not but this I am sure of that there have been too many unkind passages where the fault is your selves know But this is to be taken into consideration that God removeth them from ye as if ye were worthy of none If God send us these helps and Lampes that waste themselves to shine to us and to break and dispence to us the bread of life shall we not give them incouragement in their studies that they may go on quietly and peaceably A word is enough for that Howsoever some of ye would not suffer him to rest God hath taken him to his rest There is more might be said but I will not say too much For the other since I came from my house I had information at my first footing in the Parish they said she was as good a woman as lived At my first footing in the house they said she was a very good woman Those that have lived in the Parish they testifie that she was a woman most eminent for her piety and vertue Shall she want a memorial I asked of those that have known her of old they say she was a righteous woman for the righteousness of piety and a merciful woman for the righteonsness of mercy She had respect to both tables to her duty to God to her Neighbour For the mercy of charity she was good to the poor she was a lender to those that were in necessity and a giver too For the mercy of piety she was very compassionate to those that were in afflictions she sympathized with them visited them and comforted them For the mercy of peace in time of contention she laboured to set all strait she had a soft answer co pacifie wrath She was a merciful woman and God hath given her the reward hath took her to his rest She was a lover of peace he hath taken her to the place of peace She was one hat studied happiness and he hath taken her to a place of happiness He hath took her from these evils that we are reserved to and that we may fear That is the difference between a godly and an impenitent man Impenitent men if they be took away they are taken to further evill if they be left alive they are left to further evil Merciful men if they be took away they are taken away for the eschewing of evil and if they be left on the earth it is for the diverting of evil They divert them while they live and shun them when they die As they labour to honour God in their lives so God gratifieth them in their death he takes them to himself This consideration and occasion is a proof of the Text. As it is proved in all the Text let us disprove it in our selves that this word may never go in the course it lieth here but in a contrary course That righteous men perish and men do lay it to heart let it be said so and merciful men though they be took away yet there are those that take it into consideration I have done with the last part and with the occasion THE GOOD MANS EPITAPH OR THE HAPPINESSE OF Those that Die VVell SERMON IX REVBLAT 14.13 I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals Me thinks there is none more fit nor more ordinarily preached on than two and they are both of them voices from heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet He was commanded to crie The voyce said Cry And be said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field You will say That is a fit Text indeed So is this here A voyce from heaven too But Saint John is not commanded to cry it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to me faith Saint Luke in his preface to his Gospel Most excellent Theophilus to write to thee of these things in order that thou mightest know the certainty c. It did not please God for many generatious to teach his Church by writing The Fathers before the flood he did not teach by writing They lived long their memory served them instead of books and they had now and then some Divine revelations They needed no writing But after that the dayes of man grew short as they did in the time of Moses the man of God the dayes of our years are threescore years and ten then I say when the dayes of man came thus to be shortned it pleased God to teach his Church by writing And although the whole will of God all things necessary to solvation be written yet God did appoint some special things above all others to be written some passages of divide truths As that same history of the foil of Amalek in the wilderness Scribehoc ad monumentum saith God to Moses write this for a memorial in a book So God commandeth Isaiah to take to himself a great roul and to write in it with a mans pen. So to Exekiel Son of man write thee the name of the day even of this same day the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day And Saint John to go no further though he was commanded to write this whole Epistle and all the Visions he saw yet there is some special thing that God in a more special manner would have him to write And here is one Write this same voyce this 〈◊〉 that came down from heaven write it Though that writing addeth nothing to the Authority of the Word For the word of God is the same Word and is as well to be obeyed and as well to be beleeved when it is delivered by tradition as when it is by writing yet notwithstanding we are to blesse God that we have it written How many Divine truths have been turned into lies And how many divine Histories have been turned into fables when things have been delivered by tradition from hand to hand and from man to man Tradition was never so safe a preserver of Divine truths We are to thank God I say for the whole Scripture for every part of it for whatsoever is written is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope But what comfortable thing is this that here Saint John is commanded to write Write what Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord so saith the spirit they rest from their labours and their works follow them In the which you have five things First you have a Proposition Dead men are blessed Blessed are the dead Now because this is not generally true therefore Secondly you have a Restriction all Dead men are not blessed But who are blessed then
therefore the mouth of all ungodly men shall be stopped at the day of the Lord they shall have nothing to say for themselves why justice should not proceed against them Here will god say I find so much given to usury so much gotten by usury so much spent in vain so much kept injuriously from the furtherance of Gods worship and planting the Gospel where it was wanting so much kept from benefiting the Church and Common-wealth in publick in private so much from helping the poor here I find it how comes it here was it not written with thy own hand was it not thy selfe that made this impression upon thy conscience by thy owne guilt What wilt thou say for thy selfe hath any one accused thee wrongfully hath any one wrote it by mistake No all is done with thy own hand and you cannot deny your own hand writing when it is brought to your face Hath any one had the keeping of this book of thy conscience hast thou not alwayes had it in thy owne Possession what canst thou alledge for thy selfe I know beloved and it is true that there are many other waies whereby ungodly men shall be accused at the last day God himselfe shall accuse thee and be a swift witness against thee the Saints shall accuse thee wicked men shall accuse thee the Divels shall accuse thee but the main proceeding and that that shall cleare Gods justice and stop the mouthes of all ungodly men is this that the accusation is by their owne hand-writing their owne book shall accuse them that they have wasted their Lords goods and mis-spent them The fourth and last thing wherein this proceeding at the last day shall be like a reckoning is this That there shall an account be made in measure and proportion to the trust committed to men The Master when he reckoneth with his servant he calleth him to account not for some lesser sums or for some one or two things but for all that he hath intrusted him with and if one servant have more then another his account shall be greater then anothers according to the greatnesse of that that is committed to him so shall the largnesse of his reckoning be to whom much is given of them much is expected and to whom little little is expected but of every one something is expected because every one is a Steward The reckoning I say it shall be according to the difference of gifts and endowments wherewith we are intrusted When the Master in the Gospel called his servants to an account for the Talents we see he that had ten Talents made account for ten and he that had five for five and he that had one was called to an account but for one every one for so much as he had received He that hath received bodily abilities of health and strength shall account for that