punishment haue the next place notedâ—n this addition of the sentence Euerlasting fire which by all likelihoode shall not onely be a spiritual but a corporall fire which the verie Scripture language doth insinuate as in these places The chaffe he shal burne vp with vnquenchable fire It is better for thee to goe lame into life then hauing two hands and two feete to goe into hell fire The 〈◊〉 mistances of 1 weeping 2 Gnashing of teeth the forcible effects of that fire doe import so much in so many places of the Gospell inserted So doth the phrase of vtter darknesse and that of the binding of hands and feet 5 With these they shall also haue their tortures in the Iaile The Diuels looke for no lesse as it appeareth by their stomachous words to Christ Comest thou to torment vs before the time This prison is likewise spoken of by Christ in the Parable of the king and his Steward Hee deliuered him to the Iailers till â—e should pay all that was due vnto him 6 It is also grieuous iudgement inflicted vppon the damned to see the righteous translated into the Kingdome of God and themselues excluded Wherfore Christ saith There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and all the Prophets in the kingdome of God and your selues thrust out at doores When the Gluttons eies behelde Lazarus his felicitie it was mightie augmentation of his nuserie then he cried vnto Abraham and saide Oh father Abraham send Lazarus c. Wherefore Adam when he was chased out of a Paradise was placed in a grounde ouer against it that his eye seeing it the heart of him might rue it Now good Christâ—an whilest then reade these thinges what thinkest thou of them Howe doe they woorke in thee They are as true as anye thing may bee and as terrible which thou shouldest better perceiue If I had the tongue of the learned which might minister wordes in due time to mooue you But if these thus deliuered doe not touch you you haue no reason in you Wherfore while we haue time and God giueth grace and the church admonisheth and the iudge yet expecteth and calleth and putteth out his hand vnto vs and giueth to euerie one that asketh Let vs lay holde vppon the shield of faith and let vs not suffer such aduantages which make for our saluation to slippe The Sanguinarie Souldior at the preaching of Iudgement was recalled from his bloodie wayes and he came to Iohn to bée lessoned of him in the way that leadeth to a better life what shall wee doe say they And this is the song of the Publicans and Harlots who were battered with the hammer of denounced Iudgement Wherefore it is well saide of Caietan this is the best preseruatius that may bee to keepe vs in Gods feare The 13. Chapter Of the blessed state of the Godly in the life to come ALL the blessings whatsoeuer of eternall life may hee drawne to these two heades 1. To those that belong vnto the minde 2. To those that appertaine vnto the bodie The state of the bodie shall bee such as no labours or sorrowes shall seaze any more vppon it according to that which the spirit in the Reuelation saith God shal wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neyther sorrow neyther crying neither shall there bee anye more paine The heauenlye properties of our bodies are liuelye shadowed and represented vnto vs in the conditions of the bodie of Christ at his resurrection there being nothing to the contrarie but that we should hope that our bodies should be conformable to his bodie and that we his members should bee sutable to him that is our head This is that the Apostle saith Who shal change our vile bodie that it may bee facioned like his glorious bodie 2. The mind and spirit shall then bee endowed with this gift that the slanerie of sinne shall no more take holde of it the flesh the insolent yoak-fellow thereof shal no more ouererowe it it being then at quietnesse with the spirit 2. Wee shall then loue God according to the exigence of his royall law his felicitie shall affect vs as our owne All motions and perturbations of the minde as of enuie selfe-loue and the like shall be voided 3. That which is of moste moment which euerie one that is godly moste of all destreth which is the knowledge of God shall then be in full and perfect manner giuen vnto it Whecefore Paul saith Now wee see through a glasse darkelye but then shall wee see face to face Now I knowe in part but then shall I know euen as I am knowne All vales and curtaines shall then be drawne aside and wee shall see God indeede in his perfect beautie which none heere possiblie could doe and liue according to that which God saith to Moses There shal no man see me liue In this knowledge chiefly eternall life standeth as our Sauiour Christ testifieth saying This is life eternall that they know thee to bee the onely very God whome thou hast sent Iesus Christ To which answereth this other speech of his Abraham reioyced to see my day and hee saw it and was glad And