he takes care for them he visits and comforts and assists them in their dying he helps them with strength with memory in their understanding their senses c. 2. He takes much delight in their sweet holy calm deaths and resignations of their souls 3. He takes care of their very bodies too to lay them up sweetly to rest in Repositories or Dormitories as the Ancients were wont to call Church-yards and Graves 4. Lastly he entertains their souls immediately when they are breathed forth and places them In Sinu Abrahoe in Abrahams bosome wheresoever that is to possess present joy and quietness And no wonder that he doth all this because he hath bought them and redeemed them unto himself with so great a price as his Suns bloud and hath graced them with so many gifts and priviledges and hath made over unto them as Co-heirs with Christ so great and large benefits We may make this Use of it to serve for the establishment of us in our belief of him and our waiting on his providence If their Death be so pretious their sufferings also in any kind are dear unto him That word in the Text which is Death and which by the Seventy is ordinarily turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet is taken in the Scripture sometimes for sickness or any affliction Exo. 10.17 For infection 2 King 4.40 For wounds Prov. 26.18 and sometimes in the Septuagint for the soul The very sicknesses and afflictions and dangers and wounds and griefs of his holy ones are dear unto God But especially their souls their lives their good and safety God writes a Ne perdas Touch not Destroy not as a notable caveat for the safety as of Kings most particularly so also of all that fear him and that trust in his mercy I have hastned over these points that I might come to the testimony that I am to give to our deceased Brother Master John Moulson which I may not omit nor to be particular in it having never such a subject of discourse before such an exemplary man I would not be bought to flatter a prophane and wicked great one but here Gods glory in this his Servant and the edification of you that are present require of me that I speak fully for he was Vir nec silendus nec dicendus sine cura He copied out in his life the old way of Christianity and writ so fair after those Primitives that few now can imitate his hand And truly as in a garden in which there are variety of flowers we know not where to pick so in those many commendable parts of his I know not which to choose to present unto you or in what method But you may take notice I. Of his moral parts where I commend four things 1. His Calmness and moderation of affection No passion was observed to be a tyrant in him they had an oequipoise 2. His sober taciturnity an imitable wisdome in this age of talk and pratling 3. His affable carriage and easiness of access by which like another Poplicola he gained reputation and the love of the neighbour-hood where ever he dwelt Some are so hairy and rough like Esau that they may be discerned by their handling and some so churlish as Nabal that a man cannot speak unto them Which sourness and clowdiness of spirit I wish were not a blemish to many that give their names unto religion He honoured it by his sweetness and affalibility 4. His grave deportment and carriage As nothing is more contemptible then a light youthly wanton old man so the gray head and wrinkled cheeks accompanied with sage gravity commands respect from the beholders as that old grave Bishop Paphnutius though he had lost an eye did from the Emperour Constantine Gravity dwelt in the face of this man and his very presence was such as would discountenance the rude and prophane But all these are but mean commendations in respect of the next II. His practice of holiness Where I will observe and commend unto you 1. His unoffensive youth of which they that can remember him since that time are confident to say of him as the Emperour said of Piso Hujus vita composita à pueritia His life was composed and settled even from his very child-hood and then began to sort himself with the gravest company chiesly with that learned and godly Master Christopher Harvy sometime incombent in this Church to whom he was dear He was observed to be so sober and modest in his youth that he was desired to accompany and attend an honourable Nobleman to Oxford where he was very watchful and careful of him and prayed twice a-day with him in his chamber So ready was he to bear the Lords yoak from his youth 2. His unmarried estate which was chast and modest He lived above fifty years unmarried and in that state expressed two vertues his wisdome not to be rash and his care to keep his vessel clean 3. His married estate course of hous-keeping 1. When it pleased God to dispose his heart to marriage he married in the Lord. 2. When God gave him Children he nurtured them and his Family in Gods fear 1. He prayed four times a-day 2. He read three chapters in the old Testament and three in the New every day 3. After dinner he called not for game for digestion but read a Chapter before he rose from table 4. He catechised his children and servants constantly according to some plain form 5. He usually rose early on the Lords day which time he gave to meditation and prayer and what he could remember of the Sermon he usally repeated to his people 4. His exemplary vertues in his whole course of life 1. His meekness and peaceableness of disposition A grace which in the sight of God is much set by and a notable testimony of inward holiness according as it runs Jam. 3.17 pure then peaceable He was not apt to quarrel in matters that concerned him not never being observed to bear 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 suit known unto many here 2. Though he were meek in his own cause yet he was zealous in Gods He 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 compass of his admonition or to whet on and exhort others to love and good works 3. Yet his Zeal did not miscarry being allayed and tempered with wisdome as the heart is by the brain and as the conceit is of the Primum mobile with the Chrystalline heaven neer it His wisdome appeared first in his disscreetness in his undertakings and all affairs an argument of which some take to be this That he was never troubled not so much as questioned in any Court concerning any fact Second in
