crazie body or a full well-fed body is a hindrance to the soule because of that tie that is betweene the body and the soule and the spirit so there is a simpathy the soule is affected some what in this sense But it is not so then the soule shall bee loosed from the body and so freer for spirituall actions then now it is The soules 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 soules of Gods servants you see then are glorified when they are out of the body and therefore shall glorifie God more perfectly and enjoy God more freely and fully then now while their soules are in these mortall bodies And at that very instant when the soule of Gods 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 of Christ to him then ever when it was in the body So then here is a cessation of baser actions and imployments to give place to more noble and heavenly and excellent actions wherein the soule shall bee employed in heaven There is then no losse of actions neither Againe there is no losse of company This is a thing that troubleth men husband and wife to part friends to part But we lose no company by death howsoever we lose the company of men that we cannot assure our selves are friends indeed for of all the friends we speake of in the maine point when they come to be tryed there are few to be found to be friends But then we goe to them whose love is perfect that you may be sure of and have the truth of their love Againe how little comfort nay how little have you company with those friends you desire Is not much part of our life spent without any fight of our friends is not halfe of it spent in sleep in the night and the other halfe in businesse and pleasure Alas how little time have we to enjoy our friends we rest on But then we shall perfectly enjoy them when there shall be no need of sleepe when there shall be perfection of love and freedome from distraction and imployment when the servants of God shall fully and freely and sweetly and comfortably enjoy one the other Abraham and Isaac and Iacob and the meanest of the Saints shall meet in the expression of love in such a perfection as we cannot speake of And this is certaine you shall goe to many Who can tell the dust of Iacob Now you have some one or two or three or a few men or women that you account friends and dote much upon but then you shall have ennumerable company a world of friends of men and women multitudes they cannot be numbred they are as the starres of heaven for number I say there is no losse of company by this meanes Againe you shall lose no pleasures by death it may be you shall lose some few sensuall bruitish pleasures a few mixed corrupt pleasures pleasures that have the mixture of sorrow and feare in them that imbitters them to the soule of a man but it shall not be so then you shall be freed from imperfect pleasures and have perfect ones at Gods right hand for evermore pure pleasures Againe you lose no necessary convenience neither the rich man loseth no riches by death he loseth his money doth he lose his riches therefore No The Angels are rich but they have no money the Saints are rich they want nothing but they have no money It may be thou losest a child thou shalt find a Father it may be thou losest a weake friend that loveth not long or it may be not so truly as thou thinkest he doth and thou findest friends that are many and perfect and pure in their love that love with a perfect heart And what then are all those losses when you enjoy that which shall make the soule happy for ever Thus I say you should rectifie your opinions concerning Death looke upon it aright have true apprehensions of it Get an intrest in Christ and looke on death through him get faith and then all these things that I haue spoken shall be your advantage so the Apostle concludeth Christ is to us in life and in death advantage If we live he is gaine to us in life and if we die he is advantage to us in death And death is reckoned amongst the speciall favours and priviledges Christ hath given to his Church All are yours what all life and death things present and things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods So we see that Death is amongst the priviledges that Christ hath given his Church therefore rectifie your opinions concerning Death make good that I spake before and you shall find this good that I now speake And for the last the unacquaintance with Death let not that trouble you none come from the dead to tell you what is done there but looke on the servants of God before and when they die and you shall find enough how they apprehended Death when they have looked on it in the glasse of the Gospell Looke upon them before death Iacob being to close up his dayes with blessing of his children Lord saith hee I have waited for thy salvation Hee looked upon Death through Christ the Saviour of the world that he should bee saved by him and though it be true that there is a further meaning for the Tribes in those words of Iacob yet this was proper to Iacob himselfe hee looked upon Death now approching as that that he was delivered from and set into that freedome purchased by Christ. So old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word for mine eyes have seene thy salvation Iacob accounted it his salvation old Simeon a departure from a worse place to a better from worse company and comforts to a better A change for the better still and a departing in peace Againe secondly looke on the servants of God in death see what they have said too Iosiah a man that was upright in heart he went to the grave in peace he was gathered to his fathers in peace that he should not see the evill that should come upon his people here is all it was but a peaceable taking of him away from a more troubelous condition if he had lived longer Beloved he died in warre yet it is said he was gathered in peace he had inward peace with God though he failed in that particular action And the Apostle in the 2 Cor. 5. 4. This is our desire that wee may bee clothed upon not that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortalitie may bee swallowed up of life A strange speech he counteth death life to him he counteth the death of this life to be the death of mortalitie by laying aside this earthly tabernacle as he saith in
given many men occasion to passe a very uncharitable and unchristian verdict of him I beseech you let me give you a true naked relation how it was I never knew any men of so peaceable a disposition but there might be sometimes some difference betweene them there was betweene Abraham and Lot betweene Paul and Barnabas and there was betweene another honest neighbour and him both men of a peaceable disposition They did not desire to goe to law they desired the matter might bee put to Arbitrators they chose foure honest Gentlemen to take up the matter betweene them they made me as an unworthy Umpire in case they did not agree On Thursday last they met and each of them pleaded their cause And let me say thus that if this Brother of ours had beene judged to doe any wrong in that cause if hee had uttered one word of falshood to helpe his cause if he had used one word of imprecation wishing any curse to himselfe then it had beene peradventure a just thing with God to have taken him at his word If he had sworne one oath if he had uttered but one uncharitable word against his neighbour if he had shewed but any malice or spleene against him if hee had beene but transported with passion as a man may easily be in his owne cause we are but men I say if hee had beene but transported with passion then peradventure some men might have thought it had beene the stroke of divine justice upon him but let me tell you I have the witnesse of honest Gentlemen that were the arbitrators and will justifie First that his cause was good and that there was not one word spoken but was confirmed by honest witnesses present Then he used no kind of imprecation in the world no not as I remember so much as a protestation or any asseveration there was not one oath sworne either by him or by others that were present There was not one uncharitable word spoken by him there was not any malice or ranckour or hatred appeared either on the one side or the other betweene them he was no way transported with passion He did plead his cause but with that meeknesse of spirit with that quietnesse with that sweet temper and that Christian moderation as more could not be required in any Saint of God Therefore brethren let me only tell you thus much while this was in agitation I could not perceive that hee was moved at any thing hee was not stirred he was not earnest in his cause Till it pleased God to touch him and he had some sense and feeling of it rising from his stoole he sate rubbing of his cheeke or his necke with his handkercheife Hee fell upon the necke of a Gentleman that sate close to him who perceiving that he was not well asked him how he did he was scarsly able to give us an answer I perceived that hee was stricken with the dead palsie Brethren considering these things that I have told you before I beseech you judge not that you be not judged condemne not that you be not condemned You owe a dutie to the truth every one of you and by that dutie that you owe to the truth I was about to say I charge you as before God but I beseech you as before God stoppe the mouthes of all them that shall either bee forgers or spreaders of such notorious lies though it pleased God it were by a sudden stroake of his hand and how often hath hee done it when men have beene worse busied hee was but seeking to worke peace Though it pleased God suddenly to take his speech from him yet I beseech you know this withall hee was pleased not to take his life presently away nor his understanding from him from Thursday about foure of the clocke that hee was first stricken hee lived till Saturday night or Sunday morning I know not whether but in this time on Friday night I was with him and I perceived by the lifting up of his hand that hee knew mee I put him in minde of some gracious promises that God hath made to us in Christ. I asked him whether hee beleeved those promises of God and whether hee found any comfort in those promises and then hee lift up his hand I asked him and desired him if hee found any assurance of Gods favour in Christ to make the same signe hee lift up his hand againe I asked him if I should pray with him hee desired it and at the period of every Petition his hand went up to God And one thing I observed more that in one petition of mine in that prayer for him that it would please God to deliver him from the malice of Satan that would be most busie when wee are weakest hee held up his hand higher then before and continued holding it longer And blessed be our good God that wee can hold and keepe an intelligence with him not only by speech but with our very hands that lifting up of the hand and those groanes of his spirit I make no doubt but they prevailed at the hands of God And so as he lived I make no question but hee died a holy servant of God and I hope his soule is now in heaven and wee are come to lay up his body in the earth in the hope of a blessed and joyfull Resurrection FINIS LIFES APPARITION AND MANS DISSOLUTION GEN. 47. 9. Few and evil have the dayes of the yeares of my life beene PSAL. 102. 3. For my dayes are consumed like smoake LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. LIFES APPARITION AND MANS DISSOLVTION SERMON XXV JAMES 4. 14. For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away THere are two maine things to which the corrupt nature of man is subject and obnoxious rash judgement and vaine confidence Both spring out of one roote and that is pride where pride possesseth the heart it will make a man rash in the judgeing of others and presume vainely and confidently upon himselfe At all these evils the Apostle strikes here in this Chapter both mother and daughter both root and branch To take heed of pride that is the mother sinne hee exhorteth us to thankfulnesse where in stead of waxing proud of our selves he would have us humble ourselves and he brings this argument to perswade us because they that humble themselves God will exalt The only way to be exalted is to be humble hee compares the state of man in respect of his future condition to a paire of Balances that are hung on a beame the lower the one balance is downe the higher the other is up the lower wee humble our selves in this life the higher God will exalt us in the next The two maine evils which are the branches of this root the Apostle reproves in the eleventh verse First rash judging of others the fault of those that are apt to speake evill of others speake not
crazie and all things are out of order yet this man can incourage himselfe in the Lord his God he can say to himselfe feare not Saith Daved though I walke in the valley of the shadow of death a dolefull condition yet I will feare none ill Psal. 23. And in another place though ten thousand should compasse mee in on every side I would lay mee downe and rest Though the Apostles were watched by souldiers layd in the stocks and for ought they knew the next day should be brought to execution yet they sing as merrily and sleepe as heartily as if they had beene on a Throne and had beene Kings in a Pallace Thus a good conscience will make a Christian happy if he be not his owne foe but our hearts are intangled with the world and wordly things that for the most part wee see not this priviledge But I leave that Next it may serve to reprehend and chide the most of us yea all in that we are distracted with feares unnecessary such as spend our spirits and consume our precious time such things as make our lives uncomfortable and dishonour God and our Religion and profession and all to no purpose Some things we feare a great while before wee neede perhaps that we neede not feare at all One saith Lord what would become of me if I should loose my wife if I should loose my children or loose my estate What would become of me if the times should be hard if there should be a deare yeare I can scarse bring both ends together now Another saith what shall I doe when I am old and cannot take paines for my living thus men feare a thousand inconveniences What neede wee meete evills halfe way what neede wee create to our selves such troubles sufficient for the day are the troubles of it But in regard of carnall feare all things make us afraid more then we neede and the feare of ill oft times perplexeth a man more then the ill it selfe that lights upon him And men of a melancholly disposition they frame to themselves such strange Chimera's Imaginations of things that perhaps shall never come to passe and so trouble themselves with a great deale of feare Thou art afraid of such and such losses perhaps thou maiest die first and such things perhaps shall never befall thee labour to prepare thy heart before hand and then feare them not I will shew you the inconveniences of this briefly First of all these feares of losses and crosses and the like they often bring a great deale of ill to men nay it brings a great deale of ill as the naturall event and consequent of it partly by the judgement of God Esay 66. 4. I will bring their feares upon them And that that wicked men feare shall come upon them This is the way to bring ill upon them when men will needs bee miserable is it not just with God they should The Romans will come and take away our Empire and so it was Saul was afraid that David should succeede him and so hee did When men will not learne to live by faith it is just with God to bring that that they feare upon them because they dishonour him by unbeliefe In the second place it not onely brings ill but it makes the heart unfit for ill when it comes In the feare of man there is a snare but in the confidence of the Lord there is a sure reward In the feare of man there is a snare what doth feare doe it insnares a man it binds a man hand and foote and layes him flat before his enemie when he comes and then his enemy tramples upon him It so weakens the Spirits and disheartneth a man before it comes that when it comes he is no way able to beare it For the feare takes away all the joy and content that a man may take in the present good that hee enjoyes at the hand of God that he cannot enjoy that because hee feares I know not what ill that may come and then when that ill comes he is not able to beare it his spirit is so weake I might shew much hurt that this feare doth both to the soule and to the body of man To the body of man how doth it weaken and contract the Spirits and bring diseases and some times death it selfe Feare doth much hurt to the soule Naturally Spiritually Naturally it weakens a man in regard of the operations of his soule that the body is not a fit instrument for the soule to worke by It makes a man doe diverse things rashly and inconsiderately and divers things out of incogitancie that hee knowes not what he doth he is unfit for holy duties unstable in all his wayes As he is thus in regard of his place and calling so in regard of the duties of Gods service he cannot doe these with a quiet heart with a peaceable spirit while he is possest with these feares You shall see almost all the sinnes in the world come from this feare What was the reason that Abraham and Sarah did equivocate was it not feare in that particular of men more then God and so they put God upon a miracle to preserve Saraahs chastitie in the case of Abimeleck What was the reason that Aaron yeelded to make an Idoll for the people of Israel and so joyned in Idolatry with them he was afraid of the people that they might doe him some hurt he durst not trust God with his preservation So Peter denyed his Master out of feare What is the reason that a Minister doth not sometimes reproove sinne that a Magistrate doth not sometimes reforme that that is amisse It is slavish feare they will not trust God to maintaine them in his owne cause What is the reason that many servants lye c. it is out of a slavish feare of their masters And so in regard of the things of the world men are inordinately afraid that they shall loose somewhat they possesse and therefore they take indirect courses Still this slavish feare and horrour and distrust of God it is almost the cause of all sin as wee may observe in the world This being so prejudicall in the last place let us fence our hearts against this feare By this meanes we shall honour Religion and make our lives comfortable incourage other Saints of God and draw people to like Religion when it yeelds such sweet contentment to the soules of men For doe but once againe muster together all our enemies and see if we have cause of feare For our spirituall enemies Will any man feare a wounded foe for the Lord God hath wounded Satan and trampled him under our feet and brought us as Ioshua did his Captaines to set our feet upon the necke of principalities and powers that through the mightie power of God wee are more then conquerours and shall we feare such an enemie as this Shall we