He that hath had wealth and an estate in the world shall make an account further for that He that hath had all these and authority and place wherein he had power to doe right and to glorifie God amongst men he must make an account for so much the more Alas beloved if men consider that the more wealth they heap up and the more places of authority and preferments they have in the world their accounts shall be greater at the day of the Lord certalnly it would make them more sober and walke more humbly and watchfully it would make them so much the more industrious to improve their talents to the best advantage of their Lord that intrusted them with them So much for the opeining of the point I will conclude briefly with a few uses of it Ye see Beloved not onely that all are Gods Stewards but that all Gods Stewards shall be brought to a reckoning brought to it in this life and in a nother Ye see why it is called a reckoning why God will proceed with men in this manner The first Use then shall be for confutation of those Atheists that put farr from them the feare of the day of Judgment Is it possible that there should be a generation of the world that should doubt of the Judgment to come Nay shall we go further and come neerer not only in the world but in the Church that there should be such as doubt of the time and day By that that is done daily it appears that there be many at this day in the Church that doubt of a Judgment day First do but try mens courses What sins do they most fear and most avoid by that ye shall know what Judgment they fear and what they fear not They fear only such sins as in the course of justice men and their laws take hold of such as are only a breach of the second Table Men will not be injurious to men lest men proceed in mans justice against them But how cometh it to passe that there is so little regard of God of reverence of his name of setting up his worship in their houses and in their hearts Certainly you doe not think that God will be as exact in his judgment in matters that concerne his owne honour immediately as any man will be in cases that are brought before him Againe do not men feare those outward actions which expose them to the censure of men on earth and unto punishment here But in the meane time they feare not evill affections and the motions of sin in their owne hearts A man would not be took with open these yet neverthelesse he useth fraud when men cannot discerne it A man would not be tooke with murther yet neverthelesse he is full of malice and envie and repining Why is this but because men acknowledg not a judgment to come They feare not the judgment of God wherein he will bring the breaches of the first Table to an account as well as those of the second and the secret thoughts and sinnes of the heart to a reckoning as well as outward actions Such mockers there were in the time of Saint Peter against whom he speakes in his second Egistle and third chapter We will a little observe the method of the Apostle that we may see how he discovereth them â—…ay the mockers there shall be no Judgment There shall saith the Apostle How can that be â—…ve not all things continued as they were since the begining of the Creation for so many thousand yeares And why should we think that there should come any alteration after more then before Yee are deceived saith he all things have not continued alike the world was drowned by water But if they doe continue it is by the word of God and that Word that gave a beeing to them that Word will put an end to them God can as easily by his Word destroy all things as by his Word he made all things But some will say by what instrument will he destroy the world By sire How can that be for that is one of the main
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
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
only in brief run them over this being not the thing that I purposely aym at First in Cities and Corporations there is a Register wherein the names of the Free-men are inrolled So in heaven also there is a Register a certain book of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoce not faith our Saviour in this that the divels are subdued unto you but rejoyce that your names are written in heaven And all that are not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20.15 God in his secret counsel and purpose in his special providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written down in a book there is not one man that cometh to heaven but the Lord knows him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certain law whereby they are all governed in obedience to which they live So there is a law whereby all the Citizens of heaven all the houshold of God are governed that law which the Apostle Saint James calleth the royal law a law which commandeth the very spirits of men a law that disposeth the whole man to a heavenly frame and subjection to the will of God the great King of Heaven so that a man while he is here below by degrees is drawn off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and madesutable and conformable to the rule of righteousness Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and security to those that dwell there not only as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some waking while others sleep to keep the rest in safety So in this heavenly society the Angels pitch their Tents about those that fear God nay the Lord himself is the Shepheard of Israel that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth while men oppose them God defends them while men are labouring and plotting and devising against them and they it may be are secure and fear no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his own people Israel while they were in the plains securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountains how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountains that sitteth on the highest Heavens he ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though he might have had all the wealth and honour of the Kingdome could not pronounce one curse against Israel because God had said to him that he should not curse Fourthly As in Cities and societies on earth men have communion and society one with another the less have interest in the greater and the greater in the less and all have interest one in another the inferiours receive from the superiours protection and provision and the superiours receive from the inferiours subjection and submission So it is in this heavenly Corporation in this spiritual Jerusalem Jerusalem is a City at unitie in it self There is a communion and fellowship that the Saints have with God the Father with Christ with the Angels with the Saints in heaven and one with another on earth With God the Father they have an interest in him as subjects of his kingdome as servants and children of his family there is not the meanest subject in this kingdome but he may make his request known to this Prince there is not the least servant in this Family but he may make his complaint to this Master they may as children go boldly to the throne of grace and make their request known unto him though it be but in sighes and groans Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore he will supply them If you that are earthly can give good things to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give good things to them that ask him They have interest in Christ also he is their Intercessour therefore hence it is that he is said to sit at the right hand of God making intercession for us He is their Advocate if any man sin we have an Advocate with the Father even Jesus Christ the righteous He is their Lord and Captain the Captain of the Lords Army to defend his Church Michael the great Prince standeth up for the children of his people They have interest also in the holy Ghost the third Person in Trinity they have not only the love of God the Father but the communion and fellowship of the holy Ghost as the Apostle wisheth for the Corinthians Hence it is that the Holy Ghost is ready to help their infirmities to in able them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that he sanctisieth them and therefore they are said to be Born again of water and of the spirit that he comforteth them therefore he is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinity in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinity hath an interest in them also If I be a Father where is my honour if I be a Master where is my fear Because they acknowledg God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledg him to be their Lord they fear him c. They have interest in the Angels also Hence it is that they are called Ministring spirits sent forth for the good of the Elect They were Christs messengers his Angels and now they are made Messengers Angels to the Saints therefore faith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heavenâ—… They have interest in them not as worshippers of Angels which the Apostle condemneth Coll. 2. as foreseeing to what a height Popish superstition would rise in this kind I say not to worship them to invocate them to pray to them we know no such will-worship which is without the rule We have an Angel comforting Hagar we have an Angel defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Jacob we have an Angel carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But we never had any Angel that stood in this place to have worship and adoration This indeed the Angels have from us imitation of their obedience we pray thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven They have interest in the Saints also yea in those that are dead not as though they paayed for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The souls under the Alter cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not
