THE NARROW WAY, AND THE LAST JUDGEMENT, Delivered in two Sermons: the first at Paul's Cross, the other elsewhere, by G. B. Preacher of the word at Alphamston in Essex.  2. TIM. 2.7. 
Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.  
LONDON, Printed for MATTHEW LOWNES. 1607.   

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL SIR WILLIAM WALGRAVE KNIGHT, OF BVERS IN ESSEX.  
RIght Worshipful, the general report of your worthiness, your peculiar affection to the Author (as I understand) and the known dignity of this his work, are the only motives of this my seeming boldness in committing this Sermon to the general view, under your countenance and protection: which though I confess I have done without his leave (as being modestly unwilling to encounter censure, or to oppose himself an object to envy) yet in that it hath received the currant stamp of approbation in the judgement of the wisest, and yourself (as I have heard) an auricular judge of the graceful delivery; I have in myself dissolved doubt, and confidently thwart imputation with this assurance, that it cannot but be grateful to the Reader, and come no less acceptable to you. And though myself am utterly unknown to you, yet as one bound to love virtue even in strangers, I honour it in you, and have been so much the rather induced to this dedication, by how much (I am informed) you are truly affected to this my dear friend, and a cherisher of his endeavours. Sir, you cannot lose by it; for learning will still be priest to honour her Maecenas, and such as favour Arts, chief those that labour in God's vineyard, & (like lamps) consume themselves to give light to others: I say such goodness and love extended to religion and the professors thereof, is the treasure laid up in heaven, and shall remain with the world of perpetual record. Thus having done (as I think) a thankful office, not greatly fearing the Author's displeasure, if you but approve my act, I refer you to the ensuing matter: resting  
Yours in devotion, for your vertue-favouring inclination, C. B.   
MATTH. 7.14. 
And few there be that find it.  
IT is the nature of every man to affect long life here in this world; and this Almighty God knew well; and therefore when he commanded the Israelites, that they should honour their parents, as a provocation to the performance of that duty, he proposeth this reward unto them, 
Exod. 20.12.  that their days should be long in the land which their Lord their God should give them. But albeit we are desirous to live long, and to see many days here in this life, yet because reason and experience teacheth us, that though we live long, yet at one time or other we shall be dissolved into our first dust; for terraes, 
Gen. 3.19.  & in terram reverteris, it was God his sentence against all flesh, Dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt again return: therefore the desire of man's nature stretcheth itself further, and not only content with long life here in this world, it affecteth a longer life, nay it affecteth an eternal life in the world to come. S. Paul's earnest desire was this, I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ: 
Philip. 1.23.  and old simeon when he had once seen our Saviour in the flesh, he sung this sweet requiem to his own soul, Lord, now let thy servant departed in peace. 
Luke 2.29.  Albeit life were no doubt sweet unto these two Saints of God, yet their desires aimed at a better thing; they were desirous to change corruption for incorruption, mortality for immortality, a life temporal and full of sorrows, for a life eternal and full of comfort. Now as this was the desire of these Saints of God, so no doubt it is (or at least it should be) the desire of all the sons of men: they should not only content themselves with the present possession of this life temporal, but they should hope & look for a life to come which is eternal. But in this it fareth with the world, as with those old Israelites which came with Moses out of Egypt; for though they were for their number many thousands, and all of them had a longing desire to enter into the land of Canaan, yet it was only granted but unto two of them, 
Numb. 14.30  unto Caleb and unto josuah: so in the Egypt of this world, in this place of palpable darkness, though the desires of most men be to enter into the kingdom of heaven, & to reign with Christ for ever; yet this heavenly blessing is not granted to all: 
Math. 20.16.  for as Christ himself saith, Many are called, but few are chosen; and as the way is broad, and the gate wide, that leadeth to destruction, in the verse going before, that is, as the way of sin, which leadeth men unto hell, is easy, and many there be which enter in thereat: so in the beginning of this verse, strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life; that is, a holy and a religious conversation in this world, which is the high way to lead men to the kingdom of heaven, is full of difficulties, and as our Saviour addeth in the words which I have read, they are but few that find it. To show you how a holy and religious conversation in this world, is that strait gate and that narrow way that leadeth unto life, would be a discourse both pleasing and profitable; but because that lies without the bounds and limits of my text, and the drift of my text is only this, that few men and few women do find out this way of life; therefore the sum of my discourse out of these words must be this, to examine those lets and hindrances, why among so many as seem to be in the way of a godly life, which is the way that leadeth to eternal life, so few there be that find it, that if we have not found out this way of life, we may now seek after it, and find it; and if we have already found it, that then we may persevere and continue in it. The lets then and the hindrances, why so few there are that do find the way of life, are of two sorts, ex part quaerentis, and ex part retrahentium, they either concern ourselves which are to seek the way, or they are such as do allure us, and withdraw us from the search of it. Hindrances in ourselves that are to seek the way, are especially these three: the first is coecitas rationis, the blindness of our reason and understanding, which is not able of itself to discern good from evil, the way of life from the way of death. The second is perversitas voluntatis, the peevishness and perverseness of our wills, which, albeit we discern the way, refuseth to walk in it. And the third is defectus perseverantiae, a want of perseverance. For although in our reason and understanding we are able to discern good from evil, the way of life from the way of death, and in our will are most ready to apprehend it; yet for want of perseverance and continuance in so good a course, currimus & non comprehendimus, many of us indeed do run, but few of us attain our journeys end. Of these three therefore in their order. And first for the blindness of our reason, which being not able to discern the way of life from the way of death, and by the fall of Adam prevailing over all the sons of Adam, is the first main let in us, why so few of us do find out this way of life.  

1. Blindness of reason.  
The time was, when in man there were these three things; wisdom of heart, purity of life, strength of body: but the soul of man by the suggestion of Satan, by the delectation which the apple promised, and by the consent which man yielded, fell from that high and beautiful Trinity. His wisdom was turned into blindness of heart, his strength was turned into weakness of body, and the purity of his life was changed into unclean behaviour: so that concerning his strength, that is now no better than a broken reed, as Rabshakeh spoke of Egypt; 
2. King. 18.21  and therefore David most advisedly in the 28. Psalm and 7. verse, said, Thou O Lord art my strength. The purity of his life, that, 
Esay 64.6.  said Esay, is like a stained and polluted cloth: and as for our reason and understanding, it is clean decayed in Adam. All the knowledge and understanding of man, is either moral, natural, or logical, all which three in man by sin are perished. For the end of moral knowledge being this, to prefer good things before evil things, man's reason in this is so corrupted that the evil things of this world, which have but an appearance of good, are preferred before good things indeed; and the good things indeed, they are rejected. You shall see this in the example of King Saul; 
1. Sam. 15.30.  for to be honourable in the sight of God, being true honour indeed, and to be honourable in the sight of men, being bonum apparens, but an outward shadow or an appearance of true honour; the reason of King Saul there is so blinded, that he refuseth to be honoured in the sight of God, and he desireth the Prophet rather to honour him before the people. And whereas the end of our natural knowledge, is to prefer those things which are most profitable for the use of man; our reason for the most part is so blinded herein, that we prefer in our judgements the things that are most hurtful. And lastly, whereas the end of our logical or discoursing reason, is to discern truth from falsehood, vanity from lies; this likewise is so corrupted in us, that we all, as the Prophet David saith, 
Psal. 4.2.  follow vanity, and seek after leasing: so that man having thus wonderfully lost his reason wherein he was created, that which God spoke in an Irony concerning man, the very beasts of the earth may say, and say truly, 
Gen. 3.22.  Man is become like one of us; and they have their warrant for it out of the 49. Psalm, and last verse, Man being in honour, understood not, but is like the beasts that perish: nay in this he is far worse than the brute beasts, 
Esay 1.3.  for the Ox knows his owner, and the Ass his master's crib, but Israel hath not known, my people hath not understood. Man's reason without God's grace, is even as Samson without his guide when his eyes were out, 
judg. 16.26.  without whose direction he could not find the pillars of the house; nor can the natural & carnal man find any pillar or principle of his faith, without God's grace guiding his steps to it. Solomon saith in the fourth of Ecclesiastes and tenth verse, Vae soli, Woe be unto him that is alone: and in this it is most true, for if man's reason be without God's grace to guide it, woe be unto it; it falls down, and there is none to help it up: and therefore our Saviour makes a manifest distinction between these two, God's grace, and man's reason, in that speech of his to Peter: 
Math. 16.17.  Blessed art thou Simon the son of jonas, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. It was not flesh and blood, it was not natural and carnal reason, but God's grace from above guiding his reason, that made Peter lay hold upon Christ the way of life, and made Christ to pronounce him blessed. Therefore a little after, when as God's grace and man's reason were separated, and that Peter with carnal persuasions sought to dehort Christ from his passion, 
vers. 22.  Sir, pity thyself, this shall not be unto thee: Christ then biddeth him avant, not by the name of Peter, or the son of jonas, or Cephas, but of Satan himself, Come behind me Satan. Peter's reason was then alone, and the light of God's grace had withdrawn her influence, and therefore no marvel if his counsel were such, as was both against his own and against the world's salvation. The Prophet David was well acquainted with this blindness of man's reason, and therefore he doth utterly reject it as his guide in the way of life, and betakes himself wholly to the guidance of God's good spirit: 
Psal. 143.10.  Let thy good Spirit, O Lord, lead me into the way of righteousness: and Psal. 27. Thou, 
Psal. 27.1.  O Lord, art my light and my salvation: my light against ignorance, my salvation against impotency: and in the 119. Psalm, Give me understanding O Lord, and I shall keep thy law. For as it was not possible for the Israelites to pass through the red sea, 
Exod. 14.  if God by a special miracle had not prepared their way, and made a passage for them: 
Chrysost. hom. 40. in Math.  so for man to pass from the ways of death unto the ways of life, from the ways of sin to the ways of righteousness, without the special mediation and help of divine grace it is not possible. This grace is that which is all in all unto us, and of this may that of our Saviour be most truly verified, 
john 15.5. Fulgent. de praed. ad Maxim. lib. 1.  Without me, you can do nothing. This is praeveniens, cooperans, subsequens; it preventeth us, that when we are down we may rise up, it accompanieth us to uphold us in our right course, and it must still follow us till we come to those eternal beatitudes. For can we promise any more to ourselves in finding out this way of life, than David in the 119. Psalm? I will run O Lord (saith he) the way of thy commandments, when thou hast set my heart at liberty. Can we run with our feet, before our heart be prepared? or can we run with our heart before God had enlarged it? Can we run the way without the way, which is Christ jesus, a way which we cannot see, till our eyes be enlightened? not so: but when as God shall have opened the eyes of our understanding, then with David may we see the wonderful things of God's law, and then with him may we run the way of his commandments, when as God shall have set our hearts at liberty. But before, we do all (even the best of us) lie lame, and impotent, like the cripple at the pool of Bethesda: 
john 5.5.  all the days and years of our times are spent like his without the case of our infirmities, and the virtue of the waters of life like those waters in that pool, can never comfort us. Seeing therefore that man's reason, since the fall of our first father Adam, is so clean perished and decayed in itself, that of itself it is not able to make choice of that which is good, it remaineth for a truth, that unless God's grace do accompany man's reason, as the Angel did Toby, & do go before it as the star did before the wise men unto Christ; man shall never be able to walk in the way, nay he shall never be able to find out the way that should lead him unto life, but he shall go on like a natural and carnal man in that broad beaten path which leadeth unto death. So that you see man's reason, being not able to discern good from evil, the way of life from the way of death, and by the fall of Adam prevailing over all the sons of Adam, to be one main let in us, why so few of us do find out this way of life.   

2. Perverseness of will.  
But let us grant that man's reason were such in him, and so well rectified, as that he could discern good from evil, the way of life from the way of death; yet is there a second let & impediment in man, and that is perversitas voluntatis, the peevishness, the perverseness of his will. It was the error of the old Manichees, and it is at this day the practice of many profane Christians, evermore to cast their sins upon God, excusing themselves, and accusing him as the author of their iniquities; but the Scriptures are all directly against this; for as they make God to be the sole cause and author of all happiness and good that befalleth man: so do they make man the sole cause and author of all evil that betides himself. It is Gods own speech in the Prophet, 
Hosea. 13.9.  Perditio tua ex teô Israel, salus ex me; O Israel thy salvation is from me, but thy destruction and ruin from thyself. As some locks there are, which will lock without a key, but without a key they never can be opened; so without a key, I mean without any other means then their own proper sins, men may shut up the the gates of God's kingdom against themselves; but without the key of God's mercy and gracious goodness to them, it never can be opened. And as the Magicians of king Pharaoh had indeed power to bring plagues into the land of Egypt, 
Exod. 7.  but had no power to remove the plagues thence: so men of themselves may be the authors of death unto themselves, but to give unto themselves either the life of grace, or the life of glory, they have no ability. God is so far from barring up the gate of his kingdom against any, that he setteth it wide open unto all; I will not the death of a sinner, but that he live & be saved; & in the Gospel, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, 
Math. 11.28.  and I will refresh you; but such is the perverseness of man's will, such the obstinacy and rebellion of his corrupt nature, that though God doth offer grace, yet man will not accept it, though he do as it were chalk him out the way that should lead him unto life, yet he will not walk in it, yea though he lay before him the crown of eternal glory, as his reward and recompense, yet will he take no labour or pain for it. If then man by following the sway of his crooked & corrupt will, and by rejecting the good means which God giveth for his salvation, do eternally perish, let him not lay the fault upon God, but upon his own peevish & perverse will. You shall see the truth of this by a most familiar example, and yet such a one, as a whole general Council hath thought fit for the illustration of it. If two men should fall out of a ship, 
Con Colonien.  and there were no way to save them but by casting forth a rope unto them whereby they might be drawn up; if one of them shall lay hold of it and be drawn up, but the other in the peevishness and perverseness of his will shall refuse the means of his deliverance; is it not a clear case that he which lays hold upon the rope, is saved by the great kindness of him that threw it out, but the other which obstinately refuseth it, perisheth by his own perverse will. Even thus and no otherwise doth the case stand with us; for by one man sin hath entered into the world, and we are all cast out as it were from that ark of innocency in which we were created: But behold the great mercy of God unto man, he casteth forth (if I may so speak) a rope to save us, he hath sent his son into the world, 
john. 3.16.  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If then thou dost lay hold upon this means of thy salvation, by the hand of a lively faith, thou must acknowledge God to be the author thereof; but if in the perverseness of thy will thou dost refuse it, than thy perishing, it proceedeth from thyself, from thy obstinate and rebellious will. This Saint Austin knew to be most true, and therefore he was bold to say, Non est punitor Deus antequàm peccator homo: God never doth become a punisher, till man first becomes a sinner, and we see it to be true in that speech of Samuel unto Saul, 
1. Sam. 15.26.  thou hast wilfully cast away the Lord, and this (saith Samuel) is the cause of thy rejection, why the Lord hath cast away thee. This perverseness of will was that, which in the days of our Saviour kept the people of the jews from finding the way of life, and this is that which in these days of the Gospel keeps many of us from finding it. As Christ said unto them, 
Math. 23.37.  so may he not as truly say unto us, Quoties volui sed noluistis? How often would I but you would not? hath not God (to use that speech in the Gospel) piped unto you by us, and you have not danced? 
