God of no effect by your traditions So ye shew your selves to be Children of the old Pharises hold on in your courses and fulfill the measure of their wickedness A Sermon preached at the funerall of Dr. Senhouse Bishop of CARLILE Job 14. 14. If a man dy shall he live againe all the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing come IF for this lifes sake only the faithfull had hope in Christ they were of all men the most miserable saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 19. For though they be not in distresse yet are they afflicted on every side though not overcome of povertie yet in povertie though they perish not yet they are cast downe though they be not forsaken yet for his sake they are persecuted all the day long and are accounted as sheep appointed to be slain but they know that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up them by Jesus and therefore they faint not knowing that their light affliction which is but for a moment causeth unto them a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory and that when this earthly house of this Tabernacle is destroyed they have a building given of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. If any man be not fully perswaded hereof I may say to him as Philip did to Nathaniel Come and see Come and behold a lively picture a notable experiment hereof in the speaker of these words who not long before if any men in the world might have taken up Niobe's boast in the Fable Sum foelix quis enim negat hoc foelixque manebo Hoc quoque quis dubitat c. His Garners had been full and plenteous with all manner of store his sheep brought forth thousands and ten thousands in his field his Oxen were strong to labour no leading into captivity and no complaining in his streets his wife was as a fruitfull Vine upon the wals of his house his sonnes grew up as the young plants and his daughters were as the polished corners of the Temple besides this he was so hedged about by Gods providence that the sonne of wickedness could not hurt him And was he not happy that was in such a case But maxima pars est foelicitatis fuisse foelicem the remembrance of a mans felicity past adds to his present miserie For now his Children which were unto him as the Arrows in the hand of a Gyant are taken away by deaths arrow they cannot assist him his goods and cattels the externall complements of his former felicity are violently taken away by the Sabeans his enemies they cannot love him his friends miserable comforters God wot instead of sweet consolations to his distressed soule thunder out such sharp threatnings that they doe increase his calamity and more to grieve him the wife of his own bosome appointed by God as a help for man is now become as Dalilah was to Sampson a snare to him his own flesh like a tinder-box kindling with every sparkle that Sathan doth strike unto it lusts and fights against him yea and God himselfe hath drawn a curtain before his eyes hath his face as though he had quite forsaken him behold now and see if there be any sorrow like his sorrow his Children have left him his goods taken from him his friends revile him his wife entangles him his flesh buffets him God seemeth to forsake him tell me if his hope were only in this life if he were not of all the men in the world the most miserable nothing is left to solace him in this great calamitie but that which the Poet fableth left within the vessels mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some hope remaineth in the crooked and broken vessel which as a helmet keeps him from blows as an anchor holds the ship both sure stedfast that it be not dashed by the winds upon som shelves or rocks as a corke holds up above the waters that he sink not and in a word makes him resolve with himselfe not to be quite dismayed nor utterly discouraged at these calamities which are befallen him being such as are not worthy of the glorie which shall be revealed but with patience to wait when his landlord will come and put him out of this earthly house and cloth him with that house which is from Heaven All the days of my appointed time will I wait til my changing shall come As though he had said the Arrows of the Almighty are in me an the venom thereof doth drink up my spirit and the terours of God fight against mee which makes me I confesse to send forth some unsavourie speeches yet they shall neve◠quite discourage me nor deprive me of my hope which shall be accomplished after this fleshly Tabernacle shall be destroyed for I am sure that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him even with these eyes and no other for me and in this hope and confidence I will patiently wait and expect not for a short time but even all the time that my soul shall continue in this Tabernacle which cannot be long for that houre when this body shall be dissolved and the Spirit shall returne unto God that gave it All the dayes c. In which words wee may observe and learne these Lessons 1. That every man hath an appointed time by God which he cannot passe mine appointed time 2. That a mans life is not long before he come to his full period dayes 3. Seeing the time of mans life is limited we ought alwayes to waite and provide our selves for death I will wait 4. We are not to waite some part but all our life long All the dayes 5. That death to the godly and regenerate is but a change or a passage to a better life my changing These shall be handled in their severall order but first I will speake a little of the connexion of this latter part with the precedent part of this verse In the former he proposed this question If a man dye shall he live again not as one denying the resurrection of the body but as I take it as a fleshly man not fully perswaded but somewhat doubting of the truth hereof as in the tenth verse of this chapter man is sick and dyeth and man perisheth and where is he As if he should have said is it impossible that a man shall dye and be turned to dust and eaten up of worms and turned to grasse and goe as it were a progresse through a beasts bodie shall be revived and live againe if a man dy shall he live againe The spirituall man which prevaileth against the flesh makes this reply that though he doe not see any naturall reason for it yet he will believe it and he will defend the conclusion maugre all the premises that can be brought against it All the dayes of mine appointed
