and his Conscience apprehended Gods anger and we shall see what a case he was in Iob 6. 8. 9. O that I might haue my request and that God would grant me the thing I long for even that it would please God to destroy me that he would let loose his hand and cut me off Nay worse Iob 7 14. 15. Thou scarest me with dreames and terrifiest me through visions so that my soule chooses strangling and death rather then life Gods grace preserues his Saints from selfe-murder but yet not alwaies from impatient wishes Iob wishes strangling and chooses it of the two but goes no further What wonder then that Iudas doth strangle himselfe when his Conscience stares him in the face when as Iob with whom God is but in iest in comparison chooses strangling If Iob wish it what wonder that Iudas doth the deed Conscience doth chastise the godly but with whips but it lashes the wicked with scorpions Now if the whips be so smarting to Iob as makes him choose strangling what wonder that the scorpions be so cutting as makes Iudas seeke reliefe at an halter Yea and that which addes to the misery of an evill Conscience being awakened it is such a misery as no earthly comfort can asswage or mitigate Diseases and distempers of the body though they be terrible yet Physicke sleepe rest upon a mans bed yeeldes him some ease some comfort Sometime in some griefes the comforrable vse of the creatures yeelds a man some refreshments Prou 31. 6. 7. Giue wine vnto those that be of heauie hearts let him drinke and forget his pouertie remember his misery no more But Conscience being disquieted findes no ease in these Darius against his Conscience suffers innocent Daniel to be cast into the Lyons denne What cheere hath he that night He passed the night in fasting Dan. 6. 18. Not in fasting in humiliation for his sinne but conscience now began to gall him and hee hauing marred the feast of his coÌ„science Conscience also marres his feasting none of his dainties will now downe his wine is turned into gall and wormewood no ioy now in any thing Hee had marred the musicke of his conscience and now he brookes not other musicke The Instruments of musike were not brought before him His guilty coÌ„science was now awakened and now he cannot sleepe His sleepe went from him So Iob in his conflict of Conscience hoped for ease in his bed Iob 7. 13. My bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint But how was it with him Either he could not sleepe at all vers 3. 4. Wearisome nights are appointed vnto mee when I lye downe I say when shall I arise and the night be gone and I am full of tossings to and fro vnto the dawning of the day Needes must he tosse whose conscience is like the Sea waues tossed with the windes or else if Iob did sleepe yet did not Conscience sleepe vers 14. but even in his sleepe presented him with ghastly sights and visions When I say my bed shall comfort me then thou scarest mee with dreames and terrifiest me through visions At other times when conscience hath been good Gods people though their dangers haue beene great yet neither the greatnes nor neerenes of their dangers haue broken their sleep Psa 3. 5. 6. I layd me downe and slept I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that haue set themselues against me round about And yet if we looke to the title of the Psalme A psalme of Dauid when hee fled from Absolom his sonne one would thinke David should haue had little list or leasure to haue slept Peter thought to haue bin executed the next morrow by Herod and though he also lodge betweene a company of ruffianly Souldiers that happily one would feare might haue done him some mischiefe in his sleepe yet how soundly sleepes he that night Act. 12. And holy Bradford was found a sleep when they came to fetch him to bee burnt at the stake These fears brake not these mens sleepe How might this come to passe They did as Psal 4. 8. I will lay me down in peace and sleepe He that can lie down in the peace of Conscience may sleepe soundly whatsoever causes of feare there be otherwise But contrarily he that cannot lie downe with the peace of conscience will find but little rest sleepe though his heart bee free from all other feares Euill conscience being awakened will fill the heart with such feares as a man shall haue little liberty to sleepe Oh the sweet sleepe that Iacob had and the sweet dream when he lay vpon the cold earth and had an hard stone vnder his head for his pillow An hard lodging and an hard pillow but yet sweet rest and sweet communion with God A good conscience makes any lodging soft and easie but down-beds and down-pillowes if there bee thornes in the Confcience are but beds of thornes and beddes of nettles The bitternesse of an evill conscience distastes all the sweets of this life as when the mouth and tongue is furred in an hot Ague all meates and drinkes are bitter to the sicke partie This is the misery of an evill