prepared away for the Lord he comes himselfe in a soft voice the gratious and sweet promises of the Gospell to seale a pardon to such as by the former Judgements are dejected and humbled And this may be termed Gods Ordo compositivus Sometimes and this is more usuall especially when he proceeds against the wicked he taketh a contrary course First he comes in a soft and still voyce to wooe them to himselfe But when they harden their hearts and will not be reclaimed from their evill wayes then at length he will send a fire to devoure them and an Earthquak and mighty strong wind to scatter them away like chaff from the face of the earth and to blow them down even into the bottome of Hell and this I may fitly call Gods ordo resolutivus it is said of Alexander that when he besieged certaine Citie he held out a Lamp proclaiming a pardon to as many as would yeild themselves before the Lamp was burned so the Lord first holdeth out the Lampe of his word whereby he calleth them to submit themselves and gives them a time to deliberate if in the meane time they doe not yeild nothing remaines but death and destruction it is storied of Tamberlain the Scythian that whensoever hee besieged a Citie first he displayed a white flag in token of mercie if they would yeild themselves the second day a red flag threatning blood because they did not in time submit themselves if they continued untill the third day then came out his black flagg menacing utter ruine and desolations this is Gods method First he sets out his white flagg of peace if this be not regarded then comes his red flagge of correction though not of destruction if this will take no place with them then he sets out his black flagge bella horrida bella nothing but death and desolation Downe with it downe with it even to the ground tribulation and anguish fire and brimstone storm and tempest this shall be their portion to drink It s long before he be moved to anger but if the coals of his wrath be kindled O Lord God how terrible will this flame be it will lick up the Sea like dust and melt the mountains like wax and burne to the very bottome of Hell so that nothing in the world will quench it but the blood of the Lambe and the streaming teares of unfeigned repentance cast your eyes to the time of old for wee are but men of yesterday and our dayes on earth are like a shadow as Bildad speaketh in Job and you shall finde my conclusion proved by the occurrents of all ages Sodome that fruitfull and plentifull Citie which was for beautie and pleasure like the garden of God or as the valley of Aegypt as thou goest unto Zoar if the stinke of her sinnes ascend into heaven shall be converted into a stinking Fen for an everlasting remembrance of her iniquity Iericho a goodly place a City of palm-trees a fenced City whose walls reached up to Heaven if she be withall a sinfull and Idolatrous City she and all that is in her both man and woman young and old Oxe and Asse shall be utterly destroyed Babylon which Aristotle for the greatnesse cals rather a region then a City the Empresse of the earth the Princesse of Cities the glory of Kingdomes the beauty and pride of the Caldeans which said I sit as Queene I am no widdow and shall see no mourning If she continue in her sinnes shall bee as the destruction of God in Sodome and Gomorrah it shall not be inhabited for ever neither shall it be dwelled for ever from generation to generation but Zim shall dwell there and their houses shall be full of Ochim Ostriches shall dwell there and the Satyrs shall dance there and Iim shall cry in their Palaces Dragons in their pleasant places so that a man shall be more precious then gold even a man above the wedge of the gold of Ophir It is not her powerfull state nor rich Citizens nor strong wals nor high Towers nor magnificent buildings that shall free her from Gods punishing hand may Ierusalem in my ext the Vine that Gods right hand had planted the Citie of the Grâ—at King the holy place of the Tabernacle of the most high the beauty of Israel the glory of Nations and Princesses of Provinces if shee will not be awaked from her sinnes shall not be much better then the destruction of Sodome and the miserable desolation of dolefull Gomorrah her was shall be turned into heapes of dust her houses consumed her Temple burned her treasurie empty her inhabitants killed Quis cladem illius urbis quis funera fletu Explicet What heart is so flinty which will not melt into teares when it shall thinke of the miserie which did twise befall this one Citie Now all these punishments came upon them for an ensample and and are written to admonish you upon whom the ends of the world are come that you should be armed and warned that you should see and foresee before the time be past ut quorum facta imitamini eorum exitum perhorrescatis that if you tread in their foot-steps you should remember their downfals God is the same God still hee is as strong as ever hee was hee is as just to revenge as ever hee was his Arme is not shortened his strength is not abated his wrath is not turned away from sinne but his hand is stretched out still