such a thing may be expected in this World But all those calamities I now have mention'd are common as well to the good as to the bad Lassati sumus in via iniquitatis perditionis ambulavimus vias difficiles viam autem domini ignoravimus Sap. 5. because they both sail in the same Sea and are both likewise expos'd to the self-same fortune yet I can demonstrate many other miseries which are peculiar to the wicked alone and these are not improperly term'd the Daughters of iniquity whose description will be much to our present purpose because they render the life of the wicked most abominable and their body and minde both subject to a multitude of miseries Hear what they themselves do confess of them Alas say they we have wearied our selves in the way of iniquity and perdition We have walk'd in most difficult and sinister paths during our whole lives for We know nothing of the way of the Lord by this their own discourse we may very well conclude that even as the Just enjoy a kind of Paradise here upon Earth and do expect a far more happy one in the other life so the wicked have in this World their Hell to which a far more intollerable shall succeed in th' other for evil Consciences proceed from Hell without doubt and they steer their course directly to the same Haven where they shall be tormented eternally And their products have proportionable evils deriv'd from several causes some of them are the effects of thy Justice O Lord for thou art a most just Judge in all thy proceedings sometimes thou dost order the sin to be punish'd as soon as committed and tho' thou dost usually reserve the punishment thereof to the other life yet the wicked are very often afflicted even in this life for the same 'T is most certain that as thou dost govern the whole World with a general providence thou dost also moderate every particular therein with a peculiar Providence so that as the number of our Sins does increase our Punishments shall be multipli'd to the same degree This we know by our many and fatal experiences for what were all our disasters hitherto as so many Revolutions of Government such vast alterations and changes in matters of State and Religion the various fortune of so many Kings and Princes Such horrid disloialty in Subjects to their lawful Sovereigns so many stupendious and destructive Famines and Conflagrations such inhumane and bloudy Wars so many pestilential Distempers such cruel Murthers so many private and publick dissentions and jars They were certainly the just punishments of our manifold and most grevious offences to make good what I say that the punishment immediately follows the sin I produce what thou O Lord saidst to Cain for a confirmation Nonne si bene egeris recipies si autem male statim in foribus peccatum aderit Gen. 7. Deut. 7. If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted but If thou dost ill Sin lieth at thy door that is to say the pain and punishment of the Sin is at hand and Moises in thy name says as much to the People of Israel know then that the Lord thy God he is God the faithful God which keeps Covenant and Mercy with them that love him and keep his Commandments to a thousand Generations and repays them that hate him to their face to destroy them He will not be slack to him that hates him he will repay him to his face This word Statim so often repeated in Scripture and which signifies a quick return assures me that besides the punishments thon hast reserv'd for the wicked in th' other World thou hast also some in store whereby to chastise them even in this life immediately after the transgression of thy Law So that as often as they fall into Sin so often they feel the heavy weight of thy just indignation they are tost from one misery into another from one tribulation they fall into another this day brought to the bar for their misdemeanours to morrow condemn'd to dye and the next day shamefully put to death without making any reflection upon what might be the fatal cause of their great misfortune For they do not believe the goods of nature to be thy benefits and consequently not deserving their thanksgiving for them neither do they impute their punishment to thy Wrath nor as laid upon them by thy appointment and this blindness it is which prevents the amendment of their lives If there were no other evil in the World then the afflictions and miseries which attend our bodys it were not so much to be hated neither should our fear be so great to trade and converse therein but seeing our correspondence and freedom with it is so pernicions to our Souls also which ought to be the subject of our greatest care as being the principal part of our essence Pluet super peccatores laqueos Psal 10.6 and a precious depositum whereof We must give a strict account to thee O Lord We are necessarily in all reason oblig'd to estrange our selves from it and more especially for fear to be intangl'd in its Snares which are so numerous that the Prophet says of thee upon the wicked thon shalt rain Snares O what an unspeakable number of snares must be in the world then since they are compared to the drops of Rain that fall from Heaven and they must fall