shall the wicked escape Gods judgements Secondly Seeing God doth chasten those whom he loves 2. Vse this may therefore teach us to beware of censuring hardly of them that are in any distresse or affliction as if this were an argument that they are out of Gods favour and that God hath forsaken them We are prone to judge amisse of those that are in distresse If Job be afflicted Job 4.7.8 Acts 28.4 his friends will think that he is an Hypocrite If the Barbarians see a Viper hang on Pauls hand they will suspect him therefore to have been a murderer and if the Disciples see the man that was born blind John 9.2 they will judge that either he or his Parents had sinned as if they must needes be wicked persons that are afflicted The Samaritans as Josephus writes of them when they saw that matters went prosperously with the Jewes they were wont to say then that they were come of Abraham but when the Jewes were under the Crosse and suffered affliction they would then derive their Pedegree from Babel and other Nations and would not acknowledge them for Abrahams Children as if only the wicked and not the godly were subject to affliction But we see here that God chastens whom he loves and therefore that we are not to judge hardly of such as we see afflicted And thus much likewise for the second point the Patient or party that is chastned by God namely Gods beloved He chastens whom he loves I now proceed to the third and last the quality of the action in this word chastneth which implyeth as I said that God doth not torment and torture us like a tyranne but he doth onely chasten us as a Father doth chasten and correct his Children these chastisements do not proceed from God as an angry judge for our plague and punishment but as from a merciful and loving Father for our correction and amendment for herein he offers himself unto us as unto Sonnes as the Apostle saith So that these chastisements to the godly are signes of their adoption and pledges of Gods love and favour towards them which that we may understand the better I purpose to shew you two things First vvhat these chastisements are or how God doth chasten us And secondly To what end they are or why he doth chasten us Concerning the first these chastisements of God are sometimes called in the Scripture the judgements of God So they are called by the Apostle 1 Pet. 4. The time saith he is come that judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 That is to say the judgement of chastisement for the judgements of God are of two sorts judicia castigationis judicia vindicte condemnationis the judgements of chastisement or correction and the judgments of revenge and condemnation And this distinction is taken out of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. When we saith he 1 Cor. 11.32 are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World So that there is a judgment of chastisement which lights upon the godly and a judgment of condemnation which lights upon the wicked And these judgements are sometimes publick and generall and sometimes private and particular Publick and generall as when a whole Land or Country is afflicted as either by Warre by Plague and Pestilence by Death and Famin and any other common and generall affliction Thus we see 1 Chron. 21. That when David had sinned against God by causing his people to be numbred God to chasten and correct him for it offers him his choise of three publick afflictions either a generall dearth and famin all over his Land 1 Chron. 21.12 for the space of three years or the Enemies to come and invade his Land and prevail against him for the space of three months or a Plague and Pestilence among his people for three dayes David being in this extremity did choose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men because there is mercy with the Lord in his chastisements and so there died of the Pestilence threescore and ten thousand in three dayes This was a generall or publick affliction Sometime again they are privat or particular as when any particular house or family or any privat man is chastned and afflicted and that either outwardly or inwardly outwardly as by the losse of goods by the losse of health by the losse of friends by the losse of liberty and the like And thus Gods Children are often afflicted Some are afflicted with want and poâ—erty as Lâ—zarus was Luke 16.21 some with the losse of their health as the Palâ—iâ—-mâ—â— was Mat. 9. 1 Sam. 2.23 Gen. 39.20 Job 16.2 Psal 59.1 some are crost in their Children as Eli was some are wronged in their good name and credit as Susanna was some restrained of their liberty as Iosâ—ph was some wronged by their friends as Iob was and some persecuted by their enemies as David was These are outward chastisements Sometimes again God doth inwardly chasten us as when either he leaves us for a time to our selves so that we fall into some actual sinnes and are afterwards grieved that we have offended God Thus Peter was afflicted when he had denied our Saviour and wept so bitterly for his denial Or when God withdrawes from us the feeling of his love and the comfort of his spirit Mat. 26.75 So that we doubt for a time that God hath forsaken us because we can find no inward comfort And thus David was afflicted when he complained so grievously Psal 77. Psal 77.7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever and will he shew no more favour hath he forgotten to be gratious and will he shut up his kindness in displeasure These are inward chastisements Now God in all his chastisements deales otherwise with the godly then he deales with the wicked The one he chastens in love and mercy the other he punisheth in his wrath and fury the one he sustaines by his gracious assistance and inables them to bear what he layes upon them the other he gives over to endless despaire to the one he brings a pruning knife to lop and purge them to the other the Axe of desolation to cut them down and destroy them And thus we see what these chastisements are Secondly We are to consider to what end they are or why he doth chasten us The end why God doth chasten his Children is partly for his own glory and partly for their good For his own glory two wayes especially First To shew how greatly he is displeased and offended with sinne insomuch that he doth not spare it in his own Children For this is most certain that if man had never committed sinne he should never have been subject unto any affliction but as soon as Adam had sinned against God then God by afflicting him made manifest how he is displeased and offended by sinne because saith God unto
pardon and forgivenesse of them FINIS The Eighteenth SERMON 1 THES 5.2 For you your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night THe first coming of Christ may well put us in mind of his second coming his coming as a Lambe of his coming as a Lion his coming in humility of his coming in glory The day of his first coming ye know is past and yet so past as that we are still to call it to mind and must never forget it the day of his second coming is yet to come yet so to come as that it will come we know not how soone and we must alwayes expect it And therefore as it hath been a Custome in some Countries that when they kept a feast after other dishes a deaths head was brought in and set upon the Table before the guests to teach them while they were feasting to remember their ends So I thought it not unfit at the time of this feast which we celebrate in remembrance of Christs first coming to bring in as it were a deaths head among you by choosing such a Text as may put you in mind of his second coming at the day of judgement because that is a day which is alwayes to be expected whereof the Apostle in the words which I have read gives a double Reason First because it is certain that this day is coming For you your selves saith he know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes Secondly because it is uncertain when it will come For it so saith he comes as a thief in the night whose coming is uncertain and upon the sudden So that the points to be handled in these words are these the day it self and the coming of it and in the coming of it that it is certain that this day will come though when it wil come it is uncertain And first concerning the day it self The day of judgement is here called the day of the Lord sometimes in the Scripture the great notable day of the Lord. It is called the day of the Lord to put a difference between that day and all the dayes while we live in the world While we live in the World the dayes in the Scripture are called ours For though all dayes indeed be the Lords because he made them as the Prophet David saith Psal 74.16 The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast prepared the light and the Sunne yet in the Scripture they are said to be ours because they were made for our use Therefore God speaking of the time of mans life Gen. 6. His dayes saith he Gen. 6.3 shall be an hundred and twenty years Thus Job speaking of the prosperity of the wicked They spend saith he their dayes in welthinesse Job 21.13 Psal 90.12 Thus David speaking of the uncertainty of this life Psal 90. Teach us saith he to number our dayes Thus the dayes while we live in this world are called ours But the day of judgement is alwayes called Esay 13.7 Joel 2.1 2 Pet. 3.10 the day of the Lord. So Esay 13. Behold the day of the Lord comes So Joel The day of the Lord comes and is nigh at hand So St. Peter 2 Pet. 3. The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night Thus still it is called the day of the Lord because though all other dayes be ours yet this day he hath wholly reserved to himself to call us to an account of all our dayes To some of us he hath given ten thousand dayes to some twenty thousand to some thirty thousand and all the dayes from the beginning of the World to the end thereof he hath divided amongst us giving more unto some and sewer to others to himself he hath reserved but one day onely and the last of all yet such a day as wherein he will call us all to an account of all things that we have done in all our dayes At this day the Drunkard shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in drunkennesse At this day the idle person shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in idlenesse At this day the voluptuos liver shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in pleasure For this is the day which the Lord hath appointed for the examination of all our dayes The dayes which he hath given us are dayes of mercy wherein he offers grace unto all and invites them to repent this day is onely a day of judgement wherein he will execute his justice on those that are impenitent Therefore it is that the time of this life is called in the Scripture Esay 49.8 Dies salutis the day of salvation as Esay 49. I have heard thee saith God in the time accepted in the day of salvation have I succoured thee Which the Apostle expounds 2 Cor. 6. 2 Cor. 6.2 of the time of this life while grace is offered Behold saith he now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation But the day of judgement is called in the Scripture dies irae the day of wrath Zeph. 1.15 Zeph. 1.15 That day saith the Prophet is a day of wrath And Revel 6. The great day of the wrath of the Lord is come And therefore God who for the time of this lise is called by the Apostle the father of mercies yet after this life when he shall judge the World Psal 49.1.2 he is called by the Prophet David a God of revenge For be that is so mercifull to all in this life that he makes the Sun to shine and the rain to fall both on the good and the bad yet after this life at the day of judgement he will rain snares on the wicked fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be their portion for ever to drink Psal 11.6 We see then the reason why it is called the day of the Lord because in that day he will call us all to an account of all our dayes that such as in their days have done their own will might therefore in his day suffor his will because they would not imbrace his mercy while he offered them grace in stead of mercy they might feel his justice His power had a day when he created the World all things therein and by speaking the word made them all of nothing His mercy had a day when he redeemed the world by giving his only Son to suffer death for man that had so highly offended him And his justice shall likewise have a day when he shall judge the World at which day he will appear so terrible to the wicked Revel 6.16 that when they see him they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them and to the rocks to hide them from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vaine because as they in
