that will direct thee get courage that will embolden thee get love that will constraine thee get power that will enable thee For he that wants any of these shall never bee crowned except with shame and endlesse confusion Arme then thy selfe with these be valiant till thou beest victorious so that in the conclusion of thy dayes thou mayst confesse here with S. Paul I have fought a good fight c. And so I have done with mans Military condition wherein you have seen how hee becomes a fighter I am now to speake of the last act or part which he playes on the stage of this world The finishing of his course Hence I collected that Doct. 2d. As his condition is military so is it mortall God puts an end to all his encounters so that his life is nothing else but a marching to death As soon as wee be borne wee begin to draw to an end as if the whole scope of our desires were to hasten to the grave The clearest day is covered by the clouds of the night the longest sentence must have it's period and there is no life on earth but hath it's death As if death were the marke which the vanity of humane endeavours runs at All men yea all inferiour things are freed by an end And as the Philosopher answered the newes of his sons death Scio me genuisse mortalem I have gotten a man that is mortall So God the Father may say of every man living Scio me creâsse mortalem I have made man that hath made himselfe mortall Per nativitatem vivet in carne per juventutem candescit in flore per mortem aret in pulvere Greg. Hence is that saying of an ancient setting forth mans frayle estate By birth a man is borne greene in his flesh by youth he is white in his blossome by death hee is withered in the dust It is a law enacted by the king of heaven Statutum est omnibus semelmori It is appointed for all once to dye It is appointed and that by him whose decrees are like those of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered Death like the fisher-man encloses all kinde of fish in his net old and young good and bad small and great All is catch'd by death Which thing the Poets insinuate in the fable of Death and Cupid who lodging at a time both in one Inne enterchanged each others arrowes and so from that time to this it comes to passe that old men dote and yong men dye If they that have brought us into the world are gone out of it before us wee may conclude our own following There is not one in the whole cluster of man-kinde but eodem modo nodo vinctus victus is lyable to the common and equall law of death Mans body so well as Ice expounds that ridle The mother begets the daughter Dust begets the body Gignit filia matrem and the body begets dust Our life is like a game at chesse wherein men supply different places one is a king another a Queene another a Bishop another a Knight another a pawn but when the game is ended and they shuffled into one bagge all is alike So death makes no distinction betwixt Prince and people Soveraign and subjects the robes of the one so well as the ragges of the other shall not escape her ruine When Alcibiades brags of his lands Socrates reaches him a Map bids him demonstrate where they lye Alas he could not find nor scarce discerne Athens it selfe it was so small a point in respect of the world Ecce vix totam Hercules implerit urnam The dust of mighty Hercules can scarce fill a pitcher The Philosopher said of Alexander yesterday the world did not content him now ten cubits can containe him It 's worthy our consideration that had we as much land as ever the devill shewed Christ yet wee can call no more ours but the grave This is the estate of the best that when they have devoured the most delicate creatures the wormes shall devoure them A fat corps is but a fat supper for the wormes It is neither birth nor bravery riches nor royalty that can stop us from finishing of our course or runing of our race untill all be concluded by death Vse 1. Seeing wee are mortall let this then instruct us to reflect upon our selves It is the folly of miserable man to be too much unmindful of the day of death And indeed the fashion of secure wretches when they have been forgetfull of any thing to say they thought no more of it then of the day of their death Intimating hereby however they think of other things yet the thoughts of death are farre from them These are not apprehensive of their common condition hence unawares they are supprized and sent packing to hell in the midst of their wretched security Oh consider this you that are unmindfull of your end putting far from you the evill day the time of your dissolution Remember that as the tree falls so it lyes as death leaves thee so shall judgement finde thee As thou sowest here so thou must reap hereafter If thou hast been a swearer a curser a prophane wretch look for such a crop as this seed will bring forth which without repentance is no lesse then everlasting horrour with devills and