And therefore to conclude with the words of the Apostle Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation And therefore if thou wilt come unto him in the time accepted deferre not the time but come unto him while salvation is offered The time that is past is altogether irrevocable the time that is to come is altogether uncertaine onely the time present is the time accepted and therefore come now while he may be found FINIS The Fourteenth SERMON ACTS 7.59.60 And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit And he kneeled down and cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Division TO passe over the Coherence of these words with the former we may observe in them these two things The great impiety of the Jewes in martyring Steven and Stevens great piety in his martyrdom Their impiety is set down briefly in the first words wherein is mentioned both the person that was martyr'd and that was Steven the kind of his martyrdom and that was stoning and by whom he was thus martyr'd namely by the Jewes They stoned Steven Stevens great piety in his martyrdom is set down more largely in the words following and herein is declared both his faith towards God and his charity towards men both which he shews by a double prayer which he makes first for himself He called upon God saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit then for his persecutors he kneeled down and cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge First then concerning the impiety of the Jewes the person that was martyred here was Steven who according to his name which in the Greek doth signifie a Crown was the first who after the Ascention of Christ 3. Sorts of Martyrs was crowned with martyrdom Now there are Martyrs of three sorts First Such as are Martyrs voluntate sed non opere in will and desire but not in act So Eusebius vvrites of Origen that while he vvas young he had such a desire to be a Martyr that his Mother was faine to hide all his apparel that she might keep him at home because otherwise he vvould have gone to his Father who vvas then in prison to have suffered martyrdom vvith him And so he was a Martyr in vvill and affection And it is very memorable vvhich Sotrates Theodoret and likevvise Sozomen in their Ecclesiastical Histories do report of a woman vvho so affected martyrdom that vvhen she understood that Valens the Emperour had sent Modestus the Governour of Edessa with a band of souldiers to kill all the Christians that were assembled there at St. Thomas Church she ran thither in all hast with a child of hers Modestus observing how fast she ran caused her to be called and asked her whether she was running She answered to the Church vvhere the Christians were assembled Why do you not know saith Modestus that the Emperour hath sent me thither to put them all to death I know it well saith the woman and therefore I make the more hast thither that I may dye with them But why saith he do you carry your child with you That he saith she may likewise be crowned vvith Martyrdom This answer of hers so moved Modestus that he returned back and diswaded the Emperour from the execution of it And these vvere Martyrs in vvill and affection but not in act Secondly There are others that are Martyres opere sed non voluntate Martyrs in act but not in vvill and affection Such were those innocent babes of Bethlehem that Herod slew vvhom St Augustine calls Primitias Martyrum the first fruits of Martyrs for these dyed for Christ that vvas to dye for them and vvere Witnesses unto him speaking vvith their bloud as Chrysostom saith that could not speak vvith their tongue and confessing and shewing forth his praise not in speaking but in dying And such a Martyr vvas that babe vvhereof we read in the book of Martyrs vvhich sprang out of his Mothers Wombe while she was burning at the stake and vvas by the Papists cast againe into the fire as thy brood of Heriticks A more horrible and impious act in them then it had been being committed by any other in regard of their doctrine because they hold it as an Article of their Faith that all Children are damned that dye without Baptisme and yet they vvilfully burned this innocent before he vvas Baptized and so as they thought did not onely cast his Body into the fire but his Soule into Hell though indeede this blessed Babe did not want Baptisme but vvas Baptized vvith the Holy Ghost and vvith fire and vvas no sooner borne but died a Martyr Martyr opere non voluntate a Martyr in act though not in vvill and desire Thirdly There are others that are Martyres voluntate et opere Martyrs both in Will and Act and such a Martyr vvas Steven vvho both in Will and Act did suffer Martyrdom Now because as St. Austin saith out of Cyprian Non paena sed causa facit Martyrem it is not the punishment vvhich a man doth suffer but the cause for vvhich he suffers that makes him a Martyr Let us see for what it vvas that Steven vvas here Martyred And this vvas as vve see verse 52. for the Testimony of Christ Which of the Prophets saith he have not your Fathers persecuted And they have slaine them which shewed before of the coming of the just One of whom you have been now the betrayers and murtherers He knevv that they hated Christ to the death and had therefore Crucified him He knevv that they had imprisoned his Disciples and strictly charged them to Preach no more in his Name He knevv that for Preaching in his Name he himself vvas here brought before the Councell and had false Witnesses suborned against him and so could not but knovv that his bearing vvitnesse to Christ must needs endanger him and yet vvith great boldnesse he bear vvitnesse to Christ and for this it vvas that he suffered Martyrdom Here then in Steven we may observe a difference betvven true and false Martyrs True Martyrs suffer in a good cause for the testimony of Christ and the defence of the truth but false Martyrs suffer in a bad cause for the defence of their errors Epipha contra Har. lib. 3. to 2. Har. 80. So Epiphanius writes of a sect called Martyriani vvho count themselves Martyrs though they suffred indeed for their vvorshiping of Idols So many have been registred for Martyrs and canonized for Saints in the Church of Rome that have suffered as Traitors and died for Treason But true Martyrs do suffer in a just cause and such onely can have comfort in their sufferings Mat. 10.39 He saith our Saviour that loseth his life for my sake shall finde it it is not enough to lose it unlesse it be lost for Christs sake otherwise there is no promise made of finding it Mat. 5.10 Blessed are
make him secure that he shall enjoy them an hour and as he brought nothing with him when he came into the world so he must leave all behind him when he leaves the world Fulgos lib. 7. cap 2‑ And therefore Saladine a great and victorious Prince in his dayes he gave command when he lay upon his death-bed that at his Funerall his winding-sheet should be carried on a spear before him with this proclamation That of all the victories which Saladine had gotten this winding-sheet was even all that he carried him For when a man dies he must leave all and though he have never so much yet he may die before the day ends So that this is one great inconvenience of the world that whatsoever the world can afford us yet it is but momentary and of short continuance Secondly The pleasures profits and preferments of the world are not only short but even for the time that a man enjoyes them they can never afford him any true contentment Therefore we see that they who have much do still desire more and though they have never so much more then they need yet they are not satisfied with it Plutarch in vita Pyrrhi Plutarch writes of Pyrrhus the King of Epyrus that when he prepared to make warre upon the Romans Cyneas asked him this question what he meant to do if he overcame them The King made answer that then he would leavy a greater Army and subdue Sicily He asked him again what he would do if that he vanquisht them the King answered that then he would go into Africa and bring all Africa under his dominion But saith Cyneas if you subdue all Africa what then will you do why then saith the King we will live merrily together and spend the rest of our dayes in delight and pleasure Alas saith Cyneas if that be all what need all this labour you have a Kingdom already you may live as contentedly with that which you have as if you had more Cui quod satis est non sufficit nihil sufficit He that is not content with that which is sufficient will never be content though he have more then sufficient So that this is another inconvenience of the world that the pleasures profits and preferments thereof can never afford any true contentment A third and last inconvenience is this which indeed is the greatest of all the rest that the more a man loves and affects the world the lesse he is affected with the love of God Therefore our Saviour to shew that the love of God and the love of the world cannot stand together but that he that doth cleave to the one must of necessity leave the other he makes a flat opposition between them Ye cannot saith he serve both God and Mammon We read of Thomas Aquinas the School-man that when he came upon a time to Pope Innocentius the third of that name the Pope had then great store of silver and gold lying before him you see saith the Pope to Thomas Aquinas I cannot say as sometime my Predecessour Saint Peter said Argentum aurum non habeo Acts 3.6 Silver and gold have I none True holy Father answer'd Aquinas but therefore you cannot adde as he did Surge ambula Arise and walk To note unto him that the more he was carefull for the goods of the world the lesse able he was to perforn such good works as the Apostles did For the love of the world and the love of God as I said before cannot stand together We see then what it is to gain the world and withall the discommodities and inconveniences of it Now again though it be great yet it may too dearly be bought as when Gehazi gained two talents of silver but a leprosie withall 2 King 5. If a man should angle with a golden hook all the fish which he took would not make him amends for the losse of it and it is not wisdome to venture any thing where a man may lose more then he can gain by the bargain For gain is not so welcome and acceptable to any man as losse is grievous especially where the gain will not countervail the losse But here indeed is a very great gain the gaining of the world but withall a losse that is far greater the losse of all losses the losse of the soul Let us see therefore now what this losse is The soule as the more excellent part of man is put here by a figure for the whole man the soule for both body and soule together And therefore that which is here called by Saint Matthew the losing of the soul is called by Saint Luke in his 9th Chapter the losing of a mans selfe Luke 9.25 What saith he is a man advantaged if he gain the Whole world and lose himselfe So that the losing of the soul is the losing of a mans selfe both body and soule The greatnesse of which losse will the better appear if we take a view of a double misery which the soul which is lost is to undergo the one in regard of the felicity it loses the joyes of heaven the other in regard of the torments if susters the pains of hell both implied in those words of our Saviour Depart from me ye câ—rsed into everlasting sire For the first The soul which is lost is for ever banisht from the sight of God and therefore being banisht from his sight and presence is withall excluded from all joy and happinesse For the sight of God as the Scripture tels us is that which hereafter shall make us blessed Mat. 5.8 Blessed saith our Saviour Mat. 5. are the pure in heart and he gives this reason for they shall see God So that the sight of God shall make us blessed When Saint Peter saw our Saviour transfigured on the Mount with Moses and Elias he was so affected with the sight that he cried out to our Saviour Master it is good for us to be here if thou wilt saith he let us make three tabernacles one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elias If he were so affected with the glorious presence of Moses and Elias how shall they be affected that shall for ever enjoy the glorious company of all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles of all the blessed Saints and Angels nay of God himself where they shal see him even as he is and face to face as the Apostle speaks Psal 16.11 In thy presence saith David is fulnesse of joyes such fulnesse of joyes that if all the hearts in the world were one yet it could not contain them they cannot possibly enter into man but he that is to be made partaker thereof must enter into them Enter saith our Saviour into thy Masters joy Mat. 25.23 Chrysest de Repar 1 laps such fulnesse of joy that as Chrysostom saith If a man were to endure all the miseries of this life and to suffer the torments of hell for a time
