shall be CALLED the House of Prayer Nay not only the House of Gods Servant but his Field also his High-way his Street his Prison may be a House of Prayer the Dunghill shall serve Job from whence to send up this sacrifice and the Whales belly can Jonah use for a Church Jon. 2.1 the Lions den for Daniel and the Furnace for the three Children do not hinder their requests from ascending to the Mercy-seat God heard Moses from the midst of the Sea Isa 38.2 and Ezekias from his Bed Jeremy from the Mire and the Thiefe from the Cross Lu. 23.42 when they called upon him And therefore St. Paul willeth that men pray every where 1 Tim. 2.8 every where in their private Devotions no place is a bar to one so holily affected for the lifting up his soul and pouring out his heart to God in his secret Meditations for surely the true worship of God is to him in it selfe acceptable who not so much respects the place where as the affection wherewith he is served Yet in regard of us especially then when we are to put up our publick requests to God when we are to joyn our forces together Jon. 3.5 as the Prince and people of Nineveh did like a main Army of supplicants that it shall not be in the power of God because God will not use his adverse power then to withstand us then sure there is great vertue great force and efficacy in the very Majesty and holiness of the place where Gods Name is call'd upon if for nothing else yet for that it serveth as a sensible help to stir up devotion and in that respect no doubt bettereth even our best and holiest actions in this kinde Wherefore else is this called the Holy place Levit. 16.3 but by way of excellence in respect of all other And why does S. Hierom translate it Psal 78.69 not Sanctum but Sanctuarium a place which is not onely made holy by consecration but that makes others holy by God in it For Churches are not only made publick by the solemn dedication of them but that right also which otherwise their Founders might have in them is thereby surrendered up to God and he made owner of them why the separate and holy and religious use notified in the dedication of them to which they shall be put a part from other secular and prophane usages why but that it may be a dumb Instructer of piety when ever we behold a Temple what heart is there will passe by a Church-wall with the same carnall inconsideration of God and Heaven as he walkes a street in which he beholds no such reverend prospect for this cause also at the consecration as well of the Tabernacle Exo. 40. as of the Temple 1 King 8. it pleas'd the Almighty to give a manifest signe that he took possession of both in the one chapter The Cloud covered the Tent of the Congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle v. 34. In the other a cloud filled the House of the Lord v. 10. A Cloud and Glory too and that of the Lord himselfe filled the Lords own House v. 11. God made account his House was sufficiently born witnesse to already for all ages and that he needed not such another Cloud for the place of Christian worship Mat. 12.8 but only to bear record to the Lord of their Sabbath Mat. 17.5 The sensible increase of holinesse from a sensible-holy object this it was made David value at so high a rate the liberty of worshipping God in his House and amongst his people Blessed are they who dwell where thou dost in thine owne House Psal 84.4 One day in thy Courts is better than a thousand otherwhere v. 10. My soul longeth yea and faintâ—th for the Courts of the Lord v. 2. 't was his Vnum petii his one his great suit to God that he might dwell in the House of the Lord that he might there behold the beauty of the Lord and visit his HOLY TEMPLE Ps 27.4 This favour did Hezekias obtain at Gods hands by his prayers and tears when he had heard his prayers and seen his tears and was resolved to heal him he does expresse the greatnesse of his favour to him by adding his singular benefit to his health whereby the more to inhealthen his soul too On the third day thou shalt go up unto the House of the Lord 2 Kings 20.5 Justly therefore may the Churches censure of Excommunication whereby men are as Cain was Gen. 4.16 cast out of that presence of God which is enjoyed in holy Assemblies it may justly be reputed so great a punishment 1 Cor. 5.5 1 Tim. 1.20 as a giving over to Satan it is like a mans being out-law'd in matters of civil government Outlawry is defined by the Lawyers to be the loss or deprivation of the benefit belonging to a subject i.e. of the Kings protection and the Realm Such is the nature of this censure rightly executed it cuts a man off from the priviledges of a Christian I would they were even cut off which trouble you Gal. 5.12 he is out of Gods protection for the time and reckoned as a Stranger and Forreigner as a Heathen or a Publican saies our Saviour Mat. 18.17 What they lose who are deprived of this liberty and what we have by it who enjoy it vouchsafe to hear in a word Here is first Gods more especiall and gracious presence When shall I come to appear before the presence of God was Davids moan Psal 42.2 when in his banishment under Saul or Absalom he was denied access to this presence-Chamber of his great King and to be deprived of that comfort which must needs come to a mans soule by such a presence David knew what a losse it was when he cried in the agony of his soul upon the sight of his great sin Psal 51. O cast me not away from thy presence v. 11. But consider withall further what be the particular blessings we there enjoy through Gods mercy Blessings of that worth in S. Peters account that the Angels do desire even to stoop down to behold 1 Pet. 1.12 there is the Ministery of reconciliation 2 Co. 5.18 Act. 14.27 Rom. 10.14 Eph. 1.10 Psa 50.5 Eph. 4.12 Lu. 10.17 18. 1 Co. 10.4 Act. 20.27 Rom. 4.11 the precious Treasure of Gods holy Word the Word preach'd which is the door of faith the Ordinance of God by which his Saints are gathered and the body of Christ edified the powerfull means by which Satan is made to fall from Heaven like lightning his strongest holds beaten down the Key of knowledge by which is opened to us the whole counsel of God there be the Sacraments Seals of righteousness which is by faith both of them as Glasses by which we see more clearly into the mystery of our Redemption and as Monuments before our eyes of Gods exceeding love to us in Christ Jesus and besides all these