faire words concerning his Sonne Job 10.1.2 but all to no purpose And surely had it not bin Abraham he would have offered like Job in the bitterness of his soule to have pleaded with God he would have stood up in the behalf of his Sonne and replyed again And is this that Isaac that should be my comfort is this he whom thou hast so often promised and whom I have so long expected as a pledge of thy love and favour towards me and must I now kill him Quid meus hic Isaac in te committere c. Alas what hath Isaac committed against thee how hath he offended thee who will ever believe that thou wouldest have spared Sodom had there been ten that were good in it if thou now takest delight in the blood of the innocent doest thou thus reward thy Children and Servants and is this the fruit of their love and obedience O let it not be known in Gath nor published in Ascalon lest the uncircumcised Philistins insult over thy people say among themselves such honour may have all his Saints But Abraham never opened his mouth for his Sonne but grace having got the upper hand of nature and faith of affection he was glad when God had given him a Sonne but more glad that he had a Sonne to give unto God for so saith Chrysostom Latus erat Abraham cum silium acciperet laetior cum sibi imolandum dominus postularet Abraham rejoyced when he received his Sonne but he rejoyced more when God commanded him to offer him unto him Doct. 1 The Doctrine that may be gathered from hence is this That God makes tryall of our love and obedience in those things which of all other are dearest unto us For so we see he deales here with Abraham when he sees how dearly he loves his Sonne for the better tryall of his love and obedience he commands him to offer him for a burnt-offring Thus dealt our Saviour with the Ruler in the Gospell Luke 18.22 for knowing that he was rich and withall that his heart was set upon his treasure he willed him to sell all that ever he had and to give it to the poor and so tryed him in that which was dearest unto him He Math. 10.37 saith our Saviour that loveth Father Mother Sonne or Daughter more then me he is not worthy of me It is no ordinary love which God requires of us but such a love as is able to subdue all naturall affection So that if our Children were dearer unto us then our own soules yet the love of God is to be preferred before them And this was prefigured by those milch kine 1 Sam. 6. which being to carry the Arke of the Lord it is said that their Calves were taken from them and yet they went on and onely sometimes did low after their Calves but never turned back to look after them To note unto us that Religion must alwayes oversway affection and though we do naturally love our Children yet if they be any hinderance unto us in Gods service we are not to regard them It is the commendation of Levi Deut. 33. that he said to his Father and Mother he had not seen them and that he knew not his Brethren nor his own Children For when the Levites were commanded Exod. 32. to consecrate their hands unto the Lord every man upon his own Sonne and his own Daughter they were so zealous in Gods Cause that they fought against nature and had no more compassion on their Parents or Children then if they had been meer changers whom they had never seene Hieron lib. 2. Epist Select It is an excellent saying of St. Jerom Licet pervulus ex collo pendeat nepos c. Though thy little Nephew should hang about thy neck though thy Mother should intreat thee by those her own duggs that gave thee suck though thy Father should lie upon the Threshold and cling about thy feete as thou art going out to stay thee from spending thy life in Gods service per calcatum perge patrem c. Tread thy Father under thy feete and trample upon him Solum in hac re crudelem esse pietatis est genus Onely in this case it is a kind of piety to use cruelty This howsoever it may seeme a very harsh Doctrine unto flesh and blood yet if our hearts were once throughly inflamed with the love of God if we were wholly devoted unto Gods service and if we did even hunger and thirst after righteousness then whatsoever it were that God required at our hands we would be ready with Abraham to perform obedience Mat. 4.21.22 And as the Disciples when our Saviour called them they left both their goods and their Parents to follow him So whatsoever it were that God required of us though it were to the losse of all that ever we have yet we would be willing to resigne it when God commands us And thus much concerning the first difficulty in this Commandement in regard of the sacrifice which is to be offered Abrahams onely beloved sonne Isaac I come now to the second diffi ∣ culty Second The second difficulty is in regard of the Person that must offer this sacrifice that is Abraham Abraham a Father must sacrifice his Son he must do it himself and no other for him Take thine onely beloved Sonne Isaac and do thou offer him If a Father having but one onely Son should but hear that he were causeless to be put to death this ye know would be a great grief unto him but if he were commanded to be present himself and to be an eye-witnesse and spectator of his death this must needes be a further vexation O but being come thither if he himself were inforced to be his Sonnes executioner and with his own hands to kill his Sonne this were a torment beyond all comparison But this is Abrahams case here If God had commanded him to deliver his Son to some of his Servants and that they should kill him yet Abraham might have conceived some comfort for it may be his Servants would have had compassion on him as it hath often been seene or if they had not but had put him to death yet Abraham should not have been a spectator thereof but that Abraham may be sure of the death of his Son God will have him not onely an eye-witness thereof but to be the actor himself he will have him with his own hands to kill him Valer. Max. lib. 5. tit 7. When Caesar commanded Cesetus a Roman to subscribe but his hand to the bannishment of his Son he made him this answer Celerius tu mihi Caesar omnes meos liberos eripies quam ex his ego unum mea notá pellam Thou shalt sooner saith he berave me of all my Children then I will ever set my hand to bnnish any one of them What would he have answered if he had been commanded with his own hands to have
that we dedicate it wholly to Gods service But I will passe this over and come to the fourth difficultie difficulty fourth The fourth difficultie in this Commandement is in regard of the place where he must sacrifice his Sonne namely in the land of Moriah upon one of the mountaines which God would shew him Morti destinatum citò occidere misericordia genus est It is a kinde of mercie if a man be condemned to die to dispatch him quickly and the reason is because the punishment is much augmented through the expectation of it the expectation of any evil being as ill or worse then the evil it selfe But God here the more as it may seeme to torment Abraham Commands him not onely to Sacrifice his Son but injoynes him a long and tedious journey before he must do it God might have appointed him First to go with his Son into the Land of Moriah and being come thither then he might have told him the cause of his coming But first he commands him to sacrifice his Son and then sends him to the place where he must perform the same and what is the Reason but onely this as Origen saith ut dum ambulat dum iter agit per totam viam cogitationibus discerpatur that all the while he is travelling with his Son he might ruminate upon that which he went about and be confounded in a manner with the remembrance of it Now concerning this place where Abraham was appointed to sacrifice his Sonne some of the Jewes report that Cain and Abel had offered their offrings upon the same Mountain St. Jerome writes that he had heard it for certain of some ancient Jewes that Isaac was offered in the very same place where afterwards our Saviour Christ was crucified St. Augustine addes that he had heard it reported that Christ was crucified in the very same place where Adam had been buried and therefore that it was called Calvaria locus the place of a dead mans skull quia caput humani generis ibi dicitur esse sepultum because the head of mankind lieth there buried The Saracens who will needes borrow their name from Sarah though they came of Hagar to make it more profitable that they sprang from Isaac they faine that the land of Moriah is a part of their Country and therefore when any stranger comes to their City of Mecha to see Mahomets Sepulcher hard by the City they do shew him the Mountain where on Abraham as they say did sacrifice his Sonne But the truth is that the Land of Moriah where Isaac was to be offered was the same which was afterward called Jerusalem as we may plainly gather out of the second of the Chronicles 2 Chron. 