both to taxe those Ministers who in their preaching do affect obscurity and likewise the people who mislike their Ministers if they preach plainly Whereas indeed every Minister ought to preach as plainly as he can and to do his best indeavour to speak so perspicuously that the simplest in his auditorie may understand him God promiseth this as a blessing to his Church Jer. 3.15 that he will give them pastors according to his own heart which shal feede them with knowledge and understanding and therefore they are to speak to the capacity of their auditorie that they may the more readily conceive their Doctrine Ministers in the Scripture are called Interpreters Now it is the part of an Interpreter Job 33.23 to open and explain the sence and meaning to speak to the understanding of those that hear him that he may be understood whom he doth interpret And thus the Minister that is Gods interpreter is to reveale and explain his Wil to make known with St Paul the Mystery of the Gospel and with John the Baptist Ephes 6.19 Luke 1.77 Mat. 5.14 to give knowledge of Salvation unto his People Ministers are called The Light of the World now it is the property of light wheresoever it comes to expell darkness and to make things apparent and manifest to the light And thus the Minister that is the light of the People is to remove ignorance out of the mindes of his Auditors and so to explain Gods Word unto them that they may be filled as the Apostle speakes with the knowledge of his will Ephes 1.19 inall wisdom and spirituall understanding Vse 3 Lastly Seeing the Word must be understood this therefore shewes the great folly of many who regard not to have any knowledg in the Word You shall have some that have more knowledg and understanding in any thing then in matters of Religion Talk with them about any worldly Affaires you shall find them very cunning their tongue is like the penne of any ready Writer and they will discourse thereof at large if occasion be offered them but talk with them again about any point in the Scripture you shall have them as speechless as the guest in the Gospel Mat. 22. â— 1 Cor. 14.20 1 Pet. 3.15 you shall find them to be Children in understanding and not able to give a reason of the hope that is in them And what is the reason because they take no delight in the Word they regard not to have any knowledge in it But were they as carefull for the good of their soules as for their worldly affaires they would be more skilfull in the Word of God and not perish as they do for want of knowledge I have longed saith David for thy Salvation O Lord Psal 109.174 and thy Law is my delight He that doth long to be saved like David he will use the meanes to attain unto it he will take delight in the word of God he will meditate in it and rather then he will want it with the Merchant in the Gospel he will sell all that he hath for the purchase of it Mat. 13.46 For this is that one thing that is necessary as Christ told Martha and therefore it is compared to those things which are the most necessary of all other Luke 10.42 Thus it is somtime compared unto food what can there be named so necessary as food and what so intolerable as the want of it for a man wil suffer any thing rather then famine Ye know when there was a famine among the Egyptans how they parted with all that they had for food First with their money then with their attell in the end they sold their Lands and their bodies for bread Yet food is no more necessary for the preservation of the Body then the word of God for the preservation of the soule for as the body cannot live without the natural food no more can the soule without the spiritual food which is the word of God and therefore we ought to hunger and thirst after it and to desire it as earnestly as one that is hungry desires food â— Pet. 2.2 As new borne Babes saith the Apostle desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby Young Children of all other are the most impatient of hunger they must presently have the dugge or they will cry for it they cannot abide to be long without it but ever and anon they must be fed again And thus saith the Apostle should we be desirous of the milk of the Word like new borne Babes we should long after it and not indure to be long without it And therefore such are in a miserable case who by rejecting this spiritual food do starve and famish their own soules Physitians say that when a mans appetite refuseth meat and cannot away with it it is a signe of death and a manifest token that he cannot live long Psal 107.18 And therefore the Prophet David saith to this purpose Their soule abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the Gates of death And surely when a man is once come to this passe that he will not suffer wholsome Doctrine but that the word of God which is the food of the soule begins to be irksome and unsavory unto him then questionlesse his soule is in a desperate case it is even pining away as it were in a Consumption Sometime again the word is called the Sword of the spirit Ephes 6.17 Now what is more necessary for a Souldier in the field then the use of a Sword Our life is a Warfare upon the Earth as Job saith and we are all Souldiers having given up our names at the time of our Baptisme to Christ Jesus our Captain to fight the Lords Battells the enemy with whom we are to encounter is the Prince of darkness with all his forces and Gods word is the weapon which we are to use against them How then shall our hands be able to warre and our fingers to fight if we have no knowledge in the word of God and have no skill how to handle the sword of the spirit And thus to omit many other particulars the word as ye see here is resembled to seed what is so necessary to make the Earth fructifie as the receiving of seed The best soile that is though it be never so fertill in its own nature yet if it receive not the seed into it it must needes be unfruitfull And thus the best man that is though he be never so furnisht with all naturall parts yet till the seed of Gods word have been sowen in his heart he can never be fruitfull in the works of righteousness And therefore if we be Gods Husbandry as St. Paul calls us 1 Cor. 5.9 Colos 3.16 Let us receive this seed into the furrowes of our hearts and suffer Gods word to dwell plenteously in us And thus much for the meanes of a good ground the
Apostle tells us Hebrewes 11. is but for a season and therefore seeing the sinnes of the wicked are but temporall how can it stand with the justice of God that their punishment is eternall First Therefore we are to know that sinne though it be committed and past in a moment yet as it is a trespasse against God that is infinite so it deserves an infinite punishment Tanto majus est peccatum quanto major in quem peccatur Every sinne is by so much the greater and so deserves the greater punishment as the person is the greater against whom it is committed If a man should dishonour and revile his Father he deserves ye know a farre greater punishment then he that should dishonour and revile his Neighbour If a man should strike a publick Magistrate he deserves a greater punishment to be inflicted upon him then he should if he struck but a private person but every sinne is committed against God and therefore deserves eternall punishment Secondly Though the wicked do but sinne for a time yet they have a perpetuall desire to sinne and should they live never so long in this World they would continue in sinne For like as Gamesters that delight in nothing so much as in gaming they will usually play as long as they can see and still have a desire to play longer but that the night comes upon them and compells them to give over So it is with sinners they take their pleasure and delight in their sinnes through the whole course of their life and so would continually go on in their sinnes but that they are prevented and cut oft by death Voluissent saith Gregory sine fine vivere ut sine fine possent in iniquitatibus permanere they would have lived in this World for ever that they might have continued in their sinnes for ever and therefore as they would have continually sinned so they justly deserve to be eternally punished And thus we have heard What it is to lose the soule and the misery which the soule which is lost is to undergoe both in regard of the felicity it shall lose and the torments it shall suffer What comparison is there then between the gaining of the World and the losing of the soule the gaining of the World with some temporall pleasures and the losing of the soule with eternall happiness the gaining of the World whereby we are freed from some worldly miseries and the losing of the soule whereby we are subject to everlasting torments the gaining of the World whereby for a time we may advance our friends and the losing of the soule whereby for ever we undo our selves All other losses whether of body or goods a man may well bear but the losse of the soule of all other losses is the most intolerable whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he loseth that which was given him but for a time and which at one time or other he must have forgone but losing his soule he loseth that which he might have kept for ever Whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he may recover it again If he lose his Children as Job did Job 1.19 yet he may have more if he lose his friends as David did yet he may find better Dan. 4.31 if he lose his Kingdom as Nebuchadnezer did yet he may recover it again or get another but losing his soule he loseth that which he can never recover Whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he hath something left him If he lose his goods yet he may have a good name if he lose his good name yet he may have his liberty if he lose his liberty yet his life may be left him and if he lose his life yet his soule is remaining but losing his soule he hath no more to lose but loseth all at once his life liberty goods good-name even all that he hath and his soule besides Xxres having escaped a dangerous tempest Sabellic lib. 2. but yet with the losse of divers of his Nobles to reward the Governour of the ship for it he set upon his head a Crown of gold but withall Ennead 3. because he had not saved his Nobility likewise he caused him to be beheaded So he gave him that which he could take away from him but he took away that which he could not give him making him to lose not onely his reward but his life to boote Now who would have a Crown upon the like condition If the Devill should offer as he did to our Saviour the whole World unto any man and should say unto him All this will I give thee if thou wilt die presently there is no man in the World would accept of his offer for he should be so farre from gaining by the bargain that he should lose all he had and his life together If this therefore be so hard an exchange then what is theirs who for the gaining of the World do part with their soules Job 2.4 The Father of lies said true in this skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life but yet life and all he may well give for his soule for he may lose his life and not lose his soule but losing his soule he loseth life and all Jonah 1.5 We see that Seamen will cast away their goods into the Sea to save their lives as the Mariners did in the first of Jonas We see in the Gospel that the woman that was diseased with an issue of blood she valued her bodily health at so high a rate that she spent all her substance upon the Physitians to be cured of her disease And we see in the old Law that every part and Member of our bodies was valued by God at so high a rate Exod. 21.24 that he that should put out another mans eye or but strike out his tooth he was to be punished with the losse of his own and might not be excused with any other satisfaction if a man had taken away another mans goods yet he was bound with his goods to make him amends but in this case his goods would not serve the turne but an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and no other satisfaction If therefore our bodies be so dear and precious that every part and Member thereof is more to be valued then our Worldly goods then what gaine is sufficient to make any recompence for the losse of our soules We have heard then briefly both what it is to gain the Would and to lose the soule and that the gain of the one cannot countervaile the losse of the other Vse The use that we may make hereof is this that therefore we affect not this World so much as that thereby we hazard and indanger our soules If a man have a Jewell of any great value which he is to carry through any dangerous place he will look carefully to it and he will take no delight to converse
