presence of God and desiring with Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ and therefore God in mercy hath shortned our dayes that we may the sooner come into his heavenly Kingdom and injoy his presence And lastly God hath shortned our dayes that we may be the lesse carefull for the things of this life considering we shall injoy them so short a time If a man be to travell into a farre Country he will be the more carefull to provide the more and to proportion his provision to the length of his journey but if his journey be short he will provide the lesse and the nearer he comes to his journies end the lesse carefull he is what provision he hath God knowes if we were to live long in this World we would be the more carefull for the things of this life and would think we could never provide enough and therefore he hath made our life to be short that we might be the lesse carefull to provide for it To draw then to a conclusion of all we have briefly heard why we are here resembled to the grasse and flowers of the field and from thence both of the certainty of our death and the shortness of our life and the reasons why God hath made our life so short all which may serve to teach us two lessons 1. Vse 1 Not to make account that we shall live long as many of us do but that we shall soon die That we shall die we all know but the most of us deceive our selves in this that we put off the day of our death stil further from us vvhen we are young we think we shal live til we come to be old when we come to be old we think we may live longer and so we put off the time of our death still further and further And hence it is that we are so carefull for the things of this life as if this World were the place where we should live for ever We read of Alexander that to shew his affection to a certain Philosopher he willed him to aske what he would of him and he would give it him The Philosopher desired him to give him the fee-simple of his life that he might be free from death O saith Alexander if I could do this I would do it for my self why then it seemes saith the Philosopher that you are mortall True saith Alexander Indeed saith the Philosopher that you are mortall I do not doubt yet I greatly doubt whether you think that you are mortall and shall ever die because you live so as if you thought you were immortall and should never die The like may be said to many of us for though we cannot deny but must needes acknowledge that we shall surely die yet man live so they seek so greedily after worldly goods they so pamper their bodies and are so sumptuons in their buildings as if they were immortall and should never die The Patriarcks though they lived so many years yet they lived in Tents and in poor Cabins but we that live not the half of their dayes do build our houses so faire and so durable as if we meant here to set up our rest and that we should never depart from hence which argues that though we know we shall die Theatr. Histor ex Guid. yet we think we shall live a long time whereas we should daily look to die Like Messodanus a holy old man who being invited by his friend to dinner for the morrow after Why saith he do you invite me to morrow to dinner I have not looked to live till to morrow this many a year For we no sooner begin to live but we begin to die and look how many dayes of our life are past so much of our life is already cut off and the lesse is remaining as the more of an Houre-glasse is already run out the lesse it hath to runne And secondly seeing we shall so soone die it may therefore teach us so to live as that death when it comes may be welcome and not fearfull unto us and that is by preparing our selves against the coming of death by a godly life For this is the comfort which a man can find when he lieth on his Death-bed that he shall enter into a better life when this life is ended and this comfort he cannot have at his death unless he have lived a godly life Death to the wicked may well be fearfull because as it is in it own nature it is the wages of sinne and imposed as a curse and punishment upon man for his transgression but by virtue of Christs death to the godly it is otherwise ceasing to be a curse unto them nay of a curse it is made a blessing even a passage out of a miserable life into the Kingdom of Heaven It was Sampsons Riddle Judg. 14.14 out of the eater came meat and out of the strong came sweetness Which was meant of the honie which was found in the Lyon which Sampson had slain for so the Philistins ye know expounded it what is sweeter say they then hony and what is stronger then a Lyon and it may not unfitly be applyed to death for what is stronger then death that subdues the strongest yet after that Christ had vanquisht death as he did for the godly out of the strong came sweetness for vvhat can be more svveet or pleasant unto us then the passage out of a miserable life into eternall happiness And such is death to the godly and therefore if we would find this comfort at the time of our death we must prepare our selves against the coming thereof by a godly Life FINIS The Sixth SERMON JAMES 4.7 Resist the Devill and he will flie from you IN the beginning of this verse we are exhorted to submit our selves unto God and the reason thereof is given by the Apostle in the words immediately going before because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble Now because we cannot submit our selves unto God unless we be carefull to resist the Devill who labours by all meanes to withdraw us from godliness therefore the Apostle addes in these words which I have read unto you Resist the Devill and he will flie from you Division The words consist of these two parts An exhortation to resist the Devill and a motive or reason because he will flie from us if we resist him For as God is overcome by our yielding unto him and therefore we must submit our selves unto God so on the contrary we must resist the Devill because he is overcome and will flie away from us if we resist him In the exhortatiō we may observe two things First the person vvhom vve must resist Secondly The manner how vve must resist him And first for the person it is the Devill vvhose name vvhich is here given him doth signifie an accuser And indeed his name is not given him for nought but as Abigail said of Nabal Nabal is his
amendment they will be arraigned and condemned for theeves at the day of judgement For these by their unthriftiness do waste their Estate mispend their time loose their good name impoverish themselves and undoe their Children and so by this meanes do themselves more harme then any theese could do that should meete them in the high way and take their purse away from them These because they fall into want through their own fault are the lesse to be pittied And as these become poor through their own unthriftiness so others by idleness want of labouring in their particular Callings For want is alwayes attending upon idleness and where idleness goes before want followes after And therefore Solemon speakes of an idle man in this manner Prov. 24.30.31 I passed saith he by the field of the slothfull man and loe it was all over growen with thornes and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken down and then he sheweth what his end was that poverty came upon him like an armed man For he that will be idle must needes be poor And this is the cause that there are such swarmes of beggers in every place who being well able to labour for their livings choose rather to live upon other mers labours and had rather live by begging then take any paines to get their living These are wicked Generation having this curse of God upon them to be vagabonds upon the earth and to wander up and down from place to place because they will not yield to the Ordinance of God In the sweat of thy browes thou shalt eat thy bread The faithless Steward Gen. 3.19 Luke 16.3 Luke 16. though he could not digge yet he was ashmed to begge but these are more faithless in their Callings who are not ashamed to begge when they are able to digge or to take any other paines to get their livings Such the Apostle will not have to be relieved He that will not labour let him not eat 2 Thes 3.10 saith the Apostle For by giving unto these we both maintain them in their idlenesse and we disable our selves from giving to those that are not able to labour for their livings And as these become poor through their own fault So some become poor and fall into want through the hand of God As such as loose their goods by fire by theeves or any other meanes which they could not avoid or such as fall into decay through any infirmity as by lameness blindness sickness or age and so are not able to labour for their livings or such as have a great charge of Children so that howsoever they be able to labour