measure with that pure and holy knowledge that the Lord hath of them it would make them take some more labour for his love and acquaintance which seeing they doe not they fulfill the Lords threatning to their shame seeing they are foretolde of it and care not to prevent it Christ foretolde us that hee who confessed him Matth 10 32. Marke 10.38 hee would acknowledge him before his Father and the Angels but he that would be ashamed of him hee would deny him Loe now he maketh it good for he professeth openly I know you not What meaneth to confesse or to be ashamed of Christ In this life our Saviour calleth for our friendship and acquaintance in his faire offer of salvation if we will thinke it an honour for us that Christ was once in misery and poverty for our sake and account this our greatest glory he sendeth his messengers the poore and distressed who are his brethren Fratres vocat omnes simpliciter pauperes Omnis enim pauper frater est Christi quandoquidē Christus in egestate vixit Theophylact. in Mat. 25.40 to be acquainted with us in his name to see how wee would like of their friendship or how we would entertaine Christ if he himselfe came to us in that fashion as indeede once he did If we rejoyce to be thus acquainted with Christ and confesse him in this life then shall he openly acknowledge us and to our glory pronounce before God and all that shall be gathered in the great judgement how we loved and respected him and his messengers He that is ashamed of the poverty of Christ the misery and tribulation of a Christian or the distresse of the poore or to professe love and acquaintance to them they shal be rewarded accordingly Idem in Iuc 9.26 As he that hath an evil servant is ashamed to call him his servant so Christ shall deny them and say I know you not Happy is the soule that hath a part in the commendation and prayer of Paul for Onesiphorus whose service and confession he prayeth the Lord to remember in the great day in these words The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus 1 Tim. 1.16 17 18. for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chaine but when hee was at Rome he sought me out very diligently and found me the Lord grant unto him that he may finde mercy with the Lord in that day and in how many things he hath ministred unto mee at Ephesus thou knowest very well Lastly these words I know you not shew us that not onely Christ shall take away his compassion from them but shall be their enemy to be avenged on them Theophilact in Marc. 8.34 He that denieth another if it be his familiar friend his brother or father although he see him whipt or killed he taketh no notice he laments not he hath no compassion or suffering with him being once estranged from him so when Christ hath denyed the reprobate they must looke for no compassion but which is worse they must expect punishment When some of the Levites were killing of their owne kindred for their idolatry of Levi it is said in their name Hee said unto his father and mother Deut. 33 9. I have not seene you neither knew he his brethren nor knew he his owne children So when the date of acquaintance and mercy is past with Christ then there is nothing to be expected but the execution of vengeance for hee will not know one more than another When his wrath is kindled Psal 2.12 it will be knowne how happy they are that put their trust in him Now there is a question to be answered Seeing Christ both exhorteth and promiseth Knock and it shall be open unto you how is it that hee saith he will deny them that both knocke and call upon him in the day of judgement I answer they defraud themselves of the benefite of this promise Two things to be observed by all that would knocke at heavens gate for obtaining whereof two conditions are required of us First that wee knocke and call while it is the time and day of salvation which day is the time of our life because that life and time is given unto us to this end that wee may labour for the life that never hath an end August in Ioh. 6 Ad hoc debet prodesse unicuique vivere ut detur ei semper vivere And indeede life is onely a benefit to every man that he may thereby obtaine the benefit of living eternally Secondly we must in requisite manner call and knocke some onely knocke with words and honour God with their lippes Esay 29 13◠but their hearts are farre from him yea and will aske of God with teares yet they aske not aright because it is not with heart word and deed of which they want two for their hearts call not to him for love of him or of eternall life but other by-respects are cause of their complaints neither doe their deedes concurre to knocke and move the Lord. These who would enter into life must open their hearts to let the Lord in and dwell in them Psal 24.7 according as David exhorteth Lift up your heads you gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting dores and the King of glory shall come in Psal 118.20 for this is the gate of the Lord onely the righteous shall enter into it who onely may truely say Verse 19. Open mee the gates of righteousnesse