his creature between whom and him there is an infinite distance and disproportion nay not with the Noblest House among those creatures not with Angels those heavenly Courtiers He is their Head not their Husband though by matching with them he had matched somewhat more like himself but with sinful polluted Dust and Ashes That our spiritual souls should be joyned to our earthly bodies is much yet here is some proportion both are limited created beings but that God should marry with Man is infinitely more It s said of the King of Babylon that he lifted up the head of Jehojachin out of Prison and spake kindly to him and changed his Prison Garments and set his Throne above the Throne of the Kings that were with him 2 Kings ult cap. 27 28 29. Man was a poor Prisoner bound and fettered with his own corruptions kept up close by the Devil his Jaylor and condemned to suffer the pains of eternal death but loe the Philanthropy and kindness of God he sendeth his onely Son to open the Prison Doors having first satisfied the Law for the breach of which they were cast in and removed its curse which was as a Pad-Lock on the Prison Gate to to keep it fast set the poor captives at liberty change their nasty Prison weeds and to exalt their nature above the nature of glorious Angels by marrying it to himself Canst thou find in thy heart Friend to abuse such Matchless Grace and Favour Is not that begger mad that should refuse the real offers of a Match from a Gracious Emperour Shall Majesty thus stoop to Misery in vain I must tell thee its infinite abasement in God thus to make suit to thee but it s the highest preferment thou art capable of nay such as it had been blasphemy to have desired it had not God offered it to close with him I come now to the Articles of this Marriage which truely are no more then thou requirest of thy own wife if thou hast any and therefore thou canst not but think them reasonable I shall propound them to thee in these two Questions First Art thou heartily willing to take Jesus Christ for thy Saviour and Soveraign Canst thou love him with the hottest superlative love as thy Husband Its one thing to love a man as a Friend and another thing to love him as thy Husband canst thou give him the keys of thy heart and keep thy affections as a fountain sealed up from others and opened onely for him and in subordination to him Wilt thou honour him with the highest honour as thy Lord submitting to his spirit as thy guide and to his laws as thy rule Is thy soul so ravished with the beauty of his person the excellency of his promises and the equity of his precepts that thou darest promise through his strength to be a loving faithful and obedient wife Have the hot beams of that love which have been darted forth from this Sun of Righteousness as the rays of the Sun united in a glass turned thee into a flame that thy heart is now ascending and mounting to Heaven where thy Beloved is and thou canst no more live without him then thy body without thy soul Art thou willing to be sanctified by his spirit that thou mightest be prepared for his bosome and embraces and to be saved alone by his merits as the onely procuring cause of all thy hopes and happiness Wilt thou take him for better and for worse for richer and for poorer with his cup of affliction as well as his cup of consolation with his shameful Cross as well as his glorious Crown chosing rather to suffer with him then to reign without him to dye for him then to live from him Such as marry thou knowest must expect trouble in the flesh Christianity like the Wind Caecias doth ever draw clouds and afflictions after it but thy future glory and pleasure will abundantly recompence thee for thy present pain and ignominy Secondly Wilt thou presently give a bill of Divorce to all other lovers and keep the bed of thy heart wholly for him Shall the evil of sin never more have a good look from thee but as Ammon served Tamar shall the hatred wherewith thou hatest those filthy strumpets with whom thou hast had cursed dalliances and committed spiritual fornication be greater then the love wherewith thou hast loved them Canst thou pack away the bond-woman and her son and these things not at all be greivous in thy sight that thy whole joy and delight may be in and all that thou art worth preserved for the true Isaac Shall this Sun reign alone in the Heavens of thy heart without any Competitour As when a Dictatour was created at Rome there was a supersedeas to all other authority so if Christ be exalted in thy soul there must be a cessation of all other rule and power Christ will not be a King meerly in dirision as the Jews made him nor as the stump of Wood was to the Frogs in the Fable whom every lust may securely dance about and provoke These are the terms upon which this match so honourable and profitable is offered to thee give up an hearty Yea to these two equitable Articles and thou art made for ever Refuse it and thou art miserable above all apprehensions and beyond Millions of ages even to all eternity What sayst thou to it Shall I put the same Question to thee which they put to Rebekah Wilt thou go with this Man In thy denyal there is no less then eternal Death Methinks the thoughts of that fire and Brimstone