know this there is the cooling-card that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment In the words we will consider two parts First what young men do Secondly the Medicine of God to heal young men of their default That that young men do is this They give over themselves to an inordinate carnal Joy This Joy is set out from the time of it the dayes of their youth From the cause of it their hearts chear them From the kinds of it they walk in the wayes of their hearts and after the sight of their eyes Secondly the Medicine with which Solomon would heal young men of this inordinate carrâ—…al Joy is this Know saith he that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment that is it is a most divine and infallible truth that every one should know and acknowledg that whatsoever sins they commit in their youth without repentance they must undergo the dreadful Judgment of God because of them Thus as briefly as I can I have opened the words unto you Though I might insist on many doctrines yet not witstanding I will only handle these two The first shall be that which ariseth from the first part of the Text what young men do what their fault is For as I said it is an Ironnical concession not declaring what young men should do but what they do The doctrine is thus much That it is the sin of young men to rejoyce inordinately and carnally in the dayes of their youth to walk after their hearts and the sight of their eyes We read concerning the old world that they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage altogether sottish and sensual till the wrath of God came in the flood and swept them away Now lest any should suppose that this were the fault of old age only the Scripture sheweth that all flesh had corrupted their way before God Gen. 6.11 Isa 22.14 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die It is thought by learned Divines that this speech was not so much the language of Age as of the youth in Israel Hence Solomon giveth a caveat to the young man Eccles 12.1 to bridle and restrain him from his jollity and carnal mirth Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth while the evil day come not nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them And the Apostle Saint Paul 1 Tim. 2.22 instructeth Timothy to flie the lusts of youth that is in carnal pleasures and pastimes in voluptuousness and sensuallity and the like And Tit. 2.6 Exhort young men that they be sober minded that is that they leave this drunkenness of understanding in being overcome with sensual carnal objects and pleasures Job in the first Chapter of that book when the young people his Suns and Daughters met together to feast he was afraid lest they should be misguided in this kind therefore the holy man in a godly care and thoughtfulness for their welfare sacrificed to God to make attonement for their sin Let us a little consider the reasons of this Doctrine whence it is that young men should be so much misguided in their youth The first cause is natural corruption that they have drawn by propagation from their Parents A spiritual leprosie and maladie and disease which as it prevaileth for the most part against age by covetousness so it getteth ground of youth by sensuallity and voluptuousness This dams up the eare against reproose this hardens the heart against instruction and makes many young men the souldiers of Sathan in sin Again in the second place Men in their youth forget the day of their reckoning and Judgment they are not mindful of their latter end Deut. 32.22 Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end This Precept is neglected both by youth and age but especially by those of younger yeares For they feele their bloud run warm in their veins and they are full of spirits and vigour therefore they suppose that the Grave and the house of darkness is far off from them Again in the third place Young men are not broken by afflictions the fallow ground is not poughed up by the pressures of afflictons which through the grace of God are great means to tame nature and to subdue the pride of it and to bring it to a right frame and temper Before I was afflicted faith David I went a stray And Ephraim faith of himself Jer. 31. I was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoak thou chastisest me and I was chastised I was ashamed because I bore the reproach of my youth But young men are free from aches and pains and sickness and sorrow much more then old age and this is the reason why they are more licentious Lastly young men want true joy in God therefore they betake themselves to carnal joy For sure it is that a man cannot live without joy and contentment if he have it not from the Wells of salvation he will drink it out of watery and slimy places Now because men in their youth cannot take in the spiritual joy of that clear fountain therefore they drink in the muddy waters of carnall joy The use of this point is in the first place an Admonition to all young men to take notice of these maladies and spiritual diseases in themselves The first degree of our healing is to see that we are sick and till then Christ Jesus the Physitian of our souls hath no commission to do us good Let young men observe in themselves first their carnal joy Solomon here sheweth that they rejoyce inordinately This may appear to them first because they rejoyce not where they ought they solace not themselves in God in whom is the fountain of joy nor in Christ Jesus in whom is the spring of joy nor in the sacred Word where there is the Cistern of Joy Even as a bone when it is out of joynt out of its place it must needs be a disordered bone so the affections when they are misplaced are disordered and then our Joy and any other affection are misplaced when they are not set upon God and Christ Now if young men would deal uprightly with themselves they should perceive that for the most part in their jollity and merriment they never think of God or dream of the world to come Nay the serious apprehension of God Almighty would quench their joy and make it altogether put out Secondly the carnalness of the joy of young men appeareth because they rejoyce where they ought not in riot in drunkenness in surfeiting in voluptuousness many times in obscenity of words and phrases in making jeasts of the word of God in deriding their superiours behind their backs As Solomon faith of laughter thou art mad so we may say of this merriment it is
