you are sealed by the spirit of Promise to the day of redemption Eph. 1. 13. Secondly in regard of possession they are now already in present possession not in full possession but in present possession A possession not in themselves but in Christ by vertue of the union and communion they have in him By the union and contract that is betweene Christ and the soule Christ is become the Husband the Christian the Spouse So that as a Wife if her Husband should travell into a farre Countrey and in her name should take possession of those lands that were left her by her Father the Wife now is possest of those lands in her Husband who in her name hath taken possession of them so Christ entring into heaven hath tooke possession of heaven which is given to us by the will of God It is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome Christ hath possessed it in our name I goe saith he to prepare a place for you and it is my will that they bee where I am I goe to my Father and your Father to my God and your God All that Christ hath in heaven Hee hath it for us Hee is gone before that wee may follow after wee cannot possibly lay claime to heaven wee cannot hope hereafter fully and personally to professe it if Christ had not first taken possession of heaven for us The Use of this in a word shall bee to stirre up every one to looketo his hope of heaven It is usuall for men to possesse their hope to be saved and scarse any but they will say they hope if they die they shall goe to heaven Yea but thou must now possesse it if ever hereafter thou meane to enjoy it and thou must possesse it first in Christ thou must be united to him by faith and love those are the bonds whereby the Spirit of God tyeth us unto Christ therefore Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith Which shewes the horrible presumption of many and how they adde to their other sinnes this that they presume that they have right and title to heaven and yet are not united to Christ by faith as if a man should give out that he were the heire apparant to a Crowne or the sonne of a King and yet neverthelesse should indeed be the sonne of a Beggar and have nothing to shew for his pretended title to the Crowne and kingdome what would this be accounted but high treason against the King What a height of sinne is this that is in many men which to their other sinnes adde a presumptuous claime to heaven when they have no right to it I Remember that in the time of Ezra we shall read of many that laid title and claime to the Priesthood but Ezra searched the booke of the Genealogies and finding none of their names Registred there he presently concluded that they were none of the Priesthood therefore they were accounted polluted and put from the Priesthood If any man lay claime to heaven God will search his booke of Genealogies as it were he will search the Register of heaven and if he find that his name be not inrolled there if hee be not found to have interestin Jesus Christ all will be nothing he shall bee cast out to his greater confusion This should therefore stirre up euery one to make good his claime to heaven now either now to bee possest of heaven now to sit in heavenly places with Christ or else looke not to come to heaven afterward But to leave this and to come to that I mainly intend namely the Argument or reason or ground of the Apostles heavenly conversation Our conversation is in heaven from whence wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. The Apostle observeth here a kind of speech and that which seemes not so Grammaticall that he may thereupon build a sound and substantiall truth in Divinitie He had said before Our conversation is in the heavens in the Plurall number but now when hee speakes of Christs comming thence he speakes of it in the Singular number Our conversation is in the heavens from whence from which particular place Wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. Of purpose to shew us thus much that though Christ in respect of his Deitie and divine nature he be in all places filling heaven and earth yet in respect of his bodily presence hee remaineth now and so will till his second comming which the Saints looke for in heaven Against those Vbiquitaries that will have the body of Christ to be every where In Heaven say they visible in this place invisible The Papists hence build the Doctrine of Transubstantiation they will have the body of Christ even that very body that was borne of the Virgin to be now Bread and the bread turned into it The Lutherans will have the same Body about the bread No saith the Apostle there is no such matter from thence from that very place that very individuall particular single place from the third heavens where the body of Christ is Wee looke for the Saviour hee remaineth there and so will continue till his comming to Judgement So againe in another place Collos. 3. 1. Set your affections on things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Above that is in heaven where Christ sitteth and continueth and will remaine till his second comming Our Saviour told his Disciples in the dayes of his flesh that the poore they should have alwayes with them but me saith he you shall not have alwayes If this be true that they say then Christ hath not said true for hee is still in respect of his bodily presence and hath beene alwayes with us But I let passe that The thing I note hence is this That that which most soundly and effectually settleth the heart of a man in a heavenly conversation upon earth is the looking for the Saviour of the world even the Lord Iesus Christ to come from thence I say there is nothing that so settleth the heart of a man in a heavenly conversation upon earth nothing that makes him so heavenly minded nothing that ordereth him in so heavenly a course as this if hee rightly looke for Christ to come from thence That you may conceive this the better you may please to take notice that there are two things included in this point First that all the Saints of God while they are on earth their continuall expectation is for Christ to come from heaven Secondly that nothing is so effectuall to settle a man in a holy course while he liveth on earth as this expectation These two things I will open to you at this time The first I say is that the Saints and servants of God while they are on earth doe continually expect and looke for the Saviour of the world even the Lord Iesus Christ to come from heaven By the comming of Christ you
flesh of the fashions of the world of the wisedome that is from below and earth-creeping Are Christians guided by these rules have they not the God of heaven and earth the Lawes of the Spirit and the wisedome that is from above and customes that are from heaven whereby to regulate them Who are the men of this world are they not those who have the God of this world to raigne in their hearts who are led captive by him whose under standings are darkened their wills obfirmated their hearts hardened their consciences seared their conversation defiled with all uncleannesses their senses open breaches for sinne to enter their tongues blaspheming the name of God and are these conversations fit for the Saints and are they not strangers Are not they strangers that are not capable of honours of possessions in the place wherein they live as being not free Denizens of the place and is not this proper to Christians whose dutie it is to vilifie riches and honours and pleasures in themselves asmuch as they that have these doe others that have them not to account riches the greatest povertie and pleasures the greatest torment and honours the greatest ignominie and power the greatest weaknesse not to possesse the world not to enjoy it not to account any thing good that maketh not the owner better not to admit any thing from the world but so farre as it may advance the true Nobilitie of man the puritie of the Image of God his restitution to his ancient descent his re-estating him in the possession of heaven and the societie of Angels and Archangels to rise up in Armes against this materiall world and to rend himselfe from this faeculent matter and out of the greatnesse of his Spirit and noblenesse of his disposition to be altogether ambitious of the presence of God and of these constant and unchangeable good things This is the dutie of Christians and are not they Strangers Are not they strangers that have double Impost and double customes and the greatest taxations layd upon them is not this peculiar unto the Saints in this life have they not afflictions layd upon them in the greatest measure must they not through many afflictions enter into the kingdome of heaven Have they not teares and that in abundance for their meat and for their drinke Have they not enemies from within and enemies from without Must they not bee conformable to their head Christ their elder brother as he had his double portion this life of afflictions and punishments so must they have as he was sanctified by afflictions so must they also The gold is not pure unlesse it bee tryed nor the water sweet if it have not a current nor the vessell bright unlesse it be scoured nor the Saints fit for heaven unlesse they be prepared by afflictions what man was there that ever set himselfe seriously either to reforme himselfe or others that found not great opposition from himselfe and from others and are not these strangers Are not they strangers that are ad placitum Principis to stay in the Land or to be gone according as hee shall manifest his royall pleasure by his Proclamation and are not we here in the world upon these termes how soone all of us or any of us shall bee dismissed who knowes who dares promise to himselfe the late evening or secure himselfe of the least atome or moment of time hee that dreamed waking of long continuance had scarce libertie to dreame sleeping for that night they tooke away his soule and hee himselfe was branded to succeeding generations with the name of a foole and are not wee strangers Did not the Saints of God whose judgements were most refined those that had the honour to approach most neere unto God himselfe alwayes so repute themselves Doth not the holy Patriarch that wrestled with God and had principalitie over him Did nor hee acknowledge that few and evill were the dayes of his pilgrimage Did not he that was a man after Gods owne heart that had a speciall promise that his house should continue for ever Yet did not hee acknowledge that hee was a stranger as well as his fathers were is it not his earnest prayer unto God I am a stranger upon earth hide not thy Commandements from mee as if hee had said I am a Traveller upon earth I am speeding to Ierusalem which is above I am to passe through this darke calignous world thy Word is a light to my feet a lanthorne to my steps the rule the square the cannon of all rectitude hide not this light from mee lest I runne out of the way or linger in the way or stumble or fall in the way I am a stranger upon earth c. What should I instance in particulars are they not summed up to my hand by the Apostle Heb. 11. 13 All these Patriarkes Prophets Saints all of them did acknowledge themselves to bee strangers Examples have in them an universalitie of Doctrine and instruction especially the examples of the Saints because Praxis Sanctorum is Interpres praeceptorum the practice of the Saints is the best interpretation of the precept Examples have in them a directive force because those that are best disposed in mind and body are a rule for the rest Examples have an incentive force to give life spirits vigour transmining by a kind of Metem Psychosis the soule the spirits the resolutions the affections of the patterne to him that reades it extorting deepesighes and teares and groanes and other alterations at their pleasure And if any Examples have this force have not these much more Other examples have the restimonie of men these have the restimonie of God himselfe hee is not ashamed a wonderfull condiscention of the one and the supreame elevation of the other to bee called their God the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Iacob the Father of the faithfull and the God of the beleevers There are examples whereof men boast but God is ashamed of them corrupt examples of wicked the imperfect examples of heathen men of these God is ashamed but of these God is not ashamed and shall wee be ashamed of them Wee are then strangers Let mee instill into your eares the voyce of that was heard in the Temple before the ruine of it Migremus hinc Let us goe from hence Let mee say unto you with our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us goe from hence let us trusse up our fardles and on with our sandals and promote our way to heaven Let us depose and lay downe all burthens and impediments and make our selves expedite and fit for our journey wee are in an Inne let us looke about us and leave nothing behind but carry all with us or send it before us wee have but an instant of our abode here let us imploy it to the best advantage It is the greatest losse it is the most shamefull losse it is the most irrecoverable losse that may bee to lose this
saith the spirit Or because this asseveration concerning the condition of the Saints departed is propositia necessaria as the Schooles speake we will cloath the members of the division with tearmes apodicticall and in this verse observe 1. A conclusion sientificall whereof the parts are 1. The subject indefinite mortui the dead 2. The attribute absolute beati blessed 3. The cause propter quam the Lord or dying in the Lord. 2. The proofe demonstrative and that two-fold 1. A priori 1. By a heavenly oracle I heard a voyce c. 2. A divine testimonie So saith the spirit 2. A posteriori by arguments drawne 1. From their cessation from their worke They rest from their labours 2. Their remuneration for their workes Their workes follow them Where the matter is pretious a decision of the least quantitie is a great losse and therefore as the spie of nature observeth the Iewellers will not rubbe out a small clowde or specke in an orient Rubie because the lessening the substance will more disadvantage them then the fetching out of the spot advance them in the sale Neither will the Alcumists lose a drop of quintessence nor the Apothecaries a graine of Bezar nor an exact Commentatour upon holy Scriptures any syllables of a voyce from heaven the eccho whereof is more melodious to the soule then any consort of most tuneable voyces upon earth can be In which regard I hold it fit to relinquish my former divisions and insist upon each word of this verse as a Bee sitteth upon each particular flower that wee may not lose any drop of doctrine sweeter then the honey and the honey combe any leafe of the tree of life any dust of the gold of Ophir 1. I there were three men in holy Scriptures tearmed Iedidiah that is Beloved of God Solomon Daniel and Saint Iohn the Evangelist and to all these God made knowne the secrets of his Kingdome by speciall revelation and their prophecies are for the most part of a mysticall interpretation This Revelation was given to Iohn when hee was in the spirit upon the Lords day and if wee religiously observe the Lords day and then bee in the spirit as hee was giving our selves wholly to the contemplation of Divine mysteries wee shall also heare voyces from heaven in our soules and consciences Heard with what eares could Saint Iohn heare this voyce sith hee was in a spirituall rapture which usually shutteth up all the doores of the senses I answer that as spirits have tongues to speake withall whereof wee reade 1 Cor. 13. 1. Though I speake with the tongues of men and Angels so they have eares to heare one another that is a spirituall facultie answerable to our bodily sense of hearing The Apostle sayth of himselfe that hee was in the spirit and as he was in the spirit so he saw in the spirit and heard inthe spirit and spake in the spirit and moved in the spirit and did all those things which are recorded in this Booke When Saint Paul was wrapd up into the third Heaven and heard there words that cannot be uttered and saw things which cannot bee represented with the eye hee truely and really apprehended those objects yet not with carnall but spirituall sences where with Saint Iohn heard this voice A voyce from Heaven The Pythagoreans taught that the Calestiall spheares by the regular motions produced harmonious sounds and the Psalmist teacheth us that the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke and that there is no speech nor language where there voyce is not heard but that was the voyce of Heaven it selfe demonstrately proving and after a sort proclaiming the Majestie of the Creatour But this is vox de coelo a voyce from Heaven pronounced by God himselfe or formed by an Angell so Gasper Melo expresly teacheth us Saint Iohn heard a voyce not sounding outwardly but inwardly framed by that Angell who revealed unto him the whole Apocalypse Saint Iohn here heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Write and Sain Austin heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Read Tolle lege and most requesite it is that where Heaven speakes the earth should heare and where God writes that man should reade There never yet came any voice from Heaven which it did not much import and concerne the earth to heare The first voice that came from Heaven was heard on Mount Sinai and it was to confirme the Law to bee of divine authoritie and establish our faith in God the Creatour A second voice from Heaven we heare â—…o in Saint Peter on the holy Mount when the Apostles were there with Christ and it was to confirme the Gospell and to establish our faith in Christ the Redeemer A third voice or sound was heard from Heaven in the upper roome where Christs Apostles were assembled in the day of Pentecost and it was to confirme out faith in the holy Ghost the Comforter A fourth voice that came from Heaven was heard by Saint Peter in a vision and it was to confirme our faith in the Catholike Church and the Communion of Saints and the incorporating both Iewes and Gentileâ—… in one mysticall bodie Lastly a voice was heard from Heaven by Saint Iohn in this place to establish our faith in the last Article of the Creed concerning the happinesse of the dead and the glorious estate of the Tryumphant Church and the life of the World to come If wee desire to bee informed concerning the affaires of the Abissens or those of China Sumatra or Iapan wee conferre with those that are of the same Countrey or have travelled into those parts and for the like reason if wee desire to bee instructed concerning the state and condition of the Citizens of the Heavenly Ierusalem their infinite number their excellent order their singular priviledges their everlasting joyes their feasts their robes their palmes their thrones their crownes wee must enquire of them who either are inhabitants there or have brought us newes from thence nothing but a voice from Heaven can enforce our assent to these heavenly mysteries Now as all words of Kings are of great authoritie but especially their Edicts and Proclamations so all voices from Heaven are highly to bee regarded and religiously obeyed but especially Decrees and Statutes which are commanded by the authoritie of the high Court of Heaven to bee written for perpetuitie such as this is in my Text I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write with a Pen of Diamond in letters never to bee obliterated write it so that it may bee read of men in all succeeding Ages even to the last man that shall stand upon the earth Here I cannot sufficiently admire the boldnesse of Cardinall Bellarmine who to disparage the necessitie of holy Scripture and cry up unwritten traditions which are the best evidence hee can produce for his new Trent Creed blusheth not to publish it to the World in
Inhabitants of the world This I say is that that affecteth the heart exceedingly that they must lose all their friends specially when husband and wife must part parents and children must part and familiar and deare acquaintance must part this causeth the feare of death because the heart is too much set upon the creature So likewise worldly businesse when a man loveth much employment much businesse he cannot abide to thinke of death Why so because all worke all enterprises cease in the grave as Iob saith A man hath neither the workes of his hands nor the enterprises of his head in the grave all actions cease both of the mind and bodie there So when a mans heart is set upon pleasures below there is neither love nor hatred in the grave saith Solomou That is those things that affected the heart that men love they cease there all his pleasures and comforts are gone So if a man love honour and applause amongst men it ceaseth in the grave all honour there is laid in the dust contempt is cast upon Princes this is that that affecteth men exceedingly that they shall lose their honours and pleasures and acquaintance and businesse and all when they come to the grave and that because mens hearts are set too much upon these things That is the second reason There is a third thing which is a sinfull cause of this feare of Death and that is the want of Assurance There be two things that a man not being assured of makes him feare Death and these may be in the children of God and as they are more in any one so the feare of death is more in them The first is when they are not assured of reconciliation with God that God is at peace with them pleased with them in Christ. The want of this assurance makes death fearefull for now they looke upon Death as a Sergeant as a Jaylour either it is a Sergeant to take them off their present comforts or as a Jaylour to hold them under those bonds and fetters that they would faine escape Now when a man looks upon Death either way it is terrible As a Sergeant so the rich man in the Gospell This night they shall fetch thy soule from thee they shall come to thee as a Sergeant to a Debtour to require a debt they shall require thy soule of thee Now we all know that a man that is in debt and either hath it not to pay or is unwilling to part with that he hath such a man cannot indure the sight of a Sergeant above all men because he commeth to fetch that from him that he would not part with Or if he looke upon Death as a Jaylour so Christ saith Agree with thy adversarie quickly lest hee deliver thee to the Iudge and hee give thee to the Iaylour and then he holdeth thee in prison from whence thou shalt not goe out till thou have paid the uttermost farthing Now when a man looks on Death as a Jaylour that holdeth all in the grave till the great Judge of heaven and earth calleth for them at the generall day of Assizes that great day of appearance when all the world shall be gathered together and every prison shall giue up their prisoners The sea and the grave shall give up their dead I say when a man standeth thus as unreconciled to God or at least as one that doth not apprehend this reconciliation is not perswaded of this that God is reconciled to him it is no marvell if Death be terrible to him Therefore in the sixth of the Revelation The Kings and Captaines and the great and mighty men they cryed to the mountaines to fall upon them and to hide them from the presence of the Lambe because the great day of wrath was come and who could stand So we see in 33. Isa. 14. there is crying out concerning the comming of God the sinners in Sion the hypocrites are afraid what is their feare who shall dwell with everlasting burnings and who shall remaine with consuming fire when they shall see nothing but terrourand wrath in God fire and consumption when they see nothing but such terrible things then feare cōmeth upon them Now marke hypocrites stand altogether unreconciled and therefore it is no marvell if they be afraid and the Saints of God so farre as they are defective in the assurance of Gods love so farre they conceive themselves in the state of Hypocrites and therefore they are so full of feares Againe a second thing that they stand unresolved of is concerning the future estates of their soules and bodies after death they are not sure of this that there is a better condition afterwards this is that great question Whether goe wee I goe now out of the bodie and whither then I goe out of the world and whither then I am going out of the company of men and whither then shall I goe to Angels and Saints or to divels shall I goe to Heaven or to Hell shall I have a beeing or not in miserie or in happinesse They know not what shall become of them they are unresolved of this point of their owne state to come whether they shall be in happinesse or horrour after death and therefore Death is terrible You have the point opened I will answer an objection or two and then come to the use It may be objected It seemeth the servants of God are not kept under the feare of death all those that are in the state of grace have faith faith that spendeth these feares and therefore since they are in the state of beleevers how can they be held under the feare of death To this I answer briefly there is faith in all the children of God that are effectually called but wee must know that Faith is considerable two wayes first as it is in conflict and secondly as it is out of conflict Now the Faith of Gods servants in conflict so sometime it is in conflict with feare and sadnesse of spirit Why art thou cast downe oh my soule why art thou disquieted within me c. Sometime it is in conflict with reason and sense thus the people of Israel when they came into the Wildernesse they looked for nothing but dying and destruction of nature for sense presented it to them therefore saith Moses which is the voyce of Faith Stand still and see the salvation of God c. Now in this conflict the successe is doubtfull sometime as it was betweene Amalek and Israel fighting together Amalek prevailed Israel had the worst sometime Israel preuailed and Amalek had the worst so sometime Faith prevaileth against sense and those fears that arise from sense and somtime again carnal fears and Sense prevaileth against Faith now accordingly are those effects in the hearts of Gods children But secondly sometime Faith is out of conflict it now triumpheth in assurance it is come now to full assurance of Faith as it
what world with the world of ungodly men God hath borne with the world many Ages of yeares many thousand yeares already and yet beareth still with the world The most holy God that perfectly hateth wickednesse yet to shew his Patience he beareth with ungodly ones Yea and he beareth with men too the mighty God that is able to destroy all the world with the very breath of his mouth that as with a word hee made the world so with a blast he is able to bring it to nothing yet this mighty God beareth with men this holy God with ungodly men yea and this God that might suddenly destroy the earth as hee did the old World with water he beareth so many thousand yeares with the world of ungodly men that his Patience and long-suffering may appeare You have God for an example then And Christ for an example too and you are predestinated for this very end to be like the Image of the Sonne to be made conformable unto Christ Wherein In all imitable and necessary graces I say in all those graces that are necessary by vertue of a rule and that are imitable wherein we may or can follow him Amongst the rest this is one his Patience See the Patience of Christ. In his carriage toward his Father how he bore the displeasure of his Father In his carriage toward men when hee might have commanded fire from heaven yet you see how hee bore with them and rebuked his Disciples You know not of what spirit you are Hee was lead as a Lambe dumbe before the shearers and hee opened not his mouth Againe you have the examples of the servants of God Take my brethren saith Saint Iames the Prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an ensample of suffering affliction and of Patience The Prophets suffered long and endured the frownes of the world and the rage of Princes they endured a thousand miseries and all to discharge their duty But amongst all the servants of God You have heard of the Patience of Iob and what end the Lord made with him Every man can speake of the patience of Iob but this was written for our ensample to teach us to be patient as hee was Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learnings that wee through Patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Againe secondly as it is necessary for a Christian to strive for the perfection of Patience in the degrees of it because of the conformitie that should be betweene him and those examples of God of Christ and of the Saints betweene God the Father and beleevers his children betweene Christ the head and beleevers his members betweene the Saints of God children of the same Father and servants of the same Master that should honour him in the same grace of Patience So there is a necessitie likewise of it in respect of the tryals whereunto a Christian may be put you had need to strive that you may be perfect in Patience because you know not what tryals yee shall be put to what times yee are reserved to Every man must expect troubles and afflictions they are called Tribulations and you know what Tribulum was the Iron ball that was full of pikes round about so that wheresoever it was cast it did sticke an Engine used in warre Tribulations are unavoydable they will fall and sticke yee cannot escape them on any side by any turning to the right hand or to the left It is the will of God that through many tribulations wee should enter into the kingdome of heaven and whosoever will live Godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution Now beloved is this so that this is a Statute in heaven decreed and ordained by God and will not be reversed like the lawes of the Medes and Persians that every man must passe to heaven through tribulation and affliction upon earth then it concernes every one to be armed to get such a measure of patience as may support him in such afflictions Yee know not what afflictions yee may have what particular tryals God may put yee to In what a miserable case then is a man if he be to seeke of his armour when he is in the middest of the pikes if he be then to get patience when he is in the middest of tryals when he is disturbed and distracted with vexation of spirit What foolish disorderly speeches proceed from men in the time of affliction We may see it in David so foolish was I and ignorant and in this point a beast before thee What foolish sensuall beastly speeches unreasonable absurd passages proceed from men in those times of trouble if they have not got to themselves before hand this grace and are not fitted to a Christian caraiage in time by patience Thus yee see the necessitie of patience to the perfection of a Christian and the necessitie of the perfection of patience to the ornament of a Christian. Now we come to make use of both these together First it serveth for the just reproofe of Christians that are carefull for other parts and acts of religion and are not so seriously mindfull of this duty of Patience as they should be but are so farre from striving for patience that they seeme rather to strive for impatience that make their crosses more heavy and their afflictions more bitter then they would be Indeed we make Gods Cuppe that of it selfe is grievous enough to nature and to sense by putting into it our owne ingredients that are inbred in our owne passions and pride and selfe-will and our owne earthly mindes farre more bitter then else it would be But how doth a man make afflictions worse There are divers wayes that men take wherein they are so farre from perfecting patience in themselves that they wholly destroy patience The first is by their agravating of their afflictions by all the severall circumstances that possibly they can invent All their eloquence is used in expressing the grievousnesse of that crosse and affliction that is upon them They that in the times of mercy could scarse ever drop a word in thankfulnesse and acknowledgement of Gods goodnesse to them now they can poure out flouds of sentences in expression of Gods bitter and heavie dealing with them in such afflictions and crosses and distresses that befall them As the Church speakes in the Lamentations Consider all that passe by is there any Affliction like my affliction wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me The like speech you have ordinarily in the mouthes of persons Is there any affliction like mine there is no body so wronged in their name as I nor hath such paine in their body nor never went with such a heavy heart as I never any man suffered so many injuries by friends and enemies and all sorts of people as I have done as if all the afflictions in the world the flouds and waves of tryals were
stand together they die and not die because their death is but a translation but a removing There are two persons two men in every penitent and godly man there is somewhat of a righteous man and somewhat of a sinner somewhat of the flesh and somewhat of the spirit so according to these two both lawes are kept the Law of commination that is kept thou shalt die the death there is the reward of sinne the law of promise that is kept thou shalt live for ever there is the reward of righteousnesse Mortalitie giveth the reward to sinne immortalitie to pietie Though they die they are but taken away The word implies these two things First it implies that their death is but a temporarie death Taking away is not a finall translation it doth not implie a nullitie Death though it cut the knot of nature yet not of grace It is true there is the sharpe Axe of Death there is no knot so Gordian but it will cut it asunder It is a great knot that was first knit betweene the body and the soule it cutteth that asunder It is a sure knot which is the Conjugal knot between man and wife it cutteth that asunder There is a naturall bond and union betweene Parents and children it cuts that asunder There is a civill union betweene friend and friend it cuts that knot asunder it takes one friend from another But there is the misticall union betweene the head and the members betweene Christ and the Church it cannot cut that knot asunder But looke as Christs body in the Grave it was not deprived of the Hypostaticall union so likewise the body of a Saint when it lies in the grave in corruption it is mellowing for immortalitie and eternitie yea then it enjoyeth the benefit of the misticall Union there is somewhat of a member of Christ that lies in the grave that dust that the body of a Saint is resolved into it is holy Dust because that misticall Union is not cut asunder Death cutteth not that knot It perfecteth the misticall Union in respect of the soule and it is but an interruption of the manifestation of the union in respect of the body it is never severed As the Husbandman hath some corne in his ground and some in his Barne the Corne in his ground is of no lesse value and account then that in his house and Barne Nay it is of more for that that is in his Barne shall not multiply so many bushels he putteth up and so many hee receiveth but that which is in the ground multiples therefore it is in as great account So it is with God There are many bodies of the Saints walking on the earth and those that are laid in the grave that are sowen as the Apostle saith for immortalitie The bodies of the Saints in the grave are of no lesse account with God then those which walke up and downe in the world and glorifie him with workes of pietie why the body is sowne to immortalitie there is still somewhat of Christ. That is the first thing it implies They are taken away it argues that their death is temporary Secondly it sheweth it is deliberate that their death is not sudden For there is a difference betweene these two to be snatched away and to be taken away Impenitent men when they are taken away in judgement they are snatched away in displeasure The godly man God takes him away removes him it is as gentle a word as could be used there cannot be a better word to expresse it in our translation then for God to take him away Iob and Moses expressed it so and so Isaiah here to shew that Death is never sudden to the mercifull and righteous man why because he is alwaies prepared It may bee sudden in respect of others but not to himselfe The stroke of Death may be the same to a righteous man as to an impenitent man they may both fall by the prevalencie of the same disease the same duration of sicknesse the same warning given them the same sympathy but there is a difference in regard of the suddennesse If it be a sudden stroke that overtakes an impenitent man then it is two wayes sudden even a premeditated death is sudden to him because he is not prepared sudden death commeth not to a prepared man because he lookes for it it may as I said be sudden to others but it is not to himselfe why because he expects Death he dieth daily hee dieth in his thoughts before hee dies in act he dies in meditation before he dies in passion I die daily saith the Apostle Death when it came to the Apostle it found him dying it could not come suddenly to him Death findes him setting open the dores therefore though it seeme sudden death it cannot be sudden because he is taken away the stroke of Death may be sudden but the issue of death is not sudden the stroke may be sudden to his body but not to his mind because he fitteth himselfe still for it There is the deliberation implied in the word his death is not sudden in that he is prepared God awaketh his heart to make him looke for it therefore when Death commeth though sooner or later it doth but take him it snatcheth him not away that is the meaning of the second The third word is the extent of this act from the evill to come that is a word that is not specified in the former part it makes both this and that the more full it makes a greater demonstration of Gods goodnesse hee is not only mercifull in taking away but he takes away from that that is evill hee takes from a bad estate to a better An evill that is present that is simply so an Evill for the time to come God takes righteous and mercifull men from both That I may lay a fit path for my proceeding in it Saint Austin devideth the nature of Evill well to those two heads there is the Evill of doing and the evill of suffering that is the evill of sinne and of punishment The first of these the Evill of sinne is opposite saith Aquinas to the increated good The second the Evill of punishment is opposite to the created good God takes away mercifull men from both these First from the Evill of suffering Two wayes he is tooke from that Hee is tooke away from the Evill of suffering that hee shall not see it and that he shall not undergoe it and endure it First that he shall not see it that he shall not bee a spectatour that is one part of taking away For righteous and mercifull men have tender affections and yearning bowels when they see Gods judgements extended over any place or person they sympathize with them they weepe with those that weepe and mourne with those that mourne God takes them from this sorrow and mourning It hath alwayes beene accounted one part of the happinesse of a godly man to be taken from
there grow a Fig-tree or Ivy out of the house that it spread the root through the chinckes and partitions of the wall a man that cuts downe the Fig-tree shall not profit for it is so fast rooted in the wall and in the chinkes that either hee must pull downe the wall or else it will not die Therefore a wise man will pull down his house and root out the Fig-tree and then set up stones and and there erect the house beautifull and so both are preserved he hath his end in both both the house is rebuilt and the Ivy consumed and rooted out So it is in case of sinne there is the house we carry about us the building the temple of our body the house is man himselfe sinne is the fig-tree it is such a fig-tree as insinuateth it selfe betweene every chinke and partition in our nature there is somewhat corrupt in every facultie of the soule and it sheweth the fruit in every part of the body that is an instrument of sin it hath so wound it selfe in that the fig-tree cannot be destroyed cannot be pulled out except the house be dissolved there must be a pulling downe of the Temple therefore God in wisedome by Death he takes the temple the house in peeces and then the fig-tree may be pulled out and then he erects the wall of that house more glorious then before it was throwne downe while the fig-tree was in it while sinne was in it it is raised up without it that is that the Apostle saith Corruption shall put on incorruption and mortalitie shall put on immortalitie the body that is sowne a naturall body it shall bee raised a spirituall it is sowne in dishonour it shall be raised in glory God therefore takes them away from the evill of sinne hee dissolveth the body that hee may purifie it and cloath it with immortalitie that it may be a purer body then when it was first presented in nature at the first Creation We see hereby what those good things are that Death bringeth It bringeth immunitie from the evill of suffering God takes away mercifull men that they see not that they suffer not And it bringeth immunitie from sinne that they doe not see it that they doe not commit it The use is a Pillar of confidence not to bee afraid of Death who would feare that which makes for his perfection that is the meanes of his translation to happinesse And in respect of others not to mourne for them that are tooke away out of this world as those that are without hope they are not tooke away but translated they are removed for their advantage for the better Elijah was removed from earth to heaven in a firie chariot shall Elisha weepe because hee enjoyeth him not No he is tooke from earth to heaven Ioseph was sold into Aegypt but it was to be a Ruler God intended that it is the same reason God translates us out of the world to give us the end of our hope even the salvation of our soules Shall we mourne as men without hope God takes them out of a valley of teares shall we mourne unsatiably for those that are tooke out of the valley of teares let us not bring their memory to the valley of teares they are past it God takes them from evill to good to the best good the good of immortalitie and eternitie the good of the enjoying of God of that that eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard It is true that when we see any impenitent man die any man die in his sinnes there is just cause of mourning That was the course that David observed he lost two sonnes Absolom a wicked sonne he mourned for him he lost the child that was begotten in adulterie for the life of which he prayed he mourned not for the childes departure and Saint Ambrose giveth the reason well he had a good hope and assurance that the child was translated to a better estate he doubted of Absolom he died in his sinnes therefore he mourned for him for his death not for the childes So when we see any die in his sinnes there is cause then of teares and of excessive teares then David crieth Absolom oh my sonne my sonne But if there be good evidences of a Saint translated to glory shall we mourne as men without hope As Saint Ierom speakes to Paula mourning for her daughter Art thou angrie Paula because I have made thy child mine Hee bringeth in God speaking thus dost thou envie me my owne possession my owne creature It is true for the state of an impenitent man he hath his good things here and his evill to come after there is cause of mourning for that he is translated from good to ill his heaven is in this world his heaven is in his treasure in his riches in his chests and upon his table and as he enjoyed a heaven here so hee must not looke for it after there is a place of another condition his heaven is here his hell after But the penitent and contrite his ill is here and his good after his hell is in this world in suffering and in mortifying the flesh in wrestling with sinne in incountring with tentations here is his hell and his torments but after commeth his heaven and his blisse so he is translated from bad to good he is tooke away from the evill to come So here is the meaning of all I have shewed first the meaning of the three phrases The second thing I propound is this What the Prophet bemoaneth and makes lamentation for and these mercifull men for if they be tooke away from evill present and evill to come evill corporall and spirituall sufferings extraordinary plague and famine sufferings ordinary sicknesse and tentation if it be so that no sinne shall fall upon them to destruction no tentation fall on them to destroy them here much lesse afterward if they be tooke from all these evils how commeth the Prophet to make lamentation that mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come for hee speakes it mourningly It is one sufficient reason he mourneth over them because others did not But there are two reasons that are more speciall There is the losse of the godly man for the present when hee is taken away that is a thing to be lamented And the danger of the world in respect of the losse of a godly man First the losse of a godly man that is a great punishment that God sendeth on a place there is a great losse to those that survive The losse of their example they shine as lights there is a Taper a Candle taken away Yee rejoyced to walke in his light saith Christ to the Iewes concerning Iohn there was a light not only of Iohns Doctrine but of his example whereby those that heard him walked There is the light of grace set up in the life of the Saints of God they are as a Taper to guide us in
