amendment they will be arraigned and condemned for theeves at the day of judgement For these by their unthriftiness do waste their Estate mispend their time loose their good name impoverish themselves and undoe their Children and so by this meanes do themselves more harme then any theese could do that should meete them in the high way and take their purse away from them These because they fall into want through their own fault are the lesse to be pittied And as these become poor through their own unthriftiness so others by idleness want of labouring in their particular Callings For want is alwayes attending upon idleness and where idleness goes before want followes after And therefore Solemon speakes of an idle man in this manner Prov. 24.30.31 I passed saith he by the field of the slothfull man and loe it was all over growen with thornes and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken down and then he sheweth what his end was that poverty came upon him like an armed man For he that will be idle must needes be poor And this is the cause that there are such swarmes of beggers in every place who being well able to labour for their livings choose rather to live upon other mers labours and had rather live by begging then take any paines to get their living These are wicked Generation having this curse of God upon them to be vagabonds upon the earth and to wander up and down from place to place because they will not yield to the Ordinance of God In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eat thy bread The faithless Steward Gen. 3.19 Luke 16.3 Luke 16. though he could not digge yet he was ashmed to begge but these are more faithless in their Callings who are not ashamed to begge when they are able to digge or to take any other paines to get their livings Such the Apostle will not have to be relieved He that will not labour let him not eat 2 Thes 3.10 saith the Apostle For by giving unto these we both maintain them in their idlenesse and we disable our selves from giving to those that are not able to labour for their livings And as these become poor through their own fault So some become poor and fall into want through the hand of God As such as loose their goods by fire by theeves or any other meanes which they could not avoid or such as fall into decay through any infirmity as by lameness blindness sickness or age and so are not able to labour for their livings or such as have a great charge of Children so that howsoever they be able to labour yet their la our will not maintain both themselves and them These and the like are the poor whom the Scripture will have us to relieve and to such no doubt Zacheus here gave And thus much likewise for the persons to whom he gave his goods The last point to be considered is the time when he gave them his goods I give saith he he gives them presently without any delay he gives them not upon his Death-bed or when he lyeth a dying but he gives them now in the time of his health while he might have still injoyed them As there are many that deferre their repentance to the end of their life so there are many that deferre their liberality and almes-deedes to the poor till the day of their death But as the ones over-late repentance is seldome acceptable because they do but then leave their sins when they can sin no more so the others late giving to the poor is seldome available because they do but then give away their goods when they can keep them no longer And therefore it is the just judgement of God upon many who having attained great wealth and riches and doing no good therewith in their lives are so overtaken by death upon the suddain that they have no time to dispose of their goods at their ends which may teach us to do it in our life-time our selves and not to leave it to be done by others after us All Gods Commandements are given ye know in the second person to every one that every one might take them as spoken to himself and so might performe them in his own person We read of Trajan the Emperour that upon a time as he was going to warre a poor Widow met him and taking hold of his horse desired him before he went to do her justice The Emperour willed her to rest content for a time and he would not faile to do her justice when he returned home Oh saith the Widow but how if it happen that you never return why then saith the Emperour I will leave it to my Successor and he shall do thee justice in my roome your Successor saith she and why not you your self you are bound to do good in your own person and what is that to you if another discharge that which is your duty num te liberabit aliena justitia will another mans justice excuse you The Emperour was so moved with this speech of hers that before he went any further he in his own person did her justice And so may we say unto those who put off those duties which themselves ought to do to be done by others what is that to you if another discharge that which is your duty or if you leave it to your Heire to relieve the poor you are bound to relieve them as well as he and if he should leave it to his Heire as you have done what shall become of the poor in the mean time Zacheus did not thus but making his hands his executors and his eyes his overseers he gave his goods to the poor himself and did not leave it to be done by others And therefore if Zacheus as soone as he was converted was so fruitfull in good works it may be a shame for us if we that have professed Christianity so long do come behinde him in the works of mercy FINIS The Fourth SERMON MATH 16.26 For what is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his own Soul HEre is mention in my text of gaining and losing and a comparison between them gaining the World the whole world a great gaine losing the Soul a mans own soul a farre greater losse For our Saviour comparing them both together shewes that howsoever the gaine be great yet the losse is greater and that he that should purchase the whole World with the losse of his own soul he should not gaine so much on the one side as he should lose on the other For what saith he is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole World and lose his own soul First therefore I will shew you what this gaine is Secondly what this losse is And then having compared them both together I will come to some Use to be made of it First then for the gaine The very name of gaine
never a one of their children but expired in a day Though this be spoken of the Year which hath twelve months and every month thirty dayes yet their expiring so soone may well put us in mind of ours seeing the shortness of our life is such that we are not sure we shall live a year no not a month nay though we be now wel for ought we know yet for ought we know we may be dead before to morrow How many have we known that have been well and lively in one houre and yet dead the next how many are there in this Land that were alive this morning and dead before noon Nay how many are there in the World that are now alive and since thou hast read these words are now alive are now dead who no doubt made reckoning as many now do that they should have lived a long time But the Scripture teacheth us to make another account by joyning together as many times it doth the day of our birth and the day of our death Eccles 3.2 without making any mention of the time of our life as if our lifetime were so short that it were not worth the naming So Solomon Eccles. 7. Eccles 7.1 Job 14.2 The day of death is better then the day of mans birth So Job Man that is borne of a Woman is of few dayes and full of trouble he comes up like a flower and is cut down Upon which words Bernard saith thus In ipso statim introitu de exitu quoque admonemur In the very beginning and entrance into life we are put in mind of the end of our life as if there were no distance between them both And hence it is that we are often in the Scripture compared to those things which are of the shortest abode and continuance So our bodies are compared to vessells of earth we have 2 Cor. 4.7 saith the Apostle this treasure in earthen Vessells He compares them not to Vessells of brasse or Iron which will last long but to earthen Vessells which are soone broken In the Potters shop there are Vessels ye know of divers sorts some lesse some greater some made for one use and some for another but all so brittle that a little force will break any of them to peeces And such is the frailty of our mortall bodies some are stronger and more durable then other but yet none so strong but that a little sickness will soone pull him down and bring him to nothing Nay earthen Vessells howsoever they be brittle yet if we let them alone if we set them up safe and keep them from falling they will continue the same for a longtime but such is our frailty that we never continue in one stay but though we look never so carefully to our selves though we avoid all occasions of coming into danger yet before it be long even age will consume us So we are compared by St. James to a vapour that appeares for a while and presently vanishes so by Job to a Weavers shuttle that makes no stay in the Webbe but passeth in a trice from one side to the other So to a Garment that is soon worne out to a tale that is soone told to a span which is soone measured and here to the grasse and flowers of the field which are soone withered The field we see hath variety of flowers but none of them all do continue long but come up and are cut down and others grow up in their roome So it is likewise with the owners of those fields they are soon gone and others succeed them There is not any field that hath had such variety of flowers in it as owners of it the same field which thou holdest hath been held by thousands before thee who held it for a while one after another and lest it to thee as thou must leave it to others after thee and thou dost not know whether thy self or the flowers which spring up in thy field shall be gone soonest for thy dayes are but as grasse and as the flowers of the field so thou flourishest If you aske why God hath made our life so short the answer is that it is his goodness and mercy towards us to shorten our dayes For though Theophrastus the Philosopher complained at the time of his death that nature had given to Harts and Ravens a long time of life but a short time to man who could better have imployed the benefit of time yet indeed it is his mercy towards us that we live not so long because he saw that a short life would be better for us in divers respects First That we might the sooner be freed from the miseries of this life Gen. 47.9 Few and evill saith Jacob have the dayes of the years of my life been If the dayes of our life be evill it is well they be few for for if they were more they would be more evill Man saith Job that is borne of a Woman Job 14.1 is of few dayes and full of trouble So full of trouble that one of the wisest among the Heathen could say Nemo vitam acciperet si dare turscientibus Seneca If life were not given us before we had knowledge of it there is no man but would refuse it Herod Tap. Therefore the Tracians as Herodotus writes were wont according to the Custome of their Country to mourne and lament when their Children were borne reckoning up the calamities which they were to undergoe through the whole course of their lives but when they died they followed them to their graves with mirth and rejoycing because they were freed from a World of miseries Our bodies are subject to labour and weariness to sickness and paine and a thousand Diseases our soules besides the grief and sorrow which they are subject unto they are continually assaulted with strong temptations and alwayes in danger of many powerfull enemies for we wrestle not saith St. Paul Ephes 6.12 against flesh and blood but against Principalities and powers and the Prince of darkness from all which we are not freed till this life be ended and therefore God in mercy hath shortned our life that we might the sooner be freed from the miseries thereof and that in the mean time we might have this comfort that though our life be miserable yet withall it is short Secondly God hath shortned our life that we may the sooner come into his presence and inherit the Kingdom he hath prepared for us Ye know when Absolon lived in exile and was kept for a time from the sight of his Father it grieved him so much that he wisht rather to die if he had deserved it 2 Sam. 13.32 then to be kept any longer from his Fathers presence God knowes how his Children while they live here in this World the place of their banishment do long to be with him saying with David Psal 42.2 Phil. 1.23 when shall I come to appear before the
