Sabboth the Sacrifice and after tooke them away againe yee shall understand that hee gave them as figures and shadowes and therefore no mutability in the Lord The shadow must give place to the body the figure to the truth the greene blossome to the ripe fruit the seed time to the harvest So reasoneth Paul Let no man condemne you in meate and drinke or in respect of an Holy day or of the new Moone or of the Sabboths which are but a shadow of things to come but the bodie is in Christ The day-starre must give place to the Sunne-rising and that to the Sunne at Noone-day Chrysostome compareth Though types cease yet truth and substance remain ever the same the Iewes to a candle the Christians to the brightnesse of the Sunne The Iewes to the first draught of an Image in bare lines the Christians to the same Image filled up with all due proportion and furniture of colours the one to the seed-time Hom. 10. in Mat. Gal. 4. the other to the harvest and reaping of the Corne So Paul compareth the Iewes to a Child the Christians to a perfect man the same light though not in the same quantitie the same Image though not with like furniture the same corne though not growne to the like ripenesse the same person though not in the like perfection of age The Iewes note five things wanting in the Gospell and in the latter Temple that were in the first to disprove this that I have said First the fire that came downe from heaven to burne the Holocausts Secondly the glory of the Angells appearing among the Cherubins Thirdly the inspiration of Gods spirit speaking in the Prophets Fourthly the prefence of the Arke Lastly Vrim and Thummim But all this is nothing for there is now a fuller knowledge of God and greater liberty to the conscience yet the same faith still For the Fathers and we have all Col. 2. Ier. 23. 5. but one faith they beleeved that Christ should come according to Ieremies prophecie Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a King shall raigne and prosper and shall execute iudgement and iustice in the earth We beleeve that he is come and that Christ our Passeover is sacrified for us 1 Cor. 5. 7. Esa 7. They said Virgo concipiet a maid shall conceive and bring forth a Sonne we say Virgo concepit a maide hath brought forth her Sâ—â—ne For when the dayes were accomplished that she should be delivered Luk. 2. 7. she brought forth her first begotten Sonne and wrapped him in swadling clothes and laid him in a Cratch They had sacrifices that prefigured his comming we have Sacraments that represent his comming Heb. 9. and being with us they and wee had but one light they had Lucem matutinam the moning light wee Lucem meridianam the light at noone-day Wee differ but In plus minus therefore saith Christ Blessed are the eyes that see the things that yee see Mat. 10. 24. For I tell you that many Prophets and Kings have desired to see the things that yee see and have not seene them and to heare those things that yee heare and have not heard them If any object that God giveth us daily new Paith new graces I answere that God giveth not a new a strange faith but addeth to our old faith to our old graces God increaseth faith and his graces in us but not a new a diverse faith like the Arrians that had Fidem annuam menstruam a yeerely and a monthly The Gospell immutable Traditions uncertain Faith For whom God loves hee loves to the end This also commendeth unto us the Gospell that whereas other Lawes and Doctrines are changed altered augmented and diminished Gods Law is not The Law of the Lord is perfect Iohn 13. 1. Psal 19. The Lawes of the Romanes written by Numa Pompilius in Gold The Lawes of the Athenians written by Draco in Bloud the Lawes of the Persians written in Brasse The Lawes of the Lacedemonians written in Milke were altered but Gods Lawes are not Quoad substantiam as concerning their substance Sed quoad maledictionem as concerning the curse 2 Cor. 3. All traditions therefore all Gospels of Thomas Nicodemus Thaddeus and the eternall Gospell invented in Saint Cyrils time by abusing the place in the Revelation which runneth thus I saw another Angel flying in the middest of Heaven having an Apoc. 14. 6. everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the Earth c. must fall to the ground like the house built upon the sand as also all those Revelations of the Paraclete devised by Montanus together with all those that came after the giving of the Gospell which is perfect for ever and so perfect that If any man shall adde unto it God shall adde to him the plagues that are written in Apoc. 22. 18 19. the Booke and if any man shall diminish from the words of the Prophecie of Gods Booke God shall take away his part out of the Booke of Life and out of the holy Citie c. Let us not then adde nor diminish from the Gospell being so perfect for there is but one God one Faith one Baptisme one Christian Hope once revealed Ephes 4. for all But of the late Romish traditions which have entred long since the Gospell entred one may say to Rome as Esay said to Ierusalem Thy Gold is turned into Drosse thy Wine is mixed with Water thy Seede with Cockle thou wert sometime a faithfull Esay 1. City but now become an Harlot thou wert once the house of God but now turned into a cave of theeves Thou sayest that thou art rich and increased in wealth and standest in neede of nothing Apoc. 3. 17. but thou art poore and blind and naked as God said to the Church of Laodice poore and blind and naked indeed God give them hearts to understand and eyes to see their poverty and nakednesse But to passe with this heavenly Scripture as Moses did with the people to the land of Canaan Thirdly this Faith is given to the Saints By Saints hee meaneth the children of God truely converted not because they are perfectly holy and without sinne but in these foure respects First in respect of Separation for they they are elected and gathered out of this world and joyned to Gods people and dedicated to holy services and uses Secondly In respect of Vocation and therefore the Apostle The Saints the subiects of Faith and all Graces when hee said they were sanctified he said by explication that they were Saints by calling Thirdly In respect of Regeneration because they are now new creatures 1 Cor. 1. 2. And lastly In respect of Iustification or imputation because the holinesse and sanctity of Christ is imputed unto them For men may be Saints in this life For there are Saints in Earth as well as in Heaven
25. In the glory of his Father with all his holy Angels Thirdly great in respect of the prisoners that shall be arraigned For when he shall come in the clouds of heaven every eye shall see him even those that peirced him and all the kindreds of the earth shall wayle Apoc. 1. 7. before him Nay then The Kings of the earth and great men and rich Apoc. 6. 15. men and the chiefe Captaines and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man shall be arraigned And therefore it may well be called a great day for if the particular day of the destruction of Ierusalem was so grievous that the Prophet cryed out The great Zeph. 1. 14 15 16 day of the Lord is neer it is neer hasteth greatly even the voice of the day of the Lord the strong man shall cry there bitterly That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and heavinesse a day of destruction and desolation a day of obscurity and darkenesse a day of clouds and blacknesse a day of Iâ—â—l 2. 10. 11. the trumpet and alarum against the strong Cities c. And againe the earth shall tremble before him the heavens shall shake the Sunne and Moone shall be darke and the starres shall withdraw their shining and the Lord shall utter his voyce before his host for his host is very great For he is strong that doth his work For the day of the Lord is great very terrible and who can abide it What shall be the generall day of the destruction of the whole world when the Elements shall melt with 2 Pet. 3. heat the heavens shall passe away with a noyse the earth shall reele and stagger like a drunken man and the world shall burne Good Lord what a great day will this be when all the Saints out of heaven all the damned out of hell all the dead bodies out of the earth must appeare Not an Angell spared not a divell respited not a Saint or sinner rescued but all must be summoned to give their attendance and to make their appearances Once the world was destroyed with water but now it shal be consumed with fire For the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty Angels 1 Thes 1. 7 8. in flaming fire rendring vengeance unto them which know not God and which obey not the Gospell of our Lord Iesus Christ Let thy heart dwell seriously in this meditation but a little imagine that thou sawest the world on fire the Iudge sitting the dead standing before him the sinnes of all men revealed the divels accusing Eccles 7 38. them it would beat downe many sinnes in thee Remember the end and thou shalt never doe amisse Christ speaking of that day saith That there shall be signs in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars and Luke 21. 25 26 upon the earth trouble among Nations with perplexity the Sea and the waters shall rore and mens hearts shall faile them for feare and for looking after those things that shall come on the world for the powers of heaven Iudgement terrible to all but especially to the wicked shall be shaken Others Sessions and assizes be fearefull to malefactors what shall Gods assizes bee when the Ancient of dayes shall sit whose garments are white as snow and the haire of his head is like pure wooll and his throne like a firy flame Then Dan. 7. 9. fulminabit dominus e Caelo the Lord shall thunder from heaven and the highest will give his voyce And if the thunder and ratling of a cloud be so terrible what terrour shall there bee when he shall thunder that sits above the clouds For then Terra tremet Mare mugiet the earth shall quake the Sea rore the ayre ring the World burne and if Tota terra the whole pillars of the earth must move how should this move man who is but a cold of earth If virtutes Coeli the powers of heaven must tremble what will befall those mindes of mudde and earth that have never a thought of heaven If the Angels of God shall stand then at a gaze how agast will the wicked be whose portion is with the Divell and his Angels If the Heavens must cleave and the Elements bee rent asunder how will earthly hearts faile and breake If the righteous shall scarce be saved Vbi impius Where shall the wicked and the sinner appeare If S. Ciprian is said so Ciprian much to feare diem Iudicii the day of Iudgement that he cleane forgot diem martyrii the day of Martyrdome and earthly torment and no marvell Nam timor mortis nihil ad timorem Iudicis the feare of temporall death is nothing to the feare of him that hath power of eternall life and death And if they be in such amaze Ad quos judex For whose glorie and good the Iudge shall come how shall they stand amazed Contra quos Index against Apoc. 20. whom and for whose eternall shame and paine the Iudge shall 1 Coâ— 1. 25. come If Heaven and earth shall flie before him Quomodo stabimus ante potentissimum quem nemo potest vincere how shall we be 1 Tim 1. 17. able to stand before the most mightie whom none can vanquish For the weakenes of God is stronger than men Ante prudentissimum quem nemo potest fallere before the most wise whom no man can deceive For he is God only Wise and in him are hid all the treasures of wisdome knowledge and understanding Ante piissimum quem nemo potest corrumpere before the most just whom no man can corrupt His judgement will be Rectum judicium a right and a true judgement he cannot faile either Ignorantia legis as not knowing the Law For he gave the Law and he will judge according to the Law nor yet ignorantia facti As not seeing the fact For his eyes goe thorow the World Ye may interprete them if ye will 7. thousand thousand eyes For he is Totus oculus All eye Aug. The consideration of this should stirre us up to be carefull and circumspect in all our wayes that we never treade our shooe awry nor offend this Iudge in any thing that at this great day we may find him a gentle and a loving Lambe and not a Lion of Iuda For as to the wicked the Iudge is terrible so to the godly friendly and as to the wicked this great day is a day How can the wicked stand before the uncorrupt Iudge of redemption But to proceed a little further this day is called a day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by an excellencie For never day was like unto it In the day of Israel when he went out of Aegypt The Sea fledde Iordan was driven backe the mountaines skipped like Rammes and the little hills like yong Sheepe In the day of Iosua the Sunne stood still in Psal 114. Heaven from morning to noone
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