out came to passe And I have accordingly pitched uponit not only to satisfie her desire in a just thing but especially because I approve her choyce of a fit Text there being not in the whole Scripture a portion that will afford a fitter Character in my apprehension for her person as you shall understand in the close to which therefore I shall deferre the speaking to the present occasion The truth is I have handled a good part of this chapter formerly and in this place but now wee shall cleane goe another way then then I did and then I usually doe I shall only desire to present so much out of these words without any curious observation or division as may represent to us a perfect character of a sweet Christian-minded man or woman which may bee of singular use and very profitable There be onely two things that I shall observe in the whole words I shall but goe them over briefly taking out the maine points as I conceive for that purpose I shall mention them We have here propounded to to us the compleat dutie of a Christian And wee have here some effectuall motives intimated to stirre Christians up to the performance of that duty There is a generall dutie to begin with that first that belongeth to Christians at all times And there are some speciall duties which concerne Christians in some speciall times Both contained here The generrll dutie I shall not as I said handle it in my former way of observation but only explicate the very words of the Text and that will be enough for me The generall duty I say of a Christian and what should bee the temper of his heart and spirit at all times we may find expressed at least intimated very sweetly with some excellent directions in the Text in these three circumstances First we may see here what is the true Object upon which a Christian soule should be fixed Secondly we may see the Latitude of the Acts which a Christian must exercise upon that Object Thirdly we may take notice of the manner and of the degree in which every one of those Acts must bee exercised I shall but touch these briefly out of the words and then come to the speciall duties belonging to speciall times First to begin with the Object The desire of our soule is toward thee and to the remembrance of thy Name God and the name of God is that which should be printed in the heart of a Christian should be that to which the byas and streame of his whole soule runnes First I say it should be fixed upon God Wee are here in the world placed as it were betweene heaven and earth Now all the matter is how our Byas is set which way that turnes As the Byas is of the heart so the man is Our hearts may bee turned downwards to the earth and to earthly things and so wee shall runne a course of ruine and destruction our hearts againe the Byas of them may be set toward heaven and heavenly things and so we shall runne the right course that wee ought It is God that our soules should breath after Fecisti nos Domine propter te saith a Father thou hast made us O Lord for thy selfe and our soules are restlesse till they returne againe to thee As they say of Circles The Circle the round figure is the most perfect figure and the most capacious figure because there the line that beginneth in one point goeth round till it returne into the same againe So this is the greatest perfection of a man when he returneth to his beginning he had all from God and when he reflects himselfe altogether backe againe unto God hee attaineth his greatest perfection And indeed there will bee no more rest for the soule in any thing out of God then there is for a stone or a weighty body in the liquid ayre Hang a stone in the Ayre and doe but once remove the â—…orce that holds itthere will it nill it give but a way to it and it will cut through and never rest till it come to a sollid substance till it come to the earth if it may to the Center of the earth It is so with the soule of man trie it in all the fortunes and states and conditions in the world as a great Emperour said I have runne through all things and my spirit will rest in nothing and as Solomon giveth us this observation out of all his travell and experiment that he had made Vanity of vanity all is vanity and worse then vanity too vexation of spirit this is the summe of all feare God and keepe his commandenents as he concludeth This is the Object upon which our soule should bee set wee should have an eye to God labouring to approve our selves to him making our approaches and adresses and returnes to him that our soule may reâ—… with him that we may enjoy the light of his countenance here and the fulnesse and brightnesse of his glory hereafter This is the first thing in the Object Now if a soule be carryed toward this Object toward God and we can out-goe and out-grow these worldly things looke abovethem and looke downe upon them with scorne then the very name of God will be sweet and precious to us To thee and to thy name Every thing which is a memoriall a remembrance of God Every thing by which God may be knowne will be taken notice of All his Attributes his Word and Ordinances and all other things which come within the compasse of his Name as I suppose there are not many here but know according to the ordinary explication of Divines of the third commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine and the first Petition hallowed be thy name What is meant by the name of God When the heart I say is set upon God it will even leape for joy at the very name of God the very name of God will bee sweet to him To enjoy God is sweet and to have but a glimpse of him to have him but represented by name is sweet too As it is reported of a Father that was a godly man and a Martyr in his time that he was so frequent in roling the name of Christ the name of Jesus in his mouth that when hee died it is reported that in his heart there was ingraven and written the character of that Name in golden letters And as Saint Austin speakes of himselfe Time was saith he that I found infinite sweetnesse it was honey to mee to reade a peece of Tully there was so much eloquence in it but after I came to bee a Christian to be acquainted with God and with Christ then me thought the leaves were drie and the beauty withered I found no such sappe nor rellish in them And he giveth the reason Because saith he I did not there find the
shee cannot want eithera sweet memoriall of her vertues in the booke of God or a stately Monument in the Church and in your hearts too Happily some may scoffe and some may doubt as though this commendation flew too high or out of sight To whom I shall briefly answer both For the former It is reported of two great Tragedians learned and famous in their time Sophocles and Euripides Euripides presented upon the Scaene all naughty women and Sophocles presented all vertuous women and the ordinary observation of the wits of the times was as men are apt to bee vainly witted in these things they thought that Euripides that presented them bad presented women as they were and Sophocles that presented them good presented them as they should bee If I had nothing else to say to the scoffes of any but only this I suppose it would be sufficient I doe beleeve fully that I have presented her as she was but howsoever you can take no hurt if you doe but consider that it is spoken as what you should be I am sure and I know I have presented what you should be And for any that shall doubt yet that it may seeme too high I would desire them only to consider this I describe in the Text the very temper and character of one that is truly godly such as I conceive her to have beene and the truth is there is none that is truly godly but in some degree or measure must attaine and doe attaine to participate in a conformitie with this Character and therefore I have neither done you as I conceive any wrong and yet done her right too And to draw to an end She hath left this honour behind her that she lived beloved and died desired And who is there here almost that suffereth not a losse in her Her Husband hath lost a loving wife that honoured him highly Her children have lost a loving Mother that loved them tenderly that tendered them duly Her servants have lost a loving Mistris that governed them gently and was every way beneficiall to them Her Brothers and Sisters have lost a loving Sister that answered them in their loves sweetly Her Neighbours have lost a loving neigbour full of courtesie to the rich full of charitie to the poore And my selfe have lost I hope there is none here so weake to suspect that I blast the living to blazon the praise of the dead or that I doe robbe or strippe the living to cloath the dead with their spoyles but I thinke I may truly say I have lost as truly and cordially a loving friend as any shee hath left bebehind though I esteeme many her Peeres and I cannot complaine of any But to end all Her gaine in Christ countervaileth and sweetneth all our losses Shee was a disciple of Love shee loved her Lord and loved all his Saints and servants and therefore I doubt not that she was a beloved disciple and resteth in the bosome of her Love where not to disquiet her happinesse and detaine your patience any longer I shall leave her in that blessed place and commend you to the blessing of God FINIS THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTS COMMING OR A MOTIVE TO A GODLY CONVERSATION 2 THESSAL 4. 16. For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven c. 2 PET. 3. 14. Wherefore beloved seeing that yee looke for such things be diligent that yee may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTS COMMING OR A MOTIVE TO A HOLY CONVERSATION SERMON XVI PHIL. 3. 20 21. For our conversation is in heaven from whence wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe IN the seventh verse of this Chapter the blessed Apostle Saint Paul exhorteth the Philippians to bee followers together of him and to marke them which walke so as they had him for an ensample And that hee might the better direct them in the dutie the imitation of his ensample he sheweth that there is a great difference betweene others that pretended themselves to be the Apostles of Christ and indeed were not and himselfe Many saith he walke of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the crosse of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things These ensamples he would have them to avoide follow not such but be yee followers of us for our conversation is in heaven from whence we looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ c. and follow those which walke so as yee have us for an ensample This is the example he would have them imitate In the words you have these things considerable First What the conversation of these men was whom the Apostle would have the Philipians to follow Their conversation was a heavenly conversation Our conversation is in heaven Secondly the reason or incouragement that they had to this imitation to walke so heavenly while they were on earth because from thence we looke for a Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. Thirdly the benefit by that Saviour whom they looke for from heaven Hee shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body Fourthly the meanes by which this great worke shall bee effected According to the working whereby hee is able to subdue all things unto himselfe For the first to touch it only in a word there is from that these two Observations clearely arising First That there is a heavenly conversation of the Saints on earth Secondly That while they are on earth they are now stated in heaven Our conversation is in heaven Hee saith not only it shall bee in heaven though there it shall be perfected but it is now in heaven in regard of our present state and possession Concerning the first that the Saints on earth have a heavenly conversation You must know that the word here Politeuma translated conversation signifieth such a course of life and of traffique as is in Cities and Corporations where many are knit and united together in one common societie in one common freedome Our conversation is in heaven that is we have a kind of heavenly traffique a heavenly trade while we are upon earth There are divers things wherein there is an agreement between the cariages and conditions of men in Cities and Societies here on earth and this of the Saints of God that have their conversations in heaven I will only in briefe run them over this being not the thing that I purposely ayme at First in Cities and Corporations there is a Register wherein the names of the Freemen are inrolled So in heaven also there is a Register a certaine booke
of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoyce not saith our Saviour in this that the divels are subdued unto you but rejoyce that your names are written in heaven And all that are not found written in the booke of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20. 15. God in his secret counsell and purpose in his speciall providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written downe in a booke there is not one man that commeth to heaven but the Lord knowes him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certaine law whereby they are all governed in obedience to which they live So there is a law whereby all the Citizens of heaven all the houshold of God are governed that law which the Apostle Saint Iames calleth the royall law a law which commandeth the very spirits of men a law that disposeth the whole man to a heavenly frame and subjection to the will of God the great King of Heaven so that a man while he is here below by degrees is drawne off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and made sutable and conformable to the rule of righteousnesse Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and securitie to those that dwell there not onely as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some wakinâ—… while others sleepe to keepe the rest in safety So in this heavenly societie the Angels pitch their Tents about those that feare God nay the Lord himselfe is the Shepheard of Israel that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth while men oppose them God defends them while men are labouring and plotting and devising against them and they it may be are secure and feare no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his owne people Israel while they were in the plaines securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountaines how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountaines that sitteth on the highest Heavens hee ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though hee might have had all the wealth and honour of the Kingdome could not pronounce one curse against Israel because God had said to him that he should not curse Fourthly As in Cities and societies on earth men have communion and societie one with another the lesse have interest in the greater and the greater in the lesse and all have interest one in another the inferiours receive from the superiours protection and provision and the superiours receive from the inferiours subjection and submission So it is in this heavenly Corporation in this spirituall Hierusalem Ierusalem is a Citie at unitie in it selfe There is a communion and fellowship that the Saints have with God the Father with Christ with the Angels with the Saints in heaven and one with another on earth With God the Father they have an interest in him as subjects of his kingdome as servants and children of his family there is not the meanest subject in this kingdome but he may make his request knowne to this Prince there is not the least servant in this Family but he may make his complaint to this Master they may as children goe boldly to the throne of grace and make their request knowne unto him though it be but in sighes and groanes Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore hee will supply them If you that are earthly can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that aske him They have interest in Christ also he is their Intercessour therefore hence it is that he is said to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for us Hee is their Advocate if any man sinne wee have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ the righteous Hee is their Lord and Captaine the Captaine of the Lords Armie to defend his Church Michael the great Prince standeth up for the children of his people They have interest also in the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinitie they have not only the love of God the Father but the communion and fellowship of the Holy Ghost as the Apostle wisheth for the Corinthians Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is ready to helpe their infirmities to inable them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that hee sanctifieth them and therefore they are said to bee Borne againe of water and of the spirit that hee comforteth them therefore hee is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinitie in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinitie hath an interest in them also If I bee a Father where is my honour if I bee a Master where is my feare Because they acknowledge God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledge him to betheir Lord they feare him c. They have interest in the Angels also Hence it is that they are called Ministring spirits sent forth for the good of the Elect They were Christs messengers his Angels and now they are made Messengers Angels to the Saints therefore saith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heaven They have interest in them not as worshippers of Angels which the Apostle condemneth Coll. 2. as foreseeing to what a height Popish superstition would rise in this kind I say not to worship them to invocate them to pray to them we know no such will-worship which is without the rule Wee have an Angell comforting Hagar we have an Angell defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Iacob wee have an Angell carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But wee never had any Angell that stood in this place to have worship and adoration This indeed the Angels have from us imitation of their obedience we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven They have interest in the Saints also yea in those that are dead not as though they praied for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The soules under the Altar cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not avenge our bloud on those that dwell upon the earth All the Saints departed their soules crie to God to finish these dayes of sinne and hasten the comming of Christ. And besides this this further benefit wee have that we are all members
this is it that makes him industrious to avoide evill courses that this is it that makes him diligent in good actions that this is it that makes him constant and to persevere to the end in all holy wayes and in avoyding of all evill because he lookes for and waites for the comming of Christ. Now then take this for a maine tryall of your selves concerning the former point Whether can you with comfort looke for the comming of Christ or no There shall bee abundance at that day that shall hang downe their heads I saw saith Saint Iohn the Divine the Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe Captaines and the mighty men and every bond-man and every free-man men of all sorts hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountaines and said to the mountaines and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lambe for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall bee able to stand Would you therefore hold up your heads with comfort and with joy that when you heare a Funerall Sermon it might comfort you to thinke It will not be long before my time shall come before my time shall bee would you in truth have freedome from the feare of death which Christ hath purchased for hee tooke upon him the same nature because the children were partakers of flesh and blood that hee might free them who for feare of death were held in bondage all their life Would you have comfort in Christs comming to Judgement See how effectually this workes in you Is it thus effectuall that because you looke for Christs comming therefore you prepare your selves therefore you purge out your lusts and corruptions because there shall bee nothing then when the secrets of all hearts shall bee manifest that shall bee displeasing to him when hee shall come Are you carefull to let fall worldly affections because you have a comfortable apprehension of heavenly joyes Are you carefull to turne your course from sinne because you would not lye open to the judgement of condemnation Are you carefull to doe good to persevere in the practise of godlinesse because hee that shall come will come and will not tarry If it bee thus with you then you may with comfort thinke of that day then you may with cheerefulnesse looke upon the day of death the day of death then is better then the day in which thou wert borne It is better to thee then the day of thy mariage it is the day of that great Mariage that shall bee made betweene Christ and thy soule to all eternitie It is better then the day that thou obtainest thy freedome then the day that thou commest out of thy Apprentiship it is the day wherein thou ait set free and brought into the glorious liberty of the sonnes of God It is a day that is better then the day of the enjoyment of the greatest comforts of this life because it sets thee in the possession of pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore Take this consideration therefore to heart and that you may walke in a holy course the better and with more constancie keepe the object alwayes close to your eye Thinke with your selves and say If wee would walke as Saints in heaven wee must live as Saints on earth But how shall wee doe this Be often thinking of the comming of Christ often put this question to your soules What if Christ should now come If hee should come now I am in the Church am I hearing the Word with that affection that I ought to heare it with If hee should come now I am in my calling in my worldly businesse doe I follow it with a heavenly disposition as I ought to doe What if hee should come now while I am feasting should he take mee as one feasting with feare lest I should sinne against God in my mirth What if hee should come and take mee asleepe have I made my peace with God before I went to rest Worke these considerations upon thy soule When the morning commeth thinke it may be Christ will come and take mee away before evening how shall I walke this day that I may have comfort in the comming of Christ When the Evening is come thinke It may be I shall never see morning before the great day of the Resurrection what now shall I doe that if I die in my sleepe I may rest in the Lord and so may have comfort in his appearance Either this moment either this minute settle thy comfort and peace with Christ or it may bee the next houre it will be too late And remember that if ever you will live a holy life if ever you will have a heavenly conversation on earth you must be much and seriously settled in this meditation slight it not passe it not in your thoughts as a matter of discourse but let it bee a working meditation let it bee effectuall to produce somewhat in you that may warme and heat your hearts and to set on fire the whole soule and to purge out the drosse of corruption that remaines in you Thus you see what it is that the Apostle here undertakes for himselfe and for as many as walked as hee did they had a heavenly Conversation and that which made them have a heavenly conversation was the looking for the comming of Christ. This was the fruit of their looking for the comming of Christ it made them walke in a heavenly conversation on earth There is another fruit of this by their looking for Christ they shall find him to bee a Lord and Jesus Wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Which word sheweth that all that Christ did for the purchase of our redemption hee did it by price and by power Hee did it by price hee satisfied his Fathers Justice and so hee is a Saviour Wee waite saith the Apostle 1 Thes. 1. 10. for his Son from heaven whom hee raised from the dead even Iesus which delivered us from the wrath to come And by power too over Sathan so hee is a Lord the Lord of might Thou shalt find at the day of Christ that hee will both bee Saviour and Lord to thee A Saviour to free thee from sinne and condemnation A Lord to bestow upon thee heaven and glory with the Saints This is another benefit of our looking for Christs comming in the manner before spoken of wee shall find him then to be a Lord and Jesus one that will save us from our sinnes and one that hath power to bestow heaven upon us Wouldest thou then have this comfort at that day Let him bee so here to thee in this life let him be thy Lord and commander of all thy affections of the wholeman yeeld obedience now to his will and thou shalt find him a Jesus then Hee is not a Jesus a Saviour except
terrestriall the other so noble the one so ignoble the other so magnanimous the one so abject the other These Saints they did duly consider that our life it is but a Pilgrimage that this whole world is but a Diversorie or Inne to refresh us for a while that it is a warfare all things within us without us our enemies that this body is but a Tabernacle a Tent a Cottage an earthen vessell a Gourd the scabbard the prison of the soule more brittle then glasse decaying mouldering of itselfe though it bee preserved from eternall injuries of ayre or weather they saw the vanitie the vacuitie the emptinesse of the things of this life their affections were alienated estranged and divorced from the world they had by watchings fastings grovelings on the ground teares and groanes scoured off the drosse of their soules and made them polished statues of pietie they had made up their accounts betweene God and themselves and had sued out their pardon for their defects and failings and had that seated in their consciences they did penetrate the cloudes with the eye of faith and did see the immense good things layd up for them in heaven with which being ravished and impatient of cunctation and delay they desire to be vested in the possession of them though it were with the deposition of their house of clay which they did beare about them Of these things they had not a bare conjecture but a certaine knowledge For wee know ver 1. that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee dissolved wee have a building not made with hands eternall in the heavens from this full perswasion did arise this heavenly affection in this wee groane earnestly But alas how different is our disposition from this heavenly temper how pale how wanne is our countenance at the mention of Death at the least summons of our last accounts as vinegar to our teeth as smoake to our eyes as a sudden dampe to our lights as an horrid cracke of thunder in the middest of our jollities so is the mention of Death If any aske the reason of this it is too manifest Want of judgement what is the true good of the sonnes of men Want of apprehension of the happinesse of the Saints Want of faith in God of Union with Christ our soules never make any holy peregrination from the body and seate themselves with Angels and Archangels and trace the streetes of New Ierusalem wee anticipate not the joyes of the life to come by devout meditations and contemplations wee have not our conversation in heaven from whence wee looke for our Redeemer Our soule thirsteth not our flesh longeth not after the living God The reason of this is wee hang upon the teats of the world like babes and children we suck venome out of it to our soules wee walke upon our bellies as uncleane beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee jutte against God and offend him our accompts are not streight and even therefore wee are afraid at the appearance of our Saviour and of our citation to appeare before his Tribunall wee groane when wee heare of death wee groane not that we may dye this is our condition and are not these different one unto another Doth not this staine the verdure of our countenances and cover us with shame and confusion to observe so manifest a declination of the fervor of the Spirit That you desire this heavenly temper I doubt not I should offer violence to Charitie the Queene of Graces if I should thinke otherwise For this cause many of you are strict in the performance of holy duties agreeable and convenient to this sacred time That your devotions may attaine a happy end let mee lend you an helping hand whilst I discourse these words which even now sounded in your eares In this wee groane earnestly c. Which I will resolve into three propositions 1. That wee are strangers in this life without our house 2. That the Saints desire their true and proper house 3. The intention of their desire In this wee groane c. That wee are strangers doe not the sacred Oracles declare our conversatinn our politie is in heaven saith the Doctor of the Gentiles Our life it is hid up with Christ Col. 2. Wee are fellow Citizens with the Saints of the houshold of God Ephes. 2. Doth not the chiefe of the Apostles intreat us as Pilgrims and strangers to abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule and doe not these and the like demonstrate unto us that a Christian lives with men yet abovemen in earth yet in heaven bound yet free deteyned with us yet farre above us living a double life one manifest the other Hid with Christ one contemptible the other glorious one naturall the other spirituall that his Parentage is from heaven that his Treasure is in heaven that his heart is in heaven that his roote is fastened in the everlasting mountaines though his branches are here below that his dwelling is in heaven though his peregrination be here on earth and did not these Oracles tell us thus much yet are there not enforcing arguments to convince us of this Truth Are not they strangers that are out of their proper place and are not Christians while they are here out of their place Is this world made for Man an Arke of travell a Schole of vanitie a Laborinth of errour a Grove full of thornes a Meadow full of Scorpions a flourishing garden without fruit a fountaine of miserie a river of teares a feigned fable a detestable frenzie and is this the place of man What meanes the fabricke of our body lifted up to heaven our hands eyes head upward but to shew us as Chalcidius the heathen man observed that our Progenitors are from heaven that our place is in heaven Every place is adequate to the thing placed in it is this world adequate to man are not his desires infinitely extended beyond the same Every place hath a conseruing vertue in it Doth this world preserve man well may it minister a little food to this beast of ours which we carry about us but can it afford the least favorie morsell to the soule it were to be wished that it did not poyson contaminate and defile the soule so that the safest way for the soule is to flie from the world as from the face of a Serpent Is this world the place of man why doth our tender Mother the Church assoone as wee come into the world snatch us out of the world and as soone as wee breathe in the ayre bury us by Baptisme in the Grave of Christ and assoone as we move in this world consigne us with the signe of the Crosse to fight against the world and all the pompes of the same and are not wee strangers Are not they strangers that have different lawes and divers customes and another Prince to rule and command them You have heard of the Prince of the ayre and the Lawes of the
Thirdly he is condemned already in his owne conscience First in the counsell of God God hath made an eternall decree of Predestination whereby he hath elected some to salvation and predestinated them thereto and others to damnation In this Gods eternall decree the unbeleever is alreadie condemned nay before ever he came into the world as you have it in the example of Iacob and Esau Rom. 9. before ever they had done good or evill God hated the one and loved the other Secondly in the word of God hee is condemned Iohn 3. 18. Why because he hates the light and loves darknesse Thirdly in his owne conscience he is condemned for the continuall horrour thereof gives him no rest day nor night there is a worme continually gnawing there and a sting tormenting him but the full execution thereof is to be in the day of wrath when he shall be set at the left hand of Christ and heare the sentence Goe yee cursed into eternall fire prepared for the divell and his angells O what a terrible day will this be to all the wicked workers of iniquitie for Christ Jesus the Judge shall come then to give them their reward This shall be a blacke a sad a wofull dismall day to them they shall not be able to looke on the Judge he shall bee so terrible to them You see the terriblenesse of the Judge set downe by Saint Iohn Revel 20. 10 11. where it is said hee saw a great white throne and one sitting thereon from whose face fled heaven and earth and their place was no more found Heaven and earth are great and mightie creatures insensible creatures that have not sinned they flie and tremble and hide themselves at the comming of the great Judge and shall man silly sinfull man thinke to stand before the Judge without trembling Indeed if a man could present himselfe spotlesse without blame he needed not to feare but a las it is farre otherwise there is none that doth good and sinneth not saith Solomon The most righteous before men are stained and poluted in the sight of God and may crie with the Leper Uncleane uncleane what is man that hee should be pure or the sonne of man that hee should bee just with God The Angels of heaven are impure in his sight how much more filthy man that drinketh iniquitie as water Job 15. So in Psal. 14. 2. When God lookes downe from heaven upon the sonnes of men to see if there were any that would understand and seeke after God Will he find any that frames themselves according to the rule of perfection that hee requires surely no but this he findes they are all corrupt and abominable in their doings there is none that doth good no not one so sinfull is man in his whole race sinfull in his conception he is conceived in sinne before ever hee sees light in this world when hee is covered with the rich hangings of natures wardrobe in his mothers womb then man tumbles in sinne as the word in the originall signifieth Hee is sinfull in his birth in his life in his thoughts his words and actions and shall he that is thus spotted and stained and polluted stand before the pure Judge of heaven and earth without trembling surely no The mightie the Kings of the earth the Captaines high and low of what condition soever as many as have not made their garments white in the bloud of the slaughtered Lambe Christ they shall tremble and flie to hide themselves and crie to the mountaines to cover them before the face of this glorious Judge Wee come now to the last thing and that is the end of Christs comming to Judgement The end of Christs comming you know is to give a reward And this reward shall be both to the wicked and to the godly for hee shall give the reward according to every mans worke First I will speake of the reward of the wicked And after conclude with the reward of the godly The reward of the wicked shall be endlesse woe and perpetuall miserie in hell There was never any man that descended into that fierie lake and returned thence to tell us what torments are provided for the wicked in Hell but yet as by one drop of the Sea water you may conceive of the saltnesse of the rest and as a man may ghesse at the stature of a Giant by the length of his foot even so wee may have some conceit of those endlesse and easelesse and remedilesse torments prepared for the wicked in hell by a taste of the miseries we have in this life Great may the griefe of a mans heart be even in this life as great as mortalitie is able to beare Can we read of the mourning of Ioseph of Hannah of Iob of Ieremie of Ierusalem and not bee moved our hearts are hard Can we reade of the hideous torments invented by Tyrants Caldrons of boyling oyle roasting upon spits tumbling downe Mountaines in barrels of nayles rending of joynts with horses can we reade of these mercilesse torments and not be moved our hearts are harder then a milstone Alas beloved these are nothing but shadowes but counterfeit to those torments that are prepared for the wicked in hell For though the bowels of hell labour to emptie the bowels of judgement yet shee hath an immeasurable portion for her children now living nay for those that are unborne a patrimonie of blacknesse of brimstone of the wrath of God of wailing and gnashing of teeth Certainly death shall take them away but they shall never die they shall consume for ever and yet shall not be consumed they shall be in fire unquenchable and yet see no light You may reade of the wine of giddinesse Psal. 60. 3. of a strange kind of Worme Isay ult of fire and brimstone Ezek. 38. 22. of the Wine-presse of Gods wrath Revel 14. 10. All these and if worse then these can be are prepared as so many torments for the wicked workers of iniquitie Their cuppe is the deadliest that ever was drunke even of Gods wrath wherewith they shall bee filled for ever their worme is that that continually gnawes upon the conscience they shall bee tormented in fire and brimstone before the Lambe and his Angels Not such as that of Sodome and Gomorrah for then there were hope that they might be converted at the last into heapes of Ashes or pooles of Pitch but such fire and brimstone that as a bottomlesse Mine gives them rest neither night nor day the smoake of it ascending for ever and is appointed for a time and times till time shall be no more Their torment in such a measure as neither eye hath seene nor eare heard nor heart of man hath conceived But beloved all this is but generall if the time would suffer we could shew the torments of the damned in particular as First the eternitie of those torments in that they shall never end and I verily perswade my selfe that this
excellencies diminished by all his sufferings you see Christ in the dayes of his flesh he cast divells out of men and they obeyed him The divells were subject unto him when he conversed among men in the body nay on the Crosse he saved the Thiefe that confessed him in the sight of all his enemies when he was a crucified Christ at that instant he triumphed on the very crosse and saved a sinner that beleeved at that time to shew that he was as mightie on the Crosse as he is now at the right hand of the Father Now I say is not Christs glory a whit diminished in his abasement why should our beleefe bee abated for all the scorne and despite of the world that is cast upon the profession of the faith of Christ Now briefly some application of this and so to take in the rest without amplification because the time is past It should teach us in all disquiet to know what course is to bee taken every one will say I rest upon God there is sufficient in him to make me happy But how shall I come to have interest in God The well is deepe where is the bucket what is the meanes to relieve my soule and to supply my wants Beleeve in me saith Christ let the soule looke on Christ immediatly as the Mediator betweene God and us this is that I should have spoken of and a word of exhortation to the purpose You will say what is it to beleeve in Christ. The first thing that is done in this is receiving Christ upon Gods offer of him God offers Christ in all his offices as King Priest and Prophet as a Lord and Saviour to the Church and hee would have men take whole Christ or no part of him Now if the soule answer to this offer of God he shall be my Lord to rule me my Prophet to instruct me my Saviour upon whom my soule shall rest for salvation this is the answer of the soule to God this is the receiving Now you must know there must be a right propounding and a right apprehending of Christ. You must know first what it is to receive Christ as a Prophet as one that will instruct us in the truths that are contrarie to naturall principles in the corrupt understanding of man he will leade you now in the way of the Wildernesse in by pathes in crooked rough wayes he will teach you to deny your selves The first rule that he gives is for a man to deny himselfe as if he should say that is the first worke hee died to pull downe all the old frame and to set it up againe For what is the understanding of man but a frame of false principles for the naturall minde of man it is nothing but a habit a heape a pile of false principles that every man perisheth by the delusion of his owne understanding now the first worke of Christ is to dissolve this frame and to blot out these rules wherby men walke when they are led by sence and naturall reason and observation of the world now these must all be taken away and a man must resolve all now into the authority of Christs speaking A word of Christ is enough against a thousand examples in the world and against a thousand reasons of a mans owne corrupt heart This is to receive Christ as a Prophet when I will not walke by the rules of my deluded reason and corrupt minde after which I was carried before but the Word of Christ shall carry mee in all things here is obedience of faith in matter of Doctrine And so to receive Christ as a King would you know what a King he is hee is a holy King whose lawes are all right the Law of Faith is a righteous Law and the obedience of Faith must be obedience to righteousnesse that is righteous obedience wherein a man labours more and more to perfit holines in the feare of God Hence comes all that care to mortifie corruptions and to frame the inward man to conforme to those rules that are taught by Christ as a Prophet the soule receiving Christ as a King gives it self to obey all the rules and directions that Christ in his Word as a Prophet hath left and this it doth in faith that is looking upon his authoritie that hath commanded it for that is properly an act of faith when things are done upon this ground upon the authoritie of him that hath revealed it I beleeve it to bee his will because hee hath revealed it and it is my dutie because it is his will Thus the soule resolves all to Christ as a Prophet and a King And then it rests on him as a Priest and comforts it selfe in Spirit now for a man when he wants comfort hee must not seperate the offices of Christ and say I will rest on Christ as a Priest these are errours and delusions Shall a man be saved by a halfe Faith by a peece of Faith To looke on Christ in one office and to thinke to bee saved onely by that without concurring and concomitating in the other offices Beloved as Christ is intire in all his offices so the faith of a beleever is intire looking upon all his offices therefore wee must receive him as King Priest and Prophet that hee may be wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption that he may bee all to the beleeving soule for present and for future happinesse else if Christ bee not all he will be nothing men must not please themselves to looke upon one office of Christ and to neglect all the rest When this is done come to the maine matter the soule is beaten off as when a man is in a Boate getting to land after shipwracke there comes a storme and beats him backe againe when he thinkes hee is even at the shore but still hee takes hold on the Boate and keepes his eye upon the shore So the soule when it comes to this to be beate off againe still it keepes the shore in its sight and directs it selfe towards Christ that should bee the end and ayme of all a mans indeavours the true object of faith I beseech you consider this point But a man will say though I be carefull to receive him I speake of weake Christians or of strong Christians that are weakened by temptations Alas what hope have I in Christ Christ is in heaven and I am upon the earth Did Christ when he was upon the earth so tender the trouble of his servants at that time as that when hee himselfe was to suffer yet he tooke care to comfort them be not you troubled but beleeve in me As if hee should say though I bee exposed to a world of trouble and at this time my soule is heavy unto death yet be not troubled was he so carefull when he was in his owne troubles on earth to comfort them and will he not now be so in heaven when hee is in blessednesse
yeares yet it is but a naturall life a life full of miserie a life exposed to many vexations and disquiets a life that hath so many troubles in it that men in the best estate of health wish sometimes that they were dead through disquiets and troubles and yet for the preservation of a troublesome life if you were sure of that you would lose a member I know when we come and speake of renouncing your former wayes your covetousnesse and prophanenesse and pride and vanitie and wickednesse in any kinde wee speake of cutting off of hands of members of the bodie they are so deare therefore Christ saith If thy hand offend thee cut it off if thine eye offend thee pull it out it is better to goe to heaven with one hand then to hell with both This I say I know you apprehend it a hard lesson there is no life no Christ without such a death to sinne Yet it is a truth and a necessarie truth for you to know and therefore consider it and that seriously what you lose If we come and perswade you to cut off some usefull member yet you yeeld to that for a naturall life you will cut off a hand that is as usefull as any member of the body but we bid you cut off superfluous members those needlesse members the members of sinne that will be your death Wee would have you but to be rid of the Ulcer that is all we would have you deprived of to preserve spirituall life and to live to God If I were to speake for a naturall life it were but temporall it were but upon conjecture but we speake for a life upon certaintie When wee perswade you to die to sinne that you may live to God wee assure you that this will certainly follow on it you shall live to God if sinne die in you and we speake not only upon certaintie but for eternitie too you shall doe it for eternitietoo you shall doe it for eternitie it is not a life that ends Nay wee speake for a life wherein there is true happinesse that hath no mixture of miserie to make you wearie but a life that hath perfect peace and joy a life that hath blessednesse begun and shall have blessednesse perfected in heaven this life we perswade you to live Consider now what we say if there were more you shall live to God the more you die to sin Skin for skin saith Iob and all that a man hath he will give for his life but if it be such a life as this to live to God a spirituall life what to live as the Angels doe that live with God! to live as the Saints in Heaven that live in the fruition and sight of God wherein they are blessed such a life we perswade you to A life infinitely above this if this life had all the contentment the earth could give it it were not worthy to be compared though a man might live a thousand yeares in the confluence and abundance of all prosperitie it were not to be compared with one moment of the happinesse of the spirituall life that we shall live in for all eternitie with Christ. Now consider take things and compare them together here is such a particular sinne that I was given to to pride to covetousnesse to prophanenesse to wickednesse of this sort or of that sort if I goe on in it I die eternally I lose God and heaven and my soule and happinesse what shall I get by this when I have done it I gratifie Satan I destroy my soule I have lost my selfe and am undone for ever And what a madnesse is this for a man to venture the eternall ruine and destruction of himselfe and that for a thing of nothing for that that will make him miserable now and more miserable eternally Consider and know to whom I speake I speake to yon that have heard the Word and many times received the Sacrament What did you when you received the Sacrament was it not a pledge to you of your interest in Christ and of your union with him and that Christ is as truely united with you as that you ate and dranke Now let it appeare make you account whatsoever you were before make you account reckon ye goe not by guesse and say I hope it will be better with mee then it hath beene no but reckon conclude make accompt I must be another man I may not be what I was I must leave those things that are ill I must apply my selfe to another course Indeed I walked in a way of enmitie to the wayes of God in estrangement from God in worldly wicked wayes but it must not now bee so I must make account now that Christ is mine I am now dead to sinne and therefore dead to sinne that I may live to God if there bee any life of grace in me it will appeare by my death to sinne I must must make account of this I must doe this and this is the best way of making a right use of the Sacrament Why are men as bad after the Sacrament as before because they reckon not they make not account for themselves that they are dead to sinne Make account you have received life from Christ and you must act that life and now set your selves to it reason with your owne hearts why doe I thus and thus As Ezra reasons Ezra 9. 13. Lord since thou hast kept us from being beneath for our iniquities should wee sinne more So consider hath the Lord kept me from hell and admitted me to his Table where he hath spoken peace to mee hee hath spoken reconciliation in Christ shall I returne to sinne against him certainly he will be more angrie now then ever he was before the sinnes that I commit now will bee greater then all the sinnes I have committed hitherto for now I sinne against more grace and against greater mercie for God hath againe renewed the Covenant of peace whereas he might have cast me off for my former breach and shall I provoke him againe hath the Lord washed mee and shall I defile my selfe againe God forbid Reason with your selves I must not be as I was it is not for mee to doe as others that know not God and that are not in Covenant with God or as I was wont to doe before I know what it is to bind my selfe in covenant to receive the Sacrament I must be in another fashion and course of life then ever I have beene Therefore when temptations come to sinne for you must not thinke to be rid of all motions and temptations to sinne and whensoever there comes new temptations not to conclude you have received the Sacrament in vaine say not so but rather say now comes the tryall this is that whereby God will trie what fruit comes of the cost and paines and mercies he hath bestowed on mee here is a messenger sent for fruit If I can withstand the commands of sinne and resist the motions
