Ieroboams SONNES DECEASE A FVNERALL SERMON ON PART OF 1 KINGS 14.17 BY Thomas Gataker B. of D. and Pastor of Rotherhith LONDON Printed by IOHN HAVILAND 1627. TO MY LOVING FRIENDS AND COSENS Mr. NICOLAS CRISPE And Mris. ANNE CRISPE his Wife GOod Cosens I know not well what should moue either others to be so importunate with you or you with me for the making of this preached at the late buriall of your little one more publike Somewhat it seemeth you heard therein handled that you either had not at all before heard or not deliuered which is more likely in that manner as then it was And if it may bring any further light than hath formerly beene giuen to the clearing either of that point so eargerly opposed by the Pelagians of sinne and the guilt thereof in Infants or of that other doubt rather so much debated by many concerning the iustice and equity of Gods proceedings in the punishing of Parents in posterity and may either in that regard or any other way be vsefull either to your selues or others it is enough Let it howsoeuer remaine as a pledge of my continued loue and affection to that Family which since my first acquaintance with and alliance to I haue found so much comfort in and receiued so much kindnesse from and vpon which desiring God to continue and multiply his graces and mercies I take leaue and rest Yours euer in the Lord Iesus Thomas Gataker Ieroboams SONNES DECEASE 1 KING 14.17 The Childe died IT was foretold by Gods Prophet of this Childe that it should die And the Prophet you see proued a true Prophet For saith my Text the Childe died Now howsoeuer a Childes death may seeme a matter of no great moment yet the Death of Children and more especially the Death of this Childe being duely considered may well afford much matter of good vse The Childe was Ieroboams a good Sonne of a bad Father for his Parents sinne by God smitten before with sicknesse and now with Death The storie briefly is this Ieroboam King of the Ten Tribes rent from Salomons house had out of a wicked worldly policie put downe Gods true worship within his Territorie and set vp Idolatrie in the roome of it For this the wrath of God being incensed against him the Lord smote with sicknesse a childe he had which it seemeth was right deere vnto him Hereupon the Queene his mother out of a motherly affection to her childe desirous to know what was like to become of it with the aduice of her husband also repaireth to one Ahias a Prophet of God who had sometime foretold her husband being then but Salomons seruant that he should succeed his Soueraigne in part of his Soueraigntie But because she thought shee should be no welcome guest to him she disguised her selfe that she might not be knowne Howbeit the Prophet vnderstanding from God who shee was told her he had heauie tidings from God for her That her husbands house should be vtterly destroyed God would sweepe it away as a man sweepeth away doung till none of it be left Those of his stocke that died in the Citie should bee eaten with dogs and those that died in the field should bee deuoured by the fowles This alone of all the rest should die in his bed be laid in his graue and mourning made for him because some good things were found in him he had a good heart to God as a childe might haue And as the Prophet foretold her so accordingly it fell out For no sooner was the Queene his mother returned but euen as shee set foot vpon the threshold of the Kings house The childe died Now from this childes death thus considered diuers points of Instruction readily offer themselues vnto vs Some generall Some speciall I will pitch vpon two of either The two Generall points shall be Points Generall 2 the former that euen Children are tainted with sinne Points Generall 1 the latter that Death is euer at our doores Point Generall 2 For the former that euen Children are tainted with Sinne We hence deduce it in that Point Generall 1 they are subiect to death For Death is the wages of sinne And For sinne it is that the body dies And Death came in by sinne And Because all haue sinned therefore all die Sinne and Death are as Needle and Threed the one entring before is a meanes to draw on the other nor would the one follow if the other went not before Before Sinne was there was no death nor shall there be any when sinne shall be no more It is apparant therefore that euen Children are not free from sinne in that they are subiect vnto death That which may also in few words be further confirmed vnto vs By their Birth By their new-birth 1. By their birth or their off-spring They come of sinnefull persons of parents stained with Reason 1 sinne And who can draw a cleane thing out of tha that is vncleane how can faire water come from a filthy spring