their sight and their hearing and had the rest of their sences the lame whom he cured did onely want the use of their feet and had the rest of their limbs the Lepers whom he cleansed did onely want their health and had the use of their limbs and sences but they which vvere dead had none of them all but vvere deprived of them altogether and so his raysing of such as vvere dead was a greater work then any of the former Therefore whensoever he raised the dead the people did greatly admire and honour him when he cured two blind men Mat. 9.31 Math. 9 They spread â—abroad his fame throughout all the land When he raised to life the Widowes sonne in Naim Luke 7.16 Luke 7. All that were present praised God and said A great Prophet is risen up amongst us and God hatâ— visited his people And vvhen he raised Lazarus from the dead John 11. it is said there that many of the Jewes that saw what Jesus did John 11. â—5 believed in him While a man is alive though he be never so much diseased or so dangerously sick yet vve send for Physitians and use other means because there is some hope that he may recover but when he is once dead there is no more hope and therefore we trouble our selves no further so when the Rulers daughter was sick he came unto Christ and besought him for her My little daughter saith he lyeth at the point of death but I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her and she shall live Mark 5.23 Mark 5.35 But his daughter dying before Christ came to her some brought the Ruler word Thy daughter is dead why troublest thou the Master any further as thinking it in vain when his daughter was dead to seek for help because the Physitian is not sought to for the dead but for the living But Christ that was as well able to revive the dead as to heale the sick raised diverse in the Gospel from death to life whereof some are not named but onely mentioned ingenerall as here it is said that the dead were raised up without specifying in particular who they were some are mentioned in particular as the Rulers daughter whom he restored to life when she was newly dead Marke 5. Mark 5.42 Luke 7.15 Joh. 11.17 The Widowes Son that was carried forth to be buried Luke 7. and Lazarus that had been foure dayes dead and was laid in his grave John 11. If Christ then were able to raise the dead while he lived here in the form of a servant we may well he assured that being in glory at the right hand of his Father he is both able to raise our souls from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to raise our bodies when they lie dead in their graves to the life of glory Indeed the raising of the body being dead see us a thing incredible unto flesh and blood And therefore when St. Paul Acts 17. did preach to the Athenians about the resurrection they were so far from believing that the dead should rise that they counted him a babler and laughed him to scorne But as Christ here raised some from death to life so at the â—â—st day he will raise all Act. 7.60 the one being as easie to him as the other Therefore our bodies when they die are said in the Scripture to â—all a sleep because Christ can as easily raise our bodies being dead as one man can wake another when he is faln a sleep If many be fallen asleep in a Chamber together yet one voice you know is able to waken them all and so the voice of Christ at the last day shâ—ll raise all that are dead in the whole world together The houâ—e shall come saith our Saviour John 5. John 5.28 in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Sonne of Man and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurection of life and they that have done evill unto the refurrection of condemnation 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore the buriall of our bodies is fitly resembled by St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. to the sowing of seed because as the seed being sowen in the ground doth afterwards revive and spring up againe so our bodies after they are dead and buried shall be revived and quickned Qui tibi grana seminum mortua et putrefacta vivificat August de ver Apost Sermo 34. per quae in hoe saeculâ— vivas multo magis te ipsum resuscitabit ut in aeternum vivas He saith St. Augustine that quickens for thee the graines of Corne when they are dead and rotten whereby thou mayst live upon the earth for a time much more will he raise thy self hereafter that thou mayst live for ever in Heaven For he hath not onely redeemed our souls but likewise our bodies and therefore will not suffer them to perish in their graves but will quicken them again that both our bodies and souls may live with him And thus much concerning his raysing the dead The last thing which is here mentioned is that the poore had the Gospel preached unto them It is the saying of the Prophet Esay Chap. 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach good tydings unto the poore he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Which words Christ expounding Luke 4. when he preached in Nazareth he applies them to himself This day saith he Luke 4.21 is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares to shew that he was annointed of God to preach the Gospel unto the poor Now by the poor to whom he preached the Gospel they are understood who are said by our Saviour Math. 5.3 to be poor in spirit For there are two sorts of poverty the one outward vvhen a man hath not means to maintain himself but wants outward necessaries the other inward vvhen a man is destitute of spirituall graces And thus every one of us all are poor but some do not see their poverty and want as the Laâ—diceans Revel 3.17 that thought themselves rich and increased with goods when they were poor and naked Some see their poverty and find in themselves a want of grace and therefore do hunger and thirst after it and these are the poore to whom Christ is said here to have preached the Gospel Therefore in the place which I named before the Prophet shews to what poor the Gospel should be preached by naming presently the broken hearted And Esay 66.2 The Lord promiseth to have respect unto him that is poore and of a contrite Spirit the latter of these explaining the former that they are the poor whom God respects who are humbled with the sight of their spirituall wants and bewaile nothing more then their want of grace Such were they to whom Christ here
only is to be prayed unto that can hear our praiers he onely can hear them that knows our hearts and understands with what affection we pray unto him But suppose again that Saints and Angels could hear our prayers and did know our hearts and suppose that God had put it to our choise whether we would pray to him or to them have we not more reason to pray to him who is the fountaine of grace then unto them who are but vessels of grace Would they be so propitious as he is unto us Would they be so ready to hear our prayers As he commands us to pray unto him so he promiseth to gives us whatsoever we aske John 16.23 Whatsoever saith our Saviour John 16. ye shall aske the Father in my Name he will give it unto you And because of our selves we know not how to pray nor what to aske he gives us his Spirit to help our infirmitie and to teach us to pray He prepars our hearts as David saith Psal 10.17 and his eare hearkens thereunto And because we are not so ready to ask as he would have us he therfore many times prevents our asking is more ready to grant our requests then we are to make them So he promises Esay 65.24 Antequam clament ego exaudiam Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear So he dealt with David in this 32 Psalme who had no sooner said he would confesse his sinne but God forgave him Nay as he prevents our asking so many times he exceeds our desires and gives us more then we aske of him 1 King 3.13 So he dealt with Solomon when he begged of God that he would give him a wise and understanding heart God gave him both that which he did desire and told him besides I have also given thâ—e that which thou hast not asked both Riches and Honour And can we have greater incouragements then these to pray unto God who is so ready to grant our prayers And so there is great reason why we should pray onely to him And thus much likewise for the Object of prayer I now procced unto the last point The time when the godly shall come unto God by prayer nuncly 〈◊〉 time when he may be found But some man may say why is there time when God may not be found will God at any time absent himselfe and keep himselfe out of the way when men seek after him Indeed Bâ—â—als Priests 1 King 18. They sought and all to besought their God sâ—â—â— morning to noon but could not finde him Cry saith Eluck 〈◊〉 aloud unto your god for it may be he is talking with some body anâ— doth not mark you or it may be he is rid on of town and is in his journey or it may be he is taking a nap and â—â—ust be Wakened before he can hear you Thus the Prophet derided their counterset good but it is not so with the God of Jacob Psal 12â— 4 the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps If David seek him David shall finde him nay David and every godly man shall find him whensoever they seek him Paul and Silas cannot pray at mid-night but the will hear them Acts 16.25 Mat. 18.20 Two or three cannot be gathered together in his name but he will be in the midst of them Nay he is so far from not being found that if thou offer thy selfe unto him with the Prodigall he will go forth to meet thee Luke 15.20 Luke 15.4.5 nay though thou be strayed away with the lost sheep he will go after to seek thee and never lin seeking untill he have found thee Why then saith David here In a time when thou mayest