'T is the fundamental Promise of the Gospel And yet we see this manner of expression by It may be Who knows This is sometimes used by God in the Scripture I find four places wherein it is used besides this in my Text 1. The first is Ionah iii. 9. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not Well you will say This was the speech of an Heathen King one who was unacquainted with the ways of God and his gracious dealings Well to mend that there is 2. A second place in Daniel iv 27. Break off thy sins if it may be a lengthning of thy tranquillity That was the speech of the Prophet Daniel himself but yet it was to a wicked and prophane King Well there is yet 3. A third place that goes higher It may be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Ioseph Amos v. 15. That 's a Speech of a Prophet and to Gods Visible Church and yet for all that it is but A may be Quis novit There is yet 4. A fourth place Zeph. ii 3. Seek the Lord ye meek of the earth it may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's wrath That 's a Speech of an holy Prophet and to holy Men. The meek Ones Calvin renders the Saints They who have wrought his judgments done righteously yet 't is but fortasse to them but an half suspensive promise 'T is but Quis novit 'T is but It may be you shall be hid That 's a strange Promise What saith S. Augustine Si Deus fortasse non perdet malos sine dubio non perdet bonos potiùs illud eligamus ubi dubitatio nulla est in Psal. lxxvii What shall we think of this Speech Surely this inkling and intimation of hope it may be useful 1. It shews us deliquium spei the faintings and faltrings of hope upon some sins As we strengthen our sins so we weaken our hope Great sins are hardliest pardoned As Saint Peter spake to Simon Magus Repent said he of this thy wickedness if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee Gross Sins make great gashes into the Conscience we can hardly attain to full assurance that God will pardon them 2. It shews magnitudinem periculi We may come to such a case be brought to so low an ebb beset with so many miseries that there is but small hope of delivery It made Amos cry out By whom shall Iacob arise Amos vii for he is small brought so low that there are small hopes to recover Son of â—…an can these dead bones live Lord thou knowest In such a case any hint or inkling of hope will be some comfort to us 3. This kind of Speech Quis novit 'T is remedium 〈◊〉 desperationem As this Speech doth not fully assure us so neither doth it wholly reject us If we be past hope we grow presumptuous and resolve to sin as they in Ieremy xviii 12. They say there is no hope we will walk on in our own evil wayes It is the lowest degree of hope if we have no more yet hold this fast I will wait and pray if I cannot get assurance yet I will not cast away my hope God may be gracious This is one degree of hope to know that God is intreatable and sin is pardonable and mercy is attainable and Hell is avoydable Part not with this hope lest thou fall into desperation 4. This Speech Quis novit It shews incertitudinem beneficii The judgment that is threatned is a temporal judgment and for the avoiding of that the most we can make of it is but a Quis novit We are not sure to escape it Indeed for spiritual judgments upon our Repentance we may know and be assured to escape them but deliverance from temporal judgments have not so certain a Promise What saith David Thou forgavest them O Lord and yet thou didst punish their own inventions It was so with the Jews The sins of Manasseh upon his Repentance were forgiven him but yet for all that even after Iosiah his Reformation God would not spare Ierusalem for those sins of Manasseh but cast them into Captivity No stronger are our hopes for temporal Prosperity As Ionathan said to his Armour-bearer It may be the Lord will work for us 1 Sam. xiv 6. Or as Ioshuah of his own prevailing for his Inheâ—…itance Iosh. xiv 12. If the Lord will be with us I shall prevail and drive them out 5. This Speech Quis novit It shews gravitatem peccati What sin is that The Violation of his Covenant when we deal falsly in that the forsaking of his Religion the embracing of a false Worship the choosing of a new God that that puts his People into a sad Condition Who knows that he will be merciful to such a sin We have nothing to relieve us but this Quis novit We cannot then plead for niercy by the Tenure of his Covenant In some sins we may sue out our Pardon of Course by Virtue of his Covenant So saith S. Iohn If we confess our sins God is faithful not onely merciful but faithfull We have his Covenant for it but if we falsify his Covenant and forsake it that breaks off our hold It was so with the Israelites when they made and worship'd the Golden Calf what saith Moses to the People Exod. xxxii 30. O ye have sinned a great sin peradventure I shall make an atonement for you It was but peradventure he could give them no better assurance And what saith he to God verse 33. If thou wilt forgive forgive as if he should say I cannot plead for pardon I can onely beg for it If thou wilt forgive forgive That 's the last particular The measure of their Hope Quis novit A SERMON ON PSAL. lxxviii 34 35 36 37. When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God And they remembred that God was their Rock and the high God their Redeemer Nevertheless they did flatter him with their month and they lyed unto him with their tongues For their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant THis Psalm we may term it a Psalm of Record or a Psalm to bring to Remembrance It is an holy Panegyrick or Song for the whole Nation and people of the Jews a solemn recital of the many memorable passages in that Common-wealth from their first settlement And it hath been the wisdome of Kingdoms and Common-wealths to have their Chronographos those who should Record and Register the several passages and affairs of their State to keep upon Record their beginnings and foundations their Acts and Monuments the good and ill events that have betided them And accordingly the wisdom of God hath authorised and employ'd his Sacred Pen-men and Secretaries to Enroll and Register up the several passages of his Church and to transmit them
's store up then and provide against it lay up against a dear year fence out Gods Judgments when they shall besiege us keep them out from entring upon us These and such as these are the thoughts of carnal men Ey but this Scripture offers more grace The piety of the Prophet hath other apprehensions of Judgments and farr other resolutions for the undergoing of them And this Piety in the Prophet appears in two degrees that make it more remarkable 1. Here is the low degree of the affliction he takes it at the worst he supposeth himself not onely in some necessity but in extremity in want of all outward things He saith not Onely if I have food and raiment though but hard fare and coarse clothing it shall suffice He submits not onely to Agur's portion Neither riches nor poverty but food convenient to sustain nature He stops not at Micaiah's diet Bread of affliction and water of affliction No he knows how to undergo the loss of all things Let poverty come upon him as an armed man and spoil him of all yet his heart will hold up he is not dismayed Ey here is Piety in the strength and highest improvement That will not capitulate with God how much it will suffer and no more but will resolve to bear the heaviest burthen submit to the sharpest affliction and undergo it holily 2. The Prophets Piety is seen in another degree that 's the high degree of affection with which he will entertain this great affliction 1. He makes not onely use of his patience he will suffer patiently and meekly he will not murmure at it 2. He resolves not onely to be content with it and well pleased with this condition that 's a degree higher Patience suffers it but Contentment feels it not Contentment is an Autarchie it feels no want But the Prophet rises higher 3. He knows how to rejoyce in affliction Joy that 's the affection that belongs to happiness and felicity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. In the day of prosperity rejoyce but in the day of adversity consider saith Solomon Eccles. vii 14. Sad thoughts one would think are then seasonable No here the Prophet can rejoyce in the day of adversity Nay more as S. Paul exhorts Rejoyce in the Lord always again I say rejoyce Phil. iv 4. So here this Feast of Joy hath two Courses 1. I will rejoyce in the Lord. 2. I will joy in the God of my salvation TWO SERMONS PREACHED UPON EASTER-DAY ON EASTER-DAY The First Sermon JOB xix 25 26 27. For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me THis Text is a Prophesie and Prediction of our Saviour Christs glorious Resurrection the great benefit and mysterie of our Religion which the Christian Church doth this day celebrate A Sacred Truth requiring not onely the Assent but the Devotion and Adoration of our Faith The work of this day layes the greatest proofs of Christs God-head and Divinity He was declared to be the Son of God by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. i. 4. And when God was to bring his Son back from the grave this and the like Prophesies as Ushers attended him and proclaimed before him as Pharaoh before Ioseph Abrech Bow the knee Let all the Angels of God worship him Let every knee bow before him Let every tongue confess him Let every soul receive and embrace him 'T is true the incredulous unbelieving Jews labour to obscure and deface this and all other Prophesies of Christs Resurrection and by a mis-construction to draw it away to another sense They answer all these Prophesies as Esay complains of them chap. xxx 10. They say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not unto us right things but prophesie to us deceit The Jews they pervert the Text and some other Expositours mistake it and draw down the height and mysterie of this speech to an inferiour sense But generally the most Ancient and most Orthodox Interpreters do fasten their Meditations upon this Text as a clear and undoubted prediction of our Saviours Resurrection And this sense we embrace and so apprehend the words as a Prophetical prediction and faithful confession of our Saviours victory and triumph over the power of death And it is of good use to look back to these Prophesies even after their fulfilling As the Angel spake this day to the women at the Sepulchre Come see the place where the Lord was laid The emptiness of the grave proved that he was risen So even after Christ is risen it is of use to our faith to review these Prophesies Come see the place that foretold his rising again the fulfilling of these Texts will greatly confirm our faith of his Resurrection As in your purchases and possessions though you be already seized and stated in them yet ye desire to get in all former Conveyances to strengthen your tenure So though you be possess'd of this dayes benefit yet these Prophesies are as our fore-fathers records we claim these Testimonies as our Inheritance our Faith holds by them To reflect upon these Prophesies will confirm our belief in all other Truths as yet to be fulfilled Impleta credimus impleri videmus implenda confidimus saith S. Augustine It will put Davids Song into our mouths As we have heard so have we seen Heard it foretold Seen it fulfill'd We may sing with the Psalmist All the wayes of the Lord are Mercy and Truth Mercy in Promising Truth in Performing We may confess with Solomon Blessed be the Lord who spake it with his mouth and hath with his hand fulfilled it We may open our Text as Christ did This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears our Faith may safely set to its Seal That God is true For the words themselves they report unto us a memorable remarkable Prophesie of the Resurrection of a double Resurrection 1. Here Iob fore-sees and fore-tells the Resurrection of Christ. He tells us That Christ who by his Death Redeem'd him hath again obtain'd an endless Life That after his fall by Death he is recovered and got up again stands and shall stand last upon the earth 2. He Prophesies of his own resurrection That though he were now in a dying condition death had already seiz'd upon him yet he knew there was hope in his death that he should be raised from the grave of corruption to an everliving and blessed state and condition Now surely this is a Text of Scripture worthy of all acceptation much to be set by both for the clearness and evidence of it and also for the date it bears and print of Antiquity 1. 'T is a clear Prophesie there is not a fuller more express description of the Resurrection in all
will then over-spread the world There are in Scripture two great Judgments which Christ and S. Peter make types and resemblances of the day of Judgment And Christ notes these sins as the symptoms and fore-runners of this Judgment 1. He instances in the Deluge and Flood that drowned the old World See what Christ saith of that Matth. xxiv 37. As the dayes of Noah were so shall the coming of the Son of Man be For as in the dayes that were before the Flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage and knew not till the Flood came and took them all away so shall also the coming of the Son Man be 2. He instances in the Overthrow of Sodom Christ makes that a type of the day of Judgment What saith he of that Luke xvii 28. As it was in the dayes of Lot they did eat they drank they bought they sold they planted they builded and then it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all so shall it be in the day of Christ. See here the practises that Christ instances in In the old World eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage So in Sodom they ate and drank they bought and sold builded and planted Why the Scripture charges both those times and places with farr greater sins 1. The old World is charged with bloud and violence and heavy oppressions Men lived like Giants oppressing and devouring others That is a crying sin So 2. Sodom is charged with other kind of sins of unnatural abominations Yet observe Christ instanceth not in the oppressions and violence of the old World nor in the abominations of Sodom but in their eating and drinking and buying and selling and driving after the world to teach us That when the world comes to this state and condition to be voluptuous and covetous let their voluptuousness be natural eating and drinking and the enjoyment of marriage let their covetousness be without oppression they bought and they sold traded fairly paid for what they took yet a secure giving over our selves to these courses is a fore-runner of judgment As some sicknesses Morbi symptomatici are more fearful not in themselves but because they are fore-runners of plague and pestilence so are these sins dreadful When the World lyes in them in a careless security when men say Peace and Safety every man chears up his neighbour Be not afraid all shall be well then shall come upon them sudden destruction 1 Thes. v. 3. The Meteor called Malacia it is a certain sign of a storm and tempest 2. These sins they are Peccata accelerantia when these sins are overspreading come to a ripeness and predóminancy they do not onely foretel and prognosticate but they hasten the day of Judgment and bring it upon the world And so they are more considerable