Providences his is Praise and Glory surely the wrath of Man shall praise thee First The Rage of the Wicked against the People of God is very great This is the very Nature and Disposition of Wicked Men as the Psalmist tells us Psal. 37. 12. The Wicked plotteth against the Iust and gnasheth upon him with his Teeth Nay so great is their Malice that the Holy Ghost in Scripture compares them to Fire and VVater to Briars and Thorns to Lions Bulls Dogs Vnicorns VVolves and the like You 'l find this Truth also confirmed by a thousand Examples How did Cain hate his Brother Abel What wrath did boil in Esau against Iacob How cruelly were the Israelites treated by the Egyptians I should be too prodigal of the time should I reckon up all those Examples of Holy Writ which are recorded for this purpose I shall therefore content my self at present with the Example of Sennacherib to which the Text as you hear alludes Now how did this Bloody Emperor swell with Rage how full was his Heart of Wrath The Prophet Esay speaking of this proud Assyrian Chap. 10. 7. tells us that it was in his Heart to destroy and cut off Nations not a few And what the Prophet avers of him in the general is confirmed more particularly of him by Berosus an Antient Historian which has left this Character of him Sennacherib qui apud Assyrios regnabat omnem Asiam Egyptum Bello infestabat Sennacherib saith he King of the Assyrians infested all Asia and Egypt with War But tho' other Nations felt the weight of his Wrath yet none more than the People of God For the Scripture tells us that he waged War three years together with the King of Israel whom he took at last and carried him with the ten Tribes into the Land of Captivity Eight years after this his Rage brake forth against good Hezekiah for we read 2 Kings 18. That he came up and seized into his Hands all the frontier Cities of Iudah Whilst he was at Lacish one of the frontier Cities Hezekiah sent Ambassadors and purchased an Ignominious Peace at a very dear rate for Hezekiah was forc't to give him all the Silver that was found in the House of God and in the Treasures of the Kings House nay all the Gold that was upon the Doors and upon the Pillars of the Temple And yet all this would not satisfie his Wrath but he presently sends Tartan Rabsaris and Rabshakah with a great Host against Ierusalem and with words of Blasphemy against God himself Nay Rabshakah threatens the People that they should be forced to eat their own Dung and drink their own Piss If all this be not sufficient to shew the Anger the Wrath and the Rage of this proud Assyrian I shall add one instance of it more out of the Book of Tobit where we find that after the slaughter which the Angel made in Sennacheribs Army he was forced to return home and dwell at his great City Niniveh his Fury which was stopt at Ierusalem brake forth against the poor Iews the Ten Tribes which were now Captive at Niniveh and therefore Tobit tells us Chap. 1. 18. That when King Sennacherib slew any of the Iews after he was fled from Judea I buried them privily for saith he in his wrath he killed many Here was the remainder of his Wrath here was that which made it Rages in the plural number But even this remainder of Wrath did God restrain for this wicked King was soon after killed by his own Sons in the House of Nisroth his God as I shall shew you afterwards And as we have seen Anger and Wrath in the Text so may we see much more in the Day and find the Rages of the Papists far exceeding all the Rage of these Barbarous Assyrians It is the saying of St. Gregory Dilatat Behemoth Caudam suam in fine Mundi nequius which Latin I cannot English better than in those known words of the Revelations Wo unto the Inhabitants of the Earth and of the Sea for the Devil is come down with greater wrath because he knoweth that his time is short The Malice of Hell never appeared unto the World with more Rage and Fury than since it has been managed by the Church of Rome Who can recount without horror and detestation the Barbarous Murders of the Albigenses the Massacres of France the Wars of Germany and the most inhuman Cruelties of the Spanish Inquisition Here is presented a large Field to range in and a Field of Blood too but the time would fail me to give a tolerable account of that Wrath and Rage which they have exercised from time to time against this poor Church of England since the Reformation We may justly take up the words of the Psalmist and say Many a time have they fought against us from our Youth up yea many a time have they afflicted us from our Youth from the beginning of the Reformation may our Israel say How many were those Funeral Piles which were kindled by them in the reign of Queen Mary How well did Ignatius deserve his name which signifies Fire when several hundreds of Innocent Protestants were sacrificed to the Moloch of their Rage in the space of less than four years Nay our late Historian of the Reformation tells us that like Wild Beasts they preyed upon the very Carkasses and dead Bodies of God's Saints for they digged up the Bones of Wickliff and exercised the utmost of Malice upon the Ashes of Bucer and Fagius If we pass on to the reign of Queen Elizabeth our English Deborah we shall find Anger and Wrath and Rage enough Indeed for well nigh eleven years they were pretty quiet hoping to gain Queen Elizabeth by their politick flatteries But as soon as these failed they erected three Colledges for English Seminary Priests one at Doway another at Rhemes and another at Rome and indeed these proved the Seminaries of all those Treasons and Rebellions which were acted afterwards And now the Popes Bulls begin to roar the Queen is Excommunicated her Subjects absolved from their Oaths and now see their Wrath and Rage in the Rebellion of the unhappy Earls of Northumberland and VVestmorland in the Treasons of the Stanlies in Darbyshire and of 120 Priests and Jesuits such as Sanders Brislow Parsons Campian and the like You may see more of this Rage in the Plots of Somervile Mayne Ntlson Tompson and the rest of that Crew and of Payne and his fifty Resolutes hired by the Pope to murder the Queen What need I speak of Throgmorton Paget Moody Parry with several others when the Invasion of 88 proclaimed their Wrath and Malice to the full For in their Ships they had great Knives with this Inscription as Bishop Andrews reports Cut English Throats they had also Whips of Cord and Wire which Don Pedro de Valdez one of the Commanders confessed were intended to whip us Hereticks to death and being asked by the Council what they
