Solomon a foolish Nabal a holy Isaac a prophane Esau of what sort soever he must be Deaths Prisoner Nay let there be a concurrance of all in one let Samuel be both a good Man and a good Minister c. and have as many Priviledges as are incident to a man yet can he not procure a Protection against this Officer his Mother may beg his Life but none can compound for his Death Speak we this according to men saith not the Scripture as much Wise men die saith David and Fools die Rich men die and poor too and therefore he calls both upon the Sons of Nobles and of the Earth to mind the Lesson indeed the Heathens could compare the Sons of Adam to Counters Chess Stage-plaies in reckoning Counters have their several Place and use for a time but in the end they are all jumbled on a heap in a Game at Chess some are Kings some Bishops c. but after a while they go all into the same Bag on the Stage one is in his rags another in his Robes one is the Master another the Man and very busie they be but in the end the Play ends the bravery ends and each returns to his place such and no other is the state of man We wear death in our faces and bear it in our bones we put it upon our backs and into our mouths and cannot be ignorant of it Yea the dead proclaim this Lesson go to the Earth and they that make their Beds in darkness and sleep in the dust will tell you that it s neither wisdom nor power nor strength nor friends nor place nor grace nor any thing else that can exempt from this Tribute of Nature Our deceased Brother here before us speaks this to all this vast Assembly If greatness of Spirit feature of Body gifts of mind chastness of life soberness in diet diligence in a calling Prayers of the Church would have given any advantage against death darkness and blackness had not at this time covered us That there is no Prescription against Death appears by these Reasons The first of which is taken from the Decree of God it s a Statute enacted in that highest Court the voice of Heaven that man should once die No man as yet hath breathed but he hath had his death or translation no man is yet to come but he must either see death or an alteration so hath Heaven concluded it and who can possibly reverse it The second is taken from the matter whereof all men are made the Scripture compares man to a house whose foundation is laid in the dust whose walls are made of Clay the whole is but a Tabernacle and that of Earth and that of mans building as Paul after Job tells us this is the estate of man of all men some are more painted than some but all earthen Vessels some more clear than some but all Glasses all built of earth all born of Women and therefore all short of continuance as Job infers The third is taken from the proper cause of Death Sin Sin is Poyson to the Spirits Rottenness to the Bones where it comes and where doth it not come And therefore now what 's to be done Vse 1. Surely as men that must travel stand not to dispute but Arm themselves for all Weather So must we die we must that 's already concluded young and old good and bad c. Whatsoever we be now we must be dead anon You will think strange perhaps of my pains in this kind whilst I perswade a Mortality For howsoever we can all say in the general we are Mortal nothing so sure as Death yet when it comes to our own particular we dream of an Immortality in Nature we never set any bounds to Life we do not resolutely conclude I must die shortly I may instantly this day may be the last that I shall see this hour the last that I shall spend this word the last that I shall speak this deed the last that I shall perform this place the last that I shall breath in and so live by the day by the hour But it is our duty daily to consider what it is to die what goes before it what comes with it what follows upon it For first before we come to the very Gate of Death we are to pass through a very strait long heavy Lane Sickness first tameth us which many times is worse than Death it self that renders us unfit for all Religious Services Prayer Repentance c. as being a time not of getting but of spending that cleaves the Head and pains the Heart and wounds the Spirits and leaves us so distressed that Meat is no Meat the Bed no Bed Light no Light to us that makes us catch at Death for help But alas what help in Death if not fore-thought of Oh the Misery of a poor Creature that is so pained that he cannot live so unprepared that he dares not die he goes to Bed but cannot sleep he tastes his Meat but it will not down he shifts his Room but not his pain Death saith the Conscience would end and amend all wert thou prepared for Death but to die before were to lose those Comforts one hath and to fall under those Curses that are unsufferable Ah beloved we may intimate somewhat of his Misery but it falls not within our thoughts to conceive what his fears be who hangs between Life and Death Earth and Hell thus forthwith ready to drop into flames at every stroke of Death and to sink down down down till he be gone for ever And yet this is not all When I am dead saith the Carnal wretch all the World have done with me He saith truth all the World and all the comforts of the World have done with him indeed he shall-never laugh more he shall never have a moments ease more But though the World hath done with him yet God hath not done with him he sends for his Soul having first taken order that the Body be forth coming convents that and dooms that and casts that from him with greatest indignation into such a place such a company such a condition as would make the Heavens sweat and the Earth shrink to hear it Ah beloved therefore without all delays as a man that is now dying as well as he for whom the Bell tolls though not haply so near to Death set upon two things First set your House in order next your Souls For the first you have your persons and things to look unto To begin with Persons so live with your Wives being Husbands with your Servants being Masters with your Children being Fathers as becomes dying Men exercise such wisdom kindness faithfulness mercy every day as thou wouldest do if thou knowest it to be the last day And for things mark me well hearken not to Satan who disswades all seasonable wills because he would administer the Goods by being timely in this Errand thou shalt not shorten thy days but
having taken thy leave of the World shalt better attend on Death Things therefore unlawful restore I say again restore Things Lawful dispose of and as in a Journey hasty and uncertain wait the Call Up then my Brethren and lose no time Now the Wind serves hoyse up Sail now is the Market make your Provision now is the Seed-time sow apace as yet you have all Advantages from Grace and Nature Word Sacrament Wit Memory Sense Strength c. Now apprehend the Opportunity Repent and be Pardoned believe and be saved obey and be for ever blessed If any hath perswaded himself otherwise my Soul shall weep in secret for his destruction which I know will be as certainly effected as now it is plainly threatned Be entreated then let God entreat you and once over-rule you You must die you must die but once being once dead you return not to make a new Preparation do that once well which being once well done will make you Men nay more than Men than Angels for ever And this is the Use for your selves A second respects our Friends Vse 2. Must all die is there no Remedy Then must we have patience in our Friends departure a common Lot no man should shrug at even in the Poets judgment who quarrels Summer for some heat or Winter for some cold a Thorn for pricking or a Brier for scratching who is angry that he is framed like other men subject to like hunger like thirst like sleep and why I pray should not our Friends resemble others in their death as well as in their birth We would not have them have more Eyes or Hands than others and why more days What do we make of Life what of Death Surely to the godly Life is but a Prison Death is an Advantage Say our Friends were tyed in Prison would we begrudge them liberty say toss'd on the Seas would you envy them the Haven say doubtful in the Skirmish would you be sorry for their Victory nay say but beaten with a Tempest would you not wish them at home Believe it Brethren this World is but a Sea a Prison this Life a Journey a Warfare if God hath prevented our Wishes shall he be returned frowardness Shall we trouble the Air with needless Crys my Husband my Father my Father as if we were the first Widows and Orphans in the World No let them mourn without hope whose life and death is without hope as for Christians who die living and live dying they lose nothing by death For first if we descend to particulars the body that is stript of all sinful and natural defects the abortions of sin and filled with all heavenly contemplations of mortal it becomes immortal of corruptible incorruptible there is no use of Meat Apparel Sleep Beds c. of dishonourable glorious like in its measure to the body of Christ which is the standard In short whatsoever might make to the annoying blemishing dishonouring disquieting of the body is removed whatsoever might make it amiable active honourable glorious comfortable is added the glory of the Sun will be but darkness to it For the Soul that is first eased of all the rags and relicques of sin delivered of Ignorance Pride Self-love c. delivered next of all the consequences of sin griefs guilts fears accusations yea delivered of all things which may any way import an imperfect state through an upright heart as Faith Repentance hungering after Righteousness c. And then in a second place it is filled with the Image of Jesus Christ First all the powers and faculties thereof are perfected and advanced above the ordinary strain of Nature Next all those Vessels are stuffed with knowledg love and all things else that are there requisite and not only so but the Soul is furnished with all the attendances of Christs Image everlasting joy perpetual peace a constant correspondency and communion with God and in brief whatsoever might offend stain blemish the Soul is removed and whatsoever might enrich it ennoble it and make it blissful is according to each mans measure added And thus of the person The rest we dispatch with all speed For the Estate thus there shall be nothing that shall be wanting that shall trouble distract or discontent there shall be nothing that the Soul shall then desire but there it is For the place thus There shall be nothing less than what shall be desired nothing more that can be desired what it is the Word no where for ought I know tells us The Church on Earth is more rich than Gold more precious than Pearl more bright than the Sun more glorious than the Moon but what is there to be seen Paul could not utter we cannot conceive only this we know that none shall be ever weary of it or willing to alter it Lastly for the Company there be of three sorts First Angels who shall not then terrifie but attend the worst and lowest Servant there shall be an Angel Secondly all the famous and godly men that ever lived there shall we meet with Adam Abraham c. there shall we be acquainted with David Paul Cypr. de morte ad Fratres c. Thirdly the blessed Trinity there shall we see him who hath done and suffered so much for us him whom the Fathers before and since his Incarnation so much longed to see Jesus Christ the blessed all which considered and believed what can we less do than abandon all fruitless and fleshly tears for our Friends departed what way are they gone but the way of all flesh with whom do they live but with Samuel with God Where are they but in better place and case with better Friends than ever before In stead of carking therefore do two other things First whilst Friends be present do the part of a Friend in praying for them in calling upon them and in fitting of them to death that so thou mayst have peace in thy self and hope of them in their departure else when thy Conscience shall say unto thee Wretched man thy Wife thy Child thy Charge is now dead and for ought thou knowest in Hell if not no thanks to thee for thou wast never the man that would call upon them pray with them or mind them of their Departures when I say thy Conscience shall thus great thee thou shalt not tell how to take it Secondly when they are gone to bed and fast asleep awake them not with thy cries but make ready to follow after so the time shall be best redeemed the loss and cross best improved and Satan who loves to fish in such troubled waters most prevented And so far this Use We will touch upon a third as we pass and that is this Must we all die then here is a cooler for the wicked and a comfort for the godly The wicked holds all his comforts only for term of life death ends his wealth his glory his peace his joy his comforts his contentments all his portions is only in
