which causeth us to walk in newness of Life and live unto the Lord. Secondly the same spirit that doth cause us to leave sin doth bring us to the Lord enabling us to cry Abba Father as the Apostle speaketh Vse To Reprove many who will indeed confess there must be a turning and will also practice a change but it shall be from bad to worse from one sin to another As for Example how many do turn from Prodigality to Covetousness From Swearing to Cousening From Atheism to Popery From Profaneness to Hypocrisie And if these are to be Reproved then much more are such to be Condemned who turn from God to Sin from a Protestant to a Papist from a Professor to an Atheist How far are these from true Repentance What hope can they have who come short of those that come short of Heaven Take good notice of this you that have been forward and zealous but now are become Apostates and Back-sliders and hearken to the Councel given to the Church of Ephesus Remember whence thou art fallen and Repent and do thy first works or else I will come against thee quickly except thou Repent In the last place let this Admonish us to look that our turning be a true turning And as by sin we have departed with this Prodigal from our Fathers House so let us also arise with him and set forwards towards Heaven So or And After this Prodigal had resolved to go and humble himself unto his Father he did not debate any longer about the matter but forthwith rose up and went his way Repentance is not to be deferred but presently to be set upon so soon as God shall put the motion into our Hearts There may not be deferring or procrastinating but a speedy practice and execution First God is to be served before all God ever required in his Service the First Fruits and the First-born The firstlings are his Darlings Secondly we ought not to defer in respect of the shortness and uncertainty of Life Our Lives they are compared to a Pilgrimage to the flower of Grass to Wind to Smoak to a Vapour to a Dream and the like All which sheweth the shortness of our time and therefore our whole Life is little enough to spend in Gods Service But farther as it is short so also it is uncertain We have no assurance to live one hour we are here but Tenants at will and know not how soon our great Landlord will turn us out of this earthly Tabernacle We may be cropt off like an ear of Corn for what is this life but as a nest of straw and clay soon shaken a pieces Many have seen a fair bright morning who never beheld the evening as the Sodomites And upon many the Sun hath set in the evening to whom it never appeared rising in the morning So was it with the rich Glutton in the Gospel Seeing this is so we have great cause speedily to repent Fourthly because for the present thy estate is fearful the wrath of God hangs over thy head by a twined thred if thou hadst Eyes to see it thou eatest in danger of thy life thou drinkest in danger walkest in danger sleepest in danger lying between death and the Devil as Peter did between the two Soldiers bound with two Chains Now who would be in such a danger one hour for the gaining of a World But we hasten to the Uses And first This reproveth that wonderful madness and exceeding great folly of such as procrastinate and defer their Conversion to the Lord and put off their Repentnace though the Lord call them thereunto and offer them never so fit an opportunity But I have time enough to repent in say some what tell you me of Repentance as yet Is not God merciful Did he not shew mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of
his Conversion for it was this look that brought home this Prodigal He saw him and looked on him with the eyes of pity and by looking upon him infused into him the secret efficacy of his spirit and pierced his heart with the beams of his grace which so prevailed with him that it brought him to repentance as it did with Peter which made him to go out and weep bitterly for his sins after he had thrice denied his Master Thus they make it as a cause of his Conversion And taking it thus this point will follow The Conversion of a sinner is from Gods free Grace Gods Grace is the cause of it Many pregnant Examples might be brought both of the unregenerate before their Conversion as also of the Regenerate in their falls after their Conversion for the further confirming this point in hand What disposition was there in the Apostle Paul to further his Conversion was he not breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the Disciples of Christ Jesus and had he not procured a Commission from the High-Priests to bind all that were of that way Did not God behold him a far off Did he not look upon him from the habitation of his dwelling And did he not thus behold Matthew the Customer Zacheus the Usurer Mary the sinner and us Gentiles When we were as the Apostle saith without hope and God in the World being strangers from the Covenant of promise and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel I could bring variety of Examples that would serve to strengthen the point but I will remember you but of one more and so hasten to the Uses and that is of Peter was not God fain to look