further degree for all this And there be these two reasons for it The first is because the wicked not only sinne in soule but in body too the body hath beene the instrument of the soule in sinning and therefore it cannot serve the turne that the soule is punished and the body lie in the grave no but those that have joyned in sin must also joyne in Punishment Secondly howsoever the sinfull actions of the wicked are transcient and seem to die with them yet in respect of the contagion and evill effects these actions worke upon others and upon posteritie bp the ill example of their predecessors the actions I say of those wicked men continue to the day of Judgement Thus wee shall see the Iewes in Ierem. 44. revived the sinnes of their fathers Our fathers say they made cakes to the Queene of heaven and so will wee So the succeeding Kings of Israel that went on in the steps of Ieroboam who made Israel to sin they continued the sin of Ieroboam As long as men goe on in the steps and sins of their forefathers the sins of their forefathers live So that some mens sinnes by a continued imitation are perpetuated to the day of Judgment therefore their must be a judgment then that may fill up a measure proportionable to their sin This was that that Dives feared in Hell and that made him crie out as he did that one might goe and tell his bretheren upon earth that they might not come into that place Why would he have them tell his brethren was there such love to the kingdome of Christ in hell that Dives would have his brethren converted no such matter Was it love to the souls of his brethren that he would not have them damned no such matter neither What then Certainly it was nothing else but a sence of his own guilt he knew what evill example he had given and what a counseller he had been to his brethren and if they should go on in his steps and their children follow the same steps all this would but adde to his punishment and torment in the great day when soule and body shall be joyned together to make up the full measure of their torment For this reason I say it is therefore necessary that their should be a judgement after this life at the end of the world The second thing remaineth and that is why the holy Ghost expresseth Gods proceedings by way of reckoning or calling to an account What need the Lord reckon with men he may proceed by way of a Judge but he saith come give an account of thy Stewardship I answer There are four things implied in this all shewing the manner of Gods proceedings at the day of Judgment with his Stewards that it shall be like the proeedings of a Master with his servants in an account and reckoning The first is this that it shall be a proceeding in particulars God shall then proceed not by grosse sums and in the total ye have done evil in the general none will deal thus with an Accountant but he will run over the particulars and Account for pounds for pence for every thing Thus God will deal with all his Stewards when he bringeth them to a reckoning he will reckon on particulars for all things that he hath enabled them with for his service Those that are rich men first how they have gotten their estates whether they have built their houses as a moth as Job speaks that is raised their estates to the hurt of others as men do that raise themselves by usury and oppression and fraud and bribery and such like courses Secondly how they have kept their wealth whether with the injury of others with-holding the goods from the owners thereof from the poor for I call them in case of want the owners of their goods because God hath given them to his Stewards for their sakes therefore mark how Saint James expresseth it Go to now yee rich men weepe and houle why so your riches are corrupted and your garments moth eaten your gold and silver is cankered c. As if he should say you have been hoarding up your treasures you had rather be laying of it up then laying of it out and therefore because you have not laid out your estates for the service of your master rust is come upon your gola and the moth hath eaten into your garments ye have heaped treasure together for the last day Thirdly how they have spent what they have had whether on their lusts or no Ye ask and have not faith S. James because ye ask amiss to spend it on your lusts so ye lay out amiss ye spend it on your lusts When men for pride in apparel for excesse at their tables for vain buildings for sinfull upholding of wickednesse for unnecessary and injurious proceedings in law sutes or in what soever indirect course men lay out their estates it is a mis-spending of their Masters goods And as he that hath got his wealth unjustly and he that keepeth it unjustly shall give an account so he that layeth it out in a confused sinful profuse way shall be called to give a reckoning for that And not only for matter of a estate but besides for matter of place and authority Moses knew this well enough and therefore when he was to go out of the world he first cleares all reckonings with the people of Israel I have been a Ruler thus long let any man come and stand up and say I have done him wrong let every man come clear me this day before the Lord that I have walked all my life-time unblameably inoffensively promoting the glory of God and suppressing all the evill that I could with my might this was the account that Moses made with the people of Israel before he died that he might lift up his head with comfort in the day of the Lord. Thus it must be with you ye must give an account of your places And so for the state of your bodies The health thou hast had how hast thou spent thy strength and thy health Mark the speech of the Wise man to the young man Rejoyce faith he in the dayes of thy youth as if he should say Doe if thou wilt do if thou dare but know that for all these things thou must come to judgment Now thou hast a great deale of health a great deal of strength but hast thou been the better for Gods service hast thou imployed it fot Gods glory or no And so for the members of thy body thou must give an account for thy imployment of those instruments Thy tongue every idle word faith Christ that men shall speak they shall give an account of at the day of judgment If for every idle word what then for thy swearing and cursing and lying what for the abundance of filthy obscene and rotten communication that cometh out of thy mouth Thou must give an account for thy
present calamities of a mans life For crosses of any kind in name state freinds or families or in whatsoever a man hath or goeth about they may all be reduced to this one head when a man cometh from a state of health to a state of sickness from a state of comfort to a state of sorrow from acquaintance and society to be as a Pelican in the wilderness as David speaks destitute of all freinds and helps from inward rejoycing in his heart in the assurance of Gods love to spiritual disertions wherein he seemeth to be as in a cloud under the frowns of God When a man is in this case how shall he exercise Patience how shall he come to it Briesly the way for a man to get patience in such cases as these is this First to consider that there is no change in my life there is no condition whatsoever that I am cast into but it is ordered by God Set thy soul awork now to give God his glory in that change of thy life First give God the glory of his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion Secondly give him the glory of his wisdome Thirdly give him the glory of his mercy in those changes of thy life that seem most grievous to thee First I say give him the glory of his absolute soveraignty Acknowledge him an absolute in-dependant Lord that doth what he will among the creatures His will is the rule of all his actions upon the creatures here below and uncontroul'd unquestionable It is high arrogancy and presumption and pride of spirit for the creature to contest with his Creator concerning his actions on earth Let every man reason thus I must give God the glory of his Soveraignty and acknowledge that he hath power and right to rule all the families of the earth and why not mine as well as another Why not my person as well as anothers Why not to order all the changes of my life as well as another mans That which Benhadad spake proudly to Ahab thy silver and thy gold thy wives and thy children and thy house and thy Citie are mine That may God speak truely and by right All that thon hast and all that thou art is mine therefore give him that glory that Job did in the change of his life The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord that gave hath right to take what he will There is nothing that will keep the creature in his due place but the consideration of Gods absolute soveraignty This consideration was that that meekned the spirit of Eli when that heavy message was brought to him that there should come such misery upon his house that whosoever heard it both his eares should tingle well saith he It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good It is the Lord and it becometh not servants to stand and contend with their Lord. So David when the Priests offered him their service to go along with him to the field from Absolom If saith he I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me back to Jerusalem and his tabernacle but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him Here was that that humbled the spirit of David when he considered that he was under the hands of an absolute Lord let the Lord do with me what seemeth him good Secondly as thou must give him the glory of his soveraignty so of his wisdome Know that God ordereth all his wayes with wisdome and counsel he knoweth what is good for his children Ye are content when ye are sick that the Physitian should diet ye because ye account him wise and one that hath skill in that course If God diet thee for the purging out of some corruption and for the curing of some spiritual disease in thy soul submit to God in this case be willing to resigne thy self up to be ordered by him A man that hath a Gangreen or such a dangerous disease in his body submitteth to the Surgeon in his course though it be to the cutting and sawing off a limb though it be never so painful and the losse be never so great yet he is for the saving of his life willing to have that taken away God is a wise God that knoweth what estate is best for thee not onely when tryals are better than comforts but what one kind of tryall is better then another it may be it is better to exercise one with poverty another with disgrace another with spiritual trouble another with restraint of liberty which particular tryall is necessary to cure that disease and which this that is in my soul the heavenly Physitian will bring that upon thee as a spirituall prescription and a heavenly course that he takes in insinite wisdome to cure thee Lastly give him in all this the glory of his mercy What hast thou lost but thou maiest have lost a great deal more What dost thou suffer but thou maiest have suffered a great deal more As Alcibiades when he was told that one had stollen half his plate I have cause faith he rather to be thankeful that he took no more then to be troubled that he took so much I am sure it is true of God in this case what hath God took from thee some part of thy estate some friend some comfort of thy life some one or other particular comfort could he not have done more He afflicteth thee in thy body he might have afflicted thee in thy soul and a wounded spirit who can bear He hath afflicted thee in some one member of thy body he could have cast body and soul into Hell There is not a tryall upon thee but God could have made it heavier let that make thee therefore to submit with a more meek heart and willing spirit to God as a merciful God as the Church in the Lamentations It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed the Church was in great affliction when the Babilonians came upon them and they were driven from the house of God and their own houses but yet it was Gods mercy that they were not consumed So the Prophet Jeremy telleth Baruch in the captivity Seekest thou great things for thy selfe thou shalt have thy life for a prey Baruch was wondrously disquieted he complained that the Lord had added grief to his sorrow What grief was that that He must go to Egypt and after to Babylon Well saith the Prophet thy case is not so heavy as thou seemest to make it thou shalt have thy life for a prey in all places wheresoever thou goest God might have taken away life and all but thy life thou shalt have for a prey Therefore be content with so much So I say to thee when great afflictions comes upon thee they might have been greater therefore consider that that thou maiest give
they declare the inward truth of the heart and the inward sense of our wants and the weight of the petitionâ—… we put up to God Such were these tears here I fasted and wept I will not stand upon this The reason of this action why he fasted and wept I did it for this end for saith he I said who knoweth whether the Lord will be gratious to me that the child may live A man may wonder if he read the former part of the chapter whence this perswasion and hope should come into the heart of David that there should be a possibility of having the life of this child by his prayer whereas the Lord had said before by Nathan to him that the child should die Nathan had told him in expresse terms that the child should die yet he putteth up his prayer for it and said Who knoweth whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live We must know therefore that God sometime even in those sentences that seem absolute implies and intends a condition David had respect to such a course as God ordinarily took he knew well that God at other times had threatned things yet neverthelesse upon the repentance and prayers and tears upon the humiliation and contrition of the hearts of his servants he hath been pleased to alter the sentence to suspend nay it may be wholly to take away and change the Execution Thus it hath been It was so in the case of Hezekiah The Lord sent as express a message by Isaiah the Prophet to Hezekiah as he did by Nathan to David Set thy house in order for thou shalt die and not live Yet neverthelesse Hezekiah turneth his face to the wall he wept and laid open his request before the Lord Remember now oh Lord I beseech the how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart c. Ye see the Lord presently sendeth the Prophet to tell him that he had added fifteen years to his life and yet the message was carried in expresse words and in as peremptory terms as a man would have thought it had been absolute and no condition intended The like in the case of Niniveh Jonah cometh to Niniveh and began to enter the City a dayes journey and he cried and said Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed Here was the time limited the judgement declared and no condition exprest yet the King of Nineveh humbleth himself and the people they fast and pray and go in sackcloth c. and the Lord was pleased to alter this sentence But some will say these Examples were after Davids time What were these to him upon what ground did he take this course had he any promise or example before time of any such thing as this that did give him incouragement to fast and pray in hope that though God had said the child should die yet it should live Certainly David had examples before time of the like nature when God had threatned judgements and they did not know whether the issue would prove or no as they desired yet they sought God As in the case of Saul When the Lord sent an expresse message by Samuel that the kingdom should be taken from him and given to another because he had not dealt faithfully in the execution of Gods command concerning Amaleck yet saith the text Samuel mourned for Saul still Insomuch as the Lord questioneth him How long wilt thou mourn for Saul seeing I have rejected him from raigning over Israel Yet Samuel continued in seeking God as if he should say Who knoweth what the Lord will do But more expresly David had examples before his time not only of seeking the Lord but of a gracious successe and answer that those had that sought him As in the case of the Israelites when there was a discontent among the people because of the ill report that the Spies put upon the good land the people began now to murmur against God Well saith the Lord to Moses let me alone and I will destroy this people at once Moses setteth himself to seek the Lord and prayeth and presseth the Lord with many arguments for his own glory for his peoples sake for his Covenant sake and many other wayes to spare them What was the issue of it He was heard the Lord told him that he had heard his prayer and granted his request though he would fill the earth with his glory and all the world should know what a jealous God he was another way yet in this particular he had granted his request they should not be cut off at this time So that David had good experience that though judgement hath been threatned before yet neverthelesse courses have been taken that the sentence hath been altered with a change of Gods purpose at all For God ever intended it to be understood with a condition if they returned not to him he would go on if they returned to him he would not go on So the purpose of God remaineth unchangeable yet the sentence according to the externall expression seemeth altered to us so the change is in us and not in God Hence let us note something briefly for our selves and that is this First how to understand all these threatnings in Scripture that seem peremptory and absolute by this rule A judgement is threatned against a nation against a person or family c. Yea and it is absolutely threatned in divers places because thou hast done such and such evils therefore such and such things shall come upon thee All such as these are to be understood conditionally though they seem to be expressed absolutely And the rule God himself giveth At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil that I thought to doe unto them Whatsoever I threatned in my Word if they turn to me by true repentance I will turn all that evil from them that I have threatned against them and would certainly have brought upon them if they have not returned I say thus we are to understand all these and upon this ground we may build some further uses that I will but touch First to take off those discouragments that lie upon the hearts of many When they find themselves guilty of a sin against God when they see that sin threatned with severe punishment and judgement in the word of God now they conclude their case to be disperate it is in vain to seek further to use the means the Lord will proceed in judgement and there is no stopping of him This is an addition to a mans other sins to conclude thus Mark how the Lord expresseth himself in Ezekiel 33. The people were much troubled about such things there say they Our transgressions and our sins