Bare signs are not to be neglected But these sins are not onely ominous signs but effectual provocations and speeders of judgment S. Paul tells Timothy that these sins will make the last times perilous times 2 Tim. iii. 1 2. This know also that in the last dayes perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God These and the like sins will be dangerous sins make perilous times expose the world to vengeance provoke judgment Should we see the Sun darkned the heavens to tremble the Stars to fall the Sea to roar it would make us to look about us Why to see the world drown'd in voluptuousness and security and greediness of gain loving pleasures and profits more then God to a spiritual man are indeed more fearful Those onely foretel these hasten and ripen and pull down vengeance and judgment 3. Christ bids us beware of these sins respectively to the day of Judgment because these sins they are Derisoria Iudicii they will beget a profane spirit of deriding and scoffing at the day of Judgment Voluptuousness that is a mocker Solomon tells us so Prov. xx And Covetousness that is a mocker too Luke xvi 14. All these things heard the Pharises which were covetous and they derided him And Security that is a mocker too They mocked Gods Messengers saying securely These things shall happen to themselves No doubt Noah had many a flout put upon him for talking of the Deluge and building his Ark. So Lots sons-in-law made but a jest of the tidings of destruction Lot seemed as one that mock'd And the threatnings of Captivity were but derided by the secure ones in Isaiah's time Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it And answerably S. Peter tells us there will be mockers at the last day There will come at the last scoffers walking after their own lusts and say Where is the promise of his Coming 2 Pet. iii. 3. And mocking that is a most dismal provoker of judgment Trembling at threatnings even in Ahab did set back Gods judgments but mocking and deriding Gods threatnings that hastens judgments Take but two places for it 1. One place is 2 Chron. xxxvi 16. They mock'd the Messengers of God and despised his threatnings until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people till there was no remedy Salvation it self could not save such 2. Another place is Isai. xxii 12. In that day the Lord did call to weeping and mourning and behold joy and gladness slaying oxen and killing sheep eating flesh and drinking wine Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we shall dye yes I warrant you that was their Song And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts Surely this iniquity shall not be purged till they dye He would not be merciful to such Voluptuous Sensual Secure Mockers A SERMON ON GEN. iv 3 4 5. And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel he brought also of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell THis Story which we have now entred upon is the first relation that the Scripture makes of any publick Worship that by man-kind was offered up to God And so it carries with it a Type and Representation of the Practice of Religion which in succession of times should be used and performed in the Church of Christ. And this solemn Service it is observable and exemplary in divers respects 1. In the Condition of the Persons that perform this Service Who were they Cain and Abel both Husbandmen Cain a Tiller of the ground Abel a Keeper of Sheep Vers. 2. 1. These two though the first-born Patriarchs of mankind though the Heirs of the world yet were they brought up in a plain honest laborious Calling 2. Though their Profession were secular yet they accounted the matters of God and duties of
deserves longing and expectation and delay naturally sharpens desire Thus Christ delayed and denied the Canaanitish woman not to repel her but to provoke her to more importunity After the strong strivings of her Faith and Prayer then O woman be it unto thee as thou desirest Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it Psal. lxxxi 10. Delay enlargeth and stretcheth out the desire and the larger our desires of Christ are the fuller shall we enjoy him This made the Church before Christ long and expect and be earnest for his Comming Abraham he longed to see this day Ioh. viii Iacob on his death-bed O Lord I wait for thy Salvation It made the Prophets enquire diligently and search into the Promises It is the honourable style and title of the Saints in the Old Testament They were waiters for the consolation of Israel The Church like Sisera's mother look'd out at the window Why stay the wheels of his Chariot O that thou wouldst break the heavens and come down The Fathers expound it of the longings of the Patriarks for the Comming of Christ. Many Kings and Prophets desired to see this day Luk. x. That is the reason saith Gregory why the Saints complain'd Their dayes were shortned because they could not live to see Christ in the flesh They onely saluted the Promise afar off and dyed in the faith of it 4. Christ came not presently deferr'd his appearance to teach us the more to prize him now he is come and to rejoyce in him Hope deferr'd makes the heart sick Prov. xiii 12. but when it is accomplished 't is a tree of Life Hath he cost the Church so much longing and searching and praying Sure then the Church will welcom him gladly embrace him firmly retain him constantly Those that have been long without children when God sends them a son he is double welcom to them Isaac and Iacob and Ioseph they were long sued for before they were obtained and accordingly beloved Quod diu quaeritur solet dulâ—…ias inveniri saith St. Aug. The Church before Christ was like barren Hannah weeping and sorrowing and begging of a son now that Christ is born it becomes us to be like fruitful Hannah rejoycing at his birth Hannah's song saith S. Aug. 't is not Canticum unius foeminae pro filio sed totius Ecclesiae pro Christo. It becomes the Church to sing Hannahs song for the birth of Christ. The Church after much search hath found out not the lost Groat but an invaluable Treasure not a stray Sheep but the holy Lamb of God not a forlorn Prodigal but the onely-Begotten and Beloved of the Father it becomes us to rejoyce That 's the first He came not in the beginning of Time 2. Neither did he stay till the last period and end of Time that so in all differences of time Faith might have an employment Christ yesterday and to day and the same for ever Heb. xiii 8. The Patriarchs they believed in Christum futurum in Christ afterwards to be exhibited The Apostles and the Saints of that Age they believed in Christum praesentem they enjoyed his bodily presence they saw and believed on him present amongst them Christians now they believe in Christum praeteritum come and gone again into heaven They that came before and they that followed after they all sung Hosanna The Patriarchs they went before the Christian Church that follows after both sing Hosanna Blessed is he that comes to us in the name of the Lord. As Kings when they go in State have their Ushers before them and their Attendants after them both honour their appearance Christ in this fulness of time is as the Sun at noon-tide East and West are both enlightned by him It shews us the efficacy of Christ and of his bloud it was effectual not onely when it was shed but before it was shed and after it was shed It sanctified and saved the Primitive Saints and the last upon earth shall be saved by it That 's the first fulness of time in the natural consideration of it In the middle of Time when the world was at the Zenith then Christ came II. There is another fulness of time that 's Constituta plenitudo temporis that time that was set and decreed and appointed by God For not onely Christ's comming but all the circumstances of Time and Place were forelaid and determined and Christ's comming into the world gave a fulness and accomplishment unto that Time That we may conceive how our Saviour's Comming brought a fulness to Time we must know there were foregoing times in which Christ was made known to the Church but yet there was an emptiness in those times His Birth and Incarnation gave a fulness to them There were three Preparative foregoing Times which Christ's Comming fulfilled 1. Was Tempus Promissionis that Time and Age of the Church when the Promise of Christ was first made and publish'd that was the time from Adam to Moses The Church of God lived and supported it self with that Promise That afterwards in God's good time Christ should be born Now Promises are all for hereafter they bring nothing in present Indeed Faith knows how to make use of them but in themselves they are but empty they exhibit nothing They give good Assurance but put us not into Possession A man may be rich in Bills and Bonds and Specialties but yet be in actual want as men lay up Evidences among their Treasures But Christ's comming fulfill'd those Promises gave a Yea and Amen to them The prayer of David was the prayer of the whole Church Think upon thy Servant as concerning thy Word in which thou hast caused me to put my trust It spread these Evidences before God as Hezekiah did the Letter that was sent to him Ey but Promises turn'd into Performances is a true fulness That 's the first the time of Performance is a real fulness to the times of Promises 2. A second Time was Tempus Typorum the time and age of the Church furnish'd with Types and Prefigurations of him that was the time of the Church under Moses It added to the former time That had but a Promise of him these Types resembled him described him to them seal'd up and assured his comming to them They were to the Faith of the Church as Signs to represent him as Tokens and Pledges to assure him to them But yet this falls short of fulness Seals and Pledges are good Assurances but actual Possession is a great deal better Annulus iste nihil valet haereditas est quam reposco The Writing and Seal is not the thing we look for the Estate and Inheritance is that we wait for Now Christ's comming fill'd up the imperfections and emptiness of these Types They had the emptiness of a shadow He brings the substance and fulness of the Body Col. ii 17. They were but shadows of things to come but the Body is of Christ. His comming fill'd the Temple as the cloud fill'd the
Tabernacle He fill'd that house with glory when Christ came into it 3. A third Time was Tempus Prophetiarum the Age of the Prophets that was yet a fuller Time then there was a more clear and particular foretelling the very manner and circumstances of his Birth and Incarnation Esay calculates and foretels the time At such a year then the Messias shall come Micah foretels the City where he shall be born At Bethleem They bring it nearer and closer home but all of them fail and fall short of this fulness They were but as Heralds and Ushers forewarning and preparing the way before him The Testimony of Iesus is the Spirit of Prophesie His comming gives a being to all their Predictions They all sate like Ionas to see when their Prophesies should be fulfilled like Elijah on mount Carmel looking often and often for his blessed Appearance His presence accomplish'd them and gave them their fulness Thus God dealt with his Church as Boaz with Ruth first he affords her some gleanings then le ts fall handfuls to her then fills her vail with a measure of clean corn dressed and winnowed then at last marries himself to her in his Incarnation So then Is Christ's Comming the fulness of time What improvement shall we make of this point for practice 1. It should teach us to take notice of our happiness that were kept and reserved to live in those times that are fulfill'd by our Saviour's comming It is a great Blessing of God to be born in good times in dayes of Peace and Plenty We pity our forefathers who lived in those Swording times when all was in an uprore and after-ages will do the like for us And one bewail'd himself that he was born nec solo nec coelo nec seculo erudito in barbarous times How happy are Christians who have all the Mysteries of our Redemption accomplish'd in these dayes of the Gospel What saith our Saviour to his Disciples Luk. x. 23. Blessed are the eyes that see the things that ye see for I tell you many Kings and Prophets have desired to see those things that ye see and have not seen them David and Solomon and Iosiah how would they have thrown down their Crowns at his feet and adored him Those Truths concerning Christ which we count common and vulgar and sleight and neglect them how would they have ravished the spirits of those Saints that were before us The Mysterie of the Trinity what dark intimations of it to the Saints of old That Christ was both God and Man Davids Lord and Davids Son it posed all the Doctors in Israel how to conceive it Matth. xxii Our Saviours Incarnation Passion Resurrection Ascension we scorn to spend time to learn them our selves and teach them others and yet the Angels and Arch-angels stand astonished at them They before us received but the Promise God providing a better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Heb. xi 40. 1 Sam. xvi Samuel would not sit down to the Sacrifice till young David was bâ—…ught from tending the sheep Christ's Sacrifice was delayed till the fulness of the Gentiles might come in The Patriarchs were the eldest sons and they were put off with a Kid the fat Calf was kill'd for us the best wine was kept last till now to entertain us 2. This fulness on Gods part doth challenge and require fulness on our part 1. Fulness of knowledge On Gods part Christ is fully revealed all the Mysterie of Godliness laid open and unfolded t is our duty then fully to know him The dim dark imperfect knowledge of the Jewish Church will not suffice the vail is now taken off and we all with open face may see and behold him When I was a child I spake as a child I understood as a child that was the condition of those times Christians must be grown men of a ripe age in understanding The times of our former ignorance God regarded not saith S. Paul but now he warns every man Act. xvii 30. The times of Christianity are foretold to be knowing times Every man shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them Ier. xxxi 34. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea saith the Prophet Habakkuk a Spring-tide of knowledge Zachary foretels that the feeblest Christian shall be as David Iohn Baptist a great enlightned Prophet yet the least in the kingdom of heaven may be greater then he in the Mysteries of Religion This fulness on Gods part requires of us 2. Fulness of Faith and of stedfast Assurance We owe our Faith to Gods bare Promises Shall we not fully believe his reall Performances The Saints before Christ met with many difficulties in believing All of them are removed that they cannot hinder our perswasion There were four Difficulties that attended the Promise of Christ as it was propounded to the Patriarchs 1. Was Obscuritas They saw all in a dim light all things were made known in much obscurity they had but the light of a candle to discern by the light of the Sun shines out to us 2. Was Generalitas Christ was promised to them in more general terms not so distinctly and personally as he is to us They heard of a blessed Seed to be born that is all their Faith fastned on We know who he is Iesus the Son of Mary he is pointed out to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with special circumstances Hic Nunc breeds distinct knowledge 3. Was Improbabilitas The Promise was propounded to them with some Improbabilities A Virgin shall conceive and bring forth a Son How can this thing be Yes we know it is performed that holy Virgin hath conceived and born him Performances confute all improbabilities Can there come any good out of Nazareth Come and see 4. Was Longinquitas The Promise of Christ made to the Fathers was for a long time after many hundred years to be spent ere Christ should come Tell a man what shall happen a thousand years hence you can hardly perswade him The Prophesie is for many dayes to come said those mockers in Ezekiel We need not stretch our faith so far the Promise is before us With Thomas we may lay hold on him and say My Lord and my God 3. Hath Christ brought a fulness with him It must work in us fulness of content and satisfaction rest fully in him and in his plentiful Redemption The fulness of Christ is abundantly able to satisfie and fill up all our desires Fills the soul with marrow and fatness All other cravings of the soul may be quieted for a time but they return again as eager as ever 't is like a dream of meat saith the Prophet and when he awakes his soul is empty This heavenly Manna it breeds appetite and yet it pinches not it satisfies the soul and yet it cloys not Indeed Christ hath in him all that we need or can possibly wish
