is ventrous it will hazard any thing for the thing beloved Christ gives an evidence of it he doth not only venture his life but lay down his life greater love then this hath no man that a man lay down his life for his friend Joh. 15. 13. Abishai out of his intire love to David when there came Ishbi-benob a gyant whose staff was like a Weavers beam and struck at David thinking to have killed him he interposes receives the blow and slew the Philistine 2 Sam. 21. 16. Love is ventrous it will put life in hazard for the thing beloved t is that which the people of God speak as a testimony of their love to God The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me Psal 69. 9. and they do it to choose as it was a gracious speech of that Ancient Mallem in me sit murmur quam in Deum Bonum est quod dignetur Deus me uti pro clypeo If the Lord will be pleased to make use of me to keep off reproaches from himself truly I shall look upon it as a very great priviledge and honour Now pray tell me where your hazards are where is the man that for the truths of God and the interests of Christ wâ—ll hazard the loss of his estate the loss of friends the spoiling of his goods where be the men that be apt thus to hazard any thing The truth is love turns cowardize into Courage you may see it the Hen though a feeble creature how far out of love to her young will hazard her self against the most ravenous Bird the mother though a weak and fearfull creature yet how far and with how little consideration will put her self in hazard if her childe be in danger what is that for which you venture Take a man whose love is set upon a lust what will that man hazard he will lose his friends spend his estate blast his reputation nay he will venture his soul all this out of that cursed love and indeed what is it else that makes men despise the judgements of God and mock at fear what is it that men are so couragious for t is their love to sin makes them so Now pray tell me where are your ventures certainly there is your love Sixâ—hly Love is zealous I do not mean that of suspition a zeal of suspition that we commonly call jealousie suspicio est amicitiae venenum t is the poison of love that suspition of evil in the party beloved no the property of love is the contrary for love thinks no evil 1 Cor. 13. 4. But when I say love is zealous my meaning is it is full of sollicitude fearing least any injury or wrong should be offered to the person and thing beloved this love is zealous against any injury offered to the thing or person beloved Consider Moses was the meekest man upon earth yet Moses meekness is turned into anger when an injury is done to the God of his love as well as of his life Moses by and by breaks the Tables so likewise the Lord Jesus Christ out of love to his Father the Zeal of thy house hath eaten me up Joh. 2. 17. Zeal in the heart is like boyling water that wastes in the seething just so the Lord Jesus the Zeal of thine house hath eaten me up It makes a man overlook all interests concerning himself in the world and be intent only upon the interest of the person beloved so it is in Gods love I am zealous for my sanctuary with a very great jealousie Zach. 1 14. What is zeal It is a mixt affection it s nothing else but love provoked that is zeal Esther speaks the language of love Esth 6. 8. How can I indure to see the destruction that shall come upon my kindred the evil that shall come upon my people how can I indure this is the proper language of love Now pray tell me what are you zealous for Where is your zeal touch one man in his reputation and you arm his zeal against you touch another in point of goods and you will quickly see where his love is so on the contrary touch God in hâ—s Name Christ in his truth To whom I gave place no not for an hour saith Paul Gal. 2. 5. presently zeal is up and love is provoked I remember it is Bernards exhortation to Eugenius Ignescat Zelus when any thing came contrary to the interest of Christ he would have his zeal turn into fire and so it will be where love is examine therefore what makes you hot upon every occasion sure thats an injury done to the thing beloved this is that which provokes thy zeal therefore where thy zeal is there is thy love Seventhly Love is fearfull of separation from the thing beloved it desires nothing more then union it fears nothing more then separation the Spouse gives an instance of that in the Canticles I charge you awake not my love till he please Austin gives that as the difference between true and unclean love between the love of a wife and the love of an harlot so he puts it both fear the husband true Haec ne veniat illa ne discedat the one fears least the husband should come the other fears least he should depart this love wherever it is fears separation the intirest affection of the soul in this world is unto the body next to God and Christ and heavenly things there is the greatest indeerment between the body and the soul Now why is death called the King of terrors because death is the separation of the soul from the body which especially the soul fears because union it loves and as Neriemberg