AN ALARM To all Impenitent SINNERS. OR, The Spirit of Bondage raised up in Judgement and allayed in Mercy. Declared in a short Treatise of the sweetness of God's love discovered in the bitterness of his wrath. By Humphrey Browne, M. A. Confessio est salus animarum: dissipatrix vitic●: oppugnatrix daemonum: Quid plura? ●ruit os inferni, portas aperit Paradisi. Augustin. in Lib. de paenit. Lam. 3. 19, 20, 21. Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is ambled in me. This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. LONDON, Printed for Edw. Blackmore, and are to be sold at the Sign of the Angel in Paul's Churchyard, M. DC. L. The Author to the Reader. THe great Physician of our souls, doth often cure the sore of sin, by the sense of sin: and makes his Patients ●rize the greatness of the remedy, by ●e grievousness of the disease. Our Quàm diveses in misericordia, quàm magnificus in justitia, quàm munificus in gratia, Domine Deus noster? non est qui similis fit tibi. Bern. Serm. 57 heavenly Father makes his children ●ste the bitterness of his wrath, that ●ey may the more admire the sweetness of his loving kindness; he suffers them to be almost drowned, in ●he raging Sea of the one, that they ●ight be saved in the Ark of the o●er. Behold therefore the goodness ●nd severity of God: On them which ●ll severity, but towards me good●esse, if I continue in my goodness: otherwise I also shall be cut off, as indeed of late I was verily perswad● Rom. 11. 22. I should have been; for being a● Tavern in London, where too o●ten Ebrietas manifestissimus est Daemon. Bern. drunkenness that most manif● Devil keeps his Randezvous, I pla●ed with an acquaintance of mine● Tables, for a pint of Sack, but wit● in a while doubling our files, we b●gan Ira furor brevis est. to quarrel; whereupon my re●son, and that small Religion whi● I had, was overcome with unru● passion; I wished the Devil mig● have my soul, if I did not fight wi● him the next morning, and kill● be killed: but mine own wrath w● not long over, before God's wra● overtook me: for the thought ● that abominable execration, did ● trouble me, that I knew not w● whether I were in Hell, or Hell in m● the fearful roaring of that one s● against me, brought all my other si● with ghastly looks to gaze upon m● As the woman of Samaria concer●ing John 4. 29. Christ, so I may say of my co● ●ence, it told me all the sins that ever committed: and presented them un● me in the ugly picture of Devils, ●ich before I looked on in the form ● Angels; as before they seemed to ●y palate all honey, so in the anguish ● my soul they were all sting. I saw ●ine sit on the brow of Gods offends Sovereignty, each look sparkled ●dignation, and that indignation ●eath: there was a storm in God's ●untenance, and a tempest in mine ●n heart and tongue, crying out, ● hell, and damnatinn, as my por●on; supposing myself to have no ●terest at all in Christ. No Cordial ●f mercy could work on my Nauseous ●omach: no Gospel-physick could I ●ake, in those raging Dog-days of ●ny spiritual distempers; wherein I ●ounted myself a Dog, shut out of ●eaven, and only fit for the kennel Rev. 22. 15. ●f hell: but at last, being often visited, by my worthy, and much honoured friend Mr Blakemore, Pastor of S. Peter Cornhill, the pulse o● my conscience began to beat mor● mildly, being touched with the han● of mercy. Prospera lux oritur● Prospera lux oritur linguis animisque favete: nunc dicenda bono sunt bona verba die. Ovid. Fast. l. 1. light proceeded out of darkness ● joy out of sorrow: comfort out o● despair: and as I may say, Heave● out of Hell. God my merciful Father scourged me, I cried bitterly, crying he heard me, and hearing, he comforted me: he continued not long in his dreadful posture of war, bu● condescended to a treaty, making (a● I trust) a perpetual peace with my soul. Wherefore I will praise thee O Lord among the people: for thy Psal. 108. 3, 4. mercy is great above the heavens▪ and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. The Lord is my portion, Lam. 3. 24, 25. saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that Dan. 9 3. seeketh him. Set your face therefore (Dear Christian friends) unto the Lord God, by prayer and supplication. And if any good shall accrue ●o you out of these my poor endea●rs, let Gods have the praise, and ● your prayers that I may grow in ●ace, and in the knowledge of our ●rd, and Saviour Jesus Christ: 2 Pet. 3. 8. ●o I hope will perfect that which ● hath begun that, I suffer not shipwreck Domine quod coepisti perfice ne in portu nanfragium accidat. Aug. Phil. 4. 8. in the heaven. Finally, brethren, whatsoever ●ings are true, whatsoever things ●e honest, whatsoever things are ●st, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if ●here be any virtue, and if there be ●ny praise, think on these things: And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Yours in Christ Jesus, H. BROWNE. AN ALARM TO ALL Impenitent Sinners. WHen a man hath not blushed, at the qu. of Satan's temptation, to come on the Stage as a sinner; ●e thinks he should not be a●amed of public view, when ●e scene is changed, and the part ● a convert acted: for so to do, ●ere in this, to cloud the glory of ●ercy, as in the other, to pro●ke the rigour of justice: and Jer. 3. 3. have a whore's forehead in sinning, though a virgin's bashfulness in confessing, for mine ow● part therefore, as declaring m● Isa. 3. 9 sin as Sodom, was to me a Comedy, so to declare God's merc● in my longed-for reformation shall not be to me a Tragedy but rather the old man's Exi● Psal. 7. 13. with the instruments of death and the new man's Intrat, wit● Isa. 38. 20. the stringed instruments, sounding by the finger of the holy sp●rit, shall be to me the sweet soul-ravishing music, mo● comfortable than david's Harp● 1 Sam. 16. to Saul, possessed with an ev● spirit, and if in declaring God goodness to me, I act to plea● my heavenly Spectator, I have m● reward: I seek not the applaud of any, but the happy conversion of all, who hug sin in their hear● with as great danger, as the Lacedaemonian Plutarch. Quod durum pati meminisse dulce. Sen. in Hero. fur. boy did his fox; O● when I remember mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood, an● ●eg all, Lam. 3. 19 mine affliction is renewed, to recount the misery of a sinner, without the Chrys. in Psal. 50. Paenitens de peccato dolet & de dolore gaudet Aug. comfort of a Saviour, si mihi sint ●ntum linguae, I could not express it: for I know by the pulse ●f mine own conscience, the ●earful agonies of a sick soul, ●ung with the sense of sin: con●ientia peccati formidinis mater: ●e conscience of sin is the mo●er of fear: and albeit to the ●odly, it be fair, yet it presents ●arful fantasies, and hideous ●ectacles, to the eyes of sinful ●ules. This I know, by a late woeful, ●oyful experience, I call it so; because (blessed be God) it proved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter-sweet unto ●e: But first of the bitterness, ●nd then of the sweetness. Saint Bernard makes mention ●f a conscience: first, conscience quiet, and good, as 1 Tim. 1. 5. and this is a continu● feast, Prov. 15. 15. Secondly, conscience good, but not quie● and this was David's case, in h● complaint thus, Thou hast la● me in the lowest pit, in darkness, ● the deeps: Thy wrath lieth hard u● Psal. 88 6, 7; on me: and thou hast afflicted ● with all thy waves. Thirdly, conscience quiet, but not good and such a one hath he, wh● hearing the words of the curs● blesseth himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I wal● in the imagination of mine heart, ● Deut. 29. 19 add drunkenness to thirst: O qua●ta tempestas est haec tranquillitas what a tempest is this calm what a war is this peace? for the that thus would have a peace make a truce without the Broad seal of the King of kings: are n● Hos. 4. 17. better than Rebels, and ma● well expect his fearful march against them: though his marc● the longer, his assault will be ●e fiercer; the longer the ●aught, the stronger the shoot▪ settling on our lees of sin, we ●r God's dregs of fury, he that ●eeps long in the pleasures of sin ● earth, may ('tis to be feared) Saepe quem tentationis certamen superare non valuit, sua deterius securitas stravit. Greg. Moral. wake in the pains of hell: find●g thorney thickets of sharpest arrows, for rosy beds of his meetest pleasures. 4. a conscience neither quiet; or good; and this was my case ●hen the book of my conscience ●as opened, and all my sins in capital letters, were read by the ●ye of my woeful soul. And then sinful I, according to the Contents of those records, gave sentence of damnation on myself. job. 7. 15. jer. 8. 3. job. 15. 