on him afar off before he repented He had denied his Master once and wept not yea twice yet shed not a tear though the Cock had crowed And the third time he denies him yet weeps not until Christ beholds him and then as the Text saith he wept bitterly Assuredly if Christ had not cast an eye on him and beheld him with a gracious aspect had a thousand several persons questioned with him about his Master he would have denied him a thousand times Thus a sinner is like an Eccho he cannot speak first to God but must answer a voice from God The Reasons And needs must this be so because we are dead in trespasses and sins as the Apostle saith and as the Father of this Prodigal avoucheth of him dead not in a swoon but dead stone-dead as we say and therefore have no more power to stir hand or foot for the furthering of our own Conversion then Lazarus had power to come out of the grave before Christ called him A second Reason why Gods Grace is all in all in the work of our Conversion may be this That all matter of boasting might be taken away for we are very ready to ascribe unto our selves that which of Right belongs unto the Lord. Thus have we seen the Reasons now let us hear the Uses And in the first place this may serve for Confutation first of the Pellagians who affirm that our good Actions and Cogitations proceed only from from free-will and not from Gods special Grace The second Use is for our Humiliation There is no goodness nor aptness in thee to that which is good why then shouldest thou be lift up with any conceit of thy self Oh beware of this boasting for whereof hast thou to boast Surely of nothing but sin and misery Thirdly Let it be for Exhortation to all such as have any tokens and signs of their Conversion to ascribe all the Praise and glory thereof unto the Lord. Say with David Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name be the glory For it is of his mercy not of thy deserving Is there any difference betwixt thee and a Reprobate God found it not in thee but did put it into thee thou art of the same nature with them thou hadst no more ability to work out thy own Salvation than they had Thou seest many commit lewd pranks some Murder others Whoredom c. Thou leavest yea hatest these things What is the cause surely Gods Grace and only Gods Grace Give Glory therefore unto God praise his name yea let all that is within thee praise him And ran Behold the readiness of this Father to receive this his penitent child the one is not so willing to return as the other is joyful to receive The Father seeing of him coming doth not stay until he cometh but ariseth to meet him yea and when he was a great way off so far as he could see him he goeth to meet him and stayeth not for his coming nigher Hence learn God is very ready to shew mercy to every trâ—e Penitent So saith the Prophet Esay He is very ready to forgive Those Titles given him for his name testifie as much The Lord the Lord Strong Merciful and Gracious c. The Reasons are these First because man is the Workmanship of Gods own hands and therefore he is the more ready and willing to save him A third Reason may be this because none might despair of his mercy he is ready to shew mercy that by the example of such as have found mercy others also might resort and repair unto him for mercy in the time of need Is this so that God is ready to forgive every true Penitent then let none lay the fault upon God if they perish in their sins for God is ready and desirous to forgive and doth often call upon us to turn from hour we are here but Tenants at will and know not how soon our great Landlord will turn us out of this earthly Tabernacle We may be cropt off like an ear of Corn for what is this life but as a nest of straw and clay soon shaken a pieces Many have seen a fair bright morning who never behold the evening as the Sodomites And upon many the Sun hath set in the evening to whom it never appeared rising in the morning So was it with the rich Glutton in the Gospel Seeing this is so we have great cause speedily to repent Fourthly because for the present thy estate is fearful the wrath of God hangs over thy head by a twined thred if thou hadst Eyes to see it thou eatest in danger of thy life thou drinkest in danger walkest in danger sleepest in danger lying between death and the Devil as Peter did between the two Soldiers bound with two Chains Now who would be in such a danger one hour for the gaining of a World But we hasten to the Uses And first This reproveth that wonderful madness and exceeding great folly of such as procrastinate and defer their Conversion to the Lord and put off their Repentnace though the Lord call them thereunto and offer them never so fit an opportunity But I have time enough to repent in say some what tell you me of Repentance as yet Is not God merciful Did he not shew
