these two may stand together in a due subordination one to another a mans love to himselfe and love to God to love God more then himselfe and so to seeke all good in God and in the way leading to him Secondly take man as he standeth in competition and opposite to God in matter of will and desire In this case a man must not loue and seeke himselfe but God When a man seekes good to himselfe in a way displeasing to God herein he must not seeke himselfe for he must live to God and not to himselfe when his thoughts and desires and affections are carried for himselfe principally this is against the rule this is not the state of a Christian of a beleever thus to seeke himselfe in any thing contrary to God or in any thing above him Thus you have the opening of it And it shall appeare to be a truth by these reasons For a man to live to himselfe that is to doe the actions of life with respect to himselfe not to others and to God It is First a dishonour to God Secondly injurious to Christ. Thirdly dangerous and hurtfull to a mans selfe First I say it is dishonourable to God It is the greatest dishonour the creature can doe to the Creatour to exalt himselfe to make himselfe his end in the actions hee doth It is to make a mans selfe a God and to make God an Idoll For what is that incommunicable glory that God will not give to another but this to make himselfe his end It is a glory proper only to God Hee made all things for himselfe Prov. 16. 4. Marke how these two agree well together that that that is the efficient cause should be the finall cause too that as God is the maker so hee should be the end of all things and as that that giveth beeing to the creature it is out of it selfe so likewise that that should quicken and act the creature should bee out of it selfe When a man therefore propounds himselfe as his end he is said in that to make himselfe God Those false Apostles Phil. 3. 20. it is said of them that they made their belly their god because this they propounded as their end how they might advantage themselves in the world how they might feed and delight themselves and exalt themselves and serve not God This is to bring God below a mans selfe making God an Idoll and himselfe God I say therefore it is the highest dishonour that the creature can doe to God Secondly it is the greatest injurie that he can doe to Christ to live to himselfe Christ may say truly and more properly and fitly to us then Saint Paul could say to Philemon Thou owest thy selfe to mee Wee owe our selves to him by all rights especially by that great right of purchase hee bought us to himselfe he redeemed us to himselfe You are bought with a price saith the Apostle therefore glorifie God in your spirits and bodies for they are Gods They are his and not your owne because he bought them bought them when you were slaves and had inthralled your selves therefore you owe yourselves to him hee hath purchased you to himselfe In the old Law the rule was that if a man had bought another either out of captivitie or the like he was to demand all the worke and service that this man could doe all his time and strength belonged unto him that bought him for he was his money therefore he might exact of him the uttermost hee could doe for his service for he bought him Much more Christ that hath bought us from a worse slaverie from a slavery under the power of darknesse and bought us with the greatest price even with the effusion of his owne bloud Hee hath redeemed us saith Saint Peter not with silver and gold but with his owne precious bloud a price farre above that if a man should give all his wealth Now when Christ hath bought us for himselfe wee are become not his money but his bloud therefore all that we have and are is due to him because we are his If we have any good in the world in things present if there be any good to the soule in things to come all is by Christ therefore all must be unto him I a man have a servant if he be either bound to him suppose an Apprentise or if he be hyred to him suppose a workman or Artificer if hee live by him and have maintenance from him every man expects that his time be to his Master and his worke for his Masters advantage If a day-labourer come at night and demand pay the Master will aske him what worke hee did suppose the man should tell him he had beene building himselfe a cottage or mending his owne apparell or had beene doing such and such worke for himselfe but what hast thou done for mee saith the Master Dost thou thinke to live by me and not worke to me Doe we thinke to live by Christ and not serve Christ This is the very end why hee hath delivered us from the hands of our enemies that wee might serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Marke it wee must serve him for he hath delivered us that is we must doe him service doe his worke not some peece of the day and the worke of another another part of the day doe somewhat with respect to God and somewhat with respect to our selves but we must serve him all the dayes of our life The whole time of the hyreling is for his Masters service and the wholetime of a Christian for the service of Christ for hee hath bought us with the price of his owne bloud Then it is an injury to the Lord Christ because he hath ransommed us at such a price for himselfe if we doe things to our selves and not to him Thirdly as it is a dishonour to God and injurious to Christ that men should live to themselues so it is dangerous to a mans felfe And that will appeare by comparing what wee lose by it with what we gaine by it Compare our losse and our gaine together and wee shall see then that wee doe our selves the greatest mischiefe when we seeke our selves most Consider first what wee lose by it Our happinesse What is the happinese of the creature but the injoying of God We lose our end and perfection What is the blessednesse of the creature but to obtaine his end What is the end of the creature but the glory of the Creatour Then the creature commeth to perfection and blessednesse and happinesse when it is most emptie of himselfe when he most perfectly and with due affection seekes God Therefore in seeking our selves we lose our happinesse Saint Paul so conceived of their blessednesse they let fall themselves in the highest point of selfe-love when they stood in competition with God or opposition against God Moses desired that his name might bee blotted
