what he hath heard the party speake David Psal 143. 3. complaines of his slanderous enemies that Adders poison was under their lips If they have Adders poyson they may as well have Adders tongues The Epithete that Poets have for the tongue of a Serpent is trisulca three-furrowed and perhaps it was with this instrument especially that David's backbiting enemies plowed their furrowes upon his back Psal 129. 3. But let all Slanderers know that for this treble hurt of part whereof they are not allwaies certaine they shall certainely meet with double punishment double destruction such as Jeremy praies for against those that slandered him ch 17. 18. Paul made it so certain that those who slandered him should come to punishment that he neither praies that they might nor threatens that they should but only speakes in approbation of their punishment which he thought to be irrevocably determined against them that it was good enough for them And not rather as we bâ— slanderously reported and as some affirme that we say Let us doe evill that good may come thereof whose damnation is just Rom. 3. 8. Sorrow of the world Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death 2 Cor. 7. 10. If you take this to be spoken of a teÌ„porall death It is that whereof we see experience very often viz in such as make themselves away by hanging drowning such like waies out of griefe for some worldly crosses I believe you have heard of few that have been sorry after a godly sort that came to such ends Tale bearers see Slanderers Talkativenesse is punished or attended With Poverty being usually accompanied with idlenesse In all labour there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to poverty Prov 14. 22. 2 Destruction as by discovery provocation an hundred otherwayes He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction Prov 13. 3 Keeping the doore of a man's mouth shut is as requisite for his safety as the keeping the doore of his house shut and as carefull is it to be observed if a man would live free not only from hurt but from feare The Septuagint translate the last part of this verse he that is rash in his lips shall make himselfe afraid And doubtlesse such as talk much are seldome free either from feare lest what they have not well spoken may doe them hurt or from doubt whether they have spoken so or no. We repent often that we speak too much but seldome that we hold our peace Temple of God If any man defile the Temple of God him shall God destroy for the Temple of God is holy which Temple yee are 1 Cor 3. 17. Tempting of God punished 1 In the Israelites when they had their will one way with being crossed another as usually it falls out when wee are too eager in our pursuits But lusted exceedingly in the wildernesse and tempted God in the desart and he gave them their requests but sent leannesse into their soule Psalm 106. 14 15. See Murmuring 2 In the same people with the losse of Canaan Wherefore I sware unto them in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Psal 95. 11. They committed this sinne very many times but this punishment was chiefly inflicted for their refusing for to goe forward towards Canaan when they were come very neere it Numb 14. 23. If men will not go to Heaven when they may they shall seek to enter in and shall not be able 3 Destruction in the same people also Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed of Serpents 1 Cor. 10. 9. 4 Sudden death in Ananias and Saphira for Peter told Saphira How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit c. Act. 5. 9. Thieves Their punishment by the Law was Restitution which was in some cases twofold in some foure and as it is interpreted by the vulgar Prov. 6. 31. in some seven and if he were found breaking up of an house any man might kill him Exod 22. 2. But besides this they are threatned 1 With a secret curse upon their estates which they have gotten by Thievery wasting and eating them out like a Canker I will bring it forth saith the Lord of hoasts and it shall enter into the house of the thiefe and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my name and it shall remain in the middest of his house and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof Zach. 5. 3. He speakes of the flying roule which he saw wherein it seemes were two curses one of one side against Thieves and anther on the other against false-swearers And it is conceived to be meant chiefly of the Jewes in Babylon who for poverty would steale and then forsweare it 2 Exclusion out of heaven Nor Thieves nor covetous c. shall inherit the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 6. 