not too long a time and that they should in his good and appointed time be changed up into the glory of Heaven and that all the Enemies of the Church should at length by the power of Christ their victorious Captain be thrown into the ever burning Lake of fire and brimstone We may divide the whole Booke briefly Partitio libri for I must not stand long upon this Discourse Divide it I may I come not to expound the whole Book and the Text it selfe affords matter enough for this short time though I eke it out with a borrowed part of another hour into a Preface Paraeus to the ninth verse of the first Chapter the Prophecy it self from thence to the sixteenth verse of the last Chapter and from thence to the end the Epilogue or Conclusion We are now in the midst of the Prophecy and the whole Prophecy may be distinguished into 7 several visions notoriously distinct asunder to them that read them with careful observation which Christ was pleased for the future good of his Church to shew to his beloved St. John whilst he lived a banisht man in the Isle of Pathmos I may not stand now to shew you these 7 Visions with the subject-matter of them I read not a Lecture upon them all nor upon any one intirely This Text is a small part of the fourth Vision which takes up three whole Chapters the twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth It is of the Woman travelling in birth and the Draggon gaping to devour the fruit of her womb of her flight into the Wildernesse and his pursuit after her resisted by Michael and his Angels then of the two Beasts one with seven heads and ten horns the other with two horns like a Lamb which spake as a Draggon both persecuting the Saints then of the victorious Lamb upon that Mount Sion and of the three Angels one preaching the Gospel another proclaiming the fall of Babylon a third denouncing punishment to them that worship the Beast Lastly of Christ upon the Cloud with a sharp sickle in his hand and the Angel proclaiming the last Harvest of the World and the Vintage and Wine-presse of the Wrath of God All this is the subject of the fourth Vision in which the future estate of Gods Church in this World even from the Infancy of it under the Ministry of Christs Apostles unto the end of the World is far more cleerly shaddowed out unto us than in the former Visions The third Angel begins at the 9. verse of this Chapter and continues to the end of the 11. Then in the 12. and 13. verses part of the last whereof I read unto you follows an Epiphonema of exhortation and consolation to the Saints of God that in all these vexations with which Antichrist shall grate them they persevere with patience and constancy in the faith of Christ and obedience to his Gospel that they faint not under their tribulations but hold out to the end being held up with the hope of eternal felicity in Heaven which is here propounded The Exhortation to perseverance is in the 12. verse the Argument for it is taken from that Tragical end that miserable and wofull event which must befall Antichrist and his unsound followers that seeing they shall at last drink of the Wine of the Wrath of God and drink it off the very dregs of it that they shall be tormented with fire and brimstone and shall have no rest day and night here is the patience of the Saints v. 12. Here is an Argument for their perseverance that the Holy ones of God who keep the Commandments of God and the saith of Jesus that they suffer manfully under the bitterest Tyranny of their Adversaries as knowing that it shall at last be guerdon'd to them with the fearfull endlesnesse of insufferable torments in Hell fire Then follows the Consolation in this verse of my Text And I heard a voice from Heaven saying Write blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord The Argument which the Holy Ghost here useth to strengthen and comfort them ready now to droop under the weight of their sufferings is drawn from the assurance of the most inestimable Reward eternal bessednesse in Heaven and that Death it selfe the last and greatest evil with which the faithfull can be afflicted by their most despiting enemies is no evil at all for it is the ready though straight and narrow and severe Way to the certain joy and glory of the Heavenly Kingdome I heard a voice from Heaven from thence we see though through a cloud through the water of that and the tears of our owne eyes our comfort comes 'T is most certain most true were it the voice of God himselfe or of one of his Angels at his command St. John sayes not whether but the voice of Christ himselfe his Sheep are sure it is they know his voice the same in effect which we have heard from him before in his holy Gospel more than once Joh. 5.24 Verily verily I say unto you he that hears my Words and believes on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Rom. 8.1 and there is no condemnation too to them in the ears of whose Souls are the words of Christ and in John 8.51 not without another and another a double Verily I say unto you to cast off all doubt If a man keep my saying he shall nevtr see death the eternall the cursed death The very same to all purposes that this Voice sayes here Write blessed are the dead c. There are three things observable in this Voice from Heaven Divisio Versus first the command to Write Christ will not put his Church to trust to the uncertainty the deceivableness of unwritten Traditions but as in the beginning there was a generall command for the writing of this whole Prophecy Write sayes Christ to the Prophet St. John chap. 1. v. 19. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter so has he here again a special command for the writing of this heavenly voice concerning the blessednesse of them who die in the Lord he will have our comfort confirm'd to us here as the Divel 's several suggestions were rejected and confuted by himselfe Matt. 4. with a Scriptum est the Scripture the written Word of God shall be the ground as of our Faith so of our Hope our incouragement and consolation through that Faith Secondly the Argument the substance of what he is commanded to deliver to the Church by writing blessednesse And thirdly the assurance and proofe of this blessednesse by two strong Reasons one that they are now gotten to the end of their Race that they enjoy a perpetual rest from all the labours and sufferings which they have sustained under the Sun they rest from their labours and the other that they have so