saith A mans moritur sibi vivit in amato he that loves dies in himself but lives in the thing beloved for if a man die in himself how loth were he to part with the thing beloved for that were a double death for this cause the great consolation of the Saints is let some men of our times talk what they will that the Doctrine of falling from Grace is a Doctrine of great Consolation but the Scripture and Experience tells us who shall separate us from the love of God Rom. 8. ult for in the absence of the thing beloved the heart languishes but in the separation from the thing beloved the heart dies for this cause as this is the greatest cordial to the Saints there is no separation they love that from which they shall never be separated so it s the greatest corrosive to wicked men they love that from which there shall be a separation and therefore the Lord continually tels us Riches betake themselves to their wings Prov. 23. 5. Thou fool this night I will take away thy soul and then whose shall these things be Luke 12. 20. I will take thy cup from thy mouth I will take you away with hooks and your posterity with fish-hooks Amos 4. 2 3. This I say the greatest corrosive to an ungodly man is
world and are the off-scouring of all things to this very day Men do affront and contemn they do revile and reproach they do oppose and contradict they do threaten and persecute the faithful Prophets of God and those of them who are most faithful and most zealous are most hated and most persecuted Now the Lord will not bear with this odious ingratitude and with this barbarous injuriousness done unto his faithful servants he is extreamly sensible of all the evil done unto them of all the evil words spoken against them and of all the evil counsel and devices taken against them and of all the evil works done against them Touch not mine Anointed and do Psa 105. 15. Act 9. 4. my Prophets no harm saith God Saul Saul why persecutest thou me saith Christ And therefore he takes away his choice Prophets and Servants in Judgement from such an ungracious and ungrateful people in effect saying unto them thus much Ye will not be taught and you shall not be taught any more and you will not hearken unto my messengers but mock and despise them therefore they shall speak no more unto you in my name your house shall be left unto you desolate Ye shall not see me henceforth said Mat. 23. 39. Christ till ye shall say Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 4. The fourth and last reason why the Lord takes away his most eminently faithfull and zealous Prophets from a people is this To shew unto a people the uncertainty and instability even of spiritual opportunities that they are but a season which is pretious but unsure that they are a short day and a Sun that may set at noon day There are four things which do admit of much uncertainty 1. One is all our earthly possessions and comforts wilt thou set thine eyes on that which is not saith Solomon Prov. 23. 5. There is no earthly comfort whatsoever which is not altogether uncertain nay altogether uncertainty it is but as the shade on the Dyal on which you look and may be gone before you turn back to look on it again 2. The second is The gratious motions of the Spirit of God working upon our spirits My spirit shall not always strive with man Gen. 6. 3. Rara Hora Brevis mora saith Bernard The dealings of Gods Spirit with us are many times like Peters vision of the sheet which was let down but quickly drawn up to heaven again and indeed there is no man who resists or neglects any one motion of Gods Spirit but he puts it upon an uncertainty whether he shall meet with any other motion more 3. The third is the day of Grace our Gospel-day wherein Christ reveals himself and offers himself and mercy and peace and salvation this is a day for eternity but it is not an eternal day It may quickly be lost and for ever lost O if thou hadst known said Christ to Jerusalem even Thou at the least in this thy day the things which concern thy peace But now Luk. 19. 42. they are hid from thine eyes q. d. Thou hadst thy day and now thou hast lost thy day 4. The fourth is all the lifes and pains and labours of the Prophets and Ministers of God they are all fluent and uncertain This day the Minister lives and preaches the next day he is sick and dyes you cannot say of the best Minister on earth he shall be ours for ever or long or a week or a day such an instability is there not only in the best of our outward comforts but also in the best of our spiritual helps And there is much of the wisdom of God in this very particular contingency he hath his good ends in it to awaken the hearts of people from carnal security and presumption from all carelesness and neglects and to stir and quicken them to all heavenly seriousness and wise carefulness both to know the day of their visitation and likewise to improve the light whiles they enjoy the light There are two works upon which all spiritual uncertainties in Friends or Ministers should put us 1. One is therefore to prize what is present there is no certainty but in that which is present that is ours