SERMON, UPON the words of Paul the Apostle unto Timothy, Epist. 1. Chap. 4. vers. 8.  
PREACHED AT LITLEcot, in the Chapel of the Right Honourable, SIR JOHN POMPHAM, Knight, Lord chief justice, of England, before his honourable Lordship, and to the assembly there, the 17. of julie, 1597.  
By CHARLES PINNER, Minister of the Church of Wotton Basset, in North-Wiltshire.  1. Tim. 6. verse 6. 
But godliness is great gain, with sufficiency.  
Printed at Oxford by joseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paul's Churchyard at the sign of the Bible. 1597.   

TO THE WORSHIPFUL, Master JOHN SIMS, of Charde, in the County of Somerset, grace, and peace from God in jesus Christ.  
SIr, it may be marveled of some, if not of yourself, that I should be thus familiar, as you see, & cannot but be seen of many. Whom I pray to take this for my excuse, (which unfeignedly I speak, and from my very heart.) That a desire, conceived now a good while since, engendered by a report of your godly friends & mine, is now come unto the birth, by speech with yourself: and this it was; that I wished once to know you, as now in part I do, and shall, I trust, more fully in time to come. For why should you deprive me of the farther fruit of that, (and call it I must your godliness by the very name:) which so tasted in part already, I could not but forth with tell and testify unto others also, that so great zeal of true Religion hath seldom been planted in so tender years: and I look to the time of the first report. For the watering, and groweth whereof (as much as my poor pen & pencil can perform herein) behold again the gain of godliness, presented to your eye; and yet unpresented: for what pen, or pencil can deliver her as she is? whom (as Cicero saith of virtue, their virtue, a weak shadow thereof) if with the eyes of our body we might behold, it would make us to love her, not without wonder. But we must tarry the time, till we see her, and him together, of whom S. john saith, dearly beloved, now are we the sons of God; 
joh. 1.3.  but yet it appeareth not what we shall be: howbeit we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is. And then, and there also shall we see this godliness, which we desire: which, till that appearing, (and now in this age of so great ungodliness, whose spread hath overshadowed so much of this land) so little appeareth, that she dareth not almost be known by this her name of godliness, for fear of the flouts, which without fear do flow so fast from the ungodly; of which this is not the least, when they say to any person, whom they most despise, O you are very godly. Whose mouths must be stopped, which speak proud things, as Jude saith, having men's persons in admiration, 
jude. 16.  because of advantage. And to stop their mouths; or if not that, to open the mouth of godliness to speak for herself, I say not, how praiseworthy she is, unto whom all praise is due; but, how profitable unto us: I then preached, & now have published this little Sermon. Accept it, as you find it; and myself, by it. The Lord jesus preserve you, & increase in you the graces of his holy spirit, Amen. From Wotton Basset the 23. of julie. 1597.  
Yours in Christ, CHARLES PINNER.   
1. Tim. Chap. 4. vers. 8. 
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but Godliness is profitable unto all things; as having the promise of the life present, and of that that is to come.  
OF the wound, & cure of sin; or rather of the death of sin in the sole, & the life of righteousness by jesus Christ, 
His Lordship's Chaplain that day preached of such matter. john. 5.15.  we have heard already. Of the which our Saviour saith in the 5. of john, Verily verily I say unto you, the hour shall come and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the son of God: and they that hear it shall live. And we have heard, and believed, and live in God. Of the course of which life in godliness, and the blessed benefit of the same, we have now to hear farther out of this sentence of the Apostle: which depending on the former, as a reason of his exhortation there unto Godliness, containeth doctrine, & admonition: Doctrine, for the whole Church; as admonition likewise for the same: but, properly for Timothy; a man, and a minister, young in years, but grave and austere in manners, very much, if not too much: having always before his eyes that duty, which this our Apostle himself otherwise embraced, 
1. Cor. 9.27.  where he saith, I beat down my body, and bring into subjection, lest by any means when I have preached unto others, I myself should be rejected. Yet missing the rule, of too much superstition, or too little discretion, in going too far, (as Nimium, and Parum, Too much, & too little, are still in our way for every godly duty:) the Apostle calleth him back, as else where by special admonishment to look unto his stomach; so here by these general words, Bodily exercise profiteth little: and less in deed he meaneth, than Timothy took it. Wherein to blear his eyes a little, who stared to much on it, he setteth before him another object, so much more great & excellent, that, because it swalloweth up the first, we also will stay ourselves in the consideration of this, in these words, but godliness is profitable unto all things, as having the promise of the life present, and of that that is to come. Wherein we have two points, a doctrine, and the same assured by a reason to us: the doctrine, in these words, Godliness is profitable unto all things: the Reason, in these, as having the promise of the life present, and of that that is to come.  