3. the third Chapter for there it is said in the first verse that Salomon built the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem in Mount Moriah So that the place where Isaac was to be offered was either the same or very near to the place where our Saviour was afterwards to be crucified And indeed it was not unfit that Isaac should be offred where our Saviour was to suffer because Isaac was a type and figure of our Saviour So saith St. Augustine Abraham quando filium suum obtulit typum habuit Dei Patris Isaac typum gessit Domini Salvatoris Abraham when he offered his Sonne represented God the Father Isaac when he was offered represented our Saviour the Son of God For many things which wore shadowed forth in Isaac were afterwards verefied in our Saviour Christ As the promises of God unto Abraham concerning his Son were often renewed and his birth foretold so were the promises and the birth of the Messias As Isaacs was named before he was borne so was also Christ As Isaacs Birth was strange and miraculous in regard that he was borne of Sarah that was barren so was also Christs being borne of a virgin As Isaac was Abrahams onely Son whom he so dearly loved so Christ was the onely begotten Son of God in whom alone he was wel pleased As Isaac was causeless to be put to death so was Christ being innocent As Isaac bore the wood wherewith he was to be sacrificed so Christ bore the Tree whereon he was to be crucified In a word as Isaac by yielding himself to be offred did testifie his obedience unto his Fathe and his Father his wonderful love unto God so Christ by submitting himself to the death declared his wonderfull obedience unto God and God his unspeakable love towards us And indeed beloved this is the most excellent use that can possibly be made of this whole History when we hear how Abraham did offer his Son we stand amazed at it we wonder how it was possible for a Father to do it And may we not much more admire the infinite love of God unto us in giving his onely begotten Son to be crucified for us When we hear how Isaac yielded himself to be bound and offered we cannot but wonder at his strange obedience and may we not much more wonder at the infinite obedience of our blessed Saviour who being equall with God yet humbled himself and became obedient â—ven to the death of the Crosse Abraham when he offered his Sonne unto God he did but restore unto God that which God had given him he might wel the rather be moved thereunto because God had been alwaies so gracious to him But when God gave his Son to be offered for us we were so far from having deserved any thing at his hands that we were his open and profest enemies Isaac when he yielded himself to be offered yet he yielded himself into his Fathers hands who was to present him for a sweet savour unto the Lord and so to put him to a kind of death which of all other might seene the most glorious But Christ when he yielded himself to be offered he yielded himself into the hands of his persecutors who he knew would not onely put him to the most ignominious death but for his further vexation even deride him in his torments When Abraham was to sacrifice his onely Sonne God was so moved with compassion and pitty that instead of his Sonne he provided a Ramme Indeed it was fitter that a Ram should dye if the death of a Ramme might ransome a Sonne But when Christ was to be offered the case was altered the Ramme was spared and the Sonne was sacrificed Nay the Sonne was therefore sacrificed that the Ram might be spared Read over all the Histories of Heathen Authours examine their writings search out all their antiquities and see if there were ever the like example of love For a man to die for his friend it is no small matter and but few have done it but if one should offer to dye for a stranger we would wonder at it O but for a man to dye for his enemy nay the Sonne of God to come down from Heaven even from his Fathers bosome to dye a most accursed death
with those by whose meanes he may lose it Now our soules as we have heard are of an invaluable price the riches pleasures and preferments of the World are as so many snares to intrap our soules So saith the Apostle They that will be rich 1 Tim. 6.9 fall into divers temptations and snares and into many foolish and hurtfull lusts which drown men in perdition and destruction And therefore if we regard the safety of our soules we must beware that we be not insnared with the love of these FINIS The Fifth SERMON PSALM 103.15 As for man his dayes are as grasse as the flower of the field so he flourisheth Praeface IT is the custome of Painters that when they would draw the Picture of Death they make a sceleton or bate Carcass of a man with a Sithe in his hands as if he were mowing or cutting down grass to signifie thereby the frailty of our nature that we are but as grass which is soone cut down and soone withers A similitude which is usual and ordinary in the Scripture wherein we are more often resembled to grasse and to the flower of the field then to any thing else The Prophet Esay was willed to cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodlines thereof as the flower of the field Esay 40.6 the grasse withers and the flower fades St. Peter hath the same similitude almost word for word All flesh is grasse and all the glory of man as the flower of grasse the grasse withers 1 Pet. 1.24 and the flower there-thereof falles away So Job saith of man that he comes forth as a flower Job 1â— 2 and is cut down St. James saith of him that he shall passe away as the flower James 1.10 of the grasse And not to alledge any more places David saith here that mans dayes are as grasse and as the flower of the field so he flowrishes Which similitude the Scripture the more often useth as being taken from those things which are daily in our way and continually before us that whereas we are so prone to forget our mortality the very grasse and flowers of the field might be our remembrancers that if wee stirre but out of doores and see how soone they come up and how soon they are gone they might put us in mind of our own condition In handling of which similitude I will first shew you briefly how man is very fitly resembled to the grasse and to the floures of the field and then come to some Uses that may be made of it Man therefore is fitly resembled to these in three respects In respect of their like beginning in respect of their like progresse and continuance and in respect of their like ending First In respect of the like beginning and Originall of them Ye know that the grasse and the flowers of the field do spring out of the earth the earth as their mother doth bear them in her womb and bring them forth For God said at the Creation Let the earth bring forth fruite Gen. 1.11 and the hearb yielding seed and so thorough that powerfull word of God the earth still brings them forth Though there be great difference between flowers that some are more beautifull then others are and make a fairer shew some have a more fragrant sent then others and some more variety of delightfull colours yet they are all alike in this that the earth is the place from whence they sprang had their beginning And in this regard man is resembled very fitly to grasse and to the floures of the field For he had likewise his beginning from the earth as the matter whereof he was first made Gen. 2.7 Gen. 18.27 Job 4.19 2 Cor. 4.7 The Lord God saith Moses formed man of the dust of the ground Therefore Abraham acknowledged that he was but dust and ashes Job saith that we dwell in houses of clay and that our foundation is in the dust and St. Paul calls our bodies earthen vessels And this is the condition not of some but of every one of us Though some do greatly differ from others and make a fairer shew then others do either in regard of their birth and parentage or for their place and office or for their wealth and riches their beauty wisdome wit or eloquence yet they are all alike in this that they had their originall from the earth and were made thereof And so for their beginning all men are but as grasse and the flowers of the field which spring from the earth Secondly They are alike fortheir progresse and continuance Ye know that the grasse and the flowers of the field are very tender when they first spring up and when they are come to their full growth and strength that they have taken deeper root and have a stronger stalk yet still they are so weak that the least blast of wind will shake them up and down and any little force will put them up and cause them to wither before their time or if they continue their full time yet their time is very short they flourish but a while and presently wither In the morning saith David Psa 90.6 speaking of the grasse in the 90. Psalme it is green and growth up but in the evening it is cut down dried up and withered And in this respect man is likewise very fitly resembled to the grasse and flowers of the field He is weak and tender while he is growing up and when he is come to his full growth and strength yet he is not so strong but the least fit of an Ague you know will shake him and any little sicknesse will soon pull him down and bring him to his end before his time And though he escape all sicknesse and diseases and all other casualties yet his time is but short age will come upon him before it be long and bring him to his end And so in regard of his progresse and continuance he is well likened to the grasse and flowers of the field Lastly they are alike in regard of their end Ye know when the grasse and the flowers of the field do die and wither they lose their beauty they lose their colour they lose their sent and they lose their name and at last are so dryed to dust and powder that they are all alike and cannot be known what flowers they were In our Gardens and Fields we see many flowers which while they are growing do greatly differ insomuch that we can very easily distinguish them and tell what every one of them are but after they are withered and dryed to dust they are also like that we cannot distinguish the one from the other And thus it is with us as soone as men die they lose their beauty they lose their pomp they lose their bravery they lose their very names and in the end are consumed to dust and ashes and have nothing left them whereby they may be known For the time that