of his little Mat. 18. 10. ones saith The Angels of his little ones doe alwaies behold the face of his Father which is in Heaven Miraculously doth hee keepe us untill the day of our death Therefore saith David Thou hast shewed mee great troubles and adversities but Psal 71. 18. thou wilt returne and revive mee and wilt come againe and take mee from the depth of the earth Miraculously doth he continue his benefits towards us Therefore saith the sweet Singer of Israel Cast me not away in the time of my age forsake me not when my strength Psal 71. 8. faileth me let it be our Prayer If God had not aswell preserved us and kept us it had beene to small purpose to call us and sanctifie us This Doctrine then is a Doctrine of comfort that God preserveth us it is as Davids Harpe which rejoyced Saul in his melancholy God hath not onely made us but also preserved us in a wonderfull mercy He telleth all our steps He numbreth Iob 14. Psal 56. Psal 38. Psal 139. Psal 34. Mat. 10. our teares He counteth our dayes and times He telleth our members He reckoneth our bones Yea he telleth our haires Our steps our teares our dayes our members our bones our hayres are told and yet all these are but little a steppe is but a little space a teare is but a little water a member is but a little flesh a bone a little substance our dayes a little time our haire a little exerement yet all these are kept of God he that keepeth these little things will keepe our bodies and soules As Paul prayed for Thessalonica Now the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your whole spirit soule and body may 1 Thes 5. 23. bee kept blamelesse untill the comming of our Lord and Saviour â—esus Christ. God therefore is continually to be praised quoth Ambrose The Saints though afflicted yet delivered In prosperis quia consolamnur in adversis quia corrigimur in prosperity because we are comforted in adversity because we are corrected before we were borne because he made us after we were borne because he saveth us in our sinnes because hee Ambr. in ora fu nebri in Theodosium Apoc. 2. 10. pardoneth us in our conversion because hee helpeth us in our preservation because he keepeth us and crowneth us But some will say doe we not see good men take harme sometime breake an arme a legge yea and sometime their necke Where is Gods providence how are they preserved I say that GOD sometime throwes them down and leaveth them to themselves that they may the better see their weakenesse and Gods power and being delivered glorifie him in it according to that precept of the Almighty call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie mee Hereof come all those tragicall Psal 50. 15. speeches of the Saints that God maketh them as Buts and all his arrowes sticke deepe in them that hee feareth them with Iob 7. 12. 14 19. dreames and astonisheth them with visions and will not give them so much rest as to swallow their spettle that their heart panteth that their strength faileth the light of their eyes is Psal 38. 5. 8. 10. gone that their wounds are putrified and corrupt that they are weakened and sore broken and doe rore for the very disquietnesse of their hearts that they are as water powred out that all their bones be out of ioynt that their heart is as waxe melted Psal 22. 14. in the middest of their bowels that God bruiseth them as a Lion like a Crane or Swallow so God maketh them to chatter and to mourne like Doves True it is that they bee often Esay 38. 12 13. 14. in perill for a time Iacob lyeth in the Fields Gen. 30. 1 Sam. 24. Psal 125. Ier. 20. Dan. 3. David in the Wildernesse Ioseph in Prison Ieremy in the Dungeon The Three Children in the Oven Iohn in the hot Oyle at Ephesus Elias among Crowes Moses among Sheepe 1 Reg. 17. Exod. 2. Mat. 12. Dan. 6. Luke 16. Acts 27. Ionas among Fishes Daniel among Lions Lazarus among Dogges Paul among Snakes But at last commeth the yeere of Iubile and they are freed the cloud is dispersed and the Sunne shineth the clay is removed and the water runneth the ashes is scattered and the fire burneth the snare is broken and the Birds are delivered It is God that preserveth all things that he may have the glory Psal 174. 7. He kept the old world many yeeres from perishing and when it was destroyed he reserved a seed of 8. persons He will keep Gen. 8. this new World in the great burning For there shall bee a new God hath preserved his Scriptures God preserves Bodies and Soules Heaven and a new Earth Hee kept the primitive Church from ten great persecutours when the rivers were dyed with bloud when five thousand died every day except the Calends of Ianuarie hee kept the Scriptures from Antiochus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Dioclesian the one made monthly Inquisition for the Bibles and 2 Pet. 3. beheaded them that kept them the other commanded all to bee burnt yet Ezra and they continue to our good hee kept the knowledge of his Name in all the darkenesse of the World For as Iosephus saith Adam made two tables of stone or pillars Euseb lib. 1. in the one hee wrote Hominis lapsum Mans fall In the other Promissionem de Messia the promise of the Messiah and so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 continueth to this day hee kept the Religion in the dayes of Queene Mary as hee kept the Law in the dayes of Manasses and Amon two or three Berries were left on the top of the tree some grapes after the vintage some eares of corne after the gleaning Hee kept our late blessed Queene when Stephen Gardiner bad Hew at the roote and when some others used her roughly when the plot of her death was layd Let our Soules praise the Lord and Psal 103. all that is within us praise his holy name God preserved the Fathers Aegypt received Athanasius from exile having beene seven yeeres in a Cisterne at Treveris France received Hilary returning from battell Antioch received Chrysostome from the malice of Arcadius and Eudoxia Italy welcomed Eusebius from exile and Millaine entertained Ambrose from the rage of Valentinian and Iustina God preserveth the World and all men in it and this preservation of the World is greater than the Creation of the World greater than the Ios 10. Iohn 2. John 6. drying up of the redde Sea greater than the standing of the Sunne and Moone in Aialon greater than the turning of Water into Wine greater than the feeding of five thousand men with five loaves and two fishes Et tamen haec omnes mirantur non quia majora sed quia rariora Vilescunt miracula
No peace to the wicked in which we fall from the Lord of life One day in thy Courts saith David is better than a thousand other where I had rather be a doore keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tabernacles of wickednesse Sed impiis non est pax there is no peace unto the wicked their hearts never rest they are never quiet their sinne lyeth at the doores Esa 57. 20. Gen. 4. 7. alwayes dogging them and ever ready to pull out the very throat of their soules As good men have the first fruits of the Spirit and certaine tastes of heavenly joyes in this life So on the contrarie the wicked have certaine flashings of hell-flames on earth and are as the sea which alwayes rageth and never resteth And as the good man when he dyeth bequeatheth his body which is earthly to the earth and sinnes which are divellish unto the Divell and his goods that are worldly to the world and his soule that is heavenly to heaven So the wicked when he dyeth bequeatheth his goods to the world his body to the earth his soule to the Divell But some will say The wicked are merry and quiet none so merrry as they they sing like birds in May like Nightingales in a cleare night I must distinguish and say that some wicked are blockish and senselesse like swine their consciences are seared like dead flesh Mat. 7. 6. 1 Tim. 4. 2. others are desperate having an hell in their conscience trembling like Agag but yet both states damnable For is the fish that skippeth in the net or the bird that singeth in the snare or the prisoner that is merry in the iayle in any good case No 1 Sam. 13. 1 Thes 5. 3. Esa 9. 6. Ephes 2. 17. no Even so is it with the wicked when They crie peace peace sudden destruction shall come upon them as upon a Woman in travell But there is peace to the godly Peace shall come they shall rest in their beds c. Christ is their peace Pacem Evangelizavit iis qui prope iis qui procul he preached peace unto them that are neare and unto them that are afarre off To this end he died rose againe ascended into heaven the first was the lowest step of his humiliation in earth the second the highest steppe of his exaltation in earth the third the highest steppe of his glorification in heaven In the first he suffered in the second he conquered in the third he triumphed the first tooke away sinne and destroyed death and him that had the Lordship of Death The second brought Righteousnesse for he rose againe for our justification The third Heb. 2. 14. Rom. 4. 25. bringeth glory and all to this end to make peace between God and man Thirdly peace is taken for prosperitie and happy successe of all things as in the Psalme O pray for the peace of Ierusalem they shall Psal 122. 6. prosper that love thee peace be within thy walls and plenteousnesse be within thy palaces Peace and plentie are here Synonymies the one openeth the other he prayeth for plentifull peace or peaceable plentie God hath promised his Church this peace saying The Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods in the fruit of thy body in the Prosperitie is termed peace fruit of thy cattell in the fruite of thy ground the Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure even the Heaven to give raine unto thy land in due season and to blesse all the workes of thy hands thou shalt lend to many Deuter. 28. 11 12 13. nations and not borrow thy selfe The Lord shall make thee the head and not the taile thou shalt be above only not beneath c. Iacob blessing Iudas saith That he shall bind his Asse fole to the Vine his Asses colt to the best Vine he shall wash his garments in wine his Cloake with the Gen. 49. 11 12. blood of the grape that is he shall have all prosperitie and this prosperitie Iude wisheth unto them saying peace be multiplied upon you Esay prophecied of the wealth and abundance of the Church saying Thou shalt sucke the milke of the Gentiles and shalt Esa 60. 16 17. sucke the brests of Kings and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy redeemer the mightie one of Iacob For brasse I will bring gold and for Iron I will bring thee silver and for stones Iron I will also make thy government peace and thine exactors righteousnesse violence shall no more be heard in thee neither desolation nor destruction c. And God wisheth that his Church had hearkened to his commandements Then had thy prosperitie beene as the Flood and thy righteousnesse as the Waves of the Sea In six evils God would have delivered Esa 48. 18. Iob. 5. Psal 65. 11. Mal. 3. Iob. 1. Gen. 26. 1 Reg. 10. 27. it the clouds shall droppe fatnesse upon it God would open the windowes of heauen and powre downe a blessing with plenteousnesse God hath inriched the members of his Church in all ages as Iob in Huz Isaac in Gerar Salomon in Israel who had silver as stones Yea this peace and plentie is proper and peculiar to the Church onely to the godly the wicked have no right nor interest in the blessings of the earth For the elects sake God made Gen. 1. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Iohn 3. Mar. 13. Apo. 6. Rom. 8. the world For them he enriched it for them he redeemed it for their sakes he preserveth it for their sakes hee deferreth his comming to judge this world That the wicked enjoy ayre fire water let them thanke the godly who are coheires with Christ in all things the wicked are usurpers intruders into all Gods blessings they have no right to any furrow or foot of land The faithfull only are coheires with Christ in whose right they are invested into all the benefits of this life Thou art no more a servant but a Sonne saith Paul now if thou be a Sonne those art also the heyre of Gal. 4. 7. God through Christ As a bastard hath no inheritance among the legitimate Children So the wicked as bastards have no inheritance among the faithfull They may say of God and heaven as the tenne Tribes said of David and his Kingdome What portion have we in David we have no inheritance in the Sonne of Ishai So they have no portion in heaven no inheritance in the Sonne of God Christ Iesus they are Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant and promise But the godly have right and interest in earth and heaven also In their elder brother Christ Iesus heaven is theirs heaven and earth is theirs land and sea are theirs yea all theirs men and Angels are subject unto them Prosperitie oft hurt to the Church All things are ours saith the Apostle whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World
