that they may rest from their labours and their workes doe follow them THe Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funeralls Me thinkes there is none more fit nor more ordinarily preached on then two and they are both of them voyces from heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet Hee was commanded to crie The voyce said Cry And hee said What shall I crie All flesh is grasse and all the goodlinesse 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 Iohn is not commanded to crie it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to mee saith Saint Luke in his preface to his Gospell Most excellent Theophilus to write to thee of those things in order that thou mightest know the certaintie c. It did not please God for many generations to teach his Church by writing The Fathers before the flood he did not teach by writing They lived long their memorie served them in stead of bookes 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 yeares are threescore yeares 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 necessarie to salvation bee written yet God did appoint some speciall things above all others to be written some passages of divine truths As that same historie of the foile of Amalek in the wildernesse Scribe hoc ad monumentum saith God to Moses write this for a memoriall in a booke So God commandeth Isaiah to take to himselfe a great roule and to write in it with a mans pen. So to Ezekiel Son of man write thee the name of the day even of this same day the king of Babylon set himselfe against Ierusalem this same day And Saint Iohn to goe no further though he was commanded to write this whole Epistle and all the Visions he saw yet there is some speciall thing that God in a more speciall manner would have him to write And here is one Write this same voyce this voyce that came downe from heaven write it Though that writing addeth nothing to the Authoritie of the Word For the word of God is 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 beene turned into lies And how many divine Histories have beene turned into fables when things have beene deliuered by tradition from hand to hand and from man to man Tradition was never so safe a preserver of Divine truths Wee are to thanke 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 Iohn 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 workes 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 they that die in the Lord. There is the Restriction Thirdly you have the Time from whence this blessednesse beginneth From hence-forth blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Fourthly you have the Particulars wherein this blessednesse consists It is in a Relaxation of their labours and a Retribution of their workes they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Lastly you have a Confirmation of all this It is confirmed first by a voyce frm heaven A voyce from heaven said write And then it is confirmed by the Spirit of God Even so saith the spirit they rest from their labours You must not looke that in this shortnesse of time I should goe through all these And I doe not intend it It may bee only the first and second I pray let mee take some time to speake of the occasion of our meeting I would doe all within the houre I begin with the first Dead men are blessed Blessed are the dead Blessednesse is a thing that every man desireth Hee is no man but a monster that would live wretchedly Every man desireth to be blessed But that thing which wee all desire in common when it commeth to be determined most men mistake it Some place blessednesse in riches And some place it in honours Some place it in pleasures And some place it in health of body And some place it in civill vertues What need I tell you more S. Austin in his 19. booke DeCivitate Dei telleth us of no fewer then two hundred fourescore and eight severall places of blessednesse All determined in this life To let them passe Blessednesse consisteth in the enjoying of the soveraigne good That same soveraigne good is God Wee enjoy God both in this life and in the life to come From hence there is a double Blessednesse Distinguish them as you will Whether you call one Beatudo viae the other Beatudo patriae as some doe The Blessednesse of the way and the Blessednesse of the Countrey Or whether you call one Beatudo spei the other Beatudo rei The Blessednesse of expectation or the blessednesse of fruition Or whether you call them as usually you doe The Blessednesse of Grace here and the Blessednesse of Glory hereafter It mattereth not in what termes you distinguish them but so we know this have one and you are sure of both There is none have the Blessednesse of Glory but such as were first Blessed in the state of Grace And there is none Blessed in a state of Grace but shall be Blessed in the state of Glory There is a threefold condition of a Blessed soule It is here in the bodie as long as God pleaseth But then it is from the Lord. It is with the Lord but then it is from the Bodie There is a third Condition when it shall be in the body againe and with the Lord for ever Then is the full consumation of blisse when this same body of ours shall bee raised up and made like the glorious body of Iesus Christ. But our Blessednesse in this life though we have here a comfortable fellowship with God yet because that it is not per speciem it is not by sight it is but by faith wee walke by faith and not by sight Because
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 usurie so much gotten by usurie so much spent in vaine so much kept injuriously from the furtherance of Gods worship and planting the gospell where it was wanting so much kept from benefitting the Church and Common-wealth in publike in private so much from helping the poore here I find it how comes it here was it not written with thy owne 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 owne hand and you cannot deny your owne hand writing when it is brought to your face Hath any one had the keeping of this booke 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 bee a swift witnesse against thee the Saints shall accuse thee wicked men shall accuse thee the divels shall accuse thee but the maine 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 booke 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 hee reckoneth with his servant he calleth him to account not for some lesser summes 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 largenesse 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 bee according to the difference of gifts and endowments wherewith wee are intrusted When the Master in the Gospell called his servants to an account for the Talents wee 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 hee had received Hee that hath received bodily abilities of health and strength shall account for that Hee that hath had wealth and an estate in the world shall make an account further for that Hee that hath had all these and authoritie 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 heape up and the more places of authority and preferments they have in the world their accounts shall bee greater at the day of the Lord certainly 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 opening of the point I will conclude briefly with a few usesof it Yee 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 another Yee see why it is called a reckoning why God will proceed with men in this manner The first Vse then shall be for confutation of those Atheists that put farâ—…e from them the feare of the day of Iudgement Is it possible that there should be a generation in the world that should doubt of the Iudgement to come Nay shall wee goe further and come neerer not onely in the world but in the Church that there should be such as doubt of that time and day By that that is done daily it appeares that there be many at this day in the Church that doubt of a Iudgement day First doe but trie mens courses What sinnes doe they most feare and most avoide by that yee shall know what Iudgement they feare and what they feare not They feare only such sinnes as in the course of justice men and their lawes 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 commeth 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 thinke that God will be as exact in his judgement in matters that concerne his own honour immediately as any man will be in cases that are brought before him Againe doe 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 sinne in their owne hearts A man would not bee tooke with open theft yet neverthelesse hee 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 acknowledge not a judgement to come They feare not the judgement 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 Epistle and third chapter Wee will a little observe the method of the Apostle that we may see how he discovereth them Say the mockers there shall bee no Iudgement There shall saith the Apostle How can that bee Have not all things continued as they were since the beginning of the Creation for so many thousand yeares And why should we thinke 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 hee made all things But some will say by what instrument will he destroy the world By fire How can that be for that is one of the maine
