their sight and their hearing and had the rest of their sences the lame whom he cured did onely want the use of their feet and had the rest of their limbs the Lepers whom he cleansed did onely want their health and had the use of their limbs and sences but they which vvere dead had none of them all but vvere deprived of them altogether and so his raysing of such as vvere dead was a greater work then any of the former Therefore whensoever he raised the dead the people did greatly admire and honour him when he cured two blind men Mat. 9.31 Math. 9 They spread â—abroad his fame throughout all the land When he raised to life the Widowes sonne in Naim Luke 7.16 Luke 7. All that were present praised God and said A great Prophet is risen up amongst us and God hatâ— visited his people And vvhen he raised Lazarus from the dead John 11. it is said there that many of the Jewes that saw what Jesus did John 11. â—5 believed in him While a man is alive though he be never so much diseased or so dangerously sick yet vve send for Physitians and use other means because there is some hope that he may recover but when he is once dead there is no more hope and therefore we trouble our selves no further so when the Rulers daughter was sick he came unto Christ and besought him for her My little daughter saith he lyeth at the point of death but I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her and she shall live Mark 5.23 Mark 5.35 But his daughter dying before Christ came to her some brought the Ruler word Thy daughter is dead why troublest thou the Master any further as thinking it in vain when his daughter was dead to seek for help because the Physitian is not sought to for the dead but for the living But Christ that was as well able to revive the dead as to heale the sick raised diverse in the Gospel from death to life whereof some are not named but onely mentioned ingenerall as here it is said that the dead were raised up without specifying in particular who they were some are mentioned in particular as the Rulers daughter whom he restored to life when she was newly dead Marke 5. Mark 5.42 Luke 7.15 Joh. 11.17 The Widowes Son that was carried forth to be buried Luke 7. and Lazarus that had been foure dayes dead and was laid in his grave John 11. If Christ then were able to raise the dead while he lived here in the form of a servant we may well he assured that being in glory at the right hand of his Father he is both able to raise our souls from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to raise our bodies when they lie dead in their graves to the life of glory Indeed the raising of the body being dead see us a thing incredible unto flesh and blood And therefore when St. Paul Acts 17. did preach to the Athenians about the resurrection they were so far from believing that the dead should rise that they counted him a babler and laughed him to scorne But as Christ here raised some from death to life so at the â—â—st day he will raise all Act. 7.60 the one being as easie to him as the other Therefore our bodies when they die are said in the Scripture to â—all a sleep because Christ can as easily raise our bodies being dead as one man can wake another when he is faln a sleep If many be fallen asleep in a Chamber together yet one voice you know is able to waken them all and so the voice of Christ at the last day shâ—ll raise all that are dead in the whole world together The houâ—e shall come saith our Saviour John 5. John 5.28 in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Sonne of Man and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurection of life and they that have done evill unto the refurrection of condemnation 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore the buriall of our bodies is fitly resembled by St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. to the sowing of seed because as the seed being sowen in the ground doth afterwards revive and spring up againe so our bodies after they are dead and buried shall be revived and quickned Qui tibi grana seminum mortua et putrefacta vivificat August de ver Apost Sermo 34. per quae in hoe saeculâ— vivas multo magis te ipsum resuscitabit ut in aeternum vivas He saith St. Augustine that quickens for thee the graines of Corne when they are dead and rotten whereby thou mayst live upon the earth for a time much more will he raise thy self hereafter that thou mayst live for ever in Heaven For he hath not onely redeemed our souls but likewise our bodies and therefore will not suffer them to perish in their graves but will quicken them again that both our bodies and souls may live with him And thus much concerning his raysing the dead The last thing which is here mentioned is that the poore had the Gospel preached unto them It is the saying of the Prophet Esay Chap. 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach good tydings unto the poore he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Which words Christ expounding Luke 4. when he preached in Nazareth he applies them to himself This day saith he Luke 4.21 is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares to shew that he was annointed of God to preach the Gospel unto the poor Now by the poor to whom he preached the Gospel they are understood who are said by our Saviour Math. 5.3 to be poor in spirit For there are two sorts of poverty the one outward vvhen a man hath not means to maintain himself but wants outward necessaries the other inward vvhen a man is destitute of spirituall graces And thus every one of us all are poor but some do not see their poverty and want as the Laâ—diceans Revel 3.17 that thought themselves rich and increased with goods when they were poor and naked Some see their poverty and find in themselves a want of grace and therefore do hunger and thirst after it and these are the poore to whom Christ is said here to have preached the Gospel Therefore in the place which I named before the Prophet shews to what poor the Gospel should be preached by naming presently the broken hearted And Esay 66.2 The Lord promiseth to have respect unto him that is poore and of a contrite Spirit the latter of these explaining the former that they are the poor whom God respects who are humbled with the sight of their spirituall wants and bewaile nothing more then their want of grace Such were they to whom Christ here
the King of Navarre died both for the suddennesse and violence of it who feeling great anguish in all his nerves was by the advice of his Physicians to be close wrapped in linnen cloth which had been well steeped in Aquavitae and the cloth to be sowed strait all about his body one having sowed it not having a knife ready to cut the thread took the candle to burn the thread in sunder and the thread flaming to the cloth took sudden hold of the same and the Aquavitae that the King in this flame was burnt to death before he could be helped by any And many come to such fearfull ends and yet we cannot judge of them by the kind of their death because even the godly whose death is precious in the eyes of the Lord howsoever they die do sometimes die a violent death and that suddenly So did old Eli that was a good man vvho hearing that the Arke of God was taken 2 Sam. 4.18 fell backward from his scate his neck brake and he dyed So Job's Children no doubt were holy persons having had godly education and their Fathers prayers laid up in Heaven for them yet While they were feasting together in their elder brothers house Job 1.19 the house on the sudden fell down and killed every one of them If therefore we judge of men by the kinde of their deaths we shall condemn the generation of the righteous and may bring on ourselves the like censure from others For we do not know by what kinde of death we shall glorifie God whether we shall die an easie or a painfull death whether a naturall or a violent death whether a lingring or a sudden death The times have been God grant the like times may never come again when there have been so great persecutions in the Church that the faithfull have been put to all manner of deaths whether God hath reserved us to the like times or no we do not know we know we have no promise to the contrary and therefore ought to prepare our selves for the like times that if they come we may constantly maintain the profession of Christ though it cost us our lives as here it did Steven And thus much likewise for the second point the kinde of his martyrdom And so I come to the third by whom he was thus martyred namely by the Iewes They stoned Steven Ye all know that the Iewes were the people whom God had chosen to himself above all other Nations Behold saith Moses Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lords Déut. 10.14 and the Earth and all that is therein notwithstanding he hath set his affection on thy Fathers to love them and hath also chosen their seed after them Even you saith he hath he chosen above all people For as for all other Nations God counted them strangers and left them to themselves and did not vouchsafe them his Statutes and Ordinances but suffered them to walk in their own wayes But as for the Iewes he first taught them himself and delivered them his Law from his own mouth and because they desired to be instructed rather by men like themselves and therefore spake to Moses Loquere tu nobiscum et audiemus c. Speak thon say they with us and we will hear Exe. 20.19 but let not God speak with us lest we dye God yielded to their request and first taught them by Moses afterwards by the Prophets Luke 19.26 of whom Abraham said to the rich-man They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them But the Iewes were so far from hearing these that Steven could here upbraid them Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted And Christ complaine of them O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee as here they did Steven Their sinne then is aggravated in regard of the persons by whom it was committed They were not the Gentiles or any Heathenish people that knew not God for then their sin had been the less but they were the Jewes Gods chosen people who commonly if they were offended with any upon every occasion were ready to stone them If they be offended with Moses Exod. 17.4 because they were thirsty and had no water to drink they are presently ready to stone him for it If they be offended with Caleb