Of the which we may note, first, how the Apostle speaketh, which is, abstractive, as they say, in the Abstract, and not in the concrets; schoole-rearmes, but of easy understanding; the one, noting the quality alone and by itself considered; the other, the subject, or person with the quality, or in whom is that quality. And this no doubt also but the Apostle meaneth, namely, that the godly person hath the promise; and yet he both not so speak, but saith, that Godliness hath the promise: and why? because the godly person, for his godliness, and not else; but godliness, for itself; it being such a thing, and so like unto God himself, that he cannot but bless it, even now in this life present, & especially in that that is to come; and thereof hath made and given his promise to us, that we not only should have it, and take it, when it cometh; but also should hope and wait for it; even when we have it not. From whence ariseth the truth of this sentence or proposition, that Godliness is profitable unto all things, as that which giveth us all things either in present possession, or expectation.  
Many dispute many things; & many desires, & purposes have we: but in nothing our minds more corrupt & destitute of the truth, then in this, if without, or beside godliness, we count any thing to be gain or profit. Whose minds notwithstanding are so corrupt, & so destitute of the truth, that any thing (almost) we account gain & profit without godliness: or at the least all the godliness we have or do besire, is gain & profit. For if other gain we have, we have godliness enough, though we have none in deed; & yet have as much, as we desire. Men of this making altogether this out Apostle painteth out in the 6. Chap. of this Epist. the 5. & 6. verses; whom he saith to be men of corrupt minds, 
1. Tim. 6.5.6.  & destitute of the truth, which think gain to be godliness. What is that? in wit, this: their godliness, or all the godliness they care for, is gain, according to their corrupt minds, & destitute of the truth; embracing any in the world, as good & profitable, and letting godliness alone: of which the pass not a pin, and care nothing of it, as nothing worth, if so they may attain their other desires. And that this is the meaning, it is plain, in that the Apostle contradicteth it in these words following, but, saith he, Godliness is great gain. Not only gain, but great gain, and if we will have that expounded too, the Apostle saith in our Text, that goodness is profitable unto all things.  
Wherefore we need go no further for weapons, to slay the madness of Atheism, that is, ungodliness itself, which setteth godliness at nought, and teacheth men to mock at it, as a thing of nothing: and a thousand things we desire as good & profitable; but godliness with thousands is good for nothing. And Religion, though itself honourable, yet if, as it hath the nature, so the name of goodliness (even as this is her name also; for what is religion, but godliness; and what is godliness, but religion?) yet, in this other name of hers we cannot abide her; and religion in the name of godliness, is a derision. For I tell you, he hath a fine wit, and hitteth his neighbour home, as he thinketh, which can hang the lip, and say, O you are very godly, O tempora, o mores, o times o manners, saith he, who saw the discipline of the city of Rome so weak, that one Catelin, a seditious rakehell, could sit, and be seen in the Senate amongst them. And we must swallow our grief and say nothing, to see the Church of God defiled with thousands of those, & sitting almost in the Senate, and chiefest rooms amongst us, who not only secretly undermine, but even bid open battle (almost) unto the name of godliness: these being, I fear, the times, of which Peter by a special remembrance unto the faithful, foretold, saying, 
2. Pet. 3.3.4  This first understand, that there shall come in the last days mockers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, when is the promise of his coming? such, as even stowted the Lord, and grieved the godly, and gave complaint before unto the Prophet Malachi in the 3. Chapter: Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord: yet ye say, 
Mal. 3.13.14.15.  what have we spoken against thee? ye have said, it is in vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his commandment, and that we walked humbly before the Lord of hosts. Yea now we count the proud blessed: even they that work wickedness are set up; and they that tempt God, yea they are delivered. And they had even wearied the Lord herewith, as the Prophet complaineth in the former Chapter, 
Mal. 2.17.  Ye have wearied the Lord with your words, saith he, yet ye say, wherein have we wearied him? in that ye say, every one that doth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them: or, where is the God of judgement? and these have even wearied the Lord, and us; as many, as at this time embrace godliness: and yet they say, wherein have we wearied you? in that ye say, and say loudly, and lewdly, with the greatest scorn, we are foolish and busy fellows.  