and lusts of the flesh as the Hebrews by little and little rooted out the Cananites it seeketh to represse this rebellion as David did the plots of his son Absalom Experience we have in the main pillars of the spirituall Temple David a man after Gods owne heart so moved at the prosperity of the wicked that he begins to say that certainly he hath cleansed his heart in vain and washed his hands in innocencie there is a carnall David which make his feet almost to goe and his steps well-nigh to slip but when he goeth in the Sanctuarie of God then he understandeth the end of these men there is spirituall David which makes him condemn his former thoughts and speeches so foolish was I and ignorant even as it were of a Beast before thee Peter who sometime was so confident as to continue true unto his Master that he made protestation that if all should deny him yet he would never doe it presently after he begins to follow afarre off and anon after the rock of Peters faith is so shaken with the voice of a damosel that he begins to curse and sweare that he never knew him but presently again at the crowing of a Cock the spirit is awakened and goes about to take some avengement of the flesh he went out and wept bitterly who more strong in the spirit then Paul was in zeale fervent in labours abundant in nothing inferiour to the chief Apostles and yet he hath given him a prick in the flesh the Messenger of Sathan to buffet him which makes him say when he would doe good evill is present with him and that he finds a Law in his Members rebelling against the law of the mind and carrying him captive to the law of sinne and good reason it should be so for if the spirit should so domineer over the flesh then there were no resistance and reluctation then would we not have an earnest and longing desire to be out of this world we would not with the faithfully say Come Lord Jesus come quickly we would not desire to be cloathed with our house which is from Heaven but would say as Peter did Master it is good for us to be here To end then that wee should long after our future perfection when corruption shall put on incorruption and mortallity shall be swallowed up of immortallity we find this conflict in our own bowels that we may be wearie of this present state and say as Rebecca did when Esau and Iacob strugled in her womb if it be so why am I thus Only here is our comfort that though the flesh be still lusting against the spirit and we have more flesh then spirit for flesh is like to Goliath the spirit is like to little David yet the spirit shall be in the end sure to prevaile as David prevailed against Goliath for though it be little in quantity yet it is fuller of activity as a little fire hath more action though lesse resistance then much earth for it fareth with these two as with the house of Saul and David the spirit like the house of David waxeth stronger and stronger but the flesh like the house of Saul waxeth weaker and weaker it is with them as it was with John Baptist and Christ I must decrease saith John but he must increase the flesh which like John is before it must decrease but the spirit which like Christ comes after whose shoe latchet the flesh is not worthy to loose it must grow and increase and this is plain and of this place for whereas the flesh objecteth that man is sick and perisheth and where is he and again If a man dye shall he live again the Spirit replyeth and puts the flesh to silence All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing shall come Is it true beloved Christians That the Children of God yea even in such as have obtained the greatest perfection that a meer man hath obtained in this life there is reluctation between the flesh and the spirit Oh then let as many of us as long after life and desire to see good daies even life everlasting and daies which never shall have an end Let us I say labour to subdue this Rebel and bring it into subjection to the Spirit for it is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh will profit nothing The flesh is like Caligula who as Tacitus saith of him was a good servant but an ill master It will be a good servant if we keep it in subjection to the spirit but it will be an exceeding bad master if it once get the upper hand and it will use the spirit as the Scythians servants dealt with their masters who when their masters had for many years warred in the Southern parts of Europe and Asia in the mean time married their wives and got possession of whatsoever they had and therefore we must use it as these Scythians used their servants who when they could not prevail against them with open war at length handled them like servants and slaves took rods and beat them and so recovered their ancient possessions We must not proceed against the flesh as against an equal enemy but we must use rods and scourges we must chasten and correct it and so bring it again in subjection to its lawful commander It is like the dumb divel which could not be cast out but by prayer and fasting we must implore the assistance of Gods spirit being of our selves unable that we may be strengthened and enabled to overcome it we must by fasting withdraw its food wherewith it is nourished I do not mean only our meat and drink but all worldly delight and enticing allurements to sin wanton and idle spectacles they be food of our carnal eyes these we must withdraw away and with Job Make a covenant with our eyes that we will not look upon wantonness foolish and undecent speeches be the delight of the tongue those we must remove away and pray with David Set a watch O Lord before our mouthes and keep the dore of our lips In a word whatsoever will be an incitement to sin and is like to strike fire in the tinder of our corrupt affections that must be debarred and kept from them Let us then use the flesh as the enemy useth a besieged City observe and watch the by-wayes that there be no intercourse or secret compact between it and Sathan that there be no provision carried by Sathan and his vassals into it that so it may be inforced to yeild it self or as the Hunters use Mole and Foxes in the earth stop the passages that through hunger it may be at last inforced to come out and leave its habitation otherwise if by excessive eating and drinking we nourish it if by gorgeous and costly attire wee deck it if by epicureous and voluptuous delights wee pamper it what doe we but arme our enemies against us and
a dead letter It is like a sword in the warres without a souldier to draw it Many make no more account of transgressing it then Remus did of going over the furrow which Romulus had caused to be drawn Or the frogs in the fable of skipping over the Lion when he was fast a sleep Therefore God hath added the Magistate as the life and soule of the law as a Captain to manage this sword Him he hath made if I may so speak the summum genus of the common-wealth by two generical differences of poena and praemium to coarct and keep his inferiours in their several ranks that as Jehu and Jehonadab went hand in hand together for the rooting out of Ahabs posterity and destruction of Baals Priests so the Magistrate being as Aristotle cals him a living law and the law being a mute and dead Magistrate should joyn hand in hand and proceed valorously to the rooting out of sinne the suppression of Idolatry the protection of justice and maintenance of true religion 4. Now that they have this authority only from God it is a point which I hope in this place I shall not need long to insist upon For if every good and perfect gift be from above even from the father of lights much more this excellent and supereminent gift of governing Gods people must proceed from this fountain And to think otherwise is but with the Epicures to be of opinion that though God made the world yet the government thereof he leaveth to fortunes discretion to be directed by her One of the stiles wherewith God is invested is this that he is the authour of order and not of confusion if of order then of Civil government seeing that an Anarchie is the cause of all disorder and confusion in the state Insomuch that the reason of all the sinnes that were committed in Israel is often in the book of Judges ascribed unto this that they wanted a Magistrate There was at that time no king in Israel Judg. 17. 