yet their la our will not maintain both themselves and them These and the like are the poor whom the Scripture will have us to relieve and to such no doubt Zacheus here gave And thus much likewise for the persons to whom he gave his goods The last point to be considered is the time when he gave them his goods I give saith he he gives them presently without any delay he gives them not upon his Death-bed or when he lyeth a dying but he gives them now in the time of his health while he might have still injoyed them As there are many that deferre their repentance to the end of their life so there are many that deferre their liberality and almes-deedes to the poor till the day of their death But as the ones over-late repentance is seldome acceptable because they do but then leave their sins when they can sin no more so the others late giving to the poor is seldome available because they do but then give away their goods when they can keep them no longer And therefore it is the just judgement of God upon many who having attained great wealth and riches and doing no good therewith in their lives are so overtaken by death upon the suddain that they have no time to dispose of their goods at their ends which may teach us to do it in our life-time our selves and not to leave it to be done by others after us All Gods Commandements are given ye know in the second person to every one that every one might take them as spoken to himself and so might performe them in his own person We read of Trajan the Emperour that upon a time as he was going to warre a poor Widow met him and taking hold of his horse desired him before he went to do her justice The Emperour willed her to rest content for a time and he would not faile to do her justice when he returned home Oh saith the Widow but how if it happen that you never return why then saith the Emperour I will leave it to my Successor and he shall do thee justice in my roome your Successor saith she and why not you your self you are bound to do good in your own person and what is that to you if another discharge that which is your duty num te liberabit aliena justitia will another mans justice excuse you The Emperour was so moved with this speech of hers that before he went any further he in his own person did her justice And so may we say unto those who put off those duties which themselves ought to do to be done by others what is that to you if another discharge that which is your duty or if you leave it to your Heire to relieve the poor you are bound to relieve them as well as he and if he should leave it to his Heire as you have done what shall become of the poor in the mean time Zacheus did not thus but making his hands his executors and his eyes his overseers he gave his goods to the poor himself and did not leave it to be done by others And therefore if Zacheus as soone as he was converted was so fruitfull in good works it may be a shame for us if we that have professed Christianity so long do come behinde him in the works of mercy FINIS The Fourth SERMON MATH 16.26 For what is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his own Soul HEre is mention in my text of gaining and losing and a comparison between them gaining the World the whole world a great gaine losing the Soul a mans own soul a farre greater losse For our Saviour comparing them both together shewes that howsoever the gaine be great yet the losse is greater and that he that should purchase the whole World with the losse of his own soul he should not gaine so much on the one side as he should lose on the other For what saith he is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole World and lose his own soul First therefore I will shew you what this gaine is Secondly what this losse is And then having compared them both together I will come to some Use to be made of it First then for the gaine The very name of gaine
Apostle tells us Hebrewes 11. is but for a season and therefore seeing the sinnes of the wicked are but temporall how can it stand with the justice of God that their punishment is eternall First Therefore we are to know that sinne though it be committed and past in a moment yet as it is a trespasse against God that is infinite so it deserves an infinite punishment Tanto majus est peccatum quanto major in quem peccatur Every sinne is by so much the greater and so deserves the greater punishment as the person is the greater against whom it is committed If a man should dishonour and revile his Father he deserves ye know a farre greater punishment then he that should dishonour and revile his Neighbour If a man should strike a publick Magistrate he deserves a greater punishment to be inflicted upon him then he should if he struck but a private person but every sinne is committed against God and therefore deserves eternall punishment Secondly Though the wicked do but sinne for a time yet they have a perpetuall desire to sinne and should they live never so long in this World they would continue in sinne For like as Gamesters that delight in nothing so much as in gaming they will usually play as long as they can see and still have a desire to play longer but that the night comes upon them and compells them to give over So it is with sinners they take their pleasure and delight in their sinnes through the whole course of their life and so would continually go on in their sinnes but that they are prevented and cut oft by death Voluissent saith Gregory sine fine vivere ut sine fine possent in iniquitatibus permanere they would have lived in this World for ever that they might have continued in their sinnes for ever and therefore as they would have continually sinned so they justly deserve to be eternally punished And thus we have heard What it is to lose the soule and the misery which the soule which is lost is to undergoe both in regard of the felicity it shall lose and the torments it shall suffer What comparison is there then between the gaining of the World and the losing of the soule the gaining of the World with some temporall pleasures and the losing of the soule with eternall happiness the gaining of the World whereby we are freed from some worldly miseries and the losing of the soule whereby we are subject to everlasting torments the gaining of the World whereby for a time we may advance our friends and the losing of the soule whereby for ever we undo our selves All other losses whether of body or goods a man may well bear but the losse of the soule of all other losses is the most intolerable whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he loseth that which was given him but for a time and which at one time or other he must have forgone but losing his soule he loseth that which he might have kept for ever Whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he may recover it again If he lose his Children as Job did Job 1.19 yet he may have more if he lose his friends as David did yet he may find better Dan. 4.31 if he lose his Kingdom as Nebuchadnezer did yet he may recover it again or get another but losing his soule he loseth that which he can never recover Whatsoever a man loseth besides his soule yet he hath something left him If he lose his goods yet he may have a good name if he lose his good name yet he may have his liberty if he lose his liberty yet his life may be left him and if he lose his life yet his soule is remaining but losing his soule he hath no more to lose but loseth all at once his life liberty goods good-name even all that he hath and his soule besides Xxres having escaped a dangerous tempest Sabellic lib. 2. but yet with the losse of divers of his Nobles to reward the Governour of the ship for it he set upon his head a Crown of gold but withall Ennead 3. because he had not saved his Nobility likewise he caused him to be beheaded So he gave him that which he could take away from him but he took away that which he could not give him making him to lose not onely his reward but his life to boote Now who would have a Crown upon the like condition If the Devill should offer as he did to our Saviour the whole World unto any man and should say unto him All this will I give thee if thou wilt die presently there is no man in the World would accept of his offer for he should be so farre from gaining by the bargain that he should lose all he had and his life together If this therefore be so hard an exchange then what is theirs who for the gaining of the World do part with their soules Job 2.4 The Father of lies said true in this skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life but yet life and all he may well give for his soule for he may lose his life and not lose his soule but losing his soule he loseth life and all Jonah 1.5 We see that Seamen will cast away their goods into the Sea to save their lives as