that I may goe into them and praise the Lord for ever no uncleane or wicked person dare say this their deedes can neither knocke nor enter Acts 10 4. Cornelius prayer appeared in Gods presence but his fasting and almes went up to heaven heaven cannot be purchased with bare words we must make friends of worldly riches to gaine everlasting habitations and make treasures in heaven yea and have our hearts there also or else our calling cannot be taken notice of nor be able to unlocke the inaccessible place of glory VERSE 13. Watch therefore for yee know neither the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man will come THese words are the 3. part of this Parable containing the application of it Wherin our Saviour sheweth plainly the great love and care he hath to his servants and his abundant mercy which he hath on all men that he desireh not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turne from his wickednesse and live giveth a generall cry forewarning their danger and preventing their destruction but in such particular manner that it is sufficient to move the most senseles heart to retreate Two times already as I said in the beginning hath Christ in this same Sermon given the same warning Now because the danger is great even the damnation of every soule that labours not to prevent it and men are carelesse and fearelesse of unseene and unfelt dangers therfore he preacheth it
utter darknesse to all that are damned is the brightest Lampe that ever hee saw for nothing could ever shew him that there was or where there was a God untill hell made him sensible of it But all others professe that either they would have Lampes as Turkes and others the like or that they have them as the foolish Virgins or Christians or that they have them and Oyle in them as Gods true servants declaring the want of light they conceive in the way betweene Christ and us The use hereof is that wee consider how our soules bend further then this world and further they will goe either right or wrong and that we are not able by our owne judgements to enlighten or direct our selves in the way and therefore wofull and miserable is their case that see or know no more concerning their estate than their bodily eyes doe shew them for know no more of the way to heaven or of meeting Christ than they did when they were children The Heathen would gladly have Lampes but God hath denied them the foolish Virgins have Lampes but have no Oyle Take therefore this holy intent and let it never goe out of your minde that you are desirous to meete Christ and call to God to inlighten and direct you untill you come and appeare in the presence of God But tooke no Oyle with them Here is the dissimilitude the foolish tooke no Oyle with them As it were folly in whosoever would thinke that the candlesticke were the cause of light and not the Oyle so are they who thinke the outward profession without the inward spirit of sanctification to be more requisite or onely sufficient to the obtaining of salvation And therefore the helpes of Gods servants for salvation These things that are helpes to Gods children do hasten the wicked to destruction are the instruments and helpers of wicked men to damnation for Lampes are profitable if Oyle be with them if not they are without their proper end or profitable use As meat drinke and all other things are pure and sanctified to them that are sanctified so unto the ungodly even good things are helpers of their mischiefe Ecclesiasticus 39.25.26.27 That table which is a comfort and refreshment to a good man if it be set before a wicked man Psal 69.23 Rom. 11.9 David and Paul say that it is turned to a snare a net and a stumbling blocke to catch fall and keepe him in gluttony drunkennesse blasphemous and filthy carriage In like manner if the lampes of the foolish were set in a gracious hand they would helpe them to heaven For as Lampes for the most part are of brittle and weake substance filled with Oyle which is apt to be set on fire so this world which is the light and joy of foolish men doth betray her lovers with uncertaine prosperitie with carnall lust and the fiery burnings of many covetous desires and as a lampe or candle by the brightnesse of it entiseth the butterfly to embrace it which by that meanes is either drowned in the oyle or burned in the flame so the showes of sin and of the pleasures of the world entice the mindes of men that their hearts are drowned in many feares and sorrowes 1 Tim. 6.10 and when they suppose they have catcht all they themselves are caught when they thinke that fortune riches the world and all are fallen in love with them they are deceived for it is their heart that is fallen in love with the world finally corruption and destruction the naturall ends of all things under heaven layeth hold upon them qui lachrimarum causas tripudiantes peragunt Greg. Moral lib. 20. cap. 8. et ridentes mortis negotium exequuntur who goe dauncing through the causes of their mourning and with laughter act the tragedy of their owne death And thus doth this world which is