Gods Councell as the Preachers be at this day the Iewes were honoured that God would speake to them by them but to us hee hath spoken by his onely Sonne therefore our honour is the greater we are set in an high chaire of dignity above them happy are the eyes that see that which we see Many Prophets and Kings have desired to see these things which we see and have not seene them God give us grace to use our happinesse to his glory and the salvation of us all In this the Old and New Testament are equall God is the Author of them both God spake by the Prophets then and he speaketh now by his Ministers The word of the Lord the burthen of the Lord thus saith the Lord. These were the preambles of all the Prophets God spake by the mouth of David as he spake by the mouth of all his Prophets So God speaketh by the mouth of the Preachers at this present day It is not you that speak but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you Wee are the Ambassadours for Christ as though God did beseech you by us When we teach God teacheth when we exhort God exhorteth when we reprove sinne God reproveth sin It makes no matter what the man be that speaketh so as he be the lawfull Minister of Christ God speaketh by the man when the man speaketh Gods word When the Ambassadour of the King of Denmark of France or any other Countrey speaketh in the Court the King speaketh whose person he doth represent when my Lord Chiefe Iustice gives the charge at the Assizes the King gives the charge for he sustaines the Kings Person and is a Commissioner for the King so when the Preacher speakes in the Pulpit when he in Gods name gives a charge against pride malice c. God himselfe speakes and gives the charge Oh that this were imprinted in the hearts of all that come to Church the Preacher is a man as thou art but God speakes by him and if thou despise him thou despisest God that speakes in him VERSE 2. WE have seene the estate of them in the time of the Law Now let us take a view of our condition under the Gospell Theirs were the first dayes ours be the last In those that were the first dayes some new Doctrine was daily to be expected but in these last dayes GOD hath opened to us his whole counsell there is no mint of any new Doctrine to be looked for now nothing but the second comming of our SAVIOUR CHRIST is to be expected which hath revealed the whole will of his Father to us If an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine than that which wee have received in these last dayes let him bee accursed 2 In the last dayes there is greatest aboundance of knowledge In the last dayes I will powre out my Spirit on all flesh GOD then was sparing of his Spirit he sent it downe by drops but now he powres it out upon the Church they had the Moone-light we have the Sun-light Therefore if we be ignorant our condemnation shall be the greater as GOD knowes a number of ignorant persons are in this glorious light of the Gospell yea in those Towns where the Candle of Gods Word hath shined brightly these many yeares together The preaching of the Word is a well of water but we will not come with our buckets to fetch water at this Well or if we doe we come with riven buckets the water runs out by and by 3 These last dayes wherein we live are the most dangerous sinne overfloweth with a full streame In the last dayes perillous times shall come Never did sin shew her selfe with such a brazen face as it doth now Men now stick not to set themselves against the Word of GOD it selfe to call the authority of the Scripture in question whether all things be true in it or not To band themselves against the Preachers if not openly yet secretly and to pull downe if possible the Church it selfe these be the last times wherein we live GOD keepe us in them by his holy Spirit 4 Seeing they be the last dayes let us not be so much in love with them Will any be bestowing great cost on his house the last day when he is to goe out of it These are the last dayes of the world wherein we are ready to be turned out of the house of this world therefore let us not be inflamed too much with the love of it In the first dayes when they entred first into the farme of the world they might be merry and jocund we live in the last dayes when we cannot have long to tarry in it therefore let us not be glewed and wedded to it let us use this world as if we used it not for the fashion of this world fadeth away in these last dayes let us so live that whensoever Christ comes to judgement we may meet him joyfully in the Ayre and be translated with him into his kingdome of glory Spoken unto us 1. To the Apostles first that saw and heard him then to all Christians His must be understood Mat. 21.37 But last of all he sent unto them his Son in his Sonne Col. 2.9 For in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily The which Sonne speaketh to us by his Ministers to the worlds end they had servants to speake to them but God hath spoken to us by his Son yet even his Son is little regarded Many of the Pharisies knew him to be the Son of God this is the Heire yet they said come let us kill him I am perswaded if CHRIST were now alive and preached many yeeres together in this Towne yet there be some so maliciously set against the Word and the preachers of it that they could finde in their hearts to kill him Hee that heareth you heareth me and he that goeth about to kill them goes about to kill CHRIST too What a vile age doe we live in What manner of Son not adopted but naturall 1 Heire The Son is the Fathers Heire he hath a right and interest to all his Fathers goods and lands when his Father is dead he hath the same power lordship and authority over all that his Father had So Christ Psa. 2.8 Iohn 16.15 Ioh. 17.10 Yet God his Father never dieth He is Heire as God and Man the King and Mediator of the Church All power is given unto mee in Heaven and Earth God appointed Him He did not intrude Himselfe He was not appointed Heire because being in time made He deserved it by His holy life as Photinus said not only Heire in time but with the Father before all times Of all Of all persons as well as of all things CHRIST hath a right to all he that taketh away any thing bequeathed to the Heire by the Will and Testament of his Father robs the Heire and is guilty of theft if we goe about to take
