Habit him as his Son and as a Son of such a Father by all which he maketh the full demonstration of a perfect Reconciliation and not content herewith to give vent to his Joy that it might not overpower him whilst he confined it to his own bosom and perhaps also that those who had shared with him in his sorrows for the loss of a beloved Son might participate also in the joy of his Recovery he goes on bring out also the fatted Calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry for this my Son was dead and is alive again was lost and is found and they began to be merry In the midst of this extraordinary Jollity it happens the Elder Son who had always continued in his Duty towards his Father comes out of the Fields where he had been Negotiating his Fathers Affairs and wonders at the unusual Jubilee And when demanding the occasion they of the Family had made him acquainted with the whole matter he takes it ill and interpreting this marvellous transport of Joy at his Brothers return to be in derogation from himself as if his Father was too easie and inclinable towards him but severe to himself and unmind ful of the long and faithful Service he had done him begins to Expostulate the matter somewhat warmly with his Father but the good Old Man mildly replies Son I am very sensible of and set a just value upon the long course of your Obedience and I have it both in my Power and in my Will to Reward you 'T is true I have not hitherto made such Solemn expressions of my Love to you as I have now done upon this Occasion for the case did not require it you as you have been always Dutiful to me so you have had my House and all I have constantly to accommodate you as you have never Rebelled against me so you have never felt the hardships your Poor Brother hath undergone by his Foolishness and as you that have never offended me never could distrust my Favour nor need not such demonstrations of my Reconciliation which this former Guilt and Extravagancies of your now Penitent Brother renders necessary in his case so also was I never over-whelmed with Grief for you who were never lost but forasmuch as we have beyond all expectation received your Brother again whom we long since despaired of and had given up for lost you cannot wonder and you must allow me this unusual transport for I say again This your Brother was lost and is found was dead and is alive again But I will now Paraphrase no longer upon the Parable it self but proceed to the next Verse in my Text which containeth in it the purpose and resolution which the Prodigal Son had in his Heart upon the consideration of his sad and desperate Condition I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and before thee And am no more worthy to be called thy Son make me as one of thy hired Servants In the former Verse we have this Prodigal in his deep Meditations comparing things together and weighing them in the Balance But behold whilst he mused the fire kindled in his bosom and now he speaketh I will arise and go to my Father and will say unto him Father I have sinned c. In the words these three specials are observed First What he resolves to do I will arise Secondly To whom he will go viz. to my Father Thirdly What he will say Father I have sinned It was high time for the Prodigal to think of returning to his Father when he was perishing by his Disobedience and had no further refuge but in his Fathers Clemency and sure it is time for the sinner to Repent and return to God when if he be sensible of any thing he cannot but be apprehensive that in the course he is in the danger of his Eternal Ruine is as certainly impendent as it is more intolerable But now to come to the particulars And first we are to consider what he resolves to do I will saith he arise and go c. There is a three-fold Resurrection of a Christian The first is Sacramental and thus we rise again in Baptism The second is Corporal and so we shall rise again in the day of the Lord Jesus in our Bodies from the Grave The third is Spiritual which is his Resurrection in this Life in Soul from the death of sin Thus did this Prodigal arise and thus doth every true Penitent arise while he here liveth on the Earth The point may be this That Repentance from sin is as a Resurrection from death this is plain by the Apostles words Awake thou that sleepest stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Vse 1. Is this so then Repentance is no such easie a matter as the World takes it to be the work of Repentance is no less Miraculous than the raising of the dead it is a work that cannot be wrought by the power of Nature but such a work as must be wrought by the mighty Power of God Vse 2. And that shall be to stir us all up thus to arise for if the Soul while it is in the Body arise not out of the Grave of sin sure it is the Body shall never rise out of the Earth but to shame and confusion use all good means therefore that thou mayest have thy part in this that so the second death may have no power on thee for otherwise it is impossible to escape the power of it by no means canst thou escape the pains of Hell Torments if thou dost not here awake stand up from the dead and with Lazarus come forth And goe It was a good and Holy motion which he had of arising this he doth not quench but cherisheth and nourisheth it he adds more fewel to this fire begun though but a spark to the good motion of arising he adds the second of going I will arise and go First then learn The good motions of Gods Blessed Spirit at any time in any measure though never so weak begun are not to be choaked but to be cherished When the Lord shall put any good motion into our Hearts we are to nourish and cherish the same to one good motion we must add a second and to that a third and to them many more and so fall to blowing and give not over until at length they break forth into a comfortable flame of Godly Practise He brings a forcible Reason Whereby you are sealed unto the day of Redemption This is the only Evidence we have of freedom from Condemnation this is Gods Mark and Character set on us and seizing us for his own This is like the Blood that was stricken upon the door-posts which shall make the Lord to pass over us and not to suffer the Destroyer to come near us when he goeth to smite the Egyptians By this we are assured that the day of
