1.12 His infirmities are now at full and the symptomes which make it evident unto us are some inward some outward inward in his soul outward in his body we 'll take a view of them both Matth. 26.37 Mar. 14.33 Luk. 22.44 Ioh. 12.27 First his soul it began to be sorrowfull saith Matthew to be amazed and very heavy saith Mark to be in an agony saith Luke to be troubled saith Iohn Here is sorrow and heaviness and agony and trouble the estimate whereof we may take from his own words in the garden My soul is exceeding sorrowfull Matth. 26.38 John 12.77 even unto death Now was the time he purged not onely in his body but his soul too now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour A fatall hour sure of which it was said before often his hour was not yet come but being come he could then tell his Disciples the hour is at hand and after tell the Iewes Matth. 26.45 Luk. 22.53 this is your very hour and the power of darkness Now was it that Christ yielded his soul for our souls to the susception of sorrow perpession of pain and dissolution of nature and therefore even sick with sorrow he never left sweating Heb. 5.7 weeping and crying till he was heard in that which he feared Secondly as his soul so his body had her symptoms of approaching death Our very eye will soon tell us no place was left in his body where he might be smitten and was not his skin was torn his flesh was rent his bones unjoynted his sinews streyned should we summe up all See that face of his fairer then the Sons of men Psal 45.2 Revel 1.14 how it is defiled with spettle swoln with buffets masked with a cover of gore-bloud see that head white as white wooll and snow how is it Crowned with thorns beaten with a reed and both head and hair dyed in a sanguine red that issued from it see those eyes that were as a flame of fire how they swim with tears are dim with bloud and darken at the sad approach of dreadfull death Revel ibid. see that mouth which speak as never man spake hovv it is vvan vvith stroaks grim vvith death John 7.46 and embittered with that tartest potion of gall and vinegar Should we any lower See those arms that could embrace all the power of the world how they are strained and stretched on the Crosse those shoulders that could bear the frame of Heaven how they are lasht with knotty cords and whips those hands that made the world and all therein how are they nailed and clenched to a piece of wood that heart where never dwelt deceit nor sinne how it is pierced and wounded with a souldiers spear those bowels that yearned with compassion of others infirmities how they are drie and pent with straining puls those feet that walked in the wayes of God how they are boared and fastened to a Crosse with nayls from hand to foot there is no part free but all over he is covered in a mantle of cold bloud whose garments were doft before and took of them that were his hangmen Poor Saviour what a wofull sight is this A bloudy face thornie head watery eyes wan mouth strained arms lashed shoulders nayled hands wounded heart griping bowels boared feet Here is sorrie pains when no part is free and these are the outward Symptomes of his state that appear in his Body We have thus far seen our Sun the Sunne of righteousnesse in the day-break and rising and height of his suffering Mal. 4.2 what remains further but that we come to the Declination and so end our journey for this time This Declination say Physicians is Galen lib. 3. de Cris cap. 5. when Nature overcomes sicknesse so that all diseases attain not this time but those and those onely that admit of a Recovery yet howsoever saith my * Senert institution medicinae lib. 2. par 1. cap. 12. de morb temp Authour there is no true declination before death there is at least a seeming declinatian when sometimes the symptoms may become more remiss because of weak nature yielding to the fury and tyrannie of death overcoming it I will not say directly that our Saviour declined thus either in deed or in shew for neither was the cup removed from him nor died he by degrees but in perfect sense and perfect patience both of body and soul he did voluntarily and miraculously resigne his Spirit as he was praying into the hands of his Father Here then was the true declination of this Patient not before death but in death and rightly too for then was it that this Sunne went down in a ruddy Cloud then was it that this Patient received the last dregs of his Purge then was it that Gods Justice was satisfied the consummatum est was effected all was finished as for his buriall resurrection and asscension which follow after this time they serve not to make any satisfaction for sinne but onely to confirm it or apply it after it was made and accomplished Vse 1 But what use of all this Give me leave I pray to shake the tree and then do you gather the fruit from the first part his birth we may learn Humility a grace most prevailing with God for the obtaining of all graces this was it that made David King Moses a Governour nay what say we to Christ himself who from his first entrance untill his departure to his Father Matth. 11.29 was the very mirrour of true Humility it felf Learn of me saith he to be humble and lowly in spirit and you shall find rest unto your souls Hereunto accorded his Doctrine when he pronounced them Blessed who were poor in spirit Matth. 5.3 hereunro accorded his reprehension when he disliked their manners who were wont to choose out the chief rooms at feasts Luke 14.7 Iohn 13.5 hereunto accorded his practice when he vouchsafed to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towell wherewith he was girded O Humility how great are thy riches that are thus commended to us thou pleasest men delightest angels confoundest devils and bringest thy Creatour to a Manger where he is lapped in raggs and cloathed in flesh Had we Christian hearts to consider the Humility of our Redeemer and how far he was from our haughty dispositions it would pull down our Pharisaicall humours and make us farre better to remember our selves Vse 2 Secondly as we learn humility from his birth so we may learn patience from his life Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me saith our Saviour let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me Dear Christian if thou wilt be saved mind thy Christ Art thou abused by lies reproaches evil sayings or doings we cannot more shew how we have profited in Christs School then by enduring