6. 18. 1. 19. 1. 21. 25. It is a miserable life to live under a tyrant where nothing is lawfull but farre worse to live in an Anarchie where nothing is unlawfull But I shall not need to trouble my self or to tire out your attention by heaping up multitudes of reasons for proving of this point seeing it is a conclusion so plainly averred by the holy Ghost by me kings reign sath the wisdome of God by the mouth of Solomon and Princes decree justice by me Princes rule and the nobles and all judges of the earth As if he had said it is not by the wit and policie of man that the governments of states is committed unto kings and other inferiour Magistrates it is effected by the wisdome and providence of God With which the Apostle agreeth when he tels us that there is no power but of God and the powers that be are ordained of God It was sometime said of Nebuchadnezzar that great king of Babylon that whom hee would he pulled down and whom he would he set up But it is alwayes true of the king of heaven who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of Kings and Lord of Lords he pulleth down one and setteth up an other he disposeth of their rooms at his pleasure For if the hearts of kings much more their kingdomes are at his disposition This is a truth to which the very heathen themselves have subscribed It was God alone that did exalt Solomon unto the throne of his father David so the Queen of the South affirmed that did exalt Cyrus to the kingdomes of the earth so he himself confessed Agreeing with that of the prophet David Promotion comes not from the East nor from the West no nor yet from the South And why God is the judge he putteth down one and setteth up another 5. And is this true Here then first the Anabaptists come to be censured which withdraw their necks from the yoke of civil government and condemn it as not beseeming the liberty of a Christian man A lesson which they never learned from the prophet Esay who foretold that in the time of the gospel an assertion which they cannot away with for though they graunt that the Jewes at Gods appointment had their Magistrates yet they think it not fit for a Christian to be subject to such slavery in the time I say of the Gospel he will appoint kings to be patrons and propugnators of his Church Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and Queens shall be thy nurses Nor from our Saviour Christ who though he told his disciples when they strove for superiority amongst themselves that one of them should not domineer over another as did the kings of the nations yet it was never his meaning to withdraw them from obedience to superiour governours but that Caesar should have that which did belong to Caesar Nor from Peter who commands us to honour the King Nor from Paul who commands us to pray for Kings and all that are in authority and that to this end that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty God knowes better what is meet for Christians then the Anabaptists do Hee knowes that wee are strangers on earth and not angels in heaven And being strangers and pilgrims stand in as great need of these helps as of fire of water of aire of apparel of any thing which is necessary for the sustentation of our lives seeing that they are not onely the means that we are partakers of all these while they effect that we may live together in civil society but also the promoters of true religion the advancers of vertue the rewarders of piety the punishers of sin the destroyers of Idolatry superstition and all misdemeanours amongst Christians So that as God said unto Samuel concerning the Jewes when they dislâ—ked their present government they have not cast thee away but they have cast me away that I should not reign over them so I may say of these fanatical spirits it is not the Magistrate but God himself whom they have rejected that he should not reign over them 6. There is an other sort of men who though not directly with the Anabaptists yet indirectly and by a consequent crosse my proposition I mean the Papists These do not altogether take away the civil Magistrate but they tie his thums and abridge his authority It must be only in temporalibus for spiritual matters he must have no more dâ—alings with them then Vzza had to touch the arke of God This they willingly grant that the Magistartes are Gods but as the Aramits said of the Israelites that their Gods were Gods of the mountains and not Gods of the vallies so say they the civil Magistrates are Gods of the montains and not Gods of the vallies they are Gods of the Laity but not of the Clergy This
lose the goale of everlasting felicity but a true Christian must be constant in his course he must resemble the sunne which comes forth as a Bridegroome out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a Giant to runne his course and yet in one thing he must be unlike the sun he ascendeth above the horizon in the morning and travaileth to the meridian where he sheweth himself in his best strength at noon-day but from that hour he declineth and casteth his beams more and more obliquelie waxing faint by degrees till at length he hide himselfe under the western horizon a Christian must not be like the afternoon sunne he must still strive towards the top of Heaven he must never decline let all the powers of Hell stand in his way they shall never make him runne away perhaps they will beate him downe on his knees but then he fals to prayer if they bring him to the ground then he is humbled and so Antaeus like stronger then he was before perhaps they may violenly drive him backwards but yet he will strive against them and passe through the midst of them as our Saviour passed amongst the Jewes when they would have stoned him dangers before him honors and worldly preferments behind him riches on the right hand pleasures on the left hand all these shall not make him discontinue his course but with greater speed to flie towards Heaven as a Dove into the window he must keep a streight course like the two kine that carried the Arke from Ekron to Bethshemesh and turned neither to the right hand nor to the left Thus have we seen what a danger it is for a man to fall into such sinnes as he hath once left to drinke the deadly poyson of iniquitie after he hath once been recovered to runne into the danger of his spirituall enemies after he hath been once cured of his wounds that were inflicted upon him it may here be demanded whether a man relapsing into sinne may repent and so be again received into Gods favour Montanus the Heretick denied all hope of salvation after a relapse This Heresie was by the Novatians who for their uprightness did proudly tearm themselves Cathari Puritans The Donatists who were the right Cathari because they deemed their Church love without spot or wrinkle refused to communicate with such as they suspected to be polluted with any sinne Tertullian who was much addicted to the heresies of the Montanists insomuch that in his old age he became a Montanist granteth that a man may once repent after a relapse but no more then once And of this opinion saith B. Rhenanus were many old writers and amongst others St. Austin but Austin meaneth only that publick repentance which he calleth humilima poenitentia and Lombard and the school-men tearm