concurrence betweene the action and the affection with conformitie to the Rule First there must be actions It is not speaking good nor meaning good only but it is doing good Saith the Apostle If a brother be naked or hungrie or cold and you say to him goe in peace warme thee but you give him no fire and goe and cloath thee but you give him no apparell and goe and feed thee but you give him no meate Here are good words now but the deedes are not answerable here are no good deedes at all Solomon compares such complementall charitie that is only verball and in outward expression to Cloudes and windes without raine Not much unlike the boxes of Apothecaries that are adorned with glorious tytles without but open them and examine the insides you shall finde nothing but emptinesse Well that is the first thing there must bee good actions Againe secondly these must have a good rise they must proceed from a good affection too or else they lose the name of good actions Make the tree good and the fruit shall bee of the same condition the actions are not good if the affections bee naught and therefore the same God that requires beneficence hee commands benevolence also and would have men become tender-hearted and put on the bowels of compassion that they should Sympathize with others and be like affectioned to them to mourne with those that mourne and to be with those that are bound as being bound with them This is that which our Saviour calls being mercifull Bee mercifull as your heavenly Father is mercifull Hee saith not only doe workes of mercie but be mercifull doe them from a mercifull heart from bowels of compassion that yearne towards those that are in necessitie That is the second thing But then thirdly these actions and these affections whence they rise they must hold conformitie with the Law There is no good but what is conformable to the rule of goodnesse that is the written word of God and therefore all those will-worships and idle ceremonies made according to the inventions of man as a thousand devices in Poperie wherein they intimate a show of great Liberalitie they are not good deedes because they want that good rule that should uphold and make them so So much shall serve for the opening of it Good deedes then are such actions as rise from a sanctified affection and receive ground and warrant from Gods will revealed in his Word to men Againe there is a third terme yet Doe good to all men What doth the Apostle meane that every man should receive the fruits of our Beneficence There are some men notoriously wicked and rather to be punished than relieved The Apostle meanes not such for hee gives you a Caution If any man worke not let him not eate Relieve him not that hath abilitie to get and will live idlie and unprofitably But doe good to all men that is to all men so farre as you see them in extreme want unable to helpe themselves if their lawfull necessities call upon your charitie in this respect all men must be looked unto but especially To the houshold of Faith By houshold of faith here he meanes the multitude of beleevers and not only those that dwell neere us and about us but those that are dispersed throughout the whole earth the Churches of God The dispersion spoken of through all the parts of the world are this houshold of faith all the Saints of God in what difference or distance soever one from another yet they are of the same houshold together of the same Church of God So the Church of God is called the house of God and sometime it is understood of the Church militant and sometime of the Church triumphant Of the Church triumphant In my Father 〈◊〉 many mansions There it is heaven the place of the blessed Then for the Church militant Moses was faithfull in all his house saith the Text. And Paul exhorts Timothie how hee should carry himselfe in the house of God that is in the Church militant As for those that live above us they need not our good workes and actions therefore it is intended of those that are here in the Church militant that is called Gods houshold because there is such a communion amongst beleevers as amongst those that live in the same house that abide under the same roofe that live under the same government that eat at the same Table c. So then you have the meaning of all which is no more but this Take those advantages of times which you can obtaine or elâ—… many will slip unprofitablie to bee conversant in such actions of mercie which tend to the reliefe of thoâ—… that want them If there be extreme necessitie doe good to all but if you may make choyce of persons to whom you may doe good choose the houshold of faith Thus you have the substance and the meaning of the words In them you may observe briefly these three parts The first is a determination or limitation of time to which the Saints are tyed in the performance of the duties that are injoyned them as you have opportunitie and while you have time Secondly there is a declaration of dutie doe good Thirdly there is a description of the persons to whom this good must be done first more generally Doe good to all and then more particularly and with an especiall note Especially to those of the houshold of Faith Of these in order First for the determination of time to take the words as they lie while you have time therefore or as you have opportunitie the words themselves doe render the maine point It is the dutie of Christians to take their advantages of times to take the best opportunities of their life to doe good I will speake somewhat by way of Explication of the point and something by way of Application and so proceed to what followes First for the Explication what is intended or meant in it when we incite you to embrace times and opportunities Briefly these two things are meant in it First that you should bee sure not to lose the time of life And Secondly that you should not forgoe the advantages and opportunities of estates You shall not alwayes have life to doe good and it may bee if you have life you â—…all not alwayes enjoy meanes and abilitie to doe good Whâ—…â—…ou have life therefore and time doe good or while you enjoy meanes and so power to doe good embrace these opportunities That is the meaning of the Apostle in this place First then there must be a doing good while you have life let your good workes goe before you doe things while you live and deferre not the performance of them till your death Make you friends of the unrighteous Mammon that when you want they may receive you into everlasting habitations Hee calls that unrighteous Mammon not that it is unrighteously gotten only though
it proves with all things thou performest with intent to please God and glorifie him though they fall more prosperous or lesse prosperous in the event yet the conclusion converts them all to the glorie of God his pleasure and the advantage of the owner and there they lye and their recompence also But some man may say I have continued a great while in the exercise of doing of good I am now old and have lived thus long at my trade and thus long I have beene a House-keeper and thus long have had an estate in my hands all which time I have ever employed my selfe in the performance of good offices for others and did not intermit any occasion that might invite me to the doing of good And is it not yet time to cease No saith Solomon in the morning sow thy seed and in the evening let not thy hand rest For all those words are but severall answers to severall objections So we thy seed in the morning of thy life when thy estate begins to be improved and then even in the evening of thy life when thou hast left off gaining cease not to persist in giving Saith another man You must not loppe the twigge too soone that is but beginning to grow I am but how in the way to thrive and when I am further entred into that course I will not faile to extend my goodnesse to others So we thy seed in the morning of thy life But saith another man I have done that already and now it ceaseth to be with me as before by reason I follow not my trade and have no more possibilitie of getting But let not thy hand cease in the evening saith God When thy shop windowes are shut up thy compassion must still continue open when thou hast bid gaine adue and taken thy leave of all the wayes of getting even then if thou enjoy an estate in thine hands and abilitie to doe good there is no excuse for thee to cease from bestowing it though it be in the evening Thus wee see there is no time excepted nor person to be refused if necessitie require but a man must doe good to all men at all times So much for that But the matter chiefly intended is these two That there are some poore of the houshold of faith That is the first God hath in the houshold of faith some that stand in need of reliefe Secondly that all that are in the houshold should especially looke unto them First I say there are some of the houshold of faith true beleevers whose wants call for releefe So wee see Christ speakes as it were for himselfe when hee speakes of them I was hungrie and you did not feed me I was naked and you did not cloath mee Those that Christ ownes as his and accounts them a part of himselfe even those are hungrie and naked And so likewise God hath chosen the poore of this world rich in faith They be rich in faith and so of Gods houshold of faith and yet neverthelesse poore in this world You shall see an example of this A Widow comes to Elisha the Prophet and tels him Thy servant my husband was a man fearing God and yet notwithstanding the creditour is comming upon me and will have my sonnes to bee bond-slaves The man feared God and yet neverthelesse the poore Widow wanted meanes and her sonnes must be exposed to extremitie of bondage for discharge of his fathers ingagements A hard case and yet the case of a man fearing God You see there are those of Macedonia that send helpe to the poore Saints of Acâ—… they were Saints and yet poore receiving helpe from a company of poore people at Macedonia being so poore that the Apostle beares witnesse of them they gave above their abilitie We see a poore man and yet an heire of heaven lying full of sores and in want at the gate of Dives that was after throwne into hell An heire of heaven and yet on earth a Beggar You see then beloved the point is true now wee will descend and see how it appeares to be so and for what respect it comes to passe by Gods providence First it becomes so that there may be a conformitie betweene the head and the members for Christ that was rich for our sakes became poore saith the Scripture even Christ that was rich and Lord over all became poore and in the forme of a servant unto all for our sakes so poore that wee see the foxes had holes and the fowles of the ayre had nests but our Redeemer had no shelter no not so much roome as to rest his head Now there must bee a conformitie betweene Christ and his members if the head be poore necessitie makes the other members partake of the same Cuppe Againe secondly if you observe and looke on the condition of Gods Saints of the houshold of faith on earth here you shall find small occasion to marvell at their simple estates considering they are a company of travellers and Pilgrims in this world I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers c. They are not only strangers which may have riches convaide unto them after some certaine stay in a place But they are Pilgrims and time will not permit their abode in one place upon any condition of advantage for their profession compells them from one place to another On whom our Proverbe may truly be verified that a rouling stone gathers nothing They are Pilgrims and Pilgrims desires extend no further in this life then a staffe and a scrippe This is the brood of travellers saith David that seeke thy face Thirdly there followes another reason and that proceedes from the opposition they find in the world against their course the world labours to make them poore and having prevailed like an imperious Jaylour to a distressed prisoner endevours to keepe them under And it comes so to passe in regard of the naturall enmitie and division that is in the world in opposition of the wayes of God You shall find that our Saviour intending to goe to Ierusalem made his way through Samaria and dispatched some before to provide him lodging But the Samaritans understanding or suspecting that he was minded to goe thither refused to entertaine him They would not receive him saith the Text Why Because he was going unto Ierusalem Beloved thus deales the world with the members of Christ if they would relie on the world and make that their end as they doe then riches should flow in in abundance and their estates might arive to be as eminent and mightie as others But if their mindes be resolved for Ierusalem and their eyes reflect that way Let them seeke their owne entertainment for they shall receive no benefit nor enjoy any contentment by their permission Lastly God disposeth it to be so by his wondrous providence that his glory may be so much the more
Spirituall change wrought in the soule by the Spirit of God nothing makes in this life such a change as true grace Wee all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. This change is like the tuning of a disordered instrument or like the refining of corrupt mettall or like the clearing of the darke ayre or like the quickning of a dead Lazarus but neither is this change that the text intends Fourthly there is a change of the life and this I call a mortall change we shall all be changed saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 5. life hath the first course but death will have the second As in a Comedie severall persons have severall parts to act which when they have dispatched they all draw off of the stage so though in life we all present our selves on the stage of this world and act severall Scenes and parts yet at length we must all retire and passe away through one and the same doore of mortallity This is the change which Iob speakes of to wit a change of his life by Death Here then are two things to bee demonstrated and proved for the making good of the point in hand viz. 1. That death is a change 2. That this change of death will befall all the sonnes of men First that Death is a change not an anihilation A change is a different and a divers order or manner of being Anihilation is one thing and mutation is another thing there the thing ceaseth utterly to be here the thing only ceaseth to be as once it was so it is with Death it doth not reduce us to nothing but alter our former something it changes our manner or order of being not our being absolutely Now observe Death is a change in five respects First it changes that neere union of the Soule and the body and makes of one two severalls they that were as the hands mutually clasping or as two persons conjugally tyed together when Death comes it plucks them asunder and divides one from the other as farre as heaven is from the earth Secondly it changes our actions or worke Whiles life remained here in our bodies while our day lasted we might have fedde the hungry clothed the naked visited the sicke râ—…ved the distressed frequented the ordinances bewailed â—…nnes but when death once enters the night is come in which â—…an can worke thou art then turned changed into an insenâ—…ble rotten and loathsome carkasse Thirdly it changes our countrey Whiles we live here wee are as children put abroad to schoole in a strange place hence it is wee are so often in the Scripture called Pilgrims and strangers This earth this lower world is not the proper home of the Soule But when Death comes wee change our countrey wee goe home to our owne place to our owne Citie the wicked shall goe to their owne place as it is said of Iudas and the godly to their owne Mountaine to their owne Kingdome Fourthly it changes our companie In this life we converse with sinfull men emptie creatures infinite miseries innumerable conflicts but when Death comes all this shall be changed wee shall goe to our God and Father to our Christ and Saviour and to the innumerable company of blessed Angels and Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Fiftly it changes our outward condition When Death comes thou shalt never see the wedge of gold againe thou shalt never find thy delights in sinne any more all the excellencie of the creature and the contentments of them and the sensuall rejoycing in them shall goe out with life Death shall shut and close them up in an eternall night which shall never rise to another day So much for the first thing that Death is a change I come now to speake briefly of the second that this change of Death will be fall all the sonnes of men Psal. 89. 48. What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of the grave We love to see most things the eye is never satisfied with seeing and yet many things there are which we shall never see Every man cannot see that which one man doth but there is one thing which every man shall see hee must see death There are many enemies from whom wee can deliver our selves and many more from whom we may be delivered but yet there is one enemie from which wee cannot defend our selves nor bee defended by others he will be to strong for every man let him strive repine order his dyet intreate doe what hee will or can No saith the Psalmist none shall deliver his soule from the hand of the grave And he puts a Selah a note of observation at the end of the verse That all the sonnes of men are subject to this change by death will appeare to you by these familiar Arguments The First may be taken from the qualitie of our lives which is sweetly set out in the Scripture under the termes of changeable things all which point out unto us the certaintie of death Sometime our life is compared to a shew Psal. 39. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vaine shew In a shew you know there is some devise or other opened carryed a-while about but at length it is shut up so it is with our lives Sometime againe it is compared to a shade or a shadow Iob 8. 9. Our dayes upon earth are a shadow a shadow is but an imitation of a substance a kind of nimble picture which is still going and comming and will set at last perhaps it is suddenly ecclipsed so is our life Sometimes aâ—…aine it is compared to a vapour Iames 4. 14. What is your life it is even a vapour that vanisheth away like 〈◊〉 poore cloude sometimes looking white sometimes blacke sometimes quiet and settled sometimes againe tossed up and downe with every wind and at last consumed and brought to nothing so it is with our lives Sometimes also compared to a Tale Psal. 90. 9. Wee spend our yeares as a tale that is told a meere discourse of this thing and that thing and indeed but a very parenthesis of a more tedious discourse and many times it is broken off in the very telling so it is with our lives Sometimes againe it is as grasse as in Esay 46. The voyce said crie aloude what shall I crie all flesh is grasse and the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the grasse And verse 7. The grasse withereth and the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it And Iob in this chapter calleth it a Flower Hee commeth forth saith he like a flower and is cut downe A flower is a sweet thing but of an earthly breed fedde with showres at its best when it is in all its glory it is but to day and to morrow it
returneth to her Mothers house the earth but the soule the Bridegroome to his Fathers house the Father of 〈◊〉 in Heaven as both their gests are set forth in this chapter verse 7. the dust returnes to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave iâ—… But in the evening of the World at that dreadfull night after which the Angell swore there should bee no more day or time here the soule is given by God to the bodie againe and then the marriage is consummated and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better for worse to runne one everlasting fortune and to participate either eternall joyes or torments together Thus man is brought to his long home or as the Seventy and Saint Ierome render the Hebrew his house of eternitie and the mourners go about the streets here is a short reckoning of all mankinde like to that of the Psalmist who alluding to the name of the two Patriarches sayth Coll ADAM ABEL All men are altogether vanitie so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventâ—…res casting all appeare wretched and miserable describitur miseria mortis in morientibus compatientibus all are either dead corpses or sad mourners corpses alreadie dead or mourners for the dead and their courses and motions are two 1 Straite man goeth c. 2 Circular mourners goe about The dead goe directly to their long home the living fetch a compasse and round about the termini of which their motions shall bee the bounds of my discourse at this present Wherein that you may the better discerne my passage from point to point I will set up sixe Posts or standings 1 The Scope 2 Coherence 3 Sense 4 Parts 5 Doctrine 6 Use. The Scope will give light to the Coherence the Coherence to the Sense the Sense to the Parts the Parts to the Doctrine the Doctrine to the Use. Wherefore I humbly entreate the assistance of Gods Spirit with the intention of yours whil'st in unfolding this rich peece of Arras I shall point with the finger to 1 The maine Scope 2 The right Coherence 3 The litterall Sense 4 The naturall Division 5 The generall Doctrine 6 The speciall application of this parcell of holy Scripture First the Scope Although all other Canonicall bookes of this old and new Testament were read in the Church yet as Gregorie Nyssen acutely observes this booke alone is intituled Ecclesiastes the Preacher or Church-man because this alone in a manner tendeth wholy to Ecclesiasticall politie or such a kinde of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher or Church-man For the prime scope of this booke is to stirre up all religious mindes to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth to enter speedily into a strict course of holinesse which will bring us to eternall happinesse to dedicate to God and his service the prime in both senses that is the first and best part of our time For as in a glasse of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out and nothing but lees and mouther at the last so it is in our time and age Optima queque dies miseries mortalibus â—…vi prima fluit Our best dayes first runne and our worst at the last And shall wee offer that indignitie to the Divine Majestie as to offer him the Devills leavings florem aetat is 〈◊〉 consecrâ—…re faecem Deo reservarâ—… to consecrate the toppe to the Devill and the bottome to God feed the flesh with the flower and the spirit with the 〈◊〉 serve the world with our strength and our Creatour with ouâ—… weaknesse give up our lusty and able members as weapons 〈◊〉 sâ—…nne and our feeble and weake to righteousnesse Will God accept the blinde and the lame the leane and the withered for a sacrifice How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age when our memorie and all other faculties of the soule are decaied How shall wee beare Christs yoake when the Grashopper is a burthen unto us when wee are not able to beare our selves but bow under the sole waight of age What delight can wee take in Gods service when care and feare and sorrow and paine and manifold infirmities and diseases wholy possesse the heart and dead all the vitall motions and lively affections thereof Old men are a kinde of Antipodes to young men it is evening with them when it is morning with these it is Autumne in their bodies when it is Spring in these the Spring of the yeare to decrepâ—…t old men is as the Fall Summer is Winter to them and Winter death it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish which is the Prognosticatour of the Spring or the Grashopper leape and sing the Preludium of Summer for they now minde not the Almond-tree but the Cypresse nor thinke of the Grashopper but of the worme because they are far on in their way to their long home and the mourners are already in the streets marshalling as it were their troops and setting all in equipage for their funerall no dilectable objects affect their dull and dying sences but are rather grievous unto them as the Sunne and Raine are to old stumpes of trees which make them not spring againe but rot them rather and dispose them to putrifaction And so I have past the first and am come to the second Post or standing The right Coherence When they shall be afrayd of that which is high and feare shall be in the way and the Almod-tree shall flourish and the Grashoper shall bee a burthen and desire shall faile because man goeth to his long home If this Consequence be firme the Coherence must needs bee good but if this bee infirme and lame that must needes bee out of joynt let us then consider of the Consequence Surely Aristotle seemeth to bee of another minde whose observation it is old men that have their foot on Deaths threshold would then draw backe their legge if they could and at the very instant of their dissolution are most desirous of the continuance of their life and seeing the pleasures of sâ—…e like the Apples of Tantaâ—… running away from them they catch at them the more grâ—…dily for want is the 〈◊〉 one of dâ—…ire and experience offereth us many instances of old men in whâ—… Saint 〈◊〉 growes young againe who according to the corruption of nature which Saint Austin bewaileth with teares â—…alunt libidiâ—…em expleri quam exâ—…gui they are so faâ—…re from having no lust or desire of pleasures as being cloyed there with that they are more insatiable in them then in youth the flesh in them is like the Peacockes quae â—…ctarecrudescit which after it is sod in time will grow raw again so in them after mortification by diseases and age it reviveth Sophocles the Heathen Poet might passe for a Saint in comparison of them for hee
thanked God that in his old age he was free from his most Imperious mistris lust these men on the contrary desire to inthrall themselves againe in youthly pleasures and concupisence in them is kindled even by the defect of fewell it vexeth them that their sinnes forsake them that through the impotencie of their limbes and faculties they cannot runne into the like excesse as in former times their few dayes before death are like Shrovetide before Lent they take their fill of flesh and fleshly desires because they suppose that for ever after they must fast from them Thus they spurre on their jadish flesh now unable to runne her former Stages saying let us crowne our selves with Rose-buds for they will presently wither let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye To reconcile the seeming difference betweene the miracle of humane wisedome Aristotle and the Oracle of divine Solomon two distinctions may bee made use of Of old Age. 1 In the entry when it is vigorous 2 In the exit when it is decrepit et ne ad mala quidem bona Of old Men. 1 As they ought to bee 2 As they are When Euripides was taxed as too great a favourer of the female Sex because in all his Tragedies he brought in vertuous women and fitted them with good parts to Act whereas Sophocles and other Poets of that Age brought lewd and immodest women upon the Stage and put odious parts upon them hee made this Apologie for himselfe others sayth hee in their Poems set forth women as they are but I such as they should be Solomons words are capable of a like construction desire fayleth because man goeth to his long home that is it doth in the best and should in all for what a preposterous thing were it for a man that hath one foore alreadie in the grave and is drawing the other after to desire to cut a crosse caper and dance the morrice or for him that is neere his eternall Mansion houâ—…e to hankerby the way and feast and revell it in an Inne Moreover Solomon here speaketh of a Barzillai who hath no taste of his meate no sence of delight no use in a manner of sense to whom dainties are no dainties because hee cannot taste them musicke is no musicke because hee cannot heare 〈◊〉 sweet odours are no sweet odours because he cannot smell them precious stones are no precious stones because hee cannot valeâ—… them the fairest beauties are no beauties because hee cannot discerne them In a word hee speaketh of an old man in whom all carnall lusts are either quite extinct or happily exchanged into spirituall or swallowed up with sorrow and feare of death and a horrible apprehension of judgement And so I come to the third Stage which is the litterall sense and genuine interpretation of the words As in Origen his Hexapla every word almost had an Asterisk or starre upon it so there needs a starre or some other light to be put upon every word of this Text for there is a mist of obscuritie upon each of them and a man may well misse his way if hee know not exactly who is here the man what 's meant by his going or gate where is his long home and whence are these Mourners First whether man bee taken Collectivè for the whole kinde or Species as the Logicians speake or Distributivè for every man in particular wee shall seeme to bee at a losse Man taken Collectivè stirres not a foot to his long home for Philosophie reprieveth universall natures from death or dissolution and true it is though single men every day dye yet mankinde dieth not If man bee taken Distributivè for all particular men of what ranke or qualitie soever wee shall have much to doe to distinguish the men in the former part of the Text from the mourners in the latter If all are attended with mourners to their funerall then mourners themselves must have mourners and so either the traine will bee infinite or the lag will bee destitute of mourners Secondly why useth hee this phrase of going if it import death sith some expect death and move not at all towards it some runne to it to some it is sent some leape into it as Cleombrotus some ride to it in state as Antiochus Epiphâ—…nes some are tumbled downe into it as S. Parius Melius some are dragged to it as Sejanus In a word when death surprizeth most men and that in all postures of the bodie why is dying here called going man goeth Thirdly where is this long home in Heaven or in Earth Purgatorie or Hell If wee speake of Heaven or Hell the Epithet long falls short for they are eternall habitations of Purgatorie or the grave suppose there were any Purgatorie yet neither of them may bee properly termed a long home sith neither the bodie stayes long in the one nor the soule in the other Fourthly whence are these mourners if they are mercenarie and hyred from home they are no true mourners if they are true mourners they keepe their Closets they gad not about the streets they shut themselves long at home for their friends that are gone to their long home To dispell all this mist of obscuritie and set a light upon each of the materiall words of the Text I answer To the first Quere that a man is here to be taken neither Collective for all mankinde in a lumpe nor Distributivè for every particular man without exception but indefinite or communiter for man in the ordinary course or tract for you shall hardly finde a man that hath no friend to drop a teare into his Grave As for the last men that shall stand upon the earth and shall bee alive at Christs comming they shall indeed passe by death properly yet they shall dye after a sort by passing from a mortall state to an immortall and if their long home bee Heaven they shall need no mourners if Hell they shall want none to beare them companie for at Christs second comming all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him I answer To the second that going here is not taken pro motu progressivo in speciall as walking or running but in generall for passing to another world which way so ever whether wee make our way or it bee made for us whether wee goe to death or death come to us nay whether wee stirre onlie still whether wee are sound of foote or lame never had feet or have lost them wee goe this way of all flesh as I shall shew hereafter I answere To the third that by long home according to the Chaldee Paraphrasâ—… is here meant the grave or the place where our bodies or to speake more properly our remaines are bestowed and abide till the time of the restitution of all things the Originall is Beth gâ—…olemo which S. Ierome renders domum aeternitatis sâ—… because from thence as Lyra noteth he never returneth to live here
at her death Her life was well knowne to most of this place and her death was every way answerable to her life all that visited her in her sicknesse might behold with sorrow a pittifull anatomie of fraile mortalitie and yet with joy a perfect patterne of Christian patience and a heavenly conversation and though shee were full of divine conceptions and shee had a spring by her of the waters of life in the devotion of her dearest helper especially in the best things yet when I came to her shee desired shee might be partaker of some of my meditations they were her owne words and when I prayed with her and for her shee joyned not so much with me with her tongue as her affections and answered more in sighes and teares then in words often shee complained of her tuffe heart that would not yeeld to her dissolution and long long sheethought it till shee should come to appeare before the God of Gods in Sion Her last words were sweet Father helpe me and shee had her request for presently hee helped her both by the zealous and most feeling prayers of her Husband and by the holy spirit assisting her in her owne prayers with sighes and groanes that cannot be expressed and immediatly her swâ—…et Father released her of her pangs and received her to himselfe on his owne day On the Lords day morning before the morning watch I say before the morning watch shee entered into her rest and began to keepe her evarlasting Sabbath in heaven where shee reapeth what she sowed and seeth what shee beleeved and enjoyeth what she hoped for and is now entered into those joyes which never entered fully into the heart of any living on earth nor shall into ours till wee with her be made perfect and all of us come to Mount Sion and the heavenly Ierusalem and innumerable company of Angels and to the Congregation of the first-borne whose names are written in heaven and to the spirits of just men and women made perfect Whether the God of peace bring us in our appointed time who brought againe from the dead the great sheepheard through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant To whom with the holy Spirit c. FINIS FAITHS ECCHO OR THE SOVLES AMEN ISAY 64. 1. Oh that thou wouldest rent the Heavens that thou wouldest come downe IER 11. 5. So bee it O Lord. Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. FAITHS ECCHO OR THE SOVLES AMEN SERMON XLVII REVELA 22. 19. Amen Even so come Lord Iesus THese words they afford to us a comfortable and sweet argument to bee conversant in From the sixt verse of this Chapter is set down to us the confirmation of the whole Prophesie and booke of the Revelation partly by the affirmation of God as likewise of Jesus Christ and of Iohn himselfe that heard and saw all these things and likewise of the Church of God in the 17. verse it is likewise confirmed by the promise of blessing and happinesse pronounced upon them that shall doe all these things and shall faithfully expect the accomplishment of them This verse a part of which I have read to you is the repetition in few words of all that matter that goeth before from the 6. verse to it and hath in it First an attestation of our Lord and Saviour Christ in the former part of the verse Behold I come quickly Secondly an acclamation of the Church in the latter part these words I have read to ye Amen even so come Lord Iesus In the attestation of Christ hee promiseth hee will come to his Church hee will come shortly both for the accomplishment of all his promises and likewise for their safety and deliverance from all enemies and all miseries and molestations whatsoever To this the Church makes an acclamation and saith Amen even so come Lord Iesus In this acclamation of the Church to which wee must now come we are to consider First the person of the speaker whose words they bee Secondly what is the matter or substance contained in them Yee shall see whose words they bee if ye looke backe but to the 17. verse of this Chapter there ye shall finde that first it is sayd the Spirit sayth come By the Spirit is not meant the third Person in Trinitie the holy Ghost because hee is not subject to these passions to these desires but hee resteth himselfe in the execution and present disposing and dispensing of things according to his owne will and pleasure Neither by Spirit here is meant any wicked spirit or Angell for they doe with feare and horrour expect the same comming of our Lord and Saviour Christ because his comming shall bee the accomplishment of their miserie and eternall infelicitie But by Spirit here is meant the spirit in all the Elect and holy people of God in whomsoever the Spirit of God is that Spirit doth say come and doth wish the accomplishment of all these most gracious promises For this is not the desire of the flesh or of nature but an earnest and vehement desire of the Spirit of God in the Elect that saith come Againe secondly the same verse telleth us that the Bride sayth come That is the Church of God in generall the Catholike Church the whole Church of God being now hand-fasted to Christ and entred into a spirituall contract with him Shee desireth the consumation of the Marriage the solemniation of the Marriage which is alreadie begun in the contract of it and not onely every particular member of the Church in whom the Spirit of God is saith come but the Church of God in generall the Bride sayth come the whole Church saith come wishing and desiring the accomplishment of the Marriage which is already begun In the third place the same verse telleth us that as the Spirit and the Bâ—…ide say come so hee that heareth saith come that is not onely the Church of God that is now present here upon the face of the earth but the successive parts of the Church in all future Ages they are all of the same minde having received the same Spirit they all say come Whosoever heareth this Prophesie whosoever heareth of these promises in any Age or Countrey of the World all they having the same spirit they must needes say come hee that heareth sayth come hee that is acquainted with the promises that commeth to the knowledge of them and doth mingle them with the faith of his soule this man must needs say come to the accomplishment of them And lastly Hee that is a thirst sayth come too that is whosoever hath tasted of the sweetnesse of Christ in any measure whatsoever and therby hath wrought in him a vehement thirst after more this man will say come Whosoever hath such a sence of Christ in his promises as to taste of the sweetnesse of these never so little as hee that hath tasted a droppe of honey wisheth for more so hee that hath tasted of the sweetnesse of Christ a
sinne and certainty of Judgement and uncertainty of salvation Heb. 9. 27. 2 Cor. 5. 10. Isa. 33. 14. Why Death called the last enemie 1. Because it is the last that shall assault us Therfore we have more enemies than Death The Divell The world The flesh Psal. 27. 11. Therefore likely to be the worst enemie 2. Because it is the last that shall be destroyed Who it is that destroyeth Death Rev. 5. 3. 5. 1 Sam. 17 32. Hos. 13. 14. Act. 3. 15. When Deach shall be destroyed At the day of the Resurrection Comfort in the meane time 2 Cor. 15. 57 Rev. 7. 17. Hos. 13. 14. 1 Cor. 3. 22. Vse 1. Death an enemy only to the wicked 1 King 21. 20 Death to the beleever is 1. A subdued Enemie Cant. 8. 3. Psal. 41. 3. Phil. 1. 23. Job 19. 27. Phil. 3. 21. Heb. 12. 23. Psal. 1â—… 11. 〈◊〉 Cor. 5. 2. A reconciled Enemie 3. An Enemie that at last shall be destroyed Rev. 20. Rom. 6. 9. Vse 2. For instruction How to be prepared for death 1. Die to sin 2. Live to God 3. Be ofâ—… iâ—… the meditation of death 4. Settle all things before hand that concerne the outward man The inward man Tit. 3. 11. 1 Pet. 3. 4. Prov. 31. 29. Coherence Division The Person judging God Opera 〈◊〉 ad extra sunt indivisa Opera 〈◊〉 ad intra sunt divisa â—…uique personae incommunicabiliter propria Obiect 2 Cor. 5. 10. 1 Cor. 6. 3. Answ. How Christ is said to be the Judge Rom. 2. 16. Joh. 5. Why God hath committed the power of the exâ—…cution of Judgement to Christ. Three properties requi site in a Judge 1. Knowledge to discerne Heb. 4. 2. Power to execute Psal. 149. Rev. 15. 3. Justice in the Execution Gen. 18. Job 8. 3. The Judgement 1. It shall be Types of the last Judgement Luke 17. Reas. 1. Reas. 2. Reas. 3. Act. 17. 31. Reas. 4. 2. In what manner it shall be 1. The summons Joh. 5. 28. Matt. 24 31. 1 Cor. 15. 1 Thes. 4. 16. 2. The Appearance 2 Cor. 5. 10. Rom. 14. 12. 1 Cot. 1. 7. 3. The separation 4. The tryall Rev. 20. 12. The Bookes that shall be opened at the day of Judgement 5. The Sentence The generall things observable in the words 1. The dutie 2. The motives The duty exprest 1. Generally 2. Particularly The generall dutie expressed 1. In the Object 2. In the Acts that are exercised on the Object 3. In the manner of exercising The Object 1. God Simile Simile 2. The name of God The Acts that are exercised on the Object 1. Of the understanding Memorie 2. Of the will and affections Desires Desires an argument of a gracious heart Joyned with endeavours Desires without endeavours false The manner of exercising these acts 1. They must come from inward principles 2. They must be sincere Simile Simile 3. They must be pitched on God alone 4. They must bee universall 5. They must be constant Simile The particular duties In times of mercie 1. Chearfulnesse 2. Fruitfulnesse In times of judgement Simile 1. Perseverance Simile 2. Diligent exercise of our graces Simile 3. Patience 4. Proficiencie The Motives to the duties 1 God seeth and judgeth all our wayes 2. This alone differenceth the godly from the wicked Coherence Division of the words 1 2 3 4 Obser. 1. The Saints on earth have a heavenly conversation What it is The priviledges thereof 1. Their names are written in heaven Luk. 10. 20. 2. They are governed by the law of God 3. They are safely kept 4. They have interest In God Mat. 6. 32. Chap. 7. 11. In Christ. Dan. 12. 1. In the holy Ghost 2 Cor. 13. 10. In the Angels In thâ—… Saints that are in heaven That are on earth 5. They are inriched with heavenly treasure Mat. 13. Isa. 55. 1. The Traffique of a Christian what How to know whether our conversation be in heaven By our affections Note Obser. 2. While the Saints are on earth they are stated in heaven 1. In respect of right and title 2. In respect of present possession John 14. Vse Presumption to hope for heaven without union with Christ first on earth Ezra 2. 62. Christ in respect of his bodily presence is onely in heaven Transubstantiarion Collos 3. 1. Obser. 3. Expectation of Christs comming to Judgement the best meanes to worke a man to a holy conversation The continuall expectation of the Saints is for Christs comming A threefoldâ—… comming of Christ. Proved 2 Tim. 4. 8. Heb. 9. 28. Vse For tryall How to know whether our expectation of Christs comming bee right 1. By the ground of it Heb. 11. 1. 2. By the companions of it Which are 1. Patience 2. Love Manifested in secret longings Care to walk in Christ. 3. Delight in the ordinances 3. By the effects and fruits of it The expectation of Christs comming the best meanes to procure a heavenly Conversation Proved 1. It is the worker of Mortification Collos. 3. 1. 7. 1 Joh. 3. 2 3. Guilt of sinne causeth the apprehension of death to be terrible 2. Subdues our worldly affections Collos. 3. 1. 3. Keepes us from sinfull actions A 3. 18. Act 17. 30. 4. Quickens to holinesse of life 2 Pet. 3. 11 12. 5. Furthers our perseverance in godlinesse 〈◊〉 Iohn 2. 28. Rev. 6. Rev. 3. 11. Vse For tryall Rev. 6. 15. Heb. 2. 14. 1 Thes. 1. 10. Division 1. The dutie commanded Meaning of the words What is meant by the saying of Christ viz. The Doctrine of the Gospell Two parts of the Gospell 1. Shewing our miserie Rom. 3. 23. 2. The remedie against this miserie 1. The Redeemer 2. The manner how we are redeemed Rom. 3. 24. 3. The means how to enjoy the remedie 1. The Conditions of the Covenant of Grace 1. Repentance Mark 1. 15. Heb. 6. The parts of Repentance Godly sorrow for sinne Psal. 38. â—…am 4. 9. Confession of sinne Pro. 28. Psal. 32. 4. 1 Joh. 1. 9. Firme purpose of amendment Joh. 5. Petition for patdon in the name of Christ. Hos. 14. 2. Repentance only taught in the Gospell Mans repentance tends to the honour of Gods justice 2. Faith Joh. 6. 29. Definition of Faith Faith only taught in the Gospell 3. New obedience How differenced from that required under the Law What it to keepe the saying of Christ. 2. The benefit What it is to see Death What Death is here meant Joh. 6. 68. Act. 5. 20. Act. â—…1 14. Reas. 1. 1 Joh. 2. 24. Reas. 2. Vse 1. Intitation to thankfulnesse Vse 2. Reprehension Vse 3. Exhortation Vse 4. Consolation Obiect Answ. Coherence Division of the words 1. The sin of young men 2. The Cure Doct. 1. It is the siâ—… of young men to rejoyce inordinately Gen. 6. 11. Isa 22. 14. Eccles. 12. 1. 1 Tim. 2. 22. Tit. 2. 6. Job 1. Reas. 1. Naturall corruption Reas. 2. Forgetfulness of judgement Deut. 32. 29. Reas. 3. Freedome from crosses Jer. 32. Reas. 4.
