our child hath entred on alreadie And why are we vnquiet seeing the Lord of Heauen and earth hath called our child from a base condition to noblenesse to bestow honours vpon him and ritches that shall not faile promising the like to vs by the way of death should we not rather so dispose our occasions and life that we may ioifully follow him whom wee haue not lost but sent before But you will say my child was young and died in his flowers well be it so yet they who die young so they die well are old inough to goe to God besides did not Ieroboams childe in whom were found good things die young 1. King 14.13 And did not Iosiah die old whom the Lord in a battle at Megiddo tooke from the filthy will of Iudah to plant him before himselfe in the garden of his owne presence in glorie 2. King 24.29 Neither can they be said to die yong whose perfection is growne to a blessed ripenesse before the Lord. But young or old if you haue reioiced in your child as in the Lords interest you will not think it much and why should you that the Lord should haue his owne or will you with Phurao offer to hold in the prison of life as in Egypt any seruant of his whom hee shall send for by death his last messenger and that aâ— supper time when all things are ready Luc. 14.17 While he liued God gane him to you as a pledge of his fauor now that he is taken away you must freely resigne him as a pledge of your obedience But you wil say He was my onely child Indeed the death of an onely childe is very greeuous to the Parents Zechar. 12.10 Am. 8.10 yet Abraham was readie to haue sacrificed his onely sonne Isaac at Gods commandement Gen. 22.3.10 and God gaue his onely sonne Christ to death for our salâ—ation Ioh. 3.16 wherefore as Elkanah said to Annah so and much more may the Lord say to vs am not I better to you then ten sonnes 1. Sam. 1.8 or are not our ten sonnes and all the children of the wombe his gift Ps 127.3 Then though he be your onely child and all you haue whom God thus by death taketh from you there is no cause of griefe or of complaint seeing the Lord hath but his owne when he hath taken him and seeing also that he taketh him and you giue him but as your pledge and earnest to binde vnto you the right of that inheritance that you looke for or as your Feof-fee of trust gone before to take the possession for you A reproofe to those Vse 2 who can see nothing in the death of their friends or in their owne deathes but what is dreadfull beyond measure and simply the end of man Such conceiue death not as he is to the righteous and as Christ hath made him to bee by his glorious death but as fooles iudge of him who behold him through false spectacles as he is in his owne vncorrected nature considered out of Christ that is vgly terrible and hideous So did they behold him in Amos who put the euill day of his comming that which they iudged to bee euill and the godly iudge to bee happie no day happier as far from them as they could by carnall delicacie and wantonnesse Amos 6.3 So did Belshazzar looke vpon him whose heart would not serue him to reade the hand-writing of his owne end so neare Dan. 5.5.6.30 And Nabal had no heart to die who when he must needes die died as a stone that is died blockishly and so faintly that he was as good as slaine before death slew him 1. Sam. 25.37.38 He had no comfort in death which hee could not see one that was as righteous but as churlish and prophane And no maruell for this Aduersarie death armed as Goliah and vaunting as that proud Gyant of Gath commeth stalking toward such in fearefull manner infulting ouer weake dust and daring the world to giue him a man to fight with Therefore at the sight of him the whole hoast of worldlings bewray great feare turning their backes and going backward as men readie to sinke into the earth with abated courages and lookes cast downe stained with the colours of feare death trembling like leaues in a storme and striken with the palsie of a sudden and violent shaking through all the bodie 1 Sam. 17.10.11 But the true Christian armed as Dauid with trust in God and expectation of victory by the death of Christ who by death ouercame death as Dauid cut off the head of Goliah with his owne sword dares and doth boldly encounter with this huge Philistian death supposed inuincible and seeming great but neither with sword nor speare but in the name of the God of the hoast of Israel by whose might onely hee woundeth and striketh him to the earth trampling vpon him in the returne of his soule to the place out of which it first came and singing ouer him this ioiful and triumphant song of victorie O death where is thy sting 1. Cor. 15.55 Hee hath Steuens eyes to looke into heauen and therefore cannot but haue the tongue of the Saints who say Come Lord Iesu come quickly Apoâ— 22 2â—â— For the ioy that is set before him he with his good Sauiour endureth the crosse of death and despiseth the shame of corruption to which the dust of his bodie must bee turned Heb. 12.2 Ob. Quest But you will say Is not death to be feared that worketh so fearefully beeing also enemie to nature and the wages of sinne Rom. 6.23 Ans Answ Indeede death is dreadfull out of Christ and in it selfe and wee haue reason to feare it as it is an effect of sinne for so God setteth his angrie countenance in it and so Aristotle it is simply fearefull and euill Which made an heathen man to say that of all terrible things death was most terrible Hee saw in the darke that death had much euill in it and that it was properly euill and but accidentally good but he could not see through the dark cloud that which made it so euill Therefore euill it is I confesse and fearefull And to this we haue a greater witnesse then the witnesse of man For the Apostle saith the sting of death is sinne 1. Cor. 15.56 Now so farre as it hath a sting and is in it strength it is to be feared The reason is so it is properly death and death in kinde But we speake not of death considered out of Christ or considered in it selfe but of death altered by the death of Christ and which by such a change is made our passage from death to life for so it is no dreadful thing but a thing desireable and so the sting is taken from it which is of force and carieth an edge of second death against all the workers of iniquitie who dying out of Christ die miserably hellishly and with horrible feare By Christ the doore death is made a doore out