16. ●y soul chose strangling, and ●eath rather than my life. I that ●efore had drunk iniquity, like ●ater, as Job speaks, do behold ●ustly a torrent of divine wrath, ready to overwhelm me: t● waters of Marah compass the little Isle of man in m● round about: and no fre● streams of Heavenly consolation, could pass through the sa● Sea of these hellish terrors: a the streams of my vain worldly pleasures, in the Channel ● presumption, emptied themselv● into the gulf of despair, ● the river Jordan into the dea● Sea. Then, O then I found a Ephes. 4. 22. 1 Tim. 6. 9 Horat. 1. ep. ad Lollium. Malorum esca voluptas. Cato. Major. my former pleasures, to be b● deceitful lusts, foolish an● hurtful lusts, according to th● of the Poet, Sperne voluptates nocet empta dolore voluptas despise pleasures: pleasure purchased with grief, is hurtful, if an● pleasure was purchased wit● grief, surely mine was, for whil● I with it as Satan's Engine, rushe● like an unruly horse, into th● battle of rebellion, against th● sacred Majesty of my God, he job. 6. 4. merciful King, being provoked, ●ts his terrors in array against ●e, masters up all my sins, before ●y face, as threatening to cut ●e off, with my own formerly beloved, but now terrible par●y, even my transgressions; nay ●ore, the high and mighty Lord ●f Hosts, discharges in a full volley, all the roaring Canons of ●is ireful and direful menaces ●gainst me, insomuch that the weak bulwark of all my hope, was soon battered down: & then I hope-less, help-less wretch, found by woeful experience, that the ●ins of Preachers, were not only the Preachers of sins, to others, but also of most heavy judgements to themselves. Then I found that I had only spoke for Jerusalem, but wrought for the building up of Jericho, & Babylon: then I found that I had sailed by Satan's compass, & not Gods; b● the false light of his delusion, ● not by the Polestar of Go● Rev: 4. 6. grace, on this Sea of glass, th● world: which made the Sou● shipwreck by me, cry out a● 'twere in my ears, for vengeance against my soul, cast on the Syrtes of a most sad condition: as Pau● and Timothy, in Asia were presse● 2 Cor: 1. 8. out of measure above strength: insomuch that they despaired of lif● natural: so I was so pressed with the burden of my sins, above m● strength, that I even despaired of life eternal, and yet despised life natural, desiring (a● I may say) to die, if there were no heaven, who lived as if there were no hell. Such an horror overwhelmed me, such a horror Psal: 55. 5. laid hold upon me, that as before I lived as if there were no law, no justice; so now I lay as if there were no Gospel no mercy. My sins that cloud of witness Dicit quidem Plato animas hominum daemones esse, etc. Aug. de civet. Dei l. 9 c. 11. against me, did so hinder ●e Sunshine of God's favour ●rom me, that I beheld the Sun ●f divine justice, without any ●eames of mercy: so that I conceived my soul to be no better ●hen a Devil, in my body; as ●lato held the souls of men, to be Devils separated from the body, whereas a sanctified soul is as ●were a certain God, dwelling ●n a humane body, or a heavenly Anima Deus est aliquis humano corpore vivens Sen. ad Sunil. Epist 3. ●ing, taking up his mansion in earthly cottage. Oh, such bitter things were written against me, by the pen of God's justice, dipped in the gall ●nd vinegar of his sore displeasure, that I then possessed the iniquities Job. 13. 26. Dan. 5. of my youth; which made me tremble, as Belshazzar, at the hand-writing. Me thoughts I read also, Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin: I was weighed in the balance and found wanting, eve● of true zeal and piety, whic● crownes Christ ministry. I looked therefore on the kingdom o● heaven, as divided from me; an● M. Blackmore. on hell as my right inheritance insomuch that when a learne● Godly minister of London, (fo● whom I am bound to praise God came to visit me, in my extremity, and desired like the goo● Samaritan to pour in oil o● Luke 10. comfort, into my wounded conscience, it swimmed (as I may say on the top of the overflowing of mine iniquity: and neve● touched my conscience, as a remedy. All Gospel-salves wer● to me corrosives: God's wound though the mildest, was to me ● sword; such sinful malignant humours did so over-charge th● stomach of my soul; that the brea● of life could not be digested by me, as any thing nourishable unto ●e. I looked on myself as no Magna est vis conscientiae in utramque partem: ut neque timeant qui nihil commiserint: & paenam semper ante oc●los versari putent qui peccaverint. Cato major▪ pro Milone. ●raelite, and therefore I could ●ot relish that Sacred Manna. ●he Scriptures are God's Armoury, wherein are weapons both offensive, and defensive: but alas, ●ll the weapons therein were offensive unto me, in that sad desertion; so focible was my conscience, in terrifying me, that ●he sword of God's vengeance ●dged by my disobedience, was drawn before my face, covered with confusion. Then I who Jehu●ike marched furiously in the broad way, in this woeful straight I lay down, roaring for terror, and yet not able to cry for quarter, to ask for mercy; deeming or rather dooming myself (Spira-like) out of heaven's protection, because not within the lines of Christ's communication. The Schoolmen observe that a Child of God, may so fall, that he may therein lose aptitu●dinem regnandi: the fitness of reigning: but never jus regni● the right of the kingdom: bu● I poor Creature, seeing my sel● destitute, of the Royal Charte● of grace, shut myself clean ou● of the City of glory. I measure● my right by my aptitude, and s● found no place to enter, being fully persuaded by the enemy▪ that I had lost Christ, the way● and herein the devil played the part of a cunning, deceitful Physician, who recounts allthings that may endamage, not any thing that may recover his patient. A sick patiented indeed was I, and my sickness threatened even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Basil. 1 Sam. 2. 25. the very death of immortality: and who could entreat for me? As old Eli said unto his wicked sons, if one man sin against another, the Judge stall judge him: but if man sin against the Lord who shall street for him? he goes the way ● silence the mouth of the blood ● Jesus; and lo then against ●hom sin is the Solicitor in the ●ourt of heaven, and for whom ●hrist Jesus is not the advocate, ●ost miserable is the state of ●at man, most grievous is the ●cknesse of that soul: yea truly it ● the soul of sickness, the whole Isa. 1. 5. ●ead is sick, and the whole heart ●int. I am sure it is a fearful thing Heb. 10. 31. ●o fall into the hands of the living God: nay, most fearful it is, when we have not the wounded ●ands of our Redeemer to hold ●s up: certainly then as presumption Desperatio homicida est animae. Aug. was our heaven, despair will be our hell; the one marching in the front, the other very ●ften brings up the arreare, or ●ather falls upon it, routing all in Psal. 50. Serm. 6. ●ormer pleasures, marshaled by presumption: and slaying th● self-condemning soul; which ● job. 7. 20. as a mark set against God, an● is a burden to itself. We see i● Gen. 4. exemplified in Cain, Achitophe● 2 Sam. 17. 1 Chron. 10. Mat. 27. Saul, Judas and the like: whos● souls being appalled with th● sense, and over-burdened wit● the weight of their transgessions they despaired of the haven's and so cast themselves, into th● gulf. They that before, like ● ship with full sail, hoist up the Top-gallant of their pride● & the sails of their affections to the poisonous blasts of Satins temptations, at last, like basest cowards, struck sail to the Sceleratior omnibus o Juda & infelicior extitisti: quem non paenitentia duxit ad Dominum: sed desperatio traxit ad laqueum. Leo in Serm. Prince of darkness, who upon their total submission, boarded the pinnace of their souls: and being a cursed Pirate, from the beginning, rob them of the precious jewel of their salvation, which is the only prize he seeks ●or: as the King of Sodom said un●o Abraham, da mihi animas, ●ive me the souls, Gen. 14. 21. ●ch is the devil's method, if he ●ath the soul, which is man's all, ●e hath all his desire accomplished, as in Judas; who sinned more ●n despairing of mercy, then in betraying his master, the Lord of ●f life, to death. Now in the fall of man. 1. the Devil tempts. 2. Man consents. 8. God forsakes. Satan tempts ●n malice, man consents in weakness, and God forsakes in justice. Neither is he absent, where he seems to be a fare off: for where Greg. Hom. 8. super. Ezek. he is not present per gratiam, by grace, he is per vendictam, by vengeance. Oh, when the just Judge of heaven, and earth is present, in the last acception, than the Lord is known executing wrath, who was not known suffering wrong: then his Scorpions are feare● whose rods were slighted: h● sword is brandished to a deserved slaughter, whose Sceptre held out by the right hand ● love, could not invite to a timely submission. Then, Oh then, t● Isa. 47. 3. nakedness of a miserable sinn● shall be uncovered: yea his sham● Isa. 59 17. shall he seen: when God thus put on the garments of vengeance fo● clothing, and is clad with zeal as a cloak. Who can stand whe● joh. 9 5. the anger of the Lord is kindled● he overturneth the highest mountains Hab. 3. 