faithfull and thy faith to be sound and thy patience to bee invincible and thy workes and the last to be more than the first The faire and magnificent Colledges lately founded and Churches sumptuously repaired and Libraries rarely furnished and Schooles richly endowed and Students in the Universities liberally maintained and the poore in Hospitals charitably relieved are standing testimonies and living evidences thereof Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee that thou sufferest the woman that sitteth upon seven hils the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth Jezabel of Rome which calleth her selfe a Prophetesse and Mistresse of all Prophets and Prophetesses by Priests and Jesuites to teach and deceive my servants to make them commit spirituall fornication and freely communicate with Idolaters and I gave her space to repent sixty yeers at least that she might not complain that I began with violent extreme courses and launced her wounds whilest they were greene but all this while she hath not repented of her Superstitions and abominable Idolatries therefore I will lay it heavie upon her I will send plague after plague and heape sorrow upon sorrow and adde affliction to affliction and if all will not serve I will poure out the dregges of my red wine on her and quench the fire of my wrath with her stained bloud I will kill her children with death and all the Churches shall know that I am hee that searcheth deep into the wounds of the heart and reines and discover filthinesse corruption in the inward parts and I will give unto every one according to his workes but unto you I say and to the rest in great Britaine as many as have not this doctrine of the Romish Jezabel and which have not knowne the depths of Sathan her mysteries of iniquity I will put upon you no other burden of Lawes or Canons but that which you have already Hold fast till I come to judgement In this Letter observe we 1. The superscription mysterious Ver. 18. 2. The contents various presenting to our religious thoughts 1. A sweet insinuation Ver. 19. 2. A sharpe reprehension Ver. 20 21. 3. A fearfull commination Ver. 22 23. 4. A comfortable conclusion Ver. 24. In the superscription wee have an admirable description of the glorified body of our Redeemer which shineth more brightly than a flame of fire or the finest metall glowing in the furnace Secondly an eminent title attributed to the Bishop or Super-intendent of the Church in Thyatira The Angel To the Angel in Thyatira saith the Sonne of God who hath eyes like a flame of fire to a Bullengerus in hunc locum Illuminat alios alios igne sempiterno concremat inlighten the godly and burne up the ungodly and feet like brasse to support his Church and bruise the enemies thereof I know thy workes proceeding from thy love and thy love testified by thy service and thy service approved by thy faith and thy faith tryed by thy patience and that the silver springs of thy bounty have more overflowed at the last than at the first Thus farre the sweet insinuation which afterwards falls into a sharpe reprehension like as the sweet river b Solinus c. 20. Hypanis Scythicorum amnium princeps haustu saluberrimus dum in Exampeum fontem inferatur qui amnem suo vitio vertit Hypanis into the bitter fountaine Exampeus Notwithstanding I have an action against thee that thou sufferest the filthy Strumpet Jezebel to corrupt the bodies and soules of my servants by permitting corporall fornication to them and committing spirituall with them whose judgement sleepeth not no not in her bed but even there shall surprise her For behold I will cast her into a bed where she hath cast her selfe in wantonnesse I will cast her in great weaknesse and will make her bed of pleasure a racke to torment her Ubi peccavit punietur where she swilled in her stolne waters that rellished so sweet in her mouth shee shall take downe her bitter potion Ubi oblectamentum ibi tormentum Of which plagues of Jezebel when God shall open the vials mouth at this time I purpose to gather some few observations from the two former branches of this Scripture but to insist wholly upon the third in the explication whereof when I have proved by invincible arguments that Jezebel is not to be tolerated in the application I will demonstrate that the Pseudo-catholike Romane Church otherwise called the Whore of Babylon is Jezebel or worse if worse may bee as God shall assist mee with his Spirit and endue mee with power from above for which I beseech you all to joyn with mee in prayer O most gracious God c. And to the Angel of the Church in Thyatira write c. The Naturalists observe that the thickest and best hony is that which is squeezed last out of the combe and usually the daintiest dish is served in at the last course and Musicians reserve the sweetest straine for their close and Rhetoricians take speciall care of their peroration The last speech of a dying friend leaves a deep impression in our hearts and art imitating nature holdeth out the last note of the dying sound in the organ or voice which consideration should stirre up our religious thoughts and affections to entertain with greatest alacrity and singular respect the admonitions and prophecies delivered in this booke as being the last words of our Lords last will and testament d Sen. ep 12. Gratissima sunt poma cùm fugiunt deditos vino potatio extrema delectu c. and the last breath as it were of the Spirit of God If that of the Poet be true that the beames of the c Esse Phoebi dulcius solet lumen jamjam cadentis Sunne shine most pleasantly at his setting how pleasant and deare ought the light of this Propheticall booke be unto us which is the last irradiation and glissoning of the Sunne of righteousnesse In it discerne we may 1. Counsels chapt 2.3 2. Predictions of the state of the Church 1. Militant from the 4th to the 21. 2. Triumphant from the 21. to the end The manner of delivery of both to Saint John was by speciall revelation which you will better conceive if you be pleased to take notice of the meanes whereby all knowledge divine and humane is conveighed into the soule As all water ariseth either from Springs below or falleth from the Clouds above so all knowledge is either gathered from the creatures by naturall reason grounded upon experience or immediately descendeth from the Father of lights and is attained unto by supernaturall illumination Supernaturall illumination is either 1. By ordinary inspiration common to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost who wrote the dictates of the Spirit and were so assisted by him that they could not set downe any thing amisse 2. By extraordinary revelation which may be either 1. Of things past whereof there remaine no records monuments or memorialls to furnish
gurmandizeth the bait which before he had vomited up Beloved is God bound to help us up as often as we fall carelesly and wilfully What if hee let us lye as a prey for the Divell who runneth about like a Lion seeking whom hee may devoure Can we promise our selves a continuall supply of grace if wee still turne it into wantonnesse Will he beleeve our sighes and teares which have so oft proved false embassadours of our hearts Wee see by the fearfull judgements of Ananias and Sapphira how dangerous a thing it is to lye to the Spirit of God what doe we else when we daily professe in our prayers that we are heartily sorry for our sinnes that we loath and detest our vicious courses that the remembrance of all our former transgressions is grievous unto us and the burthen of them is intolerable whereas our deeds testifie to the world that we are so farre from loathing our former filthinesse that we hunger and thirst after it so farre from hearty repentance that our heart is set and our affections wholly bent to follow wickednesse with greedinesse Let us not deceive our owne soules Beloved God we cannot so many sinnes as we willingly commit after our humble confession and seeming contrition so many evidences we give against our selves that we are dissembling hypocrites and not sincere penitents for this is the touchstone of true repentance it a plangere commissa ut non committas plangenda so to bewaile that we have committed that we commit not that we have bewailed I before compared this life to a sea and now I may not unfitly most of the fish in it either to the Scolopendra of which before or to the Crab which either standeth still or swimmeth backward Doe we dreame as Nebuchadnezzar did of an image with an head of gold and armes of silver and thighes of brasse and legges of earth and clay Doe we not see many that are gold and silver in their childhood and youth precious vessels of grace brasse and iron in their riper yeeres and no better than earth and clay in their old age The * Plin. lib. 8. c. 16. Aristoteles tradit Leaenam primo soetu 5. catulos ac per annos singulos uno minus ab uno sterilescere Lionesse in the naturall story which at the first bringeth forth five young ones and after fewer by one in a short time becommeth quite barren But because I have spoken at large of the dangerous antecedent heare I beseech you a word of the dreadfull consequent All his righteousnesse that he hath done shall not bee mentioned Would it not vexe a Scrivener after he had spent many dayes and much paines upon a large Patent or Lease to make such a blot at the last word that he should be forced to write it all againe yet so it is that as one foule blot or dash with a pen defaceth a whole writing so one soule and enormous crime dasheth and obliterateth the fairest copy of a vertuous life it razeth out all the golden characters of divine graces imprinted in our soules All our fastings and prayers all our sighing and mourning for our sinnes all our exercises of piety all our deeds of charity all our sufferings for righteousnesse all the good thoughts we have ever conceived all the good words we have ever uttered all the good workes we have ever performed in a word all our righteousnesse is lost at the very instant when we resolve to turne from it As one drop of inke coloureth a whole glasse of cleere water so one sinfull and shamefull action staineth all our former life yet this is not the worst for it followeth In his transgression that he hath committed and in the sinne that he hath sinned in them hee shall dye Doth God threaten this judgement onely doth hee not execute it upon presumptuous transgressours When Balthazar tooke a peece of the plate of the Sanctuary to quaffe in it behold presently a a Dan. 5.5 hand writing his doome upon the wall and in the transgression that hee had committed and in the sinne that hee had sinned in it hee dyed Korah Dathan and Abiram had no sooner opened their mouth against Moses than the b Num. 16.32 earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up quicke and in the trespasse which they had trespassed and in the sinne which they had sinned in it they dyed Ananias and Sapphira had no sooner told a lye to Saint Peter and stood to it but they were c Act. 5.5 10. strucke downe to the ground and in the trespasse that they trespassed and in the sinne that they sinned in it they dyed Herod had scarce made an end of his oration to the people and received their applause crying The voice of God and not of man when the Angel made d Act. 12.22 23. an end of him and in the trespasse which hee trespassed and in the sinne that he sinned in it bee dyed Oh that our blasphemous swearers and bloudy murderers and uncleane adulterers and sacrilegious Church-robbers when