that can recompence this paine looke of this ritche man who sometime sported himselfe in his sinnes and forgat himselfe of his duties now hee lyes crying out of his paine and desiring release of his miseries and cannot haue it hee may bee compared to a Kings sumpter Horse who all daye goeth loaden with gould and siluer but at night his treasure and trappings are taken from him and he is turned into a foule stable hauing nothing left him but his galled backe So such wicked men that are all their life braue and wealthie but when they dye those things are laide aside and they are turned into the prison of hell hauing nothing left them but their galled conscience It is said being in hell in torments Hee lift vp his eyes and sawe Abraham c. all that follow to the end of the chapter as I saide in the beginning are Parabolicall speeches seruing to amplifie the miserie of this man for it was a great increase of his torments to see Lazarus so exalted and himselfe so cast downe As it was a great vexation to Haman to see Mordecai sitte Hester on the Kings Horse in royall apparrell and himselfe to hould his Stirrop It did much increase this mans torment that hee must begge of Lazarus that had beene his begger and that a droppe of water which was a lesse almes then the other had begged of him and could not haue it it was a great increase of his torment to heare of his faults now when hee could not amend them and to heare of Moses and the Prophets that had shewed him the waye to preuent this miserie and he did not regard them It was a great increase of his miserie to heare that Lazarus was comforted when hee was tormented it was a great increase of his torment to heare that the barre of Gods eternall predestination had so bound him that hee could neuer bee remooued from his condemnation and that Gods election had setled Lazarus in a permanent and happy condition This did greatly increase his miserie that in his life time he had many seruants at commaundement and now no body would doe any thing for him no not the begger in this life he might haue riden or gone whether he would but now hee was bound hand and foote and could goe no whether in this life hee might haue taught his brethren and friends any thing but now hee could doe them no good In this life if hee would haue made an earnest prayer to God for a greater matter hee might haue had it but nowe it was too late the time of mercie was past the time of iustice was come therefore saith the Scripture To daye if yee will heare his voyce harden not your hearts it was to daye with Pharao when Moses and Aaron preached to him it was to morrowe when he was drowned in the Red sea It is to day with men while they liue here and may repent of their sinnes and amend their liues it will bee to morrowe when they are gone from hence for as the day of death leaues vs so the day of doome shall finde vs as we see in this mans example Which glasse let all ritch men looke on and see how it is runne out A Iem for Gentlemen DEVTRO 16. 18. Iudges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy Citties which the Lord thy God giueth thee thorow-out thy Tribes and they shall iudge the people with righteous iudgement 19. Wrest not the lawe nor respect any person neither take rewarde for the rewarde blindeth the eyes of the wise and peruerteth the words of the iust 20. That which is iust c. that thou mayest liue o. AFter the Lorde had brought the people of Israell out of Aegipt he prescribed thē laws for gouernement and here he willes them to apoint officers to execute them and not in some few places but thorowout all their Citties and Tribes and commaunds those who shall bee chosen for officers to rule and iudge according to trueth and iustice and because they should haue many temptations to doe otherwise he giues them warning of three vices that are most incident to their calling as wresting the lawe respecting of persons and taking rewardes Last of all hee makes a promise to those that gouerne according to this direction they shall liue which hath included in it a secret and contrary threatning to those that doe not they shall dye Whereas God commaundes them to appoint Iudges wee may see that maiestracie is not an ordinance taken vp by the will of man but by the will and commaundemente of God The chiefe maiestracie belongs to God himselfe who is called the King of Kings Lorde Gen. 18. of Lordes and Iudge of all the worlde as appeares by punishing the Angels before Iude. there were any gouernours vppon earth and as appeares by punishing some gouernours for fayling in gouernment as Saul Ieroboham Ahab c. Paul sayth There is no power but of God and Rom. 13. the powers that bee are ordayned of God Therefore hee willeth Christians to bee subiect to them for conscience to paye tribute to them and to praye for them and the Apostle Iude reprooues those that 2. Tim. 2. dispise them and speake euill of them Againe in that God commaunds them to choose Iudges it shewes the necessitie of Maiestrates and not onely among Heathens as the Anabaptistes would haue it but also among Christians in the church as this precept was giuen to Israell and therefore Esay the Propher calles Kings Esa 49. 