true length yet spitefully they take it longer that so they may stretch and rack him on the cross till you may tell his bones Psal 22.17 And now all fitted his hands and feet are bored the greatness of whose wounds David fore-shewed by those words They digged my hands and my feet Psal 22.16 Psal 22.16 Socrat. l. 1. c. 17. And well may we think so for as Ecclesiasticall History reports so big were the very nailes that Constantine made of them an helmet and a bridle O then what pain is this when all the weight of his body must hang on four nailes and they â—o be driven not into the least sensible parts but thorow his hands and his feet the most sinew it and therefore more sensible pâ—rts of all other whatsoever yet to hang thus for a time were it may be somewhat tollerable but thus he hangs till he dies and so the longer he continues the wider go his wounds and the fresher is his torture And now my brethren behold and see Lam. 1.12 if there were ever any sorrow like unto this sorrow alas what else appears in him but bleeding veins bruised shoulders scourged sides furrowed back harrowed temples digged hands and feet digged I say not with small pins but with rough boystrous nailes and how then shot the bloud from those hands and feet thus digged Cant. 2.1 Bern. de pass Dom. c. 41. and digged thorow O I am the rose of Sharon it is truly said of Christ Look on one hand and on the other and you may find roses in both look on one foot and on the other and you may find roses in either In a word look all over his body and it is all over rosie and ruddy in bloud Can we any more yes after all these showrs of bloud here is one more effusion for after his death Longinus Bishop of Cappadocia Teste Herle Contemplations on Christs passion One of the souldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there â—â—t bloud and water Ioh. 19.34 Joh. 19.34 The Souldier that gave this wound they say was a blind man but our Saviours bloud springing out on his eyes restored him to his sight and so he became a Convert a Bishop and a Martyr a strange cure where the Physician must bleed but so full of virtue was this bloud that by it we are all saved And yet O Saviour why didst thou flow to us in so many streams of bloud one drop had been enough for the world but thy love is without measure Physicians are usually liberall of other mens bloud but sparing of their own here it is not so for in stead of the Patients arm it is the Physicians own side that bleeds in stead of a lancet here is a spear and that in the hand of a blind Chirurgeon yet as blind as he was how right doth he hit the very vein of his heart that heart where never dwelt deceit see how how it runs bloud and water for our sinnes here is the fountain of his Sacraments the beginning of our happinesse O gate of heaven O window of Paradise O place of refuge O tower of strength O sanctuary of the just O flourishing bed of the Spouse of Solomon who is not ravished at the running of this stream me thinks I still see the bloud gushing out of his sides more freshly and fully then those sweet golden streams which run out of Eden to water the whole world But is it his hearts bloud what keeps he nothing whole without him nor within him his Apostles are scattered in the garden his garments at the crosse his bloud how many wheres his skin they have rent with their whips his ears with their blasphemies his back with their furrows his hands and feet with their nails and will they yet have his heart too cloven with a spear what a wonderfull thing is this that after all those sufferings he must have one wound more why Lord what means this open cleft and wound within thee what means this stream and river of thy hearts-bloud O it is I that sinned and to wash it away his heart runs bloud and water in abundance Lo here those seven effusions of our Saviours bloud the first at his circumcision the second in the garden the rest when his cheeks were nipped his head crowned his back scourged his hands and feet nailed his side opened with a spear whence came out an issue of bloud and water Vse And be our sinnes thus purged Lord in what miserable case lay we that Christ our Saviour must endure all this for us were our sinnes infinite for which none could satisfie but our infinite God were not our iniquities as the sands for which no lesse then an Ocean of bloud could serve to cover them sure here is a motive if nothing else to draw from us the confession of our manifold sins Lord we have sinned we have sinned grievously heavily and with a mighty hand and what now remains but that we never cease weeping crying praying beseeching till we get our pardon sealed in the bloud of Christ O beloved let me entreat you for Christs sake for his blouds sake for his deaths sake that you will repent you of your sinnes which have put him to these torments and to this end I shall entreat you thus to order your repentance First after confession of your manifold sinnes look upon him whom you have pierced and by your meditation supposing him to lie afore you weep and weep over him whom you see by your sinnes thus clothed in his bloud Why thus shall it be with the house of David Zach. 12.10 Zach. 12.10 11. I will poure upon the house of David saith God and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his onely sonne and be sorrie for him as one that is sorry for his first-born in that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon What is the house of David and what are the inhabitants of Jerusalem but the elect people of God and if you be of that number then do you look on him whom you have pierced and mourn for him or mourn over him as one that mourneth for his onely sonne yea be sorrie for him or be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first-born Is it not time think you do you not see how every part of our Saviour bleeds afore you his head bleeds his face bleeds his arms bleed his hands bleed his heart bleeds his back bleeds his belly bleeds his thighs bleed his legs bleed his feet bleed and what makes all this bloud-shed but our sinnes our sinnes O that this day for this cause we would make a great mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley
O the floud-gate of evils that now are opened Adams sinne is ours by imputation we are twigs of one root streams of one fountain and by the same reason partakers of one sinne And as no evil is alone so besides that imputed we have another inherent this is the proclive disposition that we have to evil because of the losse of those powers that we had to good First Primò persona infecit naturam sed pòst natura infecit personam Polanus the sinne of the person infected nature but now the sinne of nature infects the person Is not the mind doubtfull of the wayes of God Is not the will prone to all manner of evil Are not the affections disordered in their actions But as for goodnesse and holinesse and virtue and grace and temperance and innocency all these ornaments are lost Adam received them for himself and us and therefore lost them from us as from himself what wonder if we being spoyled nature be left naked a rotten root must needs bear rotten branches and if the first man be infected with sinne what follows but a corruption of the whole nature of man But these are but the seeds what say ye to the off-spring Evils original beget evils actuall Dictum vel factum vel concupitum contra legem aeternam Aug. l. 22. contra Faust cap. 27. initio tom 6. and such are they as Austin defines them Whatsoever we say or do or think against the Law eternall How many of these Furies haunt us our saying doing thinking all is evil that is against Gods command his will is the rule that should measure all our actions our actions are the frame that should be measured by his will here then is sinnes materiall and formall the actions of man diverted from the will of God and if all these be evils how many evils are they all Look at our omission of good duties and come they not in like moats in the Sun How many alms have we denied How many blessings have we refused How many Sermons have we neglected How many Lords dayes have we mis-spent This was the sinne of that rich man of whom though Lazarus had no hurt yet because he could receive no good therefore he was tormented in that flame You know a day vvill come Luke 16. vvhen a bill of negatives shall be framed against the vvicked not vvhat ye have done but vvhat ye have not done I was hungry Matth. 