shee cannot want eithera sweet memoriall of her vertues in the booke of God or a stately Monument in the Church and in your hearts too Happily some may scoffe and some may doubt as though this commendation flew too high or out of sight To whom I shall briefly answer both For the former It is reported of two great Tragedians learned and famous in their time Sophocles and Euripides Euripides presented upon the Scaene all naughty women and Sophocles presented all vertuous women and the ordinary observation of the wits of the times was as men are apt to bee vainly witted in these things they thought that Euripides that presented them bad presented women as they were and Sophocles that presented them good presented them as they should bee If I had nothing else to say to the scoffes of any but only this I suppose it would be sufficient I doe beleeve fully that I have presented her as she was but howsoever you can take no hurt if you doe but consider that it is spoken as what you should be I am sure and I know I have presented what you should be And for any that shall doubt yet that it may seeme too high I would desire them only to consider this I describe in the Text the very temper and character of one that is truly godly such as I conceive her to have beene and the truth is there is none that is truly godly but in some degree or measure must attaine and doe attaine to participate in a conformitie with this Character and therefore I have neither done you as I conceive any wrong and yet done her right too And to draw to an end She hath left this honour behind her that she lived beloved and died desired And who is there here almost that suffereth not a losse in her Her Husband hath lost a loving wife that honoured him highly Her children have lost a loving Mother that loved them tenderly that tendered them duly Her servants have lost a loving Mistris that governed them gently and was every way beneficiall to them Her Brothers and Sisters have lost a loving Sister that answered them in their loves sweetly Her Neighbours have lost a loving neigbour full of courtesie to the rich full of charitie to the poore And my selfe have lost I hope there is none here so weake to suspect that I blast the living to blazon the praise of the dead or that I doe robbe or strippe the living to cloath the dead with their spoyles but I thinke I may truly say I have lost as truly and cordially a loving friend as any shee hath left bebehind though I esteeme many her Peeres and I cannot complaine of any But to end all Her gaine in Christ countervaileth and sweetneth all our losses Shee was a disciple of Love shee loved her Lord and loved all his Saints and servants and therefore I doubt not that she was a beloved disciple and resteth in the bosome of her Love where not to disquiet her happinesse and detaine your patience any longer I shall leave her in that blessed place and commend you to the blessing of God FINIS THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTS COMMING OR A MOTIVE TO A GODLY CONVERSATION 2 THESSAL 4. 16. For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven c. 2 PET. 3. 14. Wherefore beloved seeing that yee looke for such things be diligent that yee may bee found of him in peace without spot and blamelesse LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTS COMMING OR A MOTIVE TO A HOLY CONVERSATION SERMON XVI PHIL. 3. 20 21. For our conversation is in heaven from whence wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe IN the seventh verse of this Chapter the blessed Apostle Saint Paul exhorteth the Philippians to bee followers together of him and to marke them which walke so as they had him for an ensample And that hee might the better direct them in the dutie the imitation of his ensample he sheweth that there is a great difference betweene others that pretended themselves to be the Apostles of Christ and indeed were not and himselfe Many saith he walke of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the crosse of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things These ensamples he would have them to avoide follow not such but be yee followers of us for our conversation is in heaven from whence we looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ c. and follow those which walke so as yee have us for an ensample This is the example he would have them imitate In the words you have these things considerable First What the conversation of these men was whom the Apostle would have the Philipians to follow Their conversation was a heavenly conversation Our conversation is in heaven Secondly the reason or incouragement that they had to this imitation to walke so heavenly while they were on earth because from thence we looke for a Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. Thirdly the benefit by that Saviour whom they looke for from heaven Hee shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body Fourthly the meanes by which this great worke shall bee effected According to the working whereby hee is able to subdue all things unto himselfe For the first to touch it only in a word there is from that these two Observations clearely arising First That there is a heavenly conversation of the Saints on earth Secondly That while they are on earth they are now stated in heaven Our conversation is in heaven Hee saith not only it shall bee in heaven though there it shall be perfected but it is now in heaven in regard of our present state and possession Concerning the first that the Saints on earth have a heavenly conversation You must know that the word here Politeuma translated conversation signifieth such a course of life and of traffique as is in Cities and Corporations where many are knit and united together in one common societie in one common freedome Our conversation is in heaven that is we have a kind of heavenly traffique a heavenly trade while we are upon earth There are divers things wherein there is an agreement between the cariages and conditions of men in Cities and Societies here on earth and this of the Saints of God that have their conversations in heaven I will only in briefe run them over this being not the thing that I purposely ayme at First in Cities and Corporations there is a Register wherein the names of the Freemen are inrolled So in heaven also there is a Register a certaine booke
therefore they should in these things agree together The generall end at which they all aymed in their doings is the Lord Hee that eateth saith he eateth to the Lord and he that eateth not to the Lord hee eateth not that is still he propoundeth God as his end and the pleasing of God in his actions as the rule of them That he may prove this unto us that they stand thus affected both of them notwithstanding this difference he bringeth in this as the generall reason whereto every particular of their lives may bee reduced All their life is ordered by the Lord they live to the Lord they die to the Lord so that whether they live or die they are the Lords Therefore all their particular actions are to the Lord. Whether we live wee live to the Lord and whether we die we die to the Lord. Now this generall reason he propoundeth two wayes First Negatively None of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe Secondly Affirmatively which consisteth of two parts Their dutie to God Gods acceptance of them and protection over them Their dutieto God if we live we live to the Lord and if wee die we die to the Load Gods acceptance of them Whether wee live or die wee are the Lords That which we shall now insist upon is the former part the negative expression and proposall of this generall reason None of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe Now when the Apostle affirmeth this of the beleevers of those times he therein intimateth thus much that it is the course of beleevers in all times It is a dutie belonging to all others of which they must make account not to live to themselves but to the Lord. Therefore though he speakes generally here yet there is in his speech a kind of particular universalitie a generality with a restraint He saith none of us hee saith not none in the world live to themselves for there are many in the world live to themselves and not to the Lord but none of us none of those that wee ranke our selves with that are in the condition of beleevers none of those concerning whom we speake in this question none of us live to our selves Life in generall is nothing else but that power whereby wee act or move As we read Gen. 2. God breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soule he gave him the power whereby he acted The acting of this power is the exercise of that life whether the action be of the mind or of the body And so as there is a double life there are two sorts of actions of life there are naturall actions of a naturall life and there are spirituall actions of a spirituall life When the Apostle speakes of living hee intends both these Wee live not that is we doe not the actions of life whether naturall or spirituall to our selves but to the Lord. No man liveth to himselfe By himselfe he meaneth not only a mans person either soule or body but all those advantages that conduce to the well-being of a man No man of us so ordereth the actions of his life with reference and respect to our selves as the uttermost end wee doe not make our owne wel-beeing or wel-fare the uttermost end of our actions None of us live to our selves You have the sense and meaning of the words which being a patterne to other Christians a thing which the Apostle supposeth is or should be in every beleever it giveth us this point of instruction whereupon we shall insist at this time That is No beleever none that are in Christ should make themselves the end in their actions None should live that is spend their time and strength and endeavour ayming at no higher end then themselves No Christian should so spend his time as to seeke himselfe only in the actions that he doth None of us liveth to himselfe But here it may bee objected for the clearing of the point May not a Christian seeke himselfe in the things that hee doth When they doe good things that which God commandeth that they may avoide the punishment when being incouraged by the promise of a reward they performe the actions of obedience doe they not herein seeke themselves They seeke the avoyding of evill to themselves and the obtaining of good for themselves and doing thus they live to themselves To this wee Answer Wee must consider our selves two wayes First in subordination to God Secondly in competition with him or opposition against him Consider a mans selfe in subordination to God so a man may seeke himselfe that is he may seeke his owne good though not as the uttermost end wherein his thoughts rest yet hee hath this incouragement Selfe-love is a plant of Gods owne planting in the heart of man and hee will not have any man root out that that he hath planted Grace drieth not up the fountaine of nature It doth but turne the streame into a new channell it guides it the right way When a man is renewed by grace and sanctified he is the same man in his faculties he doth his actions better then he did before and all that he did before he doth them to a better end It is impossible that the will of man should incline to any thing but as he conceiveth it good and good for mee now there is no man can conceive a thing as good for him but hee must conceive it as good and sutable to him sutable to his welfare and condition The law of God forbiddeth not this but stablish it and commendeth it if it be rightly ordered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soule and with all thy strength that is the chiefe notwithstanding thou shalt not hate thy selfe thou shalt love thy nighbour as thy selfe subordinate to the love of a mans selfe must be the love of his neighbour and subordinate to his love of God must be the love of himselfe Thou maist love thy selfe but in a degree inferiour to God Thou must love thy selfe in God and seeke thy good in God and not in thy selfe therefore it is that God in the Scripture hath set promises and threatnings one opposite to the other Now it is lawfull for a man to bee drawne to obedience or driven from sinne by any argument that God useth in his Word When God threatneth punishment shall not men be awakened the Lyon roareth and the beasts of the Forrest tremble When God promiseth here is the act of Faith to receive this promise and to believe it Herein Iesus Christ the Author and finisher of our faith is set as a patterne for us hee set before him the joy It is lawfull for a Christian herein to imitate Christ I speake this for their sakes to allure them by incouragements from the Word that howsoever the avoyding of sinne by threatnings is an action of selfe-love without the love of God yet
with patience waite for it saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 25. If we have hope and expectation of Christs comming if it be right it will stay the heart and calme and quiet the spirit in the middest of all injuries and crosses and afflictions in the world it will make us to waite with patience Hee that beleeveth will not make hast When a man beleeveth that there is a time when Christ will put an end to all these things it is that which mortifieth and subdueth the rising of his spirit and discontentednesse in afflictions it makes him possesse his soule in Patience There is a kind of impatient waiting of men in the middest of discontent and revilings and evill speakings and threatnings of others and then Oh that Christ would come But when Faith workes kindly in the soule of a man there is a calme composednesse of heart a submission to God in the present tryall and yet neverthelesse a rejoycing in hope of the comming of Christ and of that glory that shall bee revealed That is the first thing there is Patience accompanying it The second thing that accompanieth it is Love No man can in truth and aright hope for and waite for the comming of Christ but he that loveth Christ and his comming Now this Love must be grounded on our tast of Gods love Not that wee loved him but that he loved us first saith the Apostle no man loveth Christ but first he is loved of Christ no man loveth God but first he is loved of God and the tast and rellish of Gods love in my soule workes love to God againe as from the heate that commeth from the Sunne there is a reflection that boundeth backe againe to the Sunne so Gods love in us reflects love to God againe This Love will appeare in the secret sighings of the heart All the creatures groane yea we also sigh in our selves saith the Apostle waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies There is I say a secret sighing of heart and that not only in the time of trouble and affliction but in the time of comfort and prosperitie when a man hath abundance of outward things about him yet then because his love is set upon Christ and the perfection and end of love is the fruition of the object loved therefore there is a sighing a holy discontent as it were a kind of yearning of the heart toward Christ When shall I come and appeare before God saith David how long Lord how long saith the Church in the Revelation If a man love Christ and his comming only because it shall end those miseries and those troubles that are upon him in this life this is not so much love of Christ as love of a mans selfe of his owne ease and peace and rest But the love of Christ is this when for the injoying of himselfe I long for the fruitton of him whom my soule loveth and I account nothing amiable in comparison of Christ nothing delectable nothing comfortable nothing sweet to Christ this is it that putteth the soule out of tast and rellish with any thing makes it sigh as it were under the enjoyment of all the comforts of this life and long for the appearance of Christ because then hee shall be perfected in the perfect enjoyment of Christ himselfe This is that love of Christ that is accompanied with Faith in a Christian and hope and expectation of his comming Now then if thou waite for Christ in truth how commeth it that thou dost not love him thou canst not waite for him aright except thou love Christ himselfe and for himselfe And if thou love Christ it will appeare by thy care to walke in Christ to derive vertue from him in all holy actions to derive all heavenly wisedome all heavenly disposition of heart from him to please Christ in all thy wayes to doe that whereby thou maist aprove thy selfe to God in Christ. This is the disposition of a heart loving Christ and this is that loving of Christ for himselfe and in himselfe that giveth me assurance that I love the appearance of Christ. That is the second companion of this waiting for Christ if it be right there is a love to Christ. The third and last companion of a mans waiting for Christ is the continuall affection of the heart those same ejaculations that intercourse that holy and heavenly communion which the soule hath with Christ here First in his ordinances having a holy communion with him in them waiting at the Posts of the dore of wisedomes house to heare what Christ who is wisedome it selfe will speake to us waiting if that hee will come now in the ministrie of his Word in his Spirit whom we hope to enjoy fully in glory Wayting for him likewise in the Sacraments to receive a further confirmation of our faith in him wayting for him also in prayer to receive further consolation and strength from him Thus Annah it is said that She was one that waited for the consolation of Israel and served God in the Temple in prayer day and night So where there is a waiting for Christ there will be a continuall intercourse of the soule with Christ a heavenly and holy communion with him in duties Dost thou waite for Christs comming and yet runne from Christs ordinances How can these stand together There is no man that can ever waite with comfort for Christs comming in glory but hee that now waiteth upon Christ in his ordinances If thy delight be in holy duties in the worship of God and that in such religious performances thou waitest for a further conveyance of the Spirit of Christ into thee thou hast warrant to waite for and to expect with comfort the second comming of Christ. Try yourselves therefore by these things It is not every one that saith I would that the Lord Iesus would come or I would that these dayes were full and finished It is not every one that saith thus that rightly lookes for or desires the comming of Christ. But he that thereby becommeth patient and stayes and composeth his heart in a calme and quiet temper in the middest of all crosses and troubles and afflictions that befall him and that upon this ground because Christ will come and put an end to my sinne as well as to my sorrow therefore I will waite with patience till hee come And againe hee that loveth Christ that sigheth for his comming And hee that now delighteth in his ordinances this man only waiteth for the comming of Christ. There is yet a third Tryall and that is the effects and fruits of our waiting for the comming of Christ And that is threefold to goe no further then the Text. The first is a heavenly Conversation The second is a mans resting on Christ as his Saviour and Lord. The third is the change of the body which shall bee in the great day when the soule and body shall bee united together Who shall
free gift of God And in Rom. 8. hee saith that the sufferings of this life is not worthy of the glory that shall bee revealed all our sufferings all our workes they are not worthy of the glory of God we cannot properly merit them This was the constant Doctrine of the primitive Church that a good life when wee are justified and an eternall life when wee are glorified they all grant that all that is good in us is the gift of God that eternall life is not a retribution to our workes but the free gift of God When God crownes our merits hee crownes nothing else but his owne free gift these and many other sentences wee finde among the ancient Fathers plainely convincing our adversaries that in this point they swerve not onely from Scripture but from all sound antiquitie Secondly then to come to our selves this should humble us in respect of our owne deservings doe all the good thou canst take heede it doe not puffe thee up thinke not to merit heaven Alas thou canst not doe it for what is it to the Almightie as it is sayd in Job that thou art righteous Thy well doing extends not to him thou canst doe him no good therefore thou canst looke for nothing at his hands since thou canst doe him no good but all that thou doest in his service it is not for his but for thy good yet he commands thee and thou art bound to doe it but all thou canst doe is no more then thou art bound to doe Therefore when thou hast done all that thou canst acknowledge thy selfe to bee an unprofitable servant and thou hast done no more then thy duty If thou hast many good workes yet thou hast more sinne and the least sinne of thine in the rigour of justice will deprive thee of thy interest in God Therefore thy appeale must bee to the throne of grace and thy onely plea must bee that of the Publican every one of us God be mercifull to me a sinner when wee have done all wee can it must be mercie and not any merit of ours that must bring us to heaven Thirdly here is comfort for the children of God in that this inestimable treasure of eternall life is not committed to our keeping but God hath it in his keeping It is his gift it is not committed to the rotten box of our merits then wee could have no certaintie of it the devill would easily pick the Locke yea without picking he would shake in peeces the crazie joynts of the best worke wee doe he would steale it from us and take it away and deprive us of this excellent benefit but the Lord hath dealt better for us hee hath kept it in his owne hands hee hath layd it up in the Cabinet of his owne mercy and love that never failes for with everlasting mercie hee hath compassion on us Esay 54. hee loves us with an everlasting love It is his mercie that wee are not consumed because his compassions faile not and whom hee loves he loves to the end It is layd up in the mercy of God hee will have it his gift least we should keepe it and it should be lost hee hath reserved it in his owne hands Therefore in temptations when they drive us to doubt of our attaining of eternall life let us cast our eye upon the keeper of it it is the Lord he is warie to discerne and faithfull to bestow it therefore let us comfort our selves and say every one of us as Saint Paul 2 Tim. 1. 12. I know whom I have trusted and I am perswaded that hee is able to keepe that which I have committed to him against that day Lastly seeing eternall life is the free gift of God it must make us thankefull to him for it which wee should never doe if we deserved it doth a master thanke his servant for doing his dutie So if wee did thinke heaven were our due we should never be thankfull for it Pride is a great enemy to thankefulnesse therefore the way is to humble our selves and to consider that wee deserve no good thing at Gods hands then wee will take this great benefit at Gods hands most thankefully Especially when wee consider it is all that God requires of us as he saith Psal. 50. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will heare thee and deliver thee and what shalt thou doe Thou shalt glorifie me Glorifying God and being thankefull to him is all the tribute wee are to pay to this our royall Lord and shall we deny him this It is a small benefit that is not worth thankes We set eternall life at too low a rate if wee forget to bee thankefull There was never a precious Iewell afforded so cheape as eternall life for our thankefulnesse If wee did know what it were to want it we would give ten thousand worlds rather then be without it Therefore as Naamans servants sayd to him concerning his washing in Iordan If the Prophet had commanded thee a greater thing wouldest thou not have done it So if God had commanded us a great matter for eternall life wee should have done it how much more when he saith take it and be thankfull be but thankefull Thus I have described to you this twofold seruice the wages of sinne that is death temporall eternall The service of righteousnesse the wages and reward of that eternall life which is not wages but the gift of God So that I may now say to you as Moses did to Israel Deut. 30. 19. Behold I have set before you life and death cursing and blessing Therefore choose not cursing chuse not sinne nor the wages thereof it is death but choose life that you and your seede may live If wee follow sinne the wages will be death if wee apply our selves to righteousnesse in the service of God our reward shall be eternall life not that wee deserve it but that it is the pleasure of our heavenly Father to bestow it upon us For the wages of sinne is death and the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. FINIS THE PROFIT OF AFFLICTIONS OR GODS AYME IN HIS CORRECTIONS PSAL. 119. 71. It is good for me that I have beene afflicted that I might learne thy Statutes ISA. 27. 9. By this therefore shall the iniquitie of Iacob be purged and this is all the fruite to take away his sinne LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE PROFIT OF AFFLICTIONS OR GODS AYME IN HIS CORRECTIONS SERMON XXX HEB. 12. 10. For they verely for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but Hee for our profit that we might bee partakers of his holinesse THere are two things among many others eminently in Jesus Christ which declare him to be an all-sufficient Saviour of his people and these the Scripture frequently setteth forth unto us in a most sweet conjunction Righteousnesse and strength So the Prophet Surely shall one
