his opportunity against us that hee may infect and breathe into us all filthy lusts and adulterous desires when wee lye open unto him by idlenesse Wisely therefore to this point saith the Greeke Poet Hesiodus Much rest nourisheth lust And another Poet saith Quaeritur Aegystus quare sit factus adulter In promptu causa est dâ—sidiosus erat Slothfull lazinesse is the cause of adultery And therefore another saith Eschew idlenesse Our 〈…〉 and cut the very sinews of lust The fourth cause of Adultery is wanton apparell which is a minstrellesse that pipes up a dance unto whoredome But of this enough before The fift and last cause of adulterie is the hope of impunity or escaping of punishment For many being blinded and hardened by Sathan think they shall never bee called to any account for it and because they can blear the eyes of men and carry this sinne so closely under a cloud that it shall never come to light they thinke all is safe and that God seeth them not And therefore Job saith Job 24.15 The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twi-light and saith No eye shall see mee And in another place Job 23.13 How shall God know Can hee judge thorow the dark cloud But verily versly though the adulterer do never so closely and cunningly convey his sinne under a canopy yet the time will come when it shall be disclosed to his eternall shame For God will bring every work to judgement Eccl. 12.24 with every secret thought whether it be good or evill Psal 9â— For hee hath set our most secret sinnes in the sight of his countenance 1 Cor. 4. And hee will lighten the things that are hid in darknesse and make the counsels of the heart manifest For this cause Job saith Job 10. When I sinne thou watchest mee and wilt not purge me from my sin Phil. Now you have shewed us the causes of adultery I pray you shew us the remedies Theol. There be six remedies for adultery which no doubt will greatly prevail if they bâ— well practised Phil. Which be they Six remedies of adultery Theol. Labour Abstinence Temperance Prayer Restraint of our senses Shunning of womens company and all occasions whatsoever Phil. Well Sir now you have waded deepe enough in the second signe of damnation I pray you let us proceed to the third which is Covetousnesse And as you have laid naked the two former so I pray you strip this stark naked also that all men may see what an ugly monster it is and therefore hate it and abhor it Theol. I would willingly satisfie your minde but in this point I shall never doe it sufficiently For no heart can conceive nor tongue sufficiently utter the loathsomenesse of this vice For covetousnesse is the foulest fiend and blackest Divell of all the rest It is even great Beelzebub himselfe Therefore I shall never be able fully to describe it unto you but I will doe what I can to sttip and whip it stark naked And howsoever the men of this earth and blind worldlings take it to bee most sweet beautifull and amiable and therefore doe embrace it entertaine it and welcome it as though there were some happinesse in it yet I hope when I have shewed them the face thereof in a glasse even the true glasse of Gods Word they will be noe more in such love but quite oâ—t of conceit with it I will therefore hold out this glasse unto them St. Paul to Timothy brandeth this stâ—ne in the forehead and boareth it in the eares that all men may know it and avoyd it 1 Tâ—â— â— 1â— when he saith Covetousnesse is the root of all evill Our Lord Iesus also giveth us a watch-word to take heed of it saying Take heed and beware of covetousnesse 〈◊〉 12.15 As if hee should say Touth it not come not neare it it is the very breath of the Divell it is present death and the very ratsâ—bane of the soule The Apostle layeth out the great danger of this sinne and doth exceedingly grinde the face of it â—â—il 5 19. when he saith That the end of all such as mind earthly things is damnation Let all carnall worldlings and muckish minded men lay this to heart and consider well of it lest they say one day Had I wist Phil. Good Sir lay open unto us the true nature of covetousnesse and what it is that wee may more perfectly discerne it Theol. Covetousnesse is an immoderate desire of having Phil. I hope you do not think frugality thriftinesse and good husbandry to be covetousnesse Theol. Nothing lesse For they be things commanded being done in the feare of God and with a good conscience Phil. Doe you not thinke it lawfull also for men to doe their worldly businesse and to use faithfullnesse and diligence in their callings that they may pâ—ovide for themselves and their families Theol. Yes no doubt And the rather if they doe these things with calling upon God for a blessing upon the workes of their hands and use preyer and thanksgiving before and after their labour taking heed all the day long of the common corruptions of the world as swearing cursing lying dissembling