life secure you in your sinnes there be different deaths for different sinnes which must be repented for otherwise yee shall die in your sinnes penitentiam dare possum securitatem non possum vpon your repentance I dare pronounce remission but vpon your rebellions I dare giue no securitie Nusquam est securitas there is no safetie where sinne seazeth if Angels sinne in heauen out they must if Adam sinne in Paradice away he must and if Iudas shrinke at the side of Christ he must be gon Malorum eiecto bonorum glorificatio then are the good and godly glorified when the wicked and wayward are mortified There be two sinnes sensible in this dissolute age wherein we liue and they are written in so great and capitall letters that a man may reade them running the first is the fawning sinne of presumption the other is the fearefull sinne of desperation In our presumption we soare too high and the fire vpon the mount doth scorch vs In our despaire wee houer too lowe and the furies of hell doe haunt vs In our presumption weare too much exaulted and we dare to sinne notwithstanding Gods iudgements In our despaire we are too much deiected and we doe not repent notwithstanding his mercies Medio Tutissimus ibis A meane is best and that is to goe by Christ in whome mercie and Trueth meete together righteousnes and peace kisse each other Surely wee can goe to no Pulpit but Paules passion dooth pearce our hearts to prouoke our speech against the outrage of both Many walke of whom I haue tolde you often and now tell you weeping they are enemies to the crosse of Christ their bellie is their God their glorie is their shame and they doe but minde Earthly things Nay you are well worse in your vnrepentant liues then these poore sinners are in their penitent deaths For they haue their conuersation in Heauen From whence they looke for the Sauiour Euen the Lorde Iesus Christ who shall change these our vile bodies that they may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie according to the working whereby he is able euen to subdue all things vnto himselfe Yea that I may cōclude with my Text These haue their liues so hidden in Christ as they are well assured that when Christ which is their life shal appeare then shall they appeare with him in glorie And so I passe to the last Wheele turning and tending to that glorie which shall be euen vpon your dissolution in soule and vpon the restauration of your bodies in the day of your Redemption when Christ who is your life shall appeare Now in this Apparition what shall I see I shall see the second comming of my CHRIST attended vpon Not with twelue poore Fishermen but with all the Powers of heauen I shall see him come Ad Sententiandum ad Seperandum when those that haue done good shall goe into euerlasting life whither God bring you and those that haue done euill into euerlasting Condemnation from which the Lord deliuer you But what shall ye see vpon Christ his Apparition Nay rather what shall yee not see vpon your dissolution Words spoken in season as Salomon saith are like apples of siluer in pictures of gold therefore flye out my voyce and be strong my spirit euermore to expresse the glorie of those vnspeakable Ioyes yee shall both see and feele within these fewe houres when dead in body but rauished in soule yee shall see the heauens open to giue you readie passage to eternall blessednes 1 Where yee shall see God as he is face to face I say God of so great Maiestie might bountie beautie and loue as if a man were filled with all other blessings both temporall and eternall and yet without that as Plotinus saith all were but miserie and accursednes 2 Yee shall see the comfortable face and countenance of Iesus Christ fairer then the sonnes of men and whom the very Angels desire to behold 3 Yee shall see the holy Ghost proceeding from both and breathing vpon your saued soules like a softe ayre vpon a garden and more sweete then all the trees of incense 4 Yee shall see the bright court of Angels Cherubines and Zeraphines attending the Deitie and euer pressing to doe his will faithfully speedily willingly and neuer wearie of watching because they are neuer wearie of well doing 5 Yee shall see the faire assemblie of the Saints of God Patriarkes Prophets and Apostles with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in that his glorious kingdome yee shall be tyed with them in the bundle of the liuing neuer to be loosed any more yee shall returne as they haue done into your rest as into a retyring campe after the day of battell there shall yee followe the lambe whither soeuer he goeth and there shall yee walke before the Lord in the land of the liuing for euermore 6 Yee shall see new Ierusalem come downe from heauē as a Bride prepared for her husband a Citie of solace whose portes are euer patent whose streetes are paued with gold garnished with all manner of pretious stones the Iasper the Saphir the Chalcedonie the