Yea euen the Children of faithfull and sanctified parents howsoeuer for the comfort of those that haue them taken hence in their nonage they are by vertue of their parents copie and Gods gratious entaile within the compasse of his couenant it running in those termes I will bee thy God and the God of thy seed and the promise therefore is made not to them onely but to their Children too and they are in that regard said in some sort to be holy If the root bee holy the sprigs also be holy and cleane Els were your children vncleane but now they bee cleane And there is good hope therefore of the saluation of such and much more comfort too when they haue receiued also the seale of the same Yet certaine it is that euen the children of the faithfull also as Dauid who confesseth as much by himselfe Euen bred in iniquitie and borne in sinne are of themselues as deepely tainted with this corruption as any For that procreation being but a naturall act the parents thereby can passe no more to their issue than what they had naturally themselues So the circumcised father bred an vncircumcised sonne and corne though it bee neuer so curiously seuered and clensed from the straw by threshing from the chaffe by winnowing yet commeth vp againe if it be sowne with both as before 2. By their new-birth For children should not Reason 2 need either regeneration or baptisme the Sacrament of it were they not before euen by their first breeding defiled and polluted with sinne For nothing can spiritually pollute or defile but it onely Bernard speaking of those words of the Apostle We were by nature children of wrath euen as well as the rest We are saith he by nature
of those seeming differences betweene the texts of Scripture before mentioned let me intreat a while your best attention to that that shall be deliuered that I may not be in ought therein mistaken First therefore let it be considered that all men Father and Sonne as well the one as the other Considerati ∣ on 1 owe a death vnto God which hee may iustly require whensoeuer and wheresoeuer on what occasion and by what meanes soeuer he will God therefore for the sinne of Achan might command his whole houshold and his children among the rest though not priuie to or guiltie of that offence of his to be put to death and so punish him in them as well as in his owne person because they ought all of them a death to him which on that occasion he might require But Amazias may not put to death the sonnes of those traytors that slew the King his Father according to that Law which God had enacted betweene man and man to be obserued because they were no way obnoxious to him neither did they by any Law or Statute humane or diuine owe a death vnto him otherwise Yea the iustice and equitie of Gods dealing in this kinde may bee further cleered euen by such courses as men also may lawfully take For suppose we some great Noble-mans only sonne and sole heire condemned to die for some rape or robberie by him committed Howbeit his Soueraigne considering that the young man is one of good parts otherwise and may hereafter doe his King and Countrey good seruice though he were ouertaken in that act as also out of pitie to his Fathers house loth to see an ancient family vtterly extinguished in him and besides hauing earnest suit made in his behalfe by diners neere about him is inclining yea purposed to grant him his pardon But in the interim while the matter hangeth yet in suspence it commeth to be discouered that the Noble-man his Father hath his hand in some foule treason hath entred into conspiracie either with some forraine 〈◊〉 or some domesticall traitour against the person of his Prince Now hereupon his Soueraigne altring his minde and purpose concerning his Sonne causeth him instantly to bee brought out and executed in the sight of his Father whom after also hee disposeth of according to his desert In which case the Sonne you see is punished for his Fathers offence but for which hee might haue escaped and the Father is punished in the Sonne his Sonnes death no doubt being no lesse punishment to him than his owne and yet is there no wrong or iniustice done either to Father or Sonne because both had deserued death and death was therefore due to either And herein erred those wicked Iewes that charged God with iniustice that they complained that their Fathers had done amisse and that they themselues being no way faultie suffered onely for their Fathers faults Whereas indeed vile wretches they were euerie whit as bad or worse rather than they and bare the burden of their owne iniquities Secondly let it be considered that God layeth Consideration 2 no temporall iudgement at any time vpon any but hee is able to turne the same to the