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death_n	charles_n	king_n	year_n	4,851	5	5.3919	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A31961	An Exact collection of farewel sermons preached by the late London-ministers viz. Mr. Calamy, Mr. Watson, Mr. Jacomb, Mr. Case, Mr. Sclater, Mr. Baxter, Mr. Jenkin, Dr. Manton, Mr. Lye, Mr. Collins : to which is added their prayers before and after sermon as also Mr. Calamy's sermon for which he was imprisoned in Newgate : his sermon at Mr. Ashe's funeral and Dr. Horton's and Mr. Nalton's funeral.	Calamy, Edmund, 1600-1666.	1662 (1662)	Wing C241; ESTC R1910	251,365	374

had murdered Christ forty years after they were brought into that distress when the City was besieged by Titus and Vespasian that they did eat one another the mother did eat her child And whereas David had a choice which of the three he would have either Famine Plague or Sword the poor Jews had all three concatenated together in the siege Sin brings all manner of external Plagues 2. Sins bring Persons Nations into internal straits sin brings soul-plagues which are worse than bodily plagues sin brings hardness of heart blindness of mind a spirit of slumber a reprobate sense sinne brings a spiritual famine upon a Land it brings a famine of the Word Amos 8. 11. sin causes God to take away the Gospel from a people Sin brings internal plagues sin awakens Conscience and fills it full of perplexities Into what a strait did sin drive Iudas after he had betrayed Christ Into what a strait did sin drive Spira Saint Paul gloryed in his tribulations for God but when he speaks of his sin he cryeth out O miserable man that I am Who shall deliver me from this body of death David a valiant man when he speaks of sin he saith They are too heavy a burden for him to bear Awounded Conscience who can bear saith the Wise man 3. Sin bringeth eternal straits O the strait that a wicked man shall be brought into at the great and dreadful day of Judgment when all the world shall be on fire about him when he shall call to the Mountains to hide him and to the rocks to cover him from the wrath of God then will he cry out with David I am O Lord in a great strait And when the wicked shall be condemned to Hell who can express the straits they then shall be in Bind them hand and foot and cast them into everlasting darkness Matth. 25. When a wicked man shall be bound with everlasting chains of darkness then he will cry out I am in a great strait Consider what Dives saith to Abraham he desires that Lazarus might but dip the tip of his finger in water and that he might cool his tongue not his whole body but his tongue but that would not be granted It is impossible the tongue of man should set out the great straits the damned suffer in Hell both in regard of the greatness and everlastingness of them This is all I shall say for the Explication Use 1. I chiefly aim at the Application Doth sin bring Nations and Persons into external internal and eternal straits then this sadly reproves those that choose to commit sin to avoid perplexity There are thousands in England guilty of this that to avoid poverty will lye cheat and cozen and to gain an Estate will sell God and a good Conscience and to avoid the loss of estate and imprisonment will do any thing they will be sure to be of that Religion which is uppermost be it what it will Now give me leave this morning to speak three things to these sorts of men and O that my words might prevail with them 1. Consider It is sin only that makes trouble to deserve the name of trouble for when we suffer for Gods sake or a good Conscience these troubles are so sweetned by the Consolations of Heaven that they are no troubles at all therefore in Q. Maries days the Martyrs wrote to their friends out of Prison If you knew the Comforts we have in prison you would wish to be with us I am in prison before I am in prison saith Master Sanders Famous is the story of the three Children they were in a great strait when cast into the fiery Furnace Bind them hand and foot and cast them into the Furnace but when they were there they were unbound Dan. 3. 25. saith Nebuchadnezzar Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire and lo I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God I have often told you when three are cast into the fire for a good Conscience God will make the fourth therefore I say straits and sufferings for God are not worth the name of straits David was often driven into straits 1 Sam. 30. 6. he was sore distressed when his Town was burnt and his Wives and Children taken captive by the Amalekites I but that was a distress of danger not of sin therefore he encourageth himself in the Lord his God Iehosaphat was in a great strait 2 Chron. 20. 12. We know not what to do saith he this was a strait of danger not caused by his sin and God quickly delivered him but the strait that David was in was caused by his sin and that made it so bitter I am loth to enlarge here St. Paul was in a great Strait Phil. 3. 