Scripture having likewise fore-spoken of the end of the world and of Christs second coming they shall also be fulfilled in their due time For Gods will is immutable and what he hath said must needs come to passe at the time appointed Secondly Gods justice requires that all men should be rewarded according to their works and therefore that the wicked should hereafter be punisht and the godly comforted We see many times that the wicked do persecute and oppresse the godly and such as are great do wrong the poor and defraud them of their right and yet in this world they escape unpunisht It remaines therefore that if God be just their judgement is reserved till another world that the wicked howsoever they live here in prosperity may there be punisht and that the godly who live here in affliction and miserie may be refresht and comforted For it is a righteous thing with God as the Apostle saith to recompence tribulation to them which trouble you 2 Thes 1. and to you which are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty Angels Thirdly If there should not hereafter be a day of judgement then many sinnes which have been committed here in secret should never come to light and so Gods justice in punishing offenders could not so well be made known and manifest and therefore that hypocrites may be known and discovered and the very thoughts of their hearts and their most secret sinnes which have been concealed from the eyes of the world may be laid open it is necessary that there should be a day of judgement that so Gods justice may the better appear in their condemnation I might alleadge other reasons but I think it needlesse seeing the coming of this day is so certain that the Apostle saith here You your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes And therefore I will come to the next point That though it be certaine that this day Will come yet when it will come it is uncertaine as the Apostle here shews by saying it so comes as is thiefe in the night Whose coming is on the suddain and when it is not expected Therefore the coming of Christ to judgement is likened by him sometime to the coming of the floud that drowned the old world So Mat. 24. Mat. 24.38 As in the dayes that came before the floud they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage untill the day that Noah entred into the Ark and knew not untill the floud came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be Sometimes his coming is likened to a snare So Christ having fore-told us Luke 21.34.35 Luke 21. of his coming to judgement Take heed saith he to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkennesse and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth Snares ye know are laid for birds wilde beasts while they do not suspect them they securely seek their food and follow the prey as they use to do and are suddenly taken So shall many be at the day of judgement while they are following the profits pleasures of this world as they are accustomed to do this day shall come as a snare upon them when they think not of it And sometimes his coming is resembled to the coming of a thiefe in the night A similitude which is often used in the Gospell first by our Saviour and afterwards borrowed from him by his Apostles Christ saith Mat. 24. Mat. 24.43 know this that if the good-man of the house had known in what watch the thiefe would have come he would have watched and would nat have suffered his house to be broken up watch therefore for ye know not in what houre your Lord doth come So Revel 3. Revel 3.3 If thou shalt not watch I will come on thee saith our Saviour as a thiefe and thou shalt not know at what houre I will come So Saint Peter 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord comes as a thiefe in the night and so Saint Paul here The day of the Lord comes as a thiefe in the night To shew that it will come at unawares and when it is not expected A thiefe ye know will not come openly to a house in the day when men may see him but he will come in the night when candles are out and men are asleep and think not of him So will the day of the Lord come it will not come on the sudden before men be aware and take them unprovided when it comes upon them If then the coming of this day be unknown this argues their folly who presume to set down the particular time when this day will come though our Saviour saith plainly Mat. 24. Mat. 24.36 That of that day and houre knowes no man no nor the Angels of Heaven but his Father onely For other matters God hath revealed in the Scriptures the definitive time when they should come to passe So for the old World to repent before the coming of the floud Gen. 6.3 Gen. 15.13 Jer. 25.11 Dan. 9.25 he set down an hundred and twenty years So for the Israelites to be afflicted in the Land of Egypt four hundred years For the captivity in Babylon he set down seventy years And for Christ first coming seventy weeks But for his second coming he hath not any where set down the time but concealed it from us and therefore for any man to enquire thereinto as many have done is but vaine curiosity because it is not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power For God hath concealed this day from us that we might continually expect this day least it come upon us at unawares Therefore our Saviour whensoever he makes mention of his coming to judgement he wills us to watch that we may be prepared and ready at the time whensoever he comes And indeed great reason If we have a cause to be tryed before an earthly Judge especially if it be in a matter of any great moment as such as concernes our Land and inheritance ye know what great paines we will take before-hand that we may be provided against our cause be handled we will search out our records we will read over our evidences We will make ready our Witnesse and not willingly omit any course we can take that sentence may be pronounced on our side we have every one of us a cause to be tried at the day of judgement even the weightiest cause that ever was handled not concerning our Lands or inheritance but concerning a matter of farre greater importance even the everlasting salvation or damnation of our bodies and soules and therefore it behoves us continually to watch and to be alwayes