too he is a man that liveth to himself This was the case of the second and third grounds they received the seed with joy that is when they were sensible of comfort they followed Christ but afterward when persecution arose for the Gospel they fell off and took offence Such as these live to themselves they seem to live to God but it is to themselves and therefore when self-respects fail they fall off too Secondly take another instance for the clearing of it Suppose that not only sensible advantages fail but sensible disadvantages come in the world A man is sensible that he shall disadvantage himself much if he go on in the wayes of obedience to God It may be if he make conscience of his wayes he must make restitution of his estate unjustly gotten He must deny himself in a greater measure of pleasures that he hath unlawfully pursued He must empty himself in works of mercy and piety of a great part of his estate for the good of others that God may be glorified by his substance He shall lose some worldly friends some esteem among men Here are sensible disadvantages to a man Now the Question is what he resolveth to do Here is the command of God and here is the thing whereupon the heart of man and his affections are set upon disadvantages in the world These come together Here is an occasion for a lust a sinful affection to express it self If that be laid in the ballance and shall prevaile above the other that rather then I will endure disadvantage in the world I will neglect the way of serving God this party liveth to himself whatsoever good he did before in matters of religion all was done to himself I say when these two come together as you know when two men walk together and one servant followeth them a man knoweth not whose servant he is till they part but then when they part a stranger may know whose servant he is he followeth his own Master and leaveth the other So when God and the world go together God and a mans own advantages go together when their is nothing commanded but standeth with his own advantages so long a mans deceitful heart may flatter and delude and misguide him he may go on in a false perswasion and in a strong conceit that he is in Christ in a blessed estate But when these two part that I shall not only not advantage my self but sensibly disadvantage my self in outward things Here now I say the the Question is what a man doth If I resolve to cleave to my outward advantages and leave God and leave the wayes of God I live to my self A man that liveth to God you shall see it is otherwise with him as for instance David when he might have had the kingdome of Israel somewhat sooner by sin he would not do it his heart smote him for cutting off the â—…appe of Sauls garment though he might have gained the kingdome of Israel by it he would not lay his hands on the Lords anointed And what was the reason of it because he would not advantage himself by disobedience to God he would rather want himself What was the reason that Daniel when he saw he was in an apparent hazard not only of the loss of honour but of his life and that for the performance but of one duty prayer and that but for a short time yet would not omit it no not for a short time though he might by that not only have saved his life but kept his honour in the Court he prayed to God even at that time when he was forbidden Why so because he lived to God and not to himself Had Daniel lived to and sought himself more then God he would have dispensed with this and saved both his life and honour though he had offended God in that particular of omission But this is the disposition of a heart that is faithful and upright with God it will not dishonour God for the greatest advantage that can come to it self it will not neglect a duty to God whatsoever loss it have in the world Thirdly Take another instance whereby we may see what we intend in this tryall Let the will of God and the bent of a mans own will come in competition together God will have me leave this I will hold it God will have me forsake this I will keep it It is a comfort a wordly benefit I lose my comfort if I part with it He that now liveth to himself he will please his own will and be disquieted and vexed against Gods will that crosseth his But he that liveth to God will be contenâ—… that God should cross him in his will because he would glorisie God in his own will in his soveraignty in his purity in his holiness and justice c. See it in the case of Abraham Abraham had a strong love to Isaac and good cause yet nevertheless though he could see a comfort to himself in this son when God telleth him thou must sacrifice thy son Isaac when he had the revealed will of God Abraham now resolveth to shew that he lived