SERMONS Preach'd on several Occasions BY Iohn March B. D. Late VICAR of NEWCASTLE upon TINE The last of which was Preach'd the Twenty Seventh of November 1692. Being the Sunday before he Died. With a Preface by Dr. Iohn Scot. The Second Edition To which is added a Sermon Preach'd at the Assizes in New-Castle upon Tine in the Reign of the late King Iames. LONDON Printed for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1699. Imprimatur C. ALSTON R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Julii 3. 1693. THE PREFACE THE Reverend Author of the following Sermons was a Person of that great Worth and Excellency that among those who knew him they need no other Recommendation than his own Name for besides that they carry in 'em a certain strain of serious and unaffected Piety and this imbellished with such Clearness and Perspicuity such strength and vigour of Expression such solidity of Argument and Discourse as must have rendered the perusal of them very pleasant and profitable to all well-disposed Readers though their Author had been Anonymous besides which I say the truly Pious and Learned Author of them was a Person of such great Accomplishments both Moral and Intellectual as would have justly given Credit with all that knew his Personal Excellencies to much meaner Performances than these The main Objection this degenerous Age had against him was that he was a faithful Son of the Church of England and a zealous Asserter of its Doctrine and Discipline and one would think for a Man to be true to his Profession to that which he hath ex animo subscribed his Iudgment and declared his unfeigned Assent and Consent it should be so far from being reputed a Fault in him by those who pretend either to common Honesty or Modesty that it should rather be esteemed his Glory and Excellency As for his Conversation it was in all respects so Sober and Regular so Pure and Uncorrupt as that though he had but little reason to apprehend himself concerned in that Denunciation Wo be to you when all Men speak well of you yet so far as I ever heard even those who spoke worst of him durst never bespatter him with an Immorality He was a very diligent Pastor of the Flock committed to his Charge and that not only in the course of his Publick Ministry from which without some necessary Occasion he very rarely absented himself but also in his private Converses For besides that every Lord's Day in the Evening he generally spent a considerable Portion of time in Instructing the Youth of his Parish from which Pious and Charitable Exercise he very rarely suffered himself to be diverted even by the Visits of his best and greatest Friends besides which I say his known Abilities in resolving Cases of Conscience drew after him a great many good People not only of his own Flock but from remoter Distances who resorted to him as to a common Oracle and commonly went away from him intirely satisfied in his Wise and Iudicious Resolutions and by these his excellent Qualities and Labours he hath not only purchased to himself a Crown of Glory in Heaven but also so indeared his Memory upon Earth to all that are Virtuous and Good that like the Leaves of Roses still retain their Fragrancy though the Rose it self is withered and dead and that being dead he may yet speak to his surviving Auditors and that the Memory of his good Example and Doctrin may ever flourish among them it is the earnest desire of his Friends that these Sermons of his may be made Publick which though they have not that accomplished Accuracy as they would have had had they had his last hand to them and been prepared for the Press by his own skilful Pen yet as they are they are rightly worthy the Christian Readers perusal and as such I recommend them to his View and remain his Affectionate and Humble Servant Iohn Scot. SERMON I. Psalm lxxvi 7. Thou even thou art to be feared and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry I Know no Motives nor Arguments more likely to awaken Sinners to their Duty than a due consideration of Gods Infinite Goodness and Almighty Power Knowest thou not saith St. Paul that the goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance Transcendently great is the Goodness of God towards poor Sinners He freely gave us his Son to Purchase Heaven and Eternal Happiness for us He sent down his Holy Spirit to dwell with us that he might sanctifie our corrupt Natures and make us meet to partake of the vast Inheritance of the Saints in Light and he excites us to a due improvement of these assistances of the Spirit by proposing the most glorious Rewards of Heaven and Eternal Happiness Thus God draws Sinners to their Duty by the bands of Love and the cords of a Man that is by Arguments of such an obliging Nature as are most likely to prevail with men whom he hath endowed with Reason and Understanding But how few are there who have so much ingenuity as to be won by kindness The greatest part of Mankind must be treated with severer methods according to the observation of St. Austin Plures sunt quos terror corrigit pauciores quos allicit amor Such saith he is the corruption and degeneracy of our Natures that very few are drawn to their Duty by the Bands of Love the generality of men must be driven to it by the fears of Punishment For this reason the wiser Heathens made Hercules their God of Power their God of Eloquence too intimating that no Arguments are more forcible or more prevalent than those which alarm our fears Now God who is never wanting in any thing that may conduce to our Salvation is observed in Scripture frequently to urge these powerful Arguments upon us Fear-not them saith our Saviour who can do no more than destroy the Body but fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 5. 11. To the same end and purpose we find Asaph the Author of this Psalm magnifying the power of God in the defeat of Sennacheribs Army Thou hast broken the Arrows of the Bow the Shield and the Sword and the Battel ver 3. The Stout hearted are Spoiled they have slept their sleep and none of the Men of Might have found their Hands ver 5. At thy rebuke O God of Jacob both the Chariot and Horse are cast into a deep sleep ver 6. Those expressions of our Psalmist relate unto Sennacherib King of the Assyrians this Monarchy in Daniels Vision is for its strength compared unto the Lion and it was at its Zenith in the reign of Sennacherib whose very name signifies a fierce Warrier and whose Subjects the Assyrians are deservedly stiled by our Psalmist the Stout-hearted because being flush'd by many Victories they feared neither Man nor God himself whom
