that it might shine in heaven But this was but the beginning of his dayes now they are past they have been Go a little further we left him at school but how learned he Christ 1. Cor. 2.2 Psal 8.2 and him crucified this was the knowledge taught him by the Spirit of God in a wonderfull manner Out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings hast thou O God ordained strength To consider again his religious words his upright actions his hearty devotions his fear of God all then concluded as they did of John Luke 1.66 What manner of child shall this be No question the grace of God was with him If I should instance in any of these his frequencie in prayer his reading of Scripture his reasoning with others to get knowledge to himself we may wonder at Gods power in this childs poor weakness Excuse me whiles I tell nothing but truths and I hope they will tend to our own instruction In the morning he would not stir out of doors before he had poured out his prayers at noon he would not eat any meat before he had given the Lord thanks at night he would not lie down on his bed before he had kneeled down on his knees we may remember those times when sometimes that he had forgotten this dutie no sooner had he been in bed but up he would have got again and so kneeling down on his bare knees covered with no garment but his linens he would ask God forgiveness for that sinne of forgetfulness neither have his brothers escaped without his reprehension for had they eat any meal or meat without a grace his check was usuall Dare you do thus unless God be mercifull unto us this bit of bread might choke us The wise sentences the religious words which often dropt from his mouth like honey can we remember them and not grieve at the death of him that spake them What comfort had we in those dayes What sorrow have we to think those dayes are done Surely we cannot speak it without bitterness of soul they are gone they have been Thus he lived will you know how he died First a lingring sickness seized upon him against which to comfort him one tells him of possessions that must fall to his portion And what are they said he I had rather have the Kingdome of Heaven then a thousand such inheritances Thus he minds Heaven and God so minding him presently sent him his sickness that should summon him thither And now how should I repeat his words with the life that he spake them dying No sooner had God struck his body with that fatall sickness but he asks and needs would know his souls estate I have heard of the soul said he but what is the soul the mind he questions and questioning answers better I fear then many too many gray headed amongst us but the answer given how the soul consisted of the Will and the Understanding he sayes he is satisfied and now understands better then he did before Another comes to him and then he begins another question now he knows the soul he desires yet to know further How his soul may be saved O blessed soul how wisely couldst thou question for thine own souls good The answer given by faith applying Christs merits he heard it and had it anon telling them who before had taught it him Resolved in these questions he questions no further but will now answer them that go about to question him One asks him whether he had rather live or die he gives the answer and not without Pauls reason I desire to die said he that I might go to my Saviour O blessed Spirit bow didst thou inspire into this child thy wisdome and goodnesse This done his pain begins again to afflict him and this occasions another thus to question him whether he would rather still endure those pains or forsake his Christ Alas said he I know not what to say as a child for these pains might stagger a strong man but I will strive to endure the best I can Upon this he presently calls to mind that Martyr who being in prison Thom. Bilney the night before his burning put his finger in the candle to know how he could endure the fire O said he had I lived then I would have runne through the fire to have gone to Christ Sweet resolution of a silly child who can hear and not wonder wonder and not desire to hear that he may wonder still Blessed child hadst thou lived that we might have wondred at thy wisdome but his daies were determined and now is the number turned to this poor cypher they are not they have been I cannot leave him yet his sicknesse lasts long and at least three dayes before his death he prophesies his departure and how strange a prophecie not onely that he must die but fore-telling the very day On the Lords day said he look to me Neither was this a word of course which you may guesse by his often repetition every day asking till the day came indeed What is Sunday come At last the lookt-for day came on and no sooner had the Sun beautified that morning with his light but he falls into a trance What think ye meant his blessed soul whilest the body it self used such an action his eyes were fixed his face chearfull his lips smiling his hands and arms clasping in a bow as if he would have received some blessed Angel that there was at hand to receive his soul but he comes to himself and tells them how he saw the sweetest boy that ever eyes beheld and bids them Be of good chear for he must presently go with him One standing near as now suspecting his time of dissolution bids him say Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit Psal 31.5 Yes said he Into thy hands Lord I commit my spirit which is thy due for why thou hast redeemed it O Lord my God most true Who will not believe this child now sings in Heaven that so soon had learned this Davids Psalm on earth I cannot hold my self nor will I hold you long but how may I omit his heavenly ejaculations Beloved I beseech you pardon me whilest I speak his words and I will promise you to speak no word but the very same formally which were his own Pray pray pray nay yet pray and the more prayers the better all prospers God is the best Physician into his hands I commend my spirit O Lord Jesus receive my soul Now close mine eyes forgive me father mother brothers sister all the world Now I am well my pain is almost gone my joy is at hand Lord have mercy on me O Lord receive my soul unto thee Where am I whilest I speak these words Blessed Saint now thou singest in Heaven God hath bid thee welcome the Angels are hugging thee the Saints rejoyce with thee this day is the Crown set on thy head this day is the Palm of victory in thy hand
