there will be no mercy there is no mercy where there are the fruits of uncharitableness and if there be no mercy there will be no piety Let this therefore be the touch-stone of piety love and peace with men as the Apostle speaks As much as is possible have peace with all men I will speak no more of the meaning of the first part Marciful men are taken away It is the Commentary upon the former The second is the Predicate of the Proposition they are taken away that hath reference to this they perish It is great wisdom in the Spirit of God thus to expound one word by another That as in the body of a man those parts that are of most use God in wisdom hath made them double hath made them pairs two eyes two hands two ears c. because these are parts of great use that if one part fall away and miscarry the other part may supply if one eye be out a man loseth not his sight he hath another and so in other parts so it is in the Scripture if we mistake one word here is another that is more plain to lead us right in the meaning of the Scripture for else men would have been offended Godly men perish That is more then to die that that perisheth is lost But it is plain they are not lost in death Perishing is one step beyond death If it had been predicated of merciless impenitent unrighteous men it might have been said so they perish they not only die But what hath the righteous done who ever perished being innocent Who ever suspected and dreamed that it was possible for merciful men to perish Here cometh in the interpretation No be not deceived It is a word frequently used in the world carnall men think so but they perish not they are but took away Ye see how one word helpeth the other so this word giveth us assurance of the meaning of this Scripture and of the state and condition of a merciful man he perisheth not though the Atheists of the world think so he perisheth not to himself for then beginneth his happiness when death cometh though they perish to mens memorial and remembrance there is no remembrance of the wise man more then of the fool saith Sollomon that is worldly men that mind the world and their bellies they take no more to consideration when a righteous man a wise man dieth then a fool that is an impenitent man though I say they perish to the memorial of the world they perish not to God not to the fruition of his happiness for Death is but a porter a bridge to everlasting life then beginneth their glory Heaven that was begun before in a mistery then it is set open to them literally and personally They perish not because they are taken away there is the proof of it A man that is removed only from an Inn no man will say that he is lost That that is transplanted from one soil to another doth not perish A grast or syens though it be cut off and it is to have a more noble plantation It is so far from perishing that it is more perfect it is stablished in its nature it is set into a better There are but one of these two interpretations of perishing and neither of them can befal a godly merciful man Either it is a passage from a beeing to a not beeing and so the Beasts when they die perish because their souls are mortal as well as their bodies it is no more a living creature there is no more life it it it resolveth to its first principles the soul it is nourshed as well as the body there was a beeing before but now there is a nullity of beeing in respect of a living creature there is nothing liveth Here is a perishing from a beeing to a not beeing Again perishing may be a passage from a beeing to a worse beeing so an impenitent man when he dieth he passeth from life to death yea to an eternal death to a worse beeing that is a perishing and a proper perishing that is worse then to be lost It is better to have no beeing then to have either of these But in neither of these senses the righteous man perisheth he hath a beeing and a well-beeing after death His soul hath a eral beeing with God in happiness his body hath a beeing of hope though it be in the grave Nay it hath a real beeing of happiness as it is a member of Christ in regard of the mystical union So in no sense he perisheth he is but took away he is but removed it is but Exodus but transitus his death is not a going out of the Candle it is but a translation a removing of it to a better frame it is set upon a more glorious table to shine more bright The word is well expounded in Heb. 11. concerning Enoch whereas in the fifth of Genesis the Scripture saith Enoch walked with God and God took him in the Hebrews it is said he was translated In the one he was took away that is in respect of the world In the other he was translated that is in respect of heaven They are tock away that is from the place of misery the Dungeon the prison to a place of glory and happiness They are took away from the house of clay to the house Eternal not made with hands in the heavens they are translated upward that is meant in this So that there are two observations in this First That Piety and Mercy excuseth not from death Godliness it self freeth not a man from death Death it is that end that is propounded to all men The bodies of godly men are of the same mould and temper of the same frame and constitution as other men their flesh is as frail their humours as cholerick their spirit as sading their breath as vanishing they owe the same debt to nature to sin to God to themselves and their own happiness They are bound under the weight of the same Law the statute law is It is appointed to all men to die once It is well said to die once for the impenitent man dieth twice he dieth here by the separation of his soul from his body that is the first death and there is the second death that succeedeth that the death of the soul by a separation of it from God which is far worse But righteous and merciful men die once the first death seizeth upon them It is appointed to all It is the end of all flesh In one place It is the end of all the earth in another place It is the end of all living the end of all men even merciful and godly men are brought within the compass of this law of Nature to yeeld up this debt and due Righteousness excuses not it frees not It is a law that bindeth one as well as another As Basil of Seuleucia observeth though Adam was the first that finned
they that die in the Lord. There is the Restriction Thirdly you have the Time from whence this blessedness beginneeh From henceforth blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Fourthly you have the Particulars wherein this blessedness consists It is in a Relaxation of their labours and a Retribution of their works they rest from their labours and their works follow them Lastly you have a Confirmation of all this It is confirmed first by a voyce from heaven A voyce from heaven said write And then it is confirmed by te Spirit of God Even so saith the spirit they rest from their labours You must not look that in this shortness of time I should go through all these And I do not intend it It may be only the first and second I pray let me take some time to speak of the occasion of our meeting I would do all within the hour I begin with the first Dead men are blessed Blessed are the dead Blessedness is a thing that every man desireth He is no man but a monster that would live wretchedly Every man desireth to be blessed But that thing which we all desire in common when it cometh to be determined most men mistake it Some place blessedness in riches And some place it in honours Some place it in pleasures And some place it in health of body And some place it in civil vertues What need I tell you more S. Austin in his 19. book DeCivitate Dei telleth us of no fewer then two hundred fourscore and eight several places of blessedness All determined in this life To let them passe Blessedness consisteth in the enjoying of the soveraign good That same soveraign good is God We enjoy God both in this life and in the life to come From hence there is a double Blessedness Distinguish them as you will Whether you call one Beatudo vioe the other Beatudo patrioe as some do The Blessedness of the way and the Blessedness of the Country Or whether you call one Beatudo spei the other Beatudo rei The Blessedness of expectation or the blessedness of fruition Or whether you call them as usually you do The Blessedness of Grace here and the Blessedness of Glory hereer It mattereth not in what terms yon distinguish them but so we know this have one and you are sure of both There is none have the Blessedness of Glory but such as were first Blessed in the state of Grace And there is none Blessed in a state of Grace but shall be Blessed in the state of Glory There is a threefold condition of a Blessed soul It is here in the body as long as God pleaseth But then it is from the Lord. It is with the Lord but then it is from the Body There is a third Condition when it shall be in the body again and with the Lord for ever Then is the full consumation of blisse when this same body of ours shall be raised up and made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ But our Blessedness in this life though we have here a comfortable fellowship with God yet because that it is not per speciem it is not by sight it is but by faith we walk by faith and not by sight Because while we are here though we do see the face of God in the Mirrour or glass of the Gospel yet because we are absent from him as he is objectum Beatificans Because here the tears are not all wiped from our eyes and we have not yet a full rest from our labours nor a full reward for our services Therefore our Blessedness here it is nothing to speak of in comparison of that Blessedness which we shall have hereafter when the soul is separated from the body and is with the Lord. Therefore saith the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ and this quoth he it is melius it is better Better Yea it is multo melius it is much better Yea it is multo mag is melius you must bear with Saint Pauls incongruity of speech it is much more better to be with him If our hope were only in this life of all men beleevers the children of God were most miserable But the hope of our immortal life is the life of this mortal There was some little glimpse of this light even amongst the Gentiles such as did beleeve the immortality of the soul One of the heathen Poets could say No man is blessed till death Cressus the Lybian a man happy in his great achievements asked Solon Pray quoth he tell me what man dost thou think happy He named one to him Tellus a man that was dead But quoth he whom else dost thou think haypy He named two btethren more that did a worke of piety to their Mother it were too long to tell you the particular story and they were dead I think them happy quoth he Cressus began to be angry that he himself should not be thought a happy man Am not I happy Oh quoth he I take thee for a great King but I accont thee not happy before death Cressus grew to misery and then he cried out Oh Solon Solon c. Here we have a word a voyce from heaven and the Word confirmed by the Spirit and we have testimonies of Scripture and we have some little glimpse of this light from the Gentiles yet notwithstanding flesh and bloud will not be perswaded of this that dead men should be happy that there is a happinesse in death There are many things they have against it First say they Death is an enemy It is very true Death is is an enemy the Apostle calleth it so The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death And say they it is a terrible enemy It is very true and of all terrible things the most terrible yea and nature abhorreth it exceedingly See it in any creature that liveth Mark if every creature would not use leggs wings hoofs horns tusks beaks or whatsoever thing it is wherewith God and nature hath armed it to preserve life Solomon saith it but he saith it in the person of a carnal man as he doth many things by Metaphors in his book of Ecclesiastes That a living dogg is better then a dead lyon Sathan is a lyar and the father of lies but yet notwithstanding that word of his was a truth Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life Vita dum super est benè est said Moecenas when he lay grievously sick of the Gout So long as life remains it is well enough You have one man that liveth in extream poverty eateth no bread but the bread of affliction yet he would live You have another man that carrieth about him a diseased body the arrows of God sticking fast in him and the venome of them drinking up his spirits by some sickness yet he would live You have another man that hath a
