if we hearken to this we shall never fear that Surgite venite then Arise you dead and come to judgement That is the first The Summons Secondly the Appearance after the Summons all shall make their appearance We must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 This Appearance it is general and personal the general all must come the particular and personal every one shall come in his own person We shall appear for our selves every man for himself shall give an account to God Rom. 14.12 In other Courts if men appear for themselves by another it is enough but here Per se by himself That is the reason that this day it is called in Scripture the day of manifestation First because Christ himself shall be revealed and manifested in that day We look for the day of the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 1.7 Secondly because the Attributes of God shall be revealed then his patience and long animity his righteousness and justice a day of Revelation of the just judgment of God Rom. 2. Finally because we our selves shall be revealed and manifested all our wayes and works the godly and the works that they have done though never so secret the wicked and their works the secret sins that they have committed That is the second thing in the manner of the Judgment First that all shall be summoned secondly upon the Summons all shall be made to appear Thirdly the Separation that shall be made at that time for when all are congregated by and by all shall be severed and separated a separation and division shall be made amongst them some shall be set at the right hand of the Judg some at the left hand As a shepheard searcheth his flock in the day when he is amongst his sheep that are scatered so I will search out my sheep at that day and I will divide between cattel and cattel between the sheep and the goats The Sheep and the Goats here they flock feed and fold together they will do so they must do so The Tares here must be let alone and grow with the corn till the day of harvest but yet afterward there shall be a division and a separation the wicked and the godly live together here but at the last the wicked shall be separated from the godly like the chaff from the wheat as when two travel one way they pass together and lodg together but the next morning they part and take several wayes so the wicked and the godly after they have been here a time eating and dirinking conversing and living and perhaps dying and rotting in the graves together notwithstanding when this day that I here speak of shall come then there shall be a separation and division made then the sheep shall be set on the right hand then you shall know which is Jacobs flock and which is Labans which belong to Christ and which belong to Sathan then the chaff shall be winnowed from the wheat and we shall see which is for the Barn and which is for the fire Go on you wicked still seem the same you are not delude the eyes of the world that you have the same heart that you appear you have Masks and Vizards now the time will come your paint shall be washed off your fig-leaves shall be stripped and your nakedness shall be seen and all manifest at that day of God there shall be a separation of the good from the bad as the shepheard separateth his sheep from the Goats Fourthly with this separation there shall be a tryal the Scripture speaks of after the conventing and separation there shall be a tryal I saw faith Saint John Revel 20.12 the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were Judged out of those things which were written in those books according to their works Mark there are several books and so as there are several books there are several judgments some are tryed by one book some by another First there are some books by which the works of men are tryed the book of Nature the book of Scripture the book of Conscience They that never heard of Christ shall be judged by the book of Nature there is enough in the book of Nature to leave all unexcusable They that live in the Church shall be tryed and judged by the book of the Scripture Of the Law They that have sinned under the the Law shall be judged by the Law Of the Gospel God shall judg the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospel Both of them shall be judged according to the book of Conscience for God will lay that book so clear and open that they shall see what they have done against that Book Lord what a many of sins have we committed here that we never remember and think of when they are done Our memory and conscience row is a Book clasped up we see not a thousand things that are registred there but when God shall lay open that Book and inlarge our memories and inl ghten our consciences then men shall clearly see what they had forgot before they shall promptly dictate the whole course of our lives and aquaint us with every action that hath past us and every circumstance to accuse and excuse This is the kind of the tryal by which the works of men shall be tryed Lastly with the Summons there shall be an appearance and with that a separation and a tryal after all these are done then cometh the sentence then the Sentence shall be pronounced upon the one and upon the other the one Sentence full of sweetness and comfort every word droppeth as a honey combe Come you blessed of my Father inherit the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world The same voyce that Christ spake to them here Come to me the same shall be there Come ye blessed and as they were careful to come to Christ here so they shall make a happy coming to Christ there The other is a sentence of Hell and wrath and horrour Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divel and his Angels as they desired here to depart from God and said to him depart from us so they shall hear that word of horrour and woe pronounced at that day they shall be sent away into fire to have their portion with the Divel and his Angels Thus brefly I have shewed concerning the person Judging First for the Judg himself God And then for the Judgment first that it must be and then the manner how I should go on to the next general point that is to consider the things and persons Judged every work of every man whether it be good or whether it be evil And so I should have given the Application and Use of all together But so much for this time A TRYAL OF SINCERITY
