the paths of mercy and pietie that they tread in Iob was set up a light of patience Abraham of faith Cornelius of Charitie and so every grace that the Saints are eminent in they are set up as so many lights When the light is gone is there not a great losse to have a candle put out Though they enjoy their light we lose it the benefit of their example and societie their advise and counsell Oh the experience of the Saints bring a great deale of good to their acquaintance I am in this affliction I remember that you were in the same case how did you carry your selfe It is a great matter to build upon the experiences of the Saints of God Wee lose many benefits by losing of a Saint Hee is not only beneficiall in his example but in his prayers Hee is one of the Advocates of the world that pleads with God that stands in the gap Abraham was a strong Advocate for Sodome and so was Moses for Israel and so was Aaron and so other Saints in their time The Saints while they live in the world there is a great deale of power in their prayers to with-hold judgements and is there then no losse when they are taken away When a Saint is removed a Pillar is removed a Pillar of the house and of the Earth and must there not be danger when the Pillar is gone They are the Corner stones when a Corner stone falleth there is a great deale of trash and rubbish falleth with it There is a great deale of discomfort upon the fall of a Saint When God removeth godly and mercifull men there is a losse every way to the Church to the State The Church loseth a member the State a Pillar godly men lose an example wicked men lose an Advocate poore men lose a Patron all men lose a comfort That is the first thing the Prophet bemoaneth in the losse of righteous men First it went to his heart that the world should be left emptie of pietie and all those vertuous examples that God should cut off those precious Plants those that are looking-glasses for us to see our selves in and that pitch of perfection wee should breath after and aime at That is the first thing But that is not all for there was impendant danger when they were gone It is a prognosticating of some evill to befall a place when God takes them away If Noah enter into the Arke the world may expect a deluge If Lot be out of Sodome let it looke for a showre of fire and brimstone God himselfe expresseth himselfe by the Angel that he could doe nothing as long as Lot was in Sodome he had a commission not to raine fire and brimstone while Lot was there while Lots person and prayers were there assoone as Lot was gone there commeth a cloud of Judgement and in that a showre So the Saints when they are translated into the Arke when they are tooke from the earth as Noah was Noah was to ascend from the earth to the Arke when Lot is gone to the Citie God provided for him the Citie of refuge then we may expect one Judgement or other for they are meanes to hinder and keepe them from being poured out That is the second thing in the losse of righteous men They are tooke away for their good but for our ill wee have lost the benefit of their example the comfort of their societie and now we may feare that Judgements will come plentifully for mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come So I have done with the first part of the Complaint I will be very briefe in the second that is over the living no man considereth it this is truly to be bemoaned There is a double extent first of the Act they consider not And then an extent of the person no man considereth This Act hath a great latitude It is either an aggravation of the former they lay it not to heart nay they doe not take it into consideration or else it is a rendring a reason of the former they lay it not to heart because they bethinke not themselves Consideration is an act of the judiciall part of the understanding as incogitancie is a rocking of reason asleepe a shutting of the dore of reason Neglect that is a negligence of due care to bee taken on the other side inconsideration or incogitancie that is a neglect of the due course of reason due pondering of a thing A man is said not to consider that scanneth not that examineth not the cause that laies not the effects and consequences together that compareth not one thing with another So that it is thus much now they considered not that is they pondered not in their hearts they examined not according to the rule of reason they looked not to it what should bee Gods meaning in taking away mercifull men from the evill to come they looked not forward to the time to come nor backward to the time past they were altogether inconsiderate It is a great sinne and a fruit of sinne and a cause of all sinne It is a sinne in it selfe for God hath given man Reason to use upon all occasions to consider Gods workes and his owne workes and those things that befall others and himselfe The true improvement of Christianitie is the exercise of consideration That exciteth a man to repentance David laies it as a ground I considered my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies A man never repenteth that considereth noâ—…â—…is wayes The want of consideration keepeth a man freezing