good of the partie vpon whom it is inflicted And that he doth so as here also hee did when hee layeth any outward euill on a godly person for the sinne of some wicked one and so punisheth as he doth oft also the bad in the good For the better cleering of this wee may well make vse of that distinction so rise in the Schooles that these outward temporall euills or penall sufferings are in the nature Sometime of a curse Sometime of a cure And accordingly there is a foure-fold course of Gods dealings in these cases Course 1 For sometime God punisheth a bad Father in a bad Sonne and then it is not a crosse onely but a curse to both So God punished wee may iustly deeme Pharao in his first-borne Course 2 Sometime hee punisheth a good Father in a good Sonne and then it is though a crosse yet a cure to both So punished he Dauid iâ—…e may well iudge in his young childe Course 3 Sometime hee punisheth a good Father in a bad Sonne and then it is a cure to the Father and a curse to the Sonne So punished he the same Dauid in his sonne Absolom Course 4 Sometime hee punisheth a bad Father in a good Sonne and then it is a curse to the Father and a cure to the Sonne So punished hee Ieroboam in his sonne here mentioned And that which was no doubt a great and grieuous crosse and plague to his Father yet proued through Gods goodnesse in mercie wisely so disposing it no lesse a benefit and blessing to the childe Thus then I hope that by this time you see how God without any the least blemish to his iustice may by death take away the Sonne for his Fathers Branch 1 offence Branch 2 Why man may not ordinarily doe therein as God doth and yet that in some cases men doe also and may well doe the same Branch 3 That the wicked Iewes had no iust cause to charge God with iniustice for his dealings with them albeit that he should so haue done And how God can turne to the good of a good child Branch 4 the euill that he suffers for his bad Fathers default though to his vngodly Parent the same be a fearefull iudgement and not a crosse only but a curse too Now a word or two of vse and so an end And first it may admonish Parents to be the Vse 1 more carefull to shun sinne if not for their owne for their childrens sake yet because their sinnes may bring iudgements vpon their children also euen as well as vpon themselues There is no Parent if he be not wholly stript of naturall affection but desires the welfare of his child Yea Parents are vsually wont to be more charie of their childrens welfare than of their own Art thou desirous then of thy childrens well-doing Doe not wilfully that that may any way impeach it And nothing may sooner doe it than thy sinne As thine obedience and vpright carriage of thy selfe in Gods sight may procure a blessing euen to thy posterity so thy sinne and transgression may bring euill also vpon it What a griefe would it be to any of vs that haue children if in playing with one of them wee should let it fall vnwittingly whereby the childe should get a knocke that it should lie long sicke and at length die of Take heed then how to satisfie some wanton lust or desire of thine thou doe wilfully that that may prouoke God to wrath cause him to lay the like on thy childe as thou seest that in the like cases sometime he hath done Yea consider with thy selfe if shortly after some such wilfull running out of thine and giuing
way to thine vnrestrained corruption some such thing should befall thy childe and thy guilty conscience shall then as it may iustly suggest vnto thee This may well be the hand of God vpon my childe for mine excesse or my sinne what griefe and anguish of heart must it needs procure to thee and possesse thy soule withall when thou shalt euer and anon bee thinking and saying within thy selfe All this torment doth this poore infant endure for my sake for my sinne We cry out oft of witches when our children are strangely taken and say such a one hath bewitched them when we are the witches our selues and as hee saith of the wine that men take aboue measure it is our sinne that hath bewitched them Nor let Gods children thinke themselues priuileged in this kinde more than others Dauid you heard was so punished as well as Ieroboam howsoeuer God turned it to his good and that not in one onely but in diuers of his And if other of Gods children shall in like manner grow wanton and presuming on Gods goodnesse shall take liberty to themselues to walke loofely and run riot God may iustly by the like iudgements call them home againe and reclaime them which may be also for their good Vse 2 To conclude it may teach Parents what vse to make of Gods hand vpon their children That they take occasion thereby to looke home to themselues examine their hearts view