damned spirits in a lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Bee then counselled forthwith to bee mindfull of thy end And for thy better proceeding consider these motives 1. The uncertainty of it Nil certius morte horâ mortis nihil incertius we see by dayly experience though strong bodies may perhaps hold out many fits unexpectedly they are forced to yeild to the necessity of nature Our bodies are made of elements weak and fluid principles and therefore sooner resolve to their first materialls Doe we not see that though some bee suffered like ripe fruit to remaine on the tree till the fall to live till they be old yet how many be cudgeld froÌ„ the tree snatcht away by death in the very prime of their dayes Was not Herod wounded deadly in the midst of his pomp and pride by this messenger Surely had hee then been a painting of himselfe as many of our Ladyes doe death would soon have spoyled all his colours How soone did that covetous muck worme in the Gospell Luke 12 10. that thought by his wealth to purchase heaven on earth heare that sad knell ringing in his eares this night shall thy soule be taken from thee His day of pleasure is ended and the night of everlasting sorrow supprizes him Extremum gauâ—ij luctus occupat Vexation treads on the heels of vanity That when pleasure like the sunne hath run her course she sets unawares oft-times in a dismall night of paine Let the uncertainty therefore of our ends cause us to bee prepared for them Wee know not how soon the great Iudge will appeare in the cloudes
A SERMON PREACHED at OWBVRNE IN BVCKINGHAMSHIRE AT The Funerall of the Right Worshipfull and truly Religious Gentlewoman Mris MARGARET ELMES On the twenty-seaventh of Iuly 1641. By GEORGE BURCHES Batchlour of Divinity REVEL 2.20 Be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crowne of Life OXFORD Printed by LEON LICHFIELD An. Dom. 1641. TO THE HONOURABLE AND TRVLY VERTVOVS Mris IANE GOODWIN Wife to the Right Worshipfull ARTHUR GOODWIN Esq Worthy Mistris I KNOW it is an unwelcome message to be the Herauld of ill newes Such tidings are like the Amalekites to David or Jonah's Sermon to the Ninivites administring nothing but sorrow But when withall I apprehend your goodnesse and wisdome how it can make the best use of the losse of your nearest friends J am the more emboldened to present these unwelcome and unworthy lines to your kind acceptance It is an unalterable law like that of the Medes and Persians Serius aut sitiùs mâ—tam properamus ad unam sooner or later we all hasten to the same end Mans dayes are numbred his period of time appointed and his bound he cannot passe David and Jonathan must part Jacob and Rachell must be separated and though Ruth and Naomi be never so endeered friends yet death will divide them All flesh is grasse and all the glory of man as the flower of the field The grasse withereth the flower fadeth and so must the rarest pieces of nature returne to dust It 's true you have lost a most loving sister in law the Church a gracious Saint the poore a deare friend yet must all rest contented seeing it is by the determinate hand of God It had been a great happinesse that so glorious a starre might have longer shined if God had so pleased in the Orbe where once shee gave such a comely lustre But seeing now we are deprived of her light I meane that comfort and sweet society which was enjoyed in her presence we must rest contented and labour to see the hand of God in it whose will is the rule of his actions and is therefore pleased to adde one member unto the head to live for ever with himselfe As those that would inhabit the land of Canaan were to wade through the banks and streames of the river Jordan with Josuah So they that will arive at that Canaan which is above must wade first through the river Lethe here with their guide and forerunner Jesus Let it therefore comfort you that she is with her Saviour and now nothing remaines but her vertues as lively monuments of her eternall worth In which Catalogue J will mention but one Humilitas virtus Christianorum 1a 2a 3a Aug. Epist which was her Humility rarely to be found in persons of her ranck Her goodnesse having learned that this grace is the first second and third stayre of true Christian nobility By this she hath now ascended to happinesse For the high and lofty one as the Prophet speakes that inhabiteth eternity delighting to reside in an humble soule hath eternized her worth and therefore would suffer her no longer to dwell in so unworthy a countrey but thinking her more fit for a greater honour and a better place hath crowned her in his owne kingdome May it please you therefore to give leave to publish to the world under the Convoy of your worthy name this meane but faithfull testimony of my dutifull affection and unfeigned estimation of those saving graces which J am perswaded were lodged in her noble Brest This is the first time