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
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
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
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
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us c Rom. 8.18 Rom. 8.18 Wherefore silence all recoyling passions and repinings under Gods strokes whatsoever they be and whensoever they doe fall on thee see sayth Saint d Jam. 5.10.11 James thou hast the Prophets my brethren who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an ensample of suffering affliction and of patience and behold we count them happy which endure so that truly saith Saint Peter as yee heard but now this is no e 1 Pet. 4.12 new thing happened unto you for loe Hezekiah though a godly and a gracious Prince was yet afflicted he was sicke and that unto Death And so I take my leave of Hezekiahs Person and next I passe unto the consideration of his disease aegrotavit he was sicke In those dayes was Hezekiah sicke Aegrotavit he was sicke The second part what disease this was that now so heavily befell him is a quaere made and the best learned do resolve that it was the very Plague it self which they collect from verse the 7th of this Chapter and from Isa 38.21 where the prophet proves Physitian also of the body and bids them take a lumpe of figges and lay it on the boyle which done he streight recovered Now for the quality of this disease the Plague had I either time or list to expatiate thereon I could tell you first what Physitians say of it namely that it is an epidemicall feaver joyned with deadly contagion how scripture describes it in termes of greatest terrour comparing it sometimes to the f Exod. 9.3 murraine sent amongst beasts else where styling it the consuming evill g Deut. 28.21 22 Deut. 28.21 22. that on a sudden flying night and day as an h Psal 91.5 arrow of Gods own quiver maketh desolate houses Cities Countries so that thousands and ten thousands fall by it in a moment as we read i Num. 16.49 Num. 16.49 of foureteene thousand taken almost instantly away by it in a moment for murmuring at the hand of God upon Corah and in lesse then three dayes seventy thousand destroyed in the dayes of King David 2 Sam. 24. In short it s reckoned by God himself k Ezek. 14.21 Ezek. 14.21 not as a common judgement only but as one of the foure sore judgements that he hath in store for stubborn and rebellious sinners in which these things are eminent and remarkable above other viz. that it suddenly surprizeth in the middest of our jollity alas how many think you in the very act of their sin how many more who thinke of nothing lesse then death nor at that time of making their peace with God wherein howsoever I would have no man censorious for what thinke you of l 1 Sam. 4.18 Eli and of m 1 Chro. 13.10 Vzzah good men both for ought we know or find in the maine of their lives and he that lives well can never dye ill at least for ought we know in respect of their finall and eternall state to come yet however when God seizeth any by the pestilence it must be acknowledged a judgment of the Lord more then ordinarily grievous lo yet and see even that good King Hezekiah is sick thereof our note from hence is this which I can but name and leave it in summe this The heaviest of Gods outward judgements light sometimes on his own dear children as well as upon Aliens I could prove it largely but that my mainely intended businesse is yet behind see o Amos 3.2 Amos 3.2 you only have I known of all the families of the earth you only in comparison for here the Prophets expression is if I mistake not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have I known not scientiâ visionis alone by my generall knowledge by which I see behold and know p Gen. 1.31 all things whatsoever I have created yea even the proud and wicked though q Ps 138.6 afar off but also scientia approbationis by my knowledge of especiall approbation having culled out and as it were selected you from all the rest as the choisest of my chiefe r Mal. 3.17 Jewels who are as tender to me as the very ſ Zech. 2.8 apple of mine owne eye yet if you so dear so tender do offend me I will surely visite upon and punish you for all your iniquities the like instance we have extant t Deut. 28.59 where the Lord threatens his owne people that if they fayle in their obedience and observance of what was commanded touching the feare of Gods dreadfull and glorious name The Lord thy God then would the Lord make even their plagues wonderfull even great plagues and for a farther aggravation such as are of long continuance yea more yet u Lam. 4.6 Lam. 4.6 the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater then the punishment of the sin of Sodome that was overthrown as in a moment and no hands stayed on her compare Ezek. 5.9 c. and this is done mainely when they are apt to be carried