God for by faith we are become the children of God This Faith in Christ the Law doth not teach the former Covenant would not accect What to bring to the Law the Righteousness of another the satisfaction of another and to trust upon that to be entertained and received the Law rejects it Thou must pay thy self in thy own person and with thy own goods thou must yeeld perfect obedience to the Law and fully accomplish it in thy own person it will not receive payment of another for thee it will not accept satisfaction of the righteousness of another on thy behalf But oh the sweetness of the Doctrine of the Gospel If we have a Treasurer that is able and willing to pay the debt that will tender and make payment of it we shall be accepted for his sake so that we give him the glory of resting upon this payment and be not so absurd as to mix any action of our own to that payment that â—…e hath made fully and compleatly for us This is a Doctrine of sweetness and favour and great compassion that though we cannot do it of our selves we shall be accepted if our Surety will do it for us so that we give our Surety the glory of being a prefect and able pay-master and relye wholly upon his satisfaction The last part of the condition on our side is that we yeeld New obedience to the Law Perfectly to obey it to which we are tyed hy the former Covenant But now this is the obedience of the Gospel a thing far different from the obedience of the Law that was formerly required in the old Covenant there a man was tyed and bound to obey perfectly fully compleatly without any defect In a word he must pay the uttermost farthing he must do his duty his whole duty in in all the parts and degrees with all fulness of perfection absolutely without any defect or want without any imperfection at all An impossible labour for corrupted men a service that none all having lost those abilities that God gave man at the first can ever reach to But then cometh the sweet Gospel the Doctrine of grace and favour of tender compassion and faith thus If thou wilt consent to obey thou shalt eate the good things of the Land If you mortifie the deeds of the body by the spirit you shall live Rom. 8.13 But if you though never so much in shew under the Covenant of Grace live after the flesh you shall die Ye see New Obedience is required absolutely as a Condition of the Gospel for the obtaining of everlasting happiness for the escaping of Death and Saint John faith If we walk in the light we have fellowship one with another and the bloud of Christ shall purge us from all sin so that this walking in the light and New Obedience is obsolutely required of all those that intend to be made partakers of Christ and his benifits they must give up their souls and bodies as instruments of his glory and not serve sin any longer in the lusts thereof they must not give their members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin but live as becometh them that are one with Christ mortifying all the lusts of the flesh and quicken themselves or being quickened with him to parctise all good things required in his word and to obey all his commands which was first written in Adams heart and then in Tahles of stone This New Obedience is the same in substance that was required in the former Covenant but now with a gracious acceptation of endeavour after perfection instead of perfection the former tyed us to the obedience of all that was required in all fulness and then promising acceptance but the obedience that the Gospel requires is striving to this perfection in truth and sincerity desiring and labouring after it in putting out our selves towards it and then promising acceptance through the perfection of Christ in and by which our imperfections are done away Now Brethren you understand what this saying of the Lord Christs is by vertue of the keeping of which we must be secured if we be secured from the hurt of Death What is it now to Keep the saying of Christ It is to inform our Judgements in the understanding of these truths and assent to them as truths and to practise and follow them to do the duties which we have heard to practise the Doctrine of Repentunce and Beleeving and Obedience I confess our Saviour doth proclaim it thus Repent and beleeve the Gospel but for the more clear explaining of it we make new Obedience a thing of it self and not included in the Doctrine of Repentance for it is an act of that whereof Repentance is a resolute wishing and desiring A man cannot possibly rest on Christ for salvation till he hath so asked pardon as he resolveth an amendment and when he hath this resolution and relyeth on Christ for the pardon of his sin then from him he receiveth power to amendment of life and so his purpose cometh to action and his desire to execution Thus alone these two things differ as far as I conceive Now I say this is the Doctrine of the Gospel and to keep it is to know and beleeve and follow it to beleeve and obey as Christ faith If you know these things there is one part of the duty happy are you if you do them there is a second for they can never be done except they be done as known And thus I have interpreted the first part of the Proposition namely the Antecedent Let us say somewhat of the latter too the benefit that followeth upon the former duty and for the obtaining of which the former duty is necessary namely that he shall never see death What is it to see Death And what Death is meant here To see good things in the Scripture phrase is as much oftentimes as to enjoy them to have the benefit and commodity of them to receive them to entertain them Without holiness no man shall see God that is no man shall enjoy God Blissed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God that is thay shall enjoy God On the contrary to see a thing that is tearmed Evil is to be annoyed with it to have the hurt of it lying upon a man and pressing him down as they in Jeremy said Let us go into Egypt where we shall not see sword or famine meaning that they should not be pursued by war and want of things needful so that by seeing evil is meant the evil lying upon one and annoying and hurting one and so I suppose it is meant here And by Death is meant Natural and as we may tearm it supernatural and eternal Death For the keeping of Christs sayings so freeth men from the latter as they never come neer it and so freeth them from the former as they never dread to be under the power of the latter And the first Death of