Luke. 7.32.  hath not he mourned unto you by us, and you have not wept? 
2. King. 4.31.  have not we the Prophets, by the appointment of our master Christ, laid the staff of God's justice and God's mercy upon you that are dead in sin, as Gehezi did his masters staff on the dead child, and like him you are not revived? hath not God called early and late unto you (as unto his people the jews) for an absolute relinquishment of sin? hath he not cried (even out of this place) by the shrillest trumpets that our land had, to magistrates, do justly, to officers, live not by bribes, to citizens, gain not by usury, to country gentlemen, grow not great by your poor neighbour's oppression, to all, do unto others as you would be done unto? Verily all this hath God done to bring us to the ways of life, but with very bad success; for so voluntary an opposition there is between man's perverse will, and this holy will of God, that iniquity hath the chair still, triving writs are in most offices, Mammon is the citizens God; and the mortar, I may not say of all, but of many of your goodly buildings abroad, are tempered with the tears of Orphans. In this man reigns pride, in that man dissension, in a third envy, in a fourth dissimulation, in some bribery, in some perjury, and in most hypocrisy; yea the whole land is covered with a flood of sin, as the old world with a flood of waters, and men swim up and down in it like fishes in the sea, by the motion of their own passions: so that that speech which God taketh up against the jews, he may fitly take up against us, and say, I have laboured to purge thy filthiness, but thou art not purged. God hath called to the carnal man to forsake his beastly pleasures, to the covetous man to relinquish his insatiable desires, to the drunken man to forbear barrelling up Gods creatures in his belly, to the blasphemers to leave their swearing, to the hypocrites to leave dissembling, to all of us to leave sinning, and to run the way of his commandments here in earth, that hereafter we might receive a crown of glory in heaven: but what hath been our answer? surely from the frowardness of our hearts, and from the obstinate rebellion of our perverse wills, we have cried with Pharaoh, Quis est Dominus? Who is the Lord, that we should serve him? or the God of jacob, that we should regard him? If therefore we are desirous to have this perverseness of our will removed from us, which we know in most of us to be a great means to keep us from the ways of life, than our best course is evermore to subject our wills unto the will of God. Now the subjecting of our will unto God's will, consisteth in these three: 
Bernard. serm. contra pessimum vitium ingratitudinis.  first that we absolutely will those things which we certainly know God willeth; then that we absolutely nile those things which we certainly know God nilleth: and lastly, that in those things whereof we are uncertain whether God doth will or nill them, neither must we altogether will them, neither must we altogether refuse them: & so subjecting every way our will unto the will of God, this perverseness of will, which in most of us is a second let to keep us from finding the way of life, will be removed.   

3. Want of perseverance.  
Many there be which are willing and desirous to attain eternal life, but yet they will take no pains in the performance of God's commandments, not unlike unto Naaman the Syrian, who coming to the Prophet to be cured of his leprosy, and the Prophet willing him only to wash in jordan seven times and he should be clean; he stomaketh the matter, and breaketh out into these words, 
2 King. 5.  I thought (saith he) that he would have come out unto me, and have called on the name of his God, and have laid his hands upon me, and so I should be healed. Here are three things which Naaman would have done for him: first he will have the Prophet to come forth: secondly, to call upon his God: thirdly to lay his hands upon him; but in the mean time there is not the least pains mentioned to be undertaken by himself. And surely look how it was with Naaman in the curing of his leprous body; so it is with most of us in the curing of our leprous souls: we will have God to do all for us, but we will do nothing for ourselves; our desire shall be as great for the cleansing of our leprous souls, as naaman's was for the cleansing of his leprous body: but if it once come unto this, thou must wash thyself in jordan seven times, that is, thou must bathe thy sinful soul in the pool of repentance, and enter in at the strait gate of a holy and religious life; then with Naaman we fall to murmuring, and we stick not to say in effect as he said, that we look for a more easy kind of cure in our conversion. But let us grant that we are willing to perform whatsoever is prescribed unto us for the finding of this way of life, yet unless we do persevere and continue even unto the end in that course, it is to small purpose. To have the Ark of God for a while, 
1. Sam. 5.  did more endanger the Philistines then benefit them: and so for men to serve God for a while in a virtuous and religious course of life, will more hurt then help them; 
2. Pet. 2.21.  for better it is not to have known the way of truth, than not to persist in it; and far more happy are those men, who have not entered at all into the ways of life, than judas and such wicked ones as he, whose ends are worse than their beginnings. We do read in the Gospel, 
Math. 20.8.  that some men came into the vineyard in the morning, and that some came in at noon, but none of these did receive the reward but such as stayed until night; to give us to understand, that they are not initia Christianorum, sed fines, not the good beginnings, but the good end of Christians which the Lord crowneth. The Church of Thyatira in the Revelation, is much commended for this virtue: 
Revel. 2.19.  I know thy faith, and thy works, and thy love, and that thy last works are more than thy first: and the conclusion of the Epistle unto that Church, and of all the other Epistles is this; not he that draws his sword, not he that fighteth the battles of the Lord, not he that spends his blood and after fainteth, but he that persevereth and continueth to the end, shall eat of the tree of life. 
Bern. Epist. 129  For without perseverance, nec qui pugnat victoriam, nec palmam victor consequitur; neither he which fighteth the Lords battles against sin and Satan can have the victory, nor he which overcometh can have the crown of glory. It is a notable remembrance which our Saviour Christ giveth us in the Gospel from the example of Lot's wife, 
Luke 17.31.  and which Saint Bernard amplifieth very fitly to this purpose, Memento uxoris Loth, 
Epist. 2.  de Sodoma quidem eiectae, quia Deo credidit, sed in via mutatae, quia retro aspexit: Remember Lot's wife, how she was brought indeed out of Sodom, because she believed God, but was changed by the way into a pillar of salt, because she looked back. God hath commanded us as he did Lot and his wife, that we should come out of Sodom, that is, that we should forsake our sins, and not so much as look back unto sin, but run in haste till we come into heaven which is our Zoar. If therefore with Lot's wife we will look back in our way to the pleasantness of sin, we shall be sure with her to taste the bitterness of her punishment; for as she, ubi respexit, 
Gen. 19.26.  ibi remansit, where she looked back, there she stood still, and came not unto Zoar where her life should have been saved: so if once we have abandoned sin, which is the broad way that leadeth unto death, and have entered into a holy and religious course, which is this narrow way that leadeth unto life, if then with Lot's wife we go not forward, but look backward to our former delights of sin, it is impossible for us to come to Zoar, that is unto heaven, where our souls and bodies should be saved. They are our Saviour Christ his own words, in the ninth of Luke and the last verse, No man putting his hand unto the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. 
Exod. 16.26.  The Israelites were commanded, not once in a month, nor once in a week, but every day to gather Manna, except upon the Sabbath day; to teach them and to teach us, that till such time as we come unto that eternal Sabbath of our everlasting rest in heaven, we must never stand still in the way of a godly life, but every day be going forward. Apelles' posy was, Nulla dies sine linea, Let no day pass from me without drawing one line at the least: and Titus the Emperor was wont to say, 
Sueton. in Tit. Amici, diem perdidimus. Ezech. 47.4.  that he had lost that day in which he did no good. As the waters in Ezechiel rose by degrees, first to the ankles, then unto the knees, then unto the loins, and lastly to the head; and as the wheat which Christ speaks of, 
Mark 4.28.  grew up riper and riper, first there was a blade, than the ear, than the full corn, and lastly came the harvest: so like those waters we must grow higher and higher, till we come unto our head Christ; and like that wheat we must grow riper and riper, till we come to the harvest which is the end of the world. There is in Persia a stone called Selenites, 
Plin. lib. vlt.  cuius interior candour cum Luna crescit & decrescit, whose inward whiteness increaseth and decreaseth as the Moon. The devotion of Christians must not be like this stone, still changing, and continuing no longer in one mood then a sparrow lights upon the ground; but we must proceed in the way of righteousness, even as Abraham went to Canaan, that is, we must eundo pergere, still be going; and as those kine of the Philistines which bore the Ark of God, 
1. Sam. 6.  though they were milk, & had calves at home, yet without turning either to the right or left hand, they kept on their way to Bethshemesh: so having once joined ourselves unto the yoke of Christ, and bearing the ark of his law upon our shoulders in the way of a virtuous life, though we have many allurements to draw us back, as those kine had their calves; yet without turning either to the right or left hand, we must keep our way to Bethshemesh, that is, unto the house of the Sun (for so the word signifieth) where the Son of God reigneth. In the 13. of Saint Matthew, the kingdom of God is described in this manner; It is as a grain of Musterdseed, at first the least of all seeds; 
Math. 13.31.  but when a man hath sown it in his field, it becometh first an herb, than the greatest of herbs, thirdly a tree, lastly the birds make arbours and shades in the bows of it. Now why should the kingdom of God be compared unto this seed which is still increasing? verily no better reason can be given for it then this, that we may all learn, not to stand still in our Christian growth, but to presevere and go on from grace unto grace, till we become perfect men in Christ jesus. As the star never ceased going, 
Math. 2.9.  till it came unto the house where Christ was: so if we be once entered into the way of a holy and religious life, we must never stand still, but continue still going, till we come unto heaven where God is. If we have faith, we must then go from faith to faith; if we have love, we must continue and abide in love; if we have zeal, we must labour to be consumed with zeal; if we give alms, we must go a step further, and give it with cheerfulness; and as God hath continued a chain of his good graces unto us, first by predestinating, secondly by calling, 
Rom. 8.30.  thirdly by justifying, four by glorifying us: so must we continue a chain of our graces towards God, by giving all diligence, 
2. Pet. 1.5.6.  as the Apostle Saint Peter speaketh, to join virtue with our faith, and with our virtue knowledge, and with our knowledge temperance, and with our temperance patience, and with our patience godliness, and never leave joining the links of that golden chain there joined, till our bodies and souls come to be disjoined. But (beloved) if the want of any virtue is to be lamented in this age, it is the want of this virtue of all virtues, perseverance. For if we take a view of all estates of men, even from the highest to the lowest, shall we not be so far from finding any increase or growth in Christian duties, any going forward in the way of righteousness from grace unto grace, 
Indies deficit in agris agricola Cyp. con. Deme.  and from strength unto strength, that we shall rather find an universal falling away and defection in them? Is there not now (as S. Cyprian justly complained in his time) a daily defection in the world, both of men, and of men's manners? Is there not a defection of the husbandman in the field, of the mariner at the sea, of citizens in towns, of townsemen in villages? Is there not a defection of innocency in the court, of justice in judgement, of concord in friendship, of workmanship in arts, of discipline in manners? Where is that zeal unto the word, that hunger & thirst after the waters of the well of life, that was wont to be among us? Do we still thirst after these waters of the well of life, 
2. Sam. 23.  as David for the waters of the well of Bethlem? Nay rather are we not come unto that fullness and satiety, 
Numb. 11.7.  that we even loath these waters of life, as Israel loathed Manna? If it were not so, then should we not see so many in all places to love better the thresholds of their doors, and their benches in aleboothes, than they love the courts and seats of the Lords temple. The time was, when with gladness we have received this word upon all occasions, and entertained this heavenly food of our souls (as Elias food for his body) with all thankfulness, 
1. King. 17.  even then, when a black Raven hath brought it unto us, I mean men but meanly qualified. But now unto so low an ebb is our zeal and devotion come, that though Angels from heaven bring it, I mean men excellently qualified, and able sufficiently to perform the work of right faithful Evangelists, yet men reject it, nay which is worse, they even resolve with Ahab not at all to hear Michea; 
1. King. 22.  not because Michea prophesieth evil unto them and not good, 
2. Kin. 13.14.  but because Michea is not a preacher qualified in all points according to their humours. But to leave our love unto the word, let us descend unto our love to those that labour in the word, and for which love many places in this land have been much commended. True it is, we have been as affectionate unto them as king joas was to Elizeus, ascribing more unto them for the good of the whole land, then to all our chariots and our horsemen. It is true, we have entertained them as the Galathians did Saint Paul, not only as the Angels of God, but as jesus Christ himself, yea we have given no less honour unto them, 
Gal. 4.13.  than the men of Lysia unto Barnabas & Paul, freely confessing of these, as they confessed of them, 
Act. 14.11.  that gods were come down unto us in the likeness of men. I add yet more, (that you may see unto what a fearful relapse we are now in this age come, 
Aquin. in hunc locum. lict. 3. ) that double honour both of countenance, and maintenance, (of countenance for their place, of maintenance for their service) which they that labour in the word are worthy of, saith S. Paul: 
1. Timoth 5.17.  this double honour have we yielded and offered unto them as their due in the amplest manner. But have we so continued, have we persevered in this love? I must be faithful in my masters house with Moses, and speak a truth without flattery; I say boldly in the fear of God concerning this, as the Angel saith unto the Church of Ephesus; we are become changelings, 
Revel. 2.4.  and have lost our former love. For first for countenance; now every upstart that hath scraped but a little pelf together by the patchings of his brain, will be deadly opposite unto no man more than to God's minister. And as for maintenance, the time indeed was, when with the good Shunamite you have provided for Elias a chamber, 
2. King 4.  a stool, a table, and a candlestick, and have come unto the Prophets, as Christ unto the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, 
john 5.6.  Vis sanus fieri? wilt thou be maintained? wilt thou be beneficed? But now so are the times, and with the times so are men changed, that you take from Elias his chamber, his stool, his table, and his candlestick. You do come unto the Prophets, not as Christ to the man before mentioned, Vis sanus fieri? wilt thou be beneficed? but as judas to the high Priest, when he sold his master, Quid mihi dabitis & ego tradam vobis? what will you give me and I will give you a presentation? And though the visible judgement of God be upon such sacrilege, for it thrives with them as the Ark of God among the Philistines, 
1. Sam. 5.1.  and as the flesh which an Eagle sometime carried from an altar to her nest; a coal of God's wrathful indignation is carried with it, which in time consumeth them and their young: though I say, this visible judgement of God be upon such sacrilege, yet the eyes in our heads may fail with the expectation of that day, when the chambers of the Lord his house which Tobiah the Ammonite hath seized into his hands, 
Nehem. 13.  should be restored again to their ancient institution for the maintenance of the Levites. What should I speak in particular of that steadfastness in faith, that modesty in words, that uprightness in our actions, that mercy in our works, that discipline in our manners, that love and unity among neighbours and brethren, which in the Primitive Church was the glory of the first Christians, and in some good measure hath heretofore been seen among us? Verily our coldness in all these, as in the former, is a plain demonstration, that albeit we have laid our hands unto the plough of the best husbandry in the whole world, yet we have looked back; and albeit we have made some small entrance into the way of a virtuous life, yet we have started aside, and fallen from it again for want of perseverance. To draw this then to a conclusion. If we look upon all the sons of Adam, who are bound by the commandment of God to seek after the way of life, and in them if we well consider, first the blindness of their reason, which is not able of itself without Gods assisting grace, to discern the way of life from the way of death: secondly the perverseness and obstinacy of their wills, which albeit they know the way, yet refuseth to walk in it: and lastly their backsliding and want of perseverance, when haply they have begun; if (I say) we consider all these, bearing sway for the most part with most of Adam's sons, we may then say, and say truly, even as our Saviour Christ saith in my text, They are few (yea very few) that do find the way of life.  