be scoff and jear and deride the wayes of God time shall come that even these wicked men shall be convinced they shall see their envy against the godly and hatred against the wayes of God they shall see their foolery and they shall at last repent when repentance shall do them no good repent when they are even turned into hell when they hear that sentence Depart from me you cursed Therefore now seeing these things will befall the rebellious that do not walk according to this rule according to this Canon which I have characterised a godly man by this should be a good incouragement to godly men so much the more to walk constantly and to be true to their own way And if they do live amongst wicked men to be rather gainers by them to grow the better rather then to receive infection and corruption from them They say that Lillies and Roses or such like things if they be planted by Garlick or Onions or such like unsavoury things they do increase in sweeness the Rose and the Lillie are sweeter so it should be when godly men are planted and hemmed about with wicked men the vileness and odiousness of their wicked wayes may make them to loath wickedness the more and to love godliness and to bless God that hath kept them that they have not run to the same excess of ryot with them Instead of all other Application which I thought to have added as for example and for instance to shew us the true Analogie of a Christian that we may discern who is a right Christian and who is not we must not discern it by our fancies but by those Characters God hath set And a just apology in the second place for those that are branded with nick-names If this be the description of true piety and of a true Christian to have the heart and soul breathing after God and seeking night and day after him and setting themselves wholly to walk in the way of uprightness with sincerity before God then certainly they are unjustly branded whose consciences do aime at these things and the consciences of other men may tell them that they do so and they see no other And so for conviction of those men that are in the Bosome of the Church they may see if they be not according to this stamp if they either fail of it that there is none of these lineaments to be found in them nothing toward God and his name no understanding no affection no endeavours working that way and so for the rest if they utterly fail of this they utterly come short and are not worthy the name of Christians but much more if they do deride and oppose and contemne the mind and the wayes of God which God hath chalked out to us for our rule and direction that is a high degree of fayling and coming short and therefore they may be convinced that they cannot be right I doubt when the Books shall be opened and every one judged according to the book of God which shall be laid for the tryal of our lives if our lives be not according to that whatsoever our words be and howsoever we carry it it will not beare us out then And it might have been a Use also of Examination let every one of us examin our selves and what our estate is according to this rule and what degree of this we have attained to And then for comfort for those that are such according to this rule whether it be in the perfection or in the affection If they have not the perfection yet if there affections stand and run this way and that they can truly and ingeniously say that they are such in sincerity there is a great deal of comfort for them And for Exhortation out of the several branches of the duty which I cannot meddle with And out of the several Motives that I propounded out of the words of the Text. But I say instead of all these this present Sister of ours whose Funeral we now solemnize I might setch an Argument as a Motive to all these several duties from her example To return now therefore to the present occasion I will speak something concerning Her in honour of whose Funeral solemnities we are at this time met together that gave us the occasion I shall according to my custome dispatch it briefly When any children of God die the last offices of Love are performed to them by three several sorts or ranks The Angels they convey their souls into the bosome of their father Abraham into the blisse of eternity The Bearers attended with the Mourners they carry their bodies to the bosome of their mother earth to rest in tranquility The Preachers as it were a middle between God and them they commend their name to the minds of their friends the hearers to live in their memories My part at the present is to do this and I shall do it not so much to trumpet out her commendation as to take a hint of something for your instruction which may be useful But I must intreat you to remember that you do not use to lace or adorn your mournings and therefore you have little reason to expect any eloquent adorning any Festival ornament in such a Funeral argument My language must be black and pathetical sutable to our sad occasion it must not be pleasing to the fancy in the fresh flowers of Rhetorick my language I say must be in black but in black laid upon a ground of truth which shall not blush for blame speaking any thing besides what I do really conceive As I dare not do you so much wrong as to paint or guild a rotten post so I am willing to do her so much right as to set a rich Pearl in Gold To pass other circumstances as that she was descended of an honest and worthy Family and of good quality that She had a full and hopeful issue desending from her self and such like circumstances which I leave for Oratours as unfit for a Divine to meddle withal All that I shall say concerning Her shall be out of the Text in which you may behold a true picture of her in all the lineaments of her and out of it you may be able to draw and take a good pattern for your selves The Byas of her spirit was toward God and toward his Name whose lively Image she bare graven in her memory living in her desires and beyond all pictures moving also in her endeavours to seek after God The very quintescence of her spirit was carried this way and that intimately sincerely universally and constantly With her soul she desired him in the night and with her spirit she sought him in the morning the light of the morning and the evening star as sometime the Star did the Wise men conducted her to the Sun of righteousness In mercies she was not wanton but thankful and fruitful In judgements as in a fatherly way of correction She had a deep
Nation or Kingdom it is an infallible sign of judgement falling upon it And is must be so and there is great reason for it If we either consider the causes of security whence it cometh or the concommitants that accompany it or the fruits and events of it it must be that great judgements must befall men and places when they are under this carnal security First look to the causes Whence is it that men that are not at peace with God yet flatter themselves that they shall do well It proceedeth from that unbelief and infidelity that is in the hearts of men therefore they flatter themselves and pride themselves in things that will not hold them up in the end I say infidelity is the cause that men are so secure Did men beleeve the word of God that every threatning that goeth out of the mouth of God against any particular sin should certainly fall upon the head of the sinner durst they go on in a course of sinning against God Durst they add drunkenness to thirst one wickedness to another No certainly In that measure a man hath faith in that measure he feareth God and his judgements that he hath threatned See it in Noah Heb. 11. By faith Noah being warned of God moved with fear prepared an Ark. He beleeved the word of God was faithful that had threatned a judgement upon the world he beleeved the word of God that commanded him to provide an Ark for the safety of him and his house and therefore he feared the Deluge to come and prepared an Ark. So likewise Josiah when he read the book of the Law and saw what was threatned against the sins of the people his heart melted within him and why because he beleeved that this was