that ever I set to sea in this publick manner that ever my name came into the Printers stocks And had it not been out of conscience of my thankfullnesse to my blessed friend of everdeare memory rather to enliven her worth then to spread my owne J would still have kept my owne private way and never have rode in the common dust But so abounding was her goodnesse that I could not rest contented to bury her fame in my owne brest but must endeavour to erect a monument of her in paper to all the world And first to you most vertuous Mris whom I humbly crave to lodge these pocre endeavours in your good opinion and the rather for her sake whose goodnesse yet sparkles in your eyes And the Image of whose vertues is in this little Codicill represented to you so shall you oblige me who am Your most humble Servant GEOR. BURCHES 2. TIM 4.7 8. 7. J have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crowne of righteousnesse TO omit the context which is obvious to them that will but read the precedent verses Herein is comprized and commended to our consideration the happy consequence and good successe which will follow upon the painefull endeavours the faithful undergoe in their spiritual warfare Howsoever in contending for earthly things it oftentimes falls out that some beat the bush and others catch the Birds some break the bone and others eat the marrow in a word some take the paines and others attaine the prize Yet in the christian combat and spirituall conflict betwixt the sonnes and servants of God it is not so for be they endurers of the sweat they shall be enjoyers of the sweet God out of his mercy hath promised and out of his truth will see performed that they shall be sure to enjoy an ample and glorious reward For when the thread of their dayes is spunne and their soules brought to a joyfull catastrophe then shall they inherit what here is promised a Crowne of righteousnesse Which makes them with S. Paul to conclude with this heavenly expression I have fought c. Which text I find exprest by two severall Metaphors The former drawne from Fighters the latter from Runners In the former is implyed 1. The souldiers who are to fight the faithfull intimated in the expression of S. Paul J have fought 2. Their weapons which though all be not expressed yet is the chief one mentioned which is the shield of faith I have kept the faith 3. Their valour they are not faint-hearted but stand to their colours till they finish their course 4. The prize which they obtaine by fighting and that is no lesse then a Crowne of righteousnesse In the latter is set forth 1. the runners intimated in this particle I the faithfull 2ly Their race which is the true profession of the faith 3ly Their round or continuance of it they are neither fainting nor breathles but goe on stoutly till they have finished their course Lastly the reward they obtaine by running which is encouragement enough for their constancy a Crowne of righteousnesse All which particulars let us summe up into three maine conclusions worthy our best consideration 1. Faithfull men are military men 2. As they are military so they are mortall 3. If they fight couragiously their endeavours shall not be frustrated but amply rewarded they shall receive
Doubling over his Orisons and no whit further he was at the yeares end then at the beginning but labour to goe forward in the wayes of obedience If here you faint your losse will prove great for you loose no lesse then a crown Which is not a voluptuous crown of Roses as wisdome speakes nor a crowne of pride to which a woe belongeth as Esay 28. Nor such a crowne which is set upon the heads of Dragons and beasts in the Revelation and so Corona vitiosa ruinosa as one speaks nor yet as the Poets crownes of Lawrell and Ivy litle better then weeds which wrapt about Ionah's head trash of no valew And as our Saviour said that his kingdom was not of this world so these crownes are none of his crowns but a crowne where death hath no claime a crowne where danger is not incident a crowne not encompassed with crosses but a crowne enriched with everlasting comforts O labour then to fight valiantly for it be not faint-hearted In Gideons army all faint-hearted souldiers were commanded to stay at home No cowards shall ever obtaine this crowne It is a strange thing to consider how inconstant christians are in seeking this crowne of righteousnesse some are of many minds many moods now forward then backward full of motions and commotions ebbing and flowing like Euripus seaven times a day Some are neither forward nor backward neither ebbe nor flow like Mare mortuum but are betwixt the religious and irreligious just standing water But these like cowards goe back fall off in the day of battaile I meane at the day of death when Satan doth double his forces As the king of Assyria charged his captaines to fight neither with small nor great save only with the King of Israel 