have lost the jewel doth less set by the casket yet he who loves much and highly esteemeth of the soul of his friend as Alexander did of Homer cannot but make some reckoning of the Desk or Cabinet in which it alwayes lay we have a care of placing the picture of our friend and should we not much more of bestowing his body If burial were nothing to the dead God would never have threatned Coniah that he should have the burial of an Ass nor the Psalmist so quavered upon this doleful note dederunt cadaver servorum tuorum coeli volucribus O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple have they desiled and made Jerusalem an heap of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to the fowls of Heaven But thou shalt be buried in a good old age Procopius observeth it in Miriam Aaron and Moses that as they exceeded one the other in holiness so in dayes for Aaron out lived Miriam and Moses Aaron long life is a crown when it is found in the wayes of righteousness cum senectute bona and albeit it is almost the burthen of every mans song that age is a burthen and a perpetual disease or rather a continual tract of diseases and a sequence of maladies yot none for ought I see goeth about to lay down this burthen or to be cured of this disease even they who most eloquently declaim upon the vanity and exclaim against the miseries of this life and wish a thousand times that they were dead would be loath to be taken at their word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greek signifieth praemium a reward as senectum old age and doubtless old age in general is so to be accounted for it is reckoned among the blessings which God bestowed upon Job Isaac David and Jehoida who are all said to have dyed in a good old age or full of dayes riches and honour For howsoever to some men in some case contraction of their dayes hath proved an advantage by abridging their present and preventing their future forrows as it was to good King Josiah who was timely taken away that he might not see the evil which after his death fell upon his people and to Saint Austin who dyed immediatly before Hippo was taken Yet length of dayes ordinarily is a blessing and promised to such as obey their Parents honour thy father and thy mother that thy dayes may be long as on the contrary shortning the dayes of life is threatned by the Psalmist as a curse to the blood-thirsty and deceitful man and Eli took it for such when Samuel from God told him there should not be an old man in his family Howsoever if old age be not perpetually and simply a blessing in it self yet as it is here qualified with bona I am sure it is The Almond-tree is beautiful of it self how much more when it is hung with jewels and precious stones as Xerxes his Platihas was and crowned with health riches honour and the comfort of a good conscience These make old age such a burthen as bladders are to him that swimmeth which bear him up or feathers to a bird which though they have some weight yet by them she raiseth her self up and flyeth By this time you expect I know the application of this Scripture but it is made already not in word but in deed not by me but by him whose empty Casket we behold with tears yet rejoycing that God hath taken out the jewel to adorn his Spouse the triumphant Church in Heaven He is already gone in soul to his Fathers and is now going in body to them to be buried in their Sepulchre his body and soul are now distracted and we for his distraction his soul is gone and our hearts are gone I ever held sighs the best figures and tears the fluentest rhetorick in a Funeral speech if I had better known this honourable Personage I could have spoken more in his praise yet no more then the City and Conntrey will prove to be true by the miss of him Desiderantur reliqua 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 10 PAEAN OR CHRISTS TRIUMPH OVER DEATH A FUNERAL SERMON Preached at Lambeth August 3.1639 SERMON XLIII 1 COR. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory I Fear lest some here present that are of a more melting disposition stung with the sense of their present loss and overcome with grief and sorrow for it may frame an answer with a deep sigh to the Interrogations in my Text saying here is Deaths sting here is the Graves victory here is Deaths sting for it hath stung him to death who was the stay of my comfort and joy of my life here is the Graves victory for it holdeth the Corps of my dearest Friend captive and close prisoner in his Coffin If any thus troubled in mind hear me this day let them stop the flood-gate of their tears and lengthen their patience but to an hour and by Gods assistance in the Explication and Application of this parcel of Scripture I will make it appear to them that their Friend is not dead but sleepeth and that death hath not swallowed up him but he hath swallowed up death into victory and that already in soul he insulteth over Death in the words of my Text O Death where is thy sting and shall hereafter in body when this corruptible shall put on incorruption insult in like manner over the grave saying O grave where is thy victory This sentence is like a Ring of Gold enamelled or cloth of Tissue imbroidered or a peece of rich plate curiously wrought and engraved materiam superavit opus the workmanship seems to go beyond or at least equal the mettal for this sentence consisteth of three figures at least First an Apostrophe which by a kind of miracle of art giveth life to dead things and ears to the deaf like to that O earth earth earth hear the voyce of the Lord. Secondly an insultation like to that in the Prophet Esay Where are the Gods of Hamar and the gods of Arphad or the gods of the City of Sepharvaim Thirdly a double Metaphor the former taken from a Serpent Bee Wasp or Hornet the latter taken from a Conquerour for Death is here compared to a Bee Wasp Hornet or Serpent without a sting the Grave to a Conquerour that hath lost his booty or prisoner O death c. Such Drawn-works wrought about with divers coulors of Art we find often in the Sacred coutext especially in the Prophesies of the old Testament and the Epistles of Saint Paul in the new If we look up to the heavens we find in some part of the skie single starrs by themselves in others a Constellation or conjunction of many stars so in some passages of holy Writ you may observe one figure or trope as namely a membrum or similiter cadence as I was hungry and you gave me meat
