children this unwillingnesse to dye in Jeremiah (i) â—r 37.20 Therefore heare me now I pray thee and let my supplications be acceptable unto the King my Lord that thou cause me not to return to the house of Ionathan the Scribe lest I dye there Our Saviour foretelling Peter that bold professor Though all should be offended yet not I k Mat. 26.37 of his death foretold him also how unwillingly he would undergoe it Thou shalt be carried whither thou wouldest not (l) Iohn 21.18 And thus unwilling have the Saints been to dye not only when wealth and pleasures would have made them in love with life but even in such times as these when sinne and misery did abound in the world yet even then loath have they been to be took out of it just as Lot who though his righteous soule was vext day by day whilst he lived in Sodom (m) 2 Pet. 2.8 although he knew that a fearefull destruction was falling on it suddenly yet how strangely did he linger when God would take him out of it insomuch that the two Angels were constrained laying their hands on him to force him out So weak was the purest and best flesh that was ever made even our Saviours though united to the God-head that it begged If it be possible let this cup passe from me Ipsa vox non exauditi magna est expositio Sacramenti (n) Leo in Mat. 26.39 The mystery that Christ should be God and not be heard is to tell us that nature flesh and blood would not willingly purchase any good thing at so deare a rate as the price of its life and being Man then yes the best man nay God himselfe as he was a man being not able without some struggle and reluctancie to undergoe the last and sad departure of the soule from the body these deare intimate and ancient friends with what heart-breaking then and tormenting unwillingnesse doth a man formerly carelesse and customary in Religion yeeld up his soule Againe take notice how hard 't will be for him to resist the Devill who then especially recollects what malice and poyson is within him and vents it with most violence Vltimum magno scelus animo patrandum as Medea of her selfe (o) Sen. Med. Sad and present experience will tell you that when the besiegers of a Town heare that the siege is shortly to be raised by the reliefe of approaching succours whereby it must necessarily be for ever rescued out of their hands how fast and lowd will the Ordnance then thunder what underminings what stratagems what force will be then used then will they recollect whatsoever is man in them not a brain heart or hand which shall not be then imployed that their former hopes may not faile or their former labour be lost And can the Devill thinke you who hath besieged a soule for 30 40 50 or 60. yeares and all this while hath more then hopes of taking it be forced to remove siege ere hee hath tryed his utmost strength fury and policie And as the Devill will on our death-beds use his utmost endeavours so shall we formerly carelesse be utterly disenabled for resistance Alas we have not in time of health got unto our selves the whole armour of a Christian which is very improbable I will not say impossible to begain'd in the last sicknesse for the armour the chiefest whereof is the shield of Faith comes by hearing (p) Rom. 10.17 God therefore seldome very seldome bestowes his graces on those who in their health have not thrived by this Ordinance And this is the reason why many carelesse ones dye either without a Minister or happily having an ignorant loose one which knows not how to awaken a soule out of its damnable lethargy or lastly having a faithfull one cannot by reason of their present paines or feare of hell reape any profit by him and if any seemingly to us are by Gods blessing on a faithfull Minister brought to repent their repentance is scarce acceptable or sound 1. Not acceptable May not God say to such as he in the Comedy Cum nemini obtrudipotest itur ad me you make me your refuge not your choise nay you come not onely last unto me but you reserve that which is worst for me As in a barrell long drawn Non tantum minimum sed pessimum relictum what is left is not onely little but grownes and dregges the worst of all so offering your selves unto me on your death-beds you give me onely that little of your life that is left and this little is the worst part too made up of paines weaknesses feares and agonies nor this neither would you give me knew you how otherwise to bestow it What thank-worthy is it to be willing to leave your sinnes when you can keep them no longer to renounce the world and its vanities when you must be took from them to give means to the poore when you your selves cannot make use of them to forgive your enemies when you are disinabled to return their injuries or to perswade your wife and children to rely on my providence because you can no longer lay up for them 2. 'T is usually unsound Many at their last gaspe with teares in their eyes groanes in their hearts and confession in their mouthes miscarry and goe to hell which we assuredly conclude to be in heaven and have oft with joy related what good ends they have made looking onely at their last pensivenesse and not at their former lives by which onely may we guesse what followes death death being the Eccho to life so we usually dye as we live This sad truth my own reason and experience makes good Some have I known in extremity of sicknes being as they thought the last have made large confessions of their past errours and have profest strong resolutions of amendment for the future in supposition of recovery Oh! said they if it would please God to spare me suffer me to recover my strengh ere I goe hence adde unto my yeares mightily would I manifest how the Lord hath sanctified his visitation unto me by a reclaimed strict and exemplary life yet being restored againe to their former strength and liberty Dogges and Sowes as they are have suddenly returned to their vomit and mire this my experience tels me now my reason tels me that had these wretches died in this their repentance which the devill made them beleeve and they us was sound and true they must necessarily have gone to hell because their after relapses and wallowings proved them to be counterfeits Thus are we necessitated to fear the miscarrying of all these careless ones though they are permitted to dye in their beds with a long and ordinary sicknesse Oh then in what danger do they live and how do they walke upon the brinke of hell which care not through repentance and humiliation to make their peace with God in these dismall bloody dying times of ours when