Sinne may bud in the spring but it withereth before Harvest it may flourish for a time but godlinesse endureth unto the end When the wicked thinketh himselfe the surest when he saith unto his soule Peace Peace and Soule take thy rest Even then there is but one step betweene him and destruction believe the kingly Prophet he speaketh it of his own experience I my selfe have seen the ungodly in great prosperitie and flourishing like a green bay tree what followeth I went by and loe he was gone I sought him and his place could no more be found Behold his covntenance he is but as the grasse upon the house top which withereth before it be pluckt up or as the foame upon the water or as a garment freted with mothes O how suddenly doth he fade perish and come to a fearefull end even as a dreame vanisheth when as one awaketh It is noted of Pyrrhus and Haniball that they could quickly conquer a Citie but they could never keep that which they had once subdued I little marvell that the wicked have great facility in heaping up of riches but I should thinke it strange if they could keep them till the third generation Their wealth is like a snow ball gathered in the fall not without labour and cold fingers and anon after it is melted with the Sunne or washedaway with the raine But alas alas beloved I may here take up the Prophets complaint
utimur monachi judicamur quia ebrij non sumus nec cachinno ora dissolvimus contumaces vocamur tristes si tunica non candueriâ— stâ—tim illud e trivio impostor est Graecus saith Hierom. If a Minister be liberall he is called riotous if frugall covetous if merry dissolute if grave austere if silent melancholy if he stand upon his reputation proud and arrogant Woe unto them that call good evill In the Primitive Church when the comparison between Gentilisme and Christianity did much resemble Cleanthes his picture in Tullie where Voluptuousnesse was painted in a chaire of State and Vertue kneeling at her feet there was not a more odious name saith Tertullian then to be called a Christian Bonus vir Cujus Seius sed malus tantum quod Christianus So it is with some they were good men but they are but Ministers they are but Priests Hos populus ridet multumque torosa juventus the name is odious to some they cannot away with it But if his person cannot be excepted against his doctrine for matter or manner shall Faelices essent artes inquit Fabius they be Hieroms words Si de illis soli artifices judicarent poëtam non potest nosse nisi qui versum potest stuere Philosophos non intelligit nisi qui scit dog matum varietates c. Nostra autem quam sit dura conditio hinc potes anima dvertere quod vulgi sit standum judicio Happy were the Arts saith Quintilian if only Artificeâ—s should judge of them None judgeth of a Poet but he that can make a Verse None gives censure of Philosophers but he that is acquainted with their opinions A Shoo-maker meddles with a shooe but not with the Stocking a Taylor with a garment and goes no further but for a Preacher men of all Trades will censure him and none so much as they that understand least If with Nathan he tell David that he is the man If with Elijah he tells Ahab that it is hee and his fathers house that troubles Israel If with John Baptist he tell Herod that it is not lawful for him to have his Brothers Wife Hic nigrae succus loliginis haec est aerugo Now these be hard sayings who can heare them And if they cannot reprehend the matter of his speech the manner thereof will afford some matter enough to speak of If Paul speake of his Mysteries and Revelations before Festus he is beside himselfe much learning makes him mad And if this Doctor of the Gentiles applying himselfe to the rude capacity of the ignorant Corinthians for he becomes all things to all men that by all meanes he might win ne some use a more familiar phrase and feed them with milke because they cannot digest strong meate he is presently by some seducer in that Church censured to be a plain silly fellow his bodily presence is weake and his speech is of no valew Thus he is rewarded Evill for good and hatred for his good will and thus are Gods builders in many places constrayned to build with one hand and to hold their weapons against their enemies in the other as did those builders of Jerusalem against Sanballat and Tobiah and other Enemies of Judah and Benjamine Neh. 4. 