discouragements on him that he desires Secondly another advantage he hath for this end is this that is he wondrously prevails upon the heart of man by a careless neglect that is in men every man loves ease There is such a spirit in man such a disposition in the spirit of man that he avoids the things ordinarily that have great labour this disposition to ease and rest Satan serves himself on and makes great use of so when a man hath come from hearing the Word and reading the Scriptures whereas he should now be exercised and labour in meditation to work those things on his heart that now the root might fasten and things might settle on the soul he passeth by these easily now the heart of a man lies open as the high way you know the parable Matth. 13. when the seed fell on the high-way the Fowls of the ayr came and picked it up and it was gone presently where there is no pains taken with the heart of a man as there is none taken with the high way that the seed that falls there might grow as in the plowed ground when there is no pains taken with the heart now every notion every direction and every spiritual instruction it lies lightly there and is soon carried out this is the advantage that Satan makes of a mans love of ease But there is another thing concerning the way that Satan takes not only to steal it out of the mind by those two wayes but again by presenting the very truths of God to men in false glosses so as a man cannot discern them in their own shape and nature but in such colours as he presents them to them If the time would have served I might instance in several particulars I will but touch upon one or two and leave the inlargement to your own meditations Sometimes things that are great and of precious use shall be presented small and of no account and things again that are small and little shall be presented wondrous great The mercies of God the Attributes of God the promises of the Gospel the sufficiency of the merits of Christ these shall seem small things little to be regarded less then ever God intended them to be And on the contrary a mans own sins his own distempers shall be made exceeding great Worldly things shall be presented as things of the greatest consequence and spiritual things as meer accessories as things that depend upon them and that come in after Sometimes again things that are most necessary to be understood and known things that should be particularly applyed shall be presented obscurely and confusedly and sometimes things of lesser consequence the knowledge whereof is not so necessary shall be presented with more clearness and with strong perswasions to the study and knowledge of them But I will not stand on this this is enough to give you a taste of Satans subtilty this way whereby he wondrously prevails in bringing trouble upon the spirits of men Thirdly it is from our selves and so it comes to pass from that general corruption that is in our natures from whence all other sins flow that the spirits of men are troubled and disturbed by things that fall out from day to day And first it comes to pass that the soul of man is miserably in bondage and captivated and inthraled and is deprived of liberty as it were through the distemper of the body as in Melancholy and sickness we see how the soul is disâ—…urbed by the very diseases and distempers in the body it self and that by vertue of that simpathy in the soul with the body it riseth from the union of it to the body by the spirits but this I will pass by Sometimes we see the soul subdued with lusts and corruptions somestrong lust some strong sin or other prevails And then as it is with the Fowl that is now flying in the air it may be there is bird-lime cast upon the wings of it it falls down presently and can flie no further so it is with the soul somewhat presseth it down somewhat compasseth it about and coups it in as that expression is used Heb. 12.1 Let us cast off the sin that compasseth us about and that presseth so heavy down that we may run with patience the race that is set before us And sometimes the soul is disturbed by inordinate passions which arise from that general distemper that is diffused through every faculty and so the understanding looks upon things as through a mist it sees nothing clearly and in most common things it is blind and it is led by blind affections too and when the blind leads the blind both fall into the ditch saith Christ and so the memory that should retain the precious treasures the promises of the Gospel to relieve the soul in all cases it is like a leaking vessel that lets things run out as it is Heb. 2. Take heed that the things you have heard run not out saith the Apostle alluding to that Metaphor And the very conscience it self that should be conclusive it now rests in generals and uncertainties conscience should determin what my case is whether I be the child of God or no whether I be in the state of grace or no to put a man to bring things to particular now for the most part by mans own neglect it remains in doubt it may be I am it may be I am not it may be I have a right in the Covenant of grace it may be not c. And now because conscience is not come to that resolute conclusive act that a man may determine of his own particular case hence it is that every thing troubles and disquiets him Thus beloved you see the reasons of it We will briefly pass it over with a word of Application And first it should teach us compassion towards those whose spirits are troubled our Saviour Christ saith here Let not you hearts be troubled He considered of them in their weakness and doth not much upbraid them with it but helps to bring them out of it in much mercy and love and so should we There is such a disposition rising from the pride cruelty and uncharitableness of the hearts of men that they are apt to add to the burthen of the afflicted and to make their afflictions more by their censuring of their troubles You know the speech of old Eli a good man but yet he failed in that when he saw Hannah in great trouble of spirit uttering her heart before the Lord Lay away thy drunkenness saith he he thought she was drunk at lest with some passion and all came but from perplexity and disturbance of spirit and in that manner he rather added to her grief then eased hen So Jobs friends you see what they said they presently judged him in that case as one that God had cast off for hypocrisie and for his pride and covetousness or for some one
Scriptures pretended for his conceit Apostolical Traditions and by reason of the venerable name of Antiquity it is not to be denyed but that some of the ancient Fathers received some tang of the same opinion from him as may be seen or collected of Justin Martyr and in the end of Trajans time Apollinarius Tertullian too much misled by Montane and Lactantius who were in part spiced with this Millenarisme so perilou a thing it proves to the Supine and out of a secure or careless disregard to suffer Humane Tradition to become a Diotrephes and to have the preheminence above the infallibity of the undoubted Scriptures which sacred and unerring written Word of God doth hold forth as of certaine credibility inspired by the Divine and first verity that can never deceive no such clear truth that the Lord Christ shall in Person before the General Resurrection come visibly and corporally upon the earth and as by a first resurrection cause all those who died in and for him to arise and with him in a peaceful tranquility and glory to reign and to beare sway over the wicked as Vassals for a thousand years which date of time being expired immediately shall ensue the General Resurrection and the day of the last Judgement No such evidential verity is demonstrated in Holy Writ as of Absolute Necessity to be believed unto salvation But whatsoever is alledged out of the propherick Scriptures for the stablishing of that opinion is to be understood either of the first coming of Christ in the flesh or of the state of the N.T. in general or else of the glorious estate of the Church triumphant to be expected hereaster in the eternal Kingdome for ever in Heaven as Gerard judiciously I have not time to alledge or you patience to hear on this occasion the several Texts cited by the Chiliasts or of the Orthodox many reverend and renowned Divines have eased us all of that labour let it suffice at the present to take notice from our Saviours own lips that his Kingdome is not of this world John 18.36 but within us Luke 17.21 and from Heaven and besides we find in our Creed which is founded on the Scriptures and may in every article thereof be proved by them we find I say in our Creed mention made but of two visible comings of Christ the first in Humility to suffer and to be judged the other at the end of the world but not before in the glory of his Father to judge the world both quick and dead in righteousness and unto them that look for him faith the great Apostle shall he appear the second time without sin that is without suffering any more as a sacrifice for sin unto salvation Heb. 8.28 Leaving then those Millenarian conjectures to such as abound with leisure rest we in the solid determination of Orthodox and stable judgements who resolve by the day and by the appearing here mentioned in this text to be meant the last great day of the general Judgement according to that Scripture Acts. 17.31 and the Lord Christ his second coming upon that day in glorious Majesty unto the judgment of all the world so that however those who labour in the Word and Doctrine meet often with so great discouragements that they seem to labour all in vain and spend their strength for nought as the Prophet speaks Isa 46.4 yet surely their Judgement is with the Lord and their work that is the reward of their work is with the Lord his goodness is laid up for them O how great Psal 31.19 In the mean time let it be our delight and contentment that we do our Masters work not as by constraint but willingly sith indeed such a vertuous service ever carryeth its own reward with it as being a thing to be desired and embraced for its own worth and certainly that sweet comfort and complacency that a righteous soul findeth in the sincere discharge of this duty within its proper station in conscience of God is infinitely more valuable than all the treasures the earth can afford without it only as the Husbandman we may not anticipate the season of the Harvest but we must wait and then in due time we shall reap if we fant not Gal. 6.9 Heb. 10.36.37 and when the reward actually cometh it being so large will abundantly recompence all our work yea end all our patience too sith the manner of it will be the more manifest and conspicuous before all in that great day when all of all sorts both great and small shall upon the general summons stand before the last Tribunal and then upon the appearance of the Chief Shepheard we shall raceive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 1 Pet. 5.4 Hereof S. Paul had a particular assurance in his own person when he faith Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness and if for him why may it not be also possible for others to be in like manner assured of the same especially provided that we are such as do love his appearing This question I confess is solid yet such as wanteth not its intricacies The Roman Catholicks in this controversie are wont to resolve thus that indeed for so great a Saint as S. Paul was this assurance might be possible yea was attained to by Revelation extraordinary by means of his sides privilegiata his special and priviledged faith which as an Apostle and a chosen vessel of honour he was endowed and adorned withall from Heaven for that God had a great service for him to do who was selected as it were to take up the Gauntlet in the quarrel of the Gospel against the manifold fierce and potent Adversaries of the same so that as I said in the beginning to steel his resolution with the greater courage he was fortifyed before-hand and armed with an extraordinary assurance of a glorious reward after his work and warfaring therein was over But now whether this assurance be possible for an ordinary Christian by the use of ordinary lawful means to attain is the next disquisition To which the resolution is affirmative the thing is possible though confessedly very difficult and this possiblity is both Certitudine Objecti and also Certitudine Subjecti both as it is sure in its self as it is determin'd by God and likewise in the particular evident and special experience of the same in the soul of a true believer and this is proved partly from those Scriptures which exhort unto a diligent endeavour after it 2 Pet. 1.10.2 Cor. 13.5 Now the nature of Evangelicall precepts and exhortations in a contradistinction to those of the Law is that they carry a spirit a secert energy vertue and power with them inabling through grace unto observation therefore the Gospel is called life and spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 and I can do all things