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 judgements All the judgements of God are upon that place where Gods presence in his grace is not If I goe saith David to the uttermost parts of the earth thou art there if I goe into the deepe 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 unbeleefe is a drawing of the soule from God to the creature therefore it provokes God for it sets up an Idoll in the heart of man and Idolatrie 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 himselfe and saith I shall have peace though I walke in the stubbornnesse of my owne heart the Lord will not spare that man but the anger of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoake against him and all the plagues that are written in this booke shall be heaped on him When is that when is the time that the wrath of God shall smoake At that very time and instant when he flattereth himselfe with his vaine 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 deale with the Israelites in Isa. 6. 9 10. Make the heart of this people fat make their eares heavy and why so that they may see and not perceive that they may heare and not understand lest they should be converted and I should heale 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 bee regardlesse in hearing the Word that they heare and doe not hearken they heare and doe not regard they doe not conforme and reforme according to the doctrine delivered then God intendeth to sweepe 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 Citie or people or nation when they remaine impenitent in their sinnes and yet crie peace Againe secondly If you marke the concommitants what accompanies this carnall securitie in the hearts of men and it will appeare then that it must of necessitie bring a judgement upon a a Land and place What is that that accompanies it A disposition slighting of God himselfe When a man I say heareth the Word the judgements threatned heareth the Law warning him to take heed of wrath the Gospell alluring him to repent and yet all moveth him not but still hee flattereth himselfe I say here is a disposition slighting God himselfe God in all his Attributes is slighted His power his wisedome his justice his truth is slighted yea his mercy and patience and long-suffering all are slighted when a man in the course of sinne goeth on in carnall securitie Especially amongst the rest this is a slighting of Gods patience and long-suffering and forbearance of men Wherfore do men harden themselves against exhortations to repentance but because they presume upon the continuance of Gods long-suffering toward them Marke how the Lord takes notice of this Rom. 2. 4. The forbearance and long-snffering the goodnesse and mercy of God should lead thee to repentance and therefore God hath for bore thee all this while that he might bring thee to repentance But what if hee doe not Thou after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart heapest up as a treasure to thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath What day is that The day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God As if hee should say Now you obscure Gods justice and righteousnesse 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 sinne against the long-suffering and patience of God it doth but adde wrath to that day Thus it is when God hath borne with a man his owne selfe So it is likewise when God warneth a man by his patience toward others What hardneth men in securitie Doe wee not see God hath beene mercifull to many sinners why may he not be so to me too Hee gave them repentance after many sins committed why may he not doe so to me Marke what Solomon saith Eccles. 8. 11. Because sentence against an evill doer or an evill worke is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sonnes of men is set in them to doe evill This they purpose they resolve upon they venture up on God hath beene thus and thus to others patient and long-suffering and why may hee not be so to them Well yet I know saith Solomon that it shall not goe well with them in the end neither shall the wicked prolong his dayes Why because he feareth not before God They are not awakened by the example of his judgements on others they are not allured by his patience and long-suffering it doth not make them to feare him therefore it shall not goe well with them in the end Thirdly Looke to the end what the consequence of this carnal securitie is what followes upon it Where there is carnall securitie there must of necessitie be an increase of sin and consequently a hastening of judgement for the more sin hastneth to ripenesse the more judgement hasteneth also upon the sinner God hath set unto particular men a certaine stint and it is not knowne to them what that stint limited is Gen. 15. 16. The iniquitie of the Amorites is not yet full They were a sinfull people at that time but the neerer they came to that fulnesse and stint and limitation that God intended to be the immediate fore-runner of the judgement the faster judgement hastned upon them So for particular persons there is a certaine stint limited Let every man looke to it The adding of one sinne more may be thy uttermost stint that shall bring the last stroke of judgement and destruction upon thee Now I say this carnall securitie is that that increaseth sinne upon a man Wee know how the securitie of the Israelites increased their sinne upon them And the securitie of Sodome their pride and idlenesse increased the rest of their sinnes and consequently hastned on their judgement In Rom. 3. when there was no feare of God before their eyes when there was a neglect of that there was abundance of wickednesse amongst them and what followes then there was nothing but destruction and calamitie in all their wayes I could give you sundrie
shall be revealed and manifested all our wayes and workes the godly and the workes that they have done though never so secret the wicked and their workes the secret sins that they have committed That is the second thing in the manner of the Judgement First that all shall be summoned secondly upon the Summons all shall bee made to appeare 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 Iudge some at the left hand As a shepheard searcheth his flocke in the day when hee is amongst his sheepe that are scattered so I will search out my sheepe at that day and I will divide betweene cattell and cattell betweene the sheepe and the goates The Sheepe and the Goates here they flocke feed and fold together they will doe so they must doe so The Tares here must be let alone and grow with the corne 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 chaffe from the wheate as when two travell one way they passe together and lodge together but the next morning they part and take severall wayes so the wicked and the godly after they have beene here a time eating and drinking conversing and living and perhaps dying and rotting in the graves together notwithstanding when this day that I here speake of shall come then there shall be a separation and division made then the sheepe shall bee set on the right hand then you shall know which is Iacobs flocke and which is Labans which belong to Christ and which belong to Sathan then the chaffe shall be winnowed from the wheat and wee shall see which is for the Barne and which is for the fire Goe on you wicked still seeme the same you are not delude the eyes of the world that you have the same heart that you appeare you have Maskes and Vizards now the time will come your paint shall be washed off your fig-leaves shall bee stripped and your nakednesse shall be seene and all manifest at that day of God there shall be a separation of the good from the bad as the shepheard separateth his sheepe from the Goates Fourthly with this separation there shall be a tryall the Scripture speakes of after the conventing and separation there shall be a tryall I saw saith Saint Iohn Revel 20. 12. the dead small and great stand before God and the bookes were opened and another booke was opened which is the booke of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in those bookes according to their workes Marke there are severall bookes and so as there are severall books there are severall judgements some are tryed by one booke some by another First there are some bookes by which the workes of men are tryed the booke of Nature the booke of Scripture the booke of Conscience They that neuer heard of Christ shall be judged by the booke of Nature there is enough in the booke of Nature to leave all unexcusable They that live in the Church shall be tryed and judged by the booke of the Scripture Of the Law They that have sinned under the Law shall be judged by the Law Of the Gospell God shall judge the secrets of all hearts according to my Gospell Both of them shall be judged according to the booke of Conscience for God will lay that booke so cleare and open that they shall see what they have done against that Booke Lord what a many of sinnes have we committed here that we never remember and thinke of when they are done Our memorie and conscience now is a Book clasped up we see not a thousand things that are registred there but when God shall lay open that Booke and in large our memories and inlighten our consciences then men shall clearly see what they had forgot before they shall promptly dictate the whole course of our lives and acquaint us with every action that hath past us and every circumstance to accuse and excuse This is the kind of the tryall by which the workes of men shall be tryed Lastly with the Summons there shall be an appearance and with that a separation and a tryall after all these are done then commeth the sentence then the Sentence shall be pronounced upon the one and upon the othet the one Sentence full of sweetnesse 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 yee blessed and as they were carefull to come to Christ here so they shall make a happy comming to Christ there The other is a sentence of Hell and wrath and horrour Depart yee cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the divell and his Angels as they desired here to depart from God and said to him depart from us so they shall heare that word of horrour and woe pronounced at that day they shall bee sent away into fire to have their portion with the Divell and his Angels Thus briefly I have shewed concerning the Person judging First for the Iudge himselfe God And then for the Iudgement first that it must be and then the manner how I should goe on to the next generall point that is to consider the things and persons Judged every worke of every man whether it bee good or whether it bee evill And so I should have given the Application and Use of all together But so much for this time FINIS A A TRIALL OF SINCERITIE OR THE DESIRE OF THE FAITHFVLL ISAIAH 25. 9. This is the Lord wee have waited for him wee will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation PSAL. 38. 9. Lord all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. A TRIALL OF SINCERITIE OR THE DESIRE OF THE FAITHFVLL SERMON XV. ISAIH 26. 8 9. Yea in the way of thy Iudgements O Lord have wee waited for thee the desire of our soule is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee With my soule have I desired thee in the night yea with my Spirit within me will I seeke thee early for when thy judgements are in the earth the inhabitants of the world will learne righteousnesse THis Chapter is a sweet song of the Prophet if I mistake not concerning the restauration of the Iewes And the words of the Text are the sweet Swan-like song of our deceased Sister which she desired might be her Funerall song her Funerall text at this time and desired it long agoe before any thing that is now fallen