advantages and priviledges of his Holy Ordinances Indeed our sins call aloud for such heavy Judgments Our Superiours both in Church and State have acknowledged for us that prophane Swearing Perjury Drunkenness and a violation of God's Sabbaths have sadly made this Land to mourn And may we not add a great contempt of God's Word a misusing of his Messengers a slighting of his Ordinances besides those Factions and Schisms which abound among us And may not God justly visit for these things Oh then it is time that we should all smite upon our Breasts and return unto the Lord with humiliation and repentance that our iniquities may not be our ruin but every kind of Repentance will not serve the turn the Greek word in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Lactantius translates mutationes mentis in melius that is a change of the Mind from worse to better not a change of the Looks or hanging down the Head like a Bullrush for all this may be done by a Pharisee or an Hypocrite It is not a change of our Apparel or a putting on of Sackcloath for such humiliation and repentance may be performed by a wicked Ahab but the Repentance of the Text denotes a real change of the Mind or as the Prophet Ioel describes it a turning unto the Lord with all our Hearts Chap. 2. 12. Such a Repentance as this will make us fruitful in every good word and work and pay an universal Obedience to all God's Commandments it will make us reform our Lives honour God's Gospel value his Ordinances and have no hand in the encouraging those Schisms and Divisions which are amongst us This is the Repentance Christ recommends and if it be carefully Practised by us we may prevent the heavy Judgment of the Text and procure the continuance of the Gospel amongst us which God Almighty grant for the sake of Jesus Christ c. The Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Love of God c. SERMON III. 2 Pet. iii. 28. But Grow in Grace IT is a Famous Dispute among Papists and Protestants where St. Peter was when he wrote this and his former Epistle The Papists would have him to be at Rome that they may the better establish their Papal Monarchy and derive the Succession of their Bishops from that great Apostle But St. Peter himself tells us that he was at Babylon 1 Pet. 5. 13. The Church that is at Babylon elected together with you saluteth you Indeed St. Iohn in his Book of the Revelations takes Babylon in a mystical sense for Rome which well became his prophetick and mystical style but there is no reason to believe that St. Peter who in these Epistles writes no Prophesie but only plain Instruction for the dispersed Iews should take Babylon in any other than a Literal Sense namely for that Antient and famous City which was the Metropolis of Chaldea and indeed there are sundry Arguments to induce this belief As First St. Paul who about this time wrote this Epistle to the Romans makes no mention at all of St. Peters being then at Rome notwithstanding he sends Commendation to all that were of Eminency in the Church Secondly It is agreed on by both Papists and Protestants that the Apostleship of the Iews was in a peculiar manner committed to St. Peter as that of the Gentiles was to St. Paul This St. Ierom calls Principale Mandatum the main of their Commission from whence it necessarily follows that St. Peters chief imployment must be where the greatest numbers of Iews were Now it is certain that Babylon in Chaldea was the place where the Iews resided in greatest numbers after their Captivity Thirdly St. Peter directs his Epistles to the Iews scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia which all belonged to the Jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Babylon Fourthly St. Peter writing to these dispersed Iews rehearseth several Nations where they resided as Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia but leaves out Chaldea where they resided in greatest numbers which he would never have done had not Chaldea been the place from whence he wrote these Epistles I shall add but one Argument more from Acts 18. 2. where we are told that Claudius Caesar commanded all the Iews to depart from Rome so that we may conclude St. Peter would not keep his residence there where he wanted his Flock committed to his Charge and therefore it is more rational to believe he resided at Babylon where vast numbers of the Iews resided also I have premised thus much to prove that St. Peter wrote these two Epistles from Babylon in Chaldea because it will follow from hence that the Papists have not one Text of Scripture to found their belief of St. Peters being at Rome tho' on it depends their whole Papal Monarchy For this is the only Text they pretend to and you see how little it makes for their purpose so that they have nothing but human Testimony to build this great Article of their Faith upon and that such as is derived from Papias a weak credulous person as Eusebius stiles him By this time you will in some measure understand the Place from which and the Persons to whom St. Peter writes and being shortly as he tells them to put off his Earthly Tabernacle we need not doubt the excellency of those Instructions he bequeaths to the Iews All which he concludes with the most important words of the Text Grow in Grace For the better understanding of which First We will first consider the Duty it self Grow in Grace Secondly We will enquire what is that degree or stature of Grace a Christian must grow to before he can assure himself of Eternal Salvation Thirdly Whether any farther growth in Grace be attainable in this Life Fourthly What Reasons and Encouragements we have to endeavour after the highest degrees of Grace I begin with the first of these First Namely to consider the Duty it self which is to Grow in Grace A Christians life must be a continual progress in Holiness he must not with Hercules erect his Pillars and write a non ultra upon them saying hitherto will I go and no farther for true Grace is of a growing and multiplying Nature so that the good Christian must not be content with his present attainments but with St. Paul he must always be pressing forward forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before To this purpose is that Character Solomon gives of the just Man Prov. 4 18. The Paths of the Iust is as the Shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect Day He is not like Iosuahs Sun that stood still in the Firmament much less like Hezekiahs which went ten degrees backward but he is like Davids Sun which cometh forth as a Bridegroom out of his Chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to run his Race Now this growth in Grace denotes at least these two blessings First The getting