17. Dextra tenet pennam strictum tenet altera ferrum May they not in this case take up Davids complaint I verily lie among the children of men which are set on fire They have venenum ptyados the poyson of a spitting Aspe under their lips their teeth are spears and arrows and their tongues a sharp sword But beloved I have perswaded my selfe better things of you and such as accompany salvation though I thus speake Only for conclusion of this Use let me intreat you with the Author of the Epistle to the Hebr. See that yee despise not him that speaketh I meane Ministeriall speakers If ye doe ye despise him that speaketh from heaven Whose blood speaketh better things then that of Abel But receive such as the Galatians received Paul who received him as an Angel of God and would have pulled out their owne eyes to have given unto him and have them in a singular love even for their works sake But above all things tread not under foot the bread of life because of the unworthinesse of any that reacheth it Refuse not the water of life because of the uncleannesse of any Conduit-pipe that conveyeth it Reject not the promise of life because of the lewdnesse of any Embassador that bringeth it Forsake not the way of life because of the blackishnesse of any that sheweth it Contemn not the word of life because of the imperfections of any that preacheth it For assuredly as the rain cometh down from Heaven and ascendeth not thither againe but accomplisheth that for which it is sent so shall the Word of God be by whomsoever it shall be delivered it will either harden you if yee be as clay or it will soften you if yee be as waxe it will either work upwards or down-wards it will either prove the savour of life unto salvation or of death unto damnation Oh then so provide your eares to heare that ye may say with young Samuel Speake Lord for thy servant heareth and hearing it pray that your hearts may be unlocked to receive it and receiving it believe it and believing it practise it in your lives and conversations that ye may be filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the praise and glory of God Having now dispatched my message to Hearers let mee crave leave that I may turne my speech to the Preachers of the Word May a man be a Prophet and deliver true and sound Doctrine for the benefit of others and for all be an unregenerate man a damned Reprobate himselfe Then let me exhort you all my deare Brethren or rather with Austine Hortor vos omnes charissimi meque ipsum hortor vobiscum I exhort you and my selfe together with you as we desire to escape everlasting damnation and to have our part with Christ in his glorious Kingdome let us as the Apostle exhorts take heed not only to Doctrine but to our selves first not only to our preaching that it be sound but to our lives also that they be unblameable let us not only be vigilant that the Bell strike right above but that the wheels of the Clock go right below let us not only so speake but so do as they that shall be judged by the Law of liberty least after we have preached to others and been a meanes of their Salvation ipsi reprobi fiamus we our selves be tumbled into Hell as the Builders of the Arke were meanes of saving Noah and his Family and for all that were drowned themselves we may not expect it is not expedient we should for any to gaine a good report of all men Dogs will be barking at the best was he a good man of
octo pedum He whom the whole earth could not content was at length contented with a parcel of ground of eight yea of six foot long Herod when upon a day he was arrayed in royal apparel and sate on the bench and gave such an excellent charge that the people cried non vox hominem sonat It is the voyce of God and not of man immediatly after proved neither God nor man For he was eaten up of wormes and gave up the Ghost Rare examples for the Gods of the earth to look down into their own bosomes and to remember that they must die as men It is a good custome of the Emperour of the Abyssenes Prester John to have every meal for the first dish that comes on his table a dead mans skull to put him in mind of his mortality So was that which was used by Philip namely to have a boy every day to put him in mind that he was to die as a man Not much unlike was the old practise of the Egyptians who when their Princes went to banquet used to beare before them the picture of a dead man to put them in mind of their mortality 24. Seeing then that ye must die study to have your accounts in readinesse that whensoever the Lord shall call you hence hee may finde you provided Be faithfull in those high rooms wherein God hath placed you Ye execute not the judgements of man but of the Lord. Aske counsel therefore of God and weigh your proceedings in the ballance of the sanctuary Do nothing but what God commands you and the testimony of a good conscience will warrant to be lawful remembring that ye must one day God knowes how soon that day will come be summoned to appear before the common Judge of all flesh who is a burning and consuming fire who is not blinded with secret closenesse nor corrupted with bribes nor moved with friends nor allured by flatterers nor perswaded by the importunity of intreaters to depart anâ— haires breadth from the course of justice no though these three men Noah Daniel and Job should stand before him and make intercession in your behalf These things remember and do and ye shall have comfort in your lives comfort at your deaths And when your souls shall be removed from those earthly cottages wherein they now dwell they shall be translated into everlasting habitations and received with this joyful and comfortable welcome it is well done good servants and faithful ye have been faithful in a little I will make you rulers over much enter into your masters joy 25. Like men It is implied in the conclusion of my text that it is