fearfully out of this miserable world I know not what you have seen but there is very few which have not heard of many too many in this case What were Judas thoughts when he strangled himself that his bowels gushed out again What were Cains visions when he ran like a vagabond roaring and crying Gen. 4.14 Whosoever findeth me shall slay me What are all their affrights that cry when they are a dying they see spirits and Devils flying about them coming for them roaring against them as if an hell entred into them before themselves could enter it I dare instance in no other but this wretched miser What a night was that to him when on a sudden a darknesse seized on him that never after left him Thus many go to bed that never rise again till they be wakened by the fearfull sound of the last Trumpet and was not this a terrour whose heart doth not quake whose flesh doth not tremble whose senses are not astonished whilest vve do but think on it And then vvhat vvere the sufferings of himself in his person He might cry and roar and vvail and vveep yet there is none to help him his heart-strings break the blessed Angels leave him Devils still exspect him and novv the Judge hath pronounced his sentence This night in the dark they must seiz upon him Yet this was not all the horrour it was a night both of darkness and drowsiness or security in sinne He that reads the life of this man may well wonder at the fearfull end of so fair beginnings walk into his fields and there his cattel prosper come nearer to his house and there his barns swell with corn enter into his gates and there every table stands richly furnished step yet into his chambers and you may imagine doun-beds curtain'd with gold hangings nay yet come nearer we will draw the curtains and you shall view the person he had toiled all day and now see how securely he takes his rest this night he dreams golden dreams of ease of mirth of pastime as all our worldly pleasures are but waking dreams but stay a while and see the issue just like a man who starting out of sleep sees his house on fire his goods ransacked his family murthered himself near lost and not one to pitie him when the very thrusting in of an arm might deliver him this and no other was the case of this dying miser at that night while his senses were most drowsie most secure death comes in the dark and arrests him on his bed Awake rich Cormorant what charms have lulled thee thus asleep Canst thou slumber whilest death breaks down this house thy bodie to rob thee of that jewell thy soul What a deep dull drowsie dead sleep is this O fool this night is thy soul assaulted see death approaching Devils hovering Gods justice threatning canst thou yet sleep and are thine eyes yet heavie Behold the hour is at hand and thy soul must be delivered into the hands of thine enemies heavie eies he sleeps still his care all day had cast him into so dead a sleep this night that nothing can warn him untill death awake him That thief is most dangerous that comes at night such a thief is death a thief that steals men Latro hominis which then is most busie whilest we are most drowsie most secure in sinne Heark the sluggard that lulls himself in his sinnes Yet a little more sleep a little more slumber is not his destruction sudden and poverty coming on him like an armed man Prov. 6.11 Prov. 6.11 Watch saith our Saviour for you know not when the master of the house cometh at even or at midnight at the cock-crow or in the morning lest coming suddenly he should find you sleeping Mark 13.35 Mark 13.35 36. Was not this the wretchednesse of the foolish virgins how sweetly could they slumber how soundly could they sleep untill mid-night they never wake nor so much as dream to buy oyl for their lamps imagine then how fearfull were those summons to these souls Behold the Bridegroom go ye out to meet him Matth. 25.26 Sudden fears of all others are most dangerous was it not a fearfull waking to this rich man when no sooner that he opened his eyes but he saw deaths uglinesse afore his face what a sight was this at his door enters the King of fear accompanied with all his abhorred horrours and stinging dread on his curtains he may read his sinns arrayed and armed in their grisliest forms and with their fieriest stings about his bed are the powers of darknesse now presenting to his view his damnable state his deplorable miserie what can he do that is thus beset with such a world of wofull work and hellish rage his tongue faulters his breath shortens his throat rattles he would not watch and now cannot resist the crie is made the mid-night come God sounds destruction and thus runs the proclamation This night so drowsie thy soul must be taken from thee And yet more horrour it was a night of drowsinesse and sadnesse How is he but sad when he sees the night coming and his last day decaying Read but the copy of this rich mans Will and see how he deals all he hath about him he bequeaths his garments to the moth his gold to rust his body to the grave his soul to hell his goods and lands he knows not to whom Whose shall these things be Here is the man that made such mirth all day and now is he forced to leave all he hath this night It is the fruit of merry lives to give sad farwels You that sport your selves and spoyl others that rob God in his members and treasure up your own damnations will not death make sorrie hearts for your merry nights a night wil come as sad as sadnesse in her sternest looks and then what a lot will befall you O that men are such cruell Caitiffs to their own souls Is this a life think ye fit for the servants of our God revelling swearing drinking railing what other did this miser he would eat and drink and revell and sing and then came fear as desolation and his destruction on a sudden as a whirl-wind If this be our life how should we escape his death Alas for the silly mirth that now we pleasure in you may be sure a night will come that must pay for all and then shall your pleasures vanish your griefs begin and your numberlesse sins like so many envenomed stings run into your damned souls and pierce them through with everlasting sorrow away with this fond Prov. 14.13 foolish sottish vanitie The end of mirth is heavinesse saith Solomon Prov. 14.13 What will the sonnes and daughters of pleasure do then all those sweet delights shall be as scourges and Scorpions for your naked souls Then though too late will you lamentably cry out Wisd 5.8.9 What hath pride profited us or what profit hath the pomp of riches
brought us all those things are passed away as a shadow or as a Poste that passeth by Look on this man as he lies on his bed of death here is neither smile nor dimple All the daughters of musick are brought low Eccles. 12.4 His voice is hoarse his lips pale his cheeks wan his nostrills run out his eyes sink into his head and all the parts and members of his body now lose their office to assist him Is this the merrie man that made such pastime Sweet God! what a change is this Esa 3.24 In stead of sweet smell there is a stench in stead of a girdle a rent in stead of well-set hair baldness in stead of beauty burning in stead of mirth mourning and lamentation weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Must not sadnesse seize on that soul which incurs this doom Here is a malefactour stands at bar indited by the name of Fool charged with the guilt of treason condemned by the Judge of heaven and this night the saddest that ever he saw is that fearfull execution that his soul is taken And yet more horrour It was a night of sinne and this doth encrease the sorrow Psal 116.13 How dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and we may say on the contrary How abominable in the sight of the Lord is the death of the wicked Was not this a grief to be took thus tripping in his wickedness even now whilest he was busily plotting his ease and pastime death stands at his door and over-hears all his plots and projects It was a death to his soul to be took in his sinne hear how he roars and cries O that I had lived so virtuously as I should had I embraced the often inspirations of Gods blessed Spirit had I followed his Laws obeyed his Commands attended to his will how sweet and pleasant would they now be unto me We and alas that I had not fore-seen this day what have I done but for a little pleasure a fleeting vanity lost a Kingdome purchased damnation O beloved what think ye of your selves whilest you hear this voice you sit here as senseless of this judgement as the seats the pillars the walls the dust nay as the dead bodies themselves on which you tread but suppose and it were a blessed meditation you that are so fresh and frolick at this day that spend it merrily use it profanely swearing revelling singing dancing what if this night while you are in your sin the hand of death should arrest you Could I speak with you on your death-beds I am sure I should find you in another case how but sorrowing grieving roaring that your time were lost and these words not heeded whiles the time well served how would you tear your hair gnash your teeth bite your nails seek all means possibly to annihilate your selves and can nothing warn you before death seize on you take heed if you go on in sinne the next step is damnation It was the Apostles advice Rom. 13.11 Now it is high time to wake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer then when we believed Rom. 13.11 If this wretched man had observed the present time how happy had he been this hour of his departure But as Officers take malefactours drinking or drabbing so is he nearest danger when deepest in the mire of pleasure Look at all those that are gone before us and which of them thought their end so near while they lived so merrie I must needs tell you there is a fire a worm a sting a darkness an hell provided for all wicked wretches and there most certainly must you be this night if you die this day in your naturall state of sinne Lord that men should be so strangely bewitched by the Prince of the air as for the momentarie enjoyment of some glorious miseries bitter-sweet pleasures heart-vexing riches desperately and wilfully to abandon God and to cast themselves headlong into the jaws of Satan Such a prodigious madnesse seized on this Worldling he sings he revels he dallies Plin. l. 7. c. 23. then dies Thus greatest euils arise out of greatest joyes as the ears vvith vehement sounds and the eyes vvith brighter objects so many by felicity have lost both their sense and being Gallus dies in the act of pleasure 2 Sam. 4.7 Num. 11.33 Ishbosheth dies in the middest of sleep the Israelites die in their day of lust this Worldling dies in that night of sinne even then on a sudden his soul is taken And yet more horrour it vvas a night of death and this vvas the vvorst of all the darkness drowsiness sadness sin all vvere nothing to this all nothing in themselves if death had not follovved Aristot lib. 3. mor. cap. 6. this is that most terrible of all terribles all fears griefs suspicions pains as so many small brooks are svvallovved up and drovvned in this Ocean of misery Novv rich man vvhat saiest thou to thy barns buildings riches lands Do these pleasure thee in this thy extreme and dying agonie Thou liest this night on thy departing bed burthened vvith the heavie load of thy former trespasses the pangs come sore and sharp upon thee thy brest pants thy pulse beats short thy breath it self smels of earth and rottennesse vvhither vvilt thou go for a little ease or succour vvhat help canst thou have in thy heaps of gold or hoord of vvealth Discip de temp serm 118. ex Hum. in tract de septuplici timore should vve bring them to thy bed as vve read of one dying commanded that his golden vessels and silver plate should be set before him which looking on he promised to his soul it should have them all on condition of his stay with him but the remedie being silly at last most desperately he commends it to the Devil seeing it would not stay in his body and so gave up the ghost Alas these trifling treasures can no more deliver thee from the arrest of that inexorable Serjeant then can an handfull of dust Wretched men vvhat shall be your thoughts vvhen you come to this miserable case full sad and heavie thoughts Lord thou knovvest you may lie upon your beds like vvild buls in a net full of the furie of the Lord In the morning thou shalt say would God it were evening and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see Deut. 28.67 Deut. 28.67 Here is the terrour of that night of death vvhen you may vvish vvith all your hearts that you had never been born if the Lord once let loose the cords of your conscience vvhat account vvill you make of crovvns of possessions all these will be so far from healing the wound that they will turn rather into fiery Scorpions for your further torments Now now now is the dismall time of death what