would have done with the young Children he answered boldly that all above seven years old should have been murdered with their Parents the rest should have lived but they were to be branded in the Forehead with the Letter L. signifying Lutheran and so be reserved for perpetual Bondage These and many other Specimens have they given of their Cruelty but this days Conspiracy seems to exceed them all For had this Hellish Plot obtained its desired end the Metropolis of our Nation had become a flaming Aetna our Church and State been turned into a Chaos our Court into a Golgotha and our whole Island into an Aceldama or Field of Blood Here is more than Assyrian Rage and Fury now at least we see the Rages of the Text such as we may well call the Wrath of Man the Wrath of Adam of the worst the wickedest of Men For let Men pretend what they will there is nothing of Religion nothing of Christ in such Wrath as this for he would not suffer his Disciples to call for Fire from Heaven to destroy a little Village of the Samaritans whereas these Heathen Catholicks these Bloody Barbarous Papists would have fetched Fire I cannot say from Heaven but at least from Hell to have destroyed one of the greatest Cities in the World but the remainder of wrath God did restrain Which brings me to the second thing proposed namely Secondly That God by his good Providence does over-rule and govern the Wrath and Rage of Wicked Men so as may be for his own Glory and his Peoples Good As for the Wicked they are far from proposing such ends this proud Assyrian in the Text did not in the least design the Glory of God or the Good of his People as the Prophet Esay tells us Chap. 10. 7. He meant not so neither did his Heart think so but it was in his Heart to destroy and to cut off Nations not a few His Head and Heart were full of devices how to satisfie his Ambition and raise his Empire on the ruins of other Nations but God's Providence over-ruled his Ambitious Rage and made the Wrath of this Assyrian to praise him But for the fuller opening this part of the Text we will consider First How God makes the Wrath of Man to praise him Secondly Whom he makes to praise him First Let us inquire how God makes the Wrath of Man to praise him Now he doth this several ways 1st By diverting their Power and their Rage otherwise than they first intended The Wise Man tells us That the Hearts of Kings are in the Hands of God he turneth them whithersoever he will Prov. 21. 1. Thus Nazianzen reports of Iulian the Apostate that when he had designed the utter ruin of the Christians God cut him out work elsewhere and made it necessary for him to go first against the Persians by whom he was overthrown So this Sennacherib in the Text you 'l find Esay 10. 5. called but the Rod of God's Anger and the Staff of his Indignation to denote that the greatest of Men are but a kind of Instruments in the Hand of God's Providence and must expect the direction of a Superiour Cause Hence it is very observable that when this proud Assyrian had bent his Rage against Hezekiah it was diverted by Tirhakah the King of Aethiopia waging War against him as you may read 2 Kings 19. 9. And it is easie to parrallel this out of the late History of the Reformation For in the Reign of Queen Mary Gardiner and other Papists endeavoured to destroy the Lady Elizabeth on whom alone under God the hopes of the Reformation did depend K. Philip did interceed for her and preserved her out of interest of State God putting it into his Heart to fancy that if she were put out of the way and he should have no Issue from Queen Mary which he very much feared then the Queen of Scotland who was to be married to the Dauphine would succeed and make too great an accession to the French Crown 2ly God makes the Wrath of Man to praise him sometimes by suffering it to proceed so far till nothing but a Divine Power an immediate Arm of the Almighty can deliver God does not always blast the designs of the Wicked in the Bud or crush their Enterprizes in the Shell but frequently suffers them to come to the Birth and his chosen People to fall into great extremity thus the tale of Bricks was doubled before Moses was sent Thus Haman was allowed to go so far as even to erect the Gallows for Mordecai Thus Pharaoh was allowed to pursue Israel not only to the Banks but even into the midst of the Red Sea that by destroying him there the Right Hand of the Lord might become more Glorious in Power And were we not delivered in such a sort this day Were not all the Instruments of Death made ready Were not the Barrels lodg'd the Train laid the Match burning and the time well-nigh expired before the Lord made bare his Arm and pluckt his People as so many Brands out of the Fire 3ly God does sometimes make the Wrath of Man to praise him by infatuating the Counsels of his Churches Enemies thus he is said to have made the Princes of Zoan Fools and the wise Counsellors of Pharaoh to become brutish Isaiah 19. 11. Thus he Countermined the politick Advice of Achitophel and made that great Oracle appear according to his Name in Hebrew which signifies the Brother or Cousin-german to a Fool. A like instance of of God's Providence was that which happned in the Reign of Queen Mary for when She first fell into that kind of Dropsie which Physicians call the Mola the wisest of her Friends and Physicians were so far infatuated as to conclude her to be with Child by this means all Physick was forbid till her Distemper grew Desperate and that great Obstacle of the Reformation was happily removed 4ly God does sometimes make the Wrath of Man to praise him by making wonderful discoveries of their most secret Plots and closest Conspiracies Thus strangely did he discover Hamans bloody Plot against the Iews and that of the Iews against St. Paul But surely the Goodness of God was never seen more eminently in the discovery of any Plot than it was this day for the subtilty of the Serpent did never appear more than in the managing of this Conspiracy We know it was laid in the very Bosom of Hell hammer'd in the Devils Forge nurst up in a dark Vault We know also that the Traytors bound themselves by the Holy Sacrament and the strictest Oaths of Secresie not to discover it But yet how wonderfully did God discover it For did not the Lord cause one of the Conspirators notwithstanding he had taken three solemn Oaths to conceal the Plot to reveal it by Writing verifying that of the Wise Man in his Ecclesiastes That which has Wings shall tell the Matter Nay further was it not the over-ruling Providence of God