the word of God he beleeved that God would be as true as his Word therefore his heart melted within him at the sight of those sins wherein the people had continued so long a time Nay it is made a discription of a beleever in Isa 61. That he is one that trembleth at Gods word On the other side what is the reason why infidelity doth presently bring judgements upon men The cause is apparant infidelity it draweth men from God An unbeleeving heart departs from the living God And when a man departs from Gods presence God pursueth him with his judgments All the judgements of God are upon that place where Gods presence in his graces is not If I go faith David to the uttermost parts of the earth thou art there if I go into the deep thou art there And how there Not only as an observer but as a punisher that is when men come to this point to flie from God Now unbeleef is a drawing of the soul from God to the creature therefore it provokes God for it sets up an Idol in the heart of man and Idolatry exceedingly provokes God and therefore he bringeth judgements upon it Beside that marke the threatning of the word against this Deut. 29. When a man heareth the words of this curse and blesseth himself and saith I shall have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart the Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoak against him and all the plagues that are written in this book shall be heaped on him When is that when is the time that the wrath of God shall smoak At that very time and instant when he flattereth himself with his vain conceits that he shall have peace though God threaten judgement then at that very instant the wrath of God shall fall upon such a man In this manner did God deal with the Israelites in Isa 6.9 10. Make the heart of this people fat make their ears heavy and why so that they may see and not perceive that they may hear and not understand lest they should be converted and I should heal them How long shall this be saith the Prophet till the Cities be wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the land be utterly desolate When God giveth over a people to be regardless in hearing the Word that they hear and do not hear ken they hear and do not regard they do not comforme and reform according to the doctrine delivered then God intendeth to sweep them away by judgement that they may be utterly left desolate as the Text saith You see then it must needs be a grievous fore-runner of a judgement upon a place or City or people or nation when they remain impenitent in their sins and yet cry peace Again secondly If you marke the concommitants what accompanies that carnal security in the heart of men and it will appear then that it must of necessity bring a judgement upon a Land and place What is that that accompanies it A disposition slighting of God himself When a man I say heareth the Word the judgements threatned heareth the Law warning him to take heed of wrath the Gospel alluring him to repent and yet all moveth him not but still he flattereth himself I say here is a disposition slighting God himself God in all his Attributes is slighted His power his wisdom his justice his truth is slighted yea his mercy and patience and long-suffering all are slighted when a man in the course of sin goeth on in carnal security Especially amongst the rest this is a slighting of Gods patience and long-suffering and forbearance of men Wherefore do men harden themselves against exhortation to repentance but because they presume upon the continuance of Gods long-suffering toward them Mark how the Lord takes notice of this The forbearance and long-suffering the goodness and mercy of God should lead thee to repentance and therefore God hath forbore thee all this while that he might bring thee to repentance But what if he do not Thou after thy hardness and impenitent heart heapest up as a treasure to thy self wrath against the day if wrath What day is that The day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God As if he should say Now you obscure Gods justice and righteousness from others and from your selves Well God therefore will take a time to declare his righteous judgement for that purpose God hath a day of wrath and thy daily going on in sin against the long-suffering and patience of God it doth but add wrath to that day Thus it is when God hath borne with a man his own self So it is likewise when God warneth a man by his patience toward others What hardneth men in security Do we not see God hath been merciful to many sinners why may he not be so to me too He gave them repentance after many sins committed why may he not do so to me Mark what Solomon faith Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil doer or an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is set in
the men of darkness as Job calleth it the place of oblivion the pit of stinch and rottenness this is another thing that nature shrinketh and relucts at For there we must bury out of our sight that that once was the delight of our eyes as Ezekiel said by his wife And though it were never so lovely before yet it quickly becometh loathsome Our Beds must be made in darkness where corruption and wormes must be the Mattress and Coverled to lie under us and spread over us Thou shalt say to Corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother and my sister That body of thine that God in the wombe so wonderfully made that thou all thy life-time paradventure hast delicately cherished lapped in Silk in Fur pampered with sweet wines Death as a proud Tyrant will set his foot upon it and throw thee down to the horrid dungeon where thy flesh shall putrifie and thy bones rot and the beauty of it though somtime it were as the Rose and the Lilly of the field shall soon become as loathsome as the dung in the streets This is another thing that makes the face of Death dreadful and terrible when we think of such privations and annihilations as these that we shall come from a beeing to no beeing These cannot but make Death look with the face of an Enemy Fourthly The loss and deprivation of all worldly contentments and worldly imployments that is another thing that makes Death terrible and fearful to us Look whatsoever contentment we took in any thing here we must bid it farewel then Farewel to all to prophets and pleasures and honours we shall carry none of them away with us None of our pomp and glory shall descend after us as the Psalmist saith Farewell to all the gold and silver we have gathered together to all the goodly lands we have purchased to all the stately houses we have built to all the pleasant gardens and orchards we have planted to all the sports and pastimes we have had to all our merry consorts we have kept company with to all our Jewels and wardrope to our dauncing and feasting and musick Death pulleth us from all these and layeth us levell with the Dust It mingleth shovels and Scepters together It makes rich and poor the Prince and the Peasant alike I shall see man no more All relatians we have now shall be broken off then between Husband and Wife Parents and children Master and servants neighbour and neighbour friend and friend we shall dwell apart with our selves and not so much as shake hands one