and Joshua Numb 14.10 for contradicting the spies that were sent into Candan and for giving a good report of the Land they are likewise ready to stone them for it And how often in the Gospel did they take up stones to have stoned our Saviour And here they stone Steven for bearing witnesse unto him And this vvas a greater sin in them being the people of God then if they had been heathen The heathen shall rise up in judgement against them for they reverenced their Priests though they were Idolaters The Marriners that were so tender-hearted to Jonas shall rise up against them for they hazarded their lives to save the Prophet though it were for his sinnes that they vvere in danger to perish but these mercilesse Iewes did stone him to death who sought to bring them to eternall life And therefore as the voice of Abels bloud did cry aloud in the eares of the Lord against Cain that shed it and was vox sanguinum a voice of blouds as the Scripture calls it as being not onely the voice of his bloud but of all the bloud that might have come of that bloud if it had not been shed So here the bloud of Steven did cry aloud against the Iewes that shed the same and the bloud of all those that might have come from him nay upon them was laid all the righteous blood that was shed before him Mat. 23.34 for so our Saviour told them Behold I send unto you Prophets and wise-men and Scribes and some of them you shall kill and Crucifie c. that upon you saith he may come all the righteous bloud shed upon the earth from the bloud of righteous Abel to the bloud of Zacharias Sonne of Barachias whom ye slew betweene the Temple and the Altar We read of Tomyris the Queen of the Scythians that because Cyrus the King of Persia had slain her son she gathered an Army and made War upon him and having vanquisht the Persians she took Cyrus and cutting off his head she cast it into a barrell that was filled with bloud thus insulting over it Thou that wast so thirsty and insatiable of bloud that thou slewest my son shalt now have thy fill till thou be glutted vvith it And thus the Jews vvho vvere so insatiable of the bloud of the Prophets had in the end their fill of bloud vvhen the bloud of all the righteous vvho had been slain from Abel to Zacharie vvas laid upon them And that may fitly be applied unto them vvhich the Angell saith Revel 16. Thou art righteous O Lord because thou hast judged thus
EIGHTEENE Choice and usefull SERMONS BY Benjamin Hinton B. D. Late MINISTER of HENDON And sometime fellow of TRINITY COLLEDGE IN CAMBRIDGE Contra rationem nemo sobrius senserit Contra Scripturam nemo Christianus senserit Contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit Imprimatur EDM CALAMY 1650. LONDON Printed by J. C. For Humphery Moseley at the Princes Armes in S. Pauls Church-yard and for R. Wodenothe at the Starre under S. Peters Church in Cornehill 1649. To the Right Worshipfull Master FRANCIS PHILIPS Auditor of LONDON Grace and Peace YOur love and kindnesse whereof I have had so long experience imboldens me to present these few Sermons unto you not as presuming of the worth of them but as desiring to testifie my thankfulnesse having so just occasion I am old and gray-headed wanting not much of seventy years yet not so old in years as I am in infirmities and in my age it pleased God to visite me through a fall whielâ— I took with an incurable lamenesse and through sicknesse which I had with great weaknesse both in my memory and voice whereby I have been much disabled to preach I was therefore the more willing with my pen to supply the defect of my tongue as Zachary wrote when he could not speake and made his pen to make known what his tongue could not Luke 1.63 And though many have done the like before me with far greater ability yet remembring that God at the making of the Tabernacle accepted as well the offerings of the poorer sort who brought thither but Goats-haire and Rams-skinnes as of those who were rich and offered blew silk and purple and scarlet I have offered these few mites into the treasury of the Church out of my want and penury when others offer talents out of their store and plenty And I doubt not of your favourable acceptance hereof as coming from him who will no longer desire your favour then he desires to remaine Your truely loving in the Lord BEN. HINTON Curteous Reader IT was the earnest desire of the Authour my Reverend Father that these Sermons might passe the Presse in his life for the furtherance of others passage to life eternall but being himself taken away by death before his purpose was effected I thought it my duty not to let his works die with him but to impart to others what GOD had imparted to him I desire that as they teach the word of Truth so they may be the word of life And although in these dayes Sermons are neglected by the most contemned by the worst and too little esteemed even by the best yet I doubt not but these will meete with some who will receive the Message for the Masters sake And as formerly the feet of those who brought glad tydings of the Gospel of peace were counted beautifull so will the Gospel it self I hope though plainly preached not be trod under feet but be acceptable and helpfull to augment their peace who indeed seek peace which shall be the prayers of him to the God of peace who is your Christian Friend WILLIAM HINTON The severall SERMONS I. ABrahams offring his Sonne Isaac GEN. 22.2 Take now thy Sonne thine onely Sonne Isaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the Land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offring upon one of the Mountains which I will tell thee of II. The good ground or hearer of the word MATTH 13.23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it which also beareth fruit and bringeth forth some an hundred fold some sixty some thirty III. Zacheus converted LUKE 19.8 Behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor c. IV. Gaining the world and losing the soule MATTH 16.26 For what is a Man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soule V. Man like the grasse and flowers of the field PSAL. 103 15. As for man his dayes are as grasse as a flowre of the field so he flourisheth VI. The Devil a coward if he be resisted JAMES 4.7 Resist the Devil and he will flee from you VII Gods best beloved most afflicted HEBR. 12.6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth VIII No peace to the wicked ESAY 57.21 There is no peace to the wicked saith my God IX God the Authour and protector of the Scripture 2 PETER 1.21 For the Prophesie came not in old time by the will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost X. Christs miraculous Cures MATH 11.5 The blind receive their sight and the lame walk the Leapers are cleansed and the deaf heare the dead are raised up and the poore have the Gospel preached to them XI The Churches love to Christ CANTIC 3.1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soule loveth XII Both Poverty and Riches occasions of evil PROVERBS 30.8 Give me neither Poverty nor Riches XIII Gods pardoning great sinners a great comfort to others PSAL. 32.6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou maiest be found XIIII Steven Stoned ACTS 7.59.60 And they stoned Steven calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their Charge XV. Lawfull and unlawfull swearing JEREM. 4.2 Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth in judgement and iâ—â—â—ghteousnesse XVI Jonas sent to Nineveh JONAH 3.1 c. And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time saying arise go to Nineveh that great City and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh XVII Hiding of sinne no small sinne PROVERBS 38.13 He that covereth his sinnes shall not prosper but who so confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy XVIII Christs coming to judgement both certain and uncertain 1 THES 5.2 For you your selves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a Thief in the night THE FIRST SERMON GEN. 22.2 Take now thine onely Sonne Jsaac whom thou lovest and get thee into the Land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt-offring upon one of the Mountaines which I will tell thee of Paradisus Genesis in quo pullulant Patriarcharum virtutes Ambr. Epist 41. THis booke of Moses is resembled by St. Ambrose not unfitly unto Paradise Genesis saith he is a Paradise wherein spring forth the virtues of the Patriarchs For as in Paradise there were variety of trees which brought forth variety of excelent fruits both pleasant to behold and good to eate Gen. 2.9 So in this Paradise this book of Genesis are many worthy plants Gods Children and Servants whose fruits of Faith of Love and obedience are both delightfull for us to read and profitable to imitate Now of all these plants the chief are the Patriarchs of all the Patriarchs the most fruitfull is Abraham and of all the fruits which he
