mis-interpreted there is a certain truth in it the desire of grace is the grace it self and the desire of God is that which makes some union and giveth us some communion and fellowship with God For it is impossible that the heart should desire and long after God except it be that the heart be pointed with love toward God except the heart love God for desire is nothing but a certain configuration of love Love is the general affection of the soul to any thing that is good in all the postures of it Now if it fall out that the good thing I love be absent from me that I have it not in possession then love is shaped out and sheweth it self in desires It must needs be therefore that where there are desires towards God and desires of grace there is somewhat of God formed in that person there is something of grace begun at least the first lineaments thereof are drawn in some kind of truth This is the second Act that Christians should exercise and take special care to cherish that they have continual pantings and breathings of desires toward God their hearts should work and beat toward him continually But then in the third place there is another thing expressed in the words of the Text and that is these desires are not only according to our Proverb of wishers and woulders ineffectuall desires desires that are meer gaping to see if the thing will drop into our mouths or no without any bestirring of our selves but here is joyned with them if we peruse the words of the Text we shall find it endeavours I have desired thee in the night and I will seek thee early the soul of a Christian desires God in the evening and his spirit will seek him early in the morning for those particulars of the time I shall touch by and by but now I only take notice of that third distinct act here mentioned which is our desires must be joyned with inquiries with indeavours to search after God to see if we may grope by any means to find him out to learn to know what is the way of his good will and pleasure how we may lead a life that may be acceptable to him and how we may come to the possession and assurance of his favour and be accepted in his sight Except there be endeavours it is a shrewd suspition that the desires are ineffectual desires and unformed desires and not those that argue any life and truth of grace But when our desires are joyned with these bestirrings of the soul to seek after God to search him out in his Word in his Ordinances to find his steps and to find his goings and so to maintaine a sweet and holy communion with him that is a sweet act of Grace and a certaine ratification and seal of the truth of it But then let me add the third thing In what height are all these actions to be boyled up or in what manner must we tender these services to God in this kind How must our understandings lay hold upon God and treasure him up in our memories How must our affections and desires work toward him how must our endeavours be carried toward God The manner of all these will make this compleat and so make up the full and compleat Character of a Christian in this general duty First the soul must be carried intimately and most inwardly the inward motions and workings of the soul and spirit must be toward God And therefore the Prophet here expresseth these acts as the acts of the very soul and spirit of a man All outward actions of seeking toward God and making our approaches and addresses toward him they are all such as may be counterfeited a hypocrite may act them There is nothing in the world no shape of any external thing in the world but a Painter with his Pensil can draw the picture of it give a resemblance of the thing and there is no outward action in the world that belongeth to God or to Christianity but it is possible for a Painter for a base hypocrite to represent them with an artificiall pensil But the inward acts of life that no Painter can imitate a Painter cannot make a picture to have heart and entrailes and lunges to have life and motion and spirits and bloud stirring in the veines all those things a Painter cannot imitate he can make shapes but he cannot put the life into them he can make outward formes but he cannot put the inwards to them Now then this is that intended here all those outward actions must be animated actions not dead actions actions that have no further bottome then the teeth out wards that grow upon the house top a word growing upon the tip of the tongue that hath no root in the heart and so for the rest But they must have the root in the heart and soul of a man that must inwardly be carried towards God And when the heart and soul and spirit of a man all which words are here used by a supernatural grace that is implanted in them when I say they are thus carried toward God it is an argument of spiritual life that there is some life Secondly they must be carried sincerely not for any by or base respects When a man makes toward any person or thing and professes love to it and doth it not for the thing it self but for some by end he doth not love that person he makes to but he loveth that thing for whom he makes to that person As for example A man scrapeth and croucheth and keeps a do with a man that he never saw or knew one that he is ready it may be when his back is turned to curse but yet he will do this for his almes for his gain to make a prey a use of him some way this man loveth his almes loveth his prey loveth his bounty but it is no argument of love to the man So it is in this case for a man to make toward God and to seem to own him and to be one of the generation of those that seek his face to address himself in outward confotmity and many other things by which another may charitably if he have no other ground judge of him all this is nothing except a man may discern something that may give him a taste that his spirit doth uprightly and sincerely seek God that he loveth God for God himself that he loveth grace for grace it self he loveth the Commandements of God because they are Gods commandements and because they are beautiful being according to the rule of his Word But otherwise if it be any sinister thing that carrieth a man on toward God it is no argument of the life and truth of grace You know it is so in experience there be many things that move and yet their motion is no argument of life A wind-mill when the wind serveth moveth and moveth
desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ How can these stand with the fear of death under which Gods servants are held To this I answer briefly Gods servants must be considered in their desires two waies First in their general desires Secondly in a particular state wherein they are In their general course their desire is most for the appearing of Christ they most desire to be with him as best for them but take them in some particular state wherein they are less provided and less fitted and prepared then they may be at a stand in their desires they may have the fear of death in them As a wife her general desire is for nothing so much as for the presence of her husband yet she may be under some particular unfitness there may be something or other in the way that she would not have him come in at that instant though her desire be for nothing so much as for his company So it may be the case of the servants of God they may say somtimes Lord spare me a little before I go hence to strengthen my faith to perfect my repentance and holiness to do some particular work and the like David considered this that there was something that he might doe that he had not done and that he would faine doe before he went and so Hezekiah and the rest of the servants of God The point is clear I come to the Application It shall be a word of exhortation to cut of other uses and that is this To stir up the servants of God that if they be disposed to distempers under which they are held that they are afraid to die that therefore they labour by all good meanes to shake off the feare of death Why Consider and note well those two things that are in the Text. The first is this that it is an uncomfortable state to be held under the feare of Death you see it is called a Bondage here and that is enough to show the uncomfortableness of it he saith by the feare of death they were held in bondage all their life long Now the fear of Death is a bondage principally in these two respects first because it is with them as it is with a Bond-slave A Bond-slave is afraid to looke on him that hath the command of him he apprehendeth him as no freind therefore he doth not love to looke on him so it is in this case when a man lookes upon Death as a thing that is no freind to him he cannot abide to look on him every thought of Death is a presenting of death to him and it is a miserable bondage when a man cannot present Death to himself without fear Secondly there is this in it that makes it a bondage it holdeth downe the spirit of a man A bond-slave you know is bound with fetters and chaines in his captivity so that he hath neither freedome of spirit nor freedome of action So it is with a man that is held under the fear of death he cannot doe what he would he cannot rejoyce in God he cannot delight in the apprehension of glory to come he cannot entertain a thought of parting with things present with that security and comfort of heart that he should doe and all because this fear as the setters bindeth his hands and his feet and keepeth him in bondage This is the first thing the fear of death to be held under it it is an uncomfortable state Secondly as it is uncomfortable so it is possible that the