Luke 7. and Iairus his Daughter Luke 8. and Lazarus here in this chapter And at his resurrection also hee manifested this his quickning power in that he rose not alone but raised the bodies of many of his Saints with him many of his Saints arose with him and as they rose with Christ their head so also they ascended to glory together with Christ their head and the resurrection of these it was an effect of the resurrection of Christ it was by the power of Christs resurrection Of these we may reade Mat. 27. 52. 53. The graves opened and many bodies of the Saints that slept arose and came out of their graves after his resurrection and went into the holy Citie and appeared to many Thus you have the first conclusion proved that Christ is the Author of the resurrection of the body Now in the next place the second conclusion is this that Christ is the Author and Fountaine of spirituall life also Hee is the Author of the Resurrection of the soule and the resurrection of the soule it is this when the Spirit of grace of which we were all deprived in Adam returnes againe to the soule of a naturall man and so quickens the man that the man begins to rise out of the Grave of sinne and to lead a new life a spirituall life the life of grace this is the resurrection of the soule Now that Christ is the Author of this Resurrection also of this spirituall Resurrection wee may demonstrate this by a multitude of Divine testimonies but wee will single out some few of the chiefe wee need goe no further then this Evangelist which affords plentifull testimonie for the confirmation of this truth As in Ioh. 4. 10. There Christ speaking to the woman of Samaria he said unto her If thou haddest knowne the gift of God and who it is that said unto thee give me drinke thou shouldest have asked of him and hee would have given thee living water Here the Spirit of Christ it is compared to living water by an allusion to the water that continually springeth out of a Fountaine And the Spirit of grace is compared to living water from the effects of it because the Spirit of grace restoreth spirituall life to the soule and then preserveth this life therefore it is living Water and Christ is as the Fountaine of this water that yeeldeth and giveth this living quickning water of the Spirit Againe in Ioh. 5. 21. there Christ chalengeth this power to himselfe As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them so the Sonne quickneth whom hee will As Christ when he was upon the earth hee raised whom he would from the death of the body so now being in heaven hee raiseth whom he will from the death of the soule Yea the voyce of Christ sounding in the ministrie of the Word accompanied with his quickning Spirit is of power and efficacie to raise those that are dead in sinnes as wee may see Ioh. 5. 25. Verily verily I say unto you saith Christ the houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of God and they that heare it shall live Againe in Ioh. 6. 35. there Christ stileth himselfe the Bread of life and the Living bread Iesus said unto them I am the bread of life and in verse 48. I am the bread of life and againe verse 51. I am the living bread Christ is the living bread the bread of life who as he hath life in himselfe so he communicates spirituall life to all those that feed upon him And here is a broad difference betweene this Bread of life and ordinary bread ordinarie food for though ordinarie food can preserve naturall life where it is yet it cannot restore life where it is not but Christ is such living Bread that he restores life to those that are dead in sinnes and preserves that life that hee hath restored thus hee is the living Bread Againe Ioh. 15. 1. there Christ compares himselfe to a Vine and the faithfull to so many branches I am the true Vine saith Christ and my Father is the husband-man And in verse 5. I am the Vine yee are the branches Now as the branch of the Vine sucks juyce and sappe from the stocke and roote of the vine so all the faithfull receive spirituall juyce and life from Christ their head As Adam hee is a common root of corruption and spirituall death to all that come from him so Christ is a common roote of grace and spirituall life to all those that are his members And in this regard Christ is compared to a head and the faithfull to his members Collos. 1. 18. Christ is the head of his body the Church Christ is the head and the faithfull are his members therefore as in the naturall body the head that is the principium the fountaine of sense and motion it is the head that by certaine nerves and sinewes conveyes sense and motion to all the members of the body so in the mysticall body the Church Christ is the head that conveyes spirituall life and motion to all that are his members to all the faithfull Thus you see the second conclusion explained and proved also that as Christ is the Author of the resurrection of the body so hee is of the resurrection of the soule too it is he that raiseth the soule to spirituall life Now in the third place we are to shew you the reason why this double quickning power is here comprehended under one terme I am the Resurrection Now that this double power of quickening is to be understood here under this one terme wee need not I hope spend time to prove for that Christ speakes here of the spirituall resurrection and the spirituall life this I take to be evident from Christs owne exposition in the words following Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live Hee that beleeveth in me though he were dead in sinnes and trespasses before yet hee shall live the life of grace therefore I am the Resurrection Againe that the resurrection of the body is not here excluded it may appeare from the scope and intent of these words of Christ for the scope of these words here is to perswade Martha that hee was able of himselfe by his owne power to raise up her dead brother to restore him to life saith hee I am the resurrection I have power to restore spirituall life to the soule that is dead in sinne and this is the greater worke therefore I am able to restore naturall life to the dead body to restore the body that is dead in the Grave to life againe Now the reasons why this double power is here comprehended under one terme I am the Resurrection the chiefe reasons I take to bee these two First this double quickning power is here comprehended under one terme in regard of the Analogie and proportion betweene these two betweene
thee in thy body hee might have afflicted thee in thy soule and a wounded spirit who can beare Hee hath afflicted thee in some one member of thy body he could have cast body and soule 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 meeke heart and willing spirit to God as a mercifull God as the Church in the Lamentations It is the Lords mercy that wee 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 owne houses but yet it was Gods mercy that they were not consumed So the Prophet Ieremy 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 griefe to his sorrow What griefe was that that Hee must goe 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 come upon thee they might have beene greater therefore consider that that thou maiest give God the glory of his mercy And so much for the first direction that is to acknowledge God in all the changes of life that befalleth thee Secondly looke to sinne as that deserving cause that draweth on all the afflictions of this life Consider thou hast fallen by thy sinne into Gods displeasure therefore whatsoever affliction befalleth thee thy sinne hath deserved that at the hands of God The Lord now dealeth with thee as a just God though not in the extremity of rigour yet neverthelesse there is a righteous proceeding in it as the Church confesseth Righteousnesse belongeth to thee O Lord though they were in great affliction yet God was righteous in it It is profitable to consider this nay and not only that thou sufferest righteously as the Theefe on the Crosse said Wee suffer according to our deserts but thou sufferest not so much as thy sinnes deserve thy sinnes deserve greater things at the hands of God then yet he hath infflicted on thee Wee see that a commutation and change of punishment a lesse for a greater hath the place of a mercy upon a malefactor that deserveth greater when he deserveth to be executed and to die he is not only content to be burnt in the hand but he confesseth it to be a mercy of the Prince So it is with us whatsoever affliction God hath layed on thee thou maist conclude I have deserved greater Therefore saith the Church Why is the living man sorrowfull Man suffereth for his sinne let us search and trie our wayes and turne againe to the Lord. So let this be the maine businesse of thy life in this case rather bethinke thy selfe how to get the favour of God then to be eased of such a trouble Let a man looke to sin in all this Lastly consider the gracious and comfortable fruit of Affliction that is born with patience For first patience lesseneth the judgement impatience increaseth it on a man The strugling child hath more stripes A man in a Fever the more he strugleth and striveth the more he increaseth his paine The more patiently a man yeeldeth himselfe to the hands of God the more by the mercy of God he findeth ease and mittigation of the affliction And this God promiseth Because thou hast kept the word of my patience I will deliver thee in the time of trouble God will take off the affliction when once he hath perfected Patience by affliction for you must know this that all that God aymeth at in all afflictions that hee layeth on men is to perfect patience in them therefore the issue will be good There will for the present be more ease to the heart and afterward a gracious issue and deliverance from trouble when thou art exercised by patience Secondly there are otherafflictions of our life and that is not onely in those cases wherein some positive evell as wee account it naturally some affliction grievous to nature and sense are upon a man but mercies are delayed and hope deferred makes the heart faint It is an affliction to a man to be kept and delayed in the expectation of that good he hath not if he seeme to catch at it it is drawne from him further and further There are many men that have sent many a prayer to God yet the thing they aske is not granted to this day Many a man hath waited long and sought the Lord yet he hath not that his soule desireth How shall a man come to exercise Patience in such a case as this In such a case when God delayeth know first that Gods delayes are not denyals though God delay the thing hee may and wil in time certainly grant it yea though he delay it a great while As we see in other servants of God we may see it in David in Iob in Paul in the Canaanitish woman and in others The Vision is for an appointed time saith Habakkuk waite for it it will come and it will not tarrie it will not lie God will bee knowne a God of truth what he hath promised he will performe in due time only what doth he expect of thee to waite for the present Now this is an act of faith Hee that beleeveth will not make hast Glorifie God by beleeving put to thy seale that hee is true Whatsoever God hath promised in the Word and thou hast a warrant to beleeve waite for it Secondly Gods delayes are not onely not denyals but improvements of Gods favour God increaseth and commendeth the excellencies of his mercies by delayes hee recompenceth our expectation and waiting for them with putting in greater sweetnesse into those favours when they come I say God increaseth the comfort answerable to the delay as in the 61. Isa. 7. God to comfort the distressed Church in the time of calamitie for their affliction saith he they shall have double Double what Double comforts for their tryals Our light afflictions saith the Apostle that are but for a moment cause us a farre more excellent and surpassing weight of glory A weight of glory for light Afflictions an eternall weight of glory for momentany afflictions Here is the issue As our afflictions have abounded so our consolations abound much more This is the course of God Thirdly know that Gods delayes are never long at the longest they are but for a short time what if he delay a yeare what if twenty thirty fourty yeares what if the life of a man this is no great delay Compare this time of thy waiting for mercie with the
