say with Erasmus Ep. l. 6. p. 258. Mihi videtur plus profici civili modestia quam impetu Opposites indeed must be opposed gain-sayed reclaimed but all must be done in a way and by the meanes appointed from heaven It is one thing to shew moderation to pious peaceable and tender consciences it is another thing to proclaime before-hand toleration to impious fiery and unpeaceable opinions I say no more but Sic vigilet Moderatio ut non dormiat disciplina Let Moderation be so much awake that discipline fall not asleep Secondly Sacrilegium Give me leave in the next place to minde you of the Harpies of this Age who spying a great alteration like to be made in the revenues of the Church have their mouthes open and their fingers itch for a share here is great need of your Vmpirage and Moderation consider I beseech you there be many darke corners in the Land that have not where with to get oyle for their lamps their soules cry aloud for your help and some aske no more but their own which hath too long been kept from them and it is now high time to make restitution Sacriledge hath ever proved a fatall offence you will not so much as in purpose be defiled with it you would not have Ministers medle with secularities povertie will make them more secular and if Preachers be poore there will be poore Preaching too at the last Oh that every Lampe in the Kingdome had its proportionable oyle that is your endeavour and as you have no thought your selves to entangle your own Patrimonies with the Churches possessions I wish you would declare to the world you will not suffer others to doe it And again I beseech you in this Let your Moderation be known c. 3. Templa And the fabricks of the Churches in some places call for your care the stone out of the wall and the beame out of the timber decaying apace I am glad for my part they are scoured of their gay gazing and I marvelled a great while since how and why the Organs grew so many and blew so loud when the very Homilies accused them for defiling Gods house Part 2. 131. Much dispute there was of late about adherent and inherent holinesse of Churches and it was accounted a sinne to be covered in them and it is now a pnnishment in some not to be covered a punishment by the winde and weather from the roofe and windowes so easily men fall from one extreame to another and t is meet that in this also your Moderation should be knowne Dies festi 4. And your Moderation must have influence upon Holy dayes also the Lords day indeed the holy Sabbath is a Noli me tangere you must not otherwise meddle therewith then to sanctifie it your selves and command that by all others it be sanctified and in this you doe well to use all diligence because of the most profane and desperate attempts of late made against it as if we had beene Turkes or Pagans De C. B. l. 16. c. 32. and not Christians from Christ Divino praecepto intonante obediendum est non disputandum Augustin the thunder of Gods word was not heard and now the thunder of Gods sword is felt Immodicam festorum multitudinem non ego solus improbo praescrum quia hodie nullis diebus plus peccetur quam festis moderata festa valde probâ— sed ea velim sacris rebus non voluptatibus sceleribus dari Io. Long Episc Lincoln l. 22. p. 914. De B. Philogon you have power t is most happily improved for the Lord and the day of the Lord there is reason and religion your Moderation should be knowne and showne to the other festivities not onely because of their abuse superstition and other evills but of their increase the holy weeke of Lent crept into the rubricated Kalendar in these dayes so did the Conversion of Paul and Barnabas his day I would commend the zealots of this devotion to the care of Rome heathen C. Cassi de Moderatione festorum or els to their owne Lyndwood or above them both to Erasmus for I hasten to make mention of that which I know every one observes that the providence of heaven is here become a Moderator appointing the highest Festivitie of all the yeere to meet with our monthly Fast and be subdued by it for Chrysostome doth well call the day of Christs Nativitie the Metropolis and chiefe of all other festivalls for indeed from this arose all the other dedications in the name of Christ and his Apostles which els had not been knowne in the world those be the children of that mother and who is not abundantly satisfied with the hand of God upon them altogether which hath as Austin said of the Iewes synagogue given them an honourable buriall but to those that are not thus satisfied I have three other things to say First T is probable enough we never yet kept right the day of Christs Nativitie Wolf de T. p. 81. I do not meane in respect of the manner but the time learned men supposing it very unlikely that such a generall taxation should be made through the peaceable world in the depth of winter so unseasonable a time for all to travell into their owne Cities to be taxed as in Luke 2. 