and nothing but that is ours the present Sermon that is ours and the present offer of Christ prize what is present for the future is uncertain 2. Another is therefore to act with all our power to do as much in a little time as others are doing in a long time Nay to be striving and treasuring up in a little time so fervently and so diligently as if we had no more time There is an uncertainty in the lives of Gods Prophets therefore people should ply their doctrine and their help with all their strength hear them as if they should never hear them more and confer and draw from them as if they should never speak with them any more but more of this in the Uses now following May and doth God translate Vse 1. A double advertisement even an Elijah doth he take away the most eminently faithful and zealous Prophets Hence a double advertisement 1. One to Ministers 2. The other to People First to Ministers loyter not lose no time stand not idle at all up and be doing your Masters work do not talk of this pain and of that ach nor of this weakness nor of that indisposition but spend and be spent be instant in season and out of season watch and labour pray and instruct reprove and comfort pull down and build up always abounding in the work of the Lord. O said that eminently religious and judicious Calvin who had worn himself to the very bone with often praying and studying and preaching and writing and therefore being entreated by his friends a little to spare himself no saith he but I desire that when my Master comes he should finde me working And so that precious Jewel his desire Nec propter vitam vivendi perdere finem was that he might die preaching And learned and pious Reynolds he would not lose time he lookt at the end of life more then at life it self O Brethren Ye also have but your day ye have but your day to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and ye have but your day to save your own souls and ye have but your day to save the souls of them that hear you And your day of working seems to be more variable and contingent then the day of other men for if ye be impartially faithful and zealous ye shall be sure to meet with all discouragements and oppositions from all sorts of ungodly men who if they cannot stop your mouths will yet do all they can to break your hearts And besides that your constant studies and diligent labours and publike preachings and private conferences and several other imployments will weaken your spirits spend your lungs consume your strength and hasten your death However the Lord will take you
away and perhaps he will come and take you away suddenly therefore be diligent still and laborious still and faithful still and zealous still and wise still in giving unto every servant his proper portion Blessed is that servant whom when his Master comes he shall find so doing this is he who shall meet with that welcome well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. 2. Secondly to the People Seeing that their faithful Prophets and Ministers shall be taken away from them let them remember two things for their parts 1. Let them encourage faithful and zealous Prophets who do enjoy them O do not kill them and break their hearts and thrust them into their graves by slightings by revilings by quarrellings by troublings by remaining still ignorant and unprofitable and barren nor by continuing obstinate disobedient hardened and unbelieving No by no means but honour them and love them and deal kindly with them and pray for them and encourage them all you can Why Sirs They do pitty your souls and they do watch for your souls and they do pray for your souls and they do study and weep and preach to save your souls And therefore let them have love for love and care for care and respect for respect they give you bread do not give them stones they bring mercies to you do not you cast your curses upon them they attend to your salvation and peace and comfort do not requite them evil for good but let them have good for good c. 2. Improve their present They are gâ—ven to you and for you they are your servants survivance and your own present freedom O it is a naughty frame of spirit to praise the dead but not to prize the living To set out with a large commendation the manifold vertues and sayings of Ministers that are dead yet not to regard nor make use of the parts and pains of those that are living and preaching unto us But let us be more wise Elisha here is found travelling and conferring with Elijah before he is taken away Now you may hear your Ministers instructing and perswading you but within a short time you shall never see nor hear them more Now you may go unto them and open your doubts and discover your souls wants and diseases and crave their Counsel and take their Directions partake of their Instructions and receive comforts by them But within a short time they are changing and fainting and dying and giving up the Ghost and can never be instrumental to your souls any more O lose not your Tide and lose not your Spiritual opportunity Simile Every faithful and godly Minister is like a garden in the Spring-time and