23. Foster-fathers and Queenes Nursing-mothers of the Church for although there bee some godlye men and women in the Church whose consciences are a lawe to themselues yet there bee also many hipocrites that haue no conscience and although Maiestrates are not so necessarie to restraine the godlye from hurting other yet they are necessarie and needefull to restraine other from hurting them There bee many faultes that God doth not punish himselfe immediately in this worlde especially with apparant punishments but dooth turne them ouer to his Liefetenants and Maiestrates Indeede if sinne had not come into the worlde there should not haue beene so much neede of Maiestrates to bridle men from iniquitie and spurre them to dutie but since pride enuie hatred couetousnesse and such corruptions came into mans nature it was necessarie there should bee authoritie in some to suppresse disorders In the booke of Iudges it is said When there Iudg. 20. was no Maiestrate euery one did that was good in his owne eyes then Micha had a Teraphin then the Beniamites defiled the Leuites wife to death and so it would be now if the feare of the Maiestrate did not restraine the most for the feare of God doth restraine but a fewe it were better to liue vnder the cruellest tyrant in the worlde then in an anarchie where there is no gouernement for then euery one would bee a tyrant It is better saith one to
preuaile against vs and to this end let vs know as our Sauiour Christ saith to his Disciples Yee haue neede of patience so wee haue neede of knowledge of faith of hope of loue and other graces of the spirit of God for Sathan will not onely assault vs but perhaps continue his siege battery a day a weeke a moneth and giue vs no respight and though he will sound the retreate and depart sometime for a season as Saint Luke Luk. 4. saith yet he will returne againe perhapes another way and set vpon vs by some other meanes therefore arme your selues saith the Apostle and resist him and if this battell seeme hard and tedious vnto vs remember in what cause we fight and for what crowne our Sauiour Christ saith in the Reuelation He that ouercometh shall inherite great and glorious things and Paul saith The Saintes shall iudge the Angelles that is the deuilles Paul saieth to 1. Cor. 6. Timothy I haue fought a good fight and then he addeth I looke for the Crowne the Saints in heauen that are now crowned haue come vnto it thorow many temptations and tribulations therefore let vs harken to the Apostles exhortation be strong in the Lorde put on the whole armour of God and resist in the euil day and the God of peace shall treade Rom. 16. downe sathan vnder ouâ— feete shortly ⧠The Houre-glasse of Mans life PSALME 90. 12. Teach vs so to number our dayes that we may apply our hartes to wisedome THIS whole booke is called the booke of Psalmes because it contayneth in it for the most part matter of praise and thankesgiuing though there be many other doctrines mingled therewithall They are called the Psalmes of Dauid because he compiled most of them not because he made them all for this was made by Moses as yee may see by the title of it We call this the 90. Psalme because it is bound with the Psalmes and standes in the place of that number but it is intituled and that more fitly agreeing with the matter of it A prayer of Moses In which Moses setteth forth the estate of mans life generally and perticulerly of the people of Israell in the wildernesse where he saw many thousands of them that came out of Egypt dye some by one meanes and some by another as it is more largely recorded in the booke of Numbers Now Moses considered that many of their forefathers liued almost a thousand yeares whereto hee hath respect in the 4. verse where he saith One thousand yeâ—res in thy sight is but as yesterday and the life of man was growne shorter and shorter and in his time ordinarily it was not one hundred yeares as appeares in the 10. verse The dayes of a man are threescore yeares and tenne or perhaps fourescore which was nothing to their fathers how much lesse when they were cut off by strange punishmentes in the middest of their course and dyed thicke and three-fould without warning Now after the mention of those things he breakes out into this speech Teach vs to know our dayes that we may apply our harts to wisedome In which words are two things to be considered first a petition secondly a reason of the petition The petition is in these first wordes Teach vs to number our dayes The reason is in these other wordes in the end of the verse that we may apply our hartes to wisedome Wherby we are taught first of al that there is a number of euery mans dayes for this difference to be considered betweene this life and the next life this life hath an end therefore it is called temporall the next life endes not therefore it is called eternall the certaine number of our daies is knowne Iob. 14. 