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A01538 Ieroboams sonnes decease a funerall sermon on part of 1 Kings 14. 17. By Thomas Gataker B. of D. and pastor of Rotherhith. Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654. 1627 (1627) STC 11663; ESTC S102970 43,691 50

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that we spent the former time of our ignorance in the lusts of the flesh c. So it was sufficient yea and more than sufficient for vs that wee brought into the world with vs that inbred naughtinesse for which God might iustly then haue destroyed vs. And if therefore concerning the goodnesse and long suffering of God who hath hitherto borne with vs and in much mercie forborne vs wee shall still wilfully runne on in the practice of sinne and so adde drunkennesse to thirst we shall but treasure vp wrath against the day of wrath and make our iudgement at length the more intolerable The other Generall point that from the death of children we obserue is that Death is euer at our doores It lieth in wait for vs not in our fields or our streets or our shops or our beds onely but in our cradles to in our swathing-bands in the childe-bed in the childe-birth None come into life but by perill of death Death is neere at hand with vs not in our old age or our decaying time onely but in our mans estate also in our riper yeeres in our youth in our childe-hood in our infancie it selfe How many are carried from the wombe to the tombe as Iob speaketh from birth immediately to buriall yea how many die in the wombe how many perish vnborne before euer they come to light ere they know what life meaneth or wee know that they liue That young goe as well as old and children die as well as others we haue as well a visible as a vocall sermon preaching it to vs at this present That it is so therefore it is of it selfe euident and daily experience is a sufficient proofe of it The reason why it is so is no lesse apparent For to passe by that generall reason from the former point that therefore Children also are subiect to death because they are not free from sinne 1. There is no certaine stint tearme or lease of Reason 1 mans life Our times are in Gods hands As for our lands so for our liues we are but Gods tenants at will And he may turne our soules out of these mud-walled cotages of our bodies when hee will The breath of man saith Salomon is as a candle of Gods lighting And as wee doe with our lights so doth God with our liues we light candles and put them out againe as we list some wee doe out as soone as they beginne but to burne some we let alone till the wax or tallow be halfe wasted some till weeke and wax all be spent So doth God with vs he setteth our life vp as a light and when he seeth good hee doth it out againe with some sooner with some later but with each one when himselfe will Reason 2 2. The bonds that tie soule and bodie together are no stronger if not rather more tender in children than in others of riper yeeres All flesh is as grasse But children are as flowers or blossomes more tender vsually than any other part of the plant The flower sooner fadeth than the herbe it selfe doth the blossome is sooner blasted and blowne away that the fruit that followeth it is wont to be when it is once knit Yea to hold to our former resemblance a candle is sooner and more easily blowne out againe when it is but new lighted than when it hath burnt awhile And with lesse difficultie is this light of life puft out in those whom it is but newly and scarce thorowly yet kindled in The Vse whereof may be Vse 1 1. To discouer their folly that presume of long life in regard of health and youth They are but young yet and therefore they may liue long and see many a good day And they are healthie and strong and may therefore hold out as well as others as long as any Yea but there is none of those that thus say or thinke so young but they haue seene many younger goe none so strong but that they may haue seene as strong if not stronger goe than themselues Mans life is as a day And as we see that daies are not all of one length there are Summer and there are Winter dayes some longer some shorter some of more some of fewer houres So is there no lesse varietie in the length and size of mens liues according to that time that God hath pleased to allot each But herein againe there is great difference betweene this naturall day and the day of mans life that the naturall day be it neuer so short it hath a morning a noone an afternoone and an euening whereas the day of our life may haue a morning and no noone or a noone and no after-noone The Sunne as the Prophet speaketh in another sense may set with vs at noone day We may be suddenly snatcht away in the flower of our youth in the prime of our age in the height of our health in the chiefe of our strength Yea the Sunne may set with vs so soone as it is vp it may but peere out and twinckle awhile with a twy-light and in the twinckling of an eye instantly goe downe againe It is a vaine thing therefore for any in regard of youth to presume of long life when as length of life no way dependeth vpon youth and wee see young goe as well yea as oft as old doe Vse 2 2. Is it so that death is euer at our doores Then it standeth vs in hand to liue euer in expectation of it Doth death saith one he euerie where in wait for thee then thou also if thou beest wise wile be prepared alwaies for it Say thou as blessed Iob saith and doe as he no doubt also did All the daies saith he of mine appointed time here I will wait till my change come that is till the time come of my decease and departure hence Nor let the young man thinke that this lesson is for old men onely No Remember thy Maker saith Salomon in the daies of thy youth It standeth young men vpon as well as old to prepare for death because youth as well as old age is subiect to death And though there may be affirmatiue yet there are no negatiue signes of it Of doomes-day there are both of thy deaths day but the one onely Of the generall day of doome there are signes both affirmatiue such as shew that it approacheth and draweth neere and negatiue such as shew that it shall not be as yet because they must goe before it and it shall not come therfore before they be fulfilled as was the reuelation of the man of sinne and is yet the Conuersion of the Iewish Nation But of the particular day of any mans death howsoeuer there may be signes affirmatiue such as shew the neerenesse of it as old age decay of nature some diseases and the like