Life like beautiful Flowers in the Garden of the World making a Rape up the beholders Eye courting all the senses to gather them which fades away in the space of a day Let not then O Lord the Magick of these outward Prosperities so charm my Senses as to idolize such fleeting objects which glide away as a water-brook but arrest thou my Thoughts upon a more permanent beauty the injoyment of thy self that when Death shall gloom me the light of this life thou mayst beam my Soul with eternal Glory 45. Of uncertain Friends Solomon tells us That Riches take wings and fly away so doth uncertain Friends follow after leaving their quondam Cor-rival a pitiful object of Misery and Poverty whose Affections doth ebb and flow according to the turning Tides of Prosperity and Adversity as if Nature created a new Metamorphosis in their souls But happily O forsaken man mayst thou find some sure Friend some faithful Achilles who will cleave unto thee in thy necessity whose love is grounded upon some better Principles than upon such afleeting Foundation of inconsistancy Sanctifie O Lord every Condition with Contentment unto me If in thy righteous Judgment thou take from me all outward support 〈◊〉 is that I may lean more surely upon thy self though the Gusts of Adversity storm the out-work of my Body let my Soul through thy Grace retreat unto thee as a stronger Fort. And be thou O Lord a faithful Jonathan to chear my Spirit in my extremity with thy oyl of Charity 46. Of Poverty There is no greater Tryal to a Child of God than to bring him to the Touchstone of Poverty which will discover him Christian proof or not whether his Graces be true or false Gold or Brass so was the Patience of Job proved by that grand Artist Satan whose Arguments to God was Doth Job fear God for naught wherefore God suffered him to touch Job in his Estate in his Children in his Body and all to try this Saints Patience and to defeat the Policy of the Liar If in wisdom O Lord for my Souls good thou take from me what I have it is but what thou freely gavest me at first If thou strippest my body of outward raiment clothe my Soul I pray thee with thy righteous garment If thou nippest my outward man with Winter Poverty Summer my inward man with the grace of integrity that so I may appear in thy gracious Eye a right-begotten Child and not a Bastard 47. Of Prosperity and Adversity Prosperity and Adversity are two great Engines with which the Devil useth to batter the heart of man to make it malleable to his designs If the scorching rays of Prosperity will not make man forsake his garment of Integrity he will endeavour by the boisterous blasts of Adversity to drive it from him both was experimented upon Job but in a different manner God gave Job Riches for his Uprightness but the Devil made him Poor by taking them away but not his righteousness to his sorrow leaving him an Addition of Boils and Botches which made his body as sore as his soul which was grieved with uncomfortable Friends So able art thou O Lord to preserve man in every Condition manger all the malice of Satan but since there is such danger in these extreams fix I beseech thee my unstable Soul in a middle Sphere that Prosperity may not make me forget thee nor Adversity forsake thee but feed me with Food convenient for me 48. Of Afflictions Some men are so licentiously wicked that having rioted away their Fathers blessing they make themselves miserable by demerit even to feed upon sharp and short Commons till by the scourge of Affliction they are made to retreat to their Fathers house for better Provision So God oftimes deals with his rebellious Children as a loving Father with his extravagant Son who will not give him according to his lavish Appetite to make him worse but with the Prodigals Father sends him abroad to feed upon the Husks of Misery till he return better qualified happily appointing him a Garden to relieve him from starving O merciful Father since my Exorbitances hath made me uncapable of a more immediate blessing from thy own hand yet bless me O my Father in that providential way thou appointest for me so I may have Food and Raiment I will thankfully be content not repining at the Prosperity of others whose better Ingenuity hath made them capable of a greater Portion but shall account it a happiness that thy offended Clemency doth place me in the lowest forme above my deservings and if thou shalt think it needful for me to feed upon the Wormwood of Adversity to quell my luxurious Appetite Oh! may it be as wholesome diet to prepare my stomach for the bread of Life As the waters of Marah could not be drunk by the thirsty Israelites they were so bitter till sweetned with a bough cut from a Tree so are the Waters of Affliction when seasoned with the Branch of Christ Jesus to comfort the Vitals of a sin-sick soul and is as a Julip to cool the fevorish distemper of our Concupiscence If thou Lord still please to hold forth a bitter Portion to me let me receive it by the hand of Faith and drink it as the Cup of my Salvation Some things in appearance seem Instruments of much Cruelty as the Caustick Saw and knife which being put into the hands of a wise Chirurgeon are of excellent use for the preservation of life in the cutting off a putrid member so are Afflictions in the hand of God to pare away the proud flesh from our sin-swoln hearts and to dismember us of our sinew-corruptions Wise God which knowest a Remedy for every Disease where my soul is festred with the Gangreen of sin let the Caustick of thy word be my Cure that so I may come to thee though halting with the loss of a right eye or right hand Experience teacheth That the nature of Thunder and Lightning is to purge the Air of hurtful Vapours which infests our Bodies Such are the Judgments of God to clear away the foggy Meteors from our clouded souls raised by the fiery suggestions of Satan Since thou the great Commander of Heaven and Earth directest the Intelligences for the health of our bodies how much more good art thou unto our souls the images of thee our Creator If the Lightning of thy Grace will not tender our obdurate hearts it is requisite that the Thunder of thy displeasure should fright us into obedience rather than that our souls should perish so shall it be good for us that we have been afflicted He that goeth out of the path of Gods Commandments forsaketh his own safety runs out of life into the shadow of death out of the Protection of the Almighty into the Liberties of Satan where his life is in hazard every hour through the wounds of sin without the mercy of a gracious Samaritan Lord if my unwary soul chance to stray
