die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Rev. 14. The thoughts of Gods worship good workes have their abiding fruit for ever and when all faile us they follow goe along with us after death in their reward and crowne but the bent of our hearts if it be on by matters we may say what is this we doe what fruit will this afford us in or after death In that very day our thoughts are cut off and perish Our dayes are a declining shadow Psal 102. and the shadow declines and lengthens as the Sunne goeth off or on us when it is direct or meridian short is our shadow and stretched out at even when the light of Christ is far from us then according to the mold of our owne blinde thoughts our shadow lengthens for life is our shadow Iob 14. but then we thinke of death as farre removed In hoc enim fallimur quod mortem prospicimus saith Seneca Now let our eyes be truly inlightened and all those thoughts perish and we perceive life sliding swifter away than a Weavers shuttle Iob 7. and so the Lord is said to shorten our dayes Psal 89. not that he cuts off or depriveth us of that time which hee had determined but of that which our owne thoughts have minted And ô we vaine and blinde that thinke thus as if wee were at a fee with death and never to be removed Nullius vita non spectat in crastinum saith Seneca wee thinke all to morrow we shall live and we shall live better to morrow and the life we forge and fancie to us failes us even before we thinke on it In that verie day his thoughts perish Be we therefore advised to fasten on the present time to repent to day and beleeve to day let us provoke our hearts to good purposes and to day let us put our hands to practise them But there be who thinke or dreame rather of future expiations or satisfactions to be made after death of a release after a time in hellish durance but these are groundlesse perishing thoughts It is for men once to dye but after death commeth judgement Heb. 9.27 Therefore the tree of our life while it hath a standing let it bend to God-ward and then we shall both stand and fall to our owne Lord and Master and let us seeke presently to bee reconciled to God through the pretious purgation of our soules which is through faith in Christ his bloud and then wee shall never be confounded our thoughts shall not perish or bee made void Praeveniendus ergo dies est qui praevenire consuevit saith S. Austen wee must trim our lamps betime with the oyle of faith and love and prevent the day of death lest it prevent us our eternitie of woe or blisse wee should not hazard it to after-thoughts and to second plots yea surely it cannot be mended afterward the watchlesse virgins because unprovided then were undone for ever and though sorrowing learnt them wit they had no time to practise it In that verie day his thoughts perish And to you especially my Brethren in the Ministerie let me speake in the words of S. Paul As we have opportunitie let us die good Gal. 6.10 let us be doing good while wee may Dum superest Lachesi quod torqueat Should such as wee cast in our thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to serve our selves or the times for a season and thinke then afterward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to serve the Lord in his Vineyard perhaps at even but when our carnall thoughts have reached up to their ends alas while wee so thinke while our thoughts are in our hearts our thoughts may perish the hand of Justice may write bitter things against us in that verie moment high is our race and life is perishing heavenly be our thoughts let us take that good of our high calling at the first opportunitie the world should stoope to it for the fashion of the world passeth away but the Crowne is uncorruptible which God reserveth for us if wee finish our course with a conscience of his ordinance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with feare and trembling The Atticke Oratours saith Quintilian are Eloquentiae quadam frugalitate contenti ac semper manum intra pallium continentes just so many of us doe thinke with Nicodemus we can plead for God in sober silence husbanding both our professing and preaching of Christ Jesus for feare of the Jewes lest we should run into suspition with great ones and hazard our stocke of worldly favours The argument of my Text is good to raise our diligence namely that we may bee called to dye in the midst of our ambitious and terrene thoughts and so to dye before wee have begun to live and so we may live and dye in vaine and without Use a wretched mishap especially in a most spirituall and heavenly calling a Prophet a Seer of the Lord to perish before hee hath done any good a worthlesse case and most to be feared To conclude heare we the words of our Savior to his Apostles What I say unto all I say unto you Watch Mat. 26. and heare what Salomon saith Whatsoever thy hand findeth to doe doe it for there is no worke no device nor wisdome in the grave whither thou goest Eccles 9.10 In that verie day his thoughts perish FINIS A FVNERAL SERMON PSAL. 51.17 A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise AS all civill bodies or common-wealths so that of the Jewes was made up of three diverse parts the rich the middle sort the poore and so their oblations were diverse from the herd the flock the fowles of the aire and diverse often was their end and acceptation he in the impurity of his heart killeth an oxe or sacrificeth a kid Decollat canem saith the Prophet is as if he cut off a dogs necke so little is the Lord affected to the worship wee doe him in meere ceremony but the honest contrite soule the poore in spirit that comes trembling with his paire of turtle doves repentance and faith to this man will I looke saith the Lord Es 66. The poore service we doe him if it be in spirit and in truth he takes delight in it wherefore David here at the 15. verse praying for ability to praise or worship the Lord aright sets it out First by negation even what it is not in comparison thou desirest not sacrifice thou delightest not in burnt offerings Secondly hee positively concludes what indeed that is which indeed God wills and likes the sacrifices of God are the contrite spirit A broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise Not that the Jewish rights were not Gods ordinances or were then in abrogation in sepultura in their buriall but because these outward forms or performances did never satisfie not please the Lord without the sacrifice and service of the heart a lip-devotion a deed done an heartlesse manner of worship
A Comfortable MEDITATION OF Humane Frailtie AND Divine Mercie IN TWO SERMONS upon PSALME 146.4 AND PSALME 51.17 The one chiefly occasioned by the death of Katharine youngest Daughter of Mr. Thomas Harlakenden of Earles-Cone in Essex 1 Thess 5.9,10,11,12 God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtaine salvation by our Lord Iesus Christ Who died for us that whether we wake or sleepe wee should live together with him Wherefore comfort your selves together and edifie one another even as yee also doe LONDON Printed by Iohn Haviland for Iames Boler dwelling at the signe of the Marigold in PAVLS Church-yard 1630. SIC te sic solare tuas sic Iusta bentae Solve tuae nullo dissoluenda die Nec me cognatae 〈◊〉 salisque laboris Nec natae poterit poenituisse patrem Ipse oculos madidus nobis detergis ocellos Consortemque â—enes quâ potesusque tuam Non satis est viva prolis quod imagine vivit Phoenix Materno quae velut orta rogo est Ipsam sed superesse velis dum plectra Davidis Tangâ—… Threicia plus vaâ—…ra lyrâ Iam Mausolaei superasti dona sepulchri Hoc saxa officium vincit aera tuam Non aurum nec ebur sed qua Sacraria condis Sacra est materies nobiliorque tibi Nempè dècet castam casta requiescere iniurna Et quem viva locum semper amavit habet Scripturis tumulata sacris ubi conditur urna Carmen artifices exsuperante manus Sigeneris formaevè canam morumvè decorem Vile ait hoc Sanctus munâ—… impâ—… honor Singula delibanâ—… plenum mutilabit acervum Hujus enumerans plurima parous erit Innumeras meliùs dictura silentia laudes Sed tu perge viam fide marite sacram Et si quae facimus sanctissima sentiat umbra Non aliter vellet te meminisse sui Mors indignatur dehinc frustra fata minantur Dum parat amissam qui dolet ipse mori Vivere te suadente mori est Dum Spiritus exit Vitâ ego sperarim liberiore frui Non ego lectorem moror ultrâ maxima cujus Ingenii pars est officiosus amor T. R. TO THE WORSHIPFVL Mr. THOMAS HARLAKENDEN his loving Father THat which in some part you have heard I now make a visible word first to quicken a little the memorie of that good soule now with God to whom you had the relation and love of a father Secondly to doe you the office of comfort and gratitude amidst our great losse and indeed according to the equitie of Gods owne Law none should make an Epitaphicall Monument to that name rather than my selfe because none on earth is so nigh of kin And ô that I might say what shee though in Paradise yet doth even as the faith of righteous Abel he being dead yet speaketh O that I might raise out that example and copie of goodnesse out of yours and mine and much other private knowledge For the kingdome of Heaven the grace of Christ in her it was Thesaurus in agro absconditus A treasure a pearle of price private and hidden in a field of humble innocencie Simon the sonne of Onias was as saith the sonne of Syrach both a faire Olive and a tall Cypresse tree but shee was no haughtie Cypresse the more barren the more high an Olive if you will of love and humble growth or a fruitfull Vine of low stature as saith the Prophet Ezech. 17.6 Yet the shadow the honour of her vertues it shall follow yea though she did not affect it but seemed to flie from it rather from appearances into the heart God will have her honoured he complaines by his Prophet that the righteous should bee taken away without this good testimony or with a non-considering Clavus fixus in loco fideli as the Prophet speakes A naile fastened so sure her blessednesse can no whit be improved or impaired by what wee report Yet let her light shine even for the glorie of the grace of God such a goodnesse should not lye in the grave of our private meditation Iehojakim and his like let them goe God would have them punished with rottennesse in their memorie that they shall not have a man to say so much as Ah my brother ah Lord or ah his glorie But this his servant the Lord provides her of an everlasting remembrance and all that knew her best are knowne to mourne most for such a bud a flower not much past the spring so fallen Shee fell in her prime I am sure not unpitied not unwished for Artemisia Queene of Caria so dearly did shee rue the death of Mausolus her husband that by eating his heart in powder she thought even to incorporate it to hers and after erected him the Mausolaeum that worlds wonder and faine I would as you see some little pillar to perpetuate and keepe up a while in the world that grace we are now speaking of but what is mine endevour at the best more than a vapour that appeares for a little time and then vanisheth quite away So you have the first reason why these weake notes dare come into publike light The other is a dutie to the root of that branch And first of consolation It pleasing the Almightie to resume that gift hee newly had bestowed by your hands this caused me as much as ever did any thing to looke about mee even as farre as to mine owne grave for Si hoc in viridi quid in arido and the issue of some thoughts that may come now to your review The summe is that we set our good our losse and her advantage together A Christian at death parts but with a bodie and that to a fall rest for it is totally insensible and perceives neither privation nor presence of good or evill And they that are long and much exercised in this life know what a good it is to bee quit of evill Why died not I in the birth for so saith Iob should I now be at rest with the Kings and Counsellors of the earth and why is life given to the bitter in soule who long and dig for death more than for hid treasures and rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they finde the grave Iob 3. Againe the bodie of a good soule rests in full hope for the temple of the Holy Spirit the instrument of his graces and vertues yea the member of Iesus Christ reason if it hath any light of God in it would shew that such a thing must not see finall corruption that have a better resurrection See you I pray the storie of the dying mother with her seven sons 2 Macchab. 7. But bodily dissolution is painfull and what can a moment of time bring Yea many suffer not by once dying what others doe with patience in a living death of the Collick Gout Scyatica and the like and through age and consumptions dying is oft times with paine in a manner impenceptible in which case sure the Lord dealt mildly with this his owne
servant my yoke fellow he tempered her suffering according to her feeble abilitie but the paine what ere it is by Gods owne appointment is the only way and passage to endlesse joy and blisse And wise Heathen out of a meere pang of morall magnanimitie have taken it up with comfort A Christian then should heare it assisted with such a promise and grace and spirit even with God himselfe Thus for what concernes the body a Christians death you see it should not be our discomfort And most of him his soule it in blessefull being after death and the dead live that wee need not doubt to talke of our deceased friends as alive my sister my brother my wife for they live though not with us yet much better Wherefore it were a wrong to them even our discomfortable vaine wish that would have them backe from God which they by no meanes can desire yea we should wrong our God and Saviour so to undervalue the immediate communion with him in glorie for a vile world And we should wrong our selves not to make Gods will ours and not to yeeld our passive obedience in some good measure when the event especially hath revealed his will to us for besides the making vaine our daily prayer Our Father Thy will bee done we strive against the unavoidable will of God as if a man should thinke much because hee cannot with his toe overturne the globe of the earth And what reason have we to looke for such a privilege which is not incident to our nature as the case now is a non subjection to death can any one of all those millions which come betwixt Adam and doomes-day say he had it Besides what thousands as we see doth a plague or a siege or a set battell devoure together that walls and bridges have beene made of the dead carcasses and a poore mercenarie Souldier so rightly estimates this common debt of our nature even to venture upon it hourely for a small pay especially if hee hath a forward Leader Malus miâ—es qui Imperatorem gemens sequitur saith Prosper And wee that have Iesus Christ himselfe our Guide and Captaine and the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles with all our holy Ancestors our fore runners should we repine and thinke so verie hardly and be so verie heartlesse for death Honorificum est ex illo calice bibere quem Imperator noster delibavit It is our honour our comfort to be admitted to the fellowship and communion of the Lords cup yea Christ hath taken downe the bitternesse of the cup of death and hath left us but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh Col. 1. That which is behinde some relique of his affliction as it were a drop to the Ocean for Christ hath not foretasted only but sanctified and sweetned this cup for us because by the vertue and merit of his death hee hath separated hell from us that the death of Christ is the death of death we can be no worse by death if we be in Christ than that from a sinfull and fraile life we enter into possession of an estate or life happie and good above all the heart of man can conceive an exceedingly exceeding eternall weight of glorie as the Apostle speakes Hence S. Austen checks himselfe What cause have I to mourne for a mother of whose happinesse I may be so well assured And I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleepe saith the Apostle that yee sorrow not even as others which have no hope 1. Thess 4. It is our ignorance it is a scandall which Christians give to Infidels and to the ungodly not to be somewhat comfortable in death Christiani genus hominum morti expeditum saith Tacitus according to the old 〈◊〉 a Christian is as a man undaunted in death through faith of a better life And we if wee had the faithfull comprehension of the blessed promises we might have it would make us to take up our crosse with joy Gaudeo deais quae patior I rejoyce in my sufferings Col. 1.24 You see the way that we may be stedfast in our faith even to ground our hearts on Christ through the word and spirit the excesse of our feare ariseth from the defect of our faith And now to bring your consolation home or a little neere Now your childe hath her propertie her part in Christ and all his benefits You see my confidence did the Lord ever faile to build on the ground she hath laid true Christian humilitie God gives grace unto the humble the grace of remission and the grace of regeneration and the grace of perseverance in both so that in Grace humilitie in the first second and third as S. Austen sayes truly And could a soule bee more truly lowly and meeke than that we now commemorate The Lord had moulded her of an ingenuous innocent and tender frame both of minde and body even for himselfe and before the Lambe of God in her white stole of spotlesse innocencie and joy she now is and shall bee for evermore amidst the spirits of the just who in part are come to their perfection so it might suffice to our comfort to have said she was humble Yet I will tell you of that you know her righteous even and just disposicion And her religion Lord thou knowest it and I know it and cannot forget it how constant in the study of Scriptures Those of devotion especially the Psalmes of David and how continuall in the sacrifice of her prayers thou didst smell therein a savour of rest yea Lord thou knowest shee was a pious Monitor have we not heard this of her alas we have not prayed together to day And because a renued preparing a speciall stirring up of the graces that be in us is required to that maine part of a Christian to dye well and comfortably I might much assure you in this too So had her native and accidentall weaknesse inured and minded her long before of the perill she was to passe not without an expectance of death in it And to that purpose the tracts of holy devotion and preparation they were the most of her study and meditation The conclusion is so humble innocent an heart and life of which you had the experimentall knowledge it must be it is crowned with an happie death Thus I have said enough for your comfort if not too much for me and better might have beseemed another pen or tongue as some may censure but let them thinke as they will it is no love of errour yea the dutie of remembrance it was due to the Lords servant now at rest and in peace and the office of consolation not like to be done by another was due to you that remaine on earth And lastly I would have extant a testimony of my gratitude to you of whose integritie and love and godly humilitie I have had good experience And though God hath pleased to make a breach upon the bond which