my soul a zealous Holocaust to the flame of thy Altar 11. Of Chastity This single Grace of Chastity will admit of no Cor-rival but God himself in her Virgin-heart in which she erects a Temple of Love for the Lords delight scourging out all uncleanness with the rod of Sorrow dedicating it wholly to the Service and Honour of the Lord where Love and Beauty God and the Soul are espoused together in holy affection and sweet communion Give me O Lord what wilt thou give a clean heart truly devoted to thy service Though the stains of impure Cogitations and verbal Transgressions may unwillingly and unwarily break in to defile thy Temple O may the rod of Repentance drive them out but shield it I pray thee from that great abomination of desolation those deathful wounds of actual pollution to make it a stink of all iniquity but deck and adorn it with the graces of thy spirit that it may be made a beautiful habitation for thy honours reception 12. Temperance Temperance is as a comly Matron which walks soberly and warily in the wholesom path of Mediocrity between excess and defect her actings are to the health both of Body and Soul avoiding in order to Food and Raiment Superfluity and Sordidness being fed with Frugality and clothed with Decency as to the Soul her Religion very Orthodox running a most even course between blind Zeal and open Profaneness like the Sun in its Aequinox between the Winter and the Summer Solstice hating Enthusiasm Papism and Atheism with other giddy opinions coyned out of the Mint of inconsiderate Brains which begetteth nothing but Division Contention and Disaffection Most holy Lord who art holiness it self and delightest in the beauty of holiness pious hearts as mansions where thy honour will please to dwell square my Religion to the straight rule of thy word and so fashion my Devotion as may be most agreeable to thy own mind neither ceremoniously superstitious or irreverently rude but zealously affected in a decent and orderly manner as may be most sutable to piety and the honour of thy Majesty 13. Of Obedience and Disobedience A good natured Child will grieve that he hath offended his indulgent Father whereas a more rugged disposition will not come into the School of Obedience without much swinging Make me O Lord a child of Obedience by the smiles of thy mercy rather than by the frowns of thy Justice draw me by the silken twines of thy Affections and not by the ruff Cords of thy Corrections but if I be so ill-natured that the rays of thy love will not mollifie my hard heart let the awful stripes of thy fear make it tender so shall thy rod and thy staff comfort me 14. Of Gratitude and Ingratitude Thankfulness is the tribute of our Affections which we pay as a Rent-charge to the great Lord of Heaven and Earth by which we acknowledge his property in us and our Loyalty to him for all his blessings both for Soul and Body and nothing can out us of Possession discard us of our freedom or cancel the obligation of his love to us but Ingratitude that monster in nature which was one of the grand sins which ejected Adam out of his Garden of Paradice into a wilderness of Sin transformed Nebuchadnezar from a man to a Beast till he returned better manner'd and smote Herod in his Judgment-seat because he gave not God the glory Great God! in whose hands are all the Corners of the earth and the fulness thereof in whatsoever possession of thy blessings thy goodness please to place me as Tenant for life O may I esteem it far beyond my deservings that I may learn to be thankful And suffer not I pray thee my nature so ill to degenerate into Ingratitude as to alienate thy affections from me to out me of the Eden of thy favour and let me not be so blockishly dull as not to acknowledge thy property or so arrogantly peccant to rob thee of thy honour lest deservedly I incur thy righteous displeasure but ingratiate my heart I beseech thee with so good a nature as I may render my self a more perfect Creature to give thee thy dues belonging to thy honour and my self the comfort of thy gracious dispensations towards me 15. Of Mercy and Justice Mercy and Justice are the righteous Ballances of Heaven poized by the Hand of Truth which weighs to every one the Rewards of Life and death Mercy is filled with promises of life Justice with wages of death Faith lays hold on the Scale of Mercy through the merits of a Saviour Infidelity draws down Justice as a Recompence for Iniquity So righteous art thou O Lord in thy ways and just in thy Judgments who dispensest to every one after their deservings Merciful Father though the magnitude and multitude of my Transgressions be so heavy to draw down the Ballance of thy Indignation upon me yet being Counterpoized with thy Sons merits in the Ballance of Mercy they shall be found too light to condemn me and my Faith of sufficient weight to save me 16. Of Faith Faith is the Souls Optick which discovereth things afar off as if near at hand though darkly as in a Glass yet far surpassing all the Opticks of Astrology which takes the dimensions of the Orbs according to the sense whereas Faith maketh search into Heaven seeth God Almighty with all his Attributes in the beauty of Holiness Jesus Christ his Son sitting at his right hand interceeding for us the Holy Ghost proceeding coming down like fire to baptize the Saints with all the Heavenly Quires of Saints and Angels singing Allelujah to the King of Glory yea it discovereth Hell afar off with all its monstrosity the reward of our Iniquity seeth Satan compassing the Earth in persuite of the Mother and her Child to devour them but overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Thus O my Soul with this Optick of Faith thou mayest survey all the wonders of God making things invisible to the eye of sense visible to the eye of Reason Thus beholding thee O my God in thy glorious perfections in thy marvelous works in thy gracious Attributes let me experiment thy spirit of grace quickning thy wisdom teaching thy power supporting thy love comforting thy Justice tenderly chastising and thy mercy saving me let the light of thy countenance the splendor of thy Majesty so dart upon my soul through this Glass of Faith that thou mayest be in love with thy own beauty Faith again may be said to be the compass of the Soul which centers one part upon God the other upon the heart of man rounding a Sphear of a new Creation with circles of love through which she draws a Diameter by the Rule of the word which is as a Jacobs Ladder by the hand of an Angel to convey the Graces of God to man and the Prayers of man unto God Scale O my soul by this Ladder of Faith the Battlements of Heaven contend with thy Maker and
this life saith the Prophet all the sweet he hath fore-goeth death after he hath a Portion indeed but it is a Portion of Fire and Brimstone of Storms and Tempests of Anguish and Tribulation of Shame and Confusion of Horror and Amazement in a fiery Lake from the presence of God in the midst of cursed Spirits Thus death must needs be terrible to him but as comfortable to the Godly for it makes his Crosses as short as the others Comforts The Wicked cannot promise to himself Comforts of an hours length nor may the Godly threaten himself with Crosses of an hours continuance Death in an instant turns the sinners Glory into Shame Pleasure into Pain Comfort into Confusion Death in an instant eases the Godly's body of all pain his Soul of all sin his Conscience of all fears and leaves him in an estate of perfect happiness And happy are they whose Misery is no longer than life but woe be to the wicked whose jollity ends when death enters and whose Torments survive death it self and so we leave Samuel to his rest Well Samuel is well himself but in what case doth he leave his poor Neighbours at Ramah that the Text now speaks and it is my trouble yet better one than all troubled that I must speak it so briefly Israel saith the Text Jacobs issue Gods people all Israel distributively taken that is of all sorts some were gathered in great Troops either by publick command or of their own voluntary accord or both ways First to lament according to the then custom in most solemn manner Samuels end and their own loss and next to honour him at his Burial in Ramah The Points which in a passage or two must be touched from this part are two the first is this Samuel a publick and a profitable man dieth Israel publickly mourneth you see what followeth Great and publick losses must be entertained with great and publick sorrows Sorrow must be suited to the loss as a Garment to the body a Shoe to the foot when the cause of Grief is great the measure of Grief must be answerable This is one Principle when a good man and Neighbour dies there is cause of great forrow this is another the inference will soon follow and result hence and that is our Conclusion Good men of publick use and place should never pass to the Grave unlamented their death should be considered and bewailed And indeed reason calls for it for we must mourn in respect of the cause of such mens deaths not private but publick sins too God never beheads a State a Country but for some Treason Reason 1. If Samuel die it is because God is angry with the people the sheep be not thankful nor fruitful therefore the shepherd is smitten Now should it be thus when useful persons die what then shall we say to these times wherein men have not put off Piety only but Nature also No marvel if the Prophet complain The righteous perish and no man considereth it in his heart The wife perisheth and the Husband doth not consider it the Parents perish and the Children do not consider it the Children perish and the Parents do not consider it few such Brethren as David to Jonathan such Husbands as Abraham such Children as Isaac such Fathers as Jacob. These long and long felt the loss of their dearest Friends but now one month is enough to wear out all thoughts of a Brother nay of a Child nay of a Mother nay of a Wife nay in the nearest tyes one in that space may be buried a second wooed a third married Hitherto in hardest pressures and worst measures David could go to Samuel in Ramah and there meet with good Counsel and Comfort but now both Samuel himself dies and poor David must flie Shall I beloved speak as the thing is In the fall of one Cedar of Ramah we have lost much shade and shelter in the splitting of one Vessel of price wherein we had all our interesses and adventures we are all losers what we have lost we shall better see seven years hence than now but losers we are all losers Wife Children Neighbours Friends Ministers People all losers so that here that is verified which was anciently uttered of another In one we have lost many a chast Husband a tender Father a religious Minister a kind Neighbour in few a Samuel Speak I this after the flesh to please No I speak it for use to profit I report my self to your hearts You tell me that you have a publick loss your mouthes have uttered it your faces speak it my Ears and Eyes have received it from you and if so then see what follows if we have Israels loss we must make Israels Lamentation Let us take up Davids words with Davids Affection I am distressed for thee Brother Jonathan very pleasant hast thou been to me thy love to me was wonderful passing the Love of Women Are we as David to Saul Isaac to Rebekah sons Are we as Jeremiah to Josiah Prophets As David to Abner Kindsmen Are we by any name entituled to this loss Mourn then mourn not as the Infidel desperately nor bitterly as doth the froward but soberly as did David when Abners Death put him to a Fast Let his dearest Yoak-fellow say Ah mine unthankfulness and unfruitfulness let Children say Ah our Disobedience and Stubbornness and Servants Ah our Idleness and Untrustiness and all Ah our Folly and Frowardness who could not see Vertves through Frailties and Corn through chaff till we had lost all These sins of ours have strip'd us of a Samuel and covered us with darkness He is gone the Arm and Shoulder is faln from this our little body the sooner for our sins let us see it or else what abides us In the Body what Medicines cannot do cutting must what that cannot burning must or else nothing saith the Master of Physick It is so in the Soul too Oh that we could see it In our Friends Sicknesses we have been Medicined in private distresses lanced but in the loss of Publick Persons the Lord proceeds to burning If these wounds upon the very Head of us strike us not down what shall next be smitten but our Heart it self Well Israel laments and it hath cause What do they next That next we must hear They bury him and the place and manner be observed For the place they bury him at his House in Ramah the Ancient and the Mannor House his Father dwelt there before him 1 Sam. 1. where also you may be informed touching the Town Whereas there were of Ramahs four or sive this was Ramah Zophim in Mount Ephraim which borrows his Name from the Situation of it it stood high and the name importeth no less In this Ramah Samuel sometime lived and here he is Interred For the Selemnity of the Funeral it is such as argues Israels love and Samuels worth they do him all the Honour that is possible First Israel the first-born of Men