of Records as it were wherein are written the names of as many as God hath appointed to life Rejoyce not saith 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 booke of life are cast into the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Rev. 20. 15. God in his secret counsell and purpose in his speciall providence and love takes notice of all his servants even of their names and he hath them as sure as if they were written downe in a booke there is not one man that commeth to heaven but the Lord knowes him already to be a man ordained to that estate and condition Secondly as in all Cities and Societies there is a certaine 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 Iames calleth the royall 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 drawne off from the world in his affections and disposition and carriage and made sutable and conformable to the rule of righteousnesse Thirdly as in all Cities there is a kind of safety and securitie to those that dwell there not onely as they are incompassed with walls but also as there is watching and warding some wakinâ—… while others sleepe to keepe the rest in safety So in this heavenly societie the Angels pitch their Tents about those that feare God nay the Lord himselfe 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 feare no danger God disperseth and disappointeth a thousand projects intended against his servants It was so with his owne people Israel while they were in the plaines securely lying in their tents there is Balack and Balaam consulting upon the mountaines how to curse them but the God of Israel that is above the mountaines that sitteth on the highest Heavens hee ordereth the matter so that Balaam for his life though hee 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 societie one with another the lesse have interest in the greater and the greater in the lesse 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 spirituall Hierusalem Ierusalem is a Citie at unitie in it selfe 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 knowne 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 goe boldly to the throne of grace and make their request knowne unto him though it be but in sighes and groanes Hence it is that God takes notice of them your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these things and therefore hee 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 aske 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 Hee is their Advocate if any man sinne wee have an Advocate with the Father even Iesus Christ the righteous Hee is their Lord and Captaine the Captaine of the Lords Armie 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 Trinitie 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 helpe their infirmities to inable them to put up their requests when they know not how to pray as they ought Hence it is that hee sanctifieth them and therefore they are said to bee Borne againe of water and of the spirit that hee comforteth them therefore hee is called the holy Ghost the Comforter As the Saints have interest in the three Persons in the Trinitie in respect of their dependance upon them so the blessed Trinitie hath an interest in them also If I bee a Father where is my honour if I bee a Master where is my feare Because they acknowledge God to be their Father they honour him because they acknowledge him to betheir Lord they feare 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 saith Christ Offend not one of these little ones for I tell you that their Angels behold the face of my father in heaven 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 Wee have an Angell comforting Hagar we have an Angell defending Elisha we have an Angel incouraging Iacob wee have an Angell carrying Lazarus into Abrahams bosome But wee never had any Angell 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 praied for us yet they have a common desire of the welfare of the whole Church The soules under the Altar cry How long Lord holy and true wilt thou not avenge our bloud on those that dwell upon the earth All the Saints departed their soules crie to God to finish these dayes of sinne and hasten the comming of Christ. And besides this this further benefit wee have that we are all members
and thrall to passion to this and that and the other lust and divers corruptions Where is I say that Repentance when I find so much sinne Where is that Faith when I find so much wavering and quaking so much aptnesse to distrust and almost to dispaire Where is it It may bee in thy heart for all thy complaining and thou maiest have it for all these exclaymings against thy selfe Tell mee when thou findest those corruptions whereof and for which thou speakest against thy selfe Dost thou allow them or not dost thou confesse them and lament them or not I confesse them indeed but with such a small deale of sorrow Is it such a sorrow as drawes thee to God and drives thee out of thy selfe such as makes thee to fall before him and judge thy selfe worthy to be damned and submit to his Justice Is it such a sorrow as makes thee confesse and then purpose amendment Such as makes thee cry to him for power and strength such as makes thee rest on him for abilitie Dost thou determine still still to amend that that still troubleth thee Dost thou still continue to fight with the lusts of thy flesh by the spirituall weapons that God hath ordained for thee I say to thee thy Repentance thy Faith thy New Obedience may be true though it be weake When a man hath a shaking Palsey hand it is a hand A sicke weake man that lies crying oh oh that can scarse turne himselfe betweene the sheetes is a man a living man A poore child that is new borne and hath nothing that discovereth reason almost but the shape of a man that poore child is a reasonable creature Faith beginneth with weake apprehensions and faint leanings on Christ. Deepe godly sorrow and other parts of Repentance may begin many times with little And amendment of life begins sometimes at a low foundation at small sinnes If it bee true and sincere and constant if thou goe on and continue in a course of daily renewing thy Repentance and Obedience and Faith and striving by Gods meanes to get the increase of these graces and to bee upright and sincere in them thou art blessed in them notwithstanding thy weaknesse take comfort in a little and be thankfull for it God will give more and the only way to get more is to take comfort in a good measure in what thou hast and the way to take comfort is to labour to increase these graces Let not the weake troubled feebled Christian bee troubled in minde as if hee had no grace because hee hath but a little as if hee did not at all keepe Christs sayings because hee keepeth them but a little Hee is a scholler in the Schoole that beginneth at Christ-Crosse-row as wee call it And hee is entred into the Colledge that beginneth but in a low booke with the first rudiments of Logicke And hee is a member of the Familie that began to bee an Apprentise but yesterday and comes not to a deepe knowledge of his Art and Mysterie but is glad to doe sorrie worke Beleeve it brethren there may bee great conceits of Repentance and beleeving and obeying that may make a man good in his owne eyes and be altogether false There may be a small measure of Repentance but if one bee humbled in the smalnesse of that measure and labour and desire and pray and begge for the increase of that measure and take paines to edifie himselfe in it by the meanes of God then it is true and upright and shall save him Therefore Rejoyce It is not with the Covenant of Grace as it was with that of Workes The Covenant of Workes the Law required perfection of Obedience to all the things prescribed a man must not only love God but love God perfectly But the Gospell satisfieth it selfe with accepting truth of endeavour to the thing required If there bee Repentance though it bee not in the full perfection if thou beleeve though not with the fullest measure of beleeving If thou Obey though not in the highest degree of obedience this Gospell this sweet this favourable gracious Doctrine giveth thee consolation enough Goe home therefore comforted in the beginnings and resolved to proceed and know that thou shalt enjoy that which Christ hath promised freedome from damnation thou shalt never see Death FINIS THE YOUNG MANS LIBERTIE AND LIMITS OR GODS IVDGEMENT ON MANS CARIAGE GEN. 8. 21. For the imaginations of mans heart are evill from his youth DAN 7. 10. The Iudgement was set and the Bookes were opened LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE YOVNG MANS LIBERTIE AND LIMITS OR GODS IVDGEMENT ON MANS CARRIAGE SERMON XVIII ECCLESIASTES 11. 9. Rejoyce oh young man in thy youth and let thy heart cheare thee in the dayes of thy youth and walke in the wayes of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Iudgement SOlomon in the conclusion of this Chapter is exhorting the sonnes of men to true Religion and the better to mould and frame them to the same hee mindeth them of Death and Iudgement without which there cannot be planted in us a right care and feare of God From the seventh verse to the latter end hee hath to doe with two sorts of men First with those that were glued to this life and to the delights and pleasures there of and he bringeth them in speaking thus Truly the light is sweet and it is a pleasant thing to behold the Sunne vers 7. By light there wee are to understand the light of the Sunne shining on us while wee enjoy this mortall life This many men suppose to be a very pleasant thing and they over-much content themselves in the same These Solomon verse 8. refuteth by three Arguments The first is this that though a man live many yeares yet let him remember the dayes of darknesse that is that a time of Death will come a time when our Sunne will set and our light will turne to darknesse though wee live never so long never so sweetly never so pleasantly though we enjoy the light of the Sunne yet wee should carefully remember that darknesse abideth us Secondly saith Solomon those dayes are many His Argument is thus much Let a man consider with himselfe though he live many yeares yet notwithstanding the dayes and yeares of his life cannot be compared with the daies and yeares of his Death a man is many more yeares under the ground in the Grave then above ground walking on the face of the earth Thirdly saith Solomon All that commeth is vanitie That is if a man may enjoy the light of the Sunne and the pleasures of this life that makes his heart lightsome yet all this is vanity there is no full contentment in these things but an emptinesse in them all and no man knowes how soone hee may bee bereaved of them Now in the words we have read Solomon hath to deale with