like a sweet perfume is pleasing to every man Lucri bonus est odor exâ—re qualibet and though many are much affected with pleasure and delight yet the hâ—ost are most affected with gaine and profit What makes the Husbandman to toile all his life-time but hope of gaine What makes the Merchant to venture his life and his whole Estate but hope of gainâ— This is that which the most so affect that they can never find any arietie in it but the more they have the more they desire and the greater the gaine the more it affects them But here you see is the gaining of the whole World a whole world of gaine that if a man will part with his soul for any thing he can hardly part with it upon a better bargaine If it were but for the gaining of one Kingdom in the world what would a man hazard and venture for it Judges 9.5 Rather then Abimilech will not raign over Israel he will put seventy of his Brethren to death together Rather then Herod will stand in fear of losing his Kingdom Mat. 2.16 Macrob. Satur lib. 2. cap. 4.2 Sam. 15.10 thousands of innocents shall lose their lives though his own son be one of them Rather then Absalon will not raigne he will rise up in Armes against his own Father and seek to deprive him of life and Kingdom And rather then Nero shall not raigne his own Mother will be content to be murdered by him Ocâ—idat modò imperet Let him kill me saith his Mother so he may get the Empire A Kingdom can hardly be valued at too high a rate For if we consider the state of a King there is scarce any thing that may seem to make a man happy that can be wanting unto him His word for the most part is a sufficient warrant for the effecting of his pleasure and his intreatie a most forcible kind of command for the obtaining of his desire so that if he would have any thing he may have what he likes and no man deny him if he would do any thing he may do what he please and no man oppose him If therefore a King be so mighty how mighty should the Monarch of the World be If he hath such command that hath but a Kingdom What command should he have that should have the whole World under his Dominion If King Assnerus his Dominions were so large that he raigned over an hundred and seven Provinces Hester 1.1 if his magnificence and bounty were such that he made a feast royall for all his Princes and Servants which continued for an hundred and fourescore daies If King Salomons yearely revenues were so great that he had six hundred threescore and six talents of Gold Ester 1.4 1 Kings 10.14 and Silver as plentifull as stones in the street If King Xerxes his power was so unresistable that Rivers and Mountaines could not stand before him 2 Chro. 1.15 but he was able to turn and overturne them at his pleasure then what might not he do that were Monarch of the World and had all Kingdoms and Nations to do him service A King howsoever his power be great yet he hath his equals in other Countries and though his command reach very far yet it reacheth no farther then his own Dominions But he that were Monarch of the whole World command where he would and he should be obeyed for all the Princes of the earth should be his Subjects A King though he may have whatsoever his Kingdom affords yet every Kingdom affords not every thing and those things do commonly most affect us which other Countries do yield and are not to-be had in our own But he that were Monarch of the whole World whatsoever any Kingdom in the World could afford he should be sure to have it and happy were he that should first present it A King though he may greatly advance his favorites yet he hath but one Kingdom for himself and them and if with Herod he should promise unto one the half of his Kingdom Mark 6.23 and after promise as much to another were he taken at his word he might leave himself nothing But he that were Monarch of the whole World he should have severall Kingdoms for his severall favorites ' and yet leave himself more when he had inriched them all then ever Alexander had after all his conquests It is said of Cyrus that to perswade the Lacedemonians to follow him in the warres he made them this promise They saith Cyrus Plutarch in Reg. Apophtheg that will be my followers if they be Footmen I will give them Horses if they be Horse men I wil give them Chariots if they have houses and tennements of their own I will give them Villages and if they have Villages I will make them Lords of Townes and Cities This was a great advancement of his followers But he that were Monarch of the whole World where King Cyrus left there might he begin They who were his favourites and Lords of Towns he might make them Princes and give them Kingdoms if they were Kings he might make them Emperours and if this were not enough he might double their Dominions For a Kingdom in comparison of the whole World is no more then a town in comparison of a Kingdom then what would not a man do for so great a gaine And therefore the Devill when he tempted our Saviour in the fourth of Matthew knowing that there is not any more forcible argument to perswade a man to any thing then the gaining of the World like a cunning Orator he reserved this temptation for the last of all and when he had shewed him all the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them and had given him his promise Mat. 4.9 That he would give him all if he would fall down and worship him and saw that all this would not prevaile with him it was high time for him to be gon he thought it to no purpose to tempt him any longer and so presently left him For he that will not stoop to so faire a lure he that will not be moved with so great a gain he will be moved with nothing But now howsoever this gain be great yet withall it hath divers inconveniences which do lessen and diminish the value of it And therefore as he that would purchase a house he will not only know what commodities it hath but he will likewise be informed of the inconveniences of it So having heard of the profits and pleasures and preferments of the world we are further to enquire of the discommodities of it And they especially are these three First That whatsoever the world can afford us yet it is but short and of small continuance For were a man Monarch of the whole World and had he all that his heart could desire yet when he dieth he must leave all that he hath and all that he hath can neither deferre the comming of death nor
men are living there is great difference among thent some are of high place some of mean condition some wise some simple some rich some poore some of one complextion some of another but being laid in their graves and consumed to ashes Agamemnon cannot be known from Thersites the rich glutton in the Gospel cannot be known from Lazarus but all are so like that we can see no difference Respice sepulchra saith St. Augustine et discerne si potes Jrum a Rege fortem a debili pulorum a deformi Look into mens Sepulchers and distinguish if thou canst between the King and the beggar the strong and the weak the faire and the deformed Therefore we read of Diogenes the Philosopher that when Alexander the Great as he was passing by saw him looking very wisly into Tombs and Sepulchres and demanded of him what he was looking for Diogenes answered That he was looking for the bones of King Philip Alexanders Father who had been the terrour of all Greece and that he could not distinguish them from other mens bones nor finde any difference To note unto Alexander that even he notwithstanding all his pomp and bravery after all his conquests must in the end be laid in the dust and then there would be no difference between him and others We see then briefly how man is like the grasse and the flowers of the field and wherein this resemblance between them consists That they are like for their beginning like for their continuance and like for their end But that which the Prophet David here specially intends is the second of these that they are like for their short continuance For he saith That the dayes of man are as grasse not reckoning our life-time by years or by moneths but only by dayes to signifie how soon our life passes even as the grasse and the flower which doth not continue from one year to another but as it comes up soon so it soon withers And he saith That man slourisheth as the flower of the field Sient slos agri non horti As the flower of the field not as the flower of the garden for garden-flowers ye know are more carefully lookt to the Gardiner keeps them standing as long as he can because they make a faire shew and are a grace to the gardens but for field-flowers they are subject ye know to many more dangers they lie open to passengers that pull them up and to the beasts that either crop them or tread them under foot and if they escape all dangers yet the time they flourish is very short they come up later then the grasse and yet stand no longer for when the grasse is cut down they are cut down together Here then in that we are resembled to grasse and the flowers of the field we may observe from hence two things The certainty of our death and the shortnesse of our life First The certainty of our death That we shall as certainly die as we are sure that the grasse and flowers of the field shall fade and wither Death indeed is uncertain in some respects as in respect of the time in respect of the place and in respect of the mâ—â—â—ner thereof because we do not know either when or where or how we shall die Death is uncertain in regard of the time for we do not know when death will arrest us whether by day or by night whether in the morning at noon or in the evering whether at the cock-crowing or in the dawning For when we lie down we do not know whether we shall rise again and when we are risen we do not know whether we shall lie down again Death is uncertain in regard of the place because we do not know where death will arrest us whether when we are in company or when we are alone whether in the Field or in the Town whether abroad or at home for when we go forth we do not know whether we shall return again and when we are returned we do not know whether we shall go forth again And death is uncertain in regard of the manner because we do not know how death will arrest us whether we shall die a naturall or a violent death whether a painfull or an easie death whether a lingring or a sudden death In these respects death is uncertain yet nothing again more certain then death For though we know not as I said either where or when or how we shall die yet we know for certain that either here or else-where either sooner or later either by one means or other we are sure to die Therefore David propounds this question What man is he that lives and shall not see death Psal 89.48 because death is common to all men and no man by his greatnesse strength or wisdome or any other means can avoid the same And this the Heathen knew very well and therefore though they worshipt the Sunne the Moon and all the Host of heaven though they offered sacrifice to stocks to stones to men to divels and to all manner of creatures whom they worshipt as Gods yet among all their sacrifices there was never any that offeted sacrifice to death as knowing that death will never be appeased and therefore that their sacrifices should have been to no purpose Contra omnia aliquid inveniri potest contra mortem nihil One remedy or other may be found against every thing but no remedy can possibly be found against death Galen Hipocrates and other skilfull Physicians have found out many remedies against the most diseases and have prescribed many rules how to preserve our health and to keep us from sicknesse but how to preserve and keep us from death there was never any that could invent any remedy And though Paracelsus had such considence in his knowledge that he professed himselfe able to keep a man by physick in so perfect a temperature that he should never die of any disease whatfoever yet he could not prescribe any physick against death For though we diet our bodies and use all preservatives to keep us from sioknesse and though we live all our life time without any disease yet either casnality or age will bring us to our graves Therefore the grave is called by Job Job 30.23 the house appointed for all the living I know saith Job that thou Wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all the living it is appointed and therefore cannot be avoided it is appointed for all the living and therefore none are exempted but all that live upon the face of the earth are subject unto it In severall Kingdoms there are severall Lawes whereunto they are not bound in other Kingdoms Now in the whole world there are three Kingdoms where the Laws concerning death are divers In heaven they have a Law that they shall live for ever and never die Mat. 19.17 Therefore heaven is called by the name of life If saith our Saviour thou wilt enter into life