the Mariners did in the first of Jonas We see in the Gospel that the woman that was diseased with an issue of blood she valued her bodily health at so high a rate that she spent all her substance upon the Physitians to be cured of her disease And we see in the old Law that every part and Member of our bodies was valued by God at so high a rate Exod. 21.24 that he that should put out another mans eye or but strike out his tooth he was to be punished with the losse of his own and might not be excused with any other satisfaction if a man had taken away another mans goods yet he was bound with his goods to make him amends but in this case his goods would not serve the turne but an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth and no other satisfaction If therefore our bodies be so dear and precious that every part and Member thereof is more to be valued then our Worldly goods then what gaine is sufficient to make any recompence for the losse of our soules We have heard then briefly both what it is to gain the Would and to lose the soule and that the gain of the one cannot countervaile the losse of the other Vse The use that we may make hereof is this that therefore we affect not this World so much as that thereby we hazard and indanger our soules If a man have a Jewell of any great value which he is to carry through any dangerous place he will look carefully to it and he will take no delight to converse
that is into heaven keep the Commandements And heaven is called Psal 25. the land of the living I should saith David have utterly fainted but that I believe verily to see the goodnesse of the Lord in the land of the living that is in heaven for there they live eternally and never die In hell there is a quite contrary law that they die eternally Therefore it is said of the wicked Psal 49. They lie in hell like sheep and death gnawes upon them because there they suffer the second death which is everlasting And here upon earth there is a third law between them both Heb. 9.27 That every one living shall once suffer death Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 9. It is appointed unto all men that they shall once dye not live here for ever as they do in heaven nor die for ever as they do in hell but once they must die and this is a law which all that live on the face of the earth are subject unto God hath given great priviledges to many of his servants and hath miraculously preserved them from many dangers Exed 34.28 1 King 19.8 Dan. 3.25 Mat. 14.29 Josh 10.12.13 some he hath preserved without any nourishment for many weeks together as Moses and Elius some he hath preserved in the midst of fire as the three children in the furnace some he hath inabled to walk upon the waters as Peter did some he hath inabled to stay the course of the Sun as Joshuah did but to stay and hinder the course of death and to free men from the same this is a priviledge which God never gave to any of his servants Therefore even they that lived before the deluge though some of them lived seven hundred years some eight hundred some nine hundred years and upwards yet they died in the end nature delaying more and more in them till it were quite spent as a candle being lighted wastes by little and little till it quite goes out Seeing then it is certain that we shall die this may therefore teach us to fit and prepare our selves against the coming of death by frequent meditation and remembrance thereof The oftner a man bethinks him of death the better he will be prepared for it as a man that foresees and expects a storm he will provide himself the better against it come And herein the Heathen themselves may be patterns unto us who though they knew not God nor the punishment of sin in the world to come yet knowing they should die they used many strange and memorable devises to put them in mind of their mortality Ortelius writes of a Countrey in the World where the people do use the bones of dead men in stead of their coin which being continually before their eyes they cannot but continually remember their ends Plutarch writes of Ptolomie the King of Egypt That alwayes when he made any sumptuous feast among the rest of his dishes the skull and bones of a dead man were brought in a platter and set before him and one was appointed to say thus unto him Plutarch in Conviv Sept. Sapientum Behold O King and consider with thy selfe this president of death that he whose skull and bones thou now seest was once like thy selfe and the time will come when thou shalt be like unto him and thy skull and bones shall be brought hereafter to the Kings table as now his are to thint Isodore writes That it was a custome in Constantinople that alwayes at the time of the Emperours Coronation among other Solemnities this was one A free Mason presented the Emperour with divers sorts of marble and asked him of which of them he should make his Tomb that so he might remember even then when he was in the height of his glory that he was but mortall Dion writes of Severus a Roman Emperour That while he lived he caused his Hearse to be made and was often wont to go in into it adding these words Thou O Herse as small as thou art must contain him whom now the whole world is searce able to contain If these who were Heathen were so mindfull of their ends what should we that are Christians We know that God hath made the end of our life the manner of our death and the place thereof to be unknown and uncertain that we might alwayes have it in expectation So saith Saint Augustine Latet ultimus dies ut observentur omnes dies Augustine Hom. 13. The last day of our lives is hidden from us that that day might be expected all the dayes of our lives And indeed the reason why we are not prepared for the comming of death is because we seldom or never think of dying for who of us almost have any thought thereof till either sicknesse or age the two Serjeants of death do come to arrest us or if at any other time we bethink us thereof it is only then when we hear the Bell to ring out for any or when we see some of our neighbours to lie upon their death-bed and past recovery Then it may be we think of our ends and that it is high time for us to prepare our selves for death that we may be in a readinesse against God shall call us But these meditations are but for a fit and they presently vanish I have seen somtimes when a Fowler coming to a Tree where there were store of birds and hath killed any one of them all the rest have immediately flown away but presently after forgetting the danger wherein they were before they have all of them returned to the same Tree And do not we resemble these silly birds when death comes to our houses and takes away any one of us we are all amazed and we presently think that the next course may be ours and therefore that it behooves us to reform our lives but presently after when the remembrance of death is out of our minds we return again to our former courses But he that will be provided against the coming of death must alwayes have death in his remembrance Tota vita sapientis debet esse meditatio mortis The whole life saith Gregory of a wise man ought to be a meditation of death That as the birth of sin was the death of man so the meditation of death may be the death of sin And as David here by comparing us to grasse and the flowers of the field implyeth thereby the certainty of our death that we shall as certainly die as we are sure that these shall fade and wither So he implyeth hereby the shortnesse of our life that we shall not live long but shall die soon as the grasse and flowers do fade and decay in a short time Theodorus Gaza tels us of a father that had twelve sons and each of those brethren had thirty children yet every one of them expired soon The father expired within the compasse of a year never a one of his sons but expired in a moneth and