such a house By the house of feasting he meaneth not only such a house wherein there is feasting but also all manner of abundance as commonly men shew their wealth in feasting By the end of all men he meaneth that which the Schools calls the end of termination Now there is a twofold end of termination as they speak either Positive or Privative A Positive end as a point is the end of a line and an instant is the end of time because the line resolveth it selfe into a point at last and all time resolveth it self at last into an instant A Privative end and that is that that causeth a cessation of beeing that is the end of action wherein all the work and invention and enterprizes of a man cease Of such an end here he speaks such an end of a man as that he ceaseth to be as he was upon earth and ceaseth to do as he did upon earth By laying to heart he meaneth more then a bare konwing or a bare observing and taking notice of things There is to be understood here a serious pondering an often considering of it as it is said of Marie She layed those sayings to heart and so Iacob he layed the sayings of Joseph to heart It is such a serious considering and pondering and discussing of every thing as they may bring it to some use may draw some fruit and benefit out of it to themselves So that the summe and substance of the words is thus much It is a better thing for a man to be conversant about the thoughts of death and to take hold of all occasions that may bring the serious consideration thereof into his heart then to delight himselfe in those worldly pleasures and sensual delights wherein for the most part men spend their lives The reason is because their is some benefit that ariseth thereby to the inward man some advantage gained to the soule whereas by the other there is none at all there is much hinderance and hurt but no furtherance and benefit The words then you see consist of a Proposition And a proof or confirmation of that Proposition The Proposition It is better to go to the house of mourning then to go to the house of feasting The confirmation or proofe of it is double first because this is the end of all men secondly because the living will lay it to his heart This latter part is that which I purpose most to insist upon In the former He calleth the house wherein any one dies the house of mourning It is better to go to the house of mourning Where you see That the Death of men with whom we live is a just occasion of mourning to some The holy Ghost would not have described the house wherin a man dies in this manner if their were not some equity and justice in mourning upon such an occasion For he speaks not here as I conceive only with reference and respect to the common custome of natural and worldly men but with respect to the natural disposition and affection that is in the heart of man and the equity of the thing There should be mourning and there is in it a just occasion when men are taken away by death When Sarah died the text saith that Abraham came to mourn for Sarah to weep for her And Esau when he speaks of the death of his father Isaac he calleth the time of his death the time of mourning the dayes of mourning for my father are at hand So Ioseph when his father was dead it is said that he mourned for his father seven dayes When Samuel was dead all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him When Iosiah was dead there was such a great lamentation for him that it became a pattern of excessive mourning In that day there shall be a great mourning in Ierusalem as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon Our Saviour Christ when he looked upon Lazarus he wept because he was dead And those Ephesians this was it that broke their hearts they sorrowed most of all for the words which S. Paul spake that they should see his face no more I need not stand upon the proof of the point There is great reason for it first if we respect men in their usefulnesse to others There is no man but is of some use and so farre as a man is useful to another there is just ground of mourning for the losse of such a one Therefore David he mourned for the death of Saul though he was a wicked man because he was useful in his time by way of goverment And as there is more usefulnesse so there is more cause of mourning as we see in the death of Samuel and Iosiah and others Secondly because when those that are useful are taken away a man seeth some effects partly of his own guilt and partly of Gods displeasure Of his own guilt If those die that are evil that he did not do them that good that he might while they lived he did not converse so profitably as he might have done to further their spiritual good If they be good and gracious that he received not benefit by them that he did not mannage the opportunities as he might have done to have made that use of their society and conference of their prayers and spiritual helps of all those gifts and endowments that they had And as in the defect so likewise in the excesse there is guilt When a man idoliseth the creature too much and trusteth too much to the arm of flesh when he setteth too great a price upon men he may apprehend the displeasure of God taking away his brother that was as it were a curtain that stood between God and him taking away those that hid God from his eyes Upon these occasions and grounds the servants of God have reflected upon themselves seeing the death of others that are near and dear unto them and have drawn from thence matter and cause of mourning Nay it is a thing that the Lord looks for Thou hast smitten them and they have not grieved When God takes away any that are usefull to us there is a smiting and a correction in it even to those that live to those that were intimate and inward with him and God expects that men should mourne and grieve for it I briefly note this for I intend not to stand upon it against that Stoicall Apethy that stupidity I cannot say whether it have seized on the spirits of men or whether men affect it in themselves but they account this a matter of praise a vertue praise-worthy to see nothing doleful nothing worthy of mourning in the death of any one We see it is quite contrary to the very course of the Scripture But it will be objected We are bid to mortifie our earthly affections and if we must mortifie our affections we must mortifie all our
not but this I am sure of that there have been too many unkind passages where the fault is your selves know But this is to be taken into consideration that God removeth them from ye as if ye were worthy of none If God send us these helps and Lampes that waste themselves to shine to us and to break and dispence to us the bread of life shall we not give them incouragement in their studies that they may go on quietly and peaceably A word is enough for that Howsoever some of ye would not suffer him to rest God hath taken him to his rest There is more might be said but I will not say too much For the other since I came from my house I had information at my first footing in the Parish they said she was as good a woman as lived At my first footing in the house they said she was a very good woman Those that have lived in the Parish they testifie that she was a woman most eminent for her piety and vertue Shall she want a memorial I asked of those that have known her of old they say she was a righteous woman for the righteousness of piety and a merciful woman for the righteonsness of mercy She had respect to both tables to her duty to God to her Neighbour For the mercy of charity she was good to the poor she was a lender to those that were in necessity and a giver too For the mercy of piety she was very compassionate to those that were in afflictions she sympathized with them visited them and comforted them For the mercy of peace in time of contention she laboured to set all strait she had a soft answer co pacifie wrath She was a merciful woman and God hath given her the reward hath took her to his rest She was a lover of peace he hath taken her to the place of peace She was one hat studied happiness and he hath taken her to a place of happiness He hath took her from these evils that we are reserved to and that we may fear That is the difference between a godly and an impenitent man Impenitent men if they be took away they are taken to further evill if they be left alive they are left to further evil Merciful men if they be took away they are taken away for the eschewing of evil and if they be left on the earth it is for the diverting of evil They divert them while they live and shun them when they die As they labour to honour God in their lives so God gratifieth them in their death he takes them to himself This consideration and occasion is a proof of the Text. As it is proved in all the Text let us disprove it in our selves that this word may never go in the course it lieth here but in a contrary course That righteous men perish and men do lay it to heart let it be said so and merciful men though they be took away yet there are those that take it into consideration I have done with the last part and with the occasion THE GOOD MANS EPITAPH OR THE HAPPINESSE OF Those that Die VVell SERMON IX REVBLAT 14.13 I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them THE Scripture will afford us many Texts for Funerals Me thinks there is none more fit nor more ordinarily preached on than two and they are both of them voices from heaven One was to Isaiah the Prophet He was commanded to crie The voyce said Cry And be said What shall I cry All flesh is grasse and all the goodness thereof is as the flower of the field You will say That is a fit Text indeed So is this here A voyce from heaven too But Saint John is not commanded to cry it as Isaiah was he is commanded to write it That that is written is for the more assurance It seemeth good to me faith Saint Luke in his preface to his Gospel Most excellent Theophilus to write to thee of these things in order that thou mightest know the certainty c. It did not please God for many generatious to teach his Church by writing The Fathers before the flood he did not teach by writing They lived long their memory served them instead of books and they had now and then some Divine revelations They needed no writing But after that the dayes of man grew short as they did in the time of Moses the man of God the dayes of our years are threescore years and ten then I say when the dayes of man came thus to be shortned it pleased God to teach his Church by writing And although the whole will of God all things necessary to solvation be written yet God did appoint some special things above all others to be written some passages of divide truths As that same history of the foil of Amalek in the wilderness Scribehoc ad monumentum saith God to Moses write this for a memorial in a book So God commandeth Isaiah to take to himself a great roul and to write in it with a mans pen. So to Exekiel Son of man write thee the name of the day even of this same day the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day And Saint John to go no further though he was commanded to write this whole Epistle and all the Visions he saw yet there is some special thing that God in a more special manner would have him to write And here is one Write this same voyce this 〈◊〉 that came down from heaven write it Though that writing addeth nothing to the Authority of the Word For the word of God is the same Word and is as well to be obeyed and as well to be beleeved when it is delivered by tradition as when it is by writing yet notwithstanding we are to blesse God that we have it written How many Divine truths have been turned into lies And how many divine Histories have been turned into fables when things have been delivered by tradition from hand to hand and from man to man Tradition was never so safe a preserver of Divine truths We are to thank God I say for the whole Scripture for every part of it for whatsoever is written is written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope But what comfortable thing is this that here Saint John is commanded to write Write what Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord so saith the spirit they rest from their labours and their works follow them In the which you have five things First you have a Proposition Dead men are blessed Blessed are the dead Now because this is not generally true therefore Secondly you have a Restriction all Dead men are not blessed But who are blessed then