with the x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazianz. in od streame of a generall iniquity then must they share in like outward though they do not alwayes in like inward epidemicall and generall judgements if Gods people will escape the y Rev. 18.4 plagues of Babylon they must forsake her sins else there can be no hope to escape like punishments with her though a monstrous strumpet so St Austin tels us that the Christians therefore tasted like extremities from the Goths and Vandalls with the rest for that they did not zealously enough stand up in opposition to the lewd exorbitances of those godles times It fals out often too when they grow too wanton with Gods favors and indulgence flattering themselves with this that God will not destroy the z Gen. 18.25 righteous with the wicked nor shall the a Psa 91.7 plague come nigh their dwellings whereas the Lord is pleased as sometimes to take the rose and leave the thorny stalke behind so yet sometimes againe he takes them both away together though the one when plucked off to take delight in and the other to burne up in unquenchable and in endles torments The righteous may be smitten b Good Jacob is pinched with the common famine no piety can exempt us from the evils of neighborhood no man can tell by outward events which is the Patriarch and which the Canaanite B Hall in his contemplat of Joseph p. 56. edit 1617. with the wicked but not the righteous as the wicked namely for the future finall issue of them both they be not all damned eternally who are smitten unto death by pestilence who dye of the plague c Num 14.29.13 their carkeises indeed did but God forbid c the Soules of all that fell in the wildernesse by the plague should be judged to miscary d Heb. 3.17 Heb. 3.17 so far as
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
lid alwayes poring downwards as King David saith of worldly carnall men they have set their eyes bowing d Psal 17.11 down to the earth thus when Elijah was about to be carryed unto heaven in a fiery chariote it s noted that he cast off or let e 2 King 2.13 Elias dimisit pallium id est bona hujus mundi quandò in curru igneo Spiritus sancti in coelum rapiebatur Hugo de Prato florido serm 60 Dominica infra octav Ascens fall his mantle that now perchance would have cumbred his shoulders so certainly its most true when we wrap our selves too closely bemuffled us in the warm weeds of these earthly businesses we are too dull to mount nimbly into Heaven when Moses was to approach the bush of Gods presence he must ere he shall come hither as David e're he durst to compasse Gods Altar f Psal 26.6 washed his hands in innocency put off his g Exod. 3.5 shoes from his feet that is he must wash the feet of his Soul his affections from all the dirt and sweat and h Ber f. 43. L. Sterquilian soyled cogitations of the world as Saint Bernard glosseth it as when Abraham was to go up to one of the mountaines of Moriah to offer a Sacrifice to the Lord it s noted that he left his * Gen. 22.5 servants and his Asse behinde him at the foot of the hill that is as Barradius moralizeth it his servile and worldly affections as the blessed Virgine having beene saluted by an Angell and greeted with good tidings from Heaven immediately she left Nazareth of which the Proverb it seemes went among the Pharisees that out of Nazareth no i John 1.46 good thing came and went with haste into the k Luke 1.39 Hill Countrey and kept her selfe busied in things above so that great Mercurius Trismegistus professeth that when he fixed his mind to contemplate things l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Mercur Trismegist in Paemandro cap. 1. initio above the senses of his body were affected even as a man oppressed by the heavinesse of sleepe whilest his soule kept up like a Meteor above the earth still upwards towards Heaven thus finding the speediest issue much like the disposition of the Spouse in the Canticles who whilest her heart was awaked for her Husband Christ she was in her sense of the body m Cant. 5.2 asleepe and drowzie to the world wherefore if we respect with old Simeon our quiet in death and then as Gods servants to depart with him in n Luke 2.29 peace let us though not cast our o Mundo carnem subtrahendam non eo inficias non è mundo tollendam quod ipsum in nostrâ potestate non sit Du Plessis pag. 61. in 8º de vitae mortisque consideratione selves out of the world yet as those Mariners in Saint Pauls tempest p Acts 27.18 19 lightned the Ship by casting out the tackling let us cast the world with the rubbish and appurtenances thereof out of our selves dealing herein as Abraham did with his servant Hagar when through too much cockering and indulgence she began to waxe malapert and sawcy he cast her out and q Gen. 21.10 14 sent her away to wander in the wildernesse of Beer-sheba so when the world and flesh begin to r Gal. 5.24 lust too