servants of God may be free from these fears under which they are held We see the text sheweth it Christ came for this end that having destroyed him that hath the power of death that is the devil he might deliver those that for fear of death were held under bondage Did Christ come for this end then it is possible to be had for certainly Christ would not lose his end he came for this was his end not only to deliver them from eternal death but also from the fear of temporal death It is possible therefore The servants of God have found it and therefore you shall see them brought in insulting and triumphing and glorying over Death Oh death where is thy sting Oh Grave where is thy victory thanks be to God that hath given us victory through Christ our Lord When they looked upon Death through Christ they looked on it without this fear the sting and power is took out the very nature of it is changed and it is made now every way beneficial I say it is possible for we are regenerate and begotten again to a lively hope to an inheritance immortal and undefiled and in what measure the hope of heaven is in the heart of man in that measure the fear of death falleth in that heart now it is possible that we may attain this fulness of hope and therefore it is possible that we may be freed quite from the fear of Death This may suffice by way of motive A word or two by way of direction If this be possible to be had how shall the servants of God get it you see some of Gods servants are held under the fear of death and that all their life long how shall we be freed from this fear I should now orderly take up the particulars laid down as causes and shew that by these it is cured as for instance Doth God do this for this end that he may humble a man then the more humble thou art the less thou shalt be in the fear of Death for God layeth these fears upon men to humble them therefore labour for perfect humiliation and thou shalt perfectly rid these fears out of thy heart as we see plainly the servants of God the more humble they have grown the less careful they have been of life and the less fearful of Death And so those servants of God that have been brought to deny themselves and to renounce all their worldly expectation and advancements they have alwaies been ready to die Saint Paul was grown humble and the Lord had prevailed upon him kept down his spirit from being exalted above measure and now faith he my life is not dear to me he was content to lay down his life and all when he was humbled Beloved pride in some outward excellencies or other setteth a man above his place therefore when a man is took off from all that puffs up the spirit of a man he will be content to lay down any of those things even life it selfe if need be Again secondly Doth God do it to strengthen faith in a man then the more thou strengthenest faith the more thou shalt be freed from these fears you know faith looks upon Christ as the proper object of it and the more a man interesteth himself in Christ the more by Christ he is freed from the fear of Death Christ hath redeemed us from the Grave and from
Death and therefore when by faith he looks upon Christ and through him upon Death he looks upon that as a thing made instead of poison a medicine instead of a destroyer a Saviour and deliverer as a means to free him from the bondage of sin and misery and afflictions c. Thirdly Doth God do this that he may make men more holy and watchful in their course then certainly the more thou canst purge out thy sin in the course of thy life the less thou shalt fear death The sting of Death is sin then if thou wilt have Death comfortable let thy life be conformable to Gods rule and word or else every sin will present it selfe in death before thee specially those sins thou allowest thy self in will make Death as bitter as Hell Fourthly Doth God do it for this end that he may make thee better prepared for death Then the more thou art prepared for Death beforehand the less thou shalt fear it when it cometh upon thee it will not come as a stranger but thou wilt be ready to receive it as one with whom thou art acquainted already It is a great matter if men could learn this wisdome to die daily that is be every day imployed as dying daily I mean for the manner of your carriage not for the matter for the substance of the duty If a man were sure to die this day he would lay aside all business and set himself to be prepared for judgment and would lay aside the use of any other comforts and delights But this is not the meaning but this that we carry our selves in business every day as if death should seize upon us in that business that we might be found well-doing that is when a man followeth his earthly business with a heavenly mind when he keepeth to the rule of righteousness and truth in his ordinary calling when he is doing or receiving good in his company when he useth his pleasures and recreations as the whet-stone to the Sithe to make him fitter for God I say when thus we do things to a right end and in a right manner if Death now should seize upon us in such an action it should find us well-doing And this is that we perswade you to if you would have death comfortable and not tertible be so imployed as that your actions may be good both for matter and forme that you are now about because Death may stricke you in such an action But I cannot stand on these particulars Again for the causes in our selves If you would be freed from the terrours of Death then rectifie your apprehensions and opinions of Death think of it as it is as it is I say to beleevers to those that are in Christ It is not the destruction of nature and so a natural Ill as you account it It is rather a cure of nature for assoon as ever we live we are dying and all our life it is but a living death a continual decaying and dying Now when death cometh it putteth an end to all the decayes of nature and setteth all right again It is but a sleep and sleep it is not a destruction but a help of the body and that which inableth to vigour and strength and fitnesse to action Again it is not the distruction of any part of a man the body it self is not destroyed indeed it is in the Grave but it is in the grave as in a bed of peace They shall come and rest in their beds saith the Prophet The grave is but as a bed wherein the body lies asleep and no man you know is troubled with fear that he goeth to bed The grave is but as Gods chest to keep in all his Treasure whereof the bodies of his servants are a part precious to him even in the grave in death Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints and God will open this Cabinet and the Chest of the Grave in the great day of the Resurrection and bring the body out again and then it shall be as good as ever it was nay I say not only as good but much better too for our vile bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Christ Phil 3. No man when he goeth to bed thinks much to have his old cloathes taken off that they may be mended and made better against morning When we sleep in the Grave it is no more but this the garment of the soul the body the old apparel that is taken off that it may be made better and a more glorious body this is all we lose nothing by it but our estates even our bodily estate is bettered by it And for the Soul Death doth not destroy that neither for know this the soul liveth for ever the bodie indeed returneth to the Earth as it was but the soul returneth to God that gave it The soul I say liveth that is the thing that Christ himself proveth in 22. Mat. Abraham is alive why so for God is not the God of the dead but of the living for God said I am the God of Abraham c. How can this be that God is the God of Abraham and yet he is dead Indeed he is dead if we looke to the separation of the soul and body in the cessation of bodily actions but if we looke to the better part of Abraham his soul that continueth the everliving God hath made an everlasting Covenant with him and therefore he dieth not Again it is not only not the destruction of nature but not of your actions neither Death doth not destroy them neither Indeed there is a cessation of bodily actions but it is that the body may have better strength and be the fitter instrument of holiness after But for those actions of the soul that depend not upon the body they are as perfectly done when we are dead as when we are alive and better too When a man liveth upon the earth you see his soul is much hindered by the body A distempered sick crazie body or a full well-fed body is a hinderance to the soul because of that tie that is between the body and the soul and the spirit so there is a simpathy the soul is affected somewhat in this sense But it is not so then the soul shall be loosed from the body and so freer for spiritual actions then now it is The souls under the Altar they crie How long Lord holy and just wilt thou not revenge our bloud upon them that are upon the earth The souls of Gods servants you see then are glorified when they are out of the body and therefore shall glorifie God more prefectly and enjoy God more freely and fully then now while their souls are in these mortal bodies And at that very instant when the soul of Cods servant is carried out of the body to heaven it more perfectly injoyeth Christ and is more sensible and more fit to answer the love