and estates must be respected and accordingly must we cut our Coat and have our Ornament Nor may they be the Ornaments of Light House-wives or of known dissolute Persons it is not Modesty for Women professing the Gospel to go like Whores or to imitate them in their Strumper-like behaviour Christians ought not to seem to be such as indeed they would be loath to be Neither may it any way tend to provoke inordinate desires in our selves or others but such as may express the Vertues of our Minds being correspondent to Decency and Holiness Thus we see the Manner Thirdly for the Measure Excess of Ornament is to be avoided we may not have too many on our backs nor in our Wardrobes Go to now you Rich Men weep and howl for your Miseries that shall come upon you Your Riches are corrupted and your Garments are Moth-eaten and shall not these Witness against you In Ancient times such were counted infamous as did exceed this way so Graccus noted Naevius for a Licentious Fellow for having on his Hands more Rings than one Beware then of excess in this kind seeing both Heathen and Heaven doth condemn it It is a sin that goeth not alone but draws many after it For first excess in Ornament doth cause thee to abuse thy Wealth and makes thee spend it on needless and superfluous Uses when thou oughtest to spend it better as in Relieving of the Poor and such as are in want Secondly It is commonly maintained with Covetousness and Injustice When was more Pride and Bravery And when more Oppression and Cruelty What greater cause of Bribing and Extortion of Fraud and Cousenage of increasing Fines and inhauncing Rents than this excessive Bravery Pride must be maintained though it be with sale of Faith Conscience Religion and all Thirdly It is a Thief of Time Many a golden hour is spent in casting how to be most brave and what Fashion doth best become them And many an hour is spent in pranking and trimming of the Body in the too accurate and curious culture of it Had Plautus lived in these our times he would never have wondred why dainty Dames are so long in trimming of themselves if he did but see what a shop of Vanities and Fooleries they bear about them See here a cause why such as are most brave are usually most ignorant and impenitent Alas they have no time to adorn their Souls with Gods saving Graces they dress themselves by the Hour and therefore can Pray but by the Minute they want leisure for the one so much is taken up about the other And in a word what more impoverisheth the Common-wealth than our excessive Bravery Our Monies and our chief Commodities are daily Transported into other Countries and what comes in lieu thereof but Apes and Peacocks Costly stuffs silks and velvets gold and silver Laces Feathers and such like Toys for giddy pated Fools which within a few days wearing must be cast off and given to some Serving Man or Maid and soon after become good for nothing but to adorn a Dung-hill See then what a fruitful Mother of much Wickedness Excessive Bravery is Let it therefore be avoided of all such as bear any Love to themselves or to their own Countrey The last Rule to be Observed doth respect the End and that must be not the priding up thy self or to cause the Eyes of others to be set upon thee but Gods Glory while thou dost adorn his Temple See then that that be thy chiefest aim And moreover look thou make a spiritual use of the Ornaments thou wearest Remember the Body is more worth than Raiment and the Soul more worth than thy Body Affect not therefore the Adorning of thy Body more than the Adorning of thy Mind the Jewel is far more worth than the Cabinet wherein it 's kept and the thing covered is more to be respected than the Case that covers it Again let the Adorning of thy Body put thee in mind of thy shame and Nakedness in respect of sin There is a Wound else what needs a plaister And these plaisters though they be of Silk or Velvet argue that under them are some loathsome sores which being seen would shame us Before Man sinned these Ornaments would have Adorned him no more than a silken case a sweet Rose but when his Beauty became blemished by sin then was he driven to seek for Ornaments and on his uncomely parts to put on more comeliness supplying Natural defects with the helps of Art Were this well considered the best Ornaments would bring rather cause of blushing than of boasting Hath a Cripple who hath lost his Leg any cause to brag of his wooden stump Or a Thief any cause to boast of his Bolts or glory in his brand and mark of Felony What more cause have we to brag of Ornament This is that which indeed should humble us as being a continual Testimony of our sin and shame Let us then use them as a daily Monitor to put us in mind of our deformity by sin for our further humbling And thus have we seen some special Rules to be observed in this particular of Ornament which being kept we may safely and comfortably use our Liberty in this kind also Object But it may seem that Ornament is Unlawful and may at no hand be used For the Apostles both Paul and Peter condemn all broidered Hair Gold Pearls and other such like costly Ornaments as unbeseeming Christians I Answer neither Paul nor Peter do simply condemn the things themselves but the abuse of them they being used by Persons of low Estate and very mean Condition for of such in those days did the Church of God especially consist And therefore howsoever it were Lawful in it self yet it was altogether unbeseeming their Estate being in them little