first I say is that the Saints and servants of God while they are on earth do continually expect and look for the Saviour of the world even the Lord Jesus Christ to come from heaven By the coming of Christ you must understand his second coming to judgement For there is a threefold coming of Christ A twofold coming in his Body and one by his Spirit The first was the coming of Christ in the flesh when he came to take our nature upon him and to be born of a Virgin The second is the coming of Christ by his Spirit so he cometh continually and daily in the hearts of men in the preaching of the Gospel in vertue and efficacy His last coming and his second coming in respect of his body is when he shall come to judgement Never look for the coming of Christ in his body upon earth in the sight of men till that great day come when the Lord Jesus shall come with thousands of his Angels in the glory of his Father Now then this being the meaning of it we will prove it And first that it is the continual expectation of all the Saints of God and the continual desire of their hearts their continual waiting is for the second coming of the Lord Christ As it was before the first coming of Christ in the flesh so it shall be before his second coming Before the first coming of Christ after the promise was made to Adam all the expectation and hope of the Fathers and Beleevers was this when the great Messias would come and therefore faith Jacob I have waited for thy salvation and David I have longed for thy salvation meaning Christ the Saviour of the world and the Church groweth to a kind of holy impatiency Oh that thou wouldest break the heavens and come down And immediatly upon the time of Christs coming there were alwayes holy men in those times that were stirred up with a continual expectation of it and therefore it was made a mark of a good man in those dayes It is said of Joseph of Arimathea and Simeon and of divers good women as of Anna and others that they waited for the consolation of Israel they continually waited and expected when the great comforter and Saviour of his people would come So shall the second coming of Christ be from the very time of his Ascension into heaven to the time now and to the time of his last coming to Judgement all the eyes of men will be towards him When I am lifted up faith our Saviour I will draw all men after me which though it be there particularly understood of his lifting up upon the Cross yet it is intended in general of his Ascension into heaven So that as after the promise was given of the Spirit The Disciples waited for the receiving of the gift of the holy Ghost So it is now and will be since the holy Ghost is already given there remaineth nothing to be looked for but Christ himself in his second coming to finish all these dayes of sin And that this is the disposition of all the servants of God appears by divers places of Scripture 2 Tim. 4.8 faith the Apostle there Hence forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing The Apostle here makes a description of all those that shall be saved and he faith they are such as love the appearing of Jesus Christ now that which a man loveth he desireth and looks and longs for And in Heb. 9.28 Christ died once for many and unto them that look for him shall he appeare the second time unto salvation Salvation is brought to whom to all those and only to those that look for the appearance of Christ Therefore it is said of all the Beleevers in Heb. 12. That they saw things that were invisible and that they had an eye to the recompense of reward and that they saw the promise a far off They looked still for those things that were to appear by Christ This I suppose is sufficiently confirmed by the Scripture let us therefore make some use of it Try now what comfort thou hast in the expectation of that great appearance of the Lord Jesus here spoken of This is the most infalible ground and undoubted evidence and testimony of the truth of grace now and assurance of glory hereafter if God have now stirred up thy heart in faith and holy affection to look for and to long and waite for the appearance of Jesus Christ Without this there is little love to Christ The Church in Cant. 1.2 sheweth her love to Christ Draw me saith she and we will run after thee And chap. 2.4 Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples for I am sick of love and chap. 5. If you find him whome my soul loveth tell him I am sick of love If thou be of the disposition of the Church thou wilt out of love to Christ desire nothing so much as to enjoy the presence of Christ The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come the Spirit faith come and the Bride because she is stirred up in the same affection by the Spirit she faith come too Christ faith to his Church I come and the Church she faith again Come Here is the agreement between Christ and his Church and the same disposition is in all the members of Christ a waiting and longing and desiring for the coming of Christ There are many that pretend they wait and desire for the coming of Christ When a man is under any affliction or in any trouble then Oh that Christ would come and end these troubles You shall here a man that is abused and wronged by the oppressions and injuries of others and by the unrighteous dealings of wicked and ungodly men crying out Oh that Christ would come and put an end to these evil times Yea but if thou hast this desire of Christs coming that is in a man of a heavenly conversation It will appear in these three things First it will appear by the Ground of it What are the grounds of thy desire what are the motives that incourage thee to long for the coming of the Lord Jesus That which is the ground of faith is the ground of hope that is the promises Faith is the ground of things hoped for and the Word and Promise are the warrant of Faith Faith and Hope look both on this the free promise of God so it is said of Abraham that be beleeved above hope because be knew that be that promised was able to do it There is the first thing then Faith is the ground there is none but a true beleever that can indeed aright wait for and desire the coming of Christ But this will appeare more in the second thing and that is by the companion
dispense Faithfully Wisely Who saith the Lord in that 12 Luke 42. is a faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make ruler over his houshold c. Gods Stewards ye see must in their dispensations be faithful and wise First they must be faithful Fidelity appears in this when they have a right End and a right Rule to walk by What is the End and Rule of a faithful Steward in all his dispensations in the house of his Master His Masters credit and his Masters will His Masters honour and his Masters command So it must be in the house of God If we would be faithful in our places let Gods glory be our end and his Word our rule That is let a man consider what God in his Word commands him in such a place in such a qualification having such endowments such parts such abilities and let him dispense these by that Rule according to that Command to the glory of God that gave them him Thus was Moses a faithful Steward faithful as a servant in all the house of God so the Apostle saith of him Heb. 3.5 His Masters glory was his end and therefore when once he saw his Master dishonoured by Idolatry he could not then contain himself but his Anger waxed hot though he was the meekest man upon earth And his Masters Will was his Rule therefore he came down from the Mountain with the Tables in his hand that it might appear what he made his guide and direction in all his carriage amongst the people and we shall find that in all the doubts of the people either in matter of Command or punishment he alwayes sought direction from God He is no faithful Servant that doth not do this Secondly As he must be a faithful Steward in dispensing so he must be wise in his dispensing too What is the wisdom of Gods Stewards Not the wisdom drawn from the writings of Machivile or the wisdome of the World or of the flesh for that is enmity against God not drawn from the rules that politicians walk by But that wisdome that is drawn out of the Scriptures the Word of God The Word of God saith the Apostle is able to make the man of God wise to salvation this is the wisdom that Gods servants must express and manifest in dispensing of their gifts they must be made wise by the Word they must seek wisdom from the Word the rule of Wisdom from the Examples in the Word of those that were guided by the Spirit of Wisdom if they would be wise Stewards They must compare the precepts of the Word and the practise of the Saints together see what God commandeth in such a place in such a condition see what Gods servants that are gone before have done in such a condition Mark how Abraham and Job and others of Gods Saints have imployed their wealth and authority it was for the relieving of the poor for the furtherance of Gods glory for the ease of those that were opprest Mark how Nehemiah bestirred himself for the sanctifying of the Sabbath for the furtherance of Gods worship Mark again how St. Paul as a Minister watched against the Wolves and how he spends himself to the uttermost for the Church of God Mark how Abraham as a Master of a Family governed his Family teaching and commanding his children and his houshold to walk in the way of the Lord Mark how other of Gods servants have imployed their gifts As Sampson all his strength for the Church and so Solomon all his wisdom and whatsoever gift any of them had they acknowledged that the Talents that were committed to them were for God and for the service of his Church for the furtherance of his glory in the particular places that he had set them in I say if men would be wise Stewards they must doe thus But I cannot stand upon this lest I be prevented in that which I most intend in that that followeth Ye have heard who is the Steward It is every one that hath received any ability from God to do him service God expects that he should employ that ability in his service We come now in the second place to consider the reckoning which every Man must make the account that every man must give of his Stewardship And that as ye have heard in the second point of Doctrine that offers it self to us out of the first part of the Text viz. That all Gods Stewards must give a reckoning one time or other unto God As every Man in the world is Gods Steward so every Steward must give an account In opening of this I will shew ye two things First I will shew ye what time of Reckoning God hath with his Stewards Secondly I will shew ye why God judiciously proceedeth in this manner called a Reckoning or an Account For the first There are two times of Reckoning that God will have with his Stewards The first in this Life The second after death First he calleth them to account in this life while they live on the Earth and that two ways By his Word By his Rodd First by his Word hastning every man to an Account by the Gospel and the Doctrine of Repentance This course God himself took with Adam called him to account for his carriage in the Garden Adam saith he where art thou who told thee that thou were naked hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat Afterwards when God sent his Prophets into the World they took the same course so Elijah when he came to Ahab hast thou killed and also taken possession as if he should have said know that God hath found out thy sin and now calleth thee to a reckoning So John Baptist when he came to the Pharisees and those hard-hearted sinners he calleth them to a reckoning Oh Generation of vipers who hath warned ye to flee from the wrath to come So Peter called those three thousand souls in Acts 2. to a Reckoning for crucifying of Christ him saith he who is the Lord of life ye have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and slain And because there are many that like the Adder stop their ears at the voice of the Charmer and if God speak but in his Word they pass it by as Elihu in job saith God speaks once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not therefore when the Word doth not prevail God calleth them to a reckoning by his Rodd Mic. 6.9 Hear the rodd and him that appointeth it that is God hath appointed scourges and afflictions for men to awake them to hearken to the voice that calleth them to a Reckoning Now afflictions are outward or inward corporal or spiritual God sometimes calleth men to an account by corporal afflictions He smiteth man as he saith with paines upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pains What