unto mee there saving that the holy Ghost Act. 20. 24. witnesseth in every Citie saying that bonds and afflictions abide me but I passe not at all neither is my life deare unto my selfe so that I may fulfill my course with joy and the ministration which I have received of the Lord Iesus c. And how desired hee it in the Iewes Brethren Rom. 10. 1. my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved And he biddeth Timothy lay hold on it saying Fight the good 1 Tim. 6. 12. fight of Faith lay hold on eternall life whereunto yee are also called c. And when the Church would triumph it is in this Now is Salvation in Heaven and strength and the Kingdome of our God and the Apoc. 12. 119. power of his Christ for the accuser of our brethren is cast downe which accused them day and night before God And this was the earnest Psal 67. 1 2. prayer of the Church God bee mercifull unto us and blesse us and cause his face to shine among us that thy way may be knowne upon earth Tit. 2. 11. thy saving health among all nations not a bodily health but a spirituall heavenly health When Paul will commend the grace of God and make way for it in the Gretians hee calleth it a saving grace The Physitian can give thee but health as the Ier. 9. Physitians of Gilead did The Lawyer can but pleade for thee as Many regard more vaine pamphlets than found doctrine Tertullus did for the Iewes The Magistrate can give thee but thine owne as Salomon did to the two harlots The musitian can give thee but pleasure and tickle thine eare a little as the Sonnes of Asaph did The historiographer can give thee but the knowledge of the times But the Divine offereth thee salvation Act. 24. 1 Reg. 3. 2 Sam. 23. 1 Tim. 4. 16. he writeth and speaketh of salvation Hereupon saith Paul to Timothie Take heed unto thy selfe and unto thy doctrine and continue therein for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee If one should come from the Prince and offer to every one of you an acre of Land how would you heare him as they heard Paul at Troas till midnight But wee from God offer you an inheritance in heaven and yet yee regard it not Pausanias wrote of Act. 20. Nettles Erasmus of Foolishnesse Demosthenes of the shadow of an Asse Musonius of the wooll of a Goate Virgil of Gnats but Iude wrote of salvation If Alexander slept alwaies with Homers Iliades under his pillow If Lepta forgot to sleep reading Tullie de oratore If Cyprian read daily Tertullius Apologiticon If Chrisippus read Logicke so that he had perished but for Melissa his mayd how should the Church read this Epistle There be many that follow the Apostles diligence in writing but then it is in foolish filthie bawdie matters To this purpose wee have gotten our songs and sonnets our palaces of pleasure our unchast fables and tragedies Our fathers had their spirituall inchantments as Gui of Warwicke Bevis of Hampton Arthur of the round table and a number of such vanities as Garagantua Howleglasse Frier Rushe the Fooles of Gotham strong illusions of the Divell to keepe them from reading the Scriptures And we like new borne Moabites that wallow in our vomit have gotten the Court of Venus the Castle of love Perce-pennylesse c. But if he was so carefull to write of salvation wee must be as carefull to heare and learne salvation The Iaylor made inquirie after it saying to Paul and Silas Sirs what must we doe to be saved And let us also search and enquire after salvation For many never Act. 16. 29. looke in what state they stand whether in the state of grace and salvation or in the state of death and damnation But as it was said of Bonosus the Emperour That he was borne not to live but to eate to drinke and to scrape in the ground like molles or to play like the dormise of India that sleepe all winter and play all summer There are none but must have a care of salvation except they be Reprobates The scoffing Iewes cried Da Iohn 6. nobis semper hunc panem give us evermore of this bread The man in the Gospell would eate of the bread of heaven and therefore cryed Happie is he that eateth bread in the Kingdome of Heaven Balaam prayed to die well O that my soule might die the death of the righteous Luk. 14. Numb 23. 10. and that my last end might be like unto his There is none so wicked but he would be saved but if that wilt be saved examine thy Every man to be carefull to know in what state he stands in selfe and aske thy soule whether thou beest a dogge or a Lambe a Citizen or a stranger a sheep or a goate to stand on the right hand or the left All men know their state saving Christians the Merchant can tell whether he gaineth or loseth the Mariner can tell his Mat. 25. 40. course whether he be right or wrong on the sea the Husbandman knoweth his times for earing and reaping the Physitian knoweth his body whether it bee in a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 consumption or in good estate But we looke not whether we be saved or damned but looke into thy selfe as thou doest into the world whether thou beest even with God whether his debt-booke bee discharged whether thy sinnes bee forgiven or no whether God hath given thee Faith to apprehend his promises whether the fruites of Faith appeare in thee or no. A prisoner will looke unto himselfe before the Assises and looke into thy selfe before the Iudgment day empanell a Quest on thy selfe and let thy heart bee the Foreman of the Iurie And note that he calleth it Common salvation not proper to Abraham Isaak Iacob David Peter c. but common to all 1. First hee calleth it common salvation First to admonish all men to lay hold of it So saith Paul to Timothie lay hold of eternall life And also to admonish Ministers to neglect no sheep of God not the very least Paul said that he was a debter both to the Grecians and Barbarians both to the wise and vnwise that hee was not Rom. 1. 14. 16. ashamed of the Gospell of Christ for it was the power of God to salvation to every one that beleeveth to the lew first and also to the Grecian And further he saith that hee made himselfe a servant unto all men that he might winne the more that unto the Iewes he became as 1 Cor. 9. 20 21 22. a Iew that hee might winne the Iewes to them that were under the law as though he were under the law that hee might winne them that were under the Law to them that were without law as though he were without law that he might winne them
Hereupon saith David All my delight is upon Psal 16. 3. Psal 37 28. Ephes 3. 8. the Saints in Earth and on such as excell in Vertue And againe Hee forsaketh not his Saints And Saint Paul calleth himselfe The least of all Saints And Saint Iude here speaketh of Faith given unto the Saints The Papists will acknowledge no Saints till three things come unto them first they must bee canonized by the Pope secondly they must bee dead first and thirdly it must be an hundred yeeres after death Risum teneatis amici But to leave all this In that this Faith is given unto the Saints wee learne that holy things are not to be given to Dogs Mat. 7. 6. a Gold ring becommeth not a Swines snout Cardui benedicti are not for the mouthes of Mules the songs of Nightingales are not for the eares of Asses Faith is not given to the Reprobate God hath made other Pro. 11. 22. things for them they for other things He hath made them For Prov. 16. 4. Deut. 4. Jer. 6. the day of evill God gave the Law yet to the Israelites not to the Hittites Canaanites Peresites Hee gave the Arke but not to the Philistines He gave Incense to Sheba Balme to Gilead fine Spices to Arabia Ezek. 37. Milke and Honey to Canaan Silver to Tharsis Gold to Ophir but Hee gave his word to Iacob Ier. 9. Ezec. 37. Deut. 6. 1 Cbr. 29. Psal 147. Mat. 13. 11. 13. 1 Cor. 10. 15. his Statutes and his Ordinances unto Israel hee hath not dealt so with every nation neither had the Heathen knowledge of his Lawe Christ speakes mysteries but hee explaned them only to his Apostles Paul spake but yet unto them that had knowledge I spake to them saith Paul that have understanding judge yee what I saw So wee speake but not to them that are wilfully ignorant that shut their eyes stoppe our eares and harden their hearts against the Word with such men we meddle not but in the sin wherein we finde them in that we leave them we speake onely to beare witnesse of their sinne against the day of the Lord they have sinned and their sinne will finde them out as Moses said to the two tribes Behold yee have sinned against the Lord Numb 32. 25. and be sure your sinne will finde you out and yee shall bee assuredly punished for your sinne All things are given unto the Saints and nothing is given to the Reprobate but in Gods wrath and for the elects sake for their sake God made the world for their sakes hee redeemed it For God so loved the World that hee Gen. 1. gave his onely begotten Sonne that who soever beleeveth in him might not perish but have life everlasting For their sakes he preserveth it and Iohn 3. 16. when the body of Christ is made perfect the number of the The wicked usurpers of Gods gifts Saints accomplished God will dissolve the frame of this evill World and therefore when the soules of the Saints that were killed cryed out How long Lord holy and true tariest thou to iudge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth Answere was made that they should rest for a little season untill their fellow servants Apoc. 6. 10 11. and their brethren that should bee killed even as they were were fulfilled That the wicked live they may thanke the Saints the Godly how soever they hate them yet they enjoy all for their sakes the wicked are but usurpers and intruders to gift of God is due unto them but plagues onely Vpon them hee shall raine snares fire and brimstone storme and tempests this shall be their Psal 11. portion to drinke For judgements are prepared for the scornefull and stripes for the fooles backe For tribulation and anguish shall be upon the Soule of every man that doth evill Rom. 2. 9. As Elisha would not have spoken but for Iehosaphats sake so wee would not speake unto you but for some good mens sake that are amongst you otherwise you should dye in your sinne and rot and dye in your sinne you have neither part nor fellowship Act. 8. Apoc. 22. in Iesus Christ as Philip said to Simon Magus Let him therefore that is filthy be filthy still THE EIGHTH SERMON VERS IV. For there are certaine men crept in c. The Church and Religion hath their adversares WEE are now come to the third reason taken from the person of the Adversaries and it lyeth thus The adversaries impugne the Faith therefore the Saints must stand for it The Church hath many adversaries like Bees in an hyve like Moates in the Sunne like Pismires on a molehill Iohn saith That Apoc. 12. 7. he saw a great battel in Heaven that is in the Church Michael and his Angels fought against the Dragon and the Dragonfought and his Angels And Paul said There were many 1 Cor. 16. 9. adversaries Wee may say of the Church the Faith and Religion of God as David said of his owne person Mine enemies Psal 38. 19. live and are mightie and they that hate mee wrongfully are many in number As there is a contrary in all day and night cold and heate sicknesse and health life and death so in Religion Chrysostome In ser de nequitat depulsa saith Ferrum rubigo laedit lanam tinea ovem lupus Polium segetes grando vineam c. Rust hurteth Iron the Moth Wooll the Woolfe the Sheepe the Leopard the Kidde the Haile the Vine the Cockle the Corne the Caterpillar the Fruits few but have their adversaries So Faith and Religion Atheists Papists Pagans Heretickes Schismatickes Sectaries all these barke against the Saints as dogges against the Moone Religion divideth men in an house I am come saith Christ Secret enemies most dangerous that pretend Love to put fire on the Earth and what is my desire if it be already kindled Thinke yee that I am come to give peace in earth I tell you nay but rather debate From henceforth there shall bee five in one house divided three against two and two against three The Father shall be divided against the Sonne and the Sonne against the Father the Mother Luke 12. 49 51 52. 53. against the Daughter and the Daughter against the Mother the mother in law against the daughter in law and the daughter in law against the mother in law The godly the faithfull are as Lambes amongst wolves as Lilies amongst Thornes as Doves amongst Ravens Mat. 10. 16. many oppugne the Faith therefore wee must be ready to defend it yea strive for it unto death as Ioab fought for God so let us speake for God and write for God If wee had as many tongues and pennes as Argus had eyes let them all speake and Eccles 4. 2. Sam. 10. write for the Truth yea if wee had as many as haires on our heads as Ierome said to Helvidius Si veritas