1. Kings 22. So the Prince of darknesse commands the leader of his troupes and those that stand at the head of his company his master-temptations not so fight against any vertue small or great but continuance in goodnesse quam solùm novit coronari Vpon whose head he knowes the crowne must fall Then hee bestirres himselfe not only because he knowes his owne time is but short but because he perceives ours to bee so Therefore he doubles his forcss as if he still meanes to make the last conflict the sorest resolving to set all at the stake and either now to winne or sit downe with losse and despaire Oh how should we now labour then to procure a true faith and having got it to keep it that so our common enemy may not beat off our constancy in fighting under his colours who in the end will surely crowne us We know eternall life is not given to all for then we would all presume nor to none for then wee would despaire But vincenti dabitur to him that overcometh he that fighteth the good fight of faith as S. Paul did in the text and as our gracious sister this renowned Gentlewoman hath done whom you now see to have finished her course and whom as hereafter I shall declare hath kept the faith Let this then teach thee to be valiant unto the last minute The eye of the captaine the Lord Iesus is upon thee if thou faint to cheare thee if thou fight to second thee if thou conquer to crowne the as he did S. Paul in the text who being confident of the same did thus conclude with himselfe I haue fought c. And so I am come from the text to the occasion The death of man in generall is able to make our sorrowes runne what pitty is it that hee that even now was Monarch of the ayre to breath where he listed should suddenly have his lungs stopt with dust and bee lockt up well-nigh for ever in the breathlesse earth That he that kept the best coÌ„pany with men should forthwith have no better companions then wormes Certainly if wee could blow up this powder into our heads it might awake our souls from sleeping in security especially if we take up this consideration withall that the same death that slew our worthy sister here may next tread upon our own heeles But above all things me thinks this should prevayle most with us the death of the faithfull Saints of God Which as it is precious in Gods eyes so the more pittyfull for us to behold WheÌ„ an ordinary persoÌ„ breakes ranck and dyes there falls a vapour but when a godly person dyes there falls a stare When the Israelites shook of Aegypt and departed they rob'd the Aegyptians and when a good person shakes of the world she robbes the world Such was the death of this thrice worthy and ever renowned gentlewoman whom death too soone for us though too late for her selfe hath with an Habeas corpus removed into another world I know it is an usuall custome upon such solemne occafions as this to receive the worth of such persons as wee know both in life and death to bee truly commendable And to warrant our actions wee have Gods word to second us who as he would have the name of the wicked to rot so he would have that the memoriall of the righteous should remaine for ever On which ground I am the more bold to blaze her worth the commemoration whereof as it is profitable to posterity so is it likewise acceptable and pleasing to God who in the fame of his Saints is chiefly honoured as the sole Author of every good and perfect guift Iâ—m 1.17 Their lives are as lines by which we may leade our owne Polyb. hist lib. 1. And as Polybius wisely observeth there is not a more expedite way to instruct us and to stir us up unto a good life then by observing the sincere piety of faithfull persons whom the Almighty hath been pleased to gather to himselfe Vt qui praeceptis non accendimur saltem exemplis incitemur Greg Mor. l. 9. cap. 3. We are not easily moved by precepts examples are more prevalent practise having proved that facile in performance which to our sluggish dispositions by precept only seemed very difficult therefore That God may have praise and we reap the profit of an excellent patterne I shall adventure as well as I can to shew forth Her honour whom I know to be every way truly honourable But before I make my words good let your beliefe goe along with me to remove all prejudiciall conceits For I doe sincerely confesse I shall not out of privat affection prejudice the truth For though Her memory be deare to me as the reliques of our loving friend are wont to be yet truth must still be dearer 1. Cor. 13.6 and love it selfe rejoyceth in the truth Let others if they please imitate bad lawyers who for their fees will plead and commend any cause For my owne part my conscience is not of so large a size neither will I extend it further then her worth and goodnesse shall bind me We will beginne therefore in the first place from whence she took
