for wronging Vincent so Which thing I know he chiefly doth desire And then Gods greatnesse goodnesse will admire R. S. To all my Friends in St. GEORGE his Parish in Southwarke Mr Friends for I suppose I 've some such there Profit I pray you by these Sermons here And I will pray that God who must doe all Would make his Spirit on your spirits fall That so in truth and spirit you may doe What Presse as well as Pulpet moves you to For I must tell you by these presents here If you practice not what I preached there That not alone the words which then I spake Will you without excuses wholly make Not onely all the lines which now I print Will cry against you and will never stint But more and chiefly all the wrongs which then I did sustaine from those unruly men For preaching these unto you will complaine That they i th gracious sence were felt in vaine And surely then ith grievous sence you le see That not a word a line a blow can bee Receiv'd in vaine indeed but record beare Against all such as smite and see and heare And I would have you be assur'd as well If all shall help one precious soul from hell I will esteeme my suffrings there as sweet As any thanks wherewith I elsewhere meet Read Friends remember ruminate and doe So you le be safe from hell and crowned too Yours H. Vincent Nomine sum Vincens animas ego vincere quaero O vincam vincam gloria magna Deo The Summe of Mr. HUMFRY VINCENTS Sermons as they were preached and penned by his owne mouth and hand ISAIAH 30. last verse last branch The breath of the Lord as a streame of brimstone kindleth it THe whole verse containeth a short and sharpe description of Tophet that is to say by way of allusion or application of the torments of hell It is here two wayes setforth or here are two things set downe concerning it 1 The certainty of it 2 The Severity of it The Certainty of it is set downe by 1 The Antiquity of it in these words Tophet is prepared of old 2 By the Generality of it in these words it is even prepared for the King if he be wicked and willfull let us blesse the Lord that we have a good King not such an one as that was The Severity is shewed two wayes also by the 1. Extremity of it in these words he hath made it deepe and large the burning of it is fire and much wood 2. Eternity of it in these words the words of the text the breath of the Lord as a river of brimstone kindleth it Now the point of Doctrine taught from hence is this Doctrine As long as God breaths and as strong as God breaths so long and so strong shall the torments of hell endure Now because the Text is terrible and the doctrine dreadfull delivered thence I will first give these Cautions to take off the tartnesse of it so farre as is lawfull and possible from broken bruised bleeding consciences First I confesse I am an Adamite and have within mee an Adamant a rocky flinty steely heart or else I should like Origen with his text and teares at least speake so pittifully so pathetically so passionately so compassionately that this my teaching should have some coherence some correspondence with those torments I speak of O to see how merry or mad rather many millions of creatures are who as Doctor Hall hath taught us dance a galliard over the mouth of hell fire the lake of brimstone Where the breath c. Secondly No man can find a fault with me who finds not first a fault in himselfe sith as our Saviour seems to expound it their worme never dyeth and the fire goeth not out speaking in the third person as well as the plurall number those torments Marke 9. being so proper to the Reprobate that Gods Elect shall never be toucht with them And therefore as our Saviour said to the women fear not yee for yee seek Iesus when he Matt. 28. had made the Souldiers quake So I professing that my scope and aime is to make them quake who wage warre against the Heavens would not have Christs women to fear we men and women who seek the Lord in the very truth and uprightnesse of soule must not feare any whit at all at the mention of hells eternall torments sith they shall not be overwhelmed with them nor once feel them though it may be may fear them Thirdly as it was said by Christ to his Father thou wilt not leave my Soule in hell So I will not by Gods great blessing leave your souls in the lake of brimstone But I will shew you not onely your case but also the course you must take to get out of it I will first discover your miserie and after that deliver the remedy And therefore I cry concerning this discovery Hands off or heart on Heare all or heare none Fourthly if ever I preach unto you againe after I have finished the point in hand I will tell you God willing of life everlasting So that this Text like a Iohn Baptist as it comes roaring in the wildernesse of wickednesse so shall it be afore-runner of Jesus a way maker for life everlasting to make us the more to prize it and to praise the God of heaven for it and to doe every thing that we may attain it according to that of the wisest Solomon Prov. 15. 