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
had he reteyned the image of God every imagination of the thoughts of his heart should have bene onely good and gracious continually without any inclination to evill or the least looking awry to any thing that might have bene displeasant in the sight of God And this image of God had bene such a beauty as the eye of man never saw in this corrupt world such a perfect beauty such a symmetry harmony of grace as that Gods owne judicious eye should have found no fault or dislike in it b And yet even this perfect beauty given at the first creation was farre inferiour and not to be compared with the glory of the world to come even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of that which excelleth 2. Cor. 3.10 The first man is of the earth earthly though made perfect yet in a lower degree of perfection the second man is the Lord from heaven As is the earthly such are they that be earthly and as is the heavenly such are they that be heavenly As we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also beare the image of the heavenly 1. Cor. 15.47.48.49 and shall be made conforme to the image of the Sonne of God Rom. 8.29 and that pleasant image of Christ is the highest degree of perfection the sweetest mirrour of beauty in heaven or earth stayning the glory of the former image The innocency of Adam was a white robe a glorious ornament unto him but the righteousnes of God in Christ is a white robe more pure precious of a finer threed of a brighter white of a more divine fashion to adorne the soule and by that righteousnes put on the Lord himselfe becomes a diademe of beauty unto his people Esa 28.5 62.3 Kings use to give gifts according to the state of kings great royall Esth 2.18 and so did the heavenly King at the first creation but the have bene no distemperature of the ayre as is felt now adayes no afflicting stormes or tempests no excesse of cold or heat but that the naked body unclothed without any paine or trouble might well have endured the same Now both the shame paine of nakednes is very great Esa 20.4 2. Sam. 10.4.5 Reu. 3.18 16.15 1. Cor. 4.11 2. Cor. 11.27 and such that men strive to cover the whole body so farre as necessity will permit the hands face being therefore excepted the face left uncovered lest the eyes should be blindfold the breath stopt the hands lest the manifold works of man in his divers callings should be hindered and yet even they also so muffled sometimes with maskes muffes mittens that with great cumber trouble they are often in the day covered uncovered covered againe to avoyd the injury of the weather A great freedome it was to have bene without care what to put on when as they needed no such exhortations as are since given to us thereabout Matth. 6.25.31 Againe the speciall forme of mans body erect upright with his face upward whereas other creatures are made with their heads hanging downward with their faces prone to the earth doth shew that man is called to fellowship with the Lord dwelling on high As the Lord when he still exhorts us to lift up our eyes looke up toward God doth in that phrase call us to communion with him to trust in him to love him to aspire unto him Psal 123.2 Esa 17.7 45.22 so when he made Adam in such a forme with his head and eyes lift up even in that manner of work the Lord called him to looke to his Creatour and to embrace him the author of all his good Besides this what are all the senses of the body but so many instruments of our communion with God or so many doores of the soule by which both the Lord enters in to shew himselfe and the soule goes out to behold him By them his praise is heard his glory is seene his goodnes gifts are tasted his sweetnes smelled yea groaped or handled of us Actes 17.27 By them both faith love feare of God is learned As by the senses of the body God communicated his goodnes with Adam so by the members of his body he was to communicate his heart with God to serve the Lord to render thanks unto him to glorify him at first could not without a change have inherited the kingdome of God 1. Cor. 15.50.51 His eyes had never seene nor could have seene that face of God which is in the light unapproachable 1. Tim. 6.16 with Exo. 33.20 If the eyes of holy men have fayled in waiting for the comforts and deliverances promised in this life Psa 119.82.123 how much more should our eyes wait our flesh long for that end where even in our flesh we shall see God so as Adam in paradise could not doe Iob. 19.26.27 Oh that the remembrance of this end were printed deeply in our hearts that it might ever be retained as the words that are written or plowed and the furrowes engraven with an yron pen filled with lead in stead of inke in the stony rocke in stead of paper all firme to endure so as Iob wished that his hope of this same glorious end might be recorded Iob. 19.23.24 c. e Looke we back againe into the old world behold how God further communicated his image with the whole person of man in that dominion lordship which he gave unto man over the earth all the creatures in it Gen. 1.28 Thereby Adam was crowned with