THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 27
Prov. xxiv. 22 ; Deut. vii. 4 ; 1 Thes. v. 3. As God rained hell out of heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah on a sudden, Gen. xviii. ; and as he swept away the old world on a sudden, Mat. xxiv. 37-39 ; and as Samuel cut off Agag on a sudden, when he concluded that the bit- terness of death was past, 1 Sam. xv. 32 : so God casts sinners to hell on a sudden, he sweeps them away on a sudden, he cuts them off on a sudden ; and when they say^ Surely the bitterness of death is past, and everlasting wrath is past, and hell is past, and eternal ruin is past, then on a sudden God cuts them off, and gives them their portion with devils and damned spirits, &c.
Where vision fails, there men perish inevitably, irrecoverably: 1 Thes. v.. And they shall not escape; Prov. vi. 15, 'Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.' Here is their dismal doom : They shall not be only bruised, but broken ; yea, they shall be suddenly broken when they least look for it, when they do not at all dream of it, or dread it, and this without remedy. They shall be so broken, as that there shall not be so much as a possibility of making them up again. If a man lose his estate, his friend, his child, this loss may be made up again ; but if a man once lose his soul, there is no repairing nor making up of that loss.
Where there is no vision, there men perish everlastingly, there they perish eternally, 2 Thes. i. 7-9 ; Jude 7.
Do not you know that God will require the blood of all their souls at your hands, that perish either by your insufficiency, or neglect, or bad examples ? Ezek. iii. 18-20, ' Thou shalt surely die,' Moth Tamuth, in dying thou shalt die ; that is, thou shalt certainly die, thou shalt eternally die. The ancients commonly interpret it of the death of the soul.
Do not you know that a man were better have the blood of all the men in the world upon him, than the blood of one soul upon him ? For there is no blood that cries so loud, that will lie so heavy, and that will sink a man so deep in hell, as the blood of souls — I say, as the blood of souls.
Do not you know that there are ng men upon the face of the earth that are by office so strictly, so strongly, so universally, so indispens- ably, and so signally engaged to prize holiness, to countenance holi- ness, to encourage holiness, to promote holiness, and to practise holiness, as the ministers of Jesus Christ are ? Do not you know that ministers are called angels, in respect of their offices ? Rev. ii. Now angels are spiritual creatures ; their communion is spiritual, their food is spiritual, their delights are spiritual, their minds are spiritual, their affections are spiritual, and their exercises are spiritual, Ps. civ. 4 ; and in all these respects ministers should be Uke to the angels. I3ut are not many of them spiritual madmen in these days ? — being nothing less than what they profess to be i — spiritual men in a mockery : such as many light slight souls call a spiritual pig, that is, the poorest, the leanest, and the worst of aU the ten ; such a one as hath no substance in it. So these have no substantial goodness, no substantial holiness at all in them ; whereas in holiness they should as far exceed all other men, as the angels in hoUness do exceed them.
That is, they are everything rather than what they profess to be.— G.
28 THE EPISTLE DEDICATOEY.
Do not you know that there is no rank nor order of men on earth tliat have so enriched hell, that have been such benefactors to hell, as the ignorant, insufficient, profane, scandalous, and superstitious clergy? In times of Popery letters were framed and published as sent from hell, wherein the devil gave the carnal, ignorant, insuffi- cient, scandalous, and superstitious clergy of those times no small thanks for so many millions of souls as by their means were daily sent to hell.
Do not you know that aU the true faithful prophets, apostles, and ministers of Jesus Christ, that are mentioned in the Old and New Testament, were men of the greatest holiness ; i and men that made it their greatest business and work in this world to keep down a spirit of profaneness and wickedness, and to countenance, encourage, and pro- mote holiness? Oh, how diligent ! oh, how frequent ! oh, how abundant ! oh, how constant were they in the work of the Lord, that profane per- sons might be made holy, and that those that were holy might be made more and more holy, yea, that they might perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord ! &c. Bishop Latimer, speaking of the clergy of his time — in a sermon before King Edward the Sixth — tells us that many can away with prcesunt, but not with bene; if that bene were out of the text, all were well ; if a man might eat the sweet and never sweat, it were an easy matter to be a preacher ; if there were not opus but bonum, all were well too. But every clergyman is, or ought to be, ETrlaKovo^, that is, saith Augustine, Nomen operis, to be a steward and overseer in God's house ; and that is an office of great labour, trust, and em- ployment. Stewards and overseers commonly eat their bread in the sweat of their brows, and after much beating of their brains ; but how unlike to such stewards and overseers the clergy are that I am now expostulating with, I must leave the Christian reader to judge. Ernestus, Duke of Lunebury,2 caused a burning lamp to be stamped on his coin, with these four letters, A. S. M. C, by which was meant, ^Aliis serviens meipsum contero : ' By giving light to others, I consume myself. And such were the Lord's faithful prophets, apostles, and ministers of old : and such are all his faithful, laborious, and conscien- tious ministers now. But how unlike to the one or the other they are, that now I am reasoning with, you may easily perceive, by comparing them together. I have read of the nobles of Polonia, that when the gospel is read, they clap their hands upon their swords, and begin to draw them out, intimating by that ceremony their resolution to defend the faith, and their willingness to hazard their lives for the gospel's safety. The faithful prophets, apostles, and ministers of old, were will- ing to sacrifice themselves for the gospel's sake : but how many are there in these days that are more ready and willing to make a sacrifice of the gospel for profit sake, and preferment sake, and honour sake, and lust's sake, &c., than they are to make themselves a sacrifice for the gospel's sake ! and how unlike these are to the faithful, conscien- tious ministers of Jesus Christ that have been in all ages, I must leave you to judge.
Do not you know that Pharaoh had that tender regard of his cattle,
^ 2 Chron, xxxvi. 15 ; Jer. vii. 25; xxv. 4; xxxv. 15; xi. 7, &c.; 2 Cor. xL, &c. " Qu. Luneburgh ? — G.
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