learn to humble our selves with the consideration of our own deserts Observe we our petulant Follies obstinate Perverseness and treacherous Infidelities Nay our daily wilful Miscarriages the many Affronts we offer to the Majesty of Heaven our unmindfulness of his good Providences our unthankfulness for his Benefits our neglect of holy Duties our backwardness in praying to and acknowledging our dependance upon him Were we but pregnant with such considerations as these we should not be so much puffed up nor value our selves upon Riches remembring they are the Emanations of Divine Goodness not the just Retributions of our Merits Should the quantum meruit be the Question how much the best of us deserve it may be answered Nothing but Hell and an eternal Separation from God and the sorest Punishments he can inflict a morsel of Bread a draught of Water even the least Blessing we enjoy is far beyond our Demerits Let not therefore Riches elate and swell but humble us like loaded Trees bend the lower In fine let the Christian Religion have its perfect influence upon us that the same Mind that was in Christ be also in us following his Humility his Meekness his Contempt of this World and Worldly things his Heavenly mindedness and all other his imitable Vertues that at length we may live with him be like him partake of his Glory and never be separated from him more Amen SERMON III. Luke XIV Ver. 22. And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosom THE former Part of this Parable has entertain'd us with the miserable and afflicted Life of Lazarus depainting it in all the Instances of Pity he was cloathed with Rags tormented with painful Sores and rack'd and griped with Hunger Such a comfortless Condition enough to make one weary of Life and wish for a sudden Exit and the more when Succour is deny'd From this poor wretch all outward comforts were with-held not so much as the crumbs allowed him which fell from the Rich Man's Table It encourages and bears a Man up under languishing circumstances when he is caress'd with pity and gets some relief tho' but the fragments of a Meal But such was the unfortunate Fate of poor Lazarus that notwithstanding his importunate cries ghastly looks shatter'd cloaths and ulcerated flesh none gave unto nor condol'd with him hungry and thirsty his Soul fainted in him no Friends nor wherewithal to support him in this his distressed condition But tho' he was thus inhumanely dealt with we read not that he reflected upon Providence or charg'd God foolishly but humbly submitted himself to him who disposeth all things patiently waiting for a happy change either a sufficient competency while he lived or a translation out of this World into a better My Text therefore presents us with a sudden but happy alteration of Lazarus's condition It came to pass that the Beggar died An end of all his wants sorrows and conflicts God has ever a gracious regard to the lamentable groans and afflicted state of his poor Servants and tho' he sometimes seem long ere he answers their request and expectation yet in a time besitting his most excellent Wisdom he graciously crowns them with their hearts desire Lazarus not only died but was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom His Soul not his Body probably that was exposed to ravenous Beasts or Fowls or else to innumerable Vermine in the Grave if any were so charitably dispos'd to bury it tho' reason enough there is to believe the contrary For while he lived he could not get sustenance his hunger nakedness and sores no body regarded much less his dead Body to give it a decent Interment But no matter his Soul was return'd to him that gave it and his Body too tho' never so much mangled and dispers'd into never so many Atoms shall be compacted together made vivid and formable at the command of the great Creator Now the Text contains two Parts The First is A Description of the Death of Lazarus And it came to pass that the Beggar died The Second Gives an account of the condition and state of his Soul And was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom From whence these two great Points are proved First That the Soul is capable of an Existence separated from the Body Let that fond conjecture then of those be condemn'd who imagine that the Soul together with the Body declineth in the Earth Secondly That the Souls of the Faithful when they depart from their Bodies immediately pass into a fixed state of Blessedness But that which I shall at this time treat on will be the Death of Lazarus and in descanting upon this I shall First of all Consider what were the immediate Causes of his Death Secondly What kind of treatment he met with while languishing And then Lastly What became of his Body after Death First then I am to consider what were the immediate Causes of Lazarus ' s Death And here if we reflect upon his circumstances while living we may soon