23. but this was a blessed strait an Evangelical strait saith Saint Chrysostom He knew not whether to die for his own sake or to live for the Churches sake were best he was willing to adjourn his going to Heaven for the good of the people of God Nay Christ was in a strait Luk. 12. 15. I have a Baptism to be baptized withall and how am I straitned till it be accomplished I am to shed my blood for my Elect that is the Baptism he speaks of This was a strait of dear affection to the Elect of God all these were blessed straits but now straits caused by sin these are imbittered and e●…venomed by the guilt of sin and sense of Gods Wrath. It is sin that maketh straits deserve the name of straits therefore you are spiritually mad that commit sin to avoid straits 2. There is more evil in the least sin than in the greatest outward calamity whatsoever this the world will not believe therefore St. Austin saith That a man ought not to tell a lie though he might save all the world from hell for there is more evil in one lie than there is good in the salvation of all the world I have often told you the story of Saint Austin saith he If hell were on one side and ●…in on the other and I must choose one I would choose Hell rather then Sin for God is the Author of Hell but it is blasphemy to say He is the Author of sin There is a famous story of Charles the ninth King of France he sent a message to the Prince of Condy a zealous Protestant gives him three things to choose either to go to Mass or to be put to death or to suffer banishment all his life long saith he Primum Deo juvante nunquam eligam The first God helping I will never choose I abhor the idolatry of the Mass but for the two other I leave it to the choice of the King 〈◊〉 do 〈◊〉 he pleases there is more evil in the le●…st sin then the greatest misery 3. The third thing I would have you consider is that whosoever goeth out of God's way to

and to your sorrow finde the want of confirmation You cannot but know how the strongest are put to it in trying hours or at death Will slack and unsetled hopes of another life such distempered hearts fight and encounter with such tryals Never think of dying comfortably if you follow not after confirming grace 16. It should humble you the more that you have been so long so many years in the School of Christ and love God c. no better Should not you in this Appren●…iceship have learned better your Religion and been ●…eachers of others when perhaps if in the principles you are assaulted you will show your weakness as soon as any May not Christ say Have I been so long time with you and yet have you known liv'd c. no better reached no higher attained no further weaklings still Nay consider in this time what advantage have you had for growth A tree planted on a barren wilderness may not grow so much as in a fruitfull place but you have had the plenty and power of the Ordinances of God the choisest of the means and helps of salvation 17. Consider the nature of true grace tends to this will you cross the nature of it shall we be such weaklings in Religion which crosse so the nature of grace For grace the more it 's exercised the more it encreases 18. Heaven it self is perfection and the work of a Christian is to press towards heaven and therefore 't is to press towards perfection You should make towards the end in a manner and way that is suitable to the end Persons that enjoy so much already and hope for so much greater should not put off God with such little things 19. Little grace shall have but little glory You know not how great a difference there is between the least and highest in the Kingdom of God Nay 't is not only for a Christian to desire to be glorified but to enjoy the highest degree in glory to serve God with the best and improve his Talent to the utmost that his heavenly reward may be according A Christian should not slight it when 't is tendred to him and in his eye Quest. But how shall I know I have attained this confirming grace Answ. These signs following shew a Christian confirmed and strong in grace which I will name that you may know what to aim at and what to desire There is not so great a difference between a King and a Beggar between the greatest health and sicklyest man as between a strong usefull Christian and a poor l●…nguishing so●…l c. 1. A confirmed Christian is one that can resist many sub●…il and strong temptations not only a single temptation but when Satan assaults on every side with errors on both extremes with importunities of several parties with temptations of prosperity offered of adversity felt or feared strong temptations that seem to lay a necessity of yielding on a weakling that makes him say I must do it to save my liberty family life c. A strong Christian can say there is no necessity he can make light of those temptations that seem to be a necessity to other persons he can confute a subtil Sophister and deal with a cunning Adversary Satan cannot so easily go beyond and out-wit him 2. He can do great excellent and useful