Death and therefore when by faith he looks upon Christ and through him upon Death he looks upon that as a thing made instead of poison a medicine instead of a destroyer a Saviour and deliverer as a means to free him from the bondage of sin and misery and afflictions c. Thirdly Doth God do this that he may make men more holy and watchful in their course then certainly the more thou canst purge out thy sin in the course of thy life the less thou shalt fear death The sting of Death is sin then if thou wilt have Death comfortable let thy life be conformable to Gods rule and word or else every sin will present it selfe in death before thee specially those sins thou allowest thy self in will make Death as bitter as Hell Fourthly Doth God do it for this end that he may make thee better prepared for death Then the more thou art prepared for Death beforehand the less thou shalt fear it when it cometh upon thee it will not come as a stranger but thou wilt be ready to receive it as one with whom thou art acquainted already It is a great matter if men could learn this wisdome to die daily that is be every day imployed as dying daily I mean for the manner of your carriage not for the matter for the substance of the duty If a man were sure to die this day he would lay aside all business and set himself to be prepared for judgment and would lay aside the use of any other comforts and delights But this is not the meaning but this that we carry our selves in business every day as if death should seize upon us in that business that we might be found well-doing that is when a man followeth his earthly business with a heavenly mind when he keepeth to the rule of righteousness and truth in his ordinary calling when he is doing or receiving good in his company when he useth his pleasures and recreations as the whet-stone to the Sithe to make him fitter for God I say when thus we do things to a right end and in a right manner if Death now should seize upon us in such an action it should find us well-doing And this is that we perswade you to if you would have death comfortable and not tertible be so imployed as that your actions may be good both for matter and forme that you are now about because Death may stricke you in such an action But I cannot stand on these particulars Again for the causes in our selves If you would be freed from the terrours of Death then rectifie your apprehensions and opinions of Death think of it as it is as it is I say to beleevers to those that are in Christ It is not the destruction of nature and so a natural Ill as you account it It is rather a cure of nature for assoon as ever we live we are dying and all our life it is but a living death a continual decaying and dying Now when death cometh it putteth an end to all the decayes of nature and setteth all right again It is but a sleep and sleep it is not a destruction but a help of the body and that which inableth to vigour and strength and fitnesse to action Again it is not the distruction of any part of a man the body it self is not destroyed indeed it is in the Grave but it is in the grave as in a bed of peace They shall come and rest in their beds saith the Prophet The grave is but as a bed wherein the body lies asleep and no man you know is troubled with fear that he goeth to bed The grave is but as Gods chest to keep in all his Treasure whereof the bodies of his servants are a part precious to him even in the grave in death Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and God will open this Cabinet and the Chest of the Grave in the great day of the Resurrection and bring the body out again and then it shall be as good as ever it was nay I say not only as good but much better too for our vile bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Christ Phil 3. No man when he goeth to bed thinks much to have his old cloathes taken off that they may be mended and made better against morning When we sleep in the Grave it is no more but this the garment of the soul the body the old apparel that is taken off that it may be made better and a more glorious body this is all we lose nothing by it but our estates even our bodily estate is bettered by it And for the Soul Death doth not destroy that neither for know this the soul liveth for ever the bodie indeed returneth to the Earth as it was but the soul returneth to God that gave it The soul I say liveth that is the thing that Christ himself proveth in 22. Mat. Abraham is alive why so for God is not the God of the dead but of the living for God said I am the God of Abraham c. How can this be that God is the God of Abraham and yet he is dead Indeed he is dead if we looke to the separation of the soul and body in the cessation of bodily actions but if we looke to the better part of Abraham his soul that continueth the everliving God hath made an everlasting Covenant with him and therefore he dieth not Again it is not only not the destruction of nature but not of your actions neither Death doth not destroy them neither Indeed there is a cessation of bodily actions but it is that the body may have better strength and be the fitter instrument of holiness after But for those actions of the soul that depend not upon the body they are as perfectly done when we are dead as when we are alive and better too When a man liveth upon the earth you see his soul is much hindered by the body A distempered sick crazie body or a full well-fed body is a hinderance to the soul because of that tie that is between the body and the soul and the spirit so there is a simpathy the soul is affected somewhat in this sense But it is not so then the soul shall be loosed from the body and so freer for spiritual actions then now it is The souls under the Altar they crie How long Lord holy and just wilt thou not revenge our bloud upon them that are upon the earth The souls of Gods servants you see then are glorified when they are out of the body and therefore shall glorifie God more prefectly and enjoy God more freely and fully then now while their souls are in these mortal bodies And at that very instant when the soul of Cods servant is carried out of the body to heaven it more perfectly injoyeth Christ and is more sensible and more fit to answer the love