a Curse from sudden death good Lord deliver us when we have not made our selves acquainted with it and digested in our thoughts the worst that it can do then is it true indeed that S. Paul hath fore-warn'd us 1 Thess 5.2 that the day of the Lord commeth as a Thief in the night Then as the Fishes that are taken in an evil Net and as the Birds Eccles 9.12 that are caught in a snare so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them First therefore we consider how bitter how fearfull and terrible a thing death is in it selfe to all mankinde and how grievous it continues to the Natural man Secondly How the bitterness of it is taken away by Christ to the Faithfull and that to them it is made a way to blessednesse How unpleasing death is in it selfe Part. 1 to mans Nature appears Mors terribilis in that it is so contrary to Nature that it destroys our being in Nature which every thing that hath a being does by an instinct of Nature labour to preserve but those things that have life especially and so a sence and knowledge of their being nothing is so irrecoverably hurtfull to them as death which takes away their being the very Beast trembles at it But Man above all who is indued with understanding to know more than by a sensitive knowledge the benefit of his Being how does he even by Nature shrink at the fear of it Behold Saul the King of Israel the stout and valiant man so train'd up and exercised in war who had slain many men and been so conversant with the face of death in its cruellest and most ugly shapes yet when it came to concern himselfe when he heard from that spirit which the Witch of Endor had raisd in the likenesse of Samuel that to morrow he and his Sons should be with him his courage fail'd him and his heart fainted he was so stricken with a sudden fear of amazement that half-dead already with the news of death he fell all along on the earth 1 Sam. 28.20 I even the best of meer men Gods holy Servant David by the dictate of Nature apprehended this fear and fled from Saul 1 Sam. 26.13 and Eliah feared and fled from the threats of Jezabel 1 King 19. and those holy men those hundred Prophets of the Lord together thrust themselves into Caves for fear of her raging 1 Kings 18. I beyond all these our Saviour Christ himselfe that holy one Gods Righteous Servant Is 53.11 that had done no wickednesse 1 Pet. 2.22 nor was there any deceit in his mouth he as he was Man yielding to the power to the very weakest of humane nature in himselfe did not free himself from this fear of death I speak not of his quitting his place and departing by ship into a desart upon the beheading of John Matth. 14. but when the treason of Judas grew close upon him when he was at hand that betrayed him then did he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 26.37 The word is two significant for our English phrase it signifies such a deadly griefe and astonishment with fear as makes all the spirits faint within being utterly forsaken of help now do the sorrowes of the grave compasse him the snares of death overtake him Ps 116.3.18.4 and the flouds of wickednesse make him afraid Beloved if he suffered the force of Nature to prevail so far to be so strong in him what can the strongest of weak men hope to meet with in his encounter with death if left to himselfe and that help which Humane Nature can afford him but faintnesse of heart and dejectednesse of spirit and a trembling of his best bloud through every joynt 'T is a strong and violent breach of one of the goodliest Frames of Nature for I speak still of the Natural man when the Soul is inforc'd from the body we hear not without a secret compassion the forsaken Oxe bemoaning his owne losse with his lowing when his Fellow that had long drawn with him in the same yoke is haled from him to the slaughter The Turtle does more upon the losse of her Mate mourns in solitarinesse and pines away When two friends who have converst together in amity for some years space are now to be parted and removed into several places far distant where they shall no more enjoy the pleasure of each others familiarity I speak it feelingly and I even weep it he whose remove we now grieve though I alwayes reverenc'd him as my Lord yet he vouchsaf'd even to love me as his Friend what sadnesse is this to them and how pensively do they brook it Think when a man and wife who have spent much time together in that near tie of love and mutual society shall at last be parted by that violent necessity and unkind stroke of death what a heart-breaking it must be to the Husband to have the wife of his bosome whom his soul lov'd so tenderly to be rent from his side by that Iron-hand of dissolution now all his joyes leave him and he refuseth to be comforted because she is not And then think withall what a sad divorce this muct needs prove betwixt the soul and the body who have liv'd long together in a strict neernesse of affection as greater cannot be when the soul must leave the body his so dear Consort to which he gave life and form'd a better being when he must be forc'd to take into his consideration the miserable condition that then attends either of them first for the body that it must after a few hours be shut up in a dark and loathsome Grave and be made food for Worms and Toads that body which now lives and breathes and sees and speaks and hears and stretches it selfe upon a bed of Down presently to be laid forth upon the cold earth blinde and deafe and dumb without sence without speech without life that body which was so lately cherish'd with such variety of food whose belly and palate was courted and serv'd with the riches of Sea and Land which was cloathed with Silks and Purple and was lodg'd in a Couch of Ivory deck'd with Coverings of Tapestry with carved works about it and fine linnen upon it and perfumed with Myrrh Aloes and Cinnamon and was defended from heat and cold and the least unpleasing Ayre with a thousand divis'd curiosities which liv'd in stately Palaces of magnificent structure and costly furniture that delicate body to be so soon clapt up with a Habeas Corpus into so narrow a Prison into a loathsom stinking Grave of dead Carkasses full of bones and rottennesse noysomnesse and Vermine and it more noysom than they What a thought of horrour must this be to the afflicted soul in behalf of the body when he contemplates that sad change Instead of his lofty Palace the homliness of a Sepulchre of his soft bed the harshnesse of the earth of his
