Look at beasts and in this respect we and they are even as one condition Eccles 3.19 Eccles 3.19 Eccles 11.3 Mat. 27.51 Look at trees and in their corruption you may see the like constitution both of us and them Look at stones and by their dissolution we may argue this temper of composition in them also if then our soul were nothing but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely men but beasts and plants and stones and metalls have a soul far be this from your thoughts whose souls are prized to be of more worth then a world there being nothing in the world that may give a recompence for our souls Matth. 16.26 Mat. 16.26 Others have gone a little further Antiqui Philosophir and they suppose it to be a substance but how onely bodily and not spirituall such grosse conceits have many idolaters of the Deity as if this our image were of Gods own substance and this substance nothing else but a bodily being A spirit saith our Saviour hath not flesh and bones Luk. 24.39 as you see me have It is the body is the flesh but the soul is the spirit the body you may see and handle but the soul is not seen not handled as the Disciples then did erre in supposing a spirit when they saw his body no lesse is their errour in supposing a body where is onely a spirit Anima pessima melior optimo corpore Aug. de verb. Dom. Quid tibi cum carne Bern. in meditat Plurimi Patres The worst soul is better then the best of bodies O precious soul saith Bernard espoused to thy God indowed with his spirit redeemed by his Son what art thou to the flesh whose being is from heaven Others again have passed this opinion and they call it a form but what onely materiall not substantiall and such as are the souls of beasts that dye with their bodies as being deduced from the matter of some bodies pre-existent It is not so with the souls of men which though for a while they are knit and united to this house of clay yet may they be separated from it and subsist without it this is that goodness of God that as our souls are intellectuall so their being is perpetuall Dionys c. 4. de divin nom aliquantulum à principio 1 Cor. 4.7 not but that our souls might dye seeing every thing that is of nothing may return into the same nothing whence it sprung but that God so sustains them by his glorious goodness that as he gave the first being so he would continue that he gave What have we that we have not received Or to speake of the soul what are we that God and God onely hath not bestowed upon us our parents begot our bodies God onely gave our souls our bodies are buried again in the wombe of our common mother but our souls return to God as to their chiefest good So immateriall is the soul that neither will nor understanding depends on the dying organ What then is the soul a nothing an accident a body a form onely materiall no but on the contrary an ens a substance a spirit a form a substantiall being of it self subsisting But wee 'll ascend a little higher it is a substance created not traduced as some would have it I must confess the opinion was not a little strong that as our bodies so our souls were both propagated from our parents Tertullian In epist ad Marcellin and the Fathers of the West as Ierome witnesseth were most on that side the reason of this opinion was because of originall sin which defileth the soul as well as the body of each man sprung from Adam they could see no means how both were corrupted except withall the soul were propagated But are not our souls as the Angells and therefore if our souls then may the Angels beget one another nay if this were true what soul were generated but another were corrupted for the rule is infallible There can be no generation without a transmutation and so would every soul be subject to corruption Concerning that objection of originall sin if the soul were not traduced from the loyns of Adam Magis credi debet quam quaeri quaeri facilius quam intelligi melius intelligitur quam explicatur Whitak l. 1. de peccat origin c. 8. Fallacia divisionis how then should that sin be imputed to our souls I must confess the question is intricate we should rather believe it then enquire of it and we may better enquire of it then understand it and yet more easily understand it then expresse it But so well as we can we shall untie the knot First then we say 't is a fallacy to divide soul and body for not the soul without the body nor the body without the soul but the whole man sinn'd in Adam as the whole man is begot of Adam so soon therefore as the soul is conjoyn'd to the body and of the soul and body is constituted whole man that man being now made a member of Adam is said to sin with him and to derive that sin from him But for a further satisfaction although the soul depend on God according to its substance yet is it created in that body which is produced of the parents thus in some sort we may say that the soul is begotten non quoad essentiam sed quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God onely gives the essence but to exist comes from the parents Arist de anima 2. l. c. 1. What is the soul but a form of the body and of what body but of that which is organicall as being apt for the soul This aptness then whereby it is prepared for the form being received from the parents we may say of the soul that thus it is generated as not beginning to subsist before the body is prepared This is true in some sort though not properly Consider then the excellency of mans soul which is not born but created and howsoever now it is bespotted with sin