every corn of your field neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of the harvest How not reap it not gather it what then why Thou shalt leave them for the poor and for the stranger I am the Lord your God Levit. 19.9 Lev. 19.9 10. When Ruth came to glean in the fields of Boaz that good Master commands his servants Ruth 2.15 Let her gather among the sheaves and do not rebuke her Had this Worldling been so pitifull to the poor his barns might have stood himself might have lived his soul have been saved But now what a strange lot happens on him his Halls Houses Barns Buildings all runne round in a dance of Death before his eyes Fourthly his house and friends both left him when death came The Parable is common Ex Damasceno A man hath three friends two whereof he loved most entirely the third he made no account of this man being sent for to come before his King he desires his first friend to go with him but he could not onely he would give him something for his journey He desires his second friend to go with him but he would not onely he would bring him a little piece of his way When both these forsook him he goes to the last which before he esteemed least and this friend was the party that went with him to the King and answered for him in all his causes This is the case of every man dying the King our Judge sends death his Serjeant to summon you to your judgement Come to your first friends I mean your riches alas they cannot go with you but give you a sheet as necessary for your journey Come to your second friends I mean your acquaintance alas they wil not go with you but bring you to your graves and there leave you to your selves Come to your last friends which you now least think of I mean your Consciences and you shall find that is the truest friend that will go with you to the Judge answer for you to the King and either acquit you or condemn you bring you to the gates of heaven or deliver you to the goal of hell Have a care of your Consciences if you mean to speed well at this day how blessed a man had this Worldling been if onely a good conscience had accompanied him to the Judge of heaven but now when death summons him there is no friend to solicite no Advocate to plead no man to speak one word in his souls behalf it is his bad conscience keeps him company and though all others leave him he can devise no means to shake this from him Fifthly there is a jewell irrevocable of which this sudden death robs him I mean his time and what a losse was this all his goods grounds barns buildings were they more worth then the world it self yet were they not able to restore one minute of his time if this could be purchased what a rate would he give for a little respite nothing is now so precious as a piece of time which before by moneths and years he lavishly mis-spent they that passe away time with mirth and pastime shall one day see to their grief what a losse they have now we revell it out dally it away use all means and occasions to make it short enough but when this golden showre is gone and those opportunities of salvation lost by negligence then we may wish and wish again Oh had we a little time a little space to repent Imagine that this worldling whom now you must suppose to lie frying in hel flames were dispenced with for a little time to live here again on earth amongst us would but the Lord vouchsafe him one hour of a new triall a minute season of a gracious visitation oh how highly would he prize how eagerly would he apprehend with what infinite watching praying fasting would he improve that short time that he might repent him I know not how effectually this may work an your hearts but I am fully perswaded if any damned creature had but the happinesse to hear this Sermon you should see how his very heart would bleed vvithin him bleed said I nay break and fall asunder in his breast like drops of vvater Oh vvith vvhat inflamed attention vvould he hear and listen vvith vvhat insatiable grasping vvould he lay hold on Christ vvith vvhat streaming tears vvould he vvater his cheeks as if he vvould melt himself like Niobe into a fountain Blessed God! hovv fond are foolish men that never think of this till their time be lost vve that are alive have onely this benefit of opportunity and if vve neglect it a day vvill come vve knovv not hovv soon that vve shall be past it and cannot recover it no not one houre if vve vvould give a thousand ten thousand vvorlds for it What can I say reflect on your selves you that have souls to save you have yet a little time and the time present is that time vvhat then but so use it novv as vvhen you are gone you need not vvith grief vvish you here again Sixthly yet more losse and that is the losse of losses the losse of his soul his riches lands houses friends time and all were nothing to his soul This is that Paragon Peere Rose and Spouse of our well-beloved Christ How many a teare shed he to save it what grones cryes prayers teares and bloud poured he before God that he might redeem it from the jawes of Satan and is this lost notwithstanding all this labour O sweet Jesu what a losse is this thou wast born lived died and that a shamefull death the death of the cross and all this suffering was to save poor souls yet see a soul here lost and the bloud of God though able not effectuall to redeem it Whose heart would not melt into bloud that but knew this misery Suppose you could see the soul of this wretched worldling no sooner had it left the body but immediately was it seized on by infernall fiends now lies it on a bed of fire tortured tormented scourged and scorched in those furious flames there his conscience stings him his sorrow gripes him his pain so handles him that he cryes and roares Woe woe and alas evermore Who now for shadows of short pleasures would incur these sorrows of eternall pains In this world we can weep and wail for a losse of trifles an house a field an Oxe took from us is enough to cruciate us but how shall we bewail the losse of a soul which no sooner plunged into that pit of horrour but it shall feel a punishment without pity misery without mercy sorrow without succour crying without comfort torment without ease a world of mischiefe without all measure or redress Such is the losse of this mans silly soul whilest he was cheering it with an home-bred solace Soul thou hast much goods layd up for many years God whispers in his eares and tells him other newes What of his soul