that is into heaven keep the Commandements And heaven is called Psal 25. the land of the living I should saith David have utterly fainted but that I believe verily to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living that is in heaven for there they live eternally and never die In hell there is a quite contrary law that they die eternally Therefore it is said of the wicked Psal 49. They lie in hell like sheep and death gnawes upon them because there they suffer the second death which is everlasting And here upon earth there is a third law between them both Heb. 9.27 That every one living shall once suffer death Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 9. It is appointed unto all men that they shall once dye not live here for ever as they do in heaven nor die for ever as they do in hell but once they must die and this is a law which all that live on the face of the earth are subject unto God hath given great priviledges to many of his servants and hath miraculously preserved them from many dangers Exed 34.28 1 King 19.8 Dan. 3.25 Mat. 14.29 Josh 10.12.13 some he hath preserved without any nourishment for many weeks together as Moses and Elius some he hath preserved in the midst of fire as the three children in the furnace some he hath inabled to walk upon the waters as Peter did some he hath inabled to stay the course of the Sun as Joshuah did but to stay and hinder the course of death and to free men from the same this is a priviledge which God never gave to any of his servants Therefore even they that lived before the deluge though some of them lived seven hundred years some eight hundred some nine hundred years and upwards yet they died in the end nature delaying more and more in them till it were quite spent as a candle being lighted wastes by little and little till it quite goes out Seeing then it is certain that we shall die this may therefore teach us to fit and prepare our selves against the coming of death by frequent meditation and remembrance thereof The oftner a man bethinks him of death the better he will be prepared for it as a man that foresees and expects a storm he will provide himself the better against it come And herein the Heathen themselves may be patterns unto us who though they knew not God nor the punishment of sin in the world to come yet knowing they should die they used many strange and memorable devises to put them in mind of their mortality Ortelius writes of a Countrey in the World where the people do use the bones of dead men in stead of their coin which being continually before their eyes they cannot but continually remember their ends Plutarch writes of Ptolomie the King of Egypt That alwayes when he made any sumptuous feast among the rest of his dishes the skull and bones of a dead man were brought in a platter and set before him and one was appointed to say thus unto him Plutarch in Conviv Sept. Sapientum Behold O King and consider with thy selfe this president of death that he whose skull and bones thou now seest was once like thy selfe and the time will come when thou shalt be like unto him and thy skull and bones shall be brought hereafter to the Kings table as now his are to thint Isodore writes That it was a custome in Constantinople that alwayes at the time of the Emperours Coronation among other Solemnities this was one A free Mason presented the Emperour with divers sorts of marble and asked him of which of them he should make his Tomb that so he might remember even then when he was in the height of his glory that he was but mortall Dion writes of Severus a Roman Emperour That while he lived he caused his Hearse to be made and was often wont to go in into it adding these words Thou O Herse as small as thou art must contain him whom now the whole world is searce able to contain If these who were Heathen were so mindfull of their ends what should we that are Christians We know that God hath made the end of our life the manner of our death and the place thereof to be unknown and uncertain that we might alwayes have it in expectation So saith Saint Augustine Latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes dies Augustine Hom. 13. The last day of our lives is hidden from us that that day might be expected all the dayes of our lives And indeed the reason why we are not prepared for the comming of death is because we seldom or never think of dying for who of us almost have any thought thereof till either sicknesse or age the two Serjeants of death do come to arrest us or if at any other time we bethink us thereof it is only then when we hear the Bell to ring out for any or when we see some of our neighbours to lie upon their death-bed and past recovery Then it may be we think of our ends and that it is high time for us to prepare our selves for death that we may be in a readinesse against God shall call us But these meditations are but for a fit and they presently vanish I have seen somtimes when a Fowler coming to a Tree where there were store of birds and hath killed any one of them all the rest have immediately flown away but presently after forgetting the danger wherein they were before they have all of them returned to the same Tree And do not we resemble these silly birds when death comes to our houses and takes away any one of us we are all amazed and we presently think that the next course may be ours and therefore that it behooves us to reform our lives but presently after when the remembrance of death is out of our minds we return again to our former courses But he that will be provided against the coming of death must alwayes have death in his remembrance Tota vita sapientis debet esse meditatio mortis The whole life saith Gregory of a wise man ought to be a meditation of death That as the birth of sin was the death of man so the meditation of death may be the death of sin And as David here by comparing us to grasse and the flowers of the field implyeth thereby the certainty of our death that we shall as certainly die as we are sure that these shall fade and wither So he implyeth hereby the shortnesse of our life that we shall not live long but shall die soon as the grasse and flowers do fade and decay in a short time Theodorus Gaza tels us of a father that had twelve sons and each of those brethren had thirty children yet every one of them expired soon The father expired within the compasse of a year never a one of his sons but expired in a moneth and
never a one of their children but expired in a day Though this be spoken of the Year which hath twelve months and every month thirty dayes yet their expiring so soone may well put us in mind of ours seeing the shortness of our life is such that we are not sure we shall live a year no not a month nay though we be now wel for ought we know yet for ought we know we may be dead before to morrow How many have we known that have been well and lively in one houre and yet dead the next how many are there in this Land that were alive this morning and dead before noon Nay how many are there in the World that are now alive and since thou hast read these words are now alive are now dead who no doubt made reckoning as many now do that they should have lived a long time But the Scripture teacheth us to make another account by joyning together as many times it doth the day of our birth and the day of our death Eccles 3.2 without making any mention of the time of our life as if our lifetime were so short that it were not worth the naming So Solomon Eccles. 7. Eccles 7.1 Job 14.2 The day of death is better then the day of mans birth So Job Man that is borne of a Woman is of few dayes and full of trouble he comes up like a flower and is cut down Upon which words Bernard saith thus In ipso statim introitu de exitu quoque admonemur In the very beginning and entrance into life we are put in mind of the end of our life as if there were no distance between them both And hence it is that we are often in the Scripture compared to those things which are of the shortest abode and continuance So our bodies are compared to vessells of earth we have 2 Cor. 4.7 saith the Apostle this treasure in earthen Vessells He compares them not to Vessells of brasse or Iron which will last long but to earthen Vessells which are soone broken In the Potters shop there are Vessels ye know of divers sorts some lesse some greater some made for one use and some for another but all so brittle that a little force will break any of them to peeces And such is the frailty of our mortall bodies some are stronger and more durable then other but yet none so strong but that a little sickness will soone pull him down and bring him to nothing Nay earthen Vessells howsoever they be brittle yet if we let them alone if we set them up safe and keep them from falling they will continue the same for a longtime but such is our frailty that we never continue in one stay but though we look never so carefully to our selves though we avoid all occasions of coming into danger yet before it be long even age will consume us So we are compared by St. James to a vapour that appeares for a while and presently vanishes so by Job to a Weavers shuttle that makes no stay in the Webbe but passeth in a trice from one side to the other So to a Garment that is soon worne out to a tale that is soone told to a span which is soone measured and here to the grasse and flowers of the field which are