present calamities of a mans life For crosses of any kind in name state freinds or families or in whatsoever a man hath or goeth about they may all be reduced to this one head when a man cometh from a state of health to a state of sickness from a state of comfort to a state of sorrow from acquaintance and society to be as a Pelican in the wilderness as David speaks destitute of all freinds and helps from inward rejoycing in his heart in the assurance of Gods love to spiritual disertions wherein he seemeth to be as in a cloud under the frowns of God When a man is in this case how shall he exercise Patience how shall he come to it Briesly the way for a man to get patience in such cases as these is this First to consider that there is no change in my life there is no condition whatsoever that I am cast into but it is ordered by God Set thy soul awork now to give God his glory in that change of thy life First give God the glory of his absolute Soveraignty and Dominion Secondly give him the glory of his wisdome Thirdly give him the glory of his mercy in those changes of thy life that seem most grievous to thee First I say give him the glory of his absolute soveraignty Acknowledge him an absolute in-dependant Lord that doth what he will among the creatures His will is the rule of all his actions upon the creatures here below and uncontroul'd unquestionable It is high arrogancy and presumption and pride of spirit for the creature to contest with his Creator concerning his actions on earth Let every man reason thus I must give God the glory of his Soveraignty and acknowledge that he hath power and right to rule all the families of the earth and why not mine as well as another Why not my person as well as anothers Why not to order all the changes of my life as well as another mans That which Benhadad spake proudly to Ahab thy silver and thy gold thy wives and thy children and thy house and thy Citie are mine That may God speak truely and by right All that thon hast and all that thou art is mine therefore give him that glory that Job did in the change of his life The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord that gave hath right to take what he will There is nothing that will keep the creature in his due place but the consideration of Gods absolute soveraignty This consideration was that that meekned the spirit of Eli when that heavy message was brought to him that there should come such misery upon his house that whosoever heard it both his eares should tingle well saith he It is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good It is the Lord and it becometh not servants to stand and contend with their Lord. So David when the Priests offered him their service to go along with him to the field from Absolom If saith he I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord he will bring me back to Jerusalem and his tabernacle but if he thus say I have no delight in thee behold here am I let him do to me as seemeth good unto him Here was that that humbled the spirit of David when he considered that he was under the hands of an absolute Lord let the Lord do with me what seemeth him good Secondly as thou must give him the glory of his soveraignty so of his wisdome Know that God ordereth all his wayes with wisdome and counsel he knoweth what is good for his children Ye are content when ye are sick that the Physitian should diet ye because ye account him wise and one that hath skill in that course If God diet thee for the purging out of some corruption and for the curing of some spiritual disease in thy soul submit to God in this case be willing to resigne thy self up to be ordered by him A man that hath a Gangreen or such a dangerous disease in his body submitteth to the Surgeon in his course though it be to the cutting and sawing off a limb though it be never so painful and the losse be never so great yet he is for the saving of his life willing to have that taken away God is a wise God that knoweth what estate is best for thee not onely when tryals are better than comforts but what one kind of tryall is better then another it may be it is better to exercise one with poverty another with disgrace another with spiritual trouble another with restraint of liberty which particular tryall is necessary to cure that disease and which this that is in my soul the heavenly Physitian will bring that upon thee as a spirituall prescription and a heavenly course that he takes in insinite wisdome to cure thee Lastly give him in all this the glory of his mercy What hast thou lost but thou maiest have lost a great deal more What dost thou suffer but thou maiest have suffered a great deal more As Alcibiades when he was told that one had stollen half his plate I have cause faith he rather to be thankeful that he took no more then to be troubled that he took so much I am sure it is true of God in this case what hath God took from thee some part of thy estate some friend some comfort of thy life some one or other particular comfort could he not have done more He afflicteth thee in thy body he might have afflicted thee in thy soul and a wounded spirit who can bear He hath afflicted thee in some one member of thy body he could have cast body and soul into Hell There is not a tryall upon thee but God could have made it heavier let that make thee therefore to submit with a more meek heart and willing spirit to God as a merciful God as the Church in the Lamentations It is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed the Church was in great affliction when the Babilonians came upon them and they were driven from the house of God and their own houses but yet it was Gods mercy that they were not consumed So the Prophet Jeremy telleth Baruch in the captivity Seekest thou great things for thy selfe thou shalt have thy life for a prey Baruch was wondrously disquieted he complained that the Lord had added grief to his sorrow What grief was that that He must go to Egypt and after to Babylon Well saith the Prophet thy case is not so heavy as thou seemest to make it thou shalt have thy life for a prey in all places wheresoever thou goest God might have taken away life and all but thy life thou shalt have for a prey Therefore be content with so much So I say to thee when great afflictions comes upon thee they might have been greater therefore consider that that thou maiest give
be greater then I can give warrant for they that die thus die eternally And we had need beseech God with all earnestness of spirit to keep us from such a fearful temptation as this for they that die thus die not in the Lord and therefore cannot be blessed for my Text saith it of no other but of those Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. This is the first point I come to the Restriction Die in the Lord. It may be construed two wayes the preposition is Ambiguous for the preposition many times in Scripture signifies In Domino or propter Dominum As Rom. 16.1 I commend unto you Phebe our sister that you would receive her in Domino in the Lord that is for the Lords sake as becometh Saints And in the twelfth verse of the same Chapter Salute the beloved Persis which laboured much in the Lord that is laboured much in Gods cause for the Lord. So again Say to Archippus look to the ministery that thou hast received In Domino that is for the Lord for the Lords service for his work I might give you many more instances There is one place most pregnant Eph. 4.1 I Paul a prisoner in Domino so saith the vulgar Latine and so is the Greek interpretation In the Lord. What meaneth Saint Paul A prisoner in the Lord what is that A prisoner for the Lord a prisoner for the Lords cause And thus you may take the word here in the Text Blessed are they that die in Domino that is such as die in causa Domini and thus Judicious Beza to whose judgment I attribute much in translations he readeth it so Blessed are the dead qui moriuutur causa Domini and then in his Annotations propter Dominum And if you take it thus then the Martyrs only are blessed That Martyrs are blessed the Church of God is so far from making a question that they set it down as a Rule Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro Martyre A man doth wrong to a Martyr that prayes for a Martyr their blessedness is so sure for He that loseth his life for my sake and the Gospels shall find it saith Christ If he loseth a temporal life he shall find an eternal If he lose a life accompanied with sorrow he shall find another life that is with joy such joy as cannot be conceived such joy as shall never be ended Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints There are two things saith S. Bernard that makes the death of a Saint precious the one is a good life before the other is a good cause for which he dieth A good life will make it a precious death but a good cause will make it a more precious death But that is the most pretious death that hath both a good life before it and a good cause coming next The Matyrs are blessed but they must be such Martyrs as suffer for the Lord be sure of that or else they are not blessed There be some that would be accounted Martyrs a great company of such we have had of late that have died for broaching of reason and some for sowing of sedition some for absolving subjects from the oath of Alleageance some for attempting to blow up Parliament houses Such as these are not Martyrs It is not the punishment it is the cause that makes the Martyr Our blessed Lord himselfe that never did evil was crucified between two evil-doers there was an equal punishment there was not an equal cause It must be the cause that we must look to if we look to be blessed But I cantot stand upon that Here is the first interpretation To die in the Lord is for the Lord. But there is a second and that is more