Now as this is a manifest and certain truth, that there be few that do find the way of life, if we consider the hindrances in ourselves that seek the way; so in the next place, if we shall take a view of those things which do retrahere, which do allure us and withdraw us from the search of this way, it will appear more plain unto us. The things then which do usually detain and keep us back from the search of this way of life, are these three old and ancient enemies of man, 
Bern. medit. cap. 14.  Mundus, Caro, Diabolus: the world, the flesh, the devil: and these three having drawn as many men unto their part, as the Dragon drew the stars of heaven with his tail, Revelat. 12.4. it must needs follow that their number should be very small that go on in the way of life. I will touch them all three in their order, and give you such caveats out of God's book against each of them, that if we be once entered into the way of a godly life, which is the narrow way that must lead us to eternal life, neither the world with his enticements, nor the flesh with her allurements, nor the devil with his suggestions unto sin, shall be able to withdraw us from it. First then for the world, which is the first enemy that opposeth us in the way of life.   

The World.  
The tribes of Reuben and Gad being alured by the beauty and fatness of the ground on this side jordan, 
Numb. 32.12.  thought the land of Canaan in goodness to be far inferior to it, and therefore they did set up their rest there, and would go no further: and thus it is with most men, who are or should be in this world travelers unto the kingdom of heaven. For when they see the beauty and fatness of this world wherein they live, and that that is true of it which the citizens of jericho said once to Elisha concerning their city: Behold, the situation of the place is fair, and the ground pleasant; therefore with those two tribes of Gad and Reuben they will go no further; 
Math. 17.4.  but as Peter said in the mount beholding Christ's glory, so say they beholding the glory of this world, Bonun est esse hîc, It is good for us to be here. And indeed as Ulysses soldiers having once tasted of that poisonous cup which the Lotor phagis gave unto them, 
Hom. Odies. pag. 247.  they were never after desirous to go into their own country: so the greatest part of men in the world being poisoned as it were with the pleasures and delights of it, they desire to have their residence still in this life, & they never look after that way that should bring them to eternal life. This the Apostle Saint john knew very well, and therefore to withdraw the affections of men from the enticements of the world, he giveth this counsel, Love not the world. 
1. Epi. Ioh 2. 1●  Upon which words of the Apostle, 
Serm. in verba Petri. Ecce nos reliquimus omnia  Saint Bernard maketh this question, Vis nosse quis sit qui diligit mundum? Wilt thou know who it is that doth love the world? then mark (saith he) what the Apostle addeth, Love not the world nor the things of the world; as if he had said, they that love the things of the world, they are those that love the world, and in loving them, they are drawn from the ways of life: for, 
August. de verbis Dom. in Mat. serm. 33.  amor rerum terrenarum viscus est spiritualium pennarum: The love of earthly things is even as bird-lime to the spiritual wings of men's souls that they cannot mount to heaven. And as the spirit of God making David apt and fit for the government of the kingdom, 
1. Sam. 16.  was not upon David till the same spirit was departed from Saul: so the spiritual blessings and graces of God cannot possibly rest upon men, till such time as the love of this world is departed from them. And therefore our Saviour in the Gospel very fitly answereth the man that was desirous to follow him but to make a worldly gain by that profession, The foxes have their holes, 
Luke 9.58.  and the birds of the air their nests, but the Son of man hath not where to rest his head: meaning that worldly affections and desires had taken up the possession of his heart, and that therefore there was no room in his heart for the son of man to lodge in. Now if you would know of me what the things of the world are which usually withdraw most of us from the ways of life, because to speak thus of the world is too general, 
1. Ep. joh. 2.16  I answer from the Apostle Saint john; they are ambition and pride of the world, lust and concupiscence of the flesh, covetousness and insatiable desire of filthy lucre; these 3. Ambition, Lust, & Covetousness, which are not of the Father but of the world; these are the chief things of the world, & unto which all other worldly things may be referred, which withdraw us from the way of life. You shall see the truth of all these together in one chapter, Luke 14. Where when a certain man had made a great supper, and bad many, (under whom is shadowed out God the Father inviting men unto the banquet of grace in this life, and so consequently unto that eternal supper of glory in the world to come:) the first excused himself thus, that he had bought a farm; in which, say the expositors, are taxed the ambitious men of this world, whose whole delight is to gather farms and Lordships into their hands, to be accounted Kings on earth. The seconds excuse is, that he had bought a yoke of oxen, in which are taxed the covetous men, whose whole time of life is spent and employed in nothing else but in bargaining to get money. And the third man's answer is, that he had married a wife, and therefore he could not come; by which we see, that carnal concupiscence is a great hindrance unto men in following the way of life. But of that by itself anon: I will now amplify a little the other two in this first branch of the world. First then for the ambitious affectation of worldly honours.   

Ambition.  
In that the devil in the fourth of Matthew did seek to persuade our Saviour Christ to fall down and to worship him, by promising him the kingdoms of the world; it is a clear demonstration, considering the wisdom of the devil, that honour and preferment is able to draw men out of the right way; for although this temptation did not prevail with Christ who was both God and man, yet it hath, and doth, & will prevail with men. Our mother Eva had honour and royalty enough, she was lady of Paradise, and not only of Paradise, but of all the earth beside; and yet neither the earth nor Paradise can content her mind, but she must either be Similis altissimo, 
Gen. 3.  like unto the most high, she must be the Queen of heaven, or she will break the commandment of God. Did not this think you, work strongly upon Balaam, 
Numb. 22.  when it made him saddle up his ass, and in hope of high favours and preferments from the king, to ride post with the Princes of Moab to curse God's people? Hath not this caused Abimelek to become a butcher to his own brethren? and Herod the king, 
judg. 9.5. joseph. lib. 15. Antiq. cap. 2.  that he might more peaceably enjoy that crown into which before most ambitiously he had crept, not to regard the life, either of friends, of wife, of children? 
2. Sam. 15.  Did not this cause Absalon most unnaturally to thirst after the life and crown of his own father? 
Hest. 3.6.  and Haman to thirst after the life not of one private man alone, but of all the people of the jews in the kingdom of Assuerus? The trap which the devil set to ensnare our mother Eve, was hope of higher dignity, 
Gen. 3.5.  and this one subtlety of his, Eritis tanquam Dij, You shall be as Gods shining in honour and glory above other men, it hath heretofore been, and it is at this day, the foundation & root of rebellions, treasons, murders, thefts, & of such damnable machiavellian policies as are hardly to be found even among the Gentiles; & as it was the speech of Agrippina the Emperor Nero's mother, when she heard that her son Nero should be Emperor, 
Sueton. in Nerone.  but yet should kill his mother in his Empire; Occidat, modò imperet, Let him kill me, so he may be Emperor: so I pray God that by the persuasion of the devil, it be not a settled resolution in the hearts of many, Let me perish, not temporally with Agrippina, but eternally both in soul and body, if so be in this life I may have places of preferment, either in church or commonwealth.   

Riches.  
Now for the wealth and riches of the world, that they likewise as well as worldly honours are a means to draw us from the ways of life, it is a case clearly decided by our Saviour Christ in the 19 of Saint Matthew; 
Mat. 19.20.21  for when the young man had made this question unto Christ, Master, what shall I do to attain eternal life? and Christ his answer was, Keep the commandments; and his reply to that was, I have kept them from my youth up; and Christ his replication to him again was, Yet thou wantest one thing, Sell all that thou hast, and give it to the poor: at that saying (saith the text) he departed sorrowful, and the cause of his sorrow is there noted to be this, He had great possessions and was rich: and therefore our Saviour is bold in the 23. verse to set down this as a conclusion, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. But were it not a case thus cleared by our Saviour Christ, yet if we will but look into the qualities and conditions of rich men, we shall find their wealth to have been, and to be unto them an occasion of many grievous and gross sins, by means whereof they are kept from the ways of life. For to begin first with the sin of pride (a sin so hateful in God's eyes, that it cast our first parents out of Paradise, and Lucifer from heaven to hell,) to begin (I say) with the sin of pride, mark it when you will, you shall see that where store of wealth is, there commonly is store of pride: and therefore among other charges which Saint Paul gives to Timothy, this is not left out, 
1. Tim. 6.17.  namely that he should charge rich men that they be not high minded. And the heathen man Tully describing the qualities of the rich, 
In Orat. de lege Agrar ad Quirit.  which for the most part are very intolerable, among others he setteth down pride for one, and his instance is in the men of Campania; Campani semper superbi bonitate agrorum & fructuum: The men of Campania are ever high minded and proud, in regard of the store of fruits, and of corn which their country yieldeth: and it is not only true in them, 
2. Lib. Rhet.  but as Aristotle saith, it holdeth in all rich men in all countries whatsoever. But if this sin of pride did only accompany our earthly riches, it were well; sed ecce venit Gad, behold there are a great company of sins more: for as they do breed in us pride of heart, to the contempt of our poor neighbours; so do they corrupt our memories to the forgetfulness of God. This Moses knew to be true, and therefore he giveth this caveat to the children of Israel: 
Deut. 6.10.  When the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee, with goodly cities which thou buildedst not, with houses full of all manner of goods which thou filledst not, with vineyards and Olive trees which thou plantedst not; when thou hast eaten and art full, then take heed and beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God. Yea so common a thing it is for worldly riches to make men forget God, that Solomon himself, though he were wiser than other men, and so consequently better able to resist sin; yet he maketh it his earnest suit unto God, O Lord give me neither poverty nor riches; 
Prou. 30.8.  not poverty, lest I steal, and take the name of my God in vain; & not riches, lest I be too full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? For albeit I persuade myself, that there be many both in this city and in other places of the land, who in a thankful remembrance of God's goodness and bounty to them, do confess with jacob, 
Gen. 32.10.  I came over this jordan with my staff, and lo I have now gotten two bands: I came poor and without provision to this place, and lo I have not only gotten great wealth, but such honour also, that I sit with Princes: yet look we generally upon the courses of the rich, and we shall find it to be true, that as the Moon when she is at the full, she is then farthest from the Sun, of whom she doth receive her light; so men, when they are fullest of earthly riches and blessings, they are then commonly farthest from God, from whose fullness they have received them. And as pride and forgetfulness of God do accompany our earthly riches; so a third evil of them is, that they make men to offend and sin in luxury. In the twelfth of Luke and 19 verse, the great rich man, whose grounds brought forth fruit plentifully, he thinks on nothing but his belly; Soul, now thou hast much goods for many years, live at ease, eat, drink, follow thy pleasure. And in the fifteenth of Luke, the younger of the two brethren having received that portion of goods which belonged to him, he spends it all in few days in gluttony, and venery. Fourthly, whereas the word of God is a special means to bring us to salvation, these worldly riches choke the word, and make it unfruitful. You may see it in the thirteenth of Saint Matthew, 
Mat. 13.22.  where our Saviour expounding the parable of the sour, saith thus: He that receives the seed among the thorns is he that hears the word, but the care of the world & the deceitfulness of riches choke the word in him, and he is made unfruitful. Fiftly, whereas it is a true note of the true child of God, evermore to be weary of this sinful world, 
Philip. 1.23.  and to desire with Saint Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ; these earthly riches do make those which have them loath to die, yea with a good will a rich man would not so much as think of death: saith the wise man: O death, 
Eccles. 41.1.  how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at rest and ease in his possessions? And as worldly riches are an occasion of these evils; so lastly are they the cause of Idolatry, yea the covetous affectation of them, saith Saint Paul, 
Ephes. 5.5.  is Idolatry. And that it is so, the Divines collect it thus: for whereas the true worship and service of God doth consist in these three, in diligendo, honorando, 
Bonaven. Centiloq. part. 1. sect. 22.  & in ipso confidendo: In loving God, in honouring God, in putting our whole confidence and trust in God. The Mammonists of this world do take all these from God and give them to their riches. For first, though the precept run thus, 
Deut. 6.5.  Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might, yet do these men take this love from God, and bestow it on their wealth: and therefore Saint john that he might meet with this, 
1. Epi joh. 2.15 Psal. 62.2.  he giveth this caveat: Love not the world; and the Prophet David: If riches increase, yet (saith he) do not set your hearts upon them. And for the second which is honour, whereas it is the Angel's speech unto us that dwell upon the face of the earth: 
Revel. 14.7.  Honour and worship him that hath made the heaven & the earth, the sea and the fountains of waters; these men, as it is in the eight of Hosea and fourth verse, Of their silver and their gold do they make them Idols, their silver and gold is the god they worship. And lastly for confidence and trust, 
Prou. 16.20.  whereas the wise man saith: Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord: these are like unto the man of whom the Prophet David speaketh: 
Psal. 52.1.  Behold the man that took not God for his strength, but trusted in the multitude of his riches. So that the riches of the world, as well as the honours of the world, are occasions, you see, unto men of many sins, by which they are drawn from the ways of life. If therefore we are desirous to prevent these and the like enticements of the world, lest by them we be deceived, and so caused to err from the paths of life; our best course is evermore to consider of this world as it is, and not as it seemeth. Caligula the Emperor set golden loaves and other services of whole gold before his guests, and bade them eat. Indeed they had a glorious show to look upon, but there was nothing in them to eat and to drink, for the contentation of nature. And such, & no other are the dainties which the world proposeth unto us, both in wealth and honour; they have (I confess) a glorious show to the eye, but the substance of them being well considered is but vanity. First for honour, let Haman speak, who was next unto the King, 
Ester 2.1.  and with him was alone invited to the banquet of Queen Hester; 
Ester 5.4.  and when he hath said all that he can for his honour, yet the conclusion of all must be this, that it was but vanity: for in that day in which he was entertained with such royalty at the banquet of Queen Hester, 
Ester 7.1.10.  in that same day was he hung upon the gallows which he made for Mordecay; at the commandment of the King, who before had highly honoured him at the request of the Queen, who before had invited him. How highly was our Saviour graced and dignified by the people of the jews? In the 6. 