12. in his anger. He threshet● Isa. 63. 6. his enemies in anger: nay more, h● treadeth down the people in his anger, and makes them drunk in his fury; and brings down their strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Home●. to the earth. God hath a revenging eye● (saith the blind heathen &: where sin is long in the soul, as a black cloud; no marvel, if the storm● of vengeance break forth in a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chrys. Hom. 5. Isa 33. 23. Job 9 17. Isa. 28. 2. jer. 22. 28. Hose. 8. 8. Psal. 83. 15. thunderclap of fury; wherein the poor soul hath the tackle loosed, cannot well strengthen the mast, neither is able to spread the sail, and therefore is ●roken with the tempest as Job speaks, God's storm is a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing it casts down to the earth with the hand. In this overflowing, all our pleasures and vain delights sink; but our sins do swim in full view to the shame and confusion of our faces, who may justly be esteemed in God's sight as vessels wherein is no pleasure. Such a one assuredly was I▪ when the most High thundered with his voice of displeasure, persecuted me with his tempest, and made me afraid with his storm, I saw no pleasure that God had in me, neither had ● any pleasure in myself, I could not but fall out with myself, because I had fall'n out with my God; vile I was in the sight o● others, but viler in mine own. Terror without, and horror within, like Pharaohs lean kine, swallowed up all the fat kine o● Gen. 41. my former Carnal delights ● which like the fair Nymphs in the Poets, brought forth the fowl Satyrs of fierce wrath, trouble of an evil conscience, and despair of God's mercy: conceiving it to be unprofitable to knock at the door, or wait at the pool, but behold, I that was thus afflicted, tossed Isa. 54. 11. with tempest and not comforted, beh●ld with the eye of faith a Saviour, presenting himself as a Covert of mercy, from the storm of incensed Majesty. Though the cry of my sins were great at the dreadful Tribunal, yet the cry ●f my Redeemers blood was ●reater, at the Throne of grace: ●here it did awake mercy, and ●lled wrath a sleep, so that I ●ill sing of mercy and judgement, unto thee O Lord will I sing. Psa. 101. 1 Lam. 3. 22. ● is of the Lords mercies that I ●m not consumed, because his ●ompassions fail not. It is said, where the Philosopher ●nds the Physician gins; so where humane reason and fleshly wisdom was Nonplussed in ●he without hope of remedie●, ●he blessed Physician of our ●ouls (teaching me that God's Metaphysics are above man's logic) speaks to me with heal●g Aphorisms of mercy, saying ●n effect: for a small moment have ● forsaken thee, but with great Isa. 54. 7. 8. mercies will I gather thee. In ● little wrath I hide my face from ●hee, for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lor● thy Redeemer. But stay, doth a fountain sen● jam. 3. 11. forth at the same place sweet wat● and bitter? Yes, sweet streams ● mercy, and bitter streams of justice, flow both from the sa● fountain of grace and glory. Out of the same Throne proceed Rev. 4. 5. lightnings of God's wi● thunderings of his judgements and voices of his mercy: whic● verse. 3. are evermore shrill in faithful ears. The Rainbow about th● Throne, the Covenant of gra● is still visible in the Horizon ● the Saints; though happily n● beculae quaedam, some thin clou● may interpose. When God is to show merci● like the father of the Prodig● Currit, he runneth, as being wil●ing, and rejoicing at it: but wh● to show his inward displeasure by his outward warlike p 〈…〉 ●ure in judgement, ambulate, he ●alketh, as at the casting Adam ●t of Paradise being pensive & ●scōtented at it. He is even grieved at the heart (as I may say) ●hen man's sin as a fire burn●g to destruction, will not ●e quenched without the pow●ng forth of the full vials of his ●rath. Oh what a springtide ●f grief is in God, when he is provoked to open the floodgates ●f his fury to wash away the filth ●f our abominations? his expostulation Hose. 11. 8. in the Prophet, is a gracious proclamation of his tender mercies to the proudest Rebels: How shall I give the up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? saith ●he Lord: who even echoes to his ●oice with sighs to this sad tune, mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. Mercy and judgement seem struggle in God, as Pharez & Zar● Gen. 38. did in the womb of Tamar: judgement like the one, with the skar● Deus cui proprium est mi sereri, ex se miserandi sumit materiam: quod vutem condemnat, eum cogimus. Bern in Cant. Ger. 7. thread of vengeance stretche● out the hand, but mercy plucks back, comes forth in triumph ● conqueror over judgement. In that God showeth mercik is from a principle of love ● himself; but in that he execute judgement, is from a princip● of wickedness in us: for he dot● not afflict willingly, nor griev● the children of men. I have n● Lam. 3. 33. pleasure in the death of him th● dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore Ezek. 18. 32. turn yourselves, and liv● ye. Before the Lord of Hosts will giv● the fierce assault, he offers afriend●ly Isa. 1. 18. parley: as we read in the Pro●phet, Come now, and let us reaso● together, saith the Lord. Whe● all Gods other attributes as ● formidable Army threaten man's Jam. 2. 13. ruin, mercy the sweetest of al● God's attributes, rejoicing against Psal. 144. 4. judgement, intercedes, desires a treaty with man, who ●s like to vanity, and whose days are as a shadow that pasteth away. The Father of mercies ●angs out the white flag, in ●oken of grace and favour, if rebellious man will submit; but if ●e will still refuse and rebel, ●ighting against the Lord, then 2 Chron. 13. 12 ●s Abijah said to Israel, under the conduct of Jeroboam, he shall not Vitiis patientia victa est. Ovid. Amor. 3. ●rosper: his obstinacy overcomes God's patience, which being abused turns into fury, hangs out the red flag of vengeance in the day of wrath, trouble and distress, wastness and desolation, clouds and darkness. When terms of mercy are rejected, fire & sword must be expected. The Lord of Hosts in the day Zephan. 1. of the trumpet and alarm will bring obstinate rebels to distress, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord, and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Woe unto him that striveth Isa. 45. 9 with his maker, saith the prophet: yet weak unworthy I, may now say, that I strove with my maker, wrestled with him in the strength of Jesus, till I obtained a blessing, even such a blessing as peace, to my troubled conscience. His rod & his staff comforted Psal. 24. 3. me; as he did chastise me with his rod, so he did uphold me with his staff. God was to Psal. 84. 11. me a sun and a shield, a sun of righteousness arising with Mal. 4. 2. healing in his wings: and a shield of salvation, to defend me from the assaults of my deadly foes, the world, the flesh, and the devil: so that they being swallowed up in victory, the Lord ●esus triumphed in mine heart: is invincible goodness could Bonitas invicti non vincitur, infiniti misericordia uon finitur. Fulgent. Tota essentia Dei misericordia. Bern. ●ot be overcome by my wickedness, neither would his infinite ●ercie admit a period from my ●nite misery: but as if he had forgotten to be just, he came to ●e (as I may say) with a sweet compliment of love; saying, O sinful soul thou hast destroyed Hose 13. 9 ●hy self, but in me is thine help: according to the voice heard by Saint Augustine relying upon his In vita Aug. own strength, In te sias, & non stas, so long as I stood in myself in mine own strength, I fell; but as soon as I fell in the power of Jesus, than I stood; so that I may In vita Junii. say with Junius, Thou wast mindful of me O my God: according to the multitude of thy mercies, and called'st home thy lost sheep into the fold. I ran astray out of God's field, into Satan's enclosures; but the great Shepherd of my soul, recalled me, as an object of his loving kindness, who might have been a story of his vengeance: therefore (by his assistance) will Isa. 12. 1. I say, O Lord I will praise thee: thought thou wast angry with me, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Where God is there is heaven: for in his presence is the fullness of all joy, and at his right Psal. 16. 11. hand are pleasures for evermore. Quicquid mihi vult dare Dominus meus, auferat totum, & se mihi det. Aug. in Psal. 26. Nothing is sweet besides God: whatsoever the Lord will give me, let him take away all from me, and give himself to me. It was the saying of one of King Cyrus his favourites, I care for nothing, Cyrus is my friend. better far may a sanctified soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. say so of God, I care for nothing; yet I enjoy all things, because God is my friend: in respect of whom I may say with Job to all my other friends, miserable comforters Job. 16. 