which may furnish us abundantly with meditations in this kind It was a custome in former times for men to make their sepulchres in their gardens to mind them of death in the midst of the pleasures of this life This present worke may not unfitly be tearmed a Garden wherein whosoever takes a dayly walke may gather in the severall beds thereof those wholsome flowers and hearbs which being distilled by serious meditation will prove water of life to a fainting spirit in some hee shall finde instruction in some incitation in others consolation in all profit Here thou shalt finde that Lethall gourd sprung up by Adam his transgression that makes all his posterity cry out There is death in the Pot. There thou mayst gather hearbs of grace as a counter-poyson against the malignity of death in a third there is the spirituall Heliotroâ—…ium opening with joy to the Sunne of righteousnesse the hope of a blessed resurrection Doe the glittering shewes of outward things make thee begin to over-fancie them heere thou shalt finde how little they will availe in death the consideration whereof will make them like that precious stone which being put into the mouth of a dead man loseth it's vertue are thou over-burthened with afflictions here thou art supported in the expectation of a farre more exceeding weight of glory art thou ready to faint under thy labours here thou shalt finde a time of rest and of reaping doth the time seeme over-long that thy patience begins to flag heere thou hast a promise of thy Saviours speedy comming In a word be thy estate and condition what it will be heere thou mayst have both directions to guide thee and comforts to support thee in thy journey on earth till thou arrive at thy Countrey in Heaven Certainely there is no man can sleight and undervalue so deserving a Worke but hee shall discover himselfe either to be ignorant or idle or ill affected especially when so judicious and learned men have thought it a fit concomitant for their severall labours which they have added for the accomplishment of it Therfore take it in good worth improve it for the good of thy soule that being armed and prepared for death when it shall approach thou mayst have no more to doe but to die and mayst end thy dayes in a stedfast assurance That thy sinnes shall be blotted out when the time of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD Thine in him who is the Resurrection and the life H. W. THE TABLE THe Stewards Summons Page 1. TEXT LVKE 16. 2. Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward The praise of Mourning Page 29. ECCLESIASTES 7. 2. It is better to goe to the house of Mourning then to the house of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart Deliverance from the King of feares Page 55. HEBREVVES 2. 14. 15. 14 For asmuch then as the Children are partakers of flesh and bloud hee also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Divell 15 And deliver them who through the feare of death were all their life time subject to bondage The perfection of Patience Page 79. IAMES 1. 4. But let patience have her perfect worke that you may bee perfect and intire wanting nothing A Restraint of exorbitant passion Page 101. 2 SAM 12. 22. 23. 22 And he said while the Child was yet alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the Child may live 23 But now he is dead wherefore should I fast Can I bring him back againe I shall goe to him but he shall not returne to me The sting of Death Page 121. 1 COR. 15. 56. The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law The destruction of the Destroyer Page 135. 1 COR. 15. 16. The last enemie that shall be destroyed is death The Worlds losse and the righteous mans gaine Page 151. ESAY 57. 1. And mercifull men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evill to come The good mans Epitaph Page 177. REVEL 14. 13. I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes doe follow them The Christians Center Page 193. ROM 14. 7. 8. 7 For none of us liveth to himselfe and no man dyeth to himselfe 8 For whether we live we live to the Lord and whether wee die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords The improvement of Time Page 213. 1 COR. 7. 29. 30. 31. 29 But this I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have wives be as though they had none 30 And they that weepe as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as if they rejoyced not and they that buy asthough they possessed not 31 And they that use this world as not abusing it for the fashion of this world passeth away Securitie surprized Page 235. 1 THESSAL 5. 3. For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape A Christians victory or conquest over deaths Enmitie Page 263. 1 COR. 15. 26. The last Enemie that shall be destroyed is death The great Tribunall Gods scrutinie of Mans secrets Page 283. ECCLESIAST 12. 14. For God will bring every worke into judgement with every secret thâ—…ng whether it be good or whether it be evill A Triall of Sinceritie Page 299. ESAY 26. 8. 9. 8 Yea in the way of thy judgements O Lord have wee waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee 9. With my soule have I desired thee in the night yea with my Spirit within me will I seeke thee early for when thy judgements are in the earth the Inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnesse The expectation of Christs comming Page 321. PHIL. 3. 20. 21. 20. For our conversation is in Heaven from whence we looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesuâ—… Christ. 21. Who shall Change our vile body that it may bee fashioned like unto his glâ—…rious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himselfe Christs Precept and Promise or security against death Page 345. IOHN 8. 51. Verily verily I say unto you if a man keepe my saying he shall never see death The Young-mans liberty and limits Page 367. ECCLESIAST 11. 9. Rejoyce O young-man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into
bones with strong paines What 's the reason of this but that man may come to this conclusion with himselfe that hee may bring his owne heart to a reckoning for his former cariage This is that the Apostle saith for this cause many are weake and sickly among you and many sleepe some were taken with sicknesse upon others there was a consuming weaknesse and others were strucken with death what is the end that God propounds in all this For this reason that wee should judge our selves for if wee judge our selves wee shall not be judged of the Lord but when wee are judged wee are chastned of the Lord that wee should not bee condemned of the world As if hee should say God now calleth you to a reckoning in this life to the end you may prevent that heavy and grievous one that comes after this life Againe when outward afflictions prevaile not God hath spirituall afflictions to awaken mâ—…n Thus David when hee was in a deepe sleepe of securitie God awakned him with a spirituall judgement see his speech in the 32. Psal. When I kept close my sinnes my bones were consumed and I roared for the disquietnesse of my soule what followed God by this meanes brought him to confession I will confesse my transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquitie of my sinne Thus God in this life calleth men to a reckoning sometimes by â—…he preaching of the Word sometimes by judgements upon the outward man or by terrours upon the soule But if all this prevaile not to make a man reckon with himselfe in this life then God hath another reckoning after this life where every man must give an account and cannot avoid it and there hee must abide the sentence of the Iudge that would not prevent it before That there is such a Iudgement to come it appeareth By the equitite necessitie of it In respect of God the Saints the wicked Frst I say in respect of God there is a necessitie of it That his Decree may bee fulfilled and executed Hee hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousnesse And his counsell shall stand and hee will doe all his pleasure Secondly it is necessarie that Gods honour may be vindicated Now things seeme to goe in some confusion and disorder in the world Good men the children of God are not alwayes best in the place of judgement I have seene saith Solomon an evill under the Sunne that in the place of judgement wickednesse was there and in the place of righteousnesse that iniquitie was there this observation Solomon makes therefore I said God will bring to judgement every thing both good and evill for there is a time for every worke and every purpose God hath a time to doe that great worke that he hath now purposed What is that worke that is to bring every worke to judgement whether it bee good or evill I say if wee consider this it is necessary that there should come a judgement that shall set all right againe It is necessarie likewise in respect of the Saints The very tribulations of the Saints in 2 Thes. 1. 5. are called Indigma an evident demonstration or a manifest token of the righteous judgement of God There is a necessitie of it in respect of them in two regards First that their innocencie that is traduced here may bee manifest They undergoe many disgraces and hard censures amongst men the world accounts them proud hipocrites singular foolish vaine-glorious and I know not what now saith Iob my witnesse is in heaven and saith Saint Paul I care not to bee judged of you or of mans judgement hee that judgeth me is the Lord. The Word in the Greeke is mans day as if hee should say Men have their day here but God hath a greater day after the Lord will judge in another manner and upon other grounds then men doe Secondly it is necessary also that their workes may be rewarded When we speake of reward wee meane not the reward of merit wee meane the reward of grace called a reward because God is tied to it by his promise The servants of God though they serve him with all care they have not the fatte of the earth as sometimes the Ishmaels of the world have they doe not abound with outward things as many others doe nay sometimes they are in the worst condition and that makes Gods wayes the more despised as if God were not able to maintaine his servants in the world in his wayes and worke God therefore hath a time when his servants shall have full measure heaped up pressed downe shaken together and running over When God shall make up his jewels as hee saith in Malac. 3. then shall yee discerne betweene the righteous and the wicked betweene him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Marke yee shall discerne God will make it appeare to the whole world in the day when hee makes up his jewels that notwithstanding his servants are despised and lie here under divers pressures yet that they are a people whom he delights in and accounteth as his treasures Thirdly it is necessarie in respect of the wicked too that is First that Gods righteousnesse may fully be manifested Secondly that their unrighteousnesse may fully bee punished First I say that Gods righteousnesse may fully bee manifested therefore the day of Iudgement in Rom. 2. 5. is called a day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God As if hee should say As God will manifest his wrath against the vessels of wrath so hee will make it appeare to the world that hee proceedeth in a right manner and by a right rule in judging For wee must know that howsoever God cannot bee unjust and howsoever that the ungodly men in this life contend with their owne consciences such is the hardnesse of their hearts and abundance of corruption that they would faine justifie themselves amongst men and againe howsoever it bee true that the soule when it is departed out of the body is under Gods particular judgement by an intelectuall elevation of it that it may receive the sentence of the Iudge by an illumination and by such a spirituall and contemplative discourse and observation and understanding of Gods actions as that by reflection upon it selfe it may know it selfe to bee accursed or acquitted and accordingly is entred into the possession either of happinesse or miserie Yet all this is secret in the world till the day of Gods tribunall come wherein secret things shal be made manifest and things that have been done in darknesse shall appeare before men and Angels Secondly As Gods justice must be cleared and fully manifested so the wicked and unrighteous must bee fully punished They are not fully punished when they are under the sense of Gods wrath in this life or when the soule is judged at death there must bee yet a further degree for
of men or whether men affect it in themselves but they account this a matter of praise a vertue praise-worthy to see nothing dolefull nothing worthy of mourning in the death of any one We see it is quite contrarie to the very course of the Scripture But it will be objected We are bid to mortifie our earthly affections and if we must mortifie our affections we must mortifie all our affections that of sorrow as well as anger and the like I answer briefly The Scripture indeed biddeth us mortifie our affections but it doth not bid us take away our affections it biddeth us only mortifie and purge out the corruption of our affections Now there is a twofold corruption and distemper in the affections of men The first is when they are misplaced and set upon wrong objects so we mourne for that we should rejoyce in or wee rejoyce in that we should mourne for Secondly when they are either excessive or defective either we over-doe or wee doe not either not at all or not in that proportion and measure that we should Thus when we over-grieve for worldly crosses and too little for sinne too much for the losse of earthly friends and too little for the losse of Gods favour and spirituall wants this is a distemper of the affections in the defect the heart growes earthly and fixed upon the creature and is drawne away and estranged from God Then there is the excesse that the Apostle speakes of when he exhorts them not to mourne as men without hope whether he spake there of the Gentiles as some thinke that cut their heads and made themselves bald in the day of their mourning an affected kind of outward shew they had to mourne which the Lord forbad the people of Israel to doe or whether as indeed it is because they did not restraine inwardly and bridle the exorbitant excesse of their affection wee should not mourne as the Gentiles but as men of hope mourne as men that can see the changes that God makes in the earth and in your Families and can see how neere God commeth to you and what use God would have you make of every particular tryall and affliction mourne so farre as you see your owne guilt in not making use of the opportunities you have had in enjoying your friends and so farre as you see any evidence of displeasure from God so farre we should mourne but not as men without hope But I briefly passe this intending not to insist upon it only by occasion because Solomon makes the place where any die the house of mourning Wee come now to the proofe of the point why going to the house of mourning taking these occasions to affect our hearts is better then to goe to the house of feasting then to take occasions of delighting our selves in outward things What 's the reason It is double First This is the end of all men What is the end of all men The house of mourning That which he meaneth by the house of mourning here is that which he calleth the end of all men that which putteth an end to all men and to their actions upon earth and that is Death So that the maine point that in this place the wise man intendeth is but thus much I will deliver it in the very words of the Text we need not varie from them at all Death is the End of all men Death is that which every man must expect to be the end of his life and of his actions It is the common the last condition of all men upon earth I will give you but two places of Scripture that include all men in Death One in Iob third from the fourteenth verse to the 20. verse of that Chapter Iob sheweth there how Death is the End of all men he beginneth with the Kings and Counsellers of the Earth with Princes and great warriours and descendeth afterward to prisoners and meane persons to labourers to servants to small and great all saith he lie downe in the dust and goe to the place of silence The other place is in Zachar. 1. 5. Your fathers where are they and the Prophets doe they live for ever That is looke to all your forefathers that have beene in all times before you whether they be those Fathers that you glory in Abraham Isaac and Iacob and the rest or those Fathers that disobeyed the word of Prophesie which indeed is the principall thing here intended all these Ancient persons they are dead or as S. Peter speakes of those that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah they are in prison they are in the grave yea and the Prophets too that preached to you they are dead the generations before you both of Prophets and people are all dead You see then that Death is the common condition of all men Kings and Subjects Prophets and people this is the last thing that shall be said of them all they are dead And it must be so First in regard of Gods decree It is that that God hath appointed and determined concerning all men that they must die there is a statute for it in heaven that can never be reverst It is appointed to all men once to die Heb. 9. 17. Secondly in regard of that matter whereof all men are made of earth Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Your remembrances saith Iob are like unto ashes and your bodies to bodyes of clay How easie is it for the wind to blow away ashes for a potter to breake in pieces a vessell of clay so easie it is to put an end to the memories and bodies of men they are but ashes and clay Thirdly in regard that every man hath in him that that is the cause of Death sinne It is that that is as poison in the spirits and as rottennesse in the bones Sinne brought in Death and Death seizes upon all men it consumeth all men from the very beginning by degrees Shew me a man without sinne without it either in the committing of it or without it in the guilt of it you may then shew a man that shall not die while all men are under sinne they are under Death Even our blessed Saviour Iesus Christ himselfe though he did not sinne actually yet because hee stood guiltie of our sins Death seized upon him So then Looke to Gods decree that is All men shall die Looke to the matter whereof every man is made that is a decaying dying substance And looke to the cause of death in all men that is sinne If any man can either escape Gods decree or bring a man that is not made of such a mouldring matter or produce and shew a man that hath no sinne in him then you may shew a man that shall not die but till then this conclusion remaineth that the wise man setteth downe this is the end of all men that they shall die But here
the market-place when hee should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have beene taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then commeth the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they bee such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner of doing holy duties Would you be found praying perfunctorily and carelesly Would you be found comming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you doe holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 11. For this cause many are sicke and weake and many sleepe they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore bee found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous nor too dolefull to any man Wee would not have our friends to bee in another condition in their birth then others wee would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would wee have them have more dayes Let this serve as a briefe touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are usefull to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse then the death and losse of our friends the guilt upon a mans conscience that hee hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our friends easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them thinke you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministrie before Thinke with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when friends are tooke away we may have cause to thanke God that we have had communion and comfort of their fellowship and societie the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principall reason why it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall hee lay to his heart That that is the end of all men hee shall lay the death of men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously to consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is cleare for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that commeth to God Secondly in respect of the good that commeth to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when wee lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour done to God when wee slight the death of others good or bad It is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods workes in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seene he saith to the sonnes of Adam Returne The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is hee that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seene much in these workes and it is a great dishonour to God when men doe not consider the workes of his hands David by the spirit of Prophesie in Psal. 28. 5. wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the workes of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein wee give God the glory of his wisedome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraigntie and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when wee labour to draw to a particular use to ourselves the workes of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speakes here of the death of men in generall and he saith of all men that their death shall bee laid to heart by the living Secondly as there is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that commeth to God thereby so in respect of ourselves also much benefit commeth to ourselves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three speciall things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the certainty nature cause and end of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the workes of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called Visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his owne condition and as it were in a glasse there
to heart they consider not the causes wherefore God takes away those good men A Land a Kingdome a State a People a place is much weakned when those that are righteous and mercifull men when those that stand in the gappe and use their endevours to prevent judgements are taken away The house will certainly fall when the pillars are removed They are the people of God only that hold up a state that hold up the world Assoone as Noah is put into the Arke presently commeth the deluge upon the World Assoone as ever Lot was got up to Zoar presently the Lord rained downe fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah Assoone as ever the mourners are marked presently commeth the destroying Angell upon the rest Beloved when wee see those that are mourners for the evils of the times and places where they live tooke away we should lay it to heart and consider it as a signe of Gods displeasure as a signe that hee is a going and departing when he takes away his jewels as a signe that he is a comming to judge the world when hee beginneth to separate to take to himselfe his owne Certainly as soone as ever that number of the elect shall bee accomplished when the company of those that God hath determined to eternall life shall be fulfilled when the sheepe of Christ that are yet to be brought into his fold are gathered together when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in and the nation of the Iewes added then the world shall bee burnt with fire and the day of Iudgement shall come nothing shall hinder that generall destruction that shall be the end of all things here below As it is with the generall Iudgement of the world so with particular Iudgements upon Nations when God takes away his people when the Saints goe out of Ierusalem to Pila then commeth the sword of the enemie upon Ierusalem when God drawes out his owne people presently commeth judgement upon the rest It is good to observe Gods method and order that he takes in governing of the world at this day that in the death of the servants of God wee may consider our owne time that wee may prepare for those evils that are a comming and for those greater judgements that are hastning Thus you see what use may bee made of laying to heart the death of others God is much glorified thereby For all his attributes are seene in all his workes and the glorifying of God is a declaring of God to be as glorious as hee hath revealed himselfe to be in his attributes which is by shewing of them forth in his workes When men can see the wisedome the justice the power the mercie the truth the soveraigntie of God and all in the death of others then they glorifie God in taking to heart the death of others You see likewise what good commeth to a mans selfe by laying to heart the death of others He sees thereby the certainty of his owne death He sees the nature of death and what the proper worke of it is viz. to separate betweene him and all those outward comforts all those props and staies whereupon his heart rested too much on earth in the daies of his vanitie And lastly he sees the end and cause why God sendeth Death into the world sometime in judgement that men should take heed of sin sometime in mercie in mercy to the men themselves and in mercy also to those that live that they seeing the servants of God lodged up before the tempest may learne to feare and to hide and secure themselves under Gods speciall providence who can either hide them amongst the living or the dead in the worst times Now let us conclude with some application to our selves In the first place it serveth for the just reproofe of that great neglect that is in the world at this day that men lay not to heart the death of others I wish that this were only the sinne of worldly men I know to a worldly man it is of all things the most unpleasant thought that can be to thinke of death hee cannot endure to heare this they shall fetch thy soule from thee It is as unpleasant to him as it is to a bankrout to heare of a Sergeant comming to arrest him as unpleasant as it is to a malefactour to heare of being brought before the Iudge And that is the reason why men in the time of feasting cannot endure such discourses at their Tables as might put sad thoughts of death into them oh these are to melancholy thoughts Yea but in the meane time it is thy folly thy want of wisedome Hee that was guided by the spirit of wisedome and had now bought some wisedome at a deare rate by wofull experience of his former follies hee now seeth that it was farre better to goe to the house of mourning that is seriously to consider of that which men account the most ordinary cause of mourning that is the death of others and of themselves then to goe to the house of feasting that is to sport a mans selfe in the pleasures of the world and to give libertie to a mans selfe to all manner of delights But I say I wish that this were their fault onely and that it may die with them But it is too much the fault of Gods owne people Moses is faine to pray for Israel in the Wildernesse where they saw so many die before them that God would give them wisedome to number their dayes And Ministers have still the same cause to pray for the people and Christians to pray one for another that God would give them wisedome to lay to heart the death of other men Have you well considered of Death when you can only discourse that such a one that was profitable in his instruction is dead such a one by whom we have had good in conversing with is dead such a one that was young and likely to live many yeares longer is dead What of all this this is but idle and emptie discourse What use makest thou of this to thy selfe dost thou gather from thence the certaintie of thy owne death Dost thou consider what Death will doe to thee when it commeth how that it will separate betweene thee and all things in the world as it hath done them Dost thou consider for what cause God sendeth Death abroad into the world Dost thou consider this with thy selfe as thou oughtest to doe This is an act of wisedome This is that wee call due consideration when the soule reflects upon it selfe it is their case now and it will be mine and mine in the same manner therefore it is good for me to set my accounts straite with God When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thyselfe the very next time that any death is spoken of it may bee mine or as Saint Peter speakes to Saphira after the death of Annanias The feet of those that have buried
with feare First when it is considered as an ill Secondly when it is considered as an ill difficult and hard to be avoided Thirdly when it is considered as an ill to come For if it be not conceived a thing that is ill but good it is not feared but rather desired And then againe if it be but a slight ill such as hath but a weake strength in it which a man may easily master it is not feared but disdained And then thirdly if it be an ill that hath strength it and can hardly be resisted and overcome if it be present it is not feared but grieved for It must be evill apprehended as future apprehended as difficult and apprehended as ill if it be a thing that is to be feared Now all these things are in Death in the apprehension of Gods servants while they live First I say they apprehend it as Ill. Ill is twofold either that which is contrary to mans will and so it is called Malum tristitivum or else contrary to mans nature and so it is Malum corruptivum Now Death is contrary to man in both these senses both to his nature and to his will It is a thing he would not have because it is contrary to his nature and that is contrary to his nature that seekes the destruction of nature Now when a man apprehendeth Death as a thing that would destroy nature that would overthrow and dissolve break in pieces that goodly Fabrique as he conceiveth it and make that something to become nothing it is a thing that nature cannot beare it abhorreth So the servants of God as they have nature in them they have this naturall affection to preserve their beeing and this in it selfe is not simply sinfull but so farre as it exceedeth the rule Therefore you see that because men apprehend Death as an Ill contrary to nature they preferre other things that are Ill in a lesse regard in a lesse degree before that A man would rather part with his wealth then part with his life as wee see in Psal. 49. A man would give God a ransome for his soule if hee could hee would give all his goods to ransome his life Hee would rather be poore then not at all Nay a man will part with his ease with his health rather then with his life hee will be in paine rather then he will not bee Skin for skin and all that a man hath will hee give for his life Nay a man will part with his credit and estimation rather then with his life he will rather be disgraced then not be A living dogge is better then a dead lyon this is the speech of a man naturall he preferreth a dogge that hath life in him before a Lyon that is dead he would rather be a meane living man then a dead Prince That is the first thing men naturally conceive Death as a thing contrary to nature So it is a naturall Ill. Secondly as man conceiveth Death an Ill contrary to nature so he apprehendeth it an Ill not easily overcome When Goliah looked on David on the meannesse of his stature and the slendernesse of his preparation to fight he considered him as an enemie but as a weake one and therefore in stead of fearing he disdained him Dost thou come to mee as a dogge I will give thy flesh to the fowles of the heaven and to the beasts of the earth hee scorned him But when the Host of Israel looked on Goliah as a mighty enemie that they could not easily resist much lesse overcome the Text saith they were full of feare because of Goliah the strength of the adversarie was that that filled them with feare So when a man lookes upon Death and seeth it come as a mightie armed man provided with all weapons of warre seeth it come in to the most populous Cities as in the pestilence and slayeth tenne thousand before it seeth it come on the most strong and valiant men and breakes their bones and destroyeth them Who can stand before this Goliah hee that defieth the Host of God the host of Israel not onely the wicked but the servants of God are overcome by this enemie I say thus nature discourseth and thus a naturall man apprehendeth Death and therefore he conceiveth Death to bee a fearfull Ill because it is a thing that he cannot easily overcome That is the second Thirdly he conceiveth it as a thing Future as an Ill to come I am yet living and in health but how soone this health may turne to sicknesse and this life to Death I know not this is that that holdeth downe the spirit under feare As David said I shall fall one day by the hand of Saul one day so saith a man that liveth now in the multitude of his businesse in abundance of strength and abilitie every way I shall one day fall into the Grave I shall one day fall into the hands of Death Peter wee know how he affected Saphira with telling her of the death of her husband and faith he the feet of those that carried out thy husband shall carry thee out this affected her with feare so that she fell downe dead upon the apprehension of it Thus I say if we looke upon the object Death considered as an Ill that is a thing contrary to nature Death considered againe as a strong and mightie Gyant that none can overcome but it overcommeth them And then considered againe as a thing comming upon men now in the approach and wee know not how soone he will graspe a man in his hands and seaze upon him this is that I say that causeth that naturall feare that is in the children of God Then againe consider the Subject the person in whom the apprehension of such an object is and so likewise we shall see somewhat in the dispositions of men or in their state and condition here that may affect them with a naturall feare of Death The first is some men by constitution are more melancholy and are naturally of a more fearefull temper indeed distemper The braine is distempered the heart is distempered The braine apprehends things and lookes upon them through a false glasse through a deluded fancie and so makes a false report to the heart presenteth things more terrible then they are so sometimes the heart is ill affected by the misreport that is brought to it by the understanding sometimes both are distempered as that humour prevaileth more strongly in the body So also there are sometimes raised up turbulent and disquieting and violent passions that make some full of feare as we see in Belshazzar whose knees did smite together and all through the apprehension of death and so Felix when he heard of death and judgement to come hee trembled Though the feare of these men did not rise from melancholy but from inward guilt of conscience yet the effect sheweth that when men are affected with the apprehension of Death in the worst sight
and apprehension of it it causeth feare and terrour Secondly it commeth in others and generally in all from weaknesse of nature which in some is more then others according to their different constitutions and educations so the rich many times are more fearefull of Death then the Poore because they have more to lose so likewise voluptuous persons are more fearefull of Death then those that are more temperate because by voluptuousnesse they have dis-joynted and weakned their spirits So young men many times are more fearefull of Death then those that are old as we see in the storie Iudg. 8. 20. Iether the sonne of Gideon when he should have killed Zeba and Zalmunna the Text saith Hee was afraid because hee was a young man but Gideon that was elder did it willingly as a man better accustomed and experienced with observations of changes and varieties of accidents amongst men We shall see the servants of God themselves have discovered this weaknesse of spirit specially upon sudden apprehensions of things Abraham upon the sudden and violent apprehension of Death was put to asinfull shift I thought faith he the feare of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wives sake therefore I said this is my sister So Samuel when God sent him to anoint David he discovered this weaknesse If Saul should know what I am a doing he will slay me therefore hee desired to have some other message under the colour whereof he might put Saul off So Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and feare of it he denyed his Master This weaknesse of spirit is in man naturally Further there is another thing that causeth this naturall feare and that is the unacquaintednesse men have with Death there is somewhat in this matter that is strange to men notwithstanding they heare and see many die before them daily they heare things spoken of by the Minister and they reade the Scripture and many excellent comforts but who hath seene these what becommeth of these men they see Death the strict Porter of the world let men out of the earth but he locks the dore of the Grave upon them and none commeth backe againe to tell what is done in that place of silence to tell what is become of men when they are in the Grave how they speed in that world of soules there is no man returneth from the dead to report these things to them Now this affecteth the naturall man nay all men naturally are affected with the fearefull apprehension of death because they know not what will come after as the naturall man speakes in Ecclesiastes When Ioram set out a watch-man to see what was abroad and spied an Armie comming he sent a servant but Iehu biddeth him goe behind him he sendeth another and hee goeth behind him still saith he I see the men goe but they come not backe the Text saith hee was afraid Make ready the Chariot saith Ioram If this be the issue that men goe but never come backe againe it is high time to looke about us Certainly beloved such are the apprehensions of death Wee see men saith the naturall man goe downe to the Grave and not come backe againe wee see that a man ceaseth to bee and to doe those actions that we doe when we are upon the earth therefore let us consider the matter more seriously When the Captaine of the fifty that came to the Mount to Elijah saw the two former Captaines and their companies consumed saw that they were all dead that they ceased to bee but he saw not what became of them afterward therefore he commeth with feare to the Prophet and intreateth him that his life might be precious in his sight All strange things we know affect men and every thing as it is more strange so it more affecteth man naturally Let there but come a beast out of the Wildernesse assoone as ever he commeth unto a man and seeth him he flieth from him because he is not used to the sight of man it is strange to him but now take a beast that is brought up in the pasture in the field he will come to a man without feare because he is used to the sight of him So it is here Death is apprehended as a strange thing as a thing that a man never knew by experience Men have seene thus much that people have died but they never heard of any that came backe againe to tell them how it fared with them after death This I say that men should goe to the place of silence and have all matters hushed all things kept secret downe there there commeth no report thence this affecteth men with feare These are the naturall causes Secondly there are other causes within that affect men with the feare of death and those are sinfull causes First the want of the feare of God and as this is lesse so the feare of Death is more therefore we shall find that wicked men that cast off the feare of God in their lives they are slavishly held under the feare of death this you shall see in those examples of Belshazzar a man that set himselfe with a high hand against God went on in a contemptuous course against God and prophaned the holy vessels when there was a hand writing upon the wall some terrible thing presented to him his knees smote together hee could not hold his joynts still And so Felix a man that lived without the feare of God when he heard of judgement and other things the text saith he trembled and so likewise Cain and divers others I need not stand on it It was one of the Judgements threatned in part 28. Deut. Because thou dost not feare the Lord thy God therefore wheresoever thou goest thou shalt find no ease neither shall the sole of thy foot have any rest but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee that is thou shalt be in continuall feare of death and thou shalt feare day and night and shall have none assurance of thy life in the Morning thou shalt say would God it were Even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning because of the feare of thine heart wherewith thou shalt feare and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see This is this is the first thing Secondly another thing is this when mens hearts are too much glued to the world and marke it according as there is worldly affections and worldly-mindednesse in the hearts of Gods servants so the feare of Death is more in them according to the strength of the one is the feare of the other What is it that disquieteth men ordinarily and makes them that they cannot think of Death with comfort but this now they must lose their company part with all their friends when they die once Hezekiah complained of that I shall see man no more saith he with the
the first verse mortalitie is swallowed up of life And therefore you give wrong names to things for while you live you die because your life it is a dying condition and while you die you live because then the cessation of life it is as the river Iordan to the people of Israel no more but a passage to Canaan not a floud to drowne them so it is with the servants of God death is but a passage to heaven it is not destructive to them So that if men did but rectifie their opinions of Death as I told you before when their hearts are right set when they are humbled and not lifted up with worldly things when their faith is strengthned and setled in them when they are made watchfull in a holy course looking for Death when they are established with the assurance of Gods favour then I say they may find that all these naturall feares of death were upon mistake they did not rightly apprehend the thing Other things I should have added but I am loth to hold you too long A word for the occasion and so I will conclude The departure of our Sister here was the occasion as of this meeting here so of this Text in particular Shee gave good evidence to those that knew her more inwardly that she was in Christ that she was delivered not onely from eternall death but from feare of temporall death too It pleased God to exercise her a great while under the feare of death the apprehension of it waâ—… of some terrour to her but neverthelesse when God called her to it indeed then the feare of Death was hid from her and Christ then applied the fruit of his death in freeing her from those feares Shee was not freed from them out of a Stoycall Appethy or want of naturall affection and passion but out of a spirituall and faithfull application of Christ to herselfe upon good grounds Shee looked upon God as her Father and much delighted to expresse her apprehension of him under that notion and shee very often manifested her rejoycing in that interest she had in God as his child no marvell then if the feare of death were taken away we see here in the text that they are children that are delivered from the feare of death When we are in the state of Gods children by adoption and grace then there is rather a desire then a feare of death It is but as our Fathers white Horse so it is called in the Revelation A child at schoole when he seeth one riding post through the streets as if he would runne over him or tread upon him he cryeth out But if he sees that it is his fathers man sent to bring him from schoole to his Fathers house all his feare is past and he laugheth and rejoyceth So when we are the sonnes and daughters of God by adoption we apprehend Death as our Fathers pale Horse sent by him to bring us from a place of prison on earth home to our Fathers house a place of libertie in heaven So it was with her She looked upon Christ as her Husband and though she left a husband upon earth yet it was her owne expression shee was to goe to her Husband in heaven which was farre better for her And therefore I say having these apprehensions of God as her Father and that she was adopted to the state of a child by grace and looking upon Christ as her husband no marvell shee was freed from the feare of Death And that these were upon good grounds those that knew her course best knew that she expressed it by her abundant care to please God by her desire to serve God by her endevour to mortifie and subdue ill in her selfe by her growth in grace in her latter times these good evidences did shew that it was not a rash and groundlesse perswasion but a true and reall apprehension of God and Christ that freed her from this Feare of death Beloved many times the life of Gods servants is uncomfortable to them because for some of those reasons I have spoken of before they are afraid of Death and they apprehend it not with comfort and this they doe because they see not the interest they have in better comforts then Death can take from them I have the rather therefore spoke this of her that you may take notice of it and apply it to your selves And to conclude make this use of all to grow more humble and watchfull and holy to strengthen faith more and by dying daily to prepare more for Death For faith is the rectified apprehension of things Death it is not so fearefull as you thinke it is you lose not so much as you thinke you lose Nay againe because this trouble and this feare dishonoureth God therefore when God calleth us to Death he hideth these feares from us as he did from this servant of Christ at this time before us though she were fearfull before yet she was exceeding comfortable all the time when the apprehension of Death approched upon her So it shall be with thee if thou bee carefull to use the meanss to prepare for Death mind thou the dutie that God enjoyneth thee in thy life and leave the event and issue to him either hee will glorifie himselfe by thy feares or else he will glorifie himselfe by delivering thee from thy feares FINIS THE PERFECTION OF PATIENCE OR THE COMPLEATE CHRISTIAN HEB. 12. 1 2. Let us runne with Patience unto the race that is set before us looking unto Iesus the Authour and finisher of our faith c. JAMES 5. 12. Yee have heard of the Patience of Iob and have seene the end of the Lord. LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE PERFECTION OF PATIENCE OR THE COMPLEATE CHRISTIAN SERMON IIII. JAMES 1. 4. But let patience have her perfect worke that you may bee perfect and intire wanting nothing IN the second verse of this Chapter the Apostle perswadeth the distrest servants of God to beare their afflictions chearfully My brethren saith hee count it all joy when you fall into divers tentations This exhortation he presseth in the third Verse by shewing the gracious effects of tentations when God sanctifieth them Knowing this that the tryall of your faith worketh patience Yea but if this be all the fruit of our afflictions and tentations that we shall be made patient what great matter is that what great advantage commeth by patience It is but a dull grace it is meerely passive He telleth them that it is such a grace as is necessarie to the beeing and perfection of a Christian in the words that I have now read to you Let patience have her perfect worke that you may be perfect and intire wanting nothing I shall speake something for the explication of the tearmes and phrases used here and then come to elect such points as shall offer themselves to us from them First I will shew what is meant by patience
all met upon one person This is the language of men whereby they aggravate their afflictions and increase impatience in themselves Againe another way whereby they doe it is this By giving vent and free course to their passions Passions are like a wilde horse if they have not reines put upon them if they be not pulled in they will flie out to all excesse If once we give our Passions vent there is no stopping of them David wee see checks himselfe he had a curbe to bridle his passions Why art thou cast downe oh my soule But otherwise when men give the reines to their passion and doe not stop their course but thinke they have reason for it they breake out into all exorbitancie Ionah when the Lord chalenged him for his anger Dost thou well to bee angrie I saith he I doe well to be angrie even to the death So David Oh Absalom my sonne would God I had died for thee oh Absalom my sonne my sonne What hurt was done to David what wrong had the man to take on thus his sonne was tooke from him but it was Absalom Absalom died but it was Absolom that would have killed his father and yet he takes on as if the father could not live because the sonne that sought his death was tooke from him Such unreasonable Passions such causelesse distempers oft-times are in the soules of men that they mistake Gods wayes and that very way that he intendeth them good in they complaine of as if it were their utter undoing Againe thirdly another way whereby men increase their impatience and distemper is when they will not give way to comfort they will not onely bee exceeding vehement and intent upon their Passions but besides stop all passages and in-lets against comfort It was Iacobs fault concerning the death of Ioseph When he heard that Ioseph was dead not onely his heart sunke within him but hee rends his garments and covereth himselfe with sack-cloth he takes on so that when his sonnes and children rose up to comfort him he would not be comforted Why Because Ioseph was not and I will goe to the grave to Ioseph nothing would comfort Iacob but he would goe downe to the grave to Ioseph by all meanes What a great matter was this He only heard that Ioseph was dead he was alive he knew not so much but hee heard a present sound of feare and he was carried away with that So it is with us the very apprehension of our feares are as bad to us as the things themselves could possibly be Nay we multiply upon our selves our feares and we will not heare counsell and comfort as Rachel that mourned for her children and would not bee comforted because they were not Againe a fourth thing whereby men increase impatience in themselves and aggravate their sorrowes is this when men looke onely upon the present afflictions and not upon the mercies they have as if they had but one eye to behold all objects with as if they could looke but upon one thing at once there should bee a looking upon the affliction and there should bee a looking upon the mercy too This was Hamans case when he was vexed that Mordecay did not doe him reverence all his wealth and his honours could doe him no good he had much wealth and the glory of his house was increased he had the favour of the King and was inclining to have the honour of the Queene put upon him yet all this availeth me nothing saith he so long as I see Mordecay the Iew sitting in the Kings gate Hee lookes onely on this particular that vexed and grieved him and not upon the rest So it is with us if there be but one particular affliction upon us we fix our eyes upon that Like a Flie that flieth about the glasse and can sticke no where till she come to some cracke or as a Gnat that commeth about the body of a beast that will be sure to sticke on the galled part or some sore or other So it is with these disquieted thoughts of men that are of no other use but to further Sathans ends to weaken their faith and discourage their owne hearts men sticke on the gall on the sore of any affliction there they will rest It is true God hath given us such and such favours and mercies hath offered us such and such opportunities but what is this this and that particular affliction is upon me This is that that increaseth impatience when a man will not looke on the mercies he receiveth but onely lookes on that that he wanteth Againe a fifth course that men take to aggravate their sorrows and increase impatience in themselves is this They looke upon the instrument of their sorrows and afflictions but never looke up to God that ruleth and over-ruleth these things Men looke upon such a person such a man and no more Yee see how David was disquieted at this If it had beene an enemie that reproached him then he could have borne it but it was thou my friend my equall my guide my acquaintance that sate at my table wee tooke sweet counsell together and walked unto the house of God in company This troubled him and see how he multiplied his sorrowes when hee looked upon the instrument till he looked upon God and then I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it There is no quiet in the heart when a man lookes upon man till hee lookes upon God that ordereth all things by his wisedome and counsell Lastly men aggravate their sorrowes and increase their impatience by another course they take that is when they looke on their sorrows and afflictions onely and not upon the benefit of affliction they looke only upon that that flesh would avoyde but not that which if they were spirituall and wise they would desire No affliction saith the Apostle is joyous for the time that is to flesh and nature but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them which are exercised thereby Now men looke upon that only which is grievous in affliction upon the smart of it but not upon the profit of Affliction the quiet fruit of righteousnesse that commeth by it As a man when he hath a Corroding plaister put to a sore he cryeth and complaineth of the smart it putteth him to but takes no notice of the healing that commeth by it and the cure that followeth Thus it is with men they complaine of God as if he envied them the comfort of their lives as if he intended to robbe them of all conveniencies and to make them utterly miserable to begin a Hell with them on earth when they never looke how God by this meanes fitteth them for heaven by this meanes purging out corruption and strengthening grace in them Wee are afflicted of the Lord that we may not be condemned of the world Men looke upon the affliction