Prophet his Soul which is lifted up is not upright within him All those that are void of Humility are far from uprightness The higher the Sun is the shorter is the shadow the more grace the less conceit The emptiest Vessel ever sounds loudest and the fuller the less Wood that in burning yields the greatest smoak doth commonly give the smallest heat Those boughs which are most laden with Fruit those ears which are fullest of Corn do ever bend downward when the barren bough and empty ear stands upright So those that are emptiest of Grace evermore make the greatest ostentation and crack most of their own goodness Make me as one of thy hired Servants As if he should have said I dare not I do not make suit to be as before I was a Son I am unworthy of such favour yet vouchsafe me that favour that I may belong unto thee and although I am not worthy to be called a Son yet vouchsafe me to be a hanger-on let me have a Room and Service in thy House though it be amongst the company of thy hired Servants Here we see the case is altered while he was in the House no place was good enough for him but now that he hath been a while in a far Countrey and wanted of that Bread which his Fathers Servants had he doth desire to be in the basest Office This teacheth us this Lesson Gods blessings are better known and more esteemed by the wanting of them than by their enjoying The worth and value of Gods good Blessings are not known till we be without them Thus Vision was precious in the days of Ely when that was wanting And the Prophet Esay telleth the People of Israel that the blessings of the Lord should be excellent and pleasant to them after they had been pinched with the want thereof in their Captivity yea the bud shall then be beautiful c. The Use of this in a word is to teach us to esteem more of the good Blessings we receive from God and beware of undervaluing them lest we give the Lord occasion to deprive us of them These common blessings of the shining of the Sun breathing in the Air Meat Drink preservation in our going out in our coming in use of the Senses strength of Body and the like let them be more esteemed of thee alas consider how miserable thou art without these The Lord is fain so great is his Mercy and our Corruption to deprive his Children of many of these good Blessings till they know the price and worth of them and in their restraint make them enjoy the smallest blessing more thankfully and comfortably Hunger is good sawce and giveth good relish and taste to course Meats and homely Fare when for want hereof dainty Dishes are but contemned Should the Lord deprive thee of thy Health Strength Sense Sleep then wouldst thou see what a benefit thou hast enjoyed Bewail therefore thy own corruption in this kind and pray for this Wisdom that thou mayst rather know the worth of Gods blessings by the enjoying than by the wanting of them And he arose and came to his Father c. This Prodigal now puts in Practice what formerly he had resolved to do As resolved to arise So he arofe In this his practise we must consider First what he did Secondly what he said For the first the Text saith He arose and came unto his Father Where we have first the parts of his Repentance which are two Aversion from his sin He arose Secondly Conversion to his God And came unto his Father Secondly We have to consider the circumstance of time when he did it which is implyed in this word And or So that is immediately he deferred no time but presently put in execution what was before but in purpose and resolution He arose and came to his Father His arising is nothing else but his leaving of sin as formerly we have heard and his coming to his Father is his turning to the Lord. So then here we have the parts of true Repentance laid down which are in number two first Aversion from sin Secondly Conversion to God He arose The point we may observe hence is this Where there is true Repentance there is a rising from sin there is a leaving and a forsaking of all former evil ways and courses This point might be confirmed by many Examples As of Paul Peter Zacheus with others who left their former courses and committed them no more The Vses follow First hereby try thy Repentance whether it be good or no Hath it wrought a change and alteration in thy Affections Words and Actions Are all old things done away and new come in the place thereof Is there a forsaking of sin a reformation of Life If it be thus then it is well for thus it is and must be with every true Penitent Secondly this may serve for terror to such as find no change in themselves but are the same still that ever they were of whom it cannot be said as of the Corinthians such were you but now you are changed But such are you and so still continue unchanged Adulterers you were Covetous you were Drunkards you were c. and so are still as Proud as ever as Profane as ever as Worldly as ever as irreligious as ever if not worse than ever In the Third place this may serve for the comfort of all such as do find this change in them who can say as that blind man who had his sight restored One thing I know that whereas I was blind now I see Whereas I was filthy and unclean I am now washed and cleansed Oh happy is the condition of such a one thrice blessed is thy Estate indeed only let me admonish thee that thou manifest this change unto the World that others may also say How is this man changed from what he was Ambrose makes Report of a Young Man who having a long time lived in Lust and Uncleanness at length Travelled and in his Travel was Converted Afterwards returning home meets with one of his old Acquaintance with whom he had been often naught but passed away and would not Salute her at which the Strumpet wondring speaks to him after this manner What have you forgotten me It is I His Reply unto her again was this yea I know it but I am not I. Thus it becomes thee to manifest this change thou findest to be in thee that as others have been Witnesses of thy sin so they may be also Witnesses of thy Repentance And came to his Father From hence we learn In true Repentance there is not only a rising from sin but also a turning to the Lord and a setting of our hearts towards him and his Kingdom The Reason is this As by Faith we are ingrafted into Christ Jesus and so made partakers of his Death and the power of it which causeth us to die unto sin So also by the same Faith we are made partakers of his Resurrection
which causeth us to walk in newness of Life and live unto the Lord. Secondly the same spirit that doth cause us to leave sin doth bring us to the Lord enabling us to cry Abba Father as the Apostle speaketh Vse To Reprove many who will indeed confess there must be a turning and will also practice a change but it shall be from bad to worse from one sin to another As for Example how many do turn from Prodigality to Covetousness From Swearing to Cousening From Atheism to Popery From Profaneness to Hypocrisie And if these are to be Reproved then much more are such to be Condemned who turn from God to Sin from a Protestant to a Papist from a Professor to an Atheist How far are these from true Repentance What hope can they have who come short of those that come short of Heaven Take good notice of this you that have been forward and zealous but now are become Apostates and Back-sliders and hearken to the Councel given to the Church of Ephesus Remember whence thou art fallen and Repent and do thy first works or else I will come against thee quickly except thou Repent In the last place let this Admonish us to look that our turning be a true turning And as by sin we have departed with this Prodigal from our Fathers House so let us also arise with him and set forwards towards Heaven So or And After this Prodigal had resolved to go and humble himself unto his Father he did not debate any longer about the matter but forthwith rose up and went his way Repentance is not to be deferred but presently to be set upon so soon as God shall put the motion into our Hearts There may not be deferring or procrastinating but a speedy practice and execution First God is to be served before all God ever required in his Service the First Fruits and the First-born The firstlings are his Darlings Secondly we ought not to defer in respect of the shortness and uncertainty of Life Our Lives they are compared to a Pilgrimage to the flower of Grass to Wind to Smoak to a Vapour to a Dream and the like All which sheweth the shortness of our time and therefore our whole Life is little enough to spend in Gods Service But farther as it is short so also it is uncertain We have no assurance to live one hour we are here but Tenants at will and know not how soon our great Landlord will turn us out of this earthly Tabernacle We may be cropt off like an ear of Corn for what is this life but as a nest of straw and clay soon shaken a pieces Many have seen a fair bright morning who never beheld the evening as the Sodomites And upon many the Sun hath set in the evening to whom it never appeared rising in the morning So was it with the rich Glutton in the Gospel Seeing this is so we have great cause speedily to repent Fourthly because for the present thy estate is fearful the wrath of God hangs over thy head by a twined thred if thou hadst Eyes to see it thou eatest in danger of thy life thou drinkest in danger walkest in danger sleepest in danger lying between death and the Devil as Peter did between the two Soldiers bound with two Chains Now who would be in such a danger one hour for the gaining of a World But we hasten to the Uses And first This reproveth that wonderful madness and exceeding great folly of such as procrastinate and defer their Conversion to the Lord and put off their Repentnace though the Lord call them thereunto and offer them never so fit an opportunity But I have time enough to repent in say some what tell you me of Repentance as yet Is not God merciful Did he not shew mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of
mercy to the Thief at the last gasp I doubt not but to be saved as well as the precisest of you all But thou who thus goest on head-long to Damnation come hither and let me shew thee thy monstrous folly that if it be possible thou mayst be recovered out of the snare of the Devil who art thus taken by him at his will First thou blessest thy self with hope of long life thou wilt repent when thou art old but how knowest thou that thou shalt live till thou comest to be old Dost not thou see how upon the Stage of this World some have longer parts and some have shorter And as we enter into the Lords Vineyard do we not so go out that is in such a manner and at such an hour some in the morning some at noon some at night some die in the dawning of their lives passing from one grave to another being no sooner come out of the womb of one Mother but another Mother receives them into hers Some die in Youth as in the third hour others die at thirty forty or fifty as in the sixth and ninth hour and othersome very old as in the last hour of the day Now tell me how many die before fifty for one that live till they be past that age What hope hast thou to live till thou beest so old Doest not thou daily see and hear of many that go well out at night and are found dead in the morning and of many other that are suddenly slain or come to some untimely death why may it not be thus with thee how vain then and false is thy hope of long life seeing none can tell what a day what an hour may bring forth And Secondly But say thou dost live till thou beest old and art freed from much of this trouble having understanding memory sight and sense c. yet who can tell whether God will hear thee at the last gasp For what can be more righteous than that the Lord should contemn thee at the hour of death who hast contemned him in thy whole life Thirdly let this admonish every one of us to defer no time but speedily to repent Abraham rose up betimes to sacrifice his