2. are ye all. Now God is a friend to none, but in and through Jesus Christ: the Father embraceth none but such as kiss the Son with a kiss of love and homage God me thinks Psal. 2. 12. speaks unto us as Joseph to his brethren, Ye shall not see my face except Gen. 43. 3. your brother be with you; except Jesus our elder bother be with us, we cannot behold the smiling countenance of God, as a Father; though we may to our terror, behold his frowning look and austere, but as a Judge. Therefore, as the two Cherubims. Ex. 25. 20. looked one towards another, but both towards the mercy-seat: So albeit we look (in this blasphemous and licentious age) one towards another as being contrary in judgement, yet we must all look towards Jesus Christ, if we look for mercy: there is no mercy-seat but in him, God is no hearing God, no helping God at all without him, for it pleased the Father Col. 1. 19 Col. 3. 11. that in him should all fullness dwell. He is all in all. God the Father is covered with a cloud, where the glorious beams of his Son's love have no reflection. Christ's presence turns earth into Heaven: and without it, earth, nay Heaven itself were a very Hell. A natural man pitcheth his Tent in this sublunary world, but a Spiritual man centred in Christ, soars higher: he is with Saint Paul caught up as 'twere into the third heaven: he is not where he is, but his love is where his Lord is; as Origen speaks of Mary Magdalene Maria ibi non erat ubi erat; quia ibi tota erat, ubi Magister erat. Origen. seeking her Lord at the Sepulchre, supposing to have found the Lord of life, in the place of death. A precious soul whom Christ hath kissed with the kisses of his mouth, and betrothed unto himself in righteousness and in judgement, Cant. 1. 2. Hose. 2. 19 and in loving kindness, and in mercies; such a one, I say, tramples Cui Christus incipit dulcescere, necesse est amarescere mundum. Bern. Ser. in Cant. the world under foot, for having heavenly promises, he nothing regards earthly pleasures: though his work be here below, yet his master and treasure too are above: here only is his pilgrimage; but there is his home, his inheritance, where he need fear no Council of State, Committees or Sequestrators Psal. 125. 1. to desturbe him: no no, he shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. His Saviour is his strong tower and Castle of defence: he may not therefore fear the siege, no not the storm of an enemy; though Hyaenae instar cadaveribus delectatur, he deligheth to give Ambros. Psal. 79. 2. the dead bodies of the Saints to be meat unto the fouls of the air, and their flesh unto the beasts of the earth. Lift up thine heart then, O Psal. 38. 4. thou afflicted soul, though thine iniquities are gone over thine head, and as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for thee: yet Mat. 11. 28. they are are not too heavy for him, who hath promised to ease thee; for as the Poets feign that Atlas bore heaven on his shoulders; thy Redeemer is willing to bear the hell of thy transgressions on his heavenly shoulders. He sweet Jesus drank the bitter cup of his Father's wrath, that we might drink deep of the sweet cup of his Father's love; he was contented to drink vinegar of grief here on earth, that we might drink Mat. 26. 29. new wine of glory, with him in the kingdom of his Father. As Marius being accused before the Roman Senate of treason against the State, came and shown his wounds, saying, quid verb a loquar? vulner a ●●quntur: why should I use any ●ords unto you in my defence? ●y wounds declare my love, and ●y blood as flowing Rhetoric ●ay persuade you to a firm belief of my loyalty: so the wounds ●f the Lord Jesus demonstrate ●is love, quot vulner a tot ora, every ●ound is a mouth to speak how ●eare and precious we are in his ●ight. He trod the winepress Isa. 63. 3. ●lone: he became the son of man, despised, and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted Isa. 53. 3. with grief, that man mighr become the son of God; & cry boldly, Abba Father: Where Rom. 8. 15. ●he Apostle useth an Hebrew and Greek word, both signifying the same thing, to show that Jew and Gentile have no salvation but by the spirit of adoption, in and through Jesus Christ. God's mercy is the Ark that saves us from drowning in the deluge of destruction; but Vu●nus Christi, Ostium Arcae, th● Aug. de Civit. Dei. l. 15. c. 26. wound of Christ is the door ● the Ark: Christ's merit is the do● of the Ark of God's mercy, an● his death is of greater efficacy t● Multo efficacior Christimors in bonum, quam peccata nostra in malum, etc. Bern. our good, than our sins can be t● our hurt: he is more powerful to save, than Satan to destroys his power and will both are i● league, where he is in love. O then, is any one sick? her● Mat. 9 12. is physic for him: is any heart● Cant. 2. 5. faint? here are flagons of win● to comfort him: Is any conscience wounded? here is balm of Gi●lead to heal it. The Lord dot● proclaim himself by the mouth of Jesus to be merciful and gracious, Exod. 34. 6, 7. long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth● keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity, transgressions and sin. All our sins are but as a● drop to the Ocean of God's mercie● saith Fulgentius. Yet, let no man presume; for the same God is both a Saviour and a judge, a Lion, as well as a Lamb, he doth not only take away the sins of penitent souls, in love, but he roars as fiercely against incorrigible sinners, in wrath: his blood is a Red-Sea indeed; true Israelites only are saved in it, but cursed Eypgtains are drowned, it is to the one a Sepulchre, to the other a Sanctuary. He only that believeth on John 6. 47. Rev. 2. 10. Christ. Hath everlasting life by Christ. He only that is faithful unto death, shall receive a crown of life. Faith is the hand whereby we receive Gods blessings, and he that wants it, is like one that stands for an alms, and wants an hand to receive it. O show thy faith then by thy works, acquaint thyself, more & more with thy redeemer, and be at peace, thereby everlasting good Job. 22. 21. shall come unto thee. Come out o● Babylon, dwell no longer in Mesech, neither have thy habitation in the Tents of Kedar: but show Psal. 120. 5. thyself a Burgess of the new Jerusalem, by that golden chain o● two links, faith and true repentance. Is God incensed by thy presumption? labour to pacify him with thy humiliation: and as thou hast sent thy sins in a storm or whirlwind of disobedience unto the Tribunal of justice; so send thy soul in a gale of sighs, to the Throne of grace, than all thy sins will be as chaff before the wind, Christ's merit scattering them. The penitent contrite heart hath godly sorrow for sin, and Psal. 126. 5. spiritual joy for that sorrow: they that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. God sees the tears of his Saints as he did Hezekiahs, and albeit he gives them tears Isa. 38. 5. Psal. 80. 5. Psal. 56. 8. Bernard. Psal. 104. 15. to drink yet he puts them into his bottle, and they are vinum Angelorum, the wine of the Angels: for as wine maketh glad the heart of man; so repentant tears, distilling from the limbeck of a sorrowful faithful heart, make the very Angels and glorious Saints chant forth Anthems of joy to the praise of the Redeemer; for joy shall be in Luke. 15 7. heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. O then, I beseech you friends by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we have brought heaviness to the Courts of happiness, by our trangression; so let us strive to send melody and rejoicing thither by our Conversion: then when the most High uttereth his voice in the thundering Dialect● of his indignation, we shall have peace; when obdurate transgressors are plagued like the Egyptians, we shall be like the Israelites in Goshen. And why? Exod. 26. because true repentance is an● Exception to the General Rule of God's justice: in a word, it is Omnipotent, overcoming him who overcomes all things. A● faithful prayer issuing forth at the sally-port of the mouth● from an humble penitent soul, routs all God's judgements mustered up in fearful hardness against it: When God besieged jonah 3. Nineveh with his fearful menaces, threatening a fiery storm of destruction: then the poor distressed violentiae sunt in precibus lachrymae. Aug. Ninevites cast themselves down at the footstool of his grace, threw away all other weapons, as unuseful, besides prayers and tears: with the power whereof they raised the siege, & by their repentance they made God repent, as I may say, and albeit he could not endure their sinning, yet he seems to suffer in their repenting, his compassion working in him a kind of passion. Which makes my soul breath forth this Elegy Aug. Conses. l. 6. Deus a quo exire mori: in quem redire reviscere, et in quo habitare vivere Aug. in. Soliloqu. Psal. 90. 