upon Sinners too because they of all men have the least care of their hearts of their senses and consciences they are the least solicitons to avoid the occasions of Sin and the least concern'd for Spiritual Remedys so that being intimately acquainted with the World they can't avoid falling into these Snares which come like Rain upon Sinners O Lord thou dost pour down Snares upon Youth Snares upon old Age there are Snares in every state and condition Snares in Riches Snares in Poverty Snares in Honours Snares in opprobrys Snares in Frindship Snares in the Society of Men as well as in the company of Women Snares in the Solitary Wilderness Snares in Prosperity Snares in Adversity Snares in all our senses In fine the Prophet crys out Snares upon all the Inhabitants of the Earth O Lord hadst thou vouchsaf'd to open our eyes as thou didst those of blessed St. Anthony Athanas. in vita St. Antony We should see how the whole World is spread over with Snares and so close that they touch one another and we would also admire as he did that any one should escape what wonder is it then that so many Souls should perish dayly and that St. Bernard should fay of ten Souls that flote upon the tempestious Sea of this World scarce one shall be fav'd and who shall not hate so dangerous a World who should not fear to live in so dreadful a place who will not strive with all his might and skill to avoid those Snares who will dare go bare-foot among so many Serpents
Abraham sent his Servant to finde out a competent Gen. 17. and virtuous Wife for his dearly beloved Son Isaac I had a special care to direct him the safest and best way and also to bring his business to a most prosperous conclusion and all was for the great love kindeness I had for his Master Gen. 39 I would do as much to a bad Master for the sake of a good Servant and have already done it to Potiphar the Egiptian for the sake of my Patriarch Joseph for I have multiply'd all his substance as well in his house as in the Fields not upon his own account being an unbelieving Heathen but meerly for the love I had for his chast and godly Servant What mercy what care what Providence can be greater then this and is he not a mad man indeed that will refuse to serve so good so liberal and so bountiful a Lord as I am to all those that serve me and who am so careful of themselves Capillus de capite vestro non peribit Luc. 21.28 and of all that concerns them that I can't suffer so much as one hair of their head to be lost The effects of my Providence are so many and so wonderful that I am commonly call'd in Scripture the Father of the Righteous Psal 103. and I likewise call them my dearly beloved Children my Providence promoted the Prophet royal and was favourable to him upon all occasions neither was he ungrateful or unmindeful of my benefits for He gives me this Atonement of his gratefull acknowledgement Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me Bless his holy name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his benefits Who forgives all thine iniquities who heals all thy diseases who redeems thy life from destruction who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfies thy mouth with good things by him thy youth is renew'd like the Eagles The Lord executes righteousness and judgment for all that are oppress'd He made known his ways to Moises and all his actions unto the Children of Israel The Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and prone to mercy He will not always chide us neither will he keep his anger for ever He has not dealt with us as our sins have deserv'd nor has he rewarded us according to our iniquitys For as the Heaven is High above the Earth so great is his mercy towards them that fear him As far as the East is from the West so far has he remov'd our transgressions from us even as a Father doth pitty his Children So the Lord pittys them that fear him for he knows our frame and he remembers that we are nothing but dust Esa 63.16 The Prophet Esaiah thinking the name of Father did not sufficiently express the tenderness of my love because it has been never yet paralel'd by any mortal Parents says Lord thou art our Father indeed Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel does not acknowledge us Thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer and thy name is from everlasting and tho' they be our Father according to the flesh yet they don't deserve the name thereof 't is a qualification due to thee alone for their love for us is no more then a shaddow to that which thou hast express'd to us upon all occasions my love rather resembles that which a good natur'd Mother bears to her child and therefore I compare my self to the most passionate of the Sex Can a Mother forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands thy walls are continually before me Esa 49.15 Can any Mother speak with a more tender expression of love who will be so blinde so stupid and so far from good nature as not to rejoyce at the very sound of these superamourous words which are able to revive the deadest heart that ever was to all motions of love or devotion what man tho' never so great a drone hearing me give him this extraordinary assurance of my most ardent love and paternal Providence will not run with the spouse in the Canticles after the sweet scent of my perfumes I am a God that speaks to thee and the eternal verity too which was never guilty of the least falshood whose riches have no limits and whose power is of the same nature with the rest of my attributes which are all infinite I am therefore him only thou shouldst fear to offend and in whom thou shouldst place all thy hopes and confidence my words should comfort and rejoyce thy heart the title of honour I confer upon thee should unman thee so far as to take on the heart and spirit of a child of God and the assur'd demonstrations I give thee of my great Love and Providence should breed in thee an everlasting abhorrence of the World and all it's allurements What more shall I say Deut. 32.11 Deut. 1.31 or to what shall I compare the love which I bear unto thee the Eagle of all Mothers is the most tender of her little ones and it 's therefore the Prophet says of me as an Eagle stirs up her nest flutters over her young spreads abroad her wings takes them and bears them on her wings so the Lord has dealt with thee nay thou hast seen how the Lord thy God bears thee as a man does bear his young child in his arms in all the way that ye went until ye came into this place What could I do that I have not done to my People to wean their affections from the World and settle them totally upon so good and so Cordial a Father as I am to them I call them my beloved Children and so they are indeed for thou shalt find as many authentick testimonies as there have been Prophets in the World from the beginning that they are my Children in effect as well by their Creation as by their preservation from all dangers The Prophet Jeremy will tell thee that I have lov'd them with an everlasting love Jerem. 31. and that with loving kindness I have drawn them out of nothing to what they are at present and have preserv'd them as well from their temporal as from their Spiritual Enemies whilst they remain'd submissive to my Laws and gave me the reverence which is expected from dutiful Children to their Parents O ye Nations says the same Prophet hear the word of the Lord declare it in the Isles afar off say the Lord that has Scatter'd the People of Israel for their Sins will gather them again if they will cry to him for mercy and if they continue obedient to his commands he will keep them as a Shepherd does his flock For the Lord has redeem'd Jacob and has ransom'd him from the hand of him that was stronger then He. The same
These are my familiars O Lord wherewith I have so often displeas'd thee rebellious ungrateful and perfidious creature as I am I have been created to thy Image and likeness but alas by my Sins I have made my Soul most like unto the Devils those monsters of ingratitude By my Sins I have often renew'd the bitter Death and Passion of Jesus thy beloved Son Quis dabit Capitimeo aquam oculis meis fontem lachrimarum plorabo die ac nocte Jer. 9.1 O how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head a fountain of tears to my eyes to lament both night and day my misery and malice To have contributed to thy death O Lord is of all other motives the most powerful to replenish my minde with grief and sorrow and therefore do desire to hear from thy self the particulars of it SAVIOVR KNow then that after I had taken man out of the bowells of the Earth with a Faciamnus and created him to my own Image and likeness in order to make him sole Lord and absolute Monarch of the whole Universe with full power to take and tast of all things that a most pleasant paradise could afford the fruit of Life only excepted He the ungratefull and rebellious creature considering the great advantage of his condition and the greatness of his dignity which should be to him a sufficient motive to love obey respect and praise me for ever took thence occasion to mutiny rebell and desert me and enter into a league against me with Lucifer whom I had a little before expell'd Heaven for his thoughts of Pride Ambition and who from that very moment made a vow to deface and destroy my Picture being that he could not annoy my Person This so heinous an offence deserv'd he should be immediately commanded out of that Terrestrial Paradise where he was created and liv'd like a petty Prince and where he had all other creatures even the most furious among them at his beck to do with them as he thought fit Accepisti argentum vestes a Naaman sed Lepra Naaman adhaerebit tibi semini tuo usque in sempiternum 4 Reg. 5. He was therefore turn'd off as a vagabond cast into exile and made liable to suffer the punishment even of the damn'd for as he became an associate to the Devil in Sin 't was fit he should be his companion in torment Thou hast heard of my Judgement inflicted on Gehazi my Prophets servant and how for taking Naaman's mony and cloths for the cure of his Leprosy I order'd that for his covetous transgression both he and all his generation to the worlds end should share in his Leprosy as he did in his garments Even so have I decreed against man