conjecture For First He wanted the Staff of Life namely Bread He desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the Rich Man's Table but was uncharitably refus'd them Hunger is a sharp Thorn it dries up the Blood it decays those rarer Ornaments of Nature Beauty and a sanguine Complexion it preys upon the Spirits and makes them faint and droop In a word Hunger destroys the Marrow weakens the Bones and puts the whole frame of Nature into a grand disorder And here the griping pains the gnawings this poor wretch endur'd the lamentable sighs and groans he fetch'd the doleful complaints he made what a gbastly countenance be had reduc'd to such a degree of weakness that he could not stand for he lay at the Rich Man's Gates Such a condition as this doubtless makes Life burthensom and Death more eligible We observe by constant Experience that some who are of cholerick and furious Dispositions vent themselves in wishes for a speedy Exit when some less dangerous accidents befal them how much more therefore intolerable is it to live and if I may so say stand and see ones self die as properly speaking they do who suffer Hunger and have not intermissions of a reasonable satiety This was the ill fortune of poor Lazarus he was reduced to that extremity that he would have been glad of the crumbs the portiuncula the least and worst fragments which dropp'd under the Rich Man's Table It is to be presum'd that there are scarce any or at least very few who are in such extremity but doubtless this was one cause which hasten'd Lazarus's Death namely Hunger For since nourishment upholdeth Nature reviving the Blood recruiting the Spirits feeding the Bones and Marrow whereby Life is prolonged the want of this must soon decay and overthrow the whole frame of Nature Poor Lazarus So hungry and no body to feed thee Not one Morsel from a plentiful Table If the Master
either of eternal happiness or misery But such was the stupid folly of Dives that to dye was the least of his care and the least in his mind His chief study was what he should eat drink and put on what sort of pleasures would best suit with and accommodate his senses In sine his happiness was fixed in these perishing enjoyments and so fondly imagined his condition immutable But behold a woful change of things In the midst of his carnal security death steps in an unwelcome Guest a frightful Spectrum and irresistably hauls him from all his darling repasts and crouds him into the Region of damned Spirits Now he that was cloathed with Purple and fine Linnen is inveloped in devouring and unquenchable flames he that fared sumptuously and deliciously every day is confined to a loathsom dungeon and doomed to suster those intolerable preparations And to enhance his Misery Lazarus whom he uncharitably denyed the crumbs which fell from his Table and without any reluctancy permitted to faint languish and dye at his Gates is at a distance presented to his view lying in Abrahams bosom crowned with glory and encircled with the rades of eternal bliss To Abraham he addresses himself Pity my hard fate consider my woful condition see how the flames scorch and torment me see how my tongue is parched with heat I am so miserably afflicted that I cannot express my self I pray thee therefore to send Lazarus with a drop of water to abate the anguish and allay the throbbing of my enflamed tongue So great and vehement are the plagues of Hell that the damned Spirits there cry continually for help and succour but are not pitiable Objects having withstood the frequent tenders of grace and mercy Now from the words of the Text we learn First That as the Souls of true Believers when they go out of their Bodies launce into a fixed state of happiness so the Souls of wicked men immediately upon separation go into a fixed state of misery We no sooner read of the Rich Man being dead and buried but it follows And in Hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment Secondly That it will be a great part of the misery of the damned to understand those to be in Heaven whom they in this life scorned reproached and abused and it may be were instruments of hastening them to those blessed Mansions It was doubtless an aggravation of the rich Mans torments to see Lazarus in Abrahams bosom that Lazarus whom be did brow-beat and suffered to perish with hunger at his own Gates Thirdly That there will come a time when the most proud and ambitious sinners would gladly be relieved by the meanest Saints Father Abraham says the rich Man send Lazarus the very same who begg'd at my Gates for the crumbs which fell from my Table Fourthly That the state of the damned will be void of the least degrees of comfort The rich Man desired but the cooling of his tongue with as much water as could be brought upon the tip of Lazarus's finger Lastly That the Tongue is a Member the abuse of which in another life will lye very heavy upon lost Souls