10. Thoughts of wickednesse Doubtlesse they shall be punished for otherwise Peter had never said to Simon Magus when he offered to give him money for the power of conferring the Holly-gost Repent â—therefore of this thy wickednesse and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be for given thee Acts 8. 22. If perhaps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to Beza the Greek word expresseth a doubting As if he had said I feare God will hardly pardon thee yet try however But for this use your judgement Unlesse Jerusalem did wash her he art from wickednesse she could not be saved O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou maiest be saved how long shall vaine thoughts lodge within thee Jer 4. 14. Vaine thoughts Hierom translates noxiae hurtfull Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thoughts of wickednesse The thoughts of the wicked are abomination to the Lord Prov. 15 26 much more the thoughts of wickednesse Treacherous dealing punished Woe to thee that spoilest and wast not spoiled and dealest treacherously and they dealt not treacherously with thee when thou shalt cease to spoile thou shalt be spoiled and when thou shalt make an end to deale treacherously they shall deale treacherously with thee Isa 33. 1. Threatend or prophecied Our Saviour told his disciples Ye shall be betrayed both by Parents and Brethren and Kinsfolkes and Friends and some of you shall they cause to be put to death Luk 21. 16. Trusting in the arme of Flesh punished 1 With not prospering against enemies so well as otherwise they might Hanani the Seer told Asa K. of Judah because when Baasha King of Israel came against him he betooke himselfe for help to Benhadad King of Syria and made a league with him Because thou hast relied on the King of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God therefore is the hoast of the King of Syria escaped out
applies this place to Governours See Kings and Governours Mirth i. e. worldly Mirth punished 1 With Non satisfaction I said in my heart goe to now I will prove thee with Mirth therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this is also vanity Eccles 2 1. 2 Sorrow AFTER it Woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourne and weepe Luk. 6. 25. Hell hath enlarged her selfe c. and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Isa 5. 14. I believe worldly men may say almost of all their sorrow being the attendant either of sinfull Acts or of vain enjoyments wherewith they made themselves merry Gaudia Principium nostri sunt Phoce doloris that joyes were the begining of it As it is said that worldly sorrow worketh death and it proveth true many times of the death of the body so I have read of Joy too that being too violent it hath caused death Pliny saith Sophocles the Tragedian died so and Plutarch speakes of a woman that died so Nay 3 Sorrow IN it Even IN laughter the heart is sorrowfull and the end of that mirth is heavinesse Prov. 14. 13. especially when men are merry in sinfull things and in a way which onely seemes right unto them vers 12. Quid quod gaudia eorum trepidà sunt For why Their joyes are fearefull and full of feare As the Poët said of her that went to commit incest with her brother Non toto pectore sentit Loetitiam virgo praesagaque pectora moerent So their owne hearts tell them that they have no cause to be merry now and that they shall have cause to be sad hereafter I may hereunto adde that which is commonly observed of this mirth that it is many times attended with sad and unhappy accidents And the rather because of two examples which I remember related in the Sâ—ripture one is of Amnon David's sonne who in the midst of his mirth at the Sheepshearing-feast to which his brother Absolom had invited him when his heart was merry with wine was by his brother Absalom's servants at their master s command most treacherously murdered 2 Sam. 13. 28. The other is Job's children who in the midst of their jollity as they were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house were all miserably killed by the fall of the house Job 1. 18 19. Mockers of the Godly punished and threatened 1 With Being conquered by them Thus the Ephraimites were conquered by the Gileadites because as the text saith they said in derision Yee Gileadites are fugitives to Ephraim among the Ephraemites and among the Manassites Jud. 12. 4. this jeere cost them the lives of two and forty thousand men vers 6. And the Ammonites by David for Hanun their King having abused his Embassadours whom he sent in a friendly way to comfort him after the death of his father by cutting their beards halfe way off and their garments up to their buttocks and so turning them along 2 Sam. 10. 