duty Latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes the last day is not known that everyday might be observed An accus'd Malefactor is not sollicitous concerning the hour wherein the Iudge comes to Town but concerning what friends he shall engage what desence he shall make at his trial Thus it concerns us not to know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put Act. 1. 7. in his own power to secure Christ as our Advocate his merits as our Plea to watch that our Oyle be not to Buy when it should be to Mat. 25. Burn. It was a good answer of a sage Father that a day before death was time enough to Repent but a better question on second thoughts of the youg gallant Oh Sir how shall I know when I shall die Nay said the Father that may be presently Hoise therefore your Sails while the wind serves VVatch for ye know not the hour wherein the Lord cometh Secondly the time of that day will be suddain § 5 it comes ere 't is thought on v. 44. in such an hour as you think not the son of man cometh We are not Freeholders in these houses of Clay but Tennants at will at best Tennants for Life Three Lives are no long term our's is shorter it 's but for one Life and what a Bubble what a Puff what a VVink is that Life Plos Fabula Foenum Vmbra cinis punctum vox sonus aura nihil A thousand years are to God but as one day 2. Pet. 3. 8. and the longest liv'd Methuselah reached Gen. 5. 27 not the length of this day Immediately after the Floud this day was contracted one half Eber liv'd longest yet came short of Five hundred Gen. 10. 16. 17. v. 18. 19. In the next age another half Peleg reach'd not Three hundred Iacob not two Gen. 47. 9. And in Moses time the cloth shrunke up to seventy years and what was more then this was but a course list Labor and Sorrow Psal 90. 18. VVe compute the life of a man to be seven years and seven years all men will grant are not many but suppose we did live many years yet many years are no long life for though we are apt to misjudge them long before hand because we desire to live them yet when once they are past and transacted how short do we find them Salomon assignes a time to be born and a time to die none to Eccl. 3. 2. live as if our VVinding-sheets were laid in our Cradles or our Cradles rock'd in our graves Scilicet ex illâ quâ primum nascimur horâ Prorepunt juncto vitaque morsque pede Certainly these Houses of Clay cannot be our Mansions both on a legal and physical accompt on the former because by Sin they are forfeited into the Lords hands thus death enters by Sin per removens prohibens On the latter because they are Earthly Tabernacles 2. Cor. 5. 1. 22 Ier. 29. Oh Earth Earth Earth mark thrice earth made of Earth maintain'd by Earth and anon turned into Earth Earth was the matter of our generation Earth is the matter of our augmentation Earth shall be the matter of our dissolution Sperma faetidum saccus stercorum cibus vermium a deal of froth a sack of filth and a gobbet for the grave Wherein as in a pitcht Feild heat cold draught and moisture are continually fighting and striving which should be master until at length one becomes praedominant and then the battle being ended each Element returns to his old home and how small a matter is great enough to end this battle it is a usual speech that a man may live of a little it is a certain truth that he may die of less The weapons of death are as many as the waves in the Sea Beasts in the field the tiles in the City yea as diseases in mans body the least of all these even a prick of a pin is sufficient to put an end to this battle when the Lord gives the charge 'T is easy to believe this of others hard of our selves and by so much more hard by how much the approach of death is more nigh In an hour which ye think not of your Lord cometh and therefore Thirdly That hour will come when least § 6 expected to come The weapon wherewith our first Parents were wounded was not dying 6. Gen. 4. but the broad point thereof dayly experience hath blunted wheresore Satan whets out another more contracted and no less deadly Ye shall not die this day or this week or this month or this year and thus concluding to the last period what doth he but retail that to us which he sold in gross to our first Parents for is not the total of all these parcels ye shall not die and are we not apt on this score to put off death farther by how much it cometh on faster thus 't is observed that Old men are most what most covetous when dying then most buisie how to live such was that fool in the Gospel a fool in grain as one cal's him who measured his years by his barnes and his life by his stores and thereon sang requiems to his own Soul but death comes and both puts a stop in his note and turns his longs and his larges into briefs and semibriefs Thou fool this night shall thy Soul be taken from thee Therefore 17. Luk. 20. be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the son of man cometh His coming is uncertain suddain unexpected In these respects that day is compared to the § 7 coming of a thief v. 43. Know this that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken up The coming of a thief is uncertain he gives no signals precedent Sudden he makes what speed he can Vnexpected the time he choses