bread for CHRIST Martyrs went to their death with cheerefullnesse and songs and ran to the stake as to a garland and who would with Saul hide himselfe in the stuffe when he is called to be crowned a King If Abraham saw his day by faith when he was but promised and rejoyced what cause of joy must it needs be to see the Saviour of the world when he is exhibited If Saint Iohn Baptist did leape at his presence when he was in the wombe of his blessed mother What will his glorious presence effect in them who shall behold him in al his Royaltie if the Wife men of the East went a long journie and rejoyced to see the holy Babe CHRIST in the house what cause of joy will it be to see him sit in his glorie at the right hand of his Father far above all Principalities and powers If many Kings and Princes longed for that day to see their Saviour mortall what resemblance is fit to expresse the joy of those that behold him crowned with glory and immortalitie it is a passing glory to be admitted to the sight of CHRIST his face and to receive glory from the brightnesse of his Majestie and if we were to suffer torments every day yea the very torments of hell for a time therby to gaine the sight of CHRIST it were nothing in respect of the reward This Doctrine shewes us the extreame folly of all licentious livers and impenitent sinners when they looke upon their wicked courses what for sight can they have but of hell as their just reward they would be with CHRIST as they say hereafter and yet they will not have CHRIST to be wiâ—h them now and to rule over them they will sow unto the flesh and yet would reape unto the spirit they are stout and will have their sinne though they be damned for it we will say those rebels in Ieremy walke after our owne devices and we will every one doe the imaginations of his evill heart Experience sheweth us that you cannot crush oyle out of skins nor sweet wine out of sower grapes and if you be the seedesmen of darnell and cockle you shall have no harvest of wheat â—…or good graine you will not live conscionably and yet you would die peaceably and though you speake CHRIST faire yet you wil loose nothing for his sake the chaine will make your profession afraid and reproach will make it ashamed you love him well you say but you will be advised not to displease such and such friends for his love your fore-sight of Heaven hath no hands to do good works corporall and spirituall nor eyes to shed teares for your sins and the sins of others nor stomacke to abide a holy and a religious fast nor flesh to endure this mortification and zealous revenge nor tongue to speake the language of confession and zealous devout and faithfull prayer if then in your extremities and when your feares approach you send for us as Pharaoh did for Moses and never till then and cry unto us helpe us and comfort us as that starved woman did to the King of Israel Wee answer as hee did that distressed creature if the LORD doth not helpe you how should we And now by this time I suppose you are brought to that passe that GODS servants whom you have in your prosperity despised may say to you concerning all your daubers whom you then respected where are they now that will prophesie peace peace unto you your consciences which before were asleepe being now awakened to heare the crie of your sinnes and these glasses formerly covered with dust as it were being wiped cleare to represent unto you the disfigured and odious face of your sinnes when these evill daies shall come upon you as they will or that which is worse you must needs confesse to the terrour of your soules that we GODS Messengers have told you of these things and you would not heare us as Reuben said to his brethren Your sins which you tooke to be your friends as GOD himselfe hath threatned are suddenly turned to be your foes and now do appeare as a marshalled army comming in a terrible manner against you and when GOD speakes to your consciences as Iehu did to the Eunuchs who is on my side who even they will cast you downe and dash as it were your blood against the wals and make you to be trampled upon and then can you cast your eyes no-way without horrour if upwards unto heaven they will tell you that you are justly excluded out of that happy place if you think upon hell the mouth thereof as you feare is open every moment to receive you when these evill daies shall come c. Second Use of instruction is that we would study our selves and ransacke our soules and be of good grounds and to have certaine evidence that our change shall be for the better mans wisdome teacheth him in Summer to provide for Winter in youth for old age if GOD be better then the world and heaven better then earth and the soule better then the body shall we not labour while we live to get full assurance of being with CHRIST as S. Paul had when we are dead but here is the maine doubt how I should know and be assured thereof First if thou art assured hereof then hast thou faith the maine and fundamentall grace not fundamentum quod that is CHRIST but cui as a learned Schooleman doth distinguish immediatly laying us upon CHRIST and as a Captaine I say not making the graces as heavenly Souldiers but as bringing them forth