are reputed seruants in Egypt and strangers in the wildernesse being vnhappy to wit in the opinion of worldly men till they come into their happy land and receiue those mansions which are prepared for them The wicked because they serue sinne in their members and short time are happie till they die being for that Lords in Egypt and Citizens here Here in pleasures after death in torments Here Lords of the earth hereafter brands of hell No maruell then if short life trouble the wicked as it comforteth the godly That which is added by Iob to his time of attendance followeth All Iob saith that hee would waite all his daies because he knew not the day nor houre when God would command his apparence by death and send him to his dust As if he should haue said Of my departure hence I know not the day nor houre or I know not when I shall die 1. Pet. 1.17 and therefore euery day shal be as my dying day and I will liue in continuall expectation of that which will come I know not how soone Doctr. This is the meaning And the point taught is though there bee nothing more certaine then death yet nothing is more vncertaine to vs then the houre in which we shall die For this cause the day of the generall as likewise the day of our particular iudgement in death is said to come suddenly vpon worldlings as the snare vpon the bird which commeth when it is not looked for Luke 21.35 And Mathew to shew how little wee know the comming of it till it come compareth it to a Master from home who returneth to his house in a day that the seruants looke not for him and in an houre that they are not ware of Mat. 24.50 And in the 43. verse of the same Chapter he compareth it to a thiefe in the night For as a thiefe giueth no warning so no more doth stealing death He that keepeth the house knoweth not when the thiefe will come and hee that looketh for death knoweth not when he shall die 1. Thes 5.2 The reasons If we knew the day of our death we would put off all till the comming of that day Secondly as it is the glorie of a King to know some things that no man else can know so it is a part of Gods glorie to hide from men and Angels the particular houres of mans death and this worlds doome which hee hath closed vp with the seale of secrecie and put in his owne power Now God will giue no part of his glorie to 〈◊〉 Thirdly if we knew the houre or certaine time of our death it would giue vs too great boldnesse to wallow in sinne till that time or houre came The whorish woman because she knew the rust time when her husband would returne who went into a far countrie did by such a certaine knowledge of the appointed time of his comming backe the more liberally poure out her soule to vice wantonnesse Prou. 7.20 Therefore it is counsell to vs when wee shall die that all the dayes of our appointed time we may wait for this day and in all our time looke for this last time To make good vse of this point Vse we must account of euery presēt day as the day of our death so liue now as if we were now dying doe those good duties euery day that wee would bee found doing at our last houre of the day Death doth come suddenly to many so it may to vs and some who haue promised to themselues many yeeres and long life haue not had a minute of warning giuen them to cal for mercie The houses of their bodies were presently digged thorow when they iudged their time endlesse and when they thought to haue runne a long race of scores Iob. 21.23.24.25 their graues haue met them in their setting out and they haue ended their act before they had plaide one full part on their stage The consideration hereof should make vs carefull to doe good while we haue time seeing we are so vnsure of it Gal. 6.10 The time of making peace with our Aduersarie is while wee are in the way Math. 5.25 And because we know not the day we should watch by doing good euerie day sitting with Abraham in our Tent doore Gen. 18.1 And watching death that watcheth vs. One light before doth more good then many carried after So one fore-thought is better then twentie after wits Death looketh for vs euerie where therfore as one saith wee should euery where looke for him Luke 12.35.36 But further to incite vs to this Christian watch let vs remember that where the tree falleth there it lieth in the East of life or West of second death where the Sunne of peace setteth vpon reprobates for euer Eccles 11.3 As the last day of our life leaueth vs so shall that last day the day of Christs comming August finde vs. How good were it therefore before we runne into desperate arrierages to cast our billes of account the rather because wee shall bee warned out of our office we know not how soone Luke 16.2 Some Emperors among the Heathen were woont as bookes say to bee crowned ouer the sepulchers and graues of dead men to teach them by the certaine but vnknowne end of their short life to vse their great roomes as men that must one day be as they then were whose graues they trode vpon The old Saints who liued in a continuall meditation of their short and vncertaine time were wont alway like wise Merchants to thinke of their returne homeward And therefore tooke vp their treasure by billes of paiment not where they were but where they would bee and meant to make their long aboad that is meant to be for euer And the Philosophers who saw not beyond the clouds of humane reason when they perceiued how much men did decline by course of yeares and wastes of time were woont to say that the life of a wise man was nothing but a continuall meditation of death And were it no more but that it is enacted as by an euerlasting Parliament that all must once die Heb. 9.27 This were inough to cast a cloud yea a whol dark sky ouer the fairest day we see here and passe in our fairest pleasures But when we shall consider that after death commeth the iudgement it must needes moue vs to turne our laughter into mourning and to thinke how to liue and die well in so short and certaine but vncertain time of our expectation of such a day a day of such dread and tertour to carelesse liuers a black hideous and dismall day But carelesse persons like those officers in the Kings house who hauing their allowance of lights consume them in wantonnesse and goe to bed in the dark doe consume on their lusts those good graces as it were lights which they haue receiued for saluation from the father of lights Iam. 4.3 which is cause that when their bodies must goe to