1. c. not to mention their other conjectures Secondly Scromat l. 1. m. p. 98. Clemens Alexandrinus about 1400. yeeres since declares that some thought the day of Christs birth was in the month of May and others in Ianuary others yet in Aprill there were yet further surmisings but observe if there was so little certainty in those dayes so neer the times of the Apostles there must needs be much more uncertainty now Thirdly Epist l. 9. 71. It was Gregories counsell that the Pagan feasts should by degrees be changed into Christian Holy-dayes that they might the more easily be drawne to Christianitie and some write expresly that our Christmas Festivities in respect of time and maner of celebration Io. Beleth c 120. Hospin de Festis Christianis p. 111. came from the Saturnals of the Gentiles These were also observed in the month of December They had their liberall Feastings and Invitations ServantS among them also at that time were Masterly and followed their owne affairs They had a wilde Ceremony like to the Lord of Misrule in some places New-yeers gifts were also sent abroad which Hierome calls Saturnalium sportulas But it will be said Object this is hard doctrine for servants whose condition shall be worse then beasts if they have no rest nor relaxation and shall those abuses quite abolish the memory of Christs Birth and Nativitie and that among Christians Is this your Moderation this relisheth surely of extreame excesse rather R. I have three things to speake against this pretence not doubting but that servants shall have time allotted them for their refreshing
and yet God not robbed of his honour care being taken that their sports be not sinfull nor they in them and if any Sermon or Lecture occasionally be in the place and on the day of their refreshings that they repaire thither also for even the Canons of 1604. required Schoolemasters to bring their Schollers to the Sermons see them quietly and civilly behave themselves there and examine them at times convenient what they have learned by such comming Yea their condition then both inwardly and outwardly will bee much bettered Can. 79. And to the other part of the Objection I say First I wish on mine owne behalfe and others that those heathenish mad and riotous usages had never been knowne among Christians and that now they might be quite abandoned for ever but let the neighbour-hood and charity of those times at least in some time of the yeere be continued sure I am that some who had withered hands all the yeere beside did at that season stretch them out to the poore Secondly Though this day of Christs Birth be thus overcome by our monethly Fast yet our Saviours Nativitie hath and shall have its Commemoration not onely in the Day solemnized for his Resurrection in which is involved all the Complement and Consummation of Christs doing and suffering and Exaltation but further the Lords Day is thought to be the very determinate Day of the weeke when Christ was borne for those that mention the Priviledges of the elder Brother the first Day of the weeke say it was not onely the first Day of the world no night went before it Alb. M. Comp. p. 158. but it shall be the last day and no night shall come after it and that it was the very Day of Christs Birth and Baptisme c. Thirdly If the serious disquisition of Historians and Mathematicians shall calculate and designe the moneth the day I shall not vote against the Christian celebration therof but as at Berne when the Gospel was first reintroduced they set their prisoners at libertie and proclaimed freedome and we observe a Day in memory of our Deliverance from that Hellish Romish Powder Plot so if God please to deliver us from the Diabolicall designes of these times I hope you will appoint a Day in Commemoration thereof Fifthly Jejunia And for Fasting Dayes your Christian Moderation is already made known not twice or thrice in the weeke which they said of old might savour of vain-glory Vit. Pat. part 2. p. 150. 4. neither have you commanded such rigourous observation as Luther blamed in Melanct. macerating his body Vit. ubi sup quasi ferrum aut saxum esset nor as Bernard who confessed he did too much debilitate his body by abstinence and watching but as Zach. 8. 19. The Fast of the fourth moneth c. and yet besides this you have had many other occasionall dayes of Humiliation that which you had the last weeke among your selves was most remarkable among men and acceptable we are assured unto your God also and yet I crave leave to invite unto one Solemn Fast more Oh that a Trumpet were blown in Sion and a Fast sanctified but I would have it sanctified thorow both the Armies in all the Kingdome and though your power reach not so farre I wish it were tendered to them and triall were made of them however two most memorable occasions implore Divine direction and blessing upon your unwearied labours First Treatie of Pacification is in your serious endeavours that the Kingdoms may yet be happy in a safe and well-grounded Peace it is high time to hasten it the whole Land almost is already laid waste by the Sword which if not speedily sheathed is bringing upon us a worse evill unavoydably a Famine for they that be slain with the sword are better then they that be slain with hunger c. Lam. 4. 