for He is the poor mans Riches the despised mans Honour the hungry mans Food the sick mans Health and the dying mans Life Hast thou gained him Say 'T is enough Lord Return to thy rest O my soul the Lord hath replenish'd thee When Simeon had Christ in his arms he had enough then willing to dye he had seen his Saviour 4. Hath God fulfilled his Promise to us It requires we should fulfill our promises to him Not fulness on Gods part and emptiness on ours fast on his part loose on ours The Son of God Iesus Christ was not Yea and Nay 2 Cor. i. 19. His comming to us was not like the willing-unwilling son in the Gospel first he would go and then he would not Not one word hath fallen to the ground of all that he promised us And shall our promises to him be yea and nay The Promises that have passed 'twixt God and us are mutual not simply free but partional and foederal Do ut des Facio ut facias in the form of a Covenant and by way of stipulation Moses calls it a mutual Avouchment We avouch him to be our God he avoucheth us to be his people and that 's strong and binding Deut. xxvi 17. Thus Ioshua exhorts the people to obedience Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all the good which the Lord hath promised you all is come to pass Take heed of being false in his Covenant He performs all we just nothing 5. At the fulness of time God made this great Promise good to his Church It must have a double operation upon our Faith 1. It must settle our Faith 2. It must order our Faith and reliance upon God 1. It must settle our Faith in the hopeful expectance of all other Promises This grand Promise of Christ 't is Matrix omnium promissionum and Pabulum Fidei the foison that Faith feeds upon it gives strength to all other promises In him all are Yea and Amen He hath not spared his own Son with him he can deny us nothing Accessorium sequitur Principale other promises are accessories and appurtenances to this Promise Manoah's wife argued strongly Would God destroy us he would not have promised us a son Hath God made good the Promise of his Son He will fail us in nothing All his wayes are Mercy and Truth Mercy in Promising Truth in Performing As it must settle our Faith keep it from wavering so 2. It must order our Faith keep it from precipitancy too much hastening Our Faith must not antedate the Promises of God in their due time they shall be accomplished As to every thing God hath set a season so he hath to his Promises Luk. i. 20. See the date God sets to them They shall be fulfill'd in their season Thus the Prophet sets back the over-hasty expectation of the Jews for the overthrow of their enemies Habak ii 3. he tells them The vision is yet for an appointed time at the end it shall speak and not lye though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry It is good not onely to hope but to wait for the Salvation of God We should answer and check our over-hasty cravings as Christ did Mine hour is not yet come When it is come Salvation shall come flying upon the wings of the wind Ioseph in prison made means for enlargement it succeeded not until the time that his word came the word of the Lord tried him and delivered him Psal. cxv Thus the Hebrews had their set time for enlargement the self-same day that God had determined At the end of seventy years they returned from Babylon The Lord he doth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is not slack but waits to have mercy upon us in the best season and time of mercy We come Secondly to the benefit it self accomplish'd for us God sent his Son We will take the particulars as they lye So here are three things considerable 1. The Authour God 2. His Action He sent 3. The Person who must effect and perform this Redemption for us that 's his Son I. The Authour of this great benefit of sending is God The Scripture still ascribes the sending of Christ unto God the Father This gracious action it is appropriated unto him Hence he is called the Gift of God Ioh. iv 10. So Ioh. iii. 16. He gave his onely begotten Son So Ioh. xvii 23. praying to his Father he adds They have believed that Thou hast sent me So Acts iii. 26. S. Peter assures the Jews God hath sent his Son to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities And two Congruities there are that God should send his Son to Redeem us 1. Congruity is grounded upon that Order and Relation which is betwixt the Persons in the glorious Trinity As is their Being so is their Working The Father hath his Being from himself so he hath his Working We never read that the Father was sent by the Son or by the Holy Ghost He is Fons Deitatis the Fountain and Original of the Deity He is of himself and works of himself But the Son hath his Being from the Father by Eternal generation and all his Operations and Actions flow from the Father Ioh. v. 19. The Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do Thus Christ referrs all his performance of our salvation to the sending of the Father Ioh. iv My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work And again Ioh. ix 4. I must work the works of him that sent me God the Father communicates all these gracious works to his Son and sent him to perform them 2. A second Congruity why God the Father must be the Authour of our Redemption is Because by special Appropriation he is the Authour of our Creation and none other must Redeem us but he who did Create us 1. The right of Redemption 2. The glory of Redemption 3. The duty of Redemption all belong to him 1. We were his by right of Creation and that was an indefeasable right Though we by sin lost our right in God yet God did not lose his right in us Now Redemption belongs to him to whom belongs the original right of Possession I am thine O save me thine hands have made me Mine own I will bring again as I did sometimes from the depth of the sea The stray lost Sheep was the Shepherds still he had the onely right to recover it None but God could lay claim to us and therefore none but God could Redeem us 2. None must Redeem us but he who Created us the glory of our Redemption must belong to none but to the Authour of our Creation Had any but God atchieved our Redemption more glory had been due to a creature for Redeeming us then to God for Creating us The work of
performances 4. It is not suitable to the Glory and Truth of Christ to delude men with shadows and empty Appearances He was most real as of himself handle me feel me All these are evidences for a real Appearance Now this reality of Appearance assures us of two Truths 1. Is Veritas Immortalitatis the truth of the Immortality of souls and spirits The spirits of these two holy men are living and immortal It is a wicked opinion of the Sadduces now raigning among the Jews that the souls are extinguished with the bodies Here is not onely Elias whom they rejected but Moses whom they believed is here really exhibited This is the assurance of our Faith Ye are come to the spirits of just men made perfect This is a foundation of Religion If no Immortality hereafter no Piety here How carnally drunk do many live as if there were no soul or no Immortality 2. Is Veritas the truth nay more facilitas Resurrectionis the easiness of the Resurrection Elias indeed in body was translated but Moses was dead and buried in the plain of Moab yet here his body is united to his soul and appears in Glory How easily can the Lord of our bodies and souls raise and place our bodies in Glory See he beckens Elias out of heaven Moses out of his grave Moses his body was not as Lazarus's four days but two thousand years in the grave yet at the nutus of Christ is it raised and united Our bodies and souls shall be in his hands not onely for safety and custody but for guidance and disposal Speak but the word Lord and thy servants shall revive That 's the first a real Appearance II. It is a glorious Appearance Appear'd in Glory Moses and Elias being attendants upon Christ appear in Glory as Noblemen appear in greatest Magnificence to attend the King 1. Here is the glory of the Saints to attend Christ in Glory The Jews thought if Christ were advanced Moses must down Whosoever preached Christ spake against Moses No Moses was never so glorious as in this Attendance It is otherwise with this Sun of righteousness and the Saints then with the body of the Sun and the Stars These do occidere heliace not appear when they come nearer to the Sun But our Sun of Glory makes these Stars the nearer they be to be the more glorious As in Ioseph's dream the Sun Moon and Stars were all shining together 2. Moses and Elias appear gloriously in Christ's presence Moses is then made manifest and clear when Christ comes Take Moses asunder and without Christ 1. He is obscure there is no luster no clearness he is under a vail but Christ he with his Coming if he appear with Moses he makes all gloriously clear and evident to us 2. He is imperfect nothing but emptiness and shadows Christ gives a fulness to Moses He is not so much the abolition as the consummation of the Law Grace and Truth came by Iesus Christ. Paul calls them beggerly rudiments void of Christ. 3. Moses apart from Christ he is fearful and terrible The Law causeth wrath Ay but look upon Moses standing with Christ then he is comfortable Make Moses a servant to Christ the Law to Faith and never look upon Moses but see Christ with him and above him and that will rejoyce thee That 's the second the manner of their appearance in Glory Thirdly see their Action and Employment They talked with him In it three things 1. The Action Collocuti 2. The Person Cum Christo. 3. The Matter de Exitu I. The Action Collocuti They talked It was no dumb shew and representation to gaze upon but an holy and heavenly communication Moses and Elias if they appear they appear as Prophets speaking and conferring either speaking of God or to God It is the life of a Prophet in heaven day and night without ceasing there is nothing but speaking We have here too Moses and the Prophets let us conferr with them and Christ it is a glimpse of Glory In the Scriptures we find Moses and the Prophets conferring with Christ which S. Peter preferrs before this Vision and calls 2 Pet. i. 19. A more sure word of Prophecy Now this Colloquium this Speaking implyes two things 1. Consensum 2. Familiaritatem 1. Consensum It teaches us That there is a sweet agreement betwixt Moses and Elias with our Saviour Christ that there is no repugnancy or contradiction 'twixt the Old and New Testament but a sweet harmony and agreement Here the Law and the Prophets like the two Cherubs are both compassing and looking upon the Mercy-Seat This Christ taught his Disciples All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes concerning me Luk. xxiv 44. There were certain Hereticks in S. Aug. time who professed themselves enemies to the Law and the Prophets But Non potes segregare Legem ab Evangelio ut nec umbram à corpore The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me saith Moses Deut. xviii 15. Like unto me not contrary to me The same Religion the same substantial Truth the same Grace and Salvation is in both Testaments There is a variety of Ceremonies but the same Truth and Substance there is the same Authour of both Thus S. Iames answers this doubt Known to the Lord are all his works from the beginning it is no change in God As the prescripts of the Physician are some of one kind to day to morrow of another both ayming at the health of the Patient Aug. The Gospel was comprehended in the Law the Law is explained and cleared in the Gospel The Law shews Moses vailed the Gospel unvails him 2. Denotat familiaritatem Their talk and conference betokeneth a sweet and holy familiarity and communion with God on earth As of Moses it was said The Lord spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend Exod. xxxiii 11. Observe Moses and Elias were men of much communion with God upon earth many heavenly entercourses passed between them and now they are admitted into a near and sweet and familiar communication Men of communion with God here shall be received with more free access and familiar conversation with Christ in heaven They who never maintain speech with God here how can they look to have access in heaven They who love to come into his presence delight in hearing him speak to them and they to him by Prayer and Meditation they shall have nearest and freest and sweetest communion hereafter That 's the first the Action Collocuti sunt They talked II. The Person Cum Christo With Christ Not with the Apostles nor the Apostles with them Here was a miraculous Apparition but no parley nor entercourse Observe Here is no shew or appearance of any entercourse 'twixt Christians on earth and the Saints in heaven no invocation or salutation on the Apostles part