yet there is no negatiue signes of it ordinarily howsoeuer Simeon and some others haue had some extraordinarily giuen them such as may shew that as yet it shall not be A man cannot say I am young and therefore I shall not die yet for he may be taken away in his youth A man cannot say I am strong and therefore I shall not die yet for with the sudden stroake of an apoplexie may hee be strucke downe in his chiefe strength A man cannot say I am healthie and therefore I shall not die yet For there needs no long sicknesse yea no sicknesse at all to deliuer a man vp to death As a man may die well before he be old so may hee well die also and yet neuer be sicke Since that death therefore lieth in wait for vs as well in youth as in age it behoueth young as well as old to be prepared for it 3. Are young children also subiect to death Let those whom God hath blessed with children then Vse 3 hence bee admonished to apply themselues betimes to worke good things into them since that they know not how soone they may bee taken away from them That if it shall please God to call for their children while they are but young yet away from them they may with the more comfort part with them when they may bee able to say of them as it is said of the childe spoken of in my Text As young as they were yet there were good things in them some seeds and sparks of grace began to appeare in them Wee are wont to be troubled when God taketh them away from vs if we haue not beene so carefull as wee thinke wee should haue beene in something concerning the health of their bodies But we haue more cause to be troubled when our hearts shall tell vs that wee haue beene negligent and retchlesse about them in such things as concerned the state and welfare of their soules 4. Are our children thus subiect to death and we Vse 4 know not how soone they may bee taken away from vs Then as the Apostle speaketh in the like case Let those that haue children be as if they had them not Not that Parents should not loue and affect their children they are commanded so to doe and they are worse I say not than heathen but than bruit beasts that doe otherwise and it is well made a note therefore of men giuen vp to a reprobate minde and cast behinde euen the gouernment of nature as well as the guidance of grace to be deuoid of naturall affection But that they should not so set and fasten their affections vpon them that they should be vnwilling to part from them when God shall please to call for them from whom formerly they receiued them and who hath therefore best right and title to them So therfore must thou labour to haue thy children and endeuour to stand so affected in regard of them that if God should call for thine Isaak thy darling from thee Take thine onely sonne saith he Isaak thy Sonne that thou louest thou maist be willing to offer him to God with thine owne hands If he call for one of many as he of Athens when Alcibiades a young gallant came reuelling into his house as hee sate with some strangers at supper and tooke away the one halfe of his plate and his guests stormed and tooke on at it he told them he had dealt kindly that hee less them the other hal●●● that he tooke not all when all was his so repine not thou for that that is gone but be thankfull to God for those that be left he that taketh one might as well if he would haue tooke all and it is his mercie if he leaue thee any Yea labour to bee like Iob to be affected as he was When God tooke not one of them but all his children at once from him The Lord saith he hath giuen and the Lord hath taken Now blest bee his name Hee parteth with them as one would doe with a nurse childe that the parents of it had sent for home againe And indeed to speake as the truth is wee are but as foster fathers and nursing mothers to those children that God blesseth vs here with their true Father indeed is aboue in Heauen So therefore should we esteeme of them as of children by God put to nurse to vs whom therfore when he shall see good to call for them home from vs we should be as willing to returne to him as wee would a nurse childe though we loued it as our owne to the parents of it when they should send for it the rather knowing that they shall be and doe better with him than they haue done or can doe with vs. And thus much for the two generall points that from hence we obserue Wee passe now to the speciall which shall bee these two that The good goe oft before the bad and that The good die oft-times for the bad For the former howsoeuer we might hence obserue that The good goe as well as the bad Yet passing by that for the present as hauing handled it on the like occasion elsewhere the point that I purpose now to insist on shall be this that The good goe oft before the bad That they die not onely as well as they but they die oft euen before them So the Prophet telleth vs that The righteous perish and good men are taken away when the wicked meanewhile are left behinde still And the Psalmist complaineth that the godly were taken away so fast that there was scarce one good man left Helpe Lord saith he for there is not a godly man left the faithfull are failed from among the children of men But there is a world of wicked ones left still The wicked saith he walke on euerie side Here we see to goe no further Ieroboams good sonne taken away when his vngodly father and his wicked brethren with the rest of that prophane and irreligious family still remaine Now this God thus disposeth Sometime in iudgement and Sometime in mercie Reason 1 1. In iudgement sometime For Iudgement beginneth at Gods house The cup of Gods wrath is sent first to Ierusalem she beginneth to the rest of it The mortalitie at Corinth seized vpon the Beleeuers there for their abuse of the Sacrament s●●it some of them and swepe away other some of them when many an Infidell escaped and went scot-free the whiles The fruit tree is oft pared and pruned and trimmed while the brier standeth by it vnstirred and vntoucht till it come at length to be f●●●od at once for the fire The stormie shower and raine lighteth first on the high bils and hauing washed them then runneth downe to the vale and there setleth with all the filth in the bottome 2. In