with another All the services and imployments we are took up with here shall cease then there shall be no frequenting of the Exchange no exercising of Trade no bearing of Office no working in our Calling Death is the night that no man can work in and Death is the place of silence where all affairs are cut off Where there is no work nor invension nor wisdome nor counsel as Solomou saith in the book of the Preacher Oh saith good Hezekiah I shall see the Lord no more in the Land of the living There is no more service to be done to the Lord nor no more in the Church in that manner as it is now there is no exercise of Religion no Word no Sacraments no Fasting no Almes no Preaching no Prayer no Confession and thanksgiving The Corse cannot praise thee the Grave cannot give thanks they that go down into the pit cannot honour thee Oh Beloved how careful and active and vigilant and diligent should this make us to be when we consider it for the well improving of that time that we have lent unto us and for the well-discharging of those places and offices and duties that are now laid upon us Considering that Death is an enemy that will cut us off from all affairs and bereave us of all opportunities of receiving or doing or performing any service to God at all either in Church or Common-wealth Fifthly and lastly Conscience of sin and certainty of judgment and uncertainty of salvation for brevities sake I put them together these things come along with Death and make the face of Death terrible and fearful Conscience of sin first of all For Sin it is the sting of Death And which of us is there that doth not arm Death with that sting Who can reflect on the passages of his life but he shall find it as full of sin as the Leopard of spots We find nothing in sin now but oblectation and delight and therefore we hide it under our tongue and hugg it in our bosomes Oh but when Death cometh once it thrusteth these things out and oh the horrour and anguish that the poor conscience is tormented and made to smart with Again with conscience of sin certainty of judgement that is another dreadful Arrow in Deaths quiver After Death cometh judgement And we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ to receive according to what we have done in our bodies First the particular judgement that passeth upon the soul it shall never be reverst for as the Tree falleth so it lieth And then the General judgement when the Body and Soul shall both be wrapped up in the same condemnation Oh who can dwell with devouring fire with those everlasting burnings And then lastly The uncertainty of our future estate For how many thousands be there that die that can not tell what becometh of them when they die but they must sing that Farewel to their souls as Adrian to his My poor wandring soul whether art thou going What will become of thee Death then being accompanied with such an Army of Terrours as these the Apostle might well call it as it is in the Text an Enemy That is the first thing Secondly we are to consider how it is called the last Enemy For two reasons First because it is the last that shall assault us So Caietan Secondly because it is the Last that shall be destroyed So the common stream of Interpreters It is the Last Enemy that shall assault us And here I have to note two things First that while we live in the world we have more Enemies in the world For when there are some last there must be others going before If Death be the last Enemy there are some others beside I we have so God knoweth Enemies on every side Without us within us The Divel he is an Enemy to us and vollies of tentation he hath to discharge against us So many tentations so many Enemies The World is an enemy to us An enemy when it seemeth a friend When it smileth it betrayeth it kisseth and killeth On the right hand it hath prosperity to allure on the left hand adversity to affright in every corner wicked counfell and company and examples to seduce and insnare us Lastly our own flesh is an enemy It is a Serpent
Father that was a godly man and a Martyr in his time that he was so frequent in roling the name of Christ the name of Jesusin his mouth that when he died it is reported that in his heart there was ingraven and written the character of that Name in golden letters And as Saint Austin speaks of himself Time was faith he that I found infinite sweetness it was honey to me to read a piece of Tully there was so much eloquence in it but after I came to be a Christian to be acquainted with God and with Christ then me thought the leaves were dry and the beauty withered I found no such sappe nor rellish in them And he giveth the reason Because faith he I did not there find the Name of my blessed Lord they did not bring to my remembrance they were not Vehicula instruments to convey to my soul something of my God Therefore all that Eloquence vanished and it was but an empty sound like a Cart that runs with speed rattleth and makes a great noise when it is empty so all the goodly sound of words when there is nothing of God carried along with it that puts us in mind of God it will have but little savour and relish to a pious heart But I must not dilate upon things lest I prevent my self in what I more intend This is the first thing that I note here the Object upon which we should place our hearts and souls they should be toward God and toward his Name But then secondly here is intimated in these words nay and directly exprest the Acts which a Christian should exercise upon the Object There are three Acts that are here mentioned for the whole soul must be taken up and carried with full stream toward God in all the parts and faculties of it and so we have it here clearly exprest First here is an act of the Understanding the intellectuall faculty mentioned Our rememberance is toward thy name There is a remembrance of God and his name And this should be one thing which a Christian should take special care of Our memories should not be like sieves to let out the clear water and to return the grains and the dreggs We should not have that treasury to preserve rubbish but to preserve our Jewels as when there was a dispute before Alezander that great King concerning a rich Cabinet that he took among his spoils when he had overthrown Darius King of Persia the richest Cabinet of the most costly Jewles that the world had then seen there was a dispute before him to what use he should put it and every one having exprest their minds according as their fancies lead them the King himself concluded that he would keep that Cabinet to be a treasury to lay the books of Homer in I am sure the richest Cabinet that is is in the soul of a man the memory which is the treasure-house where we lay up all that we know and learn it is a rich Cabinet I confess and therefore the fitter for the richest Jewel to lay up the word of God there as Mary treasured up those things she heard in her heart to lay up the remembrance of God there often to think upon God It is a very sweet saying of a learned and godly Father A man should oftener remember God then he doth breath As the Common-wealth is maintained by exportation and importation of commodities so is our life maintained by a continual exportation and importation