1. in praise of my God, O vera summa suaevitas: omni suavitate dulcior! O true incomparable sweetness, sweeter than sweetness itself! To go out from God is to die: to return to him is torevive, and to dwell in him is to live for ever. Which certainly made David rejoice to say, Lord thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations. O how safe and happy is his condition who hath the Lord for his habitation? he cannot be banished, heaven is his inheritance and freehold, yea his Country: he cannot be sequestered, for he is a member o● the high Court of Parliament i● Heaven, where none but obedient subjects, maintaining th● prerogative Royal of the King of Kings have any interest: h● 1 Tim. 6. 6. cannot be plundered, he still keeps his wealth, the riches of grace godliness is to him great gain● he cannot be imprisoned, fo● God's presence turns the prison's into a palace: to speak a volume in a word; he that hath not the Lord hath nothing; and he that hath the Lord hath all things; he Gen. 30. 27. cannot but prosper, he must be blessed if Laban was blessed for jacob's sake: Obed-Edom because the Ark continued in his house; without all controversy, he must be transcendently blessed 2 Sam. 6. 11. with whom God delights to dwell. Good cause hath he ●o sing with the sweet singer of Israel, who thus resolved with himself; I will abide, in thy Tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the eovert of thy Psal. 61. 4. ●ings. As the sparrow fled into the bosom of Xenocrates the Philosopher from the talons of the Hawk: so let us fly with the wings of holy devotion to the bosom of our God, and there we shall have all safety and shelter from the cruel talons of the Prince of the air's fury. O then, let us love this gracious God with all our heart, and with Mat. 22. 37. all our soul, and with all our mind. The manner of loving God, is without measure no Synecdoche Modus diligendi Deum est sine modo. Bern. Tract. de Dilect. Dei. partis will serve in love's Rhetoric: no gradus remissus in this fire, which like the Vestal fire among the Romans, or rather like the sacrificing fire on the Altar among the Jews, must never be extinguished. The motions of our souls in love toward God, must not be like violent motions in Philosophy, swift in the beginning, & slow in the end: but like the motion of the spheres they must be uniform & continual so, there will be motion and music both. A man in this respect must be as S. John is styled totus, amativus, wholly possessed with love: as the soul is tota in toto, & tota in qualibet parte, whole in the whole, and whole in every part, so it must be whole in the love of God: all the faculties of the soul as lines of the same circumference, must meet in the love of God as the centre. 1. We must love the Lord with all our heart wisely, resisting the devil that he may flee jam. 4. 7. from us. Satan is like the Crocodile if we pursue, he flies, but if we fly, he pursues: we must therefore fight manfully under the banner of Jesus Christ, casting off the works of darkness, Rom. 13. 12. and putting on the armour of light. As without holiness no man shall see the Lord, so without it, no man shall scare the devil: the loadstone looseth his virtue besmeared with garlic, and we our efficacy polluted with heinous transgressions: as I have read of Godfrey of Bullein, who being demanded by the infidels how he had his hands tant doctas ad praeliandum, so well instructed to fight, he answered. quia manus semper habui puras ab impuris contactibus peccati, because I never defiled my hands with any notorious sins. Though the worst of men may be triumphant Conquerors in other wars, as is apparent in these evil days: yet the best men only are victorious in this holy war, against the devil. They that undertak, in a sinful bravado to swear down fortresses, blow away armies with a powerful breath, and kill the enemy before they see him, are no warriors here, for like the Captains in Nahum, they Nahum. 3. 17. camp in the hedges in the cold day; but when the Sun ariseth (in the heat of service) they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. 2. We must love the Lord with all our soul sweetly mortifying all fleshly lusts, which war against 1 Pet. 2. 11. the soul, under the command of that black General the Devil. First, Fury as on the forlorn hope, fights like a madman: Adultery like treacherous Joab doth kiss to kill: Glutrony 2 Sam. 20. 9 may stand for a corporal, Drunkeness is the master-gunner who sets all on fire: avarice is a pioner still digging in the earth to make the shortest cut to hell: Idleness is a gentleman of the Company: Hypocrisy is the ensign; but Pride must be the Captain or Colonel else all the ranks are broken. Now we must enter into Covenant to appose this carnal Army with Spiritual weapons; me thinks God speaks to a soul, as that noble Roman did to his son, found in Catiline's conspiracy: Fulvius. in Plutarch. Non Catilinae te genui, sed patriae: I begot thee not for that Traitor Catiline, but for thy Country: So God gave us not a being that we should side with that Arch-traitor Satan, but that we should valiantly fight for the maintenance of his glorious prerogative, and the rights and privileges of our Country which is above. In this war all must fight, women must be spiritual Amozones, no neutrality can here be admitted, he that is not for God, doth declare against Ephes. 6. 13. him. Wherefore let us put on the whole armour of God, and fight his battles continually without any truce or intermission then as blessed Triumphant conquerors we shall eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst Rev. 2. 7. 11. 17. of the Paradise of God: we shall not be hurt of the second death: we shall eat of the hidden Manna: nay more, hear what Oration Rev. 3. 21. our Captain Jesus Christ makes unto us, saying, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit Donabit certanti victoriam; qui certandi dedit audacian. Aug. with me on my Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set with my Father on his throne. 2. We must love the Lord with all our mind constantly, overcoming all crosses and troubles of the world. We are born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Man after he Job. 5. 7. hath been embarked nine months in a living vessel, at last he arrives into this world, Lord of the Land, yet weeps at the possession: labour and sorrow are the twins of sin borne at a birth, and man's life is an Hermaphrodite consisting of both, labour was Adam's, and sorrow Eves, one of these for them both if not both these for either one. Seeing then that we are borne to troubles, let us bear them undauntedly in our greatest afflictions: let us watch, stand fast in the faith, quit ourselves like men and be strong. For afflictions are but bitter arrows shot 1 Cor. 16. 13. from a loving hand, and if God doth not set us as a mark for them, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Beat. Dorotheus. Doct. 3 it is to be feared he hath not set a mark on us for his own. Calamitas virtutis occasio est, saith Seneca, Tribulation moves God's mercy towards the soul, as winds do raise rain to refresh the earth. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, saith David. Psal. 119. 71. The Poets feign two Temples, the one of joy, and the other of sorrow; but so built that we cannot go into that of joy, but through that of sorrow. We mus● pass through a wilderness o● Acts 14. 22. tribulation, before we can arrive at the Canaan of felicity. I● Heb. 12. 7, 8. ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons: for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be Durate & vosmet rebus servate secundis. Virgil. l. 1. Aeneid. without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons, saith the great Doctor of the Gentiles. Read but the 11. Chapter of the Second Epistle to the Carinthians, and there ye may behold a world of misery delineated in Saint Paul as in a Map: there ye may read his misery to be methodical, and his torment accurate: yet, that which is another's either grief or fear, Rom. 5. 3. was his glory. We glory in tribulations saith he, for I reckon Rom. 8. 18. that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. As in the same fire gold glisters Sint sub uno igne. Rutilat aurum, palea fumat, etc. Ita una eadenque vis irruens bonos probat, purificat, eliquat: malos damnat, etc. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 1. c. 8. and straw or chaff smokes: so in the same furnace of affliction, to use the Prophet's words, Isa. 48. 10. God's children are tried, melted and refined; but the reprobates are consumed, spoiled and utterly destroyed. The same fire which had no power over Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, slew those men that took them up; the same Den of Lions was a slaughter-house to daniel's Persecutors, but an Asylum Dan. 3. 