better than Riot and Excess And Secondly the Church was then under grievous Persecution Now at such times our Ornament must be laid aside as formerly we have heard that being a time of Humiliation and Mourning And thirdly I Answer The words are rather an Admonition than a Prohibition he forbiddeth not the using of them but admonisheth them that they would rather adorn the inside than the outside and be more careful of the Mind than of the Body And this evidently appeareth by the Antithesis that is used in both places Not with broidered hair saith Paul But with good works Not that outward adorning saith Peter But let it be the hidden man of the heart According to that saying of our Saviour Christ Labour not for the meat that perisheth But for that which endureth to eternal life The meaning is not so much for one as for the other desire more the Adorning of the Mind than of the Body Again some may demand Whether it be Lawful to cover a deformity in the Body or to mend the Complexion it being less beautiful than others is For seeing the Body may be adorned with Ornament it may seem that
suffered much in sundry parts of the Realm At Senlis At Senlis he caused many of the true Godly Christians to suffer much some were Beheaded some Murthered in a popular Tumult some were Whipt some Imprisoned some Fined and others sent to the Gallies not sparing the simple Women Yet through Gods Mercy some escaped amongst whom was one John Gardens and his Wife who lived with his Wife and Child in the Fields at length determined to go back into the City casting themselves upon Gods Providence but when they came into the Suburbs they met some who bad the Soldiers to put them to the Sword The Woman kneeling down begged of the Soldiers that if they must needs die they would kill her Child first A special Providence saying That so she should die with the more Comfort which speech of hers so wrought upon the Soldiers that they spared all their Lives I thank thee for they seasonable Counsell Dear Brother Ioine hand in hand A Presbiterian minister Let there be no strif between thee and me for we are bretheren A Romish Prelat an English Iesuite Alas we are utterly undone our 〈◊〉 is spoyled for they are both agreed A Friendly DIALOGUE between a moderate Conformist and one of his Parishioners concerning several Points of great Moment DIALOGUE I. Concerning God Conformist FOrtunately met Neighbour I am glad to see you look so well again after your long fit of Sickness Parishioner Sir I most humbly thank you but I must likewise tell you that though I am again arrived to a competent measure of Health yet I have those Doubts now upon my Spirit which if not timely resolv'd will I fear in a little time be very prejudicial to my Peace and Quiet And I do therefore Sir now humbly beg that you would give me a Resolution to every Query that I shall now propose unto you for the easement of my mind Conform If I may be instrumental any ways in advancing the Glory of God by instructing of you I shall reckon my time well spent Parish Well then Sir pray give me an Answer to this Query viz. If God be unchangable how can he be said to repent Conf. It is spoken according to our Capacity for though God do never repent that is change his Counsel yet he doth as if he did repent when he undoeth what he had before done Nor may God be charged with changeableness though the course of his Providence be turned but the change is in us You know the Sun by the same quality and in the same season will soften Wax and harden Clay yea will soften the earth when it is frozen and harden it at other times and yet the Sun never altereth his quality but is still the same So though God be gracious to some and severe to others yea severe and gracious to the same person at divers times and in different respects yet he is one and the same for ever Parish If God be a Spirit how is he said to have hands eyes wings c Conf. This is only spoken as the former according to our Capacity that by the hand of God we may note his power by his eye wisdom by his wings protection Parish If God be indivisible and simple how can the sacred Essence be distinguished into three Persons Conf. I see your skill in Logick is small or else it were easie to know how to distinguish betwixt things that cannot be divided I can distinguish between the Essence and existence of the same thing betwixt inseparable accidents and their subjects or to speak common-rode language between a body and its substance form figure c. and yet not divide them So it is no repugnancy in reason it self that the Godhead be one entire entity and yet considered in a personal respect may be distinguished into the Father Son and Holy Ghost Par. I find in the 45. of Isaiah verse 21. that Christ saith There is no God but himself notwithstanding we hear him saying as much by his Father John 17.3 how can both be the only true God Conf. God and Christ differ not essentially but only personally the Father is God so is the Son yet they are not two Gods but one There is no other God but that God which the Father is nor any God but that which Christ is and this word only is not exclusive of any person of the