yet was it then pure and undefiled as the untouched virgin how is it but pure which the hands of God hath made it was the devill that caused sin but all that God made was good and very good Gen. 1.31 Gen. 1.31 and such a soul hath every man Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit It is created by God infused by his Spirit of nothing made something and what something but an excellent work befitting such an excellent workman And yet there be more staires to ascend it is thirdly invisible Hath any man seen God or hath any man seen Gods image which is the soul and lived Substances that are more pure are less visible We see but darkly through a glasse nay the best eye upon earth looks but through a lattice a window an obscuring impediment mortall eyes cannot behold immortall things how then should this corruptible sight see a spirituall
now art thou arrayed in the shining robes of Heaven and all the Host do triumph at thy corronation Sweet soul how am I ravished to think upon thee What joy is this The Patriarchs salute thee the Prophets welcome thee the Apostles hug thee all hands clap for joy all harps warble all hearts are merry and glad O thou Creatour of men and Angels help us all to Heaven that when our dayes have been we may all meet together in thy blessed Kingdome I have done turn back by the same thread that led you through this labyrinth and you shall have in two words the summe of this whole Text. The time of our Lease what is it but our Life what is this Life but a number of few dayes what are these dayes but a world full of evil But a life but dayes but few but evil can we adde any more Yes Life is life howsoever we live and better you think to have a bad lease in being then our life to be quite extinguished nay be not deceived this life is but death the dayes that we spend they are past and done few and evill they have been Thus ends the Text with the exspiration of our Lease yet is not all done when we loose this life we have another free-hold prepared in Heaven and this is not leased but purchased not for a life but inheritance not for dayes but for ever Crosse but the words of my Text and many and happy shall the ages of thy life be in Heaven for ever and ever Amen FINIS Deaths Arrest LUKE 12.20 This night thy soul shall be required of thee MAns Bodie we say is closed up within the Elements his Bloud in his Bodie his Spirits in his Bloud his Soul in his Spirits and God or Sathan in his Soul Who holds the possession we may guesse in life but then is it most apparent when we come to death The tree may bend East or West or North or South but as it falleth so it lieth Our affections may look up or down towards heaven or hel but as we die we receive our doom and then whose we are shall be fully made manifest to all the world There is a parable of poor Lazarus Luke 16. whose life was nothing but a catalogue of miseries his body full of sores his mind full of sorrows what spectacle could we think more pitifull whose best dainties were but broken crumbs and his warmest lodging but the rich mans gates Here is a parable of a certain rich man who enjoyes or at least purposeth a delicious fare he hath lands vers 16. Vers 16. fruits vers 17. 17. buildings vers 18. 18. and if this be the Inventorie what is the summe see it collected in the verse succeeding Soul 19. thou hast much goods laid up for many years now live at ease Eat drink and take thy pastime These two estates thus different how should they be but of divers tenures Matth. 6.24 No man can serve God and Mammon See Lazarus dying and the Angels carry him in-Abrahams bosome See this rich man dying and they that is devils require his soul God receives one and his soul is in heaven Sathan takes the other and drags down his soul to hel he is comforted that received pains and thou art tormented that wast full of ease this is the doom and that he may undergo this death now gives the summons This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Text we may christen Deaths Arrest it is we that offend his Majestie of heaven and his precepts are given unto Death to attach our souls See here a president a rich man taken on a sudden who must instantly appear before the Judge of heaven when this night What thy soul Why it is required Of whom of thee Or if this will not find the offender see yet a more narrow search every word is like some dark closet therefore we will open the windovvs that you may have full light This Text is Deaths Arrest vvhich as it must be executed so it admits of no other time but This This what this day whilest the Sun gives light to the vvorld and the light gives pleasure to the eie this vvere some comfort no but then suddenly vvhilst all sleep securely not This day but This night And vvhat this night Is it to attach the bodie of some great personage vvhose looks might affrighten Officers had they come by day No let his bodie rot in dust vvhilest the Soul must ansvver his defaults it is not thy body 't is thy soul And what of his soul Is this a subject liable to arrests rather can they beg it at his hands or vvill he yield it at their fair intreaties no it is neither begg'd nor intreated but by vertue of Gods Writ it is required And hovv required of his sureties bound for his good appearing he hath many friends and all either have or vvould have entred bonds no he must go vvithout bail or main-prize it is not required of his sureties but himself not of others but of thee is thy soul this night required You hear the Texts harmonie of each string vve vvill