and surâ—ey their liues make inquiry what corruption of theirs either swaying without controll in the one or breaking out by way giuen to it in the other might giue God iust occasion to lay that crosse vpon them and in more speciall manner because God oft punisheth vs in those things that we offend in as he punished Dauid in his children for his ouer-much indulgence towards them wherein we haue beene faulty about them and defectiue in our duty toward them either in fond affection or neglect of instruction and correction or the like Now where is there almost any that thinke in such cases on this We are troubled to thinke when our children are euill that we haue let them go too thin clad and so they haue caught cold But wee thinke not how carelesse we haue beene of cloathing not their bodies but their soules We are troubled when they are gone to thinke that we omitted this or that meanes of helpe for them But we are not troubled to thinke that we neglected the best meanes with them and those that concerned not their temporall but their eternall good Or wee are not troubled for this that we brake not off or humbled our selues for some sinne which repented of might haue kept them still with vs. Neither yet doe I or dare I affirme generally that this is alwaies the cause why God crosseth men in their children He may doe and doth it also no doubt many times for the triall and exercise of his gifts and graces in them their patience obedience confidence in God and the like and for other ends to himselfe best knowne as to make way for some other worke of his It was not for any speciall sinne of Iob that his children were all at once so destroyed though it were a grieuous crosse vnto him It was not for any speciall sinne of his Parents our Sauiour himselfe faith it that that poore beggar in the Gospell was borne blinde Howbeit since that we learne out of Gods word that God doth frequently inflict such euills vpon children for the transgressions of their Parents yea and he hath threatned also so to doe it standeth vs vpon and it is one of the best vses that we can make as of those crosses that God layeth on vs in our goods and chattels and our worldly estates so much more of those that in our children who are much neerer than those to vs doe befall vs that we take occasion thereby to sife and search out our wayes and to humble our selues in the sight of God for our sinnes Had Iereboam so done peraduenture hee might haue saued his sonnes life he had at least preuented other iudgements more fearefull that for want thereof after befell him and his And wee by so doing may either remoue Gods hand lying heauy on our children and on vs also in them or at least we may haue the crosse so qualified and sanctified that it shall turne to the good both of vs and ours FINIS Death of Children Of this Childe Ieroboams The Storie a 1 King 11.31 12.20 b 1 King 12.26 27 28. e Abijas his Son 1 King 14.1 f Vers 4. g Vers 2. h 1 King 11.30 31. 14.2 i Vers 2. k Vers 6. l Vers 10. m Vers 11. n Vers 12 13. o Vers 17. Points Generall Speciall p Rom. 6.23 q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stipendium à re militari translatum Mortis stipendium vitae donatiuum Tertull. de resurr carn r Rom. 8.10 Å¿ Rom. 5.12 t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propterea quod Ibid. Ita potius quam In quo vti Vulg. Aug. de peccat mer. rem c. 10. ad epist Pel. l. 4. c. 4. de verb. Ap. 7. 14. alibi u Mors peccatum vt acus filum Sequatur necesse est poena peccatum Aug. de praedest grat c. 3. x Intrare mors non posset nisi intrante peccato Aug. ibid. y Gen. 2.17 z Apoc. 21.4 1 Cor. 15.26 54. Confirmation by Reasons 2. a In vtero damnati ante quam nati quia de peccato in peccato procreati parti Bern. de temp 70. b Iob 14.4 c Fidei candidati Tertull. de monogam Hieron ad Ocean ad Paulin quaest 2. d Tibi semini tuo Gen. 17.7 10 11. e Vobis liberis vestris Act. 2.39 f Quomodo vasa in tabernaculo sancta dicuntur quia sacris vsibus destinata cum vtique sancta esse non possint nisi ea quae sentiunt venerantur Deum Hieron ad Paulin. quaest 2. g Rom. 11.18 h Quomodo Gal. 2.15 non natura peccatores ex gentibus Cartwr Dum in Christo censentur ex parentumfide Morton i 1 Cor. 7.14 k Matth. 19.14 m Psal 51.5 n De mundatis nascitur non mundatus quia tales non facit generatio sed regeneratio A peccatis itaque nemo nascendo sedomnes renascendo mundamur Aug. de pecc mer. rem l. 3. c. 9. Cum sit iâ—… progenie natorum generatio carnalis in progenie renatorum regeneratio spiritualis vis vt de baptisato baptisatus nascatur cum videas de circumciso non nasci circumcisum carnalis est certè ista generatio carnalis est circumcisio tamen de circumciso non nascitur circumcisus sic ergò de baptisato non potest nasci baptisatus Aug. de verb. Ap. 14. Albert in Ioan. 3. Vide eund de verb. Ap. 8. o