Trinity for every Person is the only God but of all others whether reputed Gods or Creatures DIALOGUE II. Concerning Gods Decrees and Creation Parish TO what purpose should I seek the good of my Soul If I be elected I shall be saved if not I cannot Conf. It is not for you to search the Cabinet of Gods Counsel but to believe and repent which if you do you are not to question your salvation Saving Faith tho' it be not a cause is a fruit of Election for God hath respect to the means as well as the end and conjoyneth them in his Decree And therefore we may conclude that believing we are justified which is an assured Argument we were predestinated and shall be saved But on the other hand they that are hardened by sin are rejected of God and shall be damned Par. If God predestinate the means as well as the end seeing sin is the means tending to damnation whom he predestinates to damnation doth not he predestinate them to sin And if so how can he be freed from it Conf. In Predestination two things are to be considered 1. Gods Preterition passing by or non-electing of a person 2. Predamnation or fore-condemning a person to Perdition The former is of the meer pleasure of God for there can be no other Reason given why this man is chosen and that refused Now those whom God thus passeth by through want of that assistance which he is not bound to give fall finally from God and so considered are pre-damned or fore-ordained to Destruction God doth not force or cause men to sin but leave them to it For sin being no positive thing but a privation of what should be viz. of obedience ariseth from the insufficiency of the Creature left to it self If a King by his Wisdom could foresee that divers of his subjects would prove Traytors and be hanged unless he prefer them and doth forbear to gratifie them so far only because it is not his pleasure so to do can he be justly accused of the Treason which after they commit I believe no Politition will affirm it Must we then be so bold as to charge him who is of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity to be in any sort the cause thereof because he doth not uphold us against it Par. If God do not only pass by men but predamn them to Hell also by this Decree as you shewed in the Resolution of the last Doubt how can his Justice be cleared seeing man had then not actually sinned Conf. Men sin in time not from Eternity yet are their sins from Eternity
and to Eternity with God For with him things are not past present and come as with us but always present in one infinite moment And therefore the Lord who seeth all the sins of a Reprobate by one pure individual act from and to all Eternity may as well pass an act of Damnation against them as if they were actually committed Par. Might not God as well damn men in a Capacity of holiness as thus to leave them to sin and then condemn them for it Conf. It is a curious and unprofitable question to dispute whether he might not without wrong to the Creature have done so Perhaps Rom. 9.20 21 22. will prove he might but such a case never did nor never will fall out However to our Capacity the justness of God should not shine so perspicuously if he should damn a Creature that never sinned for then should he inflict undeserved Punishment whereas in the course he now takes he only denyeth undeserved Favours and layeth on them deserved Penalties Par. But if Gods Decrees binds not man to a necessity of sinning how came sin into the World seeing Men and Angels were made holy and the whole Creation is by God himself pronounced good Conf. Gods Decree doth no otherwise bind man to a necessity of sinning than the withdrawing of the upholding hand from a staff reared up binds it to a necessity of falling viz. in a privative way I shewed before that sin is only privative that is a defect of some thing required as darkness is nothing else but a defect of light and these privations do not necessarily require causes or Creation light was indeed created but darkness was before on the face of the deep Now though God made Angels and Men holy he made them not Gods that they should stand of themselves without his help which when he withheld from man and some of the Angels they faltred in their obedience and so became sinful DIALOGUE III. Concerning the Providence of God Par. HOW can God by his Providence dispose of second causes that things can come to pass contingently freely or miraculously when he hath fore-ordained how they shall be in his immutable will Conf. There is a twofold necessity 1. In Gods Decree so all things that are fall out necessarily and cannot be otherwise 2. In Natural Causes so fire necessarily burns water necessarily wets c Now to us things are said to fall out necessarily when we apprehend a sufficient next cause But this sometimes is not sometimes appears not before the effect from whence the Notions contingent free miraculous have their rise As for Example When an Infant is formed in the Womb though in respect of Gods Decree it is necessarily a Male or necessarily a Female and so in time will prove yet to us from whom the next cause of this distinction in the womb is hid it is contingent