the Divell edges them on to any impiety or villany would cast but this rub in their way What if God should take mee in the manner and strike mee in the very act I am about and cast mee into the deep dungeon of Hell there to be tormented with the Divell and his angels for evermore Doe I not provoke him to it Doe I not dare him Hath hee not threatened as much Hath hee not done as much Nonne cuivis contingere potest quod cuiquam potest that which is ones case may it not be any ones case Yea but they will say God is mercifull Hee is so else the most righteous upon earth would despaire a thousand times but not to those that continually abuse his long-suffering and presume upon his mercy If there be e Deut. 29.19 20. among you saith God by Moses a root that beareth gall and wormwood and it come to passe that when hee heareth the words of this curse that he blesse himselfe in his heart saying I shall have peace though I walke in the imagination of mine heart to adde drunkennesse to thirst the Lord will not spare him but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against that man and all the curses that are written in this booke shall lye upon him and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven Yea but God promiseth pardon at all times to the penitent But where doth he promise at all times grace to repent Be it that God would tender us his grace at what houre wee please which is presumption in us to hope for yet the longer we deferre the applying of the remedy the more painfull and dangerous the cure will be In the conversive proposition concerning our conversion to God I admit of the convertens viz. True repentance is never too late so they will take along with them the conversa viz. that late repentance is seldome
overthrow of the Jewish Nation by Vespasian and his sonne Titus Others deferre the accomplishment of this prophecy till the dreadfull day of the Worlds doome when by the shrill sound of the Archangels Trumpet all the dead shall bee awaked and the son of man shall march out of Heaven with millions of Angels to his Judgement seat in the clouds where hee shall sit upon the life and death of mankinde That day saith Saint d August l. 20. de civitate Dei Ille dies judicii propriè dicitur eo quod nullus erit ibi imperitae querelae locus Cur injustus ille sit foelix cur justus ille infoelix Austin may bee rightly called a Day of Judgement because then there shall bee no place left for those usuall exceptions against the judgements of God and the course of his providence on earth viz. Why is this just man unhappy and why is that unjust man happy Why is this profane man in honour and that godly man in disgrace Why doth this wicked man prosper in his evill wayes and that righteous man faile in his holy attempts Nay why for a like fact doth some man receive the guerdon of a crowne and another of a e Juvenal Satyr Sceleris pretium ille crucem tulit hic diadema crosse or gibbet the one of a halter the other of a chaine of gold These and the like murmurs against the justice of the Judge of all flesh shall bee hushed and all men shall say in the words of the f Psal 58.11 Psalmist Verily there is a reward for the righteous Verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth And then Christ may bee said properly to bring or send forth judgement when hee revealeth the secrets of all hearts displayeth all mens consciences and declareth the circumstances of all actions whereby all mens judgements may bee rightly informed in the proceedings of the Almighty and all men may see the justice of God in those his most secret and hidden judgements at which the wisest on earth are astonished and dare not looke into them lest they should bee swallowed up in the depth of them I speake of those judgements of God which Saint g August lo. sup cit Dies declarabit ubi hoc quoque manifestabitur quà m justo Dei judicio fiat ut nunc tam multa ac penè omnia justa Dei judicia sensus mentemque mortalium fugiant cum tamen in hac repiorum fidem non lateat justum esse quod latet Austin termeth Occuliè justa and justè occulta Secretly just and justly secret so they are now but at the day of Judgement they shall bee manifestly just and justly manifest then it shall appeare not onely that the most secret judgements of God are just but also that there was just cause why they should bee secret or kept hidden till that day Lastly then Christ may bee said properly to bring forth judgement unto victory because hee shall first conquer all his enemies and then judge and sentence them to everlasting torments Of which dreadfull Judgement ensuing upon the glorious Victory of the Prince of peace over the great Whore and the false Prophet and the Divell that deceiveth them all from which the Archangel shall sound a retreat by blowing the last trump and summoning all that have slept in the dust to arise out of their graves and come to judgement I need not to adde any thing more in this Religious and Christian auditory Wherefore I will fill up the small remainder of the time with some briefe observations upon the ruine and utter desolation of the Jewish Nation who even to this day wandring like Vagabonds in all countries and made slaves not only to Christians but to Moores Turkes and other Infidels rue the crucifying of the Lord of life and the spilling of the innocent bloud of the immaculate Lambe of God that taketh away the sinnes of the World As according to the custome of our country Quarter-Sessions are held in Cities and Shire-townes before the generall Assises so Christ a little more than forty yeeres after his death at Jerusalem and ascension into Heaven held a Quarter-Sessions in Jerusalem for that country and people after which hee shall certainly keep a generall Assises for the whole world when the sinnes of all Nations shall be ripe for the Angels sickle Some of the wisest of the Jewish Rabbins entring into a serious consideration of this last and greatest calamity that ever befell that people together with the continuance thereof more than 1500. yeeres and casting with themselves what sinne might countervaile so heavie a judgement in the end have growne to this resolution that surely it could be no other than the spilling of the Messias bloud which cryed for this vengeance from heaven against them And verily if you observe all the circumstances of times persons and places together with the maner and means of their punishments and lay them to the particulars of Christs sufferings in and from that Nation you shall see this point as cleerly set before your eyes as if these words were written in letters of bloud upon the sacked walls of Jerusalem Messiah his Judgement and Victory over the Jewes 1. Mocking repaid 1. Not full sixe yeeres after our Lords passion most of those indignities and disgraces which the Jewes put upon him were returned backe to themselves by Flaccus and the Citizens of Alexandria who scurrilously mocked their King Agrippa in his returne from Rome by investing a mad man called Carabbas with Princely robes putting a reed in his hand for a Scepter saluting him Haile King of the Jewes Note here the Jewes mocking of Christ repaid unto themselves yet this was not all 2 Whipping repaid The Alexandrians were not content thus scornfully to deride the King of the Jewes they proceeded farther to make a daily sport of scourging many of the Nobility even to death and that which Philo setteth a Tragicall accent upon at their solemnest Feast Note here the Jewes whipping and scourging Christ upon the solemne Feast of Passover repaid unto them 3. Spitting repaid 3. And howsoever their noble and discreet Embassadour Philo made many remonstrances to the Emperour Caligula of these unsufferable wrongs offered to their Nation yet that Emperour because the Jewes had refused to set up his Image in the Temple was so farre from relieving them or respecting him according to the quality he bare that he spurned him with his foot and spit on his face Note here the Jewes spitting on Christ repaid them 4. The Jewes refusing Christ to be their King to flatter the Romane Caesar reveneâ—d on them by Caesar himself 4. In conclusion the Emperour sent him away with such disgrace and discontent that hee turning to his country-men said Bee of good cheare Sirs for God himselfe must needs right us now sith his Vicegerent from whom wee expected justice doth so much wrong us and contrary
Sen. de clem l. 1. c. 9. Severitate nihil profecisti Salvid enum Lepidus secutus est Lepidum Muraena Muraenam Caepio Caepionem Egnatius ut alios taccam quos tantum ausos pudet Augustus before him the mirrour of mildnesse Quo nihil immensus mitius orbis habet And David before them both a man after Gods owne heart Quo nihil majus meliusve terris Fata dona vere bonique diu Nec dabunt quamvis redeant in aurum Saecula priscum Moses the meekest Magistrate that ever drew the sword of Justice had a murmuring Core and his Majestie a mutinous Gowrie Num. 16.32 and a brother in iniquity Ruthwen both bearing as the hearts so the names of two ancient most infamous Rebels and Traytors the one of Core whom the earth swallowed up the other of c Sueton. in vita Tib. Ruthenius a desperate caitife that attempted a like villanie upon the person of Tiberius to that which Ruthwen would have acted upon the person of King James Nomen Omen Core Gowry Ruthenius Ruthwen conveniunt rebus nomina saepe suis As their names were ominous so their facts were abominable It is pitie it should be so yet it is certaine that it is so A Prince d Plin. in panegir Potest iniqui Princeps potest tamen odio esse nonnullis etiamsi ipse non oderit may be hated by some wrongfully I grant yet hated he may be though he hate no man and that which is to be bewailed with bloudy teares he may have bloody treasons plotted against him though his innocencie be e Sen de clem l. 1. c 11. Nullam te toto orbe stillam cruoris humani mifisse untainted with the effusion of the least drop of bloud for ambition is a sworne enemy to soveraignty envie to eminencie libertie to law disorder to justice faction to peace schisme to unity heresie to true religion whereby it comes to passe that Princes who are to right all men are themselves most wronged of all men by mis-information of their subjects demeanours towards them and mis-construction of their actions and proceedings and affections also towards their subjects You will yet say be it that the actions of Princes are subject to censure and their persons though sacred yet sometimes lie open to violence howsoever if they establish their throne with judgement and support their scepter with equity their innocencie shal be a perpetuall guard unto them and the arme of the Almighty shall be a buckler of steele over them and the love of subjects shall be a wall of brasse about them so that the enemie shall not be able to hurt them the sonnes of wickednesse shall not come neere them Notwithstanding all this it pleaseth him by whom Kings reigne either to make Princes to walk more humbly before him and more warily before their subjects or for the greater triall of their faith in greatest distresses or cleerer manifestation of his power in their delivery to expose their persons to imminent dangers and suffer them to be led to the brinke of destruction and to be entangled in the snares of death How did he suffer e Camerarius meditat histor c. 27.30 Charles the fifth to ascend to the top of the Pantheon in Rome and there to looke out of a great gallery window where there was a desperate villaine set to take him