen is adored as God in physicke but Christ hath cured all diseases he hath given sight to the blind and tongues to the dumbe and legges to the lame Mat. 9. Luk. 7. and life to the dead Aesculapius did it by hearbes but Christ by his Word Hercules is adored for his strength for killing men beasts and monsters but Christ hath overcome Divels and death it selfe Bacchus is worshipped for wine and Ceres for bread but Christ Hebr. 2. turned water into wine and fedde five thousand men with five 1 Cor. 15. Iohn 2. cap. 6. loaves and two fishes Minerva is famous for learning but Christ by twelve unlearned men subdued the world Alexander with the sword and the Apostles with the Word one of the greatest miracles in the world Athanasius libro de incarnatione Christi layeth out the power of Christ foure wayes that at his first comming the miralces of Boetia Licia Lybia Aegypt Cabirus ceased and secondly all the oracles of the Divels in Delphos Dido Delos and all Greece thirdly their magicke of Chaldaea and India vanished then away and lastly that the wisdome and eloquence of Philosophers was silenced and suppressed by the doctrine of the Apostles Whereupon libro de Passione Dei he thus crieth out O Christe tu lumen nobis in tenebris illuminasti thou ô Christ our light didst Iohn 3. 19. lighten us in darkenes thou at the right hand of thy Father hast Act. 2. loosed our sorrowes thou being life hast quickened us being dead Col. 2. thou being poore hast inriched us with thy poverty thou being 2 Cor. 8. Rom. 8. 38. our Mediatour hast reconciled us to thy Father thou art to us all in all If any object that hee cannot doe some things for hee cannot lie I answere that Gods power doth not fight with Gods truth Dicitur omnipotens faciendo quod vult non patiendo quod non vult he is called Omnipotent in doing what hee will not in suffering what Aug. lib. 5. de Civitate Dei hee will not Nil Deo difficile There is nothing hard for God Potest Deus omnia sed non vult God can doe all things but hee will not
as Chaffe the least blast of Gods wrath will overthrow all their happinesse and felicity which at the best is most uncertaine and mutable Iob saith They spend their dayes in pleasure and suddenly goe downe to Hell And hee saith The Lord Iob 21. 18. doth make them as stubble before the winde and as chaffe shall they bee dispersed for in a moment they are gone and like chaffe scattered abroad the godly are as trees the wicked are as chaffe there is difference betweene chaffe and trees Ieremy layeth out the estate of the wicked by comparing them to sheepe Let us talke with thee of thy judgements saith Ieremy Ier. 12. 1 2 3. to God Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper Why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse Thou hast planted them and they have taken roote they grow and bring foorth fruit thou art neere in their mouth but farre from their reynes and at last hee saith Pull them out like sheepe for the slaughter and prepare them for the day of slaughter Now they live and within an houre are led to the shambles Iob compareth them to a dreame or vision in the night and saith That the rejoycing of the wicked is but Iob 20. 5 8 9. short and the joy of hypocrites is but for a moment hee shall flee away as a dreame and they shall not finde him and shall passe away as a vision in the night so that the eye which had seene him shall see him no more and his place shall see him no more Moses compareth them to a tale that is told and hee saith that they bring their yeeres to an Psal 90. end as a tale that is told and Saint Iames to a vapour that continueth but a little season How soone is the yee moulten How soone Iam. 4. is the flowre withered How soone is a vapour consumed of the Sunne How soone is a dreame vanished How soone is a tale told How soone is a ship past How swift is the flight of an Iob 4. 25. Eagle And such is our life so elegantly David setteth out their fall I have seene saith hee the wicked strong spreading himselfe like a greene Bay tree yet he passed away and he was gone I sought him but hee could not bee found they are gone they shall no more returne Psal 37. 35 36. to their faire houses and their places shall know them no more where they dwelt how they lived we know but where they dyed where they are God knoweth they were here but they are gone Ederunt biberunt riserunt luserunt they have eaten drunken laughed sported and made themselves merry but suddenly No mans estate permanent they are gone Feare dwelleth in their houses and brimstone is scattered in their habitations their rootes are dried up beneath and above is his branch cut downe his remembrance shall perish from the earth and Iob 18 15 16 17. hee shall have no name in the street David in his Epitaph cryeth out Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mighty overthrowne So how are these wicked ones overthrowne So Saint Ambrose made it the foot of his song speaking of the death of the three noble Emperours Valentinian