bread for CHRIST Martyrs went to their death with cheerefullnesse and songs and ran to the stake as to a garland and who would with Saul hide himselfe in the stuffe when he is called to be crowned a King If Abraham saw his day by faith when he was but promised and rejoyced what cause of joy must it needs be to see the Saviour of the world when he is exhibited If Saint Iohn Baptist did leape at his presence when he was in the wombe of his blessed mother What will his glorious presence effect in them who shall behold him in al his Royaltie if the Wife men of the East went a long journie and rejoyced to see the holy Babe CHRIST in the house what cause of joy will it be to see him sit in his glorie at the right hand of his Father far above all Principalities and powers If many Kings and Princes longed for that day to see their Saviour mortall what resemblance is fit to expresse the joy of those that behold him crowned with glory and immortalitie it is a passing glory to be admitted to the sight of CHRIST his face and to receive glory from the brightnesse of his Majestie and if we were to suffer torments every day yea the very torments of hell for a time therby to gaine the sight of CHRIST it were nothing in respect of the reward This Doctrine shewes us the extreame folly of all licentious livers and impenitent sinners when they looke upon their wicked courses what for sight can they have but of hell as their just reward they would be with CHRIST as they say hereafter and yet they will not have CHRIST to be wiâ—h them now and to rule over them they will sow unto the flesh and yet would reape unto the spirit they are stout and will have their sinne though they be damned for it we will say those rebels in Ieremy walke after our owne devices and we will every one doe the imaginations of his evill heart Experience sheweth us that you cannot crush oyle out of skins nor sweet wine out of sower grapes and if you be the seedesmen of darnell and cockle you shall have no harvest of wheat â—…or good graine you will not live conscionably and yet you would die peaceably and though you speake CHRIST faire yet you wil loose nothing for his sake the chaine will make your profession afraid and reproach will make it ashamed you love him well you say but you will be advised not to displease such and such friends for his love your fore-sight of Heaven hath no hands to do good works corporall and spirituall nor eyes to shed teares for your sins and the sins of others nor stomacke to abide a holy and a religious fast nor flesh to endure this mortification and zealous revenge nor tongue to speake the language of confession and zealous devout and faithfull prayer if then in your extremities and when your feares approach you send for us as Pharaoh did for Moses and never till then and cry unto us helpe us and comfort us as that starved woman did to the King of Israel Wee answer as hee did that distressed creature if the LORD doth not helpe you how should we And now by this time I suppose you are brought to that passe that GODS servants whom you have in your prosperity despised may say to you concerning all your daubers whom you then respected where are they now that will prophesie peace peace unto you your consciences which before were asleepe being now awakened to heare the crie of your sinnes and these glasses formerly covered with dust as it were being wiped cleare to represent unto you the disfigured and odious face of your sinnes when these evill daies shall come upon you as they will or that which is worse you must needs confesse to the terrour of your soules that we GODS Messengers have told you of these things and you would not heare us as Reuben said to his brethren Your sins which you tooke to be your friends as GOD himselfe hath threatned are suddenly turned to be your foes and now do appeare as a marshalled army comming in a terrible manner against you and when GOD speakes to your consciences as Iehu did to the Eunuchs who is on my side who even they will cast you downe and dash as it were your blood against the wals and make you to be trampled upon and then can you cast your eyes no-way without horrour if upwards unto heaven they will tell you that you are justly excluded out of that happy place if you think upon hell the mouth thereof as you feare is open every moment to receive you when these evill daies shall come c. Second Use of instruction is that we would study our selves and ransacke our soules and be of good grounds and to have certaine evidence that our change shall be for the better mans wisdome teacheth him in Summer to provide for Winter in youth for old age if GOD be better then the world and heaven better then earth and the soule better then the body shall we not labour while we live to get full assurance of being with CHRIST as S. Paul had when we are dead but here is the maine doubt how I should know and be assured thereof First if thou art assured hereof then hast thou faith the maine and fundamentall grace not fundamentum quod that is CHRIST but cui as a learned Schooleman doth distinguish immediatly laying us upon CHRIST and as a Captaine I say not making the graces as heavenly Souldiers but as bringing them forth to fight according to their severall operations thou hast I say a lively faith both in that direct act whereby it justifieth and also by a prudent observation of the worke of faith in thy soule thou dost by faith believe that thou art justified by faith thou hast also the attendant companion upon faith that Christian hope whereby thou waitest on GOD till he accomplish all his gratious promises if we come against the Divell as David did against the Philistine not with sword shield and speare but in the name of the LORD of Hosts we are sure to conquer If we have these graces and by the use of holy meanes do hold them fast how happy are we Blessed is he that beleeveth the Lords words to be all of them true and blessed is he that waiteth on him till he manifests the truth of his words that believeth by faith that GOD is his Father and expecteth by hope that he should shew a fatherly affection to him who believes that salvation belongs to him and waites by hope til he enters into possession of it if this then be the blessed frame of thy soule that thou resolvest and hopest to live and thou resolvest and hopest to die in the armes of thy sweet Saviour thou art in a happy case Secondly if thou hast this holy