men oft rejoyce they are prudent and wise And you see that this is a vain thing In the second place if a young man rejoyce in his honour and credit amongst men this also is vain Solomon hath shewed it Eccles 2.16 He declareth to us that all the honour of the world will end in oblivion there is saith he no remembrance of the wise more then of the fool for ever for that which now is in the dayes to come shall be forgotten and how dieth the wise man as the fool Again if a man rejoyce in honour and much glory he cannot beleeve so faith Christ John 5.44 How can you beleeve since you seek honour one of another and not the honour that cometh of God only And it is noted to be the reason why many of the chief Rulers that beleeved on Christ did not confesse him without which faith cannot be unfeigned because they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God John 10.43 Nay further the Apostle sheweth us that this is the cause of envy Gal. 5.26 Be not desirous of vain-glory envying one another Envy is a vexing affection this vain-glory is the cause of this envy whereby we shall pine away when we see the happiness and welfare of our brethren Further if young men delight in pleasures which is the common course of youth these also are vain things I said in my heart saith Solomon Eccles 2.2 Go to now I will prove thee with mirth therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanity Kings that have had the greatest wisdome to invent them and the greatest leisure to use them yet they never found full contentment in the same I made me saith he vers 4. great works I builded me houses I planted me vineyards I made me gardens and orchards and planted trees in them of all kind of fruits I made me pools of water I got me servants and maidens also I had great possessions of great and small cattel above all that were in Jerusalem before me I got me men-singers and women-singers and the delights of the sons of men as musicall instruments of all sorts Here were the pleasures of Solomon But vers 11. Behold saith he I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to do and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sun The wise Solomon that had been trying every creature whether it had any thing in it that might give him a true rellish profest that there was no profit under the Sun Yet further these pleasures shall cease there shall be an end of them 1 Cor. 7.29 The time is short it remaineth that those that have wives be as though they had none they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not they that buy as though they possessed not they that use the world as not abusing of it for the fashion of this world passeth away Lastly our Saviour Christ in Luke 8.14 sheweth that the pleasures of this life choak the word of God that it cannot bring forth grateful fruit to God Fourthly if young men delight in riches and rejoyce in their estates that God that given them this likewise is a vain thing For first many times wealth is gotten by deceit and then God bloweth on it Jer. 5.27 As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit therefore they are become great and waxen rich shall not I visit for these things saith the Lord and shall net my soul be avenged on such people as this Again wealch is kept with much sorrow Eccles 5.12 The sleep of the labouring man is sweet whether he eate little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep Thirdly wealth is lost with a great deal of sorrow and vexation Rev. 18.18 when the smoak of Babylon ascended up to heaven Oh what lamencation there was they cryed out What city is like unto this great city and they cost dust on their heads and cryed weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had shipps in the sea by reason of her costliness for in one hour is she made desolate But suppose further that a man should get and keep his wealth in the fear of God yet these things are most uncertain as the Apostle faith 2 Tim. 1.16 Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertain riches Lastly these riches cannot preserve our life so faith Christ himself Luke 12.25 Take heed and beware of Covetousness for no mans life is preserved by the abundance of that he possesseth In the last place If young men rejoyce in friends and Allies this also is a vain thing For Psal 62.9 The man of low degree is vanity and the man of high degree is a lie to be laid in the ballance they are lighter then vanity Again no friend can deliver us from Death Psal 49.7.8 No man can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransome for him for the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth for ever that he should still live for ever and not see corruption Thus I have shewed several things that young men rejoyce in and have shewed likewise that their joy is founded upon vanity upon nothing And this is the second means to heal young men of the inordinateness of their Joy to meditate with themselves how vain and frivolous all things are that they delight in The third means is to betake themselves to seek spiritual joy The well-head of this Joy is God whom the Scripture calleth the God of cousolation The instrument to convey this Joy is Faith Rom. 5.1 Being jnstified by faith we have peace with God The grounds of this Joy are twofold First the good things exhibited Secondly the good things promised The good things exhibited That God hath written our names in the book of life Here is the fountaine of spiritual joy to a true Christian Rejoyce saith Christ not that the divels are fallen before you but that your names are written in the book of life Secondly the other ground of spiritual joy is the good things promised us And those may be reduced to two heads God hath made promises either in regard of evil things as we call them of afflictions that befall us Or the weakness of the graces that are in us Now in the evil of Affliction we may rejoyce first In the promise of protection in affliction 2. In the promise of Edification by affliction 3. In the promise of deliverence from affliction All in the best season Again for the defects of grace in us which indeed is a thing exceeding grievous to a true Christian Here we may rejoyce First In the promise of preserving of grace 2. In the promise of augmentation and
growth in grace 3. In the promise of bringing the weakest grace to perfection Here you have the well-head of Joy Oh that young men would know God and Christ Jesus and the word of God and the promises that they might leave this sinful and sottish joy whereto they are so adicted This is the means to be rid of it by getting into their souls the sence and feeling of the true Joy of the children of God Again in the second place Young men should be exhorted not to walk after their own heart which is the next thing that Solomon noteth as a fault in them The heart saith Jeremy is deceitful above measure and desperately wicked It is so deceitful such a Cheator that we are not able to comprehend it it is desperately wicked Who will follow a false guide and a disperate wicked guide so is the heart of man Lastly they should not walk after the sight of their eyes David prayed Turn away mine eyes that I regard not vanity and quicken me in thy Law And again Open mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy Law There is much danger in following our eyes Eve was misled by her eye she looked upon the forbidden fruit and saw it beautiful and so lusted after it And when I saw saith Achan among the spoiles a goodly Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold then I coveted them and took them David was defiled by the eye He saw Bathsheba from the roofe of his house washing her self and then he lusted Holy men have prayed to God that he would keep their eyes in a right frame and temper These are the particulars that Solomon giveth to young men in direction to take heed of carnal joy to take heed of walking after their hearts or after their sense And these things brethren I have now committed in direction to you The last use of this Doctrine is for old men For if young men may not rejoyce carnally much less may old men Youth may plead for it self in want of wisdome and gravity sobriety and experience better then those of age If young men may not have evil hearts and evil eyes much less old men Look to it you that hear me this day that are stricken in age as the Scripture speaks that are smitten in your limbs with age that you cannot walk with activity and nimbleness and are smitten in your senses with age that you cannot well see and hear and taste Oh that your hearts would smite you for your sins May not young men rejoyce in pleasures in friends in honours in wealth Much less may those of old age Must young men be careful to chase away all carnal joy and to get spiritual joy that beginneth in godly sorrow much more must old men It is no time for those that are old to rejoyce in carnal things a few daies will make an end of them and lay them in the Grace Oh then you that are of years break off your sins by repentance and your iniquities by mercy Rejoyce in being good and in doing good This Joy will continue with you as for the Joy of corn and wine and oyle and silver and gold this joy will die when you die Yea notwithstanding all the supports of this joy in this life yet in another life you may be transported to hellish torments Thus much for this first In the second place Solomon sheweth the remedy against this carnal Joy in young men which also may be a preservative against sin both for young and old But know thou saith he that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement The Doctrine is thus much That the Lord God will certainly bring men to judgement for all the sins they have committed This is an infallible truth Know thou this that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement Malach. 