either as a judgement on their hard hearts which cannot repent they shall be cut off in the midst of their strength and sinnes as most interpret the words or wicked men though they die feeble and aged yet are they said dies dimidiare not to live out halfe their dayes because they are so deeply in love with the world and greedy of life that they would willingly live as long againe as already they had or lastly are so carelesse of their walking so little knowing how the precious time passes away that they are at their journeyes end ere they thinke they have gone halfe way thus being tooke away before they expected death they are tooke away also ere they could halfe provide for it Whereas if wee consider how fraile and brittle even naturally how subject to variety of casualties the frequent instruments of sudden death wee are how many continually fall on every side of us what store of blood-thirsty Papists and desperate Libertines rage and swarme in our land each whereof suae vitae incuriosus tuae dominus growne carelesse of his owne life becomes master of thine and upon these considerations alwayes keep e Sen. Ep. 66. in our view and minde approaching death we should never be unprepared for it Non subito moriuntur qui semper se morituros cogitaverunt i.e. those which with Saint Paul dye daily f 1 Cor. 15.31 for so also may he be understood cannot die suddenly If therefore thou art resolv'd to pray From sudden death good Lord deliver us pray also with David g Psal 92.12 Teach us so to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome i.e. bring them to wisdome make them wise Now a wise mans heart saith the Preacher h Eccles â— 5 discerneth both time and judgement the last time death and the last judgement at Christs second comming not that he punctually knowes the time when he shall die or when Christ shall in flaming fire be revealed from heaven no these times and seasons belong unto God alone but that he so well discernes the one and the other that neither of them shall take him unprovided to this purpose as it becommeth a wise sonne he gathereth in summer l Prov. 10.5 In the long dayes of peace and the glorious sun-shine of the Gospel he layes up against Winter i.e. either against times of blindnesse and persecution when the meanes shall be denyed him or else against death when his strength like that of Plants returnes to the earth there to be kept untill the Resurrections spring You therefore which desire to be freed from sudden death and by your prayer will witnesse this your desire witnesse it also I beseech you by your carefull endeavour to prepare for its comming pray that you may apply your hearts unto wisdome and manifest your selves to be wise sonnes by gathering in Summer O gather therefore gather apace whilst it may be yet said to be Summer For ought I know our Sunne may be declining and our Summer drawing towards an end darkenesse and spirituall blindnesse may be comming faster on us then the yeares Winter We have truth is at this time a great shine great store of excellent and faithfull Preachers but this may be but Vltimus lucernaefulgor the last blaze of a dying candle greatest at last The times are dangerous full of teares and dismall expectations what bloody and desperate designes are continually hatcht and discovered strange talke and projects abroad God knowes whether the Jesuites many yeares plot may now have issue the scales may turn sure I am our sinnes and hardened hearts deserve it nay doe we not see them swagge and much adoe to keepe even and did not the prayers and humiliations of some few good soules amongst us which sigh and cry both for their owne and the abominations of the land adde weight unto the right scale we were utterly lost O how suddenly may the freedome and liberty of injoying God in his Ordinances for want of valuing and rightly using them be tooke from us Let therefore you and me and him let every one of us resolve with his Saviour m Iohn 9.40 To worke the workes of him that sent us whilst 't is day because the night comes when no man can worke the workes of him that sent mee not of my Father Vt obligationem faciendi ipso missionis nomine declaret n Maldon in locum that he might shew the necessity of performing these workes from his purposely being sent for their performance So ought wee whilst 't is called to day the time of our life the time of our liberty or the time allowed us for comming in let us ply the businesses breeding faith and perfecting repentance not onely because they are the works of our Father works tending to his glory but also because they are the works of him that sent us to this end hath hee sent us into the World that we might repent and beleeve It concernes us therefore carefully to use all the meanes to attaine to this perfection ere we are took out of the world ere the night of death come on us when no man can work And for ought I know to the contrary this night wherein no man can work may as well include our last sicknesse the time of dying as that after it Death is a harder task and there is more to do in it then most men think of How much businesse we may then have and how little time allowed for its dispatch God onely knowes A carelesse man going on in the sinnes and courses of the world who thinkes it not worth the while in times of health and content to trouble himselfe with the melancholy of repentance will finde it employment more then enough on his death-bed for his weak heart and giddy head to set his house in order the chief thing in these troubles cared for by worldly Achitophels with patience to undergoe his present paines or to make the little and spiritlesse flesh God shall leave him willing to depart What no time then my brethren and quiet will he have to make even with God having run on 30 40 50. or more yeares in horrible arrerages what little leisure then will hee have to resist the Devill quiet his conscience or answer his clamorous sinnes I shall in a word shew you what a toile and trouble almost invincible 't will be for that man to dye well that hath lived ill acquainting you with these 2. things 1. How hard it is for such a one to be willing to dye 2. How hard it is for him dying to resist the Devill First see how hard it will bee for him to bee willing to dye Whatsoever is destructive to being or life nature abhorres the continuance and preservation of this being its onely appetite Such a one then as yet being in the state of nature cannot but mightily dread death Nay there hath been in the dearest of Gods