of Canaan as if he had beene present at the distribution of it Gen. 48.22 Shechem a portion or the name of a City called Sichem which fell to the tribe of Ephraim Ios. 13. The seventie translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that select and famous Sichem Iishtaku Gnal Rosh Hammittah an open jarre the latter being a staffe to beate the former out of doores How agreeth this with the Hebrew it is one and the same word with a little alteration the diversity may arise on the affinity of the vowels Mittah a bed Matteh a rod and both may be true Hee worshipped upon the beds head and he worshipped on the top of his staffe too Inclining upon his pillow towards the bed head being weake and aged he held his staffe in his hand too and leaning on it he worshipped God He did worship towards the bed head because being bed-red he could no other than lye on his pillow Vpon which way soever it stood on the beds head or on the top of his staffe both may stand together 2. This was before the other Gen. 47. ult the blessing Gen. 48. It is very like he leaned often on his staffe and worshipped God not only after Iosephs promise but also when he had blessed all his Sonnes when he pluckt up his feete into the bed he might leane on his staffe and worship Or it may be an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is frequent in the Bible Worshipped He praised God for this and all other his mercies hee prayed for their speedy deliverance out of Aegypt that they might be planted in the promised land 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he blessed them with a singular blessing Ephraim with one Manasseh with another Super utrumque proprium benedictionem fudit posuit minorem ante majorem Haymo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As the Apostle leaveth the Hebrew and followes the seventie So the Papists may leave the Hebrew and the Greeke and follow the vulgar translation 1. That is not of as great authority as the Seventy 2. When the Seventie differ in sense from the Hebrew the Apostles follow it not The Iesuites he worshipped the end of his staffe that is the top of Iosephs Scepter reverencing the authority he had in Aegypt So that was fulfilled the Sunne the Moone eleven Starres did obeysance to Ioseph Hyperius addeth that in Ioseph a type of Christ he worshipped Christ. 1. Ioseph was most loved of them all 2. He was stript of his Coate 3. Sold into Aegypt 4. Cast into Prison 5. Advanced to great honour So was CHRIST 1. Ioseph being but Viceroy had no Scepter Gen. 41.40 2. Hee should rather have reverenced his Sonnes authoritie at his first comming then at his last departure out of the world 3. Rather publikely than in a private house 4. That had beene no great testimony of faith for even unbeleevers honour the Magistracy 5. The preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not admit that interpretation hee worshipped upon the top of his rod not the top of his rod. 6. This makes nothing for religious worshipping of Images or God at or before the crucifix and Images The occasion of blessing them was ministred by Iosephs bringing of them to him Genesis 48. ver 1. hee having intelligence of his Fathers sicknesse repaires presently to him with his two Sons that they might bee partakers of their Grandfathers blessing they were borne of the daughter of Potipherah Prince of On a woman that was a stranger from the common-wealth of Israel and not in the Calendar of GODS people they had been nourished in Aegypt where the worship of the true God was in a manner abolished Therefore he is desirous that Iacob a famous Patriarke a man deepe in GODS bookes might blesse them ere hee dyed for his blessing was GODS blessing Ioseph being ruler of the land of Aegypt no doubt had purchased great lands and Lord-ships for them hee was like to leave them money enough that they should want no earthly blessing yet because all these were not worth a straw without the blessing of God hee is most carefull to procure this to them which they were to receive from the mouth and hands of Iacob Fathers are carefull enough to provide outward things for their Children to lay up bagges of Gold and Silver for them to leave them houses and lands Sheepe and Oxen and such like but as for GODS blessing that is the least thing they take thought for This is to build without a foundation for the blessing of God is all in all Therefore above all things procure that to your Children Why doth not the Holy Ghost rather say by faith he blessed his owne Sonnes 1. Because this is greater By the eye of faith hee did not onely foresee what should happen to his owne Children but also to the Children of his Child 2. They being his owne immediate seed were engraffed into Israel already There might be some question of Iosephs Sons because they were the seed of a strange woman therefore it is said that Iacob by faith blessed them and by vertue of this blessing inserted them into the stocke of Israel 2. Here we learne that honour and preferments come neither from the East nor from the West but from GOD. Hee sets up one and pulls downe another Ephraim was the younger yet here in Iacobs blessing as it were by Gods owne hand he is advanced above Manasseh Ioseph himselfe was one of the youngest of all his brethren hated of them cast into a pit sold to the Madianites throwne into prison where hee lay till the yron entred into his soule who would have thought that this abject this poore prisoner should be ruler of all Aegypt yet so it came to passe Saul seeking his Fathers Asses lighted on a kingdome which he never sought for David was taken from following the sheepe great with young and made ruler of Israel Hester a poore banished maide fatherlesse and motherlesse became a Queene this is the Lords doing and it ought to be mervailous in our eyes It hath a double use 1. It must pull downe the Peacocks feathers of all them that be mounted aloft not to be proud of those high places whereunto they are exalted It was not chance and fortune that set them in the throne of dignity it was not simply their owne witt and wisedome their great variety of learning their policie and forecast paines and diligence the favour of their friends that promoted them but the good will and pleasure of GOD Almighty What hast thou beest thou never so great which thou hast not received Therefore swell not in pride in respect of the gift but thanke the giver of it 2. This must represse the envy of inferiours Is another man aloft and art thou beneath digitus Dei est Is thy younger brother in a more worshipfull and honourable place then thou as Ephraim got the start of Manasseh is
come out then they murmure against God despaire of his providence and are ready to exclaime against God This was the Israelites fault and thus often times they tempted God in the wildernesse If they wanted water to quench their thirst withall then they must needs dye God was not able to provide them water If they wanted bread So they did likewise and in a pelting chafe were ready to stone Moses and Aaron Then they would back againe to Aegypt then they wished themselves dead as if the same God that had miraculously beyond the expectation of men provided for them heretofore was not able to doe so still So when some told them of the walled townes that were in the land of Canaan of the mighty Gyants that were in the Country in comparison of whom they were but Grasse-hoppers then they brake forth into this exclamation God is not able to bring us into this land wee and our Children shall perish in this wildernesse They had seene with what a strong hand God had brought them out of Aegypt how miraculously he divided the red Sea that the waters stood as a wall on both sides till they safely passed over yet for all that when they were in any difficulty then God was no body of no power or willingnesse to doe for them This was a vile tempting of God which highly displeased him But there is no reason why we should thus tempt God casting off the hope and confidence we have in him He is subject to no changes yesterday and to day the same for ever Men may change but God changes not a man may be strong to day and weake to morrow whole to day and sick to morrow rich now and poore afterwards alive now and dead a while after a man may love us