Solomon a foolish Nabal a holy Isaac a prophane Esau of what sort soever he must be Deaths Prisoner Nay let there be a concurrance of all in one let Samuel be both a good Man and a good Minister c. and have as many Priviledges as are incident to a man yet can he not procure a Protection against this Officer his Mother may beg his Life but none can compound for his Death Speak we this according to men saith not the Scripture as much Wise men die saith David and Fools die Rich men die and poor too and therefore he calls both upon the Sons of Nobles and of the Earth to mind the Lesson indeed the Heathens could compare the Sons of Adam to Counters Chess Stage-plaies in reckoning Counters have their several Place and use for a time but in the end they are all jumbled on a heap in a Game at Chess some are Kings some Bishops c. but after a while they go all into the same Bag on the Stage one is in his rags another in his Robes one is the Master another the Man and very busie they be but in the end the Play ends the bravery ends and each returns to his place such and no other is the state of man We wear death in our faces and bear it in our bones we put it upon our backs and into our mouths and cannot be ignorant of it Yea the dead proclaim this Lesson go to the Earth and they that make their Beds in darkness and sleep in the dust will tell you that it s neither wisdom nor power nor strength nor friends nor place nor grace nor any thing else that can exempt from this Tribute of Nature Our deceased Brother here before us speaks this to all this vast Assembly If greatness of Spirit feature of Body gifts of mind chastness of life soberness in diet diligence in a calling Prayers of the Church would have given any advantage against death darkness and blackness had not at this time covered us That there is no Prescription against Death appears by these Reasons The first of which is taken from the Decree of God it s a Statute enacted in that highest Court the voice of Heaven that man should once die No man as yet hath breathed but he hath had his death or translation no man is yet to come but he must either see death or an alteration so hath Heaven concluded it and who can possibly reverse it The second is taken from the matter whereof all men are made the Scripture compares man to a house whose foundation is laid in the dust whose walls are made of Clay the whole is but a Tabernacle and that of Earth and that of mans building as Paul after Job tells us this is the estate of man of all men some are more painted than some but all earthen Vessels some more clear than some but all Glasses all built of earth all born of Women and therefore all short of continuance as Job infers The third is taken from the proper cause of Death Sin Sin is Poyson to the Spirits Rottenness to the Bones where it comes and where doth it not come And therefore now what 's to be done Vse 1. Surely as men that must travel stand not to dispute but Arm themselves for all Weather So must we die we must that 's already concluded young and old good and bad c. Whatsoever we be now we must be dead anon You will think strange perhaps of my pains in this kind whilst I perswade a Mortality For howsoever we can all say in the general we are Mortal nothing so sure as Death yet when it comes to our own particular we dream of an Immortality in Nature we never set any bounds to Life we do not resolutely conclude I must die shortly I may instantly this day may be the last that I shall see this hour the last that I shall spend this word the last that I shall speak this deed the last that I shall perform this place the last that I shall breath in and so live by the day by the hour But it is our duty daily to consider what it is to die what goes before it what comes with it what follows upon it For first before we come to the very Gate of Death we are to pass through a very strait long heavy Lane Sickness first tameth us which many times is worse than Death it self that renders us unfit for all Religious Services Prayer Repentance c. as being a time not of getting but of spending that cleaves the Head and pains the Heart and wounds the Spirits and leaves us so distressed that Meat is no Meat the Bed no Bed Light no Light to us that makes us catch at Death for help But alas what help in Death if not fore-thought of Oh the Misery of a poor Creature that is so pained that he cannot live so unprepared that he dares not die he goes to Bed but cannot sleep he tastes his Meat but it will not down he shifts his Room but not his pain Death saith the Conscience would end and amend all wert thou prepared for Death but to die before were to lose those Comforts one hath and to fall under those Curses that are unsufferable Ah beloved we may intimate somewhat of his Misery but it falls not within our thoughts to conceive what his fears be who hangs between Life and Death Earth and Hell thus forthwith ready to drop into flames at every stroke of Death and to sink down down down till he be gone for ever And yet this is not all When I am dead saith the Carnal wretch all the World have done with me He saith truth all the World and all the comforts of the World have done with him indeed he shall-never laugh more he shall never have a moments ease more But though the World hath done with him yet God hath not done with him he sends for his Soul having first taken order that the Body be forth coming convents that and dooms that and casts that from him with greatest indignation into such a place such a company such a condition as would make the Heavens sweat and the Earth shrink to hear it Ah beloved therefore without all delays as a man that is now dying as well as he for whom the Bell tolls though not haply so near to Death set upon two things First set your House in order next your Souls For the first you have your persons and things to look unto To begin with Persons so live with your Wives being Husbands with your Servants being Masters with your Children being Fathers as becomes dying Men exercise such wisdom kindness faithfulness mercy every day as thou wouldest do if thou knowest it to be the last day And for things mark me well hearken not to Satan who disswades all seasonable wills because he would administer the Goods by being timely in this Errand thou shalt not shorten thy days but