caused the union and relation betweene us and great distance of place and dwelling may threaten to divide and cut me off from you yet I must reckon you ever amongst my best friends And by the name wee have now treated of and what ere was deare in it I pray you let me be one of yours still Yea let this writing lye by you to informe you thus much that it proceeds from a minde deeply affected to you and yours And the Lord Iesus Christ blesse you all eternally Beckingham in Lincoln Iune 16. 1630. Your verie loving Sonne Thomas Williamson A FVNERAL SERMON PSAL. 146.4 His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish THis Psalme and the rest to the end are much-what of one kinde both for manner and matter and something may be said not unusefully from both Their method or manner is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a circular praying the Lord like the heavens they move in a circle and have recourse to the same point at Hallelujah is the beginning and at Hallelujah is the ending And this may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a circular doctrine or instruction that after this manner wee looke up to God in all our designes not as first disposer or mover onely but as founder and finisher α and ω first efficient and supreme end to whom all our strength and service refers and bowes like the sheaves of Iacobs sonnes to the sheafe of Ioseph Againe the matter of these five last Psalmes the whole of them is but Hallelujah praise ye the Lord runneth like the bloud in the veines quite thorow them And why may not this instruct us too even wherein is every good mans duty to praise God thorowly and perpetually The Lord our God the keeper of Israel neither sleepeth nor slumbreth and his Angels or Seraphims cease not to sing Holy Holy and Satan and his Angels are ever in circuit to devoure us and our indevotion to good is ever stealing on us therefore we should not content our selves with good beginnings like the Church of Ephesus nor presume of mercy at the end and be starke dead in the middle like the Church of Sardis we should not rest in this that we lift up our lips sometime to the Lord in the morning or end in the evening in our accustomed devotions unlesse the heart and matter of our day our life be well bestowed according to our modell here wee should bee enwoven and wrought quite thorow our maine bent should be a Hallelujah to praise the Lord with all our might as David did with all Israel at the bringing home of the Arke being very sensible whensoever we cease to bee of service to the Lord as David was grieved for the breach in Vzzah and therefore called it Perez-Vzzah 1 Chron. 13. Now the Psalme in hand is first Eucharisticall a vow of perpetuall praise to the Lord in the two first verses Secondly Paraineticall it exhorts to it upon maine reason in the residue of the Psalme Praise yee the Lord. Praise the Lord O my soule While I live I will praise the Lord while I have any being that is O my minde or understanding meditate thou on God know him ô my will or inmost affection my very heart-root bee thou set for God yea and that not for a mood or humour onely sed quum adhuc ego sum while I live while I have any being I shall praise the Lord thorow all times places and occasions Here is the man after God his owne make So let us awaken our selves so speake and so doe Iames the second Especially we who succeed the Psalmist in office so should we foretaste pre-digest the heavenly gift and the powers of the world to come and speake of our God out of experience or out of a sense of that peace and grace which wee preach and this is Clarigatio as the Roman heralds use to speake an Hallelujah a denouncing warre against hell and sinne with a shrill and piercing sound Againe the Psalme is exhortative pressed with good reason The summe is this Sticke close to the Lord by faith and love for fruitlesse and vaine is all other confidence in comparison in God there is much good-will and goodnesse in God there is infinite abilitie and power in God there is eternall being hee rules for ever as wee see from the fifth verse to the end But humane succour that must faile us needs sometime in will sometime in power ever in duration as in the third and fourth verses Put not your trust in Princes nor in the sonne of man in whom there is no helpe His breath goeth forth c. Indeed Christ is the Prince of peace happy are we that have him our hope for as he is the sonne of man the branch of David so he is germen Iehovae the seed of Iehovah Esa 4.2 The Lord our righteousnesse Ierem. 23.5 Ex homine non per hominem borne of a woman but by the Holy Ghost and the fullnesse of the Godhead dwelleth in him personally that the helpe of Christ is the helpe of God But meere sons of men every second cause whatsoever is no salvation no solid helpe no merit or efficacy to build upon The grace of a Prince is a shade under which all flesh is glad to feed Dan. 4. and Seneca wondereth how Polybius could weepe Propitio Caesare being in grace with Caesar yet put not your trust in Princes not in the ingenious as the word signifieth or magnificent No Then the Psalmist takes off our trust from all the world and there is not that thing in it which is to be trusted and celebrated for ever because nothing in the world is for ever and God his Deputies in office are filii hominis in essence like other men and so the best humane confidence is but pons sublicius a woodden bridge very ready to sinke under us yea scipio arundincus as he said of the King of Egypt a broken reed perillous to be trusted on when the waves of death and judgement and spirituall distresses arise and swell and therefore Hallelujah praise God and doe not deifie or propose to your hearts a rest in the creature for it is all mutable His breath goeth forth he returneth to the earth in that very day his thoughts perish Here a treble note of humane imbecillity First from that which is the forme or the fountaine of lively being Spiritus exit His spirit or his breath goeth forth Secondly from the matter that he is made of Et revertetur in terram sâ—…am and he shall returne into his earth Thirdly from the effects that he purposeth or produceth In illo die pertbunt omnes cogitationes corum in that very day his thoughts perish The word spirit is sometime taken substantially for the soule Lord Iesus receive my spirit Acts 7. And the spirit returneth to God that gave it Eccles 12. So Saint Ierome and others take this place his soule
goeth forth according to that as her soule was going forth or departing Gen. 35.18 Againe it is used effectually for breath or respiration Aufer spiritum Take away their breath and they die Psal 104.29 And the body without the spirit is dead that is without breath Iames 2. For compare breath to a massie body and such is the rarity of it or thinnesse that it seemes to bee a spirit or spirituall and consider it with the soule and such is the use of it that it seemes no lesse to informe the body than the spirit it selfe by which it is But the argument is good however the word be taken say our very essence and forme and soule is fleeting as a Pilgrim and ready to passe from its Inne to goe forth of the body therefore Hallelujah fasten mainly upon Jehovah because man is very soone out of being so soone done his soule goeth forth Againe what a brittlenesse is this if we say a breath an aiery substance so thinne and vanishing it is that it is scarce visible if we say a breath it is a tye which combines soule and body and props up even Princes from mouldring into ashes Beside the Heavens and the Elements God made man for his glory a creature able to conceive him and to speake and declare his excellencie and by those two rich donatives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understanding and speech the Lord put man in a state of perfection denied to all other creatures below namely to be admitted into the immediate presence of God and most especially to behold and publish his glory and so a soule understanding and reasonable animus aeterna mente delibatus as the Oratour speaketh a spirit breathed into man by the immediate act of God himselfe it is such a dowry wherein man is farre nobler and better than the very heavens and therefore man had need of somewhat to abate the rising thoughts of the soule and the Lord hath given us therefore Stimulum in carne a mortality in the body to buffet us His breath goeth forth Yea there is the deaths head the mortality of man indeed that a very breath is as much as his being is worth Our soule that spiraculum vitarum the Lord inspired it not into Adams eye or eare or mouth but into his nostrills which may shew to man his imbecillity Cujus anima in naribus whose soule is in his nostrills and dependeth upon a breath as it were for the very soule must away if but breath expires soule and breath goe forth both together Now heare yee this all ye People ponder it high and low your Castle is built upon a verie aire the subsistence is in flatu narium in a blast that is out in the twinckling of an eye Wherefore David maketh a question saying Domine quid est homo Lord what is man Hee answereth himselfe also Man is a vanishing shadow Psal 144. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A shadow of smoake or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dreame of a shadow rather as the Poet speaketh And blessed therefore are the poore in spirit this advantage have all afflicted ones that they have checks enough to call them home to make them see they be but men The curtaine of honour profit or pleasure hard it is and rare to draw that aside when it is spread over us man in honour understandeth not Psal 49. To great ones therefore be it spoken the Psalme intendeth it to verie Princes His brâ—…th goeth forth And breathlesse man who before amazed the bruit creature by the majestie of his eye no better is hee to the eye now than the dust and gravell and chill clay under our shooe Iacet ingens littore truncus Avulsumque humeris caput sine nomine corpus The Poet speakes of King Priam. Now cease from the man whose breath is in his nostrils Isay 2. Ten thousand graves and wormes and passing-bels cannot give us a truer touch Waldus a rich Merchant of Lyons seeing a man on the sudden breathe his last in the streets So was hee taken with it that as suddenly he turned his old course fell to study the Scriptures and became in earnest a Preacher and Founder of the Christians called Waldenses Yee see what a point this is and of what use his breath goeth forth Our Saviour hid himselfe from the unsought honours of the Jewes and so should we had we learned but this we would withdraw sure from the perillous dignities and delights of the times But as Iulius Caesar the same morning hee went out to sue for the Priesthood saluting his mother said Domum nisi Pontificem se non reversurum That he would never come home but high Priest So my brethren in the Ministerie doe not some of us in pursuit of honour take leave of our charge which should be as our mother deare unto us but we goe out as resolved not to come to residence without an high Priesthood for we never thinke on it that our spirit hath but this to shew for its residence in the world a breath and if the Lord dash that we die if he take away his finger we fall away like water Now therefore that we may all grow to more sinceritie let us I pray you accustome our eares and eyes to man dying it would certainly loosen us much from this world to see and to feele and to handle this truth as it were his spirit his breath goeth â—orth And this for the substance of the act the going forth of the spirit yee see what it meaneth See we now the continuednesse Exit it goeth as if it were now presently in its passe to shew this that Homo vivens continâ—… è moritur That by the verie act of living wee are dying that life is a continued death our candle lightens consumes and dies as in the passing of an houre-glasse everie minute some sand falleth and the glasse once turned no creature can intreat the sands to stay till they are drawen out So is our life it shortens and dies everie minute and we cannot beg a minute of time backe and that we call death is but the terme of it or consummation Vita ultimo die finitur omni perit saith Seneca Many be our partiall or pettie deaths sorrow sicknesse mishap but death is inclosed in the bowels of our life and is essentiall with it Spiritus exit His spirit goeth forth Lycurgus said that according to the threefold age of man a threefold salutation might bee used you are welcome or you come in a good houre God keepe you or stand in a good houre God speed you or goe in a good houre to shew that from the age of fiftie and forward we are taking our leave our spirit is going forth but so fraile and fluid is life that at all ages times we may be bid God speed we may have our Vale or goe in a good houre For once imbarqued we are going to the Port. The going
out of the Cradle is the entring into the grave to have a beginning and to be borne is to breed or be in travell yea to bee darted or put in a slight to an end Therefore Thales was wont to say that there is no difference betweene life and death and being thereupon demanded Tu ergo quid non moreris Why doest not thou dye then Because saith he there is no difference So that if we seeke the act of living our hearts if we be wise should be established against dying because life and death are essentiall to one another or include one another and it is as naturall to dye as to live and in themselves therefore to be regarded both alike Quid ergo novi si mortalis natus moriatur Let it not bee strange to us that we should die being borne dying or mortall His spirit goeth forth Exit And to us that bee Ministers in the Gospell of Jesus Christ let this word bee to us a remembrance like Bezaleel and Aholibah by the grace that is given us we are master-builders but of the Lords Tabernacles or Church militant on the earth and wee are gentle among you saith the Apostle even as a Nurse cherisheth her children affectionately desirous of you 1 Thess 3. even so with piteous heart◠looke wee upon our charge for they be earthly tabernacles dying men and women their soule and spirit stand upon their lips as it were It goeth forth Spiritus exit O let us tender them therefore and apply our present speedy releefe lest they fall out of our hands before we have dispenced them the bread of life of which Christ hath made us overseers and stewards and as upon the bed of our languishing we would not have a loftie or profound but a gracious word come to us so seeing wee deale with such whose living is a continued dying let us seeke that our divinitie may be as profitable as may be to save Salus populi suprema lex esto Now I come to the libertie of the spirit that it recedes inviolate 1. In Act it goeth 2. In essence it goeth forth Our spirit is free in the Act it is not haled not snatched out as it were it goeth forth A soule in life sealed to eternitie by the first fruits of the spirit hath its good issue its free passing its hopes even in death for let this breath fade fidelis Deus God who cannot lye because he hath said it be we sure he will stand nigh us in that exigencie and begin to helpe where man leaveth not suffering his to be tempted above that they are able 1 Cor. 10. The holy Spirit whose name is the Comforter will not omit and leave off his owne act or office in the great needs of death Hence good Hilarion having served the Lord Christ seventie yeares checkes his soule that it was so loth at the last to part to goe forth saying Egredere ô anima mea egredere Goe forth my soule goe forth And devout Simeon sueth for a manumission Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word And this is the freedome of the act the Spirit goeth forth it yeelds yea it goes and passes freely that is it taketh up or embraceth the Crosse of Christ as he commandeth us to doe But is the act at our will and libertie not simply we may not projicore animam thrust or cast forth our breath or spirit Spiritus Exit it goeth forth strive wee must to cast the world out of us we may not cast our selves out of the world Saint Paul dareth not dissolve himselfe though he could wish to be dissolved God must part that which he joynes God giveth and God taketh away and if God say as he doth to Lazarus Exi foras come forth with faithfull Steven we must resigne our Spirit and all into his hands When God biddeth us yoke he is the wisest man that yeeldeth his necke most willingly when our grand Captaine recalls us we must take the retreit in good part but it is heathenish to force out the soule for when the misdeeming flesh amidst our disasters will not listen with patience for God his call but rather shake off the thought of divine providence quite then are wee ready to curse God and die and that is probably to leape e fumo in stammam out of the sinne of selfe-murder into hell no but God will have our spirits to passe forth upon good termes Spiritus exit the spirit goeth forth Secondly the spirit goeth free or inviolate in essence death is not the end but the out-going of the soule a transmigration or journey from one place to another It goeth forth so the character of our weaknesse we see in the issue it is an argument of our eternity for man indeed is perishing but so is not his spirit Non simul perit anima animal The Phaenix goes forth or out of his ashes the spirit returneth to God that gave it Eccles 