of the like agreement is that which is also spoken by him in another place Blessed are your eyes for they see and your eares for they heare For manye Prophets and righteous men haue desired to see those thinges which yee see and haue not seene them and to heare those thinges which ye heare and haue not heard them By this let euerie man iudge whose happinesse he may hope for when it shall be giuen vs to see him our first borne Brother in the state of his glorie and not him onelye but the eternall Father with him for whome hee keepeth a kingdome purchased by his bloâ—d A glimmering sight hereof and as it were a shadow of this happines was shewed to Peter on mount Tabor which made him to wish yâ— he might dwell alwaies there And Paul had some probate thereof when hee was caught vp to the third heauen where hee heard wordes which could not be spoken which were not possible for man to vtter The face of Moses was so bright by his beeing with God as the Israelites could not behold it How glorious theÌ„ shall our faces bee when we shall bee made the Sonnes of God and liue for euer with him If when wee reade the Scriptures with any liuelye feeling of Gods spirit if in our feruent payers powred out to God if in the deepe groaninges of our spirits vnto him for the euill that betide vs or at the powerfull operation of Gods worde that is preached in vs wee are much in wardly mooued and the ioy delight and pleasure thereof farre exceede all the delights of the Sonnes of men all which are but as it were the first fruites and beginning
that which Christ sayth This Gospel of the Kingdome must be preached through the whole world for a witnesse to all nations and then shall the end come These wordes of our Sauiour being rightly vnderstoode hath had his vertue and effect For when persecution began to bee in Hierusalem and the Dâ—sciples were driuen from thence they went preaching throughout all Iudea and went from thence into Samaria and illuminated that place with the light of the Gospell where Philip conuerted Queene Candaces Chamberlaine the Aethiopian by whose meanes no doubt the knowledge of the truth was scattered among the Aethiopians Also while the Disciples were at a stand amazed within themselues doubtful what to doe whether they might beare the worde vnto the Gentiles this their stâ—die was broken vp Peter being aduised by heaueÌ„ly Oracle to ioyne himself to the Centuriâ—â— Cornelius a Gâ—nâ—tle the rest of the Apostles coasting to Phaenicia Cyprus so spreading the Gospel ouer sea and land But Paul did sweate most of all other at this worke who filled all the parts from â—ierusalem with the Countries round about vnto Illyricum with the preaching of the word And being in fetters be wrote EuaÌ„gâ—â—cal â—etters from the Iaile to the Colossians conâ—ratulating with theÌ„ the large progresse of the Gospell through the world The Gospell is come vnto you euen as it is vnto all the world and is fruitfull aâ— it is also among you Now these wordes of our Sauiour The Gospel must bee preached vnto all Nations are to be vnderstoode of the greatest part of the Nations The greaterpart haue alreadie had the preaching thereof of which Paul saith God is manifested in the flesh iustified in the spirit seene of Angels preached vnto the Gentiles beleeued on in the world Now whereas some giue a checke to this doctrine inasmuch as the Antipodes and such as are cast into the cut-shifts of the world haue neuer heaâ—d so much as an inckâ—â—ag of the worde that is a stale ieast and it is a knot as easie as mar be to be vndone For the words of Christ meane not euerie Cauton tract and stroke of the world neyther haue they an are to any set time when the Gospel shall be thus strewed about but the meaning is this The Gospell which in respect of raging persecutions they thought should haue beene banished out of Iudea the naturall home thereof shall disperse it selfe to the vtmost â—artes of the world before this generall desolution according to the saying 〈◊〉 the Psalmograph His found is gone into all â—andes and â—â—is wordes vnto the ende of the worlde Which wordes are also taken vp for â—ext by Saint Paul Therefore that he speaketh of all the worlde is to be appliâ—d to the Iewes and Gentiles to whom the Gospel is to be published For into these two sortes of people the whole worlde is diaâ—ded 9 The ninth euidence of the worldes ende which is the massacre and martyrdome of the saints is as euidently as any come to passe For haue not Princes â— wordes from age to age been ouer-drunken with the blood of the godly Isaâ— was killed with a Saw Ieâ—emie with stones Amos with a clubbe Daniel was exposed 〈…〉 Paul was beheaved Peter crucified In the ten pâ—sâ—coâ—ions which were three hundred yeares after Christ what erquisâ—â—e 〈◊〉 were deuised against good professors rockes rackes flees and what not In Europe how hath the church bene chaced like a Doe tossed