john 6.15.  of john they would have made him King; in the 12. 
john 12.13.  of john they cut down branches of palm trees, and meet him singing sweetly, Hosanna, Blessed art thou that comest in the name of the Lord: but see the inconstancy of this people, and the mutability of this worldly honour; they who before had cried Hosanna, Blessed art thou that comest in the name of the Lord, not many days after, even the fift day, 
In cap. 2. Mat.  as Saint Hierome hath observed, they cry as earnestly against him, Crucifige, let him be crucified. So true is that which Saint Bernard hath concerning worldly honour, Vanitas est huius seculi dignitas, cum magna expectatione speratur ut veniat, sed non potest teneri cum venerit: The honours and preferments of the world are but mere vanities, they are long looked for of men to come with great expectation; but when once they have them, they are so short and fleeting, that they cannot keep them. And for the wealth and riches of the world, if you will not believe Solomon upon his word when he calleth them vanity, 
Eccles. 1.2.  yet believe them to be vanity, even for this, because they will have either thy end, or their end; 
job 1.  their end, as they had in job, who from great wealth came unto a low ebb of poverty: or thy end, as they had in the rich man, who when he sung a long lasting requiem to his soul in the multitude of his riches, 
Luk. 12.19.20  had his soul the same night taken away from him. And is there then (beloved) such vanity in this world, & in the best things which this world proposeth both in wealth and honour; and shall we for the gaining of this, leave the gaining of such a world as is not subject unto vanity? Shall we leave gold for dross, pearl for glass, heaven for earth, the permanent & everlasting joys of the one, for the momentary and transitory delights of the other? The eyes of the brute beasts are turned downward to the earth, to seek for nothing but meat for their bellies; At os homini sublime dedit; But the face and countenance of man is lifted upward unto heaven, to behold God who hath made all for man, and man for himself: let us then leave the world and the things of the world unto the beasts, to whom properly it belongeth, and let us send up the affections of our hearts unto heaven, where our inheritance is reserved. 
Gen. 28.11.  And as jacob in that his journey unto Padan-Aram is said to sleep in the way; so while we live here in this world, which is nothing else but a passage to a better life, or if you will so call it, our way and journey to the heavenly Canaan, let us sleep and be at rest from the desire of temporal things whatsoever: let heaven become our object, and earth become our abject. The desires of our hearts, let them be placed upon things above: as for things beneath, let them be unto us as unto Saint Paul, 
Philip. 3.8.  even loss and dung in regard of the excellent knowledge of jesus Christ; as unto chrysostom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: a shadow and a dream, and lighter than these; as unto Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nothing, and worth nothing. Let us say with Peter and with Peter's affection, Behold master, 
Math. 19.27.  we forsake all and follow thee: let us say with Saint Paul I am non ego, sed vivit in me Christus, Now it is not I, 
Galat. 2.20.  but Christ which liveth in me; that is, as Saint Bernard expounds those words very fitly to this purpose: Ad alia quidem omnia mortuus sum, non sentio, non attendo, non curo; siqua verò sunt Christi, haec viwm inveniunt & paratum: Concerning these earthly and worldly matters, I have no sense or feeling of them, by my reason I condemn them, and from my heart I abandon them; but if there be mention made of Christ, and of finding the ways of life, than my decayed spirits gather strength, than all the powers and faculties of my soul will me to cry with the Prophet David: Paratum est cor meum, 
Psal. 57.7.  Domine: My heart is ready o Lord, my heart is ready. For otherwise if cleaving, by an inordinate affection and love, to this world and the things of it, we neglect and reject the ways of life; 
Deut. 3.27.  as Moses from the top of Pisgah might behold with his eyes the land of Canaan, but might not enter into it: & as the Syrians did hear Elisha speak, whom they desired to take, 
2. King. 6.29.  but could not take him: so with the outward ears of our bodies we may hear of the joys of another life, and with the intellectual eyes of our minds we may see that great glory which the just shall have hereafter, but ourselves shall never come into heaven, ourselves shall never be partakers of it. And as Lysimachus king of Lydia, having yielded himself into the hands of his enemies for a cup of cold water to quench his thirst, cried out; 
Plutarch.  O me hominem infoelicem, qui tantillae voluptatis gratia tantum amiserim regnum, o miserable and wretched man that I am, who for so short a pleasure have parted with so glorious a kingdom as the kingdom of Lydia: so when we shall see in the last day that by yielding too much unto this world, and the things of it, we have parted with the ways of life, and so consequently have yielded up ourselves into the hands of our spiritual enemies, we shall mourn and lament, we shall sigh and wring our hands; and all the dreadful torments which we shall then suffer, shall not wound and vex us so sore, as this one consideration, namely when we shall call to mind, that for the momentary and transitory pleasures of this word, we have parted with that same exceeding, 
2. Cor. 4.17.  eternal, surpassing weight of glory in the kingdom of heaven. And thus much shall serve to have spoken of the world, and of the things of the world, which is the first enemy that opposeth himself against man to keep him from the way of life. I come to the second enemy, and this is, Caro.   

The carnal lusts and desires of the flesh.  

●th. lib. 10. c. 5  Aristotle disputing of the nature and efficacy of pleasure, saith this, that a man which taketh greater delight in instrumental then in vocal music, if he hear the same physician both to play upon his instrument and to sing; the pleasure and delight which he conceiveth in hearing of the instrument, doth so lead away his affections, that he hath no care at all of the voice: and as this is true in music, so is it true (saith he) in all other things, when we intent two things at once, that which breedeth the greater pleasure and delight, for the most part doth evermore exclude the less. There being then in man two kinds of affections, carnal and spiritual, and all men for the most part taking greater delight in their carnal, then in their spiritual affections; of necessity it must come to pass, that their carnal affections do swallow up their spiritual, and so consequently they are so far from finding the ways of life, that there is in them no desire, no lust at all unto it. The sect and company of the Epicures (who maintained carnal pleasure to be the only summum bonum of this life) did swarm in greater abundance than any other sect did: non quòd veri aliquid afferat, 
Lactan. de falsa sap. cap. 17.  sed quia multos populare nomen voluptatis invitat; not because (saith Lactantius) there was any truth at all in their doctrine, but because the popular name of carnal pleasure is able to draw a world of men to it. Saint Paul confesseth of himself, 
Rom. 7.18.  that in his flesh there dwelled no good thing, and that he saw a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind; and not that only, 
vers. 23.  but that it led him away captive to the law of sin, insomuch that for very grief of heart he breaketh out into these words: Miser homo: 
vers. 24.  O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Saint Hierome writeth of himself, 
In Epist. ad Eustoch.  that albeit he led a most strict and austere life in the wilderness, exercising himself continually in prayer, and bringing his body under by long and often abstinence; yet notwithstanding that he was vehemently assaulted by the lusts and desires of the flesh, even as Saint Paul was. And surely, if the mortified flesh of these Saints of God, mortified no doubt by prayer, and by long and often fasting, did notwithstanding as themselves confessed, lead away their souls captive to the law of sin; then may we well conclude, that the untamed flesh of us unbridled men, will forcibly and with violence mislead our souls from the way of life. Our Saviour Christ speaking of his own passion, is so far from the fear of death in himself, that he armeth his disciples against it, saying, that he would go to prepare a place for them; 
john 14. ●.  but afterwards when he was to die unto the world, and to go to his father, than he seems to be of another mind; than transeat à me Calix, 
Luke 22.42.  Father if it be thy will, let this cup pass from me. And what was the reason of this? surely that in the 26. of Matthew and 41. verse, The spirit is ready, but the flesh is weak. The spirit indeed of many men is prone unto that which is good, they desire so to run the race of a godly life here, that hereafter they may receive a crown of glory; but so it is that man's life is as job speaketh, 
job 7.1. Gal. 5.17.  Militia super terram, a warfare upon earth; the flesh still lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and that which is most to be lamented, in most of us the flesh extinguisheth the spirit. Samson was a strong and valiant man, 
judg. 14.6.  he encountered a Lion, and overcame him, but encountering with the fury of his own lustful passions, he could not master them. Messes incendit alienas, 
judg. 16.17. Ambros. in Apol. David.  & unius ipse mulieris accensus igniculo, messem suae virtutis amisit: He set fire indeed on the harvests of other men, but himself being inflamed with the fire of lust, lost the harvest of all his virtues. Solomon built a goodly Temple unto God, but in the mean time his own body, which should have been (as the Apostle saith of all our bodies) the temple of the holy Ghost, 
1. Cor. 6.19.  was by lust made the member of a harlot. 
Gen. 3.6.  This is that Eve that persuadeth Adam to forbidden fruits: 
Gen. 39.7.  this is that Egyptian Putipharis that eggeth on innocent joseph to filthiness: 
judg. 4.18.  this is that jahel that seduceth Sisera with feigned affection: this is that Dalilah which lulleth Samson asleep upon her knees, 
judg. 16.19.  & delivereth him up to the Philistines: this is that dancing daughter of Herodias, 
Mark 6.25.  that cutteth off the head (the good beginnings) of many a john Baptist. In a word, this is that talking damsel, at whose voice, 
Luk. 22.56.57  with the Apostle Saint Peter, we do most of us deny our master Christ. I may say truly in this case with that reverend father, Crede mihi, loquor coram Domino, 
Augustin.  non mentior, Cedros Libani & duces gregum sub hac pest cecidisse reperi, de quorum casu non minùs dubitabam, quàm Ambrosii vel Hieronymi: Believe me, I speak before the Lord, I lie not; I have known the Cedars of Libanus, and the leaders of the flocks to have fallen and sunk down violently under this temptation, of whose fall I made no more doubt than I did of the fall of Ambrose or of Hierom. There being then in man a double pleasure, carnis & cordis, 
August. serm. 33. de verbis secundum Lucan.  the pleasure of the flesh and the pleasure of the heart; the pleasure of the flesh, when we give ourselves over to fulfil the lusts thereof; the pleasure of the heart, when we delight ourselves in the Lord: therefore the carriage of every Christian soul between these two pleasures must be such, that the pleasure of the flesh be no let or impediment to the pleasure of the heart. But you will say, how may this be, seeing there is continual enmity between these, and the one of them (as the Apostle speaketh) still lusteth against the other? 
Gal. 5.17.  I answer affirmatively, that it may well be, and I will show you how. 
G●egor. dialog. lib 2.  I do read in the writings of Saint Gregory this relation concerning one Benedict a religious man, that whensoever he felt this conflict in his soul between the flesh and the spirit, he would throng his body into a place where nettles and briars grew, & sic per vulnera cutis, eduxitè corpore vulnus mentis, and so by those wounds which he inflicted on his body, he cured that wound which would have infected his soul: his former inclination to fleshly pleasure by this stratagem being turned into pain and sorrow. But if you think this to be too hard and sharp a course for a carnal man to follow, I will then give you a second, which is of no less consequent than that, but yet of less molestation. Toby in the sixth chapter and second verse, when he washed himself in the flood Tigris, a great fish leapt at him to have devoured him, but by the Angel's counsel having drawn the fish unto dry land, it was so far from devouring him, that it yielded itself to be devoured of him. And so it falleth out in this conflict between the flesh and the spirit: for this flesh of ours so long as it swims in pleasures, and is pampered up with delicacies, so long is it ready to devour and extinguish our spirits: but if once we draw it upon dry land from amidst her pleasures, by abstinence and fasting, it will then have no power, or at least but small power to impugn the spirit. 