vexation of spirit Againe God will abolish this humane wisedome 1 Cor. 1. 19. I will destroy the wisedome of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the disputer of this world Hath not God made foolish the wisedome of this world Besides all your humane wisdome it shall not goe downe to the Grave it shall leave you when you die There is no worke nor device nor knowledge nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Eccles. 9. 10. This is the first thing in which young men oft rejoyce they are prudent and wise And you see that this is a vaine thing In the second place if a young man rejoyce in his honour and credit amongst men this also is vaine Solomon hath shewed it Eccles. 2. 16. Hee 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 foole for ever for that which now is in the dayes to come shall bee forgotten and how dieth the wise man as the foole Againe if a man rejoyce in honour and much glory hee cannot beleeve so saith Christ Iohn 5. 44. How can you beleeve since you seeke honour one of another and not the honour that commeth of God only And it is noted to bee the reason why many of the chiefe 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 envie Gal. 5. 26. Bee not desirous of vaine-glory envying one another Envie is a vexing affection this vaine-glory is the cause of this envie whereby we shall pine away when we see the happinesse and welfare of our brethren Further if young men delight in pleasures which is the common course of youth these also are vaine things I said in my heart saith Solomon Eccles. 2. 2. Goe to now I will prove thee with mirth therefore enjoy pleasure and behold this also is vanitie Kings that have had the greatest wisedome to invent them and the greatest leasure to use them yet they never found full contentment in the same I made mee saith he vers 4. great workes I builded mee houses I planted mee vineyards I made mee gardens and orchards and planted trees in them of all kinds of fruits I made me pooles of water I got mee servants and maidens also I had great possessions of great and small cattell above all that were in Ierusalem before mee I got mee 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 verse 11. Behold saith hee I looked on all the workes that my hands had wrought and on the labour that I had laboured to doe and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit and there was no profit under the Sunne The wise Solomon that had beene 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 Sunne Yet further these pleasures shall cease there shall bee an end of them 1 Cor. 7. 29. The time is short it remaineth that those that have wives bee 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 choake the word of God that it cannot bring forth gratefull fruit to God Fourthly if young men delight in riches and rejoyce in their estates that God hath given them this likewise is a vaine thing For first many times wealth is gotten by deceit and then God bloweth on it Ier. 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 not my soule be avenged on such people as this Againe wealth is kept with much sorrow Eccles. 5. 12. The sleepe of the labouring man is sweet whether hee eate little or much but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleepe Thirdly wealth is lost with a great deale of sorrow and vexation Rev. 18. 18. when the smoake of Baby lon ascended up to heaven Oh what lamentation there was they cryed out What city is like unto this great city and they cast dust on their heads and cryed weeping and wayling saying Alas alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had shippes in the sea by reason of her costlinesse for in one houre is shee made desolate But suppose further that a man should get and keepe his wealth in the feare of God yet these things are most uncertaine as the Apostle saith 2 Tim. 1. 16. Charge them that are rich in this world that they trust not in uncertaine riches Lastly these riches cannot preserve our life so saith Christ himselfe Luke 12. 25. Take heed and beware of Covetousnesse for no mans life is preserved by the abundance of that hee possesseth In the last place If young men rejoyce in friends and Allies this also is a vaine thing For Psal. 62. 9. The man of low degree is vanitie and the man of high degree is a lie to bee laid in the ballance they are lighter then vanitie Againe no friend can deliver us from Death Psal. 49. 7 8. No man can by any meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him for the redemption of their soule is precious and it ceaseth for ever that hee should still live for ever and not see corruption Thus I have shewed severall things that young men rejoyce in and have shewed likewise that their joy is founded upon vanity upon nothing And this is the second meanes to heale young men of the inordinatenesse of their Joy to meditate with themselves how vaine and frivolous all things are that they delight in The third meanes is to betake themselves to seeke spirituall joy The well-head of this Joy is God whom the Scripture calleth the God of consolation The instrument to convey this Joy is Faith Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith wee 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 booke of life Here is the fountaine of spirituall joy to a true Christian Rejoyce saith Christ not that the divels are fallen before you but that your names are written in the booke of life Secondly the other ground of spirituall
joy is the good things promised us And those may be reduced to two heads God hath made promises either in regard of evill things as wee call them of afflictions that befall us Or the weaknesse of the graces that are in us Now in the evill of Affliction wee may rejoyce first In the promise of protection in affliction 2. In the promise of Edification by affliction 3. In the promise of deliverance from affliction All in the best season Againe for the defects of grace in us which indeed is a thing exceeding grievous to a true Christian. Here wee 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 weastest 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 sinfull and sottish joy whereto they are so adicted This is the meanes to bee rid of it by getting into their soules the sense and feeling of the true Joy of the children of God Againe in the second place Young men should bee exhorted not to walke after their owne heart which is the next thing that Solomon noteth as a fault in them The heart saith Ieremy is deceitfull above measure and desperately wicked It is so deceitfull sucha Cheator that we are not able to comprehend it it is desperatly wicked Who will follow a false guide and a desperate wicked guide so is the heart of man Lastly they should not walke after the sight of their eyes David prayed Turne away mine eyes that I regard not vanity and quicken mee in thy Law And againe 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 shee looked upon the forbidden fruit and saw it beautifull 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 tooke them David was defiled by the eye Hee saw Bathsheba from the roofe of his house washing her selfe and then he lusted Holy men have prayed to God that hee would keepe their eyes in a right frame and temper These are the particulars that Solomon giveth to young men in direction to take heed of carnall 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 lesse may old men Youth may plead for it selfe in want of wisedome and gravitie sobrietie and experience better then those of age If young men may not have evill hearts and evill eyes much lesse old men Looke to it you that heare me this day that are stricken in age as the Scripture speakes that are smitten in your limmes with age that you cannot walke with activity and nimblenesse and are smitten in your senses with age that you cannot well see and heare and taste Oh that your hearts would smite you for your sinnes May not young men rejoyce in pleasures in friends in honours in wealth Much lesse may those of old age Must young men be carefull to chase away all carnall joy and to get spirituall joy that beginneth in godly sorrow much more must old men It is no time for those that are old to rejoyce in carnall things a few daies will make an end of them and lay them in the Grave Oh then you that are of yeares breake off your sinnes 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 corne 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 bee transported to hellish torments Thus much for this first In the second place Solomon sheweth the remedie against this carnall Joy in young men which also may bee a preservative against sinne 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 sinnes 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 booke of remembrance is written before God for those that feare the Lord and thought upon his name So the Lord hath a booke of remembrance wherein hee writeth downe the sinnes of the sonnes of men and this shall bee opened and unclasped in the evill day Eccles. 12. 14. God will bring every worke into judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it bee evill 2 Cor. 5. 10. Wee must appeare before the Iudgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it bee good or bad 1. Thes. 4. 16. The Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Archangell and with the trump of God Epistle of Iude vers 14. And Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied of this saying the Lord commeth with ten thousands of his Saints to execute Iudgement 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 Iudgement Even as it must needs be that men 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 doe this in regard of his righteousnesse Hee is a holy God a hater of iniquitie But many times in this world it is well with the wicked and ill with the godly Lazarus hee is in wofull miserie and Dives hee is in abundance of prosperitie 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 familie of Sathan should escape hereafter Thirdly God will by this meanes cleare his wayes as the Apostle speakes Rom. 2. 5. There are many wayes of God that are darke and