honour and dignity set over the works of Gods hand all things being put under his feet sheepe oxen beasts of the field fowles of the aire fish of the sea Psal 8.5.6.7.8 God brought them all before Adam as it were to doe homage unto him as unto their king in signe of subjection to receive their names from him Gen. 2.19.20 Even after the fall since the rebellion of the creatures thereupon the service which they yet performe unto man is very great The oxe knowes his owner and the asse his masters crib Esa 1.3 The husbandman hath taught the strong horse to be obedient unto him to draw his plow his cart if he say goe he goeth if he say come he cometh at one word the horse goeth right forward at another he stands still and stirrs not at one word he turnes to the right hand at another he turnes to the left hand The silly sheepe are taught to know the voyce of their owne shepheard to follow him to distinguish betwixt his voyce the voyce of a stranger which they will not follow Iohn 10.3.4.5 Experience shewes how the doves are taught to carry letters for men The birds great small are tamed taught to come at the call of man evē the ravenous hawkes at the voyce and call of the faulconer The dogs are taught many
mines of coales in the veines of vitrioll of salt-peter of lime and divers other things whereby from under the earth is turned up as it were fire Iob. 28.5 and to shew a most wofull burning it is sayd The people shall be as the burnings of lime Esa 33.12 Above upon the face of the earth the Lord hath planted divers growing fires in sundry hote herbes some burning blistering the skinne outwardly by the very touch thereof as the nettle with some other kinde of thistles venomous thornes whose innumerable prickes shew the infinite power of God to curse the wicked some other herbs being taken inwardly as Hellebore Coloquintida or the wild gourd that brought death into the pot 2. Kin. 4.39.40 Euphorbium the like doe cast the body into miserable paine distresse burning exulcerating gnawing grating tearing the intrals tossing and tormenting the body with vomits purges with swooning fainting with violent convulsions fearfull symptomes In the sensitive creatures God hath kindled many kindes of living going fire walking to fro in the earth in the divers poysons of sundry serpēts some creeping under our feet some flying over our heads as in the hornet the snake adder aspe cockatrice those fiery flying serpents that sting burne men to the death Num. 21.6 Esa 14.29 To come neerer ourselves in the body of man God kindleth many strange fires in the sundry diseases thereof both by painefull inflammations of particular parts both outward inward especially by that universall fire of the burning fevers flaming out of the heart into the whole body Deut. 28.22 this in great variety some inflaming the spirits onely some the blood also some consuming the very substance of the solid parts also some burning with a simple excesse of heat others consisting in rotten corrupt humours doe burne the body more cruelly of these againe some burning continually night day without intermission as the fire in glasse houses the furnaces where yron is melted others by fitts comming at appoynted seasons after certain periods of time either every day or each second or third day like fire raked under ashes kindled againe upon occasion some others againe consisting of a malignant poysonous fire as in the pestilentiall fevers that burne more cruelly deadly then the rest these are like going or running fires through their contagion spreading abroad walking in darknesse destroying at noone flying as poysoned arrowes by their infection breaking out in boyles carbuncles like so many fiery furnaces or ovens comming up in the flesh Psa 91.3.6 Esa 38 21. And by these with their compounds the Lord kindleth a burning lake within the body maketh the veines which containe the inflamed blood humours to be like so many rivers of pitch brimstone and so causeth an unquenchable thirst an intollerable paine that followes it In the aire clouds above our heads God kindleth terrible fires by thūder lightnings divideth the flames shooteth abroad his fiery darts to consume his enimies Psa 18.12.13.14 Above the clouds in the firmament God kindleth another fire by the Sunne some other starres and smites the earth her inhabitants with the beames thereof so that they are scorched with heate faint in themselves Psal 121.6 with Rev. 7.16 16.8.9 Ion. 4.8 To goe higher into the third heavens God hath there also kindled many fires he maketh his Angels to be flames of fire Heb 1.7 to be horses charets of fire 2. Kin. 6.17 2.11 to be burning Seraphims Esa 6.2 expressed by the same name that is before given to the fiery serpents Numb 21.6 he maketh his Cherubims like coales of fire as the appearance of lampes as the flashes of lightning from them are scattered coales of fire over countries cities for their punishment Ezek. 1.13.14 with cha 10.2.7 e But above all these the Lord himselfe is a consuming fire Deut. 4.24 9.3 Heb. 12.29 an everlasting burning Esa 33.14 when he riseth up to judge the world to plead with secure