of the Ayre passing to and fro breathing out the Ayre when it is too hot in us and fetching it in cool again to refresh and supply the spirits our life I say is maintained by it and God is the very fountaine of life to us even as the soul is the life of the body so is God the life of the soul therefore we should alwayes be remembring of God so ost as we breath breathing out prayers to him or praises of him in return of his mercy Our memories I say should be exercised in thinking upon God in remembering of God Remember thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth faith Solomon We should begin betimes and we should never be weary of this The memory is one of the brittlest parts and we are most apt in age to grow to oblivion and forgetfulness as that great Oratour did sometime it is reported of him that his memory which was incomparably excellent before failed him so much before he died that he forgat his own name We cannot forget God but we must be worse then he and do that first forget our own name that we are Christians that we are sons and daughters of God Therefore this should be a thing that we should often inure our selves unto not to put the thoughts of God from us or think they are too sad and serious and so to account them as unwelcome guests but we should rather often bath our selves in these sweet delights in the meditation and remembrance of God That is one thing And then secondly besides the act of the understanding I will go according to the words of the text there is an act of the will and of the affections one onely named as a taste of all the rest for indeed where one is all are they are so linked and chained together that they cannot be separate And here is a sweet act of affection mentioned The desire of our soul is toward thee This should be one part of a Christians character that his desire should be alwayes breathing out and flaming up towards heaven that if he cannot at least obtain the highest pitch of full sayls of love and of a full perfection in vertue and grace yet whatsoever he cometh short in otherwise to make it up with abundant desires ardent longing desires not to come short in that to be sure that will make an excel lent supply And indeed it is that that poor and weak Christians must trust to many times must relieve themselves with thoughts of they often find themselves exceeding short and defective in performances if they did not find some desires working in them there would scarse be any symptome of life As it may be in the body a man can see sometimes but little motion in the body scarse any symptome of life the pulse is very weak and faint and scarse moveth at all that can be discerned but yet it may be there is some kind of breath stirring or else we conclude the party dead so it is in this case desire is that if there be truth in it be it the lowest degree of it which is an evidence of spiritual life there cannot be truth of grace where there is not unfeigned and hearty desires toward God desires to approve our selves to him desires to walk with him in our whole course desires to be defective in nothing and that is in some sort true as you know Divines have determined it and if it be not
others with whom she had long and private intimacy of many years acquaintance I must and will speak That which I told you was recorded of Rachel that she was fruitful in procreation of Children may in a great measure be spoken of her for if the Scripture account bearing but of two children fruit certainly it will make an extraordinary fruit in bearing of twelve which she did It is a certaine token of a true and faithful servant of God to frequent his house to pray unto him to praise him in his Church earnestly to labour to be instructed in his will out of his Word then and there read and preached to them all which evidences of a good Christian were found in this our Sister For her constant coming to Church I my self can now speak upon my own knowledge I have seriously and strictly examined my self and I profess ingeniously before God that knows my heart and you that here me speak that I cannot call to mind that ever she mist coming to Church twice a Sabbath day since I came which I would be heartily glad I could speak as well of others of this Parish as of her For some of them have got such a fisking trick up and down to go to other Churches as if there were no rellishable food at their own that I fear at the last they will come to none at all I pray God they amend this fault It was a vertue in her that deserved commendation and it is a vice in them that deserves reprehension When she was in Gods house she did not as too too many do imploy her time in sleeping or some such ill course but I ever observed her to listen very diligently and attentively to what was delivered for the nourishing of her soul I confess I do not remember that ever I saw her take any notes in the Church of Sermons that were preached for it seems she did it when she came home for since her death going to her house accidentally I met with a book of hers wherein she had written many texts of Scripture with notes the day when they were preached and the persons by whom most of those which I have preached I saw and perused and others of strangers that I my self have heard these qualities are not to be past over in silence but are worthy of your serious imitation Neither did she think it fit barely to set them down for her own instruction only but what she heard upon the Sabbath day that she constantly practised upon the week dayes She catechised her children in those points spending some time in training them up in the knowledge of God and putting them in mind of their duty to him in whom we live and move and have our being by repeating Gods word delivered by hearing them read Gods word printed and by singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs That she was a most provident and careful Wife and a most indulgent and loving Mother all that knew her can best testifie and some of them have informed me And this let me speak and I have it from the mouth of some that prehaps did not think I would have mentioned it at this time and would have had it concealed but for reasons best known to my self I hold it very fit to relate she was ever held to be of a most sweet nature and of a very loving disposition that she was very charitable and inclined to relieve the poor It is likewise testified of her she was liberal alway but more liberal now then usually having had a consideration of the hard and needy times to which end as if she had prognosticated her own death she laid some money according to that ability that God had blessed her with for the relief of the poor Let no man censure me for speaking these things I do for if I should not have given her her just and deserved praises some that now hear me and knew her from her cradle might justly have censured me for too much remisness Thus for her life As for her death I can say little touching it It pleased God not to give her any long time of sickness but to take her away though not unprepared yet on a sudden with a short warning When her bitter pangs first came upon her she called to her Husband and desired him to joyn with her in hearty prayer to