should force thee to flye to this Zoar In thy unfeigned hearty acceptance there is no less then Heaven and eternal life What wouldst thou not do to continue natural life What then shouldst thou not do or suffer for eternal life It may be thou desirest time to consider of it as Rebekahs Mother thou art willing to the match but wouldst not have it yet concluded Austin bewails it in himself that when God was drawing him to Christ his carnal pleasures represented themselves before his eyes Saying What wilt thou leave us for ever and shall we be no more with thee for ever And then he threw himself down and weeping cryed out O Lord how long how long shall I say to morrow why not to day Lord why not to day Why should there not be an end of my sinful life this hour But beleive it delays are dangerous especially in works of such weight If thou answerest as Rebekah did I will go Chear up poor soul what ever thy course or carriage hath been thy Husband is able and willing to pay all thy scores were they a million for a mite and come forth behold thy beloved in his imbroydery and glory see how his Arms are stretcht out to embrace thee his Lips are ready to kiss thee O what a look of love he giveth thee sure I am thou art more in his heart then in thine own
secretly to her Vault and with the skirt of his Manâ—le wiped the moysture from the Carcass and still at the return of his temptation laid it before him saying Behold this is the beauty of the Womad which thou didst so much desire And the Man at last with that moysture of the Corps put out the Fire The godliness of the World its whole glory and gallantry is but a curious Picture drawn on Ice which affords no good footing for whilst we are standing on it we are sliding from it and who would lay the stress of his felicity upon so slippery a foundation No wise man ever put his chiefest goods and riches in such low damp rooms where they will corrupt and putrifie Hipocrates affirmeth that all immoderations are Enemies to the health of the body Sure I am they are to the health of the soul The amity of the World is emnity against God All the Water is little enough to run in the right Channel therefore none should run beside The time is short use the World as net abusing it 1 Cor. 7.29 Secondly That you chuse the good part that shall never be taken from you Mans heart will be fixt on somewhat as its hope and happiness God therefore puts out our Candles takes away Relations that we may look up to the Sun and esteem him our chiefest portion When we are Digging and Delving in the Earth to find out content and comfort he sendeth damps purposely to make us call to be drawn upward Till the Prodigal met with a Famine he regarded not his Father If the Waters be abated the Dove is apt to wander and defile her self but when they cover the face of the earth and allow her no rest then she returneth to the Ark. I hope there is a good work begun in you which shall be finished at the day of Christ But every one stande h or falleth to their own Master Get Scripture on your side and you are safe for ever The Romans when they parted from the bones of their Dead friends for they burnt them took their leave in such language Vale Vale Vale Noste ordine quo natura permiserit sequemur Farewel Farewel Farewel We shall follow thee in the time and order which nature alloweth us You may say of your Husband as David of his Child I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Prepare therefore for your dying hour Labour to be rich in godliness Grace alone is special bayl against death It is such wealth as will be currant in the other World lay up your treasure in Heaven where neither Thief nor Moth neither Men nor Divels can rob you of it Take God in Christ for your Heaven and you are happy in spight of the World Death and Hell You know the living comfort of your dying Husband was that though his flesh and heart failed him yet God was the strength of his heart and his portion for ever And it was a memorable speech of His when some Friends came to him and commended the richness and magnificence of Hampton Court newly trimmed and adorned for the reception of her Majesty One drop of the blood of Christ is more worth then all the World I must tell you there is no such Cordial in a day of Death as this Covenant-Relation to the Lord of life The Child may walk in that dark entry without fear if he have but his Father by the hand Though I walk in the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none ill for thou art with me Death indeed is strong it overcometh Principalities and Powers but as strong as it is it cannot separate God and the godly person It may dissolve the natural union betwixt soul and body but not the mystical union betwixt God and the soul The Saints dye in the Lord they sleep in Jesus O Couzen be married to Christ and you are made for ever Heaven is the Joynture and Death one of the Servants or slaves of her that is the Spouse of this Lord. Death is yours ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3.21 Other men are Deaths it hath dominion over them but Death is yours your servant to strip off your rags of sin and misery and to cloath you with the Robes of joy and glory The ensuing Discourse was for the