this life saith the Prophet all the sweet he hath fore-goeth death after he hath a Portion indeed but it is a Portion of Fire and Brimstone of Storms and Tempests of Anguish and Tribulation of Shame and Confusion of Horror and Amazement in a fiery Lake from the presence of God in the midst of cursed Spirits Thus death must needs be terrible to him but as comfortable to the Godly for it makes his Crosses as short as the others Comforts The Wicked cannot promise to himself Comforts of an hours length nor may the Godly threaten himself with Crosses of an hours continuance Death in an instant turns the sinners Glory into Shame Pleasure into Pain Comfort into Confusion Death in an instant eases the Godly's body of all pain his Soul of all sin his Conscience of all fears and leaves him in an estate of perfect happiness And happy are they whose Misery is no longer than life but woe be to the wicked whose jollity ends when death enters and whose Torments survive death it self and so we leave Samuel to his rest Well Samuel is well himself but in what case doth he leave his poor Neighbours at Ramah that the Text now speaks and it is my trouble yet better one than all troubled that I must speak it so briefly Israel saith the Text Jacobs issue Gods people all Israel distributively taken that is of all sorts some were gathered in great Troops either by publick command or of their own voluntary accord or both ways First to lament according to the then custom in most solemn manner Samuels end and their own loss and next to honour him at his Burial in Ramah The Points which in a passage or two must be touched from this part are two the first is this Samuel a publick and a profitable man dieth Israel publickly mourneth you see what followeth Great and publick losses must be entertained with great and publick sorrows Sorrow must be suited to the loss as a Garment to the body a Shoe to the foot when the cause of Grief is great the measure of Grief must be answerable This is one Principle when a good man and Neighbour dies there is cause of great forrow this is another the inference will soon follow and result hence and that is our Conclusion Good men of publick use and place should never pass to the Grave unlamented their death should be considered and bewailed And indeed reason calls for it for we must mourn in respect of the cause of such mens deaths not private but publick sins too God never beheads a State a Country but for some Treason Reason 1. If Samuel die it is because God is angry with the people the sheep be not thankful nor fruitful therefore the shepherd is smitten Now should it be thus when useful persons die what then shall we say to these times wherein men have not put off Piety only but Nature also No marvel if the Prophet complain The righteous perish and no man considereth it in his heart The wife perisheth and the Husband doth not consider it the Parents perish and the Children do not consider it the Children perish and the Parents do not consider it few such Brethren as David to Jonathan such Husbands as Abraham such Children as Isaac such Fathers as Jacob. These long and long felt the loss of their dearest Friends but now one month is enough to wear out all thoughts of a Brother nay of a Child nay of a Mother nay of a Wife nay in the nearest tyes one in that space may be buried a second wooed a third married Hitherto in hardest pressures and worst measures David could go to Samuel in Ramah and there meet with good Counsel and Comfort but now both Samuel himself dies and poor David must flie Shall I beloved speak as the thing is In the fall of one Cedar of Ramah we have lost much shade and shelter in the splitting of one Vessel of price wherein we had all our interesses and adventures we are all losers what we have lost we shall better see seven years hence than now but losers we are all losers Wife Children Neighbours Friends Ministers People all losers so that here that is verified which was anciently uttered of another In one we have lost many a chast Husband a tender Father a religious Minister a kind Neighbour in few a Samuel Speak I this after the flesh to please No I speak it for use to profit I report my self to your hearts You tell me that you have a publick loss your mouthes have uttered it your faces speak it my Ears and Eyes have received it from you and if so then see what follows if we have Israels loss we must make Israels Lamentation Let us take up Davids words with Davids Affection I am distressed for thee Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderful passing the Love of Women Are we as David to Saul Isaac to Rebekah sons Are we as Jeremiah to Josiah Prophets As David to Abner Kindsmen Are we by any name entituled to this loss Mourn then mourn not as the Infidel desperately nor bitterly as doth the froward but soberly as did David when Abners Death put him to a Fast Let his dearest Yoak-fellow say Ah mine unthankfulness and unfruitfulness let Children say Ah our Disobedience and Stubbornness and Servants Ah our Idleness and Untrustiness and all Ah our Folly and Frowardness who could not see Vertves through Frailties and Corn through chaff till we had lost all These sins of ours have strip'd us of a Samuel and covered us with darkness He is gone the Arm and Shoulder is faln from this our little body the sooner for our sins let us see it or else what abides us In the Body what Medicines cannot do cutting must what that cannot burning must or else nothing saith the Master of Physick It is so in the Soul too Oh that we could see it In our Friends Sicknesses we have been Medicined in private distresses lanced but in the loss of Publick Persons the Lord proceeds to burning If these wounds upon the very Head of us strike us not down what shall next be smitten but our Heart it self Well Israel laments and it hath cause What do they next That next we must hear They bury him and the place and manner be observed For the place they bury him at his House in Ramah the Ancient and the Mannor House his Father dwelt there before him 1 Sam. 1. where also you may be informed touching the Town Whereas there were of Ramahs four or sive this was Ramah Zophim in Mount Ephraim which borrows his Name from the Situation of it it stood high and the name importeth no less In this Ramah Samuel sometime lived and here he is Interred For the Selemnity of the Funeral it is such as argues Israels love and Samuels worth they do him all the Honour that is possible First Israel the first-born of Men
