soul the object is too clear for our weak eyes our eyes are but earthly the soul of an heavenly nature O divine being not onely heavenly but heaven it self as God and man met both in Christ so heaven and earth met both in man would you see this earth that is the body Out of it wast thou taken and into it must thou return Gen. 4.19 Gen. 4.19 would you see this heaven that is the soul the God of heaven gave it and to the God of heaven returns it Eccles 12.7 Eccles 12.7 The body is but a lump but the soul is that breath of life of earth came the body of God was the soul thus earth and heaven met in the creation and the man was made a living soul Gen. 2.7 Gen. 2.7 the sanctified soul is an heaven upon earth Est coelum sancta anima habens solem intellectum lunam fidem astra virtutet Bern super Cantic where the sun is understanding the moon is faith and the stars gracious affections what heaven is in that body which lives and moves by such a soul yet so wonderfull is Gods mercy to mankinde that as reason doth possesse the soul so the soul must possesse this body Here is that union of things visible and invisible as the light is spirituall incorruptible indivisible and so united to the air that of these two is made one without confusion of either in like manner is the soul united to this body one together distinguished asunder onely here 's the difference the light is most visible the soul is invisible she is the breath of God the beauty of man the wonder of Angels the envie of devils that immortall splendor which never eye hath seen never eye must see And yet we must up another step it is fourthly incorporeall as not seen with a mortall eye so neither clogg'd with a bodily shape I say not but the soul hath a body for his organ to which it is so knit and tyed that they cannot be severed without much sorrow or strugling yet is it not a body but a spirit dwelling in it the body is an house and the soul the inhabitant every one knows the house is not the inhabitant and yet O wonder there is no roome in the house where the inhabitant lives not would you please to see the roomes the eye is her window the head is her tower the heart is her closet the mouth is her hall the lungs her presence chamber the senses her cinque-ports the common-sense her custome-house the phantasie her mint the memory her treasury the lips are her two leav'd doores that shut and open and all these and all the rest as the motions in a Watch are acted and mooved by this spring the Soul See here a composition without confusion the soul is in the body yet it is not bodily as in the greatest world the earth is more solid the water less the ayr yet lesser the fire least of all so in this little world of man the meaner parts are of grosser substance and the soul by how much more excellent by so much more spirituall and wholly with-drawn from all bodily being And yet a little higher it is fiftly immortall It was the errour of many Fathers Scaliger notae in nov Test That bodies and souls must both die till doomes-day and then the bodies being raised the souls must be revived Were that true why then cryes Stephen Lord Iesu receive my spirit or why should Paul be dissolved that he might be with Christ Act. 7.59 Philip. 1.23 Blessed men are but men and therefore no wonder if subject to some errour Others more absolutely deny the souls immortality We are born say they at all adventures and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been Why so for the breath is a smoke in our nostrils and the words as a spark raised out of our hearts Wisd 2.2 3. which being extinguished the body is turned into ashes and the spirit vanisheth as soft ayre What is the soul a smoak and the spirit no better then the soft vanishing ayre Matth. 22.32 wretched men Have you not read what is spoken of God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Iacob now God saith Christ is not the God of the dead but of the living Abraham Isaac Iacob they are not dead then in the better part their souls but passed indeed from the valley of death unto the land of the living Whosoever liveth and believeth in mee saith our Saviour shall never die Iohn 11.26 John 11.26 Not die against some never die against others what can we more onely live and believe in him that redeemed us and be sure his promises shall never fail us our souls must live live for ever Sweet soul blessed with the felicity of eternall life here 's a joy unspeakable that this soul now clogged with cares vexations griefs passions shall one day enjoy those joyes immortall not for a day or two Nullus erit defectus nullus terminus though this were more then we can imagine but through all eternity There shall be no defect nor end after millions of ages the soul must still live in her happiness it is not of a perishing but an everlasting substance And yet the perfection of the soul goes higher it is most like to God so far it transcends all earthly happiness I cannot say but in some sort all creatures have this likeness every effect hath at least some similitude with its cause but with a difference some onely have a being as stones others being and life as plants but man above all hath a being life and reason and therefore of all other the most like unto his Creatour Can we any more yes one step higher and we are at the top of Jacobs ladder The soul is not onely like God but the image of God I cannot denie but there is some apparance of it in the outward man and therefore the bodie in some measure partakes of this image of the Deity it was man and whole man that was corrupted by sin and by the law of contraries it was man and whole man that was beautified with this image Please you to look at the body is it not a little world wherein every thing that God made was good as therefore all goodness comes from him so was he the pattern of all goodness that being in him perfectly which onely is in us partly This is that Idaea whereby God is said to be the exemplar of the world man then in his body being as the worlds map what is he but that image in which the builder of the world is manifest but if you look at the parts of his body how often are they attributed though in a metaphor yet in resemblance to his Maker our eyes are the image of his wisdome our hands are the image of his power our heart is the image of his