to fight according to their severall operations thou hast I say a lively faith both in that direct act whereby it justifieth and also by a prudent observation of the worke of faith in thy soule thou dost by faith believe that thou art justified by faith thou hast also the attendant companion upon faith that Christian hope whereby thou waitest on GOD till he accomplish all his gratious promises if we come against the Divell as David did against the Philistine not with sword shield and speare but in the name of the LORD of Hosts we are sure to conquer If we have these graces and by the use of holy meanes do hold them fast how happy are we Blessed is he that beleeveth the Lords words to be all of them true and blessed is he that waiteth on him till he manifests the truth of his words that believeth by faith that GOD is his Father and expecteth by hope that he should shew a fatherly affection to him who believes that salvation belongs to him and waites by hope til he enters into possession of it if this then be the blessed frame of thy soule that thou resolvest and hopest to live and thou resolvest and hopest to die in the armes of thy sweet Saviour thou art in a happy case Secondly if thou hast this holy
save mens soules Vocation that is by the preaching of the Gospell Justification another degree of salvation that is for CHRIST his sake by faith which is given by hearing the Minister Sanctification another degree of salvation in this life is by preaching of the Word in regard of dying to sin the Minister is as the salt of the earth in regard of living to righteousnes it s the Word of grace by which we are sanctified What had become of Paulus Sergius of Onesimus of Lydia and of many Churches if they had not beene called to GOD by the preaching of S. Paul who restored those to life saith S. Chrysostome which had sixe hundred ulcers by sin but what need I instance in particulars the consciences of millions converted can witnesse that Ministers have beene their spirituall fathers their preaching hath beene the key to open the Kingdome of Heaven and they are appointed by GOD for the gathering of the Saints Secondly their life is profitable if not to convert yet to civilize people and to restraine the corruption of nature even reason and Philosophy over-ruled Pythagorus by nature the worst of men as Philemon the Astrologer conjectured to conquer his naturall propensions to vice and to become as his Schollers thought the best and the most worthy man that lived much more effectuall sure is the Word preached to produce morall vertues and to enable some to doe morall workes rationally out of the sway of right reason though not obedientially with a pure intention to obey and glorifie GOD preaching is a banke to hinder the inundation of sinne and to keepe men in outward conformity this keeps calmenesse upon the face of the Church and mankind which otherwise might degenerate into savage brutishnesse Herod was better by hearing Iohn and reformed many things that were amisse and by their meanes they may have many graces of the spirit it is the influence of the same Sun which ripeneth both the grape and the crab it is the same spirit also which helpeth the wicked in their morall and the godly in their spirituall workes those I speake of may have illumination and a taste of the heavenly gift and may propagate GODS truth to others as Ioash the King did all the daies of Iehojada the high Priest and Vzziah in the daies of Zachariah the Prophet and who sees not that the presence of a godly man doth bridle the tongues of the wicked from wicked speeches though sore to their griefe as Iob saith in my prosperity the young men saw me and hid themselves the Princes refrained talke the Nobles held their peace c. and the same is reported of Cato that they would forbeare to speake uncomely things on the stage while he was present and if swearers rap out unawares prophane oathes in the presence of a grave man they checke one another know you not that such a one heard you the divell dares not shew himselfe a divell in his colours in the presence of such a reverend man as this our brother was Secondly the life of a Minister is more needfull then his death in regard of those that are effectually called First because there is after conversion much corruption and sinne in GODS people to be mortified whereof they may justly complaine as did Saint Paul Rom. 7. the best Christians are like peeces of gold they are too light and must have their graines of allowance to make them currant Who can say my heart is cleane he proposeth the point in his armour by way of demand making his chalenge to all the world with his triumphant negative knowing that no man durst step forth none could justly say I am entirely innocent I am as good as I ought to be as good as the holy Law requireth that I should be Private helps I know as prayer fasting meditation have their force to abate the strength of sinne but yet the lively two edged sword the sword of the Spirit in the mouthes of GODS Ministers hath the preheminence that is the fire to wast it and the hammer to bruise a hard heart Secondly their Ministery is needfull to discover sins after renovation there are secret darke