but what it was or what it meant he could not remember As Bastards or Castaway exposed-Children they know they had a Father but who he is or where to find him they cannot tell so and no more do we remember or acknowledg God Nay when he offers himself and calls us to him yet with the child Samuel we run thrice to Ely for once to the Lord. We need Direction 2. It imports unto us a Duty and Obligation We must Return because he is our God Fecisti nos propter te irrequietum est cor nostrum donec redeat ad te As the Needle that is touch'd with the Load-stone hovers and trembles till it looks towards that and rests it self in it I do but name it the time forbids any further inlargement Let us humbly beseech him that is the God of the spirits of all flesh in whose hands are the hearts of the children of men that as his Word hath outwardly called us to return unto him so that his Spirit would enter into us and draw us after him and joyn us with him and cause us to cleave unto him without Separation This he grant unto us and work in us for his Sons sake A SERMON ON JOEL ii 14. Who knoweth if he will repent and return and leave a blessing behind him even a meat-offering and a drink-offering unto the Lord your God THis Prophecie of Ioel it was directed to the Kingdom of Iudah in the reign of Hezekiah and Manasses after the great Overthrow which God brought upon the other ten Tribes by the King of Assyria And in it the Prophet foretels an heavie calamity threatens a great judgment and destruction upon the whole Land And the Judgement it is described under the representation of an Army and that an Army of Locusts Either thereby 1. Intimating a succession of two sorts of Judgments 1. Of a Famine by a dreadfull swarm of noysom Locusts that should consume the fruits of the earth 2. Of Warr by the power of the Chaldeans that should waste and destroy Iudah and Ierusalem and carry them captive away to Babylon These two the breaking of the staff of Bread or sending among them the Sword of the enemie are Gods two great and puissant Armies against a sinfull Nation Or 2. Otherwise this army of Locusts be token but one judgement 1. Either that of Locusts those noysom vermin shall come upon their land like a mighty army He destroyed Egypt with such an army and Vers. 25. God himself calls them his Great army 2. Or else it signifies the army of the Chaldeans and they shall come upon the Land like a swarm of Locusts to waste and destroy all Thus Isai. vii 18 19. the Egyptians and Assyrians are compared to Bees and Flies God shall hiss for them and they shall come flying and light upon the Land of Iudah Take them either way the one is a fit Resemblance and Type of the other The Locusts they are Gods army they shall come in battel array and make spoil of the Land Or otherwise the Chaldeans they are as a swarm of Locusts their enemies shall break in upon them as Caterpillars and Locusts and shall waste and consume as those creatures do without any resistance This Judgment being denounced against them the Prophet calls the Jews to repentance that being the onely possible means to divert this Judgment Flesh and bloud indeed when we hear of armies of enemies casts out for other ways to defeat them This seeking to God by repentance and casting our selves upon his help naturally we have no list to it When the Syrians assaulted Iudah God offered King Ahaz his help no he would not trouble God so much Noluit misericordiae divinae oneri esse Esai vii He would not tempt the Lord forsooth he was so modest as not to be beholding to God for a deliverance any other way would please him better As Dominicus Soto tells us of a ridiculous and superstitious practice in Spain to drive away locusts When those swarms annoy'd the Country the countrey-people would enter an Action against them in their Courts and Proctors and Advocates were assigned to plead for them and then the Judge he sentenced them and did excommunicate and accurse them Sure all other means without this of repentance are of no use they are but charms meer mock-helps and will not profit us Neither Caterpillars nor Chaldeans armies of Locusts or swarms of enemies can be driven back but by repentance So then the purpose of the Prophet in this Chapter is to call them to repentance and he prescribes a repentance suitable to their Condition 1. To the Condition of their Sins Their Sins were general and national They had all corrupted their ways 2. The Judgment threatned that was general An overflowing Scourge as Esaiah calls it Isai. xxviii 15. Sword Go through the land Ezek. xiv 17. An end the end is come upon the four corners of the land Ezek. vii 2. Now sure the plaister must be as broad as the sore so accordingly he invites them to a general and national Humiliation It was to be proclaimed by the sound of the trumpet Ver. 15. not by a knock at a private mans door The trumpet was to call together the whole congregation Numb x. 2. If ye look to the first Verse there the Judgment comes with a Trumpet it sounds an Alarm it threatens all the inhabitants of the land If God threatens with a trumpet we must call to repentance with a trumpet with as loud and shril a sound that the whole nation may be warned It must be Zephany's humiliation Chap. ii 1. Gather your selves together yea gather together O nation not desired It must be like the feast of Expiation which was the yearly fast in Israel Lev. xxiii 28 29. all must humble themselves It is a day of atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God Whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day he shall be cut off from among his people Personal and private humiliation is not of that prevailing efficacy in a general danger God tells the Jews that the prayers of two or three though never so righteous men as Noah Daniel and Iob Ezek. xiv 14. should not divert a judgment from the whole nation they might escape themselves but if the Nation repenâ—â—d not the whole Land should perish There is more must go to thâ— removing of a general Judgment We may spit out a spark or â—â—e mans diligence may quench a small fire but when a whole Town is on fire every man must bring his Bucket One mans prayer to remove a national judgment is as if we should go about to quench a raging fire by the sprinklings of a casting-bottle See this practised by the Jews 1 Sam. vii 2. All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And see how they expressed and testified it Vers. 6. They gathered together to Mispeh and drew water and
poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there We have sinned against the Lord. Their eyes were as buckets their heads fountains of tears And is not a fire kindled among us How many smoaking firebrands are scatterd through the land We may say of our present sad condition as our Prophet Ioel speaks Chap. i. 2. Hear ye old men and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land Hath this been in your days or even in the days of your fathers Who can remember such distractions in our Kingdom When did this Kingdom shake and totter as now it doth First troubles in the North when that 's quenched the flame breaks out in Ireland sparks are scattered among our selves As Ezekiel prophesies Chap. vii 26. Mischief shall come upon mischief and rumour shall be upon rumour therefore our humiliation should be general Now this duty of Repentance and Humiliation it is press'd upon them by a double Motive 1. By denouncing of a judgement and that is not onely barely foretold but exactly described in a dreadful manner the more to affect them God musters up his forces and sets them in battel-array from the second verse to the twelfth The Chariots of God are twenty thousands even thousands of judgements and the Lord is among them to turn the battel to the gate Ey this will work fear and Metus 't is Instrumentum poenitentiae Feâ—…r it is a good ingredient into Repentance Thus God urges his people to Repentance by presenting of terrors Amos iv 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel and because I will do thus unto thee prepare to meet thy God O Israel Yes God looks for this submission that we should be startled at his threatnings Amos iii. 8. The Lion hath roared who will not fear That is one Motive Fear and that will drive us to Repentance But then he adds 2. Another Motive and that is Hope and that is a powerful attractive that will draw us to Repentance Repentance it is a compounded thing of Fear and Hope Spâ—…m metu miscet it takes Motives both from Law and Gospel but yet it works most kindly by Evangelical means that 's hope of Mercy and that 's the Motive of my Text Quiâ—… novit Who knows whether the Lord will return So then the former Motive was an affrightment to Repentance but this in my Text it is an encouragement to Repentance upon hope of Mercy And in it observe these two things 1. The Matter of their Hope 2. The Measure of their Hope 1. The Matter of their Hope and that is laid down in four particulars 1. The first Matter of their Hope is the regaining of Gods grace and favour towards them He will return 2. The second Matter of their Hope is the recalling of his threatnings and judgements He will repent 3. The third Matter of their Hope is the renewing of his mercies to them He will leave a Blessing behind him 4. The fourth Matter of their Hope is the re-establishing of his holy Worship among them that he will afford them A Meat-offering and a Drink-offering to the Lord our God That 's the first thing the Matter of their Hope and then follows in the Text 2. The Measure of their Hope how far-forth they may hope and that is set down in a somewhat strange expression and 't is very considerable Here is no full assurance here is but an inkling and intimation here is not a Door of Hope set open to them as Hosea speaks chap. ii 15. here is but a small chink or creviss to spy some Hope at 'T is but Si fortè It may be God will be merciful 't is but Quis novit Who knows but he may be merciful Come we to the Matter of their Hope And the First Matter of their Hope is the regaining of Gods favour that he will Return His turning away from them that signifies his displeasure that he hath no delight in them but is provoked and offended His returning to us 't is the renewing of his favour and of his good-will towards us when he vouchsafes his Presence and will rest amongst us So then for the understanding the nature of this Mercy this Return of God to us will afford us these three Considerations 1. It is our main happiness could we so esteem it to enjoy Gods Presence to have him dwell amongst us 2. It is the bitter fruit of Sin that it causeth God to withdraw his Presence and to turn away from us 3. It is the blessed fruit of Repentance that it recovers Gods Presence causeth God to return graciously to us I. I say 't is our main happiness to enjoy Gods Presence to have him dwell amongst us And this happiness we enjoy by Gods Presence will appear by three advantages which his Presence and abode doth bring unto us The 1 st Advantage is Gods Presence and abode with a people It is the holiness of a Nation where he dwells and vouchsafes his Presence That people by virtue of his Presence becomes an holy Nation All holiness comes by participation it is not inbred in us but must be derived from Him who is Holiness it self and all participation comes by union with him A people near unto him are an holy people He is the holy One of Israel and by that near relation They are made an holy people unto the Lord their God Deut. vii 6. We see that this Presence of God makes a people holy even by that Legal and Ceremonial holiness amongst the Jews 1. The land of Israel was call'd an holy Land because God dwelt in it and vouchsafed his Presence in it He would not have it defiled and polluted Defile not the Land which ye shall inhabit wherein I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel Numb XXXV 34. 2. Ierusalem it was called the holy City because it was the City of the great King God dwelt in her palaces therefore it was accounted a sacred and an holy City Matth. iv 3. The Temple that was an holy place because Gods Name dwelt there I have sanctified this House saith God that my Name may be there for ever All other Nations because God was estranged from them were an unholy people every other land was a polluted land Here is one excellency a Nation gains by retaining God amongst them they are more to God then all other Nations in the world They are a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation Thus we see God promises to dwell in the midst of Zion Zich ii 10. and then he tells them vers 2. That he will inherit Iudah his portion in the holy Land For this cause the unclean were to be put out of the Camp That they deâ—…ile not their Camps in the midst whereof I dwell Numb v. 3. While we retain his Presence amongst us we are an holy Nation If we cause him to depart from us we become as the uncircumoised and a prophane people A 2 d. Advantage
in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his Fathers It was Luther's speech Schola Crucis Schola Lucis And it is the great aggravation of wicked King Ahaz 2 Chron. xxviii 22. In the time of his distress did he trespass yet more and more against the Lord this is that King Ahaz that 's his brand as if he should say Here is a sinner whom Affliction will not tame 'T is to great purpose that Solomon advises us Prov. iii. II. My son despise not the chastening of the Lord. Gentle Corrections must not be despised nor slighted And David his father counted it an happy thing to get good by such chastening Psal. xciv 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest and teachest him out of thy Law He shews it will prevent this same Occideret That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked verse 13. Happy chastisements that prevent slaying To do as Isaiah speaks chap. xxvi 16. Lord in trouble have they visited thee they poured out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them No this wrought not with them Quando castigavit So then here is the unworthy servile baseness of their Repentance no time would serve but quando occidit when he slew them never till their heads were on the block Yes this is Pharoah's Repentance he stood out many a stroke but when it came to a destruction then he seeks to Moses O I have sinned save me from this death onely We condemn it in Pharoah and wonder at it here in the Israelites and yet upon examination we shall find it is the case of many of us Take it 1. Either more collectively and largely for our national Repentance Or 2. More privately and personally for each mans particular 1. Let us look abroad not to censure and descant upon other mens estate but yet we may soberly consider the sins of the times and lay them to heart Have we not passed all the former Quandoes the Seasons of Repentance with small Amendment 1. Not when we sinned God knows many sins stand upon the Score uncancelled by Repentance 2. Not when he blessed us with Deliverances with Peace Plenty Freedom from Annoyances yet small fruits upon it Evidentibus Beneficiis ingrati 3. Not when he hath by his word invited to Repentance Nay that Mannah comes out at our Nostrils we begin to loath it Ye begin to question whether God speaks by us 4. Not when he hath chastised us in measure shot off warning Pieces rather then murdring Cannons Commotions and Plagues and unnatural Discontents we despise those Chastisements 5. When he comes to slay us then we will bethink our selves When the Kingdom is on a light fire and Invasions of Enemies or intestine Rebellions begin to destroy us then it is to be hoped we will repent 2. Let us take it more privately and personally and then ask your hearts what time you set for your Repentance It is cum occidet when we are on our Death-beds and no hope of life when God sends his last Executioner to cut us off from the land of the living then we resolve to repent Well 't is possible you may do so De nemine desperandum quem patientia Dei sinit vivere Yet consider 1. It is Infamis Poenitentia here is a brand set upon it by the Holy Ghost 2. It is Incerta There is small encouragement the Scripture gives to it rather rejects it See what entertainment such Seekers are promis'd to find at God's hand Prov. 1. 