12. that is it abides still and as in the body it pleased God to inclose the soule for a season so it may as well exist elsewhere without it if God will for it hath no rise at all from the clay yea it beares in it immortality an image of that brest whence it is breathed The separate and very abstract acts of the spirit even while it is in the body the wondrous visions of the Lord to his Prophets usually when their bodies were bound up in sleepe Saint Paul his rapture when he knew not whether he was in the bodie or out of it the admirable inventions and arts of men manifest the soules-selfe-consisting Not Socrates and Cato and the civilized heathen onely but the very savage beleeve this and so entertaine death Vt exitum non ut exitium as a dissolution not as a destruction Spiritus exit his spirit goeth forth But we know saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. we are sure God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost doth no create redeeme and regenerate man for the meere use of a wretched short life and who can imagine so monstrously that of all men the good and righteous and of all creatures man for whom the rest are made and who hath the use or soveraignty of all yet by farre that he should be the most vile and miserable of all but sure it were so if in this life onely we had hope seeing there be no lower creatures that are capable of sorrow and terrours of conscience and feares of death and conceit of future judgement yea not so subject to bodily disease But account mee not dead said the holy martyr for I shall certainely live and never die And the martyrs so vigorous as we see amidst the ruines and destructions of the body had something in them surely more than dust A Philosopher Hermes Trismegistus dying said Mourne not for me as if I were dead for I returne to the happiest City Above all Jesus Christ giveth us an expresse
which the Lord worketh our returne into earth our verie dissolution But if the spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead be in you he that raised Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortall bodies by or because of the Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 our earth is Christs body know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. Dead and withered as we be wee are still united to Christ it is not death that can separate us from him for I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. Rom. 8. and by vertue of this mysticall conjunction with Christ even according to our whole man doubt we nothing but our first resurrection by the same spirit is an earnest and certaine pledge of a better resurrection for that same quickening spirit of Christ which now dwelleth in us and uniteth us to him it is hee that made our bodies out of the earth at first yea which made the earth it selfe and the whole world out of nothing and therefore hee can and will as hee hath witnessed fetch our bodies backe from the earth to which they are returned and that because they are yet the members of Christ Jesus though the same spirit and his owne temples God will surely reare them up againe yea though they lye in the dust and the latter temples shall have farre more beautie than the former according to his word I proceed to the third and last note of humane weaknesse from the effects that which man purposeth or produceth In illo die peribunt omnes cogitationes eorum In that verie day his thoughts perish The night commeth that no man can worke Iohn 9.4 The dead are out of office so it is of our nature to leave our humane purposes crackt and broken in the verie midst my dayes are past my enterprises are broken off Iob 8. In that verie day our life is defined to bee a vapour that appeares a little time and then vanisheth Iam. 4. My dayes are a span long saith David Fecisti dies meos palmarios Psal 39. and wee are but as yesterday Iob 8. So though we make a bustle for a life time in this world that is all our projects go not on into another world and life is such a minute such a drop of the bucket Gutta è situla as the Prophet speaketh that our terrene thoughts perish all in that ve-day that they were hatched as it were Alexander had not elbow-roome not space enough in the world for his thoughts Xerxes had such thoughts against Greece that he undertaketh an expedition so huge and great that seas and mountaines are even spurned out of his way And Iulian madly projects a finall and utter extirpation of all Christendome Vast and high thoughts all yet a bubble no sooner up than deaded dasht that verie day that they were conceived as it were The Parable of that certaine rich man Luke 12. sheweth how verie perishing is the figure and thought of this world and it is well shadowed at the Coronation of the Popes when hee that is new called passeth on the Master of the Ceremonies holds up an handfull of flax at the end of a dry reed and setting fire to it saith aloud Pater sancte sic transit gloria mundi Holy Father so passes the worlds glorie Fortuna vitrea It is a glassie condition as that noble Lady the Lady Iane Gray admonished the Lieutenant at her death now let us not bee too eager on it therefore but keepe in and limit our terrene thoughts and purposes yea let us trample the Moone the world under our feet give it the lowest place in our affections as the Lord represents it in the twelfth of the Revelation Everie Christian man like young Hannibal tactis sacris hee voweth no lesse in baptisme se cum primum posset hostem fore even to hate the world in comparison and not to spend a thought for it if it lay in his way to God and his grace But by thoughts not only the worldly but the verie quintessence or most excellent effects of the minde of man are meant namely that all which is not above humanitie is most perishing The best humane good is the rich furniture of Wisdome Arts and Sciences and Let not the wise glorie in his wisdome saith the Lord Esay 9. and God knoweth the thoughts of the wise are but vaine 1 Cor. 3. uneffectuall to salvation should any creature swell or presume on this good The depths of the Schooles or State what are they An anchor pitched in the aire a wall of breath about us which if the Lord but push at us are gone verso pollice with a wet finger as they say and when the darts of temptation and the furie of disease and the fearefull wan lookes of death and judgement come to us in that verie day these thoughts perish O fallacem hominum spem ô inanes nostras contentiones Thus the Oratour laments the death of his learned Hortensius But ô the buckler of faith the helmet of salvation at other times we may talke and say our wits have made us at the evill houre nothing but God can ease us no skill can cure us but of God his mercie in Christ Jesus and Luther therfore said well that men were best Christians in death because when learning policie friends and breath and all goe from us if we be wise we then goe from our selves our owne abilities and with all our strength and might rest and repose on God and his especiall favour and mercie in Christ Jesus revealed in the word againe it is a comfort at this verie day that In illo die peribunt omnes cogitationes eorum the Devill and the world league and set in together and worke their spleene out against the Church of Christ and even plow it up before them fierce and cruell be their thoughts but they are fraile the Holy Ghost resembleth them to grasse on the house tops Psal 129. one would thinke they were good corne by their growing they are vile grasse and such as is without blessing Iulians thoughts against the Church were nubiculae citò transiturae clouds soone over as Athanasius prophesied They gave up the ghost in one day as it were The end of the upright God sets a marke upon it that it is peace Psal 37. but the union of his enemies God will disjoynt it and they shall walke as wee hope at this day in Baal-perizin in the valley of division 1 Chron. 14. Counsels against God shall not stand not laste not a day in comparison In that very day his thoughts perish But are the thoughts of men so perishing it is matter of advice then that we redeeme the spanne of time wee have husband it well and on good thoughts and to good purposes and there be thoughts as wee see in Maries choice which shall not perish with our dayes and of which no time shall bereave us Blessed are they that
