of the Sermon he usually repeated to his people 4. His exemplary vertues in his whole course of life 1. His meeknesse and peaceablenesse of disposition A grace which in the sight of God is much set by and a notable testimonie of inward holinesse according as it runnes Iam. 3. 17. Pure then Peaceable Hee was not apt to quarrell matters that concerned him not never being observed to beare a part in any faction a favourable interpreter of things not evident readier to reconcile then to make differences and choosing rather to part with his right then with peace as appeared in a suite knowne unto many here 2. Though he were meeke in his owne cause yet hee was zealous in Gods Hee could not endure any thing repugnant to holy Scripture nor would he neglect either seasonably to admonish or reprove the faulty that were within the compasse of his admonition or to whet on and exhort others to love and good workes 3. Yet his Zeale did not miscarry being allayed and tempered with wisedome as the heart is by the braine and as the conceit is of the Primum mobile with the Chrystalline heaven neere it His wisdome appeared first in his discreetnesse in his undertakings and all affaires an argument of which some take to be this That hee was never troubled nor so much as questioned in any Court concerning any fact Second in his observing a fit season when and a fit decorum in speaking Third in his choyce of company and specially of such acquaintance as hee would be neere with and intimate which were only such as might be able to afford him spirituall assistance in a time of need 4. His freenesse from worldlinesse and contentednesse with his estate not as those in Horace Quocunque modo rem but hee would not improve his estate by the raysing it as haply hee might have done and as others doe upon his tenants Hee counted himselfe rich because hee needed not all that he had but could have lived with lesse for hee that can make a little to bee his measure all else that hee hath is his treasure which was the observation of a good Poet but a better and a more mortified Divine 5. His humilitie and even among the very temptations to pride It is an hard thing to be humble in an humble and low estate but much more difficult in the affluence of outward things You know his kindred and his relations yet as he manifested this grace in his whole cariage so in particular in not being puffed with his brothers and sisters greatnesse or the advancement of his children 6. His diligence in the use of the meanes of grace 1. Hee had a right conceit of Sermons most relishing such as were most wholsome and usefull for edification 2. Hee tooke paines to heare Hee was often knowne in his younger time to goe ten miles on foot in those times of greater scarcitie 3. His behaviour in the Church in the time of prayer and in hearing was very observable for his reverend attendance and devotion 7. His answerable practise fitted and proportionable to his exterior profession 1. Hee was much in private prayer If you would have a tryall of sinceritie follow a man home and to his closet and see what hee doth within dores for there may bee many respects that may set a man on worke coram populo Secret prayer if it bee constant cannot lodge long with hypocrisie in the same heart 2. Hee was often as they say in secret fasting by himselfe alone a Dutie not only lamentably neglected in these lazie times of easie Christianitie but ill spoken of too as a character of a Pharisee by such as are loath to be at the paines of subduing their bodyes and yet are desirous to come off with the credit and reputation of religion 3. Hee was temperate in his dyet and in his habit sober and grave as counting wisedome and grace a better and trimmer dresse then Lace or the fashion and so hee was in his recreations though constantly chearefull yet a man of little mirth or delight in any thing but spirituall 4. Hee was full of charitie which appeared in these particulars 1. Alwayes upon the Lords day he had sixe poore at dinner to every one of which hee gave a piece of beefe away with them besides and at night hee sent what was left to other poore Besides what hee gave at his dore and what hee gave privately to the poore houshold of faith 2. His hospitalitie according to his ranke was such as Peter Martyr reported of Martin Bucer whose table was ever open to any good people especially to Ministers whom he much respected 3. Hee sate up many nights for the comfort of thesicke not thinking that worke of mercy sufficiently performed by an How doe you or a cold visit 4. Hee had a Sympathie with the condition of Christs Church abroad 5. In the last place let us view him in his last act his sicknesse and death which as the Text hath told us is pretious in the sight of the Lord. 1. Hee prepared himselfe to die not only being willing but desirous also to bee set at libertie being often at S. Pauls Cupio dissolvi which they that were with him say was much in his mouth 2. Hee was very thankfull for Gods assisting him with memorie and understanding to the very last for the continuance of which he prayed and desired others that were about him to pray 3. Hee employed both his memorie and speach for the comfort and counsell of such as visited him 4. Hee made a confession of his faith but chiefly in the matter of Iustification by faith which an eminent Roman Prelate called a good supper doctrine and in the comfort of that point hee resigned his soule to Christ and slept sweetly in the Lord. Thus as his life was holy his death was pretious Hee made no great noyse in the world nor raised greater expectations of himselfe then hee could well manage like many exhalations that rise out of dunghills as if they meant to reach the skie but presently fall downe againe and wet us But as a taper hee gave light till hee went out and now hee is gone wee will leave upon his Grave Memoria ejus in Benedictionibus and apply to him the words of the Text Pretiosa in oculis Iehovae Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints FINIS THE DESIRE OF THE SAINTS AFTER IMMORTALL GLORY PHIL. 1. 23. I desire to bee dissolved and to be with Christ which is farre better LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE DESIRE OF THE SAINTS AFTER IMMORTALL GLORIE SERMON XXI 2 CORINTHIANS 5. 2. For in this wee groane earnestly desiring to bee cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven WHen I reade these words I am in a great doubt whether I should rather admire the excellencie of the temper of these Saints or deplore the vilenesse of ours so celestiall the one so