the lot and condition of all men to die And therefore as it concernes magistrates so it concerns all others to provide themselves for their end because as the tree fals so it lies that is as the day of death shall leave them so the day of judgement shall finde them Remember this yee that are to be witnesses for giving testimony unto the truth and jurers for giving a verdict according to the truth And as you love and reverence the truth it selfe as ye desire the benefit of your Christian brethren which ye should love as your selves as ye wish the glory of God which ye should tender more then your selves let it be a forcible motive unto you to deal uprightly in every cause with every man without declining to the right hand or to the left then shall ye sanctifie the name of God by whom ye do swear to speak truly to deal truly ye shall give occasion to good men to praise God for you and ye shall not need to be ashamed to meet God in the face when he shall call you to a reckoning for your doings But on the other side if rewards shall blind you or fear enforce you or pitty move you or partiality sway you or any respect whatsoever draw you to smother the truth and favour an evil cause yee pearce your selves through with many darts For first you are false witnesses against your neighbour secondly ye are thieves ye rob him of his right thirdly ye are murtherers ye kill him in his body or in his name or in his maintenance fourthly and which is worst of all ye take the name of your God in vain yea as much as in you lieth ye take his godhead from him and make him who is the truth from everlasting to be all one with the devil who is a lyar from the beginning If ye must be countable unto God when he shall call you hence for every idle word that goes out of your mouthes and if the least ungodly thought of your hearts in the rigour of Gods justice deserve eternal death how shall ye be able to stand in judgement under this ponderous Chaos of so many crying sins I cannot prosecute this point only for conclusion I say with Moses behold this day have I set before you life and death blessing and cursing choose life and ye shall live If not I pronounce unto you this day ye shall surely perish The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it 26. You whose profession is to open the causes in controversie and by your knowledge in the laws to distinguish between right and wrong truth and falshood remember that ye must die And therefore I beseech you in the fear of God to study to make the cause of your clients sure as that ye do not in the mean time forget S. Peters counsel to make your own election sure I urge this the rather because absit reverentia vero I will speak the truth in despite of all scoffes and I hope such as are ingenious will bear with my plainnesse if as Philip said of the Macedonians I call a boat a boat and a spade a spade because it seemeth to be much neglected by many of your profession who with Martha trouble themselves about many businesses but anum necessariâ—m to meet Christ and talk with him they scarce remember it I remember the saying of Demades touching the Athenians when they refused to make Alexander one of their Gods and Cassander who was his successour threatned that unlesse they would do it he would presently overthrow their city the Athenians said Demades have reason to look to themselves lest while they are too curious about heaven they lose the earth But these men have need to look to themselves lest while they trouble themselves too much about the earth they lose heaven by whose means especially it is effected that our courts do too much resemble the Lyons den which howsoever other beasts in simplicity went flocking on heaps unto yet the fox that found by experience how others sped durst not come near it Quia me vestigia terrent said she Omnia te adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum All comes to them little from them they have as attractive a force for silver as the loadstone
habitations The Lord could take your souls from you before ye depart this place if ye depart in safetie before ye come into your houses or before you goe to bed or before you rise in the morning but if you injoy to day and to morrow and the next day despise not the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience and long suffering knowing that his bountifulness leadeth you to repentance Be not like to the wicked Iob 21. which take the Tabret and Harpe and rejoyce at the sound of the Organs and spend their dayes in wea'th and then suddenly goe down into the Grave Nor like those in Eccles 9. 