to God and not to himself therefore he would part with any comfort of his life for God when he required it So David If the Lord will saith he he can bring me back that I shall see the Tabernacle and the Arkâ—… if not If he say I have no pleasure iâ—… thee loe here I am let the Lord do with me as seemeth good in his owneyes When the case is this when the will of God crosseth thy will what now prevaileth Doth the desire of having thy own will prevail against the desire of submitting to Gods will Doth it raise murmuring and impatiency of spirit So far thou livest to thy self Therefore consider this Here is an occasion now for a lust and a sinful affection to shew it self either a man may advantage himself in an evil course or he cannot but disadvantage himself in a good course or when God crosseth a man in that he desireth and delights in in the world That is the first tryal whereby a man may know whether he liveth to himself Secondly another tryal will be this Consider if their be any part of the truth of God of his revealed will that for self-respects thou art willing to be ignorant of least the knowledge of it should make the do somewhat to thy own disadvantage in this thou livest to thy self See this to be true in all that live to themselves Balaam though he profest that for a house full of gold he would not go beyond the word of the Lord yet notwithstanding he was willing not to take notice of Gods will but to go on rather to curse Johanan in Jer. 42. professeth deeply that he would obey the will of the Lord but when he understood the will of the Lord when it crost his will then saith he to Jeremy It is not the Lord that hath bid
in all causes and over all persons but over all causes too even Kings are subject to his regiment He bindeth Kings in chaines and Nobles in fetters of Iron Psal 149. The Kings of the earth saith Saint John and the rich and the great men and the great Captains and the mighty men they shall all hide themselves in the caves and rocks and mountains Revel 15. crying to the mountains and rocks to cover them from the face of the Judg and from the wrath of the Lamb because the day of desolation is come Nay God is not only over all the Kings of the earth but he is Potentate of heaven and hell too He hath a commanding power over all the Angels fear the Divels tremble when they come to stand before God In a word as Saint Paul saith all power is of God then of necessity followeth that God himself in his power is most absolute That is the second thing belonging to the office of a Judg as he must have knowledg to discerne so he must have power to execute Thirdly there must be Justice in the execution therefore the Grecians were wont to place justice between Libra and Leo to signifie indifferency in weighing causes and strictness in executing the sentence So the Egyptians signified as much by their Hierogliphical purtraicture of an Angel without hands wincking or without eyes such a one a Judg should be he should have no hands to receive bribes nor no eyes to respect persons the person of a Judg must not take the person of a friend A man must not personate a friend in justice but as Levi he must know neither father nor mother nor brother Justice amongst us is purtraicted holding a Ballance in one hand and a sword in another the Ballance sheweth the upright weighing of causes and the Sword sheweth the strictness of the execution of the sentence And if this Execution be wanting both the other are to no purpose It is to no purpose to know and to have power if their be not Justice But God is a true and just Judg Howsoever it be amongst the Judges of the earth yet unworthy is he of the place of a Judg and fitter to stand at the Barr then to sit on the Bench that suffereth himself to miscarry by friendship or love or bribes or sutes or favour or envie when either of these prevail they tie the tongues of men to plead for wrong causes Shall a Traytour presume on the Kings favour and Mordecai be out of the Kings grace But there shall be no such thing here God is the Judg of all the earth and shall not he do right Gen. 18. Doth God pervert judgment or doth the Almighty pervert Justice Job 8.3 When thou standest before the Judgment seat of God thou shalt neither be elevated with vain hopes nor dejected and cast down by sinister and wrong fears but assure thy self such as thy cause is such shall thy sentence be as Saint Bernard well a pure heart shall prevail more with God then a smooth word good consciences shall speed better then full purses for he is an upright and just Judg with whom no fair words nor friends shall prevail So I have done with the first thing The Judg. Secondly something of the Judgment and therein two things First that it shall be Secondly in what manner it shall be First that it shall be The text is plain God shall bring to Judgment There might many Texts besides this be alledged consonant and agreeable to this but it is superfluous Besides Texts of Scripture we have Types also to prefigure it and reasons also to prove and confirm it Two Types of the last Judgment our Saviour himself propoundeth Luk 17. One was the destruction upon Sodome the other the destruction that God brought upon the old world Look as Christ saith how it was with them of Sodome in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded and look how it was with the men of the old world in the dayes of Noah eating and drinking and sporting and marrying until the very day that Noah entred into the Ark and the flood came and destroyed