A DISCOVRSE OF ETERNITIE Collected and Composed for the Common good Being necessary for all seasons but especially for this time of calamitie and destruction The sinners in Zion are afraid a fear is come upon the Hypocrites who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwel with the everlasting burnings Esay 33.4 He that beleeveth in the Son hath everlasting life and he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Ioh. 3.36 Printed at London by George Miller for Christopher Meredith at the signe of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard 1646. To the Christian Reader IF any man would know the Patron of this discourse let him understand that it belongs to Every body For there is not a man under heaven be he King or Subject Noble or Ignoble Barbarian Scythian Bond or Free but lives unavoidably under the law of Death and within the Pale of Eternity Now as all men are equally inrolled into this book of Eternity so must they of consequence be equally interessed in this discourse Therefore I commend these short Meditations of a long Eternity for the favour of protection as in right they appertain to Every body But will every one countenance them with a friendly welcom Certainly such entertainment may rather be wisht then hoped for This Eternitie whereof I treat findes for the most part but slender countenance and cold respect amongst the sons of men For where is the man of so setled and well composed temper that can fix and terminate his thoughts upon that everlasting state which abides him in the life to come That can orderly frame readily dispose his heart to search into it and his tongue to discourse of it and his will to affect it I doubt not but flashes of Eternitie and transient thoughts thereof doe often swim in the brain and straggle about the heart of a sensuall worldling but there they lodge not they take not up their rest The covetous man soon strangles them in his money bagges the drunkard drowns them in his fulcups the Epicure swallows them with his daintie and superfluous fare every man in his way strives to keep that from his heart here which he cannot possibly deliver his soul from hereafter his endlesse Eternity Thus are we unhappily ingenious to deceive our selves wittie to invent new waies to put off the melancholy consideration of the evil day We plod daily onward towards our long home but we think not of any reckonings till we come to our journeyes end we fear not the pit till we be irrecoverably plunged into it we never know the true worth of time nor price to the desert our golden hours untill they be everlastingly lost and gone and then alas those precious dayes which we have prodigally expended in the lusts of our flesh and vanity of our eye we shall infinitely desire to redeem were it possible even with tears of blood Oh then whosoever thou art examine with due care the state of thy soul if thy lust be thy life and thy sensuality thy joy then gull not thy soul with hope of pardon Imagine not to finde two heavens one upon earth another above it assure thy self though thou make with the Eagle thy nest on high and seat thy habitation as it were in the clouds yet thy highnesse will not free thee from the stroak of death nor deliver thy soul from the nethermost hell Now if there be any man so unmercifull to his soul that notwithstanding all that is or shall be said will desperately on in his cursed way I say no more but this He that is filthy let him be filthy still The smart of this Eternity they that will not beleeve shall feel The Contents of the first Book CHAP. 1. Containing an Introduction to the ensuing discourse 2. Containing a discription of Eternity with a brief declaration of the nature and condition of it 3. Expressing how all men doe naturally beleeve this Eternity 4. Explaining how nature hath represented and shadowed out Eternity to us in some of the Creatures 5. Containing a short digression touching the Eternity of the damned 6. Wherein the question is answered Wherefore a finite sinne is recompensed with an infinite punishment Wherein also is further shewed that the Severity of Gods Justice therein doth no way diminish the greatnesse of his Mercy The Contents of the second Book CHAP. 1. Containing an Exhortation to Holinesse grounded upon the consideration of Eternity 2. Shewing that there is no other way nor possible means to attain to the true Eternity but by a confident affiance upon the Mercy of God in Christ 3. Certain conclusions drawn from the serious and devout consideration of Eternity 4. Directions for the better ordering of our lives in the way to a happy Eternity By the word procure p. 76. l. 22. I reâ—ate to a reward of grace not of debt THE FIRST CHAPTER Containing an Introduction to the ensuing Discourse Fecisti nos ad te domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te Aug. lib. 1. Conf. cap. 1. THere is nothing can fully satisfie the minde of Man but that which is above man all the treasures and riches under Heaven cannot make up a proportionable object for the soul For that which must terminate the desires of so excellent and divine a nature must bee of a correspondent and like condition with it that is infinite and immortall Now no sublunary blessings extend thus farre All worldly happinesse and earthly delights have their changes and have their death They are short in their continuance and uncomfortable in their end For they leave us when we leave the world and they nothing availe us in the day of triall when our bodies shall descend into the slimie valley and our souls returne to God that gave them then all the choicest comforts of this life glide away from us as the stream and the sunne of our joy will set for ever Our beautie wherein we have so much prided our selves shall turne into rottennes our mirth into wormewood our glory into dust Now if this be the condition if such the state of our best pleasing contentations here below how undiscreetly improvident of our soules welfare should we be to bound ouâ— affections on the things of this world what a madnesse beyond admiration were it in us to trifle out our time to waste and weare out our most precious daies in the vanities under the funne as if God had placed us here on earth like the Leviathan in the Sea to take our pastime in it to ingulfe our soules into the sensuall pleasures of this life as if we had neither hope nor expectation of a life to come what an intolerable stupiditie were it for the short fruition of a momentary content here to plunge our selves for everlastingnes into a sea as it were of fire and brimstone where we shall see no â—ankes and feele no bottome Me