the good mans death but what is profitable and excellent In the third to the Philippians vers 21. the Apostle calleth this alteration by death not the losse of our body but the change of our vile body that it may bee facioned like to the glorious body of Christ And is there any thing in this but what is excellent and worthy if any thing be worthy our trauell best paines here Iohn speaking of the Saints glorified saith All teares shall be wiped from their eyes Apoc. 21.4 His meaning is that as soone as death shall let them out of the world they shall haue no more sorrow that is sorrow that causeth teares And the same Iohn saith Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord Apo. 14.13 that is they who hauing liued righteously die wel in him are in the hand by the helpe of death leade presently to blessednesse The Saints militant did alwaies with the eyes of faith in the Gospell behold this great honour and preferment by death in the happy ends of the righteous and therefore sighed desiring their house from Heauen 2. Cor. 5.2 for they knew that if it were an honour to be remoued from a base cote to a Princes court it could not but be a double that is singular honour to bee translated from the Cotes of the Earth to the Court of Heauen Therefore they sighed that is could not be merrie till that change should come Paul saith that to be losed to wit from the bonds of his corruptible bodie was best of all Philip. 1 23. which hee would not haue said if any preferment had beene better then that by death which is from basenes into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God The reasons And further that there is so much good in the godlie mans death which is his change may be and is euident First by the things to which that their happie and blessed change by death is compared as to a hauen that after they haue passed the troublesome waues of the sea of this world carrieth them to their owne key or backe in the which they ride safely to their iourneys end after which they come home to their owne house being strangers here 1. Pet. 2.11 to the medicine that cureth most perfectly the sicknesse of life to the messenger that biddeth them to the marriage dinner of their great King Mat. 22.2.3 to their returne from banishment into their owne countrey and naturall land to their deliuerance from the gaole of sorrow where they are taken with Ioseph out of prison to be set with Princes to the laying downe of their tabernacle and to the putting on of their house from Heauen to a deliuerance like that out of Egypt from the bondage of corruption to the libertie of saints from a land of darknesse to a land where the sunne neuer goeth downe and from a land of destruction to the land of the liuing Now what is there in all these that is not perfitly good and desirable Secondly death abolisheth in the faithfull departed all power of sinning and sting of sinne Thirdly the bodie feeleth no more paine nor shal euer againe be sensible but of that which is excellently good desireable and comfortable and for the soule it shall presently be glorified Luc. 16.22 Fourthly death is but the dore of the soule out of an earthly dungeon such as the bodie is that must be destroied before the wormes into an heauenly kingdome or passage from death to life from a short death to a long life Lastly God executeth his iudgements vpon the damned and purgeth his Church by death An instruction to correct all vnreasonable and faithlesse weeping for our godly friends and brethren departed in the faith of Christ Vse 1 The Apostle to the Thessalonians exhorteth Christians if they sorrow for such not to sorrow for them as men that haue no hope 1. Thes 4.13 When Hester was taken from Mardochay who had brought her vp as his owne daughter to be married to King Assuerus and to receaue the crowne of Queene in the kingdome did he either bewaile or enuie that her great preferment the faithfull are taken from sorrowfullmen to be espoused to Christ and to receaue the crowne of glorie and shall they that liue by such vnmeasurable sorrow and taking on as is too commonly vsed at the graues of their friends vnwish to them in a sort so great happinesse Will a father be sorrie or can he without imputation of enuie repine that his sonne or daughter is with Ioseph taken out of prison to be set with Princes when thou giuest forth thy child to nurse and shee hath kept it long inough should shee because thou takest it home againe complaine thou wilt say she hath no reason for it Then what reason hath any father to murmure against the owner of the child hee taketh for taking of his owne Parents that so lose their children if they may be called lost that are so found are but nurses to them in their absence from their owne fathers house to nurse them with the milke of the Gospel and religiously to nurture them for the Lord who by death sends for them home to himselfe when he seeth time and when he so doth haue they cause to complaine of wrong father mother sonne wife husband brother are but lent goods which we must restore when the creditor and hee that owneth them calleth for them And shall we count our selues spoiled or vndone because they are required If one should lend vs a thing of price or thing that is costly would wee for a recompence of the vse of it vpbraid the owner because he sendeth for it or if we should might not he who was the lender iustly say is this my thanks and shall I be recompenced with so great impatiencie for my so great good will So if God should lend vs tenne deare children as he did to Iob and we should be made to part with them all in one day would it become vs with rough words to receaue that supposed losse or would we complaine of wrong where none is offered and where our good is sought and our childrens gaine be vnthankfull if we should may not the Lord of them and of vs iustly taxe our vnthankfulnesse and complaine of wrong May he not say did Iob my seruant so from whom I tooke ten children in one day and in a few daies all the honour and substance that he had did he not rather confesse my vnquestionable right in such moueables and say the Lord giueth the Lord taketh away blessed be the name of the Lord. Iob 1.21 If a great Lord should call vs and our child promising to both much honour and great wealth would we weepe and take on because our child is gone before and we our selues must shortly follow after would we not rather with much ioy so order our iourney and affaires that we also might with as great dispatch as might be receaue such preferment as wee know