postulat Our youth requires other kind of manners and it is needlesse for us to do thus till vve be grovvn in yeares For young men do commonly make account that they shall live long that God vvill allovv them more liberty vvhile they are young and vvill not require so much of them as of old men But they should rather consider that which experience may teach them that they vvho are young are as vvell subject to death as they who are ancient like glasse which is as brittle when it is newly made as when it is old and so though they be young yet they may die soone and therefore need alwayes to be in a readines against God shall call them They should consider that which reason may teach them that the longer it is before they seek God the longer it will be before they can find him as the further a man strayes out of his way the longer it will be before he can find the same And they should consider that which the Scripture teacheth them that young men as well as old shal be called to an account at the day of Judgement of all they have done And they should remember the precept which the Apostle gives here not in the future but in the present time Resist the Devill not resist him hereafter If God as they imagine regard not what they do in their youthfull daies what needed David to pray Psa 25.7 Eccles 12.1 Leuit. 5.7 Mar. 10.14 Remember not the sinnes of my youth or Solomon to say Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth Why did God in the old Law command that young Pigeons should be offered unto him Or Christ in the Gospel forbid that young children should be kept from him but to shew that our youth is to be consecrated to God and to be seasoned with Religion If they think it too soon to forsake their sinnes and to begin to serve God in their younger yeares God will think it too late when they come to be old to entertaine them to be his Servants and as they have spent the greatest part of their time in the Devills service so God will leave them to him whose work they have done to pay them their wages We our selves will be loth to take such a servant as is lame or old and so unfit or unable to do us service especially if he be one who while he was young and strong refused to serve us And do we think that God when we have refused to serve him in our younger years will be content to receive us when we are old and impotent to be his servants When we have served his enemie with the best of our daies will God be content to have the leavings Sardus de morib Gen. lib. 3 For if we serve him thus what do we else then as some of the Heathen were wont to do whose custome it was that when they had eaten the meat themselves they did sacrifice the bones unto their Gods Deut. 25. We are forbiden by God to have diverse measures a greater and a lesse because they that do thus are an abomination to the Lord. If God count it abominable for a man to have divers measures a greater for himself a lesse for his neighbour or a greater for his friend a lesse for a stranger How abhominable then must it needs be to God when we have divers measures for God and his enemies serving sinne and Sathan with the best and greatest part of our lives and alotting the least and the worst part unto Gods service And therefore it behoves us ever while we are young to resist and withstand the Devills temptations to renounce our pleasures and to betake our selves unto Gods service And thus much concerning the former part of these words Resist the Devill I come now to the reason which I will dispatch briefly Resist the Devill and he will see from you The Devill though he be fierce when he gives the first assault yet where he finds resistance he will break up the siege and fly like a coward Ye know when he tempted our Saviour Christ in the fourth chapter of St. Matthew though he gave the first blow yet he took the last and though he gave the on-set and set first upon him yet he was the first that sounded the retreate and was glad to leave him But it may be demanded Whether the Devill will flee if he be resisted Will he flee into Hell and be seen no more No that he will not but if he flee from tho godly he will be sure to take his pleasure of the wicked and he will make them pay for it If he cannot prevaile against our Saviour he will enter into Judas if he cannot have his will of men yet rather then faile he will enter into the Swine Math. 8.32 as a Hauke when she cannot speed of her prey she will sease upon carrion But though the Devill flee when we resist him yet we must not be secure for though he can not speed at the first assault yet he will come againe as when he took the foile in tempting our Saviour he departed from him as St. Luke saith Luke 4.13 Luke 20.40 but for a season He is not like the Sadduces Luke 20. who were so confounded with our Saviours answers that they never durst ask him any more questions but being overcome yet he will come againe like Pharaoh who though he were faine to let the Israelites go yet they were no sooner gone but he presently pursued them or like the Philistins Judges 16. who though they had often set upon Sampson and could not prevaile yet they would not give him over but still assaulted him For though the Devill do take the foile yet he will not quite give over but when he sees that he cannot prevaile one way he will try if he can prevaile another We see when God had given him leave to afflict Job to try whether he could draw him to impatientie and the Devill had taken away all his goods killed his servants and destroyed his children and could not in all this prevaile against him yet he would not leave him thus but got leave of God to assault him afresh and to afflict his whole body with sores and ulcers for he knows that our weaknes and infirmity is such that though he cannot prevaile one way yet another he may prevaile against us If he cannot prevaile against David to lay hands on Saul the Lords annointed yet he will try if he can tempt him to murder Vriah If he cannot draw the Pharisee to extortion adultery and the like Vices he will go another way to work and try if he can make him proud of his virtues And so though he be vanquisht in one temptation yet he will tempt us again therefore we are not to be secure but after that one temptation is past we must expect and prepare our selves for another yet this is our
notice of the means or instrument whereby they are afflicted but look not up unto him that sent is as the dog flieth upon the stone that is thrown at him but mindeth not him that threw it but in every affliction we look up to God as the principall Agent Thus when Shimei reviled David 2 Sam. 16. telling him openly before all the people that he was a murderer and a wicked man and that he was an usurper of Sauls Kingdom and Davids Servants would have stain Shemei for railing on him David would not suffer them to do him any harm and he gives this reason Suffer him saith he to curse me for the Lord hath bidden him and so he looks not upon Shimei 2 Sam. 16. 11. but he hath an eye unto God as the Authour of this affliction Thus when the Devill had got a licence from God to afflict Job and the Sabeans on the one side took away his oxen as they were plowing and his asses as they were feeding in their places and the Calde ans on the other side took away his Camels and put his servants to the edge of the sword Job though he understood by his servants that it was done by them yet he passeth them by as being but the instruments and ascribes it to God as the principall Agent The Lord saith he hath given Job 1.21 and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. And thus when Joseph was afflicted by his brethren and sold into Egypt though he knew that this was done by them and that of an evill intent and meer malice towards him yet he looks not upon them but he looks upon God as the Author of his affliction Gen. 45.7.8 Gen. 50.20 The Lord saith he hath sent me hither for your preservation and the Lord hath disposed it unto good So that whensoever we are any way afflicted we are to passe by all second causes as being but the means and instruments which God useth to afflict us but we are especially to have an eye unto God as to the principall Agent and to remember that it is God that chastens us Vse 2 Secondly Seeing God is the Authour of all afflictions Therefore whensoever we are afflicted we are to humble our selves under the hand of God and to bear with patience whatsoever it shall please God to lay upon us For seeing God is the Authour of our afflictions who as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. is faithfull and will not suffer us to be tempted above our power but will give an issue with the temptation that we may be able to bear it and seeing that if we indure chastening as the Apostle here telleth us in the next verse God offers himselfe unto us as unto Sons Heb. 12.7 he offers himself as a father unto us therefore we are patiently to under go all afflictions that he shall lay upon us Diogenes the Philosopher being visited with sicknesse and being impatient by reason of his pain his friend to comfort him willed him to be of good chear and to bear it with patience because God was the Authour of his sicknesse Oh saith the Philosopher but this is that which grieves me the more this is that which maketh me the more impatient seeing that my sicknesse is sent of God But it is not so with the children of God they are always the more patient when they are afflicted and do bear the same without murmuring and repining because God is the Authour of their afflication So when old Eli 1 Sam. 3. understood by Samuel what God had threatned even to root out his house for ever he submitted himself unto Gods will It is faith he the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 Psal 39.9 let him do what seemeth him good The like did David Psal 39. when the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon him that it even consumed him yet he bare it patiently I became faith he dumb and opened not my mouth for it was thy doing When Jobs wife would have had him to blaspheme and to curse God in the extreamity of his pain Job 2.10 Thou speakest saith Job like a foolish woman shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evill as thinking it unreasonable that we should be content to receive the one and not the other If our earthly parents do chasten and correct us we will endure it with patience and should we not endure the chastisement and correction of our heavenly Father We have had saith the Apostle here in the 9th verse the fathers of our bodies which have corrected us and we have given them reverence and should we not faith he much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits We will suffer the Physician in the time of our sicknesse because he hath seen our water or felt our pulse to let us bloud we will suffer him to prescribe us a lesse diet and to take away from us the use of some meats wherein in our health we were much delighted and we will patiently endure the want thereof and not murmure against him And should we not yield as much unto God as we do to the Physician yet if God take away from us any of those things wherein we were wont to take comfort and delight if he afflict us with the losse of our goods with the losse of our health or with the losse of our friends we presently fall into great impatiencie as if so be God dealt too hardly with us But doth not God know what is best for us if he afflict thee with the losse of thy goods he fore-saw it may be they would have done thee harm and that thou would'st have set thy heart upon them Nisi perdidisses tu illa te fortè perdidissent faith Seneca If God had not withdrawn thy riches from thee it may be thy riches would have withdrawn thee from God If God take away thy health and afflict thee with sicknes it may be it is to cure thee of a more dangerous disease as foreseeing that otherwise if thou hadst had thy health thou wouldest have taken a greater surfet of the pleasures of this life If God do afflict thee with any kind of disgrace by suffering thee to be wronged in thy good name and credit it may be he doth it to teach thee humility as fore-seeing that otherwise thou wouldest have waxed proud and vain-glorious For vicâ—sin the mind saith Plato are as diseases in the body and chastilements as medicines and surely God is the Physician that knows best how to apply them And therefore whensoever we are any way afflicted we are to possesse our soules with patience because it is God that chastens Lastly Seeing it is God that chastens this may therefore teach us in all our afflictions to seek vnto God for help deliverance Vse 3 that he that wounded us may cure recover us the same hand that cast us down may raise us up again I saith