deceiving greedy getting c. Phil. Wherein I pray you doth covetousnesse especially consist Theol. In the greedy desire of the mind For we may lawfully doe the workes of our calling and play the good husbands and good huswives but wee must take heed that distrustfullnesse and inward greedinesse of the world doe not catch our hearts For then wee are set on fire and utterly undone Phil. Sith covetousnesse is especially of the heart how may we know certainly when the heart is infected Theol. There be four speciall signes of the hearts infection Phil. Which be they Theol. The first is an eager and sharp set desire of getting Therefore the holy Ghost saith Pâ—oâ— â—8 Hee that hasteth to be rich shall not be unpunished Pâ—o. 20.2 And againe An heritage is hastily gotten at the beginning but the end thereof shall not be blessed Deâ—â—stâ—â—nes in Olinth 2. The heathen man also saith No man can be both justly and hastily rich The second is a pinching and niggardly keeping of our owne that is when men being able to give will hardly part with any thing though it be to never so holy and good use And when at last with much adoe for shame they give something it cometh heavily from them God wot and scantly The third is the neglect of holy duties that is when mens mindes are so taken up with the love of earthly things that they begin to slack and cool in matters of Gods worship The fourth and last is a trusting in riches and staying upon them as though our lives were maintained by them or did consist only in them which thing our Lord Iesus flatly denyeth saying Though a man have abundance Luk. 12.15 yet his life consisteth not in the things that
have the reward of Gods children This is most 〈◊〉 case but they will not doe the workes of Gods children They would have the sweete but they will none of the sowre They would have the Crowns but they will sight never a stroke They would faine come to Canaan but they are loth to travell that long and dangerous way which leadeth unto it Therefore those men being the sons of idlenesse will step short in the end of that they looke for Prov. 1â— 4 For the Spirit saith The sluggard lusts but his soule hath nought Wee must therefore leave bare words and come to deeds For our Lord Iesus saith Mat. 7. â—1 Not every one that saith Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven but hee that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven Where wee see Christ in plaine termes excludes out of his kingdome all those whose Religion consisteth only in good words and smooth speeches but make no conscience to practise the Commandements of God David having made some good preparation for the building of the Temple and perceiving his son Solomon to have stuffe provision enough to perfect and finish it doth most wisely encourage him to the worâ— in these words 1 Câ—â— 12.16 Up and be doing and the Lord shall be with thee Oh that men would follow this counsell of David that they would up and be doing and not fit still and doe nothing that they would leave words and countenances and set upon the practice of Gods Law and study with all care and conscience to be obedient to his will Then assuredly God would be with them and blesse them and much good would come of it For the Scripture saith Prov. 14.32 In all labour there is profit or increase but the talke of the lips onely bringeth want Phil. Most mens minds are so wholly drowned in the love of this world that they havâ— no heart to obey God nor any delight in his commandements Theol. The greatest part of men are like to the Gadarens which esteemed their Swine more than Christ As wee see in these our daies how many make more account of their kine and sheepe than of the most glorious Gospel of Christ They highly esteeme dung and contemne pearle They are carefull for trifles and regard not the things of greatest moment and therefore may very fitly be compared to a man who having his wife and children very sicke doth utterly neglect them and is altogether carefull for the curing of his hogs eares Phil. Wee are somewhat digressed from the matter wee had in hand I pray you therefore if you have any more matter of good counsell to give to Asunctus that you would presently deliver it Theol. I have little more to say save onely I would advise him often to remember and much to muse on these things The evill he hath committed Nine things much to be thought of The good he hath omitted The time he hath mispent The shortnesse of this life The vanity of this world The excellencie of the world to come Death then the which nothing is more terrible The day of judgement then the which nothing is more fearfull Hell fire then the which nothing is more intolerable Phil. This is short and sweet indeed You have touched some of these points before in this our conference But I am very desirous to heare somewhat more of the two last which yet have not been spoken of