The chief member which the rich man complained was most afflicted was his Tongue send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and could my tongue Intolerable are those preparations in the other miserable world But concerning the former of these First That the Souls of wicked men as-soon as they go out of their bodies pass into a fixed state of misery Which we learn from the former part of the Text The rich man also dyed and was buried and in Hell he lift up his eyes being in torments That is his Soul was hurried by evil Spirits into a state of misery His Body we read dyed and was honourably and splendidly buried in the Earth and there must rest till the great Creator bids it rise in the last day and then shall be re-united to its particular Spirit and both share alike in those unconceivable torments which God has prepared for ungodly men It is therefore an idle fancy of some who conceit that the Soul sleepeth together with the Body and remaineth unactive and insensible as the body The Soul being a Spirit cannot be subject to death and though its agility is much restrained while confined in the body yet as soon as it is delivered it swiftly returns to its own place carried either by good Angels into a state of happiness or by evil Spirits into a place of torments And such is the opinion of the wise man Eccles 12.7 The dust that is the body so termed from the matter of which it is compounded returneth to the Earth again as it was and the Soul to him that gave it to be sentenced either to dwell with God or damned Spirits for ever And though the happiness and misery of departed Souls is not compleat at the highest perfection till that day wherein Christ will come in the glory of his Father with the Holy Angels to judge all the world yet this no way favours the Romish Doctrine which insinuateth a Purgatory a place where departed Spirits are purged by fire and by the fervency of prayer may be redeemed from thence a most pernicious principle As the tree falls so it lyes After this life which is the time of Tryal and Probation a fixed state either of bliss or torment commences And a good Soul cannot then be deprived of happiness tho' not yet in the highest degree but with exceeding joy and a kind of holy impatience it waiteth for the Day of Judgment then to enter on the possession of those good things which God hath prepared for them who continue stedfast unmoveable always abounding in his work Nor on the other hand can a wicked Soul be ransomed from Hell tho' it be not yet in the midst of most exquisite torments but with dread and fear sadly looks for the great and terrible day wherein it must change its unhappy condition for a much worse Those Angels which kept not their first estate are reserved in chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day that is they are not yet afflicted with those punishments which they shall feel and endure when Christ comes to separate the Sheep from the Goats They are therefore said to tremble at the thoughts of a Judgment when Sentence shall pass upon them to be confined in those unhappy Residencies of Misery and to undergo the utmost fury of an Omnipotent God And tho' it is expressed that the Rich man being dead and buried in Hell he lift up his Eyes being in torments we are not to understand him in that place of Misery which wicked men shall be doomed to in the General Judgment but in a state of despair of Mercy without any intermission of hope weeping and wailing for the loss of Heaven which Lazarus whom he reproached reviled and suffered to perish has a sure hope of A state of dread
of the House was so seer'd and impenetrable as to deny thy reasonable request surely the Servants might have accommodated thee with some of their Remains No! What suffer thee to perish for want of that which themselves would not eat O unheard of Cruelty O monstrous Barbarity But Secondly Another cause of Lazarus's Death was those Ulcers and putrifying Sores which had invaded and corrupted his flesh He was laid at the rich mans gate full of sores As he had no Friend to sustain his Hunger neither was there any found to bind up his Wounds These for want of application infected the whole Mass of Blood seized his Vitals and hasten'd the destruction of Nature O miserable Object Starv'd with Hunger and sull of Sores too Without Friend and without Pity Evil upon Evil The Holy Iesus could not but cure the Leper when he saw him full of Sores And Elisha could not but out of Humanity teach Naaman the Syrian to wash himself in Jordan that he might be whole but this Rich Man would not help Lazarus but left him to languish and die Doubtless it was a great addition of his misery to be full of Blotches and running Ulcers for as his Hunger tormented and gnaw'd upon his inwards so his Sores grieved and pained his flesh both the one and the other contriving to storm his Soul out of the Out-works of Nature