large die in the Lord that is die in the faith of the Lord. Salute Andronicus and Junius my fellow prisoners which were in the Lord before me Saith S. Paul that is that were Beleevers that were in the faith before me And to let pass many other places if there be no resurrection of the dead saith the Apostle then we that are asleep in Christ c. If we beleeve that Jesus died then those that sleep in Jesus shall he bring with him c. and Again He shall descend from heaven with a shout and they that are dead in Christ shall rise first Now what is it to die in Christ in a large sense I will tell you He that would die in Christ first he must die in obedience There are many works of obedience that we are to doe Our last and greatest act of obedience is to resign up this same spirit of ours willingly chearfully into the hands of God that gave it If we have not attained to that strength that some have done that is to live patiently and die willingly yet we should labour to attain to thus much strength to live willingly and to die patiently So as Christ may be magnified in my body saith the Apostle I pass not it makes no matter let it either be by life or by death When we have done the work that God hath set us to do we must be gone and thus must every one say with himself Lord if I have done all the work thou hast appointed me to do call me away at thy pleasure Here is the first In obedience Secondly Die in repentance I remember what Possidonius said of Saint Augustine a little before his death that it was necessary that men when they died they should not go out of the world absque digna competenti resipiscentiâ without a fit competent repentance He himselfe did so for he caused the penitential Plalmes to be written and they were before him as he lay upon his bed and he was continually reading those penitential Psalmes and meditating upon them with many tears he died even in the very act of contrition I do love to see a man chearful upon his death-bed but I do more love to see a man penitent There is a day indeed when God will wipe away all tears from our eyes When that cometh then he will wipe away these tears of repentance too these tears of godly sorrow But the Lord grant he may find me with tears in mine eyes Thirdly Die in faith Indeed if ever Faith had a work to doe it bath then a work to do when all other comforts in the world fail us and freinds go from us then faith to lay hold on the promises I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall rise again at the last day and be covered with my skin and shall see God with these same eyes Thus faith And then fourthly Die with Invocation calling upon the name of God Thus have all the Saints of God done continually commending of their souls to God in prayers Saint Paul would have us commend our souls to God in well-doing And it is a necesary thing every morning
serve for admonition and so to teach us how to carry our selves If the Law of God be the rule whereby he will judge us First then look to the law for direction look to the precept to the command of God for the directing of our lives I know not how but I am sure by the malice of Satan it is come into the world into the Church that some men upon pretence of giving the doctrin of justification by grace and by the merits of Christ the full vertue of it would put men off from all obedience as if therefore we were not to be under the direction of the Law because we are freed from the Law by Christ They distinguish not between the penalty of the Law the command of the Law the same Christ that hath freed us from the punishment of the Law as many as are in him by faith hath subjected us to the command of the Law and that in his own person and not only so but in his own precept Therefore he became an expounder of the Law Math. 5. and shewes that the Law is spiritual that it is a thing that binds the conscience and would have all men look to the direction of the Law And the Apostle Saint Paul then whom no man ever spake more fully of justification by Faith yet the same Apostle would not have the Law as it is a direction of life abolished but would have men so much the more new as by new arguments and incouragements they are set upon the duties of obedience But I say such is the malice of Satan as to draw men upon such grounds as these are not rightly understood by them to I know not what course of Libertinisme and though they pretend a course of obedience to the Law yet they will not do it as to the Law Whereas it is evident that the Law is appointed as a curb to our corruption to cure and purge out that And therefore it is for men to be wiser then God to ground their actions upon another principle and ground then God grounds them Indeed the servants of God do not the actions of obedience simply because of the Law written in the Scriptures but they have the Law written in their hearts too so the Spirit of God is a Spirit that guides them according to the Law and disposeth them to those actions that are sutable to the Law yet he never excludes or puts them from the Law from subjection to the Law in point of obedience I say therefore errours creep in amongst men to dream of a liherty from obedience when the Scripture speaks of a liberty from the Law but in other sences not in matter of duty Secondly let men look to the Law for tryal too Gal. 6.3 4. If a man think he is something when he is nothing he deceiveth himself but let every man try himself and prove his own work Let him prove his own work by what shall he prove it Why by the Law By the Law here we mean the whole Word of God the Law of works and of Faith I say let him prove his works by this Law by the written Word of God Therefore if a man would now know how it shall go with him at the day of judgement let him begin to judge himself by this rule before-hand Let him reason thus either I shall stand as condemned or acquitted if as condemned it is by the Law therefore mark so far as I go on in any sin against any known truth of God so far I stand in the estate of a condemned person Therefore consider beloved you do exceedingly wrong your selves because you do not look thus upon you actions you look not upon them as upon things that are transgressions against the Law that shall judge you and that therefore if the Law of God condemn such actions now then thou standest as a condemned person by vertue of that Law Alas durst men go on without repentance in any course of sin if they took themselves as condemned men in truth by vertue of the Law There is not any word that thou speakest but as soon as it is spoken thou standest in the estate of a condemned man and if thou interest not thy self in Christ and come not in certainly the Law will pass upon it Therefore seriously consider of this that there is no evil or particular sin that you go on in but if the Law condemn it Christ will condemn it too at the day of judgement Therefore you must before-hand condemn your selves that you may not be condemned of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.32 Judge your selves and you shall not be judged of the Lord But yet this remaines a truth still that he that doth not condemn himself that doth not take off his sins by unfeigned repentance he stands a condemned person before the Lord because he stands condemned in the Law Therefore I beseech you beloved plead not any priviledg in Christ I speak this the rather because men use the Gospel to their own destruction I say plead not priviledge by Christ if you go on in the allowance of any sin shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid saith the Apostle So I say when a man will come and plead I believe and I hope to be saved by Faith yet nevertheless it may be thou art a swearer a vain spender of thy time it may be thou art a neglecter of the duties of the worship of God and of thy duties towards men c. thou art a man in some constant course in some way of sin or other I say this shewes thee to stand as a condemned man and in the state of a condemned man I say not that such a man shall infallibly be damned because God may give him repentance that he may come out of the snare of the divel but we say he stands for the present in the state of a condemned person and he is condemned by the Law and remains so till this be reversed by repentance till he have sued out this pardon by interresting himself in Christ Therefore consider this seriously that there is not that sin in thought that thou committest not any act of sin whatsoever but because of that sin thou art condemned in Law therefore thou standest in the state of a condemned person for that sin therefore there must be somewhat done now to take off this I say a man may have a pardon and yet if he sue it not out it is of no force or use to him so let no man talk he is a justified person by Christ but thou must sue out this pardon Therefore we are taught upon daily suing to renew our daily prayers for the pardon of sin There must be a daily suing out of the pardon and that upon this ground so there must be a daily condemning of thy self and of sin in thy self Alas what shall become of a world of men and women I speak not of those that