the sentence follows which is to reward every man according to his works This reward is nothing in effect but a retaliation if we live well here God will then crown his own gifts but if we sinne without repentance we may not escape without punishment There is a God that sits and sees and anon will reward us But to unfold this Reward there lies in it a Doom and Execution God speaks it in the first effects it in the second he gives it in our doom and we receive it in the execution The doom is of two sorts according to the parties that receive it One is an absolution which is the doom of Saints the other is a condemnation which is the doom of reprobates there is a reward on the right hand bestowed on the blessed and an heavie judgement which falls on the left hand upon the heads of the wicked To begin with that in our meditation which our Saviour begins with in action Imagine what a blessed day will this be to the godly when standing on the right hand of the Judge they shall hear the heavenly musick of their happy sentence Come ye blessed of my Father Matth. 25.34 inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world In which gracious speech we may observe four gradations First a gentle invitation Come Secondly a sweet benediction Ye blessed of my Father Thirdly heavens possession inherit the Kingdome Fourthly a glorious ordination to felicitie prepared for you from the beginning of the world First you have Come It is the sweet voice of Christ inviting the Saints before and now giving their welcome to his heavenly Canaan he hath called often Come all that labour Come all that travell Matth. 11.28 Rev. 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is a thirst Come Thus he calls all men to his grace but onely the elect to his glory now he desires every man to Come but the righteous alone shall have this Wel-come O how leaps that soul with joy that hears this voice of her sweet Saviour all the musick of Angels cannot so ravish the mind as this voice of our Saviour glads the soul now are the gates of heaven open and the Judge who is Master of the feast bids the guests Come and Wel-come But who are they Ye blessed of my Father a word able to make them blessed when pronounced Down on your knees rebellious sonnes and so long as you live on earth beg pray sue for the blessing of your Father in heaven They that are Gods servants are no lesse his sonns therefore every morn night and noon ask blessing boldly and God will bestow it liberally The first Sermon that ever Christ preached was full of blessings Matth. 5. Matth. 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit Blessed are they that mourn Blessed are the meek Blessed are the mercifull And as he begun so he concludes Come ye blessed ye blessed of my Father Must they come for what to inherit the kingdome Of all tenures inheritance is best of all inheritances a kingdome is most excellent Sic aeterna sine successione distributa sine diminutione communis sine invidia beata sine omni miseria but that all shall inherit and that there is no scantling this is heavens wonder and the Angels blisse An heavenly inheritance sure that is cintinued without succession divided without diminution common without envie for ever happy and without all misery This is the inheritance of the just the possession whereof makes every Saint no lesse glorious then a King Kings are they indeed whose dominions are not limited nor their borders bounded nor their people numbred nor the time of their reigne prescribed Such glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God Is this your inheritance but upon what right it is prepared for you from the beginning of the world Had the Lord such care to provide for his children before they were how may his sonnes triumph born to such dignitie God will so certain their salvation that he hath prepared it for them from before the foundation of the world O blessed souls if you be Gods servants though a while you suffer sorrow and tribulation yet here is the hope of Saints Luke 12.32 it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdome Heaven is prepared of old there is the place of Gods majestie and there the Saints of God shall receive the crown the reward of victory Vse I cannot expresse what this joy affords to the one half of it Come blessed souls bathed in repenting tears here is a sentence able to revive the dead much more the afflicted Are you now sorrowing for your sinnes leave it a while and meditate with me on this ensuing melodie Hear yonder a quire of Angels a song of Sion an heavenly consort sounding to the Judge whilest he is pronouncing of thy sentence Blessed souls how pant you dances at the uttering of each syllable Come saith our Saviour and if he but say Come joy happinesse glory felicity all come on heaps into the indeared soul Ye blessed saith our Saviour and if he but say Blessed the Angels Archangels Cherubims Seraphims all joy at the injoying of this blessed company Inherit the kingdome saith our Saviour and if he but say inherit crowns scepters garlands diadems all these are the inheritance of Gods adopted children Prepared for you saith our Saviour and if he but say Prepared the love mercy election compassion of our Lord will shine forth to the soul to her everlasting comfort O ravishing voice Cantic 5.8 I charge you O daughters of Jerusalem if you find my welbeloved thâ—â— you tell him I am sick of love What else you that are Gods servants are no lesse his spouse your soul is the bride and when the day is come this day of doom God give you joy the joy of heaven for ever and ever But I must turn to the left hand and shew you another crew prepared for another sentence And what a terrible sentence will that be which at first hearing will make all ears glow and tingle His lips saith the Prophet are full of indignation and his tongue like a consuming fire Matt. 4.25 41. Esay 30.27 Esa 30.27 What fire so hot as that fierie sentence Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Here is every particular full of horrour gradually inhancing their judgement First a grievous refusall Depart Secondly the losse of salvation from me Thirdly that deserved malediction ye cursed Fourthly the horrour of pains into everlasting fire Fifthly the preordinance of their torments prepared for the devil and his angels First they must depart This seems nothing to the wicked now depart why they are contented to be gone much more delight have they in sinne then in Gods service But as when a gracious Prince opening his long locked up treasury bids
every corn of your field neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of the harvest How not reap it not gather it what then why Thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger I am the Lord your God Levit. 19.9 Lev. 19.9 10. When Ruth came to glean in the fields of Boaz that good Master commands his servants Ruth 2.15 Let her gather among the sheaves and do not rebuke her Had this Worldling been so pitifull to the poor his barns might have stood himself might have lived his soul have been saved But now what a strange lot happens on him his Halls Houses Barns Buildings all runne round in a dance of Death before his eyes Fourthly his house and friends both left him when death came The Parable is common Ex Damasceno A man hath three friends two whereof he loved most entirely the third he made no account of this man being sent for to come before his King he desires his first friend to go with him but he could not onely he would give him something for his journey He desires his second friend to go with him but he would not onely he would bring him a little piece of his way When both these forsook him he goes to the last which before he esteemed least and this friend was the party that went with him to the King and answered for him in all his causes This is the case of every man dying the King our Judge sends death his Serjeant to summon you to your