Almighty God that he would be graciously pleased to extend his mercy towards her that he would be pleased to let her live longer that she might repent of her sins and beg mercy at his hands for them that she might amend her life And if he would not grant this for her yet for those many poor Children that were young that she was to leave behind her she desired him to be a careful Father over them all she prayed to God devoutly to send a blessing both upon him and them Much she could not then speak because of her pains that now began still to increase upon her When she was in the extremity of her labour he being absent as it was fitting she sent down to him to desire him to pray to God on her behalf that he would ease her of those grievons pains and preserve her in the great pain and peril of Child birth The propitious God it seemed heard him and granted his request for presently to the thinking of the standers by she was well delivered Not satisfied with this having received so great a blessing from God she sent down again to desire him to give God thanks for her safe delivery But God that had determined to take out of this miserable life quickly turned that hope of the standers by into a fear and suddenly she changed which perceiving as long as she was able to speak she cried Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul Lord have mercy on me Lord pitty me poor miserable wretch and when she could not speak she held up her hands to heaven as desirous to make her peace with that God whom she knew she had highly offended I make no question but God hath translated her from the valley of tears to the Mount Sion of blessedness whither God of his infinite mercy bring us all THE DEATH OF SINNE AND LIFE of GRACE SERMON XXXVII ROM 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. THe intent of this Chapter is to take off an abuse of the Doctrine of the Gospel which publisheth the free Grace of God to great sinners The Apostle had said in the latter end of the 20. Verse of the former Chapter where sin abounded Grace did much more abound From hence some did infer that therefore under the Gospel they might take liberty to sin the more their sins were and the greater they were the more they should occasion God to manifest his abundant Grace upon them This the Apostle answers in this Chapter and he answers it two wayes
Why must there be such a waiting for this â—… these grave cloths are too sad for the freshness of our life and would you have us be like the mad-man in the Gospel who lived among the Sepulchres Nay I beseech you let us consider and settle our thoughts a little you shall be stayed with reason there are many strong Arguments reasons why we should thus wait both by expectation 〈◊〉 preparation First it is the main errand of our life God did not send us into the world to sin and to adorn our selves with the creature but to bring him some honour and then to die the factor is not imployed to take his pleasure abroad but to do his Masters work and then to return home Tortullien confesseth he was a great finner and therefore born to repentance therefore doth God give us life and the Master allows the servant a candle to work by that we may repent of our sins and get our hold in Christ and work out our salvation and do the great business of believing to be good and to do good and so by Death to go up to heaven Secondly death is but once and that needs to be well done which can be but once done if there might be another space after death a second edition to correct the faults and escapes of the former then a present and speedy preparation were not altogether so necessary but faith the Apostle It is appointed for all men once to die and after death to come to Judgment Heb. 9.27 no more but once We usually shadow out Death with an hour-glass A fit emblem but that when an hour-glass is run out it may be turned again but this once out can be set up no more thou shalt never live to amend thy errours in dying O then how needful is it before-hand to prepare for Death Thirdly when death hath done with thee then God will begin with thee thou must once die and after this come to judgment Heb. 9.27 To judgment what is that thou must be presented before the holy and just and great God who is the Judge of the quick and the dead and with all that thou art and with all that thou hast done there must appear then before him all the courses of thy life all the bent of thy affections all the secrets of thy heart shall then be pulled in peeces and opened and all thy works and all thy words shall be exhibited scann'd and surveyed and that with severity and righteousness how say you then is it not fit to be preparing for Death to sit thy soul to reforme thy heart and life wilt thou be presented before Gods severe Judgment-seat with Usury in thy bags with bribes and oppression in thy hands with a scum of holiness in thy mind with uncleanness in thy members with drnnkenness in thy mouth with swearing in thy tongue O Lord I tremble to think of it Fourthly the soul when it is once gone by Death can never be recovered any more the tree may be cut and that may grow again the ship may be lost and the wealth laboured up again but if the glass be broken in peeces it cannot be made whole again the soul of man is but one and the loss of that one is the loss of it for ever when death hath closed up thy eyes thou shalt never have opportunity to pray more to weep more to humble thy self more to fast more Never any Prophet or Apostle shall come unto thee in the name of God more after death all the Ordinances cease unto thee for ever and all the space of returning shall cease unto thee for ever thou shalt not lie a few years in flames of wrath and then get leave to come out and take a better course O no if once there then for ever there this life is the time of mercy and space of repentance but when Death shall deliver thee up to be judged by the Lord thou must stand for ever to his sentence therefore as Christ spake Agree with thine adversary while thou art in the way lest the Judge deliver thee to the officer and he cast thee into prison I tell thee thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the last mite Luke 12.58 And get oyle into your lamps before the door be shut Fifthly consider it will be as much as thou canst do to do the work of Death when Death doth come therefore prepare and get all thy other work done before For my Beloved consider three things First Conscience usually is most active at the time of death a man that could withstand and silence it in his life yet when he comes to die he shall here his voyce and perhaps not be able to stand under the bitter indictments and manifold accusations of it then it will spread the book of thy life before thee and then and there thou shall see thy sins as gastly presented as if they were so many wounds newly made Secondly thy patience will be tried with variety of pain interruption of sleep every place will be a thorn to thee and every action a burden Thirdly thy faith may be tried to the utmost if thou lookest to thy Wise her tears may trouble thee if to thy Children their cries may perplex thee if to thy friends they may be discomforters to thee and will Satan let the alone all