are contentious and disobey the truth and obey unrighteousnesse shall be indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish shal be upon the soule of every man that doth evill Looke not to the beginning of sinne but the end of it the roote of it is a carelesse hard heart and therefore we are commanded to exhort one another daily while it is called Hebr. 3. 13. to day lest we be hardened with the deceitfulnesse of sinne the flower of it is sweet for a time and therefore called by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrewes The pleasures of sinne the sight of it is like Heva her apple which was faire and pleasant to the eye the taste of Hebr. 11. 25. Gen. 3. 6. 1 Sam. 14. 17. Luk. 3. 7. it is like Ionathans hony combe which cleered his eyes which before were dimme for wearinesse and hunger the committing of it is like the birth of a viper which eateth out the belly of her damme the sting of it as the sting of an Aspe pleasant at the Rom. 3. Cap. 6. 21. 23. first and brings a man asleepe but the fruit of it is shame in this life And therefore saith the Apostle what fruit had yee of those things whereof yee are now ashamed meaning their sinnes and the end of it in the life to come is hell fire For the wages of sinne is death For sinne is as a Tyrant which raigneth by force and at last rewardeth his servants with death and damnation Thus the root the flower the sight the tast the sting the fruit the end of sinne all is damnable Behold this monster this Aesops snake the uglinesse of sinne in Nabuchadenezzar transformed from a man to a beast The terror Dan. 4. 1 Sam. 15. of it in Agag the Amalekite The folly of it in Salomons young man whom Salomon derideth notably saying Rejoyce thou yong man in thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine Eccles 11. 9. eyes but know that for all these things God will will bring thee to iudgement The bitternesse of it in the rich men named by Iames Goe to yee rich men weepe and howle for your miseries that shall come upon Iam. 5. 1 2 3. you your riches are corrupt your garments moat-heaten your gold and silver is canckred and the rust of it shal be a witnesse against you and it shall eate your flesh as it were fire The unstablenesse of it in the Amalekites now dauncing now dead The reward of it in the fooles named God punisheth not the reprobate till sinne be at the fall by Salomon The end of it in the rich glutton who for his sinne lieth frying in hell in torments The life of the godly is as a Comedie dolefull at the first but joyfull at the last So saith David They that sow in teares shall reape in ioy they went weeping and carried precious seed but they shall returne with 1 Sam. 30. VVisd 5. Luk. 16. Psal 126. 5. 6. ioy and bring their sheaves But the life of the wicked is cleane contrary that is as a Tragedie dolefull at the last so saith our Saviour Woe be to you that laugh for yee shall wayle and weepe and Luk. 6. 25. Pro. 22. 8. Salomon affirmeth That hee that soweth iniquity shall reape affliction and the rod of his anger shall faile that is his authority whereby hee did oppresse others shall bee taken from him and Paul saith That they which sow in the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption afterwards this afterwards marres all after all pleasure commeth paine and destruction So said Abraham to Dives Sonne remember Luk. 16. 25. that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasure contrarily Lazarus paine now is he comforted and thou art punished The pride of Adam was turned into labour and sorrow The stoutnesse of Nimrod into confusion The beauty of Absalom into hanging The strength of Goliah into shame The envie of Caine into desolatition Gen. 3. Cap. 10. 2 Sam. 16. 1 Sam. 17. hee wandred like a Rogue Nec in caeteris est contrarium videre and we may behold the same in the rest when they have added drunkennesse to thirst afterwards commeth God and destroyeth them he wayteth for the ripenesse of our sinnes before he plucke us off the tree or cut us off the earth he tarieth till we be dry before hee burneth us till wee be fat before hee slay us till wee bee withered before hee hew us downe Therefore is it said that the earth was full of cruelty that the sinne of Sodome was Gen. 6. Gen. 18. Amos 8. great that the sinnes of Israel were as ripe apples and when our sinnes be once ripe God will cut us downe with the scithe of his wrath and hacke us downe with the axe of his vengeance And yet we see God to punish some speedily to crop them in their beginning True sometime God killeth the Cockatrice in the egge before it bee a serpent sometime hee plucketh the fruit from the tree before it bee ripe hee rooteth out the pricke before it be a thorne what then differt tamen non aufert God doth deferre but yet hee doth not auferre the punishment of the wicked like Polypheme that would eate Vlysses last but yet eate him though it were long Vt creditor qui debitum ab uno statim exigit alium in diem reponit sed cum foenore solvendum As a Creditor that requireth his debt of one man presently to another hee giveth day and respite yet to be paid with usury God tooke away Caligula in the beginning of his tyrannie but hee suffered Nero to tyrannize longer but Tiberius raged and made havocke of the Church longer than they yet in the end God met with him and freed the earth of so vile a burden God killed Omri in two yeares he suffred Manasses to wallow in blood fifty yeares Tempora mutantur 1 Reg. 16. 2 Reg. 21. nos mutamur in illis the times are changed and we are Infidelity the cause of Israels destruction changed in them Dionysius having a prosperous wind said that God favoured Pirats The Athenians said that Harpalus gave a lively testimony against the Gods for that hee escaped so long unpunished But so long goeth the pot to the water that at last it cometh broken home God met with these two afterwards Looke not on men as they are here in this world here they prosper and flourish like a greene Bay-tree but looke to their end then they wither like trees that cast their leaves in winter then they wish they had never beene borne what good hath our pride done us what profit hath the pompe of riches brought us Thou seest Dionysius spoiling Syracusa many yeares looke againe Wisd 5. 8. and thou shalt see him a poore Schoolemaster in Corinth Asceptro adferulam devolutum devolved fallen from the scepter to the ferula Thou seest Caesar
73. tongue to have a further skill than of himselfe howsoever it must needs be that their fall was before the fall of man for otherwise this Homicida this murtherer could not have been so ready in the Angell to bring man to confusion Hereupon Gen. 3. Christ said Est homicida hee is a murtherer The Scripture speaketh Iohn 8. 44. of his fall Christ saith I saw Satan like lightning fall downe Luke 10. 18. from heaven It is enough that he fell though we know not the day the yeere the houre of his fall But this is ridiculous that of the Angels that fell some make some to be better and truer than others as those that fell in the ayre and fire to be purer than those that fell in the earth and water for they make them to have falne at the first into all the foure elements but these bee toyes for they bee all Lyers Iohn 8. 44. Againe they fell not by weight as a solid substance to sticke in a place but their fall consisteth in quality that they fell from the grace wherein they were created their fall was not locall being Spirits Againe Paul speaketh as hardly of them in the ayre as Christ doth of them in the earth For the Apostle saith of them in the Ephes 2. 2. ayre That they worke in the children of disobedience As Christ saith of them in the earth He walketh saith Christ through dry places seeking rest and findeth none And then he saith I will returne to my Mat. 11. house whence I came out and when he commeth hee findeth it swept and Divels many in number yet one head among them garnished then taketh hee seven other spirits worse than himselfe and entreth in and dwelleth there and the end of that man is worse than the beginning Againe note here that Iude nameth Angels plurally where observe with me that the Scripture speaketh sometime plurally as here The Angels also which kept not their first estate And so Paul speaketh plurally We wrastle not against flesh blood but against principalities Ephes 6. 12. against powers against worldly governours princes of the darkenesse of this world And sometime singularly for Paul speaking of these evill Angels he calleth him The prince that ruleth in the ayre the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience As if Ephes 2. 2. there were but one spirit in the ayre And this it doth partly because there is a chiefty among the evill Angels one is principall and the rest are called his angels The Scripture therefore speaketh singularly as if there were but one divell So doth Saint Peter Your adversary the divell goeth about like a roaring Lion The Scripture nameth Beelzebub the prince of divels and Abaddon 1 Pet. 5. 8. king of locusts the Angel of the bottomelesse pit and the great red Dragon that fought with Michael and Asmodaeus who slew seven men in seven nights The Apostle nameth him the God of the world and the prince that ruleth in the ayre and in respect of this chiefty he is said to have a kingdome as God hath his Kingdome so the divell hath his witnesse our Saviour If Satan be divided against Satan how can his Kingdome endure I speake not of it as if Mar. 2. there were but one divell for there are infinite one man had both a deafe and dumbe divell Mary had seven divels the man Luke 7. Mat. 8. in the Gospell had a Legion That which is said of Lucifer How art thou falne from heaven ô Lucifer sonne of the morning c is utterly mistaken For surely Esa 14. 12. there are infinite divels as many as men on the earth infinite Angels fell as infinite now stand Hence commeth the world Dan. 7. to be so full of mischiefe Art thou prone to any sin thou shalt not want a divell to helpe thee forward If David bee proud of his people Satan will provoke him to number them that hee 2 Sam. 24. may be prouder If Ahabs Prophets be given to flatter the divel straightway will become a lying spirit in the mouths of foure 1 Reg. 22. hundred of them If Mary Magdalen be whorish and unchast seven divels of lechery will enter into her and make her become at last a mecenary drab If Iudas will bee a Traytor Satan will Luke 7. quickly enter into his heart and make him sell his Master If Ananias will be covetous and lye for advantage Satan will fill Iohn 13. 2. his heart and he will bend his tongue like a bow to speake lies Acts 5. Doth Absalom want a counsellor to advise him in mischiefe 2 Reg. 15. why here is Achitophel to supply his wants Doth Ahab want a comforter to rid him of his griefe for the not possessing of Naboths 1 Reg. 21. vineyard here is Iezabel to comfort him and advise him which way to effect his purpose will Achitophel hang himselfe Though the divels bee malitious spirits yet they agree in evill Go thy way saith the Divell here is an halter Is Iudas desperate will hee needs be his owne hangman and hang till he burst too here is a rope saith the Divell The Divell waiteth as a Spaniell to raise the game to increase sinne in all men hee hath an oare in every boat a hand in everie sinne in the World If yee aske how the Divell is in the wicked seeing that hee hath no Locall dimensions I answer that hee is in us as the soule is in us Intellectuall Mar. 9. Mar. 2. not sensible And hee is in us two wayes by his essence as in the Child and in the deafe man or by his Working and operation not bodily but spiritually in the minde by suggesting evill things to us so he was in Ananias he spake not vocally but by Act. 5. inspiration For so are the words of Saint Iohn to be expounded when as hee saith There was given unto him a mouth that spake great things and blasphemies c. Hee spake by the mouth of a greater beast than himselfe quoth Iohn yet hee speaketh not vocally for he wanteth the nine instruments of nature Duo labia the two lips quatuor dentes foure teeth guttur the throat c. Seven Luke 7. Divels were in Magdalen by their essence so seven and seven are in us though not by essence yet by operation and working For as the spirit of God is not in us by his essence for then we were Gods but by his graces So the evil spirit is not in all the wicked by his essence but by operation Hee worketh in the Children of disobedience Once againe I say that sometime Divels are named in the plurall number sometime but one to note a Chiefety to note that they all joyne together to uphold one kingdome For though they cannot love one another in deed yet the hatred they beare against God is as a fagot-bond that doth