is not that which delights the Lord or profits us yea if there be no heart no soule in it it is a shining sinne it is abominable as if we blest an Idoll as if a Jew had offered swines bloud The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord Pro. 21.27 But a cup of cold water saith our Saviour and the least sparke of zeale out of a true heart though mixt with much infirmity yet goeth not away unregarded this when the widow good soule came in with her mite the Lord calls his disciples to see as in admiration of her bounty and David here upon Nathans rebuke a contrite sinner presents the Lord with his offering even such he had a broken heart and goeth away well perswaded or satisfied concerning Gods acceptance O God thou wilt not despise You may see there is a double use of that I am to say First Preparatory like the Lords Epistle to the Church of Laodicea that the luke-warme indifferent Christian who sayes he is rich and needs nothing may see he is poore indeed and so become poore in spirit Secondly Principall like the other Epistle of comfort to the Church of Smyrna a Church of a broken heart we see and much humbled but very rich therefore according to the grace of Gods acceptation Now two things were of great regard in the legall sacrifices or oblations the subject and the manner a lambe or a dove there is the thing and both without blemish not the refuse not the reversion there is the quality The burden of the word of the Lord came downe against Iudah because the table was come into contempt and if you offer the blinde saith he for sacrifice is it not evill and if you offer the lame and sicke is it not evill carry these to your Prince and can he be pleased with you and can he accept your persons saith the Lord of hosts Malac. 1. The greatest man alive let him come to the Table of the Lord to receive of his visible and invisible word with an unwasht irreverent and dead heart and the very Sacrament and word he taketh are his judgements for not discerning and because of his contempt wherefore King David offereth like himselfe that is according to Gods owne heart First for the materialls his heart Secondly for the forme and qualification his heart broken and contrite That very Caruncula that little flesh or part of the body the heart some from the triangular figure of that observe a seat and receptacle not of the round world but of the blessed Trinity yea and some gather this same doctrine from the letters of the word Cor. But the heart it meaneth more spiritually and first the understanding in which Saint Paul saith Cor excaecatum a blinded heart Rom. 1. And David sayes The foole hath said in his heart in corde suo that is in his unhallowed unbroken understanding Secondly the heart is the conscience so Davids heart smote him Thirdly it is the desiring part of the soule Quid est cor tuum nisi voluntas tua saith Saint Bernard Love the Lord with all thy heart and out of the abundance of the heart c. Vbi thesaurus ibi cor our affections our wills live with our treasure Vbi ancant non ubi animant Fourthly the heart is the complete soule quite through With the heart we beleeve Rom. 1. with the act of the understanding conceiving and with the armes of the will and affiance consenting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 15. God which searcheth the heart that is the thoughts the conscience the affections the whole depth of the soule a thing which neither the sight of man can reach nor the law of man can censure This is the subject of Davids sacrifice the matter but without forme and void as it was in the beginning the manner or information the due trimming to the Lords Altar followes in these words Broken and conâ—rite and to take them and apply them to the subject in order First the understanding yea Nathan uses this method with David by the parable of the Ewe lambe 2 Sam. 12. First of all he convinces the judgement breaketh that maketh David plyable to understand himselfe for the judgement unbroken approves of sinne thus David makes no matter of numbring the people so did pride hood-winke reason upon his confession he confesses he did very foolishly or without any true understanding S. Paul so understood as if he did well to persecute the saith of Christ but upon his repentance his judgement altered I did it ignorantly saith he and I am the least of the Apostles not worthy to be so called yea an abortive or one borne out of time because I did persecute the Church of God Surely the reason why wee so rarely repent in truth is because we allow sinne in our judgement our minde dislikes it not and we have no apprehension of the danger of it that it is so deadly and therefore we refuse the Physicke of contrition because we conceive that as a thing more than needs we consider not that God is as well just as mercifull and cannot possibly be served without repentance and therefore this holy informing it deales first at the understanding as in the case of comfort namely against the feares of death faith cheeres up the heart by meditation or minding it of the blessed promises that the judgement rectified and made to understand death inwardly as it is without the larvae the shapes it appeareth in to ignorants and Infidels we may be so resolved and setled and not to be amazed for death even so in the case of renovation the Lord alters and breaks the imaginations of the heart first of all layeth open to our eye the heinousnesse of our sinfull estate in generall and then commeth home to us that we relent in particular Yea contrition giveth the minde the understanding a right reflection that it sees it selfe rightly without the vaile and scales of superficiall proud blinde Science The contrite heart feeleth how heavy the wings of depraved reason are and how it hovers like Noahs Raven Super profundum sine fundo and like the earth receives the light onely in superficie in the surface of it and in things divine how it builds rather upon negation to know what the truth is not than what it is how uncapable yea averse it is since the fall from the right scanning of truth that the very Philosophers the best or wisest heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh They became vaine in their imaginations of God Rom. 1. and indeed the naturall man judgeth of divine truths but according to his owne senses receives no more in religion than he can shew reason for not reason of the word or divine authority but reason of nature or demonstration So the things of God which are spiritually discerned or with a contrite eye carry a kinde of contrariety to him and the undoubted knowledge or perswasion of Gods
gospell is not to be had in the worldly wise who doe not who will not so farre renounce their conceited knowledge and subdue their imaginations as farre as they exalt themselves against the word or have repugnance to Gods knowledge Now in the works of repentance or contrition when the Lord puts a holy light into the heart this eye of the soule he makes it simple and submisse The Law of the Lord is pure making wise the simple Psal 19. So that reason it comes to conclude with Iewell the peerelesse Bishop Gratias ago Deo quod ignorantiam meam non ignoro God I thanke thee that I am not ignorant of my ignorance But faith when it winnes upon us first it finds reason sitting like Iezabel painting her face dressing her head and looking out at the window till contrition which like the Baptist ushers the way of the Lord calleth to our thoughts and sayes with Iehu throw her downe and if they yeeld not but advance themselves against God too it sayes of them also as Edom said of Israel Downe with them downe with them even to the ground Contrition it breaketh the understanding maketh it teachable and glad of Gods wayes as they that were stung with the fiery serpents were glad to looke to the brazen serpent so the broken soule with earnest expectation erecto capite waiteth for the manifestation of Christ and his grace Omne humidum facilè alieno termino But take a man when the sunne of much prosperity and the like temptations exhale and draw out this holy moisture of contrition and the Lord of life the Sonne of God though he then approve himselfe ne're so much before him by word and works yet like the Scribes and Pharisees seeing hee will not perceive and learning he will not understand let the Lord sing of mercy and he needs it not or of judgement and he feareth it not I referre you to Saint Austen the third booke of his Confess the fifth chapter yea let common experience speake if many an impenitent heart preacheth not talketh not disputeth not subtilly of the doctrines of God and hath no right knowledge of them nor acknowledging but is even made up and mixt of doubtings unbeleefe and errour and Where is the disputer of this world saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1. Contrariwise as Abraham went to offer his onely sonne upon the mount of Moriah and never once advised with naturall reason he left his servants at the foot of the hill lest by their clamours and disswasions he might be disturbed in his sacrifice so the contrite broken heart the mind thus qualified of God obeyeth the call of God subdueth it selfe and becommeth a slave to his word Da quod jubes jube quod vis Gods commands are not grievous to him but he is ready wheresoever he sees thus saith the Lord to intrust himselfe to the word Say unto his soule that man was by the breath of the Lord and the world was by his word at the beginning he stands not with Galen to censure Moses for want of demonstration say unto him that God Almighty was incarnate and the mother a Virgin delivered of her Maker he learnes not to dispute where the Cherubins are said to vaile but saith with the Centurion Domine dic verbum sanabitur servus tuus the contrite understanding taketh the Lord at his word though hee seeth not his owne reason for it he followes the word of God in all formes Vt aqua sequitur sulcantem digitum And as one said having read the writings of Heraclitus the things I know and the things I know not omnia fortia generosa so he of Gods Scriptures