works is serviceable to God if he have opportunity in business of greatest consequence he doth not serve God only in some little and inconsiderable things but in his place sets himself to the Work of God doth the great Work of his Majesty faithfully The service of God to him is more easie and delightful as to go ten miles is more easie to the healthful than one to a sickly person he can go through God's service with pleasure ease and delight without tyring fainting siting down or giving over 3. He can digest the hard Truths aud Providences of God that are ready to puzzle perplex and overset the stomach of a weak Christian He hath laid his foundation to which he reduces all things of difficulty and by the help of those great truths he hath received he can easily see through the difficulties of all that are yet before him He can tell how to reconcile those things in Scripture that seem contradictions where he meets with a difficulty he can easily discern the cause is in himself and that there is an undoubted way of reconciling them though he hath not attained to it He can easily quiet his soul under the most difficult providences and interpret them so as is consistent with the truths of God which must expound them he reconciles Promise with Providence and Providence with Scripture whereas a weak Christian is ready to say A hard saying who can ●…ear this and that And it is the difficulty of these kinds of Truths that make so many turn their Religion because not able to digest the hardest Truths of God Cross providences makes them question God's love c. 4. He is one that can exercise various graces without setting one against another destroying or contradicting one another He can do many works believe many Truths perform many Duties at once He can rejoyce and sorrow at once and make his sorrow an help to his joy and his joy an help to his sorrow and so exercise both in that nature as will not directly hinder or weaken one another He can tell how in such a time as we are in to rejoyce yet to be humble to be cast down at God's feet in the sense of the sins we have committed and of God's displeasure c. yet to rejoyce in the mercies we have and do expect to possess He doth not look all upon sin all upon affliction or all upon mercy but can eye every thing and give every thing its part can exercise graces methodically gives truths and providences their proper place in his meditations and affections and this makes his life orderly beautiful regular and useful whereas a weak Christian let him set himself against one temptation he is taken in another if he humble himself in soul he can do nothing but humble weep grieve fear and be ready to cast away all comfort all sense of the love of God if he set himself to the consideration of the grace of Christ he is apt to forget Humiliation and to be puffed up with spiritual Pride c. Thus he hath not skill strength and ability to carry on all the whole work of grace together 5. A strong Christian sinks not under those burdens that would press down and overwhelm a weak Christian he can bear heavy burdens and more easily away with them making it a recreation to bear some things that another would sink under and cannot bear It is thy weaknesse that makes thee make such a stir when God layes on thee personal family publique afflictions that makes thee shrink under them strength of grace would enable to see God and glory in the midst of them and

the people but leaves it to Davids liberty whether he would have seven years famine or three months to flee before his enemies or three dayes pestilence This was a posing Question and David had cause to be in a great strait for these objects are not amiable in their own nature they are objects to be avoided and declined in the first view of them they seem to be equally miserable therefore David had cause to say He was in a great strait 2. This perplexity was not only real but exceeding great I am in a great Strait and there are two things made it so great 1. The greatness of the punishments proposed Famine Sword and Plague these are the three beesoms with which God sweeps mankind from off the earth these are Gods three iron-whips by which he chastisetl●… sinful man these are the three arrows shot out of the quiver of Gods wrath for the punishment of man they are as one calleth them Tonsurae humani generis In R●… 6. you shall read of four Horses when the four first Seals were opened A white-horse a red-horse a black-horse and a pale horse after Christ had ridden on the white-horse propagating the Gospel then followes the red-horse a type of War then the black-horse an Hi●…roglyphick of Famine then the pale-horse the emblem of Pestilence Now God was resolved to ride on one of these horses and David must choose upon which God should ride this was a great Strait Let me present David lifting up his eyes to Heaven and speaking to God thus O my God what is this message thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou offerest me three things I am in a strait ●… 〈◊〉 