Emarod the Sardonix the Sardius the Crisolite and the Berill the Topas the Crisoparus the Iacinth and the Amathist euer splendent shall this Citie be it shall neede no Sunne for the Lambe is the light of the place the people that are saued shall walke in the Light of it and the Kings of the Earth shall bring their glorie and honour vnto it The Gates of it shall not be shut by day August in Epistol Ioh. Tract 4. for there shall be no night there and the glorie both of Iewe and Gentill shall be brought vnto it What should I say more Quomodo potuit Lingua sonuit Caetera corde cogitentur As I could so haue I tolde let the heart conceiue the rest and yet so as Amoenissima Ciuitas Amantissima Societas Iucundissima Foelicitas A most pleasant place A most ioyfull presence And a most happie estate of blessednes shall be your portion in an endles glorie 7 I cannot speake as I would and yet my heart is full breake it will if it may not vent it Pardon mee therefore a while to beate backe these fearefull passions of your mortalitie with further impressions of your aeternitie yee shall haue Eyes without teares hearts without sorrowe soules without sinne greene youth without greeuance of olde age health without sicknes fulnes without sacietie freedome without bondage beautie without blemish glorie without shame and life without death your knowledge shall be without either doubting or discourse for ye shall see God and all goodnes all at once your loue shall leuell at the highest nor shall it faile to fall vpon the lowest of his Saints 8 Yee shall haue what yee can desire and yee shall desire nothing but what is good Aug. lib. 13. de triniti cap. 5. For as one hath truely said Beatus non est nisi qui habet omnia que
againe whosoeuer shall forsake houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother wife or children or lands for my name sake he shall receiue an hundreth fold and shall inherit euerlasting life Isay 55.1 it is the call of thy God and Christ yee that haue no money to buye come buye without penney or penneyworth Behold I set a kingdome on sale euen that of heauen where riches are bought with pouertie peace with persecution glorie with shame mirth with mone Sollace with sorrow life with death for yee must die once that yee may liue alwaies alwaies there where true Ioyes are to be found Fiftly though this treasure be purchased with paine yet it is kept with comfort Earthly riches we so greedily catcht at and gape after they are sharpe as a thorne they pricke to the bone for they pricke in getting they pricke in keeping and they pricke in parting from them Nay Acquirendo Retinendo Erogando in getting keeping and bestowing there is nothing but much sinne with little solace and great daunger with small delight But the treasure wherein our life is hid Ecclus. 15. v. 8. hath in it gladnes of heart as Siracides saith for men of truth haunt it and shall prosper euen to the beholding of God Waue therefore all wearines in the wealth of this wicked world and as the prouerbe is Ito sicut canis per Nilum drink by catches for feare of Crocadils taste of it pleasures but soake not into them least in the sweetnes thereof thou be supped vp Amatores suos nouit deuorare non portare it knoweth better how to crosse then crowne it riuals Lastly ex spiritualibus Componitur This treasurie stands vpon spiriturall store no orient pearle of Peru or Mexico no gold of Hauila no Carbunkle Topas or Chrisolit with are nothing else but Terrae maculae immunditiae Neither any of these or all these with an other world of greater wealth can store the treasurie we ayme at it is filled it is filled with the substance of a more heauenly beeing spiritualibus non mundanis gazis not with transitorie but with eternall store It is filled with righteousnes peace and ioy of the holy Ghost it is filled with mercie grace and glorie It is filled with long life length of dayes and all Aeternitie It is filled with Imperiall maiestie brightnes and immortalitie It is filled with the presēce of God with the sight of the Lambe and with the sweete breath and perfume of the holy Ghost proceeding from both It is filled with Songs of Sion Melodious Musicke and praises of all Saintes and Angells sweeter then the harmonie of the Heauens Finally It is filled with greater ioy thē man can thinke or Angell can speake therfore I leaue it with a Selah to my soule till I finde in glorie what I feele in grace And the Lord increase your Faith till you come to this perfection Pardon mee a while to followe this current till I hauee layde you a sleepe in the sweete Repose and Bosome of your CHRIST And therefore say yet further to the solace of your saued soules Christ in whom your life is secured is that hidden Mannah tendered to the Church at Pergamus and in them to you and so to the conquering Saints all the Worlde To him that ouercommeth Reuel 2. V. 17. I will giue to eate of the Mannah that is hidde