this also is tolerable But thus is this Question answered A deformity may be covered but a new form may not be set upon the Face neither a new Habit on the Body The outward form and favour that man hath is the work of God himself fitted and proportioned unto man in his Conception by his special Providence Now to take in hand to amend this favour or proportion that God hath given What is it but first highly to dishonour God by presuming to adulterate his work taking upon them to amend that which as they suppose he hath made amiss Yea secretly they tax him for want of Wisdom when they thus go about to correct had make that better which God before had made And can the Eternal God endure his Secondly this is to lie to others for they make themselves to be other than God hath made them They speak in a real Language falshood and deceit A man may read a lie in their very foreheads Their Favour is a lie their Beauty is a lie c. Is it like there is truth in the inward parts when they shew dissimulation in their Faces Thirdly what is this but to be ashamed of themselves and therefore being displeased with their own colour and countenance they come like Players Masked and disguised But art thou ashamed of that Face that God hath made thee Then be thou assured God will be ashamed of that Face thou hast made thy self Thy shameless disguising will bring it so to pass that the Lord when he comes to Judgment will not acknowledge thee to be his Creature As for the defence that some do make for this their sin viz. it is to please their Husbands It is fond and foolish For first thou oughtest not to please man by displeasing God Secondly it is but a delusion of the Devil in making thee believe thy Husband will love thee the better for thy painted Vizar for indeed it is otherwise These Artificial supplies put thy Husband in mind of thy Natural defects and this at length doth breed a greater loathing I would such as use these sinful courses would be more wise and now at length renounce them For assuredly it will turn to bitterness in the end And let these remember who was the first that used this Plaistring or Fainting was it not Jezebel And was not she an arrant Whore Let such as would be so accounted use it but no other And so I conclude this Subject The manner how the Duke de Guise Persecuted the Ministers spoiled and defaced their Meetings by breaking down their Pulpits rending the Seats and battering the Windows thereof in Queen Elizabeths time ANno 1562. The Duke de Guise passing towards Paris and coming near to Vassy understanding that the Bell rang to a Sermon which was to be Preached in a Barn converted into a convenient Meeting-place in which place there were Assembled about Twelve Hundred Men Women and Children he presently went with all his Troops to the Barn Christians Murthered at a Sermon and entring it they cried out Death of God Kill Kill these Hugonots then did some of them shoot at those which were in the Galleries others cut in pieces such as they met with Some had their Heads cleft in twain others had their Arms and Hands cut off so that the Walls and Galleries of the Barn were dyed with the Blood of the Slain The Duke with his Sword drawn stood amongst them charging his Men to Kill without sparing especially the Young Men Some of these Godly Persons getting upon the Roof hid themselves there but at length some of this Bloody Crew spying them shot at them with long Pieces whereby many of them were slain falling down from the Roof like Piegeons Then they fell to Murthering of them all without making any distinction between Presbyterians and Church-men the poor Saints of God made no Resistance only Praying unto God and every one running to save himself as it pleased God to direct him many Men and Woman were slain others being sore Wounded escaped which died shortly after The Poor Mans Box was taken and emptied The Minister in the beginning of the Massacre ceased not to Preach still till one dischary I his Piece against the Pulpit Then falling upon his Knees he intreated the Lord to have Mercy upon him and upon his poor Persecuted Flock and so coming down from the Pulpit attempted to escape but by the way he received divers Wounds whereupon finding himself as he thought Mortally hurt he cried Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of Truth yet before he was slain some took him and carried him before the Duke who said to him Who made thee so bold thus to Seduce the people Slanders Sir said the Minister I am no Seducer but have faithfully preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them Then did the Duke Curse and Swear saying Death of God doth the Gospel Teach Sedition And calling the Provost he said Take this Varlet and hang him upon a Gibbet Then was the Minister delivered to two Pages who basely abused him The Popish Women also threw dirt at him and could searce be restrained from tearing him to pieces He was kept close Prisoner none being suffered to bring him Necessaries and he was oft threatned to be sown up in a Sack and drowned yet at last through Gods Mercy he was released at the earnest request of the Prince of Portion The Pulpit was broken down The Pulpit broken down Barbarous Cruelty the slain stript stark Naked and so the Duke departed with his Bloody Troops sounding his Trumpets as if he had obtained a great Victory The Meetings defaced When he came to Paris he with the Constable and Marshal of St. Andrews seized upon the King defaced overthrew and broke down all the Meeting-places where they of the true Religion used to Assemble which so encouraged the Popish party that in every place they so abused those of the true Religion as the most Cruel Barbarians would have been ashamed to do the like Not long after he went to Orleans boasting that within twenty four hours he would win the Town and neither spare Man Woman nor Child in it and that he would so destroy the Town that the very Memory of it together with all Protestants should be extinct for ever But Man purposes and God disposes for the same Night there was a young Gentleman Gods Judgment on Persecutors named John Poltrot who watching his Opportunity shot him with his Pistol laden with three Bullets whereof he shortly after died And Poltrot declared at his Death that he did it to deliver France and especially the City of Orleans from the Violence of the Duke of Guise And thus we see That bloody and deceitful Men shall not live out half their days Psal 55.23 After his Death the Protestants lived a peaceable quiet Life But before this Peace took place those of the Religion