But the vomit of these men is loathsome, and we will leave it: and for the praise, and price of godliness, will come to the proof of that, which the Apostle hath said of it, as we have heard, namely, that Godliness is profitable unto all things. And this proof is contained in the words next following, implying a reason of the former speech or sentence in these words, as having the promise of the life present, and of that that is to come. And this reason is strong from a sufficient division of all things. For all things are contained in this life present, and in that that is to come. And therefore godliness must needs be profitable unto all things, sith nothing, neither here, nor hereafter can be wished, which it brings not with it. For though the Apostle only saith, it hath the promise of this life, & that life, he meaneth, as also he speaketh in the 17 of the Acts, Life and breath, 
Acts 17.25.  and all things; and as the Philosopher speaketh, all things ad benè beateque vivendum, to live well and blessedly. For life else were nothing, if we should want those things that pertain to blessedness. And though some may think that the Apostle cometh short of the matter, & speaketh not home enough, saying, that godliness hath the promise, & not the thing; yet this is all one in deed, considering who is the promiser, God that cannot lie, 
Tit. 1. ●.  as other where he saith. And because we cannot have all our happiness at once, but some is here in this life present, and more hereafter in the life to come; for assurance of the whole we have his promise, which is always as good as performance it self. For whosoever, saith the son of Siracke, trusted in the Lord, and was confounded? 
Eccle. 2.11.  O then, who is wise, & will be rich, and honourable, and have true strength, and beauty, and health, & peace, and blessedness with God? even the man, that is godly; which walketh with God, yea and talketh with him: as it is said of Henoch, 
Gen. 5.22. & 6.9. & 17.1.  Noah, and Abraham, that they were just and upright men in their time, and walked with God. Even as this is the end of our deliverance, that we, 
Luke 1.74.75.  as Zacherie saith, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness, & righteousness before him, or in his sight, all the days of our life: that we should walk, and talk with God; and having our delight in the law of the Lord, 
Psal. 1.2.  should meditate therein day and night; that we should love, fear, and honour him in all our ways, and so want nothing, which we would & should have, either in this life present, or in that that is to come.  
But here groweth a question: what it meaneth then, that even ungodliness itself hath, or seemeth to have our portion, at least in the things of this life present: of which David in the seventeenth Psalm speaking, maketh his prayer, thus, 
Psal. 17.13.14.  Up Lord, saith he, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked with thy sword: from men by thine hand O Lord, from men of the world, who have their portion in this life, whose bellies thou fillest with thine hid treasures: their children have enough, and leave the rest of their substance for their children. Where he speaketh, as he meaneth, of the wicked, namely, that they have their portion in this life, and no where else; and that they have already, as much as they shall have, in this life present: for in the life to come they have no portion. Answerably unto that that Christ also warned those good almesmen, forsooth, in the 6. of Matthew, which trumpetted the thing for the praise of men, Therefore, saith he, when thou givest thine alms, thou shalt not make a trumpet to be blown before thee, as the hypocrites do in the Synagogues, & in the streets to be praised of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. That is, they have already that they desired, to wit, the praise of men; and this is all they shall have: for besides this verily they shall have nothing. And what then shall it profit the ungodly that they were wise, and rich, and honourable, and had peace, and prosperity in this life, when this life is gone, and their portion ended, & nothing remaineth for the life to come? the bitterness of which estate answered his doubt, who in beholding the prosperity of the wicked, had almost denied providence, till at the last, in acknowledgement of that which here is taught, 
Claud.  he saith, Tolluntur in altum, ut lapsu graviore ruant, They are lifted up aloft, to have the greater fall. As David, to express his greatest misery, saith, He taketh me up, and casteth me down again. 