up by the heeles and throw him downe headlong How did hee suffer that staine of the French Nobility to approach neare Augustus in the dangerous passage of the Alpes with a purpose to justle him out of the narrow path into the steepe of the hill where it was imposble to stay himselfe Was not Titus past all mans helpe and given over for dead a thousand times when scouting out with a few to spie the enemies campe at the siege of Jerusalem he fell unawares into an ambush and was constrained to passe through a volly of darts and arrowes cast and shot at him whereof some fell before him some behind him many on each side of him yet by Gods marvellous protection not one fastened on him Was not Fredericke the first at the brinke of destruction by the river side when a souldier tooke hold on him and clasped about him to draw him with himselfe into the deep and drown him Had not f Cambd. in vit Reg. Eliz. Parry the meanes and opportunity to parley with Queene Elizabeth of famous memory in her garden privately with a dagger in his hand and a dag charged These and many other presidents of the like nature make me the lesse marvaile that God should suffer Ruthwen with a golden hooke a pot full of g Vid l. Angl. scrip de conjura Gowr outlandish coyne to draw his Majestie through divers chambers which hee still locked after them into that dismall study which was more fearefull than any Jesuits chamber of meditation in which they shut up their desperate instruments to cracke their braines and fit them for horrid designes For there are but pictures onely of Divels and Images of severall kindes of death but here were very Divels incarnate and death it selfe Bookes he saw none in this study but those two mentioned by h Sutton in vita Calig Suetonius in which Caligula wrote the names of those men whose heads he meant to take off calling the one of them which was longer gladium the sword the other which was shorter pugionem the dagger The subject he was now to meditate upon was a bloudie assacinate and the points he was to handle no other than the sharpe ends of swords and rapiers Made then he was to beleeve that he should there take an outlandish man with great store of treasure but he found an armed man ready to take away that from him which was more precious unto him than all the jewels in the world Here wee see what a soveraigne care the Highest hath over soveraigne Princes his vicegerents on earth and what a terrour sacred Majestie striketh into the hearts of barbarous and bloudie traitors The Italian varlet had not the power to lift at Charles the fifth with a lift onely he had throwne him out of the window The French miscreant had not the power to push at Augustus with a push only he had broken his neck downe the steepe Alpes Parry had not the power to draw the pin of his fire-lock upon the moving but of a pinne the dag had gone off in his hand and the Queene had beene shot through the heart Parry's dag fell out of his hand and Hendersons dagger stucke in his hand he could no more stirre it than the souldier at Minternum who drew upon Caius Marius but was not able to strike a stroke nor make a thrust at him i Lucan de bell Phaâ—sal primo nam caedis in ictu Diriguit ferrumque manu torpente remisit Howbeit though Hendersons faint heart and benummed hand would not serve him to act his bloudie
and hee layeth all the blame either upon bad servants or theevish neighbours or racking Land-lords or hard times or some losses by sea or land but never looketh into his owne heart where the true cause lyes be it covetousnesse or distrust of Gods providence or a quarrelling disposition or pride or idlenesse or luxurie or sacriledge Another is still whining that hee cannot get or keepe his health and he imputeth this either to his crazie constitution by nature or ill ayre or over much labour and study whereas indeed the cause is his ill diet his sitting up all night at Revels his powring in strong wines and spending the greatest part of the day in Tavernes his intemperancy or incontinency All other sinnes are without the body but hee that g 1 Cor. 6.18 committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body First against the honour of his body for thereby he maketh the members of Christ the members of an harlot next the strength health and life of the body which nothing more enfeebleth empaireth and endangereth than greedily drinking stolne waters and coveting after strange flesh A third is troubled in minde and hee feeleth no comfort in his conscience the good spirit hath left him and the evill spirit haunteth him and scorcheth his soule with the flashes of Hell fire and hee ascribeth this to some melancholy bloud or worldly discontent or the indiscretion of some Boanerges sonnes of thunder who preach nothing but damnation to their hearers whereas the true cause is in himselfe hee grieveth the spirit of grace hee turneth it into wantonnesse and quencheth the light of it in himselfe and therefore God withdraweth this holy Comforter from him for a time When h Just hist l. 1. Zopyrus qui sibi labia nares praecidi curasset queritur crudelitatem Regis Zopyrus had cut his owne lips and nose he gave it out that the Babylonians had so barbarously used him such is the condition of most men they disfigure their soules dismember their bodies by monstrous sinnes and yet lay the whole blame upon others i Mat. 10.36 The enemies of a man saith our Saviour are those of his owne house So it is so it is saith S. k Bern med c. 13. Accusat me conscientia testis est memoria ratio judex voluptas carcer timor tortor oblectamentum tormentum inde enim punimur unde oblectamur Bernard in mine owne house in my proper family nay within my selfe I have my accuser my judge my witnesse my tormentor My conscience is the accuser my memory the witnesse my reason the judge my feare the torturer my sinfull delights my torments l Camerar med hist cent 1. c. 20. Plancus Plautius hiding himselfe in the time of the proscription was found out onely by the smell of his sweet oyles wherewith hee used luxuriously to anoint himselfe m Eras adag Sorex ut dicitur suo indicio Sylla hearing some displeasing newes was so enflamed with anger that streining himselfe to utter his passion he brake a veine and spitting bloud died Remember the words of dying Caesar when hee felt their daggers at his heart whom he had saved from the sword Mene servare ut sint qui me perdant O that I should save men to doe mee such a mischiefe O that wee should harbour those snakes in our bosomes which if wee long keepe them there will sting us to death A strange thing it is and much to bee lamented that the soule should prescribe remedies against the maladies of the bodie and yet procure nourishment for her owne diseases What are the vitious affections we feed and cherish within us but so many pernitious infections of the minde What is anger but a fit of a frenzie feare but a shâ—king feaver ambition but a winde collicke malice but an apostem faction but a convulsion envie but a consumption security but a dead palsie lust but an impure itch immoderate joy but a pleasing trance of the soule These are the greatest causes of our woe not onely because they disturbe the peace of our conscience and set us upon scandalous and dangerous actions but also because they draw upon us heavie and manifold judgements From which if we desire to be freed that they prove not our utter destruction let us First confesse our sinnes with David to be the fuell of Gods wrath and the fountaine of all our miseries n Psal 51.4 Against thee thee onely have wee sinned and done this and that and the third and many more evils in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and cleere when thou art judged and with o Salv. l. 4. de provid Sive miseâ—ae nostrae sint sive infirmitates sive eversiones c. testimoniâ— sunt mali servi boni domini quomodo mali servi quia patimur ex parte quod meremur quomodo boni domini quia ostendit quid mereamur sed non irrogat quae meremur Salvianus Whatsoever our miseries are or afflictions or persecutions or overthrowes or losses or diseases they are testimonies of an evil servant and a good master How of an evill servant Because in them we suffer in part what wee deserve How testimonies of a good master Because by them he sheweth us what wee deserve and yet layeth not upon us so much as we deserve Secondly let us compose our selves to endure that with patience which we have brought upon our selves Tute in hoc tristi tibi omne exedendum est Thirdly let us forsake our beloved sinnes and then God will take away his plagues from us let us be better our selves and all things shall goe better with us let repentance be our practise and a speedy reformation our instruction so Gods judgements shall not bee our destruction Now O Father of mercy and tender compassion in the bowels of Jesus Christ who hast shewed us what wee deserve by our sinnes and yet hast not rewarded us according to our iniquities take away our stony hearts from us and give us hearts of flesh that thy threats may make a deepe impression in us and that wee may speedily remove the evill of our sinnes out of thy sight that thou maist remove the evill of punishment from us so our sinne shall not be our destruction but thy mercy our salvation through Jesus Christ To whom c. THE CHARACTERS OF HEAVENLY WISEDOME A Sermon preached before his Grace and divers other Lords and Judges spirituall and temporall in Lambeth THE EIGHTH SERMON PSAL. 2.10 Be wise now therefore O yee Kings be instructed yee Judges of the earth Most Reverend Right Honourable Right Worshipfull c. THe mirrour of humane eloquence apologizing for his undertaking the defence of Murena against Cato the elder pertinently demandeth a Cic. pro Muren A quo tandem Marce Cato aequius est defendi Consulem quam a Consule who so fit a patron of a Consull as a consull himselfe The like may be said in
