vicious example being part occasion therof his tormēts should be doubled nay centupled vpon him In hell therfore there being neither grace nor deuotion but still affected iniquity their torments must bee euerlasting The third reason Drawne from that stinging attribute of Gods iustice because life was offered them here and they would none it is iust with God that when in Hell they begge it they should goe without it yea that they should séeke death and neuer find it Once they were offered saluation being gone in Adam but that offer being neglected let them neuer looke for another O if this long torment were alwaies thought vpon it would make vs vse this short time of our life better they are Spirituall Lunatikes and worse than mad Bedlomites that will purchase an eternall torment for so short a pleasure I beséech you therfore beloued brethren for your soules sake which should bee more worth vnto you than a thousand worldes let not these infinite torments be passed ouer with a short or shallow consideration but write the remembrance of them in the inward parts of your soules with the Diamond of déepest meditation that so this Tophet may neuer be your destruction The seuenth and last part of the Description of Tophet set downe in these words The breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it In which words there is not onely a Prosopopeia in the breath but a Topographia in the brimstone vsed both which figures doe notably expresse the furious indignation of the Author and the fierce seuerity of the act the Author or Inflictour of all these fearefull punishments is the Lord God offended at whose anger the Heauens do melt the Earth quakes the whole Creation trembles into whose hands to fall is most fearefull For the Lord our God is a consuming fire The Lord is the decréer appointer and commaunder of all these fearefull torments and the Lord doth execute them vpon the damned both immediate immediately from himselfe mediate mediately by his instruments as by the deuils fire darkenes stinch and other creatures Feare therfore in the feare of God this fearefull and terrible name Iehouah that at the day of néed ye may find him a mild and gentle Lambe and not A roaring Lion of Iudah The seuerity of punishment is set downe by a double allegory Breath Brimstone To expresse the rage and tyranny of Saul against the Lambes of IESVS this word is vsed in the Actes And Saul yet breathing out threatnings and slaughter against the Disciples of the Lord c. So here to expresse the furious indignation of the Lord against sinners the Breath of the Lord is vsed Like a riuer of Brimstone The perplexing property of brimstone is to burne Darkely to grieue the sight Sharply to afflict the more Loathsomly to perplex the smell We reade in the Scriptures that the Lord being much prouoked punished not onely with fire but with burning brimstone which is tenne to one more terrible As vpon Sodome hee rained fire brimstone from heauen I will raine vpon him a sore raine haile-stones fire and brimstone Vpon the wicked God shall raine snares fire and brimstone and stormy tempest this shall bee their portion to drinke The beast and the false Prophet both aliue were cast into the Lake of fire and brimstone Oh who can expresse now the lamentation of Tophet for the breath of the Lord like a riuer of brimstone doth kindle it As this should bee of power to kéepe you from the least iniquity so it should possesse you with the knowledge of the right nature of sinne that it is the most odious and loathsome thing in the world A stinking carkase stinketh not so in the nostrils of man as a polluted sinner stinketh in the nostrils of almighty God As Plato sayth of vertue That if it could be seene with a bodily eye it is so splendid and glorious a thing as all the world would be rauished with the loue of her So may I say the contrary of vice That if sinne could bee seene in his owne colours and in his right Nature all the world would loath and vtterly detest it But miserable man the more is the pitty conceiueth not aright of sinne one would thinke that Adam had committed but a small sinne in eating the forbidden fruit at the intreaty of Eue yet he and all his posterity guilty of eternall death for the same One would thinke that that poore man had committed but a small fault In gathering a few chippes on the Sabbaoth day wée haue fouler matters committed on our Sabbaoths and goe vnpunished yet hee was stoned to death for his labour one would thinke that Ananias detayning part of the money and maintayning the contrary with a lie had committed but a small fault yet hee was strooke dead for the same at the féete of Peter one would thinke that an idle word were but a small sinne yet of euery idle word that men shall speake a great account must bee made for the same And as men conceiue of sinne so they imagine of punishment they thinke that the Lord will not deale so seuerely with them and yet my Text sayth That the breath of the LORD like a riuer of brimstone dooth kindle it The terror of whose wrath is indurable Hearken here all you that make but a sport of sinne looke vpon your punishments prescribed the least sinne that euer you haue committed