her beginning at her birth and pedigree She was cut out of no meane quarry It was a custome amongst the Indians sayes Phylostratus after the death of any worthy person to inscribe his acts upon the dores of his house for the ennobling of his issue So it was ever esteemd no meane blessing to be well descended And surely if I should take upon me here the part of an Herald in imitation of them write upon the doors of her house her descent both by father and mother I could easily derive her as you know better then my felfe descending from Honourable Right Honourable and truly noble blood But what is greatnesse without grace or honour without goodnesse but as the Cabanet which wants the Iewell or the Casket that is empty of gold It is the greatest infamy to bee like unto hills the higher the barrener when wee should be as Diamonds the bigger the better But such was not this vertuous gentlewoman I may say of her truly in the words of the Apostle she was fruitfull in good works These shined in her devout soule like heaps of Diamonds in rings of gold being the Characters of true nobility did declare to the world her descent from the royallest blood the great King of heaven It is Godlines that makes us truly great and though wee bee never so much honoured amongst men on earth yet if we be not Gods favourites we dye in infamy and our very names shall rot But enough of her birth which wee all know was honourable Let us come in the next place to her life shee had as we all now have A course to finish but this is her happinesse her journey is at an end our misery we are still a travailing towards it Shee hath that in fruition which we only yet hope for even this crown of righteousnesse in the text Now if the world enquire how she hath got it or the way she took to obtaine it I answer in the words of S. Paul by fighting a good fight and keeping the faith She was a right constant heavenly warriour that at the conclusion of her dayes not three houres before that last one of her death I found her to have her weapons in readinesse Knowledge Courage Love and Power First Knowledge which by continuall practise from dayly reading of the word she had procured Shee did not like Martha encomber her selfe with wordly businesse but with Mary did chuse the better part And this did her dayly practise declare whose constant course was foure times in the day to set her selfe a part for the service of her God So that I may say of her as it is spoken of devout S. Hierome she lived every day as her last day And thus labouring to encrease in knowledge she did attain to no small measure of it for a litle before her death when I began to tell her of Satans wiles to beat us off from being confident of Gods favour when wee were in the weakest state to resist him with much confidence she returnes me answer in that comfortable expression of S. Pauls Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angells Rom. 8.38.39 nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus word for word as strong as she was able a litle before her dissolution exprest her selfe Neither was this perswasion grounded on a generall knowledge which is a common guift but on a practicall experimentall and saving knowledge which none are enricht with but such for whom God hath layed up a crown of righteousnesse There are indeed a generation of men and women that pretend much knowledge but in her it was reall not in pretence Shee was none of those talking Ladies whose Religion appeares onely in the tongue But shee was more for good works then words Much like unto that worthy woman the mother of S. Greg Nazianzen of whom it is said that had shee an Ocean of wealth shee would have emptyed it all into the bellies of the poore So I may say of this vertuous Gētlewomā there was an Ocean of pitty enclosed within the compasse of her heart and when any poore neighbour stood in need of her bounty she gave most liberally to them And all this did arise from her knowledge who knowing that the smallest releife given to the distressed members of Christ should not passe unrewarded at the last day 2ly As shee did abound in knowledge so with Courage for though death which to nature and sense is said to bee the most terrible of terribles yet the thought of it did not any way daunt her spirits She could with boldnesse looke death in the face which when she was put in mind of the approaching hour thus heavenly exprest her selfe that howsoever God was pleased to dispose of her whether for life or death like a couragious christian she concluded shee should bee the Lords Resolving like Iob to undergoe affliction patiently and with S. Paul to suffer death willingly if the Lord be so pleased or hath appointed it Now would you know the reason of this courage It was that holy practise of her life whereby continuall purging and embracing all gracious opportunities of hearing the word preached shee did so dayly renew her covenant with her God as that hereby the sting of death