9. but let not the feare of Sword or Famine scare you into any other Peace then that which is the Peace of God made in Christ joyned with truth else a greater mischiefe will fall upon the Nation then warre or hunger Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water but of hearing the word of God c. Amos 8. 11. Great cause have we therefore now to cry mightily unto God and seeke of him a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance Ezr. 8. 21. Secondly The great change in Ecclesiasticals that is to appeare suddenly in the Kingdome in respect of Worship and Government may well double our devotions in this very time Prolog in Matth. Hierome Writes that when Cerinthus Ebion and other heretiques denyed Christs coming in the flesh the holy men of those times desired Saint Iohn the Evangelist to write his Gospel in their confutation which he promised upon their undertaking to Fast and Pray for Gods blessing which done Saint Iohn he said was full of the holy Ghost and wrote In the beginning was the Word c. Joh. 1. 1. And indeed when the greatnesse of this worke is looked upon with the multitude of opposers there is great reason we should all with our holiest diligence invocate the Majestie of heaven that these things may tend to his glory and finde acceptation in the souls hearts and lives of the people Sixthly Ecclesiastici The men of my Profession desire to have a share in your Moderation also and indeed I cannot think but that of Titus otherwhere called Joseph de B. J. 7. lib. c. 13. deliciae humani generis favoured not of humanitie when his souldiers had taken the Temple at Hierusalem and the Priests begged their lives he denyed them saying they should perish together I wish all the evils of these men were destroyed but doe none of their persons deserve favour did none of them to their power withstand the inundation of superstition When the Monks and Nunnes here thrust themselves out of their unclean Cages they had salaries for their lives and in other countreys Exire poterunt ad laborem Mycou Vit. Zuingli coniugium literas quis erat animus They were dismissed from their employment but had stipends to their death You have already herein declared your Moderation in assigning a portion for the support of wife and children and it were well if no complaints were brought before you against some that are so loath to part there with Seventhly Heterodoxi Another sort of men call for your Moderation yea and plead merit too I know not what to call them but I meane the men of many opinions though I hope they be neither so numerous nor faultie as their opposites suggest and yet to as many of them as pretend to godlinesse and be with us in Covenant I say no more but wish them to read it to study it to keep it in the rest I would wonder with what conscience or wisdome they abstaine from that bond when the Romanists universally are in armed
combination against them and us a very hard matter I confesse it is to moderate erroneous opinions some have dared into the world that should have been Anonyma not once named as becometh Saints and for the rest I thought sometimes and pardon me if I thinke so still if their Tenents were commanded from them in expresse termes they would appeare either not to be tanti that for them publique tranquillitie should be endangered or else coming forth naked into the world barefaced and in their colours they would be a shame to their abbettors Eightly Papifts The Papists indeed that be Iesuited in respect of their guilt and Irelands bloud expect not your Moderation and surely such should be showne them as may preserve your selves and the Kingdomes from their frauds and cruelties against which you will be now more vigilant then ever because they have revealed now more then ever their evill intentions and can swallow those oathes without chewing which former times of peaceablenesse could not get downe by any art or perswasion and though their very Religion p. 503. like Draco's Lawes be written in bloud as King Iames observed and in the Nether-lands they made a shew of Moderation and called their Edict so yet even that in truth was was felt and was then called Murderation also as Meterane writes p. 46 they had then their Consilium sanguinis they walke by the same Principles and worse Practises yet none of them ever suffered death among us meerely for Religion I had other particulars to have mentioned but I saw the time would not permit me to speak them out of the Pulpit I forbeare them therefore now also Secunda par 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I come to handle the reason of the Text but Doctrinally and very briefly The Lord is at hand and I shall not insist upon the Lords being at hand by his providentiall approximation to support us in or deliver us from trouble as Psal 22. 