corners in our hearts which are deceitfull wherein wickednesse doth lurk Who can tell how often he offends cleanse me from secret sins If unknowne sins were in David who was a man of an excellent spirit of great understanding and a strict examiner of his owne heart can any man say in truth he is free from them Saint Basil saith it becomes all men to acknowledge that they are not worthy to speake before the divine Majesty because they are sinners we are guilty of many faults which we know not in that respect we may say with our Apostle I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not justified thereby that is I sin greatly but I do not understand it Hence the Prophet saith Who understands his faults thou wilt confesse if thou art wise that thou art a greater sinner then other men so Basil private meanes such as are the looking into the law of liberty friendly reproofes and instruction and such like are much availeable yet that which doth most lively discover it is prophesie that is it which unbowels corruption and best displaies the hidden nakednesse of old Adam and which doth exceedingly advance the honour of the Ministery by the praching of the Gospell Angels yea chiefe Angels as Principalities and Powers have learned what formerly without sin they did not know the manifold wisdome of GOD in the dispensation of the vnsearchable riches of CHRIST to the Gentiles Thirdly many are the steppings aside out of GODS way in regard of actuall sins even in the most sanctified in many things we sin all David did so and Peter did so and what sheep of CHRIST doth not so checks of conscience I know and GODS fatherly chastisements are good helps to reduce us into the right way the one is our bosome remembrancer and the other is like to Ionathans arrow which hath GODS message in the feathers yet neither conscience nor crosses have power comparable with CHRIST his voyce in the preaching of the Word to procure our revocation into GODS waies Fourthly Christians ought to be confirmed in their gracious estate yet whose faith is so constant that it admits no wavering whose patience is so fixed that it admits no staggering the clearest Suns of the Church have been more or lesse eclipsed in their faith their patience and their piety of all outward meanes to make us hold out preaching is the principall that is as goods to pricke men forward that are under the yoake of CHRIST that is as salt to sweeten them and to keep them savoury it is with our hearts as with our soile which is not like the Land of Canaan the former raine after seeds time at the fall of the leafe and the
the having saving graces in truth that assures us of GODS gratious acceptation of us in this world so doe they also by GODS free promise obtaine reward in heaven instantly upon the dissolution as Saint Cyprian spoke to Demetrian us though a blasphemous Ethnick that if he would at the end of his life pray to GOD for the pardon of his sins beleeve and confesse him he should be translated sub ipsa morte to immortality why not the soule being purged clearely from the impurity and staine of sin by the completion state of grace which gets full dominion in the very moment of her departure out of the body as Alexander Halensis Durandus and other learned Schoolemen have resolved and it is not defined in that Church whether the deordination of the will and whether vitious affections as too much love to wife and children remaine in the soule saith Estius yet doe we grant this to be true that the more gracious any man is in this world the more is he now respected of GOD the more glorious shall he be hereafter The point it self is clearly proved by the New Testament There is no condemnation to such as are in CHRIST JESVS None and therfore not to purgatory paines For the name damnation extendeth to Purgatory saith Th. in 4. Senten dist 45. q. 2. Sixtus Senensis l. 6. Annotat 47. No condemnation saith the Apostle yes that there is damnation to the fire of Purgatory saith the Jesuite Malon Whether will you beleeve againe Wee know that if the earthly house of this our tabernacle shall be destroyed we have a building not made with hands but eternall in the heavens S. Chrysostome rendreth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when to note the time immediatly after death he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have not I know not after how many years we shall have which may further appeare by the Apostles scope which was to administer consolation to the afflicted as appeares by the end of the former Chapter that they should after death goe to an eternall house statim post mortem acquirenda forthwith to be possessed after death as Estius sheweth out of Photius Anselme and Thomas which else could be but small comfort unto them if they believed they should be detained in a fiery prison farre hotter and more intollerable then any punishment in this world can be and that the soules of the faithfull were in a state of happines before the Ascension of CHRIST into Heaven is cleare though neither they nor the Angels were so happy for degree as after the incarnation of our Saviour is generally concluded and by cleare demonstrations confirmed the point I say is