it is for good use as well to remember and consider it as to understand it But now I go on to tell ye what the Scripture teacheth concerning Death for that giveth a perfecter and larger information of the thing then the dim light of Nature The scripture then over and above that which Nature sheweth telleth us concerning Death these things First it sheweth better what it is and then It sheweth whence it cometh and what are the causes of it Thirdly it declareth the consequences what follow upon it And lastly and bestly it tellech us the remedy against the ill of Death In all which Nature stumbleth and can do little or nothing First the Scripture telleth us what it is It telleth us how that it is the disolution of a man not the annihilation It doth not make him cease to be but takes asunder awhile the soul from the body It carrieth the one to the earth and the other to another world so that both continue to be though they be not united as before The word of God teacheth us that he hath created the world as it were a house of three Stories The middle is this present life where we be And there is a lower place the Dungeon a place of unhappiness and destruction there is a higher place a pallace of glory According as men behave themselves in this middle room so Death either leadeth them down to the place of unhappiness or conveyeth them up to the pallace of glory and blessedness This Nature is ignorant of but the Scripture is plain in The rich man dieth and his soul is carried to Hell the poor man when he died his soul was advanced to Heaven So that Death is nothing but the messenger of God to take the soul out of the body and to convey it to a place of more happiness or more misery then can be conceived Secondly the Scripture acquaints us further with the cause of death Philosophers wondred since nature desireth a perpetuity and continuance of it self that man should be so short a time in the world The Scripture endeth this wonderment and tels us that man indeed was made immortal to continue for ever and should not have died but sin came into the world and by sin death Death is the mother of sin and of all misery that by little and little draweth to death I say sin the first sin of our first Parents whereby they transgressed that most easie and equal mandate about eating the forbidden fruit That transgression that was the treading under foot the covenant of works and the disanulling of it that sin let in Death at a great Gap and now it triumpheth and beareth rule over all the world Nature cannot tell which way in the world a man should die so soon and that he that is the Lord of all creatures should be inferiour to a great number of them in length of life But the word of God unriddleth this riddle and telleth us that God made man that he might and should have lived for ever but Sin coming and coming in the person of the first man it brought death and made all men mortal and when sin entred Gods curse came and that working upon us poor and miserable creatures it is the cause that we cannot continue long here It was equal that death should follow sin for since God made man to obey his will when man had unfitted himself for Gods service it was reason that he should have a short continuance of life for the longer he endured the more he would abuse himself Ye see then two things that the Scripture teacheth concerning death The third thing it sheweth is what followeth after death and that is plain It is appointed for all men once to die and after death cometh judgment Narure never dreamed of judgment after Death but the Scripture telleth us there is a judgment after Death Judgment what is that Judgment ye know is a calling of a man before Authority a looking into his wayes a considering of his actions a finding out whether he be a sinner an evil-doer and if he find him so to passe sentence according to his evil deeds When God hath took the soul from the body he takes the soul first and after both soul and body and presents them before his own Tribunal and there searcheth into every mans life ransacks his conscience looks deep into his conversation and inquireth into his secrets openeth his actions and whole carriage from his infancy to his last breath and findeth out the things that he hath done and passeth sentence according to that he hath done This Indgment hath two degrees First assoon as a man dieth No sooner is the soul separated from this case as it were the body but instantly it is presented before the Lord Jesus Christ and there he passeth sentence either that it is a true beleever a godly liver a person united to Christ that walked as becometh the Gospel of Christ and then it receiveth glory and joy and bliss for the present more then tongue can express Or else it findeth against him that he was a sinfnl man a wicked man a hyyocrite a dissembler one that named Christ with his tongue but did not depart from iniquity nor live according to the Gospel of Christ and then he is delivered up to Satan to be hurried down to Hell and there to suffer the wrath of God according to the desert of so great wickedness This particular judgment passeth upon every soul assoon as it leaveth the Body Then followeth the great universal Judgment when soul and body shall be reunited and stand before God every particular man that ever hath been is or shall be every man shall appear in their own persons their whole lives shall be laid open all secret things shall be made known for God faith the Apostle shall judg the secrets of all hearts by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel This is the third thing that the word of God informeth us concerning death that nature could never do The last that is the best the Scripture giveth us a remedy against the ill of death It is a pittiful thing to hear of mortality and sickness if there were not a good Potion or Phisick prescribed to ascape the ill of it To hear tell of Death and so tell as the Scripture saith that it is a going to another world of weale or woe and not to hear of a remedy it is woful tydings and would wring tears from a hard heart But the Scripture makes report of death not only tollerable and easie but comfortable and gladsome to a Christian heart for it sheweth by whom and by what means we may infallibly and certainly escape all the hurt that Death can do Nay by what means we may order our selves so that Death may be beneficial to us What is that In one short word It is Christ I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in