eagerly against the Spirit it must be subdued though not destroyed it must be in affection cast out ſ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrsost Hom. ad cap. 6. Rom. ver 12. rectified or crucified with the affections and lusts thereof the reason hereof is for that the more empty the soule is of the world the more full it is of God and so on the contrary therefore we read in Scripture that God appeared mostly unto his Prophets and great Saints in extasies in visions and in t Cognitio futurorum meliùs potest fieri in dormientibus quà m in vigilantibus eò quòd quando anima abstrahitur à corporalibus ut in somno aptior redditur ad percipiendum in fluxum Divinum Raynerius de Pisis tom 2. Pantheolog cap. 12. de Prophetiâ pag. 723. in quarto dreames by night when the soule hath beene estranged as it were from usuall commerce with the body God and Mammon be such u Jam. 4.4 enemies that like heate and cold the first qualities in the Elements in intense degrees they cannot dwell together in one and the same heart The x Aristot lib. 3. de animâ cap. 5. text 4. cum Jul. Pacio in comment ibid. Philosopher gives a very rationall argument to prove this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which is within so intimately existent already that it is in a sort the same with what the minde is fastened upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the same Philosopher saith so the Scripture it selfe plainely He that is joyned to the Lord is y 1. Cor. 6.17 one Spirit this I say thus fixed within already expelleth and bolteth out what is not of the same but of another nature from without and our Saviour is himselfe expresse that no man can serve God and z Matth. 6.24 Mammon at the same time in intense degrees and in that manner as God himselfe expects it from him Matth. 6.24 Hence we observe that the Israelites after they had once eaten of the old corne of the land they found the Manna from Heaven on the next morrow to a Josh 5.12 cease nor had they any of that b Psal 78.25 food of Angels more Josh 5.12 Saint Austin gives the reason of it clearely Si animus habet undè delectetur extrinsecùs sine delectatione manet intrinsecùs that is if the Aegyptian flesh-pots of fat and greazie delights from without can content the minde enough then it cannot finde true inward chearefulnesse and delectation within and yet from c Psal 45.13 within all the glory of Gods Church is brought yea there principally it is and lyes Certainely what an honourable person of great parts said of Riches and other appurtenances of the world at large is much more true in death they are the very d Lord Verulam Essay 34. baggage of vertue the Romane word is better impedimenta for as the baggage is to an Army so are riches to vertue it cannot well be spared nor left behinde but yet it hindereth the march yea and the care of it disturbeth often loseth the victory and it 's worth our notice how Saint Paul hath joyned those two together set your affections on things above and e Col. 3.2 not on things below Col. 3.2 necessarily implying that whilest men do keep scraping with Aesops cock and spurle for pearles of contentment in the dunghill of the earth below and as our Apostle saith doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f Phil. 3.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mind earthly things and as the greeke word signifyes do place their
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 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
testator liveth Heb. 9.16 17. if any son of Belial that shakes off the yoke of awfull obedience to his parent shall presume before hand to rob his Father or his Mother the e Pro 30.17 ravens of the valleyes saith the Scripture shall plucke out his eyes and besides you may reverse at pleasure as God lendeth farther terme of yeares Be exhorted then first of all for the peace and quiet of your own Soules in this regard as my Prophet here adviseth Hezekiah to set your house in order even before Death Secondly besides this good to the Soul of him that is deceasing there may hereby ensue much benefit even to our succession good God! what Aceldamas are often made what f Acts 2.19 fields of blood by direfull Duels between brethren for an undisposed and unsetled Patrimony as Esau and Jacob in the wombe how do they other some all their lives long g Gen. 25.22 struggle for elbow-roome upon that earth which as it was at first communis mensa as h Procopius Gazaeus commâ—â—â—t in Genes c. 1. f. 9. Latin Procopius speaketh the common boord that supplyed them with all things usefull and convenient yea the common mother that first teemed them and the nurse that cherished them so e're long it must be Commune Sepulchrum too the common Sepulchre and the grave to bury them and for ever to lodge them till a powerfull resurrection what envy is here of Eteocles and Polynices two brothers