Son so do thou make hast to sacrifice thy sin Zacheus came down hastily when he was called why then do we defer coming to our Saviour Hearken not to that Crow-crying cras cras to morrow to morrow the voice is dismal But now we will proceed to the next words in the Parable But when he was yet afar off his Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him The readiness of the Father to receive his Son is here noted First by his looking on him afar off For when he was yet a great way off his Father saw him Secondly by running to him while he was afar off He had compassion and ran Thirdly by his kind imbracing of him He fell on his neck and kissed him To begin with the first But when he was yet a great way he saw him Albeit this be put here in the last place yet it is referred by most of our Expositors to the first time of his Conversion for it was this look that brought home this Prodigal He saw him and looked on him with the eyes of pity and by looking upon him infused into him the secret efficacy of his spirit and pierced his heart with the beams of his grace which so prevailed with him that it brought him to repentance as it did with Peter which made him to go out and weep bitterly for his sins after he had thrice denied his Master Thus they make it as a cause of his Conversion And taking it thus this point will follow The Conversion of a sinner is from Gods free Grace Gods Grace is the cause of it Many pregnant Examples might be brought both of the unregenerate before their Conversion as also of the Regenerate in their falls after their Conversion for the further confirming this point in hand What disposition was there in the Apostle Paul to further his Conversion was he not breathing out threatnings and slaughters against the Disciples of Christ Jesus and had he not procured a Commission from the High-Priests to bind all that were of that way Did not God behold him a far off Did he not look upon him from the habitation of his dwelling And did he not thus behold Matthew the Customer Zacheus the Usurer Mary the sinner and us Gentiles When we were as the Apostle saith without hope and God in the World being strangers from the Covenant of promise and aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel I could bring variety of Examples that would serve to strengthen the point but I will remember you but of one more and so hasten to the Uses and that is of Peter was not God fain to look on him afar off before he repented He had denied his Master once and wept not yea twice yet shed not a tear though the Cock had crowed And the third time he denies him yet weeps not until Christ beholds him and then as the Text saith he wept bitterly Assuredly if Christ had not cast an eye on him and beheld him with a gracious aspect had a thousand several persons questioned with him about his Master he would have denied him a thousand times Thus a sinner is like an Eccho he cannot speak first to God but must answer a voice from God The Reasons And needs must this be so because we are dead in trespasses and sins as the Apostle saith and as the Father of this Prodigal avoucheth of him dead not in a swoon but dead stone-dead as we say and therefore have no more power to stir hand or foot for the furthering of our own Conversion then Lazarus had power to come out of the grave before Christ called him A second Reason why Gods Grace is all in all in the work of our Conversion may be this That all matter of boasting might be taken away for we are very ready to ascribe unto our selves that which of Right belongs unto the Lord. Thus have we seen the Reasons now let us hear the Uses And in the first place this may serve for Confutation first of the Pellagians who affirm that our good Actions and Cogitations proceed only from from free-will and not from Gods special Grace The second Use is for our Humiliation There is no goodness nor aptness in thee to that which is good why then shouldest thou be lift up with any conceit of thy self Oh beware of this boasting for whereof hast thou to boast Surely of nothing but sin and misery Thirdly Let it be for Exhortation to all such as have any tokens and signs of their Conversion to ascribe all the Praise and glory thereof unto the Lord. Say with David Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name be the glory For it is of his mercy not of thy deserving Is there
inforced the Statue of Nero into the Temple of the Jews the zeal of the people inkindled against it it being against the Law of their holy Religion Pilate purposing to inforce that by the Sword which his Rhetorick could not perswade drew them into a place where he had laid an Ambuscado of Armed men who upon his signal were to do execution upon those who withstood his command The Jews being constant to their Principle of Religion espying their danger approaching did all as one man open their naked breasts to the pointed Swords of their Executioners resolving rather upon and honorable death with the safety of their Religion than an ignominious life with the loss of it The third Argument for this holy Contention is the irrecoverable loss of our Faith being once gone It was once given unto the Saints and but once It was once given unto Rome and once unto Macedonia and once unto the seven Churches of Asia minor and when once they had lost it it was never as yet given to them again Sol occidere redire potest If the Sun in the firmament doth set it will rise again but if this Sun of Righteousness once set upon a Land an irrecoverable midnight of spiritual darkness succeeds upon it If we lose our Estates we may recover them again if we lose our Friends God may raise us up some other if we lose our Lives we may exchange them for a better but if we lose the Faith once given to the Saints being once lost it is lost for ever and we lose with it our Souls our Heaven our Christ our God and these irrevocably Ah dear Christians if ever ye will contend for any thing contend for the Faith once given unto the Saints And that is how the first object of your holy Contention that which you should contend for The second is that which you should contend against and here I shall propound two objects first of persons secondly of things First for Persons the Royal Prophet writes us a Copy Psal 139.21 22. Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee and do I not earnestly contend with those that rise up against thee yea I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine utter enemies Certainly there is a Generation of men in this Age whose hearts rise up against God and against the power of Godliness Gods right hand hath already found out many and will certainly find out more of those that hate him Take heed good Friends how you confederate with those against whom the Lord is ingaged Will you be tutor'd alittle from that story of Judah in Ahaz's time in the seventh and eighth Chapters of Isaiah when prophane Syria and Apostate Israel combined together against honest Judah their hearts did shake as Aspy leaves The Lord sends a Prophet to assure them that these two smoaking fire-brands which had more smoke than fire in them should not hurt them Judah though with much ado believing prospered and he combined Armies are scattered Discontented Israel not humbled under Gods hand so visibly against them resolve yet to recruit greater Forces against Judah The Bricks are fallen but we will build with hewen stones the Siccamores are cut down but we will change them into Cedars Judah forgetting Gods former Promise and deliverance sends to the Assyrian for aid The Lord sends his Prophet to them again and tells them That because they had refused the soft running waters of Siloa the mighty waters of Assyria should overflow them Now what were those waters of Siloa Siloa was a River that brake out at the foot of Mount Sion and ran through the Streets of Jerusalem to which the Church alludes Psal 46.4 There is a River the streams thereof shall make glad the City of God This River here is Jesus Christ the Fountain of Gods pleasures the streams are his promises in which he makes out himself for the comfort of his people in saddest confusions Now Judah had a special intimation of the Covenant of Grace to assertain their former deliverance as all temporary promises must have their strength and blessing out of that But forgetting both their mercy and their duty and seeking strength from an arm of flesh which God had despised they were not strengthened but distressed by it saith the story 2 Chron. 28.20 Lo this is all the kindness we are like to receive from such Confederates the Lord therefore counsels the upright-hearted in Judah Say ye not a Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a Confederacy neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid but sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your Fear and let him be your Dread and he shall be for a sanctuary unto you But what got Apostate Israel by her prophane Confederates Why Isay 9.11 12. we shall find that they tasted the same bitter sauce with unbelieving Judah they were with open mouth devoured by their good Friends the Syrians with whom they had before combined against Judah Foelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum I wish that Judah's and Israels sufferings may cautionate the godly in London how they confederate with those that are ungodly Surely they shall not strengthen but distress themselves by combining with those that are manifest enemies to God and Goodness In Judges the second and the first we read of an Angel of the Lord that came up from Gilgal to Bochim to mind the Israel of God of their Forgetfulness of Gods great mercy in delivering them out of Egypt and of their breach of Covenant in making a League with those Canaanites whom the Lord had cursed And he wrought so effectually upon their hearts as that they wept abundantly Certainly London shall know that they have had a Prophet amongst them And they shall one day weep for their Confederacy with wicked men if the Grace of God doth not now provoke their Tears the wrath of God will hereafter The second Object which we are to strive against are our own Lusts striving against sin saith the Apostle Heb. 12.4 I am sure this is without all question that sin is our enemy breaking our Peace both with God and man and killing as well with kisses as with blows God hath no enemy but this or such whom this doth make to be his enemies Now spend all your Arrows as long as strong as you can upon this Enemy here strive and spare not If you spare any one that one may undo your Souls as soon as a thousand There is more evil in one sin than there is worth in all the good you do or can do yea more than the vertue of the whole Creation is able to expiate One Achan is enough to disturb the peace of all Israel and never let England think to have a firm peace if Englands sins remain unreformed Now strive as much against your Achans as your Absoloms your Dalilahs as your Thamars your Rimmons as your Mammons your Davids as your Goliahs