of torments which like infinite rivers of Brimstone feed upon his soul without ease or end What avails now his pompous pride at his dolefull funerals the news is sounded hee is dead friends must lament him passing-peales ring for him an hearse-cloth wrap him a tombe-stone lye over him all must have mourning suites and may be rejoycing hearts but all this while his soul his going to judgment without one friend or the least acquaintance to speak in his cause O that his soul were mortall and body and soul to be buried both together in one grave must his body die and his soul live in what world or nation in what place or region it is another world another nation where Devils are companions brimstone the fire horrour the language and eternall death the souls eternall life never to be cured Bernard in Medit. and never must be ended O my soul saith Bernard what a terrible day shall that be when thou shalt leave this Mansion and enter into an unknown region who will deliver thee from these ramping Lyons who can defend thee from those hellish monsters God is incensed hell prepared justice threatned onely mercy must prevent or the soul is damned View this rich man on his deaths-bed the pain shouts through his head and at last comes to his heart anon death appeares in his face and suddenly falls on to arrest his soul Is it death what is it he demands can his goods satisfie no the world claims them must his body goe no the worms claim that what debt is this which neither goods nor body can discharge Habeas animam ejus coram nobis Gods warrant bids fetch the soul O miserable news the soul committed sin sin morgaged it to death death now demands it and what if he gain the world he must lose his soul This night thy soul shall be required of thee Vse 1 Animula vagula blandula said the heathen Emperour Pretty Adrian little wandring soul whither goest thou from me wilt thou leave me alone that cannot live without thee O what conflicts suffers the poor soul when this time is come must the soul be gone help friends physick pleasure riches nay take a world to reprive a soul so different are the thoughts of men dying from them living now are they for their pleasure or profit the body or the world but then nothing is esteemed but the soul what can we say but if you mean your souls must be saved O then let these precious dear everlasting things breathed into your bodies for a short abode scorn to feed on earth or any earthly things it is matter of a more heavenly metall treasures of an higher temper riches of a nobler nature that must help your souls Do you think that ever any glorified soul that now looks God Almighty in the face and tramples under foot the Sun and Moon is so bewitcht as was Achan with a wedge of gold no it is onely the Communion of Saints the society of Angels the fruition of the Deity Iosh 7.21 the depth of eternity which can onely feed and fill the soul So live then as that when you die your souls may receive this blisse and the Lord Iesus our Saviour receive all your souls Vse 2 I must end but gladly would I win a soul If the reward be so great as you know it to recover a sick body Si magnae mercedis est a morte eripere carnem quanti est meriti à morte liberare animam Ambros Offic. 1. Quid est quod velis habere malum nihil omnino Aug. in quod serm which for all that must die of what reward is that cure to save a soul which must ever ever live O sweet Jesu why sheddest thou the most precious and warmest bloud of thy heart but onely to save souls thou wast scourged buffetted judged condemned hanged was all this for us and shall we do nothing for our selves What is it thou wouldest have bad if thou couldest wish it good not thy house nor thy wife nor thy children nor thy good nor thy cloaths but no matter for thy soul I beseech you value not you souls at a less price then your shooes you can please the flesh with delicates which is naught but worms meat but the soul pines for want which is a creature invisible incorporeall immortall most like to God are we thus carefull of pelf and so careless of this pearl certainly I cannot choose but wonder when seeing the streets peopled with men that follow suits run to Courts attend and wait on their Councellors for this case and that case this house or that land that not one of these no nor one of all us will ride or run or creep or go to have counsell for his soul I must confess I have sometimes dwelt on this meditation and Beloved let me speak homely to you be our Counsellors in this Town every week solicited by their Clients and have we no Clients in soul-cases not one that will come to us with their cases of conscience sure you are either careless of your souls or belike you have no need of particular instructions O let us not be so forward for the world and so backward for the soul yet I pray mistake not I invite you not for fees as noble Terentius when he had petitioned for the Christians and saw it torn in pieces before his face gathered up the pieces and said I have my reward I have not sued for gold silver honour or pleasure but a Church so say I in middest of your neglect I have not sued for your good or silver for your houses or lands but for your souls your precious souls and if I cannot or shall not woe them to come to Christ God raise up some child of the Bride-chamber which may do it better if neither I nor any other can prevail O then fear that speech of Elies sons they hearkened not unto the voice of their father because the Lord would slay them 1 Sam. 2.25 In such a case O that my head were full of water and mine eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for your sins O that I could wash your souls with my tears from that filth of sin wherewith they are besmeared and defiled O that for the salvation of your souls I might be made a sacrifie unto death But the Lord be praised for your souls and my soul Christ Jesus hath died and if now we but repent us of our sins and believe in our Saviour if now we will but deny our selves and take up his cross and follow him if now we will but turn unto him that he may turn his loving countenance unto us if now we will but become new creatures and ever-hereafter walk in the holy path the narrow way which leads unto heaven why then may our souls be saved This is that we had need to care for Cur carnem adornas animam non
Angels on both sides waiting whether of them should have the prey now alas then wouldst thou say The soul to depart from the body were a thing intollerable to continue still therein were a thing impossible and to deferre this departure any longer supposing this hour thy last hour no Physick could prevail it were a thing unavoydable what then would thy poor soul do thus invironed with so many straights O fond fools of Adams sinne that neglect the time till this terrible passage how much wouldst thou give if thus it were for an hours repentance at what rate wouldst thou value a dayes contrition worlds are worthlesse in respect of a little respite a short truce would seem more precious then the Treasures of Empires nothing would then be so much esteemed as a trice of time which before by moneths and years thou lavishly mis-spent Think on thy sinns nay thou couldst not choose but think Satan would write them on the curtains of thy bed and thy agashed eyes would be forced to look upon them there wouldst thou see thousands committed not one confessed or throughly repented then too late thou wouldst begin to wish O had I lead a better life and were it to begin again O then how would I fast and pray how repent how live Certainly certainly if thou goest on in sinne thus would be thy departure thy carkass lying cold among the stones of the pit and thy soul by the weight of sinne irrecoverably sinking into the bottome of that bottomless burning lake Vse 2 But to prevent this evil take this use of advice for thy farwell whilest yet thy life lasteth whilest yet the Lord gives thee a gracious day of visitation ply ply all those blessed means of salvation as prayer and conference and meditation and Sermons and Sacraments and fastings and watchings and patience and faith and a good conscience in a word so live that when this day or night of death comes thou mayest then stand firm and sure as yet thou art in the way of a transitory life as yet thou art not entred into the confines of Eternitie if now therefore thou wilt walk in the holy path if now thou wilt stand out against any sin whatsoever if now thou wilt take on thee the yoke of our Saviour Christ if now thou wilt associate thy self to that sect and brotherhood that is every where spoken against if now thou wilt direct thy words to the glorifying of God and to give grace unto the hearers if now thou wilt delight in the word the wayes the Saints the services of God if now thou wilt never turn again unto folly or to thy trade of sin though Satan set upon thee with his baits and allurements to detain thee in his bondage but by one darling delight Psal 116.15 one minion-minion-sin then I dare assure thee dear right dear would be thy death in the sight of the Lord with joy and triumph wouldst thou passe through all the terrours of death with singing and rejoycing would thy soul be received into those sacred mansions above O happy soul if this be thy case O happy night or day vvhensoever the nevvs comes that then must thy soul be taken from thee You may think it now high time that we bid this far-wel-funerall Text adieu then for conclusion let every word be thy warning Lest this be thy time provide for this and everie time 1. Thess 5.6 lest the night be dreadfull Do not sleep as do other but watch and be sober lest thy soul should suffer desire the sufferings of thy God to satisfie lest death require it of thee by foree offer it up to God with a cheerfull devotion and lest this of thee be fearfull who hast lived in sin correct these courses amend your wayes and the blessing of God be with thee all thy life at the hour of death now henceforth and for ever AMEN FINIS Doomes-day MATTH 16.27 Then shall he reward every man according to his works THe dependance of this Text is limited in few lines and that your eyes wander no further then this verse therein is kept a generall Assize the Judge Officers Prisoners stand in array the Judge is God and the Son of man the Officers Angels and they are his Angels the Prisoners men and because of the Gaol-delivery every man If you will have all together you have a Iudge his circuit his habit his attendants his judgments a Iudge the Son of man his circuit he shall come his habit in the glory of his Father his attendants with his Angels what now remains but the execution of justice then without more adoe see the Text and you see all the scales in his hande our works in the scales the reward for our works of just weight each to other Then hee shall reward every man according to his works This Text gives us the proceeding of Doomes-day which is the last day the last Sessions the last Assize that must be kept on earth or is decreed in heaven if you exspect Sheriffs or Judges Plaintiffs or Prisoners all are in this verse some in each word Then is times Trumpet that proclaims their coming Hee is the Judge that examins all our lives Reward is the doom that proceeds from him in his Throne Man is the malefactour every man stands before him as a prisoner Works are the inditements and according to our works must go the triall howsoever we have done good or evill Give me yet leave this Judge sits on trials as well as prisoners it is an high Court of appeal where Plaintiffs Counsellors Judges all must appear and answer would you learn the proceedings there is the Term Then the Judge hee the sentence shall reward the parties very man the triall it self which you may finde in all to be just and legall every man his rewards according to his works We have opened the Text and now you shall have the hearing Then THen when the answer is Negative Positive First Negative Then not on a sudden or at least not at this present This life is no time to receive rewards the rain and Sun pleasure both the good and bad nay oftentimes the bad fare best and Gods own children are most fiercely fined in the furnace of affliction Job 9.24 Matth. 