sutable Now the Thief seeing that Christ was first of all crucified and therefore in all likelihood should first of all die makes his request to this effect Lord thou shalt shortly enter into thy Kingdome remember me then to which Christs answer as the very words import is thus much I shall enter into Paradise this day and there shalt thou be with me but the God-head which is at all times in all places cannot be said properly to enter into a place and therefore not into Paradise Again When Christ saith Thou shalt be with me in Paradise he doth intimate a resemblance between the first and second Adam the first Adam sinned against God and was presently cast out of Paradise the second having made a satisfaction for sinne must presently enter into Paradise Now there is no entrance but in regard of the soul or man-hood and therefore to apply it to the God-head were to abolish this analogy betwixt the first and second Adam These reasons are weighty but should we say with Austin That Christ in his soul went down into hell one of our Worthies can tell us R. Clerk D. in D. Serm. that Christs soul united to his God-head might do all that and yet be that day in Paradise God works not lazily like man Satan could shew Christ all the Kingdoms of the world in the twinkling of an eye and Gods expedition exceeds his To this agrees another that we have no warrant in Gods Word so to fasten Christs soul unto hell for all the time of his death B. Bilson l. of the power of Hel destroyed fol. 219. Rom. 10.7 but that it might be in Paradise before it descended into hel That he was in Paradise must be received because himself doth affirm it and that he descended into the deep must be received also for the Apostle doth avouch it but how he descended or what time he descended as also what manner of triumph he brought thence cannot be limited by any mortall man To conclude I will not denie but that according to the Creed he descended into Hell yet howsoever we expound it Metaphorically or literally it hinders not this truth but that immediately after death his soul went into Paradise The objections thus solved now come we to the Thief thus comforted by Christ to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise What to day without all doubts or delayes here 's a blessed dispatch if we either consider the misery endured or the joy to be received First in regard of his miseries he was a Thief condemned and crucified we read of foure kinds of deaths in use amongst the Jews strangling stoning fire and the sword the Crosse was a death whether for the pain the shame the curse farre above all other we may see it in that gradation of the Apostle He became obedient to death even to the death of the Crosse Phil. 2.8 Phil. 2.8 What engine of torture was that it spins out pain it slowes his death yet a little and a little till it be more then any man can think see his hands bored his feet nayled his legs broken every part full of pain from top to toe and thus hangs this Thief the poyz of his body every moment increasing his pain and his own weight becoming his own affliction in this case were not a quick riddance his best remedie were not the news of death better then a lingring life Lo then to his eternall comfort Christ our Saviour in the same condemnation grants him his desire What would he have a dispatch of pain he shall have it this day as Samuels appearance said to Saul To morrow yea to day thou shalt be with me 1 Sam. 28.19 But secondly here 's a greater comfort his miseries have an end and his joys are at hand while he is even gasping in deaths pangs he is carried on a sudden from earth to heaven from his Crosse to Paradise from a world of wo to a kingdome of happiness and eternall blisse O how blessed is the change when in the very moment of misery joy enters Suppose you a poor man in the night time out of his way wandring alone upon the mountains far from companie destitute of money beaten with rain terrified with thunder stiff with cold wearied with labour famished with hunger and near brought to despair with the multitude of miseries if this man upon a sudden in the twinkling of an eye should be placed in a goodly large and rich palace furnished with all kind of clear lights warm fire sweet smels dainty meats soft beds pleasant musick fine apparell honourable company and all these prepared for him to serve him honour him and to anoint and crown him a King for ever what would this poor man do what could he say surely nothing but rather in silence weep for joy Such nay far happier was the case of this poor malefactour he was like the man wandring on the mountains full of as much pain as the crosse could make him but on a sudden he and our Saviour crucified with him both meet in his Kingdome and now Lord what a joy enters into him when he entred into heaven on Calvary he had nothing about him but the Iews at his feet and the nails in his hands and the Crosse at his back in stead whereof no sooner comes he to Paradise but the Angels Archangels Cherubims Seraphims all hug him and embrace him imagine with your selves how was he astonished and as it were besides himself at this sudden mutation and excessive honour done unto him Imagine with your selves what joy was that when he met our Saviour in his glorie whom that very day he had seen buffeted scourged crowned crucified blessed day that could ever bring forth such a change Beloved I know not how to express it but let your souls in some meditation flie up from Calvarie to Heaven in the morning you might have seen Christ and this Thief hanging on two Crosses their bodies stretched their veins opened their hands and feet bleeding in abundance the one desiring to be remembred of the other and the other complaining that he was forgotten of his Father Matth. 27.46 in this dolefull case both leaving the world ere night they meet again and now what hugs what kisses are betwixt them When Joseph met with Iacob Gen. 46.26 he fell on his neck saith Moses and wept on his neck a good while but never was any meeting on earth like this in Heaven here we have a Ioseph lift out of the dungeon to the Throne where no sooner set but our Saviour performs his promise of meeting him in Paradise at which meeting the Angels sing the Saints rejoyce all Harps warble all Hands clap for joy and the poor soul of this penitent Thief ravished with delight what does it or what can it do but even weep for joy if any weeping were in heaven to see on a sudden so great a change as this Vse And if
is but the image of death saith Cato Here is a true picture of our frailty life is like death indeed so like so near together that we cannot differ each from other See here the condition of our life what is it but a Rose a Grasse a Picture a Play a Show a Sleep a Dream an Image of death such a thing is life that we so much talk of Vse And if Nature give this light how blind are they that cannot see lifes frailty you need no more but mark the Destinies as Poets feign to spin their threds one holds another draws a third cuts it off what is our life but a thread some have a stronger twist others a more slender some live till near rot others die when scarce born there 's none endures long this thread of life is cut sooner or later and then our work is done our course is finished Are these the Emblemes of our life and dare we trust to this broken staff how do the heathen precede us Christians in these studies Their books were skuls their desks were graves their remembrance an hour-glass Awake your souls and bethink you of mortality have you any priviledge for your lives are not Heathens and Christians of one Father Adam of one mother Earth the Gospel may free you from the second not the first death onely provide you for the first to escape the second death O men what be your thoughts nothing but of Goods and Barns and many Years you may boast of Life as Oromazes the Conjurer of his Egge which he said included the felicity of the world yet being opened there was nothing but Wind Think what you please your life is but a Wind which may be stopt soon but cannot last long by the law of Nature But secondly as Nature so Scripture will inform you in this point The life of man is but of little esteem what is it but a Shrub or a Brier in the fire As the crackling of thorns under the pot so is the life or laughter of the fool momentary and vanity Eccles. 