sorrow and mingling his teares with his drink then to utter divine Proverbs with wise Salomon and what our Saviour spoke of watching the same doe I speake of repentance I say unto you all repent if you are in the field remember Abel if you are a feasting remember Iobs children when you goe to bed that you might holily compose your selves to rest that you may commit the keyes of your doores much more your lives into the hands of GOD remember the first-borne of Egypt which were slaine at midnight by the Angell of the LORD let Adulterers remember Zimri and Cozbi and drunkards King Ela slaine by another Zimri if you walk in the streets remember those on whom the tower of Silo fell if your hearts begin to turne to the love of the world remember Lots wife that which befell them may befall us it will be then our wisdome by GODS grace to prevent sin and if we fall into sin our next wisdome will be to repent of the sin we have fallen into Another duty which naturally doth arise from this Doctrine is to lose no time in doing and in receiving all the good we can this is the day appointed to worke and how short this day is the LORD alone doth know but this we know the night commeth wherin none can work Shall the Sun stand still for thee as it did for Ioshua or go back as it did five houres for Hezekiah doe we thinke we can doe good in another world when we do no good to speake of in this be not deceived with this dangerous errour and hurtfull pretention of doing good hereafter whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might and the reason is good for there is no device nor work nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Vaine hope of future performances hath undone many sow thy seed whiles the seed time lasteth if thou looke to have a crop and harvest We may learne this from the birds of the ayre the Turtle the Storke the Crane and Swallow know their appointed times the waifaring man he travels whiles it is light then he knowes he is under the protection of the Lawes the sea-faring man he observes the wind the Smith he strikes whiles his iron is hot nay we may learne this wisdome from the divell himself he rageth and doth all the mischief he can because his time is but short Thus of doing good and so likewise must we let no opportunity slip of receiving good lay hold of every season which may be an advantage to get heaven to strengthen and increase spirituall graces be glad if thou canst heare the Word preached on a working day Saint Basil he preached on a working day and tels his Auditors their thoughts desires that he would be short that they might go about their labour If such thoughts possesse our hearts at this or any other time let us repell them and remember what the holy Father there speaketh the time spent in GODS service is not lost for GOD to recompence them removes troublesome businesse gives promptitude of minde or strength of body sends customers to buy their wares and if he doth none of these yet are they no loosers by their paines for he gives them a rich treasure in heaven Lastly this point may teach GODS children patience in all distresses and afford them sound comfort in all estates they are nearer heaven now salvation now is nearer to them then when they began to believe sin and Satan do now disquiet them but they shall not do so for ever Many a one can be content to endure hardship a few yeares nay to be a galley slave under the Turke seven yeares if he had assurance of a great Lordship after that time was expired and choose rather to be a bondman upon those termes then to be a free man without them exercise long-suffering good Christian there may be but a day or moneth or yeare but a little time betwixt thee and the joyes of heaven Who would not admire the state of such a beggar who every houre was in possibility of a Kingdome but behold a greater reward by GODS promise is due to all his children then this earth can afford more glorious things shall be theirs then ever eye hath seene or eare hath heard or the heart of man can conceive which without all doubt by comparison at least are true of the joyes of heaven Why then shouldest thou O Christian soule be cast downe or why shouldest thou be in vaine disquieted surely if thou wouldest seriously consider that thy heavinesse shall be suddenly turned into unspeakeable joy that all thy teares shall be for ever wiped from thy eyes and that these momentany afflictions do proportionably work unto thee an exceeding weight of glory thou hast no reason to be much dejected for them Thus much of the first Doctrine the second followeth but that we may build upon a good foundation we must first declare the meaning of those words on which we must ground our ensuing Observation I desire to depart and to be with CHRIST To be with CHRIST Why was not Saint Paul with CHRIST was not his conversation now in heaven and was not the streame of his affection carried to CHRIST was not he with him in the spirit as with the Colossians rejoycing and beholding his happinesse doubtlesse he was But this being with CHRIST was not that presence which he desired it was a neerer presence to be where he was in the highest heavens and to behold the glory which GOD the Father had given him desire is the daughter of indigence and want some way and himselfe doth plainely tell us whilest we are in the body as now Saint Paul was we are absent from the LORD you may be pleased to observe a difference betwixt these phrases of CHRIST his being with us and our being with CHRIST it is one thing for CHRIST to be with us this benefit is enjoyed in this life he promised to be with the Apostles and his Successors and so by Analogy he is with all his mysticall members to the worlds end but it is another thing for us to be with CHRIST this honour is reserved for the world to come and it is a state of blessednesse as he spoke to the theefe on the Crosse this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Whence I doe observe that The faithfull soule when it departeth out of this life is immediatly after death with CHRIST If the soule of Paul why not the soule of other faithfull ones Saint Paul I know whilest hee lived was a man indued with singular zeale for CHRIST and holinesse of life and exercised with more then ordinary miseries and persecutions himselfe reciteth a Catalogue of many of them but as it is not the degree of faith but faith that justifies nor the measure of graces but