11. Be not farre from me O Lord for trouble is neere nor how he is at hand to observe all our actions so keeping us in awe and obedience because All things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to doe Heb. 4. 13. But in this Doctrinall part of the propinquitie of our Lords coming to judgement I shall shew first the parallel Scriptures and secondly the probable reasons thence and then the Application will be in such practicall uses as you shall see Gods Word hold forth visibly in those places where the Text or the sense of it is mentioned First Scripture It is very considerable that the Apostles all so speake as if Christ the Lord would in their dayes come to judgement so many hundred years agoe Thus 1 Cor. 10. 11. We are they upon whom the ends of the world are come So Heb. 10. 37. Yet a little while 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet a very very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry And Saint Iames 3. Behold the Iudge standeth before the doore 5. 9. And Saint Peter The end of all things is at hand And thus Saint Iohn It is the last time 1 Ioh. 2. 18. And so Saint Iude 18. And if so then a thousand years agoe it is the miracle of miracles that yet the Lord is not come to judgement the succeeding Ages after the Apostles were of the same mind and they watched on Easter Even by ancient tradition as if their Master Christ would in one of those Vigils come to judge the world in similitudinem Aegyptii temporis saith Tertullian As Pharaoh the King rose up in the night p. 107. K. Lactan. 7. 19. Hieron in Matth. 25. August de T. 154. 251. De Vn. Eccl. p. 301. and all his servants and there was a great cry in Egypt c. Exod. 12. 30. And in Cyprians time all things were accomplished as he thought that were forerunning tokens of the worlds end It were easie to heape up the conjectures of severall Centuries but we must all acquiesce in the determination of our Master who shall be the Iudge Matt. 24. 36. Of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels of heaven but the Father onely But that I may prepare my selfe and you to the serious and practicall consideration of the fore-mentioned Vses observe these Scripture arguments First Reasons There shall be signes in the Sunne and the Moone c. Luk. 21. 25. And if Mathematicians may be credited the celestiall Orbes are not as they were Aret. Probl. p. 1016. the Sunne not so distant from us as at the first but nearer by many Germane miles to say nothing of the prodigious sights and noises seene and heard in our dayes Secondly Mens hearts faile them for feare c. Luk. 21. 26 As lightning is first seene then thunder heard smoke precedes fire and the sea swels before a storme so the soule of man that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist as Synesius cals it droops before danger trembles before it is hurt and by its inward timorousnesse foretels evils to come and that appeares by the severall presagings of men that discover their feares by their conjectures That famous Grebner found out the yeare of the worlds end by the word Iudicium JVDICIVM numerum ruituri continet orbis Problem p. 1057. Ecce Spons ven every letter thereof being numerall but we have already outlived that fancie above thirty years Aretius by some Chronogrammaticall expressions of Scripture proposed this next to be the last yeare of the world Doctor Alabasters conceit out of those two Greeke words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may savour of fancy and feare Thirdly Religion and Holinesse the two pillars of Heaven and Earth are so much decayed and discountenanced as we need no other demonstration that those last and perillous times are come that Saint Paul spake of 2 Tim. 3. 1. For as the old age of man the lesser world is full of corporall infirmities so the greater world in its declining estate abounds with manifold abominations read at leasure the two next verses and see how unhappily these dayes comment upon them if you thinke on any one of those sinnes the same thought will tell you where to find them Fourthly The unnaturall divisions that are up in the world are undenyable presages that the Lord is at hand for when the Disciples privately demanded of their Master what should be the signes of his coming to judgement among others this is recorded by the three Evangelists The brother shall betray the brother to death and the father the sonne c. Mar. 13. 12. Matth. 24. 10. Luk. 21. 16. And we need not enquire among Iewes Turkes and other Nations for the accomplishment hereof but as Christ in another case Luk. 4. 21. I may say This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your cares O England never since thou wert a Nation didst thou see thy selfe so miserably