Psal. 102.  Even as that we lift up to cast down, we dash all in pieces. And the beggars woe is nothing to the Prince his want. But, as he saith, 
Sen. Theb.  In servitutem cadere de regno grave est. Of king to become a caitiff, that cuts the heart.  
Yea, but the wicked and ungodly of the world have wealth and welfare: and while they have it, will some say, they are well and happy. But this their happiness, what ever they have, in spite of all the wicked we deny, for first it should be known how they have any thing. Not by promise: for that pertaineth unto godliness, by testimony of our Text, which saith significantly, that godliness hath the promise, and not ungodliness. How them? without promise. O miserable thieves & robbers, which have an heap of goods so ill gotten. 
Psal. 24. v. 1.  For the earth is the Lords, & he hath promised the same unto the godly, and again, 
Math. 5.5.  Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And every creature of God is good, 
1. Tim. 4.5.  & nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified, saith the Apostle, by the word of God, and prayer. But who giveth thanks, and who so receiveth the good creatures of God, as good and lawful; and … ome are they sanctified by the ordinance and will of God, but to those, as before he saith, which believe, and know the truth, that is, the godly. For all the ungodly of the world are yet in their pollution, and are deprived of all the creatures of the earth; polluting to themselves every good creature of God, in the abuse, live in the very use of them▪ and polluting themselves▪ I say not now, because stricto iure, as they say, by direct law, they have no right in them. So Naboths' vineyard was good: 
1. King. 21. Levit. 25.23. & Num. 36.9. & seq. & 1. King. 21.  and Ahab had it. But, because he was not of the tribe, besides the intrusion, the forgery, perjury, and murder committed, he defiled himself in the unlawful use of it. And this is the case of all the ungodly: who, because they are not of his tribe, who hath the right of inheritance in all these things, besides the manifold abuses they put them unto after, they even defile themselves in the having of them. And so, not this, and that, as in the former division of the legal pollution, which taught us that out right in all things through our attainder was so taken away, that by touching; almost, and taking we defiled ourselves in them: but even the breath of their bodies, their life itself, & all things are defiled to them? because, to speak the same thing again, as light is come into the world, & men love darkness, root the light: 
joan. 3 19  so liberty is come into the world, and men love bondage, more than it: and the grace of adoption, whereby we become sons (and if sons, saith the Apostle from a ground of their law; for in the Civil law of the Romans all the sons succeeded together; then heirs, and heirs annexed with jesus Christ;) is refused of the ungodly and unbelievers: who if they have no part in Christ, 
Heb. 1.2.  who is the heir of all things, as the Apostle teacheth to the Hebrews; how would they have right in any thing, and not still remain as children, and heirs of the first Adam, cast out of Paradise with his children, the very blessing of the earth this day being turned into a curse unto them, even because they have no part in the second Adam. Wherefore, let all the ungodly of the world here learn to look west unto their thievish hands, & care how to have their hearts purified by faith, 
Act. 15.9. 2. Tim. 3.12.  & to live godly in jesus Christ; that so they may be heirs of the promise; and that, in the rich ungodly especially it may be seen for a wonder to the world how the camel creepeth through the needle's eye, and that which is impossible with men, 
Psal. 22.30.  is yet possible with God, the prophesy of Davis in 22. Psalm being fulfilled in them. All the fat of the earth, & those that are filled with earthly felicity, shall eat, as being nourished in the Church, 
vers. 28.  and shall bow themselves. As before he saith, All the ends of the earth shall remember themselves and be turned unto the Lord, & all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him.  