Prou. 25. V. 1. It stands with the glorie of God to keepe a thing secret So saith Salomon But the Kings honour will finde it out Christ is a secret a mysterie and a Myne to be digged into our heauenly food our meate and hidden Mannah which we may not find in the barke and rinde which often times seemeth faire to the sillie Eye of flesh and blood but wee must search the Veynes and digge downe to the Roote where Christ his sappe and sweetnes is Reu. 10. V. 10. The little booke was sweete in the mouth but bitter in the belly The lower it went the more passionate it was It feeling was in it fall and till it came to the entrails it entred not So is this hidden Mannah swimming in the eare moulded in the mouth it relisheth not to thy saluation But when it searcheth the veynes of thy heart and soule then is thy life hidde in Christ then is the very soule of thy Soule incorporated into thy Sauiour which made the Prophet crye out in Rauishment of spirit Rasili Rasili My secret to my selfe Isai 24. V. 6. My secret to my selfe As if hee should say If none will feele yet am I filled with the abundance of this Angells foode yea and though all the world lye in darknes yet Christ my Loue my Life my Light and my Saluation shineth vnto my selfe and I shall walke in the brightnes thereof euen from grace to grace till I come to glorie Yea and in the meane time be fedde and filled with that Heauenly Mannah which in these respects I may paralell with my CHRIST and apply as a comfortiue to your pensiue soules who are to dye and now hunger and thirst after righteousnes grace and glorie 1. First as Mannah fell from Heauen So did Christ when hee bowed the Heauens and came downe and said I am the bread of life that came downe from Heauen whereof who Eateth shall neuer hunger any more Now your Eating of CHRIST Io. 6. V. 35. is but your stedfast Faith beleuing in CHRIST For so saith Saint Augustine Edere est Credere And therefore saith Christ Io. 6. V. 40. He that belieueth in mee hath euerlasting life and I will raise him vp at the last day Whervpon I may conclude Quid paras dentem ventrem Crede manducasti Why doest thou bring mee thy tooth and thy belly belieue in me and thou hast eaten me Secondly when the Mannah was fallen some gathered more and some gathered lesse and yet so As he that gathered little Exod. 16. V. 18. had no lacke and he that gathered much had nothing ouer So is CHRIST the foode of our soules hee filleth all that gather though not in like measure And therefore let none iudge of the quantitie of Faith and Sanctitie how much or how little will saue a soule Sithence we are heere taught that if it be any it is enough For he that gathered little had no lacke and he that gathered much had nothing ouer None may presume haue he neuer so much None may despaire haue hee neuer so little But he that hath none at all is remediles of all mercie You are here deiected at Christ his feet your teares prayers and kisses expresse your Faith and Feeling both of Christ his mercies and your owne miseries It may be you thinke you are feeble in Faith and wanting in workes and what of that Tantum velis Deus praeoccurrit Onely bee thou willing and God will supplie thy wants hee will meete thee in the way
the Lord would giue you a gratious issue and that so vpon your dissolution which is at hand you might be translated out of this miserable world to liue with God in the mercies of a better Pardon me then againe to passe by these turbulent waters of Iorden I meane of Iudgement that runne roughly vpon the Rockes of your sinne and giue me leaue yet still to bathe in the sweete running waters of Shilo I meane mercie that goe softly by Syon and when Iordan is driuen backe with the Ocean of Gods mercies you may more speedily make your passage into Canaan the land of your inheritance Now therefore to you be it spoken poore suppliants ouer whom we pray with teares and preach with passion lift vp your hearts aboue the height of all Sublimitie Settle your affections on things that are aboue and not on things that are belowe For thoe yee be dead what of that yet your life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ which is your life shall appeare then shall yee appeare with him in glorie The Text is like the fierie Chariot that carried vp Eliah into heauen 2. Kings 2. v. 11. which thoe happily it might turne his bodie into Synders yet it neuer left him till it had brought his soule into solace And it runnes as you may heare see vpon three wheeles the first is of death the second of life and the third of glorie Death goeth before Life followeth after and glorie perfecteth all and so as I may say there is blessednes in death there is blessednes in life and there is blessednes in glorie and with this three folde gable yee are halled vp to heauen Yee are dead that is your blessed mortification Your life is hid with Christ in God that is your blessed regeneration And when Christ which is your life shall appeare then shall yee appeare with him in blessednes that is your glorie Or thus yee are dead that is your blessed crosse but your life is hid in Christ that is your blessed shade or couer and when Christ shall appeare then shall yee appeare with him in glorie that is your blessed crowne and diadem of all heauenly delights Gen. 27. v. 26.27 It is said of aged Isaacke that when his sonne Iacob had prepared for him such sauourie meate as his soule loued cooked and seasoned with the cunning hand of Rebeckah his mother Isaack called vnto him and said Come hither my sonne and let me kisse thee before I die for me thinkes the smell of thy garments is like vnto the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed Though most of you be young yet are yee now aged dead to this world as Isaacke was and I hope the meate prepared for you is such sauorie meate as your soule loueth Cooked with a more curious and cunning hand then that of Rebeckah for the spirit of God hath spoken it by the mouth of Paul and therefore come and kisse your Christ before yee die sith the sweete smell and odour thereof is like vnto the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed For now are yee blessed in death blessed in life and blessed in glorie First then my deare brethren beloued and longed for I say beloued in the best loue which is of Iesus Christ and longed for with a longing desire of your speedie saluation euen at the instant of your desolution let it not seeme strange vnto you that there should be a blessednes in death The truth hath spoken it you may belieue it Reuell 14. v. 13. The dead that die in the Lord are fully blessed Amodo euen now they rest from their labours and their workes follow them This voyce saith Iohn fell downe from heauen that in the sweete ayre thereof breathing life into our soules our dead and dul harts might be comforted and euen here in the midst of death neuer to despaire of life You haue heard belowe in this valley of teares many fearefull voyces when sinne and shame runne after you as it were with Hue and Crye and when yee weare taken in your transgressions against God and the King it was a fearefull voyce when putting your selues vpon God and your countrey yee were found guiltie by the verdict of twelue iust men yet more were yee daunted when yee were sentensed to die with this irreuocable doome from the mouth of Gods minister yee shall goe to the prison from whence yee came thence to the place of execution there shall you hang vntill you be dead and Christ haue mercie vpon your soules your hearts were shaken to heare that voyce and the mercifull Iudge tendering dropped downe teares to pronounce the Iudgement the standers by were compassionate and the whole Bench was moued with your miserie yet what of all this Sith all these voyces are beaten backe with a voyce of greater Maiestie Euen thus The dead that die in the Lord are fully blessed Or as it is in my Text Yee are dead but your life is hid with Christ in God c. But happily it may seeme a Paradox to your passionate hearts that a man should wither and yet flourish that a man should be breathles yet breath that a man should be senselesse and yet feele that a man should be dead and yet aliue Ye are dead yet is your life hid in Christ c. Surely Nature can neuer sounde it yet grace may apprehend it thus It is possible to die to sinne and yet liue to righteousnes It is possible to die to this world and yet liue to a better It is possible like a Dead man to walke vpon this Earth and yet to haue his cōuersation in Heauen Nay it is possible that heauen earth should so blend in one as that one and the selfe same man should be dead in himselfe and yet liue to his God It was so with Saint Paule when hee said Whether in the bodie or out of the bodie I cannot tell God hee knoweth but me thinkes I see things that are invtterable It was so with Iohn Reuel 1. V. 10. V. 17. when Rauished in spirit he fell down dead vpon the sight and at the feete of that heauenly vision It was so with Daniel when groueling vpon the ground Daniell 8. V. 16.17.18 hee lay as dead yet heard a voyce betweene the Bankes of Hula which said Gabriell make this dead man to vnderstand the Vision It was so with Ezekiel at the Riuer Kebar when he was caried betweene heauen earth by the haires of his head And so both heard saw the diuine vision Ezekiel 8. V. 3. All these were aliue and yet dead they were rauished in spirit and therefore lauish of their bodies their thoughts were not mortall whether in their bodies or out of their bodies they could not tell Nor did they care either for the crosses or comfortes of this transitorie worlde so they might solace their soules in the Ioyes of a better The