being weighty as lead is able to sinke your soules downe to damnation Cease therefore from euill and doe that which is good Cast away the workes of darkenesse and put on the armour of light hate the little sinne as well as the great an idle thought as well as blasphemy make much of offered grace to saluation Christ now knocketh at the dore of your soules and would gladly come in and dwell with you For it is his delight to dwell with the sonnes of men shut him not out as did the Bethleemites Bid him not be gone as did the Gadarens but Bee yee open yee euerlasting doores that the King of glory may come in that you hauing giuen him entertainement héere hee may do the like by you hereafter placing you with the sheepe on his right hand and singing this blessed haruest-song vnto you Come ye blessed of my Father inherite the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world To the which most blessed place of glory the LORD bring euery soule of vs at the day of our death and dissolution and that for IESVS CHRIST his sake to whom with GOD the Father and GOD the blessed Spirit three glorious persons but one immortal GOD be ascribed all honour and glory both in Heauen and Earth this day and euer Amen FINIS AN EARNEST AND ZEAlous Prayer to be saued from the damnation of TOPHET O Most glorious euerliuing and euerlouing Lord God the fountaine and well-spring of all our happinesse
Tertullian in Apologetico speaking of Hell sayth thus Gehenna est ignis arcani subterraneus ad poenam thesaurus that is Hell is a treasure of secret fire kept vnder the earth to punish withall The truth of this heauy report Diues with the residue of the damned doe finde by wofull experience who still cries out I am tormented in this flame This is miserable Tophet prepared for all vngodly people of the world Vse 1 The meditation of these torments should breake our stony hearts in peeces and strike vs into such a dismall dumpe as was Baltazar when hee saw the hand writing on the wall against him these should be of an extractiue force and power to draw grones from our hearts teares from our eyes and sinnes from our soules Grauia peccata grauia desiderant lamenta Great sinnes require great lamentations Sweet meat must haue sowre sawce sinne must haue mourning eyther here by attrition Legall and contrition Euangelicall or else hereafter wee shall be cast into Tophet where wee shall lie screeching and screaming continually Plangite igitur plangenda Bewayle your sinnes therefore that ought to be lamented Estote tam proni ad lamenta sicut fuistis ad peccata Bee as prone to lamentation as euer you were to transgression as prone to lament them as euer yee were to commit them In a booke inscribed De natura rerum I read of a Byrd called Auis Paradisi the Birde of Paradise which is so called in regard of her splendid and excellent beauty which Birde being taken in the snare of the Fowler doth ingemiscere ac lachrymare dies noctesque mourne and lament night and day vntill shee be restored to liberty So we that were once Aues Paradisi Birdes of Paradise but now captiuated in the thraldome of sinne and Sathan and lyable to this tormenting Tophet should neuer cease mourning wayling vntill wee bee restored to Grace againe Blessed are you that haue grace thus to mourne yee shall bee comforted the Lord will wipe away as all sinnes from your soules so all teares from your eyes in the kingdome of saluation Againe the consideration of this Vse 2 terrible Tophet should cause vs willingly to embrace the counsell of the Psalmist To stand in awe and sinne not And worke in our hearts that feare spoken of in the Gospel of Matthew Feare him that is able to destroy both body and soule in hell This terrible report should strike vs into a threefold feare Feare to be depriued of the grace of God Feare to be excluded the louing presence of God Feare to be tormented in the Lake vnquenchable It was the practise of an holy man who sayth I feare him that is able to damne both body and soule I tremble at hell I tremble at the Iudges countenance which is able to make all the Angells and powers of Heauen to temble I tremble at the voyce of the Archangell I tremble at the roaring deuils I am afraid of the gnawing worme the smoake the vapour the brimstone the darknesse the burning Ah woe is me that am the sonne of bitternesse indignation and eternall weeping This made Paul indeuour to keepe a cleare conscience both towards God and man This made Ierome afraid to offend Whether I eate or drinke saith hee or whatsoeuer I doe else me thinkes I heare this saying sounding in mine eares Arise yee dead and come to Iudgement Arise yee dead and come to iudgement Which when I consider it makes me quake and shake and not dare to commit sinne which otherwise I should haue committed And what is the cause I pray that wicked wretches runne into al excesse and riot of sinne as they do Is it not because they lay not to heart this tormenting Tophet witnesse else the prophet Amos who sayth That they put off from them the euill day and boldly approach to the seates of iniquity If putting off the remembrance of the vengeance to come will make men dissolute and retchlesse then surely laying to