7.6 Eccles 7.6 Nay a shrub were something but our life is lesse no better then a leaf not a tree nor shrub nor fruit nor blossome We all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have swept us away Esay 64 6. Esay 64.6 Yet a leaf may glory of his birth it is descended of a Tree life is a Reed sometimes broken at least shaken so vain so infirm so inconstant is the life of man What went you out to see a reed shaken with the wind Matth. 11.7 Matth. 11.7 Nay a reed were something our life is baser indeed no better then a rush or flag Can a rush grow without mire though it were green and not cut down yet shall it wither before any other herb Job 8 11 12. Job 8.12 What shall I say more what shall I crie a rush All flesh is grass and all the grace thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth surely the people is grass Esa 40.7 Esa 40.7 I am descended beneath just patience but not so low as the life of man as all these resemble life so in some measure they have life but life is a smoke without any spark of life in it thus cries David My dayes are consumed like smoke my bones are burnt like an hearth Psal 102.3 Psal 102.3 Yet is here no stay the smoke ingenders clouds and a cloud is the fittest resemblance of our life Our life shall passe away as the trace of a cloud and come to nought as the myst that is driven away with the beams of the Sun Wisd 2.4 Wisd 2.4 Neither is this all clouds may hang calm but life is like a tempest it is a cloud and a wind too Remember that my life is but a wind and that mine eye shall not return to see pleasure Iob 7.7 Job 7.7 Nay we must lower and find a weaker element it is not a wind but water said that woman of Tekoah We are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again 2. Sam. 14.14 2. Sam. 14.14 yet is water both a good and necessary element life is the least part of water nothing but a foam a bubble The King of Samaria that great King is destroyed as the foam upon the water Hos 10.7 Hos 10.7 I can no more and yet here is something lesse a foam or bubble may burst into a vapour and What is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and afterwards vanisheth away Iam. 4.14 Jam. 4 14. Lesse then this is nothing yet life is something lesse nothing in substance all it is it is but a shadow We are strangers and sojourners as all our fathers were our dayes are like a shadow upon the earth there is none abiding 1. Chr. 29.15 1. Chr. 29.15 See whither we have brought our life and yet ere we part we will down one step lower upon a strict view we find neither substance nor shadow Psal 39.5 onely a meer nothing a verie vanitie Behold thou hast made my dayes as an hand breadth and mine age is nothing in respect of thee surely every man living is altogether vanitie Psal 39.5 Psal 39.5 Lo here the nature of our life it is a shrub a leaf a reed a rush a grasse a smoke a cloud a wind a water a bubble a vapour a shadow a nothing What mean we to make such ado about a matter of nothing I cannot choose but wonder at the vanitie of men that runne rid toil travell undergo any labour to maintain this life and what is it when they have their desire which they so much toyl for we live and yet whilest we speak this word perhaps we die Is this a land of the living or a region of the dead We that suck the air to kindle this little spark where is our standing but at the gates of death Psal 9.13 Psal 9.13 Where is our walk but in the shadow of death Luke 1.79 Luke 1.79 What is our mansion-house but the body of death Rom. 7.24 Rom. 7.24 What think ye Is not this the region of death where is nothing but the gate of death An non haec regio mortis ubi porta mortis umbra mortis corpus mortis and the shadow of death and the body of death Sure we dream that we live but sure it is that we die or if we live the best hold we have is but a lease God our chief Lord may bestow what he pleaseth to the rich man wealth to the wise man knowledge to the good man peace to all men somewhat yet if you ask Who is the Lessor God Who is the Lessee Man What is leased This world For what terme My life Thus Jacob tels Pharaoh as the Text tels you Few and evil have the dayes of my
at Scripture and you will see it brought to a lesser passe Job for his part goes about to subduct the time of his birth which is the bud of life Let the day perish saith he wherein I was born nay let it not be joyned unto the dayes of the year nor let it come into the count of moneths Job 3.6 Job 3.6 Solomon could subduct not onely childhood but the time of youth too which is the strength of life Take away grief out of thine heart and cause evill to depart from thy flesh for childhood and youth both are but vanity Eccles 11.10 Eccles. 11.10 Paul could subduct the time of sinne which is the joy of life She that lives in pleasure lives not nay she is dead while she is alive 1. Tim. 5.6 1. Tim. 5.6 Summe all and suppose that the time of birth and childhood and youth and sin were gone to what an epitome were mans life come Think of this all ye that travell towards heaven had we not need to make haste that must go so long a journey in so short a time How can he choose but run that remembers his dayes are few nay that every day runs away with his life The workman that sets a time for his task he listens to the clock and counts the houres not a minute must passe but his work goes onwards how then do we neglect our time while we should serve God Work while it is day John 9.4 2. Cor. 6.2 saith Christ and this is the day of salvation saith the Apostle Would you know your task you must work would you know the time it is this day a great task a short time had we not need with Moses to number our dayes lest we loose a minute It is true of all numbers we cannot skill to number our dayes we can number our sheep our oxen our fields our coyn but we think our dayes are infinite and never go about to number them The Saints that went before us cast another account Moses had his tables Job had his measures all agree both for measure and number magnitude and multitude our life is but short our dayes are but few Few and evil they have been Give me leave a little to amplifie on this point would we throughly know the shortness of out time the fewness of our dayes I shall then set before you the magnitude of the one and the multitude of the other And first for the magnitude of the time of our life A man say the Philosophers is Microcosmus a little world little for goodness but a world of wickedness Of this world if you 'l have the dimensions according to the rules of Geometricians the length breadth and depth of our short life then first for our length from East to West from our birth to our buriall I need not to take so many paces as will make mille passus a mile our little life bears no proportion to such a length I dare not say as Stobaeus relates that our life hath the last of a cubits length Psal 39.5 for that 's more then the Scripture will afford it it is but a span or hand breadth saith David that 's little nay Alcaeus in carmine Lyrico saith it is but an inch long that 's lesse nay Punctum