their Lampe leade them to their overthrow Where on the contrary the blessings of this world are a furtherance to the servant of God to sustaine his wants to be his servants to teach and instruct him that he is in his journey meeting Christ if they entertaine him kindly he thanks God and is glad that he is refreshed in his pilgrimage if this world crosse him yet he rejoyceth because he knoweth that hee would not be so used if hee were in his owne Countrey Wee ought to beware lest we make the world our lampes That the blessings of this world may be profitable for us we must make uses of them thus first that we make not our lampes or preparation of the pleasures of our owne will which is commonly the deceitfulnesse of sinne nor the entising goods of this world which are no preparations in our journey towards heaven but the greatest cloggs and hinderances that can be the abundance of sinne weigheth and presseth down the soule out of Gods favour the deceitfulnes of worldly felicity maketth the heart insensible of greater happinesse and so blind that it cannot see nor beleeve that there is any eternall miserie to follow after These are the two which doe hinder most men from heaven Ob has duas causas potissimum excluduÌ„ tur vel propter corporales voluptates vel avaritiae morbuÌ„ Theophylac in Math. 22. Deut. 32.29 as our Saviour sheweth plainely in the parable of the great Supper Luk 14.18 19.20 This was the crosse and curse of the Israelits in the wildernes when they possessed Canaan Deut. 32.13.14.15 and therefore as Moses wished to forewarne them so wish I for all others O that they were wise then would they understand this they would consider their latter end Secondly 2 We must use the world warily Muâ—emuscuÌ„peos Danaum in figniaque nobis aptemus let us make better use of the lampes of foolish Virgins and make the world profitable for our salvation which is an hinderance unto theirs the Trojans made use of the Grecians bucklers to make them ensignes of glory and victory so let us use this world as we may thereby shew that we have overcome the world or so to place the goods of it as they may help vs Sublimabunt Euseb Emiss de ascen Domini Serm. 1. nos si fuerint infra nos if we set them under us they shall be as ladders helping vs to mount vpwards Care not how little friendship this world shew you if you prosper in it looke it betray not your soule and withdrawe your affections beware least any thing in this world be better loved by you then you know to be loved by God as God hath made the earth his footstoole let it be your footestoole and Iesus Christ advantage unto you both in life and death VERSE 4. But the wise tooke Oyle in their Vessells with their Lampes IN these words is the dissimilitude the wise furnished their Lampes with Oyle and prepared store besides As the deceits of the world are the Lampe which the worldlings provide themselves withall The soule
it shall bee by calling before them the state they were in when life left them for as life leaves us in the same state judgement findeth us When men awake from sleepe they betake them to their actions labours they were in when they lay downe and beginne where they left off so shall we do in the Resurrection Happie therefore is that seruant Math 24. whom in his death his Master shall find him so doing that he may be prepared to goe into glory with the Sonne of man Numb 23 10. Balaam or any wicked man may well wish Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his But we see besides their wicked life how many dye drunke and loose their lives in quarrels of robbery extortion of pride and vaine glory and so sacrifice the last day of their life to most abominable courses In what fashion can these in their death or in the great judgement addresse themselves for account And therefore in that day the trimming of their lampes shall only be that they would prepare themselves but shall be altogether unprepared for it followeth in the text VERSE 8. And the foolish said unto the wise Give us of your oyle for our Lampes are out AS Virgins that had neglected the time for preparation untill the last momēt of time wherin it was too late to prepare should for shame complaine of their owne unfittingnes and cry unto others for help So when reprobates shall rise again from the dead they shall shew their shamefull and sorrowfull complaint and wish that it were possible for others to help them Notwithstanding they shall not at that time speake unto the true servants of God or thinke that they can help them neither can wicked men hope that counsell or help can be stedable but they shall rather seeke help at Mountaines and hilles if it were possible to hyde them Therefore we must remember as I sayd before that all the words of a Parable cannot be literally or historically applyed neither are propounded so to be made use of but some parts must be added for amplifiyng and adorning the comparison I doubt not but among the Iewes it hath fallen out that in meeting the Bridegroome some have proved foolish Virgins in not providing so as was expected of