if there be any good to the soul in things to come all is by Christ therefore all must be unto him If a man have a servant if he be either bound to him suppose an Apprentise or if he be hired to him suppose a workman or Artificer if he live by him and have maintenance from him every man expects that his time be to his Master and his work for his Masters advantage If a day-labourer come at night and demand pay the Master will ask him what work he did suppose the man should tell him he had been building himself a cottage or mending his own apparel or had been doing such and such work for himself but what hast thou done for me saith the Master Dost thou think to live by me and not work to me Do we think to live by Christ and not serve Christ This is the very end why he hath delivered us from the hands of our enemies that we might serve him in holiness and righteousness all the dayes of our life Mark it we must serve him for he hath delivered us that is we must do him service do his work not some peece of the day and the work of another another part of the day do somewhat with respect to God and somewhat with respect to our selves but we must serve him all the dayes of our life The whole time of the hyreling is for his Masters service and the whole time of a Christian for the service of Christ for he hath bought us with the price of his own bloud Then it is an injury to the Lord Christ because he hath ransomed us at such a price for himself if we do things to our selves and not to him Thirdly as it is a dishonour to God and injurious to Christ that men should live to themselves so it is dangerous to a mans self And that will appear by comparing what we lose by it with what we gain by it Compare our loss and our gain together and we shall see then that we do our selves the greatest mischief when we seek our selves most Consider first what we lose by it Our happiness What is the happiness of the creature but the injoying of God We lose our end and perfection What is the blessedness of the creature but to obtain his end What is the end of the creature but the glory of the Creator Then the creature cometh to perfection and blessedness and happiness when it is most empty of himself when he most perfectly and with due affection seeks God Therefore in seeking our selves we lose our happiness Saint Paul so conceived of their blessedness they let fall themselves in the highest point of self-love when they stood in competion with God or oppsition against God Moses desired that his name might be blotted out of the book of life rather then God should be dishonoured And faith the Apostle I could be content to be separated from Christ for my brethrens sake that is that Christ may be glorified He knew that his happiness lay not in injoying a blessed estate to himself free from care and trouble but that herein his happiness lay that God may be glorified and that he might bring it to pass by any means that he might serve God in that end whereto God had appointed him and the more perfectly he could attain that end the more perfectly he should attain his happiness So it is with a true Christian he is so far blessed and happy in heaven as he is serviceable to God on earth as he lives to him and doth much and suffereth much for him when that life that he hath is spent in the several actions and turnings and changings of it in the service and to the glory of God Therefore I say consider this you lose that which you seek you seem to seek happiness to your selves by seeking wealth and pleasures or earthly advantages to your selves and while you seek them with a neglect of duty to God with a neglect of the discharge of that work and service he hath committed to you you lose that happiness that you seem to seek and which you should seek indeed which is the perfection the end of the creature the service of his Creatour So you see what we lose Consider secondly what we gain It may be you gain wealth for you selves this is somewhat you will say It may be you gain honour and esteeme in the World you gain a name amongst men or some earthly advantage Alas what is this if it be rightly considered It is but the gain of a shadow to the loss of the soul If it be wealth doth it satisfie the soul Doth it quiet the conscience Doth it fill aman so as that he needs no more All the wealth in the world cannot do this there is an emptiness in all these things there is fulness to be had only in God in Christ in spiritual things nothing else is able to satisfie the soul in all its desires to give it perfect peace If the happiness of a man where either in himself or in any other creature he need have nothing to do with God he need not then to look higher above himself But God hath placed a vanity both in men and in all creatures man is vain and all the creatures in the world are vanity and vexation of spirit And when the Scripture calleth them vanity what doth it mean but that they are empty things they have not that nourishment in them that they seem to have they have not that in them that they should have according to that esteem that men put upon them they are empty things as we say of wells when they want water they are empty though they be full of other things as dust and sand c. Or as clouds that have no moisture and rain in them they are empty so are all things in the world therefore empty because they have not in them that which the heart seeks after they have not happiness in them they have not contentment in them What is this then but to forsake bread and to seek after husks like the Prodigal that left his Fathers house where there was bread enough and to feed on husks with swine to leave the approach and access of the soul to God wherein it may satisfie it self to the full with that which is food indeed and to seek somewhat in the world that it cannot get I say this is a mans loss Nay he loseth himself in living to himself What shall it profit a man to win the whole world and lose himself Mat. 16.26 To lose his soul saith one Evangelist to lose himself faith another A man loseth himself when he loseth his soul And this he doth in the neglect of God he loseth his soul in that action when a man gathereth wealth by indirect means or keepeth his wealth and douth not disburse it in the service of God for his glory or whatsoever else a man
doth in gaining the world he loseth himself He that will lose his life shall save it and he that will save his life shall lose it Mark 10. A man never loseth a shadow more then when he followeth it the faster he pursues it the faster still it runneth from him such is the pursuit after anything out of God the more a man pursueth iâ—… the more he loseth himself he is driven so many paces from heaven so many degrees from his own happiness This is the folly and madness of the world whereby Sathan deludeth men leading them after vain shewes of earthly delights in carnal security flattering themselves in the pursuit of the world dreaming of happiness and comfort and in the conclusion imbrace nothing but a shadow and emptiness and comfort and in the conclusion imbrace nothing but a shadow and emptiness This I say is the misery of man Now put both together Consider what we lose that that is truly good that that is blessedness indeed and what we get that that is but a shadow that that is emptiness indeed Men lose that they seem to have 〈◊〉 and want that they pursue after A secret judgement of God because they sought not that that they should do Thus we see the point opened I hasten to the application The first use is for Convictionâ—… Since there is such a truth as this that no man that professeth himself to be in Christ that professeth himself to be a beleever should live to himself that is do any action of his life ayming at himself as the uttermost end in those actions It serveth in the first place to convince us that profess our selves to be Christians and beleevers to be such as know Christ though with these differences some are more weak and some more strong yet I say it convinceth every man to stand guilty before the Lord that if he live to himself he is none of Christs This is the property of every true Christian even of the weakest aswell as of the strongest for the Apostle speaks of all None of us saith he whether weak or strong Christians live to over selves if thou therefore live to thy self thou art none of those the Apostle speaks to thou art none of those that live and die to the Lord thou art none of those that are the Lords whether in life or death Let us therefore first be convinced of this that there is such a sinful disposition in the hearts of men that profess themselves to be Christians and yet live to themselves That is the first thing I would convince you of at this time Secondly I would shew you that whatsoever this disposition is it argueth a soule and sinful heart None of us do so saith the Apostle other men that have no part in these priviledges and comforts they do so they live to themselves Thirdly we will convince you of this life that it is simply necessary That so without delay every one â—…hat is convinced that he liveth to himself may now begin to leave that course to live to himself and hereafter live to God For the first of these To convince us that there are many amongst us that professe our selves to be Christs and yet are thus disposed and have this sinful affection to live to our selves Take this first in the general If there were not such a disposition in mens hearts the holy Ghost would not thus have directed the spirit of the Apostle in expressing this as a note of difference between them and others and as an argument that a strong Christian should beare with the weak because they do not live to themselves The Scripture giveth not rules in vaine But that yet we may see it more clearely you shall find this very thing complained of sometime and sometime forbidden Complained of Phil. 2.21 All seek their own and not the things of Jesus Christ Such a disposition there was in them that they sought their own they lived to themselves And forbidden 1 Cor. 10.24 Let no man seek his own but every one another mans wealth A thing expresly and in termes so clearely forbidden as no man can hide himself from the light of it He is certainly guilty of the breach of this command that seeks after his own that seeks himself But how shall we know that we may be more sensible of our own case whether it be thus with us or not whether we live to our selves and not unto God I will give you two general rules and tryals whereby a man may discern whether he live to himself or not The first is this Consider when a lust and an occasion meet together how you are I shall shew it in divers particulars Take it thus Sometimes you shall see that a man is put on to a good duty by incouragement sometimes he wants those incouragements Mark now how a man determineth and resolveth to act or to cease his action by vertue of these incouragements Sometimes you shall see that there is a command to a duty but no outward incouragement to that duty that may satisfie the desire of a mans heart in self-respects He must obey God in this command but he shall gain nothing in the world by it he shall neither grow rich nor get more esteem among men or have a more easie or pleasent life in outward things all self-respects fail in this action The question is what a man resolveth upon in this If now his heart start aside from God and fall off from the duty because he wants those incouragements that a man looks after a way for himself fulness to himself then it is evident thou hast respect to thy self Jehu all the while that his zeal to God might further him and the better settle himself in the kingdom of Israel he can call others to come up and see his zeal for the Lord but when his zeal had no such baiteâ—… and allurement to those actions then Jehu turneth against God and falleth to Idolatry and other sins Jehu is not now the man when these incouragements faile that he was before You have abundance in John 6.10 seeking Christ that still discovered a living to themselves in it You seek me saith our Saviour because of the loaves they had some outward advantage by him and therefore so long they sought him So the Lord discovered them in Hos 7. to be such as lived to themselves even in holy duties You cry unto me saith God but it is for corn and wine and oyle for this they cryed but when they had corn and wine and oyle what zeal had they then He that should have been upright when he waxed fat he kicked with the heel as the Lord speaks under the name of Jesurum to Israel That is one case Consider when things come thus that sometime those worldly advantages fall off from a man in the profession and practise of religion if he fall off from the duty