whether it be Male or Female Par. How can God strengthen and govern all Creatures in their actings and be free from sin seeing many actions are sinful Conf. You must distinguish betwixt the action and the evil in it some sins are actual but none actions Therefore as a skilful Minstrel playing on a jarring Instrument causeth it to sound but it s own badness causeth it to sound jarringly So God causeth us to act but that we act sinfully the cause is in our selves To kill a man is not simply evil sometimes it is not only lawful but a duty but killing a man upon such terms without a just cause or call Sin lyeth in the moral circumstances not in the physical substance of the Action Par. If God be perfectly glorious how can he glorifie himself in the works of his Providence seeing nothing can be added to that which is perfect Conf. We may consider the glory of God these two ways 1. As it is essential to him and so it is ineffably perfect 2. As it is revealed to us and this because of our weakness is only in part and by degrees A Moses can but view the back parts a Paul but see in part and darkly as in a glass And God is said to glorifie himself when by the great works of his Providence he lets us see further into his glorious Attributes Par. If the Providence of God offer to men occasions to sin how is God free from the iniquity committed by reason thereof Conf. As a King that executeth Justice though he know some wicked fellows will thereat take occasion to be Traytors to him is not to be blamed So Gods works being holy though wicked men abuse them through their own perversness and make them occasions to sin he is not unrighteous out punisheth them in just Judgment suffering them to fall by their own folly Par. When God by his Providence makes wicked men scourges to his people how can they be blamed for doing what God would have done Conf. Though wicked men can do nothing to the people God but what he gives way to yet forasmuch as they endeavour to exceed their Commission and aim not at Gods Glory but their own ends shewing hostility and not pity to Gods people they shall answer for their ambitious malice though God by his wisdom will cause the wrath of man to praise him and the remainder of wrath he will restrain DIALOGUE IV. Concerning the Fall of Man Par. HOW could tasting the forbidden Fruit be so great an offence as to deserve Damnation Conf. Some give this reason that this act of our Parents was a breach of each of Gods Commandments in particular and indeavour to make it appear by an induction though for mine own part I think it holds in some not in all but this I desire to speak with modesty and submission However it cannot be denyed but the breach of the least of Gods Commandments maketh us guilty of all And the violation of his Law who is infinite deserveth infinite punishment which because it cannot be in extent we being finite must be in duration Nor doth the small value of the fruit abate any thing but rather aggravate it for as Master Byfield saith well their sin was greater that upon so small an Advantage would adventure Eternal happiness Par. But how comes it to pass that Adams fault and punishment is derived to his whole Posterity Conf. Adam stood in Covenant with God as Man not as a Man that is as a publick not a private person And therefore as he received the Covenant of Works and for a time stood by it for himself and all mankind so for himself all mankind he fell from it Par. Would it not have made more for Gods glory to have kept men from sin to serve him in holiness Conf. No for by this means man is a fit object for the rich mercy or just Judgment of God which by occasion hereof God manifesteth to his own glory Par. Some affirm that sin dishonoureth God others say he cannot be dishonoured whether of these is true Doctrine Conf.
this life saith the Prophet all the sweet he hath fore-goeth death after he hath a Portion indeed but it is a Portion of Fire and Brimstone of Storms and Tempests of Anguish and Tribulation of Shame and Confusion of Horror and Amazement in a fiery Lake from the presence of God in the midst of cursed Spirits Thus death must needs be terrible to him but as comfortable to the Godly for it makes his Crosses as short as the others Comforts The Wicked cannot promise to himself Comforts of an hours length nor may the Godly threaten himself with Crosses of an hours continuance Death in an instant turns the sinners Glory into Shame Pleasure into Pain Comfort into Confusion Death in an instant eases the Godly's body of all pain his Soul of all sin his Conscience of all fears and leaves him in an estate of perfect happiness And happy are they whose Misery is no longer than life but woe be to the wicked whose jollity ends when death enters and whose Torments survive death it self and so we leave Samuel to his rest Well Samuel is well himself but in what case doth he leave his poor Neighbours at Ramah that the Text now speaks and it is my trouble yet better one than all troubled that I must speak it so briefly Israel saith the Text Jacobs issue Gods people all Israel distributively taken that is of all sorts some were gathered in great Troops