be left it spread abroad and consume the whole building Sinne is as dangerous to a mans soule as fire in the chimny top is dangerous to the house he that would avoid the danger must not cast water in some corner not medling with the rest but he must do his best to quench it all and not willingly leave one spark remaining lest it spread abroad and he at the length be burned with unquenchable fire Christ never healed any man but he healed him all Mary Magdalen was possessed with seven Devils Christ did not cast out six leaving the seventh but he cast them out all And when a Legion of Devils did possesse one man he did not deliver him that was possessed from some of them but from them all to teach us as the Authour of the booke of true and false repentance which goeth under Austins name doth moralize the storie that he would not have us to forsake some of our sinnes but leave them all Whosoever shall keep the whole Law saith James and yet faileth in one point he is guilty of all which place Austin understandeth of love which is the fulfilling of the law this Exposition is good for he that coveteth or stealeth or committeth adulterie loveth not his Neighbour as himselfe and he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Now of these two hang the whol law and the Prophets But I suppose that the meaning of James is rather this that God would have us to keepe the whole Law and to leave no commandement great or small unobserved This exposition James seemeth to approve in the next words for he that said Thou shalt not commit adulterie said also Thou shalt not kill now though thou doest not commit adulterie yet if thou killest thou art a transgressor of the Law he then that offendeth in one is guilty of all because he offendeth against him who is the law-giver of them all and who would have us without respect to observe them all and like wise because he is lyable to that curse though not according to the same degree which shall come upon such as shall breake them all For Cursed is everie man that continueth not in all things that are written in the booke of the Law to doe them God is not like the false mother which would have had the child to be divided he will either have all or none he useth not to hire by halfes he will either have all our service or else he will have none at all wee cannot serve him and Mammon too he likes no Mermaids which are half fish and half flesh no Ambidexters shal dwell in his house no such Satyrs as can blow both cold and hot out of the same mouth no such Monsters as the Romane Legate saw at Alexandria which was halfe white and half black no such worshippers as those Assyrians which served God and their Idols no such Jewes as sweare by God and by Malcolme no sacrificers like to him in the Poet which offered one sacrifice to summer and another to winter one to God and another to the Devill But alas how farre are the most from the practise of this duty Some nay the greater part make no more conscience of sinning then an hungrie man of eating his dinner as if they had no God but the Devil to serve Others are like those Easterne people called Coords which worship both God and the Devill God because say they he is good the Devill lest he should doe them harm these will with Herod fear Iohn Baptist the Preacher of the word and reverence him and heare him gladly and doe many things which he exhorts them to doe but they had rather see his head off then part with their beloved sinnes Saul was contented at Gods commandement to kill the leane kine of the Amalekites but the fat and well liking Beasts he kept So these at the commandement of the Lord by the mouth of his Preachers can be contented to kill their leane sinnes their little sinnes but they have some fat sinnes they must needs enjoy these must of necessity be spared Naaman the Syrian was contented to worship no other God save the God of Israel but yet he must needs goe with his Maaster into the house of Rimmon the Lord must be mercifull to him in this point so it is with very many which would be counted good Professors they can forgoe most of their sinnes yet some beloved sinne they must needs enjoy the Lord must be mercifull unto them in this point the Covetous man can abstaine from excesse in eating and drinking but usurie and oppression this is a fat sinne he will not kill it the Lord must be mercifull unto him in this point the Drunkard can be contented to hate usurie and oppression but he must needs drinke till the wine doe inflame him oh this is a merrie sinne the Lord must be mercifull unto him in this point the wanton perchance can be contented to bid them both adieu but his carnall appetite he must needs obey this is a pleasant sinne the Lord must be mercifull unto him in this point these men are like unto those double pictures which if they be viewed one way have the fices of men looke upon them another way and they have the shape of Foxes or Goats or some deformed Creatures behold them directly and you shall see no perfect picture but a mixture of divers So looke upon these in some of their actions and you will take them for good Christians behold them in other things ye will think them wicked Miscreants take a view of all at once and you shall find a mixture and confusion of both but God loves no such confusion the livery of his Children is white not party-coloured Some there be that have