Gregor. Pastor. ●urae. cap. 42.  Olla ebulliens duplex habet remedium, vel cum aqua frigida infunditur, vel cum ab igne elongatur: A seething pot hath but two remedies, either thou must power in cold water, or else thou must remove it further from the fire: And so the untamed flesh of men boiling with lust hath but two remedies, either they must power into their souls the water of repentance, and allay the heat of their lust with the cold tears of contrition, or else they must remove it further from the fire; the fire I mean not only of meats and of drinks (for gluttony and drunkenness are the bellows of concupiscence, 
Sine Cerere & Baccho friget Venus & venture mero aestuas spumat libidinem. Hieron.  and the belly boiling with wine foameth out lust, as Saint Hierome saith) but also of lascivious company, by which, as fire added unto fire, the lust of the flesh is more intemperate. Unto this, if you please, as a means to restrain these lustful passions, lest by them with the common multitude we be led from the ways of life, I may add the fearful end of this sin; fearful I call it, not only in regard of those horrible diseases breeding in the body, and in time consuming even the marrow in the bones; but fearful in regard of that dreadful judgement which shall be inflicted in the last day both upon body and soul in hell fire. For to the lustful sinner shall God say even as the Angel said to Babel, 
Revel. 18.7.  Quantum glorificavit se in delicijs, tantum date illi tormentum & luctum: In as much as he hath glorified himself and lived in pleasure, so much give you unto him torment and sorrow. There is a way that seemeth good, saith Solomon, but the end thereof is death: this way is the broad and common way of lustful flesh and blood, the pleasures whereof though they be sweet in the mouth, yet will they be bitter in the belly, like a cup of deadly poison. They are the daughters of those locusts mentioned in the Revelation, 
Revel. 9.7.10.  which have faces fair as men, but killing stings in their tails: and I may well resemble them to the herb Sardonia in Sardinia, of which Solinus writeth, that it maketh the eaters thereof to look as if they laughed, but in their laughing they die. Much more might be added unto this purpose, but (I take it) this may be sufficient both to have shown you how these lusts of the flesh are a great means to keep many from the ways of life, and also how we may repress these lusts of the flesh when they are rebellious. And now I come to the third and last enemy which opposeth himself against man, and that is that old Serpent the Devil, of whose subtleties in withdrawing us from the ways of life, as in the rest, so in this I beseech you to hear a while with patience.   

The Devil.  

Exod. 17.  As Amaleck resisted the Israelites, and used all the means that possibly he could devise, to keep them from coming into the earthly Canaan: so it is the policy of that infernal Amalek the devil, to keep men from coming into the Canaan of heaven. For the devil hating God with a perfect hatred, and being not able to offer violence unto him, he doth bend his force & strength against man, that so he may persecute God in his creature. Saint Basil resembleth the rage and fury of the devil in this point, unto the rage & fury of the wild Panthers; for as they carrying naturally a hatred against man, if they see but the image and picture of a man, they run upon it, and tear it in pieces, with no less fury than if it were man himself: so the devil carrying a deadly hatred against God, because his proud assaults were defeated by him, & his arrogancy punished with the loss of heaven and torment of hell, and being not able to do violence to God (as himself knoweth by woeful experience) he setteth upon man, who is the picture or image of God, and he useth no less cruelty both against his body and his soul, than he would (were he able) against God himself. Our Saviour Christ tells the Pharisees, 
Math. 23.15.  that they compass sea and land to make one of their profession, that is, to make men superstitious, hypocritical, sinful as themselves were. That which our Saviour objecteth there against them, the devil doth in a manner confess of himself. 
job 1.7.  For when God asked him from whence he came, his answer was, that he came from compassing the earth, and from walking to and fro in it. Now this walking of the devil up and down in the earth, is not for any good which he intendeth unto man, (for he walketh not as Christ did, to do good, and to heal all diseases both of body and soul among the people) but as the end of the Pharisees compassing of sea & land was to make men wicked like themselves: so the end of the devils compassing the earth is to draw men out of the ways of life, and to make them damned like himself. This was the Apostle Saint Peter's meaning, when he giveth this reason of Satan's compassing the earth, 
1. Pet. 5.8.  He walketh about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour. Now among those infinite means which the devil useth to devour us by drawing us from the ways of life, I will insist briefly upon these few. The first whereof is this, saith Bernard.  
The devil doth subtly pry, 
Bernard. lib. de ordine vita.  and judicially look into the natures and complexions of men, and according to the predominant and overruling humour in man, he apply his temptation unto this or that sin: (for in every man there is some one humour that is most inclinable to some sin.) As for example: The men of a sanguine and bloody complexion being naturally prone unto ambition and unchaste behaviour; the devil strait upon this their natural inclination will spend all his strength to bring these men not only to an affecting, but also (if it be possible) to an effecting of these sins. You shall see it in the examples of king David and his son Absalon. First concerning David, the devil knowing that to be true which was said of him, 
1. Sam. 16.  that he was ruddy and of a good countenance, and observing that he did daily from the top of his house behold the wife of Urias washing her; he presently takes the occasion, & suggesteth him to send for her; & this being once done, he hath soon drawn David out of the way of life, & made him an adulterer. 
2. Sam. 14.  And for Absalon his son, he being not unlike unto his father in that sanguine and beautiful complexion; the devil working upon this, persuadeth him to both to ambition and unclean behaviour: for first he persuades him to affect a kingdom, and rather than he should be without a kingdom, 
2. Sam. 15.  he puts this in his heart, to deprive his own father. And for unchaste behaviour, so effectually did the devil work upon him, that he, spared not his father's concubines, 
2. Sam. 16.  but defiled them, and himself with them, even on the top of the house, in the sight of all the people. And as the devil provoketh men of sanguine complexions unto these sins, so he deals with men of other complexions; for if he find that thou art phlegmatic, then will he suggest unto thy soul the sin of idleness, and provoke thee unto those sins that are depending upon that. If he see thee to be choleric, than he will persuade thee to hatred, malice, anger, revenge, and such like. And if her perceive thy complexion to be melancholic, them will he bend all the power and strength that he hath to drive thee to desperation. To prevent therefore the devil in this first policy, as Solomon saith unto the sluggard, Go to the Pismire, o thou sluggard, 
Prover. 6.6.  learn her ways & be wise; so say I unto you: go unto the devil himself, learn his ways and be wise. The devils course (as you hear) is to look diligently into the natures and complexions of men, and so to apply his temptations unto those sins unto which naturally they are carried: do thou then the like, look carefully into thy own body, consider diligently thy own complexion, and withal those sins unto which thou art naturally carried: And if thou find thyself naturally inclinable either unto wantonness, or unto covetousness, or unto wrath, or unto envy, or unto drunkenness, or unto any one sin more than other, be thou then sure to set a bar before the door of thy soul, and keep Satan from entering in: for sin, 
Serm. de sex tribulationibus  as Saint Bernard well speaks, by the suggestion of Satan may stand at the door of thy soul and knock, but unless thou open unto him by consent, he cannot enter.  
A second means which the devil useth to keep us from the way of life is this: whereas our understanding by the fall of Adam is already blind and dark, he corrupts it further, and maketh us altogether unable to discern between good and evil, causing us to commit wickedness with this strong conceit, that our actions and works are just. And hence it is, that so many in these days are overtaken and deceived with the sin of covetousness, because though they be never so covetous, 
1. Sam. 25.  yea as covetous as Naball was; yet the devil persuadeth them, and they easily believe it, that it is not covetousness, it is but frugality. And hence it is that we have so many lascivious people in the land; because though they be never so much given to the lust of uncleanness, yea to lust after those they should not, 
2. Sam. 13.  as Amnon did after his own sister Thamar, yet the devil persuadeth them, and they easily believe it, that it is not to be called lust, but rather love. And thus our bad actions by the subtlety of the devil being covered and coloured with good names, we are damned in these and in many other sins, committing them and that with greediness. But are we desirous to prevent the devil in this his second policy? let us then use the same discretion for the preservation of our souls, which we do for the preservation of our bodily health. It is a rule in Physic: Pars maxima sanitatis est notitia morbi: the best means for a sick man to recover his health, is to acknowledge his sickness. For if a man which hath the gout in his toe, will not take notice of it, but say it is nothing but a tingling in his toe; and if a man hath got the cough of the lungs, and will not acknowledge it, but say it is nothing but a great cold which he hath taken: these diseases will grow so hard upon them, that at length it will be hard or rather impossible to cure them; whereas notice being taken of them in time, the danger is the less, & the cure more easy. And so the Divines have the like rule: Pars maxima salutis est notitia peccati: The best means for a sick man in soul to be recovered, is to acknowledge and take notice of sin, which is the sickness of the soul. For the man that is overgrown with covetousness, and saith it is but frugality: which is infected with the sin of uncleanness, and maintaineth it to be but love: the man who like a swashbuckler is always drawing his sword, cutting and hacking the harmless, and will have this to have no worse name than manhood and fortitude: these and the like diseases will grow so hard upon the soul, that it will be a plain miracle to remove them; whereas they being known and acknowledged for sins, as they are indeed, the cure of them is easy, and the danger of being drawn out of the ways of life by them, is quickly avoided.  
But if the Devil be thus prevented in this second policy, then like a sedulous and industrious enemy he setteth upon us with a third: for if he perceive that thou conceivest aright of thy sins, as that they are indeed sins, than he laboureth to deceive thee with this, that Dominus non videt; though thou takest them to be sins, yet saith the devil, the Lord doth not see them: and with this have many been deceived. In the eighth of Ezechiel and twelfth verse, it is God's speech unto the Prophet: Son of man, hast thou seen what the Ancients of Israel do in the dark, every one in the chamber of his imagery? for they say, the Lord sees us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth. Almighty God shows the Prophet, that the ancients of Israel had painted round about their walls every similitude of creeping things, and abominable beasts; and he makes this to be the cause, a gross persuasion that the Lord did not see them. But art thou desirous to prevent the devil in this fallacian also? then for thy better instruction let me reason with thee thus. He that could espy our first parents hiding themselves among the thick trees of the garden, 
Gen. 3.9.  cannot his eyes find out thy sin, though it be committed in a secret place? 
Psal 94.9.  He that planted the ear, shall not he hear, saith David? or he that form the eye, shall not he see? As if he had said, Make no question, but whatsoever you speak or do, God doth hear it, God doth see it. It is not with the sight of God, as it is with the sight of man: if there be not a due and a proportionate distance between the sight of man and the object, the eye of man cannot possibly see it; but say God were circumscribed in some one place, and grant it were in heaven, yet that great distance which is between heaven and earth, even seven score and eighteen thousand, four hundred and sixty three miles, as the Astronomers have conjectured; yet doth not this great distance hinder God from seeing our sins. 
Psal. 14.2.  For the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men; what to do? to see if any would understand and seek after God: but looking down he saw that all were gone out of the way, that there was none that did good, no not one.  
But if the Devil prevail not with this third fallacian, then behold a fourth: for doth God see thy sin? (saith Satan) yet be bold to sin still, for God is so merciful, 
August. in Psa. 144.  that he will not punish sin. It is Saint Augustine's complaint, that there be two sorts of men which do snatch occasions of sinning to themselves, the one from the mercy, the other from the justice of God. One saith, God will take so strict and severe an account of our doings, that we shall not be able to answer one for a thousand; and therefore (saith he) being sure to be damned, cur non facio quiquid volo? why do I not whatsoever I will? The other, he saith God's mercy is above his works, and at what time soever I repent, though it be at the last gasp, he will receive me with the arms of his mercy, as he did the thief upon the cross; and therefore why do not I go on still in my wickedness? Desperate ille ut peccet, sperat iste ut peccet, utrumque metuendum: the one despaireth, that he may sin still, the other hopeth, that he may sin still, and both are to be feared. But for those which dream altogether of God's mercy, that this fallacian of the devils (by which many thousands are drawn from the ways of life) may be prevented, let them remember that God, as he is merciful, so he is just. In the 116. Psalm and fifth verse, The Lord is merciful and just, saith David; not merciful alone, but just also. And as we cannot bide our sins from the all-seeing eye of God: so we cannot be defended from the strong arm of his justice. In the 6. of Genesis and 12. verse, it is said that God looked down upon the earth, and seeing that all flesh had corrupted his ways, he saith to Noah, An end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth is filled with cruelty through them, and behold I will destroy them from the earth. In which words we may observe first that God sees our sins; secondly, that though he seethe sin, yet he is merciful; and thirdly, that as he is merciful, so he is just. God looked down upon the earth, and saw that all flesh had corrupted his way, there is the first, God's sight of sin: the earth is filled with cruelty, there is the second, the mercy of God and long suffering: for he doth not presently execute judgement upon them, but stayed so long till the earth was full of cruelty. And behold I will destroy them from the earth, there is God's justice.  
But if the devil by none of these be able to deceive us, and to draw us from the ways of life, than he hath a fift, which shall be my last at this time. He setteth before our eyes the good and pleasure that doth accompany our sin; and indeed these are shrewd temptations unto flesh and blood. 
Psal. 133.1.  The Prophet David maketh choice of these two to draw us unto brotherly love and unity: O how good and pleasant a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity: And so the devil he maketh choice of both these to draw us to the committing of iniquity, sometimes using but one of these, and sometimes joining them both for the strengthening of his temptation. In the 22. of Numbers one of these was sufficient to draw Balaam unto sin: for though he had received a commandment from God that he should not go with the princes of Moab to curse the people of Israel; yet when he considered that balacs offers would prove commodious to him, he resolveth upon the journey with them, and his Asses thrice revolt could not stay him. But in the third of Genesis there the devil useth both, and with them both he prevailed against our mother Eve; for albeit she knew well, that she should die the death in eating of the forbidden tree, yet because she saw that it was good for meat, and pleasant to the eyes, she took thereof and did eat. That then these deceitful temptations of the devil may be rejected: first that no commodity do draw thee from the ways of life to sin, let that saying of our Saviour Christ be always in thy mind; what shall a man get if he win the whole world, 
Math. 16.26.  and lose his own soul? what shall a man get if by usury, oppression of the poor, extortion, false weights, false measures, and the like, he shall be able to purchase much land, 
Luk. 16.19.  and with the rich glutton go in purple and fine linen, and far deliciously every day; when as these commodious sins as he accounteth them, shall bring no less discommodity upon him then hell fire? And secondly that no pleasure prevail with thee, remember that sin, though it be sweet in the mouth, yet it will be bitter in the belly; that though it be pleasant in the beginning, yet it will be painful in the end: & that the devil dealeth herein with us, as unconscionable Mercers and Drapers deal with their chapmen. For as they never show unto their chapmen the middle part & fag end of their wares, which perhaps are stark nought, but only the upper part thereof which commonly is very good: so this master Mercer the devil, he showeth always to his sinful chapmen the upper part of his wares, namely the present pleasure, delectation, and delight of sin; but as for the middle part of his wares, which is remorse of conscience, and the fag end of his wares which is God's vengeance, these he never showeth. For (beloved) if men should see before hand with the spiritual eyes of their souls, either the middle part of sin, which is remorse of conscience, or the end of sin which is God's vengeance, either in this life, or in the other; then out of doubt, when the devil shall offer his wares unto the sale, (as to the covetous man his neighbours vineyard, to the adulterer his neighbours wife, to the tailor long bills, to the retailer false weights, and so in the rest) they will all answer, (if there be any spark of grace or goodness in them) as the Athenian Orator did upon the like proffer; Non emam tanti poenitere, I will not buy repentance so dear. And thus at last have you seen those impediments and lets why so few do find the way of life. The impediments ex part quaerentis, in ourselves that seek the way are three, blindness of reason, perverseness of will, and want of perseverance: and the lets ex part retrahentium are three likewise; the world with his enticements, the flesh with her allurements, and the devil with his suggestions unto sin. And now to conclude, 
Hom. 1. ad pop. Antioch.  Saint chrysostom in his first homily to the people of Antioch, doth require a reward for a sermon which he made against the blasphemers of God's name. The only reward (beloved) which I will crave for my sermon, is this, that it would please Almighty God, so to work in the hearts of all you that have now been partakers of it, that you may say, and say truly of my sermon, as Tully in his Academics saith of Varros books: Nos in nostra urbe peregrinantes tanquam hospites, tui libri quasi domum deduxerunt; We who heretofore in this our city of London, by the blindness of our reason, the perverseness of our wills, and want of perseverance, have erred from the ways of life, and by the enticements of the world, the allurements of the flesh, and the suggestions of the devil, have wandered up and down in the plains of sin, and in the valleys of iniquity, are thereby now brought home again unto the ways of life, and reduced into the number of that little flock, whereof that great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, Christ jesus is the head. The which God the Father grant for his jesus Christ his sake, to whom with the blessed spirit, three in Trinity but one in Unity, be ascribed all honour and glory for evermore.   
