To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
IF God then so fauour iustice, some wil saie, he should iudge and punish al the wicked in this world.
He should in deede,* 1.1 and he doth. For there is not à wicked man vpō the earth,
whome God in his iustice one waie or o∣other; either by his Magistrates, or by himselfe; either by his secrete, or by his open iudgements; either by an accusing conscience, or by casting him of into à re∣probate minde; either by sickenes, or by pouertie; by aduersitie, or by prosperitie, doth not punish. But it maie be obiected, to haue à guiltie conscience, is an heauie crosse; and to be vtterlie forsaken of the Lorde, and possessed of Satan, is of al the sorest plague, which can fal-vpon man in this world; aduersitie also is à grieuous punishment, but that prosperitie can be à crosse, that is a Paradoxe in the opinion of the world. I grant it is so. For so theie haue alwaies thought. Therefore the Ro∣mans with Cicero; the enimies of Iob, & the aduersaries of Paul in their owne eies were; & the Turks as theie thinke them∣selues are happie. And why? The Romans had al the world as it were in subiection, Iob his enimies liued at their heartes ease, Paul his aduersaries were not touched with aduersitie, as theie thought, ye Turks doe florish. Wheras contrariwise ye Iewes with Cicero, Iob euen of his friendes, Paul of the barbarous people, Christians of the Turkes, are iudged accurssed.
But whie? The nation of the Iewes are van∣quished, are carried from their natiue coun∣trie; are deteined in captiuitie, said Ciceroa 1.2. Iob was in miserie; And who euer perished being an innocent? or when were the godlie destroied? saide the fained friends of Iobb 1.3. Paul had a viper vpon his hande; There∣fore he is à murtherer, and though hee haue escaped the sea, yet vengance wil not suffer him to liue, saide barbarous peoplec 1.4. Chri∣stians are but fewe for number, and for power nothing so mightie as they haue bene; theie endure much affliction and trobles in respect of others; therefore they are not the sonnes of God, saith Mahometd 1.5.
These are the rash, and sinister opini∣ons of the world. When god sendeth pro∣speritie hee loueth; but when aduersitie doth come, hee hateth. But the god∣lie are of an other minde. For albeit when such as feare God enioie prosperitie, they thinke it an argument of his fauor: yet when the wicked haue the same, in their iudgemēt, it is a token of his displeasure. Therefore Augustine in à certaine place doth saie, The men of this world are vnhap∣pilie happie, that is, in their wealth theie are poore; in their health, sicke; and in their felicity, they are accurssed. For when the
Lord seemeth not to be angrie at al with the wicked, he is most displeased. So Ber∣narde 1.6, when God is not angrie, as mē thinke, he is most angrie. And this may appeare to be true both in the Romans, in respect of the Iewes; in Iob his friends, as they were called, in respect of Iob; in the barbarous people in respect of Paul; and in the Turkes at this day in respect of Christi∣ans. For who were out of God his fauour more than the Romans; than Iobs friends; than Paul his aduersaries: and who more miserable in deede than the Turkes, not∣withstanding their prosperitie? And such is the state of the wicked at al times.
Then whie doth the Lorde suffer the wicked in the sight of men to florish?* 1.7 and whie doth hee not in iustice confounde them speedilie, and vtterlie?
Sundrie reasons may be giuen hereof. For either of his wisedome he thinketh it no due time as yet to punish them; or of his mercie he spareth them, because they shoulde repent; or in his iustice hee hath quite forsaken them. In his wise∣dome he spared Sodome, vntil the sinnes therof were exceeding ripe, and cried-up to heauē for vengeancef 1.8: in his mercie he spared ye old world an hundred & twenty
yeeres, that theie might amende g: in his iustice oftentimes he spareth the wicked in this present world, because he hath gi∣uen them ouer into reprobate minds, and reserued thē for euer-during torments in the life to come. So doe good Physicions suffer such to haue their wils with-out gaine-saying them, who are past recoue∣rie. But, as they who are so desperatelie sicke in bodie, are nigh vnto death: so they whom God for saketh, and leaueth to their owne hists, are nigh vnto damna∣tion. And as calues the fatter they be, the nigher they are to be killed; and as trees the bigger there are, & the more vnfruit∣ful, the nighter to bee hewen-downe: so the prosperitie of the vngodlie, is an vn∣doubted argument of their destruction at hande. Which punishment of their shal thē by so much be the more grieuous & intolerable, by howe much the time was great before the Lord executed his iudg∣ment. Phatao is a notable example here∣of. For hee was long spared, but at the length ouerwhelmed in the red seah 1.9. So is Balthasar,* 1.10 who in the middes of* 1.11 his iolitie came to destructioni 1.12. But they which are best knowen, and most of al to be noted, are Sodom and the old
No wicked man but hath his pu∣nishment.
Cicero Orat. pro L. Flacco.
Iob. 4, 7.
Acts 28, 4.
Azoara 12.
Bern. super Cantic serm. 41
Whie the wic∣ked do florish.
Gen. 18, 21.
Exod. 14, 21. 22.
Psal. 78, 13.
Wisd. 15, 19.
Dan. 5, 29. 30.
Gen. 19, 24. 25.
Gen. 7, 17. 18. &c.