their sight and their hearing and had the rest of their sences the lame whom he cured did onely want the use of their feet and had the rest of their limbs the Lepers whom he cleansed did onely want their health and had the use of their limbs and sences but they which vvere dead had none of them all but vvere deprived of them altogether and so his raysing of such as vvere dead was a greater work then any of the former Therefore whensoever he raised the dead the people did greatly admire and honour him when he cured two blind men Mat. 9.31 Math. 9 They spread â—abroad his fame throughout all the land When he raised to life the Widowes sonne in Naim Luke 7.16 Luke 7. All that were present praised God and said A great Prophet is risen up amongst us and God hatâ— visited his people And vvhen he raised Lazarus from the dead John 11. it is said there that many of the Jewes that saw what Jesus did John 11. â—5 believed in him While a man is alive though he be never so much diseased or so dangerously sick yet vve send for Physitians and use other means because there is some hope that he may recover but when he is once dead there is no more hope and therefore we trouble our selves no further so when the Rulers daughter was sick he came unto Christ and besought him for her My little daughter saith he lyeth at the point of death but I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her and she shall live Mark 5.23 Mark 5.35 But his daughter dying before Christ came to her some brought the Ruler word Thy daughter is dead why troublest thou the Master any further as thinking it in vain when his daughter was dead to seek for help because the Physitian is not sought to for the dead but for the living But Christ that was as well able to revive the dead as to heale the sick raised diverse in the Gospel from death to life whereof some are not named but onely mentioned ingenerall as here it is said that the dead were raised up without specifying in particular who they were some are mentioned in particular as the Rulers daughter whom he restored to life when she was newly dead Marke 5. Mark 5.42 Luke 7.15 Joh. 11.17 The Widowes Son that was carried forth to be buried Luke 7. and Lazarus that had been foure dayes dead and was laid in his grave John 11. If Christ then were able to raise the dead while he lived here in the form of a servant we may well he assured that being in glory at the right hand of his Father he is both able to raise our souls from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to raise our bodies when they lie dead in their graves to the life of glory Indeed the raising of the body being dead see us a thing incredible unto flesh and blood And therefore when St. Paul Acts 17. did preach to the Athenians about the resurrection they were so far from believing that the dead should rise that they counted him a babler and laughed him to scorne But as Christ here raised some from death to life so at the â—â—st day he will raise all Act. 7.60 the one being as easie to him as the other Therefore our bodies when they die are said in the Scripture to â—all a sleep because Christ can as easily raise our bodies being dead as one man can wake another when he is faln a sleep If many be fallen asleep in a Chamber together yet one voice you know is able to waken them all and so the voice of Christ at the last day shâ—ll raise all that are dead in the whole world together The houâ—e shall come saith our Saviour John 5. John 5.28 in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Sonne of Man and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurection of life and they that have done evill unto the refurrection of condemnation 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore the buriall of our bodies is fitly resembled by St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. to the sowing of seed because as the seed being sowen in the ground doth afterwards revive and spring up againe so our bodies after they are dead and buried shall be revived and quickned Qui tibi grana seminum mortua et putrefacta vivificat August de ver Apost Sermo 34. per quae in hoe saeculâ— vivas multo magis te ipsum resuscitabit ut in aeternum vivas He saith St. Augustine that quickens for thee the graines of Corne when they are dead and rotten whereby thou mayst live upon the earth for a time much more will he raise thy self hereafter that thou mayst live for ever in Heaven For he hath not onely redeemed our souls but likewise our bodies and therefore will not suffer them to perish in their graves but will quicken them again that both our bodies and souls may live with him And thus much concerning his raysing the dead The last thing which is here mentioned is that the poore had the Gospel preached unto them It is the saying of the Prophet Esay Chap. 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach good tydings unto the poore he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Which words Christ expounding Luke 4. when he preached in Nazareth he applies them to himself This day saith he Luke 4.21 is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares to shew that he was annointed of God to preach the Gospel unto the poor Now by the poor to whom he preached the Gospel they are understood who are said by our Saviour Math. 5.3 to be poor in spirit For there are two sorts of poverty the one outward vvhen a man hath not means to maintain himself but wants outward necessaries the other inward vvhen a man is destitute of spirituall graces And thus every one of us all are poor but some do not see their poverty and want as the Laâ—diceans Revel 3.17 that thought themselves rich and increased with goods when they were poor and naked Some see their poverty and find in themselves a want of grace and therefore do hunger and thirst after it and these are the poore to whom Christ is said here to have preached the Gospel Therefore in the place which I named before the Prophet shews to what poor the Gospel should be preached by naming presently the broken hearted And Esay 66.2 The Lord promiseth to have respect unto him that is poore and of a contrite Spirit the latter of these explaining the former that they are the poor whom God respects who are humbled with the sight of their spirituall wants and bewaile nothing more then their want of grace Such were they to whom Christ here
preacht as knowing that the Gospel which is the glad tydings of salvation would be most welcome unto them because it offers grace unto those who finding in themselves a want of grace do unfeinedly and earnestly desire the same Here then we see who they be that are fit to hear the Gospel and that do find comfort in hearing of it namely such as do see their spirituall poverty and feele in their hearts a want of grace therefore renouncing their own righteousnes do flie unto Christ to findâ—rest to their souls Mat. 11.28 Therefore Christ in the Gospel invites only such to come unto him as finde themselves weary heavy laden and rejected the Pharisees that trusted in themselves Mat. 9.12 Mat. 18.11 Mat. 9.13 because the whole have no need of the Physitian For he came into the World to save that which vvas lost and he came not as he saith to call the righteous but sinners to repentance To draw then briefly to a conclusion of all if we would reape comfort by the preaching of the Gospel vve must labour to see our spirituall poverty to find in our selves our vvant of knowledge our want of faith our vvant of grace and then the good tydings of the Gospel will be as vvelcome to us as cold waters to a traveller that is weary Prov. 25.25 and as the bringing of good newes from a far Country FINIS The Eleventh SERMON CANTICLES 3.1 By night on my Bed I sought him whom my soul loves THey are the words of the Church expressing her longing desire after Christ Division And in the words we may observe these three things the Act the Object and the Circumstances the Act sought the Object Christ I sought him whom my soule loves and the Circumstances are two the circumstance of time and the circumstance of place the time when she sought him I sought him by night and the place where she sought him I sought him on my Bed By night on my Bed I sought him whom my soul loves And these are the parts I will begin with the circumstances because they are set downe first in the words And first for the time when she sought Christ it was by night Now night is taken two wayes in the Scripture Sometime litterally sometime metaphorically litterally for the time which is opposite to the day when the Sun hath passed over our Horizon and leaves us darknesse through the interposition of the Earth between the Sun us So the night is taken litterally when the Apostle saith Thes 5.7 They that are drunke are drunke in the night Implying thereby that then drunkards were ashamed to be drunke in the day which now a daies they are not but were drunk in the night that they might the better conceal it Sometime night is taken metaphorically as when the Apostle saith Rom. 13. The night is far spent Rom. 13.12 the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darknesse and let us put on the armour of light But in my Text as I take it the night is not taken metaphorically because it is added by night on my bed which being joyned together do shew that they are both to be taken literally First then here observe the Churches sincerity By prayer she sought Christ not openly in the day to be seen of men as the Pharisees were wont to pray in the streets but secretly in the night Mat. 6.5 when there were none to see or hear what she did Ille colit vere qui sine teste colit He worships Christ truly who worships him when there is no witnesse of it Many will do that openly where they may be seen and commended which they will not do secretly where they are not seen to do it like the Monk that would fast whole dayes together whil'st he was in the Monasterie where men saw and commended him for fasting so long but when he was in the Desart he could not fast because there were none to see him This was hypocrisie but where there is sincerity a man will rather do good in secret that he may not be known to do it So our Saviour Mat. 6. teacheth us to fast When thou fastâ—st Mat. 6.17 anoint thy head and wash thy face that thou seem not unto men to fast So he teacheth us there to give almes Mat. 6.3 When thou doest thine almes let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doâ—th So he teacheth us there to pray Mat. 6.6 When thou prayest enter into thy chamber and shut thy door All to be done in secret that we may not be seen to do it as the Church here sought Christ by night Secondly here observe the Churches Wisdome She sought Christ by prayer and made choise of the night as the fittest time to pray in When we pray in the night our ears and our eyes are not carried away with variety of objects which many times so hinder us when we pray in the day that we cannot mind our prayers And therefore