God crown us here with the blessings of his left hand the comforts of this life and length of years yea though all things favour our longer continuance in this world yet in the end time and age will ruine us We shall bring our years to an end like a tale that is told and shall vanish away like a shadow Though we live many years and in them all we rejoice yet in the end we shall remember the daies of darknesse saith Solomon and the time shall come that the eye which saw us shall see us no more * Soles occidere redire possunt nobis cum occidet semel brevis lux nox est perpetuò una dormienda Cat. The sunne sets and riseth again but we alas when our glasse is runne and the short gleam of our summers day is spent shall never return till our last summons when the dead shall hear the voice of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live and come forth of their graves they that have done good to the resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation both to Eternity and then shall follow that large day that shall never shut in that infinite continuation of time that shall never end that unlimited Eternity which ever hath been and is and will be the same for ever when the Sunne shall no more yeeld her light by day nor the Moon her brightnesse by night but God shall be our light and the Lord our glory But oh the unhappy condition of our age who is there that ponders these things with a digested meditation that looks into the state of his soul with a serious eye and considereth his wayes That endeavours to lay a good foundation for the time to come we stand at the door of Eternity and while we live we are every day entring into it it s but a stroak of death and we are gon even in a moment and whither from our short and fading delights to an endlesse easelesse gulfe where our worme shall never die nor our fire shall never out Now let all those who swim in the streams of their voluptuousnesse putting far from them the evil day who labour to expell from their hearts and to stifle in the bud the sad consideration of their approaching infelicities let them I say know that they may fall into this vast gulf of Eternity when they least suspect it into which when once they have unhappily plunged themselves they may desire redemption but shall not finde it * Postquam istinc excessum fuerit nullus poenitentiae locus nullus satisfactionis effectus Cyp It shall be one of their torments to know they shall never be out of torment All the gold of Ophir cannot purchase them one minute of relief from their unexpressible miseries But now even now is the jubile now is the accepted time now is the promulgation of pardon there remains nothing for our parts but to sue it forth we need not many hundred of years or number of dayes to redeem our mispent time and to wash out our contracted pollutions no one day will through Gods gracious favour and loving indulgence procure more mercy here then Eternity of time can obtain hereafter one sigh from a true sorrowfull heart here shall prevail to discharge more debts then infinite ages shall acquit or satisfie for hereafter Here God with patience expects our repentance but if we abuse his forbearance and come not in hereafter with trembling we shall abide his judgement Let us therefore be wise in time remember our Creatour in the dayes of our youth before the evil daies come and the years approach wherein we shall say we have no pleasure in them before our dust returne into the wombe from whence it came and our lungs be locked up into the breathles earth before that black and gloomy day the day of death and dissolution appeare to us the which if our timely repentance here prevent not our doom will seal up our souls to eternall darknesse Let us consider that wheresoever we are whatsoever we goe about Immanifestuâ— omnia autem manifestans per omnia apparet in omâ—ibus we stand every minute of our time in the glorious presence of an * incomprehensible majestie whose bright and most piercing eye is ten thousand times clearer then the Sunne who knows all hearts sees all actions understands all counsells views all persons there 's not a word in the tongue not a thought in the heart not a spark of lust in the flesh though never so softly blown and secretly kindled but he beholds it altogether he is all ear to hear all hand to punish and when and where he please all power to protect and all grace to pardon he that findes not his mercy shall feel his fury and who amongst us can dwell with devouring fire who amongst us can dwell with everlasting burnings CHAP. III. Expressing how all men doe naturally beleeve this Eternity VVIthin these hundred years many nations have been discovered and many are discovered still which were unfound in former ages Amongst them some have been found to live without law without King but yet none without some knowledge of God and of some everlasting being in the world to come What moved the Brackmans in India and the Magies amongst the Persians to begin and end their undertakings with prayers to God What moved Publius Scipio never to enter into the Senate house before he had ascended the Capitol avowing that principle as constantly in his practice as he did in his knowledge A Jove principium What made Caligula which threatned the aire if it rained on his game-plaies yet to runne under his bed and wrapp his cap about his head at a clap of thunder What moved Attillius Regulus who had no other teacher then a naturall illumination to preferre the obligation of his oath before the safety of his life and rather then he would break his ingaged word and promise to the Carthaginians expose himself to all the torments that the cruelty and malice of his enemies could inflict upon him What moved the Saguntines a people of Arragon to that undaunted resolution of theirs who having plighted their faith and loyalty by solemn oath to the Romans chose rather to entomb themselves voluntarily in a fire which they made in their Market place then to break their faith to the said Romans which they had so solemnly swore and sacredly avowed under their protection what I say could move these meer naturalists to such a fear of an oath to such a trembling at Gods judgements to such austerity and care and censorious circumspection in all their waies and actions but that they naturally apprehended what they truly and distinctly understood not viz. Some immortall happinesse and everlasting being and this they conceived was beyond the mountaines or above them or in some other world they knew not where according as their severall fancies led