carefull that they had no sinfull thought they would be patternes of the strangest expressions of conformitie to the rule that can be imagined if it were possible to be granted You may easily be perswaded of this doe you that now which they wish for and wish in vaine make use of the time of grace now there is no comming backe againe afterward Thirdly A third reason is this I shall goe to him As if hee should have have said I have another businesse in hand now the child is dead it is not for me to stand blubbering and spending my time for a dead Child I am going to him The word here is I shall returne to him Returne signifieth to goe backe to a place where one was before So David shall returne to his Child for he was there before there in respect of his body the principles of that is in the earth where the Child is and in heaven in respect of his soule where the Child is The Body returneth to dust whence it was taken and the soule to God that gave it The body is of the dust and returneth to dust the soule commeth from God and returnes to God againe Therefore he saith here I shall returne to him because I came from him When things are reduced to their first principles the body to the earth and the soule to God they are said to returne Yee see the phrase then The point briefly is this That the greatest care of a mans life the greatest businesse he hath to doe on earth is to prepare for death His businesse is not to care for his children that are dead and to spend unprofitable sorrow for them the maine businesse of my life is how I shall make my peace with God and bee fitted for death for I am going thither Wee should observe the death of others to stirre us up to a serious preparation for our owne death the Father should be stirred up by seeing his Child dead before him the elder by seeing the younger die before them we see how death hath shot his arrowes beyond and short and above and below us in those that are elder and younger and richer and poorer all sorts he will strike us at last this thing I say should stirre us up to prepare for our owne dissolution A man would thinke that there were no need of such a thing the very bare sight of Corse or a hearse the bare fight of a dead corpse the bare ringing of a bell or a Funerall Sermon should be warning enough to the living to tell him of death When a man sees a company carrying a dead body to the gaave he should say to himselfe It may bee the feet of these may carrie me next But how commeth it to passe that it is not thus Certainly there is not power in all examples to worke this it is the worke of Gods spirit Though a man observe the death of never so many before him yet this cannot worke in him a serious care to make preparation for his owne death except God adde a further worke to it We may see this in the expression of Moses when so many died in the Wildernesse Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome As if hee should have said Though so many thousands died in the Wildernesse and that by so many severall kinds of death yet we shall never apply our hearts to wisedome by those examples except God teach us that wisdome Therefore we should pray to God to teach us by his Spirit to make use of Examples Men must give account for examples aswell as for rules men must give account for examples of mortalitie as well as for Sermons of mortalitie therefore let the example of others mortality stirre you up to prepare for your owne and that you may doe so be much in calling upon God Lastly Hee shall not returne to mee that is in this sense to converse on earth as he had done before I shall returne to him but hee shall not returne to mee He doth but reitterate and repeat what he had said before in effect This is the thing then that Parents must make account of both for themselves and their children For their children It should make them moderate therefore in their sorrow for them God now hath shewed his purpose and declared his will therefore wee should rest in that will of God This is the thing that David aymed at Gods will was not only to takeaway his child but so to take him away as never to returne to him againe in that manner Now God had declared his will and therefore why should I fast saith he as if he should say I will now rest in the will of God In all the things which we account crosses and losses in children and friends c. The maine businesse of a Christian is not to expresse sorrow but submission and subjection to God to exercise and inure his heart to patience and to rest in Gods good pleasure and will As Eli though he faild in his carriage to his sonnes yet he shewed a dutifull respect to God his heavenly father When Samuel told him the judgement of God that should come upon his house It is the Lord saith he let him doe what seemeth him good in his owne eyes though it were a heavy judgement such as whosoever should heare of it both his eares should tingle yet it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good As if he should say I have nothing to doe in this businesse but to subject my selfe with patient submission and contentednesse to his will it is the Lord it becommeth not me to contend with him and to reason with God concerning his worke I confesse hee is righteous let him doe what seemeth him good in his owne eyes And so Aaron There was a heavy judgement befallen him his sonnes were consumed with fire yet the text saith Aaron held his peace When God manifested so great wrath to his house in wasting and consuming and burning his sonnes for offering of strange fire yet Aaron held his peace that is he did only mind how to glorifie God by a contented submission to his will So Iob hee heard not only of the losse of his children but that he lost them in such a manner by a violent death by a house falling on their heads yet the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the name of the Lord. Whereas a carnall worldly man would have fallen to strugling and contending and quarrelling against God and so trouble and perplex his owne spirit We doe exceedingly imbitter Gods cup by mingling with it ingredients of our owne passions and so make the affliction more heavy and grievous then God intends it Here is the reason wee possesse not our soules with patience When we are sensible of the losse of friends and children c. let us learne to make it our businesse to thinke I have a
doth not bethinke how he is armed If God have fitted his servants for death he hath done most for them if they have not riches yet they are fit for death if they have not an estate amongst men it mattereth not a whit if they be fit for Death if they be miserable here in torments and sicknesse when others have health it is no matter all these increase their repentance makes them labour for Faith and Hope and Charitie whereby they are armed against Death Nothing can save us from the hurt of Death but the Lord Jesus Christ put on by Faith and that furnished with Hope and Charitie If God give a man other things and not these graces Death is not destroyed to him But if he deny him other things and give him these graces he doth enough for him Death is destroyed to him His body indeed falleth under the stroake of Death as other mens but his soule is not hurt Death layeth him a rotting as the common sort but the soule goeth to the possession of glory and remaineth with Christ When hee is absent from the body hee is present with the Lord. Nay when the last day shall come Death shall bee utterly swallowed up then the poore and fraile and weake body that sleepeth in corruption and mortalitie shall bee raised in honour and in immortall beautie and glory a spirituall body free from all corporall weaknesses that accompany the naturall body it shall be made most glorious and blessed even as if it were a spirit all the weaknesses that accompany the naturall beeing of the body shall be taken away and it shall enjoy as much perfection as a body can and therefore it is called spirituall Therefore I beseech you rejoyce in the Lord if your soules tell you that you are armed against this death FINIS THE VVORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOVS MANS GAINE EZEKIEL 22. 30. I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before mee for the Land but I found none therefore have I poured forth my indignation upon them PHIL. 1. 21. For to mee to live is Christ and to die is Gaine LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE WORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOVS MANS GAINE SERMON VIII ISAIAH 57. 1. And mercifull men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evill to come WHen I first began this verse I did never thinke that all things would have beene so sutable to the finishing of it as now I find they are For there is no circumstance that can be required to make a correspondencie betweene a former and a latter handling but is to be found in the two surveies I tooke upon this Text. The occasion of handling it now is the same that was before I began it at a Funerall and now at another Funerall I shall end it The place of handling the same as it was before I began the former part of the verse in this very street at the other end of it Now I shall finish it at this And the time it is the same and every way answerable to that it was before It was begun in a time of Mortalitie feared and now will be finished in a time of mortalitie certaine And that there should be no part of correspondencie wanting this latter part of the verse is answerable to the former it is but the same againe in other words In the former part there is mention of the righteous man here of the mercifull man they are both one In that hee is said to perish here to bee taken away they are both the same There No man is said to lay it to heart and here no man is said to consider it Both the same So that loke upon the whole both parts joyne together they walke on by paires two and two as the living creatures into the Arke Male and Female The first paire sets forth to you the state and condition of a godly man he is righteous and mercifull those are the male and female of Pietie The second sets forth to you the state and condition of a dying man hee perisheth and is taken away those are the Male and Female of death The third sets out the state and condition of a worldly man he layes it not to heart he never takes it into consideration those are the Male and Female of carnall securitie And that all the paires should now be made up the former part was handled at the buriall of a good old Man this latter now at the buriall of an old and verteous Gentlewoman those are the Male and Female of nature The former part that is a complaint that the Prophet made and so is the second and this second is set as a Commentarie to the first this latter part is as Eve created as a helpe to Adam for every word in this latter helpes to expound some word in the former The first word in the latter part tells us of the mercifull man that is the Exposition of the first word in the former part the righteus man Lest any man should make question who this righteous man was that the Prophet speakes of how we should know him and define him and find him find me a mercifull man and hee is truly a righteous man The second word in the latter part is taken away that hath reference to the second word in the former and it is a qualification of the harshnesse of the former there it is said The righteous man perisheth but lest any man should scandal at this word shall we thinke that he perisheth whose life it hid with Christ in God Shall the Scripture say that hee perisheth whose name is in the bundle of life written in heaven To lay aside therefore the rigour of the word here is the Qualification hee is taken away The third word of the latter hath reference to the third of the former too No man considereth it If any man aske the reason how it comes to passe that people should be without naturall affection that they take it not to heart that they are not grieved for Ioseph that they are not striken with any sense of their owne losses what should be the reason of it The reason is in this word they take it not into consideration They trouble not their heads and therefore not their hearts with it That it may make an aggravation of that They were so farre from taking of it to heart that they never propounded it to the examination and scanning of their judgement they consider it not So every word in the latter part is serviceable to the first I shewed concerning the first part who this Righteous man is how great the dignation of the Spirit of God is that hee will stile holy men that are so imperfect in holinesse yet because of their holy endeavours to walke in the wayes of God blamelesly the Spirit stiles them Righteous men Secondly I shewed how this Righteous
her to put all her trust and confidence in him She was now taken upon the sudden therefore the Lord hath left her as a patterne for us to looke upon to take heed to our selves that we may make our peace with God and looke for death every moment because wee know not how soone wee may be arrested Shee was indeed a woman of great trust and faith in God and one whose mouth was full of his praise still admyring and recounting the wondrous grace of God to her in all the course of her life in sparing her in giving her comfort in her conscience concerning the pardon and forgivenesse of her sinnes and providing for her worldly helpes which she thought never to attaine to and in many other particulars Shee did open the grace of God according to her best understanding still giving the praise to his holy Name and no doubt it the stroke upon her had not beene so fatall and as deadly as now it was wee should have had the like fruit more abundantly at this time Howbeit shee was not as one altogether destitute but she called for and craved the prayers of Gods people that they would lift up their hearts and hands and voyces to the Lord to looke upon her and release her of her miserie and trouble either by life or death for shee was content either way Shee had some touches also of Divine Scripture as occasion offered themselves As when the light was brought in shee desired to have the light of Gods countenance to shine upon her And when her eye-strings were broke that the teares did distill downe she desired the Lord God to put her teares into his bottle and many such Luminations there were that came from her Her surcharged spirits were so taken and strucken as a man might perceive at the first there was no way but one her selfe drawing her selfe within as though that in the outward man there were no roome for the soule to dwell there or to have a fit and opportune habitation I must needs advertise you of one thing that this custome of praysing and commending of the dead is very full of danger because a man may bee a lyer and a flatterer besore hee be aware when he never intended it But truly for ought that I could discerne this Sister of ours was one that was very well deserving of a quiet and moderate spirit intentive and carefull to governe her house and children and no way exorbitant for any thing that I can heare It is true that all are not of one Modell as the bodies of men and women are not of one height and colour so the soules and spirits are not all of one elevation neither but wee esteeme the children of God according to that they bave received and not according to that that they have not received as the Apostle speakes I say therefore according to the grace shee had received I verely beleeve shee was faithfull and true to it that shee received not the grace of God in vaine she sought by all meanes to nourish and cherish it from one degree to another and to proceed from grace to grace And therefore I conclude in the judgement of Charitie that we have very strong hopes and great probabilities of her happy translation Shee was a Daughter of Sarah as Saint Peter speakes of women that he would have them demeane themselves as Daughters of Sarah and such a one shee was in her habit and attyre in the manner of her life and societie and company and therefore I doubt not but shee inheriteth with Sarah the place of blessed mansions that the Lord hath made infinite spacious and wide and capable for all blessed soules that put their trust in him Now this let us make use of to our owne soules In that shee had not that largenesse of time shee supposed to have had but was surprised so soone and vehemently as shee could not dispose of her selfe in that manner as wee know by experience she would have done it should be a lesson to us to be ready for God to bee acquainted with God Wee have had two Corses one after another one a man another a woman both taken suddenly in respect of the time though they had thought to have made an overture of themselves to the world and thought to have made all things faire and easie by the confession and expression of their faith to the world but they were not suffered to doe it So all presume to have time to make the world know that they be humble and penitent and to make their confession but many put it off till it be too late Let us not be put off with vaine presumptions the Lord giveth and the Lord takes wee know not how soone Wee were borne wee know not when we shall die we know not when The Lord prepare us all for it FINIS GODS ESTEEME OF THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS PREACHED AT THE FVNERALL OF Mr. IOHN MOVLSON OF Hargrave at Bunbury in Cheshire By S. T. REVEL 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. GODS ESTEEME OF THE DEATH OF HIS SAINTS SERMON XX. PSAL. 116. 15. Pretious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of his Saints THe Psalme was composed by David to be an acknowledgement of that favour and grace of God which himselfe had experience of at some time or other but when or what the particular occasion of it was we are uncertaine Some referre it to that escape which he made when Saul and his troopes had compassed him about upon the discoverie of the Ziphites 1 Sam. 23. 26 27 28. Others because Ierusalem is mentioned in the Psalme and Ierusalem at that time of Saul was not built as they conclude well against the time of the penning of it so they find also another occasion his escape from Absolom and that great plot 2 Sam. 15. 14. Others include also his spirituall Conflicts his combattings with Gods wrath and his despaires because of his sinnes together with some sicknesses and strong diseases accompanied with griefes and anxieties of minde In all which he found God benevolous and mercifull unto him in the sense of which hee rejoyces and as it was his dutie gives thankes and praises unto God Hee saith in the fourteenth verse hee would make publique businesse of it and would pay his vowes corum populo in the presence of all the people and good reason hee had for God hath oft releeved him and taken much care to preserve his life as hee is ever tender of the safety of all his people for Pretiosain oculis Iehovae c. Pretious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The words are a Simple universall affirmative proposition wherein 1. The subject or thing spoken of is The death of Gods Saints 2. That which is spoken of it is That it is pretious in the sight of the Lord. Which
