DEATH'S SUMMONS AND THE SAINTS DUTY Laid forth first summarily in a Sermon on 2. King 20.1 in the Cathedrall of St. Peter in EXETER Janu. 24. 1638. at the solemne Funerall of a well-deserving CITIZEN Since somewhat enlarged for the Common good by WILLIAM SCLATER Master of Arts late Fellow of KINGS Colledge in CAMBRIDGE now a Preacher of Gods Word in the City of EXETER LUKE 12.20 Thou foole this night thy Soule shall be required of thee PROV 27.1 JAM 4.13 14. Boast not thy selfe of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Quid cogitas te diù victurum cùm nullum diem habeas securum Claudius Viexmontius Parisiensis Institut ad Poenitent part 1. cap. 1. LONDON Printed by Richard Hodgkinson 1640. TO The Right Worshipfull PETER SAINTHILL of Bradnynch Esquire one of the Masters of His Majesties Court of Chancery Justice of Peace for the County of Devon c. an eminent example of Piety and worth the happinesse of Heaven and Earth Much honored Sir AFter I had though not without many modest reluctations first from within obteyned leave of my selfe to make those thoughts which have already in some part passed in a transient sound by the eares of some legible in a larger Volume by the eyes of many I could not bethinke mee of a Nobler Patronage than from your selfe a worthy not more highly placed upon the hill of deserved Eminence then as your Name proclaimes you in your conspicuous and devout practices a most accomplished and exemplary Saint My engagements to that * Mr. Peter Tayler good friend whom I have have not lost only seene to be sent before me to his heaven whose decease gave an hint unto these slender yet as my hope is usefull meditations were such as that methought I could not suffer my respects to yeeld up with him on a suddain their last Ghost nor one grave to swallow both his corpse and memory I tooke therefore this cue of opportunity as to testifie my respectivenesse to him and to those surviving who most neerely related to him so withall to leave some publique monument of all gratitude most worthy Sir to you not more endeared unto him dissolved in his life time than rich in many favors to my selfe which were therefore the more Noble and of higher value for that they utterly transcended all deservingnesse in me should I attempt on this occasion to blazon the armes of your eximious worth resplendent in a Coate whose crest must needs be glory embellished by so various graces which like the a Can. 1.11 golden borders of the Spouse overlaid with silver having the best sides inwards in a close integrity set you beyond the reach of flattery or the shocke of envy alas the best Heraldry of mine eloquence would here be posed and in so copious and full a theam my oratory quite languish under the povertie of but-apt expressions give me leave then to admire what I am not able by mine insufficient quill to amplifie enough in you Let this suffice your verie Name so well resembled in your b Conveniunt rebus nomina saepesius actions hath made you a perfect Mirror to the West Lord what a blessed prospect is it thus to view greatnesse and goodnesse as righteousnesse and peace to c Psal 85.10 claspe each other or like Davids Palace and Gods Tabernacle to dwell d Psal 132.13 14. together upon one Sion Goe on Noble Sir to credit your Countrey the love whereof is like the orient rayes of the brightest Taper of the Firmament universally displayed upon you by your worthy undertakings persist couragiously to be not more a promoter than as you have long beene a e Matth. 5.9 maker of peace and amity it shall winne you f Rom. 15.13 peace of soule and carry you upon the wings of honour as another Noahs Dove to the Arke of that happinesse into which the g Isa 9.6 Prince of peace himselfe shall h Gen. 8.9 receive you out of a troublesome and stormy world by the armes of his mercy Continue still to make your House a Temple where the dayly incense of Devotion ascends up as a rich perfume sweetened by the i Rev. 8.3 4. Angell of Gods presence unto Heaven and where each tongue to me seemed as a severall Organ to sound out Gods praises Be not k Gal. 6.9 weary to daigne countenance and encouragement to the l 1. Tim. 6.11 men or God who m 1 Tim. 5.17 labour in the Word and Doctrine Loe we need such Patrones to support us under the unworthy affronts of carnall and besotted earth-wormes who sleight and under-value even the n Matth. 7.6 Pearles of Heaven it selfe because which is their grosse stupidity and o 2. Cor. 4 4. blindnesse brought to them by us but in p 2. Cor. 4.7 earthen vesells This poore piece of my Labours in the Lords great q Matth. 9.37 Harvest humbly prostrates it selfe to be shrowded under the wings of your favour vouchsafe to cover it by them it shall under such a protection slight the meagre aspects of any whether malecontented or malevolent dispositions The Sermon was at first indeed in Preaching but as that r 1. King 18.44 45. little Cloud like to a mans hand seene by Elijahs servant from the top of Mount Carmel but it 's now swollen and womb'd-out into a bigger one from whence if but some few drops distill to refresh the Lords ſ Psal 68.9 inheritance I shall rejoyce in that good God of mine who hath thus farre t 1. Tim. 1.12 enabled me after my u Rom. 12 3. measure for his weighty service Nothing remaines but that I earnestly implore the full blessings of Gods both hands to be powred upon you and with you upon your vertuous Consort and Familie and that the x Heb. 13.20 21. God of peace who brought againe from the dead our Lord JESUS that great Shepherd or the Sheepe through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to doe his will working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen Your most true honourer in my thankefull observances much devoted William Sclater Exon 12. Febr. 1639. DEATHS SUMMONS AND THE SAINTS DUTIE 2 KINGS 20.1 In those dayes was Hezekiah sick unto death and the Prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him and said unto him Thus saith the Lord set thine house in order for thou shalt dye and not live MY Text yee see is Verbum diei in die suo much like to King Salomons apple of gold in his picture of silver a word spoken in due a Prov. 25.21 season and as that golden apple artificially set within that hollow silver globe when placed against the orient brightnes of the Sun did thorow that chrystall glasse fastened in the globe before it attract
beholders delightsomely to view the beautie and the splendor of it so may this word so opportune and seasonable raise up your serious thoughts unto its observation And for that I find this storie of Hezekiahs sicknesse no lesse than thrice reported viz. in 2 Chron. 32.24 in Isa 38.1 and here in this Text and ingeminations or redoublings of the same things in the Scriptures being no vaine tautologies but the stronger arguments to perswade our notice for this it doth promerit also if not chalenge your best attention The Division We have in the words read two generall parts 1 Hezekiahs sicknesse and 2 Isaiahs visit or The Kings evill and the Prophets charge or commission to him under that evill each of these againe are amplified by severall circumstances 1 Of the person sick Hezekiah a King and hee not more great than good 2 Of the disease it selfe aegrotavit he was sick 3 The extremitie or the danger of that disease it was mortall and deadly aegrotavit lethalitèr he was sick unto death 4 Of the time when in diebus illis in those dayes In those dayes was Hezekiah sick unto death Thus for the first generall In the second also we have many particulars to be noted as 1 The person comming to visit the sick Prince and he described to us a three-fold way 1 By his name Isaiah 2 By his function a Prophet 3 By his pedegree or birth the son of Amoz who was descended as some say of the blood royall it selfe The Prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz Here is the visit it selfe He came to him 3 His employment when come a punctuall deliverie of his message or commission from the Lord which is described to us in a verie Rhetoricall way 1 Formally He said unto him thus saith the Lord. 2 Materially and this three wayes 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Positively Morieris Thou shalt dye 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Negatively to cut off all hopes of a further prorogation ac non vives and not live Lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a serious exhortation what in this desperate condition he would advise the King solemnly and without delay readily to resolve upon and that is to make his will to set his house in order e're a sudden stroke of death should seize him ô Hezekiah listen unto me thy Prophet set thine house in order for thou shalt dye and not live These are the parts the present measures of my Sermon and your Christian patience which yet I shall be forced to pace over as King David did before the Ark * 2 Sam. 6.16 2 Sam. 6.16 in a manner without stay leaping and for that they be so many in number I shall doe as your Lapidaries of rich jewels are wont only shew them to you in a glance or cursorie sight and so put them up againe The same hand that gave the opportunitie vouchsafe to give successe to this busines In those dayes was Hezekiah sick unto death c. The person that leads me by the hand to my first discourse is Hezekiah The first Part. who was both a mightie and withall a godly Prince his greatnesse and his goodnesse like Davids palace and Gods Tabernacle dwelt both together on mount b See Psal 132.13 14. Sion or like to Jonathan and David they were lovely and pleasant in c 2 Sam. 1.23 their lives and in their deaths they were not divided or like to Ezechiels d Ezek. 1.21 wheels and the living creatures which were both lifted up from the earth together of his honour opulencie and exceeding riches we have a large record e 2 Chro. 32.27 2 Chron. 