16.24 The earth is given into the hands of the wicked saith Iob but if any man will follow mee he must take up his cross saith our Saviour Ioy and pleasure and happiness attend the ungodly while Gods poor servants run thorow the thicket of briers and brambles to the kingdome of heaven but shall not the Iudge of all the world do right Gen. 18.25 a time shall come when both these must have their change Mark the upright and behold the just for the end of that man is peace but the transgressours shall be destroyed together and the end of the wicked shall be cut off Psal 37.38 Psal 37.37 38. The effect of things is best known to
them all if patience be in our calamities they are no calamities but comforts this is that comfort that keeps the heart from envie the hand from revenge the tongue from contumely and often overcomes our very enemies themselves without any weapons at all Come then and do you learn this lesson of our Blessed Redeemer are you stricken so was Christ of the Jews are you mocked so was Christ of the Souldiers are you betrayed of your friends so was Christ of his Apostle are you accused of your enemies so was Christ of the Pharisies why complain you of being injured and maligned when you see the Master of the house himself called Beelzebub Hereunto ye are called saith Peter for Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps 1. Pet. 2.21 1. Pet. 2.21 Vse 3 Thirdly as Patience from his life so we may learn Remorse from his Passion Is it nothing to you all ye that passe by Lament 1.12 O look on him and let this look breed in you a remorse and sorrow for your sinnes Our Saviour labours in the extremities of pangs his soul is sick his bodie faints and would you know the reason Why thus is the head wounded that he might renue health to all the body we sinne and Christ Jesus is heavie and sore and sick and dies for it his soul was in our souls stead his body endured a Purgatory for us that we both in body and soul might escape hell-fire which our sinns had deserved who but considers what evils our sinnes have done that will not grieve and mourn at the sinne he hath committed Oh that my head were a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the sinnes of the daughters of my people We have sinned we have sinned and what shall we say to thee O Saviour of men Alas our sinnes have whipped thee scourged thee crowned thee crucified thee and if I have no compassion to weep for Thee yet O Lord give me grace to weep for my self who have done thus to Thee O my Saviour O my sinnes It is I that offend it is thou must smart for it Fourthly we may yet learn another lesson Christ saith Paul humbled himself and became obedient to the death even the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 Philip. 2.8 and is it not our parts to be obedient to him who became thus obedient for us We may gather Humility from his birth and Patience from his life and Remorse from his Passion and to make up the posie here is one flower more Obedience which that Tree also yielded whereon he suffered Iohn 14.15 If you love me saith our Saviour keep my Commandments How blessed Saviour If you love me Who will not love thee who hast so dearly loved us as to give up thy dearest life for the ransome of our souls But to tell us that there is no better testimonie of our love then to obey his commands he woes us with these sugared words whose lips like Lillies Cant. 5.13 are dropping down pure Myrrh if you love me If you love me learn obedience of me keep my Commandments and to move us the more if all this cannot what love and obedience was there in him think you Consider and wonder That the Sonne of God would banish himself thirty three years from his glorious Majestie and what more would be born man and what more would be the meanest amongst men and what more would endure the miseries of life and what more would come to the bitter pangs of death Quò descendit humilitas Aug. medit 7. and what more would be made obedient to the death even the death of the Crosse a degree beyond death O Sonne of God whither doth thy humility descend but thus it must be the Prophets had foretold it and according to their prophesies the dayes were accomplished When he himself must be purged He was born he lived he suffered he died and thus runne round the vvheels of those miserable times When he had by himself purged our sinnes You see the Time's past and a nevv Time must give you the remainder of the Text the Time is when the Person He and he it is that in order vvill next come after onely have you the patience till vve have the leisure to dravv out his picture and then you shall see him in some mean proportion Who had by himself purged our sinnes He VVE have observed the time When he purged and now time it is that you know the Physician who administers it the Apostle tells you it is He that is Christ our Saviour who seeing us labour in the pains and pangs of sinne he bows the heavens and comes down he takes upon him our frailty that we through him might have the remedie to escape hell fire Come then and behold the man who undertakes this cure of souls Cant. 2.8 He cometh leaping upon the mountains skipping upon the hils saith Solomon in his Songs and would you know his leaps saith Gregory Greg. hom 39. See then how he leaps from his Throne to his Cratch from his Cratch to his Crosse from his Crosse to his Crown downwards and upwards like a Roe or a young Hart upon the mountains of spices His first leap downwards was from heaven and this tels us how he was God from everlasting so said the Centurion Surely this man was the Sonne of God Mark 15.39 Mar. 15.39 How else the sinne of man could no otherwise be expiated but by the Sonne of God man had sinned and God was offended therefore God became man to reconcile man to God Had he been man alone not God he might have suffered but he could not have satisfied therefore this man was God that in his man-hood he might suffer and by his God-head he might satisfie O wonderfull Redemption that God must take upon him our frailty had we thus far run upon the score of vengeance that none could satisfie but God himself could not he have made his Angels Embassadours but he himself must come in person no Angels or Saints could neither super-erogate but if God will save us God himself must come and die for us it were sure no little benefit if the King would pardon a Thief but that the King himself should die for this Malefactor this were most wonderfull and indeed beyond all exspectation and yet thus will the King of heaven deal with us he will not onely pardon our faults but satisfie the Law we sinne against God and God against whom we sin must die for it this is a depth beyond founding an height above all humane reach what is he God But we must fall a note the Creatour is become a Creature if you ask what Creature I must tell you though it were an Angel yet this were a great leap which no created understanding could measure what are the Angels in respect of God he is their Lord they but his servants
this be his case who will not say with Balaam Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Num. 23 10. O let us I beseech you present unto our souls the blessed condition to come and this will be effectuall to stir us up to every good duty and to comfort us in all conditions whatsoever what will a man care for crosses and losses and disgraces in the world that thinks of an heavenly Kingdome What will a man care for ill usage in his Pilgrimâ—ge when he knows he is a King at home we are all in this time of our abâ—ence from God but even strangers upon â—â—rth here then must we suffer in dignities yet here is the comfort we have a better estate to come and all this in the mean time is nothing but a fitting of us to that heavenly Kingdome â—s Davids time between his anointing and investing was a very preparing of him that he might know himself and that he might learn fitnesse for to govern aright so we are anointed Kings as soon as we believe we have the same blessed anointing that is poured on our head and runnes down about us but we must be humbled and fitted before we are invested 〈◊〉 time and but a 〈◊〉 we have yet here to spend and let this be our comfort howsoever we 〈◊〉 here it is not long ere we inherit Alas the 〈◊〉 of this life are not worthy of the glory that shall be shewed us Rom. 8.18 Rom. 8.18 and therefore Igâ—â—â—â—â— iâ— a burnâ—â—g 〈…〉 say 〈…〉 gallows Hieron in catalogo beasts breaking of my bones quartering of â—y 〈…〉 â—â—â—â—sâ—â—ng of my body all the torments of devils let them come upon me so I may enjoy the treasure of Heaven and well â—â—gâ—â— he say it that knew what a châ—nge would be one day 〈◊〉 never was cold shadow so pleasant 〈◊〉 hot Summer never was 〈◊〉 so delightfull after â—â—â—our as shall be this â—eâ—t of heaven to an afflicted â—our coming thither out of this valley of tears O then what service should we do what pain should we suffer to attain this â—est were it to runne through fire and water were it as Augustine said to suffer every day torments you Aug. serm 31. de sanct the very torments of Hell yet should we be conâ—enâ— to aâ—â—â—e it and how much more when we may buy it without money or money-worth we need not to part with any thing for it but sin This Thief now a blessed Saint in glory * I speak of suffering and repenting as means not as the cause for a dayes suffering an half dayes repenting was thus welcomed to Heaven imitate we him in his repentance not in his delay he indeed had mercy at the last cast but this priviledge of one inferres not a common law for all one finde mercie at the last that none should despair and but one that none should presume Be then your sins as red as Scarlet you need not despair if you will but repent and lest your repentance be too late let this be the day of your conversion now abhorre sinnes past sue out a pardon call upon Christ with this Thief on the Crosse Lord remember me remember me now thou art in thy Kingdome thus would we do how blessedly should we die our consciences comforting us in deaths pangs and Christ Jesus saying to us at our last day here our day