comfort if he have carried it well and much sorrow and griefe if he have carried it ill Thus a religious heart carrieth it self in this duty Now a worldly man doth the duty too but how as if not that is he hath none of this care before he cometh to it he hath none of this trouble when he is at it he hath none of this perplexity when he hath done if he have miscarried in it if he be able to come off it is well enough though it be performed in never so ill a manner Why his mind is after other things he intends greater matters as he thinks The Minister hath taught him to pray and he can say his prayers and so he doth the duty but still as if not Or again suppose a man whose heart is set upon Mammon put this man to recreation he may perhaps find time to play at Bowles or Cards or Tables with a friend but how he cares not whether he wins or loses he whiles away the time but this is not the thing his heart is set upon that giveth him contentment but that which his mind is on is his commodities his trade his merchandize his business in the world Just thus beloved it must be with every true beleever in the using of all the things of this life that is without care without fear without perplexity without distraction and if they come on so if they go so he must be pleased if he have them and content if he want them and howsoever his thoughts must be carried higher and better To think thus I am the servant of God I have a Calling here I will follow it in obedience to God I have a Wife I will use her as a wife should be used I have children I will have a care of their education But I must not come to be distracted about my calling about my wife and children and servants and good name or any thing that is here below I am here to day it may please God I may be gone to morrow my hearts desire must be to be content with this that God is my all-sufficient portion if I be in prosperity to be as if not if in affliction to carry my self so that in the middest of sorrow and trouble to be as if God freed me from all remembring still that my portion is in another life Thus you have seen both the lesson arising from the Text and what that is that in it is required of every true beleever And this point I am now to prove and still I must use the compellation of the Apostle Brethren for as for others I have little hope of I will as I promised make it plain out of the Scripture That a true beleever that would have comfort of it that he is a true believer must be as if not in all the things of this world There is one eminent place for this purpose viz. 1 John 4.10 Saith the Apostle there Love not the world nor the things of the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Hence I argue thus He that must so use wife children credit freinds good name prosperity without loving of them it is likely he useth them as if not for love is the great wheel that setteth all the faculties awork Now the Spirit of God doth directly forbid all Christians to love the world or the things of the world as they do the Scripture absolutely injoyneth that we should not love them that is that our hearts must not be fixed on them Another place you have likewise in Colloss 3.1 Set not your affections on things below Now as I said before if any man do any thing that his affections are not upon that he doth not love and joy and delight in that he doth not take care for and the like certainly that man useth it as if not but so must every true beleever use the things of the world so as that he must not set his affections upon them Other Scriptures I might give you to make good this point but I am somewhat afraid to be straitned Two or three arguments I will add to make it plain Why every true beleever must be as if not in all these things First because all the things in this world which are contained in the Text they are all but empty poor things to a beleever To another man who makes them his God in his conceit they are full but to a true beleever these things are well known to be but empty things I need give you no better proof to make this evident then that which followeth in the Text For the fashion af this world passeth away The fashion of the world What is that That is a thing that is a shew without a substance Nay the world signisieth such a fashion as is in a Comedy or stage-play where all things are but for a while to please the eye A man it may be acts the part of a King that is no better then a begger or a varlet so all things in the world are no better then shadowes and empty like a piece of a stage-play and no marvel if beleevers that know this use them as not Secondly another argument why beleevers must in all these things use them as if not is because they are none of a beleevers and being none of his it is a meer folly for him to set his heart upon them How are they none of his you will say First for the truth of it these things below they belong to the men of this life but the treasure and estate of a Beleever is laid up in another life he is but as a stranger and pilgrim here below and therefore they are none of his And then likewise they are none of his because he hath resigned them all up to God in the day when he made the bargain for Christ For when we come to be Christs we must sell all to buy that Pearl and in selling all we sell not only our corruptions and lusts but wives and children and pleasures and credit and all we have them not now to have and to hold to do what we will with them but now that we have Christ we return all to him and have them as Coppy-hold to be tenants at will to that great Land-lord we have only a little time in them And if it be so that every beleever hath no more to do in this world but thus that he is meetly at the pleasure of God and can properly call nothing his own but God and Christ then certainly he must use all these things as if not Conceive it thus A Traveller goeth a long journey hee cometh at night to his Inn when he is there he is woundrous glad of his table of his bed of his fire of his meat and drink and every thing and he is woundrous welcome but he doth not so delight in them as the
thing or other and therefore it was thus with him Nay Christ himself the censure of all men was thus much concerning Christ himself We did esleem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted The intent of the phrase is as one smitten for his own ill as if God had now manifested that he did not acknowledge him to be so holy and righteous So thus you see the inclination in the heart of man to uncharitable jndging of those that God hath cast down and suffers to be exercised under many afflictions and troubles Let us learn then spiritual wisdome let us learn love and spiritual mercy to judge more favourably of the state of those whom we see troubled in spirit Many times God infeebleth and distresseth the spirits of his best servants to abate the pride of men that none might exalt himself before God Nay in the very thing wherein they have excelled in the same thing he sometimes abaseth them you see Abraham he is called the Father of the faithful his excellency was his faith yet faithful Abraham is detected in Scripture of much unbelief in some particulars Who would think that he should expose Sara as he did to save himself that he should do it that was called the Father of the faithful you have heard saith the Apostle James of the patience of Job the very excellency of Job was his patience who would think that ever patient Job should utter such things as he did sometime even cursing the very day of his birth David a man of a chearful spirit a man full of the praises of God a man wonderous large when he comes to speak of the glory of God at several times A man would have thought him of an invincible fortitude and courage yet nevertheless you shall have David so cast down as that he thinks the Lord had forgotten him and that the Lord would shew no mercy upon him that the Lord had hid himself from him and that he would never regard him more who would think that ever David that abounded so in the comforts of the spirit sometimes should be so dejected at such times as those were when he was in such a conflict Why doth God do this To shew thus much that the very best of his servants in the chief of their excellencies are dependant on him still they have nothing of themselves or from themselves Therefore they shall sometimes seem to want that they have that the very having and using of it may be ascribed to his glory Then let us now reason thus when we see the servants of God in trouble exercised under disquiet Let us conclude now God is glorifying himself This the Apostle infers He will rejoyce in his infirmities because the power of Christ is manifested by it For our selves it should teach us according to the intent of this place above all things to labour that our hearts may be kept in that blessed plight of spiritual joy that we may be strengthened with freeness of heart to serve God in our inward man Let not your hearts be troubled How should this be done The Text tells us here and so I come briefly to the second thing observable in the Text the means you beleeve in God saith he beleeve also in me As the words are read in the translation they seem to be uttered by way of concession as much as if Christ had said since yon already beleeve in God now beleeve in me The Syriack seems to express it otherwise and so render it by way of command and to make here an intimation of two duties as a help of quieting the heart and so it reads it Let not your hearts be troubled beleeve in God beleeve also in me propounding a twofold object where-about faith should be exercised that the heart may be quieted in the time of any trouble The first is God considered in the Trinity of persons in the unity of Essence The second is Christ Mediator God and Man Now saith he beleeve in God that is the first rest upon God Then the second is beleeve in me also as one that is the Mediator between God and you now making your peace with God So the second part seems to be the prevention of an objection For when he saith Let not your hearts be troubled beleeve in God they might say Alas shall we beleeve in God that are sinful men The sinners in Sion cry out Who shall dwell with consuming fire c. Therefore saith Christ beleeve also in me that is know that God will be your God in and for my sake he is reconciled and well pleased with you Therefore in all your approaches to God take me with you look up to God pray to him depend upon God through me still keep me as a Mediatour between God and you and this will preserve your hearts in peace The time would not serve if I should go over things particularly and in a full way Therefore I will touch the heads of things and it shall be thus much that A special means to preserve the heart of man from excessive sorrow and fear from trouble and disquiet of spirit is faith Let not your hearts be troubled But how shall we help it Beleeve in God beleeve also in me And this we shall see through the Scriptures David found it thus Psal 40. he speaks to his disquieted soul Trust in God I will wait on him he is my God Jehoshaphat in that excellent speech to his Souldiers that were now troubled for the multitude of their enemies against them Beleeve in God and you shall prosper beleeve his Prophets and you shall be established that is the way to stablish the heart to beleeve in God revealing himself in his Word It is noted of Moses in Heb. 11.27 He therefore endured all that he did because he looked on him that is invisible And those three companions of Daniel Dan. 3. Our God say they whom we serve is able to help us but if he will not we will not worship thy golden Image There was matter of trouble and disquiet in the heart to be put to such a plung that they must either worship or be cast into the Furnace heated seven times hotter Well this eased them of all trouble and disquiet they knew whom they have trusted and he was able to keep that that was committed to him to the coming of Christ As Saint Paul expresseth it with which he also rested abundantly satisfied On the other side the want of this hath been the cause of that perplexity and disquiet that hath been upon the hearts of Gods servants at all times That was the reason that Abraham was so disturbed and disquieted in that fear of what should be done to him in Egypt certainly he failed in this in resting upon God Moses was wondrously troubled when the Lord bad him go to Pharaoh and deliver Israel out of Egypt saith he Lord send by him whom thou shouldest send I am a