4. when Abishai was sent to fight with them they fled before him vers 14. and were afterward upon the taking of their royall city Rabbah chap. 12 29 for cutting other mens beards and clothes made to suffer the cutting of their owne bodies with sawes and harrowes and axes of iron and to passe thorough the brick kilne v. 31. By Mocking their enemies then which nothing is more provoking men doe but whet their courage with anger and so make them fight more desperately not regarding their lives so they may be revenged You have an example hereof in the Jebusites For as the more received interpretation of that place will have it in contempt of David's weakenesse when he besieged them at Jerusalem they placed blind men and lame men in the fort to defend i and in a mockery told him Except thou take away the blind and the lame thou shalt not come in hither 2 Sam. 5. 6. But David herewith was so enraged and his souldiers made so desperate that they presently fell on tooke the fort the same day vers 7. 8. Another example you have in the Philistins who having gotten Sampson into the temple of Dagon to make sport of him were kill'd thousands of them by the fall of the house when Sampson had pulled away the pillers Judg. 16. 25. 30. 2. Barrennesse of womb Thus was Michal Davids wise punish'd for jeering at her husband when she saw him dancing before the Ark with a linnen Ephod about him as if he had done a thing unbeseeming the state of a King as indeeâ— most godly virtuous actions seem either absurd or ridiculous or disgracefull to ungodly men Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death 2 Sam. 6. 23. The daughter of Saul as if she were no longer worthy to bee called the wife of King David and accordingly some say that David never after that time us'd her as his wife Had no child For those five sons spoken of ch 21. 8. which ouâ— Hebrew saies shee brought forth she only brought up and adopted them for her own And therefore our English renders brought up And the Chaldee Paraphrase me thinks very well thus saies upon that place the five sonnes viz of Merob which Michal the daughter of Saul brought up 3 God's Hearing the prayer of the godly against them I am as one mocked of his neighbour who called upon God and hee answered him Job 12 4. 4. God 's not pardoning them at least as to this worlds punishment if not also that which is to come For when Sanballat and Tobiah jeered the Jewes as they were building the new wall at Jerusalem Sanballat thus What doe these feeble Jewes Will they fortifie themselves Will they sacrifice Will they make an end in a day Wâ—ll they revive the stones out of the heapes of rubbish which are burnt Neh. 4. 2. Tobiah thus Even that which they build if a fox goe up he shall even breake downe their stone wall vers 3 Nehemiah praied to this purpose against them If his prayer were not propheticall as most such mens prayers in Scripture are yet it was the fervent prayer of a righteous man that we know availeth much especially at such a time as he is mocked for then as 〈◊〉 said in the former punishment he calleth on God and he answereth him Nehemiâ— words were these Heare O our God forâ— are despised and turn their reproach upon thâ— own head and give them for a prey in the 〈◊〉 of captivity and cover not their iniquity 〈◊〉 let not their sin be blotted out from before 〈◊〉 for they have provoked thee to anger befâ—â— the builders Neh. 4. 4. The men of the world who so often commit this sinne and make use of it to maâ— themselves and others merry thinke bâ— slightly of it because it steales no goods 〈◊〉 makes no scarre in the flesh and does a 〈◊〉 no visible hurt But doubtlesse it is not
I thought it needlesse because they were so many and so easie to bee found Hence it is possible that I may have overslipt some but being confident they are very few I here give you a catalogue of those which I tooke which I have put in figures only both because they might perhaps seem too many to bee written out in a greater volume and especially because I feared the book would bee of two great a bulk for the volume More notable places of threats and punishments for wicked men Gen. 38. 7. Exod 23. 7. 1 Sam 2. 9. 2 Sam 23. 6 7. 1 Kings 8. 32. 2 Kings 17. 20 Job 4 8 9. cap 5. 3. 6. 16. c. 8. 20 22. c. 10. 14 15. c. 11. 20. c. 15. 20. to the end c. 11. 15. to the end c. 20. 5. to the end c. 21. 17. to 20. c. 22 16. v. 30. c. 24. 20 24. c. 27. 13. c. c. 31. 3. c. 34. 22. 26 27. c. 36 6. c. 38. 13. 15. c. 40. 12. Psal 1. 4. 5 6. Ps 5. 5. Ps 9. 19. Ps 11. 5 6. Ps 20. 8 10 12. ps 32. 10. Ps 34. 16. 21. ps 36. 12. Ps 37. 2. 9 10 13 15 20 22 28 36. 38. Ps 50. 17. to 21. Ps 5. 2. to 5. Ps 64. 1. to 7 8. Ps 68 21. 23. Ps 73. 18 to 21. 27. Ps 75 8. 10. ps 92. 7. 