is that which is both a testimony of the inward humiliation of the soule as also a helpe and furtherance of it Such a fast was this that David speakes of here A Fast that did arise from a sense of his unworthinesse of the creature and did expresse the sorrow of his heart for sinne A Fast which he did set upon only for this end that he might be more free and more fit for prayer And so likewise for the mourning and weeping he speakes of It was not such a weeping as ariseth meerely from the temper of the body as in some that are more apt for teares Nor a weeping that did arise from the distemper of the mind such as those curst froward passionate vexing fretting teares are such as the teares of Esau to his father hee lift up his voyce and wept hast thou not one blessing more blesse mee even me also oh my father But they were teares that did arise from a holy affection from a gracious disposition of heart from inward contrition and sorrow like the teares that Peter shed when hee went out and wept bitterly They were teares that discovered the inward vehemency of his spirit in prayer like those teares of Iacob when he wrestled with the Angell the Prophet Hosea telleth how he wrestled hee prayed and wept Such teares were these as did expresse the fervencie of his spirit in prayer the earnestnesse of his desire in putting up this request he had now to God like those of Hezekiah I have heard thy prayer and seene thy teares saith God such teares as God putteth into his bottle such teares as hee takes speciall notice of There are no teares that are shed for sinne out of an inward sorrow of heart that are shed in prayer to expresse a holy desire that proceed from an inward inflamed affection and fervency of spirit but they are very precious with God as farre I say as they declare the inward truth of the heart and the inward sense of our wants and the weight of the petitions we put up to God Such were these teares here I fasted and wept I will not stand upon this The reason of this action why he fasted and wept I did it for this end for saith he I said who knoweth whether the Lord will bee gracious to mee that the childe may live A man may wonder if he read the former part of the chapter whence this perswasion and hope should come into the heart of David that there should be a possibility of having the life of this child by his prayer whereas the Lord had said before by Nathan to him that the child should die Nathan had told him in expresse tearmes that the child should die yet he putteth up his prayer for it and said Who knoweth whether the Lord will bee gracious to me that the child may live We must know therefore that God sometime even in those sentences that seeme absolute implies and intends a condition David had respect to such a course as God ordinarily tooke hee knew well that God at other times had threatned things yet neverthelesse upon the repentance and prayers and teares upon the humiliation and contrition of the hearts of his servants he hath beene pleased to alter the sentence to suspend nay it may be wholly to take away and change the Execution Thus it hath beene It was so in the case of Hezekiah The Lord sentas expresse a message by Isaiah the Prophet to Hezekiah as he did by Nathan to David Set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not live Yet neverthelesse Hezekiah turneth his face to the wall hee wept and laid open his request before the Lord Remember now oh Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. Yee see the Lord presently sendeth the Prophet to tell him that he had added fifteene yeares to his life and yet the message was carried in expresse words and in as peremptory termes as a man would have thought it had beene absolute and no condition intended The like in the case of Niniveh Ionah commeth to Niniveh and began to enter the City a dayes journey and hee cried and said Yet fortie dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed Here was the time limited the Judgement declared and no condition exprest yet the King of Nineveh humbleth himselfe and the people they fast and pray and goe in sackcloth c. and the Lord was pleased to alter this sentence But some will say these Examples were after Davids time What were these to him upon what ground did hee take this course had he any promise or example before time of any such thing as this that did give him incouragement to fast and pray in hope that though God had said the child should die yet it should live Certainly David had examples before time of the like nature when God had threatned judgements and they did not know whether the issue would prove or no as they desired yet they sought God As in the case of Saul When the Lord sent an expressemessage by Samuel that the kingdome should be taken from him and given to another because he had not dealt faithfully in the execution of Gods command concerning Amaleck yet saith thetext Samuel mourned for Saul still Insomuch as the Lord questioneth him How long wilt thou mourne for Saul seeing I have rejected him from raigning over Israel Yet Samuel continued in seeking God as if hee should say Who knoweth what the Lord will doe But more expresly David had examples before his time not onely of seeking the Lord but of a gracious successe and answer that those had that sought him As in the case of the Israelites when there was a discontent amongst the people because of the ill report that the Spies put upon the good land the people began now to murmur against God Well saith the Lord to Moses let me alone and I will destroy this people at once Moses setteth himselfe to seeke the Lord and prayeth and presseth the Lord with many arguments for his owne glory for his peoples sake for his Covenants sake and many other wayes to spare them What was the issue of it He was heard the Lord told him that hee had heard his prayer and granted his request though hee would fill the earth with his glory and all the world should know what a jealous God he was another way yet in this particular hee had granted his request they should not be cut off at this time So that David had good experience that though judgement hath beene threatned before yet neverthelesse courses have beene taken that the sentence hath beene altered without a change of Gods purpose at all For God ever intended it to be understood with a condition if they returned not to him he would goe on if they returned to him he would not goe on So the purpose of God
Why should I doe this The reasons he giveth against excessive sorrow are first I can but give you the heads of things because it is a thing against reason Hence I will note this to you That one way to moderate our sorrowes and to regulate them aright is to bring them to the examination of reason and judgement When passions sway when they doe not looke to the commands of reason to bee subject and ordered according to that but usurpe a rule in the soule above reason then there is nothing but confusion and distemper and disorder in a mans affections and actions and in his whole course A man should therefore consider what reason there is for every thing If hee sorrow for a thing what reason have I for it If hee rejoyce in any thing what reason have I for it Is it worth this sorrow or this joy I say this is the way to rectifie and moderate our passions and to order them aright if wee trie them all by sound reason David tooke this course at other times Why art thou cast downe oh my soule why art thou disquieted within mee Is there any good reason for it Reason I say is a curbe and bridle to stop passion when it is running on in its free course If David had done thus would hee have runne out to that excessive expression for his sonne Oh Absalom my sonne my sonne c. What great reason had hee for this that Absolom a rebellious son was tooke away that sought the death of his father that God glorified himselfe in the punishment of a disobedient proud insolent childe in the sight of all the world Was this a matter for David so much to grieve and to be troubled at If Ionah had done thus if hee had considered what reason hee had to bee angrie as GOD putteth the question to him dost thou well to bee angrie Would he not have stopped that Passion If Cain had done thus if he had put the question to himselfe as GOD did Why art thou wroth why is thy countenance fallen Or as that great King said to Nehemiah Why is thy countenance sad So if men would put the question to themselves concerning their affections as concerning love why doe I set my heart upon such and such things and so likewise concerning their sorrow and anger and every thing Why is it thus As Rebecca said when the children did striue in her womb so when there is a conflict of passions in the soule against reason since it is so why am I thus Who art thou that fearest mortall man saith Isaiah to the Church If men I say did thus they would not breake out into such exorbitancie of passions as commonly they doe The way then to order any affection aright is to reduce it to the principles of sanctified and rectified reason and judgement Let reason be guided by the Word of GOD and let the affections be ordered by that reason so rectified Thus it was with man in the state of innocencie and experience telleth us that in the state of corruption all disorder commeth from the want of this subordination of the affections to reason in their severall actions and motions When a man goes hood-winkd up and downe hee is in danger of stumbling and falling into one hole or other this is for a man to walke in darknesse then a man walketh in darknesse when hee is not guided in all his actions and affections by the light of truth shining in his understanding A man should therefore strive to checke himselfe and to suffer others to checke him Why is it thus If a man cannot give a cause and a reason it is a passion to be rejected a distemper to be repented of This is the first thing He saw no reason therefore hee would not doe it The second is this It was altogether bootlesse Why should I fast I cannot bring him backe againe Hee meaneth bring him backe againe to live on the earth So Iob meaneth when hee speakes in the same manner If a man die shall hee live againe hee cannot be brought backe againe to live and converse among men The point I not hence is this That all the actions and opportunities of this life cease in death There is no calling of them backe againe No bringing of a man backe to take new opportunities to enjoy the comforts he hath lost and to make use of the meanes he hath neglected and to redeeme the time he hath slackly let passe When the request was put to Abraham by Dives that some might come from the dead to tell his brethren upon earth where he was No saith he that request shall never be granted that a man should come from the dead to give warning to the living much lesse that a man himselfe should returne from thence to begin upon a new score a new reckoning to have a new time appointed when that time is past over They have Moses and the Prophets let them heare them God hath appointed the meanes and a time to use the meanes Now they have Moses and the Prophets After this life they shall have none of those meanes no time of using them The child shall not come back againe nor the man shall not come backe againe Death is a strict doore-keeper all that passe out that way the doore is shut on them they shall never returne backe Wee reade of many severall Ages that have gone to the place of silence we never read of any that came thence to tell what is done there we never heard of any yet that came backe againe to reforme his course A friend with all his prayers and teares cannot bring backe a friend that is dead It teacheth us a point of wisedome to make good use of our time the time of grace we have We draw neerer death every day then other and when once we are dead we shall never be brought backe againe upon the earth If a man had all the world and would give it to obtaine an houres time upon earth to doe what he neglected before he cannot have it therefore while it is called to day harden not your hearts yet a little while and you shall have the light saith Christ while yee have the light walke in the light Make use of the meanes of grace the time may come when yee may wish as Dives is described to wish that some body much more that you your selves might come from the dead Certainly if those in Hell were to come from the dead againe though it were to live a hundred yeares on earth a holy strict and conscionable life to watch over all their wayes to keepe a good conscience toward God and men they would not omit a duty nor slight a duty they would not omit an opportunity a minute but spend their whole life in working out their salvations with feare and trembling they would sleepe and awake with feare lest they should sinne they would be
same debt Looke overall the times of the world and the dispositions of persons looke over learning and folly greatnesse or poorenesse find me a man that escaped Death Die we must and we have need to have this much pressed upon us for it is a hard matter to beleeve that we must die that I must be the man that must die common notions of Death are granted but that I must die and lie in the dust and stand before God it is a hard matter to beleeve this And consider this secondly that Death will be terrible to thee if he knocke and find a sting in thee Thou that now wilt not be reclaimed from swearing Alas what will become of that blaspheming soule of thine when Death shall come and find a sting of blasphemy in thee How darest thou thinke of giving up that swearing soule of thine to the Judge of heaven and earth Thou unrighteous person that wilt not sanctifie the Lords day how darest thou give up that unholy soule of thine to the holy God Dost thou thinke to have an eternall rest in heaven and wilt not give God a rest here So I might say for all kind of sinners Thinke of this take heed lest Death find a sting in thee for all the sting that Death hath it findeth in thy selfe looke to it thy condition will be fearfull if Death come and find Sin unmortified unrepented of in thee God will certainly bring thee to judgement for every thought and word and action Thirdly consider this that naturally we are so tempered that if Death come he shall find his weapons and strength in us in every man of us I meane considered naturally But how shall I know whether Death when he commeth shall find a sting in me or no I will only give you two tryals you shall know it thus First if thy conscience now sting thee for some approved sinne if thou repent not Death will assuredly meet thee with a sting that approved sinne of thine will be the sting of death Conscience will sting a man either for the act done or for the approbation of the act if conscience sting a man for his approbation of a sinfull qualitie or for a sinfull course if a man continue in that course surely that will be the sting of death to his soule therefore looke to thy selfe perhaps thou art convicted of such a sinne perhaps thy conscience hath so wrought on thee that it hath stung thee for such a sinne thou yet approvest thy selfe in it and thou wilt goe on in thy pride still in such and such sinnes stil thou wilt doe so doe but know this that stand thou never so much upon thy resolution Death will certainly come and if he find thee in such a sinne against thy conscience thou hast reserved in thy selfe a sting for Death Secondly a man shall know if Death come with a sting by this tryall that Solomon giveth us in Eccles. 11. 9. Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thy heart and sight of thine eyes but know that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement If thou live a voluptuous life Death will certainly come with a sting Dives hee lived a voluptuous life had he not a sting for it So others in Scripture did not their plentifull tables and voluptuous courses bring a sting on them A voluptuous life makes a sting for Death When a poore wretch is a dying and shall begin to reflect backe on his life what have I done how have I lived so much time I have spent or mispent inapparell in vanitie in eating in drinking in swaggering What comfort is this to his soule how can he answer this before God this is the very thing that will sting him at such a day when he can reade nothing in his life but barrennesse and unfruitfulnesse nothing that hath honoured God in all his life Certainly my brethren if there be an Epicurious voluptuous life this life will provide a sting for Death Alas you will say Is it so then we may feare that Death will seize on us thus for we confesse we have gone on in a voluptuous life gone on in sinne that our conscience hath condemned us for how shall we doe to pull out this sting I would to God you were thus affected that you were convicted what a fearfull thing it will be if sinne remaine But wouldest thou have the sting of death pulled out before death come 1. How shall I disarme it that I may looke death in the face with comfort I shall give you some wayes and meanes remember them and practise them First get but a part in Christ and the sting of death is gone thankes bee to God saith the Apostle here that hath given us victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. It is he that in the Revelation is said to have the keyes of Hell and of Death they are under his command and subjection he is victorious over them hee hath vanquished them so that if a man have Christ he hath victorie and power over Hell and Death I told you in the beginning that that which giveth a sting to Death is the guilt of sinne It is so and it is a fearfull sting Now that which takes away the guilt of sinne is Christ. If Christ be mine I have enovgh to answer the guilt of sinne Therefore the Apostle saith Death cannot separate from the love of God in Christ What shall then Indeed nothing it is not the guilt of his sinnes Christ hath satisfied from them So that if thou wilt have the sting of death out get faith in Christ if thou be not hidden in the clefts of that Rock in the bloud of Christ if Christ be not thy Justification and thy righteousnesse what hast thou to answer the Justice of God you must die and stand before God and how can you stand before God in your sinnes you cannot without Christ why doe you not then studie more for Christ Why doe you not labour for faith in him It will be your wisedome to labour earnestly to make sure of him if you have him the sting of death is gone Death cannot hurt a person that hath Christ. Get faith in Christ therefore that is the first Secondly if you would not have Death terrible and fearfull to you labour for sincerity My brethren it is a marvellous thing and yet the truth uprightnesse and sincerity of heart it is an enabling grace All the particular things that we account particular otherwise they have not an inabling vertue in them Some persons have a great deale of learning and wit and many friends much riches and the like yet there commeth an occasion sometimes that puzzleth all these there commeth an occasion sometime that a mans learning is of no use and naturall parts and wit cannot helpe and riches cannot inable him What time
such meditations No man can live well till he can die well Hee that is prepared for Death is certainly freed from the danger of death neither is there any so fit a way to bee ready for it as to be often minded of it Therefore I have made choice at this time to speake of this verse wherein ye see the Apostle declareth and leadeth us to treat of foure things First that there is a Death Secondly that this Death is an enemie Thirdly that this enemie is the last enemie Lastly that this least enemie shall be destroyed A word or two of each of these parts First Death is Yee know that well enough your eyes shew it you daily our senses declare it so plainly that no man is so senslesse that knoweth it not It is agreed upon by all Only for your better furtherance to make use of this point let us acquaint you with that which nature will teach yee concerning Death Secondly with that which Scripture will teach you above and better then Nature Nature sheweth yee concerning Death first what it is And then Secondly what Properties it hath It telleth us this That Death is an absence from life a ceasing from beeing when one was beeing to be thrust as it were out of the present world and be cast some where This is all that Nature informeth us concerning the Essence and beeing of Death Death is a dividing of us from this life and from the things of this life and sends us abroad we know not where Secondly Nature teacheth us three Properties concerning Death One that it is universall It hath tied all to it high and low rich and poore Death knockes at the Princes pallace as well as at the poore habitation of the meanest man It is a thing that respects no mans greatnesse it regardeth no wealth nor wit nothing Death takes all before it That Nature teacheth too Secondly Nature teacheth that Death is inevitable If a man would give all the world he cannot thrust it out of dores It takes whole Armies aswell as one man It scorneth to bee resisted by the Phisitians there is no words no meanes to escape it It is such an enemie as we must grapple with and it will conquer This Nature teacheth Againe Nature teacheth that death is uncertaine A man knoweth not when Death will come to him or when it will lay hold on him or by what meanes it will fetch him out of the world It may fetch him out of the world at any time or in any place and by such occasion as it is impossible for any wit to thinke of before This is in substance all that Nature teacheth And the knowledge of this it is for good use aswell to remember and consider it as to understand it But now I goe on to tell yee what the Scripture teacheth concerning Death for that giveth a perfecter and larger information of the thing then the dimme light of Nature The Scripture then over and above that which Nature sheweth telleth us concerning Death these things First it sheweth better what it is and then It sheweth whence it commeth and what are the causes of it Thirdly it declareth the consequences what follow upon it And lastly and bestly it telleth us the remedie against the ill of Death In all which Nature stumbleth and can doe little or nothing First the Scripture telleth us what it is It letteth us know that it is the disolution of a man not the annihilation It doth not make him cease to bee but takes asunder a while the soule from the body It carrieth the one to the earth and the other to another world so that both continue to bee though they be not united as before The word of God teacheth us that he hath created the world as it were a house of three Stories The middle is this present life where we be And there is a lower place the Dungeon a place of unhappinesse and destruction There is a higher place a pallace of glory According as men behave themselves in this middle roome so Death either leadeth them downe to the place of unhappinesse or conveyeth them up to the pallace of glory and blessednesse This Nature is ignorant of but the Scripture is plaine in The rich man dieth and his soule is carried to Hell the poore man when he died his soule was advanced to Heaven So that Death is nothing but the messenger of God to take the soule out of the body and to convey it to a place of more happinesse or more miserie then can be conceived Secondly the Scripture acquaints us further with the cause of death Philosophers wondred since nature desireth a perpetuitie and continuance of it selfe that man should be so short a time in the world The Scripture endeth this wonderment and tels us that man indeed was made immortall to continue for ever and should not have died but sinne came into the world and by sin death Death is the mother of sinne and of all miserie that by little and little draweth to death I say sinne the first sinne of our first Parents whereby they transgressed that most easie and equall mandate about eating the forbidden fruit That transgression that was the treading under foot the covenant of workes and the disanulling of it that sinne let in Death at a great Gappe and now it triumpheth and beareth rule over all the world Nature cannot tell which way in the world a man should die so soone and that hee that is the Lord of all creatures should bee inferiour to a great number of them in length of life But the word of God unridleth this riddle and telleth us that God made man that hee might and should have lived for ever but Sinne comming and comming in the person of the first man it brought death and made all men mortall and when sinne entred Gods curse came and that working upon us poore and miserable creatures it is the cause that we cannot continue long here It was equall that death should follow sinne for since God made man to obey his will when man had unfitted himselfe for Gods service it was reason that he should have a short continance of life for the longer he endured the more he would abuse himselfe Yee see then two things that the Scripture teacheth concerning death The third thing it sheweth is what followeth after death and that is plaine It is appointed for all men once to die and after death commeth judgement Nature never dreamed of judgement after Death but the Scripture telleth us there is a Judgement after Death Judgement what is that Judgement yee know is a calling of a man before Authoritie a looking into his wayes a considering of his actions a finding out whether hee be a sinner an evill doer and if hee find him so to passe sentence according to his evill deeds When God hath tooke the soule from the body hee takes the soule first
man is said to perish and in what sense and how it is impossible they should perish and why the Holy Ghost chooseth this word which is more then death to set out to us the death of the Righteous man And then the last considered in particular how it is lawfull to mourne for the departure of those that are gone how that God alloweth that how that God blameth for the neglect of it Men are to lay it to heart to grive How farre this griefe is to extend These were the heads of those things that concerne the first part I now goe on forward to the second And that is a complaint as the former was that the Prophet takes up over the people of the Iewes for their great stupiditie in that they considered not any worke of God toward them And it hath these two parts There is the complaint he takes up over the dead Mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come And the other complaint he takes up over the living those that are living and survive them they care not though heaven and earth bee mingled together though they lose all their proppes whereby the earth is supported they never consider it I begin with the first of these And that is The complaint that is taken up over the Righteus mans departure In that I consider two things First looke to the meaning of the words And then see what were the motives that made the Prophet take up this complaint and lamentation that whereas others wanted it the Prophet should supply it and should give testimonie to their departure The righteous are taken away First for the meaning of the words It is a proposition and there are three parts of it The subject of the proposition Mercifull men The predicat Are taken away The Affix anexed to it from the evill to come Briefly looke upon the meaning of all these and they will all afford us some instruction The first is the subject of this proposition It is said here and it varieth from the former Mercifull men A man would wonder why he should alter the stile except it were because the Spirit of God delighteth to set out godly men according to the multitude of their titles the righteous and mercifull men otherwise the same terme might have beene kept in the latter part for they are both the same in effect He that is a mercifull man is a Righteous man and he that is righteous will be mercifull yet the Prophet varieth it righteous men perish and mercifull men are taken away There is some speciall reason of the variation I conceive it is one of these three or all The first reason why he useth this word mercifull men in the latter part is For the greater conviction of their stupiditie They were such as were not affected with the condition or losse of righteous and holy men nay they were so stupid that they were not affected with the losse of mercifull men that is more If there were any sense of pietie they should for Gods cause grive at the losse of godly men but if there were any sense of their owne good there should bee griefe for the losse of mercifull men Generally if it bee possible to sever them the world hath more misse of mercifull men then of righteous men every man should mourne for their departure and misse them though pietie and righteousness may go unmourned for But these were come to that stupiditie that they had no sight nor sense of their owne good being a mercifull man it is likely there were many naked that he had clothed many starved soules that he had fed there were parched bowels that he had simpathyzed with he used to mourne with those that mourne to lament with those that lament Many Interpreters would have it spoken that Isaiah said this of himselfe in regard of the persecution that he suffered he was taken away by the Saw but whether it were of one mercifull man or of all a man would thinke that mercifull men should not goe out of the world without mourners there are Orphans and Widowes that will mourne for mercifull men that have been relieved by them Yet this stupiditie so benummed them in their own senses they were so frozen that they had no simpathie at all neither respect to pietie or mercie Righteous men were taken away and they looked not on that side mercifull men were taken away and they looked not on that side neither So it is an aggravation of their stupiditie Secondly another reason why he varieth the word Righteous men first and mercifull men after is this To shew how much God honoureth the workes of mercie Though it bee a glorious title A righteous man yet the Spirit of God will not let him goe without another title A mercifull man Righteousnesse is best knowne to God but mercifulnesse to men Mercifulnesse is an evidence of pietie and godlinesse Mercie is that grace that honoureth God most and God honoureth it most All the high Elogies that are given to pietie in the Scripture are specially stated on mercie God honoureth it with large and ample promises Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie It hath not the least be atitude set to it as Basil of Seuleucia well observeth God honoureth it likewise with an approbation When I was hungrie yee fed me when I was thirstie yee gave me drinke and with a publike approbation at the last day in the presence of Angels and men it is mercie that God then magnifieth Come yee blessed when I was hungrie yee fed mee c. God honoureth it likewise with an excellent memoriall hee alwayes mentioneth it with honour see it in Cornelius see it in Iob see it in other Saints they were noted for mercifulnesse in the Scripture here in this place the spirit of God because the righteous man shall not goe without an Epitaph he makes on this righteous man a mememoriall Mercifull men are taken away That is the second reason that they might understand how farre God honoureth the workes of Charitie and mercy Thirdly that the Prophet might instruct them and us now who are to be reputed and accounted true righteous men Those that God accounteth so And those are mercifull men These two righteousnesse and mercie they meet in God so they must in every Christian. They are the two wayes of God saith David all his waies are mercy and righteousnesse They are the two wayes that Christ takes in the world the first way at his first comming a comming of mercy to call men to mercy The second at his second comming a comming of judgement to judge the quicke and the dead So they are two wayes of God so saith Saint Bernard They are the two feet of God by which he walketh through the world God visiteth men upon one of these two feet either in mercie or in righteousnesse as they are the feet upon which God walketh to us so they
woman that doth that but shee may perhaps out-live her Husband A vertuous woman will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life And for this amongst many other things I doe commend this vertuous Gentlewoman I may almost say with the words there in the end of that Chapter Many daughters have done excellently but thou surmountest them all So I may say many women peradventure have done excellently in this kind but I doe not know of any one that ever hath done the like to her Husband I pray you heare it Her Husband had a brother that lived in Portugall at the time of his death who was there married he had there three children at least two sonnes and a daughter This vertuous good Woman would give her selfe no rest till she had these children out of Portugall shee got the two sonnes hither And what was her care here is another excellencie of hers her chiefe care was for their soules What did shee or rather what did shee not to winne those children from Poperie in which they have beene brought up and to bring them to the true service of God Shee obtained it she got it When shee had done that wonne them to our religion she had not done all one of these had a desire to exercise some Merchandise by Sea Shee furnished him to the Sea shee furnished him with money for his adventures The other shee bound Apprentise here in the Citie to an honest trade and shee hath given them a liberall childes portion I may say so A childes portion that they may thanke God and I hope they wil have the grace to do it that they had I do not say such an Aunt in law but such a Mother Here was not all Shee sent for the Mother too shee was but sister-in-law to her Husband she sent for the Mother she sent for the Daughter they were here Shee clothed them she fed them some moneths and if shee could have wonne them to our religion she would have maintained the Mother while shee had lived shee would have brought up the Daughter as her owne child But that could not be done it was a worke beyond her strength You see here a vertuous Woman that did good to her Husband not all the dayes of his life but all the dayes of her life To the very last day of her life shee never did cease to doe good to her Husband in his kindred and I thinke I may say that shee was more carefull of his kindred then of her owne But this is not all This kindnesse you will say was shewed to her Husbands kindred Heare a little more therefore Shee knew that there were many Ministers that had a great charge of children and peradventure would be very glad to have some of their children taken off of their hands Shee hath given to the putting out of five Ministers children to bind them Apprentices fiftie pounds Shee knew that there were some poore persons of the Palatinate here which stood in necessitie Shee hath given to the reliefe of them twentie pounds Shee knew that there were many poore soules that lay in Turkish slavery Shee hath given for the redeeming of them twentie pounds Nay yet more Shee considered that her Husband was sometime a poore scholler in the Universitie of Cambridge And shee considered too that there are many Ministers Widowes that lived well while their husband lived that are faine to crave reliefe the greater is the shame of some men when they are dead Shee hath therefore given five hundred pounds to purchase lands and with this land to maintaine partly two Schollers in the Universitie from their first comming thither till they bee Masters of Art And then with the residue to maintaine foure Widowes that have beene the Wives of honest preaching Ministers Zacheus his offer was but halfe of his goods Lord halfe of my goods I give to the poore For ought I can perceive and understand above halfe of her estate shee hath given to charitable uses I say no more of her These workes of her will praise her in the gates Shee died in the Countrey And I am sorry that I had not information as I did desire of her behaviour in her sicknesse I have it not I can say nothing of it but thus much It was not possible that such a creature that lived thus as we know she did in obedience to God in repentance in faith with invocation of Gods mercie in Charity in Peace but that her death was blessed Shee that lived in the Lord no question but she died in the Lord and shee is blessed for Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. God Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome and grant that as we grow in yeares we may grow in knowledge of thy truth in obedience to thy will in faith in thy promises in love toward thee and toward our neighbours for thy sake that when wee come to the end of our dayes wee may come to the end of our hope the salvation of our soules through Jesus Christ to whom with thee oh Father and thee oh holy Spirit three Persons but one true and immortall and onely wise God be given both from us and all thy creatures in heaven and in earth continuall praise honour glory dominion and power now and for evermore Let all those that heare the word of God depart from iniquitie Now the God of Peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect to doe his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. Amen FINIS THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. PHILIP 1. 20. Christ shall bee magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death 2 COR. 5. 15. They which live should not hence-forth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose againe LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. SERMON X. ROM 14. 7. For none of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe for whether we live we live to the Lord and whether wee die wee die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die wee are the Lords THese words containe an Argument or reason which the Apostle useth to prove that the weake Christian should bee borne withall and that men should not judge because of the difference of meat amongst them Hee sheweth that they did not with the neglect of the knowledge of any truth keepe themselves ignorant in this particular but it was their weaknesse The strong should beare with the weake and the weake should not censure the strong the reason is because they agree in one end they propound one generall end to themselves that guides them in all their actions they walke in one way and in one path and
out of the booke of life rather then God shouldbe dishonoured And saith the Apostle I could bee content to bee separated from Christ for my brethrens sake that is that Christ may be glorified Hee knew that his happinesse lay not in injoying a blessed estate to himselfe free from care and trouble but that herein his happinesse lay that God may bee glorified and that he might bring it to passe by any meanes that he might serve God in that end whereto God had appointed him and the more perfectly he could attaine that end the more perfectly he should attaine his happinesse So it is with a true Christian he is so farre blessed and happy in heaven as he is serviceable to God on earth as he lives to him and doth much and suffereth much for him when that life that he hath is spent in the severall actions and turnings and changings of it in the service and to the glory of God Therefore I say consider this you lose that which you seeke you seeme to seeke happinesse to your selves by seeking wealth and pleasures or earthly advantages to your selves and while you seeke them with a neglect of duty to God with a neglect of the discharge of that worke and service hee hath committed to you you lose that happinesse that you seeme to seeke and which you should seeke indeed which is the perfection the end of the creature the service of his Creatour So you see what we lose Consider secondly what wee gaine It may bee you gaine wealth for your selves this is somewhat you will say It may be you gaine honour and esteeme in the World you gaine a name amongst men or some earthly advantage Alas what is this if it be rightly considered It is but the gaine of a shadow to the losse of the soule If it be wealth doth it satisfie the soule Doth it quiet the conscience Doth it fill a man so as that hee needs no more All the wealth in the world cannot doe this there is an emptinesse in all these things there is fulnesse to bee had only in God in Christ in spirituall things nothing else is able to satisfie the soule in all its desires to give it perfect peace If the happinesse of a man were either in himselfe or in any other creature he need have nothing to doe with God hee need not then to looke higher above himselfe But God hath placed a vanitie both in men and in all creatures man is vaine and all the creatures in the world are vanitie and vexation of spirit And when the Scripture calleth them vanitie what doth it meane but that they are emptie things they have not that nourishment in them that they seeme to have they have not that in them that they should have according to that esteeme that men put upon them they are emptie things as we say of wells when they want water they are emptie though they bee full of other things as dust and sand c. Or as clouds that have no moisture and raine in them they are emptie so are all things in the world therfore emptie because they have not in them that which the heart seekes after they have not happinesse in them they have not contentment in them What is this then but to forsake bread and to seeke after huskes like the Prodigall that left his Fathers house where there was bread enough and to feed on huskes with swine to leave the aproach and accesse of the soule to God wherein it may satisfie it selfe to the full with that which is food indeed and to seeke somewhat in the world that it cannot get I say this is a mans losse Nay he loseth himselfe in living to himselfe What shall it profit a man to winne the whole world and lose himselfe Mat. 16. 26. To lose his soule saith one Evangelist to lose himselfe saith another A man loseth himselfe when he loseth his soule And this he doth in the neglect of God hee loseth his soule in that action when a man gathereth wealth by indirect meanes or keepeth his wealth and doth not disburse it in the service of God for his glory or what soever else a man doth in gaining the world hee loseth himselfe Hee that will lose his life shall save it and hee that will save his life shall lose it Mark 10. A man never loseth a shadow more then when he followeth it the faster hee pursues it the faster still it runneth from him such is the pursuit after any thing out of God the more a man pursueth it the more hee loseth himselfe he is driven so many paces from heaven so many â—…rees from his owne happinesse This is the folly and madnesse oâ—… the world whereby Sathan deludeth men leading them after vaine shewes of earthly delights in carnall security flattering themselves in the pursuit of the world dreaming of happinesse and comfort and in the conclusion imbrace nothing but a shadow and emptinesse This I say is the misery of man Now put both together Consider what wee lose that that is truly good that that is blessednesse indeed and what wee get that that is but a shadow that that is emptinesse indeed Men lose that they seeme to have and want that they pursue after A secret judgement of God because they sought not that that they should doe Thus we see the point opened I hasten to the aplication The first use is for Conviction Since there is such a truth as this that no man that professeth himselfe to be in Christ that professeth himselfe to be abeleever should live to himselfe that is doe any action of his life ayming at himselfe as the uttermost end in those actions It serveth in the first place to convince us that professe our selves to be Christians and beleevers to bee such as know Christ though with these differences some are more weake and some more strong yet I say it convinceth every man to stand guilty before the Lord that if hee live to himselfe hee is none of Christs This is the property of every true Christian even of the weakest as well as of the strongest for the Apostle speakes of all None of us saith he whether weake or strong Christians live to our selves if thou therefore live to thy selfe thou art none of those the Apostle speakes to thou art none of those that live and die to the Lord thou art none of those that are the Lords whether in life or death Let us therefore first be convinced of this that there is such a sinfull disposition in the hearts of men that professe themselves to bee Christians and yet live to themselves That is the first thing I would convince you of at this time Secondly I would shew you that wheresoever this disposition is it argueth a foule and sinfull heart None of us doe so saith the Apostle other men that have no part in these priviledges and comforts they doe so they live to themselves Thirdly
hee wrote from immoderate sorrow for them that were departed this life revealeth to them certaine comfortable truths concerning the Resurrection from the dead telling them that death it selfe is but as a sleepe whence they shall be raised at the last day by the voyce of the Archangell c. In the beginning of this Chapter hee prevents an objection that some might make For having fallen upon the discourse of the Resurrection hee well knew the curiositie of mans nature that leaves those things that are most profitable to enquire after such things that God hath hid and therfore some men might say Since there shall be such a time and such a change when will those times and seasons be When shall that great day of the Resurrection come when all shall bee brought together Of the times and seasons brethren saith the Apostle yee have no need that I write unto you verse 1. As if hee should say this is no needfull no necessarie thing for you to enquire into or for mee to tell you rather let us fall upon those things that are necessarie and usefull for neither you nor I can tell the particular time when that shall be yet know this that very suddenly such a time shall come and that when the world least thinkes of it The suddennesse hereof he setteth downe by a twofold comparison First by the comming of a thiefe in the night Your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so commeth as a theefe in the nighâ—… verse 2. Secondly by the travaile that commeth upon a woman with child When they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape This latter is that I have made choyce of at this time for my Text. A little for the explanation of the words When they shall say peace and safety The Apostle intendeth noâ—… to condemne either the speaking of peace to the children of peace or their rejoycing in that peace they have But that which he condemneth is that they cry peace to themselves whom God denounceth warre against Men that goe on in a course of sinning and in securitie and yet will perswade themselves that all shall be well with them in the end these are the men upon whom Death shall come thus suddenly and upon whom the Judgement day shall come thus unexpected When they shall say peace and safety that is when they are living in their sinnes walking on in their rebellions against God and shall yet be flattering themselves that it shall bee well with them notwithstanding this then shall Judgement come upon them then sudden destruction commeth By destruction here he meaneth not the destruction of the body or the soule the destruction of their beeing For the Soule even after the death of the body shall have a beeing and the body also shall be restored againe to its beeing and parts in the resurrection from the dead It were happy for wicked and ungodly men if there should be such a destruction of their beeing as that they should cease to bee any more for then this body the members whereof have beene the servants of sinne should not be tormented in Hell and then this Soule of theirs that hath set all the body on worke in the service of sinne it should not be sensible of that anguish that shall cause gnashing of teeth It were well I say for them if there should be such a destruction it is that which if they might have their desire they would wish above all things in the world But it will not bee such a destruction it shall bee worse with them It shall only be the destruction of their joy and comfort of all their contentments of all those things wherein they solaced and flattered themselves upon earth all these things shall bee destroyed Their riches that fed their lusts shall be destroyed and their company that incouraged them in sinne shall bee destroyed and all things wherein they have delighted themselves here upon earth shall be destroyed the whole earth shall bee burnt with fire before them And beside this that same chearefulnesse of spirrit and that free disposition whereby they incouraged themselves in the wayes of their pride or whatsoever else it was that made them seeme some body on earth all this shall cease and faile them and forsake them There shall be no mirth no wisedome no courage no friends no wealth no houses no apparell nothing to pride and delight themselves in there shall be an utter destruction of all these things Then shall destruction come upon them As paine upon a woman with child This sheweth the manner the kind of their destruction that shall come upon them It shall be first a sudden destruction it shall not give them warning either of the time or place as it falleth out with a woman with child her travell may come upon her in the street at the table when shee is talking c. So shall destruction come suddenly upon them they shall have no more warning then these generall warnings that they have in the preaching of the Word Secondly it shall bee a painfull destruction full of miserie and sorrow as travaile on a woman with a child And then thirdly It shall bee an inevitable destruction such a destruction as they shall never avoide All their wit friends power strength wealth or whatsoever else they have cannot put off the stroke of Judgement that shall come upon them as all the devices a woman hath cannot make her escape her travaile when it commeth So then the meaning of the words are as if the Apostle should have said When wicked and ungodly men in a course of sinne shall crie peace to themselves and flatter themselves in their rebellious courses then shall a sudden a painfull an inevitable destruction of all their comfort of all their props and hopes and helpes fall upon them In the words you have a twofold description First of the state and condition of the men of the world when Christ shall come to Iudgement Hee shall find all the world at rest As the Angell that stood among the myrtle trees spake in the 1 Zachar. 11. Wee have walked to and fro through the earth and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest Hee shall find all the men of the world in peace every man applauding himselfe in some vaine conceit in some hope and confidence or other They shall cry peace Secondly here is the consequent that followeth upon the vaine flatterie of themselves Then shall destruction come upon them And that destruction is farther described and amplified by a comparison taken from a woman with childe to declare the suddainnesse the painfulnesse the unavoidablenesse of it Thus you have the opening of the words Let us now come to the points of instruction that may be raised hence First here you may see and he that runnes may read
in a carnall and sinfull security wee see then so many of us at least that are children of the light and of the day what cause we have to be awakened and to doe that for others which they will not doe for themselves to bee more earnest in prayer more frequent in humbling our soules for our owne sinnes and theirs that God may lay aside and cast away his judgements and displeasure that either are feared or lie upon us It is not a fearfull thing that when the Lyon roareth the beasts of the Forrests tremble Yet the God of heaven roareth against the world at this day and the proud hearts of men doe not tremble before him Shall the beasts of the Forrests bee afraid of the Lyon more then the poore wormes of the earth of the mighty God of heaven and earth But this is the horrible Atheisme and infidelity that is in the hearts of men that they beleeve not Gods power and justice nor his threatnings I beseech you let every man be exhorted to stirre up his soule to this businesse to awaken himselfe in his owne particular person Consider that there are others that are awake that may bring you sorrow enough bee you awakened to prevent those miseries Sathan is awake to tempt you Bee sober and watchfull saith Saint Peter for your adversary the divill goeth about seeking whom hee may devoure Sathan is busie and watching to make you his prey watch you therefore that you enter not into tentation Your owne Corruptions are alwayes awake The concupisence and depraved disposition of the soule it is awake still to further every evill motion to draw you aside by its tentations Therefore saith the Apostle I beseech you abstaine as pilgrims and strangers from fleshly lusts that warre against the soule Doe as men in warre when they know that they have a waking enemie against them they will be sure to keepe their Watch. Beloved you cannot but know that your corruptions are awake you may perceive it in your sleepes and dreames take heed that you bee not found in a spirituall sleepe that corruption prevaile not over you Besides these the enemies of the Church are awake Heretiques are awake every where to bring men from the faith to pervert the faith of many oh be awake to prevent those Besides others are awaken to ransack houses to destroy Cities oh be awake that you may bee at peace with the Lord of Hosts the God of Armies that hath all power in his hand to keepe you safe Againe secondly consider the evill of this security you are in of this disposition of heart when you cry peace peace to your selves in the middest of Gods displeasure It is an evill disease a spirituall lethargie That disease we know in the body it takes a man with sleepe and so he dieth Oh how many are in this spirituall lethargie in this deepe sleepe of sinne at this day the Lord awaken them It is the more dangerous because it is a senslesse disease A disease that takes the senses from the soule and diseases we know that take away the senses are dangerous for it is not only a signe that nature is overcome by the disease but besides it draweth men from seeking for cure Thus it is with the spirituall lethargie it shewes not only that sinne hath prevailed in the heart that it hath overcome grace and thereupon you have yeelded unto it to your pride and covetousnesse and vanity as those that are subdued under a disease but it hindreth you from seeking the meanes to escape out of it Thou saist saith Christ to the Church of Laodicea that thou art rich and needest nothing and that was the reason shee sought not to Christ. It is our condition we have knowledge enough therefore we care not for the ordinances of God Wee have faith enough and therefore wee care not for increasing it though none of us say thus with our tongues yet most of us beleeve thus with our hearts As David saith of the ungodly man the wickednesse of the wicked saith in my heart So may I say the neglecting of the ordinances the carelesnesse of men in the use of the meanes of salvation saith in my heart that there is abundance of securitie that they are in a spirituall lethargie that leadeth to death As it is an evill disease so it causeth much evill It is that which driveth away the Spirit of God It is the counsell of the Apostle Grieve not the Spirit quench not the Spirit When wee neglect the motions of the Spirit the Spirit withdraweth it selfe Doth not your owne experience tell you this Consider a little what motions you have had how God by the checks of your consciences sometime by secret incitements as it were a spurre upon your hearts hath moved you to dutie and to leave your sinnes How have these moved you you have had purposes it may be to performe these duties to walke in the wayes of God to please him in all things the neglect of these purposes hath driven away the Spirit it may be God now leaveth you to finall hardnesse Againe it letteth in Sathan When the uncleane spirit is driven out hee goeth about seeking rest and finding none at last hee returneth from whence hee went and findeth the house swept and garnished and he entreth in and bringeth seven spirits more worse then himselfe Alas how many men are there that for a fitt in some particulars have altered their course and have thought to become new men yet rushing upon former occasions and temptations to sinne they have growne secure and carelesse and now Sathan hath gotten stronger hold of them with seven spirits worse Nay this is that that drives away Christ and the comfortable influence of his Spirit in the heart The Church in Cant. 5. was asleepe was in a spirituall slumber and Christ goeth away Shee seekes him whom her soule loved but shee could not find him I speake now to those that were awake and are now asleepe their hearts it may be are awake but they walke not with that watchfulnesse and humility of spirit before the Lord as they ought therefore now they are heavy and destitute of the comforts of the Spirit Well they may thanke themselves Christ hath hid himselfe to teach them to be more watchfull And to conclude This is the cause of positive Judgements You know what came upon the old world and upon Sodome and Gomorrah for their securitie And likewise of future Judgements it is that which casteth men from heaven to hell That servant that saith in his heart my Master deferreth his comming and therefore hee eates and drinkes with the drunken what is the issue of it Hee shall have his portion given him with hypocrites where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 24. Here is enough I suppose to awaken you Whensoever the heart of man is held downe with secure