EIGHTEENE Choice and usefull SERMONS BY Benjamin Hinton B. D. Late MINISTER of HENDON And sometime fellow of TRINITY COLLEDGE IN CAMBRIDGE Contra rationem nemo sobrius senserit Contra Scripturam nemo Christianus senserit Contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit Imprimatur EDM CALAMY 1650. LONDON Printed by J. C. For Humphery Moseley at the Princes Armes in S. Pauls Church-yard and for R. Wodenothe at the Starre under S. Peters Church in Cornehill 1649. To the Right Worshipfull Master FRANCIS PHILIPS Auditor of LONDON Grace and Peace YOur love and kindnesse whereof I have had so long experience imboldens me to present these few Sermons unto you not as presuming of the worth of them but as desiring to testifie my thankfulnesse having so just occasion I am old and gray-headed wanting not much of seventy years yet not so old in years as I am in infirmities and in my age it pleased God to visite me through a fall whielâ— I took with an incurable lamenesse and through sicknesse which I had with great weaknesse both in my memory and voice whereby I have been much disabled to preach I was therefore the more willing with my pen to supply the defect of my tongue as Zachary wrote when he could not speake and made his pen to make known what his tongue could not Luke 1.63 And though many have done the like before me with far greater ability yet remembring that God at the making of the Tabernacle accepted as well the offerings of the poorer sort who brought thither but Goats-haire and Rams-skinnes as of those who were rich and offered blew silk and purple and scarlet I have offered these few mites into the treasury of the Church out of my want and penury when others offer talents out of their store and plenty And I doubt not of your favourable acceptance hereof as coming from him who will no longer desire your favour then he desires to remaine Your truely loving in the Lord BEN. HINTON Curteous Reader IT was the earnest desire of the Authour my Reverend Father that these Sermons might passe the Presse in his life for the furtherance of others passage to life eternall but being himself taken away by death before his purpose was effected I thought it my duty not to let his works die with him but to impart to others what GOD had imparted to him I desire that as they teach the word of Truth so they may be the word of life And although in these dayes Sermons are neglected by the most contemned by the worst and too little esteemed even by the best yet I doubt not but these will meete with some who will receive the Message for the Masters sake And as formerly the feet of those who brought glad tydings of the Gospel of peace were counted beautifull so will the Gospel it self I hope though plainly preached not be trod under feet but be acceptable and helpfull to augment their peace who indeed seek peace which shall be the prayers of him to the God of peace who is your Christian Friend WILLIAM HINTON The severall SERMONS I. ABrahams offring his Sonne Isaac GEN. 22.2 Take now thy Sonne thine onely Sonne Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the Land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offring upon one of the Mountains which I will tell thee of II. The good ground or hearer of the word MATTH 13.23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some an hundred fold some sixty some thirty III. Zacheus converted LUKE 19.8 Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor c. IV. Gaining the world and losing the soule MATTH 16.26 For what is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soule V. Man like the grasse and flowers of the field PSAL. 103 15. As for man his dayes are as grasse as a flowre of the field so he flourisheth VI. The Devil a coward if he be resisted JAMES 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from you VII Gods best beloved most afflicted HEBR. 12.6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth VIII No peace to the wicked ESAY 57.21 There is no peace to the wicked saith my God IX God the Authour and protector of the Scripture 2 PETER 1.21 For the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost X. Christs miraculous Cures MATH 11.5 The blind receive their sight and the lame walk the Leapers are cleansed and the deaf heare the dead are raised up and the poore have the Gospel preached to them XI The Churches love to Christ CANTIC 3.1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soule loveth XII Both Poverty and Riches occasions of evil PROVERBS 30.8 Give me neither Poverty nor Riches XIII Gods pardoning great sinners a great comfort to others PSAL. 32.6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou maiest be found XIIII Steven Stoned ACTS 7.59.60 And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their Charge XV. Lawfull and unlawfull swearing JEREM. 4.2 Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth in judgement and iâ—â—â—ghteousnesse XVI Jonas sent to Nineveh JONAH 3.1 c. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying arise go to Nineveh that great City and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh XVII Hiding of sinne no small sinne PROVERBS 38.13 He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy XVIII Christs coming to judgement both certain and uncertain 1 THES 5.2 For you your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a Thief in the night THE FIRST SERMON GEN. 22.2 Take now thine onely Sonne Jsaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the Land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offring upon one of the Mountaines which I will tell thee of Paradisus Genesis in quo pullulant Patriarcharum virtutes Ambr. Epist 41. THis booke of Moses is resembled by St. Ambrose not unfitly unto Paradise Genesis saith he is a Paradise wherein spring forth the virtues of the Patriarchs For as in Paradise there were variety of trees which brought forth variety of excelent fruits both pleasant to behold and good to eate Gen. 2.9 So in this Paradise this book of Genesis are many worthy plants Gods Children and Servants whose fruits of Faith of Love and obedience are both delightfull for us to read and profitable to imitate Now of all these plants the chief are the Patriarchs of all the Patriarchs the most fruitfull is Abraham and of all the fruits which he