is that of deep sleep and security So you have heard is the day of the Lords coming To which we may add a fourth A thief comes not to break the house up and so be gone but to make whatever is portable to be his booty Thus death strips men of all their externals Of all our buildings it onely leaves us a tomb of all our lands onely a grave and of all our goods onely a Tablecloth for the worms We are here like Boys playing for counters which come and go one while the heap is on this side another while on that at length comes the Master and sweeps all away And alas how great losers will Great men then be if for nothing they must part with all Said I for nothing Surely if it be not for better it will be for worse For better it will be to the servants who keep on for worse to those who keep off this Watch. The Subjects and Adjuncts of both are described § 8 Of the former v.
bosom he rested had been a mighty Prince In Gods-house are both Rulers and Ruled 2. All in Gods house are not Rulers The question implies this VVho is that faithfull and wise Servant whom the Lord hath made Ruler The body of the Saints and them who have the rule are clearly distinguished Heb 13. 24. We are all Crabstocks by nature God grafts upon us what fruit he pleaseth On some one kind on others another If all were Rulers who should be Ruled 3. Such as are Rulers in the Lords house should be of Gods making The hand out of the Cloud must put on the Crown with this motto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à Deo coronatus What servant dates own him as a Steward whom the Master ordains not God hath set us our ranks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breaking of them must cause confusion 4. Those who are made Rulers over us are Servants under God and are to serve God in their places as God hath plac'd them in his service If Rulers as Rulers serve not God God will not as Rulers own them That duty which God requires of us reacheth every capacity especially that of our spheres we are bound to serve God as others cannot serve him Rulers therefore as Rulers And indeed that we are in Gods service which we are in our proper places Rulers are called Gods as bearing Gods image Wherefore as God is Optimus Maximus so those who are like to God good in serving And this is the proper act of these Rulers they are to distribute to give The gifts and graces which Gods servants § 6 receive they receive to give To profit withall for edification As the Sun hath light a fountain water not onely by way of abundance but redundance And to him who thus hath shall be given As milk in the breast is Luke 8. 18. both more and better for being suckt That which these Rulers distribute is meat § 7 not poyson nor altogether sauce but meat Not what may infect or puff up the soul but feed it This food must not onely be good but proper § 8 What is one mans food is anothers poyson Vice may be nourish'd with the milk of virtue Each servant must have his own mess his proper portion demensum suum Prov. 30. 2. And herein lastly must Rulers over God's § 9 houshold observe time and season Though it be worse in them than any others to be time-servers and in that sense to turn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by ringing changes to the time Yet above all others is it required in them like these Heads of Issachar to know the times what Israel ought to do In a word Gods servants must do his service § 10 in a right manner faithfully wisely Faithfully as Rulers over his houshold giving his servants meat wisely giving meat proper in proper seasons VVho is that faithfull and wise servant whom the Lord hath made Ruler over his houshold to give them meat in due season Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing CHAP. V. The reward of Working aright Servants Friends and Children are distinct relatives § 1 among men but they meet in one and the same to God Such as are the Lord's Servants are his Friends such as are his Friends are his Children also And being his Children shall not miss their Childrens Portion Blessedness The first Sermon of Christ on the mount § 2 was filled with blessing so shall the last sentence on the bench He concludes as he begins The influence of this Sun of righteousness to his disciples in Virgo was and in Libra shall be Blessed 'T is the last Scene denominates the play in § 3 a Tragedy or Comedy Though the Children of God may tast blessedness now as Ionathan did honey on the top of the rod yet they shall not eat with a full hand till the Lord's coming The contract is made now but then shall the Marriage be consummated Blessed when the Lord cometh The Lord comes both to the good and ill Servants § 4 but to the good as a special messenger with a writ of ease to the ill as a Iaylor with a mittimus and in both warrants this clause ne omittas propter aliquam libertatem His coming to the evil is like the coming of an Husband provoaked to an Adulteress wife dreadful ungrateful To the good like the coming of a living Husband to a faithful spouse cheerful welcom The Lords servant loses nothing by death but what is better lost then kept Sin and misery He dies in life and therefore lives in death and is Blessed at the Lord 's coming Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Though