thoughts of Gods displeasure and thinkes it is at peace with God it is an evident signe that wrath is a comming Nay beloved in that measure you are in carnall securitie in that measure you are under wrath let that therefore be enough to awaken you and say thus with your selves It were better for me a great deale to be among the number of those that complaine and are mourning Christians then to bee in the number of those that are full of jollity and Joviality that rejoyce and sport themselves that put farre from them the evill day I might then escape the wrath of God as they doe Who are they that escape wrath See in Ezekiel 9. Those that were awake when others slept those that mourned when others laughed those that humbled themselves before God when others hardned themselves those were the men that were marked in the forehead by the Angel and they escaped And in the third of Malachie Those that feared the Lord and thought upon his name in those evill times that spake oft one to another there was a booke of remembrance of them and they are Gods jewels he will be sure to keepe them safe But how shall wee come to be awakened I should have told you some helpes for this I will but touch upon a few in a word First I will propound sobrietie as a maine helpe Would you be watchfull and kept from spirituall slumber take heed that you keepe your selves sober I speake not of sobrietie as it is opposed to drunkennesse though that be one thing Bee not filled with wine wherein is excesse but bee filled with the holy Ghost Ephes. 5. As if he should say you cannot be filled with the holy Ghost and with excesse of Wine persons that take liberty in excessive drinking certainly they are destitute of the holy Ghost and so of life and salvation But I meane a further sobriety that is as it is opposed to worldly-mindednesse Take heed that you plunge not your selves too much in the world and worldly pleasures and cares for these are against the rule of sobriety Be sober in your diet in your apparell in your gaining in your spending in your mirth in your company in every thing that is moderate your selves and your affections in these things A man may soone grow to such a drunkennesse by excesse in worldly affections that he may bee in a dead sleepe neglecting Gods judgements and his owne estate as wee see men that plunge themselves in worldly businesse are It takes away the thoughts of those things that concerne our spirituall good I say not that you should leave off the businesse of the world for every man must continue in the calling that God hath set him But I say moderate your affections to the things of the world Doe worldly businesses with heavenly mindes in obedience to God Doe them with waking hearts to repent for the sinnes of your callings to avoide the sinnes of your callings And that that I say of labouring in your callings I say of pleasures and of every thing else we should be watchfull and sober as S. Peter saith Bee sober and watch Secondly if you would be free from security which is a forerunner of judgement be sure to keepe your selves in exercise A man that would keepe himselfe awake will busie himselfe in some exercise and imployment or other What exercise should a Christian use The exercise of grace and of the duties of obedience Be sure to keepe your selves in the exercise of all the advantages that God giveth you in your lives to imploy your graces in In difficulties and straites exercise your faith In provocations to anger and discontent exercise meeknesse In crosses and troubles and afflictions exercise patience In the miseries and wants of others whether spirituall or corporall exercise mercy And what I say concerning grace I say concerning duty Keepe your selves in the exercise of prayer and reading and meditation and conference some one thing or other some holy employment or other that may keepe the soule waking For I tell you you shall find that whensoever you let fall spirituall exercise you will at that very instant fall into carnall securitie in some kind or other Thirdly would you keepe your selves from this dead sleepe of carnall security then keepe your spirits in feare Sorrow and griefe makes a man heavy but feare keepes a man waking when Iacob feared Esau he kept a watch that night Sampson feared the Philistims and it wakened him out of his sleepe Feare makes a man watchfull You may perceive it in your owne experience In that measure that the feare of God prevaileth securitie is expelled Keepe feare therefore Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes but he that hardneth his heart falleth into evill Marke how he opposeth the hardning of a mans selfe in carnall securitie to the feare of God Keepe your heart in a constant feare Reason thus Alas shall I doe this thing and sinne against God Will not God be offended and displeased Shall I goe on in this vanity Would I have the judgement of God find me in this company would I have it seise upon mee in this imployment in this businesse in this action Feare lest God should strike thee in such an act lest Death should seize upon thee in such a place and let that make thee keepe a constant watch against the snares that are in those places Fourthly keepe good company Company you know is a good meanes to keepe men awake Two are better then one and woe to him that is alone saith Solomon I say good company for there are a company that will infect you Keepe not company with a froward person lest thou learne his frowardnesse So keepe not company with drunken and swearing persons these are the Divels instruments to keepe a man in carnall security No keepe company with those that have a charge given them to exhort one another daily and to consider one another to provoke to love and good workes Keepe company with the Saints and make use of all opportunities to provoke others and to be provoked by others That is the fourth helpe Fifthly would you bee kept from this sinfull security then keepe God alwayes in your sight It is a good way for a man that would keepe himselfe awake to fix his eye upon some object Fix your eye upon this maine object God Whether shall I depart from thy presence saith David This is that the Lord would have his people to consider to keepe them from sinne in Ier. 23. 23. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God a farre off Doe not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord Can a man hide himselfe from God in any secret place Thinke in thy chamber in thy parlour in thy shop in thy house in thy friends house in the street in the Church in every place wheresoever thou art that there God is also If
a man had but alwayes some one before him as a witnesse he would not venture upon many things that hee now doth If a malefactour should see the Judge before him if the child had alwayes his fathers eye upon him or the servant had alwayes his Master sitting about him and above him though there are many that are unjust servants yet neverthelesse hee would serve him at least with eye-service Now set your selves in the eye of God that sees you in the darke heares you in your most secret whisperings knowes every action of your life and every circumstance of those Actions This will be a meanes to keepe thee from security I will adde but one more which is the sixth Consider thy latter end The night is now comming upon us If it were told any of us that this night thou shalt die as it was told the rich man in Luke 12. Thou foole this night shall they take away thy soule I thinke there is none that heareth me this day but hee would certainly keepe waking this night But it is not bodily waking we plead for but spirituall waking a waking from sinne a waking to repentance And we tell you that Death is now at the dore ready to seize upon you Wee speake not only to you that are aged that are at the brinke of the grave but we speake also to you that are young Death may seize upon you and strike you this night be awakened now to repentance I remember what God said to the Church of Sardis Bee watchfull and strengthen the things that remaine That Church was asleepe as many of us are at this day God commeth to awaken you now as he did them that that little goodnesse you have left may bee renewed and confirmed You that are quite out of the way of grace and goe on in a course of sinne fit now downe and humble your soules get into a secret corner wherein you may confesse those many provocations whereby you have provoked God all your dayes and resolve to amend if the Lord spare you Begin now delay it no longer it may be the last night the everlasting night to you take this warning now therefore be awakened to repentance This is that the Scripture calleth upon so much Eccles. 11. Rejoyce O young man in the dayes of thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all this thou shalt come to Iudgement As if he should say You that are in the middest of your delights that solace your selves in the middest of the abundance of the earth which you enjoy that sport your selves in the pleasures of this world know that there will come a Judgement day see therefore now what will best answer God then Since the end of all things is at hand saith the Apostle let us bee sober and watch Wee know not how neere the end of the world is wee know indeed it shall not bee yet because Antichrist must bee destroyed and the Jewes called before that day come but neverthelesse certainly thy end is neere thy day thy particular death and that is the time of thy particular judgement may be sudden It is appointed for all men once to die and after that commeth the judgement That is the particular Judgement that commeth upon Death so I say this may be the night of thy death and the morning may be the day of thy particular doome Iudge your selves now that you may not bee judged of the Lord It was the use that the Apostle made even to good men For this cause saith he many are sicke and weake and many sleepe that is they are dead what then If wee would judge our selves wee should not bee judged of the Lord. So say I to you judge your selves now bring your selves as prisoners before the Barre arraigne your selves as malefactours before the Judge bring out the particular bills of inditement against your selves whereby you have provoked God yet there is mercie the day of grace and opportunity of repentance and turning unto God yet lasteth therefore doe it now I might adde many other helpes to this purpose but these shall suffice at this present Wee have an example before our eyes enough to warne us of this Here is an example of Death which should teach us now to awaken our selves and not to liue securely as men that dreame of a long life for many yeares Here is a young man dead tooke away in the prime of his time in the beginning of his dayes his sicknesse though it held him not long yet it was somewhat violent How know you what a short time you have though you are now young or if you live longer what sicknesse you may have it may be you may be deprived of your reason and senses therefore now while health and reason and sense while these Warning Sermons are afforded take time and make use of time lest your securitie make good this Text upon you When they shall say Peace Peace then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape FINIS A CHRISTIANS VICTORIE OR CONQVEST OVER DEATHS ENMITIE ROM 8. 37. Wee are more then conquerours through him that loved us HOSEA 13. 14. I will ransome them from the power of the Grave I will redeeme them from death O Death I will bee thy plagues O Grave I will bee thy destruction LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. A CHRISTIANS VICTORIE OR CONQVEST OVER DEATHS ENMITIE SERMON XIII 1 COR. 15. 26. The last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death IT could bee no Paradox to declare that every man hath more enemies in the world then friends both wicked and godly There is no question of it But it is true also that so long as a mans wayes please God hee can make his enemies his friends Of all the enemies men have the spirituall are the worst for they are common continuall enemies Common enemies I call them because they are every mans enemies Others though they bee enemies to some they are friends to others these to all Continuall because their warre is never at an end Other enemies we may have truce with now and then pauses and breathing times leasure given us when we have done one skirmish to make ready for another from these there is no intermission nor rest not for a moment wheresoever or whatsoever we are about it may be said to us as Dalilah said to Sampson Up Sampson thy enemies are upon thee The three principall of these yeeknow are commonly reckoned up to be The Divell the World and the Flesh. But the Apostle telleth us of a fourth which hee calleth our Last enemie the enemie which shall last of all assault us the other will leave assaulting us when we are in this world this when we are leaving the world mustereth up his forces against
it is I told yee before Hee is the Generall of the Armie And beloved beleeve it the Divell is very politique and subtile in marshalling his forces hee will not place his best Souldiers in the forefront of the battell but keepes them in the Reare he puts them behind that when all the rest have wearied and tired us they should set on us afresh He is so cunning a disputant that he reserveth the best arguments for the last A cunning Gamester that plaies his best play at the last A cunning Archer that shootes his best shaft at the last So since Death is the last Enenie it is like to be the sorest Now the sorer we are like to find him the carefuller we should be to arme against him alwayes to put our selves in a readinesse that whensoever he commeth hee may find us weaponed that if it were possible we might be alwayes doing as if wee were dying it being the height of the perfection that any soule can attaine to as the heathens themselves well observed for a man to spend every day as if it were his last day That is one reason why the Apostle here calleth Death the last enemie because the last is like to be the worst Againe another reason As it is the last by which wee are assaulted so it is the last that shall bee destroyed That the Apostle principally meant here as Interpreters commonly understand it When he saith the last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death hee meant that Death is the Enemie that shall be destroied last And this leadeth me to the last point I propounded to speake of That Death is an enemie and the last enemie and at last shall be destroyed It shall be destroyed that is one thing Who undertakes the doing of it Our selves In likelihood Death is more likely to destroy us then we it But as it is said of the seven-sealed booke in the Revelation when there was none in heaven or in earth or under the earth that was able to open it the Lion of the tribe of Iudah prevailed to open the booke So the Lion of the tribe of Iudah prevaileth to destroy this enemie that none in heaven or in earth or under the earth but only he is able to destroy Hee saith of him as David of Goliah when hee defied the host of Israel and all men ranne away Let no mans heart faile him So saith the sonne of David The Lord of David let no mans heart faile him I will goe to fight with yonder Philistim Oh Death I will be thy death It is spoken in the person of Christ whom Saint Peter calleth the Lord of life Hee subdueth all Enemies and it is he that will destroy Death hee will not leave him till he have trod him under foot But when will Christ doe this Wee see Death playes the Tyrant still it killeth and spoyleth as fast as it did his sickle is in every ones harvest as fast as the corne growes up hee cuts it downe he leaveth not an eare standing How long Lord how long before this that the Apostle tells us of will be At last His meaning is at the generall day of the Resurrection when the end of the world shall come then Christ shall destroy him And he bringeth it in the rather to assure the Corinths of that that some of them doubted of namely that there should be a Resurrection For unlesse the dead should arise how can Death be destroyed But Death shall be destroyed therefore it is out of question that the dead shall rise againe But what comfort have we in the meane time if Death be not destroyed till then if till then it play the domineering Enemie No not so neither Wee have comfort enough in that that Christ hath already done Though it bee not already destroyed yet it is already subdued It is not only subdued but disarmed and not only so but captivated and triumphed over Hee subdued it when he died in suffering death he overcame Death hee beat him in his owne ground at his owne weapons in his owne hold hee disarmed him When he rose againe then he spoyled him of his power and tooke his weapons away and triumphed over him in the open field When he ascended into heaven then hee carried those spoiles with him in token of conquest as Sampson tooke the Gates of Gaza on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill Christ by Death tooke the sting of Death away by his Resurrection hee tooke the strength of Death away by his Ascension hee tooke away the hope of Death for ever conquering or prevailing more finally at the last Judgement hee will take away the name and beeing of Death so that it shall never bee more remembred but mortality shall be swallowed up of life I Christ hath done this for himselfe perhaps but what is this to us Nay Christ hath done it not only for his owne victorie but he hath given us victorie hee is not only a conquerour but hee hath made us conquerours thankes be unto God that hath given us victorie In a word Christ hath and will doe by Death as hee doth by our sinnes he hath subdued them already at the last hee will utterly destroy them sinne and Death both of them are already subdued at last they shall be abolished and destroyed that they shall be no more As there shall bee no more sorrow and paine so there shall be no more death and sinne All teares shall be wiped from our eyes I will ransomethem from the power of the grave and redeeme them from death More then this This yet addeth to our comfort Christ will so destroy Death as hee will not only subdue him for us but also reconcile him to us not only foile him as an Enemie but propitiate and make him our friend Wee have all our enemies subdued to us but some are so subdued that they are reconciled Death is one of them it is a reconciled as well as a subdued enemie In stead of bringing forth children for bondage it becommeth a purchaser of our freedome it is so farre from plucking us from Christ as rather it letteth us into Christ so farre from being a losse as it bringeth gaine so farre from being a dammage that it is part of our Dowrie therefore the Apostle reckoneth it as a prerogative as hee saith that the world and life and Christ is ours so Death is ours Indeed if Death were not ours life were not ours for our only way to life now is by Death Such a friend is this Enemie become that it is a Bridge to passe to heaven the Chariot that wee are tooke up to heaven in What we get of life toward life we lose in death but what we get in death toward life we never lose Now for the Application and conclusion of all Something I have to say by way of comfort and something by way of counsell
uncertaine and obscure yet from the secreâ—… revelation of Gods Spirit the Saints in some measure know how it will be with them after death Wee know though our earthly tabernacle be destroyed wee have a building given us of God All these things are helpes to give us comfort against the feare of Death and those Enemies that Death comes attended with that though it be an Enemie yet it is a subdued Enemie Secondly it may comfort us to consider that Death is not only a subdued but a reconciled Enemie of an Enemie it is made to bee a friend it is so to all the faithfull such a friend as they have not a better in the world It is most certaine the wicked have not a worse enemie in the world then Death and the godly have not a better friend so yee should see if I had leisure to shew you on the one side from what labour and care and miserie it helpeth to free them and on the other side to what comfort and rest and peace and joy it helpeth to bring them Lastly it may comfort us to consider that as death is an enemie a subdued enemie a reconciled enemy so it is an enemie that at last shall be destroyed The time shall come when Death and Hell shall be cast into the lake of fire the meaning is I thinke they shall be shut up in the bottomlesse pit where they shall only have leave to exercise their power on the Divell and damned reprobates that lie there in torments Death on the one side still gnawing of them that they ever die and yet Hell on the other side still preserving of them that they shall everlastingly live But the godly and the faithfull shall have their part and portion given them in the resurrection to life where they shall never â—…ast of death more What the Apostle saith of Christ is true of all those that are in Christ when they are once dead they shall die no more Death hath no more dominion over them But I cannot inlarge these comforts Yet Beloved I have a word or two of counsell I pray hearken to it Birefly thus Christ though he have overcome and destroyed both death and sinne for us for ever yet notwithstanding he will have us exercised also in subduing and overcomming them Christ hath not so fought for us but he will have us also fight for our selves as hee hath overcome death so must we for our parts that wee may have the comfort of that that Christ hath done Death being an enemie to us we must prepare and arme our selves against it that it may not be an Enemie too strong And for your better direction take these few heads First Remember that Death is the wages of sinne It is sinne that lead Death into the world it is in respect of that that Death is an Enemie to us and were it not for that it would bee no Eenemie at all Now then beloved if yee will not die in your sinnes let your care be to die to sinne labour to have sinne die in thee and then thou shalt not die in that When thou hast committed drunkennesse or prophanenesse c. thinke with thy selfe this is pleasant and sweet now but how will this tast another day when I shall come to lie upon my death-bed and my soule shall set on my pale lips ready to take her flight and bee brought before the Judgement seat of Christ What fruit will these things bring then What comfort and peace and joy will it procure to the conscience then Oh saith Abner to Ioab knowest thou not that this will be bitternesse in the end It will be as gall and wormwood therefore if yee would not have Death be bitter then let not sinne bee sweet now part with sinne betime That is the first Secondly learne to walke humbly with God betime and betime put your selves in a way of repentance and new obedience take heed of dallying with God and procrastinating and putting off the time What is the reason why a sort die as Plinie saith some doe that are stung with the Serpent Colemion some laughing some raging some soâ—…tish and secure others hoping some dispairing They have not beene carefull to walke with God while they lived because they wanted care then they want comfort now They that remember not God in their life saith S. Austin it is just with God to forget them in death The Apostle S. Peter would have us looke for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse But never looke thou to dwell in that heaven where righteousnesse dwelleth except righteousnesse dwell in thee And he exhorteth us that wee be found of God in peace at that day that is sweet and comfortable indeed but remember Peace and holinesse goe together if we would be found of God in peace wee must be found of him in holinesse Walke in holinesse and uprightnesse and then peace shall kisse thee on thy death-bed Marke the upright and just man the end of that man is peare Thirdly the better to subdue Death be willing to meditate and thinke oâ—… of Death learne the Art of dying practise the way of it betime learne to die daily How shall we doe that I will shew you Consider we have many little deaths to undergoe in the world as we have many delights Learne to inure and acquaint thy selfe before hand with the patient and quiet bearing and enduring of these many troubles and crosses that befall thee As Agamemnon first overcame the Lacedemonians by wrestling and then by fighting and Bilney first burnt his finger in the Candle that after he might the better endure the burning of his body at the stake So thinke with your selves If I cannot endure a little how shall I endure more If I cannot endure a light crosse a small affliction doe I murmure at that Am I impatient and repine at that How shall I beare the pangs of Death when they come Therefore let us inure our selves to a meeke and quiet bearing of lesser stripes so wee may be better able to endure heavier stroakes Many of us lay out a great deale of care how to live in the world we had more need take care how to die when wee shall leave the world Studie the Art of dying That is the third Lastly that we may the better subdue Death that it may not be an Enemie too strong Learne before so to dispose of our selves and order our affaires that when Death commeth wee may have nothing to doe but to die Get all differences reconciled all doubts settled all reckonings ordered sequester our selves from all other avocations that nothing may interrupt us when that worke is to goe in hand with Put thy house in order saith God to Hezekiah I say so to every one of you First your outward house that which concerneth your worldly estate put that house in order What wouldest thou make thy Will
Christ shall sit on the Bench as Judge Hee shall then openly come to shew himselfe a just Iudge amongst men as before he came to be judged when he came privately he was judged of them that were unjust It was once a scorne that he the Sonne of man should bee Iudge of the world therefore God will have him come and appeare in that very forme he was scorned in that now they may behold him in his Majestie that before would not take notice of him when hee appeared in humilitie that they who the more contemptuously before esteemed him in his basenesse may now more severely tast of his justice God then is Iudge Not men Not Angels but God himselfe Had men beene our Judges we might not feare the face of men because they are vessels of the same earth as wee tooke out of the same pit hewen out of the same rocke If Angels had beene our Judges wee should not have stood in so much feare because though they be Spirits more glorious then we yet by their owne confession they are our fellow creatures and our fellow servants therefore we after a sort participate with them in some degree of nature But neither men nor Angels shall be Judges then but Almighty God that as much excelleth men and Angels as the heavens doe the earth And looke what is necessarily required to the office of a Iudge it is incomparably found in him To the office of a Iudge there are three properties specially required Knowledge to discerne Power to determine Justice to execute In God these are all of them transcendent and emminent For Knowledge he is the most wise For Power most absolute For Execution most just Knowledge to discerne that is the first He that assumeth the person of a Iudge must needs be one of wisedome and understanding Though he have the Scepter of authority in his hand if hee have not the eye of wisedome in his head if he be not able when men plead their case before him as the two Harlots before Solomon to decide to whom the right of the case belongeth as hee to whom the living child pertained he is as unfit to be a Iudge as an illiterate Ignaroe is to be a Priest The Iudges ignorance is the honest mans overthrow We commonly paint Justice blind not because he should be so that sits in Gods seat of Justice to decide Cases but only in respect of persons Blind Isaac was faine to put forth his hands to feele whether it were Esau or no that came to aske the blessing it is a hard case when Iudges have sore eyes that they cannot discerne the right Case but only by feeling But it shall not be so here God is the Iudge that is of infinite wisedome and understanding that is able to discerne right and wrong Of necessitie it must be so because he is Omniscient hee knoweth all things he hath the true understanding of them it is impossible to deceive him Earthly Iudges they sometime are blinded in the hearing of Cases that are brought before them for what their eyes see not they are not able to discerne there are not glasse windowes into the bosomes and breasts of men by which they are able to come into their hearts all the information they have is from Evidences and Witnesses the hear-sayes and reports of others where if any thing bee concealed or mistold how easily may they miscarry But Gods knowledge is not so unsound or uncertaine because he himselfe is an eare and an eye-witnesse of all things that are he knoweth whatsoever is done he beholdeth not the actions only but the very intentions he is able to judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart It is but folly to thinke to hide any thing from him heaven is not so high but he can reach it hell is not so deepe but hee can search it the earth is not so wide but hee can span it the night is not so darke but he can see it the chamber the bed the closeâ—… is not so close but hee can pierce it Hee that sitteth upon the circle of the heavens and whose eyes are as flames of fire seeth everything Heb. 4. There is no creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open like an Anatomized body for thence the Metaphor is drawne where the bowels are laid open and every nerve and muscle and ligament every Atome discovered so that we may take a full view of it In a word if it were Davids commendation that he was wise as an Angell of God how wise must God be that infuseth wisdome into the Angels and in whose sight the Angels are foolish That is the first thing requisite in a Iudge he must have knowledge to discerne In the second place Hee must have power to execute hee must have authoritie to command and not be as an Image set against a wall for if he be so Abjects will insult over him though peradventure some may regard him because hee hath eyes to see yet others will contemne him because hee hath no hands to punish so innocencie shall be hopelesse of recompence and the wicked of their desert Againe if he have not power if hee have power only to heare and not to determine or if his power be restrained to some petty Cases and not also extended to matters of greater consequence and moment Appeales will bee made as commonly they are from inferiour Courts to the higher But it is not so here God is the Iudge who as hee is infinite in knowledge so he is in power and authority Wee stile the King Supreame head over all persons and in all causes in his Dominions but God is over all the Dominions of the earth supreame over all not only in all causes and over all persons but over all causes too even Kings are subject to his regiment Hee bindeth Kings in chaines and Nobles in fetters of Iron Psal. 149. The kings of the earth saith Saint Iohn and the rich and the great men and the great Captaines and the mighty men they shall all hide themselves in the caves and rocks and mountaines Revel 15. crying to the mountaines and rockes to cover them from the face of the Iudge and from the wrath of the Lambe because the day of desolation is come Nay God is not only over all the Kings of the earth but he is Potentate of heaven and hell too He hath a commanding power over all the Angels feare the Divels tremble when they come to stand before God In a word as Saint Paul saith all power is of God then of necessitie followeth that God himselfe in his power is most absolute That is the second thing belonging to the office of a Iudge as he must have knowledge to discerne so he must have power to execute Thirdly there must be Iustice in the Execution therefore the Grecians were wont to place Justice betweene Libra and Leo to
shall be revealed and manifested all our wayes and workes the godly and the workes that they have done though never so secret the wicked and their workes the secret sins that they have committed That is the second thing in the manner of the Judgement First that all shall be summoned secondly upon the Summons all shall bee made to appeare Thirdly the Separation that shall be made at that time for when all are congregated by and by all shall be severed and separated a separation and division shall be made amongst them some shall be set at the right hand of the Iudge some at the left hand As a shepheard searcheth his flocke in the day when hee is amongst his sheepe that are scattered so I will search out my sheepe at that day and I will divide betweene cattell and cattell betweene the sheepe and the goates The Sheepe and the Goates here they flocke feed and fold together they will doe so they must doe so The Tares here must be let alone and grow with the corne till the day of harvest but yet afterward there shall be a division and a separation the wicked and the godly live together here but at the last the wicked shall be separated from the godly like the chaffe from the wheate as when two travell one way they passe together and lodge together but the next morning they part and take severall wayes so the wicked and the godly after they have beene here a time eating and drinking conversing and living and perhaps dying and rotting in the graves together notwithstanding when this day that I here speake of shall come then there shall be a separation and division made then the sheepe shall bee set on the right hand then you shall know which is Iacobs flocke and which is Labans which belong to Christ and which belong to Sathan then the chaffe shall be winnowed from the wheat and wee shall see which is for the Barne and which is for the fire Goe on you wicked still seeme the same you are not delude the eyes of the world that you have the same heart that you appeare you have Maskes and Vizards now the time will come your paint shall be washed off your fig-leaves shall bee stripped and your nakednesse shall be seene and all manifest at that day of God there shall be a separation of the good from the bad as the shepheard separateth his sheepe from the Goates Fourthly with this separation there shall be a tryall the Scripture speakes of after the conventing and separation there shall be a tryall I saw saith Saint Iohn Revel 20. 12. the dead small and great stand before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in those bookes according to their workes Marke there are severall bookes and so as there are severall books there are severall judgements some are tryed by one booke some by another First there are some bookes by which the workes of men are tryed the booke of Nature the booke of Scripture the booke of Conscience They that neuer heard of Christ shall be judged by the booke of Nature there is enough in the booke of Nature to leave all unexcusable They that live in the Church shall be tryed and judged by the booke of the Scripture Of the Law They that have sinned under the Law shall be judged by the Law Of the Gospell God shall judge the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospell Both of them shall be judged according to the booke of Conscience for God will lay that booke so cleare and open that they shall see what they have done against that Booke Lord what a many of sinnes have we committed here that we never remember and thinke of when they are done Our memorie and conscience now is a Book clasped up we see not a thousand things that are registred there but when God shall lay open that Booke and in large our memories and inlighten our consciences then men shall clearly see what they had forgot before they shall promptly dictate the whole course of our lives and acquaint us with every action that hath past us and every circumstance to accuse and excuse This is the kind of the tryall by which the workes of men shall be tryed Lastly with the Summons there shall be an appearance and with that a separation and a tryall after all these are done then commeth the sentence then the Sentence shall be pronounced upon the one and upon the othet the one Sentence full of sweetnesse and comfort every word droppeth as a honey combe Come you blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world The same voyce that Christ spake to them here Come to me the same shall be there Come yee blessed and as they were carefull to come to Christ here so they shall make a happy comming to Christ there The other is a sentence of Hell and wrath and horrour Depart yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divell and his Angels as they desired here to depart from God and said to him depart from us so they shall heare that word of horrour and woe pronounced at that day they shall bee sent away into fire to have their portion with the Divell and his Angels Thus briefly I have shewed concerning the Person judging First for the Iudge himselfe God And then for the Iudgement first that it must be and then the manner how I should goe on to the next generall point that is to consider the things and persons Judged every worke of every man whether it bee good or whether it bee evill And so I should have given the Application and Use of all together But so much for this time FINIS A A TRIALL OF SINCERITIE OR THE DESIRE OF THE FAITHFVLL ISAIAH 25. 9. This is the Lord wee have waited for him wee will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation PSAL. 38. 9. Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. A TRIALL OF SINCERITIE OR THE DESIRE OF THE FAITHFVLL SERMON XV. ISAIH 26. 8 9. Yea in the way of thy Iudgements O Lord have wee waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee With my soule have I desired thee in the night yea with my Spirit within me will I seeke thee early for when thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnesse THis Chapter is a sweet song of the Prophet if I mistake not concerning the restauration of the Iewes And the words of the Text are the sweet Swan-like song of our deceased Sister which she desired might be her Funerall song her Funerall text at this time and desired it long agoe before any thing that is now fallen
the Doctrine of repentance because the kingdome of God was at hand This is that upon which Saint Peter groundeth his exhortation unto the people Acts 3. 18. Repent saith he and bee converted that your sinnes may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Therefore repent and returne unto God doe away your sinnes because there will a time of refreshing come and you had need then to be found in another hue in another state then in your old rotten withered condition and sinfull lusts This is the Argument that the Apostle used to the Athenians to bring them from Idolatrie to serve the living God because God hath appointed to judge the world in righteousnesse by that man whom he hath ordained Even for that reason because God hath appointed a time to judge the world in righteousnesse therefore they should turne from their Idols to serve the living God There is nothing that doth so unbottome the heart nothing so shakes and looseneth a mans hold of sinne and unrighteousnesse as the consideration of Christs comming to Judgement What will it boote me will the soule reason to keep my sins when Christ will come to judge me for my sins What shall I get by going on in a course of a sinne when I can looke for nothing then but a sentence of wrath to be denounced against me This then is that that doth settle a man in a holy conversation in that respect Nay fourthly this is that also which quickneth a man to the practise of all holy duties in his place both in his generall and particular Calling It is the very argument which the Apostle Saint Peter useth to stirre us up to holinesse of conversation Seeing saith he that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought wee to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse looking for the comming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heate As if hee should have said Looke now about the whole world and see what it is that now can comfort you if you be such as goe on in a course of sinne It may be you will say I feare not much for I have many friends Yea but all these shall die It may bee thou hast store of lands but all that shall bee burnt with fire It may be thou hast many pleasures but then there shall bee nothing but Judgement The comming of the Lord that shall then put an end to all these and turne the course of things the expectation thereof is a speciall meanes to take us off from a course of sinne and put us on to a course of obedience to make us walke in another kind of fashion while wee are in the world Therefore the Apostle Saint Paul when he would stirre up Timothy to the worke of the Ministrie what is the Argument that hee useth I charge thee before Christ who shall judge the quicke and the dead As if hee should say there shall be an appearing before the Lord and therefore if thou wilt give thy account up with joy at that day I charge thee to looke to thy Ministrie So may I say to every man in his place I charge thee that art a Master of a Familie looke to the businesse of thy Familie to the salvation of the soules of thy people I charge thee that art a Father or a Mother to looke to the salvation of the soules of thy Children I charge thee that art a Christian to looke to the salvation of thy owne soule And how is the charge I charge thee before the Lord Iesus Christ who shall judge the quicke and dead Because there shall come a time when both thou and they shall bee present before Christ at his appearing therefore if thou wilt have comfort in them and in thy selfe and in Christ be carefull to doe the dutie that concernes thy place looking for the comming of the Lord Iesus So then you see in this respect also thereis nothing so forcible an Argument to settle a man in a holy conversation in a heavenly course as this for a man alwayes to looke for the second comming of Christ. Lastly there is nothing fixeth a man so constantly in a holy course as this Our conversation saith the Apostle is alwayes in heaven Wee alwayes walke on earth as those that aspire to heaven because wee alwayes looke for the comming of Christ. Wert thou carefull to serve God yesterday doe it to day also it may be Christ may come now and take thee away by death to day and there is no preparation for judgement afterward Little children saith Saint Iohn now abide in him that when hee shall appeare wee may have confidence and not bee ashamed before him at his comming What is it that giveth a man boldnesse and takes away shame from him at the comming of Christ What is the reason that a man hath not that spirit of feare and trembling upon him that shall bee upon the hearts of all those that goe on in sinne when they shall cry to the mountaines to fall upon them but this that hee hath continued in a holy conversation and constantly walked before the Lord with an upright heart I have finished my course saith the Apostle I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith hence-forth is layd up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which Christ the righteous Iudge shall give to mee and to all them that love his appearing Still the servants of God have incouraged themselves to persevere in a holy course from the expectation of the comming of Christ that will give them a reward for their constancie in his service It is the Argument that the holy Ghost useth to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3. 11. Hold fast that thou hast and let no man take thy crowne As if hee should say There is a time comming when Crownes shall bee given but to whom to those that hold out that persevere in a godly course Be thou faithfull to the death and thou shalt receive a crowne of glory This is that I say that will make a man goe on will make him that is good in youth be good in age also because whensoever he dieth he shall receive his Crowne This will make a man that he shall not begin in the spirit and end in the flesh this will make him that having put his hand to the plough hee will not looke backe because hee no further lookes for comfort in the appearance of Christ then hee hath had care to walke on constantly in a good course Thus you see the point proved to you that a Christian soule hath a maine benefit by his looking for the second comming of Christ and that this is it that makes him carefull to mortifie his secret lusts that this is it that makes him carefull to purge himselfe from worldly affections that
bee one part of your endeavour this day to give solemne praise every man apart and his Familie apart for this unspeakable mercie of his in making you live in the dayes of Light and in the bright Sun-shine of the Gospell and you shall prove your selves to have begun to have kept Christs saying if you be thankfull for his making of it knowne unto and for writing of it in your hearts This is the first Use. Next I beseech you let me take boldnesse to reprove I feare a great number of you of a sinne whereof I will make it appeare you are guiltie Men there are that make large promises to themselves that they shall never be damned they shall not goe to Hell they hope Death shall not have power to dragge them from this world to the place of darknesse Thou hopest so Come render a reason of thy hope To hope without a ground is to deceive ones selfe with extreame folly As for example there are a number of prisoners in Newgate or in some other Prison should they hope for some man of great wealth to pay their debts and save them from hanging should they not be arrant fooles to hope except they could shew some ground for their hope and some evidence for their expecting of such a kindnesse Thou that hopest thou shalt never see Death come answer God in thy conscience dost thou keepe the saying of Christ or no Where is the knowledge of the Doctrine of the Gospell Doest thou beleeve that which concernes thee touching thy miserie and so apply that to thy selfe to make thee a penitent sinner Doest thou beleeve the Doctrine concerning the Remedie and so apply that to thy selfe to make thee perfect thy repentance by being not only grieved for sinne but taking boldnesse to confesse it and aske pardon and by framing thy selfe in thankfulnesse to amendment of life and New obedience Doest thou I say know this Doctrine and so know it as to practise it Hope and spare not the more thou hopest the better thy hope is the stronger and surer it is the more thou glorifiest God and the more it shall comfort thee But oh unhappy man if thou findest not in thy selfe the care and power in some measure to doe these things cursed bee thy hopes because they be disgracefull to Almighty God tending to make him a lyar and an unjust person and because they are dangerous to thy owne soule tending to rocke thee asleepe in the cradle of security Cursed be those unsound and sandy-built hopes of most men that never yet applied themselves to confesse and lament their sinnes that never applied themselves to crave pardon and to resolve upon amendment that never studied to throw themselves into the Armes of Gods mercy in Christ for pardon that never intended to mortifie the deedes of the body and to subdue the flesh with the lusts thereof and yet they hope they shall not bee damned thou maist as well hope that the Divell shall come out of Hell into Heaven as thou to goe out of earth in to Heaven If thy hope be not grounded upon the workings of these graces because thou findest thy selfe penitent because thou findest thy selfe carefull to strive to rest wholly upon Christ for salvation because thou findest thy selfe industrious in the studie of newnesse of life except I say thy hope be thus grounded it is the vainest thing in the world and it will never doe thee good at the last houre Brethren give me leave to tell you that there are two Gospells in the world the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Gospell of Beelzebub as I may call it the gospell of the Divell that comes from Hell and tendeth to bring men thither Christs Gospell is Repent and beleeve and obey and be saved The Divels gospell is say you beleeve make your selves imagine that you have faith and then never care for repentance and obedience and you shall be saved Christs Gospell is summed up thus by the Prophets Returne to him and live But the Divels goeth thus Assure thy selfe thou shalt live though thou care not for repentance Oh let not the Divell beguile you with that false and counterfeit Gospell of his whosoever leaneth to it shall find it like the Authour of it a Lyar and when he hath trusted to it that confidence and hope of his shall be as the Spiders web the Beesome of destruction shall sweepe it and him downe to the depth of Hell Death shall have dominion over him and carry him from this present world to the region of darknesse into eternall torment hee shall see Death in the grimnesse and terriblenesse of it he shall feele it in all the extremitie that the wrath of God can inflict upon the children of disobedience Thirdly I have to command and require you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you apply your selves to a thing tending so much to the honour of him and to the commoditie and comfort of your owne soules I have shewed you that Jesus Christ hath revealed a way how you should escape the danger of Death eternall and the hurt of Death naturall I beseech you now fall a doing one while as you have beene busied in hearing To what purpose is it that you flocke to heare Sermons and throng to receive the Word except you lay it up in your hearts and apply your selves to practise If thou hast not begun before now begin if thou hast begun before now resolve to proceed with more life and courage Either begin or persist in the practise of the Doctrine of the Gospell If thou hast not repented I require thee in the name of the living God to make this houre the first beginning of thy repentance and apply thy selfe to lay the foundation of that worke before thou lay thy head to sleepe Goe and call to minde thy sinnes and make thy cheekes wet at least thy heart heavy for the multitude of thy great offences downe on thy knees in thy Closet make thy confession of them to God sigh for them mourne for them labour to weepe for them afflict thy soule with great sorrow and remorse then cry for pardon and remission as the thiefe begs at the barre for mercie so doe thou for the forgivenesse of thy sinnes through Christ Jesus and put upon thy selfe a firme resolution and stedfast purpose to goe on no more in the wayes of wickednesse to practise grosse sinnes no more nor no more to allow any sinne that thou knowest to be a sinne though it be never so small Doe thus my brethren and then you may and will it will follow almost of it selfe rest on Christ for salvation Hee that so seeth his owne sinnes as unfeignedly to lament for them and to judge himselfe before God if hee apprehend the truth of the Doctrine of the Gospell he cannot for his life but come on amaine and throw himselfe downe before Christ to imbrace and receive and entertaine
cattell to feed upon for the Land was not full but they might afford some roome to strangers such was he ready to flie when God called him Therefore when God called him to Egypt he presently changed the place and went to that and from thence when God called him againe he came to Mamre and there he dwelt with the Inhabitants of the Land because hee understood that that was the place that God had selected for him to make his possession It teacheth us to learne this voyce of our Father Abraham as children learne to speake by their Parents and delight in their language so we should still delight our selves in this language of the Father of the faithfull to be and account our selves strangers and sojourners among you that bee the world among you that have your cares so fixed on the world that you have no care of heaven among you that will give nothing but hoard up riches and you know not to whom you shall leave them among you that have no dwelling above in that Citie whose builder and maker is God among you that live only on earth I am a stranger among you And being so as every Christian must professe himselfe it therefore followeth we must abstaine from all fleshly lusts and worldly desires and carnall concupiscences and appetites for strangers use not to settle on their dregs in the Countrey they passe thorow but as men in motion they take that which is needfull knowing that they have a Countrey in another place the blessed Ierusalem that is from above who is the mother of us all Secondly we are to consider here the humble conclusion that Abraham makes out of his pilgrimage out of his strangenesse because he was a stranger therefore he will be no meddler as it is an old rule strangers must be no meddlers they must not take what they will not buy what they will strangers doe not purchase land in a strange Countrey without the good will of the Natives Such was the nature of this holy man of God hee would not so much as make bold with them for a burying place without their consent One would thinke it had beene easie for him to have ventured upon this whensoever a man dies the common custome of nature and the law of Nations yeeldeth this priviledge to put their dead into the ground earth to earth there is none so barbarous as to denie by the light of nature but that a dead man should be buried strangers or Forreiners or native Inhabitants therefore I say a man would thinke that such a man as Abraham might safely have ventured upon this to bury Sarah and never told them and asked their good will But no the blessed man was of another mettall of a heavenly and sweet disposition hee would trouble no man he would give no offence but carry himselfe as an Angell of God among them harmlesse to every one he desireth every mans love he was carefull to avoid any mans despleasure and therefore he commeth to them as to great men and intreateth them as if it had beene for a Lordship or a peece of a Province or some great matter of estate he commeth to beg a Grave he desireth a burying place This should teach us what ought to bee our condition in this world not to be audacious and bold and presumptuous as commonly we are one upon another And even strangers themselves so forget themselves now adayes that they make no conscience of depraving and undermining and spoyling and putting Natives out of their possession they get to themselves such an impudencie as is strange and none of the least reproaches they neither approve themselves to God nor men by this bold intrusion Let strangers be like themselves to know that nothing is theirs that they can challenge they must come to it by the good will and consent of the parties for strangers are not at home but to be sent home to their owne place they must presume of nothing out of their place If men did consider this they would not shoulder out and injure and backbite one another and all for base worldly pelfe little better then a burying place then a Rodde of ground to make them a Grave but men are so set on it as though all their hope were here as though they had no treasure in another place as though this were their home and they had no further motion to better things This is the Preface Now the Petition followes Give me I pray you Giveme not Gratis the meaning is not as after the storie sheweth he would not take it for nothing but give mee for price for reasonable bargaine as you shall deeme it fit to give me See here againe the excellent moderation of this great man this great servant of God hee confest it lay in their power to assigne and contract with him for any thing it must be their gift or else he would venture upon nothing I have lived among you and I would faine die among you too as you have given me leave to live with you I beseech you cast not a way my dead my Wife is gone the way of all flesh and I shall follow her shortly cast us not away there is no further corporall living for us together I beseech you give mee a burying place and then we shall be one corporation our bodyes will moulder to nothing and not hurt you therefore give mee that which is a common gift a gift that enemies will give to enemies and therefore a gift to strangers and it is naturall to doe good to strangers I beseech you give me What is this hee would have For though this people were very liberall and would have given him a hundred times more then this hee requested as wee see afterward by their answer it would have beene a great matter that Abraham should have beene denyed yet this holy man asketh such a gift as they might well grant without harme Hereupon the holy man is to be commended as for the great beggars of the world they cry Give give all the whole Countrey is not sufficient to satisfie their desire but still when they have had this and that preferment they cry still Give This blesfed man was of more moderation hee had a more circumcised heart and desire hee desireth no more then they might well forbeare and part with and suffer him to have without hindrance And so it teacheth men their dutie that they should not too much grate upon a friend nor too impudently demand things that cannot well be parted with many men are of such good natures that they will give away at the first sight of a Petition that that shall bee a great losse and damage to them and after wish that they had not given it when they cannot recover it againe There was no such spirit in Abraham nor should be in Gods children they should not bee insatiable and extend themselves to unreasonable demands a thing that argueth one altogether glued