shut up and when it was too late namely when he was thrown to hell then began he to look upward and about him So many now adaies they goe on in a pleasing and easie way And * In via nemo errat sed in fine viae via pluribus placet sed displicet terret viae tâ—rminus they are never sensible that they are out of the way till they arrive at the end of their journey All the misery lies in the close of the day For out of the pit is no redemption when once the soul is split upon this rock it gives to the world his everlasting farewell according to that of Job cap. 7.9 as the cloud vanisheth and goeth away so he that goes down to the grave shall come up no more he shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more VII It is recorded of Lazarus that after his resurrection from the dead he was never seen to laught The stream of his affections were now turned into another chanell his thoughts were fixt in heaven though his body was on earth and therefore * Aeternis inhianti in fastidio sunt omnia transitoria Bern. he could not but slight temporall things when his heart was bent towards eternall Oh that we could work our hearts and souls to a vehement thirst after Christ the true eternity For if Christ be our end our joy shall be endlesse nullo fine regnabis cum Christo si Christus tibi finis VIII The minde of man is so much the more sensible of the evil present by how much lesse it meditates on the good to come For he that looks towards the reward will vilify the sufferings Saint Austin runs on sweetly in his meditations upon this subject Eternall labour saith he is but an equall compensation for an eternall rest But if thou shouldest endure this eternall labour thou couldst never arrive at that eternall rest Therefore hath the mercy of God ordained thy sorrows to be temporall that thy joys may be eternall and yet saith he * Ubi est cogitatio Dei nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes Dei Aug. who is there that thinks on God as he ought Such thoughts are irksome to us But for temporall vanities we think of them with delight and enjoy them with contentment Now saith he look in and about thy self Noli gaudere ut piscis qui in sua exultat esca nondum enim traxit hamum piscator Aug. see where thou art God hath his hook in thy nostrills and can pluck thee up when he pleaseth and though he suffer thee according to thy calculation a long time yet what is the longest time of man to eternity Yea though thou shouldest lengthen out thy dayes to many hundred of years yet still thou art transitory and exposed to the common condition of all men Then fix thy heart on God and so enjoying that eternity thou shalt make thy self eternall and be not discouraged for thy tribulations and daily disquietings in this world for such is gods love such his abundant kindnes towards his elect that he * Ideo Deus terrenis faeli citatibus amaritudinem miscet ut alia quaeratur faelicitas cujus dulcedo non est fallax corrects them to the end they might not be condemned with the world hereafter Be not therefore I say cast down with any crosses whatsoever that may befall thee in this life for the things that are present are temporall but the things to come are eternall When we see the friends of this world the eager embracers of the comforts of this life upon every summons of death strive to deferre what they cannot utterly avoid their corporall dissolutions oh how great care what indefatigable diligence what restlesse endeavours should we use that we might live for ever Let us again and again meditate on these things and with due care foresee eternity before we unexpectedly fall into it Certain it is * Omnia transeunt fola restat non transibit aeternitas all things passe away in this life only eternity hath no period let us redeem the time and work while we have the day for if we neglect good duties here we shall never regain the like opportunity hereafter This life saith Nazianzen is as it were our fairday or market-day let us now buy what we want while the faire lasts while we have time let us doe good unto all men * Tu dormis sed tempus tuum non dormit sed ambulat imo volat Bene illis qui sic vivunt sicut vixisse se volunt cum motiendum erit faciantque eaquae in aeternitate constituti fecisse se gaudebuÌ„â— Amb. Happy is the man that so lives here that the remembrance of his well-spent life may yeeld him joy hereafter For otherwise levis hic neglectus aeternum fit dispendium i.e. A small neglect in the ordering of our time in this world will be seconded with an eternall losse in the world to come IX Death is the ending of our dayes not of our life For when our day shall close and our time shall be no more then shall our death conduct us to a life which will last for all Eternity For we dye not here to dye but to live for ever Therefore the best guide of our life is the consideration of our death and he alone leads a life answerable to his Christian profession who daily expects to leave it Me thinks ' its strange men should be so industriously carefull to avoid their death and so carelesly improvident of the life to come when as nothing makes death bad but that estate which follows it but the reason is we are spiritually blinde and see not nor know in this our day the things that belong to our peace We have naturally neither sight nor feeling of the joyes to come But when God shall enlighten the darknesse of our mindes and reveal his sonne in us vvhen once the day dawneth and that day-starre ariseth in our hearts ô then our death will be our joy and the rejoycing of our hearts then shall we infinitely desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Let us therefore with unwearied endeavours labour to bring Christ home to our hearts and to keep him there Let us dye to our selves and to our lusts here that so in the world to come we may everlastingly live unto Christ and in him Some directions for the better ordering of our lives in the way to a happy eternity SInne and grace are both eternall both reach to eternity and so doe all the actions that proceed from either Hence it follows that a gracious life is the beaten path-way to a glorious eternity Therefore to the end thy Being hereafter may be as happy as it must be long take in these directions In all thy dealings amongst the sonnes of men be that thou seemest amuse not the world with flourishes labour not to be
