hand to give it to thee to continew it and to restore it when it is taken from thee this consideration is of great moment to preserve us not to offend this God for the pleasure of any Potentate in the world since all the world cannot give mee life nor continue life and when I am dead and life is gone none in heaven or earth can restore me to life except God do it why then should I not be carefull that I offend not this God nay farre be it from me for to do it for any flesh in the world O let us be carefull that wee provoke not this good God to wrath who hath given us life that in his wrath we provoke him not to take it from us againe seeing that God onely gave it mee to honour him am I not bound to consecrate my life to him alone not to obey any creature to disobey him it was not my father or mother that gave mee life but the Lord onely who is the Lord onely who is the Lord of life hee hath put life into me therefore neither for father nor mother should I give my life otherwise then for the honour of God O but some may say if I do so so these men will take away my life from mee have they power to doe it without God saith not Christ feare not them which can kill the body but rather feare him which can cast both soule and body into hell fire and he said againe are not there two sparrowes sold for a farthing and yet not one of them falls on the ground without the providence of our heavenly father how much better are yee then many sparrowes if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground nor any man can take away the life of it without Gods providence than surely all the tirants of the world cannot take away thy life except the Lord suffer them the Lord Iesus himselfe giveth a sweet warning to his disciples when hee saieth to them Rise let us go to Iudea againe his disciples said unto him Master the Iewes of late sought to stone thee goest thou then thither they thought it an hard saying of Christ that they should goe thither againe but Iesus answered them said are there not 12. howers in the day if any man walke in the day he stumbleth not because hee hath the light seeth the light of this world but if a man walke in the night hee stumbleth because there is no light in him What means Christ by this hee meanes by this to tell them that as lōg as the day of mans life doth last which hath a period sett so long he goes without feare as hee that walketh in the day feares not for the Lord is with him but if they walke in the night that is if the time appointed of their life be at an end he must fall then letting us thereby understand that men may walke in their lawfull callings without feare for all the world cannot make him stumble if God give them not leave as Christ said concerning Herod tell that foxe I must walke to day to morrow untill the third day which is appointed of God for mee so that wee may see that none can give us life but God so in the last place when wee are dead none can restore our souls and bodies to life againe but God onely therefore wee must not consecrate our life to any but to God alone these considerations are worthy to be laid up in our hearts Besides these considerations of Gods quickning all things it is an especiall ground of our faith as it is written concerning Abrahā I have made thee a father of many nations before God hee beleeved the word of God even that God that quickneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were and this was that which made Abraham to walke stedfastly with God because hee knew as the Apostle boasteth saying I am persuaded that neither life nor death nor any other creature can seperate mee from the love of God death is not able to keepe me under the power of it for Christ by death hath overcome death as the Apostle affirmeth if the spirit of him which raised Christ from the dead dwell in your mortall bodies even hee that raised the Lord Iesus shall likewise raise your mortall bodies by the same spirit so that this is the ground of our faith and hope to wit that God quickneth all things and this made Abraham to be obedient ready to offer up his sonne Isaack for hee knew that notwithstanding God would not faile to make good what he had promissed in the person of Isaack To conclude this point at this time there be manifold considerations of this argument to strengthen all Pastours especialy in their calling that they pervert not Gods word for any mans pleasure in the world for if I looke to their lives that will oppresse mee or if I shall looke to my owne life I shall finde it to be a great terrour to keepe mee from displeasing God in my calling for any mans pleasure first if I consider their lives they have it from God and as their life is from God so is all their working power that they cannot stirre a foote further then it pleaseth God for God can cut off their daies in an instant is it not then a vaine thing to feare man whose breath is in his nostrils it being so easy a matter for God to take away the life of all flesh how dare I then sinne against God to obey any man Secondly if I cōsider mine owne life I have no cause to obey man and to sinne against God seeing none can take my life away but God and none can give it mee but hee which gave it therefore I should onely feare him who gave mee life and can take it from mee and thus wee see how the spirit of God in this particular consideration of God who quickneth all things laies a strong ground to all Pastours Teachers for to harken unto this Charge that they violate not this commandement OF this great grave weightie Conclusion beloved in the Lord wherewithall the Apostle ends his Doctrine which concernes the ordering of the affaires of Gods howse aright according to the will of God wee began to speake to you the last time and wee did shew you the reason why the Apostle did ad this so weightie grave Charge and Commandement to Timothie a man otherwise of excellent guifts it was to let us see that these things are not of humane invention but of divine authoritie they are things which are not to be dispenced with all as men may dispence with the precepts of men for they are the Commandements of the living God otherwise the Apostle would never have charged Timothie and in him all Pastours in such a manner as in the sight of God and of Christ Iesus to
