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

3 The Suddenness; the fire was not long a dispatching them: but as it fell be•ore their expectation, so it destroyed them before their recollection. When the •un did rise, then began the rain to fall; now this was just atⁱ Lots entering into Zoar: •t break of day he went out of Sodom, at sun-rising he came into Zoar: between which spaces a man may go four miles, say the Hebrews. Now^k Abraham rose ⟨p. 610⟩up early in the morning, yet he saw not the falling of the fire, but the rising up of the smoke only. This must needs be done suddenly: in all likelihood, less than half an hour determined all the glory of Sodom. The Prophet says, In a moment:^l Sodom was destroyed in a moment. Why then should not men believe the same power of the last fire to consume the world, and our changing even in a moment?^m In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. That fire gave the Sodomites no time of remembrance, nor shall the last fire give the world any time of repentance. Vita brevis, & ipsa brevitas incerta: that may come suddenly, which we know will come certainly. We have no more Patent of forbearance th••• had Sodom: it is said of the wicked, In momento ad infernum, In a moment they go down to hell. Death doth not always creep upon a man by degrees, likeⁿ Ezekiels waters; from the ankles to the knees, from the knees to the loins, and so […] the heart: but swallows some ere they can swallow their spittle.^o The Judge standeth before the door. Would the thief break into the house, if he knew the Judge stood at the door? We may say of our sinning and dying, as Physicians of their critical days; the first is Index, the second Index. Our sins shows we shall die, our death judgeth us for our sin. But betwixt both these there is Me, remedium, a gracious help, the intervention of our seasonable amendment, and applying the satisfaction of Jesus Christ.