change more then wee looked for for as I said his disease seized on him with such violence and extremitie that he had no space for any thing but to pray us to pray with him and for him That which wee may learne from such examples as these is this That wee therefore bee good stewards in the time of our life Wee know not what violent sicknesse may seize upon us and how it may dis-inableus to expresse our selves to men or to set our reckonings even with God Bee serious therefore in the point while you have health and strength All of you are now called to a reckoning by the preaching of the Word and Gospell if this will not prevaile expect another calling by sicknesse by terrours of conscience by death You are not sure but that the next calling may bee by death as it was with this our brother let mee put this therefore as a remembrance to every one of you that you behave your selves as dying daily Remember thou art a Steward and must give an account of thy stewardship Alexander had his Remembrancer Saint Ierome had another Remembrancer Whether I eate or drinke saith hee or whatsoever I doe mee thinkes I heare the voyce of the last trumpet and of the Arch-Angell Arise you dead and come to judgement Let mee now bee thy Remembrancer Remember thou art a Steward and that thou must bee called to an account of thy stewardship When thou art in holy duties remember thou must give an account with what strength thou servest God When thou art in businesse in thy familie remember thou must give an account how thou hast walked toward thy servants toward thy children toward them that God hath given thee Thou that hast an estate remember that thou must give an account to the great Lord of the getting and of the spending of that estate Thou that art in places of authoritie over others remember thou must give an account how thou commest to them how thou hast behaved thy selfe in them Let every one remember that hee must give an account of what service hee hath done to his Master of what use hee hath beene unto God and what to others The more God hath beene glorified and others benefited the more shall our soules be comforted at that great day of appearance when the least smile of GODS countenance will bee worth a thousand worlds and the testimonie of a good conscience will bee preferred before all the treasures of the Earth FINIS THE PRAISE OF MOVRNING OR MOVRNING PREFERRED BEFORE MIRTH. I KING 14. 18. And they buried him and all Israel mourned for him according to the word of the Lord which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Prophet ECCLES 2. 2. I said of laughter thou art madde and of mirth what doth it LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE PRAISE OF MOVRNING OR MOVRNING PREFERRED BEFORE MIRTH. SERMON II. ECCLESIASTES 7. 2. It is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart IN the former Chapter the Wise man had beene shewing the vanitie and insufficiencie of all earthly things to make a man happie and how much the world is mistaken in seeking happinesse in any thing here below In this Chapter and those that follow he commeth to direct men in the right way to find it and sheweth them where they should seeke it and where they should finde it First he telleth them of a good name in the first verse A good name is better then precious ointment The second meanes is a good death the day of death is better than the day of ones birth The third is a right mourning it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting Afterward he proceedeth to other particulars But this he bringeth in upon the former to prevent an objection that some might make for having said that the day of death is better then the day of ones birth some might object What goodnesse can there be in death as for those that are dead they cease to be and they that are alive reape no benefit by it but mourning and there is little good little happinesse in this to exercise a mans thoughts about mournfull objects Yes saith he it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting 〈◊〉 the living will lay it to his heart And upon this he spendeth some time because naturally we are exceeding backward to beleeve that it is good for a man to be mourning upon earth Others make the dependance of the words thus That Solomon having before shewed the vaniâ—…ie of riches he doth in the six former verses of this Chapter preferre even death it selfe before wealth 〈◊〉 abundance And he sheweth wherein it is better First in the Adjuncts The Adjunct of death is mourning the Adjunct of wealth and abundance is feasting yet mourning is better then feasting And because it seemeth a Parradox to every naturall man he commeth to confirme and prove it By the Effects In the third verse Sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadnesse of the countenance the heart is made better Sorrow can doe that for us that wealth cannot it makes the heart better By the different subjects in which they are That same worldly mirth is in the heart of fooles In the fourth verse the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth but this mourning it is in the heart of the wise the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning By the Efficient cause One cause of mourning is the rebukes of the wise In the fifth verse It is better to heare the rebukes of the wise then for a man to heare the song of fooles And then in the sixth verse by a Prolepsis he prevents an objection that some might make For whereas he had said that mourning was better then joy some might say It seemeth otherwise there is delight in joy there is none in mourning Hee telleth them that that delight it is but a very short delight but as the cracking of thornes under a pot it is but vanitie As the cracking of thornes under a pot so is the laughter of a foole this also is vanitie We will not stand much about the matter So many severall men as handle this booke doe severally connect and joyne the words together according to their owne conceits and opinions of them It is evident that in this verse that I have now read to you the Wise man speakes of such a mourning as is occasioned by the death of friends And he saith of that mourning that it is better then to bee in the house of feasting That he speakes of such a mourning appeares by that which followeth first he saith that that is the end of all men he speakes therefore of such a mourning as is upon the end of men upon