infelici fraude posuit If saith this Father we respect his Opportunities for attaining Faith his Repentance was not late but early he took the very first season As soon as ever he descried Christ and Religion he readily embraced them He did not wretchedly cheat himself of the Remedies of his miserable condition he did not adjourn the use of them to a late uncertain Futurity which seldom or never succeeds well Let now the bold Presumptuous sinners of our Times compare themselves if they please with the Example of the Text Let them see if they can extract any Comfort or Encouragement from hence Will they say indeed that they never had any Call to Repentance Will they pretend that there was never offer'd them any Opportunity to be acquainted with Christ Alas how oft has Christ been Crucified before their Eyes in the Ministry of the Word How oft have they seen him in the Sacrament bleeding for their sins Have they not had Line upon Line and Precept upon Precept Have they not had private and publick Admonitions How many National Judgments and Calamities have call'd aloud for their Humiliation How many publick Mercies and Deliverances have invited them to the Duty Sure then they cannot draw a parallel between their own Case and the Case of the Thief They cannot at the Hour of Death expect any Comfort or Consolation from his Example 2dly Consider how remarkable how wonderful how extraordinary the Repentance of this Thief was As Jewels contain vast Riches in a little room so his short Life of Penitency had a whole Age of Repentance in it Tho' his Repentance had but a little time to breath in yet how busie how active how vigorous was it in all the great and important parts of hearty Mortification 1. We may view here in the Text his deep sense and humble acknowledgment of his former sins We suffer justly saith he to the other Thief we receive no more than the due rewards of our former Deeds Magnum enim poenitentiae signum in poena sua acquiescere It is a great sign of true Repentance saith Grotius patiently to bear the Punishment which is inflicted or for the Malefactor to approve of his own Condemnation Confession is called by the Father the Vomit of the Soul it shews Sin to be bitter to us when we cast it up by such open Acknowledgments And now I pray what Comfort is there in this Example for such Presumptuous sinners amongst us who put off their Repentance to the time of Sickness How rarely do we find in them such a deep sense of their Sins and a serious Humiliation for them How lame are their Confessions and for the most part but General Ministers when they come to Visit them in their Sickness are forced to transgress the bounds of Modesty before they can extort a slender acknowledgment of their Faults Tho' they have sinned in an impudent manner and never were ashamed to dishonour God and affront their Saviour yet now they are unwilling to take shame to themselves but desire their sins may be buried with them in the same Grave Thus the Clinicks of the Age do generally fall short of the Example in the Text as to this part of Repentance But 2dly Let us Consider that this honest Penitent Thief was not only sensible of his sin and willing to make an open Confession of it but he shewed great Charity to his fellow Thief and labour'd to bring him to an hearty Humiliation for his Transgressions See how his Compassion to his Soul displays it self in his passionate Expostulation with him What saith he dost thou not fear God Is this a time for thee to revile this Innocent Person who has done nothing amiss It would better become thee to reflect upon thy former Life to call thy past Sins to remembrance and spend that little Breath which is left thee in suing for a Pardon at the Throne of Grace Sure thine Heart must be harder than an Adamant if Death that King of Terrours has no Darts that can pierce it What saith he dost thou not at such a time as this fear God Thus great thus remarkable was his Charity to the Soul of his Fellow-Thief But alas how cold is that Charity which the Clinicks of the Age express for the Souls of others Tho' they have been all their life time Factors for Hell and saved the Devil the labour of Tempting men to sin Tho' they have delighted formerly in putting the Bottle to their Neighbours mouth and even gloried when they have been able to drink them into Brutes Tho' they have enticed them to all sorts of Lusts and made them bear a share in all their Debaucheries yet in their sickness how seldom do they send for their boon Companions How seldom do they endeavour to rid their Souls of the guilt of other Mens sins If their Brethren in Iniquity come at any time unsent for and have so much Civility as to Visit them in their sickness how frothy at least how unseasonable is their Discourse When do we hear them reminding them of their former Debaucheries telling them the danger of them and by ghostly Admonitions labouring to draw them out of the snare of the Devil And since they are so unlike this penitent Thief in their Charity for the Souls of others they have little reason to encourage themselves by his Example But 3dly Consider farther what a strong prodigious Faith did live and act in this penitent Thief when he was a dying We find in the Text he believed Christ to have been a Iust Person even when he was numbred among Transgressors He pronounces that our Saviour had done nothing amiss notwithstanding the great Sanhedrim had pronounc'd him worthy of Death yea the Death of the Cross and fit to be hanged between two Thieves This was a strange prodigious Faith indeed And yet did it exert more prodigious Acts than these for he farther believed that Christ had a Kingdom and that a Kingdom of another World and therefore he saith to our Saviour at the point of Death Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom What a strong prodigious Faith was here The wisest of the Iews dreamt of nothing so much as a Temporal Kingdom yea his own Disciples were deficient in this great Article of their Faith They are for sitting at his Right hand and at his Left hand in some worldly Empire Nay after Christ had given several Checks to their misguided Ambition we find them still harping on this string and at the very time of his Ascension putting this foolish Question to him Lord Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom unto Israel Act. 1. 6. But this penitent Thief desires no Earthly Glories he begs not to sit at his Right hand or at his Left but Lord saith he remember me after Death when thou comest into thy Kingdom These are strange and wonderful Acts of his Faith and yet not all that are here recorded in the