22. Dan. 6. to himself: so the same tribulation is a haven to the Godly, but a gulf of destruction to the Tantum interest non quali●, sed qualis quisque patiatur. Aug. ibid. wicked: so that in this we must consider the quality of the patiented, not of the disease. Furthermore, as affliction itself is to the wicked a living death, and a terrestrial hell: so their unacquaintedness with i● most commonly proves a snar● and ruin to them: as we read of Saint Ambrose Bishop of Milan, Marullus. lib. 5. c. 3 who being invited to a rich man's house, and hearing him boast of a continual prosperity without any intermixture of adversity, he with his retinue instantly departs, saying, ideo seinde sugere, ne un à 〈◊〉 homine prepeivis prosperitatibus uso statim periret, lest he should be so unhappy as to perish with that wretched happy man. This reverend Father had not gone far, but looking bacl he beheld the rich man's house, and all that he had, swallowed up, as Korah Dathan and Abiram with the Numb. 16. earth. Therefore forget not the exhortation Heb. 12. 5, 6. which speaketh to you as children, my son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, nihil infelicius eo cui nihil unquam evenit adversi: Demetrius in Sen. Heb. 11. 25. Psal. 119. 97. Isa. 26. 16. and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Surely there is nothing more unhappy than him to whom no unhappiness doth ever happen. And O thrice happy is that Christian, whose affliction is so sanctified unto him, that he will choose (as Moses did) rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And blessed is that soul which can sweetly breathe forth with David, saying, Before I was afflicted; I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. How happy should I be if I could say with the Prophet concerning the Inhabitants of this Land; Lord, in trouble have they visited thee: they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them: But alas, horresco referens, our hearts Pharaoh like are hardened by God's Judgements which roar not so loud to our terror, as we are silent in our repentance; which makes God complain, I have sent among you the Pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your Amos. 4. 10. young men have I slain with the sword, and I have taken away your horses, & I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils, yet have ye not returned unto me faith the Lord. Again I harkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repent him of his wickedness, saying, what have I done? every one turned to jer. 8. 6. 7. 12. his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea the Stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times, and the Turtle, and the Crane, and the Swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgement of the Lord. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fail among them them that fall in the day of their visitation, they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. Me thinks. I hear the Lord utter his voice concerning this land, saying, the Rulers take council together against the Lord, and against his Anointed: they sit Psal. 2. Psal. 90. 20. 21. Quale est Dominantis arbitrium talis liber tatis aspectus. Cassiodor l. 3. Epist. on the throne of iniquity, and frame mischief by a law. They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous: and condemn the innocent blood. Again, this people hath arevolting and rebellious heart, they are revolted and gone. They are waxen fat, they shine: yea they overpasse the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause; the cause of the Fatherless, yet they prosper. But how long? The just Judge jer. 5. 23. 28. of heaven and earth is bending his bow, and making his arrows ready against the persecuters, he hath bend his bow, like an enemy, Lam. 2. 4. and called as 'twere a Council of war, upon the propounding this Question: Shall I not visit for these things; saith the jer. 5. 29. Lord? and shall not my soul be avenged on such a Nation as this? woe to the Rebellious Children, Isa. 30. 1. saith the Lord, that take council, but not of me; and that cover with a covering but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. Verily we mask a fowl face under a fair vizard; and put God's stamp upon our Adulterous jas. 5●. 8. Cain: costruing God's meaning by our own, and expounding Gods will by our own work, as if God's ways were as our ways, and his thoughts as our thoughts. Alas, we seem to be religious, not for God's glory but (as we fond conceive) for our own advantage; making no other use of piety, then as it may serve a trick of policy: so that truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter: yea truth Isa. 59 14. 15. faileth, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. There is a great show of new lights, yet we wait for true light, but behold obscurity, for brightness, but we walk in darkness. Isa. 59 9 And as if we loved darkness better than light, we hate to be reproved, and yet will not be reform: like those beasts in Pliny, which have fell in Aure, the hearing of truth galls us, and if any shall come unto us with a vae vobis, as our Israel's troubler, we will fetch him up with a Coram nobis; just, Ahabs humour to Elijah, and Agamemnon's in Homer to Chalchas. 1 Kings 21. 20 If learned and reverend Divines will not eat up the sins Hose. 4. 8. of the people, and the sins of the Rulers which are the Ruler's o● Psal. 14. 4. sins, they themselves shall be eaten up as it were bread. In Salvian. de guber. Dei. l. 5. hoc seclus res devoluta est, ut nis● quis malus fuerit salvus esse non potest: he that will not swim with the stream of reigning impiety, is threatened to be drowned in the raging Sea of unparallelled cruelty. This is the birthday of 1 Sam. 4. 21. Jchabod: the Churches magnificat is turned or tuned to miserere; so that blessed is the man that hath his nunc dimittis to the Church triumphant; so miserable is the Estate of our Church militant. O tempora, O mores! all the sins of former ages are rallied up in this, and keep their Randezvous in our Land, which was once the envy of other nations, but is now become their reproach: and the inhabitants thereof an Micah. 6. 16. hissing, according to that of the Wiseman, saying, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a Prov. 14. 34. reproach to any people. Then certainly it must be so to us, for many monsters of sin which our Forefathers never dreamt off, are visible amongst us; labouring as 'twere to fright mercy from us: and with the Gadarenes to drive Christ Jesus our of our Coast. As if we were able not only to contend with but also overcome the Almighty. We hang our bloody colours of defiance against him, sending him a challenge to show himself the Lord of Hosts as well as the God of peace: for as Abner 2 Sam. 2. 14▪ called fight a sport, saying unto Joab, let the young men arise and play before us: so to fight against the Lord with the weapons of unrighteousness is our pastime and delight, as if there were no God to revenge, nor hell to torment, Luke 18. 2. like the unjust Judge in Luke, we fear not God, neither regard man. Animas mortuas multi in corpore vivo habent. Aug. Alas, we have dead souls in living bodies: neither God's mercy that sweet language of his love, could woe us to repentance; Isa. 26. 10. nor can his judgements as a fierce Lion deter us from O mentes amentes, perdidistis utilitatem calamitatis. Aug. de Civit. Dei lib. 1. cap. 33. running in the broad way of wickedness: insomuch that as Augustine complained of the Romans, reason is sequestered from our minds, and it is not so much our error, as our fury, which makes us lose the profit of our calamity: Ah, the trumpet is blown Amor. 3. in the City, and the people are not afraid: the Lion roareth, and yet we tremble not: so dead are we in sins and trespasses. In this overflowing of our iniquity Quòd vivitis Dei est, qui vobis parcendo admonet, ut corrigamini paenitendo. Aug. ibid. if we do not all perish as the old world did by deluge, it is not because we are less sinful, but because God is more merciful. It is his mercy that we live, and he spares us only to admonish us how we should improve his patience, and long-suffering by our repentance. But God may justly complain of us saying, I Isa. 65. 2, 3. have spread out my hands all the day unto a Rebellious People, which walketh in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts: a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face. As Cyprian once complained Inter Populum frequente strage morientem nemo considerat se esse mortalem. Cyprian. of the plague of pestilence in Carthage, saying, that among a people continually slain by the destroying Angel no man considereth himself to be mortal: So we of this kingdom plagued with war, pestilence and famine turn not unto him that smiteth us, neither do we seek the Lord of Hosts, as if we would make the Prophet a liar Isa. 9 13. who saith, when thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants Isa. 26. 