and from noone unto night In the day Ios 10. of Ezechia the Sunne went tenne degrees backward In the day of Christs passion the Sunne waxed darke and the Moone lost her light the 1 Reg. 20. earth quaked the graves opened the stones brake the dead rose but in the day of Christ there shal be no Sunne no Moone no Heaven no earth For the Heavens shall passe away in manner of a tempest the Element shall melt for fervent heat the 2 Pet. 3. earth and all that is therupon shall burne and yet this burning shall not be a consuming of the substance but only a purging of the creatures from the drosse of those alterable qualities wherunto they are now subject And therfore finely to this purpose saith venerable Bede Per imaginem transeunt per essentiam subsistunt praeterit figura hujus mundi non substantia their image Beda faileth their essence remaineth the figure of this world passeth away not the substance For if the day of Christs humiliation was so glorious what shal be the day of his glorification Where then will appeare those that make the world and the things of the world their stay when the world and all the wealth and substance of the world must passe away And wher ewill the penny-father and covetous person appeare who like the serpent is ever licking up the dust of the earth and scraping up gold and silver that red and white earth when silver and gold and earth shal be no more Where will the proud ones appeare that fold themselves in silkes and loade themselves with pearles and Iewels when Iewels and pearles shal be no more Where then shall appeare the greedie oppressour whose throate hath beene an open sepulcher When he shal not find a man to oppresse any more Where shall the whoremonger appeare whose body hath beene as the Oven of a Baker when he shall find none to defile any more Where shall the slanderer appeare whose tongue hath cut like a sharpe rasor when he shall not finde any to slander any more where will the drunkard appeare that hath washed his soule with wine and strong drinke when there shal be no liquor any more Where will these magnificent and stately builders appeare when building and state shall fall all to the ground Where shall the usurer appeare who is worse than Hell for Hell torments only the bad but the usurer crusheth and oppresseth both good and bad I say where shall he appeare seeing his house here is the banke of the Divell and his purse Os diaboli the mouth of the Divell Surely he with the Divell must abide in Hell and torments surely all these and The fearfull estate of all sinners at the last judgment all other that have sowen in sinne shall reape miserie for these that have plowed wickednesse shall reape iniquitie Vanitie was their traffique and griefe will be their gaine Detestable was their life and damnable shall be their death For as they have sowen Hos 10. 13. so shall they reape they have sowen in the flesh and of the flesh they Gal. 6. 8. shall reape corruption Tribulation and anguish shall be upon the soule of every one of them when this great day shall be Let us pray therfore that in this great day Christ his wisdome may answere for ourfollie his humilitie for our pride his meekenesse for our crueltie his righteousnesse for our sinnes that this Lambe that was without spot may answere for us who like Iacobs Lambes are full of spots Ostende patri latus vulnera Shew the father thy side and wounds that thy side and wounds may heale us from these sinnes that like the blood of Abel crie against us Amen THE FOVRTEENTH SERMON VERS VII As Sodom and Gomorah and the Cities about them which in like manner as they did c. Sodomesfinne all kind of uncleanesse WEE are come to the third example of Sodome and Gomorah Wherin also he noteth their Sinne. punishment Their sinne was uncleanesse Fornication whordome Incest Buggerie their punishment hell fire the second death the burning lake fletus stridor dentium the horrour of conscience torments unspeakeable Now for their sinne it appeareth how filthy it is seeing that Paul would not have vs eate with whoremongers If any 1. Cor. 5. 11. saith he that is called a brother be a fornicator or covetous or an idolater or a rayler or a drunkard or an extortioner With such see yee eate not And in another place he would have us to be so far from this sinne that he would not have it to be once named amongst us much lesse committed For so runne his words But fornication and all uncleannesse or covetousnesse let it not be once named amongst you Ephes 5. 3. The name as it were darkeneth the Ayre and polluteth the earth the Lord Iesus condemneth the very intent of the heart even lusting after a woman though the act be not done you have heard Mat. 5. 27. 28. saith he that it was said unto them of the old time thou shalt not commit adulterie but I say unto you whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her hath committed adulterie with her alreadie in his heart Whordome is one of the manifest workes of the flesh For the Apostle reckoning up the workes of the flesh nameth adulterie Sodoms sinne all kind of uncleanesse first and placeth is as Vrias in the forefront of the battell The workes of the flesh saith he are manifest adultery fornication uncleanesse wantonnesse c. Yea this sinne brings with it horrible dishonour If a theefe saith Salomon steale to satisfy his soule because Gal. 5. 9. he is hungry men doe not so despise him but he that committeth adultery with a woman is destitute of understanding he shall find a wound Pro. 23. 27. and a dishonour that shall never be put away for a whore is a deepe ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit Yea this sinne will make a man make shipwracke of innocency and honesty A man may aswell Pro. 6. 27. take fire in his bosome and not be burnt or goe upon coales and his feet not be burnt as goe into his neighbours wife and be innocent Pro. 23. 28. The strange woman increaseth the transgressors among men so that it is impossible to be incontinent and honest It is a sinne Hos 4. 11. Pro. 9. 18. Pro. 18. Pro. 6. 26. of which a man or a woman can hardly repent For whordome and wine as the Prophet notes take away the heart The Guests of a strange woman art most of them in Hell For the wiseman further avoucheth Surely her house tendeth to death and her pathes unto the dead This sinne will bring Gods curse upon a mans estate many a man by it is brought to a morsell of bread For fornication is a fire that will devour to destruction and roote out all a mans increase
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
speare when came the bridegroom but when the virgins slept when were teares sowen 1. Sam. 26. Mat. 25. Mat. 13. Iudg. 4. cap. 16. Ier. 1. Act. 20. Mat. 26. but when men slept Shall Sisera sleep then in Iaels tent shall Sampson snort in Dalilahs lap shall Ionas sleepe under the hatches shall Eutichus sleepe in the middest of doctrine shall Iames and Iohn nod when Iudas is so busie about a mischiefe For shame rise else Sysera may have a naile in the temples of his head Sampson may have his lockes shaven Ionas may bee hurled over the hatches c. Satan may surprise us all Nicephorus telleth us of seven boyes of Bethel that slept nine-score yeeres but I am sure that some of us have slept forty fifty sixty seventy eighty yeeres I thinke that many are such sleepers as they will never awake till the last blast of the Archangell that shall awake all For the Lord will discend from Heaven with a showt and with the voyce of the Archangel and 1 Thess 4. 16. trumpe of God and then they shall sleepe no longer but awake whether they will or no. Many sleepe all their life and dye sleeping The Divell cannot hurt if we be watchfull too but this trumpe will awake them but then it will bee too late As many are of a drousie constitution like unto the disciples to whom Christ came the first and the second time and found them asleepe For their eyes were heavy So is it with many in regard of their soules Languido sunt ingenio they are of a dull and drousie disposition and the Divell hath so besprinckled their temples Mat. 26. 43. with spirituall Opium of evill motions and suggestions that they are fallen into a lethargy irrecoverable and it may bee said of them as of Saul and his troupes A dead sleepe of God was upon them 1 Sam. 26. 12. and they could not awake A man that hath an enemy that watcheth all opportunity to do 1 Pet. 5. 8. him hurt will watch to prevent him Now the Divell watching day and night to devoure our soules wee should watch to save them Debilis est hostis Diabolus qui non vincit nisi volentem torpentem the Divell is a weake enemy hee vanquisheth none but Greg. him that is willing and sleepy Ille suggerit mala tuum est repellere he suggesteth evill but it is thy duty to repell and put backe the evil Latrare potest non mordere si caveamus He may barke but hee cannot Bern. bite if we be circumspect and take heed to our selves As a charmed Adder he can hisse but he cannot sting Quoties resistimus caute toties diabolum superamus Angelos laetificamus animas a salvamus Deum honoramus As often as we resist warily so often we overcome the Divell rejoyce the Angels save our soules and honor God At homo sine circumspectione but a man without circumspection and diligent regard of himselfe is as a City without a wall as an house without a doore as an hoast of men without a Sentinell our danger is great therefore saith Christ If thou wilt not watch I will come on Apoc. 3. 3. thee as a theefe and thou shalt not know what houre I will come upon thee And againe Behold I come as a theefe blessed is hee that watcheth and keepeth his garments of righteousnesse and holinesse wherewith cap. 16. 13. wee are clad through Iesus Christ Lest hee walke naked and men see his filthinesse Early and betimes we ought to awake from sleepe as the little birds which chirpe and sing and praise God earely Ambr. Indecens est solem invenire Christianum in lecto It is unseemely and unfit that the Sunne should find a Christian in his bed Homo somno lentus est imago mortis a sleepy sluggish man is deaths image Aug. Et mors ab inferis venisse fingitur and the Poet feineth death to come from Hell Let us learne from the base creatures The Bern. Nightingale keepeth her egges from the Serpent and passeth the night not sleeping but singing Looke upon the Bees they are neither sleepy nor sluggish for some warre some search diligently the flowers some make Waxe some gather Hony some build cels some keepe watch and ward not a Bee idle The little Conies watch two keep Sentinell every night and with a pat with their foote give notice to the rest to returne home Let Christians learne from all these to be more carefull and watchfull and not A Christian must alwayes watch to be of the number of these sleepers Sinne is this sleepe and sinners are these sleepers let us not sleepe as others sleepe but Awake to righteousnesse and sinne not and being awaked let us 1 Thes 5. 6. watch watch we cannot till we be awaked and when we are once awaked we must ever watch Nam vigilare lene est peruigilare grave to awake it is nothing but to watch Hic labor hoc opus Martial lib. 9. cap. 70. est there is the worke indeed Vigilandum est semper multae insidiae sunt bonis watch we must continually because our enemy continually lies in wait for us A thing rather to be regarded because it is not here as in a worldly watch where some watch for the rest and the rest sleepe while they wake wee cannot watch here by a Deputy no man can watch for us but every one must watch for himselfe Other may watch over us as the Ministers who in the Word are called Watchmen but none can watch for us every one in person must ever watch for himselfe Let us Ezech. 3. 17. not sleepe therefore as other men but let us watch and bee sober but we watch not but sleepe out our lives Tullie telleth us of men whom he calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui nunquam vident Solem orientem aut occidentem which never saw the Sunne Libro 2. de finibus rising nor setting at the rising of the Sunne they are in their beds at the Sunne setting they are drunken in the Tavernes So many of us watch no time but lose all time we spend few houres in prayer fewer in hearing and reading fewest in meditation and thanksgiving The generall sinne of this age is security we are sleepers and sleepe in all good things we are carelesse I appeale to your consciences this day if it be not so I call heaven and earth to witnesse against you that if ye sleep still and wil not awake and watch God will arise against you like a Giant refreshed with wine and raine upon you snares fire and brimstone this shall bee your portion to drinke Psal 11. Secondly he calleth them defilers of the flesh carnall wantons uncleane who keepe not their bodies in holinesse but in the lust of concupiscence as Paul said of the Gentiles This sinne of uncleannesse is so much the greater in as much as God