sinners how can they stand before his angry face His throne is a fiery flame his wheeles as burning fire a fiery streame issueth commeth forth from before him consumeth round about Dan. 7.9.10 Psa 97.3 his face is burning Esa 30.27 his eyes flaming Rev. 1.14 his nostrils smoaking Psa 18.8 his tongue a devouring fire his breath an overflowing streame as a river of brimstone to kindle Tophet Esa 30.27.28.33 from his loynes upward from his loynes downeward all as the appearance of fire Ezek. 1.27 when he shall be revealed from heaven he is to come in flaming fire with his mighty angels round about him all of them like so many shining beames of his glory pointed with indignation sparkling with wrath against the sinners that are frozen in their dreggs 2. Thes 1.7.8 Iude. 14. And yet further to shew the greatnes of this wrath we are to remember that each person in the H. Trinity burneth with a distinct flame of wrath against the wicked The Lord from the Lord raines fire and brimstone Gen. 19.24 The Son comes in the glory of his Father Matt. 16.27 The holy Spirit is a spirit of judgment a spirit of burning Esa 4 4. as the Spirit mooved upon the waters in the beginning of the world Gen. 1.2 so shall it moove upon the fire of Gods judgments in the end of the world for the consuming of sinners All other fires in the creature are but sparkles lesse then nothing in respect of this infinite wrath of God This is the latter end of wicked men never to be forgotten When the Lord warned the Iewes of their destruction of their end that was comming it is wonderfull to consider how earnestly he cryes unto them how many repetitions he useth worthy to be numbred counted exactly of every one whiles he calles upō them An end an end is come the end is come An evill an onely evill behold it is come An end is come the end is come it vvatcheth for thee behold it is come The morning is come unto thee the time is come the day of trouble is neere not the eccho of the mountaines c. Behold the day behold it is come the morning is gone forth the rod hath blossomed pride hath budded c. The time is come the day dravveth neere c. Ezek. 7.2.3.5.6.7.10.12 Thus doth the Lord spread out his hands unto sinners to warne them of their end they are worthy to feele the smart of that eternall fire that neither by the terrour of his wrath propounded nor by the carefull love of God in admonishing thereof will be drawne to looke in this burning glasse to thinke upon this last end Were we wise we should run oftner to warme our soules with this fire by the meditation of it then we bring our bodies to any other fire to heate
sayd to bring forth thousands in our streets Psa 144.13 doe cloth the pastures with their multitude Psa 65.13 are made types of the flock of God that multiply by his blessing Ezek. 34.11.31 doe every one bring forth twinnes none being barren among them Sol. song 4.2 They are also likened to the doves that bring forth almost every moneth come by flights unto their windowes Esa 60.8 See this also in the shadow of mankinde endued with a reasonable life As the fathers mothers are called the fountaines of life from whence the children doe flow Psa 68.26 Esa 48.1 so the Lord communicating spirituall life to his children is sayd to beget them againe Iam. 1.18 they are the dew of his youth Psa 110.3 he is the living father of many children Ioh. 6.57 Heb. 2.10 Yea God is able even of stones to raise up children to Abraham Matt. 3.9 as once of old at first he hewed them out of the dry hard rock of Abrahams decayed body Sarahs dead wombe Esa 51.1.2 Rom. 4.18.19 after that againe tooke the stony heart out of their bodies Ezek. 11.19 as in time to come he is yet once more of the stony-hearted obstinate Iewes to raise up a new holy generation Rom. 11.7.8 24.25.26 And hereby it is evident what a power of life is in God that the well of life is not elswhere to be sought or found then in him alone be with men he will dwell with them God himselfe shall be with them be their God Rev. 21.3 He will rejoyce over them with joy quiet or rest himselfe in his love he will joy over them with singing or shouting as the word also signifies Zeph. 3.17 And what cause have they to sing shout clap their hands for joy eternally for whom the Lord doth sing shout joyfully Esa 12.6 Psa 47.1 how honourable are they whom the Father doth honour Ioh. 12.26 whom the Sonne doth confesse before the Angels for ever Luk. 12.8 And if these promises have their beginning here be made unto men in their pilgrimage be in part enjoyed in this life what shall their complement full performance be when they come to the wel-head of all this life glory hereafter which for the present is hidden with God Coll. 3.3 i What then remaines for us to be done what doth the Lord require of us but that we come to this well of life It is therefore shewed unto us that we might desire it in desiring seeke it in seeking finde it to our everlasting happines And before we come unto it even in the meane time by dayly comfortable meditation we may behold looke upon it yea tast it walking upon the bankes of this river of life sometimes as it were sayling