Which lowly submission unto jesus Christ, and to the sceptre of his word in the kingdom of his Church, if once we might see in the great ungodly of the world, Lord, how many sins also would so be cut of, which daily are committed in the good things of God, through the manifold abuse of them unto sin and wickedness. And if we see it not, as to seldom in deed is seen, so many sins remain of this sort also, that better for them it were if beggars they had been borne, and so had continued to their lives end, then to answer this account before the great judge; the riches also of whose bountifulness and patience they have abused, not knowing, 
Rom. 2 4.5.6.  as the Apostle saith, that the bountifulness of God leadeth them to repentance: but they after their hardness, & heart that cannot repent, heap unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and declaration of the just judgement of God, who shall reward every man according to his works: open, or secret; to himself, or others. And therefore then, and there also shall be revealed touching their title of possession, how it faileth with God, which holdeth with men: which is a secret to the world, and to worldly man's hearts, but known unto Gods; 
Rom. 2.16.  who shall judge, as Paul saith, the secrets of men by jesus Christ according to my gospel. And therefore the good natured man also, and of greater ingenuity, cannot escape with all his colours of natural honesty and virtue, amiable in itself, and before the world, 
Mark. 10.21.  but despised of God, because it wanteth godliness. According as our Saviour saith in the sixteenth of Luke, namely, 
Luk. 15.16.  that that, which is lofty before men, is abomination in the sight of God. And to say the very truth, why should God esteem them, or any thing in them, who never esteemed him, but themselves, in all their lives? for look we into these men with godly wisdom, and whither shall we see all their desires, purposes counsels, and endeavours directed, but unto themselves; and to their own pleasures, praise, and profit, or to the profit of men like unto themselves. against whom, and whose works, the former sentence of Christ is as good, as against the prayers and alms of painted hypocrites. 
Mat. 6.5.  Verily I say unto you they have their reward: to wit, in this world, and with men; and they are foully deceived if they look for more. Wherefore to conclude this point, if the wicked and ungodly, being empty and having nothing, have no promise or hope of any things or having all things of the world, have with God no lawful tenure and occupation of the same; and farther, corrupting themselves in the great abuse of them have a heavier judgement in time to come, the best of the ungodly not here excepted: what matterreth it what they have, and what they are here for a while in this world, sith at the last they lose all, & themselves by a fearful destruction; and nothing in the end is found gain, but godliness, which is profitable unto all things, and at all times, as having the promise of this life present, and of that that is to come.  
But here we must stay a little, at the least to examine this, how the promise holdeth with the godly for the things of of this life: for of the things of the life to come there is no question: the Apostle himself in the 15. of the first to the Corinthians using these words, 
1. Cor. 25.29.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most miserable. Where albeit he gathereth a most sound conclusion for his present purpose, the handling of which I now omit, yet thus much he saith withal by way of comparison between the godly and the ungodly, that we in this life are more miserable than they. And if we look upon the afflictions themselves in their own nature, & number, and see no more, I grant it too. And because the Saints themselves are weak-sighted herein, and tender upon the sense of present sorrows, no chastising for the present, 
Heb. 12.11.  as saith the Apostle, seeming joyous, but grievous; they speak sometimes in their haste they know not what; as if they were miserable, 
Psal. 31.23. & psal. 116.11.  and others blessed; and they will reason this matter with God about the truth of his promise. So jeremy, but with leave, and very modestly, in the 12, O Lord, saith he, 
jer. 12.1.  if I dispute with thee, thou art righteous: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgress? and Abacuk in the first Chapter, 
Abac. ca 1.  speaking unto God, cannot tell how to set these together, namely, the purity of God's nature, the prosperity of transgressors, and the misery of the righteous. Thou art, saith he; of pure eyes, and canst not see evil: thou canst not behold wickedness. Wherefore dost thou look upon the transgressors, 
vers. 13.  and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? and job, and David, two excellent personages, but much afflicted, were more impatient; and job, even terrified, in the 21: Even when I remember, saith he, I am afraid, and fear taketh hold on my flesh. Wherefore do the wicked live, and wax old, & grow in wealth? 
job. 21.6, & seq.  their seed is established in their sight with them, and their generation before their eyes: Their houses are peaceable without fear and the rod of God is not upon them. And so forth with a long and tedious narration unto himself of the great prosperity of the wicked. And David pathetically and abruptly, as newly delivered out of this temptation, beginneth his Psalm thus, Yet God is good to Israel, even unto such as are of a clean heart. Verily as for me my feet were almost gone; 
Psal. 73.  my tread had well nigh slipped: and why? I was grieved at the wicked; I did see all the ungodly in such prosperity. For there are not knots unto their death: but they are lusty and strong. They are not in toil as other folk, neither are they plagued like other men. And then setting out more at large both their impiety and prosperity, as things not so agreeable in his judgement, at the last he useth this Acclamation, 
vers. 12.  Lo, these are the ungodly, these prosper in the world, & these have riches in possession. And then he showeth how weak he was, and how ill at the first he took this matter. 
vers. 13.  And I said, saith this good man, then have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. All the day long have I been punished, and chastened every morning. And so clear is this thing, the godly, which have the promise, sometime, & for the most part in such adversity; and the ungodly, which have no promise, in such prosperity, that hereby they even insult over God, and his children, as in the 15. verse, Ecce generationem filiorum tuorum: Behold the generation of thy children: as if they should say, who need care much to be of the number, and their case no better. And yet still, my brethren, we hold fast this truth, which here is taught us, namely, that godliness hath the promise, not only of the life that is to come, but of this life present also. And the performance is good.  