they be celestiall and good all and what he cannot fadome he adoreth and saith O the depths of Gods counsells in summe he hath all divinity in praeparatione animi in a readinesse to submit to the word as it shall bee revealed to him and ever saith Now faith arise and sleeping hope awake awake my glory and though reason would comprehend nothing beleeveth all Agrippina the mother of Nero said o ccidar modo imperet but the faith of the contrite minde saith imperabo modò occidat I will trust the Lord though he kill me with Abraham against hope hee beleeves in hope and offers himselfe in sacrifice to the Lord by an holy violence upon his carnall reasonings he seeketh to bring every thought in captivity to the obedience of Christ and he reckoneth of all science how subtil soever but as drosse compared to the excellencie of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour yea that sweet and pretious name with Ignatius the martyr he hath such a dear impression of it that it seemeth riveted and graven In tabulis cordis in the tables of his heart or understanding for now hee sees well and sayes with Themistocles periissem nisi periissem I had utterly perished if with the prodigall by remorse and contrition I had not beene rein'd in to see my foule mistakings and so to seeke and returne to God my mercifull father in Christ Jesus And lastly this contrite understanding is the onely Irenaeus he delights in peace and therefore goeth on warily and timorously and feareth to frame out articles of faith from the mould of his reason much lesse to frame out oppositions against manifest truths of Scripture or to thrust out publike positions from any private dispositions ludere cum Deo yea hee dares not let himselfe bee deceived with any hate or evill opinion of good wheresoever it is professed lest he commeth in the end to deceive himselfe with a delight or good opinion of evill In summe he minds and is taken up most of all how or by what meanes he may confound the devill rather than how to confute his gainesayers and bewaile the time that ever the simplicity of beleeving should lose it selfe in the Labyrinths of beleefe and that the word should be tam ferax religionum so fruitfull of opinions and so barren of piety as Lipsius once spake and this is to be transformed by the renewing of the minde as the Apostle speaketh this is contrition in spiritu mentis in the spirit of our minde in the understanding The second seat of contrition is the Conscience the nimming away of the skirts of Sauls garment and a rash wish for the waters of Bethlem if these smote David to the heart his conscience if it was of so tender a touch surely his presumptuous fact in numbring the people and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 especially this scarlet or double-dyed sinne of which the Prophet Nathan rebukt him the conscience of this heinous sinne melts him away like water as wee see in this Psalme a Psalme we may all take up as Gregorie Nazianzene did the Lamentations of Ieremie to make us weepe for our sins and transgressions But conscience is a part of the practicke understanding as Gods Deputy sitting within to judge to see and censure us together with
God it is a certaine secret feeling or knowledge of our deeds which leaveth behinde it or imprints the motions of joy or sorrow hope or feare confidence or shame it is an inward key which unlocketh and openeth the doores and barres of our hearts that the grieved spirit commeth forth like good Lot out of the house of sinne and sayes to the man of Sodome O deale not so wickedly Now as the great Turke permits every one to live in his owne religion so they pay him in his tribute so the conscience hardned or seared permits the appetites to their pleasure so it may partake it neglects the soule to please the sense it prevaricates and willfully suppresses the true verdict or testimonie and is idle and doth not its office but luls us asleepe in our sinne and layes the raines on the necks of our wilde and untamed lusts Cor dilatatum a spacious loose heart a Chiverell conscience and indeed when the minde is in meere darknesse as in the state of unregeneration or when it is overflowed or dimmed with the dampe of some temptation or wasting sinne as it may befall the godly no marvell then if this particular knowledge bee darkenesse too and our inward thoughts cease from their accusing for a season for the soule it hath not now an actuall or exercised sense and light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle speaketh to discerne the proportions of good and evill being possessed with a spirit of slumber in any measure so farre it is no rightfull Judge no more than the blinde man is of colours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a conscience without science a heart like Nabals benum'd and senslesse And the manner or growth of it is thus Originall sinne sends out actuall and they leave a straine a disposition to sinne so againe and sinning so againe slight impressions of evill become radicate and habituall till the callum the crust deadnesse or security in sinne comes over the soule the buds of infirmity steale to the twigs of negligence and they to the tyranny of custome and then audacious and grand sinnes plead prescription and like a stout tenant take no warning and this is nervus ferreus the iron sinew the heart of adamant When Camels grosse sinnes passe and digest without remorse and this our Church in her Letany deprecates most Christianly From hardnesse of heart and contempt of thy word and commandements good Lord deliver us Now the contrite conscience is the very contrary and that it may have its beginning thus as Ioab would not be moved to come to Absalom till his fields were set on fire so we oft-times we have no heart no perceiving of our estate towards God till affliction like fire ceaseth upon us till with Manasses our chaine or with Hezekiah our bed of sicknesse or with Mauritius death of wife and children rouze and startle us and wring forth a holy confession Iustus est Deus justa sunt judicia ejus For thus the good Shepherd oft-times sends after his sheepe poverty persecution sicknesse and the like to hurry them backe when they goe astray from him and the heart indeed the conscience is in a very ill case which ffliction cannot mollifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the Apostle Heb. 5.8 the sonnes of God learne obedience by the things they suffer and for this wee may learne to take well the Lords castigations kisse the rod as often as it betides us Againe we must not thinke much to wait at the posts of Gods house continually to listen as David did to his word in the mouth of Nathan his word in the ministery of it God useth to blesse it and to put forth his spirit with it that with David our heart smiteth us we tremble with Foelix we melt with Iosiah we are pierced to the quicke like those thousands at S. Peters Sermon and we are rifled and convinced in our consciences like those in the 1 Cor. 14. Without the Law sin is dead Rom. 7. It is not acknowledged the word is Gladius Domini the sword of the Lord Heb. 4. It opens our sinnes to our eyes and Malleus Domini the Lords hammer to breake our stony heart Ierem. 23. Wherefore Moses and Aaron being called by the Lord in the wildernesse before the burning mount he commanded them his word and Law not to be supprest in secrecie but to be pitched up in the eye of all the world even that the presumptuous heart might looke on it as Christ did on Hierusalem with weeping eyes to see how short he comes of that hee should and that the dissembling heart might have his paintings and colours his faces of sanctitie thawed all by the fire of Gods justice The Word of the Lord is spirit and life a sacred perspective it is wee may behold in it our sins of thought desire and deed and thereupon see how the host of heaven with chariots of fire march in array ready prest to charge the curse of God how ready it is to light on us A sight for which Davids heart becommeth so intenerate that hee a King commits a Psalme to bee sung here in the Church wherein his owne capitall sins should be blazed to all posteritie by his owne confession a sight for which S. Austen needs would that this verie Psalme should bee set over his bed night and day that with teares hee might read over his transgressions a roll wherof he hath left in his owne Confessions which is admirable to the Reader And Conscience indeed is a sleeping Lion it will awaken in the evill houre we shall finde it our owne heart then seeks occasions against us as Iob speakes and let not him thinke who hath not yet the sting of his sinne that he hath not offended it watches the conscience till the time of most advantage but the Lord by this conscience of sinne awakens those to life that are his by this sensiblenesse or accusing of the heart he doth much in our calling to grace and in our continuing in it for the contrite or wounded conscience dealeth not with our evill motions as Darius did with Alexander suffer them to passe or come over the heart as he did the Hellespont till they beare all before them but like Pharaoh that killed the infants of Israel lest they should overgrow his Countrey So the truly broken and tender heart growes daily verie conscientious of everie the least sin and taketh care therefore of the serpents in the shell Allidere parvulos ad petram to crush the verie occasions of sin and with S. Paul it shaketh of the vipers from the fingers ends at the first motion of evill lest suggestion beget delight and that multiply from action into custome like the fish that swim downe the streames of Jordan in mare mortuum into the dead sea Yea and in the midst of all our prosperities pleasures it is the qualitie of a contrite conscience ever and anon to send us downe an holy feare as it