but when he doth not use it in the service and for the glory of the Creator God hath given the creature a beeing for himself I have forfeited my beeing when I glorifie not God with it that man forfeiteth his wit his memory his strength his time his life and all that he is or hath when he doth not imploy them in Gods service to Gods glory Now sin is that that makes us deny the service and glory we owe to God sin is that that makes a forfeiture of our lives and all unto him Here is the first thing God hath given the creature a beeing for himself he preserveth the creature in beeing for himselfe when the creature therefore sinneth it forfeiteth its life and beeing to the Creator This makes sin odious Secondly this is it that declareth the wonderful justice and truth of God He said to Adam in the beginning assoon as ever he had fallen he should die and we find it true on him and all his posterity for Adam stood and represented the person of all men before God that one man was all men in him all men were under the sentence of death And we see it is true to this day We find God true in this let this make us beleeve his word in every thing else He hath been as good as his word he hath declared his justice and his truth in the death of all man-kind upon the sin of Adam he will declare it in every thing else in every promise in every threatning in every passage of his word let us give him the glory of his truth as we find it in this Thirdly it is advantagious very much for our selves as a means to prepare us for death the better When a man seriously concludeth Death is the end of all men then if I reckon and account my self amongst men it will be my end too and it may be my end now And we shall see what use Job makes of this All the dayes of my appointed time I will wait till my change shall come I make account a great change shall come such as hath been upon all my fathers before me so it will come upon me I will make account of it and therefore I will wait all my dayes So should we make account every day that this may be the day of my change in every thing you do make account that your change may begin then in that very action and this will be a means to make you wait for your change make you prepare for death It is that that Drusius noteth of Rabbi Eleazer that he gave his counsel and advice that a man should be sure to repent one day before he died He meant not that a man should defer his repentance till it did evidently that Death had seized upon him But because a man may conclude if it be possible I may live to day it is probable I may die to morrow therefore I will repent to day Do it now and do not delay it till to morrow This is that we are to do to account of every day as that which may be the day of our change and so to carry our selves in all our actions and occasions as if we should have no more time to do our work And this is especially to be observed in three things First in matter of sinning be careful to amend sin every day labour to mortifie sin this day as if thou shouldest have no more dayes to mortifie it in take heed of sinning now as if thou shouldest die now Some we see have been taken away in the very act of sin Ananias and Saphirah were taken away in the very act of sinning when they were telling a lie to the Apostle they died Zimri and Cosbie were slain in the very act of uncleannesse Corah and his company they died in the act of murmuring and resisting of God and his ordinances and ministers Let a man now reason with himself these were taken away in their sins it may be my case as well as theirs if I be found in sin That is the first Secondly bring it home to this particular also in another case and that is in redeeming of the opportunities of the time of our life Besides the general time of life there be certain opportunities certain advantages of time that the Scripture calleth seasons be careful to redeem them though you may enjoy your lives yet you may have none of these such as are seasons of glorifying God seasons of doing good seasons of gaining good to a mans self be careful therefore I say to mannage those opportunities and advantages of time so that you may glorifie God Whether you eat or drink or what soever you do do all to the glory of God Which way soever you may most advance Gods glory and pormote his worship which way soever ye may promote the cause of God drawing men to God and incouraging them in the wayes of God which way soever you may be useful employ your self at that time the present time because you must die and you may die now you may have no more opportunities to do it in And so likewise in all advantages wherein men may do good to men Exhort one another while it is called to day and while you have time do good unto all Do all the spiritual good and all the outward good that you can while you have seasons to do good Happy is that servant that his master shall find so doing when he cometh leading a fruitful and profitable life So do good to your own souls while you have time pray while you have time to pray hear the Word while you have time to hear it exercise repentance while you have time to repent perfect the work of mortification while you have time to mortifie your corruptions do your souls all the good you can by the advantages of all the ordinances of all the opportunities that God hath given you This is the end of all men it hath been the end of good and bad before and it shall be the end of good and bad now men must die their houses will be houses of mourning therefore mannage the time in doing all the good you can that God may be glorified men may be benefited and your own souls furthered that is the second thing Lastly in the manner of your conversation consider the time that you have to do every thing in Will a man be found idleing in the market-place when he should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have been taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then cometh the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they be such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner
the say this but Baruch When men cavil against any part of Gods word or hide any truth from themselves and with-hold the truth in unrighteousness Here is a man living to himself How many points are there in Religion that many men are willingly ignorant of And when they cannot but know them how do they labour for distinction how do they dawb over the matter that they may hide the truth from themselves that it may not work upon their consciences to make them leave their profitable fins Some would have the keeping of the Lords day according to Judaisme though it be revealed to them that there is a broad difference between the Jews observation and the Christians keeping of it Another man he will not understand Usury to be a sin because his course is usurious he will not know this willingly because he would not disadvantage himself Another will not understand what he is bound to do to the glory of God with his estate in what measure according to all the good that God hath blessed him with to honour God and give the first fruits of all his increase nor in what manner that he should be ready to every good work to contribute willingly to the necessities of the Saints what he should do to pious and merciful uses what for publike what for private occasions he would not willingly know these things he should have less ease he makes account Thus when a man is not willing to be informed in any thing to sift the truth to the bottome to the uttermost to know any thing concerning a duty in any kind when he laboureth not to convince his heart to this end that he may be brought in every thing to obey God when he standeth out with God in any one point this man liveth to himself and walketh not as he should according to the rule of God Now then beloved let us be convinced of it I beseech you take it home and let every man consider of it with himself Sometime in the actions of religion there cometh matter of glory in the world and this setteth me forward much when these things are spoken against and when I shall suffer disadvantages I cannot hold out At another time though all things be well yet if it cross me in such a course I murmure as if it were an unprofitable thing to serve God And then again when God revealeth his will my froward and rebellious heart hath hung back and been unwilling to submit to Gods will in this point all this while I have lived to my self And if it be true If a man be in Christ he liveth not to himself then it follows if a man liveth to himself he is out of Christ If the weakest Christian live to Christ then the best that liveth to himself is out of Christ Be convinced of this first Secondly Be convinced as it is the case of our selves so it is an ill estate for a man to live to himself You see still it is the whole drift of wicked men to took to themselves Haman aimed at himself when the King asked him what should be done to the man whom the King would honour He thought whom should the King honour but himself He looked to himself Here was the difference between Haman and Mordecai both had honour in the world Haman seeks himself in all his honour Mordecai seeks God and his glory and the welfare of his Church in his honour A great difference Saith Nabal shall I take my bread and my drink and give it to a man that I know not Here was a man that lived to himself Compare him with Job He was a foot to the lame an eye to the blind he continually fed those that wanted food A great difference Job lived to God and therefore he honoured God in releeving many with the estate that God hath given him Nabal lived to himself therefore he regarded none hut himself and his own house and sheep-shearers and those that depended upon him This is the property of a man out of Christ to seek himself and live to himself in all things Again consider others that have gone further in matters of religion yet they have still turned out of the way as far as they have halted in this Matt. 6.22 If thine eye be single the whole body is light but if thine eye be wicked the whole body is darkness A wicked eye is supposed to a single eye a double eye is a wicked eye What is a single eye That that looks but upon one object upon God and God onely and God principally and on all other things in him and with reference to him Now the double eye is that that though it looks to God and do many things in obedience to God yet it looks to somewhat else and takes other things as greater incouragements this is a wicked eye and such a man walketh in darkness when he looks to God he hath light in the duty when he looks to men and other things then he turneth aside and runneth to by-wayes And therefore a double-minded man is unconstant in all his wayes What is a double minded man He is a double-minded man whose mind is set upon more things then one first on the world and then on God as far as he sees it is profitable he will serve God or else not This man is an unconstant man You see it is an ill estate So much for the first Use for conviction Secondly therefore As many as are guilty of this labour to get out of it not to live to your selves any more Let it be enough that you have lived thus long to your selves that you have desrauded Christ of his due that hath puchased you with his bloud and not served him in holiness and righteousness so many dayes of your life Now for the time to come let us serve him better And that you may do thus I will give you two sorts of directions or helps I can give you but the heads of them First be convinced that our good is in God and not in our selves our life is in God and not in our selves our selves are in God and not in our selves that as the beams of the Sun are in the Sun more then in themselves so a Christian is more in Christ then in himself Whatsoever is good and comfortable to him is in Christ he hath all by vertue of a union with Christ he is not at all happy or blessed further then he is in him If then all our good lie in him it is great reason all our actions should returne to him that he should be the Center where all our lines should meet the mark whereto all our actions should aym Let not the strong man glory in his strength or the wise man in his wisdom or the rich man in his riches but he that glorieth let him glory in this that he knoweth me that I am the Lord. Jer. 9.24 What
avoids the corruptions that are in the world through lusts But this looking for the second coming of Christ This Argument John the Baptist used to press upon his hearers the Doctrin of repentance because the king dome of God was at hand This is that upon which Saint Peter groundeth his exhortatoin unto the people Acts 3.18 Repent saith he and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord Therefore repent and return unto God do away your sins because there will a time of refreshing come and you had need then to be found in another hue in another state then in your old rotten withered condition and sinful lusts This is the Argument that the Aposte used to the Athenians to bring them from Idolatry to serve the living God because God hath appointed a time to judg the world in righteousness by that man whom ho hath ordained Even for that reason because God hath appointed a time to judg the world in righteousness therefore they should turne from their Idols to serve the living God There is nothing that doth so unbottome the heart nothing so shakes and looseneth a mans hold of sin and unrighteousness as the consideration of Christs coming to Judgment What will it boot me will the soul reason to keep my sins when Christ will come to judg me for my sins What shall I get by going on in a course of sin when I can look for nothing then but a sentence of wrath to be denounced against me This then is that that doth settle a man in a holy conversation in that respect Nay fourthly this is that also which quickneth a man to the practise of all holy duties in his place both in his general and particular Calling It is the very argument which the Apostle Saint Peter useth to stir us up to holiness of conversation Seeing saith he that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat As if he should have said Look now about the whole world and see what it is that now can comfort you if you be such as go on in a course of sin It may be you will say I fear not much for I have many friends Yea but all these shall die It may be thou hast store of lands but all that shall be burnt with fire It may be thou hast many pleasures but then there shall be nothing but Judgment The coming of the Lord that shall then put an end to all these and turn the course of things the expectation thereof is a special means to take us off from a course of sin and put us on to a course of obedience to make us walk in another kind of fashion while we are in the world Therefore the Apostle Saint Paul when he would â—…ir up Timothy to the work of the Ministry what is the Argument that he useth I charge thee before Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead As if he should say there shall be an appearing before the Lord and therefore if thou wilt give thy account up with joy at that day I charge thee to look to thy Ministry So may I say to every man in his place I charge thee that art a Master of a Family look to the business of thy family to the salvation of the souls of thy people I charge thee that art a father or a mother to look to the salvation of the souls of thy children I charge thee that art a Christian to look to the salvation of thy own soul And how is the charge I charge thee before the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead Because there shall come a time when both thou and they shall be present before Christ at his appearing therefore if thou wilt have comfort in them and in thy self and in Christ be careful to do the duty that concerns thy place Looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus So then you see in this respect also there is nothing so forcible an Argument to settle a man in a holy conversation in a heavenly course as this for a man alwayes to look for the second coming of Christ Lastly there is nothing fixeth a man so constantly in a holy course as this Our conversation faith the Apostle is alwayes in heaven We alwayes walk on earth as those that aspire to heaven because we alwayes look for the coming of Christ Wert thou carefnl to serve God yesterday do it to day also it may be Christ may come now and take thee away by death to day and there is no preparation for judgment afterward Little children saith Saint John now abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming What is it that giveth a man boldness and takes away shame from him at the coming of Christ What is the reason that a man hath not that spirit of fear and trembling upon him that shall be upon the hearts of all those that go on in sin when they shall cry to the mountains to fall upon them but this that he hath continued in a holy conversation and constantly walked before the Lord with an upright heart I have finished my course saith the Apostle I have fought a good fight I have kept the faith hence-forth is layd up for me a crown of righteousness which Christ the righteous Judg shall give to me and to all them that love his appearing Still the servants of God have incouraged themselves to persevere in a holy course from the expectation of the coming of Christ that will give them a reward for their constancy in his service It is the Argument that the holy Ghost useth to the Church of Philadelphia Rev. 3.11 Hold fast that thou hast and let no man take thy crown As if he should say There is a time coming when Crowns shall be given but to whome to those that hold out that persevere in a godly course Be thou faithful to the death and thou shalt receive a crown of glory This is that I say that will make a man go on will make him that is good in youth be good in age also because whensoever he dieth he shall receive his Crown This will make a man that he shall not begin in the spirit and end in the flesh this will make him that having put his hand to the plough he will not look back because he no further looks for comfort in the appearance of Christ then he hath had care to walk on constantly in a good course Thus you see the point proved to you that a Christian soul hath a main benefit by his looking for the second coming of Christ