poenitentia solennis which was imposed onely for such grievous offences as whereby a Citie or Common-Wealth was greatlie scandalized And the reason why it was but once granted by the Church was lest the medicine being made too common should lesse profit the sick as Austin speaks in an Epistle written to Macedonius in which Epistle he plainly averreth that a sinner relapsing after this solemne repentance and afterward repenting of his fall may obtaine a pardon at the hands of God But wee have a better witnesse of this point then Austin even God that cannot lye who by the mouth of his Prophet hath promised that Whensoever the wicked turneth from his wickednesse that he hath done and shall doe that which is lawfull and right he shall save his soule and live And therefore be not dismaied thou faint and drooping soul which hast fallen into such sinnes as were somtimes hateful in thine eyes It may be that Sathan will object the place of the Apostle before cited if wee sinne willingly c. for answer whereof thou must know that the Apostle speaketh not of every kind of backsliding But First Of that which is committed with a full consent of the Will if wee sinne willingly and this the child of God after his conversion can never commit because he is partly flesh and partly Spirit so that though the carnall part be still ready to draw him unto most hainous and grosse sinnes yet the Spirit is at his elbow ready to pull him back againe it is unto him as the Angel was to John when he was ready to worship him see thou doe it not said the Angel see thou doe it not said the Spirit or as Abigail was to David who met him in the way as he was going to kill Naball and disswaded him from that bloodie fact and though it doe not still prevaile by reason that the flesh is like an headstrong horse that can hardly be curbed yet it prevaileth thus farre that the Will giveth not his absolute consent to the committing of such sinnes and again the Apostle meaneth not every sinne wherein the Will yeildeth his full assent for without doubt the elect before their conversion fall into such sinnes but of a generall malicious and purposed revolting from the knowne truth and a proud and scornsul rejecting of the blood of Christ once offered for sinne such as was in Julian who first professed Christianitie but afterward became a most bloodie Persecutor of Christians even till his last gaspe so that when he was deadlie wounded with an Arrow and ready to yield up the Ghost he thrust his hand into the wound and threw his blood into the aire crying blasphemously against the Sonne of God Vicisti Galilee O Galilean thou hast overcome So that this place is understood of sin against the holy Ghost which shall not be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come of which also the Apostle speaketh Heb. 6. 4 5. 6. it is impossible that they which were once lightned and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the holy Ghost if they fall away shall be renewed by repentance In which places if every relapse were understood then who should be saved for the dearest of Gods Children have sliden backwards after their conversion Lot into incest Noah into drunkennesse David to murther and adulterie Solomon to Idolatrie Peter to forswearing his Lord and Master 2. The consideration whereof made Constantine bid Acesius a Novatian Bishop who refused to communicate with such as had fallen after baptisme set a ladder for himselfe to climbe into Heaven noting his intollerable pride as if he and his followers had guided their feet so well that they had never slid after baptisme It is very dangerous to commit such sinnes as have been once left and forsaken as hath been already proved but yet Gods Children have no particular priviledge For First their inbreâ—d corruption though it be quelled yet it is not killed And therefoâ—e it is still ready to give them the foile and carrie them captives to the Law of sin again the causes remain which may move God to give over his Children a little unto themselves and
to permit them to fall as namely to humble them to make them more earnestly implore his help to shew unto them their own miserie in relapsing and to make knowne his owne mercy in forgiving but still he is ready to receive them again if they returne unto him by repentance For if he would have us to forgive our Brethren their trespasses when they turne unto us and ask forgiveness not seven times but seventy times seven times that is as oft as they offend us much more will the Lord out of the bottomlesse depth of his mercie pardon his children when they fall if afterward they returne unto him by earnest and unfeigned repentance And thus much in effect the Novatians did at length confesse holding that such as sinned after baptisme were not to be admitted into the congregation but yet they should be exhorted to repentance that so they might obtain remission of sinne of God who alone can forgive sinnes meaning that if after their relapse they should repent the Lord would have mercie upon them and this is the difference betwixt Gods children and revolting hypocrites these when they fall they fall away but Gods Elect though they fall seven times yet they rise as often The fall of the wicked is like the fall of Eli from his chaire or of Iesabel from the window it is a breakneck fall but the fall of the godly is like unto the fall of Eutychus though they fall from the third loft yet they are taken up though dead and some good Paul by embracing them with the sweet promises of his Gospel doth revive them the wicked are like to the Raven which as the vulgar corruptly reades it went out of the Arke and returned not they goe out of the Arke the Church and return not but feed upon the carrion of this world but the godly are like the Dove they flie somtimes out of the Arke the church of God yet when they find no rest for the soles their feet they returne again with an olive-branch in their mouthes like the Dove I mean with an humble confession of their offences and earnest and hearty prayers unto Almighty God which when they do then Noah the true Preacher of righteousness will put forth his hand and again receive them into the arke And therefore let not the weake Christian be discouraged with the remembrance of such sinnes as he hath faln into after his justification as if now there were no hope of pardon but let him prostrate himselfe before the throne of God and with many bitter groanes crie after this or the like manner Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee I dare not lift up my impure eyes unto the heavens the seate of thy majesty I am one whom thou hast vouchsafed to adopt to be thy son and yet I have never reverenced thee as a loving Father but like a stranger have transgressed thy precepts and neglected thy statutes so that I am most unworthy to be called thy sonne I am one for whom thou hast given thine owne and only sonne Christ Jesus God and man the very brightnesse of thy glorie the engraven form of thy person the essential word by which thou madest all things and yet I have been unmindfull of so great a benefit I have rejected the sweet promises of thy sons Gospel I have denyed the faith I have sinned Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee I am no more worthy to be called thy sonne I am one whom thou out of the