the justification of King Davids lesson read in my text to Princes and Judges a quo tandem aequius est doceri Reges quam a Rege erudiri Judices quam a Judice Who so proper to tutour Kings as a King who might better give Judges their charge than the chiefe Judge and Soveraigne Justice in his Kingdome Not onely nature and bloud but arts also and professions make a kinde of brotherhood and an admonition that commeth from a man in place to another in like place and office that is spoken by authority to authority carrieth a double authority and cannot but be entertained with due respect and carefull regard Therefore God in his wisedome instructed the Prophet David by b 2. Sam. 7.3.5 Nathan a Prophet reproved the Apostle Saint c Gal. 2.14 Peter by Paul an Apostle informed John the d Apoc. 7.14 Elder by an Elder and here adviseth Kings by a King Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be learned yee Judges of the earth In this verse we have 1. A lesson applied Of wisedome to Kings Of instruction to Judges 2. A reason implied in the words of the earth that is Either Kings and Judges made of earth Or made Kings and Judges of earth Kings and Judges are but men of earth earthly and therefore in subjection to the God of heaven and they are made Kings and Judges onely of the earth that is earthly and humane affaires and therefore in subordination to divine and heavenly Lawes For the order first King David commendeth wisedome to Kings and then instruction or learning viz. in the Lawes to Judges Kings are above Judges and wisedome the glorie of a Prince above learning the honour of a Judge Kings make Judges and wisdome makes learned as the power of Kings is the source of the authoritie of Judges so wisedome is the fountaine of all lawes and consequently of all instruction and learning in them First therefore be wise O ye Kings to make good Lawes and then be learned O ye Judges in these Lawes and found Yee your wisedome Yee your learning in humility for it is earth not onely upon which your consistory stands but also of which you your selves consist As the tongue is moved partly by a muscle in it selfe partly by an artery from the heart so besides the motive to these vertues in this verse it selfe there is a reason drawne by the spirit to enforce these duties from the heart of this Psalme ver 6. which is like an artery conveying spirit and life to this admonition here Yet have I set my King c. as if the Prophet had said Behold O Kings a throne above yours set in the starres behold O Judges of the earth a tribunall or judgement seat above yours established in the clouds There is a King of heaven by whom all earthly Kings reigne and a Judge of quicke and dead to whom all Judges of the earth are accountable e Horat. od car l. 3. od 1. Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Jovis Kings are dreadfull to their subjects God to Kings Judges call other men to the barre but Christ Jesus shall summon all Judges one day to his tribunall f Cyp. de mortal justissimè judicaturus a quibus est injustissimè judicatus most justly to judge Judges by whom both in himselfe and in his members he hath beene most unjustly judged O Kings The more excellent the office the more eminent the qualitie ought to be no vertue so befits a Prince as religious wisedome the Queen of all vertues be wise therefore O yee Kings excell in the grace which excelleth all others crowne your royall dignitie with all Princely vertues and chaine them all together in prudence with the linkes following Serve the Lord with feare feare him with joy rejoyce in him with love and love him with confidence First serve him not carelesly but sollicitously fearing to displease him Secondly feare him not servilely but filially with joy Thirdly rejoyce in him not presumptuously but awfully with trembling Fourthly Tremble before him not desperately but hopefully so feare him in his judgements that ye embrace him in his mercies and kisse him in the face of Jesus Christ Though he frowne on you in his anger yet still seeke to please him yea though he smite you in his wrath and kill you all the day long yet put your trust in him and you shall be happie Be wise Wisedome is the mindes g Arist Eth. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eye by which she pryeth into all the secrets of nature and mysteries of State and discerneth betweene good and evill and prudently guideth all the affaires of life as the helme doth a ship No good can be done without her direction nor evill bee avoyded but by her forecast She is the chiefe of the foure cardinall vertues and may rightly be stiled Cardinalium cardo the hinge that turnes them all about They advance not till she strikes an alarum nor retire till she sound a retreat What the Apostle speakes of the three heavenly graces now there h 1 Cor. 13.13 remaine these three faith hope and charity but the greatest of these is charitie may be in like manner affirmed concerning the preheminence of wisedome in respect of the other cardinall vertues now there remaine these foure 1. Wisedome to direct 2. Justice to correct 3. Temperance to abstaine 4. Fortitude to sustaine but the greatest of these is wisedome For wisedome informeth justice moderateth temperance and leadeth fortitude Wisedome giveth rules to justice setteth bounds to temperance putteth reines on fortitude Without wisedome justice hurteth others temperance our selves i Horat. od car l. fortitude both our selves and others k Isoc ad Demon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vis consili expers mole ruit sua Saint l Bernard ser 85. in cant Sapientia a sapore dicta est quia virtuti velut condimentum accedens sapidam reddit Bernard deriveth sapientia a sapore sapience from sapour because wisedome giveth a good rellish to vertue Discretion is the salt of all our actions without which nothing that is done or spoken is savourie What doth pregnancie of wit or maturitie of judgement or felicitie of memorie or varietie of reading or multiplicitie of observation or gracefulnesse of deliverie steed a man that wanteth wisedome and discretion to use them In these respects and many more Solomon the wisest King that ever wore corruptible Crowne in his prayer to God preferreth wisedome to all other gifts whatsoever And indeed so admirable a vertue so rare a perfection so inestimable a treasure it is that the heathen who had but a glimpse of it discover it to be a beame of that light which no man can approach unto m Cic. Tus quaest haec est una hominis sapientia non arbitrarite scire quod nescias this is the chiefest point of mans wisedome saith Tully out of Socrates his mouth to
little Christian bloud in as much as Dioclesian plucked but out the bodily eyes of Saints and Martyrs the holes whereof the good Emperour Constantine kissed whereas Julian by shutting up all Christian schooles and bereaving them of the light of knowledge after a sort plucked out the eyes of their soules Which I speake not for that I conceive the Scriptures are not sufficient of themselves for our instruction to enlighten our understanding but because we are not sufficient for the opening of the meaning of them without the helps of arts and sciences the miraculous gifts of the holy Ghost ceasing long before our time The light of divers rapers in the same roome though united yet is not confounded as the opticks demonstrate by the distinct shadowes which they cast neither doth the light of divine knowledge confound that of humane in the soule but both concurre to the full illumination of the understanding And as the organe of the bodily eye cannot discerne any thing without a double light viz. 1. h Brierhood tractat de oculo M.S. Lumine innato an inward light in the christalline humour of the eye 2. Lumine illato an outward light in the aire and on the object so neither can the eye of the soule in this region of darknesse perfectly distinguish the colours of good and evill without a double light the in-bred light of nature and the outward light which is acquired by learning being Lumen not innatum but illatum not naturally resplendent in the soule and brought with it into the world but ab extrinseco brought into the soule by reading hearing discoursing contemplating or divine inspiration Solomon who best knew what belonged to wisedome sets his wise man to i Pro. 1.5 Aâ—â—se man will heare and will understand learning schoole and promiseth for him that he will take his k Pâ— 9.9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will he yet wiser teach a â—â—t man and he will in crease in learning learning and bee a good proficient in it And behold a wiser than Solomon l Mat. 13.52 Christ himselfe compareth every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdome of heaven to a man that is an housholder who bringeth out of his treasury new things and old He likeneth him not to a pedler that hath nothing but inkle tape and such like trash in his pack which he openeth at every mans doore but to a rich ware-house man who out of his treasury or ware-house bringeth out precious things either new or old as they are called for Such a Scribe was Moses who m Acts 7.22 was learned in all the wisedome of the Aegyptians Such a Scribe was Daniel and the foure children that were bred up with him to whom God n Dan. 1.17 gave knowledge and skill in all learning Such a Scribe was S. Paul who was o Act. 22.3 brought up at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the Law of the Fathers Neither was he conversant onely in the writings of the Rabbines but also expert in the heathen Philosophers Orators and Poets whom he after a sort defloureth of their choicest sentences observations incorporating them into his most learned and eloquent epistles Such a Scribe was Clemens Alexandrinus whose writings in regard of all variety of good literature in them are called stromata rare pieces of Arras or Tapestry Such a Scribe was S. Cyprian who by Rhetoricke Tertullian who by the civill Law Justin Martyr and Origen who by Philosophy S. Basil who by Physicke S. Austin who by Logicke Eusebius who by history Prudentius who by Poetry Gregory Nazianzen Jerome and many other of the ancient Doctors of the Church who by exquisite skill in the Arts and learned Languages exceedingly improved their sacred talent of Scripture-knowledge p Vid. Lyps Manuducti ad Stoicam Philosophiam Philo that accomplished Jew deviseth an elegant allegory upon Abrahams companying with Hagar before he could have issue by Sara Hagar the bond-woman is secular or humane learning with which we must have to doe before wee can promise our selves fruit by Sarah that is much profit by the study of divinity Neither doth this argue any imperfection in the Scriptures but in us the starres are most visible in themselves yet through the imbecillity of our sight without a perspective glasse we cannot exactly take their elevation or true magnitude What though God in the first plantation of the Gospell used the industry of illiterate men and made Fishermen fishers of men that our q 1 Cor. 2.5 faith should not stand in the wisedome of men but in the power of God yet after the miraculous gifts of the Spirit fayled in the Church wee shall read of no Rammes hornes but Silver Trumpets emploied in the throwing down of Sathans forts Since that the promise of dabitur in illa hora it shall bee given you in that houre is turned into the precept of attende lectioni give r 1 Tim. 4.13.15 attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine meditate upon these things give thy selfe wholly unto them that thy profiting may appeare unto all men Since the dayes of the Apostles and their immediate Successors the learnedst men have proved the worthiest instruments of Gods glory in Church or Commonwealth Be learned therefore Yee Judges Religion commends learning and learning a Judge Å¿ Numb 11.17 The Lord tooke of the Spirit which was upon Moses and put it upon seventy Elders This Spirit it is which animateth a Judge whose briefest and yet fullest definition is Jus animatum enlived right or the living law For the law is a dead and mute Judge and the Judge is a living and speaking law As the Philosopher termeth t Arist Rhet. l. 3. Pictura muta poesis poesis loquens pictura painting silent Poetry and Poetry a speaking picture Now how can a Judge speake the law or the law speake by him if he know not the law It implyeth a kinde of contradiction for an Actor to bee without action or an Orator without words or a Labourer without worke or a Counsellor without advice or a Judge without judgement in the law Can an Artificer worke by his rule who holdeth it not in his hand or a Pilot steere by the compasse who hath not the compasse before his eye or understandeth it not no more can a Judge give sentence according to the law who is ignorant of the law Ignorance in a private man is a prejudice and some blemish to himselfe but u Aug. de civ Dei Ignorantia Judicis est calamitas innocentis ignorance in a Judge is the calamity of the innocent nay may prove the ruine of a State What greater mischiefe in any society than that the estates good name livelihood yea and lives too of men should lye in the breast of a Judge who out of ignorance is faine to aske Quid est justitia what is justice as Pilate