pardon and forgivenesse of them FINIS The Eighteenth SERMON 1 THES 5.2 For you your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night THe first coming of Christ may well put us in mind of his second coming his coming as a Lambe of his coming as a Lion his coming in humility of his coming in glory The day of his first coming ye know is past and yet so past as that we are still to call it to mind and must never forget it the day of his second coming is yet to come yet so to come as that it will come we know not how soone and we must alwayes expect it And therefore as it hath been a Custome in some Countries that when they kept a feast after other dishes a deaths head was brought in and set upon the Table before the guests to teach them while they were feasting to remember their ends So I thought it not unfit at the time of this feast which we celebrate in remembrance of Christs first coming to bring in as it were a deaths head among you by choosing such a Text as may put you in mind of his second coming at the day of judgement because that is a day which is alwayes to be expected whereof the Apostle in the words which I have read gives a double Reason First because it is certain that this day is coming For you your selves saith he know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes Secondly because it is uncertain when it will come For it so saith he comes as a thief in the night whose coming is uncertain and upon the sudden So that the points to be handled in these words are these the day it self and the coming of it and in the coming of it that it is certain that this day will come though when it wil come it is uncertain And first concerning the day it self The day of judgement is here called the day of the Lord sometimes in the Scripture the great notable day of the Lord. It is called the day of the Lord to put a difference between that day and all the dayes while we live in the world While we live in the World the dayes in the Scripture are called ours For though all dayes indeed be the Lords because he made them as the Prophet David saith Psal 74.16 The day is thine and the night is thine thou hast prepared the light and the Sunne yet in the Scripture they are said to be ours because they were made for our use Therefore God speaking of the time of mans life Gen. 6. His dayes saith he Gen. 6.3 shall be an hundred and twenty years Thus Job speaking of the prosperity of the wicked They spend saith he their dayes in welthinesse Job 21.13 Psal 90.12 Thus David speaking of the uncertainty of this life Psal 90. Teach us saith he to number our dayes Thus the dayes while we live in this world are called ours But the day of judgement is alwayes called Esay 13.7 Joel 2.1 2 Pet. 3.10 the day of the Lord. So Esay 13. Behold the day of the Lord comes So Joel The day of the Lord comes and is nigh at hand So St. Peter 2 Pet. 3. The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night Thus still it is called the day of the Lord because though all other dayes be ours yet this day he hath wholly reserved to himself to call us to an account of all our dayes To some of us he hath given ten thousand dayes to some twenty thousand to some thirty thousand and all the dayes from the beginning of the World to the end thereof he hath divided amongst us giving more unto some and sewer to others to himself he hath reserved but one day onely and the last of all yet such a day as wherein he will call us all to an account of all things that we have done in all our dayes At this day the Drunkard shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in drunkennesse At this day the idle person shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in idlenesse At this day the voluptuos liver shall be called to an account of all the dayes he hath spent in pleasure For this is the day which the Lord hath appointed for the examination of all our dayes The dayes which he hath given us are dayes of mercy wherein he offers grace unto all and invites them to repent this day is onely a day of judgement wherein he will execute his justice on those that are impenitent Therefore it is that the time of this life is called in the Scripture Esay 49.8 Dies salutis the day of salvation as Esay 49. I have heard thee saith God in the time accepted in the day of salvation have I succoured thee Which the Apostle expounds 2 Cor. 6. 2 Cor. 6.2 of the time of this life while grace is offered Behold saith he now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation But the day of judgement is called in the Scripture dies irae the day of wrath Zeph. 1.15 Zeph. 1.15 That day saith the Prophet is a day of wrath And Revel 6. The great day of the wrath of the Lord is come And therefore God who for the time of this lise is called by the Apostle the father of mercies yet after this life when he shall judge the World Psal 49.1.2 he is called by the Prophet David a God of revenge For be that is so mercifull to all in this life that he makes the Sun to shine and the rain to fall both on the good and the bad yet after this life at the day of judgement he will rain snares on the wicked fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be their portion for ever to drink Psal 11.6 We see then the reason why it is called the day of the Lord because in that day he will call us all to an account of all our dayes that such as in their days have done their own will might therefore in his day suffor his will because they would not imbrace his mercy while he offered them grace in stead of mercy they might feel his justice His power had a day when he created the World all things therein and by speaking the word made them all of nothing His mercy had a day when he redeemed the world by giving his only Son to suffer death for man that had so highly offended him And his justice shall likewise have a day when he shall judge the World at which day he will appear so terrible to the wicked Revel 6.16 that when they see him they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them and to the rocks to hide them from the presence of him that sits upon the Throne from the wrath of the Lamb. But all in vaine because as they in