stept a foot further in Christianitie and will be loath to commit any of these grosse sins but yet they have some little sinne which they must needs enjoy the Lord must be mercifull unto them in this point Oh said Lot when he came out of Sodome Let me flee into this little Citie Zoar behold it is a little one and my soule shall live so it is with these when with Lot they are fled out of Sodome they must needs goe with him to Zoar when they have left their great and grosse sinnes they have some little one as they call it oh let them enjoy this and their soul shall live but Beloved Christian thou must remember what I told thee before that no sinne of it self is venial for the wages of the least sinne is death and therefore thou must beware of these little ones as well as the other what helpeth it a man to escape the edge of the sword if he stab himselfe with a pen-knife to escape drowning in the great Ocean if he drown himself in a little brook and what will it profit thee to cast away the great Cart-ropes of iniquitie
habitations The Lord could take your souls from you before ye depart this place if ye depart in safetie before ye come into your houses or before you goe to bed or before you rise in the morning but if you injoy to day and to morrow and the next day despise not the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience and long suffering knowing that his bountifulness leadeth you to repentance Be not like to the wicked Iob 21. which take the Tabret and Harpe and rejoyce at the sound of the Organs and spend their dayes in wea'th and then suddenly goe down into the Grave Nor like those in Eccles 9. 12. which do not know their time but like fishes which are taken in an evill net and like birds that are caught in a snare so they are snared in the evill time which falleth upon them suddenly nor like the evill servant in the Gospel which saith in his heart my Master doth deferre his coming and begins to smite his fellow-Servants and to eat and to drink with the drunken lest death come upon you in a day when ye look not for it and in an houre that you are not aware of and cut you off and ye receive your portion with Hypocrites in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Blessed is that man whom the Lord when he cals him from hence shall find waking but woe yea thrice woe be to that man whom the Lord when he cometh shall find sleeping verily I say unto you it had been good for that man if he had never been borne wherefore once again I say use this golden opportunitie to the honour of your God redeem the time because the dayes are few not for a day but even all your dayes which is the fourth note and which I can but touch let it be your care not how you may be rich in this world but how you may be rich unto God not rich in goods but in goodnesse let your chief study in this life be how he may be saved in the life to come Alas it was but a cold comfort to Adrian the Emperour when he was readie to dye to jest with his soul doubting what should become of it Animula vagula blandula hospes comesque corporis quae nunc abibis in loca Pallidula rigida nidula nec ut soles dabis jocos What speeches but this or worse then this can any expect will proceed from you in your sicknesse when you are ready to leave the world if in your health you have not studied to make your election sure if in your life ye offer to God nothing but dregs there is little hope you will set forth good wine at the houre of your death late repentance is oftentimes counterfeit never so accepted with God we must blossom in the spring if wee will bring forth fruit in harvest it is no commendation to offer to the world and Satan the flower of our youth and sacrifice to God the withered stubble of old age to turn to God when we can scarce turn our selves in our beds and to leave this world when it is ready to take a farewell of us wherefore have your loynes still girded about and your lights still burning and you your selves waiting and expecting nay desiring not only for that time when your souls and bodies shall be separated but much more for that great day when they shall again be united and conjoyned let these and the like be each of your meditations and prayers How long Lord how long holy and true as the heart desireth the water brook so longeth my soul after thee O God my soul is a thirst for God even for the living God when shall I come to appeare before the presence of God into thy hands I commend my spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord God of truth yea thou art my helper and my redeemer O my God make no long tarrying but come Lord Jesus come quickly The 5th and last thing which was observed out of these words was this That death to the Children of God is but a change to a better and more blessed state for so with Mercer and other learned Divines I take the meaning of the words to be when it is said my changing and not to be meant of the resurrection as some would have it Death is the wages of sinne saith the Apostle Rom. 6. 23. not only a temporarie death which is a separation of the body from the soul but an eternall death which is a separation both of bodie and soule from God for so it was told our Grand-father before he tasted the fruit of the forbidden tree whensoever thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt dye the death seconded after the fact with this iudiciall sentence dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne Gen 3. and so by the transgression of one death reigned over all unto condemnation Rom. 6. 