the market-place when hee should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have beene taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then commeth the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they bee such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner of doing holy duties Would you be found praying perfunctorily and carelesly Would you be found comming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you doe holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 11. For this cause many are sicke and weake and many sleepe they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore bee found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous nor too dolefull to any man Wee would not have our friends to bee in another condition in their birth then others wee would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would wee have them have more dayes Let this serve as a briefe touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are usefull to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse then the death and losse of our friends the guilt upon a mans conscience that hee hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our friends easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them thinke you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministrie before Thinke with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when friends are tooke away we may have cause to thanke God that we have had communion and comfort of their fellowship and societie the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principall reason why it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall hee lay to his heart That that is the end of all men hee shall lay the death of men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously to consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is cleare for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that commeth to God Secondly in respect of the good that commeth to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when wee lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour done to God when wee slight the death of others good or bad It is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods workes in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seene he saith to the sonnes of Adam Returne The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is hee that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seene much in these workes and it is a great dishonour to God when men doe not consider the workes of his hands David by the spirit of Prophesie in Psal. 28. 5. wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the workes of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein wee give God the glory of his wisedome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraigntie and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when wee labour to draw to a particular use to ourselves the workes of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speakes here of the death of men in generall and he saith of all men that their death shall bee laid to heart by the living Secondly as there is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that commeth to God thereby so in respect of ourselves also much benefit commeth to ourselves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three speciall things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the certainty nature cause and end of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the workes of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called Visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his owne condition and as it were in a glasse there
man is said to perish and in what sense and how it is impossible they should perish and why the Holy Ghost chooseth this word which is more then death to set out to us the death of the Righteous man And then the last considered in particular how it is lawfull to mourne for the departure of those that are gone how that God alloweth that how that God blameth for the neglect of it Men are to lay it to heart to grive How farre this griefe is to extend These were the heads of those things that concerne the first part I now goe on forward to the second And that is a complaint as the former was that the Prophet takes up over the people of the Iewes for their great stupiditie in that they considered not any worke of God toward them And it hath these two parts There is the complaint he takes up over the dead Mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come And the other complaint he takes up over the living those that are living and survive them they care not though heaven and earth bee mingled together though they lose all their proppes whereby the earth is supported they never consider it I begin with the first of these And that is The complaint that is taken up over the Righteus mans departure In that I consider two things First looke to the meaning of the words And then see what were the motives that made the Prophet