FINIS.   

THE LAST JUDGEMENT.  

TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFUL JOHN BREWSTER ESQUIRE.  
SIR, among many patrons of virtue, and Theological endeavours, I presume to rank your name; who as I know you not inferior to the best, for a Fautor of learning and a lover of Piety; so I present you here with such a work best fitting your addiction, and most worthy your patronage. And howsoever I may seem officiously bold to publish these things without free consent of the Author (as I confess I do:) yet out of earnest desire to raise him from obscurity to a deserved eminence in the world's account, and thoroughly moved with pity, that so heavenly things should perish with the breath they were delivered, (as if eternity should fade with a moment:) I have adventured to give them longer life, seconding my boldness with a strong presumption, that I shall frustrate needless doubts, and herein deserve your good opinion. And on this hope I rest, committing the sequel to your serious view, and my attempt in this to your favourable construction.  
Yours in all affection and duty, C. B.    
MATTH. 25.15. 
Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come.  
AS when children having over-slept themselves, and begin to cry, as fearing the correction of their severe masters; their indulgent mothers do commonly comfort them with one of these two things, as first, that there is no time yet past, and secondly, that their master is a gentle man and will forgive them: In the very same manner do the carnal and careless worldlings of this age deal with those their acquaintance and friends, who have fetched a long and a deep sleep in sin and security. For whereas their counsel to them should be that which Saint Paul hath, Ephes. 5.14. Awake thou that sleepest, and stand up from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light: these men clean contrary, to take away all fear of judgement to come in a sinner, they apply either one or both these comforts to them; first, that nullum tempus poenitentiae inidoneum, that no time is too late to come unto God by repentance: and if they stagger in their hope notwithstanding this first comfort, then is it commonly backed with this second, that God is Deus misericordiae, a God of mercy, and will forgive them. And in this for the most part we are all like unto Benhadad, 2. King. 20. For as he fled from the King of Israel from place unto place, till he was forced into a chamber; and when he could go no farther, thus he was comforted, Reges Israel sunt Reges misericordes, The Kings of Israel are merciful Kings. So men commonly when they are in health and strength of body, they run on in iniquity and sin, and are impiously rebellious against the holy one of Israel: but when they are chased as it were into their chambers either by sickness or old age, and when there is no way but one, as we say, but death with them; then this is their comfort, that Deus Israel est Deus misericordiae, that the God of Israel will be then unto them a God of mercy. But (beloved) let us neither flatter ourselves with vain hopes, nor deceive our neighbours with false comforts; for though God accepteth of him who cometh unto him in his old age which is the evening of his life (as you may see by him who had a penny given him, Math. 20.9. though he came at the end of the day to the vineyard, and by the thief (Luke 25.43.) who was posted even from the cross unto Paradise;) yet God had rather thou shouldest come unto him in thy youth, which is the morning of thy age. And to that end saith the wise man, Eccles. 12.1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth: lest our coming unto God should be put off and deferred, he saith, Remember now: and lest we should put off till old age or death, he addeth in the days of thy youth. And ●●rely if there were no other reason for it, or if we had not the lamentable example of the five foolish virgins in this chapter to direct us; who calling, Lord, Lord, open unto us, when it was too late, were shut out and excluded from the kingdom of heaven: yet this may be sufficient, that we see commonly in our experience carnal and careless sinners, 
Justo Dei iudictio hac poena punitur peccator, ut mortens obliviscatur sui qui cum viveret oblitus est Dei. Augustin.  by the just judgement of God, to be punished with this kind of punishment; namely in old age and at the hour of death to forget both themselves and God, as before in their youth they had no care to remember him. And for the second comfort, that God is Deus misericordiae, a merciful God: sure it is, that as the women sung concerning Saul and David, 1. Sam. 18.7. Saul hath slain his thousand, but David his ten thousands: So we may sorrowfully sing and say truly, that the despair of God's mercy hath slain thousands, but the gross presumption of his mercy hath slain ten thousands, it hath sent ten times as many more unto hell as the despair of his mercy. And therefore let us not suffer ourselves any longer to be deceived; for as it is true of God which the Prophet David hath, Psalm. 86.15. that the Lord is a pitiful God, merciful, slow to anger, and great in kindness, (for all these doth be heap together in that verse:) yet have we no reason to be presumptuous upon these his mercies, but we should rather look back unto the 18. Psalm and 26. verse, where the Prophet speaking of God, he saith thus; With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward: that is, as he will mercifully receive and pardon those that are penitent, so he will justly repel and severely punish those that are impenitent. In the verses which go before from the beginning of this Chapter, we have the truth and proof of this doctrine in the parable of the ten virgins: For as we see the five wise virgins who had oil in their lamps, that is, whose good works and godly lives did shine and give light unto others, as a lamp gives light unto those that are in darkness; as we see these most mercifully to be received, and to enter in with the bridegroom: so the five foolish virgins, who did slumber and sleep, and had no care to expect the bridegrooms coming by a virtuous and godly life, those we see most justly to be shut out. And our Saviour Christ concludeth and shutteth up that parable with this comfortable & sweet caveat unto us: Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come. As if he should have said, seeing there will be a coming of the Son of man to judgement; and his coming, as it will be joyful and comfortable to the godly, so it will be fearful and terrible to the wicked, and we know neither the day nor the hour when he will come: therefore slumber not, sleep not, be not careless, be not secure in your sins, but watch, that is, be prepared by a virtuous and godly life against his coming; that so when he shall come, you may be received into heaven with the five wise virgins, and not be excluded and shut out of heaven with the five foolish. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come.  
In the right opening & handling of which words, I beseech you to observe carefully with me these four particular considerations. First, that there will be a coming of the Son of man to judgement: He will come. Secondly that because he cometh to judgement, therefore his coming will be fearful & terrible. Thirdly that the time of his fearful and terrible coming unto judgement is uncertain: We neither know the day nor the hour when he will come. And lastly the use which we are to make of all these; & this is a careful & vigilant preparation of ourselves against his coming, in the first words, Vigilate igitur, Watch therefore. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come. Now of all these in their order. And first for the first consideration.  
1. That there will be a coming of the Son of man to judgement. He will come.  
It was the fond opinion of Aristotle that great Philosopher, that the world had no beginning, 
Lib. 1. de coelo cap. 10.  and so consequently shall have no end; and that mankind with all other creatures in the world, were always, and should be always. The which opinion of his if it were true, then might men lawfully doubt, whether there should be a general Sessions, a general calling or no, of men unto judgement. But the best way to confute a heathen, is by a heathen. 
Plinius Secundus. August. de ciu. dei. lib. 15. cap. 9  It was therefore the true sentence of another heathen man, that the older the world waxeth, the bodies of men naturally, for stature are less, and for strength are weaker; and this was the opinion of Homer himself a great Poet, and no small Philosopher. For speaking of the battle which was fought between Aeneas and Diomedes, he affirmeth that Diomedes cast a stone at Aeneas, so heavy and of so great a weight, as fourteen men (saith he) are not able to cast the like, as men go now a days. And if as the world waxeth in years, so man's strength doth decrease, then doubtless the world waxing still old, it will at last come to nothing; and so consequently even in plain reason, the world and men in the world will have an end. But me thinks I hear some godless and profane Atheist reply thus. Suppose that the world and men in the world shall have an end; yet I am of opinion that there is the same end of a man that there is of a beast. A beast, when it dieth, the flesh is consumed, and the soul vanisheth into the air, and there is his full period: and why may it not be so with man? For the answer hereunto: It was Plato his opinion (who deserved and that justly, the name of a divine) that the souls of men did not die, but live, being separated from their bodies, and that after this life ended they should give an account of all their actions. And those fictions in the Poets, concerning the Elysian fields and places of pleasure for good men after this life, and places of punishment for evil men; what did they else show, but that there hath been among the wisest of the heathen a certain persuasion of the soul's immortality, and that after this life it should be judged? But because the profane Atheist will not be drawn to a belief, either of the soul's immortality, or of the body's resurrection in the day of judgement, unless we can win them thereunto by the main sway of reason, let us see whether in reason we commit any absurdity or no, in believing the resurrection of the body. Tertullian propounding the question for them: 
In Apol. cap. 45  Quomodo dissoluta materia exhiberi potest? How is it possible that the matter of man's body being once dissolved, as it shall be in the grave, should ever rise again, and be perfectly exhibited before the judgement seat of God? he doth answer their question thus: Quid tibi novi eveniet? qui non eras, factus es, & cum iterum non eris, fies: What strange or new wonder is this? thou which once wert not, wast made by God, and so hereafter when thou shalt not be, thou shalt be made again; for God can as easily restore thee being dissolved into dust, as he could create thee at the first being nothing. In the first Psalm & fifth verse we read it thus. The wicked shall not stand in judgement: but the Caldey paraphrase hath it thus, They shall not rise in that great day, the day of judgement. In regard of which words, some Hebrew writers have been bold to make this collection, that the wicked shall not rise, but their bodies and souls at the hour of death shall perish and come to nothing. But as in many points they are fantastically foolish: so in this are they most erroneously heretical. For although it be there said, that the wicked shall not rise in judgement, we must not thereby gather, Career eos resurgendi natura, sed resurgendi in judicium perdidisse ordinem: We must not gather, that the nature & property of rising shall be wanting unto them, but that they have lost the order of rising unto judgement. Now what the order of rising unto judgement is, we may see in the third of joh. the 18. & 19 ver. where our Saviour saith thus. He that believeth in me shall not be judged, but he which believeth not, jam iudicatus est, he is already judged. The which words of our Saviour, haply they may trouble the careless hearers, and the negligent readers thereof; for in that he saith, he that believeth in me shall not be judged, there he exempteth the faithful from judgement: and in that he saith, he that believeth not, is already judged, he seems to teach that the Infidels shall not be admitted unto judgement. And if the faithful are exempted from judgement to come, and the Infidels are already judged; why then, Non videtur locus esse relictus judicio, It should seem there is no place left for judgement, and that there are no people to be judged. Yes saith Hilary; for in the 18. verse, our Saviour having exempted the believers and unbelievers; the believers à judicio condemnationis, from the judgement of condemnation: and the Infidels and unbelievers, because their judgement of condemnation is so certain, that it is in the eternal decree of God already past, and there remains only at the last day but the publication thereof. In the 19 verse he expresseth the parties to be judged, and the cause of their judgement; for thus he saith: This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. As if he had said: There is a middle sort of people, which are neither altogether without faith, nor absolutely faithful; the fear of God containeth them in the Church, but the vain vanities of the world draw them unto secular vices, Orant quia timent, peccant quia volunt, they pray because they are afraid of God and his judgements, but withal they commit sin, because they take a pleasure and delight in it. These than which do love darkness rather than light, that is, which are content to love Christ who is the light of the world, but withal they prefer the evil deeds of darkness, these are they (let the Hebrew writers fable what they will) which shall one day come to judgement. And that we may the better conceive, and believe this; there are as you know, in our assizes and sessions here upon earth, certain things necessarily required. As first, there is required the person and presence of the judge. Secondly, certain upright justices his assistants upon the bench. Thirdly, the citation of the prisoners to the bar, with leave given them to plead for themselves. Fourthly, the allegation or accusation of the witnesses. Fiftly, the judges verdict. Sixtly, the proceeding to sentence either of absolution or condemnation. And lastly the execution of the sentence committed to the sheriff or bailiff. Of all which (beloved) that we may the better believe that great sessions in that last and dreadful day of judgement, we have special mention in the Scriptures. And first for the judge, that is jesus Christ the second person in Trinity. Forhowsoever the whole Trinity have a stroke in the action, yet the execution thereof is committed by them to the second person. So Christ himself saith (john the 5.22.) The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgement to the Son. So Saint Paul saith (Rom. 14.10.) We must all of us appear before the judgement seat of Christ. And Saint Austin giveth a reason of it thus,  ea natura judicem agate, quae sub judice stetit, That he may act the office of a judge in that nature in which he stood before a judge. Secondly, for his assistants upon the bench, they are his disciples (Math. 19.28.) For when the son of man (saith Christ) shall sit in the throne of his majesty, ye which have followed me in the regeneration, shall sit also upon twelve thrones, and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. And thirdly, for the bringing of the prisoners to the bar, ye have it in the 5. of john and 28. verse. The hour shall come in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the son of God, and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurrection of life, but they which have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation. At which time the prisoner shall have free liberty to speak what he can for himself; for so they on the left hand plead not guilty (Math. 25.44.) Lord when have we seen thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, & did not minister unto thee? And four, for the witnesses, they are more than two. For first Christ who is the judge, he will witness against us. jer. 29.23. Ego sum judex & testis, I am both a judge and a witness. And whereas men are often compelled and enforced to bear witness to the truth; in the third of Malachy and fift verse: Ego sum testis velox, I am a swift witness. And if Christ should fail in his testimony against us, yet his lawgiver Moses will not fail; for so Christ saith (joh. 5.45.) Do not think that I will accuse you to my Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom you trust. And though Christ and Moses both do fail in their witness, yet is there another who will not be wanting, even the devil, in whom many have trusted too much. For in the 12. of the Revel. 10. v. Satan the accuser of the brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before God day and night. And thus, saith Saint Augustine, will he urge in the last day and enforce his accusation before God. Thine they were O king of heaven by creation, but mine they are by transgression. Tui per gratiam quam amiserunt, mei per culpam in qua decesserunt: Thine they were by grace, which wilfully they have cast away, mine they are by sins, which hath cast them away: thine they were by the glorious merit of thy passion, mine they are for want of charitable compassion: thine they were because thou diedst for their sins, mine they they are because they died not, but lived unto sin. Nobis ergo associentur in poenis qui comformati sunt in culpis: and therefore o supreme judge, it stands with equity & justice, that these should be partakers in our punishments, who while they lived in the world, were companions in our sins. But if Christ, and Moses, and the devil should fail in their witness, though neither of these did know of thy sin, and so consequently could not justly accuse thee; yet as Lactantius well saith, Quid prodest tibi non habere conscium, habenti conscientiam? What will the ignorance of others avail thee, when as the testimony of thy own conscience will prevail against thee? For as there are some which have a good conscience (Heb. 13.18.) so there are others which have a bad conscience, a conscience seared with a hot iron (1. Timoth. 4.4.) And as they who in godly pureness and not in fleshly wisdom, have their conversation in this world, the testimony of their conscience shall cause them to rejoice (1. Cor. 1.12.) so they which have followed the vain pleasures, & the pleasing vanities of this world, the testimony of their conscience shall cause them to lament. And then a man's own conscience acccusing him, there needeth no jury to be impanelled: for the party confessing the action, the judge will immediately proceed to sentence, the which sentence shall not be (like the Roman 
