or friendship of all others are onely as salves for necessitie and to be despised in comparison of this bond betweene man and wife True it is that there is no bond of love but the Lord hath by example of it expressed his love unto us Christ called his Disciples servants Iohn 15.13 14 15. in respect that they knew not their Masters will but considering his love to them he calleth them friends and yet with such a bond of friendship on his part that was rare to be seene that he should give his life for his friends Also by the example of parents who are nearest of our kindred saying Psal 103 13. As the father loveth and hath compassion on his sonne so hath the Lord on those that feare him The Lord thinketh the love great which the mother hath to the childe asking if she can forsake it Esay 49 15. though many both fathers and mothers have fulfilled the prophecy of the last time 2 Tim 3 3. Psal 27.10 in being without naturall affection and though father and mother may forsake the childe yet the Lord will take up his owne But above all Christ compareth the bond betweene him and us to love betweene the husband and the wife for as the highest of his honour is shewed by being head of the Church Ephes 1 22. Chap 5 23 30 31. which is his body so the inexpressible love betweene him and us is set out unto us by the example of the love of husband and wife in respect of which we must forsake if need require the friendship of father mother or any friends whatsoever In this life we love the Lord but in the great meeting and marriage our love shall increase to such a height which now passeth our understanding Such as our knowledge is such is our love here we know in part and therefore our love is the lesse 1 Cor. 13 12. but when we shall know as we are knowne what mortall man is able to imagine how dearely wee shall love the Lord And then shall wee understand how dearely the Lord hath loved us and comprehend that for which wee are comprehended of Christ Philip 3 11. The manifestation hereof doth better befit the solemnity of our spirituall marriage for as the personall meeting of lovers increaseth love and the aptest time that their love should shew itselfe to the beholders so in our meeting of Christ our love shall be greatly increased and it is the fittest time in which the mutuall love of Christ and his members shall be declared which love how great it is now on Christs and shall be then on our part is not possible to be understood because love cannot bee understood but in such measure as it is felt Thirdly our remaining with Christ in glory is compared to a mariage solemnitie to teach us that the joyes of heaven are communicate and many made partakers of them In Mariages all the friends and guests are partakers of the same intertainment with the Bridegroome and commonly honoured with his service partakers of showes made to delight the eye of voyces and melodious harmonies for the eare with other delights that are knowne to give most pleasure and content for such loving societies but aboue all the particular love they have unto the Bridegroome whose voyce they rejoyce to heare and whom they both honour and delight to see advanced to that solemne honour and publick respect In like manner after the great judgement we shall goe into eternall joy and all be partakers of the same glory and to reach the similitude further Christ saith to them that he shall find ready with their Lampes Luke 12 37. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he commeth shall finde waking verily I say unto you he will gird himselfe about and make them sit downe at table and will come forth and serue them And to the end that his Disciples might reiect the ambitious conceites of worldly honour Luk 22 27. he saith unto them Who is greater he that sitteth at table And I am among you as he that serveth 28. and ye are they which have continued with me in my tentations therefore I appoynt unto you a Kingdome 29.30 as my Father hath appointed to me that ye may eate and drinke at my table in my kingdome No delight shall be wanting either to soule or body God shall be all in all 1 Cor. 15.28 Psal 16.11 in whose presence is fulnes of joy for evermore But aboue all the love we shall have to our Lord and Saviour and the unspeakable glory he is in shall be as a heaven of joyes to every glorified soule which he himselfe saith shall bee our chiefe happinesse that we may be where he is and behold his glory he said not that they may enjoy my glory but see my glory Iohn 17.24 Homini enim maximâ— requies videre filium Dei Theophil and David said the same Psal 17.15 2 Cor. 3.18 and indeed as S. Paul saith by seeing the Lords glory wee are changed into the same image by the Spirit of the Lord as is evident by the shining of Moses face before he was freed from his corruptible body Fourthly by this comparison is shewed the eternitie of