and with his foot pusht it off againe Hildebrand caused Henry the 4. to stand three dayes at his gates bare-footed and bare-legged before hee would open his gates unto him Thus have they tossed government up and downe and have put them out of their places Chrysostome and Tertullian call them the chiefe men of the earth and next to God and Saint Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most excellent Our latter Papists 1 Pet. 2. 13. call civill Magistrates carnall Lords humane creatures and is not this to take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 soveraigne and supreme authority from them that ought to have it which Iesus Christ denyed to his Ministers and servants saying The Kings of the Gentiles Luke 22. 25. beare rule over them and they that beare rule over them are called gratious Lords but you shall not so Let us therefore Brethren be subject to the higher power and never despise government Let us subject our selves to every ordinance of Ro◠13. 1. man for the Lords sake For by them we reape much good for governours are appointed of God For the punishment of evill doers but 1 Tim. 2. for the laud of them that doe well under them we lead a quiet and a godly life and where as there is no government there is no order and whereas there is no order Ibi ruinae ostium patet the doore is open to ruine and destruction Hereupon saith a Father Malum quidem est ubi est nullus principatus c. It is a passing evill whereas there is no government for take from the Quier the Chanter and the Song will neither be in good tune nor in good order take from the Souldiers the Captaine and the same cannot march on either in due number or decent manner take from the Ship the Pilote and it must needs miscarry take from the flocke the Shepheard and they must needs be scattered and so take from the people Governours and they must come to destruction ye see therefore the good of Government And to disobey oras Iude speaketh To despise Government it is dangerous Paul saith They that resist shall receive to themselves Rom. 13. damnation And he reckoneth up disobedient persons among those that shall not come into the Kingdome of God I will conclude Gal. 5. with the admonition of Salomon My sonne feare the Lord and the King and meddle not on any pretence with them that are seditious Prov. 24. 21. and despise not government If Governours be impious pray for their piety if tyrannous pray to God to inspire them with clemency Pray for Kings saith Paul yea though they were such as Gentiliter vixerunt lived Heathenishly saith Optatus Milenitanus THE EIGHTEENTH SERMON VERS IX Yet Michael the Archangel when hee strove against the Divell and disputed about the body of Moses durst not blame him with cursed speaking but said the Lord rebuke thee Raylers confuted by Michael the archangels example THese words containe the confutation of those heady and unruly spirits that despise government and hee confuteth them two waies first Michaell the Archangell would not raile in a dispute betweene him and Satan how dare then these pesants base and vile men take upon them to speake evill for there is no comparison betweene men and Angels for God hath made men lower than the Angels indeed in the last day our Psal 8. 5. Mat. 22. honour shall be like unto them but not till then Secondly Michael and the Angels durst not rayle on the Divell that cursed creature how dare then these chips and draine of the people and skum of the world raile on Rulers and dignities ordained of God Or the reason may thus be contracted An Archangell would not give judgement these men judge and censure all estates an Archangell dispute these condemne hearing no cause an Archangell durst not raile these dare speake all evill for Pride is a chaine unto them and cruelty covereth them as a garment They are Ps 73. 6. 8 9. licentious and speake wickedly they talke presumptuously They set No Scripture lost that is necessary for salvation their mouth against Heaven and their tongue walketh thorow the earth This History Totidem syllabis is not recorded in the Bible and yet we must not thinke that Iude fained it but rather that there is much Scripture lost which we have not seeing that Antiochus in the Law and Dioclesian in the Primitive Church burned the Scriptures and all Libraries we want the Booke of the battels of the Lord mentioned by Moses the Booke of the righteous Numb 21. 14. cited by Iosua and we want much of the Chronicles of Israel Ios 10. 13. 2 Reg. 16. and Iuda we have not the Bookes of Shemaiah the Prophet and Iddo the Seer the Booke of Nathan the Prophet and the Booke 2 Chron. 12. 15. of the Prophecie of Ahiah wee want many of Salomons Bookes who wrote of beasts stones herbes trees from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysope on the wall as you may read 1 Reg. 4. Origen 1 Reg. 4. Origine lib. ◠de principiis saith that this Text was taken from a Booke called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ascention of Moses so say Clemens Alexandrinus Didimus and Athanasius For so say they Paul alledged Epimenides Aratus and Menander why might he not then quote this saying Others saw that it was delivered by tradition from hand to hand Tit. 1. 12. Act. 17. 29. 1 Cor. 15. 23. 2 Tim. 3. 8. So Iannes and Iambres are named and that speech uttered by the Apostle Remember the words of the Lord Iesus how that he said It is a blessed thing to give rather than to receive It is not orderly so written in any place of Scripture yet it is gathered by divers places Acts. 20. 35. in effect Papists here cry out that Iude alledged some prophane Author or some tradition ergo non solum haerendum est Scripturis therefore we must not onely cleave unto the Scriptures I confesse Paul cited some things from prophane Writers but it was not to confirme any dogmaticall conclusion concerning faith and beleefe for as touching these things they cited only the Scriptures but when they came to intreat of manners then they borrowed some things of the Ethnicke and Heathen and that to this end to shame Christians But Christ said Scriptum est it is written non traditum est not is it a tradition Thus Sadnele answered Turrianus and so I in this cause answer Stapleton Staphilus and the Iesuites Michael is here named who is also named by Daniel and by Dan. 12. 2. Apoc. 12. 7. Saint Iohn this Michael is here called an Archangell but I will first speake concisely of Angels then of Archangels In the Scripture five good Angels are onely named The first is Michael as here in this my Text and also by the Prophet Daniel the Dan. 10. 13. Dan. 8. 16. Luk. 1. Esdr
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
World for sinne The drowning of the old World the burning of Sodom the destruction of Ierusalem were assured tokens that the Lord would not put up the infinite iniquities of the World but will judge it and punishit the pleading of the Conscience foretelleth a judgement to come the sentence of of death pronounced in Paradise and renewed with such terrour on mount The Lord Iesus Christ shall iudge Sinai did evidently assure us that God meant to call men to judgement the lesser judgements in this life are fore-runners to this great and last judgement the dragging of men out of the World by death is nothing else but an Alarum to judgement God hath promised that there shall be a judgement I will contend with thee in iudgement saith God The nations shall see my iudgements saith God I will sit and iudge the people saith God Now all the promises of God are Yea and Amen so firmely ratified that Heaven and Earth shall passe away but his Word and promise shall not passe The day and the night may faile in their courses the Sunne and Moone may faile in their motions the Earth may faile and totter upon her props the Sea and Rivers may faile and bee emptied of their waters but the promises of God shall not faile God promised a floud and it came Et qui verus erat in diluvio cur non in iudicio He that performed it in the one why should he not performe it in the other The Iustice of God requireth that there shall be a judgement Hîc optimi pessimè agunt Here the best men are the worst used and most wronged Here Iezabel sits braving in a window whilest Ieremy lies sticking in the mud Here Dives sits in his palace cloathed richly faring daintily while Lazarus lies at his gates naked and hungry Here Herod will please Herodias though it be with the head of Iohn the Baptist Nonne visitabit haec shall not God visit come to iudgement for these things Certainly iudgement will come and then downe go the wicked and up the godly horrour hell and death shall be the doome of the wicked heaven ioy and life shall be the lot of the righteous Thus yee see there shall be a Iudgement I will passe on to the next Who shall be the Iudge in this Iudgement The Lord The Lord saith Enoch commeth with thousands of his Saints to give iudgement c. And in that the Lord shall be our Iudge there will be first rectum iudicium a right and true iudgement for the Lord is true and cannot faile either Ignorantia legis as not knowing the Law For he gave the Law and will iudge according to the Law nor yet Ignorantia facti as not seeing the fact for his seven eyes goe thorow the World Yee may interpret them if yee will seven thousand thousand eyes Zach. 4. Againe if the Lord bee the Iudge there will bee aequum iudicium his Iudgement will be righteous and good for Necerrat ipse nec sustinet errantem He can neither sinne himselfe nor yet indure a wilfull sinner wee cannot corrupt him he hath no need of our goods But when he saith The Lord shall be the Iudge and come to iudgement yee shall understand that this word Lord is taken sometime essentially and then it signifieth all the three persons in the Trinity and so it is taken in the Psalme The Lord even the most mighty hath spoken and called the round World c. And indeed in Christ shall iudge in his humanity respect of authority the whole Trinity shall be the Iudge but sometime this word Lord is taken personally and then it signifieth the second person in the Trinity as here in this my Text The Lord shall come to Iudgement For in respect of the execution of this iudgement Christ alone shall iudge And why Christ And not the Father and the Holy Ghost First because Saint Iohn tells us The Father hath given all iudgement to the Sonne Iohn 5. And as Saint Bernard expounds the words non ut Filius suus sed ut Filius Hominis not as hee is the Sonne of God but as hee is the Sonne of the blessed Virgin borne in the world 2. The Sonne iudgeth and not the Father because it best befitteth a King to iudge his owne subiects and we are now the immediate subiects of the Sonne Indeed in our creation wee were absolutely the subjects of God but by rebelling against God we became the slaves and vassals of the Divell and not the subjects of God yet now being redeemed from death and from him that hath the power of death the Divell by the precious bloud of the Sonne of God we are become the subjects of the Sonne not that this is to be understood Exclusive as excluding from the worke of our redemption the Father and the Holy Ghost sed AppretiativeÌ„ as the Schoolemen speake but because the price of our redemption was paid by the Sonne and not by the person of the Father or Holy Ghost and in that the Sonne did sustinere poenas undergoe our punishment et procurare praemia purchase our reward hee must dispensare praemia poenas both dispose of our punishment and reward But forasmuch as there be two natures in Christ the Divine and humane it may be questioned in what forme or Nature hee shall iudge Saint Augustine answereth Eadem forma iudicabit te qua sub Iudice sâ—etit pro te In the same nature he shall iudge thee wherein he stood before the Iudge for thee he shall iudge us not as God but as man according to that in the Gospell Yee shall see the Sonne of Man not of God but of Man comming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory Veniet qui Deus non qua Deus he that shall iudge us is God but he shall not iudge us as he is God Vrsinus in his Catechisme pag. 451. giveth three reasons of this Quia per eum Mediatorem glorificanda est Ecclesia per quem iustificata est because the Church is to bee glorified by that Mediator by which she was iustified SecundoÌ„ ob consolationem nostram dum scimus illum fore Iudicem qui redimit nos est enim frater noster caro nostra Secondly for our comfort to give us to understand that he shall bee our Iudge which redeemed vs and is our brother and our flesh Tertio propter iustitiam Dei quia filium hominis contumelia affecerunt Thirdly for the Iustice of God because the Sonne of Man hath beene much reproched with many contumelies and slanders If any man will object that Christ saith That Though Christ shall come in humanity yet with power and great glory he came not to iudge the World but to save the World I answere that these words are not to be understood of his second but of his first comming into the World then indeed he came to save the World but now to iudge the