howsoever here we vanish as a vapour yet one day wee shall become as fixed starres in the right hand of Christ wee shall shine as starres for ever Thus I have shewed how the life of man is compared to a vapour that appeares for a little while and then vanisheth away Beloved I pray let not this Sermon passe as a vapour let not all of it passe away in the sound you heare but fix it as a naile in a sure place in your understanding in your memorie 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 Wee have a spectacle here before us that was a reall 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 beene a fitter worke 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 unhappinesse that I knew her so little a while and peradventure you will say it is a part of her unhappinesse 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 weekes or moneths by reason of our neighbourhood in the Countrey but then I observed her to be one of the ornaments of her sexe and every thing that came from her was gracefull and comely the sweetnesse 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 saith A good name is as a good oyntment poured forth like the precions Alablaster-boxe 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 saith of Demetrius She was well reported of by all and I am perswaded she was reported well of the truth it selfe shee had a name answerable to her vertues Solomon saith A prudent wife or a good wife is the gift of God shee was a Theodosia that was her name The gift of God and a gift God bestowed to the comfort of him that had her Shee 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 weeke-dayes and she was not only constant at good exercises abroad but which was the crowne of her commendations she was so at home also shee was constant in reading the Word I am credibly informed that shee read over the Bible seven times in the seven yeares that shee was married Shee constantly made use of that shee heard I my selfe saw no lesse then two quires of paper writ out with her owne hand collected partly out of other bookes but principally out of Sermons not noted at Church when shee heard them but when she came home being in this like Mary that layed up the sayings of Christ in her heart her daily spending of her time was commendable and exemplarie in the morning up to prayer with her familie and then unto private prayer by her selfe from prayer to reading and then to worke and then to prayer and to dinner and then to worke this was her continuall course of life without interruption Shee was a Sarah for obedience Rebecca for wisedome Mary for pietie Martha for houswiferie a true Lidea shee heard and God opened her heart that shee attended to those things she heard A true Dorcas full of good workes they that knew her knew her so farre as wisedome and discretion dictated to her full of charitie of good workes and almes-deedes But her life was a vapour that appeared for a little while and then vanished away Shee verefied my Text too truely in that it pleased God suddenly to call her even in the prime and strength of her yeares she was but a young woman and shee died in Child-bed You that are Child-bearing women I wish you to set this patterne and example before your eyes and learn by this spectacle to see how neere you walke to the brincke of your grave when you come to be delivered of childe I wonder therefore by the way that any should find fault with that solemne thanks-giving that is appointed by the Church to be rendred to God for women for his preserving them from the great danger of Child-birth there is but a step betweene you and death you should then have a care to prepare for your death I see a great deale of time spent to prepare all brave and fine God may quickly turne all your chambers and hang them with blacke and turne your jollitie into mourning therefore you should rather prepare for your winding-sheete and for your grave for undoubtedly she did so and I may in some sence apply that literally of the Apostle to her In bearing of children shee is saved It is true the Apostle gives that as an argument of comfort to women because before hee had preached obedience to them a doctrine that they doe not well relish yet he gives two reasons because Adam was first made and she first sinned that is another reason yet lest shee should bee too much discouraged with that of the Apostle and because the paine of child-bearing was threatned to women for a part of their curse the Apostle addes that as a comfort In bearing of children they shall bee saved Notwithstanding the paine and sorrow of child-bearing was inflicted as a punishment upon them yet under that curse there is a way of salvation opened if they be such women saith the Apostle as continue in faith and charitie with holinesse and sobrietie These vertues being eminent in this deare Christian sister of ours no doubt but in bearing of children shee is saved that is she found under that curse a way to a blessing an everlasting blessing of salvation How shee disposed her selfe in the time of her sicknesse those of the family well know truly I have not oft scarse ever heard of a woman of her ranke and quality for shee was a woman well descended and well bred and yet I never heard of a woman more beloved and more bewayled her Husband complaines of his losse never man lost a better wife all the servants never any had a better Mistris and all the neighbours never any had a better neighbour Concerning her in the time of her sicknesse they can give a better and more particular testimonie then I I only did one office and service to her when in the absence of your reverend Pastor I was called I visited her an houre or
And how can it be otherwise when all sâ—… is the transgression of the Law as Saint Iohn defines it and all transgression of the Law deserves and is worthie of the curse which is both the first and second death for Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them There is no sinne then but it is worthy of death therefore there is no such veniall sin as they dreame of We denie not but that some sins are veniall and some mortall in another sence not in respect of the nature of the sin but of the estate of the person in whom the sins are so we say all the sins of the Elect are veniall because they either are or shall be pardoned And all the sins of reprobate persons are mortall because they shall never be pardoned It is the mercy of God and not from the nature of the sins that makes them veniall for otherwise every sin in it selfe considered be it never so small is mortall for if it worke according to its owne nature it workes death of body and soule It is a foolish exception that they bring against it that thus we make all sins equall and that we bring in with the Stoicks a paritie of sin because we say all are mortall It is a foolish cavill for it is as if one should argue because the Mouse and the Elephant are both living creatures that therefore they are both of equall bignesse Though all sins be mortall they are not all equall some are greater and some are lesser according as they are extended and aggravated by time and place and person and sundrie other circumstances Suppose one should be drowned in the middest of the Sea and another in a shallow pond in respect of death all were one both are drowned but yet there is great difference in respect of the place for depth and danger So there is great difference in this though the least sin in its owne nature be mortall as the Apostle saith here the wages of it is death Thirdly seeing the wages of sinne is death it should teach us what Use to make of death being presented before our eyes at such times as this hereby wee should call to remembrance the grievousnesse of sin that brought it into the world by the wofull wages wee should bee put in mind of the unhappie service Had there not beene sin there would have beene no death upon the death of the soule came in the death of the body first the soule died in forsaking God and then the body died being forsaken of the soule the soule forsooke God willingly therefore it was compelled unwillingly to forsake the body This is the manner how death came into the world by sin therefore death must put out sin That housholder when he saw tares grow among his wheate hee said to his servants the envious man hath done this So whensoever thou seest Death seize upon any say to thy selfe sinne hath done this this is the wages of sinne and if man had never sinned we should have seene no such thing Fourthly this must deterre us from sin since it gives such wages Indeed the manner of sin is for the most part if not alwayes to promise better but it is deceitfull and this is the wages it payes thee The wages of sinne is death The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated wages some take it quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the evening because wages are paid in the evening So the morning of sin may be faire but the evening will be foule when the wages come At the first sin may be pleasing but remember the end the end of it is death Like to a fresh River that runs into the salt Sea the streame is sweet but it ends in brackishnesse and bitternesse Or like to Nebuchadnezzars Image the head was gold but the feet were of clay Or sin may be compared to that Feast that Absalom made for Amnon there was great cheare and jollitie and mirth for a while but all closed in Death in bloudshed and murther It deales with men as Laban dealt with Iacob hee entertaines him at the first with great complements but used him hardly at the last Or as the Governour of the feast said Ioh. 2. All men in the beginning set forth good wine and then that which is worse so sinne gives the best at the first but the worst it reserves for the last This should keepe us from every sin though it seemes never so pleasing and never so sweet to us remembring that the worst is still to come Wee reade that when the people saw that Saul forbad