THE VANITY OF Self-boasters OR The Prodigious madnesse of tyrannizing Sauls mis-leading Doegs or any others whatsoever which peremptorily goe on and atheistically glory in their shame and mischief IN A SERMON Preached at the Funerall of John Hamnet Gent. late of the Parish of Maldon in Surrey BY E. H. Minister of the same and late Fellow of Merton Colledge in Oxford Sen. Hyppol Act. 1. Quod non potest vult posse qui nimium potest LONDON Printed by R. Bishop for S. GELLIBRAND at the Brazen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard 1643. Amicissimo juveni Ioanni Hamnet Generoso ornatissimi viri Ioannis Hamnet nuperrimae de Maldon apud Regnos Suthreios Gen. filio unico haeredi S. ROgasti ut a me concio haec rogo ego ut a te pater tuus exscriberetur optatum jam habes utinam ego pariter felix hoc enim mihi unicum in votis juxta precibus at ipsissimum patris prodeas exemplar ut sis non rei familiaris tantum sed virtutum haeres ut emorituri parentis jam jamque ultimum emittentis spiritum coelestibus planè oraculis fidem habeas morem geras sic te tibi reddas sic tecum vivas sic proprio sinu domique senatum aerarium exercitum habeas sic Deo proximior fias sic amico E. H. Mald. pridiè Calend. Iul. An. salutis 1643. THE VANITIE OF Self-boasters OR A SERMON Preached at the Funerall of John Hamnet Gent. late of the Parish of Maldon in SURREY PSAL. 52.1 Why boastest thou thy selfe O mighty man in mischiefe the goodnesse of the Lord endures for ever IT was much folly in the Stoicks to hold that all sinnes were equall none of a greater stain or poyson then another but 't is stupidity in the Papists to make the gap so wide as to affirm some to be veniall onely and the other mortall If the Papists were in the right then every soule which sinneth should not dye (a) Ezek. 11.20 if the Stoicks then should it not have been easier for Sodom and Gomorrah then for that City (b) Mat. 10.15 Every sinne doth lineam transilire as Cicere expresses it is a transgression of the Law and that is death then none is veniall thus the Papists erre and if every sinne is a transgression of the Law then Longè progredicum semel transieris auget transeundi culpam as the same Orator and reason tells us the growth and continuance of sinne make an inequality and thus the Stoicks erre Nay every vertue being a quality hath its latitude whose medium is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strict Arithmeticall meane but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Geometricall meane which proportionably varies its distance according to the diversity of circumstances (c) Arist Ethie 2. What differences then and disproportions are there between vices which are therefore vices because they have no mean Yes doubtlesse an ill suggestion quickly stifled is not so bad as that which is nourisht into a thought nor this thought as bad as such a one which growes up into the mouth and breakes out in words nor this neither so sinnefull as that which sets the head a plotting and the hand a working mischiefe nor this plotted active mischiefe so black and sinfull as a wicked habit wallowed and delighted in nor hath this wicked habit so much death and wormwood in it as when it is swoln to such a bulk come to such a non ultra as to be boasted of for lower then this canst thou not sinke unlesse thou sinkst into hell and takest Iobs wifes advice cursest God and dyest Again not to love and pray for our enemies is a very sinne a breach of our Saviours injunction (d) Mat. 5.44 but a greater sinne is it to withhold our love and prayers from Gods best Children and holiest servants but worser is it to hate them but yet farre worser to be an instrument of their ruine but worst of all and horror to imagine to triumph that thou wast thus mischievously imployed to boast that thou didst hatch the plot that ruind them dischargedst the Cannon that tore them madest the pill that poysoned them wast a Doeg a knight of the Post which didst accuse and butcher them Lastly of all sinnes pride and boasting have the blackest brand and of all boastings a boasting in mischiefe and of all boastings in mischiefe a boasting O thou mighty man or that thou art mighty in mischiefe Well then may David in wonder and amazement or I in his person aske Saul the persecutor or Doeg his informer and executioner his bloody misleading instrument or any other incarnate Devill peremptorily triumphing in the blood or fall of Gods people Why dost thou boast thy selfe O mighty man in mischiefe the goodnesse of the Lord endures for ever This paraphrase for the explanation of the words Take another whereby wee may know the occasion of them David was now an innocent persecuted Dove as you have the History 1 Sam. 21 22. who willingly would have returned with an Olive branch in his mouth for hee sought peace but they would have warre (e) Psal 120.7 Wherefore finding the floods still up the waves encompassing him on every side which made him afraid (f) Psal 18.4 And having no quiet place no whereto rest his foot on he returnes like Noahs Dove to the Arke betaked himself to Abimeleth the Priest of the Lord for advice and succour who beleeving him fast both to God and the King though the king was not pleased to think so did not stick in case of necessity to break a ceremony gives him the hallowed bread and Goliahs sword But see the mischiefe the Devill as usually it falls out had sent a Doeg who even in Gods Temple was his Chappell to gather pretence of slander and death against them who presently carries and aggravates the businesse to Saul Saul being before heated was now on fire turn'd his former rage into madnesse so quickly doth a bloody tyrannicall nature kindle at the least hint he forth with sends for Abimelech and making his will his Law becomes himself both the accuser and the Iudge and makes Doeg his informer his speedy executioner who forth with falls on Abimelech and for the reliefe he afforded the Lords servant and his own faithfull subject ruines both him his family and City Had not David then think you just cause to be thunder-struck at the confident and peremptory proceeding of the tyrant Saul or his bandog Doeg and in amazement to cry out Why doest thou boast thy selfe O mighty man in mischief the goodnesse of the Lord endures for ever This the occasion of the words I will not raise a quarrell by telling you how Expositors wrangled and are divided about my text how they turn and alter both the sense and words because though they ring as it were changes on them and set the words severall wayes yet like skilfull Musitians they keep the