those joyes which we shall possesse in this spirituall Mariage The Lord hath made a hedge to inviron defend his ordinance of Mariage against all debate of policie Math 19.6 that no man put asunder those whom God hath coupled together So that whatsoever devideth man and wife must be the enemy of God or man if sinne doe it yet sin not being imputed becommeth as no sinne so though adultery is one of the enemyes of Mariage yet if be not imputed it causeth not a separation but the last enemy of man which is death is only the unremediable breaker of Wedlocke and freeth the one from the law of the other Of all our comforts and pleasures in this life the gall and bitternesse is inclosed in death the remembrance of it before it approach neare is bitter unto us Ecclesiasticus 41.1 the comming terrible no fence is able to holde it out so long as the gappes of sinne attend to receive it when it commeth it divideth us from friends goods acquaintance pleasures and so maketh a separation betweene man and wife yea betweene soule and body body and life But while they both live the law hath dominion of both saith the Apostle meaning that death onely doth make separation Rom. 7.1 2. without hope of dwelling together any more as husband and wife So in our spirituall marriage whilest it receiveth this name it sheweth our state to remaine immutable for ever because there shal neither be sin nor death to annoy us or threaten to separate us from him and seeing all the enemies of our salvation are not able to separate us from the love of God in Iesus Christ what then can hurt us Rom 8 35.
herein hath two helpes Now because the possibility of it hath caused many to erre the Scripture hath given us two helpes to underprop our weaknesse First that we beholde the resurrection of Christ to be a glasse 1 Pet 1 21. wherein we may see and behold our owne who passing through this mortall life purchased immortalitie that he might be a pledge of the like unto us that wee who in suffering miseries beare about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Iesus 2 Cor 4 11. may also have his life manifest in our mortall bodies When Ioseph was committed to prison Gen 39 22. the keeper of the prison committed to his hands all the prisoners that were in holde Mors ipsa in sua regione captiva expavit subito talem mortuum quem debitorem suum putabat creditorem atque exactorem esse cognovit Euseb Emiss Hom. 7. de Pascha and whatsoever he pleased he did with them So Iesus Christ being buried made death it selfe a prisoner and in stead of a debter death found him a commander and one that called him to account of all that was committed to his charge Christ is our head and his death and rising was in our behalfe and he is the beginning of our resurrection so as the body cannot be drowned so long as the head is above water neither can our bodies be lost seeing Christ hath risen from corruption so that the Scripture concludeth that although our bodies remaine as yet in the dust Ephes 2 5.6 Coloss 3 1. notwithstanding we are risen with Christ. This is the victory of faith when we beleeve that as Christ was raised up even so shall we that are his body and he that considereth that all our sinnes imputed to Christ could not holde him within the power of death shall see our resurrection more easie seeing our sinnes are not imputed unto our selves But with this experience the Scripture would have us to consider the power of God Matth 22 29. and Saint Paul when he speaketh of the changing of our vile body saith Philip 3 21. it shall be by the mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe Indeede if our resurrection were in the power of any except God himselfe we had reason to doubt it because wee could see no likelihood of it Luke 1.34 37. The Virgin Mary wondered how she should conceive not knowing a man the Angel answered that with God nothing is impossible When the Lord promised that Abraham should have a sonne Rom 4.19 20 21. hee neither feared the deadnesse of himselfe nor the barrennesse and age of his wife but was strengthened in the faith and gave glory to God being fully assured that he who had promised was able to performe it and the reason which made Abraham so ready to offer up his sonne and yet to beleeve the promised blessing to be performed in him was saith the Apostle because he considered that God was able to raise him up from the dead Heb 11 19. from whence both in his conception and birth he received him also after a sort So whilest the Lord saith that hee will raise up thy body in the last day doubt not of it Euseb Emiss Hom. 2 de Symbolo for though it be a great worke yet qui magna credere jussit Omnipotens est hee that bids thee beleeve great things is Almighty and the Lord that created thee it is even he that hath taken in hand to raise thee up againe So then we see the resurrection possible to