discouragements on him that he desires Secondly another advantage he hath for this end is this that is he wondrously prevails upon the heart of man by a careless neglect that is in men every man loves ease There is such a spirit in man such a disposition in the spirit of man that he avoids the things ordinarily that have great labour this disposition to ease and rest Satan serves himself on and makes great use of so when a man hath come from hearing the Word and reading the Scriptures whereas he should now be exercised and labour in meditation to work those things on his heart that now the root might fasten and things might settle on the soul he passeth by these easily now the heart of a man lies open as the high way you know the parable Matth. 13. when the seed fell on the high-way the Fowls of the ayr came and picked it up and it was gone presently where there is no pains taken with the heart of a man as there is none taken with the high way that the seed that falls there might grow as in the plowed ground when there is no pains taken with the heart now every notion every direction and every spiritual instruction it lies lightly there and is soon carried out this is the advantage that Satan makes of a mans love of ease But there is another thing concerning the way that Satan takes not only to steal it out of the mind by those two wayes but again by presenting the very truths of God to men in false glosses so as a man cannot discern them in their own shape and nature but in such colours as he presents them to them If the time would have served I might instance in several particulars I will but touch upon one or two and leave the inlargement to your own meditations Sometimes things that are great and of precious use shall be presented small and of no account and things again that are small and little shall be presented wondrous great The mercies of God the Attributes of God the promises of the Gospel the sufficiency of the merits of Christ these shall seem small things little to be regarded less then ever God intended them to be And on the contrary a mans own sins his own distempers shall be made exceeding great Worldly things shall be presented as things of the greatest consequence and spiritual things as meer accessories as things that depend upon them and that come in after Sometimes again things that are most necessary to be understood and known things that should be particularly applyed shall be presented obscurely and confusedly and sometimes things of lesser consequence the knowledge whereof is not so necessary shall be presented with more clearness and with strong perswasions to the study and knowledge of them But I will not stand on this this is enough to give you a taste of Satans subtilty this way whereby he wondrously prevails in bringing trouble upon the spirits of men Thirdly it is from our selves and so it comes to pass from that general corruption that is in our natures from whence all other sins flow that the spirits of men are troubled and disturbed by things that fall out from day to day And first it comes to pass that the soul of man is miserably in bondage and captivated and inthraled and is deprived of liberty as it were through the distemper of the body as in Melancholy and sickness we see how the soul is disâ—…urbed by the very diseases and distempers in the body it self and that by vertue of that simpathy in the soul with the body it riseth from the union of it to the body by the spirits but this I will pass by Sometimes we see the soul subdued with lusts and corruptions somestrong lust some strong sin or other prevails And then as it is with the Fowl that is now flying in the air it may be there is bird-lime cast upon the wings of it it falls down presently and can flie no further so it is with the soul somewhat presseth it down somewhat compasseth it about and coups it in as that expression is used Heb. 12.1 Let us cast off the sin that compasseth us about and that presseth so heavy down that we may run with patience the race that is set before us And sometimes the soul is disturbed by inordinate passions which arise from that general distemper that is diffused through every faculty and so the understanding looks upon things as through a mist it sees nothing clearly and in most common things it is blind and it is led by blind affections too and when the blind leads the blind both fall into the ditch saith Christ and so the memory that should retain the precious treasures the promises of the Gospel to relieve the soul in all cases it is like a leaking vessel that lets things run out as it is Heb. 2. Take heed that the things you have heard run not out saith the Apostle alluding to that Metaphor And the very conscience it self that should be conclusive it now rests in generals and uncertainties conscience should determin what my case is whether I be the child of God or no whether I be in the state of grace or no to put a man to bring things to particular now for the most part by mans own neglect it remains in doubt it may be I am it may be I am not it may be I have a right in the Covenant of grace it may be not c. And now because conscience is not come to that resolute conclusive act that a man may determine of his own particular case hence it is that every thing troubles and disquiets him Thus beloved you see the reasons of it We will briefly pass it over with a word of Application And first it should teach us compassion towards those whose spirits are troubled our Saviour Christ saith here Let not you hearts be troubled He considered of them in their weakness and doth not much upbraid them with it but helps to bring them out of it in much mercy and love and so should we There is such a disposition rising from the pride cruelty and uncharitableness of the hearts of men that they are apt to add to the burthen of the afflicted and to make their afflictions more by their censuring of their troubles You know the speech of old Eli a good man but yet he failed in that when he saw Hannah in great trouble of spirit uttering her heart before the Lord Lay away thy drunkenness saith he he thought she was drunk at lest with some passion and all came but from perplexity and disturbance of spirit and in that manner he rather added to her grief then eased hen So Jobs friends you see what they said they presently judged him in that case as one that God had cast off for hypocrisie and for his pride and covetousness or for some one
Secondly by newness of life Thirdly by thy continual progress in both First by thy forsaking of sin whether hast thou left those sins thou formerly livedst in As in the Resurrection of the body as soon as the soul is united to the body presently the man leaves the Grave he leaves the society of the dead and comes forth as Lazarus as soon as he was quickned and his soul returned to his body presently he came forth Vers 44. He that was dead came forth out of his grave Examine therefore whether thou be come forth of the grave of sin whether hast thou left the society of sinners of prophane persons and whether hast thou left the grave of thy sin Is there not some lust some sin that still holds thee captive in this Grave to which thou willingly and wittingly obeyest If thou live in any one known sin if thou be ruled by any one lust whatsoever it be be it swearing or drunkenness or uncleanness or covetousness or lying or open and publike prophaning of the Sabbath I say if thou live in the practice of any of these or the like known sins this is a plain case thou art still in the noysome grave of thy sins thou art not risen out of the grave of thy sins and therefore thou art not quickned by the Spirit of Christ and if thou art not quickned then thou art not a member of Christ thou art not a true Christian Again Secondly thou maist know it by the newness of thy life whether dost thou feel a spiritual life wrought in thee and whether doth it appear outwardly Dost thou feel a spiritual life wrought inwardly that spiritual life that Christ restores to the Soul is universally spread through the whole Soul As when the Soul of a man quickens the body it quickens the whole body every member of it so here the Spirit of Grace quickens the whole Soul Therefore examine whether dost thou find spiritual life wrought in thy whole Soul or no whether dost thou find this change wrought in thy understanding and judgement whether hast thou a new judgement and thoughts and opinion of God and of the wayes of God a new opinion of Christ a new opinion of the Members of Christ Whether dost thou find this change in thy heart and affections whether hast thou new desires new affections spiritual inclinations whether are the studies and desires of thy soul set upon heavenly things If ye be risen with Christ seek those things that are above Collos 3.1 Whether are thy affections and meditations heavenly and spiritual Dost thou feel this change inwardly in thy Soul Again doth this spiritual life appear outwardly also by thy speeches and actions Doth it appear outwardly in thy speeches is there a change there canst thou now speak to men in the language of Canaan and to God in the voice of his Spirit crying Abba Father Again is there a change in thy outward actions hast thou left the society of sinners and dost thou converse with living Christians Dost thou love those that excel in vertue and dost thou manifest the graces of the Spirit in the conscionable performance of all the duties of thy general and particular calling As soon as Lazarus was quickened presently as he left the Grave so he conversed with living men and walked in his Calling so examine if thou have left the society of the dead and converse with living Christians and delight in them and whether thou walk on conscionably in the place that God hath set thee in making the Word of Christ the rule of all thy actions If it be thus with thee if thou feel this spiritual life wrought in thy soul and it appear outwardly in all thy speeches and actions this is a good sign thou