bottomlesse depth of thy mercie many others of better desert being still leftin darknesse hast illuminated with the light of thy word hast called unto faith and repentance hast ingrafted into the true Vine when I was a wild branch thou hast made me partaker of thy holy sacraments and yet these inestimable Jewels these heavenly treasures these rich indowments I have set at naught and trodden under foot I have sinned Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee I am no more worthy to be called thy sonne I am one whom thou hast washed with the blood of thy deare sonne whom thou hast restored to newness of life and yet I have returned like a dog to my vomit and with the Sow to the wallowing in the mire to thee therefore to thee belongeth righteousness but unto me belongeth nothing but shame and confusion of face yet O my God the greater my offences are the more earnestlie I implore thy help and the more shall thy mercie appeare if thou pardon and forgive them I have polluted and defiled all my wayes thou O Lord Jesus which art puritie it selfe which camest into this world to save sinners whereof I am chief wash my filthiness revive my deadness quicken my dulness awake my drousiness kindle my zeale increase my faith Lord Jesus I flie unto thee my soule gaspeth after thee as a thirstie land Peter denyed thee and thou didst receive him again the Apostles forsooke thee and yet thou forgavst them Paul persecuted thee and yet thou didest receive him to mercie David did grievously trespasse and yet thou O God hadst pittie and compassion upon him the Israelites oftentimes provoked thee and yet thou didst in thy mercie forgive them thy love is not abated thy bowels of compassion are not lessened the bottomlesse-Ocean of thy mercie is not dried thou hast protested and made it to be proclaimed by thy Herauld the Prophet that thou wilt not the death of a sinner but that he turne unto thee and live Lord I turne unto thee receive me to mercie let thy favourable countenance once againe shine upon me And when his heavenlie Father shall heare these and perceive that they proceed from an humble and contrite heart presently he will have compassion upon such a prodigall Child and fall on his neck and kisse him and bring forth his best Robe even the Robe of Christs righteousnesse and put it upon him and put a Ring on his finger and shooes on his feet Thus farre of the first Proposition the second followes It is not enough for a Christian to perform obedience to some of Gods precepts and to beare with himself wilfully in the breach of others Cursed is he that continueth not in all There were some of opinion as saith Lombard that a man might truely repent of one sinne and obtain pardon for the same and yet continue in another but these did never rightly understand the nature of mortification which requires a detestation and forsaking of all sinne and not a paring away of some which may best be spared as wee cannot at the same time look with one eye into Heaven and another unto the earth so may wee not in somethings serve God and in other things be servants of sinne when a man seeth his house on fire he will not quench some part of the flame and let the rest be burning but he will use all possible meanes to extinguish all the fire lest peradventure if one spark
which some Schoolmen make a fifth kind of feare which they call naturall which is not evill if it be kept within its bounds For to be touched somewhat with those things which be by nature terribilia and may do evill as Death Famine want of necessaries for this life is not evill Aristotle notes it as a kind of brutishnesse in the Celtae that they feared not Lightnings nor Inundations nor Earth-quakes But now to exceed in this kinde and for avoyding of mundane evills to incurre the displeasure of God with Elisha's servant to see thine Enemies but not thy Friends with Saul to be greatly afraid of Goliah and not to see the power of God in little David It proceeds from an evill root an immoderate love of this world and is joyned with a distrust to his providence who hath said I will not leave thee nor forsake thee and is here forbidden by our Saviour Feare not Janus-like it looks both back-ward and forward Backwards to the precedents of this Chapter so it contains the use which we are to make of that which hitherto hath been delivered concerning Gods providence Forward to the latter part of the verse and so it is a conclusion of an argument a majori thus Gods elect are Kings sonnes States of Paradise and heires apparent to the crown of Heaven Ergo they need not feare but he will watch over them with his fatherly provision protection and direction in his kingdome of grace Take it whether way ye will and it will afford us this proposition Such is Gods fatherly care and providence over his children that they need not be discouraged by humane nor mundane fears As the night Crow sees in the night but is blind in the day So a naturall man is quick-sighted in temporall things but blind in spirituall For as the Sun lighteneth the Earth but darkeneth the Heaven So his understanding giveth him direction about earthly things but for heavenly and spirituall them it darkneth and obscureth This as by many other things it is evident so especially by the worlds rash judgement touching Gods providence over his children while they remaine in these houses of clay for they seeing that the godly are oftentimes hunted as a Partridge upon the mountains or as a Pelican in the Wildernesse and an Owle in the Desart whereas the ungodly as Job speaks have their houses peaceable and without fear and the rod of God is not upon them they rejoyce in the sound of the Organs and spend their dayes in wealth They I say seeing these things not being able to give the true reason of them because God made them neither of his Court nor Privie Counsell and yet storning to be ignorant in any thing though they knew nothing as they ought to have known began to lye and libell against that eternall power in which they live move and have their being Some of them because they would not seem to impute any injustice unto God thought that such as they saw groaning under the heavy burden of affliction howsoever unto the worlds eye they might seem devout and righteous yet in very deed and before God which seeth not as man seeth for man looks on the outward appearance but God beholds the heart they were dissemblers and hypocrites Thus Paul when he had gathered a few sticks for the fire and a Viper came out of the heat and leapt on his hand was by the Barbarians counted a murtherer Job when the heavy hand of God was upon him was by Zophar thought to be a man forgotten of God for his iniquity Nay Christ our Saviour that immaculate Lamb who had done no wickednesse neither was there any guile found in his mouth was judged by the Jewes as a man plagued and smitten of God for his sinnes Isa 53. 