him to whom nothing is impossible now if we consider the experience of former times and Gods daily workes Gods workes like the resurrection wee shall finde it easie to him that doth it He translated Henoch and Eliah to heaven a hard and rarer worke than raising the dead he caused Aarons Rodde Numb 17 8. which was dry and withered in an instant to bud raised the daughter of Iairus from death the widowes sonne of Naim and Lazarus that had lyen foure dayes in the grave Auson Eclogariū Accipe quod mirere magis tenuissima tantis principia nostros non admittentia visus c. Iob 10 10 1 Cor 15 36. and by his servants did the like Eliah raised up the Shunamites childe and Peter raised Dorcas from the dead What power then hath hee who gave so much to others We see the Lord daily make men of such beginnings as men would not beleeve if they saw it not with their eyes even saith Iob of a little seed which is as water powred on the ground And whilest the Apostle Paul considereth the growing of the corne he calleth him a foole who denieth the resurrection And the like we see in trees and hearbs for what is it that we see daily in the world but examples and imitation of the resurrection The trees lose their greene leaves they leave giving of fruite Quid enim quotidie nisi resurrectionem nostram in elementis suis mundus imitatur Nam per momenta temporum cernimus arbusta viriditatem foliorum amittere a fructib cessare et eccesubito quasi ex arescenti ligno velut quadam resurrectione veniente videmus folia crumpere fructus grādescere totam arborem redevivo decore vestiri Et sequitur Confideremus parvum cuiuslibet arboris semen quod in terram iacitur ut arbor ex illo producatur comprehendamus si possumusub in 〈…〉 cortex ubi viriditas foliorum ubi ubertas fructuum 〈◊〉 in famine 〈…〉 batur cum in terram iaceretur Greg Mor. in Iob 19 25 and beholde on a sodaine as it were by a new resurrection comming we see leaves come forth the fruite grow bigge and the whole tree cloathed againe with a fresh and lively comelinesse If wee consider the little seede of any tree how the tree commeth out of it and let us comprehend if we can how in so little a seed the huge tree did lurke which came out of it where is the stocke where the barke where the greene leaves where is the great plenty of fruites Was there any such thing seene in the seed when it was cast into the ground We see likewise diverse sorts of living creatures breede of corrupt and rotten earth the light is buried in darkenesse and the next morning sheweth it selfe againe yea in our sleeping and awaking there is shewed unto us a shadow of the Resurrection and the relation of the Heathen historians make good to us how the young Phaenix riseth out of the ashes of the olde Now to all these examples which we daily see this may be added and * Greg Mor. lib. 6 id omnibus constare debet longè difficilius esse creare quae non fuerant quà m ea reparare quae fuerant it is manifest to all men that it is a farre harder thing to create these things which were not than to make up again the
and body of man is onely capable of spirituall grace and in it consume themselves like Oyle so on the contrary the Lampes of Gods servants are their soules and bodies the Oyle wherewith they are filled are the graces of Gods Spirit as shall hereafter evidently appeare Seeing that God hath onely made Man and Angels participes rationis Born Ser. 1. Advent capaces beatitudinis partakers of reason and capable of happinesse it followeth The spirit of man is the Lampe of the Lord c. Prov 20.27 that nothing can be meant by our Lamps but soule and body the faculties and powers whereof are onely capable of the grace that leadeth and directeth us to glory Saint Paul exhorteth us to offer up our soules and bodies unto God as a living and acceptable sacrifice Rom. 12.1 his reason is that this onely is our reasonable serving of him he that would prepare and offer all things else to receive Gods benefits in and not himselfe is without understanding and sheweth not himselfe a reasonable server of God Christ held himselfe unfit to meete both with God and man in the office of a Mediatour untill hee had an humane soule and body made as his Lampe wherein hee should receive the Oyle of gladnesse above his fellowes which soule and body being given him he said Psal 40. Hebr. 10. A body hast thou given me I come to doe thy will ō God You learne therefore both what your Lampes are and how you are forewarned to prepare them And therefore God must bee served with them or els all wee doe is in vaine it is onely your selves that are capable of Gods grace and that are to be prepared for receiving and enterteining Christ King Balak was not capable of a blessing who prepared dumbe beasts enough for offering to God but never meant to prepare himselfe yea the first mercenary Prophet Balaam though the spirit of prophecy