in coelo angelos qui in coelo peccantes dejiciuntur in haec corpora quasi in se pulchra tot in coelo ruinae quot in terra nativitates Ep. Tom. 2. p. 124. This consideration also made the (m) Nat. Hist l. 2. c. 63. Naturalist conclude it an argument of natures bounty afford us such diversity of poysons whereby we may free our selves from the world and its crosses And though Religion allowes not of this atheisticall exchange of misery of leaping out of the Frying-pan as we speak into the fire even Hell-fire yet the miserable condition of man hath made some of the Fathers to bestow large-commendations on death that known speech of Ambrose is most remarkable Mors remedium potiùs poenae quà m vindicta culpae Death was brought on us rather for the ending of our punishment then for the punishment of sinne For a punishment saith he was it said unto man (n) Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread but for his comfort was it added till thou returne to the earth And even in this respect also is it truly affirmed by our best Divines that though death considered according to its owne nature be a punishment yet as it is considered with relation to the faithfull it is not because to them the nature of it is changed and from a curseit is turn'd into a blessings for the sting of it Sinne is taken away in which its hurt and punishment consisted and whereas Arminius would therefore prove death properly a punishment even to the faithfull because though the right of holding them captive be taken a way from death by Christ yet from the actuall dominion of death we are not freed till the resutrection I could tell him might I stay so long that death hath not this actuall dominion over the faithfull he speakes of seeing by Christ we have gotten the victory over it so that we may not crouch to it as captives to their Governour but rather as Conquerours over a captive may we triumph O death where is thy sting t 1 Cor. 15.55 thy punishment thy dominion thought thou art an enemy the last enemy to be destroyed and art though by the Arminians to helpe forward our afflictions yet abundantly hast thou helped forward our good the good not only of our soules which hereby flye to heaven are made infinitely and eternally happy but of our bodies also which hereby have a thrice happy deliverance First they are delivered from the sense of misery from the paines of sicknesse the troubles of old age the crosses of the world and the misusages of persecutors Secondly they are delivered from the society of wicked men they are tooke from sojourning in Mesech and from dwelling in the Tents of Kedar which in this world is so loathsome so burdensome unto them Thirdly lastly they cease from their labors not only from their sufferings under which they unavoidably labour but from their labours of sinne they rest from their workes of wickednesse sinne by death loseth not onely its dominion but its habitation it shall not onely not reigne but no longer dwell in their mortall bodies and the reason is because their bodies shall be no longer mortall 'T was well askt why is earth ashes proud u Ecclus 10.9 so true is that common etymology homo quasi ex humo man is so cald because his foundation is in the dust x Psal 108.9 our first parents had no other materials nor ever since have we nay the bowels whence we sprang are nothing else Wonderfully and fearfully sayes the Psalmist y Psal 133 15. hast thou made me in the nethermost parts of the earth i. in my mothers womb and so truth is the Chaldee Paraphrast reads it hence the Hebrewes call women plainly earth so truely so verely earth are wee not onely made of earthy materials but cast also in an earthy molde So earthy and mouldring that that which we call life is it selfe but a wasting and dying a continuall fluxe and decaying no part of it being our own nay no part of it being but punctum continuationis the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present moment which too is so neare nothing that as the Philosopher desinit esse antequam est it begins almost not to be before it is What is past of this we call life is lost what is to come is not gain'd this present instant onely remaining which was so fleet to that 't was gone assoone as I could tell you 't was come is vanish't whilst 't was spoke of Be not mistaken death consists not in the last gaspe last groan or fit these do not name or cause death but finish it just as it is not the falling of the last sand in this glasse which makes or names this houre but the falling of all the sand and the houre might be then said to make toward an end when the glasse was first turned 'T is not you know the last blaze of a Candle spends him because he is spending all the time he burnes and may truely be said even then to begin to go out when he was first lighted No otherwise is it with us death consists not in the last breath or sickenesse no 't is now upon you even upon the best and healthiest constitution every breath you fetch every step you move and every journey you take 't is towards the grave thither were you tending when you first set out even the first minute of your birth all of you beginning then to die when you first began to be But men resolving to be proud A Cavill answered and therefore willing to forget they are but dust and ashes may reply 'T is a very truth that in these times and places of Warre and sicknesse our earthy fraile condition plainly appears but at other times and in other places we know 't is otherwise Have there not bin and are there not even now amongst us many aged people Answ 'T is confest but yet there is scarce any of these aged ones which you call now living which on serious thoughts and recollection dare say they truely live that onely being true life which hath joy and contentment individuall with it which the cares and thornes of the world the weaknesses and infirmities of old age denying them denies them also truely to live So true is that of my Psalmist ſ Psal 90.70 The dayes of our yeares are threescore yeares and ten and if by reason of strength they be eigthy yeares then is their strength labour and pain If joy and content did not onely speak us truly and properly alive then they in hell may be said to be alive but on them the second death hath seized Aged men by reason of the troubles and cares the world hath brought on them are like those on the seas bent for a short voyage but vext and hindered by contrary winds and tempests for as such cannot be said