vapours from a malecontented spirit Did they not account these afflictions their Justs and Barriers and Turnaments and exercises of honour and chivalrie at which Angels and Archangels were present with their Euges and approbations God himselfe the chiefe Spectator and rewarder of these exercises they themselves tryumphing and boasting in their tryalls with the impresse of the Apostle on their shields of faith Wee are perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus They were more Eagle-eyed by the strength of grace to pry into the nothingnesse of the creature then all the Philosophers by the strength of nature they did mortifie and crucifie and keepe under the body with the lusts thereof and more truly detest the corruption of the outward man then any Platonist whatsoever but were these the grounds the rise of this celestiall affection nothing lesse to see God to enjoy God to dwell with him to converse with him to be bee dissolved to be with Christ these transported their affections not the emptinesse of the things below but fulnesse of things above not the basenesse of earthly things but the glorie of celestiall things not the miseries of this life or of this crazie vessell but the happinesse of the life to come they had but a glimpse of this strange light darted into their soules and the whole world was darknesse unto it they had a gust of sweetnesse cast into the palate of their soules and all things else were bitter and unsavorie Christ was placed in the summitie and height of their soules and the desire of the full fruition of him caused that fainting that earnest longing in their spirits You will say if this be so what will become of the greatest part of Christians who are afraid to die who are so farre from groaning to depose this Tabernacle that they groane at the least intimation of dissolution It is true that all men receive not this saying neither is it for every one to attaine to this perfection As there are two sorts of faith so there are two forts of Christians there is a strong faith and a weake faith and there are strong Christians and there are weake Christians the strong Christian is willing to dye and patient to live the weake Christian is willing to live and patient to dye hee goes when God calls but he could wish that God would deferre his calling hee hath good hopes of heaven but he desires a little more to enjoy the earth he loves God more then all yet his affections are not fully taken off from all hee is not perplexed with the feares of Hell yet hee is not ravished with the joyes of Heaven hee hath much strength but knowes it not as many a Spectator of a prize is better able to performe it then he that undertakes it but either through faintnesse of heart or ignorance of his owne strength dare not put it to the hazard but had rather commend another mans valour then trye his owne whereas a strong Christian a man growne in Christ sends a challenge to this Gyant Death singles him out as a fit object of his valour grapples with him not as with his match but as his underling insulteth over him setteth his foot on the necke of this King of terrours and by conquering him captivates with great facilitie all other pettie feares of ignominie povertie and the like which therefore are dreadfull because they tend to Death the last the worst the end the summe of all feared evills this is the unconquerable crowne of Faith this is the glory of a Christian this is the Diadem of honour wreathed about his Temples advancing him above all other men whatsoever But you will say may a man desire death Is this now a question what meanes the agony of the Apostle I desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ. What meanes the earnest longing of the Spouse Apoca. 22. The Spirit saith come and the Bride saith come and let him that heares say come What meanes her fainting in the Canticles I am sicke of love let him bring mee into his chamber Let mee see his face I am sicke unto death Let mee dye lest I dye that I may see him for ever What meanes the character of a true Christian As many as love the appearance of the Lord which cannot be without death What meanes the incredible contempt of death in ancient Christians insomuch that it was a received Maxime with the Heathen Omnis Christianus est contemptor mortis What meanes the heroicall encouragement of old Hilarion Egredere anima egredere quid times Goe out my soule goe out why tremblest thou What meanes the words of old Simion in the flames Thus to die is to live What meanes the rapture of Saint Chrysostome that hee would thanke that man that would kill him as transmitting him more speedily to those unconceivable Joyes What meanes this groaning and thirsting in my Text Doe not these demonstrate that it is lawfull to desire death Not simply in it selfe or for it selfe it is the separation of those two whom God hath coupled it is a cessation of being it is an evill of punishment the daughter of sinne to desire it simply were to desire evill which is abhorrent to nature much lesse ought wee to hasten our death by violent meanes Let their memories bee buried in perpeturall silence as the botches and ulcers of Christianitie who out of impatience have perpetrated this heinous sinne a sinne against God and man against nature against grace against the Church against the common-wealth against all things The Heathen man could say that we are the possession of God to be disposed of by him not by our selves the body is the structure of God the worke of his hands the Tabernacle which hee hath made and not to be removed or to bee taken downe but by his command while we live we may advance the glory of God the good of others wee may impeople heaven make up the ruines of Angels to hasten our death were to envie this glory to God this good to others In that distraction of our Apostle betweene two good things his owne glory and the good of others you know which way the scales inclined to the good of others as if he had said Let my glory be deferred so Gods glory be increased let my joy be increased let my joy be suspended so the joy of Angels and of the Court of heaven be intended by the conversion of sinners Nay more this is a small thing Let me be an Athema so Israel be blessed let me be blotted out of the booke of life so thousands bee inserted let the bowels of Christ be streightened to me so they bee enlarged to others this is life indeed this is the end of our life this will comfort
given many men occasion to passe a very uncharitable and unchristian verdict of him I beseech you let me give you a true naked relation how it was I never knew any men of so peaceable a disposition but there might be sometimes some difference betweene them there was betweene Abraham and Lot betweene Paul and Barnabas and there was betweene another honest neighbour and him both men of a peaceable disposition They did not desire to goe to law they desired the matter might bee put to Arbitrators they chose foure honest Gentlemen to take up the matter betweene them they made me as an unworthy Umpire in case they did not agree On Thursday last they met and each of them pleaded their cause And let me say thus that if this Brother of ours had beene judged to doe any wrong in that cause if hee had uttered one word of falshood to helpe his cause if he had used one word of imprecation wishing any curse to himselfe then it had beene peradventure a just thing with God to have taken him at his word If he had sworne one oath if he had uttered but one uncharitable word against his neighbour if he had shewed but any malice or spleene against him if hee had beene but transported with passion as a man may easily be in his owne cause we are but men I say if hee had beene but transported with passion then peradventure some men might have thought it had beene the stroke of divine justice upon him but let me tell you I have the witnesse of honest Gentlemen that were the arbitrators and will justifie First that his cause was good and that there was not one word spoken but was confirmed by honest witnesses present Then he used no kind of imprecation in the world no not as I remember so much as a protestation or any asseveration there was not one oath sworne either by him or by others that were present There was not one uncharitable word spoken by him there was not any malice or ranckour or hatred appeared either on the one side or the other betweene them he was no way transported with passion He did plead his cause but with that meeknesse of spirit with that quietnesse with that sweet temper and that Christian moderation as more could not be required in any Saint of God Therefore brethren let me only tell you thus much while this was in agitation I could not perceive that hee was moved at any thing hee was not stirred he was not earnest in his cause Till it pleased God to touch him and he had some sense and feeling of it rising from his stoole he sate rubbing of his cheeke or his necke with his handkercheife Hee fell upon the necke of a Gentleman that sate close to him who perceiving that he was not well asked him how he did he was scarsly able to give us an answer I perceived that hee was stricken with the dead palsie Brethren considering these things that I have told you before I beseech you judge not that you be not judged condemne not that you be not condemned You owe a dutie to the truth every one of you and by that dutie that you owe to the truth I was about to say I charge you as before God but I beseech you as before God stoppe the mouthes of all them that shall either bee forgers or spreaders of such notorious lies though it pleased God it were by a sudden stroake of his hand and how often hath hee done it when men have beene worse busied hee was but seeking to worke peace Though it pleased God suddenly to take his speech from him yet I beseech you know this withall hee was pleased not to take his life presently away nor his understanding from him from Thursday about foure of the clocke that hee was first stricken hee lived till Saturday night or Sunday morning I know not whether but in this time on Friday night I was with him and I perceived by the lifting up of his hand that hee knew mee I put him in minde of some gracious promises that God hath made to us in Christ. I asked him whether hee beleeved those promises of God and whether hee found any comfort in those promises and then hee lift up his hand I asked him and desired him if hee found any assurance of Gods favour in Christ to make the same signe hee lift up his hand againe I asked him if I should pray with him hee desired it and at the period of every Petition his hand went up to God And one thing I observed more that in one petition of mine in that prayer for him that it would please God to deliver him from the malice of Satan that would be most busie when wee are weakest hee held up his hand higher then before and continued holding it longer And blessed be our good God that wee can hold and keepe an intelligence with him not only by speech but with our very hands that lifting up of the hand and those groanes of his spirit I make no doubt but they prevailed at the hands of God And so as he lived I make no question but hee died a holy servant of God and I hope his soule is now in heaven and wee are come to lay up his body in the earth in the hope of a blessed and joyfull Resurrection FINIS LIFES APPARITION AND MANS DISSOLUTION GEN. 47. 9. Few and evil have the dayes of the yeares of my life beene PSAL. 102. 3. For my dayes are consumed like smoake LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. LIFES APPARITION AND MANS DISSOLVTION SERMON XXV JAMES 4. 14. For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away THere are two maine things to which the corrupt nature of man is subject and obnoxious rash judgement and vaine confidence Both spring out of one roote and that is pride where pride possesseth the heart it will make a man rash in the judgeing of others and presume vainely and confidently upon himselfe At all these evils the Apostle strikes here in this Chapter both mother and daughter both root and branch To take heed of pride that is the mother sinne hee exhorteth us to thankfulnesse where in stead of waxing proud of our selves he would have us humble ourselves and he brings this argument to perswade us because they that humble themselves God will exalt The only way to be exalted is to be humble hee compares the state of man in respect of his future condition to a paire of Balances that are hung on a beame the lower the one balance is downe the higher the other is up the lower wee humble our selves in this life the higher God will exalt us in the next The two maine evils which are the branches of this root the Apostle reproves in the eleventh verse First rash judging of others the fault of those that are apt to speake evill of others speake not
to make the straight wayes of God crooked to make that that God accounts straight to be crooked this is a setting against God therefore Peter saith to Simon Magus pray if it be possible that the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee So you see Saint Paul speakes to Elymas the sorcerer upon the same ground Act. 13. Thou child of the divell and enemy to all righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to pervent the right wayes of God Now I say here are the words and speeches that men speake against the wayes of God these are speeches that argue men in a state whereby they are lyable and open to judgement and exposed to wrath therefore wee should take heed of such words The use may be to condemne those that make light account of words they thinke they may speake it may bee in rashnesse and hastinesse and they may be excused for uttering them it is their hastinesse and their passion and it was done unadvisedly c. I but the Law of God is transgressed the Majestie of God is offended the anger of God is provoked You know what old Eli sayd to his sonnes My sonnes if a man sinne against a man man may plead for him but if he offend against God who shall plead for him I say who shall take up the matter with God in such a case as this when the offence strikes against God and his ordinances and his worship Therefore take heede there is much evill there is life and death as Solomon saith in the power of the tongue that is a man may utterly destroy himselfe by the very words he speakes unadvisedly as hee thinkes and will plead for himselfe or passionately and rashly Againe much more doth it concerne those that proceede to other kinds of wickednesse in the tongue we instanced in some particular instances then that we cannot now stand on We came to direct men to carry themselves in their speech as David to set a watch before the doore of their lippes he prayed to God to doe it And Psal. 39. I sayd that I will take heede to my wayes that I offend not in my tongue And then he prayes to the Lord Psal. 131. to keepe a watch before the doore of his mouth Hee knew well enough that there will be a time when the words that we thinke are sleight and vaine shall be brought to judgement idle unprofitable frothy talke much more rayling and reviling speeches most of all the highest blasphemies and execrations these shall most certainly be brought to a greater censure at the day of judgement But I will not stand on that I then handled Now there remaines three things more The first is this that in the day of judgement God will proceed according to his Law So speake and so doe as those that shall bee judged by the Law I say In the day of judgement God will proceede with men according to his Law Hee will proceede according to his word written therefore labour that your speeches and actions may bee such that they may be agreeable to that Iohn 12. 48. The word that I speake to you saith Christ shall judge you at that day There is not a word that Christ speakes but it shall judge he speakes not in vaine he is the judge that speakes Now you know Christ speakes two wayes Eyther in himselfe Or by his Ministers In himselfe and so eyther that that hee spake when hee was on earth in his his owne person then all the words that hee spake at that time are those words by which he will judge men as farre as they concerne morrall actions by those words he will judge men at the great day for he spake nothing but what was according to his Law Or else that which he spake in his Apostles immediatly by a certaine and infallible worke of the Spirit directing them to such truth as that they could not erre in speaking now in this Christ still spake in them The same way Christ hath in speaking to this day therefore saith he he that heareth you heareth me and he that heareth me heareth him that sent me That which he spake to them hee spake in them concerning all the Ministers of the Gospel What we speake as Ministers that is as men that looke to the direction of our Lord for we are but Embassadours and our words are so far of value and power as they are the speeches of our Lord and as we speake the word of him whose Embassadours we are Now I say looke what the Minister thus speakes as the Embassadour of Christ to the people that Christ will confirme at the day of judgement Now it will appeare what wee speake as Embassadours if we speake nothing but what is agreeable to the text of Scripture rightly understood Therefore marke it whatsoever sinne wee denounce the judgement of God against and urge Scripture for it it is the very rule that Christ will observe in judging men Or else that speech could not stand what yee loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and what yee bind on earth shall be bound in heaven Wee bind when by declaring of mens sinnes wee denounce the judgement of God against such sinnes and so pronounce men to stand under the wrath of God that remaine in those sinnes saith Christ what you thus binde on earth shall bee bound in heaven that is Gods act shall ratifie and confirme the same sentence in heaven which we denounce here upon earth by vertue of this word So when wee come to distressed soules and declare to them that they stand acquitted and that by the Word of God and so as Ministers of the Gospell by vertue of the truth revealed to us declare that they are freed from the bond and guilt of their sinnes upon those evidences of repentance that they manifest I say it is ratified in heaven Therefore you see there is no other way of proceeding but looke as Christs owne words when hee was upon the earth so the same that are as his owne words that is those truths that are drawne from Christs truths have the same power upon the hearts and consciences of men now to command them and shall have after to judge them as ever they had But here it may be objected it should seeme that all men shall not be judged by the Law because there are some men to whom the Law hath never beene published for what shall wee say to a great part of the world that have not yet received the Scriptures we know that the Scriptures have not beene published to a great part of the world at this day there are many Heathens many Pagans that never had the Scriptures therefore how shall they be judged by the Law except you say that onely those shall bee judged by it that have beene under the preaching of the Gospell and have had the helpe of the Scriptures We answer that all mankinde and every particular man is under
must be restored God is the Lord of life and whether we are willing or not when he calls the comfort and we must part and in this respect a man who wants a lively faith may acquit himselfe in a triall when hee sees that floods of teares will not help him specially when he sees it is past recovery he resignes up a comfort when he can keepe it no longer hee will part with a blessing when hee cannot avoid iâ—… But then there is a pious acquitting of our selves when God calls for a comfort backe the hand of Faith presents the comfort to God againe when God calls for Isaac Abraham presently resignes up his beloved Sonne againe upon this ground God is the Lord who gave him and now the Lord calls for him backe againe I and the Lord shall have him thus Faith acquits the soule in great triall and joynes with God against all our owne contentments to set downe with much patience in great losses to submit to Gods call and Gods appointment Now the reasons why Faith can acquit a man in great trialls may be these First Faith can exalt Gods will above all and submit our wills to Gods will remember this God is the Authour of mercy when he will he gives us and when hee pleaseth hee takes it away againe It is well to have abundance saith nature and sence we cannot be without it no saith Faith I will yeeld to Gods will it is good to enjoy this saith Sence it is better to part with it saith Faith when God calls for it Secondly Faith can give God the glory of all outward comforts this is a great occasion of stilling our soules to find out the right owner of ourcomforts if a man did once discerne that by faith that God is the Authour of all comfort and that all mercyes come from God this would make us submit in the day of triall this is certaine God is the God of our bodyes and of our soules and of our comforts who hath more right to possession then the owner all our comforts are but Gods servants God is the great Land-Lord of heaven and earth the God of all our possessions what if hee be pleased to gather a flower wee are but tenantsat will and whatsoever our outward estate is Faith overlookes all and submits all to God and receives it by Gods permission and doth as it were heare the Lord say I must doe what I will with mine owne Faith makes a man say nothing is mine owne my Child is not mine owne my Wife is not mine owne it is Gods possession when God calls for it Faith resignes it up as Gods due faith renders unto God the things that are Gods Thirdly Faith can make the soule acquit it selfe in great trials because faith findes no losse by obedienciall submission for all our unwillingnesse to resigne up and to part with any comfort it doth arise from infidelitie or from the stubbornnesse that is in a person when a man haves and holds his comfort contrary to Gods will or else it doth arise from a conceit that some dammage will redound to our selves in parting with such a blessing but faith sees safety enough to yeeld up all into Gods hands who is the Father of mercy and God of all consolation Thus we see Abraham being put to it about his only sonne he gives up his child his Isaac and God bestowes Isaac upon Abraham againe nay a further degree of blessing confirmed with an oath In blessing I will blesse thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee and will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven This is ever true faith makes a man give back a blessing with this conclusion either God will continue the comfort to a person or else he wil give him more or a better for it Fourthly a fourth reason why Faith can make a man acquit himselfe in great trialls because Faith can find all losses made up in God alone Faith can find God as a most ample and universall good Faith doth looke upon God as a particular good and such a good that answers all againe that abundantly makes up all losses There be many broken peeces of comfort that must concurre to make up our outward good for our good here below is a compounded good the Wife is a part that makes up our good below and our children are a part that makes up our good below and our health and our riches and our friends many of these concurre together to make up our good below but God is all this in himselfe and much more whatsoever good whatsoever comforts are in a Child a Wife a Husband or in friends in riches in health all that is in God and much more to faith what is that thou seest in a Husband or in a Wife or in a Child that thou mayest not see in God What is that thou findest in a friend that thou mayest not findin God and what is there in riches that thou mayest not have much more in God the Husband can doe thee no good without God who can doe thee so much good as God the Husband can comfort thee who can comfort thee so much as God a friend may counsell thee and direct thee but hee cannot deliver thee Faith sees more in God then in riches more in God then in all outward blessings bring all the outward comforts together they cannot make up a Christians comfort Faith is never satisfied with these things it is not a Child alone nor a Husband alone nor a Wife alone nor a friend alone that makes up a Christians comfort but God alone can doe it whatsoever is in any outward comfort Faith findes it much more in God God and his favour God and his gracious countenance these make up a Christians comfort this alone supports the Christian and in the want of all things Faith can comfort it selfe in the favour of God in the losse of all things Faith can find all againe in the favour of God This is a fourth reason why Faith makes a man acquit himselfe in great Tryalls A fift reason why Faith makes a man acquit himselfe in great troubles because Faith knowes upon what tearmes wee possesse all these outward comforts upon what small grounds wee possesse them upon moveable and changeable titles Faith lookes upon all these things as upon things that hee must part from we have here no abiding Citie our place and bâ—…ing here is but for a short time and remember this God never bestoweth any comfort upon thee or mee with an assurance of an immortall possession all the assurance that he hath given thee is nothing all the creature is but vanity it is of a shifting nature and therefore it is said of riches that they doe take to themselves wings they skippe away honour is soone gone riches are soone gone the life of man is soone gone the life of man is but a breath a vapour which is presently consumed
I remember a policie of Saint Paul in his Epistle hee wrote to Philemon he writes to him for the re-entertainment of a runnagate servant that hee had begotten to God in his bonds and for the better effecting of it in his inscription he not only writes to Philemon but joynes with him Philemons wife To Philemon our dearely beloved and to our beloved Appia Philem. 1. 2. Wherefore was this For nothing else I beleeve but to warne her of her dutie that when the receiving of Onesimus was manifested to her Husband as a needfull dutie and a thing pleasing to Almightie God she should not put in her spoke to withstand the motion but further it by all the meanes wee could It was to this end that the woman was created that shee might be a helpe to her Hueband in all honest offices to joyne with him to incourage him to provoke him and assist him in the performance of them Fourthly and lastly to omit many other things recorded of her that I might here relate to you and to come to that that more neerely concernes this present occasion it is said of Rachel shee died in travell God had commanded Iacob to rise and goe up to Bethel and dwell there hee obeyed and erected a Pillar in the place where God talked with him thence hee journeyed a little further to Ephrath and there Rachel travelled and had hard labour in the sufferance of which which might be some ease shee received a great deale of comfort from her Midwife who bade her not feare for shee should have this sonne also but it came to passe as her soule was departing for shee died that her sonnes name was called Benoni that is a sonne of sorrow as we see verse 18. Who can expresse the woe of that day and the bitternesse of that losse to Iacob who was now bereft of his dearely-beloved Wife by the fruit of whose wombe hee had reaped such increase of blessing before the children had the care of two watching over them now only of one and that such a one as was not accustomed to interest himselfe in training up young Children but left it to her and shee tooke it from him O death voide of mercy and respect of persons that shee should die it was some grieâ—…e to him but that shee died in travell that did most trouble him and increase his griefe And well might hee style their sonne Benoni the sonne of sorrow for it was indeed a sorrow to them all to her to him to their issue to their friends and acquaintance to their servants to all that knew them or had any relation to them But Iacob will not exceed the bounds of Christianitie hee was at the last comforted he referres himselfe his children his infinite and almost insupportable losse to God Almighties pleasure from him she was received and to him he is content againe to returne all The mourning and lamenting that he made on her behalfe it could not recall her againe all the teares he could shed for her were of no force or power at all to make her alive too much sorrow might happily indanger his owne life and then he should highly offend against Almightie God Patience and Christian fortitude were the only remedies left him and these he resolves on Let us learne hence as long as the world lasts to know that worldly comforts whatsoever they be and howsoever wee may esteeme of them they are subject to change Love with unfeignednesse what may be so loved but take heed you love not too much for feare the taking of that away from you that was so dearely loved of you make you fall into impatience and sinne against God Let us so love that we may thinke of losse if it stand with Gods pleasure but yet let us so love that wee esteeme it no losse if hee please Let his good will and pleasure ever-more moderate our affections so happily we shall enjoy the thing beloved a great deale longer But if wee exceed in lamenting were we as just and righteous as Iacob God will be angrie with us for it Not only thy dearest Wife but thy dearest Child thy dearest friend whatsoever is most deare to thee shall then feele the stroake of mortalitie that the heart may bee taught to wish for eternitie crying heavily and sighing with a mournfull voyce with those words of the Preacher Vanitie of vanities all is but vanitie There is a threefold punishment inflicted upon all women kind in answer to the three sinnes committed by our Grandmother Eve First because shee gave too much credit to the words of the Serpent telling her that both Adam and she shovld bee as Gods knowing good and evill therefore it was pronounced presently upon her that her sorrowes and conceptions should bee multiplied Secondly because against the expresse command of Almightie God she did eate the forbidden fruit therefore it was pronounced against her that in sorrow she should bring forth Children every time her houre was at hand shee should hardly escape death I need not inlarge my selfe you all know it to be too true nay sometimes and that oft-times too it costs your lives an example wee have here in the Text in Rachel and in our deceased Sister here before us and many others Thirdly and lastly because she was a seducer of her Husband therefore for a punishment all your desires ought to be subject to your Husbands and by the warrant of the Scripture they must rule over you Death is a debt to nature and must be paid there is no avoyding of it no putting it off when GOD thinkes it fit it is infallible to all in respect of the matter and end though in respect of the time and manner many times it be divers Some die when they are young some in the middle of their age and some live till they be very old That for the time Some die of Convulsions some of Dropsies some of Feavers and to be short some in Child-bed as Rachel here did and our departed Sister But of what disease soever they die that is nothing die they must sooner or later of this infirmitie or that it is no matter which when it pleaseth God Let a man make what shew hee can with all his glorious adornations Let him have rich apparell and disguised linnen and searecloth and balme and spices let him be inwrapped in lead and let stone immure him when hee is dead yet the earth his originall Mother will againe owne him for her naturall Child and triumph over him with these or the like insultings he is in my bowells returned to his earth This bodie returnes not immediatly to heaven but to the earth nor to the earth neither as a stranger and altogether unknowne to him but to his earth appropriate to him as his owne his familiar friend and old acquaintance To conclude wee are sinfull and therefore wee must die we are full of evill and therefore we must goe to the grave
and looke on it as a hatefull thing I make it manifest that I am indeed dead to sinne as the Scripture saith here reckon that you are dead to sinne Therefore as when a man is delivered from being a Galley-slave under the Turkes and his ransome is paid if his old Master come and command him to the Galleyes hee saith no my ransome is payd I am free and I will not any more bee a slave So reckon thou art no more to be such as thou wert wont to be for now reckon your selves saith the Apostle if you be in Christ that you are dead to sin and alive to God through Iesus Christ our Lord. FINIS HOPES ANCHOR-HOLD OR THE HELMET OF SALVATION HEB. 6. 19. Which Hope we have as an Anchor of the Soule both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the vaile ITHES 5. 8. Let us who are of the day bee sober putting on for a Helmet the Hope of Salvation LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. HOPES ANCHOR HOLD OR THE HELMET OF SALVATION SERMON XXXVIII 1 COR. 15. 19. If in this life onely wee have hope in Christ wee are of all men most miserable I Will not detaine you with the argument of this Chapter nor in the Coherence of this Scripture The scope of it in a word is thus much If in this life in this World onely for the present wee have hope and confidence in Christ and the ayme of our confidence and the height of our hope reach no further then wee wee poore Christians wee the faithfull in the World wee are of all men most miserable yea wee are more miserable then any other men The words containe in them two parts of a Hypotheticall proposition of which the first is an Antecedent as we call it and the other is the Consequent You may call the first a Condition and the last a Conclusion The Antecedent or Condition is this If in this life onely wee have hope in Christ what then then the Consequent or Conclusion is this then are wee of all men the mâ—…st miserable But now against the Antecedent there ariseth this Assumption to make up the sence to make it perfect But not in this life onely have wee hope in Christ for that is the meaning of the Apostle therefore against the Consequent ariseth this Conclusion Therefore we are not of of all men the most miserable â—…y we are not miserable at all You see here are termes in the Text of great consequence here is life here is hope here is Christ here is men here is miserie and here is all things almost that can bee sayd either concerning Heaven or earth Now marke it is not sayd If in this life we have hope wee are miserable neither if wee have hope in Christ in this life then are wee miserable not so but if our hope bee oneâ—… in this life and sticke there and goe no further then so then wee are miserable There are two Emphaticall termes in the Text wee must take notice of and that is onely in the former part and most of all in the latter part onely in the former part that straitneth and restraineth our hope most of all in the latter part that inlargeth our miserie and so it may well for when the hope is restrained to the present there the miserie may be infinitely inlarged But not for the present is our hope onely for the present ergo c. I need say no more it is the Text. I shall raise to you sixe severall Consectaries or Corrollaries or Conclusions that naturally arise out of this Scripture and I purpose at this time to runne them all through it must be roundly it shall bee plainely doe you heare patiently The first Assertion wee make out of the Text it is this that The faithfull are hopefull The godly have hope wee have hope that is taken for granted The second concerneth the object of this hope and the Point is this that Christ is the object of the Christians hope We have hope in Christ. The third is touching the time of our hope and that is for this life the Lesson is this that This life-time is our hope-time We have hope in this life The fourth is that Hope in this life it is not onely of the things of this life Not onely of this life for if in this life onely we have hope oh no take that away our hope in this life is not onely set upon the things of this life If in this life onely not so Fiftly this life you see how that standeth convertible with another terme in the Text with miserie shewing thus much that This life is miserable The last is that The faithfull the hopefull they are not of all the most miserable they are not miserable at all Then were wee miserable but the former being not true that cannot bee true These are the sixe Points Of which to content my selfe with a touch of them as I passe along and so onely to present them severally unto you I begin with the first that The faithfull they are hopefull We have hope so are the words Faith is the evidence of things hoped for so sayth the Apostle Heb. 11. 1. And they that have accesse through this Grace they rejoyce in hope of the glorie of God they goe joyned together Hope is a constant expectation of the performance of such promises of God as we apprehend out of his Word by faith For example Faith doth beleeve Gods promises to bee true Hope doth expect the performance of them according to that truth By Faith wee beleeve God to bee our Father by Hope wee expect that he should shew himselfe such a one to us By Faith wee doe beleeve eternall life by Hope wee attend when this life shall bee revealed Spe as one speakes what is it else but perseverantia fidei the perseverance of Faith Faith is the Mother Hope is the Daughter the Mother is incouraged and comforted by the Daughter as Naomi was by Ruth Hence it is that the holy Apostle Saint Peter hee ascribeth the salvation of our soules to our faith saying that the end of our faith is the salvation of our soules Well and Saint Paul hee assureth the same to belong unto Hope saying we are saved by Hope So then Faith sayth I beleeve these blessed promises of God to bee true and Hope sayth I see them and I waite for the enjoyment of those things that are reserved formee Thus Faith and Hope are woven one in another Thus the faithfull are the hopefull Wee have Hope That 's the first Point The Use of this Point breifly it shall be but this First to teach us to seeke and to finde out this Hope in our selves And secondly to strive and to fight against some impediments that oppose themselves and are hindrances of this Hope First thou must go and seeke thy selfe and search out and find whether
that may be meant but that which is unrighteously kept is unrighteous Mammon to you if you procured it never so justly unlesse you doe rightly dispose of it and if you be desirous to doe right in disposing of your mammon of your wealth doe it now That when you want that power and those times you may enjoy the comfortable fruit of the well-redeeming of the time of your life to receive you into everlasting habitations In the 25. verse of the 16. Luke it is the challenge of Abraham to Dives Sonne remember that thou in thy life-time haddest thy goods for so the word signifieth thou haddest thy opportunities of life and of goods too but now thou hast neither life nor goods left thee to doe good with and therefore hee is blessed and thou art tormented It was the folly of those five Virgins They tooke not the opportunitie of life for that is the thing meant there but they posted over all to the last and hoped that all might bee effected in a trice or minute of their life which would haue held them employment enough all the dayes of their lives And therefore they came short of heaven the gates were shut against them as you see when the Bridegroome came If any man imagine because it is said Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them That therefore it matters not so long as a man doth good at his death though hee have neglected the wayes of goodnesse all his life Let them know that by works there is not meant the actions of men but the fruites of their actions Their workes follow them not the workes they have deferred untill death but the fruites of those workes they did while they were living and received not the benefit of them untill death Their workes follow them that is the fruits of their workes It is more good and pleasant by farre to have the actions goe before and the fruites and comfortable effects to succeed and follow after But if any man yet suppose that hee may make that up in his Will which he hath neglected all his life long and though hee have lived miserably covetously and unprofitably all the dayes of his life yet his thoughts may tell him that by the Charitable Bequests of his last Testament as bequeathing largely to the Church and Common-wealth and to all sorts of people hee may at the last make fit compensation and satisfaction for neglect of former duties Let no man deceive himselfe with such a bad resolution for first it argues a signe of infidelitie that a man will not trust God for feare he should want in his life-time what is the reason else that he deferres the doing good in health unlesse it be for feare of wanting himselfe such distrust hee hath in the providence of God Besides the same God which bids thee doe good when thou hast opportunitie and while thou enjoyest the advantage of life hee expects it now And it may bee truly said of many that neglect those times of doing good while they lived and have now supplied that defect in their death by the large benevolence of their Wills Their will is good but their deed is â—…ught So much for the first point I proceed unto the second that is thou must not only take the time of thy life but also the opportunitie of thy meanes and thy estate while there is yet a price in thine hand while thou hast opportunitie and enjoyest wealth to doe good with redeeme the advantages and opportunities by employing them in that way for which thou didst receive them The time may come wherein you may desire to doe good but cannot wanting at estate and opportunities whereby to doe it Marke what Solomon saith Wilt thou trust in a thing of nothing for Riches have wings as an Eagle and flie away toward heaven It is the vanitie of men that they still forbeare and stay while their estates increase pretending that then they shall bee better able to doe good and extend themselves more largely or that they may keepe their wealth and waite for a better opportunitie But why wilt thou trust in a thing of nothing Thou seest a fowle in her flight and now it may be thou perceivest it but instantly it vanisheth out of thy sight Why riches have wings saith Solomon Thou hast them now in thy possession and retainest them fast in hold but presently they are departed they flie as an Eagle out of thy sight And the same wise man when he exhorteth men to cast their bread upon the waters Hee gives them this reason Thou knowest not what evills thou knowest not what judgements and calamities God intends to bring upon that Nation where thou livest upon the Citie upon the Familie where thou dwellest upon thy person or estate Thou knowest not what evils God will bring upon the earth And so likewise charge rich men in this world that they hee not high-minded and that they trust not in uncertaine riches but in the living God that they bee readie to distribute and to communicate and to doe good workes What is it that hinders men from distributing and communicating Because they trust in uncertaine Riches For if they would now learne not to trust in uncertaine Riches but account them uncertaine as they are and put confidence in the living God who can provide for them when those outward meanes which they so much rely on faile their expectations they would then be more liberall and bountifull and readie to doe good and to communicate So then here is the meaning of the point Take the opportunities of life That is first take the time of life while you may doe good and then take the meanes the wealth and estate which is the time of your meanes For this observe Iobs case hee goes on discoursing of this very point he was now a man stript of all hee had but the other day the Richest man in the East the Sâ—…ans and Caldeans had carried away his goods his cattell and his children and all things were taken from him Yet there was onething that administred comfort in the day of his adversitie and his affliction And it was this saith he If I have made the eyes of the poore to faile or if I eate my morsels alone or if I have not relieved the fatherlesse c. If I have not done thus and thus then let the Lords fiercest judgement fall upon mee But herein consists my comfort my conscience beares mee witnesse that when I had wealth and estate and enjoyed the goods of this life I did good I was father to the fatherlesse a foot to the lame and eyes to the blind I did all the good that lay within the compasse of my power to doe when I had meanes to doe it I say little doe you know beloved whatsoever thou art whatsoever estate thou hast though thou
commended in practise of the Saints If any of thy brethren among thee be poore saith God thou shalt not harden thy heart thou shalt not shut up thy hand against thy poore brother The not opening the hands to relieve him God accounts that as proceeding from the hardnesse of the heart Thou shalt not harden thy heart against thy brother c. Cast thy bread upon the Waters for after many dayes thou shalt finde it Is not this the fast that I have chosen for a man to give his bread to the hungry and that a man should release those that are in Captivity and to let the oppressed goe free The Apostle wisheth that as they abounded in knowledge and in vertue and in faith and goodnesse so they might abound also in this Grace of God The Grace of God that he there speaks of is the willing readinesse to the doing of good To doe good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased You see there by doing good he meanes distribution the latter word doth prove the former and both explaine this Text. You have it likewise commended in the practice of the Saints I need not bee large in discoursing to you the carriage of Abraham of Lot of David of Iob the practice of Cornelius yea of Christ himselfe The Scripture is plentifull in this I and that which is more to bee observed that although Christ himselfe were relieved by others yet out of that hee gave a share to the poore It will appeare likewise in reason that this is a necessarie dutie and these may be taken First from the equity of it for it is equall you should thus employ your time and estate and those advantages of life which God hath made you doner of partly to that purpose and a man commits an injurie in neglecting these holy duties and is not only become an unmercifull but an unjust man and so in the plainest phrase a dishonest man hee is not just that doth not thus Therefore with-hold not the good from the owner thereof sayth God when it is in thy power to give The poore is owner of the estate of the rich so farre as his necessitie requires it and it proves but a matter of justice and equitie to bestow his riches where it ought to bee bestowed and a man is unjust in that respect if hee doe it not Riches are called unrighteous Mammon as hath beene expressed before when they are urighteously with-held from them to whom they should bee given as well as when they are unrighteously gotten So that detaining it from those unto whom it is appointed by Gods direction converts that riches perchance honestly procured into the Mammon of unrighteousnesse Secondly as it becomes a matter of justice so it proves likewise a matter of wisedome a man makes wise provision for the present and the future also by this course And therefore it makes way for the felicitie of the servants of God to employ their endeavours in the execution of this dutie and to lay fast hold on the forehead of opportunitie First it proves a consequent of wisedome for themselves in procuring their owne good Blessed is the man that judgeth wisely of the poore why so the Lord will consider him in the day of evill and he will not give him over to the will of his enemies What is the thing that a man is most subject to feare in this World but that which David sayth concerning Saul I shall fall sometime or other by the hands of some enemie of some mischievous person or malicious person or other You see the Lord hath here promis'd a large assurance of safetie and protection from the malice of his adversaries in the day of evill if hee wisely consider the poore Againe it makes much for the good of his posteritie The good man is mercifull c. and his feed inherits the blessing It may bee he perceives not such sensible and apparant fruits or outward successe in his owne life upon this course yet his seed inherits the blessing and the lesse hee enjoyes the more shall they receive of Gods goodnesse towards them as a recompence for his benevolent kindnesse towards the people of God And what greater legacie can man bestow upon his posteritie then to leave them by his particular meanes in the loving favour of the Almightie And as it is so for the present so it becomes a course of wisdome for the future also Charge the rich men of the World that they be ready to doe good c. laying up a good foundation for the time to come And by this meanes a man may provide well for eternitie Make you friends sayth Christ of your unrighteous Mammon that when you faile they may receive you into everlasting habitations The way for a man to provide for eternall good is to use his tallent of wealth and estate for the present to the good of many Thus wee see the Reasons plainly verified To make use of it briefly and hasten to that which remaines Is it so then that it is writ downe to bee the dutie of Gods servants to mannage the opportunities of this life for this end and in this course of doing good that is of distribution and reliefe Then it serves to reprove those that neglect this dutie and account it not a businesse of their life onely they conceive of it as a matter of praise and commendations a thing that they doe well in performing and not very ill in omitting They conceive it to bee of no absolvte necessitie but voluntary charitie as a matter arbitrarie but not as a dutie necessarie and for this cause they appeare but slack and indifferent they conceive this as a dutie to lay up wealth but never remember the necessity of laying out wealth to bee commanded for a greater dutie then the former they take it for their dutie to get all they can but forget the following precept to doe all the good with that they get as they can And here is the reason why there are such lavish expences bestowed upon every vanitie that the portion of the poore and such as ought to bee relieved with our estates in point of equitie and by vertue of Gods Cōmandement is swallowed up by every vanity It is spent in excessiue apparell for the satisfaction of the vaine fashion-monger in superfluity of dyet for the Glutton and the Epicure in Haukes and Hounds and Dogs to please the humour of the voluptuous person it is consumed in raising up vaine and unnecessarie Buildings by earth-wormes that make their habitations below and lay a foundation for themselves on earth neglecting that goodly building given of God to the re-edifying of their soules in the kingdome of Grace And thus is the portion of the poore consumed and themselves for want of the same exposed to all the miserie that this World can inflict Some cry they cannot doe