naturall appetite and desire after all meanes that may preserve that life Wheresoever God gives life to any creature he gives also a desire to that creature to preserve that life it hath which is the best state of being Now it is so with a Christian all his desires are to preserve spirituall life and to increase it he rests not in what hee hath but labours to be more yet and to doe more yet to know God more to love God more to serve God better to live more fruitfully more profitably among men Hee delights in the actions of spirituall life therefore hee would strengthen those habites by all actions and industrie and indevour As new-borne babes saith the Apostle desire the sincere milke of the Word that yee may grow thereby No sooner is there life in a new-borne babe but there is a desire to nourish that life You see there is a naturall appetite even in the very trees that thrust their rootes downe into the ground to draw moysture below from the earth by an instinct to preserve that life they have in the stocke and in the branches So it is in every man that hath a spirituall life he puts forth with all industrie for all spirituall helpes according to that strength hee hath for the preservation of his spirituall life That is the reason why they are not content in the abundance of all outward things when they want spirituall helpes and that is the reason that they are not satisfied nor solace themselves in dead worldly company that is the reason their hearts rest not in things below because these are not the food of their spirituall life these are not the things that preserve that life that is in them Secondly as there is a desire of the preservation of life so there is a desire of propagation and transfusion of it to others as much as may be So you see those things that have but a metaphoricall life as we may say that are said to live by way of allusion and metaphor as the fire in the coale when it is said to liue in the coale it is for this reason because it is apt to kindle another It is so in a Christian wheresoever there is spirituall life there is a desire to communicate it with as many as it can And this you see in all the servants of God Philip calls Nathaniel Ioh. 1. 44. when he had gained the knowledge of Christ. And the woman of Samaria goes to call in the Citie when shee had gained the knowledge of Christ. When a man himselfe is united with the principle of life when he lives in Christ he desires that others may live in Christ too and this desire and indeavour to gaine many to Christ it appeares in their place and relation A Christian master that lives a spirituall life will labour that his servants under him may live the life of grace with him too A Christian Father will labour that his children may live to God as well as himselfe a Husband will labour to draw his Wife to Christ as himselfe is drawne and every one father and friend and acquaintance as much as in them lies by any advantage and opportunitie that is put into their hands they will draw others to Christ because there is life in them And this is not done out of faction out of a desire to make their partie strong as many in the world desire to strengthen their partie but as in living things there is a naturall desire to convey that life to others Parents beget not children out of faction to increase the partie but out of a naturall affection to convey the naturall life they have to others so Christians that they doe is out of spirituall affection out of simple love to the salvation of others out of a naturalnesse in their disposition to indevour that all may belike them As the Apostle Saint Paul wisheth that all that heard him were like him except those bonds So much for that you see how fitly the Apostle useth these termes of life and death to expresse the change of one that is in Christ when he turnes from sin to God Now we come to see the order wherein the Apostle expresseth them make account of this conclude of this that you were dead but are alive First you were dead to sinne and then alive to God These certainly are knit together but they are done in order so wee joyne both those points in one and that is thus much that All that are in Christ hee workes in them by his spirit in this order they first die to sinne and after live to God These two are inseparable but yet they are joyned in order that first men die to sinne and secondly live to God The Scripture expresseth this in fit similitudes Ephes. 4. 22. 24. saith the Apostle there Seeing you have put off the old man that is corrupt through deceivable lusts and put on the new man that after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Here is the order there is not only an effectuall change but this is wrought in a method first putting off and then putting on Hee seemes to allude to apparell there that as a man that is cloathed with ragges hee puts not on ornaments and robes till he have put off his ragges as it is Zach. 3. when Iehoshua came before the Angell of the Lord with filthie garments with vile rayment saith the Lord take away those ragges and put upon him change of rayment Just thus God deales in the conversion of a man in the change of a man that is in Christ he takes away his filthy ragges first his love to sinne he is no more cloathed with them as he was wont he accounts them not ornaments as they were wont to doe but filthy clouts to which he saith Get yee hence he detests them and then hee is clothed with rayment then he expresseth the fruit of holinesse and righteousnesse Another expression there is Ephes. 5. 8. Yee were darknesse but now yee are light in the Lord walke as children of light There is not only a change of apparell that is from ragges to robes but of your state and condition you were in darknesse now yee are light Marke the order from darknesse to light That looke as it was in the Creation first darknesse covered the face of the deepe Gen. 1. all was without forme and voyd and then God said Let there bee light so now first there is a removing of the darknesse the soule was held in and now yee are light in the Lord so they come to walke as children of light Well this is is the expression of it in Scripture let us see the ground of it in reason It must bee so that in this order God proceedes in this effectuall change first to turne men from sinne and then to GOD first to die to â—…inne and then to live to God The first reason shall bee
How prove you that By the force of the Argument here that the Apostle useth for this being a part of an Argument and an Hypotheticall proposition he reasoneth thus If in this life onely we have hope in Christ then are we miserable but now for this life onely we have not hope in Christ he doth not set our rest there therefore wee are not of all men the most miserable How prove you that because the most wicked the most wretched so the lesse wicked the least wretched and the most righteous the best blest and the least miserable Not the most not at all Not at all No for as the outward prosperitie of the wicked in this World is no true prosperitie so the outward adversitie of the godly is no true miserie it is not such as doth destitute and dissolute a man utterly but you shall have the faithfull come off with hope I and with rejoycing rather then grudging and repining at it yea they joy in their sufferings and at last are more then conquerours and all this sheweth then that that they are farre enough from miserie Well the knowledge of this lifes miseriâ—… the knowledge of our not being at all miserable thâ—… 〈◊〉 righteous should teach all of us to bee righteous to be religious to strive to be godly if not for the love of vertue and pietie and holinesse and such kinde of Graces as all good Christians and godly persons should be though there were no Hell to punish nor no Heaven to cherish a man in though there were no reward for the good nor revenge against the bad yet notwithstanding the love of vertue should constraine an ingenious Christian to strive after holinesse and pietie but if not for the love of religion let us doe it for the feare of the miserie that may befall us which wee shall prevent if wee remember now our duties that is to bee godly and to be righteous for the righteous man is not cannot be miserable And then lastly this shall serve to shew to us how it ought to keepe off the World from judging rashly there is a great obliquitie and a perverse judgement in the World men censure those that are in any kinde of miserie to bee of all men the most miserable whereas we know that this is no true misery on their part for it is but outward it is but temporall misery it is no true reall miserie And thererore this serveth to rectifie the obliquitie of such mens judgements as doe determine the godly to bee in a miserable conditon whereas the contrary is most true for wee count them sayth Saint Iames blessed that endure Do they endure to the very death Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and who would not dye here that hee may dwell with God there in rest who that loveth who that hopeth would not be where his love where his hope is would not have what hee hopeth for Doth not the Lord say to his servant Moses No man can see my face and live Oh sayth a Father let mee dye then for I will dye to see thee who would not dye for the present to dwell ever where his hope is If in this life we had onely hope then were we of all men the most miserable but our hope is not onely in this life of the things of this life therefore wee are not of all men most miserable no not miserable at all I have done with my Text You see the occasion of our present meeting to Interre this little Child in Christian buriall the last service and dutie we owe to deceased Saints I cannot and I know you expect not that I should say any thing of it It is a Child of the Covenant sealed in the Covenant dyed in the Covenant resteth according to the Covenant with the God of the Covenant of whom I doubt no more of a happy rest with Christ the mediatour of the Covenant then I do of the Covenant that Christ hath sealed and so I leave it in that rest and returne our selves to our owne dutie and service to call upon God for a blessing FINIS THE PLATFORME OF CHARITIE OR THE LIBERALL MANS GVIDE DEUT. 15. 11. The poore shall never cease out of the land Therefore I command thee saying Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother to thy poore and to thy needy in the land PSAL. 16. 2. O Lord my goodnesse extendeth not to thee but to the Saints that are in the earth and to the excellent in whom is all my delight LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE PLATFORME OF CHARITIE OR THE LIBERALL MANS GVIDE SERMON XXXIX GAL. 6. 10. As wee have therefore opportunitie let us doe good to all especially to them who are of the houshold of faith IN the sixt verse of this Chapter the Apostle begins to perswade these Galatians to whom he wrote to Beneficence and having in the ninth verse the verse before the Text given them great incouragement in this course Bee not wearie saith he of well-doing for in due season we shall reape if we faint not The words I have now read to you are an inference upon that which went before seeing if wee hold out we shall reape in due time then faith the Apostle As wee have opportunitie let us doe good to all c. To speake something for the opening of the words and then to obsere the maine things the Apostle intends in this place As wee have opportunitie Cairos signifieth more then time As wee have time so the old Translation reades it but the word signifieth more there is a Chronos and a Cairos a time and an opportunitie of time There is a time taken in the largest sence there is an opportunitie of time restrained to those advantages of times that a man by wisedome may make unto himselfe for the performing of any dutie that God requires of him This must be understood with a reference to what was spoken of before Wee shall reape if wee faint not Hee shewes there is a time of sowing and a time of reaping and so in Eccles. 3. There is a time for all things there is a time to sow and a time to reape Now while the sowing time lasts for that is the opportunitie that hee now speakes of while the time of sowing lasts let us embrace those times and opportunities for the doing of good Let us as wee have opportunitie doe good to all Doe good is of a large extent it is of as large an extent as the law All is good that is agreeable to Gods will revealed Bee renewed in the spirit of your mindes that you may know what the good and acceptable will of God is But in this place it is restrained to some particular acts of Beneficence towards men towards the servants of God which are then said to be good deedes and good acts when there is a
wit some red flower as well as white yet the Crowne and Garland of all Confessours are compleat And therefore not onely Beda and Bernard and Richardus and Andreus and Primasius and Haymo and Ansbertus and Ioachimus but also the Greeke and the Roman Church yea and the reformed also understand these words of all that dye in Gods favour for they read these words at the Funeralls of all the dead and not onely at the Funeralls of Martyrs Yea but how can any bee sayd to dye in the Lord that is continuing his Member sith Christ hath no dead Members I answer that the faithfull dye not in the Lord in that sense in which they live in him but in another they die not spiritually nor cease to bee his mysticall Members but naturally that is they continuing in Christs faith and love breathe out their souies and so fall asleepe in his bosome or dye in his love laying hold of him by faith and relying on him by hope and embracing him by charitie All they dye in the Lord who die in the act of contrition as Saint Austin who reading the penetentiall Psalmes with many teares breathed out his last gaspe sighing for his sinnes Or in the act of charitie as Saint Ierome who in a most fervent or vehement exhortation to the love of God gave up the ghost Or in the act of Religion as Saint Ambrose who after he had received the blessed Sacrament in a heavenly rapture and a holy parley with Christ left the body Or in the act of Devotion as Aquinas who lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven pronouncing with a loude voyce those words of the Spouse in the Canticles Come my beloved let us goe forth went out of this world Or in the Act of gratulation and thankes-giving as Petrus Celestinus who repeating that last verse of the last Psalme Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum Let every breath or every one that hath breath praise the Lord breathed out his soule Or in an Act of divine contemplation as Gerson that famous Chancellour of Paris who having explicated fiftie properties of divine love concluded both his Treatise and his life with fortis ut mors dilectio Love is strong as death To knit up all six sorts of men may lay just claime to the blessednesse in my Text. First Martyrs for they die in the Lord because they die in his quarrell Secondly Confessours for they die in the Lord because they die in his faith and in the confession of his name Thirdly all they that love Christ and are beloved of him for they die in the Lord because they die in his bosome and embracings Fourthly all truly penitent sinners for they dye in the Lord because they dye in his peace Firthly all they who are engrafted into Christ by a speciall faith and persever in him to the end for they die in the Lord because they die in his communion as being members of his mysticall body Lastly all they that dye calling upon the Lord or otherwise make a godly end for they dye in the Lord because they dye in the workes of the Lord and happy is that servant whom his Master when hee commeth shall find so doing From hence-forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza and some other render the word in the originall perfectly because the dead obtaine the blessednesse they hoped for but this Exposition cannot stand unlesse wee restraine this blessednesse to the soule For the perfect and consummate happinesse of all that die in the Lord consisteth in the glorification of their bodyes and soules when they shall see God face to face and the beames of his countenance directly falling upon the soule shall reflect also upon the body and most true it is which Paraeus observeth the deads blessednesse farre exceedes the blessednesse of the living for here wee have but the first fruits of happinesse but in heaven wee shall have the whole lumpe here wee hunger and thirst for righteousnesse there wee shall be satisfied To this we all willingly assent but it will not hence follow that they have their whole lumpe of happinesse till the day of Judgement Blessed they are from the houre of their death but not perfectly blessed but not consummatly blessed intensive as blessed as the soule by it selfe can be for that state in which it now is not blessed extensive not so blessed as the whole person shall be when the soule shall bee the second time given to the body and both bid to an everlasting feast at the mariage of the Lambe Others therefore more agreeable to the Analogie of faith render the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from hence-forth and referre the hence-forth not to the time of the uttering this Prophecie as if before it none were blessed for before this prophecie all the Apostles Saint Iohn only excepted and thousands of Saints and Martyrs had died in the Lord and were at rest from their labours but to the instant of their dying in the Lord they no sooner lost their lives for Christ then they found happinesse in him So soone as Lazarus dyed his soule was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome So soone as the Thiefe expired on the Crosse hee aspired to Paradise and was with Christ So Nazianzen teacheth concerning every religious soule I beleeve saith he that every noble soule which is in grace and favour with God presently as soone as shee hath shaken off the body which kept downe her wings flyeth joyfully streight up to her Lord and Saint Cyprian Death to the godly is not a departure but a passe from a temporall to an eternall life and no stay by the way as soone as we have finished our course here we may arrive at the goale there And S. Bernard The infidels call the parting of the soule from the body Death but the beleevers call it the Passeover because it is a passe from death to life For they die to the world that they may perfectly live to God To strike sayle and make toward the shore if all that dye in the Lord are blessed from the very moment of their death and this blessednesse is confirmed by a voyce from heaven let us give more heed to such a voyce then to any whisper of the flesh or divell Whatsoever Philosophie argueth or Reason objecteth or sense excepteth against it let us give more heed to God then man to the spirit then the flesh to faith then to reason to heaven then to earth although they who suffer for the testimonie of the Gospell seeme to be most miserable their skinnes being fleyed off their joynts racked their whole body torne in peeces or burned to ashes their goods confiscate their armes defaced and all manner of disgraces put upon them yet they are most happy in heaven by the testimonie of heaven it selfe the malice of their enemies cannot reach so high as heaven it cannot touch them there there much lesse awake them out of their
thy husband are at the doore and shall carrie thee out also This is the reason of all that worldly-mindednesse of all that earnestnesse and intention to gaine the favour of men by indirect meanes this is the reason of all that immoderate care about our businesse with the neglect of our soules this is the reason of all that carnall securitie of all that forgetfulnesse of God and the account that shall be made at the day of Iudgement this is the reason of the unfruitfulnesse of our lives of our unprofitable spending of our times or of whatsoever else it be this is even the very reason of all because even those that professe themselves to be the people of God and to give God the glory of his attributes in all his workes yet they lay not to heart the death of those that are before them Men durst not they could not passe away their time in such unprofitablenesse and unfruitfulnesse as they doe if they did seriously consider and lay to heart the death of others before them Againe secondly As it condemnes the generall neglect that is amongst men of this dutie so it serves to reproue that sinfull laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondnesse and with too great excesse and distemper of affection looke upon their dead friends as if God could never repaire the losse nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not bee comforted David mourneth and will scarce bee comforted Oh Absalom my sonne my sonne would God I had died for thee What is all this but to looke on friends rather as Gods then men as if all sufficiencie were included in them only Men looke on their friends as Micah did upon his Idoll when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith hee and what have I more or as Laban that when his Idols were stolne away his heart was dead hee could not stay in his house hee could not enjoy himselfe wherefore have you stollen away my gods saith hee So I say men looke on their dead friends as they should looke upon the Creatour and not as upon the creature they take their death to heart but not in a right manner This is the very reason why God many times makes your Christian friends so unprofitable to you when they live because you idolize them you advance them above God This is the reason also why you are so unable to beare the losse of them when they die God beating you now with your owne rodde and making you feele the fruit and effect of your owne folly This now is an ill taking to heart the death of friends to mourne as men without hope Secondly there is a taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering an unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may bee a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some apparent token of Gods judgement on such a one If they see another die with some extremitie of torment and vehement paines certainly there is some apparant evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in worser case then others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteene men upon whom the tower in Siloe fell thinke you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Hierusalem Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the cleane and to the uncleane to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Learne to judge righteous judgement to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sicknesse having his understanding and memorie continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with cleare and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetnesse of their death make thee in love with the goodnesse of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitfull and profitable life Againe dost thou see the children of God full of temptations full of feares and disquietnesse of spirit in their death Sometimes so overcome with the violence of the disease as that it may be they speake impertinently and idlely it may bee sinfully What use shouldest thou make of this now Certainly let the terriblenesse of the example of such a mans death let it bee a terrour to thee and a meanes to stirre thee up to more carefulnesse of making good use of thy time in this life Nabal dieth and his heart is in him as a stone If ever God quicken thee if ever God breath upon thy soule or enliven thee by the inward motions of his Spirit embrace those opportunities and seasons of grace lest God smite thee with an everlasting deadnesse Againe hath God caused the light of his countenance to shine upon thy heart Doth hee offer a gracious message of peace to thy soule Doth hee speake peace at any time by the ministerie of his Word Imbrace those offers yeeld to those conditions of peace lest thou bee deprived of peace at the end Againe hath GOD given thee any strength over temptations Hast thou prevailed over the assaults of Sathan and other of thy enemies Hath hee made thee a conquerour take heed how thou insnarest thy selfe againe how thou inthrallest thy selfe in yeelding to Sathans yoke lest hee buffet thee by him in a worse manner at thy end Thus I say thou canst see nothing befall any of GODS servants in their death or in the manner of their death whether it bee more pleasing or more sorrowfull more calme and quiet or more tempestuous and full of trouble whether it bee more comfortable or more lamentable but it may be usefull unto thee If it bee good it may bee it shall bee so with thee if it be bad it may bee it shall bee so with thee too The maine businesse that a man hath to doe is to make sure of himselfe in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith hee He made no matter how he went out