32.27 and of his pietie and goodnesse f 2 King 18.3.5 2 King 18.3 5. He did all that which was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that David his father did he clave to the Lord so that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him besides we have a set commendation of him in Syracides g Ecclus. 48 17. Ecclus. 48.17 Yet neither could the glittering of his Diadem or the wealth in all his store-houses or all the honor he had before the people exempt him from the common fate of all men as Death is said to be to Nature which still desires to preserve it self in being from destruction which appeares in creatures meerly sensitive as the Beaver to preserve his life bites off his cods and leaves them as the prey to them that chase him as Death I say is unto Nature 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the King of feares so is it also the feare of Kings great ones be indeed as Gods h Psal 82.6 Psal 82.6 by * See Dr. Sclater my father Serm. at the Assises at Tanton Edit 1616. p. 8. upon that Text. deputation and by authoritie delegated from on high but it is all but tanquà m lumina illuminata as S. Austin and Lyra interpret so only by participation as the stars are lighted from the chiefe taper of the Sun all earthly majestie being but a ray of that which is omnipotent and independant above in heaven even there all crowns are cast before the Throne of God i Rev. 4.10 Apoc. 4.10 how much more must they be so here below therefore it is added in the Psalme that they shall die like men indeed it is true as * Agapetus in Paroen ad Justinian Agapetus told the great Justinian that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the right and eminencie of dignitie they resemble God being clad to borrow k Psal 93.1 Davids phrase with majestie and honour before the people their loyall subjects yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the substance and the composition of their bodies of the same materials with meanest men so that it is certain though they be gods with men yet are they men with God and come all under that one common doom Cinis es in cinerem Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne l Gen. 3.19 Gen. 3.19 Heare this then ô all ye gilded potsherds of the earth ye great ones all I meane that would faine nestle in the clouds and in your soaring thoughts with that proud Persian Sapor write brother to the Sun and Moone and like those twelve great Caesars divide the moneths betweene your selves singing to your beguiled soules as that Atheist in the Gospell m Luc. 12.19 Soul take thy rest for many years lo thy coffers are full crammed with golden ingots thy barns and territories grown wider and be enlarged vain man Truly saith the Prophet n Psal 144.4 Psal 144.4 Man is like to vanitie or as o My Lord the peerlesse Bishop of Exeter in his Character of man p. 33 Edit 1635. one most divinely doth invert the sentence Vanitie is better like to man for verily everie man living is altogether vanitie Selah p Psal 39 5 6. Psal 39.5 6. yea and
poles beate it from him then the shoulders of Atlas had ne'r sunk under the waight of that globe or Archimedes with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e're found out death nor Thales the Milesian Astronomer whiles he went gazing after the stars been emplunged in a pond where that was a bathing could the Physitian a Luke 4.23 cure himselfe of it then Aesculapius nor Hippocrates had ever wanted potions to keep it out yea if the Musitian make a league with death and meant to be homo fidissimus most true to his notes most sweet in his tunes most lawny in his touches yet would he be forced at last frangere fidem to crack his bargayne and to breake his stringes and his finest aires like some faire coloured silkes if too much ayred they will lose their glosse and all his descants be exchanged in the issue into a sad ground by death in a word nor can the Metaphysitian by all his abstractions so acutely contemplate it severed from all bodyes in his braynes but it will closely be shooting of a forke into his sides and as Joab did Abner b 2 Sam. 3.27 stab him at unawares the Arithmetician by all his numbrings and rules can never make death to serve for a cypher to conclude nor can the Moralist with all his Ethicks tutor this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rough hewen fellow so much as unto a civill forbearance no more regards it the Cardinall vertues then the Cardinals cap. Truly saith Salomon c Eccles 1.2 all is vanity and againe one generation d Eccles 1.4 passeth and another generation commeth but no generation staieth there is a time saith he to be born a time to e Eccles 3.2 dy but I find not there is any time to live for orimur morimur nascimur morituri as St Bernard tels us though in all things else there be a peradventure as St Austin tels us yet in death there is none peradventure a child is conceived peradventure it 's an Embryo in the wombe peradventure it is borne peradventure he passeth through all the degrees of age and in the issue if ye make up an acrosticke out of the foure first f Feltham Resolve cent 2. resol 57. in sine capitall letters of Puer juvenis vir and senex the foure degrees of age yee shall finde the word and the man pius peradventure again on the other side a man may like to the river Jordane glide thorow his life in a silver pleasant stream whilest he hems in himselfe within the banks and bounds of Civility and yet in the end empty himselfe out into the g Magirus geograph in descript Palaestinae p. 241. edit 1608. in 8◠dead sea of impiety and prophanenes but now in death there is no peradventure at all no that 's without all peradventure for 't is not said wee may but we must Dye though not perhaps statim presently yet surely ad tempus h Heb. 9.27 statutum at our set day by God therefore the period in the story of the creation of the longest-living man is this And he i Gen. 5.27 dyed Moses for that cause partly it may bee immediately after his Genesis wrote an Exodus In short no age can balke it for as death hath an axe to hew downe a snowy headed Methuselah into the grave so hath it also a bow to reach the yongest man afar off even whilest the marrow is in his bones and the k Job 21.24 milke is in his breasts as Job speaketh even whilest he is going forth as the Giant like-Sun delighting to run his course in his full l Psal 19.5 strength and might yea sanctity it selfe hath not the priviledge of exemption here for even of Abraham the peerlesse and prime example of Faith we read that satur dierum being full of dayes he gave up the Ghost and m Gen 25.8 dyed wherefore though Hezekiah here were a gracious and a great Saint yet he must at last too be n Gen. 25.8 gathered as the Scripture phraseth it unto his Fathers at his death and dissolution so that when the Prophet here saith unto him from the Lord that he shall dye what new or what strange thing is there in it But if I mistake not his ayme is now to tell him that he shall dye of this particular disease and plague-sore now upon him and so indeed the learned Junius reades the Text Tu o Junius ad locum brevi moriêris Thou shalt dye shortly thus much for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the positive part of his speech Thou shalt Dye Now secondly for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Negative part to cut off all hopes of any farther prorogation he saith unto him And not live that is Not live longer but speedily be dissolved and die But how was this Prophesie of Isaiah accomplished how fulfilled sith we find it in the Story in the 5th and the 6th verses following of this Chapter that he dyed