of the Ayre He counteth all the haires of our head Hee putteth all the teares of the afflicted into his bottle Hee knoweth the cattell upon a thousand mountaines All our members were written in his booke before we were borne Now if hee call the starres by their names if hee number our steps if hee tell the sparrowes if hee count the haires of our head if hee register the teares of the afflicted if hee know all the cattell on the mountaines if he wrote our members in his booke long before wee were borne then surely hee hath written all our sinnes in his booke as is said by Ieremy The sinne of Ier. 17. 1. Iudah is written with a penne of â—ron and with a point of a Diamond graven upon the table of his heart Infinite are the sinnes of one yeere of one moneth of one weeke yea of one day how many vaine thoughts idle words ungodly workes passe from us in one day David said they passed the haires of his head hee said that hee could not number them Job said that wee drinke iniquity like water Esay said Wee draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sinne like cart ropes Salomon saith that the mouth of the wicked swalloweth iniquity A thousand idle words yea oaths wee utter in one day Septi es in die cadit justus the righteous sinneth seven times a day that is many times in a day what by committing of evill what by omitting of good how often then in our whole life and yet not one sin doth escape God What is done in earth is registred in heaven in one moment it is in Gods debt-booke And herein is Gods omniscience herein differeth the knowledge of God from that of Thoughts and words shall be iudged as well as workes men and divels Deus scit praesentia praeterita futura God knoweth things past present and future they know not things future God onely knoweth the thoughts of our hearts they onely our words and workes not our thoughts Yea every thought also shall bee judged We say Thought is free but God shall arrest it indite it arraigne it it shall hold up the hand at the barre of God for the Law is spirituall and bindeth as well the spirit as the body so saith the Apostle We know that the Law is spirituall so that it can judge the affections of Rom. 7. 14. Psal 44. 21. the heart God knoweth the secrets of the heart A true hand and a true heart a chast body and a chast minde must goe together else all is lost O Ierusalem wash thy heart from thy wickednesse Ier. 4. 14. that thou maiest be saved how long shall thy wicked thoughts remaine within thee Not deedes but thoughts must bee washed and cleansed As our deeds and thoughts so our words shall be judged All the cruell speakings which wicked sinners have spoken against God shall come to iudgement It will bee said here that none are so mad as to speake against God Yes and men speake against God two wayes First when they speake against any ordinance of God 1 Secondly when we speake against the servants of God 2 Against the ordinance of God as thus Stephen charged the Iewes that they resisted the holy Ghost yet resisted they but his Act. 7. 51. 1 Cor. 10. 21. word The Corinthians were said to provoke God for being present at Idols feasts The Apostle charged the Iewes to rise up against the Lord Iesus for that they resisted the preaching the doctrine of Act. 4. 27. Iesus Againe men speake against God when they speake against the servants of God as thus Christ codemneth Paul for persecuting Act. 9. 4. him yet persecuted he but the Saints of Ierusalem The people in contemning Samuel cast God away So God told Samuel 1 Sam. 8. 7. They have not cast thee away but mee away And well said said Gamaleel that to strive against the Apostles had beene to strive Act. 5. 39. against God So Moses told Israel Your murmurings are not against Exod. 16. 7 8. us but against the Lord. But among all that speake against God our swearers are the chiefe The Prophet said Hee was a man of polluted lips but no Esay 6. lip more polluted than the swearers they spue out their venim against God spit him in the teeth justle with him for his chaire throw him into the channel trample upon him with their filthy feet making his name a tennise ball a page and waiting-man to their choller Because of oaths the land shall mourne and mens mouthes now are dyed red with oaths they make no conscience to speake against God many mens hearts be all earth their stomakes all water their braines all ayre and their tongues all fire being set on fire of hell Saint Ambrose telleth us of a dogge that pulled Swearing and falshood came into the world together out the throate of him that murdered his master Shall a dogge doe this for him that giveth him a crust of bread and shall not our wrath kindle against them that have killed the Iam. 3. 6. Ambr. libr. 6. Hexam Lord Iesus Mens sinnes mens oathes mens blasphemies and perjuries have pierced him and nailed him and let out his heart blood These were the nailes and speare that lanced him Iudas Pilate Herod could have done nothing unto him if these our sinnes had not given them strength One saith that three members of the body are hardly governed the heart the reines the Vinaldus libr. de cont tongue In the heart is vanity in the reines is pleasure in the tongue is falshood perjury blasphemy He that can rule these three is a persect man So saith the Apostle If a man sinne not in Iam. 3. 2 3 4. word he is a perfect man and able to bridle all the body behold wee put bittes into the horses monthes that they should obey us and wee turne about all their body behold also the ships that though they be great and are driven of sierce winds yet are they turned about with avery small rudeer wheresoever the governour listeth Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth of great things Behold how great a thing a little fire kindleth and the tongue is a fire yea a World of wickednesse c. Better it is that men should never speake then to sweare and blaspheme and so speake against God Vita mors est in potestate linguae life and death is in the power of the tongue Metalls are iudged by the sound whether they be gold or brasse A man is iudged by his speech whether he be good or evill if his words be brazen his heart cannot be golden Chrysostome noteth that swearing came into the world when all untrueth entred into the World and all villany In the first age men were beleeved on their word but in the ages following they were scarce beleeved on their oath lying brought swearing swearing brought per
all these were sinnefull and grievous unto God Miriam Moses Sister for murmuring was punished with Leprosie and shee became a Leper white as snow The labourers in Num. 12. 10. the vineyard which came at the first houre bare the burthen heat of the day murmured at the master of the vineyard because they received no more wages thā they that came at the last houre but ye know his answere Friend I doe thee no wrong didst thou not agree Mat. 20. 13 14 15. with me for a penny take that which is thine owne and goe thy way I will give to this last as much as to thee Is it not lawfull for me to doe as I will with mine owne Is thine eye evill because I am good c. So the Pharises murmured against Christ because hee did eate with Publicans but hee reproved them And in these last times the Gnostickes Valentinians Menander Cerinthus Elion Marcion and some others cease not to vomit out their poyson against the Sonne of God But Ismael shall not alway grudge at Isaac the Babylonians shall not alway repine at the songs of Sion Arrius shall not ever barke at the Sonne of God Macedonius shall not ever murmur against the holy Ghost Ismael shall bee Gen. 21. Psal 137. hurled out the Babylonians dashed in pieces Arrius voided his guts in secessu in the common Iakes Macedonius rotted in the earth Such a plague Iohn noteth saying And the fourth Angell powred out his viall on the Sun it was given unto him to torment Apoc. 16. 8 9 10 11. men with heat of fire and men boyled in great heat and blasphemed the name of God which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory And the fifth Angell powred out his viall upon the throne of the beast and his kingdome waxed darke and they did gnaw their tongues for sorrow and blasphemed the God of Heaven for their paines and their sores and repented not of their workes Finely therefore answered Iob his wife What shall we receive good things at the hands of God and not receive evill Wee must say with Paul Iob 2. 10. Novi saturari novi esurire I know to be full and I know to hunger Phil. 2. 12. for he that cannot beare all states can beare no state hee that cannot hunger without fainting can hardly bee full without surfeting hee that cannot beare adversity without murmuring That is best that God allots we ought therewith to be content cannot beare prosperity without pride and arrogancy hee that is ashamed of a freese coate will bee proud of a veluet coate he that cannot beare a private life if he were a ruler would bee a Tyrant he that cannot indure sicknesse if hee had health would bee a wanton An ancient Father calleth murmurers or a diaboli the Divels mouth but wee must doe all Irenaeus Phil. things without murmuring we must be like ground that can indure all weather raine and drought like shippes that can saile at all times in a storme and in a calme like the stone in Thracia that neither burneth in the fire nor sinketh in the water Felicity consisteth not in the things of this life therefore we should not murmure for the want of them Iob blesseth the name of God in his greatest afflictions murmureth not Of the godly is often said That the praises of God are ever in their mouthes then not murmuring Psal 135. 21. Murmurers want Davids staffe so comfortable unto him therefore we should avoid it Seneca saith Optimum est pati Psal 23. 4. quod emendare non potes Deum quo authore cuncta proveniunt sine murmur atione comitare It is best to suffer what thou canst not amend and to follow God from whom as from a fountaine all things do come without murmuring Some will have faire weather some foule some wet some drie if they have it not they repine and murmure Holcot commentarying upon the booke of Wisdome hath many prety histories and among many he telleth us a tale of a Hermite that having sowne pot-hearbes in his garden desired faire weather and foule weather as he iudged to be best for his hearbes and so had still granted of God according to his request but not one hearbe came up whereupon hee thought that there was a generall failing of hearbes in all places till on a time walking to another Hermite not farre off hee saw with him a very excellent crop Then he told him what hee had begged and obtained touching the weather and what effect it had Whereunto the other Hermite answered Putabas tesapientiorem Deo ipse ostendit tibi fatuitatem tuam c. Thou diddest thinke thy selfe wiser then God and hee hath shewed thee thy folly I for my part never asked any other weather then God should please to send I would this old Hermite might teach many in these dayes ever to rely upon God to take all things which he sendeth thankefully without murmuring And the only way to represse this murmuring and repining against God is first to consider the providence of God ruling all things in heaven and in earth and overswaying all creatures that nothing falleth out without his will and pleasure as our Saviour teacheth Are not two sparrowes sold for a farthing and one of Mat. 10. 29 30. them shall not fall on the ground without your Father Feare yee not therefore yee are of more valew then many sparrowes For who giveth us our bodies who cloatheth the Lillies that Salomon in all his glory was not like one of them Who feedeth the yong Ravens Earthly things will not discontent it affection bee heavenly that cry unto him Who sustaineth the wicked that are his enemies Who provideth all things for man in the beginning before he was made and created Is it not the Lord whose all the beasts of the forrest are and the cattell upon a thousand mountaines Let us then never murmure but rest upon Gods providence and he will feed us and cloath us and care for us A second remedy to represse this murmuring is to roote out all distrustfull cares and to bee content with such things as wee Hebr. 13. have already and to beare with patience whatsoever the Lord sendeth This mind was in Iacob in his journey he did not desire silver and gold house or lands but only a competent and a convenient living If God will be with me and keep me in my journey which I goe and will give me bread to eate and cloathes to put on then shall the Gen. 28. 20. Lord be my God So the Apostle teacheth Godlinesse is great gaine if a man be content with that he hath And againe I have learned in 1 Tim. 6. 6. Phil. 4. 11. whatsoever estate I am therewith to be content The last remedy to keep us from murmuring is to set our affections upon Heavenly things and not upon
