their hands or walke with their feet or eate with their teeth or speake with their lips the memoriall of death is in each of these set before them And as in the outward parts of the body so the like weaknes decay of strength is to be observed in the inward parts and as a cause of that which is in the outward The silver coards of the sinewes which carry the faculty of sense motion from the head in old age are loosed Eccles 12.6 that cable of the marrow in the backbone which was wont so firmely to hold stay the fraile barke of our body tossed with so many motions and by those many conjugations of nerves like so many paire of oares on each side did row the gally up and downe begins now to dissolve The head which is the golden bowle wherein is emboxed the brayne that ministers that faculty of sense motion through age is broken becomes crazie The many pitchers of the veines which carry the nourishing blood from the well of the liver unto each part of the body become like unto broken vessels And the wheele of the arteries which by the reciprocall motions pulses doe convey the vitall spirits from the cisterne of the heart into the furthest coasts of the little world for the quickening of the whole flesh even to the toes fingers ends through languishing age begins to turne returne slowly weakely And all these faint operations are so many memorials of death and doe plainely portend the approch of our latter end every one of them admonisheth us to watch Againe from this weaknes decay of strength both in the outward and inward parts ariseth an other memoriall of death to be seene in that which is esteemed no taste what he eates or what he drinkes 2. Sam. 19.35 old Isaac by his touch cannot feele the difference betwixt the hands of his son the skinne of a beast Gen. 27.16.21.22.23 old David is covered with clothes feeles no heat 1. Kings 1.1 concupiscence departs Eccle. 11.5 Abishag the faire virgin lies in his bosome he knowes her not 1. Kin. 1.4 Yea the inward senses beginne to faile also memory decayes the understanding is diminished old men some times in their decrepite age come to be little children againe not able to discerne betwixt good evill 2. Sam. 19.35 How inexcusable are they that live securely thinke not of death whereof they have so many warnings before hand m With decay of strength sense comes the decay of health Old age is many times a continuall sicknes when the dayes of man are multiplyed they are but labour sorrow even the strength of them Psa 90.10 Then is the time when the evill dayes approch and the yeares of which man sayth I have no pleasure in them Eccle. 12.1 Then is the light of Sunne Moone starres obscured and then the clouds returne after the raine one infirmity after another v. 2. Through decay of naturall heat ariseth indigestion crudity of stomack thereupon follow rheumes catarrhes and from thence comes ach in the bones manifold paines diseases whereby the Lord as with an yron pen writeth our lesson engraveth this sentence deep in our flesh bones Remember your latter end approaching In all the paines of old age the finger of God nippeth pincheth men to make them think of his call prepare for death upon God shewes that then he exspects a speciall act of humiliation when at our end he visites us with such paines that we are to mourne for sinnes committed in the world before we depart out of it when he sends such sorrow unto us at that time especially Then are we called to stirre up the grace of God within us and to rayse up our spirits with all love reverence to meet the Lord that we may receyve his blessing and enter into his gates with joy into his courts with thanksgiving a Againe this paine prevayling at the approch of death causeth men to ly downe to fall flat along upon their beds Iob. 33.19 Act. 5.15 and to let all the affaires of the world alone with the works of their calling Through infirmity of the body God forceth them to stoope calleth them to remember their frailety their end as if he should command them to couch downe before him and require them to prostrate their soules at his footstoole in seeking his favour mercy in Chirst even as their bodies are prostrate by his hand This very position of the body represents unto us how the grasse withers the flower falls and admonisheth us in our soules to worship fall downe before the Lord our maker and by faith to enforce our bodies also leaning on our staffe to worship upon the beds head Heb. 11.21 Gen. 47.31 and 48.2 that he may straightway lift us up for ever As Iacob bowed himselfe to the ground seven times at the approch of his brother Esaw Gen. 33.3 so the Lord himselfe by sicknes thrusts us downe seven times we are often up downe we lift up our selves but cannot hold up our heads God teacheth us there by to come submissively