Gratian and Theodosius Omnibus O Valentiniane Gratiane speciosi fuistis O Valentinian and Gratian that have beene Oratione funebride Theodosiâ— obitu Gratiani beautifull to all and admired of all conjoyned in life not divided in death one grave did not separate them whom one affection joyned together meeker than Doves swifter than Eagles stouter than Lions gentler than Lambes the bow of Gratian never turned backe neither did the sword of Valentinian returne empty Quomodo ceciderunt potentes How are the mightie fallen O quomodo O how how Againe speaking of Theodosius hee saith Obitum ejus omnia elementa moerebant All the Elements mourned for his death the Sunne was eclipsed the Moone did not shine the Ayre was darkened the Earth trembled the Waters roared and the whole World bewailed the losse of such a man Quomodo ceciderunt potentes O quomodo corruerunt How are the mighty fallen How are the mighty overthrowne c. No mans state is permanent let no man trust his present state for how soone are rich men impoverished How suddenly are wise men infatuated How soone are the honourable abased How suddenly are the strong weakened How suddenly are the faire blemished Laban hath lost his sheepe Achitophel his wisedome Haman Gen. 30. 2 Sam. 16. Ester his honour Samson his strength Absolon his beautie Dionysius his kingdom How suddenly do the wicked perish The wicked are as men in the fire ready to be burned as prisoners adjudged ready to be executed as sheepe for the shambles For behold Pharaoh now sitting in his chariot now drowned in the Sea Exod. 14. and meate for Haddockes Behold Balthasar now tossing the pots and by and by quaking like a beast behold Herod now sitting in a chaire of gold and the people crying The voyce of a God and not of a man and presently strucken of an Angell and eaten of Wormes behold Dionysius to day a King in Syracuse to morrow a Schoole-master in Corinth Lastly behold Cardinall Woolsey with silver pillars pollaxes and golden crosses writing I and my King and within a while dead at Leicester of an Italian Figge with his stinch putting out the torch To these examples of Balthasar Pharaoh Dionysius and others â—erome addeth many more Nam feriunt summes fulmine montes subitò The Lightnings strike the high mountaines suddenly Constantins Death comes not sudden to the godly dyed suddenly in a Village called Mopsi Iulianus was suddenly hit with an arrow from Heaven Iovinianus stifled with stinch in a vomit of bloud Valius perished in the warres against the Goths Gratian was slaine suddenly at Lions Valentinianus the younger was hanged Procopius Maximinus Eugenius quoth he dyed suddenly on the sword they say that Gregorie the thirteenth died suddenly of a Rheume of whom Beza wrote Nec panifex nec potifex sed carnifex Papa pater pontifex This is the case of all men But what wicked man will beleeve this till hee feele it Every man flatters himselfe till the plague come and then hee cryeth out that it came too suddenly it came ere hee looked for it For certainely when a man shall heare the words of the curse and Deut. 29. 19 20. blesse himselfe in his heart and saith I shall have peace although I walke after the stubbornnesse of mine owne heart thus adding drunkennes to thirst the Lord will not bee mercifull unto him but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and every curse that is written in this booke shall light upon him and the Lord shall put out his name from under Heaven Salomon noteth three things in the wicked their plague commeth shortly suddenly and without recovery for marke his words His destruction
saith he cōmeth Prov. 6. 15. speedily hee shall bee destroyed suddenly without hope of recovery all these three bee fearefull The wages of sinne is death yea sudden death We pray in the Letany to be delivered from sudden death Rom. 6. 23. but our prayer is nothing except our life be godly that shall give a rest to Gods children No sickenesse no death commeth suddenly Esa 28. 12. to the childe of God for hee prepareth himselfe ever hee is a childe of light and of the day therefore hee will not sleepe as other men doe but he will watch and be sober Gods children have oyle in their Lampes that is Faith and Repentance 1 Thess 5 5 6. Mat. 25. they have made their reckonings their loines be girt and their lights burning and let us bee like unto these servants that wait Luk. 14. 28. for their master when he commeth from the marriage that when he commeth koncketh we may open unto him immediately Luk. 12. The troubles that came upon Iob were not sudden he looked for them long before they came Multa cadunt inter calicem supremaque labra many things happen betweene the cup and the upper Iob 1. 25. lip but not to the godly for they stand alway in awe of God and are affraid to offend him for which cause Salomon counteth them blessed saying Blessed is the man that feareth alway And againe hee saith A prudent man seeth the plague and hideth himselfe Pro. 28. 14. Prov. 22. 