presence is the fulnesse of joy and they who are plac'd on his right hand shall have pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 I shall have no time at all to speak of that which all time and all the tongues and pens of the most ready Writers imployed all that time can never expresse the excellency and dignity of this place so high seated which we may in some sort measure by the stars each of which being so huge a bulk does therefore only seem so small to us because it is so high above us But this Holy City far above them so large in extent that we can never name the height and largenesse of it S. Johns twelve thousand furlongs Rev. 21. and his hundred forty four cubits by the Angels measure was but of that City which descended out of Heaven a small Epitome of this All the several Dominions of all the Princes in the world put all together are not so much as one star there and yet how numberlesse to us are they and what another infinite number of them could it contain O Israel how great is the House of God! and how large is the place of his possession Great and hath no end high and unmeasurable Baruch 3.24 we may a little guesse and but guesse at the surpassing beauty and magnificent structure of it by comparison with this place where we now dwell this Stabulum Pecudum as one cals it this Ox-stall in respect this place of exile this Vale of miseries and fears yet this hath that great Work-master builded of so famous a frame such a goodly aspect to our sense has the large Theatre of this World the roofe of Heaven over us so fairly adorned gilded enamel'd the Pavement of earth under us so spread with Natures Carpets of all colours pleasing to the eye such spacious Seas such sweet Springs and gliding Rivers the Mountains so stately without pride the Valleyes so low without envy the Woods so pleasant with their shade the Fields and Meadows so delightsome and profitable at this Spring time chiefly when the clearnesse of the Sky and the warmth of the Air helps our old Grandam Earth to spin and weave her Tapestry and all Trees to spread forth their Hangings not to speak of the erected Townes the sumptuous Cities and majestical Palaces the artificiall workes of mens hands if there be a meer Worldling that has mistaken his way and is by chance got to Church such a description as this is enough to make him mistake his Heaven too and take this World for it to make him wonder why Christ should ever go from such a Paradise of pleasure to prepare any other place why he is so taken with the shew of these that he could be content to set up his rest here to conclude with Peter Bonum est esse hic these delights do so possesse his heart that he sticks in the gay mire of them lifts not up his thoughts above them But know O thou man of this World all this which is wealthy enough to be thy Heaven is so poor and contemptible for Christs sake that it is scarce worthy to be the Christians Dung-hill however Phil. 3.8 one of the best of them S. Paul will at best bestow no better a name upon it we must learne by these to meditate what far better cost and more unmatchable worke our God and Father has bestowed upon his owne heavenly habitation the Palace of the great King the New Jerusalem the outside of it we can see and that we see bedeckt with so many thousands of thousands of glittering spangles of rich Gems the inside of it the blessed Saints onely and Angels in Heaven behold with God and we cannot immagine the beauty of it Eye hath not seen nor eare heard neither hath entred into the heart of man to conceive the things that God hath prepared there for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 'T is but Humanum loquor that which mans Reason is capable of the description which S. John gives of it the Jasper and pure gold those precious stones the Saphire and Emerald and Sardonix and Sardius and Chrysolite Rev. 21. O quam dilecta Tabernacula O how amiable are thy Dwellings thou Lord of hosts Psal 84.1 Blessed are they that dwell in thy House they will be alwayâ—s praising thee v. 4. And shall we beloved who know there is such a place there whose excellency we cannot know here shall we still so over-please our selves with the Gawds of this lower World as to keep back our Conversation from being in Heaven Shall we spend our time in striving for place here Matth. 23.6 for the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the cheefe Sears in Synagogues till we shuffle our selves out of this place this uppermost room and great Feast the Supper of the Lamb the Supper of the great God Rev. 19.9 17. This Kingdome if that will inflame our hearts with a longing for it I appoint unto you a Kingdome Luke 22.29 not an earthly Kingdome such as the Mother of Zebedees children dream'd of Matth. 20. No his Kingdome is not of this World v. 20 21. but such as his Father had appointed unto him Joh. 18.36 so are all they who are wash'd from their sins in his bloud made Kings unto God and to his Father Rev. 1.5 not a temporary but an everlasting Kingdome of his Kingdome saies Daniel shall be no end Dan. 4.3 The word Mansion here intimates the durance the perpetuity of it a manendo no fear no danger of the losse of it of trouble in it such a glorious Kingdom saies Solomon and such a beautifull crowne is there to be received at the Lords hands Wisd 5.16 And if this will not I know not what outward expression can make us pray heartily every day Adveniat Regnum tuum adveniat nobis Let thy Kingdome come to us that holy passionate desire which David had to enter into these courts of the Lord Psal 84.2 This place which Christ is gone to prepare for us The Preparation of the place is another branch of this second Generall part Vado parare Vado parare he goes upon an Errand for all his Disciples to prepare this place for them But if this be all the occasion to draw Christ from them one would think he should not need to make such haste for them for if we remember this place needs not now preparing 't was prepared long since What saies Christ to the Guests of it Mat. 25.34 Come ye blessed inherit the Kingdom Paratum vobis à constitutione mundi prepared for you when even from the beginning of the world Surely Man was borne to no lesse than a Kingdome from the begining In the very begining see it Let us make Man Gen. 1.26 saies God in our Image after our likenesse what then why presently in the next words Let them have dominion over the Fish of the Sea and over the Fowle of the Air and over all the Cattell and over all