is called in the Scripture and then there is nothing so comfortable and desirable as death it selfe to the servants of God So wee see David in the 23. Psal. Though I walke through the valley of the shadow of death I will feare none ill for thou Lord art with mee And so the Apostle Saint Paul triumpheth over all things Nothing shall separate 〈◊〉 from the love of God in Christ neither principalities nor powers nor life nor death nor things to come nothing shall doe it the Apostles faith now was out of conflict it had got the field the day of Sense and now he lookes on Death with comfort So that I say in that measure that Faith workes in that measure feare of death ceaseth Secondly it may be objected But we see the servants of God are said to love the appearance of our Lord Iesus Christ and the Apostle Paul is said to desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ How can these stand with the feare of death under which Gods servants are held To this I answer briefly Gods servants must be considered in their desires two wayes First in their generall desires Secondly in a particular state wherein they are In their generall course their desire is most for the appearing of Christ they most desire to be with him as best for them but take them in some particular state wherein they are lesse provided and lesse fitted and prepared then they may be at a stand in their desires they may have the feare of death in them As a wife her generall desire is for nothing so much as for the presence of her husband yet she may be under some particular unfitnesse there may be something or other in the way that she would not have him come in at that instant though her desire be for nothing so much as for his company So it may be the case of the servants of God they may say sometimes Lord spare mee a little before I goe hence to strengthen my faith to perfect my repentance and holinesse to doe some particular worke and the like David considered this that there was something that he might doe that he had not done and that he would faine doe before he went and so Hezekiah and the rest of the servants of God The point is cleare I come to the Application It shall be a word of exhortation to cut of otheruses and that is this To stirre up the servants of God that if they be disposed to distempers under which they are held that they are afraid to die that therefore they labour by all good meanes to shake off the feare of death Why Consider and note well those two things that are in the Text. The first is this that it is an uncomfortable state to be held under the feare of Death you see it is called a Bondage here and that is enough to show the uncomfortablenesse of it he saith by the feare of death they were held in Bondage all their life long Now the feare of Death is a bondage principally in these two respects first because it is with them as it is with a Bond-slave A Bond-slave is afraid to looke on him that hath the command of him he apprehendeth him as no friend therfore he doth not love to looke on him so it is in this case when a man lookes upon Death as a thing that is no friend to him he cannot abide to looke on him every thought of Death is a presenting of death to him and it is a miserable bondage when a man cannot present Death to himselfe without feare Secondly there is this in it that makes it a bondage it holdeth downe the spirit of a man A bond-slave you know is bound with fetters and chaines in his captivitie so that he hath neither freedome of spirit nor freedome of action So it is with a man that is held under the feare of Death he cannot doe what he would he cannot rejoyce in God he cannot delight in the apprehension of glory to come he cannot entertaine a thought of parting with things present with that securitie and comfort of heart that he should doe and all because this feare as the fetters bindeth his hands and his feet and keepeth him in bondage This is the first thing the feare of death to be held under it it is an uncomfortable state Secondly as it is uncomfortable so it is possible that the servants of God may be free from these feares under which they are held We see the text sheweth it Christ came for this end that having destroyed him that hath the power of death that is the divell hee might deliver those that for feare of death were held under bondage Did Christ come for this end then it is possible to bee had for certainly Christ would not lose his end he came for this was his end not onely to deliver them from eternall death but also from the feare of temporall death It is possible therefore The servants of God have found it and therefore you shall see them brought in insulting and triumphing and glorying over Death Oh death where is thy sting oh Grave where is thy victory thankes be to God that hath given us victory through Christ our Lord When they looked upon Death through Christ they looked on it without this feare the sting and power is tooke out the very nature of it is changed and it is made now every way beneficiall I say it is possible for we are regenerate and begotten againe to a lively hope to an inheritance immortall and undefiled and in what measure the hope of heaven is in the heart of man in that measure the feare of death falleth in that heart now it is possible that we may attaine this fulnesse of hope and therefore it is possible that we may be freed quite from the feare of Death This may suffice by way of motive A word or two by way of direction If this be possible to be had how shall the servants of God get it you see some of Gods servants are held under the feare of death and that all their life long how shall we be freed from this feare I should now orderly take up the particulars laid downe as causes and shew that by these it is cured as for instance Doth God doe this for this end that he may humble a man then the more humble thou art the lesse thou shalt be in the feare of Death for God layeth these feares upon men to humble them therefore labour for perfect humiliation and thou shalt perfectly ridde these feares out of thy heart as we see plainly the servants of God the more humble they have growne the lesse carefull they have beene of life and the lesse fearefull of Death And so those servants of God that have beene brought to deny themselves and to renounce all their worldly expectation and advancements they have alwayes beene ready to
crazie body or a full well-fed body is a hindrance to the soule because of that tie that is betweene the body and the soule and the spirit so there is a simpathy the soule is affected some what in this sense But it is not so then the soule shall bee loosed from the body and so freer for spirituall actions then now it is The soules under the Altar they crie How long Lord holy and just wilt thou not revenge our bloud upon them that are upon the earth The soules of Gods servants you see then are glorified when they are out of the body and therefore shall glorifie God more perfectly and enjoy God more freely and fully then now while their soules are in these mortall bodies And at that very instant when the soule of Gods servant is carried out of the body to heaven it more perfectly injoyeth Christ and is more sensible and more fit to answer the love of Christ to him then ever when it was in the body So then here is a cessation of baser actions and imployments to give place to more noble and heavenly and excellent actions wherein the soule shall bee employed in heaven There is then no losse of actions neither Againe there is no losse of company This is a thing that troubleth men husband and wife to part friends to part But we lose no company by death howsoever we lose the company of men that we cannot assure our selves are friends indeed for of all the friends we speake of in the maine point when they come to be tryed there are few to be found to be friends But then we goe to them whose love is perfect that you may be sure of and have the truth of their love Againe how little comfort nay how little have you company with those friends you desire Is not much part of our life spent without any fight of our friends is not halfe of it spent in sleep in the night and the other halfe in businesse and pleasure Alas how little time have we to enjoy our friends we rest on But then we shall perfectly enjoy them when there shall be no need of sleepe when there shall be perfection of love and freedome from distraction and imployment when the servants of God shall fully and freely and sweetly and comfortably enjoy one the other Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and the meanest of the Saints shall meet in the expression of love in such a perfection as we cannot speake of And this is certaine you shall goe to many Who can tell the dust of Iacob Now you have some one or two or three or a few men or women that you account friends and dote much upon but then you shall have ennumerable company a world of friends of men and women multitudes they cannot be numbred they are as the starres of heaven for number I say there is no losse of company by this meanes Againe you shall lose no pleasures by death it may be you shall lose some few sensuall bruitish pleasures a few mixed corrupt pleasures pleasures that have the mixture of sorrow and feare in them that imbitters them to the soule of a man but it shall not be so then you shall be freed from imperfect pleasures and have perfect ones at Gods right hand for evermore pure pleasures Againe you lose no necessary convenience neither the rich man loseth no riches by death he loseth his money doth he lose his riches therefore No The Angels are rich but they have no money the Saints are rich they want nothing but they have no money It may be thou losest a child thou shalt find a Father it may be thou losest a weake friend that loveth not long or it may be not so truly as thou thinkest he doth and thou findest friends that are many and perfect and pure in their love that love with a perfect heart And what then are all those losses when you enjoy that which shall make the soule happy for ever Thus I say you should rectifie your opinions concerning Death looke upon it aright have true apprehensions of it Get an intrest in Christ and looke on death through him get faith and then all these things that I haue spoken shall be your advantage so the Apostle concludeth Christ is to us in life and in death advantage If we live he is gaine to us in life and if we die he is advantage to us in death And death is reckoned amongst the speciall favours and priviledges Christ hath given to his Church All are yours what all life and death things present and things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods So we see that Death is amongst the priviledges that Christ hath given his Church therefore rectifie your opinions concerning Death make good that I spake before and you shall find this good that I now speake And for the last the unacquaintance with Death let not that trouble you none come from the dead to tell you what is done there but looke on the servants of God before and when they die and you shall find enough how they apprehended Death when they have looked on it in the glasse of the Gospell Looke upon them before death Iacob being to close up his dayes with blessing of his children Lord saith hee I have waited for thy salvation Hee looked upon Death through Christ the Saviour of the world that he should bee saved by him and though it be true that there is a further meaning for the Tribes in those words of Iacob yet this was proper to Iacob himselfe hee looked upon Death now approching as that that he was delivered from and set into that freedome purchased by Christ. So old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seene thy salvation Iacob accounted it his salvation old Simeon a departure from a worse place to a better from worse company and comforts to a better A change for the better still and a departing in peace Againe secondly looke on the servants of God in death see what they have said too Iosiah a man that was upright in heart he went to the grave in peace he was gathered to his fathers in peace that he should not see the evill that should come upon his people here is all it was but a peaceable taking of him away from a more troubelous condition if he had lived longer Beloved he died in warre yet it is said he was gathered in peace he had inward peace with God though he failed in that particular action And the Apostle in the 2 Cor. 5. 4. This is our desire that wee may bee clothed upon not that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortalitie may bee swallowed up of life A strange speech he counteth death life to him he counteth the death of this life to be the death of mortalitie by laying aside this earthly tabernacle as he saith in
love but besides that there is a course of affection that floweth naturally and kindly from the Father to the child as it is with those rivers that fall downward they fall more vehemently then those that are carried upward so the more naturall the affection is the more vehement it expresseth it selfe in the motion to such objects Now when the Father expresseth his affection to his child this is more vehement because it is more naturall there is more strength of nature in it I cannot stand upon this only a word by way of inference and application to our selves First are naturall parents thus to their children Then here is a ground of faith for the children of God that he is pleased to stile himselfe by the name of Father and to receive them into the adoption of sonnes and daughters This was Davids expression of God As a father hath compassion of his children so hath the Lord on those that feare him And the Prophet Isaiah expresseth it fully In all their affliction hee was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his love and pittie hee redeemed them and bee bare them all the dayes of old hee bore them upon his wings This giveth confidence and boldnesse to Gods children in making their requests knowne to him This was it that incouraged the Prodigall I will arise and goe to my father and say Father I have sinned against heaven and before thee c. God saith S. Bernard alwayes grants those petitions that are sweetned with the name of father and the affection of a child I should hence speake somewhat to children to stirre them up to answer the love of their Parents but other things that follow forbids me any long discourse of this Secondly here is Davids pietie expressed in this Who knoweth whether the Lord will bee gracious to mee Hee exprest not only the Pittie and affection of a naturall father to a child but pietie also arising from the sense of his guilt Hee was guiltie of sinne and by sinne he had brought this sorrow upon himselfe and therefore who knoweth whether the Lord will bee gracious to me in sealing to me the pardon of my sinne this way in adding this mercy as a further assurance of his love in granting me the forgivenesse of my sinne God had told him by Nathan that his sinne was pardoned though he told him the Child should die it may be by the same mercy he will release me from this sentence of death upon my Child whereby he released me from the guilt of my sinne before Here I say is the sense of his owne sinne The point I note hence is That Parents in the miseries that befall their children should call their owne sinne to remembrance All the sorrowes and sicknesses and paines and miseries that befall children should present to Parents the remembrance of their owne sinne It was the expression of the Widow of Sarepta to the Prophet Eliah Art thou come to call my sinnes to remembrance and to slay my childe Shee saw her sinne in the death of her Child So I say in all the afflictions and crosses that befall children the Parents should call to remembrance their owne sinne But some men will here say There seemeth to be no need of such a course for God hath said plainly That the child shall not die for the sinne of the Parent And after God cleareth his owne waies from inequalitie and injustice by that argument The sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the father Therefore what reason is there that Parents should call their sinnes to remembrance in the miseries that befall their children I answer Though he say the child shall not die for the Parents sinne yet we must understand it a right for what doth hee meane by the sinnes of the Parent And what doth hee meane by death By sinnes of the Parent he meaneth those sinnes that are so the parents as that the children are not at all guiltie of those sins then the children shall not die By Death he meaneth as the word signifieth the destruction of nature So death shall not befall the child for that sinne that himselfe is not guiltie of But how then come little children to die before they have committed any sinne actually was this for their owne sinne or for the sinne of their Parents I answer for their owne sinne they die for the soule that sinneth it shall die and all children have sinned they brought sinne into the world and sinne brought death as the Apostle speakes therefore death reigneth over all even over those that have not sinned according to the similitude of Adams transgression that is that have not sinned actually as Adam had done yet neverthelesse they die because they have sinne upon them they have the corruption of nature In sinne they were borne and in iniquitie their mother conceived them and the wages of sinne is death therefore they die for their owne sinne But what if temporall judgements and afflictions befall them is this for their owne sinne or for the sinne of their Parents I answer for both both for their owne and for the sinne of their Parents for as death so all the miseries of this life are fruits of originall sinne which is an inheritance in the person of every child by nature as soone as it is borne but yet if the sinne of the Parents be added to it that may bring temporall judgements There are many instances and examples of this how God hath visited upon the posteritie of wicked persons the sinnes of their Fathers according to that threatning in the second Commandement And this you shall see either in godly children of wicked parents or in ungodly children of godly Parents Suppose a man leave a great deale of wealth to his children and have one that feares God amongst them it may please God to lay some losse or crosse upon him to the undoing of him he may utterly be impoverished and beggered and deprived of all that meanes that his father left him by unrighteousnesse Hee getteth an heire and in his hand is nothing saith Solomon that is God deprived him of all that estate his father left him by unrighteousnesse Now I say here is a judgement upon the father and yet a mercy upon the child A judgement upon the father that all that he hath laboured for that which hee lost his soule for should bee vaine should come to nothing and not benefit his posteritie as he thought Yet it is a mercy to the childe to the child of God He by this meanes is humbled it draweth him from the world Nay when God emptieth him of these things that were unrighteously gotten he giveth him it may be an estate another way wherein he shall see God his Father provide for him without any indirect and unlawfull courses So sometimes the very shame and reproach that falleth upon wicked children here it is a