torne and rent with such civill uncivill unnaturall and bloudy distractions If it had beene said to any of thy people foure or five yeares since that they should doe such things as are now done in the midst of thee they would have replied with the indignation of Hazael 2. King 8. 13. Are we dogges destitute of all humanity to doe this and yet wretched things are done by men Christian men Englishmen against Englishmen professing the same Religion protesting the same Cause and End of their quarrell O that thou couldst yet discerne those formidable clouds of bloud in their scattering but alasse they threaten worser evils even to make thee a full sea of bloud within as thou art without surrounded by water for the wofull divisions of England there be great thoughts of heart I will not say as Ieremie 2. 12. Be ye astonished O heavens at this Nor be ashamed ye Husbandmen Ioel 1. 11. But let all those be ashamed and astonished Prophets and people that have not helped to quench but kindle this fire This is indeed a lamentation and shall be for a lamentation Ezek. 19. 14. But to returne from this sad complaint upon our most miserable dissensions a dolefull presage that the Lord is at hand the props of the world decay prodigious sights portend as much and the fainting of mens hearts fore-bode the same I am not ignorant that some convinced by strong evidence of Christs reigning here upon earth before that time understand all these places of that coming of Christ and my purpose is not at all to pry into those hard and hidden moments of Gods owne concealing and sure I am those that wade this way meet with deepe difficulties as bow â—irst all the fore-named Scriptures should be so applied 1 Cor. 10. 11. The ends of the world are come and it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Romane world or Empire as Luk. 2. 1. And Saint Peter is yet more universally expresse The end of all things is at hand 1 Pet. 4. 7. Secondly the day of judgement is called A great and notable day Act. 2. 20. An appointed day 17. 31. Yet it is more then one one of the dayes of the Sonne of man Luk. 17. 22. 26. Thirdly Who can determine the finals of the Beasts power unlesse the Originals were manifest Rev. 13. 5 c. I might say much of Ancient and Moderne confidences this way but my purpose is to improve the remaining time allotted in the serious consideration of what God himselfe tels we ought all practically learne from the Lords being at hand and the judgements now in the land may and ought to hasten these truths home to our soules First Repentance Speedy Repentance from dead workes reade Act. 17. 30 31. Now he commandeth all men every where to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will iudge the world c. Many things are here observable but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Now is that I desire to fasten upon you and my selfe for if in Saint Pauls dayes it was an argument of and to Repentance it should much more accelerate us thereunto upon whom the Lord is nearer now by sixteene hundred yeeres Consider with thy selfe then O my soule and suppose thou wert here guilty of some capitall crime for which the Iudge were ready to reckon with thee and passe sentence of death or deliverance as he finds thee couldest thou sleepe or be secure or wouldest thou trifle away thy time would not all thy care be by some meanes or other to gaine favour from the Iudge Be thou assured O my soule That the ungodly shall not stand in the iudgement Psal 1. 5. Thy conscience knows what a load of sinne lies upon thee even a burden too heavie for thee to beare Psal 38. 4. Oh why dost thou not hasten to ease thy selfe of this weight by unfained repentance before the Iudge come and pronounce the irrevocable sentence Read and remember to doe as Act. 3. 19. Repent ye and be converted that your sinnes may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Infinit is the matter of our Humiliation in respect of nature persons and nation of past and present times but this day and those next it have beene heretofore the onely merry season of the yeare and the Devill hath beene served better on those Twelve dayes then on all the twelve moneths beside and our Master Christ hath most unchristianly by many been dishonoured even in those dayes said to be devoted to his glory And I may borrow here the words of Nicholas de Clemangis M. p. 143. touching his Popish Festivities What heathen man if he had come into those feasts seene and heard our Christmas Gamboles would not have taken them rather to be the Floralia of Venus or the Orgia of Bacchus then Christian holy dayes and who can lay his hand upon his heart and say he is innocent as touching this in all respects Ordinance Great cause therefore had your Ordinance to command this day to be kept with more solemne humiliation because it may call to remembrance our sinnes and the sinnes of our fore-fathers who have turned this feast pretending the memory of Christ into an extreme for getfulnesse of him by giving libertie to carnall and sonsuall delights being contrary to the life which Christ himselfe led here upon earth Those dayes were professedly dedicated to extraordinary mirth and rejoycing we read no such thing of our Master Christ at any time but he wept often and offered up many prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares Heb. 5. 