* Coelum venale est nec multum exaestues propter pretij magnitudine 〈◊〉 te ipsum da habebis illud Aug. let sorrows oppresse my minde Bone Jesu qui par cendo sae prus nos à te abijcis feriendo effice ut ad te redeamus Ger. med let pains consume my flesh let watchings dry me or heat scorch me or cold freeze and contract me let all these and what can come more happen unto me to I may enjoy my Saviour For how excellent shall the glory of the just be how great their joy when every face shall shine as the sun when our Saviour shall martiall the Saints in their distinct orders and shall render to every one according to his works O were thy affections rightly setled on these heavenly mansions how abject and underneath thee wouldest thou esteem those things which before thou setst an high price upon As he which ascends an high mountain when he cometh to the top thereof findes the middle steps low and beneath him which seemed to be high to him while he stood in the bottom so he which sends his thoughts to heaven however he esteemed of the vanishing pleasures of the world when his heart lay groveling on the earth below now in this his transcendency he sees them under him and vilisies them all in regard of heavenly treasures Let us therefore chearfully follow that advice of a reverend Father * Quod aliquando per necessitatem amittenduÌ„ est pro aeterna remuneratione sponte est distribuendum Let us here willingly part with that for heaven which we must first or last necessarily leave upon earth and let all the strength of our studies and the very height of our endeavours be dispended for the attainment of Eternitie For certaine it is howsoever we live here like secure people of a secure age and however we waste out the strength and flower of our dayes as if we should never account for it yet our judgement is most sure and shall not be avoided The sentence of the Judge will be one day most assuredly published and shall not be revoked We must all appear saith Saint Paul before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Then shall our wickednesse be brought to light which now lies hid in darknes I saw the dead saith Saint Iohn Revel 20.12 both great and small stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged of those things which were written in the books according to their works and whosoever was not found witten in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire Thus it is evident every man shall give up his account every soul shall first or last come to his reckoning Multorum vocatio paucorum electio omnium retributio Many are called few chosen but all rewarded according to their deeds Oh then let us prepare our selves to meet our God let us come before him with fear and tremble at his judgements Fear not him saith our Saviour who when he hath killed the body can do no more but fear him who can cast both soul and body to hell I say him fear Oh hovv many of the Saints of God trembled and quaked when they have meditated upon the last judgement Hierom saith as oft as I think of that day how doth my whole body quake and my heart vvithin me tremble Cyril saith I am afraid of hell because the worme there dies not and the fire never goeth out I horribly tremble saith Bernard at the teeth * A dentibus bestiae infernalis contremisâ— quis dabit oculis meis fontem lachrymarum ut prç eniam fletibus fletuÌ„ stridorem dentium of that infernall beast Who will give to mine eyes saith he a fountain of tears that by my weeping here I may prevent vveping and gnashing of teeth hereafter And have the Saints of God thus shrunk at the thoughts of hell hovv should then the loyns of the vvicked quake and tremble Come novv thou prophane vvretch of a prophane age vvho at every vvord almost that drops from thy irreligious mouth speakest damnation to thy soul bealching out ever and anon these or the like execrable speeches Would I were damned if I knew this or that God damne me body and soul if I doe it not Alas alas seemeth it a light thing in thine eyes to play with flames to sport thy self with everlasting burnings Tell mee dost thou know or diddest thou ever cast it in thy thoughts what a condition it is to be damned Hear a little and tremble Thou shalt there to thy greater horrour and amazement see much joy but never feel it for thou shalt see Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdome of God thou thy self thrust out Luke 6.13.28 As touching thy company Though here on earth thou wouldest not perchance be hired to lodge one night in a house haunted with spirits yet there thou must inhabite with unclean divels for evermore Matth. 25.41 And to conclude in this thy cursed estate thy heart and tongue shall be full of cursings and blasphemies Thou shalt blaspheme the God of heaven for thy pains and sores thou shalt curse those that were the means to bring thee thither curse the time that ever thou lost so many goldeÌ„ opportunities of getting grace that thou hast heard so many sermons and no whit bettered by them Curse thy self that slightest so many wholsom reproofs which might have happily been improved to the saving of thy soul Say now desperate fearles sinner canst thou be content in the apprehension of these miseries to curse thy self again to the nethermost of hell or on the contrary dost thou now begin to be ashamed and confounded in thy self and is thy conscience affrighted with the ugly face of thy sins and of those bitter torments that abide them Know then thou hast to deal with a God who when thou art truly moved for thy sins an mourn for thy sufferings Jer. 31.20 Thou hast to deal with a God who will meet thee when thou approachest to him if thou worke righteousnes and remember him in his way Isa 64.5 Thou hast to deal with a God who doth account it his strange work to punish Isa 28.21 And he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men Lam. 3.33 Yea thou hast to deal with a God who hath graciously proclaimed to the whole world that he delights to shew mercy yea with his whole heart and with his whole soul Jer. 32.41 Oh then be wise now for thy soul in time and think it a mercy that thou art yet on this side hell And whatever thou judgest thy self worthy to be condemned for at that terrible barre condemn thy self for it before hand that the Lord may say I will not judge this man because he hath judged himself already And be assured where mans conversion begins there Gods displeasure makes its period Excellent is that advice of Saint Gregory weigh saith he and consider the errours of thy life while thy time serves Tremble at that strict judgement to come while thou hast health lest thou hear that bitter sentence Goe ye cursed goe forth against thee when it is too late Did man know what time he should leave the world carnall wisdom would prompt him to proportion his time some to pleasure and some to repentance But he that hath promised pardon to the penitent hath not assured the sinner of an houres life Culpam tuâ—m duÌ„ vacat peÌ„sa districtioneÌ„ su uâ— judicij duÌ„ vâ—les exhorresce ne tunc amaram sententianâ—â—â—udias cum nul lis fletibâ— evadas Since therefore we can neither prevent nor foresee death let us alwaies expect it and provide for it Let us dye to our sinnes here that we may live to Christ hereafter and let us suffer with Christ in this world that we may rejoyce and raign with him in the world to come When we depart this life we goe to an eternity to an eternity I say which shall never end never never me thinks this word never hath a mountanious weight in it to an eternity which maketh every good action infinitely better and every evill action infinitely worse Oh the unhappines everlasting woe of those men who preferre the small and trifling things of this life before the eternall weight of glory hereafter who to enjoy the short comfort of a miserable life here are content to lose the presence of God and society of Angels for ever hereafter FINIS