nor care that is care of man hath heard the like neither can they enter into our heart which yet hath a large mouth of capacitie to conceiue and vnderstand them if they were told vs which are reuealed by the spirit and but lisped of by Iohn in those earthly similitudes of gates of Pearle of walles of Iasper and of a streete whose pauement is gold Apoc. 21.18.19.20.21 1. Cor. 2.9 Dauid calleth them ioyes and fulnesse 〈◊〉 also pleasures and pleasures eternall Psal 16.11 that is blessednesse without end and the same without want Paul calleth them an eternall waight of glorie 2. Cor. 4.17 as if he should call them glorie endlesse and the glorie that waigheth downe there is such fulnesse in it And they are called the well and riuer of life Apoc. 22.1 as beeing alway full and hauing springs that come from God to feede them Or an inheritâ—nce immortall 1. Pet. 1.4 An inheritance and therefore a possession in the best tenure and an inheritance immortal therefore not for yeares but for euer Life in it selfe is good good life is better but eternitie maketh it excellent Obiect But in heauen some shall shine as the firmament some as the starres for euer Dan. 12.3 Now the firmament hath not so much light as the starres haue that lighten it and the starres haue lesse light then the Sun hath that lighteneth them It seemeth therefore that in heauen there should be to some rather some want then such fulnesse of heauenly glorie Ans I answere though in this condition of our heauenly life there may be degrees of glorie yet there shall be no want Some may bee like the skie some like the starres of the skie yet all shall shine Some vessels may hold more some lesse yet all bee full One may haue more ioy then another and there are sundry measures of more or lesse glorie in heauen but no measure shall lacke his fulnesse of life or glorie there He that hath least shall haue inough The reasons are Hell is contrarie to Heauen In hell there is a fulnesse of torment In he 〈◊〉 therefore there must be a perfection of glorie Secondly earthly kingdomes and the Kings thereof haue as great an absolutenesse as earth can giue them and shall we thinke that heauen which can giue an entire will giue an imperfect crowne of righteousnesse Will not the Kings of the earth dwel in base cottages but in royall courts And shal these Kings of a better kingdome want glorie where mortall Kings haue so great glorie and power Princes on earth dwell in royall palaces and sometimes in Cedar and Iuorie Apoc. 1.6 But they whom Christ hath made Kings Priests to God his Father who dwell in tabernacles not made with hands shall raigne in a citie whose twelue gates are twelue Pearles whose wall is of Iasper and building of Gold and whose streetes shine as cleare glasse Apoc. 21.18.19.21 So said he who saw all this glorie but darkely or as Moses saw the land of Canaan in a very short Map or Card a farre off Deu. 34.1.2.3.4 We see but the outward wall of this heauenly citie new Ierusalem yet how glorious is it and how decked with starres as with sparkling Diamonds What would we say if wee could see into it and behold though with Peter Iames and Iohn at a glance blush superficially the goodly pauement of heauen within whose floore is of gold and wall about is garnished with precious stones Apoc. 21.19 Thirdly if Adams paradise and garden was so pleasant and delightsome how pleasant and glorious is Gods owne garden and seat of his owne residence Hee spake of it with a wondering tongue whose finite heart could not comprehend so infinite an excellencie very glorious things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God Psal 87.3 For though in the letter this worthy Prophet spake of that earthly heauen which he confessed to bee in the materiall tabernacle because of Gods presence and the godly exercises of Gods people performed there yet his meaning was vnder the cloud of the phrase to direct Gods children to a higher tabernacle and house of greater glorie then that which was earthly and vnder the doome of time An instruction aboue all things Vse 1 to affect the things aboue and to draw our mindes with strong cordes of desire vnto them Col. 32. For what place haue we here but of trouble There wee shall haue our place of peace The joyes of our earthly life do much affect vs sometimes too much which yet haue their gall of bitternesse in them and crosse of short time For no sooner doe they begin but their end borders vpon their beginning and many times they rather seeme to begin then begin indeed being like to a false conception that comes not to bearing Many are vnwilling to leaue this world because of the acquaintance they haue in it and which when they die they must leaue behinde them in it And yet in this worldly fellowship there is much sowre ioined with sweet But if there be so great a portion of content in this worldly fellowship what pleasure is there and how perfect in the societie of glorified soules the ancient worthies of the old world and the flower of this when wee shall see but with other eyes and in a spirituall manner Abraham of whom we haue heard so much Isaac Iacob Iob Samuel and the Prophets whose names we haue loued When with Eliab we shall see Christ clothed with our flesh who hath immortalitie at his right hand and shall make vs raigne for euer Wee admire the building of Kings and hee was a Disciple who said to Christ speaking of the temple see what stones what buildings are here Mar. 13.1 But as Christ to him so let me say to all that wonder at these things are those the things ye looke upon Luk. 21.6 The sumptuous buildings of Kings and stately Nobilitie though all the rich entrals of the earth had conspired to giue them varnish and glories what are they but base Cotes compared to this frame not made with hands And doe we so much wonder at mortall lime and stone and so little care for our eternall house The three Disciples who in the transfiguration saw but a glimpse of this heauenly glorie shining vpon the face of their Sauiour would needs build taberbernacles in it what if we saw the whole Sunne of it and not some glimpses onely Math. 17.2.4 Moses saw God but a little in the mount and with mortall eyes and his face so show that the people were afraid to come neere him Exod. 34.30 How then shall they shine in roabes of perpetuall glorie who do behold not with these but with other cies the face of God for euer Lastly to draw our affections to the place where our life is and directly to God in whom we liue let vs consider the honour and pleasures of this Citie Whereâ—â— greater honour then in soueraignty and where are