24. The way of life is above to the wise that he may escape hell below that is when a wise man considers that he must goe to hell below unlesse he goe the way of life that thought will be above objections and all outward and inward oppositions to the contrary to make him esteeme that way of life and all his life long to be walking in it Fifthly so long as we are hearing of hell so long we are yet out of hell If any man therefore should say I will stay no longer to heare of hell of the lake of fire and that breath of the Lord which as a river of brimstone kindleth it And the Lord should meet him at the Church doore and smite him dead and tumble him downe to hell he departing in discontent at the truth and text we treat on he will wish within this minute that he were here again hearing of hell and not there howling in hell O no doubt but there are there many millions who would give millions of worlds that they were not in hell not howling in hell Sixthly and lastly Let no man say that he will goe to disprove what I have said for as the Prophet said to the King If thou come againe God hath not spoken by mee 1 Kings 22. So say I to those that goe thither if ever you return from hell my doctrine is utterly false which saith that the Torments of hell shall endure forever and ever even as long as Jehovah breatheth In almost all
precepts who were never broken in heart for breaking those sacred saving precepts and breaking over those patterns and those promises These wanting that depth of earth can never got to heaven but must to hell if they doe not hereafter lament their not lamenting before they began to be knowne to be of that number which must escape the fiery flames which the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone kindles For the third That obedience which goes for currant in the court of heaven and saith to such as professe it that they cannot be cast to tormenting Tophet is growing it daily encreaseth groweth duly bigger and better more and more savory sollid and setting downe all objections which strive to stop it in its holy paths of purity in the way in which he walketh in whom it is in life and power in truth and spirit But alas mens growings blinder baser back warder in all the things which helps towards heaven and would heave us higher had we hearts to them proves plainly to such as see it that most men are made of another kind of mould then they were composed of in respect of Christianity then they were in those primative purest holy dayes when Christians were so glewed together were so full of growing and groning Now search I beseech you your soules yee men and women who would not be damnd see whether your seeming obedience glew you to Christians as well as commandments have opened your hearts with such dew-distilling sorrow for sin ihat as plants refreshed with raine your soules grow more enamored with those paths which are pleasant as well as pure leading from hel to life everlasting Of a truth that I may grow nearer towards conclusion as they who are so qualified may not onely qualifie their feares concieved at the hearing of hell crying weepe and wail without end at the thoughts of Tophet whose torments haue no end but also make them truly merry at the very heart because they are free and far from the place and case in which Gods fury for ever kindles the fiery flames So they who cull and chuse in their doing duties take on them a profession without taking on or making confession of their false foolish filthy wayes or rather wandrings they that stand at a stay continually never growing or groning heavenwards but grow weary of precise and punctuall performances religious rules doctrines disciplines are traviling towards Tophet and will run unlesse they return into that fire which my text treats of and which the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone kindles And this be spoken to all in generall search your selues yee search your selves O ye who would not be damned for ever before the decree come forth before ye be as chaffe before the fiercenesse of the Lord come upon you before the day of the Lords wrath come upon you Zeph. 2. 2. I am to speak to those being commonly the greatest number who are ignorant or disobedient in such sort as is here discovered and so should they dye in that case would be shortly in a dolefull dreadfull case howling in hell crying out that ever they were borne frying in the fire which The breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone kindles Now to these our blessed Saviour cryes again and againe And if thy hand offend thee out it off it is better for thee to enter into life maimed then having two hands to goe into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched Where their worme dieth not and the fire is not quenched And if thy foot offend thee cut it off it is better for thee to enter halt into life then having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched Where their worme dieth not and the fire is not quenched And if thy eye offend thee plucke it out is it better for thee to enter into the Kingdome of God with one eye then having two eyes to be cast into hell fire Where their worme dieth not and the fire is not quenched Mark that he would have the hand and foot off and the eye out but here 's not a word of the eare off men and women must have their ears on still as a speciall meanes to keepe them from the fire there is no cropping ears in heavens court but they who will not part with their hair how should wee think they will part with their hands yea it is to be greatly feared that sith these will come to our Churches and carry Bibles who will by no meanes leave their lusts as near as their hands as deare as their feet I say it is to be feared that they will be bound hand and feet and be throwne to utter darkenesse where is weeping and gnashing of teeth and then they will become speechlesse having nothing to say for themselves when their feet are bound which brought them to the temple when their hands are bound which handled the Bible when their hands are bound and then no fighting when their feet are bound and then no flying Mat. 22. 