our severall places and callings indeavour the extirpation of Heresy Scisme and whatsoever should be found contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of Godlines Yet notwithstanding this deep ingagement on our souls How many fearfull errors what unheard of fancies do uncontrollably abound in every corner of the land Doth not every man act what seems good in his own eyes Is not every wanton we impunitively suffered to make an idoll of his own way and to draw Disciples after him Me thinks its worthy our most serious thoughts how sadly how compassionately the reformed Churches do resent our home distractions See what the Walachrian Churches have writ to our Reverend Assembly of Divines upon this occasion Judicent conscientientiae vestrae quomodo omnium Heresium genus inultum permitti multiplicia schismatum sem ina impunè spargi prophana errorum dogmata passim in vulgus proferri possint in illa civitate quae tam expresso sancto severo juramento sese coram Deo devinxit ad omnes errores heresesschismata de domo Dei ejicienda * Let your own consciences judge say they hâ—â— Heresies of all kindes can passe unpunished manifold seeds of Schisme be spread without controll and prophane Doctrines of errors be commonly vented in publike in that City which by so expresse so sacred so severe an Oath hath bound it self in the presence of God to cast out all Heresies Errors Schismes out of the house of God Hence ye may observe how loud a peal our Church divisions ring thorow out the world Our friends pity us our foes deride us and neuters stand amazed at our doings and certainly God is not pleased with our wayes For God is the God of order and not of confusion the God of peace not of division In vain it is to expect any happy or peacefull dayes or that we shall see a well grounded settlement in Church and state so long as turbulent spirits have so much line and latitude to their fancies And surely it is now high time it is high time for us all in our severall places since we stand every day hovering between time and eternity to minde our sacred vowes and to lay our solemn Covenants closely to our hearts and ask our consciences how faithfully we have performed them especially in the particular wherein we now insist Errors in opinion are of as dangerous consequence as errors in practice and therefore happy would it be for the kingdome if they that move in the highest Sphears would all come in as with one shoulder and make it the chiefest businesse of their souls that the Lord may be one and his name one through the Kingdome Now if you tell me I here digresse from the point in hand I readily grant it for these distracted times have amazed me and obstructed me in my way But now I return You see the dismall fruits of sinne what destruction it hath wrought in all the earth what havock in our State what confusion in the Church what rentings of affections in the hearts of men Oh that we did seriously consider of and soundly digest the meditation of these things For had we but hearts to understand and eyes to see the deformity of our sinnes and did unpartially compare the stain and pollution of them with the purenesse of Gods nature and the brightnes of his Majesty how should we be confounded in our souls with the sight of our own filthinesse How ready should we be rather to admire Gods patience then question his severity How should we tremble at his glorious Majesty and dread his power and justly fear what we have worthily deserved his everlasting judgement but if now on the other side we advisedly look into Gods gracious proceedings towards us and his loving indulgence in restraining his incensed displeasure notwithstanding our infinite provocations and in shewing us a way to escape his fury I know not whether we shall finde greater cause to vindicate his justice or admire his mercy For true it is as saith Saint Augustine Deus adeo bonus est ut malum nunquam sincret nisi adeo potens suiflet ut ex malo bonum eliceret Aug. So good is our God that he would never have suffer'd us to fal had not his power been such that he could extract matter out of our sinfulnes to advance his own glory Oh how unsearchable how bottomlesse how surpassing the apprehension of men and Angels is the love of God towards us whither can we goe which way can we cast our eyes where we shall not behold the admirable foot-steps of his mercy If we look upward his mercy reacheth unto the Heavens saith David If downward they that goe down into the deep see the wonders of God saith the same Prophet and his mercies in the great waters If round about us those that put their trust in the Lord mercy embraceth them on every side And hence it is that the Apostle Saint Paul to the Ephesians so diversly amplifies the love of God in severall places of that Epistle by sundry appellations or epithetes as his love his great love his abundant love his love passing knowledge again the riches of his glory the riches of his grace the riches of his mercy God who is mercifull saith the Apostle who is rich in mercy through his love his great love even when we were dead by sinnes hath quickned us together in Christ Ephes 2.4 The Apostle also in the same Epistle and first chapter expresseth the Lord great in his power abundant in his wisdom but rich exceeding rich in his mercy And why rich in mercy only Is not the Lord rich in Angels rich in the Saints rich in the Heavens Hath he not created the Clouds founded the Seas wisely composed the whole frame of nature And is he yet rich only in mercy True it is the earth is the Lords and the fulnesse thereof all that we have all that we are is his but his mercy hath an excellency in it above all his creatures yea If I may so speak obove all his attributes above his Justice Mercy saith the Apostle rejoyceth against condemnation Above his power Jacob wrestled with God and overcame him above his greatnes for such was the unexpressible condiscention of the Almighty that although he were high and excellent and inhabited eternity yet did he humble himself to behold things done in Heaven earth for there is nothing doth more illustrate Gods omnipotency then his mercy It was no marvail that God should make the Heavens because he is power it self or that he should frame the earth because he is strength it self or that he should govern the times because he is wisdom it self or that he should give breath to all creatures because he is life it self But herein chiefly is God to be magnified that he who is infinitely just should yet be mercifull to sinners yea to sinners while they wallow in their blood while they rest in sinnes while they