where others meete with shadowes and shall liue in miferie that liue in vnrighteousnesse The reasons The things that cause errour in iudgement and accepting of persons are imperfect knowledge and respects in the world of good to our selues or of our bond to others But these are not in God whose knowledge is wonderfull who needeth no mans good and is no Mans debter Ps 139.3.4.5.6 16.2 Math. 20.15 Secondly God forbiddeth his Seruants who are the Iudges of the Earth to accept the persons of men and commandeth them to iudge indifferently not accepting faces 1. Sam. 16.7 2. Chr. 19.7 It was Iehosaphats charge to his Iudges or rather the Lords by him And so being Gods law to others and a law of great iustice will he himselfe breake it and will not the Iudge of the world doe iudgement Gen. 18.25 Thirdly God hath made many promises to those that walke before him and vprightly in his commandements The scriptures plentifully speake of this And will an honest man keepe his word and shall God falsifie his truth Ps 51.4 shall he say it and shall he not doe it God forbid wee should so thinke As Gods promises are generall to all that walke before him Vse 1 so they that endeuour so to please God and to walke in his truth must haue bands of particular faith to receaue them God is generall in his gifts and we must be particular in our receit and euerie man liue by his owne faith Habac 2.4 Anothers good life will not bee imputed to vs nor anothers faith saue vs. Therefore all that thine hand shall find to doe doe it saith Salomon with all thy power Eccles 9.10 He saith thine hand not anothers hand For he that will not doe good but by a deputie shall goe to heauen by a deputie and to hell in his owne person Some say let Ministers liue precisely and let Diuines walke before God but for themselues because they are not in that calling they take liberty and giue themselues leaue by a dispensation sealed by themselues to walke other wise as much as if they should say let Ministers be saued and diuines goe to God but for vs let vs perish if we must perish and because God will not haue vs let the diuell haue vs. This is fearefull and their case no lesse fearefull who post off goodnesse to others Let this confute superstitious poperie and carelesse Atheisme One saith well why art thou proud of another mans gift and thou giue nothing Euerie one that will haue peace must walke vpon his owne feete and worke with his owne hands Ephes 4.28 And Papists who with the foolish Virgins trust vnto the store of the wise shall receaue answere we haue not inough for our selues and for you Math. 25.9 But some feare too much as others feare too little who though they haue liued orderly and are sorrie with the sorrow of true repentance where they haue not yet are short-handed in receauing what God hath promised to those who walke before him But will a condemned malefactor at the barre not faile to apply the Kings generall pardon to himselfe for life and shall a iustified sinner feare to make the generall promise to all beleeuers particular to himselfe who is a beleeuer that be may liue Paul saith Christ came to saue sinners of whom I am chiefe 1. Tim. 1.15 He pleaded the Lords generall pardon though a sinner and the chiefe of sinners So the father of Iohn the Baptist Zacharias in his canticle putteth in for the horne of saluation Christ drawing that great redemption in him to himselfe as he applied it to others saying for vs that is for others in Israel and for Mee an Israelite Though in other cases a man cannot with good manners be importunate in matters and for things which concerne himselfe in commoditie or preserment yet here a godly man can neuer be too earnest nor lay too much vpon such a foundation Somtimes we wil applie hastily catch where we should not but if we wold be prouidently captious without offence let it bee here And as it is written of the seruants of Benhadad who were sent to the King of Israel that they tooke diligent heed if they cold catch any thing from him towit for his aduantage who sent them which made them when the King of Israel had said Is Ben-hadad yet aliue hee is my brother Presently to reply saying Thy brother Ben-hadad so let faith and hope our seruants confessing guilty with humbled necks and ropes about them watch what the King of the Kings of Israel hath spoken and set downe vnder his hand in his word concerning repentant sinners and we shall finde it written in the volume of the book concerning them Is he yet aliue he is my brother That is Doth the hungry soule pant for my saluation and the thirstie for my righteousnesse Doth it yet trust in God Doth it still beleeue Behold saith the mercifull King of Christendom Christ Iesus and hee that saueth vs from our sinnes I haue brought many brethren to my father and many sonnes to glorie and this is one Let vs now well obserue and diligently marke what hee saith Benhadad is the Kings brother Therefore say we thy brother Benhadad and catch him in his words that is God my father and Christ my elder brother The father will not cast away his penitent child nor one most kinde brother betray another to death 1. King 20.33 Indeed the deiected soule of man cannot alwaies being laden with troubles thus raise vp it self into confidence and some in the brunt haue complained that they haue been cut off from God whose voices in their feare haue been these or such as these Christ indeed came into the world to saue sinners but not such as we are and was appointed a Sauiour but not for vs singling out themselues Some in their hast haue said Here is the fire and wood but where is the Lamb for sacrifice Ge. 22.8 But let such remember that peace shall come to euery one that walketh before God or that would that is vnfainedly would walke before him We see not the Lambe for sacrifice but God will prouide nay God hath prouided it and open wee the eyes that blind distrust hath shut vp and wee shall see it Christ spake as one forsaken and a man would thinke that he had despaired when he twice said My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Math. 27.46 But if we dig through the bitter barke of the letter deeper into the words we shall finde an hony combe in them of perfect consolation Iudg. 14.8 For he calleth him yet his God and as if he wold adde another cord of faith to his first and make it a two-fold cord that cannot be broken he calleth him againe the second time his God that is the God in whom he trusted in whom hee will trust If God shall fashion any of vs to our head in the similitude of such a sorrow euer let