like a Ball remoued like a Tree by the bloudy Beast of Rome now these hundred yeeres by-past We cannot find a time if we make a scrutinie of times either when the church was in her infancie or when it was growne vp to more yeeres or in her latter daies wherein the better sort hauâ— not bene put to the worst and haue bene heauily handled For Christ the obiect of their profession is as Simeon prophesied a a signe of contradiction which the Apostles for Christs sake assoone as they began to preach the word had lamentable experience off For when as those that heard them were astonished at them speaking in seuerall languages the wonderful workes of God some immediatly shot theÌ„ through with the arrows of their bitter wordes saying They are all full of new wine By and by after when Peter and Iohn in the name of Christ made the Créeple a sound Creature the multitude grew mad at this new miracle and committed the Preachers to prison and afterwards drew a grieuous enditement against them and not without great threates discharged them which should come vpon them when they should aduenture to preach againe among them Not long after the number of the faithfull increafing the high Bishop with his swarme of Saduces who then dominâ—red and ruled the roste at Hierusalem got the Apostles into their clutches layd them by the heeles And albrit God sent an Angell to bate them yet the second time they had them by the backes and made no bones to haue a set Sessions against them wherein they gaue them the whip and suspended them of their ministrie But they for al that forsâ—â—ke not their profession but stood to their tackling they catcht Stephen and call a counsell against him and suborne false witnesses and doe him to death After which acte followed an vniuersall persecution wherein Saul bestirred his stumps in persecuting the second Dauid as if he had beene begotten of that Saâ—â— that persecuted the first Dauid At the last came in Herod Agrippa to play his parteâ— who acted it to the purpose falling vpon the Church and making heueck of it killing Iohn the Brother of Iames with the sword without order of lawe his cause being neuer heard to currie fauour with the Iewes and for his cause shut vp Peter in prison and sent out his writte for his execution Finallâ—e the more the Church increased persecutioâ—s increased for thrée huÌ„dred yeres after the Apostles times exceeding the persecuting times of the Apostles Whereof there were tenne which the Roman Emperors sâ—ured vp Nero was the Author of the first who for his fact of setting Rome on fiâ—e hauing set the hearts of his Subiects on fire against him to quench theâ—e coales and to winde into their good wills againe charged the Christians with the fact and as though they had beene guiltie attached and executed a mightie number of them and exceedingly tormeÌ„ted them couering them with beasts hides and casting them to Dogges to be torne in peeces or fastning them to Crosses did light them like to Torches to giue them light in the night as Tacitus doth reporte who otherwise was a monstrous enemie to Christ vnder which persecution died Paul and Peter valiantly and carried away the crowne The second was caused by Domitian in the yeare of Grace 86. in the which the Apostle Iohn was put into a Tunne or Vessell of hot boyling oyle which could not harme him and
their eyes shall haue better obiect before them their feete shall be exalted aboue the cloudes and the whole bodie shall be mantled with immortalitie as sayeth Chrysostome If to infringe this which hath beene deliuered any shall obiect this saying of the Apostle Flesh and blood cannot inherite the Kingdome of God and so inferre hereupon that the bodies of men shall not rise againe we answer them thus that by fleth and blood is not meant the bodies of men simply but as they are now in the state of corruption that which the Apostle calleth animale corpus The fleshly man or the earthly man and what soeuer is of nature without the spirite which being depraued and corrupted must needes be renued Wherefore Christ said to Nicodemus vnles a man be regenerate and borne a new he cannot enter into the kingdome of God The vnregenerate man is called Flesh therefore Christ immediatly after the former words said That which is borne of the flesh is flesh wherefore of force wee must be regenerated neither onely the flesh the bodie or a part of the minde is to be renued which couetteth and is angry but especially the reason the minde the will And Christ else where teacheth that the whole man as he is in the state of nature is called flesh and bloud For thus Christ answereth Peter Blessed art thou Simon Bar Iona for flesh and bloud hath not reuealed these thinges but the spirite of my father In which wordes Christ comprehendeth the better parts of the mind For they be those by which we vnderstood and the truth is reuealed vnto vs. Therefore these must