conscience awakened in this life 2. But it may bee many never feele this misery here there is therefore the more misery reserved for them in hell in the world to come Indeed more by many thousands goe to hell like Nabal â—han like Iudas more die like sots in securitie then in dispaire of Conscience Death it selfe can not awaken some consciences but no sooner come they into hell but Conscience is there awakened to the full never to sleepe more and then she lashes and gashes to the quicke lets men learne that forbearance was no payment Tell many men of Conscience and they are ready to flap one on the mouth with that prophane proverbe Tush Conscience was hanged many yeeres agoe But the time will come that they who haue lived in euill Conscience shall finde that Conscience which they haue counted hanged shall play the cruell hang-man and tormentor with them They shall finde Conscience vnhanged when it shall hang them vp in hell when day and night it shall stretch them there vpon the racke The torments which an evill Conscience puts the damned to in hell are beyond the expression of the tongue and the comprehension of mans conceit There bee two speciall things in the torments of hell wee haue them both thrice repeated together Mark 9. 44. 46. 48. Where their worme dies not and the fire is not quenched There is an ever-living worme and never-dying fire And marke that in all the three verses the worme is set in the first place as it were to teach vs that the prime and principall torment in hell is the worme rather then the fire And what is the worme but the guilt of an evill Conscience that shall lie eternally gnawing and grapping twiching and gryping the heart of the damned in hell
Men talke much of hell fire and it were well they would talke more of it but yet there is another torment forgotten that would be thought on too There is an Hell worme as well as there is an hell-fire And it may be a question whether of the two is the greatest torment And yet no great question neither For as the Heaven of Heaven is the peace and ioy of a good so the very Hell of Hell is the guilt and worme of an evill Conscience A man may safely say it is better being in Hel with a good conscience thē to be in heauē if that might be with an evill one Heaven without a good cōscience what is it better thē Hel Paradise was an Heauen on earth but when Adam had lost the Paradise of a good conscience what ioy did Paradise and the pleasures of the Garden affoord him more then if he had beene in some sad solitary Desert A good conscience makes a Desert a Paradise an euill one turnes a Paradise into a Desert A good Conscience makes Hell to be no Hell and an evill one makes Heaven to be no Heaven Both the happinesse misery of Heaven and Hell are from the inward frame of the Conscience The Hell of Hell is the worme of Hell and that worme is the worme of an evill Conscience which if it bee not wormed out and so the conscience in this life made good it will bee an immortall worme in hell The hellish dispaire wherewith the damned are ouerwhelmed comes rather frō this werme then from the fire Whose worme dies not and whose fire is not quenched The fire of Hell never quenches because the worme of Hell never dies If the worme of Hell would die the fire of Hell would go out For if there were no guilt there should bee no punishment So that the very Hell of Hell is that selfe-torment which an evill conscience breeds Now then all this considered how powerfully should it move vs to labor for a good conscience Thou that goest on in thine euill courses and hatest to be reformed and reclaimed doe but bethinke thy selfe if God should awaken thy Conscience in what misery thou shouldest liue here what an Hell to haue a palsie Conscience what an Hell on earth to be alwaies vnder the accusations indictments and terrors of Conscience and to liue Caine-like in a land of Nod in a continuall restlesse agitation Vt ex cruditate febres noscuntur et vermes quando quis cibū sumit intemperāter it a si quis peccata peccatis accumulet nec decoquat eae poenitentia sed misceat pec cata peccatis cruditatem contrahit veterū recentiū delictorum igne adu retur proprio et vernibus consumetur Ignis est quem generat moestitia delictorum vermis est eo quod irrationabilia animi peccata mentem pungunt et viscera exedant vermes ex vnoquoque nascuntur tanquā ex corpore peccatoris hic vermis non morietur c. Amb. lib. 7. in Luk-c 14. But especially as thou fearest that euerliuing and evergrabbing worme so haue a care to get a good Conscience Greene and rawe fruits breed Chestwormes which if heede bee not taken will eat the very maw thorow A dead body and a putrified corrupt carkasse breedes wormes that lye gnawing at it in the graue The forbidden and rawe fruits of sinne are those which breede chest-wormes in the Conscience The corruptions of the soule and dead works are those that breed