overcoming of all sin and by the vertue of Christ he shall prosper in this I beseech you therefore set your selves awork about this great business to get Repentance and Faith and New Obedience it is much more needful then sleep then meat then attire there is nothing in the world so requisite for thy welfare as these things Scrape thou riches together in the same quantity that Solomon did and ten thousands times more yet thou shalt see Death once within a hundred or half a hundred years Get wisdome yet thou shalt see Death after a few years Take pleasure with as much greediness as he did once when he forgat himself for a space yet thou shalt see death These things that the foolish world hunts after with so much earnestness of desire will not secure thee from the sight of the King of feares Death as Job calleth it But if thou once get Faith and Repentance and new obedience then thou hast obtained that that all the riches and honour and pleasures and learning or whatsoever seemeth desirable in the world will not help their possessors to What will you do brethren Grovel still on the earth and still be mad after back and belly Or will you now begin to think I must die I must shake hands with that dismal enemy pale-faced Death that is able to strike terrour into the strongest heart and amazement into the stoutest soul that is not well confirmed and if this Death find me destitute of true Repentance and Faith and New Obedience it will seize upon me and dragg me before the Judgement seat of God where I shall be Henced away with a malediction and curse and be forced to take my place with the Divel and his Angels in unquenchable flames Oh what shall I do then to secure my self from the great from the strong arme of death I will repent now I will begin Lord draw me help me that I may do it I will beleeve now Lord do thou work Faith that requirest it I will obey Lord inable me to preform such needful duties as thou commandest me Shall this be your practice when you come home Will you thus study to practise Repentance and Faith and Obedience and study to cry and call for it and use all your endeavour Or what will you do will you be as idle and careless as negligent and slothful in making after these graces as before Will you be as greedy of the transitory vanities of this life as in former times Oh abuse not the word of God If thou go out of the Church without a full purpose to apply thy self from hence forward either to begin or to proceed in the practise of the saying of Christ Cursed be thou in thy hearing cursed be that hour that thou hast spent and cursed be thy misbestowed labour thou dissembling hypocrite But if thou labour to practise this of Christ namely to keep his sayings the Doctrine of the Gospel to repent to beleeve and to obey blessed art thou in thy hearing and in thy doing and in thy obedience happy is the time and the place and all things that concur together to draw thee to so needful a work I pray Brethren set not your labour upon gold and silver and money and trash not upon the pleasures and delights and contentments of the world not on any other thing but mainly and principally above all things let your chief care be for Faith and Repentance and Obedience If you strive for these things earnestly and heartily and constantly as sure as the Lord is in heaven he will bestow them upon you and with them the benefit of benefits Freedome from Death And now I shall speak comfort to those few that are in the world that keep these sayings of Christ Let them be of good comfort if their capital enemy the King of fears and the King of Afflictions be held from a possiblity of doing them harm nothing can harme them He that Death cannot hurt paine cannot hurt poverty and disgrace cannot hurt nothing can hurt him You know if the King of an Army be reconciled to a place he will keep his Souldiers from spoyling and burning and destroying that place If Death be put out of power to do thee hurt and God be reconciled in Christ because thou keepest the saying of Christ nothing can hurt thee thou art the happiest man under the Sun Why should the poor sad afflicted grieved mourning lamenting Saints of God envie them that are rich and jolly and merry worldlings any of their pleasures and profits any of those things wherewith they like Idiots make themselves laugh at What hath not God given thee better things then he that thou shouldest murmure and whine and weep for want of them art thou still complaining for want of them Remember what Saint James faith Let the brother of low degree that is abased and dispised in the world rejoyce yea rejoyce with great boasting and glory in his Exaltation This is the exaltation of the Saints Christ writing his sayings in their hearts and inclining them through the operation of his Spirit and the powerful work of his Word to repent and beleeve hath freed them from the danger of Death and interessed them into eternal happiness and that blisse that no tongue can expresse nor no heart conceive This is thy happiness it is not to be rich or to be great for these cannot deliver the owner from the hurt of Death natural nor from the danger of Death eternal But to have Faith and Repentance and Obedience this is riches and exaltation for he that hath them shall not alone escape the Dungeon of eternal darkness but be advanced to the Palace of everlasting felicity The Saint is the happy man the penitent beleever and true practiser of Christian obedience he is the sole and only happy man under the Sun for whatsoever storme he suffereth in this present world he shall certainly escape Death and obtaine Glory Blesse God and bless thy self in God magnifie him rejoyce in him take comfort in thy lot and portion Death that devoureth Kings that destroyeth Emperours that conquers Captaines and men of valour shall not be able to approach thee for thy hurt for thou keepest the saying of the Lord Jesus Christ Rejoyce I say in this magnisie him that is the Authour of it and account thy self happy that thou hast receâ—…ed from him so excellent a gift as to be in some measure inabled to keep his saying Yea if it were so may some Christian heart object then I should esteem my self the happiest man alive â—… but alas where is this Repentance you describe where is this New Obedience in me that still still find my self captive and thral to passion to this and that and the other lust and divers corruptions Where is I say that Repentance when I find so much fin Where is that Faith when I find so much wavering and quaking so much aptness to distrust and almost
mad merrimemt he is a mad man that rejoyceth in that for which except he betake himself to serious and bitter mourning he cannot be saved Thirdly the inordinateness of the joy of young men may appear in this because they rejoyce excessively in lawful things for any joy when it is inordinate and excessive it is carnal It is lawful to rejoyce in recreations a whetting is no letting as the Proverb goeth But for a man to let out himself to the hinderance of the service of God to the disturbance of his duty to men it is unlawful It is lawfull to delight in the blessings and comforts of God that he affordeth us we read of the Joy of harvest in Isa 9. But for a man to delight in the gifts of God more then in the giver it is unlawfull Now if young men examine themselves they shall find their hearts mount not up to God in their joy and jollity and that they are excessive in the joy of the creature but altogether cold without joy of the Creatour Fourthly the carnalness of the Joy of young men may well appear in this because they terminate and conclude not their joy in God This followeth on the former for it is impossible that what beginneth not in God should end in God Now when Joy beginneth in sin it cannot end in God but in the Divel Secondly let young men take notice of themselves how they walk after their own hearts The heart that saies Come put away pensive thoughts trouble not your self about the day of reckoning and Judgement enjoy the time present what need this strictness of conversation zeal is but rashness there is no need of it take thy sill of pleasures thou hast goods laid up for many years Thus they Judge and thus they walk after their carnal heart This heart is as no heart as we read of Ephraim in Hosea 7. He was a silly dove that had no heart Certainly the heart that doth not guide men in the right way and direct men to the fear of God it is no heart For as the eye that will not lead us in the right way that performs not its office is no eye so the heart that leadeth not men to God and to goodness it is like the heart of Ephraim it is as no heart Again in the third place Let young men take notice of themselves how they walk after the sight of their eyes That is they stand gazing on things temporal and neglect things eternal they see a beauty and lustre in these outward things and perceive no glory and brightness in Christ Jesus and in his precious Ordinances Beloved if we follow our own heart and our own eyes it will be thus We should rather labour with Job to make a covenant with our eyes Oh how few young men are there that make a bargaine and agreement with their eyes that they Oh how few young men are shall not be as open Casements to let sin into the soul there that like Jeremy have their eyes as fountains of water to weep day and night for the afflictions of the people of God Oh how few yonng men are there that with Moses have an eye to the recompence of reward that they may suffer affliction with the people of God rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Now I beseech you take a survey of your selves in these things These are the vices and sins and deformities of young men to be seen and lamented by all those that hope to dwell in Gods holy Hill The second use of this point is for exhortation to young men they should labour to be reformed in their affections and hearts And away away with this carnall joy we ought to cast it out of us Carnal Joy will you know what the event of it will be It will end in carnal sorrow and without repentance in hell it self Wo unto you faith our Saviour Christ that laugh now you shall weep and mourn The triumphing of the wicked saith Zophar in Job is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment though his excellency mount up to the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet he shall perish as his own dung they which have seen him shall say where is be He shall fall away as a dream and shall not be found yea he shall be chased away as a vision of the night But not to give you this only in Precept but also to shew you how to reform your selves in these vices that Solomon speciâ—…eth bo bear sway in young men let me lay you down these few directions First you must betake your selves to mourning for you sins as Saint James saith Be afflctied and weep and mourn let your laughter be turned into heaviuess If we be not reconciled to God if we have not assurance that we are interested in Christ there is no time for us to rejoyce we should rather betake our selves to bitter mourning for the wrath of God is due unto us and we know not how soon it may fall upon us In the second place Consider how vain all things are in which youthfull persons rejoyce If young men rejoyce in human wisdome and understanding this is a vain thing For first it is gotten with a great deal of trouble and vexation of spirit so faith Solomon Eccles 1.13 I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven this sore travel hath God given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith And verse 18. in much wisdome is much grief and he that increaseth knowledg increaseth sorrow God doth so punish the pride and boldness of the wit of men even from the fall of our first Parents Secondly this human wisdome it must needs be a vain thing for Eccles 1.15 that which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is wanting cannot be numbred by human wisdome The meaning is this that the natural wisdome of man cannot supply the defects of nature which are innumerable much lesse can it furnish the soul with grace or salvation Thirdly it is but vexation of spirit Solomon though he had gotten wisdome and understanding and had experience more then all the Kings of Jerusalem that were before him yet faith he Behold this is vexation of spirit Again God will abolish this human wisdome 1 Cor. 1.19 I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent Where is the wise where is the Scribe where is the disputer of this world Hath not God made foolish the wisdome of this world Besides all your human wisdom it shall not go down to to the Grave it shall leave you when you die There is no work nor device nor knowledg nor wisdome in the grave whether thou goest Eccles 9.10 This is the first thing in which young
Christ was placed in the summity and height of their souls and the desire of the full fruition of him caused that fainting that earnest longing in their spirits You will say if this be so what will become of the greatest part of Christians who are afraid to die who are so far from groaning to depose this Tabernacle that they groan at the least intimation of dissolution It is true that all men receive not this saying neither is it for every one to attain to this perfection As there are two forts of faith so there are two forts of Christians there is a strong faith and a weak faith and there are strong Christians and there are weak Christians the strong Christian is willing to die and patient to live the weak Christian is willing to live and patient to die he goes when God calls but he could wish that God would defer his calling he hath good hopes of heaven but he desires a little more to enjoy the earth he loves God more then all yet his affections are not fully taken off from all he is not perplexed with the fears of Hell yet he is not ravished with the joyes of Heaven he hath much strength but knows it not as many a Spectator of a prize is better able to performe it then he that undertakes it but either through faintness of heart or ignorance of his own strength dare not put it to the hazard but had rather commend another mans valour then trie his own whereas a strong Christian a man grown in Christ sends a challenge to this Gyant Death singles him out as a fit object of his valour grapples with him not as with his match but as his underling insulteth over him setteth his foot on the neck of this King of terrours and by conquering him captivates with great facility all other petty fears of ignominy poverty and the like which therefore are dreadful because they tend to Death the last the worst the end the sum of all feared evills this is the unconquerable crown of Faith this is the glory of a Christian this is the Diadem of honour wreathed about his Temples advancing him above all other men whatsover But you will say may a man desire death Is this now a question what means the agony of the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ What means the earnest longing of the Spouse Apoca. 22. The Spirit faith come and the Bride faith come and let him that hears say come What means her fainting in the Canticles I am sick of love let him bring me into his chamber Let me see his face I am sick unto death Let me dy lest I dy that I may see him for ever What means the Character of a true Christian As many as love the appearance of the Lord which cannot be without death What means the incredible contempt of death in ancient Christians insomuch that it was a received Maxime with the Heathen Omnis Christianus est contemptor mortis What means the heroical incouragement of old Hilarion Egredere anima egredere quid times Go out my soul go out why tremblest thou What means the words of old Simion in the flames Thus to dy is to live What means the rapture of Saint Chrysostome that he would thank that man that would kill him as transmitting him more speedily to those unconceivable Joyes What means this groaning and thirsting in my Text Do not these demonstrate that it is lawful to desire death Not simply in it self or for it self it is the separation of those two whom God hath coupled it is a cessation of being it is an evil of punishment the daughter of sin to desire it simply were to desire evil which is abhorrent to nature much less ought we to hasten our death by violent means Let their memories be buried in perpetural silence as the botches and ulcers of Christianity who out of impatience have perpetrated this heinous sin a sin against God and man against nature against grace against the Church against the common-wealth against all things The Heathen man could say that we are the possession of God to be disposed of by him not by our selves the body is the structure of God the work of his hands the Tabernacle which he hath made and not to be removed or to be taken down but by his command while we live we may advance the glory of God the good of others we may impeople heaven make up the ruines of Angels to hasten our death were to envy this glory to God this good to others In that distraction of our Apostle between two good things his own glory and the good of others you know which way the scales inclined to the good of others as if he had said let my glory be deferred so Gods glory be increased let my joy be increased let my joy be sulpended so the joy of Angels and of the Court of heaven be intended by the conversion of sinners Nay more this is a small thing Let me be an Athema so Israel be blessed let me be blotted out of the book of life so thousands be inserted let the bowels of Christ be streightned to me so they be enlarged to others this is life indeed this is the end of our life this will comfort us in this life and crown us in the life to come He that can truly say that while he lived he lived to God not to himself that he sincerely propounded the glory of God and the good of others unto himself this man may write upon his Tombe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have lived take this out of the life of man and what is it but a meer death if not worse though it be protracted to the years of Methusalem twice told Thus simply to desire death is not good but cloath this with some circumstances and then to desire death is not only warrantable but commendable when we have done all the good we can when our lives will be no more serviceable to Church or Common-wealth when we have with all fidelity done our Masters work when we have the testimony of a good conscience that we have fought a good fight that we have kept the faith that we have finished our race then may we say with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace then may we with our Apostle lift up our eyes to the crown of righteousness which the righteous Judge hath laid up for them that fear him then we may expect the Euge of the good servant Well done good and faithful servant enter into the joy of thy Master Again when we are called to be Holocausts or sacrifices oblations of sweet savours the Frankincense of the Church to perfume others to deliver up our lives unto God to seal his Truth with our bloud to encourage others then we ought to run unto death with all alacrity rejoycing that we are counted worthy to suffer for his Name to triumph to boast