3.18 A book of remembrance is written before God for those that fear the Lord and thought upon his name So the Lord hath a book of remembrance wherein he writeth down the sins of the sons of men and this shall be opened and unciasped in the evil day Eccles 12.14 God will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 2 Cor. 5.10 We must appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that be hath done whether it be good or bad 1 Thes 4.16 The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-angel and with the trump of God Epistle of Jude vers 14 And Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of this saying the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his Saints to execute Judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him For opening of this point I will briefly shew you these two things First what is the reason that God will bring all these things to Judgement Secondly what manner of Judgement it shall be For the first What is the reason that God will bring all these things to Judgement The first reason is His Decree Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after this the Judgment Even as it must needs be that man must die because God hath so appointed it so also it must needs be that men must come to Judgement in regard of the purpose and decree of God Secondly God will do this in regard of his righteousness He is a holy God a hater of iniquity But many times in this world it is well with the wicked and ill with the godly Lazarus he is in woful misery and Dives he is in abundance of prosperity Now God will shew his love to the righteous and his hatred to the wicked in this Judgement If judgement here begin at the house of God It is impossible the family of Sathan should escape hereafter Thirdly God will by this means clear his wayes as the Apostle speaks Rom. 2.5 There are many wayes of God that are dark and cloudy to us but then God will manifest himself before men and Angels Then those wayes and works of God against which the hearts of unsanctified men have boyled shall appear to be as they are holy and good and righteous to their condemnation and terrour Yet further The particular Judgement that God inflicts upon men in this life may prove the universall The burning of Sodom and Gommorah the drowning of the old World the plaguing of Egypt and the desolation of Jerusalem These shew the insinite hatred of God against sin therefore no doubt he will take a time to revenge himself of the impenitent amongst the sons of men because of their sins Lastly the consciences of men may prove that
Bayliff that arrests men at the suit of Death but many a one hath been made the prisoner of Death that was never arrested at the suit of Death yea know Abel was murthered in the field Eli broak his neck from the chair Absalom was snatched up in an Oke the disobedient Prophet was slain by a Lyon the disobedient Prince was trodden to death in a crowd Abimelech was slain by a peece of a milstone Pope Adrian was choaked with swallowing a flie Pelus slain with a fall of a tile Such is our life as a vapour as the sand of an hour-glass ever spending and ever running out as Gregory hath it in his Morals Look how many dayes a man adds to his life so many steps he takes to his death So Jeremie to Heliodorus we are ever dying for we every day change when I am writing this all the points of my pen spends a point of my life nay while we are hearing this Sermon we are passing on I will make a little Use of it and then I have done First make the Use the Apostle doth to them that build upon futurity and think they may do what they list you that think you will do to day and to morrow what you list Oh faith the Apostle what reason have you to build on to day and to morrow when ye know not what a day will bring forth We may not promise our selves life for to morrow much less may we do as the fool in the Gospel promise years when we cannot assure our selves of a moment of life if we might assure our selves of a moment of life in which it might be said it were impossible to die we might possibly be immortal and not die at all but as Ambrose faith corruptible is not so capable of incorruption but since it hath been subject to fall till it doth fall it is ever declining there is no building nor trusting to uncertain futurity we must not rest and trust on those things which are to come but only upon God and speak conditionally of them not absolutely refer the success and disposing of all things to come to the will and good pleasure of God remembring what our life is so make less accompt of our life and of our selves and all Secondly seeing our life is so vanishing let us ever prepare for death for sudden death because life is vanishing Thou knowest not in what hour thy master will come Therefore every hour we should so bestow our selves that our Master may find us at work For this two things are requisite First ever think of death death cannot be sudden to that man that ever thinks of it Secondly be careful to lead a godly life the goodness of the life consists not in the long continuance of it but in the well imploying of it it may be any mans case to live well it can be no mans to live long our comfort is though our life be momentary yet notwithstanding this very moment of time is enough to gain to us here-after eternity and how much better is a short time well spent for the purchasing of eternal happiness then a short time ill spent for the purchasing of eternal misery your life is momentary yet eternity depends on it if it be spent ill eternal misery if well we are eternally happy howsoever here we vanish as a vapour yet one day we shall become as fixed starrs in the right hand of Christ we shall shine as starrs for ever Thus I have shewed how the life of man is compared to a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanisheth away Beloved I pray let not this Sermon pass as a vapour let not all of it pass away in the found you here but fix it as a nail in a sure place in your understanding in your memory in your affections and remember how short and sudden every mans end and life is or may be O that my people were wise they would understand this they would consider their latter end We have a spectacle here before us that was a real comment upon this Text She did understand the Doctrine of it and was excellent in the practice of it A Gentlewoman that deserved a better Orator to commemorate the vertues that were in her and to give her praises due it had been a fitter work for your reverend and worthy Minister whose absence at this time I supply he could have spoken more fully of her then I can because he was acquainted longer with her then I was I account it a part of my unhappiness that I knew her so little a while and peradventure you will say it is a part of her unhappiness that this office is done by one that knew her so little a while It is true indeed I am not able to say much of her for my knowledge of her was but a few weeks or months by reason of our neighbour-hood in the Country but then I observed her to be one of the ornaments of her sex and every thing that came from her was graceful and comely the sweetness of nature and grace in my opinion concurred in her But I must deliver the most that I have to say from the report that I have from others yet from very good hands Solomon faith A good name is as a good oyntment poured forth like the precious Alablaster-box that Mary broke on the head of our Saviour the smell of it perfumed all the house I may say of her as the Apostle faith of Demetrius She was well reported of by all and I am perswaded she was reported well of the truth it self she had a name answerable to her vertues Solomon faith A prudent wife or a good wife is the gift of God she was a Theodosia that was her name The gift of God and a gift God bestowed to the comfort of him that had her She was constant both in the performance of publike duties and private in hearing Gods word not only on the Lords day but as occasion gave leave on the week-dayes and she was not only constant at good exercises abroad but which was the crown of her commendations she was so at home also she was constant in reading the Word I am credibly informed that she read over the Bible seven times in the seven years that she was married she constantly made use of that she heard I my self saw no less then two quires of paper writ out with her own hand collected partly out of other books out principally out of Sermons not noted at Church when she heard them but when she came home being in this like Mary that laied up the sayings of Christ in her heart her daily spending of her time was commendable and exemplary in the morning up to prayer with her family and then unto private prayer by her self from prayer to reading and then to work and then to prayer and to dinner and then to work this was her continual course of life without interruption She was