woman that doth that but shee may perhaps out-live her Husband A vertuous woman will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life And for this amongst many other things I doe commend this vertuous Gentlewoman I may almost say with the words there in the end of that Chapter Many daughters have done excellently but thou surmountest them all So I may say many women peradventure have done excellently in this kind but I doe not know of any one that ever hath done the like to her Husband I pray you heare it Her Husband had a brother that lived in Portugall at the time of his death who was there married he had there three children at least two sonnes and a daughter This vertuous good Woman would give her selfe no rest till she had these children out of Portugall shee got the two sonnes hither And what was her care here is another excellencie of hers her chiefe care was for their soules What did shee or rather what did shee not to winne those children from Poperie in which they have beene brought up and to bring them to the true service of God Shee obtained it she got it When shee had done that wonne them to our religion she had not done all one of these had a desire to exercise some Merchandise by Sea Shee furnished him to the Sea shee furnished him with money for his adventures The other shee bound Apprentise here in the Citie to an honest trade and shee hath given them a liberall childes portion I may say so A childes portion that they may thanke God and I hope they wil have the grace to do it that they had I do not say such an Aunt in law but such a Mother Here was not all Shee sent for the Mother too shee was but sister-in-law to her Husband she sent for the Mother she sent for the Daughter they were here Shee clothed them she fed them some moneths and if shee could have wonne them to our religion she would have maintained the Mother while shee had lived shee would have brought up the Daughter as her owne child But that could not be done it was a worke beyond her strength You see here a vertuous Woman that did good to her Husband not all the dayes of his life but all the dayes of her life To the very last day of her life shee never did cease to doe good to her Husband in his kindred and I thinke I may say that shee was more carefull of his kindred then of her owne But this is not all This kindnesse you will say was shewed to her Husbands kindred Heare a little more therefore Shee knew that there were many Ministers that had a great charge of children and peradventure would be very glad to have some of their children taken off of their hands Shee hath given to the putting out of five Ministers children to bind them Apprentices fiftie pounds Shee knew that there were some poore persons of the Palatinate here which stood in necessitie Shee hath given to the reliefe of them twentie pounds Shee knew that there were many poore soules that lay in Turkish slavery Shee hath given for the redeeming of them twentie pounds Nay yet more Shee considered that her Husband was sometime a poore scholler in the Universitie of Cambridge And shee considered too that there are many Ministers Widowes that lived well while their husband lived that are faine to crave reliefe the greater is the shame of some men when they are dead Shee hath therefore given five hundred pounds to purchase lands and with this land to maintaine partly two Schollers in the Universitie from their first comming thither till they bee Masters of Art And then with the residue to maintaine foure Widowes that have beene the Wives of honest preaching Ministers Zacheus his offer was but halfe of his goods Lord halfe of my goods I give to the poore For ought I can perceive and understand above halfe of her estate shee hath given to charitable uses I say no more of her These workes of her will praise her in the gates Shee died in the Countrey And I am sorry that I had not information as I did desire of her behaviour in her sicknesse I have it not I can say nothing of it but thus much It was not possible that such a creature that lived thus as we know she did in obedience to God in repentance in faith with invocation of Gods mercie in Charity in Peace but that her death was blessed Shee that lived in the Lord no question but she died in the Lord and shee is blessed for Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. God Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome and grant that as we grow in yeares we may grow in knowledge of thy truth in obedience to thy will in faith in thy promises in love toward thee and toward our neighbours for thy sake that when wee come to the end of our dayes wee may come to the end of our hope the salvation of our soules through Jesus Christ to whom with thee oh Father and thee oh holy Spirit three Persons but one true and immortall and onely wise God be given both from us and all thy creatures in heaven and in earth continuall praise honour glory dominion and power now and for evermore Let all those that heare the word of God depart from iniquitie Now the God of Peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect to doe his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. Amen FINIS THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. PHILIP 1. 20. Christ shall bee magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death 2 COR. 5. 15. They which live should not hence-forth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose againe LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. SERMON X. ROM 14. 7. For none of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe for whether we live we live to the Lord and whether wee die wee die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die wee are the Lords THese words containe an Argument or reason which the Apostle useth to prove that the weake Christian should bee borne withall and that men should not judge because of the difference of meat amongst them Hee sheweth that they did not with the neglect of the knowledge of any truth keepe themselves ignorant in this particular but it was their weaknesse The strong should beare with the weake and the weake should not censure the strong the reason is because they agree in one end they propound one generall end to themselves that guides them in all their actions they walke in one way and in one path and
of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoyce not saith our Saviour in this that the divels are subdued unto you but rejoyce that your names are written in heaven And all that are not found written in the booke of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20. 15. God in his secret counsell and purpose in his speciall providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written downe in a booke there is not one man that commeth to heaven but the Lord knowes him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certaine law whereby they are all governed in obedience to which they live So there is a law whereby all the Citizens of heaven all the houshold of God are governed that law which the Apostle Saint Iames calleth the royall law a law which commandeth the very spirits of men a law that disposeth the whole man to a heavenly frame and subjection to the will of God the great King of Heaven so that a man while he is here below by degrees is drawne off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and made sutable and conformable to the rule of righteousnesse Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and securitie to those that dwell there not onely as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some wakinâ—… while others sleepe to keepe the rest in safety So in this heavenly societie the Angels pitch their Tents about those that feare God nay the Lord himselfe is the Shepheard of Israel that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth while men oppose them God defends them while men are labouring and plotting and devising against them and they it may be are secure and feare no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his owne people Israel while they were in the plaines securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountaines how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountaines that sitteth on the highest Heavens hee ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though hee might have had all the wealth and honour of the Kingdome could not pronounce one curse against Israel because God had said to him that he should not curse Fourthly As in Cities and societies on earth men have communion and societie one with another the lesse have interest in the greater and the greater in the lesse and all have interest one in another the inferiours receive from the superiours protection and provision and the superiours receive from the inferiours subjection and submission So it is in this heavenly Corporation in this spirituall Hierusalem Ierusalem is a Citie at unitie in it selfe There is a communion and fellowship that the Saints have with God the Father with Christ with the Angels with the Saints in heaven and one with another on earth With God the Father they have an interest in him as subjects of his kingdome as servants and children of his family there is not the meanest subject in this kingdome but he may make his request knowne to this Prince there is not the least servant in this Family but he may make his complaint to this Master they may as children goe boldly to the throne of grace and make their request knowne unto him though it be but in sighes and groanes Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore hee will supply them If you that are earthly can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give good things to them that aske him They have interest in Christ also he is their Intercessour therefore hence it is that he is said to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for us Hee is their Advocate if any man sinne wee have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ the righteous Hee is their Lord and Captaine the Captaine of the Lords Armie to defend his Church Michael the great Prince standeth up for the children of his people They have interest also in the Holy Ghost the third Person in Trinitie they have not only the love of God the Father but the communion and fellowship of the Holy Ghost as the Apostle wisheth for the Corinthians Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is ready to helpe their infirmities to inable them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that hee sanctifieth them and therefore they are said to bee Borne againe of water and of the spirit that hee comforteth them therefore hee is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinitie in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinitie hath an interest in them also If I bee a Father where is my honour if I bee a Master where is my feare Because they acknowledge God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledge him to betheir Lord they feare him c. They have interest in the Angels also Hence it is that they are called Ministring spirits sent forth for the good of the Elect They were Christs messengers his Angels and now they are made Messengers Angels to the Saints therefore saith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heaven They have interest in them not as worshippers of Angels which the Apostle condemneth Coll. 2. as foreseeing to what a height Popish superstition would rise in this kind I say not to worship them to invocate them to pray to them we know no such will-worship which is without the rule Wee have an Angell comforting Hagar we have an Angell defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Iacob wee have an Angell carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But wee never had any Angell that stood in this place to have worship and adoration This indeed the Angels have from us imitation of their obedience we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven They have interest in the Saints also yea in those that are dead not as though they praied for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The soules under the Altar cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not avenge our bloud on those that dwell upon the earth All the Saints departed their soules crie to God to finish these dayes of sinne and hasten the comming of Christ. And besides this this further benefit wee have that we are all members
must understand his second comming to judgement For there is a threefold comming of Christ. A twofold comming in his Bodie and one by his Spirit The first was the comming of Christ in the flesh when hee came to take our nature upon him and to be borne of a Virgin The second is the comming of Christ by his Spirit so hee commeth continually and dayly in the hearts of men in the preaching of the Gospell in vertue and efficacie His last comming and his second comming in respect of his body is when hee shall come to judgement Never looke for the comming of Christ in his body upon earth in the sight of men till that great day come when the Lord Iesus shall come with thousands of his Angels in the glory of his Father Now then this being the meaning of it we will prove it And first that it is the continuall expectation of all the Saints of God and the continuall desire of their hearts their continuall waiting is for the second comming of the Lord Christ. As it was before the first comming of Christ in the flesh so it shall be before his second comming Before the first comming of Christ after the promise was made to Adam all the expectation and hope of the Fathers and Beleevers was this when the great Messias would come and therefore saith Iacob I have waited for thy salvation and David I have longed for thy salvation meaning Christ the Saviour of the world and the Church groweth to a kind of holy impatiencie Oh that thou wouldest breake the heavens and come downe And immediatly upon the time of Christs comming there were alwayes holy men in those times that were stirred up with a continuall expectation of it and therefore it was made a marke of a good man in those dayes It is said of Ioseph of Arimathea and Simeon and of divers good women as of Anna and others that they waited for the consolation of Israel they continually waited and expected when the great comforter and Saviour of his people would come So shall the second comming of Christ be from the very time of his Ascension into heaven to the time now and to the time of his last comming to Judgement all the eyes of men will be towards him When I am lifted up saith our Saviour I will draw all men after me which though it bee there particularly understood of his lifting up upon the Crosse yet it is intended in generall of his Ascension into heaven So that as after the promise was given of the Spirit The Disciples waited for the receiving of the gift of the holy Ghost So it is now and will bee since the holy Ghost is already given there remaineth nothing to be looked for but Christ himselfe in his second comming to finish all these dayes of sinne And that this is the disposition of all the servants of God appeares by divers places of Scripture 2 Tim. 4. 8. saith the Apostle there Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day and not to mee only but unto them also that love his appearing The Apostle here makes a description of all those that shall bee saved and hee saith they are such as love the appearing of Iesus Christ now that which a man loveth he desireth and lookes and longs for And in Heb. 9. 28. Christ died once for many and unto them that looke for him shall hee appeare the second time unto salvation Salvation is brought to whom to all those and onely to those that looke for the appearance of Christ. Therefore it is said of all the Beleevers in Heb. 11. That they saw things that were invisible and that they had an eye to the recompence of reward and that they saw the promise a farre off They looked still for those things that were to appeare by Christ. This I suppose is sufficiently confirmed by the Scripture let us therefore make some use of it Try now what comfort thou hast in the expectation of that great appearance of the Lord Jesus here spoken of This is the most infallible ground and undoubted evidence and testimony of the truth of grace now and assurance of glory hereafter if God have now stirred up thy heart in faith and holy affection to looke for and to long and waite for the appearance of Jesus Christ. Without this there is little love to Christ. The Church in Cant. 1. 2. sheweth her love to Christ Draw mee saith shee and we will runne after thee And chapt 2. 4. Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples for I am sicke of love and chap. 5. If you find him whom my soule loveth tell him I am sicke of love If thou be of the disposition of the Church thou wilt out of love to Christ desire nothing so much as to enjoy the presence of Christ The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come the Spirit saith come and the Bride because she is stirred up in the same affection by the Spirit shee saith come too Christ saith to his Church I come and the Church shee saith againe Come Here is the agreement betweene Christ and his Church and the same disposition is in all the members of Christ a waiting and longing and desiring for the comming of Christ. There are many that pretend they waite and desire for the comming of Christ. When a man is under any affliction or in any trouble then Oh that Christ would come and end these troubles You shall heare a man that is abused and wronged by the oppressions and injuries of others and by the unrighteous dealings of wicked and ungodly men crying out Oh that Christ would come and put an end to these evill times Yea but if thou hast this desire of Christs comming that is in a man of a heavenly conversation It will appeare in these three things First it will appeare by the Ground of it What are the grounds of thy desire what are the motives that incourage thee to long for the comming of the Lord Jesus That which is the ground of faith is the ground of hope that is the promises Faith is the ground of things hoped for and the Word and promise are the warrant of Faith Faith and Hope looke both on this the free promise of God so it is said of Abraham that hee beleeved above hope because he knew that he that promised was able to doe it There is the first thing then Faith is the ground there is none but a true beleever that can indeed aright waite for and desire the comming of Christ. But this will appeare more in the second thing and that is by the companions of this expectation of Christs comming when it is right and as it should be in the soule of a Beleever The first companion of it is Patience If we hope for that wee see not then doe we
Paradise and hee was not angrie with God for taking away his Wife he disdained not the act of his providence notwithstanding he resolveth into teares and laments And these may well stand together if they be not as S. Ierome saith rebellious teares against God and against hope and against the faith of the Resurrection they are qualified and allowed and accepted with the Lord as a testimonie of that good affection and brotherly love that he commandeth to be in every one After he had performed this perhaps mourned three or foure dayes for his wife he knew this mourning must have an end he knew that he must commit her to the ground and make away with her that she might not be a means further to continue aggravate his sorrow to no purpose for with that condition a man is allowed the use of affections as that he respect the glory of God and give way to weake nature rather then to any indulgent affection that is too head-strong and unruly as though there were no hope in the promise of the Almightie Therefore I say when he had thus moderated himselfe as first to shew by his sorrow that he was a loving husband and then to shew in the ceasing of his sorrow that he was a wise man and a faithfull Christian he commeth now to the chiefe and maine point whereby to make an end of his sorrow and take away the cause of further griefe the sight of his dead Hee commeth to desire a possession of buriall and because hee was a stranger here he commeth to those that were Lords chiefe ones and desireth them to intercede for him to the chiefe Lord to bargaine with him for a place that hee had sought out and as it seemeth by Gods direction too chosen But I will goe no further then the Text. Wherein first consider a certaine preamble that the holy man useth to the people that he now converst with in these words I am a stranger and a sojourner among you Wherein the sweetnesse of his nature doth shew it selfe that he was both humble-minded to know and confesse that he was a stranger and also that hee was full of reverence and respect to those that he dwelt with I am a stranger among you You are the Lords I a poore tenant You the Masters of the soile I but an Inmate that came in and was first lodged by you and with your consent and without your consent I will not attempt any thing That is the premonition whereby hee insinuateth into their affections and makes way for his speech and petition that after hee was to propound and tender to them And then the Petition followeth Give me because I will not take it of my owne head Give me What A possession such a thing as I may call my owne as I may have to my owne use sequestred from all other mens And Give it mee not upon gift meerely but for my money give it me for price answer me what I shall pay that I may acquire and make this purchase Thirdly for what hee would have this possession To burie his Wife and himselfe and his posteritie A burying place for them A strange thing a strange purchase for a man to purchase no other ground but to buy land for a burying place Lastly whom he would burie there my dead Hee calleth her not his Wife but his Dead because now the contract was ended by Death and she was no more his Wife but one of his loving friends Buriall care after Death it is committed to men by God and by the voyce of Nature therefore give mee a place to burie my dead out of my sight It grieved him to see that beauty turned to pale blacke darknesse that now had over-faced the face of that beautifull woman to see that sweet composed body that was the mirrour of the times and the miracle of women in those ages that it was now subject to rottennesse and putrefaction and did now grow noisome that it made men flie from it that they could not looke upon it That I may bury my dead out of my sight These are the branches of my Text. First concerning the humble preface that Abraham makes I am a stranger and a sojourner among you A marvellous thing to consider the great faith of our Father Abraham and patience that he used in the apprehension of Gods promise for all this land was Abrahams land yet hee confest himselfe a stranger and Saint Steven saith in Acts 7. that hee had not one foot of ground not a foot in all the land that he could owne This is that wherein God is most glorious in his Saints their expectation their patient expectation of Gods promises that they thinke themselves as well for the time to come for that which shall come as if they were in present possession When the Lord brought Abraham out of his native Countrey out of Ur of the Chaldees from the furthest part of Syria hee brought him many hundred miles to an unknowne Land and he promised to give him that Land and to his seed after him who would have thought but he meant to give him personall possession But no as soone as he was there the Lord drives him out by famine into Egypt and then hee understood that Gods mind was not to give it him but when the sinnes of the Amorites were ripe and the people of Israell were growne to a number that they might come by some claime and right and be such a multitude as should not be contemned that they might not come by way of miracle to take possession then God purposed to give it him So that this thing we may learne hence that God is infinitely gracious to his children when they are content with the appearance of things to come aswell as if they had present possession This is that which the Apostle Saint Paul frequently speakes of in Heb. 11. that the Fathers had regard to the promises and trusted upon God that that should be truly performed that was spoken to them and therein they rested themselves and were aswell contented with the good word of God for the future times for their posterities as if they had it performed in their owne persons I am a stranger and a sojourner Here are two words the one A sojourner signifieth hee that passeth by as those that come to see divers Countreys and stay not but are making homewards the other A stranger signifieth one that sitteth by in a place Abraham was both of them for when God commanded him he was ready at any time to dislodge and goe his way as long as he found the mercie of God to him that is as long as there was peace and plentie in the land hee rested there in that place in his Calling God appointed him to sit there and there he sate but not as heire of the ground as a Lord but as one that did sit there by favour as enjoying a peece of ground for his