this houre and hate us the next as Amnon did his sister therefore we may make a question of the helpe of man But God is one and the same continually not a shadow of turning in him his arme is never shortned the welspring of his mercy and goodnesse is never dryed up Therefore in all distresses let us trust in him though all worldly meanes fayle us in sicknesse and health in poverty and wealth in death and life let him be our pillar to leane upon The Prince that would not believe the plenty that GOD had promised was troden to death 2 Reg. 7.17 and the carkasses of these men that thus tempted God fell in the wildernesse therefore let us beware of incredultie As Faith is the best vertue so infidelitie is the greatest vice CHRIST could doe nothing among his owne kinsfolke because of their unbeliefe Shall any thing bee impossible with God Indeed that which he wills not that he cannot doe it is his will that CHRIST in respect of his humanity should be in heaven till the day of judgement therefore he cannot doe this make his body to be here on the earth The Papists set Gods omnipotency on the tainters and stretch it too farre as some bad clothiers deale with cloath But if God have once given us his faithfull promise to doe this or that let us believe it though all the world say nay to it God had promised to bring them into the land of Canaan though there were never so many blockes in the way they should have depended on this promise So God hath promised us the kingdome of heaven feare not little flocke it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome Luke 12.32 though now and then through weakenesse we fall into sinne though Satan and his instruments rage though we be sicke dye be buryed our bodyes consumed to dust and ashes yet let us certainely know wee shall have this kingdome This is amplified by an excellent meanes which they had to pull them out of this infidelity which was a continuall view and contemplation of the wonderfull workes of God although they saw my workes in the Hebr. they saw the Aegyptians drowned in the red Sea and themselves safely walking through it they saw the cloudy pillar conducting them day and night water gushing out of a stonie rocke Manna descending from heaven that the clothes on their backes and shooes on their feet did not waxe old many yeares together they might have felt with their hands the power and goodnesse of GOD protecting them yet they would not believe in him whereas the sight of Gods former workes should strengthen our faith in all future calamities That use did David make of the workes of GOD. The LORD delivered mee from the clawes of the Beare and pawes of the Lion therefore hee will deliver mee from this Philistim GOD was gracious to mee in such a sicknesse therefore hee will be in this GOD provided for mee when I was a child and could not shift for my selfe therefore hee will provide for me being a man growne GOD preserved mee in such a plague and pestilence therefore I will depend on him still when I was in such an extremity GOD helped me therefore he will helpe me still God delivered England in the yeare one thousand five hundred eightie eight therefore if England serve him hee will deliver it still When Queene Elizabeth the mirrour of the world was taken away we looked for a wofull day yet God gave us a joyfull day after it therefore alwayes let us trust to him let the sight of his wonderfull workes dayly before our eyes be as oyle to nourish the lampe of our faith that it never dye The last circumstance appertaining to this sinne is the time how long it continued they tempted and proved him 40. yeares though they saw his workes These words in the Hebr. are coupled with that which followeth 40. yeares was I grieved with that generation Yet there is no jarre betweene Paul and David for these two are convertible and depend the one on the other They be both true they tempted God 40. yeares and he was grieved with them 40. yeares If they tempted him 40. yeares then he must needs be grieved with them and if God was grieved with them 40. yeares then they tempted him so long so that the one cannot be separated from the other They dwelt in this sinne a long time and would not bee plucked out of it VERSE 10. THe punishment of the sinne Gods wrath was kindled against them In the end after hee had borne the burden of their sinnes many yeares together his wrath did breake out against them for it They were irksome and tedious to me I could beare them no longer after that I had striven with them fortie yeares when there was no remedy I cast them off God is grieved similitudinariè That rebellious that obstinate generation Hee was not grieved with their Children but with them The Children doe not smart for the fathers faults if they make not their fathers sins their own sinnes Their Children went into the land of Canaan though they did not Least it should seeme to be a griefe or anger without reason
practise that which wee heare And this faith will appeare by working 1 Thes. 2.13 it will worke a change and alteration in your whole man VERSE 3. ON the other side it profits us that believe for we enter into his rest He doth not say shall but doe He that believeth in me hath eternall life he doth not see it a farre off as Moses upon the top of Pisgah viewed the earthly Canaan but enters not into the boyling lead of Purgatory but into spirituall and everlasting rest As infidelity is the bar to keep out unbeleevers So fidelity is the gate or doore whereby we may enter into heaven Act. 16.31 Rom. 3.28 This may seeme to bee unfitly alleadged By consequent it prooves that believers enter in for if unbelievers doe not then by the law of contraries believers doe And if the former words be included in a parenthesis these doe fitly follow as a confirmation of that which was in the latter end of the former verse it profited them not because it was not mingled with faith How prove you that As he said c. thus it doth excellently well agree Hitherto the dehortation hath beene propounded Now hee comes to prevent an objection that the Iewes might make which was indeed the only shelter they had to flye unto This rest that David speaketh of is the land of Canaan which some of our fathers missed of because they would not believe God What is that to us We believe in him and are at this day of a long time seated in the land of Canaan therefore we are none of those unbelievers thou needest not to be so fearefull of us To that he answers nay this rest is a spirituall and an heavenly rest and that he prooves by two divine testimonies one out of Genesis about Gods Sabbath the other out of the Psalme before cited The rest of that Sabbath he introduceth by a narration of the cause why God kept it It is perobscurus locus as Beza well observeth a defective speech something must be supplyed And verily 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is particula asseverantis as well as adversantis the workes being finished from the foundation of the world this rest that we speake of was fore-signified Here we may behold the end for the which God Himselfe kept a Sabbath namely that we might perpetually commemorate the Creation of the world The Lord might if it had pleased Him have made the world in a moment yet he took sixe dayes to the making of it that we might