MY Embassie ( Right Honourable , and the rest Beloued ) I know not whether it bee fuller of horrour or delight , whether it may more amaze or comfort you , the first part like the seuere threats of the punishing Law , searcheth the wound ; the latter , like the soueraigne balme of the sauing Gospell , worketh the cure ; 't is equally diuided , the first woundeth not so deepe , but the latter cureth as fast . If the wound be vnto death , the cure is vnto life : If the wages of sinne be death , the gift of God is eternall life , through Iesus Christ our Lord .

The Text naturally is thus put on sunder , there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; The wages of sinne is death , there is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord ; there is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , there is first malum culpae , the offence giuen ; sinne ; secondly , there is malum poenae , the punishment inflicted : Death , thirdly , there is the Iustice and proportion betweene the offence and the punishment , it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the stipend , the wages ; fourthly and lastly , there is the certainty of the punishment to bee inflicted , intimated in the verbe of the present tense , it is death , The wages of sinne is death . In the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , there is first life , opposed vnto death in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , commended by his adiunct or duration , it is eternall ; Secondly , heere is the meanes of conferring of it on them that receiue it , which is not by way of wages , as death in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , but freely and by gift ; thirdly , heere is the doner , hee that bestoweth it , GOD. Lastly , heere is the Mediator , hee through whom , and for whose sake it is giuen , Iesus Christ our Lord . This is my modell , these my parts : briefly , God hath this day set before you life and death , good and euill , now that you be not deceiued in your choice , giue me leaue to lay them open vnto you ; first , the euill , malum delicti , & malum supplicij , the euill of Sinne , and the euill of death , The wages of sinne is death .

Man in his Original & Primitiue perfection , being the Son of God , by creation , as he summed vp the world in an Epitome , so was he a liuing Image of his fathers glory , De eo quod de terius potiori insidiari soleat . August . lib. 2. de Gen. cap. 8. & praeter Haeretic●s , ●uius sententiae fuit Lactantius , lib. 2. Ins●itut . diuin. whom he best copied out in his better part , his soule ; not that it was ex traduce , from God , not that the Diuinity was rent in two , or diuided , so that that became part of the Diuine Essence , as first Philo the Iew doted , and after him the Maniches blasphemed : there was no trans-fusion , but a creation , no identity , but a conformity , which was not in substance , but in quality : neither was the soule alone so glorious , but the body also , which was first made a house for the soule to inhabit , and not a prison to suffer in ; a house indeede made of clay , but made by the immediate touch of the God of Heauen , a sublunary body , yet not waited vpon by corruption , a subiect where contrary qualities did reside , and yet not a subiect ouer which they might triumph ; Lastly , both soule and body were so vnited and married together , that corruption being not able to possesse the parts , nor to dissolue the vnion , the whole man was immortall , and that not by the dowry of grace , but by the priuiledge of Nature , not supernaturally , as were the garments of the Israelites in the Wildernesse , or as Austin coniectured concerning Enoch & Elias , Lib. 1. de peccat . meritu , & remissione cap. 4. but per sequelam naturae , so that immortality was part of his Nature , as well as his nature was euer immortall ; immortall not absolutely or essentially , for so hee had been a God ; not by creation positiuely , for so had he beene a spirit ; but negatiuely , saith the Schoole , and conditionally , he had the priuiledge , posse non mori , although he had not the immunity , non posse morï ; as there was a possibility of dying : so it was without a necessity .

I follow not the Sententiaries , which follow not their Master , but are curiously inquisitiue to know what should become of man , if hee had not fallen : how he should haue preserued himselfe from Corruption , whether by eating of the tree of life , or by any other meanes , we know no more then our Grandfather , Lib. 2. distinct. 23. and he ( saith Lombard ) Accepit scientiam & praeceptum eorum quae facienda erant , non accepit praescientiam eorum quae futura erant . Wee know not what he should haue eaten , to haue preserued his immortality , we know what he did eate to lose it .