the people should be like so many Bees flying every day unto the Flowers in that garden to suck out the honey and carry it home to the Hive You may now get that counsel that direction that satisfaction about the condition of your souls which may stick by you all the days of your life Remember Sirs As it will be an heavy Judgement if you make no use of your faithful Ministers so it will cut you to the very heart when your Ministers are dead and then can be of no more use unto you that you made so little use of them living that you traded so slightly that you have been such strangers to them that you did not enrich your souls by them O that people who do enjoy able and faithful Ministers were then possessed of two Graces one is of humility to see their own wants the other is of wisdom to see their season for the supply of them Wherefore is there a price put into the hand of a fool seeing he hath no heart to make use of it Thus have I finished the first Proposition namely That even the most eminently faithful and zealous Prophets of God may be and shall be taken away from a people I now proceed to the second Proposition which is this That the loss of any one eminently 2. Proposition faithful and Zealous Prophet of God should affect the hearts of the people of God with much grief and lamentation my Father my Father the Charet of Israel and the horsemen thereof When Moses that eminent Prophet died there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses The children of Israel wept for him in the plains Deut. 34. 8. of Moab thirty days So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended When Samuel that faithful and eminent Prophet died what a mourning lamentation was made for him Samuel died and all the Israelites were gathered 1 Sam. 25. 1. together and lamented him The like you read of Steven Devout men carried Steven to his burial and made great lamentations over him Act. 8. 2. There are three things which do concern us when God takes away any faithful servants of his 1. One is a serious consideration of the hand of God in this for though their death be a mercy unto them Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord. And precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Revel 14. 13. Psa 116. 15. Saints Yet their death may be a Judgement to us As a godly Ministers life and doctrine is either in Remedium or in Judicium either they are the savour of life unto life or they are the savour of death unto death So the loss of them is certainly an advantage to themselves and ordinarily it is a judgement and punishment unto a people And therefore we should not slightly pass over their death but consider and lay such strokes of God to our hearts The living will lay it to his heart Eccles 7. 2. Surely he should surely he will 2. The second is a prudent reflexion upon our selves what there is in our selves which hath contributed unto so great a loss for not only diseases in a Minister but also sins in a people may have a great hand to take away the life of their Minister and therefore there is reason for us to reflect and search In every ordinary loss that befals us we should search our hearts and try our ways and say Why is this evil come upon us much more should this be done when a Spiritual loss befals us When the Lord takes away from us the staff and the Isa 3. 1 2. stay the Judge and the Prophet When he smites the Shepherd and the sheep are like to be scattered when he removes his Angels from his Churches Now is it a time to stand still and to gather our selves together and to say What have we been and what have we done how have we walked what hath been our deportment under the Gospel what our answerableness thereunto hath not our unthankfulness hath not our barrenness hath not our disregard hath not our disobedience caused the Lord to make this breach to take away the light from us 3. The third is a
several duties of a Father As first Instruction and Direction Secondly Repro of and Correction Thirdly Compassion and Comfort Fourthly Provision and Expences In all these doth every faithful and zealous Minister of God abundantly appear and put forth himself He instructs the ignorant directs the doubtful warns reproves the unruly pitties the weak comforts those that are cast down provides food of all sorts for his people milk for Babes and meat for those of full age Heb. 5. 14. 2 Cor. 13. 