its sayd that their hearts were not more at ods in life then their flames were in their death divided To prevent therefore these future divisions sith wealth gave occasion even to great Saints to i Gen. 13.9 part as to Lot and Abraham which often as the Vultures upon Prometheus gnaw upon the body of an unordered estate so long till that is made good in the Psalmist these goods were gotten with much care by the progenitors but now they cannot tell who shall k Psal 39.6 enjoy them whether the Lawyer or the issue or neither To cut off I say these following dangers and to leave behind you what may rather make to live and love and not to l Gen. 45.24 fal-out as brethren for what m Pro 18.19 ods to that of brethren disjoynted in affection let us all be exhorted as in the first place to n 2 Cor. 12.14 lay up as God shall o 1 Cor. 16.2 enable for our children for not so doing what are wee else but p 1 Tim. 5.8 worse then Infidels p 1 Tim. 5.8 yea how do your lavish and profuse wantons living in the world as the Leviathan in the Sea only to take q Psal 104.26 pastime and sport themselves in r Rom. 13.13 rioting and drunkennesse in chambering and wantonnesse in a sinfull prodigality both of time and estates how do they I say by this sinning withall against and Å¿ Eph. 6.4 provoking their children even draw out almost all their substance to the bottome and so leave their issue after them not only as Adonibezek without t Judg. 1.7 thumbs and toes nor as Hanun used King Davids servants shaven by the one halfe and cut off in their garments to the u 2 Sam. 10.4 middle but as Solomon saith of the whore and the drunkard they are often brought to a x Pro. 6.26 morsell of bread and go cloath'd in y Pro. 23.21 rags being not seldom more miserable in the want of z Read Bp. Hall decad 6. epist 6. education then of revenues their Parents over-lavishnesse as that land that did a Num. 13.32 eate up its owne inhabitants b Gen. 41.20 devouring with Pharaoh's lanke heifers the fair the fat kine whose milk should have nourished the children that survive them good God! what a grosse mistake is here of the right liberality There is a liberality of expending which maketh a good man like the fields in Aegypt overflown by Nilus the richer soyle it s called by divines liberalitas charitativae largitatis and of this its true what King Solomon long since experimented saying the liberall soule shall be made c Pro. 11.25 fat no one mite this way layd out but it s like that graine of mustard seed in the gospell it grows up unto a great d Matth. 13.32 tree of an after encrease but there is another kind which is though abusively called Liberalitas prodigae effusionis which is not indeed in its selfe simply considered a liberality save only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the false opinion of a loose Epicure and is intruth nought else but a prodigall effusion and so it proves eyther as that same water of the woman of Tekoah which being spilt on the ground cannot be e 2 Sam. 14.14 gathered up again or else it will as that ill word in the primitive times of Christs Church of that paire of erroneous Teachers Hymeneus and Philetus it will be as a f 2 Tim. 2.17 canker or gangrene fretting to the very consumption of posterity thus doe these godlesse Atheists whose names the Lord g Psal 9.5 puts out even as a candle in the snuffe from under heaven for it and makes them taste of corruption even before they dy thus I say by this meanes do they as the evill spirit did the h Matth. 8.32 swine into the Sea precipiate and hurry oftimes their un-bred posterity into an engulfing confusion their fathers throat was the i Psal 5.9 open sepulchre of their just patrimonies holy Abraham though he was the hospitablest man alive insomuch j Gen. 18.2 that standing in his tent doore his hospitality offered it self after a sort to every obvious passenger and by that meanes entertainned l Heb. 13.2 Angels unawares in whose welcome I believe he spared no fit cost yet would he not forget that he had an Isaac for his heire too and many other children and favorites to provide for for after time and as he was first carefull to provide a patrimony so also was he as provident and Religious withall to dispose even m Gen. 25.5 8. before his dissolution of what he had provided to which like practise let us that I may once more renew my exhortation in this particular be all admonished herein imitating him our n Rom. 4.1 father that is the Pattern of our faith and practice and indeed saith our Savior if we were truly Abraham's sons and children as if we beleeve aright we cannot o Gal. 3.29 but be we would do the p John 8.39 workes of Abraham that at last we may not faile to share in the sweet comforts of Abraham's q Luke 16.23 bosom we read that after Abrahams death there was a good issue of his providence for God r Gen. 25.11 blessed his son Isaac c. Thus as our Prophet in my text adviseth his good Prince let us all be seasonably exhorted to set