5. Others not much unlike the old Thracians who as Herodotus writes when it thundered used to shoot up their arrows towards Heaven and to tell God that he cared for none but himselfe affirmed that though God had made the world yet the government thereof he committed to Fortunes wisdome and direction Others that he ruled Caelestiall bodies and those that are above the Moone but for these base creatures that are below it is against his divine Majestie to respect Scilicet is Superis labor est c. Others that hee was tyed to second causes and could work no otherwise then he found them disposed Hereupon came the fable of the three Fates sitting by Jupiter the one holding a Dâ—staff the second spinning the third cutting the thread whose decrees Jupiter cannot alter nor resist and Homer brings in Jupiter with a chain in his hand to which the whole world is tyed in certaine links of Causes Jupiter hath in his owne power the moving of the first linke but after the first like is moved then hee meddles with no more but one link draws on another The same Poet brings in Jupiter complaining upon the Fates by whose immutable decree he is hindered that hee cannot deliver Sarpedon from death And Neptune desiring to hinder Vlysses from coming into his Countrey for the hurt done to his sonne Polyphemus but cannot because the Fates are against him So Juno in Virgil complaines that she is resisted by the Fates from hindering Aeneas to come into Italie Mene incoeptodesistere victam Nec posse Italia Teucrorum avertere regem Quippe vetor fatis Nay some upon this occasion stickt not to come to that height of impiety that they adventured to deny that which with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond is written in the tables of their hearts that there is a God Marmoreo Licinus tegitur tumulo Cato parvo Pompeiâ—snullo And hereupon to make up the verse came that blasphemous speech Quis putat esse deum Yes blasphemous mouth there is a God and this God is not God of the mountaines only but he is God of the valleys too he looks not only to the things which are in Heaven his Throne but also unto the things that are on Earth his foot-stool the young Ravens are fed by him one Sparrow cannot fall unto the ground without him he numbers the haires of our heads and puts our teares into a bottle and marks our treadings and reckons our steps Hee careth for his chosen as a Shepheard doth for his Flock nay as a Master doth for his houshold nay as a Father for his own Children As a father pittieth his owne children so is the Lord mercifull to them that feare him Nay as a mother loveth the sonne of her wombe which is greater then the fathers love as Aristotle well noteth Can a woman forget the child of her womb Isa 49 Emphatically spoken a woman Women where they love love earnestly David to shew the ardency of Jonathans love towards him hyperbolically extolls it above the love of a woman Can a woman forget her child Her love to children is great not only by reason
us out of darknesse into his marvellous light Aristotle notes of the Eagle whether truly or no I will not dispute that when her Birds are pen-feathered in a hot sun-shining day shee holds their eyes directly towards the beames of the Sun those that cannot endure that intensive light she casts out of her nest as degenerous such as directly eye the Sun she loves and feeds as her owne Hereby it will appeare whether we be Jovis aquila Gods birds or no if we look upward upon the Son of righteousnesse and have our eyes the eyes of our soules fixed on Heaven and heavenly things then are we of this Feather if downwards and have our cogitations Swine-like rooting in the earth and wallowing in the filthy puddle of worldly vanities then are we a degenerous of-spring not worthy to be called Sonnes of such a Father What an absurd and indecent thing were it if a Gally-slave or a Kitchin-boy should have that honour as to be made the adopted Son and Heire of some great Prince and he not considering his high advancement should continue in his former sordidnesse and basenesse of condition Much more undecent it is that a man when he is advanced from a child of wrath and a bondslave of the Devill to that transcendency of honour as to be made a Son of the King of Kings should continue as before in his blindnesse of heart crookednesse of will uncleannesse of affection and perversness of action Shall such a man as I flee said Nehemiah to Shemaiah and shall such a man as hath God for his Father debase himselfe like the Cat in the Fable who being turned into a Gentlewoman kept her old nature and leapt at a Mouse Or like the Popes Asse who adorned with golden Furniture as soon as he came to a Carriars Inne began to smell at a Pack-saddle Cyrus when of a Shepheards Son for so he was then supposed to be he was made a King in a Play began to shew himselfe like a King and Saul when he was annoynted by Samuel to be King had his heart changed He had another heart 1 Sam. 10. 9. Honours change manners if then we be advanced to this high dignity let us be ashamed of our natural basenesse let us have our hearts changed and walke worthy so high a calling not doing our owne will but his who when we were of no strength Rom. 5. nay when we were worse then nothing sent his own naturall Sonne to dye for us that we might be his Sonnes by grace of adoption I urge this point the rather because it is not onely a necessary duty which God requires at our hands but also the most certaine and infallible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Gods child and consequently a matter of the greatest moment in the World upon which depends the everlasting salvation or damnation of our soules If at these Assâ—ses a man shall in a case criminall be convict of Felony perhaps his Book may save him suppose not he at the worst but looses his life for it his soule if he repent is in no danger If in a civill controversie a Verdict shall go against him he looseth but the thing in question but he that hath not God for his Father and none have him but such as work righteousnesse and in holinesse of life endeavour to resemble him looseth all his title and claime to the Kingdome of Heaven and is for evermore in body and soule a Bond slave to the worst Master that ever man shall â—erve unlesse God in mercy shall effectually call him and ingraft him into the body of his onely Son by faith And it is lamentable to see so many Marthaes and so few Maries in the World so many that drowne themselves in worldly imployments and doubt where there is cause and use meanes to clear their doubts and neglect this Vnum necessarium as if it were a matter not worthy the regarding If a mans body be ill affected he will send to the Physician if he doubt of the weight of his Gold he will seek to the Ballance if of the goodnesse of the mettall he will try it by the Touchstone if the title of his Lands be questionable he will have the opinion of a Lawyer but whether he be a Son of God and consequently whether he shall be saved or no he never doubts but whatsoever he doe or thinkes or speaks hee takes it as granted The most wicked and hellish liver who serves no Master but the Devill will as I have â—ayd direct his prayers to God as to his Father others we have whoâ—e practice is farr better being kept from grosse sins by Gods restraining grace our careles and carnall Goâ—pellers our sleepy and drowâ—e Protestants who content themselves with the shadow and let fall the substance of Religion these if they be Baptized and can say that in their Baptisme they were made children of God if they come once or twice in a week to hear Prayers or Sermons if at usual times they receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper if they give their assent to the Law and the Gospel