before thou be sick and in the time of Sins shew Repentance Let nothing hinder to pay thy Vows in due time and defer not till Death to be justified The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ c. SERMON VIII Luke xxiv 43. To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise THE Occasion of which Words we may easily learn from the Context We find Ver. 33. that our Blessed Saviour was Crucified betwixt two Theives or Malefactors Tho' he was without Sin yet as the Apostles speaks he appeared in the likeness of sinful Flesh and as the Prophet Esay tells us was numbred with the Transgressors Chap. 53. 12. Now one of these Malefactors begins to rail on our Saviour saying If thou be the Christ save thy self and us vers 39. It is an Argument of desperate Wickedness to insult over such as are in Misery it is no less than to defie Almighty God who is the Protector of such as are in misery and uses to avenge their quarrel And therefore the other Malefactor rebukes him ver 40. saying Dost not thou fear God especially since thou art in the same Condemnation Such as are in Prosperity do ordinarily forget God but in time of Adversity most men will consider When they are approaching towards the Gates of Death they are then generally serious the Thoughts of another World and the prospect of a Future State usually strikes an awe into their Souls But this Thief is so desperately wicked that even on the Cross and when Death was near at hand he despises God and reviles our Saviour But the other Thief gives ample demonstrations of his sincere Repentance and Faith in the Messiah For he does not only rebuke his Fellow Thief and endeavours his Conversion but he also acknowledges his Fault aud patiently submits to the Punishment as a just reward of his evil deeds ver 41. If such scandalous persons that are amongst us would when they are upon their Death-beds thus take shame to themselves by a free Confession of their Faults If they would send for such persons whom in the time of their Health they have endeavour'd to debauch either by their Example or Counsel and acquaint them with the danger of Sin and the bitterness they then find in it they would give the World much better demonstrations of their sincere Repentance and much surer grounds to hope their Eternal welfare And as this poor Thief gives such ample demonstrations of his sincere Repentance so he gives also very good proof of a true and stedfast Faith in Christ for ver 42. he says unto Christ Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom Ye see he believes Christ to be the Lord and to have a Kingdom tho' not in this World which was more than Christ's own Disciples did Nay farther he owns Christ upon the Cross and when in the lowest degree of his state of Humiliation even when all the Iews were mocking and persecuting him yea when his own Disciples forsook him and St. Peter one of the Chiefest had deny'd him thrice Nay farther yet how wonderful was his Humility He only desires that Christ would remember him in his Kingdom He does not presume to ask that he might sit on Christ's Right hand or on his Left in his Kingdom but only that he would remember him A true penitent humble Soul will think the least degree of Mercy great enough or too great for him I have the rather noted all this because too many encourage themselves in their Wickedness by the Example of this poor Thief They think they may live as they list and yet be saved if they repent on a Sick-bed and at the Hour of Death But how rare is it that God does give such Presumptuous sinners so much Grace in the time of their Sickness How seldom do they give such ample demonstrations of their Faith Humility and sincere Repentance Now what Answer doth Christ return to this honest Thief The Text will give you a fair account of this Then said Iesus unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise In which Words we have a fair description of the happiness of pious Souls after they are departed from this wretched Body I shall consider the Words in the same order that they lye And First They assure us That pious Souls are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their departure from the Body To Day saith Christ. Secondly They do farther assure us of the greatness of this Happiness they shall be with Christ and they shall be in Paradise To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise First These Words assure us that pious Souls are immediately admitted to the actual possession of Happiness upon their depature from the Body There are a sort of Men in the World they call Psychoparruychites who hold that the Soul after its departure from the Body sleeps all the while till the General Resurrection and consequently is neither in a state of Ioy nor Misery till the Day of Iudgment when it shall be reunited united to the Body and sent with it either to Heaven or Hell But it is plain from the Text that the Souls of Good men are immediately after their departure from the Body admitted to the actual possession of Eternal happiness For Christ does here promise this honest Thief that he should be that very day with him in Paradise Paradise is a place of Joy and Bliss and to be with Christ is to be in a state of Happiness Now in such a place and in such a state was the Thief to be that very day So Act. 7. 56. St. Stephen saw the Heavens open'd and the Son of Man standing on the Right hand of God He knew the Heavens were open'd for him and that Christ stood there ready to receive him into Glory and therefore he prays ver 59. Lord Iesus receive my Spirit So again 2 Cor. 5. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. It seems the pious Soul as soon as it is absent from the Body it is present with the Lord and consequently in a state of Bliss and Glory Again Revel 14. 13. I heard a Voice from Heaven saying Write blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Ye see here the Godly are said to be blessed as soon as they dye and not only to rest but also to receive the reward of their good Works I shall add but one Text more which you 'l find Phil. 1. 21 22. I am in a strait betwixt two saith St. Paul having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you As much as if the Apostle should have said I cannot tell whether I should desire to live longer or