cause in favour of the defendant and being taxed for it by his friends in private shewing them the coyn he received demanded of them quis possit tot armatis resistere who were able to stand against so many in complete armour Steele armour is bullet or musket proofe but nothing except the feare of God is gold or silver proofe Nothing can keepe a Judge from receiving a reward in private in a colourable cause but the eye of the Almighty who seeth the corrupt Judge in secret and will reward him openly if not in his lower Courts on earth yet in his high Court of Star-chamber in heaven 5 All corruption is not in bribes hee who for hope of advancement or for favour or for any by-respect whatsoever perverteth judgement is not cleere from corruption though his hands be cleane The Judges who absolved the beautifull strumpet Phryne had their hands cleane but their eyes foule The Judges who absolved Murena that by indirect meanes purchased the Consulship of Rome are not taxed for taking any bribe from him yet was their judgment corrupt because that which swayed them in judgment was not the innocency of Murena but his modest carriage together with his sickness then upon him moving them unto compassion An upright Judge must in a morall sense be like Melchisedek without Father or Mother kiffe or kin I meane in justice hee must take no notice of any affinity or consanguinity friendship or favour or any thing else save the merits of the cause to which 6 Hee must give a full hearing for otherwise the Poet will tell him that g Sen. in med Qui aliquid statuit parte inauditá alterá aequum licet statuerit baud aequus est though the sentence he gives may be just yet he cannot be just The eare is not only the sense of discipline or learning as the Philosopher speaketh but of faith also as the Apostle teacheth yea and of truth also and justice Though a Judge need not with Philip stop one of his eares while the accuser is speaking yet ought he alwayes to reserve an eare for the defendant and according to the ancient decree of the Areopagites h Demost orat de coron 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heare both parties with like attention and indifferency their full time Albeit our Lord and Saviour knew the hearts of men which no earthly Judge can yet to prescribe a rule to all Judges hee professeth sicut audio sic judico i Joh. 5.30 as I heare so I judge Never any Romane Emperour was so much censured with injustice and folly as k Sueton. in Claud. Claudius Caesar and the reason why hee so oft mistooke was because hee often sentenced causes upon the hearing of one side only and somtimes upon the full hearing of neither But of hearing you heare every day not onely the Preachers at the Assizes but the Counsell on both parts call upon you for it I would you heard as oft of that which I am to touch in the next place without which hearing is to no purpose 7 Expedition If the time had not prevented me I would have long insisted upon the prolonging of suits in all Courts of justice For a man can come into none of them but hee shall heare many crying with him in the Poet Quem das finem Rex magne laborum When shall we leave turning Ixions wheele and rowling Sisyphus stone O that we had an end either way long delayed justice often more wrongeth both parties than injustice either I am not ignorant of the colourable pretence wherewith many excuse these delayes affirming that questions in law are like the heads of Hydra when you cut off one there arise up two in the place of it which if it were so as it argueth a great imperfection in our laws which they who are best able make no more haste to supply than beggars to heale the raw flesh because these gaine by such defects as they by shewing their sores so it no way excuseth the protraction of the ordinary suits disputes and demurres in which there is no more true controversie in point of law than head in a sea-crab 8 Of courage and resolution I shall need to adde nothing to what hath beene spoken because the edge of your sword of justice hath a strong backe the authority of a most religious and righteous Prince under whom you need not feare to doe justice but rather not to execute justice upon the most potent delinquent 9 There remaines nothing but Equity to crowne all your other vertues which differeth but little from moderation above enforced for moderation is equity in the minde as equity is moderation in the sentence Bee not over just saith l Eccl. 7.16 Solomon but moderate thy justice with equity and mitigate it with mercy for summum jus est summa injuria justice without mercy is extreme cruelty and mercy without justice is foolish pity both together make Christian equity Therfore these two vertues resemble Castor and Pollux which if either alone appeare on the mast is ominous but both together promise a prosperous voyage or like the metals which are so termed quia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because the veynes succeed one the other after the veyne of one metall you fall upon the veyne of another so in scripture you shall finde a sequence of these vertues as in the Prophet Micah m Micah 6.8 Hee hath shewed thee O man what is good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to doe justly and love mercy and in Zechary n Zech. 7.9 Execute true judgement and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother and in Solomon o Pro. 21.21 Hee that followeth after righteousnesse and mercy findeth life righteousnesse and honour To gather then up at length the scattered links of my discourse to make a golden chaine for your neckes Be instructed O ye Judges of the earth either Judges made of earth earthly men or made Judges of the earth that is controversies about lands tenures and other earthly and temporall causes serve the Lord of heaven in feare and rejoice unto him with trembling bee religious in your devotion moderate in your passions learned in the lawes incorrupt in your courts impartiall in your affections patient in hearing expedite in proceeding resolute in your sentence and righteous in judgement and execution So when the righteous Judge shall set his tribunall in the clouds and the unrighteous Judge as being most contrary to him shall receive the heaviest doome ye that are righteous Judges as being likest to him shall receive a correspondent reward and bee taken from sitting upon benches on earth to be his Assessours on his throne in heaven To whom c. THE APOSTOLICK BISHOP A Sermon preached at the Consecration of the L. B. of Bristow before his Grace and the Lord Keeper of the Great Seale and divers other Lords Spirituall and Temporall and other persons of eminent quality
visus in grosse For hee will certainly call all men to a most strict and particular account of every moment of time they have spent of every particular grace they have received of every particular duty they have omitted of every particular sinne they have committed in deed word or thought nay of the first motion and inclination to evill The smallest atomi or moates that flye in the ayre are discerned in the Sunne so the smallest sinnes and offences shall be discovered at the brightnesse of Christs comming And as the words that are written with the juyce of a Lemmon cannot be read when they are written but may be plainly and distinctly if you hold the paper to the fire and dry the letters so the smallest letters in the book of our conscience yea the least notes and points and scratches which neither any other nor our selves see well now shall easily be discerned by the fire of the last judgement The conceit whereof tooke such a deep impression in the render heart of Saint Hierome that he professeth x Victor Reat in vit Hieron Sive comedo sive bibo sive quid aliud facio semper videtur mihi tuba illa terribilis sonare Surgite mortui venite ad judicium wheresoever he was whatsoever he did whether he ate or dranke or walked abroad or sate in his study or talked with any he thought he heard the last Trump sound shrill in his eares Awake yee that sleep in the dust and come to judgement At which time that you may be all more perfect I would advise you to y Barradius comment in concord Evang. Ascendat mens tribunal judici rationem ratio exposcat reckon before hand with your selves either at private fasts or every evening Among z Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pythagoras his golden Verses these seem to mee to be most weighty Before thou suffer thy temples to take any rest resolve these three questions Wherein have I transgressed What have I done What part of my duty have I left this day undone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 According to which rule Seneca recordeth it to the eternall praise of Sextius that every evening hee put these interrogatories to his soule * Quod hodiè malum sanâ—st cuâ— vitio obstitisti qua parte melior factus es What wound hast thou healed this day What vice hast thou withstood Wherein art thou better than thou wert the day before thus Pythagoras advised thus Sextius did and yet neither of them for ought appeareth thought of any other judge than their reason nor accusers than their thoughts nor tormentors than their vitious affections nor hell than their owne conscience What suppose yee would they have done what care would they have taken how oft would they have revised their accounts if they had thought they should have been brought to answer for all their actions speeches gestures affections nay thoughts purposes intentions deliberations and resolutions before God and his holy Angels at the dreadfull day of judgement If the consideration of these things no whit affect you you shall one day give an account among other your sins for the unprofitable hearing of this Sermon His word which I have preached unto you this day shall testifie against you at that day Give me leave therefore a little to rouze you up and by applying the steele of my Text to your flinty hearts to strike out of them the fire of zeale I told you before of foure sorts of Stewards the sacred the honourable the wealthy and the common and ordinary I will begin with the sacred 1. Appl. to Ministers Thou to whom the Oracles of God and soules of men are committed who hast received grace by imposition of hands not to gaine applause to thy selfe or an high step of dignity on earth but to win soules to God and bring men to Heaven thou to whom the mist of blacke darknesse is reserved for ever if thou departest from the holy commandement and drawest others after thee but an eminent place amongst the Starres if thou turne many to righteousnesse how is it that thy minde study and endeavour is not to build Gods house but to raise thine owne not to adde by the ministery of the Gospel those to the Church that shall be saved but Imponere Pelion Ossae to lay steeple upon steeple and preferment upon preferment and adde dignity to dignity either not preaching at all or like the high Priest in the old Law entering but once a yeere into the Sanctum sanctorum or at the most furnishing but some few high Festivals with some rare and exquisite peeces of stuffe embroidered with variety of all arts and sciences save Divinity Is this to preach Christ crucified Is this to a John 21.16 17. feed feed and feed is this to be b 2 Tim 4.2 instant in season and out of season to reprove rebuke to exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine is this to c Acts 20.27 