tried by him who when many dogges come about him prayed for his persecutors saying Father forgiue them they know not what they doe Luke 23.34 Or to murtherers to stand in his presence who being reuiled reuiled not againe whose comming was to saue the life and not to spill it If thou hadst a cause to be heard in some court of iustice and it should be told thee that the like in that very Court had beene iudged against another that morning wouldest thou not rather agree with thine Aduersarie then aduenture thy matter in that Court wherin the presence of that Iudge before whom the very same matter had been already condemned in another mans case Euen so then seeing it is most certaine that sentence hath passed alreadie against all kindes of sinnes and degrees of sinners as it is to bee seene in the assise booke of the word of God Should not the wicked and sinners dread to appeare in their euils and those euils vnrepented of before that terrible iudge who hath already condemned to destruction so many millions of sinners and reprobates men women bond and free Should they not rather goe backe by confideration Entreat the iudge by prayers of repentance Submit by a better course be reconciled by amendment And please him by obedience who is Lord of all Men must not thinke to sinne and to bee called to no account for their sinnes or to offer wrongs to their innocent neighbour and not to suffer as wrong doers For Christ is Iudge And though all men were corrupt and seates of iudgement partiall yet there is a God that iudgeth right A day will come when Naboth shall haue his vineyard when the Martyrs who lost their liues shall finde them and they who are railed on for the name of Christ shall haue praise of their enemies Christ will honour those who haue honoured him raise vp those who died for him restore those summes which in deeds of charitie and workes of mercie haue been lent to him and liberally reward those who serued him But for the wicked though they were glorious in their life and pompous in their death they shall be nothing so in their rising and there shame shall come when their iudgement commeth He that hath so much pleasure here as to be clothed in purple and to fare well and delicately euery day Luke 16.19 could not haue in hell torments one drop of water to coole his tongue tormented in those flames vers 24. Neither could he haue the presence of Lazarus for a moment who cared not for the cry of Lazarus when he was in his ruffe and Lazarus in his ragges ver 26.29.31 A reproofe of their madnesse Vse 3 who goe on in sinne impenitently because here they answere not for sinne at the barre of man either because they haue great friends or because they haue a good purse or because the Iudge is their friend or because the countrey will sticke vnto them For what though no mortall Iudge condemne them The righteous Iudge will Though men execute partiall sentence hee who is iudge of all men will execute righteousnesse in the clouds from which there is no appeal On earth there are meanes to acquite and set free from bonds and death a guiltie prisoner as the abusing of the Iudge the corrupting of the witnesses acquaintance with the Iurors fauour with the Sheriffe and many such shifts The Iudge may bee deceiued by certaine pricks in the law that destroy iustice But there are no such either pricks or points in that vndefiled law by which both quicke and dead shall be iudged The witnesses cannot be stopt For the booke of our consciences will not lie and that booke of euidence which God himselfe keepeth cannot The Iurors the creatures are the Lords seruants to whom they shall giue glorie in their true and honest verdicts not respecting the arme of flesh or face of man No perswasions or windings will then serue For God is iudge himselfe and his Sherifs are the mighty Angels of his presence The high acts of God are in their mouth and a two edged sword is put in their hands to execute vengeance vpon the heathen and corrections among the people Psal 149.6.7 Or if the Sherifs Iurors and witnesses could be corrupted with mony which were vnspeakeable folly to thinke of what shal we haue to giue them when all shal be destroyed with fire And for fauour how can we looke for any in a day not of mercie but of iudgement Further to auoide an earthly sentence we plead an appeale or retraction but here can be no appeale For all appeales are to an higher But what Iudge is higher then God or court aboue this of the last day And for reuersing of iudgement once giuen there is as little hope For there shall not be any more sitting or second iudgement Let vs not think then because wee can escape mans sentence that no sentence to come shall condemne vs. Or that there is no iudgement but mans iudgement or Iudge but man For where men end God begins and where men are partiall he will doe iustice Here men breake the Sabbath and are drunken here they whore and sweare and deceiue and doe vilely and answere not vnto men for these riots of sinne Shall they therefore goe free O nothing lesse hereafter they shall answere them and in hell pay dearely for them except they repent So much for the person of the Iudge the manner of propounding the iudgement followeth Commeth with c. The tense or time that the Apostle speaketh in noteth the certaintie or as I may say presentnesse of the Iudges comming Where he vseth the time present for the future he commeth for he wil come And this is to teach vs that a iudgement wil and must most certainly be So it is said that the great day of the Lords wrath is come Apoc. 6.17 Not will come but is come as if that had beene come a thousand and siue hundred yeeres a goe that is not come yet The like speech we haue in the 13. of Esay and ninth verse when it was further off In the time of the Prophet Zephanie it is said to be neere Zeph. 1.14 and Malachi another Prophet and the last of the Prophets speaketh as Enoch here it commeth Peter saith it is at hand though no man can shew the fingers of this hand 1. Pet. 4.7 Christ saith he commeth shortlie Apoc. 3.11 nay that he standeth at the doore as if he were come already verse 20. And indeed as the day will most surely come so it cannot be long in comming It is not in the fadome of mans head to tell or heart to know how neere or farre off the day is onely God knoweth and Christ as God in what yeere month and day this frame shall goe downe In an age long since the day was neere now the houre is neere But curiosity is to be auoided in a concealed matter and in this forbidden tree of knowledge It
