God taketh us as he findeth us at his appearing and his coming If after all men can attain this Crown better cheap I envy not their ease onely in a case of such high concernment I would have them careful that they lose not their soul for a pleasing conceit and perish fatally whilst they think to be saved so Let the Candidates of so rich and radiant a Crown be but as perseverant in good as the Candidates of wrath and death are in evil let them take Heaven but with such violence as these take Hell and they cannot miscarry And do they expect God to deal with them upon greater disproportions I am sure they serve a better Master have nobler employments greater encouragements a crown that shall last as long as God is God and run parallel with the ages of eternity and may therefore more than recompence the services and sufferings of a short life Faithful unto death then he must be that would be crowned after it and not unto death onely but even in and into it also As he must offer up his body a living sacrifice to God so if occasion be a dying one too Act. 21.13 being ready with St. Paul not onely to be bound as the sacrifices were wont but to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus And he is most unworthy of that high and honourable name who will not take up the most painful and ignominious Cross that weareth the inscription of Jesus of Nazareth upon it Matth. 5.10 11. This name will plait his thorns into a crown turn persecution into a beatitude and the flames of Martyrdom into Bonfires of joy This will make him sing at the stake like a dying Swan suffer death with more serenity and satisfaction than the witty cruelty of his enemies inflicts it lye down in a bed of flames as if it were a bed of roses and having prayed for his murtherers to fall a sleep And if the Heathens have thought it discreetly eligible to give their life a ransom for fame or virtue well may the Christian who is an Heir of better hopes do this to eternal and never failing purposes to secure Christ's honour his own innocence and to have Gems added to his Crown Death herein shoots its sting but to lose it and though it kill him it cannot hurt him all it can do is but to kill the body i. e. to prevent a more lingring death by the feeble hand of sickness or old age and to cure it of those diseases which kill with equal certainty and greater torment And for the Soul which is the better part if not the whole of man it knocketh but off its chains and fetters and restoreth it to it self and to God that gave it Thus whilst we seem to love God better than our selves we never love our selves so well as in this very act for if in love and loyal duty to God we lay down our life for him he will give it us again and a crown of bliss and immortality together with it And here passing over from the precept to the promised reward I might if I had affections and expressions answerable to the matter in hand rap both my self and you into St. Paul's Extasie 'till we were even lost in it But these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable words 2 Cor. 12.4 as St. Paul by a pretty seeming contradiction calls them All the tongues of men and Angels are here too short or if they could speak who could hear It shall suffice to give you a transient glimpse of this Crown so far as may incourage your fidelity and constancy in God's service and not the least glimpse of it but will make all the labours and sufferings of this life vanish in the comparison A Crown then it is and what can be said or conceived more and greater Exerce ambitionem tuam set thy utmost ambition on work thou man of desires here is that which will fill all the appetites of it The most towring thought riseth no higher than a Crown or onely to set one Crown upon another and were other Crowns accumulated 'till they reached to this they would cast down themselves before this crown of life this crown of glory which fadeth not away Within the compass of this crown meets all that Religion or Reason calleth the chiefest good as so many orient jewels in this crown there is perfect knowledg perfect holiness 1 Cor. 15.27 perfect peace perfect love perfect joy and which is the Crown of this Crown here is God All in all The Woman in Revel 12.1 hath a crown of twelve Stars upon her head but were all the Stars united into one Constellation and should dishevel all the pride and glory of their beams it would not equal the glory of this Crown but be as a dark and opacous shadow to it Through the light and lustre which this crown will shed upon us all faithful Christians according to the promise of our Saviour Mat. 13.43 Dan. 12.3 and the corresponding predictions of the Prophets shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father even as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars forever and ever Should our now deceased Brother from under this crown see what scuffling there is for Crowns and Scepters those fine gay guilded Nothings here below he would look upon it with such becoming scorn as a Philosopher upon Boys scrambling for shells of Nuts and fiercely contending for tinsel gayeties of no greater value The richest of these crowns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de Tranquill. animi cannot keep off or cure a fit of the head-ach but within the circle of this Crown cometh neither sorrow nor pain The glory of these crowns dum nitet cadit whilst it glittereth falleth and breaketh maketh a blaze like a Meteor then shooteth and dyeth out but this crown onely burnisheth with the wearing the massy glory whereof no time no eternity impaireth These crowns at best are more honourable than happy sit heavy upon the head which they seem to adorn and whilst they sparkle with Diamonds are stuffed with thorns But the joys of this Crown equal the glories of it with their crowns the Saints have harps and free from all inward and outward distractions do nothing but in consort with the Angels sing soft requiem's to themselves and triumphant songs of joy and praise to God and to the Lamb who is blessed for evermore Thus is Christianity certamen sed bonum a fight but a good one whilst Kings have usually their Crowns crossed the faithful Christian hath his Cross crowned and that weight of glory which this Crown hath in it may make all the labour of duty and pressure of the Cross mere ease and delight Let Atheists and Epicures look upon the Divine life but as a zealous frenzy such as hath no real object nor solid fruits and scorn or pity the strict Professours of it as men soberly and gravely beside