not so speedily no nor of that sicknesse then upon him for he recovered having used the remedy of the p Isa 38.21 bunch of Figges and the execution of the sentence of Death was adjourned longer off even to fifteen yeares more Like instance we have in the case of Nineveh when the Prophet told the City that there were yet but q Jonah 3.4.10 forty dayes before it was to be destroyed and yet we read the contrary and of a longer time in point of execution What was the reason why there was an implyed condition according to Gods ordinary dispensation in those comminations of outward judgments of repentance expected which being actually from the Throne unto the Sheep-crooke universally fulfilled the Execution was adjourned Just thus it fared with Hezekiah in this place the Prophet told him that he should dye and very shortly too of that disease he now laboured under but the devout Prince well knowing the God he served so r Isa 38.3 uprightly for the maine in all his dayes was such a God as was a present ſ Psal 46.1 helpe in the needfull time of trouble and that if in the day of trouble he did t Psal 50.15 call upon him onely and seeke unto him u Job 8.5 betimes and x Hos 15.5 early God would deliver him and so his Saint delivered should glorifie him wherefore Hezekiah doing this and performing this condition of humble penitent invocation as David by his Confession when clearely by the Prophet Nathan he was convinced of his sin procured a speedy y 2. Sam. 12.13 absolution so he obtained a quick adjournment of the present execution of Death to which now under that instant sicknesse he was sentenced by the Prophet for thus we read verse the second Then he turned his face to the wall and z 2. King 20.2 3 4 5 6. prayed unto the Lord and verse the third He wept sore
upon which verse 4 5 6. the Prophet is sent back againe unto him from the Lord with gladsome tidings of his sure recovery of that though mortall sicknesse and withall of the adjournment of his day of death to fifteen yeares of longer time And thus much also of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Negative part of the Prophets saying unto the King Thou shalt not live But now before the Prophet had a warrant to returne him tidings of recovery he first found him desperately diseased and sicke unto death and what then doth he he bestowes his most usefull and most seasonable exhortation upon him which is the third branch of his saying to the King the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the advice of the good Prophet to him in his dangerous condition in these words which concerne us every one of us very nearely also even now most seriously to consider of Set thine house in order I might here take occcasion to mention and discourse of the severall sorts of houses that the Scriptures doe at large point us to The first is the bodily house or the house of the * Corpus nostr◠quaedam domus est quod in eâ anima velut inhabitat Gerardus Moringus ad cap. 12. Eccles 2.3 body which is also in an Analogicall resemblance styled by Saint Paul a Temple yea the a 1. Cor. 6.19 Temple of the holy-Ghost 1 Cor. 6.19 in regard of the b 1 Cor. 3.16 inhabitation of Gods spirit there 1 Cor. 3.16 in this house of the body the c Eccles 12.3 4. keepers are the hands the grinders are the teeth the strong men are the legs those that looke out of the windows are the eyes the d See Mic. 7.5 doores are the lips all which are Solomons expressions the daughters of Musique are the eares and lungs the kitchin we have in the stomacke where is the pot that e Stomachus propior coquendi alimenti officina Antonius Coranus Hispalensis paraphras ad 12 nm eccles v. 3. boyles our meat as Anatomists observe and after the Chylus and the Chymus the first and second digestion or concoction the liver turns the good nourishment into blood and disperseth it as the spirit of life into the severall and the proper veins the excrementitious part is from the hepar by the spleene conveied unto the spermaticall vessels or else into the ventricle which holds what is as by a chanell conveied unto it till at the backe doore it be voyded out againe to gratifie nature and to ease her of a burthen for this house of the body there is some good order to be set and taken My Son sayth the wise man in thy sicknesse be not negligent but as thou must in the chiefest place pray unto the Lord that he will make thee whole so withall thou must f Ecclus 38.1.9 honor a Physitian with the honor due unto him for the uses which you may have of him for the Lord hath created him But this is not the house to be set in order by Hezekiah now shortly by the Prophets saying to Dye mainely intended in this text Secondly besides this bodily there is also a spirituall house within where the minde the spirit and the understanding is as it were the g Matt. 6.22 eye to see and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the guide to direct all the under and inferiour faculties the servants the will is as the chiefe steward in this rich palace of the soule that receives the immediate h Lege eruditum Hemmingii librum de lege Naturae dictates and commands of the understanding unconstraynedly but but yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Philosophy we use to speake upon election and deliberation too yeelding unto consenting and obeying that as good which the chiefe Master of the house the mind first assented in himselfe unto as true and fit to be obeyed next to this the concupiscible and the Irascible faculties as inferiour servants waite to desire what the will propounds as good or else to fume and fret at what may seeme to crosse eyther the Principall masters or their own propension after these the affections stand as the Pesants or in the lowest rank of service as the lackquaes or the i Animae affectiones pedes sunt dum in hoc pulvere gradimur Bernard f. 35. f. foot-posts ready to bee dispatch'd away in speed and post to execute and to do that which hath with allowance passed down along from the chiefe Master to themselves by the rest of the superiours and the servants of greater authority in this house these at length bring tydings to the waiters at the doores without the senses who were as the k Nihil est in intellectu quin priùs fuerit in Sensu Axioma philosophicum first occasion to move the minde the chiefe Master of the house to bethinke it selfe of businesse to employ his servants in for the whole day following and when thus as by the primum mobile through a strong circumgyration the inferior orbes are whirryed about all the whole house is set a working the businesse by the hands and arms and shoulders and the rest of the outward and field-servants abroad in the body will be done and brought to passe Now as for this house of the soule in the way as I have though in much weaknes now propounded it this is carefully and in the first place to be looked into and set in order as at all times else so principally when as Hezekiah though by no immediate Prophet as he did or by any extraordinary revelation which God now doth not in these dayes multiply in vaine as l Deut. 34.5 Moses did but by some sensible insinuation we receive a summons or a warning by any kind of sicknes or the like harbingers of common dissolutions of our Deaths then principally must we look to set the houses of our souls in order and then must the minde the Master of the whole chiefely labor to be solidly directed and informed in the perfect and right knowledge and faith in God and Christ the reason that I mainly presse this by is only this and 't is a weighty one because the Devill is most busie at such times as these to disturbe the heart and to fill the whole soule as the winds can raise the billows in the sea with a tumultuous hurry and violent perturbation he is the m Eph. 2.2 Prince of the ayery part of the little world in man as well as of that n See Mr Goodwin quâ suprà cap. 9. p. 111. Elementary Region in the great world and so can raise unnaturall storms and vapors that shall darken reason and cause such thunders lightenings as shall hurle all into a black confusion such as if hell and the soul would presently come together wherefore that the shaking of Satans chaines may no way fright us in that pale day of death or sicknesse let the houses of