from Parents it comes not of their substance it is enough for them to be the fathers of the flesh God alone is the Father of spirits as the Apostle makes the antithesis Heb. 12.9 Secondly for the Image the soul is most like God saith Plato saith Aristotle it is of the nearest kin of the greatest consanguinity as I may say and the Lord himself signifies so much After our Image let us make man Then the soul of man is not stamped with a Roman Caesar but with Gods own Image and superscription and that First in respect of the substance being not only a spiritual intellectual incorporeal invisible essence but explaining by the plurality of Powers in the unity of Essence the plurality of Persons in the unity of the Deity Secondly being furnished with singular indowments as in the state of innocency with perfect wisdome and holiness and righteousness Yea still in the state of sin some generals are lest some broken fragments of the creation moral qualifications that may lead us by the hand to the knowledge of our Master Lastly in regard of the comanding power it hath over the body It is to the body as Moses was to Pharoah a God to the body it actuates it and moves and commands and restrains it whereby next and immediately under God we live and move and have our being Seeing then the soul is the immediate work and character of God himself so excellent for the Original and for the Image let nature conclude that the soul in-these regards is of greater value then the whole world Secondly in the Kingdome of grace the price of the soul is far above the dignity of the world and that in the grace of Redemption and the grace of renovation For first in the souls redemption the soul amounts so high as that the whole Creation is not able to discharge it It is not gotten for gold nor silver is not weighed for the price of it it is not valued with the gold of Ophir or the precious Onix It cost more to redeem the soul of sinful man the precious bloud of the eternal Son of God he could only redeem it that at the first created it Ye are bought with a price the precious blood of Christ Secondly in the grace of renovation nothing is able to cleanse it from sin but the Spirit of God The spirit alone must enlighten the understanding and rectisie the affections and purisie the will and sanctifie the conscience and seal up the Image of God in righteousness and true holiness And the soul thus renewed is as a Garden inclosed a spiritual Paradise where the God of heaven delights to dwell the Spouse of the Beloved and in the phrase of the Church As the Lilly among the thorns so is my love among the daughters Seeing it appears that the universal World is not able to redeem or being redeemed to renew or renewed to parallel the soul let grace subscribe to that which nature concludes that the soul is of greater value then the whole world Lastly for the passage of glory the contents of the whole Universe are not able to come neer the soul Saith S. Bernard well well it may be busie and took up with other things but it cannot be satiate and replenished with them And Democrates imagined that if there were millions of worlds it were all one in comparison of the soul for blessedness The world is transitory like the dew of the morning it fades as the grass and as the flower of the field whereas on the contrary the soul of man is the subject of immortality capable of an exceeding surpassing eternal weight of glory For if in the time of grace we behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. How resplendant shall the soul of the righteous be in the beatifical vision of Gods excellencies How wonderful shall that divine capacity be that shall be capable of God himself for a perpetual residence Insomuch that the most ancient of dayes shall give fulness to the Soul of knowledg and wisdom and his sacred Spirit that shall fill it with the fulness of God with contentation and the sacred Trinity shall be all in all to it Seeing then the Soul is capable and is the subject of the happiness and joyes of heaven and partner with the glorious Angels in the fruition of the chief good let the sentence of glory joyn to Grace and nature that the Soul is of greater value then the whole world Behold then O man out of the mouth of three witnesses for I may say in this case as Saint John saith in another There are three that bear record in heaven the Father the Word and the holy Ghost Behold out of the mouth of three Witnesses the surpassing excellency and dignity of thy soul it is the breathing of God the Image of God he created it with his Word redeemed it with his Son and in whomsoever his grace abides he will crown it hereafter with his glorious presence What then remains but that we esteem our souls accordingly as God values them Let us not with the unhallowed voluptuous in these times make Lords of our bodies and slaves of our souls Let us not spend our dayes in providing for the lusts of the flesh Let us not in affectation of fair possessions of able servants of hopeful sons and good friends content our selves with bad souls A mans soul is himself saith Plato And O wretched wight saith Saint Austin how hast thou deserved so much ill of thy self as among all thy goods to be only thy self bad O remember the sublimity of thy precious soul thou knowest not what a precious pearle thou hast in thy body like the hidden treasure in the Gospel it is of greater worth than the whole field I say not as he did know that thou hast a God in thee yet know that in that better part of thy nature thou art like to God for he hath given thee a soul of his own breathing and stamped it with the impress of his own Image and created it capable of the fruition of his own presence in endless glory In the consideration whereof walk worthily of this precious divine inspiration Thy Soul is a spirit let thy thoughts be spiritual Thy soul is immortal let thy meditations be of immortality and renounce thy body and good name and gifts of the world for the gainig of thy soul for what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul So much shall serve to be spoken of the first point the surpassing excellency and dignity of the soul it is vallued and prized here above the whole world Now the next is the possibility that a man may lose his own soul The mention whereof causeth me to remember that passage between Christ and his
no means that they leave unattempted no policy unachieved for the accomplishment of their ends and advancing of their estate Balaam for a bribe will almost curse where the Lord hath blessed Ziba for an inheritance as much as in him lies will bring his Master within the compass of treason Demosthenes for a little more gold instead of pleading will pretend he hath a cold May not the Church have a Balaam And the Princes Court have a Ziba and the bar have a Demosthenes There is no greedy Monopolizer wheresoever they be in City or Country but they are moralized Eagles and the coals that they carry shall fire their own nest They shall have Ahabs curse with Naboths Vineyard and Gehezies leprosie with Naamans reward and while with an eager pursuit they hoard up unrighteous Mammon it is but wrath heaped up against the last day they heap up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath Secondly great men are in danger of ambition and a swelling inordinately upon their promotion And the ambitious man is so strangely dazled with the beams of his own lustre ut imperio c. that in the greatest of his power he thinks of nothing but how to be greater he forgets the Lord that made him and God that raised him out of the mire to set him with the Princes of the people And like that famous fool in his new coat once he knows not himself So by means of this impediment though God have some Noble and some worldly-wise that he hath drawn to himself yet by means of this impediment not many mighty not many Noble are called The gates of heaven are too too strait for the swelling dimensions of ambition there is nothing so easie to pride as to purchase a fall and there is no fall so great as from heaven It is a sign that Lucifer if he long for dainties shall be cast out of heaven It is a sign that Adam if he desire the Apple shall be cast out of Paradise It is a sign that Nebuchadnezzar if he glory in Babel he shall be cast out of his Kingdom It is a signe that Haman by abusing his promotion shall be exalted to the gallows To comprize it in aword the greater the dignity of eminency and honour the greater the execution of pains and horror The sum then is this in a world of promotion and temporal advancement in worldly possessions and unmeasurable treasure the covetous and ambitious man may lose his own soul Now for a word of Application if this be so how taxable then are the thousands of worldlings in this kind that imagine the gain of this earth to be the greatest happiness That say to the Gold thou art my God and to honour thou art my glory That make Gold their God and Mammon their Mediator Saith Saint Bernard Yea covetous generation that glory in silver and gold in that that is not yours nor precious precious it cannot be but by the avarice of the sons of Adam that prise them Again if they be yours take them away with you when you go hence Yet the children of the world are wholly for great Diana Gods of silver and gold multitudes of lands and revenues and advancing of their secular estate Many can complain of the vanity of this world and the deceivableness of it but few complain of that Idolatrous confidence that themselves repose in this false world there are few that recount how in enjoying outward things Martha without Mary prosperity without piety they may lose their own souls O let a word of exhortation prevail against this sore disease if riches encrease take heed of covetousness be covetous of spiritual things for immortality there hoard up your treasure in heaven Again for ambition take heed of it be honourable for humility and ambitious for heaven Love not the world and the things of this world exalt not your selves against the Lord of glory Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth boast not of to morrow O fool this night shall they fetch thy soul And what is a man profited if he gain the world and lose his own soul So much for the third point the compossibility of outward prosperity a man may lose his soul in gaining the whole world The fourth and the last is the woful disadvantage by such an exchange What is a man profited You may call it not unfitly the account of the careless Merchant or a Summary collection of gains and losses For a little to countenance the allegory every unsatiable worldling is but merchant adventurer a ventrous Merchant he exchangeth his precious Soul for the deceivable riches of this world But when God in his judgement transports him to his own place the infortunate Island of damned spirits then he begins when the time is past to cast up his doleful account to campare his gains and his losses and after all the ennumeration of his imaginary gain so much by usury so much by extortion so much by fraudulent dealing the total sum is collected to his hand What is a man profited whence the observation might be this that When the gain of the world is attended with the loss of the soul the over plus will be just nothing The bargain is such as that there is nothing gotten by it That is too sparing an expression it is short of Christs meaning who conceals the worst and refers it to our own collection for by the way it were a happiness to be nothing it were profitable for the damned but this comes neerest Christs meaning it is a loss unredeemable and such as the world cannot countervail when a man for the gaining of the world forfeits his soul Let us see it in some particulars First if it be a man that glories in the resplendency of his fortunes and blesseth himself in magnifying his estate a Commander of Kingdoms and Nations an ingrosser of preferments and dignities yet First Death will attach him there is no carrying it away he must of necessity take his leave of his Mammon and then whose shall all these things be for which he hath lost his soul Who gains by the smallness of the Epha the greatness of the shekâ—…e the refuse of the wheat Where is the man that gloried in his abundance and store and thought himself the only happy man saith the Prophet David I went but by and he was gone I sought him and his place could not be found There is a lively expression that illustrates it Jer. 17. As the Partridg gathereth young that she brought not forth so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the middest of his dayes and at his end shall be a fool What not before Yes he was alwayes a fool but then by conviction his own conscience shall call him so by the confession of his own tongue which shall call him so by the proclamation of just men they shall proclaim him so