let him not go without a blessing so shalt thou gain by the battery of Prayer a Kingdom by violence 17. Of Hope In the greatest difficulties Hope is a comfortable support to an afflicted Soul When Epimetheus unadvisedly opened Pandoras's Box he let out all the miseries in the world upon himself but hastily shutting the lid reserved hope in the Bottom for his comfort When the waves of Affliction come rowling like a Land-flood upon a man Hope buoys up his Spirits that he swims above water it lightens fears lessens cares expelleth dispair fills the Soul with magnanimity against all disanimosity it is a cordial Grace which revives a fainting Spirit from death yea though the Lord writes bitter things against a man and hedgeth him up on every side with thorns of Affliction yet Hope breaketh through inclining the Lord to pity Though he kill 〈◊〉 saith Job yet will I trust in him When Ahasaâ—erus's Decree of Death went forth for the Destruction of the Jews though Esther had failed of her duty yet Mordecai's hope expected deliverance some other way Endeavour we then to lodge our Hope in the bosom of Heaven that when the high winds of dessolation the bitter storms of Persecution shall beat down our clay-buildings upon their sandy foundations our souls may be safely housed upon the stable rock of our Salvation 18. Of Charity Amongst all the herbs of Grace planted by the Spirit of God in the Garden of a gracious heart Charity hath the supreme vertue it is like the Oyle that was poured upon Aarons head oderiferous to God and Man This Oyl of Charity is an excellent Remedy to heal the sinful Bruises of the Soul It expelleth the Poyson of Revenge it cureth the Plague sores of Envy Hatred and Malice and is of a magnetick power to attract the Iron hearts of Enemies to brotherly Kindness yea though a man had all Gifts and Graces as is expressed by the Apostle and wanted Charity he is nothing Charity is kind envyeth not vaunteth not is not puffed up beareth all things believeth all things indureth all things So rare are the fruits that spring from the root of Charity Pour upon my Soul O Lord this Oyl of Love this Balm of Gilead this blessed Vnction of thy holy Spirit for the savour of which the Virgins love thee let me I beseech thee experiment the healing vertue the comfortable effects and fruits thereof in my Conversation to the joy of my spirit the benefit of my Neighbours and all to the praise of thee my Creator 19. Of Faith Hope and Love Faith Hope and Love as they are the three Theological Graces of the Soul so they are Handmaids to wait upon her all exercised upon an object of promise Faith beholds it Hope expects it Love imbraceth it Faith looks upon it with assurance to obtain it Hope waits for it with patience to get it Love receiveth it with comfort to enjoy it Rouze up then thy self O my drooping Soul from the slumbers of Sorrow and despair and milk Consolation from the dugs of the Promises Art thou poor and needy the Lord is thy Portion doth every one reject thee thy God careth for thee who hath said he will not leave thee or forsake thee Lay hold on these Promises with thy hand of Faith secure them unto thee through Hope in thy extremity so shalt thou enjoy them in Gods opportunity 20. Of Nocturnal Devotion In the deep of silence when Morpheus the black Jayler of the night shackles the outward senses and lays them to rest under his sable Canopy then and then only is the time of a gracious Soul that waits upon God breaking off sluggish slumbers to awake in God and to have sweet Communion with him by Meditation Supplication and Ejaculation entring into the secret closet of the heart where he may examine and read over the Errata's of the mispent day and with the holy Prophet with tears of Repentance wash them away This kind of Devotion hath ever been of the Coram at all times nothing to interrupt a zealous Votary but a Clock or a Cock which are pleasing Monitors of his well-spent minutes it puts the heart into a holy frame making it better for the succession of the next day as Plato's Royal guest with homely but wholesom Collations of green herbs being well seasoned with the savory Discourse of the Philosopher Enter then thou King of glory into the heart of thy Servant though I can give thee but mean entertainment yet if thou please to honour my Soul with the Graces of thy Spirit thy own beauty shall bid thee welcome Be thou O Lord a Saviour unto me both by night and by day rouze my Soul from the slumbers of sin and unfetter it from the gives of carnal security from the swadling bands of spiritual darkness that I sleep not in death set it at liberty as a bird from the snare that it may soar up unto thee by the wings of Prayer and have sweet society with thee before the morning Watch yea I say before the Morning and be thou as a bundle of Myrrh between my Breasts and let Love be thy Banner over me and since it is thy Precept that I should watch and pray lest I fall into Temptation though my outward Man sleep for the support of my Spirit yet let my Heart wait and wake for thee that when thou comest whether in the Evening Watch Midnight Cock-crowing or dawning I may open unto thee and give thee Entertainment 21. The Nature of Sin No sooner is Man Born into the World but sin like a Vulture seizeth the Faculties of his Infant Soul So that his Body becomes a Living Monument of his better part till like Lazarus from his four days Tomb it be Miraculously re-animated by the Word of Life As it is the greater Miracle O Lord to raise my Soul from the Grave of sin which hath not only been four days but many Years under the power and shadow of Death so shall it be through thy grace the greater Obligation to make me look upon thee by the Eye of Faith as the Object of my Soul and God of my Salvation 22. The Devil and the Spider In beholding the Spider methinks I see some resemblance of the Devil both Venemous Creatures and begin their Work alike one in the centre of her Web the other in the centre of the Heart both aiming at one end which is to kill and destroy both forming their inviting works out of their Poysonous Bowels The Spiders Web so curious that prying Flies are intangled in it The Devils Work so glorious that beautified with Objects of Pleasure and Profit every one more or less is snared in it Sweep away O Lord these Cobwebs of sin from my Captivated Soul set it at Liberty from the thraldom of Satan so shall it be delivered as thy Ransomed one as a Bird from the Fowler 23. Of Vanity Great is Diana was the cry of the Ephesians to which not
Life like beautiful Flowers in the Garden of the World making a Rape up the beholders Eye courting all the senses to gather them which fades away in the space of a day Let not then O Lord the Magick of these outward Prosperities so charm my Senses as to idolize such fleeting objects which glide away as a water-brook but arrest thou my Thoughts upon a more permanent beauty the injoyment of thy self that when Death shall gloom me the light of this life thou mayst beam my Soul with eternal Glory 45. Of uncertain Friends Solomon tells us That Riches take wings and fly away so doth uncertain Friends follow after leaving their quondam Cor-rival a pitiful object of Misery and Poverty whose Affections doth ebb and flow according to the turning Tides of Prosperity and Adversity as if Nature created a new Metamorphosis in their souls But happily O forsaken man mayst thou find some sure Friend some faithful Achilles who will cleave unto thee in thy necessity whose love is grounded upon some better Principles than upon such afleeting Foundation of inconsistancy Sanctifie O Lord every Condition with Contentment unto me If in thy righteous Judgment thou take from me all outward support 〈◊〉 is that I may lean more surely upon thy self though the Gusts of Adversity storm the out-work of my Body let my Soul through thy Grace retreat unto thee as a stronger Fort. And be thou O Lord a faithful Jonathan to chear my Spirit in my extremity with thy oyl of Charity 46. Of Poverty There is no greater Tryal to a Child of God than to bring him to the Touchstone of Poverty which will discover him Christian proof or not whether his Graces be true or false Gold or Brass so was the Patience of Job proved by that grand Artist Satan whose Arguments to God was Doth Job fear God for naught wherefore God suffered him to touch Job in his Estate in his Children in his Body and all to try this Saints Patience and to defeat the Policy of the Liar If in wisdom O Lord for my Souls good thou take from me what I have it is but what thou freely gavest me at first If thou strippest my body of outward raiment clothe my Soul I pray thee with thy righteous garment If thou nippest my outward man with Winter Poverty Summer my inward man with the grace of integrity that so I may appear in thy gracious Eye a right-begotten Child and not a Bastard 47. Of Prosperity and Adversity Prosperity and Adversity are two great Engines with which the Devil useth to batter the heart of man to make it malleable to his designs If the scorching rays of Prosperity will not make man forsake his garment of Integrity he will endeavour by the boisterous blasts of Adversity to drive it from him both was experimented upon Job but in a different manner God gave Job Riches for his Uprightness but the Devil made him Poor by taking them away but not his righteousness to his sorrow leaving him an Addition of Boils and Botches which made his body as sore as his soul which was grieved with uncomfortable Friends So able art thou O Lord to preserve man in every Condition manger all the malice of Satan but since there is such danger in these extreams fix I beseech thee my unstable Soul in a middle Sphere that Prosperity may not make me forget thee nor Adversity forsake thee but feed me with Food convenient for me 48. Of Afflictions Some men are so licentiously wicked that having rioted away their Fathers blessing they make themselves miserable by demerit even to feed upon sharp and short Commons till by the scourge of Affliction they are made to retreat to their Fathers house for better Provision So God oftimes deals with his rebellious Children as a loving Father with his extravagant Son who will not give him according to his lavish Appetite to make him worse but with the Prodigals Father sends him abroad to feed upon the Husks of Misery till he return better qualified happily appointing him a Garden to relieve him from starving O merciful Father since my Exorbitances hath made me uncapable of a more immediate blessing from thy own hand yet bless me O my Father in that providential way thou appointest for me so I may have Food and Raiment I will thankfully be content not repining at the Prosperity of others whose better Ingenuity hath made them capable of a greater Portion but shall account it a happiness that thy offended Clemency doth place me in the lowest forme above my deservings and if thou shalt think it needful for me to feed upon the Wormwood of Adversity to quell my luxurious Appetite Oh! may it be as wholesome diet to prepare my stomach for the bread of Life As the waters of Marah could not be drunk by the thirsty Israelites they were so bitter till sweetned with a bough cut from a Tree so are the Waters of Affliction when seasoned with the Branch of Christ Jesus to comfort the Vitals of a sin-sick soul and is as a Julip to cool the fevorish distemper of our Concupiscence If thou Lord still please to hold forth a bitter Portion to me let me receive it by the hand of Faith and drink it as the Cup of my Salvation Some things in appearance seem Instruments of much Cruelty as the Caustick Saw and knife which being put into the hands of a wise Chirurgeon are of excellent use for the preservation of life in the cutting off a putrid member so are Afflictions in the hand of God to pare away the proud flesh from our sin-swoln hearts and to dismember us of our sinew-corruptions Wise God which knowest a Remedy for every Disease where my soul is festred with the Gangreen of sin let the Caustick of thy word be my Cure that so I may come to thee though halting with the loss of a right eye or right hand Experience teacheth That the nature of Thunder and Lightning is to purge the Air of hurtful Vapours which infests our Bodies Such are the Judgments of God to clear away the foggy Meteors from our clouded souls raised by the fiery suggestions of Satan Since thou the great Commander of Heaven and Earth directest the Intelligences for the health of our bodies how much more good art thou unto our souls the images of thee our Creator If the Lightning of thy Grace will not tender our obdurate hearts it is requisite that the Thunder of thy displeasure should fright us into obedience rather than that our souls should perish so shall it be good for us that we have been afflicted He that goeth out of the path of Gods Commandments forsaketh his own safety runs out of life into the shadow of death out of the Protection of the Almighty into the Liberties of Satan where his life is in hazard every hour through the wounds of sin without the mercy of a gracious Samaritan Lord if my unwary soul chance to stray