our house in order My speech now like Hezekiah on this his supposed death-bed is ready to be dissolved suffer it to gaspe a few minutes more and it shall expire Ye have heard what it is to set our house in order and the benefit thereof our worthy Å¿ Mr Peter Taylor Brother and my deare friend here departed a man not more respective of my person than a professed profitable Auditor of mine He was not now to seeke to levell his accompt with God nor to set the spirituall house of his soule in order having had before this often sensible intimations within him of the decay of Nature the stroke indeed of death it selfe and the summons thereof was somewhat t We of this City have very lately had divers examples of suddaine death of persons of no meane quality and heare of more abroad suddaine but a very few houres before his dissolution yet not the expectation and surely death can never be too suddaine if it be not unlooked for from a suddaine and unlooked for death good Lord deliver us but he that with Saint Paul dyes u 1. Cor. 15.31 dayly to sinne and with King David carryeth his soule alwayes in his x Psal 119.109 hand in expectation of a dissolution can never be unhappy in the speediest passage from the body into Heaven and he that lives y Mors mala putanda non est quam bona vita praeâ—esserit Augustin de Civit. Dei lib. 1. cap. 11. well can never dye ill The manner of his deceasing I know not to what better to resemble than to St Peters comming unto Christ upon the waters z Matth. 14.29 30 31. Matth. 14.29 30 31. when St Peter was bid to come for he would not adventure on so high a businesse without a warrantable command first from his Lord Christ he was come downe out of the ship and he walked on the water to goe to Jesus but when he saw the winde boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sinke he cryed saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him even so he a Luke 24.1 early on the Lords day Januar. 20. 1638. in conscience of Christs command to b Psal 27.4 visite his Temple and not to forsake the c Heb. 10.25 assembly of the Saints arising and as St Peter from the ship going downe from his bed was about to fit himselfe to goe to Jesus though not on the Sea yet in the Temple where he knew he might in his Word as old Simeon did in his d Luke 2.28 Armes embrace him and where he was no slacke but a frequent and diligent visiter of him and a sincere honourer without saction without ostentation of his worship but as he assayed to goe loe the winde was boisterous Death summons him and beginning to sinke not in despaire but under bodily weaknesse he cryed out saying as Saint Peter Lord save me so he Lord be mercifull unto me and speedily Jesus caught him and as I am perswaded commanded his good Angell to carry up his soule into the e John 14.2 mansion of blisse f Matth. 25.34 prepared for him from the beginning of the world It is a notable both signe and effect of true faith in suddaine g My Lord the Bishop now of Exon in his second 〈…〉 on the History of thâ— New Testam pag. 135 〈◊〉 1634. extremities to ejaculate holy desires and with the wings of our first thoughts to flye up instantly to the throne of grace for present succour Upon deliberation it is possible for a man that hath beene carelesse and prophane by good meanes to be drawne to holy dispositions but on the suddaine a man will appeare as he is what ever is most rife in the heart will come forth at the mouth it is good to observe how our surprisalls finde us the rest is but forced this is naturall out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh And when the strings of speech are broken and the outward senses have lost quite their externall prospects who knows what things of joy h 2. Cor. 12.4 unspeakable in that abstention of the soule from the body as St Paul in his rapture a good man though seized suddainly by death may heare Should I here next bestow my selfe in a copious Panegyrick I should finde an houre more too little to dispatch my laudatory Oration as Elihu in Job said on another occasion I am i Job 32.18 full of matter I could tell you how as Onesiphorus did St Paul he oft k 2. Tim. 1.16 refreshed the bowells of the poore and impotent he was as l Job 29.15 eyes to the blind as a staffe and feet to the lame and what a great and a secret m Rom. 16.3 helper of poore Tradesmen in the dead time of Trading and how carefull to see the hirelings n Levit. 19.13 wages discharged let them acknowledge who I beleeve shall hereafter finde him wanting and for fidelity to his friend no o Fidus Achates saepè apud Virgil. faithfull Achates ever out-went him nor was Jonathan ever more true to David or David to Jonathan of whom yet we read that in their lives they were lovely and pleasant and in their deaths they were not p 2. Sam. 1.23 divided were these vertues capable of bequeathment I could wish that he had left them as Legacies to all that yet live and survive him But I must remember that I am now in the Pulpit not at the Deske onely let me adde this as the conclusion of all which also my entire affection to his memory urgeth from me He was a true Nathaniel an Israelite indeed in whom was no knowne no approved or allowed q John 1.47 guile and such as these were they whom CHRIST commended and hee saith Paul is r 2. Cor. 10.18 approved whom the LORD commendeth and what is CHRISTS approbation but the sure earnest of an eternall glorification My beloved Christians we have much to answer to Almighty God for pious and good examples and who is there amongst us but must be forced to cry out Lord be mercifull unto me in this Now at last yet let us Å¿ Jam. 4.8 cleanse our hands and purifie our hearts as St James adviseth us let us desire God to fit us for the worst of times and the best of ends let us t Psal 119.109 continually carry our soules as in our hands ready to resigne them unto the hands of the God that by infusing created them and by creation infused them We have breath yet indeed but 't is but in our u Isa 2.22 nostrills ready each moment to give up Wherefore let us with King David x Psal 16.8 set the Lord alwayes before us and not onely so but as St Peter saith let us y 1. Pet. 3.15 sanctifie this Lord God in our hearts Many know God but
that too in his verie best estate Be yee in your vain imagination as teeth that dwell in the mouth of eminence grinding the faces of the poore thereby thunder in your words q 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de oculis Agamemnonis irati paulò pòst 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. lightening in your looks stay a while and this bladder shall burst anon and as a wall that swels before it fall so shall your pride bring you all down as low as dust and if impenitent as Hell what though yee dwell in Cedar stretch your selves as Amos speaks on beds of * Amos 6.4 ivorie and carrie your houses over your heads as snails painting the earth as you go with your silver slime alas what 's all this to purpose if death but spurn upon you yee are all crushed instantly into worms meat and must shortly become provant for crawling Creatures to revell with in the grave t is not Belshazzar's greatnesse that can keepe him from or rid him of a fit of r Dan. 5.6 trembling where once the handwriting on the wall had startled him amidst his cups nor the vaingloriousnesse of an haughty Herod that could exempt him from the stroke of a destroying Å¿ Act. 12.23 Angell or make him other then a t Bâ— Morton c. 13. sect 5. p. 252. grand imposture edict 1628. Rex Herodes Agrippa sub claudio Jacobum interfecit qui ipse non multo post phthiria si periit Joh. Carrion Chron in claudio l. 3. p. 234. 228. edict 1584. in 8º confer Euseb l. 2. c. 10. Histor ecclesiast see placina in vita formosi de Arnulâ—ho Imperatore lowzy god no nor the bigmouth'd ostentation of that peerelesse prodige of pride great Nebuchadnezzar keep him from the society of an u Dan. 4.33 oxe that eateth hay so besotted was he in his intellectuals that for quality and disposition through the predominacy of his owne melancholique humour in him that though he had perhaps the forme and figure yet he had altogether lost the reason of a man In a word as that little stone in Daniel cut out of the mountaine x Dan. 2.45 without hands brake in peeces the yron the brasse the silver and the gold in that great image of the same mighty Babylonian by which is meant in mystery saith y Hierom ad Eustoch Hierom z Sulpit. Sever. l. 2. sac Hist p. 93. in 8º cum Drusio Barrad l. 3. c. 4. p. 95. l. 6 c. 2. p. 282. concord Evang. Sulpitius severus and other greatly learned our Lord and King Christ Jesus who as that stone was cut out of the mountaines without hands was borne of a pure virgine without contamination or deflowring who shall when installed to his spirituall throne and Kingdome crush and shiver into nothing all the foure great monarchies of the world Assyrian Persian Graecian Roman and make all Kings and nations of the earth as the a Matt. 2.11 Magi of East did at his birth in Bethlem bring b Psal 72.10 68.29 presents to him and to bow before him that is he shall make all scepters in the world to stoop to his one Scepter of the Gospell in token of submission homage and obedience in like sort shall all potency and