feed this people with Wormwood and give them water of gall to drink and I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them Do not many cry out as they in Jer. 23.33 What is the burthen of the Lord Where is it that the Ministers have not been threatning judgement and telling you that God is coming out to be avenged upon a sinful nation have they not been crying thus this seven ten twenty years Where is that burthen of the Lord Well you shall find what it is when the day of the Lord cometh a day of blackness and terrour it hasteneth and this very security is an evident sign thereof even as in the dayes of Noah that Preacher of righteousness and in the dayes of Lot that vexed his soul with the unclean conversation of the Sodomites they would not beleeve their words but they seemed unto them as if they mocked and then came the judgment of the Lord upon them If this be not the estate of this Land at this day what means the complaints the heaviness of the spirits of the Prophets What means their tears and cries and prayers because of the obstinacy and hard-heartedness of people that will not be drawn from their sins by any means This is a second evidence or sign when all this crying and calling will not awaken that we are in a deep sleep of security Thirdly another evidence is the vain hopes of this Land It is a signe of carnal security and that we are all in a dead sleep when we have such idle dreams out of idle fancies and vain confidence that delude and deceive men What do men rest on to secure and perswade themselves of immunity from wrath and impunity Certainly this that we have the ordinances of God amongst us Oh the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord. Alas had not the people of Israel the Ark and yet the Philistims took the Ark and slew the sons of Eli. Had they not the Temple and yet the Lord in Jer. 7.11 Sendeth them to Shiloh Go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel And now because you have done all these works saith the Lord and I spake unto you rising early and speaking but you heard not and I called unto you but you answered not Therefore will I do to this house which is called by my name wherein you trust as I have done to Shiloh Had not the Churches of Asia the golden Candlestick and yet are they not now tributary to the Turk The ordinances of God beloved are means to increase and hasten a judgment when we shut our eyes and will not open them but walk in darkness Oh but there was never so many Preachers nor so many means there seems to be a new spring of the Gospel there are abundance of men that come daily furnished for the Ministery and are zealous and forward and powerful Prophets and the like and therefore it is a sign that much good is intended towards us and that no judgment shall come But do we not read that immediatly before the seventy years captivity there were more Prophets then in many years before Why should we rest in such things as these But nevertheless we have many good people that are full of prayers and tears and they shall deliver the Island It is true there are many blessed be God and we have cause to wish that there were many more and to say as Moses said to Joshuah when he would have had him forbid Eldad and Medad that prophesied in the Camp of the Israelites Would God that all the Lords people were Prophets and that he would put his spirit upon them So we of such godly men that walk with an upright heart would God that there were many such But yet are not these as Lillies among Thorns a few amongst many men Are not these the objects of reproach and contempt amongst an unrighteous generation Who are the men that are cryed down most by the world that are most opposed and injured by all men Are not these they that support the land by their prayers and hold up all by their standing in the gap May we not rather fear that God will avenge the quarrel of his servants upon an ungracious and ungrateful people they live amongst What shall we speak of other things Did no Bozrah in Jer. 49.16 boast her self of her scituation that she dwelt in the clefts of a rock Saith God though thou hidest thy self in the clefts of the rock though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the Eagle I will bring thee down from thence It is not talking that our Island is scituate in the Sea and environed with walls Judgment can leap over the Sea as well as the pestilence hath done our walled Towns It is a vain thing and yet if you hearken to the discourse of most men you shall see that this is that that keeps them secure Or it may be as some in Isa 48.15 We say they have made a covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass thorow it shall not come unto us Well saith the Lord your covenant with death shall be dissanulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall pass thorow then you shall be trodden down by it When judg ment cometh of all the people in the world it shall certainly meet withyou What mean these idle dreams and vain-conceits that when we go on in an unreformed condition and in a course of sin and impenitency yet because you have the Ministers and the ordinances and the people of God amongst us because we are convenient for scituation and such like things These are vain things they will do us no good at that time and for the present they shew our security our horrible security Fourthly take another evidence and that is the abounding of the sins of the Land Were it possible that at such a time as this of shaking the Rod the Sword over us when judgments are upon the Nation that there should be such abundance of iniquity in all places if men were not in a dead sleep How doth drunkenness stagger and reel in every street How doth pride vaunt and boast it self in every Church and Assembly though it be cryed down never so much Alas beloved are these times to pride up our selves in vanity Are these times to run after the sensual and sinful courses of an ungodly generation These are times wherein God calleth for fasting and brokenness of heart Lay aside thy fine apparrel saith God to the people that I may know what to do unto thee We shouldlay aside these things that we may shew our selves to be men awake But men generally do so abound in wickedness and ungodliness that we may rather conclude