judgement Come to your first friends I mean your riches alas they cannot go with you but give you a sheet as necessary for your journey Come to your second friends I mean your acquaintance alas they wil not go with you but bring you to your graves and there leave you to your selves Come to your last friends which you now least think of I mean your Consciences and you shall find that is the truest friend that will go with you to the Judge answer for you to the King and either acquit you or condemn you bring you to the gates of heaven or deliver you to the goal of hell Have a care of your Consciences if you mean to speed well at this day how blessed a man had this Worldling been if onely a good conscience had accompanied him to the Judge of heaven but now when death summons him there is no friend to solicite no Advocate to plead no man to speak one word in his souls behalf it is his bad conscience keeps him company and though all others leave him he can devise no means to shake this from him Fifthly there is a jewell irrevocable of which this sudden death robs him I mean his time and what a losse was this all his goods grounds barns buildings were they more worth then the world it self yet were they not able to restore one minute of his time if this could be purchased what a rate would he give for a little respite nothing is now so precious as a piece of time which before by moneths and years he lavishly mis-spent they that passe away time with mirth and pastime shall one day see to their grief what a losse they have now we revell it out dally it away use all means and occasions to make it short enough but when this golden showre is gone and those opportunities of salvation lost by negligence then we may wish and wish again Oh had we a little time a little space to repent Imagine that this worldling whom now you must suppose to lie frying in hel flames were dispenced with for a little time to live here again on earth amongst us would but the Lord vouchsafe him one hour of a new triall a minute season of a gracious visitation oh how highly would he prize how eagerly would he apprehend with what infinite watching praying fasting would he improve that short time that he might repent him I know not how effectually this may work an your hearts but I am fully perswaded if any damned creature had but the happinesse to hear this Sermon you should see how his very heart would bleed vvithin him bleed said I nay break and fall asunder in his breast like drops of vvater Oh vvith vvhat inflamed attention vvould he hear and listen vvith vvhat insatiable grasping vvould he lay hold on Christ vvith vvhat streaming tears vvould he vvater his cheeks as if he vvould melt himself like Niobe into a fountain Blessed God! hovv fond are foolish men that never think of this till their time be lost vve that are alive have onely this benefit of opportunity and if vve neglect it a day vvill come vve knovv not hovv soon that vve shall be past it and cannot recover it no not one houre if vve vvould give a thousand ten thousand vvorlds for it What can I say reflect on your selves you that have souls to save you have yet a little time and the time present is that time vvhat then but so use it novv as vvhen you are gone you need not vvith grief vvish you here again Sixthly yet more losse and that is the losse of losses the losse of his soul his riches lands houses friends time and all were nothing to his soul This is that Paragon Peere Rose and Spouse of our well-beloved Christ How many a teare shed he to save it what grones cryes prayers teares and bloud poured he before God that he might redeem it from the jawes of Satan and is this lost notwithstanding all this labour O sweet Jesu what a losse is this thou wast born lived died and that a shamefull death the death of the cross and all this suffering was to save poor souls yet see a soul here lost and the bloud of God though able not effectuall to redeem it Whose heart would not melt into bloud that but knew this misery Suppose you could see the soul of this wretched worldling no sooner had it left the body but immediately was it seized on by infernall fiends now lies it on a bed of fire tortured tormented scourged and scorched in those furious flames there his conscience stings him his sorrow gripes him his pain so handles him that he cryes and roares Woe woe and alas evermore Who now for shadows of short pleasures would incur these sorrows of eternall pains In this world we can weep and wail for a losse of trifles an house a field an Oxe took from us is enough to cruciate us but how shall we bewail the losse of a soul which no sooner plunged into that pit of horrour but it shall feel a punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort torment without ease a world of mischiefe without all measure or redress Such is the losse of this mans silly soul whilest he was cheering it with an home-bred solace Soul thou hast much goods layd up for many years God whispers in his eares and tells him other newes What of his soul
soul the object is too clear for our weak eyes our eyes are but earthly the soul of an heavenly nature O divine being not onely heavenly but heaven it self as God and man met both in Christ so heaven and earth met both in man would you see this earth that is the body Out of it wast thou taken and into it must thou return Gen. 4.19 Gen. 4.19 would you see this heaven that is the soul the God of heaven gave it and to the God of heaven returns it Eccles 12.7 Eccles 12.7 The body is but a lump but the soul is that breath of life of earth came the body of God was the soul thus earth and heaven met in the creation and the man was made a living soul Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2.7 the sanctified soul is an heaven upon earth Est coelum sancta anima habens solem intellectum lunam fidem astra virtutet Bern super Cantic where the sun is understanding the moon is faith and the stars gracious affections what heaven is in that body which lives and moves by such a soul yet so wonderfull is Gods mercy to mankinde that as reason doth possesse the soul so the soul must possesse this body Here is that union of things visible and invisible as the light is spirituall incorruptible indivisible and so united to the air that of these two is made one without confusion of either in like manner is the soul united to this body one together distinguished asunder onely here 's the difference the light is most visible the soul is invisible she is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels the envie of devils that immortall splendor which never eye hath seen never eye must see And yet we must up another step it is fourthly incorporeall as not seen with a mortall eye so neither clogg'd with a bodily shape I say not but the soul hath a body for his organ to which it is so knit and tyed that they cannot be severed without much sorrow or strugling yet is it not a body but a spirit dwelling in it the body is an house and the soul the inhabitant every one knows the house is not the inhabitant and yet O wonder there is no roome in the house where the inhabitant lives not would you please to see the roomes the eye is her window