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A17332 The narrovv vvay, and the last iudgement deliuered in two sermons: the first at Pauls Crosse, the other elsewhere, by G.B. preacher of the word at Alphamston in Essex. Bury, George.; Brian, G., attributed name.; C. B., fl. 1607. 1607 (1607) STC 4179.5; ESTC S115853 53,682 90

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a sinner they apply either one or both these comforts to them first that nullum tempus poenitentiae inidoneum that no time is too late to come vnto God by repentance and if they stagger in their hope notwithstanding this first comfort then is it commonly backed with this second that God is Deus misericordiae a God of mercie and will forgiue them And in this for the most part we are all like vnto Benhadad 2. King 20. For as he fled from the King of Israel from place vnto place till he was forced into a chamber and when he could go no farther thus he was comforted Reges Israel sunt Reges misericordes The Kings of Israel are mercifull Kings So men commonly when they are in health and strength of bodie they run on in iniquitie and sinne and are impiously rebellious against the holy one of Israel but when they are chased as it were into their chambers either by sicknesse or old age and when there is no way but one as we say but death with them then this is their comfort that Deus Israel est Deus misericordiae that the God of Israel wil be then vnto them a God of mercy But beloued let vs neither flatter our selues with vaine hopes nor deceiue our neighbours with false comforts for though God accepteth of him who cometh vnto him in his old age which is the euening of his life as you may see by him who had a penie giuen him Math. 20.9 though he came at the end of the day to the vineyard and by the theefe Luke 25.43 who was posted euen from the crosse vnto Paradise yet God had rather thou shouldest come vnto him in thy youth which is the morning of thy age And to that end saith the wise man Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth least our comming vnto God should be put off and deferred he saith Remember now and least we should put off till old age or death he addeth in the dayes of thy youth And ●●rely if there were no other reason for it or if we had not the lamentable example of the fiue foolish virgins in this chapter to direct vs who calling Lord Lord open vnto vs when it was too late were shut out and excluded from the kingdome of heauen yet this may be sufficient that we see commonly in our experience carnall and carelesse sinners Justo Dei iudictio hac poena punitur peccator vt mortens obliuiscatur sui qui cū viueret oblitus est Dei Augustin by the iust iudgement of God to be punished with this kinde of punishment namely in old age and at the houre of death to forget both themselues and God as before in their youth they had no care to remember him And for the second comfort that God is Deus misericordiae a mercifull God sure it is that as the women sung concerning Saul and Dauid 1. Sam. 18.7 Saul hath slaine his thousand but Dauid his tē thousands So we may sorowfully sing and say truly that the despaire of Gods mercie hath slaine thousands but the grosse presumption of his mercie hath slaine ten thousands it hath sent ten times as many more vnto hell as the despaire of his mercie And therefore let vs not suffer our selues any longer to be deceiued for as it is true of God which the Prophet Dauid hath Psalm 86.15 that the Lord is a pitifull God mercifull slow to anger and great in kindnesse for all these doth be heape together in that verse yet haue we no reason to be presumptuous vpon these his mercies but we should rather looke backe vnto the 18. Psalme and 26. verse where the Prophet speaking of God he saith thus With the pure thou wilt shew thy selfe pure and with the froward thou wilt shew thy selfe froward that is as he wil mercifully receiue and pardon those that are penitent so he will iustly repell and seuerely punish those that are impenitent In the verses which go before from the beginning of this Chapter we haue the truth and proofe of this doctrine in the parable of the ten virgins For as we see the fiue wise virgins who had oyle in their lampes that is whose good workes and godly liues did shine and giue light vnto others as a lampe giues light vnto those that are in darknesse as we see these most mercifully to be receiued and to enter in with the bridegroome so the fiue foolish virgins who did slumber and sleepe and had no care to expect the bridegroomes cōming by a vertuous and godly life those we see most iustly to be shut out And our Sauiour Christ concludeth and shutteth vp that parable with this comfortable sweet caueat vnto vs Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man will come As if he should haue said seeing there will be a comming of the Sonne of man to iudgement and his comming as it wil be ioyfull and comfortable to the godly so it will be fearfull and terrible to the wicked and we know neither the day nor the houre when he wil come therfore slumber not sleepe not be not carelesse be not secure in your sinnes but watch that is be prepared by a vertuous and godly life against his comming that so when he shal come you may be receiued into heauen with the fiue wise virgins and not be excluded and shut out of heauen with the fiue foolish Watch therfore for you know neither the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man will come In the right opening handling of which words I beseech you to obserue carefully with me these foure particular considerations First that there will be a comming of the Sonne of man to iudgement He wil come Secondly that because he commeth to iudgement therfore his comming wil be fearful terrible Thirdly that the time of his fearfull and terrible comming vnto iudgement is vncertaine We neither know the day nor the houre when he wil come And lastly the vse which we are to make of all these this is a careful vigilant preparation of our selues against his cōming in the first words Vigilate igitur Watch therefore Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man will come Now of all these in their order And first for the first consideration 1. That there wil be a comming of the Sonne of man to iudgement He will come It was the fond opinion of Aristotle that great Philosopher that the world had no beginning Lib. 1. de coelo cap. 10. and so consequently shall haue no end and that mankind with all other creatures in the world were alwayes and should be alwayes The which opinion of his if it were true then might men lawfully doubt whether there should be a general Sessions a generall calling or no of men vnto iudgement But the best way to confute a heathen is by a heathen Plinius