them all So it shall be at the last day when the Son of man shall come The Apostle Saint Peter speaking of the latter of these telleth us of mockers in those times that scoffed when they heard of the Judgment there hath been talk a great while of such things promised but when will it come Where is the promise of his coming There are scoffers in these dayes but such if there be any cannot but speak against their own consciences and knowledg they cannot be ignorant both of the Judgments that have been and shall be or if they be they are wilfully ignorant That God did once wash away the sins of the world with a Flood of water and that the time is coming that God will purge the sins of the world with a flood of fire the Rainbow in the clouds as it is a Monument of the one so it is a fore-runner of the other The two principal colours of the Rainbow are blew and red the blew and waterish colour of the Rainbow is an evidence of that Judgment that is past when God washed the sins of the world away by Water the fiery colour is a prediction of a Judgment that is to come when God shall purge the world by a Flood of fire But besides these Types there are divers reasons that may be given to assure us that we have reason to expect this day Those five Attributes of God afford five reasons to confirm it His Power his Wisdome his Truth his Justice his Mercy First his Power God will have it be thus for the manifestation of his Power A work of great power it will be indeed All must be brought before Gods judgment seate every one as the Text saith after It may seem strange peradventure incredible to here that all the men and women that ever lived in the world that so many multitudes and millions of thousands of all kindreds and nations should all be summoned to appear before one Judgement seat But as Saint Austin faith Consider who is the doer and then thou wilt not doubt It is true indeed with men such a thing as this is impossible but with God all things are possible Could God at the first draw all things out of nothing and cannot God as well bring together all again when they are turned to nothing Could he make that body of thine out of the dust of the earth and cannot he raise that body when it is turned to dust Could he unite that body to the soul in the time of the Creation and cannot he unite it at the time of the Resurrection Certainly there is nothing impossible too hard to the great and terrible voyce of God as Saint Chrysostome saith to that voyce of God that cleaveth the
of protection on the right hand and on the left That then that was the ruin of the Egyptians it was the protection of the Israelites So it is in regard of death that that is the entrance to the doleful misery of evil men that is the most blisseful and joyful day to a child of God that can be for then he rests from his labours and his works follow him But notwithstanding all this it is hard to live without fear I enjoy many things I am afraid to lose them and my children are afraid and loath to part with me my heart wavers and is full of perplexity how shall I be freed from this I know fear is a natural thing deeply rooted in nature think not to get the conquest wholly but by little and little Labour to get the Spirit of God that is supernatural that must overcome this for the strongest resolution of the most resolved spirit in the world will not overcome it it must be by a power that is stronger then our own namely by the Spirit of GOD that we being assured by the Spirit that God is our portion and living the life of faith we may not fear any thing in regard of this world Secondly labour to keep our covenant with God there is an admonition Numb 14.9 Only faith God remember you do not rebel against God and then fear not this people for God is with you but he hath for saken them The righteous is bold as a Lyon but the wicked fears and oft-times where there is no fear What is the reason we are so faint-hearted that we fear the loss of the things of this world because we are not assured that God is our portion for if a man were assured that what he loseth here God would make up in regard of his presence that he would be All in all instead of wife and goods and children and honours c. it is impossible that this man should fear the loss of any thing for he possesseth all in God and he cannot be lost In particular labour to strengthen faith make God our strong Tower and live by faith he shall not be afraid of ill tydings why his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal 1.12 When men make the things of this world their portion when they make riches and the arme of flesh their portion that they must rely upon here is a reed that will either break or pierce a mans hand No wonder that this man fears in all occasions and extremities because he forsakes the Lord and cleaves to the creature But that man that lives by faith is without fear As Peter when he began to sink faith Christ Why dost thou fear O thou of little faith The reason he did sink was fear and why did he fear because his faith failed him he did not lay hold upon God and Christ Lastly let us remember to order our selves aright in regard of our love and this will keep us from inordinate fear For we must conceive that love is the fountain of all other affections we love things and therefore we desire them if they be absent and we rejoyce in them if they be present and we fear the loss of them to be abridged of them Now let us order our love aright in regard of the things of this world and we shall