substantial part of it delivered at the Funeral of your dearest Relation on earth You gave me the Text and my indisposition of body allowed me then but little time which caused me now to make some enlargements and additions but it s the same body possibly in a little neater far from gaudy dress which was prepared for the Pulpit I present it to you not doubting of its acceptance for his sake whose death was the occasion of it The good Lord bless it to you requite your love to me and them that fear him make up the want of streams in the more abundant enjoyment of the fountain fill you with all the fruits of righteousness enable you to persevere and encrease in godliness and so to live with a good conscience that you may dye with much comfort and be a follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises so prayeth Your Servant for Jesus sake George Swinnock TO THE Right VVorshipful THE Mayor with the Recorder Jurats Common Council and the rest of the Inhabitants of his Native Town Maidstone in Kent Honoured and Beloved IT is a general observation that all creatures have propensity and inclination towards those places where they receive their births and beings Vegetatives which stand in the lowest rank of life thrive best because they delight most in those grounds whence they first grow Sensitives as they have an higher being so a stronger inclination to those parts where they are born The Prince of Philosophers telleth us that Fish usually stay with pleasure in those Waters in which they are bread Arist Hist Animal l. 4. c. 8 and Beasts in those Woods in which they are brought forth and that neither of them will remove without force and violence Nature hath planted in them both this principle of affecting their native places Hence it comes to pass that even these creatures have manifested their thank-fulness after their manner Trees acknowledge that sap which they borrow from the earth in which they stand in the tribute of leaves which they pay back to the same in Autumn The Storks are said to leave one of their young in that part of the Earth where they are hatched Patriam quisque amat non quia pulchram sed quia suam Sen. Men as they have a Nobler life so a greater love to their Native Country Heathen themselves have been famous for this Pericles the Athenian did so affect his Country-men that his usual speech was If none but my self should lead them to the shambles Plut. in vit as much as lyeth in me they shall be immortal When Cleomenes King of Sparta being greatly distressed had
a promise of help from Ptolemy King of Egypt Idem upon condition that his Mother and Son were sent to him as pledges Cratesiclea for so was his Mothers Name as soon as she understood it said to her Son who was affraid and ashamed to mention it to her How is it that thou hast concealed it so long and and hast not told me Come come put me straight into a Ship and send me whither thou wilt that this body of mine may do some good unto my Country before crooked Age consume it without profit Themistocles notwithstanding his Countrymen had banished him Diodor. drunk the blood of a Bull and poisoned himself to keep Artaxerxes who had sworn not to go against it without him from invading his Country [a] Pez Mel. Hist Codrus King of Athens [b] Tul. de Offic. Attilius Regulus General of the Romans and [c] Livie M. Curtius are renowned in History for sacrificing their lives for their Countries liberty The Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of like passions onely he acteth from higher principles and affecteth for holier purposes Religion doth not break the string of natural affection but wind it up to such a pitch as may make its stroaks more true and its sound more melodious Nehemiah was sad and pensive when the City of his Father was solitary Nehem. 2.3 The Jews were disconsolate when their native Country lay desolate Psa 137 beginning Paul could wish himself parted from Christ that his Kindred and Countrymen might be united to Christ Rom. 9.3 Greg. Nazianzen and Hierom report that the Jews to this day come yearly to the place where Jerusalem the City of their Fathers stood which was destroyed by Titus and Adrian and upon the day of the destruction of it weep over it As its natural to love so not unusual in our Kingdom for rich persons to manifest their love to their native parishes by large gifts to the poor But though my respects to you be sincere yet I may say in a sense Silver and Gold have I none to speak my affections by onely such as I have I give you A Treatise which may through the blessing of God help you to the true Treasure Bucholcerus blessed God Melch. Adam that he was born in the days and bred under the Dicipline of holy Melancthon I must Ingenuously acknowledge that it was a great mercy to me that I was born amongst you and brought up under as pious and powerful a Ministry there Mr. Thomas Wilson as most in England In Testimony of my unfeigned love I present you with this brief discourse which was conceived in your Pulpit and through the importunity of several of you brought forth to the Press The occasion of it as is well known to you was the Death of your Neighbour and my dear Relation Master Caleb Swinnock who was interred May 21. 