be found why is there a time when God may not be found The answer is That there is a time as the very words imply when God may not be found and therefore if we will find God we must come in a time while he may be found The time when God may not be found is two-fold Tempus impossibilitatis and tempus improbabilitatis the time when it is impossible to finde him and the time when it is unlikely to finde him The time when it is impossible to finde him is when this life is ended For after this life there is no time for grace no time for repentence no time for good works Therefore it is that Christ saith John 9.4 I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is day the night comes and then no man can work by day understanding the time of this life and by night death Hie amittitur vita aut reciperatur saith â—â—prian In this life the life to come is either lost or gotten He that defers the seeking thereof till this life be past he knocks with the foolish Virgins when the gates are shut and then it is to late he that seeks not for mercy till after this life he shall find none no not so much as a drop of cold water to coole his tongue For as the tree falls so it lies and as the day of our death doth leave us so shall the day of judgement find us The time when it is unlikely to find God is when he offers us grace and we reject the same when he calls us by his Word and we harden our hearts and when upon presumption of the mercy of God whensoever we repent we deferr our repentance to the end of our lives and so indeed do never truly repent And therefore the Counsell is very good Ecclesiasticus 5.7 Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of God break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed And as there is a time when God may not be found so there is a time when he may be found this time is likewise twofold either more common and generall or more proper and speciall The common and generall time when God may be found is this whole life time from the beginning of our life till the end thereof And therefore if we must come unto God while he may be found and he may be found this whole life time then we cannot begin to soone to come unto him Therefore Solomon counsells us to remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth that so we may be seasoned with godlinesse and Religion in the beginning of our life The more speciall time when God may be found is when he cals us unto him by the preaching of the word for then he offers his grace unto us and knocks by his Spirit at the doore of our hearts that he may have entrance If we open unto him he will say to our souls here will I dwell for I have a delight herein but if we refuse to give him entrance if we harden our hearts when we hear his voice we know not when whether ever or never he will come againe
they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake it is not their suffering but their suffering for righteousnesse that makes them blessed Therefore the Apostles did not simply rejoyce in their sufferings Acts 5.41 but that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christs sake This was that which made Saint Paul so willing to suffer that being fore-told by Agabus Acts 21. That at Jerusalem he should be in bonds and be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles and being therefore intreated by the brethren that Acts 21.13 he would not go to Jerusalem What mean ye saith he to weep and to break my heart for I am ready not onely to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus And this was that which here imboldened Steven because it was for the Testimony of Christ that he suffered Martyrdome And so leaving the first point the person that was martyr'd I come to the second the kind of his Martyrdome and that was stoning They stoned Steven Our Saviour ye know fore-told his Disciples of the great persecution which they were to suffer Luke 9.23 Mat. 10.22 Mat. 10.16 Mat. 10.17 Mat. 23.34 That if any man would be his Disciple he must take up his Crosse every day and follow him that they should be hated of all men for his names sake that he sent them as sheep among wolves that they would be brought before the Councels and be scourged in their Synagogues that some of them should be slaine some stoned and some crucified All which not long after began to be accomplished To begin with the Apostles whom Christ vouchsafes the name of his friends John 15.15 John 15.7 Revel 1.9 John 21.17 Saint John the Disciple that Christ loved was condemned to banishment by the Emperor Domitian was banished into the Isle of Pathmos where he wrote the Book of the Revelation Saint Peter the Disciple that loved Christ was condemned by Nero to be crucified and was hanged on the Crosse as Saint Jerome writes with his head down-wards affirming himselfe unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that his Lord was Saint Andrew Peters brother was likewise crucified imbracing the Crosse saith Bernard and saying Per te me recipiat qui per te me redemit Let him receive me by thee who by thee redeemed me and hanging on the Crosse three dayes before he died converted many in the mean time to Christ Saint James the elder the Son of Zebedec and Saint Johns brother was killed with the sword and the person as Clemens Alexandrinus writes that had accused him when he saw him condemned was so moved therewith that he profest himself to be a Christian and having asked forgivenesse of Saint James was beheaded with him Saint James the younger the son of Alpheus and Bishop of Jerusalem because he would not deny Christ to be the Son of God was thrown down headlong from the battlements of the Temple and being still alive though both his thighes were broke his braines were dashed out as Egesippus writes with a Fullers club Saint Thomas who would not believe that Christ was risen from the dead except he might put his hand into the wound which the launce had made was afterwards in India as some Authours report thrust through with a launce because he would not worship the image of the Sun which was worshipt by them Saint Paul was beheaded in Rome by Nero on the same day as some do write that Peter was crucified and so that may not unfitly be applied to them which David said of Saul and Ionathan They were lovely in their lives and in their deaths they were not devided 2 Sam. 1.23 I might further instance in the rest of the Apostles and in the bloudy persecutions which afterwards followed wherein there was made such havock of the Church that if Ievemie or David had lived in those dayes there had been matter for the one to have made new Lamentations and for the other to sit weeping by the walls of Babylon when he remembred Sion Thus in these was verefied what our Saviour fore-told concerning the persecution which they were to suffer and the first of them all which brake as it were the ice and led the way to the rest was Steven here who was stoned to death A kind of death which was appointed by God for idolaters blasphemers and malefactors that others seeing what punishment they suffered might be kept from committing the like sins for fear of undergoing the like punishment So we see Deut. 13. That the idolater that inticed the people to serve other gods Deut. 13.10.11 was by Gods commandement to be stoned to deat that all Israel might hear and fear and the like might not be done any more in Israel So he that blasphemed the Name of the Lord Levit. 24.23 Levit. 24. was stoned to death by the whole Congregation as God commanded I might instance in others So that stoning was a punishment appointed by God for wicked persons yet Steven that was a holy man was here stoned Here then we may observe from the kind of his Martyrdome which was stoning That we are not to judge of a man by the kind of his death because sometimes the godly die the same kind of death that the wicked do 1. King 16. Ahab ye know was a most wicked King that served Baul and polluted the worships and service of God so that it is said of him that he did more to provoke the Lord to anger then all the Kings of Israel that were before him Josiah on the contrary was a most religious King that brought Iudah and Ierusalem from their idolatry and restored Gods service so that it is said of him That like unto him there was no King before him 2. King 23. that turned to the Lord with all his heart neither after him arose there any like him Yet these two brethren that were so unlike in their lives were alike in their deaths both were slain in the warres by the hands of their enemies The like may be said of Ionathan and Saul a good Son of a bad Father yet both of them slain in the field together So seditious Sheba that conspired against David died the same kind of death that Iohn the Baptist did for they were both beheaded and Steven here dyed the same kind of death that Achan did for they were both stoned Doct. In a vvord There is hardly any death that can be names but some of the godly have been put thereunto as well as the wicked And therefore vve are not to judge of any by the kind of his death that he died vvell or ill because that kind of death vvhich befalls one may befall an other We commonly judge the vvorse of a man if his death be sudden and count sudden death a fearfull thing as indeed it is especially if it be a violent death vvithall It vvas a fearfull kind a death which Charles
that we dedicate it wholly to Gods service But I will passe this over and come to the fourth difficultie difficulty fourth The fourth difficultie in this Commandement is in regard of the place where he must sacrifice his Sonne namely in the land of Moriah upon one of the mountaines which God would shew him Morti destinatum citò occidere misericordia genus est It is a kinde of mercie if a man be condemned to die to dispatch him quickly and the reason is because the punishment is much augmented through the expectation of it the expectation of any evil being as ill or worse then the evil it selfe But God here the more as it may seeme to torment Abraham Commands him not onely to Sacrifice his Son but injoynes him a long and tedious journey before he must do it God might have appointed him First to go with his Son into the Land of Moriah and being come thither then he might have told him the cause of his coming But first he commands him to sacrifice his Son and then sends him to the place where he must perform the same and what is the Reason but onely this as Origen saith ut dum ambulat dum iter agit per totam viam cogitationibus discerpatur that all the while he is travelling with his Son he might ruminate upon that which he went about and be confounded in a manner with the remembrance of it Now concerning this place where Abraham was appointed to sacrifice his Sonne some of the Jewes report that Cain and Abel had offered their offrings upon the same Mountain St. Jerome writes that he had heard it for certain of some ancient Jewes that Isaac was offered in the very same place where afterwards our Saviour Christ was crucified St. Augustine addes that he had heard it reported that Christ was crucified in the very same place where Adam had been buried and therefore that it was called Calvaria locus the place of a dead mans skull quia caput humani generis ibi dicitur esse sepultum because the head of mankind lieth there buried The Saracens who will needes borrow their name from Sarah though they came of Hagar to make it more profitable that they sprang from Isaac they faine that the land of Moriah is a part of their Country and therefore when any stranger comes to their City of Mecha to see Mahomets Sepulcher hard by the City they do shew him the Mountain where on Abraham as they say did sacrifice his Sonne But the truth is that the Land of Moriah where Isaac was to be offered was the same which was afterward called Jerusalem as we may plainly gather out of the second of the Chronicles 2 Chron. 