the same yea though it have sinned much is yet such a worke of God wherein God cannot but bee well pleased From the heart are the issues of life and death it rowles the lower spheres with it and therefore though Davids eyes were adulterous his hands imbrued and his verie lips sealed up with his sinnes as we see at the fifteenth verse Yet no sooner doth the Lord open his mouth but his prayer is for his heart and spirit for till God give us grace to draine that fen or sinke of evill which is in our heart in vaine should we labour about our words or deeds And therefore Apollodorus in Plutarch dreamed that his body being cut in peeces and cast into a seething cauldron his heart leapt up and said Ego horum tibi causa fui I was the cause of all this mischiefe And therefore the Pharisies those old hypocrites when they cleansed but the outside Christ the second Elias called them vipers and a generation of vipers and bid them Mundare priùs quod intùs cleanse within first or be sincere at heart and humble that for till contrition come to the heart their religion like a mill it moved not without the wind of vaine glorie and the light of their good works the lampe of their charitie did not shine and burne without the oyle of mans praise they had no zeale but in publike and in the corners of the street whereas the heart once well affected and humbled then would they enter their closets to pray and seeke in their devotions not their owne but Gods glorie and though man would super-admire or deifie them for any their good deeds yet the heart well toucht with a sense of its owne infirmitie it would retaine its humilitie amidst the holiest and best performances it would give backe to God his due Of such behoofe is the broken heart the issue of it is sinceritie and that is the soule of all vertue and therefore the contrite heart is as wee see the verie center wherein the lines of Gods graces meet and to which they run and so it hath Gods speciall love and acceptation for its circumference O God thou wilt not despise The summons of death went out against Hezekiah hee retires like the Sunne in his diall he goeth backe to the Lord hee mournes in his prayer like a Dove he chatters like a Crane or Swallow and I have heard thy prayers I have seene thy teares behold saith the Lord I will adde unto thy dayes fifteene yeares Isa 38. The summons of death the threats of Gods Law and Word were read in the cares of Iosiah the King and his heart was tender hee humbled himselfe before the Lord hee rent his clothes hee wept sore and the Lord sent Huldah the Prophetesse to assure him that his contrition was not despised and he should bee gathered to his fathers in peace 2 King 22.19 The summons of death were out against Nineveh that great Citie and shee relents shee fits her downe in sack-cloth and turnes her silkes into ashes Peeres and people none excepted come downe è sâ—lio in solum and by and by the hand of vengeance that was waved over them is taken aside and the writ of bloud is reversed Surge desperatio vade ad Niniven Now rise despaire and goe to Nineveh Thinke how Nineveh was not refused though the cry of her sins went up to Heaven before the cry of her teares And who art thou then that sayest with Spira I cannot be saved or with Cain Major iniquitas Mine iniquitie is greater than God can forgiue Mentiris Cain Cain thou lyest saith Austen thy sinnes bee they in number as the haires of thine head Gods mercies are as the starres of Heaven above all his workes Can we with Elias surround our sacrifice with water our prayers and devotions with holy sorrow for the wants and defects of our devotions yea if but with sorrow for not sorrowing so heartily so earnestly as we ought the Lord will not despise us In ipsius praesentia nunquam supervacuae mendicant lachrymae veniam saith S. Cyprian Never did teares or true contrition beg before the Lord in vaine Nec unquam patitur repulsam contriti cordis holocaustum And never did the sacrifice of the broken heart finde repulse at the hands of God The Israel of God that ever is fighting with Ammon and conflicting to the verie Sun-setting and the man of God that still holds up his hands and prayes life and victorie is layd up for them in the bosome of Jesus Christ our Redeemer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Col. 3. And now let him be hid to the world and despised that the verie abjects have him in derision his light shall breake forth like the Sun through the continuall intercession of Christ for him and all the world shall see that God will not despise him We see Gods manner or method Deducit ad inferos reducit When he brings a sinner to him hee leadeth him as he did the Israelites thorow a perillous wildernesse into Canaan thorow Hell to Heaven by mount Sinai to mount Sion thorow painfull contrition and sorrow and sense of his sinnes and corruptions to the consolations and peace of the Holy Ghost so that being well experienced in the miseries of his sinfull estate he shall feare to returne into Aegypt the bitter impression and sting of his sins which still remaineth it will be a checke to him from looking backe againe and this may be a reason of Gods dealing with us why hee accepts the sacrifice of our hearts contrite and broken But now if we shall feare to venture into the wayes of repentance and godlinesse for feare of losing our pleasures and being cast upon the paines of contrition prayer and watching we see the vanitie of that delusion because from being Benonies sons of sorrow the Lord maketh us to bee Benjamins sons of his owne right hand From a deluge of contrition to rinse us we come to enjoy the certificates of our peace like his heavenly raine-bow to strengthen us In sense of man Iobs contrition was ignis foeno like the fire to the stubble to undoe him or confound him but in truth and in the event it was ignis auro like fire to the gold to refiâ—e him and doe him good For his corruption we see assumeth incorruption and this vile bodie riseth up a glorious bodie Gods tender mercie a little bounded in for his triall like a river breaketh forth the more at the sluces of his repentance and contrition A broken and a contrite heart ô God thou wilt not despise Wherefore seeing the heart contrite is so acceptable an offering to the Lord let us from the little Spider learne here to begin our amendment let us begin to mend our web at the middle our contrition let us seek to bring it to the heart A cursorie confession a formall fast a coat of sack-cloth and the like can these quench the flames which sinne hath blowne and kindled Leave off renting your garments saith the Prophet and learne to unharden your hearts the contrite heart is the oblation that God will not despise The Romish Votarie or Secluse how often is her eye cast downe and heavie when her heart is an Aetna of vicious affections How seemes the Jesuite as if with S. Paul he were crucified to the world and the world to him when his spirit is with Lucifer in the clouds contriving combustions of State How broken abject and vile seeme their begging Orders being men of another mould indeed just like the Comedians who play and act the siege of Troy and the teares of Priam without all sense or touch of that griefe at the heart True acceptable contrition runs and goes in another straine by inward smart and groanes of heart and spirit it prayes it vowes it powres out the soule before the Lord Lam. 2. Like the parched earth it gaspes towards Heaven as if it would devoure the clouds it wrestleth with the Lord like Iacob with strong supplications it repents from the verie heart root and the savour of this incense ascends before the throne of the Lord and returnes not without a blessing yea not without some inward pledge in the issue and experience of Gods mercie and remission The stroke of an wholly accusing guiltie heart is heavie exiccat ossa Prov. 17. but the joy of the contrite repenting heart is incredible it is sanitas carnium Prov. 14. So sweet are the issues of the contrite heart that iâ—… sense thereof Iob feeleth not the witnesse of man against him because God would witnesse for him Iob. 31. and when our hearts dare indeed witnesse to us that we are contrite or doe unâ—einedly repent this makes glad the heart and is a continuall Jubilee because it is the co-witnesse with Gods spirit that we are his that God hath accepted us A broken and a contrite heart ô God thou wilt not despise FINIS Errata PAg. 10. lin 4. for no read not pag. ib. lin 35. for nured read inured p. 11. l 19. read cover and hide p. ib. l. 33. for exacts read exact p. 14. l. 19 20. read in that verie day