the Lord Deut. 32. kill and make alive I wound I heal Therefore he wils us to call upon him in the time of trouble and he will deliver us Deut. 32.32 For howsoever by our sins we provoke him to afflict us yet if we call upon him for mercy and grace he hath an ear to hear us an eye to behold us a heart to pity us and an hand to help us And thus much concerning the first point the Agēt or party afflicting That it is God that chastens I come now to the second namely The Patient or party afflicted the beloved of God he chastens whom he loves Doct. God though he love whatsoever he hath made yet among all his creatures he loves man best and among men especially those who are of the houshold of faith which is his Church These he loves with an everlasting love he hath given his only Son for their redemption and hath adopted them in Christ Jesus to be his children And yet howsoever he loves them so dearly yet many times he doth afflict and chasten them for so we see here whom he loves he chastens The Doctrine that we may gather from hence is this That they who are in the love and favour of God are neverthelesse afflicted In the 11th of Saint John Behold Lord John 11.3 he whom thou lovest is sick Christ loved Lazarus and yet did not free and exempt him from sicknesse Dan. 9.23 Daniel was greatly beloved of God as the Angell Gabriel told him yet Daniel was cast into the Lions den The Virgine Mary was freely beloved of God as the same Gabriel told her Luke 1. yet a sword was to pierce through her heart Luke 1.28 Luke 2.35 1 Sam. 13.14 Job 1.1 as old Simeon prophesied David was a man according to Gods own heart yet David was often and many wayes afflicted Job was a just and an upright man yet Job was extraordinarily afflicted Saint Paul was a chosen vessel of God yet after he was converted his whole life was nothing but a continued affliction In a word Acts 9.15 all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles and all the beloved children of God even from the beginning of the world to this present time have suffered affliction Therefore Christ saith Revel 3. As many as I love Revel 3.19 I rebuke and chasten Read over the Scriptures and ye see examples hereof almost in every leafe Gen. 39.20 In one place ye shall see Joseph cast into the dungeon Dan. 3.20 in another the three children into a fiery furnace 1 King 22.27 here ye shall see Michea fed with the bread of affliction there David washing his couch with tears in one place ye shall see Steven stoned to death Psal 6.6 in another ye shall finde John the Baptist beheaded Acts 7.59 To be short as it was said of Rome heretofore Mark 6.27 that a man could not step into any part thereof but he should tread upon a Martyre so a man can hardly read any part of the Scripture but he shall light upon the affliction of the children of God either one or other affliction being common to every one of them and more common then any thing The floud that overspred the whole face of the earth in the days of Noah was common generall yet eight persons ye know were freed frō the flood Gen. 6.18 preserved in the Ark Death is more cómon general then the flood Gen. 5.24 seizing upon the whole of-spring of Adam and yet two persons Enoch and Elias have been freed from death a King 2.,11 and were taken up into heaven while they were living upon the earth Sin is more common and generall then death and yet one person even Christ and he alone was free from sin but affliction is more generall then any of them all which hath lighted upon all men without any exception for even Christ himself though he were free from sin Esay 53.3 yet he was vir dolorum as the Prophet Esay calls him a man of sorrows as being subject through the whole course of his life to much sorrow affliction For this is the condition of all Gods children that first they must wear a crown of thorns before they receive a crown of glory first they must suffer with Christ in this life before they reign with him in the life to come Therefore Christ wills us if we will be his disciples to take up his crosse every day Acts 14. and follow him And the Apostle tels us That through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of heaven Vse 1 The use to be made hereof is two-fold First Seeing Goddeth visit his own children with the rod of affliction then much lesse shall the wicked escape Gods judgements if God chasten the godly whom he loves and is loved of them much lesse will he spare his enemies those that hate him Prov. 11.31 Therefore Solomon Proverbs 1◠Behold the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner And therefore Peter 1 Epist 4. Chapter If judgement saith he 1 Peter 4.17.18 first begin at us what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel and if the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear For if God chasten the one much lesse out of doubt will he spare the other You will say but it is ordinarily seen in the World that the wicked are not subject to the like afflictions that the godly are Their houses as Job in his 21. Chapt. Job 21.9 saith of the wicked are peaceable without fear and the rod of God is not upon them and as the Prophet David saith of the ungodly they prosper in all their wayes and flourish like a green bay-tree It is true indeed and cannot be denied that the godly many times do suffer in this World more crosses and afflictions then the wicked but therefore we must remember that the punishment of the wicked is kept and reserved till the World to come Lazarus was farre more afflicted in this life that lay full of sores at the rich mans gates and would have been glad of a morsell of bread then the rich man was that fared so sumptuously and lived in pleasure but therefore what saith Abraham to the rich man Sonne saith he Luke 15.25 remember that then in thy life-time receivedst thy good things and Lazarus evill but now is he comforted and thou art tormented Whensoever therefore we see the godly to live in affliction and misery and the wicked in prosperity and hearts-ease yet it need not trouble us because there will come a time when the wicked shall be punisht and the godly comforted When the godly shall have all their teares wiped from their eyes Revel 7.17 and the wicked shall suffer Gods wrath and vengeance for if God afflict and chasten such as he loves much lesse
their sight and their hearing and had the rest of their sences the lame whom he cured did onely want the use of their feet and had the rest of their limbs the Lepers whom he cleansed did onely want their health and had the use of their limbs and sences but they which vvere dead had none of them all but vvere deprived of them altogether and so his raysing of such as vvere dead was a greater work then any of the former Therefore whensoever he raised the dead the people did greatly admire and honour him when he cured two blind men Mat. 9.31 Math. 9 They spread â—abroad his fame throughout all the land When he raised to life the Widowes sonne in Naim Luke 7.16 Luke 7. All that were present praised God and said A great Prophet is risen up amongst us and God hatâ— visited his people And vvhen he raised Lazarus from the dead John 11. it is said there that many of the Jewes that saw what Jesus did John 11. â—5 believed in him While a man is alive though he be never so much diseased or so dangerously sick yet vve send for Physitians and use other means because there is some hope that he may recover but when he is once dead there is no more hope and therefore we trouble our selves no further so when the Rulers daughter was sick he came unto Christ and besought him for her My little daughter saith he lyeth at the point of death but I pray thee come and lay thy hands on her and she shall live Mark 5.23 Mark 5.35 But his daughter dying before Christ came to her some brought the Ruler word Thy daughter is dead why troublest thou the Master any further as thinking it in vain when his daughter was dead to seek for help because the Physitian is not sought to for the dead but for the living But Christ that was as well able to revive the dead as to heale the sick raised diverse in the Gospel from death to life whereof some are not named but onely mentioned ingenerall as here it is said that the dead were raised up without specifying in particular who they were some are mentioned in particular as the Rulers daughter whom he restored to life when she was newly dead Marke 5. Mark 5.42 Luke 7.15 Joh. 11.17 The Widowes Son that was carried forth to be buried Luke 7. and Lazarus that had been foure dayes dead and was laid in his grave John 11. If Christ then were able to raise the dead while he lived here in the form of a servant we may well he assured that being in glory at the right hand of his Father he is both able to raise our souls from the death of sinne to the life of grace and to raise our bodies when they lie dead in their graves to the life of glory Indeed the raising of the body being dead see us a thing incredible unto flesh and blood And therefore when St. Paul Acts 17. did preach to the Athenians about the resurrection they were so far from believing that the dead should rise that they counted him a babler and laughed him to scorne But as Christ here raised some from death to life so at the â—â—st day he will raise all Act. 7.60 the one being as easie to him as the other Therefore our bodies when they die are said in the Scripture to â—all a sleep because Christ can as easily raise our bodies being dead as one man can wake another when he is faln a sleep If many be fallen asleep in a Chamber together yet one voice you know is able to waken them all and so the voice of Christ at the last day shâ—ll raise all that are dead in the whole world together The houâ—e shall come saith our Saviour John 5. John 