1662 whose Father and Grand-father had three or four times enjoyed the highest honour and exercised the highest Office in your Corporation I am much of his mind who saith That Funeral Encomiasticks of the dead are often confections of poison to the living for many whose lives speak nothing for them will draw the example into consequence and be thereby led into hope that they may press an Hackny Funeral Sermon to carry them to Heaven when they dye and therefore am always sparing my self though I condemn not the custome in others where they do it with prudence and upon good cause My Friends holy carriage in his sickness besides his inoffensiveness for ought I ever heard in his health commandeth me to hope that his soul is in Heaven I had the happiness some time to be brought up with him in his Fathers Mr. Robert Swinnocks Family whose House I cannot but speak it to the glory of God had Holiness to the Lord written upon it His manner was to pray twice a day by himself once or twice a day with his Wife and twice a day with his Family besides singing Psalms Reading and Expounding Scriptures which morning and evening were minded The Sabbath he dedicated wholly to Gods service and did not onely himself but took care that all within his Gate should spend the day in secret and private duties and in attendance on publique Ordinances of their proficiency by the last he would take an account upon their return from the Assembly His house indeed was as Tremellius saith of Cramners Palaestra Pietatis a Scool of Religion I Write this not so much for the Honour of him of whose industry for the good of the souls committed to him I was a frequent eye witness and whose memory is blessed but chiefly for your good that as some of you do already so others also may be provoked to follow such gracious patterns I must tell you that what low thoughts soever any of you now may have of holy persons and holy practices yet when you come to look Death in the face and enter into your unchangeable estates a little of their grace and godliness will be of more worth in your esteems then the whole World Though the Saint be markt for a fool in the Worlds Calender at this day and the prosperous Sinner counted the wisest person yet when the eyes of sinners bodies are closed the eyes of their souls will be opened and then O then they will see and say according to that Apocryphal place which will be found Canonical for the matter of it We Fools counted his life to be madness Wisdom 5. 4 5. and his end to be without honour But now he is numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints The Subject of this Tractate is partly The true way to dye well which I am sure is of infinite concernment to your immortal souls and such a Lesson that if it be not learned you are lost for ever Laert. The Cynick cared not what became of his body when dead and the other Heathen could slight the loss of a Grave Facilis jactura Sepulchri a little Earth but without question it concerns you nearly to take care what becomes of your souls and you cannot so easily bear the loss of God and Heaven Men indeed are generally unwilling to hear of Death and the Minister who would urge them to it is as unwelcome as foul weather which usually comes before its sent for whatsoever hath a tendency to Death is killing the telling them of it sounds as mournfully in their ears as the tolling of a passing Bell and the making their Wills as frightful to them as the making their Graves Hence when they are riding post in the broad way of sin and the World and conscience would check and rein them in with the curbs of Death and Judgement they presently snap them in peices and stifle its convictions They dare not look into the book of Conscience to see how accounts stand between God and themselves but like Hauks
of dirt his earthly portion hath possession of it but the heart of a godly man is worth millions because its the Cabinet where this inestimable jewell is laid up The righteous is more excellent then his neighbour Pro. 12.26 because he partaketh of the divine nature God like gold enricheth whatsoever he is joyned to hence it is that things which excell in Scripture are usually said to be things of God as the garden of God Ezek. 28.13 The hill of God Ps 61.15 The mountains of God Ps 36.6 a city of God Jonah 3.3 the cedars of God Ps 80.10 That is the most excellent garden hill mountain city and cedars God is the perfection of thy Soul and therefore would if thy portion advance it to purpose O what an height of honour and happiness wouldst thou arrive at if this God were thine Now like a worm thou crawlest on and dwellest in the earth the meanest and basest of all the Elements that which brutes trample under their feet but then like an Eagle thou wouldst mount up to Heaven contemning these toys and leaving those babies for children and as an Angel alwaies stand in the presence of and enjoy inspeakable pleasure in him who is thy portion Thy life at present is low little differing from the life of a beast consisting cheifly in making provision for that which should be thy slave the flesh but thy life then would be high and noble much resembling the lives of those honourable Courtiers whose continual practice is to adore and admire