1.12 His infirmities are now at full and the symptomes which make it evident unto us are some inward some outward inward in his soul outward in his body we 'll take a view of them both Matth. 26.37 Mar. 14.33 Luk. 22.44 Ioh. 12.27 First his soul it began to be sorrowfull saith Matthew to be amazed and very heavy saith Mark to be in an agony saith Luke to be troubled saith Iohn Here is sorrow and heaviness and agony and trouble the estimate whereof we may take from his own words in the garden My soul is exceeding sorrowfull Matth. 26.38 John 12.77 even unto death Now was the time he purged not onely in his body but his soul too now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour A fatall hour sure of which it was said before often his hour was not yet come but being come he could then tell his Disciples the hour is at hand and after tell the Iewes Matth. 26.45 Luk. 22.53 this is your very hour and the power of darkness Now was it that Christ yielded his soul for our souls to the susception of sorrow perpession of pain and dissolution of nature and therefore even sick with sorrow he never left sweating Heb. 5.7 weeping and crying till he was heard in that which he feared Secondly as his soul so his body had her symptoms of approaching death Our very eye will soon tell us no place was left in his body where he might be smitten and was not his skin was torn his flesh was rent his bones unjoynted his sinews streyned should we summe up all See that face of his fairer then the Sons of men Psal 45.2 Revel 1.14 how it is defiled with spettle swoln with buffets masked with a cover of gore-bloud see that head white as white wooll and snow how is it Crowned with thorns beaten with a reed and both head and hair dyed in a sanguine red that issued from it see those eyes that were as a flame of fire how they swim with tears are dim with bloud and darken at the sad approach of dreadfull death Revel ibid. see that mouth which speak as never man spake hovv it is vvan vvith stroaks grim vvith death John 7.46 and embittered with that tartest potion of gall and vinegar Should we any lower See those arms that could embrace all the power of the world how they are strained and stretched on the Crosse those shoulders that could bear the frame of Heaven how they are lasht with knotty cords and whips those hands that made the world and all therein how are they nailed and clenched to a piece of wood that heart where never dwelt deceit nor sinne how it is pierced and wounded with a souldiers spear those bowels that yearned with compassion of others infirmities how they are drie and pent with straining puls those feet that walked in the wayes of God how they are boared and fastened to a Crosse with nayls from hand to foot there is no part free but all over he is covered in a mantle of cold bloud whose garments were doft before and took of them that were his hangmen Poor Saviour what a wofull sight is this A bloudy face thornie head watery eyes wan mouth strained arms lashed shoulders nayled hands wounded heart griping bowels boared feet Here is sorrie pains when no part is free and these are the outward Symptomes of his state that appear in his Body We have thus far seen our Sun the Sunne of righteousnesse in the day-break and rising and height of his suffering Mal. 4.2 what remains further but that we come to the Declination and so end our journey for this time This Declination say Physicians is Galen lib. 3. de Cris cap. 5. when Nature overcomes sicknesse so that all diseases attain not this time but those and those onely that admit of a Recovery yet howsoever saith my * Senert institution medicinae lib. 2. par 1. cap. 12. de morb temp Authour there is no true declination before death there is at least a seeming declinatian when sometimes the symptoms may become more remiss because of weak nature yielding to the fury and tyrannie of death overcoming it I will not say directly that our Saviour declined thus either in deed or in shew for neither was the cup removed from him nor died he by degrees but in perfect sense and perfect patience both of body and soul he did voluntarily and miraculously resigne his Spirit as he was praying into the hands of his Father Here then was the true declination of this Patient not before death but in death and rightly too for then was it that this Sunne went down in a ruddy Cloud then was it that this Patient received the last dregs of his Purge then was it that Gods Justice was satisfied the consummatum est was effected all was finished as for his buriall resurrection and asscension which follow after this time they serve not to make any satisfaction for sinne but onely to confirm it or apply it after it was made and accomplished Vse 1 But what use of all this Give me leave I pray to shake the tree and then do you gather the fruit from the first part his birth we may learn Humility a grace most prevailing with God for the obtaining of all graces this was it that made David King Moses a Governour nay what say we to Christ himself who from his first entrance untill his departure to his Father Matth. 11.29 was the very mirrour of true Humility it felf Learn of me saith he to be humble and lowly in spirit and you shall find rest unto your souls Hereunto accorded his Doctrine when he pronounced them Blessed who were poor in spirit Matth. 5.3 hereunro accorded his reprehension when he disliked their manners who were wont to choose out the chief rooms at feasts Luke 14.7 Iohn 13.5 hereunto accorded his practice when he vouchsafed to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towell wherewith he was girded O Humility how great are thy riches that are thus commended to us thou pleasest men delightest angels confoundest devils and bringest thy Creatour to a Manger where he is lapped in raggs and cloathed in flesh Had we Christian hearts to consider the Humility of our Redeemer and how far he was from our haughty dispositions it would pull down our Pharisaicall humours and make us farre better to remember our selves Vse 2 Secondly as we learn humility from his birth so we may learn patience from his life Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me saith our Saviour let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me Dear Christian if thou wilt be saved mind thy Christ Art thou abused by lies reproaches evil sayings or doings we cannot more shew how we have profited in Christs School then by enduring