greatnesse under heaven be forced at last to yeeld to those his instruments of subjugation either sicknesse or death or both Loe here and see even Hezekiah though a mighty and a wealthy Prince yet could not wave off sicknesse no nor much time Death so sayth my text Hezekiah though a mighty King was Sicke Now as Hezekiah's greatnes could not exempt him so neither could his goodnes for howbeit he were as eminent in grace as rich in outward pompe glory yet sayth my text even he was sick It's true indeed that Hezekiah's graces though sometimes they might seem sick to be weak and languish as the Angel of the Church in Sardis had in regard of use exercise his graces almost ready for to c Rev. 3.2 dye within him for which cause Saint John excites him to stengthen by more vigorous employment that life which yet remained in him yet his body that was as the d Exod. 26.1 vide Granatens toÌ„ 3 concio de Tenpore conc 1 Dominica post ascens p 413 in 8º Latin Tabernacle of testimony with imbroyderies and works of divers colours adorned with those eximious ornaments of grace that must stoope not unto sicknes only but to death surely it 's true even the best men for castigation or at least probation are exposed to these outward miseryes and calamityes as well as others and by what we can discerne without we can descry no sure judgement of their mutuall future blisse or woe e Eccles 9.1 Eccles 9.1 These outward things sayth Solomon come a like to all though it be true not to all a like for either in the cause or in the end or in the use and carriage under them in these modifications here is indeed a difference not in the things themselves yea if wee judge only after the appearance and not as we are commanded f John 7.24 righteous judgement then we shall soon subscribe to that etymology of Christianus to be quasi Crucianus to come from Crux as well as Christus the Hebrew letter η tau in the figure of the Crosse was that which Ezekiel with his pen and inkhorn g Ezek. 9.4 marked the chosen peeces of election under the old law with Ezek. 9.4 and old Jacob when on his death-bed he blessed the sons of Joseph Manasses and Ephraim Gen. 48.13.14 is noted by Gods spirit to have h Ge. 48.13 14. crossed his hands of purpose thereby to note say some that either all blessings of this life have their mixture in them of sure i see below pa. 140. crosses as Christ is said to have had wine offered him but such wine as was mingled with k Mar. 15.23 myrrh which is of an harsh and uncouth taste or else that the whole vertue of a parents benediction was alone and only from the crosse of Christ for it is only the blood of his crosse that made heaven at peace with man l Col. 1.20 Col. 1.20 all the partriarchs of the first Testament had therefore their share therein the Jews reckon up ten severall afflictions that even Abraham the m Rom. 4.1 Father of the faithfull met withall in all the Psalms of David yee have nigh as many hearse-like ayres as carols and for us Christians now who sees not the n My Lord Veculam Essay 5. blessing of the new Testament to consist almost in crosses which yet carrieth the greater benediction and the clearer Revelation of Gods favor for which cause we see it 's set before the Alphabet of our little ones and we receive it as the badge of of our enstalment into the Church
Sylas singing prayses to their God though in the middest of fetters a Act. 16.25 Act. 16.25 All this layd together makes me admire how so great a Scholar as the Roman Champion Bellarmine was should in this particular point so play the part of an ill Rhetorician who is wont to place some of his strongest arguments in the b Praecepta sunt eorum qui dicendi rationem tradunt ut ad extremam orationis partem quae potentissima atque optima in caussà sunt reserventur quoniam extremum illud in auditorum animis infixum haeret Ludov. Granatâ—ns quà supra conc 2. p. 447. initio close of his speech as to set this note last after a large catalogue before as a certaine marke of the true Church c Bellar. â— lib. 4. de notis ecclesiae cap. 18. initio nota 15. Temporall prosperity whereas that is no where lesse to be found then there for that precious vessel of d 2 Tim. 2.20 honor would gather rust were it not scowred often by afflictions Beloved Christians our good God deales with us in this regard as a refiner doth with his lumpe of oare of silver or the richer metall to purge it from the drosse and fit it for his use he casts it first into the furnace so doth Almighty God his chosen ones who below are but as gold is in the oare having the drosse of much corruption unmortified in them from which the Lord by sicknesse or some such like affliction would gladly purge them refine them so fitting and preparing them for his own use and glory by this sayth Esay shall the iniquity of Jacob be e Isa 27.29 and Mal. 3.3 purged And thus we read even of this very good King Hezekiah f 2 Chro. 32.31 2 Chro. 32.31 that God left him though a deare Saint by a spirituall desertion to himselfe for some time to know what was in his heart that is sayth Austin not that God meant hereby to informe himselfe for all things lye open and naked to the eyes of him g Heb. 4.13 Heb. 4.13 but to make Hezekiah know that there was in his heart corruption enough which like a Jebusite in Canaan 't is Saint Bernards comparison was not as yet wholly expelled from his inward coasts And here againe in this text whether for probation of his faith as of h Zech. 13.9 Aurum indiget percussione puer verberatione Ben Syra moral sentent 4. est hoc ingenium auri ut quo magis illud malleo diducendo percusseris eò magis fulgeat sic c. Paulus Fagius in exposit ibid in 2. Tim. 2.20 electi vocantur aurum gold or for castigation of some speciall delinquency he is permitted to be as St Paul was by his messenger i 2 Cor. 12.7 buffeted with a disease of sicknesse yea though an k Isa 38.3 upright man and highly in Gods favor for so we read In those dayes was Hezekiah a Prince not more great then good sicke and that unto Death Now for application of this point let me say to all Gods true Children as Saint Peter doth of the l 1 Pet. 4.12 fiery tryall my deare brethren thinke not this strange as if some new thing when yee be afflicted happened unto you for lo this is the surest badge of Christianity the unavoydable portion of all that will live godly in Christ Jesus yea there is a necessity in it we m 2 Tim. 3.12 must suffer sayth Saint Paul n Act. 9.16 2 Tim. 3.12 This meditation made the primitive Saints to be ambitious of such sufferings for the cause of Christ the Apostles o Act. 5.41 rejoyced in it as in the greatest worth and honor in the dayes of persecution when those ten bloody tyrants whereof Nero was the first p Tertull in Apologet c. 5. dedicator as Tertullian cals him the ring-leader to the rest when Christianitie was nick-named a q Act. 28.22 sect and that sect every where spoken against Act. 28.22 when but to name ones selfe a Christian was crime enough to be sent unto the dungeon or the metal-mines or the teeth of Lyons and such like other torments in these crimson-coloured dayes your zealous Saints would so far strive as 't were to suffer that no voyce was oftner heard then this Sum ego Christianus And I am also a Christian so had they then to borrow Jeremies expression r Jer. 30.21 engaged their hearts to approach unto the Lord that they would Å¿ Heb. 12.4 resist iniquity even unto the shedding of their blood The crosse we read in following times was that which was by Christian Princes displayed in their banners and the figure thereof much preferred to all other pompous shewes what ever so I t See sir Henry Spelman tom 1. concil Anglic. in anno 712. ex concilio Londinensi p. 207 208 edit 1639. find that Constantine the great commanded it instead of his wonted Labarum richly decked with pretious Diamonds to be carried before his souldiers as if with the blessed Paul he had u Gal. 6.14 gloryed in nought else save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ All these Saints well knew that this was the way to glory they were not ignorant that before God rested the seaventh day he did first work six dayes so must we have our Hexameron of labor and enduring before we may expect our Sabbatisme and eternall rest with Christ But when we have thus suffered first we may assure our selves of no lesse Crown then of a Kingdome in eternall glory x 2 Tim 2.12 2 Tim. 2.12 we see there is but a letters difference nay but an aspiration between onerari honorari and the same word in Hebrew signifyeth both a burthen and blisse and the first Martyr under the gospell wore a Crown in his name for y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stephen in the greek so signifyeth and surely that I may conclude this point the more we suffer for z Mat. 5.11 12. righteousnesse sake for 't is the cause not the smart that makes the Martyr the ampler will be our glory Qui habet in hâc vitâ multum crucis habebit in alterâ multum lucis this meditation as the burthens did the Israelites should make good Christians to encrease the a Exod. 1.12 more in number and as those precious plants sweet-smelling trees though they bee cut in peeces and dryed yet still do reteine their sweet and pleasant sent yea doe keep within them more true peace of soule then all the barren and unsavory trees of wickednes in their full flowers and blossomes can yeeld out being beaten and scourged with a cursed conscience In a word our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory b 2 Cor. 4.17 2 Cor. 4.17 yea the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