Adami homicida gula . The eating of the forbidden fruit dismantled and stript our first Parents at once , both of their roabes of Righteousnesse and Immortality : that first sinne made a breach in the well-ordered Oeconomy of the soule : prostrating reason at the feet of sense , and enthroning passion in the chaire of reason : there was now no longer harmony betweene the flesh and the Spirit ; the motions of the flesh , rebelling against the rules of reason , the sterne of reason being neither pliable to the spirit , nor the spirit obedient vnto God : this disorder bred diseases , the summoners and fore-runners of death , so that man was presently retrograded into the element of dust , of which hee was first composed . Death as it was threatned for sinne , so was it inflicted vpon sinne , The day that thou sinnest thou shalt surely die , Gen. 2.17 . and the day that hee did eate , surely hee did die , the Mother and the Daughter , Sinne and Death , are both of an age , he was afterward but a mouing carcase , a walking sepulcher , Mortuus erat , non mortalis , as a malefactor is a dead man when he is condemned , before he is executed .

Euery sinne is of the same nature with the first , and bringeth death like that ; indeed it murthereth not with the same extent : that was the sinne of nature , and therefore the death of nature , so that afterward women brought forth children , Chrysolog . Serm 111. Vindictae ordine , non naturae . Lucbant peccatum mundi qui mundum non nouerunt & parentis sui soluebant poenam , cuius vix vitam degustarunt . Other sinnes are personall , and therefore the destruction of the person ; be it sinne in the roote , or sinne in the branch , be it the mother and spawne of sinne , inbred pollution , or the fruit and haruest of sinne , actuall transgression : the first hath many branches , and all deadly , the other hath many Species , and all mortall ; in the first there is participatio culpae , imputatio reatus , and concupiscentia , and all are rewarded with death , euen the last , which is not onely the cause of sinne , and the punishment of sinne , but sinne it selfe ; be it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , not onely where consent is added to lust , but where lust is without consent ; not only actuall concupiscence , but habituall , naturall , and originall ; not the second motions only , or concupiscentia formata , as the Schoole speaketh ; but motus primò primi , and that which is informis : yea , although it preuenteth the vse of reason , although it be resisted by the power of the spirit : shall the traitor suffer that committeth the Treason , and shall the plotter and contriuer escape ? or shall the last escape punishment , because the first will not offend ?

Originall sinne hath not more branches , then actuall hath species ; neither are these lesse fatall then the other , whether they be seated in the vnderstanding , as the darkenesse of errour concerning God ; or in the heart and will , as our irregular thoughts , and exorbitant desires ; or in our outward members , as externall actions , whether they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , trespasses against the rules of Nature ; not ingrauen in stone , but imprinted in the conscience ; so the Gentiles sinned , Rom. 2.14 . or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , trespasses against the word written , 1 Iohn 3.4 . so the Iewes offended both these , whether they be of omission or commission , not onely the obliquity of our actions , but our vnlawfull surcease from action , not our words , but our silence also . The Advocate whose lips are sealed vp with a fee of the aduerse party ; the Priest , not whom Authority , but sloth hath silenced , shall both be rewarded with death , and they therefore deserue their wages , because they haue not done their worke . There is no sin of omission , which is not a sinne of commission ; si non pavisti , occidisti : he that seeth his neighbours Oxe fall into the pit , and helpeth him not out , he pusheth him in ; not to saue a man when we may , when we ought , in the Court of Conscience is to murther a man . If I should reckon vp all sorts of sinne , I should commit one against your patience , yet could I shew you none , whose issue is not death .