the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will desire even that I may dwell in his house and behold the beautie of the Lord. And I wonder not when I contemplate the Majestie of God I wish my selfe all feare and when I consider the power of God I wish my selfe all humilitie and when I meditate on the goodnesse of God I wish my selfe all Love and when I contemplate the Beautie of God and of this house I wish my selfe all desire and so doe you also and therefore with unanimous votes you request me to conduct you to the gates of this house whereby you may enter into the same and according to the magnificence of this House so there are many gates whereby wee may enter and all of these reaching even to the Earth with the foot of Iacobs ladder There is the gate of Faith by it we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accesse unto God and that with boldnesse by this we lay hold on the Throne of Grace by this we prostrate our selves at his feet by this wee adhere and cleave close unto God by this wee live in Christ and Christ in us by this our hearts are purified our consciences washed with the bloud of Christ and fitted to see God and to enter into the holy of holyes unto which no uncleane thing can be admitted This is one Gate Another is the gate of Hope which entreth within the Vaile and bringeth us neerer unto God this grace taketh us by the hand and leadeth us through the streetes of New Ierusalem and sheweth us the Temple of the Lambe and the Lambe sitting in his Temple assuring us that wee shall live there with him this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven before heaven the life of the Soule the keeper of Christ the keeper of God This is a second Gate There is another Gate the gate of Charitie by this we enter not but presse in unto God and are not led but transported unto God and carried in a fierie Chariot By this grace we approach not neere unto God but forgetting the greatnesse of his Majestie wee lay hold on him we hang upon him we imbrace him we familiarly converse with him we freely consult with him we inseparably cleave unto him more close then any Polypus doth unto the Rock Another gate is the gate of humilitie a low gate but a sure and certaine gate the exaltation of the soule the honour the dignitie of the soule that which subjects the soule immediatly to God and so seateth it above all the creatures that gate whereby the soule steales into heaven though the gate bee never so streight by crouching bowing bending pinching of it selfe At these gates if you knocke earnestly by devout prayer and frequent Almes you may enter into this glorious and magnificent house with which the Saints desire to bee cloathed upon and this is the first house which they desire There is another house which the Saints desire and that is the house of their bodies glorified while they are here in this life they have a cottage rather than a house a cottage seated in a low waterie marish place exposing the soule to Agues Feavers and varietie of diseases so that shee is sometimes downe at the best but crasie and valetudinarie scarse any vicissitude and change either of age or place or calling but the soule is dangerously affected with it and in great hazard a dangerous Cottage ready to fall upon the soule and crash it in pieces a cottage full of holes and rifts in every storme and tempest of adversitie it raines through this cottage into the soule and makes the soule unhealthie in the Sun-shine of prosperitie the beames of the Sunne beate upon the soule and make it faint and weake many times a ruinous cottage so that the inhabitant is forced to spend almost all his time in repairing it in keeping it up in supplying the necessities of it distracted rent and torne with cares and sollicitudes for it so that little time is left for better duties for duties proper to the inner man and when the soule setteth her selfe to these duties then this Cottage is an impediment unto her taking off her minde from it by some sudden gust of a vaine thought or hindring her by some indisposition or compelling her by some urgent necessitie to breake off before shee is willing These and the like incumbrances doe much afflict the Saints therefore they desire to bee cloathed upon with a pure house a pleasant house a lightsome house a healthfull house a durable house a glorious house that might bee a helpe and incouragement to the soule in holy and religious duties In this wee groane earnestly c. You that are owners of the wonder are not ignorant what a wonder man is a composure of different natures Celestiall terrestriall Angelicall beastiall corporall spirituall greater then the world lesse then the world the richest Pearle and the basest foyle the Image of GOD and a peece of clay you are not ignorant how these two are affected one to the other in the Regenerate man if the body bee sound and well it kicketh against the spirit if it bee ill it afflicts the Spirit How doe I love my body as my fellow servant and eschew it as mine enemie how doe I hate it as my clogge and reverence it as my fellow-heire I buffet it as a slave and imbrace it as a friend I chastise it and keepe it under and then I want a companion to assist mee in the workes of pietie I cherish it and nourish it and then am I stung with the lusts of it It is a flattering enemie and a trecherous friend Oh my conjunction and oh my alienation that which I feare I imbrace and that which I love I feare before I make warre with it I am reconciled and before I am reconciled I am at variance what a strange misterie is this therefore the Saints mortifie and crucifie their bodyes they gird them close with the cords of strong resolutions they macerate them with watchings and fastings and make them thinne and pale and wanne that so they may be serviceable to the Spirit they labour that their hands may be translucent with fasting as the hands of Elphegus were that their countenances may bee living documents of humiliation that their bodyes may bee as transparent glasses wherein the thoughts of their hearts may be seene that their soules may have no more residence in the heart but may as evidently bee seene in every part of the body as there This they ayme at and when they have done all this yet they complaine of the dulnesse deadnesse heavinesse lumpishnesse of the body and are at enmitie with it and cry out Oh miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death not that they are simply enemies to the body but to this earthly corruptible body this sinfull body that depresseth the minde musing of many things and desire the
deposition and laying downe of the same that so they may receive a glorified a clarified an incorruptible spirituall body not made of a spirit but serviceable to the spirit they desire that these eyes may bee so defecated that if they cannot behold the essence of God yet they may stedfastly behold the Empyrian heavens the splendour of our Saviour and the lustre of the bodies of the Saints more bright then the Sunne seven times they desire that these hands may bee blessed with the contrectation of that sacred body that redeemed them they desire that this body may be so transparent and lucid that the Soule may sally out freely not at the eye alone but at every part to contemplate those glorious objects that it may bee so prelucid that the very thoughts of the heart and the divine fancies that are in the imaginative part may bee seene through it that it may be so stript of corporall densitie and grossenesse that like lightning it may bee here and there that it may be fit for raptures and extasies and the Soule no more doubtfull whether shee be in the body or not in the body This the Saints desire and long after And let me speake this of you oh triumphant Soules that are now in blisse without the least impeachment of your happinesse This even you thirst after you esteeme it an imperfect estate to bee without your bodyes though you glorifie and praise GOD in your soules yet you count it an imperfect worke and say with the Psalmist In death no man remembreth thee and in the grave no man shall give thee thankes though your spirits doe it without ceasing without failing yet the whole man doth it not and such an insatiable aviditie there is in you of the praise of God that unlesse it bee done totally and fully you thinke it not done at all therefore you desire this glorified organe but the Saints on earth being much more depressed with this heavy clay cry out with these Saints In this wee groane earnestly c. To bee cloathed upon with our house c. An improprietie of speech I confesse for men doe not cloath them selves with houses yet of eminent elegancie and pregnant with varietie of instructions to shew the fitnesse of this glorie to every soule as apparell is fitted to every body to shew the comelinesse of this glory as apparell is an ornament to a man to shew the firme adhesion of this glorie the whole man as a garment doth cleave close unto him to shew the redundancie of this glorie that a man shall inveloppe himselfe in this glorie as a man doth inwrappe himselfe in his garment to shew the Authour of this glorie hee that made garments to cover mans nakednesse in Paradise below hee maketh robes of honour to adorne him everlastingly in Paradice which is above to shew the undeservednesse of it on our part that these garments they are not webbes of our owne spinning but robes of Gods giving to shew the all-sufficiencie of this glory in this life wee need houses to dwell in and rayment to cover us and food to nourish us and fire to warme us but this glory it shall be a Magazine of all spirituall store an house to shelter us a garment to cover us Manna to feed us water to refresh us it shall be all in all unto us These and many more instructions are folded up in the Cabinet of this Metaphor which streights of time will not give mee leave to unfold and spread before you but must leave them to your private meditations and so passing though unwillingly from these two houses which the Saints desire I must raise up your attention to their ardent affection unto them In this wee groane earnestly c. Wherein you see the intention of their affection and the expression of it The intention not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiring but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiring earnestly The expression of it by groanes In this wee groane earnestly The one the soule the other the body the one the forme the other the exercise the one the roote the other the branch or if you will the one the fire the other the fuell the one the flame the other the oyle that nourisheth the flame The first is the intension of the affection As those that are in a longing passion die if they bee not satisfied as the pregnant Mother groanes to be delivered of her burthen as those that are pressed under a heavy weight faint if they be not eased even so the Saints pressed downe with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that eternall weight of glorie mentioned in the precedent Chapter a burthen which did both presse them downe and raise them up that did both streighten them and enlarge them like the feathers of the Dove which adde to her Masse but take off from her gravitie which makes her more corpulent and yet more light even so this weight of glory so pressed downe the Saints that it raised them up to the Throne of the Lambe and feeling this body of sinne this body of death which they did beare about them as plummets of lead hanging at their feet they desire eft-soone to bee stripped of all incumbrances and impediments to depose and lay downe this cottage of clay that so being absent from the body they might be present with the Lord this was the violence of their affection In this wee groane earnestly c. An affection worthy the name of an affection truly grounded and thereforetowring so high that it is almost invisible to our weake sight There are some in this life that are fed with gall and wormewood with teares and groanes upon whom the wheele of oppression is roled breaking all their bones so that they seeke for death as for pearles and hidden treasures as an end and period of their miseries Others there are who seeing the vanitie of the things of this life and ballancing with them the transcendent excellencie of the Soule of man above the world had rather be idle or not be at all then to be so basely and meanly imployed and rewarded as the world doth remunerate her favourites Others make bitter invectives against the body as the onely impediment to the soule in her more pure speculations placing the happinesse of the soule in the separation from the body all these come farre short of this divine affection which hath not her rise from the miseries of this life or from the vanitie of the creature or from the incumbrances of this cottage but from a true apprehension of the love of God from a deepe panting after union with him from a taste of the powers of the life to come from a Soule inflamed with a coale from Gods Altar Looke upon these Saints in my Text they were indeed exercised beyond measure with those things which wee call miseries calamities afflictions at the mention whereof wee quake like Aspen leaves but were these tainted with impatiencie were these groanes fuliginous
say in the Lord have I Righteousnesse and strength There are two things likewise in a Christian which are of eminent sufficiencie in order to his salvation and his possession of the Glorious inheritance purchased by this Saviour Faith and Patience often spoken of severally and in particular but withall joyntly and together as might bee manifested by the allegations of Scripture as bee not slothfull but be yee followers of them that by Faith and Patience inherit the promise c. Concerning these two which are so eminent in the called of God and are sufficient in order to their possession of the purchased inheritance as the Scripture abundantly treateth of so most frequently in this Epistle and more especially in the 10. 11. and 12. Chapters In the later end of the tenth Chapter you have the Apostle there first dogmatically handling the doctrine of Faith as the necessary meanes to attaine everlasting life and as the principall conducement to the possession of glory and to the saving of the soule The just shall live by Faith In the beginning of the eleventh Chapter he sheweth the absolute necessitie of Faith to an acceptable walking and well pleasing of God For without faith vers 6. it is impossible to please God and the whole Chapter is further spent in setting downe the glorious Examples of Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and the rest of the Elders eminent for their Faith by which saith hee they received a good report All whom did worthily in their dayes and are now become famous to posteritie standing out to this day as so many living voyces calling upon us to become followers of them that we might together with them bee at length made partakers of the glorious inheritance of the Saints in light The Apostle having spoken much to this purpose goeth on to that other grace we spake of so necessarie to the constitution of a Christian and to the enabling of him to a well and faithfull managing of his Calling and condition and that is Patience Propounded by way of exhortation in the first part of this twelfth Chapter and urged with respect to the necessarie uses of it both concerning duties done and afflictions to be endured in the verses following First with respect to duties which the Apostle propoundeth under the Metaphor of running in a race for such is the course of a Christian life which the Saints of God are called to the finishing of Let us runne the race that is set before us and runne with Patience Secondly it is urged with respect to sufferings and that of two sorts from men from God From men from whom the faithfull are to make account of sufferings in divers kindes in shame and derision in proud and insolent contradictions and according to their power and opportunitie in bloudy persecutions You have not yet resisted unto bloud uerse 4. From God and here the Apostle is more large urging his exhortation to Patience and a quiet applying of our selves to God according to all the states and conditions he is pleased to bring us unto and according to all his severall administrations towards us very strongly labouring to fasten it in the hearts of the Saints of God as a nayle in a sure place first alledging that same passage of Solomon in the Proverbs My sonne despise not thou the chastening of the Lord And then he further strengthneth his exhortation by invincible arguments I doe but touch upon these things hastening on to the maine thing I intend only desiring to give you a plaine and briefe Analasis of this Scripture with the context of it The Apostle I say driveth on this exhortation by strength of argument And that first of all by propounding to the godly that whereas the Lord is pleased to exercise them with afflictions to make them drinke many times of a cuppe of bitternesse yet they have reason to be quiet and patient because this way the Lord giveth a proofe of his love to his children and those that are wise and godly will be glad they have reason so to be that God should take sucha course with them as whereby he may give them a demonstration of his deare love and affection Now herein the Lord evidenceth his love and affection to his people for all the afflictions and chastisements that he exerciseth them withall flow from his love and are as fruits thereof For saith he whom the Lord loveth hee chasteneth and scourgeth every sonne whom hee receiveth verse 6. Secondly he propoundeth it to their consideration as a course wherein the Lord giveth an evidence of his peoples adoption For what sonne is hee whom the Father chasteneth not But if yee bee without chastisement where of all his children are partakers then are yee bastards and not sonnes vers 78. Now the godly should be glad to have the Lord take such a course with them and so to order out his administrations concerning them as that they may have some comfortable evidence to their soules that they are his adopted ones and such as hee will one day acknowledge for to bee his children But thirdly and that which more concerneth our present purpose the Apostle urgeth his exhortation by a comparison that he frameth betweene God the Father of spirits and men that are fathers of our flesh we have had fathers of our flesh and they verely for a few daies chastened us and wee gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live they chastened us for their pleasure but Hee for our profit that wee might bee partakers of his holinesse Wherein you see the comparison is laid out in severall particulars and the preheminencie the advantage of the comparison is given to God for so is the scope and intent of the Text. It lieth thus briefly First Wee have had fathers of our flesh and God is the Father of Spirits if we have beene contented to undergoe the discipline of our earthly fathers much more have we reason quietly and patiently to submit our selves to the proceedings of the Father of our spirits Secondly They for a few dayes chastened us and we gave them reverence it is but a few dayes neither that the Father of spirits meaneth to keepe us under his discipline suppose it be all our time and perhaps it shall be so yet all that is but the time of our minoritie and therefore if we have beene content to submit to our earthly parents theirdiscipline for a few dayes shall we not much more be in subjection to the Father of spirits to his chastisement though it befor our life-time for the disproportion is infinitely greater between the time of this life compared with the state of maturitie and ripe age which the Saints shall come to hereafter and the time of our minoritie and childhood compared with the state of full age and man-hood in this life for alas how short are our dayes they are spent even as a tale
survivers and attendants upon this sad occasion but in these administrations hee intendeth his peoples profit as wee may see in the case of Iob the Lord takes away all his children but saith the Apostle yee have heard of the patience of Iob and have seene the end of the Lord hee was no looser in the conclusion but God returned at length all into his bosome againe nay double In a word for this very purpose it is even for their profit for alas it is not Gods owne benefit hee seekes after but his peoples in all his administrations that they live that they doe that they suffer that they dye their death is in order to their gaine as the Apostle saith to me to live is Christ and to die is gaine To make some application of this and so to proceede First let us here take occasion as many as are the called of God according to his purpose and implanted in this glorious relation of children to a father let us learne to advance his name and according to his name let his prayse be in all the Congregations of the Saints Truely as Moses sayd once their Rocke is not as our Rocke So may wee say other fathers are not as this Father our Father is set for the good and profit of his children The divell is a father so our Saviour speakes you are of your father the divell hee hath children and he studieth nothing so much as that they may live all their daies in pleasure striving to leade his followers altogether in pleasant paths But alas hee hath no ayme at their profit it is their losse hee seekes and therefore at last hee makes them pay full deare for all their pleasure and content But now God hee is a wise Father and in all his dispensations to his children though they seeme for the present unpleasant hee hath an ayme at their profit Let this be for his prayse Secondly let us labour to beleeve this that God in all his dealings and administrations towards us hath an eye to our profit How hard soever the condition be that he putteth us into if he take from us the desire of our eyes the delight of our hearts our liberties our estates our children yet be perswaded of this that God doth it for my good and benefit And thirdly labour to reape the fruit and benefit that God aymeth at and intendeth and would have us receive from all his administrations When we are called together to give attendance upon the preaching of the Word then thinke what am I come hither for is it not for my profit would God have me trifle out my time surely the Lord would never have singled out a day of seven for himselfe but that hee might likewise make his people partaker of spirituall advantages and heavenly benefits and therefore I lose a day and never heare well except I heare to profit And thus what I say of this Ordinance I might likewise speake of the rest before named And so for this present occasion the Lord now you see is pleased to call us to the house of mourning Was it thinke yee the purpose of God that wee should meet together here in a customarie complimentall manner to doe things in a common garpe only to eate together and drinke together No the Lord calleth us to a house of mourning for our profit that we might consider the end of all men and that wee that are living might lay the thing to heart And for you that are in present distresse in regard of this particular affliction reckon upon this that God hath done this for your profit labour yee therefore to reape the fruit of it bee not so much poring upon the affliction and altogether complaining of the bitternesse of the cup but follow on after the profit and benefit that God intendeth you thereby And let every one labour to improve all administrations of God to this purpose that as he in them all intendeth our good so let us pursue after the benefit Secondly let it instruct us further concerning our dutie even to walke worthy of such a God as many of us as are in relation to him as children to a Father and servants to a Master How should this first of all winne us over to such a Father to such a Master and to make it our highest ambition to be the people of such a God the children of sucha Father that is devoted to the profit and advantage of his children and servants This is the gracious goodnesse of God he takes pleasure in the prosperitie of his servants their profit is his pleasure Let us therefore walke worthy of such a Father of such a Master And seeing he intendeth our profit and that wee cannot profit him let us labour to walke in all well-pleasing Wee cannot profit him let us labour to please him Lastly here is a word of instruction for Ministers wee should in this case as those that are intrusted with the sacred ordinances of God labour to put on the minde of God so the Apostle we have saith he the mind of Christ. Wee in the course of our Ministerie as God aymeth at his peoples profit so should wee not ayme at our owne praise and at our profiting by them but that we might profit their soules O blessed Preaching when people profit by our preaching when they are by that increased in knowledge in love in faith in every grace Such a Preacher was Saint Paul I please all men saith he 1 Cor. 10. ult but how not seeking mine owne profit but the profit of many that they may bee saved Oh labour to preach profitably that our people may thrive under our ministerie This is that which God aymeth at and this is that which we should ayme at too And thus I have done with the first and more generall proposition arising from the words of Text. I come now to the second and more particular thing that we are to consider hence and that is that As God graciously setteth himselfe to procure his peoples profit in all his administrations so this is that hee aymeth at in all the afflictions and chastisements he exerciseth them withall It is no pleasure for him to be lashing and whipping his people to hold them under such sharpe discipline it is for the profit of his children so the Text expresseth it but he for our profit Which first of all implieth that Afflictions and chastisements are a meanes conducing to the profit of those that undergoe them A point plaine in the Text and the Scripture abundant in the proofe of it and the experience of the Saints in a plentifull manner confirming it It is good for mee saith David that I have beene afflicted And Ioseph giveth this honourable testimonie of God The Lord saith he hath caused mee to be fruitfull in the land of my affliction and thereupon giveth his child a name suteable Afflictions and chastisements they