deliberately consider of his wonderfull workemanship and then rested the seaventh day making it a type of our eternall rest with him in heaven But here a question may be moved whether all Gods workes were finished at the beginning of the world whether all were made within the compasse of these sixe dayes or not 1. What say you to the soules of men Is there not a dayly creation of them they come not ex traduce they are not traduced and conveyed unto us by the seede of our Parents for they are only the fathers of our bodies not of our soules and the spirit returneth to God that gave it God makes soules every day therefore all his workes were not finished from the foundation of the world The answer is easie They were in specie from the beginning though numero they bee augmented every day They were not all created at the first in heaven and put dayly into bodies according unto Gods discretion and appointment but God maketh them continually yet the same species the same kinde of creature was from the beginning 2. What shall wee say to Mules It was a long time many hundred yeeres before they came into the world Gen. 36.24 1. The Hebr. word is ambiguous Iemim of Iam the Sea Hee found waters standing pooles in the wildernesse like to Seas above the expectation of men 2. Let it be translated Mules yet the meaning may be hee was the first that found them in that countrie whereas they might be in the world before 3. Though they were invented by this man yet the matter of them was made by God in the beginning Thirdly what shall we say to those creatures that ryse of putrefaction they were materialiter potentialiter though not actualiter from the beginning All things were either in materia or in specie from the beginning of the world There were no houses no ships no Townes nor Cities at the first yet the matter whereof they be framed was prepared to mans hand by God and he gave man wisedome for the framing of them VERSE 4. HOw doth that appeare For He that is God He is not curious in the naming of the place it was well knowne to the Hebrewes being daily exercised in the Scriptures Now by that was prefigured that rest when we shall rest with God in his kingdome As God for our capacity laboured in the creation of the world rested afterwards delighting himselfe in the contemplation of the workes that he had made So when this life is ended we shall rest from all our labours and enjoy eternall quietnesse with him Therefore this shewes that it is not a carnall but a spirituall not a temporall but an eternall rest that is here entreated of Did God rest from all his workes How is it then that our Saviour saith my father worketh hitherto There be the workes of preservation and of creation The high and eternall God is not idle since he made the world His eyes are over all the ends of it beholding the evill and the good He is the Rector of the Vniversity of the whole world nothing comes to passe without him A Sparrow fals not to the ground without his will He disposeth still of all things and doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth and in all deepe places but as for the workes of creation he hath rested from them all nothing now is created new Then all things throughout the wide compasse of the world are the workmanship of God He spread the heavens above our heads as a Curtaine he laid the foundation of the earth he made the roaring sea the birds that flie in the ayre the beasts that walke on the earth the fish that play in the Sea the Angels in heaven and men on the earth are his creatures O how wonderfully am I made sayes the Psalmist Therefore let us all glorifie our Creator in whom we have our life breath being and moving We especially that are Lords over GODS creatures let us magnifie him above them all Neverthelesse a lamentable thing to consider we dishonour him above all the Birds of the ayre the Beasts of the field the Sunne Moone and Stars are more dutifull in their kinde than we be O the unthankfulnesse of sinfull Man This place againe which we have in hand doth intimate so much unto us VERSE 6. WHich he proveth first by the event verse 6. Some must enter in because of Gods promise 2 Cor.
Testament is made There is no Mediatour besides him Mediatour quasi medius dator Of the New Testament which is farre different from the Old Covenant or Testament for it consisteth on better promises Hebrewes 8. ver 6. By the meanes of death that death being or comming betweene for the redeeming of us from the punishments due to the transgressions and the price wherewith he redeemed us from them was his owne bloud If CHRIST his death doth redeeme us from all transgressions then there needs no sacrifices for sin after his death Yes say the Iesuites one to be a representation of that on the Crosse. I but you say that the sacrifice of the Masse and that on the Crosse are all one in substance differing only in the forme and manner Now if Christ be really present in the Masse how can the Masse bee a representation of him And that manner is opposite to the Scriptures for the Scripture sayes he is only offered up with bloud Your unbloudy sacrifice is no sacrifice In the former covenant whereas we for our part were not able to performe that which belonged to us GOD performed his part but we could not doe ours It is unseasonable here to dispute whether CHRIST delivered them that lived in the time of the Law for by the Old Testament is meant the Old Covenant not the time of the Old Testament Therefore it is opposed to the New Testament In the Greeke it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were for the sins of them that were under the Old Testament That they which are called namely effectually as well internally by the spirit as externally by the word 1 Cor. 1.2 24. Rom. 8.30 Not only heare it but receive it namely by faith The promise The full fruition whereof they should receive hereafter in the meane season the Holy Ghost is as a Seale and earnest penny of it Ephes. 1.13 2 Cor. 1.22 It is not a thing merited by our workes but a gracious inheritance promised to us CHRIST is the right and principall heire Hebr. 1.2 we are secondary heyres with him and by him Rom. 8.17 Not a fading inheritance as these be but that lasteth for ever CHRIST is the sole Mediatour 1 Tim. 2.5 Ioh. 16.23 Apoc. 8.3 Let us not cry with those Idolaters ô Baal heare us but aske the Father in his Sons name and say ô CHRIST heare us Who prevailes more with the King then the Kings Son Let us not leave the Sonne and goe to servants There is a double calling the one externall alone by the outward sound of the word the other externall and internall too not by the Trumpet of the Word alone ringing in the eare but by the voice of the Spirit also perswading the heart and moving us to goe to Christ. Of this calling spake our SAVIOUR CHRIST no man commeth to me except the Father draw him namely by his spirit as well as by his word Iudas was called hee was not a professour alone but a Preacher of the Gospell Simon Magus was called he believed and was baptized Herod was called he heard Iohn Baptist sweetely and did many things that he willed him Sundry at this day come to Church heare Sermons talke of Religion that doe not answere Gods call Therefore let us entreat the Lord to call us effectually by his blessed Spirit out