and settling on the dregs of sinne It is a fruit of sinne of the first sinne incogitancie bringeth securitie that rocks reason asleepe then passion hath her scope when reason governeth not It is the true punishment of the first sinne and the fruit of it because reason is decaied in man by sinne reason was then unrectified reason grew irregular Nay it is the cause of all sinne We can resolve no particular sinne to any other principle but this that men consider not before they commit it The reason why men goe on in excesse and riot and continue in drunkennesse is nothing but this they lay it not to heart they looke not forward what will bee the issue and event they consider not the account they are to make to God they thinke not that God is providing a cuppe of deadly wine and that all must appeare before the judgement seate of Christ. The reason why mens desires of the world and of living here are so in larged it is the want of consideration of what is the happinesse of heaven of the promises that God hath made There is no sin but it is resolved into this case So here it is that the Prophet complaineth of the want of consideration When mercifull men were taken away they considered it not to sympathize to prepare themselves to what God would doe after he had removed these that when he
the Evils of the place he liveth in God takes Iosiah from the evill to come Saint Ierom sheweth it well in Nepotian he makes this as an Argument amongst others that his departure was a comfort and happinesse to him because saith he Nepotian is happy that hee sees not those Evils and calamities and miseries that are now come on the Church that wee see Nay not only in the esteeme of godly and righteous and Christian men but in the esteeme of the Heathens it was accounted a happinesse to die before a man see the miseries on the place he wisheth well to Virgill in the eleventh of his Aeniads bringeth in Vandall making a lamentation over his sonne Pallas that was slaine after many teares that were shed over him and dolefull words that were past the Poet bringeth in his wife and saith it was her happinesse to die before him that she saw not this miserie the Poet accounted her happy that she died before and saw not the miserie that was brought on that place and her husband In his esteeme then it is one point of happinesse to bee taken away before that Evill come upon a place wee wish well too Hee expresseth himselfe in another place in the first of his Aeniads They are happy that die before their Countrey before they see the ruine of that Therefore it must needs be a great happinesse for a Christian to be taken away before miserie come upon the Church Here is one respect the Lord hath he takes them away that they doe not see the Evill he bringeth on a place Secondly That they should not suffer it that is a further degree and a greater So we see that it is the happinesse that is intailed on other servants of God Though it is not a course that God alwayes constantly keepeth sometime he suffereth godly men to live and to be swept away in common calamities as the Plague Famine Sword and the like even righteous men perish in these times that is the course that God sometimes takes On the other side sometime he takes this course that hee will preserve them in the middest of danger he will keepe them alive he sendeth calamities and plagues and yet he preserveth the righteous So in the Revelation he commandeth the Angel to seale his servants on the forehead when he poureth his curses on the Earth so in the ninth of Ezekiel he speakes to the man with the slaughter weapon to marke those that mourned to passe them by So in the 12. Exod. hee commandeth the bloud to bee sprinkled on the posts of the dores that the Angel may passe by So God when hee seeth his marke the bloud of the Covenant on the head of his servants hee passeth them by in common calamities sometimes I say hee takes that course But he is not tyed to one course alwayes sometimes hee takes away his servants from the Evill to come hee doth not suffer them to have the sorrow of seeing or feeling of it God when he intendeth to smite the Earth with plagues and curses he will make this way for his course he will remove the obstacles the Saints that are the impediments they hold Gods hands they wrestle by prayer they prevaile by humiliation they cast downe themselve and stand in the gap that he may unwind his hands of this burthen of the prayers of his servants hee removeth them by death hee saith to them as he did to Moses let mee alone that I may destroy them And then as it is with the Husbandman when the corne is gotten into his Barne he burneth up the stuble till the Wheate be gathered the Tares are not turned up God will not poure his plagues untill he have remoued the impediments those that are mercifull men when they are taken away he powreth downe his judgements Therefore he takes them away that they may not see it nor suffer it that is the first Secondly he takes them from the Evill of sinning that is a greater blessing and in two senses from that He takes them from it that they shall not see sinne for that is a great Corrasive to a godly man It was one