14. But behold the abundant Ocean of the riches of the mercie and bountifullness of our God who by the balme of Christs blood hath so tempered this popson that like Treacle which is made of venemous wormes it becomes a preservative against poyson and hath broken the teeth of this Lyon that we may say with the Prophet the Lyon and the Lamb may dwell together hath taken the sting from this Scorpion that we may even now in some sense say O death where is thy sting thus by the grace of God the punishment of sin is to us turned to a freedom from sin it was said to our first Parents saith Austin thou shalt dye if thou sinne now it is said to a Martyr dye lest thou sinne then it was said if thou transgresse the commandement thou shalt dye the death now it is said if ye refuse to dye ye transgresse the commandement that which then was to be feared that they should not sin is now to be undergon lest they sin then death was gotten by sinning now justice is fulfilled by dying Behold the great difference of death in the godly and the wicked to the wicked it hath the same force which before it had to the godly it is like a sleep which resteththeir bodies and makes them more lively then before to the ungodly it brings a taile or sting with it and that is condemnation to the godly it is as it were a Bee without a sting to the godly it is terminus a quo of miserie and vexation to the wicked it is the beginning of sorrow and damnation to the ungodly it is Sathans Cart to carry them to Hell to the righteous it is like Elisha's fierie Chariot to mount them to Heaven to the wicked it is Sathans Serjeant to carrie them to Tophet which is prepared for them to the godly it is the Lords Messenger to remove them to their expected home let then the ungodly feare and tremble when they heare of death and let them
they should offer sacrifice for their sinnes who amongst the new people holier then the Apostles and yet the Lord commanded them to say in their prayers forgive us our debts To this Bellarmine answereth that we may say forgive us our debts for veniall sinnes which in this life we seldome or never want But I object Either these sinnes which they call veniall are against the law of God or not if the former then the faithfull doe not fulfill the Law if the the latter then they are not debita and therefore wee need not say in respect of them forgive us our debts This assertion is further confirmed by the testimonies of Hierom and Austin Hierom against the Pelagians lib. 2. I confesse that there are just men but that there are any without sinne this I deny againe behold the Apostles and all the faithfull cannot doe that which they would Austin de spiritu litera cap. ultimo Siquanto major notitia tanto major dilectio profecto quantum nunc deest dilectioni tantum perficiendiae justitiae deesse credendum est and de perfecta iustitia tunc erit plena iustitia quando plena sanitas tunc plena sanitas quando plena charitas tunc plena charitas quando videbimus eum sicuti est neque enim erit quod addetur ad dilectionem cum sides pervenerit ad visionem And in the same book as long as there remaineth any carnall concupiscence wee cannot love God with all our heart Now what these Father 's maintained was the opinion of the Church at that time Bernard came long after them when the Church had gathered much corruption and was becom like Glaucus the Sea God who having sundrie parts of his bodie worne and consumed by beating upon the rocks and the shelves hath the same parts repaired with shels and wreck yet what was his opinion in this point we may gather out of his fiftieth Sermon upon the Canticles Si placet tibi de effectuali charitate datum fuisse mandatum non inde contendo dummodo acquiescas tu mihi quod minime in ista vita ab aliquo homine possit vel potuerit impleri Thus wee have proved our assertion by reason by Scripture and by testimonie of the antient Church Contra rationem nemo fobrius contra Scripturas nemo Christianus contra Ecclesiam nemo pacificus senserit Against reason no sober man against the Scriptures no Christian man against the Church no peaceable man will judge Thus much concerning the connexion Now I proceed to the first proposition It is to no purpose to begin a good course of life unlesse thou hold it out and continue till the end For to forsake sinne for a time and to returne againe unto it is as ill as not to forsake it at all If the righteous turn away from his righteousnesse and commit iniquitie and doe according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth all the righteousnesse that he hath done shall not be metioned but in his transgressions that he hath committed and in his sinne that he hath sinned in them he shall die Ezech. 14. 24. nay it is farre worse for if after they have escaped the filthiness of the world they be yet intangled againe therein their latter end is worse then their beginning for it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness then after they have knowne it to tuâ—ne aside from the commandements given unto them 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. And if we sinne willingly after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no sacrifice for sinne but a fearefull looking for of judgement and of violent fire which shall devoure the adversaries Heb. 10. 