out of the narrow tract of life into the broad way of death O may the rod of thy love drive it in that I may walk with more caution having my feet shod with the preparation of thy Gospel 49. Of Life Natural Objects of instability instructs us of our frailty a bubble a vapor a shadow a flower are all Emblems of our Mortality which make their appearance like Philips Page to mind us that we are but men every day liable to the stroke of Death Yea man himself may read his nullity in his own Mirror for how many comes upon the Stage of this World and suddenly returns off as if they would only shew they had a being as if Nature gave them breath presently to bequeath it to death Some with Heraclitus acts a Lacrimae from the Womb to the Tomb others with Democritus a longer Commedy of much Vanity whose Exit oftentimes produceth a sad Catastrophe making more hast out of the World by the pangs of a sudden Death then they came into it by the Throes of their Birth so fragil and uncertain is our condition Muse we then our souls on these animate and inanimate Idea's of our short-lived Being What a curious Fabrick is that Chrystaline Hemesphere the Bubble as if nature composed it on purpose to remonstrate unto us by its sudden non-entity our Fragility A Vapor which is the exstract of all the Elements how soon is it reduced to its first Principles to shew us our speedy return to our original dust The Vmbra of the Gnomon how insensibly doth it steal away our time instantly hiding it self among the Clouds till it receive a second Being from the Sun which shadows forth unto us our vanishing condition to our earthly Bed till the Son of Righteousness reanimates us to eternal Happiness or Misery That Golden Flower of Affection the Marigold enough to dazel the eye of the Beholder doth emblemize unto us in the space of a day our Infancy Youth and Old Age. But admit we some of our Temperaments be so good that the storms of sickness doth not violate us in the Bud or sudden death deflower us in our full blown Glory yet considering the Sun of our life is in its verticle point of its Declination the whole being but a span shortned by every days succession and that upon a moment dependeth Eternity Let us not be such Enemies to our selves to neglect so great an opportunity of a more permanent life but learn we to busie our thoughts upon that heavenly Decree of our Mortality and daily to live the life of Grace as every day expecting the Dissolution of the life of Nature that so when the ship of our life shall run upon the ground of our Grave we may purchase to our selves a new life which shall triumph over time in a Kingdom of Glory 50. Of Death Alexander Questioning Diogenes why he pored upon a pile of dead mens Bones Answered to find out his Father Philip's Skull if possible he could difference if from others A Reply as suitable as his research both enough to flag the Plumes and darken the splendour of the Young Gallants Glory for Objects of Mortality seriously contemplated are but dusty Characters wherein we may read our own nothingness rebate the swelling Humours of Honour Beauty and Valour seeing Death makes no difference between Persons and Qualities between Royal and Plebean Dust the Worms no difference between Nereus and Thersites Beauty and Deformity the Earth no difference between Noble and Ignoble Rich and Poor being all retaken into the Womb that bore them unless it be the Addition of a Golden Epitaph upon a Marble Cover-lid to Emblemize their past Greatness if not their Goodness whereas poor Irus goes more silently to his Bed of Earth than rich Croesus not burdened with such thick Clay Gaze we not then on these gilded Vanities which like Basilisks Wounds us to death let not our Passions Soveraignize over our Affections to make us neglect the fruition of our future felicity and consequently incur everlasting Misery but muse we our Souls upon our Death-day as our second Birth-day upon our Corruption as a new Generation to a new Life that so we may not forget our return home laden with the Rich Treasure of Heaven the Works of Faith Repentance and Obedience with which we must encounter yea Conquer both Death and our selves 51. Of Hell To omit the vain Disputes where Hell is and to pretermit the fabulous Fancies of the Poets concerning Hell that the burning Mountains of Vesuvius and Aetna are the Entrances to it and Pliny pressing too near to search the secrets of Vesuvius was stifled to Death Sure I am where Heaven is not there is Hell the certainty of it prepared for the Damned Devils and Reprobate Sinners the Word of God declares unto us Tophet is prepared of old the burning thereof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a river of Brimstone doth kindle it It is that Gehenna wherein is continual weeping and knashing of Teeth that firy Gulf which never goes out where there is no Society but what will augment our Misery the Devil his Angels and Reprobate men where the Worm of Conscience is ever gnawing the fire of Gods wrath ever burning where all the Senses according to their several Properties are gulft in misery Those wanton Eyes which were ravish'd with every Beauty are afflicted with hideous Objects of gashly Ghosts Those Ears which once were nothing but spunges of Folly are now affrighted with the noise of howling Devils That dainty Nose wholly delighted with sweet Odours and rich Perfumes is stuft with the noysom stench of burning Sulphur That curious Palate which could relish nothing but what was far fetch'd and dear bought the richest of meats and drinks is miserably bitten with hunger and scorched with thirst The Understanding which would not know God and his Will is wrack'd with the knowledg of Eternal Torment The Will which ran like a Torrent into the Sea of Delights is there overwhelmed in the Ocean of Misery The Memory made to be the Key of Knowledg is grievously tortured with the remembrance of lost Felicity Thus every Sense Faculty and Member is everlastingly wracked tormented afflicted Known unto thee O God are all thy works which Praise thy Name yea Hell it self which thou madest for thy righteous Judgment doth shew forth the same As thou art God Almighty so thou art infinite in every place thou art in Hell by thy Judgments in Earth by thy Grace and in Heaven by thy Glory Hell speaks thy Justice Earth thy Mercy Heaven thy Goodness Thou art as well just in thy Goodness as good in thy Justice O then I pray thee that I may prevent thy Justice by my Goodness and that thy Justice may crown my Goodness which to obtain while I am in this middle Sphere between Hell and Heaven let the one I beseech thee in a holy fear fright me from sin which leads
this also is tolerable But thus is this Question answered A deformity may be covered but a new form may not be set upon the Face neither a new Habit on the Body The outward form and favour that man hath is the work of God himself fitted and proportioned unto man in his Conception by his special Providence Now to take in hand to amend this favour or proportion that God hath given What is it but first highly to dishonour God by presuming to adulterate his work taking upon them to amend that which as they suppose he hath made amiss Yea secretly they tax him for want of Wisdom when they thus go about to correct had make that better which God before had made And can the Eternal God endure his Secondly this is to lie to others for they make themselves to be other than God hath made them They speak in a real Language falshood and deceit A man may read a lie in their very foreheads Their Favour is a lie their Beauty is a lie c. Is it like there is truth in the inward parts when they shew dissimulation in their Faces Thirdly what is this but to be ashamed of themselves and therefore being displeased with their own colour and countenance they come like Players Masked and disguised But art thou ashamed of that Face that God hath made thee Then be thou assured God will be ashamed of that Face thou hast made thy self Thy shameless disguising will bring it so to pass that the Lord when he comes to Judgment will not acknowledge thee to be his Creature As for the defence that some do make for this their sin viz. it is to please their Husbands It is fond and foolish For first thou oughtest not to please man by displeasing God Secondly it is but a delusion of the Devil in making thee believe thy Husband will love thee the better for thy painted Vizar for indeed it is otherwise These Artificial supplies put thy Husband in mind of thy Natural defects and this at length doth breed a greater loathing I would such as use these sinful courses would be more wise and now at length renounce them For assuredly it will turn to bitterness in the end And let these remember who was the first that used this Plaistring or Fainting was it not Jezebel And was not she an arrant Whore Let such as would be so accounted use it but no other And so I conclude this Subject The manner how the Duke de Guise Persecuted the Ministers spoiled and defaced their Meetings by breaking down their Pulpits rending the Seats and battering the Windows thereof in Queen Elizabeths time ANno 1562. The Duke de Guise passing towards Paris and coming near to Vassy understanding that the Bell rang to a Sermon which was to be Preached in a Barn converted into a convenient Meeting-place in which place there were Assembled about Twelve Hundred Men Women and Children he presently went with all his Troops to the Barn Christians Murthered at a Sermon and entring it they cried out Death of God Kill Kill these Hugonots then did some of them shoot at those which were in the Galleries others cut in pieces such as they met with Some had their Heads cleft in twain others had their Arms and Hands cut off so that the Walls and Galleries of the Barn were dyed with the Blood of the Slain The Duke with his Sword drawn stood amongst them charging his Men to Kill without sparing especially the Young Men Some of these Godly Persons getting upon the Roof hid themselves there but at length some of this Bloody Crew spying them shot at them with long Pieces whereby many of them were slain falling down from the Roof like Piegeons Then they fell to Murthering of them all without making any distinction between Presbyterians and Church-men the poor Saints of God made no Resistance only Praying unto God and every one running to save himself as it pleased God to direct him many Men and Woman were slain others being sore Wounded escaped which died shortly after The Poor Mans Box was taken and emptied The Minister in the beginning of the Massacre ceased not to Preach still till one dischary I his Piece against the Pulpit Then falling upon his Knees he intreated the Lord to have Mercy upon him and upon his poor Persecuted Flock and so coming down from the Pulpit attempted to escape but by the way he received divers Wounds whereupon finding himself as he thought Mortally hurt he cried Lord into thy hands I commend my Spirit for thou hast Redeemed me O Lord God of Truth yet before he was slain some took him and carried him before the Duke who said to him Who made thee so bold thus to Seduce the people Slanders Sir said the Minister I am no Seducer but have faithfully preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them Then did the Duke Curse and Swear saying Death of God doth the Gospel Teach Sedition And calling the Provost he said Take this Varlet and hang him upon a Gibbet Then was the Minister delivered to two Pages who basely abused him The Popish Women also threw dirt at him and could searce be restrained from tearing him to pieces He was kept close Prisoner none being suffered to bring him Necessaries and he was oft threatned to be sown up in a Sack and drowned yet at last through Gods Mercy he was released at the earnest request of the Prince of Portion The Pulpit was broken down The Pulpit broken down Barbarous Cruelty the slain stript stark Naked and so the Duke departed with his Bloody Troops sounding his Trumpets as if he had obtained a great Victory The Meetings defaced When he came to Paris he with the Constable and Marshal of St. Andrews seized upon the King defaced overthrew and broke down all the Meeting-places where they of the true Religion used to Assemble which so encouraged the Popish party that in every place they so abused those of the true Religion as the most Cruel Barbarians would have been ashamed to do the like Not long after he went to Orleans boasting that within twenty four hours he would win the Town and neither spare Man Woman nor Child in it and that he would so destroy the Town that the very Memory of it together with all Protestants should be extinct for ever But Man purposes and God disposes for the same Night there was a young Gentleman Gods Judgment on Persecutors named John Poltrot who watching his Opportunity shot him with his Pistol laden with three Bullets whereof he shortly after died And Poltrot declared at his Death that he did it to deliver France and especially the City of Orleans from the Violence of the Duke of Guise And thus we see That bloody and deceitful Men shall not live out half their days Psal 55.23 After his Death the Protestants lived a peaceable quiet Life But before this Peace took place those of the Religion