now art thou arrayed in the shining robes of Heaven and all the Host do triumph at thy corronation Sweet soul how am I ravished to think upon thee What joy is this The Patriarchs salute thee the Prophets welcome thee the Apostles hug thee all hands clap for joy all harps warble all hearts are merry and glad O thou Creatour of men and Angels help us all to Heaven that when our dayes have been we may all meet together in thy blessed Kingdome I have done turn back by the same thread that led you through this labyrinth and you shall have in two words the summe of this whole Text. The time of our Lease what is it but our Life what is this Life but a number of few dayes what are these dayes but a world full of evil But a life but dayes but few but evil can we adde any more Yes Life is life howsoever we live and better you think to have a bad lease in being then our life to be quite extinguished nay be not deceived this life is but death the dayes that we spend they are past and done few and evill they have been Thus ends the Text with the exspiration of our Lease yet is not all done when we loose this life we have another free-hold prepared in Heaven and this is not leased but purchased not for a life but inheritance not for dayes but for ever Crosse but the words of my Text and many and happy shall the ages of thy life be in Heaven for ever and ever Amen FINIS Deaths Arrest LUKE 12.20 This night thy soul shall be required of thee MAns Bodie we say is closed up within the Elements his Bloud in his Bodie his Spirits in his Bloud his Soul in his Spirits and God or Sathan in his Soul Who holds the possession we may guesse in life but then is it most apparent when we come to death The tree may bend East or West or North or South but as it falleth so it lieth Our affections may look up or down towards heaven or hel but as we die we receive our doom and then whose we are shall be fully made manifest to all the world There is a parable of poor Lazarus Luke 16. whose life was nothing but a catalogue of miseries his body full of sores his mind full of sorrows what spectacle could we think more pitifull whose best dainties were but broken crumbs and his warmest lodging but the rich mans gates Here is a parable of a certain rich man who enjoyes or at least purposeth a delicious fare he hath lands vers 16. Vers 16. fruits vers 17. 17. buildings vers 18. 18. and if this be the Inventorie what is the summe see it collected in the verse succeeding Soul 19. thou hast much goods laid up for many years now live at ease Eat drink and take thy pastime These two estates thus different how should they be but of divers tenures Matth. 6.24 No man can serve God and Mammon See Lazarus dying and the Angels carry him in-Abrahams bosome See this rich man dying and they that is devils require his soul God receives one and his soul is in heaven Sathan takes the other and drags down his soul to hel he is comforted that received pains and thou art tormented that wast full of ease this is the doom and that he may undergo this death now gives the summons This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Text we may christen Deaths Arrest it is we that offend his Majestie of heaven and his precepts are given unto Death to attach our souls See here a president a rich man taken on a sudden who must instantly appear before the Judge of heaven when this night What thy soul Why it is required Of whom of thee Or if this will not find the offender see yet a more narrow search every word is like some dark closet therefore we will open the windovvs that you may have full light This Text is Deaths Arrest vvhich as it must be executed so it admits of no other time but This This what this day whilest the Sun gives light to the vvorld and the light gives pleasure to the eie this vvere some comfort no but then suddenly vvhilst all sleep securely not This day but This night And vvhat this night Is it to attach the bodie of some great personage vvhose looks might affrighten Officers had they come by day No let his bodie rot in dust vvhilest the Soul must ansvver his defaults it is not thy body 't is thy soul And what of his soul Is this a subject liable to arrests rather can they beg it at his hands or vvill he yield it at their fair intreaties no it is neither begg'd nor intreated but by vertue of Gods Writ it is required And hovv required of his sureties bound for his good appearing he hath many friends and all either have or vvould have entred bonds no he must go vvithout bail or main-prize it is not required of his sureties but himself not of others but of thee is thy soul this night required You hear the Texts harmonie of each string vve vvill give a touch and first note the time this night This. Doctrine NO other but This were it a fortnight a seven-night any but This night and his griefs were lessened the news is more heartlesse in that it comes more sudden You may observe Then are the greatest losses when they come on us by heaps and without fear or suspicion of any such matter Here was a man swimming in his fulnesse and a sudden death robs him of all his treasures To give you a full view see his possessions and how great was the losse because of the suddennesse This night First those goods whereof he boasted are now confiscate not a peny not a dram not a mite shall be left him save onely a token of remembrance I mean his winding-sheet which he carries along with him to his grave Secondly his goods and grounds both were took from him at his death he that commanded so much of earth must now have no more earth to pleasure him but a grave what a change was this his grounds were fertile Vers 16. and they brought forth plenteously but a blast of death hath struck both the fruit and ground and nothing is now left him but a barren Tombe Thirdly his lands and houses both went together You may guesse that great demeans must have stately Halls we read of his building and especially of his Barns when these were too little for his store he tells us he will pull them down and he will build greater He never thinks of any little room in the bowels of the poor Was his harvest so great that his barns would not hold it Whence came the blessing but from God How is it then he forgets God that bestowed this blessing It is written When ye reap the harvest of the Land ye shall not reap