this a meeting for the solemnization of a Marriage I might further descan upon this plain-song that ariseth from the inference of Mens honouring of Women What have I said if it were a Marriage solemnity surely howsoever here be before our eyes the eyes of our bodies a visible object of mortality yet notwithstanding here is before us an invisible occasion of rejoycing as at a Marriage solemnity to the eye of our soul understanding and faith for while here we live in the world Jesus Christ our Spouse he hath his friends friends of the Bridegroom his Ministers and messengers that in his name come to us woo us use all the means that may be to move us to accept of Christ for our Lord and Husband When a man accepts of this offer there is then the contract consummated in regard of the Mutual consent that passeth between the one and the other Christ having his Proxies here we the Ministers being for him and every believing soul for himself This contract continueth so long as here we remain in this world when we depart the body is laid in the Bride-bed quietly to rest and sleep till the Bride-groom be pleased to come and awake his Spouse and it will be a blessed voyce that he shall come withal Come ye blessed of my Father receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world As for the soul that goeth immediatly to Christ and is in his Fathers house with him the Spouse in that part with her Husband the Lord Christ enjoying an eternal inviolable communion and sweet society But howsoever this is thus to the invisible eyes of the soul we now must look upon the object here before us and answerably order out matter and therefore with this touch I let pass the inference and come to the substance of the Text. You heard the sum you heard the parts But we must hear proceed Huesteron and Proteron and clean invert the order of the words as I hope your selves will discern if you do but well mark the order and method Life is in the last place grace before it the right that cometh before it and the extent of that right before all I suppose therefore you will think that first it is meet to lay forth the priviledge it self Life and then to speak of the ground of it then of the right that we have and then of the Extent of that right and this order I purpose to follow First therefore concerning the Priviledge it self Life For brevities sake I forbear to speak much of the divers acceptations of life and distinctions thereof as it is in the Creatour the only true God Father Son and holy Spirit or as it is the invisible and glorious creatures the Angels or as it is in men who are animated by a reasonable soul or as it is in those creatures that are guided only by sense Beasts Fowl Fish or otherwise as it Trees and Plants that come forth out of the earth having a vegetative life only The life here meant is that we call eternal life consisting in our communion with Christ our Spouse and this is a life proper to the Saints proper unto them because coming from the grace of God extended unto them alone proper unto them because they are heirs of it And in this extent there is a restraint howsoever the extent be in divers considerations yet a restraint a qualification only believers only found true Christians to them it is proper And this life is to be considered either in the Inchoation and beginning thereof or in the consummation and accomplishment thereof In regard of the Inchoation of this special life of the Saints it is here begun in this world I now live faith the Apostle speaking even of this life by the faith of the Son of God And the Just shall live by faith This life it is by Christs dwelling and living in us I now live yet not I but Christ liveth in me faith the Apostle in the place before quoted The other it is in the world to come and it is by a sweet feeling and fruition it is by our abiding with Christ and living with him in which respect faith our Lord Christ to the penitent believer upon the Cross This day the very day that he dyed shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so Saint Paul saith of himself I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ implying that upon the dissolution immediatly there is a fruition a communion with Christ And the same Apostle speaking of those Saints that shall be upon the earth at the very moment of Judgment when the dead faith he are raised then shall we also that are alive and remain be cought up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the ayr and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Now then mark here you see the soul hath present communion with Christ upon the dissolution of the body and the body also shall have communion with him at the great day of the Resurrection of all flesh Now this life and communion with Christ is proper to the Saints by vertue of their union with Christ A mistical union For Christ the Son of God he is life originally in himself for as the Father hath life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself He is also Life communicatively communicating life unto us therefore he is said to be the Bread of life and in this sence because he is that Bread which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world The Use of this point my brethren is manifold I will but touch it First it doth instruct us in the great love and good respect that God beareth to us children of men that of his own good pleasure hath written our names in the book of life and hath sent his Son to purchase life for us and to bring us also to this life Beloved what love the Father hath shewed to us in Christ Secondly this is a demonstrrtion of the woful plight wherein naturally men are in this world they may seem to be of some account they have a life that is far different from the life of Plants and also from the life of Beasts they have a reasonable soul to animate them Oh but this this is not the life Natural life indeed is a death compared to this life that is here noted to be proper to the Saints which cometh by grace wherof we are heirs and therefore of all natural men it may be said as the Apostle said of the wanton Widdow she is dead while she liveth even so are all such dead while they live dead in sins and trespasses and if so be those that are in this kind dead continue so till the death of the body seize upon them wo wo wo to them upon this followeth an eternal death endless easeless
in a holy course and then assuredly we shall live with joy and die with peace when we can get grace in our fouls sorrow for our sins new ness in our natures reformation in our lives uprightness in our wayes faith in Christ a discharge from God peace of conscience oh what a happy day the day of death will be to our Souls ITER NOVISSIMUM OR MAN HIS LAST PROGRESSE A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS THINNE Knight SERMON XLI ECCLES 12.5 Man goeth to his long home and the Mourners go about the Streets ALthough I might in the Kings King Solomon name command yet I will rather in the Preachers his other stile humbly entreat your religious attention to the last Scene and Catastrophe of mans life consisting of two Acts and those very short 1. The dead his pass he goeth c. 2. The Mourners march they go about c. Where as the whole Scripture is a Volumn of divine Sermons and the Author of every Book a Preacher and every Chapter a lesson and every verse and piece of a verse a Text. Gregory Nysscen reasonably demands why this Book which treateth throughout of the vanity of the world and misery of man is intituled The Book of the Preacher To pass by other answers rendred by him and others not so pertinent to our present purpose I conceive this title of the Preacher is in special set over this Book to intimate unto us that according to the Argument thereof there is no Doctrine so fit for all Preachers to teach and all hearers to learn as the vanity of the creature and the emptiness of all earthly delights and comforts And in very deed there is no meditation more serious then upon the vanity of the world no consideration more seasonable then of the brevity and uncertainty of time it self no knowledge more wholsome then of the diseases of the mind no contemplation more divine then of humane misery and frailty Which though we read in the inscription of every stone see in the fall of every leaf hear in the knel of every bell