But thus much for the first thing which was To consider what were the proper Causes of Lazarus ' s Death And from hence I proceed in the second place namely Secondly To consider what kind of treatment Lazarus met withal while he was languishing or dying We read of no Friends that came either to visit or to comfort him with Medicaments Thus generally the poor Servants of God are treated when retain'd by a Fit of Sickness and drawing near to a period many of them perish for want of reasonable applications None or very few vouchsafe them an hours consolation they groan they sigh they pant and die without pity Such usage as this Lazarus met withal in his dying hours Rich Men are supplied with Physicians furnish'd with Potions and when dying their Friends stand shrieking about the Bed and fill the Room with dolorous sounds They grieve for their approaching loss and enhance their sorrows with the repetition of former benefits if it were possible they would conquer Death and rescue their departing Friends out of his clutches But poor Lazarus as he had no inward applications so no outward comforts not a Bed to lie upon the Earth was his Pillow the Element was his Covering the Rich Man's Dogs were his Visitants not one of his Servants would vouchsafe him a reviving Draught or any thing that was comfortable but there he lay screeching with anguish sighing and groaning waiting till Death would strike and release him from his great wants and heavy conflicts Now his Throat growing dry with crying his Heart fainting for want of comfort his Tongue cleaving to the Roof of his Mouth being worn out with Fastings and Miseries he gave a groan and perished at this wretches Gate Was ever heart so hard Could it be imagined that a rational Creature could be guilty of such Cruelty and especially towards one of his Fellow-Creatures It was inhumane in thee O Dives to have no compassion upon poor Lazarus but it argues much more a sear'd Nature to suffer him to faint and die at thy very Door for want of a few fragments of Bread What was his request to thee He ask'd not for dainty food such which was thy daily Entertainment but only for those Scraps which neither thy Servants nor Dogs would eat to save his Life And was it such a matter to have granted him this his so reasonable desire Will it not be a blemish on thy Conscience that thou shouldst suffer a Soul to perish with hunger when thou hadst enough and abundantly to spare Couldst thou see Lazarus trembling and quaking with cold having only shatter'd Rags about him and not cover his nakedness when thou hadst store of Cast-off Garments Were his wounds so deep and gaping upon thee and neither thou nor thy Servants by thy order pour Oil into them If the Stones could speak they would cry fie on thee If thy Dogs could utter themselves they would charge thee with unmercifulness If Lazarus were alive his Sores would gush out afresh in thy Face and sound in thine Ears that thou art guilty of his Blood Behold the Sentence is gone forth against thee the blood of Lazarus like the blood of Abel cries aloud Let thy days be few and let another take thine Office Let thy Children be Fatherless and thy Wife a Widow Let thy Children be Vagabonds and beg their Bread let them seek it also out of desolate places Let the Extortioner consume all that thou hast and let the Stranger spoil thy labour Let there be no Man to pity thee nor to have compassion on thy Fatherless Children Let thy Memorial be clean forgotten and in the next Generation let thy Name be quite blotted out Let him be unsuccessful in every thing he taketh in hand let him be Accurs'd when he goeth out and when he cometh in Let the Creator abandon him the Heavens frown upon him and the Angels reject him let him be a woful Example to the World O Earth open upon him Hell receive him Spirits tear him Devils torment him Let no Mercy be expressed towards him who shut up his bowels of compassion against his distressed and afflicted Brother The sorrowful sighing of the Poor shall not always be forgotten God will avenge their injuries if not in this Life yet in that which is to come But thus much for the second thing which was to consider what usage poor Lazarus met with while he lay languishing while he was hastening to a period I am now to go on in the third place Thirdly To enquire what became of his dead Body And here we cannot suppose that his Body had any decent Interment because while living it had not wherewithal to sustain it He was Brow-beaten scoff'd at rejected a Companion for Dogs the very abject of the People those that pass'd by him upbraided his Poverty turn'd their Heads away from the stench of his Sores and stopp'd their Ears to his woful Complaints Now if his hungry Stomach ulcerous Body and fainting Spirits and dismal Out cries would not move to pity we may reasonably conjecture that his dead Body was not taken care of That it might not infect with strong and loathsome smells it may be it was cramm'd into some narrow hole in the Earth or thrown into some rapid River or other No Bell to proclaim his Death no Knell to usher him to the Grave no Friends to accompany his Corps which are the usual methods of a Funeral Thus poor Men slip silently into the Earth and have none to mourn over them but their distressed Widows and Orphans who miss those little Comforts they were