* Romani tabellas seu literas in urnam solebant conijcere: literae fuerunt. A.C. A litera Absolutionis, C litera condemnationis: talis in iud●cijs consuetudo apud Graecos. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respondebat Romanorum C. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Romanorum. A.  A) a sentence of Absolution, whereof mention is made (Math. 25.34) Venite benedicti, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. But it shall be (like that nigrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Greeks) a sentence of condemnation, whereof mention is made in the same chapter and 41. verse. Ite maledicti, Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the devil and his Angels. And then last of all followeth the execution of the sentence, the charge whereof shall be committed to the Angels. For so saith our Saviour (Math. 13.49.) At the end of the world, the Angels shall go forth, and sever the bad from among the just, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, where shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. So then to conclude this with that of the Preacher (Eccl. 11.9.) Rejoice o young man in thy youth, let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the lusts of thine own eyes; but yet know that for all these things God shall bring thee unto judgement. Be not therefore deceived, neither flatter yourselves with this vain imagination, that though you commit sin with greediness, yet there will be no reckoning and account for it. Say not within yourselves, as it is in the 5. of Eccle. 4. I have sinned and what evil hath come unto me? For as it followeth in the same place, Dominus est 
* Patiens redditor dicitur, quia peccata homin●m & patitur & reddit. Nam quos Diu ut convertantur tolerat, non conversos duriùs damnat. Greg. Hom. 13. in evang.  patience redditor: The Lord is a patiented rewarder; that is, as he is patiented for a time and expecteth thy return from sin; so he is a rewarder, & will not leave thee unpunished. Lento gradu ad vindictam ira divina procedit, sed tarditatem supplicij gravitate judicij recompensat; The justice of God goes slowly indeed, but it recompenseth the slackness of judgement with the heaviness thereof. And therefore as Abraham said unto the rich man, (Luke 16.25.) Hîc bona, sed illîc mala, Here thou receivedst good things, but now thou art tormented: so haply without any check or controlment, thou mayest follow thy sinful pleasures and delights here in this world; but there will one day come a time, when for those thou shalt be brought before a judge, and the judge shall deliver thee to a jailor, and the jailor shall cast thee into prison, from whence thou shalt never be released. And therefore howsoever there hath heretofore been no impression in our hearts of this judgement to come, yet hereafter as Saint Hierom confesseth of himself, sive comedas, sive bibas, whether thou eatest or drinkest, whether thou wakest or sleepest, whether thou walkest abroad or stayest at home, let that be ever sounding in thy ears, which was ever sounding in his ears: Surgite mortui, venite ad judicium: Arise o you dead, and come to judgement. Thus much for the first consideration: That there will be a coming of the Son of man to judgement. I come to the second.  
2. That this his coming unto judgement will be terrible.  
In the ninth of Esay and sixth verse, the Prophet speaking of the coming of our Saviour Christ, he saith thus: Paruulus natus est nobis: A child is borne unto us, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace: and in the 21. of Matthew and fift verse, there is the prophesy fulfilled, Ecce Rex tuus venit tibi mansuetus: Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee meek. But that setteth out his first coming: but now we are to lay open his second coming. Then he came in humility, but now we are to speak of his coming in glory. Then he came like mild and little David, 
1. Sam. 17.  to free us from the Devil that great Goliath; but hereafter he will come like angry and armed David, 
2. Sam. 25.  against ingrateful Nabals. Then he came with comforts in his right hand; for he came not to call the righteous, 
Math. 9.13. john 5.29.  but sinners to repentance: but hereafter he shall come with terror in his left hand, for he shall call the unrepentant sinners unto judgement. Then, that the world might be crucified unto us, and we unto the world, Christ jesus vouchsafed to be crucified in the world: but hereafter because the preaching of Christ his cross is accounted foolishness by the wicked world, therefore jesus Christ will come to crucify the world. Then the people shouted, 
Mat. 21.9. Mat. 24.30.  and distinctly cried Hosanna for joy, but hereafter the wicked shall yell & make a confused noise for fear; yea so fearful will this his second coming unto judgement be, that Saint Paul disputing of it before Felix, (as I now before you) it made the very heart of Felix to tremble. Act. 24.26. And no marvel, for if that first apparition of God was so fearful and terrible to the people of the jews (Exodus 20.18.) that Moses himself said, I fear and tremble; and the people fled, and stood a far off, and said to Moses, Talk thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God talk with us, lest we die: how fearful then and terrible will his second coming be? For at that first appearing he came only to give them laws; but at this second he will come to punish the transgressors of his laws. 
Hest. 15.10.  Surely if Hester fell upon the ground, and life for a time went out at the gates of her body, when she beheld the majesty of Assuerus the King: 
Dan. 8.17.  if Daniel in the eight chapter of his prophesy, at the sight of an Angel trembled and was sore afraid: 
Mat. 28.4.  if the keepers of the sepulchre in the day of our Saviour his resurrection, were terrified and became as dead men: if the jews coming armed into the garden to apprehend jesus, 
john 18.6.  when they heard him but say, Ego sum, I am the man; if they fell backward upon the ground, and became as dead men: O then what shall miserable men and women do, when they shall see jesus Christ not yielding up his body to be punished by sinners as then, but coming in the clouds with power and great glory to punish sinners? 
Luke 21. ●9.   
Indeed if there were the same means and such hopes of preserving men from the judgement to come, as there are of preventing judgement and justice here upon the earth, than the fear thereof were altogether needless: but you shall see the case is far different. For first, here upon earth when men stand upon life and death, intercession is made by others for the procurement of their delivery: yea oftentimes speeches in commendation of the prisoner are admitted by the bench; 
Plutarch.  for so was the custom among the Romans, till the law of Pompey took it away. But in the day of the last judgement, there will be no place for intercession, 
2. Sam. 14. 1 Sam. 25  there shall then be no joab to entreat for Absolom, there shall then be no Abigail to speak for Nabal. The truth of which doctrine is most evident in the Scriptures: for look into the 22. of Matthew and 13. verse, and you shall there see, that the party that had not on a wedding garment, was commanded out of the bridehouse, and cast into utter darkness, and no man did once entreat for him. Look into the 25. of Matthew and 28. verse, and you shall there likewise see, that the servant which had received but one talon, and without any employment to his master's advantage had hid it in the earth, had his talon taken from him, and was cast into utter darkness, and no man entreated for him. Nay, look but into the verse going next before my text, and you shall hear the five foolish virgins crying: Lord, Lord, open unto us. And receiving this uncomfortable answer from the mouth of comfort itself: 
Ini ●●um Deus scit in examine, nescit in amore. Greg. in job lib. 11 cap 7.  Nescio vos, I know you not; that is, I have rejected you, I have reprobated you; and none, no not their late familiar friends and companions, the other wise virgins, requested favour for them.  
Again, here upon earth though no man entreat for an offender, yet oftentimes the fresh memory of his ancestors good deeds, and the good demerits of his friends that be living, may move the judge to pity and compassion: but for a man to trust to this favour in the day of judgement, were to lean upon a broken reed; for the men that do best fulfil the commandments of God, are termed in the 17. of Saint Luke and 10. verse, servi inutiles, Unprofitable servants. And then as the five wise virgins answered the five foolish, (Mat. 25.9.) We cannot give you of our oil, lest peradventure there will not be enough for us & you: so the best men that be, cannot lend their friends any of their good works; for if they do, without all peradventure they will leave too few for themselves.  
And thirdly, though neither of these two do come to pass, yet many times the subtlety of the offender, and his cunning contrived speech, do overreach the wisdom of the judge: but this hope shall fail a sinner in the day of judgement. Our first mother Eve, so much as in her lay, she did hide her sin from God; and so did Cain the death of Abel: and haply saith S. Ambrose, 
Ambros. in Psa. 118.  in affectu habemus abscondere, non in effectu: we may with them affect the hiding of our sins from God, but we never can effect it. In the 20. of S. Luke and the 20. verse, the Scribes and pharisees come with cunning contrived speeches unto Christ, hoping to entrap him; but as cunning as they were, our Saviour was too cunning for them: for in the 23. verse, Quid tentatis hypocritae? Why tempt you me, ye hypocrites? And surely if craft and subtlety could not overtake our Saviour when he came in humility, much less shall he be overtaken thereby when he shall come in glory.  
And four, though neither of these three do happen in our earthly judgements, yet we see by experience that witnesses are oft kept back, and by that means the prisoner is set free: but at Christ his coming unto judgement, there is no such advantage to be expected. For, as Saint Bernard well observes, in a man's own house, and in a man's own family, 
Devotis. medit. cap. 13.  he shall not fail of his accuser, his witness, and his judge. Accusat conscientia, testis est memoria, ratio index: his conscience that will be his accuser, his memory that will be his witness, and his reason that will be his judge to condemn him. And lest it should be objected that a man's memory may fail, and so consequently the witness, behold then a witness whom nothing can cause to fail: Because they have done villainy in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbour's wives, even I see it, and I testify it, saith the Lord. jer. 29.23.  
And fifthly, though neither of these fall out, yet if a man be nobly borne, & descend from honourable and princely parents, than none almost dare meddle with him, or once call his sins in question. But as Mordocay in the fourth of Ester and 15. verse, said unto the Queen, when as the sentence of death was passed upon all the people of the jews in the kingdoms of Assuerus; think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the King's house, more than all the jews: so at the day of judgement, when all our sins shall be laid open before God, men, and Angels, it is not our noble and honourable blood, it is not a King's house, nor a King's lineage that can exempt us. But may not money procure us favour with the judge, and be a means to stay the course of justice? Indeed I confess that money may do much with earthly judges; it may turn judgement into mercy, and mercy into judgement: but it is not the multitude of gifts (saith job in his 36. chap. and 18. verse) that can deliver thee from the wrath of the judge of heaven.  
But say, none of all these do prevail in our earthly judgements, yet either by the connivency of the jailor, or the weakness of the prison, a condemned man may escape: but after the sentence is once pronounced in this last judgement, both these comforts will fail a sinner. For first the devil, who is jailor, will be so vigilant, as no prisoner committed to his jail shall have leave to departed. And for the second, which is breaking of prison, that is impossible for those who are bound hand and foot, and so are sinners bound after judgement, Matth. 22.13. Take him and bind him hand and foot, and cast him into utter darkness. And yet suppose that they could unloose themselves, as some that are bound may do, yet is there no hope of evasion: for in the 16. of Luke and 26. verse, it is Abraham's speech unto the rich man in hell: Between you and us there is a great gulf, so that we cannot come unto you, neither can you come unto us. So that hitherto you see this coming of Christ unto judgement to be terrible. But if we shall now a little farther consider the rigour & severity of the sentence, which shall be thundered from the mouth of the judge against the wicked; I make no question but the terror thereof will appear much greater. The sentence is set down in the 25. of Matthew, and 41. verse, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels. In which words, 
Poena damni.  first the punishment of loss, as the Divines term it, contained in these words Depart from me, doth declare the severity of the sentence. For if one day in God's courts be better than a thousand elsewhere, as the Prophet David saith in the 84. Psalm and 10. verse: then to be not only a thousand years, but for ever elsewhere, and not one day in the courts of God, it must needs be a grievous and a great punishment. For a man to lose his lands here in this world, what a vexation and grief is it to many men? it doth oft times drive men unto their wit's end: how then think we will sinners be affected and afflicted in mind, who when Christ jesus by his most precious blood hath purchased for them no worse land than the land of the living, the kingdom of heaven, they by their wilful rebellion will be the occasion of the loss of it? Were not the Israelites grieved think you, when from a sorrowful heart they told Moses that he had brought them from a land which flowed with milk and honey, into a barren wilderness, to destroy them with famine? And will it not be a greater torment to the wicked in the last day, when they shall hear and see themselves banished from heaven, and the presence of God, in whose presence, as the Psalmist saith, Psal. 16. and last verse, there is fullness of joy, and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore; and then sent into a place where there is a famine of all good things, a famine of joy, a famine of ease, a famine of the comfortable presence of God? Surely if the Apostles for that little time that Christ told them he was to be absent from them, they were so sorrowful and sad, john 16.21. that Christ himself measureth their mourning by the mourning of a woman in her travel. And if Peter, to whom Christ had said, 
john 13.8.  If I wash thee not, thou shalt have no part with me, was so loath to part with Christ, that he said, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head also: in what case shall miserable and accursed sinners be, who not for a time only, but for all eternity are shut out and banished from the sight of God?  