give a touch and first note the time this night This. Doctrine NO other but This were it a fortnight a seven-night any but This night and his griefs were lessened the news is more heartlesse in that it comes more sudden You may observe Then are the greatest losses when they come on us by heaps and without fear or suspicion of any such matter Here was a man swimming in his fulnesse and a sudden death robs him of all his treasures To give you a full view see his possessions and how great was the losse because of the suddennesse This night First those goods whereof he boasted are now confiscate not a peny not a dram not a mite shall be left him save onely a token of remembrance I mean his winding-sheet which he carries along with him to his grave Secondly his goods and grounds both were took from him at his death he that commanded so much of earth must now have no more earth to pleasure him but a grave what a change was this his grounds were fertile Vers 16. and they brought forth plenteously but a blast of death hath struck both the fruit and ground and nothing is now left him but a barren Tombe Thirdly his lands and houses both went together You may guesse that great demeans must have stately Halls we read of his building and especially of his Barns when these were too little for his store he tells us he will pull them down and he will build greater He never thinks of any little room in the bowels of the poor Was his harvest so great that his barns would not hold it Whence came the blessing but from God How is it then he forgets God that bestowed this blessing It is written When ye reap the harvest of the Land ye shall not reap
soul the object is too clear for our weak eyes our eyes are but earthly the soul of an heavenly nature O divine being not onely heavenly but heaven it self as God and man met both in Christ so heaven and earth met both in man would you see this earth that is the body Out of it wast thou taken and into it must thou return Gen. 4.19 Gen. 4.19 would you see this heaven that is the soul the God of heaven gave it and to the God of heaven returns it Eccles 12.7 Eccles 12.7 The body is but a lump but the soul is that breath of life of earth came the body of God was the soul thus earth and heaven met in the creation and the man was made a living soul Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2.7 the sanctified soul is an heaven upon earth Est coelum sancta anima habens solem intellectum lunam fidem astra virtutet Bern super Cantic where the sun is understanding the moon is faith and the stars gracious affections what heaven is in that body which lives and moves by such a soul yet so wonderfull is Gods mercy to mankinde that as reason doth possesse the soul so the soul must possesse this body Here is that union of things visible and invisible as the light is spirituall incorruptible indivisible and so united to the air that of these two is made one without confusion of either in like manner is the soul united to this body one together distinguished asunder onely here 's the difference the light is most visible the soul is invisible she is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels the envie of devils that immortall splendor which never eye hath seen never eye must see And yet we must up another step it is fourthly incorporeall as not seen with a mortall eye so neither clogg'd with a bodily shape I say not but the soul hath a body for his organ to which it is so knit and tyed that they cannot be severed without much sorrow or strugling yet is it not a body but a spirit dwelling in it the body is an house and the soul the inhabitant every one knows the house is not the inhabitant and yet O wonder there is no roome in the house where the inhabitant lives not would you please to see the roomes the eye is her window the head is her tower the heart is her closet the mouth is her hall the lungs her presence chamber the senses her cinque-ports the common-sense her custome-house the phantasie her mint the memory her treasury the lips are her two leav'd doores that shut and open and all these and all the rest as the motions in a Watch are acted and mooved by this spring the Soul See here a composition without confusion the soul is in the body yet it is not bodily as in the greatest world the earth is more solid the water less the ayr yet lesser the fire least of all so in this little world of man the meaner parts are of grosser substance and the soul by how much more excellent by so much more spirituall and wholly with-drawn from all bodily being And yet a little higher it is fiftly immortall It was the errour of many Fathers Scaliger notae in nov Test That bodies and souls must both die till doomes-day and then the bodies being raised the souls must be revived Were that true why then cryes Stephen Lord Iesu receive my spirit or why should Paul be dissolved that he might be with Christ Act. 7.59 Philip. 1.23 Blessed men are but men and therefore no wonder if subject to some errour Others more absolutely deny the souls immortality We are born say they at all adventures and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been Why so for the breath is a smoke in our nostrils and the words as a spark raised out of our hearts Wisd 2.2 3. which being extinguished the body is turned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as soft ayre What is the soul a smoak and the spirit no better then the soft vanishing ayre Matth. 