FOUR SERMONS PREACH'D By the Right Reverend FATHER in GOD JOHN TOWERS D. D. L. Bishop of Peterburgh 1. At the Funerall of the Right Honorable William Earl of Northampton 2. At the Baptism of the Right Honorable James Earl of Northampton 3. Before King JAMES in Defence of The Material Church 4. Before K. CHARLES at White-Hall in time of Lent He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Rev. 2.7 London Printed for Thomas Rooks and are to be sold at the sign of the Lamb at the East end of S. Pauls near the School 1660. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE JAMES Earl of NORTHAMPTON And to his Excellent Lady ISABELLA The Right Honorable Countess of NORTHAMPTON Right Honorable my singular good Lord IT is now more than time that these holy Sermons should come to light into the light of this World to be themselves a Light to the World after so many years since the departure of the Reverend and Religious Author of them into the light of God When they first come abroad whom ought they earlier to greet than your noble Lordship that his Posthume Papers might crave protection from the same Family which gave Patronage to his living Person From the service of the Earldom he went up to wait upon the Throne and yet did never forget Your Castle-Ashby after his arrive to the Kings White-Hall though he was found to have merit enough to entitle his attendance upon the two best Peers in Chaplainry to your Grandfather who deserved to be in respect of the Earldom though there was a deserv'd and much more ancient rise of the noble name of the Comptons Ortus Domus suae a fairer commendation than which the quickest best-tongu'd Orator could not invent for himself and in Tutorage to your Father whose fall was so valiant that he chose to pay a magnanimous Death rather than to owe a bestowed Life though from thence the same merit carried him on to do yearly homage to the two choicest Kings James the wise and Charles the Religious yet he had also humble Gratitude enough to confesse aloud it was Northampton's Arm more than his own hand and Pen that rais'd him My good Lord you see already your just Title to the whole But you have still a more peculiar Interest in these selected four One of them was Preach'd at that Parish which was all your Ancestors and the Authors Nine parts yours and the Tithes his and Tither of duty it ought to return Another at your owne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the second the Baptismall Birth of your Noble selfe A third at the third Birth of the most munificent your Fathers Father when he had pass'd over the life of Nature and the life of Grace and was receiv'd up into the life of Glory A fourth is added to expiate the delay in payment of the three former Nay my most noble Lord all this will not suffice that you should have title to these Composures from your Progenitors from your selfe from the Author unlesse I humbly acknowledge the right you have in my Transcription too from the claim which your Honour may lay to my very selfe also your interest in me your jurisdiction over me your purchase of me Your Honor had interest in me before I was so happy as to see your Lordship or so wise as to know my felf even whilst I was yet in Lumbis for sure our Birth is not so wholly wretched as to have nothing else entail'd upon us at our coming into the world besides original sin we are even born with respects and duties and devotions to originall Benefactors too Your jurisdiction over me shall never be disown'd by me whilst I have breath Dum spiritus hos regit Artus in that since I had breath your Lordship was the first Master I ever had Master and Father too by your purchase of me in that I did eat of your Lordships bread when by the common calamities of the Times and the deserv'd ones of my own I had no bread of my own to eat but went abroad to Preach the Gospel like the Gospels first Disciples without Pâ—rse or Scrip. Luk. 22.35 And now my most excellently voriuous and meek Lady is not your right the same with my Noble Lords and has not your owne goodnesse bought a like interest in me I have nothing to return to either of your Honors but my prayers that You both may enjoy the whole benefit of this which is a dedication upon design that as you are regenerate by Baptism the discourse of one of these Homilies you may so love to serve God in his own House the subject of another that when your Bodies are interr'd in the Church the matter of a third your souls may be convey'd to that place which Christ is gone up to prepare for you the subject-matter of a fourth there to enjoy honour and bliss eternall 'T is really the Prayer of My Noble Lord and my Religious Lady Your Honors most Faithfull most obliged Servant William Towers A SERMON Preached at the FVNERALS of the Right Honorable WILLIAM EARL of Northampton Rev. 14.13 Beati Mortui qui in Domino moriuntur Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord. FOR the Authority of this Book of the Revelation of S. John Occasio Operis I should not need to plead but that for the honorable memory of the Person of Honour whose Body we now interr and because of the morenesse of Time since his death it will mis-become such an obliged Chaplain of such a bountifull Patron not to take pains somewhat more than ordinary and to exceed the hour in this last Publick Service which he performs for the most liberal of Masters to the meanest of Gods Houshold Servants Let this short Apology bear me out in my prolixnesse after since by his own example I desire to do much of good at his Death to those who are come hither to remember him and to mourn their own losse though in his blessednesse the businesse of whose Life was to do all good to all The joynt consent of the Ancient and Modern Church Authoritus Libri hath with an easie refutation of some weak objections to the contrary and with a constant and unanimous submission of their Faith and Obedience to the Contents of it by the direction of the Holy Spirit received this Book into and by the special Providence of the same Spirit preserved it in the Canon of the Scripture That the blessed Apostle and Evangelist S. John was the Author of it by writing we doubt not and that being the Apostle of Christ he wrote this as he did his Gospels and Epistles being inspir'd by the Holy Ghost to remain in the Church of Christ as Apostolical Scripture for confirmation whereof Vers 1. He cals it also in the beginning The Revelation of Jesus Christ and tels us that God gave it unto him and that he sent and signifi'd it by his Angel