Look at beasts and in this respect we and they are even as one condition Eccles 3.19 Eccles 3.19 Eccles 11.3 Mat. 27.51 Look at trees and in their corruption you may see the like constitution both of us and them Look at stones and by their dissolution we may argue this temper of composition in them also if then our soul were nothing but this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not onely men but beasts and plants and stones and metalls have a soul far be this from your thoughts whose souls are prized to be of more worth then a world there being nothing in the world that may give a recompence for our souls Matth. 16.26 Mat. 16.26 Others have gone a little further Antiqui Philosophir and they suppose it to be a substance but how onely bodily and not spirituall such grosse conceits have many idolaters of the Deity as if this our image were of Gods own substance and this substance nothing else but a bodily being A spirit saith our Saviour hath not flesh and bones Luk. 24.39 as you see me have It is the body is the flesh but the soul is the spirit the body you may see and handle but the soul is not seen not handled as the Disciples then did erre in supposing a spirit when they saw his body no lesse is their errour in supposing a body where is onely a spirit Anima pessima melior optimo corpore Aug. de verb. Dom. Quid tibi cum carne Bern. in meditat Plurimi Patres The worst soul is better then the best of bodies O precious soul saith Bernard espoused to thy God indowed with his spirit redeemed by his Son what art thou to the flesh whose being is from heaven Others again have passed this opinion and they call it a form but what onely materiall not substantiall and such as are the souls of beasts that dye with their bodies as being deduced from the matter of some bodies pre-existent It is not so with the souls of men which though for a while they are knit and united to this house of clay yet may they be separated from it and subsist without it this is that goodness of God that as our souls are intellectuall so their being is perpetuall Dionys c. 4. de divin nom aliquantulum à principio 1 Cor. 4.7 not but that our souls might dye seeing every thing that is of nothing may return into the same nothing whence it sprung but that God so sustains them by his glorious goodness that as he gave the first being so he would continue that he gave What have we that we have not received Or to speake of the soul what are we that God and God onely hath not bestowed upon us our parents begot our bodies God onely gave our souls our bodies are buried again in the wombe of our common mother but our souls return to God as to their chiefest good So immateriall is the soul that neither will nor understanding depends on the dying organ What then is the soul a nothing an accident a body a form onely materiall no but on the contrary an ens a substance a spirit a form a substantiall being of it self subsisting But wee 'll ascend a little higher it is a substance created not traduced as some would have it I must confess the opinion was not a little strong that as our bodies so our souls were both propagated from our parents Tertullian In epist ad Marcellin and the Fathers of the West as Ierome witnesseth were most on that side the reason of this opinion was because of originall sin which defileth the soul as well as the body of each man sprung from Adam they could see no means how both were corrupted except withall the soul were propagated But are not our souls as the Angells and therefore if our souls then may the Angels beget one another nay if this were true what soul were generated but another were corrupted for the rule is infallible There can be no generation without a transmutation and so would every soul be subject to corruption Concerning that objection of originall sin if the soul were not traduced from the loyns of Adam Magis credi debet quam quaeri quaeri facilius quam intelligi melius intelligitur quam explicatur Whitak l. 1. de peccat origin c. 8. Fallacia divisionis how then should that sin be imputed to our souls I must confess the question is intricate we should rather believe it then enquire of it and we may better enquire of it then understand it and yet more easily understand it then expresse it But so well as we can we shall untie the knot First then we say 't is a fallacy to divide soul and body for not the soul without the body nor the body without the soul but the whole man sinn'd in Adam as the whole man is begot of Adam so soon therefore as the soul is conjoyn'd to the body and of the soul and body is constituted whole man that man being now made a member of Adam is said to sin with him and to derive that sin from him But for a further satisfaction although the soul depend on God according to its substance yet is it created in that body which is produced of the parents thus in some sort we may say that the soul is begotten non quoad essentiam sed quoad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God onely gives the essence but to exist comes from the parents Arist de anima 2. l. c. 1. What is the soul but a form of the body and of what body but of that which is organicall as being apt for the soul This aptness then whereby it is prepared for the form being received from the parents we may say of the soul that thus it is generated as not beginning to subsist before the body is prepared This is true in some sort though not properly Consider then the excellency of mans soul which is not born but created and howsoever now it is bespotted with sin yet was it then pure and undefiled as the untouched virgin how is it but pure which the hands of God hath made it was the devill that caused sin but all that God made was good and very good Gen. 1.31 Gen. 1.31 and such a soul hath every man Sedibus aethereis spiritus ille venit It is created by God infused by his Spirit of nothing made something and what something but an excellent work befitting such an excellent workman And yet there be more staires to ascend it is thirdly invisible Hath any man seen God or hath any man seen Gods image which is the soul and lived Substances that are more pure are less visible We see but darkly through a glasse nay the best eye upon earth looks but through a lattice a window an obscuring impediment mortall eyes cannot behold immortall things how then should this corruptible sight see a spirituall