Theol. Sith you are desirous I will briefly deliver unto you that which I have received from the Lord. First concerning the day of judgement I finde in the volume of Gods booke that it shall be very terrible and breadfull For the Son of man shall come in the clouds of heaven Mat. 24 3â— with power and great glory St. Peter saith 2 Pet. 2.10 The day of the Lord shall come as a theefe in the night in the which the heavens shall passe away with a noise the elements shall melt with heat and the earth with the workes that are therein shall be burnt up The Apostle tells us that at Christs coming the whole world shall be of a light â—â—re and that all castles towers goodly buildings gold silver velvets silkes and all the glittering hue glory and beauty of this world shall be consumed to powder and ashes 2 Pet. 3 7. For hee saith plainly The heavens and the earth which are now are reserved to fire against the day of Judgement and of the destruction of ungodly men Moreover hee strongly proves that as the world was once destroyed by water so the second time in the end thereof it shall be destroyed with fire The Apostle S. Paul witnesseth the same things for he saith 2 Thes â— 1 Christ shall come from Heaven with all his mighty Angâ—â—s in naming fire And in another place he notes the terrour of his coming to Iudgement saying 1 Thes 4.10 Hee shall come with a shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and the Trumpet of God We see by experience that the coming of mortall Princes to any place is with great pomp and glory They have great traines and troups behind them and before them They are accompanied with many Nobles goodly Lords and gallant Ladies doe attend upon them The Sword-bearer Trumpetters and Harbengers goe before many slaunting and stately Personages follow after Now then if the coming of mortall Princes be so pompous and glorious how much more glorious shall the coming of the Sonne of man be in whose sight all mortall Princes are but dust The Scriptures doe affirme that his second coming unto judgement shall be with such resplendent and unspeakable glory that even the most excellent creatures shall blush at it For the Sunne shall â—e darkned 〈◊〉 24.29 the Moone shall not give her light and the Stars shall fall from heaven Meaning thereby that the most glorious and bright-shining Creatures shall be clouded and obscured by the unconceiveable brightnesse of Christs coming Moreover the 〈…〉 Christs coming is noted unto us in this that immediately before it the very Sea shall quake and tremble and in his kinde crie out For it is said that the Sea shall roare and make a noise in most dolefull and lugubrious manner and mens hearts shall faile them for feare Luk. 21.25 and for looking after those things which shall come on the world for the powers of heaven shall be shaken O what shall become of swearers drunkards whoremongers and such like in that day They shall seeke to creepe into an anger-hole to hide their heads They shal then cry Woe and alas that ever they were borne They shall wish that they had never been borne or that their mothers had borne them toads And as it is in the Apocalyps They shall say to the mountaines and rockes Fall on us and hide us from the presence of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of
the greatnesse and extremity of the torments of Hell As the joyes of Heaven never entred into the heart of man no more did the torments of Hell All the torments and troubles that fall upon men in this life are but the sparkles of the furnace of Gods totall wrath All fires are but as it were pictures of fire in comparison of Hell fire For as one writeth Hell fire is so extremely hot that it will burne up a man seven mile before hee come at it Yet the Reprobates being alwayes in it shall never be consumed of it As the Salamander is alwayes in the fire and never consumeth so the wicked shall be alwayes in the fire of Hell and never consume For Hell is a death alwayes living and an end alwayes beginning It is a grievous thing to a man that is very sicke to lye long upon a feather bed how much more upon a hot gridiâ—on but how most of all to burn alwaies in Hell fire and never be consumed Another extremity of it consisteth in this that the torments of Hell are universall that is in every member at once head eyes tongue teeth throat stomacke back belly heart sides c. All punishments of this life are particular For some are pained in their head some in their backe some in their stomacke c. yet some particular paines are such as a man would not suffer to gaine all the world But for a man to be tormented in all parts at once what sight more lamentable who could but take pity of a dog in the street in that case Thus then we see that the extremitie of Hell torments is greater then can be conceived or uttered For who can utter that which is incomprehensible Wee can goe no further in