If the Eye but lusteth , mors per fenestras ; if the foot but slippeth , praecipitium est , there are no staires but fall we must into the pit , and wee should downe to the bottome , were it not bottomlesse . Hee that doth but peeuishly quarrell , or maliciously hate , murthereth himselfe , although he killeth not his Aduersary : let the Act be wanting , the desire will kill , and there may bee man-slaughter , where there is no shedding of bloud . 'T was a witty speech of one of your auncient Declamators , ●ib. 1. de Civ . 〈◊〉 cap. 19. registred by S. Austin , concerning Lucrece being rauished by Tarquin : Duo fuêre , & unus adulterium commisit . I know not whether the Act could bee committed without the sinne , I am sure the sinne may bee without the Act , Et ●pado mach●●●rit . and an Eunuch may bee an Adulterer . Lesse infirmities as well as great impieties , will worke destruction ; neither is it certaine that Aegypts little flyes were not her greatest plague . The least pricke in the least ioint impostumateth the whole flesh , but a moate in the Eye blindeth the sight , a breach in the wall is the conquest of the enemie , and the ruine of the City : let vs not weigh our sinnes , but number them , if they may seeme small , wee cannot count them few . He that offendeth in one point of the Law , is guilty of all , Iames 2.10 . Sinne like Heresie , is of an encroaching nature ; as one Heresie proueth another , so doth one sinne vsher in another , the lesser alwayes making roome for the greater . Our vncatechised trauailer iourneying into countries superstitious & idolatrous , at the first is only vncouered , and boweth at the meeting of the Hoast , 't is not good ( saith he ) to giue offence to them which are without ; then he ventureth to goe to their high places , to visit their Churches and Chappels , to heare and see their loud blasphemy in their Liturgies , and the profane pompe of their ceremonies ; not that he intendeth a change of his Religion , but to purchase a sounder hate of their superstition : he no sooner heareth & seeth , but he liketh and approueth . Lastly , as a sure pledge of his Apostasie , he returneth home , and seduceth others . The grand Heresies of the Apostate Roman Church , which indirectly and by consequence raze and destroy the very foundation of Faith , came in by degrees , and the first stone for the building of Babel was laide long since . Traditions the Mother of all their Heresies , had with them their right vse , vntill first those which were temporarie and for a season , were taught to be permanent and to endure for euer ; then those which were particular , and bound only some one Church , were made Catholick , generaly to enforce ; after that , without examination , humane traditions had the same credit , the same Authority that diuine , Apotacticall as Apostolicall : Lastly all these were made as authenticall as the word written ; giue the Pope a primacy , and he will assume a Principality ; giue him more honour , and he will haue more power .

As in doctrine , so in manners , small things neglected , grow and become big ones , the tares spring vp faster then the corne , and they doe it insensibly , they steale their growth , crescere non videmus , sed crevisse ; yet if this were not so , if lesser slips opened not the sluces for greater crimes to flow in ; if wanton glances were not fore-runners of Fornication , nor Fornication a step to Adultery : if concupiscence would not winne consent , nor consent breake out into Act , nor the Act often reiterated , beget an habit ; yet were one and the least of these damnable .

Flesh and Bloud may dispute the fairest praetexts for sinne , yet black wil not be dyed into white . The Prince of darknesse when he transformeth himselfe into an Angell of light , 't is a iugling , and not a change ; so the workes of darknesse may haue the credit of the deedes of light , they can neuer haue the goodnesse : 't is in vaine to sow fig-leaues together to couer our deformities : let vs distinguish , and mitigate , colour , or qualifie what we can , that which is mortall , ( and such is euery sinne ) will not be made veniall , otherwise euery Popish Casuist , or Roman Schoolman would make veniall sinnes as fast as their God on earth doth pardon them . Possunt excusari à mortali parentes , &c. Parents putting off as well Nature as Religion , cursing their children euen to that height , that they wish them with the Diuell , sinne but venially , so Greg. de Val. 3 Tome . 1090 page : Qui iudicium facit in re gravi temerarium , &c. A Iudge iudging rashly be it vpon life and death , sinneth but venially . Bonacina in his second disputation de peccatis , his 3 quaestion , puncto 5. Some lying , some theft must be veniall , when some blasphemy , all if it be but chollerick , is not mortall , Navar in his Manuall , page 91. Yet doe these which thus preach impunity for sin , brand vs with the slaunder of Libertines . The distinction of mortall and veniall , vnderstand it aright , 't is none of theirs , but ours : 't is true , all sinnes euen of the Elect in foro iustitiae , in the rigour of iustice are mortall , but in foro misericordiae , by the mercy of God , they are all veniall : legally all are mortall , Euangelically all veniall ; ratione peccatorum , they are all mortall , ratione peccantium , there are none not veniall ; this is our doctrine , in which there is as well consent as truth , with them there is no concord ; for besides some amongst them which altogether deny their vse of the distinction , as Gerson and Fisher , they cannot agree what this venial sinne should be : some will haue it contra consilium , others contra praeceptum ; some state it to be praeter legem , not contra legem , others graunt it to be against the Law , but not against charity which is the end of the Law ; some thinke it both to be against the Law , and to diminish charity ; one will haue it to be sinne imperfectly & by analogy , others properly & vnivocally ; you may know 't is Babel they are building , by the confusion of their language .