But every promise is kept, as it is made. And though this promise here is meant unto the godly, yet the same in precise terms is made unto godliness, as at the first was noted. That so the godly might be taught to assure themselves of the truth hereof, only with Quatenus, and clause of restraint, and no otherwise, to wit, thus, so far as the are godly; because the godly do want of their godliness. And as Paul saith of knowledge, which is a part of godliness, our knowledge is in part: 
1. Cor. 13.12.  so much more is it true of the whole, that our godliness is in part: & it were a dangerous dream to think otherwise. Wherefore we accuse not the purietie and sincerity, but the perfection of godliness: and the most godly we say again do want of then godliness. So far therefore as we are godly, and do keep with God, so far he keepeth with us, but when we break with him, as too often we do, this altereth the case with us, but yet not with God. For then he taketh the rod in hand, which otherwise should lie long enough, but for very need: and, so that godliness might go with all, his delight is in the prosperity of his servants. Oh, saith he, in the 48. of Esaie, Oh that thou haddest hearkened to my commandments: 
Isa. 48.18.  then had thy prosperity been as the flood, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. That is, they should have followed one upon the other, as one wave of the sea followeth an other, and gone along together as companions unseparable. And in the fourskore and first Psalm, Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways: I would soon have humbled their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries: the haters of the Lord should have been subject unto him: but their time (to wit, time of the prosperity of his people) this their time should have endured for ever. And God would have fed them with the fat of wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied thee. But if we hearken not unto God, & walk not in his ways, what then 〈◊〉 then thus, and it is inchided in the condition of the promise unto David, and all the faithful, in the fourskore and ninth Psalm, thus, But if his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgements; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments: dementes. I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges. Nevertheless my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him: not suffer my truth to fail. So that even he, which also punisheth our ungodliness, is true in his promise, and his loving kindness remaineth still, with it, shall I say? yea, in it. Hear is a mystery: and yet no mystery unto the godly; which feel and find their ungodliness so to be chastened by the hand of God, with such a fatherly good will and care of them, that he turneth them hereby from their ungodliness, to stand fast in the covenant; and all that furthereth this intent is therefore blessed. Blessed is the sickness, blessed are the sores, blessed are the wounds of such a friend, 
Prov. 27.6.  yea, better than the kisses of an enemy. This I take it is the meaning of that league and covenant in the second of Hosea, And in that day, saith the Lord, will I make a Covenant for them, 
Hos. 2.18.  with the wild beasts, and with the fowls of the heaven, and with that that creepeth upon the earth: and I will break the bow, and the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to sleep safely. Not that there shall not be annoyances to these confederates in heaven, & in earth, above, & below, & round about them; nor that the sword shall not be whet, & bow bend, & the battle set against them in all the earth; for who in the earth more afflicced than we? but, that the intent of the enemy shall be defeated, & these instruments of mischief, prepared for their hurt, shall be found in the end to do them good. O Ashur, the rod of my wrath, saith the Lord by the Prophet, and the staff in their hands is mine indignation. 