never fear much for it is the observation of S. Austin we fear to lose somewhat that we have attained or not to enjoy somewhat that we desire so it ariseth from love somewhat that we love and affect we are afraid of the loss of it and this is the cause of fear Now in regard of wealth a man is afraid he shall not have enough he shall not have a competency it is because he loves the things of the world too much A man is afraid of Death why because he loves his body too much A man is afraid he shall lose his children or his Friends what is the reason he loves them too much too inordinatly We should labour to love them only in and for God and then we shall not be afraid of the loss of them but shall be content to be disposed in them and in our selves as God shall see convenient in his heavenly wisdom A word for the occasion and that I will dispatch in a word You know the occasion of our meeting at this time and in this place it is to perform this last rite to the body of a Child that God hath taken lately to his mercy You see how Almighty God is pleased to dispose it sometimes even ost-times from the Cradle to the Grave out of the Swadling-bands to the winding-sheet God will have it so sometimes and when it is so we must lay our hands upon our mouths and be content with the will of God For those that are Parents let all learn this lesson not to dote too much upon their children not to be enamoured too much upon such flowers you know how soon God takes them away before you be aware It is not their wit or their comliness or agility and nimbleness or healthy constitution or any thing that can award them from the stroak of death when God sends it Therefore learn to love them in and for God for his sake and you shall have no cause to fear the loss of them or grieve immoderately when they are taken away why because they are all alive still to God and this tender Babe is not lost he is but sent before he is alive still in the presence of God the soul stillives and the body shall live and is in Gods account Christ hath the charge of it and will raise it at the last day That man can lose no friend that loves his friend in and for God because they live with God and he shall enjoy them at the last day Again as we may mourn for the loss of our friends and children or else we were without natural affection so we must rejoyce that they have gained as we have lost them as they are taken from us so they are taken from the evils of the world from a great deal of sin and misery and what that might have been the Lord only knows therefore we have cause to be thankful And beloved be thankful too if God spare any if he take one he might have taken all and prepare for it too be thankful for them that are lest And remember labour betimes to instruct your children in the fear of God let it be the first thing we infuse into them as soon as they be capable namely the elements of Christian Religion holy and heavenly things why because they may be taken away before we are aware It may be we have but a little time but a few opportunities to do good to them I tell you what our conscience will tell us else that we have not been so careful to instruct our children as they have been capable
son and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son Now I cannot handle all these parts by several peeces as they lye therefore I will deliver to you the juyce and substance of all that I have to say in two Propositions there might be many more collected from these words but I will speak of no more the first is this That strong and great trials may befal strong and great Christians The second Proposition is this That faith will make a man acquit himself in great trials Now for the first That strong and great trials may befal strong and great Christians The Text clears it in Abraham about his son his only son a great trial there are ten remarkable steps in this trial of Abraham in oftering up his Son First had it been to part with a dutiful servant this had been something but to part with a Son this is much more this we know that the relation of a servant is much less then that of a child Again if he had been to part with a faithful friend such a one as Jonathan was to David this would have tried him but to part with a tender Isaac this is much more Again if it were an adopted son that he were to part with it were not so much but to part with a natural son one that was a part of himself a part of his own body Again if he were a son amongst many more but he must part with his only son his only son Isaac Again if Abraham had been young and might have enjoyed another son it had not been so much but he is the only son of his old age Again if it were the son of his old age if it had been an Ishmael this had not been so much but his only son Isaac a child of promise and of prayer a child of many tears Again if it had been a son wherein he took no great delight that his affections were not so much set upon it had not been so much but it was the son of his love he must not onely part with his only son and the only son of his old age but his only son whom he loved Again if it were but only to part from him to have him taken away this had not been so much but he must kill his son he must cut his son all in peeces and so offer him up to God wherein his heart might have disputed with that sinful act of murder Again if another had been to do it to cut his son in peeces but Abraham must do it himself the tender Father must take away the life of his tender child Again it had not been