While we thus proue all sinnes to be mortall , we teach not a parity of offences ; we are so Catholicke , that we are not Stoicall : all sinnes are mortall , therfore all are aequall ; 't is bad Logicke : but calumnies must be prou'd by such sequels . Vertues haue their Climax , much more vices , the School giueth the reason ; Illae ad unum tendunt , haec ab uno ad multas mundi vanitates . The person , the place , the manner , are circumstances which both aggrauate & extenuate a sinne . First the person , the person against whom we offend , & the person who offendeth : for the first , lesse was the sin of the vsurpers in slaying the seruants , then in killing the Heire of the Vineyard ; far greater was the sin of the Iewes in crucifying the Lord of glory , then that of their Fathers in murthering the Prophets : he sinneth with a higher hand that transgresseth against the Commandements of the first Table , then he that offendeth against them of the second . Blasphemie of oathes , & profanation of the Sabbaoth , although here by the indulgence of the Law , or by the conniuence of the Magistrate , they escape the seuerity of discipline , shall hereafter be punished with extremity of torture . Neither doth the person only distinguish the guilt of the two Tables , but maketh degrees of sin against one & the same Commandement . Homicide & Parricide are both murder , yet the seuere torture which all Nations inflict vpon the one aboue the other , are sufficient euidence of the difference of the crimes . All murder is censured , is punished with death , but death hath not alwaies the same sting : when she commeth to torture a Parricide , a Rauillac for murthering his King , O how she is dressed like a Fury , armed with racks , with fires , with strapadoes , with burning pincers , pulling off flesh to make wounds ; with scalding oile , pitch , & rozen to powre into those wounds , with horses to disioint & rent the body : & that the malefactour may think himselfe in Hell before he is dead , she tormenteth him in a furnace flaming with fire & brimstone , making vp her tragedie with the banishment of the Parricides parents , with pulling down the house where he was borne ; & although she spareth the liues of his brethren , sisters , & vnkles , yet must they change their names , & all the Rauillacs must perish . Degrees of punishment are as well after death as in death : the tortures of one damned soule are differenced from the pangs of an other ; he that hath bin more wicked , Mar. 23.15 . shall be more wretched , such shall be the punishment as is the crime : which is augmented not only by the person who is offended , but by the person also who doth offend .