est quod vivimus adhuc puncto minus saith Plutarch All our life is but a prick a point yet lesse saith Seneca it is a point that we live and lesse then a point that 's less then either I can say or you conceive What is it not a mile but a cubit but a span but an inch but a point nay less then that here 's little longitude of life Well but our latitude perhaps is greater no take a measure if you please from one pole to another as we stand betwixt the terms of life and death and weresoever we are death is within an hand-breadth of our life if we be on the sea there 's but a thick board betwixt us and drowning if on the land there 's but a shoe-sole betwixt us and our grave if we sleep our bed is our bodies grave and there 's but a sheet perhaps a winding-sheet betwixt us and it when we are awake our bodie is our souls grave and there 's but a few skins as say Physicians betwixt death and us What is it but the breadth of an hand of a board of a shoe-sole of a thin sheet of a small skinne there 's little latitude you see Well but our profundity may help all this go to therefore and see what that is I shall not lead you down many steps for indeed there are not many steps to lead you down in one word come to the centre of the heart of man The Grecians to expresse the shallowness of this life give the same name to the heart that they do to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the heart the authour of life and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is destiny the worker of death to shew that as every man hath an heart so death hath a dart for every man Christians mortals consider your magnitude in all these dimensions alas how is it that many of you make your selves so great what mean those titles which you take upon you Your Greatnesse Your Highnesse your I know not what O consider the mortalitie of your bodies and that will tell you the just * Mors sola fatetur quantula sunt hominum corpuscula Juvenal Psal 90.10 scantling of your selves 2. For the multitude of our dayes he was branded with the name of a fool that thought he had many years to live Moses tells us The dayes of our years are threescore years and ten Psal 90.10 But now as you heard we value our life but at seven years as if six years we had to labour and to do all we had to do but the seventh were a Sabbath to rest with God Revel 14.13 Revel 14.13 nay yet the Scripture comes somewhat lower and because a plurality might cause a securitie it bestows but a unitie upon our years thus Jacob in this text reckons of a great number of one year The dayes of the year of my life are an hundred and thirty year Gen. 47.9 Gen. 47.9 nay Austin comes shorter and compares our life to a quarter of a year like Jehoahash reign which lasted about three moneths time 2 Kings 23.31 2 Kings 23.31 nay the Scripture descends from moneths to dayes Few and evil are my dayes saith Iacob implying that this life is but a few dayes or but * Vita nostra non diuturna sed diurna one day as some would have it which is the meaning of Christs prayer Give us this day our dayly bread Matth. 6.11 Matt. 6.11 And yet that we may not think our death a great way off the Scripture tells us it is not a day to come no boast not of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day
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
that it might shine in heaven But this was but the beginning of his dayes now they are past they have been Go a little further we left him at school but how learned he Christ 1. Cor. 2.2 Psal 8.2 and him crucified this was the knowledge taught him by the Spirit of God in a wonderfull manner Out of the mouthes of babes and sucklings hast thou O God ordained strength To consider again his religious words his upright actions his hearty devotions his fear of God all then concluded as they did of John Luke 1.66 What manner of child shall this be No question the grace of God was with him If I should instance in any of these his frequencie in prayer his reading of Scripture his reasoning with others to get knowledge to himself we may wonder at Gods power in this childs poor weakness Excuse me whiles I tell nothing but truths and I hope they will tend to our own instruction In the morning he would not stir out of doors before he had poured out his prayers at noon he would not eat any meat before he had given the Lord thanks at night he would not lie down on his bed before he had kneeled down on his knees we may remember those times when sometimes that he had forgotten this dutie no sooner had he been in bed but up he would have got again and so kneeling down on his bare knees covered with no garment but his linens he would ask God forgiveness for that sinne of forgetfulness neither have his brothers escaped without his reprehension for had they eat any meal or meat without a grace his check was usuall Dare you do thus unless God be mercifull unto us this bit of bread might choke us The wise sentences the religious words which often dropt from his mouth like honey can we remember them and not grieve at the death of him that spake them What comfort had we in those dayes What sorrow have we to think those dayes are done Surely we cannot speak it without bitterness of soul they are gone they have been Thus he lived will you know how he died First a lingring sickness seized upon him against which to comfort him one tells him of possessions that must fall to his portion And what are they said he I had rather have the Kingdome of Heaven then a thousand such inheritances Thus he minds Heaven and God so minding him presently sent him his sickness that should summon him thither And now how should I repeat his words with the life that he spake them dying No sooner had God struck his body with that fatall sickness but he asks and needs would know his souls estate I have heard of the soul said he but what is the soul the mind he questions and questioning answers better I fear then many too many gray headed amongst us but the answer given how the soul consisted of the Will and the Understanding he sayes he is satisfied and now understands better then he did before Another comes to him and then he begins another question now he knows the soul he desires yet to know further How his soul may be saved O blessed soul how wisely couldst thou question for thine own souls good The answer given by faith applying Christs merits he heard it and had it anon telling them who before had taught it him Resolved in these questions he questions no further but will now answer them that go about to question him One asks him whether he had rather live or die he gives the answer and not without Pauls reason I desire to die said he that I might go to my Saviour O blessed Spirit bow didst thou inspire into this child thy wisdome and goodnesse This done his pain begins again to afflict him and this occasions another thus to question him whether he would rather still endure those pains or forsake his Christ Alas said he I know not what to say as a child for these pains might stagger a strong man but I will strive to endure the best I can Upon this he presently calls to mind that Martyr who being in prison Thom. Bilney the night before his burning put his finger in the candle to know how he could endure the fire O said he had I lived then I would have