3. the third Chapter for there it is said in the first verse that Salomon built the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah So that the place where Isaac was to be offered was either the same or very near to the place where our Saviour was afterwards to be crucified And indeed it was not unfit that Isaac should be offred where our Saviour was to suffer because Isaac was a type and figure of our Saviour So saith St. Augustine Abraham quando filium suum obtulit typum habuit Dei Patris Isaac typum gessit Domini Salvatoris Abraham when he offered his Sonne represented God the Father Isaac when he was offered represented our Saviour the Son of God For many things which wore shadowed forth in Isaac were afterwards verefied in our Saviour Christ As the promises of God unto Abraham concerning his Son were often renewed and his birth foretold so were the promises and the birth of the Messias As Isaacs was named before he was borne so was also Christ As Isaacs Birth was strange and miraculous in regard that he was borne of Sarah that was barren so was also Christs being borne of a virgin As Isaac was Abrahams onely Son whom he so dearly loved so Christ was the onely begotten Son of God in whom alone he was wel pleased As Isaac was causeless to be put to death so was Christ being innocent As Isaac bore the wood wherewith he was to be sacrificed so Christ bore the Tree whereon he was to be crucified In a word as Isaac by yielding himself to be offred did testifie his obedience unto his Fathe and his Father his wonderful love unto God so Christ by submitting himself to the death declared his wonderfull obedience unto God and God his unspeakable love towards us And indeed beloved this is the most excellent use that can possibly be made of this whole History when we hear how Abraham did offer his Son we stand amazed at it we wonder how it was possible for a Father to do it And may we not much more admire the infinite love of God unto us in giving his onely begotten Son to be crucified for us When we hear how Isaac yielded himself to be bound and offered we cannot but wonder at his strange obedience and may we not much more wonder at the infinite obedience of our blessed Saviour who being equall with God yet humbled himself and became obedient â—ven to the death of the Crosse Abraham when he offered his Sonne unto God he did but restore unto God that which God had given him he might wel the rather be moved thereunto because God had been alwaies so gracious to him But when God gave his Son to be offered for us we were so far from having deserved any thing at his hands that we were his open and profest enemies Isaac when he yielded himself to be offered yet he yielded himself into his Fathers hands who was to present him for a sweet savour unto the Lord and so to put him to a kind of death which of all other might seene the most glorious But Christ when he yielded himself to be offered he yielded himself into the hands of his persecutors who he knew would not onely put him to the most ignominious death but for his further vexation even deride him in his torments When Abraham was to sacrifice his onely Sonne God was so moved with compassion and pitty that instead of his Sonne he provided a Ramme Indeed it was fitter that a Ram should dye if the death of a Ramme might ransome a Sonne But when Christ was to be offered the case was altered the Ramme was spared and the Sonne was sacrificed Nay the Sonne was therefore sacrificed that the Ram might be spared Read over all the Histories of Heathen Authours examine their writings search out all their antiquities and see if there were ever the like example of love For a man to die for his friend it is no small matter and but few have done it but if one should offer to dye for a stranger we would wonder at it O but for a man to dye for his enemy nay the Sonne of God to come down from Heaven even from his Fathers bosome to dye a most accursed death
hainousnesse of thy sins set this example before thine eyes and remember that this Publican though he vvere a grievous sinner yet as soon as ever he sought for grace he found grace and was enabled to perform the works of grace And thus much for the person that gave this gift Zacheus a Publican The second thing which we are to consider is the gift it self or what he gives I give saith he the half of my goods He gives of his own and not of other mens goods and he gives bountifully of his own for though he be rich yet he gives the half of his goods Some are forward enough in giving but they give that which they have no right to give they give not of their own Thus when the Devil tempted our Saviour Mat. 4. he promised to give him all the Kingdoms of the Earth All these saith he Mat. 4.5 will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me here is a large gift but the Earth is the Lords saith the Prophet David and all that is therein and therefore the Devil had no right to give it because it was not his own Some give that which they have unlawfully gotten Thus when Ahab 1 Kings 2â— grew male-content and would eat no meat because he could not get Naboth to part with his Vineyard Jezabell promised him that she would give it him Be of good cheere saith Jezabel unto Ahab I will give thee the Vineyard of Naboth the Jesrcelite 1 Kings 21.7 and then she caused Naboth to be stoned to death and gave Ahab the Vineyard which she had unlawfully gotten Some give of their own and that which they have given lawfully but yet they give sparingly as if they were unwilling to give Thus when the Jewes did sell their possession and brought the money unto the Apostles to be distributed among those that needed Acts 4.35 Ananias and Saphira likewise sold their possessions as the rest did but yet they gave more sparingly then any of the rest for they kept back a part of the price to themselves But we cannot properly be said to give unlesse we give of our own we cannot give of our own unlesse we give that which we have lawfully gotten and though we give of our own and that which we have gotten lawfully yet it is not acceptable in the sight of God unlesse we give liberally For howsoever it be a more blessed thing to give then to take as our Saviour said yet to give that which is none of our own as the Devill did is but a meere delusion to take from one to give to another as Jezabell did is no better then extortion and to give sparingly of our own as Ananias did argues rather covetousnesse and misery in retaining then liberality in giving But Zacheus as ye see here gives of his own I give saith he my Goods he gives of his own which he hath lawfully gotten for look what he had unlawfully gotten from others he restores to the owners in the next words and that with advantage and he gives liberally of that which he hath gotten lawfully for though he be rich yet he gives the half of his Goods How hard a thing it is for a rich man to part with his Goods we see by an example in the former Chapter where there comes a rich man unto our Saviour in the 18. verse having as it seemes a full resolution to do any thing whatsoever for the obtaining of Heaven Good Master saith he what ought I to do that I may inherit eternall life as if he had said Good Master if there be any thing that I ought to do do but teach me what it is and I will do it Oh I will do it whatsoever it is But when Christ wills him to sell all that he had and to give it to the poor and he should have Treasure in Heaven he went away heavy and discontented as thinking he should have made but a hard bargain and therefore rather then he would part with his goods he would part with Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven So that here is a great difference between him and Zacheus He though he was spoken to by our Saviour to give his goods to the poor and that with promise of reward in the Kingdom of Heaven yet he would not do it Zacheus here stayes not till he be spoken unto but gives them a way voluntarily and of his own accord the one shewing what rich men are by nature the other what they are by grace Euripides when he brings in any women in his Tragedies he makes them alwayes bad Sophocles in his Tragedies makes them alwayes good whereof when Sophocles was asked the reason he made this answer Euripedes saith he represents women as they be I represent them as they ought to be And thus the Evangelist in these two Chapters represents before our eyes as it were in two severall Pictures two different examples of rich men shewing us by the one what rich men are by nature covetous and miserable and by the other what they ought to be and what they are by grace franck and bountifull If riches increase saith the Prophet David Psal 62 1â— set not your hearts upon them but this is hard counsell for a naturall man in whom covetousnesse and riches are for the most part inseparable companions covetousnesse being a meanes to encrease a mans riches and riches his covetousnesse There is a Riddle in a Athenaeus of two sisters Athen. Deiâ—nos lib. 10. which mutually and by course brought forth one another which though it be there spoken of the day and the night which bring forth one another by course yet it may as truly be said of riches and covetousnesse For first covetousnes is in labour and brings forth riches then riches wax great and bring forth covetousnesse Hence it is that the more a man hath the more he desires and though he have never so much yet he is not satisfied but as the Israelites when they had store of Manna yet they murmured asmuch as when they had none So though a covetous man have riches in abundance yet he is no better contented then when he was without them And therefore it is that covetous men are said to be miserable miserable both in regard of that which they have not and that which they have that which they have not makes them discontend because they are without it and as for that which they have they are no better for it for though they have whatsoever they want yet they want indeed whatsoever they have because they cannot find in their hearts to use it And such for the most part are rich men so that this makes much for the commendation of Zacheus that though he be rich yet he is not covetous but as God hath given him goods so he imploies them to good uses and as God hath given him bountifully so he gives bountifully to others I give saith he the half