rashly and inconsiderately and divers things out of incogitancy that he knows not what he doth he is unfit for holy duties unstable in all his wayes As he is thus in regard of his place and calling so in regard of the duties of Gods service he cannot do these with a quiet heart with a peaceable spirit while he is possest with these fears You shall see almost all the sins in the world come from this fear What was the reason that Abraham and Sarah did equivocate was it not fear in that particular of men more then God and so they put God upon a miracle to preserve Sarahs chastity in the case of Abimeleck What was the reason that Aaron yeelded to make an Idol for the people of Israel and so joyned in Idolatry with them he was afraid of the people that they might do him some hurt he durst not trust God with his preservation So Peter denied his Master out of fear What is the reason that a Minister doth not sometimes reprove sin that a Magistrate doth not sometimes reform that that is amisse It is slavish fear they will not trust God to maintain them in his own cause What is the reason that many servants lie c. it is out of a slavish fear of their masters And so in regard of the things of the world men are inordinately afraid that they shall lose somewhat they possess and therefore they take indirect courses Still this slavish fear and horrour and distrust of God it is almost the cause of all sin as we may observe in the world This being so prejudicial in the last place let us fence our hearts against this fear By this means we shall honour Religion and make our lives comfortable incourage other Saints of God and draw people to like Religion when it yeelds such sweet contentment to the souls of men For do but once again muster together all our enemies and see if we have cause of fear For our spiritual enemies Will any man fear a wounded foe for the Lord God hath wounded Satan and trampled him under our feet and brought us as Joshua did his Captains to set our feet upon the neck of principalities and powers that through the mighty power of God we are more then conquerours and shall we fear such an enemy as this Shall we fear those sins that we are humbled for and which God hath made as if they had never been For the evils of the world Why should we fear them those corrections that are immediatly from God there is no cause of fear in them As thus If God take away thy Wife or thy Child or thy friend or a part of thy substance what cause of fear is there Fear not faith God I will chastise thee in measure and will not make a full end of thee Jer. 46.28 yet thou shalt not be altogether uncorrected And then remember God proportions the correction to our strength as a Father not as a Judg he aims at our amendment not at our ruin If he take away a friend that we doted too much on if we set our minds too much on the world and worldly things God will deprive us of them and so by this be all in all to us and draw us neerer to himself have we cause of fear to fear that that comes from God No will some say if we fall into the hands of God there is mercy but the mercies of men are cruel What if unreasonable men deal with us have we not reason to fear ill from them they are outragious and cruel they bend their malice against us and if the enemy should come and make an in-road into our country and bring devastation what should we do then I answer first in all things that fall from men there is a provident hand of God therefore faith our Saviour to his Apostles when he would incourage them faith he there is a providence even concerning sparrows there is none of them light on the ground without the providence of God So when he would encourage his Disciples against their adversaries your very hairs are numbred As if he had said Almighty God knows how many hairs every man hath upon his head he numbers all our joynts he tells our steps there is nothing befalls us but what the provident hand of God is in And wicked men the Divel and all his instruments God hath them in a chain they cannot go one step further then he gives them leave Again consider what God laid to Abraham here I am thy shield In regard of all the evils that men attempt against us whether in regard of scoffing or persecution and open hostility or whatsoever God is our sheild And the Psalmist calls him else-where our strong tower You know how it is if men incounter a strong Tower the enemy must first batter the Tower about their ears before they can hurt the men If a man fight with an enemy he must pierce his shield before he can hurt the man We may speak it with sacred reverence to the Majesty of God they must overcome God himself before they can hurt his people in doing any thing that shall prove in the event hurtful as long as they keep close to God The Lord intimated this to the people of Israel The Egyptians marched and followed hard after them to devour them with open mouth God when he saw that he removes the pilsar of the Cloud and set it between them as if God should have said to them you deceive your selves to think to conquer my people you must conquer me before you conquer them So God is our strong Tower our shield and our deliverer and he will find deliverance for his people some way or other from the evil or in the evil or out of it as shall turn to our exceeding advantage For suppose the worst that can be supposed that wicked men are let loose on us to do all that their malice can invent they can but touch the body the shell of the soul and let the prisoner out of doors Upon this argument Christ incourageth us Fear not them that can kill the body but fear him that can kill both body and soul As if he should say Do the enemies threaten death they promise you life the greatest advantage and the happiest day that ever can befall a man that is in covenant with God is the day of death Then all they can do is to kill the body for a while which God will raise maugre the malice of the Divel and all his instruments and possess the soul of that bliss that is prepared for it And in regard of Death why should we fear that if we be in covenant with God the nature of it is changed the sting is out and it is become beneficial But you know the Saints die still The red Sea swallowed up the Egyptians but contrariwise to the Israelites it was a wall