25.42 43. and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger and ye lodged me not I was naked and ye cloathed me not sick and in prison and ye visited me not Matth. 5.42 It is the not doing your duties must incurre that heavie sentence Matth. 25.41 Depart frome me ye cursed Mere harmless men are no fit members for Gods kingdome if you mean to avoid evil you must neglect no good alas vvho vvould slip any occasion that considers the just revvard of this evil of omission But these are not half the count there be evils of Commission whereby we fight against God and provoke his justice against us of all the Commandments which we should perform there is not one precept which we have not broken God himself is dishonoured his worship is neglected his name is blasphemed his dayes are profaned if we go any further parents are disobeyed injury is maintained adultery is committed robbery is practised false witnesse is produced covetousness is followed thus is the manner of our keeping the Commandments from the first to the last having transgressed against all Psal 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins O Lord and put away all mine iniquities We had need to pray Hide them for if they be not hid how many of these evils will rise up in judgement against us But here is no end there be evils externall that accompany the bodie and what part of the body is not possessed with some evill Look at the senses and wherein hast thou imployed thine eyes but in beholding vanity wherein thine ears but in hearkening to lies wherein thy tasting touching smelling but in sensuall pleasures and as the senses so are the members full of evil Esai 1.5 Jer. 17.9 Jam. 3.8 Prov. 30.14 Esai 1.15 Esa 59.7 Esa 1.6 The head is sick the heart deceitfull the tongue unruly the teeth as swords the jaws as knives the hands are full of bloud and the feet swift to shed bloud Thus from the sole of the feet to the crown of the head there is nothing whole but wounds and swellings and sores full of corruption Esa 1.6 And if these be our outward what be those inward evils should I thrust my hand into your bosomes O how leprous should I pluck it out again that Vnderstanding created full of light 1. Cor. 2.14 is now so blind that it perceives not the things of the spirit of God neither can it know them for they are spiritually discerned No doubt there is in us a remaing spark of Nature and that is the light of reason which makes us men but if you look at this reason it perceives onely naturall and externall things it can perceive thy house adorned thy lands tilled thy grounds stocked but those spirituall blessings celestiall promises eternal priviledges it cannot see nor so much as think of What are all our thoughts but vanitie and imagination of mans heart but onely evil Gen. 8.21 Gen. 8.21 Neither is this all God framing mans soul planted in it two faculties the Vnderstanding that informeth and the Will that followeth and as the Vnderstanding so is the Will it receives from Reason her Counsellour sensuall advice and sends forth to the Affections her Courtiers injunctions of vanitie here is a Counsellour indeed what is it but reason without reason and here is a will indeed what is it but a slave to sinne without any will to good Man is so holden captive with the yoke of sin that of his own nature he can neither aspire by desire nor travell by endeavour to any goodnesse Calv. Instit l. 2. c. 4. I say not but as Bernard to will is in us all but to will evil is of nature to will good is of grace away then with our abilities and confess we with the Apostle that to will is present with me but I find no means to perform that which is good Rom. 7.18 Rom. 7.18 And yet this is not all take a view of those affections which attend the will and how are all evil It is God should be the object both of our will and affections and what say you do you love him and fear him and trust in him and serve him your sinns say no we can do nothing that good is but we run upon evil see thine anger like a Serpent thy desire like a Wolf thy fear like an Hart thine envie like a Viper all thy passions are become sensuall and Every man is a beast by
then shall your souls be hurried by Devils to that infernall lake whence there is no redemption O beloved O wretch whosoever thou art Canst thou possibly sleep in such a case as this Canst thou go to bed with a conscience laden with sin Canst thou take any sleep which is the brother of death when thou lyest now in danger of eternall death Consider I pray what space what distance how far off is thy soul from death from hell from eternity no more but a breath one breath and no more no more but a step one step and more O beloved were not this lamentable that some one of us that now are standing or sitting should this night sleep his last and to morrow have his body brought to be buried yea and before to morrow morning have his soul which the Lord forbid cast from his bed of feathers to a bed of fire and yet alas alas if any of us this night dye in his sin or in a state unregenerate thus will it be with him whosoever he be to morrow may his body lye could under earth and his soul lodg in hell with this miserable rich man Vse 2 But let me speake to you of whom I hope better things it is good counsell for you all to exspect death every day and by this means death fore-seen cannot possibly be sudden no it is he onely dyes suddenly that dyes unpreparedly Watch therefore saith our Saviour be ever in a readiness and finally that this rich man may be your warning you that tender your souls learn that lessen of our Saviour Lay not up for your selves treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break thorow and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break thorow nor steal Mat. 6.19 20. Mat. 6.19 20. You will say What treasures are those I answer These treasures are those stocks of grace that will last for ever it is that circumspect walking Ephes 5.15 Ephes 5.15 that fervency of spirit Rom. 12.11 Rom 12.11 that zeal of good works Tit. 2 14. Tit. 2.14 that purity which St. Iohn makes a property of every true hearted professour 1 Joh. 3.3 1 Joh. 3.3 In a word it is the work the life the power of that prayer that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy these are heavenly hoords indeed O that we would treasure up such provision against the day of calamity If while it is called to day we would make our peace with his heavenly Highness by an humble continued exercise of repentance if in this time of grace we would purchase Gods favour and those rarest jewells of faith and a good conscience if now