came upon him yet there was no grace in him his Lampe was counterfeit it had no place to receive and containe this Oyle his heart was so filled with ambition and covetousnesse that hee could not cease from perverting the straight way of the Lord he had a body for the outward service of God but hee had no soule for him Whilest wicked King Saul in bodily humility and consonancy of words prophecied with the Schoole-Prophets at Ramath 1 Sam. 19.24 his heart was filled as Samuel had tolde him before with rebellion against the manifest will and commandements of God from which it appeareth 1 Sam. 15 23. that all servers of God by goods deputies or mustering shewes shall be banished from Gods favour Mark 7. The young libertine Iewes in Christs time thought that they had honoured their parents well enough when they offered any thing in sacrifice or to the Temple-Treasurie for their health and prosperity though notwithstanding they neither supplyed their wants nor obeyed them in any lawfull demand whatsoever in no better fashion doe they serve God who prepare with their goods their friends servants to serve God yea or their bodies when their hearts are the most gainsayers of his will the first ought to be done but the second must not be left undone God must be served with all but especially with a sincere and unfeigned heart which is more than all as himselfe saith Prov. 23. My sonne give me thy heart Remember the miserable examples of many like Salomons Proverbiall adulteresse Prov. 7.14 who had done well enough when all her vowes and sacrifices were performed and offered her duties and offerings paid to the Priest yet went she to her old wickednesse for that was next her heart God saith that she made swift pace to destruction Prov. 2.18 Balaam before named for this fault hath a pittifull complaint Numb 24.2 He was by prophecy blessing Israel who standing afarre off from them even by this action confessed that he was not in the number and company of the blessed so he said that his state should be at the comming of Christ Verse 17. I shall behold him but not neere so all whose heart and affections are now estranged from God he shall be estranged in the end from them and shall say Depart from mee but in this life and day of salvation hee exhorteth you saying Iam. 4.8 Draw neere to God and hee will draw neere to you This can neither be urged nor considered of too much As the Israelites were to carry the Candlestickes and Lampes of the Tabernacle with instruments sitting for their keeping and use For the right ordering of soule and body so wise Christians must have with them such things as be usefull for the orderly keeping of soule and body The Lampe in Moses Tabernacle had two necessary instruments the snuffers and receiving-pipe in which they powred the Oyle and that nothing be wanting I make bold to adde a third A manuscript to which the Author set not his name In Prafat after the example of one who wrote the life of St. Patrike out of diverse uncertaine and fabulous scattered legends at the request of Hugh de Lacy Earle of Vlster Thomas Archbishop of Ardmagh and Malachy Bishop of Doune who said that he behooved to use the instruments appointed for Lampes in Moses law which were emunctorium infusorium extinctorium snuffers infusers extinguishers Exod 25. Gods word onely nameth the first two for it was commanded that the Lampe should continually burne because saith hee the idle and superfluous things are to bee snuffed away the things that were true to be received into the worke the things that were altogether false were to be cleane put out So Christians in their soules and bodies must have sinne put out vertue cherished and superfluities snuft and cut away The Prophet Esay saith Esay 40.4 that Christ came to this purpose into the world and St. Iohn Baptist before him that every valley should be exalted here are the receivers when the foule empty of knowledge and comfort is filled up that every hill should be made low here are the extinguishers where every sinne whatsoever is exalted or stiffenecked against the Majesty of God is Gods Word approved Non negligenda sunt ea bona August per quae ad meliora pervenire possumus We are not to neglect these good things by which we may come to better yea our Saviour compareth the first begining of grace unto a graine of mustard-seed Math. 13 31. which hath need of cherishing before it come to the bignesse of a tree And some things moderated and corrected Thirdly some things must be moderated and corrected but not put cleane out these are our naturall affections and the entiesements of this world Our naturall desires would bee satisfied with things naturall but there is a covetise inclosed in it that insteed of satisfiyng is ever in dāger to drawe a surfett vpon us and therefore our naturall desires