take up this complaint and lamentation that whereas others wanted it the Prophet should supply it and should give testimonie to their departure The righteous are taken away First for the meaning of the words It is a proposition and there are three parts of it The subject of the proposition Mercifull men The predicat Are taken away The Affix anexed to it from the evill to come Briefly looke upon the meaning of all these and they will all afford us some instruction The first is the subject of this proposition It is said here and it varieth from the former Mercifull men A man would wonder why he should alter the stile except it were because the Spirit of God delighteth to set out godly men according to the multitude of their titles the righteous and mercifull men otherwise the same terme might have beene kept in the latter part for they are both the same in effect He that is a mercifull man is a Righteous man and he that is righteous will be mercifull yet the Prophet varieth it righteous men perish and mercifull men are taken away There is some speciall reason of the variation I conceive it is one of these three or all The first reason why he useth this word mercifull men in the latter part is For the greater conviction of their stupiditie They were such as were not affected with the condition or losse of righteous and holy men nay they were so stupid that they were not affected with the losse of mercifull men that is more If there were any sense of pietie they should for Gods cause grive at the losse of godly men but if there were any sense of their owne good there should bee griefe for the losse of mercifull men Generally if it bee possible to sever them the world hath more misse of mercifull men then of righteous men every man should mourne for their departure and misse them though pietie and righteousness may go unmourned for But these were come to that stupiditie that they had no sight nor sense of their owne good being a mercifull man it is likely there were many naked that he had clothed many starved soules that he had fed there were parched bowels that he had simpathyzed with he used to mourne with those that mourne to lament with those that lament Many Interpreters would have it spoken that Isaiah said this of himselfe in regard of the persecution that he suffered he was taken away by the Saw but whether it were of one mercifull man or of all a man would thinke that mercifull men should not goe out of the world without mourners there are Orphans and Widowes that will mourne for mercifull men that have been relieved by them Yet this stupiditie so benummed them in their own senses they were so frozen that they had no simpathie at all neither respect to pietie or mercie Righteous men were taken away and they looked not on that side mercifull men were taken away and they looked not on that side neither So it is an aggravation of their stupiditie Secondly another reason why he varieth the word Righteous men first and mercifull men after is this To shew how much God honoureth the workes of mercie Though it bee a glorious title A righteous man yet the Spirit of God will not let him goe without another title A mercifull man Righteousnesse is best knowne to God but mercifulnesse to men Mercifulnesse is an evidence of pietie and godlinesse Mercie is that grace that honoureth God most and God honoureth it most All the high Elogies that are given to pietie in the Scripture are specially stated on mercie God honoureth it with large and ample promises Blessed are the mercifull for they shall obtaine mercie It hath not the least be atitude set to it as Basil of Seuleucia well observeth God honoureth it likewise with an approbation When I was hungrie yee fed me when I was thirstie yee gave me drinke and with a publike approbation at the last day in the presence of Angels and men it is mercie that God then magnifieth Come yee blessed when I was hungrie yee fed mee c. God honoureth it likewise with an excellent memoriall hee alwayes mentioneth it with honour see it in Cornelius see it in Iob see it in other Saints they were noted for mercifulnesse in the Scripture here in this place the spirit of God because the righteous man shall not goe without an Epitaph he makes on this righteous man a mememoriall Mercifull men are taken away That is the second reason that they might understand how farre God honoureth the workes of Charitie and mercy Thirdly that the Prophet might instruct them and us now who are to be reputed and accounted true righteous men Those that God accounteth so And those are mercifull men These two righteousnesse and mercie they meet in God so they must in every Christian. They are the two wayes of God saith David all his waies are mercy and righteousnesse They are the two wayes that Christ takes in the world the first way at his first comming a comming of mercy to call men to mercy The second at his second comming a comming of judgement to judge the quicke and the dead So they are two wayes of God so saith Saint Bernard They are the two feet of God by which he walketh through the world God visiteth men upon one of these two feet either in mercie or in righteousnesse as they are the feet upon which God walketh to us so they