require Lo now I deliver him to your own will Much more might be said but the hour strikes again Pilate is now risen the Court dissolved and Jesus is delivered into the hands of the Jews for Execution How that went on the next hour will speak only God prepare your hearts to hear devoutly and to consider seriously what Jesus the great Saviour of the World hath suffered for you CHAP. VI. Of Christ's Crucifying with its Appendices ABout Eleven they prepare with all speed for the Execution in the revolution of this hour we may observe these several Passages As 1. Their taking off the Robe and clothing him again with his own Rayment 2. Their leading him away from Gabbatha to Golgotha 3. His bearing the Cross with Simon 's help to bear it after him 4. His comforting the Women who followed weeping after him as he went 5. Their giving him Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall. 6. Their Crucifying or fastening him on the Cross whereon he dyed 1. The Evangelist tells us They took the Robe off from him and put his own Raiment on him Origen observes They took off his Robes but they took not off his Crown of Thorns what served their Interest they pursued still but nothing of mitigation or mercy to the afflicted Son of Man 2. They led him away Some say they cast a Rope or Chain about his Neck by which they led him out of the City to Mount Calvary and that all along the way multitudes attended him and a Cryer went before him proclaiming to all hearers the cause of his Death namely that Jesus Christ was a Seducer Blasphemer Negromancer a Teacher of false Doctrines saying of himself that he was the Messias King of Israel and the Son of God 3. He bore his Cross So John relates before it bears him he must bear it and thus they make good their double cry Crucifie him Crucifie him first Crucifie him with it as a burthen and then Crucifie him with it as a Cross 4. He comforted the Women who followed weeping after him as he went along And there followed him a great company of people and of Women which also bewailed and lamented him but Jesus turning to them said Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children In the midst of his Misery he forgets not Mercy in the midst of all their Tortures and loudest out-cries of contumely of Blasphemy of scorn he can hear his following Friends weeping behind him and neglect all his own sufferings to comfort them Weep not for me He hath more compassion on the Women that follow him weeping than of his own mangled self that reels along fainting and bleeding unto death He feels more the Tears that drop from their Eyes than all the Blood that flows from his own Veins We heard before that sometimes he would not vouchsafe a word to Pilate that threatned him nor to Herod that entreated him and yet unaskt how graciously doth he turn about his blessed bleeding Face to these weeping Women affording them looks and words too both of compassion and of consolation Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves 5. No sooner he was come to the place of Execution but they gave him Vinegar to drink mingled with Gall In that they gave him drink it was an Argument of their Humanity this was a custom amongst Jews and Romans that to the Condemned they ever gave Wine to drink Give strong Wine unto him that is ready to perish and Wine unto those that be of heavy heart But in that they gave him Vinegar mingled with Gall it was an Argument of their Cruelty and Envy 6. They Crucified him i. e. they fastened him on the Cross and then lift him up A great Question there is among the Learned whether Christ was fastened on the Cross after it was erected or whiles it was lying on the ground I would not rake too much into these niceties only more probable it is that he was fastened to it whiles it lay flat on the ground and then as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so was the Son of Man lifted up We may express the manner of their acting and his sufferings now as a Learned Brother hath done before us Now came the Barbarous inhumane Hangmen and begin to unloose his hands but how alas 't is not to any Liberty but to worse bonds of Nails Then they stript off his gore-glewed cloaths and with them questionless not a little of his mangled skin and flesh as if it were not enough to crucifie him as a Thief unless they flea him too as a Beast then stretch they him out as another Isaac on his own burthen the Cross that so they might take measure of the holes and though the print of his blood on it gave them his true length yet how strictly do they take it longer than the truth thereby at once both to crucifie and rack him And by this time we may imagine Christ nailed to the Cross and his Cross fixed in the ground which with its fall into the place of its station gave infinite torture by so violent a concussion of the Body of our Lord. That which I mean to observe of this crucifying of Christ I shall reduce to these two heads viz. the shame and pain 1. For the shame It was a cursed death cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree When it was in use it was chiefly inflicted upon slaves that either falsely accused or treacherously conspired their Masters death but on whomsoever it was inflicted this death in all Ages among the Jews hath been branded with a special kind of Ignominy 2. For the pain It was a painful death that appears several ways As 1. His Legs and Hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastning and then pierced through with Nails 2. By this means he wanted the use both of his Hands and Feet and so he was forced to hang immovable upon the Cross as being unable to turn any way for his ease 3. The longer he lived the more he endured for by the weight of his body his Wounds were opened and enlarged his nerves and veins were rent and torn asunder and his blood gushed out more and more abundantly still 4. He died by inch-meal as I may say and not at once the Cross was a death long in dying it kept him a great while upon the Wrack it was full three hours betwixt Christs affixion and expiration and it would have been longer if he had not freely and willingly given up the Ghost It is reported that Andrew the Apostle was two whole days on the Cross before he died and so long might Christ have been if God had not heightened it to greater degrees of Torment supernaturally CHAP. VII Of the Consequents after Christs crucifying THE Particulars following I shall quickly dispatch As thus 1. About twelve when the Sun is usually brightest it