partakest of the first Resurrection to the life of Grace In the third place thou maist know this also by thy progress in both these First by the progress of thy Mortification Is sin daily more and more mortified in thee Dost thou daily get ground of thy corruptions Is sin in thee like the house of Saul as that waxed weaker and weaker so doth corruption in thee daily Is sin in thee like an old man as it is in every member of Christ and therefore it is stiled the old man an old man grows weaker and weaker till at the last he dyes so it is with sin in every Christian examine if sin be such an old man in you that it grows weaker daily Again thou maist know it by thy progress in thy vivification Dost thou grow in grace daily Is grace in thee as the house of David as that grew stronger and stronger so doth grace in thee Is grace like a young man as it is in every member of Christ and therefore it is stiled the New man because it is as a young and lusty man that daily grows stronger till he come to his full strength doth grace in thee grow stronger daily and dost thou go forward in thy Christian course It is the duty of a Christian to walk on daily in his Christian course Rom. 6.4 we must walk on in newness of life If thou find this progress in thy mortification and vivification it is a good signe indeed that thou hast attained to the first Resurrection of the Soul to a spiritual life Therefore let me intreat you to set upon this work of examination of your own hearts diligently and faithfully Let not the multitudes of worldly business let not the allurement of vain objects and vain company let not the appetite and desire of base pleasures drive these thoughts out of your heads but examine your own hearts whether you partake of the first Resurrection or no. Deceive not thy own soul for though Conscience may now sleep thou maist think thou art in a good estate yet let me tell thee the time will come when thy Conscience will awake that if thou continue to wallow in any one sin if there be no change in thee in thy life in thy heart if instead of growing better thou grow worse and be hardened more and more in sinful courses thy Conscience will tell thee to thy face thou art a dead man thou hast no part in Christ for Christ is the Resurrection the Fountaine of spiritual life thou hast not yet attained the first Resurrection to the life of grace and therefore if thou go on in this course thou shalt not attaine to the second Resurrection to the life of glory So much for that Vse The third and the last Use of the point is for exhortation and direction If now upon examination thou find that thou hast not yet attained to this spiritual Resurrection then let me counsel thee to give no rest to thy soul till thou hast attained it for remember that this is the first step to heaven and if thou set not the first step to heaven surely thou shalt never come thither As the Resurrection of Christ was the
up and down disconsolate with soft paces sad looks and sorrowful hearts all their children they are ready to call and christen Ichobods the glory is departed from Israel being affected like the Citizens of Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib their hearts are like the trees of the wood moved with the wind But let such droopers know that herein they offend God and wrong themselves and let them gird up their loyns and tie up their spirits at the serious consideration that God in due time will raise them out of the dust maintain his own cause and confound his enemies The third sort of people are the Arguers or Disputers who being of a middle temper neither haughty nor stomackful neither low nor dejected and withal being good men embrace a middle course neither to fret nor dispute but calmly to reason out the matter with God himself Of this later sort was the Prophet Jeremiah who thus addresseth himself unto the Lord Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper wherefore are they happy that deal very treacherously The good man could not conceive Gods proceedings and although he kept to the conclusion Righteous are thou O Lord yet his heart was hot within him and he would fain be exchanging an argument with God that all was not right according to his humane capacity Job also was one of these Arguers in the agony of his passion Oh that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his neighbour But let flesh and blood take heed of entring the lists by way of challenge with God himself If the synagogue of the Libertines and Cyrenians and Alexandrians and of them of Silicia and of Asia disputing with Stephen were not able to resist the wisdome and the spirit by which he spake much less can frail flesh hope to make good a bad cause by way of opposition against God the best and wisest answerer Remember the Apostles question Where is the disputer But if we should be so bold in humility to examine Gods proceedings let us take heed lest whilest we dispute with God Satan insensibly prompts us such reasons as are seemingly unanswerable in our apprehensions so that instead of being too hard for God which is impossible men become too hard for themselves raising such spirits which they cannot quell and starting such doubts which they cannot satisfie Wherefore let not our ignorance be counted Gods injustice let not the dimness of our eyes be esteemed the durtiness of his actions being all purity and cleanness in themselves Let us if beaten from our out-works make a safe retreat to this impregnable castle Jeremiah his conclusion Righteous art thou O Lord c. Come we now to the good Uses that the godly ought to make of a righteous mans perishing in his righteousness And first when he finds such a one in a swoun he ought with all speed to bring him a cordial and with the good Samaritane to pour Oil and Wine into his wounds endeavouring his recovery to his utmost power whilest there is any hope thereof I must confess it is only Gods prerogative according to the greatness of his power to preserve those that are appointed to die However it is also the boundant duty of all pious people in their several distances and degrees to improve their utmost for the preservation of dying innocency from the cruelty of such as would murder it But if it be impossible to save it from death so that it doth expire notwithstanding all their care to the contrary they must then turn lamenters at the funerals thereof And if the iniquity of the times will not safely afford them to be open they must be close Mourners at so sorrowful an accident O let the most cunning Chyrurgeons not begrutch their skill to unbowel the richest Merchants not think much of their choisest spices to embalm the most exquisite Joyner make the coffin most reverend Divine the Funeral Sermon the most accurate Marbler erect the Monument and most renowned Poet invent the Epitaph to be inscribed on the tomb of Perishing Righteousness Whilest all others well-wishers to goodness in their several places contribute to their sorrow at the solemn Obsequies thereof yea as in the case of Josiah his death let their be an Anniversary of Mourning kept in remembrance thereof However let them not mourn like men without hope but let them behave themselves at the interment of his righteousness as confident of the resurrection thereof which God in his due time shall raise out of the ashes It is sown in weakness it shall be raised in power it is sown in disgrace it shall be raised in glory Lastly the temporal perishing of the righteous man in this world minds us of the necessity of the day of Judgment and ought to edge and quicken our prayers that God would shortly accomplish the number of his elect consummate this miserable world put a period to the dark night of his proceedings that so that day that welcome day may begin to dawn which is tearmed by the Apostle The day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Five things there are besides many others in the primitive part of Gods justice which are very hard for men to conceive First How the sin of Adam to which we did never personally consent can justly be imputed to us his posterity Secondly How infants who never committed actual sin are subject to death and which is more to damnation it self Thirdly How God can actually harden the hearts of some as he did Pharaohs and yet not be in the least degree accessary to sin and the author thereof Fourthly How the Americans can justly be condemned to whom the sound of the Gospel was never trumpetted forth and they by their invincible ignorance uncapable of Gods will in his word Lastly How God as it in the Text can suffer righteous men to perish in their righteousness and wicked men to flowrish in their iniquity In all these a thin vail may seem to hang before them so that we have not a full and free view of the reasons of Gods proceedings herein yet so as that under and thorow this vail we discover enough in modesty and sobriety to satisfie our selves though perchange unable to utter what in part we apprehend we cannot effectually remove all the scruples which the pious nor all the cavils which the profane man brings against us But at the day of judgment at the revelation of the righteous judgment of God this vail shall be turned back or rather totally taken away so that all shall plainly and perspicuously perceive the justice of Gods dealing in the cases aforesaid Not that then or there any new essential addition or accession shall accrue to Gods justice to mend or make up any former desault or defect therein