7. Our Master Christ was never idle but went about doing good Act. 10. 38. and elsewhere every where in the Gospel but among us it was accounted almost a crime for men or their servants to doe any labour on any of those dayes practises as your Ordinance said truly contrary to the spirituall life of Christ in our soules for the sanctifying and saving whereof Christ was pleased both to take an humane life and to lay it downe againe but the extreme forgetfulnesse of Christ in those dayes of Christ the extreme excesse of carnall and sensuall delights were most extremely distant from that spirituall life should be in Christians who worke out their salvation with feare and trembling Phil. 2. 12. not in secure heathenish and profane merriment They passe the time of their soiourning here in feare 1 Pet. 1. 17. Not onely because he that hath called us is holy and bids us to be so likewise vers 15. 16. but because of our redemption by the precious bloud of Christ c. vers 18 19. therefore we should passe our time in feare not in wanton wild and impious pastimes which doe put men into a posture altogether unmeet for the service of Christ or care of our soules had the Nation no other sinnes to answer for surely without the bloud of Christ whom
men have so much dishonoured to his face we should be in a most desperate condition Goe hence therefore and examine and bewaile and consider Gods providence hath made this day this very day the head of all that jocundity a day of Humiliation doe not miscall it let it be so to every one of us for our owne the Nationall transgressions it hath beene formerly guilty of in those dayes and if the Lord who is at hand had called any of us out of the world when we were busie in those foolish vaine and unchristian usages we may now tremble to thinke how unfit we had beene to meet the Lord Iesus coming in the clouds Secondly Heavenly-mindednesse Let us wisely weane our selves from the world and this we learne from the very next words after the Text The Lord is at hand In nothing be carefull Yea our Lord himselfe gives us the same counsell in the very same words Luk. 21. 34. Take heed that your hearts be not at any time overcome with the cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares There may be a season for other things but none for Christians to be sollicitous for earthly things Our Father is in heaven so we say so we pray heaven is our Countrey so we professe Heb. 11. 16. Why doe we then digge so deepe in the earth and desire to load our selves with thick clay The Apostle in the Chapter before my Text hath expressions that may loath any man thereof whose end is destruction and their glory is in their shame who mind earthly things Phil. 3. 19. Damnation is their end and why should not Hell be their portion who care not for Heaven But they are the brave men of the world in the meane time No such matter their glory is in their shame they wallow in the myre with swine that might have conversed with Saints But who are those damnable and inglorious men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 men that are wise for the world that mind earthly things What shall I say more what can I adde better then that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. This I say brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they who have wives be as though they had none and they that weepe as though they wept not and they that reioyce as though they reioyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as though they used it not for the fashion of this world passeth away The dehortation is very full and emphaticall but that which I especially observe in it is that it is compassed in and about at the beginning and in the end with the argument of my Text lest our hearts that hanker so much world-ward should any way get out after it Thirdly Perseverance The Lord is at hand therefore constantly persevere in his holy truths and this Vse is held out to us by Iohn the Divine Blessed is he that readeth and they that keep the words of this Prophesie for the time is at hand Revel 1. 3. Yea and S. Paul assoon as he had mentioned this doctrine 1. Cor. 10. 