the Authors of but yet poor Mens Souls are as precious in the sight of God as rich Mens The World distinguishes Men by their Rank and Quality but God by their Goodness and how mean soever his Servants may be in this Life yet they shall be hereafter Kings and Priests and reign with God for ever It matters not then O Christian tho' thou art poor and despicable thou art not to live here always the time is coming when all things will be set to rights when thou shalt have amends made thee for thy scanty Portion and those Indignities offer'd thee for thy Poverty then every Man shall be rewarded according to his Works A Nebuchadnezzar a Nimrod a Belteshazzar a lofty Felix and an ambitious Herod and other Grandees of the World shall be no more respected than thou For God is no respecter of persons It is no matter whether thy Body be honourably buried or no if thy Soul be but vertuous and found in the ways of holiness then both shall be gloriously re-united and live together in Paradise for ever Poor Lazarus lived miserably died so and his Body probably thrown into some Pit or other but yet his Soul was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosom And thus much for the death of Lazarus I now proceed to make some special Use of what has been said and then conclude And here First From hence we may learn that it is very often the lot of God's dear Children to suffer Affliction in this Life Not that he delights in the Miseries of his People but because he would fit them for himself draw their Affections from things here below let them see the vanity and emptiness of all Worldly satisfactions and put their confidence in him as a sure Refuge in time of trouble Such are the wise and holy ends of God towards his faithful Servants Job a just Man and one that feared God and eschewed evil was wofully punished his Children suddenly slain his Plenty turned into Scarcity his Body afflicted with Swellings and Carbuncles his Friends became his Enemies his Wife in the midst of sufferings tempting him who would but conclude that this was a Judgment upon him for some great sin or other And yet is it left upon Record that this change of things was only to try him who yet retaining his Integrity was blest with much more than ever he had S. James 1.2 says Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations As if he had express'd himself thus Be not disheartned and cast down if Calamities besiege you provided they be not of your own seeking but by God's Providence for he has no other end upon you but to make you yet better and to fit you more exactly for his heavenly Kingdom And St. Paul 12. Heb. 6. makes affliction a special mark of God's love Whom he loves he rebukes and chastens every Son whom he receives Then Christian bear up under thy sufferings Hast thou but a scanty Portion hardly enough to keep thee alive Be content Heaven will be thine and tho' it may seem long ere thou be in possession of it yet it will infinitely make thee amends when thou comest there Art thou friendless Dost thou suffer Reproach Calumnies Do Men despise thee Does the World deny thee Peace Hast thou none that will take thy part Sink not under this calamity for God is thy Friend he hears thy Sighs and Groans records thy Prayers and bottles up thy Tears and will abundantly recompence thee when thou comest into his Kingdom Put thy trust in him keep covenant with Christ and get an interest in him and fear not what Man can do unto thee It was this which encouraged the Martyrs under their Sufferings and made them even rejoice in the midst of their bitter conflicts they made their Calling and Election sure all was well between God and their Spirits and therefore fainted not at the thought of being sent to him tho' by the most violent and cruel death It is recorded of Ignatius that when he was condemned by that imperious Tyrant Trajan to be torn apieces by wild Beasts he replied I am not afraid to go out of the World this way nor at the suddenness of my departure for I care not how soon nor by what means I hasten to my dear Redeemer whom I love more than Life for that I can freely part with all for his sake who did so much for me he did groan and sigh sweat bleed and die for me and therefore I can never forget him Secondly From the death of Lazarus we learn to be pitiful and compassionate towards those that are Poor Lazarus died with hunger Had his Necessities been supplied he might have lived longer but wanting Nourishment he died