flesh of the fashions of the world of the wisedome that is from below and earth-creeping Are Christians guided by these rules have they not the God of heaven and earth the Lawes of the Spirit and the wisedome that is from above and customes that are from heaven whereby to regulate them Who are the men of this world are they not those who have the God of this world to raigne in their hearts who are led captive by him whose under standings are darkened their wills obfirmated their hearts hardened their consciences seared their conversation defiled with all uncleannesses their senses open breaches for sinne to enter their tongues blaspheming the name of God and are these conversations fit for the Saints and are they not strangers Are not they strangers that are not capable of honours of possessions in the place wherein they live as being not free Denizens of the place and is not this proper to Christians whose dutie it is to vilifie riches and honours and pleasures in themselves asmuch as they that have these doe others that have them not to account riches the greatest povertie and pleasures the greatest torment and honours the greatest ignominie and power the greatest weaknesse not to possesse the world not to enjoy it not to account any thing good that maketh not the owner better not to admit any thing from the world but so farre as it may advance the true Nobilitie of man the puritie of the Image of God his restitution to his ancient descent his re-estating him in the possession of heaven and the societie of Angels and Archangels to rise up in Armes against this materiall world and to rend himselfe from this faeculent matter and out of the greatnesse of his Spirit and noblenesse of his disposition to be altogether ambitious of the presence of God and of these constant and unchangeable good things This is the dutie of Christians and are not they Strangers Are not they strangers that have double Impost and double customes and the greatest taxations layd upon them is not this peculiar unto the Saints in this life have they not afflictions layd upon them in the greatest measure must they not through many afflictions enter into the kingdome of heaven Have they not teares and that in abundance for their meat and for their drinke Have they not enemies from within and enemies from without Must they not bee conformable to their head Christ their elder brother as he had his double portion this life of afflictions and punishments so must they have as he was sanctified by afflictions so must they also The gold is not pure unlesse it bee tryed nor the water sweet if it have not a current nor the vessell bright unlesse it be scoured nor the Saints fit for heaven unlesse they be prepared by afflictions what man was there that ever set himselfe seriously either to reforme himselfe or others that found not great opposition from himselfe and from others and are not these strangers Are not they strangers that are ad placitum Principis to stay in the Land or to be gone according as hee shall manifest his royall pleasure by his Proclamation and are not we here in the world upon these termes how soone all of us or any of us shall bee dismissed who knowes who dares promise to himselfe the late evening or secure himselfe of the least atome or moment of time hee that dreamed waking of long continuance had scarce libertie to dreame sleeping for that night they tooke away his soule and hee himselfe was branded to succeeding generations with the name of a foole and are not wee strangers Did not the Saints of God whose judgements were most refined those that had the honour to approach most neere unto God himselfe alwayes so repute themselves Doth not the holy Patriarch that wrestled with God and had principalitie over him Did nor hee acknowledge that few and evill were the dayes of his pilgrimage Did not he that was a man after Gods owne heart that had a speciall promise that his house should continue for ever Yet did not hee acknowledge that hee was a stranger as well as his fathers were is it not his earnest prayer unto God I am a stranger upon earth hide not thy Commandements from mee as if hee had said I am a Traveller upon earth I am speeding to Ierusalem which is above I am to passe through this darke calignous world thy Word is a light to my feet a lanthorne to my steps the rule the square the cannon of all rectitude hide not this light from mee lest I runne out of the way or linger in the way or stumble or fall in the way I am a stranger upon earth c. What should I instance in particulars are they not summed up to my hand by the Apostle Heb. 11. 13 All these Patriarkes Prophets Saints all of them did acknowledge themselves to bee strangers Examples have in them an universalitie of Doctrine and instruction especially the examples of the Saints because Praxis Sanctorum is Interpres praeceptorum the practice of the Saints is the best interpretation of the precept Examples have in them a directive force because those that are best disposed in mind and body are a rule for the rest Examples have an incentive force to give life spirits vigour transmining by a kind of Metem Psychosis the soule the spirits the resolutions the affections of the patterne to him that reades it extorting deepesighes and teares and groanes and other alterations at their pleasure And if any Examples have this force have not these much more Other examples have the restimonie of men these have the restimonie of God himselfe hee is not ashamed a wonderfull condiscention of the one and the supreame elevation of the other to bee called their God the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Iacob the Father of the faithfull and the God of the beleevers There are examples whereof men boast but God is ashamed of them corrupt examples of wicked the imperfect examples of heathen men of these God is ashamed but of these God is not ashamed and shall wee be ashamed of them Wee are then strangers Let mee instill into your eares the voyce of that was heard in the Temple before the ruine of it Migremus hinc Let us goe from hence Let mee say unto you with our Saviour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let us goe from hence let us trusse up our fardles and on with our sandals and promote our way to heaven Let us depose and lay downe all burthens and impediments and make our selves expedite and fit for our journey wee are in an Inne let us looke about us and leave nothing behind but carry all with us or send it before us wee have but an instant of our abode here let us imploy it to the best advantage It is the greatest losse it is the most shamefull losse it is the most irrecoverable losse that may bee to lose this
the Psalmist One thing have I desired of the Lord which I will desire even that I may dwell in his house and behold the beautie of the Lord. And I wonder not when I contemplate the Majestie of God I wish my selfe all feare and when I consider the power of God I wish my selfe all humilitie and when I meditate on the goodnesse of God I wish my selfe all Love and when I contemplate the Beautie of God and of this house I wish my selfe all desire and so doe you also and therefore with unanimous votes you request me to conduct you to the gates of this house whereby you may enter into the same and according to the magnificence of this House so there are many gates whereby wee may enter and all of these reaching even to the Earth with the foot of Iacobs ladder There is the gate of Faith by it we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accesse unto God and that with boldnesse by this we lay hold on the Throne of Grace by this we prostrate our selves at his feet by this wee adhere and cleave close unto God by this wee live in Christ and Christ in us by this our hearts are purified our consciences washed with the bloud of Christ and fitted to see God and to enter into the holy of holyes unto which no uncleane thing can be admitted This is one Gate Another is the gate of Hope which entreth within the Vaile and bringeth us neerer unto God this grace taketh us by the hand and leadeth us through the streetes of New Ierusalem and sheweth us the Temple of the Lambe and the Lambe sitting in his Temple assuring us that wee shall live there with him this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heaven before heaven the life of the Soule the keeper of Christ the keeper of God This is a second Gate There is another Gate the gate of Charitie by this we enter not but presse in unto God and are not led but transported unto God and carried in a fierie Chariot By this grace we approach not neere unto God but forgetting the greatnesse of his Majestie wee lay hold on him we hang upon him we imbrace him we familiarly converse with him we freely consult with him we inseparably cleave unto him more close then any Polypus doth unto the Rock Another gate is the gate of humilitie a low gate but a sure and certaine gate the exaltation of the soule the honour the dignitie of the soule that which subjects the soule immediatly to God and so seateth it above all the creatures that gate whereby the soule steales into heaven though the gate bee never so streight by crouching bowing bending pinching of it selfe At these gates if you knocke earnestly by devout prayer and frequent Almes you may enter into this glorious and magnificent house with which the Saints desire to bee cloathed upon and this is the first house which they desire There is another house which the Saints desire and that is the house of their bodies glorified while they are here in this life they have a cottage rather than a house a cottage seated in a low waterie marish place exposing the soule to Agues Feavers and varietie of diseases so that shee is sometimes downe at the best but crasie and valetudinarie scarse any vicissitude and change either of age or place or calling but the soule is dangerously affected with it and in great hazard a dangerous Cottage ready to fall upon the soule and crash it in pieces a cottage full of holes and rifts in every storme and tempest of adversitie it raines through this cottage into the soule and makes the soule unhealthie in the Sun-shine of prosperitie the beames of the Sunne beate upon the soule and make it faint and weake many times a ruinous cottage so that the inhabitant is forced to spend almost all his time in repairing it in keeping it up in supplying the necessities of it distracted rent and torne with cares and sollicitudes for it so that little time is left for better duties for duties proper to the inner man and when the soule setteth her selfe to these duties then this Cottage is an impediment unto her taking off her minde from it by some sudden gust of a vaine thought or hindring her by some indisposition or compelling her by some urgent necessitie to breake off before shee is willing These and the like incumbrances doe much afflict the Saints therefore they desire to bee cloathed upon with a pure house a pleasant house a lightsome house a healthfull house a durable house a glorious house that might bee a helpe and incouragement to the soule in holy and religious duties In this wee groane earnestly c. You that are owners of the wonder are not ignorant what a wonder man is a composure of different natures Celestiall terrestriall Angelicall beastiall corporall spirituall greater then the world lesse then the world the richest Pearle and the basest foyle the Image of GOD and a peece of clay you are not ignorant how these two are affected one to the other in the Regenerate man if the body bee sound and well it kicketh against the spirit if it bee ill it afflicts the Spirit How doe I love my body as my fellow servant and eschew it as mine enemie how doe I hate it as my clogge and reverence it as my fellow-heire I buffet it as a slave and imbrace it as a friend I chastise it and keepe it under and then I want a companion to assist mee in the workes of pietie I cherish it and nourish it and then am I stung with the lusts of it It is a flattering enemie and a trecherous friend Oh my conjunction and oh my alienation that which I feare I imbrace and that which I love I feare before I make warre with it I am reconciled and before I am reconciled I am at variance what a strange misterie is this therefore the Saints mortifie and crucifie their bodyes they gird them close with the cords of strong resolutions they macerate them with watchings and fastings and make them thinne and pale and wanne that so they may be serviceable to the Spirit they labour that their hands may be translucent with fasting as the hands of Elphegus were that their countenances may bee living documents of humiliation that their bodyes may bee as transparent glasses wherein the thoughts of their hearts may be seene that their soules may have no more residence in the heart but may as evidently bee seene in every part of the body as there This they ayme at and when they have done all this yet they complaine of the dulnesse deadnesse heavinesse lumpishnesse of the body and are at enmitie with it and cry out Oh miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death not that they are simply enemies to the body but to this earthly corruptible body this sinfull body that depresseth the minde musing of many things and desire the
things ordinarily that have great labour this disposition to case and rest Sathan serves himselfe on and makes great use of so when a man hath come from hearing the Word and reading the Scriptures whereas he should now bee exercised and labour in meditation to worke those things on his heart that now the roote might fasten and things might settle on the soule hee passeth by these easily now the heart of a man lies open as the high way you know the parable Matth. 13. when the seede fell on the high-way the Foules of the ayre came and picked it up and it was gone presently where there is no paines 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 paines taken with the heart now every notion every direction and every spirituall instruction it lies lightly there and is soone carried out this is the advantage that Sathan makes of a mans love of ease But there is another thing concerning the way that Sathan takes not only to steale it out of the mind by those two wayes but againe by presenting the very truths of God to men in false glosses so as a man cannot discerne them in their owne shape and nature but in such coulours as hee presents them to them If the time would have served I might instance in severall particulars I will but touch upon one or two and leave the inlargement to your owne meditations Sometimes things that are great and of precious use shall be presented small and of no account and things againe that are small and little shall be presented wondrous great The mercies of God the Attributes of God the promises of the Gospell the sufficiencie of the merits of Christ these shall seeme small things little to be regarded lesse then ever God intended them to be And on the contrary a mans owne sinnes his owne distempers shall bee made exceeding great Worldly things shall be presented as things of the greatest consequence and spirituall things as meere accessories as things that depend upon them and that come in after Sometimes againe things that are most necessarie to be understood and knowne 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 bee presented with more clearenesse 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 tast of Sathans subtiltie this way whereby he wondrously prevailes in bringing trouble upon the spirits of men Thirdly it is from our selves and so it comes to passe from that generall corruption that is in our natures from whence all other sinnes flow that the spirits of men are troubled and disturbed by things that fall out from day to day And first it comes to passe that the soule of man is miserablie in bondage and captivated and inthralled and is deprived of libertie as it were through the distemper of the body as in Melancholie and sicknesse wee see how the soule is disturbed by the very diseases and distempers in the body it selfe and that by vertue of that simpathie in the soule with the body it riseth from the union of it to the body by the spirits but this I will passe by Sometimes we see the soule subdued with lusts and corruptions some strong lust some strong sinne or other prevailes And then as it is with the fowle that is now flying in the ayre it may be there is bird-lime cast upon the wings of it it falls downe presently and can flie no further so it is with the soule somewhat presseth it downe somewhat compasseth it about and coupes it in as that expression is used Heb. 12. 1. Let us cast off the sinne that compasseth us about and that presseth so heavy downe that we may runne with patience the race that is set before us And sometimes the soule is disturbed by inordinate passions which arise from that generall distemper that is diffused through every facultie and so the understanding lookes upon things as through a mist it sees nothing clearely and in most common things it is blind and it is led by blind affections too and when the blind lead the blind both fall into the ditch saith Christ and so the memorie that should reteine the precious treasures the promises of the Gospell to relieve the soule in all cases it is like a leaking vessell that lets things runne out as it is Heb. 2. Take heed that the things you have heard runne not out saith the Apostle alluding to that Metaphor And the very conscience it selfe that should bee conclusive it now rests in generalls and uncertainties conscience should determine what my case is whether I bee 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 owne neglect it remaines in doubt it may bee I am it may bee 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 owne particular case hence it is that every thing troubles and disquiets him Thus beloved you see the reasons of it Wee will briefly passe 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 bee troubled Hee considered of them in their weaknesse and doth not much upbraid them with it but helpes to bring them out of it in much mercie and love and so should wee There is such a disposition rising from the pride crueltie and uncharitablenesse of the hearts of men that they are apt to adde to the burthen of the afflicted and to make their afflictions more by their sensuring of their troubles You know the speech of old Ely a good man but yet hee failed in that when hee saw Hannah in great trouble of spirit uttering her heart before the Lord Lay away thy drunkennesse saith hee hee thought shee was drunke at least with some passion and all came but from perplexitie and disturbance of spirit and in that manner hee rather added to her griefe then eased her So Iobs 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 covetousnesse or for some one thing or other and therefore it was thus with him Nay Christ himselfe the censure of all men was thus much concerning Christ himselfe Wee did esteeme him stricken smitten of God and afflicted The intent of the phrase is as one smitten for his owne ill as if God had