the blessed and only Potentate Dost thou not find by experience that earthly things obstruct holiness and thereby hinder thy Souls happiness Alas the best of them are but like the wings of a butterfly which though curiously painted foul the fingers but if thine heart had but once closed with God as thy portion it would be every day more pure and nearer to perfection Thou hast it may be gold and silver why the Midianites camels had chaines of gold and were they ever the better Judg. 8.26 Many Brutes have had silver bells but their natures brutish still but O the excellency which God would adde to thy Soul by bestowing on it his own likeness and love CHAP. XIX God an universal and eternal portion 3. Gâ—d a perfect or univâ—â—sal portion Operaâ—i seqâ—tâ—r esse THirdly God is a universal portion God hath in himself eminently and infinitely all good things and Creatures are bounded in their beings and therefore in the comfort which they yeild Health answereth sickness but it doth not answer poverty Honour is an help against disgrace but not against pain Money is the most universall medicines and therefore is said to answer all things but as great a Monarch as it is it can neither command ease in sickness nor honours in disgrace much less quiet a wounded spirit At best Creatures are but particular beings and so but particular blessings Now man being a compound of many wants and weaknesses can never be happy till he find a salve for every sore and a remedy which bears proportion as well to the number as nature of his maladies Ahab though in his Ivory Pallace upon his Throne of glory attended with his noble Lords and swaying a large Scepter was miserable because the heavens were brass Haman though he had the favour of the Prince the adoration of the people the sway of 127. Provinces yet is discontented because he wanted Mordecai's knee If the worlds darlings enjoy many good things yet they as Christ told the young man alwayes lack one thing which makes them at a loss But God is all good things and every good thing he is self-sufficient alone-sufficient and all-sufficient nothing is wanting in him either for the Souls protection from all evill or perfection with all good Reader if God were thy portion thou shouldst find in him whatsoever thine heart could desire and whatsoever could tend to thy happiness Art thou ambitious he is a crown of Glory and a royall Diadem Art thou covetous he is unsearchable riches yea durable riches and righteousness Art thou voluptuous He is rivers of pleasures and fulness of joy Art thou hungry He is a feast of wine on the lees of fat things full of marrow Art thou weary He is rest a shadow from the heat and a shelter from the storm Art thou weak In the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength Art thou in doubts he is marvellous in counsell Art thou in darkness He is the Sun of righteousness an eternall light Art thou sick He is the God of thy health Art thou sorrowfull He is the God of all consolations Art thou dying He is the fountain and Lord of life Art thou in any distress His name is a strong tower thither thou mayst run and find safety He is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an universal Medicine against all sorts of miseries Whatsoever thy calamity is he could remove it whatsoever thy necessity he could relieve it He is silver gold honour delight food rayment house land peace wisdome power beauty father mother wife husband mercy love grace glory and infinitely more then all these God and all his creatures are no more then God without any of his creatures Quid quaeris extra illum quid desideras praeter illum quid plâ—cet cum illo Bern. serm de misce com As the Jews say of Manna that it had all sorts of delicate tastes in it it is most true of God he hath all sorts of delights in him This tree of life beareth twelve manner of fruits Revel 22.2 every month There is in it both variety and plenty of comforts The former prevents our loathing the latter our lacking One being desirous to see the famous City of Athens was told Viso Solone vidisti omnia see but Solon and in him you may see all the rarities and excellencies in it Reader wouldst thou see all the wealth and worth of sea and land wouldst thou be upon the pinacle of the Temple as Christ was and behold and have the offer of all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them nay wouldst thou view heavens glorious City the royal Pallace of the Great King the costly curious workmanship about it and the unheard of rarities and delights in that Court which infinite embroydered Wisdome contrived boundless Power and Love erected and infinite Bounty enriched thou mayst both see and enjoy all this in God See but God and thou seest all enjoy but God and thou enjoyest all in him As a Merchant in London may trade for and fetch in the Horses of Barbary the Canary Sacks the French Wines the Spanish Sweet-meats the Oyles of Candie the Spices of Egypt the artificial Wares of Alexandria the Silks of Persia the Embroyderies of Turkey the Golden-wedges of India the Emeraulds of Scythia the Topazes of Aethiopia and the Diamonds of Bisnager so mightst thou were but this God thy portion fetch in the finest bread to feed thee the choicest wine