men among vs and how iust cause of griefe and sorrow is giuen vs when it seemeth good to God to take any such from vs. There goeth a prop or shore of our state away when any such goeth How would we be grieued if we should haue newes brought of some one of the Kings ships lost or cast away at sea and that not without cause for our shipping is the strength of our state they are as we terme them our woodden wals And no lesse cause haue we to mourne when we lose a good man such an one especially as is in eminent place with vs since that such are indeed as he said sometime of his warlike citizens the best wals and bulwarks of our state But leaue wee this and passe on to the last Branch which is that Children suffer oft for their Parents That Children I say as well good as bad suffer oft-times at Gods hand for their Parents offences God punisheth the one ofttimes in the other So punished he Pharao by the death of his first-borne for his obstinate refusall to dismisse his people So he punished Dauid by the decease of the childe begotten in adulterie for that enormious act of his And so Ieroboam here for his idolatrie by the losse of a sonne that no doubt to him was verie deere Yea it is that that God threatneth as well in the sanction of the second precept as oft also elsewhere that he will visit that is punish the iniquitie of parents vpon their posteritie and that not vnto one or two alone but euen to three or foure descents So not Canaan onely was cursed for his Father Chams offence and all Achans family destroyed for his fault but the leprosie of Naaman for Giezies falshood stucke by him and his posteritie so long as any of them lasted The reason of this course that God taketh oft-times in punishing of the transgressions of parents by paines inflicted vpon their children is Reason 1 1. Because Children are part of their parents possessions It is reported of a Persian Emperour Artaxerxes the Long-handed that for such faults of his Nobles and Chieftaines as their haire had wont to bee pulled their head-tire or turbants should bee openly so vsed and for such offences as their bodies had wont to be beaten their robes should publikely be scourged which was deemed to them no small disgrace And in like manner saith Theodoret speaking of the plague of leprosie in mens houses and garments doth God deale with men when they offend themselues God punisheth them not in their persons alwayes but ofttimes in their possessions in their goods and chattels in their worldly estate And if in their possessions no maruell if in their children to being part of their possessions as is euident by the commission giuen and granted to Satan concerning power ouer Iobs possessions which comprehended his children as well as his chattels as appeareth by the execution of it 2. Yea children are not part onely of their parents Reason 2 possessions but they are part in some sort of the parents themselues or of one and the same bodie at least with them As the Subiects and the Soueraigne make ioyntly one body politicke and the losse of the subiects therefore is a punishment to the Soueraigne and God doth sometime punish the Soueraigne so witnesse Dauid in the subiect So the Father and the whole family make both as one body and euill befalling any of them is a punishment to him especially befalling one so neere as a childe Haue mercie on mee Lord saith the mother My daughter is distracted her daughters paines were a punishment to her and God doth oft punish the father or master so witnesse Abimelech in his family and those that be of it He doth as the Physitian that openeth a veine in the arme or it may be in the foot either for some disease in the head For so he let Pharao bloud in the right arme when hee smote his first borne for his fault so he let Dauid bloud in the feet that is in his subiects for they are the feet that the Soueraigne standeth vpon for his offence But how may some say doth this stand with Gods iustice to punish one for another Or how can threatning to punish sinne so in posteritie stand with that which God himselfe enacteth elsewhere that the childe shall not suffer for his fathers offence or with his answer to the people that had gotten vp a bad prouerb The fathers haue eaten sowre grapes and the childrens teeth are set on edge thereby meaning that Their fathers had sinned and they suffered that the soule that sinneth should it selfe die the death and not one suffer for another This question hath not a little troubled many both old and new Writers and that place in the Law hath verie much puzzled many yea the most of the Ancients beside others which