it is that commonly when we pray in the Church we set our hands or our hats before our eyes making the day as it were night that our eyes being not troubled with outvvard objects our hearts may the better mind our prayers Lastly Here observe the Churches importunity For that vvhich is here translated by night is by nights in the originall implying that she sought him night by night and would not give over but continued importunate like the woman of Canaan Mat. 15. til she had obtained her desire Christ likes an importunate suiter that will take no demall a wearilesse seeker that seeks while he findes and till he finde what he seeks will never give over Such a suiter such a seeker was the Church here she sought him night by night and though as it is said in the next words she found him not yet she still persevered and never lin seeking untill she had found him And as she sought him by night so on her bed As the night is the time so the bed is the place to rest in but when others were asleep and taking their rest the Church was awake and her thoughts and desires wholy set upon Christ So that as Origen saith of Mary Magdalene when she came to Christs Sepulchre and found him not there Maria ibi non erat ubi non erat quia tota ibi non erat ubi Magister erat Mary was not there where she was but was wholly there where her Master was So the Church was not there where she sought Christ but was wholly there where Christ was whom she sought So wholly with him in desire and affection that she could find no rest no not in the place of rest but in thinking of him As the Church here sought Christ so must we that are Christians we must seek him by prayer night by night in our beds not suffering our eyes any night to sleep nor the temples of our
presently acknowledged his sins unto God and so by his confession obtain'd pardon whereupon he wrote this Psalm and gave it this Title A Psalm of David to give instruction shewing thereby both the Maker of this Psalme and that is David and the end why he made it to give instruction The instruction which he gives is of no ordinary matter but of one of the greatest matters that ever fell into controversie and that is mans felicity teaching us in the first and second verses wherein we are to repose our felicity and happinesse not in those things which the Philosophers taught but in that which they never once thought upon the forgivenesse of sins For the Philosophers being guided only by the eye of reason which is more then purblinde in matters of religion hence it came to passe that while they aimed at felicity every one shot his bolt so wide at the mark one placing felicity in honour a second in pleasure a third in riches in a word so many Philosophers so many felicities But David here a divine Philosophâ—â—â— in regard of whom all the rest were but naturals confutes them all by his own example for David here that lived in more true pleasure then the best of them that had more riches then any of them more honour then all of them he leaves all these and ascribes felicity in the first and second verses of this Psalm to the pardon of sin Blessed saith he is he Whose wickednesse is forgiven and whose finis covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sin Now as a cunning and skilfull builder if he have any goodly building in hand he will be sure to lay a very sound foundation So David here having so weighty a Doctrine to instruct us in as the felicity of man he grounds the same upon a very excellent reason a reason drawn from his ovvn experience because he found himselfe to be most miserable and wretched till his sins were pardoned For saith he in the third and fourth verses while I held my tongue my bones consumed so that I roared all the day long for thy hand was heavy upon me day and night and my moisture was turned into the drought of summer Whereby he shews That while he plai'd the hypocrite and cloaked his sin while he held his tongue agagg'd as it were his own conscience that he might not confesse his sin what a coile God had with him how he was fain to lay him as it were upon the rack and to stretch him asunder almost every joynt from other before he could bring him to acknowledge his sin and to ask for pardon And this was the misery which David was in while he continued in sin Then in the fift verse he shews how he was freed and delivered from this misery and that is by the confession and acknowledgement of his sin I said saith he I will confesse my sin and thou forgavest me the punishment thereof Dixi confitebor I did but say or I had no sooner said I will confesse my sin but thou O Lord that mightest have taken me at the vantage and condemned me out of mine owne mouth thou forgavest me the punishment of my sin Whereupon being struck with admiration of Gods mercy he infers in this sixt verse a notable consequence out of the former Doctrine That seeing he had sped so well by the confession of his sin that therefore others should be moved by his example to do as he did and to obtain pardon Therefore saith he shall every one that is godly pray unto thee therefore wherefore why because thou hast been so gracious unto me that was so grievous a sinner because thou hast met me as it were in thy mid-way with thy mercy so that I could no sooner think to confesse my sin but thou likewise thoughtest to forgive me my sin therefore shall every godly man though he have committed never so many sins against thee be incouraged by my example to pray unto thee And thus we see the coherence of these words with the former In the words for order we may observe these four things Division First The reason why men shall come unto God implyed in this first word therefore Secondly The persons that shall come unto him every one that is godly Thirdly The manner how they shall come namely by prayeâ— And lastly the time when they shall come unto him in a time When he may be found Therefore shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found And first for the reason why men shall come unto God the reason is drawn from Davids own example as if David had said thus As I did to obtain mercy when I had sinned against God so shall every godly man do but I did pray unto God in a time when he might be fouÌ„d Therfore shall every one that is godly pray unto thecin a time when thou mayest be found Thus David alledges his own example to encourage us to come with considence to God for the pardon of our sins though we have been never so hainous sinners And from hence we may learn That it is our duty to use well the examples of others and to apply Gods dealing with them to our selves For therefore have the holy men of God set their examples before our eyes that we might be bettered by their experience For as they which first sailed over the seas gave proper names unto dangerous places where they themselves hardly escaped with their lives as the Sage-bed the Lavander-bed with other like names best known unto Saylers And as wain-men use to set up some bush or other like marke where their waggons stuck fast for a caveat to them that should come after them So have the holy men of God furthered us in the Scripture by their experience and taught us to eschew many incumbrances which they could not so easily see and avoid because they broke the ice first themselves The whole Scripture is written for our instruction and there is not so much as one example in the whole book of God but a man may make excellent use of it if he will apply it unto himself For to what end are there set down in the Scripture so many examples of the judgements of God upon unrepentant sinners but that their examples might be a bridle to us to restraine us from falling into the like sinnes for feare we undergo the self same punishment When we read of the rich-man that is tormented in hell because he did not relieve poor Lazarus Luke 16. are we not to apply this example to our selves that if God have given us wealth and riches and yet we will not relieve those that are in want necessity the like judgement will befall us which befell him When we reade of that unmercifull Servant Mat. 18. who when his master had forgiven him ten thousand talents he afterwards meeting with a fellow-servant of his that
are crost in that which they most desire They desire nothing more then that they may prosper and thrive in the world and they think they shall prosper and thrive the better while they conceal their sins which if they were known would impair their credit and estimation But God crosses them in that which they most desire Iosh 7.21 for they shall not prosper No doubt but Achan thought to prosper the better when he stole the two hundred shekels of silver the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment and hid them in his tent but it thrived not with him Iosh 7.25 for God brought it to light and Achan was stoned to death for it No doubt but Gehazi thought to prosper the better by the bribes he took of Naaman 2 King 5.23 and would not confesse that he had taken them but it thrived not with him for though he â—id his sin 2 King 5.27 yet he could not hide his leprosie which he got with them No doubt but Jezabel thought to prosper the better when she caused Naboth to be stoned to death and got his vineyard and yet covered her sin under pretence that Naboth had deserved to be stoned for having blasphemed God and the King but it thrived not with her for God brought it to light and her to a miserable end for it So Herod no doubt thought to prosper the better when hearing that the King of the Jews was born he intended to murther him to prevent the danger of losing his kingdome and yet to cover his sin willed the Wisemen as soon as they had found the babe to bring him word Matth. 2.8 pretending that he also would go to worship him but it thrived not with him for God both brought to light his murderous intent and himself to shame and disgrace by it And not to instance in too many examples the Scribes and Pharisees no doubt thought to prosper the better while they devoured widows houses and to cover their sin made long prayers that so they might be thought to be devout and religious but it thrived not with them for Christ both discovered what they did Matth. 