being taken away it could not any way affright her A rare patterne for the greatest Ladyes to follow whose life if they did but seriously consider would confine themselves more unto their closets to meditate on God and goodnesse then now they loose time in their chambers in contriving of fashions and following the vanities of this sinfull world Oh remember you great ones of the world that you are but dust and you know not how soone you may bee resolv'd to your first principle which is dust Now if in the midst of your worldly pomp and honour you should see death appeare unexpectedly as Belthazar's hand-writing did on the wall before you had made your peace with your God how would it make your joynts to tremble how would it fill you with horror and amazement especially to thinke that you have served no other God but your pleasures you never sought after that which would have made you truly honourable Surely if these serious thoughts could but possesse your soules with this vertuous Gentlewoman you would turn your times of playing into praying and by making the word of God your delight would endeavour with this now glorious Saint to procure the assurance which at the finishing of your course would make you more then Conquerors through the Lord Iesus Christ that loved us 3ly She was armed with Love in respect of which vertue I may say of her as Solomon speaks of the good woman Prov. 31.2 Many daughters have done vertuously but thou surpassest them all Her goodnesse
have such peace without contending such truce without opposing so quiet and calme a league without all manner of resistance Marvel not then ye monsters of sinne though sometimes ye see poore christians looke with a sad countenance or sorrowfull carriage It is not an easy task to give Satan the foyle his darts are fiery consumeing the spirits How is it possible on a sudden to make havocke of a mans naturall corruption or to destroy that life of sinne which for so long continuance hath had being in our soules Delude not then your selves any longer in crying peace for you see christians are fighters And they that will be warriers in Christs camp shall have dreadfull dreames fearefull visions troubles without terrors within and now and then the Arrowes of the Almighty to stick into and drink up their spirits Acquaint thy selfe with Iob demand of David what wounds they received in this warfare and what it is to be a faithfull souldier such can tell thee Yet if thou wouldst know by experience leave off thy wicked associates change the course of thy lewd life and fight the battailer of thy God and then thou shalt finde thy thoughts to bee many thy heart heavy thy griefe great and thy feare terrible Use 2. This may serve in the second place to comfort the godly who have bickerings with the flesh skirmishes with the world and alwayes warre with the devill yea the very bitternesse of assaults encountering with them let them not be daunted or dismay'd for this is no other thing then that which is incident unto the profession of those that fight under the colours of Christ Doth the flesh entice thee the world allure thee the devill tempt thee yea his instruments molest thee Let this then refresh thee that it is no other evill then which did befall the dearest of Gods children The case is common with them For when the strong man keeps the house all is at peace at home but goe about to dispossesse him then will hee rage and teare If Nehemiah begins to repayre the walls of Ierusalem Sanballet shall oppose him Paul to preach the Gospell his owne countrey-men will persecute him Satan when his kingdom shakes will rouze up himself arm all his Agents to act their parts least Babell be confounded and overturned Let not these things seem strange to thee for no combat no christian When the devill doth assault thee the body of corruption lyes heavy upon thee and death with his many Ghostly forms terrifies thee then conclude thou either art or shalt be a right resolute heavenly warriour For these are foes to all them that fight for the Lord or the land of life Use 3. Seeing that faithfull men are military men let us then in the last place labour to stand upon our guard like traine-souldiers let our armour be alwayes in readines for the place wherein we are which is the Church is militant our calling Military not one minute can pleade a priviledge fom an encounter If the case were thus with our bodies that we were still in danger to be set upon by our enemy and knew not when he would fall upon us we would bee carefull to bee well provided Thus is it with our soules and therefore by how much the more excellent the one is then the other by how much the more puissant and powerfull the spirituall enemy is then the corporal by so much the higher it concerne us to stand upon our guard Now that wee may quit ourselves like heavenly warriours let us have these fowre weapons alwayes in readinesse