them to eate though they were exceeding hungrie yet not one of them durst touch the honey for the curse though they saw it so the pleasures of sin may drop as honey before our eyes but we must not adventure to taste of them because they are cursed fruit and because of the wages that will follow Never take sinne by the head by the beginnings as the greatest part doe but take it as Iacob tooke Esau by the heele looke to the extreame part of it Consider thy end and thou shalt not doe amisse Iezabell might have allured a man when having painted her face shee looked out of the window but to looke upon her after shee was cast out eaten of dogges and nothing remaining but her extreame parts her scull and the palmes of her hands and her feet it could not be but with horrour so sinne may allure a man looking only on the painted face in the beginning but if a man cast his eye upon the extreame parts it would then affright and deterre him for the wages the end of it is death What a world of people runne blindly and desperatly on they turne to the race of sinne as the horse to the battell without feare as if the Psalmists Tremble and sinne not were rather sinne and tremble not Whereas we have great cause every one to tremble at the least motion of sinne in our selves to which so dreadfull and wofull wages is due Lastly for this point so many of us as have repented and have already left the service of sin we must hence learne as to be humbled in our selves considering what danger and miserie we have escaped so to be more thankful to Christ that hath freed us from so wretched wages due to our sins and that by taking the whole punishment upon himselfe For we must know beloved that the best of us by nature are children of wrath as well as others the stypend that we have earned is eternall death and surely it hath been payed to us nothing could have kept it from us but only the satisfaction of Christ comming betweene Gods justice and us Thinke we then if we can what miserie it is that wee have escaped as many of us I meane as be in the state of grace we have escaped
a glasse with good keeping may last as long as an earthen Pot but both brittle Now notwithstanding this Sex bee brittle and the weaker yet to be honoured and that upon this ground because partakers with Men and as well as Men of the greatest priviledge the grace of life Were this a meeting for the solemnization of a Mariage I might further descan upon this plaine-song that ariseth from the inference of Mens honouring of Women What have I said if it were a Mariage solemnitie surely howsoever here bee before our eyes the eyes of our bodies a visible object of mortalitie yet notwithstanding here is before us an invisible occasion of rejoycing as at a Mariage solemnitie to the eye of our soule understanding and faith for while here we live in the world Jesus Christ our Spouse hee hath his friends friends of the Bridegroome his Ministers and messengers that in his name come to us wooe us use all the meanes 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 mutuall consent that passeth betweene the one and the other Christ having his Proxies here wee the Ministers being for him and every beleeving soule for himselfe This contract continueth so long as here wee remaine in this world when wee depart the body is laid in the Bride-bed quietly to rest and sleepe till the Bridegroome be pleased to come and awake his Spouse and it will be a blessed voyce that hee shall come withall Come yee blessed of my Father receive the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world As for the soule 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 eternall inviolable communion and sweet societie But howsoever this is thus to the invisible eyes of the soule we now must looke upon the object here before us and answerably order our matter and therefore with this touch I let passe the inference and come to the substance of the Text. You heard the summe you heard the parts But wee must here proceed Huesteron and Proteron and cleane invert the order of the words as I hope your selves will discerne if you doe but well marke the order and method Life is in the last place Grace before it the right that commeth before it and the extent of that right before all I suppose therefore you will thinke that first it is meet to lay forth the priviledge it selfe Life and then to speake 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 selfe Life For brevities sake I forbeare to speake much of the divers acceptations of life and distinctions thereof as it is in the Creatour the onely true God Father Sonne and holy Spirit or as it is in the invisible and glorious creatures the Angels or as it is in men who are animated by a reasonable soule or as it is in those creatures that are guided only by sense Beasts Fowle Fish or otherwise as it is in Trees and Plants that come forth out of the earth having a vegetative life onely The life here meant is that wee call eternall life consisting in our communion with Christ our Spouse and this is a life proper to the Saints proper unto them because comming from the grace of God extended unto them alone proper unto them because they are heires of it And in this extent there is a restraint howsoever the extent bee in divers considerations yet a restraint a qualification onely beleevers onely sound 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 speciall life of the Saints it is here begun in this world I now live saith the Apostle speaking even of this life by the faith of the Sonne of God And the Iust 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 saith 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 saith our Lord Christ to the penitent beleever upon the Crosse This day the very day that he died shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so Saint Paul saith of himselfe I desire to bee 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 Judgement when the dead saith he are raised then shall wee also that are alive and remaine be caught up together with them in the cloudes to meet the Lord in the ayre and so shall wee ever be with the Lord. Now then marke here you see the soule 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 misticall union For Christ the Sonne of God hee is life originally in himselfe for as the Father hath life in himselfe so hath hee given to the Sonne to have life in himselfe Hee is also Life communicatively communicating life unto us therefore hee is said to be the Bread of life and in this sence because hee is that Bread which commeth downe 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 owne good pleasure hath written our names in the booke of life and hath sent his Sonne to purchase life for us and to bring us also to this life Behold what love the Father hath shewed to us in Christ Secondly this is a demonstration of the wofull plight wherein naturally men are in this world they may seeme to be of some account they have a life that is farre different from the life of Plants and also from the life of Beasts they have a reasonable soule to animate them Oh but this this is is not the life Naturall life indeed is a death compared to this life that is here noted to bee proper to the Saints which commeth by grace whereof wee are heires and therefore of all naturall men it may bee said as the Apostle saith of the wanton
in the garnishing and sauce of every dish smell in the stench of every dead corpses feele in the beating of every pulse yet we are not sensible of it wee 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 nailes vers 11. pricks us deepe with the remembrance hereof so deepe that hee drawes blood sanguinem animâ—… the blood of the soule as Saint Austin tearmeth our teares lachrymae sanguis animae For who can reade with drye eyes that tbose that looke out of the windowes shall bee darkened Who can heare without horrour that the keepers of the house shall tremble or consider without sorrow that the daughters of musicke shall be brought low or comment without deepe fetched sighes upon mans going to his long home and the mourners going about the streetes to wash them with teares and sweepe them with Rosemarie Origen after he had chosen rather facere periculosè quam perpeti turpitèr to burne Incense to the Heathen gods then to suffer his body to be defiled by a Blackamore and the flower of his chastitic which he had so long time preserved to be some way blasted at a Church in Ierusalem 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 verse in Psal. 50. But to the wicked saith God what hast thou to doe to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenants in thy mouth which contained his suspension shutteth his booke speaketh not a word more but comments upon it with his teares so me thinkes having read this Text in which I find all our capitall doomes written I cannot doe better then follow that Fathers prefident and shut up not only my booke but my mouth also and seale up my lippes and comment upon the coherence with distraction the parts with passion the notes with sighes the periods with groanes and the words with teares for alas as soone as a man commeth into his short booth in this world which he saluteth with teares he goeth to his long home in the next And the mourners goe about the streetes It is lamentable to heare the poore infant which cannot speake yet to boad his owne misery and to prophecie of his future condition and what are the contents of his Prophecie but lamentations mournings and woes Saint Cyprian accords with Saint Austin in his dolefull note Vitae mortalis anxietates dolores procellas mundi quas ingreditur in exordio statim suo ploratu vel gemitu rudes animae testatur Little children newly borne take in their first breath with a sigh and come crying into the world assoone as they open their eyes they shed teares to helpe fill up the Vale of teares into which they were then brought and shall bee after a short time carried out with a streame of them running from the eyes of all their friends And if the Prologue and Epilogue bee no better what shall wee judge of the Scenes and Acts of the life of man they yeeld so deepe springs of teares and such store of arguments against our aboad in this world that many reading them in the bookes of Hegesias the Platonicke 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 borne 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 