before we appear at the dreadfull Tribunall we would make God and his Angels our friends in the Court of Heaven O then how blessed would out deaths be to us came it never so suddenly still should death find us ready and if ready no matter how suddenly yea though it were this this night I have broke ope the writ and you see when it must be served this night but in this Quando there is both suddenness and sadness it is not this day but this night Let this end this dayes discourse and the next day we will lay open the nights dark sadness it is a dismall time and God give us grace so to provide that we may be ready with oyle in our lamps and enter with our Saviour into his blessed Kingdome Night HE sins all day and dyes at night and why at night This you know is frequent and there is reason most are begot and born and therefore dye at night but we must further then the lists of nature this night was more then ordinary as being the fittest time to aggravate his griefe weigh but the circumstances First It was a night of darkness and this may encrease the horrour of his judgment think but what a fear seized on the Aegyptians Wisd 17.5 when no power of the fire must give them light nor might the clear flames of the stars lighten the horrible night that fell upon them The Husband-men the Shepherds the work-men Exod. 10.23 all were bound with one chain of darkness No man saw another neither rose up from the place where he was for three days Exod. 10.23 Was not this fearfull darkness you may guesse it by the effects they were troubled and terrified and swooned as though their own souls should betray them Wisd 17.18 19. Whether it were an hissing wind or a sweet noyse of birds among the spreading branches or a pleasing fall of waters running violently or a terrible sound of stones or the running of skipping beasts or the noyse of cruell beasts or the eccho that answereth again in the hollow mountains these fearfull things made them to swoon for fear And if thus the Egyptians how was it with this Worldling a darknesse seized on him that engendred a thousand times more intolerable torments Wisd 17.21 This was the image of that darkness which should afterward receive him and yet was he unto himself more grievous then the darknesse It was not an outward but an utter darknesse not onely to be not seen but to be felt and feared Imagine then what visions what sounds what sights what sudden fires appeared unto him Unhappy Worldling look round about thee although it be dark here is something to be seen above is the angry Judge beneath is the burning lake before is gloomy darknesse behind is infallibe death on thy right and left hand a legion of evil angels exspecting every moment to receive the prey Here is a sight indeed able to break the very heart-strings of each seer If some have lost their wits by means of some dreadfull sight yea if the very suspicion of Devils have caused many men to tremble and the hairs of their heads to stand staring upright what then was the fear and terrour of this man when so many dreadfull horrible hellish monsters stood round about him now readie to receive him O ye sonnes of men stand in aw and sinne not Psal 4.4 commune with your own heart and in your chamber and be still Will not this fear you from your sinnes Suppose then you lay on your beds of death were the Judge in his throne your souls at the Barre ths accuser at your elbows and hell ready open to shut her mouth upon you O then how would you curse your selves and bewail your sins What horrible visions would appear to you in the dark horrible indeed In so much saith * Cyril de vitae beati Hieron ad fin Epist one that were there no other punishment then the appearing of Devils you would rather burn to ashes then endure their sights Good God that any Christian should live in this danger and yet never heed it till he sees its terrour How many have gone thus
soul the object is too clear for our weak eyes our eyes are but earthly the soul of an heavenly nature O divine being not onely heavenly but heaven it self as God and man met both in Christ so heaven and earth met both in man would you see this earth that is the body Out of it wast thou taken and into it must thou return Gen. 4.19 Gen. 4.19 would you see this heaven that is the soul the God of heaven gave it and to the God of heaven returns it Eccles 12.7 Eccles 12.7 The body is but a lump but the soul is that breath of life of earth came the body of God was the soul thus earth and heaven met in the creation and the man was made a living soul Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2.7 the sanctified soul is an heaven upon earth Est coelum sancta anima habens solem intellectum lunam fidem astra virtutet Bern super Cantic where the sun is understanding the moon is faith and the stars gracious affections what heaven is in that body which lives and moves by such a soul yet so wonderfull is Gods mercy to mankinde that as reason doth possesse the soul so the soul must possesse this body Here is that union of things visible and invisible as the light is spirituall incorruptible indivisible and so united to the air that of these two is made one without confusion of either in like manner is the soul united to this body one together distinguished asunder onely here 's the difference the light is most visible the soul is invisible she is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels the envie of devils that immortall splendor which never eye hath seen never eye must see And yet we must up another step it is fourthly incorporeall as not seen with a mortall eye so neither clogg'd with a bodily shape I say not but the soul hath a body for his organ to which it is so knit and tyed that they cannot be severed without much sorrow or strugling yet is it not a body but a spirit dwelling in it the body is an house and the soul the inhabitant every one knows the house is not the inhabitant and yet O wonder there is no roome in the house where the inhabitant lives not would you please to see the roomes the eye is her window the head is her tower the heart is her closet the mouth is her hall the lungs her presence chamber the senses her cinque-ports the common-sense her custome-house the phantasie her mint the memory her treasury the lips are her two leav'd doores that shut and open and all these and all the rest as the motions in a Watch are acted and mooved by this spring the Soul See here a composition without confusion the soul is in the body yet it is not bodily as in the greatest world the earth is more solid the water less the ayr yet lesser the fire least of all so in this little world of man the meaner parts are of grosser substance and the soul by how much more excellent by so much more spirituall and wholly with-drawn from all bodily being And yet a little higher it is fiftly immortall It was the errour of many Fathers Scaliger notae in nov Test That bodies and souls must both die till doomes-day and then the bodies being raised the souls must be revived Were that true why then cryes Stephen Lord Iesu receive my spirit or why should Paul be dissolved that he might be with Christ Act. 7.59 Philip. 