the glory of the World comes to the Funeral all Israel all at once in the same 〈◊〉 they come from far they 〈…〉 wings of the 〈…〉 all Mourn 〈…〉 to bury him in his own Town at his own House What can be done more in Samuel's Honour To be Buried is an Honour buried in ones own Countrey much in his own place more but to be so buried as Samuel was in such a place by such a People with so many Tears so great a Solemnity this is Samuel's Happiness and the Saints Honour You see then our third Doctrine An Holy and Profitable Life ends in a Happy and Honourable Death Life is Deaths Seed-time Death Lifes Harvest As here we sow so there we reap as here we set so there we gather of Holiness Happiness and of a blessed Life a Death as blissful He that spends himself upon God and Man shall at the last have all the Honour that Heaven and Earth can cast upon him So Samuel found it so Jacob few men comparable to him in Holiness as few so Honourably Buried So Asa Hezekiah Josiah David c. but especially for Josiah and Hezekiah those great Reformers those Profitable Members the Text takes special notice of their Obsequies Josiah having received his Deaths-wound abroad is brought home in his Chariot and much Honour attends him to his 〈◊〉 he is Buried amongst his Fathers and 〈…〉 nay all Judah and the Neighbouring Towns are Mourners Vse And is this so Then here we see what course must be taken if we will arrive at Honour Men may dream to meet with Honour in many paths they may think to make their Name famous by other means But when they have tyred themselves in seeking this in by-paths as the young Students Elijah's Body they must with them seek in Heaven if ever they will find A Godly fruitful Life hath a fairer prospect towards Honour than all the Advantages in the World besides Be one as poor as Onesimus yet if Onesimus that is Profitable his Name out-lives him Be one as great as King Jehoram or Jehoiachim if he idle out his Life he lives undesired he dyes unlamented What we hear spoken we see executed in all Ages Consult with your own Experience and tell me whether the Names of Idolaters Drunkards Adulterers Swaggerers be not rotten and accursed in despite of all Monuments Titles Offices Policies Favours whatsoever When in the mean time the Righteous notwithstanding all slanders clamours imputations and aspersions is of blessed Name and Memory And if so feed upon the Wind no longer build Babels no more lay no more Foundations in Hell whilst you think to erect a Building by flattery baseness dependency lying swaggering c. but go to the Lord of Honour for lasting Honour Pray much Read much Hear much Honour him in all the passages of his Worship and you have his word for your Preferment And as for men be to them as Jehoiada was profitable and they shall be to you as Israel to him Merciful Ah the fruitful liver finds Mercy in his death his Conscience favours him and heartens him upon death it self The Angels of God those Officers of Heaven comfort him and fetch him in all state to his Crown the Lord of Glory receives him with all Honour and puts upon him the Glory of Heaven the Saints departed regard him as a part of themselves of Christ the Saints living honour his Name and follow him to Heaven with their Loves and Affections The wicked have a world of Commendations for him and the blind Balaam can say O that my end may be like his Thus Honour and Happiness and nothing else abide us hereafter if now we can lay forth our selves to God and Mans Advantage But for the wicked who bestow themselves in the World like Drones in the Hive who either have no Calling or do no Service and towards God so demean themselves as if they were his betters scorning his Children scoffing at his Word trampling upon his Name his Sabbaths his Worship let them never deceive themselves their Names shall rot they shall find no favour in Death their Consciences shall brawl them out of all quiet Men shall rifle into their lives their whoredoms treacheries villanies shall flie thorow the world every Drunkard shall sit upon them every rake-hell judge them censure them and deride them In the mean time whilst that the Name is thus torn below the Soul is brought before the Judge Convicted Committed to Hell covered with shame delivered up to everlasting contempt O then be not cursed but blessed be Happy be Honoured be well thought of in Life well spoken of after Death be Righteous be Humble be Serviceable this is the way as Heaven tells us a Samuels Life will draw on a Samuels Death nothing else In a second place let this afford comfort to fruitful Members and faithful Christians Let them know that the World will change ere-long the wicked who have now the applause must down the godly who are as yet under shame shall one day shine as so many glorious Suns in the highest Heavens Yield then beloved to the Worlds Sons let them have the place give them leave to speak the time will come when Honour shall know its home and Innocency have its Crown All the wiles in the World shall not keep the wicked from contempt nor all the wits in Hell the Godly from Honour Samuels Name may be over-cast and clouded for a time but in the end his light will shew it self Whilst he is present he is not valued but this is Samuels Honour when gone he is mist when dead he is lamented all Israel strives to do him all Honour Blessed be that Life that ends in so glorious a death thrice happy that Man whom Angels God and all Men do strive to Honour A true Christian may travel in life under Troubles and Contempts but marke his end and you shall find as Peace so Honour When he is Buried a true and honourable Funeral is Solemnized men mourn not in the Face but in the Heart respect him not in shew but in truth their Consciences Reverence him their Souls find a miss of him the Angels of Heaven man him in a goodly Train to Heaven the Saints on Earth follow him with greatest Affections to his Grave Seven nay thrice seven Years after the Funeral he is not forgotten Thus are the men whom the great King loves Honoured And now shall Men and Women bear with patience the absence of dearest Friends when it is for their outward preserment And when Christ would Marry a Child prefer a Friend advance our Acquaintance should we stand off No If this be the worst that Death can do to the Godly to strip him of his Rags and cloath him with Robes to free him from all contempts and possess him of greatest Honours to redeem him from all shame and to Crown him with Glory in the Hearts Mouths Consciences of Men in the face of Heaven and