the body and the outward man these temporall calamities come alike to all saith Salomon e Eccles 9.1 Eccles 9.1 and who art thou that f Jam. 4.12 judgest The better use hereof is this let Gods owne children feare to be secure and let all the rebellious children of disobedience tremble at the expectation of their sure vengeance even in the forest and the highest measure for if judgement passe not by but as S. g 1 Pet. 4.17 Peter and h Jer. 25.29 Jeremy say beginneth first at the house of God and the Citie called by his owne name oh what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospell of God and if the righteous themselves scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appeare And if God be thus i Psal 89.7 terrible in the assembly even of his owne deare Saints so severe to the k Luc 23.31 green tree oh what shall then become of the drie tree that beares no fruit of grace at all l Luc 13.7 Cut it downe saith the Lord cut it downe why cumbreth it the ground let it be scorched for ever in flames unquenchable and full of torment The righteous shall indeed saith Salomon be m Pro. 11.31 recompenced with correction on the n See my Sermon lately published on John 6.54 p. 71. earth but 't is no farther than here upon the earth below their woe endeth with their temporall life how much more the wicked and the sinner And thus much briefly for Hezekiah's sicknesse and his sore disease In those dayes was Hezekiah sick The third Part. A word next also of the great danger and the extremitie of the same it was mortall and deadly aegrotavit lethalitèr hee was sick and that unto death S. John tels us of a two-fold sin or at least degree therof the one to be a sin not unto death and the other to be a sin unto death o 1 Joh. 5.16 1 Joh. 5.16 our Saviour tels us of a sicknesse also such was that of Lazarus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was not unto death p Joh. 11.4 Joh. 11.4 and S. Paul of the sicknesse of Epaphroditus his fellow-souldier in Christ that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nigh and as it were next neighbour unto death q Phil. 2.27 Phil. 2.27 and here the Prophet of a sicknesse unto death that is so desperate and dangerous that without a speciall mercy and preservation from on high as once it fared with St. Paul in that black tempest on the Sea when the sight of Sun and Starrs and all apparent hope of safetie was quite lost r Act. 27.20 Act. 27.20 there was no comfort left It seems then that the Saints be not obnoxious only unto outward judgements but also are permitted often unto most deep extremity therein our Prophet tels us that Gods owne redeemed ones are emplunged into sorrow and that sorrow seconded with deep sighings ſ Isa 35.10 Isa 35.10 David is full of such expressions as these the sorrowes of death compassed me yea more the pains of hell gate hold upon me q Ps 116.3 t Psal 116.3 the word Sheol there rendred by Hell is most times used for the grave and then his meaning is that effectivè his sorrowes were so exquisite as that they threatened him with death and with the grave but it is used also for that Hell of the damned too as u Psal 9.17 Psal 9.17 and then the meaning is that to his sense his sorrowes had a correspondency with the very torments of the damned there so again x Psal 118.18 Psal 118.18 though he were not wholly given over unto actuall death yet the Lord had chastened him so sore that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 y Ver. 5. Vers 5. so penn'd up in a strait place that as z 2 Cor. 7.5 S. Paul in Macedonia his flesh it had no rest at all but he was troubled on every side without were fightings in regard of adversaries abroad as Shimei Doeg the jeering drunkards and the rest of such sons of Belial within were feares in regard of present sense of guilt through want of evidence and assurance of Gods pardoning mercy and sensible acceptation of him in like sort it fared also once with holy Job that peerlesse man for piety upon all the earth by Gods owne testimoniall of him Job 1.8 yet so far had the venome of Gods arrows drank up his spirits within him so did God seeme as the Sun enveloped in a cloud to knit his browes upon him as an enemy so to write bitter things against him that in his owne present apprehension God meant outright to a Job 13.15 kill him Job 13.15 David againe b Psal 39.10 Psal 39.10 O Lord remove thy stroake away from me for I am consumed by the blow of thine hand compare Psal 102.3 4 5 Psal 102.3 4 5. Joseph was not only sold to be a bondslave but his feet they hurt with fetters and the iron entred into his soule d Psal 105.18 Psal 105.18 the like to which we read of Paul and Sylas e Act. 16.23 24. Act. 16.23 24. and to what exigents were the Israelites then brought think we when the f Exod. 14. red sea roared before them and Pharaoh the cruell Tyrants wheeles were rattling behind them nought but a quick destruction as that whales chaps to Jonah stood gaping wide to g Jon. 1.17 swallow them And wherefore is all this but as in the first place to make the Lords owne power in their deliverance from such deep straights more glorious according as the Hebrew proverb hath it Cùm duplicantur lateres venit Moses God sent a Moses to deliver Israel when the bricks were doubled so withall as the Prophet saith of Joseph h Psal 105.19 Psal 105.19 it was to h Psal 105.19 try them whether his children meant as when Hur and Aaron i Exod. 17.11 12. let goe the hands of Moses praying to give out and languish in faith and invocation under that crosse or not God hath promised to be a present help in the k Psal 59.16 needfull time of trouble Psal 59.16 but this is on condition of our early l Psal 50.15 calling on him and timely speedy m Hos 5.15 seeking to him in that same day of trouble Ps 50.16 Hos 5.15 This done the cloud is againe withdrawn and with it their sins and guilt doe all vanish from Gods sight Thus David praying he was n Psal 118.5 enlarged from his straights Psal 118.5 Jonah from out of the very o Jon. 2.1 2. belly of Hell kept calling still on God and so was vomited alive againe and so did Hezekiah here in the next verse to my text under this sicknesse this plague sore so unto death and so extremely dangerous he prayed and so fetch'd off a quick adjournment of the execution of the
thus thus inexpressibly with ingratitude and impious disobedience My deare brethren what calamities the Lord hath up in store for us we know not but he that sees not some in brewing for us is blind and he that sitteth not in secret u Ezek. 9 4. sighing and as those that had Gods marke upon their foreheads in Ezekiel x Psal 119 136. crying for all the abominations which are or may be the provocations of Gods wrath is stupid and senseles do we provoke the Lord to anger are we stronger then he saith the great Apostle y 1 Cor. 10.22 1 Cor. 10.22 yea rather as Jeremy expresseth it do they not provoke z Jer. 7.19 themselves to the confusion of their owne faces go to a Ver. 12. ib. Shilo view Thessalonica Rome Churches of Asia c. places where the Lord once set his name yet for the unthankfulnesse and impiety of the people they are now become the sties of Antichrist as the Augaean stables and receptacles of cursed Mahomet these their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their nocumenta our documenta their afflictions our b See Hos 4.15 instructions there was a people once as tender and deare to him as the very c Zech. 2.8 apple of his own eye his chosen his peculiar d Psal 135.4 treasure and as Haggai saith of Zerubbabel as a e Hag. 2.23 signet on Gods owne right hand who yet for their impenitent rebellion are become from an f Hos 2.11 Ammi and a Ruhamah a lo-ammi and a loruhamah g Hos 1.6 9. that is from being my people and a people that had obteyned mercy a no people of Gods favor or of Gods mercy take we heed favours bestowed raise h Isa 5.4 confer Joh. 15.22 expectation of obedience that disappointed fetcheth off as to the barren fig-tree a i Luke 13.7 succide cut it down why combreth it the ground and if God spared not these k Rom. 11.21 naturall branches so dressed and pruned and l Isa 5.2 fenced and watched c. be not so high-minded but m Rom. 11.20 feare feare what even our own abscission also take heed saith St. Paul lest he also spare not thee my beloved there is a thing called infidelity and sin that doth not cause a mitigation only an abatement of Gods love unto a people but even make an utter n Isa 59.2 separation between them we are much spoken of or traduced by our adversaries and as Eli told his sons It is no good o 1 Sam. 2.24 report we have amongst them for our dalliance with Gods mercies and the blemishing of the Gospell by our evill conversations surely though p â—aâ—iâ—â—t id illi quidem suo vitio nulla justà causa fatâ—or sed colorem tamen habet calumnia Jacob Acontius de Satanae stratagem l. 7 p. 223 in 8. ediâ— 1565. they of all men else have least cause thus to rowle that loose and busie filme of flesh that they carry about with them in their black mouths towards us who though we will not wholly excuse our selves of our infirmities and our q Gal. 6.