so great if Abraham had been to do it presently or neer to some of his friends that might have hindered him from this Act but Abraham must go three dayes journey and must go to an unknown place and there must pour out the heart and bloud and life of his Isaac In these many particulars we may see the greatness of Abrahams trial O the heighth and depth and bredth of this trial no one could impose such a trial but a God and none could answer such a trial but an Abraham Job may come in as another instance God gives Job this testimony that he was an eminent person None like him in the earth a perfect and upright man and one that feared God and eschewed evil He seemed to be the tallest Cedar and yet he had the sharpest winds his eminency in grace would not deliver him from trouble he is tried many wayes in the loss of his cattel and then in the loss of his servants and then in the loss of his children and in the loss of all his children at once and all on a sudden and at such a time the time of his greatest prosperity he is tried by his neer friends condemned for an hypocrite and by his own wife contemned and tempted to curse God and he was tried by God himself He wrote bitter things against him and fastened his arrowes in his spirit But to leave these instances let me crave leave a little to touch upon two things for the full and cleer opening of this point First I will shew you wherein the strength of a trial may consist And secondly I will shew you why God is pleased to lay strong and great trials upon strong and great Christians First wherein the strength of a trial may confist and I will observe six things which may make a trial great First one is the goodness and kindness of the agent that deals with us when any neer to us in a singular relation to us shall seem to turn against us and spoil us and persecute us when a dear friend shall prove a bitter enemy O this is a heavy trial no sword cuts so sharp as this nothing makes a greater wound then this when God himself shall seem to reject He who had said thus much I will be a God to Abraham and I will bless thee and multiply thy seed and yet now to command him a Duel with his son for a man to meet with a condition of trouble and sorrow when he expects all mercy and compassion and tenderness of love O this doth cause singular sorrow to meet with waves in the middest of the Ocean it is a common thing but to thrust the ship into some harbour and there to meet shipwark O this is very much for a Christian to find scorns and hard usage from the world this is but an ordinary thing but when he looks up to heaven and receives such looks and frowns from God that fetch tears from his eyes and from his heart this is much more Secondly the strength of a tryal may consist in the neerness of an object when the tryal is not that which rends the garment but rends the heart for a woman to lose her ring is not so much but to lose her husband this is much more for a man to lose an outward thing is something but to lose a child is much more this many times is the renting of the loyns a sunder for David to lose a servant is not so much but when David loses Absalom then he cries out O Absalom my son would God I had dyed for thee O Absalom my son my son God is pleased many times to try his servants by taking away the delight of their eyes and the joy of their heart and the hope of their lives Thirdly the strength of a tryal may consist in the neerness of a comfort a tryal is strongest when it seems to pluck away the thing that is neerest the heart when God plucks away a Child sucking at the breast when he takes away that whereon our delight is fixed when God on a sudden doth take away and cousume the Gourd that shadowed Jonah when he snatches away the thing that we take content in O this will enter to the quick
gone riches are soon gone the life of man is soon gone the life of man is but a breath a vapour which is presently consumed but a glass of a brittle substance all our comforts are of a changeable nature that whereon we set our affection is taken from us in a moment Thus I have opened these two points now give me leave to make some use I will spare to speak to you of the occasion of our meeting together for Funeral Sermons are not for the advantage of the dead but for the instruction of the living there are two Uses that I will make of those two propositions I know many more may be produced but I consider the time The first Use is this Since great tryals may befal great Christians then let us prepare for great tryals for as much as such kind and degrees of affliction and crosses may besal us There are two things that a man should alwaies provide for one is while we live to provide for Death the other is while we are in prosperity to provide for affliction for a change and for this consider two things First our outward condition is but a shadow it hath a natural aptness to change there is not a person that hears me this day but this may concern his outward condition Man is born unto trouble saith Job as the sparks fly upward as if trouble were his natural sphear wherein he is to move Thou canst not assure thy self of life no not a moment nor of any of these outward comforts neither canst thou promise thy self security in any state or condition though thou maist get assurance that God wil save thee yet thou canst never get assurance that God will never try thee we see that Death enters into many houses of this City at this time in one house one hath lost a Father another hath lost a Wife another