am the Life Now the difference betweene these two wee may conceive with reverend Calvin to be this I am the Resurrection That is I have all quickening power in mee I am able to restore and give life to those that are dead And then I am the life I have such quickening power in mee that I am able to preserve and continue the life that I have given or restored to any I am the Resurrection and the life And then followes the Exposition of this Proposition and of the severall members of it for the truth of a copulative Proposition depends upon the truth of both the parts and members of it therefore there followes the Explication and confirmation of both the parts of this Proposition First of the first part I am the Resurrection this is explained and confirmed in these words Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live I have such a quickning power in mee saith Christ that I am able to restore spirituall life to that soule that is dead in sinnes therefore I am able to raise up the body that is dead in the grave I am able to give spirituall life to the soule which is greater and the more difficult worke and if I be able to doe the greater I am able to doe the lesse hee that beleeves in mee saith Christ though before he were dead in trespasses and sinnes yet hee shall live he shall live the life of grace Then followes the Explication and confirmation of the second member of the Proposition in these words Whosoever liveth and beleeveth in mee shall never die I am the life saith Christ for whosoever beleeveth in me and so is restored to spirituall life he shall never die hee shall never die to speake properly for he shall never perish he shall never die this life shall never be taken from him neither here nor hereafter not here for hee shall continue to live the life of grace not hereafter for though the body shall die yet this separation of the body from the soule it is not so properly a death as a passage to life a passage from the life of grace to the life of glory And this body also that is separated from the soule it shall bee quickned againe and shall be raised up to live for ever therefore hee that beleeveth in mee shall never die Thus you see the words expounded Now from the first member of this Proposition I am the Resurrection and the Exposition and confirmation of it in these words Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall he live Hence the point of Doctrine I will observe is this that Iesus Christ is the Fountaine and Authour of all life Hee is able to give and restore life to those that are dead He is the Resurrection Now whereas there is a double death and a double Life and consequently a double Resurrection we must understand that Christ is the Author of both in this place weare not to exclude either Therefore wee will indeavour to expound this generall doctrine in these three particulars First Christ hath such a quickning power in him that hee is able to raise up those dead bodies of his that now lie in the Grave Secondly Christ hath such a quickning power in him that he is able to raise up the soule that is dead in sinnes to a spirituall life Thirdly wee will shew you why Christ as in this place so else-where doth expresse both the state of the faithfull here and their estate after under the same phrase of speech he comprehends both under this terme I am the Resurrection For the first of these Christ is the Author of life he hath such a quickning power in him that hee is able to raise up the dead bodies of his out of their graves Wee will speake first of this Resurrection that is of the body though it be later in time Because that naturally we are more apt to conceive of the death and life of the body then of the death and life of the soule And secondly because that the understanding of this Resurrection of the body will give light to the understanding of the other of the soule And here first wee will shew briefly what this Resurrection of the body is And then prove that Christ is the Author and the Fountaine of it First the Resurrection of the body is this when the soule that was actually separate from the dead body returnes againe to its proper body and being united to it the man riseth up out of the Grave with an immortall incorruptible body to lead a glorified life This is the Resurrection of the body Now that Christ is the Author of this Resurrection of the body it is evident For as Christ himselfe by his owne power raised himselfe being dead in the Grave Ioh. 2. 19. saith Christ destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it againe speaking of the Temple of his body And so againe Iohn 10. 18. I have power saith Christ to lay downe my life and to take it up againe so likewise Christ by his quickning spirit hee will raise up the bodyes of those that are now dead in the Grave as we may see Ioh. 5. 28 29. Mervaile not at this saith Christ for the houre is comming in which all that are in the grave shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of man and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life c. In this regard Christ is called the first fruites of them that sleepe For as the first fruites being offered to God did sanctifie the whole crop and the owner hereby was assured of the blessing of God upon all the rest so Christ is the first fruits of the dead and his Resurrection it is an assurance to the faithfull of their Resurrection and the cause of it both an assurance a pledge of it and likewise a cause of it Therefore herein Christ the second Adam is opposed to the first Adam As the first Adam who was the roote of all man-kind did communicate death and mortalitie to all those that spring from him so likewise Christ the second Adam by his Resurrection hee conveyes life and a quickening power to all his members as wee may see 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die Adam he communicates death and mortalitie to all that spring from him even so in Christ shall all be made alive Christ hee conveyes life to all his members and they are all quickened by his Spirit therefore Christ is called a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first Adam was made a living soule but the last Adam a quickning spirit not onely a living but a quickning spirit And this quickning power and vertue Christ did manifest before his resurrection by raising up three from death namely by raising the Widowes sonne
the restoring of the body to life and the restoring the soule to life Secondly in regard of the certaine inseparable connexion betweene these two First I say in regard of the Analogie and proportion betweene these two the resurrection of the body and of the soule now the proportion and analogie consists especially in these foure things First as in the resurrection of the body the living soule must first returne to the dead body and quicken it before it can rise againe so here in the Resurrection of the soule the Spirit of grace must returne to the soule that is dead in sinnes and quicken it befor it can rise againe so that there is a similitude in regard of the first beginning and principle of this Resurrection Againe secondly there is an analogie and proportion in regard of the point and terme the state from which the Resurrection is for as in the resurrection of the body the body riseth from the state of corruption from the bondage of the Grave so here in this resurrection of the soule the soule and the whole man riseth from the state of spirituall corruption from the bondage of sinne The third proportion is in regard of the estate to which a man riseth for as in the resurrection of the body a man shall rise againe without those infirmities that the body had before he shall rise to lead another kind of life a glorified life so in this resurrection of the soule the sinner riseth and is raised up to lead a new kind of life a spirituall life and therefore it is called Newnesse of life Rom. 6. 4. that we should walke in newnesse of life both in regard of the new principle and fountaine of it the spring of grace in the soule And in regard of the new effects and new operations which are answerable to the new roote Fourthly there is a proportion also in regard of the perpetuitie of both for as in the Resurrection of the body the body shall rise an immortall body not subject to death any more so here in the resurrection of the soule when the sinner is restored to spirituall life he is raised up to a durable immutable estate hee shall continue to live this life of grace and the immortall seed that is put into him it shall never die so Christ saith verse 26. Hee that beleeveth in mee saith he and so liveth hee shall never die he is raised to an immutable estate to such a life as shall never be subject to spirituall death againe Thus you see the analogie and proportion between these two and in this respect they may both be comprehended fitly under one terme Secondly in regard of the infallible connexion betweene these two for wheresoever the resurrection of the soule to the life of grace goes before there the resurrection of the body to the life of glorie will certainly follow after for as the spirituall death of the soule did necessarily draw after it the mortalitie and death of the body so the spirituall life of the soule doth necessarily draw with it the immortalitie and the resurrection of the body therefore as in the Sacrament the name of the thing signified is given to the signe in regard of the neere conjunction and relation betweene them so here in regard of the neere conjunction betweene these two that they are never separate therefore they may both fitly be comprehended under one terme Thus wee have endevoured to expound the general doctrine in these three particulars Wee have shewed you that Christ is the Author and fountaine of the Resurrection of the body hee hath the quickning power in him whereby he is able to raise those bodyes that are dead in the grave Then he is the Author of the Resurrection of the soule too he is able to quicken those soules that are dead in sinnes And then we have shewed the reasons why these two the Resurrection of the body and of the soule are both comprehended under one phrase of speech I am the Resurrection Now I come to the Use and Application of that that hath beene delivered And the Use of the point is First for comfort Secondly for tryall and examination Thirdly for exhortation and direction First the Use of the point may be for comfort here here is matter of sound comfort to all those that are the faithfull members of Christ Jesus if thou be united to Christ by faith Christ is the Fountaine of life he will be the Fountaine of spirituall life therefore here is comfort against Death against the death of the soule and against the death of the body Comfort first against the death of the Soule comfort against sinne thatis the ill of all ills and is the death of the soule If thou be united to Christ Christ by his divine power he is able to free thee from the power and dominion of sinne from the bondage of sinne Dost thou complaine that thy understanding is darke and blinde remember Christ is able to give thee more light Ephes. 5. 14. Awake thou that sleepest and stand up from the dead and Christ shall give thee light Dost thou complaine that thy heart is hard and stonie remember that Christ is able to soften thy hard heart and to give thee a heart of flesh as he hath promised Ezek. 36. 36. I will take away their stonie heart and give them an heart of flesh Dost thou complaine that thy affections are unruly and set upon wrong objects remember to thy comfort that Christ is able to rectifie these affections hee is able to plant in thee the true love and feare of God as he hath promised Deut. 30. 6. I will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed that thou shalt love mee with all thy heart and with all thy soule And in Ier. 32. 40. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall never depart from mee Dost thou complaine that thou canst not beare afflictions patiently remember that Christ thy head he is able to strengthen thee and hee will doe it as he did the Apostle Phil. 4. 13. saith he I am able to doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth me But here the weake Christian will bee ready to object but I have so many strong corruptions in me that I am afaid that I am not yet raised out of the grave of sinne that I am not yet raised out of my naturall estate To which I answer remember this to thy comfort that the first Resurrection is unlike to the second in this regard in regard of the measure and degree of it as soone as ever the soule quickens the dead body the dead body leaves the Grave and the state of corruption wholly and all at once but it is not so in the Resurrection of the soule When the spirit quickens the soule the soule begins to rise againe from the grave of sinne but yet the bands and fetters of