9 of the world will learn righteousness. Surely God hath a controversy with the inhabitants of this Land, because by swearing, and Hose. 4. lying, and killing and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood; Therefore shall the land mourn. When rebellion against Heaven blows the trumpet, and beats up the drum, desolation commonly gins the march: destruction hangs over our heads as the sword over the head of Damocles, but by a horse hair, a twine thread, I fear 'twill suddenly fall upon us: according to that of the Apostle, When they 1 Thas. 5. 3. say peace and safety: then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. We have grieved God's spirit by our multiplied transgressions, so that we may sigh out this lamentation, The joy of our heart is ceased our dance is turned into mourning, the Crown is fallen from our head. Woe unto Lam. 5. 15, 16. us that we have sinned. Consider this therefore all ye that forget God, stand in awe Rom. 6. 33. and sin not. The nature of sin is deadly, the least sin hath in it the sting of death; and I may say every sin is great because it is against the greatest. It may seem at first a Zoar, but at last it may prove a Sodom, drawing a hell from heaven upon it. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and the Nations that forget, God. When the sentence is passed there is no reprieve to be expected; Psal. 9 17. Nequaquam misericordia parcentis liberat, quos semel justitia judicantis damnat. Greg. lib. 9 Moral. tears of blood cannot obtain pardon: there is no hope of mercy in the place of Justice; nor of life in the Region of death, Here in the world is the Sun shineth on the just and unjust both, but in the darksome dungeon of eternal death it is not so; darkness and sorrow there bar out all light and solace. In hell there is a towfold punishment 1. Paena sensus, the punishment of sense, which is so great, that the heart of man cannot conceive it, nor the tongue utter it: the fire burns, but not consumes; the worm gnaws, but not devours; and as the joys on earth were torments compared with the unspeakable joys of heaven? so the greatest torments in this world are very joys in respect of the pains of hell in this lake that burneth with fire and brimstone the Rev. 20. 10. damned are tormented day and night for ever and ever; death there always gins and never ends. 2. Paenadamni, the punishment of loss, which is the greatest punishment of all, sin at once opens the gates of hell, and shuts the door of heaven: the damned wretches feeling the horrible weight of God's wrath then weep, gnash their teeth, and roar in the bitterness of their souls, for the loss of his favour; then by the Logic of Opposites they find there is a heaven by their being cast into hell: O fearful Topics when they are taught pugno contracto, with the fist of God's fury. Oh it is most lamentable to read sweet mercy lost by the bloody characters of an enraged justice, and to measure the blessed estate of the glorified Saints by the want of that happiness, not by the fruition: it is another hell in hell to know the love of Jesus Christ as a Saviour, by his severity as a Judge only. O how much would he Aquinas. Maluer●●t Saguntini se suáque omnia igne consumere, quàm aut faederati populi amicitiam deseretere, etc. Liv. Bell. lib. 1. that now lies frying in hell rejoice, if he might have but the least moment of time wherein he might get God's favour? It is lamentable to hear, much more to read the woeful Tragedy of Saguntus, a City of Spain destroyed by Hannabal, saith Saint Augustine: but I may rather say, that it is most terrible to hear the story of hell, but infinitely wretched to feel the fury of that unquenchable fire, by reason of an immortal death and a deadly life, ever dying and yet never dead. What David Psal. 55. 15. therefore wished unto his foes, I will wish unto my best friends, even that they may go down quick into hell, by holy meditation, to prevent their casting into it by condemnation: with an Ite Imparati ad paratum, go ye cursed souls which were unprepared for heaven, to hell, a place prepared for the Devil and his Angels; ye have sinned without repentance, and therefore ye must be damned without remedy. Omnis anima aut Christi sponsa, aut Diaboli adultera est. Aug. in Gen. If the soul be Satan's Adulteress, and not Christ's Spouse, than hell must be her inheritance, whose work was sin, and companion Satan: let us therefore labour to espouse our souls to Jesus Christ, who will here decorateus with grace; and hereafter when he bring us home to his Palace, he will us with robes of glory, and put a Crown of pure gold upon ou● heads in the kingdom of his Father. Where God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, and Rev. 7. 17. we shall have happiness without any heaviness, light without any darkness, and all this without any end. Let us now common with our own hearts, and consider, As there is a Palace of glory so there is a dungeon of eternal misery, both receptacles for the souls of men: the way to the one, is pleasant, but the journeys-end is most painful; the way to the other is painful, but the journeys-end is most pleasant; the voyage is tempestuous, but the arrival is beyond all expression joyful: as it is written Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 1 Cor. 2. 9 neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. O then, let not us sell this everlasting kingdom of glory for a cup of cold comfort, a draught of deadly poison, as Lysimachus sold his kingdom for a cup of cold water: but as it is Satan's heaven, even in hell itself to bring wretched men into utter darkness, counting himself happy when he can make others like himself most unhappy: So let it be our heaven on earth to fight against this cursed enemy, under the banner of the Lord Jesus; till we have beat down all his strong holds, and utterly subdued him under our feet, insomuch Rom. 6. 14. that sin shall have no more dominion over us. Now, we must fight against this enemy in the Spring, even in youth: we must labour to walk in the paths of holiness, whilst we are able to run in the ways of wickedness: we must serve our best Master in our best days, lest we offer up the best of our service unto the worst, and the worst of our service unto the best: if Satan hath had our Magnificat all our days, God will scarce accept of our Nun● Dimittis at the last gasp: if our souls are dedicated at first to Satan as his Synagogue, it is to be feared, they will never be consecrated to God as his Sanctuary. Grace will hardly be courted by the old man, which was rejected by the young: and he shall scarce win her in sickness or on the death-bed, who did not woe her in perfect health: if God come in youth and find no fruit, beware the fig-rrees curse, Never fruit grow on thee hereafter. Mat. 21. 19 Manna is to be gathered in the morning; and grace to be embraced in youth. As Solomon (whose heart was the Throne of wisdom, and whose tongue was made up of harmony) adviseth us, saying, Remember now Eccles. 12. 1 thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou Frangas citius quam corrigas quae in malum induruerunt Quintilian. shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. It is i'll graffing upon an old stock; and to put the Nectar of virtue into the old stinking Cask of vice, is as impertinent as to put new wine into old bottles: therefore while we are young men, let us cast off the old man with his works, and put on the new man, the Lord Jesus Christ: who of 1 Cor. 1. 30. God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Would we then embosomed ourselves in Christ, do we desire to behold a gracious mercy-seat in the midst of a just tribunal, let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may 1 Pet. 5. 5, 6. exalt us in due time; casting all our care upon him, for he careth for us. He forgetteh not the cry Psal. 9 12. of the humble, it climbs the batlements of Olympus and wrestles with God till it obtains a blessing, it pierceth the clouds of the air and by the strength of Christ's outstretched arm, it dispels the clouds of God's displeasure, and causeth the light of his countenance to shine upon us, miserable sinners. Now therefore I beseech you that are my dear friends and old acquaintance, Ubi nullus metus, ibi nulla religio. Psal. 2. 11. to set God's mercy & his justice evermore before your eyes; the one to keep you from presumption, and the other from despair: serve the Lord Mal. 3. 