the head is her tower the heart is her closet the mouth is her hall the lungs her presence chamber the senses her cinque-ports the common-sense her custome-house the phantasie her mint the memory her treasury the lips are her two leav'd doores that shut and open and all these and all the rest as the motions in a Watch are acted and mooved by this spring the Soul See here a composition without confusion the soul is in the body yet it is not bodily as in the greatest world the earth is more solid the water less the ayr yet lesser the fire least of all so in this little world of man the meaner parts are of grosser substance and the soul by how much more excellent by so much more spirituall and wholly with-drawn from all bodily being And yet a little higher it is fiftly immortall It was the errour of many Fathers Scaliger notae in nov Test That bodies and souls must both die till doomes-day and then the bodies being raised the souls must be revived Were that true why then cryes Stephen Lord Iesu receive my spirit or why should Paul be dissolved that he might be with Christ Act. 7.59 Philip. 1.23 Blessed men are but men and therefore no wonder if subject to some errour Others more absolutely deny the souls immortality We are born say they at all adventures and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been Why so for the breath is a smoke in our nostrils and the words as a spark raised out of our hearts Wisd 2.2 3. which being extinguished the body is turned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as soft ayre What is the soul a smoak and the spirit no better then the soft vanishing ayre Matth. 22.32 wretched men Have you not read what is spoken of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob now God saith Christ is not the God of the dead but of the living Abraham Isaac Iacob they are not dead then in the better part their souls but passed indeed from the valley of death unto the land of the living Whosoever liveth and believeth in mee saith our Saviour shall never die Iohn 11.26 John 11.26 Not die against some never die against others what can we more onely live and believe in him that redeemed us and be sure his promises shall never fail us our souls must live live for ever Sweet soul blessed with the felicity of eternall life here 's a joy unspeakable that this soul now clogged with cares vexations griefs passions shall one day enjoy those joyes immortall not for a day or two Nullus erit defectus nullus terminus though this were more then we can imagine but through all eternity There shall be no defect nor end after millions of ages the soul must still live in her happiness it is not of a perishing but an everlasting substance And yet the perfection of the soul goes higher it is most like to God so far it transcends all earthly happiness I cannot say but in some sort all creatures have this likeness every effect hath at least some similitude with its cause but with a difference some onely have a being as stones others being and life as plants but man above all hath a being life and reason and therefore of all other the most like unto his Creatour Can we any more yes one step higher and we are at the top of Jacobs ladder The soul is not onely like God but the image of God I cannot denie but there is some apparance of it in the outward man and therefore the bodie in some measure partakes of this image of the Deity it was man and whole man that was corrupted by sin and by the law of contraries it was man and whole man that was beautified with this image Please you to look at the body is it not a little world wherein every thing that God made was good as therefore all goodness comes from him so was he the pattern of all goodness that being in him perfectly which onely is in us partly This is that Idaea whereby God is said to be the exemplar of the world man then in his body being as the worlds map what is he but that image in which the builder of the world is manifest but if you look at the parts of his body how often are they attributed though in a metaphor yet in resemblance to his Maker our eyes are the image of his wisdome our hands are the image of his power our heart is the image of his
of torments which like infinite rivers of Brimstone feed upon his soul without ease or end What avails now his pompous pride at his dolefull funerals the news is sounded hee is dead friends must lament him passing-peales ring for him an hearse-cloth wrap him a tombe-stone lye over him all must have mourning suites and may be rejoycing hearts but all this while his soul his going to judgment without one friend or the least acquaintance to speak in his cause O that his soul were mortall and body and soul to be buried both together in one grave must his body die and his soul live in what world or nation in what place or region it is another world another nation where Devils are companions brimstone the fire horrour the language and eternall death the souls eternall life never to be cured Bernard in Medit. and never must be ended O my soul saith Bernard what a terrible day shall that be when thou shalt leave this Mansion and enter into an unknown region who will deliver thee from these ramping Lyons who can defend thee from those hellish monsters God is incensed hell prepared justice threatned onely mercy must prevent or the soul is damned View this rich man on his deaths-bed the pain shouts through his head and at last comes to his heart anon death appeares in his face and suddenly falls on to arrest his soul Is it death what is it he demands can his goods satisfie no the world claims them must his body goe no the worms claim that what debt is this which neither goods nor body can discharge Habeas animam ejus coram nobis Gods warrant bids fetch the soul O miserable news the soul committed sin sin morgaged it to death death now demands it and what if he gain the world he must lose his soul This night thy soul shall be required of thee Vse 1 Animula vagula blandula said the heathen Emperour Pretty Adrian little wandring soul whither goest thou from me wilt thou leave me alone that cannot live without thee O what conflicts suffers the poor soul when this time is come must the soul be gone help friends physick pleasure riches nay take a world to reprive a soul so different are the thoughts of men dying from them living now are they for their pleasure or profit the body or the world but then nothing is esteemed but the soul what can we say but if you mean your souls must be saved O then let these precious dear everlasting things breathed into your bodies for a short abode scorn to feed on earth or any earthly things it is matter of a more heavenly metall treasures of an higher temper riches of a nobler nature that must help your souls Do you think that ever any glorified soul that now looks God Almighty in the face and tramples under foot the Sun and Moon is so bewitcht as was Achan with a wedge of gold no it is onely the Communion of Saints the society of Angels the fruition of the Deity Iosh 7.21 the depth of eternity which can onely feed and fill the soul So live then as that when you die your souls may receive this blisse and the Lord Iesus our Saviour receive all your souls Vse 2 I must end but gladly would I win a soul If the reward be so great as you know it to recover a sick body Si magnae mercedis est a morte eripere carnem quanti est meriti à morte liberare animam Ambros Offic. 