heart the inutterable torments of Tophet will bee a notable meane to reclayme men from all vngodlinesse But if men will harden their hearts aboue the hardnes of an Adamant and will not be moued neyther by mercies nor iudgement let all such know that Tophet groaneth for them where they shall howle and yell in fiery torments for euermore Thus much in a word for the word Tophet The second obseruable for the certainety of this place of torment is the Act or thing done in these words Is prepared Parata Tophet non paranda It is not sayd That Tophet shall bee hereafter prepared or it is now preparing but it is already prepared Tophet is prepared The malicious deuil laboureth nothing more then to perswade men that there is no such place of torment that so the more easily hee may leade them thither as the thiefe is led to execution with a vayle before his eyes But for the trueth hereof let these things following duely be obserued As a princely magnificence requireth that a King haue a beautifull pallace for the best sort of men and a dismall prison for the rebellious So the King of kings hath a glorious pallace wherein are many mansions for his Saints a darke and loathsome dungeon for the Diuell and his Angels The law of nations requireth that malefactors for their offences bee banished for euer so the Lord doth banish from his gracious presence all the vngodly of the earth into the fearefull Iland of hell The Cicilian Aetna called at this day Gibillo Monte where roarings are heard and flames of fire are séene the flashing of Vesuuius the cracking as it were of fire in a furnace in the Marine Rocke of Barry what doe all these presage but assure all those that feare the Lord besides his counsel reuealed in his word that Tophet is already prepared Againe in all things naturall and supernaturall there is an opposition there is a contrariety there is good there is euill there is light there is darkenes there is ioy there is sorrow there is a Heauen and therefore there must be a Hell into which the soules of the reprobate shall be carried when they die by the blacke and grisly angels Againe the Scripture speaketh euery where of this place of torment Whosoeuer shall say Foole shall bee worthy to be punished with hell fire Againe It is better for thee to goe into the Kingdome of God with one foot with one hand with one eye then hauing two feet two hands and two eyes to bee cast into Hell fire But that of the 25. of Matthew is very pregnant for this purpose where the word it selfe is vsed Goe from me yee cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the Deuill and his Angels This doctrine méeteth with all Atheists that say There is no heauen no hell no God no deuill As that noted foole that
rich as the poore the father as the child the master as the seruant the king as the beggar as the Prophet Dauid sayeth With righteousnesse shal he iudge the world and the people with equity Though wickednesse among men bee in the place of iudgement yet the Lord our God will deale iustly Though among men there is respect of persons to bee had without which a confusion would and this is necessary to be vrged for men are full of contempt and too sawcy with them of superiour place and authority yet when all shal be summoned before the tribunall of God the Lord will indifferently procéed to Iudgement without any respect of persons And this should not onely pull down the haughty minds of the noble who thinke for their greatnesse here it will be easier for them hereafter than others but also this should be an vnalterable president to all Iudges of the world As they sit in Gods place so they should imitate the Lord in iudgement this should make them obey the counsell of the Lord deliuered by the Prophet Dauid Bee learned yee that are Iudges of the earth O the care that Iehosaphat tooke for iust and righteous iudgement after he had made Iudges and set them in euery City of Iudah hee gaue them this charge Take heed what yee doe for yee execute not the iudgements of man but the iudgements of the Lord and the Lord will bee with you to preserue you if you doe iustly but to confound you if you doe vniustly wherefore now let the feare of the Lord bee vpon you take heed and doe it for there is no iniquity with our God nor respect of persons nor receyuing of rewards O that this gracious counsell were intertayned of the Iudges of this land then we should not heare of so many complaints in our land as wee doe then we should not haue cause to complayne with the Prophet That iudgement is turned backeward and iustice standeth afarre off that trueth is gone and equity no where to be found then wee should not haue so many beggard by the Law as dayly are Law was neuer made to vndoe men but to compell men to doe well it was made to curbe the vnruely but not to beggar the innocent it is grown to this saying now a dayes I had rather loose it being my right than goe to law for it why what is the cause O because of rackt fees close bribes and the perpetuity of attendance Iudicate secundum iustitiam Iudge iudge O yee sonnes of men according to righteousnesse let your iudgement be in veritate in trueth iudicio in iudgement iustitia in righteousnes I