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
TORMENTING TOPHET OR A terrible Description of HEâ—L able to breake the hardest heart and cause it quake and tremble Preached at Paules Crosse the 14. of Iune 1614. BY HENRY GREENVVOOD Master of Arts and Preacher of the Word of GOD. The second Edition corrected and amended Esay 30.33 Tophet is prepared of old it is euen prepared for the King he hath made it deepe and large the burning thereof is fire much wood the breath of the Lord like a Riuer of Brimstone doth kindle it LONDON Imprinted by George Purslowe for Henry Bell and are to be solde at his shop without Bishopsgate 1615. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVL AND my very deare friends Sir LESTRAVNGE MORDAVNT of Massingham Hall in the County of Norfolke Knight Baronet and Lady FRAVNCIS MORDAVNT Bed-fellow HENRY GREENVVOOD Wisheth all increase of Grace in this Life and Eternall Life in Life to come IT is and hath beene long since Right Worshipful the custome of the learned that when they commended to publike view therein ayming at coÌ„mon good their Christian paines and diuine indeuours knowing that the truth hath and alwayes had many oppositions and detractions to present them to men of high place and well affected in Religion that so their works might passe with lesse feare and danger of disgrace and opprobrie I though vnlearned making bold to imitate their Christian policy herein haue presumed to present that doctrine to your Worships eies that lately in publike place was sounded in your eares both of which senses are great Instruments in the furtherance of our soules in the way of Gods Kingdome for as the eare conueieth grace to the affections of the soule so the eye bringeth much matter to the vnderstaÌ„ding of the mind nay the eare cannot so often be an Auditor as the eye an Oratour to the conscience For which cause your Worships nothing more affecting than growth in Grace and Religion I haue attempted to commend to your often considerations Tormenting Tophet for as nothing allureth the heart to grace more than Gods mercies so nothing more preualent against sinne than his fearefull and terrible iudgements If therfore your gracious Worships shall vouchsafe to accept of these my poore presented paines it will giue content to mine own heart and doubtles answerable comfort to your owne soules And to conclude as the Lord hath abundantly blessed your Worships with graces internall and blessings external So to vse the words of the Apostle the very God of peace sanctifie you still throughout and I pray God that your whole spirits and soules and bodies may be kept blameles to the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ Amen From Hempsted in Essex Aprill 3. 1615. Your Worships alwayes ready to bee commaunded in the Lord HEN. GREENVVOOD TO THE CHRISTIAN READER CHristian Reader I commend to thy charitable view this terrible and lamentable description of Hell a Subiect most necessary in these dayes wherin Iniquity hath gotten the vpper haÌ„d the greatest part of mankind laboreth of this dangerous disease namely hardnes of hart and contempt of all grace I therefore for the remouing of this damnable euil haue prepared this Tormenting Corrasiue Blame mee not if I be too bitter in denouncing GODS Iudgements against sinne the presumption of the time compels me this onely is the ayme of my intention herein that many may bee saued from the damnation hereof Let not the Quotations of Latine and other tongues offend thee but know this they are but as country Stiles stepping ouer them thou losest not the way by them for their Expositions follow them Thus commending this Tractate to thy christian consideration and thy self to Gods most blessed protection I rest Thine euerlouing and vvelvvilling brother in the Lord HEN. GREENWOOD ¶ TORMENTING TOPHET OR A terrible description of Hell able to breake the hardest heart and cause it quake and tremble Esay 30.33 Tophet is prepared of old it is euen prepared for the King he hath made it deepe and large the burning thereof is fire much wood the breath of the Lord like a Riuer of Brimstone doth kindle it ALbeit the Lord in the beginning created man in glorious manner omninoÌ„ ad imaginem sui ratione sapientem vita innocentem dominio potentem altogether after his own most glorious image in purity and in perfection of holinesse both in soule and body yet withall he gaue him naturam flexibilem a mutable and changeable nature creating him inpotestate standi seuposse cadendi in power of standing and in possibilitie of falling power of standing that he had from God his creatour possibility of falling that he had from himselfe being a creature A reason whereof S. Augustine giueth in his booke of Confessions Because the Lord created man ex nihilo of nothing therefore hee left in man possibility to returne in nihilum into nothing if he obey'd not the will of his Maker And as Basil sayth Si Deus dedisset Adae naturam immutabilem deos potius quà m homines condidisset id est If God had giuen Adam an immutable and vnchangeable nature hee had created a God not a man for this is a mayne trueth in Diuinity immutabiliter esse bonum proprium soliusest Dei id est to be immutably and vnchangeablie good onely proper to God Adam therefore being thus created that hee might eyther stand or fall by the Diuels subtill suggestion and by the abuse of his owne free will receyued a double downefall the fall of sinne by disobedience and the fall of death by sinne the last fall being the wages of the first fall as ye may reade in the last verse of the sixt to the Romanes The wages of sinne is death The Lord therefore hauing pitty vpon this his miserable estate vouchsafed in his Sonne to shew mercy vpon some by election to saluation as to shew iustice vpon other some by reprobation to damnation According to which irreuocable decree the Lord hath prepared euen from the foundations of the earth answerable places a glorious habitation for the one and a terrible dungeon for the other Which generall truth is confirmed in the words of my Text hauing particular reference to the reprobat Assyrians For as the Lord in his mercy doth promise in this Chapter to his people repenting them of their sinnes manifold blessings spirituall and corporall temporall and eternall so doth he threaten in his iustice terrible vengeance to their enemies the idolatrous Babylonians and Assyrians not onely temporall but also eternall not to the meane subiect alone but to the King himselfe saying Tophet is prepared of old it is euen prepared for the King c. Not to insist therefore too long vpon introductions lest it should be sayde to mee as once a flowting Cynicke sayde to the Citizens of Myndus a little City with great Gates Shut your Gates lest your City runne out I come to the Text it selfe which containeth in it a terrible and lamentable description of Hell prepared of olde for