will his person be glorious who shall come to iudge the world The reasons There must be a difference between Christs first comming in the flesh and second comming to iudgement Now his first comming was base therefore his second comming must be glorious His first was obscure his second therefore must be manifest In the first he came into the world in the second he comes against it His first was to receiue iudgement his second is to giue iudgement His first in mercie his second with rebuke Then he came as a seruant poore and without shew but now he commeth as the mighty God with power and great glorie Tit. 2.13 And if Iudges of assise doe not ascend to their seats of iudgmeÌ„t but as we haue said with great state solemnity shal we think that the Lord of the Angels iudge of man wil go meanly attended to his tribunall in the clouds 2. Christs second coÌ„ming is to coÌ„demnÌ„ the world to cast fear in the face of euery sinner It is requisite therfore it should be with power with signes of power 3. Christ shall haue at his coÌ„ming all that may set forth the state roialtie of such a King Now a part this glorie is in the attendants about his person For in the multitude of the people is the honor of the King saith Salomon Pro. 14.28 Therefore shal his day be manifest his comming glorious A confutation of their madnes who think with their multitudes as Giants here to put Christ out of countenance Vse 1 Christs seruants out of heart For what are their numbers to Christs thousands nay what are they al to one Angell and what a nothing to those troups of Angels who shal come with him froÌ„ heauen now stand about his throne in heaueÌ„ Euen they who band the world to resist Christ notwithstanding that they boast so much of their thousands whom they haue numbred against religion shall know one day and may know within few daies that there is no health but vnder his wings whom they haue defied For what saith the Lord to such Assyrian Spoilers gather on heapes and yee shall be broken gird your selues and yee shall be broken in peeces so saith the Lord and he saith it twise because it is ratified and God will doe it Esa 8.9 They were many against a few and heapes of men to there here and there a man yet did they stumble and fall and were broken and snared and taken verse 15. look Nahum 2.1 2. 13. Ioel 3.9.11 There was a conspiracie of Kings against Christ and Dauid prophecied of a world of kingdomes that should bee against him and yet what could they doe against him put him to death and he rose from death tread him downe by his owne sufferance and will for a little while and he is King for euer Iudge him here and he will be their iudge at his terrible comming Ps 2.2.3.4 But Vse 2 will Christ come with such power and signes of power then how terrible shall his comming be to presumptuous and vnrepentant sinners what will become of vnpardoned swearers drunkards whooremongers breakers of the sabbath liars slaunderers and such sinners at that great day of the Lords comming whether will they runne to saue themselues and into what holes of the earth to hide themselues how will they resist Christ who commeth so strong against them and if they must yeeld vnto him as is without question they must how will they abide the rebukes of his comming If the people could nor endure his glorie when he descended on mount Sinai in a storme of fire in tempest thunder and darknesse but fled and stood a farre off Exod. 20.19 And if the sight was so terrible that Moses himselfe said I feare and quake Heb. 12.21 And yet Christ came then but to giue the law as Mediatour not to visit for it as Iudge how shall his despisers stand before his great glorie and second comming when he shall burne with wrath stirring vp himselfe like a man of Warre till the houses of pride and children of disobedience bee destroyed for euer Or if the brethren of Ioseph could not tell what to say vnto him because of one trespasse against him Gen. 45.3 What shal these bastard brethren say to this glorious Ioseph our brother their Iudge for innumerable contempts and trespasses wherewith they haue pierced him being not ouer one kingdome only and vnder an higher as Ioseph ouer Egypt and vnder Pharao but ouer all the kingdomes of the world And if they who came to take Christ being a well prouided company when he himselfe was not countenanced with worldly meanes to resist and was onely followed by a few vnarmed men fell to the earth after he but spake vnto them Ioh. 18.6 how shall they fall back or rather altogether flat vpon their faces with horrible feare who shal come quâ—uering before him not attended as then with eleuen Apostles onely but with thousands of his Saints nor meanely furnished but gloriously arrayed not speaking gently whom seek yee But threatning sharpely and saving roundly Depart from me ye cursed into euerlasting fire which is prepared for the Diuell and his Angels Mat. 25.41 If men should pitch against vs we would feare with the seruant who said Alas Master what shall wee doe 2. King 6.15 We would more feare if many Kings should ioine to make an hoast against vs. Yet the power of men might be forced yea the power of Princes but if an Angell should come against vs as sometimes against Balaam with a drawne sword Num. 22.23 Who can compell an Angell to returne to heauen What then when mighty troupes of Angels shall threaten the world at Christs comming Who shall daunt so strong a power the strong power of the Angels when they shall keep their march in the aire and professe to rebuke the vngodly and sinners that shall be turned into hell with all that forget God The Sunne Moone and Starres that neuer sinned cannot endure this wonderfull and astonishing maiestie of the Sonne of God and therefore shall by a kinde of blushing darknesse presently loose their light and glorie and shall the race of men that haue beene such sinners and stand not in any borrowed corruption as those heauenly lights doe but in their proper transgression and filthinesse appeare without shame and without the confusion of their faces before Christ the iudge of all flesh at that day nay if the sea and waters not infected by their owne but by mans sinne shall then roare and cry out because of those things which shall come on the world Luk. 21.25.26 How shall the wicked roare out for the disquietnesse of their harts and how shall the vngodly and sinners feare and be troubled who haue stained themselues and cast into the world those defilings that cannot bee washed but with a floud of fire A comfort to the righteous For Vse 3 shall Christs comming bee glorious then they shall not