point of Davids grievance that hee saw wicked men suffer I humbled my soule with fasting and I behaved my selfe as one that mourned for his Mother David humbled himselfe even for his enemies when they were afflicted that was one part of his sorrow But the chiefe part of his sorrow was to see them commit sinne Mine eyes gush out with rivers of teares because men keepe not thy law That was a great affliction Therefore that they may be eased of that evill God takes away mercifull men that they shall not see sinnes committed they are offensive to chaste eyes Hee takes them to heaven that their eares may not bee filled with hellish blasphemies and damnable oathes that overburthen the ground that ring their peales in every street as a man passeth by there is no hearing such things in heaven That is one thing he takes them away that their eyes may not be glutted with beholding extortions oppressions murthers contentions revilings and other sinnes in the world It is a great ease to a godly man to be tooke out of evill times when God leaveth him in times and places that are evill hee shines as a light when God takes him away he hath the reward of his sorrow it cost him griefe to see it therefore to reward him God takes him away that hee may not see sinne committed Secondly God takes them away that they may not sinne themselves for heaven is a place as of no sorrow so of no sinne though we be unsatiable of sinne now then there is an end put to it It pleaseth God so to deale in his providence to order it that sinne brought in Death and Death carrieth out sinne that as a skilfull Chimmicke distilleth an Antidote out of poyson so doth God Death that was the reward of sinne God fetcheth the translation out of it to eternall happinesse the Mother sinne brought forth Death and Death the daughter carrieth out sinne That is it that is the great comfort of a man in death as now I shal cease suffering so here is my comfort too I shall cease sinning though my purposes and endeavours be bent upon piety yet I am overtaken I could not tread so straite but I did often tread awry now there shall be a new plaine path provided for my feet there is no sinne in heaven That is a great point of wisedome that God destroyeth sinne with the body and raiseth the body againe without sinne if the body should live alwayes how should sinne end sinne will not be rooted out as long as wee are in the body while wee carry about us this vale of flesh we shall carry about us also another vaile of sinne therefore saith Epiphanius God dealeth with us as a skilfull housholder with his house Looke as it is in building an old house if
Ier. 7. 11. Sendeth them to Shiloh Goe yee now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickednesse of my people Israel And now because you have done all these workes saith the Lord and I spake unto you rising early and speaking but you heard not and I called unto you but you answered not Therefore will I doe to this house which is called by my name wherein you trust as I have done to Shiloh Had not the Churches of Asia the golden Candlesticke and yet are they not now tributary to the Turke The ordinances of God beloved are meanes to increase and hasten a judgement when we shut our eyes and will not open them but walke in darknesse Oh but there was never so many Preachers nor so many meanes there seemes to be a new spring of the Gospell there are abundance of men that come daily furnished for the Ministery and are zealous and forward and powerfull Prophets and the like and therefore it is a signe that much good is intended towards us and that no judgement shall come But doe we not reade that immediatly before the seventy years captivity there were more Prophets then in many yeares before Why should we rest in such things as these But neverthelesse we have many good people that are full of prayers and teares and they shall deliver the Island It is true there are many blessed be God and we have cause to wish that there were many more and to say as Moses said to Ioshua when he would have had him forbid Eldad and Medad that prophesied in the Campe of the Israelites Would God that all the Lords people were Prophets and that hee would put his Spirit upon them So wee of such godly men that walke with an upright heart would God that there were many such But yet are not these as Lillies among thornes a few amongst many men Are not these the objects of reproach and contempt amongst an unrighteous generation Who are the men that are cryed downe most by the world that are most opposed and injured by all men Are not these they that support the land by their prayers and hold up all by their standing in the gappe May wee not rather feare that God will avenge the quarrell of his servants upon an ungracious and ungratetull people they live amongst What shall wee speake of other things Did not Bozrah in Ier. 49. 16. boast her selfe of her scituation that shee dwelt in the clefts of a rocke Saith God though thou hidest thy selfe in the clefts of the rock though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the Eagle I will bring thee downe from thence It is not talking that our Island is scituate in the Sea and environed with walls Judgement can leape over the Sea as well as the pestilence hath done our walled Townes It is a vaine thing and yet if you hearken to the discourse of most men you shall see that this is that that keepes them secure Or it may be as some in Isa. 48. 