Greatnes & goodnes should twin together , no Monarch hath licence to offend , no Prince hath any non-obstante for sin : neither yet is the Kings praerogatiue lessened , because he may not sin , it should be inlarged if he could not sin . 'T is the misery of soueraignty , that the offence is alwayes as great as the offender , the sin as soueraigne as the person ; a Prince his slips are crimes , a moat in his Eye is a beame ; his blemish is a leprosie ; 't is the Kings truth in the beginning of his first booke of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 : the reason is , because he doth not so much commit his sin , as teach it , nec tam delicto nocens est , quàm exemplo . A Peasants sin presently findeth it's graue , & is neglected as his person ; but Monarchs vices are alwaies masculine , and beget the like in others . Let Nero be ouer-much delighted in stageplaies , straight the grauity of the Senat putteth on Buskins , Lactant. 5. infiit . and acteth a Comedy . Mores & vitia Regis imitari genus obsequij putatur . Many doe thinke it against their allegiance , to be holy if their King be profane ; The People will follow their Prince , yea although they forsake their God to doe it , whatsoeuer Iosuah their Captaine , their King , commandeth them , that will they doe , Iosuah 1.16 . Hence is it that the Israëlitish renegado Kings , with their damnable revolts so often apostated the whole land , and made the Israelites turne Idolaters . As all imitate their king , & so aggrauate his sinne , so doe most copie out his Nobles , & augment their crimes . My Lord must haue his followers aswell of his vice , as of his person ; if he leaueth his King at the Chappell dore , he turneth not back without his Attendants , who if his Honour pleaseth to be Idolatrous , wil wait vpon him euen vnto a Masse . As the Nobles & Peers be so borne , so you honoured Lords who iudge the Land , & you graue Fathers the Elders of the City , are so exalted , so placed , ut bona malaque vestra ad Rempublicam pertineant , your vertues , and your vices are subiected & inhaerent in your persons ; but by these ( as the Heauens by their Influences ) you worke good and euill through the whole Land . Better no Iudge in Israel then a corrupt one , no Elder then a wicked one ; the first giueth but liberty , the second addeth incouragement to sin : you see to eminence of your persons doubleth your crimes , and maketh your sinnes as scarlet , as your habits . I might inlarge my proofe and exhortation with an Apostrophe to the Clergy , the liuing Oracles of God , to whom ye must resort for counsell . Hi si eloquuntur magna & non vivunt ; if their liues cry not downe sin as loud as their tongues , they may helpe to build the Arke , and perish in the Floud : if they that preach the way to Heauen tread the way to Hell , Hell must be their portion , & the number of their followers shall add vnto their tortures : From the Clergy I might descend vnto the Gentry , from them to euery Oeconomicall Goueruour and Father of his family ; & although I stay there , yet let none the meanest here take heart to offend , for the sin which the meannesse of his Person lessneth by denying him followers , may be aggrauated by other circumstances of the place and manner , which I will briefly glance ouer .

We ascribe no inherent holinesse to any place , Bethel may become Bethauen ; the Temple of God , the house of an Idol ; the seat of Peter , the chaire of Antichrist ; neither doe I know whether the zeale of Christendome was right , if they warred for Iewry as for the Holy land ; yet may we iustifie our consecrated Churches & Chappels , which being separated for an holy vse , may not be profaned ; if the buyers and sellers will trade in the Temple , our SAVIOVR prouideth a whip for them ; and I would to God the zeale of Authority , in imitation of that of our God , would whip out the buyers and sellers out of the Temple ; would whip them either out of the Iles , or into the Quier . Good God , to see how the prophane walkers in the time of diuine seruice , when the Quier are chaunting their sacred Anthems and Heauenly Halleluiahs , are then polluting the stones with their durty feete , when they should weare them with their supplicating knees ; there are at the same time , some praying aboue , & some blaspheming below , and that so loud , that God heareth not the prayers for the blasphemy .

As the Vbi , the place , so the Quomodo , the manner of doing it doth much difference a sinne . Mens & propositum , saith the Law , distinguunt maleficia , whosoeuer calleth his brother foole , is in danger of Hell fire , Matth. 5.22 . yet doth Paul call his brethren the Galatians fooles , and sinneth not , Gal. 3.1 . He that killeth a man shall surely be put to death , Leuit. 24.17 . yet he that killeth a man ignorantly , whom he hated not before , shall flee vnto one of the Cities of refuge and liue , Deut. 19.4 . & 5. that which infirmity slippeth , must not be censured as that which malice acteth ; that which is committed out of ignorance , is not punished , as that which is done out of presumption . I am no aduocate for ignorance ; he who is ignorant , let him be ignorant still , he who affecteth ignorance , let him perish in his ignorance . In them that may know , it is a sinne , in them that may not know it is a punishment for sinne ; it is to none which ought to know , ( and all ought ) a priuiledge to sinne : yet if it be particularis , and not Vniuersalis , as the Philosopher ; facti and not iuris , as the Lawyer , inuincibilis , and not vincibilis , as the Master of the sentences , it doth excuse à tanto , although not à toto , it lesneth the offence , but taketh it not away ; it still remaineth a sinne , and therefore liable to the punishment of sinne , Death , which is the second part in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 .