wrath they have heaped upon themselves his elect have an acceptable time a day of salvation the reprobate a time to disobey his voice to harden their hearts and so spend forty yeares or more as in the provocation and day of temptation in the wildernesse this is the abuse of time which of all things that are consumed should be most grievous unto us Here 's si scires unum tua tempora mensem Rides cum non sit forsitan una dies Th. Mor. if wee knew how precious and short it were Hee that were certaine to live no more but a moneth or at most a yeare would be sure to spend his apparell in mourning and yet it may be his life prove not so long as the length of a day As God gave Iezabel the meanes of repentance 1 Kings 21 23 by the preaching of Eliah so as a speciall benefit hee gave her time to repent even fourteene yeares after the death of Ahab but she would not and therefore the promised wrath of God lighted upon her Christ in his Epistle written from heaven unto the Church of Thyatira Revel 2 21. desires them to consider her fearefull example in abusing the time When God taketh account of all he reckoneth for the time too and therefore beloved strive to buy time by all labour and industry and for what we have or may lose let vs redeeme by making double use and profit of it But such is the miserable estate of our sinfull nature that our eye is evill because God is good We abuse time as we do other blessings in our actions we are prodigal because God in bounty is liberall God giveth good things cheerefully we receive them grudgingly use them cursedly And although all his benefits be good yet wee cannot use them so for all our imaginations and intentions are evill and therefore this great benefit in sparing us and giving us time of repentance and preparation for death and judgement brings by our crossenesse a contrary effect as appeareth by example both in elect and reprobate men Gods long-suffering from correcting of his owne servants causeth them to be slacke in his service what shall wee then thinke of others If for a few yeares wicked men goe uncurbed they say the words of the Psalme God neither seeth Psal 10.11 neither is there knowledge in the Almighty and how farre Gods children goe astray may appeare in the behaviour of that sometimes flourishing Commonwealth of Israel in every time when they had most of Gods temporall blessings of whom Moses in his death-song both by experience and prophecy said that when they were full Deut. 32 15. they waxed wanton and Davids fearefull fall and Salomons idolatry sheweth the danger of his children when God stayeth long from correcting them But seeing in this sleeping and slumbering the blessed or miserable estate of these Virgins is set downe we are to consider how farre faulty each of them shall be found at the comming of Christ for the Parable saith generally all slumbered and slept which is to be considered as the Scripture doth take the name of sleepe either for sinne security or naturall death ☞ Of the daily increase of sinne and the fulnes thereof at Christs comming FIrst the Scripture useth the word sleeping for sinning 1 Cor. 15 34. Rom. 13.11 as in these places Awake truly out of sleepe and sinne not The houre is that wee should rise from sleepe where the Apostle expoundeth it of sinne and in Eph. 5.14 it is named for sinne which is also there called a death as 1 Tim. 5 6 to teach us Esay 59.2 that sinne separateth us from God who is the life of the soule And that as he that sleepeth wanteth use of his senses and is not capable of the actions which concerne reasonable men to doe so the sinner The abundance of sinne before the great day may appear by the daily increase of it untill he be awaked by repentance is not able to doe these things which God requireth of an understanding man In sleep the senses leave their proper use but then the naturall powers are busiest as appetite digestion of meate concoction and feeding of the body so in sin the soule is made without feeling of God or its owne state but for the powers of corrupted and sinfull nature they receive strength and are busie to fulfill the sinfull lusts of the flesh And thus we finde that Gods servants doe often slumber but after they be effectuallly called seldome doe they sleepe in sinne but so soone as they slumber they are affrighted by Gods angry threatnings and awaked by repentance As for the Reprobates God giveth them over unto the spirit of slumber Esay 29 10. 