1.23 Blessed men are but men and therefore no wonder if subject to some errour Others more absolutely deny the souls immortality We are born say they at all adventures and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been Why so for the breath is a smoke in our nostrils and the words as a spark raised out of our hearts Wisd 2.2 3. which being extinguished the body is turned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as soft ayre What is the soul a smoak and the spirit no better then the soft vanishing ayre Matth. 22.32 wretched men Have you not read what is spoken of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob now God saith Christ is not the God of the dead but of the living Abraham Isaac Iacob they are not dead then in the better part their souls but passed indeed from the valley of death unto the land of the living Whosoever liveth and believeth in mee saith our Saviour shall never die Iohn 11.26 John 11.26 Not die against some never die against others what can we more onely live and believe in him that redeemed us and be sure his promises shall never fail us our souls must live live for ever Sweet soul blessed with the felicity of eternall life here 's a joy unspeakable that this soul now clogged with cares vexations griefs passions shall one day enjoy those joyes immortall not for a day or two Nullus erit defectus nullus terminus though this were more then we can imagine but through all eternity There shall be no defect nor end after millions of ages the soul must still live in her happiness it is not of a perishing but an everlasting substance And yet the perfection of the soul goes higher it is most like to God so far it transcends all earthly happiness I cannot say but in some sort all creatures have this likeness every effect hath at least some similitude with its cause but with a difference some onely have a being as stones others being and life as plants but man above all hath a being life and reason and therefore of all other the most like unto his Creatour Can we any more yes one step higher and we are at the top of Jacobs ladder The soul is not onely like God but the image of God I cannot denie but there is some apparance of it in the outward man and therefore the bodie in some measure partakes of this image of the Deity it was man and whole man that was corrupted by sin and by the law of contraries it was man and whole man that was beautified with this image Please you to look at the body is it not a little world wherein every thing that God made was good as therefore all goodness comes from him so was he the pattern of all goodness that being in him perfectly which onely is in us partly This is that Idaea whereby God is said to be the exemplar of the world man then in his body being as the worlds map what is he but that image in which the builder of the world is manifest but if you look at the parts of his body how often are they attributed though in a metaphor yet in resemblance to his Maker our eyes are the image of his wisdome our hands are the image of his power our heart is the image of his
of torments which like infinite rivers of Brimstone feed upon his soul without ease or end What avails now his pompous pride at his dolefull funerals the news is sounded hee is dead friends must lament him passing-peales ring for him an hearse-cloth wrap him a tombe-stone lye over him all must have mourning suites and may be rejoycing hearts but all this while his soul his going to judgment without one friend or the least acquaintance to speak in his cause O that his soul were mortall and body and soul to be buried both together in one grave must his body die and his soul live in what world or nation in what place or region it is another world another nation where Devils are companions brimstone the fire horrour the language and eternall death the souls eternall life never to be cured Bernard in Medit. and never must be ended O my soul saith Bernard what a terrible day shall that be when thou shalt leave this Mansion and enter into an unknown region who will deliver thee from these ramping Lyons who can defend thee from those hellish monsters God is incensed hell prepared justice threatned onely mercy must prevent or the soul is damned View this rich man on his deaths-bed the pain shouts through his head and at last comes to his heart anon death appeares in his face and suddenly falls on to arrest his soul Is it death what is it he demands can his goods satisfie no the world claims them must his body goe no the worms claim that what debt is this which neither goods nor body can discharge Habeas animam ejus coram nobis Gods warrant bids fetch the soul O miserable news the soul committed sin sin morgaged it to death death now demands it and what if he gain the world he must lose his soul This night thy soul shall be required of thee Vse 1 Animula vagula blandula said the heathen Emperour Pretty Adrian little wandring soul whither goest thou from me wilt thou leave me alone that cannot live without thee O what conflicts suffers the poor soul when this time is come must the soul be gone help friends physick pleasure riches nay take a world to reprive a soul so different are the thoughts of men dying from them living now are they for their pleasure or profit the body or the world but then nothing is esteemed but the soul what can we say but if you mean your souls must be saved O then let these precious dear everlasting things breathed into your bodies for a short abode scorn to feed on earth or any earthly things it is matter of a more heavenly metall treasures of an higher temper riches of a nobler nature that must help your souls Do you think that ever any glorified soul that now looks God Almighty in the face and tramples under foot the Sun and Moon is so bewitcht as was Achan with a wedge of gold no it is onely the Communion of Saints the society of Angels the fruition of the Deity Iosh 7.21 the depth of eternity which can onely feed and fill the soul So live then as that when you die your souls may receive this blisse and the Lord Iesus our Saviour receive all your souls Vse 2 I must end but gladly would I win a soul If the reward be so great as you know it to recover a sick body Si magnae mercedis est a morte eripere carnem quanti est meriti à morte liberare animam Ambros Offic. 