sinne and corruption still remaine upon the sould Indeed as soone as the Spirit of grace quickens the soule the soule presently hates all sinne and begins to shake off these fetters of sinne and corruption and shakes them off by little and little but I say it shakes them not off all at once In this spirituall Resurrection sinne indeed receives a deadly wound but yet it is not wholly abolished In the spirituall Resurrection sinne is like a beast whose throat is cut that lies striving and strugling for life so sinne hath life in it but yet it hath a deadly wound therefore remember to thy comfort that that will bee true here betweene the power of grace and the remainders of sinne that is affirmed of the house of Saul and the house of David 2 Sam. 3. 1. there was long warre betweene them But the house of David grew stronger and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker So it will be betweene sinne and grace sinne will grow weaker and weaker and grace stronger and stronger But yet the weake Christian may object further but I feele the spirit so weake in me and the flesh so strong in me that I am afraid the flesh will prevaile and so I shall returne againe to my naturall estate To this I answer remember that this is contrarie to the nature of a true Resurrection to returne to death againe for at the last Resurrection the bodyes that are raised shall be immortall never to die againe so here those soules that are quickned to the life of grace they are raised to a durable immutable immortall estate never to die againe That which Christ saith of those that shall bee accounted worthie to attaine the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body it is true here also hee saith those that shall be accounted worthy of the world to come of the Resurrection to life they shall never die for they are as the Angels of heaven Luke 20. 35 36. Those that partake of that Resurrection can never die so here those that partake of this spirituall Resurrection to the life of grace they shall never die this Resurrection to the life of grace it shall continue in them For the Spirit of grace when he once commeth into the soule and quickens it it continues there and remaines there for ever it is as a Well of water springing up to eternall life as Christ speakes Ioh. 4. 14. Whosoever shall drinke of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall bee in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Now wee know a streame of water is of a vanishing nature yet if it bee nourished with a continuall Fountaine that can never be drie the streame will continually runne so it is with the streame of grace in the soule it is nourished with a continuall fountaine such a one as can never be dried up Thus you see here is comfort against sinne against the death of the soule Those that are united to Christ by faith they may be assured that Christ will be to them a Fountaine of spirituall life Secondly here is comfort against the death of the body against naturall death If thou be united to Christ thou needest not to feare temporall death remember that though the body bee dead beecause of sinne yet the spirit is life as it is Rom. 8. 10. The body that is dead that is it is mortall and subject to death because of sinne but the spirit the soule that liveth it passeth from the life of grace here to the life of glorie Yea and the body too that is laid in the Grave notwithstanding shall be raised againe by the quickning power of Christ. Remember Christ is thy head and therefore hee being risen from the dead thou shalt not perish You know as long as the head of the naturall body is above the water none of the members of the body can be drowned so it is here as long as Christ is risen none of his members can be held captive in the Grave Remember Christ is the first fruites of the dead the first fruites of them that sleepe therefore his Resurrection may bee a pledge and an assurance to thee of thy resurrection As wee have borne the Image of the earthly saith the Apostle so wee shall beare the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15. 49. As wee have borne about us these corruptible bodyes so when we rise againe we shall rise with immortall and incorruptible bodies and live a glorious life with Christ and so be made conformable to Christ our head therefore feare not the death of the body Remember that Death can destroy nothing in thee but sinne therefore feare not This consideration may comfort us as against our owne death so against the death of our friends Let us therefore receive comfort hence as Martha in this Chapter I know that my brother shall rise againe in the Resurrection at the last day and that did comfort her But here this question may bee demanded but is not this Resurrection of the body a benefit common to the wicked are not they partakers of this benefit from the resurrection of Christ as well as the godly shall not they be raised and quickned as well as the godly by Christ his Resurrection To this I answer that this Resurrection of the body to life it is a benefit proper to the faithfull to the true members of Christ for though unbeleevers and wicked persons shall bee raised up againe yet By a different cause And to a different end I say first by a different cause the wicked that are out of Christ cannot have any benefit from the Resurrection of Christ because they are out of Christ therefore they shall bee raised indeed but not by a quickning power flowing from the resurrection of Christ but by the divine power and command of Christ as a just Judge and they shall bee raised by vertue of that curse pronounced in Paradice Gen. 2. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death that includes eternall death therefore this curse must be executed upon them and therefore they most rise out of the Grave againe that body and soule may die eternally but the faithfull members of Christ shall bee raised by the quickning power of Christ as their head and Saviour Againe as the wicked shall be raised by a different cause so to a different end for they shall not be raised to life to speake properly that state is stiled eternall death therefore their Resurrection is stiled the resurrection of condemnation Ioh. 5. 27. they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of condemnation they shall not rise to life but to eternall death but the godly only shall attaine this Resurrection of life and therefore they only are stiled the sonnes of
the resurrection Luke 20. 36. So much may suffice for comfort A second Use of the point may be for tryall and examination since we professe to be Christians to be members of Christ let us here trie the truth whether wee be so indeed or no. Christ is the Resurrection he is the Author of the first Resurrection to a spirituall life The first thing that Christ doth in the soule of a sinner is to raise the soule to a spirituall life therefore examine whether thou have feltthis quickning power or no this first Resurrection to a spirituall life When Christ was upon the earth he had power to raise up all those to life againe that died but yet hee raised but few there are but three that wee read of those that we named before The Widowes sonne Iairus Daughter and Lazarus here So likewise Christ now hath power to quicken all those that are dead in sinne to raise them to spirituall life but yet he quickens but few in comparison of those that continue still in their sinnes Therefore let us all examine our selves upon this point whether we have attained the first Resurrection or no. If we be true members of Christ we partake of the first Resurrection for Christ is a fountaine of spirituall life to all his members therefore examine this looke to the first resurrection to the Life of grace thou maist know it briefly by three signes First by forsaking of sinne Secondly by newnesse of life Thirdly by thy continuall progresse in both First by thy forsaking of sinne whether hast thou left those sinnes thou formerly livedst in As in the Resurrection of the body as soone as the soule is united to the body presently the man leaves the Grave he leaves the societie of the dead and comes forth as Lazarus as soone as he was quickned and his soule returned to his body presently hee came forth Vers. 44. Hee that was dead came forth out of his grave Examine therefore whether thou be come forth of the grave of sinne whether hast thou left the societie of sinners of prophane persons and whether hast thou left the grave of thy sinne Is there not some lust some sinne that still holds thee captive in this Grave to which thou willingly and wittingly obeyest If thou live in any one knowne sinne if thou be ruled by any one lust whatsoever it be be it swearing or drunkennesse or uncleannesse or covetousnesse 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 knowne sins this is a plaine case thou art still in the noysome grave of thy sinnes thou art not risen out of the grave of thy sinnes 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. Againe Secondly thou mayest know it by the newnesse of thy life whether dost thou feele a spirituall life wrought in thee and whether doth it appeare outwardly Dost thou feele a spirituall life wrought inwardly That spirituall life that Christ restores to the soule is universally spread through the whole foule As when the soule of a man quickens the body it quickens the whole body every member of it so here the Spirit of grace quickens the whole soule Therefore examine whether dost thou find spirituall life wrought in thy whole soule 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 spirituall inclinations whether are the studies and desires of thy soule set upon heavenly things If yee bee risen with Christ seeke those things that are above Collos. 3. 1. Whether are thy affections and meditations heavenly and spirituall Dost thou feele this change inwardly in thy soule Againe doth this spirituall life appeare outwardly also by thy speeches and actions Doth it appeare outwardly in thy speeches is there a change there canst thou now speake to men in the language of Canaan and to God in the voyce of his Spirit crying Abba Father Againe is there a change in thy outward actions hast thou left the societie of sinners and dost thou converse with living Christians Dost thou love those that excell in vertue and dost thou manifest the graces of the Spirit in the conscionable performance of all the duties of thy generall and particular calling As soone as Lazarus was quickned presently as he left the Grave so he conversed with living men and walked in his Calling so examine if thou have left the societie of the dead and converse with living Christians and delight in them and whether thou walke on conscionably in the place that God hath set thee in making the word of Christ the rule of all thy actions If it bee thus with thee if thou feele this spirituall life wrought in thy soule and it appeare outwardly in all thy speeches and actions this is a good signe thou partakest of the first Resurrection to the life of grace In the third place thou maist know this also by thy progresse in both these First by the progresse of thy Mortification Is sinne daily more and more mortified in thee Dost thou daily get ground of thy corruptions Is sinne in thee like the house of Saul as that waxed weaker and weaker so doth corruption in thee daily Is sinne 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 growes weaker and weaker till at the last he dies so it is with sin in every Christian examine if sin be such an old man in you that it growes weaker daily Againe thou maist know it by thy progresse 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 lustie man that daily growes stronger till he come to his full strength doth grace in thee grow stronger daily and dost thou goe forward in thy Christian course It is the dutie of a Christian to walke on daily in his Christian course Rom. 6. 4. wee must walke on in newnesse of life If thou find this progresse in thy mortification and vivification it is a good signe indeed that thou hast attained to the first Resurrection of the soule to a spirituall life Therefore let mee intreate you to set upon this worke of examination of your owne hearts diligently and faithfully Let not the multitudes of worldly businesse
have leaves upon it and though for the present all the fruit that is on it be not quite shooke off yet now the tree is said to be dead because there is a blow given at the roote whereupon it will wither and certainly die So a man is said to be dead when hee hath a deadly wound given him though hee be not now dead though hee may stirre and live after and perhaps doe some hurt to him that wounded him yet hee is dead because hee is irrecoverably wounded every one that lookes on him will say hee is dead So as soone as a man is in Christ by vertue of his union with Christ there is such a blow given to the roote of sinne not in the judgement only but in the affections also so as it never recovers its strength againe to bring forth fruite in that abundance as before and it alway withers and decayes more and more till it be quite removed Now as it is in this case with a tree will you know when it is dead take it in the Spring All the trees in Winter seeme to bee dead but come in the Spring and in Summer and then if a man see there are no leaves if hee see no fruite upon the tree now hee concludes it is dead indeed because it brings not forth fruit in the season of fruit So take a man when there is an occasion an opportunitie to turne to folly when upon deliberation and judgement he may consider of that opportunitie to mannage it for the service of sinne it will appeare now if hee be dead hee will not in such an occasion yeeld but at such a time especially resist sinne at such a time hee will not bring forth the fruit of sinne Looke what the Spring is to the tree that is occasion to the sinfulnesse of mans heart Indeed when sinne takes a man upon disadvantage upon unequall termes that he deliberates not and considers not what hee is doing as David saith I said in my hast then many times sinne prevailes and bindes him as a theefe doth the master of the house hand and foot yet neverthelesse when he well weighes and considers things at such a time it will appeare that sinne is dead Thus you see how fitly the termes hold to expresse the change of a Christian his judgement is right hee condemnes sinne as death in the purpose and covenant of his heart whereby hee is bound to God he disposeth it from its dominion and rule that what it doth now is as a theefe by stealth that surprizeth a man in his sleepe And it hath its deadly wound whereupon it withers and decayes and at last in the sight of all men and at such a time when if there were any life it would appeare at such a time it shall appeare that sinne is dead Thus you see the first expression opened the change from sinne by death you are dead to sinne Now take the second expression you are alive to God that expresseth the second part of sanctification that is the quickning of a man to newnesse of life It is with thee now as with one that was dead and is alive there is such a change in thee And how is this expressed by life Thus in three respects this change is fitly expressed by life The first is this you know life it consists in the union of a man with the principle of life when there is a union betweene the body and the soule here is life Now though there are bodyes and spirits yet the bodyes live not by those spirits except they be united with them therefore when the soule is separated from the body the body dyes and the man is said no more to be alive so here in this sence when there is a union betweene the soule of a man and the principle of spirituall life then there is that change wrought whence hee is said to bee alive Now the principle of spirituall life is only Christ so you see here in the Text you are alive to God through our Lord Iesus Christ when there is a union betweene Christ and you And how is that It is by an influence from Christ into the soule and that is the mightie worke of the Spirit of God as you see Ioh. 6. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth saith our Saviour The great worke that is wrought by the Spirit in quickning a man is the worke of Faith Now I live saith the Apostle by faith in the Sonne of God that died for mee Gal. 2. 20. Now when there is such a union betweene Christ and a man then he lives there is such a change in him as there is in life Therefore beloved this change is not in any that professe the knowledge of Christ and have not yet union with Christ. It is not enough that a man be called a Christian it is not enough that a man professe that hee hopes to be saved by Christ It is not enough that a man goe on in some externall actions as other Christians doe unlesse that he doth and that he is in any spirituall action it be by vertue of his union with Christ that it be by life received from him by a quickning vertue flowing from him to every member that is exprest Ioh. 15. 9. by the branches in the Vine they are quickned by union in the Vine cut the branches from the Vine and they die and wither So it is with men let them be in the Lords Vineyard yet if they be not united with this Vine Christ they are but dead men dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes. 2. 1. that is the first Secondly this change is exprest by life in another respect for looke as in life there is not only an union with the principle of life but besides that there are those living actions and operations that naturally flow from that union in every living creature so in spirituall life there are spirituall actions and operations that flow from every man that is thus united to Christ. As every thing is in being so it is in working take a naturall man he doth naturall actions by vertue of a naturall life Take a worldly man he doth live as a man may say in worldly actions by vertue of that worldly principle that is in him So take a spirituall man what is the reason hee delights in spirituall things His delight is in the law of the Lord as David saith and in that Law hee meditates day and night What is the reason his delight is in the Saints and the more spirituall any one is the more he delights in them the reason is this because he lives a spirituall life therefore he doth actions agreeable to that principle with which hee is united therefore by this you shall know it Thirdly there are certaine properties in life that hold in this too and we will instance but in two First wheresoever there is life there is a