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded verse 26. I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear comes when distress and anguish comes upon you verse 28. then they shall call upon me but I will not answer See what encouragement such early Seekers have 3. It is Suspiciosa Poenitentia there is great cause to suspect the goodness of such Repentance which is forced from us cum occideret when the fear of death surprises us A man may deceive himself in judging his Repentance In great affliction he may promise fairly and think he hath good and honest purposes to forsake his sin that he is mortified to it because 1. That lust which reigned in him is nipp'd and forc'd back by his affliction 't is like the sap of a tree in Winter all shrunk to the Root Sorrow and sickness and any great affliction is like Winter-Weather it nips the Branches hinders our Corruption from sprouting and so we think 't is dead but the Root holds life and sap Warm Weather of Prosperity will make it spring again like Iob's tree chap. xiv 8 9. Through the sent of waters it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant 2. In the fear of death or any sore affliction we may take our selves to be mortified because afflictions will justle out temptations of sinful pleasures he hath lost the relish of them for a time As sick men can find no sweetness in meats which otherwise they delight in because their taste is for a time embittered Let them recover health and they will fall to again 3. In sickness many take themselves mortified not because sin is weakened in them but nature is infeebled that withdraws her strength by which sin was active recover nature and sin will recover As a 〈◊〉 in a tree let the tree spring and that will spring too 'T is not the body of sin that is mortified but the body of nature is infeebled Put not thy Conversion then upon such hazardous adventures stay not till he comes to slay thee by death It is an infamous 't is an uncertain 't is a suspicious Repentance thou mayest be mistaken in it Come we to III. The third defect of their Repentance that 's falsness and dissembling it was a flattering unsound hypocritical Repentance Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth and they lyâ—…d unto him with their tongue All their conversion and turning to God was but flattery and falshood And this Flattery and falshood will appear 1. In their Professions 2. In their Promises Flattering Professions and false Promises 1. Flattery is seen in Professions 1. A Flatterer will profess a great esteem of goodness and worth in the Person whom he applies himself to ready to ascribe much unto him So did these hollow Converts In their Affliction they acknowledged God was their rock and strength and the high God their Redeemer verse 35. Thus the Herodians flattered Christ Matth. xxii 16. Master we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in truth and regardest no mans person Christ discovers them Why tempt ye me ye hypocrites Such are the soothings of unsound repentance when affliction presses us Oh! then we will acknowledge God and his goodness As Benhadad did with the King of Israel O the Kings of Israel are merciful Kings but
and pleasure in learning and knowing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Aristotle there is much pleasure in learning and increase of knowledge Man naturally is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an understanding knowing creature Ey but that is not all the duty to be learned in the Text. 'T is a practical duty and practical things are best learned by practice We may know them in notion and apprehension and still be accounted ignorant men if we do not practise them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher Those things which we learn to do by doing we learn them You may teach a man all the rules and method of Musick but he is no Musician till he can handle his Instrument Ambulando discimus ambulare we teach children to go not by rules and precepts but by making them go S. Iohn bids us take heed we mistake not in this point Little children let ' no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous 1 Iohn iii. 7. A good understanding have they that do thereafter Psal. iii. Such learning is to some purpose And this brings in 3. The last particular the Lesson to be learned that is Righteousness And take the summ of this duty in these three particulars 1. It is Primarium officium Righteousness is that which God chiefly aims at in all our afflictions To make us a righteous people zealous of good works Indeed there are other substantial duties which he requires of us and expects at our hands in the day of our visitation Prayers and Fastings and Mourning and the acts of Humiliation they are pious and profitable and seasonable duties when Gods Hand is heavie upon us Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God saith Saint Iames Return to me with fasting and with weeping and with mourning saith the Lord Ioel ii In that day did the Lord call to weeping and to mourning and to girding with Sackcloth Isai. xxii 12. And the neglect of those duties were an high provocation Vers. 14. But yet the doing of these is not the thing that God chiefly aims at as if all were well when these services were performed These are not Iustitiae but conditurae Iustitiarum as Origen speaks they are but instrumental and preparative duties to fit and dispose us to the great duty of Righteousness 1. They are Realia insignia real confessions of our sinfull unworthiness 2. They are Incitamenta poenitentiae good provocations to Conversion and Amendment 3. They are Testimonia interni doloris visible testimonies of our inward Contrition But yet they come short of the works of Righteousness They may serve for Physick but not for Diet and the regiment of health We do not say a man is recovered because his physick works kindly The life and strength of Piety consists in Righteousness 'T is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostom not abstinence from meat but from sin that makes a good fast The Ninevites they fasted and wore Sackcloth and sat in Ashes and it was well-pleasing to God but yet it was their Righteousness and the amendment of their lives that prevailed for deliverance 'T is not said That God saw their Fasting but God saw their Works that they turned from their evil way and he repented and spared them 'T is Righteousness saith Solomon that delivers from death 2. It is Substantiale officium The Lesson to be learned by Gods judgements is Righteousness and that 's a Substantial duty Our Saviour calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the weighty things of the Law It consists in the performance of real and substantial and moral Obedience The neglect of those duties God revengeth and the practice of these he calls us unto by his severe judgements It is not the altering of some outsides and rituals to purchase some external forms that God will be appeased with or that which he ayms at in his heavy judgements and yet this is the construction that we make of all his judgments As if we should pull down an house to remove a few cob-webs that are in the roof of it or pluck out the eye that we may free it from a mote or as Gerson wittily as if to kill a Fly that is on a mans forehead we should take an hammer and beat out his brains No What saith God when he reckons with his people Psal. l. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices and Burnt-offerings 'T is not the failing in these ceremonious Services that doth so much provoke him The kingdome of God consists not in these but in Righteousness and Holiness We must not cum capiti mederi debeamus reduviam curare think to cure a vital part by washing away a mote or freckle that appears in our face Relieve the oppressed saith God judge the cause of the poor break every heavy yoke let Righteousness run down like a mighty stream that is able to quench the flames of Gods anger and just indignation 3. The Lesson to be learn'd is Righteousness and that is Universale officium 't is a comprehensive duty of a large circumference 1. It takes in all estates and orders of men Some virtues are appropriate to some sorts of men they suit not with others Good Government that is the Magistrate's virtue Obedience that is the duty of the people and so in many others But Righteousness it is of universal concernment It speaks like Iohn Baptist to People to Publicans to Souldiers teacheth every one of them what they must do Warns us as S. Iohn doth I write unto you Children I write unto you Young men I write unto you Old men It gives every man his charge And then 2. It takes in all sorts of duties 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every virtue As health is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good temper of all the humours of the body so is Righteousness the just proportion and exercise of every virtue And Gods judgements ayms at both these First all the Inhabitants of the land every rank and order of men must take out this Lesson Not say Reform the Clergie and all will be right punish exorbitancies in them no matter for the rest What saith the Lord to the Israelites that were so hot in pursuing their brethren 2 Chron. xxviii 10. And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Iudah and Ierusalem for bond-men and bond-women unto you but are there not with you even with you sins against the Lord your God It was a word in season and gave a check and stop to their rage and fury Oh! that it might do the like with us And then every sort of men must resolve of every sort of duty that belongs unto them Gods judgements have an universal aym he hunts us not out of one ill course to drive us into another hate Idolatry but commit Sacriledge flee from Superstition and run into Prophaneness cry out of Oppression and bring in Confusion suppress Popery and suffer Schisme and Faction to increase and multiply as if Locusts had
makes him look Death in the face undauntedly Alass we how doth any appearance of death affright us If we see but another man die the cold sweat and the pale face and the pangs of death upon him how doth it dismay us Iob finds all these in himself and speaks comfortably of them 'T is S. Augustin's pious counsel Si times mortem ama resurrectionem If thou beest afraid of death acquaint thy self with the hope of the resurrection If a man go to prison and be able to say I know I shall be bayled I have one who will quit my debt and enlarge me such an one fears not the Prison Let death arrest us Christ shall enlarge us We are prisoners of hope Zech. ix How cheerfully did Iacob take his journey when God spake to him Gen. xlvi Fear not to go down into Egypt I will go down with thee and I will surely bring thee up again This hope made Iob not onely not to fear death but even to desire it Chap. xiv Oh that thou wouldst hide me in the Grave then he asks this question If a man die shall he live again Yes saith he Thou shalt call and I will answer thee thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands That 's the second Alacritas fidei 3. There is yet another print of Piety Sancta expectatio Fidei What is the thing his Faith longs for at the resurrection It is the seeing of his Saviour the beholding of God the enjoying of his Redeemer In my flesh shall I see God and mine eyes shall behold him 'T is that that makes the resurrection comfortable not that we shall live ever but be ever with the Lord. It was small joy for Absalom to dwell at Ierusalem and not be admitted to see the Kings face 2 Sam. xiv Heaven is not Heaven but a place of confinement without this glorious and blessed Vision Though Moses and Elias vanish on Mount Tabor yet to see Christ in glory is abundant happiness Do occidere heliace the glory of the Sun swallows up the glory of the lesser Stars Whom have I in heaven but thee and whom do I desire in comparison of thee Psal. lxxiii The good women at the Sepulchre this Day saw a Vision of Angels but that contented them not till Christ himself appeared Iob knew he should enjoy the society of Saints and Angels sit down and feast it with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but here is the height of his happiness I shall see my Saviour Heaven as it is Coenaculum sponsi the Guest-chamber for the supper of the Lamb 't is a place of comfort but as it is Thaelamus sponsi the Bride-chamber of the Lamb where the Spouse enjoys him whom her soul loves it is the place of blessedness Thirdly the last thing remains that 's Beneficium fidei the use and benefit Iob makes to himself of this Meditation And the benefit is threefold suitable and seasonable to a threefold condition in which Iob now was 1. Iob was overlaid and opprest with affliction Suitable to this condition this Meditation affords Vim sustentaetivam it supports his spirits amidst all his afflictions Here is the patience of the Saints mockings and scourgings and bonds and imprisonments they endured them all because they expected a better resurrection Heb. xi That blessed day will make amends for all It was this hope that sustained S. Paul kept him from fainting 2 Cor. iv Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Iesus shall raise us up also with Iesus and for this cause we faint not Thus also he comforts and cheers up other Christians If in this life onely we had hope in Christ we were of all men most miserable But there is a Resurrection after this life we have hope in Christ and therefore of all men most happy This assurance will stand by us when all things else fail It was Esau's confession Behold I am at the point to die and what profit shall this birth-right do to me But to be Filius resurrectionis that Birth-right will relieve us at our last agony and support us comfortably Iob felt the good of this Meditation and he insists upon it Here is Masticatio fidei he chews it in his mouth and sucks out the sweetness of it 2. You may see Iob in another condition transported with passion and suitable to that this Meditation it had Vim quietativam a great virtue he found in it to settle and compose him In the Verses going before his spirit is stirred within him he is full of complainings and murmurings and quarrellings with God and expostulations See how he rebukes and allays these storms and tempests with this Meditation O my soul keep silence unto God for of him comes my salvation Thus David stills discontents Why art thou so troubled O my soul Why art thou so disquieted within me I shall yet praise him The day shall come that I shall see his countenance and for ever enjoy him Mortale mori is one ground of settlement against these perplexities and Iob makes use of it Chap. xiv but Mortuum reviviscere is satisfaction with advantage that will calm and quiet all his complainings 3. Lastly behold Iob in another condition he is charged by his friends with the sin of hypocrisie and then this Meditation it hath Vim apologeticam 't is his defence and apologie against that accusation Against all their surmises and suspicions of his integrity this he opposes for his justification It is God that justifies me who are ye that condemn me 'T is Christ that is dead and now risen again he shall judge and acquit me O! hypocrisie shrinks at the thought of death trembles to hear of a resurrection These painted Sepulchres till then make a goodly shew they are the beautifullest parts that are in the Church but when the Vault shall be open'd and all secrets disclosed nothing will appear then but horrour and confusion rottenness and corruption But truth and integrity appeals unto that great Trial knows that the Name that 's written in Heaven shall one day be cleared from slanders on earth My witness is in Heaven and my record is on high That 's the great avowment of Iobs truth and integrity till then it matters not much what the world says of us Lingua Petiliani non est ventilabrum Christi there lies an appeal of all mens censures to that days trial before the great Tribunal A joyfull appearance before which He grant unto us who as this Day overcame death for us and opened unto us the Gate of eternal life even Jesus that hath delivered us from the wrath to come To whom with the Father c. ON EASTER-DAY The Second Sermon ROM viii 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you IN this Context and passage