I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsell of God declare the whole counsell of God is this to d 1 Tim. 4.13 attend to reading to exhortation to doctrine to continue in them is this to give themselves wholly to the worke of the Ministery that their profiting may appeare unto all is this to e Acts 20.31 warne every one publikely and house by house day and night with teares to save themselves from the corruption of the world the snares of Sathan wrath to come Will a purchased dispensation of absence from thy Cure upon some plausible pretence or thy Curates diligence excuse thy supine negligence or secure thee from the Apostles f 1 Cor. 9.16 Vae Woe be to mee Paul if I preach not the Gospel in mine owne person O thinke upon it in time to make a better reckoning before thou be summoned to give up the last accounts in the words of my Text Give an account of thy Stewardship of thy Ministery Next to the sacred Steward commeth in the minister of State and Magistrate to bee rounded in the eare with the admonition in my Text. 2. To Magistrates Thou to whom both the Tables are committed who art ordained by God and appointed by thy Soveraigne to see religion maintained justice executed and peace kept how commeth it to passe that the sword of justice lyeth rusty in the scabard and is not drawne out against Sabbath-breakers contemners of the Church discipline blasphemers swearers drunkards lewd and scandalous livers Doest thou use the authority committed to thee to revenge thy selfe and not to redresse wrongs done to the law nay doest thou protect and bolster iniquity and impiety doest thou live by those sinnes and draw a revenue by licensing those places of disorder which thou art made a minister of justice to suppresse Is this to be a man fearing God and hating covetousnesse is this to stop the mouth of impiety to cleanse the
Court of justice in which the lesser flyes are strangled but the greater easily breake through them And bee the lawes of any Commonwealth or Kingdome never so exact yet Seneca his observation will bee true Angusta est justitia ad legem justum esse it is but narrow and scanty justice which extendeth no further than mans law A man may be ill enough and yet keepe out of the danger of the lawes of men which are many wayes imperfect and defective but the law of God is no way subject to this imputation it is perfect and as the Prophet David speaketh c Psal 119.96 exceeding broad it reacheth to all the actions words and imaginations of all the sonnes of Adam not a by syllable can passe not a thought stray not a desire swerve from the right way but it falleth within the danger and is lyable to the penalties annexed to it which are most certaine and most grievous 1 Externall in the world 2 Internall in the conscience 3 Eternall in hell The arguments that are hence drawne to deterre men from sinne and wickednesse are of a stronger metall and have another manner of edge than reason can set upon them d Heb. 4 12. For the word of God is quick and powerfull sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart The Hyperbolicall commendation which the e Cic. de orat l. 1. Fremant licet omnes dicam quod sentio bibliothecas omnes Philosophorum unus mihi videtur duodecim tabularum libellus si quis legum fontes capita viderit autoritatis pondere utilitatis ubertate superare Orator giveth of the Romane lawes published in twelve Tables of right belongeth to this member of the Apostles exhortation it hath more weight of reason and forcible arguments of perswasion to holinesse of life and detestation of vice in it than all the discourses of morall Philosophers extant in the world Hence we learn that their losses who trade with Satan are inestimable and irrecoverable that wicked and ungodly courses and means to gain thrive by not onely deprive us of the comfortable fruition of all earthly but also of the possession of all heavenly blessings that even small offences when they come to light are sufficient to cover the sinner with shame and confusion that all the filthinesse that lyeth in the skirts of the soule shall be discovered in the face of the sun before men Angels that not only outward acts but inward motions and intentions not only loud crying sins but also still and quiet that lye asleep as it were in the lap of our conscience not only hainous crimes and transgressions of an high nature but also those seeming good actions that have any secret filthinesse or staine in them if it bee not washed away with the teares of our repentance and blood of our Redeemer shall bee brought into judgement against us and wee for them condemned to death both of body and soule in hell No tragicall vociferation nor the howling and shricking of damned ghosts can sufficiently expresse the horrour and torments of that endlesse death which is the end of sinne What sinne hath proved for the time past yee have heard wee are at this present to consider what it is for the present it hath beene unfruitfull what fruit had yee it is shamefull whereof ye are now ashamed Shame is defined by f L. 2. Rhet. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle Agriefe and trouble of minde arising from such evils as seeme to tend to our infamy and disgrace somewhat more fully it may bee described A checke of conscience condemning us for some intention speech or action whereby wee have defiled our conscience before God or stained our credits before men This affection is in all men even in those that are shamelesse and impudent who are not so called because they are without this irkesome passion but because they shew no signe thereof in their countenance nor effects in their lives As impossible it is that in the conscience of a sinner g Rom. 2.15 thoughts should not arise accusing him as that there should bee a fire kindled and no sparks flye up To pollute the conscience with foule sin and not to be ashamed is all one as to prick the tenderest part of the body and to feele no paine h Suet. in Tib. Tiberius who let loose the raines to all licentiousnesse yet when hee gave himselfe to his impure pleasures caused all the pictures to bee removed out of the roome and Alexander Phereus that cruell tyrant when hee beheld a bloody Tragedy in the Theater and therein the ugly and monstrous image of his barbarous cruelty drawne to the life was so confounded therewith that hee could no longer dissemble his terrour of minde nor expect the end of that dismall Scene Now how deepe an impression shame and infamy make in the soule wee may perceive by those who preferred death before it i Xen. l. 7. Cyr. Paed. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Panthea solemnly wished that shee might bee buried alive rather than constrained to staine her blood and good name by keeping company with any how great soever hee were contrary to her vow to her dearest Abradatus And k Ovid. Epist Phillis Demophoonti Phillis having lost her honour voweth to make amends for it by her voluntary death Stat necis electu tenerum pensare pudorem Which Lucretia also practised flying out of the world to shun the shame thereof and spilling her blood which the tyrant had a little before stayned and Europa thought one death too light a revenge for wronged chastity Levis una mors est Virginum culpae If shame and infamy were not the sharpest corrasives to a guilty conscience the Prophet David would not so oft use these and the like imprecations against the enemies of God Let them be confounded and perish that are l Psal 71.11 83.17 against my soule and let them bee counfounded and vexed evermore let them bee put to shame and perish let mine adversaries bee clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their owne confusion as with a cloake Yea but if shame and confusion are the very gall and wormewood of Gods vengeance against the wicked most bitter to the taste of the soule what construction are wee to make of those words of the Prophet m Ezek. 36.32 O yee house of Israel bee ashamed and confounded for your owne wayes doth the Prophet here give them counsell to pull down Gods vengeance upon themselves Nothing lesse To cleare this point therefore wee must distinguish of shame which is taken 1 Sometimes for a vertuous habit and disposition of the minde consisting in a mediocrity betweene two extremes impudency in the defect reproved in the Jewes by the Prophet n Jer. 8.12
hereof that the wages of sinne is eternall death I will produce manifold testimonies of Scripture beyond all exception not so much to convince l Aug. l. 22 de Civ Dei Origines eò erravit deformiùs quò sensit clementiùs the errour of Origen who was of opinion that all the damned yea the Devils themselves should in the end bee released of their torments as to settle a doubt which troubleth the mindes of the godly how it should bee just with God to inflict eternall punishments upon men for temporall transgressions For your better satisfaction herein may it please you to take notice of two opinions concerning the rule of justice and goodnesse the first maketh the will of God the rule of good the latter goodnesse the rule of Gods will If yee embrace the former opinion to prove that it is just to repay eternall punishments to temporary and finite offences it will bee sufficient to shew that it is Gods will and good pleasure so to doe if yee encline to the latter opinion it will bee farther requisite to shew the congruity of such proceedings with the principles of reason and rules of justice among men It is very reasonable to thinke that God hath alwayes a reason for his will yet it is safest for us to take his will for a reason For God cannot will any thing but as hee willeth it it is just and good and that it is Gods will and decree to torment them eternally who dye impenitently appeareth by the words of our Saviour m Mat. 25.46 These shall go into everlasting pain and of Saint n 2 Thes 1.9 Paul These shall bee punished with everlasting perdition from the presence of the Lord and glory of his power and of Saint o Apoc 20.10 John And the Devill that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false Prophet shall bee tormented day and night for evermore Thus much of the torments in generall in speciall that the fire is unquenchable wee reade in Saint p Mat. 3.11 Matthew The chaffe hee will burne with unquenchable fire and in Saint q Jude 7. Jude Which suffer the vengeance of eternall fire How should the fire ever goe out sith as the Prophet Esay informeth us r Isa 30.33 The breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone continually kindleth it And that the worm likewise is immortall Christ teacheth ſ Mar. 9.44 46 48. Where the worm saith he never dyeth and the fire is not quenched and that the darknesse likewise is perpetuall wee heare out of Saint Peter t 2 Pet. 2.17 They are Wells without water clouds carryed about with a tempest to whom blacke darknesse is reserved for ever yea the chaines of this prison wherewith the damned are manacled and fettered are everlasting for the Angels that kept not their first estate saith Saint Jude u Jude 6. God hath reserved in everlasting chaines under darknesse unto the judgement of the great day and lastly The * Apoc. 14.11 fume and the stench of the brimstone lake riseth up perpetually and the smoake of their torment shall ascend for evermore Neither can it bee answered in behalfe or comfort of the damned that indeed hell torments shall still endure but that they shall not be alwayes in durance that the racke shall remaine but they shall not bee everlastingly tortured on it that the Jaile