that is into heaven keep the Commandements And heaven is called Psal 25. the land of the living I should saith David have utterly fainted but that I believe verily to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living that is in heaven for there they live eternally and never die In hell there is a quite contrary law that they die eternally Therefore it is said of the wicked Psal 49. They lie in hell like sheep and death gnawes upon them because there they suffer the second death which is everlasting And here upon earth there is a third law between them both Heb. 9.27 That every one living shall once suffer death Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 9. It is appointed unto all men that they shall once dye not live here for ever as they do in heaven nor die for ever as they do in hell but once they must die and this is a law which all that live on the face of the earth are subject unto God hath given great priviledges to many of his servants and hath miraculously preserved them from many dangers Exed 34.28 1 King 19.8 Dan. 3.25 Mat. 14.29 Josh 10.12.13 some he hath preserved without any nourishment for many weeks together as Moses and Elius some he hath preserved in the midst of fire as the three children in the furnace some he hath inabled to walk upon the waters as Peter did some he hath inabled to stay the course of the Sun as Joshuah did but to stay and hinder the course of death and to free men from the same this is a priviledge which God never gave to any of his servants Therefore even they that lived before the deluge though some of them lived seven hundred years some eight hundred some nine hundred years and upwards yet they died in the end nature delaying more and more in them till it were quite spent as a candle being lighted wastes by little and little till it quite goes out Seeing then it is certain that we shall die this may therefore teach us to fit and prepare our selves against the coming of death by frequent meditation and remembrance thereof The oftner a man bethinks him of death the better he will be prepared for it as a man that foresees and expects a storm he will provide himself the better against it come And herein the Heathen themselves may be patterns unto us who though they knew not God nor the punishment of sin in the world to come yet knowing they should die they used many strange and memorable devises to put them in mind of their mortality Ortelius writes of a Countrey in the World where the people do use the bones of dead men in stead of their coin which being continually before their eyes they cannot but continually remember their ends Plutarch writes of Ptolomie the King of Egypt That alwayes when he made any sumptuous feast among the rest of his dishes the skull and bones of a dead man were brought in a platter and set before him and one was appointed to say thus unto him Plutarch in Conviv Sept. Sapientum Behold O King and consider with thy selfe this president of death that he whose skull and bones thou now seest was once like thy selfe and the time will come when thou shalt be like unto him and thy skull and bones shall be brought hereafter to the Kings table as now his are to thint Isodore writes That it was a custome in Constantinople that alwayes at the time of the Emperours Coronation among other Solemnities this was one A free Mason presented the Emperour with divers sorts of marble and asked him of which of them he should make his Tomb that so he might remember even then when he was in the height of his glory that he was but mortall Dion writes of Severus a Roman Emperour That while he lived he caused his Hearse to be made and was often wont to go in into it adding these words Thou O Herse as small as thou art must contain him whom now the whole world is searce able to contain If these who were Heathen were so mindfull of their ends what should we that are Christians We know that God hath made the end of our life the manner of our death and the place thereof to be unknown and uncertain that we might alwayes have it in expectation So saith Saint Augustine Latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes dies Augustine Hom. 13. The last day of our lives is hidden from us that that day might be expected all the dayes of our lives And indeed the reason why we are not prepared for the comming of death is because we seldom or never think of dying for who of us almost have any thought thereof till either sicknesse or age the two Serjeants of death do come to arrest us or if at any other time we bethink us thereof it is only then when we hear the Bell to ring out for any or when we see some of our neighbours to lie upon their death-bed and past recovery Then it may be we think of our ends and that it is high time for us to prepare our selves for death that we may be in a readinesse against God shall call us But these meditations are but for a fit and they presently vanish I have seen somtimes when a Fowler coming to a Tree where there were store of birds and hath killed any one of them all the rest have immediately flown away but presently after forgetting the danger wherein they were before they have all of them returned to the same Tree And do not we resemble these silly birds when death comes to our houses and takes away any one of us we are all amazed and we presently think that the next course may be ours and therefore that it behooves us to reform our lives but presently after when the remembrance of death is out of our minds we return again to our former courses But he that will be provided against the coming of death must alwayes have death in his remembrance Tota vita sapientis debet esse meditatio mortis The whole life saith Gregory of a wise man ought to be a meditation of death That as the birth of sin was the death of man so the meditation of death may be the death of sin And as David here by comparing us to grasse and the flowers of the field implyeth thereby the certainty of our death that we shall as certainly die as we are sure that these shall fade and wither So he implyeth hereby the shortnesse of our life that we shall not live long but shall die soon as the grasse and flowers do fade and decay in a short time Theodorus Gaza tels us of a father that had twelve sons and each of those brethren had thirty children yet every one of them expired soon The father expired within the compasse of a year never a one of his sons but expired in a moneth and
shall the wicked escape Gods judgements Secondly Seeing God doth chasten those whom he loves 2. Vse this may therefore teach us to beware of censuring hardly of them that are in any distresse or affliction as if this were an argument that they are out of Gods favour and that God hath forsaken them We are prone to judge amisse of those that are in distresse If Job be afflicted Job 4.7.8 Acts 28.4 his friends will think that he is an Hypocrite If the Barbarians see a Viper hang on Pauls hand they will suspect him therefore to have been a murderer and if the Disciples see the man that was born blind John 9.2 they will judge that either he or his Parents had sinned as if they must needes be wicked persons that are afflicted The Samaritans as Josephus writes of them when they saw that matters went prosperously with the Jewes they were wont to say then that they were come of Abraham but when the Jewes were under the Crosse and suffered affliction they would then derive their Pedegree from Babel and other Nations and would not acknowledge them for Abrahams Children as if only the wicked and not the godly were subject to affliction But we see here that God chastens whom he loves and therefore that we are not to judge hardly of such as we see afflicted And thus much likewise for the second point the Patient or party that is chastned by God namely Gods beloved He chastens whom he loves I now proceed to the third and last the quality of the action in this word chastneth which implyeth as I said that God doth not torment and torture us like a tyranne but he doth onely chasten us as a Father doth chasten and correct his Children these chastisements do not proceed from God as an angry judge for our plague and punishment but as from a merciful and loving Father for our correction and amendment for herein he offers himself unto us as unto Sonnes as the Apostle saith So that these chastisements to the godly are signes of their adoption and pledges of Gods love and favour towards them which that we may understand the better I purpose to shew you two things First vvhat these chastisements are or how God doth chasten us And secondly To what end they are or why he doth chasten us Concerning the first these chastisements of God are sometimes called in the Scripture the judgements of God So they are called by the Apostle 1 Pet. 4. The time saith he is come that judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 That is to say the judgement of chastisement for the judgements of God are of two sorts judicia castigationis judicia vindicte condemnationis the judgements of chastisement or correction and the judgments of revenge and condemnation And this distinction is taken out of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. When we saith he 1 Cor. 11.32 are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World So that there is a judgment of chastisement which lights upon the godly and a judgment of condemnation which lights upon the wicked And these judgements are sometimes publick and generall and sometimes private and particular Publick and generall as when a whole Land or Country is afflicted as either by Warre by Plague and Pestilence by Death and Famin and any other common and generall affliction Thus we see 1 Chron. 21. That when David had sinned against God by causing his people to be numbred God to chasten and correct him for it offers him his choise of three publick afflictions either a generall dearth and famin all over his Land 1 Chron. 21.12 for the space of three years or the Enemies to come and invade his Land and prevail against him for the space of three months or a Plague and Pestilence among his people for three dayes David being in this extremity did choose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men because there is mercy with the Lord in his chastisements and so there died of the Pestilence threescore and ten thousand in three dayes This was a generall or publick affliction Sometime again they are privat or particular as when any particular house or family or any privat man is chastned and afflicted and that either outwardly or inwardly outwardly as by the losse of goods by the losse of health by the losse of friends by the losse of liberty and the like And thus Gods Children are often afflicted Some are afflicted with want and poâ—erty as Lâ—zarus was Luke 16.21 some with the losse of their health as the Palâ—iâ—-mâ—â— was Mat. 9. 