22.32 wretched men Have you not read what is spoken of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob now God saith Christ is not the God of the dead but of the living Abraham Isaac Iacob they are not dead then in the better part their souls but passed indeed from the valley of death unto the land of the living Whosoever liveth and believeth in mee saith our Saviour shall never die Iohn 11.26 John 11.26 Not die against some never die against others what can we more onely live and believe in him that redeemed us and be sure his promises shall never fail us our souls must live live for ever Sweet soul blessed with the felicity of eternall life here 's a joy unspeakable that this soul now clogged with cares vexations griefs passions shall one day enjoy those joyes immortall not for a day or two Nullus erit defectus nullus terminus though this were more then we can imagine but through all eternity There shall be no defect nor end after millions of ages the soul must still live in her happiness it is not of a perishing but an everlasting substance And yet the perfection of the soul goes higher it is most like to God so far it transcends all earthly happiness I cannot say but in some sort all creatures have this likeness every effect hath at least some similitude with its cause but with a difference some onely have a being as stones others being and life as plants but man above all hath a being life and reason and therefore of all other the most like unto his Creatour Can we any more yes one step higher and we are at the top of Jacobs ladder The soul is not onely like God but the image of God I cannot denie but there is some apparance of it in the outward man and therefore the bodie in some measure partakes of this image of the Deity it was man and whole man that was corrupted by sin and by the law of contraries it was man and whole man that was beautified with this image Please you to look at the body is it not a little world wherein every thing that God made was good as therefore all goodness comes from him so was he the pattern of all goodness that being in him perfectly which onely is in us partly This is that Idaea whereby God is said to be the exemplar of the world man then in his body being as the worlds map what is he but that image in which the builder of the world is manifest but if you look at the parts of his body how often are they attributed though in a metaphor yet in resemblance to his Maker our eyes are the image of his wisdome our hands are the image of his power our heart is the image of his
spit fire from their mouthes and Wolves all devour mens souls and Lions roar for the prey and Vipers sting and strike with their Tayls O fearfull Jailers what strange kind of furies live in hell You see the Jailer now turn your eyes from so bad a spectacle and let us view the Den where this Monster lies The Hebrews call it Sheol a great Ditch or Dungeon the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even darkness it self the Latins Infernus a place under ground all agree it is a Dungeon under earth containing these two properties Deepness Darkness 1. It is deep as heaven is high so most probable it is that hell is deep Iohn calls it a bottomless pit Revel 9 1. Revel 9.1 as if Reprobates were alwaies falling yet never could find bottome where to rest or howsoever this be a Metaphor yet without question heaven and hell are as opposite as may be and whether the Center be the place of torment or as others think all the gulfes of the Sea Kecker Syst Theo. de inferno and hollows of the earth as being more capable to contain the damned I leave it to the Schools as for the Pulpit I think this prayer more fit Lord shew us what it is but never where Secondly the deepness is yoaked with darkness such a dungeon fits the Tares they committed works of darkness and are cast into utter darkness a darkness that may be felt thick Clouds that may be handled dampes and mists that strike at their hearts with sensible griefs This is that bottomless pit in the heart of the earth there shines no Sun no Moon nor Stars there is no light of Candle Torch or Taper shine the Sun never so fair it is still night there the Dungeon is dark and this makes the place more sad more uncomfortable Let Poets faign of Tantalus tortures Prometheus Vultures Ixions Wheel and Charons rowing these come far short to express the pains of those that rage in hell there plagues have no ease cryes have no help time has no end place no redemption it is the dark prison where the Tares are chained and the wicked bound in fetters of fire and darkness Could men have a sight of hell whiles they live on earth I doubt not their hearts would tremble in their bosomes yet view it in a way of meditation and see what you find are there not wonderfull engines sharpe and sore instruments of revenge fiery Brimstone pitchy Sulphur red hot chains flaming whips scorching darkness will you any more the worm is immortall cold intolerable stench indurable fire unquenchable darkness palpable This is that prison of the damned then whose eyes dare behold such amazing objects but if not see yet listen with your eares is there any charm in hell to conjure away Devils or to ravish souls what musick affords the place but roaring and crying and houling cursing their Hymnes wailing their tunes blasphemies their ditties lachrymae their notes lamentations their songs scrieching their streins these are their evening and their morning songs Moab shall cry against Moab one against another all against God O fearfull Prison what torments have the Tares that lye here fettered their feet are chained