in that regard they haue laboured Some of them to diuert by allegoricall interpretations Some to auoid by ouer-violent forced expositions Some to salue by strange and needlesse shifts Some of thē I say expound the words allegorically Euasion 1 Either of Satan and his sonnes all wicked ones Exposition 1 whom God punisheth here that they may not be damned with him hereafter reseruing the Deuill their Father to the last day of doome Or of degrees of sin in the soule making the first Exposition 2 motions of sin the Father the consent to sin the son the act of it the grand childe and obstinacy or glorying in it the great grand-childe that God spareth men oft for the first and second but striketh home when sinne is come to her height in the two last But to frame allegories thus without need or ground is but to wrong the Text to peruert the purpose of Gods spirit and to make God himselfe speak that that he neuer therein meant nor intended Others take the words literally but expound them either nothing agreeably or euen directly contrary Euasion 2 to the intent of Gods spirit in them Some not of punishing sinnes vpon such descents but of deferring and putting off the punishment of Exposition 3 sinne to such a descent as a matter not of wrath and iudgement but of mercy rather and patience which some of them also in particular apply to the Iewish people either in the first generation punished after their departure out of Egypt for all their idolatries during that whole time committed or else as some other captiued in the third and destroyed in the fourth age of the world Now howsoeuer it be true indeed that God in mercy sometime deferreth iudgement from the Fathers daies to the Sons as he did in Ahab yea and in Ieroboam too for his stocke was not so destroyed as
that we spent the former time of our ignorance in the lusts of the flesh c. So it was sufficient yea and more than sufficient for vs that wee brought into the world with vs that inbred naughtinesse for which God might iustly then haue destroyed vs. And if therefore concerning the goodnesse and long suffering of God who hath hitherto borne with vs and in much mercie forborne vs wee shall still wilfully runne on in the practice of sinne and so adde drunkennesse to thirst we shall but treasure vp wrath against the day of wrath and make our iudgement at length the more intolerable The other Generall point that from the death of children we obserue is that Death is euer at our doores It lieth in wait for vs not in our fields or our streets or our shops or our beds onely but in our cradles to in our swathing-bands in the childe-bed in the childe-birth None come into life but by perill of death Death is neere at hand with vs not in our old age or our decaying time onely but in our mans estate also in our riper yeeres in our youth in our childe-hood in our infancie it selfe How many are carried from the wombe to the tombe as Iob speaketh from birth immediately to buriall yea how many die in the wombe how many perish vnborne before euer they come to light ere they know what life meaneth or wee know that they liue That young goe as well as old and children die as well as others we haue as well a visible as a vocall sermon preaching it to vs at this present That it is so therefore it is of it selfe euident and daily experience is a sufficient proofe of it The reason why it is so is no lesse apparent For to passe by that generall reason from the former point that therefore Children also are subiect to death because they are not free from sinne 1. There is no certaine stint tearme or lease of Reason 1 mans life Our times are in Gods hands As for our lands so for our liues we are but Gods tenants at will And he may turne our soules out of these mud-walled cotages of our bodies when hee will The breath of man saith Salomon is as a candle of Gods lighting And as wee doe with our lights so doth God with our liues we light candles and put them out againe as we list some wee doe out as soone as they beginne but to burne some we let alone till the wax or tallow be halfe wasted some till weeke and wax all be spent So doth God with vs he setteth our life vp as a light and when he seeth good hee doth it out againe with some sooner with some later but with each one when himselfe will Reason 2 2. The bonds that tie soule and bodie together are no stronger if not rather more tender in children than in others of riper yeeres All flesh is as grasse But children are as flowers or blossomes more tender vsually than any other part of the plant The flower sooner fadeth than the herbe it selfe doth the blossome is sooner blasted and blowne away that the fruit that followeth it is wont to be when it is once knit Yea to hold