taste in the garnishing and sauce of every dish smell in the stench of every dead corpses feel in the beating of every pulse yet we are not sensible of it we will not take knowledge of it though we cannot be ignorant of it In which consideration the Wise man whose words are as goads and nails vers 11. pricks us deep with the remembrance hereof so deep that he draws blood sanguinem animâ—…e the blood of the soul as Saint Austin tearmeth our tears lachryme sanguis animâ—…e For who can read with dry eyes that those that look out of the windowes shall be darkned Who can hear without horrour that the keepers of the house shall tremble or consider without sorrow that the daughters of musick shall be brought low or comment without deep setched sighs upon mans going to his long home and the mourners going about the streets to wash them with tears and sweep them with Rosemary Origen after he had chosen rather facere periculosè quam perpeti turpitèr to burn Incense to the Heathen gods then to suffer his body to be defiled by a Blackamore and the flower of his chastity which he had so long time preserved to be some way blasted at a Church in Jerusalem goeth into the Pulpit openeth the Bible at all adventures intending to preach upon that Text which he should first light upon but falling upon that vers in Psal 50. But to the wicked saith God what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenants in thy mouth which contained his suspension shutteth his book speaketh not a word more but comments upon it with his tears some thinks having read this Text in which I find all our capital dooms written I cannot do better then follow that Fathers president and shut up not only my book but my mouth also and seal up my lips and comment upon the coherence with distraction the parts with passion the notes with sighs the periods with groans and the words with tears for alas as soon as a man cometh into his short booth in this world which he saluteth with tears he goeth to his long home in the next And the mourners go about the streets It is lamentable to hear the poor infant which cannot speak yet to boad his own misery and to prophecy of his future condition and what are the contents of his Prophecy but lamentations mournings and woes Saint Cyprian accords with Saint Austin in his doleful note Vitâ—…e mortalis anxietates dolores procellas mundi quas ingreditur in exordio statim suo ploratu vel gemitu rudes animae testatur Little Children newly born take in their first breath with a sigh and come crying into the world assoon as they open their eyes they shed tears to help fill up the Vale of tears into which they were then brought and shall be after a short time carried out with a stream of them running from the eyes of all their friends And if the Prologue and Epilogue be no better what shall we judge of the Scenes and Acts of the life of man they yeeld so deep springs of tears and such store of arguments against our aboad in this world that many reading them in the books of Hegesias the Platonick presently brake the prison of their body and leaped out of the world into the grave others concluded with Silenus Optimum non nasci proximum quam primum mori That it was simply best never to be born the next to it to die out of hand and give the world our salve and take our vale at once How-be-it though this might pass for a sage Essay and a strong line amongst Philosophers yet we Christians who know that this present life to all that live godly in Christ Jesus how full of troubles cares and persecutions so ever it be is but a sad and short Preface to endless Volumnes of joy an Eves fast on earth to an everlasting feast in Heaven ought thus to correct the former Apophthegme Optimum renasci proximum quam primum mori That it is best to be new born and then if it so please God after our new birth to be translated with all speed into the new Heaven But soft we cannot take our degrees in Christs school per saltem we must keep our Terms and preform our exercises both of faith obedience and patience we must not look from the Font to be presently put into the rivers of pleasures springing at Gods right hand for evermore We must take a toylsome journey and in it often drink of the waters of Marah We must suffer with Christ before we reigne with him We must taste of the bitter cup of his Passion before we drink new Wine with him in his Kingdome we must sow in tears here that we may reap in joy
I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and in prison and you visited me or an Allegory as Where the body is there the Eagles will be gathered or an Apostrophe as Hear O heavens and hearken O earth or an Exclamation Oh that they were wise then they would understand this Oh that my people would have hearkned io my voyce and that Israel would have walked in my wayes In other passages a conjunction and combination of many figures and ornaments of speech as in that Text of the Prophet Jeremy Is there no balm in Gilead no Physitian there Why then is not the health of my people restored In which one verse you may note four figures First an interrogation for more emphatical conviction Secondly a communication for more familiar instruction Thirdly an Allegory for more lively expression Fourthly an Aposiopesis for safer reprehension and the like we observe in our Saviours exprobration O that thou knewest in this thy day the things that belong to thy peace O Jerusalem Jerusalem which killest the Prophets and stonest those that are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children as a hen doth her chickens and thou wouldst not Here is a posie of rhetorical flowers an Exclamation O si câ—…gnovisses a reticentia at least in this thy day saltem in hoc die tuo A repetition Jerusalem Jerusalem an interrogation how oft would I quoties volui And lastly an Icon or lively expression to the eye sicut galina congregat pullos suos As the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings Where are now our Anabaptists and plain pack-staff methodists who esteem of all flowers of Rhetorick in Sermons no better then stinking weeds and of all elegancies of speech then of prophane spells For against their wills at unawares they censure the holy Oracles of God in the first place which excell all other writings as well in eloquence as in Science doubtless as the breath of a man hath more force in a Trunk and the wind a lowder and sweeter sound in the Organ-pipe then in the open ayr so the matter of our speech and the theam of our discourse which is conveyed through figures and forms of Art both sound sweeter to the ear and pierce deeper into the heart there is in them plus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more evidence and more efficacie they make a fuller expression and take a deeper impression secondly where are our prophane criticks who delight in the flesh-pots of Egypt and loath Manna admire carnal eloquence in Poets and heathen Oratours and task the Scriptures for rude simplicity and want of all Art and eloquence It is true the Scripture is written in a style peculiar to it self the elocution in it is such as Lactantius observeth that it befitted no other books as neither doth that we find in other books befit it As the matter in Scripture so the form is divine nec vox heminum sonat which consisteth not in the words of mans wisdome but in the evidence of the Spirit Yet is there admirable eloquence in it and far surpassing which we find in all other writings Wherefore Politian the Grammarian who pretended he durst not touch any lease in the Bible for fear of defiling the purity of his language or slurring the gloss of his style is condemned as well by learned humanists as Divines And Theopompus who went about to cloath Gods word with gay and trim phrases of heathen Orators and Poets was punished by God with loss of his wits Thus have we viewed the form let us now have an eye to the matter our Lords conquest over Death and the Grave There are two things most dreadful to the nature of man Death and the Grave the one severeth the soul the other consumeth the body and resolveth it into dust the valiantest conquerours that with their bloody flags and coulors have struck a terrour unto all Nations yet have been afrighted themselves at the displaying of the pale and wan coulours of Death the most retired Philosophers and Monks who have lived in Cells and Caves under the ground yet have been startled at the sight of their Grave How much then are we indebted to our Christian saith that not only overcometh the world but also conquereth the fear of Death and the grave and dareth both in the words of my Text O death sting me if thou canst O grave conquer me if