of death our day of dissolution To day shalt thou be with me in paradise We have dispatcht with expedition this dispatch this expedition to day the next day you shall hear the happinesse of this grant which is the societie of our Saviour thou shalt be with whom with me in paradise With me ANd is he of the Societie of Jesus yes though no Jesuite neither for they were not then hatcht but what noble order is this where the Saints sing Angels minister Archangels rule Principalities triumph Powers rejoyce Dominations govern Virtues shine Thrones glitter Cherubims give light Seraphins burn in love and all that heavenly company ascribe and ever give all laud and praises unto God their Maker here is a Societie indeed I mean not of Babylon but Jerusalem whither Jesus our Saviour admits all his servants and whereto this Thief on the Crosse was invited and welcomed thou shalt be with me in paradise For if with me then with all that is with me and thus comes in that blessed company of Heaven we will onely take a view of them and in some scantling or other you may guesse at Heavens happinesse With me and therefore with my Saints blessed man that from a crew of thieves by one houres repentance became a companion of Saints and now he is a Saint amongst them what joy is that he enjoys with them O my soul couldst thou so steal Heaven by remorse for sinne then mightst thou see what all those millions of Saints that ever lived on earth and are in Heaven Heb. 12.22 there are those holy Patriarchs Adam Noah Abraham and the rest not now in their pilgrimage tossed to and fro on earth but abiding for ever on Mount Sion the City of the living God there are those goodly Prophets Esay Jeremy Ezekiel and the rest not now subject to the torments of their cruell adversaries but wearing Palms and Crowns and all other glorious Ensigneâ— of their victorious triumphs there live those glorious Apostles Peter Andrew James John and the rest not now in danger of persecution or death but arrayed in long robes washed and made white in the bloud of the Lamb Revel 7.14 there live those women-Saints Mary Martha and that Virgin-mother not now weeping at our Saviours death but singing unto him those heavenly songs of praise glory world without end there are those tender infants an hundred forty four thousand Revel 14.1 Revel 14.1 3 4. not now under Herods knife bleeding unto death but harping on their harps and following the Lamb whithersoever he goeth there lives that noble armie of Martyrs they that were slain upon the earth Revel 18.24 Revel 18.24 not now under the mercilesse hands of cruell tyrants but singing and saying their Hallelujahs salvation and glory and honour Revel 19.1 and power be unto the Lord our God tâ—ere dwell all the Saints and servants of God both small and great Revel 19.5 Revel 19.5 not now sighing in this vale of tears but singing sweet songs that eccho through the Heavens as the voice of many waters as the voice of mighty thunderings so is their voice saying Hellelujah Revel 19.6 for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth And is not here a goodly troop a sweet company a blessed societie and fellowship of Saints O my soul how happie wer't thou to be with them yea how happie will that day be to thee when thou shalt meet all the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Disciples Innocents Martyrs the Saints and servants of the King of Heaven why thus happie
but wonder to see how busily thou heapest up riches yet knowest not who shall eat the grapes of thy planted vineyard God gave thee a countenance erected towards heaven and must it ever be groveling and poring on the earth God gave thee a soul to live with his blessed Angels and wilt thou make it a companion fitter for no other then brute beasts Eccles 5.12 There is an evil sicknesse saith Solomon that I have seen under the Sunne and what is that but riches reserved to the owners for their evil See here the just judgement of a righteous God to this end is thy riches thou wouldest live at ease and outlast many years therefore thy life is but miserable and thy death must be sudden thy dayes are but few and thy few dayes are evil Vse 2 But to comfort all you that live in the fear of God it may be your dayes are evil and what then this is to make tryall of your love to God and a tryall it is of Gods love to you First it makes a tryall of your love to God Certainly if you have but a spark of this love your dayes cannot be so evil but in the midst of those evils you shall find some inward consolations that will sweeten all Gen. 29.20 It is memorable how Iacob for Rachel serves Laban seven years but yet saith the Text they seemed to him but a few dayes for the love he had to her Nay after Laban had deceived him in giving him blear-eyed Leah in stead of beautifull Rachel Iacob then serves him another seven years prentiship love makes the heart chearfull in the worst of sufferings though Iacob was consumed with drought in the day and frost in the night Gen. 31.40 which many and many a time made his rest and sleep to depart from his eyes yet his love of fair Rachel sweetens all his labours Why thus thus will it be with you that wait on the Lord your God what though miseries come upon you as thick as hail-storms in a sharp winters day you may remember you have a better master then Laban a better service then Iacobs a fairer prize then Rachel who is your master but such an one as will surely keep his covenant even the Lord your God what is your service but such a one as is most glorious and honourable even a light burden a perfect freedome what is your prize but such a one as surpasseth all prizes whatsoever even the beauty of heaven the beatificall vision of our blessed God If then you but love God as Iacob did Rachel what matters it how evil your few dayes be nay be they never so evil and were your dayes never so many yet an hundred a thousand years spent in Gods service they would seem but a few dayes for the love you bear to him O Lord work in us this love and then command what thou wilt persecution affliction the Crosse or death no service so hard but we shall readily obey thee Secondly as your evils of sufferings try your love to God so they are a tryall or token of Gods love to you 2 Cor. 4.17 Our light affliction which is but for a moment causeth unto us a farre more excellent and an eternall weight of glory and if this be the end who would not endure the means O divine mercy therefore the dugs of this life taste bitter that thereby God may wean us from the love of this world to attain a better Certainly God is good unto us in tempering these so fitly bitternesse attends this life that thou maist sigh continually for the true life Wouldst thou not run through dangers for a kingdome wouldst thou not fetch a crown for fear of a thorn nay who would not go to heaven although it were with Eliah in a whirlwind I count saith Paul that the afflictions of this life are not worthy of the glory which shall be shewed unto us Rom. 8.18 Come then ye that thirst for long life believe in God and you shall have life eternall All is well that ends well though a while we sink in miseries yet at last the joys of heaven will refresh us then shall we live in love rejoyce in hymns sing forth in praises the wonderfull works of our Creatour and Redeemer this is that life of heaven and when our life ends here Lord grant us life everlasting Thus farre have you seen the state of our life this lease breeds sorrow but the reversion is our joy no sooner shall this life exspire but God will give us the purchase of his Son that inheritance of heaven comfort then thy soul that wades through this sea of miseries and the Lord so assist us in all our troubles that he lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil Amen Have been OUr life is but dayes our dayes are but few our few dayes but evil and now when all is done we find all is out of date Few and evil have the dayes of my life been This last word is the leases exspiration and why have been If you will needs know the reason The time that is past is best known to Jacob. And the life of Iacob is but as the time that is past First the time that is past is best known to Iacob Olim meminisse juvabit Virg. old men can tell old stories and something it delights them to remember the storms gone over them We all know how Many years we have lived Great miseries we have suffered Iacob tells you as you may tell each other our years have been few our few years have been evil To make this good Have they not been few Let me ask some old man whose hairs are dipt in snow Eccles 12.6 whose golden ewer is broken whose silver cord is lengthened how many be thy years It may be thou wilt answer Psal 90.10 as Moses gives the number a matter of threescore years and ten or fourscore years I cannot say but it is a long time to come but alas what are these fourscore years now they are gone Tell me you that have seen the many changes both of Moon and Sun are they not swiftly runne away you may remember your manhood childhood and I pray what think ye was it not yesterday is it not a while since who will not wonder to see how quickly it is gone and yet how long it was a coming The time to come seems tedious especially to a man in hope of blisse the time now past is a very nothing especially to a man in fear of danger go down to those cast-away souls that now suffer in hell flames and what say they of their life but as soon as we were born we began to draw to our end Wisd 5.13 Wisd 5.13 go down to those putrified bodies and find amongst them the dusts of Adam Seth Enosh Kenan Mahalaleel Jered Enoch Methushalem every one of whom lived near to the number of a thousand years are
man never so great in power and spreading himself like a green bay tree a tree most durable a bay tree most flourishing a green bay tree that is most in prime if any thing will stand at a stay what is more likely yet he passed away saith the Psalmist and lo he was gone I sought him but be could not be found Psalme 37.35 36. Psal 37.35 36 We cannot stay time present how should we recall time past See here the man on whom the eyes of the world are fixt with admiration yet for all this he passeth without stay he is gone without recall I sought him but to find him is without all recovery Time was that Adam lived in paradise Noah built an Ark David slew Goliah Alexander overcame the world where be these men that are the wonder of us living we all know they are long since dead and the times they saw shall never come again How fond was that fiction of Plato Annus Platonicus that after the revolution of his tedious year then he must live again and teach his Schollers in the same chair he sate in our faith is above his reason for the heavens shall passe away the elements shall melt with heat and the earth with the works therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 2 Pet. 3.10 Where then is the life of Plato when all these things shall turn to nothing we may now for his learning praise him where he is not and he may then for his errour be damned and tormented where he is Is there any man with skill or power can call back but yesterday once onely we read of such a miracle but it was onely by the hand of God Almighty Hezekiah was sick 2 Kings 20. 