comprehending that which is incomprehensible then to know it to be incomprehensible Phil. As you have shewed us the extremity of Hell torments so now proceed to the perpetuity Theol. The Scriptures doe set forth the perpetuity of Hell torments in saying they are for ever The wicked shall be cast into the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone for ever The fire never goeth out When as many hundred thousand yeares are expired as there be stones by the Sea side yet still there be so many more to come For that which hath no end can never come to an end If all the Arithmeticians in the world were set a worke to doe nothing but number all the dayes of their life even the greatest numbers that they could possibly set downe and should in the end adde all their numbers together yet could they never come any thing neere to that length of time wherein the wicked shall be tormented If the whole circumference of the Heavens were written about with figures of Arithmeticke from the East to the West and from the West to the East againe yet could it not containe that infinite time and innumerable yeeres wherein all unbeleevers shall suffer eternall torture For in things infinite time hath no place For time is the measure of those things which are subject to measure Therefore because hell torments are infinite they cannot be measured by any time neither can that which is infinite be diminished For if you substract from that which is infinite ten thousand thousand millions of millions yet it is thereby nothing diminished or made lesse Put case a man should once in an hundred thousand yeeres take a spoonfull of water out of the great Ocean Sea how long would it be ere he had so emptied it Yet shall a man sooner empty the Sea by taking out a spoonfull once in an hundred thousand yeares then the damned soule shall have any ease Therefore a certaine Writer saith If a damned soule might be tormented in Hell but a thousand yeares and then have ease there were some comfort in it for then there would be hope it would come to an end but saith hee this word Ever killeth the heart O consider this yee that forget God O yee carnall worldlings thinke on this in time For if you will not now be moved in hearing you shall then be crushed in pieces in feeling What availeth it to live in all possible pleasures and carnall delights here for some sixty yeares and then to suffer this eternall torment what shall it profit a man to win the whole world and lose his soule They be more then mad which will hazzard their soule for a little profit and a few stinking pleasures But this is the manner of men they will have the present sweet come of it what will though they pay never so deare for it though they goe to the highest price though they lose their soules for it Oh the unspeakable blindnesse and madnesse of the men of this world The Divell hath put out their eyes and therefore leadeth them whither he lists For who cannot lead a blind man whither he lists 1 Sam. 11.2 Nahash the Ammonite would make no covenant with the Israelites but upon condition that he might put out all their right eyes So the Divell doth covenant with all the wicked to put out both their eyes that he may lead them directly into Hell Phil. Now Sir a word or two more of the remedilesnesse of Hell fire Theol. The Scriptures do affirm that as the torments of Hell are extreme so they are without all hope of remedy Psal 4â— 8 as it is written A man can by no meanes redeem his brother hee cannot give his ransome unto God so precious is the redemption of the soule and the continuance for ever To this purpose Abraham said to the rich man Luk. 16.16 being in Hell torments Betwixt you and us there is a great gulfe set so that they which would goe from hence to you cannot neither can they come from thence to us Our Lord Iesus also saith 〈◊〉 19. What shall a man give for the recompence of his soule Where our Saviour doth plainly affirme that there is no ransome or recompence though never so great to be given for a damned soule For the soule being in Hell can never be released it is past remedy no meanes whatsoever can doe any good no gold no silver no friends no riches no power no policy no flattery no bribery no reach no fetch or device whatsoever can prevaile one jot for a man being once in Hell hath no remedy hee is in close prison he is shut up under the hatches for ever there is no getting out againe he must suffer perpetuall imprisonment Hee cannot bring a writ of false imprisonment because he is laid in by the most righteous and just Iudge who cannot possibly doe any wrong but hee must lye by it For being there once he is there for ever If all the Angels of Heaven should intreat for a damned soule if Abraham Isaac and Jacob should make great suit if all the Prophets Apostles and Martyrs should be continuall solicitors to Christ for release if the father should make request