1. Quid est quod velis habere malum nihil omnino Aug. in quod serm which for all that must die of what reward is that cure to save a soul which must ever ever live O sweet Jesu why sheddest thou the most precious and warmest bloud of thy heart but onely to save souls thou wast scourged buffetted judged condemned hanged was all this for us and shall we do nothing for our selves What is it thou wouldest have bad if thou couldest wish it good not thy house nor thy wife nor thy children nor thy good nor thy cloaths but no matter for thy soul I beseech you value not you souls at a less price then your shooes you can please the flesh with delicates which is naught but worms meat but the soul pines for want which is a creature invisible incorporeall immortall most like to God are we thus carefull of pelf and so careless of this pearl certainly I cannot choose but wonder when seeing the streets peopled with men that follow suits run to Courts attend and wait on their Councellors for this case and that case this house or that land that not one of these no nor one of all us will ride or run or creep or go to have counsell for his soul I must confess I have sometimes dwelt on this meditation and Beloved let me speak homely to you be our Counsellors in this Town every week solicited by their Clients and have we no Clients in soul-cases not one that will come to us with their cases of conscience sure you are either careless of your souls or belike you have no need of particular instructions O let us not be so forward for the world and so backward for the soul yet I pray mistake not I invite you not for fees as noble Terentius when he had petitioned for the Christians and saw it torn in pieces before his face gathered up the pieces and said I have my reward I have not sued for gold silver honour or pleasure but a Church so say I in middest of your neglect I have not sued for your good or silver for your houses or lands but for your souls your precious souls and if I cannot or shall not woe them to come to Christ God raise up some child of the Bride-chamber which may do it better if neither I nor any other can prevail O then fear that speech of Elies sons they hearkened not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2.25 In such a case O that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for your sins O that I could wash your souls with my tears from that filth of sin wherewith they are besmeared and defiled O that for the salvation of your souls I might be made a sacrifie unto death But the Lord be praised for your souls and my soul Christ Jesus hath died and if now we but repent us of our sins and believe in our Saviour if now we will but deny our selves and take up his cross and follow him if now we will but turn unto him that he may turn his loving countenance unto us if now we will but become new creatures and ever-hereafter walk in the holy path the narrow way which leads unto heaven why then may our souls be saved This is that we had need to care for Cur carnem adornas animam non
adornas Hugo de claustro animae not so much for the body as for the souls good to this purpose saith Hugo Why cloath we the body in silks which must rot in the grave and adorn not the soul with faith and good works which one day must appear before God and his Angels O think of this day this night this hour of death for then must your Souls be taken from you Thus far you see the rich mans arrest God injoyns it death serves it the time was this night and the party is his Soul God give us grace to provide our souls that when death arrests we may be ready and then O God have thou mercy on our Souls Shall be required THe originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall require it wherein you have the Sergeants Arrest The Sergeants They and the arrest it self They require his soul Wee 'll first take a view of the Sergeants They who not God he knows not sinners what should he do with a drunken profane covetous sensuall soul he that never so much as thought on God in this life will God accept of the commending of his soul to him at his death no the Lord of heaven will none of it he that forsook God is justly forsaken of God See the true weight of this balance he would not receive Gods grace into his soul and God will not receive his graceless soul into heaven But who then will the Angels take it no they have nothing to do with the soul of a dying sinner the Angels are onely porters for the souls of the just Poor Lazarus that could neither go nor sit nor stand for sores it is he must be carried on the wings of Angels but for this rich man not the lowest Angell will do him poorest service Who then will the Saints receive it no they have no such commission to receive a soul that blind opinion which every one may blush at that Saint Peter should be heavens porter and that none may go in but to whom he will open if it be true why may not a Saint help a departing soul Away with this dreaming folly not Peter nor Paul nor all the Saints of heaven have any such priviledg if God will not hear us what will our prayers do to Saints Heaven is too far off they cannot hear or were it nearer they will not cannot help it is God must save us or we perish ever Who then are the Sergeants not God nor Saints nor Angels no there is another crew Death and Devils stand in a readiness and they are the parties that arrest this prisoner Stay what would death have the soul cannot die and for the body no matter who receives it O yes there is a death of the soul as well as of the body I mean not such a death whereby it may be annihilated but a second death that shall ever accompany it this is a death of the soul that will always keep it in deaths pangs But not to speak of this death there is another death temperall that shall sever the soul and body each from other these two twins that have lived together since their first espousall these two lovely ones that were made and met and married by the hands of God these two made one till death them depart and make them two again now is their rufull time of divorce when death comes he gives over the body to the grave and arrests the soul to appear in presence before Gods high Tribunall Such a Bayliffe hath now laid hands on this rich mans soul when he least thought on 't death comes on a sudden and arrests his person O wretched worldling who is this behinde thee call we this Gods Sergeant What grim ugly monstrous visage is this we see have ever any of you seen the grisly picture of death before you how was it but with hollow eyes open skull grinning teeth naked ribs a few bones knit together with dry strings as presenting to your eyes the most deformed image of a man in moldes But what 's that in his hands an hour-glass and a dart the one expressing the decreasings of our life and the other deaths stroke that he gives us in our death Such emblemes are most fit to express mortality and imagine such a thing to arrest this rich man