runne through the fire to have gone to Christ Sweet resolution of a silly child who can hear and not wonder wonder and not desire to hear that he may wonder still Blessed child hadst thou lived that we might have wondred at thy wisdome but his daies were determined and now is the number turned to this poor cypher they are not they have been I cannot leave him yet his sicknesse lasts long and at least three dayes before his death he prophesies his departure and how strange a prophecie not onely that he must die but fore-telling the very day On the Lords day said he look to me Neither was this a word of course which you may guesse by his often repetition every day asking till the day came indeed What is Sunday come At last the lookt-for day came on and no sooner had the Sun beautified that morning with his light but he falls into a trance What think ye meant his blessed soul whilest the body it self used such an action his eyes were fixed his face chearfull his lips smiling his hands and arms clasping in a bow as if he would have received some blessed Angel that there was at hand to receive his soul but he comes to himself and tells them how he saw the sweetest boy that ever eyes beheld and bids them Be of good chear for he must presently go with him One standing near as now suspecting his time of dissolution bids him say Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit Psal 31.5 Yes said he Into thy hands Lord I commit my spirit which is thy due for why thou hast redeemed it O Lord my God most true Who will not believe this child now sings in Heaven that so soon had learned this Davids Psalm on earth I cannot hold my self nor will I hold you long but how may I omit his heavenly ejaculations Beloved I beseech you pardon me whilest I speak his words and I will promise you to speak no word but the very same formally which were his own Pray pray pray nay yet pray and the more prayers the better all prospers God is the best Physician into his hands I commend my spirit O Lord Jesus receive my soul Now close mine eyes forgive me father mother brothers sister all the world Now I am well my pain is almost gone my joy is at hand Lord have mercy on me O Lord receive my soul unto thee Where am I whilest I speak these words Blessed Saint now thou singest in Heaven God hath bid thee welcome the Angels are hugging thee the Saints rejoyce with thee this day is the Crown set on thy head this day is the Palm of victory in thy hand
now art thou arrayed in the shining robes of Heaven and all the Host do triumph at thy corronation Sweet soul how am I ravished to think upon thee What joy is this The Patriarchs salute thee the Prophets welcome thee the Apostles hug thee all hands clap for joy all harps warble all hearts are merry and glad O thou Creatour of men and Angels help us all to Heaven that when our dayes have been we may all meet together in thy blessed Kingdome I have done turn back by the same thread that led you through this labyrinth and you shall have in two words the summe of this whole Text. The time of our Lease what is it but our Life what is this Life but a number of few dayes what are these dayes but a world full of evil But a life but dayes but few but evil can we adde any more Yes Life is life howsoever we live and better you think to have a bad lease in being then our life to be quite extinguished nay be not deceived this life is but death the dayes that we spend they are past and done few and evill they have been Thus ends the Text with the exspiration of our Lease yet is not all done when we loose this life we have another free-hold prepared in Heaven and this is not leased but purchased not for a life but inheritance not for dayes but for ever Crosse but the words of my Text and many and happy shall the ages of thy life be in Heaven for ever and ever Amen FINIS Deaths Arrest LUKE 12.20 This night thy soul shall be required of thee MAns Bodie we say is closed up within the Elements his Bloud in his Bodie his Spirits in his Bloud his Soul in his Spirits and God or Sathan in his Soul Who holds the possession we may guesse in life but then is it most apparent when we come to death The tree may bend East or West or North or South but as it falleth so it lieth Our affections may look up or down towards heaven or hel but as we die we receive our doom and then whose we are shall be fully made manifest to all the world There is a parable of poor Lazarus Luke 16. whose life was nothing but a catalogue of miseries his body full of sores his mind full of sorrows what spectacle could we think more pitifull whose best dainties were but broken crumbs and his warmest lodging but the rich mans gates Here is a parable of a certain rich man who enjoyes or at least purposeth a delicious fare he hath lands vers 16. Vers 16. fruits vers 17. 17. buildings vers 18. 18. and if this be the Inventorie what is the summe see it collected in the verse succeeding Soul 19. thou hast much goods laid up for many years now live at ease Eat drink and take thy pastime These two estates thus different how should they be but of divers tenures Matth. 6.24 No man can serve God and Mammon See Lazarus dying and the Angels carry him in-Abrahams bosome See this rich man dying and they that is devils require his soul God receives one and his soul is in heaven Sathan takes the other and drags down his soul to hel he is comforted that received pains and thou art tormented that wast full of ease this is the doom and that he may undergo this death now gives the summons This night thy soul shall be required of thee The Text we may christen Deaths Arrest it is we that offend his Majestie of heaven and his precepts are given unto Death to attach our souls See here a president a rich man taken on a sudden who must instantly appear before the Judge of heaven when this night What thy soul Why it is required Of whom of thee Or if this will not find the offender see yet a more narrow search every word is like some dark closet therefore we will open the windovvs that you may have full light This Text is Deaths Arrest vvhich as it must be executed so it admits of no other time but This This what this day whilest the Sun gives light to the vvorld and the light gives pleasure to the eie this vvere some comfort no but then suddenly vvhilst all sleep securely not This day but This night And vvhat this night Is it to attach the bodie of some great personage vvhose looks might affrighten Officers had they come by day No let his bodie rot in dust vvhilest the Soul must ansvver his defaults it is not thy body 't is thy soul And what of his soul Is this a subject liable to arrests rather can they beg it at his hands or vvill he yield it at their fair intreaties no it is neither begg'd nor intreated but by vertue of Gods Writ it is required And hovv required of his sureties bound for his good appearing he hath many friends and all either have or vvould have entred bonds no he must go vvithout bail or main-prize it is not required of his sureties but himself not of others but of thee is thy soul this night required You hear the Texts harmonie of each string vve vvill give a touch and first note the time this night This. Doctrine NO other but This were it a fortnight a seven-night any but This night and his griefs were lessened the