Christians The Faith of the Patriarchs and Prophets was chiefly employed about Christs first Coming and Incarnation the Faith of Christians must now expect and wait for his second Coming in Glory to Judgment They listned to hear the first voyce gentle and meek as the voyce of a Lamb we must be attentive to hear his last voyce that is dreadful and terrible as the roaring of a Lion Answerable to these two Epoches and periods of the Churches Faith the Scripture tells us of two dayes of Christ. 1. The day of his Incarnation the Prophets and Patriarchs fixed most upon that Abraham rejoyced to see that day Iohn viii 56. Then 2. The Scripture tells us of a second day of Christ that is the day of his Coming to Judgment That is called The day of the Lord 2 Pet. iii. The day of Iesus Christ Phil. i. 6. It is called The dreadful day of the Lord Malach. iv 5. The great day of his wrath Revel vi 17. For this day must be the expectation and preparation of Christians S. Peter tells us 'T is our duty to look for and to hasten to the Coming of this day of God 2 Pet. iii. 12. That is the first thing I note here Christ forewarneth it Secondly He doth not onely forewarn it that one day sooner or later it will come upon us but he tells them of many signs and prognosticks of the approaching of it vers 25. there shall be signs of it and they certain and infallible and dreadful and dismal that will astonish the beholders Indeed the particular season and set time of it is reserved and concealed from us and that for great and good purpose but yet Christ hath furnished his Church with such signs and tokens of it in the fulfilling of which we may plainly conclude The day is drawing on and now approaching that we may resolve with S. Iohn 1 Ioh. ii 18. We know that it is the last time See saith S. Iames The Iudg standeth before the door Who knows how soon he will enter in upon us That 's the second he foretells the signs of it Thirdly He doth not onely forewarn it and foretel the signs of it but premonisheth and giveth a Caveat to us that we should carefully provide for it 1. Be the truth of his Coming never so certain 2. Be the signs and tokens of it never so manifest yet 3. If we look not well about us we may be surprised by it It may rush in upon us when we little think of it S. Paul tells us It shall come suddenly as the throes and travel of a woman with child 1 Thes. v. 3. Let a woman with child keep her reckoning never so carefully yet the just time and season of her travel she may not know she may be taken with those pangs when she little looks for them So then we have here a strict Caveat given us a warning-piece shot off to arouse and awaken us against the day of Judgment And it stands upon two Particulars 1. Here is a special Caution against a dangerous indisposition that will make us unfit for the entertainment of that day that is Gravedo cordis a spiritual surcharge and surfeit that our souls may fall into that will so clog and dull and oppress the heart that it can never heed nor expect or once think of the day of reâ—…koning that must come upon us That 's vers 34. 2. Here is a special direction to an holy preparation and â—…itting our selves against that day that is the duty of Vigilancy that we should keep Sentinel continually stand upon our Watch expect daily prepare hourly fit our selves carefully for the entertainment of that fatal day vers 36. The Text contains the first the â—…aution In it observe these particulars 1. The Caveat it self Take heed to your selves lest at any time 2. The distemper and indisposition to be avoided that is oppressing and overcharging our hearts 3. The Causes that will breed this surcharge of our hearts surfetting and drunkenness and cares of this life 4. The mischief that will follow if this Caveat be neglected That day may come upon us unawares and then wo be to us We come First to the Caveat In it three things 1. Is the duty of heedfulness and attention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed 2. The persons concerning whom this Caveat is given Your selves 3. The greatness and measure and strictness of this heed in this vigilant and watchful word of circumspection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lest at any time I. The first thing you must consider is the duty of heedfulness and attention Take heed saith Christ. 'T is the solemn watchword and warning of Scripture often urged and pressed upon us Take heed to thy self saith Moses that thine heart be not deceived Deut. xi Take good heed unto your selves Iosh. xxiii Take diligent heed Iosh. xxii Take heed and beware saith Christ Matth. xvi It is a warning always seasonable we all stand in need of it but especially in three Exigencies 1. If the duty we undertake the business about which we are employed be weighty and ponderous Matters of less moment and consequence may be slubbered and slighted but matters of importance require heed and attention Now matters of Religion that concern our spiritual state and condition the eternal welfare of our souls are of all others of highest consequence of greatest concernment Oâ—… set your hearts unto it saith Moses for it is not a vain thing for you because it is your life Deut. xxxii 46. So again Deut. iv 9. Onely take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently And amongst all the duties of Religion the fitting of our souls for the day of Judgment the survey and examination of our consciences making 〈◊〉 our accounts against that day of reckoning it is a most weighty business That is the first enforcement of this duty of Heed the matter is exceeding serious 2 There is a second Exigent of this Care and Heed which makes this Caveat seasonable that is the approach of some great danger and miscarriage Safety may breed security but when we go upon hazards and dangers then we look about and arouze our selves to care and heedfulness Now there is no undertaking so beset with dangers as the duty of Religion and the managing of our spiritual condition The way of Piety is exceeding narrow and down-falls on both sides A Christian is Salutis funambulus The way to heaven it is no broad high way but a narrow path we may soon tread awry Especially the dangers of the last day the hazards that our souls must run at that great day of trial and account are most perilous 3. Above all this Caveat is most seasonable and necessary if the miscarriages we may fall into be irrecoverable and such as there is no getting out of them In those miscarriages that may be recovered and fetch'd about again there is some hope but if the danger we go upon be deadly and
desperate once miscarried and lost for ever Oh then take heed the whole stock is at the stake if thou miscarriest here thou art undone for ever Such is the hazard and miscarriage of the day of Judgment Other days and duties may have a revolution if we fail at one time we may mend it afterwards an after-game may recover all again But the state and condition which Death and the day of Judgment will put us into it is fixed and unalterable As the tree falls so it lies As death leaves us so Judgment shall find us It is appointed for all men once to die and then after death comes judgment Heb. ix 27. Once to die and but once Had we a succession of lives and deaths as Origen and some others fondly â—…ancied then had we miscarried in one we might recover our selves in a second No we must die once for all and then comes Judgment The sentence that then shall be passed upon us it is not to be re-called it is not as the Civilians speak in their Law an Interlocutory Sentence but final and peremptory never to be reversed Deliberandum est diu quod statuendum est semel In all Contracts and Bargains every man will take heed of that that must bind him for ever How much more should we take heed to our selves in this final and fatal business in our preparations to the day of Judgment Come we to the next Particular which is II. The Persons who are concerned in this Caveat to whom our Saviour directs this Caveat Attendite vobis Take heed to your selves Christ brings this Caveat home to them and lays it close to their hearts and consciences they must look about them it concerns them And then the strength and force of this Application to these persons will appear by these three expressions which will more fully set out the nature and necessity of the Caveat 1. Vobis sciscitantibus inquirentibus You that are questioning and enquiring about that day Take you heed to your selves In the seventh Verse we find the Disciples so S. Matthew terms them Chap. 24. asking of Christ 1. Concerning the time of his Coming 2. Enquiring of those signs that shall forego and usher in the day of his Appearing And Christ in part satisfies their Query acquaints them with his coming to judgment and the signs of it But withall takes occasion from their curious question to enforce upon them a profitable and usefull and necessary exhortion Take heed to your selves He doth not say Attendite signis you do well to be inquisitive about the signs of my Coming to be able to calculate the times to foresee and foretell the end of the world and my coming to judgment but this he urgeth Attendite Vobis look well to your selves to your own state and condition how that day shall find you Ask your selves Isaiah's question Chap. x. 3. What will ye do in the day of Visitation Aâ—…k also Ezekiel's question Chap. xxii 14. Can thine heart endâ—…re or â—…an thine hand be strong in the day that I shall deal with thee And yet again Isai. xxxiii 14. Who amongst us shall dwell with 〈◊〉 fire Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings Our Saviour calls them off from musing upon these wonderfull prognostications as the Angel speaks Acts i. 11. Ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing into heaven The darkness of the Sun the falling of the Stars the roaring of the Sea the trembling of the Heavens he bids them call their thoughts homewards and fore-cast with themselves how they shall be able to abide that day and undergo the trial of it It gives plain check and reproof to the curious Enquiries that naturally we are prone to make into Gods secrets Our brains will be full of questions and speculations about many high Mysteries but our hearts remain void of those sad and serious thoughts to make good use of them to our selves A man may be very curious and yet withall extreme careless exceeding inquisitive in matters of knowledge and yet notoriously careless in the practick part The consideration of the day of Judgment 't is not a matter of contemplation as it were to see a blazing Star an Eclipse of the Sun or some wonder in Nature but it abodes some great thing to us-wards Meditate upon it as upon the day of thine account and of thy making or marring for ever Thus S. Paul brings this doctrine of the day of Judgment to practise 2 Cor. v. 10. We must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ. Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men So S. Peter 2 Pet. iii. 10. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night and the heavens shall pass away with a noise Seeing then these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation Thus Noah when he was warned of the Deluge he was moved with fear and prepared an Ark for the saving of himself he asked no question disputed not how it could be that all the world should be drowned but fell to building of an Ark for his preservation How many are ready to dispute How long it will be to the end of the world and yet live so as if it were but a meer dream and fable No Christ shews us the right use of these truths calls us to the moral and practick part As when one propounded a curious question to Christ Luke xiii 23. Lord Are there few that shall be saved A strange Querie How many Mark Christ's answer to him Strive to enter in at the strait gate Few or many what is that to thee strive thou to be one of them As S. Aug. piously silenced that intricate Question How originall Sin is conveyed Oh saith he Let us strive how to remove it It were strange when we see an house on fire to stand questioning how it kindled No let us bestir our selves and haste to quench it It is strange in this so serious a business of the day of Judgment which so nearly concerns us how mens wits will busie themselves in many nice Enquiries ye may meet with many such Questions in the School-men as 1. How long to it 2. In what place of the world the judgment shall be held 3. What kind of fire shall then be burning 4. Whether Christ shall come with a Cross carried before him As if Malefactors in the Jayl should fall a reasoning and debating what weather it would be at the day of Assizes or of the Judges habit and retinue and never bethink themselves how to answer their Indictment that they may escape condemnation Oh what David saith of his own days let us say of that day of Christ Teach us O Lord so to reckon and meditate of that day that we may apply our hearts to Wisdom That is the first Vobis sciscitantibus 2. Vobis vivis praesentibus Christ gives this Caveat to his Disciples then alive and present with