hath lost a Husband another hath lost a Child another is in sorrow for the loss of a dear friend and therefore we should provide for a change because the next commission of Death may enter into our houses it is our sins that puts our lives upon these conditions our sins do alwayes leave something contrary to our comforts to alter and change our present condition Death takes away our life and plucks away our comfort and dis-inherits us of all these outward things how soon doth Death lay honour in the dust how soon is beauty ecclipsed by deformity our strength laid down by weakness our health overcome by sickness our life overtaken by Death all these may ecclipse our comforts these clouds may soon darken our sun one thing or other every moment is ready to put out our candle to darken our day to cease our life alas what is life but a shadow What is honour but a blast what are the things we do so much pride our selves in they are but as Jonahs Gourd which perisheth in a moment and many times the cause of our sorrow and affliction the loss of them a greater griefe then the want of them this staffe on which we lean will soon be broken a Ship may last for a while but she will sink at the last What is the Wife mans verdict of all things under the Sun he concludes they are all vanity that is not enough they are nothing but vanity that is not enough neither they are nothing but vanity and vexation of spirit things less then nothing then how little is it that we are to expect from them we should provide for a change not only our outward condition is thus changeable but our inward condition too our spiritual comfort is changeable though there is stability in the main yet a Christian meets with many intermissions Beloved if our condition were not changeable I would hold my tongue from exhorting you to provide for a change Secondly as our outward condition is cast upon many changes so when these changes do befal us when they come to strip us of our comfort verily they will put us to it Thou art mistaken thou thinkest thou canst bear a loss or a cross it is not so easie a matter to bear the loss of a Child or a Husband or a Wife or a Father or the loss of a dear friend it is not so easie a thing to bear the loss of an estate as thou thinkest thou shalt find it a hard matter to bear in worldly sorrow we may seem to take courage before affliction comes but when afflictions and trials fall upon us then we are put to it it is with us as with a Ship when the Sun doth shine and the Seas are calm and the Wind fair then she goes on pleasantly in her motion but in a storm all little enough to keep her steady in our easie dayes in our dayes of peace in our calm estate then we can hold up our heads well enough but in our losses and crosses we shall hardly bear up unless the Lord do mightily support us We may observe two sorts of persons in the world some are insensible persons who are like the Rock that nothing can break it who are so hardened that though God do scourge them yet they feel it not though God doth threaten them they fear not though Gods hand be already upon them they regard it not a condition not so much now to be checked as to be deplored To such persons it is all one whether God bless or whether God curse whether he speak by his Word or by his Rod it is all one to them they feel nothing nor fear nothing Secondly there is another sort of persons who are sensible persons sensible of Gods love and sensible of Gods anger they know that God is good and wife that he doth not strike off our comforts from us but upon some special cause Now to stay upon God and to yeeld to the Lord It is the Lord let him do what seems good unto him God doth not deprive me of such a comfort but he sees it best for me Beloved it were good to learn this lesson it will cost thee something in a neer trial to acquit thy self by faith to acquit God and to submit to his chastisement to kiss the rod to judg the sin to bend the soul to better the life this were an excellent lesson to learn in all our trials and afflictions Secondly if great trials may befall great Christiaus and faith is that which will make a man acquit himself in great trials then get faith use faith What faith is I have divers times discovered in this assembly whence it comes from heaven how we may attain it by the word and Prayer but to omit these I say get faith labour for this grace of faith if there were no other reason but this it is able to support us in our dayes of trial it is able to give us comfort in our greatest sorrow this were motive enough to make us labour to get faith the day of trial
him to rule and command his own Generation and yet it is said he served the same Princes are not priviledged by their greatness only to tyrannize over others but are accountable to God how well they discharge their duty to all such to whom they are respected Proceed we to see how David served his generation which he did in an eight-fold capacity First as a dutiful son to his Father and Mother 1 Sam. 22.3 And David went thence to Nizpeh of Moab and he said unto the King of Moab Let my Father and Mother I pray thee come forth and be with you till I know what God will do for me And be brought them before the King of Moab and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold The case was thus David foresaw that the tempest of Sauls fury would fall full heavy on his Fathers family he foresaw also that though he himself might be alwayes on the wing hunted from place to place as a Partridge on the Mountain