news is more heartlesse in that it comes more sudden You may observe Then are the greatest losses when they come on us by heaps and without fear or suspicion of any such matter Here was a man swimming in his fulnesse and a sudden death robs him of all his treasures To give you a full view see his possessions and how great was the losse because of the suddennesse This night First those goods whereof he boasted are now confiscate not a peny not a dram not a mite shall be left him save onely a token of remembrance I mean his winding-sheet which he carries along with him to his grave Secondly his goods and grounds both were took from him at his death he that commanded so much of earth must now have no more earth to pleasure him but a grave what a change was this his grounds were fertile Vers 16. and they brought forth plenteously but a blast of death hath struck both the fruit and ground and nothing is now left him but a barren Tombe Thirdly his lands and houses both went together You may guesse that great demeans must have stately Halls we read of his building and especially of his Barns when these were too little for his store he tells us he will pull them down and he will build greater He never thinks of any little room in the bowels of the poor Was his harvest so great that his barns would not hold it Whence came the blessing but from God How is it then he forgets God that bestowed this blessing It is written When ye reap the harvest of the Land ye shall not reap
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
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
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-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
they enjoy God life and heaven And thus as they march along heaven opens unto them O infinite joy Tell mee O my soul what an happie hour will that be when thou shalt first enter into the gates of heaven when the Blessed Trinitie shall gladly entertain thee and with a Well done good and faithfull servant Matth. 25.21 bid thee Come and enter into thy Masters joy When all the Angels and Archangels shall salute thee when Cherubims and Seraphims shall come to meet thee when all the powers of heaven shall congratulate thy coming and joy for thy arrivall at the Port of peace Here is the end of the Godly the fruits of his end the Reward it self What can I say but live in GODS fear and the LORD reward you nay he will so if you live so for Then he shall reward every Man according to his works And now this Sermon done you see the Court is dissolved Stay but to receive A Writ of review and you shall hear in a word all the news of this Assize from the beginning to the ending What a strange Assize was this where every circumstance was to the wicked so terribly fearfull the Term full of horrour the Judge full of Majestie the Prisoners full of anguish the Triall full of fear the Doom full of grief to the wicked as of comfort to the elect 2 Pet. 3.11 Seeing therefore that all these things are thus what manner of Persons ought ye to be in holy conversation and godlinesse A word of judgement could make Jeremiah weep just Job be afraid Felix to tremble and cannot this usuall sound of the hammers a little mollifie our stony hearts Esay 1.22 how is the gold become drosse and the silver iron we run over reason and tread upon conscience and fling by counsel and go by the word and poste to death but will you not remember that for all these things you must come to judgement Eccles 11.9 Be sure there is a Term for our appearance Then there is a Judge that will sit upon us He. There is a band of Prisoners Every man There is a Bill of Indictment framed according to our works And last of all there is a sentence after which follows the Execution the reward due to us which then he will give us onely now bestow on us those graces of thy Spirit and then O Lord Reward us according to our works AMEN FINIS Hels horrour MATTH 13.30 Bind them in bundles to burn them THis Text is the harvest of Tares and that that you may know the husbandrie here is first the sowing vers 25. Vers 25. Secondly the coming up vers 26. 26. Thirdly the overseers of it vers 27. 27. Fourthly their intent to weed it vers 28. 28. Fifthly the sufferance of its growth till the harvest vers 29. 29. Sixthly the harvest it self vers 30. 30. Or yet to give you the Parable in a more ample wise here is a man sowes good seed in his field and the enemie whilest his servants sleep sows tares amongst the wheat the seeding done and the fertill soyl made fruitfull by heavens showres the blade of the corn springs up and the tares appear in their kind amongst them those heavenly Angels which are Gods stewards of this field pitching their watchfull eyes about first see then run to their Master with this message Master sowedst thou not good seed in thy field from whence then hath it tares God whose all-knowing wisdome can resolve all doubts tels them expressely an enemie had done this an enemie sure 1 Pet. 5.8 yea as Peter cals him a devouring enemie such is the fruit issuing from so bad an authour Yet see the sedulous care of Gods holy servants they will not spare to root up what envie sows and with a willing obedience exspect onely his command Wilt thou that we go and gather them up nay see the Almighty disparkling a while his beams of mercie all must stay till the harvest and then goes forth his royall command to the reapers Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them But me thinks I hear you say to me as the Disciples to our Saviour Declare unto us this Parable Vers 36. for the doing of which I shall place before you a field the world the reapers Angels the housholder God good men as corn the wicked as Tares the harvest that must gather all is the end of the world and then are the reapers enjoyned this heavie task Separate the bad from the good and cast them into hell fire to burn them See here the miserable condition of impenitent souls each circumstance aggravates their torment and that you may in this text view a Series of the causes here is first the efficient Bind the materiall them the formall in bundles the finall to burn them Every word like so many links makes up this fiery chain of torment Bind heavie doom to be fettered in hell fire them miserable souls to be captived in those bands in bundles cruell anguish to be crowded in throng heaps to burn them intollerable heats to be scorched blistered burned And yet see here at once this heavie miserable cruell intollerable doom fall on the wicked the command is out what Bind whom them how in bundles for what to burn them Not a word but it speaks horrour to the damned either Binding or bundling or burning Bind them in bundles to burn them The work you see is ordered now we put in our sickle onely God prosper our labour till we have done the harvest Them VVE will begin first with the subject that you may know of whom it is spoken Bind them Them whom If you will view the precedent words the text tels you they are Tares Gather ye first the Tares and bind them In Gods field there is Corn and Cockle and as for the one there is provided a barn so for the other there is nothing better then binding and burning The Greek word cals them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tares the Hebrews call them Hadul thistles or thorns and both are apt expressions of the matter in hand what are tares for but to be gathered bound and burned saith our Saviour and what are thorns for but to be rejected cursed and burned saith the Apostle Heb. 6.8 Heb. 6.8 Such is the penaltie of this weed of the earth for they are neither better that as men deal with thorns who first cut them up with bils then lay them up to wither and lastly burn them in the furnace so God deals with Tares he weeds them binds them burns them not a Tare escapes the fire but all come to combustion But onely to follow the Originall they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tares and that of a double derivation the first is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they hurt the corn wherewith they are joyned the second is 〈◊〉