them and upon the instance of service have craved help from others that could not spare it have with shame been expulsed the place of solemnity as not proving of the acquaintaince and friendship of the Bridegroome so that these wordes of the foolish unto the wise and their answere againe agreeth well with the rest of the Parable and likewise for our application they are rightly placed to be considered of after the addressing of all to judgement because that wicked men never see their folly till then and also Christ would teach how willing and desirous they would be to amend if they might get time and occasion For the first it is alwayes the propertie of fooles to be wise behind hand serò sapere verò stultorvm est and it is the wretchednesse of wicked men never to call for grace untill the day of vengeance be fully come and then like fooles they learne the wit to call therefore the houre of death and day of judgement are the times to make mad men tame and the foolish wise who before in this world could not be ruled with bit or bridle Prov 27 22. Psal 92 6. nor made wise when God grinded them in the morter of affliction but an unwise man doth not know this and a foole doth not consider this Quis autem sit sapiens quis stultus audi cave tibi Insipiens est quise c. Bern. in spec peccat who is a wise man and who is a foole heare and beware of thy selfe that thou be not a foole he is an unwise man who considereth not that he is a stranger from heaven and as it were a banished man in this world He is a foole who though he know these things yet laboureth not to be delivered from this misery he is an unwise man who beleeveth not the eternall state of men either in glory or in misery he is a foole who beleeving these things yet laboureth not to be freed from the one and obtaine the other Psal 49 10. and therefore the Scripture hath well said that both the ignorant and foolish shall perish together Secondly Christ hereby sheweth us how willing and desirous damned men would be to amend and come to Gods favour What paines would the rich Glutton take if he could be released what sorrow would he make what almes would he give what labour and fasting would he undertake If Sodome were as yet undestroyed they knowing now what they know can wee thinke what meanes they would make to escape the eternall torments of fire and brimstone But it is too late they spend their eternity of time in repentance and teares all is in vaine they are in the harvest of sorrow and teares wee are in the springtime they may lament but their teares are fruitlesse God will never be moved nor take notice of them but now if wee sow in teares Psal 126.5 6. and turne to the Lord with all our hearts we shall afterwards reape in joy and bring the eternall sheaves of it with us when the irrevocable wrath of God shall seize upon others for ever Hee is both happy and wise that can take good counsell in seasonable time Tempus in quo peccata fugere non licet semper cogitare debemus dum peccata fugere licet and this counsell and instruction I recommend to all that while we have time to fly from sinne we ever consider and thinke upon the time when we cannot fly from it Give us of your Oyle As it were folly for one to demand that which another hath for necessitie and present use So shall it be to no purpose that at Christs comming wicked men shall wish for that grace which cannot be had but seeing necessity makes the beggar their Lampes are out and therefore they must begge Oyle Wherein wee may observe the strange alteration which the Lord brings upon wicked men The punishment of the hard-hearted and how they are forced to seeke and wish for helpe of them whom they hate most In this world wicked men if they know the man that feareth God of all men they will have least concourse or intermedling with him they have a hundred reasons whereas their owne conceit is cause enough to hate him If Iohn Baptist had lived a delicate and licentious life his time had beene spent in Kings pallaces But specially if they be driven to begge of them Give us for Gods sake of your oyle meale or corne scarce will they bestow the words of this Parable on them Goe to them that sell but stand afarre off and look over the other shoulder The rich Glutton starved Lazarus at
when we have no enemies at all This union with Christ is only compared to the solemnizing of a marriage But because long life without separation proveth not a happinesse to all that are married for we see the disordered and discontented lives of many that they would be glad to be ridde of marriage so they could save their life yea even in them that agree best the godly life cannot set them free of all troubles 1 Cor. 7 32. for every sort of life is intermixed with its owne griefes and inconveniences therefore we may observe that our eternall joyes in heaven are not compared to the best life in marriage that ever was led but only to the solemnizing and time of it that as the time and day of marriage is an image of honour joy and pleasure of all kindes that this earth can give insomuch that both