5.28 in the which all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Sonne of Man and they shall come forth that have done good unto the resurection of life and they that have done evill unto the refurrection of condemnation 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore the buriall of our bodies is fitly resembled by St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. to the sowing of seed because as the seed being sowen in the ground doth afterwards revive and spring up againe so our bodies after they are dead and buried shall be revived and quickned Qui tibi grana seminum mortua et putrefacta vivificat August de ver Apost Sermo 34. per quae in hoe saeculâ— vivas multo magis te ipsum resuscitabit ut in aeternum vivas He saith St. Augustine that quickens for thee the graines of Corne when they are dead and rotten whereby thou mayst live upon the earth for a time much more will he raise thy self hereafter that thou mayst live for ever in Heaven For he hath not onely redeemed our souls but likewise our bodies and therefore will not suffer them to perish in their graves but will quicken them again that both our bodies and souls may live with him And thus much concerning his raysing the dead The last thing which is here mentioned is that the poore had the Gospel preached unto them It is the saying of the Prophet Esay Chap. 61.1 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath annointed me to preach good tydings unto the poore he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Which words Christ expounding Luke 4. when he preached in Nazareth he applies them to himself This day saith he Luke 4.21 is this Scripture fulfilled in your eares to shew that he was annointed of God to preach the Gospel unto the poor Now by the poor to whom he preached the Gospel they are understood who are said by our Saviour Math. 5.3 to be poor in spirit For there are two sorts of poverty the one outward vvhen a man hath not means to maintain himself but wants outward necessaries the other inward vvhen a man is destitute of spirituall graces And thus every one of us all are poor but some do not see their poverty and want as the Laâ—diceans Revel 3.17 that thought themselves rich and increased with goods when they were poor and naked Some see their poverty and find in themselves a want of grace and therefore do hunger and thirst after it and these are the poore to whom Christ is said here to have preached the Gospel Therefore in the place which I named before the Prophet shews to what poor the Gospel should be preached by naming presently the broken hearted And Esay 66.2 The Lord promiseth to have respect unto him that is poore and of a contrite Spirit the latter of these explaining the former that they are the poor whom God respects who are humbled with the sight of their spirituall wants and bewaile nothing more then their want of grace Such were they to whom Christ here
ought him but an hundred pence demanded it of him and because he was not of ability to pay the debt he tooke him by the throate and haled him to prison and that the Master when he heard thereof was so incenst against him that he demanded againe the ten thousand talents which before he had forgiven him even to the utmost farthing when we read this I say we are to apply the same to our selves that if we will not forgive those that have offended us no more will God forgive us if we offend him And this use St. Paul teacheth us to make of these examples of Gods judgements upon sinners 1 Cor. 10. where having spoken of the Israelites that perished in the wildernesse They saith he are examples to us to the intent that we should not Iust after evill things as they did 1 Cor. 10. and perish in the wildernesse three and twenty thousand On the other side when we read in the Scripture of Gods wonderfull mercies toward repentant sinners as here we have a notable example of Gods mercy upon David who having committed two heinious sins adultery and murther yet as soon as God saw him ready to confesse himself guilty and to acknowledge his sinne God did presently forgive him are we not to make this use hereof that if we with David will acknowledge our sinne God will be as ready to forgive us as he forgave him When we read of the poor Publican Luke 18. who being truely humbled with the sight of his sinnes went into the Temple and prayed unto God O God be mercifmll to me a finner and that he went away justified are we not to make this use thereof that if we will humble our selves and acknowledge our sinne God will likewise forgive us as he forgave this Publican In a word when we read of the young unthrift in the Gospell Luke 15. who though he had left his Father and his Country though he had spent his patrimony and that very lewdly yet after that he repented and returu'd to his Father his Father went out to meet him fell on his neck and kissed him and was so joyfull for his sonnes return that he never expostulated why he had left him he never demanded how he had spent his portion but forgetting all his former lewd behaviour he received him as gladly as if he had never offended him are we not to make this use thereof that though we hvae rurme riot with the Prodigal and lived never so lewdly yet if we will repent returne unto God he will receive us into favour as he did this Prodigall For these things are written for our instruction that we might apply the same to ourselves and find comfort in them That as they among the Heathen who had been cured of any grievous sicknes set down in the Temple of Aesculapius their names diseases the means of their recovery that if others fel in to the like sicknes they might use the same means which others had done recover their health So have Gods Secretaries the pen-men of the Scriptures instructed us therein by their own examples They have not been tender of their own credits but have Chronicled and Registred their own sins and infirmities to remain as it were upon the file unto all posterities to the intent that we observing both how they fell and were afterwards restored might learne when we are fallen into any sinne to do as they did and obtaine pardon For what sinne is it that thou canst possibly fall into but some of Gods children have already fallen into the same before thee If thou sai'st thou hast lived riotously and luxuriously the Prodigall will presently step forth and tell thee that he also once laboured of the same disease he lived as riotously as ever did any yet after that he repented and returned to his Father he was received into favour If thou saiest that thou hast been a persecutor of the godly Paul will comfort thee by his example If thou saiest thou hast denyed Christ though it were with perjury Peter will lay his example before thee If thou saiest that thou art fallen into a relaps since thou wert a Professor of Religion and since thou hast beene enlightned by the Word of Truth why and I saith David was in the very same case all the World knows that I committed both adultery and murder long after I had been a principall professour Now what a glorious visitation of a sick soul is this when all the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles who have all of them been subject to the like infirmities shall come to visite thee and standing round about thy bed to cōfort thee shall every one of them tell thee that his life for thine though thy soul be sick to the death by reason of thy sin though the arrow-head of despair begin to rancle in thy bowels and thou be ready to despair of thy salvation yet that it is impossible but that their examples which are as it were so many preservatives of the Holy Ghosts own compounding must needs do thee good if thou wilt apply them and if thou wilt use the self-same means for thy recovery which they have done For therefore hath David propounded his example unto thee and saith That therefore every one that is godly shall pray unto God because he had prayed unto God and had obtained mercy And thus much for the reason why men should come unto God for pardon implyed as we have heard in this word therefore The second thing which is here mentioned are who they be that shall come unto God every one that is godly Where we see who they be that make good use of these examples not the wicked but the godly For as for the wicked as they pervert the use of all things so they abuse the examples of Gods mercies and turn the grace of God into wantonnesse When they hear that David and others have fallen sometimes into grievous sins and that God did pardon them they will challenge to themselves the more liberty to sin by their examples as if David's being once overtaken with women vvere an excuse for adulterers and Noah's being once overcharged with vvine were a warrant for drunkennesse For they will argue thus with themselves David committed adultery and yet David was saved Peter for-swore himselfe and yet Peter was saved Moses was guilty of murder Paul vvas a persecutor the prodigall childe lived in riot and pleasure and yet all these vvere saved and therefore why may not I live riotously why may not I swear and for-swear myselfe vvhy may not I commit adultery or murder why may not I venture upon any sin vvhatsoever and yet be saved as well as they Thus they incourage themselves to sin their examples So vve read of Theodosius the Emperour that having committed a bloudy fact he excused himselfe by the example of David but Saint Ambrose reproved the Emperour for it Secutus es errantem sequere