in the stocks and the Iron pierceth their souls it is a Dungeon where the light never shined but the walls are as black as pitch the vaults are smoaked as Chimneys the roof as dark as hell nay the Dungeon is hell where the Tares lie bound and fettered Think of this Iayle yee offenders of Gods Law and Majesty the Angels see our doings the Judge now exspects our returning the Tares grow till the harvest and if still they offend death apprehends them God will judge them the Iayler take them Hell imprison them there are they bound You hear the Evidence brought in and the sentence gone out Take them Binde them binde them in bundles to burn them And if this be the Iaylers Goal what then be the Bonds or Chains The Angles which kept not their first estate saith Iude God hath reserved in everlasting Chains Iude 6. and God spared not the Angels that sinned saith Peter but cast them down to hell 2 Pet. 2.4 and delivered them into Chains of darknes Thus Christ doomed him that had not on his wedding garment Binde him hand and foot Matth. 13.22 and what may these Chains and Bonds insinuate but that the Tares are tyed to their torments might they but remove from place to place this would afford some ease might they but stir a foot or but turn about or have any little motion to refresh their tormented parts this would yield some comfort but here is an universall binding hand and foot body and soul all must be bound with everlasting Chains The Reprobates are packt and crowded together like Bricks in a fiery furnace having not so much as a Chink where any winde may enter in to cool them O yee that live in the sinfull wealth of this world consider but this one punishment of hell and be afraid if a man injoying quietment of mind and health of body should lie chained on a soft Down-bed for a month or a year how would he abide it but this is nothing If a man should lye sick of a Fever swoln in a Dropsie pained with the Gout and though it were for the recovery of his health without any turning tossing stirring this were a great torture sure and a question it were whether the disease or the physick were more intollerable Vermis conscientiam ignis comburet carnem witnesse poor Patients who change their sides wish other beds seek other rooms and all these shifts but to mitigate their pains how wretched then are the Tares bound in Chains they are not in health nor bound for a month nor sick of a Fever nor lye for a year their pain is grievous their bonds heavy their torments durable their restlesse rest eternall The worm shall gnaw their spirit the fire torture their flesh were these nothing yet small sorrows grow great with continuance the fire shall torture yet never cease worms gnaw the heart yet never gnaw in sunder the strings wretched souls are bound indeed whose bonds are never out of date A seven years prentiship would ere long exspire but what are seven years to a world of ages the reprobates must serve years ages even to a million of millions and yet are never free O bondage not to be uttered yet must be endured Is it not a Bedlam fury that must have such bonds a little to express their torments by our sufferings which yet are nothing nothing in comparison what means these Chains and whips and links and scourges Iron Chains whips of steel fiery linkes knotty scourges furies shake their bolts to afrighten souls the Irons strike through their eares and the hooked Engines tear their Bowels as if the torment of Tares were the delight of Devils Here is a prison indeed where is nothing heard but yells and
fâ—nce oâ— it may beâ— as some do imagine this fire affords a 〈…〉 pâ—â—iâ—eous oâ— obscure light but how not for comforts but confusion Conceive it thus he that in twilight sees deformed Images or in the night beholds shapes of Ghosts and spirits by a dimm dark light why better he saw nothing then suck tâ—â—â—â—le visâ—â—ns such fears nay a thousand times worse are preseâ—ved to the 〈◊〉 of Reprobates they may discern through darkness the ugly faceâ— of fiend â—f the foul visages of Reprobates the furious torments of their friends or parents while all lye together in the same condemnation What comfort affords this light where nothing is seen but the Judges wrath and the prisoners punishment O will they cry that our eyes were out or the flames were quenched or that some period were put to this endlesse night of darknesse but all in vain lo pillars of smoak arise out of the infernall pit which darken the light as the fire lightens the darknesse and this the second difference Thirdly there is yet another difference in the fuell or object of this fire ours burns not without materialls this works also on spirituals It is I confesse a question whether devils suffer by fire and how may that be some are of opinion that they are not onely spirits but have bodies not organicall as ours but aereall or somewhat more subtil then the air it self this opinion howsoever most denie yet Austin argues for it for if men and devils saith he are punished in the same fire and that fire be corporeall how are Devils capable of the suffering unlesse they have bodies like men fit for the impression And yet if we deny them to have bodies I see no impossibilitie but that spirits themselves may suffer in hell fire August de civit dei lib. 21. cap. 10. is it not as easie with God to joyn spirits and fire as souls and bodies as therefore the soul may suffer through the body so likewise may those spirits be tormented by fire I will not argue the case either with or against Austin yet safely may we put this conclusion not onely men in their bodies but devils and souls must together be tormented in hell fire thus our Saviour couples them in that last heavy doom Matth. 