shall the wicked escape Gods judgements Secondly Seeing God doth chasten those whom he loves 2. Vse this may therefore teach us to beware of censuring hardly of them that are in any distresse or affliction as if this were an argument that they are out of Gods favour and that God hath forsaken them We are prone to judge amisse of those that are in distresse If Job be afflicted Job 4.7.8 Acts 28.4 his friends will think that he is an Hypocrite If the Barbarians see a Viper hang on Pauls hand they will suspect him therefore to have been a murderer and if the Disciples see the man that was born blind John 9.2 they will judge that either he or his Parents had sinned as if they must needes be wicked persons that are afflicted The Samaritans as Josephus writes of them when they saw that matters went prosperously with the Jewes they were wont to say then that they were come of Abraham but when the Jewes were under the Crosse and suffered affliction they would then derive their Pedegree from Babel and other Nations and would not acknowledge them for Abrahams Children as if only the wicked and not the godly were subject to affliction But we see here that God chastens whom he loves and therefore that we are not to judge hardly of such as we see afflicted And thus much likewise for the second point the Patient or party that is chastned by God namely Gods beloved He chastens whom he loves I now proceed to the third and last the quality of the action in this word chastneth which implyeth as I said that God doth not torment and torture us like a tyranne but he doth onely chasten us as a Father doth chasten and correct his Children these chastisements do not proceed from God as an angry judge for our plague and punishment but as from a merciful and loving Father for our correction and amendment for herein he offers himself unto us as unto Sonnes as the Apostle saith So that these chastisements to the godly are signes of their adoption and pledges of Gods love and favour towards them which that we may understand the better I purpose to shew you two things First vvhat these chastisements are or how God doth chasten us And secondly To what end they are or why he doth chasten us Concerning the first these chastisements of God are sometimes called in the Scripture the judgements of God So they are called by the Apostle 1 Pet. 4. The time saith he is come that judgement must begin at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 That is to say the judgement of chastisement for the judgements of God are of two sorts judicia castigationis judicia vindicte condemnationis the judgements of chastisement or correction and the judgments of revenge and condemnation And this distinction is taken out of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. When we saith he 1 Cor. 11.32 are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World So that there is a judgment of chastisement which lights upon the godly and a judgment of condemnation which lights upon the wicked And these judgements are sometimes publick and generall and sometimes private and particular Publick and generall as when a whole Land or Country is afflicted as either by Warre by Plague and Pestilence by Death and Famin and any other common and generall affliction Thus we see 1 Chron. 21. That when David had sinned against God by causing his people to be numbred God to chasten and correct him for it offers him his choise of three publick afflictions either a generall dearth and famin all over his Land 1 Chron. 21.12 for the space of three years or the Enemies to come and invade his Land and prevail against him for the space of three months or a Plague and Pestilence among his people for three dayes David being in this extremity did choose rather to fall into the hands of God then into the hands of men because there is mercy with the Lord in his chastisements and so there died of the Pestilence threescore and ten thousand in three dayes This was a generall or publick affliction Sometime again they are privat or particular as when any particular house or family or any privat man is chastned and afflicted and that either outwardly or inwardly outwardly as by the losse of goods by the losse of health by the losse of friends by the losse of liberty and the like And thus Gods Children are often afflicted Some are afflicted with want and poâ—erty as Lâ—zarus was Luke 16.21 some with the losse of their health as the Palâ—iâ—-mâ—â— was Mat. 9. 1 Sam. 2.23 Gen. 39.20 Job 16.2 Psal 59.1 some are crost in their Children as Eli was some are wronged in their good name and credit as Susanna was some restrained of their liberty as Iosâ—ph was some wronged by their friends as Iob was and some persecuted by their enemies as David was These are outward chastisements Sometimes again God doth inwardly chasten us as when either he leaves us for a time to our selves so that we fall into some actual sinnes and are afterwards grieved that we have offended God Thus Peter was afflicted when he had denied our Saviour and wept so bitterly for his denial Or when God withdrawes from us the feeling of his love and the comfort of his spirit Mat. 26.75 So that we doubt for a time that God hath forsaken us because we can find no inward comfort And thus David was afflicted when he complained so grievously Psal 77. Psal 77.7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever and will he shew no more favour hath he forgotten to be gratious and will he shut up his kindness in displeasure These are inward chastisements Now God in all his chastisements deales otherwise with the godly then he deales with the wicked The one he chastens in love and mercy the other he punisheth in his wrath and fury the one he sustaines by his gracious assistance and inables them to bear what he layes upon them the other he gives over to endless despaire to the one he brings a pruning knife to lop and purge them to the other the Axe of desolation to cut them down and destroy them And thus we see what these chastisements are Secondly We are to consider to what end they are or why he doth chasten us The end why God doth chasten his Children is partly for his own glory and partly for their good For his own glory two wayes especially First To shew how greatly he is displeased and offended with sinne insomuch that he doth not spare it in his own Children For this is most certain that if man had never committed sinne he should never have been subject unto any affliction but as soon as Adam had sinned against God then God by afflicting him made manifest how he is displeased and offended by sinne because saith God unto