opinion and experience hath framed the Proverbe that the day of marriage is the onely joyfull day in a mans life which incontinent hath its owne changes as all things else have so our eternall glory shall be as a solemnizing of a marriage the joy and pleasure of it cannot passe away but continually remaine unchangeably with us and we with it Esth 1 4. When Ahasuerus did shew the riches and glory of his Kingdome and honour of his Majesty he did it in feasting the Nobles Commonalty of two Kingdomes both which feasts continued above halfe a yeare what shall we thinke of him who counteth the heaven with the spanne Esay 40 12. Verse 22. comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure Verse 23. counteth all the inhabitants of it as grashoppers and bringeth Princes to nothing Shall not he shew it to be everlasting Psal 145.10 11 13. when his Saints shall blesse him and shew the glory of his Kingdome and speake of his power which is saith David everlasting and enduring for ever Psal 102.27 Stat unus dies quia nec habet ortum nec occasum nec inchoatur ab hesterno nec excluditur a crastino August in Psal 122.3 cuius participatio in seipsum This everlasting is as one yeare that faileth not yea this yeare is as one day because it changeth not it never hath Sun-set nor can it give place to the morrow even this is the day which the Lord hath ordained for us that we should everlastingly rejoyce and be glad in it So it appeareth wherein our eternall glory is like unto the solemnity of marriage As I have compared our eternall union with Christ unto a marriage so is it fit that I should compare marriage unto our union with Christ This union is not an imitation of marriage but marriage is an imitation of it Exod 25 40. What ever Moses did it was according to the Arch-type and patterne shewed him in the Mount so whatsoever is here taught us to practise it is that by earthly rudiments wee may ascend higher and consider heavenly things in them And therefore many things are taught us to be read in the plaine letters of our owne actions that as children are taught to act those things which may teach them to know what men doe and what they shall doe in mens estate that they may frame themselves accordingly so doth the Lord teach us many things that they may be glasses for our instruction and that we may though in earthly manner frame our selves for a prepared state of glory The dealing of Christ with his Church is the patterne and direction of marriage Eph 5 22. of which marriage is one and drawn out after the heavenly patterne for it is the Lord that framed both and our practise is no rule to direct the Lord but from the Lords dealing towards his Church and the Churches towards him the Apostle drawes instructions to teach husbands and wives how to behave themselves one to another The maker time place forme matter and end of marriage First what account wee should have of Mariage if we looke to the originall of it it is framed to the similitude of Gods eternall purpose of uniting man to himselfe an extract copyed out of the heauenly Paterne by the hand of God himselfe For the forme of it the most excellent union that we sinfull men can claime or wish for is to be knit to the man Iesus Christ and to be of his body so mariage is according to this paterne to make the strictest bonde that the soule can admit on earth and to unite them in one who were severall bodyes before For the matter of it of all mortall creatures the excellency pertaineth to man and therefore this union the more excellent and lastly for the end of it the preservation of man is better than of any other mortall creature which cannot be without confusion if marriage were wanting And therefore if you respect the time and place the maker the matter the forme and end of marriage you may see how honourable it is and how reverently to be accounted of Paul calleth it a doctrine of divels to forbid marriage 1 Tim 4.1 3. because none else would be an enemie to make it dishonourable in some which God hath pronounced honourable among all Heb. 13 4. or take away the lawfull imitation of so heavenly a patterne and they are the children of Satan that dishonour it either in their owne person or in the practise of others by fornication adultery contempt of the lawfull liberty of it or unadvised undertaking of it I would gladly wish the Church of Rome to aske St. Paul whether it is God or the Divell that would have us teach such doctrine as to forbid marriage unto any The common ends of marriage Secondly we are taught what use to make of marriage The common ends for which marriage was ordained were 1. The conservation of mankinde from utter decay by procreation of children Malach 2.15 to be the seed of the Church 2. The bounding and limiting of wandring lusts and affections 1 Cor. 7.2 that men should not become like beasts the Lord hath ordained lawfull meanes to preserve them from falling into unlawfull 3. That two being together Eccles 4 10. Gen 2.18 the one might be company and helpe unto other Yet are wee to make further use of it that when we either reade or heare the institution of marriage our hearts may ascend higher The spirituall uses of marriage and consider the union betweene Christ and his Church what it is in this life and how our love shall increase when wee are possessed of glory And when we are invited to a marriage to remember the day of the marriage of the Bridegroome when his friends shall enter in and foolish men be shut without doores These things Christ teacheth under the similitude of a mariage that in all such wee may call to minde that mariage which sinne cannot divorce nor death make void And that we may doe this the