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet dare we make a challenge with them upon that r See Nicolaum de Clemangis in speculo Roman Pontific quarrell yet there is and may be much good use of slanders they should be to us as Jonathan Å¿ 1 Sam. 20.20 arrows were to David in the middest of danger instead of watchwords to us to avoyd the occasions of laying our selves justly open to so great a calumny or danger I conclude this point with that of our Saviour in another case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 behold I have told you t Joh. 13.19 Joh. 16.4 before hand remember then that there hath beene if not a Prophet yet a seasonable monitor amongst you Hezekiah yee have heard though a great favorite of heaven yet not u 2 Chron. 32.25 rendring again to the Lord according to the benefit done unto him finds Gods displeasure in no low measure for even In those dayes of favor upon his not speciall obedience but unthankfulnesse rather Hezekiah was sicke and that too very dangerously even unto death In those dayes was Hezekiah sicke unto death And thus I take my leave of Hezekiah sicke and now lying as it was supposed on his death-bed Next I will salute the Prophet that came to visite him thus sorely sick with whom yet I shall be forced by the time to exchange but only a word or two at present because there is yet an urgent businesse not to be neglected in the Text which I do reserve as the master of the marriage-feast in x Joh. 2.10 Cana of Galile did his best wine till my last discourse that it may stay the freshest in your longest memories The second generall part Now this Person here visiting the sick Prince is described to us a three fold way 1 By his Name Isaiah 2 By his Function a Prophet 3 By his Pedigree the son of Amos. In those dayes was Hezekiah sicke unto death and the Prophet Isaiah the sonne of Amos came to him From every of these words as flowers some sedulous and industrious Bee would sucke out store of hony see I beseech you a drop or two 1 Isaiah so by Name Sundry large encomiums have been bestowed on this Prophet he carrieth in his Name Salvation of the Lord for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ischaiahu from y Pase◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominus doth signifie he is stiled by Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 z Nazianzene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 2. Eton excus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the * See the eloquence of Isaiah set forth by Mr Wotton in his Sermons upon John serm 2. pa. 62. elegant and the lofty Prophet our Saviour was much taken with the reading of him a Luk. 4.17 Luke 4.17 and the Eunuch of Aethiopia b Act. 8.28 converted by his writings Act. 8.28 he is oftner cited then any Prophet else in the new Testament one and twenty times at least for which cause he is stiled usually the Evangelicall prophet because he doth most graphically as foretell so describe our Saviour in his incarnation birth preaching passion c. with all the benefits from thence accruing to beleevers and as in short Siracides saith of him Ecclus. 48.22 Esay the Prophet was great and c Ecclus 48.22 faithfull in his vision not great only but faithfull I will only name the note and leave it viz. None more fit to stand before a Prince then such as Esay was so every way accomplished for that service he was both great and faithfull able for parts and true to his service so we read d Pro. 14.35 Pro. 14.35 The kings e Pro. 22.29 favor is toward a wise servant and againe
which directeth us Ministers to beware how we presume to vent any thing unto our people without our first sure warrant for it from the Lord. If our Saviour gave such great caution to the hearers that they should y Luke 8.18 the Greeke word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which denotes a very earnest seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza take heed how they heare so must we likewise be as cautionate how we z 1 Pet. 4.11 speake otherwise then as the very oracles of God so our Saviour saith Joh. 12.49 that I have not spoken of my a Joh. 12.49 self and St Paul calleth what he delivered to the Church for Doctrine not his owne but b Act. 20.27 Gods counsell Act. 20.27 the contrary vociferations made by ignorant and wilde c Enthusiasmi id solum habent commodi ut homines in immensum aliquod pelagus abripiant tandemque in Atheismi gurgitem praecipites demergant Duraeus Whitakero l. 1. sect 30. p. 107. apud Whitak contra Duraeum Enthusiasts spuing out their own froth male contented brainsick fancies w th out Gods warrant allowance good lord what noisome weeds of errour Schisme Faction and all mad irregularity do they most dangerously occasion through the d Rev. 12.9 old cunning of the e Matt. 13.25 envious man that delights in tares and hemlock to grow up and spread in the precious field and seed-plot of wholsome and most proper grain oh for the f Matt. 3.12 fanne of Christ thorowly to purge the floore of his Church from the chaffe of all such g Spiritus Anabaptisticus ametia quaedam fuit furor praeceps atque effraenatus quo acti scripturas omnes abjiciunt toti exrepentinis Enthusiasmis pendent Whitak contra Duraeum l. sect 32. Anabaptisticall h Vitanda sunt deliria sectae Anabapsticae quae sine dubio à Diabolo est excitata monstrum est execrabile ex variis haeresibus blasphemiis conflatum Vrsin Catech qu◠74. unscriptured mouthings before the people who are seduced unto error beguiled by this meanes mainly in their i 2 Pet. 2.14 unstable Soules for that their fanaticall conceits have been at last defended as a worthy instrument of much good in this Citty saith well with no pretence but the k Mr. Paynter of Exeter quâ supra p. 27. See Goodwyn p. 118 119 cap. 10. quà supra Motion of the holy Ghost and yet God knows their motions oftimes differ as wide from the sweet unerring inspirations and motions of Gods good spirit as Heaven doth from Hell Pray we therefore for the spirit of wisedome and Revelation in the knowledge of God as St Paul speaketh Eph. 1.17 18. and the spirit of truth as our Savior stiles him Joh. 16.13 that when we speake as in the name of God we may speake the wisedome of God and that not as a soothing time-creature Preacher with the intising words of mans wisdome but in demonstration of the same spirit and of power 1 Cor. 2.4.7 then may we safely assure our hearts of a sic dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord as the Prophet in my Text. But to whom doth our Prophet here direct his Thus saith the Lord unto the King himselfe So l 2 King 22.18 19. Michaiah to Ahab Nathan to David m 2. Sam. 12 7. Thou art the Man John-Baptist to Herod n Matt. 14 5. non licet see his plaines for thee to have thy brothers wife But yet wee must remember prudence in this poynt for who knows not that in these speciall Prophets there was somthing extraordinary wee ordinary Ministers may soone this way be too bold with royaltie at least in publique Nathan spake down-right to David but it was in privat But notwithstanding whilest we are sure we bring as o Matt. 17.27 Peter's fish did silver in our Mouthes I meane our sic dicit Dominus Thus saith the Lord why are we such dastards as in the cause of Christ when duely called thereto to feare the furrows of a rich or great mans brow And thus farre of the formall part of my Prophets imployment in the delivery of his message from the Lord unto the sick-King Hezekiah Hee said unto him Thus saith the Lord. I come now to the materiall part of his speech and this is set