Dioclesian a grievous persecutour when he had used all the means that ever he could for the utter abolishing of the Christian profession when he had sent out his Edicts for the burning of the Scriptures for the torturing of Christians and putting down their Churches and saw in the end that he could prevail nothing for very spight and anger he gave over his Kingdom I might further shew you this by the miserable ends of all those who have professed themselves enemies unto the professours of that Doctrine which the Scriptures teach Pharaoh the first persecutour of the Church that ever was was overwhelmed in the red-sea with all his host Dathan and Abiram the first Scismaticks that ever were were swallowed up of the earth with all their Consederats and such have been the ends of such as have succeeded them To passe over the examples which the Scriptures alledge Pilat Pilat who had unjustly condemned 〈◊〉 Saviour Euseb lib. 2. cap. 7. fell afterwards into such misery that he slew 〈◊〉 and so of an unjust Judge became a just Executioner Nero. Nero after that he had made havock of the Church of Christ he fell in the end into such extreamity that he would have accounted it for a favour of any man that would have slain him Ergone saith he nee amicum habeo nee inimicum as complaining that he could find neither friend nor foe that would vouch safe to kill him in the end he grew desperate and stabbed himself Maximinus Maximinus as great a persecutour as ever Nero was was struck by God with a strong disease an invisible fire as Eusebius writes inwardly eating and consuming his flesh and leaving him nothing in a short time but skin and bones his eyes burnt out of his head through the extreamity of his torments and he cried out before he died that now Gods vengeance was lighted 〈◊〉 him for his former persecutions Valerian Valerian the Emperour another persecutour was first taken captive and led in triumph in his Emperours robes afterwards by the command of Sapores the King of Persia he was flead alive and so was tortur'd himself as he had tortur'd the Christians Julian Apostata Julian the Apostata in his wars against the Persians was wounded on the suddain he knew not how nor by whom Theoderet thinks he might be smote by an Angell Callistus that was present saith he was struck by the Devill whosoever he was he was sent by Christ by Julians own confession for casting up some of his blood towards heaven he cried out against Christ Vieisti Galilee Thou hast got the victory thou Galilean and thus he died raving Nay when he was dead the earth opened saith Nazianzen and swallowed it down as not vouchsafing to bear so accursed a burthen It were endlesse to instance in all those particulars whom God for their persecuting his truth in the Scriptures hath made fearfull examples unto all others The same may likewise be said of Hereticks who seeking by their false impious doctrins to corrupt the truth have miserably perished in all ages Simon Magus Simon Magus the father of all Heresies as Eusebius calls him having gotten great credit by his sorcery and Magick persvvaded the people that he vvas God but through Peters prayers as he was flying in the aire his god-head failed him and he vvas fetcht dovvn head-long Olympius vvho blasphemously denied the Trinity Olympius vvhile he askt contemptuously hovv three could be one and one three vvas smote with three fiery darts from Heaven the points of these three joyning all in one Arrius Valent. Manes Montanus Nestorius Lucian Arrius while he was doing that which nature requires his bowels gusht out and he miserably perisht Valens the Arrian was burnt by the Gothes Manes was flead alive by the Persians Montanus became his own hangman like Judas Nestorius had his tongue eat a sunder with wormes Lucian was worried and torne in pieces with Doggs In a word God hath alwayes been so zealous in the defence of his truth that they who have opposed it have not escaped unpunished but howsoever he hath let them go on for a time yet in the end he hath payed them home bringing vengeance and destruction like a whirlewind upon them which evidently shewes that God is both the Author and Protector of the Scriptures Are the Scriptures then the word of God 1. Vse this therefore first serves te condemn the Papists who vilifie the Scriptures and magnifie traditions giving more then they should do unto traditions and less◠〈◊〉 Scriptures by making traditions to be more then they are and 〈◊〉 Scriptures lesse Which put me in mind of a certain Epitaph which one made of Erasmus and when he had made it he shewed it to his friend and willed him to read it The Epitaph was this Hic jacet Erasmus qui quondam bonus erat mus Rodere qui solitus roditur a vermibus Out upon 't saith his friend why what have you done be in bonus is short and you have made it long true saith the maker but therefore I hope ver in vermibus is long and I have made it short and so have made amends for the former fault And so do the Papists they give more then they should do unto traditions but therefore lesse to the Scriptures seeking to cover one fault with another and so double their fault and make it the greater Secondly 2. Vse This serves to condemn those who believe not the Scripture to be Gods word as they shew they do not who are not carefull to conforme their lives unto it For do they who securely go on in their sins believe what God threatens in his vvord against sinners Doth the profane swearer who can hardly speak a word but an Oath must follow it believe this for certain