yet they z Psal 50.22 forget him saith the Prophet that is as Saint Paul interprets they doe not like to a Rom. 1.28 reteine God in their knowledge that is to * Haec est summa delicti nolli agnoscore quem ignorare non possis S. Cyprian de Idolor vanitate sect 5. acknowledge him to be such a God as he hath revealed himselfe to be in all his glorious attributes of Omnipotency Omnisciency Omnipresence Infinitenesse Eternity did we not onely know but also acknowledge and b Psal 45.10 consider these things aright did we labour thoroughly to c Isa 42.25 44.19 lay them to our hearts to d Psal 107.43 ponder them by continuall meditation and as we ought to be affected with them it could not be but that we should often remember how Eternity depends upon a moment how great an e Rom. 14.12 account every one of us even from the f Eph. 5.12 secret and g 1. Cor. 4.5 hidden workes of darknesse to an h Matth. 12.36 idle word must in particular make to this i Psal 77.13 great God and k 2. Tim. 4.8 righteous Judge of l Gen. 18.25 all the earth when after death wee must all m 2. Cor. â— 10 appeare before his dreadfull Tribunall and awfull seate of Judgment how could we then but as Enoch walke n Gen. 5.24 with God and with Abraham o Gen. 17.1 before God as alwayes in his presence as to whose eyes all things lye open and p Heb. 4.13 naked yea as one who knoweth all our thoughts long q Psal 139.1 before they be and when they are findeth them all to be but r 1 Cor. 3.20 vain certainely did we seriously consider this we would in our severall places speedily set our houses in order whether it be the house spirituall Corporall Mysticall Ecclesiasticall Secular or oeconomicall our Conversation would be in heaven Å¿ Phil. 3.20 even whilest we are alive here upon earth And so being ready as the good t Matth. 25.4 Virgins with oyle in our lamps how joyfully may we meet our Bridegroom and cry out with those blessed Spirits u Rev. 22.20 Come Lord Jesu come quickely This foregoing preparation made the ancient Martyrs to embrace death as the prooeme unto immortality x Isidor Pelusiota l. 4. epist 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Isidore Pelusiota told his good friend Theon Labour we to get the meditation of the Lord thus to become as David professed y Psal 104.34 sweet unto us we shall then with St. Paul groane under the z Rom. 7.24 misery of this body of death even a Phil. 1.23 long to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Lord open thou our dim yea our blind eyes that we may see him fasten our hearts upon him by a lively Faith alwayes give us right apprehensions of thee and heavenly things that living the life of thine b 1 Pet. 1.14 obedient children * Matth. 25.23 and faythfull servants in a conversation c Psal 50.23 ordered aright wee may so honor thee our good God here in this life of grace below that in the end of all wee may enjoy the fulnesse of thy promised and d Matth. 25.34 prepared glory above in Heaven even at thy right hand at whose right hand are e Psal 16.11 pleasures for evermore even where there is health without sicknesse life without death joy without sorrow even joy f Pet. 1.8 unspeakeable and full of glory And that only and alone for his sake who hath so dearely g 1 Cor. 6 â—0 bought us Jesus Christ the h 1 John 2.1 righteous to whom with thee ô Father and thy blessed spirit three all-glorious persons one infiite and all 〈…〉 s God our God be given of us and of all thy Saints all glory praise dominion and Salvation in the Church i Eph. 3.21 by CHRIST JESUS throughout all ages World without end Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 FINIS Imprimatur JOHANNES HANSLEY Novem. 7th 1639.
our Soules be rightly set in order our minds o Eph. 1.17 illightned with knowledge our wils furnished with p Heb. 5.9 obedience our affections cleansed by q 1 Joh. 3.3 2 Cor. 7.1 purity our passions allayed by r Luke 21.19 patience our conscience ſ Heb. 9.14 sprinkled from dead workes the whole house so well fitted drest up and prepared that when our Saviour shall t Rev. 3.20 knock at the doore of our hearts by the u Jer. 23.29 Hammer of his Word or call to us by the x Isa 30.21 voice of the Spirit we may readily open unto him and welcome him to supper with us in the y Rom. 5.1 peace of soule and z Rom. 15.13 joy in the Holy Ghost and may walke in that way which he shall shew us both of Repentance and Faith and that by the direction of himselfe who is onely the Essentiall a John 14.6 way the truth and the life that in the issue we may not faile of the end of our faith even the b 1. Pet. 1.9 salvation of our soules Thirdly there is yet another house besides these and that is the house mysticall and this house is the c 1. Tim. 3.15 Church of God yea of the living God as Saint Paul hath fully taught us 1. Tim. 3.15 this house is builded upon a d Matth. 