began now to darken This darkness was so great that it spread over all the Land of Jewry some think over all the World so we translate it in Luke And there was a darkness over all the earth 2. About three which the Jews call the ninth hour the Sun now beginning to receive his light Jesus cried with a loud voice Eli Eli Lamasabachthani my God my God why hast thou forsaken me And then that the Scriptures might be fulfilled he said I thirst And when he had received the Vinegar he said It is finished And at last crying with a loud voice he said Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit and having said thus he gave up the Ghost I cannot stay on these seven words of Christ which he uttered on the Cross his words were ever gracious but never more gracious than at this time we cannot find in all the Books and Writings of men in all the Annals and Records of time either such Sufferings or such Sayings as were these last Words and Wounds Sayings and Sufferings of Jesus Christ And having said thus he gave up the Ghost Or as John relates it He bowed his head and gave up the Ghost And now we may suppose him at the Gates of Paradise calling with his last Words to have them opened that the King of Glory might come in 3. About four in the Afternoon he was pierced with a Spear and there issued out of his side both blood and water And one of the Soldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there out blood and water How truly may we say of the Soldiers that after all his Sufferings they have added wounds they find him dead and yet they will scarce believe it until with a Spear they have search'd for life at the well-head it self CHAP. VIII Giving an account of the manner and place of Christs Burial ABout five which the Jews call the eleventh and last hour of the day Christ was taken down And Mary caused certain Ministers with whom she joyned to take her dead Son from the Cross whose body when she once got free from the nails she kissed and embraced with entertainments of the nearest vicinity that could be expressed by a person that was holy and sad and a Mother weeping for her dead Son She now bathes his cold Body with her warm Tears and makes clean the surface of the Wounds and delivering a winding Napkin to Joseph of Arimathea gave to him in charge to enwrap the Body and embalm it to compose it to the Grave and do it all the Rites of Funeral He obeys her Counsel and ventures upon the displeasure of the Jewish Rulers and went confidently to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus and Pilate gave it to him Joseph therefore takes the body binds his face with a Napkin washes the body anoints it with Ointment enwraps it in a composition of Myrrhe and Aloes and puts it into a new Tomb which he for himself had hewn out of a Rock it not being lawful among the Jews to inter a condemned person in the common Coemeteries for all these circumstances were in the Jews manner of Burying But when the Sun was set the chief Priests and Pharisees went to Pilate telling him that Jesus whilst he was living fore-told his own Resurrection upon the third day and lest his Disciples should come and steal the body and say he was risen from the dead desired that the Sepulcher might be secured against the danger of any such Imposture Pilate gave them leave to do their pleasure even to the satisfaction of their smallest Scruples They therefore sealed the Grave rolled a great stone at the mouth of it and as an ancient Tradition saies bound it about with Labels of Iron and set a Watch of Soldiers as if they had intended to have made it surer than the Decrees of Fate or the never-failing Laws of Nature A Funeral Sermon FOR THAT FAITHFUL AND LABORIOUS Servant of CHRIST Mr. JOHN DVNTON Who Deceased November the 4th 1676. in the 48th Year of his Age. By N. H. Minister of the GOSPEL O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.55 LONDON Printed for John Dunton at the Black Raven in the Poultrey over against the Stocks-Market 1684. Introduction DEarly Beloved should a Stranger behold the face of this vast Assembly and see all the honourable Persons here present with the great number of Ministers that are come this day to attend this mournful occasion and such a great confluence of all ranks and qualities in this dejected posture they would say as the Inhabitants of Canaan did when they saw the Mourning for old Jacob in the floor of Arad This is a grievous Mourning to England and would certainly enquire what eminent Person what great Man is this day fallen in our Israel But you who knew the worth of this Excellent Person whose shadow lies there before you do rather wonder that all faces are not covered with blackness and all bodies with Sackcloth and come hither so fully prepared to Mourn that you even long till something be spoken of him that you may ease your hearts a little though it be with weeping I must needs confess I have been so surprized with sorrow my self that I thought it hardly possible for me to undertake this service but that I must have covered over my Affections and his Elogies as the Painters did Agamemnons grief for Iphigenia with a veil of silence But stay a while I beseech you and weep not so abundantly as I see many of you now do till I deliver an Errand from God the ground whereof you shall find in 1 Sam. 25.1 And Samuel died and all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him and buried him in his house at Ramah DEarly Beloved the work in hand is a Funeral the Party deceased worthy Samuel the Mourners all Israel the place of Burial his own house at Ramah The whole passage penned either by Gad or Nathan as it should seem by the Chronicles at Gods appointment whose Eye follows every Mourner here and therefore it behoves us to follow his voice with our best attentions For my own part I am very sensible of the Difficulties I now sustain for the subject of our Discourse Samuels Funeral is enough to astonish any Israelite for matter it is not easie to say what will be most expediently said and for manner we have things almost incompatible to reconcile plainness and briefness in the same speech The Text gives some advantage by its plainness and fulness yielding matter of large use from two sorts of men of highest quality viz. from Samuel dying and from Israel mourning And first of Samuel he dies And in his death let 's read our own and grow to this conclusion Death is unavoidable Life and Death take turns each of other the man lives not that shall not see Death be he a King with Saul a Prophet with Jeremy a wise
the glory of the World comes to the Funeral all Israel all at once in the same 〈◊〉 they come from far they 〈…〉 wings of the 〈…〉 all Mourn 〈…〉 to bury him in his own Town at his own House What can be done more in Samuel's Honour To be Buried is an Honour buried in ones own Countrey much in his own place more but to be so buried as Samuel was in such a place by such a People with so many Tears so great a Solemnity this is Samuel's Happiness and the Saints Honour You see then our third Doctrine An Holy and Profitable Life ends in a Happy and Honourable Death Life is Deaths Seed-time Death Lifes Harvest As here we sow so there we reap as here we set so there we gather of Holiness Happiness and of a blessed Life a Death as blissful He that spends himself upon God and Man shall at the last have all the Honour that Heaven and Earth can cast upon him So Samuel found it so Jacob few men comparable to him in Holiness as few so Honourably Buried So Asa Hezekiah Josiah David c. but especially for Josiah and Hezekiah those great Reformers those Profitable Members the Text takes special notice of their Obsequies Josiah having received his Deaths-wound abroad is brought home in his Chariot and much Honour attends him to his 〈◊〉 he is Buried amongst his Fathers and 〈…〉 nay all Judah and the Neighbouring Towns are Mourners Vse And is this so Then here we see what course must be taken if we will arrive at Honour Men may dream to meet with Honour in many paths they may think to make their Name famous by other means But when they have tyred themselves in seeking this in by-paths as the young Students Elijah's Body they must with them seek in Heaven if ever they will find A Godly fruitful Life hath a fairer prospect towards Honour than all the Advantages in the World besides Be one as poor as Onesimus yet if Onesimus that is Profitable his Name out-lives him Be one as great as King Jehoram or Jehoiachim if he idle out his Life he lives undesired he dyes unlamented What we hear spoken we see executed in all Ages Consult with your own Experience and tell me whether the Names of Idolaters Drunkards Adulterers Swaggerers be not rotten and accursed in despite of all Monuments Titles Offices Policies Favours whatsoever When in the mean time the Righteous notwithstanding all slanders clamours imputations and aspersions is of blessed Name and Memory And if so feed upon the Wind no longer build Babels no more lay no more Foundations in Hell whilst you think to erect a Building by flattery baseness dependency lying swaggering c. but go to the Lord of Honour for lasting Honour Pray much Read much Hear much Honour him in all the passages of his Worship and you have his word for your Preferment And as for men be to them as Jehoiada was profitable and they shall be to you as Israel to him Merciful Ah the fruitful liver finds Mercy in his death his Conscience favours him and heartens him upon death it self The Angels of God those Officers of Heaven comfort him and fetch him in all state to his Crown the Lord of Glory receives him with all Honour and puts upon him the Glory of Heaven the Saints departed regard him as a part of themselves of Christ the Saints living honour his Name and follow him to Heaven with their Loves and Affections The wicked have a world of Commendations for him and the blind Balaam can say O that my end may be like his Thus Honour and Happiness and nothing else abide us hereafter if now we can lay forth our selves to God and Mans Advantage But for the wicked who bestow themselves in the World like Drones in the Hive who either have no Calling or do no Service and towards God so demean themselves as if they were his betters scorning his Children scoffing at his Word trampling upon his Name his Sabbaths his Worship let them never deceive themselves their Names shall rot they shall find no favour in Death their Consciences shall brawl them out of all quiet Men shall rifle into their lives their whoredoms treacheries villanies shall flie thorow the world every Drunkard shall sit upon them every rake-hell judge them censure them and deride them In the mean time whilst that the Name is thus torn below the Soul is brought before the Judge Convicted Committed to Hell covered with shame delivered up to everlasting contempt O then be not cursed but blessed be Happy be Honoured be well thought of in Life well spoken of after Death be Righteous be Humble be Serviceable this is the way as Heaven tells us a Samuels Life will draw on a Samuels Death nothing else In a second place let this afford comfort to fruitful Members and faithful Christians Let them know that the World will change ere-long the wicked who have now the applause must down the godly who are as yet under shame shall one day shine as so many glorious Suns in the highest Heavens Yield then beloved to the Worlds Sons let them have the place give them leave to speak the time will come when Honour shall know its home and Innocency have its Crown All the wiles in the World shall not keep the wicked from contempt nor all the wits in Hell the Godly from Honour Samuels Name may be over-cast and clouded for a time but in the end his light will shew it self Whilst he is present he is not valued but this is Samuels Honour when gone he is mist when dead he is lamented all Israel strives to do him all Honour Blessed be that Life that ends in so glorious a death thrice happy that Man whom Angels God and all Men do strive to Honour A true Christian may travel in life under Troubles and Contempts but marke his end and you shall find as Peace so Honour When he is Buried a true and honourable Funeral is Solemnized men mourn not in the Face but in the Heart respect him not in shew but in truth their Consciences Reverence him their Souls find a miss of him the Angels of Heaven man him in a goodly Train to Heaven the Saints on Earth follow him with greatest Affections to his Grave Seven nay thrice seven Years after the Funeral he is not forgotten Thus are the men whom the great King loves Honoured And now shall Men and Women bear with patience the absence of dearest Friends when it is for their outward preserment And when Christ would Marry a Child prefer a Friend advance our Acquaintance should we stand off No If this be the worst that Death can do to the Godly to strip him of his Rags and cloath him with Robes to free him from all contempts and possess him of greatest Honours to redeem him from all shame and to Crown him with Glory in the Hearts Mouths Consciences of Men in the face of Heaven and