would it not terrifie him whilest looking back death suddenly claps him on his shoulder away he must with this messenger all the gold and pearl of East and West cannot stay him one hour now rich man what avails all thy worldly pleasure Hadst thou in thy hands the reigns of all earthly kingdomes wert thou exalted as the Eagle Obad. 1.4 and thy nest set among the starrs yet all this and whatsoever else thou canst imagine is not worth a button where did that man dwell or of what cloth was his garment that was ever comforted by his goods or greatness in this last and sorest conflict See worldling death requires thy soul no bribe will be taken no entreatie will prevail no riches rescue nothing at all redeem death death is impartiall But O horrour death is not all see yet more Sergeants Devils and Dragons are about thy bed and these are they that will hurrie away thy soul to hell How Devils O worldling stay thy soul and never yield it better to die a thousand deaths then to leave it in their hands but alas thou canst not choose thy last hour is come and here is neither hope nor help nor place of any longer terrying See but the misery of a miserable soul what shall it do whither shall it fly from these damned Furies would they take it and teare it into nothing it were somewhat tollerable but to teare it in pieces and never to make end of tearing to give it torments without all patience or resistance this is that load which it cannot bear and yet O extremity it ever ever must be born Think on this O my soul and whilest thou hast a minutes stay in this body call upon God to prevent this arrest of Devils was it not think yee a terrour to this rich man when so many hell hounds waited for his soul we read of one man Hartmundus Schedel in vit Pap. who being took away with a Devill through the air was said so to roar and yell that many miles distant his noise was heard to many a mans trembling And if a soul had but the organs of a sound what a shreek would it make being seized on by a Devil witness the cries of many desperate souls when as yet they are safe in their beds how do they roar and rage how do they call and cry Help help us save us deliver us from these fiends about us these are those evening wolves enraged with hellish hunger these are those ramping Lyons ever ready to devour our souls these are those walkers up and down the earth which are now come and entred into this rich mans lodging
grones and suddain cryes the fire slakes not the worm dies not the chains loose not the links wear not revenge tyres not but for ever are the torments fresh and the fetters on fire as they came first from their Forge What a strange kind of torture falls upon the wicked they are bound to fiery pillars and Devils lash at them with their fiery whips Is there any part of man scapes free in such a fray the flesh shall fâ—â— the blood boil the veins be scorcht the sinews rackt Serpents shall eat the body furies tear the soul this is that wofull plight of Tares which he bound in Hell The sick man at Sea may go from his ship to his boat and from his boat to his ship again the sick man in his bed may tumble from his right side to his left and from his left to his right again onely the Tares are tied hand and foot bound limme and joynt their feet walk not their fingers move not their eyes must no more wander as before loe all his bound O these manacles that rot the flesh and pierce the inward parts O unmatchable torments yet most fit for Tares sin made them furious hell must tame their Phrensie the Judge thus commands and the Executioners must dispatch fetter them fire them Bind them in bundles to burn them I have lead you through the Dungeon let this fight serve for a terrour that you never come nearer To that purpose for exhortation consider Alas all hangs on life ther 's but a twine thread betwixt the soul of a sinner and the scorching flames who then would so live as to run his soul into hazard the Judge threatens us Devils hate us the bonds exspect us it is onely our conscience must clear us or condemn us Search then thy waies and stir up thy remembrance to her Items hast thou dishonoured God blasphemed his name decayed his image subduing thy soul to sin that was created for heaven repent these courses ask God forgiveness and he will turn away thy punishments I know your sins are grievous and my soul grieves at the knowledge many evills have possessed too many drunkenness and oathes and malice and revenge are not these guests entertained into all houses banish them your hearts that the King of glory may come in Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Would God bestow mercy and should we refuse his bounty as you love heaven your souls your selves leave your sins Vse 2 And then here is a word of consolation the penitent needs not fear hell Gods servant is freed from bonds yea if we love him who hath first loved us Ephes 5.2 all the chains and pains of hell can neither hold nor hurt us Vse 3 O then ye Sons of Adam suffer a reproof what do ye that ye do not repent you of your sins is it not a madness above admiration that men who are reasonable creatures having eyes in their heads hearts in their bodies understanding like the Angels and consciences capable of unspeakable horrour never will be warned untill the fire of that infernall Lake flash and flame about their eares Let the Angels blush heaven and earth be amazed all the Creatures stand astonished at it I am sure a time wil come when the Tares shal feel what now they may justly fear you hear enough such weed must be bound thus straight is the Lords command Binde them in bundles to burn them But all is not done Chains have their links and we must bring all together Sinners are coupled in hell as Tares in Bundles But of these when we next meet in the mean while let this we have heard Binde us all to our duties that we hear attentively remember carefully practice conscionably that so God may reward accordingly and at last crown us with his glory The tares must be bound up in bundles but Lord make us free in Heaven to sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in thy blessed kingdome In bundles THe command is out what Bind whom them how in bundles The tares must on heaps which gives us a double observation Generall Speciall In the generall it intimates these two points the gathering of the weed and its severing from the wheat both are bound in bundles but the wheat by it self and the tares by themselves as at that doom when all the world must be gathered and severed some stand at the right hand others at the left so at this execution some are for the fire and others for the barn they are bundled together yet according to the difference of the severall parties each from the other Observ 1 First the tares must together Woe is me saith David that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech Psal 120.4 and if David think it wofull to converse with his living enemies then what punishment have the wicked whom the Devill and damned the black angels and everlasting horrour must accompany for ever The tares must be gathered and bundled and the more bundles the more and more miseries Company yields no comfort in hell