7.24 Rock and that Rock is e 1. Cor. 10.4 Christ the members of this house are resembled unto and called by the name of a f Eph. 3.15 Family in this family the great g Matth. 20.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Householder is God himselfe he hath h Matth. 15.26 Children in this family and being an indulgent Father he hath a Son an i Matth. 21.38 heire and not onely so but divers other both k 2. Cor. 6.18 Sonnes and Daughters too and as children so l Matth. 21.34 Luke 17.10 Servants also Of these servants some are chiefe as m Luke 12.42 Stewards of the Household others emphatically Servants of speciall notice and favour such an one was Job whom the Lord the great Householder would have to be observed above ordinary and n Job 1.8 considered as a patterne to others some againe are remarkable for fidelity and o Heb. 3.5 faithfulnesse in all the House so was Moses the p Num. 12.7 Servant of the Lord q 1. Cor. 7.25 and Paul Others as for faithfulnesse so also for r Luke 12.42 Wisedome joyned with it some of these againe are so endeared that though in themselves they be Servants yet in their Masters high esteeme they be his ſ John 15.15 Friends and so he usually calls them and of these servant-friends some walke t Gen. 5.24 with him so did Enoch some as Abraham whom St James calleth the u James 2.23 Friend of God doe walke x Gen. 17.1 before him in a word some are so y Psal 19.13 Psal 119.76 servants that withall they are such men as are * 1. Sam. 13.14 Act. 13.22 after the Lords owne heart too and such an one was David out of all these and much more that might be added to this purpose concerning the severall offices and imployments of these children and servants in this house of the Church according to their a 1. Cor. 12.4 5 6 c. severall degrees and orders of which the Apostle hath written at large 1. Cor. 12.4 5 6 c. there is made up one whole entire b Heb. 3.6 house of Christ namely if we as Saint Paul admonisheth us hold fast the confidence and rejoycing of the hope firme unto the end how justly may I here take up that saying of the blessed Aegyptian c Macarius Homil. 49. pag. 535. in 80. Macarius on this occasion and cry out in wonder and admiration at Gods great mercy in this regard to man as he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the unspeakable mercy of God who freely gives himselfe unto beleevers to inherite him in a short time as a full possession and oh wonder that God should inhabite in the body of man and that the Lord should have as it were a specious house to dwell in man To which even of the Angels though by creation farre more glorious creatures than man is for he is made d Heb. 2.7 lower than the Angels hath God said this at any time that he would either come to e Rev. 3.20 sup or else to f Eph. 3.17 2.22 dwell with them but loe thus hath he said and doth doe to men and the Church built up of men upon the g Matth. 7.24 Rock Christ Jesus as the chiefe h Eph. 2.20 corner-stone of i 1. Pet. 2.5 living stones unto a compleate k Eph. 2.21 building in the Lord nor doth he onely lodge with us as the Angels did with Lot for a l Gen. 19.3 4 15. Night and so away but he m John 14.23 abides and stayes with his Church for ever even unto the n Matth. 28.20 end of the world If then Lot was highly honored in entertaining and lodging of Angels what honour have we to lodge the God of Angels and if the Babe o Luke 1.41 sprang in the wombe when yet there was a double partition-wall two wombs betweene Saint John Baptist and his Lord and Master Christ when he came but in a p Luke 1.40 visite oh how should we rejoyce who have him in us by a perpetuall q Eph 2.22 inhabitation which meditation should by the way admonish us how religiously carefull we should be of preserving these houses from r Veniunt ad candida tecta columbae pollution and all uncleanenesse that we may not occasion our best guest by meanes of some ill order or entertainment within us to be ſ Eph. 4.30 grieved to divert and t Hos 5.15 go away to some other better and sweeter mansion oh let us not make our bodies and soules the u 1. Cor. 6.15 Brothel-houses of lust as a Babylonish x Rev. 18.2 cage of all foule birds of flying and of wandring thoughts of impurity but let us rather purge our selves from all y 2. Cor. 7.1 filthinesse of the * Domus Dei spiritualis est qui non in carne ambulat sed in spiritu Bern. f. 17. flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the feare of God purge we our hearts from pride by Humility for with the z Isa 57.15 humble spirit God will dwell yea let us in all godlinesse and a 1. Tim. 2.2 honesty glorifie God both in our b 1. Cor. 6.20 bodies and in our soules sith both are Gods and that not by Creation onely but by c Ibid. purchase This is the way to make both bodies and soules not styes or stews of filthinesse but as Saint Paul saith the very