and sea shall cast up 〈◊〉 their dead Wee have the parties to bee examâ—…ed let us now here the Articles upon which they are to bee examâ—…ed First Death is to answer to this 〈◊〉 where is thy sâ—…ng these words may bee understood â—…o maâ—…r of wayes 1 Actively 2 Passively 1 Passively where is thy sting that is the sting thrust out by Deatâ—… 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Death is 〈◊〉 other then the present sence of the desert of death and guilt of conscience 〈◊〉 a dreadâ—… 〈…〉 take away this 〈…〉 for sinnâ—… 〈…〉 no 〈…〉 â—…is Saints and 〈…〉 of a punishment of sinne a remedie against all sinne of a short and fearefull cut to eternall death a faire and safe draw-bridge to eternall life 2 Actively where is thy sting that is the sting which causeth and bringeth Death In this sense the sting of death is sinne non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato enim morimur non morte peccâ—…mus as Saint Austine most accutely and eloquently Sinne is sayd to bee the sting of Death as a cup of poyson is sayd to bee a potion of death that is a potion bringing death for wee dye by sinne wee sinne not by death sinne is not the off-spring of death but death the off-spring of sinne or as the Apostle tearmeth it the wages of sinne And it is just with God to pay the sinner this wages by rendring death to sinne and punishing sinne with death because sinne severeth the soule from God and not onely grieveth and despightfully entreateth but without repentance in the end thrusteth the spirit out of doores And what more agreeable to Divine justice then that the soule which willingly severeth her selfe from God should bee unwillingly severed from the bodie and that the spirit should bee expelled of his residence in the flesh which expelleth Gods grace and excludeth his Spirit from a residence in the soul This sting of death is like the Adders two forked or double for it is either originall or actuall sinne originall sinne is the sting of death in the day thou eatest of the Tree of knowledge thou shalt surely dye and as by one man sinne came into the World and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all had sinned Secondly actuall sinne is the sting of death the soule that sinneth it shall dye the sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the father nor the father the iniquity of the sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall bee upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall bee upon him Howbeit if wee speake properly originall sinne as it is a pronesse to all sinne so it maketh us rather obnoxious to death then dead men but actuall sinne without repentance slayes out-right Adam did not die the day hee eat the fruit but that day became mortalis or morti obnoxius guiltie of death or liable to it originall sinne alone maketh us mortes but actuall mortuos dead men The Devill like to a Hornet sometimes pricks us onely but leaveth not his sting in us sometime he leaveth his sting in us and that 's farre the more dangerous He is pricked only with this sting who sinneth suddenly and presently repenteth but he who the Devil bringeth to a habit or custome insinne in him hee leaveth his sting Now wee know what the sting is let us enquire where it is The answer is if wee speake of the reprobate men or Devills it remaineth in their consciences if wee speake of the Elect it is plucked out of their soules and it was put in our Saviours bodie and there deaded and lost for hee that knew no sinne was made sinne for us to wit by imputing our sinne to him and inflicting the punishment thereof upon him That wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him for the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes were wee healed who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree Athanasius representeth the manner of it by the similitude of a Waspe losing her sting in a Rocke Vespa acculeâ—… fodiens petram c. as an angry Waspe thrusteth her sting into a rocke cannot pierce or enter farre into it but either breaketh her sting or loseth it all so Death assaulting the Lord of life and striving with all her might to sting him hurt not him but disarmed her selfe of her sting for ever The first interrogatorie is answered wee know where Deaths sting is let us now consider of the second interrogatorie concerning the victorie of the Grave O grave where is thy victorie If the Grave as shee openeth her mouth wide so she could speake shee would answer My victories are to be seene in Macpelah Golgotha in all the gulphs of the Sea and Caves and pits of the Earth where the dead have beene bestowed since the beginning of the world My victorie is in the fire in the water in the earth in all Churnells and Caemitaries or dormitories in the bellies of fish in the mawes of beasts in holy shrines Tombes and sepulchres wheresoever corpses have beene put and are yet reserved Of all that ever Death arrested and they by order of divine Justice have beene committed to my custodie never any but one escaped whom the heaven of heavens could not containe much lesse any earthly prison he might truly say and none but he O grave where is thy victorie all save him I keepe in safe custodie that were ever sent to mee Yet may all that die in Iesus and expect a glorious Resurrection by him even now by faith insult over the Grave for Faith calleth those things that are not as if they were it looketh backward as farre as the Creation which produced all things at the first of nothing and as farre forward to the resurrection which shall restore all things from nothing or that which is as much as nothing Faith with an eye annointed with the eye-salve of the spirit seeth death swallowed up into victorie and the earth and sea casting up all their dead and upon this evidence of things not seene triumpheth over Death and Hell saying O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Wee have spoken hitherto of Death and the Grave let us now heare what they have to say to us Death saith feare not mee the Grave Weepe not immoderately for the dead Death bids us die to sinne the Grave Burie all thy injuries and wrongs in the pit of oblivion both say to us flye sinne and neither of us can hurt you both say to us Give thankes to him who hath given you victorie over uâ—… both the sting of death pricks you not but if you die in the bosome of Christ rather delights and tickles you Death is no more Death but a sleepe the Grave is no more a grave but abed Death is but the putting off of our old rags the Grave is the Vestrie
hath beene and feare for what hee shall bee mingles and sowers all the joy and delight in that hee is And what is hee at the best a poore tennant â—…t â—…ill of a ruinous cottage of loame or house of clay readie to fall about his eares with a Grashoppers leape in a spot of ground His apparell is but stolne ragges his wealth the excrements of the earth his dyet bread of carefulnesse got with the sweat of his browes and all his comforts and recreations rather as Saint Austine tearmes them solati a miserorum quam gaudia beatorum sauces of misery then dishes of happinesse For albeit a good conscience bee a continuall feast and the testimonie of the Spirit an everlasting Jubile in the soule yet the most righteous man that breathes mortall ayre either by frailty or negligence or diffidence or impatience or love of this present life or suttletie of perswasions or violence of temptations so woundeth his conscience and grieveth the Spirit of grace that this feast is turned for a time into a fast and the Jubile into an ejulate or howling All things therefore layd together the scornes of the World assaults from the flesh temptations from the Devill rebukes from God checks from conscience sensible fayling of Grace spirituall dissertions with many a bitter agonie and conflict with despaire I cannot but perfectly accord with the Poet in his dolefull note Faelices nimium quibus est fortuna peracta jam sua they are but too happie whose glasse is well runne out and with the Evangelist in my Text beati mâ—…rtui blessed are the dead for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them they rest from those labours which tyreus that live and the workes which wee are to follow follow them A threefold cable saith the Wiseman is not easily brokn and such is this here in my Text on which the anchour of our hope hangeâ—…h 1 The testimonie of Saint Iohn Yea 2 The testimonie of the Spirit so sâ—…th the Spirit 3 A strong reason drawne from their rest and recompence they rest from their labours and they receive the reward of their labours they are discharged of their worke and for their worke If they were discharged for their worke and not discharged of their worke they could not bee said blessed because their tedious and painefull workes were to returne And much lesse happie could they bee tearmed if they were discharged of their worke but not for it for then they should lose all their labour under the Sunne they should have done and suffered all in vaine but now because they are both discharged of their worke for they rest from their labour and discharged for their worke for their workes follow them they are most blessed The Spirit here taketh the ground of this heavenly musick ravishing the souls of the living and able to revive the very dead either from the labourers pay or the racers prize If the ground be the labourers joy for their rest and pay the descant must bee this our life is a day our calling a labour the evening when wee give over our death the pay our penny If the ground be the racers joy for their prize the descant may bee this the Church is the field Christianitie is the race death is the last poste and a garland of glory the wager let us all â—…o run that we may obtaine Yea sayth the Spirit Wee read in the Law and the Prophets Thus sayth Iehovah the Lord in the Gospell Thus spake Iesus But in the Epistles and especially in the Revelation thus sayth the Spirit now the Spirit speaketh evidently heare what the Spirit sayth unto the Churches hee that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit sayth unto the Churches and the Spirit and the Bride sayth come While Christ abode in the flesh hee taught with his owne mouth the Word of life but now since his Ascention and sitting in state at the right hand of his Father hee speaketh and doth all by his Spirit By the Spirit hee ordainâ—…th Pastours furnisheth them with gifts enlighâ—…h the understanding of the hearers and enclineth their wills and affections and so leadeth the Church into all truth In which regard Tertullian elegantly tearmeth the Spirit Christi Vicarium Christ his Vicar preaching in his stead and discharging the Cure of the whole World Secondly so sayth the Spirit not the flesh the earth denies it but Heaven avereth it when a man removeth out of this World the flesh beholdeth nothing but a corpes brought to the Church and a coffine layd in the Grave but the spirit discerneth an Angel carrying the soule up to Heaven and leaving it in Abrahams bosome till the Father of spirits shall give her againe to the bodie arrayed in glorious apparell There is no Doctrine the Devill the flesh and the World more oppose then this here delivered by the Spirit concerning the blessednesse of the dead for all Atheists all Heathen all carnall men all Saduces and sundrie sorts of Heretickes deny the Resurrection of the bodie and the greater part of them also the immortalitie of the soule A wicked and ungodly person beleeveth not his soule to bee immortall because hee would not have it so hee would not that their should be another World because hee can have hope of no good there having carried himselfe so ill in this faine hee would stifle the light in his conscience which if hee would open his eyes would clearly discover unto him a future tribunall yet sometimes hee cannot smother it and therefore as Tully who saw a glimering of this truth observeth hee is wonderfully tormented out of a feare that endlesse paines attend him after this life Well let the flesh and fleshly minded men deeme or speake what they list concerning the state of the dead the Spirit of truth sayth that all that dye in the Lord are blessed But where sayth the Spirit so In the Scriptures of the old and new Testament and in this vision and in the heart and conscience of every true beleever First in the Scriptures let mee dye the death of the righteous and let my last end bee like unto his refraine thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from teares for thy workes shall bee rewarded and there is hope in thine end saith the Lord precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the righteous shall wash his foot in the bloud of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous Christ is in life and death advantage for I am in a straight betweene two having a desire to depart and to bee with Christ which is fâ—… better Secondly in this vision for Saint Iohn heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write it as it were with a Penne of Iron upon the Tombe of all that are departed in the Lord for so saith the Spirit Lastly the Spirit speaketh it in the
heart and soule of every true beleever lying on his death bed or on the Gridiron or in the dungeon or on the gibbet or on the faggot did not the Spirit seale this truth aboveall other at such times to his servants were not then their hope full of immortality they could never have welcomed death embraced the flames sung in their torments and triumphed over death even when they were in the jawes of it When Iob was in the depth of all his miserie the Spirit spake in his heart I know that my Redeemer liveth and that hee shall stand in the latter day upon the earth and though after my skinne wormes destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my selfe and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reines bee consumed within mee Likewise when Saint Paul was now readie to bee offered and the time of his departure was at hand the Spirit spake in him I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is layd up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous judge shall give mee at that day and not to mee onely but to them also that love his appearing Likewise when Gerardus was giving up the ghost the Spirit spake in him O Death where is thy sting Mors non est stimulus sed jubilus And though Robert Glover the Martyr all the night before his Martyrdome prayed for strength and courage but could feele none yet when he came to the sight of the stake he was mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joyes and clapping his hands to Austin the Spirit the Comforter himselfe spake in him Hee is come hee is come You have heard where the spirit saith so give eare now to a voyce from heaven declaring why the spirit saith so for they rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as well paine as paines broyles as toyles as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke so paine and paines in English are of kinne for labour is paine to the body and paine is labour to the Spirit and therefore what wee say to bee punished and tormented with a disease the Latine say laborare morbo and the throngs and throes which women endure in Child-bearing wee call their labouring Here then the dead have a double immortalitie granted them 1 From the labours of their calling 2 From the troubles of their condition freedome from paine and paines taking What then may some object doe the dead sleepe out all their time from the breathing out their last gaspe to the blowing the last trumpe as they suffer nothing so doe they nothing but are like Consul Bibulus who held onely a roome and filled up a blancke in the Roman fasti Nam 〈◊〉 factum consule nil memini or like mare mortuum without any motion or operation at all that cannot be the soule is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most perfect Act or as Tullie renders the word a continuall motion as the word is taâ—…en in that old proverbiall verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it can no more bee and not worke then the winde can bee and not blow the fire and not burne a diamond and not sparkle the sunne and not shine therefore it is not sayd here simply that they rest from all kinde of motion or working but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from toylesome labours soretravells and againe from their owne labours or workes not the Lords They keepe an everlasting Sabbath in not doing of their owne workes but Gods they rest from sinfull and painefull travells but not from the workes of a sanctified rest for they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come The rest of the soule is not a ceasing from all