What a sad Consideration is it to send the hungry and thirsty away empty when Men have to spare This argues an ungrateful Mind towards God and an insensibility of our own Demerits If God Almighty should deal with us proportionably to our deserts Hell would become our Lot but he deals not with us after our Sins nor rewards us according to our Iniquities he overlooks our manifold Weaknesses passes by our many wilful Miscarriages forgives the Affronts we offer to his Divine Majesty and crowns us with his Goodness his providential Hand is always heaping Blessings upon us his Mercy triumphs over Judgment Now the meer Consideration of this methinks is enough to make Men of flexible condescending Humours of compassionate charitable Dispositions and oblige them to be as forward to give as the Poor is to ask them that is according to their Abilities What a lamentable thing is it when a poor Man almost famished his Face wan his Countenance ghastly his Spirits fainting and his Tongue cleaving to the roof of his Mouth and begs for God's sake for Christ Jesus sake to satisfie his craving Stomach and thirsly Soul or else he must perish to send him away empty as he came Suppose this pining Wretch should drop and die at thy Door upon a denial tho' this be not Murder in the sense of ours yet it is in the judgment of God's Laws and his Blood thou must answer for and O woful Account in the Day of Inquisition Christ who is the ordained Judge has threatned to revenge the Indignities of his poor Servants in Matth. 25. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels for I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink I was naked and ye cloathed me not I was a stranger and ye took me not in I was sick and in prison and ye visited me not Then will the uncharitable answer and say Lord when saw we thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee Then shall he answer them In as much as ye did it not unto one of the least of these my poer servants ye did
Ancients who studiously contemplating this Subject and reflecting upon his own unworthiness thus uttered himself When I remember these things O Lord I confess before thee and praise thee for thy great benefits wherewith thou hast honoured us Thou hast given us all things under Heaven and yet countedst that but a small provision unless thou hadst also given us the things above even those Angels of thine as Ministring Spirits unto us What is man that thou thus respectest him Secondly The consideration that the Angels are about us should fill us with a reverential awe and dread and oblige us to be circumspect and innocent in our transactions When Jacob saw a Ladder reaching from Earth to Heaven and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon it he said How dreadful is this place his spirit was struck with fear And certainly if we confidered that these Heavenly Courtiers were attending us curiously observing our actions and taking cognizance of our behaviour we should be much more cautious and wary in our prosecutions especially in our demeanour while in God's House The Angels are our Guardians directing and guiding us to good it should therefore be our care to manage our spiritual concernment with such Christian prudence that they may continue our Keepers while we live here and receive our Souls at our deaths and convey them into Abraham 's bosom It is the highest ingratitude to slight their directions besides a woful disadvantage For being not under their protection the Evil Spirits have the opportunity of exercising their Wiles and Arts upon us of filling us full of all iniquity and bringing us to destruction both of Body and Soul The Devil is called the Prince of the Air and why he doth us no more mischief because the Angels of God encamp round about us to keep and preserve us from his power If then we foolishly throw our selves from under their care and protection by adhering to the lusts of the flesh this Prince of the Air with his Diabolical Crew having no obstruction enters into us and our latter end becomes worse than the beginning Thirdly The consideration that the Angels are our Guardians should encourage us to persevere in our duty and not be discouraged at difficulties remembring that we have more for than against us Being compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses and mighty helpers we are to lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and to run with patience the race that is set before us And having so great encouragement and consolation we are not at any time to be weary of well doing or frightened from it but to be sledfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord as it becomes Persons of such hopes for hereafter the Heirs of Salvation and such security in the interim attended with the Holy Angels Lastly The consideration that these Heavenly Courtiers are our Attendants and Guardians should engage us to