14. with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Say not within yourselves, it is vain to serve God: and what profit is it, that we keep his ordinance, and that we walk mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? O what greater deformity is Quid indecentius, quam curvum recto corpore gerere animum? Bern. in Cant. Ser. 14. A praefinibus arcendus est hostis. Sen. there then to have such crooked souls in upright bodies? But I hope better things of you, show your valour therefore by driving the enemy back in the frontiears; deal with your sins as the Pigmies deal with the Cranes, crack them in the shell: sin is as the Sea, if it once make but a small breach, it threatens a great deluge: & that which first seems but a peccadillo, may at last without deception of sight, be seen in a multiplying glas●e. Non est securum inter serpentes dormire: Hieron. it is not safe to sleep among serpents, Peccatum dulce in faucibus, tormenmentum invisceribus. Aug. nor slumber in transgressions: for they which run the hazard, commonly like men stung with Asps, they hasten to death, not feeling their dying, but are dead, before they thought themselves to have been sick. Sin is indeed a poisonous pill sugared and candied over; it is sweet in the mouth, but Peccati dolor et maximus et aeternus est. Cicero. Attic. sour in the maw: pleasant to the sense, but destructive to the soul: the taking of it is delicious, but the operation deadly: for if Rom. 8. 13. ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Though wickedness Job. 20. 12. 13. 14. (saith Job) be sweet in his mouth, though he hid it under his tongue, though he spareit, & forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth: yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of Asps in the midst of him. He forsakes his own mercy. Lay Jonah. 2. 8. jam. 5. 9 your hands therefore upon your hearts, behold, the Judge standeth before the door; Jesus Christ is ready to descend in a Throne of clouds to judge the world: and if ye have not your Quietus est in the soul, before death with a cold hand presents one to you in the body, eternally miserable must ye be. When the righteous shall at the great day, and general Assizes come out of their graves, as Miners out of their pits, laden with gold and glory, ye like wretched Malefactors, shall come out of the dungeon, see him whom ye have pierced, and receive your just condemnation from him: ye shall for a moment Rom. 1. 7. behold the light, to make your everlasting darkness the more grievous to you. Therefore now while it is called to day harden not your hearts; procrastinate not your repentance, Hose. 13. 14. lest it be hid from your eyes: he that promiseth to him that repenteth pardon doth not promise to him that sins repentance. Presume not, ye which have an hour to day, know not whether ye shall have life to marrow: Wherefore brethren give diligence to make your caland election sure: for if ye do 2 Pet. 1. 10. these things ye shall never fall. Draw near to God with a Heb. 10. 22. true heart, in full assurance of faith, having your hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and your bodies washed with pure water. Your Loyalty to the King commands you much, but your love to God will command Qui sequntus es Davidem peccantem, sequaris Davidem paenitentem. Ambr. you more: and indeed, ye cannot well honour the one, unless ye fear the other. And as for my part, I must speak to you as Saint Ambrose did to Theodosius excusing a sin because David did the like; if any of you have followed me sinning, I beseech you to follow me repenting: and let your passing an act of oblivion on my ill example, put you in remembrance of my precept: for as David to Bathsheba, and Paul to the Galatians, so I to you. As the Lord liveth, that 1 Kings 1. 29. hath redeemed my soul out of all distress wherein I trust I had Gal. 4. 19 the pangs of a new birth) I travail in birth again till Christ be form in you. Now, to conclude, if any shall say Physician heal thyself Luke 4. 23. or if with my former sins I am upbraided as Saint Augustine was In vita Aug. by the Donatists, give me leave to answer with that Reverend Father, saying, Look how much they blame my former faults, by so much the more I commend and praise my Physician, who jer. 30. 13. hath restored health unto me, and healed me of my wounds, because they called me an Out-cast. Therefore having good 2 Thes. 2. 16. hope through grace I will sing unto the Lord as long I live: I Psal. 104. 33, 34. will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord. I will labour to lighten Duo suut tibi necessaria, conscientia & fama: constiencia propter rem: fama propter proximum. Ambr. Epist. ad Constantin. in my life, and thunder in my doctrine; that by the one I might beat down vice; by the other approve and improve virtue. Two things will I hold necessary for me, towit, a good conscience, & a good name, the one, to edify my neighbours, and the other to comfort myself: in both will I seek God's glory, in neither mine own praise. I desire Sic vivendum est, tanquam in conspectu ●ivamus: sic cogitandum, tanquam aliquis pectus intimum prospicere possit. Sen. lib. de Moribus. so to live as if mine enemies were still beholding me. I will not as if I were borne under the Planet Mercury (through God's grace that worketh in me) be good with the good, and bad with the bad: but labour by a pure conversation to confirm the good, and convert the bad, or else eschew them, for I may have a bad acquaintance, but I will never have an incorrigible companion. I will be afraid of sinning, not as a servant, but as a son: I will more fear the displeasure of my God as a loving Father, than his dreadful menaces as a severe Judge. I will (by God's assistance) Heb. 10. 13. hold fast the profession of our holy saith without wavering: and if any prevailing power shall vote in opposition to it, I will pray for their conversion, but not act with them to mine own confusion. I had rather suffer for the Gospel, then let the Gospel suffer for me. God may give mine enemies leave to make no conscience of my Shipwreck, but I trust he will never give me 1 Tim. 1. 19 leave to make Shipwreck of my conscience. The testimony whereof, is that I resolve to fear Prov. 24. 21. God and the King, and not meddle with them that are given to change. My soul longeth for the consolation of Israel in the restoring the beauty of holiness Revel. 9 in the sanctuary, which is polluted with Heretics and Schismatics that cloud the glory of our Church as locusts coming out of the smoke of the bottomless pit. As Solomon saith, the Prov. 30. 27. locusts have no King: So these locusts will have no mortal King on earth; but the King over them is the Angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, but in the Greek Apollyon. Rev. 9 11. Be not thou of their council O my soul, neither enter into their path, but avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. Prov. 4. 15. My ambition shall be to embrace truth, and my study to learn Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge as in a Divine celestial Col. 2. 3. Academy. I will look on other learning as the trimming, but on this alone as the vesture of my soul: other arts and sciences are Vae tibi Aristoteles laudaris ubi non es, etc. cruciaris ubi es. Aug. called liberales, but they cannot liberare me ab inferno, free me from hell: therefore that knowledge shall be to me the most precious which is the most gracious and saving. I care not by humane learning to be as a Meteor advanced above the height of an ordinary capacity: so I may by learning Christ, be as a Star fixed in the Orb of grace, above the beggarly Elements of natural abilities. Neither do I speak against humane learning (which I esteem) in the positive, but only in the comparative. When I mention the Sublime Raptures of a soul which is Christ's Pupil, the Sun of natural light and humane understanding must suffer a grand Eclipse. I will ever account him the best scholar who is the best Christian; preferring an Abcedarian in God's O economics, before a profound Sophy in the world's Politics. And concerning outward estate, I deem that the best which God declares by his dispensations so to be: if heaven be entailed to my soul, I am rich enough for had I all things in the world without hope of that, I were very poor. Whilst I am in the world, I will take heed that the world come not into me: I will esteem it as my servant, not my master; as my road, not my home; as a wilderness, not a Canaan: the pleasures thereof shall be my Vacation, not my Term. God alone shall be the delight of my soul, who is the soul of my delight: and so do I desire to finish my course in the Church Militant, that the High Priest, Jesus Christ, may give me a blessed induction into the Church Triumphant. In confidence whereof, One thing have I desired Psal. 27. 4. of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his Temple. I had rather Psal. 84. 10. be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, then to dwell in the tents of wickedness: For I have put off Cant. 5. 3. my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? Gloria in excelsis Deo. FINIS.