that they are both true and with a generall faith believe all the Articles of the Creed and withal have a care to lead a civill life amongst men then they perswade themselves their case is good they are sound Christians children of God and sheep of that little flock to whom our heavenly Father will of his good pleasure give a Kingdome But alas a man may doe all these and more then these and be a sonne of the Devill He may do all these 1. He may be baptized so was Simon Magus 2. He may heare the word preâ—ched so did Pharaoh 3. He may receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper so did Judas 4. He may believe the Law and the Gospel and all the Articles of the Creed to be true so doth the Devil 5. He may lead an honest and civill life amongst men so Socrates and divers Pagans if ye look to the matter of good works have out-stripped many Christians in the practise of sundry morall duties He may do more then all this and be a reprobate and child of the Devill 1. He may be sorry for his sinnes and make satisfaction both these we see in Judas 2. He may confesse them even in particular and desire good men to pray for him both these we see in Pharaoh He may have a delight in the Word and love the Preacher both these did Herod He may for a time be zealous of Gods glory so was Jehu He may be humbled for his sinnes and declare his humiliation by fasting and weeping so did Ahab and the Ninivites Hee may have a certaine tast of faith which much resembleth a justifying faith so had Simon Magus Hee may in many things reforme his life so did Herod and Maxentius Hee may tremble at the threatnings of Gods judgment so did Falix and so doth the Devill Now then how can such drowsie
reponere A Kingdome Of this as Salust once said of old Carthage its better to say nothing then to say but a little and yet if I should say more then I am able to expresse it were nothing to that which might be said Non mihi si linguae centum sint oraque centum ferreae vox Had I a thousand mouthes and a thousand voyces had I a tongue of steele or spoke with the tongues of those thousands of thousands that waite about the Throne of God I were not able to set forth so much as the shadow or back parts nay the shadow of the back parts of those joyes which God hath prepared for them that love him Nature failes me reason failes you the whole Bible failes me in this point Paul was taken up into the third Heaven the Kingdome here meant and what saw he The glory was such that it did not only dazle his eyes but struck him blind that he could see nothing at all Acts 9 8. Well but what heard he Things that cannot be conceived neither is it possible for man to be uttered 2 Cor. 12. Saint Austin when he was young did thus de cant upon it Ibi erit summa certa securitas secura tranquillitas tranquilla jucunditas jucunda faelicitas faelix aeternitas c. There shall be certaine security secure safety safe delightsome happinesse happy eternity c. O gaudium supra gandium O gaudium vincens omne gaudium extrae quod non est gaudium quando intrabo in te ut videam Deum meum qui habitat in te ubi inventus nunquam senescit ubi vita terminuÌ„ nescit ubi dolor nunquam pallescit ubi amor nunquam tepescit ubi sanitas nunquam marcescit ubi gaudium nunquam decrescit ubi dolor nunquam sentitur ubi gemitus nunquam audit ur ubi triste nihil videtur ubi laetitia semper habetur c. Aust. Soliloqui O joy beyond all joy O joy without which there is no joy when shall I enter into thee that I may behold God which is in thee where youth never growes old De verbis Domini in Joh. Serm. 64. where love never grows cold c. After when he was growne somewhat old he takes a pause and demands this of himselfe after a long discourse What shall I say Surely I cannot tell but I know that God hath such things to bestow And facilius invenire possumus quid ibi non sit quam quid sit We may easilier finde what is not there then what is there Non ibi erit lassari dormire non ibi esurire sitire non ibi erit crescere senescere Behold what I have spoken and yet I have not spoken what is there Eccejam vita jam incolumitas est jam nulla fames nulla paena nulla si is nullus defectus tamen nondum dixi and yet I have not told you what is there that which eye hath not seen how can I discerne that which eare hath not heard how can I speak that which never came into the heart of man how can it come into my heart to declare and indeed to make a long discourse about this subject were but with the blinde man to discourse about colours He may talk long about them but with eyes he cannot know them and we may talke much of Heavens joyes but till we come there and see God we cannot see them Our knowledge is no more able to reach to the excellency of them then a new borne childe is to make a demonstration in the Mathematicks or he that is blinde to name every colour that is layd before him Eye hath not seen nor eare heard saith the Apostle Quicquid recipitur recipitur in modum recipientis A Quart will not containe a Gallon nor a Gallon an Hogshead nothing can receive more then its able to containe Our understandings are like Vessels of small capacity and therefore our heavenly Father who in the Scriptures is often pleased Balbutire cum pueris to condescend to the meannesse of his Childrens capacity expresseth these joyes by such things as their understandings are capable of The Jewes report of Manna that it gave a taste to every man according to their severall appetites and desires For the trueth of this Credat Judaeus apella non ego The Scripture tells us that the taste thereof was like Wafers made with Honey â—um 16. 31. But it may be truely sayd of this Kingdome that in the Scriptures its expressed by such names as may give satisfaction to every mans appetite Some are delighted with faire houses it 's therefore called an house 2 Cor. 5. and Solomons house 1 King 7. was a type of it but far short of the antitype Yea and the house of the Sun too Sublimibus alta columnis clara micante auro flammasque imitante pyropo It 's the house that wisdome hath built Prov. 9. a stately house with a witnesse for her stones are Carbunâ—les her foundation Saphirs its windows of Emeralds and all its gates of shining stones Isa 54. In a word It s a house made without hands eternall and that in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. Some it contents not to dwell in a fair house unlesse it be seated in a goodly Citie It 's therefore likened unto a Citie a Citie having a foundation that is a sure foundation all earthly Cities are founded in quag-mires they want a foundation they are like the house builded upon the sand which cannot endure the weather but downe it goes as Athens Lacedemâ—n Niniveh Babylon and others have done a Citie of the best structure Whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 10. A Citie having the glory of God a Citie of pure gold like unto cleare glasse Revel 21. Oh how excellent things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God But neither faire Houses nor goodly Cities will give contentment to some unlesse they may have wealth at will in which many place their chiefe felicity It 's therefore likened unto a pearle for which the wise Lapidariâ— sells all that hee hath to buy it A treasure which neither rust nor moth can corrupt nor thiefe steale All these will not satisfie the mindes of some unlesse beside them they may have honours and dignities heaped upon them Here is that that may give these contentment too it 's a Kingdome A kingdome that cannot be shaken Hebr. 12. and the greatest Kingdomes of the world have been often shaken and shivered in pieces A kingdome that shall have no end Luk. 1. Or as was foretold by the Prophet A kingdome that shall never be destroyed Dan. 7. 14. Pyrrgus said of Rome when as yet it was not Mistresse of all Italic That it was a Citie of Kings marry one thing was wanting to that Kingly Citie which Hormisda Legate to Constantine did wel observe when he saw the Emperour ravished with the beauty of it as if with Paul he had been wrapt up into the