passion and she cryed to her Husband give me children or else I die but nothing of all this prevailed till she sought it of the Lord and then she was fruitful that is the first Secondly it is recorded of her that she was not only fruitful but that with this fruitfulness of hers there came an increase of Gods people she built up a great part of Israel and what else were the Isralites but Gods peculiar people A right christian indeed is called a true Israelite and the elect are termed by Saint Paul Gal. 6.16 the Israel of God So then hence you may infer that The desire of having Children must aim at the increase and ealargement of Gods Church This is a blessing indeed when the wife by her off-spring builds up Israel not Babel Bethel Gods house not Bethaven the house of iniquity This was the desire of holy people of old when they prayed that their children might be as corner-stones couched into the wals of the Temple meaning thereby that they might grow into the Temple of the Lord to be a habitation of God by his Spirit Blessed is the man saith the Psalmist that hath his quiver full of them it is of such children that are as the arrows of a strong man Whence it follows that they must have more in them then nature for arrows are not arrows by growth but by Art so they must be such children the knottiness of whose nature is refined and reformed and made smooth by grace Ishmael the son of the bond-woman had twelve sons and all Princes in their Nations but what did all these titles of dignity do them good as long as they were out of the promise Questionless Hanna's drieft in desiring a son of God was that out of her might come one by whom Gods glory might be advanced among men therefore she vowed him to the Lord all the daies of his life The Angel told Zachary that he should have joy and gladness at the birth of his son why Because he should be great in the sight of the Lord and silled with the holy Ghost and turn many to the Lord Luk. 1.50 He that begets a fool that is an ungodly irreligious son for that is one of Solomons fools he gets himself sorrow and the father of such a one shall have no joy but he shall be his very calamity and his meer vexation It is a rule set down in Scripture that whatsoever is done should be done to the glory of God therefore our desire of having children must aim at this that out of our loyns may come such by whom Gods glory may be promoted and the number of the godly increased in the world Thirdly she is recorded to have yeelded in all willingness and readiness to the desire of her Husband When Jacob was warned by an Angel from God to return from Laban to the Land where he was born he made his wives acquainted with the matter and discovered to them his whole intent and purpose they forth-with gave him this yeelding and respective answer Whatsoever God hath said unto thee that do Gen. 31.11 The like is to be seen in Sarah she was no hindrance to Abraham in his removal from his own Country to Canaan no nor at such time when she was ignorant whither he went she was no hindrance to him in the speedy circumcising of his son No nor she did not go about to hinder him in the very sacrificing of his son Out of all doubt if she had been a clog to him in any of these respects the Spirit of God would never have concealed it because the wrestling with her unwillingness and gain-saying had been a strong evidence of Abrahams faith that the Scripture is very careful to set out to the full for his credit and our instruction There are two Women storied in the Scripture above others as examples of Gods judgment upon the untowardness of Wives not joyning with and incouraging their Husbands in good-doing The one is Lots Wife whose love no question was a great delay to Lot in his departure from Sodome that when she should have gone on with her Husband in hast to the place which was appointed for their refuge without looking back she drew behind still lingring after her wonted home but what was the issue she was turned into a Pillar of salt The other was Michal the wife of David when she looked out and saw David dance before the Ark she despised him in her heart and was so far from approving his zeal that when he returned she entertained him with a frump saying to him What a fool was the King of Israel this day but what was the issue of it a punishment was inflicted on her for her fault that she had no child all the dayes of her life 2 Sam. 6.23 I remember a policie of Saint Paul in his Epistle he wrote to Philemon he writes to him for the re-entertainment of a runnagate servant that he had begotten to God in his bonds and for the better effecting of it in his inscription he not only writes to Philemon but joyns with him Philemons wife To Philemon our dearly beloved and to our beloved Apphia Philem. 1 2. Wherefore was this For nothing else I beleeve but to warn her of her duty that when the receiving of Onesimus was manifested to her Husband as a needful duty and a thing pleasing to Almighty God she should not put in her spoke to withstand the motion but further it by all the means she could It was to this end that the woman was created that she might be a help to her Husband in all honest offices to joyn with him to incourage him to provoke him and assist him in the performance of them Fourthly and lastly to omit many other things recorded of her that I might here relate to you and to come to that that more neerly concerns this present occasion it is said of Rachel she died in travel God had commanded Jacob to rise and go up to Bethel and dwell there he obeyed and erected a Pillar in the place where God talked with him thence he journeyed a little further to Ephrath and there Rachel travelled and had hard labour in the sufferance of which which might be some ease she received a great deal of comfort from her Midwife who bad her not fear for she should have this son also but it came to pass as her soul was departing for she died that her sons name was called Benoni that is a son of sorrow as we see verse 18. Who can express the woe of that day and the bitterness of that loss to Jacob who was now berest of his dearly-beloved Wife by the fruit of whose wombe he had reaped such increase of blessing before the children had the care of two watching over them now only of one and that such a one as was not accustomed to interest himself in training up young Children but left it to her and she took
gained the knowledge of Christ When a man himself is united with the principle of life when he lives in Christ he desires that others may live in Christ too and this desire and endeavour to gain many to Christ it appears in their place and relation A Christian master that lives a spiritual life will labour that his servants under him may live the life of grace with him too A Christian Father will labour that his children may live to God as well as himself a Husband will labour to draw his Wife to Christ as himself is drawn and every one father and friend and acquaintance as much as in them lies by any advantage and opportunity that is put into their hands they will draw others to Christ because there is life in them And this is not done out of faction out of a desire to make their party strong as many in the world desire to strengthen their party but as in living things there is a natural desire to convey that life to others Parents begat not children out of faction to increase the party but out of a natural affection to convey the natural life they have to others so Christians that they do is out of spiritual affection out of simple have to the salvation of others out of a naturalness in their disposition to indeavour that all may be like them As the Apostle Saint Paul wisheth that all that heard him were like him except those bonds So much for that you see how fitly the Apostle useth these terms of life and death to express the change of one that is in Christ when he turns from sin to God Now we come to see the order wherein the Apostle expresseth them make account of this conclude of this that you were dead but are alive First you were dead to sin and then alive to God These certainly are knit together but they are done in order so we joyn both these points in one and that is thus much that All that are in Christ he works in them by his spirit in this order they first die to sin and after live to God These two are inseparable but yet they are joyned in order that first men die to sin and secondly live to God The Scripture expresseth this in fit similitudes Ephes 4.22 24. faith the Apostle there Seeing you have put off the old man that is corrupt through deceivable lusts and put on the new man that after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Here is the order there is not only an effectual change but this is wrought in a method first putting off and then putting on He seems to allude to apparel there that as a man that is cloathed with rags he puts not on ornaments and robes till he have put off his rags as it is Zach. 3. when Jehoshua came before the Angel of the Lord with filchy garments with vile rayments faith the Lord take away those rags and put upon him change of rayment Just thus God deals in the conversion of a man in the change of a man that is in Christ he takes away his filthy rags first his love to sin he is no more cloathed with them as he was wont he accounts them not or naments as they were wont to do but filthy clouts to which he faith Get ye hence he detests them and then he is clothed with rayment then he expresseth the fruit of holiness and righteousness Another expression there is Ephes 5.8 Ye were darkness but now ye are light in the Lord walk as children of light There is not only a change of apparel that is from rags to robes but of your state and condition you were in darkness now ye are light Mark the order from darkness to light That look as it was in the Creation first darkness covered the face of the deep Gen. 1. all was without form and void and then God said Let there be light so now first there is a removing of the darkness the soul was held in and now ye are light in the Lord so they come to walk as children of light Well this is the expression of it in Scripture let us see the ground of it in reason It must be so that in this order God proceeds in this effectual change first to turn men from sin and then to GOD first to die to sin and then to live to God The first reason shall be taken from our union with Christ We are planted into Christ faith the Apostle Rom. 6.4 5 6. By being planted with Christ there grows a similitude between Christ and us We are baptized and buried by baptisme saith the Apostle into his death and we are raised and quickned faith he by the resurrection of Christ that like as it was with Christ so it is with us He was dead and raised so we are first dead to sin and then alive to God Secondly it must be so from the nature of contraries for these two things are contrary one to another there is an immediate opposition between them so as there must be a removing of the one if there be a possession of the other and there must be first a removing of the one before the other can be in the soul As you see in sickness and in health there must first be a removing of sickness before the body be in a right state of health And as in life and death this is the order they are brought first from death to life and then one necessarily followes the other as life necessarily followes upon the removal of death and health upon the removal of sickness Thirdly it must be so or else if both these were not and in this order wrought what difficulty were there in the life of a Christian what singular thing were there in a Christian above any man in the world Every man in the World doth outward actions if there were not such a change as from death to life there were no difference at all where were the difficulty The Scripture saith The way is narrow and strait that leads to life and few there be that find it what narrowness or straitness were there in the way to life if there were no more but thus that a man might settle upon some actions of Religion and so be effectually changed If this were all what great matter were there in Religion what need Agrippa stand out in the mid-way what need he be but half perswaded to be a Christian he might easily be perswaded to be a Christian if he might hold his Heathenisme and be a christian too What need Foelex tremble to hear Paul dispute of righteousness and judgment to come if he might be unrighteous and a Christian too What need the young man be sorry when Christ bad him sell all and follow him if he might hold all he had and be worldly affected and be a Christian too what need any of the labours of a Christian to what use were a