never a one of their children but expired in a day Though this be spoken of the Year which hath twelve months and every month thirty dayes yet their expiring so soone may well put us in mind of ours seeing the shortness of our life is such that we are not sure we shall live a year no not a month nay though we be now wel for ought we know yet for ought we know we may be dead before to morrow How many have we known that have been well and lively in one houre and yet dead the next how many are there in this Land that were alive this morning and dead before noon Nay how many are there in the World that are now alive and since thou hast read these words are now alive are now dead who no doubt made reckoning as many now do that they should have lived a long time But the Scripture teacheth us to make another account by joyning together as many times it doth the day of our birth and the day of our death Eccles 3.2 without making any mention of the time of our life as if our lifetime were so short that it were not worth the naming So Solomon Eccles. 7. Eccles 7.1 Job 14.2 The day of death is better then the day of mans birth So Job Man that is borne of a Woman is of few dayes and full of trouble he comes up like a flower and is cut down Upon which words Bernard saith thus In ipso statim introitu de exitu quoque admonemur In the very beginning and entrance into life we are put in mind of the end of our life as if there were no distance between them both And hence it is that we are often in the Scripture compared to those things which are of the shortest abode and continuance So our bodies are compared to vessells of earth we have 2 Cor. 4.7 saith the Apostle this treasure in earthen Vessells He compares them not to Vessells of brasse or Iron which will last long but to earthen Vessells which are soone broken In the Potters shop there are Vessels ye know of divers sorts some lesse some greater some made for one use and some for another but all so brittle that a little force will break any of them to peeces And such is the frailty of our mortall bodies some are stronger and more durable then other but yet none so strong but that a little sickness will soone pull him down and bring him to nothing Nay earthen Vessells howsoever they be brittle yet if we let them alone if we set them up safe and keep them from falling they will continue the same for a longtime but such is our frailty that we never continue in one stay but though we look never so carefully to our selves though we avoid all occasions of coming into danger yet before it be long even age will consume us So we are compared by St. James to a vapour that appeares for a while and presently vanishes so by Job to a Weavers shuttle that makes no stay in the Webbe but passeth in a trice from one side to the other So to a Garment that is soon worne out to a tale that is soone told to a span which is soone measured and here to the grasse and flowers of the field which are soone withered The field we see hath variety of flowers but none of them all do continue long but come up and are cut down and others grow up in their roome So it is likewise with the owners of those fields they are soon gone and others succeed them There is not any field that hath had such variety of flowers in it as owners of it the same field which thou holdest hath been held by thousands before thee who held it for a while one after another and lest it to thee as thou must leave it to others after thee and thou dost not know whether thy self or the flowers which spring up in thy field shall be gone soonest for thy dayes are but as grasse and as the flowers of the field so thou flourishest If you aske why God hath made our life so short the answer is that it is his goodness and mercy towards us to shorten our dayes For though Theophrastus the Philosopher complained at the time of his death that nature had given to Harts and Ravens a long time of life but a short time to man who could better have imployed the benefit of time yet indeed it is his mercy towards us that we live not so long because he saw that a short life would be better for us in divers respects First That we might the sooner be freed from the miseries of this life Gen. 47.9 Few and evill saith Jacob have the dayes of the years of my life been If the dayes of our life be evill it is well they be few for for if they were more they would be more evill Man saith Job that is borne of a Woman Job 14.1 is of few dayes and full of trouble So full of trouble that one of the wisest among the Heathen could say Nemo vitam acciperet si dare turscientibus Seneca If life were not given us before we had knowledge of it there is no man but would refuse it Herod Tap. Therefore the Tracians as Herodotus writes were wont according to the Custome of their Country to mourne and lament when their Children were borne reckoning up the calamities which they were to undergoe through the whole course of their lives but when they died they followed them to their graves with mirth and rejoycing because they were freed from a World of miseries Our bodies are subject to labour and weariness to sickness and paine and a thousand Diseases our soules besides the grief and sorrow which they are subject unto they are continually assaulted with strong temptations and alwayes in danger of many powerfull enemies for we wrestle not saith St. Paul Ephes 6.12 against flesh and blood but against Principalities and powers and the Prince of darkness from all which we are not freed till this life be ended and therefore God in mercy hath shortned our life that we might the sooner be freed from the miseries thereof and that in the mean time we might have this comfort that though our life be miserable yet withall it is short Secondly God hath shortned our life that we may the sooner come into his presence and inherit the Kingdom he hath prepared for us Ye know when Absolon lived in exile and was kept for a time from the sight of his Father it grieved him so much that he wisht rather to die if he had deserved it 2 Sam. 13.32 then to be kept any longer from his Fathers presence God knowes how his Children while they live here in this World the place of their banishment do long to be with him saying with David Psal 42.2 Phil. 1.23 when shall I come to appear before the
to a little sinne that sinne will grow in the heart as the child growes in the wombe and that if he can bring us to give entertainment but to an angry thought though we count this but a small matter yet it will grow from the heart to the tongue and from the tongue to the hand so that many like Cain begin with anger and end with murder For he knows that little sinnes if we yield unto them will grow to be great ones and will procure our ruin The Swallow in the Fable when she saw the Husband-man begin to sow Hemp-seed in his field she counselled the Birds to peck it up because otherwise if it were let alone it would prove dangerous for them The Birds could not see how so small a seed should do them any harme but afterward vvhen it vvas grovvn ripe and vvas cut dovvn the Husband-man made snares and nets of the Hemp vvhereby the Birds vvere taken Those little sinnes vvhich vve thinke so small that they can do us no harme yet the Devill vvill use them as snares to intrap us and to vvork our destruction And therefore he vvill begin vvith small sinnes and dravv us on by degrees from the lesse to the greater as he drew on Peter from lying to perjury and David from adultery to commit murder And yet that he may the more easily deceive us what sin soever he tempts us unto he will commonly set such a Glosse upon it that it shall seem to be either no sinne at all or a very small matter till we have committed it Nay that which is strange many times when he tempts a man to never so hainous a sinne yet he will make him believe that it is a good vvork and that he shall deserve commendation and reward for the doing of it as when he tempted Paul to persecute the Church he made him believe that he did God good service and when he perswads the Jesuites to the murdering of Princes he make them believe that it is a meritorious worke and puts them in hope of being rewarded by God as the Amalekite was in hope of being rewarded by David 2 Sam. 1.14 15 16. for bringing him word that he had killed King Saul and instead of a reward he was executed for it And as his subtiltie appears in tempting us to evill under the colour of good so likewise in tempting us to do that vvhich is good but to an evill end As vvhen he tempts us vvith the Pharisees to give almes in publicke and openly in the sight and view of the world that vve may be seene of men and commended for it The giving of Almes is a good deed and to give them in publick is likewise lawfull that others may be moved to do the like by our example But the Devill knows that though it be a good deed yet if a man do it openly for vaine glory the good deed becomes evill in the doer of it and therefore he vvill tempt a man to do that vvhich is good where he sees it vvill be a sinne in him that doth it And indeed his craft and subtiltie is such he hath so many vvays to deceive and beguile us that vve have great cause to sear all our vvorks lest we be taken vvith his hook at unawars He will do the best he can to turn those good gifts vvhich God gives unto men to be occasions of sinne Thus many times vvhere God gives Knovvledge and Learning the Divill allures men thereby to pride vvhere God gives beauty the Devill allures men thereby to vvantonnesse vvhere God gives strength the Devill abuseth it to do wrong violence and vvhere God gives vvit the Devill turns it to gibing scoffing at others Yet still vvhen he tempts a man to sin he vvill extenuate the same make it seeme lesse and to make him to yield the more easily unto it he will perswade him that God is infinitely mercifull and that he daily pardons many sinnes of many that are far greater When he hath brought a man to yield to his temptation then he labours to make him continue in his sinne by putting him in hope that he hath a long time to live and that he may repent him when he comes to be old and all in good time And when he hath now brought him to this that he sees him continue secure in his sinnes then he will go a degree further he will labour to hinder him from hearing the word from praying unto God and from all other meanes that might bring him to repentance as the enemy when he hath besieged a City he will stop all the passages and will hinder any from coming to the City for their aide and assistance And these are indeed his most usuall vviles whereby he deceives us And as he is subtil so he is very malicious He would deale with us if God would suffer him as he dealt with Job he would take away from us all that ever we have and would leave us nothing unlesse it were that which might do us harme as when God gave him leave to afflict Job he took away his goods his Servants and his Children but left him his wife to be a crosse unto him Therefore it is that he is called our adversary your adversary saith the Apostle 1 Pet. 5. Like a roaring Lyon walkes about seeking whom he may devoure For such is his malice that he is never at rest but goes compassing the earth from one end to the other Job 1.7 seeking the destruction of the vvhole race of Adam both in body and soule Now if ye ask the reason why the Devill is so maliciously set against man the reason is plain because that man is the Image of God The Devil bears infinite hatred to God for casting him out of Heaven and because he cannot do God any harme yet he seekes maliciously to deface his Image and to be revenged upon man not unlike the Panther whose hatred towards man is so implacable as St. Basil saith that if he see but a mans Picture he will set furiously upon it and tear it in peeces Lastly As his subtilty and malice are great so likewise is his power Therefore Christ calles him the Prince of this World to shew that his power is very great And therefore St. Paul when he tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers he councells us twice in the same Chapter to take and put on the whole Armour of God that so we might be able to resist his temptations We see then what this enemy is whom we are exhorted to resist one that is both subtil and powerfull and malicious Though he were never so malicious against us yet if he were not powerfull withall like a curst Cow as the Proverb is that hath short hornes for want of power to effect his malice we might fear him the lesse Or though he were both malicious and powerfull yet if he were