fâ—nce oâ— it may beâ— as some do imagine this fire affords a 〈…〉 pâ—â—iâ—eous oâ— obscure light but how not for comforts but confusion Conceive it thus he that in twilight sees deformed Images or in the night beholds shapes of Ghosts and spirits by a dimm dark light why better he saw nothing then suck tâ—â—â—â—le visâ—â—ns such fears nay a thousand times worse are preseâ—ved to the 〈◊〉 of Reprobates they may discern through darkness the ugly faceâ— of fiend â—f the foul visages of Reprobates the furious torments of their friends or parents while all lye together in the same condemnation What comfort affords this light where nothing is seen but the Judges wrath and the prisoners punishment O will they cry that our eyes were out or the flames were quenched or that some period were put to this endlesse night of darknesse but all in vain lo pillars of smoak arise out of the infernall pit which darken the light as the fire lightens the darknesse and this the second difference Thirdly there is yet another difference in the fuell or object of this fire ours burns not without materialls this works also on spirituals It is I confesse a question whether devils suffer by fire and how may that be some are of opinion that they are not onely spirits but have bodies not organicall as ours but aereall or somewhat more subtil then the air it self this opinion howsoever most denie yet Austin argues for it for if men and devils saith he are punished in the same fire and that fire be corporeall how are Devils capable of the suffering unlesse they have bodies like men fit for the impression And yet if we deny them to have bodies I see no impossibilitie but that spirits themselves may suffer in hell fire August de civit dei lib. 21. cap. 10. is it not as easie with God to joyn spirits and fire as souls and bodies as therefore the soul may suffer through the body so likewise may those spirits be tormented by fire I will not argue the case either with or against Austin yet safely may we put this conclusion not onely men in their bodies but devils and souls must together be tormented in hell fire thus our Saviour couples them in that last heavy doom Matth. 25.41 Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels What a fire is this it tryes the reins it searcheth the bowells it pierceth the very soul and inmost thoughts O fire above measure where spirits are the tormentors damnation the punishment men and devils the fuell and the breath of an offended God the Bellows Think not on your fires that gives you heat for warmth or light for comfort neither fear you him that kils your bodies but hath no further commission to hurt your souls here is another fire another Judge a fire that kindles souls a Judge that sends bodies and souls to everlasting fire such heats such darknesse such objects accompanie this fire the heat is intollerable darknesse palpable bodie and soul both combustible all burn together that have sinned together This the third difference Lastly there is a difference in durance our fire dyes quickly but hell fire lasts for ever This is done saith Austin admirably Miris sed veris modis Aug. ibid. Aug. de civit dei l. 21. yet actually the burning bodies never consume the kindled fire never wasts with any length of time We read of a certain salt in Sicilia that if put into the fire it swims as in water and being put into water crackles as in fire we read of a fountain in Libya that in a cold night is so hot that none can touch it in a hot day so cold that none could drink it If God thus work miracles on earth dost thou seek a reason of Gods high and heavie judgement in hell I see the pit I cannot find the depth there is a fire that now stands as it was created it must be endured yet never never must be ended The custome of some countreys that burn malefactours use the least fires for greatest offenders that so the heat being lessened the pains might be prolonged but if this be so terrible to them whose fire is but little and whose time cannot be long what an exceeding horrible torment is this in hell where the fire is extreme great and the time for ever and ever lasting Suppose you or any one of you should lie one night grievously afflicted with a raging fit of the Stone Collick Strangurie Toothach Pangs of travail and a thousand such miseries incident to man how would you tosse and tumble how would you turn your sides tell the clock count the houres exspect every moment for the gay-bright morn and till then esteem every hour a year and every pang a misery matchlesse and intollerable O then what will it be think you to lie in fire and brimstone kept in highest flame by the unquenchable wrath of God world without end how tedious will be that endlesse night where the clock never strikes the time never passes the morn never dawns the Sunne never rises where thou canst not turn nor tosse nor tumble nor yet take any rest where thou shalt have nothing about thee but darknesse and horrour and wailing and yelling wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth for evermore Good Lord that for a smile of present pleasure men should run upon the rock of eternall vengeance Come ye that pursue vanitie and see here the fruit of sin at this harvest of Tares Pleasures are but momentany Momentaneum quod delectat aeternum quod cruciat but the pangs are eternall Eternall how long is that Nay here we are silenced no Limner can set it forth no Oratour can expresse it if all times that ever were and ever shall be should be put together they would infinitely come short of this fiery eternitie the latitude thereof is not to be measured neither by houres nor dayes nor weeks nor moneths nor years nor Lustra's nor Olympiads nor Indictions no Jubilees nor ages nor Plato's years nor by the most slow motions of the eighth sphear though all these were multiplied by thousands or millions or the greatest multiplyer or number numbering that can be imagined Plainly in a word count if you please ten hundred thousand millions of years and adde a thousand myriads of ages to them and when all is done multiply all again by a thousand thousand thousand of thousands and being yet too short count all the thoughts motions mutations of men and Angels adde to them all the sands of the sea piles on the earth starres in the Heavens and when all this is done multiply all again by all the numbers squares cubicks of Arithmetick and yet all these are so farre short of eternity that they neither touch end nor middle nor the least part or parcell of it what then is this which the damned suffer eternall fire we had need to cry out Fire fire