may be comfortably ready to entertain it So much may easily be gathered out of Simeons words here Nunc dimittis Now let thy servant depart He did not as it were take a day over in which and against which to be provided as though he should have said Lord now will I settle my self to make provision for my last end but even now Lord at this very instant if thou wilt Death hath been my ordinary meditation and if thou wilt now call me home to thee I am ready to depart As in the former point I shewed you how Saint Pauls longing agreed with Simeons Oh let thy servant depart faith Simeon I desire to be dissolved faith Paul So here I will shew you that there was the same care in respect of Death in Saint Paul as in Simeon Now if thou wilt faith Simeon I am now ready to be offered faith Saint Paul And else-where I did daily I am ever thinking upon death and daily making provision for my end This was holy Jobs mind All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come there was a continual expectation So teach us to number our dayes prayeth Moses that we way apply our hearts to wisdome And what wisdome did he wish he might apply his heart unto but this a holy care to make provision for another world seeing in this there was no continuance The same in effect the Authour to the Hebrews professeth touching himself and those that were like to him that they had here no continuing City but did seek one to come We know faith he here is no abiding we dwell in tents which must remove in houses of clay which will be broken therefore we desire to be ever ready for that place which is of more perpetuity And so much may be gathered from that which is upon record concerning Joseph of Arimathca he did not only make ready his Tomb in his life-time but in his garden his place of solace and delight and how could so good a man so often think on death without labouring and caring to be ever provided for the same and therefore our Saviour Christ compares his faithful servants unto those which daily wait for their Masters coming Now the reason which so much prevails with the godly in this particular and which ought to be of sufficient force with every one is first the certainty and uncertainy of death Morte nihil certius As sure as Death is an ordinary Proverb What man is he that liveth and shall not see death faith the Psalmist That all must die it is Heavens decree and cannot be revoked The thing it self we see is most certain yet for some circumstances most uncertain for first Tempus est incertum No man knows when he shall die in the night or in the day in Winter or in Summer in youth or in his latter age Secondly Locus est incertus None know where they shall die whether at home or abroad in his bed or in the field who knows but that he may die in the Church of God even while he is asleep at the Word Thirdly Mortis genusest incertum No man can determine how he shall die whether suddenly or by a lingring sickness whether violently or by a natural course These things the servants of God know full well and seriously weigh the same and that makes them to make conscience of continual preparation that whensoever or wheresoever or howsoever they die they may with comfort commend their souls into the hands of God as into the hand of a faithful Creatour Secondly they know the misery of being taken by Death unprepared put case a man should die as Ishbosheth lying upon his bed at noon or as Jobs children while they are seasting or that a man like the rich man in the Gospel should have his breath taken from him at the very instant having made no provision for another world what hope can there be that such a one should be saved They know thirdly that the time of sickness is the most unfit time for this business of preparation the senses are then so taken up with the pain of sickness that a man cannot think seriously upon ought else and besides it is not in our own power to turn to God when he will ordinarily God forgets those in sickness that forget him in health And it is commonly seen that that preparation for Death that begins but in sickness is as languishing and faint as is the party from whom it comes And although Vera poenitentia be nunquam sera yet sera poenitentia est raro vera Though I say true repentance be never too late yet late repentance is seldome true when men leave their sins because they can continue to practise them no longer what thanks have they or what can that repentance be These things work with Gods servants to study to be ever ready for the Lord not to delay preparation but to seek continually to be provided My exhortation hence shall begin with that speech of Moses Oh that men would be wise to understand this and that they would consider their latter end I would there were a heart in us to entertain this doctrine in our best thoughts I remember the Complaint of old that men had made a Covenant with Death and were at agreement with Hell Death indeed will make truce with no man but here is the meaning Evil men perswade themselves that they are in no danger of hell or of the grave Death will not come yet thinketh the oldest man and when it comes I hope I shall do well enough thinketh the most godless man Thus men couzen themselves with their own fancies and so Death steals upon them at unawares and becomes Gods Sergeant to arrest them and to carry them away to eternal condemnation Who amongst us is able to say truly and upon good ground as Simeon Now Lord if thou wilt now command Death to seize upon me welcome shall it be unto me I am even now ready to receive it How many are there that are extraordinary ignorant in the means how to escape the sting of Death How many extreamly secure that never in their lives yet thought earnestly upon this how they may die with comfort and end their dayes in peace How many prophane ones that set light by Death being apt to say like those Epicures Edamus c. Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die How many that do put all to a desperate adventure God made us and he must save us and we shall do as well as please God and there is an end How many are there whose hearts albeit they be in the house of God and in his presence are notwithstanding fraughted with malice with envy with worldliness with disdain with secret scorning repining at the Word which they hear with wearisomeness with spiritual sleepiness and security You