that God as he threatens will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain Exod. 20.7 Doth the common Drunkard believe this 1 Cor. 6.10 that no such shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Doth the Adulterer believe this that Whoremasters and Adulterers God will judge Heb. 13.4 Doth he that withholds the Labourers hire believe this James 5.4 that the hire of the Laborers doth crie in the eares of the Lord of Hosts Doth he that deferrs and puts of his repentance and yet presumes upon Gods mercy believe that to be true that they who despise the riches of Gods bounty and abuse his patience Rom. 3.5 treasure up wrath to themselves against the day of Wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God In a word doth any wicked liver believe this to be true Rom. 2.9 2 Thes 1.8 that tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soule that doth evill and that the Lord in flaming fire shall render vengeance to those that obey not the Gospell For if they believed these things it would strike such a terror into their soules that they
the Master and shall not the Servant Shall the Judge and shall not he that is to be judged unworthy is he to taste of the well of the water of life that will not stoop to take it And as Steven here kneeled down so he cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge His kneeling and crying arguing both the greatnesse of their sinne and his earnest desire and ardent affection Quod jussit gâ—ssit that they might be forgiven It is Christs precept Luke 6. Love your enemies do good to them that hate you blesse them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you And he did himself what he wills us to do praying for his Crucifiers even when they Crucified him Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23.34 Steven here follows his example praying for his persecutors even while they stoned him Lord saith he buy not this sinne to their charge And thus according to Christs precept and example he loves his enemies prayes for his persecutors and requites good for evill And this is the very perfection of love and an infallible argument that they who can do it are the children of God A wicked man may performe many Christian duties and commendable actions upon by-respects He may give Almes to the poor that men may think the better of him he may Fast because abstinence is good for his health he may abstaine from adultery theft and the like for the avoiding of shame and discredit and he may put up wrongs and not seek to be revenged for fear of inconveniences that may follow after it But for a man to love his enemies and pray for his persecutors this canot be done in any by-respect but must needs be the worke of grace in him This is that wherein the godly do most resemble God in loving their enemies and rendring good to those that deserve evill at their hands God is so good that he renders good for evill as he tooke occasion from Adams sinne to send his Sonne into the world for mans redemption for which Gregory calls it Felix peccatum a happy sinne because it had so soveraigne a Medecine The wicked are so evill that they render evill for good sometimes to God as the Israelites did taking their Eare-rings of Gold which God had given them in Egypt and making thereof a Calfe which they worshipt to the dishonour of God sometimes to man as Saul did to David using all means to procure his death who had saved his life 2 Kings 6.23 But the godly do imitate their heavenly Father rendring good for evill as Elisha made the Syrians to eate and to drink that were sent to take him and as Steven here prayed for the Jewes that stoned him FINIS The Fifteenth SERMON JEREMIAH 4.2 Thou shalt sweare the Lord liveth in trueth in Judgement and in righteousnesse Division SOcrates writes of Pambo the Herimit that when one was reading to him the 39. Psalme and had read but the beginning Psa 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that so I offend not in my tongue The Heremit willed him to stay there and to read no further for this saith he is a lesson which will hardly be learned in a long time Had the beginning of my text been read unto him Thou shalt sweare he would rather have willed him to have read on because this is a lesson which is learned soone For who cannot swear without a teacher We may see young children who before they have perfectly learn'd to read have learned this lesson So that if swearing were all which God required almost every one might answer as the Ruler did our Saviour Luke 18.21 All this have I done from my youth upward But here is not onely an Oath to be taken Thou shalt swear but the object of an Oath or by whom we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth and the conditions of an Oath or how we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse The first against the Anabaptists who hold it unlawfull to swear at all Thou shalt swear The second against the Papists who hold it lawfull to swear by the Creatures Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth The third against all profane swearers that take either false or fraudulent Oaths Thou shalt swear in truth or inconsiderate or unnecessary Oaths Thou shalt swear in judgement or lastly pernicious and wicked Oaths which are taken for the performance of some unlawfull action Thou shalt swear in righteousnesse And these are the severall parts of these words And first concerning the lawfulnesse of an Oath I neede not stand long upon the proof thereof because as the Lawyers say Quod consuetum est praesumitur esse justum That is commonly held to be just and lawfull which is ordinary and common And yet because the Anabaptists are of another opinion and would utterly take away the use of an Oath something must be spoken of the lawfulnesse thereof That it is lawfull therefore to take an Oath we may see especially by these three things First By the expresse commandement of God If to take an Oath were simply unlawfull Exod. 20. then God would not have forbidden us to take his name in vain but to take it at all as because it is simply unlawfull to swear by false Gods he doth not forbid us to take their names in yaine but absolutely forbids