of our sinnes to holinesse and newnesse of life If wee be thus called we shall receive the eternall inheritance which CHRIST hath purchased for us Let us be suiters to God that he would make us partakers of this calling that makes an alteration of us 1 Cor. 6.9 11. If wee were Idolaters as Manasseh to call us out of our superstition and idolatry if persecutors as Paul to call us out of our persecuting if wee are Adulterers as David to call us out of our uncleannesse if drunkards out of our drunkennes if covetous oppressours as Zacheus was to call us out of our oppression and make us new Creatures in Christ Iesus It is not a purchase bought with the money of our owne merits but an inheritance bequeathed to us by the last Will and Testament of our Saviour Christ Luk. 22.29 and I appoint unto you a kingdome as my father hath appointed unto me The inheritances that bee in the world seeme faire and glorious it is a goodly thing to have the inheritance of a great Gentleman of a Knight Lord Earle Duke but a Kings inheritance surpasseth all yet these are but strawes to this inheritance These inheritances may bee taken from us while wee bee here Mephibosheth's lands were given away to Tsibah and Naboth lost his Vineyard though it was the inheritance of his fathers When Death comes then we must forgoe all houses and lands all that our fathers left us But this inheritance is eternall wee can never be deprived of it we shall enjoy it world without end Therefore let us seeke to have an assurance of this inheritance in our hearts and consciences If a man be sure to be a Lords heyre though hee is in misery yet he will endure it we are sure to have an eternall inheritance by Christ let us therefore abide patiently the miseries of this short life VERSE 16. THere must needs be carryed as a true and an infallible report it must be sure and certaine that the Testatour is dead Where 1. The axiome 2. The proofe or illustration of it Verse 17. Here wee see it was necessary CHRIST should dye Ought not CHRIST to suffer these things and to enter into his glory Luk. 24 26. why not because the Devill would have it to be so not that the rage and fury of the Pharises should bee satisfied not because Iudas would but because God the Father in singular love to mankinde had so ordained in his eternall counsell and because Christ was willing to dye for us Can mankinde bee saved no otherwise but by my death then here am I take me I will dye for them ô the wonderfull love of Christ Here the Testatour would live still if he might and then the legataries should never have their legacies our testatour might have lived still if he would being the Lord of life yet that we might have our legacy hee would dye ô unspeakable love Let it bee imprinted on our hearts that it may constraine us to leave all sins VERSE 17. NOw followes the proofe or illustration of the axiom A Testament is thus defined by Vlpianus Est declaratio voluntatis nostrae de eo quod fieri volumus post mortem Is of force Is firme After the Testatour is dead both because hee may alter it at his pleasure and the goods remaine all still in the Testatours hands it is testamentum ambulatorium usque ad mortem The Testament of our SAVIOUR CHRIST is a good Testament It is partly nuncupativum as it was pronounced by himselfe when hee was alive partly Scriptum as it was after committed to
envy them that be adorned with better gifts then we nor to contemne them that have lesser to checke them by their wants and infirmities to prie into them with a curious eye but to the whetting and sharpening one of another to be as spurs and whetstones one to another To love the badge of Christians Gal. 5.6 And to good workes It is no love that hath no good workes 1 Ioh. 3.18 This stirring up of our brethren must not be done rashly or unadvisedly but with due advice and wise consideration therefore sayes he consider one another First wee must consider then provoke we must diligently consider when we come to the performance of this duty Wee must consider in what case our brother is touching his soule whether hee lye in ignorance or not Whether hee goe forward or backeward whether hee bee cold in his profession or not As we finde his wants so we must make supply by a godly provoking of him Wee will consider one anothers wealth how many faire houses hee hath how much land hee purchaseth how many cloathes he makes and if hee bee before us in the world wee envy him We will consider one another to doe our neighbour a mischiefe if we can to sit on his skirts at one time or another as Saul had an eye to David and the Pharisees watched our Saviour Christ. But we will not consider one another to further them towards the kingdome of heaven The end of our consideration must bee to provoke to goodnesse First to love as the fountaine then to good workes as the streames flowing from it Faith that worketh by love no love no faith If yee be my Disciples love one another he that hateth is a man-slayer We must say you are members of the same body whereof Christ is the head therefore love you one another Abraham said to Lot I pray thee let there be no strife betweene us for we be brethren So let one neighbour say to another let no strife be among us for we are brethren in the LORD IESUS We have one faith baptisme SAVIOUR one inheritance one Father therefore let us love one another If this were practised by us there would not bee such heart burning betweene neighbour and neighbour such uncharitable suspicions such brawlings and contentions even about trifling matters as there be Many are so farre from provoking to love as that they kindle the fire of contention and sow the seed of discord and variance where they dwell Now love is not without good workes No good workes no love 1 Ioh. 3.18 Let us not love in word neither in tongue only but in deed and in truth We must provoke one another to be pittifull to the poore to be liberall to all good uses to adorne the Gospell by good workes The woman of Samaria said to her townesmen come goe with mee and I will shew you the Messiah So must wee goe to our neighbours and say come let us goe to Church and heare Divine Service and Sermon Let us carry our servants with us Let us goe together about the towne Let us see in what estate the poore bee who wants bread meate cloathes lodging c. Let us goe to the Alehouses and other suspected places and see what disorders there be there Let us reproove drunkennesse let us compell them that bee idle to fall to worke and to get their bread with the sweat of their browes Let us see harlots and adulterers punished that are a disgrace to the towne Come let us not be so glewed to our mony let us give cheerefully to the preaching of the word and to all good uses Oh that this were practised by us that we had some sounding bels and trumpets in the parish to toll on one another to the kingdome of heaven especially if the chiefe men and women in a towne which are the bell-weathers of the flocke if they would shew themselves to be good fore-horses what a number might they draw after them Monica Augustins mother said volemus in coelos ô that wee were like her yron sharpeneth yron so doth man sharpen the face of his friend Let us sharpen one another to good workes that wee may say at the day of judgement here am I and the neighbours