26. And the Apostle elswhere saith that it is impossible for such to repent Judas runne well but Sathan hindred him he cast before him a golden Apple which brought him out of his way it had been better for Judas to have been a stranger unto Christ as Pilate was then to have forsaken him after he was chosen for though both of them did most grievously transgresse in that they put to death the Lord of life yet Judas that delivered him had the greater sinne Iohn 19. 11. as it is in bodily diseases so it is in the sicknesse of the soule if the sick person be well guided oftentimes there is hope of recoverie but if while he is in recovering he by negligence fall into a relapse his disease is more dangerous then it was before and for the most part proveth incureable Even so in spirituall sicknesses those that sleep in their sinnes may be awaked those that are sick with sinne may be cured yea those that are dead in their sinnes may be raised but if after they be awaked they begin to snort again if after they be cured they fall sick againe if after they be raised they die againe this is a spirituall relapse their case is dangerous if not altogether desperate The reasons hereof are divers 1. Because such men refuse the meanes of salvation when they have been offered unto them and therefore their sinne is greater then if they had been hood-winked with a vizard of ignorance which though it doth not altogether excuse yet doth it extenuate the offence This made the Jewes more inexcusable in that when Christ offered himself unto them they rejected him This is the condemnation saith our Saviour that light is come into the world and men love darknesse rather then light Againe if you were blind you should not have sinne but now ye say we see therefore your sinne remaineth 2. Such men commonly sinne upon presumption neglecting the commandements contemning the threatnings abusing the patience and long-suffering of Almighty God now these sinnes of all others that great sinne against the holy Ghost excepted are most pernitious and therefore David prayeth God that he will keep him from presumptious sinnes 3. Such men do crucifie unto themselves the Sonne of God and make a mock of him they tread under foot the blood of the Covenant as an unholie thing they make Christ like Sisiphus in the Fable to begin his worke of redemption anew after that he hath once finished it as if the sick person after that his Physitian hath recovered his health should of purpose eate such meats as would renew his disease and that to this end that he may put his Physitian to a new labour and trie his skillin recovering him again or as if a banckrupt after that his friend out of his love hath discharged all his debts and undertaken to be his suretie he should of purpose runne upon a new score in hope that his friend will pay it againe and therefore this may be the fourth reason the Lord giveth them over unto reprobate minds and vile affections to do those things that are not convenient and to commit iniquitie even with greediness Now as when the Pillar upon which the house standeth is taken away the house must
octo pedum He whom the whole earth could not content was at length contented with a parcel of ground of eight yea of six foot long Herod when upon a day he was arrayed in royal apparel and sate on the bench and gave such an excellent charge that the people cried non vox hominem sonat It is the voyce of God and not of man immediatly after proved neither God nor man For he was eaten up of wormes and gave up the Ghost Rare examples for the Gods of the earth to look down into their own bosomes and to remember that they must die as men It is a good custome of the Emperour of the Abyssenes Prester John to have every meal for the first dish that comes on his table a dead mans skull to put him in mind of his mortality So was that which was used by Philip namely to have a boy every day to put him in mind that he was to die as a man Not much unlike was the old practise of the Egyptians who when their Princes went to banquet used to beare before them the picture of a dead man to put them in mind of their mortality 24. Seeing then that ye must die study to have your accounts in readinesse that whensoever the Lord shall call you hence hee may finde you provided Be faithfull in those high rooms wherein God hath placed you Ye execute not the judgements of man but of the Lord. Aske counsel therefore of God and weigh your proceedings in the ballance of the sanctuary Do nothing but what God commands you and the testimony of a good conscience will warrant to be lawful remembring that ye must one day God knowes how soon that day will come be summoned to appear before the common Judge of all flesh who is a burning and consuming fire who is not blinded with secret closenesse nor corrupted with bribes nor moved with friends nor allured by flatterers nor perswaded by the importunity of intreaters to depart anâ— haires breadth from the course of justice no though these three men Noah Daniel and Job should stand before him and make intercession in your behalf These things remember and do and ye shall have comfort in your lives comfort at your deaths And when your souls shall be removed from those earthly cottages wherein they now dwell they shall