1 Sam. 2.23 Gen. 39.20 Job 16.2 Psal 59.1 some are crost in their Children as Eli was some are wronged in their good name and credit as Susanna was some restrained of their liberty as Iosâ—ph was some wronged by their friends as Iob was and some persecuted by their enemies as David was These are outward chastisements Sometimes again God doth inwardly chasten us as when either he leaves us for a time to our selves so that we fall into some actual sinnes and are afterwards grieved that we have offended God Thus Peter was afflicted when he had denied our Saviour and wept so bitterly for his denial Or when God withdrawes from us the feeling of his love and the comfort of his spirit Mat. 26.75 So that we doubt for a time that God hath forsaken us because we can find no inward comfort And thus David was afflicted when he complained so grievously Psal 77. Psal 77.7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever and will he shew no more favour hath he forgotten to be gratious and will he shut up his kindness in displeasure These are inward chastisements Now God in all his chastisements deales otherwise with the godly then he deales with the wicked The one he chastens in love and mercy the other he punisheth in his wrath and fury the one he sustaines by his gracious assistance and inables them to bear what he layes upon them the other he gives over to endless despaire to the one he brings a pruning knife to lop and purge them to the other the Axe of desolation to cut them down and destroy them And thus we see what these chastisements are Secondly We are to consider to what end they are or why he doth chasten us The end why God doth chasten his Children is partly for his own glory and partly for their good For his own glory two wayes especially First To shew how greatly he is displeased and offended with sinne insomuch that he doth not spare it in his own Children For this is most certain that if man had never committed sinne he should never have been subject unto any affliction but as soon as Adam had sinned against God then God by afflicting him made manifest how he is displeased and offended by sinne because saith God unto
where the night continues divers monthes together and the Sun doth not shew himselfe all the while that the Inhabitants at the end of so long a night at such a time as the Sun is wont to appear and bring the day among them they get up to the top of their highest mountains as striving to have the first view of the Sun which as soon as they see they crie out for joy Behold the Sun the Sun appears and they put on their best apparell and feast one another So welcome is the light of the Sun among them when they have wanted it long For darknesse ye know is most uncomfortable therefore though God sent darknesse as a plague among the Egyptians Exod. 10.22.23 yet his people had light in all their dwellings And therefore as hell is shadowed forth in the Scripture by the name of darknesse to expresse the uncomfortablenesse and horrour of it Mat. 22.13 Colos 1.12 so heaven is illustrated by the name of light to expresse the great comfort we shall finde in it yet they which are in darknesse and have not the light of the Sun among them may have fire and candle and other helps to give them light and to take away darknesse but they who are blind are always in the dark and have no help against it So uncomfortable a thing it is to a man to want his sight In which regard whereas it is said of Abraham Gen. 25.8 That he gave up the Ghost and died a good old age and old man and full of years and was gathered unto his people It is only said of Isaac Gen. 35.29 That Isaac gave up the Ghost and died and was gathered unto his people being old and full of dayes It is not said of him as it is said of Abraham That he died in a good old age but this clause is omitted in the death of Isaac as Divines observe and they give this reason Because Isaac's old age by reason of his blindnesse could not be so good and comfortable unto him For they want many comforts which others have who do want their sight Therefore when our Saviour askt the blind man Luke 18 Luke 18.41 What he would have him to do for him he presently answered Lord that I may receive my sight as being more desirous to have his sight then any thing besides It is a grievous thing for a man to want his smelling or tasting or any of his sences or his hands or feet or any of his limbs but far more grievous to want his eyes because the eye is the guide of the whole body and directs every part and member of it without which the tongue knows not before whom it speaks the hand knows not what it is it takes the foot knows not whither it goes but the tongue will erre the hand will mistake and the foot will stumble vvhere there is not an eye to vvatch over all and to preserve them from danger Therefore God hath placed the eyes in the head vvhere they may look to the whole body because every part hath use of the sight to guid and direct it When therefore vve read That Christ cured the blind and gave them their sight vve may vvell imagine that it vvas a vvonderfull benefit that he did for them And therefore it â—â—â—fused dravv us to bethink our selves vvhat a blessing it is that God hath given us our sight vvhereby vve take comfort in the sight of the creatures in the sight of our parents and children and friends and vvhereby vve are freed from so many dangers Yet this is a blessing vvhich fevv do ever think of but find the benefit and comfort of it Carendo magis quam fruendo rather vvhen vve vvant then vvhen vve have it If vve vvanted our sight vvhat a benefit should vve lose vvhat a losse should vve have and vvhat vvould vve not give that vve might recover it And therefore vvhen vve hear hovv Christ cured the blind or vvhen vve see any that vvant their sight it should put us in mind vvhat a blessing it is that vve can see and therefore should be thankfull to God for it yet though it be grievous to vvant the sight and a great blessing to have the same yet it is far more grievous vvhen the mind is darkened and vvants the eyes of knovvledge and understanding For that vvhich the eye is to the body the same is the understanding unto the soule and vvhat blindnesse is to the one the same is ignorance to the other And therefore vvhen Christ did cure them outvvardly so vve may vvell think that he cured them invvardly as he took avvay their blindnesse and gave them their seeing so he took avvay their ignorance and enlightned them vvith knovvledge and understanding And this vvas a greater cure then the other Men commonly think that a man that is blind is far more miserable then he that is ignorant and that he on the contrary is in better condition that hath a sound and comely body then he whose mind is adorned and beautified with grace and virtue But as the soule is more excellent then the body so knowledge and understanding is more excellent then the sight because the sight doth onely give light to the body understanding to the soule They who want the eyes of their body yet they know they want them and therefore will carefully seek for help if they may be cured and if they cannot be cured yet they have this help that they may have one to lead and guide them But they who want the eyes of their mind do not know their blindnesse and therefore do not seek to have any help but think themselves well though they live in ignorance vvhereby the Devill leads them blind-fold to hell before they be aware 2 King 6.18.19 As the Army of the Syrians being struck with blindnesse were led into Samaria amongst the midst of their enemies and â—â—ew not where they were till they were come thither we may see then by that which I have spoken that it is a grievous thing to want the outward sight but far more grievous when the mind is darkened And therefore as the blind here came unto Christ to be cured of their blindness so we must likewise come unto him to remove our spiritual blindnesse from us because he is that day-spring from on high as Zacharie said that came to visit us to give light unto them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death Luke 1.78 and to guide our feete in the way of peace And thus much concerning the first cure which is here mentioned that the blind received their sight And so I come to the next that the lame walked As it is a great blessing to have the use of our eyes and to be able to see so it is a great blessing to have the use of our feete and to be able to go For God in framing the body of man hath so disposed of every
we must be content to yield him obedience and to live as becomes his servants or he will not save us And therefore only the godly that serve him in their life can with comfort commend their souls unto him at the time of their death and say as Steven did Lord Jesus receive my spirit He prayes not for his body but for his soule Though it were his body which was here in danger while the Jews were stoning him yet it is not his body but it is his soule that he prayes for as being more sensible of his future estate then of his present condition and not so much regarding this present life as the life to come Many in their life and at the time of their death are carefull for their bodies thinking of the great pain which their bodies are to suffer when death siezes upon them and taking care how they shall be able to overcome the same This care troubles many that are good Christians who are the more afraid of death for the pain thereof and imagine the pain to be greater then it is That death is painfull there is not any question Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non magna esset martyrum fortitudo saith Augustine If there were no sharpnesse and pain in death it were no great fortitude in the Martyrs to suffer it But though death be painfull yet we must remember this for our comfort that it will be no more painfull to us then it hath been to the godly in all ages and therefore why should we be afraid to undergo that which all the godly have undergone before us Will not any man be content to be put to that whereunto the King puts his chiefe Favourites for he will think with himselfe if I be put to no more then the Kings Favourites are I shall fare well enough The godly ye know are Gods chiefe Favourites God loves and favours them above all others if therefore they have suffered the paine of death and have not been exempted by God from it we may well be the lesse carefull to undergo it and may assure our selves that though the paine were never so great yet Christ who hath redeemed both our soules and bodies will inable us to bear it and as Cyprian saith Qui semel pro nobis mortem vicit semper vincet in nobis He that once overcame death for us will alwayes overcome it in us And therefore whether we die for the Lord or in the Lord we may well lay the care of our bodies aside and may chearfully commend our soules unto Christ as Steven here did Lord Jesus receive my spirit Doct. I might hence observe the immortality of the soule That though the body do die yet the soule is immortall This is signified by those words of Solomon Eccles 12.7 That the body shall returne to the earth from Whence it was taken and the spirit shall returne unto God who gave it Mat. 10.28 and by that saying of our Saviour Fear not those that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soule But I will passe this over and come briefly to the prayer which he makes for his persecutours He kneeled down and cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Where first observe the gesture he used he kneeled down when he prayed The Jews did commonly stand when they