1.12 His infirmities are now at full and the symptomes which make it evident unto us are some inward some outward inward in his soul outward in his body we 'll take a view of them both Matth. 26.37 Mar. 14.33 Luk. 22.44 Ioh. 12.27 First his soul it began to be sorrowfull saith Matthew to be amazed and very heavy saith Mark to be in an agony saith Luke to be troubled saith Iohn Here is sorrow and heaviness and agony and trouble the estimate whereof we may take from his own words in the garden My soul is exceeding sorrowfull Matth. 26.38 John 12.77 even unto death Now was the time he purged not onely in his body but his soul too now is my soul troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour A fatall hour sure of which it was said before often his hour was not yet come but being come he could then tell his Disciples the hour is at hand and after tell the Iewes Matth. 26.45 Luk. 22.53 this is your very hour and the power of darkness Now was it that Christ yielded his soul for our souls to the susception of sorrow perpession of pain and dissolution of nature and therefore even sick with sorrow he never left sweating Heb. 5.7 weeping and crying till he was heard in that which he feared Secondly as his soul so his body had her symptoms of approaching death Our very eye will soon tell us no place was left in his body where he might be smitten and was not his skin was torn his flesh was rent his bones unjoynted his sinews streyned should we summe up all See that face of his fairer then the Sons of men Psal 45.2 Revel 1.14 how it is defiled with spettle swoln with buffets masked with a cover of gore-bloud see that head white as white wooll and snow how is it Crowned with thorns beaten with a reed and both head and hair dyed in a sanguine red that issued from it see those eyes that were as a flame of fire how they swim with tears are dim with bloud and darken at the sad approach of dreadfull death Revel ibid. see that mouth which speak as never man spake hovv it is vvan vvith stroaks grim vvith death John 7.46 and embittered with that tartest potion of gall and vinegar Should we any lower See those arms that could embrace all the power of the world how they are strained and stretched on the Crosse those shoulders that could bear the frame of Heaven how they are lasht with knotty cords and whips those hands that made the world and all therein how are they nailed and clenched to a piece of wood that heart where never dwelt deceit nor sinne how it is pierced and wounded with a souldiers spear those bowels that yearned with compassion of others infirmities how they are drie and pent with straining puls those feet that walked in the wayes of God how they are boared and fastened to a Crosse with nayls from hand to foot there is no part free but all over he is covered in a mantle of cold bloud whose garments were doft before and took of them that were his hangmen Poor Saviour what a wofull sight is this A bloudy face thornie head watery eyes wan mouth strained arms lashed shoulders nayled hands wounded heart griping bowels boared feet Here is sorrie pains when no part is free and these are the outward Symptomes of his state that appear in his Body We have thus far seen our Sun the Sunne of righteousnesse in the day-break and rising and height of his suffering Mal. 4.2 what remains further but that we come to the Declination and so end our journey for this time This Declination say Physicians is Galen lib. 3. de Cris cap. 5. when Nature overcomes sicknesse so that all diseases attain not this time but those and those onely that admit of a Recovery yet howsoever saith my * Senert institution medicinae lib. 2. par 1. cap. 12. de morb temp Authour there is no true declination before death there is at least a seeming declinatian when sometimes the symptoms may become more remiss because of weak nature yielding to the fury and tyrannie of death overcoming it I will not say directly that our Saviour declined thus either in deed or in shew for neither was the cup removed from him nor died he by degrees but in perfect sense and perfect patience both of body and soul he did voluntarily and miraculously resigne his Spirit as he was praying into the hands of his Father Here then was the true declination of this Patient not before death but in death and rightly too for then was it that this Sunne went down in a ruddy Cloud then was it that this Patient received the last dregs of his Purge then was it that Gods Justice was satisfied the consummatum est was effected all was finished as for his buriall resurrection and asscension which follow after this time they serve not to make any satisfaction for sinne but onely to confirm it or apply it after it was made and accomplished Vse 1 But what use of all this Give me leave I pray to shake the tree and then do you gather the fruit from the first part his birth we may learn Humility a grace most prevailing with God for the obtaining of all graces this was it that made David King Moses a Governour nay what say we to Christ himself who from his first entrance untill his departure to his Father Matth. 11.29 was the very mirrour of true Humility it felf Learn of me saith he to be humble and lowly in spirit and you shall find rest unto your souls Hereunto accorded his Doctrine when he pronounced them Blessed who were poor in spirit Matth. 5.3 hereunro accorded his reprehension when he disliked their manners who were wont to choose out the chief rooms at feasts Luke 14.7 Iohn 13.5 hereunto accorded his practice when he vouchsafed to wash his Disciples feet and to wipe them with the towell wherewith he was girded O Humility how great are thy riches that are thus commended to us thou pleasest men delightest angels confoundest devils and bringest thy Creatour to a Manger where he is lapped in raggs and cloathed in flesh Had we Christian hearts to consider the Humility of our Redeemer and how far he was from our haughty dispositions it would pull down our Pharisaicall humours and make us farre better to remember our selves Vse 2 Secondly as we learn humility from his birth so we may learn patience from his life Matth. 16.24 If any man will come after me saith our Saviour let him deny himself and take up his crosse and follow me Dear Christian if thou wilt be saved mind thy Christ Art thou abused by lies reproaches evil sayings or doings we cannot more shew how we have profited in Christs School then by enduring
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.