Father to begâ—…t them they are begotten by the same Word of Truth they enjoy the same Mother the Church Ierusalem that is abovâ—… is free and is the Mother of us all they are brethren together of the same Familie And therefore beloved let men see and acknowledge this that whatsoever difference there is of Nation yet they are all of the same Houshold in this respect You see the Iewes notwithstanding they were distinguished by Tribes yet they are all nominated together the House of Israel So all the people of God let their distinctions bee never so distant in respect of wealth of naturall birth of decent or outward ornament they are brethren of the same Familie notwithstanding Beloved let us looke to this Point we â—…re all brethren and all of the same House Is it not a shame then when one brother is full to suffer another to dye with famine and hunger for one of the same House to let his brother sincke under reproach and disgrace not offering his assistance or his hand to helpe him and prevent his extreamitie If this be the taske and dutie of Christians that they should especially looke to them of the Houshold of Faith let the instâ—…ction stirre up oâ—… endeavours to the performance of this dutie and above all the affection wee beare to others let the respect wee beare to the people of God bee advanced Saith our Saviour Christ when you come to a place aske who is worthie and I could heartily wish that you who intend any worke of mercie out of the estate which the providence of God hath enabled you withall according to the command of this dutie would propound the same rule unto your selves enquiring first who are worthie Bestow not your charitie at randome as it is the manner of many such are in want and they looâ—…e no further but enquire where you may bee furnished with better directions who are worthie and who are of the Houshold of Faith and inhabitants of the Familie such you are to labour to find and having found them looke to them And the more to incite you to this dutie know that Christ calls for it and doth continually expect it He would have you especially to have an eye to his members I was hungrie and you did not feed mee hee calls for it that gave you your wealth Neither doth hee demand any thing that is not his owne as David confesseth in his Provision for the Temple of thine owne have I given thee so you may account of whatsoever Christ calls for if it bee to your estate it came by his donation and hee gave it you first If you bestow any gift on your Children you thinke you may reserve that power unto your selves to take it againe at your pleasure and give it unto whom you list and shall not God be allowed that priviledge 〈◊〉 hee that conferres many liberall bâ—…ssings on thee Sure thou art much in his debt and it argues too foule an ingratitude if hee lend thee a Million and thou refusest to pay him a Mite Againe if hee call for it t' is not for thy lossâ—… that he requires it but will give thee better riches Aske of him and he will give you the Holy Ghost nay the kingdome of Heaven and those are riches farre above the value of any substance thou enjoyest Aske of him and hee will forgive your sinnes 10000. Tallents whereas hee demands but one penny of thee I daâ—… say he doth greater things for thee already then he desires for others Againe consider what want you have of him that demands this Hee gives you dayly bread give us this day ouâ—… dayly bread if you did not receive dayly bread and a blessing on it â—…om him you neither could have bread nor enjoy life by it Againe make on what termes he requires it t' is but to be lent and to bee lent upon Usurie too Many covetoâ—…s earth-worms would bee glad to heare of the most advantage by Intrest of money yet no Usurie is lawfull except this and this is spoken in this phrase to no other purpose but to convince the world of sinne that seeke gaine to their owne losse and procure their profit a wrong way Hee that gives to the poore hee lends to the Lord upon Usurie It is the confession of the Usurer that to receive ten in the hundred is great gaine and hee concludes that much advantage doth acrue to his Coffors and accounts it a prosperous profession Miserable trading when wee exchange our Soules and expose them to eternall destruction for the procurement of a little wealth of this world which hath not a minutes subsistance But This is the trade of advantage not ten in the hundred but a hundred for ten nay a hundred for one To enjoy a hundred for one here and in the world to come eternall life is advantage farre above the comparison of any gaine the earth can afford us Further marke who it is that askes this at thy hands even hee whose favour thou must one day seeke for whose countenance thou wouldest give all the world it is hee before whose seat thou must appeare that calls for this dutie of doing good with thy estate while thou enjoyest it denie not this small courtesie to him lest his favours being abused turne into anger and thou become a miserable instance of his heavie displeasure No man desiring the favour of a Prince or Judge in some businesse of importance but would gladly embrace an occasion of doing him a pleasure before the tryall of his cause that so the Judge may take notice of his good will and gratifie his kindnesse Beloved wee have speciall use for the favour of Christ and must all appeare before his Iudgement seate Now wee have opportunitie sufficient Christ in his poore members of the houshold of faith comes to you expecting favour at your hands hee wills you to doe good to them and to him in them What you bestow on them he accounts as a courtesie to himselfe In asmuch as you have done it to those it extends unto him and what is denied them he takes it as an inâ—…urie to himselfe In asmuch as you have not done it to those you have not done it to him Therefore looke how you extend mercy here to enjoy it hereafter and as you expect the favour of the Judge make way for his kindnesse by the performance of his will in a seasonable contribution during this life hee that useth not mercy here shall find none hereafter and Iudgement shall bee mercilesse saith the Apostle to them that shew not mercie Nay looke that such mercy â—…e showâ—…e as God expecteth you that are wealthy according to the wealth and riches you possesse God will accept of no beggerly present from a wealthy man neitheâ—… will he receive a poore reward from the Coffers of him that hath horded up much red â—…ay where hee hath 〈◊〉 liberally hee wilâ—… 〈◊〉 liberally Looke to it for
withereth and is fit for nothing but the Oven so it is with our lives Many expressions of the like nature might be added the Scripture is plentifull in these comparisons comparing our life to the Spiders webbe to a Weavers shuttle to the breath of a candle to a pilgrimage to a journey to the dayes of an hireling c. all of them things of a changeable and variable nature The second argument may be taken from the qualitie of our Natures and therein there are two things considerable both which imply a certaintie of death First our composition and matter whereof we are made wee are reared out of a mouldering and wasting principle our bodies are therefore stiled an earthly house 2 Cor. 5. 1. A house though of Iron will in time be cankered but a house of earth as it is most impotent against assaults so it is of its owne nature most apt and subject to dissolution And in this respect also they ar termed Tabernacles Now a Tabernacle you know is a thing of no perpetuitie made only to be soone set up and that in a mans passage and then asso one taken downe againe Secondly beside this there is in our nature sinne and corruption and this is it that doth put us to the sword and cause this deadly change this tares our lives with a continuall consumption The tree breedes the worme which will destroy the life of the tree wee in Adam gave leave to sinne and now it is that sin gives leave to death In the day that thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2. 17. and Rom. 5. 12. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed over all men in that all have sinned The shadow doth not so neerely attend the body of man as Death doth the body of sinne And Rom. 6. 23. the very wages of sinne is death God should doe that man wrong that hath hired out his soule all his dayes to sinne if he did not at night pay him with the wages of death The third Argument may be drawne from the certaintie of the Resurrection wee all beleeve the resurrection of our bodyes and and therefore wee must needes conclude a change of our bodyes for what is the Resurrection but life from death for the dead to heare the voyce of Christ and live What is it but a breathing in of the soule againe the lighting of the candle againe the body could never be raised if it were not first changed Thou foole saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye The fourth Argument is from the infallibilitie of Gods decree it is appointed unto men once to dye and after death to come to judgement Heb. 9. 27. Thou mayest sooner expect that the course of the Heavens shall bee altered and the Center of the earth bee dislocated then that the purpose of God concerning mans mortalitie should bee reversed nay that may be for heaven and earth shall passe away but this shall never be not one jot of the word of God shall fall to the ground God hath purposed it and none shall disanull it nay he hath established his purpose with a word of confirmation Gen. 2. in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye As if hee should have said Doe not deceive thy selfe but build upon it I have spoken it and will not alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth as sure as thou livest if thou eatest thou shalt dye Thus you see the first assertion cleared unto you I will addresse my selfe now to the second of which briefly too and then make Application of them both together As there is a certaintie of our change so wee should alway waite till it doth come There are two things which I will here inquire of for the fuller illustration of this point First what this continuall wayting may import Secondly why there should be such a constant wayting for the day of our mortall change First this continuall wayting mainly imports two things one acertaine expectation of death for wayting is an act of Hope expecting something if wee doe hope for that wee see not then doe wee with patience waite for it saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 15. A man is then sayd to wayte for death when hee is looking for it at every turne as a Steward waites for his Master when hee continually expects his returne when upon every voice hee heares or upon every knocke at the doore hee saith oh my Master is come this is hee that knockes So a man is sayd to wayte for death when in every action of his life in every motion of his estate in every passage of his courses sayth well I must dye when though his bones are full of marrow yet I must dye when though riches come in like a flood yet I must dye when changes appeare upon himselfe or others yet I must dye I have no abiding here I am but a sojourner and a stranger as all my fathers were I must not enjoy my Wife for ever Children for ever Friends for ever Lands for ever these comforts for ever my life for ever it is but a lease which may soon expire I am but a steward and I must bee called to an account such a one is gone before and I must follow after the writ of habeas corpus hath seized on him and for ought I know the next may bee for mee so when death comes I am readie to answer it as Abraham did his Sonne Isaack here I am it comes not upon mee as a thiefe in the night when I am a sleep and thinke not of him but as Ionathans arrow to David who stayed in the field and expected when it should bee shot and then hee rose up and embraced him Yee Brethren sayth Paul in 1 Thes. 5. 4. are not in darknesse that that day should overtake you as a theife ye are all the children of the light therefore let us not sleepe as doe others but let us watch and bee sober This is the first thing that wayting imports Another thing it imports is a serious preparation for the day of our change for it is not a naked expectation of a change arising from the certainty of death but it is also a religious preparation improving the interim of time for the best advantage for a mans soule before the day of change doth come which is here implyed in wayting Solomon calls it a remembring Eccles. 12. 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth whiles the evill dayes come not and the yeares draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them what is this remembring of the Creatour but a care to know him a feare to offend him a studie to obey him and when is that to bee done Now now remember there must bee a present acting of this Moses calls it a numbring of our dayes Psal. 90. 12. and
of a hireling The Almond tree groweth not upon the head of any without dew from heaven here it grew and bloomed in a seasonable time If life be a blessing long life is a greater blessing especially if it be crowned with a happy death for the last Act maketh our life a Comedie or a Tragedie and as the evening proves the day so a mans estate at his death and after over-rules the verdict of his life Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet and so I fall into the road of my Text and begin to treate of the peaceable end of those who die in the faith and lie in the bosome of Abraham Goe to thy fathers in peace There is a great difference about the interpretation of this phrase Ibis ad patres and the reason of the difference is the difficultie which insueth upon every interpretation For if we referre these words to the body of Abraham and the buriall thereof in the Sepulchres of his Fathers this Exposition complieth not with the truth of the storie for none but Sarah lay in this cave Abrahams Fathers were else-where bestowed If we referre them to the soule of Abraham and illustrate them with this glosse Thou shalt goe in thy soule to the glerious troupe of thy Ancestours a question then will grow what that place is whether his Fathers went before him is it Heaven but some of Abrahams Fathers were Idolatours and we have no warrant to place any Idolatour there Is it Hell thither no man goes in peace neither did ever yet any Jew or Christian so rubbe his forehead or rather arme it with brasse as to affirme that the soule of Abraham in whom all generations of the earth were blessed was in Hell shall wee then send him to the Rabbins Limbus or the Popish Purgatorie or the auncient Fathers occulta receptacula hidden receptacles or unknowne places wherein Tertullian conceiveth that the soules of the faithfull departed resemble those among the Romans who stood for offices and the day of the election while the voyces were in calculation expected in a white gowne whether they were chosen or not Saint Austine also is very expresse for these hidden Cells from the death of a man till the last resurrection the soules are bestowed in hidden receptacles as every soule is worthy either rest or paine To dispell this mist which hath caused many to misse their way first by the light of the Scripture I will cleare the Point in question and then interpret the phrase First then for the soules of the faithfulls flight after shee is free from this clog of flesh I answer that it is straight to Heaven to the assembly of the first borne there and the spirits of just men made perfect for of Enoch who was translated that he might walke with God and of Elias who was carried up into Heaven in a fierie Chariot there is little doubt can bee made and lesse of Abraham to whose bosome in Heaven Lazarus was carried and least of all on the Theife to whom Christ promised on the Crosse this day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise Why should Saint Paul so earnestly desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ if after his dissolution till the day of judgement hee should not come neare him nor see his face Why should all godly Christians bee so willing to bee absent from the bodie that they might bee present with the Lord if after they were absent from the bodie they should not come into the Lords presence who dare question that which the Apostle so expresly and so confidently delivers wee know that if the house of our earthly tabernacle bee dissolved wee have an eternall in the Heavens As for the phrase thou shalt go to thy Fathers it is but an elegant circumlocution of the period of our life a quaver upon the close thereof for the meaning is thou shalt dye or go the way of all flesh Quo pius â—…neas quo dives Tullus Ancus whether all thy Fathers went before thee good and bad rich and poore for Deaths sickle like the Italian Captaines sword which could not distinguish betweene a Guelf and Gibelive slaies all and makes a prey of all The righteous soule must for a time be divorced from the body as well as the foule of the wicked and in the graves the Wormes claime kindred of the elect as well as of the reprobate the consideration whereof put the Preacher into a passion how doth the righteous man dye as well as the wicked as it is said of Abraham that hee is gathered to his Fathers so it is sayd also of Ishmael and may bee of the wickedest man that breathes And herein the language of Canaan and the language of Ashdod doe not much differ for what the Romans meane by that their phrase abijt ad plures hee is gone to the many The Hebrewes in a sanctified phrase expresse by abijt ad patres hee is gone to his Fathers or gathered to his people where of some interpreters give this acute reason It cannot bee sayd of us here whilest wee live that wee are gathered to our owne people in a spirituall sense because here good and bad are gathered together Elect and Reprobate so journe together all are as it were joynt Comminers upon the earth the Citie of God and the Citie of the World sayle in the same shippe to the Haven of death The Draw-net of the Gospell catcheth sweet and stinking fish in Gods field Tares grow with Wheat in his floare there is much Chaffe with good graine But after death God taketh his Fanne in his hand and purgeth his Floare After wee depart hence God placeth and sorteth his Children by themselves and the Children of the World and the wicked are by themselves and so every man is exactly gathered to his owne people every starre is set in his owne constellation every graine is put in his owne heape every person and family is joyned to his owne tribe wee all passe by the same gate of death but presently after wee are out of it some take the right hand and are ranked with sheepe others the left hand and are ranked among his goates We are all like Plate worne out of fashion and wee must all bee altered and therefore of necessitie must bee melted that is dissolved by death but after wee have runne in the fire of the judgement of God of that which was pure mettall God will make Vessells of honour but of the drossie and alcumie stuffe that is the prophane or impure person or hypocrite vessells of dishonour and these shall shine like the sunne in the Firmament those shall gloe like coales in the fire of hell for ever more By this it should seeme may some object that the righteous have no prerogative in death above the wicked but onely after death and consequently that God promised Abraham no blessing in these words thou shalt goe to thy fathers it
they were dead would bee loath to bee taken at their word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke signifieth praemiâ—…m a reward as well as senectum old age and doubtlesse old age in generall is so to be accompted for it is reckoned among the blessings which God bestowed upon Iob Isaac David and 〈◊〉 who are all sayd to have dyed in a good old age or full of dayes riches and honour For howsoever to some men in some case contraction of their dayes hath proved an aduantage by abridging their present and preventing their future sorrowes as it was to good King Iosiah who was timely taken away that he might not see the evill which after his death fell upon his people and to Saint Austine who died immediatly before Hippo was taken Yet length of dayes ordinarily is a blessing and promised to such as obey their Parents honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may bee long as on the contrary shortning the dayes of life is threatned by the Psalmist as a curse to the blood-thirstie and deceitfull man and Ely tooke it for such when Samuel from God told him there should not bee an old man in his familie Howsoever if old age be not perpetually and simply a blessing in it selfe yet as it is here qualified with bona I am sure it is The Almond-tree is beautifull of it selfe how much more when it is hung with jewells and precious stones as Xerxes his Platinas was and crowned with health riches honour and the comfort of a good conscience These make old age such a burthen as bladders are to him that swimmeth which beare him up or feathers to a bird which though they have some weight yet by them she raiseth her selfe up and flyeth By this time you expect I know the application of this Scripture but it is made alreadie not in word but in deed not by mee but by him whose emptie Casket wee behold with teares yet rejoycing that God hath taken out the jewell to adorne his Spouse the triumphant Church in Heaven He is alreadie gone in soule to his Fathers and is now going in bodie to them to be buried in their Sepulchre his bodie and soule are now distracted and wee for his distraction his soule is gone and our hearts are gone I ever held sighes the best figures and teares the fluentest rhetoricke in a Funerall speech if I had better known this honourable Personage I could have spoken more in his praise yet no more then the Citie and Countrey will prove to bee true by the misse of him Desider antur reliqua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS 10 PAEAN OR CHRISTS TRIUMPH OVER DEATH A FVNER ALL SERMON Preached at Lambeth August 3. 1639. SERMON XLIII 1 COR. 15. 55. O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie IFeare lest some here present that are of a more melting disposition stung with the sense of their present losse and overcome with griefe and sorrow for it may frame an answer with a deep sigh to the interrogations in my Text saying here is Deaths sting here is the Graves victorie here is Deaths sting for it hath stung him to death who was the stay of my comfort and joy of my life here is the Graves victorie for it holdeth the corpse of my dearest friend captive and close prisoner in his Coffin If any thus troubled in mind heare mee this day let them stop the flood-gate of their teares and lengthen their patience but to an houre and by Gods assistance in the explication and application of this parcell of Scripture I â—…ll make it appeare to them that their friend is not dead but sleepeth and that death hath not swallowed up him but he hath swallowed up death into victorie and that already in soule hee insulteth over Death in the words of my Text O Death where is thy sting and shall hereafter in body when this corruptible shall put on incorruption insult in like manner over the grave saying O grave where is thy victorie This sentence is like a Ring of gold enameled or cloth of Tissue imbrothered or a peece of rich plate curiously wrought and engâ—…aven materiam suâ—…abit opâ—… the workmanship seemes to goe beyond or at least equall the mettall for this sentence consisteth of three figures at least First an Apostrophe which by a kind of miracle of art giveth life to dead things and eares to the deale like to that O earth earth earth heart the voyce of the Lord. Secondly an insultation like to that in the Prophet Esay Where are the gods of Hamar and the gods of Arphad or the gods of the Citie of Sepharvaim Thirdly a double Metaphor the former taken from a Serpent Bee Waspe or Hornet the latter taken from a Conquerour for Death is here compared to a Bee Waspe Hornet or Serpent without a sting the Grave to a Conquerour that hath lost his bootie or prisoner O Death c. Such Drawne-workes wrought about with divers colours of Art we find often in the Sacred context especially in the Prophecies of the old Testament and the Epistles of Saint Paul in the new If we looke up to the heavens we finde in some part of the skie single starres by themselves in others a Constellation or conjunction of many starres so in some passages of holy Writ you may observe one figure or trope as namely a membrum Or similiter cadens as I was hungry and you gave mee meate I was thirsty and yee grave me drinke I was naked and you clothed me I was sicke and in prison and you visited mee or an Allegorie as Where the body is there the Eagles will bee gathered or an Apostrophe as Heare O heavens and hearken O earth or an exclamation Oâ—… that they were wise then they would understand this Oh that my people would have hearkened to my voyce and that Israel would have walked in my wayes In other passages a conjunction and combination of many figures and ornaments of speech as in that Text of the Prophet Ieremie Is there no balme in Gilead no physitian there Why then is not the health of my people restord In which one verse you may note foure figures First an interogation for more empheticall conviction Secondly a communication for more familiar instruction Thirdly an Allegorie for more lively expression Fourthly an Aposiopesis for safer reprehension and the like wee may observe in our Saviours exprobration O that thou knewest in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace O Ierusalem Ierusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen doth her chickens and thou wouldst not Here is a posie of rhetoricall flowers an exclamation O si cognovisses à reticentia at least in this thy day saltem in hoc die tuo A repetition Ierusalem Ierusalem an interogation how oft would I quoties volui And lastly
and sea shall cast up 〈◊〉 their dead Wee have the parties to bee examâ—…ed let us now here the Articles upon which they are to bee examâ—…ed First Death is to answer to this 〈◊〉 where is thy sâ—…ng these words may bee understood â—…o maâ—…r of wayes 1 Actively 2 Passively 1 Passively where is thy sting that is the sting thrust out by Deatâ—… 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Death is 〈◊〉 other then the present sence of the desert of death and guilt of conscience 〈◊〉 a dreadâ—… 〈…〉 take away this 〈…〉 for sinnâ—… 〈…〉 no 〈…〉 â—…is Saints and 〈…〉 of a punishment of sinne a remedie against all sinne of a short and fearefull cut to eternall death a faire and safe draw-bridge to eternall life 2 Actively where is thy sting that is the sting which causeth and bringeth Death In this sense the sting of death is sinne non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato enim morimur non morte peccâ—…mus as Saint Austine most accutely and eloquently Sinne is sayd to bee the sting of Death as a cup of poyson is sayd to bee a potion of death that is a potion bringing death for wee dye by sinne wee sinne not by death sinne is not the off-spring of death but death the off-spring of sinne or as the Apostle tearmeth it the wages of sinne And it is just with God to pay the sinner this wages by rendring death to sinne and punishing sinne with death because sinne severeth the soule from God and not onely grieveth and despightfully entreateth but without repentance in the end thrusteth the spirit out of doores And what more agreeable to Divine justice then that the soule which willingly severeth her selfe from God should bee unwillingly severed from the bodie and that the spirit should bee expelled of his residence in the flesh which expelleth Gods grace and excludeth his Spirit from a residence in the soul This sting of death is like the Adders two forked or double for it is either originall or actuall sinne originall sinne is the sting of death in the day thou eatest of the Tree of knowledge thou shalt surely dye and as by one man sinne came into the World and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all had sinned Secondly actuall sinne is the sting of death the soule that sinneth it shall dye the sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the father nor the father the iniquity of the sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall bee upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall bee upon him Howbeit if wee speake properly originall sinne as it is a pronesse to all sinne so it maketh us rather obnoxious to death then dead men but actuall sinne without repentance slayes out-right Adam did not die the day hee eat the fruit but that day became mortalis or morti obnoxius guiltie of death or liable to it originall sinne alone maketh us mortes but actuall mortuos dead men The Devill like to a Hornet sometimes pricks us onely but leaveth not his sting in us sometime he leaveth his sting in us and that 's farre the more dangerous He is pricked only with this sting who sinneth suddenly and presently repenteth but he who the Devil bringeth to a habit or custome insinne in him hee leaveth his sting Now wee know what the sting is let us enquire where it is The answer is if wee speake of the reprobate men or Devills it remaineth in their consciences if wee speake of the Elect it is plucked out of their soules and it was put in our Saviours bodie and there deaded and lost for hee that knew no sinne was made sinne for us to wit by imputing our sinne to him and inflicting the punishment thereof upon him That wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him for the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes were wee healed who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree Athanasius representeth the manner of it by the similitude of a Waspe losing her sting in a Rocke Vespa acculeâ—… fodiens petram c. as an angry Waspe thrusteth her sting into a rocke cannot pierce or enter farre into it but either breaketh her sting or loseth it all so Death assaulting the Lord of life and striving with all her might to sting him hurt not him but disarmed her selfe of her sting for ever The first interrogatorie is answered wee know where Deaths sting is let us now consider of the second interrogatorie concerning the victorie of the Grave O grave where is thy victorie If the Grave as shee openeth her mouth wide so she could speake shee would answer My victories are to be seene in Macpelah Golgotha in all the gulphs of the Sea and Caves and pits of the Earth where the dead have beene bestowed since the beginning of the world My victorie is in the fire in the water in the earth in all Churnells and Caemitaries or dormitories in the bellies of fish in the mawes of beasts in holy shrines Tombes and sepulchres wheresoever corpses have beene put and are yet reserved Of all that ever Death arrested and they by order of divine Justice have beene committed to my custodie never any but one escaped whom the heaven of heavens could not containe much lesse any earthly prison he might truly say and none but he O grave where is thy victorie all save him I keepe in safe custodie that were ever sent to mee Yet may all that die in Iesus and expect a glorious Resurrection by him even now by faith insult over the Grave for Faith calleth those things that are not as if they were it looketh backward as farre as the Creation which produced all things at the first of nothing and as farre forward to the resurrection which shall restore all things from nothing or that which is as much as nothing Faith with an eye annointed with the eye-salve of the spirit seeth death swallowed up into victorie and the earth and sea casting up all their dead and upon this evidence of things not seene triumpheth over Death and Hell saying O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Wee have spoken hitherto of Death and the Grave let us now heare what they have to say to us Death saith feare not mee the Grave Weepe not immoderately for the dead Death bids us die to sinne the Grave Burie all thy injuries and wrongs in the pit of oblivion both say to us flye sinne and neither of us can hurt you both say to us Give thankes to him who hath given you victorie over uâ—… both the sting of death pricks you not but if you die in the bosome of Christ rather delights and tickles you Death is no more Death but a sleepe the Grave is no more a grave but abed Death is but the putting off of our old rags the Grave is the Vestrie
wit some red flower as well as white yet the Crowne and Garland of all Confessours are compleat And therefore not onely Beda and Bernard and Richardus and Andreus and Primasius and Haymo and Ansbertus and Ioachimus but also the Greeke and the Roman Church yea and the reformed also understand these words of all that dye in Gods favour for they read these words at the Funeralls of all the dead and not onely at the Funeralls of Martyrs Yea but how can any bee sayd to dye in the Lord that is continuing his Member sith Christ hath no dead Members I answer that the faithfull dye not in the Lord in that sense in which they live in him but in another they die not spiritually nor cease to bee his mysticall Members but naturally that is they continuing in Christs faith and love breathe out their souies and so fall asleepe in his bosome or dye in his love laying hold of him by faith and relying on him by hope and embracing him by charitie All they dye in the Lord who die in the act of contrition as Saint Austin who reading the penetentiall Psalmes with many teares breathed out his last gaspe sighing for his sinnes Or in the act of charitie as Saint Ierome who in a most fervent or vehement exhortation to the love of God gave up the ghost Or in the act of Religion as Saint Ambrose who after he had received the blessed Sacrament in a heavenly rapture and a holy parley with Christ left the body Or in the act of Devotion as Aquinas who lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven pronouncing with a loude voyce those words of the Spouse in the Canticles Come my beloved let us goe forth went out of this world Or in the Act of gratulation and thankes-giving as Petrus Celestinus who repeating that last verse of the last Psalme Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum Let every breath or every one that hath breath praise the Lord breathed out his soule Or in an Act of divine contemplation as Gerson that famous Chancellour of Paris who having explicated fiftie properties of divine love concluded both his Treatise and his life with fortis ut mors dilectio Love is strong as death To knit up all six sorts of men may lay just claime to the blessednesse in my Text. First Martyrs for they die in the Lord because they die in his quarrell Secondly Confessours for they die in the Lord because they die in his faith and in the confession of his name Thirdly all they that love Christ and are beloved of him for they die in the Lord because they die in his bosome and embracings Fourthly all truly penitent sinners for they dye in the Lord because they dye in his peace Firthly all they who are engrafted into Christ by a speciall faith and persever in him to the end for they die in the Lord because they die in his communion as being members of his mysticall body Lastly all they that dye calling upon the Lord or otherwise make a godly end for they dye in the Lord because they dye in the workes of the Lord and happy is that servant whom his Master when hee commeth shall find so doing From hence-forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza and some other render the word in the originall perfectly because the dead obtaine the blessednesse they hoped for but this Exposition cannot stand unlesse wee restraine this blessednesse to the soule For the perfect and consummate happinesse of all that die in the Lord consisteth in the glorification of their bodyes and soules when they shall see God face to face and the beames of his countenance directly falling upon the soule shall reflect also upon the body and most true it is which Paraeus observeth the deads blessednesse farre exceedes the blessednesse of the living for here wee have but the first fruits of happinesse but in heaven wee shall have the whole lumpe here wee hunger and thirst for righteousnesse there wee shall be satisfied To this we all willingly assent but it will not hence follow that they have their whole lumpe of happinesse till the day of Judgement Blessed they are from the houre of their death but not perfectly blessed but not consummatly blessed intensive as blessed as the soule by it selfe can be for that state in which it now is not blessed extensive not so blessed as the whole person shall be when the soule shall bee the second time given to the body and both bid to an everlasting feast at the mariage of the Lambe Others therefore more agreeable to the Analogie of faith render the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from hence-forth and referre the hence-forth not to the time of the uttering this Prophecie as if before it none were blessed for before this prophecie all the Apostles Saint Iohn only excepted and thousands of Saints and Martyrs had died in the Lord and were at rest from their labours but to the instant of their dying in the Lord they no sooner lost their lives for Christ then they found happinesse in him So soone as Lazarus dyed his soule was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome So soone as the Thiefe expired on the Crosse hee aspired to Paradise and was with Christ So Nazianzen teacheth concerning every religious soule I beleeve saith he that every noble soule which is in grace and favour with God presently as soone as shee hath shaken off the body which kept downe her wings flyeth joyfully streight up to her Lord and Saint Cyprian Death to the godly is not a departure but a passe from a temporall to an eternall life and no stay by the way as soone as we have finished our course here we may arrive at the goale there And S. Bernard The infidels call the parting of the soule from the body Death but the beleevers call it the Passeover because it is a passe from death to life For they die to the world that they may perfectly live to God To strike sayle and make toward the shore if all that dye in the Lord are blessed from the very moment of their death and this blessednesse is confirmed by a voyce from heaven let us give more heed to such a voyce then to any whisper of the flesh or divell Whatsoever Philosophie argueth or Reason objecteth or sense excepteth against it let us give more heed to God then man to the spirit then the flesh to faith then to reason to heaven then to earth although they who suffer for the testimonie of the Gospell seeme to be most miserable their skinnes being fleyed off their joynts racked their whole body torne in peeces or burned to ashes their goods confiscate their armes defaced and all manner of disgraces put upon them yet they are most happy in heaven by the testimonie of heaven it selfe the malice of their enemies cannot reach so high as heaven it cannot touch them there there much lesse awake them out of their
hath beene and feare for what hee shall bee mingles and sowers all the joy and delight in that hee is And what is hee at the best a poore tennant â—…t â—…ill of a ruinous cottage of loame or house of clay readie to fall about his eares with a Grashoppers leape in a spot of ground His apparell is but stolne ragges his wealth the excrements of the earth his dyet bread of carefulnesse got with the sweat of his browes and all his comforts and recreations rather as Saint Austine tearmes them solati a miserorum quam gaudia beatorum sauces of misery then dishes of happinesse For albeit a good conscience bee a continuall feast and the testimonie of the Spirit an everlasting Jubile in the soule yet the most righteous man that breathes mortall ayre either by frailty or negligence or diffidence or impatience or love of this present life or suttletie of perswasions or violence of temptations so woundeth his conscience and grieveth the Spirit of grace that this feast is turned for a time into a fast and the Jubile into an ejulate or howling All things therefore layd together the scornes of the World assaults from the flesh temptations from the Devill rebukes from God checks from conscience sensible fayling of Grace spirituall dissertions with many a bitter agonie and conflict with despaire I cannot but perfectly accord with the Poet in his dolefull note Faelices nimium quibus est fortuna peracta jam sua they are but too happie whose glasse is well runne out and with the Evangelist in my Text beati mâ—…rtui blessed are the dead for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them they rest from those labours which tyreus that live and the workes which wee are to follow follow them A threefold cable saith the Wiseman is not easily brokn and such is this here in my Text on which the anchour of our hope hangeâ—…h 1 The testimonie of Saint Iohn Yea 2 The testimonie of the Spirit so sâ—…th the Spirit 3 A strong reason drawne from their rest and recompence they rest from their labours and they receive the reward of their labours they are discharged of their worke and for their worke If they were discharged for their worke and not discharged of their worke they could not bee said blessed because their tedious and painefull workes were to returne And much lesse happie could they bee tearmed if they were discharged of their worke but not for it for then they should lose all their labour under the Sunne they should have done and suffered all in vaine but now because they are both discharged of their worke for they rest from their labour and discharged for their worke for their workes follow them they are most blessed The Spirit here taketh the ground of this heavenly musick ravishing the souls of the living and able to revive the very dead either from the labourers pay or the racers prize If the ground be the labourers joy for their rest and pay the descant must bee this our life is a day our calling a labour the evening when wee give over our death the pay our penny If the ground be the racers joy for their prize the descant may bee this the Church is the field Christianitie is the race death is the last poste and a garland of glory the wager let us all â—…o run that we may obtaine Yea sayth the Spirit Wee read in the Law and the Prophets Thus sayth Iehovah the Lord in the Gospell Thus spake Iesus But in the Epistles and especially in the Revelation thus sayth the Spirit now the Spirit speaketh evidently heare what the Spirit sayth unto the Churches hee that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit sayth unto the Churches and the Spirit and the Bride sayth come While Christ abode in the flesh hee taught with his owne mouth the Word of life but now since his Ascention and sitting in state at the right hand of his Father hee speaketh and doth all by his Spirit By the Spirit hee ordainâ—…th Pastours furnisheth them with gifts enlighâ—…h the understanding of the hearers and enclineth their wills and affections and so leadeth the Church into all truth In which regard Tertullian elegantly tearmeth the Spirit Christi Vicarium Christ his Vicar preaching in his stead and discharging the Cure of the whole World Secondly so sayth the Spirit not the flesh the earth denies it but Heaven avereth it when a man removeth out of this World the flesh beholdeth nothing but a corpes brought to the Church and a coffine layd in the Grave but the spirit discerneth an Angel carrying the soule up to Heaven and leaving it in Abrahams bosome till the Father of spirits shall give her againe to the bodie arrayed in glorious apparell There is no Doctrine the Devill the flesh and the World more oppose then this here delivered by the Spirit concerning the blessednesse of the dead for all Atheists all Heathen all carnall men all Saduces and sundrie sorts of Heretickes deny the Resurrection of the bodie and the greater part of them also the immortalitie of the soule A wicked and ungodly person beleeveth not his soule to bee immortall because hee would not have it so hee would not that their should be another World because hee can have hope of no good there having carried himselfe so ill in this faine hee would stifle the light in his conscience which if hee would open his eyes would clearly discover unto him a future tribunall yet sometimes hee cannot smother it and therefore as Tully who saw a glimering of this truth observeth hee is wonderfully tormented out of a feare that endlesse paines attend him after this life Well let the flesh and fleshly minded men deeme or speake what they list concerning the state of the dead the Spirit of truth sayth that all that dye in the Lord are blessed But where sayth the Spirit so In the Scriptures of the old and new Testament and in this vision and in the heart and conscience of every true beleever First in the Scriptures let mee dye the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like unto his refraine thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from teares for thy workes shall bee rewarded and there is hope in thine end saith the Lord precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the righteous shall wash his foot in the bloud of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous Christ is in life and death advantage for I am in a straight betweene two having a desire to depart and to bee with Christ which is fâ—… better Secondly in this vision for Saint Iohn heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write it as it were with a Penne of Iron upon the Tombe of all that are departed in the Lord for so saith the Spirit Lastly the Spirit speaketh it in the
their soules This is a third Reason even the expectation of the full accomplishment of all the promises The Lord hath dealt with us as he dealt with his own Israel in their wildernesse he gave them a taste of the fruit of the good land he caused the searchers to carry some clusters and bunches of the fruit to the Israelites in the Wildernesse that they tasting of it might hie themselues to that rich and goodly and fat countrey so the Lord giveth us some drops of grace and onely giveth us a taste of that happinesse that wee waite for that we may hie our selves so much the faster through this wildernesse to enjoy it This therefore is a strong reason wherefore the people of God must needs say Come Even so Amen let it be so because I say they know till Christ come the second time they must not expect the accomplishment of their hope and the perfection of their happinesse The fourth and last Reason of this Point may be this because we are taught by our Lord and Saviour Christ to pray Thy kingdome come That is not only that the kingdome of grace may come into our hearts while we are here but that the kingdome of glory may hasten upon us and we are sure that this Petition shall never be granted to us till Christ his returne againe to judgement till he come to accomplish this maine promise of all for then only Christ commeth as our Lord and Iesus Then he commeth as a Lord and makes an end of all the warres of the Church then he shall throw downe all enemies before him treading Sathan and all his instruments under his feet then he shall manifest to the world that he hath the Keyes of hell and of deâ—…th then he shall destroy the kingdome of Antichrist that must be abolished by the brightnesse of his comming And then and not till then he shall come as a Saviour to performe perfect salvation for his Church to deliver his Church not only from condemnation but from the molestation of sinne not only from tyrannie and oppression of enemies but even from all the presence of enemies that at that day a separation being made it may be said to the Saints of God as Moses said to the Israelites when they were afraid of the Egyptians stand still feare nothing the enemies that your eyes have seenâ—… to day yee shall never see them more they shall be so farre from oppressing the Church that they shall never molest the Church not so much as by their presence then hee shall dispose the kingdome to his members as the Father hath disposed the kingdome to him These are strong and effectuall reasons to prove this point to us that the members of the Church true beleevers cannot possibly but waite and expect and vehemently desire the comming of Christ the second time for the salvation of his Body the finall salvation of his people Here one objection may be made by the way and so wee will descend to the Use and Application of it Here it may be said But why doe the people of God thus expect and waite for the comming of Christ in all the Ages of the New Testament for the space of 1600. yeares and yet hee commeth not What reason have they to be commanded to expect and wish and waite for the comming of Christ when he commeth not in so long a time Have not all beene frustrate of their expectation And may not we as well as they that lived in the Ages before us for wee see no appearance of his comming no more then was many hundred yeares since To this we answer That the patient abiding and waiting of the just never miscarrieth the Saints of God never lost nor shall lose for their expecting and waiting for Christs second comming to Judgement The Saints of God in former ages 1600. yeares agoe waited for Christ comming but were they losers by it though he came not This expectation of his comming it kept them in the exercise of their faith of their hope of their patience of their watchfulnesse it kept all their graces a working therefore they were no losers by it though they had not the accomplishment of the maine promise in expecting the promise they were savers and no losers because all their graces were kept in exercise Besides this in the second place the very expectation of Christ in the Ages of the New testament though he came not it is fruitfull and usefull to draw up the hearts and mindes of the godly to heavenly thoughts and to a heavenly conversation and so in the very first Ages of the New Testament the Apostle tells us that this is the use of their expectation Phil. 3. 19. Our conversation iâ—… in heaven from whence wee looke for a Saviour they looked for a Saviour then when he was but newly ascended was it fruitlesse because he came not of 1600. yeares after No but Our conversation is therefore in heaven because we waite for his comming In all ages since this expectation hath beene a meanes to raise the heavy mold of earth the heart of man to heaven and heavenly-mindednesse therefore this expectation doth not faile because it is of use to helpe them to the full fruition of it in the time of it Besides the Saints of God never murmure because Christ commeth not they never murmure as those that shall lose their hopes and expectation because they are taught to frame their mindes and wills to the will of God and of Jesus Christ their head Now the will of God is that wee should still waite though Christ come not because hereby the Lord doth glorifie himselfe in the gathering in together the number of the faithfull The number of the Saints must be gathered in and none must be neglected Now is there any Saint of God and beleever in the world that desireth not that every Saint should be gathered in and the whole body of Christ perfected in the whole members of it before Christ come to judgement None must be neglected and every beleever must frame his will to the will of God God hath revealed that the number must be gathered in and when it is so Christ will come and gather all together under his wing Now the Saints of God thinke not much that the number should be gathered in they are well contented with it So likewise God hath revealed his will that though hee be exceeding patient to wicked men yet he is not forgetfull of his promise God will bee contented though he be provoked every day infinitely by the highest sinnes of the world patiently to endure all this and to offer conditions of peace and mercy even to the worst to shew himselfe rich in mercie and so full of goodnesse that he makes offer even of goodnesse to the worst Now the Saints of God here frame their will to Gods and are content still to waite because God still putteth forth his patience and still offereth Conditions of
the Apostle sayth Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith wee rejoyce under the hope of the glorie of God where there is an earnest and certaine expectation of Christ faith giving assurance to the soule of Christs returne for the happinesse of it it rejoyceth under the hope the heart resolveth it selfe into joy because it shall enjoy Christ. That which the Apostle Saint Peter sayth confirmeth this notably whom sayth hee having not seene and yet wee love him and rejoyce with joy unspeakeable and glorious Doe wee finde this joy in our hearts this heavenly joy that which shall bee perfected in the presence and full fruition of Christ But alas where shall wee finde this joy in the World Men joy in Corne and Wine and oyle in the encreasing of their Money and Stockes and Estates where is the joy the heart is resolved into to consider and remember the returne of Christ to the full and perfect happinesse of the soule Certainely my brethren this is a rare grace upon the earth and yet where it is not that man can have no sound argument in his owne heart that hee hath this expectation of the comming of Christ for with it there is a sound joy in the heart that the world breeds not nor cannot take away A third companion to trie the truth of this expectation is an endeavour after puritie of heart and life this must needes goe with this expectation 1 Iohn 3. 3. Hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe and is pure as hee is pure Hee that hath this hope that expects Christ hopefully and joyfully hee purgeth himselfe hee that wayteth for Christ wayteth for him that hee may bee like him that hee may bee holy as Christ is holy still reserving the proportion of a member and bee pure as Christ is pure What a number bee there that professe they looke for Christs returne for their finall salvation and yet this expectation doth not purge their hearts doth not cleanse those nastie and filthie corners that are there It purgeth not their mouth from falshood and lying and deceitfull and cursed speeches nor their hands from injustice and oppression and the like they are no whit like Christ in their conversation and yet they hope for and expect Christ no hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe What shall wee thinke of them that oppose that seeke to oppresse puritie of heart and life that cast scornes upon puritie and holinesse what shall we thinke of these persons Shall we thinke that they have this expectation They will tell yee I and justifie it before any man and boldly stand upon the expectation of their Saviour as well as others but if thou hate puritie in others then thou hatest it in thy selfe and hee that purgeth not himselfe hath not this hope for he that hath this hope purgeth himsefe as he is pure A fourth companion and attendant of this expectation is Christian fortitude and valour and unweariednesse in labouring and suffering for Christ. Where this expectation is the soule is invincible in labouring and sufferings Hee careth not what he endures what hee sets on for the name of Christ. This wee shall see in the Apostle Saint Paul when hee had the white in his eye when hee had this ayme set before him the high price of the high calling of GOD in Christ I forget the things saith he that are behind and presse hard to the things that are before Though his labour and paines and sufferings were marveilous great he forgetteth all them and still presseth hard to the marke the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus So holy Moses because hee looked for the recompence of the reward hee chose to suffer affliction with the people of GOD rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Besides those faithfull servants of GOD many other instances might bee added to shew that when a man hath this expectation that Christ will come and give him the end and recompence of his labour and eternall joy and glory for his short sufferings which are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed hee refuseth no paines no labour no passion no sufferings for Christ and a good conscience But what need we goe further then the example of Christ himselfe the example of all examples who for the joy that was set before him indured the Crosse and despised the shame and why was this but for our example that wee should despise the crosses that are before us and goe on unweariedly and unfaintingly through all crosses and persecutions if wee meete with never so many oppositions with never so many Diuells yet to goe chearefully on in the wayes of God why because wee have a hope and an expectation before us of Christ appearing Further another attendant of this expectation is this It blunteth and abateth the fiery edge of our affections to the things of this world Hee that hath this expectation is weaned from the world it looseneth the soule from the world every day more then other Whereas naturally wee are rivetted to earthly things fastened to the world this expectation wrought in the heart causeth us to walke more loosely and unjoynted it blunteth and abateth those eager desires that are in us to earthly things See it in the example of that worthy servant of God Moses because hee looked for a Citie and for the recompence of reward that was set before him hee scorned the treasures of Egypt hee despised them hee cared not for honour or treasures or all that Egypt could afford he had rather suffer afflictions with Gods people why because hee looked for the recompence of reward Bee there not a number of persons that professe they expect Christ his returne for their finall salvation and yet notwithstanding they are so fixed to the world they gather the world as greedily grapling the things of this life together so earnestly with such vehement affections as if they were to live their age over a hundred times Bee there not a number of polititians that professe this hope too that hold it most unwise and foolish thing in the world to lose any thing for conscience-sake and for Christ Alas these things will not stand with this expectation When a man hath a good title to heaven he is content to part with the broken title to the things of this life as long indeed as a man hath not a better title hee will hold to that worse but when hee hath a blessed title to the inheritance of the Saints in light hee careth not for this broken Tenour and title hee will not hold them because they cannot hold him In the last place another note that attendeth this expectation is where this is there will bee an answerable affection there will bee a promoting of all the meanes to further it there will bee a griefe and sorrow for all things that come against it to hinder it Thus wee doe in other expectations When we expect this