third heaven and it was this that men died in that Citie of Kings as well as in other places But it may be truly said of this that it is not Vrbs regum but regnum regum a Kingdome of Kings not the meanest doore-keeper there but weares a Crown beset with more precious jewels then the Jaspâ—r and the Onix stone And here is that which makes up their felicity that the Crown shall never â—ade as appears by that which hath been spoken their joy shall never faile their Sunne shall never set their life shall never end Is not here honour enough Indeed neither houses nor Cities nor wealth nor honours will satisfie some unlesse they may fare well and have store of dainties therefore it s elsewhere likened to a wedding feast of a Kings sonne where nothing is wanting which may delight the heart of man 1. Costly apparell 2. Curious and exquisite musick 3. Great provision of all kinds of dishes c. All these which I have named are but spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherby the holy Ghost would have us gather the unspeakable joys of this Kingdom as Pythagoras from the print of Hercules his foot in the games of Olympus did gather the bigness of his whole body This is not all faire houses goodly Cities wealth and riches honours and Kingdoms so rich apparell delicate fare c. joyne them all together and without good neighborhood they are like Jericho 2 Kin. 2. whose situation was pleasant but the waters naught When Themistocles was about to sel an house in Athens he made the Cryer proclaim that he that would buy that house should have a good neighbour with it He that gets this House this Citie this Kingdome wee have spoken of shall be sure of a good neighbour he shall have the society of innumerable Angels and the spirits of just and perfect men and of God the Judge of all and Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament who can wish better company An unwise man doth not consider these things and a foole cannot understand them The reason is he wants a spirituall eye and spiritual things must be spiritually discerned and thinks himselfe never rich enough another thinks he hath never preferment enough another is so addicted to the pleasures of this world that he never thinks he hath enough every one is desirous to have his abode here It was Peters errour Bonum est esse hic Let us here build us tabernacles Here will I dwell for I have a delight herein And the holy Ghost saith of Peter That hee wist not what he said Mar. 9. 6. It 's true of us too we wote not what we say we make not that comparison wee should between this present and future life we think of the moment any pleasures of the one which notwithstanding is mingled with much bitternesse we think not upon peradventure we believe not the eternity of the other Like bruit Beasts the most are carried with carnall sensuality and regard the present they consider not that which is to come If a Beast could speak he would say that hee is in a more happy estate then men the reason is because he feeleth his owne pleasures but he hath not the wit to consider the felicity of man Man can speak and he saith at least in his heart he thinketh that he is in a more happy estate then the Angels in heaven he feels his owne felicity which indeed is a misery and no felicity he wants a spiritual understanding to judg of theirs I remember what Aelian reports of Nicostratus an excellent Painter this Nicostratus seeing the picture of Helena which was painted by Zeuxis did very earnestly look upon it being much amazed at the curiousnesse of the work-manship An ignorant man that had no skill in painting and therefore thought that he had seen many pictures as good as that came unto him and asked him the reason why he did so much admire that image Oh quoth Nicostratus if thou hadst mine eyes thou wouldst never ask me that question but be as much astonied with it as I am The faithfull Christian looking with the eyes of faith upon this Kingdom mentioned in my Text Explorimentem nequit ardescitque tuendo and prizeth it above 1000. worlds all of gold and pearl the carnall man seeing him laughs at him and calls him a Gods fool he seeth no reason why he should be so astonied at the contemplation of that which is so high above his reach and so far beyond his horizon as hee by his naturall understanding cannot attaine unto I am better perswaded of you that hear me this day though I speak these things only for conclusion let me exhort you nay with Austin hortor vos omnes clarissimi â—eque ipsum that seeing the riches of this Kingdome is such as cannot be valued the excellency such as cannot be expressed the joyes such as cannot be conceived the durance such as cannot be ended let us not with Aesops Cock prefer a barly-corne the transitory trash of this world before this precious pearle for which the wise Lapidary will part with all he hath that he may purchase it Let us not with Esau preferre a messe of Pottage before our Birth-right nay with the Israelites accompt more of the stinking Garlick and Onions of Aegypt then of the Milke and Honey of this spirituall Canaan but as the Spies which were sent from the Danites to view Laish Judg. 18. said to their brethren at their returne We have seene the land and surely it is very good arise and let us not be sloathfull to goe and enter to possesse it And if the old Gaules adventured their lives over the rocky Alpes and encountered all their cruell Enemies the Italians that they might have their fill of the Hetrurian Wine and Figs of Tuscanie And if the Queen of the South adventured her selfe from Sheba or Meroe in Aethiopia through the vast Wildernesses in Africk and the sandy Desarts of Arabia to Jerusalem to see Solomon and to conferre with him shall not wee with patience swallow up all those calamities which may befall us in the wildernesse of this world And in despight of all opposition by evill or Devill let us boldly hold on our journey to the new and holy Jerusalem which is above where we shall see and conferre with the true Solomon Jesus Christ the righteous the mighty God the everlasting father the King of peace Isa 9. of whom we may more truly say then shee did of that Solomon It was a true word that I heard in mine owne land of thy sayings and of thy wisdome but loâ— the one halfe was not told mee Happy are the men happy are thy servants which stand ever before thee and heare thy wisdome For the better performance of our duties in this journey let us remember that every one hath a double calling one general another particular in both these let us do our utmost endeavor to spend that little time which