5 to God and not to vs. But he doth not desire to know the certaine number of his dayes but rather the vncertaine number of them that is that God would teach them to know the breuity and shortnes of mans life Therefore he sets it downe by dayes not by yeares and this he desires not for himselfe only but for the people and therefore he saith not teach me but teach vs to number our dayes Now according to Moses prayer God hath taught vs this point in the Scripture that all men are mortall and must dye as the Lord saide to Adam In the day that thou eatest of the tree in the middest of the garden thou shalt die although the diuell who for that cause our Sauiour Christ saith Iohn 8. Was a lyer from the beginning spake contrary and said to Eue Thou shalt not die at all yet indeed Adam died for although he dyed not by by yet he was a dead man because sentence was passed vpon him and all his life afterward was but a dying life euerything then sauoring of death and euery day beeing a step vnto death If any will inquire what death is to speake generally it is a seperation from the condition of this mortall and temporall life but to speake more properlye it is a seperation of the soule and body as the ioyning togeather of the soule and body at the first was the cause of life as it is said God breathed into Adam the breath of life and Gen. 1. man was made a liuing soule so the seperation of the soule from the bodye is the cause of death as Christ saieth to the ritch man This night they shall fetch away thy soule thou shalt dye This Adam by his sinne brought not onelye vpon himselfe but vpon all his posteritye as Paul saieth Rom. 5. By man sinne entred into the worlde and death by sinne and death went ouer all men forasmuch as all men haue sinned therefore it is saide not onely of Adam himselfe but of dyuers of the fathers that were his posterity to shew the trueth of Gods threatning to Adam In the daye Gen. 5. thou doest eate of such a tree thou shalt dye And to shewe the falcehoode of the diuelles promise to Eue that though sâ—e did eate it she should not dye at all such and such a one liued thus many hundred yeares but he dyed for though the day be neuer so long at length comes euensong Heb. 9. the Apostle saith It is appointed to al men once to dye after that comes the iudgement when all men are dead then comes the general iudgemeÌ„t but when euery one dyes then comes his perticuler iudgement as appeares in the example of the ritch man and Lazarus for as the day of death leaues vs so the day of doome shall finde vs therfore Dauid when he laye sicke said I goe the waye of all the worlde for death is as an vnpartiall iudge that is indifferent to all poore and rich Iob speakes of some men that would seeke death either for the auoyding of present sorrow or procuring of future ioy but whether a man seekes it or no he shall be sure it will seeke him We read of a HeatheÌ„
come it is wofull to thinke how many we shall see then of this kinde of ground Some doe continue till the gowte layes holde of them as King Asa some till the worlde layes holde of them as Demas and some doe continue till persecution layes holde of them as Francis Spera some men are like the Snaile that put out a long paire of hornes but if yee doe but touch them in they goe others will stand out some small matters but the threatning of death is the death of their religion but our Sauiour Christ saith to the Church of Smirna continue faithfull to the death and I will giue thee a crowne of life our Sauiour Christ hauing tould his Disciples of warres of enemies and dangers saith he that continues to the end shal be saued and bids them not feare him that killes the body Mat. 24. for the feare of a thing is many times worse then the thing it selfe for though persecutioÌ„ be threatned we know not what the intent of it is We reade of Domicianus the Emperor of Rome who made a proclamation that all those that would not worship an image should be banished wherevpon many of his subiects because they would keepe good consciences fled the rest yeelded became idolaters Then the Emperor called againe those that fled and placed them next vnto him and those that worshipped the image he banished from him saying they that wil not be faithfull to God will not be faithfull to me But if there should be a ful purpose of the maiestrate to shed the bloud of the Saints they cannot doe it except vntil God will suffer them for Christ saith A haire of your head shall not perish without your fathers