1. Quid est quod velis habere malum nihil omnino Aug. in quod serm which for all that must die of what reward is that cure to save a soul which must ever ever live O sweet Jesu why sheddest thou the most precious and warmest bloud of thy heart but onely to save souls thou wast scourged buffetted judged condemned hanged was all this for us and shall we do nothing for our selves What is it thou wouldest have bad if thou couldest wish it good not thy house nor thy wife nor thy children nor thy good nor thy cloaths but no matter for thy soul I beseech you value not you souls at a less price then your shooes you can please the flesh with delicates which is naught but worms meat but the soul pines for want which is a creature invisible incorporeall immortall most like to God are we thus carefull of pelf and so careless of this pearl certainly I cannot choose but wonder when seeing the streets peopled with men that follow suits run to Courts attend and wait on their Councellors for this case and that case this house or that land that not one of these no nor one of all us will ride or run or creep or go to have counsell for his soul I must confess I have sometimes dwelt on this meditation and Beloved let me speak homely to you be our Counsellors in this Town every week solicited by their Clients and have we no Clients in soul-cases not one that will come to us with their cases of conscience sure you are either careless of your souls or belike you have no need of particular instructions O let us not be so forward for the world and so backward for the soul yet I pray mistake not I invite you not for fees as noble Terentius when he had petitioned for the Christians and saw it torn in pieces before his face gathered up the pieces and said I have my reward I have not sued for gold silver honour or pleasure but a Church so say I in middest of your neglect I have not sued for your good or silver for your houses or lands but for your souls your precious souls and if I cannot or shall not woe them to come to Christ God raise up some child of the Bride-chamber which may do it better if neither I nor any other can prevail O then fear that speech of Elies sons they hearkened not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2.25 In such a case O that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for your sins O that I could wash your souls with my tears from that filth of sin wherewith they are besmeared and defiled O that for the salvation of your souls I might be made a sacrifie unto death But the Lord be praised for your souls and my soul Christ Jesus hath died and if now we but repent us of our sins and believe in our Saviour if now we will but deny our selves and take up his cross and follow him if now we will but turn unto him that he may turn his loving countenance unto us if now we will but become new creatures and ever-hereafter walk in the holy path the narrow way which leads unto heaven why then may our souls be saved This is that we had need to care for Cur carnem adornas animam non
grones and suddain cryes the fire slakes not the worm dies not the chains loose not the links wear not revenge tyres not but for ever are the torments fresh and the fetters on fire as they came first from their Forge What a strange kind of torture falls upon the wicked they are bound to fiery pillars and Devils lash at them with their fiery whips Is there any part of man scapes free in such a fray the flesh shall fâ—â— the blood boil the veins be scorcht the sinews rackt Serpents shall eat the body furies tear the soul this is that wofull plight of Tares which he bound in Hell The sick man at Sea may go from his ship to his boat and from his boat to his ship again the sick man in his bed may tumble from his right side to his left and from his left to his right again onely the Tares are tied hand and foot bound limme and joynt their feet walk not their fingers move not their eyes must no more wander as before loe all his bound O these manacles that rot the flesh and pierce the inward parts O unmatchable torments yet most fit for Tares sin made them furious hell must tame their Phrensie the Judge thus commands and the Executioners must dispatch fetter them fire them Bind them in bundles to burn them I have lead you through the Dungeon let this fight serve for a terrour that you never come nearer To that purpose for exhortation consider Alas all hangs on life ther 's but a twine thread betwixt the soul of a sinner and the scorching flames who then would so live as to run his soul into hazard the Judge threatens us Devils hate us the bonds exspect us it is onely our conscience must clear us or condemn us Search then thy waies and stir up thy remembrance to her Items hast thou dishonoured God blasphemed his name decayed his image subduing thy soul to sin that was created for heaven repent these courses ask God forgiveness and he will turn away thy punishments I know your sins are grievous and my soul grieves at the knowledge many evills have possessed too many drunkenness and oathes and malice and revenge are not these guests entertained into all houses banish them your hearts that the King of glory may come in Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Would God bestow mercy and should we refuse his bounty as you love heaven your souls your selves leave your sins Vse 2 And then here is a word of consolation the penitent needs not fear hell Gods servant is freed from bonds yea if we love him who hath first loved us Ephes 5.2 all the chains and pains of hell can neither hold nor hurt us Vse 3 O then ye Sons of Adam suffer a reproof what do ye that ye do not repent you of your sins is it not a madness above admiration that men who are reasonable creatures having eyes in their heads hearts in their bodies understanding like the Angels and consciences capable of unspeakable horrour never will be warned untill the fire of that infernall Lake flash and flame about their eares Let the Angels blush heaven and earth be amazed all the Creatures stand astonished at it I am sure a time wil come when the Tares shal feel what now they may justly fear you hear enough such weed must be bound thus straight is the Lords command Binde them in bundles to burn them But all is not done Chains have their links and we must bring all together Sinners are coupled in hell as Tares in Bundles But of these when we next meet in the mean while let this we have heard Binde us all to our duties that we hear attentively remember carefully practice conscionably that so God may reward accordingly and at last crown us with his glory The tares must be bound up in bundles but Lord make us free in Heaven to sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in thy blessed kingdome In bundles THe command is out what Bind whom them how in bundles The tares must on heaps which gives us a double observation Generall Speciall In the generall it intimates these two points the gathering of the weed and its severing from the wheat both are bound in bundles but the wheat by it self and the tares by themselves as at that doom when all the world must be gathered and severed some stand at the right hand others at the left so at this execution some are for the fire and others for the barn they are bundled together yet according to the difference of the severall parties each from the other Observ 1 First the tares must together Woe is me saith David that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech Psal 120.4 and if David think it wofull to converse with his living enemies then what punishment have the wicked whom the Devill and damned the black angels and everlasting horrour must accompany for ever The tares must be gathered and bundled and the more bundles the more and more miseries Company yields no comfort in hell fire nay what greater discomfort then to see thy friends in flames thy fellowes in torments the fiends with flaming whips revenging each others malice on thy self and enemy It was the rich mans last petition when he had so