First knowledge this is like unto Sampsons eyes who for the want of them could not find the pillars of the house no more can we the principles of faith unlesse knowledge guide us For without this wee le oft foyle our friends when wee should wound our foes and range beyond our rankes when we should keep within our files Thus it was with Paul before he did receive Christs presse-mony through ignorance he made havock of the Church of God and Peter on the same ground did promise what he was not able to performe Without knowledge the mind is not good and blind men are not fit to fight except under the Prince of darknesse and therefore we must labour in the first place to bee arm'd with knowledge 2ly Courage what heroicall spirit hath that man need to have who is to wrastle with principalities and powers with an heavy burden of sinne and strong body of corruption he had not need to be a puleing babe affrighted with the power of his adversaries But as litle David was not dismay'd either at the threats of his enemy that great Giant at Gath or the greatnesse of his lookes or the strength of his hands but did with the greatest valour overcome him so must we doe arme our selves against Satans forces not flying back when he seeks to assault us but meet him most stoutly opposing couragiously both his power and policy untill we have wonne the victory who otherwise would have prevayled had we not been armed with courage 3ly Love This weapon will stirre up our spirits and adde life unto all our actions when wee our selves grow feeble and weake the Apostle tells us it is of a lasting nature that when all other weapons fayle yet this will endure Let Satan be enraged never so much against us and raise up his instruments to molest and hurt us yet love will make us stand to our ground resist unto blood And though death it selfe supprise us as the strongest dart yet love to our captaine the Lord Iesus hath taken away her sting so that our enemies cannot mortally wound us they may only bruise us in the heele they shall never breake our heads nor give us a deadly stroke 4ly Power The Prophet David being an old souldier prayes for it Psalm 51.2 S. Paul a worthy warriour often commends it Eph. 6.10 A christian should bee like that Leviathan Iob speakes of Iob. 4â— his heart firme as stone his bones as brasse hee accounts Iron as straw and esteemeth steele as stubble no arrow can make him flee nor speare turne him from the battayle Want of power makes us a prey to our enemies and then wee are most in danger to loose the field when wee are not able to fight Let us be armed therefore with power Hee that hath knowledge without power is like a souldier that hath his eyes but wants his armes He that hath knowledge and power is like a souldier that hath his eyes and armes but without courage wants his heart He that hath knowledge power and courage is like a souldier that hath his eyes his armes his heart yet without love he lacks his lims For power can warre but without courage dares not power courage can and dare but without love will not power courage love can dare and will yet if knowledge direct not there will be no good event in the combat Wherefore get knowledge
to call us to a reckoning let us take heed of being found wrapt in a cloud of dark ignorance and blind security Wee must know that cloud will dissolve ours and lay us open with our sinnes to the view of men and Angells Let us be carefull to make all now even with God And as Alcibiades told Pericles when hee was troubled with studying how to give his accounts that if he would be ruled by him he should rather study how to give no account at all So say I let thy whole endeavour be now employed in advancing the honour of thy God that hereafter he cannot call thee to an account because here thou hast his acquaintance given thee which will fully satisfy his demands hereafter 2ly The hazzard and danger we are lyable unto in being unmindfull of death Which is no lesse then to be tumbled into eternity of torment A quolibet monento pendet aeternitas with devills and damned reprobates For upon every moment of time depends eternity either our everlasting woe or everlasting welfare and if wee should bee swept away before we thought on our ends what horrour and vengeance would supprize us Yea wee should then undergoe both the punishment of losse and sense and bee banished from the glorious presence of our gracious God and cast into unquenchable fire there to feele nothing but continuall cruelty exercised both against body and soule by malicious devills without the smallest intermission or ease As therefore we tender the good of our soules so let the danger we are lyable to by being unmindfull of our mortality prevayle with us to prepare for our latter end 3ly The happines we shall enjoy in being mindfull of our mortality we shall hereby become to bee placed in the highest honour even to set with Kings