certainly the soule that hath recourse to Christ shall not returne emptie therefore see how Christ is exprest in heaven Matth. 25. Come yee blessed c. for what you have done to these you have done to me hee is in heaven and so Saul why dost thou persecute me hee is in heaven yet in respect of his Church hee is below therefore be assured that Christ hath not put off the bowels of love to his people he will bee the same if thou receive him as a Lord and Saviour as ever he was to his Disciples But it may be objected wee are exposed to many uncertainties though wee beleeve in Christ and wee finde not the comfort of it here Therefore Christ saith rest not upon things present here you are in Tents but you shall come to your fathers house there is a place provided for you betweene which and this there is as much difference as is betweene a House and a Tent betweene a mans owne mansion and an Inne And though you have hard entertainement in the world yet you shall have an abiding place after But you will say indeede there are mansions but there are aboundance to receive them what shall we doe There are many mansions therefore looke as there are many children to be brought to glory so there are many places to receive them in glory and to settle them there wee see what a vast body the Sunne is and the Starres are yet they seeme but little sparkes in comparison of the heavens above us but what is the heaven of heavens that containe all these infinitly beyond in its owne compasse there are many mansions But how shall we come to heaven Saith Christ I goe to prepare a place for you as if he should say all that I have done is for your sakes I die and ascend and sit at the right hand of God for your sakes I will come at the day of judgement to bring you to glory all that Christ doth now as God-man as Mediator betweene good and us all is for our sake But when Christ is taken from us how shall wee get thither Saith he I will come and bring you with me I will come in glory at the day of Iudgement in the clouds and inable you to meete me and thence bring you to those heavenly mansions in my fathers house never doubt how these things shall bee done I will doe them all Thus Christ would confirme their faith there is the greatest happinesse and comfort in this wherein he would have them setled this should stir us up to settle our hearts this way But the time is past this shall be sufficient for this time FINIS FAITHS TRIUMPH OVER THE GREATEST TRYALLS 1 JOH 5. 4. This is the victory that overcommeth the world even our Faith ROM 8. 37. Nay in all these things wee are more then Conquerours LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. FAITHS TRIVMPH OVER THE GREATEST TRYALLS SERMON XXXII HEB. 11. 17. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up his sonne Isaac and hee that had received the promise offered up his onely begotten sonne THis Chapter doth speake in the commendation of the Faith of many of the Patriarchs and Abraham among the rest is brought in with a manifest testimony of his Faith there be two things observable which Abrahams faith strengthened him to act one was to give up his Countrey the other was to give up his Sonne to give up his Countrey in the 8. verse by faith Abraham when hee was called of God to goe out in a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and hee went out not knowing whether hee went To leave our friends our parents to take our journey wee know not whither to live among wee know not whom and all this upon a bare word this was not an easie thing to part with good land for some good words this was a hard matter sence derides it and reason contemnes it and will not hearken to it but Faith can see more in Gods promise then sence can find Abraham will leave his Countrey when God calls him to it but never shall lose his Inheritance by beleeving and obeying no man did ever yet hazard his estate who could part with it upon obedient tearmes A second thing that hee is to part with is with his Sonne his only sonne his first begotten sonne in this Act of faith Abraham sayles against wind and tyde where hee breakes through the contentments of the world not only of sence and reason but of naturall affection The story in a word is this God after many yeares patience at length gave Abraham a sonne in his old age he was the child of many prayers and of many teares the parents delight and to Abrahams thinking an heire of life because a child of the Promise hee had not long spent his gray haires in a strange land but God on a sudden calls upon Abraham to give backe his sonne his very sonne Isaac as we may reade in the 22 of Genesis Now what doth Abraham doe how doth hee behave himselfe doth he expostulate with God Any thing Lord but spare my sonne Isaac Nay the Text saith hee offered up his sonne Doth hee murmure and grumble against God in this manner Lord why dost thou single out this delight of mine why dost thou seeme to envie this blessing of mine No hee offered up his Isaac as if the Text had expressed Abrahams language thus O Lord my God what is it that thou callest for whom is it that thou callest for is it for my only sonne Isaac the sonne of my love the sonne of thy promise the sonne of my age verely Lord thou shalt have him it is true I love him dearely well but I love thee better I got him by beleeving and I shall never lose him by obeying if Isaac were a thousand sonnes thou shouldest have them all though I am a father yet Lord thou art a God if I give him he is a sacrifice acceptable and though I kill him yet thou canst quicken him and raise him againe I shall never lose my Isaac though I part with my sonne for thou hast said in Isaac shall thy seed bee called Now the parts of these words are two First we have Abrahams great tryall Secondly we have Abrahams acquitment First his tryall Abraham was tried when hee offered up his sonne Secondly his acquitment by Faith Abraham offered up his sonne In the former we may observe three particulars First the person that is tryed Abraham Secondly the Person that tried him God Thirdly the thing wherein hee war tried it was no ordinary thing it was to part with a part of himselfe to offer up his deare sonne Isaac In the latter part two things are observable First his quickening up himselfe in his obedientiall act hee offered up Isaac saith the Text. Secondly the powerfull cause which did inable Abraham to so
vertues and speciall effects that faith workes in the soule which will inable us to goe through great tryalls and therefore wee should labour to get this grace of faith into our soules First faith gets assurance Secondly breeds submittance Thirdly dependance and lastly conveyance First faith gets assurance it can eye God as our God though the stormes be very great yet God can quiet it When a man though hee sees his outward comfort dead yet Faith sees it in the hand of a living God Faith assures the soule God will put an end to the tryall though there bee a changeablenesse in the outward condition yet there is safetie in God and setlednesse in God Though a man may looke with a dull eye upon his losse yet if hee can looke upon God with the eye of faith as his God the absence of a poore creature cannot so much trouble him as the presence of a gracious and a glorious God can comfort and support him Secondly submittance is another effect of faith which faith workes in the soule our outward condition is subject to many changes and many times we meet with them and we are hindered in our comforts and naturally we grow impatient and murmure and quarrell with Gods providence but now there is a vertue in faith it fashions the heart and the mind to the condition faith makes a man submit to God in all estates to make us stoope to our burthen it is the Lord saith Ely 1 Sam. 3. let him doe what seemes good unto him and in the 39. Psalme saith David I was dumbe and opened not my mouth because the Lord did it Observe this unbeliefe makes a man dumbe and faith made David dumbe Zachary because he beleeved not the word that the Angell spake hee was dumbe and David because he beleeved the word of the Lord he was dumbe unbeleefe procures dumbnesse as a judgement from God but faith makes a Christian dumbe from complaining it quiets the soule in silence from murmuring against God it doth not make a person dumbe as not to pray and to praise God but dumbe in complaint Good is the word of the Lord saith Faith A third effect of Faith is dependance it will make a man trust God in frowning dayes though hee kill me yet will I trust in him saith Faith we can never lose any outward comfort but Faith can find a better in God though an outward losse may come yet Faith can make it up in God in the want of an outward comfort it will trust God Lord what waite I for saith David truly my hope is in thee Though the Christian estate may be at some time monefull yet at no time it is hopelesse A fourth effect that Faith workes is conveyance it can convey something to inable the soule to beare it up in all tryalls as Faith is an active grace to inable the soule to the performance of duty so Faith is a passive grace to strengthen the soule to suffer and beare affliction To yoâ—… saith the Apostle it is given not onely to beleeve but also to suffer for his Name Faith will call in strength enough to beare affliction wee see many times a poore Christian by the strength of faith is able to beare a great losse and undergoe a great tryall God is pleased to exercise a Christian with great affliction but Faith carries the soule along through all remember this Faith beares Gods tryalls with Gods strength there is a power in Faith which exceeds all outward crosses and losses Faith drawes strength from thâ—…â—…mise for there is no crosse nor affliction but Faith can find a support in the promise of deliverance Faith makes a man see the affliction as it were come out of the hand of the Lord out of the hand of Mercy Faith can convey comfort to the soule in affliction by making it see the chastisement delivered from the hand of a wise and loving Father that our chastisement is for our profit for our future advantage and that this is sent for our personall good if thou couldest get but a sensible denyall of thy selfe and by faith see all things measured out by the Lord this would make us with patience take from God what hee imposes upon us Faith will make a man conquer himselfe it will silence all murmuring and make the Soule beare its crosse with patience FINIS THE PRIVILEDGE OF THE FAITHFVLL OR THE JOYNT-INHERITANCE OF ALL BELEEVERS GAL. 3. 9. So then they which be of Faith are blessed with faithfull Abraham ACT. 2. 39. For the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are a-farre off even as many as the Lord our God shall call LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 163â—… THE PRIVILEDGE OF THE FAITHFVLL OR THE IOYNT-INHERITANCE OF ALL BELEEVERS SERMON XXXIII 1. PET. 3. 7. As heires together of the grace of life TO let passe all by passages you have in this Text the priviledge of Women which is the very same with that of Men especially in relation to the greatest priviledge that belongeth to either of them The very priviledge it selfe as at the first view of the Text may appeare to you affordeth a fit Theame for such an occasion as this is which is the solemnization of the Funerall of a Grave pious and prudent Matron who was indeed while she lived a Mother in Israel in the Church of God who in her life-time testified much love to the Saints of God and in that respect I may say deserved now shee is taken away this respect of Gods Saints and children which by you is now shewed to her in accompanying her to her Bed of rest The forenamed words of my Text doth branch it selfe forth into two parts One setteth out the priviledge it selfe The other the partakers thereof The Priviledge therein you may observe two points First the kind of it Life Secondly the ground of it Grace The partakers of this priviledge are set forth in a compounded Article Ioynt-heires Co-heires heires together having relation to Women The simple consideration of the Word shewes the right they have to the forenamed priviledge they are heires The compound shewes the extent of it Co-heires one with another Men and Women heires together of the grace of life That yet you may a little more distinctly discerne the scope of the Apostle in this Text in a word note the inference of it upon that which goeth before or the connection of it therewith Lift up therefore your eyes but a little higher to the words going before and you may observe the Apostle giving a direction to men to honour Women notwithstanding they are the weaker vessels Vessells they are therefore capable of that which God shall bee pleased to infuse into them his grace they are weake vessells so are men also they are earthen vessells these are the weaker these comparatively may bee said to bee as glassie vessells and yet notwithstanding you have a common saying that
our selves Surely this the ground of this life the grace of God What God doth hee doth for himselfe for his owne names sake Grace is free And these two joyned together give evident demonstration of God to be a God in the thing that he doth conferre upon thee and in his dealing of it the greatnesse of the gift that he doth give and the freenesse of it For who can give life but the God of life that hath life in himselfe And then againe to doe this altogether upon meere grace upon his owne good pleasure it is a divine propertie And this is it that doth incourage us to come unto God notwithstanding our unworthinesse And in this respect in the second place wee have here a Use of instruction to acquaint our selves with God with the freenesse of his Grace to plead it unto God when wee come unto him and notwithstanding our unworthinesse and our wretchednesse yet to presse this Lord what thou dost thou dost for thy owne sake out of thy meere grace this makes me bold to come unto thee Specially upon the consideration of that greatest evidence of Gods free Grace and rich mercy in giving his Sonne to doe whatsoever is requisite for the satisfaction of his Justice so that here Grace and Justice doe sweetly goe together for the strengthening of our faith Grace in regard of our unworthinesse Justice in regard of our rebellion God doth what he doth for his owne sake his owne Sonne hath made full satisfaction to his Justice And finally this should the more inlarge the heart to God againe a gift the freer it is the more worthy of praise it must needes be the more acceptable to him that receiveth it when hee receiveth it from meere Grace and he that giveth it is thereby the more worthy of praise so that lay these two together life and the grace of life and then tell mee what sufficient thankes can bee given to him who out of his grace doth bestow this life Thus from the priviledge in the second part thereof come wee to the partakers of this priviledge And first of the simple consideration of it Heires so that wee come to a right unto that eternall life by inheritance as we are Heires So doe the Texts before noted expresly set it forth Wee are justified by his grace that we should be Heires of eternall life Tit. 3. 7. And Saint Paul giveth thankes to God for the Collossians that he had made them partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light And our Lord when hee doth give us possession hereof inducts us thereunto with this inherit the kingdome prepared for you take it by inheritance Here is your right Now we may not thinke that this ground of right to our eternall inheritance commeth by our naturall generation for so wee are heires and children of wrath as the Apostle noteth in Eph. 2. 3. It cannot come by nature for so it is Christs prerogative the true proper naturall Sonne of God and thus as the Apostle saith God hath appointed him Heire of all things but it is by another grace whereby we are made children A double Grace in this respect a Grace of adoption and a grace of Regeneration A grace of Adoption for God giveth to us the spirit of Adoption whereby wee are moved to crie and call Abba Father and by this grace wee are children and being children wee are heires Coheires not only one with another but as it is there noted heires together with Christ Coheires with him by vertue of this grace of Adoption So likewise by the other Grace of regeneration wee are qualified hereunto Saint Peter in his first Epistle Chap. 1. ver 3. blesseth God Blessed be the God saith he and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ which according to his abundant mercie hath begotten us againe to an inheritance incorruptible c. Wee are begotten to this inheritance This might againe be pressed as a further Argument against the fore-mentioned presumptious Doctrine of Merit that that commeth by inheritance commeth not by desert But I passe it over This doth afford to us matter of consolation for this Text is full of consolation every word of it against the basenesse whereunto in this world the Saints seeme to be subject that are scoffed that are despised howsoever they appeare here in mortall mans eye yet notwithstanding in truth they are Heires they have an inheritance And as it doth administer to us matter of comfort and a ground of holy boasting and glorying in the Lord so it affordeth to us direction to carry our selves as becommeth Heires not to set our love too much upon this world not to dote upon it but to bee loftely minded to have our heart and affection where our inheritance is namely in heaven to waite with patience for it bee followers of those saith the Apostle that though faith and patience inherit the promise And likewise to make sure to our selves our inheritance looke to our evidences Give all diligence saith the Apostle to make your calling and election sure Doe but make your Calling sure that you are truly and effectually called then it followeth by just and necessary consequence you were elected before the foundations of the world and shall bee saved Many other Meditations doe arise out of this right we have to that life which by Grace is conferred upon us Consider we the extent hereof Heires together joynt-heires so as all of all sorts have aright to the life of Saints I speake here of outward conditions whether they bee great or meane rich or poore free or bond whatsoever they be they have all aright they are joynt-heires they are heires together As it is with us in some places there is a title of Gavill kind that giveth a joynt-right to all the sons that a man hath and so for daughters all Daughters are coheires so this Tenour is as I may say Gavill kind all have a right thereunto no exception of any because God is no respecter of persons This my brethren serveth as an admonition to those that are great or may seeme to be higher then others here in this world if they be Saints let them not despise others who are Saints too they are Co-heires with them they are fellow-brethren there is not an Elder brother among them Christ only is the elder brother There may some have a greater degree of glorie there may some have greater evidences thereof in this world and greater assurance yet notwithstanding they have all aright to the inheritance they are all Co-heires And this againe is another comfort to the meaner and weaker sort that howsoever there may be some difference in regard of outward condition here yet notwithstanding in the greatest priviledge there is no difference at all and therefore to conclude concerning these and other consolations ministred to you I will use the Apostles words comfort