25.41 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels What a fire is this it tryes the reins it searcheth the bowells it pierceth the very soul and inmost thoughts O fire above measure where spirits are the tormentors damnation the punishment men and devils the fuell and the breath of an offended God the Bellows Think not on your fires that gives you heat for warmth or light for comfort neither fear you him that kils your bodies but hath no further commission to hurt your souls here is another fire another Judge a fire that kindles souls a Judge that sends bodies and souls to everlasting fire such heats such darknesse such objects accompanie this fire the heat is intollerable darknesse palpable bodie and soul both combustible all burn together that have sinned together This the third difference Lastly there is a difference in durance our fire dyes quickly but hell fire lasts for ever This is done saith Austin admirably Miris sed veris modis Aug. ibid. Aug. de civit dei l. 21. yet actually the burning bodies never consume the kindled fire never wasts with any length of time We read of a certain salt in Sicilia that if put into the fire it swims as in water and being put into water crackles as in fire we read of a fountain in Libya that in a cold night is so hot that none can touch it in a hot day so cold that none could drink it If God thus work miracles on earth dost thou seek a reason of Gods high and heavie judgement in hell I see the pit I cannot find the depth there is a fire that now stands as it was created it must be endured yet never never must be ended The custome of some countreys that burn malefactours use the least fires for greatest offenders that so the heat being lessened the pains might be prolonged but if this be so terrible to them whose fire is but little and whose time cannot be long what an exceeding horrible torment is this in hell where the fire is extreme great and the time for ever and ever lasting Suppose you or any one of you should lie one night grievously afflicted with a raging fit of the Stone Collick Strangurie Toothach Pangs of travail and a thousand such miseries incident to man how would you tosse and tumble how would you turn your sides tell the clock count the houres exspect every moment for the gay-bright morn and till then esteem every hour a year and every pang a misery matchlesse and intollerable O then what will it be think you to lie in fire and brimstone kept in highest flame by the unquenchable wrath of God world without end how tedious will be that endlesse night where the clock never strikes the time never passes the morn never dawns the Sunne never rises where thou canst not turn nor tosse nor tumble nor yet take any rest where thou shalt have nothing about thee but darknesse and horrour and wailing and yelling wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth for evermore Good Lord that for a smile of present pleasure men should run upon the rock of eternall vengeance Come ye that pursue vanitie and see here the fruit of sin at this harvest of Tares Pleasures are but momentany Momentaneum quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat but the pangs are eternall Eternall how long is that Nay here we are silenced no Limner can set it forth no Oratour can expresse it if all times that ever were and ever shall be should be put together they would infinitely come short of this fiery eternitie the latitude thereof is not to be measured neither by houres nor dayes nor weeks nor moneths nor years nor Lustra's nor Olympiads nor Indictions no Jubilees nor ages nor Plato's years nor by the most slow motions of the eighth sphear though all these were multiplied by thousands or millions or the greatest multiplyer or number numbering that can be imagined Plainly in a word count if you please ten hundred thousand millions of years and adde a thousand myriads of ages to them and when all is done multiply all again by a thousand thousand thousand of thousands and being yet too short count all the thoughts motions mutations of men and Angels adde to them all the sands of the sea piles on the earth starres in the Heavens and when all this is done multiply all again by all the numbers squares cubicks of Arithmetick and yet all these are so farre short of eternity that they neither touch end nor middle nor the least part or parcell of it what then is this which the damned suffer eternall fire we had need to cry out Fire fire
1.12 His infirmities are now at full and the symptomes which make it evident unto us are some inward some outward inward in his soul outward in his body we 'll take a view of them both Matth. 26.37 Mar. 14.33 Luk. 22.44 Ioh. 12.27 First his soul it began to be sorrowfull saith Matthew to be amazed and very heavy saith Mark to be in an agony saith Luke to be troubled saith Iohn Here is sorrow and heaviness and agony and trouble the estimate whereof we may take from his own words in the garden My soul is exceeding sorrowfull Matth. 26.38 John 12.77 even unto death Now was the time he purged not onely in his body but his soul too now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour A fatall hour sure of which it was said before often his hour was not yet come but being come he could then tell his Disciples the hour is at hand and after tell the Iewes Matth. 