to our former resemblance a candle is sooner and more easily blowne out againe when it is but new lighted than when it hath burnt awhile And with lesse difficultie is this light of life puft out in those whom it is but newly and scarce thorowly yet kindled in The Vse whereof may be Vse 1 1. To discouer their folly that presume of long life in regard of health and youth They are but young yet and therefore they may liue long and see many a good day And they are healthie and strong and may therefore hold out as well as others as long as any Yea but there is none of those that thus say or thinke so young but they haue seene many younger goe none so strong but that they may haue seene as strong if not stronger goe than themselues Mans life is as a day And as we see that daies are not all of one length there are Summer and there are Winter dayes some longer some shorter some of more some of fewer houres So is there no lesse varietie in the length and size of mens liues according to that time that God hath pleased to allot each But herein againe there is great difference betweene this naturall day and the day of mans life that the naturall day be it neuer so short it hath a morning a noone an afternoone and an euening whereas the day of our life may haue a morning and no noone or a noone and no after-noone The Sunne as the Prophet speaketh in another sense may set with vs at noone day We may be suddenly snatcht away in the flower of our youth in the prime of our age in the height of our health in the chiefe of our strength Yea the Sunne may set with vs so soone as it is vp it may but peere out and twinckle awhile with a twy-light and in the twinckling of an eye instantly goe downe againe It is a vaine thing therefore for any in regard of youth to presume of long life when as length of life no way dependeth vpon youth and wee see young goe as well yea as oft as old doe Vse 2 2. Is it so that death is euer at our doores Then it standeth vs in hand to liue euer in expectation of it Doth death saith one he euerie where in wait for thee then thou also if thou beest wise wile be prepared alwaies for it Say thou as blessed Iob saith and doe as he no doubt also did All the daies saith he of mine appointed time here I will wait till my change come that is till the time come of my decease and departure hence Nor let the young man thinke that this lesson is for old men onely No Remember thy Maker saith Salomon in the daies of thy youth It standeth young men vpon as well as old to prepare for death because youth as well as old age is subiect to death And though there may be affirmatiue yet there are no negatiue signes of it Of doomes-day there are both of thy deaths day but the one onely Of the generall day of doome there are signes both affirmatiue such as shew that it approacheth and draweth neere and negatiue such as shew that it shall not be as yet because they must goe before it and it shall not come therfore before they be fulfilled as was the reuelation of the man of sinne and is yet the Conuersion of the Iewish Nation But of the particular day of any mans death howsoeuer there may be signes affirmatiue such as shew the neerenesse of it as old age decay of nature some diseases and the like
yet there is no negatiue signes of it ordinarily howsoeuer Simeon and some others haue had some extraordinarily giuen them such as may shew that as yet it shall not be A man cannot say I am young and therefore I shall not die yet for he may be taken away in his youth A man cannot say I am strong and therefore I shall not die yet for with the sudden stroake of an apoplexie may hee be strucke downe in his chiefe strength A man cannot say I am healthie and therefore I shall not die yet For there needs no long sicknesse yea no sicknesse at all to deliuer a man vp to death As a man may die well before he be old so may hee well die also and yet neuer be sicke Since that death therefore lieth in wait for vs as well in youth as in age it behoueth young as well as old to be prepared for it 3. Are young children also subiect to death Let those whom God hath blessed with children then Vse 3 hence bee admonished to apply themselues betimes to worke good things into them since that they know not how soone they may bee taken away from them That if it shall please God to call for their children while they are but young yet away from them they may with the more comfort part with them when they may bee able to say of them as it is said of the childe spoken of in my Text As young as they were yet there were good things in them some seeds and sparks of grace began to appeare in them Wee are wont to be troubled when God taketh them away from vs if we haue not beene so carefull as