Luk. 15. Vers. 17. as the louing Fatheer did his lost Childe and say This my Sonne was dead and is aliue againe and he was lost but is found Thirdly Mannah fell from Heauen Exod. 15. Vers 15. when they thought not on it nor knew it not and therefore vpon the sight they said Manhu quid hoc what is this Christ fell downe from heauen like a shower of Raine vpon a fleece of wooll in softnes and in silence his owne knew him not but said Is not this the Carpenters Sonne Who is this that both winde and Seas obey Suddenly hath the Sonne of God rushed vpon you and hath violently taken you out of your sinnes and it cannot be but vpon the sight and relish of his sweete mercies Yee say to the astonishment of your saued soules Manhu who is this that thus fills and feedes our soules with vnspeakable ioy and dulcet loue Fourthly Mannah fell from heauen when Israel was furthest fallen from God murmuring in the wildernes against Moses their gouernour Exit 16. v. 2.3 and Aaron their priest and wishing they had died in Egipt and had neuer heard of Canaan Christ came into this world a Sauiour from sinne when all the world was dead in sinne when the Scepter was gone from Iudah and there was neuer a Prophet left when the sacrifices were ceased and the holy lampes were put out when the house of God was made a denne of theeues and the world was tyred with traditions I say he came when the Lawe was perished from the Priests and the kingdome was in an Ataxie Then euē then came Christ to repaire our ruines to redeeme vs from sinne death and damnation feeding vs with heauenly foode to life and immortalitie And now tell me you that are to die were yee not violently taken to grace when yee were furthest fallen from God when running on in sinne did he not repaire your ruines and did he not thinke vpon you ere yee thought vpon him are not these his mercies pressing out your teares of repentance are they not mercifull preuentions meeting with your miseries doth he not euen now by this temporall death deliuer you from eternall destruction both of body and soule for euer Surely the Lord hath found you out in an acceptable time when you may redeeme a bad life with a blessed death and in the waste and roaring wildernes of this world wherein yee haue wandered tedious waies he hath filled you with Mannah and brought you to Canaan I meane to heauen the land of your inheritance But me thinkes I see you sigh in the silence of your soules and say with griefe of heart notwithstanding all I haue said of Christ in whom yee are hidde and secured alas and woe is me therefore though I be hidde in my Christ yet I die in my sinne and then am I gone with those reprobate Iewes Of whom Christ saide Yee shall seeke me and shall dye in your sinnes whither I goe can yee not come Io. 8. V. 21. Wherevnto I answere to breake off sinne by repentance is a blessed thing but to liue in the solace of sinning and so to die is most woefull and miserable And therefore I say 1. That it if one thing to dye in sinne 2. An other thing to dye with sinne 3. And a third thing to die for sinne The Reprobate from God they die in their sinne whiles they perseuere in sinne to the ende hauing neither sense nor feeling of their wickednes but make shipwracke of a good conscience without care to cure the malady of their soules either by Faith in Christ or Repentance towards God And so one liueth in his Idolatrie and dyeth in his Idolatrie another liueth in his Adulterie and dyeth in his Adulterie a third liueth in his oppression ad dyeth in his oppression a fourth liueth in his malice and dyeth in his malice a fift liueth in his stealth and dieth in his stealth All in their impenitence against the Lord and neuer breaking off their sinne till sinne haue lodged them in their graues and buried them in their impietie Absolon liued in sinne and died in sinne he liued in sinne when he lay with his fathers concubines in the sight of the sonne Absolon died in sinne when in the height of his ambition pride and rebellion his owne lockes hanged him and Ioabs speare pearced him quaelis vita finis ita such a life such a death he sinned with sollace but he died with sorrowe So I may say of Saul Iudas Pharaoh Iulian and of al the damned crue of desperate Epicures who dare say in despight of God and Christ of death and doome let vs eate and drinke to morrowe we shall die and so an end Nay then is no end but a beginning of sorrow neuer to end But to die with sinne is so to kill sinne in this mortall body as not to suffer it to rise rule and rebell like a tyrant but to suppresse it with a continuall fight and mortification and though happily wee cannot beate backe the fume but it will smoake in vs yet must wee striue to quench the flame that it burne vs not to sinders And thus haue the godly of all ages died with their sinne and so fought against sinne as they neuer died in their sinne alwaies crying with the blessed Apostle Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of sinne And with holy Iob If I wash my selfe with Snowe water Iob. 9. v. 30.31 and purge mine hands most cleane yet shall thou plunge me in the