upon these waters being carried with the Spirit of God blowing upon us by faith If any despise this call of God contemne the infinite felicity that is herein revealed unto them if any will forsake the Lord the fountaine of living waters dig unto themselves cisternes even broken cisternes that can hold no water if they will rather runne to the stinking puddles of sinful pleasures marke what the Lord sayth concerning their madnes O ye heavens be astonished at this be horribly afraid utterly confounded or very desolate sayth the Lord. Ier. 2.12.13 And what then is that unspeakable astonishment horrour confusion that shall come upon the despisers of this grace when heaven earth together shall be so affected at the sight of their miserable folly And if any fearefull hearts doe either despaire or doubt they can never obtaine such a divine glorious estate in respect of their basenes unworthines if they k If any fainting spirits be still afraid though they will not speake it out yet think thus within themselves Not our poore meane estate but our wickednes our sinnes that are both great many doe deprive us of hope take away our heart that we cannot looke for a portion in that grace of life that is so great for many others Let these consider how great pernicious an errour hath ensnared them let them labour with all care speedy diligence to have this black cloud of death infidelity hanging over their heads remooved from them It is indeed the uncomfortable estate of the greatest part of the world even of those licentious persons that seeme to boast often of the mercy of God yet not to beleeve his mercy Esa 53.1 Luk. 18.8 Psa 78.22.32.35.36 they feele it not in their hearts when they glory outwardly of it for had they faith it would soone have purifyed their hearts changed ther lives filled them with peace joy unspeakable glorious Act. 15.9 Rom. 5.1 1. Pet. 1.8 Let such consider that through unbeleefe men are broken off from God Rom. 11.20 they doe him the greatest dishonour that may be in not beleeving 1. Ioh. 5.10 for the healing of this sore let them set before them the rich precious promises of God by the meditation whereof they may be quickened have faith wrought in their hearts Psa 119.25.28.49.50.93 Though their sins be many that they cannot answer for one of a thousand Iob 9.3 there is mercy with God to blot out their sinnes as a thick cloud to take away their transgressions as a mist Esa 44.22 When the Lord proclaimed his glorious name he manifested himselfe by this mercy used twise so many titles to expresse it rather then his justice saying The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodnes and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sinne that surely will not cleare the wicked visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children unto the third and fourth generation Exod. 34.5.6.7 For though the Lord in regard of himselfe be equally infinite in respect of all his attributes yet is it harder for men to beleeve his mercy then his justice as the event shewes it is a work more above the power of nature by true faith to apply the mercy of God with spirituall fornicatiō being carried away to dumbe Idoles 1. Cor. 12.2 when they turned from Idoles to serve the living God 1. Thes 1. 9 presently of most foule harlots they became the fairest among women even the Churches of God his most beauteous spouses Sol. song 5.9 They found mercy for all their sins which they confessed being baptised into the name of the Lord they arose up out of the water looked forth as the morning faire as the Moone pure as the Sunne Sol. song 6.9.10 they shone in glory as the great wonder in heaven like the woman cloathed with the Sunne treading upon the Moone with her feet crowned upon her head with the twelve starres Rev. 12.1 Manasses
thereunto The ordinary Sacraments of the old Testamēt were Circumcision the Passeover In circumcision there was a painefull cutting off of the foreskinne a marke for the mortification of the flesh printed in the body of man for a perpetuall memoriall of this duety so that the Holy Ghost under the phrase of circumcision doth oft describe our mortification unto us as Deu. 30.6 Ier. 4.3.4 Rom. 2.28.29 Col. 2.11 Godly sorrow is a knife of mortification to circumcise the heart to cut off the foreskin superfluities of sinfull lusts In the passeover the separation of the lambe from the tenth day unto the fourteenth day the killing of it sprinkling of the blood the rosting of it eating it with sowre herbes unleavened bread Exod. 12.4.6.7.8 c. did represent the deadlines of sin purged in such manner even by the blood of Christ the undefiled lambe slaine for us to be applyed unto us sprinkled upon us to be eatē with sowre herbs of godly sorrow for sin a purging out of the old leaven of maliciousnes putting off the old man his workes that we might be a new lump 1. Cor. 5.7.8 That which the Sacraments represented unto them was in like manner signifyed by the Sacrifices of the old Testament by laying handes upon the head of the beast that was slaine burnt for sacrifice Lev. 1.4.5 c. and these of many kindes in great number