yet his aged Parents could not keep pace with his suddain uncertain unseasonable late and long removeance and therefore as a dutiful son he provided for them a private place of peaceable repose Secondly he served his generation as a very loving Brother witness the dangerous visit whith at his Fathers command he gave his Brethren in the Camp when Goliah was in the field victualling them with all necessary provision on the same token that he received nothing for his pains save a jeer from Eliab his eldest brother 1 Sam. 17.28 Why camest thou down hither and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle Thirdly he served his ganeration as a kind and carefull Husband I will not excuse his Polygamy having many wives at once nor dare I flatly condemn it God conniving thereat in the antient Patriarches However David cannot be charged with want of love amongst his store of wives Once I confess he made a tart and sharp return to Miehal 2 Sam. 6.21 mocking him for dancing before the Ark. But was there not a cause when through the sides of David she struck at all true devotion and smartness on such occasion is zeal and no trespass against Marital affection Fourthly he served his generation as a tender Father indeed he faulty it was in the excess being over-indulgent to Absolom and Adoniah whom he never took to task nor called to account 1 Kings 1.6 Why have you done so and seeing he would not use the rod on them God therefore used them as a rod on him such cockerings we confess is a catching disease amongst us parents but to give David his due for the main he behaved himself no doubt as a discreet and tender Father to his numerous issue Fifthly he was a fast and faithful Friend witness the exchange of hearts as well as cloathes which passed betwixt him and Jonathan yea David made a tripartite expression of his affection 1. He loved Jonathan in his life 2. Lamented him at 3. Shewed mercy to him after his death 2 Sam. 6.3 in restoring Nephiboseth to all his lands and making him Fellow-Commoner at his own Table So that we may truly say and justifie the expression There was two men Jonathan and David and it will be made good by the Rules of Amity if any question the phrase in the Rule of Grammer Sixthly he was a loyal Subject whereof he gave two signal testimonies like to find more to admire then to imitate them amongst posterity if any should chance to be estated in his condition with the same advantage For being Reversion'd to the Crown he twice had an opportunity if so pleased to put himself into the present possession thereof Once when he had Saul in the Cave 1 Sam. 24.5 and his heart smote him for being over-bold with Gods annointed though he did but cut off a skirt of his Garment Again 1 Sam. 26.12 When he found Saul a sleeping and if so disposed might have left him a sleeping till the sound of the last Trumpet should summon him to awake A surly General walking the Round and finding one of his Centinels asleep nailed him with his spear to the earth and excused his act with this jest whether witty or cruel let others judge Dormientem inveni Dormientem reliqui Sleeping I found him and sleeping I left him David might have done the like especially seeing Abisha not to say Providence impelled him thereunto but would not as having a principle of piety within him which remonstrated against such proceedings Seventhly he was a prudent Soveraign both in peace and war in Court and Camp for the space of full forty years going in and out before the people of Israel whom he ruled prudently with all his might I confess his son Absolom taxed him with neglect of the affairs of State 2 Sam. 15.3 that no man was deputed by him to hear the causes and redress the grievances of his oppressed subjects But what saith our plain proverb Ill will never speaks well And therefore I listen to Absoloms words as to a loud Libell and we should be no less injurious to our own judgements then to Davids innocence in giving credit to a proud ambitions son against an holy and humble Father Eightly and lastly David served his generation as a gracious Saint this was the Diamond of the Ring and I have kept the best wine for the last to close and conclude Davids character therewith He is termed in this Chapter ver 22. a man after Gods own heart being the best transcript or copy of the best Original Objection But you wittingly and willingly and wilfully will some say have suppressed and concealed a necessary truth because tending to Davids disparagement Saint Paul saith Titus 3.3 that some men serve divers lusts and pleasures and so did David himself He did not serve his generation but his own wicked wantonness when he imbroydered his Adultery with Bathsheba with the Murder of Uriah Answer O not a word not a syllable not a letter not a tittle hereof God hath forgotten it why should man remember it God hath cast it behind his back why should we cast it in the teeth of Davids memory let us never mention it to his disgrace but for our own direction Partly to teach us not to trust in our selves lest we fall into sin partly to comfort us that after sin committed pardon is obtainable on our unfeigned repentance Yea this is a very comfortable consideration That though there be many faults failings and defects in our performances yet if there be sincerity Gospel perfection therein if our hearts be set to seek the Lord God of our Fathers God will be mercifull unto us though we be not purified according to the purification of the Sanctuary Thus Lot not withstanding the soul