soone withered The field we see hath variety of flowers but none of them all do continue long but come up and are cut down and others grow up in their roome So it is likewise with the owners of those fields they are soon gone and others succeed them There is not any field that hath had such variety of flowers in it as owners of it the same field which thou holdest hath been held by thousands before thee who held it for a while one after another and lest it to thee as thou must leave it to others after thee and thou dost not know whether thy self or the flowers which spring up in thy field shall be gone soonest for thy dayes are but as grasse and as the flowers of the field so thou flourishest If you aske why God hath made our life so short the answer is that it is his goodness and mercy towards us to shorten our dayes For though Theophrastus the Philosopher complained at the time of his death that nature had given to Harts and Ravens a long time of life but a short time to man who could better have imployed the benefit of time yet indeed it is his mercy towards us that we live not so long because he saw that a short life would be better for us in divers respects First That we might the sooner be freed from the miseries of this life Gen. 47.9 Few and evill saith Jacob have the dayes of the years of my life been If the dayes of our life be evill it is well they be few for for if they were more they would be more evill Man saith Job that is borne of a Woman Job 14.1 is of few dayes and full of trouble So full of trouble that one of the wisest among the Heathen could say Nemo vitam acciperet si dare turscientibus Seneca If life were not given us before we had knowledge of it there is no man but would refuse it Herod Tap. Therefore the Tracians as Herodotus writes were wont according to the Custome of their Country to mourne and lament when their Children were borne reckoning up the calamities which they were to undergoe through the whole course of their lives but when they died they followed them to their graves with mirth and rejoycing because they were freed from a World of miseries Our bodies are subject to labour and weariness to sickness and paine and a thousand Diseases our soules besides the grief and sorrow which they are subject unto they are continually assaulted with strong temptations and alwayes in danger of many powerfull enemies for we wrestle not saith St. Paul Ephes 6.12 against flesh and blood but against Principalities and powers and the Prince of darkness from all which we are not freed till this life be ended and therefore God in mercy hath shortned our life that we might the sooner be freed from the miseries thereof and that in the mean time we might have this comfort that though our life be miserable yet withall it is short Secondly God hath shortned our life that we may the sooner come into his presence and inherit the Kingdom he hath prepared for us Ye know when Absolon lived in exile and was kept for a time from the sight of his Father it grieved him so much that he wisht rather to die if he had deserved it 2 Sam. 13.32 then to be kept any longer from his Fathers presence God knowes how his Children while they live here in this World the place of their banishment do long to be with him saying with David Psal 42.2 Phil. 1.23 when shall I come to appear before the
presence of God and desiring with Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ and therefore God in mercy hath shortned our dayes that we may the sooner come into his heavenly Kingdom and injoy his presence And lastly God hath shortned our dayes that we may be the lesse carefull for the things of this life considering we shall injoy them so short a time If a man be to travell into a farre Country he will be the more carefull to provide the more and to proportion his provision to the length of his journey but if his journey be short he will provide the lesse and the nearer he comes to his journies end the lesse carefull he is what provision he hath God knowes if we were to live long in this World we would be the more carefull for the things of this life and would think we could never provide enough and therefore he hath made our life to be short that we might be the lesse carefull to provide for it To draw then to a conclusion of all we have briefly heard why we are here resembled to the grasse and flowers of the field and from thence both of the certainty of our death and the shortness of our life and the reasons why God hath made our life so short all which may serve to teach us two lessons 1. Vse 1 Not to make account that we shall live long as many of us do but that we shall soon die That we shall die we all know but the most of us deceive our selves in this that we put off the day of our death stil further from us vvhen we are young we think we shal live til we come to be old when we come to be old we think we may live longer and so we put off the time of our death still further and further And hence it is that we are so carefull for the things of this life as if this World were the place where we should live for ever We read of Alexander that to shew his affection to a certain Philosopher he willed him to aske what he would of him and he would give it him The Philosopher desired him to give him the fee-simple of his life that he might be free from death O saith Alexander if I could do this I would do it for my self why then it seemes saith the Philosopher that you are mortall True saith Alexander Indeed saith the Philosopher that you are mortall I do not doubt yet I greatly doubt whether you think that you are mortall and shall ever die because you live so as if you thought you were immortall and should never die The like may be said to many of us for though we cannot deny but must needes acknowledge that we shall surely die yet man live so they seek so greedily after worldly goods they so pamper their bodies and are so sumptuons in their buildings as if they were immortall and should never die The Patriarcks though they lived so many years yet they lived in Tents and in poor Cabins but we that live not the half of their dayes do build our houses so faire and so durable as if we meant here to set up our rest and that we should never depart from hence which argues that though we know we shall die Theatr. Histor ex Guid. yet we think we shall live a long time whereas we should daily look to die Like Messodanus a holy old man who being invited by his friend to dinner for the morrow after Why saith he do you invite me to morrow to dinner I have not looked to live till to morrow this many a year For we no sooner begin to live but we begin to die and look how many dayes of our life are past so much of our life is already cut off and the lesse is remaining as the more of an Houre-glasse is already run out the lesse it hath to runne And secondly seeing we shall so soone die it may therefore teach us so to live as that death when it comes may be welcome and not fearfull unto us and that is by preparing our selves against the coming of death by a godly life For this is the comfort which a man can find when he lieth on his Death-bed that he shall enter into a better life when this life is ended and this comfort he cannot have at his death unless he have lived a godly life Death to the wicked may well be fearfull because as it is in it own nature it is the wages of sinne and imposed as a curse and punishment upon man for his transgression but by virtue of Christs death to the godly it is otherwise ceasing to be a curse unto them nay of a curse it is made a blessing even a passage out of a miserable life into the Kingdom of Heaven It was Sampsons Riddle Judg. 14.14 out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness Which was meant of the honie which was found in the Lyon which Sampson had slain for so the Philistins ye know expounded it what is sweeter say they then hony and what is stronger then a Lyon and it may not unfitly be applyed to death for what is stronger then death that subdues the strongest yet after that Christ had vanquisht death as he did for the godly out of the strong came sweetness for vvhat can be more svveet or pleasant unto us then the passage out of a miserable life into eternall happiness And such is death to the godly and therefore if we would find this comfort at the time of our death we must prepare our selves against the coming thereof by a godly Life FINIS The Sixth SERMON JAMES 4.7 Resist the Devill and he will flie from you IN the beginning of this verse we are exhorted to submit our selves unto God and the reason thereof is given by the Apostle in the words immediately going before because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble Now because we cannot submit our selves unto God unless we be carefull to resist the Devill who labours by all meanes to withdraw us from godliness therefore the Apostle addes in these words which I have read unto you Resist the Devill and he will flie from you Division The words consist of these two parts An exhortation to resist the Devill and a motive or reason because he will flie from us if we resist him For as God is overcome by our yielding unto him and therefore we must submit our selves unto God so on the contrary we must resist the Devill because he is overcome and will flie away from us if we resist him In the exhortatiō we may observe two things First the person vvhom vve must resist Secondly The manner how vve must resist him And first for the person it is the Devill vvhose name vvhich is here given him doth signifie an accuser And indeed his name is not given him for nought but as Abigail said of Nabal Nabal is his