godly which is a great incouragement and comfortable to the servants of God I will only speak in general The Prophets when they spake of the Kingdome of Christ they set it out by good things there is no need of their good things Nation shall not rise against Nation they shall break their spears into mattocks The wolf shall dwel with the lambe and the Leopard with the Kid They shall eat of the tree of life and the hidden Manna there They shall be made pillars in the Temple of God There they shall be cloathed with long white robes Which places take us by the hand and bring us to some conceit of those joyes How then doth it stand every one upon now while we have time to labour to have intrest in those joyes Thrice happy is that man or woman that comes to enjoy those joyes It is spoken of Christ that he the joyes of heaven being set before him he sustained the cross Saint Paul accounted all but dung that he might win Christ and come to those joyes And Ignatius faith that breaking of bones fire and gallows quartering of limbs come what will so I may come to those joyes I would we had all the like zeal after those joyes Our coldness in seeking those joyes come from a base esteem of them for if we did esteem them we would labour exceedingly after them Many things for use might be inferred hence As first here is comfort and incouragement to all the Saints of God the servants of Christ that take pains to live a godly life However here they indure afflictions and mockings and reproaches and scoffs of the world yet Christ hath a great reward for them Let them rejoyce great shall their reward be Give me a man then that hath buckled with the sins of the times that hath studied the advancement of Religion give me such a one as hath incouraged those that are feeble that hath provided for the Lords Prophets that hath reformed the abuses of the Lords day as Nehemiah what will inflame his zeal more then this that Christ his Saviour sees it and regards it and will reward him And lest he should faint before the reward come he saith he will come shortly This comforted Elias in the Wilderness and Jeremiah in the Dungeon and Job on the Dunghil so that they were more then conquerours through Christ Secondly is it so that Christ shall come to Judgement and hath his reward with him here is terrour to all the wicked workers of iniquity Behold faith Malachie Mal. 4.1 The day of the Lord cometh it shall burn as an oven and all the wicked and ungodly of the earth shall be as stubble and straw and fuel for the furnace of Gods wrath What a woful and heavy day will this be to all the wicked and ungodly Me-thinks they might conceive the terrour and they shall cry out at the last day when he shall come to reward them is not this he whose lawes we have contemned whose sides we have pierced whom we have nayled to the Cross whose Ministers we have reviled whose servants we have reproached And this shall strike great terrour to the hearts of all wicked men when Christ shall pronounce against them Go ye cursed Whither to the divel and his place of torments Then they shall cry to the mountains to fall on them Oh that some wild beast would follow them and tear them in peeces but it will be too late their part and portion is in that Lake that burns with fire and brimstone Lastly this would stir every one up to fit himself to prepare for this Judgement And let us continually therefore lift up our hearts to heaven and as the Apostle speaks wait for the appearing of Christ to Judgement Then all tears shall be wiped from our eyes there shall be no more sorrow and mourning there we shall fit with the Saints and sing with the Angels Halelujah halelujah all praise and honour and glory and might and dominion and majesty be to him that is upon the throne the Lamb Christ Jesus for evermore THE SAINTS LONGING FOR THE GREAT EPIPHANY SERMON XXIV TITUS 2.13 Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ THe former Verses you may remember I chose to speak of upon another occasion I shewed you how the grace of God that brought salvation to all men appeared Secondly how it teacheth those men to whom it brings salvation Every man would be glad to be saved by grace but they love not that grace should teach them now grace saveth none but whom it teacheth it first teacheth them and then saveth them Now it teacheth us as the Apostle faith three lessons First Quid vitandum what we are to shun ungodliness and worldly lusts Then Secondly it teacheth us Quid faciendum what we are to do to live soberly and justly and piously in this present world Soberly toward our selves righteously toward our Neighbour and piously towards God this is the second Lesson Then it teacheth us a third lesson quid expectandum what we must look for looking faith the Text for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The two first points I handled then And I told you I would reserve the third point till it pleased God to give me a fit occasion It hath pleased God to give me a fit one but a very sad accasion It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good in his eyes I will go over the words in particular and observe something out of them And then out of altogether I will raise this Doctrine that A child of God must live so soberly so justly so godly in this present world as becometh a man that looks for a more blessed hope at the great day at the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ I begin with the first The first word is Looking and it hath in it these four things First earnestness a Saint of God must look and look earnestly The Apostle when he sets down the looking of the creatures for the creatures look too together with us to be freed from the bondage of corruption in the glorious liberty of the Sons fo God when he speaks of the looking of the creature he useth a strange word which signisieth a putting out of the head looking to see what it can espie a great way off to see if there be any sign of his coming Rom. 8.19 And he tells us that the creature doth not only put out the head and look but waits and groans and sighs and travelleth as a woman in pain and quoth the Apostle not only the creatures do thus but we that have the first fruits of the spirit Nay if the creature put out the head and groan and wait and is in pain till that day come how much more should we that have the first fruits of
lively and active in the service of God yet there are many discouragements and temptations to draw him out of the way again that it may be he may fall if he have not somewhat to support him and hold him up therefore the consideration of the judgment to come it hath kept the hearts of Gods servants in a good frame when they have been in it Saith the Apostle be constant and immovable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Cor. 15. As if he had said You know this that there will a time come when it will appear that you serve not God in vain therefore for the present be constant in the good you are in Hold fast that thou hast till I come saith Christ to the Church of Philadelphia and let no man take thy crown Rev. 3.21 Christ will come and it is but holding fast a-while and then the Church shall have a crown and the servants of God shall have a crown of glory an abundant recompence of all that they have done in the service of God therefore hold fast Hereupon Jam. 5. the Apostle exhorts co patience because they should meet with many persecutions and oppositions be patient for the coming of the Lord draws neer Bear the injuries that you suffer for the present and the indignities and the unkind usage of men for the coming of the Lord draws neer when you shall have a plentiful harvest so he goes on illustrating this by a comparison taken from a Husbandman that waits for a harvest and then he shall have a plentiful crop and increase for all his pains in Winter and in seed time so saith he the Lord will come and then you shall have a plentiful increase A word or two for the Use of this Since this is the Use that the servants of God have made and that we should make of the Judgment to come therefore to be more careful in the duties of obedience and holiness so to speak and so to doe as those that shall be judged It first shewes the cause of the discouragements of Gods servants and the prophaneness of the world is because they perfectly beleeve not the judgment to come The hearts of Gods servants would not droup so they would not be so faint so dejected and discouraged if they beleeved that there were such a judgment to come wherein Christ will abundantly recompence all their sorrows and labours wherein he will bring his reward with him plentifully Again the wicked world would not be so prophane as they are drunkards and swearers and Sabbath-breakers and all sorts of wicked persons they would not give themselves so to sin as they do if in truth they did perfectly beleeve there were a judgment to come when all their words and actions their company their time and every thing shall be brought to account I say the cause of all prohaneness is this here it begins men beleeve not the judgment to come The Apostles were troubled with these kind of scoffers Where is the promise of his coming So they hardened themselves upon the observation of the continuance of the seasons upon the face of the earth in like manner from the beginning Well saith the Apostle God is not slack as men count slackness but is patient and forbearing that men may repent but at the last he will come and come with flaming sire So this is certain whatsoever you think and put the evil day far off from you yet there is a judgment coming wherein all your actions and affections and speeches and your whole conversation shall be scanned and brought to the rules of this law that you have despised Therefore let men take heed and know it is a device of Satan to harden their hearts either to think that the law is a dead letter I mean in respect of the directing use of it that it is of no use to direct them it is a device of Satan to put them off for they shall find that that law will judge them that now should direct them And then again for men to think that there shall be no Judgment or not such proceedings according to the law this is a trick of the Divel to keep men in prophaneness and hardness of heart Therefore secondly if we would grow up in holiness in the fear of God Let us prefect and strengthen our faith in assenting to this truth that there is such a judgment to come wherein our words and actions and all shall be brought to account Therefore so speak and so do as those that shall be judged Thou art now in company and thou speakest amongst men but thy words are with God they are written in thy conscience as it is in Jeremy upon the Table of thy heart there they are written the words that thou hast for gotten seven years agoe it may be twenty years agoe and never tookest a course to get them blotted out by repentance there they are written and these words shall be brought to judgment and so many actions as thou hast neglected therefore look to it First bewail those words and actions past as things that else will come to judgement if thou judge not thy self before-hand And then again for the time to come set on a resolution to walk daily as one that may die every day and then shall be brought to judgment Therefore judge thy self daily renew thy Covenant settle thy peace on a right ground daily and perfect holiness in the fear of God daily as one that expectest a Judgment Saint Jude condemns those that feasted without fear They were at their Tables companying and feasting as men without fear S. Jerome speaks of himself that whatsoever he was doing he had a fearful apprehension of the day of Judgment Alwayes saith he whether I eate or drink or whatsoever I do I here the Trumpet and the voyce of the Arch-Angel saying Arise ye dead and come to judgment Well I say do thou so let this be thy serious thought and do it not slightly but think that this may be thy last word and thou must be brought to judgment for it this may be thy last opportunity and thy last action and thou must be brought to judgment for that Do things in this manner as those that so speak and so do that they must be judged Wouldest thou be content to have thy oaths brought before Christ in judgment if not take heed of swearing for it is judged already by the law therefore judg and condemn thy sins in thy self and forsake them that thou maist find mercy Wouldest thou be found guilty of Sabbath-breaking at the day of Judgment if not repent of thy former guilt and be more conscionable of sanctifying the Sabbath after And so I may say of every sin Wouldest thou be found an Usurer a Deceiver unrighteous in any course a scoffer a prophane person Wouldest thou appear
gift that he doth give and the freeness of it For who can give life but the God of life that hath life in himself And then again to do this altogether upon meer grace upon his own good pleasure it is a divine property And this is it that doth encourage us to come unto God notwithstanding our unworthiness And in this respect in the second place we have here a Use of instruction to acquaint our selves with God with the freeness of his Grace to plead it unto God when we come unto him and notwithstanding our unworthiness and our wretchedness yet to press this Lord what thou dost thou dost for thy own sake out of thy meer grace this makes me bold to come unto thee Specially upon the consideration of that greatest evidence of Gods free grace and rich mercy in giving his Son to do whatsoever is requisite for the satisfaction of his Justice so that here Grace Justice do sweetly go together for the strengthening of our Faith Grace in regard of our unworthiness Justice in regard of our rebellion God doth what he doth for his own sake his own Son hath made full satisfaction to his Justice And finally this should the more enlarge the heart to God again a gift the freer it is the more worthy of praise it must needs be the more acceptable to him that receiveth it when he receiveth it from meer Grace and he that giveth it is thereby the more worthy of praise so that lay these two together life and the grace of life and then tell me what sufficient thanks can be given to him who out of his Grace doth bestow this life Thus from the priviledge in the second part thereof come we to the partakers of this priviledge And first of the simple consideration of it Heirs so that we come to a right unto that eternal life by inheritance as we are Heirs So do the Texts before-noted expresly set it forth We are justified by his grace that we should be heirs of eternal life Tit. 3.7 And Saint Paul giveth thanks to God for the Collossians that he had made them partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light And our Lord when he doth give us possession hereof inducts us thereunto with this inherit the Kingdom prepared for you Mat. 25.34 take it by inheritance here is your right Now we may not think that this ground of right to our eternal inheritance cometh by our natural generation for so we are heirs and children of wrath as the Apostle noteth in Eph. 2.3 It cannot come by nature for so it is Christs prerogative the true proper natural Son of God and thus as the Apostle faith God hath appointed him heir of all things Heb. 1.2 but it is by another grace whereby we are made children A double grace in this respect a grace of Adoption and a grace of Regeneration A grace of Adoption for God giveth to us the spirit of Adoption whereby we are moved to cry and call Abba Father and by this grace we are children and being children we are heirs Co-heirs not only one with another but as it is there noted heirs together with Christ Co-heirs with him by vertue of this grace of Adoption So likewise by the other grace of Regeneration we are qualified hereunto Saint Peter in his first Epistle chap. 1. verse 3. blesseth God Blessed be the God saith he and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to an inheritance incorruptible c. We are begotten to this inheritance This might again be pressed as a further Argument against the fore-mentioned presumptious Doctrine of Merit that that cometh by Inheritance cometh not by Desert But I pass it over This doth afford to us matter of consolation for this Text is full of consolation every word of it against the baseness whereunto in this world the Saints seem to be subject that are scoffed that are despised howsoever they appear here in mortal mans eye yet notwithstanding in truth they are Heirs they have an Inheritance And as it doth administer to us matter of comfort and a ground of holy boasting and glorying in the Lord so it affordeth to us direction to carry our selves as becometh Heirs not to set our love too much upon this world not to dote upon it but to be lofty minded to have our heart and affection where our inheritance is namely in Heaven to wait with patience for it Be followers of those saith the Apostle that through saith and patience inherit the promise And likewise to make sure to our selves our inheritance look to our evidences Give all diligence saith the Apostle to make your calling and election sure Do but make your Calling sure that you are truly and effectually called then it solloweth by just and necessary consequence you were elected before the foundations of the world and shall be saved Many other Meditations do arise out of this right we have to that life which by Grace is conferred upon us Consider we the extent hereof Heirs together joynt-heirs so as all of all sorts have a right to the life of Saints I speak here of outward conditions whether they be great or mean rich or poor free or bond whatsoever they be they have all a right they are joynt-heirs they are heirs together As it is with us in some places there is a title of Gavil kind that giveth a joynt-right to all the Sons that a man hath and so for Daughters all Daughters are co-heirs so this tenour is as I may say Gavil kind all have a right thereunto no exception of any because God is no respecter of persons This my Brethren serveth as an admonition to those that are great or may seem to be higher than others here in this world if they be Saints let them not despise others who are Saints too they are Co-heirs with them they are fellow-brethren there is not an elder Brother among them Christ only is the Elder Brother There may some have a greater degree of glory there may some have greater evidences thereof in this world and greater assurance yet not withstanding they have all a right to the inheritance they are all Co-heirs And this again is another comfort to the meaner and weaker sort that howsoever there may be some difference in regard of outward condition here yet notwithstanding in the greatest priviledge there is no difference at all and therefore to conclude concerning these and other consolations ministred to you I will use the Apostles words Comfort your selves with these things 1 Thes 4.18 And particularly concerning the Female Sex because the Apostle here applyeth it to them and saith of them as well as of men that they are Heirs Co-heirs of the same inheritance this therefore is to be applyed to them for when the Apostle makes distinction of outward conditions in Gal. 3.28