faithful Monitor He may hear this as a voice behind him Is 30.21 saying This is the way walk in it when he turneth to the right hand and when he turneth to the left One man cannot be as enlarged in his piety as diffusive in his charity as useful in his place as another of greater abilities and opportunities but he may and must be as faithful in his measure Some other duties have their peculiar objects and appropriations to times persons places with the like but faithfulness is an ingredient to all and gives them acceptance Our Saviour putteth wise and faithful servant together Matth. 24.45 good and faithful servant together Mat. 25.21 and as he is not a wise who is not a good so he is neither wise nor good who is not a faithful servant also St. Paul recounts this as a special mercy from God to be found faithful 1 Cor. 7.25 and it is the Crown of Antipas his Cross that he was Christs faithful Martyr Revel 2.13 He that without this giveth his body to the fire only taketh Hell by violence and the first death consigneth him only to the sencond We call Christ Lord and Master and we say well for so he is but it is not enough to treat him with this easie formality and to pass such cheap complements upon him unless we pay him that fidelity which is due from servants to their Master and that humble and loyal alliegeance which is due from subjects to their sovereign Lord. God is faithful for his part 1 Thes 5.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faithful is he that hath called you who also will do it The Gospel is faithful for its part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.11 12. This is a faithful saying that if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Christ is faithful for his part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The faithful and true witness Rev. 3.14 or as he is also stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that saith Amen to both And accordingly those that are Rev. 17.14 or expect to be with Christ must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called and chosen and faithful not called and chosen only for this every one will arrogate and assume and in the want of other evidence vote himself so but faithful also and herein they approve themselves called and chosen because they have obtained mercy to be Faithful Yet men are not with more ease called and chosen than admitting their own conceits they are faithful too And in their sense of it they are faithful more than enough So faithful that they can at once provoke Gods justice and trust in his mercy and rely upon Christs merits without doing any thing that he commands So faithful that they can at once sin and saint themselves and securely expect to be saved by him whom they daily crucifie So faithful that their faith removeth mountains Mount Sinai and Mount Zion at once the Law both of Moses and Christ So faithful in short that they can reconcile the most unchristian practices with the faith and affiance of a Christian the confutation and contradiction of the whole Gospel with hopes and comforts of it i. e. faithfulness with the greatest unfaithfulness in the world and whilst they take Hell by violence of endeavour take Heaven by violence of usurpation Such faithful ones as these the world is full of who have such a plerophory or fulness of faith that none of the other virtues or duties of Christianity can find room with them so faithful that they do onely believe But this is Insidelis fiducia an Infidel faith faith without fidelity Which kind of unfaithful unfruitful faith hath damned more than a true faith in Christ his name hath saved and the more any man believeth with it the more he may tremble This faith when Christ cometh he shall find upon the earth and scarce then be able to beat men out of it Many shall say to him even in that day Domine Domine Lord Lord we are they that have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets and if such as we find not admittance and acceptance with thee who shall But in all this true faith will be hard to be found and it is neither slander nor solaecism to say that the greater part of the Christian world in this sense is Infidel True faith is that which maketh a man faithful to Christ Lib. 3. de Gubern Dei p. 70. l. 4. p. 100. and to keep all his commands faithfully as Salvian defined it long since which maketh us Christi fideles Christ his liege-men in the same sense that they are called Regis fideles the Kings liege-subjects and servants who yield that homage and fealty to him which they owe. This was Abraham's faith Heb. 11.17 24 26. by which he offered up his onely son Isaac and himself a whole burnt-offering with him This was Moses his faith which made him esteem the very reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt This was the faith of the glorious company of the Apostles of the goodly fellowship of the Prophets of the noble army of Martyrs and Confessours which exerted it self in the sanctimony of their lives their strict observation of the divine laws their persevering in holy actions with patience and hope their despising earthly their prizing and pressing after heavenly things their contempt of death their courage for Christ and all the other instanees of an excellent piety and virtue From this active faith faith commensurate to fidelity they and all good Christians are not onely called but constituted faithful not from that unactive easie faith which maketh men rest wholly upon what Christ hath done for them without doing any thing either for him or for themselves which leaneth hard upon his Cross but doth not take it up and believeth in not obeyeth him This maketh faith a very accountable thing and well worthy of that wisdom and holiness which hath attributed so much to it in the Gospel as that by faith we are justified by faith we live by faith we are saved i. e. by a faith which so believeth in Christ as by believing to love him by loving to adhere to him and by adhering to him to live and dye in his embraces which sacrificeth a man's whole honour and interest to the service of Christ and his own salvation and thinketh nothing too much that he can do or suffer for Christ who hath wrought such wonders of mercy for him To be faithful then in the notion of my Text consists not in giving a naked assent to the Doctrins of Christianity not in arrogating and appropriating to our selves the promises of the Gospel or rather promising to our selves that which the Gospel promiseth us not nor yet in the most stedfast recumbency upon Christ or the strongest application of his merits to our souls But it consists 1. In praestandis promissis in