either by publick command or of their own voluntary accord or both ways First to lament according to the then custom in most solemn manner Samuels end and their own loss and next to honour him at his Burial in Ramah The Points which in a passage or two must be touched from this part are two the first is this Samuel a publick and a profitable man dieth Israel publickly mourneth you see what followeth Great and publick losses must be entertained with great and publick sorrows Sorrow must be suited to the loss as a Garment to the body a Shoe to the foot when the cause of Grief is great the measure of Grief must be answerable This is one Principle when a good man and Neighbour dies there is cause of great forrow this is another the inference will soon follow and result hence and that is our Conclusion Good men of publick use and place should never pass to the Grave unlamented their death should be considered and bewailed And indeed reason calls for it for we must mourn in respect of the cause of such mens deaths not private but publick sins too God never beheads a State a Country but for some Treason Reason 1. If Samuel die it is because God is angry with the people the sheep be not thankful nor fruitful therefore the shepherd is smitten Now should it be thus when useful persons die what then shall we say to these times wherein men have not put off Piety only but Nature also No marvel if the Prophet complain The righteous perish and no man considereth it in his heart The wife perisheth and the Husband doth not consider it the Parents perish and the Children do not consider it the Children perish and the Parents do not consider it few such Brethren as David to Jonathan such Husbands as Abraham such Children as Isaac such Fathers as Jacob. These long and long felt the loss of their dearest Friends but now one month is enough to wear out all thoughts of a Brother nay of a Child nay of a Mother nay of a Wife nay in the nearest tyes one in that space may be buried a second wooed a third married Hitherto in hardest pressures and worst measures David could go to Samuel in Ramah and there meet with good Counsel and Comfort but now both Samuel himself dies and poor David must flie Shall I beloved speak as the thing is In the fall of one Cedar of Ramah we have lost much shade and shelter in the splitting of one Vessel of price wherein we had all our interesses and adventures we are all losers what we have lost we shall better see seven years hence than now but losers we are all losers Wife Children Neighbours Friends Ministers People all losers so that here that is verified which was anciently uttered of another In one we have lost many a chast Husband a tender Father a religious Minister a kind Neighbour in few a Samuel Speak I this after the flesh to please No I speak it for use to profit I report my self to your hearts You tell me that you have a publick loss your mouthes have uttered it your faces speak it my Ears and Eyes have received it from you and if so then see what follows if we have Israels loss we must make Israels Lamentation Let us take up Davids words with Davids Affection I am distressed for thee Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderful passing the Love of Women Are we as David to Saul Isaac to Rebekah sons Are we as Jeremiah to Josiah Prophets As David to Abner Kindsmen Are we by any name entituled to this loss Mourn then mourn not as the Infidel desperately nor bitterly as doth the froward but soberly as did David when Abners Death put him to a Fast Let his dearest Yoak-fellow say Ah mine unthankfulness and unfruitfulness let Children say Ah our Disobedience and Stubbornness and Servants Ah our Idleness and Untrustiness and all Ah our Folly and Frowardness who could not see Vertves through Frailties and Corn through chaff till we had lost all These sins of ours have strip'd us of a Samuel and covered us with darkness He is gone the Arm and Shoulder is faln from this our little body the sooner for our sins let us see it or else what abides us In the Body what Medicines cannot do cutting must what that cannot burning must or else nothing saith the Master of Physick It is so in the Soul too Oh that we could see it In our Friends Sicknesses we have been Medicined in private distresses lanced but in the loss of Publick Persons the Lord proceeds to burning If these wounds upon the very Head of us strike us not down what shall next be smitten but our Heart it self Well Israel laments and it hath cause What do they next That next we must hear They bury him and the place and manner be observed For the place they bury him at his House in Ramah the Ancient and the Mannor House his Father dwelt there before him 1 Sam. 1. where also you may be informed touching the Town Whereas there were of Ramahs four or sive this was Ramah Zophim in Mount Ephraim which borrows his Name from the Situation of it it stood high and the name importeth no less In this Ramah Samuel sometime lived and here he is Interred For the Selemnity of the Funeral it is such as argues Israels love and Samuels worth they do him all the Honour that is possible First Israel the first-born of Men