pray God it may neuer bee sayde of our Iudges of England as once was sayd of the Iudges of Israel The Lord looked for iudgement but behold oppression for righteousnesse but behold a crying Let not there be found in a land where the Gospell dwelleth such Iudges as were those that killed innocent Naboth Let none be like the sonnes of Samuel That turned aside after lucre and took rewards and peruerted the iudgement The duety of Iudges is notably set down in the 23. of Ex. Thou shalt not receyue a false tale Thou shalt not ouerthrow the truth for the multitudes sake Thou shalt not ouerthrow the right of the poore in his suite Thou shalt keepe thee from a false matter Thou shalt take no gift for the gift blindeth the wise and peruerteth the words of the righteous And this charge is continued in Leuiticus Yee shall not doe vniustly in iudgement Thou shalt not fauour the person of the poore nor honour the person of the mighty but thou shalt iudge thy neighbour iustly A Iudge must be Scientia potens and Virtute valens that is Able in learning and zealous in liuing by the one he shall discernere inter allegata Discerne betwixt cases propounded by the other disrumpere iniquitatem without hinderance punish and confound all manner of iniquity In all your Iudgements let these be aymed at the glory of God the righting of wrong the suppression of euill and the maintenance of truth Be zealous for the glory of our God and let the good lawes that are bee duly and impartially executed It was a great commendation that was giuen to Seleucus Gouernour of the Locretians who hauing made this Law against whoredome That whosoeuer committed the act should loose both his eyes his sonne being taken in the fact was not pardoned though the Citizens begged it earnestly but hee caused one of his sonnes eyes to bee pulled out and one of his owne eyes So hee shewed himselfe a mercifull Father and a iust Iudge O that we had the like laws against this and the like mostodious offences and that they were as strictly executed that many hereby may bee saued from Tophet The Lord guide that honourable assembly in Court of Parliament that they may all ioyne with one voyce and spirit for the banishing of Popery the reforming of iniquity and maintaining and countenancing of the word of trueth and painefull Preachers of the same And you my honourable Lord as you haue begun wel in reforming many foule abuses in this City so in the zeale of the Lord Prosper with your glory ride on with the word of truth meekenesse and righteousnesse and your right hand shall teach you terrible things Thus am I bolde to cast in among you the silly mite of my counsell meerely of Christian Charity tha◠yée may neuer taste of the woefull damnation of Tophet The third part of the description of Tophet is set downe in these wordes He hath made it deepe Many from these words do goe about to proue the locall place of Hell concluding it to bee below as from the signification of Sheol also Sheol is taken for a Pit or Graue or Hell the state of the dead the place of the damned spirits In the Scriptures sometimes it is taken for the Graue and sometime for Hell so is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also The Septuagint translating the Hebrew into Greeke and expressing there the sense of Sheol vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both for the death of the body in the Graue and of the soule in Hell Mercer vpon Genesis sayth That the proper signification of Sheol is to signifie all places vnder the earth and not the pit or graue alone wherupon it is euery where opposed to heauen which is highest of all Hell is called by the name of Abyssus in the Scriptures which signifieth a déepe and vast gulfe vnder the earth a bottomlesse pit into which the deuils feare to bee sent and where they are chained and bound when it pleaseth God From which Abyssus there is an assent to the earth no descent lower Reuelat 9.2 and 11.7 and 17.8 and therefore hell suspected to bee beneath Because Tophet is here sayd to be profunda deepe Nicolaus de Lyra putat esse circa
centrum terrae Thinketh that it is about the centre of the earth The Apostles that preached to the Iewes vsed the word Gehenna from the Hebrewes which they well vnderstood and Saint Iames writing to the Iewes sayth The tongue is inflamed of Gehenna of hell but the rest of them that preached to the Gentiles vsed the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which name was knowne vnto them and they tooke it to be a place vnder the earth where the wicked after this life were punished Tartarus which is vsed for Hel is so farre vnder the earth as Heauen is aboue the earth sayth Hesiodus The Poet speaking of it sayth Tartarus ipse bis patet in praeceps tantum .i. Tartarus is twice as deepe as Heauen is high The Rabbines hold Hell to bee below as Rabbi Abraham sayth Sheol makom c. Sheol is a deepe place opposed to Heauen which is on high And Rabbi Leui sayth Sheol hi mattah c. Sheol is absolutely below and is the centre The Scriptures also place Hell below Sheol beneath is moued for thee to meete thee at thy comming Moses calleth it the lower hell Fire is kindled in my wrath and shall burne vsque ad