not subtil and crafty vvithall the danger vvere the lesse because there vvere some hope that vve might over-reach him by some meanes or other but being both subtil malicious and powerfull it behoves us to be more careful to make resistance And so from the person whom we must resist I come to the manner how we must resist him The word which is here translated to resist doth signifie to confront and to stand against as it were face to face to note unto us that we are not to yield and to turn our backs 1 Sam. 17.48.49 but to stand manfully against him when he doth assault us That as David when he was to fight with Goliah he went against him and struck him in the forehead So we vvhensoever we are assaulted by the Devill are to stand against him face to face and not to turn our backs like the Children of Ephraim in the day of battle Psalm 78.9 Therefore we are still commanded in the Scripture to fight to vvrestle to quit our selves like men to withstand and to resist but never to flie and to turn our backs Ephes 6. And therefore St. Paul vvhere he particularly sets down the vvhole Armour of a Christian vvhich vve are to use against our spiritual enemy yet he mentions not any part for the back there is an Helmet for the head a Courselet for the breast a Sword for the hand Sandals for the feet and a Shield to gard all the foreparts but for the back and the hinder parts there is no Armour at all to note unto us that we are manfully to stand against him and not to turn our backs vvhen he doth assault us Now further for the manner how vve are to resist him we must deal vvith this Enemy as men do in Warre vvhen a City is besiedged First They shut up the Gates and make all fast to keep the Enemy from making entrance And thus must vve do vve must shut up as it vvere the Gates of our senses vve must turn away our eyes from beholding vanity vve must stop our eares from hearing vanity and vve must strengthen every part and look that all be fast otherwise if he find any part to be vveaker then other he vvill break in upon us We read Judges 18. that the Tribe of Dan. having no Inheritance nor possession of their own among the Children of Israel they vvent up and down like spies to survey the Country and finding the City Laish to be vveakly guarded the Inhabitants thereof being careless and secure and otherwise busied they made towards it they besieged it and having conquered all the Inhabitants thereof they took possession of it And thus the Devill having lost the right of his own Inheritance and having no possession of his own among the Children of God he vvanders up and down like a spie and finding the soul of man to be meanly fortified the Inhabitants thereof the vvit memory vvill understanding being unprovided he sets upon it and finding little or no resistance he easily takes it and therefore it behoves us to keep vvatch continually and to look carefully to our selves that we give him no entrance Secondly We must not only be carefull to keep him out vvhen he doth besiege us but vvithall vve must be carefull and do our best endeavour to raise his siedge vve must do the best vve can to beat him from the assault and to put him to flight And this is done by the vvord of God vvhich is called by the Apostle the Svvord of the Spirit Eph. 6.17 Therefore vvhen our Saviour vvas tempted by the Devill Matth. 4. the only Weapon vvhereby he repelled him vvas the Scripture to teach us that hovvsoever he doth assault us vve must betake our selves to the Word of God to resist his temptations If he tempt us to covetousness and the love of the World vve may say it is vvritten Mat. 16.26 what shall it profit a man to gain the whole World and to lose his own soule If he tempt us to pride and vain glory we must say it is written God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble If he tempt us to malice we must say it is written He that hates his Brother is a murderer James 4.6 1 John 3.15 If he tempt us to uncleanness we must say it is written Marriage is honourable among all men and the bed undefiled but Whoremasters and Adulterers God will judge In a word Heb. 13.4 what sin soever he tempts us unto we may find in the Scripture wherewithall we are to withstand his Assaults For the Scripture is like the Tower of David Cantic 4.4 that was built for an Armory a Thousand Bucklers saith Salomon do hang thereon and all the shields of mighty men and from thence we may fetch what Weapons soever we are to use against our spirituall enemies and without which we can never repell their temptations And therefore this shewes their extreame folly that regard not to have any knowledge in the Scriptures For how shall their hands be able to warre and their fingers to fight that are not acquainted with the word of God and know not how to handle the sword of the Spirit Such must needs be in a fearfull case because they do voluntarily disarme themselves and cast away their Weapons and so betray their souls into the hands of the Devill while they have not where withall to resist his temptations If a man had an enemy that had vowed his death how carefull would he be to provide himself Weapons and to get some cunning how to use the same for the safeguard and preservation of his naturall life How carefull then should every one be for his soules safety to put on the whole armour of God and to learne to use aright this sword of the Spirit that when Sathan his mortall enemy assaults him he may be the better provided to withstand him It is said of Hanniball a Carthaginean Captaine that as long as Scipio his enemy was in the field and ready continually to bid him battle he was alwayes afraid lest he he should be suddenly surprized and therefore never slept but with his armour on and with a guard of Souldiers to keep watch about him And we read of Saul 1 Sam. 26. That while he slept in the field he had his speare in a readiness stuck up at his Boulster And so should we while we are in this World which is as it were the field of temptation wherein vve are so often assaulted by Sathan we should alwayes have the Word of God in a readines that whensoever he assailes us vve may be able to vvithstand him But hovv farre are the most especially they that are in their youthful dayes from doing thus Tell them of resisting the Devills temptations forsaking their pleasures and betaking themselves unto Gods service they vvill be ready to say Why art thou come to torment us before the time Alios mores hee atas
heads to take any rest vvithout seeking of him For if David would not suffer his eyes to sleep till he had found out a place for the House of the Lord then much lesse should vve till we have found the Lord of the House even him whom here the Church sought night by night on her bed And thus much briefly for the two circumstances the time and place when and where she sought Christ I proceed to the Act in the vvord Sought By night on my bed I sought him Now Seeking implies these three things First A want of that which is sought For a man will not carefully seek that which he doth not want but that vvhich he wants he will seek vvith the more diligence as a man that is hungry will seek food because he wants it but if he were not hungry and vvanted not food he would not seek it So that seeking implies a vvant or need of that which is sought Secondly Seeking implies a desire of finding that vvhich vve seek For though a man do vvant a thing yet if he have not vvithall a desire to finde it he vvill not seek it as a man that is in prison though he want his liberty yet he will not seek it unless he have likewise a desire to have it So that seeking implies not onely a want of that which is sought but a desire to find it Lastly Seeking implies a hope and possibility of finding that which we seeke For though a man do want a thing and though he be never so desirous to have it yet if there be no hope of finding the same he will not seek it as a man that is sick though he want his health and be desirous to have it yet if there be no possibility and hope of his recovery he will give over seeking it And in all these respects we are to seek Christ as the Church here doth For there is nothing that we want so much as Christ nothing to be desired in comparison of Christ and nothing so easily found as Christ which are so many motives to make us the more willing to seek Christ First There is nothing that we want so much as Christ We are all by nature the Children of wrath enemies to God and bond-slaves to Satan and through the disobedience of our first Parents Damnati priùs quà m nati saith St. Augustine guilty of eternall condemnation before we were borne From this miserable condition we could not free our selves neither could we be freed by any other but Christ whom God hath made 1 Cor. 1.30 as the Apostle saith to be wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption unto us all which we must needes want if we have not him from whom we must have them and so there is nothing that we want so much as Christ Many indeed do not find in themselves any want of Christ because all their life-time they have lived without Christ in their natural estate and never have known any better condition For it fares with such as it fares with them that are borne blind who because they never had the benefit of sight cannot so well conceive what it is to want it And so these having never found any comfort in Christ do not know what it is to want him but if it please God to open their eyes that they may finde in themselves a want of grace and see the misery they are in for want of the same they will see they want nothing so much as Christ Secondly That there is nothing to be desired in comparison of Christ we may see by this because whatsoever we can desire without Christ can never satisfie us and give us content For till we be assured that Christ hath took upon him the discharge of our debts and hath reconciled us to God our sins must needes be such a wound to our soules and a terrour to our Conscience that nothing can give us any true contentment The riches pleasures and preferments of this World may give a man some little content for a time but ever and anon they are ready to faile him and when affliction sicknesse or death comes they do all forsake him Onely the comfort which he hath in Christ both in sickness and health both in life and death will never leave him and so nothing is to be desired in comparison of Christ Nay whatsoever we can desire for our good we may have it in him for God hath made him to be all in all unto us that in him we might have every thing If we be terrified with the sight of our sins Mat. 1.21 Luke 1.71 he is that Saviour that came into the World to save sinners If we desire light and fear darkness he is that day-spring from on high that came to visit us If we be hungry and desire food John 6.35 John 4.14 he is the bread of life that came down from Heaven If we be thirsty and desire to drink he is the Fountain of living water whereof he that drinks shall never thirst again If we desire to go to Heaven he is the way If we desire to be freed from error John 14.6 he is the truth If we