that he is very ready and greedy of death it is the way to that I hope for saith he therefore it is sweetly spoken of an Ancient and you will acknowledge it to be a sweet sentence of that Father Saint Austin Hee that desireth to bee dissolved according to that of the Apostle and to bee with Christ Non patienter moritur Hee doth not die patiently See here is a faithfull a hopefull man and yet doth not die patiently what would the Father say Hee liveth saith he patiently the very life he liveth putteth him to his patience when he commeth to die hee dieth pleasantly he goeth away with his hope and his hope is full of immortalitie And no more for that point The nex thing I observe is concerning the Object of this hope and this is it that Christ is the Object of the Christians hope We have hope in Christ. Heare it in the generall heare it in the speciall In the generall 1 Tim. 1. 1. Saint Paul he beginneth his Epistle with Christ our hope Col. 1. 27. The riches of the mysterie of Gods grace to the Gentiles is Christ in you the hope of glory Here is Christ our hope and Christ your hope in the generall In the speciall heare it in Saint Paul heare it in the Prophets and others Saint Paul to mee to live is Christ to die is gaine Christ is to me in life and Death advantage living or dying I am Christs I have hoped in the Lord saith the Prophet David And God is my hope and hath beene my helpe even from my youth This is the generall song of the whole Church God is our hope and therefore the Prophet Iacob made an excellent Ejaculation in those blessings he gave his sonnes when he said Oh Lord I have waited for thy salvation Here was his waiting his hope for the salvation of God from the God of his salvation And so let him slay me if hee will saith holy Iob yet notwithstanding I will still trust in him Thus the faithfull have hope and their hope is in Christ. No more of it for the enlargement of it It sheweth to us in the first place this Note that A Christians wings doe mount him above all meanes What are his wings his hope Whether flyeth his hope It takes its flight up to heaven to God to the right hand of God to Christ there is his hope So then he that hath this hope being poore he flyeth not to riches for they make themselves wings and flye away from him Being weake hee flyeth not to the arme of flesh for in man there is no hope nor no confidence to bee put in Prinâ—…s in the Ballance they are lighter then vanitie it selfe sayth the Psalmist Being sicke hee flieth not to the Physitian he fleeth to these as the meanes not to rest in them to make it the maine of his aime the scope of his hope hee doth not flie thus to them but hee goeth to God that commandeth all that worketh above all against all and without all means and sanctifieth all these means Therfore wel sayth the poore man God is my help and the sick man God is my health and the weak man God is my strength and the blinde man Christis my light and even the dead man the distrest man God is my life the good man Christ is my Hope and the happie man Christ is my love And so it is to Christ that the wings of a mans Hope doth lift him up This is the first It sheweth us that the wings of Hope that is in the faithfull soule lifteth him up above all meanes No more of that Secondly observe in this object the very Crowne of a Christians comfort I say the Crowne of all his comfort and that commeth onely from this object of his hope For what is there in all the World that can comfort a man indeed besides this much lesse compared with this Begin where you will when you have gone round about you will conclude with that of the Apostle I count all things but losse and dung in comparison of Christ and all things to bee vanitie and vexation of spirit as the Preacher saith Put the case thou art a sicke man or a sicke woman and I finde thee much affected afflicted dejected cast downe in thy selfe I would faine give thee some comfort now I tell thee of the vanitie of this present life therfore being content I tell thee of the hope of a better life I tell thee of the joyes that are to be revealed I tell thee of the promises of God which hee will make good to thee if thou wilt trust in his mercie I tell thee of all the sure mercies of David as they are called and all this while I have told thee nothing at all to comfort thee till I come to this the object of this Hope which I have in hand and that is Jesus Christ in whom all Gods promises are Yea and Amen and till thou canst learne this lesson of life concerning the Lord Jesus thou hast learned nothing come and learn this and my life for thine thou art then happy He is the Way the Truth and the Life the Way and Truth and Life it selfe and whether shall I goe from thee Lord thou hast the words of eternall life I have done with that Point and so passe on to the third Wee have Hope wee have Hope in Christ wee have Hope in Christ in this life This life-time then is our hope-time that is it you learne hence Here we have the feed of Hope but the harvest of Hope that is hereafter when wee shall have in re what now we have in spe as ordinarily wee speake when wee shall have in possession what now wee haue in expectation then there will bee no more use of this Grace there hope shall cease Now it is indeed in this life time that wee sow the seedes of Prayer that wee plant the roots of Faith that wee water all of them with our hope when our joy shall spring up when the end and fruit of our faith shall come when the possession of our hope shall appeare then we have done with hope hope serveth no longer then therefore it is now in this life Hope shall end for the action of it understand that aright as Faith shall but it shall never end for the object of it that end shall last still and rest ever Now then in the interim this is the Prophets and this is the Princes and this is the Peoples posse I wayte and I wayte too and I trust the Lord over all Now is your posse time as I may call it now is the seed time wherein we sow the seeds of love of joy of hope wherein we sow the seeds of sobrietie and innocencie and chastitie and charitie and all manner of vertues whatsoever now is the time Is this so then here is the
Mother But consider the World as it is in it selfe and there is nothing in it but true bitternesse and false sweetnes certaine paine and uncertaine pleasure tedious labour and timerous rest nothing in the World but vanitie and miserie for saith Saint Iohn Love not the World hee that makes himselfe the friend of God makes himselfe an enemie to the World O you lovers of the World sayth Saint Austin I wonder at you O foolish men who hath bewitched you for what wrestle you why doe you strive and contend so much what thing is their in the World that is worthie your labour there is sayth hee nothing in the World but that which is foolish and frothie and frayle and false and vaine and full of danger full of disaster suffer your selves therefore to bee weaned from the World And yet notwithstanding all that wee can say wee know there are some persons that will not bee taken off from the Worlds breasts they have a better opinion of it then so Let such enjoy their owne errour till they runne to ruine and till their owne overthrow take them off Yet notwithstanding wee know that which an Ancient hath that to whom God is once sweet the World must needs bee bitter 2 On the other side the knowledge of this serveth to winne us to the Lord that as the one draweth us off so the other may drive us on When I consider the mercies of the Lord and the goodnesse of God in the land of the living when I consider how infinite he is in his love I am ravished in spirit I am taken up in the minde and taken off in the flesh I have set my heart and affections on Heaven and on heavenly things And now when I think on the Lord there is my hope and there is my helpe and there where my helpe is there is my love and there is my life and there is my Lord there is Christ at the right hand of God Hee is the life of them that beleeve hee is the resurrection from the dead hee is the right hand where there is pleasure for evermore for there shall be no more paine no more death for the first things are past away saith Saint Iohn in the Revelation and all things are become new Oh hee that did but know the joyes that are reserved for such as are received to the Lord would soone bee taken up from all conceits of the things of this life Thinke you but of that great convocation house of Heaven that high Court of Parliament that great place of Majestie and honour where all the spirits of just men made perfect are where all the Saints departed live where there are all the blessed Patriarches godly Prophets the glorious Apostles the blessed Kings and the goodly fellowship of Martyrs and Confessors where there are the holy Angels and Arch-Angels Thrones and Dominions Seraphims and Cherubins in those glorious Orbes Where there is God the blessed Trinitie the King of Glorie whose Glorie is more then can be seene be sayd conceived to be where the joy of the Saints is such as eye hath not seene no sayth Saint Austin eye hath not seene for it is no colour nor eare hath not heard for it is no sound nor never entred into the heart of man to conceive for the heart of man must enter into it where all shall bee filled with abundance of peace so the Prophet they shall not only taste and see how good the Lord is but they shall be filled with abundance and they shall drink out of the River running over with infinite and transcendent pleasures where there gold shall be peace and their silver shall bee peace and their land shall bee peace and their life shall bee peace and their joy shall be peace and their God shall be peace and the God of peace hee shall fill them with the peace of God and that peace is it which passeth which is infinitely beyond all understanding Glorious things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God where the King is veritie and the Law is charitie and the State is felicitie and the Life is eternitie The comparing of these two things together of this lifes miserie and that lifes felicitie and eternitie would make a man sing and to sigh too It would make him sing I singing is in the Temple and sighing is in the Tabernacle singing in the Temple Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they shall be alwaies praysing thee here is singing but sighing is in the Tabernacle for while wee are in this Tabernacle therefore sigh wee desiring to be dissolved and to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven for while wee are here we cannot be happie for this life is miserie This bee spoken for our selves The second application of this plea is for others seeing this life is such a life of miserie and that life is such a life of glory and immortality our present hap so base our future hope so excellent this should stay us and take us off from mourning for such as are departed as if wee were without hope of them Hope is in the Text the principall thing and to lament and mourn for those that are departed wee should bee so farre from it as to rejoyce in our spirits for the blessed translation of such into eternall rest from this vale of miserie I say we should rejoyce in their very translation What dost thou mourne and lament and hang downe the head and all for losse of such as are departed and gone to rest with God Oh but thou wilt say thou art not heavie for their gaine but for thine owne losse but seeing thy losse is the lesse and their gaine the greater why dost thou not observe a meane and a proportion in these things I confesse it is very fitting both in Civility and Divinity and agreeable to the lawes both of Grace and Nature that there should be mourning especially in the house of mourning at times and occasions offered in this nature it cannot otherwise be But for Rachel to mourne for her Children so as that shee would not be comforted not but that shee could have beene comforted but shee would not that is not well But I say here is comfort in abundance and here is that which must stay us from being transported with impatient griefe wee must overcome all our griefe with patience with a blessed expectation of our owne dissolution for we must thinke we shall goe to them they shall not returne to us let us desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best for them and for mee I and for thee too Enough of the fift Point The last which I will but name that so I may runne through this whole Scripture at this time is this that The righteous and the hopefull they are not miserable they are not most miserable not the most miserable of all nay they are not miserable at all
of this sweetnesse of mercie as a precious oyntment and become good examples unto others and improve the gifts and abilities which God had given them to the same purpose Shee was not onely mindfull of those at home but her goodnesse extended to the Saints abroad And not in respect of Nature onely because they were come into the Countrey where shee was borne I speake now of those that live in distresse and exile of the Palatinate and Germany but in respect of Grace Shee was wondrous industrious and laborious to procure all the meanes that might bee to send over to helpe them and even refreshed the bowells of the Saints that I may truly say the loynes of the poore blessed God for her in many places In what place hath shee lived and hath not left a savour behinde her nay almost in what company hath shee conversed but this particular dutie hath been as a precious oyntment to sweeten the conversations of all that were about her and to worke in their mindes a vertuous intention and propensenesse to this dutie Beloved here you have her in her carriage and example What shee was in her behaviour towards her Husband and her Children I need not speake there are enough can witnesse it shee carried her selfe as became Wife to him and a helper of the servants of Gâ—…od with prayers and desires and often provocations and incitings that way But for her Children shee seem'd to undergoe a second travaile with them till Christ were formed in them being full of earnest desires and petitions for the working of Grace where it was not begun and for the perfecting thereof where it was newly entred Shee rejoyced exceedingly in any expression of good and more for that of Grace then any other inclination or respect Beloved this was obvious and common to all and any man might take speciall notice thereof dayly and observe it constantly In her servants as there appeared the mere grace in any so much the more respect she extended towards them In the poore as shee perceived the more grace in any the more reliefe they received from her c. 〈◊〉 say nothing what in all this shee suffered those that were acquainted with her disease know what paines shee under-went in respect of her bodie and with what patience shee submitted to the hand of God in all things And many know the wrong shee endured from the World for her desire and care to doe good when she obtain'd opportunitie Some thought her over-bold some to busie others thought her proud and vaineglorious because of her often frequenting of company and speaking openly for the provoking of others to the exercise of goodnesse The Lord smite their hearts that are guilty of mis-judging that which wee are to suppose in respect of her forward disposition is this Shee was naturally of a free spirit which being sanctified with Grace and sharpned with love and zeale for the glory of God made her the more resolute and familiar in frequenting good company not to magnifie her selfe by their societie but that her continuall conversation with them might give her the better occasion to incite and stirre them to goodnesse Let those that are guiltie of misprision leave to censure her Vertues and convert them into an example for themselves to walke in if they doe not the neglect will loade their soules with more woe for such contempt then shee hath received joy for her labour What concern'd her in her sicknesse briefly I have not much to say in that they which were about her dayly know more then I can relate Shee did not onely expresse a satisfaction and assurance of heart that her reconciliation was made with God in Christ but besides that a willingnesse and desire to bee dissolved for that reason that shee might hee with Christ. A Minister that was with her asking how shee that had a Husband and Children enjoying an estate and 〈◊〉 other comforts could be willing to forgoe so many blessings and exchange them all for death She from that inward sence and perswasion of Gods love to her in Christ concluded my Husband is deare and my Children are deare to me but Christ is dearer Therefore I am willing to forgoe Husband and Children and all the contents you can number in this life that I might live with Christ to partake of greater felicitie then this world can afford me And now the Lord Jesus hath received her into his owne protection and satisfied her expectation with the performance of his love But wherefore have wee spoken all this what that wee might adde any praise unto the dead no But to quicken those that are living and incite them to the like dutie Some may thinke it impossible there should be such activenesse in doing of good and such unweariednesse in performing of the acts of mercy and where say they shall we find such an example you have it before your eyes and know that examples will rise in judgement against you and condemne you as well as precepts If you follow them not while they invite you The Text saith Doe good to all especially to the houshold of faith And here is an example before our eyes of one who tooke her time and opportunitie to doe good to all especially to them of the houshold of Faith Goe thou and doe likewise FINIS DEATH PREVENTED OR MORTALITIE CHANGED LAM 3. 58. O Lord thou hast pleaded the causes of my soule thou hast redeemed my life JOB 33. 29. 30. Loe all these things worketh God oftentimes with man to bring backe his soule from the pit to bee enlightned with the light of the living LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. DEATH PREVENTED OR MORTALITIE CHANGED SERMON XL. JOB 14. 14. All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my change come THis Booke of Iob comprehends the History of a good man and of his many tryalls Though goodnesse deliver from Hell yet it privildgeth not from temptations or crosses yea the more eminent Holinesse is many times the more it is exposed to sharpe and manifold assaults Iob is set upon on all sides he found the Divell a sore enemie and his great estate a suddaine shipwrack his Children in a moment crusht to peeces Hee had but three Points of Land to looke at in this troublesome sea and every one of them seemed rather to augment then to lessen the storme His Wife whose breath should have sweetned and eased his griefe was an impatient vexation His friends whose counsells and compassions should have beene an easie harbour and tender reliefe they became his bitter and censorious judges Yea his God who by his owne testimonie hee served and feared with singular uprightnesse and whose bowells are ever tender and compassionate to such and upon whose gracious acceptance hee thought to quiet and anchor his troubled spirit yet anon he seemed not onely a stranger but an enemie and this went deepe that even Mercie it selfe seemed cruell and
heart and soule of every true beleever lying on his death bed or on the Gridiron or in the dungeon or on the gibbet or on the faggot did not the Spirit seale this truth aboveall other at such times to his servants were not then their hope full of immortality they could never have welcomed death embraced the flames sung in their torments and triumphed over death even when they were in the jawes of it When Iob was in the depth of all his miserie the Spirit spake in his heart I know that my Redeemer liveth and that hee shall stand in the latter day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines bee consumed within mee Likewise when Saint Paul was now readie to bee offered and the time of his departure was at hand the Spirit spake in him I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is layd up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but to them also that love his appearing Likewise when Gerardus was giving up the ghost the Spirit spake in him O Death where is thy sting Mors non est stimulus sed jubilus And though Robert Glover the Martyr all the night before his Martyrdome prayed for strength and courage but could feele none yet when he came to the sight of the stake he was mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joyes and clapping his hands to Austin the Spirit the Comforter himselfe spake in him Hee is come hee is come You have heard where the spirit saith so give eare now to a voyce from heaven declaring why the spirit saith so for they rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as well paine as paines broyles as toyles as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke so paine and paines in English are of kinne for labour is paine to the body and paine is labour to the Spirit and therefore what wee say to bee punished and tormented with a disease the Latine say laborare morbo and the throngs and throes which women endure in Child-bearing wee call their labouring Here then the dead have a double immortalitie granted them 1 From the labours of their calling 2 From the troubles of their condition freedome from paine and paines taking What then may some object doe the dead sleepe out all their time from the breathing out their last gaspe to the blowing the last trumpe as they suffer nothing so doe they nothing but are like Consul Bibulus who held onely a roome and filled up a blancke in the Roman fasti Nam 〈◊〉 factum consule nil memini or like mare mortuum without any motion or operation at all that cannot be the soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most perfect Act or as Tullie renders the word a continuall motion as the word is taâ—…en in that old proverbiall verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it can no more bee and not worke then the winde can bee and not blow the fire and not burne a diamond and not sparkle the sunne and not shine therefore it is not sayd here simply that they rest from all kinde of motion or working but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from toylesome labours soretravells and againe from their owne labours or workes not the Lords They keepe an everlasting Sabbath in not doing of their owne workes but Gods they rest from sinfull and painefull travells but not from the workes of a sanctified rest for they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come The rest of the soule is not a ceasing from all motion or opperation that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit but a setling it selfe with delight upon an all-satisfying and never satiating object such was the rest the sweet singer of Israel called his soule unto returne unto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bâ—…untifully with thee Bodies rest in their proper places but spirits in their proper object in the contemplation fruition admiration and adoration whereof consisteth their everlasting content This object is God whom they contemplate in their mind enjoy in their will adore in both and this is their continuall worke and their worke is their life and their life is their happinesse which the Divines fitly expresse in one word glorification which must be taken both actually and passively for they glorifie God and God glorifieth them God glorifieth them by casting the full light of his countenance upon them and they glorifie him by reflecting some light backe againe and casting their crownes before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created They rest from their labours This Text of holy Scripture containeth in it the waters of Siloah not so much to refresh those that are tyred with their former labours having borne the heate of the whole day as to lave out the false fire of Purgatorie for blessednesse cannot stand with miserie nor rest with trouble nor reward with punishment but all that dye in the Lord are blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is à tempore mortis from the time of their death as venerable Beda and other expound the words and so blessed are they that they rest from all paine and paines and so rest that their workes follow them that is as I shall declare hereafter the reward of their workes If this lave not out the Romish fire which scareth the living more then the dead and purgeth their purses and not their soule wee may draw store of water to quench it out of divers other Texts of holy Scripture as namely First If the tree fall towards the South or towards the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall bee Which Text Olympiodorus thus illustrateth in whatsoever place therefore whether of light or of darknesse whether in the worke of wickednesse or of vertue a man is taken at his death in that degree and ranke doth he remaine either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darknesse with the wicked and prince of the world To little purpose therefore is all that is or can be done for the dead after they have taken their farewell of us after wee are gone from hence there remaines no place for repentance or penance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here life is either lost or obtained but if thou O Demetrian saith Saint Cyprian even at the very end and setting of thy temporall life dost pray