prayed Therefore Christ alluding to this their custome Mark 11. When ye stand saith he and pray if ye have ought against any man forgive him And the Jewes have a saying Sine stationibus non consisteret mundus that the world could not consist without standing that is without praying because they were wont to pray standing 1 Kings 19.4 1 Chro. 17.16 The Prophet Eliah when he fled from Iezabel he prayed sitting And we read the like of David that he sat and prayed Other kinde of gestures we use in our prayers which may be reduced unto these two heads such as we use in regard of our Hope or in regard of our Humiliation and Reverence In regard of our hope we lift up our eyes and we stretch forth our hands as expecting and requiring Gods help and assistance So David in the 121. Psalm I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help And Moses praying for the Isracletes Exod. 17. That they might prevale against Amaleck he stretched forth his hands For as Saint Austin saith Oculus erectus expectat manus extensa postulat The eyes being lift up expect help and the hands being stretcht forth do seeme to reuqire it In regard of our humiliation and reverence we uncover our heads we bow down our bodies and we kneele on our knees we uncover our heads which is Magnificentia depositio a laying aside of our greatnesse And thus Kings and Princes when they pray unto God do uncover their heads laying aside their state and acknowledging thereby that they are Gods Servants So we prostrate our selves and fall down on our knees as Steven here did in token of the reverence we owe unto God in offering our prayers And this gesture of kneeling we finde to have been often used by the faithfull and as the Magdeburgenses who wrote the Centuries affirme hath been the most ancient gesture in prayer and the most used by the Church in all ages Peter as we see in the 9. of the Asts and Paul in the 20. did pray kneeling so did the Prophet Daniel in his sixt Chapter Saint James the first Bishop of Jerusalem was so frequent in praying on his knees that he made his knees as hard as the hoofe of a Camel with continuall kneeling And the like did Asella as we read in St. Jerome It is true indeed that it is the heart and affection of him that prays and not the gesture of the body which God respects but withall this is true that he that makes no conscience of praying reverently doth never pray heartily and he that will not bend the knee unto God much lesse out of doubt will he bend the heart O come let us Worship and fall down saith the Psalmest and kneele before the Lord our maker Psal 95.6 Micah 6.6 Where withall shall I come saith the Prophet Micah in his sixt chapter before the Lord and bow my self before the high God To shew that he might not come into his presence but with great reverence And therefore this serves to reprove those that shew no signes of reverence unto God 2 Chr. 6.13 Luke 22 4â— when they come before him to offer up their prayers We see that Solomon when he consecrated the Temple 2 Chron. 6. he kneeled down and prayed and a greater then Solomon our blessed Saviour Luke 22. kneeled down when he prayed be for his passion If he therefore used such reverence in prayer should not we much more For shall mercy bend her knee and shall not misery Shall the Physician and shall not the Patient Shall
the Master and shall not the Servant Shall the Judge and shall not he that is to be judged unworthy is he to taste of the well of the water of life that will not stoop to take it And as Steven here kneeled down so he cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge His kneeling and crying arguing both the greatnesse of their sinne and his earnest desire and ardent affection Quod jussit gâ—ssit that they might be forgiven It is Christs precept Luke 6. Love your enemies do good to them that hate you blesse them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you And he did himself what he wills us to do praying for his Crucifiers even when they Crucified him Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23.34 Steven here follows his example praying for his persecutors even while they stoned him Lord saith he buy not this sinne to their charge And thus according to Christs precept and example he loves his enemies prayes for his persecutors and requites good for evill And this is the very perfection of love and an infallible argument that they who can do it are the children of God A wicked man may performe many Christian duties and commendable actions upon by-respects He may give Almes to the poor that men may think the better of him he may Fast because abstinence is good for his health he may abstaine from adultery theft and the like for the avoiding of shame and discredit and he may put up wrongs and not seek to be revenged for fear of inconveniences that may follow after it But for a man to love his enemies and pray for his persecutors this canot be done in any by-respect but must needs be the worke of grace in him This is that wherein the godly do most resemble God in loving their enemies and rendring good to those that deserve evill at their hands God is so good that he renders good for evill as he tooke occasion from Adams sinne to send his Sonne into the world for mans redemption for which Gregory calls it Felix peccatum a happy sinne because it had so soveraigne a Medecine The wicked are so evill that they render evill for good sometimes to God as the Israelites did taking their Eare-rings of Gold which God had given them in Egypt and making thereof a Calfe which they worshipt to the dishonour of God sometimes to man as Saul did to David using all means to procure his death who had saved his life 2 Kings 6.23 But the godly do imitate their heavenly Father rendring good for evill as Elisha made the Syrians to eate and to drink that were sent to take him and as Steven here prayed for the Jewes that stoned him FINIS The Fifteenth SERMON JEREMIAH 4.2 Thou shalt sweare the Lord liveth in trueth in Judgement and in righteousnesse Division SOcrates writes of Pambo the Herimit that when one was reading to him the 39. Psalme and had read but the beginning Psa 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that so I offend not in my tongue The Heremit willed him to stay there and to read no further for this saith he is a lesson which will hardly be learned in a long time Had the beginning of my text been read unto him Thou shalt sweare he would rather have willed him to have read on because this is a lesson which is learned soone For who cannot swear without a teacher We may see young children who before they have perfectly learn'd to read have learned this lesson So that if swearing were all which God required almost every one might answer as the Ruler did our Saviour Luke 18.21 All this have I done from my youth upward But here is not onely an Oath to be taken Thou shalt swear but the object of an Oath or by whom we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth and the conditions of an Oath or how we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse The first against the Anabaptists who hold it unlawfull to swear at all Thou shalt swear The second against the Papists who hold it lawfull to swear by the Creatures Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth The third against all profane swearers that take either false or fraudulent Oaths Thou shalt swear in truth or inconsiderate or unnecessary Oaths Thou shalt swear in judgement or lastly pernicious and wicked Oaths which are taken for the performance of some unlawfull action Thou shalt swear in righteousnesse And these are the severall parts of these words And first concerning the lawfulnesse of an Oath I neede not stand long upon the proof thereof because as the Lawyers say Quod consuetum est praesumitur esse justum That is commonly held to be just and lawfull which is ordinary and common And yet because the Anabaptists are of another opinion and would utterly take away the use of an Oath something must be spoken of the lawfulnesse thereof That it is lawfull therefore to take an Oath we may see especially by these three things First By the expresse commandement of God If to take an Oath were simply unlawfull Exod. 20. then God would not have forbidden us to take his name in vain but to take it at all as because it is simply unlawfull to swear by false Gods he doth not forbid us to take their names in yaine but absolutely forbids us to swear by them And as he forbids us to swear by them Exo. 23.13 so he commands us to swear by him Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and thou shalt swear by his name Which words are repeated Deut. 10. â—0 with a little addition Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve thou shalt cleave unto him and swear by his name So that the taking of an Oath is not left unto us as a thing indifferent but commanded by God and that as a part of Gods service and worship And therefore God promiseth a blessing to those that swear by his Name Jer. 12.16 Jer. 12.16 It shall come saith he to passe that if they will diligently learne the wayes of my people to sweare by my name The Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal then shall they be built in the middest of my people And Psalm 15.4 He that sweareth saith David though it be to his own hinderance and changeth not Psal 15.4 he shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle But if it were unlawfull to swear at all he would not have placed him in Gods Tabernacle that swears and keeps his Oath though it be to his own hinderance but rather him that sweareth not though it be to his own advantage Secondly by the example of those holy men in the Scripture who have taken oathes and that sometime publickly Thus Abraham swore to the King of Sodom