feare prohibited Not the feare of God c. Feare is oft commanded in Scripture know then there are divers kindes of feare First naturall feare and that is called naturall either in regard of the materiall or efficient cause When the partie that doth feare is phlegmatick or melancholie and so is naturally inclined to feare this may be called a naturall feare Or in regard of the object when there is somewhat in that which is destructive to nature and therefore the feare of death it is naturall to man and so whatsoever may prejudice nature Now this naturall feare is an affection that Almightie God concreated with the soule it is naturally good it is morally neither good nor evill but according as it is determined by circumstances Againe there is a carnall evill feare namely when a man feares the evill of punishment more then the evill of sin a corporall evill more then a spirituall a temporall more then an eternall Hee is afraid of losing something hee enjoyes or of not getting something he desires c. In either regards there may be a carnall feare as I shall explaine it to you more anone and this so farre as it is carnall is ever to be condemned Thirdly there is a servile feare and this is such a feare as lookes at the punishment only and not at the sinne when a man is afraid of the judgements of GOD and never feares sinne that is the cause of it And so withall when this feare is only servile and is retained in the heart that man desires still to sinne there is a love of sinne a wishing that God would give him leave to sinne and let loose the reynes to him that if it were possible there were no God no Devill no Heaven nor Hell that he might sinne freely And if he abstaine from sinne at any time the cause is that there is this punishment that is the consequent of sinne and not out of love to God or obedience to his commandements Now this servile feare though in it selfe it bee not savingly pleasing to God yet it is a thing that is good as S. Austin observes for that man that feares servily hee doth that which is good though he doth it not well because that is a thing that depends upon the disposition and will of him that doth the thing though the thing be good as farre as it goes It is good for the restraining of evill men from outrages in the world and it is a preparative in the way to conversion as it is Act. 2. Lastly there is a filiall son-like feare that ariseth out of the consideration of the greatnesse and especially of the goodnesse of God whereby a man so hates punishment as hee hates sinne also the cause of it Now there are divers degrees of filiall feare One degree we call innitiall feare in this world And a degree of perfection in the world to come In this world the feare we have hath one eye upon the punishment and another eye upon the commandement or love of God And here many make a doubt whether they are to doe that which is good having an eye to the recompence of reward or to abstaine from evill out of the feare of punishment For answer briefly Any thing almightie God hath made a motive to us to incourage us to doe well or to deterre us from evill we may make a motive to our selves and as long as we doe so we doe well It was so with Adam in Paradice this was propovnded as a motive In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Then to abstaine from the forbidden fruit partly out of feare of punishment if Adam did so he did well So every one of us in regard of any evill we may have an eye to the punishment that will bee the consequent of the thing For Christ urgeth this to his owne Disciples Feare not him that can kill the body c. And to doe things meerely without any respect to punishment at all I know no reason why any man should aspire to that perfection For God while we are here hath given us these motives to stirre us up to avoid evill and it is well if wee can heartily and truly out of love to God doe it by all the motives that God hath propounded To have a feare meerely for punishment and still to retaine the love of sinne and no respect or love to the commandement of God this is not acceptable to God in a saving manner but to have an eye to God and to abstaine from sinne partly out of love to God and partly out of feare of punishment this is acceptable to God For a man must love himselfe in subordination to the love of God and therefore he may looke to the avoiding of evill and to the getting of good eternall to soule and body Now these feares we may consider of them thus The naturall feare may be accompanied with the Spirit but it comes not from the Spirit that must be ordered by the word of God Secondly carnall feare comes not from the spirit nor is accompanied with it this is ever to be mortified this wee must take heed of and this feare Abraham is exhorted against here Thirdly the feare that is servile it comes from the spirit but it is not accompanied with the spirit As the dawning of the day the Sunne is the cause of it yet the Sunne is not present when the day dawnes but some glimpse goes before him this wee must cherish so as we bring it to filiall feare and then wee deale aright in that Lastly for filiall feare we must cherish that at all times wee must labour to get still a more reverent respect of the Majestie of God So I have breiefly shewed you what feare is And what feare wee must labour to be freed from all slavish and carnall feare in regard of the world or any thing in the world any ill that may befall us or any good that may be taken from us Now you see that a Christian is such a man as may live without all feare that is carnall Feare not them that can kill the body And in Isaiah 8. 12. Feare not their feare What is the ground of this I will tell you briefly Christ came into the world to deliver us from all our enemies that wee might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse Luke 1. 47. So then the ground is this that man that hath no enemies that man that cannot possibly be molested with any evill what need hee feare For there is no evill in the world that can surprize a man that is in covenant with God that labours to keepe his covenant but by the power of the Spirit he may conquer it For only evill and evill future is the object of feare Now if there be no evill that can befall a child of God but such as may be conquered hee should contemne it and not feare it Now