notice of the means or instrument whereby they are afflicted but look not up unto him that sent is as the dog flieth upon the stone that is thrown at him but mindeth not him that threw it but in every affliction we look up to God as the principall Agent Thus when Shimei reviled David 2 Sam. 16. telling him openly before all the people that he was a murderer and a wicked man and that he was an usurper of Sauls Kingdom and Davids Servants would have stain Shemei for railing on him David would not suffer them to do him any harm and he gives this reason Suffer him saith he to curse me for the Lord hath bidden him and so he looks not upon Shimei 2 Sam. 16. 11. but he hath an eye unto God as the Authour of this affliction Thus when the Devill had got a licence from God to afflict Job and the Sabeans on the one side took away his oxen as they were plowing and his asses as they were feeding in their places and the Calde ans on the other side took away his Camels and put his servants to the edge of the sword Job though he understood by his servants that it was done by them yet he passeth them by as being but the instruments and ascribes it to God as the principall Agent The Lord saith he hath given Job 1.21 and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. And thus when Joseph was afflicted by his brethren and sold into Egypt though he knew that this was done by them and that of an evill intent and meer malice towards him yet he looks not upon them but he looks upon God as the Author of his affliction Gen. 45.7.8 Gen. 50.20 The Lord saith he hath sent me hither for your preservation and the Lord hath disposed it unto good So that whensoever we are any way afflicted we are to passe by all second causes as being but the means and instruments which God useth to afflict us but we are especially to have an eye unto God as to the principall Agent and to remember that it is God that chastens us Vse 2 Secondly Seeing God is the Authour of all afflictions Therefore whensoever we are afflicted we are to humble our selves under the hand of God and to bear with patience whatsoever it shall please God to lay upon us For seeing God is the Authour of our afflictions who as Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 10. is faithfull and will not suffer us to be tempted above our power but will give an issue with the temptation that we may be able to bear it and seeing that if we indure chastening as the Apostle here telleth us in the next verse God offers himselfe unto us as unto Sons Heb. 12.7 he offers himself as a father unto us therefore we are patiently to under go all afflictions that he shall lay upon us Diogenes the Philosopher being visited with sicknesse and being impatient by reason of his pain his friend to comfort him willed him to be of good chear and to bear it with patience because God was the Authour of his sicknesse Oh saith the Philosopher but this is that which grieves me the more this is that which maketh me the more impatient seeing that my sicknesse is sent of God But it is not so with the children of God they are always the more patient when they are afflicted and do bear the same without murmuring and repining because God is the Authour of their afflication So when old Eli 1 Sam. 3. understood by Samuel what God had threatned even to root out his house for ever he submitted himself unto Gods will It is faith he the Lord 1 Sam. 3.18 Psal 39.9 let him do what seemeth him good The like did David Psal 39. when the hand of the Lord was so heavy upon him that it even consumed him yet he bare it patiently I became faith he dumb and opened not my mouth for it was thy doing When Jobs wife would have had him to blaspheme and to curse God in the extreamity of his pain Job 2.10 Thou speakest saith Job like a foolish woman shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evill as thinking it unreasonable that we should be content to receive the one and not the other If our earthly parents do chasten and correct us we will endure it with patience and should we not endure the chastisement and correction of our heavenly Father We have had saith the Apostle here in the 9th verse the fathers of our bodies which have corrected us and we have given them reverence and should we not faith he much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits We will suffer the Physician in the time of our sicknesse because he hath seen our water or felt our pulse to let us bloud we will suffer him to prescribe us a lesse diet and to take away from us the use of some meats wherein in our health we were much delighted and we will patiently endure the want thereof and not murmure against him And should we not yield as much unto God as we do to the Physician yet if God take away from us any of those things wherein we were wont to take comfort and delight if he afflict us with the losse of our goods with the losse of our health or with the losse of our friends we presently fall into great impatiencie as if so be God dealt too hardly with us But doth not God know what is best for us if he afflict thee with the losse of thy goods he fore-saw it may be they would have done thee harm and that thou would'st have set thy heart upon them Nisi perdidisses tu illa te fortè perdidissent faith Seneca If God had not withdrawn thy riches from thee it may be thy riches would have withdrawn thee from God If God take away thy health and afflict thee with sicknes it may be it is to cure thee of a more dangerous disease as foreseeing that otherwise if thou hadst had thy health thou wouldest have taken a greater surfet of the pleasures of this life If God do afflict thee with any kind of disgrace by suffering thee to be wronged in thy good name and credit it may be he doth it to teach thee humility as fore-seeing that otherwise thou wouldest have waxed proud and vain-glorious For vicâ—sin the mind saith Plato are as diseases in the body and chastilements as medicines and surely God is the Physician that knows best how to apply them And therefore whensoever we are any way afflicted we are to possesse our soules with patience because it is God that chastens Lastly Seeing it is God that chastens this may therefore teach us in all our afflictions to seek vnto God for help deliverance Vse 3 that he that wounded us may cure recover us the same hand that cast us down may raise us up again I saith
foam and disgorge their malice against them that offend them Therefore it is said of the wicked Rom. 3. Destruction and misery are in their wayes Ro. 3.16.17 and the way of peace they have not known not known the way of peace either actively or passively either to make peace among those that are at variance or to imbrace and entertain peace when it is offered them by others Gal. 5.22 Gal. 5.20 And therefore the Apostle Gal. 5. names love and peace and long-suffering among the fruits of the spirit and hatred variance and emulation among the Works of the flesh to shew that as the godly who are renewed by the spirit live in unity and peace so the wicked on the contrary are prone by nature to dissention and variance They are easily drawn upon any light occasion to fall out with their neighbours and not easily pacified but hard to be reconciled where they have taken offence Nay they are so far from either making or taking peace that they delight to sow discord and dissention among others like the Scribes and the Pharisees who to make variance between Christ and his Disciples sometimes accused the disciples to Christ Marke 7.5 Mark 2.6 why eat thy disciples with unwashen hands sometimes Christ to his disciples why eats your Master with Publicans anà sinners and all to breed dissention and variance between them But the godly on the contrary who are called by our Saviour The Sons of peace they are peace-makers Luke 10.16 labouring to unite and reconcile those whom they see at variance So we read of Monistia Saint Austins Mother that when she heard there was variance between any of her neighbours she would first go to one of them and relate unto her some good of the other and having brought her to acknowledge it to be true and wonne her to a better liking of her then she would go to the other and tell her that she had heard there was some discontent between her and such a neighbour but hoped it was not true because she had lately been in her company and heard her speak very well of her and so by relating some good between them she would breed a better liking of one to the other Thus the godly seek to reconcile those whom they see at odds Nay if there happens any breach between themselves and others they will seek to be reconciled though it be to their own disadvantage So did Abraham Gen. 13.8.9 Gen. 13. who when there fell a strife between his servants Lots he came unto Lot Let saith he there be no strife I pray thee between thee and me neither between my heard-men and thine for we are brethren Is not the whole land before thee if thou wilt take the left hand I will go to the right or if thou wilt go to the right hand I will take the left Where you see how desirous he was of peace Though Abraham were a better man then Lot yet he stood not upon that he stayed not till Lot would come unto him but he went unto Lot and was the first that sought reconcilement and rather then he would not have reconcilement between them he offers him his choise of the whole land and so was content to purchase peace though it were to his own losse and hinderance For the godly who are the children of God do imitate God Heb. 13.6 who is called in the Scripture the God of peace and therefore they are peace-makers both seeking to unite and reconcile others that are at dissention and desiring if it were possible and as much as lieth in them to have peace with all men whereas for the wicked because they do not delight in peace it is far from them and have not either any peace with God nor peace with the creatures nor peace with men Lastly As they have no peace abroad so none at home as they have no peace with others so none with themselves They carry within them a guilty conscience which doth accuse and condemn them and will not suffer them to be at peace Their conscience indeed doth not always trouble them but then when it doth not their case is more desperate For like as it is in the sicknesse of the body vvhen the pulse doth not beat the body is in a more dangerous estate so it is likevvise in the sicknesse of the soul When the conscience doth not beat and check them for sin their case is more dangerous because it is a signe that their conscience is seared as Saint Paul speaketh with a hot-iron 1 Tim. 4.2 and that their custom of sinning doth take avvay from them the sense of sin and makes them past feeling But when sicknesse or any other crosse or affliction is laid upon them whereby the conscience is wakened again then it begins to torment them afresh and will so terrifie and affright them with the sight of their sins that they shall finde no rest Though the wicked had all the wealth in the world and wanted nothing that their hearts could desire for their outward estate yet as long as their sins are a wound to their souls and a torment to their conscience they can never have any peace in themselves For this peace is only wrought by faith in Christ whereby a man believes that Christ hath made a full satisfaction to God for all his sins and therefore that they shall not be laid to his charge which faith because the wicked have not nor ever can have while they continue in their sins they cannot have this peace and wanting this peace they want the greatest blessing that is For he that hath this peace though he have nothing besides yet he wants not any thing and he that wants this peace though he have every thing else yet indeed he hath nothing This peace is a continuall feast to the godly it makes them to fare as it is said of the rich man in the Gospel every day deliciously And this peace is the fruit of our peace with God which Christ the Prince of peace bath purchased for us and bequeathed unto us and therefore calls it his peace John 15. Peace leave I with you John 14. ◠my Peace give I unto you not as the World gives give I unto you For all the principalities and powers in the World are not able to give us one jot of this Peace The peace which the World gives is false and uncertaine and doth oftten deceive us but this is a true and certaine peace which never fails us the peace which the world gives is onely outward and onely affords us externall content but this peace extends to the quieting of the conscience the peace which the world gives is only transitory as the world is but this is as permanent as the giver of it for this is one of the chief of his gifts whose gifts you know are without repentance And therefore he gives it onely to the godly and