we shall never be better then when by prayer we creep as it were into our Heavenly Fathers bosome And thus wee see the profit power and pleasure of prayer the experience of this hath made good men to spend their dayes in prayer David rose at midnight to pray Daniel prayed three Psal 119. Dan. 6. Hist tripart times a day It is reported of Saint Iames that his knees were horne-hoofed with prayer and Nazianzene writeth of his sister Gorgonia that shee was so given to prayer that her knees seemed to cleave to the earth by reason of her continuall kneeling at prayer and Gregory in his dialogues writeth of his Aunt Trasilla being dead that shee was found to have her elbowes as hard as hornes which hardnesse she got by leaning to a deske at which shee used to pray and Saint Ierome writing of Paul the Hermite affirmeth that hee was found dead kneeling upon his knees holding up his hands and lifting up his eyes so that the very dead corps seemed yet to live and by a kind of religious gesture to pray still to God The Iewes beganne the day and ended it with Levit. 1. prayer It is said of Anthony the Hermite that having spent the whole night in prayer hee chid the Sunne at the rising of it saying O Sol mimis properè nobis redijsti O Sunne thou hast returned to us over-soone I am troubled with thy light the greatnesse of Divers kinds of prayer in respect of matter thy light hindreth mee from contemplation and the light of my God and of Bessarion that hee passed twelve dayes and nights in contemplation pavimentum erat lectus the pavement was his bed water his drinke barly his bread and rootes his dainties If we compare with these men we shall be found like the Pigmaei in respect of the great Giants Wee be not men of prayer wee rise in the morning as the wild Asse to his prey and we lie downe at night as dogges do in their kennell The Euchites pray too much wee too little or not at all the Papists prayed in the night but wee neither day nor night But of prayer in respect of the matter there bee divers kindes Petition Deprecation Intercession Expostulation Petition is for good things Deprecation to remove evill things Intercession for others Expostulation against others The Apostle Paul devideth prayer into Supplications Prayers Intercessions 1 Tim. 2. 2. Thankesgiving Supplications are for the removing of evill whether it bee malum culpae or Malum poenae the evill of sinne or the evill of punishment Prayers are for the obtayning of good for God will give good Mat. 7. 11. things to them that aske of him Intercessions are in the behalfe of others so Moses made intercession for the people saying Forgive them or els race mee out of Exod. 32. the booke of life which thou hast written So Christ made intercession for his crucifiers Father forgive them they know not what they doe Thankesgivings are for benefits received Mat. 27. And these foure the Apostle referreth in another place to two heads 1. Requests 2. Thankesgiving Phil. 4. 6. Vnder request hee comprehendeth supplication prayer and intercession But the most usuall distinction is grounded on 1 Thess 5. 17 18. which is Petition and Thankesgiving And in all these kindes of prayer a Christian must be conversant and use them as occasion serves and thus yee see the distinct kindes of prayer in respect of the matter There are other distinctions in regard of the manner the first Mentall and Vocall Mentall is an inward lifting up of the heart to God without any outward manifestation of the same by word such as Moses was when God said unto him Why cryest thou to me yet hee spake Prayer divers in respect of the manner never a word with his tongue onely he sighed and groned Vocall is that which is uttered with words as was the Publicans Exod 14. 15. Luk. 18. when hee cried God be mercifull unto me a sinner Secondly A prayer in regard of the manner of it is Sudden or Composed Sudden when as upon some occasion the heart is lifted up to God either by sighing or speaking such as was Nehemiahs prayer Nehe. 2. 4. and these are called the ejaculations of the heart which as one saith are to bee used as salt with meate with every bit of meate wee commonly take a little salt to season it so when wee doe any thing we must lift up our hearts to God and season our busines by prayer Composed prayer is the powring forth of some solemne prayer to God privately by our selves and such were the prayers that Daniel used to make three times a day Dan. 6. 10. Thirdly prayer is either Conceived or Prescribed Conceived prayer is that which hee who uttereth the prayer inventeth and conceiveth of himselfe and such are most of the prayers recorded in the Scripture Prescribed is when a set constant forme of prayer is layed downe before-hand a thing very frequent in the Scriptures in Numbers God prescribed a set forme of blessing for the Priests continually Numb 6. 23 24. to use and the 92. Psalme was prescribed A song for the Sabbath Mat. 6. day and Christ himselfe prescribed an excellent forme of prayer and S. Paul observes a set forme of blessing in the beginning and end of his Epistles Fourthly prayer is either Publike or Private Publike when a whole Congregation with one joint consent call upon God Private is that which is made by some few together as Elisha 2 Reg. 4. 33. and his servant were alone in a chamber praying for the Shunamites child or when a man prayeth by himselfe alone as did Cornelius and of this kinde of prayer Christ speaketh thus When thou Act. 10. 30. prayest enter into thy chamber and shut the dore and pray to thy Father in secret and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly All these prayers must wee send up to God in the mediation of Christ Nam quid dulcius quà m Genitorem in nomine Vnigeniti invocare Aug. What is sweeter then to call upon the Father in the name of his onely begotten Sonne And they must bee powred out with feare and reverence Our hearts must bee raised from the dunghill of the earth to the glorious Throne of Heaven as the Prophet saith Let our hearts be lifted up Our gestures must be reverent and humble and kneeling is the fittest gesture in prayer Lament 3. 41. and they must bee delivered with fervency For the prayer of Iam. 5. the righteous avayleth much if it bee fervent Prayer is for all times and all things Yea in prayer wee must bee diligent Paul would have the Thessalonians to pray alwayes nay indesinenter orare to pray without ceasing but if any man say they cannot spend so much time 1 Thess 5. 17. in prayer they have other things to attend I
earth Ezech. 22. 14. shall tremble before him All faces shall gather blackenesse the earth shall tremble before him the heavens shall shake the Sun and the Moone Ioel 2. 6. 10. shall be darkned and the starres shall withdraw their shining If a Barne were full of Corne having tenne thousand quarters of wheate in it and a bird should every yeere carry away one kirnel in her neb it would have an end at last If a Mountaine were twenty miles high and but one shovell full of earth in a yeere taken from it in time it would deminish and come to nothing but hell deminisheth not there is no end of it When the wicked have beene frying in hell so many hundred yeeres as there be piles of grasse growing upon the face of the earth nay so many thousand yeeres as there be sands or drops of water in God usually proportions punishment to sinne the Sea nay so many million of yeeres as there be creatures in heaven and in earth yet are they as farre from being delivered out of the captivity of hell as they were the first day of their entrance I say therefore of Gods judgements as Paul said of Gods wisedome O alitudo O the depth of the riches both of the wisedome and knowledge of God! O the depth of the justice and judgements of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out Now the very Papists make foure places of torment 1. Infernum Hell 2. Purgatorium Purgatory 3. Limbum puerorum non baptizatorum A place where were children that dye without baptisme and 4. Limbum patrum A place where the Fathers were Now saw they Christ never descended into Hell to deliver any from thence but he brought the Fathers E limbo patrum in his passion for in hell there is no redemption Sermones discipuli Ser. 156. By the way note that as the Sodomites burned in the fire of uncleane lust so God burned them with the fire of his vengeance Poena saepe peccato respondet the punishment is oftentrmes answerable to the sinne committed and done God punisheth men Aug. according to the quality of their sinnes The Philistines adored 1 Sam. 5. Mice and rattes so they were plagued with mice and rattes And as they drew the arke out of his boundes so God drew their intrales out of their course And as Ieroboam overthrew Gods worship in one Altar erected at Ierusalem So God overthrew his 1 Reg. 13. Altar at Bethel And as he restrayned the hands of Israel to offer to the true God but to his golden Calves so his hand dried up God punisheth drunkards with dropsies and then Woe to the Crowne of pride the drunkards of Ephraim And he punisheth the Esa 28. 1. covetous men with theeves who spoise them as they have spoiled Cap. 30. And he punisheth the adulterers with pox and such like evills For the Adulterer many tymes carieth a body to the grave full of maladies and a soule to hell to eternall fire full of iniquities and he punisheth Tyrants by men as bloody as themselves and thus he punished Adonizedeck For he had cut off the fingers and toes of many kings at last his owne fingers and toes were Iudg. 1. cut off For With what measure we mete to others the same shall be measured to us againe The howse of valois having druncke blood voided blood and of English persecuters died many strangely oh then let us take heed how we offend For God will come in judgement he will be a swift witnesse and a sharpe Iudge against vs as here against the Sodomites who were not only destroied with fire and brimstone from Heaven temporally but also suffer the vengeance of eternall fire And this example of Gods vengeance is so famous that it is recorded by most writers both prophane and divine Among prophane Solinus Cornelius Tacitus Strabo Stephanus Pliny Aristotle have written of it Among divine Moses Deut 29. and Esay cap 1. Sodome not punished alone but those that partooke with her and 13. Ieremy also cap. 23. and 44. Ezekiel in like manner writeth of it as it appeareth cap. 16. Amos in his fourth chapter Sophany in his second chapter and the Lord Iesus in the 16. of Mathew mentioneth it and so also doth S. Paul Rom. 9. and S. Peter in his second Epistle and second chapter and S. Iohn in the 11. of the Apocalips Let us therfore make profit and Clense our selves 2 Cor. 7. 1. of all filthynes of the flesh and spirit lest we also suffer The vengeance of eternall fire And further observe with me that not only Sodome was destroied and suffered the vengeance of eternall fire but many Cities besides Moses Deut. 29. and the Prophet Hosea cap 11. besides Sodome nameth 3. Citties more Gomorra Zeboim Admah and unto these some other writers ad Phagor so that five Cities suffred the vengeance of eternall fire Egesippus and Stephanus say that 10. Cities were destroied and some say 13. Iosephus Tertullian Augustine and others write that the aire there is so infectious that if a bird flieth over it it dieth presently and that no creature can live there and the apples and other fruite that grow there howsoever they seeme pleasant unto the eye yet if you do but touch them they fall to Cinder and ashes The summe of all is to admonish us not to follow strang flesh as they did But to keep our vessels in holynesse and not in the lust of concupiscence As Sodome and Gomor 1 Thess 4. And the Cities about them did lest God destroy vs with fire as hee did them and lest we suffer The vengeance of eternall fire as they doe And now brethren you looke that I should say some thing as touching the fearefull accident of fire that since my last being in this chaire of Moses have happened among you and hath burnt up and consumed not an house or two but almost your whole towne and that no small towne but the chiefest and the greatest in these parts being the chiefest mart towne in all the hundred as the Lord hath come to Dereham and Aylisham Beckles and other neighbour townes so now at the last hee is come to you your sinnes have brought downe this judgement of God upon you therefore Washe you make you Esa 1. 16. 17. cleane put away your evill intents from before God cease from doing evill learne to doe well otherwise the Lords hand wil be Amoâ— 3. stretched out still against you and doe not thincke that this fire came by chance For There is no evill done in the City but the Lord doth it himselfe And note the providence of God that the Psal 118. Lament 2. 1. doctrine of burning of Sodome should be now handled when this fearefull judgement of fire fell upon you This is the Lord doing and it is marveilous in our eyes As David speaketh in another case As The Lord