the upright for the end of that man is peace and in the next verse But the end of the wicked shall be cut off For God being the just Judge of the world it cannot be otherwise but that between the end of the godly and the end of the wicked there must needs be great difference Therefore when Abraham prayed for Sodom that it might be spared for the righteous sake that were therein Gen. 18.23.25 wilt thou saith he Gen. 18. destroy the righteous with the wicked that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be farre from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right to shew that it cannot stand with the justice of God to respect them alike and to make no difference between the godly and the wicked We see many times that the wicked do flourish and prosper in the world and live in great credit and estimation the godly on the contrary are many times vilified and privily slander'd whereby their good name which is the godly mans Heire is much called into question but God who never failes to help them to right that do suffer wrong at one time or other brings the wicked to shame and makes the innocency of the godly known This is that which God promises Psal 37.6 Psal 37. He shall bring forth thy righteousnesse as the light and thy judgement or just dealing as the noon-day the meaning is that though thy innocency and just dealing may be obscured and hidden for a time as the light in the night yet God will bring it forth like the light in the morning and make it more and more to appear like the Sun at noone whereby both thy innocencie and the falshood of those that unjustly accuse thee shall be openly known This we see by the example of Daniel who was cast by his accusers into the Lyons Den Dan. 6.16 Dan. 3.21 and by those who were cast into the fiery furnace yet God miraculously made known their innocency and brought those that accused them to shame and destruction It is very memorable which we find recorded to this purpose in the Ecclesiasticall Histories Three grace leâ—e Companions accused Narcissus a holy Bishop of an hainous crime and used fearfull imprecations against themselves if the thing were not true whereof they accused him The first wished that if it were not true he might be burnt The second that he might die of some grievous Disease And the third wisht that he might lose his sight And not long after God was reveng'd on every one of them in the same manner For the first had his house set a fire in the night where both himself and his houshold were burnt to death The second fell sick of a fearfull disease and died of it And the third seeing what 〈◊〉 befallen his Companions confessed how they had wrongfully accused the Bishop and with weeping and mourning lost his sight Whereupon the Bishop who had been deposed upon their accusation was restored unto his Bishoprick God having thus made his innocency known and brought them to shame that so falsly accused him And thus much for the former part of these words the description of an impenitent sinner who is described as you have heard both by his property that he covers his sinne and by his condition that he shall not prosper The penitent person is described by a double property he confesseth his sinnes and withall forsakes them and his condition is that he shall have mercy I will speak briefly of them in a word or two Those words of St. John 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse are as it were a commentary upon my Text and the one place may serve well to explain the other St. John names onely our confessing our sinnes If saith he we confesse our sinnes implying under confessing our sinnes our forsaking of them because as St. Ambrose saith Confessio peccati est professio desinendi our confessing of sinne is a profession of leaving the same Solomon in my Text doth name them both who so confesses and forsakes his sins and so expresses what St. John implies And Solomon addes that he shall have mercy but what mercy he doth not shew St. John therefore shewes what this mercy is that God will forgive him his sinnes and will cleanse him from all unrighteousnesse which you know is the greatest mercy For if we consider how highly God is offended with sinners how deeply we are indebted unto God by our sinnes or the great benefit we reape by Gods forgiving us we cannot but see Gods infinite mercy in forgiving our sinnes upon so easie a condition and requiring no more of us for the forgivenesse of our sinnes but that we confesse them If a Creditor should require no more of his Debtor that were indebted in a great summe unto him but to acknowledge the debt he would freely forgive him would not every man magnifie the Creditors bounty in releasing his Debtor upon so easie a condition but thus deales God with us he requires no more of us but to confesse our sinnes and promises to forgive us If saith St. John we confesse our sinnes God is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes faithfull and just and so we need not make any doubt thereof because his faithfulnesse and justice are ingaged upon it But some may say it may seeme that seeing God is just he should rather punish us then forgive us our sinnes because his justice requires that we make him satisfaction and that he reward us according to our deserts We are therefore to remember that confession of our sinnes and faith in Christ for the pardon of them do alway go together so that we cannot truly confesse our sins but we must needes have an eye unto Christ for the forgivenesse of our sinnes God therefore cannot but forgive us our sinnes because he is just for otherwise he should be unjust to his Sonne who hath made satisfaction to God in our roome and by his active and passive obedience hath merited for us that our sinnes should be forgiven And herein appeares the admirable wisdome and goodnesse of God in so contriving the work of our redemption that his justice should plead for the forgivenesse of our sinnes which pleaded before for our condemnation For if ye aske why God should condemn us for our sinnes the Reason is because he is just and justice requires that having offended him we should make him satisfaction And yet if ye aske why he should forgive us our sinnes the reason is here given by St. John because he is just and justice requires that Christ having made satisfaction for us we should be forgiven And so we see what mercy it is which he shall have who confesseth his sinnes namely the
pardon and forgivenesse of them FINIS The Eighteenth SERMON 1 THES 5.2 For you your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night THe first coming of Christ may well put us in mind of his second coming his coming as a Lambe of his coming as a Lion his coming in humility of his coming in glory The day of his first coming ye know is past and yet so past as that we are still to call it to mind and must never forget it the day of his second coming is yet to come yet so to come as that it will come we know not how soone and we must alwayes expect it And therefore as it hath been a Custome in some Countries that when they kept a feast after other dishes a deaths head was brought in and set upon the Table before the guests to teach them while they were feasting to remember their ends So I thought it not unfit at the time of this feast which we celebrate in remembrance of Christs first coming to bring in as it were a deaths head among you by choosing such a Text as may put you in mind of his second coming at the day of judgement because that is a day which is alwayes to be expected whereof the Apostle in the words which I have read gives a double Reason First because it is certain that this day is coming For you your selves saith he know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes Secondly because it is uncertain when it will come For it so saith he comes as a thief in the night whose coming is uncertain and upon the sudden So that the points to be handled in these words are these the day it self and the coming of it and in the coming of it that it is certain that this day will come though when it wil come it is uncertain And first concerning the day it self The day of judgement is here called the day of the Lord sometimes in the Scripture the great notable day of the Lord. It is called the day of the Lord to put a difference between that day and all the dayes while we live in the world While we live in the World the dayes in the Scripture are called ours For though all dayes indeed be the Lords because he made them as the Prophet David saith Psal 74.16 The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast prepared the light and the Sunne yet in the Scripture they are said to be ours because they were made for our use Therefore God speaking of the time of mans life Gen. 6. His dayes saith he Gen. 6.3 shall be an hundred and twenty years Thus Job speaking of the prosperity of the wicked They spend saith he their dayes in welthinesse Job 21.13 Psal 90.12 Thus David speaking of the uncertainty of this life Psal 90. Teach us saith he to number our dayes Thus the dayes while we live in this world are called ours But the day of judgement is alwayes called Esay 13.7 Joel 2.1 2 Pet. 3.10 the day of the Lord. So Esay 13. Behold the day of the Lord comes So Joel The day of the Lord comes and is nigh at hand So St. Peter 2 Pet. 3. The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night Thus still it is called the day of the Lord because though all other dayes be ours yet this day he hath wholly reserved to himself to call us to an account of all our dayes To some of us he hath given ten thousand dayes to some twenty thousand to some thirty thousand and all the dayes from the beginning of the World to the end thereof he hath divided amongst us giving more unto some and sewer to others to himself he hath reserved but one day onely and the last of all yet such a day as wherein he will call us all to an account of all things that we have done in all our dayes At this day the Drunkard shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in drunkennesse At this day the idle person shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in idlenesse At this day the voluptuos liver shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in pleasure For this is the day which the Lord hath appointed for the examination of all our dayes The dayes which he hath given us are dayes of mercy wherein he offers grace unto all and invites them to repent this day is onely a day of judgement wherein he will execute his justice on those that are impenitent Therefore it is that the time of this life is called in the Scripture Esay 49.8 Dies salutis the day of salvation as Esay 49. I have heard thee saith God in the time accepted in the day of salvation have I succoured thee Which the Apostle expounds 2 Cor. 6. 2 Cor. 6.2 of the time of this life while grace is offered Behold saith he now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation But the day of judgement is called in the Scripture dies irae the day of wrath Zeph. 1.15 Zeph. 1.15 That day saith the Prophet is a day of wrath And Revel 6. The great day of the wrath of the Lord is come And therefore God who for the time of this lise is called by the Apostle the father of mercies yet after this life when he shall judge the World Psal 49.1.2 he is called by the Prophet David a God of revenge For be that is so mercifull to all in this life that he makes the Sun to shine and the rain to fall both on the good and the bad yet after this life at the day of judgement he will rain snares on the wicked fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be their portion for ever to drink Psal 11.6 We see then the reason why it is called the day of the Lord because in that day he will call us all to an account of all our dayes that such as in their days have done their own will might therefore in his day suffor his will because they would not imbrace his mercy while he offered them grace in stead of mercy they might feel his justice His power had a day when he created the World all things therein and by speaking the word made them all of nothing His mercy had a day when he redeemed the world by giving his only Son to suffer death for man that had so highly offended him And his justice shall likewise have a day when he shall judge the World at which day he will appear so terrible to the wicked Revel 6.16 that when they see him they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them and to the rocks to hide them from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vaine because as they in