him and now long since dead before the day of Judgment Christ by his divine knowledge understood well enough that these men should die long before the end of the world and yet he judged not this Caveat unseasonable for those times and men and bids them take heed to themselves lest that day surprize them Admit this day overtook them not de facto yet de possibili and for ought they knew it might have teached them and laid hold on them We are to judge of these events not by enquiring into Gods secret Decree but according to the order and likelihood of causes The general spreadth and ripeness of sin when the Regions look white non tantum albae ad messem sed aridae ad ignem Bern. not like ripe corn ready to be reaped but like drie stubble fit to be burned when the Harvest looks ready for the Sickle when all flesh hath corrupted their ways 't is time then Lord to lay to thine hand We must meditate upon that day Secundum exigentiam justitiae not secundum exigentiam decreti His Justice may now hasten it though his patience delays it and his secret purpose hath set to it a longer date Saint Paul speaks diversly of this day sometimes he sets it forward and sometimes backward both to great purpose 1. To those that would needs be calculating and foretelling that day in a curious ungrounded speculation to them he sets it backward folds it up in obscurity 2 Thes. ii 1 2. I beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Iesus Christ that ye be not troubled by spirit or by word or by letter as from us as if the day of Christ were at hand as you love that day so patiently wait for it do not imagine it is now upon coming There is his Caveat against a curious ungrounded calculation But then 2. To quicken up our care and preparation he seems to hasten that day and to set it forward See how he speaks of himself as if he look'd for that day while he continued in the body 1 Thes. iv We that are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord. St. Paul put himself into the thoughts of seeing Christ coming as S. Hierom thought he heard the sound of the last trumpet every day in his ears Ey this thought and expectation of it every day 1. It is Sancta cogitatio Oh how will it damp our lusts quicken our piety keep our hearts in awe 2. It is Tuta cogitatio It is the safest way to expect him too soon then too late and so to be surrprized ere we be aware He that said My Master 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defers his coming you know how it went with him 3. It is Officiosa cogitatio He purposely conceals it that we may always expect it Christians must be adversitores Servants appointed to meet their Master whensoever he cometh 4. It is Vera cogitatio in the equivalence The day of thy death it is the day of thy judgment then thy doom is past upon thee It is all one for thee whether thy trial be at the Quarter-Sessions or be put off to the Grand Assizes To conclude this point of the fixed time of Christs coming to Judgment S. Aug. makes the best resolution and he lays it down in three assertions 1. Qui dicit citiùs venturum He that saith the Lord will come speedily he speaks most comfortably Even so come Lord Iesus come quickly 2. Qui dicit tardius venturum He that saith it will be long ere he cometh he in some sense speaks more warily but 3. He who saith he knows not the certain time of his coming but believes it firmly desires it earnestly expects it most watchfully he speaks most soberly That is the second Vobis vivis praesentibus 3. Vobis discipulis credentibus You that are my Disciples and Believers holy and sanctified men though justified and so passed from death to life yet for all that take heed to your selves this Caveat concerns you 1. Dies The day of Judgment concerns you And that not onely the hopes and comforts of that day but the dread and terrour of it must deeply afflict you Nullus intrepidus vadit ad judicium Domini habens conscientiam peccatorum Hier. Lib. 2. contra Pelagian The Saints of God are to consider and lay to heart not onely the Promises of God but his Comminations and Threatnings also Not onely the hope of Heaven but the fear of Hell also must have its work on them S. Paul reminds himself and other Christians of that dreadful Day We must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ Rom. xiv 10. And Heb. xii Our God is a consuming fire Thus holy Iob kept himself in awe Destruction from God was a terrour to me Iob xxxi 23. The thought of that day made him afraid Moses at the giving of the Law said I exceedingly fear and quake How should we tremble at the day of reckoning for the breaches of this Law 2. Morbus The danger of the distemper concerns them they may fall into this disease Christ forewarns them of gravedo cordis the surcharge of the heart Snares and Temptations may surprise them if they look not to it Consider thy self saith Saint Paul speaking to the spiritual man lest thou also be tempted Many a good Christian hath slumbred securely and fallen into these sins that Christ gives warning of if that day had then surprised them it had been woe with them Noah Lot David how were they surcharged with the distemper of these sins Warnings and Caveats and earnest Exhortations they are not unuseful or unseasonable to the most holy men They are in tuto as long as they are in cauto no longer safe then they are circumspect The safety of a Christian from sin it is like the safety of men in a Ship not like the safety of men on the Shore Let the Ship be never so strong if the Mariners slumber and sleep watch not carefully they may dash upon a Rock 3. The mischief and miscarriage concerns them if they look not to it That day may come upon them unawares and the sad sequels of it The best Christians are liable to these surprisals and so stand in need of these comminations Rom. viii Though S. Paul assures the true believers that There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus yet he thought it necessary to add this Caveat Vers. 13. If ye live after the flesh ye shall die The Promises of Heaven and the Assurance of it they hold onely in studio praxi bonorum operum Hold on in the track of piety and then lay hold on the Promises But if thou turnest aside into the ways of iniquity the threatnings then will lay hold on thee and the day of Judgment will prove dismal to thee Now follows III. The greatness and strictness of this heed and caution to be used that is expressed in this busie and watchful word of circumspection
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nè quando left at any time or else nè fortè lest upon any occasion It shews the great diligence and circumspection that is needful for us A Christian must keep a constant watch over himself at all times upon all occasions and occurrents lest these sins overtake and surprize him Observe It is not sufficient for a Christian that he give not himself over to the full source and swindg of these sins of voluptuousness and worldliness or settles himself in a course of security but it concerns him to beware lest occasionally he falls into these and be overtaken by them Indeed to live and lie in them constantly and purposely to make a practice and trade of them it cannot stand with any piety It is the character and badg of a wicked man wilfully and habitually to give himself over to these sinful practices 1. For security Their hearts are always surcharged benummed brawnie They study how to be secure they put the evil day far from them as the Prophet speaks Either they perswade themselves there will be no day of judgment at all The Lord will do neither good nor evil say they in Zeph. i. 12. They can frame arguments to disprove this truth of Christs coming to Judgment 2 Pet. iii. 4. Where is the promise of his Coming Prophane man What talkest thou of Promises 'T is a threatning to thee Well! but hear what they say All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation and so are like to do Or else they will set back the expectation of it for many years hence they look not to see it in their days Maneat nostros ea cura nepotes Let the ages to come fear that day This was the prophaneness of the Jews in Ezekiel's time when he prophesied of an evil day Tush they put it off with a jest Ezek. xii 22. It was grown a Proverb among them The dayes say they are prolonged and every vision failes they say The vision he sees is for many dayes to come he prophesies of the times that are afarr off and so they settle themselves in a course of security And so 2. For voluptuousness they give over themselves to that too It is a carnal mans constant practice Eph. iv 19. Being past feeling they give themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness Thus Isaiah describes them Chap. xlvi 12. Come we will fetch wine and fill our selves with strong drink and to morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant Let us eat and drink for to morrow forsooth we shall die if ye will believe the Prophet scorning the threatnings of that day And then 3. For the cares of this life which is the third ingredient into this gravedo cordis this cardiaca passio this surcharge of the heart the men of this world they are overwhelmed with them It is their constant trade Their heart goes after their covetousness Ezek. xxxiii 31. They all look to their own way every one for his gain Isai. lvi 11. The world is set in the midst of their hearts as Solomon speaks 't is all they mind As S. Iames describes them Go to let us go to such a City and continue there and buy and sell and get gain Thus you see the Condition of wicked men 1. Constantly secure 2. Studiously voluptuous 3. Wholly given over to the world and covetous practices No marvel if destruction come suddenly upon such But a Christian must not onely abstain from such wilful and habitual courses of sin but must take heed of being in any degree at any time over-taken and surprised with them Blessed is the man that feareth always Prov. xxviii 14. It is not sufficient for him that he is able to say God I thank thee I am not as common worldlings I am no usual glutton or drunkard or all for the world or prophanely secure I believe the Day of Judgment and when I say over my Creed I think of it I fast sometimes and take off my self from my worldly affairs that is not all that is required of a Christian he must be more exact and circumspect He musts not onely not willfully rush into these sins but take heed lest by any over-sight he slips and stumbles and falls into them It is not sufficient that these sinful distempers be not like an Hectick Fever always upon him but he must shun any one fit be afraid of the least grudgings and inclinations to them Consider these Distempers are stealing and slie evils they will easily grow upon us 1. Security is an encroaching sin What though thou dost not give over thy self to security not lie down to sleep wrap thy self up shut the windows draw the curtains repose thy self upon the bed and pillow of covetousness But yet how soon mayst thou slumber and take a nap of security 2. The Sins here that occasion this Security they are slippery and gliding and insinuating Sins Voluptuousness and Sensual Pleasures will strangely grow upon thee if thou be not vigilant Noah and Lot and David were strangely overtaken with these sins And for the World though the Scripture affords not a Saint tainted with that sin yet 't is full of insinuations and allurements Worldly Cares are dangerous Snares They are called deceitful Riches 3. Gravedo cordis the dulness of the heart it is a disease that the Saints are subject to if they take not heed As it is in bodily sleep Peter and Iames and Iohn they were oppressed with sleep at two most remarkable times 1. In Splendore Transfigurationis upon the Mount of Christs glorious Transfiguration then they fell asleep 2. In Horrore Passionis In the Garden of Christs Agony then again they fell asleep So if the best look not to it this deadness and hardness of heart will grow upon them Naturally we are exceeding subject to this spiritual lethargy How soon did the Disciples grow dull and stupid even to the forgetting of Miracles They forgat the miracle of the loaves for their hearts were hardned Marc. vi 59. 4. This duty of attention and heedfulness is exceeding hard As it was to Elisha a matter of great diligence to have his eye still upon Elias to see him taken away and carried up into Heaven so it is for us to be always looking upwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still waiting to expect Christs Coming to us And therefore this duty of attention it is compared not onely to the waking of the day he is a sluggard that will sleep then but to the watching of the night 'T is hard to hold open our eyes all night without much attention This this Circumspection it is needful and that holy care and jealousie which this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puts upon us must shew it self in a threefold Caution 1. It must make us watch over our own inclinations Take heed lest thy heart betray thee Though thou beest not under the dominion of these sins
with Proficiency in knowledge if thou go no further will fail thee at last 3. But what if our hearing go another step further and so it be an affectionate Hearing that we hear the word with great warmth of affection sure then we are past danger such kind of Hearing will go for currant and be well-excepted 1. If we bring with us to our hearing of the Word the affection of reverence Indeed that 's exceeding lovely A reverend Auditour is a comely Creature in Gods Church he beautifies the Congregation and makes it honourable As for drowzy and heedless and prophane Auditours such as with the same spirit hear Gods word as they would hear any common Discourses the Church and the Market-place is all one to them they shew no awful demeanour in hearing Gods Word we cry shame of them such are blots and spots in our Congregations But if we come with reverence into Gods House listen as to the voice of God with reverence and fear compose our selves to such a deportment as may suit with that sacred work which we are about we hope that will pass for a full discharge of our duty and make us good Christians beyond exception No verily Reverend Hearing without Religious Practising is but mocking of God The Son that Christ speaks of in the Gospel Matth. xxi 28. when his Father bid him go work in his Vineyard heard him and answered him very reverently said to him forthwith I go Sir but that was all He gave his Father a regardful and reverend answer but for all that he went not and is condemned for it So the young man in the Gospel that in all the haste would needs be a Disciple of Christ demean'd himself to Christ exceeding reverently Mark x. 17. He came running and fell down on his knees to Christ and calls him Good Master and desires to be instructed of him but that was all For when Christ injoyns him what to do he turns his back upon our Saviour refused to obey him So then a reverend hearing will not suffice if it stops there and comes short of practising 2. What if we bring with us another commendable affection in our hearing the affection of joy and gladness and delight in Hearing That is much indeed we hope that will be accepted As for those who are listless in this Duty who have no appetite find no rellish taste no sweetness in the word of God we condemn them for unworthy Auditours such as call the Word of the Lord A Burthen as they did in the Prophet Ieremiah's time It was a by-word with them so to taunt the Prophet What is the burden of the Lord Ier. xxiii Or like those whom the Prophet Malachi complains of Chap. i. 13. they cried out What a weariness is it to serve the Lord they snuffed at it Or as those in Amos his time Chap. viii 5. who would fain be rid of the days of Gods worship saying When will the new Moon be gone and the Sabbath that we may fall to our work again Such kind of Auditours have little hope to find mercy or acceptance with God Nay not onely such but thou mayst hear the word of God with joy and much pleasure account the Sabbath a delight and yet if thou restest there and failest in point of practice and obedience thy Religion is vain Ezekiel met with such kind of Auditours who took great delight in hearing him preach Chap. 33. 32. Lo saith God to Ezekiel thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument for they hear thy words and doe them not Oh! they were much taken with Ezekiel's Sermons they were as Musick to them sweet aires delicate strains they were ravished with his eloquence but that was all the Musick is ended and so was all their Devotion Thus our Saviour compares some sort of Auditours to stony ground And what are they Such as hear the word and with joy receive it but it never takes root or fructifies with them Matth. xiii The seed rots under the clods as the Prophet Ioel speaks Chap. i. 17. Such Auditours were the High Priests Officers who were sent to apprehend Christ they were transported with his heavenly Sermons Never man spake as this man speaks Ioh. vii 46. but yet fell short of Salvation Nay Herod as wicked a man as he was was much delighted in Baptist's preaching Mark vi 20. 