6 9. without feeling of what they doe or being able to heare any call of God for their awaking because the Lord intendeth to destroy them 1 Sam 2 25. as is evident in the sonnes of Eli. Therefore in Christs Church immediatly before his comming his true servants shall as men possessed with a sleepy heavines wrastle against the heavines and importunity of naturall concupiscence and continue the battell betweene the spirit and flesh as all the godly before them have done in the dayes of their flesh But for the Vessels of wrath as in the olde world they waxed worse and worse more cruell beastly sensuall and profane and the Sodomites wickednesse for guilt reached heaven yea and in the end they offered shutting eares eyes bookes shunning the company of them who are likeliest to mark or admonish them like those who affect to be sleepy indeed to shut doores windowes avoid noise and company and finally draw curtaines over their eyes and commit their heads to the company of a pillow untill God from heaven reade their dreames with a hasty mischiefe Wee see many to have particular experience of this and it shall be the awaking at the last day for men shall bee playing the Epicures Luc 17.26 27 28.30 2 Pet 2 7 8. 1 Thess 5.3 as in the dayes of Noah vexing the few righteous as the Sodomites did Lot crying peace peace when on a sodaine in the twinkling of an eye God shall send the flood of his wrath fire from heaven and eternall destruction to bring all foregone conceited pleasures to nothing No age of the world wherein religion flourished hath beene free from this sleepinesse of security except the rodde of persecution or affliction were above them to teach them how dangerous their state were if once they slumbred but above all the security that shall generally be at the last day could never be exemplified in any former experience for all their senses shall be bound and without power of feeling the force of religion or understanding the terror of Gods wrath therefore our Saviour compareth this deadnesse to sleepe for if men were awake there were hope that though they were blinde yet they might heare if they wanted both senses
doe And therefore we ought to fasten us to the rocke of Gods word and build our faith on it so shall we be able to abide all the tempests and temptations and quench the fiery darts of the Divell It is all one to be without all religion as to be without hope of the resurrection for they cannot have the knowledge of God saith Saint Paul for if our hope be onely of this life 1 Cor 15 34. Ibid verse 19. then of all creatures are we most miserable because wee have more miseries following us than all the creatures besides and if we feare God onely for what may befall us here it can no more save us from the evills wee most feare than feare can save a beast going to the slaughter Acts 23 8. The Heathen and the Sadduces a kinde of them who were and would bee ignorant of the resurrection insensible of their owne soule making their Disciples tenants to religion onely during life filled them with fruitlesse feares disappointed them of immortall hopes by an uncertaine promise of their famous memory to walke as their ghost in the world after their deceasse yet could they never reach the conscience and therefore * In coelo est meretrix in coelo est turpis adulter c. Quid non mentiri vel quid non protinus audet Fingere mortale ingenium ut sibi maior cundi In praeceps pateat via liberiorque potestas peccandi detur c. Marc. Palâ—â—g lib. 1. all their religion was to be onely religious in wickednesse and these in likest possibility to be neere their Gods who were next to them in wickednesse So that it must be true that Saint Paul said once of the Ephesians that they were without hope and without God in the world Ephes 2.12 For they that have no expecting of the life to come must live without respecting of God in this world The cause of the ignorance of the resurrection saith Christ is that men are deceived Matth 22 29. not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God The causes of ignorance of the resurrection If men consult with naturall knowledge they may easily be deceived for although wee finde the forme of it which is the joyning together of soule and body to stand with naturall reason yet nature cannot shew by what power and in what fashion it shall be done and though we see many examples in nature some whereof I will hereafter set downe yet are they not able to beget faith in us but are as apochryphall proofes helping so farre as they are able to strengthen our faith begun and are sufficient to confound naturalists and to disprove the impossibility they conceive in it Againe if men consult with flesh and blood that is with their owne strength appetite and desire their affection will blinde their knowledge for seeing their wicked life in all justice deserveth a wretched recompence Execrabilis plane crudelis malitia quae Dei potentiam sapientiam iustitiam perire desiderat Bern. de Resurr ser 3. Credimus quis enim damnet sua vota libenter spem fovimus Martial lib. 9 Epig. 41. they wish that there were neither Iudge of power nor time nor place for their punishment and seeing they cannot condemne their owne desires they feede themselves in hope and finding no experience of what they need to feare rest fully perswaded that they