true length yet spitefully they take it longer that so they may stretch and rack him on the cross till you may tell his bones Psal 22.17 And now all fitted his hands and feet are bored the greatness of whose wounds David fore-shewed by those words They digged my hands and my feet Psal 22.16 Psal 22.16 Socrat. l. 1. c. 17. And well may we think so for as Ecclesiasticall History reports so big were the very nailes that Constantine made of them an helmet and a bridle O then what pain is this when all the weight of his body must hang on four nailes and they â—o be driven not into the least sensible parts but thorow his hands and his feet the most sinew it and therefore more sensible pâ—rts of all other whatsoever yet to hang thus for a time were it may be somewhat tollerable but thus he hangs till he dies and so the longer he continues the wider go his wounds and the fresher is his torture And now my brethren behold and see Lam. 1.12 if there were ever any sorrow like unto this sorrow alas what else appears in him but bleeding veins bruised shoulders scourged sides furrowed back harrowed temples digged hands and feet digged I say not with small pins but with rough boystrous nailes and how then shot the bloud from those hands and feet thus digged Cant. 2.1 Bern. de pass Dom. c. 41. and digged thorow O I am the rose of Sharon it is truly said of Christ Look on one hand and on the other and you may find roses in both look on one foot and on the other and you may find roses in either In a word look all over his body and it is all over rosie and ruddy in bloud Can we any more yes after all these showrs of bloud here is one more effusion for after his death Longinus Bishop of Cappadocia Teste Herle Contemplations on Christs passion One of the souldiers with a spear pierced his side and forthwith came there â—â—t bloud and water Ioh. 19.34 Joh. 19.34 The Souldier that gave this wound they say was a blind man but our Saviours bloud springing out on his eyes restored him to his sight and so he became a Convert a Bishop and a Martyr a strange cure where the Physician must bleed but so full of virtue was this bloud that by it we are all saved And yet O Saviour why didst thou flow to us in so many streams of bloud one drop had been enough for the world but thy love is without measure Physicians are usually liberall of other mens bloud but sparing of their own here it is not so for in stead of the Patients arm it is the Physicians own side that bleeds in stead of a lancet here is a spear and that in the hand of a blind Chirurgeon yet as blind as he was how right doth he hit the very vein of his heart that heart where never dwelt deceit see how how it runs bloud and water for our sinnes here is the fountain of his Sacraments the beginning of our happinesse O gate of heaven O window of Paradise O place of refuge O tower of strength O sanctuary of the just O flourishing bed of the Spouse of Solomon who is not ravished at the running of this stream me thinks I still see the bloud gushing out of his sides more freshly and fully then those sweet golden streams which run out of Eden to water the whole world But is it his hearts bloud what keeps he nothing whole without him nor within him his Apostles are scattered in the garden his garments at the crosse his bloud how many wheres his skin they have rent with their whips his ears with their blasphemies his back with their furrows his hands and feet with their nails and will they yet have his heart too cloven with a spear what a wonderfull thing is this that after all those sufferings he must have one wound more why Lord what means this open cleft and wound within thee what means this stream and river of thy hearts-bloud O it is I that sinned and to wash it away his heart runs bloud and water in abundance Lo here those seven effusions of our Saviours bloud the first at his circumcision the second in the garden the rest when his cheeks were nipped his head crowned his back scourged his hands and feet nailed his side opened with a spear whence came out an issue of bloud and water Vse And be our sinnes thus purged Lord in what miserable case lay we that Christ our Saviour must endure all this for us were our sinnes infinite for which none could satisfie but our infinite God were not our iniquities as the sands for which no lesse then an Ocean of bloud could serve to cover them sure here is a motive if nothing else to draw from us the confession of our manifold sins Lord we have sinned we have sinned grievously heavily and with a mighty hand and what now remains but that we never cease weeping crying praying beseeching till we get our pardon sealed in the bloud of Christ O beloved let me entreat you for Christs sake for his blouds sake for his deaths sake that you will repent you of your sinnes which have put him to these torments and to this end I shall entreat you thus to order your repentance First after confession of your manifold sinnes look upon him whom you have pierced and by your meditation supposing him to lie afore you weep and weep over him whom you see by your sinnes thus clothed in his bloud Why thus shall it be with the house of David Zach. 12.10 Zach. 12.10 11. I will poure upon the house of David saith God and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one that mourneth for his onely sonne and be sorrie for him as one that is sorry for his first-born in that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon What is the house of David and what are the inhabitants of Jerusalem but the elect people of God and if you be of that number then do you look on him whom you have pierced and mourn for him or mourn over him as one that mourneth for his onely sonne yea be sorrie for him or be in bitternesse for him as one that is in bitternesse for his first-born Is it not time think you do you not see how every part of our Saviour bleeds afore you his head bleeds his face bleeds his arms bleed his hands bleed his heart bleeds his back bleeds his belly bleeds his thighs bleed his legs bleed his feet bleed and what makes all this bloud-shed but our sinnes our sinnes O that this day for this cause we would make a great mourning as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley