nature which prompteth euery creature to seeke it 's owne preseruation should teach man not to make loue to death not to wooe his owne destruction although he transgresseth not the Law made against robbers who cutteth his owne purse yet he is guilty of murder who cutteth his owne throat and surely he loueth murder who will act it vpon himselfe and yet such are all sinners whose sinnes are the weapons with which they butcher themselues like Saul and his Armor-bearer they fall and die vpon their owne swords If any sonne of Hippocrates pronounceth it to be preiudiciall to their health the debauched Drunkard will abstaine from his cups and the luxurious Epicure will fast from his dainties how foolish are they who would shunne death and yet worke wickednesse which causeth death There is no other cause of death but sinne where there is no sinne there is no death no death of the body no death of Nature And yet he who had no sinne the Sonne of Righteousnesse had his setting as well as his rising and walked into the West Licet naturae dominus carnis tamen quam susceperat legem non recusauit so that life it selfe dyed yet not necessarily but voluntarily tradidit in mortem animam suam neither was his death penall but expiatory hee was not stung to death by sinne but he stung sinne to death by suffering death he made death to suffer and got the victory by yeelding O death where is thy sting 1 Cor. 15.55.56 O graue where is thy victory the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ Christ so deliuered his from death as hee freed them from sinne which he suffered still to dwell in them although not to raigne ouer them The Canaanites remaine in the land to proue the Israelites sinne must inhabite in the regenerate to encrease and try their faith sift them you shall finde them so enlightned that they sit in darkenesse so purged that they must be cleansed their faith is mixed with infidelity their wisedome ioyned with folly and their glory eclipsed with shame to want sinne must be a Christians wish it cannot be his hope otherwise hee that must alwayes here be militant should sometime be triumphant We may be dead to sinne but sinne will not be altogether dead to vs we may cut it off but it will bud againe we may chase it away but it will returne we may quench it but it will flame againe it still approacheth it still entiseth and prouoketh vs it still striueth but it is to encrease our victory at last it must haue the fall and be triumphed ouer so may the tyrant weepe to see himselfe prostrate at the feete of them who were his Captiues Et ad eorum triumphum de quibus diù triumphaverat se veteranus hostis pervenisse deploret Sinne is not so in the Elect as it is in the reprobate these either by habit or resolution or discourse are incorporated into euill and sinne is naturalized in them the other may sometime be surprised by force of passion but their vnderstanding seldome giueth consent the first serue sinne the other giue it only house-roome or if they doe it any seruice 't is as the Israelites serued Pharaoh or as his Gally-slaues serue the Turke by compulsion Damnatum est peccatum si non extinctum Sinne hath lost it's dominion although it be not cast out so death is dis-armed although she be not remoued she hath lost her sting although she keepeth her essence nay she hath lost her essence the forme the life of death is lost and she is but equivocally what she was before As she hath lost her nature so hath she changed her name to die now is but to sleepe to rest or be at peace Death to the Elect is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nyssen stileth it it doth not so much punish as purge and expiate sinne 't is a Snake without her sting a gaole-deliuery an earnest-peny of the resurrection a bridge to passe from corruption to incorruption to be wished of all that wish to goe to Paradise not to be feared at all because it freeth vs from all that is to be feared A curious workeman seeing his Image of brasse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiph. in his 2 Booke Aduersus Haereses on which he hath bestowed his Art and industry to be spotted and defaced he putteth it againe into the fire and new casteth it which is not the losse but the perfection of the Image so God after hee had made man a most elegant fabricke seeing him polluted with sinne resolued him againe into dust that he might rise vnspotted When the vessell that the Potter made was marred he made of it another vessell Ier. 18.4 Cannot I doe with you as the Potter with his clay saith the Lord behold as the clay is in the Potters hand so are yee in my hand O ye house of Israel the same chapter and the sixt verse Non interit quisquis victurus moritur This death of Nature is rather a change then a death 't is not finall quem putas interitum secessus est neither is it totall 't is onely of the body death is dieted like the serpent and can eat nothing but dust nay 't is not so much the death of the body Plin. Ep. lib. 2. epist 1. as of the corruption of the body Et mortalitas magis finita est quam vita 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isiod Peleus lib. 4. epist 52. Happy Martyrs how their torments pleased them how they kissed the fagot and hug'd the fire as though like Eliah they had gone to heauen in fiery chariots weigh their tortures and reade their constancy you would iudge them to haue beene spirits without flesh if they might seeme to be afflicted because they were heard to pray they must be iudged to haue beene merry in their affliction because they sung Psalmes Their note was the same although their pangs were differenced with the three children in the fiery furnace Hieron Qui inter frigidos flammarum globos hymnos edidêre pro fletibus They wept not out an Elegy as if they had beene preparing for their funerals but they sung and reioyced as if it had beene their birth day and it was their birth day to eternity Blessed Martyres for if they be blessed who die in the Lord blessed must they bee who die for the Lord. God saith to man If thou sinnest thou dyest Gen. 2 but he bespeaketh the Martyr if thou refusest to die August thou sinnest Quod tunc timendum fuerat vt non peccaretur nunc suscipiendum est ne peccetur Death which is the punishment of the Sinner suffer it for Gods sake 't is the glory of the regenerate Et cùm sit mors peccati retributio aliquando impetrat vt nihil retribuatur peccato As the wicked
big ones the tares spring vp faster then the corne and they doe it insensibly they steale their growth crescere non videmus sed crevisse yet if this were not so if lesser slips opened not the sluces for greater crimes to flow in if wanton glances were not fore-runners of Fornication nor Fornication a step to Adultery if concupiscence would not winne consent nor consent breake out into Act nor the Act often reiterated beget an habit yet were one and the least of these damnable Flesh and Bloud may dispute the fairest praetexts for sinne yet black wil not be dyed into white The Prince of darknesse when he transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light 't is a iugling and not a change so the workes of darknesse may haue the credit of the deedes of light they can neuer haue the goodnesse 't is in vaine to sow fig-leaues together to couer our deformities let vs distinguish and mitigate colour or qualifie what we can that which is mortall and such is euery sinne will not be made veniall otherwise euery Popish Casuist or Roman Schoolman would make veniall sinnes as fast as their God on earth doth pardō them Possunt excusari à mortali parentes c. Parents putting off as well Nature as Religion cursing their children euen to that height that they wish them with the Diuell sinne but venially so Greg. de Val. 3 Tome 1090 page Qui iudicium facit in re gravi temerarium c. A Iudge iudging rashly be it vpon life and death sinneth but venially Bonacina in his second disputation de peccatis his 3 quaestion puncto 5. Some lying some theft must be veniall when some blasphemy all if it be but chollerick is not mortall Navar in his Manuall page 91. Yet doe these which thus preach impunity for sin brand vs with the slaunder of Libertines The distinction of mortall and veniall vnderstand it aright 't is none of theirs but ours 't is true all sinnes euen of the Elect in foro iustitiae in the rigour of iustice are mortall but in foro misericordiae by the mercy of God they are all veniall legally all are mortall Euangelically all veniall ratione peccatorum they are all mortall ratione peccantium there are none not veniall this is our doctrine in which there is as well consent as truth with them there is no concord for besides some amongst them which altogether deny their vse of the distinction as Gerson and Fisher they cannot agree what this venial sinne should be some will haue it contra consilium others contra praeceptum some state it to be praeter legem not contra legem others graunt it to be against the Law but not against charity which is the end of the Law some thinke it both to be against the Law and to diminish charity one will haue it to be sinne imperfectly by analogy others properly vnivocally you may know 't is Babel they are building by the confusion of their language While we thus proue all sinnes to be mortall we teach not a parity of offences we are so Catholicke that we are not Stoicall all sinnes are mortall therfore all are aequall 't is bad Logicke but calumnies must be prou'd by such sequels Vertues haue their Climax much more vices the School giueth the reason Illae ad unum tendunt haec ab uno ad multas mundi vanitates The person the place the manner are circumstances which both aggrauate extenuate a sinne First the person the person against whom we offend the person who offendeth for the first lesse was the sin of the vsurpers in slaying the seruants then in killing the Heire of the Vineyard far greater was the sin of the Iewes in crucifying the Lord of glory then that of their Fathers in murthering the Prophets he sinneth with a higher hand that transgresseth against the Cōmandements of the first Table then he that offendeth against them of the second Blasphemie of oathes profanation of the Sabbaoth although here by the indulgence of the Law or by the conniuence of the Magistrate they escape the seuerity of discipline shall hereafter be punished with extremity of torture Neither doth the person only distinguish the guilt of the two Tables but maketh degrees of sin against one the same Commandement Homicide Parricide are both murder yet the seuere torture which all Nations inflict vpon the one aboue the other are sufficient euidence of the difference of the crimes All murder is censured is punished with death but death hath not alwaies the same sting when she commeth to torture a Parricide a Rauillac for murthering his King O how she is dressed like a Fury armed with racks with fires with strapadoes with burning pincers pulling off flesh to make wounds with scalding oile pitch rozen to powre into those wounds with horses to disioint rent the body that the malefactour may think himselfe in Hell before he is dead she tormenteth him in a furnace flaming with fire brimstone making vp her tragedie with the banishment of the Parricides parents with pulling down the house where he was borne although she spareth the liues of his brethren sisters vnkles yet must they change their names all the Rauillacs must perish Degrees of punishment are as well after death as in death the tortures of one damned soule are differenced from the pangs of an other he that hath bin more wicked Mar. 23.15 shall be more wretched such shall be the punishment as is the crime which is augmented not only by the person who is offended but by the person also who doth offend Greatnes goodnes should twin together no Monarch hath licence to offend no Prince hath any non-obstante for sin neither yet is the Kings praerogatiue lessened because he may not sin it should be inlarged if he could not sin 'T is the misery of soueraignty that the offence is alwayes as great as the offender the sin as soueraigne as the person a Prince his slips are crimes a moat in his Eye is a beame his blemish is a leprosie 't is the Kings truth in the beginning of his first booke of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the reason is because he doth not so much commit his sin as teach it nec tam delicto nocens est quà m exemplo A Peasants sin presently findeth it's graue is neglected as his person but Monarchs vices are alwaies masculine and beget the like in others Let Nero be ouer-much delighted in stageplaies straight the grauity of the Senat putteth on Buskins Lactant. 5. infiit and acteth a Comedy Mores vitia Regis imitari genus obsequij putatur Many doe thinke it against their allegiance to be holy if their King be profane The People will follow their Prince yea although they forsake their God to doe it whatsoeuer Iosuah their Captaine their King commandeth them that will they doe Iosuah 1.16 Hence is it that the Israëlitish renegado
make bad vse of the Law which is good so doe the righteous make good vse of death which is bad Ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis fit iusti meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris This made the Primitiue Christians so ambitious of Martyrdome that they did pursue their persecution so couetous of ruine that not staying for the hand of the hangman they turned their owne executioners and left their liues now in the fire now in the water like the man his lunaticke sonne in the Gospell who being possessed with a Diuell fell sometimes into the fire and sometimes into the water Mat. 17.14 'T is one thing for death to come to vs 't is another thing for vs to goe to death the first may be martyrdome the second is murder We must goe with alacrity but we must stay vntil we are called death which is iust in the will is vniust in the hand we may not meet it although we may attend it insomuch that it is an argument of force enough to proue the Bookes of the Maccabees to be Apocryphall because they doe so much extoll Razis the Father of the Iewes for murthering himselfe 2 Maccab. 14 42. As the true Christian Martyrs be the best of Christians so be your Pagan Pseudo-Martyrs the worst of the Heathen other Idolaters doe but worship false gods these goe about to proue them true Epiph. lib. 2. Her 8. of these there were a number euen vnto a Sect. Litle better then these were the Pseudo-Catholicks if they suffred for their Haeresies but indeed they die malefactors more for sedition then Religion more for faction then for Faith they liue Papists but they are hanged Traitors although both Haeresie Treason might deserue death yet hath the mercy of our Princes inflicted it only vpon the latter God will reward both euery sin euen the least with death not with the first death only but with the second not with naturall death only of the body but with aeternall also both of body and soule for euermore Vita hîc aut amittitur aut tenetur Euery one that departeth this life is either sung into blisse by the Angels or hauled into torments by the diuels Cypr. de mort sect 2. The Fathers were vnacquainted with the new Orcography of the School-men whose searching invention hath founded as many Regions below the Earth as there are aboue in the Aire the first is their Limbus Patrum where they faigne the Fathers to haue suffred the temporary pain of losse before Christ's comming Tert. lib. 4. cont Maâ—cion an Haeresie borrowed from Marcion and grounded vpon this false reason that Heauen gates were shut vntill Christ's ascension which being disprooued by the theeue's entrance Bellarmine taketh the Keies and openeth them at his Passion and before they were not open but then was his Passion when he was slaine which was from the beginning of the world The second place is their Limbus Infantum where they lodge Infants dying before Baptisme where they torture them with eternall paine of losse 1 Cor. 17.12 A bloody conclusion of a mercilesse Religion which maketh not death as it is here a punishment for sin but sin it self 't is foolish to thinke that the seed of the faithfull who are holy from their birth should be depriued of inward grace because necessity denyeth them the vse of outward Sacraments when publick Baptisme may not be had priuate is sufficient if death preuent this votall will availe Sat est si adest mentalitèr cùm non potest haberi sacramentalitèr Thom. part 5. quest 68. art 2. it is enough if Christian Parents desire it if they cannot obtain it The force of truth made Mr Hooker of this opinion euen where he disputeth against Schismaticks for priuate Baptisme If there were not strength of proofe charity should make them rather partiall Ecclesiast polit lib. 5. sect 61. then cruell Iudges force them to conclude that many Infants of beleeuing parents as they suffer no paine of sense so doe they vndergoe no sense of paine The third place is their Purgatory that Apocryphall dreame that Roman mythology Dial. lib. 4. ca. 41 a place first offered to be built by Gregory six hundred yeares after Christ vpon the false disproued foundation of veniall sins but they pretend more antiquity Dionys Eccl. Hier. cap. 7. would proue it by this false illation because there was prayer for the dead whereas this prayer was not a supplicatioÌ„ but a thanksgiuing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or if they did petition 't was not for the soule 's safety but the bodies glory or if they supplicated for the soule for the remission of the sins of the soul 't was only for a publick iustification for a solemne acquittal and perfect consummation of blisse and this not because the euent was doubtfull but as Austin prayed for his Mother her entrance into Heauen although he beleeued she was entred before Lib. 9. Confess cap. 13. and endeth his Petition with Credo Domine iam feceris quod te rogo There is a fourth place which these men deserue to inhabit for inventing the other three which is Hell the place of the damned where they suffer death a second death a death after death a death and yet euerlasting The reprobate like the Salamander is stil scorched in the fire but neuer consumed the soule suffreth of the body but dieth not so is the body tormented by the fire but perisheth not Illic sapiens ignis membra urit reficit carpit nutrit like vnto the lightning which is the thunders fire it so toucheth the bodies Minutius in Dial. Octa. that it destroyeth them not and if the fuell remain the fire will still endure The flames of Aetna and Vesuvius still burne but neuer burne out Ita poenale illud incendium non damnis ardentium pascitur sed inexesâ corporum laceratione nutritur I dispute not whether this fire be materiall or metaphoricall whether it be spirituall or corporall certainly 't is furious and terrible I desire neither to vnderstand nor vndergoe it yet thus much is certain as it hath extremity of heat to tormeÌ„t so hath it no light to comfort it burneth but shineth not how painfull it is to sit how dismall to suffer in darknes There is no punishment but it is in Hell there is no sense-afflicting torture but it is there augmented and yet doth the paine of losse far surmount the pain of sense t is more affliction to be shut out of Heauen then to be imprisoned in Hell and banishment is worse then death and yet shall this also be inflicted on sin both these both without intermission to make Holy-daies in Hell were to poëtize with Prudentius both without end for that Traian was deliuered from Hell by the prayers of Pope Gregory I beleeue not although Damascen bringeth the East West to witnesse it Damas serm