this while will he let him lie down in comfort who would not scarce let him live an hour in peace oh what a victory would it be if he could at the last make thee cast away thy considence it is true the cannot attain it but he may desperately attempt it Why brethren who knoweth the power of these sharp temptations which may then beset him Verily all the holiness which we have attained already all the duties we have performed already we may then look on them with tears and cry out O why no sooner why no better why no more then all the strength of thy faith will be little enough to support thee Will there then be a change befall even all the sons of men Then to make some Use and Application of what hath been said to our selves First build no Tabernacles here We have here no abiding City And brethren saith the Apostle 1. Cor. 7.29 30 31. The time is short it remains that they that have wives be as if they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they reioyced not c. Why this thirst for riches there will be a change why this unwearied seeking after the things of this life as if thy soul were to go into a barn or a bag and there tumble it self for ever Thou fool this night may thy soul be taken away and whose possessions shall then thy careful and only gettings be the glass will be broken and all the wine will fly abroad though thou hast with much eagerness grasped the world in
their patience to endure for Gods cause whatsoever man or divel can inflict upon them to part with any limb for their head Christ Jesus gladly to forfeit their estates on earth for a crown in heaven chearfully to lose their lives in this vail of tears that they may find them in the rivers of pleasures that spring at Gods right hand for evermore Here is work for their faith also to see heaven as it were through hell eternal life in present death to beleeve that God numbreth every hair of their head and that every tear they shed for his sake shall be turned into a pearl every drop of blood into a Ruby to be set in their crown of glory To confirme both their faith and patience Christ proclaimeth from heaven that howsoever in their life they seemed miserable yet in their death they shall be most blessed and that the worst their enemies can do is to put them in present possession of their happiness Blessed are the dead c. So saith the spirit whatsoever the flesh saith to the contrary Here we have 1. A proposition De fide of faith 2. A Deposition or testimony of the spirit A Proposition of the happy estate of the dead A deposition of the holy Ghost to confirm our faith therein 1. Saint John sets down his relation 2. A most comfortable assertion 3. A most strong confirmation The relation strange The assertion as strange of a possession without an owner a blessed estate of them who according to the Scripture phrase are said not to be The Confirmation as strange as either by an audible testimony of an invisible witness So saith the spirit Or because this asseveration concerning the condition of the Saints departed is propositio necessaria as the Schools speak we will cloath the members of the division with terms apodictical and in this verse observe 1. A conclusion sientifical whereof the parts are 1. The subject indefinite mortui the dead 2. The attribute absolute beati blessed 3. The cause propter quam the Lord or dying in the Lord. 2. The proof demonstrative and that two-fold 1. A priori 1. By a heavenly oracle I heard a voyce c. 2. A divine testimony So saith the spirit 2. A Posteriori by arguments drawn 1. From their cessation from their work They rest from their labours 2. Their remuneration for their works Their works follow them Where the matter is pretious a decision of the least quantity is a great loss and therefore as the spie of nature observeth the Jewellers will not rub out a small clowd or speck in an orient Ruby because the lessening the substance will more disadvantage them then the fetching out of the spot advance them in the sale Neither will the Alcumists lose a drop of quintessence nor the Apothecaries a grain of Bezar nor an exact Commentatour upon holy Scriptures any syllables of a voyce from heaven the eccho whereof is more melodious to the soul then any consort of most tuneable voyces upon earth can be In which regard I hold it fit to relinquish my former divisions and insist upon each word of this verse as a Bee sitteth upon each particular flower that we may not lose any drop of doctrins sweeter then the honey and the honey comb any lease of the tree of life any dust of the gold of Ophir 1. J there were three men in holy Scripture termed Jedidiah that is Beloved of God Solomon Daniel and Saint John the Evangelist and to all these God made known the secrets of his Kingdome by special revelation and their prophecies are for the most part of a mystical interpretation This Revelation was given to John when he was in the spirit upon the Lords day and if we religiously observe the Lords day and then be in the spirit as he was giving our selves wholly to the contemplation of Divine mysteries we shall also hear voyces from heaven in our souls and consciences Heard with what ears could Saint John hear this voyce sith he was in a spiritual rapture which usually shutteth up all the doors of the sences I answer that as spirits have tongues to speak withall whereof we read 1 Cor. 13.1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels so they have ears to hear one another that is a spiritual faculty answerable to our bodily sense of hearing The Apostle saith of himself that he was in the spirit and as he was in the spirit so he saw in the spirit and heard in the spirit and spake in the spirit and moved in the spirit and did all those things which are recorded in this Book When Saint Paul was wrap'd up into the third Heaven and heard there words that cannot be uttered and saw things which cannot be represented with the eye he truly and really apprehended those objects yet not with carnal but spiritual sences wherewith Saint John heard this voyce A voyce from Heaven The Pythagoreans taught that the Coelestial sphears by the regular motions produced harmonious sounds and the Psalmist teacheth us that the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work and that there is no speech nor language where their voyce is not heard but that was the voyce of Heaven it self demonstrately proving and after a sort proclaiming the Majesty of the Creatour But this is vox de coelo a voyce from Heaven pronounced by God himself or formed by an Angel so Gasper Melo expresly teacheth us Saint John heard a voyce not sounding out wardly but inwardly framed by that Angel who revealed unto him the whole Apocalypse Saint John here heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Write and Saint Austin heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Read Tolle lege and most requisite it is that where Heaven speaks the earth should hear and where God writes that man should read There never yet came any voyce from Heaven 〈◊〉 did not much import and concern the earth to hear The first voyce that came from Heaven was heard on Mount Sinai and it was to confirm the Law to be of divine authority and establish our faith in God the Creator A second voyce from Heaven we hear of in Saint Peter on the holy Mount when the Apostles were there with Christ and it was to confirm the Gospel and to establish our faith in Christ the Redeemer A third voyce or sound was heard from Heaven in the upper room where Christs Apostles were assembled in the day of Pentecost and it was to confirme our faith in the holy Ghost the Comforter A fourth voyce that came from Heaven was heard by Saint Peter in a vision and it was to confirme our faith in the Catholike Church and the Communion of Saints and the incorporating both Jewes and Gentiles in one mystical body Lastly a voyce was heard from Heaven by Saint John in this place to establish our faith in the last Article