3. that is the punishment that is prepared for the wicked and flyeth to God for succour hee seeth his wants he suspecteth himselfe hee daily asketh God mercy whereas the wicked feareth nothing like the Amalekites who eating drinking 1 Sam. 30. 16. playing dansing and even in the middest of all their sport and pastime were suddenly slaine For the wicked say Come I will bring wine and wee will fill our selves with strong drinke and to morrow Repentance and godly life must not bee deserted till death shall bee as this day and much more abundant but God saith Hac nocte repetent animam tuam This night shall they fetch away thy soule from thee when some are eating some drinking some stealing some whoring some building buying selling Esay 56. 12. Luke 12. 45. 1 Thess 5. 2 3. then shall God come For the day of the Lord shall come even as a theefe in the night for when they shall say Peace peace sudden destruction shall come upon them as sorrow commeth upon a Woman travelling with childe and they shall not escape and therefore the counsell of Augustine is good Vitam emendare dum tempus habenius to amend our lives while wee have time Operari dum dies est to worke Aug. Ser. 4. de sanctis while it is day Pulsare dum aperitur ostium to knocke while the doore is opened falcem mittere dum messis durat to thrust in the sickle while the harvest lasteth Negotiari tempore nundinarum to buy and sell while the Faire or Market lasteth Misericordiam implorare ante diem justitiae to crave mercy before the day 2 Cor. 5. 2. of justice approcheth For now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation Begge mercy then to day thou knowest not whether God will give thee time and grace to doe it to morrow To this saying of Augustine I might adde the saying of Ierome upon his death-bed as saith Eusebius Cremonensis Cur moraris miser de die in diē converti ad Deum O miserable and wretched man why doest thou deferre from day to day to bee converted unto God Cur te jam malorum nonpoenitet Why doest thou not now repent thee of thy sinnes and wickednesse Ecce mors properat ut te conterat Behold death approcheth to teare thee and kill thee the Divell plyeth him to receive thee the wormes expect thee daily to devoure thee wit and strength and all beginne to faile thee But thou wilt say I will repent in articulo mortis at the very point of death O vana suspitio oh falsa meditatio O vaine suspition oh false meditation Looke and see if thou canst finde one of an hundred nay one of a thousand that have obtained this grace and mercy of God that his end should bee happy whose life was unhappy his death good whose conversation hath beene bad Ignis est ira Dei Gods wrath is fire Nos sumus stipula wee are as stubble and straw devoured of the fire wherefore let us worke while it is day the night commeth when as no Iohn 9. man can work And as Noah built the Arke in faire weather and Ioseph laid up graine and corne in the seven plentifull yeeres and Gen. 6. as the Ant that hath neither Master Ruler nor Guide provideth in the plentie of Summer for the dearth of Winter so let us Prov. 6. like good Noahs build the Arke of a good Conscience before the judgement overflow like provident Iosephs let us lay up the graine of godliness in the barnes of our hearts before the dearth of Mercy come and like painefull Ants provide food for our soules before the Winter of justice doth approach And whatsoever Eccles 11. we put our hands unto let us doe it quickly For there is neither worke nor invention nor wisdome nor understanding in Ministers save the soules the grave that wee go unto Save them with feare in plucking them out of the fire he saith Save them with feare Christians are said to save men when God useth their speech and exhortation to doe good on men they are said to winne soules which is the greatest gaine in the world For all the gold in the world laid in one ballance and the soule of a man in another will not countervaile one soule they cost more then so for We are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold 1 Pet. 1. 18. but with the precious bloud of Christ as of a Lambe undefiled and without spotte Salomon gained gold and silver and had it in abundance Alexander gained men for he subdued whole hosts Augustus gained 1 Reg. 10. Luk. 2. Countreyes for hee taxed the world but good men gaine soules this is most of all For he that winneth soules is happy happy indeed For they that turne many to righteousnesse shall shine as the Prov. 11. 30. Dan. 12. 3. starres for ever and ever Wee are said to convert a sinner because God useth our ministery in it and this should be our chiefe care to convert one another from sinne to sanctity from Sodom to Sion from Babylon to Ierusalem from the power of Satan unto God For hee which hath converted a sinner from going astray out of the Iam. 5. 20. way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sinnes And our Saviour saith If thy brother trespasse against thee go and tell Mat. 18. 15. him his