suffered much in sundry parts of the Realm At Senlis At Senlis he caused many of the true Godly Christians to suffer much some were Beheaded some Murthered in a popular Tumult some were Whipt some Imprisoned some Fined and others sent to the Gallies not sparing the simple Women Yet through Gods Mercy some escaped amongst whom was one John Gardens and his Wife who lived with his Wife and Child in the Fields at length determined to go back into the City casting themselves upon Gods Providence but when they came into the Suburbs they met some who bad the Soldiers to put them to the Sword The Woman kneeling down begged of the Soldiers that if they must needs die they would kill her Child first A special Providence saying That so she should die with the more Comfort which speech of hers so wrought upon the Soldiers that they spared all their Lives I thank thee for they seasonable Counsell Dear Brother Ioine hand in hand A Presbiterian minister Let there be no strif between thee and me for we are bretheren A Romish Prelat an English Iesuite Alas we are utterly undone our 〈◊〉 is spoyled for they are both agreed A Friendly DIALOGUE between a moderate Conformist and one of his Parishioners concerning several Points of great Moment DIALOGUE I. Concerning God Conformist FOrtunately met Neighbour I am glad to see you look so well again after your long fit of Sickness Parishioner Sir I most humbly thank you but I must likewise tell you that though I am again arrived to a competent measure of Health yet I have those Doubts now upon my Spirit which if not timely resolv'd will I fear in a little time be very prejudicial to my Peace and Quiet And I do therefore Sir now humbly beg that you would give me a Resolution to every Query that I shall now propose unto you for the easement of my mind Conform If I may be instrumental any ways in advancing the Glory of God by instructing of you I shall reckon my time well spent Parish Well then Sir pray give me an Answer to this Query viz. If God be unchangable how can he be said to repent Conf. It is spoken according to our Capacity for though God do never repent that is change his Counsel yet he doth as if he did repent when he undoeth what he had before done Nor may God be charged with changeableness though the course of his Providence be turned but the change is in us You know the Sun by the same quality and in the same season will soften Wax and harden Clay yea will soften the earth when it is frozen and harden it at other times and yet the Sun never altereth his quality but is still the same So though God be gracious to some and severe to others yea severe and gracious to the same person at divers times and in different respects yet he is one and the same for ever Parish If God be a Spirit how is he said to have hands eyes wings c Conf. This is only spoken as the former according to our Capacity that by the hand of God we may note his power by his eye wisdom by his wings protection Parish If God be indivisible and simple how can the sacred Essence be distinguished into three Persons Conf. I see your skill in Logick is small or else it were easie to know how to distinguish betwixt things that cannot be divided I can distinguish between the Essence and existence of the same thing betwixt inseparable accidents and their subjects or to speak common-rode language between a body and its substance form figure c. and yet not divide them So it is no repugnancy in reason it self that the Godhead be one entire entity and yet considered in a personal respect may be distinguished into the Father Son and Holy Ghost Par. I find in the 45. of Isaiah verse 21. that Christ saith There is no God but himself notwithstanding we hear him saying as much by his Father John 17.3 how can both be the only true God Conf. God and Christ differ not essentially but only personally the Father is God so is the Son yet they are not two Gods but one There is no other God but that God which the Father is nor any God but that which Christ is and this word only is not exclusive of any person of the Trinity for every Person is the only God but of all others whether reputed Gods or Creatures DIALOGUE II. Concerning Gods Decrees and Creation Parish TO what purpose should I seek the good of my Soul If I be elected I shall be saved if not I cannot Conf. It is not for you to search the Cabinet of Gods Counsel but to believe and repent which if you do you are not to question your salvation Saving Faith tho' it be not a cause is a fruit of Election for God hath respect to the means as well as the end and conjoyneth them in his Decree And therefore we may conclude that believing we are justified which is an assured Argument we were predestinated and shall be saved But on the other hand they that are hardened by sin are rejected of God and shall be damned Par. If God predestinate the means as well as the end seeing sin is the means tending to damnation whom he predestinates to damnation doth not he predestinate them to sin And if so how can he be freed from it Conf. In Predestination two things are to be considered 1. Gods Preterition passing by or non-electing of a person 2. Predamnation or fore-condemning a person to Perdition The former is of the meer pleasure of God for there can be no other Reason given why this man is chosen and that refused Now those whom God thus passeth by through want of that assistance which he is not bound to give fall finally from God and so considered are pre-damned or fore-ordained to Destruction God doth not force or cause men to sin but leave them to it For sin being no positive thing but a privation of what should be viz. of obedience ariseth from the insufficiency of the Creature left to it self If a King by his Wisdom could foresee that divers of his subjects would prove Traytors and be hanged unless he prefer them and doth forbear to gratifie them so far only because it is not his pleasure so to do can he be justly accused of the Treason which after they commit I believe no Politition will affirm it Must we then be so bold as to charge him who is of purer Eyes than to behold iniquity to be in any sort the cause thereof because he doth not uphold us against it Par. If God do not only pass by men but predamn them to Hell also by this Decree as you shewed in the Resolution of the last Doubt how can his Justice be cleared seeing man had then not actually sinned Conf. Men sin in time not from Eternity yet are their sins from Eternity