There is a death vnto sinne , as well as a death for sinne ; a death which putteth not Nature in her graue , but Vice : how shall we being dead to sinne , liue therein . Rom. 6.2 . Death for sinne is either spirituall , and of the soule ; naturall and of the body ; or eternall both of soule and body : Anima est vita , & habet ipsa suam vitam , as the soule is the life of the body , so is God the life of the soule . The iust doe liue by faith , Romans , chapter 1. verse 17. Euen by faith in the Sonne of God , Galat. chap. 2. v. 20. Who quickneth them with his spirit , Eph. 2.5 . The body may liue , and yet the soule may be dead , by which the body liueth : there are some long since buried , which yet liue , such are Abraham , Isaac , and Iacob ; for God which is their God , is not the God of the dead but of the liuing ; so there bee now some liuing which haue bin long since dead . A widow liuing in pleasure , is dead while she liueth ; the 1 of Timoth. 5. and 6. You that liue in sinne , are already in your graues ; I must therefore bespeake you , as sometime Christ did Lazarus , Lazare veni for as , come you forth of your graues , arise from death to life , from sinne to newnesse of life : but my words want efficacy , and my speech hath no power to raise you ; Christ Iesus therefore speak that vnto your hearts , which I doe vnto your eares . De eo quod deterius potiori insidiari solcat . Where it is in the Septuagint , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Philo the Iew would haue vs read , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; for saith he , Cain had no sooner slaine his brother , but he became dead himselfe ; and Abel being murthered , was yet aliue : if hee was not , how did hee speake , how did he speake aloude and cry for vengeance ? so hee wittily . Let the dead bury the dead , Matth. 8.22 . let them which are spiritually dead , bury them which are dead to nature , and the solemnity of their funerals being ended , let them prouide for their owne interrring which is at hand , for mors operata erit mortem , the death of the soule will cause the death of the body .

A death common vnto all ; it is all mens pilgrimage from the sepulcher to the sepulcher , from the graue of the wombe , to the graue of the earth ; all men shall once die , for as much as all men haue sinned , Heb. 9.27 . The instinct of nature , which prompteth euery creature to seeke it 's owne preseruation , should teach man not to make loue to death , not to wooe his owne destruction : although he transgresseth not the Law made against robbers who cutteth his owne purse , yet he is guilty of murder who cutteth his owne throat : and surely he loueth murder who will act it vpon himselfe , and yet such are all sinners , whose sinnes are the weapons with which they butcher themselues : like Saul and his Armor-bearer , they fall and die vpon their owne swords . If any sonne of Hippocrates pronounceth it to be preiudiciall to their health , the debauched Drunkard will abstaine from his cups , and the luxurious Epicure will fast from his dainties : how foolish are they who would shunne death , and yet worke wickednesse which causeth death ? There is no other cause of death but sinne , where there is no sinne , there is no death , no death of the body , no death of Nature .

And yet he who had no sinne , the Sonne of Righteousnesse , had his setting as well as his rising , and walked into the West ; Licet naturae dominus , carnis tamen quam susceperat legem non recusauit ; so that life it selfe dyed , yet not necessarily , but voluntarily , tradidit in mortem animam suam ; neither was his death penall but expiatory , hee was not stung to death by sinne , but he stung sinne to death ; by suffering death , he made death to suffer , and got the victory by yeelding . O death where is thy sting , 1 Cor. 15.55.56 . O graue where is thy victory ? the sting of death is sinne , and the strength of sinne is the Law , but thankes be vnto God which hath giuen vs victory through our Lord Iesus Christ .