11 makes this very use and application Wherfore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he full ver 12. He that is strong must not be secure because he stands in slippery places nay he standeth not onely he thinketh that he standeth therfore let him take heed lest he fall and caution for perseverance is not onely sutable to my text but the times these suffering times wherein men are most apt to recidivate and fall away as the parable of the seed and sowers make evident Matth. 13. 21. Peter and the other Apostles promised fairly to themselves and their Master in the Calme Though wee should die with thee yet will we not deny thee so said all the Disciples Mat. 26. 35. Yet in the storm nay before the storme came at them they runne away for feare they haste to shelter indeed from shelter because from Christ They all forsooke him and sted vers 56. Thus Demas entangled with the love of earthly things deserts Christ and his Apostle embraceth the present world and departs to Thessalonica 2. Tim. 4. 10. where he is made a keeper of the Pagan Idoles as some of the Ancient have recorded Doroth. Synop. but as for us let that of our Master Christ be ever in our ears alwayes in our hearts Luk. 12. 9. He that denieth me before men shall be denyed before the Angels of God and if Christ turne his face from thee in that day tremble at thy doome who will who can who dare speake for thee if thine owne Advocate be silent and indeed it is most just they be so dealt with that Apostatize from the truths of Christ it is just I say Lege talionis even by the Law of retaliation for that 's the sentence of the holy Ghost If we deny him he will also deny us 2. Tim. 2. 12. Fourthly Holinesse Zealous endeavours after holinesse and thus S. Paul having spoken of the Iudgement to come 2 Cor. 5. 10. he adds presently vers 11. Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade men to what but the righteous actions of godlinesse and Christianity and upon this very foundation S. Peter builds a strong argument to holinesse for having spoken at large doctrinally of the day of the Lord as also concerning the formidable manner of his coming 2 Pet. 3. 11. Seeing then that all these things must be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godlinesse he interrogates but answers not not because the holy Ghost was at a Non plus and could not expresse it but because he would have us enquire examine and increase in every good word and worke in our own persons and as farre as ever our relations doe and can reach private men in their interests publique persons in their engagements according to that of the holy Prophet which concerns every one of us Let iudgement run downe as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream Amos 5. 12. It must be done speedily delayed no longer let it run downe and it must be performed impartially run down as waters which favour none drench all that be neer them yea and powerfully also as a mightie stream that will suffer no obstructions but beares all oppositions before it and that of the author to the Hebrews is pertinent to this purpose also Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more because ye see the day approaching Heb. 10. 24. 25. a Scripture otherwise remarkable in these times wherein men consider one another and provoke not to love but to schisme and siding not to good works but their owne fancies to separation and forsaking the assemblies but there the
Apostle layes the force and so would I in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much the more provoke one another to good works because ye see the day approaching Fifthly Patience Christian Patience in tribulation is the next thing to be learned from this doctrine of the Lords being at hand an hard lesson I confesse and they are out of the Forme and Schoole of nature that have learned it for it is an herbe of Grace and grows not in mans garden we are all by nature children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. not onely passively subject to suffer the wrath of God because of our sinnes but actively also we are hot fiery and impatient and upon every occasion doe discover our distemper Luther spake observably because his own heart God hath given us saith he many blessings health quietnesse wife children and which is above all the word of his Patience and yet one fit of the Stone beats out the memory of all these benefits 3. 59. 5. 81. Vno malo plus movemur quam mille bonis Though we have had twentie yeers of felicitie if one day of sorrow come all the former calmnesse is forgotten clouds of indignation gather and breake out into streames of impatience nay if one tooth doe but ake that Center or point of paine darkens all the Sphere and circumference of Gods mercies It were easie to abound in complaining but farre more comfortable to fasten upon a remedy and that is not farre of because the Lord is at hand and what sense soever is put upon the words they breath upon us abundant matter of patience First The Lord is so nigh that no suffering can befall us without his appointment and if we remember it is his hand we will not utter so much as one word of impatience as David professed He was dumbe and opened not his mouth because the Lord did it Psal 39. 