the preseruation of our soules which we do for the preseruation of our bodily health It is a rule in Phisick Pars maxima sanitatis est notitia morbi the best meanes for a sicke man to recouer his health is to acknowledge his sicknesse For if a man which hath the gout in his toe will not take notice of it but say it is nothing but a tingling in his toe and if a man hath got the cough of the lungs and wil not acknowledge it but say it is nothing but a great cold which he hath takē these diseases wil grow so hard vpon them that at length it will be hard or rather impossible to cure them wheras notice being taken of them in time the danger is the lesse the cure more easie And so the Diuines haue the like rule Pars maxima salutis est notitia peccati The best meanes for a sicke man in soule to be recouered is to acknowledge and take notice of sinne which is the sicknesse of the soule For the man that is ouergrowne with couetousnesse and saith it is but frugalitie which is infected with the sinne of vncleannesse and maintaineth it to be but loue the man who like a swashbuckler is alwayes drawing his sword cutting and hacking the harmelesse and will haue this to haue no worse name then manhood and fortitude these and the like diseases wil grow so hard vpon the soule that it will be a plaine miracle to remoue them whereas they being knowne and acknowledged for sinnes as they are indeed the cure of them is easie and the danger of being drawne out of the waies of life by them is quickly auoided But if the Diuell be thus preuented in this second policie then like a sedulous and industrious enemie he setteth vpon vs with a third for if he perceiue that thou conceiuest aright of thy sinnes as that they are indeed sinnes then he laboureth to deceiue thee with this that Dominus non videt though thou takest them to be sinnes yet saith the diuell the Lord doth not see them and with this haue many bene deceiued In the eighth of Ezechiel and twelfth verse it is Gods speech vnto the Prophet Son of man hast thou seene what the Ancients of Israel do in the darke euery one in the chamber of his imagery for they say the Lord sees vs not the Lord hath forsakē the earth Almighty God shews the Prophet that the ancients of Israel had painted round about their walls euery similitude of creeping things and abhominable beasts and he makes this to be the cause a grosse perswasion that the Lord did not see them But art thou desirous to preuent the diuell in this fallacian also then for thy better instruction let me reason with thee thus He that could espie our first parents hiding themselues among the thicke trees of the garden Gen. 3.9 cannot his eyes find out thy sinne though it be committed in a secret place Psal 94.9 He that planted the eare shall not he heare saith Dauid or he that formed the eye shall not he see As if he had said Make no question but whatsoeuer you speake or do God doth heare it God doth see it It is not with the sight of God as it is with the sight of man if there be not a due and a proportionate distance betweene the sight of man and the obiect the eye of man cannot possibly see it but say God were circumscribed in some one place and grant it were in heauen yet that great distance which is betweene heauen and earth euen seuen score and eighteene thousand foure hundred and sixtie three miles as the Astronomers haue coniectured yet doth not this great distance hinder God from seeing our sinnes Psal 14.2 For the Lord looked downe from heauen vpon the children of men what to do to see if any would vnderstand and seeeke after God but looking downe he saw that all were gone out of the way that there was none that did good no not one But if the Diuell preuaile not with this third fallacian then behold a fourth for doth God see thy sin saith Sathan yet be bold to sinne still for God is so mercifull August in Psa 144. that he will not punish sinne It is Saint Augustines complaint that there be two sorts of men which do snatch occasions of sinning to themselues the one from the mercie the other from the iustice of God One saith God will take so strict and seuere an account of our doings that we shall not be able to answer one for a thousand and therefore saith he being sure to be damned cur non facio quiquid volo why do I not whatsoeuer I wil The other he saith Gods mercie is aboue his workes and at what time soeuer I repent though it be at the last gaspe he wil receiue me with the armes of his mercy as he did the theefe vpon the crosse and therefore why do not I go on still in my wickednesse Desperat ille vt peccet sperat iste vt peccet vtrumque metuendum the one despaireth that he may sinne still the other hopeth that he may sinne still and both are to be feared But for those which dreame altogether of Gods mercie that this fallacian of the diuels by which many thousands are drawne from the wayes of life may be preuented let them remember that God as he is mercifull so he is iust In the 116. Psalme and fifth verse The Lord is mercifull and iust saith Dauid not mercifull alone but iust also And as we cannot bide our sinnes from the all-seeing eye of God so we cannot be defended frō the strong arme of his iustice In the 6. of Genesis and 12. verse it is said that God looked downe vpon the earth and seeing that all flesh had corrupted his wayes he saith to Noah An end of al flesh is come before me for the earth is filled with crueltie through them and behold I will destroy them from the earth In which words we may obserue first that God sees our sinnes secondly that though he seeth sinne yet he is mercifull and thirdly that as he is mercifull so he is iust God looked downe vpon the earth and saw that all flesh had corrupted his way there is the first Gods sight of sinne the earth is filled with crueltie there is the second the mercie of God and long suffering for he doth not presently execute iudgement vpon them but stayed so long till the earth was full of crueltie And behold I will destroy them from the earth there is Gods iustice But if the diuell by none of these be able to deceiue vs and to draw vs from the wayes of life then he hath a fift which shall be my last at this time He setteth before our eyes the good and pleasure that doth accompany our sinne and indeede these are shrewd temptations vnto flesh and blood Psal 133.1 The Prophet Dauid maketh choise of these two