many repulses for his own ease to make one suit for his living brethren he knew their company would encrease his torment to prevent which he cries out I pray thee father Abraham Luk. 16.27 28. that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my fathers house for I have five brethren that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment Why it may be God will hear him for them especially making such a reasonable request as this was that Lazarus might onely warn his brethren of future judgment no but to teach you if you sell your souls to sin to leave a rich posterity on earth you shall not onely your selves without all remorse and pity be damned in hell but your posterity shall be a torment to you whilest they live and a greater torment if they come to you when they are dead To converse with Devils is fearfull but altogether to accompany each other is a plague fit for tares In this life they flourished amongst the wheat Let them grow both together corn and tares untill the harvest But the harvest come God will now separate them both asunder and as in heaven there are none but Saints so in hell there are none but reprobates to encrease this torment as they grow together so all their conference is to curse each other Moab shall cry against Moab father against son son against father what comfort in this company The Devill that was authour of such mischiefs appears in most grisly forms his angels the black guard of hell torture poor souls in flames there live swearers
with their flaming tongues usurers with talent hands drunkards with scorched throats all these tares like fiery faggots burning together in hell flames this is the first punishment all the tares must meet they are bundled together Observ 2 Secondly as the tares must together so they must together by themselves thus are they bundled and severed bundled all together but from the wheat all asunder Quia damni poenam infert Basil Ascer in c. 2. p. 255. Chrysost in Matth. Hom. 24. Bern. de inter domo cap. 38. Hell is called damnation Because it brings Heavens losse and this by consent of most Divines is the more horrible part of hell so Basil To be alienated or separated from the presence of God his Saints and Angels is farre more grievous then the pains of hell So Chrysostome The pain of hell is intolerable indeed yet a thousand hels are nothing to the losse of that most glorious kingdome So Bernard It is a pain far surpassing all the tortures in hel not to see God and those joyes immortall which are prepared for his children O then what hels are in hell when besides the pains of sense there is a pain of losse the losse of God losse of Saints losse of Angels losse of Heaven losse of that beatificall vision of the most Sovereigne Good our ever-blessed Maker Consider with your selves if at the parting of the soul and body there be such pangs and gripes and stings and sorrows what grief then will it be to be severed for ever from the Highest and supreamest Good Suppose your bodies as some Martyrs have been used should be torn in sunder and that wild horses driven contrary wayes should rack and pul your arms and legs and heart and bowels one piece froÌ„ another what an horrible kind of death would this be think you and yet a thousand rentings of this member from that or of the soul from the body are infinitely lesse then this one separation of the soul from God When Jacob got rhe blessing from his brother Esau Gen. 27.31 it is said in the Text that he roared with a great cry and bitter saying to his father Hast thou not reserved one blessing for me also Imagine then when the wheat must have the blessing how will the tares figured in Esau roar and crie and yell and howl again and yet notwithstanding this unspeakable rage all the tears of hell shall never be sufficient to bewail the losse of heaven Hence breeds that worm that is alwayes gnawing at the conscience a worâ—â— saith our Saviour that dies not Mark 9.44 Mark 9.44 It shall lie day and night biting and gnawing and feeding upon the bowels of the damned persons O the stings of this worm no sooner shall the damned consider the cause of their miserie to wit the mis-spending of their time the greatnesse of their sinne the many oportunities lost when they might have gotten Heaven for a tear or a sigh or groan from a penitent heart but this worm or remorse shall at every consideration give them a deadly bite and then shall they roar it out Miserable wretch what have I done I had a time to have wrought out the salvation of my soul many a powerfull searching Sermon have I heard any one passage whereof had I not wickedly and wilfully forsook mine own mercie might have been unto me the beginning of the new birth but those golden dayes are gone and for want of a little sorrow a little repentance a little faith now am I burning in hell fire O precious time O dayes moneths years how are ye vanished that you will never come again And have I thus miserably undone my self Come Furies tear me into as many pieces as there are moats in the Sun rip up my breast dig into my bowels pull out my heart leave me not an hair on my head but let all burn in these flames till I moulder into nothing O madnesse of men that never think on this all the dayes of your visitation and then when the bottomlesse pit hath shut her self upon you thus will this worm gnaw your hearts with unconceivable griefs Be amazed O ye Heavens tremble thou Earth let all creatures stand astonished whilst the Tares are thus sentenced Bundle them and burn them Thus farre of the word in generall but if we look on it with a more narrow eye it gives to our hands this speciall observation The tares must have chains proportionable to their sinns Observ Bind them in bundles saith my Text not in one but in many faggots an Adulterer with an Adulteresse a Drunkard with a Drunkard a Traytor with a Traytor as there be severall sins so severall Bundles all are punished in the same fire but all are not punished in the same degree some have heavier chains and some have lighter but all in just weight and measure The Proud shall be trod under foot the Glutton suffer inestimable hunger the Drunkard feel a burning thirst the Covetous pine in wants the Adulterer lie with Serpents Dragons Scorpions Give me leave to bind these in bundles and so leave them for the fire they are first bundled then burned Where is Lady Pride and her followers see them piled for the furnace Esay 3. you that jet it with your bals and bracelets tyres and tablets rings and jewels and changeable suits think but what a change will come when all you like birds of a feather must together to be bound in bundles What then will your pride avail or your riches profit or your gold do good or your treasures help Job 20.26 when you must be constrained to vomit up again your riches the increase of your house departing away and a fire not blown utterly consuming you and them The rich man in the Gospel could for a time go richly fare sumptuously and that not onely on Sabbaths or Holy-dayes but as the text every day yet no sooner had death seized on his body but he was fain to alter both his suit and diet hear him how he begs for water that had plentie of wines and see him that was cloathed in purple now apparrelled in another suit yet of the same colour too even in purple flames O that his delicate morsels must want a drop of water and that his fine apparrell must cost him so dear as the high price of his soul why rich man is it come to this the time was that purple and fine linnen was thy usuall apparrell that banquets of sumptuous dishes were thy ordinarie fare but now not the poorest beggar even Lazarus himself that would change estate with thee Change said I marrie no Remember saith old Abraham that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16.25 Luke 16.25 But there are other Bundles where is Gluttonie and her surfetters Do we not see how the earth is plowed the sea furrowed and all to