sight then wast thou not made the Head of the Tribes then the Lord annointed thee King over Israel 1 Sam. 15.17 God looks upon us as we look upon things through a Perspective-Glasse to see great things we use it not but with it we look at small things for this Glasse makes such as them great in our eyes so these men that are great I wis in their owne thoughts that say with the Church of Laodicea Rev. 3.17 that they are rich and increased with goods c. when they are poor and miserable they that thus belye themselves with a false conceit of Greatnesse God looks not on them at all He that telleth lyes shall not tarry in my sight Psal 101. But behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him that are so little as to be afraid and so humble as to mistrust themselves and to put their trust in his mercy Psal 33.17 Those that do with the ten Lepers in S. 17.12 18.13 Luke and with the humble Publican stare à longe stand a far off To us they seem small and of no reputation but the Perspective eye of his wisdome makes them great when they are little in their own sight then does he make them as the Heads of their Tribes He is not like these Children that brags with the Pharisee Luke 18.11 he is not like other men yes like men like natural men he is but not like Children like these Children and he makes himselfe most unworthy of this Kingdome who sayes of himselfe as the Jews of the Centurion Luke 7.4 that he is worthy for whom the Lord should do this Non Non sum dignus we learn from one that was worthier than any of us a greater than whom was not among the sons of women Matth. 11.11 I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his shooe Luke 3.16 Quis ego sum Domine was the question of a great King Lord who am I saies David 1 Chron. 29.14 and minor sum was the answer of a holy Patriarch I am lesse than the least of thy mercies saies Jacob Gen. 32.10 Like those Plutarch writes of that saild to Athens to get Philosophy first they were called Sophistae wise men after that Philosophi but Lovers of wisdome then Rhetores onely Reasoners and Discoursers last of all Idiotae simple unletter'd men still the more they profited in learning the lesse they acknowledg'd it so these holy men like Circles the nearer they came to their Centre Christ Jesus upon whom they rest the lesse still they made themselves And so must we in spiritual graces study to be great but not know it as the stars in the firmament though they exceed the earth in bignesse yet seem much lesse and the higher and bigger of them lesse than the least In alto non altum sapere not to be high-minded in high deserts is the way to high preferment The preferment in my Text Regnum Joh. 14.2 the Kingdom of Heaven 't has many Mansions saies Christ but 't has not one for a high-minded for a proud man no not for a proud Angel they when they lost their humility lost their place there and shall Man by getting pride get in thither Pride has once already sorely shaken the walls of Heaven and cast down the too big spirited spiritual Inhabitants and therefore a sure guard there is against the re-entry of such an enemy he had need be a strong man to recover that place which Angels could not hold freed by Gods grace in Christ from all sins but especially from that daring sin Angusta Porta though this Kingdome within be spacious and glorious Mat. 7.14 yet the gate is streight that leads unto life as they be few so those few are little ones humble ones Tales saies my Text such as these little Children that enter in thereat This grace of all other I know not how whether for the excellency of it in it selfe or for the necessity of it in regard of us there 's more to be said of it than of any other and a man has more to do to hold a mean it is both a Grace it selfe and a Vessel to comprehend other Graces and this is the nature of it the more it receiveth of the blessings of God the more it may for it ever emptieth it selfe by a modest estimation of it's owne gifts that God may alwayes fill it it wrestleth and striveth with God according to the policy of Jacob that is winneth by yielding and the lower it stoops to the ground the more advantage it gets to obtain the blessing O quam excelsus es Austin Confess Domine humiles corde sunt domus tuae O Lord how high and soveraigne art thou and yet the humble of heart are thy houses to dwell in Where is the house saies God that ye build unto me and where is the place of my rest To him will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my words Isa 66.2 What was it in the blessed Virgin the Mother of Gods First-born the Glory and Flower of Woman-kinde that God regarded so much she tels us in her Magnificat He hath regarded the lowlinesse of his Handmaid Lu. 1.48 yea the bloud and juice of the whole Song is in praise of this one Grace He hath scattered the proud he hath put down the mighty V. 51 52. he hath exalted the humble and meck I must end with this one Observation more that ye may be assur'd 't is this Grace of Humility is intended in the Talium of my Text this especially in which we must be like these children if we will gain the Kingdom of Heaven because the very same blessing in the very same words is in another place of the Gospel by Gods Charter confirm'd upon the very same Vertue Blessed are the poor in spirit Matt. 5.3 quoniam ipsorum est Regnum Coelorum for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven And if we hope to enter this Kingdom by the help of this humble Poverty in spirit let none of us be so proud to refuse to learne and practise the Prayer of a King against Pride Let not the foot of Pride come against me Psal 36.12 Let not the proud man insult o're me and trample on me with his feet so some expound it I let not the sinne of Pride get any foot-hold in my heart so the very Letter will warrant S. Austin's Exposition Non veniat mihi pes superbiae that so we being like little Children may be suffered to come to this Child that was born to us that we may meeke and lowly creep to him who himselfe is meek and lowly in heart to him in whom the Father blesseth us with spirituall blessings in heavenly places Ephes 1.3 who himselfe was thus highly exalted to this Kingdom not without his Propter quod even for this cause that he humbled himselfe and who will with the Reward of the