this is a truth concernes you in particular Judge your selves so farre profited by the Word you heare as you can make good application of it to your owne estate and condition Whensoever men come to heare the Word they come to heare somewhat that concernes themselves therefore whatsoever wee say befalls them that are in Christ apply it your selves and make account this is my case if I bee in Christ. Fourthly hence we might note thus much also that When a man is in Christ there is a reall change There is an evident change from what hee was before hee was in Christ. For so the Apostle reasons now you are in Christ there is such a change as from death to life there is a mervellous great change in you If there bee not this change in you neither are you in Christ and all the hopes you build on of being in Christ they are without a foundation they are upon an imaginarie Christ not upon Christ that is yours indeed If you bee in Christ let it appeare in a change let us see how you are changed since you were in Christ from that you were before for this make account of conclude thus much for your selves that all that are in Christ are changed But fiftly and lastly hee expresseth wherein this change consisteth and hee makes choice of such termes as are most acquisite and fit for his purpose He would expresse this spirituall change and marke what expressions hee useth to manifest it by no lesse then life and death There is such a change when you are once in Christ from what you were before as there is between a man that was dead and is now alive or a man that was alive and is now dead and this is that that I will insist now upon wherein note these particulars First the Analogie and proportion the aptnesse and fitnesse of the termes wherein the Apostle expresseth the spirituall change of those that are in Christ how fitly they may be sayd to be dead and alive Secondly it is observeable in what order the Apostle expresseth these first dead and then alive Make account that the worke of Grace in the effectuall change in your hearts it proceeds in this order First you are dead and then alive dead to sin first and then alive to God Thirdly note the certaine connexion of these two together so there is not onely a certainty in the object but a certainty in the subject too not only a certaintie that those that are in Christ shall live but it is certaine to you make account of this make this conclusion for your selves build on it know it for your selves as he sayd to Iob it is certaine if you be in Christ you are dead with Christ and you shall live with Christ make account of this Lastly the efficient cause of this great change exprest in these termes it is Iesus Christ our Lord make account of this if you be in Christ there comes a vertue from Christ an effectuall working of Christ by his spirit in your hearts such a powerfull worke as will conforme you to Christ dead and to Christ risen that you shall be dead to sinne and alive to God not by any strength in your selves or any excellent endowment in your owne natures not by any naturall inclination and abilitie but through the vertue and power of Iesus Christ our Lord working in you Thus you have the Text opened Wee will speake first of the Analogie and proportion the agreement betweene the metaphors here used and the things exprest by them That which the Apostle would expresse is that there is a marvellous spirituall reall change in all those that are in Christ from what they were before Now let us see how fitly it is exprest in these words that he sayth you are dead to sinne and alive to God that hee choseth to expresse it by life and death Had it not beene fit to have sayd thus much you are changed in your dispositions in your inclinations in your intentions in your actions you are changed in your conversations you are other kind of men in the inclination of your hearts you bring forth other fruit you lead other lives then you were wont to doe But hee expresseth it here yet more fully that is by that that includes all these and if there be any thing more may be added it includes that too yee are dead and alive Then we will consider First generally how death and life expresse the state of them that are in Christ. Secondly consider them in their particular application how death expresseth the first part of a mans change in sanctification and life the second part First wee take them in generall and let this bee the point that A man that is indeed effectually changed by vertue of his union with Christ hee hath such a change wrought in him as in a dead and living man as in life or in death Now first take it in generall you know life and death they imply first a generall change when a man is alive or when a man is dead there is not a change in some part onely but in the whole So it is here when a man is effectually changed from what he was by vertue of his union with Christ. A member may bee dead and yet neverthelesse the man alive but if the man be dead there is a general change that goes throughout it possesseth every part every member so that now there is no member of him but death rules in it then hee is a dead man So it is in this when a man is dead spiritually there is not a change in some particular actions onely in some particular opinions onely there is not an alteration of some of his old customes onely but it is a generall change so it goes through the whole man It is a change in the understanding he judgeth things otherwise then hee was wont to doe And there is a change in the will the inclination of it is to other objects then he was wont to bee inclined to And thence there is a change in his intentions he propounds other ends to himselfe then he was wont So there is a change in respect of the whole the Word is the rule of all a mans actions There is a change from particular evills from one as well as another that when any thing is discovered to him to bee a sinne to bee a transgression of the rule hee is turned from it So likewise when any thing is discovered to him to be a dutie agreeable to the rule according to the will of God revealed in his Word hee is a vessell of honour prepared for it and that is it the Apostle especially means when he compares them to vessells and he describes them thus they are vessells of honour fit for the service of their Master prepared for every good worke So that now as the Apostle sayth there remaineth no more conscience of sinne That is