that it might shine in heaven But this was but the beginning of his dayes now they are past they have been Go a little further we left him at school but how learned he Christ 1. Cor. 2.2 Psal 8.2 and him crucified this was the knowledge taught him by the Spirit of God in a wonderfull manner Out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings hast thou O God ordained strength To consider again his religious words his upright actions his hearty devotions his fear of God all then concluded as they did of John Luke 1.66 What manner of child shall this be No question the grace of God was with him If I should instance in any of these his frequencie in prayer his reading of Scripture his reasoning with others to get knowledge to himself we may wonder at Gods power in this childs poor weakness Excuse me whiles I tell nothing but truths and I hope they will tend to our own instruction In the morning he would not stir out of doors before he had poured out his prayers at noon he would not eat any meat before he had given the Lord thanks at night he would not lie down on his bed before he had kneeled down on his knees we may remember those times when sometimes that he had forgotten this dutie no sooner had he been in bed but up he would have got again and so kneeling down on his bare knees covered with no garment but his linens he would ask God forgiveness for that sinne of forgetfulness neither have his brothers escaped without his reprehension for had they eat any meal or meat without a grace his check was usuall Dare you do thus unless God be mercifull unto us this bit of bread might choke us The wise sentences the religious words which often dropt from his mouth like honey can we remember them and not grieve at the death of him that spake them What comfort had we in those dayes What sorrow have we to think those dayes are done Surely we cannot speak it without bitterness of soul they are gone they have been Thus he lived will you know how he died First a lingring sickness seized upon him against which to comfort him one tells him of possessions that must fall to his portion And what are they said he I had rather have the Kingdome of Heaven then a thousand such inheritances Thus he minds Heaven and God so minding him presently sent him his sickness that should summon him thither And now how should I repeat his words with the life that he spake them dying No sooner had God struck his body with that fatall sickness but he asks and needs would know his souls estate I have heard of the soul said he but what is the soul the mind he questions and questioning answers better I fear then many too many gray headed amongst us but the answer given how the soul consisted of the Will and the Understanding he sayes he is satisfied and now understands better then he did before Another comes to him and then he begins another question now he knows the soul he desires yet to know further How his soul may be saved O blessed soul how wisely couldst thou question for thine own souls good The answer given by faith applying Christs merits he heard it and had it anon telling them who before had taught it him Resolved in these questions he questions no further but will now answer them that go about to question him One asks him whether he had rather live or die he gives the answer and not without Pauls reason I desire to die said he that I might go to my Saviour O blessed Spirit bow didst thou inspire into this child thy wisdome and goodnesse This done his pain begins again to afflict him and this occasions another thus to question him whether he would rather still endure those pains or forsake his Christ Alas said he I know not what to say as a child for these pains might stagger a strong man but I will strive to endure the best I can Upon this he presently calls to mind that Martyr who being in prison Thom. Bilney the night before his burning put his finger in the candle to know how he could endure the fire O said he had I lived then I would have runne through the fire to have gone to Christ Sweet resolution of a silly child who can hear and not wonder wonder and not desire to hear that he may wonder still Blessed child hadst thou lived that we might have wondred at thy wisdome but his daies were determined and now is the number turned to this poor cypher they are not they have been I cannot leave him yet his sicknesse lasts long and at least three dayes before his death he prophesies his departure and how strange a prophecie not onely that he must die but fore-telling the very day On the Lords day said he look to me Neither was this a word of course which you may guesse by his often repetition every day asking till the day came indeed What is Sunday come At last the lookt-for day came on and no sooner had the Sun beautified that morning with his light but he falls into a trance What think ye meant his blessed soul whilest the body it self used such an action his eyes were fixed his face chearfull his lips smiling his hands and arms clasping in a bow as if he would have received some blessed Angel that there was at hand to receive his soul but he comes to himself and tells them how he saw the sweetest boy that ever eyes beheld and bids them Be of good chear for he must presently go with him One standing near as now suspecting his time of dissolution bids him say Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit Psal 31.5 Yes said he Into thy hands Lord I commit my spirit which is thy due for why thou hast redeemed it O Lord my God most true Who will not believe this child now sings in Heaven that so soon had learned this Davids Psalm on earth I cannot hold my self nor will I hold you long but how may I omit his heavenly ejaculations Beloved I beseech you pardon me whilest I speak his words and I will promise you to speak no word but the very same formally which were his own Pray pray pray nay yet pray and the more prayers the better all prospers God is the best Physician into his hands I commend my spirit O Lord Jesus receive my soul Now close mine eyes forgive me father mother brothers sister all the world Now I am well my pain is almost gone my joy is at hand Lord have mercy on me O Lord receive my soul unto thee Where am I whilest I speak these words Blessed Saint now thou singest in Heaven God hath bid thee welcome the Angels are hugging thee the Saints rejoyce with thee this day is the Crown set on thy head this day is the Palm of victory in thy hand