desire to be freed from death he is the life In a word whatsoever we can desire for our good we may have it in him who hath every thing Habet omnia qui habet habentem omnia He that hath him who hath all things hath all things with him and so nothing is to be desired in comparison of Christ Lastly As we want nothing so much as Christ and as nothing is to be desired in comparison of Christ so nothing is so easily found as Christ For he invites all to come unto him he never rejected any that came but was alwayes found of all those that sought him We see that at his Birth he called both Jewes and Gentiles to come unto him the wisemen that were Gentiles and the Shepheards that were Jewes to shew that he is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a respector of persons We see that in his life he called both young and old to come unto him some that were but infants and some of all other ages to shew that he is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a respector of times And we see that after his Resurrection from death he commanded his Disciples to preach the Gospel all over the World in all Countries to shew that he is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a respector of places but accepts of all and rejects none whosoever they be that come whensoever they come and from whencesoever they come unto him And though our coming unto him be for our good for otherwise we cannot but everlastingly perish yet he useth many motives to perswade us to come Mat. 22.23 To make us the more willing to come unto him he invites us in the Gospel by the parable of the King that made a great feast for the Marriage of his Sonne and sent forth his
only is to be prayed unto that can hear our praiers he onely can hear them that knows our hearts and understands with what affection we pray unto him But suppose again that Saints and Angels could hear our prayers and did know our hearts and suppose that God had put it to our choise whether we would pray to him or to them have we not more reason to pray to him who is the fountaine of grace then unto them who are but vessels of grace Would they be so propitious as he is unto us Would they be so ready to hear our prayers As he commands us to pray unto him so he promiseth to gives us whatsoever we aske John 16.23 Whatsoever saith our Saviour John 16. ye shall aske the Father in my Name he will give it unto you And because of our selves we know not how to pray nor what to aske he gives us his Spirit to help our infirmitie and to teach us to pray He prepars our hearts as David saith Psal 10.17 and his eare hearkens thereunto And because we are not so ready to ask as he would have us he therfore many times prevents our asking is more ready to grant our requests then we are to make them So he promises Esay 65.24 Antequam clament ego exaudiam Before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear So he dealt with David in this 32 Psalme who had no sooner said he would confesse his sinne but God forgave him Nay as he prevents our asking so many times he exceeds our desires and gives us more then we aske of him 1 King 3.13 So he dealt with Solomon when he begged of God that he would give him a wise and understanding heart God gave him both that which he did desire and told him besides I have also given thâ—e that which thou hast not asked both Riches and Honour And can we have greater incouragements then these to pray unto God who is so ready to grant our prayers And so there is great reason why we should pray onely to him And thus much likewise for the Object of prayer I now procced unto the last point The time when the godly shall come unto God by prayer nuncly 〈◊〉 time when he may be found But some man may say why is there time when God may not be found will God at any time absent himselfe and keep himselfe out of the way when men seek after him Indeed Bâ—â—als Priests 1 King 18. They sought and all to besought their God sâ—â—â— morning to noon but could not finde him Cry saith Eluck 〈◊〉 aloud unto your god for it may be he is talking with some body anâ— doth not mark you or it may be he is rid on of town and is in his journey or it may be he is taking a nap and â—â—ust be Wakened before he can hear you Thus the Prophet derided their counterset good but it is not so with the God of Jacob Psal 12â— 4 the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps If David seek him David shall finde him nay David and every godly man shall find him whensoever they seek him Paul and Silas cannot pray at mid-night but the will hear them Acts 16.25 Mat. 18.20 Two or three cannot be gathered together in his name but he will be in the midst of them Nay he is so far from not being found that if thou offer thy selfe unto him with the Prodigall he will go forth to meet thee Luke 15.20 Luke 15.4.5 nay though thou be strayed away with the lost sheep he will go after to seek thee and never lin seeking untill he have found thee Why then saith David here In a time when thou mayest be found why is there a time when God may not be found The answer is That there is a time as the very words imply when God may not be found and therefore if we will find God we must come in a time while he may be found The time when God may not be found is two-fold Tempus impossibilitatis and tempus improbabilitatis the time when it is impossible to finde him and the time when it is unlikely to finde him The time when it is impossible to finde him is when this life is ended For after this life there is no time for grace no time for repentence no time for good works Therefore it is that Christ saith John 9.4 I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is day the night comes and then no man can work by day understanding the time of this life and by night death Hie amittitur vita aut reciperatur saith â—â—prian In this life the life to come is either lost or gotten He that defers the seeking thereof till this life be past he knocks with the foolish Virgins when the gates are shut and then it is to late he that seeks not for mercy till after this life he shall find none no not so much as a drop of cold water to coole his tongue For as the tree falls so it lies and as the day of our death doth leave us so shall the day of judgement find us The time when it is unlikely to find God is when he offers us grace and we reject the same when he calls us by his Word and we harden our hearts and when upon presumption of the mercy of God whensoever we repent we deferr our repentance to the end of our lives and so indeed do never truly repent And therefore the Counsell is very good Ecclesiasticus 5.7 Make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord and put it not off from day to day for suddenly shall the wrath of God break forth and in thy security thou shalt be destroyed And as there is a time when God may not be found so there is a time when he may be found this time is likewise twofold either more common and generall or more proper and speciall The common and generall time when God may be found is this whole life time from the beginning of our life till the end thereof And therefore if we must come unto God while he may be found and he may be found this whole life time then we cannot begin to soone to come unto him Therefore Solomon counsells us to remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth that so we may be seasoned with godlinesse and Religion in the beginning of our life The more speciall time when God may be found is when he cals us unto him by the preaching of the word for then he offers his grace unto us and knocks by his Spirit at the doore of our hearts that he may have entrance If we open unto him he will say to our souls here will I dwell for I have a delight herein but if we refuse to give him entrance if we harden our hearts when we hear his voice we know not when whether ever or never he will come againe
we must be content to yield him obedience and to live as becomes his servants or he will not save us And therefore only the godly that serve him in their life can with comfort commend their souls unto him at the time of their death and say as Steven did Lord Jesus receive my spirit He prayes not for his body but for his soule Though it were his body which was here in danger while the Jews were stoning him yet it is not his body but it is his soule that he prayes for as being more sensible of his future estate then of his present condition and not so much regarding this present life as the life to come Many in their life and at the time of their death are carefull for their bodies thinking of the great pain which their bodies are to suffer when death siezes upon them and taking care how they shall be able to overcome the same This care troubles many that are good Christians who are the more afraid of death for the pain thereof and imagine the pain to be greater then it is That death is painfull there is not any question Si nulla esset mortis amaritudo non magna esset martyrum fortitudo saith Augustine If there were no sharpnesse and pain in death it were no great fortitude in the Martyrs to suffer it But though death be painfull yet we must remember this for our comfort that it will be no more painfull to us then it hath been to the godly in all ages and therefore why should we be afraid to undergo that which all the godly have undergone before us Will not any man be content to be put to that whereunto the King puts his chiefe Favourites for he will think with himselfe if I be put to no more then the Kings Favourites are I shall fare well enough The godly ye know are Gods chiefe Favourites God loves and favours them above all others if therefore they have suffered the paine of death and have not been exempted by God from it we may well be the lesse carefull to undergo it and may assure our selves that though the paine were never so great yet Christ who hath redeemed both our soules and bodies will inable us to bear it and as Cyprian saith Qui semel pro nobis mortem vicit semper vincet in nobis He that once overcame death for us will alwayes overcome it in us And therefore whether we die for the Lord or in the Lord we may well lay the care of our bodies aside and may chearfully commend our soules unto Christ as Steven here did Lord Jesus receive my spirit Doct. I might hence observe the immortality of the soule That though the body do die yet the soule is immortall