they that suffer persecution for righteousnesse sake it is not their suffering but their suffering for righteousnesse that makes them blessed Therefore the Apostles did not simply rejoyce in their sufferings Acts 5.41 but that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christs sake This was that which made Saint Paul so willing to suffer that being fore-told by Agabus Acts 21. That at Jerusalem he should be in bonds and be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles and being therefore intreated by the brethren that Acts 21.13 he would not go to Jerusalem What mean ye saith he to weep and to break my heart for I am ready not onely to be bound but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus And this was that which here imboldened Steven because it was for the Testimony of Christ that he suffered Martyrdome And so leaving the first point the person that was martyr'd I come to the second the kind of his Martyrdome and that was stoning They stoned Steven Our Saviour ye know fore-told his Disciples of the great persecution which they were to suffer Luke 9.23 Mat. 10.22 Mat. 10.16 Mat. 10.17 Mat. 23.34 That if any man would be his Disciple he must take up his Crosse every day and follow him that they should be hated of all men for his names sake that he sent them as sheep among wolves that they would be brought before the Councels and be scourged in their Synagogues that some of them should be slaine some stoned and some crucified All which not long after began to be accomplished To begin with the Apostles whom Christ vouchsafes the name of his friends John 15.15 John 15.7 Revel 1.9 John 21.17 Saint John the Disciple that Christ loved was condemned to banishment by the Emperor Domitian was banished into the Isle of Pathmos where he wrote the Book of the Revelation Saint Peter the Disciple that loved Christ was condemned by Nero to be crucified and was hanged on the Crosse as Saint Jerome writes with his head down-wards affirming himselfe unworthy to be crucified in the same manner that his Lord was Saint Andrew Peters brother was likewise crucified imbracing the Crosse saith Bernard and saying Per te me recipiat qui per te me redemit Let him receive me by thee who by thee redeemed me and hanging on the Crosse three dayes before he died converted many in the mean time to Christ Saint James the elder the Son of Zebedec and Saint Johns brother was killed with the sword and the person as Clemens Alexandrinus writes that had accused him when he saw him condemned was so moved therewith that he profest himself to be a Christian and having asked forgivenesse of Saint James was beheaded with him Saint James the younger the son of Alpheus and Bishop of Jerusalem because he would not deny Christ to be the Son of God was thrown down headlong from the battlements of the Temple and being still alive though both his thighes were broke his braines were dashed out as Egesippus writes with a Fullers club Saint Thomas who would not believe that Christ was risen from the dead except he might put his hand into the wound which the launce had made was afterwards in India as some Authours report thrust through with a launce because he would not worship the image of the Sun which was worshipt by them Saint Paul was beheaded in Rome by Nero on the same day as some do write that Peter was crucified and so that may not unfitly be applied to them which David said of Saul and Ionathan They were lovely in their lives and in their deaths they were not devided 2 Sam. 1.23 I might further instance in the rest of the Apostles and in the bloudy persecutions which afterwards followed wherein there was made such havock of the Church that if Ievemie or David had lived in those dayes there had been matter for the one to have made new Lamentations and for the other to sit weeping by the walls of Babylon when he remembred Sion Thus in these was verefied what our Saviour fore-told concerning the persecution which they were to suffer and the first of them all which brake as it were the ice and led the way to the rest was Steven here who was stoned to death A kind of death which was appointed by God for idolaters blasphemers and malefactors that others seeing what punishment they suffered might be kept from committing the like sins for fear of undergoing the like punishment So we see Deut. 13. That the idolater that inticed the people to serve other gods Deut. 13.10.11 was by Gods commandement to be stoned to deat that all Israel might hear and fear and the like might not be done any more in Israel So he that blasphemed the Name of the Lord Levit. 24.23 Levit. 24. was stoned to death by the whole Congregation as God commanded I might instance in others So that stoning was a punishment appointed by God for wicked persons yet Steven that was a holy man was here stoned Here then we may observe from the kind of his Martyrdome which was stoning That we are not to judge of a man by the kind of his death because sometimes the godly die the same kind of death that the wicked do 1. King 16. Ahab ye know was a most wicked King that served Baul and polluted the worships and service of God so that it is said of him that he did more to provoke the Lord to anger then all the Kings of Israel that were before him Josiah on the contrary was a most religious King that brought Iudah and Ierusalem from their idolatry and restored Gods service so that it is said of him That like unto him there was no King before him 2. King 23. that turned to the Lord with all his heart neither after him arose there any like him Yet these two brethren that were so unlike in their lives were alike in their deaths both were slain in the warres by the hands of their enemies The like may be said of Ionathan and Saul a good Son of a bad Father yet both of them slain in the field together So seditious Sheba that conspired against David died the same kind of death that Iohn the Baptist did for they were both beheaded and Steven here dyed the same kind of death that Achan did for they were both stoned Doct. In a vvord There is hardly any death that can be names but some of the godly have been put thereunto as well as the wicked And therefore vve are not to judge of any by the kind of his death that he died vvell or ill because that kind of death vvhich befalls one may befall an other We commonly judge the vvorse of a man if his death be sudden and count sudden death a fearfull thing as indeed it is especially if it be a violent death vvithall It vvas a fearfull kind a death which Charles
falshood But now when a man binds a lye with an Oath he sinnes not onely himself by lying but endeavours to entangle God in his sinne by calling God to witnesse that which he knows to be false Hence it is that even the heathen themselves have alwayes been religious in observing their Oaths We read of Alexander that leading his Army against a City with a ful resolution to have utterly destroyed it he saw Anaximenes the Philosopher who had been his Tutor coming towards him thinking that Anaximenes would be very urgent with him to spare the City he swore in a fury that whatsoever it was that Anaximenes desired he would not grant it Anaximenes desired that he would destroy the City Alexander seeing that he could not destroy it but he must break his Oath returned with his Army and to save his Oath withall saved the City And we read of Regulus and some other of the Romans that Hanniball had taken prisoners that having taken an Oath that they would go to Rome and if some of the Carthaginians vvere not exchanged for them they themselves vvould return vvhen they came to Rome and effected not that for vvhich they were sent yet they vvere so religious in observing their oaths that though they knew for certaine that the saving of their oaths vvould be the losse of lives yet they returned againe So heinous a sinne vvas perjury their accounted even among the Heathen And hence it is that this sinne hath alwayes been so grievously punisht sometime vvith banishment as among the Romans sometime vvith death as among the Egyptians for they inflicted no lesse then death upon every perjured