Sauiour sayth I appoint you a Kingdome as my Father hath appointed to mee that yee may eate and drinke at my Table in my Kingdome Eatâ—ng is allegoricall but will you say that the kingdome is allegoricall also I confesse that wood in hell is taken allegorically but that fire is taken so I vtterly deny Bullinger holdeth true and substanciall fire in hell and so do the most and best of the learned Christ punished with Fire in this world Sodome and the Murmurers in the Booke of Numbers chap. 11. and called the name of that place Thabherah because the fire of the Lord burnt amongst them And Christ shall come to Iudgement with Fire which shall haue two properties To burne this property shal punish the wicked to shine this property shal comfort the Saintes as sayeth Theodoret And what shall hinder the being of fire in hell when the extremity of tortures shall be put vpon the damned hee that will not belieue this shall one day feele it to his sorrow If then it be graunted that there is Substantiall fire in hell the next question will bee Whether it be Materiall Corporall or Spirituall Surely Materiall fire that is fire nourished and maintayned with wood it shall not be for as the flashings of Aetna and Vesuuius and other places of the earth doe burne without fuell so shall the fire of hell doe hee that is able to make the damned liue without food is able to maintaine this fire without wood Whether then it bee Corporall or Spirituall for if it bée Substantiall it must be one of these Gregory calles it Ignem incorporeum a Spirituall fire but that is not likely for it passeth the nature of fire to be Spirituall and to goe about to make it Spirituall is to make it no fire at all But it is most probable that it is shall be a Corporall fire vvith an extraordinary afflicting povver giuen vnto it tormenting both soule and body Saint Augustine affirmeth the fire of hell to be Corporall If it be Corporall whether it tormenteth the body onely or both soule and body and how a Corporall fire should worke vpon a spirituall substance Saint Bernard sayth that Ignis exteriùs carnem comburit vermis interiùs conscientiam corrodet that is Fire shall outvvardly burne thy flesh a vvorm shall inwardly gnavv thy conscience Again he sayth Duo mala sunt vermis ignis altero roditur conscientia altero concremantur corpora that is the worme and fire are two insufferable torments by the one the soule is vexed by the other the body scorched Againe he sayth In carne cruciabuntur per ignem in spirituper conscientiae vermem that is in the flesh they shal be tormented by fire and in the Spirite by the worme of conscience Isodore sayth that there is duplex poena damnatorum quorum mentem vrit tristitia corpus flamma that is Their minds burne vvith sorrovv and their bodies with the flame Beda sayth Ignis erit poena extrinsecus saeuiens vermis dolor interiùs accusans that is The fire shall be a torment outwardly raging and the vvorme a griefe invvardly accusing Though these maintaine fire in hel yet they hold as you see that it is not of power to touch the soule but only to torture the body but I am perswaded according to the iudgement of many learned Fathers That this fire tormeÌ„teth both body and soule Zanchy de Operibus Dei sayth That the deuils mens bodies and soules are tormented with fire euerlasting For as they were as Simeon and Leui brethren in the same euill so both of them shall be tormented in the same fire Iustine Martyr saith That the Deuil shall suffer punishment and vengeance enclosed in euerlasting fire and they are no bodies but spirits The truth of this is ratified by Christ himselfe Goe from me yee cursed into euerlasting fire prepared for the Deuill and his Angels And the speech of Diues prooueth this most true for it is no Parable but History as Chrysostome saith Parabolae sunt vbi exemplum ponitur tacentur nomina that is Those are Parables where an example is propounded and no names mentioned he crieth out and shall for euerlasting I am tormented in this flame And if any man will not beleeue this I make bold to vse against him the words of Ruffinus who saith Si quis negat diabolum aeternis ignibus mancipandum partem cum ipso aeterni ignis accipiet vt sentiat quod negauit that is If any man doth deny that the Deuill is tormented with euerlasting fire hee shall one day bee partaker with him of that fire that hee may feele that which hee would not be brought to beleeue But how this Corporall fire shall torment the Deuils and the Spirits of the damned I know not and I trust neuer to know and it is but curiosity to be too too inquisitiue in these points for as a Father saith Melius est dubitare de occultis quam litigare de incertis viz. It is better to doubt of vnknowne things then to striue for vncertaine Compescat igitur se humana timeritas id quod non est non quaerat ne illius quod est non inueniat that is Let no man rashly meddle about these things that are not reuealed lest hee findeth not the good of those things that are reuealed It being probable that there is in hell a Substanciall and Corporeall fire that vexeth both the soules and bodies of the damned let vs now sée the difference of this fire froÌ„ our elemeÌ„tall fire This fire of hell differeth from our elementall fire in fiue respects First In regarde of heate Our fire in regard of hel fire is but as fire painted on a wall in regard of our fire Oh it is a fierce and an intollerable fire We reade of one who vpon the violence of any strong temptation would lay his hands on burning coales and being not able to endure the same would say to himselfe O! how shall I be able to indure the paines of Hell fire The fire into which Sydrach Misach and Abednego were cast was excéeding fearefull but alas nothing to hell fire Esay speaking of this terrible fire sayth Who is able to dwell in this deuouring fire or who shall bee able to dwell in these euerlasting burnings Secondly In regard of light Our fire giueth a comfortable light but the fire of hell giueth no light Cremationem habet lumen vero non habet sayth Gregory It burneth but giueth no light at all It is a darkish fire sayth Basil that hath lost his brightnesse but kept his burning Phauorinus in verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth hades is a place voyde of light and full of eternall darkenesse Sophocles cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 black darknesse Euripides cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