us to swear by them And as he forbids us to swear by them Exo. 23.13 so he commands us to swear by him Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and thou shalt swear by his name Which words are repeated Deut. 10. â—0 with a little addition Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve thou shalt cleave unto him and swear by his name So that the taking of an Oath is not left unto us as a thing indifferent but commanded by God and that as a part of Gods service and worship And therefore God promiseth a blessing to those that swear by his Name Jer. 12.16 Jer. 12.16 It shall come saith he to passe that if they will diligently learne the wayes of my people to sweare by my name The Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal then shall they be built in the middest of my people And Psalm 15.4 He that sweareth saith David though it be to his own hinderance and changeth not Psal 15.4 he shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle But if it were unlawfull to swear at all he would not have placed him in Gods Tabernacle that swears and keeps his Oath though it be to his own hinderance but rather him that sweareth not though it be to his own advantage Secondly by the example of those holy men in the Scripture who have taken oathes and that sometime publickly Thus Abraham swore to the King of Sodom
the day of judgement 2 Pet. 3.3 Know this saith Saint Peter that there shall be scoffers in the last dayes Walking after their own lusts saying where is the promise of his coming for since the Fathers fell asleep all things continue say they as they were from the beginning of the creation And thus many because the World hath continued so long a time in the same state do perswade themselves that it shall continue so for ever and that there shall be no end of the World nor day of judgement These Saint Peter in the same place confutes by this reason That though the World have continued in the same state for a long time yet it followes not from thence that therefore the World should continue so for ever for it wa a long time from the Creation of the world till the coming of the floud yet the world was then destroyed by one of the elemente whereof it was made namely by water and so though it seems a long time till the end of the world yet in the end it shall be destroyed by another element namely by Fire And as they who lived in the time of Noah would not be perswaded that the world should be drowned till the floud came suddenly and swept them away so the end of the world and Christs coming to judgement shall as suddenly come upon unbelievers while they think not of it Christ indeed doth deferre his coming in divers respects As that the number of the elect may be fulfill'd whom God hath decreed from all etermity to call in all ages by the preaching of the Gospel till the end of the world that the patience of the faithfull who waite and long for the coming of Christ may be tried and exercised and that the wicked may be left without excuse being forborne so long and having had so large a time of repentance In these respects Christ defers his coming but though his coming be deferr'd for a time yet in the end he will not faile to come as the Scripture assures us by evident testimonies by visible signes and by invisible reasons The testimonies are divers The Prophesie of Enoch which is alleadged by Saint Jude is plaine and evident Jude 14.15 Enoch saith he the seventh from Adam prophesied saying Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all the ungodly among them of all their wicked deads Where ye see the world was no sooner made but that the end thereof was presently fore-told for Enoch was but the seventh from Adam and yet he prophesied of Christs coming to judgement and that so plainly as if he had seen him coming Ecce venit Behold saith he he comes Dan. 7.9.10 So Daniel prophesied of the day of judgement I beheld saith he till the thrones were prepared and the auncient of dayes did sit there issued forth a fiery stream and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him the judgement was set and the books were opened I saw saith Saint John the dead both small and great stand before the Lord Revel 20.12 and the books were opened and another book was opened which was the book of life and the dead were judged c. Where to shew the certainty of Christs coming to judgement he speaks ye see thereof as if it were past because he shall come at the time appointed as certainly as if he were come already I might alleadge many other places wherein the coming of Christ to judgement is plainly fore-told And as the Scriptures have fore-told Christs coming to judgement so to assure us the better thereof it hath likewise given us many signes which go before it whereby we may know that it will not be long before he come When the King ye know is come to a Town he commonly sends his harbingers before him and when they see his harbingers they say the King is coming because they know by the coming of his harbingers that it will not be long before the King himselfe comes Christ hath given us many signes of the end of the world and his coming to judgement which are as his harbingers sent before his coming and these signes which go before his coming are of two sorts either such as go longer before his coming and are further from it or such as go but hard before and shall be nigh unto it Of the former sort are divers signes as the preaching of the Gospell all over the world foretold by our Saviour Mat. Mat. 24.2 Thes 2. Rom. 11. Luke 17. 