we know not the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man commeth Secondly as a conclusion to all this Parable to expound and urge this exhortation Watch. The reason imports two things First the certainty of Christs comming secondly the uncertainty of the time to our knowledge The first is taken as granted beleeved being promised by Christ oftentimes before The second on which we presume most though wee know it least is proved by this comparison in the unexpected coming of the Bridegroom in the chapter before by the example of the sodaine overtaking the world by the flood not looked for even untill the day that Noah entred into the Arke and by the sodain destructiō of Sodom Gen. 19.23 not likely nor looked for an houre before it came for the Sunne shined brightly upon it And lastly in all the said places our Lord promiseth that his comming shall be for sodainnesse in the same manner that as the world had not a dayes knowledge of the flood before it came nor the Sodomites an houres warning of their destruction before it came so no man shall know the day nor the houre when the Sonne of man shall come When the Sonne of man will come This is a name of comfort unto us In the way let us comfort our selves amidst this fearefull doctrine wherein though Christ doth preach of death and judgement yet to his Disciples and us who have laid all our hopes of comfort upon himselfe he hath interlaced a word of comfort in preaching of generall judgement to others he preacheth particular mercy unto us He calleth himselfe the Sonne of man to remember us of the interest wee have in his nature his person his deedes and sufferings and by this name of humility and affection to mankinde we may be incouraged to draw neare to him who is so neare to us and to put our trust in him whose love we are so assured of As this name Sonne of man is comfortable to us so is it a name of instruction for us And a patterne of wonderfull humility for in it we see a wonderfull humility It was the common name that Christ continually called himselfe by Christ never called himselfe Sonne of man after his death reasons in all his teaching before he suffered But we may observe that after his death hee never called himselfe by that name First because as the Apostle saith by the resurrection from the dead he was mightily declared to be the Sonne of God Secondly Rom. 1.2 after his resurrection he was not any more subject to humane infirmities but was as a glorified soule and body Examples are in Luke 24.16 Ioh 20 14. 21.4 though by his power he held the eyes of all that beheld him that they should onely see him as a man conversing upon the earth Thirdly and lastly because hee was to converse no more as a mortall man but onely by his actions Acts 1 3. hee vouchsafed to doe these things which might assure us of the truth of his resurrection and therefore when Mary Magdalen would have fallen on his feete as shee used before his death hee saith Touch me not but when Thomas distrusted Iohn 20.17 27 he bid him feele his hands and his side Wee never reade that the Apostles called him Sonne of man for questionlesse they were astonished at this name of wonderfull humility When the Lord had shewed his glory to the Prophet Ezekiel hee called him ever after Son of man Marginal note in Ezek. 2 1. to remember him that he was dust and ashes and so to humble him ever when hee remembred his owne estate and Gods grace But after the Lord had witnessed from heaven in the hearing of Iohn and his followers that he was his welbeloved Sonne in whom hee was well pleased yet ever after would call himselfe the Sonne of man as professing himselfe to be come of the mortall and corrupted stocke of Adam as miserable men were yea and to descend lower he thought it no disparagement that he was not equall in state and condition with others though above all by nature but framed himselfe to the forme and fashion of a servant to serve Ioseph and Mary and his Disciples to claime no higher honour in this world than to be called the Sonne of man that is by nature bound a servant to man for though the sonne differ from a servant in this Gal. 4.1 that he is heire of all yet so long as he can be called a sonne both nature and Gods law bindes him service and obedience Bern. Ser. 1. super Missus est O wonderfull example of humility hee went saith the Gospell to Nazareth and was subject unto them to wit to Ioseph and Mary choose of both which you will wonder at either the