and Princes to live in the largest kingdome even the kingdome of heaven to inherit the durablest riches where neither moth nor rust can corrupt nor theeves breake thorow nor steale when once wee arrive here wee shall hunger no more nor thirst no more neither griefe nor sorrow shall possesse our soules but all teares shall be wiped from our eyes all feares taken from our hearts and nothing but joy and peace but love and goodnesse shall encompasse us and that not for a day or an houre or an yeare but for eternity The sense of this happinesse shall never have an end But after that we have finished our course and kept the faith we shall be crowned with righteousnesse which is the ample reward of our holy endeavours And brings me now briefly to the last conclusion namely Doct. 3d. That if we sight couragiously our endeavours shall not be frustrated God will give vs a crowne of righteousnesse In the services of men it oft-times falls out that many for the good endeavours and carefull employments in their masters businesses are so farre from being rewarded according to their demerits as that they are not regarded by them They fish faire but in the end catch nothing worth acceptance they have their labour for their paines But it is not thus in the service of God he is so far from not regarding his servants as that he doth most liberally extend his hands of bounty towards them farre beyond shall I say their deserts I know they have none at all their well-doings extend not to him Psal 16. as David speakes doe what they can they are unprofitable servants but farre beyond their desires for such things which neither eye hath seen nor eare heard neither can it enter into mans heart to conceive what God hath prepared for them that feare him which point is both pregnantly and clearely proved in scripture The tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God is promised to Ephesus To eat the Mannah that is hid and a white stone and in that white stone a new name written in it which no man knoweth save him that receiveth it is promised to Pergamus Power over nations is promise dto Thyatira while Arras is promised to Sardis to be a pillar in the Temple of God is promised to Philadelphia if they remaine constant in their profession And if Smirna be faithfull unto death shee shall bee sure to have a crowne of life As Ioseph said of Pharoah's dreames both Pharoah's dreames are one So it may be said of these promises they are one pointing out unto us one and the same thing the ample and gracious goodnesse of God both in respecting and rewarding the painfull labours of his children A paralell hereof is that of Solomon Prov. 11.18 The wicked works a deceitfull work but to him that soweth righteousnesse shall be a sure reward Hence this came to bee a concluded point and out of question in S. Pauls divinity That when the sunne of his life was at the point of setting he doth upon consideration hereof comfort himselfe in this chapter yea when hee was ready to bee offered as he speaks and the time of his departing drew nigh at hand This was his Swan-like song I have fought a good fight I have finished my course c. Vse 1. This may serve in the first place to comfort the faithfull and courage them in all their proceedings who endeavour to feare the Lord in all sincerity and truth They may from hence collect unspeakeable comfort to themselves there is not one prayer they make not one chapter they read not one Sermon they heare but sets them forward for heaven and enlarges their future happinesse What should more comfort them then to enjoy a crowne to which they being as heires must needs transport their thoughts beyond all admiration It is reputed among men no small honour to be called to the royall race any way either by consanguinity or affinity Hence is that of David 1. Sam. 18.23 seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings sonne in law How much more then should it comfort the faithfull that they are of a kingly race and a royall kindred God himselfe who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords he is their father and they his sonnes and so are thereby become heires to this crown of righteousnesse which S. Paul here speaks of Comfort then your selves ye beloved of the Lord let nothing daunt or dismay you neither the forces of the world nor the frownes of the wicked the policy of the devill or the feare of death but know that if you sight valiantly and keep the faith there is comfort enough to recompence all your labours in this crowne of righteousnesse Vse 2d. Let this then exhort us not to be weary in well-doing but with that good woman of Canaan cry and continue in crying be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord seeing your reward is so great if yee continue to the end Be not like him who in his devotions was wont to say the first day Gloria patri the second filio the third spiritui sancto