be turned and transposed and created a new that we may be as Christ saith like the Angells in resurrection For the infirmitie of this mortall bodie is such as it cannot take the least taste or smack of heauenly glorie as we perceiue in the Prophets and Apostles who were men without soules when at anie time God did appeare vnto them And not without cause said God to Moses Thou canst not see my face neither shall man see me and liue Wherefore the German and right sence of the wordes of the Apostle is this as we are nothing else but flesh and bloud weake mortall sinfull Curuae in terris animae coel est ium in mes wée cannot inherite the kingdome of God Lastly if that of Salomon shall be laid against vs The condition of the children of men and the condition of beasts are euen as one condition and so argue that a man shall rise no more from the dead then a beast we will answere them by Salomon who explaineth himselfe in the words following they are like in dying As the one dieth so dieth the other but in their estate after death they differ of which Salomon speaketh not The sixt Chapter Of the certaintie of the iudgement or the day of doome THe general iudgement being the consecution of the resurrection the end therof yâ— last blast of that shril truÌ„pet giuing this Eccho surgite mortui venite ad IudiciuÌ„ Arise ye dead come to iudgement We are to enter into the tractation hereof in this place This subiect matter though it be of vnquestionable assurance Yet because the schoole of Cyclopical Atheists Epicures carnal minded men is so great who as seâ—pents grouel wholly in the dust only giue themselues to earthly things licking vp this Aphorisme of Socrates the Philosopher Quae supra nos nihil ad nos Those things that are aboue vs appertaine not vnto vs we list to light a candle before the Sun and aswel by scriptures as irrefragable reasons determine the absolute certaintie of this matter 1. The scriptures are plaine and plentifull in the point Hanna the mother of Samuel thus prophecieth hereof saying The Lords aduersaries shall be destroied and out of heauen shall he thunder vpon them the Lord shall iudge the ends of the world and shall giue power vnto his kinge and exalt the horne of his anointed which is Christ Isaiah sermoneth it thus Then shall they goe into the holes of the rockes and into the caues of the earth from before the feare of the Lord and from the glorie of his maiestie when he shall arise to iudge the earth That the prophet by these wordes aimeth at doomes day appeareth by the Angells exposition of the same And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the cheif captaines and the mighty men and euery bondman and euery free man hid themselues in dennes and among the rockes of the mountaines And said to the mountaines rocks fal on vs and hide vs froÌ„ the presence of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe For the great day of his wrath is come and who can stand In another place he preacheth thus Behould the day of the Lord cometh cruell with wrath and fierce anger c. But in another place â—e is most pathetical in the point The lord wil come with fire his charets like a wirlewind that hee may recompence his 〈◊〉 with wrath and his indignatioÌ„ with the flame of fire For the Lord wil iudge with fire and with his sword all flesh Daniel deliuereth the like doome saying And at that time shal Michael stand vp the great prince which staÌ„deth for the childreÌ„ of the people and there shall be a time of trouble such as neuer was since there began to bee a nation vnto that same time and at that time thy people shall be deliuered euery one that shall be found written in the booke And many of them that sleepe in the dust of the earth shall awake some to euerlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt And they that bee wise shall shine as the brightnes of the firmament and they that turne many to righteousnes shall shine as the starres for euer and euer Ioel writeth thus of it I will shew wonders in the heauens and in the earth bloud and fire and pillars of smoke The Sunne shall be turned into darknes and the moone into bloud before the great terrible day of the Lord come Zephaniah singeth the same songe with the rest The great day of the Lord is neere it is neere and hasteth greatly euen the voice of the day of the Lord the strong man shall crie there bitterly That day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and heaumes a day of destruction and desâ—lation a day of obscuritie and darknes a day of cloudes and blacknes a day of the trumpet and a â—arume against the strong citties c. Malachie hath also good matter to this purpose The day commeth that shal burne as an ouen and all the proud yea all that do wickedly shal be stuble the day that coâ—meth shall burne them vp saith the Lord of hosts and shall leaue them neither roote nor branch In the new testament we haue verie