creeping into his presence humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt us 1. Pet. 5.6 b An other warning to thinke of the end at hand is that distast of meat and want of appetite in sick persons when their life abhorreth bread their soule dainty meat Iob. 33.20 When the staffe of bread failes the stay of naturall life is withdrawne then God calles the sick persons to remember their end to double their care for eternal life to seeke the hidden manna unknowne unregarded of the world Rev. 2.17 to feed upon the bread of God which commeth downe for their end This yron sleep is a black cloud of death a night-shade a particular darkenes of which in its measure is verifyed that more generall saying of our Saviour The night comes when no man can work Ioh. 9.4 and therefore while there is light liberty of minde in the time of health the end is to be remembred provided for before the houres of oppression doe come upon the minde e Sometimes in sicknes though sleep oppresse not there is a kinde of raving distraction caused by phrensie or melancholy or other distemperatures which doth overwhelme the minde as Nebuchadnezzars once was by the stroke of God Dan. 4. so that it is unfit to thinke of death or to seeke any comfort against the danger thereof And frō hence therefore it doth likewise appeare how unwise they are that deferre the time of their repentance unto the time of death when it is uncertaine whether they shall be masters of their owne wits naturall understanding not to speake of supernaturall grace which is further above the reach of man yet necessary to salvation f Sometimes the very vehemency extremity of paine
state of mans owne person calling and condition calles him by the sight of himselfe to remember his latter end And first the Lord having made man of the dust of the earth Gen. 2.7 and thereupon after his fall shewed him his readines to return to dust Gen. 3.19 Eccl. 12.7 doth yet further call us to consider our frailety by ordaining that this house of clay is to be held upright by a puffe of the ayre continually breathed in and out and that this being stopt the house must presently fall downe Hereby our life hangs as it were loose before us going in and out every moment therefore is it called the breath of life Gen. 2.7 7.15.22 our life being carried in out upon the breath depending upon it And as God tyed life to our body by such a slender weake thread so he calles us oft to mark it think on it to remember our mortall estate by the breath of our nostrils so easily departing Esa 2.22 Psa 146.4 104.29 a An other fraile band of life like unto our breathing is the pulse which ariseth from the heart the arteries or beating veines this by a double motion of contraction dilatation whereby they are drawne in out both for the expelling of noxious fumes through the insensible pores of the flesh for the drawing in of coole ayre to refresh the heart to feed the vitall spirits From the variety of the pulse are taken many signes of health sicknes life death it is the character of our strength or weaknes are we provoked to watchfulnes And as in the necessity of food so in the quality thereof is our corruptible estate made evident unto us Our food before it come into the body is diversly prepared and the principall fruits for nourishment of man comfort of his life as corne wine figges the like are ripened made to grow more abundantly by the dung and excrements of beasts cast upon them Luke 13.8 from the juyce of the dung is the fatnes and sweetnes of the fruits increased And from hence is the strength of our corruptible life hence we may say to corruption Thou art my father As once the meat of the miserable Iewes in their distresse was prepared with dung Ezek. 4.12 13.15 so is our food dayly in the growth of it as it were seasoned baked and concocted with dung The earth accursed for our sinne is brought to this base condition that the fattest increase thereof is from excrements and it yeeldeth fruit unto the mouth of mā from the tayle of the beasts After it is in the body a great part of it by the alteration there is turned into corruption and receyved into divers lothsome sinkes and channels within the body till it be againe expelled By this perishing food Ioh. 6.27 God doth admonish us of our perishing estate shewes unto us that meats are for the belly and the belly for meats that he wlll destroy both it them 1. Cor. 6.13 Thus the staffe of our strength the very pillars of our life do carry in them the remembrance of destruction corruption for our warning c But this is not all Our food is not onely of corruption but we feed even of death it selfe that by the allowance of God Gen. 9.3 in taking away the life of other creatures to maintaine our owne especially in these last times when he hath said unto us of