there is the exercise of Common-Prayer and joint praising in a more peculiar respect whereto it is termed called the House of Prayer Prayer and praise too saies the Psalmist wayteth for God in Sions Praise waiteth for thee O thou that hearest prayer Psal 65.1 2. It cannot be small comfort to enjoy are such consolations of God Vid. Hier. in Ps 31. p. 306. ad finem as these small with any Job 15.11 or small losse to be deprived of the fruition of these things By the want of publick Prayer to omit the other inconveniencies a man is destitute of that quickening which the children of God receive by being provok'd edified and inflam'd with one anothers forwardness and hath lesse interest in that blessing which the joynt Prayers of more of the Faithfull with a united force do bring down in a full measure upon those by whom they are offer'd up and presented to the Throne of Grace And however a man in his own reason may imagine he does well enough with the private use of Prayer though he enjoy not the publick yet this alone that there is no such promise of blessing to the single as to the concurrent nay none at all to the private if the publick be not waited upon and desired this cuts off all solatary contentment and grounded satisfaction therein and confirms the wo still upon those Eccl. 4.10 who not onely are alone but will be sequestred from the presence of God in the holy Assemblies Alas we do not generally understand our owne happinesse herein and as Christ said to the Woman of Samaria John 4.10 we do not know the gift of God else with what cheerfulnesse would men call upon themselves and out-call the Bell Come let us go to the Mountain of the Lord to the House of the God of Jacob and he will teach us his wayes Isa 2.3 How glad would they be with David when any should say unto them we will go into the House of the Lord Psal 122.1 Vp let us go and pray to the Lord of Hosts I will go also Zach. 8.21 Thus would it be if we had Davids heart Poore wofull miserable men they in the mean while who do even wilfully excommunicate and banish themselves from Gods House so as do not onely some Separatists who as if our Church because perhaps she wants some beauty and is certainly not altogether so faire here as she shall be in Heaven had therefore utterly lost her face flie from our Congregations as if they were so many Cages of unclean Birds or else Market-Cages of men more uncleane than they and our Recusants who because they see not their Breaden and Wooden gods amongst us refuse all society with us in holy things I must onely say to the former Can we not be holy at all unlesse we are more holy than all holy beyond the state of militarinesse Nulla fides pietasque viris Lucan qui castra sequuntur they have no faith no holiness who delight in war in a secular war Ps 68.30 and their holinesse is but imperfect their faith but a growing faith who are banded in a spirituall warfare and to the latter Can we not be holy unlesse we are unholy too not serve God unless him onely Mat. 4.10 Mat. 6.24 2 King 5.18 we do not serve unlesse we serve Mammon as well as God unlesse we bow in the House of Rimmon as well as in Gods House unlesse we bow to the God of the King of Syria as well as to Elisha's God the God of Israel unlesse we have our severall sorts of holy waters those of Abana and Pharpar Vers 12. as well as holy Baptismal water that one of Jordan But too many others there are who will have no House and in a manner no God too who caring only for their purses that they may not pay for their abscence and a little for their reputation that they may not be thought plain Atheists do otherwise almost wholly cast themselves out of the presence of God in their carnall lazinesse they cannot rise time enough and loose prophanenesse they have somewhat else to do than to take care for Heaven passing over many of these dayes wherein the service of God in these Houses can have no attendance from them they have no love to the preaching of the Word no respect nor appetite to the Sacraments no delight to the duties of Invocation and Prayer Not in this place that 's the point we stand upon from this Text further we cannot judge They will say they pray at home perhaps they do so but shall God appoint a House for the Prayer of the Church and shall not the Church in gratitude as well as obedience appoint Prayer for the House of God Because no man hath hitherto been so impious as plainly directly to condemn Prayer therefore the best stratagem Satan has who knows his Kingdome to be no way more shaken than by the publick devout Prayers of Gods Church in Gods Church is by traducing the dignity of the place yea Gen. 3.1 has God said that his House is a House of Prayer and the necessity of the number to bring both of them into contempt and so to slack the fervency of mens devotion towards them he has made some in this case wiser in their generation than he could hope to make either David Luk. 16.8 who notwithstanding the one of his suggestions would still worship God in the beauty of holinesse Psal 96.9 or S. Paul who should be likely to prevail with God as much as one and yet he not yielding to that other temptation thought it much more both for Gods glory and his own good if Prayers might be made and thanks given in his behalfe by a number of men by many persons 2 Cor. 1.11 O the true judgement of the Ancient Church in this point Lib. de Ponit delivered to us by the Fathers by S. Ambrose Multi minimi dum congregantur sicut nives sunt magni multorum preces impossibile est conteri ones single prayer like one feather of Snow soon melts away whereas many of both these littles grow to much so much that God cannot slight the Prayers which come from the consent of his many Apolog. 1.39 by Tertullian we come by troops to the place of Assembly that being banded as it were together we may be supplicants enow to besiege God with our Prayers by more than these but I am weary of this cavil and your trouble The Lord of his infinite mercy give us such a due respect to these publick Devotions that he may not in his wrath Psal 95. ult Ps 51.11 take away both the place of his Rest and his holy Spirit from us that he may not leave us to our owne Styes to our owne Spirits to nothing else but a bare pretence to his Holy Ghost Psal 106.48 and let all the most deluded of his People say Amen A