11. 12. 13. And I call upon you as loud as I can to doe that which my master means that is to say to avoid and abhor any thing every thing never so deare to you never so neare to you unlawfull profits pomps or pleasures which any wayes hurt or hinder from seeking the way of saluation that so you may escape those everlasting flames of fire yea I beg of you and beseech you to doe any thing every thing all things which will doe any thing in that matter of greatest moment towards the escaping of that Tophet that place of torments O put to all you are and all you haue all the powers of your souls and parts of your bodies imploy improve all your minutes as well as your mites in saving your selves from this froward generation and so from those unspeakeable unconceiveable unmatchable torments Doe as Solomon sheweth that you should doe as wee shewed at the begining The way of life is above to the wise that he may escape hel below Prov. 15. 24. As if the spirit had said if any man or thing shall arise in your hearts to hold from heaven shew to your souls the burning flames which are below in the lake of fire and brimstone and you will quickly shew your selves wise men you will esteeme the word and the preaching a speciall means to make us able to say in truth we shall not be damnd above objections above oppositions above all that stops or staies us from seeking striving struggling for life You will happily say what must wee doe that we may escape that place of torments To the which I answer that though time passeth swiftly I will shew you 1. What the word 2. What the world would would have you doe in the present case For the first The word in a few words bids us doe these three things as wee have them in three examples Or these three
greater then Solomon means when he saith This is eternall life that men know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent It is not the knowledge of quickes and John 17. 3. quiddities foolish frivolous frothy phrases but such knowledge as he wished to Jerusalem with weeping eyes when he said unto her O if thou hadst knowne in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace that is to say seasonable knowledge in this thy day and reasonable knowledge the things that belong Luke 9. 41. to thy peace For the second he must see that it be feeling knowledge such knowledge as is experimentall and so more excellent knowledge then Satan hath for Sathan can read that which is written Rom. 8. 1. There is no damnation to them that be in Christ in the third person but he cannot say in the first person as it followeth verse 2. The Law of the Spirit of life hath freed me from the law of sinne and death No that is the proper priviledge the peculiar prerogative of him that must not be damned that can say We speake what we know as he said by whom we are saved from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. 10. and of whom it is also said in respect of his felt experience forasmuch as he was tempted he is able to succour those that are tempted Heb. 2. 18. For the third that knowledge which is breathed by that Spirit by which we are sealed to the day of Redemption from endlesse torments is a feebling knowledge such a knowledge as makes a man humble nothing lesse and worse nothing in his owne eyes and apprehension It is contrary to the common knowledge which the Apostle saith We all have and whereof he speaks as followeth Knowledge puffeth up 1 Cor. 8. It is a knowledge of God and our selves how glorious and gracious he is great in himselfe good to us how grievous we are to him by our continuall sinnes and iniquities and what unspeakable unsufferable torments are prepared for us if we live and lye in them It makes a man cry out with Isaiah Woe to me I am undone for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts Isai 6. For from both these sorts of knowledge the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves slows and follows exceeding humility a faithfull free and full casting down a man to the dust of the earth and a lovely lowly laying on a mans soul the due desert of being cast down to the dungeon of hell It makes a man say with sobs and sorrow my breath is exceeding unsavoury I have righteously rightly merited to be thrown to that fire of hell which the breath of the Lord c. Now then let us search our souls if we hope to escape hell because we thinke we have knowledge whether it be the knowledge of fundamentall truths or foundation tenents and whether we feel the power of it in working faith in the Lord the giver of it and love to him and to that word by which as by an instrument he conveigheth it and whether we can say from the force of the same feeling that the Lord is our God who will keep us from the lake of fire whatsoever becomes of those who doe not put their trust in him because they doe not know his name as the Prophet David delivers it And finally whether our faith which is thus ushered in by knowledge be