thou hast given me But I would to God there were not some that draw backwards that pull their neighbours from love and good workes Wilt thou give to the Preacher wilt thou bee so forward in towne matters thou shalt get nothing by it These are wretched men and are to answer for the spoyling of themselves and others at the day of judgment Strengthen thy brethren said Christ to St. Peter Luke 22.32 So we must comfort and exhort our brethren Rom. 16.3 They were no Ministers yet St. Paul calls them his fellow helpers because they did helpe on their brethren they helped on Apollos Act. 18.26 The thiefe on the Crosse would have provoked his fellow to love and good workes Fearest thou not God and shall we be worse than he Let us stirre up one another hast thou no feare of God no love to religion They that convert many shall shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of heaven not minister only but all others that are the meanes of the conversion of any It belongs to all to save soules Iac. 5. ult Wee are not borne for our selves alone as the heathen could say it was the bad speech of wicked Cain am I my brothers keeper I verily thou art thy brothers keeper and if he perish through thy default thou shalt answer for him at the latter day Therefore let us provoke one another to all good duties in this present world that we may al one with another live with CHRIST our blessed Saviour in the world to come VERSE 25. THe gathering together unto that is to Iesus Christ 2 Thes. 2.1 We must not shut up selves in Cloysters with monkes nor with Diogenes in a tunne Wee must love the company of the Saints All our delight must be in them Especially we must beware how wee forsake the publike assemblies where is the word and Sacraments with the joynt prayers of the Church Some did it in the Primitive Church for feare of the enemies loath to joyne with them for feare of loosing their goods honours life liberty And now some forsake them in pride and in an high conceit of themselves depart from us we are holyer than you As it is some mens custome A bad custome yet hee names them not Call one to another And by so much the rather as yee see that day drawing neere We have not a long time to exhort in therefore let us exhort That day which in Scripture is called the day of the Lord when wee shall bee rewarded for our well doing and they punished that contemne our exhortations Luk. 21.34 Yee see with your owne eyes by plaine and evident tokens it is neere at hand The meetings of Christians are private or publike
their owne countrey as Themistocles Howsoever God dealeth with us in this world wee shall have an abundant recompence in the life to come therefore let us goe whithersoever Gâ—d shall call us as Abraham did he that forsaketh not father and mother houses and lands nay he that hateth them not for Gods sake is not worthy of him VERSE 9. 1. THe manner of his abode 2. The cause of it 1. Factum the fact 2. Motivum the motive that stirred him to it The land of promise which was so called because it was promised to him by God and that often Hee went not backe againe in a discontented minde but though hee found few outward encouragements to tarry yet hee stayes by it The manner of his abode is set forth 1. By the quality of the place 2. By the forme of his habitation How did he abide in this land not as a Lord and master in it but as a stranger it was a strange Country to him he had no house no land in it no not the breadth of a foot hee was faine to buy a piece of ground to bury his Wife in It was inhabited by a strong and mighty nation that were meere strangers to him This might have shaken his faith Is this the Country that I and my seed shall have what likelihood is there of it yet by faith he abode in it wayting for the accomplishment of Gods promise 2. What was the manner of his dwelling in it he dwelt not in a stately and magnificent Citty in a strong and defenced Castle in a costly and sumptuous house not in a Tower the height whereof reached to heaven as the Tower of Babell did not in one tent but in many remooving his tent hither and thither He dwelt in tents that were soone set up and soone pulled downe againe partly because he might be at Gods call ready to remove when hee would have him as indeed Abraham was a continuall flitter partly also because hee knew his seed should goe into Aegypt and the time was not yet come when he should have a full possession of the land of Canaan Therefore in the meane season he contented himselfe with Tents In commemoration whereof they had the feast of Tents or Tabernacles Yet he kept great hospitality in his Tent a poore house yet a rich house keeper hee sate of purpose daily at his Tent doore as a bell to toll strangers and passengers to him It was wont to be said golden Chalices and wooden Priests so now a dayes it may bee said golden houses wooden house keepers a great house a large house yet little meat in it It may be sufficient for themselves strangers nay neighbours seldome drinke of their cup a great sort of brave chimneys but little smoake in them many a Noble mans house scant smoakes once in a yeere Cornelius a Captaine had no stately house yet his almes were great Gaius had no glorious house yet an hoast to the whole Church wheresoever we dwell though in a Tent or booth yet let us doe good with that which wee have as Abraham did our house shall be the better blessed for it Abraham dwelt in a Tent yet GOD protected him from all enemies and dangers Wee never read that thieves brake into his Tent and spoyled him of that which he had In a tempest thundering and lightning the Tent was not set on fire It is better to bee in a poore cottage under Gods wing than in a magnificent Pallace without his favour Ahaziah dwelt in a sumptuous building yet hee got a fall that cost him his life Michah had a strong house yet the Danites came and tooke all in his house Lot had an house in Sodom Abraham had but a Tent yet Abraham was safer in his Tent then Lot in his house GOD kept Daniel in the Lions denne the three Children in the fiery furnace Ionah in the Whales belly hee preserved Abraham in his Tent and hee will for ever keepe his Children in the meanest Cottage in the world The manner of his dwelling in the land of promise is illustrated by his companions not he alone but Isaac and Iacob Whether he and they dwelt together in Tents at the same time cannot bee defined If wee respect Abrahams age they might for hee lived after Isaac was borne seventy five yeeres and after Iacob was borne fifteene yeeres yet whether that be the meaning of the Holy Ghost or not I dare not affirme they in their time dwelt in Tents as Abraham did in his time because the promise was made to them all to Abraham and his feed They were intailed in the promised land with their father The Canaanites had Cities and beautifull houses to dwell in Abraham Isaac and Iacob dwelt in Tents the wicked may have fairer dwellings in this world then the godly Now wee have sumptuous and magnificent buildings immediately after the floud they erected a Tower the height whereof reached to heaven The Canaanites had townes and Cities that were walled up to heaven Ahab had his Ivory pallace Nebuchadnezar his stately Babel There are many gay buildings in all places but as CHRIST said of marriage from the