Christ so deliuered his from death , as hee freed them from sinne ; which he suffered still to dwell in them , although not to raigne ouer them . The Canaanites remaine in the land to proue the Israelites ; sinne must inhabite in the regenerate , to encrease and try their faith : sift them , you shall finde them so enlightned , that they sit in darkenesse , so purged that they must be cleansed , their faith is mixed with infidelity , their wisedome ioyned with folly , and their glory eclipsed with shame ; to want sinne must be a Christians wish , it cannot be his hope , otherwise hee that must alwayes here be militant , should sometime be triumphant . We may be dead to sinne , but sinne will not be altogether dead to vs : we may cut it off , but it will bud againe ; we may chase it away , but it will returne ; we may quench it , but it will flame againe ; it still approacheth , it still entiseth and prouoketh vs ; it still striueth , but it is to encrease our victory : at last it must haue the fall , and be triumphed ouer ; so may the tyrant weepe to see himselfe prostrate at the feete of them who were his Captiues , Et ad eorum triumphum de quibus diù triumphaverat , se veteranus hostis pervenisse deploret . Sinne is not so in the Elect , as it is in the reprobate ; these either by habit , or resolution , or discourse , are incorporated into euill , and sinne is naturalized in them : the other may sometime be surprised by force of passion , but their vnderstanding seldome giueth consent : the first serue sinne , the other giue it only house-roome , or if they doe it any seruice , 't is as the Israelites serued Pharaoh , or as his Gally-slaues serue the Turke ; by compulsion .

Damnatum est peccatum si non extinctum . Sinne hath lost it's dominion , although it be not cast out ; so death is dis-armed , although she be not remoued ; she hath lost her sting , although she keepeth her essence : nay , she hath lost her essence , the forme , the life of death is lost , and she is but equivocally what she was before . As she hath lost her nature , so hath she changed her name ; to die now , is but to sleepe , to rest , or be at peace . Death to the Elect is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ( as Nyssen stileth it ) it doth not so much punish , as purge and expiate sinne , 't is a Snake without her sting , a gaole-deliuery , an earnest-peny of the resurrection , a bridge to passe from corruption to incorruption , to be wished of all that wish to goe to Paradise , not to be feared at all , because it freeth vs from all that is to be feared .

A curious workeman seeing his Image of brasse , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . &c. Epiph. in his 2 Booke . Aduersus Haereses . on which he hath bestowed his Art and industry , to be spotted and defaced , he putteth it againe into the fire and new casteth it , which is not the losse , but the perfection of the Image ; so God after hee had made man a most elegant fabricke , seeing him polluted with sinne , resolued him againe into dust , that he might rise vnspotted . When the vessell that the Potter made was marred , he made of it another vessell , Ier. 18.4 . Cannot I doe with you as the Potter with his clay , saith the Lord ? behold , as the clay is in the Potters hand , so are yee in my hand , O ye house of Israel ; the same chapter and the sixt verse .

Non interit quisquis victurus moritur . This death of Nature is rather a change then a death , 't is not finall , quem putas interitum , secessus est ; neither is it totall , 't is onely of the body : death is dieted like the serpent , and can eat nothing but dust ; nay , 't is not so much the death of the body , Plin. Ep. lib. 2. epist. 1. as of the corruption of the body , Et mortalitas magis finita est quam vita .

〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Isiod . Peleus : lib. 4. epist. 52. Happy Martyrs , how their torments pleased them ! how they kissed the fagot ! and hug'd the fire , as though like Eliah , they had gone to heauen in fiery chariots ! weigh their tortures , and reade their constancy , you would iudge them to haue beene spirits without flesh ; if they might seeme to be afflicted because they were heard to pray , they must be iudged to haue beene merry in their affliction , because they sung Psalmes . Their note was the same , although their pangs were differenced , with the three children in the fiery furnace ; Hieron . Qui inter frigidos flammarum globos hymnos edidêre pro fletibus . They wept not out an Elegy , as if they had beene preparing for their funerals : but they sung and reioyced , as if it had beene their birth day , and it was their birth day to eternity . Blessed Martyres ! for if they be blessed who die in the Lord , blessed must they bee who die for the Lord . God saith to man , If thou sinnest thou dyest , Gen. 2 ; but he bespeaketh the Martyr , if thou refusest to die , August . thou sinnest . Quod tunc timendum fuerat vt non peccaretur , nunc suscipiendum est ne peccetur . Death which is the punishment of the Sinner , suffer it for Gods sake , 't is the glory of the regenerate . Et cùm sit mors peccati retributio , aliquando impetrat vt nihil retribuatur peccato : As the wicked make bad vse of the Law which is good ; so doe the righteous make good vse of death , which is bad ; Ipsa poena vitiorum transit in arma virtutis , & fit iusti meritum etiam supplicium peccatoris .