infernum inferiorem to the bottome of hell The Psalmist calleth it a déepe pit Let him cast them into the fire and into the deepe pits that they rise not And in another place he calleth it the Pit of Perdition Iohn calleth it a Burning Lake in the Reuelation which must needs bee below Salomon speaketh of the depth of this place saying The ghâ—sts of an harlot are in the depth of hell And againe The way of Life is on high to auoyde from hell beneath Thus it is manifest that Hell is beneath in the lowest parts of the workemanship of God But precisely to say where whether in the centre of the centre of the world or in the ayre or in the water or vpon the earth it is not reuealed neyther is it needful for vs to know but surely it shall bee in the most remote place from Heauen which is in and about the earth for the soules of the righteous when they are dissolued from their bodies do presently passe to the locall place of Coelum Empyraeum and the soules of the damned are constrayned to stay below in the lowest Elements where they are and shall be tormented for euermore But if a man be too curious in this poynt I would wish him conferre with Socrates who being asked what was done in hell said Hee neuer went thither nor communed with any that came from thence By which answere he derided the curiosity of the demander Euclides as Maximus writeth being demaunded of one what the Gods did and with what things they were best delighted sayde As for other things I know not but I am sure of this that they hate all curious persons But this is not the thing we ayme at in this depth of Hell This word Deepe doth bewray vnto vs the impossibility of getting out once in for God hath made Hell so déepe as there is no bepe of crawling out In inferno nulla redemptio In hel there is no redemption Therefore Infernus ab inferendo dictus quia ita inferuntur praecipitantur vt nunquam ascensuri sint that is Hell is sayde of casting in for they shall bee so cast downe as they shall neuer haue hope or power of cravvling out Infernus saith Hugo est profundus fine fundo that is A deepe vvithout bottome That party that had not on the wedding garment was not onely cast into hell but hee was also bound hand and foot and all to shew the impossibility of getting forth once in Binde him hand and foote and cast him into vtter darkenes Now alas if a man be bound hand and foot and cast into a well fiue thousand fadomes deepe what hope hath he of euer comming out so hell is deep and he that is once tumbled in shall neuer come forth more This is euident by the speech of Diues who said O Father Abraham send Lazarus or some from the dead that my brethren may not come into the like place of torment What is the reason that Diues begged not for his own passage from thence vnto them who was able to haue taught the dolours of hell by wofull experience O he knew that that had been bootelesse for he saw ingentum hiatum A great gulfe set betwixt heauen and hell that made the passage impossible In earthly prisons and dungeons a man by some or other meanes happily may get out but hell is deepe so deepe as Heauen Earth and Hell can neuer helpe one poore soule forth This then well considered should Vse 1 worke deepe humiliation in the soules of euery of vs that so grace may receyue vs and not this deepe deuoure vs. One depth cryeth and calleth out for an other the depth of hell calleth to vs for answerable humiliation hee that will not bee humbled for his sins héere shall bee humbled and tumbled to the deepe of hell hereafter God giueth grace to the humble yea the déeper thou art in the Law the higher shalt thou be in the Gospel the deeper in hell the higher in heauen a bucket the déeper it goeth into the well the more water it bringeth vp with it so the déeper a man is humbled for sinne the more shall bee his grace of saluation Humble your selues therefore vnder the mighty hand of God that yee may bee all exalted in the day of Visitation In this déep was the poore Publican when in bitternesse of heart he vttered these words Lord be mercifull to me à sinner A sinner by birth a sinner by life a sinner by thought a sinner by word a sinner by worke a sinner by sins of omission a sinner by sinnes of commission a sinner beforè my conuersion a sinner many thousand times since my conuersion Lord bee mercifull to me a lamentable sinner Vse 2 Againe séeing hell is so deepe as once in no hope of crawling out Let vs seeke the Lord while hee may bee found and call vpon him while hee is neare Ecce nunc tempus acceptum Behold novv the accepted time behold novv is the day of saluation This life is the time wherein wee must worke out our salúation with feare and trembling if after this life we will bée fréede from the deepe damnation of Tophet The irrationall creatures themselues are very carefull to take their times and seasons as saith the Prophet Ieremy 8.7 The Storke the Turtle Crane and the Svvallovv obserue their times and seasons there is a time when the Swallow is with vs in England and there is a time when hee takes his leaue of vs. That silly creature in the sixt of the Prouerbs Gathereth in Summer to maintaine the poore life of it in Winter So should wee take our