cleare I build not my faith on the book of Wisdome though it binds Papists to the beliefe thereof that saith the soules of the righteous are in the hands of GOD and there shall no torment touch them no torment then not the torment of Purgatory but behold a crystall streame which is able to quench the flames of Purgatory if a wicked man will turne from all his sinnes c. he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions that he hath committed shall not be mentioned to him How doth he not remember if he doth so severely punish that it passeth the imagination of man to conceive the greatnesse thereof can there be a back reckoning for that which shall never be remembred and saying that not a few but al his sins shall be forgotten will he yet punish them to satisfie for any sins at all and is it not an easie thing unto the LORD in the day of death to reward a man according to his waies Call you this a reward for a good man to be thrust into a place of torment this present life is a time of working striving running sowing and godly living after death is the time of reaping of receiving wages garlands and crownes an unjust thing it is to detaine the labourers wages which reason I suppose is as strong against Purgatory as against those Armenians whom our Adversaries do worthily confute and how is it imaginable that if he good in the old Law supposed then dead went first to torment that they did not tremble for feare of death how could they as they did depart in peace and how is it imaginable that GOD who appointed sacrifices for all sorts of sins and pollutions should appoint neither expiation nor sacrifice nor satisfaction to be made for the soules of the dead surely there appeares not to us any token of any such thing and therefore we may fairely conclude that all the soules of the righteous then were translated into a state of happinesse This Doctrine being thus briefly cleared we may from hence draw many conclusions Hence it followeth that the soule dieth not with the body as the Sadduces that pestiferous sect amongst the Jewes did damnably maintaine for as they denied the resurrection and the being of Angels so did they say there was no spirit no spirituall substance at all saith Scaliger which without all doubt is the truth in the judgement of Scultetus so grosse were these Sadduces in their apprehensions and as a wicked branch of this sottish stock of Sadduces there sprung up certaine Arabians which held that the soule perished together with the body as witnesseth Eusebius A fit doctrine for enlarging the kingdome of the divell but that the soule is immortall my Text proveth how else could it part from the body and be with CHRIST unlesse it was a seperable substance sith the body is not with CHRIST till after the generall resurrection whence is there is naturall confcience that accusing power for sin that feare of wrath but from this principle that the soule is immortall never make any question of this when thou diest thy soule which is thy better part dieth not but is taken out of thy body as a candle out of a lanthorne and immediatly placed either in blisse or in torment Hence may we in the second place conclude against the Anabaptists and Socinians which though they went not so far as the Sadduces to deny the resurrection yet did these fantastiques dreame that the soule sleepeth till Doomes day and is in a state of incensibility like some creatures in Winter insecta till they be quickned and revived by the heat of the Sun so they of soules till they be raised by the power of the LORD at the last day but how then could Saint Paul be with CHRIST but to say no more against these silly dreamers I proceed In the third place that conceit also falls to the ground which prevailed with many of the antient Fathers and with some later writers that the soules of the righteous see not GOD till the last day but are kept in certaine receptacles in expectation therof
the terme of his naturall life abideth in the flesh or body 4. More necessary This is not spoken simply but comparatively it was not absolutely necessary for the Church that S. Paul should live for GOD could even then as after his departure he did provide other Instructours to build his Church and House but yet it was more necessary for their profit that he should live then die 5. For you But why more necessary was it not because his appointed time to die was not yet come this is true but personall He mentioneth that which concernes the Philippians that they might take notice how carefull he was for them and how thankfull they ought to be to GOD for him My life is more needfull for you for the furtherance of your faith and piety Q. Did Saint Paul desire to live only for the good of the Philippians Sol. He neither saith it nor thinketh it He saith his life was more needfull for the Philippians so it was but he saith not only for them Q. Why then doth he only name them Answ Because he only writeth to them Behold a patterne of admirable love in a Shepheard to the sheep of CHRIST preferring their welfare to his own present glory What Merchant saith Saint Chrysostome having his vessell fraught with rich commodities if he could safely arrive at a haven would doubt to