this liuing worme take hede therefore of medling with these fruits that will breede this worme get thy conscience purged from dead works get this worme killed with the soonest for if thou lettest it liue till thou die it will neuer die at all and will put thee to those exquisit torments from which to bee freed thou woldest willingly suffer ten thousand of the most cruell deaths that the wit of man were able to inuent As then I say thou fearest this worme of Hell so get a good Conscience Drinke down euery morning a hearty draught of Christs bloud which may make this worme burst And when once this worme is burst and voyded the cōscience well purged by Christs bloud take heed ever after of eating those raw fruites that will breed new wormes Lead so holy so vpright and so conscionable a life that thou mayst not by thy fresh sins clog thy Conscience with fresh guilt Get thy Conscience purged by Christs bloud thy conversation framed by Gods Word Thy words were found by mee and I did eat them Ier. 15. 16. Doe thou so eat no more the vnwholsome worm breeding fruites of sinne but drinke Christs bloud and eate Gods word and they both shall purifie and scoure thy Conscience from all such stuffe as may breed and feede the Hell-worme of an evill Conscience CHAP. XVI The portion and respect that a good Conscience findes in the world ANd thus haue we hitherto seene Pauls Protestation The second point followes namely Ananias his insolent impetuous Iniunction Verse 2. And the high Priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth Paul had begunne his defence in the former verse and that by authoritie speciall command as appeares in the former Chapter at the 30. verse But he had no sooner begun but hee is interrupted aad cut off and hath not only his mouth stopt but stopt with Ananias fists Hee commanded to smite him on the mouth Out of which carryage and violence of his wee may obserue diuerse things First learne Doctr. 1 What is the Reward and portion of a good Conscience from the world It is the portion of a good Conscience full oft to be smitten either on the mouth or with the mouth Blowes either with the fist or with the tongue To be smitten one way or other is full often the lot of a good Conscience Smite him on the mouth sares Ananias But let vs a little expostulate the matter with Ananias Smite him on the mouth But yet as Pilate speakes in Christs case But what evill hath he done or what evill hath he spoken Smite him on the mouth But as our Saviour answers Iohn 18. 23. If he haue spoken evill take witnesse of the evill and proceed legally and formally If he haue spoken well or no manner of euil Why commandest thou him to be smitten What hath he spoken any treason against Caesar or the Romane government If he haue then as the towne-Clerk of Ephesus speaks Act. 19. 38. The law is open there are Deputies let thē accuse him bring him to his answer It is a base vsage of any ingenuous person to bee smitten on the mouth in a Court of Iustice a dishonorable vsage of a Romane Surely it should seem by such base bitter vsage that Paul hath some way or other fowly forgotten over-shot himself that Ananias his spirit is thus embittered and provoked against him What hath Paul given him any
in what kinde the sinne is of the same kinde is the punishment Sodoms sinne was in fiery lusts they were in their sinne set on fire from hel Their punishment was of the same kinde God raines downe fire from heaven vpon them A fiery sinne and a fiery punishment Memorable in this kinde was the Iustice of God vpon that notorious and fiery persecutor Stephen Gardiner who would not sit down to dinner till the newes came from Oxford Act and Mon. of the fire set to Ridley and Laâ—imer but before his meale was ended God kindled a fire in his body which ere long dispatcht him and made him thrust his tongue blacke out of his mouth Such was Gods Iustice vpon Adonibezek Iudg. 1. 7. in the cutting off his thumbes and his great toes Threescore ten Kings hauing their thumbes and their great toes cut off gathered their meate vnder my Table As I haue done so God hath requited mee God hath met with me in mine owne kinde hee hath paid me with mine owne coyne Thus was Gods Iustice divers wayes vpon the Egyptians They threw the Israelites children into the waters and stayned the waters with blood therefore God turnes their waters into blood To which that place alludes Apoc. 16. 4. 5. 6. And the third Angell powred out his viall vpon the waters and fountaines of waters and they became blood And â— heard the Angell of the waters say Righteous art thâ—n O Lord c. because thou hast iudged thus for they haue shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast giuen them blood to drinke Where not onely the Iustice of God but also the equity thereof is magnified not only because God had Iudged but because he had iudged thus Againe the Egyptians destroy the males of the children God meetes with them in their kind he smites the first-born through out all Egypt The Egyptians drowne the Israelites Infants in the waters God payes them in their kinde he drowns the Egyptians in the waters of the reâ— sea there is drowning for drowning and waters for waters Nadab and Abihu sinne by fire and Levit. 