fire nay what greater discomfort then to see thy friends in flames thy fellowes in torments the fiends with flaming whips revenging each others malice on thy self and enemy It was the rich mans last petition when he had so many repulses for his own ease to make one suit for his living brethren he knew their company would encrease his torment to prevent which he cries out I pray thee father Abraham Luk. 16.27 28. that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my fathers house for I have five brethren that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment Why it may be God will hear him for them especially making such a reasonable request as this was that Lazarus might onely warn his brethren of future judgment no but to teach you if you sell your souls to sin to leave a rich posterity on earth you shall not onely your selves without all remorse and pity be damned in hell but your posterity shall be a torment to you whilest they live and a greater torment if they come to you when they are dead To converse with Devils is fearfull but altogether to accompany each other is a plague fit for tares In this life they flourished amongst the wheat Let them grow both together corn and tares untill the harvest But the harvest come God will now separate them both asunder and as in heaven there are none but Saints so in hell there are none but reprobates to encrease this torment as they grow together so all their conference is to curse each other Moab shall cry against Moab father against son son against father what comfort in this company The Devill that was authour of such mischiefs appears in most grisly forms his angels the black guard of hell torture poor souls in flames there live swearers
fire Alas to what end there is no help to extinguish fire that must burn for ever your Buckets may quench other fires not this no milk nor vinegar can extinguish that wild-fire it is a fire which no means can moderate no patience can endure no time can for ever change but in it whosoever wofully lies their flesh shall frie their bloud shall boil their hearts consume yet they shall never die but dying live and living die death in life life in death miserable ever This is that consideration which shall bring all the damned Reprobates to shriek and houl everlastingly were they perswaded that after millions of years they should have one year of pleasure or after thousands of millions they should have some end of torment here would be a little hope but this word Ever breaks their hearts asunder this ever ever gives new life again to those insufferable sorrows and hence it is that when all those millions of years are done and gone then God knows must the wheels of their torment whirl about and about Alas the fire is durable the heat continuall the fuell immortall and such is the end of Tares they must burn without end Bind them in bundles to burn them Lo here the fire of hell which compared to ours on earth it differs in heat in light in fuell in durance Let your souls work on these objects that they never come nearer to those flames Vse 1 Who amongst us would dwell with devouring fire who amongst us would dwell with everlasting burnings Esay 33.14 Beloved as you tender your souls and would escape the flames reform your lives whiles you have yet a little time You hear it sounded in Synagogues and preached in pulpits what sound but heaven or hell joys or torments the one befalling the good and the other the just end of the wicked Do we believe this truth and dare we commit sinne whose reward is this fiery death upon due consideration how is it that we sleep or rest or take a minutes ease lesser dangers have bestraught some out of their wits nay bereaved many of their lives how is it then that we run headlong into this fire yet never weigh whither we are going till we are dropping into the pit whence there is no redemption Look about you while it is called to day or otherwise wo and alas that ever you were born be sure a time will come when miseries shall march Angels beat alarms God sound destruction and the tents of his enemies be all set on fire Bind them in bundles to burn them Vse 2 Or yet if comparisons can prevail suppose one of you should be taken brought along to the mouth of an hot fiery furnace then comparing sinne with its punishment might I question you how much pleasure would you ask to continue there burning but one year how much would you say surely not for all the pleasures and treasures that all this world can afford you How is it then that for a little sinne that endures but a moment so many of you so little regard eternall punishment in hell fire If we should but see a little child fall into the fire and his very bowels burnt out how would it grieve us and make our very hearts bleed within us how much more then should it grieve you to see not a child but your own bodies and souls cast away for a momentany sinne into the lake of fire that never shall be quenched If a man should come amongst us and cry Fire Fire thy house is all on Fire thy corn thy cattell thy wife thy children and all thou hast are burning all together how would this astonish us making both the hair to stand upright on our heads and the tears to gush out of our eyes Behold then and see the spirit of God cries out Fire fire even the dreadfull fire of hel gapeth ready to devour not thy house thy corn or thy cattel but tâ—â— poor soul and that for evermore O then how should this break your flinty hearts asunder and make your souls bleed again and again if you have any spark of grace this me thinks should move you to a strict 〈…〉 if you have any care of your souls this me thinks should make you to walk humbly and purely carefully and consciâ—â—â—â—bly towards God and towards man if not what remains but fire fire Bind them in bundles to burn them Or yet if example can perswade us more meditate on the miserable condition of that namelesse rich man Suppose you saw him in hel torments compast about with furies fires and all that black guard below his tongue flaming his eyes staring his conscience biting his soul suffering his body all over-burning in that fire of hel O lamentable fight but to make it more lamentable hearken how he roars and cryes through the extremitie of pains O torment torment how am I tormented in this fire my head my heart my eies my ears my tongue my tongue is all on fire what shall I do whither shall I flie for succour within me is the worm without me is fire about me are devils above me is Abraham and what glorious star is yond I see but Lazarus poor Lazarus in his bosome what is a beggar exalted and am I in torments Why Abraham father Abraham have 〈◊〉 on me See here a man burning schorching frying in hel 〈◊〉 one dram of mercy one drop of water to a tormented soul Oh I burn I burn I burn without ease or end and is there none to 〈◊〉 me Come Lazarus if Abraham will not hear let me beg of thee â— beggar and howsoever I denied thee a 〈◊〉 â—f bread yet be so good so charitable as to dip the tip of thy finger in water and cool my tongue It is a poor suit I ask not to dive but dip not thy hand but finger not all but the tip of it not in sâ—â—â— but water not to quench but to cool not my body but my least member be it my tongue onely no ease so little no grant so poor no remedy so small but happy were I if I could obtain it though I begged it with tears and prayers of a thousand thousand years continuance But see Abraham and Lazarus denie my suits I burn and neither God nor Saint nor Angel takes pitie on me and shall I cry for help on devils alas they are my tormentors that lash me and cut me with their whips of burning steel and iron O beloved what shall we say to the roaring rage of this tormented wretch Alas alas how little do men think on this they can passe away time sporting and playing as if they went to prison but for a few weeks or dayes just like men who having the sentence of death past upon them run fooling and laughing to the execution but when once hell mouth hath shut her self then shall they find nothing but eternity of torments in the fear of God take heed in time of this