9. Secondly The Lords example is neere should alwayes be at hand for our animation and encouragement It is enough for the disciple to be as his Master and the servant as his Lord Matth. 10. 25. an expression that may make us not onely patient but joyfull yea triumphant in misery Christians to be as their Master Christ it is enough and they that consider it well need no other consolation Thirdly The Scriptures of Christ are written for our comfort Rom. 15. 4. and in them the Lord is at hand For the word is neere thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart Rom. 10. 8. and for this in this thou mayest be patient I will reioyce in him because of his word in the Lord I will reioyce because of his word Psal 56. 10. Fourthly Yea the Lord is at hand to put a period to all our pressures Looke up and lift up your heads for the day of your redemption draweth nigh Luk. 21. 28. so Iam. 5. 7 8. Be patient therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord Behold the Husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it till he receive the early and latter raine be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh It is no great matter that the husbandman expects fruit of the earth yet he hath great patience we have much more in hope heavenly and eternall things and therefore we should be much more in patience and we may note also the reason of the Text begins and ends compasseth about this lesson of patience initio 7. vers fine 8. Yea in this and for this heare the Iudge himself who is at hand Luk. 21. 19. By your patience possesse your soules a direction for times like ours suffering times ye shall be hated of all men for my names sake Vers 17. and if they say Master in that deplorable condition where no man will appeare for us what shall we do Non villas vestras non laudes non luxurias August Faith his answer is be not solicitous for your houses or lands or reputation or body but for your soules possesse them by patience Sixthly Faith in the Lord Iesus Christ is also commended to us from this Doctrin of the Lords being at hand for when the Apostle had said Heb. 10. 37. Yet a very little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry every one that heares this and believes it would presently make enquiry Is the Iudge coming so certainly so speedily so suddenly and is he indeed so nigh at hand Alas what shall we then doe what course shall we take where or how shall we appeare The answer is ready most excellent and comfortable in the very next words Vers 38. Now the iust shall live by faith Now at that very time in the instant of Christs judging the world faith shall support and uphold all that depend upon God A man indebted that hath not where with to satisfie his Creditor dares not looke him in the face but if his Suretie take out the Bond all is well and he is safe We are all runne into deep arreares with and against God by our sinnes and cannot answer him one thing of a thousand Iob 9. 3. not the least part of one of many thousands what shall we then doe Live by faith and our interest in the price of Christs blood pay all the debt of our ungodlinesse that great and superabundant expiation is made over to us by holy beleeving for he was not onely our Suretie Heb. 7. 22. but he hath blotted out the hand-writing that was against us and taken it out of the way c. Col. 2. 14. It is written of Pilate M. West ad A. 38. that being call'd to Rome before the Emperour to give account of some Mal-administration and misgovernment he put on the seamlesse Coat of Christ and all the time he ware that garment Caesars fury was abated to his own and others admiration That may be a Fable but sure I am if we have the Robes of Christs Righteousnesse upon us by a lively faith we shall then have no cause of feare in that we have not onely an Advocate with the Father 1 Ioh. 7. 2. but Christ the Iudge for our defence and deliverance It is a terrible question that of Iob but very profitable and oh my soule sleep not this night nor any other till thou hast put it home to thy selfe For the Lord is at hand the question is What shall I doe when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Iob 31. 14. To which no other answer no better answer can be given then that of Saint Paul Rom 13. 14. Put on the Lord Iesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof Seventhly Prayer The last Practicall consideration held sorth from this Doctrine of the Lords being nigh at hand is sober watchfulnesse unto prayer and this is the very Vse in termes Saint Peter wils us to make thereof who having