This made the Primitiue Christians so ambitious of Martyrdome , that they did pursue their persecution ; so couetous of ruine , that not staying for the hand of the hangman , they turned their owne executioners , and left their liues now in the fire , now in the water , like the man his lunaticke sonne in the Gospell ; who being possessed with a Diuell , fell sometimes into the fire , and sometimes into the water , Mat. 17.14 . 'T is one thing for death to come to vs , 't is another thing for vs to goe to death ; the first may be martyrdome , the second is murder . We must goe with alacrity , but we must stay vntil we are called ; death which is iust in the will , is vniust in the hand ; we may not meet it , although we may attend it : insomuch that it is an argument of force enough to proue the Bookes of the Maccabees to be Apocryphall , because they doe so much extoll Razis the Father of the Iewes for murthering himselfe . 2 Maccab. 14 , 42.

As the true Christian Martyrs be the best of Christians , so be your Pagan Pseudo-Martyrs the worst of the Heathen ; other Idolaters doe but worship false gods ; these goe about to proue them true , Epiph. lib. 2. Her. 8. & of these there were a number , euen vnto a Sect.

Litle better then these were the Pseudo-Catholicks if they suffred for their Haeresies , but indeed they die malefactors , more for sedition , then Religion ; more for faction , then for Faith ; they liue Papists , but they are hanged Traitors ; & although both Haeresie & Treason might deserue death , yet hath the mercy of our Princes inflicted it only vpon the latter : God will reward both , & euery sin , euen the least , with death ; not with the first death only , but with the second ; not with naturall death only of the body , but with aeternall also both of body and soule for euermore .

Vita hîc aut amittitur , aut tenetur . Euery one that departeth this life is either sung into blisse by the Angels , or hauled into torments by the diuels . Cypr. de mort . sect. 2. The Fathers were vnacquainted with the new Orcography of the School-men , whose searching invention hath founded as many Regions below the Earth , as there are aboue in the Aire ; the first is their Limbus Patrum , where they faigne the Fathers to haue suffred the temporary pain of losse before Christ's comming ; Tert. lib. 4. cont. Ma●cion . an Haeresie borrowed from Marcion . and grounded vpon this false reason , that Heauen gates were shut vntill Christ's ascension , which being disprooued by the theeue's entrance , Bellarmine taketh the Keies , and openeth them at his Passion , and before they were not open ; but then was his Passion when he was slaine , which was from the beginning of the world .

The second place is their Limbus Infantum , where they lodge Infants dying before Baptisme , where they torture them with eternall paine of losse . 1 Cor. 17.12 A bloody conclusion of a mercilesse Religion , which maketh not death ( as it is here ) a punishment for sin , but sin it self ; 't is foolish to thinke , that the seed of the faithfull who are holy from their birth , should be depriued of inward grace , because necessity denyeth them the vse of outward Sacraments ; when publick Baptisme may not be had , priuate is sufficient ; if death preuent this , votall will availe . Sat est si adest mentalitèr , cùm non potest haberi sacramentalitèr ; Thom. part. 5. quest. 68. art , 2. it is enough if Christian Parents desire it , if they cannot obtain it . The force of truth made Mr Hooker of this opinion , euen where he disputeth against Schismaticks for priuate Baptisme . If there were not strength of proofe , charity should make them rather partiall , Ecclesiast. polit. lib. 5. sect. 61. then cruell Iudges , & force them to conclude , that many Infants of beleeuing parents , as they suffer no paine of sense , so doe they vndergoe no sense of paine .