beginning it was not so What manner of house did Adam and Eve dwell in Abraham Isaac and Iacob these worthy and renowned Patriarcks dwelt in Tents and incommemoration hereof there was instituted among the Iewes a feast of Tents and Tabernacles which was kept with great solemnity by the space of seven dayes they sate in Boothes Let us not be too carefull nor too curious about our dwellings Our Saviour Christ the Lord of all had not an house to hide his head in at his dying day he commended his mother to Saint Iohn who tooke her home to his house There is as free a passage to heaven out of a poore beggarly Cottage as out of a Kings Pallace Let us not spend too much cost about our earthly houses but labour to build up our selves as houses to God in this life that when we must remove out of these buildings be they greater or lesser we may be received up into that house that is made without hands in the life to come GOD doth not immediately performe his promises hee will exercise our faith and patience in the expectation of them This land was Abrahams now by promise yet his seed had not the possession of it many hundred yeares after yet Abraham by faith waited for it he that believeth will not make hast Wee must not be too hasty but tarry Gods leysure So the heavenly Canaan the kingdome of heaven is ours by promise feare not little flocke it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome yet we must passe through many tribulations into this kingdome Let us with patience beare them all and at the length though it be at a long runne first wee shall bee sure to be partakers of it for heaven and earth shall passe but not one title of Gods Word shall fall to
come on it what will O the magnanimous spirit of a right heroicall man resurrectio mortuorum fiducia Christianorum It is the principall pillar that Christians have to leane upon if we had hope only in this life of all others wee were most miserable Therefore let our faith bee firmely grounded in the resurrection as was the faith of Abraham the Father of the faithfull We have strong inducements thereunto 1. Is potentia dei idoneus est reficere qui fecit hee that made our bodies of nothing at the beginning can remake them when they are consumed to nothing 2. Is bonitas dei I am the GOD of Abraham of Isaac and Iacob that was spoken after they were dead though they were dead yet he was their God the God not of their soules only but of bodies too Absit ut Deus manuum suarum operam ingenii sui curam afflatus sui vaginam liberalitatis suae haeredem testimonii sui militem Christi sui sororem Spiritus sancti templum in aeternum destituat exitium Bee it farre from God to forsake the worke of his owne hands the care of his owne witt and invention let us make man after our Image the bladder or sheath whereinto he breathed the breath of life they heyre of his liberality the Souldier of his testimony that hath fought for him as well as the soule the sister and member of Christ the Temple of the Holy Ghost Be it farre from God that hee should leave this in eternall destruction As the soule and body have beene consorts in labours in this life so shall they be in rewards in the life to come 3. Exempla resurgentium the examples of them that have risen from the dead in the Old and New Testament Christ raised up three the one in domo which was the daughter of Iairus the other in feretro on the beere the widdowes Sonne of Naim the third in Sepulchro in the grave which was Lazarus when he began to stincke These are praeludia nostrae resurrectionis forerunners or pledges of our resurrection 4. Dulcis titulus mortis a sweete description of death It is but a sleepe I would not have you ignorant concerning them that are fallen asleepe Those that sleepe in IESUS will GOD bring with him LORD said they of Lazarus if hee sleepe hee shall doe well enough The dead are but asleepe they shall doe well enough Philip slept securely while Antipater was awake and the dead sleepe safely while God is awake the keeper of Israel that neither slumbers nor sleepes Therefore let us be firmely perswaded of the Resurrection as Abraham was hee believed that God was able to rayse up Isaac from the dead and let us believe that GOD can rayse us all from the dead Abraham was a good considerer At the first when God promised Isaac he considered not his owne body that was dead Now when he is to loose Isaac he considers that God was able to raise him up O heavenly consideration in all extremities let us consider the power of God as Abraham did Art thou grievously sicke yea even to death is there but a step betweene thee and death yet consider that God if it be his pleasure can set thee on thy legges againe Art thou fallen to poverty of a mighty rich man art thou become an exceeding poore man as Iob was yet consider that God is able to raise thee up againe Is thy Sonne or thy daughter dead is thy Wife or thy Husband dead is thy friend dead that was as thine owne soule Weepe not over much consider that God is able to raise them up from the dead they bee not amissi but praemissi they are gone into heaven before and we shall follow after Doest thou thy selfe dye is thy body layd in the grave doth it there putrifie to dust and ashes yet consider that God is able to raise thee up againe Say with that holy man I am sure my Redeemer liveth The consideration of Gods power must comfort us in all calamities We have had the Tragedy now to the Comedy Hereupon followed a joyfull event he did not receive him in a parable but truly and indeed he received him from the dead that is from the state of the dead in a parable he was not deceived in his expectation In a parable that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a figure sayes Chrysostome in a darke and obscure figure or as hee unfolds it more plainely afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in an example in similitudine quadam as Henry Stephen expounds it quodam modo as Beza after a sort as it was in the translation before this In a parable in a similitude for all parables are similitudes Neerenesse to death is a lively type and figure of death whereupon it hath the name of death 2 Cor. 1.10 blessed be God that hath delivered us from so great a death Yet Saint Paul did not dye then So the neerenesse of death wherein Isaac was was a similitude of Death the Altar was built the wood laid on the Altar Isaac bound on the wood the fire was ready the knife was comming to his throat to kill him Therfore Abraham received him from the dead in a similitude Old Father Iacob received his Sonne Ioseph as it were from the dead he verily thought he had been torne in pieces by wild beasts yet at that time he was alive and ruler of the land of Aegypt Hezekiah received his life in a similitude from the dead for sentence of death was pronounced against him by Gods own mouth The Iewes in the provinces of Ahasuerus received their lives in a similitude from the dead The Kings letters were sent by Posts into all quarters to roote them out kill and destroy them all even Men Women and Children in one day S. Paul and all that were in the Ship with him received their lives in a similitude from the dead For all hope that they should bee saved was taken away Act. 27.20 The King and Queene and Prince that then was the Lords spirituall and temporall the Gentlemen of the lower house in them wee Protestants in England received our lives in a similitude from the dead at the powder treason Thirty seven barrels of Gunpowder were cunningly couched under the vault of the Parliament house Vaux the same morning had his match in his hand to set them on fire we were in the mouth of death in a manner as neere as Isaac but by Gods miraculous providence through the quicke apprehension of the wise and learned King wee were delivered as Isaac was which deliverance requires hearty thankesgiving to God Gods tryalls begin with a tragedy and end with a Comedy The Psalmist sayes of the faithfull Psal. 126. ult they went out weeping and carryed precious seed but they shall returne with joy and bring their sheaves with them So Abraham poore desolate Father went out weeping with his precious Sonne Isaac to be offered up but hee returnes