any difference betwixt thee and a Reprobate God found it not in thee but did put it into thee thou art of the same nature with them thou hadst no more ability to work out thy own Salvation than they had Thou seest many commit lewd pranks some Murder others Whoredom c. Thou leavest yea hatest these things What is the cause surely Gods Grace and only Gods Grace Give Glory therefore unto God praise his name yea let all that is within thee praise him And ran Behold the readiness of this Father to receive this his penitent child the one is not so willing to return as the other is joyful to receive The Father seeing of him coming doth not stay until he cometh but ariseth to meet him yea and when he was a great way off so far as he could see him he goeth to meet him and stayeth not for his coming nigher Hence learn God is very ready to shew mercy to everytrie Penitent So saith the Prophet Esay He is very ready to forgive Those Titles given him for his name testifie as much The Lord the Lord Strong Merciful and Gracious c. The Reasons are these First because man is the Workmanship of Gods own hands and therefore he is the more ready and willing to save him A third Reason may be this because none might despair of his mercy he is ready to shew mercy that by the example of such as have found mercy others also might resort and repair unto him for mercy in the time of need Is this so that God is ready to forgive every true Penitent then let none lay the fault upon God if they perish in their sins for God is ready and desirous to forgive and doth often call upon us to turn from our evil ways that so we might not perish Secondly seeing this is so that God is ready to shew mercy to every one that seeks it let this be as a spur and goad in our sides to make us turn unto him and seek for Mercy at his hands He will not be wanting to thee if thou beest not wanting to thy self The last Use may serve for Imitation Let us be like to our Heavenly Father and be as ready to forgive others who have offended us as God is to forgive us who have and do daily offend him It may be fome have offered thee wrong yea great wrong yet must thou forgive and that readily Why is there then so much suing and intreating and begging for Reconciliation before Pardon be obtained Remember God is more gracious unto thee and oughtest not thou to be so unto thy Brother Further in that we here find the Son coming to confess and the Father running to forgive Hence learn we God is more ready to shew Mercy than Penitent Sinners are to sue for Mercy the one comes softly the other swiftly the Father was the forwarder of the two Vse Take notice then of Gods wonderful Love who albeit he be the Party that is offended yet is more ready to forgive than we to seek or to beg Pardon Secondly let this serve to increase our boldness in coming to the Lord thou canst not be so forward to come as God is to meet So ready to crave Pardon as he is to forgive He fell on his neck and kissed him Here is a joyful meeting betwixt so good a Father and so bad a Son Mercy and Truth are met and each of them kiss the other Here is Truth in the Prodigal for he dissembled not and Mercy in the Father He fell on his neck c. By these Circumstances the heat and fire of his Affections is declared and his entire Love unto his Son expressed for a kiss hath ever been as a pledge and pawn of kindness which is possessed by it By this Ceremony or Rite they did express their Love in the time of the Primitive Church one to another which Ceremony continued till the days of Justin Martyr in customary use before their approaching to the Lords Table thereby to testifie their hearty Reconcilement each to other this was called a Holy Kiss It is a Ceremony also of Civility and hath been and is still in use Thus Joseph Blessed his Brethren and fell upon their neeks and kissed them c. When Judas the Traitor studied with himself what course might be the best to bring Christ to his death he could devise not a more subtil shift than under a shift a pretence of kindness to cover his Villany When the Church in the Canticles sueth to her Spouse to shew his Love unto her she intreateth him to kiss her with the kisses of his mouth viz. that he would manifest his Love and Affection unto her by manifest and good tokens Thus the Father kisseth his Penitent Child thereby to seal and confirm his love and good will towards him that he might make no doubt thereof So then in that the Father doth thus manifest and declare his love and good will to his Son after his coming into his Presence hence let us learn this Lesson God will manifest and make known his love unto his Children by evident signs and tokens upon their Conversion and turning to him And were it not so how could we be affected with it What is it for a blind man to know that the Sun is a most glorious bright Greature when he himself doth not see it So what is it for a Man to know there is much love hid in God except he have some sense and feeling of it Now to the Vses And first is this so that God doth not only love and inwardly affect his Children but doth also manifest the same by signs and tokens that they may be out of doubt thereof Then this may serve to confute that Doctrine of the Church of Rome who hold that no man can be certainly assured of the love and favour of God he may hope well and so forth But no man can have any assured Confidence What is this but a Rack and Torment to weak Consciences What doth this but extinguish the truth and sincerity both of faith and love towards God What Fruit bringeth this but impatiency in time of trouble and Persecution and indeed maketh a way for desparation of Gods Mercy Secondly let this stir up every one of us to a diligent examination of our selves whether God hath as yet kissed us with the kisses of his mouth whether he hath as yet manifested his love unto us by signs and tokens For till we have assurance hereof what comfort can we have And in the last place this may serve for the great comfort of all such as have Gods love manifested unto them by the former signs For as the terrors are great which that Man hath in his Conscience who is in doubt of the love of the Almighty towards him so is the comfort as great which that Man hath who is hereof perswaded For come tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril
or sword or life or death yet the certainty of Gods love will support him And the Son said unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy Son Now we come more particularly unto the words which are a Confession of sins made by this Prodigal unto his Father Wherein observe First the Matter of his Confession I have sinned Secondly the Circumstances as First to whom viz. to his Father Secondly the manner how And that was with Exaggeration Against Heaven c. Humiliation And am no more worthy c. The Reasons of this point are these First God cannot in Justice forgive except we make our Confession unto him If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins saith St. John But if there be no Confession then there is no promise How can God then without violating his Truth shew Mercy unto such And therefore saith Solomon He that hideth his sins shall not prosper but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have Mercy Such a one then as doth thus confess may look for Mercy and none else A Second Reason is Because there is no sound Repentance for sin where there is no true Confession of sin For the inward sight of sin would open our mouths and cause us to confess it When the Heart is pricked words will break forth the Tongue cannot forbear As we see in David who so soon as his heart smote him for numbring of the People cryed out I have sinned exceedingly in that which I have done Thus out of the abundance of the heart will the tongue speak as Christ saith These may be the Reasons The Uses follow And First seeing this is so That whosoever would have Pardon of sin must confess the same This serveth to Reprove such as look for Pardon on Gods part but will bring no Confession for their part Is this so that there is no Remission where there is no Confession Then let this Admonish every one that desires to have their sins remitted to see that they be truly and unfainedly confessed Conceal them not hide them not excuse them not defend them not and above all take heed of glorying in them Seek not with Achan to hide that cursed thing it will prove thy overthrow Be not Secretary to the Devil it is no good Office conceal not that which God commands thee to make known Sins that are smoothered will in the end fester unto Death Remember Remission is promised but upon condition of Confession suffer then no sin to go unconfessed which thou wouldst not have to go unpardoned And so I pass from this to a third Use which is for our direction For must Confession go before Remission then let every one look that as they confess so they make an upright confession Many have confessed yet found small comfort as Pharaoh Saul and Judas with many more if therefore we would speed better than they did we must look that our confession be better than theirs was Father Here we see to whom he makes confession It is not to the Servants nor to his Brother but to his Father Hence learn Confession of sin must be made unto the Lord. I acknowledged saith David my sin unto the Lord. The Reasons are these First All sin is committed against God True it is we may hurt and wrong men by our sins and bring much damage both to the Body and Goods of others by the committing of them as David to Vriah but the chiefest dishonour is against God whose Law is broken and transgressed Secondly God only can forgive sins and none but he It pertaineth only unto God to say I have Pardoned I will not destroy And Lastly Confession of sin is a special part of Divine Worship Now God will not give his glory to another he will not have any part stakes with him Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Now for Uses And first for that Auricular Confession held and maintained by that man of sin which upon pain of Damnation must be made in the Ear of a Priest by every one immediately before the receiving of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper A cunning invention for the discovering of all states and for the upholding and enriching of that Covetous and Ambitious See Hereby they come to know the Hearts and Affections of Men and knowing them they can quickly tell what course to take for themselves either for bringing good or preventing mischief for the enriching themselves and impoverishing of others Is this so that confession of sin is to be made unto the Lord Then see thou fly unto him when thou hast offended and make known thy faults to him whom thou hast much dishonoured Against Heaven and in thy sight He doth not mince and extenuate the matter he saith not Father I have sinned but I had no bad meaning I knew not what I did Neither doth he plead the instability of his Youth to extenuate his fault but he aggravateth and enlargeth the grievousness of his sin and sets it out to the uttermost 1. I have sinned 2. Against Heaven 3. In thy sight All tend to the aggravation of his fault To break a Lawful command enjoyned by the Magistrate though of Ignorance is a fault wilfully to break it is a greater but to do it in his sight and presence argueth great Rebellion From the Prodigal his Practice let us learn Doct. That it is the property of a true Penitent not to mince or extenuate his sin but to aggravate and set it out in the worst and vilest manner that he can The Reason may be this Because the Eyes of a Penitent are in some measure opened so that he now seeth sin in its own colours and apprehendeth it as a deadly Enemy to Gods glory and his own Souls Health Now we know how ready we are to speak the worst we can of those who are Enemies unto us and to set forth their vile Practises to the uttermost Thus the hatred he beareth unto sin causeth him to think that he can never sufficiently display it and maketh him so disposed as that no malicious wicked man can so set forth the faults of his Enemy whom he deadly hates as he desires to set forth the loathsomness of his own sin Thus we have seen the Reason The Vses follow And is a Penitent thus qualified Is there such a disposition in him as that he will lay to his own charge as much as possibly he can Then what shall we say of such as study this Art of mincing and extenuating sin The sins of others they can enlarge they have both will and skill in setting open to the view of the whole World in every branch and circumstance the faults of others so that many times they appear to be greater than indeed they are But in confessing of their own sins they have no such gift nor faculty than they have not done