there be nothing for the Lord 's § 5 Servants to pay the Lord hath done that to the utmost farthing yet is there somewhat for them to do Men and Brethren what 2. Acts. 37. shall we do to be saved God finds his doing and then gives the blessing Holiness goes before happiness And indeed were it possible for an unholy person to enter Heaven yet to him Heaven would not be Heaven For communion with God is not onely ungrateful but grievous to an unholy person and by so much more by how much more close and spiritual as appears in all ways of communion in grace And this communion with God is the Heaven of Heavens which to an unsanctified man would be rather a Hell then a Heaven Without holyness we cannot see God That Servant whom the Lord blesseth he finds so doing It is not ita fecisse so to have done but ita § 6 facientem so doing Perseverance is the Queen of graces Others may strive well but she alone shall be crowned Iudae laudantur exordia sed finis proditione damnatur Many who have blossom'd fairly at spring have been blasted before Gal. 5. 7. Harvest Ye did run well is no honour but I have finished my course Those are blessed 2. Tim. 4. 7. whom the Lord finds so doing Nor doth this order of blessing restrain Gods freeness in blessing for as he freely gives grace to do so he freely gives glory on doing Blessed is that servant whom the Lord finds so doing That servant The subject is one both of § 7 the duty and priviledge of doing and blessing The substance the same the accidents onely changed The garment the same onely new trimmed Blessed is that Servant that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing CHAP. VI. Application to the occasion THis whole Sermon in all its parts might be § 1 exemplified in his single instance whose Funeral we at present solemnize The harmony is full I shall touch and but touch a few strings First he was the Lords Servant and as a § 2 Servant in all his doings made his Lords will his rule his Lords glory his end 1. His Lords will his rule in sacred things
determined by Scripture in Civil by the Laws of the Land To which purpose he would often say That if men were left to themselves their lust and interest in things civil would be their Law their fancy and temptation in things sacred their Bible When every man did that which was right in his own eyes all was wrong done Disorders in Tribes as in Benjamin in Cities as in Gibeah in Families as in Micah's The result of this principle In those days there was no King in Israel Judg. 21. 25. but every man followed the light within him did that which was right in his own eyes Secondly His Lords glory was his chief end § 3 1. Not his own glory His juice was not put forth in leaves and suckers but fruit The character of a real Saint might be rightly applied to him He was more than he shewed yet shewed more then most who are called Saints do 2. Not his own profit Others may talk of Self denial he practis'd it And though ascended to the top of the Tree yet fill'd he not his own pockets but shak'd down the fruit Nor was he onely a Servant in relation but § 4 did service in action He was not a loyterer but labourer in that station wherein God had set him Gods service in this age is most what lip-service his was life-service He was a Doing Servant And a so doing a Servant Faithful and wise § 5 1. He was faithfull as faithfulness is opposed to heresie A Catholick Christian expressly refusing in a dark and gloomy day to leave the ark for a Cock-boat A Protestant of the best edition that is not superstitious nor factious not idolatrous abhorring Sacriledg nor sacrilegious abhorring Idols Not enlarging the windows of Truth to weaken Peace nor enlarging the pillars of Peace to obscure Truth In a word whether we respect God or Man Church or State he was a lively transcript of the Protestant Religion Which was so fixt in his heart that at the time of his death if we may call it a death in regard his soul seem'd rather to be given up by him than taken from him at the time of his death he expressed his deep sense and sorrow That even the Pulpit often eccho's reflections against the Protestants indulgences to Hereticks censuring those as Goats if not Dogs and Swine and excusing these as weak or straying sheep Secondly He was faithfull as faithfulness is § 6 opposed to Hypocrisie A plain-hearted Iacob a down-right Nathaniel an Israelite indeed without guile even when and where guile was the fashion He dared not look one way and row another as Watermen use but he dared speak as he thought and do as he spoke as good men should use Thirdly He was faithfull as faithfulness signifies § 7 an act of the heart resting on Christ Thus even when he drew nigh the harbor he not onely anchor'd himself on that Rock but also provoked others thereto His words were My confidence is alone in Christ and his merits can you say so too Esse Phoebi dulcius lumen solet jamjam cadentis How pleasant are the beams of the setting Sun how pretious the faith-expressions of this setting Saint Secondly As he was faithful in doing so was § 8 he wise Not to speak of that gift of wisdom which fitted him as a Iudge for the Bench or as a Councellor for the Board because this Glow-worme may shine on a dunghil The Children of this world may thus be wise in their generation but Luke 16. 