I see no profit to the Auditory by naming them the learned if they please may read many of their names in Sixtus Senensis But how then say I could Saint Paul be with CHRIST this opinion is an unworthy conceit condemned by the Church as robbing heaven for the present of its blessed inhabitants Fourthly hence also doth it follow that though CHRIST as touching his divinity is every where present for else he were not GOD yet to us in this world he is absent as touching his bodily presence For what is it to be with CHRIST but to be present where CHRIST is bodily present and againe whiles we are in the body wee are absent from the LORD the Apostle then was ignorant of that unhappy perplexed point which some seeme to defend the ubiquity of CHRISTS body for howsoever his humane nature especially in the state of glory is adorned with admirable gifts and advanced to the highest dignity honour and domination yet doe the natures of CHRIST personally united remaine distinct both in essence properties and operations Yea and the mselves confesse that the divine properties belong to the humane nature not by any physicall transfusion from one subject into another but it is only personall and communicated to the humane nature by the grace of personal union insomuch that the humane nature as they say is omnipresent not in being but in having not in it selfe but in the person of the word and thus do they in words at least deny what they seem to contend for From whence likewise it followeth that there is no Popish Purgatory the fault is clearely remitted and so there can be no satisfactory torments required GOD should me thinks but mock us if they say true as if he should say I pardon thee thy offence but I will punish thee for it I acquit thee of the debt thou owest me but not of the paiment but why should not the soules of the righteous dying in faith be caried instantly into heaven as well as the soule of a man newly baptized comming to that holy Sacrament in due manner and dying before he hath committed a new sin although he was full of sinne before there is no question of this latter and why should there be of the former And if they cannot go to Heaven because GODS justice must be satisfied what will becom of all those that die a little before the judgement much more is the difficulty increased in those which passe in a moment from mortalitie to immortalitie at the very comming of JESVS CHRIST But I marvel not if Papists do contend for this Purgatory as being indeed one of the best fires that ever the Pope and his Clergie have had for the heating of their kitchins For let this be granted that there is such a fire and that the torments there and in the place of the damned differ but in duration and there are no torments in this world comparable to those in Purgatory let their Preachers tell their people such a supposition as this is if a foule had beene tormented in Purgatory thirty yeares and had by an Angell a choise either to stay in Purgatory one day long or to returne into the body and do this penance a hundred yeares together to tread only on iron nailes which will pierce the feet to drinke gall mingled with vineger and to eat the coursest bread to be cloarhed with Camels haire to lie on the ground and instead of a bolster to have a hard store for a pillow the foule would rather do this penance a hundred yeares together then to endure in Purgatory one day faith their Preacher By this and such like doctrines the consciences of their disciples are stung as with Scorpions and it is like a gift whither soever it turneth it prospereth then may they work them like soft waxe by their charitable promises to apply the meanes for their ease and reliefe out of the place of torments What a wofull speech was that of our Richard 1. who committed his soule to Purgatory till Doomes day Sixthly this Doctrine overthroweth their Popish prayers for the dead directed unto GOD to ease them and free them from the paines of Purgatory yea and that kind of kindnes too which many that do professe the Orthodox doctrine doe unwarrantably use in words and further as a more durable monument of their mistake do write upon the grave stones of the dead GOD be mercifull to the soule of this dead man For are they with CHRIST then doe their prayers bring no profit to the dead but hurt to the living For to speake the fairest of them 1. Such prayers can be no better than an idle word for which we must give an account at that day 2. They are an injury to the dead and do vertually imply that such as pray for them are not perswaded they are in happinesse for whom they pray 3. This practise although it might be perhaps by some qualification justifiable in the intention of the speaker yet may it breed danger in the conceit of the hearer who may turne thy voluntary devotion to harden him in the dangerous error of that opinion if then no benefit redounds either to the dead thy selfe or the hearer its best to leave those formes of prayer which are made for the dead But ignorant persons being reproved are bold to reply in this foolish manner what would you have us say of the dead would you have us to revile or curse them Oh perverse minds as though necessitie lay upon you either to pray for them or to curse them Belike what displeaseth GOD pleaseth you passing well let us speake of the dead as GODS Word teacheth us to speake of them sure I am it no where enjoyneth us to pray for them nor furnisheth us with the example of any Saint to that purpose and yet were their affections to the dead as good as yours Cannot you use such formes of speech when you fall into mention of them they are with GOD they are at rest they are happy their memorie is blessed unlesse you pray for them But leaving now these Uses of confutation I come to those of instruction which are indeed more profitable for our edification and more sutable to this present occasion and the first is Feare not death O thou righteous soul overmuch it s one benefit we reape from the death of our blessed Saviour to be freed from the feare of our own death death is called indeed by Bildad in Iob the prince ofterrours by the Philosopher of all formidable things the most terrible so it is to the wicked or at least there is good cause it should be so for to such as live without CHRIST death is as a purseivant sent from hell to fetch them thither but they that live conscionably may thinke of death comfortably and they may sing that triumphant song O