say truly that we ever spared a dish from our bellies or one houre from our sleep or one fashion from our backs for his sake and doe we thus requite our Redeemer Was Christ all in gore blood for our sinnes and shall we swim in pleasure Did Christ indure such contradictions of sinners and cannot we put up a slight disgrace * Deus tuus parvus factus est tu te magnificas exina nivit se magests tu vermiculus intumescis Was Christ stretched on the Crosse and shall we stretch our selves on beds of down Did Christ such down vineger for us and shall we surfet with plenty Was Christ crowned with thorns and shall we crown our selves with Rose buds O let it shame us to bear so dainty a body under so dolefull a head And think we with our selves surely sinne against God must needs be more then men commonly esteem it for which no way of expiation could be made but by the bitter passion of Christ Oh then let us not think any thing to dear for him who thought nothing to dear for us We have an inestimable price a glorious inheritance set before us let us carefully embrace all those means that may further our progresse as the hearing of the Word receaving of the Sacrament earnest and constant prayer to Almighty God Let us strive as we ought presse forward with all violence The woman in the Gospell which was so long visited with her bloudy issue it was her holy * Victa est ad violentiam quia violenta ad victoriam violence and pressing our Saviour that procured health for her body and pardon for her soul Let this be our endeavour let us never think our selves farre enough in the way to Heaven but prepare our hearts still and lay hold on every advantage that may further us in our journey Behold now is the acceptable time now is the day of Salvation whilst you have time then doe good unto all whilst you have the light walk as children of the light Judge thy self here that thou be not judged of the Lord hereafter Let not thy eyes slumber nor thy temples take any rest till thoâ— hast found our an habitation in thine heart for the mighty God of Jacob. Remember him as David did in thy bed and think upon him when thou art waking God said of the Church of Thyatira I gave her time to repent of her fornication and she repented not O let us not give our good God the like occasion to second the same complaint against us Behold God now graciously calls us and offers us his mercy He stands at the door and knocks Hear his sweet acclamation Open unto me my sister my love my dove my undefiled for my head is full of dew and my locks with the drops of the night Song of Solomon chap. 5. What a strange humiliation is here for the king of kings to wait to have mercy Let us arise and open speedily to our beloved to day while it is called to day let us heare his voice let us not put off our time as Felix did St Paul goe for this present time and when I have a convenient leasure I will heare thee as if the time present were not the fittest Let us not stifle the checks of our consciences or say as Festus to Agrippa to morrow thou shalt heare him * Non quaerit Deus dilationem in voce corvina sed confessionem in gemitu columbino All procrastinations in this case are dangerous Let us therefore take hold of salvation whilst occasion serves us If we shut out our welbeloved he will be gon Therefore let our hearts even melt within us whilst he speaks to us in his word If we answer not when he calls us then shall we call and he will not answer The Stork and the Crane and the Swallow in the aire know their seasons and observe their appointed times how much more should man especially since times and moments how long we shall enjoy them are not in our own power but in the power of God The Angel in the Revelation swore by him that liveth for ever that time should be no more The time past can never be recalled let us therefore take the present time For the time past was and is not the time present is but shall not be and of the future we can promise to our selves no fruition But alas such is our blindnesse such an obduration is grown over our hearts that we understand these things but feel them not we have them swimming in our mindes but embrace them not in our affections The best of us may take up that complaint of Saint Augustine Teneo in memoria scribo in charta sed non habeo in vita Aug. * who averred of himself that his desires were better theÌ„ his practice Our vows are in Heaven but our hearts on earth our desires are towards our home but our endeavours flagge in the way and we faint in our journey we have Heavenly hopes but earthly affections we all covet after happinesse but we would take no pains for it we would enjoy Christ in his benefits but we refuse to partake with him in his sufferings volumus assequi Christum sed non sequi we would share willingly with our Saviour in his Crown but not in his combat nay oftentimes we instance God for such graces as we are loath to obtain like Saint Augustine who prayed for continency with a proviso Lord give me continency but not yet nay such is our intolerable sinfulnesse and pollution of heart that at the same instant when our hands are lift up to God for the pardon of old sinnes our heads are working in the contriving of new as Salvian hath it dum verbis praeterita mala plangimus sensu futura meditamur Thus we draw nigh to God with our lips when our hearts are farre from him our affections are buried in the things of this life Excellent is that saying of Isidorus * Regnum hoc â—empiternum ex omni parte beatum est omnibus promissuÌ„ tamen de illo altum inter nos silentium quotus quisque enim est qui de hoc commemorat hoc uxori hoc liberis toti hoc familiae inculcat Isid â—oelum negligimus terram non retinemus Dei favorem non acquirimus mundi perdimus The Kingdome of Heaven saith he is eternall blessed every way and promised to all men but who is there almost that spends one moment in the serious meditation of it What man is there that ever talks to his wife to his children to his family of such a Kingdome We can riot in the praises of our native soile but we blush to speak of and are ashamed to commend our true countrey our everlasting home In our dealings about the things of this life our understandings are ready enough to apprehend them and our hearts to entertain them and our tongues to discourse