be translated into everlasting habitations and received with this joyful and comfortable welcome it is well done good servants and faithful ye have been faithful in a little I will make you rulers over much enter into your masters joy 25. Like men It is implied in the conclusion of my text that it is the lot and condition of all men to die And therefore as it concernes magistrates so it concerns all others to provide themselves for their end because as the tree fals so it lies that is as the day of death shall leave them so the day of judgement shall finde them Remember this yee that are to be witnesses for giving testimony unto the truth and jurers for giving a verdict according to the truth And as you love and reverence the truth it selfe as ye desire the benefit of your Christian brethren which ye should love as your selves as ye wish the glory of God which ye should tender more then your selves let it be a forcible motive unto you to deal uprightly in every cause with every man without declining to the right hand or to the left then shall ye sanctifie the name of God by whom ye do swear to speak truly to deal truly ye shall give occasion to good men to praise God for you and ye shall not need to be ashamed to meet God in the face when he shall call you to a reckoning for your doings But on the other side if rewards shall blind you or fear enforce you or pitty move you or partiality sway you or any respect whatsoever draw you to smother the truth and favour an evil cause yee pearce your selves through with many darts For first you are false witnesses against your neighbour secondly ye are thieves ye rob him of his right thirdly ye are murtherers ye kill him in his body or in his name or in his maintenance fourthly and which is worst of all ye take the name of your God in vain yea as much as in you lieth ye take his godhead from him and make him who is the truth from everlasting to be all one with the devil who is a lyar from the beginning If ye must be countable unto God when he shall call you hence for every idle word that goes out of your mouthes and if the least ungodly thought of your hearts in the rigour of Gods justice deserve eternal death how shall ye be able to stand in judgement under this ponderous Chaos of so many crying sins I cannot prosecute this point only for conclusion I say with Moses behold this day have I set before you life and death blessing and cursing choose life and ye shall live If not I pronounce unto you this day ye shall surely perish The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it 26. You whose profession is to open the causes in controversie and by your knowledge in the laws to distinguish between right and wrong truth and falshood remember that ye must die And therefore I beseech you in the fear of God to study to make the cause of your clients sure as that ye do not in the mean time forget S. Peters counsel to make your own election sure I urge this the rather because absit reverentia vero I will speak the truth in despite of all scoffes and I hope such as are ingenious will bear with my plainnesse if as Philip said of the Macedonians I call a boat a boat and a spade a spade because it seemeth to be much neglected by many of your profession who with Martha trouble themselves about many businesses but anum necessariâ—m to meet Christ and talk with him they scarce remember it I remember the saying of Demades touching the Athenians when they refused to make Alexander one of their Gods and Cassander who was his successour threatned that unlesse they would do it he would presently overthrow their city the Athenians said Demades have reason to look to themselves lest while they are too curious about heaven they lose the earth But these men have need to look to themselves lest while they trouble themselves too much about the earth they lose heaven by whose means especially it is effected that our courts do too much resemble the Lyons den which howsoever other beasts in simplicity went flocking on heaps unto yet the fox that found by experience how others sped durst not come near it Quia me vestigia terrent said she Omnia te adversum spectantia nulla retrorsum All comes to them little from them they have as attractive a force for silver as the loadstone
God of no effect by your traditions So ye shew your selves to be Children of the old Pharises hold on in your courses and fulfill the measure of their wickedness A Sermon preached at the funerall of Dr. Senhouse Bishop of CARLILE Job 14. 14. If a man dy shall he live againe all the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my changing come IF for this lifes sake only the faithfull had hope in Christ they were of all men the most miserable saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 19. For though they be not in distresse yet are they afflicted on every side though not overcome of povertie yet in povertie though they perish not yet they are cast downe though they be not forsaken yet for his sake they are persecuted all the day long and are accounted as sheep appointed to be slain but they know that he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up them by Jesus and therefore they faint not knowing that their light affliction which is but for a moment causeth unto them a farre more excellent and eternall weight of glory and that when this earthly house of this