bountifull vouchsafing of the Sonne or the most excellent honour the parents have both amazefull both wonderfull that God should become obedient unto men an humility beyond all example that men should be commanders of God an highnesse beyond all comparison Idem Ser. 3. Advent Certainly the Angels are amazed at this to see him so farre lower than themselves and yet crowned with such glory and worship that he is God above all blessed for ever and doe now manifestly ascend and descend unto the Sonne of man Vbi superius Disee homo obtemperare disce terra subdi c. O man learne to obey O earth learne to be subject Of thy Maker the Gospell saith he was subject unto them be ashamed O dust God humbleth himselfe and thou exaltest thy selfe hee makes himselfe subject to men and thou desiring to have rule of men settest thy selfe to take place of God Learne of Christ Matth 11. that he is meeke and lowly in minde doe you the like and you shall finde rest in your soules Having now heard a wonderfull example of Christs humility let us now returne and take a view of his glory If any wonder with Caiphas that a man of so meane estate can be the God of glory let him receive Christs answer I am he Marke 14.62 and ye shall see the Sonne of man sit at the right hand of the power of God and come in the clouds of heaven The glory of Christ in his comming according as he meaneth in this text is partly invisible partly visible When he calls us to death and particular judgement his person is not seene with our eyes though his power be felt Acts 3.15 Revel 1.18 so that he who is Lord of life and death worketh in us Gen. 28.16 and wee may say with Iacob Surely God was in this place and I was not aware That our Saviour doth in this exhortation meane also of his comming at the day of our death appeareth by example for unto the Church of Sardis he sendeth the meaning of the same words in which he punished many by death and temporall punishments his words are these
and as we feare not him when we are to commit sinne so he will not favour us when we are to be punished at a day houre when we looked least for his comming 4. The Christian watchman must have good hands he must be couragious valiant 4 Good hands to fight as well as to watch without this valour he cannot be a watchman who must needs be a souldier Quid praescire juvat Sir Th Moore Epigram quae patiere tamen what boots to know the evills we needs must suffer All the servants of Christ must be valorous to resist sin Satan fight against thē so long as they live Gaine and glory are most powerfull to increase valour against sin Cic. Tusc quest lib. 1. Omnes incenduntur ad studia gloriâ Let us therefore set before us the high price of our calling and the voice of Christ saying To him that overcommeth will I give to sit upon a throne 2 Tim 2 5. and seeing no man is crowned except he fight as he ought let us search out sin in all the corners of soule and body and prosecute it with the terrour of the Almighty and fight against it with the word and command of God 5. Not troubled with worldly cares 2 Tim 2 4. The second part of our ability to watch consists in preparation which must 1. be of the soule that the mind be not troubled with the love care of this world No man saith St. Paul that warreth intangleth himselfe with the affaires of this life because he would please him that hath chosen him to be a souldier much lesse he who is continually imployed both to watch and fight So Christ exhorts us in our watching and preparing for his coming Take heed to your selves Luke 21 34. lest at any time your hearts be oppressed with the cares of this life and lest that day come upon you at unawares He that hath his heart fixed on the cares of this life can have no heart to watch for another life neglecting this life which he loveth so well For though the world obtained cannot fil the heart nor content the desire of man yet the love desire care of it being not obtained doth so take up and fill the heart that he is in continuall heavines cannot think upon any thing but how to satisfie his desire Yea the love of the world is contrary to Christian watchfulnesse for it inlargeth our heart unto all lust and hath the object only fit to make us increase more and more in sinne St. Iohn by the same reason exhorts us to sequester our mindes from it 1 Iohn 2 15 Love not the world neither the things in the world for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and pride of life Therefore wee must conclude a separation betweene our mindes and the transitory things of this world and make them a ladder upon which we may mount up to heaven Euseb Emiss de Ascen Dom. Ser. 1. sublimabunt nos si fuerint infra nos if they be under us not cared for they will mount us up to heaven and not burden us or make us heavie in mind or carelesse of the danger of sin sodainnes of death of which we are incontinual danger 2. Our bodies must be prepared for watching 6. No glutton nor drunkard with needful nourishment Old men because their strength failes them must as Iacob did get a staffe to rest on but