other Nations And now was the time for God's Providence to step in and determin him to what Object he thought most proper He therefore directs the fury of this Assyrian chiefly against Israel and uses him as a Rod to chastise his own chosen People And as God does thus imploy the wicked as Schoolmasters to correct his People so he also imploys them as Executioners to punish his Enemies Hence Isaiah 13. 17. God is said to stir up the Medes against the Babylonians a People notorious for their Enmity to God and the Iews These Medes and Persians are upon this account called God's sanctified ones Verse 3. not in respect of any inherent righteousness or holiness in them but because like the Vessels of the Sanctuary set a-part for Gods service and excited by a secret instinct of Providence to execute wrath upon wicked Babylon Thus God turns the Hearts of Kings as the Rivers of Waters whither soever he pleaseth Tho' their Hearts be very full of wickedness and like the troubled Sea are always ready to cast up the Mire and Dirt of Sin yet God's Providence shuts up this Sea with Bars that it cannot pass till God is pleased to break up these Bars and let it rush sometimes on his Enemies to overwhelm them sometimes on his own People to chastise them and wash away their Filth 2ly The Providence of God does not only determine the wickedness of Man as to the Object but likewise as to the Modus and measure of it If God did not bound the Malice of Satan and wicked Men their little Finger would be bigger than their Loins are now and instead of Chastising God's People with Whips like cruel Rehoboam they would scourge them with Scorpions When God was pleased to break down the Hedge of his Providence he had set about Iob with what fury did the Sabeans and Chaldeans kill his Servants drive his Camels and spoil him of all his Goods Nor did all this mischief satisfie Satans Malice he would fain have gone further and made attempts upon his Life But God here was pleased to set limits to his fury as we read Iob 2. 6. Behold saith God to Satan he is now in thy Hand only spare his Life I need not spare much time in proving the boundless Malice of Satan and his Instruments against God's People we may learn enough of this from that remarkable Name the Prophet bestows upon them Isaiah 27. 1. In that day the Lord with his great and strong Sword shall punish Leviathan the peircing Serpent By Leviathan in this place is generally understood Satan and his malicious Instruments and the word in the Hebrew signifies Augmentation or Addition intimating the boundless Malice of Satan and his Instruments who still desire to lay more burdens on the Godly to increase their Troubles and augment their Afflictions But God he is faithful and merciful and by his Providence takes care that his People be not tempted above what they are able to bear And therefore the same Prophet tells us at Verse 8. That God allows Satan and his Instruments to smite his People only in measure There is a greater Elegance in the Hebrew than is exprest in our English Translation for the word which we render Measure signifies one of the smallest Measures in use among the Iews namely that Measure which they called the Sea containing no more than the third part of an Epha Such you see is the wonderful goodness of God that he curbs and restrains the Fury of those Leviathans and tho' they think no Strokes too many no Burdens too heavy for the People of God yet he limits their Malice and allows them only to smite in Measure and with Moderation 3ly The Providence of God does also determin the Malice and Wickedness of Men as to its time and duration There is indeed a great and sad truth in the observation of the Antient Tragedian Nullum ad nocendum tempus angustum è malis No time saith he is too little no time unseasonable for the Wicked to do Mischief yet there is some comfort in what the Wise Man tells us Eccles. 3. 1 That God has set a Season to every Thing and a time to every Purpose under Heaven And indeed the Providence of God does limit the Wicked both as to the time when their Fury shall begin and also how long it shall continue Our blessed Saviour was no sooner born into the World but there was a bloody Herod seeking to destroy him and send him out of it again Afterwards when he was to enter upon his Ministry we find Satan carrying him to a Pinacle of the Temple and tempting him to cast himself down from that dangerous height And when all this proved succesless several stratagems were used by the Iews to dispatch him out of this World But God who has put Times and Seasons in his own Power defeated all these their wicked purposes till that determinate time was come mentioned by St. Luke 22. 53. Tho' I was with you daily in the Temple saith Christ yet you could not stretch forth any hands against me but now is your Hour and the power of Darkness And as the Wickedness of Man is limited in respect of its beginning so likewise in respect of its continuance and duration Thus God determined the afflictions of Israel in Aegypt four hundred years and their Captivity in Babylon to seventy If God had not predetermined the persecutions of the Primitive Christians St. Iohn could not have foretold they should last no longer than forty two Months Now if we reckon these Months by Sabbaths of Years as the honest Author of the Book of Martyrs tells us he was taught to reckon them by a particular Revelation they will amount to the sum of two hundred ninety four years the precise time of the ten first Persecutions I shall add but one instance more of these effects of God's Providence and that one is hinted to me by a Right Reverend Historian of our own Nation It seems in Queen Mary's days Gardiner and the other bloody Papists hoped to continue their persecution of the Protestants till they had utterly destroyed them But God's good Providence allowed them but a very short time to rage in for when Queen Mary fell into that kind of Dropsie which Physitians call the Mola the wisest of her Friends and Physitians were so far infatuated as to conclude her to be with Child By this means all Physick was forbid till her Distemper grew desperate and so her unexpected death put a speedy period to the Rage and Fury of the Papists Thus I have shewn you how the Providence of God is employed about sin and wickedness whilst it is in fieri whilst the Heart of Man is but conceiving and devising it I now proceed to shew how the same Providence is employed about sin in facto esse after it is finisht and brought forth into Act. Tho' Almighty God can wither the Arm of a wicked Ieroboam