who had so much affected Lucifers Pride and Ambition that he should be likewise infected with his Leprosy and as he was obedient to his suggestions he should partake of his punishments also Behold the fatal Metamorphosis of man and how for imitating the Devil in his rebellion he forfieted my resemblance to put on that of this most horrid and hideous Monster of Hell Man being made so abominable by sin and so great an eyesore to my divine Essence I in mercy was mov'd not to reflect so much upon the injury done to my Supream Majesty as not to condole the greatness of his deplorable misery was more inclin'd to compassionate his weakness then to be reveng'd of his crime Whereupon to repair his loss I undertook to mediate his peace with my heavenly Father and in order to so great a work I contracted with humane nature so strict an alliance that I became both God and man which was so grateful to my Father that he not only forgave man all his past transgressions but also receiv'd him into favour with all the demonstrations of joy that could be express'd Who would ever expect that so large and so dangerous a breach should ever be repair'd who would ever imagine that two things so opposit one to the other as is the divine to humane nature should come to subsist and remain together not in one house not at one table nor in one bed but in one and the self-same person This is a miracle beyond the expectation of man and indeed beyond th' expression of an Angel for there cann't be any two more contrary then is God and the Sinner yet now what two can be more firmly united or have greater influence then God and man There is nothing more sublime then God Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris Gen. 1. and nothing more vile and despicable then man Notwithstanding God with all humility descends from Heaven to man and man ascends to Heaven with God so that the action of man is the same with that of God and whatever God is said to have done may be justly imputed to man because that I am both God and man Who would ever believe that man to see him naked after his dismal fall and absconding in one corner or other in Paradise for to keep himself from Gods indignation and wrath who would believe I say that such a fordid and contemptable substance should be in time united to God in one and the same Person This was a strange union indeed and a true lovers knot for when it was upon the dissolution at the time of my Passion it did not in the least fail but was rather violently separated to shew what an amorous inclination I had to be still united to humane nature Death indeed might have taken my Soul from my body and break off that union of nature which kept them together Quod semel assumpsit nunquam dimisit Aug. but had not the power to withdraw my Godhead from either of them for that was an union of the divine person which I shall never relinquish having once fix'd upon it with all the tenderness of a most ardent love MAN O Lord I am so much oblig'd to thee for this extraordinary great favour that I am not able to return thee sufficient thanks for the way and means which thou hast taken to redeem me and my very redemption is so great a benefit that no Angelical tongue is able to express it All that I can say is that I am bound by all the ties both of nature and conscience to love thee and stand submissive to thy laws for ever Thou hast deliver'd my Soul out of the infernal Dragon's jaws and without any merit of mine but meerly through the multitude of thy mercies thou hast reconcil'd me to thy self This is eternally worthy of praise But if I consider how and after what manner thou hast done me that unspeakable favour I shall finde that it does exceed even that great work of my redemption Thy works are wonderfull in all their circumstances Mirabilis Deus in Sanctis suis and tho' man when he considers one does really believe that
perpetual decree that it can't pass it and tho' the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail tho' they roar yet can they not pass over it as if he had said hast thou not a great deal of reason to dread the Arm of so powerful a God whose omnipotency is sufficiently discover'd by this prodigious work And if he be so great in all his works thou must likewise acknowledge him to be great in the chastisement of Sinners The same Prophet was Innocent and free from the least spot of Sin being Sanctifi'd in his Mothers womb yet he trembles at the very noise of my Severity to Sinners and says there is none like unto thee O Lord thou art great and thy name is great in might Who would not fear thee O King of Nations for to thee does it appertain For as much as among all the wisemen of the Nations and in all their Kingdoms there is none like unto thee My heart is replenish'd with the fear of thy wrath and therefore have sequester'd my felf from the converse of all men into a remote wilderness to prevent thy fury and appease thy Anger with sorrow with Sighs and with a continual flood of tears Respicit Terram facit eam tremere tangit montes fumigant Psa 105. Stellae Columnae Coeli pavent contremiscuntad nutum ejus Job 26.11 Ideo sn uno die venient