24. The revealing of Antichrist that man of sinne and sonne of perdition fore-told by the Apostle 2 Thes 2. The calling of the Jews fore-told by St. Paul Rom. 11. The great security want of faith which shal be found in many foretold by Christ Luke 17. And many other signes which the Scripture mentions many whereof are already past and are fore-runners of the end of the world and shall continue and prolong their course till the very day of Christs coming to judgement Of the second sort are those fearfull signes which the Scripture mentions in divers places as that the earth shall tremble and move out of her place Mat. 24.29 Acts 2.20 that the seas shall roare and make an hidcous noise that the powers of heaven shall be shaken that the starres shall fall from heaven that the Sunne shall be turned into darknesse and the Moon into bloud before that great and notable day of the Lord come These things shall come to passe at the end of the world and when these things come to passe they are evident signs that the end of the world is then hard at hand For like as it is in the body of man when the eyes waxe dimme and the sight failes when all the joynts waxe weake and the whole body trembles it is a signe of old age and a manifest token that he in whom these signes are to be seen is very near his end and cannot hold out long So it is likewise in the great Body of the world when the eyes of the world the Sunne and the Moon begin to wax dim and their light failes when the heavens shall be shaken as it were with a palsie and the earth shall tremble and move out of her place as the Scripture speaks it is a manifest signe that the world is ending Lastly As the Scripture hath foretold the end of the world Christs coming to judgment both by evident testimonies and visible signs so likewise by divers invincible reasons For first all other things which the Scriptures have fore-told are come to passe as namely of Christs first coming in the flesh of the destruction of Jerusalem of the dispersion of the Iows of the coming of Antichrist all which and many other as they have been fore told so they have been likewise accomplisht and therefore the
in a readinesse Mat. 22.11 Mat. 25.3 that we be not found unprepared like the guest in the Gospel without our wedding Garments or like the foolish virgins without oile in our Lamps To this end we must often think of the day of judgement and remember that whatsoever we do we shall be called to an account of it Therefore the Scripture doth often propound the day of judgement unto us and useth the same as a special Reason to reclaime us from sinne and to move us to repentance This Saint Paul tells the Atheniant Acts 17.30 Acts 17. That God admonishes all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousnesse Thus Solomon tells the young man Eccles 11.9 Eccles 11. That though he rejoyceth in his youth and followes the lust of his eyes and the wayes of his heart yet he must remember withall that God for all these things will bring him to judgement Therefore Basil gives us this Councel to have alwayes the day of judgement as a Schoolmaster before us that so we might be kept from committing evil by having this day before our eyes as a scholler is afraid to do any thing undecent in his Masters presence Damascen makes mention of a certain King who having the day of judgement alwayes in his mind he was so affected with the remembrance of it that he wholly abstain'd from those pleasures delights whereunto he had been before addicted The Kings Brother seeing the King to be so strangely altered knowing withal the cause thereof willed him not to think of the day of judgement but to passe his time in pleasure and recreation as he had done before when he thought not of it The King to argue his Brothers folly caused his Herald the very next morning to sound a Trumpet a loud at his Brothers doore which was a signe in that Countrey that he at whose door the Trumpet was sounded had offended the King and was therefore to be led to execution His Brother as soone as he heard the Trumpet came trembling to the King and desired pardon and promised that he would never offend him again Why saith the King art thou so afraid when thou hearest this Trumpet and should not I be afraid of that great Trumpet that shall call me to judgement if thou be afraid because of this Trumpet of offending me much more may I by the last Trumpet of offending God And indeed the most desperate sinner that is if the day of judgement were alwayes in his minde so that he were wholly possest with the remembrance of it it would make him afraid to commit sinne and so hasten his Repentance because he may die and be called to judgement he knows not how soone and if he be impenitent when he dies he will be found impenitent at the day of judgement Hic hic amittitur vita aut recuperatur saith Cyprian In this life the life to come is either lost or gotten lost by continuing impenitent in our sinnes or got by repentance God made this Law Levit. 25. That if a man had had a house in a walled City and had sold the same Levit. 25.29 yet he might redeeme it within the compasse of a year but if he redeemed it not within that time it should afterwards be too late to recover it again which Origen expounding he saith that by this house is understood our heavenly Habitation that house whereof the Apostle speakes We have a house not made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 but eternall in the Heavens by him that sells this house is understood a sinner who sells as it were and forgoes Heaven by his sinnes yet such saith he is the mercy of this Law-giver that he hath given a sinner the whole year of this life for the recovery thereof that what he sold by his sinnes he might redeeme by repentance which if he redeemed not before the year of this life be ended it will be too late afterwards He that repents not till this life be past he knocks with the foolish Virgins when the Gates are shut Mat. 25.11.12 and then he cannot be let in Luke 16.24 he that seekes not for mercy till after this life like the rich man he shall finde none no not so much as a drop of cold water to coole his tongue And therefore now while it is called to day think thus with thy self God hath spared me hitherto and not taken me away that I might repent how long he wil spare me I do not know he may take me away before to morrow if he take me away before I repent Christ will condemn me for my impenitencie when he comes to judgement I will therefore now make a vow unto God even now before I goe out of his house that I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep nor the Temples of my head to take any rest till I turne unto God by unfained repentance and resolve with my self to lead a new life that so I may be sure not to be found impenitent whensoever he comes FINIS