and hinder the Execution of his wicked Designs Tho' he can strike the Sinner with a Thunderbolt into Hell before he accomplishes his mischievous Enterprises yet having made Man a free Agent as I said before he allows him to act according to the liberty he has implanted in his Nature Ratio non est absque libertate Arbitrii saith Damascen there can be no Reason where there is no liberty to act But tho' God does permit the heart of man freely to devise and accomplish its ways yet still by his Providence he rules and directs his Steps Indeed the wicked themselves are far from designing any good but yet God makes their blackest designs subservient to his glory They do at best but resemble those monstrous People in Pliny whose Feet stood contrary to their Faces or if you please to take a more familiar comparison like Watermen they are made by Providence to row one way whilst they look another To this purpose is the known observation of St. Austin Bonus Deus non sineret fieri mala nisi Omnipotens ex malis bona elicere potuisset God who is good saith he would never permit sin but that being Omnipotent he is able to extract Good out of the greatest Evils The Rod of Moses whilst it lay upon the Earth was an ugly dreadful and poysonous Serpent but in the Hand of God and Moses an Instrument of great and glorious wonders Such is the Power and Wisdom of God that he is able to bring Light out of Darkness and work great and glorious ends out of the most black devices and machinations of sinful Men. Some few Instances of this I shall give you in these following particulars 1st God does often take occasion from sin to glorifie the Riches of his Goodness and Mercy It is the Tradition of the Antients that the Skull of Adam was found on Mount Calvary the very place of our Saviours Crucifixion And there is not less Comfort in St. Ieroms Note on Mat. 1. Namely that no holy Women but such Notorious Sinners as Thamar Raab and Bathsheba are mentioned in the Genealogy of the Blessed Jesus and all this to denote thus much unto us that sin was the Cause which brought our Saviour into the World and gave God an opportunity to magnifie his Free Grace and Mercy unto Sinners So that now we may take up the ranting language of St. Gregory O felix culpa quae talem meruit Redemptorem O happy sin happy sure upon this account that it has through Gods good Providence obtained so great and so glorious a Redeemer The Whole saith our Saviour needs not the Physitian and where there is no Misery there is no need of Mercy Had there been no bitterness in the Waters of Marah Moses had not needed Sweet wood to have thrown into them So had there been no sin there had not needed the Tears of Repentance and consequently there had been no need of the Wood of the Cross to sweeten these bitter Waters 2dly As God has thus taken occasion from Sin to commend his Free Grace and Infinite Mercy to the World so he has also taken occasion from hence to glorifie his Holiness and Justice If bold sinners shall dare to run upon the Bosses of his Buckler and bid defiance to the great Majesty of Heaven If neither the Threats of his Law can drive them to Obedience nor yet the Promises of the Gospel invite them to their Duty there remains then nothing but a fearful looking for of Iudgment and fiery Indignation to devour these Adversaries Hence Solomon tells us ver 4 of this Chapter that God has made all things for himself yea even the wicked has he made for the day of Evil Tho' he may endure with much Long-suffering the Vessels of Wrath and employ them as Rods for the Chastisement of others yet at the last he casts these Rods into the Fire and magnifies his Power and Justice upon them when once they are ripe for destruction It is very observable that the first Hallelujah which we find in the Old Testament is in the Psalms where mention is made of the destruction of Gods Enemies and the first Hallelujah which is mention'd in the New Testament is where the overthrow of Antichrist is foretold in the Revelations Should God suffer sinners still to go unpunish'd it would reflect upon his Holiness and cast a stain upon his Justice Men would be apt to think God a Patron of Wickedness and would be very much encourag'd in the ways of Ungodliness God therefore to vindicate his Honour and deter Men from sin is pleased very frequently in this World to send signal Judgments upon the Workers of Iniquity Thus when proud Pharaoh had a long time withstood all the Miracles of Moses and wrought his Heart at last to the highest degree of hardness God did then resolve to glorifie himself in his ruin and destruction And that he might leave some signal Monuments of his Wrath to succeeding Generations Orosius an Ancient Author tells us that the prints and footsteps of their Chariots were a long time after to be seen on the shoar and in the bottom of the Red Sea We may do well also to remember that Fire and Brimstone which was rained from Heaven on Sodom and Gomorrha Brochardus and other sacred Geographers inform us that that very Land does still mourn in Dust and Ashes and such dismal Clouds of Smoak continually ascend from it as make it represent nothing so much as the very Mouth and Entrance of Hell Nay farther yet that God might make abundant provisions for the Honour of his Justice as some have computed this one single Judgment is mention'd in Scripture above twenty times God's Providence so ordering it that these wicked Sodomites might be set forth for an Example suffering the vengeance of Eternal Fire And this is the second End to which Gods Providence direct sin namely the glorifying of his Justice 3dly God's Providence does farther make use of sin to humble his own People When David had murther'd his loyal Subject Vriah and committed Folly with his Wife God does afterwards make use of these sins to keep his Servant humble To this end we find Shimei one a kin to Vriah sent by a secret impulse of Providence first to Curse David as a Bloody Man and so to remind him of the murther and then to make him sensible of his Adultery by casting Stones at him a Punishment under the Law appointed to the Adulterer Now what Influence this piece of Providence had upon David we learn from 2 Sam. 16. 9 10. where when the Sons of Zerviah would have slain Shimei according to his deserts David returns a Negative Answer in these passionate words What have I to do with you ye Sons of Zerviah And then see his Humility in the next words Let him Curse because the Lord has said unto him Curse David He knew God by this piece of Providence had a design to call