would not suffer their eyes to sleep nor the temples of their heads to take any rest till they had unfainedly humbled themselves for their sins past and had testified to the World by the reformation of their lives that they are assured that God is the Authour of the Scriptures And lastly Seeing God is the Authour of the Scriptures it may therefore teach us both to hear and read them with all reverence 3. Vse to renounce all Doctrines which agree not with the Doctrine which the Scripture containes and if occasion requires to stand in defence of the truth of those things that we find written therein even to 〈◊〉 losse of our lives as many Thousar â—â—oly Martyrs have done â—â—re us FINIS The Tenth SERMON MAT. 11.5 The blind receive their sight and the lame walk the Leapers are cleansed and the deaf heare the dead are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them THese words are an answer which was sent by Christ unto John the Baptist For John the Baptist as we see before had sent two of his Disciples with this question to ouâ— Saviour Art thou he that should come or do we look for another Christ to prove himself to be the Messias refers them to the works which were done by him Goe saith he and shew John what ye hear and see The blind receive their sight and the lame walk the Leapers are cleansed c. Which words will not well admit any division but for order sake we may observe two things in them the persons and the cure which was wrought upon them The persons ye see are of divers sorts some blind some lame some Lepers some deaf some dead and some poor and every one of them had their severall cure The blind received their sight the lame walked the Leapers were cleansed the deafe heard the dead were raised up and the poor had the Gospel preached unto them But it may be demanded how Christ did shew by these works which he did that he was the Messias when we read that the like works have been done by others Acts 9.17 Did not Ananias Acts 9. restore Paul to his sight when he was struck blind Did not Peter and John Acts 3. restore the cripple Acts. 3.6.7 that had been lame from his mothers womb 1 King 17.23 Did not Elias and Elizeus raise some that were dead and have not the like miracles been wrought by others But the answer is That between the works which 2 King 4.36 were done by them and which were done by Christ there is a great difference For first the miracles which they wrought were not wrought by their own power but by the power of God God using them as his instruments to work those miracles Therefore saith Saint Austine Sancti non propria virtute miracula fecerunt sed deo in illis operante Those holy men did not work miracles by their own power and virtue but by the power of God that wrought so them Therefore we see that they alwayes wrought them in his name and prayed unto him that he would inable them Acts. 9.17 The Lord hath sent me saith Ananias to Paul that thou mightest receive thy sight Acts 3.6 In the Name of Jesus of Nazareth saith Peter to the Creeple arise and walk O Lord my God 1 King 17.23 I pray thee saith Eliah when he raised the Widowes son let this childs soule come unto him again And so Elizeus prayed when he restored to life the Shunamites Son 2 King 4.36 All shewing thereby that they did not these miracles by their own power but as God inabled them But Christ did all by his Word and Command as by his own power This was that which the Centurion acknowledged Speak saith he but the word and my servant shall be healed Mat. 8.8 and he proves it in the words following by an excellent reason For I am a man saith he under authority and have souldiers under me and I say to this man go and he goes and to another come and he comes and to my servant do this and he doeth it As if he had said If I can do this by my authority then what canst thou do I am a man and thou art God I am under the authority of another but thou art Lord over all I have souldiers and servants at my command to do as I will them Sicknesse is thy souldier and health is thy servant and thou mayest command them Say but thou to the palsie go and it will be gon say thou to health come and it will come and what thou willest them to do they will do the same Therefore in the Gospell we see how he commanded when he wrought any miracle So when he raised the young man to life Luke 7.14 Young man saith he I say unto thee Mat. 8.3 arise So when the Leper said to Christ Mat. 8. Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean He presently answered I will be thou clean Luke 18.42 So to the blind man Luke 18. Receive thy sight And thus he wrought miracles by his Word and Command which others did not Secondly Though others have wrought some miracles yet Christ hath wrought more then they all together Some have cured the lame but have not restored the blind some have healed the sick but have not raised the dead some have done one cure but not another but Christ did all Healing as we see Mat. 4. all manner of diseases among the people Mat. 4.23 and doing those works John 15.24 as himself testifies John 15. which were never done by any other as we shall see in handling the severall cures which he wrought here Where first it said That the blind receive their sight We read in the Scripture of a two-fold blindnesse the one outward the other inward the one corporall the other spirituall the one of the body the other of the soul Christ cured many that were outwardly blind whereof some were such as had lost their sight and could have seen before and some that were born blind and could never see at all as the blind man that we read of John 9. the like cure whereof was never done by any but by Christ John 9.32 since the World began The blindnesse of the body is very grievous For that which the Sun is to the world the eye is to the body which being void of sight remains in a perpetuall night of darknesse A man would count it a very grievous punishment to be kept in darknesse but for a twelve-moneth together where he might see no light How grievous then must it needs be to them who for want of their sight do abide in darknesse and see no light for their whole life time Truly saith Solomon Eccles 11.7 the light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun Therefore we read of some Countries which are near to the Pole
where the night continues divers monthes together and the Sun doth not shew himselfe all the while that the Inhabitants at the end of so long a night at such a time as the Sun is wont to appear and bring the day among them they get up to the top of their highest mountains as striving to have the first view of the Sun which as soon as they see they crie out for joy Behold the Sun the Sun appears and they put on their best apparell and feast one another So welcome is the light of the Sun among them when they have wanted it long For darknesse ye know is most uncomfortable therefore though God sent darknesse as a plague among the Egyptians Exod. 10.22.23 yet his people had light in all their dwellings And therefore as hell is shadowed forth in the Scripture by the name of darknesse to expresse the uncomfortablenesse and horrour of it Mat. 22.13 Colos 1.12 so heaven is illustrated by the name of light to expresse the great comfort we shall finde in it yet they which are in darknesse and have not the light of the Sun among them may have fire and candle and other helps to give them light and to take away darknesse but they who are blind are always in the dark and have no help against it So uncomfortable a thing it is to a man to want his sight In which regard whereas it is said of Abraham Gen. 25.8 That he gave up the Ghost and died a good old age and old man and full of years and was gathered unto his people It is only said of Isaac Gen. 35.29 That Isaac gave up the Ghost and died and was gathered unto his people being old and full of dayes It is not said of him as it is said of Abraham That he died in a good old age but this clause is omitted in the death of Isaac as Divines observe and they give this reason Because Isaac's old age by reason of his blindnesse could not be so good and comfortable unto him For they want many comforts which others have who do want their sight Therefore when our Saviour askt the blind man Luke 18 Luke 18.41 What he would have him to do for him he presently answered Lord that I may receive my sight as being more desirous to have his sight then any thing besides It is a grievous thing for a man to want his smelling or tasting or any of his sences or his hands or feet or any of his limbs but far more grievous to want his eyes because the eye is the guide of the whole body and directs every part and member of it without which the tongue knows not before whom it speaks the hand knows not what it is it takes the foot knows not whither it goes but the tongue will erre the hand will mistake and the foot will stumble vvhere there is not an eye to vvatch over all and to preserve them from danger Therefore God hath placed the eyes in the head vvhere they may look to the whole body because every part hath use of the sight to guid and direct it When therefore vve read That Christ cured the blind and gave them their sight vve may vvell imagine that it vvas a vvonderfull benefit that he did for them And therefore it â—â—â—fused dravv us to bethink our selves vvhat a blessing it is that God hath given us our sight vvhereby vve take comfort in the sight of the creatures in the sight of our parents and children and friends and vvhereby vve are freed from so many dangers Yet this is a blessing vvhich fevv do ever think of but find the benefit and comfort of it Carendo magis quam fruendo rather vvhen vve vvant then vvhen vve have it If vve vvanted our sight vvhat a benefit should vve lose vvhat a losse should vve have and vvhat vvould vve not give that vve might recover it And therefore vvhen vve hear hovv Christ cured the blind or vvhen vve see any that vvant their sight it should put us in mind vvhat a blessing it is that vve can see and therefore should be thankfull to God for it yet though it be grievous to vvant the sight and a great blessing to have the same yet it is far more grievous vvhen the mind is darkened and vvants the eyes of knovvledge and understanding For that vvhich the eye is to the body the same is the understanding unto the soule and vvhat blindnesse is to the one the same is ignorance to the other And therefore vvhen Christ did cure them outvvardly so vve may vvell think that he cured them invvardly as he took avvay their blindnesse and gave them their seeing so he took avvay their ignorance and enlightned them vvith knovvledge and understanding And this vvas a greater cure then the other Men commonly think that a man that is blind is far more miserable then he that is ignorant and that he on the contrary is in better condition that hath a sound and comely body then he whose mind is adorned and beautified with grace and virtue But as the soule is more excellent then the body so knowledge and understanding is more excellent then the sight because the sight doth onely give light to the body understanding to the soule They who want the eyes of their body yet they know they want them and therefore will carefully seek for help if they may be cured and if they cannot be cured yet they have this help that they may have one to lead and guide them But they who want the eyes of their mind do not know their blindnesse and therefore do not seek to have any help but think themselves well though they live in ignorance vvhereby the Devill leads them blind-fold to hell before they be aware 2 King 6.18.19 As the Army of the Syrians being struck with blindnesse were led into Samaria amongst the midst of their enemies and â—â—ew not where they were till they were come thither we may see then by that which I have spoken that it is a grievous thing to want the outward sight but far more grievous when the mind is darkened And therefore as the blind here came unto Christ to be cured of their blindness so we must likewise come unto him to remove our spiritual blindnesse from us because he is that day-spring from on high as Zacharie said that came to visit us to give light unto them that sit in darknesse and in the shadow of death Luke 1.78 and to guide our feete in the way of peace And thus much concerning the first cure which is here mentioned that the blind received their sight And so I come to the next that the lame walked As it is a great blessing to have the use of our eyes and to be able to see so it is a great blessing to have the use of our feete and to be able to go For God in framing the body of man hath so disposed of every