attended by that humility which bends and birds us to praise the Lord and please him in all things with selfe deniall for freeing us from this Tophet this place of terrible torments If it be such knowledge alas I know the most are without it though alas and alas they doe not know it you must know this also that you must not quake when you heare of hell and how terribly tormenting it is But if you have no knowledge of God at all or have onely such as all have who professe the paths of piety if it be such as is superficiall onely and puffe you up with pride and presumption then know that you have no knowledge none worth the having none worth the heeding for of such there can be no hearting If the Breath that blessed wind which bloweth where it listeth doth not breath on you doe not blesse you before you die this naturall death you must then dye eternally goe to hell be thrown to the fire which the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone kindleth it But that you may either be comforted or convinced concerning your ignorance it is fit to follow you further in the matter of disobedience And because our time is short and you would take it ill at his hands who should take you of disobedience I will confine my speech herein to three Characters of true Obedience Know therefore that that obedience which will help from hell as being indeed obedience and not a shadow not a shew of it is 1. Glewing 2. Groning 3. Growing For the first true obedience is glewing it gleweth or tyeth together as all the ends why we must work Glory of God thankfulnesse to Christ evidence for heaven escaping of hell credit profit each in his order So it glueth the commandements themselves aimeth at one as well as another though most at those which the Lord most earnestly enjoyneth and which it finds and feels it self most backward to goe about He that said thou shalt not commit Adultery saith the sonne of thunder said also thou shalt not kill James 2. 11. Now then whosoever shall kill doth and delights in any soul-killing sinne though he doth not commit Adulterie or doth any other evil act or action as fire as he is a transgressour of the Law whiles he lives so sure shall he when he dieth if he doe not repent before he dyeth be thrown to those fiery flames which the broath of the Lord c. 2. That obedience which secureth from death and damnation is a groning obedience that is to say they that have it doe not onely doe their duties hereafter but also take a purge or potion of bitter sighings sobs and sorrows for omitting former duties neglected or contemned and doing things contrary to the commandement of the living Creatour loving Redeemer O this this is the fount the very foundation of all Apostasie and so at last of all tortures and torments Men and women say to their sinnes as those men said to our Saviour when they besought him to depart their coasts because by his coming they lost their swine as they supposed But they doe not receive a potion for their formerly drunk in poyson some for carnall love to their Landlords leave some sinnes though they doe not loath them some for feare of their friends and famillars doe such duties as they doe not delight in many for many ends doe many things which may not be blamed but are commanded yea and commanded unto their practise by patterns and promises as well as
our onely employment But yet letting alone our intent and respecting this excellent event the clearing Gods Justice and just judgement the removing all shew of crueltie in the Lords damning his destroying of his creatures we say our preaching is very powerfull exceedingly effectuall could we say but as our Saviour said now they have no cloke for their sinnes John 15. 22. could we doe but as he did make the wedding garment wanters Speechlesse Matth. 22. Did we bring but dew to water the ground which will bring forth briars and thorns that so it may be near to cursing whose end is to be burned Heb. 6. 6. 7. 8. did we onely fit them for the fire which the breath of the Lord at a river of brimstone kindles And thus of those Informations which concerne the High Priest and the Preachers I now come to those which more properly concerne the People and because I see time begin to slide away I will turne those informations to Exhortations saying thus onely by the way that as I will have done as neer as I can at the end of the houre so whosoever of age and discretion gets not faith by the preaching of the word where it may be had and will not stay one sand when the glasse is runne if extremity or occasion urge him he may depart with Gods leave and my love the Divel when he dyeth will not stay one sand for his soule but immediately it must to the fire which the breath c. Now that which for this Text and truth I am to enforme the people of and exhort them to is of three sorts or I am to speake to three sorts of people 1. To all both within and without 2. To such alone as are without 3. To such alone as are within For the first that which I would speake to all is to advertise advise and admonish them to make a serious enquiry in their souls whether they be under this dreadfull damnation or else be free and farre from it and so need not to quake and quiver at my medling with it or mentioning of it And here had I time I would give some motives to make you serious and settled in it one or two I cannot but name 1. The fewest part of Professours at large shall escape this lake of fire the most part must be thrown into it so saith our Saviour Matth. 