wee thinke wee should haue beene in something concerning the health of their bodies But we haue more cause to be troubled when our hearts shall tell vs that wee haue beene negligent and retchlesse about them in such things as concerned the state and welfare of their soules 4. Are our children thus subiect to death and we Vse 4 know not how soone they may bee taken away from vs Then as the Apostle speaketh in the like case Let those that haue children be as if they had them not Not that Parents should not loue and affect their children they are commanded so to doe and they are worse I say not than heathen but than bruit beasts that doe otherwise and it is well made a note therefore of men giuen vp to a reprobate minde and cast behinde euen the gouernment of nature as well as the guidance of grace to be deuoid of naturall affection But that they should not so set and fasten their affections vpon them that they should be vnwilling to part from them when God shall please to call for them from whom formerly they receiued them and who hath therefore best right and title to them So therfore must thou labour to haue thy children and endeuour to stand so affected in regard of them that if God should call for thine Isaak thy darling from thee Take thine onely sonne saith he Isaak thy Sonne that thou louest thou maist be willing to offer him to God with thine owne hands If he call for one of many as he of Athens when Alcibiades a young gallant came reuelling into his house as hee sate with some strangers at supper and tooke away the one halfe of his plate and his guests stormed and tooke on at it he told them he had dealt kindly that hee less them the other halâ—â—â— that he tooke not all when all was his so repine not thou for that that is gone but be thankfull to God for those that be left he that taketh one might as well if he would haue tooke all and it is his mercie if he leaue thee any Yea labour to bee like Iob to be affected as he was When God tooke not one of them but all his children at once from him The Lord saith he hath giuen and the Lord hath taken Now blest bee his name Hee parteth with them as one would doe with a nurse childe that the parents of it had sent for home againe And indeed to speake as the truth is wee are but as foster fathers and nursing mothers to those children that God blesseth vs here with their true Father indeed is aboue in Heauen So therefore should we esteeme of them as of children by God put to nurse to vs whom therfore when he shall see good to call for them home from vs we should be as willing to returne to him as wee would a nurse childe though we loued it as our owne to the parents of it when they should send for it the rather knowing that they shall be and doe better with him than they haue done or can doe with vs. And thus much for the two generall points that from hence we obserue Wee passe now to the speciall which shall bee these two that The good goe oft before the bad and that The good die oft-times for the bad For the former howsoeuer we might hence obserue that The good goe as well as the bad Yet passing by that for the present as hauing handled it on the like occasion elsewhere the point that I purpose now to insist on shall be this that The good goe oft before the bad That they die not onely as well as they but they die oft euen before them So the Prophet telleth vs that The righteous perish and good men are taken away when the wicked meanewhile are left behinde still And the Psalmist complaineth that the godly were taken away so fast that there was scarce one good man left Helpe Lord saith he for there is not a godly man left the faithfull are failed from among the children of men But there is a world of wicked ones left still The wicked saith he walke on euerie side Here we see to goe no further Ieroboams good sonne taken away when his vngodly father and his wicked brethren with the rest of that prophane and irreligious family still remaine Now this God thus disposeth Sometime in iudgement and Sometime in mercie Reason 1 1. In iudgement sometime For Iudgement beginneth at Gods house The cup of Gods wrath is sent first to Ierusalem she beginneth to the rest of it The mortalitie at Corinth seized vpon the Beleeuers there for their abuse of the Sacrament sâ—â—it some of them and swepe away other some of them when many an Infidell escaped and went scot-free the whiles The fruit tree is oft pared and pruned and trimmed while the brier standeth by it vnstirred and vntoucht till it come at length to be fâ—â—â—od at once for the fire The stormie shower and raine lighteth first on the high bils and hauing washed them then runneth downe to the vale and there setleth with all the filth in the bottome 2. In