15. Wee say they have made a covenant with death and with hell are wee at agreement when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorow it shall not come unto us Well saith the Lord your covenant with death shall bee disanulled and your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorow then you shall bee trodden downe by it When judgement commeth of all the people in the world it shall certainly meet with you What meane these idle dreames and vaine conceits that when we goe on in an unreformed condition and in a course of sinne and impenitency yet because you have the Ministers and the ordinances and the people of God amongst us because we are convenient for scituation and such like things These are vaine things they will doe us no good at that time and for the present they shew our securitie our horrible security Fourthly take another evidence and that is the abounding of the sinnes of the Land Were it possible that at such a time as this of shaking the Rod the Sword over us when judgements are upon the Nation that there should be such abundance of iniquitie in all places if men were not in a dead sleepe How doth drunkennesse stagger and reele in every street How doth pride vaunt and boast it selfe in every Church and assembly though it be cryed downe never so much Alas beloved are these times to pride up our selves in vanitie Are these times to runne after the sensuall and sinfull courses of an ungodly generation These are times wherein God calleth for fasting and brokennesse of heart Lay aside thy fine apparell saith God to the people that I may know what to doe unto thee Wee should lay aside these things that wee may shew our selves to be men awake But men generally doe so abound in wickednesse and ungodlinesse that we may rather conclude as it is in the Revelation that the time is now come too neere He that is filthy let him be filthy still that is let him goe on to the end It is evident and apparant that sinne is increased since the sicknesse it is apparant that our sins are agravated though they are daily cryed downe And now at this time as if we would defie God to his face and call upon him to hasten his judgements upon our Land upon our Families and persons every one strives as it were who shall outdare him most in our excesses in impenitencie in hardning our selves in a course of sinne These things convince us of our security There are many more that might be named if the time would permit But put these together and they may shew us our wretchednesse When we consider how little we have profited by Judgements how little we have profited by the ordinances how full of vaine confidence and idle dreames how notwithstanding all these wee abound still in wickednesse and there is no reformation of our hearts and lives what may wee not conclude against our selves If ever people were drowned in a drunken security wee of all people under heaven are at this time For of all people under heaven we are in a manner the last God hath spared us to the last We have had warning by judgements inflicted upon others for many yeares together It hath come neerer to us by degrees it began a farre off in Bohemia and then in the Palatinate and in Germanie The Lord would have us see how he commeth to us by degrees by steps that at the last we may meet him by repentance But where is the man that yet gets out of the bed of security that commeth out of his sleepe to meet the Lord that comes with a broken heart to begge for forgivenesse of his sins past and to beg for mercy for the time to come Well now since it is so that we are convinced by these signes that we are
we be not profited by them But I say brethren this is that which God hath respect unto in all his provisions for his people in the Institution of all his ordinances their profit and benefit and when he findeth any ordinance that is not for the benefit of his people though they bee of his owne institution yet hee takes them away therefore the Apostle speaking concerning the Mosaycall Rites and institutions of the Ceremoniall Law he calleth them unprofitable and beggerly rudiments and so God himselfe counted of them and for their unprofitablenesse there was a gracious disanulment of them But especially and above all this will be most apparant if we cast our eyes upon the Lord Jesus who is indeede the substance of our preaching and of our receiving the Sacrament and of all the ordinances of God and of all his promises it is with respect to our profit that the Lord hath beene pleased to ordaine him both in respect of his person and the constitution of that and in respect of his offices and all his fatherly administrations concerning him a gracious respect hee hath had in all to the profit of his Church as might appeare in the severall particulars A body hast thou prepared for mee saith hee in the Psalme why That Christ might be the more profitable to