7. 13. 14. Matth. 22. 14. Now if one which the Lord keep you from should tell you that most of your houses are on fire would you not leave me alone as Christ and Paul were left would you not be jealous and suspicious saying with the Apostles when the Lord told them one of them twelve should betray him Is it my house is it my house Nay I think you would rather speak peremptorily saying it is my house my house is burned every one of you one by one 2. As we have but a short or a small time to provide our selves of what will preserve us from those endlesse easlesse torments this life being a moment of great moment upon which depends our eternall abiding so many are many wayes deceived concerning their certificates of escaping everlasting destruction and that through want of serious searching O this is the height of our woe we doe not use to think of hell till at length we be in hell and then it is too late to come out of hell Much Copper-ware is abroad which is wholly counterfeit nothing currant but it lyeth us on our lives yea on the eternall estate of our souls to see that ours be not copper but currant for he to whom we must pay it as he will not take a graine of copper so he knows currant from copper Out alas wee see Professors yea and Preachers yea in the dayes of death and doom saying We have eaten and drunke in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets you we have prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out Divels and then Christ professing saying Then will I professe unto you I know you not We had no secret sacred acquaintance no chamber no closet converse together you did not search your souls to see how it was you or what was to be done by you but for forme and fashion onely sometimes met in the Congregation Depart from me Mat. 7. 22. 23. Luk. 13. 25 26. 27. to everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels yee workers of iniquity be you preachers or be you professours These and many other motives or matters should perswade us and prevaile with us to be serious and solemn in the examination whether we be under these torments yea or no but alas the extremity it selfe the easlesnesse and endlesnesse of the woes in the lake of brimstone is enough to make us intent in it and want of time forbids to prosecute my further intent in it But you will say by what signes or symptomes may we discover whether by Jesus we be delivered from the wrath to come To which I answer that as I beleeve that you have heard that whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned Mark 16. So if I should prosecute that text which saith The wicked shall be turned to hell and all the Nations that forget God Psal 9. 17. I should be thought to forget my selfe by taking too tedious a taske upon me I will therefore confine my selfe to one most precious portion of Scripture wherein two sorts of persons are doomed and damned to everlasting and extreme woe and miserie if they abide in that state and condition 1. The Ignorant 2. The Disobedient God shall come from heaven saith Paul 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9. in flaming fire to render vengeance to them that know not God and that obey not the Gospell of Iesus Christ which must be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power First therefore here is discovered the most dolefull dreadfull condition of such as want the true knowledge of God they must bee punished with everlasting destruction and who reading this can chuse to say with Perkin Poore people I pitty you But you will say as Saint Paul brings us iâ— saying We have all knowledge 1 Cor. 8. 1 2 3. and therefore cannot be damned among the Idiots among the ignorant And I say with the same S. Paul If any man say he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing as he ought to know But if any of you would approve your selves to have such knowledge as will keepe you from hell from those endlesse easlesse torments they must see that the knowledge they boast of have these three properties or qualities that it be 1. Feeding for the matter of it 2. Feeling for the manner of it 3. Feebling for the effect of it For the first he must see that it be feeding sound sollid substantiall knowledge such knowledge as Solomon speaks of when he saith a righteous mans lips feed many And that which a
20. 13. breaketh forth into this holy pang this heavenly passage Sing unto the Lord praise ye the Lord and in the very next verse unto it he breatheth forth this dolefull dismall out-cry Cursed be the day wherein I was born The Apostle Paul peradventure more proper and pat to our purpose when he had said I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height Rom. 8. 38. 39. nor depth nor any other creature shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord as looking on his owne most blessed condition being engrafted into the blessed body of Christ and endued with the blessed Spirit of Christ and so free from condemnation as it is in the 1. verse looking on his former familiars and friends and seeing them subject to death and damnation hath these words in the very next verse Rom. 9. 1. 2. 