them all Rise kill eat Act. 10.13 Whatsoever is sold in the shābles that eat asking no questiō for conscience sake 1 Cor. 10.25 herein we see death dayly presēted to us set before us on our tables This is seriously to be thought upō as a wonderfull work of God by the death of other creatures our life is preserved our living bodies are sustaind by their dead carcasses in their blood swimmes our life and from their pangs of death spring the pleasures of our life our feasts ordinary food As the savage Cāniballes eat the flesh of men so we eat the flesh of beasts that that which any creature may serve to be a witnesse of for convincing of sinners that doth the Lord declare to be their cry a denunciation of woe from them Habac. 2.11 Iob. 31.38 Iam. 5.2.3 and in like manner that misery which the creature enthralled by sinne doth endure for man that doth the Apostle expressely call their groaning and travelling together in paine vvith us c. Rom. 8.22 These groanes cryes are then especially to sound in our eares while we are eating of them as the Hare newly taken cries in the mouth of the greyhound so should we be affected as if the same cry were made when we eat thereof have their flesh betwixt our teeth The Gentleman that sits at his table above in his dining chamber and was not present in the kitchin or butchery to see the execution the convulsions of death the sprinting gasping of the slaughtered creatures is yet by remembrance to represent the same and to make it present againe in his eating for eating burying of them in our bellies is more then killing of them a further meanes to strike the heart with thought of death procured for the eater Our stupidity blockishnes must needs be very great if we consider not this fearfull wonderfull providence of God and we shall be worse then the beasts themselves if we hearken not unto the call which God by them gives us to awaken us out of our security to make us remember our fraile condition d An other helpe to preserve our fraile bodies is our rayment and apparell which God hath given to cover and defend the body without as food within And from hence we have a double or treble memoriall of Death considering that our apparell was then first given unto us when by our sinne we first came into the state of death not before Gen. 2.25 with c. 3.7 And then when God first gave our garments unto us he tooke them out of Deaths wardrobe they being made with the death of the creatures from whence they were taken God made coates of skinnes for Adam his wife his posterity Gen. 3.21 Heb. 11.37 The skins of the poore creatures were pluckt over their eares torne from their backes to cover the shame of our skinnes to hide the nakednes of our hydes And what was sayd of Ioab in another case are swifter then a post Iob. 9.25 that we ride post as on dromedaries that runne by the way in all hast to their journeyes end And the travell that men have by sea in the most swift ships is mentioned of God to represent the swiftnes of our time that carries us night and day sleeping or waking to the haven of death Iob 9.26 And according to this wisedome of God and his example should men make right use of other trades and their labours therein to set
that was not onely an idolater but in the grossest manner worshipping all the hoast of heaven setting their altars his graven image in the house of the Lord that was not onely a witch but defiled with many kindes of witchcraft leaving the Lord flying to the devill leaving the Prophets running to wizards that was not onely a murderer but abounding in murders filling Ierusalem with innocent blood which he shed from one end thereof unto another all this after the education under his godly father Hezekias with contempt of many admonitions godly examples yet whē he was humbled in his affliction sought the Lord he was not barred frō the well of life but he found mercy with God who was intreated of him forgave his sins 2. Chro. 33 12-16 And so also those that committed yet a more horrible murder in killing crucifying the Lord of life embruing their wicked hands in his precious blood Act. 2. 23. and 3.15 when they were pricked in their hearts sought grace they found that which they sought obtained remission of sinnes the gift of the holy Ghost being united unto the Church of God were filled with unspeakable joy glory Act. 2 37-47 And as the Lord dealt with these when they turned unto him so hath he promised to deale with the wickedest alive whosoever doe seeke him Thus saith the Lord of hostes Turne ye unto me saith the Lord of hostes and I will turne unto you saith the Lord of hostes Zacch 1. 3. In this divine comfortable promise the Lord doth three times interpose pawne the authority of his name to confirme his word that it might 1.1 2. and 2.20 c and 2. Sam. 7.15 Our Saviour telles Peter that he is to forgive his brother not seven times but seventy times seven Matt. 18. 