prouidence he can change the kings hart it may bee we shall suffer but a few lewd words as they caled the christians in queene Maries daies holy knaues holy whores but remember the seruant is not better then his maister it may be a little imprisonment yet he can giue vs fauour in the eyes of the keeper of the prison as he did Ioseph he can open the prison dores and loose our fetters as he did Peter and if God giue liberty to the persecuters Acts. 10. yet they can but kill the body and if Gods will be we should die why should wee haue a will to liue if Philemon did owe to Paul not onelye that which hee had but himselfe how much more doe wee owe our selues to God as one saith If God had but giuen mee my life Iowe it him againe but seeing he hath giuen for mee the life of his sonne what am I to that gift in the 11. to the Heb. we reade of many Martirs that were diuersely persecuted and would not bee deliuered it is reported of a French Martir who beeing offered this fauour to bee spared of his chaines and fetters as hee went to execution aunswered no but the more contemptible his death was the more honourable Remember whatsoeuer we suffer for Christ he suffered more for vs shall a fire of stickes that lastes but an houre daunt a Christian man that so many women yea so many children haue indured cannot he that caused the fire that it should not touch the three children make it burne thee quicklve cannot hee that caused the Lions that they should not touch Daniel cause them to crush thee softely let vs remember that the honour of Martyrs hath alwayes bin great in the Church and their reward is great in heauen therefore saith wise Salomon buy the trueth but sell it not no Mat. 5. not for thy life and on contrarywise let vs consider what an vnwise thing it is to deny the trueth for the company of friendes to loose the familiarity of God and his Angels for hope of preferment to loose the inheritance of heauen for feare of paine to throw our selues into the torments of hell for regarde of the body to cast awaye the soule besides that it may be a man that so saues his life shall loose it within a weeke after by some disease or mischance yet if he should liue twenty yeares he shall finde his life worse then death for better is a happy death then an vnhappy life for the torment of conscience that will follow the denying of the trueth is worse then persecution as yee may see in Dauid who found the torment of his sinne of adultery from which there was no escape a heauier thing to beare then all the persecutions of Saule how much more heauy thinke we will be the occasion of the sinne of Apostacie as yee may see in Francis Spera who beeing a professor of religion for feare of persecution fell to imbrace Popery then he cryed out of himselfe that he was a reprobate and wished that he might be ten thousand yeares in hell fire so that at length hee might be deliuered Seeing it is so let vs pray to God to soften our hartes that the worde may take deepe roote in vs that as we know professe it so we may beleeue and bring forth fruite of it for those that doe not beleeue and practise it will not dye for it those that will doe nothing for it will suffer nothing for it and let vs pray to God that we may cleaue vnto it not for a time but alwayes for our reward shall not be a reward of dayes and yeares but for euer Also they that receiue the seede among thornes Verse 18. There is a third sort of ground that were fitter to beare fruit then the two former but that there are thornes bryers and weedes in it vnpulled vp that springes higher branches further and spreds wider then the Corne and choake the seede that it cannot beare fruite to this kinde of ground our Sauiour Christ compares those men that haue wit reason and capacity enough and might become good men and doe good duties but other things which hee callâ—â— thornes takes vp the roome in their harts that they cannot Our Sauiour Christ shews also what these thornes be that chaoke the word that is to say the cares of the world deceitfulnesse of ritches Luke addeth voluptuousnesse in a word hee meanes by thornes the corrupt lustes of mens nature that doe carry them so egerly after the profits pleasures of the world that they neglect the duties of godlines that are prescribed in the word By cares of the world oâ—â— Sauiour Christ doth not meane moderate care for that the word doth command and may stand well with religion Salomon reprooues carelesnesse and telles vs that the Pro. 6. little Emit that wantes reason dooth prouide in Summer for winter much more should a man that hath reason and most of all a man that hath religion as Paul saith He that prouides not for his house and familye 1. Tim. 5. hath denied the faith and is worse then an infidell But by cares of the worlde heere our Sauiour Christ meaneth immoderate and excessiue cares that the worlde