2 Kings 20. and to confirm the news that he must recover he requires a sign What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me and that I shall go up into the house of the Lord the third day this was no temptation for you see how the Prophet gives him satisfaction This sign shalt thou have of the Lord wilt thou that the shadow go forward tenn degrees or go back tenn degrees Hezekiah thinks of death and the Prophet restores his life not onely a time of fifteen years to come but of ten degrees now gone and thus it was observed in the diall of Ahaz This was a miracle that but once happened since the beginning of the world he then that sleeps away his time in exspectation of Hezekiahs sunne may sleep till his death and then not recall one minute of his life as the time so our life if once past it is irrevocable irrecoverable 2. And as it cannot be recalled again so suddenly it is vanished Longitudinem hujus vitae sentiri non facit nisi spes vivendi nam nihil videtur esse celerius quâm quicquid in ea jam praeteritum est Aug. in Psal 6. Certè videres vitam tuam non fuisse diuturnam Aug. in Psal 36. Nothing makes life long but our hope to live long take away those thoughts of the time to come and there is nothing swifter then the life that is gone Suppose then thou hadst lived so long as from Adam to this time as Austin saith Certainly thou wouldest think thy life but short and if that were short which we think so long how long is our life which in comparison of that is so extreamly short The time once past we think it suddenly past and so is life gone in a moment in the twinckling of an eye so soon indeed before it can be said This it is In every one of us death hath ten thousand times as much as life the life that is gone is deaths and the life yet to come is deaths our now is but an instant yet this is all that belongs to life and all the life which any of us all is at once possessed of here is a life indeed that so soon is vanished before it can be numbered or measured it is no time but now yet staies not till the syllable now may be written or spoken what can I say the life that I had when I began to speak this word it is now gone since I began to speak this word May we call this life that is ever posting towards death Do we what we can could we do yet more all we do and all we could do were to no purpose to prolong our life see how vve shore this ruinous house of our body vvith food vvith raiment vvith exercise vvith sleep yet nothing can preserve it from returning to its earth vve go and vve go suddenly vvitnesse those tvvo Cesars vvho put off themselves vvhilest they put on their shoes Fabius styled Maximus for his exploits and Cunctator for his delaying yet could not delay death till notice might be taken he vvas sick but hovv manie examples in this kind have vve daily amongst us you knovv how some lately have gone safe to bed and yet in the morning were found dead and cold others in health and mirth laid down by their wives and yet ere mid-night found breathless by their sides What need we further instances You see how we go before we know where we are the life that we had what is it but a nothing the life that we have what is it but a moment and all that we can have what is it but a fleeting wind begun and done in a trice of time before we can imagine it In a word our Sunne now sets our day is done ask Jacob the Clock-keeper of our time this Text tells the hour and now struck you hear the sound our dayes are gone few and evil they have been The Conlusion Occasioned by the death of CHARLES BRIDGEMAN who deceased about the age of twelve in the yeare of our Lord 1632. he was a most pious sonne of a most pious mother both now with God HEre I thought to have finished my Text and Sermon But here is a sad accident to confirm my saying and whilest I speak of him what can I say of his state his person his birth his life of all he had and of all he was but that they have been Sweet rose cropt in its blossome no sooner budded but blasted how shall we remember his daies to forget our sorrows no sooner had he learnt to speak but contrary to our custome he betook him to his prayers so soon had grace quelled the corruption of his nature that being yet an infant you might see his proneness to learn nay sometimes to teach them this dutie who waited on to teach him his devotion not long after he was set to school where he learned by book what before he had learned by heart the sweet care good disposition sincere religion which were in this child all may remember which cast but their eyes upon him O God hovv hast thou bereaved us of this Gem Sure it is as it was said of another for this cause onely
will you do whither will you go to whom will you pray the Angels are offended and they will not guard you God is dishonoured and he will not hear you onely the Devil had your service and onely hell must be your wages Consider this ye that forget God Psal 50.22 lest ye be torn in pieces and there be none to deliver you It is cruel for your souls thus to suffer to be torn and torn in pieces and so torn in pieces that none may deliver you Better this Worldling had been a worm a toad an adder any venomous creature then so to live and thus to have died yet hither it is come his sickness is remediless his riches comfortless his torments easeless still he must suffer and there is none to deliver he is torn torn in pieces and none may deliver him What need you more now we are come to this period his glasse is run his Sunne is set his day is finished and now this night the verie night of Death his soul is required and received of him Lo here the dismall dreadfull terrible time of this mans departure it was in the night a night of darkness drowsiness sadness sinne death and destruction Vse 1 Who will not provide each day against this fearfull night howsoever we passe away our time in sinne we must of necessitie ere it be long lie gasping for breath upon our dying beds there shall we grapple hand to hand with the utmost powers of death and darknesse what should we do then but sow our seed while the seed-time lasteth we have yet a day and how short this day is God onely knows be sure the night cometh wherein none can work Joh. 9.4 and then what a fearfull time will come upon us I know there be some that dream of doing good in another world or at least will deferre it longer till some time hereafter such vain hopes of future performances hath undone many a soul I must work the work of him that sent me Joh. 9.4 while it is day saith our Saviour The way-faring man travels not in darknesse but while the day shines on him then he knows he is under the protection of the Laws the light of the Sunne the blessing of heaven Joh. 11.9 Are there not twelve hours in the day if any man walk in the day he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world but if a man walk in the night he stumbleth because there is no light in him Do good then and lay hold of every season which may get you to heaven Let the whole course of your life be a conscionable preparative against death Suppose every day your last as if at night you should be called to account before that high and great tribunall in a word whatsoever you think or speak or do say thus with your self Would I do thus and thus if I knew this night to be my last Who is it would sinne if he thought at that instant he must go to judgement Vse 2 But if we neglect the day be sure the night will come to our condemnation where be those wonders that so dazled our eies while the day shone on them Where is Absaloms beautie Jezabels paint Sauls personage nay where is this wretched Worldling he had a day to work out his own salvation and that being lost at last came night before he had gone two steps toward heaven Joh. 12.35 O beloved walk while yee have light that ye may be children of the light You may be sure the meanest soul that hath the work of grace upon it death is to him no night but the day-break of eternall brightnesse This may make us in love with the sincerity of religion this may make us to labour and never cease labouring till we have gotten out of the state of nature into the state of grace O that I could say of every one of you as Paul of the Ephesians Ye were once darkness but now are ye light in the Lord. Ye were once carnall but now are ye spirituall ye were once unregenerate Ephes 5.8 but now are ye a first-fruits dedicated to God If it were thus with you then to your comfort upon your dying beds you should meet with a glorious troop of blessed Angels you should feel the glorious presence of the sweetest comforter you should see the glorious light of Gods shining countenance you should have a night if it were night turn'd all into a mid-day Now the Lord give you such a day whensoever you dye through Christ our Lord. You have heard the time of Deaths arrest This night Now for the party wee 'll make a privy search and if we stir one word we shall finde him at next doore it is thy soul Thy Soul THe party under arrest is the rich mans Soul no warranty could prevail no riches satisfie no strength rescue death now demands it and there 's none can redeem it therefore This night they will have his soul Every man hath a jewell better worth then a world Observ and the loss of this is so much more dear by how much it is more precious What profits it a man to gain a world and to lose his soul said our Lord and Saviour Mat. 16.26 Mat. 16.26 Nay what are a thousand worlds when the soul is valued Give me leave to ope the cabinet and you shall see the jewell that is arrested it is the Soul The Soul what 's that Substantia creata invisibilis incorporea immortalis Deo similima imaginem habens creatoris sui Aug. in lib. de definitione animae Dicearchus it is saith Austin a substance that is created invisible incorporeall immortall most like to God as bearing the image of its Creator Please you that we illustrate this description and you shall see how every word shews forth some excellencies as the glorious lustres of this glorious pearle the Soul First if you ask what is the Soul 't is a substance How fond were the opinions of some Philosophers one would have it to be nothing vox praeterea nihil and how many of us are of this opinion Doe not we live as if we had no souls at all The epicure is for his belly the ambitious for his body but who is he that provides for his soul Sure we imagine it to be nothing valuable or how should our estimation of it be so grosse and vile to prefer the body to neglect the soul There were other Philosophers vvent a pace yet further and they gave it a being Galen but vvhat no better then an accident that might live or dye vvithout death of the subject this they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humorum a certain temper composed of the elements or nothing but the harmony of those humours in the body Is this the soul then of all creatures are men say vve 1 Cor. 15.19 of all men are we saith the Apostle most miserable most unhappy