thou be able O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory In which words the Apostle like a Cryer calleth Death and the Grave into the Court and examineth them upon two Articles first concerning the sting of the one secondly concerning the victory of the other Will it please you then to fix the eye of your observation upon the parts of this Text as they are laid before you in terms of Law 1 A Citation 2 An Examination In the Citation upon 1 the manner of it 2 the parties cited 1 Death 2 Grave In the Examination 1 Upon the first Interrogatory put to Death touching the ledging of his sting 2 Upon the second Interrogatory put to the Grave touching the field of his victory First for the manner of Citing it is by an Apostrophe a figure often accurring in holy Scripture as in the book of Kings O Altar Altar O ye mount ains of Gilboa and of the Psalmes lift up ye gates and be ye lift up you everlasting doors and of the Canticles Arise O North and blow O South and in the Prophets O earth earth earth In imitation of which strings of rhetorick the Auncient Fathers in their funeral Orations many times turned to the dead and used such compellations as these audi Constantine vale Paula hear O Constantine farewel O Paula From which passages our advesaries very weakly if not ridiculously infers the invocation of Saints departed making weapons of plumes of feathers and arguments of ornaments and which is far worse Divinity of rhetorick and articles of faith of tropes of sentences By a like consequence they might conclude that hills and trees and the earth and gates and death and hell have eyes to look upon us or ears to hear us or that we ought to invocate them because the holy Ghost maketh such Apostrophes to them as the Fathers do to the souls of Saints newly departed out of their bodies Secondly for the parties here cited and called in their order first Death and then the Grave Death goes before the Grave because men die before they are buryed and the Grave is properly no Grave till it be possessed by a dead body before it is but a hole or pit O Death In Hebrew Maveth from Muth whence mutus in Latine is derived and mute in English because Death bereaveth us of speech and for a like reason the Grave is termed Domus silentii a house of silence In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either
of the Creed concerning the happiness of the dead and the glorious estate of the Tryumphant Church and the life of the World to come If we desire to be informed concerning the affaires of the Abissens or those of China Sumatra or Japan we confer with those that are of the same Country or have travelled into those parts and for the like reason if we desire to be instructed concerning the state and condition of the Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem their insinite number their excellent order their singular priviledges their everlasting joyes their feasts their robes their palmes their thrones their crowns we must enquire of them who either are inhabitants there or have brought us news from thence nothing but a voyce from Heaven can enforce our assent to these heavenly mysteries Now as all words of Kings are of great authority but specially their Edicts and Proclamations so all voyces from Heaven are highly to be regarded and religiously obeyed but especially Decrees and Statutes which are commanded by the authority of the high Court of Heaven to be written for perpetuity such as this is in my Text I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write with a Pen of Diamond in letters never to be oblitrated write it so that it may be read of men in all succeeding Ages even to the last man that shall stand upon the earth Here I cannot sufficiently admire the boldness of Cardinal Bellarmine who to disparage the necessity of holy Scripture and cry up unwritten traditions which are the best evidence he can produce for his new Trent Creed blusheth not to publish it to the World in print that the Apostles and Evangelists had no command from God to write their Gospels or Epistles but that they wrote upon the entreaty of some friends or some emergent occasious Were there no other Text in all the holy Scriptures but this nor word in this Text but this one Write it were alone sufficient to convince him of gross ignorance if not rather giving the lie to his own knowledge But yet farther rather to confound him with shame then convince him with evidence doth not the Apostle affirme in general of the whole Scripture that it is given by Divine inspiration and what is inspiring but a kind of dictating to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost and doth not he that dictateth to another both tell him what he shall write and bid him write it Besidesin the 1 of the Apocalypse vers 10 11. Saint John heard a great voyce as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Book Thirdly besides the general command of committing the whole Word of God to writing and a special mandate for the writing the Apocolypse we have a singular precept for the writing the precise words of this Text and must not that needs be thrice worthy our observation which is written by a threefold command and what is that Blessed are the dead If the dead are blessed the dead are for an argument a terito adjacente ad secundum ever holdeth if the tearms be taken in the proper sence The Metaphisicks demonstrate non ent is nullus esse affectiones that such things as have no existence have no qualities nor real attributes but blessedness is here attributed to the dead the dead therefore are And the Philosopher who being demanded whether the living or the dead were more in number answered that doubtless the living quia mortui ne sunt quiedm because the dead were not to be reckoned upon in regard now they are not at all spake without book and uttered that which is most false as we learn from the mouth of Truth himself who not only affirmeth that the dead are but that they are also living though dead to this World yet not to the World yet not to the World to come dead to men but not dead to God have ye not read saith our Saviour what is spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live to him but are all the dead blessed the Text answereth all the dead that die in the Lord That die in the Lord Yea but you will say those that are already dead cannot die what then is the meaning of this phrase the dead that die in the Lord Saint Ambrose answereth he that is dead already cannot die in the same sence that he is dead but he that is already dead in one sence may be said to die in another he that is dead to the World as all the regenerated who have mortified the deeds of the flesh may afterwards die to the body and so die in the Lord that is breath out his soul into the hands of the Lord. This is sound Divinity and a true proposition but no true exposition of this place in which the latter seemeth to be a limitation of the former as God is near to all that call upon him yea all that call upon him faithfully so here blessed are the dead what all dead howsoever they die no but all that die in the Lord. There is much variety among the interpreters about the interpretation of this phrase to die in the Lord. Some will have the meaning thereof to be those that die for the Christian faith and seal the truth thereof with their bloud And they alleage for themselues first parallel texts of Scripture wherein the preposition in is put for pro for as Gen. 18.13 Omnes in te benedicentur all Nations shall be blessed in thee that is for thee and in thy seed that is for thy seed and Gen. 28.18 servivi Berachel word for word I served in Rachel that is for Rachel Next they alleage the antecedents together with the occasion of these words verse 12. here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keep the commandements of God and the faith of Jesus Christ and truly the main scope of the Text seemeth to be to arm the godly with patience and to encourage them to fight against the Beast upon whom before God execute vengeance if it so fall out that many of Gods faithfull servants loose their lives Yet that none should be dismayed therewith because all that so die are blessed for they exchange a temporal life in this World for an eternal in another Thirdly say they it cannot be well conceived how any can die in Domino in the Lord who is the Lord of life if we take the preposition in the proper sence for though in the natural body a member may be cut off and die the head being alive yet it is not so in the mystical body of Christ no true Member thereof can be cut off much less die while it continues in that body by dying in the Lord therefore we must understand dying