and peculiar manner were troubled with this Disease which is unknown in these dayes as ye know there are many Diseases now which have not been known in former ages Now though the Leprosie was a grievous Disease yet there is a Disease the Leprosie of sin that is farre more grievous The outward Leprosie infects but the body but this spiritual Leprosie infects the soule so that no Leper is so unclean in the sight of man as the sinner is loathsome in the sight of God If we know of a man that hath an infectious Disease we will be very wary how we come in his Company for fear he infect us But for those whose Company is far more dangerous who by drunkennesse and the like communicating sins do infect mens soules many are so far from shunning their Company that they take pleasure therein as if they took delight to be infected by them We have not any of those kind of Lepers which the Jewes had but of these kind of Lepers that by drunkennesse do daily infect others I would we had not too many in every place Those Lepers were separated from the Congregation and were not suffered to come among them but these Lepers that are drunk from morning to night almost every day in the week and so continue infecting others all the year long are not ashamed to shew their faces amongst us but come openly to Church into the Congregation Those Lepers were constrained to live a part by themselves but these have liberty to frequent Tavernes and Ale-houses where for the most part they are the welcomest guests Those Lepers had their Cloathes rent in signe of their sorrow and did acknowledge themselves unclean but these are so far from acknowledging their fault that they take a pride in their sin and glory in their shame boasting that they are able to make others drunk as if it were a Credit and commendation unto them Those Lepers would gladly have been rid of their Disease and therefore came unto Christ to be cleansed and he did cleanse them But what hope can these have to be cleansed by Christ who delight in their Leprosie and are unwilling to leave it Christ indeed is that skilfull Physitian that cures both our corporal and spiritual Diseases but it is onely of such as are loaden and weary of the burthen of their sins and desire nothing more then to be rid of them And therefore if they would be cured of their spiritual Leprosie they must be weary of it and have an earnest desire and do their best indeavour to be freed from it and then coming to Christ as these Lepers did they shall be cleansed The next cure which is here mentioned is that the deaf heard We read in the Scripture of two sorts of deafnesse the one corporall the other spirituall The corporall deafnesse when the eare cannot hear is a great defect and in some respect it is better for a man to want his sight then to want his hearing because by hearing we attaine more knowledge then we do by seeing For hearing is the sense of knowledge and discipline in which regard Salomon when he begins to teach us Wisdom Proverbs 1.8 first knocks at the doore where Wisdom must enter and cries hearken my Sonne For Wisdom and Knowledge is got chiefly by hearing and as some have thought is rather lessened and impared then increased by seeing Therefore we read of some of the Philosophers who purposely put out their own eyes that they might the better attaine unto knowledge wherein they thought that their sight would hinder them and distract their minds with variety of objects And we read of many blind men that never saw at all but were born blind and yet have been famous for their wisdome and knowledge But we never heard of any man that was deafe from his birth and could never hear that ever attained to knowledge and understanding in any measure For how should they have understanding in any thing to know what they should do or leave undone which they were never taught and how should they be taught who could never hear and so are uncapable of learning any thing Therefore though God have strook some blind and some dumb yet he strook them not deaf but spared their hearing Though he strook Zachary dumb Luke 1. for his unbelief Luke 1.20 Acts 9.9 Paul blind Acts 9. for persecuting the Church yet he left them their hearing because if he had strook them deaf withall they could not have known his will Blessed is he that readeth Revel 1.3 and they that hear the words of this Prophecy Some cannot read as they which are blind and they which were never taught yet they are not excluded from this blessing because they may hear it read but they who are deaf can neither read it themselves nor hear it read by others Yet I speak not this as if they who are born deaf are therefore absolutely excluded from this blessednesse but that they are excluded from the means of it Yet God can save them without the means and we may well think that God who is so gracious will not exact the imployment of a talent where he hath not given it I might further shew you many great inconveniences which come by deafnesse whereby we might see what a benefit it was which Christ did for them in taking their deafnesse away from them and what a blessing we have of God in that he hath given us the sense of hearing But though this outward deafnesse of the eare be a grievous defect yet there is a deafnesse the deafnesse of the heart whereby obstinate sinners will not suffer that which they hear with their eares to enter into their hearts which is farre more grievous Such are they who are compared by the Prophet David to the deafe adder that will not hearken to the voice of the charmer Psal 58.4 5. Pro. 1.20 but though wisdom cry aloud in the streets yet they will not hear her Such a one was Pharaoh who though Moses Aaron cryed daily unto him Dimitte populum Let my people goe and though God thundred from Heaven with his judgements upon him yet he would not heare them And so though a man as God willed the Prophet Esay 58.1 life up his voice like a Trumpet and cry never so loud against covetousnesse oppression drunkennesse and the like yet many stop their eares and will not suffer what they hear to sinke into their hearts This is a willfull and obstinate deafnesse And this deafnesse untill our hearts be opened as Lydia's was is by nature in every one of us And therefore as the deaf here came unto Christ so every one of us must come unto him to be cured of this deafnesse The next cure which is here mentioned is Christ's raysing of the dead His raysing of the dead was a more miraculous cure then any of the former The blind and the deaf whom Christ restored did onely want
their sight and their hearing and had the rest of their sences the lame whom he cured did onely want the use of their feet and had the rest of their limbs the Lepers whom he cleansed did onely want their health and had the use of their limbs and sences but they which vvere dead had none of them all but vvere deprived of them altogether and so his raysing of such as vvere dead was a greater work then any of the former Therefore whensoever he raised the dead the people did greatly admire and honour him when he cured two blind men Mat. 9.31 Math. 9 They spread â—abroad his fame throughout all the land When he raised to life the Widowes sonne in Naim Luke 7.16 Luke 7. All that were present praised God and said A great Prophet is risen up amongst us and God hatâ— visited his people And vvhen he raised Lazarus from the dead John 11. it is said there that many of the Jewes that saw what Jesus did John 11. â—5 believed in him While a man is alive though he be never so much diseased or so dangerously sick yet vve send for Physitians and use other means because there is some hope that he may recover but when he is once dead there is no more hope and therefore we trouble our selves no further so when the Rulers daughter was sick he came unto Christ and besought him for her My little daughter saith he lyeth at the point of death but I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her and she shall live Mark 5.23 Mark 5.35 But his daughter dying before Christ came to her some brought the Ruler word Thy daughter is dead why troublest thou the Master any further as thinking it in vain when his daughter was dead to seek for help because the Physitian is not sought to for the dead but for the living But Christ that was as well able to revive the dead as to heale the sick raised diverse in the Gospel from death to life whereof some are not named but onely mentioned ingenerall as here it is said that the dead were raised up without specifying in particular who they were some are mentioned in particular as the Rulers daughter whom he restored to life when she was newly dead Marke 5. Mark 5.42 Luke 7.15 Joh. 11.17 The Widowes Son that was carried forth to be buried Luke 7. and Lazarus that had been foure dayes dead and was laid in his grave John 11. If Christ then were able to raise the dead while he lived here in the form of a servant we may well he assured that being in glory at the right hand of his Father he is both able to raise our souls from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to raise our bodies when they lie dead in their graves to the life of glory Indeed the raising of the body being dead see us a thing incredible unto flesh and blood And therefore when St. Paul Acts 17. did preach to the Athenians about the resurrection they were so far from believing that the dead should rise that they counted him a babler and laughed him to scorne But as Christ here raised some from death to life so at the â—â—st day he will raise all Act. 7.60 the one being as easie to him as the other Therefore our bodies when they die are said in the Scripture to â—all a sleep because Christ can as easily raise our bodies being dead as one man can wake another when he is faln a sleep If many be fallen asleep in a Chamber together yet one voice you know is able to waken them all and so the voice of Christ at the last day shâ—ll raise all that are dead in the whole world together The houâ—e shall come saith our Saviour John 5. John 5.28 in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Sonne of Man and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurection of life and they that have done evill unto the refurrection of condemnation 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore the buriall of our bodies is fitly resembled by St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. to the sowing of seed because as the seed being sowen in the ground doth afterwards revive and spring up againe so our bodies after they are dead and buried shall be revived and quickned Qui tibi grana seminum mortua et putrefacta vivificat August de ver Apost Sermo 34. per quae in hoe saeculâ— vivas multo magis te ipsum resuscitabit ut in aeternum vivas He saith St. Augustine that quickens for thee the graines of Corne when they are dead and rotten whereby thou mayst live upon the earth for a time much more will he raise thy self hereafter that thou mayst live for ever in Heaven For he hath not onely redeemed our souls but likewise our bodies and therefore will not suffer them to perish in their graves but will quicken them again that both our bodies and souls may live with him And thus much concerning his raysing the dead The last thing which is here mentioned is that the poore had the Gospel preached unto them It is the saying of the Prophet Esay Chap. 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach good tydings unto the poore he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Which words Christ expounding Luke 4. when he preached in Nazareth he applies them to himself This day saith he Luke 4.21 is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares to shew that he was annointed of God to preach the Gospel unto the poor Now by the poor to whom he preached the Gospel they are understood who are said by our Saviour Math. 5.3 to be poor in spirit For there are two sorts of poverty the one outward vvhen a man hath not means to maintain himself but wants outward necessaries the other inward vvhen a man is destitute of spirituall graces And thus every one of us all are poor but some do not see their poverty and want as the Laâ—diceans Revel 3.17 that thought themselves rich and increased with goods when they were poor and naked Some see their poverty and find in themselves a want of grace and therefore do hunger and thirst after it and these are the poore to whom Christ is said here to have preached the Gospel Therefore in the place which I named before the Prophet shews to what poor the Gospel should be preached by naming presently the broken hearted And Esay 66.2 The Lord promiseth to have respect unto him that is poore and of a contrite Spirit the latter of these explaining the former that they are the poor whom God respects who are humbled with the sight of their spirituall wants and bewaile nothing more then their want of grace Such were they to whom Christ here