of Megiddon O weep or if you will not weep for him yet weep for your selves and your own sinnes alas have you not cause your sins were his murtherers and your hands by your sins were imbrued in his bloud Secondly stay not here but when you have mourned and wept over your Saviour then hate those sinnes that wrought this evil on your Saviour Which that you may do effectually send your thoughts a far off and see your Saviour in his circumcision in the garden and when you have done so then follow him a little further behold the tears in his eies and the clodded bloud that came from him when his cheeks were nipped his head crowned his back scourged his hands and feet nailed his side opened and then O then see if you can love those sins that have done all this villany love them said I no if you have any share in Christ I hope you will rather be revenged on your sins rather you will every one say O my pride and my stubbornness and my looseness and my uncleanness and my drunkenness these were the nailes and the whips and the spear that drew bloud from my Saviour therefore let me be for ever revenged of this proud subborn rebellious heart of mine own let me for ever loath my sin because it brought all this sorrow on my Saviour Is not this ordinary with men should any one murther your Father or friend whom you highly regarded and honoured would you brook his sight or endure his company nay would not your hearts rise against him would you not prosecute the Law to the uttermost and if you might be the Executioner would you not wound him and mangle him and at every stroak cry out Thou wast the death of my Father thou wast the death of my Father and is the heart of a man thus inraged against him that hath but murthered his friend or his father O then how should your hearts be transported with infinite indignation not against the man but against sinne that hath shed the precious bloud of your father your Master your God your King your Saviour O follow follow after these sins with an Hue and Cry bring them to the Bar set them be-the Tribunall of that great Judge of heaven and cry Iustice Lord justice against these sins of mine these slew my Saviour Lord slay them these crucified my Saviour Lord crucifie them Why thus persue and never leave them untill if it possible may may you see these sins bleed their last never think you have done enough but still give your corruptions one hack more confess your sins once more and say Lord this pride and this stubbornness and this looseness of heart these are they that killed my Saviour and I will be revenged of them Thirdly stay not here neither but when you have mourned for your sins and sought revenge on them then by Faith cast them all on the Lord Jesus Christ ease your own souls of them and hurle your care on him that careth for you all Certainly there is no way to wash you clean from your sin but onely by Christs blood and how must you apply this but by Faith now then in the last place have faith rence your soul as it were in the bloud of this immaculate Lamb and though you are polluted and defied yet questionless the bloud of Jesus Christ will purge you from all sin Heb. 9.13 14. If the bloud of Buls and Goats saith the Apostle and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God You may talk of a Purgatory why here is the Purgatory that true Purgatory the fountain that is laid open for the house of Iudah to wash in and I pray you mark it it is not onely for justification but being applyed by faith as effectuall for sanctification not onely for the expiation of sin that it be not laid to your charge but withall to purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God O then as you tender your souls believe and cast your selves upon Christ for salvation and for pardon of sins Do you not see him bleeding on the Cross Do you not hear him graciously offering to receive your sin-wearied souls into his bleeding wounds what should you do then but cast your selves with all the spirituall strength that you can at least with infinite longings and most hearty desires into the bosome of your Saviour say with your selves the fountain is opened and here will we bathe for ever Come life or come death come heaven or come hell come what come can here will we stick for ever nay if you must perish tell God and man Angels and devils they shall pluck you out of the hands and rent you from between the armes of your blessed bleeding Redeemer your soul-purging Saviour Thus if you believe you need not to droop for your sins but to go on with comfort to everlasting happiness the bloud of Christ no question will make way for you into heaven Yea saith the Apostle by the bloud of Iesus we may boldly enter into the holy places by the new and living way which he hath prepared for us Heb. 10.19.20 through the veile which is his flesh Such is the blessed fruit of this bloud and the Lord make it effectuall unto us to bring us into heaven even for his sake who by himself thus purged our sins You see the Purge given and taken onely a time it must have and then follows the Evacuation Hee purged What the ill humour is Sin the extent of it Our sin of both these together at our next meeting Now the Lord so prepare us that this Purge may work in us the everlasting wel-fare and health of our souls Our sins SIn is our sickness and to cure us of it the Law yields corrasives the Gospell lenitives but especially Christ yields that Physick Purgative which evacuates sin To consider Christ as a man of sorrows and not a Saviour of sinners were but a melancholick contemplation to behold his wounds and not so to think on 'em as they were our selves addes but more sorrows to our other miseries but when we call to mind that his bloud was our ransome that his stripes were our cures then with all our hearts we pray his bloud be upon us and our children And why not this bloud saith the Apostle speaks better things then the bloud of Abel Heb. 12.24 For Ables bloud cryed revenge but Christs bloud speaks mercy and to our comfort be it spoken if God heard the servant he will much rather hear the son yea if he heard his servant for spilling how much more will he hear his Son for saving and regaining our souls In the words are two parts 1. The ill huâ—our evacuated Sin 2. The extent