from above First of all this letts us see that it is a vain thing to be astonished at the fury of Princes it is but miserable weaknes of men that know what God is certain it is if we serve God aright we would not be moved with the fear of anie man in the world Ye see when as Ieroboam would have apprehended the Prophet that God sent to threaten his judgments upō him for his idolatry when he stretched out his hand to apprehend him God so decred that his hand withered that when he had stretched it out he could not pull it in again This God that could make the hand of a King to wither when he did oppose the counsell of God what need anie man to feare whenas our Saviour and God is on our side We know what Saule did unto David he did use all his skill to destroy him but it was unpossible for him to do it because God who is the King of Kings was with David and God did shew his power against Saule in this when he put Sauls life into Davids hands but hee never put Davids life into Saules hands We knowe what enmity Ahab had against Elias the Prophet yet the Lord cōmaūds him to goe to him the Prophet answered the Lord that he sought his life but the Lord answered him saying goe be not afraid and the Prophet goes to him tells him that it was he that troubled Israell and the Lord restrained him that he could doe the Prophet no harme Infinite examples in the Scriptures wee have of this to let us see that he can hold Kings that they shall doe no more harm then God will suffer them to prove this truth of God that he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords To come yet to make more use of this why doth the Apostle lay this before us the use is partly for Kings and partly for us the first lesson for Kings is this that I touched before concerning Nabuchadnezar how God forced him to learn how to know God to be the King of Kings therfore let all Potentates learn to know that God hath rule over them and their Kingdoms and it is he that makes them Kings and serts them in their thrones and if they doe not this it is just with God to make them will they nill they to acknowledge this to their destruction for the saying of Isaie shal be accomplished which the Lord there speaks all knees shall bow to him and every mouth shall confesse him to bee the Lord for the Lord will not suffer himself long to be despised but in his own time hee will challenge his right in despite of the world it were a blessed thing if Kings would consider this that it is by God that they doe reigne observe what it is Christ shall doe in the last day the proper effect of this Kingdom shall be to put down all principallityes and powers and to give up his Kingdom to God that God may be all in all 1. Corin 15 then shall they see the trueth of this that he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords if Kings would consider this that the time shall come that the world shall not have a Kingdom nor King but God alone me thinks they would then reverence this God in greater measure then they doe but this sort of doctrine is harsh to Princes eares to think that there is a God above them or that there should be anie of whom they hould their scepter and yet they must know this or feele the truth of it by experience in Gods judgment The second use for Kings and Lords is this that the Apostle doth teach them to doe that which is right to all men that they oppresse no man because they have a King over them in heaven unto whom they must give an accompt of their doings This Argument the Apostle useth to Maisters in sundry places that they should doe that that is right to their servants knowing they have a maister in Heaven If superiours would but acknowledge this that they have a Lord over them that shall take a reckoning of them aswell as they take a reckoning with their inferiours surely it would make them to doe nothing but that which is right these are the uses that doe concern Kings and rulers Now there is great use of this likewise for ourselvs besides the incouragement it gives us not to be afraid of anie power in the world but it teacheth us this lesson not to resist power nor authority because there is no power nor authority but it is from God as the Apostle shewes Now since all authority is of God he that resists authority hee resisteth God but some object what if they be tyrants and merciles men and such as make no conscience to doe wrong I answere even as the Apostle doth to servants whom hee commands to be subject not onely to their good masters and such as are gentle but also to them which are froward so I say if thou wilt doe thy duty thou oughtest rather to suffer wrong and to suffer thyself to be oppressed rather then to lift up thyself against authority which thou art under for if this bond of subjection to Princes were loosed Kingdoms could not stand if every servant should stand against their master and every subject against his Prince when he is wronged no common wealth could stand it is true wee may use all lawfull means to eschew wrong and Magistrates may plead in Parliament with their Princes for they have also their authority from God wee ought to use all lawfull meanes to escape wrong but if there be no possibility of escaping wee must rather suffer them to wrong us for power and authority is to be reverenced as being of God and indeed God doth sometimes in justice give bad rulers to avenge himself for the sins of his people hee gave to Israel a King in his wrath and hee stirred up a wicked King in Israel to avenge himself upō the people for their idolatrie doe you not think but that the divell is Gods instrumēt against the wicked so is every wiked king th◠Lords scourge the rod of his justice to inflict upō his enimies when as good rulers are the blessings of God upon a people that are carefull to please him the Lord will make them nursing Fathers and Mothers unto his church and so God in his infinit wisedom makes Kings and Rulers to subjects as hee sees cause either to plague them or to preserve them this is the secret of Gods providence thus to order the World according as he sees they carry themselvs towards him we see that so long as Israel did not know God so long God gave them into their enimies hands and they had tyrants to rule over them but when they sought the Lord as they should and ought the Lord gave them gracious judges to deliver them out of the hands of their enimies and assoone as they fell from