many times are occasions of evill To begin with the former Poverty may be an occasion of evill two wayes first of evill to him that is poor and secondly of evill to others through his being poor First Of evill to him that is poor because poverty doth commonly make a man discontented and envious discontented with his present estate because he hath so little and envious towards those whom he sees to have more and these two Discontent and Envy do commonly make those that live in want to live in misery Though a man have but little though he have no more then will suffice nature though he have but food and rayment yet if he have the virtue of contentation if he have learn'd with Jacob to desire no more but bread to eat and clothes to put on Gen. 28.20 Job 1.21 if he have learn'd with Job to blesse God as well when all his goods are taken away as when he had them if he have learn'd with Paul in what estate soever he is therewith to be content Philip. 4.11.12 and be instructed both how to abound and to suffer need then any estate will be pleasing unto him because he lives contented but where this contentation is wanting as it is for the most part in those that live in want there the life is unpleasant as we see by the Israelites Exod. 16.3 who presently cried out when they were in want Would to God we had died in the Land of Egypt And as Poverty doth make a man discontented because he hath so little so it makes him envious towards those that have more as Rachell envied her Sister Lea Gen. 30. Gen. 30.1 because her sister had children and she had none For envy is a repining at anothers vvelfare and therefore whosoever he be that is envious must needs be miserable wheresoever he is and if it were possible for an envious person to be in heaven where there is nothing but felicity yet because there are degrees of glory there and he should see others in higher glory then himself he vvould be miserable and could not be vvell while he savv another better Therefore Sololomon calls envy Prov. 14. the rottennesse of the bones Prov. 14.30 because envy is as hurtfull to the mind and body as rottennesse is that lies in the bones which eates up the marrovv consumes the flesh and makes the body to pine and languish And this is another evill which is occasioned by want that for the most part it makes those that have but little to be envious towards those that have more then themselves Secondly as poverty is an occasion of evill to him that is poor so of evill to others through his being poor because want commonly dravvs a man to use unlavvfull means for the bettering of his estate and supplying of his vvants even to the damage and hurt of others As sometimes by borrovving and not repaying For he that is in want is commonly more ready to borrovv vvhat he needs then to pay what he borrows he is forvvard in borrowing but backward in paying vvhich David notes to be the property of a bad man Psal 37.21 The wicked saith he borroweth and payeth not again For a man to be in want so he be not in vvant through his ovvn fault is no sin and to borrovv vvhat he vvants so he repay vvhat he borrovvs is no sin but to fall into vvant through his ovvn fault through idlenesse drinking unthriftinesse and the like and so to be driven to borrovv to supply his vvants and aftervvards to be carelesse to pay vvhat he borrovvs this is a sin and this commonly is the sin of such as are in vvant Yet he that is in vvant though he pay not vvhat he borrovvs he thinks it no fault because he of vvhom he borrovvs is better able to bear it then he is to pay it But vvhat though he be Would'st thou be content if another vvho is not so strong as thou art having an heavy burden lying upon him should remove it from his ovvn and lay it on thy back because thou art stronger and better able to bear it Thy vvant is thy burden which God hath appointed thee to bear and shouldest thou disburden thy self thereof and lay it upon another because he is better able to bear the same mightest thou not as well by the same reason deny to pay thy Land-lord the rent of thy house because he is better able to bear the losse of the rent then thou to pay it therefore thy poverty will not excuse thee for doing wrong as thou doest when thou borrovvest and payest not again Yet poverty sometimes doth draw men to a greater evill then this even to steal from others to supply their own vvants For want is often an occasion of theft This Agur implies in the next verse where he gives this reason why he desired a competent estate and that he might not live in want Lest saith he I be poor and steal Luke 16. Thus the unjust Steward Luke 16. fell from want to theft For when he saw that his Lord had given him warning to give over his stewardship he bethought himselfe what course of life he should take to supply his wants when he was turned out of service and being unwilling to labour and ashamed to begge he resolved to steal and in his accounts to defraud his Lord for his own advantage And thus many will do if they be in want and think that their want will excuse them for it But will thy want excuse thee for doing that which God hath forbidden thee must God be dishonoured because thou art in want were it not better for thee to suffer want for a time then that God should justly condemne thee for ever for thy disobeying him God never suffers any so to be in want that their want will excuse them for sinning against him but though he give them not all that they want yet all that they want is not so much as that which he gives them and they may finde more comfort in that which they have then their wants can discomfort them Though the poor have mean houses and hard lodging yet this may be their comfort which is a great blessing of God that they can sleep in their houses and take their rest in the night time and commonly more soundly then rich men do Qui vigilant in-pluma as Cyprian speaks who lie awake and cannot sleep in their beds of down Therefore saith Solomon Eccles 5.12 The abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep Though the poor have many a hard meale and very slender faâ—e and though they want many necessaries for their bodies yet they may comfort themselves in this that God hath provided them a liberall diet his Word and Sacraments for the food of their soules and hereunto they have a right and interest as well as any others Though the poor may not come into great mens houses but
we must be content to yield him obedience and to live as becomes his servants or he will not save us And therefore only the godly that serve him in their life can with comfort commend their souls unto him at the time of their death and say as Steven did Lord Jesus receive my spirit He prayes not for his body but for his soule Though it were his body which was here in danger while the Jews were stoning him yet it is not his body but it is his soule that he prayes for as being more sensible of his future estate then of his present condition and not so much regarding this present life as the life to come Many in their life and at the time of their death are carefull for their bodies thinking of the great pain which their bodies are to suffer when death siezes upon them and taking care how they shall be able to overcome the same This care troubles many that are good Christians who are the more afraid of death for the pain thereof and imagine the pain to be greater then it is That death is painfull there is not any question Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non magna esset martyrum fortitudo saith Augustine If there were no sharpnesse and pain in death it were no great fortitude in the Martyrs to suffer it But though death be painfull yet we must remember this for our comfort that it will be no more painfull to us then it hath been to the godly in all ages and therefore why should we be afraid to undergo that which all the godly have undergone before us Will not any man be content to be put to that whereunto the King puts his chiefe Favourites for he will think with himselfe if I be put to no more then the Kings Favourites are I shall fare well enough The godly ye know are Gods chiefe Favourites God loves and favours them above all others if therefore they have suffered the paine of death and have not been exempted by God from it we may well be the lesse carefull to undergo it and may assure our selves that though the paine were never so great yet Christ who hath redeemed both our soules and bodies will inable us to bear it and as Cyprian saith Qui semel pro nobis mortem vicit semper vincet in nobis He that once overcame death for us will alwayes overcome it in us And therefore whether we die for the Lord or in the Lord we may well lay the care of our bodies aside and may chearfully commend our soules unto Christ as Steven here did Lord Jesus receive my spirit Doct. I might hence observe the immortality of the soule That though the body do die yet the soule is immortall This is signified by those words of Solomon Eccles 12.7 That the body shall returne to the earth from Whence it was taken and the spirit shall returne unto God who gave it Mat. 10.28 and by that saying of our Saviour Fear not those that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soule But I will passe this over and come briefly to the prayer which he makes for his persecutours He kneeled down and cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Where first observe the gesture he used he kneeled down when he prayed The Jews did commonly stand when they prayed Therefore Christ alluding to this their custome Mark 11. When ye stand saith he and pray if ye have ought against any man forgive him And the Jewes have a saying Sine stationibus non consisteret mundus that the world could not consist without standing that is without praying because they were wont to pray standing 1 Kings 19.4 1 Chro. 17.16 The Prophet Eliah when he fled from Iezabel he prayed sitting And we read the like of David that he sat and prayed Other kinde of gestures we use in our prayers which may be reduced unto these two heads such as we use in regard of our Hope or in regard of our Humiliation and Reverence In regard of our hope we lift up our eyes and we stretch forth our hands as expecting and requiring Gods help and assistance So David in the 121. Psalm I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help And Moses praying for the Isracletes Exod. 17. That they might prevale against Amaleck he stretched forth his hands For as Saint Austin saith Oculus erectus expectat manus extensa postulat The eyes being lift up expect help and the hands being stretcht forth do seeme to reuqire it In regard of our humiliation and reverence we uncover our heads we bow down our bodies and we kneele on our knees we uncover our heads which is Magnificentia depositio a laying aside of our greatnesse And thus Kings and Princes when they pray unto God do uncover their heads laying aside their state and acknowledging thereby that they are Gods Servants So we prostrate our selves and fall down on our knees as Steven here did in token of the reverence we owe unto God in offering our prayers And this gesture of kneeling we finde to have been often used by the faithfull and as the Magdeburgenses who wrote the Centuries affirme hath been the most ancient gesture in prayer and the most used by the Church in all ages Peter as we see in the 9. of the Asts and Paul in the 20. did pray kneeling so did the Prophet Daniel in his sixt Chapter Saint James the first Bishop of Jerusalem was so frequent in praying on his knees that he made his knees as hard as the hoofe of a Camel with continuall kneeling And the like did Asella as we read in St. Jerome It is true indeed that it is the heart and affection of him that prays and not the gesture of the body which God respects but withall this is true that he that makes no conscience of praying reverently doth never pray heartily and he that will not bend the knee unto God much lesse out of doubt will he bend the heart O come let us Worship and fall down saith the Psalmest and kneele before the Lord our maker Psal 95.6 Micah 6.6 Where withall shall I come saith the Prophet Micah in his sixt chapter before the Lord and bow my self before the high God To shew that he might not come into his presence but with great reverence And therefore this serves to reprove those that shew no signes of reverence unto God 2 Chr. 6.13 Luke 22 4â— when they come before him to offer up their prayers We see that Solomon when he consecrated the Temple 2 Chron. 6. he kneeled down and prayed and a greater then Solomon our blessed Saviour Luke 22. kneeled down when he prayed be for his passion If he therefore used such reverence in prayer should not we much more For shall mercy bend her knee and shall not misery Shall the Physician and shall not the Patient Shall