't is said He feared Iohn accounted him an holy man observed him and heard him gladly and yet Herod was a Reprobate for all that 'T is S. Augustine's Question Nunquid omnes qui delectantur mutantur Mistake not saith he many are delighted to hear Sermons that yet are never the better for them Delectare suavitatis est sed flectere victoriae There is that sweetness in the word of God which may much delight us but then the word hath got a full conquest over us when it bowes and bends us to the obedience of it That 's a second Hearing with delight is not the thing that God accepts if it falls short of Practice 3. But what if this hearing of the word of God doth so much affect us that it begets many good motions in us and we find our selves inwardly wrought upon many good thoughts and purposes are stirred up and quickned in us then we conclude we are right-good Auditours and have heard to purpose Indeed those that are never affected or moved with all that they hear dead-hearted men not all the words in Gods book can so much as stirr them such as Christ speaks of Matth. xi 17. We have piped unto you and you have not danced we have mourned unto you and you have not wept the Promises cannot allure them the Threatnings of Gods word cannot affright them brawny-hearted men nothing can enter into them No hope of such men Ey but we you should know are other-ghess men are much taken at a Sermon when we hear God thundering out Judgments we tremble at them when he offers his Promises we are much affected with them and for his Commandements we purpose to observe them Is not this sufficient No even such kind of Hearers if they proceed no further will fall short of heaven A man may be in that condition that Capernaum was even be lifted up to heaven sometimes upon some good motions and yet for all that with Capernaum be cast down to hell Balaam had his devout wishes very heavenly raptures and yet a Cast-away Agrippa had a great pang of devotion at S. Paul's Sermon he was well-nigh a Christian on the sudden but nothing came of it Felix was much wrought upon by S. Paul's preaching it made him to tremble and quake but he proved a Reprobate A man may be Sermon-sick and have a qualm come over his conscience and some gripes of remorse and yet recover again his old sinfull temper and never be converted Non concipi tantum sufficit sed nasci
professes of himself I delight to do thy will O my God thy Law is within my heart Psal. xl 8. So S. Paul I delight in the Law of God in the inward man Rom. vii Thus Solomon tells us that the course of Piety 't is a delightful course All her wayes are wayes of pleasantness Prov. iii. 17. If men serve and obey God they shall spend their dayes in prosperity and their years in pleasure Iob xxxvi 11. What Christ saith of himself is true in proportion of all Gods servants 'T is their meat and drink to do the will of God Ioh. iv Look upon the several parts of Gods Service those that are most tedious and irksome to a carnal man Gods servants take great delight and felicity in them 1. Prayer and pouring out our souls unto God how dull a thing is it to a carnal man 'T is as easie to make a stone mount upward as for a carnal man to raise up his heart in Prayer and to make it ascend up to the Throne of God But Daevid tells us how delightful it was to him O my soul is filled as with marrow and fatness when he called upon God 'T is a Saints heaven upon earth to enjoy this communion with God by devout Prayer 2. Reading and Hearing and Meditating on Gods Word put a carnal man upon it O 't is tedious and irksome to him he presently cryes out O what a weariness is it Ey but David counted Gods Word His Song in the house of his pilgrimage esteem'd Gods Word above his appointed food it was the very joy of his heart 3. The Lords Day and so the attendance upon the publick Worship a carnal man counts it but loss of time he hath no list to it he can tell how to spend that day to better purpose like those prophane ones in Aâ—…os viii When will the Sabbath be gone But a good Christian counts it and makes it his delight Isai. lviii They rejoyced to hear the joyful sound that call'd to the solemn Assemblies Psal. lxxxix What comfort did David take in it when he went to the house of God with the voyce of joy and praise with a multitude that kept holy-day Psal. xlii 4. Bounty to the poor What saith a carnal man to it Just as Nabal Shall I take my bread and my flesh and give it to I know not whom But the Saints delight in it He will devise liberal things as Isaiah describes him He will draw out his soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted soul Isai. lviii Even the most painful works of Christianity a good Christian delights in them I will name but two 1. Mortification and suppressing our natural Lusts and evil concupiscence Flesh and bloud repines at that work but a good Christian delights in it The Spirit that is in him lusts against the flesh Gal. v. 17. delights to cross it to curb it and keep it under 2. The undergoing the Cross and bearing of Afflictions that saith hard to flesh and bloud Carnal men may seem to be Christians Usque ad Crucem as Luther speaks they will pass for good Christians usque ad Crucem til they spie the Cross. They will not suffer for Religion But the Saints of God take delight in persecutions Hear what S. Paul saith 2 Cor. xii 10. I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake And see it in the Apostles Acts v. They rejoyced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name of Christ. All these hard and difficult services the Saints count them high and noble Functions and delight in them 3. Look upon the Encouragements that Christians find in the service of God they will make it appear that the service of God is no such irksome service The world indeed thinks otherwise of it but S. Bernard gives the reason Vident punctiones nostras sed non vident unctiones This makes the world think the service of God to be an hard service they look upon the labours but they are not acquainted with the comforts and encouragements that sweeten these labours and make them pleasant to us Many Encouragements there are 1. His gracious Assistance God helps and assists his servants in all their works This he doth by putting their souls into a right frame of holiness He answers us with strength in our soul Psal. cxxxviii 3. Till then the faculties of our souls are like the members of our bodies when our shoulder is out of joynt every burthen is grievous but put it into joynt again and the same burthen will sit light upon it So grace sets us in a right frame and makes the Law of God connatural to us That breeds delight when we act according to nature A carnal man set him to do a spiritual work ye put him out of his element but a spiritual man is spiritually affected 2. A second Encouragement is Gods mercifull connivence When his servants that desire to serve him yet fail and fall short of what is their duty God winks at their sailings and passes by them See this graciously promised to us Mal iii. 17. I will spare them as a man spareth his own Son that serves him A loving father will not quarrel for every failing if his Son doth his best but wink and connive at him Indeed were it not for this there were no serving of him Did he not pass by our failings no flesh would be saved If he should mark all that is done amiss who may abide it But there is mercy with him that he may be feared Plsal cxxx Thus the Prophet Micah admires Gods gracious dealing with his children Micah vii 18. Who is a God like unto thee that passes by the transgressions of his people 3. A third Encouragement is the many heartnings and secret chearings that God vouchsafes to his servants in the course of their obedience He is no churlish Nabal sowr and harsh to his poor servants but puts life and heart into them 1. He vouchsafes his Presence to them as Boaz to his Reapers The Master's eye the chearfulness of his countenance is the mans encouragement 2. He speaks chearfully to their hearts He hath both his Agè and his Eugè for them Go on and Well done faithfull servant Thus he heartned Saint Paul Acts xviii 9. Be not afraid Paul for I am with thee and no man shall hurt thee Which made him work out his heart in the service of Christ. 4. A fourth Encouragement is his loving acceptance of our poor services Our faithfull endeavours our honest desires our sincere intentions are graciously accepted 1. He will accept half-service for whole imperfect obedience goes for good pay 2. He will accept endeavours for performances When we come short of the work yet if we went about it put our strength to it 't is well saith God 3. In some cases the Will shall stand for the Deed 2 Cor. viii If there be a willing mind it
the hatred of the whole Kingdom was upon him he was a man whose life was imbitter'd with sorrows 'T is one blessed end and issue of afflictions they wean us from the desire of life Prosperity glues us to this life Afflictions loosen us O mors quà m amara How bitter is death when we are at ease O mors quà m jucunda How pleasant is it when we are in torments These minores mortes fit us for the great Death S. Paul's fightings with beasts at Ephesus made him willing to grapple with this When the soul of man finds no footing on outward things then it wishes it had the wings of a Dove that it might fly away and be at rest Happy afflictions that fit us for death 2. Grief for the miseries of the Church That goes nearer In private sufferings a Christian can be more contented when it goes well with the publick but if the Church lies under misery that makes an Elias to call for death Old Eli who digested well enough his private sorrow yet when the Ark was taken He fell off from the seat backward and he died The Saints are loth to see evil days to outlive the prosperity of Gods people The Lord shall make thee see Ierusalem in prosperity all thy days 3. Sensus impotentiae An apprehension of an inability to do any more good Elias was tired and wearied-out with the gain-sayings of Idolaters he had conflicted with their obstinacy Ahab is hardned Iezabel enraged Baal restored Gods Prophets are persecuted he sees no success of all his pains he is weary of his life As the soul in the body if it be hindred of action it forsakes the body presently so the spirit of Elias finding he could not prevail it desires to relinquish an ungrateful world and to retire to Heaven 4. Praegustus coeli The anticipation and feeling of those joyes of that rest and bliss whetts the appetite of Elias to desire possession and fruition of them If there be so much comfort in lumine Prophetiae how much more is there in lumine Gloriae If Mount Carmel and the Visions there be so ravishing what is Gods high and holy Mountain and those Revelations No question Saint Paul's rapture bred in him an high measure of heavenly-mindedness If the assistance of one Angel feeding the Prophet was so ravishing what will be the society of innumerable Angels If Communion with God upon Earth be so gladsome how unspeakable will Communion in Heaven be Si bonus es Domine animae quaerenti quanto magis invenienti These were the grounds and occasions of Elias his willingness to die But 3. What evidences of this willingness to die will appear in Gods children and what is the strength and power of it 1. It will appear in encouraging them against the forethoughts of death the thoughts of death are not ghastly to them Their frequent meditations and desires of it make them acquainted with it and familiar to them Nemo timet facere quod se novit benè didicisse Gerson 2. It will free them from dismayedness at the approach of death make them willing to entertain it Gods calling them to death they presently hear Non clamores tantum sed susurros divinos statim percipiunt The very beckning of Gods hand makes them hasten to him It was no more 'twixt Moses and God but Go up and die Thus Saint Paul tell him of bonds I care not for death saith he 3. It will bear them out in the conflict and onset of death Makes a Christian smile at the face of it How peaceably died Iacob Aaron Moses and Simeon As Saint Bernard of Christs yielding up the Ghost Quis tam facilè quando vult dormivit 4. It makes them triumph over the most tormenting and cruel deaths The three Nobles in Daniel slighted the furnace Martyrs kissed the stake they would not accept of deliverance like valiant Souldiers that are desirous to be put upon desperate Services That 's the first Optat Elias wishes to dye so willing is he to it II. Orat He makes his prayer that he may die That imports more 1. Prayer is a deliberate desire Sudden wishes vanish and die in us Many have some pangs of mortification and leaving the world as Balaam had but would be loth God should take them at their word like him in the Fable No Elias and a Saint goes further it is their deliberate wish All things considered they judg it best for them they exercise their hearts towards it waiting with Iob groaning with S. Paul begging with Simeon their dissolution 2. Prayer it is a religious desire a matter of devotion and holy supplication tendred to God framed into their prayer A natural man or a wicked man may have wishes to die and deliberations So had Achitophel and Iudas but they presented not these desires in prayers to God The Saints die like Ioab at the horns of the Altar by prayer sacrificing their lives to God like old Simeon brought by the Spirit into the Temple and there praying for death 3. Prayer it is a restrained desire Prayer extends the will but restrains the power He is willing to die Oh that I had wings like a Dove but is not the disposer of his life to part with it at pleasure Were our lives our own we need not beg leave of God to lay them aside His Petition 't is a real Confession that our time is in Gods hand not in our own We may be waiters and suiters and in desires hastners but not executioners of our own death As Gregory saith we must like Elias be in ore speluncae or in ostio Tabernaculi with Abraham ready to receive death not to hasten it to us In preparation we must hasten not in execution Our hastning must not prevent Gods coming Hastening to the coming of our Lord Iesus 2 Pet. iii. 12. not before his coming That 's the second Orat. III. Resignat Take away my life it is an act of resignation He directs and tenders and resigns it up to him and that upon divers Reasons 1. Ob jus dominii He yields up his life to God as the Lord of it No man lives to himself and no man dies to himself whether we live we live to the Lord whether we die we die to him whether therefore we live or die we are the Lords Rom. xiv 7. placed here in our stations The issues of life belong unto him We are not Masters of our time or life David served his time according to the counsel of God Old Simeon begs his dismission 2. Ob fidem depositi He commits his life to be kept in the hands of God The Saints in their death do not utterly relinquish and for ever depart with life but they depositate and intrust God with it Thus Tertullian Our life is in deposito apud Deum per fidelissimum sequestrem Dei hominum Iesum Christum Those things that I have committed to him he will keep Our lives