3. I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing me witnesse in the holy Ghost That I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart For I could wish that my selfe were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh And surely sith the torments of hell are so unconceiveable so uncessable wee should after we have rejoyced and praised God for our owne deliverance grone and grieve for our carnall friends case and more then cursed condition But as that Paul when he had sighed and sobbed with remembrance of and respect to the terrible torments that they must be throwne to if they abode in their wicked wilfulnesse addeth in the 1. verse of the next Chapter his Prayer to that his Pitty saying Brethren my hearts desire Rom. 10. 1. and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved So must we not onely weepe and waile for feare of our friends damnation but also doe the best we can use our true and utmost endevour that such sinners may bee converted and so escape everlasting torments And though I could shew did not time take me off what speciall course fathers and mothers must take to help their children from hell and set it downe in divers particulars yet I will onely shew in grosse or generall termes what we are to doe even you people as well as wee Preachers for all that dwell about us and to whom we have any accesse toward their escaping that fire which The breath of the Lordlike a river of brimstone kindles And to passe by our holy walking with which wee may draw them to like that Word which is able to save our soule Jam. 1. 21. from that fearefull wrath to come And not to presse you to presse hardest by Exhortation when you receive most kindnesse from them Luke 10. Luke 11. Luke 14. O who would not endure any thing to keepe any one from wanting water who will not see us here want drinke but will provide before we petition nor to call on them to number their dayes which will make them to become wise if anything will and not rush on their owne deep destruction for dayes and yeares and ages past numbring Psal 90. 12. Nor to shew you who must be reproved and who must not be reproved which is not to be done in this time were it never so incident to the Text I will onely shew what rules every one must use in speaking to such as we are to speake to and that in these three words only namely you must use 1. Pietie 2. Pollicie 3. Pittie Concerning Pietie Yee must 1. Take the Word of Grace to them 2. Speake to the Throne of Grace for them In doing the first of these ye must do two things carefully 1. Bring with you the Lords Authoritie 2. Leave them with a possibilitie of mercy 1. For the first ye must be carefull that ye doe not vent or utter your owne words but the words of the living God to shew them their duly deserved damnation and its extremitie and eternitie Ye must shew them the words of the Lord in the very Chapter and verse as well as Booke And say How O how will ye answer in the dreadfull dayes of death and of doome these words which are the words which you must bee judged by What will you say when the Bookes shall be Joh. 12. 48. opened and this text be brought against you which telleth us that every one who lives and dies in the course you walke in must be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to render vengeance in flaming fire what must the Lord teare out this leafe for love of you which saith as ye evidently see The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God must He be so farre enamored of you as for your sakes to be false of his Word who are so farre out of love with him that you hourely not onely transgresse but trample also under your feet his sacred Precepts saving Promises Surely this is the way to win them to worke upon them if there be any way to say with the Prophets and the Apostles Thus saith the Lord The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it and What I delivered to you I have received from the Lord. And I also that I may awake and affect you will follow the footsteps which I set before you and to my sixe Rules premised I will adde this as it were a seventh that is to say that what I have said they are not my words but the words of the Lord he was the Master I but the poore Messenger the words I meane which I have had in the present Discourse concerning Tophet or those torments or fiery flames of hell which The breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone kindles 2. For the second when ye have told them of the terrible torments due to them and almost at hand to swallow them up and sink them down to the bottomlesse pit ye must at length least they grow resolute and wickedly desperate crying past help past hope past cure past care Let us eate and drink for to morrow we shall dye Let us revell and riot we can but be damned I say ye must at length let them know that if they come in there is yet hope in Israel concerning this very matter Ezra 10. 2. Prov. 1. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. ye must give them to understand that Wisdome cryeth even to scorners yea to those who have long how long delighted in scorning yea let them know that she cryes not burne ye as we would imagine and would doe in the like case also But turne yee and after Behold I will poure my Spirit on you As I will pawne my precious soul that none of you all shall goe to Tophet if you yet repent and cleave to Christ following the rules set before you let your sinnes