which to refuse but which to choose I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Land of Cannan a Land flowing with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall this Land endure seven years famine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a Wilderness and dis-peopled And shall I whose hands thou hast taught to fight and whose fingers to war shall I that have subdued all my enemies shall I in my old age and all my Captains flie three months before our enemies and be driven to caves and rocks to hide our selves O thou my God who art my refuge shall I and my people be a prey to the pestilence that walketh in darkness and destruction that walketh at noon day O my God I know not what to do I am in a great Strait 2. The second reason why this strait was so great was because of the guilt of sin that lay on Davids spirit for David knew that this severe message was the fruit of the sin he committed in numbring the people But you will say Why was it a sin in David to number the people Moses had often numbred the people three times and it was not counted sin Iosephus answereth The sin of David was because he did not require the half-shekel which he was to have had from all were numbred Ex. 30 12 13. Others say He sinned in numbring all ages whereas he was to number but from twenty years but these are but conjectural Reasons I conceive the ●…in of David was because he did it without a lawful Cal and for an unlawful End Sine causa legitima he sinned in the manner rather then in the matter for there was no cause for him to number the people but 〈◊〉 ●…nd no end but vain glory Go through all the tribes of Israel and number the people that I may know the number of my people ver 2. Davids heart was li●…red ●…p with p●…ide and creature-confidence he begins to boast of the multitude of his people and to trust in an arm of flesh therefore God sends the Prophet to David to p●…ick the bladder of his p●…ide as if God should say I will teach you to number the people by lessening the number of your people Now the burden of his sin did add much to the burden of this heavy message Ver. 13. After David had numbred the people his heart smote him the message smites him and his heart smites him and he said I have sinned greatly in that which I have done now I beseech thee take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly If David had been to suffer this great punishment out of love to God or for a good Conscience he would not have been so distressed There are two sorts of straits in Scripture some suffered for God and a good Conscience and there are straits suffered for sin 1. There are straits suffered for God and a good Conscience Heb. 11. 36 37. Those Martyrs there were driven to great straits but these were straits for God and a good Conscience and these straits were the Saints greatest enlargements they were so sweetned to them by the consolations and supportations of Gods Spirit a Prison was a Paradise to them Heb. 10. 34. they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods Act. 5. 41. they departed from the presence of the Council rejoycing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name Straits for a good Conscience are great Enlargements therefore Pul gloryeth in this strait Paul a prisoner c. 2. There are straits suffered for sin and these are envenomed by the guilt of sin sin puts poyson into all our distresses and perplexities Now such was the strait into which David was now driven it was a strait caused by sin and that made it so unwelcome and uncomfortable so that from hence I gather this Observation Doct. That sin and iniquity brings Persons and Nations into marvellous labyrinths and perplexities into true real and great molestations a man free from sin is free in the midst of straits a man guilty of sin is in a stra●…t in the midst of freedom After Adam had sinned in eating of the forbidden fruit the whole world was a prison to him Paradise it self was an Hell to him he knew not where to hide himself from the presence of God After that Cain had murdered his brother Abel he was brought into such a strait that he was afraid that every one that met him would slay him Alas poor Cain how many was there then in the world we read but of his father and mother yet such was his distress that he cryeth out every one that met him would slay him Gen. 4. 14. Into what a strait did sin bring the old world The deluge of sin brought a deluge of water to drown them Into what a strait did sin bring Sodom and Gomorrah The fire of lust raigning in Sodom and Gomorrah brought down fire from Heaven to destroy them Sin brings external internal and eternal straits upon persons and Nations 1. Sin brings external straits sin brings Famine Sword and Plague sin brings Agues and Feavours Gout and Stone and all manner of Diseases yea sin brings death it self which is the wages of sin Read Levit 26. and Deut. 28. and you will see a black role of curses which were the fruit of sin Sin brought Sion into Babilon and when the Jews