hereafter Every man goeth though some set out sooner some later and shall arive at his home but let him look to his way as the way is he taketh so shall the home be into which he is received if he take the way on the right hand and keep within the paths of Gods commandements his home shall be the New Jerusalem descending from God most gloriously shining with streets of gold gates of pearl and foundatious of pretious stones where all tears shall be wiped from his eyes but if he take the broad way on the left hand and follow it his home shall be a dungeon or vault in Hell where he shall be eternally both mourner and Crops But to shoot somewhat nearer to the mark Marriages and Funerals though most different actions and of a seeming contrary nature yet are set forth and as it were apparelled with parallel rites and ceremonies our rayments are changed in both because in both our estate is changed Bels are rung flowers are strowed and feasts kept in both and anciently both were celebrated in the night by Torch-light He that hath but half an eye may see in the Rituals of the Ancients the blazing and sparkling as well of the funeral as the unptial lights and no marvail the shodows meet when the substance concur the pictures resemble one the other when the faces match the accessaries are corresponding where the principals are sutable as here they are for in marriage single life dieth and in death the soul is married to Christ The couple to be married in ancienter times first met and after an enterview and liking of each other and a contract signed between them presently departed the Bride to her Mother the Bridegroom to his Fathers house till the wedding day on which the Bridegroom late in the night was brought to his Spouse and then he took her and inseparably linked himself unto her Here the couple to be married in man are the body and the soul at our birth the contract is made but after a short enterview and small abode together the parties are parted and the body the Bride returneth to her Mothers house the earth but the soul the Bridegroom to his Fathers house the Father of spirits in Heaven as both their guests are set forth in this chapter verse 7. the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave it But in the evening of the World at that dreadful night after which the Angel swore there should be no more day or time here the soul is given by God to the body again and then the marriage is consummated and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better for worse to run an everlasting fortune and to participate either eternal joyes or torments together Thus man is brought to his long home or as the Seventy and Saint Jerome renders the Hebrew his house of eternity and the mourners go about the streets here is a short reckoning of all mankind like to that of the Psalmist who alluding to the name of the two Patriarchs faith Coll ADAM ABEL All men are altogether vanity so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventures casting all appear wretched and miserable describitur miseria mortis in morientibus compatientibus all are either dead corpses or sad mourners corpses already dead or mourners for the dead and their courses and motions are two 1 Straight man goeth c. 2 Circular mourners go about The dead go directly to the long home the living fetch a compass and round about the termini of which their motions shall be the bounds of my discourse at this present Wherein that you may the better discern my passage from point to point I will set up six Posts or standings 1 The Scope 2 Coherence 3 Sense 4 Parts 5 Doctrine 6 Vse The scope will give light to the Coherence the Coherence to the Sense the Sense to the Parts the Parts to the Doctrine the Doctrine to the Vse Wherefore I humbly entreat the assistance of Gods Spirit with the intention of yours whil'st in unfolding this rich peece of Arras I shall point with the finger to 1 The main Scope 2 The right Coherence 3 The litteral Sense 4 The natural Division 5 The general Doctrine 6 The special application of this parcel of holy Scripture First the Scope Although all other Canonical books of this old and new Testament were read in the Church yet as Gregory Nysscen acutely observes this book alone is intituled Ecclesiastes the Preacher or Church-man because this alone in a manner tendeth wholly Ecclesiastical policy or such a kind of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher or Church-man For the prime scope of this book is to stir up all religious minds to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth to enter speedily into a strict course of holiness which will bring us to eternal happiness to dedicate to God and his service the prime in both senses that is the first and best part of our time For as in a glass of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out and nothing but lees and mouther at the last so it is in our time and age Optima queque dies miseris mortalibus avi prima fluit Our best dayes first run and our worst at the last And shall we offer that indignity to the Divine Majesty as to offer him the Devils leavings storem at at is diabolo consecrare fâ—…ecem Deo reserv are to consecrate the top to the Devil and the bottom to God feed the flesh with the flower and the spirit with the bran serve the world with our strength and our Creatour with our weakness give up our lusty and able members as weapons to sin and our feeble and weak to righteousness Will God accept the blind and the lame the lean and the withered for a sacrifice How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age when our memory and all other faculties of the soul are decayed How shall we bear Christs yoak when the Grashoppers is a burthen unto us when we are not able to bear our selves but bow under the sole weight of age What delight can we take in Gods service when care and fear and sorrow and pain and manifold infirmities and diseases wholly possess the heart and dead all the vital motions and lively affections thereof Old men are a kind of Antipodes to young men it is evening with them when it is morning with these it is Autumne in their bodies when it is Spring in these the Spring of the year to decrepit old men is as the Fall Summer is winter to them and Winter death it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish which is the Prognosticatour of the Spring or the Grashopper leap and sing the Preludium of Summer for they now mind not
quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either from a word signifying to stretch because death stretcheth out the body or from words signifying to tend upwards because by death the soul is carried upwards returning to God that gave it In Latine Mors either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fatal portion or as Saint Austin will have it a morsu because the biting of the Serpent caused it The letter or word is but like the bark or rind the sence is the juyce yet here we may suck some sweetness from the bark or rind From the hebrew Muth we learn that our tongues must be bound to their good behaviour concerning the dead we must not make them our ordinary table talk or break jeasts upon them much less vent our spleen or wreak our malice on them we must never speak of them but in a serious and regardful manner de mortuis nil nisi bene From the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tenuem in 〈◊〉 aspiratam we must learn to extend our hands to the poor especially near death which stretcheth out our bodies and to send our thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the things that are above whether if we die well the Angels shall immediately carry our souls From the Latin mors so termed quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divido we are to learn to be contented with our lot and bear it patiently considering first that we brought it upon our selves secondly that we gain this singular benefit by it that our misery shall not be immortal O Death to which Death speaketh the Apostle for the Scripture maketh mention of the first and second death and Saint Ambrose also of a third The first Death with him is the death of nature of which it is said they shall seek death and not find it The second of sin of which it is said the soul that sinneth shall die the death The third of grace which sets a period not to nature but to sin The Death here meant is the first death or the Death of nature which the Philosophers diversly define according to their divers opinions of the soul Aristoxemis who held the soul to be an harmony consequently defined Death to be a discord Galen who held the soul to be Crasis or a temper Death to be a distemper Zeno who held the soul to be a fire Death to be an extinction Those Philosophers who held the soul to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Tully interpreteth it continuam motionem Death to be a cessation The vulgar of the Heathen who held the soul to be a breath Death to be an expiration Lastly the Platonicks who held the soul to be an immortal spirit Death to be a dissolution or separation of the soul from the body and this is two-fold 1 Natural 2 Violent 1 Natural when of it self the natural heat is extinguished or radical moisture consumed for our life in Scripture is compared and in sculpture resembled to a burning lamp the fire which kindleth the flame in this light is natural heat and the oyle which feedeth it is radical moisture Without flame there is no light without oyle to maintaine it no flame in like manner if either natural heat or radical moisture fail life cannot last 2 Violent when the soul is forced untimely out of the body of this Death there are so many shapes that no Painter could ever yet draw them We come but one way into the World but we go a thousand out of it as we see in a Garden-pot the the water is poured in but at one place to wit the narrow mouth but it runneth out at 100 holes Die Some 1 By fire as the Sodomites 2 By water as the old World 3 By the infection of the Ayre as threescore and ten thousand in Davids time 4 By the opening of the earth as Corah Dathan and Abiram Amphiraus and two Cities Buris and Helice Some meet with Death IN 1 Their Coach as Anteochus 2 Their chamber as Domitian 3 Their bed as John the Twelf 4 The Theater as Caligula 5 The Senate us Caesar 6 The Temple as Zenacherib 7 Their Table as Claudius 8 At the Lords-Table as Pope Victor and Henry of Luxenburge Death woundeth and striketh some With 1 A pen-knife as Seneca 2 A stilletto as Henry the Fourth 3 A sword as Paul 4 A Fullers beam as James the Lords Brother 5 A Saw as Isaiah 6 A stone as Pyrrhus 7 A thunderbolt as Anustatius What should I speak of Felones de se such as have thrown away their souls Sardanapalus made a great fire and leaped into it Lucretia stabbed her self Cleopatra put an Aspe to her breast and stung therewith died presently Saul fell upon his own sword Judas hanged himself Peronius cut his own veines Heremius beat out his own brains Licinius choaked himself with a napkin Portia died by swallowing hot burning coals Hannibal sucked poyson out of his ring Demosthenes out of his Pen c. What seemeth so loose as the soul and the body which is plucked out with a hair driven out with a smell fraied out with a phancy verily that seemeth to be but a breath in the nostrils which is taken away with a scent a shadow which is driven away with a scare-crow a dream which is frayed away with a phansie a vapour which is driven away with a puffe a conceit which goes away with a passion a toy that leaves us with a laughter yet grief kild Homer laughter Philemon a hair in his milk Fabius a flie in his throat Adrian a smell of lime in his nostrils Jovian the snuff of a candle a Child in Pliny a kernil of a Raison Anacyeon and a Icesickle one in Martial which causeth the Poet to melt into tears saying O ubi mors non est si jugulatis aquae what cannot make an end of us if a small drop of water congealed can do it In these regards we may turn the affirmative in my Text into a negative and say truly though not in the Apostles sence O Death where is not thy sting for we see it thrust out in our meats in our drinks in our apparel in our breath in the Court in the Country in the City in the Field in the Land in the Sea in the chamber in the Church and in the Church-yard where we meet with the second party to be examined to wit the Grave O Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the language of Ashdod it signfied one thing but in the language of Canaan another The Heathen writers understand by it First the first matter out of which all things are drawn and into which they are last of all resolved So Hippocrates taketh the word in