Matth. 24.28 Wheresoever the dead carkasse is thither saith our Saviour will the Eagles resort and wheresoever a damned soul is thither with a lacrity will these spirits come O how they fly and flutter round about him what fires do they breathe to enkindle them on his soul what clawes do they open to receive her at the parting and what astonishment is that poor soul in that perceives these Sergeants even ready to clasp their in her burning armes See O Cosmopolite what thy sin hath caused lust hath transported thine eyes blasphemy thy tongue pride thy foot oppression thy hand covetousness thy heart and now Death and Devils they are the Sergeants that require thy soul Vse Reflect these thoughts on your own souls and consider with your selves what may be your cases it may be as yet thou standest upright without any changes hitherto thou hast seen no days of sorrow but even washed thy steps with butter and the rock hath poured thee out rivers of oyle Deut. 32.13 14. Alas was not this the case of this wretched worldling yet for all this you see a night came that paid for all and so may it be with thee a day an hour Casaub Dies hora momentum c. a moment is enough to overturn the things that seem to have been founded and rooted in Adamant who can tell whether this night this storm may fall upon thee art thou not strangely nailed and glued unto sence art thou not stupidly senceless in spirituall things that for pelf vanity dung nothing wilt run headlong and willfully into easelesse endlesse and remediles torments Yet such is thy doing if thou beest a worldling to get riches to thy body and let death and devils have thy soul O beloved consider in time and seeing you have such a terrible example set before you let this worldling be your warning We have done with the Sergeants but what 's their office to beg to sue No but to force to require thy soul is required How requried is any so bold to approach his gates and make a forcible entry Yes God hath his speciall Bailiffs that will fear no colours riches cannot ransome castles cannot keep hollows cannot hide hills nor their forts protect Sits Herod on his Throne there 's a Writ of Remove and the worms are his Bayliffs is Dives at his Table Death brings the Mittimus and Devils are his Jaylours sits Lazarus at his gates the King greets him well we may say and Angels are his keepers poor rich good bad all must be served at the Kings suit no place can priviledge no power secure no valour rescue no libertie exempt with a non omittas propter aliquam libertatem runs this Warrant 2. Sam. 22.5 O rich man what wilt thou now do The sorrows of death compasse thee and the flouds of Belial make thee afraid What no friends to help no power to rescue is there no other way but yield and die for it O miserie enough to break an heart of brasse again Imagine that a Prince a while possessed some royall City where if you walk the streets you may see peace flourishing wealth abounding pleasure waiting all his neighbours offering their service and promising to assist him in all his needs and affairs if on a sudden this city were besieged by some deadly enemie who coming like a violent stream takes one hold after another one wall after another one castle after another and at last drives this Prince onely to a little Tower and there sets on him what fear anguish and misery would this Prince be in If he looks about his holds are taken his men are slain his friends and neighbours now stand aloof off and they begin to abandon him were not this a wofull plight trow you even so it fares with a poor soul at the hour of her departure the body wherein she reigned like a jolly Princesse then droops and languishes the keepers tremble Eccles 12.3 the strong men bow the grinders cease and they wax dark that look out at the windows no wonder if fear be in the way when the arms the legs the teeth the eyes as so many walls wherein the soul was invironed are now surprized and beaten to the ground her last refuge is the heart and this is the little Tower whither at last she is driven But what is she there secure no but most fiercely assailed with a thousand enemies her dearest friends youth and Physick and other helps which soothed her in prosperity do now abandon her what will she do the enemy will grant no truce will make no league but night and day assayls the heart which now like a Turret struck with thunder begins all to shiver here is the wofull state of a wicked soul God is her enemy the Devil her foe Angels hate her the earth groans under her hel gapes for her the reason of all sin struck the alarm and death gives the battel it is but this night a minute longer and then will the raging enemie enter on her Death is no beggar to entreat no suiter to wo no petitioner to ask no soliciter to crouch and crave a favour she runs raging Quaque ruit furibunda ruit ruling charging requiring hark this rich mans arrest thy soul shall be required It shall yes the word is peremptory what be required yes it comes with authority Here 's a fatall requiring when the soul shall be forced by an unwilling necessitie and devils by force hurrie her to her endless furie Adieu poor soul the Writ is served the Goal prepared the judgement past and Death the Executioner will delay no longer This night thy soul shalt be required of thee Vse 1 But to whom speak I Think of it you miserably covetous that joyn house to house and call the lands after your own names You may trust in your wealth and boast your selves in the multitude of your riches but none of you call by any means redeem his brother no nor himself Psal 49.6 Psal 49.6.7 When Death comes I pray what composition with the Lord of heaven could ever any buy out his damnation with his coyn howsoever you live mirrily deliciously go richly yet Death will at last knock at your doors and notwithstanding all your wealth honours tears and groans of your dearest friends will take you away as his prisoners to his darkest dungeon Your case is as with a man who lying fast asleep upon the edge of some steep high rock dreams merrily of Crowns Kingdoms Possessions but upon the sudden starting for joy he breaks his neck and tumbles into the bottome of some violent sea Thus is your danger every hour Sathan makes you a bed lulls you asleep charms you into golden dreams and you conceive you are wallowing in the Sea of all wordly happiness at last death comes against which there is no resistance and then are you suddenly swallowed up of despair and drowned in that pit of eternall death and
dreadfull of hel yet coveting death in a continuall torment yet his own tormentour consuming himself with grief and horrour impatience and despair till at last he ended his miserable-miserable life And now beloved if such be the departure of a sinnfull soul O who would live in sinne to come to such a departure For my part I dare not say these parties thus miserable in their own apprehensions are now among Devils in hell I find the Authours themselves to incline to the right hand besides what am I that I should sit in Gods Chair onely this I say that their miserable deaths may verie well give warning to us all nor need you think much at me for uttering these terribilia terrible stories for if sometimes you did not hear of Gods judgements against sinne a day might come that you would most of all crie out on the Preacher To this purpose we have a story of a certain rich man who lying on his death-bed My soul said he I bequeath to the Devil who owns it my wife to the Devil who drew me to my ungodly life and my Chaplain to the Devil who flattered me in it I pray God I never hear of such a Legacy from any of you sure I had better to tell you aforehand to prevent it then not telling you to feel it And let this be for my Apologie in relating these stories Vse 2 But for a second Use give me leave I pray you to separate the precious from the vile Now then to sweeten the thoughts of all true penitents the souls of Saints are not required but received Rejoyce then ye righteous that mourn in Sion what though a while ye suffer death is a Goal-delivery to your souls not bringing in but freeing out of thraldome Here the good man finds sharpest misery the evil man sweetest felicity therefore it is just that there should be a time of changing turnes The rich mans Table stood full of delicates Lazarus lacks crums but now he is comforted and thou art tormented Luke 16.25 Wo unto you that laugh for you shall mourn Luke 6.25 Luke 6.25 Blessed are you that mourn for you shall rejoyce Matth. 5.4 Matth. 5.4 Happy Lazarus who from thy beggary and loathsome sores wert carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome happy Thief who upon thy true repentance and unfeigned prayer wert received from the Crosse to the Paradise of thy Saviour happy are all they that suffer tribulation Death shall lose their souls from bonds and fetters and in stead of a Bayliff to arrest them shall be a Porter to conduct them to the gates of heaven There shalt thou tread on Serpents trample on thine enemies sing sweet Trophies were not this enough thy Conquests shall be crowned by the hands of Seraphims triumphed with the sound of Angels warbled by the Quire of Spirits confirmed by the King of Kings and Lord of Hosts Happy Soul that art not required by Devils but received by Angels and when we die Lord Jesus send thine Angels to receive our Souls You see now Deaths Arrest and what remains further save to accept of some Bail But what Bail where you have the Kings Commandment from his own mouth this requiring is not of any other but himself of no suretie but of thee saith God must thy Soul be required Of thee ONce more you see I have brought this rich man on the stage his doom is now at hand and Death Gods messenger summons him to appear by Requiring of his soul but of whom is it Required had he any Sureties to put in or was any Bail sufficient to be taken for him no he must go himself without all help or remedie it was he that sinned and it is he must pay for it Of thee it is required How of thee Sure Death mistakes we can find thousands more fit none more fearfull there stands a Saul near him his armour-bearer behold a Judas such will outface deaths fury nay rather then if fail in its office they will not much question to be their own Deaths-men but this Of thee who art at league with hell in love with earth at peace with all is most terribly fearfull Stay Death there stands a poor Lazarus at the gates like Job on his dung-hil his eyes blind his ears deaf his feet lame his bodie struck with Boyls Job 7.15 and his Soul choosing rather to be strangled and die then to be in his bones were not this a fit object for deaths crueltie would he spare the rich he should be welcome to the poor but Death is inexorable he must not live nor shall the Beggar beg his own death for another Of thee it is required But Death yet stay thy hand here 's a better surety what needs death a presse when he may have volunteers there stands an old man as ready for the grave as the grave for him his face is furrowed his hairs hoary his back bowing his hammes bending and therefore no song is fitter then old Simeons Luke 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace Youth is loath but Age is merry to depart from misery let Death then take him that standeth nearest deaths-door No the old must die but the young may he must die soon yet be sure thou shalt not live long Of thee it is required Cannot this serve let death yet stay his hand there stands a servant waiting at this rich mans beck as if he would spend his own life to save his Masters he can make a Pageant of Cringes act a whole speech of flatteries every part owes him service feet to run hands to work head to crouch and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of a Mistris so the eyes of his servants look unto the hands of their Master but where be these attendants when death comes was ever any Master better then Christ were ever any servants truer then his Apostles yet see their fidelitie must their Saviour die one betrayes him another forswears him all run from him and leave him alone in midst of all his enemies what then is the trust of servants the rich man may command and go without if death should require them they would not or if they should desire death hee will not his arrest concerns not the servants it is for the Master himself he that command others now death commands him Of thee it is required Will not all do Let death but stay this once there stands a friend that will loose his own to save his life Greater love then this hath no man saith our Saviour when any man bestoweth his life for his friends John 15.13 John 15.13 Riches may perhaps procure such love and get some friend to answer deaths quarrel which he ows this man Jonathan loves David David Absolon and sure it was a love indeed when Jonathan preserves the life of David and David wisheth a death to himself in the stead of Absolon O my sonne Absolon 2.