the young man and he is altogether given to jollitie and merriment hee forgetteth God and the dayes of darknesse and his latter end Well Solomon giveth him the bridle as it were and suffereth him to follow his owne way by an Ironicall concession or figurative speech declaring not what young men ought to doe but what their course is and what commonly they doe 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 this there is the cooling-card that for all these things God will bring thee into judgement In the words we will consider two parts First what young men doe Secondly the Medicine of God to heale young men of their default That that young men doe is this They give over themselves to an inordinate carnall joy Thiâ—… Joy is set out from the time of it the dayes of their youth From the cause of it their hearts cheare them From the kindes of it they walke in the wayes of their hearts and after the sight of their eyes Secondly the Medicine with which Solomon would heale young men of this inordinate carnall Joy is this Know saith hee that for all these things God will bring thee into Iudgement that is It is a most divine and infallible truth that every one should know and acknowledge that whatsoever sinnes they commit in their youth without repentance they must undergoe the dreadfull Iudgement of God because of them Thus as briefly as I can I have opened the words unto you Though I might insist on many doctrines yet notwithstanding I will only handle these two The first shall be that which ariseth from the first part of the Text what young men doe what their fault is For as I said it is an Ironnicall concession not declaring what young men should doe but what they doe The Doctrine is thus much That it is the sinne of young men to rejoyce inordinatly and carnally in the dayes of their youth to walke after their hearts and the sight of their eyes Wee reade concerning the old world that they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in mariage altogether sottish and sensuall till the wrath of God came in the flood and swept them away Now lest any should suppose that this were the fault of old age only the Scripture sheweth that all flesh had corrupted their way before God Gen. 6. 11. Isa. 22. 14. Let us eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall die It is thought by learned Divines that this speech was not so much the language of Age as of the youth in Israel Hence Solomon giveth a caveate to the young man Eccles. 12. 1. to bridle and restraine him from his jollitie and carnall mirth Remember now thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth while the evill day come not nor the yeares draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them And the Apostle Saint Paul 1 Tim. 2. 22. instructeth Timothy to flie the lusts of youth that is in carnall pleasures and pastimes in voluptuousnesse and sensualitie and the like And Tit. 2. 6. Exhort young men that they bee sober minded that is that they leave this drunkennesse of understanding in being overcome with sensuall carnall objects and pleasures Iob in the first Chapter of that booke when the young people his Sonnes and Daughters met together to feast hee was afraid lest they should be misguided in this kind therefore the holy man in a godly care and thoughtfulnesse for their welfare sacrificed to God to make attonement for their sinne Let us a little consider the reasons of this Doctrine whence it is that young men should be so much misguided in their youth The first cause is naturall corruption that they have drawne by propagation from their Parents A spirituall leprosie and maladie and disease which as it prevaileth for the most part against age by covetousnesse so it getteth ground of youth by sensuallity and voluptuousnesse This dams up the eare against reproofe this hardens the heart against instruction and makes many young men the souldiers of Sathan in sinne Againe in the second place Men in their youth forget the day of their reckoning and judgement they are not mindfull of their latter end Deut. 32. 22. Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end This Precept is neglected both by youth and age but especially by those of younger yeares For they feele their bloud runne warme in their veynes and they are full of spirits and vigour therefore they suppose that the Grave and the house of darknesse is farre off from them Againe in the third place Young men are not broken by afflictions the fallow ground is not poughed up by the pressures of afflictions which through the grace of God are great meanes to tame nature and to subdue the pride of it and to bring it to a right frame and temper Before I was afflicted saith David I went astray And Ephraim saith of himselfe Ier. 32. I was as a Bullocke accustomed to the yoke thou chastisest mee and I was chastised I was ashamed because I bore the reproach of my youth But young men are free from aches and paines and sicknesse and sorrow much more then old age and this is the reason why they are more licentious Lastly young men want true joy in God therefore they betake themselves to carnall joy For sure it is that a man cannot live without joy and contentment if hee have it not from the Wells of salvation hee will drinke it out of watery and slimie places Now because men in their youth cannot take in the spirituall joy of that cleare fountaine therefore they drinke in the muddy waters of carnall joy The use of this point is in the first place an Admonition to all young men to take notice of these maladies and spirituall diseases in themselves The first degree of our healing is to see that we are sicke and till then Christ Jesus the Physitian of our soules hath no commission to doe us good Let young men observe in themselves first their carnall joy Solomon here sheweth that they rejoyce inordinatly This may appeare to them first because they rejoyce not where they ought they solace not themselves in God in whom is the fountaine of joy nor in Christ Jesus in whom is the spring of Joy nor in the sacred Word where there is the Cisterne of Joy Even as a bone when it is out of joynt out of its place it must needs be a disordered bone so the affections when they are misplaced are disordered and then our Joy and any other affection are misplaced when they are not set upon God and Christ. Now if young men would deale uprightly with themselves they should perceive that for the most part