26.45 Luk. 22.53 this is your very hour and the power of darkness Now was it that Christ yielded his soul for our souls to the susception of sorrow perpession of pain and dissolution of nature and therefore even sick with sorrow he never left sweating Heb. 5.7 weeping and crying till he was heard in that which he feared Secondly as his soul so his body had her symptoms of approaching death Our very eye will soon tell us no place was left in his body where he might be smitten and was not his skin was torn his flesh was rent his bones unjoynted his sinews streyned should we summe up all See that face of his fairer then the Sons of men Psal 45.2 Revel 1.14 how it is defiled with spettle swoln with buffets masked with a cover of gore-bloud see that head white as white wooll and snow how is it Crowned with thorns beaten with a reed and both head and hair dyed in a sanguine red that issued from it see those eyes that were as a flame of fire how they swim with tears are dim with bloud and darken at the sad approach of dreadfull death Revel ibid. see that mouth which speak as never man spake hovv it is vvan vvith stroaks grim vvith death John 7.46 and embittered with that tartest potion of gall and vinegar Should we any lower See those arms that could embrace all the power of the world how they are strained and stretched on the Crosse those shoulders that could bear the frame of Heaven how they are lasht with knotty cords and whips those hands that made the world and all therein how are they nailed and clenched to a piece of wood that heart where never dwelt deceit nor sinne how it is pierced and wounded with a souldiers spear those bowels that yearned with compassion of others infirmities how they are drie and pent with straining puls those feet that walked in the wayes of God how they are boared and fastened to a Crosse with nayls from hand to foot there is no part free but all over he is covered in a mantle of cold bloud whose garments were doft before and took of them that were his hangmen Poor Saviour what a wofull sight is this A bloudy face thornie head watery eyes wan mouth strained arms lashed shoulders nayled hands wounded heart griping bowels boared feet Here is sorrie pains when no part is free and these are the outward Symptomes of his state that appear in his Body We have thus far seen our Sun the Sunne of righteousnesse in the day-break and rising and height of his suffering Mal. 4.2 what remains further but that we come to the Declination and so end our journey for this time This Declination say Physicians is Galen lib. 3. de Cris cap. 5. when Nature overcomes sicknesse so that all diseases attain not this time but those and those onely that admit of a Recovery yet howsoever saith my * Senert institution medicinae lib. 2. par 1. cap. 12. de morb temp Authour there is no true declination before death there is at least a seeming declinatian when sometimes the symptoms may become more remiss because of weak nature yielding to the fury and tyrannie of death overcoming it I will not say directly that our Saviour declined thus either in deed or in shew for neither was the cup removed from him nor died he by degrees but in perfect sense and perfect patience both of body and soul he did voluntarily and miraculously resigne his Spirit as he was praying into the hands of his Father Here then was the true declination of this Patient not before death but in death and rightly too for then was it that this Sunne went down in a ruddy Cloud then was it that this Patient received the last dregs of his Purge then was it that Gods Justice was satisfied the consummatum est was effected all was finished as for his buriall resurrection and asscension which follow after this time they serve not to make any satisfaction for sinne but onely to confirm it or apply it after it was made and accomplished Vse 1 But what use of all this Give me leave I pray to shake the tree and then do you gather the fruit from the first part his birth we may learn Humility a grace most prevailing with God for the obtaining of all graces this was it that made David King Moses a Governour nay what say we to Christ himself who from his first entrance untill his departure to his Father Matth. 11.29 was the very mirrour of true Humility it felf Learn of me saith he to be humble and lowly in spirit and you shall find rest unto your souls Hereunto accorded his Doctrine when he pronounced them Blessed who were poor in spirit Matth. 5.3 hereunro accorded his reprehension when he disliked their manners who were wont to choose out the chief rooms at feasts Luke 14.7 Iohn 13.5 hereunto accorded his practice when he vouchsafed to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towell wherewith he was girded O Humility how great are thy riches that are thus commended to us thou pleasest men delightest angels confoundest devils and bringest thy Creatour to a Manger where he is lapped in raggs and cloathed in flesh Had we Christian hearts to consider the Humility of our Redeemer and how far he was from our haughty dispositions it would pull down our Pharisaicall humours and make us farre better to remember our selves Vse 2 Secondly as we learn humility from his birth so we may learn patience from his life Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me saith our Saviour let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me Dear Christian if thou wilt be saved mind thy Christ Art thou abused by lies reproaches evil sayings or doings we cannot more shew how we have profited in Christs School then by enduring