his people sitted thereby to converse with and to communicate himselfe unto them The Word was made flesh and therefore made flesh that he might dwell among us that there might bee a meete cohabitation with him And as this was the respect God had in his incarnation so it was in all his humiliation What was the reason that hee was acquainted with sorrowes and griefes and miseries both from God and men but that hee might be the more for our profit that wee might have a mercifull High Priest that he might the better know from experience the way to commiserate and compassionate his people in their distresse Yea in his death in his resurrection in his ascention in his preferment at Gods right hand in all these administrations of God the Father concerning his Sonne hee had a gracious respect to the good and profit and benefit of his people Againe secondly consider all the appointments of God his injunctions and commands to his people hee doth in all ayme at their profit as it is in Deut. All these things I command thee for thy good The Lord requireth nothing at his peoples hands but it is for their profit He calleth upon us to believe it is that wee might have the profit of his word and promises Hee calleth upon us to repent and to leave our sinfull wayes if thine eye offend thee plucke it out if thy hand offend thee cut it off for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should bee cast into hell he hath an ayme at our profit wee thinke hard of it as wee are naturally apt to doe through a deepe affection wee beare to our base lusts that God should come so neare to us and deale so strictly with us as to command us to plucke out our eyes and cut off our hands that is to part with our dearest corruptions Alas my brethren if God saw that it were good for us that it were for our profit to keepe our lusts he would not take away one of them from us but we should have them as I may say with all his heart but hee knoweth that as they are not for his glory so they are not for our profit he seeth that there is not any good to be gotten by our retayning of them therefore it is I say that he is so strict in his impositions that hee so often calleth upon his people to repent and to cast away their sinnes Thirdly and lastly consider all the administrations of God to his people and wee shall see that in them all hee hath a respect to their profit As for instance he is pleased to suffer sinne and corruption to remaine in his servants all the while they are in this life he could wholly take it away and free them from it even in this world But he knowes that it is for their profit to suffer these Inmates these Cananites to remaine that they may be as prickes in their eyes and thornes in their sides to make them the more weary of the world and the more desirous of heaven He is pleased many times to suffer his people to have sinne not onely tirannizing and usurping but prevayling against them but it is that thereby they may attaine to a greater degree of humiliation He suffereth them sometimes to fall for this very purpose that he might exalt them Hee is pleased to permit the Divell to buffet them and to use them very hardly were it not for their profit hee would tye him up in Hell and give him no such leave as this but as he sayd to Saint Paul least they should be exalted above measure the messenger of Sathan is sent to buffet them Yea the Lords withholding of his spirituall comforts his deserting of his people the hyding of his face from them the withdrawing of those sweet and gracious manifestations of himselfe unto them it is all with respect to their profit that they may be taught the more to prize the comforts of his spirit and to walke more worthy of them when they doe enjoy them He is pleased sometime to suspend his answering of their prayers and to hold them long in the expectation of the returne of their requests it is for their profit that they may bee thereby stirred up to ply the Throne of grace with more frequent and earnest praiers that so the greater their adventure is as I may say the greater their returne may be It being in this case with them as it is with Merchants the greater adventure they send forth and the longer their ship is out the greater and more advantageous is the returne Many times againe hee is pleased not onely to suspend his answer to their prayers but to deny the granting of his peoples request in the very kinde they sue for But even in this too hee hath respect to their profit hee heareth them as one well sayd according to their profit thou gh not according to their wills so he dealt with Moses concerning his request of entring into the Land of Canaan Againe the Lord is pleased to keepe his people many times in a low condition and in meane estate to put them into bare commons and hard pastures while others are grazing in full meddowes it is with respect to their profit to teach them the more to depend upon him to enable them the better to live by Faith Againe for this purpose hee takes from his servants deare blessings the Wife from the Husband the Children from the Parents as wee see verified this day in this place concerning our friends here the mournefull