then shall your souls be hurried by Devils to that infernall lake whence there is no redemption O beloved O wretch whosoever thou art Canst thou possibly sleep in such a case as this Canst thou go to bed with a conscience laden with sin Canst thou take any sleep which is the brother of death when thou lyest now in danger of eternall death Consider I pray what space what distance how far off is thy soul from death from hell from eternity no more but a breath one breath and no more no more but a step one step and more O beloved were not this lamentable that some one of us that now are standing or sitting should this night sleep his last and to morrow have his body brought to be buried yea and before to morrow morning have his soul which the Lord forbid cast from his bed of feathers to a bed of fire and yet alas alas if any of us this night dye in his sin or in a state unregenerate thus will it be with him whosoever he be to morrow may his body lye could under earth and his soul lodg in hell with this miserable rich man Vse 2 But let me speake to you of whom I hope better things it is good counsell for you all to exspect death every day and by this means death fore-seen cannot possibly be sudden no it is he onely dyes suddenly that dyes unpreparedly Watch therefore saith our Saviour be ever in a readiness and finally that this rich man may be your warning you that tender your souls learn that lessen of our Saviour Lay not up for your selves treasure upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break thorow and steal but lay up for your selves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and where thieves do not break thorow nor steal Mat. 6.19 20. Mat. 6.19 20. You will say What treasures are those I answer These treasures are those stocks of grace that will last for ever it is that circumspect walking Ephes 5.15 Ephes 5.15 that fervency of spirit Rom. 12.11 Rom 12.11 that zeal of good works Tit. 2 14. Tit. 2.14 that purity which St. Iohn makes a property of every true hearted professour 1 Joh. 3.3 1 Joh. 3.3 In a word it is the work the life the power of that prayer that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy these are heavenly hoords indeed O that we would treasure up such provision against the day of calamity If while it is called to day we would make our peace with his heavenly Highness by an humble continued exercise of repentance if in this time of grace we would purchase Gods favour and those rarest jewells of faith and a good conscience if now before we appear at the dreadfull Tribunall we would make God and his Angels our friends in the Court of Heaven O then how blessed would out deaths be to us came it never so suddenly still should death find us ready and if ready no matter how suddenly yea though it were this this night I have broke ope the writ and you see when it must be served this night but in this Quando there is both suddenness and sadness it is not this day but this night Let this end this dayes discourse and the next day we will lay open the nights dark sadness it is a dismall time and God give us grace so to provide that we may be ready with oyle in our lamps and enter with our Saviour into his blessed Kingdome Night HE sins all day and dyes at night and why at night This you know is frequent and there is reason most are begot and born and therefore dye at night but we must further then the lists of nature this night was more then ordinary as being the fittest time to aggravate his griefe weigh but the circumstances First It was a night of darkness and this may encrease the horrour of his judgment think but what a fear seized on the Aegyptians Wisd 17.5 when no power of the fire must give them light nor might the clear flames of the stars lighten the horrible night that fell upon them The Husband-men the Shepherds the work-men Exod. 10.23 all were bound with one chain of darkness No man saw another neither rose up from the place where he was for three days Exod. 10.23 Was not this fearfull darkness you may guesse it by the effects they were troubled and terrified and swooned as though their own souls should betray them Wisd 17.18 19. Whether it were an hissing wind or a sweet noyse of birds among the spreading branches or a pleasing fall of waters running violently or a terrible sound of stones or the running of skipping beasts or the noyse of cruell beasts or the eccho that answereth again in the hollow mountains these fearfull things made them to swoon for fear And if thus the Egyptians how was it with this Worldling a darknesse seized on him that engendred a thousand times more intolerable torments Wisd 17.21 This was the image of that darkness which should afterward receive him and yet was he unto himself more grievous then the darknesse It was not an outward but an utter darknesse not onely to be not seen but to be felt and feared Imagine then what visions what sounds what sights what sudden fires appeared unto him Unhappy Worldling look round about thee although it be dark here is something to be seen above is the angry Judge beneath is the burning lake before is gloomy darknesse behind is infallibe death on thy right and left hand a legion of evil angels exspecting every moment to receive the prey Here is a sight indeed able to break the very heart-strings of each seer If some have lost their wits by means of some dreadfull sight yea if the very suspicion of Devils have caused many men to tremble and the hairs of their heads to stand staring upright what then was the fear and terrour of this man when so many dreadfull horrible hellish monsters stood round about him now readie to receive him O ye sonnes of men stand in aw and sinne not Psal 4.4 commune with your own heart and in your chamber and be still Will not this fear you from your sinnes Suppose then you lay on your beds of death were the Judge in his throne your souls at the Barre ths accuser at your elbows and hell ready open to shut her mouth upon you O then how would you curse your selves and bewail your sins What horrible visions would appear to you in the dark horrible indeed In so much saith * Cyril de vitae beati Hieron ad fin Epist one that were there no other punishment then the appearing of Devils you would rather burn to ashes then endure their sights Good God that any Christian should live in this danger and yet never heed it till he sees its terrour How many have gone thus