assuredly that there was a Crown of Righteousness laid up for him in Heaven Answ To which some answer that he had it by Revelation extroardinary as an Apostolical priviledge daigned to him from God the better to chear him on in the course of the Gospel and to steel his resolutions against all opposers of the glorious truth therein revealed or as Anselme thus He had that assurance Non re plenissima sed spe firmissima grounded upon a firm hope and expectation But of this more anon Having thus pointed at the Quaeries I come now to the more particular handling of the words out of which I observe two general parts 1. A solemn profession of the discharge of his Office verse 7. 2. A large Remuneration and Reward of that Discharge ver 8. In the former we have 1. The Person I. 2. His Act fought 3. The object of that Act A fight 4. The quality of that fight A good fight 5. The time of all this noted from the expression in the Proeter tense I have fought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have fought a good fight the rest of the words in this verse I take to be upon the matter but as the exegesis and exposition of the former In the second main part the reward We have it amplified 1. By the Donor or bestower of it The Lord described here by a Periphrasis and styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Righteous Judge 2. By the Title given to it A Crown of Righteousness 3. By the manner of it it is laid up 4. By the time of Donation In that Day 5. By the persons to whom bestowed To Paul himself and that not by any restrictive enclosure as if only to himself and to none other besides but by a farther expansion it reacheth unto others with himself provided they be found under due qualification of loving the appearance of the Judge Not unto me only but unto them also that love his appearing These at least as to my observation are the parts of this Scripture which being so many I must be constrained as the Disciples passing through the Corn-fields upon the Sabbath day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to pluck but an ear or two of the choysest notice or as some Lapidaries of rich Jewels are wont shew them only in a short cursory view and so lay them up again The first words I have fought a good fight admit of a divers Interpretations yet each of them suitable to the Analogy and proportion of Faith They may then be taken either as the expression of Sain Paul himself quatenus Apostolus as under the notion of an Apostle or else as a Christian in the condition with other Members of the Church of Christ with himself for that we read in the close of the eighth verse The Crown of Righteousness was laid up for all that loved the appearing of the Lord. If we take them in the former sense then from the first particular The Person The note of Magalian is opposite Stus Paulus Dux fuit antesignamus earum quoe proecipiebat That we look at Saint Paul as an exemplary leader to all his successors though indeed not in an Apostolical Latitude yet in the office and work it self of the Ministery practically first doing what he would have others to observe in and about the dispensation of the Gospel see Phil. 4.9 And this was our Saviours own Course Act. 1.1 He began to do and Teach first to do and then to Teach it s noted by Barradius upon that Prophesie Isa 9.6 which had relation to our Saviour it was said The Government should be upon his shoulders intimating that himself would first bear in his own person what he intended to impose upon others to wit in things capable of Imitation even as he said unto John Baptist when he tender'd himself to be Baptized of him and he in an humble renuence grew shy as deeming himself unworthy of so great an Honour Mat. 3.15 Suffer it to be so now saith he for thus it becometh us to fulfil all Righteousness Hac est enim Justitia ut quod alterum facere velis prior ipse incipias tuo alios horteris exemplo as Saint Ambrose expounds the words This was righteousness that is an equal and just thing that what thou wouldest have another to observe and do thou thy self shouldest first exemplisie in thine own actions suitably whereunto was that serious advise of Saint Paul unto his Son Timothy 2 Tim. 4.16 Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Doctrine for so thou shalt both save thy self and those that hear thee Where the chiefest heed was to be given to himself Truly spake Saint Gregory cum Imperio docetur quod prius agitur quam dicatur Then shall we with Authority speak what we do when we do what we speak But this is a Discourse fitter for a Visitation then a Funeral were it not that it is at the obsequies of such a worthy Divine for whom we now perform this last Christian good office whose practise herein was an accurate Comment upon the whole speech From the second and third particular in this acception of the words its obvious to every apprehension that the work of the Ministery is a Fighting yea a continual Warfare so Bruno and with him Espencoeus observes that where the Verb and Substantive run in the same termes one conducing to the other to perfect the Emphesis of the expression there is evermore a Frequency of that Act implyed I should but cast drops into the Ocean to endeavour a large proof of so clear a Truth Whilest Noah both by his Lips and by his Hands in building the Arke was a Preacher of Righteousness in the old world was it not thus whilst the spirit of God in his Ministery strove with the obstinate corruptions of that wicked world what aspersions what oppositions what misusages and abasures had the Prophets in their dayes being derided traduced misufed insulted on even for the Conscientious discharge of their Function the precious Sons of Sion comparable to fine Gold how were they esteemed as earthen Pitchers the work of the hand of the Potter Lam. 4.2 And who knows not the exact accomplishment of old Simeons Propecy of our Saviour himself Luke 2.34 How he was set for a sign which was and should be spoken against 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a signe of contradiction he should be as a common mark whereat the arrows of reproach shall be fully shot Of all the Holy Apostles its noted 1 Cor. 4.13 They were made as the filth of the world and the off-scouring of all things continually 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth that rejectament which is scaped from the dirty pavement from whence the shooes gather defilement and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it being a word in a Composition carryes with it the greater Emphesis and denotes the polluted rakings of the streets
wounded afresh with some gross act of sin this made David afraid yea to roar out and to make a noyse through the disquietness of his spirit Psal 38.8 Psal 55.2 and under that state of soul to begg earnestly to be spared that he might recover strength in Gods favour before he went hence and was no more Psal 39.13 or else when the Lord shall for divers ends and reasons surcharge the soul and conscience with the sins of youth for which perhaps men have not as became them been sufficiently humbled thus dealt he even with his servant Job writing bitter things against him Job 13.26 see also Job 16.4 But out of those cases it is proprium quarto medo onely the Saints love it all such love it and alwayes and no marvaile sith by this second coming and appearance of Christ in the day of the last Judement they receive very great and inestimable benefits such as are final Redemption of the Body from corruption Rom. 8.23 Freedom from the society of the wicked which here afflict the godly by their violation of Gods Law and Precepts Deliverance not onely from the raign and dominion but even from the inhabitation and being of sin which here they find as a clogg and a burthen too heavy for them and so long to be rid of it Rom. 7.24 and lastly the beatifical vision and perfect fruition of the ever-blessed and all-glorious Trinity in the Heavenly Hieru salem among the innumerable company of Angels being admitted to the general Assembly and Church of the first-borne which are enrolled and written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant in whose presence there is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore And thus my brethren after my measure as I could upon so short notice of about a day though not so full after my desires as I would in so great so learned and serious an Auditory have I dispatched my discourse upon the Scripture your candour will I hope connive at the want of polishing and entertain it as it is according to the weight and importance off the matter of it And may the God of grace reap the Total glory Amen FINIS The coherence Devision of the words Prospos Every man in the world is Gods Steward Proved 1. By what every one receiveth from God 2. By what God expects from every one Psal 24 1. Men do not waste his goods 2. That they do not abuse them to ill ends Luke 19 27. James 4 3. 3 To do him Homage Acts 10 33. 4 To return him fruit Matt. 21.33 Vse Two things required of a Steward 1. Dispensation Rom 13 4. Rom 1 14.1 Tim 5 8. 