probably this benefit of dying by a long sicknesse in the bed being denyed them they may be suddenly cut off with a head full of Wine hands full of oppression eyes full of uncleannesse and a heart full of malice and thinke Oh thinke what then Object I know the jolly customary sinners ordinary objection no great decision sure I am no disprofit to answer it Though we as yet take our swing in the wayes and courses of the world and death may overtake us ere we are prepared for it yet God can make us doe much in a little time and that as much in as little time too as the thiefe on the Crosse did Sol. 'T is truth to God nothing is impossible much lesse can any thing bee hard to him yet know that the LORD is infinitely just as well as omnipotent and I know not how it can stand with his infinite justice miraculously to worke faith and repentance in a man on his death-bed distracted with sicknesse weeping friends a clamorous conscience and a misgiving heart which in time of strength and quiet wilfully did shut his eyes against light counted the preaching of the Word foolishnesse 1 Cor. 1.19 by which foolishnesse as hee and such like count it it pleaseth God to save them that beleeve he hath appointed as a meanes to worke faith in them whom he intends to save Rep. But did he not make the thiefe on the Crosse much repent and beleeve in a little time and why may he not take the same course with me too Resol This Example of the Thiefe onely proves that if thou doest as truely repent and beleeve on thy death-bed as the Thief did on the Crosse though thou hast beene formerly never so desperately wilde and carelesse and canst manifest the truth of thy faith and repentance by as lively fruits as he did thou art call'd though at the last houre and art assured of heaven but it does not prove that God chooseth the last houre to call soules in though faith and repentance be it given when it will cannot misse of heaven yet seldome or never never but once have we read or heard of God bestowes these graces on them which till then never thought them worthy the seeking The Fathers and moderne Divines afford store of answers to this carelesse Objection First that of Augustine is very good Verum quidem dicis quod Dous poenitentiae tuae indulgentiam promisit sed huic dilaetioni tuae diem crastinum non promisit Å¿ Aug. de verb. Dom. Serm. 16. That mercifull God which hath promised pardon upon repentance hath not promised to morrow to him that deferres it Whensoever therefore thou art call'd come doe not deferre thy comming till the eleventh houre because you have heard of the Thiefe then call'd 't is very likely in these bleeding dying times that thou shalt not live to the sixth Secondly t Bolton Comfort Walk from the Creation to this present houre we have read but of one so miraculously snatcht out of the fire 't was a miracle wherewith God honoured the passion of his Sonne and we may then onely looke for the like miracle when Christ is againe to suffer Thirdly and lastly u Down Warf part 1. lib. 2. c. 32. Princes now and then though very seldome as tokens of their clemency pardon some man at the blocke yet if any shall in hope hereof wilfully offend and having offended delay suing for a pardon till he be led forth to execution certainly he richly deserves to suffer not onely for his offence but for his presumption just so the Lord to manifest the riches of his mercy pardoned the thiefe when death death eternall was seizing on him now those which hereupon shall take occasion by continuing in their old and sinfull courses fearefully to displease his Majestie or having fearfully offended yet shall deferre by faith and repentance to sue for pardon utterly unworthy are they of grace and mercy and as probably as deservedly shall perish in their sinnes and be delivered up to the blacke tormentor To conclude therefore this first application the sutablenesse whereof both to our times and sad occasion hath lengthened it a great deale beyond my intention considering how hard almost impossible it is to repent in our last sicknesse and how probable it is that the last and usuall leisure of a long sicknesse will by reason of our naturall frailties the raging of infectious and violent diseases together with the thousand casualties of a bloody Civill warre be utterly denyed us Let us speedily set about working forth our salvation with feare and trembling Let 's forthwith endeavour to make our calling and election sure Now now in this breathing time of health and liberty let 's make good our title to heaven confirm our evidence our Faith which is the evidence of things not seen (u) Heb. 11.1 and have in readinesse our witnesse which is a good conscience The Scripture will not give you any incouragement or allowance for the least delay 'T is to day if you wilt heare his voyce harden not your hearts (w) Psal 95.7 8. not to morrow if you will heare it a dayes procrastination doth harden the heart T is now is not hereafter will be the acceptable time Behold now is the day of salvation (x) 2 Cor. 6.2 The glorious time of the Gospel wherein peace and reconciliation through Christ is tendered on condition of faith and repentance is exprest by the present time and this day to tell us as I conceive that there is a certain time allowed for every man to come in which nick and opportunity through a desperate carelesnesse o'reslipping he is irrecoverably lost And therefore ought we to make so thrifty a use of this day nay of this present time of this present houre of my discourse as though this glasse were now turn'd up upon you and that the time allotted for your and your comming in did expire with the falling of the last sand For therefore faith a Father (y) Austin is our last day conceald from us that we may beleeve every day to be the last Oh that the Lord would make me a blessed instrument to move melt and soften but one heart here present with the apprehension of that horrour and trembling which seizes a foule impenitent and unprovided sinner suddenly death-strucken and with the blow having his conscience awakened or into what everlasting burnings and torments he sinks being never awakened But I have already trespassed too much in the lengh of the use of the first branch I shall recompence your patience in the shortnesse of the other uses I goe forwards therefore to the second branch Branch 2 Of what dost thou boast thy selfe i. e. what hast thou which might be a just subject for boasting whatsoever thou darest own or call thine are either the good things of thy body fortune or thy mind as they are commonly distinguished we will make our
it be with them as 't was with him their faith shall make them whole they shall receive their sight c Vers 52. then only may they venture abroad and be able to follow Iesus on the way Lastly can we imagine that the curse of Elisha on Gehezi d 2 King 5 ult not bow and sink him The leprosie therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee and thy seed for ever and he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow How can it then but humble us to consider that as a just punishment of our first sinne God hath said the leprosie of Adam shall cleave unto us and our seed for ever and we are ever since borne leprous all over no part of us free from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot e Is 1.6 In primopeccato saith Tilenus persons corrupit naturam in originali natura corrumpit personam f Syntag. li. 1. cap. 56. Thes 1. in the first sinne man corrupted nature but since in originall sinne out hereditary leprosie nature corrupts the man children even of the best and holiest Christians are borne covered with this leprosie quomodo preputium manet in t is quos genuerint circumcisi palea in fructu qui de purgato tritico nascitur g Aust Tom. 7. p. 276. c. just as children begot by circumcised Parents bring notwithstanding their fore-skinne with them or as the fruit of the best winnowed wheat spring up wrapt in chaffe In a word to consider what lamenesse and blindnesse what bruises and leprosie what crushings and depravednesse as a just consequence of our first fall is brought on us should mightily humble us because Gods judgments are not laid on us so much to punish as to humble us for sinne to bring us to the knowledge of that death and shame which is in sinne by afflicting us for it Thus saith the Lord I will punish the world for their evill and the wicked for their iniquity and I will cause the arrogancy of the pround to cease and will lay low the haughtinesse of the terrible h Is 13.11 as if the Lord should say to this end men shall suffer not onely that they might be punished but that they might bee humbled that their arrogancy might cease and that their haughtinesse might be laid low God forbid that the Church of Laodicea's case should be ours either that we should be ignorant of our miserable condition by nature should not know that we are wretched and miserable poor blind naked and not knowing thus much should think our selves sufficienly rich and wanting nothing and upon these false thoughts swell and extoll our selves build castles in the ayre promise our selves safety and salvation to be got by our own naturall strength and abilities when truth is these will prove castles in the ayre indeed weak and nothing And so much of the second branch of the first Question the third followes Branch 3 Quest 1 To what end dost thou boast thy selfe it being already manifested that there is no just reason why thou poor fraile nothing man shouldst boast thy selfe and secondly that thou hast nothing whereof thou maist justly boast We shall have the lesse labour to prove thou canst have no right end in thy boasting let mee therefore in a few words ask thee to what end dost thou boast thy selfe But alas I may not expect an answer to my question for I am confident that the veriest Captaine the highest crested of this proud Regiment would blush to acknowledge the empty fond end their vaunting aimes at and I wish that they would blush also to heare it that the rest may discover and laugh at them for I purpose to speak truth for them and try whether their guilty faces will confesse what their tongues dare not Hearken the whole onely maine end of these selfe-boasting men is mearely and nothing else but the Euge and the Bellè the popular Oh brave oh admirable oh honest The clap and cry the throat and applause of the giddy multitude of wondring ignorants risum teneatis amici 'T is a just complaint of the French mans i Mountaig Essay l 2.6.16 that wee usually empanell and select a jury of men out of a whole County to determine of an house or an acre of Land but the judgment and determination of our selves we referre to the idle breath of common people An quicquam stultius quèm quos singulos contemnes eos aliquid putares esse universos can their be a greater folly then to esteeme of their full cry whose particular mouthes thou wouldst scorne Gloria quantalibet quid erit si gloria tantum What is glory if thou hast nothing else to make it good nay if thou hast a substance whereof that is the shadow yet still may it be askt Gloria quantalibet quid erit What is the prayse and esteem which men afford thy vertues which is so blind and unequall that well may it be termed a shadow For as the shadow is never justly proportioned to the dimensions of thy body so nor this to thy desert the worlds esteeme like the shadow in the morning and beginning of thy Sun when thou first appearest and art cryed up is farrelarger then thy desert but in the midst and prime of the day when thou art best and most deserving then usually this thy shadow comes farre short of thee thou shalt not have halfe the glory thou meritest and as a shadow sometimes goes before the body and sometimes followes after so many steale glory from the ignorant world ere their desert cals for 't and some again whose lives have been excellently good exemplary have dyed in disgrace yet their works and glory have followed them k Rev. 14.13 and their names smell sweet upon earth Let then children and Poets Players and Painters hunt after the clap and cry of the times let light tottering Christians follow the fashion even in religion too let Popelings hug and vaunt themselves in their outside boasting and meerely ceremonious devotions but let us us whose hope and aime 't is to be those little ones our Saviour speaks of l Malli 18.6 little in our own conceits and little in the worlds let I say us neglecting the vaine empty glory the world affords earnestly seek after the massie and weighty glory humility shall enjoy in heaven a glory of that bulk and substance that where David sayes thou O Lord art my glory m Psal 3.3 the originall signifies his weightinesse and gravity which place I beleeve S. Paul had respect unto when hee call'd it an exceeding eternall weight of glory n 2. Cor. 4.17 And here I thought to make the application of this third branch the continuance of this exhortation hoping to have some of these tinkling Cymbals these outside men hereby to be perswaded off from their affectation of vaine-glory but I have considered that there is more good to
in this wildernesse Mad and prodigious boasters have I cald them and truly both these they are First they are mad for who but a mad man would boast that he had given himself his deaths wound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sinne is the death of the soule t Ezek. 33.12.13 Who but a mad man would boast of that heavie burden he is forc't night and day to sink under a heavie burden are my iniquities faith David they are too heavie for me u Psal 38.4 This heavie burthen the Prophet cals a Talent of Lead w Zach. 5.7 yes heavier and more intolerable then Hell or the Devill himselfe for 't was sinne made Hell and 't was sin sunk the Devill into it without it he cannot adde a dram weight to depresse or keep us from making towards heaven nay though unwillingly hee furthers us in the way but 't is sinne alone and only which keeps us down Again who but a mad man would boast in what arrerages he runnes with his Creditours vauntingly publish how all hee hath is morgaged and that Vsury eates him up apace 't is truth indeed some may and many do base and unworthy as they are pretend poverty say that they are ready to starve that thereby they might starve Christs cause But I cannot deeme that man truly himselfe which really boasts how bravely he is undone Now to obey Gods law is a debt due from us to him Cursed is hee that continueth not in all the words of the Law to doe them x Deut. 27.26 and all the people shall Amen that obedience is our debt we cannot deny our consciences seale to this bond the counterpane of it is wrote even in every naturall mans heart y Rom. 2.15 every sinne then being a transgression of the Law is an arrerage and upon this arrerage the soule is morgaged and without repentance lost and forfeited the sinner is utterly undone he shall be delivered up unto the tormentor untill he hath paid all his debt z Mat. 18.34 Once more who but a mad man will boast that he is a loathsome creature a wicked man is a loathsome man saith Solomon a Pro. 13.5 loathsome in Gods eyes my soule loaths him saith the Lord b Zach. 11.8 loathsome in the eyes of good-men and not only loathsome but infectious too the Prophet therfore resolved not to be in a wicked mans company c Psal 26.5 Lastly it makes him loathsome and contemptible in the eyes of his nearest friends yea of those friends which ought according to the Laws of God nature not only to love but to reverence him Thus the Prophet of Icrusalem by reason of sinne Icrusalem hath grievously sinned d Lam. 1.18 therefore they that honoured her dispised her and though for want of faith and by reason of the weaknesse of spirituall judgement wee cannot discover the filth and uglinesse of sinne yet doubtlesse at Christs second comming when hee shall be revealed from Heaven this also shall bee revealed even what an ugly noisome creature an impenitent sinner is then saith the Prophet speaking of Doomes-day and sinners they shall be an abhorring to all flesh e Is 66. ult Againe as these boasters in mischiefe are mad so are they also prodigiously wicked for who but a man prodigiously wicked would boast that God is fallen out with him such a boaster is he which boasteth in sinne for 't is sinne that separates between us and our God f Isa 59.2 secondly every sinne is a contempt against God quo ejus pracepta contemnimus temnimus saith Bernard g Serm. 31. de mod bene viven di how prodigiously then doth he contemn God which boasts that he hath contemned him Thirdly sinne is that which excludes us heaven and flings us into hell that which deprives us of all that we call good and brings on us all that is miserable 't is the greatest of curses and the worst of judgements Hence Saint Paul labouring to expresse how much Christ had suffered for us sayes he was made sinne for us h 2 Cor. 5.21 How prodigiously wicked then is he which boasts of the greatest misery that man is capable of Lastly sin being that alone which crucified the Lord of life which tore our Saviours head with thorns pierc'd his side nail'd his feet which made him sweat blood water which put the gall and vinegar to his mouth and wrung from him that bitter complaint My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Tell me then sadly tell me is not he prodigiously wicked which boasts in that which after so cruell and shamefull a manner crucified our Saviour Nor is this boaster in mischiefe mad onely and prodigiously wicked but which must necessarily follow and be supposed is in a desperate and forlorne case and for these two reasons First because such a one sinnes with the fullest swing and willingnesse without any reluctancy and scruple nothing hath hee of the Spirit in him which might cause opposition or pawces The words of his mouth are intquity and deceit as my Psalmist of him he hath left off to be wise and to doe good hee deviseth mischiefe upon his bed hee setteth himselfe i. e. gladly goes on in a way that is not good i Ps 36.3 who being past feeling hath given himselfe over to worke all uncleannesse and greedinesse k Ephes 4.19 Secondly because these of all men are farthest from Christ and heaven being farthest from repentance whose sinnes are so farre from being a load and heavy burden unto them that they glory in their shame 'T is with these boasters as with men dived to the bottom of the water as long as they lye in the water they are nothing sensible of its weight but once recovering out would be overwhelmed with a small quantity of it So these boasters being sunke to the bottome almost as low as hell and lying there under never so many and hideous sinnes are never senfible of their load and burden whereas to a man by Gods grace recovering out of them one and the least sin will be a talent of Lead And so much of this second Question a short application and I have done Applic. And here let 's pawse a while with our best and serious thoughts admire and lament the miserable condition of our land wherein so many of these madmen of these prodigies of these desperately forlorn wretches swarme and spread amongst us Go abroad and listen and you shall hear the Drunkard boast how many swine he made the last night you shall hear the Ruffler boast what a new handsome full-mouthed oath he hath got the Goat how many women he hath abused and the Fox how many he hath over-reached and cousened Fiunt Fiunt ista palam cupiunt in asta referri But alas these though miscreants are but novices and bunglers in respect of some closer workers and deeper instruments of the devill who first guild
