Certaine plaine, briefe, and comfortable notes vpon euerie chapter of Genesis Gathered and laid downe for the good of them that are not able to vse better helpes, and yet carefull to read the worde, and right heartilie desirous to taste the sweete of it. By the Reuerend Father Geruase Babington, Bishop of Landaph.

Chap. 19. (Book 19)

The cheefeheads be three.

• The care of God for the safetie of his faithfull, to the 24 verse.
• A fearefull example of his wrath against sinne, to the 29.
• The faull and fault of Lot, from thence to the end.

PArticular things in this Chapter, obserue wee may many, as in the former.

1 He calleth them Angels, who before were called men, and therein we may note the manner of the scriptures and word of God,* 1.1 how it vseth by one place to lighten and expounde an other,* 1.2 expressing more plainely to auoide doubt, what before was more obscure, & might cause doubt. Againe in so expressely saying they were Angels, that foolish conceipt is ouerthrowne, that they were these three, the three persons in Trinitie, as also that most wicked blasphemy of some heathnish spirits, that Sodome was destroyed by Necro∣mancie, to wit, by fire procured by that art: when the Lord as he vseth, executed his wrath by his Angels.

2 When it is sayd in the 4 verse, from the yong to the ould,* 1.3 euen all the people from all quarters. You see the state of that citie, how generall the euill was, and howe fearefully it had spred it selfe, through all the vaines & members of that place, that there was none good, but the spirit of God saith, all, all. A lamentable estate of any place whatsoeur, when iniquitie shall ouerflowe all, and would God we drew not toward such fearefull measure now vnder the Gospell, when it may bee obserued to a maygame, a Beare bayting, a prophane stage playe vpon the Lordes daye, and many such things, how wee compasse the place round about, as heere is sayd these Sodomites did, from the yonge to the ould, euen all the people from all quarters. Verely the words

of the Holyghost to iumpe vppon vs, and may very truly be sayd of vs, and the Lord preuent by mercy and fauour, in chaunging vs from such lewde likings, that such iudgement and wrath doe not iumpe also vpon vs, as it did vpon these men. Marke againe you may, when he sayth all were such, the nature of sinne how it spreadeth and infecteth, first one and then an other, till it haue gone ouer all. It is the deuils leauen, which stayeth not, till it haue leauened the whole lumpe, and therefore happie is the place where it beginneth not: for it spreadeth quickely and largelye and dangerouslie.

3 Their shamelesse speeche to haue the men brought out that they might knowe them,* 1.4 very notablye discouereth vnto vs,* 1.5 the impudencie that sinne affecteth in time, when it once get∣teth rule. Surely it taketh all modestie, and shame, and honestye awaye, and prooueth the saying to be most true: Consuetudo pec∣candi tollit sensum peccati. The custome of sinne taketh awaye all sense and feeling of sinne. At the beginning men shame to haue it knowne what they doo, though they feare not to doo it, and they will vse all cloakes and couers that possibly they can to hide their wickednesse. But at last they growe bould and impudent as these men did, euen to say, what care we. And why? Certainelie be∣cause this is the course of sinne in Gods iudgement, that it shall benum and harden the heart wherein it is suffered, and so feare vp the conscience and conceipt in time, that there shall bee no shame left, but such a thicke visard pulled ouer the face, that it can blush at nothing, eyther to saye it or doe it. Behould these brasen brow∣ed wretches heere, who after long vse of sinne (no doubt at first more secret, are now come to require these men openly, and to tell the cause, that they mighe know them, without all shame or sparke of shame, in and at so horrible abhomination. Maruell not then any more, that the adulterer blusheth not, the drunkard sha∣meth not, nor the blaspheming swearer, hideth not his face. You see the reason, custome to doo euill in that kinde, hath vtterly be∣reaued him of feeling and shame, as it did these Sodomites. A heauy and fearefull case, for Gods plague is euen at the doore of such people, as you see it was heere for these Sodomites.

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Notes

• * 1.1

  Verse. 1.
• * 1.2

  One place of scrip∣ture ex∣poundeth an other.
• * 1.3

  Verse. 4.
• * 1.4

  Verse. 5.
• * 1.5

  Custome of sinne.