13.14 and denounced a wo against them for it Thus God finds them out and brings them to light that cover their sins not suffering them to prosper and so crossing them in that which they most desire Yet when or wherein they shall not prosper is not here set down but onely in generall that they shall not prosper to the intent that they may never be secure but may still expect while they cover their sins that God will punish them some way or other either in their own persons or in their children or in their goods or in their good name or in them all together Secondly here we may observe that to prosper is the gift of God who therefore denyes it to them that sin against him by covering their sins Therefore the Psalmist saith of the godly man that look whatsoever he doth it shall prosper Psal 1.3 but for the ungodly he saith It is not so with them So it is said of Joseph that he was a prosperous man Gen. 39.3 and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand So it is said of that good King Hezekiah That the Lord was with him 2 King 18.7 and he prospered whither soever he went forth I might instance in others But some man may say may not the like be said of the wicked do not they often prosper in the world and have successe in that which they take in hand Iob 21.7.9 was it not for this which Job complained that the wicked are mighty in pomer that they spend their dayes in mirth that their houses are safe from fear and that the rod of God is not upon them And was it not for this that David envied the wicked That they prosper in the world Psal 7 3.12 that they have riches in possession and that they come in no misfortune like other men We must therefore understand first that though to prosper be the gift of God yet in his wisdome he gives in sometimes to the godly and sometimes to the wicked For that which St. Augustine saith of wealth may be said of prosperity Ne putetur esse mala datur bonis ne putetur esse summum bonum datur malis Lest prosperitie should be thought to be evill it is sometimes given to those that are good and lest it should be thought to be the chief good it is sometimes given to those that are bad If onely the wicked and none of the godly should prosper in the world it would be a means to draw many to ungodlinesse that they might prosper by it And if onely the godly and none of the wicked should prosper here it would be thought they were godly for no other end but that they might prosper This was that which the devill ye know objected against Job for his serving God Doth Job saith the devill fear God for nought Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his bouse and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blest saith he the works of his hands and his substance is increased in the land But put forth thy hand and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face And thus if God should give prosperitie to none but the godly the wicked would be readie to object against them that they therefore served God because God would prosper them and that otherwise they would be as ungodly as others Whereas the godly indeed do as well serve God in the time of adversitie as they do in prosperitie as Job when all that he had was taken from him did blesse God as well as he did when he had them The Lord saith he hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. And therefore prosperitie is commonly given indifferently by God sometimes to the godly and sometimes to the wicked But yet there is great difference between their prosperitie for the prosperitie of the wicked continues not long but is soon gone They may cover their sins and prosper for a time but God at one time or other either here or hereafter brings their sins to light and themfelves to confusion Therefore Solomon ye see speaks not here of the present time but of the future he doth not say they do not but that they shall not prosper because though they may prosper for a while in this world yet at last they come to a miserable end and miserable ye know is that prosperitie which ends in miserie Such was the prosperitie of Haman and Herod they prospered for a while but their end was miserable But the godly on the contrarie prosper more and more though their beginning be good yet as Job was their end is better Marke saith David Psal 37 37. Psalme 37. the perfect man and behold
their own dayes might have found life but would not seek it so then in his day they shall seek death but shall not find it And as here it is called the day of the Lord Acts 2.20 so elsewhere it is called the great notable day of the Lord Joel 2.11 and the the great terrible day of the Lord because on that day more great terrible things shall come to passe then ever came to passe in the World before The Prophet Esay was shewed a vision which did so greatly astouish him that he saith his heart panted and fear came upon him Esay 21.3 that it made him to stoop when he heard of it and dismayed him when he saw it What was that vision which was able to affright so great a Prophet He saw the fall of Babylen how that mighty City the glory of Kingdoms as the Scripture calls it should be overthrown and all the stately buildings thereof should be brought to ruine But on this day which is here meÌ„tioned there shal be a matter which is far more fearfull not the desolation of one City or Kingdom but the finall overthrow and utter ruine of all the Kingdoms and buildings in the World together For on that day the very foundation of the earth shall be shaken so that all the buildings thereof from the least to the greatest shall be shivered asunder and quite overthrown Though our walls were as strong as the walls of Nineveh which as Authors write of them were made of that thicknesse that three Carts might go side-long together upon them though our Turrets were as high as the Spires of Egypt or the Tower of Babell whose top they would have made to have reacht up unto heaven though our houses were as sumptuous as the Pallace of Alcinous where the walls were of brasse the entries of silver and the gates of gold yet on this great day if they continued so long they should all be overthrown For what shall be able to stand on that day when there shall be earthquakes on the one side and fire on the other which shall overthrow and consume whatsoever is before them On that day there shall be so great an earthquake as Saint John tells us Revel Rev. 6.12.14 6. That all mountains and istands shall be moved out of their places On that day there shall be so great a fire all overthe World that Saint Peter tells us 2 Pet. 3.10 The heavens being on sire shall be dissolved the elements shall melt with fervent heat and the earth and all the works therein shall be burut up On that day there shall be the greatest number assembled together that ever were For then heaven and earth as it were shall meet together on the one side Christ and his Angels shall come from heaven thousand thousands shall attend upon him and ten thousand thousands shall minister unto him on the other side shall be Adam and Eve with their whole of-spring even all that have lived from the first to the last in all ages from one end of the world to the other in all Countries they shall all appear on that together Gen. 13.16 God promised Abraham the father of the faithfull that his seed should be as the starres of heaven Gen. 15.5 in number like the sand on the sea-shore which ye know is innumerable yet all these in comparison of that infinite multitude which shall be assembled together at the day of judgement are no more then an handfull For then all without exception both Jewes and Gentiles beleevers and infidels even every one in his own person shall appear on that day and not one shall be wanting Therefore saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the judgement-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that which he hath done whether it be good or evill All and every one to shew the generality that none are excepted and we must appear to shew the necessity that it cannot he avoided When the King in the Gospell invited many to the marriage of his Sonne Luke 14. they pretended excuses for their not coming one saying that he had bought a piece of ground another that he had bought five yoke of oxen another that he had married a wife and could not come so that of those which were invited there were many wanting But no excuse shall be taken at the day of judgement but as all shall be summoned to appear on that day so none shall be absent There shall not any be permitted to appear by his Atturney but all must come in their own persons and none be suffered to put in sureties We see many times that such as are to come before earthly Judges do break out of prison and escape the judgement that should passe upon them but there can be no hope for any to escape at the day of judgement for indeed the whole World is as it were Gods prison-house every part whereof on that day shall bring forth their prisoners Rev. 20.13 The Sea saith Saint Iohn Revel 20. did yield up her dead that were therein and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them and they were judged every man according to his works Lastly On that day there shall a finall separation be made between the godly and the wicked While we live in this world the good and the bad the elect and the reprobate do live ye know promiscuously together And therefore the Church is compared in the Scripture sometime to a floor sometime to a field and sometime to a fold to a floore wherein is both come and chaffe to a field wherein is both wheat and cares and to a fold wherein are both sheep and goats Mat. 25.32 But on this great and notable day of the Lord they shall be distinguisht and an everlasting sepâ—ration shall be made between them For then Christ shall place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his lest the wheat and the corn shall be carried into his barn the chaffe and the tares shall be cast into the fire the godly shall be taken up into heaven the wicked thrown into hell And in these respects it is called the great and notable day of the Lord because so great and notable things shall come to passe on that day And thus much concerning the day it selfe The second thing to be considered is the coming of this day and therein two things are set down that it is certain this day will come For you your selves saith he know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes And that it is untertain when it will come It comes saith he as a thiefe in the night Whose coming is uncertain and not known when he comes And first concerning the certainty of the coming of this day Saint Peter tells us of some that make but a mock of Christs coming or