passe for a sage Essay and a strong line amongst Philosophers yet wee Christians who know that this present life to all that live godly in Christ Iesus how full of troubles cares and persecutions so ever it bee is but a sad and short Preface to endlesse 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 primùm mori That it is best to be new borne and then if it so please God after our new birth to bee translated with all speed into the new Heaven But soft we cannot take our degrees in Christs schoole per saltem we must keepe our Termes and performe our exercises both of faith obedience and patience wee must not looke from the Font to be presently put into the rivers of pleasures springing at Gods right hand for evermore Wee must take a toylesome journey and in it often drinke of the waters of Marahâ—… Wee must suffer with Christ before wee reigne with him Wee must taste of the bitter cup of his Passion before wee drinke new Wine with him in his Kingdome wee must sowe in teares here that wee may reape in joy hereafter Every man goeth though some set out sooner some later and shall arive at his home but let him looke to his way as the way is he taketh so shall the home be into which he is received if he take the way on the right hand and keepe within the pathes of Gods commandements his home shall be the New Ierusalem descending from God most gloriously shining with streetes of gold gates of pearle and foundations of precious stones where all teares shall be wiped from his eyes but if he take the broad way on the left hand and follow it his home shall be a dungeon or vault in Hell where he shall be eternally both mourner and Corps But to shoot somewhat nearer to the marke Marriages and Funeralls though most different actions and of a seeming contrary nature yet are set forth and as it were apparelled with parallell rites and ceremonies our raiments are changed in both because in both our estate is changed Bells are rung flowers are strowed and feasts kept in both and anciently both were celebrated in the night by Torch-light Hee that hath but halfe an eye may see in the Ritualls of the Ancients the blazing and sparkling as well of the funeriall as the nuptiall lights and no marvaile the shadowes meete when the substances concurre the pictures resemble one the other when the faces match the accessaries are corresponding where the principalls are sutable as here they are for in marriage single life dyeth and in death the soule is married to Christ The couple to bee married in ancienter times first met and after an enterview and liking of each other and a contract signed betweene them presently departed the Bride to her Mother the Bridegroome to his Fathers house till the wedding day on which the Bridegroome late in the night was brought to his Spouse and then hee tooke her and inseparably linked him selfe unto her Here the couple to bee married in man are the bodie and the soule at our birth the contract is made but after a short enterview and small abode together the parties are parted and the bodie the Bride
returneth to her Mothers house the earth but the soule the Bridegroome to his Fathers house the Father of 〈◊〉 in Heaven as both their gests are set forth in this chapter verse 7. the dust returnes to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave iâ—… But in the evening of the World at that dreadfull night after which the Angell swore there should bee no more day or time here the soule is given by God to the bodie againe and then the marriage is consummated and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better for worse to runne one everlasting fortune and to participate either eternall joyes or torments together Thus man is brought to his long home or as the Seventy and Saint Ierome render the Hebrew his house of eternitie and the mourners go about the streets here is a short reckoning of all mankinde like to that of the Psalmist who alluding to the name of the two Patriarches sayth Coll ADAM ABEL All men are altogether vanitie so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventâ—…res casting all appeare wretched and miserable describitur miseria mortis in morientibus compatientibus all are either dead corpses or sad mourners corpses alreadie dead or mourners for the dead and their courses and motions are two 1 Straite man goeth c. 2 Circular mourners goe about The dead goe directly to their long home the living fetch a compasse and round about the termini of which their motions shall bee the bounds of my discourse at this present Wherein that you may the better discerne my passage from point to point I will set up sixe Posts or standings 1 The Scope 2 Coherence 3 Sense 4 Parts 5 Doctrine 6 Use. The Scope will give light to the Coherence the Coherence to the Sense the Sense to the Parts the Parts to the Doctrine the Doctrine to the Use. Wherefore I humbly entreate the assistance of Gods Spirit with the intention of yours whil'st in unfolding this rich peece of Arras I shall point with the finger to 1 The maine Scope 2 The right Coherence 3 The litterall Sense 4 The naturall Division 5 The generall Doctrine 6 The speciall application of this parcell of holy Scripture First the Scope Although all other Canonicall bookes of this old and new Testament were read in the Church yet as Gregorie Nyssen acutely observes this booke alone is intituled Ecclesiastes the Preacher or Church-man because this alone in a manner tendeth wholy to Ecclesiasticall politie or such a kinde of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher or Church-man For the prime scope of this booke is to stirre up all religious mindes to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth to enter speedily into a strict course of holinesse which will bring us to eternall happinesse to dedicate to God and his service the prime in both senses that is the first and best part of our time For as in a glasse of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out and nothing but lees and mouther at the last so it is in our time and age Optima queque dies miseries mortalibus â—…vi prima fluit Our best dayes first runne and our worst at the last And shall wee offer that indignitie to the Divine Majestie as to offer him the Devills leavings florem aetat is 〈◊〉 consecrâ—…re faecem Deo reservarâ—… to consecrate the toppe to the Devill and the bottome to God feed the flesh with the flower and the spirit with the 〈◊〉 serve the world with our strength and our Creatour with ouâ—… weaknesse give up our lusty and able members as weapons 〈◊〉 sâ—…nne and our feeble and weake to righteousnesse Will God accept the blinde and the lame the leane and the withered for a sacrifice How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age when our memorie and all other faculties of the soule are decaied How shall wee beare Christs yoake when the Grashopper is a burthen unto us when wee are not able to beare our selves but bow under the sole waight of age What delight can wee take in Gods service when care and feare and sorrow and paine and manifold infirmities and diseases wholy possesse the heart and dead all the vitall motions and lively affections thereof Old men are a kinde of Antipodes to young men it is evening with them when it is morning with these it is Autumne in their bodies when it is Spring in these the Spring of the yeare to decrepâ—…t old men is as the Fall Summer is Winter to them and Winter death it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish which is the Prognosticatour of the Spring or the Grashopper leape and sing the Preludium of Summer for they now minde not the Almond-tree but the Cypresse nor thinke of the Grashopper but of the worme because they are far on in their way to their long home and the mourners are already in the streets marshalling as it were their troops and setting all in equipage for their funerall no dilectable objects affect their dull and dying sences but are rather grievous unto them as the Sunne and Raine are to old stumpes of trees which make them not spring againe but rot them rather and dispose them to putrifaction And so I have past the first and am come to the second Post or standing The right Coherence When they shall be afrayd of that which is high and feare shall be in the way and the Almod-tree shall flourish and the Grashoper shall bee a burthen and desire shall faile because man goeth to his long home If this Consequence be firme the Coherence must needs bee good but if this bee infirme and lame that must needes bee out of joynt let us then consider of the Consequence Surely Aristotle seemeth to bee of another minde whose observation it is old men that have their foot on Deaths threshold would then draw backe their legge if they could and at the very instant of their dissolution are most desirous of the continuance of their life and seeing the pleasures of sâ—…e like the Apples of Tantaâ—… running away from them they catch at them the more grâ—…dily for want is the 〈◊〉 one of dâ—…ire and experience offereth us many instances of old men in whâ—… Saint 〈◊〉 growes young againe who according to the corruption of nature which Saint Austin bewaileth with teares â—…alunt libidiâ—…em expleri quam exâ—…gui they are so faâ—…re from having no lust or desire of pleasures as being cloyed there with that they are more insatiable in them then in youth the flesh in them is like the Peacockes quae â—…ctarecrudescit which after it is sod in time will grow raw again so in them after mortification by diseases and age it reviveth Sophocles the Heathen Poet might passe for a Saint in comparison of them for hee