honour and esteem the meanest of Gods Servants not to despise reproach and load them with oppressing calumnies How darest thou to contemn and slight one of Gods poor Servants when they have Celestial Spirits attending them They are the Sons and Daughters of the great King of Heaven and Earth and born to a fair Inheritance a transcendantly Rich and Glorious Kingdom And in the mean while however thou mayst look upon them as destitute and forsaken they have an invisible Guard about them upon occasion to Minister for their supply defence and vindication Such honour have all his Saints The Angels smote the Men of Sodom with blindness because they disturbed and provoked Lot And though now a-days God does not so ordinarily resent the indignities of his poor Servants by open Judgments yet he will be sure to right them in the other world by condemning their Enemies Our Saviour has represented the danger of contempt and uncharitableness towards the poor in the case of the Rich Man In Hell he lifted up his eyes sees Lazarus afar off whom he suffered to perish at his Gates Of whose succour he would have been glad Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my Tongue for I am tormented in this flame Besides in despising the poor we despise also Christ himself who became poor that we might be made rich And what punishment shall they be thought worthy of who trample under foot the Son of God Let us therefore since we all are partakers of one hope of being Heirs of Salvation High and Low Rich and Poor learn to respect and honour the meanest among us especially remembring that God has given them a mighty priviledge of being attended and guarded by his Angels But to conclude Since these heavenly Guardians are holy unspotted and undefiled Beings and delight continually to sing Praise Honour and Glory unto the Lamb that sits upon the Throne let us endeavour to emulabe them as much as is possible in this our frail state let us love and seek after those things which belong to our everlasting peace Let us exercise our selves in Religion chearfully and frequently If thou delight in the word of God and prayer says devout Gerard thou shalt be gratified with the Holy Angels patronage While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel saith the Prophet Daniel and presenting my suplication before the Lord my God for the Holy Mountain of my God Yea while I was speaking in prayer the Man Gabriel whom I had seen in the Vision at the beginning being caused to fly swiftly touched me about the time of the evening-oblation Dan. 9.20 21. This exercise the Holy Angels delight in May God grant that we may be governed and guided by those Celestial Spirits whom he has commissioned and charged to encamp about us that they may succour and defend us while in this life and when we dye receive and carry our Souls into Abrahams bosom And this we beg for Jesus Christs sake Amen SERMON V. Luke XVI 22 23 24. Ver. 22. The rich man also dyed and was buried Ver. 23. And in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom Ver. 24. And he cried and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame DEath is the Lot of us all He invadeth the rich Man's Palace as well as the poor Man's Cottage he storms the Princes Court as well as the Peasants meaner Habitation High and Low all must submit when this grim Serjeant makes a demand Neither Wealth nor Honour neither beauty nor wisdom nor any secular regard can plead against death or priviledge a Man from the Grave Which consideration should insinuate with Men to be less in love with this world and more thoughtful of that time when they must go into a fixed state
be cut off nay to be Rack'd or to have all the Instruments of tortures apply'd to him than to be cast both Soul and Body into Hell where the Worm dies not and the fire is not quenched The sence of a greater does divert a lesser affliction and hereby Men are more appeased under unhappy circumstances when they see others more rigorously dealt with and proclaim their grievances with hideous cries groans and fearful lamentations In like manner a view by thought of the other miserable World and the pains and agonies the Damned there do suffer will make Men bear any temporal affliction with more patience and submissiveness Thirdly and Lastly We learn from the consideration that God has prepared a Hell to torment and pain those who die in enmity with him to hate every sin since it produces so woful an effect This is it which God abhors and therefore has contrived unconceiveable Plagues to punish it Now he manifests his aversion to sin by menacing it with future torments but hereafter his threats will be put in execution in raining down indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every Soul that dies in an impenitent state Where is the sence then of sporting our selves in vicious repasts if we are like to pay so dear in another World for