do so rather then be still tossed in the sea What Champion would-strive for the mastery when he might weare the corruptible crowne What Commander when he might rest at home in glory after a triumphant victory would rather still continue the fight to the hazard of his life and honour and yet this is S. Pauls choise wherein he resembles a woman that hath husband children her husband is in a far country she is with her children she may go to him whom her soule doth chiefely love and there she shall be abundantly provided for but then she must leave her children behind her and what then will become of you my poore children it would be better indeed for me to be with my husband but it would be worse with you then now it is for your sakes therefore it is that I neglect mine owne present honour to do you good Leaving this discourse the words do naturally yeeld us this Doctrine which I will handle being pertinent to our present purpose The life of a faithfull Minister doth more good and is more profitable for GODS people then his death This doth S. Paul witnesse of himselfe yet from this particular and worthy example the grounds and reasons of his assertion being common and the same in others that they were in him the doctrine is generally true of every faithfull Pastour that they doe more good to the living Saints while they themselves doe live then when they are dead The Word of GOD in the mouthes of the Ministers is not weake but mighty in operation able to cast downe strong holds and whatsoever opposeth it selfe to it though Satan be the strong man that keeps possession yet the LORD is stronger and can cast him out See the efficacy and wonderfull working of the Gospell that Saint Paul could say for his part only that from Ierusalem round about unto Illyricum he had fully preached the Gospell of CHRIST and as the lightening commeth out of the East and shineth to the West and as the Suns going forth is from the ends of the heaven and his circuit to the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof so in Saint Pauls time the Gospell was come into all the knowne parts of the world and brought forth fruit as it did amongst the Colossians thus did the Gospell strangely spread it selfe by the preaching of GODS servants even while Saint Paul himselfe was alive and after the Apostles by their Successours as they were Pastours as the soule in the body so were Christians dispersed in the world even the Getulians Moores Spaniards Galls and the Britans the Sarmatians also Germanes and Scythians do believe in CHRIST before whom the gates of all Cities are throwne open and none are shut against him before whom also the iron locks are broken and the brazen gates are opened i. e. the hearts of very many that were holden fast locked by the divell are now unlocked by the faith of CHRIST saith Tertullian What instrument was ever too weake to effect GODS will if he tooke it in hand though the Apostles presence was but weak and their speech rude and their words distastfull and unwelcome to the world yet did they prevaile or if they had been to preach to Infants and children not seasoned with inveterate idolatry it had beene no great mastery to have brought them to the faith of CHRIST as it was no great glory to the Spaniard to vanquish the Indians when Benzo the Italian reported that he durst be one of the 25. that would fight with ten thousand nay with twenty thousand of that naked people but the case is altered now for 1. The Apostles were but few for number and of no great reckoning in the world 2. For the same men to teach a strange doctrine to believe on CHRIST crucified and to be ready to lay downe their lives for him if they looked to go to heaven 3. To preach to the world when many of them did seeke after wisdome and secular Philosophy as did the Grecians many after state policy and war as did the Romans and all of them trained up in a long continued will-worship and damnable idolatry of a deepe die yet the Gospell by the preaching of it as Aarons rod amongst the serpents of the Magicians devoured them all and brought them to acknowledge allegiance to it surely this should make us cry out as the people did upon the proofe that Elias made the LORD he is GOD the LORD he is GOD. Now the LORD doth this great worke by the Ministery of living men and sometimes by weake men that the excellency of the power may be ascribed to GOD and not to man and thus you see in generall the great profit which accompanies the work of the Preachers in the plantation and foundation of Churches let us consider some particular benefits which redound to them which are actuall members of a visible Church and they are either 1 in regard of the bad or 2 in regard of those that are good or 3 in regard of all sorts both good and bad First I say their life is more needfull in regard of those that are actually as yet in the state of unregeneration and that in a double respect First to be a powerfull meanes of converting the Elect and to bring them to all the degrees of salvation other professions do aime at the good of this life the Physician at the health of the body the Lawyer is for the right of his Client but the end of the Ministery alone is chiefely to