shall have no other life than this which they desire But if you consult with the Scriptures and consider the power of God you shall finde that of necessitie we must rise againe and how easie it is to God to bring it to passe The Mercy Iustice and Truth of God confirme the Resurrection unto us If we consider the Lord either as mercifull just or true then our bodies must needs be raised againe The great mercy of God appeareth in the Redemption of man which cannot be fully done if corruption the punishment of sinne keep Gods servants prisoners for ever and therefore as he is mercifull in redeeming us he must needs raise up our bodies againe which God by the Prophet acknowledgeth to be a part of our Redemption saying I will deliver thee from the power of the graue Hosea 13 14. The Iustice of God requires it also Vna poena implicat quos unus amor in crimine ligat Bernard Si resurrectio non est nec Deus est nec providentia est Videmus enim plurimos iustos esurientes iniuriam patientes peccatores autem et in iustos in divitiis in omni voluptate abundantes c. Damasc lib. 4. that soule and body which have joyned hand in hand for sinne should be coupled together againe for punishment and wicked men are loaded with Gods benefits and Gods servants with miseries if God be just he must change their states and each must receive in their bodies according to what they have done be it good or evill which is onely to be done when * Consider 2 Cor. 5 10. Dan. 12 2. wee shall appeare before the Iudgement seat of Christ and not before for in Iustice neither can rewards be given nor punishment inflicted before the persons be brought in place taken account of and their deservings rewarded unto them accordingly Thirdly God hath beene pleased to ingage his truth unto us for the certainty of the Resurrection he said by Daniel They that sleepe in the dust shall awak some to everlasting life and some to shame and perpetuall contempt By Hosea Hosea 13 14. I will deliver thee from the power of the grave And Christ saith The houre shall come Iohn 5.28 29. in which all that are in the graves shall heare his voice and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurrection of life but they that have done evill unto the resurrection of condemnation And Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 15 22. The dead shall rise incorruptible 1 Thess 4.15 16 17. and in Christ all men shall be made alive the dead in Christ shall rise first c. These are his promises which cannot faile though heaven and earth should passe away and though men in diverse ages have waited long for the fulfilling of Gods promises yet they never failed to come and men were onely deceived in them This appeareth both by the name of Noah and the reason of it given Gen. 5 29. because they knew not the time so from before Noahs flood untill Christs first comming hee was looked for the space of 2900 yeares before hee came And in the primitive Church there was more looking for Christs comming 1100. yeares agoe than there seemeth to be now But the rule of the Prophet must be considered in all Gods promises Habbac 2 3. that the vision is appointed for a certaine time but at the last it shall speake and not lye though it tary yet we ought to waite for it shall surely come Our faith
of charge must be thus prepared appointed or in kind answerable hereunto which by comparison herewith may easily appeare Much more the servant of Christ who hath the Image of God in custody a soule body appointed for a heavenly kingdom continually assaulted in danger to be taken by Satan detained by wickednes to be coÌ„mitted unbaleable unto the torments of hell for ever 1. A watchman must have a good eye 1 A good eye the light of the body is the eye saith Christ yea the sight of the whole Army for the time is the eyes of sentinels watchmen from this they have the name of watchmen Esay 21 6. according to the words of the Prophet Goe set a watchman to tell what he seeth So every Christian must have a good eye to spy out the devices of our spirituall enemy Satan comes privately then is neerest when we think him to be farre off assailes us by those meanes which we least suspect It is all one to him what sin it is that overthrow us so he be sure we be detained in his power by one or other hereby he deceiveth many thousands who are watchfull in some things and esteeme Satan to lie hid in some sinnes but account other wickednesses to be the lawfull actions of a Christian wherin Satan hath no hand at all Thus having lost the right eye as Nahash would have pickt out of the Israelites and accounting Satan an enemy when he commeth in the grossest fashion 1 Sam 11. but a friend when hee comes as an Angel of light their soule is betrayed and in the end they finde that they were in the way of destruction The common religion professed and practised in these places and times may