This is signified by those words of Solomon Eccles 12.7 That the body shall returne to the earth from Whence it was taken and the spirit shall returne unto God who gave it Mat. 10.28 and by that saying of our Saviour Fear not those that can kill the body but are not able to kill the soule But I will passe this over and come briefly to the prayer which he makes for his persecutours He kneeled down and cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge Where first observe the gesture he used he kneeled down when he prayed The Jews did commonly stand when they prayed Therefore Christ alluding to this their custome Mark 11. When ye stand saith he and pray if ye have ought against any man forgive him And the Jewes have a saying Sine stationibus non consisteret mundus that the world could not consist without standing that is without praying because they were wont to pray standing 1 Kings 19.4 1 Chro. 17.16 The Prophet Eliah when he fled from Iezabel he prayed sitting And we read the like of David that he sat and prayed Other kinde of gestures we use in our prayers which may be reduced unto these two heads such as we use in regard of our Hope or in regard of our Humiliation and Reverence In regard of our hope we lift up our eyes and we stretch forth our hands as expecting and requiring Gods help and assistance So David in the 121. Psalm I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help And Moses praying for the Isracletes Exod. 17. That they might prevale against Amaleck he stretched forth his hands For as Saint Austin saith Oculus erectus expectat manus extensa postulat The eyes being lift up expect help and the hands being stretcht forth do seeme to reuqire it In regard of our humiliation and reverence we uncover our heads we bow down our bodies and we kneele on our knees we uncover our heads which is Magnificentia depositio a laying aside of our greatnesse And thus Kings and Princes when they pray unto God do uncover their heads laying aside their state and acknowledging thereby that they are Gods Servants So we prostrate our selves and fall down on our knees as Steven here did in token of the reverence we owe unto God in offering our prayers And this gesture of kneeling we finde to have been often used by the faithfull and as the Magdeburgenses who wrote the Centuries affirme hath been the most ancient gesture in prayer and the most used by the Church in all ages Peter as we see in the 9. of the Asts and Paul in the 20. did pray kneeling so did the Prophet Daniel in his sixt Chapter Saint James the first Bishop of Jerusalem was so frequent in praying on his knees that he made his knees as hard as the hoofe of a Camel with continuall kneeling And the like did Asella as we read in St. Jerome It is true indeed that it is the heart and affection of him that prays and not the gesture of the body which God respects but withall this is true that he that makes no conscience of praying reverently doth never pray heartily and he that will not bend the knee unto God much lesse out of doubt will he bend the heart O come let us Worship and fall down saith the Psalmest and kneele before the Lord our maker Psal 95.6 Micah 6.6 Where withall shall I come saith the Prophet Micah in his sixt chapter before the Lord and bow my self before the high God To shew that he might not come into his presence but with great reverence And therefore this serves to reprove those that shew no signes of reverence unto God 2 Chr. 6.13 Luke 22 4â— when they come before him to offer up their prayers We see that Solomon when he consecrated the Temple 2 Chron. 6. he kneeled down and prayed and a greater then Solomon our blessed Saviour Luke 22. kneeled down when he prayed be for his passion If he therefore used such reverence in prayer should not we much more For shall mercy bend her knee and shall not misery Shall the Physician and shall not the Patient Shall
the Master and shall not the Servant Shall the Judge and shall not he that is to be judged unworthy is he to taste of the well of the water of life that will not stoop to take it And as Steven here kneeled down so he cryed with a loud voice Lord lay not this sinne to their charge His kneeling and crying arguing both the greatnesse of their sinne and his earnest desire and ardent affection Quod jussit gâ—ssit that they might be forgiven It is Christs precept Luke 6. Love your enemies do good to them that hate you blesse them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you And he did himself what he wills us to do praying for his Crucifiers even when they Crucified him Father forgive them they know not what they do Luke 23.34 Steven here follows his example praying for his persecutors even while they stoned him Lord saith he buy not this sinne to their charge And thus according to Christs precept and example he loves his enemies prayes for his persecutors and requites good for evill And this is the very perfection of love and an infallible argument that they who can do it are the children of God A wicked man may performe many Christian duties and commendable actions upon by-respects He may give Almes to the poor that men may think the better of him he may Fast because abstinence is good for his health he may abstaine from adultery theft and the like for the avoiding of shame and discredit and he may put up wrongs and not seek to be revenged for fear of inconveniences that may follow after it But for a man to love his enemies and pray for his persecutors this canot be done in any by-respect but must needs be the worke of grace in him This is that wherein the godly do most resemble God in loving their enemies and rendring good to those that deserve evill at their hands God is so good that he renders good for evill as he tooke occasion from Adams sinne to send his Sonne into the world for mans redemption for which Gregory calls it Felix peccatum a happy sinne because it had so soveraigne a Medecine The wicked are so evill that they render evill for good sometimes to God as the Israelites did taking their Eare-rings of Gold which God had given them in Egypt and making thereof a Calfe which they worshipt to the dishonour of God sometimes to man as Saul did to David using all means to procure his death who had saved his life 2 Kings 6.23 But the godly do imitate their heavenly Father rendring good for evill as Elisha made the Syrians to eate and to drink that were sent to take him and as Steven here prayed for the Jewes that stoned him FINIS The Fifteenth SERMON JEREMIAH 4.2 Thou shalt sweare the Lord liveth in trueth in Judgement and in righteousnesse Division SOcrates writes of Pambo the Herimit that when one was reading to him the 39. Psalme and had read but the beginning Psa 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that so I offend not in my tongue The Heremit willed him to stay there and to read no further for this saith he is a lesson which will hardly be learned in a long time Had the beginning of my text been read unto him Thou shalt sweare he would rather have willed him to have read on because this is a lesson which is learned soone For who cannot swear without a teacher We may see young children who before they have perfectly learn'd to read have learned this lesson So that if swearing were all which God required almost every one might answer as the Ruler did our Saviour Luke 18.21 All this have I done from my youth upward But here is not onely an Oath to be taken Thou shalt swear but the object of an Oath or by whom we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth and the conditions of an Oath or how we are to swear Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth in truth in judgement and in righteousnesse The first against the Anabaptists who hold it unlawfull to swear at all Thou shalt swear The second against the Papists who hold it lawfull to swear by the Creatures Thou shalt swear the Lord liveth The third against all profane swearers that take either false or fraudulent Oaths Thou shalt swear in truth or inconsiderate or unnecessary Oaths Thou shalt swear in judgement or lastly pernicious and wicked Oaths which are taken for the performance of some unlawfull action Thou shalt swear in righteousnesse And these are the severall parts of these words And first concerning the lawfulnesse of an Oath I neede not stand long upon the proof thereof because as the Lawyers say Quod consuetum est praesumitur esse justum That is commonly held to be just and lawfull which is ordinary and common And yet because the Anabaptists are of another opinion and would utterly take away the use of an Oath something must be spoken of the lawfulnesse thereof That it is lawfull therefore to take an Oath we may see especially by these three things First By the expresse commandement of God If to take an Oath were simply unlawfull Exod. 20. then God would not have forbidden us to take his name in vain but to take it at all as because it is simply unlawfull to swear by false Gods he doth not forbid us to take their names in yaine but absolutely forbids us to swear by them And as he forbids us to swear by them Exo. 23.13 so he commands us to swear by him Deut. 6.13 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and thou shalt swear by his name Which words are repeated Deut. 10. â—0 with a little addition Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve thou shalt cleave unto him and swear by his name So that the taking of an Oath is not left unto us as a thing indifferent but commanded by God and that as a part of Gods service and worship And therefore God promiseth a blessing to those that swear by his Name Jer. 12.16 Jer. 12.16 It shall come saith he to passe that if they will diligently learne the wayes of my people to sweare by my name The Lord liveth as they taught my people to swear by Baal then shall they be built in the middest of my people And Psalm 15.4 He that sweareth saith David though it be to his own hinderance and changeth not Psal 15.4 he shall dwell in Gods Tabernacle But if it were unlawfull to swear at all he would not have placed him in Gods Tabernacle that swears and keeps his Oath though it be to his own hinderance but rather him that sweareth not though it be to his own advantage Secondly by the example of those holy men in the Scripture who have taken oathes and that sometime publickly Thus Abraham swore to the King of Sodom