mercie and peace to those that are wicked and out of the way whereby some are converted and others convinced and prepared for the worke of Gods justice So this question need not trouble men or hold them off from a chearfull and fruitfull expectation of Christ though he come not in our age as he hath not in others before The use of the Point is this First if this bee the propertie of the godly to wait and earnestly to expect the comming of Christ then wee may observe the generall ungodlinesse of the World by the generall want of this expectation And if ye say but who is there that doth not expect the second comming of Christ and who doth not beleeve that hee shall come to judge the quicke and the dead I answer not withstanding that every man confesse this Article of faith with his mouth yet every man beleeveth it not with his heart for every man frameth not himselfe according to the faith of it Very few are those faithfull servants that waite and prepare for their Masters comming Christ when hee commeth he shall scarce finde faith on the earth What a number of Men and Women are there though they heare these things and they are beaten upon them upon many occasions and they are in their judgements convinced that it must bee so yet notwithstanding the faith of their hearts apprehend it not they doe not beleeve it they doe not listen and frame to it Wee like Caleb tell them of the good Land and the fat of the Land and the fruit of the Land and the fulnesse of the Land of Canaan but generally men like the unthankefull Israelites murmure and repine and rebell and scarce heare us or if they doe they doe not beleeve it For if men did beleeve it it could not bee that men should live like Saduces as they doe that neither beleeve the soule nor immortalitie neither that there are spirits nor Devills nor resurrection nor nothing the lives and conversations of men plainly bewray that they beleeve not this Doctrine though they can professe with the mouth that Jesus Christ shall come againe to judge the quicke and the dead but like the Cardinall of whom wee read that profest hee would not give his part in Paris for his part in Paradise so men live as if they would not give their part here on earth for a Childs part in Heaven Like that wicked Pope that we read of when he was about to dye now sayth he I shall know that which I never beleeved whether there bee a Heaven or Hell an immortalitie of the soule or no. So men live as if they never meant to know those things or beleeve them till they come to the tryall and experience of them And besides what a number of men and women are there that can professe these things with their mouth but they cast themselves into a fast sleepe in sinne and security and sleepe on both sides Gods Messengers and Ministers cannot awake them but as though their soules were to sleepe everlastingly so they sleepe on in their lusts and sinnes and will not bee awakened And my brethren who doth not observe that it is not the fashion of men even of those that professethemselves Christians to say come Lord Iesus till they bee on their death-beds and till â—…hey bee scarceable to speake or breath out a word they never say come Lord Jesus till they know not what to doe with themselves till they can enjoy their lusts and the World and their sinnes no longer they cannot tell how to bequeath themselves longer to the service of sinne and unrighteousnesse till then they never call after the Lord Jesus to come to them and when they doe it is not out of love and affection to Christ but out of selfe-love to helpe them out of the hands of death that is too strong for them and to fetch them out of that miserie they are too weak to sustaine Therefore they call Lord Jesus but as I sayd it is farre from the love of him in their hearts for were these men to live over their lives againe and to bee restored to health againe it would bee the last breath of their lives still to call the Lord Jesus My brethren whre these things are and wee finde them too generall every man that lookes into his owne heart may finde himselfe in some measure touched herein certainely it cannot bee that this same lively desire of a Christian can bee there and these persons can have little comfort in themselves they have few arguments to prove themselves Elect of God having the Spirit of God or to bee those that heare the promises with faith or those that thirst after Christ there is no argument in them that they are Christs because they long not and desire after him But therefore in the second place since this desire is so rare let us trie ourselves a little even those that professe better things and hope well that they are indeed the Spouse of Christ. Let us trie and search our selves whether this expectation bee with us or no that wee may finde comfort in our estate and in our union and conjunction with Christ. For tryall of this Point first wee must know that a necessary attendant and companion of this expectation of Christ and waiting for him is sighing and longing and a vehement desire after him It is no slight no superficiall desire but an inward vehement desire a sighing and panting after Christ as those that see the need of him And therefore as the Wise man sayth hope deferred paines the heart the godly desires of the soule bring paines to the soule for want of Christ in the absence of Christ. And as the Apostle expresseth it in Rom. the 8. Wee sigh in our selves sayth hee wayting for the redemption of our bodyes Wee sigh in our selves as men that are ficke or in paine or opprest with a heavie burthen sigh out their sorrowes and griefes so the godly soule must labour to finde this expectation in the sighing longing earnest desiring after Christ wee sigh in our selves sayth the Apostle this is an argument of true love to Christ indeed when wee earnestly desire him in his absence As a true faithfull Spouse enjoyeth not her selfe when she enjoyeth not her Husband so it is with the Spouse of Christ therefore the Apostle in the 2 Thess. 3. 3. joyneth them together The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient wayting for of Christ. As if hee should say there can bee no love of Christ if there bee no wayting for Christ and according to the vehemencie of your love will bee the vehemencie of your sighing and longing after him That 's the first attendant of this expectation whereby we may examine our selves A second attendant is a comfortable sweet joy in the soule a fruit of the spirit not a fruit of presumption or of the flesh but a fruit of the spirit as
come 1. From the evill of suffering That he shall not see it That he shall not endue it Ezek. 9. Exod. 12. 2. From the evill of sinning That he shall not see sinne committed by others That he shall not commit sin himselfe Vse Quest. Answ. The losse of a godly man a great punishment to a place The second part of the Text. Inconsideration a great sinne A fruit of sin A cause of sinne Isa. 40. 6. Luk. 1. 4. Psal. 90. 10. Bxod. 17. 14. Isa. 8. 1. Ezek. 24. 2. Rom. 24. 2. The division of the words 1 2 3 4 5 Observation 1. Aust. lib. 19. de Civit. Dei. A double blessednesse Phil. 3. 21. 2 Cor. 5. 7 Phil. 1. 23. 1 Cor. 15. 19. Eccles. 9. 4. Job 2. 4. Job 6. 3. Psa 119. 175 Psal. 39 13. Isa. 38. 18 19. Job 7. 15. Num. 11. 15. 1 King 19. 4. Jonah 4 3. Job 3. 20. Quest. Answ. Five causes of selfe-murther 1 2 3 4 〈◊〉 Observation 2. What it is to die in the Lord. Rom. 16. 1. 1 Thes. 4. 1. To die in obedience Phil. 1. 2. In repentance 3. In faith 4. With prayer Luke 23. 46. Act. 7. 59. 5. In charity Euke 23. 34. Acts 7. 60. 6. In peace How to come to die in the Lord. 1 2 The summe of the words Devision Explanation None of us liveth to himselfe Observation A beleever is not to make himselfe the end in his Actions Obiect Answ. A double consideration of our selves How a man may seeke himselfe self-Selfe-love lawfull The Observation proved by reason Reas. 1. It is dishonourable to God Reas. 2. It is injurious to Christ. Phil. ver 19. 1 Cor. 6. 20. 1 Per. 1. 18. Luk. 1. 74. Reas. 3. It is dangerous to a mans selfe 1. A man in seeking himselfe loseth his happinesse 2. That which he gaines is but a shadow of gaine 3. Hee loseth himselfe Mat. 16. 26. Mark 10. Vse 1. For Conviction 1. That there are many that professe themselves Christians yet live to themselves Complained of Phil. 2. 21. Forbidden 1 Cor 10. 24. How a man shall know whether he liveth to himselfe Rule 〈◊〉 Iustance 1. â—…oh 6. 10. Hos. 7. Deut. 32. Instance 2. Simile Instance 3. Rule 2. Rom. 1. 2. That it is an evill thing for a man to live to himselfe Mat. 6. 22. A single eye what Jam. 1. Vse 2. For Exhortation Helpes 1. Our good is in God and not in our selves Ier. 9. 24. 2. Exercise the grace Of knowledge Cant. 5. 1 Sam. 1. Of Faith Of Love 2 Cor. 5. Vse 3. For instruction 1 Cor. 14. Eph. 4. 9. The Coherence Division of the Text. 1. Preface 2. Exhortation In the Exhortation 1. The ground of it 2. The Exhortation it selfe 3. The motivo In the Preface Observation 1. Observat. 2 In the Exhortation 2. The grouÌ„d of it The meaning of the words Obser. 1. Obser. 2. The meditation of the shortnesse of our lives a special means to take us off of the world Reas. 〈◊〉 Reas. 2. What is the principall thing we have to doe in the world Vse The ground of all our neglect of heaven is the want of the consideration of the shortnesse of this life Sath an labours above all things to make men put off the consideration of the brevity of their lives 2. The Exhortation it selfe The meaning of the words What is meant by having wives and yet to be as having none 2. By weeping as if they wept not 3. By rejoycing as if rejoyced not 4. By buying as if possessed not 5. By using the world as not abusing it Observat. Opened A beleever is to be to the world as a worldly man to the things of heaven Proved by Scripture 1 John 4. 10. Col. 3. 1. By Reason 1 The things of the world are emptie things to a beleever Reas. 2. The things of the world are none of a beleevers Note Simile Reas. 3. The things of the world hinder a beleever in the service of God Simile Vse Reprehension Particular instances How to know whether we use the things of the world as if wee used them not How a man may come to use things as if he used them not 3. The Apostles Motive or spurre Obser. 1. The things of the world but a shew without a substance Obser. 2. The shew of the world is suddenly gone Grace is onely substantiall The Coherence The meaning of the words 1. What is meant by peace 2. What by destruction The manner of the destruction 1. â—…udden 2. Painfull 3. Vnavoidable In the words a double description 1 Zach. 1. â—…1 2 The Observation In the greathe security the greatest danger A double security 1. Holy and spirituall Spirituall security what Psal. 4. 8. Isa. 26. 20. 2. Sinfâ—…ll and carnall Carnall security a forerunner of Judgement Proved 1. By particular examples of particular persons 1 Sam. 15. 13. Dan. 5. 3. Luk. 12. 19. Job 21. 13. 2. By generall examples of nations and states Luke 17. Jer. 6. 14 15 Zepha 1. 12. Isa. 47. 8. 9. Rev. 18. 7. Confirmed by Reason 1. In respect of the causes of security Infidelity Heb. 11. 7. Isa. 61. Heb. 3. Deut. 29. 19. Isa. 6. 9 10. 2. In respect of the concomitants of security Disrespect of God in all his Attributes Rom. 2. 4. 5. Eccles. 8. 11. 3. In respect of the fruit and consequences of securitie Gen. 15. 16. Note Vse 1. For examination Signes of security 1. Profiting not by the judgements of God on our selves or others Dan. 5. Ier. 31. 9. Amos 4. 2. Contempt of the ordinances Amos 6. Ier. 9. 13. Jer. 23. 33. 3. Vaine confidence Jer 7. 11. 12 13. Numb 11. 13 Jer. 49. 16. Isa. 48. 15. 4. Continual increase of sinne Vse 2. For xxhortation Motives to watchfulnesse 1. The watchfulnesse of our enemies 1. Sathan 2. The flesh 3. Heretiques Mot. 2. The evill of security In it selfe a spirituall lethargie 2. In the effects 1. It drives away the spirit of God 2. It lets in Sathan 3. Hinders our Communion with Christ. 4. Bringeth judgement positive Future Matt. 24. Ezek. 9. Mala. 3. Helpes to watchfulnesse 1. Sobrietie Eph. 5. 2. Spirituall exercise 3. Continual feare 4. Good company Eccles. 4. 5. Be alwaies as in Gods presence Psal. 139. Jer. 23. 23. 6. Consider thy latter end Revel 3. 2. Eccles. 11. 9. Prov. 16. 7. Psal. 9. 6. The parts of the Text. Obser. 1. Death is an enemie What kind of enemie 1. A common enemie 1 King 22. 31 Gen. 16. 12. Psal. 89. 48. Obiect Answ. Josh. 23. 14. Job 30. 23. 2. A secret enemie 3. A spirituall Enemie Rom. 5. 12. 4. A continuall Enemie Wherein Death is an Enemie Job 18. 18. 〈◊〉 In respect of its attendants 1. Sicknesse c. Heb. 2. 15. 2 Cor. 6. Psal. 39. 6. 2. Dissolution of the frame of nature 3. The grave Ezek. 24. 16. Isa. 14. 11. 4. Losse of worldly contentments and actions Psal. 49. 9. Isa. 38. 11. Psal. 6. 5. Conscience of
therefore that where there are desires toward God and desires of grace there is somewhat of God formed in that person there is something of grace begun at least the first lineaments thereof are drawne in some kind of truth This is the second Act that Christians should exercise and take speciall care to cherish that they have continuall pantings and breathings of desires toward God their hearts should worke and beate toward him continually But then in the third place there is another thing expressed in the words of the Text and that is these desires are not only according to our Proverbe of wishers and woulders ineffectuall desires desires that are meere gaping to see if the thing will drop into our mouthes or no without any bestirring of our selves but here is joyned with them if wee peruse the words of the Text we shall find it endeavours I have desired thee in the night and I will seeke thee early the soule of a Christian desires God in the evening and his spirit will seeke him early in the morning for those particulars of the time I shall touch by and by but now I only take notice of that third distinct act here mentioned which is our desires must be joyned with inquiries with indeavours to search after God to see if we may grope by any meanes to find him out to learne to know what is the way of his good will and pleasure how we may lead a life that may be acceptable to him and how we may come to the possession and assurance of his favour and be accepted in his sight Except there be endeavours it is a shrewd suspition that the desires are ineffectuall desires and unformed desires and not those that argue any life and truth of grace But when our desires are joyned with these bestirrings of the soule to seeke after God to search him out in his Word in his Ordinances to find his steps and to find his goings and so to maintaine a sweet and holy communion with him that is a sweet act of grace and a certaine ratification and seale of the truth of it But then let me adde the third thing In what height are all these actions to be boyled up or in what manner must we tender these services to God in this kind How must our understandings lay hold upon God and treasure him up in our memories How must our affections and desires worke toward him how must our endeavours be carryed toward God The manner of all these will make this compleat and so make up the full and compleat Character of a Christian in this generall dutie First the soule must be carried intimatly and most inwardly the inward motions and workings of the soule and spirit must bee toward God And therefore the Prophet here expresseth these acts as the acts of the very soule and spirit of a man All outward actions of seeking toward God and making our approaches and addresses toward him they are all such as may be counterfeited a hypocrite may act them There is nothing in the world no shape of any externall thing in the world but a Painter with his pensill can draw the picture of it give a resemblance of the thing and there is no outward action in the world that belongeth to God or to Christianitie but it is possible for a Painter for a base hypocrite to represent them with an artificiall pensill But the inward acts of life that no Painter can imitate a Painter cannot make a picture to have heart and entrailes and lunges to have life and motion and spirits and bloud stirring in the veines all those things a Painter cannot imitate he can make shapes but he cannot put the life into them he can make outward formes but he cannot put the inwards to them Now then this is that intended here all those outward actions must bee animated actions not dead actions actions that have no further bottome then the teeth outwards that grow upon the house toppe a word growing upon the tippe of the tongue that hath no roote in the heart and so for the rest But they must have the roote in the heart and soule of a man that must inwardly be carried towards God And when the heart and soule and spirit of a man all which words are here used by a supernaturall grace that is implanted in them when I say they are thus carried toward God it is an argument of spirituall life that there is some life Secondly they must be carried sincerely not for any by or base respects When a man makes toward any person or thing and professes love to it and doth it not for the thing it selfe but for some by end he doth not love that person he makes to but he loveth that thing for whom he makes to that person As for example A man scrapeth and croucheth and keepes a doe with a man that he never saw or knew one that he is ready it may bee when his backe is turned to curse but yet he will doe this for his almes for his gaine to make a prey a use of him some way this man loveth his almes loveth his prey loveth his bounty but it is no argument of love to the man So it is in this case for a man to make toward God and to seeme to owne him and to be one of the generation of those that seeke his face to addresse himselfe in outward conformitie and many other things by which another may charitably if hee have no other ground judge of him all this is nothing except a man may discerne something that may give him a tast that his spirit doth uprightly and sincerely seeke God that he loveth God for God himselfe that he loveth grace for grace it selfe hee loveth the Commandements of God because they are Gods commandements and because they are beautifull being according to the rule of his Word But otherwise if it be any sinister thing that carrieth a man on toward God it is no argument of the life and truth of grace You know it is so in experience there be many things that move and yet their motion is no argument of life A wind-mill when the wind serveth moveth and moveth very nimbly too yet you doe not say presently that that is a living creature No it moveth only by an externall cause by an artificiall contrivance it is so framed that when the wind setteth in such and such a corner it will move and so having but an externall Moter and cause to move and no inward principle no soule within it to move it it is an argument that it is no living creature So it is here if a man see another move and move very fast in those things which of themselves are the wayes of God see him move as fast to heare a Sermon as his neighbour doth is as forward and hastie to thrust himselfe and bid himselfe a guest to the Lords Table when God
hath not bid him as any the Question is what principle sets him aworke if it be an inward principle of life out of a sincere affection and love to God and his ordinances that carrieth him to this it argueth that man hath some life of grace But if it bee some wind that bloweth him on the wind of State the wind of Law the wind of danger of penaltie the wind of fashion or custome to doe as his neighbours doe if these or such like bee the things that draw him thither this is no argument of life at all it is a cheape thing it is counterfeit and poore ware Thirdly that which I have often said to be the principall and the most considerable thing that I know in all practicall Divinitie and which is the most Charactaristicall of the truth of Grace and of the life of Pietie in any one our spirits and soules and affections towards God must be advanced to this height to be carried toward God aboue all other things I beseech you seriously thinke of it I have often spoken of it but it may be there may be some roome left for the mention of it now and some necessitie of pondering it well It will bee the Charactaristicall thing by which a man may most certainly discerne himselfe And I would desire to know wherein my defect of understanding is if I be mistaken but it seemes to me as a cleare thing that every one here that hath not a mind to affront the mind of God he dares not contest this argument that it is a rationall thing that if God be the best of Beeings he should have the best portion in our love All reason commands us to love that best which is best and to dispense our love according to the degree of the excellencie of the thing There is no man but apprehendeth this clearely A man may say that he loves his Wife and he will prove it and this shall be his argument I love her aswell as I doe another woman Is this the proofe of conjugall love was this the covenant made betweene them hath hee fulfilled it in this case to her or she to him There is no man but seeth that there is more required there is a peculiarity and proprietie of love required in this case It must certainly be so here for we contract and espouse our soules to Christ and upon those very termes for better and for worse to forsake all the world and to cleave to him alone and if our spirits be not raised and advanced to that degree of affection that Christ and God be so lovely and beautifull in our eyes and so good for I name one sometime and sometime another it is all one upon the point if I say they be not advanced thus high the conjugall knot was never tied betweene Christ and the soule it is impossible therefore that such a one should have to plead the benefits that flow from a Conjugall union neither can hee have title or right to any thing that issueth from a marriage with Christ whose soule did but equivocate and would never speake out the words and who never answered the interrogations of a good conscience as Saint Peter speakes in another case that when the soule in the contract should say that she takes him for to love and honour and obey him and to make him her Lord and Saviour if the soule doe not yeeld to this which it cannot doe if it doe not esteeme him the best of all others and that all others are to bee thrâ—… away and to be forsaken in comparison of him This is the tâ—… circumstance I have noted hence which I suppose is intimated in these words Though I have not said it is exprest here yet it is so carryed with such a fulnesse the desire of our soule is to thee and to the remembrance of thy name as if it were to God only or at least to him principally But I must hasten In the fourth place It must be a universall love and so a universall obedience which is the fruit of it which must justifie the truth of our affections towards God and set the heart in a right frame and temper Except a man love God and love all the wayes of God and all the ordinances of God and yeeld himselfe in subjection and resigne himselfe in obedience to them all if he doe but reserve and make choyce of any one sinne to lie and wallow and tumble in he doth evacuate all the other good hee throweth downe all the other good with that one evill Will you come and plead with God that there is but one sinne that you have defiled and polluted your soule with and wallowed and tumbled in all your life and I hope God will never refuse me or barre me out of his presence and fellowship and communion with him for that Yes you are as filthy all over as filthy and defiled and abominable and odious to his eye and to every other sense aswell with one as if you had beene in ten thousand slowghes one after another And as the Philosopher speakes a Cuppe or some such thing that hath a hole in it is no Cuppe it will hold nothing and therefore cannot performe the use of a cup though it have but one hole in it so if the heart have but one hole in it if it retaine the divell but in one thing as we use to say In law one man in possession keepes possession and a man can never have true possession till he have voyded all so except all be rooted out and exterpated and a man commeth to yeeld a full and absolute subjection to Christ universally Christ hath no part or portion in us nor we in him Lastly there were divers other particulars that I thought to have added in this but I see I must passe them over It is not every affection that may seeme to have some height and universality though I doe acknowledge that they will in some measure characterise out the truth but yet there must be this addition as it was with the feed that was cast into the good ground it had depth of earth so this must have depth in the heart it must be well rooted and fastned for perpetuity it must be a constant affection grounded and established in the heart The Ayre you know is light and yet we call it not a lightsome body because it is lighted by the presence of another and when that light body is removed it is darke you may say it is darke for the Ayre is darke in the night when the Sunne is absent as it is light when the Sunne is present those we call lightsome bodyes whose light is originated and rooted in themselves So it is in this case such are not godly persons that may have some injections of godly thoughts and godly affections cast into them and be in them for a spurt and for a brunt and for a little flash like