every day upon divers occasions and especially upon their feast dayes when many thousands were sometimes sprinkled him with water to make him cleane Num. 19.14.21.22 but a dead beast did not defile all that came into the tent or stable where it was IV. Not the carcasses of all beasts but onely of those that were uncleane beasts did defile men not the carcasses of sheep oxen goates doves harts hindes roes c. but the carcasses of swine camels vultures c. Lev. 11. but for men the carcasses of all men whosoever cleane or uncleane good or bad did defile all that touched them Num. 19.11 V. The bodies of uncleane beasts did not defile but onely when they were dead otherwise it was lawfull to ride upon horses mules camels and asses as Christ did according to the prophesy Zech. 9.9 with Matt. 21 2-7 but the bodies of uncleane men while they were living did defile other men many wayes as we see in the lepers and such as were defiled with other naturall uncleannesses Levit. 13.46 15.5 c. 2. Cor. 6.17 To have touched a venomous toad had lesse defiled then the touch of a most glorious king or the touch of the fairest woman though but the hemme of their garments without the least motiō or lust of evill when they were but ceremonially polluted VI. He that was defiled with the carcasse of an uncleane beast was not required to wash more then his clothes but he that was defiled with the carcasse of a dead man or some other uncleane persons was required to bathe himselfe in water also Num. 19.19 Lev. 15.13 VII Those that touched the carcasses of uncleane beasts were purged with common water Lev. 11.25.28 those that were defiled by touching of the dead were not to be purged but by water and blood to wit by a speciall water of purification made with the ashes of a red heifer Num. 19 2-9.17 By all this it appeares how marvellous great the pollution of mans sinne is which God would have him so many wayes to be put in minde of to avoyd the tent and company of wicked men that by so many exercises of mortification he might learne to touch no uncleane thing As David in detestation of himselfe sayd unto the Lord I vvas as a beast before thee Psal 73.22 so we are here taught to consider and confesse that we are worse then beasts as it is also elswhere noted for our mortification Esa 1.3 Ier. 8.7 Prov. 6.6 c. f Moreover whereas it is a speciall very sight of the creation which way soever we turne us might serve to abase and humble men before the Creatour To this end are they propounded by the Spirit of God unto us the height of the heavens the depth of hell the length of the earth bredth of the sea Iob 11.8.9 The terrour evē of some creatures is such that man is ready to die and perish at the sight of them The sight of an Angel made the watchmen and keepers of the grave to quake and become as dead men Mat. 28.4 When the Disciples thought they saw a spirit they were troubled and cryed out for feare Matt. 14.26 At the sight of the Leviathan men are cast downe when he rayseth up himselfe the mighty are afraid because of breakings and terrours beginne to purify themselves to confesse their sinnes to pray for the pardon of them and to seek reconciliation with God Iob 41.9.10.25 This hath God ordained for the mortificatiō of sinners that hereby they might conceive how unable they are to stand before him Whē the Lord would make Iob to be vile in his owne sight and to abhorre himself in dust ashes he sets before him the glory of the creation and his majesty shining therein and leads him along in the spirit to behold the cheef of them ranked in order before him Iob 38. 39. 40. 41. ch with ch 41.4 42.6 And even unto this day God doth sometimes speak unto us as it were out of the whirlewind and by the sight of the heavens the earth the seas doth call us unto mortification The Lord sometime giveth dayes of darknes and gloominesse of cloudes and thick darknesse Zeph. 1.15 he clothes the heavens with blacknes and makes sackcloth their covering Esa 50.3 in their mournefull countenance they call us to thinke what cause of mourning we have Yea in them the wrathfull countenance of God is as it were pourtrayed before us a smoak is sayd to come out of his nostrils and devouring fire out of his mouth when he thunders from heaven sendeth forth his lightnings for the terrour of sinners and for the mortification of their corrupt and wicked lusts Psal 18 8-14 29.1 c. 97.2.3.4 1. Sam. 12.16.17.18 By the sight of the raging roaring sea bounded within the sands the Lord cals mē to feare before him to trēble at his presence Ier. 5.22 And whereto serve the storms upon the sea if not for the mortification contrition of heard-hearted serve to humble them and call to their minde their owne unworthines which then especialy by comparison of Gods free love with their contrary deserts doth more appeare unto them So it was with David humbling himselfe before God in the consideration of his mercies 2. Sam. 7.18.19 even as Mephibosheth had done to him in another case 2. Sam. 9.7.8 so did Elizabeth Luk. 1.43 If Abigail might say of her marriage with David Let thine handmaid be a servant to vvash the feet of