it from him O death void of mercy and respect of persons that she should die it was some grief to him but that she dyed in travel that did most trouble him and increase his grief And well might he stile their son Benony the son of sorrow for it was indeed a sorrow to them all to her to him to their issue to their friends and acquaintance to their servants to all that knew them or had any relation to them But Jacob will not exceed the bounds of Christianity he was at the last comforted he refers himself his children his infinite and almost insupportable loss to God Almighties pleasure from him she was received and to him he is content again to return all The mourning and lamenting that he made on her behalf it could not recal her again all the tears he could shed for her were of no force or power at all to make her alive too much sorrow might happily indanger his own life and then he should highly offend against Almighty God Patience and Christian fortitude were the only remedies left him and these he resolves on Let us learn hence as long as the world lasts to know that worldly comforts whatsoever they be and howsoever we may esteem of them they are subject to change Love with unfeignedness what may be so loved but take heed you love not too much for fear the taking of that away from you that was so dearly loved of you make you fall into impatience and sin against God Let us so love that we may think of loss if it stand with Gods pleasure but yet let us so love that we esteem it no loss if he please Let his good will and pleasure ever-more moderate our affections so happily we shall enjoy the thing beloved a great deal longer But if we exceed in lamenting were we as just and righteous as Jacob God will be angry with us for it Not only thy dearest Wife but thy dearest Child thy dearest friend whatsoever is most dear to thee shall then feel the stroak of mortality that the heart may be taught to wish for eternity crying heavily and sighing with a mournful voyce with those words of the Preacher Vanity of vanities all is but vanity There is a threefold punishment inflicted upon all women kind in answer to the three sins committed by our Granmother Eve First because she gave too much credit to the words of the Serpent telling her that both Adam and she should be as Gods knowing good and evil therefore it was pronounced presently upon her that her sorrows and conceptions should be multiplied Secondly because against the express command of Almighty God she did eat the forbidden fruit therefore it was pronounced against her that in sorrow she should bring forth Children every time her hour was at hand she should hardly escape death I need not enlarge my self you all know it to be too true nay sometimes and that oft-times too it costs your lives an example we have here in the Text in Rachel and in our deceased Sister here before us and many others Thirdly and lastly because she was a seducer of her Husband therefore for a punishment all your desires ought to be subject to your Husbands and by the warrant of the Scripture they must rule over you Death is a debt to nature and must be payed there is no avoyding of it no putting it off when GOD thinks it fit it is infallible to all in respect of the matter and end though in respect of the time and manner many times it be divers Some die when they are young some in the middle of their age and some live till they be very old That for the time Some die of Convulsions some of Dropsies some of Feavers and to be short some in Child-bed as Rachel here did and our departed sister But of what desease soever they die that is nothing die they must sooner or later of this infirmity or that it is no matter which when it pleaseth God Let a man make what shew he can with all his glorious adornations Let him have rich apparel and disguised linnen and searcloth and balm and spices let him be inwrapped in lead and let stone immure him when he is dead yet the earth his original Mother will again own him for her natural Child and triumph over him with these or the like insultings he is in my bowels returned to his earth This body returns not immediatly to heaven but to the earth nor to the earth neither as a stranger and altogether unknown to him but to his earth appropriate to him as his own his familiar friend and old acquaintance To conclude we are sinful and therefore we must die we are full of evil and therefore we must go to the grave we have sins enough to bring us all thither God grant they be not so violent and full of ominous precipitations that they portend our sudden ruin portend it they do but O nullam sit in omnia c. I am loath to be redious He should not be redious that reads a lecture of mortality How many in the world since this Sermon first began have made an experimeut and proof of this truth of this sentence that man is mortal and those spectacles are but examples of this truth they come to their period before my speech My speech my self and all that hear me all that breath in this ayr must follow It hath been said we live to die give me leave a little to invert it let us live to live live the life of grace that we may live the life of glory and then though we do die let us never fear it we shall rise from the dead again and live with our God out of the reach of the dead for ever and ever So much for the Text at this time To declare unto you the cause of this present assembly would be altogether superfluous the dumb oratory of that silent object doth give you to understand in a language sufficiently intelligible that we are now met to perform the last rites and duty that we owe to the memory of our dear sister here before us And Christian charity hath been so powerful in all ages that it hath been retained as a pious and laudable custome at Funeral solemnities to adorn the dead with the deserved praises of their life not for any pomp or vain-glorious ostentation but that Gods glory here may be for ever magnified by whose grace they have been enabled to fight a good fight and that the surviving may be encouraged to run the same course when they behold them discharged of this tedious combat and crowned with a crown of glory and immortality This Sister of ours was born in this parish and hath lived in it some thirty four years or there-about eighteen years a single woman and sixteen years a married Wife of whom though upon my own knowledge I can speak but little yet having credible information from
of poor people at Macedonia being so poor that the Apostle bears witness of them they gave above their ability We see a poor man and yet an heir of heaven lying full of sores and in want at the gate of Dives that was after thrown into hell An heir of heaven and yet on earth a Beggar You see then beloved the point is true now we will descend and see how it appears to be so and for what respect it comes to pass by Gods providence First it becomes so that there may be a conformity between the head and the members for Christ that was rich for our sakes became poor saith the Scripture even Christ that was rich and Lord over all became poor and in the form of a servant unto all for our sakes so poor that we see the foxes had holes and the fowles of the ayre had nests but our Redeemer had no shelter no not so much room as to rest his head Now there must be a conformity between Christ and his members if the head be poor necessity makes the other members partake of the same Cup. Again secondly if you observe and look on the condition of Gods Saints of the houshold of faith on earth here you shall find small occasion to marvel at their simple estates considering they are a company of travellers and Pilgrims in this world I beseech you as Pilgrims and strangers c. They are not only strangers which may have riches conveyed unto them after some certain stay in a place But they are Pilgrims and time will not permit their abode in one place upon any condition of advantage for their profession compels them from one place to another On whom our Proverbe may truly be verified that a rouling stone gathers nothing They are Pilgrims and Pilgrims desires extend no further in this life then a staffe and a scrip This is the brood of travellers saith David that seek thy face Thirdly there followes another reason and that proceeds from the opposition they find in the world against their course the world labours to make them poor and having prevailed like an imperious Jaylor to a distressed prisoner endeavours to keep them under And it comes so to pass in regard of the natural enmity and division that is in the world in opposition of the wayes of God You shall find that our Saviour intending to go to Jerusalem made his way through Samaria and dispatched some before to provide him lodging But the Samaritans understanding or suspecting that he was minded to go thither refused to entertain him They would not receive him saith the Text Why Because he was going unto Jerusalem Beloved thus deals the world with the members of Christ if they would rely on the world and make that their end as they do then riches should flow in in abundance and their estates might arive to be as eminent and mighty as others But if their minds be resolved for Jerusalem and their eyes reflect that way Let them seek their own entertainment for they shall receive no benefit nor enjoy any contentment by their permission Lastly God disposeth it to be so by his wondrous providence that his glory may be so much the more conspicuous and open in providing that they of the houshould of faith should endure the scourge of poverty on earth that so the work of his grace may appear the more in them by the means of their poverty for when doth grace make it self more manifest in the heart then in the middest of such extremities The stars make the brightest reflection in the obscurest night and grace appears most glorious chiefly in distress You have heard of the patience of Job had not Job endured much sorrow and been exercised in many afflictions the world had been ignorant of his vertues he was first deprived of his substance and suffered the torments of his body before he expressed his patience You have heard of the faith of those people which wandered in sheeps-skins and goats-skins But how could you have been acquainted with their faith if you had not heard of their clothing you see them in sheeps-skins and goats-skins enduring contempt of the world to preserve faith and a good conscience and so you became acquainted with their faith also Is it so then that Gods servants are thus then let the world wonder their fill at it and let not us account it a strange thing saith Saint James for it befalls others of the Saints So say I when we see of the houshold of faith in poverty account it no strange matter that God bestows not riches in this world to one that is rich in grace You see a multitude of believers stript of all they had and yet they were holy and religious Secondly condemn not their wayes for the entertainment they meet within the world Like not the worse of the wayes of God because he afflicts his servants you should then judge evil of the generation of the just You know Job was a man beloved of God from heaven he witnesseth his goodness He was an upright and a just man one that feared God and eschewed evil Notwithstanding you see how he was environed with troubles and made destitute of means and the society of his friends insomuch that his three familiar acquaintance did conclude that therefore he was an hypocrite and that God had found him out in some sin But the ensuing displeasure of God towards these men though it took no effect because of the righteous invocation of his servant Job will tell us there belongs a Judgment to those that censure the Children of God by their afflictions weighing their sins their sufferings both in one scale together But beware of incurring Gods displeasure by accusing the generation of the just in respect of their unprosperous events in this World Thou seest one man disgraced in much trouble it may be in extream necessity for want of these outward blestings presently thou concludest something is amiss in his life Thou perceivest another grows rich having riches and honour and applause in the World notwithstanding he goes on in a prophane course yet thou concludest certainly God loves this man these are dangerous conclusieâ—…s Cain and Esau were beloved of God if this be a sign of love now God himself said that He hated Esau Esau whom God hated had twelve Dukes to his Sons enjoying abundance and superfluity of all things and therefore forbear to reprove the just man or call his integrity into question because of his outward poverty Thirdly take heed you despise not the Houshold of Faith for outward poverty think not meanly of them nor the worse of Grace because of their simple outside for this is to have the Faith of God in respect of mens persons when a man comes in gay cloathing you say sit here in a goodly place but a man in meaner apparel stand thou there
of heaven for the love of earth Let us labour for this main piece of wisdome even to provide for the eternal well-being of our Souls This is the only wisdome which will stand us in stead when we grow wise for a better life And that we may provide for the life to come let us learn this point of wisdome even to remember our latter end know how to die well Deut. 32.29 Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end This is the wisdome of a Christian to prepare himself for death to be ever in a readiness to die that when his change shall come he may have this to comfort him that whatsoever becomes of his body for the present he hath made good provision for his Soul He is the only wise Christian that provides for Eternity and minds this only above all other things how he may enjoy his God and live with him for evermore The Greeks have but one word to express a wise man and an happy man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both as if that were only to be accounted for true wisdome which leads to Eternal Bliss and happiness Herein is the wisdome of a Christian in labouring to attain true Blessedness even the sight and enjoyment of God for evermore Oh blessed is the man that is so wise as to provide for Eternity who dies with this comfort that though his body moulder into dust and ashes for a time yet his Soul shall rest in the arms of his Redeemer The second particular now follows and that is the subject of this wisdome where it is seated even in the heart and affection This in brief is our next Conclusion True wisdome is to be beloved and embrac'd Prov. 2.2 If thou incline thine ear unto wisdome and apply thine heart to understanding Wisdome is the Mother of us all Mat. 11.19 Wisdome is justified of her children and it is fit the Mother should be loved of her children The Urim was to be laid upon Aarons heart Exod. 2.8 30. to note that wisdome must be seated in the heart there she must lodg and be entertain'd the heart is only a fit Receptacle of wisdome and there she must live and abide The Queen of Sheba was so in love with the wisdome of Solomon as that she took a tedious journey to give that wise King a visit Mat. 12.42 And behold a greater than Solomon is here What is Solomon to Christ what is the wisdome of man to the wisdome of God It is but as a Cloud to the brightness of the Sun as the shadow to the substance and he that loves the wisdome of the World and forsakes the wisdome of God embraceth a shadow and forgoes the substance What can we love if our hearts be not enamoured with wisdome There is nothing amiable but wisdome