fire Alas to what end there is no help to extinguish fire that must burn for ever your Buckets may quench other fires not this no milk nor vinegar can extinguish that wild-fire it is a fire which no means can moderate no patience can endure no time can for ever change but in it whosoever wofully lies their flesh shall frie their bloud shall boil their hearts consume yet they shall never die but dying live and living die death in life life in death miserable ever This is that consideration which shall bring all the damned Reprobates to shriek and houl everlastingly were they perswaded that after millions of years they should have one year of pleasure or after thousands of millions they should have some end of torment here would be a little hope but this word Ever breaks their hearts asunder this ever ever gives new life again to those insufferable sorrows and hence it is that when all those millions of years are done and gone then God knows must the wheels of their torment whirl about and about Alas the fire is durable the heat continuall the fuell immortall and such is the end of Tares they must burn without end Bind them in bundles to burn them Lo here the fire of hell which compared to ours on earth it differs in heat in light in fuell in durance Let your souls work on these objects that they never come nearer to those flames Vse 1 Who amongst us would dwell with devouring fire who amongst us would dwell with everlasting burnings Esay 33.14 Beloved as you tender your souls and would escape the flames reform your lives whiles you have yet a little time You hear it sounded in Synagogues and preached in pulpits what sound but heaven or hell joys or torments the one befalling the good and the other the just end of the wicked Do we believe this truth and dare we commit sinne whose reward is this fiery death upon due consideration how is it that we sleep or rest or take a minutes ease lesser dangers have bestraught some out of their wits nay bereaved many of their lives how is it then that we run headlong into this fire yet never weigh whither we are going till we are dropping into the pit whence there is no redemption Look about you while it is called to day or otherwise wo and alas that ever you were born be sure a time will come when miseries shall march Angels beat alarms God sound destruction and the tents of his enemies be all set on fire Bind them in bundles to burn them Vse 2 Or yet if comparisons can prevail suppose one of you should be taken brought along to the mouth of an hot fiery furnace then comparing sinne with its punishment might I question you how much pleasure would you ask to continue there burning but one year how much would you say surely not for all the pleasures and treasures that all this world can afford you How is it then that for a little sinne that endures but a moment so many of you so little regard eternall punishment in hell fire If we should but see a little child fall into the fire and his very bowels burnt out how would it grieve us and make our very hearts bleed within us how much more then should it grieve you to see not a child but your own bodies and souls cast away for a momentany sinne into the lake of fire that never shall be quenched If a man should come amongst us and cry Fire Fire thy house is all on Fire thy corn thy cattell thy wife thy children and all thou hast are burning all together how would this astonish us making both the hair to stand upright on our heads and the tears to gush out of our eyes Behold then and see the spirit of God cries out Fire fire even the dreadfull fire of hel gapeth ready to devour not thy house thy corn or thy cattel but tâ—â— poor soul and that for evermore O then how should this break your flinty hearts asunder and make your souls bleed again and again if you have any spark of grace this me thinks should move you to a strict 〈…〉 if you have any care of your souls this me thinks should make you to walk humbly and purely carefully and consciâ—â—â—â—bly towards God and towards man if not what remains but fire fire Bind them in bundles to burn them Or yet if example can perswade us more meditate on the miserable condition of that namelesse rich man Suppose you saw him in hel torments compast about with furies fires and all that black guard below his tongue flaming his eyes staring his conscience biting his soul suffering his body all over-burning in that fire of hel O lamentable fight but to make it more lamentable hearken how he roars and cryes through the extremitie of pains O torment torment how am I tormented in this fire my head my heart my eies my ears my tongue my tongue is all on fire what shall I do whither shall I flie for succour within me is the worm without me is fire about me are devils above me is Abraham and what glorious star is yond I see but Lazarus poor Lazarus in his bosome what is a beggar exalted and am I in torments Why Abraham father Abraham have 〈◊〉 on me See here a man burning schorching frying in hel 〈◊〉 one dram of mercy one drop of water to a tormented soul Oh I burn I burn I burn without ease or end and is there none to 〈◊〉 me Come Lazarus if Abraham will not hear let me beg of thee â— beggar and howsoever I denied thee a 〈◊〉 â—f bread yet be so good so charitable as to dip the tip of thy finger in water and cool my tongue It is a poor suit I ask not to dive but dip not thy hand but finger not all but the tip of it not in sâ—â—â— but water not to quench but to cool not my body but my least member be it my tongue onely no ease so little no grant so poor no remedy so small but happy were I if I could obtain it though I begged it with tears and prayers of a thousand thousand years continuance But see Abraham and Lazarus denie my suits I burn and neither God nor Saint nor Angel takes pitie on me and shall I cry for help on devils alas they are my tormentors that lash me and cut me with their whips of burning steel and iron O beloved what shall we say to the roaring rage of this tormented wretch Alas alas how little do men think on this they can passe away time sporting and playing as if they went to prison but for a few weeks or dayes just like men who having the sentence of death past upon them run fooling and laughing to the execution but when once hell mouth hath shut her self then shall they find nothing but eternity of torments in the fear of God take heed in time of this