21.22 And immediately after in the parable next following he shewes how farre the mercy of God exceeds the mercy of men how many times the Lord forgiveth us more then we forgive men And this he doth by comparing our sinnes or debts unto God to ten thousand Talents vers 24. the offences of others against us to an hundred pence v. 28. Now that we may the better conceive the love of God in the pardon of many sins for the comfort of sinners taught in this parable these two summes the difference that is betwixt them is duely to be considered of us And to this end it is to be observed that our Saviour speakes of the Romane coyne such as was then in use among the Iewes at that time subject to the Romanes as appeareth in that peny which Christ required the Herodians to shew unto him having upon it the image superscription of Caesar the Romane Emperour Matt. 22.19.20.21 And though our Saviour spoke in the Iewes language the Evangelists wrote in the Greeke tongue then most common in the world yet the word that is here used for a peny denarion Matt. 18.28 22.19 is the Romane or Latine word to shew that he spoke of Romane coyne The Romane Talent as our writers witnesse contained seven hundred fifty ounces of silver the Romane peny was but the eight part of one ounce Hereupon it followes by just computatiō 750. being multiplyed by 8. that one Talent contained precisely six thousand pence consequently tē thousand Talents contained six thousand times ten thousand pence which is the great summe representing the many sinnes that God forgiveth unto men And though our Saviour by a definite number intends an indefinite yet is the proportion to be observed while he hath chosen so exceeding great a number he would thereby have us to conceive the infinite grace of God in pardoning innumerable sinnes millions of transgressions which the elect faythfull do dayly commit even after their conversion The Lord is still ready to forgive the repentant will abundantly pardon or as the words in the text are will multiply to pardon Esa 55.7 His mercies faile not but are renewed sired they might be consumed with fire from heaven Luk. 10.54.55.56 The spirit that is in man lusteth after envy even Ioshua repined at the mercy grace of God the gifts of his Spirit upon Eldad Medad Num. 11 27.28.2◠Ionas in speciall was strangely vexed and fretted with an exceeding displeasure being angry even to the death and was therefore so hasty swift to anger because God was so slow to anger so mercifull in sparing the Ninevites Ion. 4.1.2.3 And though this seeme strange to those that read it yet is the same passion common among men What godly man is there at this day which doth not in some measure overrunne the Lord to judgment in wishing the destruction of Antichrist as though the Lord were too slow to anger If they might have had their will the Lord should not have waited with so great patience in calling them to repentance But further God is more mercifull to men then men would have him to be even towards themselves For all those that are saved God is more willing to save them then they themselves are to be saved His willingnes to give doth exceed ours in receyving by many degrees First he had a will to save us when we had no will nor being at all he loved us first ordained us unto eternall life before the foundation of the world 1. Ioh. 4.19 Act. 13.48 Eph. 1.4.5 Againe when we came into this world being borne in sinne had a will indeed but no will unto that which is good a will onely unto evill Gen. 6.5 the Lord prevented us called us of unwilling made us willing gave us a minde will to know him seeke him as he did unto Paul in the middes of his wickednes Actes 9.1 3. c. And we should never have had a will to come unto the well of life except we had bene drawne by him Ioh. 6.44 And againe being called made willing it is he that of willing doth make us more willing and constantly willing dayly gives unto his elect both the will the deed of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 Our will wish is bent unto evill we desire we know not what Matt. 20.22 Our will is often eagerly set upon that which would wound our soules be an hinderance to our salvation comfort Iam. 4.3 but the Lord by his gracious will keepes away the evill we faine would have gives the good that we had no will unto He beareth up supporteth our will in good which els presently declines unto evill He holdeth our soules in life suffereth not our feet to be mooved Psa 66.9 And therefore his will is better to us then our owne Unto this living God that is so good so farre exceeds our desires with his good will let us ever runne flye unto him we shall surely finde the well of life with