themselves and pay him So liberal a Patron he was that he not only freely bestowed all the Benefices that fell in his gift but was also at all the charge of institution induction composition first-fruits and whatsoever burthen fell upon the Incumbent Such patterns of Patrons we may rather wish then hope for after him what shall I need to add more concerning him whose birth was illustrious his education liberal his Patromony great his Matches sutable his life exemplary and his death comfortable Single vertues we meet with in many but such combinations as were in him such affability in such gravity such humility in such eminency such patience in such trials such temperance and moderation in such abundance as we have just cause to bless God for in him so we have great cause to pray for in others of his Rank In his tender years he was set as a choice Plant in the famous Nursey of good learning and Religion the University of Oxford where living as a Commoner in Corpus Christi Colledge under the care and tuition of Doctor Sebastian Wenfield he very much thrived and grew above his equalls both in grace and in knowledge gaining to himself as much love as learning After he was removed from thence he fell into very great troubles as well before as after the death of his Father but the Lord delivered him out of all These crosses and afflictions served but as Files to brighten those gifts and graces in him which shined afterwards most brightly in his more setled estate and eminent employments being chosen Deputy Lievetenant in Wiltshire Commissioner in three Shires Four times High-Sheriff and often Knight for the Shire in Parliament in all which places of important negotiations and great trust he so carried himself that all men might see in all his actions he had a special eye to the Motto in his Escouchion Jeay bonne cause for with Mary he alwayes chose the good part and stood up for the truth which he confirmed with his last breath You have heard what he was in publick but what was he in private we have seen him in the Sun how demeaned he himself in the shade True Religion is like the precious stone Garamantites which casteth no great lustre outwardly but semper intus habeat aureas guttus but we may discern as it were golden drops within Three of these after I have presented to your view I will then set free your patience and give your sorrow full scope to vent it self in tears The first of these was tenderness of conscience which is one of the most infallible tokens and marks of the Child of God so tender was he that he would undertake no business before he was fully perswaded of the lawfulness thereof both by clear texts of Scripture and the approbation of most learned and conscientious Divines he made scruple not only of committing the least known sin but of imbarking into any action which was questionable among those that love the truth in sincerity And therefore although God blessed him with great wealth and store of coyn yet he never put it to Usury or Intrest thereby to increase it for he held the tolleration of the Law in this Kingdome to be no sufficient warrant for any violation of the divine Law the destinctions lately coyned of toothless and biting Usury he no way allowed judging truly that all Usury according to the Hebrew Etymology is biting and hath not only teeth but Adders teeth envenomed for all Usury if it bite not our Brother as per accidens sometimes it may not yet it biteth the conscience of all such who have any remorse of sin The second aurea gutta was Christian compassion whereby he took to heart the afflictious of Joseph and misery of Lazarus whose fores he cured with the most precious balsamum he could buy for his money What Pliny writeth lib. 32. c. 8. Attalus usus est Thynni recentiores adipe ad ulcera on the Fish in Latin Thynuus that it is a soveraign remedy against many diseases and cureth all kind of ulcers was truly verified in him for he furnished himself with the best cordials and the rarest medicinal receipts and when he heard of any poor sick or hurt he not onely sent them money but Bezar and balsamum thinking nothing could cost him too dear whereby he might save the life or recover the health of the poorest member of Christ Jesus In the years of death and sickness he sent provision to all the Parishes about him and thrice a week relieved a hundred at least at his gate neither did his compassion die with him for in his Will and Testament confirmed by him the day before his Death he bequeathed divers Legacies to the poor whereof these following came to my notice To Saint Margarets in Westminster 10. pound To Kempsford 60. pound To Cosley 60. pound To Froome and the Woodlands 100. pound To Warmester 100. pound To Deverill and Mounten 100. pound The last aurea gutta which I shall present to your view at this time was his servency of zeal for the truth of the Gospel in all the Benefices which he bestowed he took special care to make choice of men sound in the Faith no way warping either to Popish superstition or schismatical seperation as he made greatest accompt of those Ministers of the Gospel who were servent in spirit zealous for the truth so he hated none more then temporizers and luke-warm Loadiceans he seldome spake of any Romanist without expressing a great detestation of their idolatry and superstition the night before he changed this life for a better after an humble confession of his sins in general and a particular profession of the Articles of his belief in which he had lived and now was resolved to die he added I renounce all Popish superstition all mans merits trusting only upon the merits of the Death and passion of my Saviour and whosoever trusteth on any other shall find when he is dying if not before that he leaneth upon broken reeds Here after the benediction of his Wife and Children being required by me to ease his mind and declare if any thing lay heavy upon his conscience he answered nothing he thanked God yet like an obedient child of his Mother the Church of England both heartily desired and received her absolution and now professing that he was most willing to leave the world he besought all to pray for him and himself prayed most fervently that God would enable him patiently to abide his good will and pleasure and to go through this last and greatest work of faith and patience and the pangs of Death soon after coming upon him he fixed his eyes on Heaven from whence came his help and to the last gasp lifted up his hand as it were to lay hold on that Crown of righteousness which Christ reacheth out to all his children who hold out the good fight of Faith to the end and conquer in the end Which