10. 2. there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them How many fires hath the Whore of Babylon kindled wherein she hath consumed to ashes the Saints of God God will plague her with an end suiting with her sinne Apoc. 17. 16. she her selfe shall be burnt with fire They shall eate her flesh and burne her with fire There is fire for fire Apoc. 9. 12. She there darkens the light of the truth with the smoake of heresie and superstition There arose a smoake out of the pit as the smoake of a great furnace and the Sun and the ayre were darkened by reason of the smoake of the pit And Apoc. 18. 9. 18. there wee finde the smoake of her burning There is smoake for smoake God will make her smoake in the end that hath brought such a deale of spirituall smoake into Fumo pereet qui fumum vendidit his Church And as that Emperor said Let him perish with smoake that sâ—lde smoak so shall she perish with smoak at the last that hath put out the eyes of so many thousands with the smoake of heresie and superstition This was that Iustice of God which the Papists Powder-Martyrs Catesby and some others of them were forced to acknowledge when they who had thought to haue blowne vp the State with Powder were themselues spoyled with Powder a sparke of fire flying into it as they were drying it and preparing for their defence Such is that Iustice of God threatned Heb. 2. 15 16. Woe vnto him that giueth his neighbour drinke that puttest thy bottle to him and makest him drunken also that thou mayest looke on their nakednesse Thou art filled with shame for glory drink thou also and let thy fore skinne be vncouered the cuppe of the Lords right hand shall be turned vnto thee shamefull spuing shall be on thy glory A good place for drunkards to thinke vpon especially such whose glory is their shame whose glory is to make others drunke They shall haue cuppe for cuppe nakednesse for nakednesse spuing for spuing As they haue made others spue and vomit through oppression by drinke so will God giue them such a draught of the bitter dregs of the cup of his wrath that shall make them spue their very hearts out as Ier. 25. 27. Drink and be drunken spue and fall rise no more because of the sword which I will send amongst you Of this kinde was that Iustice of God vpon David himselfe He killes Vriah with the sword therefore the sword shall not depart from his house He defiles the wife of Vriah therefore his Concubines are defiled by Absalom This is that Iustice Apoc. 13. 10. He that leadeth into Captiuity shall goe into Captiuity he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword It was the most righteous hand of God vpon Saul that hee that puts Gods Priests to the sword should fall vpon his owne sword iust with God that Elymas the Sorcerer that would haue kept the Deputy in spirituall should himselfe be smitten with bodily blindnes 3. Gods punishments are oft in the same part and member of the bodie wherewith men haue offended That look as renowned Cranmer dealt with himselfe at his Martyrdome That hand wherewith hee had subscribed to the sixe Articles that hand hee first put in the fire in an holy reuenge vpon himselfe euen so deals the Lord very often in his Iustice That which men haue made the instrument of their sinne God makes the subiect of his Iudgements Absaloms pride and his weakenesse lay where Sampsons strength was Absaloms haire was Absaloms pride therefore Absaloms hayre as it is conceiued was Absaloms halter and whilest hee will needes spare the Barber a labour he also spares the Hangman a labour Such was Gods Iustice vpon Sampson himselfe He can finde none to bee the pleasure of his eyes as the Prophet speaks of his wife Ezek. 24. but Philistims Iudg. 14. 1 2 3. and Chapt. 16. 1. and so in the loue of a Philistim Dalilah he abuses his eyes What is the issue At last the Philistims put out his eyes God punisht the abuse of his eyes with the losse of his eyes and those eyes that loued Philistims were pluckt out by Philistims Memorable in this kinde was Gods iustice vpon that French King Henry the secoÌ„d who in a rage against a Protestant Counsellor committed him into the hands of one of his Nobles to bee imprisoned and that with these words That hee would see him burned with his owne eyes But marke the iustice of God within a few dayes after the same Noble man with a Launce put into his hands by the King did at a Tilting run the saide King into one of his eyes whereof he dyed Of this kind was the Iustice of God vpon Zachary Luke 1. Offending with his tongue in that question How can