12. which do not know their time but like fishes which are taken in an evill net and like birds that are caught in a snare so they are snared in the evill time which falleth upon them suddenly nor like the evill servant in the Gospel which saith in his heart my Master doth deferre his coming and begins to smite his fellow-Servants and to eat and to drink with the drunken lest death come upon you in a day when ye look not for it and in an houre that you are not aware of and cut you off and ye receive your portion with Hypocrites in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Blessed is that man whom the Lord when he cals him from hence shall find waking but woe yea thrice woe be to that man whom the Lord when he cometh shall find sleeping verily I say unto you it had been good for that man if he had never been borne wherefore once again I say use this golden opportunitie to the honour of your God redeem the time because the dayes are few not for a day but even all your dayes which is the fourth note and which I can but touch let it be your care not how you may be rich in this world but how you may be rich unto God not rich in goods but in goodnesse let your chief study in this life be how he may be saved in the life to come Alas it was but a cold comfort to Adrian the Emperour when he was readie to dye to jest with his soul doubting what should become of it Animula vagula blandula hospes comesque corporis quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nidula nec ut soles dabis jocos What speeches but this or worse then this can any expect will proceed from you in your sicknesse when you are ready to leave the world if in your health you have not studied to make your election sure if in your life ye offer to God nothing but dregs there is little hope you will set forth good wine at the houre of your death late repentance is oftentimes counterfeit never so accepted with God we must blossom in the spring if wee will bring forth fruit in harvest it is no commendation to offer to the world and Satan the flower of our youth and sacrifice to God the withered stubble of old age to turn to God when we can scarce turn our selves in our beds and to leave this world when it is ready to take a farewell of us wherefore have your loynes still girded about and your lights still burning and you your selves waiting and expecting nay desiring not only for that time when your souls and bodies shall be separated but much more for that great day when they shall again be united and conjoyned let these and the like be each of your meditations and prayers How long Lord how long holy and true as the heart desireth the water brook so longeth my soul after thee O God my soul is a thirst for God even for the living God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth yea thou art my helper and my redeemer O my God make no long tarrying but come Lord Jesus come quickly The 5th and last thing which was observed out of these words was this That death to the Children of God is but a change to a better and more blessed state for so with Mercer and other learned Divines I take the meaning of the words to be when it is said my changing and not to be meant of the resurrection as some would have it Death is the wages of sinne saith the Apostle Rom. 6. 23. not only a temporarie death which is a separation of the body from the soul but an eternall death which is a separation both of bodie and soule from God for so it was told our Grand-father before he tasted the fruit of the forbidden tree whensoever thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt dye the death seconded after the fact with this iudiciall sentence dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne Gen 3. and so by the transgression of one death reigned over all unto condemnation Rom. 6. 14. But behold the abundant Ocean of the riches of the mercie and bountifullness of our God who by the balme of Christs blood hath so tempered this popson that like Treacle which is made of venemous wormes it becomes a preservative against poyson and hath broken the teeth of this Lyon that we may say with the Prophet the Lyon and the Lamb may dwell together hath taken the sting from this Scorpion that we may even now in some sense say O death where is thy sting thus by the grace of God the punishment of sin is to us turned to a freedom from sin it was said to our first Parents saith Austin thou shalt dye if thou sinne now it is said to a Martyr dye lest thou sinne then it was said if thou transgresse the commandement thou shalt dye the death now it is said if ye refuse to dye ye transgresse the commandement that which then was to be feared that they should not sin is now to be undergon lest they sin then death was gotten by sinning now justice is fulfilled by dying Behold the great difference of death in the godly and the wicked to the wicked it hath the same force which before it had to the godly it is like a sleep which resteththeir bodies and makes them more lively then before to the ungodly it brings a taile or sting with it and that is condemnation to the godly it is as it were a Bee without a sting to the godly it is terminus a quo of miserie and vexation to the wicked it is the beginning of sorrow and damnation to the ungodly it is Sathans Cart to carry them to Hell to the righteous it is like Elisha's fierie Chariot to mount them to Heaven to the wicked it is Sathans Serjeant to carrie them to Tophet which is prepared for them to the godly it is the Lords Messenger to remove them to their expected home let then the ungodly feare and tremble when they heare of death and let them