over sin with the name of vertue and boast of it under that name Take some instances Such are those which lest they should lose friends or credit dare not openly professe how good they are at lies yet will they affirme that hand some lying is but policy and boast how many they have over-reacht with thi their policy Perjury by no meanes will they justify yet will they tell you that it is the part of a wise States-man in case that the keeping of an oath hinders a project to invent some cleanly shift whereby it may be eluded and boast how excellent they are at these shifts Luke-warmnesse a Laodicean temper may not be countenanced yet this will they call moderation boast themselves in this their moderatioÌ„ Obstinacy in a wrong way t were shame to patronize yet this will they call a brave spirit and boast of their own stout hearts they will praise a Iosiah for going on peremptorily in a way contrary to Gods command though he gets nothing therby but his own death and their empty commendation (l) 2 Chron. 35. v. 21.22 23. Conspiracy which is a plot against the Common-wealth as Peter Martyr hath defined it this they call fighting for the Protestant Religion and yet impudently affirme what Augustine of Heretiques Nihilaliud laborant nisi non invenire quod quaerunt m August Tom. 1. p. 516.1 that the end of their sweat expence and hazard is not to enjoy what they seeme to fight for viz. the Protestant Religion in its truth purity and universality and there are I dare say many thousands of Papists and Libertines now in armes which were they put to their oathes would confesse thus much 'T was madnesse say they and barbarous in Nero to set Rome on fire and afterwards sing and rejoyce at the flames yet these very same men Iesuites happily and Iesuited persons have of late set three Kingdomes on fire and whether they laugh at the flames I know not sure I am they continually adde fuell to them yet this cumbustion they call a pretended reconciliation and boast themselves in it To delude and misuse a sweet and fast friend hath somewhat of Iudas in it say they yet so to intangle their best and greatest friend as Darius his base Courtiers entangled him quod eo rerum ventum est ut tam periculosum non credere suis quam falli (n) Q. curt l. 5. That it is equally dangerous to him not to beleeve them and to be deceived this they call their master-piece of wisedome and boast themselves in it these these are they which are come to such a height of Atheisme which a re so much beaten and hardened in their subtle hypocritical maximes that they will not move one step out of the way which the Devil Machiavill have chalkt out to them and so resolute and petemptory too in that way that we may say of them as Erasmus of Heretiques facilius eos vinci quà m persuaderi (o) â—rasaâ— ad Hier. lib contra Lucif 'T is easier to overcome then alter them Thus have I made some discovery greater might have beene had I not promised brevity of the mad prodigious desperately for lorne boasters of our land that you might admire and lament the miserable condition of our times But oh take heed that you be not so lost in admiration that you forget to lament like a gazing childe made forgetfull of his chiefest errand for to this end was the discovery made God knowes my conscience not to make them a laughing but a mourning stocke that you might be humbled in behalfe both of them and our land For hereby shall you secure your selves howoever they escape or the Kingdome for their sakes (p) Ezekâ— 14. ad 6. And so much of the second Question I should now forward to the third and last but the time hath much over-run me let us therfore take up here from this Text forward to that other before me a Text like wise speaking the frailty and nothingnesse of man For if you desire farther ground for these questions Lo this spectacle of mortality may be it a wise able strong Gentleman suddenly cut off which tels you that our footing in this world being so slippery 't is folly for such fraile weak men as we are to boast which tels you that wealth wit and friends in the last needfullest times failing 't is folly to boast of them which tels you that now he is gone the common voyce neither hurts nor pleasures him neither lessens nor addes to his joy 't is folly therefore to hunt after it Saint Paul wishes us so to run that we may obtaine so to runne not as one that beateth the ayre in vaine for the applause of the giddy multitude but for a prize for an incorruptible Crown r v. 25. Again so run our life here compared to a reace not onely for its shortnesse which is a few paces but for its trouble somenesse also 't is a running which is no ordinary paine and toyle Truly therefore spake the Patriarch not onely few but evill also are my dayes (Å¿) Gen. 47.5 this race some give over at their first setting out children dying in their Gradles others after a pace or two past in their youth some in the mid-way in their best man-hood are cut off most as this our friend are out of breath ere they reach the stayed paces of threescore yeares Let us not therefore boast canere ante victoriarn vaunt as though we had obtained the prize ere we come to our journies end but let us so run so zealously and so humbly working forth our salvation with feare and trembling that we may obtaine If you are not yet satisfied but desire more ground for my Questions Loe here a spectacle of humility before you And thus am I fallen upon my last message a message I am confident God wisht me to deliver namely to recall and make known somethings excellent and exemplary from the life and death of my worthy friend I say it againe my worthy friend I may not boast my Text forbids it but I joy in our past relation * Amabatur a me plurimùm nec tamen vicius Plin. l. 2. Ep. 13. And here I would not be mistaken conclude not so unworthily of me that his wealth place or friends put mee on this discourse though to speake truely so runnes the fashion of the world if a man be poore though never so good and holy yet shall he passe away in silence as we find nothing said of Lazarus but that he dyed whereas it is said there of the rich man not onely that he dyed but that he was buried too t Luk. 16.22 saith a Commentator of ours there was noyse and pompe much done and said at his Funerall So many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall you have many Hackney praisers in black which at the Funerals of great and rich men though they departed