SERMON Preached in the Lent at White-Hall before K. CHARLES John 14.2 Vado parare vobis locum I goto prepare a place for you PAlatum ejus dulcissimum saith the Spouse of Christ Cant. 5.16 As we have well translated it His mouth is most sweet and that most sweet because of that sweet doctrine those sweet instructions exhortations consolations those verba vitae aeternae acknowledged by Simon Peter Jo. 6.68 those words of eternal life that distil from it Jud. 14.14 And if ever Sampsons Riddle were a truth that out of the strong came sweet then nevermore than at this time when this strong Lion of the Tribe of Judah was to be rent and torn Rev. 5.5 when all his strength was for a while to be covered in weakness when as St. Paul speaks 2 Cor. 13.4 He was to be Crucified through weakness when he was to leave his sorrowful family to go from them his last farewel to them the last song of this spotlesse swan the Prologue to that direful Catastrophe his death the preparing his poor Disciples against it is most full of sweet to allay to temper the bitterness of their sorrow for it A miserable fear a bitter sorrow was lately wrought in them by that intimation of his departure in the end of the foregoing Chapter that modicum vobiscum V. 33. and non potestis venire that he had but a little while to be with them and worse then so whether he goes they cannot yet come and worse than that too during that time of his absence from them they should be sifted by Satan as wheat Luk. 22.31 they should be continually subject to the violence of his persecuting instruments and that which makes all this so much worse they who had hitherto liv'd in peace and in a competency of Estate while they enjoyed his presence should now from that fall into the mallice of the world they whose memory he had newly rubd'd with the contemplation of their former setled estate When I sent you without purse or scrip or shooes lacked ye any thing nothing Lu. 22.35 Now to them he that hath a purse let him take it he shall have need of it and he that hath no sword let him sell his garment rather than not buy one v. 36. A severe a strict Lent this was to them against his Passion because I have said these things unto you Tristitia implevit cor vestrum Jo. 16.6 sorrow hath fill'd your heart A strange nature of the little-great heart of man so wide so large it is of such immence infinite extent for the receit of joy it so opens it self for that that all the glad tidings which the world can afford are not able to fill it for that it still cryes give give till it findes that greatest joy of which it is not capable that joy which cannot come into his heart because his heart cannot contain it but his heart and self must enter into it intra in gaudium domini tui Mat. 25.21 Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord thy Lord and thy God 1 Joh. 3.20 who is major corde sayes S. John God is greater then thy heart but poure a drop or two of grief into it 't is soon fill'd 't is soon contracted into such a streight the poor worm that gladly stretches forth it self to the sun-shine of the spring does not more draw in his little body upon the suddain tread of a careless hoof then man shrinks in his heart at the report of losse or fear of smart that as a thick cloud makes our sun to set at noon so troubles our heart and presseth it to so narrow a context that it may be soon said to us tristitia in plevit cor sorrow hath soon fill'd our hearts And when can this Chapter begin more seasonably then upon a cor contritum and tribulatum upon a troubled heart when his Disciples hearts are so confounded with grief and fear in the last Chapter 't is high time to begin this and to begin it with this cordial Non turbetur cor vestrum Vers 1. let not your heart be troubled the ingredients to this cordial are two Faith and Hope Faith in the first verse ye believe in God believe also in me there must be a faith to lay hold on God in general and a faith to apprehend Christ also as God to believe him to be God of the substance of his Father infinite Almighty and so able to overcome this death that though he goes from them yet he goes not one step only to his death but another step to his resurrection and a third step to his assension and then comes in hope v. 2. a fit ingredient too for hearts-ease but for which we say in our Proverb the heart would break hope whose object is some future good to our selves though hard yet possible so the Schoole defines it possible though not by our selves yet by the help of this Christ whom we believe in as God the future good is the many mansions in his Fathers house and the possibility of our attaining them by his help is in my Text Vado parare I go to prepare a place for you So then as to his former speeches it suited well because I have said these things unto you sorrow hath fill'd your heart so to this and that which followes it will as well agree which our Saviour has in the beginning of the 16. chapter these things have I spoken to you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that ye should not be offended for that there was a Contristabimini ye shall be sorrowfull and for this a Tristitia vestra vertitur in gaudium Joh. 16.20 but your sorrow shall be turned into joy His vado which before was such cause of griefe to them express'd by Simon Peters lamentable expostulation as well as question Domine quo vadis Lord Jo. 13.36 whither and Lord why to what end goest thou from us that it may now refresh them with consolation has an Expedit annex'd to it John 16.7 It is expedient for you that I go away expedient that so ye may receive the Holy Ghost to lead you into all truth If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And therefore is that John 7.39 The Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified Expedient for the weaning them from their Milk that so he might ' begin to feed them with stronger meat for the withdrawing them from that bodily knowledge they had of him and that carnall affection they bare to him to a more sublime knowledge of him as God so as to know him is eternal life the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent John 17.3 and to a more spirituall love of him to love God as S. John speaks 1 John 4.20 whom they see not that his absence from their sight might be an exercise