2. Right ordering of his dispensations Luk. 12.42 1. Faithfully Heb. 3.5 Exod. 32.19 2. VVisely Rom. 3.7 1 Tim. 3.17 Gen 18.19 Propos 2. All Gods stewards must give an account Two dayes of reckoning 1. In this life By the VVord Gen 3.11 1 King 19. Matt 3. Acts 2. By the rod. Job 33.14 Mic 6.9 Job 33.19 1 Cor 11.30 Psal 31.5 2 After this life A necessitie of a day of judgement 1. In respect of God his decree Acts. 17.31 Isa 46.10 His honour Eccles 3.16 2. In respect of the Saints 2 Thes 1.5 For the manifestation of their innocency For the reward of their works Mal. 3.17.18 3. In respect of the wicked For the manifestation of Gods righteous proceeding against them Rom. 2.5 For the perfecting of their punishment Why God is said to call all men to an account 1. Because he will proceed in particular Job 27.18 Jam. 5.1.2 James 4.3 Mat. 16. Mat. 5 22. Mat. 15.19 2. Because he will proceed by me hod and order Psal 50. Psal 51. Rom. 7. A direction in the exercise of repentance 3. Because he will proceed by books Dan. 10. Rev. 20. John 12.48 Jer. 17.1 4. Because God will exact of every one according to what he hath been trusted with Luke 12.48 Vse 1. For confutation Atheists in the Church 2 Pet. 3. Vse 2. For instruction 2. Not to judge others Rom. 14.10 1 Cor. 4.5 2. To judge our selves here A two sold reckoning to be made here 1. Reckon with out selves Jer. 8.6 Lam. 3.39 Psal 4. 2. Reckon with others 2. Sam. 12.3 Acts 20.26 Iames. 5.3 3. To Exercise daily repentance Acts 17.31 4. To get an interest in Christ Rom 8.1 Exod. 25.21 5. To lead a holy conversation 1 Pet. 3.11 2 Cor. 5.9 Acts 26.15 16. Vse 3. For Comfort James 5. Heb. 9.27 The Coherence The meaning of the words The devision of the words Observat 1. The death of others is a just occasion of Mourning Gen. 23.2 Gen. 27.41 Gen. 50.10 2. Sam. 25.1 Zach. 12.10 John 11. Act. 20.38 Reas 1. Reas 2. Ier. 5.3 Vse Object Answ A twofold distempe In mens affections 1.2 1 These 4.13 Deut. 14. Observat 2. Death the end of all men Iob 3.14 Zach. 1.5 Reas 1. In regard of Gods decree Reas 2. In regard of the matter whereof men are made Iob 13 12. Reas 3. In regard every man in him hath the cause of death Object Heb 11.5 2 King 2.11 Answ Object Answer Rom. 8.28 Matt. 22. Vse 1. Make account of it for our selves The benefit of the particular application of death to a mans selfe 1. Sin will be made more odious Rom. 5.11 2. The truth and justice of God will bee the more acknowledged 3. Death will be the b 〈◊〉 prepared for Job 14.14.5 Three things wherein here is oâ—… a particular application of â—…h to a man 1. In matter of sinning Acts 5. 2. In redeeming of the time of life 1 Cor. 10.35 Heb. 3 13. Gal. 6.10 3. In the manner of our conversation Vse 1 In respect of the death of others 1. To moderate our mourning for the death of others 2. To improve he life of others Observat 3. It is the duty of the living to lay to heart the death of others Reas 1.1 God is glorified hy it Psal 28.5 Reas 2. Our selves are benefited by it 1. Thereby we come to see the certainty of death 2. Thereby we come to see the nature of death The proper worke of death 1. To separate the body from the soule 2. To separate a man from his estate 3. To separate a man from his friends Gen. 23. 2 Sam. 1. â—… 1 Cor. 7.19 3. Thereby we come tosee the end and cause of death 1 Kings 14.13 2 Chro. 34.18 Isa 57.1 Ezek. 9.4 5. Vse 1 For reproof of the generall neglect of this duty Vse 2. For reproof 1. Of the excess of sorrow for dead freinds Judg. 8.24 Gen 31.30 2. Of the rash censuring of the manner of others death Luke 13.4 Eccles 9.2 Vse 3. For Instruction Luke 2.29 Observat Gods children are subject to the fear of death The outward causes of the fear of death 1. God
fear is Kinds off fear 1 Natural 2 Carnal fear 3 Servile fear Act 2. 4 Filial fear Isa 8 12. Reas We are delivered from our enemies either Luke 1.47 1 By reconciliation 2 By conquest Vse 1. The power of grace must reflect on a mans self Vse 2. Possible to live without fear Psalm 23 Vse 3. Reproof for inordinate fear 1 We fear too soon 2 Too much 1 It brings a great deal of ill Isa 66.4 2 It unfits the heart to bear evils It hurts the body It doth hurt to the soul 1 Natural 2 Spiritually Fear the ground of most sins Vse 4. To sence our hearts against it No cause of fear 1 Of spiritual enemies 2 Of worldly evils Ier. 46.28 Object Answ Object Answ Quest Answ How to get the conquest of fear 1 Labour for the spirit 2 Keep covenant with God 3 Strengthen faith 4 To place our love aright August Simile Doctr. Both words and actions shall be called to account Matth. 5.22 Iude 13.14 Reas 1. The Law binds men in speeches Reas 2. Words injure God and man Levit. 24.11 Act. 8. Vse To condemn those that make light account of words Pal. 39. Psal 131. Doctr. God will proceed in judgement according to his Law Ioh. 12.48 Object Answ All men judged by the Law The Law not alike expressed to all Rom. 2 14. Reas 1. The Law is Gods scepter that he ruls by Reas 2. Because the law is a rule Vse 1. Reproof of those that neglect the law Quest Answ To despise Gods commandement what Matth. 25.41 Vse 2. Admonition to observe the Law 1. For direction 2. For tryal Doctr. The consideration of the day of Judgment should move to holiness 1 It hath drawn some to obedience Eccles 11.9 1 To forsake the world Phil. 3.7 2 Disposing the heart to obedience Eccles 12.10 Heb. 12. Rev. 14â—… 2 It quickens to actions of obedience 1 Of particular calling 2 General calling 3 It confirms in obedience Vse Shewing the cause of the worlds prophaness and the Saints dejectedness 2 Pet. 3. Vse 2. To strengthen faith of the judgment Jerome Parts of the Text. Meaning of the words Doctr. Death due to sin as wages Quest Answ What death due to sin 1. Temporal Object Answ How Adam died a natural death as soon as he sinned Object Answ How Christians freed from temporal death Christians undergo temporal death why Simile 2 Eternal death Answ Sin infinite three wayes 1 In respect of the object 2 The subject 3 The sinners desire Vse 1. Original lust a sin Basile Vse 2. Confuration no sin in it self venial 1 Joh 3.5 Sins mortal and venial how Vse 3. In spectacles of death to see the heinousness of sin Vse 4. To deterre us from sin Similles Joh. 2. 1 Sam. 14. Vse 5. To be humble and thankful Life twofold 1 Natural 2 Spiritual 1 In this life Job 17.5.2 In deathy 3 Afterth e Resurrection A thing eternal three wayes Doct. Salvation the feee gift of God Quest Answ Austin Quest Answ Joh. 3. Vse 1. Confutation of merit Rom. 8. Vse 2. To humble us Vse 3. Comfort Vse 4. Thankfulness Isa 45 24. The Analysis of the Chaper Propos 1. God is pleased to set himself to procure the profit of his people Proved by instances 1 In his instituting Ordinances in the Church 1 The preaching of the Word Act. 26.18 2 Tim. 3.16 2 The Sacrament of the Supper 3 Prayer Unprofitable living under the ordinances a taking the name of God in vain 4 Sending of Christ into the world in our nature 2 In his command and injunction Deut 10 13. Matth. 5.29 3. In his several administrations 1 Permitting sin to remain 2. To prevail 3. Withdrawing his presence 4. Suspending his answer to their prayers 5. Denying their particular suites 6. Deprives them of their dearest blessings James 5.11 Use of exhortation Vse 2. Of instruction Propos 2. Gods aim in afflicting his children is their profit Gen 41.52 Afflictions they are profitable The blessed fruit of afflictions 2 Chron. 33.12 Deut. 8.15 Isa 27.9 Hab. 1.12 The Saints of God have walted for the profit of afflictions 2 Sam. 16.12 2 Sam. 16.12 Isa 37.4 Vse 1. For reproof Gods children prone to misconster the intent of God in their afflictions 1 Sam. 27.1 Esa 6.5 Lam. 3.16.18 Isa 49.14 Vse 2. For comfort Isa 10.57 Simile Isay 12.12 Vse 3. Exhortation to a patient expectation of the fruit of affliction Object Answ Iob 17.4 The sum of the words Division Explication Simile Doct. 1. Ground 1 From God Psal 84. Why God withdraws the light of his counâ—eâ—ance from his people 1 For correction of their former abuse of his mercies 2 Of the neglect of their duty Cant. 5. 3 Of their carnal security 3 To teach them wherein their present comsort and happiness consifts Simile 3 For prevention 1 Of pride 2 Of considence in the creature or in habits of grace Ground 2 From Satan How Satan causeth trouble in the hearts of Gods servants 1 By stealing out of thest hearts the promises of the Gospel Heb. 12. Matth. 13. 2 By presenting to the soul the truths of God in false glosses Ground 3. From our selves From some distemper of the body 2. Prevailing of some strong lust Heb. 12.1 3 Inordinate passions Heb. 1. Vse 1. To teach us compassion toward those that are in trouble Isa 53.4 God suffers his servants to be in inward distress and why Doctr. 2. Faith is a special means to quiet the soul 2 Cron. 20.20 2 Tim. 1 12. Vse Doctr. 3. Faith that quiets the soul must be pitched upon God in Christ Doct. 4. Vse Quest Answ What it is to believe in Christ What it is to receive Christ as a Prophet As a King As a Priest Quest Answ Object Answ Quest Answ Quest Answ Quest Answ Devision of the words Doct 1. Strong trials befall strong Christians 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Job 1.8 Wherein the strength of a trial consists Why God laieth strong tryals on strong Christians Reas 1. Reas 2. Doct. Faith acquits a man in great tryals Reas 1. Reas 2. Reas 3. Reas 4. Reas 5. Vse 1. 1. 2. Vse 2. The sum of the words Parts of the Text Coherence The first branch of the Text Explication 1 What life it is that is here meant Eternal life proper to the Saints Begun in this world Gal 2.20 Heb 2 3. Consummated in the world to come Phil 1.21 1 Thes 4.17 Joh. 5.26 Joh. 6 33. Vse 1. For instructiou Vse 2. For demonstration 1 Tim 5.6 Ephes 2.1 Vse 3. For consolation 2 Tim 3.12 Act 14.22 Mark 5.26 Eccles 9 4. Job 2.4 Phil. 1.7 Rom. 14.17 2 Cor. 12.2 1 Cor. 2.9 Rom. 8.18 2 Cor 4.17 The second branch of the Text. Eternal life cometh from divine grace Tit. 3.7 Eph. 2.8 Reas 1. Reas 2.2 Cor. 3.5 Vse 1. For confutation Vse 2. For Consolation Vse 3. For Instruction Vse 4. For exhortation The third branch of the Text. The