As then the rigour and severity of the judicial sentence appeareth in the punishment of loss, so is it greatly amplified by the punishment of sense; 
Poena sensus.  for they are not only banished by the judge from heaven, Depart from me; but they are sent into a place of punishment, into hell fire. The Epicure, saith Tertullian, doth estimate all sorrow and punishment after this manner: Modicus cruciatus est contemptibilis, 
Tertul. adverse. Gentes. cap. 45.  magnus non est diuturnus: If the punishment be but small, than a man of any spirit will contemn it; and if it be great, this is the comfort, that it cannot last long. But (saith he) the Epicure deceives himself, because the laws of God do promise either an everlasting reward to the observers, or a perpetual punishment to the breakers. And therefore the sentence runs not thus, Ite in ignem, Go into fire, though that had been a great and a grievous punishment; but to make it the more grievous and the more terrible, they are commended in ignem aeternum, into everlasting fire. Grievous were the punishments that were inflicted upon Adam for his sin, (Gen. 3.) for first he was cast out of Paradise, and then he was sent into a place of thorns and thistles, there to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow all the days of his life: but far more grievous will be the punishment of Adam's wicked children at the day of judgement; for first they shall be deprived of heaven, a place more beautiful than Paradise, and then they shall be cast into a burning lake, which is a far worse place than a place of thorns and thistles. And whereas Adam found this comfort in his punishment, that there was a donec in terram in it, that at last there would be an end, the end of his life was the period of his punishment: yet the punishment of his wicked posterity shall admit no limitation of time, but they shall go (saith the judge) into everlasting fire, that is, they shall burn for ever and ever in that lake of fire. Indeed is were some comfort if they were to suffer this punishment no more thousands of years then there be sands on the sea shore, or grass piles upon the ground, or no more millions of ages then there are creatures in heaven, in earth, and in the sea; for than were there some hope that at last there would be an end. But to be sent in ignem aeternum, into everlasting fire, that is, continually to burn, and never to be burned up, and after infinite millions of ages to be as far from an end as at the first entrance into this torment, this is so severe and rigorous a doom, as neither the tongues of Angels or of men are able to express it.  
And as the rigour of the doom appears, first by the punishment of loss, in that they are commanded out of God's presence, Depart from me; and secondly by the punishment of sense, in that they are sent, not only into fire, but into everlasting fire. So to make it every way complete, that nothing more might be added to it; unto the former words of this sentence, Depart from me into everlasting fire, the judge doth adjoin these latter, which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels. Men that are in misery, they are commonly of this mind and nature, that they would not have their friends and acquaintance come into the like misery; and therefore the purple glutton (Luke 16.27.) being in hell, maketh this request unto Abraham: Father Abraham, send Lazarus I pray thee to my father's house, that he may testify unto my five brethren, lest they also come into this place of torment. And as men are loath to have their friends companions in their misery; so are they as loath to have those their companions who will help to augment and increase their miseries: but the wicked, that their sentence of condemnation might appear the greater, they shall not only always burn, but their companions in this fire shall be the Devil and his Angels. When the jews sat in judgement upon our Saviour Christ, they resolved upon these three things against him: first, that he must be taken from among them; secondly, that he must die the shameful and ignominious death of the cross; and thirdly, to do him the greater disgrace, as they thought to vex him the more; he must die in the company of two thieves. And therefore hereafter, when Christ shall come in his glory to judge the sins both of jews and Gentiles, he will resolve upon three the like for them, which they resolved for him. For first, as they could not abide his presence, and therefore they cried tollite take him away: so he will not abide their presence, but will say unto them, Discedite a me Depart from me. And secondly, as they resolved upon no honourable death for him, but such a death as was inflicted upon vile and ignominious persons: so the manner of dying which he alotteth unto them is such, as belongeth only unto people that are cursed. And last of all, as they which did die with Christ were no better than thieves: so their friends in torment are the fiends, and their companions in fire are the devil and his angels. And therefore for the conclusion of this point, remember only that short, but sweet caveat which S. Austin giveth, writing upon the 80. Psalm, Si non times mitti quó, vide cum quo, If thou art not afraid to burn for thy sins in hell, yet be afraid to burn with such hellish companions as are the devil and his Angels. And thus have you seen the terror of Christ his coming unto judgement, as by other other circumstances, so especially by the rigour & severity of the judgement sentence; which first depriveth them of heaven, Depart from me: and then adiugeth them to hell, Go into fire. Thirdly, there to burn not for a time but for ever, into everlasting fire; and that with no better companions than the devil and his Angels. I come now to the third point, and this is:  
3. That the time of this terrible coming unto judgement is uncertain. For we know not, saith my text, either day or hour when it will be.  
In the third verse of the chapter going before, the 24. of Matthew, the disciples of our Saviour being desirous to be resolved of a double doubt, first at what time the temple of jerusalem should be destroyed, and secondly, when his last coming unto judgement should be; our Saviour Christ for their better instruction telleth them that there shall be wars, and rumours of wars, that nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, that there shall be pestilence, and famine, & earthquakes in divers places. All which signs with many other in that chapter, though some have restrained to the first question of the destruction of jerusalem: yet according to the judgement of the most interpreters, they contain a mixed answer unto both, and are signs not only of the particular desolation of jerusalem, but also of the final dissolution of the whole world in the day of judgement. And grant this, yet no other collection can fitly be gathered hence, but that which Saint Austin long since observed, Modum patefecit, tempus celare voluit: He concealeth the time, and expresseth only the manner of his coming. And therefore for any man to think himself sufficiently instructed of the time of Christ his coming by reason of those prognosticke signs which our Saviour hath set down, it is a gross and a foolish impiety. Yea saith Saint Austin, 
Epist. 7 8.  to take a computation of times, that thereby we may know when the end of the world and Christ his coming shall be; Nihil videtur aliud, quàm scire velle, quod Christus ait scire neminem posse: It is nothing else, but to be desirous to know that, which our Saviour Christ hath said no man can know. For of that day and hour knoweth no man, saith Christ, Mat. 24.36. no not the Angels of heaven, but my Father only. Nay, in the 13. of Saint Mark, and 32. verse, he excepteth against himself, to leave the high knowledge thereof to his Father; Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels which are in heaven, neither the Son himself, (as he is man only) save the Father. And therefore that the world might be the better resolved in this point, in the uncertainty of his coming unto judgement; besides those many watchwords of his to the world: It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the father hath put in his own power. 
Math. 24.42. Math. 25.13. Mark. 13.33.  You know not what hour your master will come. You know not the day nor the hour when the Son of man will come. Ye know not when the time is, and the like: He hath in the Gospel compared his coming unto three things, which come most suddenly and before we are aware: and these are; a snare, a thief, and the flood of Noah. In the 21. of Luke, and 34. verse, he resembleth the day of his coming unto judgement to a snare: Take heed unto yourselves least at any time your hearts be overcome with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and lest that day come on you at unawares; for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. A snare you know entangleth on the sudden, and the birds and wild beasts whilst fearless of danger they are intentive to their food, they suddenly fall into it. And so it is with man, saith Solomon, he considereth not his end, Eccles. 9.12. But as the fishes which are taken in a net, and as the birds which are caught in a snare; so are the children of men snared in the evil, when it falleth suddenly upon them. Men may feast it merrily with jobs children, 
job. 1.19. Dan. 5.3  and be frolic with their companions amidst their cups, with Balthassar; and as it is in the 21. of job, they may call for the Tabret and the Harp, and rejoice in the sound of Organs: but on the sudden even before they be aware, 
August. Epist. 80.  they go down into the grave, saith job, that is, they fall into the snare of death, and so consequently into the snare of judgement. For, Qualis in die isto quisque moritur, talis in die illo iudicabitur: as the day of man's death leaves him, so the day of God's last judgement shall find him. And as Christ for the suddenness & uncertainty of his coming, compareth it to a snare; so he compareth it likewise to the coming of a thief. Math. 24.43. If the good man of the house did know at what hour the thief would come, he would surely watch, and not suffer his house to be digged through. And therefore be ye also ready: for in the hour ye think not, will the son of man come. The Apostle Peter in his second Epistle 3.10. makes the same resemblance. The day of the Lord will come even as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up. And Saint Paul (1. Thess. 5.2.) handling the same argument, hath the very same. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, and when men shall say peace and safety, then shall come upon them sudden destruction, as the travel upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. And as the day of Christ his coming is compared for the uncertainty thereof unto a snare and a thief: so for the same cause it is compared by him to the flood of Noah. Math. 24.36. As the days of Noah were, so likewise (saith Christ) shall the coming of the Son of man be: For as in the days before the flood, they did eat & drink, mary, 〈◊〉 give in marriage, unto the day that Noah entered into the Ark, and knew nothing till the flood came and took them all away: so shall also the coming of the son of man be. And therefore ●hat answer which our Saviour gave to the pharisees question, Luk. 17. and 20. v●●. may well be the conclusion of this point. The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, that is (saith the Gloss) it cometh not with the observation of the time: as if he had said; haply some Astronomer or other is so cunning as to tell you when the clouds will drop: but at what time the Son of man shall come to judgement in the clouds, no Astronomer is so cunning as to tell you that; for of that day & hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels in heaven, nor the Son himself, but the Father only. Well then (beloved) these three points being thus cleared; First that their will be a coming of the Son of man to judgement. Secondly that this his coming unto judgement will be fearful, and terrible. And thirdly that the time of this his coming is uncertain, we know not when: what remaineth now but the use which we are to make of all these? and that is a vigilant and careful preparation of ourselves against his coming, prescribed in the first words: Vigilate igitur: Watch therefore.  
In the first of jeremy, the Prophet at the first saw nothing but a rod, but after (saith the text) he beheld seething pot. And so the wicked and ungodly people, haply they may see and feel in this world nothing but rods, light and slight punishments: but the time will come when salomon's rods shall be turned into Rehoboams Scorpions, and the Prophet jeremies' rod will prove a seething pot. For as flesh is p●● into a seething pot: so the bodies and souls of men, in regard of their sins committed in the flesh, shall be cast into the seething and boiling lake of hell. At which time they shall have nothing to comfort them, either above them or beneath them, on the right hand or on the left, within them or without them. Above them shall be the angry judge, for their wickedness condemning them; beneath them shall be hell open, and the furnace boiling to receive them: on their right hand shall be their sins accusing them, on their left hand the devils ready to execute Gods eternal sentence on them; within them shall be their conscience gnawing, without them the damned souls wailing, and round about them the whole world burning. Good Lord, good Lord, saith a devout father, what will a wretched sinner do environed with all these miseries? how will his heart sustain these anguishes? what way will he take? to go back (saith he) it is impossible, and to go forward, it is intolerable. And surely all this being true, and drawn by necessary consequent from the word of God, me thinks now there should need no watchword at all, and our Saviour Christ his vigilate igitur in this place may seem superfluous. The heathen man did both say and believe, 
Tul. de nat. dear. lib. 1.  that whosoever remembreth that God will reward the godly and punish the ungodly, he cannot but be godly. And if this be not true in us that are Christians, then, as Clymacus well observes, Plus timebimus canem, quam Creatorem: we shall show ourselves to be more afraid of our dog, than we are of our God. If a thief do assault our house in the night, and our dog which is within do but bark, we need no further vigilate, we 〈…〉 warning: 〈…〉 〈…〉 will ●ise, and we will 〈…〉 Our Saviour Christ then haui● 〈…〉 many times, that he will on● 〈…〉 that his coming will be (as 〈…〉 and terrible, and that the time 〈…〉 is most uncertain, we know 〈…〉 now any further vigilate, any 〈…〉 prepare ourselves against this coming 〈…〉 ●ued) a very clear case, that the barking of 〈…〉 will prevail more with us for the saving of 〈…〉 then the voice of our God for the saving of 〈…〉 When joseph had forewarned Pharaoh and the 〈…〉 of Egypt of that great famine which was 〈…〉 upon the land, there was no further 〈…〉 be vigilant. And if they 〈◊〉 so care● 〈…〉 momentary death of body; aught 〈…〉 to be vigilant how to prevent the e● 〈…〉 of soul and body? Well then, how 〈…〉 ourselves that our true vigilancy ma● 〈…〉 thus, saith Saint Bernard: Audisti edictu● 〈…〉 dictum: Hast thou heard of the fearful 〈…〉 which God hath determined to power up 〈…〉 beware then of sin which will be the 〈…〉 punishment. But is this all? no, the watch 〈…〉 well set: for the same spirit which saith (Psal. 〈…〉 Fly from evil; immediately addeth, and do 〈…〉 14. of Luke and 31. verse: What King (saith 〈…〉 going to make war against another King, s●t● 〈…〉 down first, and taketh counsel, whether he be ab● 〈◊〉 ten thousands to meet him which cometh ag●nst him with twenty thousands? or else while he is yet a grea● 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 policy betws 〈…〉 〈…〉 ●rre better policy betws 〈◊〉 〈…〉 sins grieve God more 〈…〉 can vex his neighbour king 〈…〉 ●ter disproportion between 〈…〉 the strength of God, then 〈…〉 of ten thousands, and an ar● 〈…〉 ●hou●ands. First then let us seriously 〈◊〉 counsel, whether we may boldly say with 〈◊〉 3. verse 18. Behold now, if I prepare me unto 〈◊〉, I know that I shall be justified. And if we can● 〈…〉 this persuasion in regard of our for● 〈…〉 contempt of God's commaunde● 〈…〉 must be our second course, even 〈…〉 off, that is, while his grace by 〈…〉 the Gospel is offered unto us: 〈…〉 and unfeigned repentance as an 〈…〉 him, desiring him that he would 〈…〉 ●om his throne of justice, and be● 〈…〉 his throne of mercy. That so in that 〈…〉 full day of his coming, we may not 〈…〉 everlasting horror of our souls that fear●, 〈◊〉 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire which is 〈…〉 devil and his angels; but to the endless 〈◊〉 our souls, that other comfortable sen● 〈…〉 ●●e ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 〈…〉 odome prepared for you from 〈…〉 the beginning of the world.  
FINIS.