person as upon one who was guilty of two horrible crimes impiety to the gods and insidelity to men Nay in this one there is a three-fold sin First against God by an infinite wrong to his holy Name If the King should commit the broad seale unto any Subject to seale some matter which were for the honour of the King and the good of the whole Kingdom and the Subject should seale some other matter with it which the King utterly detested as being a dishonour to himselfe a disadvantage to his subjects and a benefit to his enemies in so doing he should be guilty of high Treason And thus is he guilty of high Treason against God that abuseth his Name to the ratifying of falshood For God hath committed his sacred Name as a seale unto us Heb. 6.6 for the confirmation of the truth and the ending of strife both which the confirmation of truth and the cutting off of contention make much for the glory of God and the good of all men Now he that swears falsly abuseth Gods Name to the confirming of a lie which is most dishonourable to God who is the God of truth most acceptable to the devill who is the father of lying and most injurious to men among whom there cannot possibly be any society if there be no truth nor fidelity among them If a man having a Tower or Castle committed to his keeping should betray it to the enemy he should be counted a Traitour to his Prince and Countrey Gods Name saith Solomon is a strong tower whereunto the righteous resort Prov. 15.10 Now when a man swears falsly he betraies this Tower unto the devill who is Gods enemy which is an infinite wrong to Gods sacred Name Secondly he that swears falsly is most injurious to men for by this means many times it comes to passe that the Jurors give up a false verdict the Judge pronounceth an unjust sentence and the party that is innocent is deprived of his right Thirdly against himselfe for by calling God as a witnesse to that which is false while he seeks to escape the censure of men he falls most fearfully into Gods hands and to avoid a pecuniary mulct or a bodily punishment doth bind his soule over unto Gods judgements who hath threatned before-hand that he will not hold him guiltlesse This then being so hainous and horrible a sinne both before God and man what may we think of those who hold it lawfull to swear and for-swear and both practise it in action and defend it in writing Thus the Romish Priests and Jesuits being brought before the Magistrate and put to their oaths they hold it lawfull to swear and for-swear themselves For this is the doctrine which is maintained among them that unto dangerous interrogatories a man is not bound to answer according to the meaning of the Magistrates demand but that he may lawfully equivocate and frame a safe meaning unto himselfe and swear unto it As if a Priest being examined before the Magistrate whether he be a Priest or no though indeed he be yet he may mean that he is not one of Baals Priests and so he may equivocate and swear that he is not Thus Garnet Superiour of the Jesuits in England being examined before the Councell put to his oath whether he had not had any conference with Hall the Priest while he was in prison he took it upon his oath that he had had no conference with him and when it was proved to his face to be false and that he was for-sworne he answered onely this that he had offended if equivocation did not help him Thus Tresham the Traitour while he lay in the Tower upon his death-bed and died presently after he took it upon his salvation that he had not seen Garnet of sixteen years before which being afterwards found to be false and that by Garnets own confession Garnet being askt what he thought of Tresham he answer'd he thought that he did equivocate And thus under the pretence of equivocation they hold it lawfull to swear and for-swear any thing But this is most certain that when we take an oath and swear otherwise then that which we know to be the truth whatsoever we pretend we are reputed as perjured in the sight of God Quacunque arte verborum quis utitur Isidor de summo bonè lib. 1. Deus tamen saith Isidore qui conscientia testis est it a hoc accipit sicut ille cui juratur intelligit What cunning soever we use in swearing yet God that sees the conscience takes it in the same manner as he understands it to whom he sweared And thus much for the first condition of an oath Thou shalt swear in truth I come to the second Thou shalt swear in judgement Now there are two kindes of oaths which are contrary hereunto First inconsiderate and unadvised oaths as when we take an oath of that we do not understand or when we swear to perform that which is not in our power Such an oath is that which the King of India alwayes takes at his coronation namely That he will make the Sun to keep his course and to give them light that he will make the clouds to send them seasonable showers that he will make their rivers that they shall never be dry but run continually
thus with thy selfe It is too much that I have done already let me not therefore double my fault by my deniall of it but what I was not ashamed to do yet let me not be ashamed to confesse that God may pardon it So did David being reproved by the Prophet Nathan he did not deny but acknowledge his sinne and obtain'd pardon 2 Sam. 12.13 I have sinned against the Lord saith David and the Lord hath put away thy sinne saith the Prophet which question-lesse had not thus been put away if David had sought to have covered his sin by his deniall of it Secondly A man may be said to cover his sinnes by translating the fault Transferendo and shifting it off from himselfe to another And this is a sinne as old as Adam and committed first by him For Adam ye know being reproved by God for eating of the forbidden fruit to excuse himself he laid the blame upon Eve Gen. 3.12 The Woman that thou gavest me she gave me of the Tree And the Woman that the blame might not rest upon her Gen. 3.13 did lay it on the Serpent The Serpent beguiled me and I did eat And this shifting off the blame from our selves to others we have learned of them If Saul be reproved by the Prophet Samuel for transgressing the Commandment of the Lord in sparing the king of Amalek and the best of the cattell he will post it from himself 1 Sam. 15.20 21. and lay the blame on the people I obeyed the voice of the Lord but saith he the people took of the spoil And if Aaron be reproved by Moses for his sin in making the golden calf he will lay the fault on the people for it Thou knowest saith he this people that they are set on mischief And they said unto me Make us gods Exod. 32.22 And thus many when the fault which they have committed is so plain and evident that they cannot well deny it yet to excuse themselves they will lay the blame upon others This is a second kinde of covering of sin And hitherto may they be referred who to excuse themselves ascribe their sins unto fate or destinie as the Priscilianists did or that make God to be the Author of their sins as the Libertines did for these do hide and cover their sins by laying them on others Instead hereof what sin soever we have committed we must take the blame wholly upon our selves and not seek that others may bear the blame for what we have done If we do any thing which we think is praise-worthy and deserves commendation we would be loath that others should be sharers therein and would think our selves to be wrong'd by those who should take to themselves the praise of that which was done by us And therefore when we have done amisse great reason we should take the blame to our selves and not lay it on others So did Jonah when he had offended God by flying to Tarshish and God therefore punished him with a tempest on the Sea that they were all in danger to be cast away he took the blame wholly upon himself though it would cost him his life Take me up saith he Jon. 1.12 and cast me into the Sea for I know that for my sake this tempest is upon you And so did David when he had sinned against God by numbring the people and God therefore sent a pestilence on the Land which swept away many thousands and David saw the Angel which smote the people he took the blame wholly upon himself and said to the Lord Lo I have sinned I have done wickedly but these sheep what have they done let thy hand I pray thee be against me 2 Sam. 24.17 and my fathers house And thus must we do whensoever we have sinned we must take the blame wholly to our selves and not seek to hide and cover our sins by shifting them off from our selves to others Thirdly a man may be said to cover his sins by extenuating diminishing Extennando and lessning the sin Thus the harlot when she inticed the young man to commit folly with her she lessened the sin whereunto she inticed him Prov. 7.18 Come saith she let us take our fill of love and delight our selves