of them but in things that belong to the eternall salvation of our souls how deep is our silence how flow our speech how unskilfull our expressions Thus we forsake Heaven for these things which at last will forsake us and trifle out our time in things that will not profit us Hovv farre are men novv adaies from that sweet resolutioÌ„ of Saint Hierome Let others saith he live in their statues in their costly monuments I had rather have St Pauls Coat with his Heavenly graces then the purple of Kings with their Kingdomes O that we would look thus lowly upon our selves we are Christians in profession O let us be such in practice seeing that God hath made us stewards of his treasures let us improve them to the benefit of our brethren Hath God given us abundance of his blessings Let us not hide our talents in a napkin let us send our good works before us into Heaven these slender gifts which thou doest cheerfully distribute in this world will procure thee an eternall compensation in the world to come That sweet speech of Saint John is worth observation blessed are those that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them When our dearest friends our sweetest pleasures our most glorious titles of honour the world it self yea even our life it self shall glide away like a river and turn to dust then shall our good works follow us non transeunt opera nostra saith one sicut transire videntur sed velut aeternitatis semina jaciuntur our good deeds die not with us but they are sowne in earth and spring in Heaven they are an inexhaustible fountain that shall never be dried up a durable spring that shall never fail They are acts of time short in their performance yet eternall in their recompence they build up for us through the mercies of our God an everlasting foundation for the time to come Loe then here we have set before us viam ad regnum the way to our eternity let us goe on herein without intermission presse forward with violence strive to attain the crown * Opulentia nimis multa est aeternitas sed nisi perseveranter quaesita nunquam inver itur Bâ—rnard Eternall joy is an abundant treasure an everlasting wealth but it is not given save to them that seek it yea that seek it with their whole hearts Certainly did we as truly know as we shall one day undoubtedly feel the bitter fruit that our luke-warm profession our grosse stupidity and utter neglect of our everlasting state will produce and procure us in the end all our thoughts and language all our affections and inclinations would be more eagerly imployed and more faithfully exercised in our preparations for that building given of God a house not made with hands but eternall in the Heavens Oh how senselesse are we how stupid in our selves Illud propter quod peccamus amittimus peccaâ—um ipsum retinemus and wickedly injurious to our own welfare who for a small gain a sading pleasure a fugitive honour wound our consciences and hazard our souls to stand as it were on the brink of hell The whole world promised for a reward cannot perswade us to endure one momentary torment in fire And yet in the accustomed course of our lives we dread not we quake not at everlasting burnings But ô thou delicious and dainty soul who cherishest thy self in the joy of thy heart and the delight of thine eyes whose belly is thy God and the world thy Paradise O bethink thy self betimes before that gloomy day that day of clouds and thick darknesse that day of desolation and confusion approach when all the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and lament and all faces as the Prophet Joel speaks shall gather blacknesse because the time of their judgement is come Alas with what a dolefull heart and weeping eye and drooping countenance and trembling loyns wilt thou at the last and great Assize look upon Christ Jesus when he shall most gloriously appear with innumerable Angels in flaming fire to render vengeance on them that know him not What a cold damp will seize upon thy soul when thou shalt behold him whom thou hast all thy life long neglected in his ordinance despised in his members rejected in his love when thou shalt see the judgement seat the †books opened Fiet apertio librorum scilicet conscientiarum quibus merita demerita univâ—rsorum sibi ipsis caeteris innotescent thy sinnes discovered yea all the secret counsells of thy heart after a wonderfull manner manifested and laid open to the eye of the whole world What horrour and perplexity of spirit will possesse thee to view and behold but the ry solemnities and circumstances which accompany this Judgement vvhen thou shalt see the Heavens burn the Elements melt the earth tremble the sea roar the sun turne into darknesse and the moon into blood And novv vvhat shall be thy refuge vvhere shall be thy succour shalt thou raign because thou cloathest thy self in Cedar shalt thou be safe because vvith the Eagle thou hast set thy neast on high O no it is not now the greatnesse of thy state nor the abundance of thy wealth nor the priviledge of thy place nor the eminency of thy worth or wit or learning that caÌ„ avail thee ought either to avoid thy doom or prorogue thy judgement All states and conditions of men are alike when they appear at this barre There the Prince must lay down his crown and the Pear his robes and the Judge his purple and the Captain his banner All must promiscuously attend to give in their accounts and to receive according to that they have done whether it be good or whether it be evil Here on earth great men and glorious in the eye of the world so long as they can hold their habitations in the earth have both countenance to defend and power to protect them from the injuries of the times but when the dismall face of that terrible day shall shew it self then shall they finde no eye to pity nor arm to help nor palace to defend nor rocks to shelter nor mountains to cover them from the presence of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb Give me the most insolent spirit the most undaunted soul that now breaths under the cope of Heaven who now fears not any created nature no not God himself yet when he shall heare that terrible sound Arise ye dead and come to judgement how will his heart even melt and his bowels quiver within him when he shall have his severe judge above him and hell beneath him and his worm within him and fire round about him O then whosoever thou art die unto thy sins and unto thy pleasures here that thou mayest live to God hereafter * Sic tibi cave ut caveas teipsum goe out of thy self judge and condemn thine own