that all their dayes they should dwell in Tents Though their Father hereby did abridge them of many commodities and comforts of this life vvhich are both lawful and necessary yet because it was the Command of their Father they abstained from every thing that he forbad them and obeyed his vvill And vve see that Isaac vvhen his Father was to offer him for a burnt-offring though Isaac was then about twenty five years old as Josephus vvrites yet he resisted not his Father but suffered him to binde him and to lay him upon the Altar submitting himself to the very death to his Fathers vvill So the Command of Princes over their Subjects is very great and what vvill not a Subject be content to do for his Princes sake 2 Sam. 23.16 ye know vvhen David did long to drink of the vvater of the vvell of Bethleem three of his Servants did break through the Host of the Philistins and brought him some of it even with the hazard of their lives So when Xerxes was upon the Sea in a dangerous tempest and the Governour of the ship told him that there was no hope to escape unlesse the ship vvere lightned divers of his Nobility cast themselves into the Sea that the King might escape And we read of a Prince of Syria that his Subjects vvere so ready to do vvhat he Commanded that vvhen he called to a Centinel that vvas on the top of an high vvatch-towre and bad him come down vvith all speed to him he presently leapt over the Battlements and stood not upon the losse of his life to shew his obedience If Children be so much at the Command of their Fathers and Subjects of their Princes then vvhat should not vve do for our heavenly Father the King of Kings vvhen he Command us For he hath absolute power over us our goods and our lives our bodies and our soules and all that we have are at his disposing and therefore whatsoever he Command us though it seeme never so difficult or dangerous yet vve ought vvith Ionas here to yield him obedience FINIS The Seventeenth SERMON PROVERBES 28.13 He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy Division WE have here in these words a double description the former of an impenitent sinner the latter of a penitent person and each of them is described both by his property and by his condition The impenitent sinner is described by this property that he covereth his sinnes and his condition is that he shall not prosper The penitent person is described as you see by a double property he confesses his sinnes and withall forsakes them and his condition is that he shall have mercy And these are the severall parts of these words And first for the property of an impenitent sinner that he covers his sins For our better understanding thereof I purpose to explaine these two things 1. How sinne may be said to be covered And 2. What is the cause that makes a man cover and hide his sinnes For the first we are to know that the Scripture makes mention of a twofold covering or hiding of sinne the one by God the other by man God is said to cover our sinnes when he doth forgive them and doth not impute our sinnes unto us and he that hath his sinnes thus covered by God is pronounced by David to be happy and blessed Psal 32.1 Blessed is he whose wickednesse is forgiven and whose sinnes are covered Psal 32.1 blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth no sinne He that hath his sinnes thus covered by God neede not care though they be known to all the World Secondly there is a covering of sinne by man and this is likewise twofold vvhen a man doth cover either the sinnes of others or his own sinnes The sinnes of others two wayes especially by charity or by flattery By charity when vve conceal the faults of others to keep them thereby from shame and disgrace as Shem and Japhet covered their Fathers nakednesse for charity will cover as St. Peter saith a multitude of sinnes Or else by flattery for the flatterer who is but a fawning friend 1 Pet. 4.8 knowing that men love to be commended and not to be dispraised he frames himself to speak nothing but that which is pleasing and therefore will highly commend men for their virtues or any good parts that he sees to be in them but for their faults or vices he will be sure not to speak a word thereof but he will hide and cover them But Solomon here speaks not of covering other mens sinnes but of covering of our own when a man doth what he can to conceal his own sinnes and to keep them hidden as Achan hidde and covered his theft that it might not be known Iosh 7.21 And thus a man may be faid to cover his sinnes four wayes First by a plain and flat denial of them 1. Negando Thus Sarah when she heard Gen. 18. that she should conceive Gen. 18.15 and bring forth a Child in her old age she laught at it 2 King 5.25 and being reproved by the Angel for laughing she presently denied it Thus Gebezi being reprehended by the Prophet for taking a bribe he would have covered his sinne by denial of it And thus many when they are suspected or accused of any thing which indeed they have done but think it cannot easily be proved against them they will never confesse it but seek by their deniall to keep it secret They will never be brought to confesse they have sinned till they be taken in their sinne so that the first time of their taking shall be the first time of their sinning for they will be sure to confesse no more then can be proved against them This is one kind of covering of sinne And hitherto may they be referred who hold with the Pelagians that they do perfectly fulfill Gods Law and that they are free from sinne Luke 18.11 or that say with the proud Pharisee I am not an extertioner I am not unjust I am not an adulterer like other men or with the Church of Laodicea Revel 3.17 I am rich I am increased with goods and I have need of nothing for these do hide and cover their sinnes by their deniall of them In stead hereof we must lay our sinnes open and ingenuously confesse them For he that doth deny his fault he is not therefore without fault because he denieth it but he both doubleth his fault by his deniall thereof and is the further from obtaining pardon for want of acknowledging it as he that hath received a wound in his body both makes it the worse and is the further from being cured while he seeks to conceale it And therefore whensoever thou hast done any thing which thou shouldst not have done though thou be ashamed to have it known yet being charged therewith beware of denying it but think
Scripture having likewise fore-spoken of the end of the world and of Christs second coming they shall also be fulfilled in their due time For Gods will is immutable and what he hath said must needs come to passe at the time appointed Secondly Gods justice requires that all men should be rewarded according to their works and therefore that the wicked should hereafter be punisht and the godly comforted We see many times that the wicked do persecute and oppresse the godly and such as are great do wrong the poor and defraud them of their right and yet in this world they escape unpunisht It remaines therefore that if God be just their judgement is reserved till another world that the wicked howsoever they live here in prosperity may there be punisht and that the godly who live here in affliction and miserie may be refresht and comforted For it is a righteous thing with God as the Apostle saith to recompence tribulation to them which trouble you 2 Thes 1. and to you which are troubled rest with us when the Lord Iesus shall shew himselfe from heaven with his mighty Angels Thirdly If there should not hereafter be a day of judgement then many sinnes which have been committed here in secret should never come to light and so Gods justice in punishing offenders could not so well be made known and manifest and therefore that hypocrites may be known and discovered and the very thoughts of their hearts and their most secret sinnes which have been concealed from the eyes of the world may be laid open it is necessary that there should be a day of judgement that so Gods justice may the better appear in their condemnation I might alleadge other reasons but I think it needlesse seeing the coming of this day is so certain that the Apostle saith here You your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes And therefore I will come to the next point That though it be certaine that this day Will come yet when it will come it is uncertaine as the Apostle here shews by saying it so comes as is thiefe in the night Whose coming is on the suddain and when it is not expected Therefore the coming of Christ to judgement is likened by him sometime to the coming of the floud that drowned the old world So Mat. 24. Mat. 24.38 As in the dayes that came before the floud they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage untill the day that Noah entred into the Ark and knew not untill the floud came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son of man be Sometimes his coming is likened to a snare So Christ having fore-told us Luke 21.34.35 Luke 21. of his coming to judgement Take heed saith he to your selves lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkennesse and the cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth Snares ye know are laid for birds wilde beasts while they do not suspect them they securely seek their food and follow the prey as they use to do and are suddenly taken So shall many be at the day of judgement while they are following the profits pleasures of this world as they are accustomed to do this day shall come as a snare upon them when they think not of it And sometimes his coming is resembled to the coming of a thiefe in the night A similitude which is often used in the Gospell first by our Saviour and afterwards borrowed from him by his Apostles Christ saith Mat. 24. Mat. 24.43 know this that if the good-man of the house had known in what watch the thiefe would have come he would have watched and would nat have suffered his house to be broken up watch therefore for ye know not in what houre your Lord doth come So Revel 3. Revel 3.3 If thou shalt not watch I will come on thee saith our Saviour as a thiefe and thou shalt not know at what houre I will come So Saint Peter 2 Pet. 3.10 The day of the Lord comes as a thiefe in the night and so Saint Paul here The day of the Lord comes as a thiefe in the night To shew that it will come at unawares and when it is not expected A thiefe ye know will not come openly to a house in the day when men may see him but he will come in the night when candles are out and men are asleep and think not of him So will the day of the Lord come it will not come on the sudden before men be aware and take them unprovided when it comes upon them If then the coming of this day be unknown this argues their folly who presume to set down the particular time when this day will come though our Saviour saith plainly Mat. 24. Mat. 24.36 That of that day and houre knowes no man no nor the Angels of Heaven but his Father onely For other matters God hath revealed in the Scriptures the definitive time when they should come to passe So for the old World to repent before the coming of the floud Gen. 6.3 Gen. 15.13 Jer. 25.11 Dan. 9.25 he set down an hundred and twenty years So for the Israelites to be afflicted in the Land of Egypt four hundred years For the captivity in Babylon he set down seventy years And for Christ first coming seventy weeks But for his second coming he hath not any where set down the time but concealed it from us and therefore for any man to enquire thereinto as many have done is but vaine curiosity because it is not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power For God hath concealed this day from us that we might continually expect this day least it come upon us at unawares Therefore our Saviour whensoever he makes mention of his coming to judgement he wills us to watch that we may be prepared and ready at the time whensoever he comes And indeed great reason If we have a cause to be tryed before an earthly Judge especially if it be in a matter of any great moment as such as concernes our Land and inheritance ye know what great paines we will take before-hand that we may be provided against our cause be handled we will search out our records we will read over our evidences We will make ready our Witnesse and not willingly omit any course we can take that sentence may be pronounced on our side we have every one of us a cause to be tried at the day of judgement even the weightiest cause that ever was handled not concerning our Lands or inheritance but concerning a matter of farre greater importance even the everlasting salvation or damnation of our bodies and soules and therefore it behoves us continually to watch and to be alwayes