give godly hearts great occasion of mourning to see how many soules Satan hath in captivity by this unwatchfulnesse These words are out of Oliver Pigg on Psal 101. pag. 4â— which book was printed at London Anno 1591. They wil be the zealous professors of religion abhorrers of leud persons who only make conscience of murther theft adultery fornication drunkennes open blasphemy but they are profaners of the Sabboth by journeyes markets accounts casting and sending servants here and there they be cruell and oppresse they extort draw out the lives of the poore they be proud they make no scruple at all to spend that riotously and in vaine unnecessary pompe which ought to be laid out to maintaine Gods service I speake what I know and daily see I measure not the consciences of any by my private judgement nor speake these words as mine owne but thinke him a true Christian in whose life wee finde not these latter and common faults of the professours of our time but walketh with a straighter foote in the way of godlines Satan knew Eve to be the weaker of the two and therefore laid battery at the salvation of man rather in her than in Adam So where Satan spies thee weakest holde thine eye to that place there he intends to surprise thee knowing it a fruitlesse labour to assault thee with those vices of whose beastlinesse thou art ashamed Art thou given to covetousnes beware that thou hunt not after all occasions prosecute all meanes of catching riches by which thou shalt fall into the snare of the Divell and so of other particulars in which Satan takes advantage where wee are least circumspect Yea even the most holy men are to be watchfull least they be surprised by that same vertue in which they labour most no godly action but it hath a sinne that carrieth shew of it We see craftines and deceit to draw neare to wisdome cruelty to justice rashnesse to fortitude prodigality to liberality superstition to religion presumption unto hope cowardlines unto feare negligence sluggishnes to humility that the servant of Christ must be watchfull in all his actions that he receive not the poyson whilest hee labours for the honey This in particular St. Paul expresseth as a most necessary part in a watchman beseeching the Romans to marke diligently Rom 16.17 18 20. and avoid their enemies who with faire and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple to the doing whereof he promiseth that the God of peace shal tread Satan under their feet 2 A good eare 2. A watchfull Christian must have a good eare to discover thereby what he cannot perceive with his eyes The watchmen of the Midianites could not perceive the Israelites come upon theÌ„ for the darknes Iudg 7 11. nor espy Gideon that was among their tents because their eares were dull or rather stopped by God they had no meanes to prevent their destruction A watchman therfore must listen give eare that by noise he may discerne the approach of the enemy if he cannot plainly see him The seede of sin entreth into the soule by the eyes and eares as two gates into which the blasts of Satan do enter which set our corruption on fire This eare was the part by which sinne entred into mankind by which he overcommeth unstable soules plying them with wicked counsels with malicious and bitter words lying reports filthy and corrupt communications that though men were blind Satan hath this way to come into the soule to overcome it We ought to learne to discern the voice of the enemy Satan is a lying Spirit 1 Kings 22 22. and dwells in the mouth of false Prophets counterfeit Christians as well as he did sometimes in the mouth of the Serpent Iohn 8 44. We must not therfore beleeve every one that speaks but try their spirits whether they be of God or not 1 Iohn 4 1. Many speak with the voice of Satan but they themselves know not what spirit they are of Marke 8 33. Peter spake as if Satan had possessed him when hee counselled Christ to avoid death Iames and Iohn spake cruelly Luke 9 54 â—5 when they desired Samaria to bee burnt Christ saith to Peter Get thee behinde me Satan to teach us how to use the counsell of Satan for our eares are framed to heare what is spoken before our face and therfore whatsoever hath an other voice than the word of God to reject it and give it no hearing because that Satan is aiming in it to betray the soule 3. The Christian souldier must have a good tongue to give warning when danger is at hand 3 A good tongue that is he must have meanes to awake both soule and body to stand to defence to resist sinne entring into the soule The voice that is best heard is the feare of Gods wrath and eternall death to ensue therefore we ought ever to have before our eyes Rom 1 18. that the wrath of God is declared from heaven against all ungodlines Psal 50 21. and that he will lay our sins in order before us and give us a portion with Satan his Angels