shall stand but that the prisoners shall not alwayes be kept in it for the Scipture is as expresse for the reprobates enduring as for the during of those paines They shall goe saith Christ x Mat. 25.46 into everlasting fire y 2 Thes 1.9 They shall suffer saith Saint Paul the paines of everlasting perdition z Apoc. 20.10 They shall bee tormented saith Saint John with fire and brimstone for evermore and therefore the fire is called * Mar. 9.44 their fire ignis eorum because it burneth them and the worme their worme because it feedeth upon them and the torments their torments because they paine and torture them These texts are so plaine that Cardinal Bellarmine himselfe professedly refuteth those of his owne side who give credit to the legend which relateth that by the prayers of Saint Gregory the soule of Trajan was delivered out of hell The good will and pleasure of God concerning the condition of the damned being thus made knowne unto us wee are to tremble at his judgements and quell and keepe under every thought that mutines against them To call Gods justice in question concerning the everlasting torments of the damned is to bring our selves in danger of them Are not Gods actions just because wee see not the squire by which they are regulated * Aug. l. 2. de Civ Dei Cujus plenè judicia nemo comprehendit nemo justè reprehendit though wee cannot comprehend all Gods judgements yet wee may not reprehend any Multa Dei judicia occulta sunt nulla injusta many judgements of God are secret none unjust In particular concerning this point much hath and may bee said in justification of Gods proceeding with the damned even by humane reason 1. Saint Austine rightly observeth that in punishing offences we are not so much to regard the time as the quality the duration as the enormity A man justly lyeth by it the whole yeere for a rash word spoken in a moment another is condemned to the Gallies all his life for a murder or a rape committed on the sudden in hot bloud therefore howsoever the sins of the reprobate are but temporall yet the circumstances of them may be so odious and the number of them so great and the nature so hainous that they may deserve eternall punishments 2. Where the guilt still remaineth it is not against justice that the party still suffer but in the soules of all infidels and impenitent sinners whose consciences were never washed neither in the salt water of their owne teares nor in the sweet laver of regeneration the guilt of all their sinnes still remaineth and therefore justly they may be eternally punished for them 3. An impenitent sinner if he should alwayes live upon the earth would alwayes hold on his sinfull course and that he breaketh it off at his death it is no thanke to him had he still the use of his tongue he would still blaspheme and curse had he still the use of his eyes hee would still looke after vanity had hee still the use of his feet hee would still walke in crooked wayes had he still the use of his hands he would still worke all manner of wickednesse had hee still the free use of all the faculties of his soule and members of his body he would still make them weapons of unrighteousnes Inchinus the a Inchin lib. de 4 Novis Romish Postillar giveth some light to this truth by an inch of candle whereby two play at tables in the
love Nay how canst thou not be perswaded sith hee himselfe hath said it I chasten as many as I love which words that thou maist take more hold of he hath often repeated them in holy Scripture Desirest thou greater assurance than his words which is all that heaven and earth have to shew for their continuance yet if thou desire more rather helpes of thine infirmity than confirmations of this truth observe who are oftenest longest under Gods afflicting hand who are fullest of his markes if they are deepest in sorrow who are highest in his favour if they mourne in Sion who sing Halelujah in the heavenly Jerusalem if they goe in blacke and sables here who are arrayed in long white robes there if they lay their heart a soake in teares who are men after Gods owne heart if Benjamins portion be greatest in afflictions assuredly manifold tribulations and Gods favour may stand together In the truth of which assertion all those Texts of Scripture may establish us which set before us the sweet fruits that are gathered from the crosse as 1. Knowledge It is good for mee that I have been k Psa 119.71 afflicted that I may learne thy statutes 2. Zeale I will l Hosea 5.15 goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offences and seeke my face in their affliction they will seeke mee diligently 3. Repentance I truly am m Psal 38.17 18. set in the plague and my heavinesse is ever in my sight I will confesse my wickednesse and be sorry for my sinnes When the people were stung with fiery serpents they came to Moses and said We have n Num. 21.7 sinned for wee have spoken against the Lord and against thee And againe In their o 2 Chro. 15.4 trouble they turned to the Lord God of Israel and sought him and he was found of them When the Prodigall was pinched with famine he came to himselfe and said How many hired p Luke 15.16 17 18. servants in my fathers house have meat enough and I perish with hunger I will arise therefore and goe to my father c. 4. Patience Tribulation worketh q Rom. 5.3 4. patience and patience experience and experience hope 5. Joy in the Holy Ghost Receiving the Word with much affliction with r 1 Thes 1.6 joy in the Holy Ghost 6. Triall of our faith which like Å¿ 1 Pet. 1.7 gold is purged by the fire of afflictions Though he t Job 13.15 slay mee yet will I trust in him Our u Psal 44.18 19 20. heart is not turned backe nor our steps gone out of the way no not when thou hast smitten us into the place of Dragons and covered us with the shadow of death 7. Righteousnesse No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but * Heb. 12.11 grievous neverthelesse yet afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them that are exercised thereby 8. Holinesse It x Heb. 2.10 became him for whom were all things in bringing many sonnes unto glory to consecrate the Captaine of our salvation through afflictions The y Heb. 12.10 fathers of our flesh for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but hee for our profit that wee may bee partakers of his holinesse 9. Estranging our affections from the world and earthly desires Eliah requested that he might dye It is z 1 Kin. 19.4 enough Lord take away my life I am no better than my fathers We that are in this tabernacle doe * 2 Cor. 5.4 groane being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 11. Humility The a 2 Cor. 12.7 messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet mee and that I should not be exalted above measure there was given mee a thorne in my flesh 11. Renovation and ghostly strength Therefore I b 2 Cor. 12.10 take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for when I am weake then am I strong and though our outward man decay yet our inward man is renewed day by day 12. Freedome from everlasting torments When c 1 Cor. 11.32 wee are judged wee are chastened of the Lord that wee should not bee condemned with the world 13. Encrease of celestiall glory For our d 2 Cor. 4.17 light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory The Heathen that never tasted the least part of these fruits yet feeling by experience that the mind cloyed with continuall felicity grew a burden to it selfe was deprived hereby of matter and occasion of excellent vertues and not so onely but infatuated and wholly corrupt thereby maintained this memorable Paradoxe e Demet. apud Sen. Nihil eo infelicius cui nihil intelix contigit That none was so unhappy as bee who knew no mishap nor adversity at any time Nay they went farther in that their conceit and thereby came nearer to my text affirming that store of wealth large possessions high places and great honours were not alwaies signes and tokens of the love of God God saith the wise Poet and the best Philosopher taketh it out of him f Aristot Rhet. l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sendeth many men great prosperity not out of love and good will but to the end that they may bee capable of greater misery and that the calamities which they are after to endure may bee more g â—uven sit Numerosa parabat excelsae turris tabulata unde altior esset casus impulsae praeceps immane rumae eminent and signall Tolluntur in altum Ut lapsu graviore ruant Misery is alwayes querulous and even weake objections often ruine them who are already cast downe with griefe such as are these Doth not God threaten to powre out his plagues upon the wicked Doe wee not read in Saint h Rom. 2.9 Paul Tribulation and anguish upon every soule that sinneth of the Jew first and also of the Gentile Are not losses infamy captivity banishment tortures and torments judgements of wrath how then can they bee arguments of love I answer that originally all the evils of this life came in with sinne and were punishments of it and they retaine their nature still in the wicked but in the godly by the mercy of God and merits of Christ they are changed from judgements of wrath into chastisements of love from stings of sinne to remedies against sinne from executions of vengeance to exercises of excellent vertues and the inflicting of them so little prejudiceth Gods love to his chosen that hee no way more sheweth it to them than by thus awaking them out of their sleepe and by this meanes pulling them out of hell fire And therefore the Prophets threaten it after all other judgements as the greatest of all that for their obstinacy and impenitency God would punish them no more
was exalted according to both natures according to his humane by laying down all infirmities of mans nature and assuming to himself all qualities of glory according to his divine by the manifestation of the Godhead in the manhood which before seemed to lie hid But this seemeth not to be so proper an interpretation neither can it be well conceived how that which is highest can be said to be exalted but Christ according to his divine nature is and alwaies was together with the Holy Ghost most high in the glory of God the Father It is true which they affirme that the Deity more manifestly appeared in our Saviour after his resurrection than before the rayes of divine Majesty were more conspicuous in him than before but this commeth not home to the point For this manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature was no exaltation of the divine nature but of the humane As when the beames of the Sunne fall upon glasse the glasse is illustrated thereby not the beame so the manifestation of the Deity in the humane nature of Christ was the glory and exaltation of the manhood not of the Godhead I conclude this point therefore according to the mind of the ancient and most of the later Interpreters that God exalted Christ according to that nature which before was abased even unto the death of the Crosse and that was apparently his humane For according to his divine as he could not be humbled by any so neither be exalted as he could not die so neither be raised from death Having thus parced the words it remaineth that we make construction of the whole which confirmeth to us a principall article of our faith and giveth us thus much to understand concerning the present estate of our Lord and Saviour That because being in the forme of God clothed with majesty and honour adored by Cherubins Seraphins Archangels and Angels he