the day of judgement 2 Pet. 3.3 Know this saith Saint Peter that there shall be scoffers in the last dayes Walking after their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue say they as they were from the beginning of the creation And thus many because the World hath continued so long a time in the same state do perswade themselves that it shall continue so for ever and that there shall be no end of the World nor day of judgement These Saint Peter in the same place confutes by this reason That though the World have continued in the same state for a long time yet it followes not from thence that therefore the World should continue so for ever for it wa a long time from the Creation of the world till the coming of the floud yet the world was then destroyed by one of the elemente whereof it was made namely by water and so though it seems a long time till the end of the world yet in the end it shall be destroyed by another element namely by Fire And as they who lived in the time of Noah would not be perswaded that the world should be drowned till the floud came suddenly and swept them away so the end of the world and Christs coming to judgement shall as suddenly come upon unbelievers while they think not of it Christ indeed doth deferre his coming in divers respects As that the number of the elect may be fulfill'd whom God hath decreed from all etermity to call in all ages by the preaching of the Gospel till the end of the world that the patience of the faithfull who waite and long for the coming of Christ may be tried and exercised and that the wicked may be left without excuse being forborne so long and having had so large a time of repentance In these respects Christ defers his coming but though his coming be deferr'd for a time yet in the end he will not faile to come as the Scripture assures us by evident testimonies by visible signes and by invisible reasons The testimonies are divers The Prophesie of Enoch which is alleadged by Saint Jude is plaine and evident Jude 14.15 Enoch saith he the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all the ungodly among them of all their wicked deads Where ye see the world was no sooner made but that the end thereof was presently fore-told for Enoch was but the seventh from Adam and yet he prophesied of Christs coming to judgement and that so plainly as if he had seen him coming Ecce venit Behold saith he he comes Dan. 7.9.10 So Daniel prophesied of the day of judgement I beheld saith he till the thrones were prepared and the auncient of dayes did sit there issued forth a fiery stream and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgement was set and the books were opened I saw saith Saint John the dead both small and great stand before the Lord Revel 20.12 and the books were opened and another book was opened which was the book of life and the dead were judged c. Where to shew the certainty of Christs coming to judgement he speaks ye see thereof as if it were past because he shall come at the time appointed as certainly as if he were come already I might alleadge many other places wherein the coming of Christ to judgement is plainly fore-told And as the Scriptures have fore-told Christs coming to judgement so to assure us the better thereof it hath likewise given us many signes which go before it whereby we may know that it will not be long before he come When the King ye know is come to a Town he commonly sends his harbingers before him and when they see his harbingers they say the King is coming because they know by the coming of his harbingers that it will not be long before the King himselfe comes Christ hath given us many signes of the end of the world and his coming to judgement which are as his harbingers sent before his coming and these signes which go before his coming are of two sorts either such as go longer before his coming and are further from it or such as go but hard before and shall be nigh unto it Of the former sort are divers signes as the preaching of the Gospell all over the world foretold by our Saviour Mat. Mat. 24.2 Thes 2. Rom. 11. Luke 17. 24. The revealing of Antichrist that man of sinne and sonne of perdition fore-told by the Apostle 2 Thes 2. The calling of the Jews fore-told by St. Paul Rom. 11. The great security want of faith which shal be found in many foretold by Christ Luke 17. And many other signes which the Scripture mentions many whereof are already past and are fore-runners of the end of the world and shall continue and prolong their course till the very day of Christs coming to judgement Of the second sort are those fearfull signes which the Scripture mentions in divers places as that the earth shall tremble and move out of her place Mat. 24.29 Acts 2.20 that the seas shall roare and make an hidcous noise that the powers of heaven shall be shaken that the starres shall fall from heaven that the Sunne shall be turned into darknesse and the Moon into bloud before that great and notable day of the Lord come These things shall come to passe at the end of the world and when these things come to passe they are evident signs that the end of the world is then hard at hand For like as it is in the body of man when the eyes waxe dimme and the sight failes when all the joynts waxe weake and the whole body trembles it is a signe of old age and a manifest token that he in whom these signes are to be seen is very near his end and cannot hold out long So it is likewise in the great Body of the world when the eyes of the world the Sunne and the Moon begin to wax dim and their light failes when the heavens shall be shaken as it were with a palsie and the earth shall tremble and move out of her place as the Scripture speaks it is a manifest signe that the world is ending Lastly As the Scripture hath foretold the end of the world Christs coming to judgment both by evident testimonies and visible signs so likewise by divers invincible reasons For first all other things which the Scriptures have fore-told are come to passe as namely of Christs first coming in the flesh of the destruction of Jerusalem of the dispersion of the Iows of the coming of Antichrist all which and many other as they have been fore told so they have been likewise accomplisht and therefore the
the Lord Deut. 32. kill and make alive I wound I heal Therefore he wils us to call upon him in the time of trouble and he will deliver us Deut. 32.32 For howsoever by our sins we provoke him to afflict us yet if we call upon him for mercy and grace he hath an ear to hear us an eye to behold us a heart to pity us and an hand to help us And thus much concerning the first point the Agēt or party afflicting That it is God that chastens I come now to the second namely The Patient or party afflicted the beloved of God he chastens whom he loves Doct. God though he love whatsoever he hath made yet among all his creatures he loves man best and among men especially those who are of the houshold of faith which is his Church These he loves with an everlasting love he hath given his only Son for their redemption and hath adopted them in Christ Jesus to be his children And yet howsoever he loves them so dearly yet many times he doth afflict and chasten them for so we see here whom he loves he chastens The Doctrine that we may gather from hence is this That they who are in the love and favour of God are neverthelesse afflicted In the 11th of Saint John Behold Lord John 11.3 he whom thou lovest is sick Christ loved Lazarus and yet did not free and exempt him from sicknesse Dan. 9.23 Daniel was greatly beloved of God as the Angell Gabriel told him yet Daniel was cast into the Lions den The Virgine Mary was freely beloved of God as the same Gabriel told her Luke 1. yet a sword was to pierce through her heart Luke 1.28 Luke 2.35 1 Sam. 13.14 Job 1.1 as old Simeon prophesied David was a man according to Gods own heart yet David was often and many wayes afflicted Job was a just and an upright man yet Job was extraordinarily afflicted Saint Paul was a chosen vessel of God yet after he was converted his whole life was nothing but a continued affliction In a word Acts 9.15 all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles and all the beloved children of God even from the beginning of the world to this present time have suffered affliction Therefore Christ saith Revel 3. As many as I love Revel 3.19 I rebuke and chasten Read over the Scriptures and ye see examples hereof almost in every leafe Gen. 39.20 In one place ye shall see Joseph cast into the dungeon Dan. 3.20 in another the three children into a fiery furnace 1 King 22.27 here ye shall see Michea fed with the bread of affliction there David washing his couch with tears in one place ye shall see Steven stoned to death Psal 6.6 in another ye shall finde John the Baptist beheaded Acts 7.59 To be short as it was said of Rome heretofore Mark 6.27 that a man could not step into any part thereof but he should tread upon a Martyre so a man can hardly read any part of the Scripture but he shall light upon the affliction of the children of God either one or other affliction being common to every one of them and more common then any thing The floud that overspred the whole face of the earth in the days of Noah was common generall yet eight persons ye know were freed frō the flood Gen. 6.18 preserved in the Ark Death is more cómon general then the flood Gen. 5.24 seizing upon the whole of-spring of Adam and yet two persons Enoch and Elias have been freed from death a King 2.,11 and were taken up into heaven while they were living upon the earth Sin is more common and generall then death and yet one person even Christ and he alone was free from sin but affliction is more generall then any of them all which hath lighted upon all men without any exception for even Christ himself though he were free from sin Esay 53.3 yet he was vir dolorum as the Prophet Esay calls him a man of sorrows as being subject through the whole course of his life to much sorrow affliction For this is the condition of all Gods children that first they must wear a crown of thorns before they receive a crown of glory first they must suffer with Christ in this life before they reign with him in the life to come Therefore Christ wills us if we will be his disciples to take up his crosse every day Acts 14. and follow him And the Apostle tels us That through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of heaven Vse 1 The use to be made hereof is two-fold First Seeing Goddeth visit his own children with the rod of affliction then much lesse shall the wicked escape Gods judgements if God chasten the godly whom he loves and is loved of them much lesse will he spare his enemies those that hate him Prov. 11.31 Therefore Solomon Proverbs 1◠Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner And therefore Peter 1 Epist 4. Chapter If judgement saith he 1 Peter 4.17.18 first begin at us what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear For if God chasten the one much lesse out of doubt will he spare the other You will say but it is ordinarily seen in the World that the wicked are not subject to the like afflictions that the godly are Their houses as Job in his 21. Chapt. Job 21.9 saith of the wicked are peaceable without fear and the rod of God is not upon them and as the Prophet David saith of the ungodly they prosper in all their wayes and flourish like a green bay-tree It is true indeed and cannot be denied that the godly many times do suffer in this World more crosses and afflictions then the wicked but therefore we must remember that the punishment of the wicked is kept and reserved till the World to come Lazarus was farre more afflicted in this life that lay full of sores at the rich mans gates and would have been glad of a morsell of bread then the rich man was that fared so sumptuously and lived in pleasure but therefore what saith Abraham to the rich man Sonne saith he Luke 15.25 remember that then in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill but now is he comforted and thou art tormented Whensoever therefore we see the godly to live in affliction and misery and the wicked in prosperity and hearts-ease yet it need not trouble us because there will come a time when the wicked shall be punisht and the godly comforted When the godly shall have all their teares wiped from their eyes Revel 7.17 and the wicked shall suffer Gods wrath and vengeance for if God afflict and chasten such as he loves much lesse