in daliance giving it the name of love and daliance which indeed was whoredome And thus many will lessen and extenuate their sins making their sins to be lesse then they are and themselves lesse sinfull making great sins to be but little Luk. 16 6. and little sins to be none at all Ye know how the unjust steward did with the debts which were owing to his lord he lessened the summe setting down but fifty for an hundred So do many with their sins their debts unto God they lessen and diminish the summe of them making talents but pounds and pounds but pence and pence nothing This is a third kinde of covering of sin And hitherto may they be referr'd who lessen and extenuate the heinousnesse of sin making some sins as the Papists do to be but veniall and that they do not deserve eternall damnation For these do hide and cover their sins by their lessening of them Instead hereof we must aggravate our sins making our sins as indeed they are out of measure sinfull Ezra 98. the more to humble us So did Ezra O my God saith he I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee for our iniquities are increased over our heads and our trespasse is grown up to the heavens And so did St. Paul who because he had persecuted the Church of Christ though he did it of ignorance yet he aggravates his sin Act. 26.11 that he persecuted the Church of God above measure that he wasted or made havock of it that he punisht them often in every Synagogue that he compell'd them to blaspheme and that he was exceedingly mad against them Thus in extreame detestation of his sin he strives to make it extreamly heinous Ephes 3 8.1 lim 1.15 and thought himself for his sin not onely the least of all Saints but the greatest of all sinners So far was he from covering his sin by lessening the same Lastly a man may be said to cover his sins by justifying maintaining Justificando and defending of them Thus Jonah being angry for the gourd that withered when God asked him whether he did well to be angrie he justified his fault I do well saith he Jon. 4.6 to be angrie even to the death And thus many when they have no other evasion when they can neither deny the fact nor shift it off from themselves nor lessen the same yet they will justifie their faults and stand in defence of that which they have done So do they who when they have committed a sin will pretend very specious and plausible reasons why they did the same that so it may seem to be no sin in them We read of Dionysius the
are crost in that which they most desire They desire nothing more then that they may prosper and thrive in the world and they think they shall prosper and thrive the better while they conceal their sins which if they were known would impair their credit and estimation But God crosses them in that which they most desire Iosh 7.21 for they shall not prosper No doubt but Achan thought to prosper the better when he stole the two hundred shekels of silver the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment and hid them in his tent but it thrived not with him Iosh 7.25 for God brought it to light and Achan was stoned to death for it No doubt but Gehazi thought to prosper the better by the bribes he took of Naaman 2 King 5.23 and would not confesse that he had taken them but it thrived not with him for though he â—id his sin 2 King 5.27 yet he could not hide his leprosie which he got with them No doubt but Jezabel thought to prosper the better when she caused Naboth to be stoned to death and got his vineyard and yet covered her sin under pretence that Naboth had deserved to be stoned for having blasphemed God and the King but it thrived not with her for God brought it to light and her to a miserable end for it So Herod no doubt thought to prosper the better when hearing that the King of the Jews was born he intended to murther him to prevent the danger of losing his kingdome and yet to cover his sin willed the Wisemen as soon as they had found the babe to bring him word Matth. 2.8 pretending that he also would go to worship him but it thrived not with him for God both brought to light his murderous intent and himself to shame and disgrace by it And not to instance in too many examples the Scribes and Pharisees no doubt thought to prosper the better while they devoured widows houses and to cover their sin made long prayers that so they might be thought to be devout and religious but it thrived not with them for Christ both discovered what they did Matth. 13.14 and denounced a wo against them for it Thus God finds them out and brings them to light that cover their sins not suffering them to prosper and so crossing them in that which they most desire Yet when or wherein they shall not prosper is not here set down but onely in generall that they shall not prosper to the intent that they may never be secure but may still expect while they cover their sins that God will punish them some way or other either in their own persons or in their children or in their goods or in their good name or in them all together Secondly here we may observe that to prosper is the gift of God who therefore denyes it to them that sin against him by covering their sins Therefore the Psalmist saith of the godly man that look whatsoever he doth it shall prosper Psal 1.3 but for the ungodly he saith It is not so with them So it is said of Joseph that he was a prosperous man Gen. 39.3 and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand So it is said of that good King Hezekiah That the Lord was with him 2 King 18.7 and he prospered whither soever he went forth I might instance in others But some man may say may not the like be said of the wicked do not they often prosper in the world and have successe in that which they take in hand Iob 21.7.9 was it not for this which Job complained that the wicked are mighty in pomer that they spend their dayes in mirth that their houses are safe from fear and that the rod of God is not upon them And was it not for this that David envied the wicked That they prosper in the world Psal 7 3.12 that they have riches in possession and that they come in no misfortune like other men We must therefore understand first that though to prosper be the gift of God yet in his wisdome he gives in sometimes to the godly and sometimes to the wicked For that which St. Augustine saith of wealth may be said of prosperity Ne putetur esse mala datur bonis ne putetur esse summum bonum datur malis Lest prosperitie should be thought to be evill it is sometimes given to those that are good and lest it should be thought to be the chief good it is sometimes given to those that are bad If onely the wicked and none of the godly should prosper in the world it would be a means to draw many to ungodlinesse that they might prosper by it And if onely the godly and none of the wicked should prosper here it would be thought they were godly for no other end but that they might prosper This was that which the devill ye know objected against Job for his serving God Doth Job saith the devill fear God for nought Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his bouse and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blest saith he the works of his hands and his substance is increased in the land But put forth thy hand and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face And thus if God should give prosperitie to none but the godly the wicked would be readie to object against them that they therefore served God because God would prosper them and that otherwise they would be as ungodly as others Whereas the godly indeed do as well serve God in the time of adversitie as they do in prosperitie as Job when all that he had was taken from him did blesse God as well as he did when he had them The Lord saith he hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. And therefore prosperitie is commonly given indifferently by God sometimes to the godly and sometimes to the wicked But yet there is great difference between their prosperitie for the prosperitie of the wicked continues not long but is soon gone They may cover their sins and prosper for a time but God at one time or other either here or hereafter brings their sins to light and themfelves to confusion Therefore Solomon ye see speaks not here of the present time but of the future he doth not say they do not but that they shall not prosper because though they may prosper for a while in this world yet at last they come to a miserable end and miserable ye know is that prosperitie which ends in miserie Such was the prosperitie of Haman and Herod they prospered for a while but their end was miserable But the godly on the contrarie prosper more and more though their beginning be good yet as Job was their end is better Marke saith David Psal 37 37. Psalme 37. the perfect man and behold