it What is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul What if he were as Wealthy as Croesus as Great as Alexander had the whole Universe and all the Delights and Pleasures thereof at his beck if when he dies he must descend into the Regions of Sorrow and be locked up in the Prison of Hell for ever and ever What will it avail him that once he was Rich and Honourable since now all the Goods that ever he had are converted into flames Hell comprehends a deprivation of all Good and the presence of every Evil and one would imagine that the very thoughts of it were enough to damp Mens spirits and to make them carefully shun the breach of their Innocence that they would caution them against Temptations and fill their Minds with Wise Considerations When Men draw so near to a woful Eternity that they can as it were look over to it when they see the Grim and Terrible Serjeant Death coming to hale them into another World then they will be terrified and amazed and cry out against those sins they formerly delighted in and will wish they had been so wise for themselves to have considered the unhappy and fatal consequences of Vice that they might have avoided it in time of health and strength And why will not Sinners come to a serious and a right frame of Mind now since they know they shall repent of those things with shame and sorrow which now they glory in when they lie languishing If therefore we would escape those punishments which God Almighty has prepared in the other miserable World let us so meditate and pause upon them as to shun those things which are threatned with the second Death Therefore Beloved since ye know these things beware lest ye fall from your stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to whom with the Father and ever Blessed Spirit be given all Honour Praise Thanksgiving and Obedience now henceforth and for evermore Amen SERMON VII Luke XVI 25 26. But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence THis is the Answer to the Rich Man's foregoing Request That Abraham would send Lazarus with a drop of Water to cool his Tongue Abraham gives him the Title of Son either as he was lineally descended from him or as he was a Member of that Church of which he was the Father So he terms him by way of Irony or Exprobration that he might Remember as an addition of his misery how basely he degenerated from the practice and example of the Father of the Faithful the advantages and opportunities of being happy he neglected and his folly in contenting himself with the bare denomination of being a Member of the Church of Christ Remember that in the other life thou enjoyedst the upper and the nether Springs hadst all the comfortable Accommodations the World could present thee with and in them all thy happiness was fixed thy heart and affections were wholly taken up with the pomp and pride of Life thou hadst no regard to nor value for the things of another world thou hadst neither reverence for God the Author and Giver of thy store nor common compassion for thy Fellow-Creatures driven to poverty and extream want Therefore art thou now tormented a wretched and pitiless Object Not because of thy riches but because thou didst not employ them to those ends and purposes for the which they were bestowed upon thee Lazarus whom thou desirest to cool thy Tongue shall not bring thee the least comfort because thou wert so stubborn and hard-hearted to deny him the crumbs which fell from thy Table He was poor and despicable appeared like one forsaken had neither Friends nor Wealth but embracing such a poor condition with patience and thankfulness is now made amends for all and enjoys all that can caress his powers all that can ravish his heart all that is good lovely and desirable But besides there is a great gulf fixed between you and us that there is not a possibility for the Saints to come to you nor for you to come to us both states are determined Thou therefore must endure hunger and thirst and the other direful torments in Hell without pity or succour and Lazarus shall enjoy the sweet and ravishing entertainments of Heaven without lett or hinderance where no satiety shall ever render his fruition lothsom or tedious no sad circumstances imbitter his delights nor any temptation disturb or molest him But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art termented And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence From which words we are advised First of all That it will be a great aggravation of the misery of the damned to consider and recollect the former means and advantages they have been under for Salvation if they have descended from godly Parents or have been Members of the Church of Christ initiated thereinto by Baptism and have made an open acknowledgement of its Faith and Doctrines Son says Abraham to the rich Man remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things Secondly