grones and suddain cryes the fire slakes not the worm dies not the chains loose not the links wear not revenge tyres not but for ever are the torments fresh and the fetters on fire as they came first from their Forge What a strange kind of torture falls upon the wicked they are bound to fiery pillars and Devils lash at them with their fiery whips Is there any part of man scapes free in such a fray the flesh shall fâ—â— the blood boil the veins be scorcht the sinews rackt Serpents shall eat the body furies tear the soul this is that wofull plight of Tares which he bound in Hell The sick man at Sea may go from his ship to his boat and from his boat to his ship again the sick man in his bed may tumble from his right side to his left and from his left to his right again onely the Tares are tied hand and foot bound limme and joynt their feet walk not their fingers move not their eyes must no more wander as before loe all his bound O these manacles that rot the flesh and pierce the inward parts O unmatchable torments yet most fit for Tares sin made them furious hell must tame their Phrensie the Judge thus commands and the Executioners must dispatch fetter them fire them Bind them in bundles to burn them I have lead you through the Dungeon let this fight serve for a terrour that you never come nearer To that purpose for exhortation consider Alas all hangs on life ther 's but a twine thread betwixt the soul of a sinner and the scorching flames who then would so live as to run his soul into hazard the Judge threatens us Devils hate us the bonds exspect us it is onely our conscience must clear us or condemn us Search then thy waies and stir up thy remembrance to her Items hast thou dishonoured God blasphemed his name decayed his image subduing thy soul to sin that was created for heaven repent these courses ask God forgiveness and he will turn away thy punishments I know your sins are grievous and my soul grieves at the knowledge many evills have possessed too many drunkenness and oathes and malice and revenge are not these guests entertained into all houses banish them your hearts that the King of glory may come in Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live Would God bestow mercy and should we refuse his bounty as you love heaven your souls your selves leave your sins Vse 2 And then here is a word of consolation the penitent needs not fear hell Gods servant is freed from bonds yea if we love him who hath first loved us Ephes 5.2 all the chains and pains of hell can neither hold nor hurt us Vse 3 O then ye Sons of Adam suffer a reproof what do ye that ye do not repent you of your sins is it not a madness above admiration that men who are reasonable creatures having eyes in their heads hearts in their bodies understanding like the Angels and consciences capable of unspeakable horrour never will be warned untill the fire of that infernall Lake flash and flame about their eares Let the Angels blush heaven and earth be amazed all the Creatures stand astonished at it I am sure a time wil come when the Tares shal feel what now they may justly fear you hear enough such weed must be bound thus straight is the Lords command Binde them in bundles to burn them But all is not done Chains have their links and we must bring all together Sinners are coupled in hell as Tares in Bundles But of these when we next meet in the mean while let this we have heard Binde us all to our duties that we hear attentively remember carefully practice conscionably that so God may reward accordingly and at last crown us with his glory The tares must be bound up in bundles but Lord make us free in Heaven to sit with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in thy blessed kingdome In bundles THe command is out what Bind whom them how in bundles The tares must on heaps which gives us a double observation Generall Speciall In the generall it intimates these two points the gathering of the weed and its severing from the wheat both are bound in bundles but the wheat by it self and the tares by themselves as at that doom when all the world must be gathered and severed some stand at the right hand others at the left so at this execution some are for the fire and others for the barn they are bundled together yet according to the difference of the severall parties each from the other Observ 1 First the tares must together Woe is me saith David that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech Psal 120.4 and if David think it wofull to converse with his living enemies then what punishment have the wicked whom the Devill and damned the black angels and everlasting horrour must accompany for ever The tares must be gathered and bundled and the more bundles the more and more miseries Company yields no comfort in hell fire nay what greater discomfort then to see thy friends in flames thy fellowes in torments the fiends with flaming whips revenging each others malice on thy self and enemy It was the rich mans last petition when he had so many repulses for his own ease to make one suit for his living brethren he knew their company would encrease his torment to prevent which he cries out I pray thee father Abraham Luk. 16.27 28. that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my fathers house for I have five brethren that he may testifie unto them lest they also come into this place of torment Why it may be God will hear him for them especially making such a reasonable request as this was that Lazarus might onely warn his brethren of future judgment no but to teach you if you sell your souls to sin to leave a rich posterity on earth you shall not onely your selves without all remorse and pity be damned in hell but your posterity shall be a torment to you whilest they live and a greater torment if they come to you when they are dead To converse with Devils is fearfull but altogether to accompany each other is a plague fit for tares In this life they flourished amongst the wheat Let them grow both together corn and tares untill the harvest But the harvest come God will now separate them both asunder and as in heaven there are none but Saints so in hell there are none but reprobates to encrease this torment as they grow together so all their conference is to curse each other Moab shall cry against Moab father against son son against father what comfort in this company The Devill that was authour of such mischiefs appears in most grisly forms his angels the black guard of hell torture poor souls in flames there live swearers
washed his hands before the multitude saying I am innocent of the bloud of this just man Matth. 27 24 Matth. 27.24 but alas did Pilate so favour him as to free him no he fears to condemn him being innocent and yet dares not absolve him being so envyed as he was by the Iewes what then can a little water what can Iordans floods what can rivers of wine and oile do towards the washing of those hands that had power to release him and would not he knew they had delivered him of envy Matth. 27.18 Matth. 27.18 he confesses I find no fault in this man Luk. 23.14 Luk. 23.14 he tells him that he had power to crucifie him and he had power to loose him Iohn 19.10 Joh. 19.10 and yet fondly would he wash away the guilt of his unjust sentence with a little water on his hands no Pilate that ceremony cannot wash away thy sin that sin I mean which thou and the Gentiles in thee committed in delivering of Jesus to the will of the Iewes Luk. 23.25 But if delivered to the Iewes sure it is well enough he is their Country-man Kinsman of the stock of Abraham of the Tribe of Juda of the Family of Ioseph but this rather aggravates then allaies his misery that his own people should degenerate into Traitors not a Gentile but a Jew to be his Executioner what torment had not been a lenitive and a recreation in comparison of this Daniels Den the three Childrens Furnace Esays wooden Saw Israels fiery Serpents the Spanish Inquisition the Romish Purgatory are all as far short in torture as the last of them in truth to the malice of a Iew witness our Saviours death when they all conspired not onely to scourge him mock him buffet him slay him but to slay him in such a manner as to hang him on nailes and to make the Cross his Gibbet But what no comforter amongst them all do the Gentiles condemn him will the Jewes crucifie him and is there none to pity him Yes what say we of his Disciples that heard him followed him Luk. 10.1 and were sent of him by two and two into every City and place whether he himself should come Would you think that these seventy Luk. 10.17 for they were so many in number which for a time did his Embassage with joy would now have forsaken him yes if you mark it many of them went back Joh. 6.66 and would walk no more with him some stumble at his Doctrine others at his passion but all were offended as it is written I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered Matth. 26.31 Matth. 26.31 Yet if the Gentiles reject him they do but like Gentiles who were ignorant of God if the Iewes hate and maligne him Matth. 23.31 it is but their old wont of killing the Prophets if the Disciples that are weaker faint and waver in faith Matth. 8.26 it was no more then was said of them O ye of little faith but what say we to the twelve Apostles those Secretaries of his mysteries stewards of his mercies almners of his bounties will they also go away and leave him comfortless alone no can Peter say Master to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternall life Ioh. 6.68 Joh. 6.68 or if he will have deeper protestations I am ready to go with thee saith Peter into prison and to death Luk. 22.33 Luk. 22.33 to death yes though I die with thee I will not deny thee and thus said all his Disciples Matth. 