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 plaine pack-staffe methodists who esteeme of all flowers of Rhetoricke in Sermons no better then stinking weedes 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 doubtlesse as the breath of a man hath more force in a Trunke and the winde a lowder and sweeter sound in the Organ-pipe then in the open ayre so the matter of our speech and the theame of our discourse which is conveyed through figures and formes of Art both sound sweeter to the eare 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 carnall eloquence in Poets and heathen Oratours and taske the Scriptures for rude simplicitie and want of all Art and eloquence It is true the Scripture is written in a style peculiar to it selfe the elocution in it is such as Lactantius observeth that it befitteth no other bookes as neither doth that wee find in other bookes befit it As the matter in Scripture so the forme is divine nec vox hominum sonat which consisteth not in the words of mans wisedome but in the evidence of the Spirit Yet is there admirable eloquence in it and farre surpassing which we find in all other writings Wherefore Politian the Grammarian who pretended he durst not touch any leafe in the Bible for feare of defiling the puritie of his language or slurring the glosse of his style is condemned as well by learned humanists as Divines And Theopompus who went about to cloath Gods word with gay and trimme phrases of heathen Oratours and Poets was punished by God with losse of his wits Thus have we viewed the forme let us now have an eye to the matter our Lords conquest over Death and the Grave There are two things most dreadfull to the nature of man Death and the Grave the one severeth the soule the other consumeth the body and resolveth it inâ—… dust the valiantest conquerours that with their bloody flags and colours have strucke a terrour unto all Nations yet have beene affrighted themselves at the displaying of the pale and wan colours of Death the most retired Philosophers and Monkes who have lived in Cells and Caves under the ground yet have beene startled at the sight of their Grave How much then are wee indebted to our Christian faith that not only overcommeth the world but also conquereth the feare of Death and the grave and dareth both in the words of my Text O death sting mee if thou canst O grave conquer mee if thou bee able O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie 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 victorie of the other Will it please you then to fixe the eye of your observation upon the parts of this Text as they are layd before you in termes 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 Interrogatorie put to Death touching the ledging of his sting 2 Upon the second Interrogatorie put to the Grave touching the field of his victorie First for the manner of Citing it is by an Apostrophe a figure often accurring in holy Scripture as in the booke of Kings O Altar Altar O ye mountaines of Gilboa and of the Psalmes lift up ye gates and bee ye lift up you everlasting doores 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 rhetoricke the Auncient Fathers in their funerall Orations many times turned to the dead and used such compellations as these audâ—… Constaâ—… 〈◊〉 Paula heare O 〈◊〉 farewell O Paula From which passages our adversaries very weakely if not ridiculously inferres the invocation of Saints departed making weapons of plumes of leathers and arguments of ornaments and which is farre worse Divinitie of rhetoricke 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 looke upon us or eares to heare us or that we ought to invocate them because the Holy Ghost maketh such Apostrophes to them as the Fathers doe to the soules 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 dye before they are buried and the Grave is properly no Grave till it bee possessed by a dead bodie 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 tearmed Domus silentii a house of silence In Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snpple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either from a word signifying to stretch because death stretcheth out the bodie or from words signifying to tend upwards because by death the soule is carried upwards returning to God that gave it In Latine Mors either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fatall portion or as Saint Austine will have it a morsu because the biting of the Serpent caused it The letter or word is but like the barke or rinde the sense is the juyce yet here wee may sucke some sweetnesse from the barke or rinde From the hebrew Muth we learne that our tongues must bee bound to their good behaviour concerning the dead we must not make them our ordinarie table talke or breake jeasts upon them much lesse vent our spleene or wreake our malice on them wee must never speake of them but in a serious and regardfull manner de mortuis nil nisi bene From the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutando Ï„ tenuem in Θ aspiratam wee must learne to extend our hands to the poore especially neare death which stretcheth out our bodies and to send our thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the things that are above whether if wee dye well the Angells shall imediately carrie our souls From the Latine mors so tearmed quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
print that the Apostles and Evangelists had no command from God to write their Gospells or Epistles but that they wrote upon the entreatie of some friends or some emergent occasions 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 grosse ignorance if not rathâ—…r giving the lye to his own knowledge But yet farther rather to confound him with shame then convince him with evidence doth not the Apostle affirme in generall of the whole Scripture that it is given by Divine insâ—…iration and what is inspiring but a kinde of dictating to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost and doth not hee that dictateth to another both tell him what hee shall write and bid him write it Besides in the 1. of the Apocalypse vers 10. 11. Saint Iohn 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 Booke Thirdly besides the generall command of committing the whole Word of God to writing and a speciall mandate for the writing the Apocâ—…lypse wee have a singular precept for the writing the precise words of this Text and must not that needs bee 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 â—…n argument à tertio adjacentâ—… ad secundum ever holdeth if the teaâ—…es bee taken in the proper sense The Metaphisicks demonstraâ—… non entis nullus esse affectiones that such things as have no existence have no qualities nor reall attributes but blessednesse 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 doubtlesse the living quia mortui ne sunt quidem because the dead were not to bee reckoned upon inregard now they are not at all spake without booke and uttered that which is most false as wee learne from the mouth of Truth himselfe who not onely affirmeth that the dead are but that they are also living though dead to this World yet not to the World to come dead to men but not dead to God have yee not read sayth our Saviour what is spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob 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 dye in the Lord Yea but you will say those that are already dead cannot dye what then is the meaning of this phrase the dead that dye in the Lord Saint Ambrose answereth hee that is dead alreadie cannot dye in the same sense that hee is dead but hee that is alreadie dead in one sense may bee sayd to dye in another hee that is dead to the World as all the regenerated who have mortified the deeds of the flesh may afterwards dye to the bodye and so dye in the Lord that is breathe out his soule into the hands of the Lord. This is sound Divinitie and a true proposition but no true exposition of this place in which the latter seemeth to bee a limitation of the former as God is neare to all that call upon him yea all that call upon him faithfully so here blessed are the dead what all dead howsoever they dye no but all that dye in the Lord. There is much varietie among the interpreters about the interpretation of this phrase to dye in the Lord. Some will have the meaning thereof to bee those that dye for the Christian faith and seale the truth thereof with their bloud And they alleage for themselves first paralell texts of Scripture wherein the preposition in is put for pro for as Gen. 18. 13. omnes in tâ—… benedicentur all Nations shall bee blessed in thee that is for thee and in thy seed that is â—…orthy seed and Gen. 28. 18. servivi Berachel word for word I served in Rachel that is for Rachel Next they alleage the anteâ—…edents together with the occasion of these words verse 12. here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keepe the Commandements of God and the faith of Iesus Christ and truly the maine scope of the Text seemeth to bee to arme 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 dye are blessed for they exchange a temporall life in this World for an eternall in another Thirdly say they it cannot bee well conceived how any can dye in Domino in the Lord who is the Lord of life if wee take the preposition in the proper sence for though in the naturall bodie a member may bee cut off and dye the head being alive yet it is not so in the mysticall bodie of Christ no true Member thereof can bee cut off much lesse dye while it continues in that bodie by dying in the Lord therefore wee must understand dying for the Lord so they Others will have the words not to bee restrained to Martyrs onely but to belong to all that die in the feare of God and the faith of Christ. And they alleage for themselves also a paralell Text 1 Cor. 15. 18. where to fall a sleepe in the Lord is spoken generally of all true beleevers departing this life Besides Saint Bernard and other of the Auncients apparantly distinguish these phrases mori in Domino mori propter Dominum to dye in the Lord and to dye for the Lord mori pro Domino martyrum est mori in Domino omnium confessorum si beati qui in Domino moriuntur quanto magis qui pro Domino moriuntur to dye for the Lord is the glory of martyrs but to dye in the Lord the glory of all Confessors if they are happy who dye in the Lord how much more they that dye for the Lord Thirdly the reward here promised is common to all beleevers and not peculiar to the Martyrs for all true beleevers when they dye rest from their labours and their workes follow them If the Spirit had meant Martyrs onely hee would rather have sayd they have ease from their torments then rest from their labours and their trophies and victories follow them All that dye for the Lord dye also in the Lord but all that dye in the Lord doe not necessarily dye for the Lord wee denie not that the Martyrs have the greatest share in this blessednesse but all Confessours have their partsalso the Martyrs Crowne is beset with a Rubie or some richer jewell then ordinary their Garland hath a flower or two more in it to