Isa. 10.5.6.7.  I will send him to a dissembling nation, and I will give him a charge, against the people of my wrath, to take the spoil, and to take the pray, & to tread them under feet, as the mire in the street. But he thinketh not so: but he imagineth to destroy and to cut of not a few nations. The purpose of the Lord, & his work was, by the rod of the Assyrians in justice, & judgement, to punish the sins of jerusalem & juda for their amendment: as jeremy saith, Let thine own wicked. correct thee, 
jerem. 2.19.  and thy turnings back reprove thee; know therefore, & behold that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts. But the bent of the Assyrian was barely to destroy, and to set up his great name by mighty destructions. Thus the enemies shall whet their sword, and bend their bow, & make ready the battle for our destruction; they shall kill, and lead captive, & divide the spoils; & yet no harm done: for the Prophecy of Esaias shall be fulfilled, 
Isa. 11.9.  They shall not hurt, nor destroy in all the mountain of my holiness. The reason, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters that cover the sea. This plentiful knowledge doth keep all safe. Which Paul also ascribeth to our love of God; who cannot but love him, after that we have known him, and his love towards us; according as he hath chosen us before, and called us with an holy calling, 
●. Tim. 1.9.  to know, love, and honour him in all true holiness. Wherefore in the 8. to the Romans most comfortably & most plainly to this purpose he saith, Also we know that all things work together for the best unto them that love God, 
Rom. 8.28.  even to them that are called of purpose. Where doubtless the Apostle meaneth not so chiefly of the things which properly are good, as of those, which might be hurtful, if the purpose of men, and the nature of the things should be respected. But such is the work of godliness, or rather of God for the godly, whom he hath loved, & called according to purpose; & they know him, & love him, & serve him in holiness; that for their sakes according to the warking, as the Apostle saith, 
Philip. 3.21.  whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself; & to command the light to shine out of darkness, 
2. Cor. 4.6.  he also subdueth unto himself, & his, the nature of these evil things, and turneth them unto their good, so bringing light out of darkness, joy out of grief, grace out of sin, deliverance out of destruction, & life out of death itself: that the true cause of our rejoicing may so appear, as Paul in the third of the first to the Corinthians showeth, 
1. Cor. 3.21.22.  Therefore saith he; let no man rejoice in men: for all things are yours: whether it be Paul, or Apollo's, or Cephas, or the world: or life or death; whether they be things present, or things to come, all are yours, & ye are Christ's, & Christ is Gods. Wherefore, my dear brethren, let us be Christ's, as Christ is Gods; that is, Christians in deed, as in name we are, & all things are ours, to serve us, 
Psal. 91.13.  & to minister unto our good, & nothing shall hurt us: we shall walk, as he saith, upon the lion & asp, the young lion & the dragon shall he tread under feet; & this miracle in a sort shall still be seen & felt of us, of which out saviour saith, They shall take away serpents, 
Mark. 16.19.  & if they shall drink of any deadly thing, if shall not hurt them. And such rejoicing hath godliness. And why then should we fear a flout, to be called godly of the ungodly, beggars brats, & no better, which have nothing, or the promise of nothing: neither in this life, nor in the life to come.  
And yet lest here they may stand at a bay with us, and say again that we have nothing; as many of us, yea most of us, have less in the things of this life; yet this is not true, that we have nothing, and few of the godly, not Lazarus himself, but hath some thing, according to the truth of this which the Apostle teathe us, that Godliness hath the promise of this life also. For if he have nothing else, yet he hath life itself, and the same more perfectly, than any of the ungodly in the world. For every thing may be said to be had, according to the use, & perfection of the use. For if I hold a treasure in my hand, which is fast sealed to me in a bag, I may rather be said to handle it, then to have it. Or, if I be in an house, without any comfortable use of that house, in which I am; it may better be said to have me, than I it. And so likewise according to the perfection and excellency of each use, every thing may be said to be more, or less perfectly had of us. So Lazarus, with his trumbes and rags, because he had a godly life, and a comfortable life with God, and a sweet expectation of the life to come, he was more alive, than the rich, with his robes, deprived of all true comfort in all his life. And I know not how; yes, it is the blessing of God, which can multiply in use a little, and so make it much, much better, and so and in this sense, much bigger, than the far and large portion of the wicked. And in this sense I doubt not but David saith in the 37 Psalm, Better is a little, 
Psal. 37.16.  which each righteous deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their cruel speakings, which wicked sinners have spoken against him. I add, and his: for he, and his must go together. And therefore let us also, my brethren, as joine-workers with God, for the glory of God, & honour of godliness, speak against them, and do against them, every man, as he can do most: that all the ungodly of the earth like dross may be consumed, 
Psal. 119. vers. 119.  the godly in jesus Christ increased and comforted, Religion maintained, and God above all glorified. To whom be glory, dominion, and majesty both now, and ever. Amen.  
FINIS.   

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