Make no long tarrying to turn to the Lord and put not off from day to day For suddainly shall the wrath of the Lord break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed and thou shalt perish in time of vengeance But alas farre otherwise it is with us in our practice * Magna pars vitae elabitur male agentibus maxima nihil agētibus tota aliud agentibus A great portion of our time is crumbled away in doing ill a greater part in doing nothing and our whole life in doing that which we should not or in matters as we say upon the by And as Archimedes was secure and busy about drawing lines on the ground when Syracuse was taken so is it with us Now that our eternall safety lyes at stake we lye puzling in our dust I mean in our worldly negotiations But for our eternity shortly approaching we seldom or rarely think of it We are like Martha trouble about many things when one thing is necessary But this one thing is that which of all other things is least regarded and in the last place We seldom seek heaven till death doth summon us to leave the earth we have many evasions to gull our own hearts many excuses to procrastinate our repentance like Dionysius the Sicilian king who to excuse himself for the present delivery of the golden garment which he took from his god Apollo answered that such a robe as that was could not be at any season of the year usefull to his god it would not keep him warm in the winter and it was too heavy for the summer So many there be saith S. Ambrose who play with God and with their own soul You must not say they seek for the vigour and life of Religion in the hearts of young men For youth as the proverb is must have his swinge neither can you expect it in the company of the aged for their age and those distempers which accompany it make them a burden to themselves and dulls the edge of their intentions unto all their serious undertakings Thus both the summer and the winter of our age are unfit for Gods service But let us not thus cheat ourselves If God be God let us follow him let us not put off the day of reconciliation and say in our hearts To morrow we will do it when yet we cannot tell vvhat shall be to morrovv for vvhat is our life It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Hence it was that Macedonius being invited a day before to a feast replyed to the messenger Why doth thy Master invite me for to morrow whereas for this many years I have not promised to my self one daies life Nemo mortem satis cavet nisi qui semper cavet No man dreads death as he ought but he that alwaies expects his summons and therefore we may truly judge such men wofully secure and wilfull contemners of the future good who can go to their beds and rest on their pillows in the apprehension of their known sins without a particular humiliation for them For how oft doth a sudden and unexpected death arrest men We see and know in our daily experience many lay themselves to sleep in health and safety yet are they found dead in the morning Thus suddenly are they rapt from their quiet repose to their irrecoverable judgement perchance from their feathers to flames of fire such is the frail condition of our brittle lives vvithin the small particle of an hour live and sicken and die yet so grosse is our blindnesse that from one day to another nay from one yeer to another we triflingly put off the reformation of our lives untill our last hour creepes on us unlookt for and dragges us to eternitie Saint Augustine striving with all his endeavours against the backwardnes and slownes of his own heart to turne to the Lord bitterly complained within himself Quamdiu quamdiu cras cras Quare non hâc horâ finis turpitudinis meae How long saith he ô how long shall I delude my soule with to morrows repentance Why should not this hour terminate my sinfulnesse We are every minute at the brink of death every hour that we passe thorow might prove for ought we know the evening of our whole life and the very close of our mortalitie Now if it should please God to take away our souls from us this night as suddenly falls out to some what would then become of us In what Eternitie should we be found Whether amongst the damned or the blessed Happie were it for us if we were but as carefull for the welfare of our souls as we are curious for the adorning of our bodies if our clothes or faces do contract any blot or soiling we presently endeavour to cleanse the same But though our souls lie inthralled in the pollutions of sin this alas we feel not it neither provokes us to shame nor moves us to sorrow Wherfore let us look into our hearts with a severer eye Let the shortnesse of our dayes stir us up to theamendment of our sinful lives and let the hour wherein we have sinned be the beginning of our reformation according to that of Saint Ambrose Agenda est paenitentia nō solum sollicirè verumetiam maturè Our repentance must be not onely sincere but timely also whilest we have the light let us walk as children of the light Let us not any longer cheat our souls in studying to invent evasions or pretences for our sins but rather lay open our sores and seek to the true Physician that can heal them All the creatures under the sun do naturally intend their own preservation and desire that happinesse which is agreeable to their nature onely man is negligent and impiously carelesse of his own welfare We see the Hart when he is striken and wounded looks speedily for a certain herb well known unto him by a kinde of naturall instinct when he hath found it applies it to the wound The swallow when her young ones are blinde knowes how to procure them their sight by the use of her Celandine But we alas are wounded yet seek for no remedy we go customarily to our beds to our tables to our good company but who is he that observes his constant course of praier of repentance of hearty and sincere humiliation for his sins We go forward still in our old way and jogge on in the same rode Though our judgement hasten hell threaten death stand ar the door yet we thrust onward still in dulcem declinanamus lumina somnum But alas miserable souls as we are can we embrace quiet rests and uninterrupted sleeps with such wounded consciences Can we be so secure being so near our ruine But you will say we have passed already many nights without danger no sicknesse in the night hath befalne us hitherto why then should any fear of death amaze or trouble us Admit