is Rom. 6.17 That form of Doctrine which hath been delivered to us or to which we have been delivered This St. 2 Tim. 2.2 Paul committeth and commendeth to Timothy that he may commit the same to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also And thus by a constant succession it is come handed down to us and we should keep it as the most precious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the richest treasure on this side Heaven lay it up as the Virgin Mother of our Lord laid up his sayings in our heart and wear it in effect engraven there This faith which was once delivered to the saints delivered of old Jude v. 7. not lately devised and once delivered i. e. once for all we should earnestly contend for remember how we have received and heard and hold fast and even dye in the defence if we cannot live in the peaceable enjoyment of it And this bringeth on A third and last Depositum no less faithfully to be kept viz. faith and a good conscience which whoever puts away sinketh and maketh Shipwrack 1 Pet. 1.5 We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation and therefore should keep this at the utmost peril of our soul As the doctrine of faith must be kept sacred and inviolable so likewise the grace of it Heb. 10.23 We must hold fast the profession hereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without wavering or warping either to the right hand or to the left and stand unshaken against all the winds and waves of persecution Tertul. in Apol. as being founded upon rock Even when crimen nominis fit nomen criminis when the meer crime of the christian name is accompted the name of a prodigious crime yet we must hold fast our profession still Ps 31.19 trust in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the sons of men And although they may take away our life Rev. 3.11 yet let them not take away our crown Hence we are said by Baptism to put on Christ Gal. 3.27 so as to wear the profession of him uppermost and when at any time we deny or dissemble our profession we in effect put him off again Such night-walkers as Nicodemus who come not to Christ but under the veil of darkness are only the ghosts of Christianity For those that in storm cast faith and good conscience over-board to save their temporal concerns and will deny Christ rather than themselves they chuse a mischief before an inconvenience commute an inselicity for a crime and to avoid a faggot incur hell fire But enough of the duty it self 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be thou faithful And before I am well aware I am fallen upon the next particular viz. 2. The extent of that duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto death In Adman ad Graecos or as Clemens Alexandrinus phraseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the very last gasp even breathing out our soul in it As we must run the race that is set before us so we must run it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 12 1. with patience and perseverance nor is the crown consigned to those that contend but those that overcome St. Paul himself triumpheth not when he putteth on his harness but when about to put it off He knoweth there is laid up for him a crown of righteousnes 2 Tim. 4.7 8. but de reliquo henceforth only when he was now a veterane in the Christian Warfare had already spent a long life and had nothing left but to dye in it I know most mens assurance is upon easier terms and of an earlier date One fancieth to himself a kind of fatal decree which necessarily attaineth its end though he never set foot in the way thither and Henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of life In Gods dark book by what perspective I know not he reads his name written and that with such indelible characters as all the Devils in hell all the fins upon earth cannot blot it out And now instead of giving diligence to make his election sure he is pleased at cheaper rates to think it so So sure that nothing can resist his happiness much less reverse his destined bliss The force of his nativity will carry him to the crown or God in his own defence must do it as he would have his eternal counsel made good Another having dreamed himself into a state of grace is securely confident he can never fall from it and Henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of life His calling he thinks sure and then his crown must be so too He is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation and now needs keep himself no longer He may as well fear that the Heavens themselves should fall or God himself fall out of them as he fail of the crown Unless Gods eternal purpose unchancheable promise and almighty power fail first he cannot for they are all engaged in his defence A third hath been faithful and run well for a time and Henceforth there is laid up for him a crown of life He looketh so much at the things which are past that he forgetteth the things which are before and whilst he thinketh that the strength of his first impulse will carry him like an Arrow to the Mark he falleth down in the midst of his course like a Bird that is weary of her flight and so is cast by Vincenti dabitur It shall be given to him that overcometh His zeal perhaps like a Torch in an high wind maketh a great blaze but soon swealeth it self a way and when the Bridegroom cometh his lamp is gone out and all his vain hopes and expectations with it Thus do vain men sport themselves in their own deceivings But God is not mocked He looks not at beginnings in Christians but at their ends and not he that starteth first but he that continueth to the last shall be crowned Ye did run well saith St. Gal. 5.7 Paul to his backsliding Galatians who did hinder you God for certain did not He carrieth us on to the end and crowneth us in it if we draw not back and drive him from us But whoever did they lost all that they had done yea and all that they had suffered too and stood onely as monuments of their own ruin Let a man have renounced the most darling delights undergone the harshest duties and severest disciplines of Christianity have sustained infamies injuries and all manner of indignities for righteousness sake yet revolting at last defeateth and destroyeth all and himself with it If he will have his old sins again he shall have the guilt together with them and that aggravated with folly and ingratitude Lot's Wife by looking back perisheth in the very Confines of Zoar and God therefore erected her into a Pillar to tell the World that relenting Virtue kiâ—leth with the recoil The latter part of our life supplanteth the former and