better the other worse after their afflictions Whom he loveth he whom thou lovest is sick said Martha to our Saviour meaning Lazarus And scourgeth if a rod will not serve the turne hee takes a whip Marke 5.29 That woman had a whip If a lesser affliction will not draw us to him and pull us out of our sinnes hee sends a greater Whom he receiveth into his love and favour in this life and into his kingdome in the life to come Afflictions are as Gods tooles that make us fit stones for the heavenly Ierusalem Wee have had a text of Scripture out of the Old Testament which spake to us lovingly as to children Now S. Paul makes a Commentary of it inducing us to a patient suffering of Gods corrections by three forcible arguments 1 From the necessity of correction 2. From the excellency of the person that correcteth us Vers. 9.10 Set forth by a comparison 1. What these Fathers be to us 2. What they doe to us 3. From the fruit of correction V. 11. 1. What it is for the present 2. What it will be in the time to come VERSE 7. THE necessity of correction is set forth 1. Affirmatively then Negatively affirmatively shewing what commodity we shall reape if we receive correction negatively declaring the in commodity of not receiving it 8. Not onely if ye take it but endure it so long as your heavenly Father shall strike A childe must not limit his Father so many stripes shalt thou give me and no more he must referre himselfe to the wisdome and discretion of his Father so must wee endure whatsoever our Heavenly Father shall impose on us though it be a sharpe and a long chastening we must endure it We read of a woman that had an issue of bloud twelve yeeres and had spent all on the Physitians Wee reade of another woman that was bound by Sathan eighteene yeeres and of a man diseased in his feet thirty eight yeeres yet they endured it so must we doe though it be hard for flesh and bloud If we have an ague a weeke a moneth a quarter a whole yeere we must endure it If it continue three sixe tenne yeeres wee must endure it Iob lost seven thousand Sheepe three thousand Camels five hundred yoke of Oxen yet he endured it he was deprived of seven Sons and three Daughters at a clap yet he endured it his owne body was full of boyles from the Crowne of his head to the soales of his feet hee sate scraping himselfe in ashes yet he endured it his wife provoked him to shorten his paine to curse GOD and dye yet he would not he still endured it Thou speakest like a foolish woman c. He was an Adamant against all afflictions so must we be we must endure all There be two reasons to excite us to it both set downe by S. Paul 1 Cor 10.13 1. No temptation happens to us but that which is incident to men Other men have endured as much as we The Patriarchs the Prophets the Apostles yea Christ himselfe We are not alone there are many thousands that draw with us in the yoke Yea Christ himselfe suffers with us Saul Saul why persecutest thou me therefore let us endure it 2 God is faithfull and will not suffer us to bee tempted above that which wee are able he knowes whereof we be made he is as loath to afflict us as we are to be afflicted he doth not willingly punish the children of men It goes to the heart of a tender Father to beate his childe the water stands in his eyes it grieves him to doe it So is it with our Heavenly Father hee is full of pitty and compassion therefore let us endure his chastening how bitter soever it seemes to bee If we do then God offers himselfe to us as unto sons you are my sons I will acknowledge you for mine now ye are my sons now I will be your Father No son but will deserve it at one time or another though he be never so good a childe For children will forget themselves and our bloud is soone stirred even so the best of Gods children will deserve it In many things we sin all the just falleth seven times a day and God in justice must strike though not in fury as we doe Which he proveth by a common custome among men if they be not carried more by affection than judgement they will doe it Oftentimes good fathers forget themselves in it and become fooles but ordinarily what son is there whom the Father chasteneth not No son but the Father chasteneth him so no good man or woman but must be chastened by GOD. VERSE 8. 2 THE necessity of correction is set forth negatively which is amplified by the generality of it All. Before the Law under the Law after the Law Are partakers Some one way some another some in one measure some in another some in soule some in body name goods Some have a long sicknesse some a short Is there any that never had Febriculam Bastards spurius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semen nothus quasi ignotus Iud. 11.1 It is an ignominious thing to be a bastard Bastards are despised by all many brands of infamy are set on them by the Law 1 A Bastard properly is not a son Abraham was Pater when he had Ishmael but not filii Pater till he had Isaac So that he cannot inherit his Fathers lands unlesse he be made legitimate by act of Parliament 2 A bastard may be advanced to no Office in Church or Common-wealth without speciall license favour and dispensation If we be without correction we are bastards Seest thou a man that hath no crosse in himselfe wife children cattell his little finger doth never so much as ake thou mayest safely say yonder goes a bastard he is none of Gods childe Iob 21.9 Psal. 73.4 Here we see the lot of all Gods children not one is exempted The Grammarians say From this generall rule are excepted these that follow Here we have a rule in Divinity that admits no exception All are partakers of correction all that will live godly in Christ Iesus must suffer persecution There is not any one that can claime a priviledge This is Christs cup and we must all drinke of it hee hath begun in it and we must all pledge him If thou beest Gods childe thou must be corrected Whatsoever thy place bee in the world whether thou beest Magistrat or Subject Minister or people high or low rich or poore yea Kings themselves have their afflictions Mariage is a sweet state the best Wine that ever was was at a Mariage even Wine of CHRIST's owne making yet maried folkes must looke for their afflictions This Rose hath many pricking thornes about it bona vincula nuptiarum sayes S. Ambrose de Virg. l. 3. sed tamen vincula bonum conjugium sed tamen à jugo tractum nubit plorat parturit agrotat de Virg. l. 1. Such