pitte and mine owne cloathes shall make me filthie These feele their sinnes but withall they finde a sauiour these sorrow for their sinnes and yet reioyce in their Infirmities They feare a daunger but they finde a deliuerance yea they knowe and are well assured that though sinne doe abound yet grace doth superabound they wash their stoles in the blood of the lambe and their red bloodie sinnes are made shim white in the tincture of his blood euery drop whereof is sufficient to redeeme a thousand worlds In a word 2. Cor. 12. v. 9. these are they who reioyce in weakenes and take pleasure in their infirmities that the power of God may dwell in them these are they whom Sathan often buffeteth least they should be exalted out of measure with the aboundance of reuelations these pray to be deliuered and though they preuaile not yet doe they heare to the solace of their saued soules euen from him whose lippes are powdered with much grace My grace is sufficient for thee for my power is made perfect through weakenes my grace hath preuented thee my grace doth assist thee my grace shall perfect thee these are they who mince with no merit but relie vpon the meere mercie of their Christ euer liuing in sinne and yet dying to sinne with an assured hope that their sinnes are purged pardoned forgotten and not imputed as and if their soules should thus solace
vult nihil vult male He is not blessed who enioyeth not all he will and yet willeth nothing but what is good 9 Yee shall heare Melodious Songes euen songes of Sion Psalmes Hymmes and praises more sweete then the harmonie of the heauens when all that Celestiall hoste shall fill that holy vault with an Halaluiah to the Almightie and say Honour Glorie Maiestie Power dominion and might be ascribed vnto him that sitteth vpon the throne both now and euer Thus shall all Angels cry aloude the heauens and all the powers therein Cherubin and Seraphin continually shall crye Holie holie holy Lord God of Sabaoth Beati ergo qui habitant in domo tua Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they shall alwaies praise thee and the praises of God shall be their daily practise 10 Lastly and to your endles comforts all this and all former ioyes shall be for euer and without interruption for of this kingdome shall be no end Nec quoad Regem nec quoad Legem nec quoad Subditos nec quoad fines Imperij The King is Christ the lawe is loue the subiects are Saints and the bondaries of this empire are endles all tyed to no returne either of tearme or time for time shall be no more And for your speedie passage out of this world into that endles glorie yee shall goe Nay yee shall flie Eadem facilitate qua faelicitate as S. Augustine saith with as great hast as happines This day saith Christ Amodo saith Iohn Euen now and in Ictu oculi in the twinkling of an eye saith blessed Paul all shall be chaunged at the day of doome And why not in this day of death For if Corpus erit vbi volet animus If the body shall be where the minde will when it is glorified why shall not the soule be where and when God will when it is deliuered I say deliuered out of the bondage wherein it is to the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God The sillie eye of flesh and blood may happily demurre vpon the distance and thinke how it is possible the soule should passe with such speede from this earthly house and house of clay to that high and heauenly habitation the eight sphere as some write being distant from the earth euery where 20000. Semidiamiters which calculated a right and numbred with our miles maketh a million of German miles which is one thousand thousand Surely I dare determine of no particular but in the general say as Balaam did of Israel Who can number the dust of Israel So who can tell the distance of the heauens Pro. 25.3 The heauens in height and the earth in deepenes and the Kings heart can no man search Howbeit be the distance neuer so great yet speedie may be the soules passage when it is done by the power of God which passeth all possibilitie of man to conceiue how And so to conclude and close with your saued soules who are now by death to make a speedie passage into all these ioyes and so for a while to preuent vs of that glorie Lift vp your herts aboue the height of all Sublimitie where true ioyes are to be found Heauines may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning Ioy Ioy Ioy such as neither eye hath seene nor tongue can tell Angels feele it they cannot speake it and therefore I leaue it as a Selah to my soule till I see in glorie what I feele in grace And when euen in an instant and lesse then a thought I shall passe from the bowels of this earth to the bosome of my Christ Whither God bring both you and vs for his sonnes sake To whom be glorie power and praises both now and euer Amen Amen FINIS Errata Fol. 1. For good read God in the second line of the Text. Fol. 18. Line 12. for Bonony read Benony