11. lays out himself spends and is spent lays out all his received treasure and stock of spiritual goods amongst them is grieved if his children walk unworthy of the Gospel and nothing doth more rejoyce him then to see them walking in the truth and prospering in Christ As his first great desire is to match every one of them to Christ so his next great endeavor is that they may abound with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ Now judge what the loss of such a person is It is sad to lose such a faithful friend as Jonathan and such a loving and â—ender father as Jacob was much more sad and heavy is it to lose such a father whom God hath made an Instrument to regenerate our souls to rescue us from the power of darkness to bring us unto Jesus Christ and unto salvation by him When a person can say of a Minister Had not the Lord sent such a one I had for ought I know been damned I had gone on in my sinful cursed ways and had everlastingly perished But it pleased the Lord by his Ministry to open mine eyes and to awaken my conscience to make me to see my sins and all my spiritual misery and to humble and break my heart and to direct me in the way how my poor soul might be brought in to Christ Yea and did work so effectually that at length I did by faith close with Christ and since that my soul hath been refreshed with the joys and comforts of the Holy Ghost And besides all this I have received at several times special directions for my walking singular helps against doubts fears and temptations c. Truly the loss of such a Minister of such a Father will distress us will melt us will make our hearts to mourn and lament 2. In respect of the Publique Civil State Unto which faithful and zealous Prophets are the Charet of Israel and the horsemen thereof some render the words Currus Israelis militia ejus Faithful and zealous Prophets of God are useful and serviceable not only for the spiritual estate of mens souls but also for the temporal interest of a Civil State Micah said Now I know that the Lord Iudges 17. 13. will do me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest I dare confidently affirm that the faithful Ministers of God are so far from being a curse and detriment unto a Nation that they are a blessing unto it and a strength and safety unto it Nay let me speak truly They are of more strength and safety then all Charets and horsemen There is I confess some strength unto a people by them and so there is some strength unto a people by wise Counsellors and so there is some strength unto a people by Unity and Concord at home and so there is some strength by consederations abroad but the chiefest strength of a state under God lies in faithful and zealous Prophets and in faithful and godly persons Quest You will say how can this be what are they but a company of weak men and commonly despised men what good can they do to a Civil State or for it Sol. It is granted they are but weak men and they are despised men in the world yet it was the poor man whom no man remembred who did by his wisdom deliver the City and you read that by a Eccles 9. 16. Hos 12. 13. Prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt and by a Prophet was he preserved But I shall by a few Arguments demonstrate that the faithful and zealous Ministers of God are the greatest strength and safety unto a Nation 1. There is no greater Rom. 8. 31. strength and safety for a people then this that God owns them and God is present with them the greatest people on earth are nothing if the Lord leaves them and departs from them therefore said Moses unto the Lord If thy presence goes not with us carry Exod. 33. 15. us not hence q. d. Lord We are nothing without thy presence we cannot be a sufficiency to our selves nor a safety to our selves at all thy presence is all in all to us and for us But the faithful and zealous Prophets or Ministers of God are a special means of Gods presence with a people which may thus appear 1. They are a means to engage a people unto God to bring their hearts unto him and to acknowledge and own him only you read this in Elijah who brought back the hearts of the people of Israel unto the Lord and they cryed out The Lord is God 1 Kin. 18. 37 39. the Lord is God 2. They are a means to keep the worship of God and his Ordinances pure and remember this that as long as a people do own God and as long as his worship and Ordinances are preserved pure amongst them so long God is present with them who is their only rock and safety 2. They are the special instruments which God doth use to keep a people from sin and to bring them unto repentance in case of sinning they warn and threaten them from the Lord and testifie and cry aloud against their transgressions and will not suffer them to go on in wickedness but strive with them and exhort them daily and press upon them all sorts of Arguments from Judgements and mercies to cease to do evil and to learn to do well to forsake their evil ways and to turn to the Lord this we finde in Scripture and this we finde in experience and therefore they are the most eminent means of safety unto a people Beloved they are our sins and they only are the fountains of all our miseries our sinful evils bring upon us all our miserable evils thy ways and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness i. e. the fruit Ier. 4. 18. and effect thereof And if sins be removed then miseries are removed and all danger is over God is again wel-pleased and returns with loving kindness and much prosperity unto a people as you may read in the times of the Judges and of the Kings 3. They are the choisest instruments which God doth 1 Sam. 12. 23. I will teach you the good and the right way use to teach a people his will and ways by them doth God make known his Laws and Statutes and ways this is the way walk ye in it in these paths you shall finde rest unto