all things ād secondly he laieth Chist before us who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good Confession why this The reason of this is of great moment to be considered of us for the ignorance of this one point is the cause of many foolish pastors and of many foolish Christians for it is not the naked setting of God and of Christ before us that wil serve the turne to stay thy wicked heart from pollution Vnlesse I set God before mee as hee is in Christ as he is a patterne of doing good shewing me how I shold walke I say unlesse I thinke of them thus see them the sight of them shal never do mee good or be of force to stay my wicked heart from sinne for wicked men beleeve there is a God and so do the Divells also and this workes as much in the divells as in many Chistians doth the sight of God and of Christ hinder men from prophanenesse in this world doth it either stay the heart of Preacher or hearer from sinning it doth not the reason is because they have onely a generall mooving and notion of God but they never or seldom take notice of him in his nature and properties as hee is layd before us as a patterne in whose footesteps we must walke and therefore the Apostle laide God before Timothy in the particular consideration of him as he quickeneth all things Christ as he witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate Touching the first the spirit of God throughout the scriptures when they speake of any matter concerning God or his glory Commonly hee sets downe a certaine description of God that out of it men may see him so as to feare to do any thing that hee forbiddeth Yet among all the gloriouse discriptions of God there is none more glorious then this which the Apostle hath here set downe in these 4 verses first that it is hee that quickneth all things secondly that hee is the onely Potentate king of kings Lord of Lords dwelling in that light which no man can attaine unto to whom be honour and glorie everlasting so hee sets downe a strait discription of the living God because much is to be considered of God to make all pastours and teachers to be faithfull and to stay sinfull man from corrupting Gods trueth it is not the knowledge of one particular concerning God nor yet of many that will serve the turne but it must be a great and wonderfull knowledge of God that will sanctify a prophane heart to true obedience therefore Christ himselfe ascribeth eternall life unto the knowledge of the true God and him whom God hath sent This is not the generall knowledge of God which many have yet shall be damned but it is such a knowledge as will daunt the most vaine proud heart of man and make it to stoupe under his hand I say such a knowledge of God we must have such an apprehension of God as will not make us to jest at it but such a knowledge as may make us perpetually to tremble and it should be our care to increase in this knowledge of God and to learne to know him aright for it is not the knowledge of God simply but the knowledge of God aright that will make both Pastour and Christians to walke conscionably and sincerely whereas on the contrary wicked men through their Ignorance of God because God holdes his peace and doth not presently execute Iudgment therefore they thought that God did approve of their wickednesse as if God tooke pleasure in sinne as much as they we reade in the psalmes the wicked saith in his heart that God hath forgotten hee hideth his face he will not see it and this makes them to scorne at them which reprove them and all because the sight of God is hid from their eyes The cause of all loosenes of life and wickednesse of heart is cheifly this that though we thinke wee know God yet wee know him not as we shold therefore let us every one labour to understand this that God will have us to know him as hee hath revealed in his word To come to speake of this knowledge more particularly how God is set before us to be considered in his working in his power and in his Omnipotency but in this place hee is set before us in his mightie power and the efficacie thereof Iesus Christ is here set before us for an example to us who witnessed a good Confession and this we must consider of God more particularly for we may not consider God onely in his goodnesse and mercy not in his power justice for that will make men make shipwracke of faith not to walke with an upright heart before God when men looke onely to Gods mercy and forget his power indeed Gods mercy is the moste kindly motive to make us to obey God but it is not the onely motive for the power of God must likewise be laid before our eyes David was astonished when hee did see what judgments God did execute upon men in the 1. Corinth the Apostle tells us what it is that made him a faithfull minister knowing the terrour of the Lord to perswade men he sets before himselfe the horrible judgments that shall be inflicted upon unfaithfull ministers at the last day and this made him to set himselfe to draw men to God by all tbe strēgth hee could he considered not onely Gods goodnesse but he likewise setts before himselfe the terrour of the Lord so as he durst not dalley with Gods trueth but he did labour to the utmost of his power faithfully to dispense Gods truth Iesus Christ hee is set before us as a patterne for Christ is not onely to be considered by us as our Redeemer or mediatour for this doth but beguile foolish men causeth them to sinne more but they should consider an other thing in Christ to witt that hee is not onely given for this but also for a patterne and unlesse wee serve God after his example his blood shal never ransome us These are the two things we are to marke to set God before us not onely in mercy but also in his power we are to set Christ before us not onely as a redeemer but also as a patterne for us to follow his footsteps concerning God he makes choice of this that hee quickneth all things why this to be short Gods power is to be seene in many things but especially Gods power shines in this and hath the greatest force in it to daunt the hearts of men more then any thing whatsoever when he sees God to be the authour of life to all things so that no man lives but by him if any man consider this to wit that they have no breath nor life nor mooving but from God and that it is not in the power of any king or Potentate in the world to give life but God alone and thy life is in Gods