and if we despise ber what is there of this worlds good whereon we many set our love and affection The learned men of old would only be called Philosophers Lovers of Wisdome not wise men as if this were the highest perfection of wisdome and no man was so wise as he whose heart was enflam'd with the love of wisdome It is not enough to know that which is good but we must be in love with that good which we do know Let us be in love with true wisdome and embrace her as our only delight and joy David bore an hearty affection to the commandments of God he made them his only delight and comfort Psal 119.24 Thy Testimonies are my delight and my counsellors Let us not so much affect the things of this life as to forgo all love of God and heaven Let us not be slaves to the world and despise the freedome which wisdome promiseth to them that love her Let us not say as the servant of his Master Exod. 21.5 I love my Master I will not go out free I love the world so well as that I am content to be a Slave for ever so I may have the wages which the world can give me I value not the joyes of the life to come so I may have the good things of this life for my portion Oh for shame shake off the love of these vanities and be in love with heaven esteem nothing amiable but what is reserv'd for thee in another world Let thy heart be set upon true wisdome and do not suffer the fooleries and vanities of this world to steal away thy heart from God Let wisdome be precious in thine eyes and do not seem to love her but love her in truth and in heart Let us not content our selves with a bare sight of heaven with an outward view and speculation of the glory of heaven but let us fasten our deepest thoughts and meditations upon it Let us not speak of heaven but let our hearts be ravished with the love of heaven Our tongues are but the Suburbs of wisdome but the heart is the City Let not wisdome remain without the gate in the mouth and outward profession of piety but let her be received into the City and entertain'd with joy and gladness into the heart and there rest and repose her self as in the bosome of her best beloved And now that I may not have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a tongue without a door that cannot be governed and kept within the compass of time I hasten to the third particular and that is the means were by we may attain this wisdome and that is by numbring of our dayes Our last observation is this the consideration and meditation of death makes us wise the remembrance of death makes us truly wise The wise man shows us who is wise and who is a fool Eccles 7.4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth A wise mans heart is bent to sadness and the serious meditation of his end and makes choice of such mournful thoughts as will present death before his eyes the desires of a fool are carryed after unseasonable mirth and jollity and he minds nothing less then the sad remembrance of his death The thought of death casts a man into a melancholly fit therefore he cannot away with it What saies he Shall I think of that which torments and afflicts my Spirit and causeth sadness and pensiveness of mind The remembrance of death it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a daily death and the medication of our latter end is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a continual sorrow and vexation of the heart But let careless Christians imagine what they please that which is a grief to them will prove no little joy and comfort to those whose thoughts are taken up with the meditation of their latter end When the hour of death approacheth we shall account it the only wisdome to have fitted and disposed our hearts aright for the last day of our dissolution and departure out of
this world Heathens themselves were wont to say that the chiefest wisdome and the main study of Philosophy was only this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even a careful and serious thought of death The memory of a Christian is never better employed then when the thought of death is presented before it This is our wisdome to consider and study how to die well He is a wise man whose memory serves him to think of death The soundness of the stomack is the strengthening of all the rest of the parts of the body so the vigour and strength of the memory in thought of death is the chief support of the soul and if the remembrance of death decay not in us there is no want of wisdome in the soul Is it the meditation of death that makes us wise Judge ye then how many fools there are in the world that never entertain the least thought of death into their hearts that live and run on in sin and never think of the hour of death It is the folly which the Prophet chargeth Ierusalem with that she did not consider her latter end Lam. 1.8 She remembreth not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully In the height of her pride she never thought of death It is strange to see that we should neither think of our own departure nor heed the death of others who are constant Monitors and Remembrancers to us of our own frailty If the Sun chance to be eclips'd we stand amazed at the sight of that darkness which over-spreads the face of that glorious body but we never regard the declining and eclipse of man who is the more noble and glorious creature If the Sun be darkned we wonder at it if man die we never heed it Why then let me stir up your thoughts to the meditation of death that ye may be so wise as to have ever in mind the approach of death 1. Let us think of others that are daily going to their long homes Do we not see some continually coming into the world and others making as much speed out of the world some entring upon the stage others going off As it is in the constant revolution of the heavens some Stars rise and others set and fall so it is with the Sons of men some live others die some daily come forth out of their Mothers wombs others daily return to the womb of their common mother even the earth from whence they were taken 2. Let us look upon our selves and consider how neer death is approaching to us and what hast it makes towards us We know not how soon death may surprise us therefore let us be so wise as to provide for his coming Death for all that we know is now digging of our graves even now he thinks of us when we little think of him let us then be as watchful for death as he is for us let us think of sickness in the time of health and in the day of prosperity remember the hour of death Even in the midst and height of all the glory and happiness of this world let us bring into our remembrance the time of our change and dissolution It is observeable that at the very time of Christs glorions transfiguration the conference which past between Christ and Moses and Elias was concerning the death of Christ Luk. 9.31 They speak of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem to shew unto us that when we are in the height of our glory and honour our thoughts should be busied with the remembrance of our death and departure out of this world I do not like the proverb which is too frequent in your mouths I thought of such a thing no more then of my dying day Let us remember the old Canon in another sense Finis primus sit in intentione Let our end be first in our thoughts and intention let the time of our death be the first thing we think of either morning or evening that so the constant thought of death may take away the terrour of death and being so well acquainted with death before hand we may never he terrified with the approach of it but being guarded with faith and a good Conscience we may boldly look death in the face and triumph in the conquest of the Conquerour through Christ our Saviour by whom we obtain victory over death and the fruit and benefit of our conquest even the Salvation of our souls in Jesus Christ I have done with the text now I fall upon the more careful part of this duty We Ministers at such solemn times as these have an hard Province put upon us in these occasions commonly the wind stands in our faces and we have a crabbed Dilemma cast in our way even that of Agathon in Athenaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If we seek the truth we shall not please if we please we shall hardly speak the truth We walk between two fires the displeasure of God and the frown of man We value not the latter so we may not run the hazard of the former Our chief care is in respect of God that while we seek to give to breathlesse man a little breath of praise we do not dare to dishonour the living God And if this we aim at we need not be afraid to give some satisfaction to the world and right the honour of the dead provide that while we seek to keep up the Fame of another we do not lay to pawn our own reputations or which is far worse make shipwrack of a good conscience On the one hand charity binds me to speak all the good I can of my Neighbour on the other hand conscience in joyns me to utter nothing but the truth Therefore while charity guides me and conscience awes me I hope I may promise to my self a favourable construction from you of all that I now speak I shall not flie out into any empty schemes of Rhetorick concerning the birth of this Worthy Knight Sir William Armyne well known and belov'd in these parts ye all know his descent and extraction he was cut out of no mean quarry Here his bones now rest where he once liv'd with honour and many of his Ancestors before him Do you think I lay any great weight upon all this It is not Birth but Breeding not Breeding but Geace that ennobles a Family Blood without Manners is base Blood Manners without Grace like a glorious Shadow without the Substance I remember what a good man mean of birth answered one that was Noble in Blood and base in Manners 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As my Birth and Parentage is a shame to me so art thou a shame to thy Birth Grace in the heart not Gold in the Purse is the best Inheritance of a Christian There are some stains in the best in the Purse is the best Inheritance of a Christian There are some stains in the best Coats there are spots in
up and down disconsolate with soft paces sad looks and sorrowful hearts all their children they are ready to call and christen Ichobods the glory is departed from Israel being affected like the Citizens of Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib their hearts are like the trees of the wood moved with the wind But let such droopers know that herein they offend God and wrong themselves and let them gird up their loyns and tie up their spirits at the serious consideration that God in due time will raise them out of the dust maintain his own cause and confound his enemies The third sort of people are the Arguers or Disputers who being of a middle temper neither haughty nor stomackful neither low nor dejected and withal being good men embrace a middle course neither to fret nor dispute but calmly to reason out the matter with God himself Of this later sort was the Prophet Jeremiah who thus addresseth himself unto the Lord Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deal very treacherously The good man could not conceive Gods proceedings and although he kept to the conclusion Righteous are thou O Lord yet his heart was hot within him and he would fain be exchanging an argument with God that all was not right according to his humane capacity Job also was one of these Arguers in the agony of his passion Oh that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his neighbour But let flesh and blood take heed of entring the lists by way of challenge with God himself If the synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians and Alexandrians and of them of Silicia and of Asia disputing with Stephen were not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by which he spake much less can frail flesh hope to make good a bad cause by way of opposition against God the best and wisest answerer Remember the Apostles question Where is the disputer But if we should be so bold in humility to examine Gods proceedings let us take heed lest whilest we dispute with God Satan insensibly prompts us such reasons as are seemingly unanswerable in our apprehensions so that instead of being too hard for God which is impossible men become too hard for themselves raising such spirits which they cannot quell and starting such doubts which they cannot satisfie Wherefore let not our ignorance be counted Gods injustice let not the dimness of our eyes be esteemed the durtiness of his actions being all purity and cleanness in themselves Let us if beaten from our out-works make a safe retreat to this impregnable castle Jeremiah his conclusion Righteous art thou O Lord c. Come we now to the good Uses that the godly ought to make of a righteous mans perishing in his righteousness And first when he finds such a one in a swoun he ought with all speed to bring him a cordial and with the good Samaritane to pour Oil and Wine into his wounds endeavouring his recovery to his utmost power whilest there is any hope thereof I must confess it is only Gods prerogative according to the greatness of his power to preserve those that are appointed to die However it is also the boundant duty of all pious people in their several distances and degrees to improve their utmost for the preservation of dying innocency from the cruelty of such as would murder it But if it be impossible to save it from death so that it doth expire notwithstanding all their care to the contrary they must then turn lamenters at the funerals thereof And if the iniquity of the times will not safely afford them to be open they must be close Mourners at so sorrowful an accident O let the most cunning Chyrurgeons not begrutch their skill to unbowel the richest Merchants not think much of their choisest spices to embalm the most exquisite Joyner make the coffin most reverend Divine the Funeral Sermon the most accurate Marbler erect the Monument and most renowned Poet invent the Epitaph to be inscribed on the tomb of Perishing Righteousness Whilest all others well-wishers to goodness in their several places contribute to their sorrow at the solemn Obsequies thereof yea as in the case of Josiah his death let their be an Anniversary of Mourning kept in remembrance thereof However let them not mourn like men without hope but let them behave themselves at the interment of his righteousness as confident of the resurrection thereof which God in his due time shall raise out of the ashes It is sown in weakness it shall be raised in power it is sown in disgrace it shall be raised in glory Lastly the temporal perishing of the righteous man in this world minds us of the necessity of the day of Judgment and ought to edge and quicken our prayers that God would shortly accomplish the number of his elect consummate this miserable world put a period to the dark night of his proceedings that so that day that welcome day may begin to dawn which is tearmed by the Apostle The day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Five things there are besides many others in the primitive part of Gods justice which are very hard for men to conceive First How the sin of Adam to which we did never personally consent can justly be imputed to us his posterity Secondly How infants who never committed actual sin are subject to death and which is more to damnation it self Thirdly How God can actually harden the hearts of some as he did Pharaohs and yet not be in the least degree accessary to sin and the author thereof Fourthly How the Americans can justly be condemned to whom the sound of the Gospel was never trumpetted forth and they by their invincible ignorance uncapable of Gods will in his word Lastly How God as it in the Text can suffer righteous men to perish in their righteousness and wicked men to flowrish in their iniquity In all these a thin vail may seem to hang before them so that we have not a full and free view of the reasons of Gods proceedings herein yet so as that under and thorow this vail we discover enough in modesty and sobriety to satisfie our selves though perchange unable to utter what in part we apprehend we cannot effectually remove all the scruples which the pious nor all the cavils which the profane man brings against us But at the day of judgment at the revelation of the righteous judgment of God this vail shall be turned back or rather totally taken away so that all shall plainly and perspicuously perceive the justice of Gods dealing in the cases aforesaid Not that then or there any new essential addition or accession shall accrue to Gods justice to mend or make up any former desault or defect therein