in our nature there is such a weaknes that the youngest grow faint weak wither away as if they were blasted with old age if they be not supported with the staffe of bread An army of Sauls 1 Sam 14 31. that in pursuit of the enemy fasted one day was exceeding faint Ionathan though young and strong yet his eyes waxed dimme as if he had beene old Therefore they must be continually enabled by the use of the creatures by which the senses may be kept sound the spirits in continuall vigour But in this necessity there is an ensuing danger for nothing is more dangerous to a watchman than too much of meat drink because it makes him heavie sleepy that he can not watch Luke 21. So Christ exhorts us Take heed lest at any time your hearts be oppressed with surfetting and drunkennes because they are the causers of sleepinesse send up such abundance of fumes vapours to the brain which cooling doe so possesse the place and first instrument of feeling that the senses for the time are without any sense or feeling And they that use either gluttony or drunkennes become dull heavie senseles careles of their estate or honesty Of al men this becomes not him who would watch war against sin A man that cannot rule his appetite is as a Citty that hath no wall Prov. 25 28. because even the actions of them are the wrath of God punishment of former sinne abominable sins in themselves and a way made for the Divell to enter possesse the soule make them ready for any wickednesse that can be devised This is the way to betray Christianity and to fight against all grace and good motions and finally to laugh at the terrors of it make men go dancing through the causes of their mourning and with laughter to act the tragedy of their owne destruction 7 Furnished with armour 3. A watchman must have outward preparation We are safest when wee are fully appointed and armed it is dangerous to be a naked sentinell whose life is most aimed at St. Paul nameth the furniture to be a good and sincere conscience Eph. 6 14. a love to the Gospell assured faith in the mercifull promises of God knowledge understanding of Gods word perseverance in prayers supplications without this preparation it is in vaine to thinke that we can be able to resist in the evil day or to prevent any never so well known danger Being thus prepared and furnished to stand against sin Satan 8 Faithfull and diligent to watch for our Lords cōming there only remaines that the watchman be faithfull and diligent to foresee all dangers to give a true speedy notice of them In all the former conditions hypocrisie hath place in most men but in this hypocrisie is the direct enemie of our salvation the meanes by which multitudes are conveyed to hell who make shew to be in continual guard against all manner of wickednes to be as ever standing and knocking at the gate of heaven only to be so accounted of men but in their secret actions they labour to goe to hell without any knowledge or noyse of the world And seeing the heart of man is deceitfull above all things it stands every man upon it to search and examine his heart whether in his intents hee labour either to please the world or to puffe up himselfe with a conceit of sincere life or whether his eye be truly set upon the Lord the prise of glory This is onely the meanes to draw us from deceiving our selves and to prevent us that wee labour not in vaine To conclude all let us remember that death is certaine we must pleade no immunity the time of it is uncertaine we must not pleade security it comes hastily we must therefore be hasty in preparation this life is for preparation we must not plead inconveniency and warning is given us of all these things therefore no place remaines for ignorance Beloved you hear your charge you know your perill now choose if you will heare the counsell of Christ and his Apostles all giving the same voice of prevention the labour is theirs the profit is yours the glory whatsoever you doe appertaineth to God whose mercie is magnified in your salvation and whose justice is exalted by your destruction Draw neere therfore unto the Lord proclaime enmity to sinne if you cannot avoid all sin yet stand to the hatred of all frame your life as you desire eternally to be and your workes according as you would have them appeare and be rewarded in judgement expect that death shal ever knock at your dores remember that though we be unreadie yet death is ever ready the grave never out of season nor hell destruction ever satisfied It is long since eternall glorie was prepared for you hasten thither let your hearts be there remember the glorie of Christ and what it were to be made like unto him Call unto God to end your miseries to remove you to glorie and to be partakers with his Saints of the blessed presence of God and of our Redeemer and of the God of peace and love Now to him that is able to keepe you that you fall not Iude verse 24 25. and to present you faultlesse before the presence of his glory with joy Even to God only wise our Saviour be glory and majesty and dominion power both now and ever Amen FINIS