plagaeejus mors luctus fames igne comburetur quia fortis est Dominus Deus qui Jndicabit illam Ap. c. 18.8 Tho' this holy man was certain that my Indignation and wrath was not against him yet seeing it so great and ready to fall with all its weight upon the criminal and guilty heads of Sinners he had no less then cause to tremble being that even my looks put the Earth in a quaking fit and make the Mountains groan nay they make the Stars and even the Pillars of Heaven to tremble they are astonish'd at my reproof and why not being that the Angels and Archangels the Cherubins and Seraphins the Principalities and Powers of Heaven are all Struck into an amazement at the very aspect of my most dreadful Majesty and angry countenance not that they fear to be depriv'd of their glory but because the greatness of my indignation is such that they can't but be astonish'd at the very sight of me By this thou mayst Judge in what a deplorable condition the Damn'd will be for these are the unhappy wretches which are to feel the weight of my wrath all their plagues shall come upon them in one day everlasting death mourning and famine shall be their inheritance for ever they shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth them My Apostle had a sufficient tryal of my Strength when I forc'd him out of the way of iniquity Horrendum est incidere in manus Dei viventis Heb. 10.31 and of a Persecutor of Christians made him the Defender and powerful promoter of Christianity therefore he says it 's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God not into the hands of men for they are not so powerful but criminals may fly from their violence and decline from their anger moreover they have not the authority to cast a Soul into the Dungeon of Hell It 's therefore I had warn'd my Disciples not to fear them which kill the Body Mat. 10.28 and are not able to kill the Soul but rather to fear him which is able to destroy both Soul and body in Hell And these are the hands which my Apostle calls dreadful they are them also that the wise man speaks of where he says unless ye do pennance and give that slender attonement of tears and of a hearty grief to God for your sins ye shall undoubtedly fall into the hands of the Lord and not into the hands of men By what is already said thou mayst easily conclude that as I am omnipotent and great in my power in my Majesty and in all my works I am the same in my wrath in my Justice and in the punishment which I have decreed for the Damned If thou wilt examine Scripture thou shalt finde there such dreadful effects of my Justice upon the wicked even in this life which is the only season for mercy that thou shalt be forc'd to confess that the pains of Hell must be as intollerable as they are unspeakable and that it were better for the dam'd they had never been born then to endure them for an Eternity without any hopes of redemption or of the least abatement What a terrible punishment was that of Dathan and Abiram and of all their Complices in the sight of that numerous People of Israel at the request of my Servant Moises to vindicate his innocency and punish the wrong which was intended to him by those Peoples rising in Rebellion against him I commanded the Earth to open its bowels and to swallow them alive together with all their Earthly substance down into the bottomless pit of Hell which was no sooner commanded then put in execution The punishment of Sodom and Gomorah if well consider'd is able to terify the stoutest Bully that ever appear'd on the Stage of this world to mollify his obdurate heart and force from his mouth Lord what wilt thou have me do They were so much addicted to that brutish pleasure Domine quid me vis facere Act. 9.6 and sordid Sin of the flesh that they must attempt even upon my very Angels and strive to make them the subject of their Lust this was a general corruption and therefore requir'd a general chastisement their Sins cry'd for vengeance Gen. 19.24 and tho' I was sollicited by my Servant Abraham to spare their lives for the sake of ten Just men knowing there was none but Lot who was already secured and under the safeguard of my Angels I pour'd down wild-fire and brimstone upon them and cast them headlong into Hell-fire there to increase the fatal number of the damn'd and to become partakers of their torments as they had been of their crimes on Earth Didst thou ever hear such terrible menaces as are set down in Deuteronomy Deut. 28.16 17. c. and which were exactly put in execution against the transgressours of my Law Hear how the Prophet speaks to them in my behalf Cursed shalt thou be in the City and Cursed shalt thou be in the field Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in enrfed shalt thou be when thou goest out The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation rebuke in all that thou set'st thine hand unto for to do untill thou be destroyed and until thou perish quickly because of the wickedness of thy doings whereby thou hast for saken me The Lord shall smite thee with a Consumption and with a Fever and with an inflamation and with an extream burning and with the sword and with blasting and they