of Megiddon O weep or if you will not weep for him yet weep for your selves and your own sinnes alas have you not cause your sins were his murtherers and your hands by your sins were imbrued in his bloud Secondly stay not here but when you have mourned and wept over your Saviour then hate those sinnes that wrought this evil on your Saviour Which that you may do effectually send your thoughts a far off and see your Saviour in his circumcision in the garden and when you have done so then follow him a little further behold the tears in his eies and the clodded bloud that came from him when his cheeks were nipped his head crowned his back scourged his hands and feet nailed his side opened and then O then see if you can love those sins that have done all this villany love them said I no if you have any share in Christ I hope you will rather be revenged on your sins rather you will every one say O my pride and my stubbornness and my looseness and my uncleanness and my drunkenness these were the nailes and the whips and the spear that drew bloud from my Saviour therefore let me be for ever revenged of this proud subborn rebellious heart of mine own let me for ever loath my sin because it brought all this sorrow on my Saviour Is not this ordinary with men should any one murther your Father or friend whom you highly regarded and honoured would you brook his sight or endure his company nay would not your hearts rise against him would you not prosecute the Law to the uttermost and if you might be the Executioner would you not wound him and mangle him and at every stroak cry out Thou wast the death of my Father thou wast the death of my Father and is the heart of a man thus inraged against him that hath but murthered his friend or his father O then how should your hearts be transported with infinite indignation not against the man but against sinne that hath shed the precious bloud of your father your Master your God your King your Saviour O follow follow after these sins with an Hue and Cry bring them to the Bar set them be-the Tribunall of that great Judge of heaven and cry Iustice Lord justice against these sins of mine these slew my Saviour Lord slay them these crucified my Saviour Lord crucifie them Why thus persue and never leave them untill if it possible may may you see these sins bleed their last never think you have done enough but still give your corruptions one hack more confess your sins once more and say Lord this pride and this stubbornness and this looseness of heart these are they that killed my Saviour and I will be revenged of them Thirdly stay not here neither but when you have mourned for your sins and sought revenge on them then by Faith cast them all on the Lord Jesus Christ ease your own souls of them and hurle your care on him that careth for you all Certainly there is no way to wash you clean from your sin but onely by Christs blood and how must you apply this but by Faith now then in the last place have faith rence your soul as it were in the bloud of this immaculate Lamb and though you are polluted and defied yet questionless the bloud of Jesus Christ will purge you from all sin Heb. 9.13 14. If the bloud of Buls and Goats saith the Apostle and the ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the bloud of Christ who through the eternall Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God You may talk of a Purgatory why here is the Purgatory that true Purgatory the fountain that is laid open for the house of Iudah to wash in and I pray you mark it it is not onely for justification but being applyed by faith as effectuall for sanctification not onely for the expiation of sin that it be not laid to your charge but withall to purge your Consciences from dead works to serve the living God O then as you tender your souls believe and cast your selves upon Christ for salvation and for pardon of sins Do you not see him bleeding on the Cross Do you not hear him graciously offering to receive your sin-wearied souls into his bleeding wounds what should you do then but cast your selves with all the spirituall strength that you can at least with infinite longings and most hearty desires into the bosome of your Saviour say with your selves the fountain is opened and here will we bathe for ever Come life or come death come heaven or come hell come what come can here will we stick for ever nay if you must perish tell God and man Angels and devils they shall pluck you out of the hands and rent you from between the armes of your blessed bleeding Redeemer your soul-purging Saviour Thus if you believe you need not to droop for your sins but to go on with comfort to everlasting happiness the bloud of Christ no question will make way for you into heaven Yea saith the Apostle by the bloud of Iesus we may boldly enter into the holy places by the new and living way which he hath prepared for us Heb. 10.19.20 through the veile which is his flesh Such is the blessed fruit of this bloud and the Lord make it effectuall unto us to bring us into heaven even for his sake who by himself thus purged our sins You see the Purge given and taken onely a time it must have and then follows the Evacuation Hee purged What the ill humour is Sin the extent of it Our sin of both these together at our next meeting Now the Lord so prepare us that this Purge may work in us the everlasting wel-fare and health of our souls Our sins SIn is our sickness and to cure us of it the Law yields corrasives the Gospell lenitives but especially Christ yields that Physick Purgative which evacuates sin To consider Christ as a man of sorrows and not a Saviour of sinners were but a melancholick contemplation to behold his wounds and not so to think on 'em as they were our selves addes but more sorrows to our other miseries but when we call to mind that his bloud was our ransome that his stripes were our cures then with all our hearts we pray his bloud be upon us and our children And why not this bloud saith the Apostle speaks better things then the bloud of Abel Heb. 12.24 For Ables bloud cryed revenge but Christs bloud speaks mercy and to our comfort be it spoken if God heard the servant he will much rather hear the son yea if he heard his servant for spilling how much more will he hear his Son for saving and regaining our souls In the words are two parts 1. The ill huâ—our evacuated Sin 2. The extent