bee without their honour whom Christ will bring with him and whom hee will make to sit with him on thrones in the ayre The Iudges of assise haue much honour And therefore the Iustices that sit with them sit downe on an honourable bench So Christ being exalted Shall not his Saints reioice When Dauid was made King all Dauids children sate neere the throne though not in the throne His sonnes were the kings sonnes and the posteritie he had the Kings children Thus Dauids honour honoured those that come of him And such honour haue all the Saints Such Nay greater For they all are Kings all sit on thrones who come with Christ 1. Cor. 6.2 More is spoken of this in the next doctrine But the Saints are a part of Christs company attendance that is he will bring them with him when hee commeth to giue iudgement against the world of the vngodly Doctr. From whence we learne that the faithull though despised here shall haue the honour from Christ at his comming to bee companions with him in the last Sessions This is the prerogatiue of the Saints and their proper glorie They shall meet Christ in the clouds and raigne with him for euer in heauenly places When the wicked shall stand vpon the earth as vpon a burning floore the fire flaming high about their cares they shall bee receiued into fellowship with Christ and then shall the iudgement begin The Prophet aimed at this Psa 50.4 5 who speaking of this great day of the Lords comming sheweth whom the Lord would call vnto it either to stand before him as witnesses or to be ioined with him as companions The witnesses are heauen and earth They whom Christ will haue in company with him are the Saints And therefore hee saith Gather my Saints together vnto mee Psal 50.5 Math. 24.31 As if hee had said Let heauen and earth come to iudgement but let my elect come to the bench And Dauid speaking of the Saints glorified doth not set them in the outward courts of Gods house but in the presence Psal 16.11 In thy presence saith hee that is in place where thou art This is resembled in the Lambes standing on mount Sion and in those hundred fourtic and foure thousand that were with him hauing his fathers name written in their forheads Apoc. 14.1 For by the Lamb is meant Christ and by the hundred fourty and foure thousand the company of the Saints who shall be with Christ So in the Virgens that went to meete the Bridegroome Math. 2â— 1 But more specially in those who being ready when the Bridegroome went in went in with him to the wedding ver 10. But the Apostle S. Paul speaketh plainely and not in a figure where speaking of the great honour that the Saints shall haue in the sight of the damned he saith They shall be caught vp in the cloudes and meet Christ in the aire 1. Thes 4 17. And addeth So they shall euer be with the Lord. The meaning is and it is as if he had said they shall neuer be strangers but companions Christ himselfe hath said it who speaking to his Disciples and in them to the rest of the thousands of his Saints that haue followed him in the regeneration promiseth that they shall sit on seats or rather on glorious thrones Math. 19.28 Luc. 22.30 Now he is faithfull who hath promised and will surely doe it Therefore shall the righteous abide with Christ for euer The reasons The Saints are Christs seruants Now where the Master is there must the seruants bee that waite vpon him Ioh. 12.26 nay they are Christs friends Ioh. 15.5 and where should a friend be but in the presence of his friend or they are Christs court Therefore where he is there must they be for where the King is there the court is And they be more then of his court for they are of his court and counsell too Ioh. 15.15 And so Christs presence is not only where they are as the Kings is at court but they be his counsell-table or court of power wherein he sitteth gloriously as the King in his throne Secondly and to reason from the lesse to the greater If a good Master will preferre his good followers when himselfe is preferred Christ being so highly exalted in glorie will much more honour those thousands that haue beene of his company and attendance here And so they who haue had fellowship with Christ in his afflictions shall haue fellowship with him in his glorie and they who haue suffered with him shall raigne with him 2. Tim. 2.12 Thirdly Luc. 12.32 this is the hope of the faithfull and shall the hope and patient abiding of the faithfull deceiue them Vse 1 This teacheth the righteous to beare the iniuries of the world quietly and willingly For the day will come when their persecutors shall be troden downe to hell and second death and they presently receiue the crowne of their sufferings who haue suffered for Christ Here hee that refraineth from euill maketh himselfe a prey Esa 59.15 and it is safer to doe wrong then to complaine of an iniury we but let me not too much discourage Gods children for that which is thus and so here shall bee contrary hereafter when the Lord shall requite the furie of his aduersaries with a recompence verse 18. then they who here despised the righteous mans life will say that they whom they thought to bee fooles and their end without honour are now counted among the children of God and their portion among the saints Wisd 5.4.5 what though the companions of the diuell set themselues as in battell array against those whom it pleaseth Christ in a gracious fellowship thus to call his and the companions of his comming after a while they shall be gathered to Christ and be free from all wrongs of men and at Christs comming see the iust iudgement and vengeance of all those who cruelly hurt them themselues sitting on the bench and giuing a kind of iudgement against them with Christ and the thousands that are with him But shall the Saints be in company with Christ at his comming Vse 2 and bee made a part of his attendance Then let vs consider our high calling and not company with sinners that must haue fellowship with Christ We cannot alway auoide those that be such yet we must in affection seperate from them when we cannot in place and not delight to sit down with them on one stoole There is a large fellowship of men in the world whose whole studies and desires are bent to passe the time in drinking gaming rioting and other beastly exercises and hee that will not be combined in fellowship with such loose mates is counted no bodie but Gods children and they who meane to haue fellowship with Christ must abhorre this vngodly fellowship of lewd men and not haue one purse or communion with them who beleeue the communion of saints not communion of light with such darknesse Prou. 1.14 2.