down 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 positively Thou shalt Die and what new thing is this was not this the doom of all mankind immediately upon sin Cinis es in Cinerem reverteris p Gen. 3.19 and Eccles 12.7 Dust thou art and unto Dust thou shalt return The woman of Tecoah long before set a necesse upon it q 2 Sam. 14.14 we must needs die yea there is a statute like those law of the Medes and Persians r Heb. 9.27 irrevocable enacted for it and never to bee repealed even so it is ſ Dan. 6.8 appointed saith Saint Paul And surely it 's true death is that common bag into which all the chessemen upon the table whether they be King or Queen rich or poore good or bad must be all shuffled together at the end of our game death is as an t See Quarles his poëms archer now it hits our superiours and so shoots over us then our inferiours and so shoots under us anon our freind roving on our right hand then our enemy flying on the left hand at last it hits the white and strikes our selves could u Gen. 5.27.969 yeeres age have excused it Methuselah had escaped it could x Judg. 14 6. strength have declined it then Sampson had missed it could y 1 Sam. 10.23 stature have over-looked it then Saul had avoyded it could z 2 Sam. 14.25 beauty have outfaced it then Absalom had never met it yea more could Art have shifted it by any curiosities or contrivals then the Grammarian with a Criticisme might judge it off and yet he that can decline a noune in every case cannot decline death in any case could the windings of wit and the Meanders of reason divisions and distinctions wave it off then surely the Logician would dispute it away and yet whilest he thinks fiercely to frame his argument in Barbara rudely to puzzle it death retorts upon him with another in Ferio and at last ni celarent and that sine modo figurâ Could the naturall Philosopher by his diving into Nature and by his vanity of notions stave it off then that Patriarch of Philosophers as Mr Hooker styles Aristotle had never been swallowed in that sea neither ebbing nor flowing yet all his ens mobile was at last become as Niobe when metamorphosed like to a stone in it's centre a thing without motion could the Mathematician by his strong imaginations phancy it off or by the harmony of the spheares charm it away that so he might still spin-out a thread of immortality on those rowling wheeles and between his two celestiall
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the same what Agur desired Pro. 30.8 9. Give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food g Pro. 30.8 9. convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poore and steale and take the name of my God in vaine Well then my Beloved let not us with old Toby suffer our eyes to be blinded with the Swallows dung of this world nor dare to make a willing shipwracke of conscience for the venture of a little ballast of gaine wherein at last there is no more solid well-savouring taste than there is as Job adviseth me in the white of an egge h Job 6.6 or else true light in the Cimmerian and the blackest darknesse But especially let us be wary that we shake hands with these kind of affaires before we come as Hezekiah here to be summoned to our dissolution and forced on our death-beds to be rid of them or of our soules surely then these things will be just as Sauls Armour was upon the shoulders of David i 1. Sam. 17.39 too bigge and cumbersome Then at that season a man if ever should be as St Bernard once gave counsell to his Monke that he should be as another k Bern. in speculo Monachor in fine fol. 340. M. Melchizedech without Father without mother without Genealogy Nec patrem sibi vocet super terram neither let him call any man father upon earth imò sic se existimet quasi ipse sit solus Deus yea let him so esteeme himselfe as if God alone and himselfe were onely by themselves together for assuredly in such speciall times of distresse Satan is much like to Pharaoh the Aegyptian Tyrant to the Israelites in Goshen when he thinkes the soule is going l Exod. 5.7 Tunc Diaboâ—â—s graviores tentationes homini ingerit dum finem ejus appropinquare prospicit quem viventem blandiendo decepit morientem saeviendo capit Claudius off from his subjection and kingdome he doubles the Bricks and yet would not have any * Eph. 6.16 straw allowed them that is doubles the force of his temptations but yet would have nought but stubble allowed the Sts. no solid matter to make up a firme wall or bulwark of comfort to dead the gunshot of his * Viexmontius Institut ad Poenitent part 1. cap. 2. fiery most fierce temptations of despayre the cares of this world then God are apt as Paul Barnabas to fall out and separate yea to divide betwixt the Soule and God our Saviour hath therfore expressed the m Matt. 13.22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 care of the world by such a word as doth signifie as it were a parting of a thing in sunder Matth 13.22 once more The cares of this world then will deale with the heart of man as the Levite did with his n Judg. 19.29 Concubine shread it into many parts or as king David did with the people of o 2 Sam. 12.31 Rabbah put it under sawes and harrowes and axes of iron grievously afflict with difficulties and torments even to make a tearing and a pulling of the Soule in peeces surely good thoughts in death are like to Jeremie's basket of good figs p Jer. 24.2 very good and evill ones on the other side as his bad figs very bad and naughtie before you q Psal 62.10 set your heart upon your Riches when they were encreased now bee assured they will set themselves upon your heart old friends cannot well part on easie termes Wherfore if with the Prodigall you hope to feast it at home with your Father in Heaven with joy you must first resolve to returne home to your selves by thoughts of Repentance and throughly resolve to forsake the r Luke 15.16 husks of all earthly contentments with men of a swinish disposition here belowe aforehand else in vain shall we hope for a wel-come home or a kisse from our heavenly Father In a word the manner of old Jacob's Benediction of Manasseh and Ephraim the two sons of Joseph on his Death-bed is a lively platforme of all our demeanor in our Death-beds Jacob first Å¿ Gen. 48.13 14. crosseth his hands in the giving of his blessing and this was to shew that either the whol vertue of his Benediction was to issue from the crosse of Christ who was after to issue from his loynes or else that all blessings in this life were mixed with their crosses as I shewed before and then he purposly laid his right hand upon Ephraim the youngers head his left hand upon Manasseh though the elder brother all which Hugo de sancto victore thus moralizeth by Jacob is represented Christ by Joseph Man by Ephraim affection by Manasseh oblivion by the right hand things eternall by the left hand things temporall now observe Joseph he puts his eldest son Manasseh towards Israels right hand that is Man sets oblivion towards things eternall but Ephraim his younger son towards Israels left hand that is sets his affection towards things temporall but Jacob doth quite otherwise and crosseth this disposition and so must a true and a godly Christian set his affection mainely upon things eternall and heavenly but oblivion and forgetfulnesse to things temporall and earthly so St. Paul as we read when he was about to presse hard outwards toward the marke of perfection u Phil. 3.13 14. forgot those things which were behind Thus must we do likewise we shall then finde these outward things as he did in comparison of the spirituall things of the x 1 Pet. 3.4 hidden and of the y Eph. 3.16 inner man to be but even as z Phil. 3.8 dung and dirt or as St Austin styles it Res transitoria quodammodo a Augustin l. 10. de Civitate Dei c. 25. K. lutea faelicitas and St. Hierom also in epist ad Nepotian Divitias lutum putabimus As therefore we would find peace and comfort first in our owne particular souls let us be earely and seriously exhorted betimes even whilest it is called to b Heb. 3.13 day even whilest we have time and no time is ours but the very instant that we breath in let us I say whilst we have time and c Gal. 6.10 opportunity herein prize our own peace and happinesse of Soule in death to order the affaires of the world to dispose of our estates by will and legacy or gift we shall find much rest to our Soules hereby and if yee shall happily suspect that your posterity as two many gracelesse and undutifull of-springs are too often will be fingring before hand then let this satisfie that feare where a testament is there must also of necessity be the d Heb. 9.16 17. death of the testator for a testament is of force after men are dead otherwise it is of no strength at all while the