9. ps 94. 23. ps 101. 4. 8. ps 104. 35. psal 109. 78. ps 112 3. 10. ps 129 4. ps 141. 10. ps 146. 9. ps 147. 6. Prov 6. 15. c. 10. 7. 9. 24 25. 27. 28. 29 30. c. 11. 7. 21. c. 12. 7. 21. c. 13. 5 9. 21. c. 14. 11. 19. 32. c. 16. 4. c. 21. 18. c. 22 8. c. 29. 16. Eccles 2. 26. c 8 12 Isa 1. 28. c. 3. 8. 11 c. 5. 18. c. 9. 18. c. 13. 9. 11. c. 57. 20 21. c. 59. 2. c. 64 6. Jer 7. 20. c. 9 10 11 15. 16. Par. 22. c 13 24 25. c 14 16. c 15 1. to 8. c 16 4. c 18. 16. c 20 5. 10 12. c 22. 24. 25 c 23. 40. c 24 9. 15 c 44 27 c 48 38 39. c 49 17 c 50 25 Lament 2 4 c 3 1 3 5 8 10. 12 15 43 44. Ezek 4 17. c 5 11 13 15 c 7 3 4 8 27 c 12 19 c. 14 8 c 22 31 c 24 13 Hos 1 9 6 c 5 10 12 14 15 c 13 3 Nah 3 5 6 Zeph 6 17 18 Mal 1 4 c 3 5 c 4 4 Mat 13 41 42. 50 Joh 5 29 c 17 9 Rom 1 18 1 Cor 6 9 10 11 Gal 5 19 to 22 Eph 5 5 6 Col. 3 5 6 1 Pet 4 18. Will worship And Nadab and Abihu tooke each of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded not And there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the the Lord Lev 10 1. 2. Wisedome Such as neglect it 1 They are certainly punished one way or other A rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding Prov. 10. 13. This rod usually growes in their own mouth In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride chap 14. 3 For by their own rash and foolish speeches actions they worke themselves abundance of misery chap 10. 14. 2 For the most part they are spiritually starv'd to death The lips of the righteous feed many but fooles dye for want of wisdome which is the food of the soule Prov 10. 21 By death I meane that which is everlasting For the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remaine in the congregation of the dead Prov 21 16. Shall remaine He shall not obtaine the resurrection from the dead as it is said Luk 20 35 that is a resurrection to happinesse which is only worthy the name of resurrection and is called a resurrection to life * life in misery being not worthy the name of life Wisedome i e. carnall wisedome punished 1 With Infatuation and Ignorance in spirituall things For it is written I will destroy the wisdome of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Where is the wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of this world Hath not God made foolish the wisedome of this world 1 Cor. 1. 19 20. See Isa 29. 14. Rom 1. 22. 2 Deniall of grace For yee see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called 1. Cor 1 26. See Mat 11. 25. 3 Confusion and Shame when they see children and fooles get to Heaven before them that they with all their wisedome cannot understand the things of God so wel as others who have lesse knowledge God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound or shame the wise God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty 1 Cor 1. 27. I may adde heereunto how men many times ruine themselves either by the practise or by the over eager pursuit of human wisdom learning Be not righteous overmuch neither make thy selfe over wise why shouldest thou destroy thy selfe Ecles 7. 16. We see what ends many Politicians and hard Students make Either they take such courses as are destructive or growing mad they destroy themselves Destroy thy selfe Lat. Tran. ne obstupescas lest thou be astonished shall I say or stupified For so many times those who have attained to most humane knowledge are more then those who have attained but to a little so that though they have more understanding they have lesse sense The wisedome that is from above hath none of these evils attending it You never knew a man the worse with studying that Witnessing falsly It shall be certainely punished one way or other For Solomon hath said it twice in one chapter A false witnesse shall not be unpunished Prov. 19. 5 9. The manner of punishing it among the Jewes is thus prescribed Deut 19 from the 16 vers to the end If a false witnesse rise up against any man to testifie against him that which is wrong then both the men between whom the controversy is shall stand before the Lord before the Priests and the Judges which shall be in those dayes And the Judges shall make diligent inquisition and behold if the witnesse be a false witnesse and doth testifie falsly against his brother Then shall ye doe unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother so shalt thou put away evill from among you And those that remaine shall heare and feare and shall henceforth commit no more such evill among you And thy eye shall not pitty but life shall goe for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot The hand of God appeares notably against False witnesse in this that many times their speech bewraieth them So saith