26.35 Matth 26.35 and yet like Ionas Gourd when the Sun beates hottest how soon are they all gone and vanished away loe one betrays him another forswears him all run from him and leave him alone in the midst of all his enemies And yet if his Apostles leave him what say we to Mary his mother and other his friends these indeed wait on him seeing sighing wailing weeping but alas what do those tears but increase his sorrows might he not justly say with Paul What mean yee to weep and to break my heart Act. 21.13 Acts 21.13 Pity and of all other feminine pity it is the poorest helpless salve of misery but howsoever it was to others this was so far from any salve to him as 't is one of his greatest tenderest sores about him Luk. 23.28 Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and your children O see the wonder of compassion which he bears to others in his passion he hath more care of the women that follow him weeping then on his own mangled self that reels along fainting and bleeding even unto death the tears that drop from their eyes is more to him then all the bloud in his veins and therefore careless as it were of his own sacred person he turns about his blessed bleeding face to the weeping women Luk. 23.38 affording them looks and words too of compassion of consolation weep not for mee but weep for your selves and your children But O blessed Saviour didst thou flow unto us in showrs of Bloud and may not we drop a tear for all those purple streams of thine yes Lord thou dost not here forbid us weeping onely thou turnest the stream of our tears the right way that is to say homewards into our own bosomes pointing us to our sins the truest cause of thy sufferings But as for comfort to our Saviour whence trow ye may it come if we compass the earth the Gentiles Iewes his Disciples Apostles Mary his own Mother and all other his friends they are but as Iobs miserable comforters all but let us go up into heaven John 16.2 and there if any where be his comforters indeed alas what comforters If you imagine the Angels it is true they could attend him in the Desart and comfort him in the Garden but when he came to the main act of our Redemption not an Angell must be seen how not seen no they must not so much as look through the windows of heaven to give him any ease at all nor indeed were it to any purpose if they should for who can lift up where the Lord will cast down O yee blessed Angels how is it that your Hallelujahs cease that your songs which you warbled at his birth are finished at his death that your glorious company which are the delight of happy souls is denied to him who is the Lord and Maker both of you and them why thus it must be for our sakes I am full of heaviness said our Saviour in his type and I looked for some to take pity but there was none and for comforters but I found none Psal 69 20. Psal 69.20 And yet if the Angels be no comforters he hath a Father in heaven that is nearer to him Ioh. 10.30 I and my father are one saith our Saviour and it is my Father that honoureth mee Ioh.
8.34 Iohn 8.34 it is my Father that loveth me Ioh. 10.17 Iohn 10.17 it is my Father that dwelleth in me Ioh. 14.10 Iohn 14.10 and howsoever others forsake mee and leave me alone as himself proclaims it yet I am not alone because the Father is with mee Ioh. 16.32 Iohn 16.32 Is it so sweet Saviour whence then was that sorrowfull complaint of thine My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Matth. 27.46 Leo it is that first reconciled it and all antiquity allow of it the union was not disolved but the beames the influence was restrained Non solvit unionem sed subtraxit visionem Scotus 4. sent D. 46. Q. 4. resp ad princip argum Affectione justitiae saith Scotus he was ever united to his Father because he ever loved trusted and glorified him but affectione commodi that delight ever emergent from that divine vision was for a time suspended and therefore was it that his body drooped his soul fainted he being even as a scorched Heath-ground without any drop of dew of the divine comfort on it Yet be it that his Father now forsakes him will he forsake himself O yes he burns in the fiery furnace of affliction without all manner of refreshing and this was it that was figured in the Law by those two Goats offered for the sins of the people whereof the one was the Scape-Goat and the other was the Offering the scape-goat departed away and was sent into the wilderness but her companion was left alone in the torments and made a Sin-Offering for the people even so was this Sacrifice of God-man man-God blessed for ever the humanity was offered but the divinity escaped the humanity suffered for the sins of the world but the divinity departed away in the midst of sufferings and left her sister and companion all alone in the torments thus he purged himself himself onely in his humanity no other with him all other left him the Gentiles Jewes Disciples Apostles Mary his mother and God his Father nay he himself is bereaved of himself Levit. 16.10 the humanity of his divinity if not in respect of the union yet as touching the consolation When he had by himself in his humane nature without any comforter purged our sins Thus far you have seen Christ drink the cup of his bitter pains pure and without mixture of any manner of ease what now remains but that vve make some use of it Vse I will take the cup of salvation saith David and call upon the Name of the Lord Psal 116.13 Psal 116.13 and vvhat can vve less if our Saviour hath begun to us in pains shall not vve afford him our thanks the Cup of death could not passe from him and must the Cup of Salvation be removed from us Psal 148.2 O praise him praise him all his Hosts hovvsoever he vvas alone in his sufferings let us all bear the burdens in a song of thanksgiving and in this song let us singing vveep and vveeping sing our sins may dravv the tears vvhich vvere the cause of his sufferings and our salvation may make us sing vvhich those his sufferings did effect vvhat needs more he suffered by himself the cause our sins the effect our salvation let us mourn for the one and praise him for the other praise him and him alone for he had no partner in his sufferings nor vvill he have any in our thanks he had no comforter in his miseries nor must any share vvith him in the duty vve ovve him of praising his Name Alas have vve not reason think you to give all the glory unto him it vvas he that suffered that vvhich vve deserved he purged by himself vvhen vve our selves lay sick of sin in perill of death and damnation thus gracious is he to us that vvhen there vvas no other remedy for our recovery then he by himself in our stead came and purged our sins Thus far you have seen the Patient and order novv requires that vve prepare the Receit the Patient vvas himself the Receit is a Purge but to confect this Purge vve must crave a further time and in the mean vvhile and ever remember him in your thoughts vvho hath done all this for you and the Lord make you thankfull Had purged YOu see vvho it is that hath freed us from sin to vvit Christ our Saviour vvithout a Compurgator he purged by himself but vvhat did he by himself do vve say he purged vvhat need he to purge vvho never committed any sinn in thought vvord or deed it is vvithout doubt he needs not and yet do it he vvill not to clear himself but us But this Purge doth imply a medicine and so vve must apply it a medicine it was and many medicines he used for the curing of mans soul the first by diet when he fasted fourty days and foruty nights Matth. 4.2 Matth. 4.2 the second by Electuary when he gave his most precious body and bloud in his last Supper Matth. 26.26 Matth. 26.26 The third by sweat when great drops of bloud issued from him falling down to the ground Luk. 22.44 Luk. 22.44 The fourth by plaister when he was spit upon by the Iewes Mark 15.19 Mar. 15.19 The fifth by potion when he tasted vinegar mingled with gall Matth. 27.34 Matth. 27.34 The sixth by letting of bloud when his hands and feet were pierced yea when his heart vein was stricken and his side goared with a Spear Ioh. 19.34 Joh. 19.34 the last which contains all the rest was by purge when by all his sufferings and especially by his bloud-shed he washed us from our sins Revel 1.5 Revel 1.5 Here was the cures of all cures which all the Galenists in the world may admire with reverence that our Lord and Saviour should become our surety that our soul-Physician should become our Purger how not by giving us Physick but by receiving it for us we miserable wretches lay sick of sin and he our Physician hath by himself purged and delivered us of it But that we may the better see how this Purge wrought with him we must know that purging in generall Observ is taken for any evacuation whatsoever and to say truth in a word the evacuation of Christs bloud was the right purging of our sins Hence is it that as Scriptures affirm the bloud of Christ doth redeem us cleanse us wash us justifie us sanctifie us Yee were redeemed by his bloud 1 Pet. 1.19 1 Pet. 1.19 and his bloud cleanseth us from all sin 1 Joh. 1.7 1 Ioh. 1.7 and he washed us from our sins in his bloud Revel 1.5 Rev. 1.5 and being now justified by his bloud Rom. 5.9 Rom. 5.9 and therefore Iesus suffered that he might sanctifie the people with his own bloud Heb. 13.12 Heb. 13.12 This bloud was it that was believed by the Patriarchs witnessed by the Sacrifices shadowed in the figures of the