8. that grace of wisdom which by right means guides to right ends the supreme especially wherein true wisdom consists and wherein such was his eminence that in vulgar speech the Honourable title of honest is prefixed to his titles of Honor. Few mention his name without some Eulogie The honest Lord Pepys or the good Lord Pepys This faithfulness and wisdom Sword and § 9 Buckler he so exercis'd as a Ruler in the Lord's houshold that it might be said of him as 't was of Nerva He had done nothing in publick on account whereof he might be afraid to live private I speak before Rulers and possibly such as § 10 may find it necessary to take work out of his sampler wherefore I shall presume in some instances in things sacred and civil First in things sacred as a ruler over Gods § 11 houshold He not onely desired but endeavoured First That a Candle might be set up in every Candlestick Secondly That this Candle might be lighted and give forth its light to the whole house Thirdly That this light might be maintained and Oyl duly Ministred First That a Candle might be set up in every Candlestick Distinct Ministers in distinct Congregations As fixed Starres not wandring Planets For this reason among many others he would no less freely then frequently declare his judgement against the maintenance of Ministers by Salaries As that which left them at large like those of old sine titulo without relation to or dependance on any particular charge or people And as that which opened such a door to pluralityes tot quots Nonresidens as never was since the world was Many Parishes yea some Barronies in this way not supplying one Minister nor he regarding to supply them Never such a way to feed the Shepheard and starve the Sheep a little experience might possibly have proved never such a way to starve both shepheard and Sheep Secondly He both desired and endeavoured § 12 that each Candle might be lighted that Gospel-Ordinances might be administred by all Gospel-Ministers and this light not put under a bushel to the prejudice of the whole House He would often express his grief that so many Shepheards in this Land in this City especially should sheer the Fleece yet not own their Flocks as sheep yea disown them as not sheep Or if they feed them once or twise a week in a green pasture yet as that no less good then great Bishop Vsher expressed it not feel how they thrive This was to him and should be to us a lamentation and for a lamentation Thirdly He both desired and endeavoured § 13 that the Candles lighted should be maintained and Oyl duly ministred To which end from his first coming into this Land he put forth his utmost for recovering to the Ministers their proper and legal freehold the Tithes And would often say that he did not understand how any could scruple to receive Tithes in specie who did not seruple to receive salaries out of Tithes He was a faithful and wise Ruler in civil § 14 things aswel as sacred Both as a Master in his own Family and as a Magistrate in the Commonwealth First as a Master his Servants were not like slaves but lower friends Quid servus Amicus humilis Secondly As a Magistrate the Chief Iustice He might shake his lap with Iustice Samuel and say whose Ox or Ass have I 1 Sam. 1213 taken Abstinuit alieno ut siquis unquam as was spoak § 15 of one formerly None ever freer from tit-ting the ballance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so strict so severe a Justice that he seem'd uncapable of a temptation of doing Injustice And herein as his faithfulness was like the § 16 primum mobile so his wisdom was like the Coelum Chrystallinum that tempered the violence of that motion to due time and season both in his particular and general calling as a Ruler and as a Servant as a Iudge and as a Christian First as a Iudge 'T is said that a Iudge must not pass sentente either lying or running but sitting i. e. with a patient speed and a speedy patience Thus he abhorred delayes in judicature as that which turned judgement into vineger rashness as that which turned it to wormewood both to be shunned by a due fermentation as the Jews speak by observing due seasons for acting As a Christian he incorporated the dayly Acts § 17 of Religion in proper seasons that soe the duty might revolve with the times revolution These were to him as to Job more then his 23. Job 12 necessary food as he had his eating and drinking so his praying seasons and for the solemn seasons of publique worship none more observant At which season God bearing him witness as § 17 Abel whilst he was serving God God served him with a call to the Vpper Bench. Servus ad legem fit judex or a summons to the Vpper-House Henoch the seventh from Adam walked Gen. 5. 24. with God was translated anno sabbatico Thus the Lord translated this Henoch to compleat that sabbath in Heaven which he began on Earth And with the new year enters eternity in a new place state and work but in his old company the Lord God who coming finds him whom he finds welcoming him God finds him doing here he finds God blessing there Where for the present we must leave him and where 't is his happyness for ever to be left for Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing FINIS