Tabernacle is destroyed they have a building given of God that is an house not made with hands but eternall in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. If any man be not fully perswaded hereof I may say to him as Philip did to Nathaniel Come and see Come and behold a lively picture a notable experiment hereof in the speaker of these words who not long before if any men in the world might have taken up Niobe's boast in the Fable Sum foelix quis enim negat hoc foelixque manebo Hoc quoque quis dubitat c. His Garners had been full and plenteous with all manner of store his sheep brought forth thousands and ten thousands in his field his Oxen were strong to labour no leading into captivity and no complaining in his streets his wife was as a fruitfull Vine upon the wals of his house his sonnes grew up as the young plants and his daughters were as the polished corners of the Temple besides this he was so hedged about by Gods providence that the sonne of wickedness could not hurt him And was he not happy that was in such a case But maxima pars est foelicitatis fuisse foelicem the remembrance of a mans felicity past adds to his present miserie For now his Children which were unto him as the Arrows in the hand of a Gyant are taken away by deaths arrow they cannot assist him his goods and cattels the externall complements of his former felicity are violently taken away by the Sabeans his enemies they cannot love him his friends miserable comforters God wot instead of sweet consolations to his distressed soule thunder out such sharp threatnings that they doe increase his calamity and more to grieve him the wife of his own bosome appointed by God as a help for man is now become as Dalilah was to Sampson a snare to him his own flesh like a tinder-box kindling with every sparkle that Sathan doth strike unto it lusts and fights against him yea and God himselfe hath drawn a curtain before his eyes hath his face as though he had quite forsaken him behold now and see if there be any sorrow like his sorrow his Children have left him his goods taken from him his friends revile him his wife entangles him his flesh buffets him God seemeth to forsake him tell me if his hope were only in this life if he were not of all the men in the world the most miserable nothing is left to solace him in this great calamitie but that which the Poet fableth left within the vessels mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some hope remaineth in the crooked and broken vessel which as a helmet keeps him from blows as an anchor holds the ship both sure stedfast that it be not dashed by the winds upon som shelves or rocks as a corke holds up above the waters that he sink not and in a word makes him resolve with himselfe not to be quite dismayed nor utterly discouraged at these calamities which are befallen him being such as are not worthy of the glorie which shall be revealed but with patience to wait when his landlord will come and put him out of this earthly house and cloth him with that house which is from Heaven All the days of my appointed time will I wait til my changing shall come As though he had said the Arrows of the Almighty are in me an the venom thereof doth drink up my spirit and the terours of God fight against mee which makes me I confesse to send forth some unsavourie speeches yet they shall neve◠quite discourage me nor deprive me of my hope which shall be accomplished after this fleshly Tabernacle shall be destroyed for I am sure that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall see him even with these eyes and no other for me and in this hope and confidence I will patiently wait and expect not for a short time but even all the time that my soul shall continue in this Tabernacle which cannot be long for that houre when this body shall be dissolved and the Spirit shall returne unto God that gave it All the dayes c. In which words wee may observe and learne these Lessons 1. That every man hath an appointed time by God which he cannot passe mine appointed time 2. That a mans life is not long before he come to his full period dayes 3. Seeing the time of mans life is limited we ought alwayes to waite and provide our selves for death I will wait 4. We are not to waite some part but all our life long All the dayes 5. That death to the godly and regenerate is but a change or a passage to a better life my changing These shall be handled in their severall order but first I will speake a little of the connexion of this latter part with the precedent part of this verse In the former he proposed this question If a man dye shall he live again not as one denying the resurrection of the body but as I take it as a fleshly man not fully perswaded but somewhat doubting of the truth hereof as in the tenth verse of this chapter man is sick and dyeth and man perisheth and where is he As if he should have said is it impossible that a man shall dye and be turned to dust and eaten up of worms and turned to grasse and goe as it were a progresse through a beasts bodie shall be revived and live againe if a man dy shall he live againe The spirituall man which prevaileth against the flesh makes this reply that though he doe not see any naturall reason for it yet he will believe it and he will defend the conclusion maugre all the premises that can be brought against it All the dayes of mine appointed