committed to my custody never any but one escaped whom the heaven of heavens could not contain much less any earthly prison he might truly say and none but he O grave where is thy victory all save him I keep in safe custody that were ever sent to me Yet may all that die in Jesus and expect a glorious Resurrection by him even now by faith insult over the Grave for Faith calls those things that are not as if they were it looketh backward as far as the Creation which produced all things at the first of nothing and as far forward to the resurrection which shall restore all things from nothing or that which is as much as nothing Faith with an eye annointed with the eye-salve of the spirit seeth death swallowed up into victory and the earth and sea casting up all their dead and upon this evidence of things not seen triumpheth over Death and Hell saying O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victory We have spoken hitherto of Death and the Grave let us now hear what they have to say to us Death saith fear not me the Grave Weep not immorderately for the dead Death bids us die to sin the Grave Bury all thy injuries and wrongs in the pit of oblivion both say to us slie sin and neither of us can hurt you both say to us Give thanks to him who hath given you victory over us both the sting of death pricks you not but if you die in the bosome of Christ rather delights and rickles you Death is no more Death but a sleep the Grave is no more a grave but a bed Death is but the putting off of our old rags the Grave is the Vestry and the Resurrection the new dressing and richly embroydering them Enough hath been said to convince us that Death which before was like a Serpent armed with a deadly sting is now but like a silly flie that buzzeth about us but cannot sting Yet as long as there is sin in us we cannot but in some degree fear Death and as long as natural affection remains in us take on for them that are taken away Neither doth Christian religion pluck out these affections by the root but only prune them All that my exhortation driveth unto is but to moderate passion by reason fear by hope grief by faith and nature by grace Let love express it self yet so that in affection to the dead we hurt not the living Let the natural springs of tears swell but not too much overflow their banks let not our eyes be all upon our loss on earth but our brothers gain also in heaven and let the one counter-ballance at least the other The parish hath lost a great stay his company in London a special ornament his Wife a careful Husband her Children a most tender Father the poor a good friend for besides that which his right hand gave in his life-time which his left hand knew not of by his Will he bequeathed certain sums of money for a stock to those Parishes wherein he formerly lived and to the poor of this twenty pounds to be distributed at his Funeral Many shall find loss of him but he hath gained God and is found of him no doubt in peace for there were many tokens of a true child of God very conspicuous in his life and death He loved the habitation of Gods house and the place where his honour dwelleth He was just in his dealings and sought peace all his life and ensued it he forgot nothing so easily as wrongs and though he enjoyed the blessings of this world in abundant measure yet he joyed not in them his heart was where his chief treasure lay in heaven he foretold his own death and the manner thereof that it should be sudden and sudden it was yet not unexpected nor unprepared for for three dayes before he set his house in order and desired to converse with Divines and all his discourses was of the kingdome of God and the powers of the life to come When the pangs of death came upon him he prayed most earnestly and desired if it so stood with Gods good pleasure to be eased yet uttered no speech of impatiency but being asked how he did answered that he was in Gods hands to whom he committed his soul as his faithful Creatour and so died as quietly as he lived wherefore sith he lived in Gods fear and died in his favour and shall rise again in his power though the loss of him be a great cut unto us as the loss of their children were to Pericles and Horatius Pulvillus yet as the one hearing of their death as he was at a solemn sacrifice kept on his Crown the other as he was at a dedication held still the pillar of the temple in his hand till the whole Ceremony was performed So let us continue our devotion notwithstanding this Parenthesis of sorrow and make an end of our evening sacrifice concluding with the words of the Apostle immediately following my Text Thanks be unto God who hath given unto our brother and will give unto us all victory over Death and the Grave yea and Hell to through Jesus Christ c. FATO FATVM OR THE KING OF FEARES FRIGHTED AND VANQUISHED SERMON XLIV HOSEA 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues THe Rose is fenced with pricks and the sweetest Flowers of Paradice as this in my Text are beset with thorns or difficulties which after I have plucked away the Holy Spirit assisting me I will open the leaves and blow the flowers in the Explication of this Scripture and in the Application thereof smell to them and draw from thence a savour of life unto life The Thorn groweth upon the diversity of Translations for Rabbi Shelamo larchi reads the words Ego ero verba tua ô mors I will be thy words O Death Aben Ezra ero causatuoe mortis I will be the cause of thy death Saint Jerome Ero mors tua ô mors O Death I will be thy death O Hell I will bite thee and he conceiveth that when our Saviour descended into Hell and his flesh in the Grave saw no corruption he spake these words to Death and Hell O death I will be thy death for therefore I dyed that thou mightest be slain by my death O hell I will bite and devour thee which devourest all things in thy chops The Septuagint render the Hebrew ubi causa tua ô mors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where is thy plea or thy indictment what hast thou now to say against the chosen of god Saint Paul ubi stimulus tuus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O death where is thy sting that is faith Saint Austin where is sin wherewith we are stung and poysoned Is not this Ghius ad Choum do not these Translations as well agree as harp and harrow neither can it be answered to salve the repugnancy and solve the difficulty that
ill in this fain he would stisle the light in his conscience which if he would open his eyes would clearly discover unto him a future tribunal yet sometimes he cannot smother it and therefore as Tully who saw a glimering of this truth observeth he is wonderfully tormented out of a fear that endless pains attend him after this life Well let the flesh and fleshly minded men deem or speak what they list concerning the state of the dead the Spirit of truth faith that all that die in the Lord are blessed But where faith the Spirtt so In the Scriptures of the old and new Testament and in this vision and in the heart and conscience of every true believer First in the Scriptures let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like unto his refrain thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from tears for thy works shall be rewarded and there is hope in thine end faith the Lord precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the Righteous shall wash his foot in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous Christ is in life and death advantage for I am in a straight between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Secondly in this vision for Saint John heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write it as it were with a Pen of Iron upon the Tomb of all that are departed in the Lord for so faith the Spirit Lastly the Spirit speaketh it in the heart and soul of every true believer lying on his death bed or on the Gridiron or in the dungeon or on the gibber or on the saggot did not the Spirit seal this truth above all other at such times to his servants were not then their hope full of immortaility they could never have welcomed death embraced the flames sung in their torments and triumphed over death even when they were in the jaws of it When Job was in the depth of all his misery the Spirit spake in his heart I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shal I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my rains be consumed within me offered and the time of his departure was at hand the Spirit spake in him I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also that love his appearing Likewise when Gerardus was giving up the ghost the Spirit spake in him O death where is thy sting Mors nonest stimulus fed jubilus And though Robert Glover the Martyr all the night before his Martyrdome prayed for strength and courage but could feel none yet when he came to the sight of the stake he was mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joyes and clapping his hands to Austin the Spirit the Comforter himself spake in him He is come he is come You have heard where the spirit faith so give ear now to a voyce from heaven de claring why the Spirit saith so for they rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as well pain as pains broyls as toyls as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greek so pain and pains in english are of kin for labour is pain to the body and pain is labour to the spirit and therefore what we say to be punished and tormented with a diseafe the latine say laborare morâ—…o and the throngs and throes which women endure in Child-bearing we call their labouring Here then the dead have a double immortality granted them 1 From the labours of their calling 2 From the troubles of their condition freedome from pain and pains taking What then may some object do the dead sleep out all their time from the breathing out their last gasp to the blowing the last trump as they suffer nothing so do they nothing but are like Consul Bibulus who held onely a room and filled up a blank in the Roman fasti Nam bibulo factum consule nil memini or like mare mortuam without any motion or operation at all that cannot be the soul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most perfect act or as Tullie renders the word a continual motion as the word is taken in that old proverbial verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it can no more be and not work then the wind can be and not blow the fire and not burn a diamond and not sparkle the sun and not shine therefore it is not said here simply that they rest from all kind of motion or working but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from toilsome labours sore travels and again from their own labours or works not the Lords They keep an everlasting Sabbath in not doing of their own works but Gods they rest from sinful and painful travels but not from the works of a sanctified rest for they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come The rest of the soul is not a ceasing from all motion or opperation that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit but a setling it self with delight upon an all-satisfying and never satiating object such was the rest the sweet singer of Israel called his soul unto return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Bodies rest in thier proper places but spirits in their proper object in the contemplation fruition admiration and adoration whereof consisteth their everlasting content This object is God whom they contemplate in their mind enjoy in their will adore in both and this is their continual work and their work is their life and their life is their happiness which the Divines fitly express in one word glorification which must be taken both actually and passively for they glorifie God and God glorifyeth them God glorifieth them bycasting the full light of his countenance upon them and they glorifie him by reflecting some light back again and casting their crowns before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created They rest from their labours This Text of holy Scripture containeth in it the waters of Siloah not so much to refresh those that are tyred with their former labours having born the heat of the whole day as to lave out the false fire of Purgatory for blessedness cannot stand with misery nor