A commentary or, exposition upon the divine second epistle general, writtenA commentary or, exposition vpon the diuine second epistle generall, written

Seeing hell is a descent, and a bottom downwards, let us keep our selves so •re as we can from it while we live, that it may never devour us when we die. […] doth naturally sink downward, and separate from God who is above. A sin••r ever descendeth till he come to the lowest that may be: his affections are downwards, and sure his hope and inheritance is not above. But as we bury dead flesh un•r the ground, so it is not unlikely of dead souls. And as the heaviest bodies •aw to the centre of the earth, so do the saddest and heaviest spirits which the •ercie of God hath forsaken, Luk. 13.11. We read of a woman bowed down with a ••rit of infirmity 18 years, and could in no wise lift up her self. A woeful estate ••ed by the Evangelist: Egritudinis manifestas, behold: aegrotantis fragilitas, a woman: •seriae acerbitas, it was a spirit of infirmity: morbi diuturnitas, eighteen years: cor•is curvitas, bowed together: elevandi impossibilitas, could not lift up her self. Such the estate of wicked sinners; that if their bodies were like their souls, incederunt •drupedes, they would grovel like beasts. And indeed Bestialior quàm ipsa bestia •homo, ratione vigens, & non ratione vivens. They cast themselves down, and ••e but JESUS CHRIST can help them up, Luk. 10.30. A certain man went •ne from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves. From Jerusalem down Jericho: hell is down a hill. Jericho signifies the Moon, Jeron. He that walks •er the Moon of this inconstant world, must needs fall among thieves. Sin brings man easily down to Jericho: Sed revocare gradum, superásque evadere ad auras, Hic •or, hoc opus est. The rule of Philosophy is, that levia surgunt, light things and upwards: yet is nothing lighter than vain thoughts, and they sink downerds: sin is hells high way.