dis-robed himselfe of his glorious attire and put upon him the habit and forme of a servant and in it to satisfie for the sins of the whole world endured all indignities disgraces vexations derisions tortures and torments and for the close of all death it selfe yea that cruell infamous and accursed death of the Crosse therefore God even his Father to whom he thus far obeyed and most humbly submitted himselfe hath accordingly exalted him raising him from the dead carrying him up in triumph into heaven setting him in a throne of Jasper at his right hand investing him with robes of majesty and glory conferring upon him all power and authority and giving him a name above all names and a stile above all earthly stiles King of Kings and Lord of Lords giving charge to all creatures of what rank or degree soever in heaven earth or under the earth to honour him as their King and God in such sort that they never speake or thinke of him without bowing the knee and doing him the greatest reverence and religious respect that is possibly to be expressed In this high mysterie of our faith five specialties are remarkable 1 The cause Wherefore 2 The person advancing God 3 The advancement it selfe exalted 4 The manner highly 5 The person advanced him Begin we with the cause Wherefore That which was elsewhere spoken by our Saviour h Luk. 14.11 He that humbleth himselfe shall bee exalted is here spoken of our Saviour hee humbled himselfe to suffer a most accursed death therefore God highly exalted him to a most blessed and glorious life We are too well conceited of our selves gather too much from Gods love and gracious promises to us if we expect that he should bring us by a nearer way and shorter cut to celestiall glory than he did his onely begotten Son who came not easily by his crowne but bought it dearly with a price not which he gave but rather for which hee was given himselfe His conquest over death and hell and the spoyles taken from them were not Salmacida spolia sine sanguine sudore spoyles got without sweat or blood-shed for he sweat and he bled nay he sweat blood in his striving and struggling for them Wherefore if God humble us by any grievous visitation if by sicknesse poverty disgrace or captivity wee are brought low in the world let us not bee too much dejected therewith we are not fallen nor can fall so low as our Saviour descended of himselfe immediately before his glorious exaltation The lower a former wave carrieth downe the ship the higher the later beareth it up the farther backe the arrow is drawn the farther forward it flyeth Our affections as our actions are altogether preposterous and wrong in the height of prosperity we are usually without feare in the depth of misery without hope Whereas if we weighed all things in an equall ballance and guided our judgement not by sight but by faith not by present probabilities but by antecedent certainties we should find no place more dangerous to build our confidence upon than the ridge of prosperity no ground surer to cast the anchor of our hope upon than the bottome of misery How suddenly was Herod who heard himself called a god and not a man deprived of his kingdome life by worms and no men whereas David who reputed himselfe a worm and no man was made a King over men Moses was taken from feeding sheepe to feed the people of God but on the contrary Nebuchadnezzar from feeding innumerable flockes of people shall I say to feed sheepe nay to be fed as a sheepe and graze among the beasts of the field O what a sudden change was here made in the state of this mighty Monarch How was hee that gloried in his building of great Babel brought to Babel that is confusion he that before dropp'd with sweet ointment feasted all his senses with the pleasures of a King hath the dew of heaven for his oyntment the flowry earth for his carpets the weeds for his sallets the lowing of beasts for his musick and the skie for his star-chamber How great a fall also had the pride of Antiochus who riding furiously in his chariot against Jerusalem was thrown out of it on the ground and with the fall so bruised his members that his flesh rotted and bred wormes in great abundance i 2 Mac. 9.8 9. Hee that a little before thought that hee might command the waves of the sea so proud was he beyond the condition of man and weigh the high mountaines in a ballance was now cast on the ground and carryed in an horse-litter declaring unto all the manifest power of God So that the wormes came out of the bowels of this wicked man in great abundance and while hee was yet alive his flesh fell off with paine and torments and all his army was grieved with the stench The k Xen. Cyr. paed l. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. King of Armenia who had beene formerly tributary to Cyrus understanding that that puissant Prince was engaged
call us by thy spirit and wee shall heare thee and hearing thee turne from our wicked wayes and turning live a new life of grace here and an eternall life of glory hereafter in heaven with thee O Father the infuser O Son the purchaser O holy Spirit the preserver of this life Amen Cui c. THE BEST RETURNE THE LV. SERMON EZEK 18.23 Not that hee should returne from his wayes and live Or if hee returne from his evill wayes shall hee not live Right Honourable c. SAint a Possid in vit Austine lying on his death-bed caused divers verses of the penitentiall Psalmes to bee written on the walls of his chamber on which he still cast his eyes and commented upon them with the fluent Rhetoricke of his tears But I could wish of all texts of Scripture that this of the Prophet Ezekiel were still before all their eyes who mourn for their sins in private For nothing can raise the dejected soule but the lifting up of Gods countenance upon her nothing can dry her tears but the beams of his favour breaking out of the darke clouds of his wrath and shining upon her nothing can bring peace to an affrighted and troubled conscience but a free pardon of all sinnes whereby shee hath incurred the sentence of death which the Prophet tendereth in the words of the text Which are as the very heart of this chapter and every word thereof may serve as a principall veine to conveigh life-blood to all the languishing or benummed and deaded members of Christ his mysticall body Returne and live These words are spirit and life able to raise a sinner from the grave and set him on his feet to tread firmly upon the ground of Gods mercy as also to put strength and vigour into his feeble and heavie limbes 1. to creep then to walke and last of all to runne in the pathes of Gods commandements The explication whereof to our understanding and application to our wils and affections were the limits of my last Lords-dayes journey By the light which was then given you yee might easily discerne our lusts which are sudden motions from Gods desires which are eternall purposes and distinguish betweene a sinner who is not purged from all dregges of corruption and a wicked person who Moab-like is settled upon his lees between a common infirmity and a dangerous sickenesse betweene sin in the act and wickednesse in the habit Questionlesse there is more reason to pitty him that falleth or slippeth than him that leapeth into the sink of sinne and daily walloweth in the mire of sensuall pleasures Yet such is the mercy and goodnesse of almighty God that hee desireth not that the wicked such as make a trade of sinne and have a stiffe necke a hard heart a seared conscience that the wretchedst miscreants that breathe should either dye in their sinnes here or for their sinnes hereafter The former of the two is the death of life the latter wee may significantly tearme the life of death which exerciseth the damned with most unsufferable pangs and torments for evermore Here when wee part life dyeth but in hell death liveth and the terrours and pangs thereof are renewed and encreased daily the former death is given to the vessells of wrath for their earnest the latter is paid them for their wages This death is properly the wages of sinne which God cannot in justice with-hold from the servants of sinne and vassals of Satan For God whose infinite wisdom comprehends not only the necessity of all effects in their determined but also the possibility in their supposed causes foreseeing from all eternity what an intelligent nature endued with free-will left to himselfe would doe how hee would fall and wound himselfe by his fall and knowing how hee could so dispose of his fall and cure his wound that his the Creators glory might bee no whit impaired but rather encreased by not powerfully hindering it decreed to create this creature for his glory which he appointed to shew upon him by three meanes 1. By way of generall bounty in placing the first parents of mankinde in Paradise and in them giving all sufficient meanes to bring them to eternall happinesse an end infinitely elevated above the pitch of their owne nature and after the abuse of their free-will and losse of that happy estate in which they were created and bringing themselves into thraldome to sinne and Satan 2. By way of speciall mercy graciously freeing freely justifying justly glorifying some a Rom. 9.23 in and by Christ viz. the vessels of mercy prepared unto glory 3. By way of justice in utterly leaving or uneffectually calling and upon abuse or refusall of some measure of grace offered to them deservedly hardening and upon their finall incredulity and impenitency necessarily condemning and in the end eternally punishing others to wit the vessels of wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 made up or fitted to destruction This fabricke of celestiall doctrine strongly built upon evident texts of Scriptures may serve for a fortresse to defend this text and the principall doctrines contained in it against all the batteries of Heretickes and Atheists made against it viz. 1. That God approveth not the death of the wicked in his sinne but on the contrary liketh and commandeth and taketh pleasure in his conversion 2. That he decreeth not or desireth the death of any wicked for it selfe as it is the misery and destruction of his creature but as a manifestation of his justice For he b Lam. 3.33 punisheth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with his heart or willingly hee made not death nor delighteth in the c Wisd 1.13 Fulgent ad Mon. Mortem morienti non fecit qui mortem mortuo justè retribuit destruction of the living Thy destruction is from thy selfe d Hos 13.9 O Israel but in mee is thy helpe The wicked after his hardnesse and impenitent heart treasureth up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgement of God who rendreth to every man according to his workes Upon which texts the Fathers inferre that not onely the execution but the very decree of damnation of the reprobate passeth upon their sinne foreseene Saint e Ep. ad Sixt. Vasa irae homines sunt propter naturae bonu n creati propter vitia sâ—pplicio destinati si vasa sint perfecta in perditionem sibi hoc imputent Austine The vessels of wrath are wicked men created for the good of nature but destinated to punishment for their sinnes And againe If they are fitted to destruction let them thanke themselves Saint f Prosper ad object 3. Gal. Qui à sanctitate vitae per immunditiem labuntur non ex eo necessitatem pereundi habuerunt quia praedestinati non sunt sed quia tales futuri ex voluntariâ praevaricatione praesciti sunt Prosper They that fall away from holinesse through uncleanness lye not under a necessity of