are required at our hands we may be sure that we have spiritual life in us we may build upon it that Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith and that we live in him by grace 3. Our benefit by them is manifold in this life and the life to come In this life peace of conscience their soul shall dwell at ease 2. Good success in all we undertake what soever we do it shall prosper 3. The service of the creatures for all things work for the best to them that love God Lastly a comfortable pass out of this world we are sure our end shall be peace In the life to come the benefits are such as never eye hath seen nor ear hath heard nor ever entred into the heart of man God grant therefore our heart may enter into them quia Aristoteles non capit Eurispum Eurispus capiat Arist otalum because we cannot comprehend the joyes of heaven let them comprehend us You expect something to be spoken of our dear Sister deceased and much might be said and should by me in her praise but that one of her chiefest commendations was that she could not endure praise Laudes quia merebatur contempsit quia contempsit mag is merebatur becanse she deserved praise she desp ised it and because she despised it she the more deserved it Silent modesty in her was her crown in her life and modest silence of her was the charge at her death Her life was well known to most of this place and her death was every way answerable to her life all that visited her in her sickness might behold with sorrow a pittiful anatomy of frail mortality and yet with joy a perfect pattern of Christian patience and a heavenly conversation and though she were full of divine conceptions and she had a spring by her of the waters of life in the devotion of her dearest helper especially in the best things yet when I came to her she desired she might be partaker of some of my meditations they were her own words and when I prayed with her and for her she joyned not so much with me with her tongue as her affections and answered more in sighs and tears then in words often she complained of her tuff heart that would not yeeld to her dissolution and long long she thought it till she should come to appear before the God of Gods in Sion Her last words were sweet Father help me and she had her request for presently he helped her both by the zealous and most feeling prayers of her Husband and by the holy spirit assisting her in her own prayers with sighs and groans that cannot be expressed and immediately her sweet Father released her of her pangs and received her to himself on his own day On the Lords day morning before the morning watch I say before the morning watch she entered into her rest and began to keep her everlasting Sabbath in heaven where she reapeth what she sowed and seeth what shebelieved and enjoyeth what she hoped for and is now entred into those joyes which never entred fully into the heart of any living on earth nor shall into ours till we with her be made perfect and all of us come to Mount Sion and the heavenly Jerusalem and innumerable company of Angels and to the Congregation of the first-born whose names are written in heaven and to the spirits of just men and women made perfect Whither the God of peace bring us in our appointed time who brought again from the dead the great shepheard through the blood of the everlasting Covenant To whom with the holy Spirit c. FAITHS ECCHO OR THE SOULES AMEN SERMON XLVI REVEL 22.20 Amen Even so come Lord Jesus THese words they afford to us a comfortable and sweet argument to be conversant in From the sixt verse of this Chapter is set down to us the confirmation of the whole Prophesie and Book of the Revelation partly by the affirmation of God as likewise of Jesus Christ and of John himself that heard and saw all these things and likewise of the Church of God in verse 17. It is likewise confirmed by the promise of Blessing and Happiness pronounced upon them that shall do all these things and shall faithfully expect the accomplishment of them This Verse a part of which I have read to you is the Repetition in few words of all that matter that goeth before from verse 6. to it and hath in it First an attestation of our Lord and Saviour Christ in the former part of the Verse Behold I come quickly Secondly an acclamation of the Church in the latter part these words I have read to ye Amen even so come Lord Jesus In the attestation of Christ he promiseth he will come to his Church he will come shortly both for the accomplishment of all his promises and likewise for their safety and deliverance from all enemies and all miseries and molestations whatsoever To this the Church makes an acclamation and saith Amen even so come Lord Jesus In this acclamation of the Church to which we must now come we are to consider First the person of the Speaker whose words they be Secondly what is the matter or substance contained in them Ye shall see whose words they be if ye look back but to the 17. verse of this Chapter there ye shall find that first it is said the Spirit saith Come By the Spirit is not meant the third Person in Trinity the holy Ghost because he is not subject to these passions to these desires but he resteth himself in the execution and present disposing and dispensing of things according to his own will and pleasure Neither by Spirit here is meant any wicked spirit or Angel for they do with fear and horrour expect the same coming of our Lord and Saviour Christ because his coming shall be the accomplishment of their misery and eternal infelicity But by Spirit here is meant the spirit in all the Elect and holy people of God in whomsoever the Spirit of God is that Spirit doth say come and doth wish the accomplishment of all these most gracious promises For this is not the desire of the flesh or of nature but an earnest and vehement desire of the Spirit of God in the Elect that saith come Again secondly the same verse telleth us that the Bride saith come That is the Church of God in general the Catholick Church the whole Church of God being now hand-fasted to Christ and entred into a spiritual contract with him She desireth the consumation of the Marriage the solemniation of the Marriage which is already begun in the contract of it and not only every particular member of the Church in whom the Spirit of God is saith come but the Church of God in general the Bride saith come the whole Church saith come wishing and desiring the accomplishment of the Marriage which is already begun In the third place the same verse