motion or opperation that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit but a setling it selfe with delight upon an all-satisfying and never satiating object such was the rest the sweet singer of Israel called his soule unto returne unto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bâ—…untifully with thee Bodies rest in their proper places but spirits in their proper object in the contemplation fruition admiration and adoration whereof consisteth their everlasting content This object is God whom they contemplate in their mind enjoy in their will adore in both and this is their continuall worke and their worke is their life and their life is their happinesse which the Divines fitly expresse in one word glorification which must be taken both actually and passively for they glorifie God and God glorifieth them God glorifieth them by casting the full light of his countenance upon them and they glorifie him by reflecting some light backe againe and casting their crownes before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created They rest from their labours This Text of holy Scripture containeth in it the waters of Siloah not so much to refresh those that are tyred with their former labours having borne the heate of the whole day as to lave out the false fire of Purgatorie for blessednesse cannot stand with miserie nor rest with trouble nor reward with punishment but all that dye in the Lord are blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is à tempore mortis from the time of their death as venerable Beda and other expound the words and so blessed are they that they rest from all paine and paines and so rest that their workes follow them that is as I shall declare hereafter the reward of their workes If this lave not out the Romish fire which scareth the living more then the dead and purgeth their purses and not their soule wee may draw store of water to quench it out of divers other Texts of holy Scripture as namely First If the tree fall towards the South or towards the North in the place where the tree falleth there it shall bee Which Text Olympiodorus thus illustrateth in whatsoever place therefore whether of light or of darknesse whether in the worke of wickednesse or of vertue a man is taken at his death in that degree and ranke doth he remaine either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darknesse with the wicked and prince of the world To little purpose therefore is all that is or can be done for the dead after they have taken their farewell of us after wee are gone from hence there remaines no place for repentance or penance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here life is either lost or obtained but if thou O Demetrian saith Saint Cyprian even at the very end and setting of thy temporall life dost pray
at her death Her life was well knowne to most of this place and her death was every way answerable to her life all that visited her in her sicknesse might behold with sorrow a pittifull anatomie of fraile mortalitie and yet with joy a perfect patterne of Christian patience and a heavenly conversation and though shee were full of divine conceptions and shee had a spring by her of the waters of life in the devotion of her dearest helper especially in the best things yet when I came to her shee desired shee might be partaker of some of my meditations they were her owne words and when I prayed with her and for her shee joyned not so much with me with her tongue as her affections and answered more in sighes and teares then in words often shee complained of her tuffe heart that would not yeeld to her dissolution and long long sheethought it till shee should come to appeare before the God of Gods in Sion Her last words were sweet Father helpe me and shee had her request for presently hee helped her both by the zealous and most feeling prayers of her Husband and by the holy spirit assisting her in her owne prayers with sighes and groanes that cannot be expressed and immediatly her swâ—…et Father released her of her pangs and received her to himselfe on his owne day On the Lords day morning before the morning watch I say before the morning watch shee entered into her rest and began to keepe her evarlasting Sabbath in heaven where shee reapeth what she sowed and seeth what shee beleeved and enjoyeth what she hoped for and is now entered into those joyes which never entered fully into the heart of any living on earth nor shall into ours till wee with her be made perfect and all of us come to Mount Sion and the heavenly Ierusalem and innumerable company of Angels and to the Congregation of the first-borne whose names are written in heaven and to the spirits of just men and women made perfect Whether the God of peace bring us in our appointed time who brought againe from the dead the great sheepheard through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant To whom with the holy Spirit c. FINIS FAITHS ECCHO OR THE SOVLES AMEN ISAY 64. 1. Oh that thou wouldest rent the Heavens that thou wouldest come downe IER 11. 5. So bee it O Lord. Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. FAITHS ECCHO OR THE SOVLES AMEN SERMON XLVII REVELA 22. 19. Amen Even so come Lord Iesus THese words they afford to us a comfortable and sweet argument to bee conversant in From the sixt verse of this Chapter is set down to us the confirmation of the whole Prophesie and booke of the Revelation partly by the affirmation of God as likewise of Jesus Christ and of Iohn himselfe that heard and saw all these things and likewise of the Church of God in the 17. verse it is likewise confirmed by the promise of blessing and happinesse pronounced upon them that shall doe all these things and shall faithfully expect the accomplishment of them This verse a part of which I have read to you is the repetition in few words of all that matter that goeth before from the 6. verse to it and hath in it First an attestation of our Lord and Saviour Christ in the former part of the verse Behold I come quickly Secondly an acclamation of the Church in the latter part these words I have read to ye Amen even so come Lord Iesus In the attestation of Christ hee promiseth hee will come to his Church hee will come shortly both for the accomplishment of all his promises and likewise for their safety and deliverance from all enemies and all miseries and molestations whatsoever To this the Church makes an acclamation and saith Amen even so come Lord Iesus In this acclamation of the Church to which wee must now come we are to consider First the person of the speaker whose words they bee Secondly what is the matter or substance contained in them Yee shall see whose words they bee if ye looke backe but to the 17. verse of this Chapter there ye shall finde that first it is sayd the Spirit sayth come By the Spirit is not meant the third Person in Trinitie the holy Ghost because hee is not subject to these passions to these desires but hee resteth himselfe in the execution and present disposing and dispensing of things according to his owne will and pleasure Neither by Spirit here is meant any wicked spirit or Angell for they doe with feare and horrour expect the same comming of our Lord and Saviour Christ because his comming shall bee the accomplishment of their miserie and eternall infelicitie But by Spirit here is meant the spirit in all the Elect and holy people of God in whomsoever the Spirit of God is that Spirit doth say come and doth wish the accomplishment of all these most gracious promises For this is not the desire of the flesh or of nature but an earnest and vehement desire of the Spirit of God in the Elect that saith come Againe secondly the same verse telleth us that the Bride sayth come That is the Church of God in generall the Catholike Church the whole Church of God being now hand-fasted to Christ and entred into a spirituall contract with him Shee desireth the consumation of the Marriage the solemniation of the Marriage which is alreadie begun in the contract of it and not onely every particular member of the Church in whom the Spirit of God is saith come but the Church of God in generall the Bride sayth come the whole Church saith come wishing and desiring the accomplishment of the Marriage which is already begun In the third place the same verse telleth us that as the Spirit and the Bâ—…ide say come so hee that heareth saith come that is not onely the Church of God that is now present here upon the face of the earth but the successive parts of the Church in all future Ages they are all of the same minde having received the same Spirit they all say come Whosoever heareth this Prophesie whosoever heareth of these promises in any Age or Countrey of the World all they having the same spirit they must needes say come hee that heareth sayth come hee that is acquainted with the promises that commeth to the knowledge of them and doth mingle them with the faith of his soule this man must needs say come to the accomplishment of them And lastly Hee that is a thirst sayth come too that is whosoever hath tasted of the sweetnesse of Christ in any measure whatsoever and therby hath wrought in him a vehement thirst after more this man will say come Whosoever hath such a sence of Christ in his promises as to taste of the sweetnesse of these never so little as hee that hath tasted a droppe of honey wisheth for more so hee that hath tasted of the sweetnesse of Christ a
judgement Abrahams Purchase Page 385. GEN. 23. 4. I am a stranger and sojourner among you give me a Possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Gods esteeme of the death of his Saints Page 401. PSAL. 116. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The desire of the Saints after immortall glory Page 415. 2 COR. 5. 2. For in this wee groane earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven The carelesse Merchant Page 437. MAT. 16. 26. What is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and lose his soule Christs second Advent Page 449. Behold I come shortly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his workes The Saints longing for the great Epiphanie Page 467. TITVS 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. Lifes Apparition and Mans Dissolution Page 481. IAMES 4. 14. For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Saiâ—… Pauls Trumpet Page 499. ROM 13. 11. And that knowing the time that now it is higâ—… time to awake out of sleepe Tâ—… 〈◊〉 manâ—… resting place Page 51â—… GEN. 15. 1. After these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward The righteous Iudge Page 335. IAM 2. 12. So speake yee and so doe as they that shall be judged by the law of libertie Sinnes stipend and Gods munificence Page 555. ROM 6. 23. For the wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. The profit of afflictions Page 571. HEB. 12. 10. For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their owne pleasure but hee for our profit that we might be partakers of his holinesse Spirituall Hearts-ease Page 591. IOHN 14. 1. 2. 3. 1 Let not your hearts be troubled beleeve in God beleeve also in me 2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I goe to prepare a place for you 3 And if I goe to prepare a place for you I will come againe and receive you unto my selfe that where I am there you may be also Faiths Triumph over the greatest trialls Page 611. HEB. 11. 17. By faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up his sonne Isaack and hee that had received the promise offered up his onely begotten Sonne The Priviledge of the Faithfull Page 627. I PET. 3. 7. As heires together of the grace of life Peace in Death Page 643. LVKE 2. 29. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word The vitall Fountaine Page 693. IOHN 11. 25 26. 25. Iesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life he that beleeveth in me though he were dead yet shall he live 26 And whosoever liveth and beleeveth in me shall never die Death in Birth Page 713. GEN. 35. 19. And Rachel died The death of Sinne and life of grace Page 727. ROM 6. 11. Likewise reckon ye also your selves to bee deadunto sin bâ—…t alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Hopes Anchor-Hold 751. I COP 15. 19. If in this life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable The Platforme of Charitie Page 769. GAL. 6. 10. As we have therefore opportunity let us doe good to all especially to them that are of the housâ—…ould of faith Death prevented Page 799. IOB 14. 14. All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change shall come Iter novissimum or Man his last Progresse Page 817. FCCLESIAST 12. 5. Man goeth to his long home and the mourners goe about the streetes Tempus putationis or the ripe Almond gathered Page 835. GEN. 15. 15. And thou shalt goe to thy Fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age Io Paean or Christs Triumph over death Page 847. I COR. 15. 55. O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Fato Fatum The King of Feares frighted Page 859. HOS 13. 14. O Death I will be thy plagues Vox Coeli The Deads Herauld Page 869. APOC. 14. 13. And I heard a voyce from Heaven saying unto me write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth c. Victoris Brabaeum or The Conquerors Prize Page 881. APOC. 14. 13. So saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their workes follow them Faith's Eccho or the Soules AMEN REVEL 22. 19. AMEN Even so come Lord Iesus The end of the TABLE The ERRATA PAge 825. line 15. read not posse p. 826. l. 30. r. summe p. 841. l. 4. r. â—…ror p. 839 put out the promise of p. 842. l. 29. r. Gibiline in marg r. hominis ultimam resurrectionem p. 843. l. 14. r. the Goats p. 846. in Marg. r. Poâ—…id p. 150. l. 34. r. â—…raines p. 853. l. 33. r. Anacreon p. 860. in marg r. â—…s venenati p. 870. l. 4. r. Emines p. 874. l. 44. r. nullas p. 879. l. 24. r. Lapide p. 885 l. 15. r. immunitie p. 886. l. 10. r. actually p. 887. l. 18. r. Hell p. 889. l. 13. r. can be in Marg. r. qui assignat singulos domicilio infra regno 〈◊〉 p. 891. l. 12. r. import no leâ—…e p. 892. l. 22. r. faithfull p. 894. l. 14. r. Eurypum Eurypuâ—… THE STEVVARDS SUMMONS OR THE DAY OF ACCOVNT MAT. 25. 19. After a long time the Lord of those servants commeth and reckoneth with them ROM 14. 12. So then every one of us shall give account of himselfe to God LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabb 1639. THE STEWARDS SVMMONS SERMON I. LVKE 16. 2. Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist bee no longer Steward IN the Chapter going before our blessed Lord and Saviour had preached the Doctrine of the free grace of God in the remission of sinne and receiving of repenting and returning sinners in the parable of an indulgent Fathers receiving of a prodigall Sonne The Pharisees were a people that hardned their owne hearts and scoffed at every thing that Christ delivered therefore now in this Chapter hee commeth to summon and warne them to appeare before God the great Master of the world to give an account of their stewardship that by the consideration of Gods proceeding in the day of judgement they might know the better how to prize the remission of sinnes in the day of grace This hee doth by presenting to them a Parable of a certaine rich man that had a steward who was accused unto him that hee had wasted his goods calleth him to an account and to the end that the Pharisees might not thinke that it was a matter to be jeasted withall and that such considerations as these were to
of men or whether men affect it in themselves but they account this a matter of praise a vertue praise-worthy to see nothing dolefull nothing worthy of mourning in the death of any one We see it is quite contrarie to the very course of the Scripture But it will be objected We are bid to mortifie our earthly affections and if we must mortifie our affections we must mortifie all our affections that of sorrow as well as anger and the like I answer briefly The Scripture indeed biddeth us mortifie our affections but it doth not bid us take away our affections it biddeth us only mortifie and purge out the corruption of our affections Now there is a twofold corruption and distemper in the affections of men The first is when they are misplaced and set upon wrong objects so we mourne for that we should rejoyce in or wee rejoyce in that we should mourne for Secondly when they are either excessive or defective either we over-doe or wee doe not either not at all or not in that proportion and measure that we should Thus when we over-grieve for worldly crosses and too little for sinne too much for the losse of earthly friends and too little for the losse of Gods favour and spirituall wants this is a distemper of the affections in the defect the heart growes earthly and fixed upon the creature and is drawne away and estranged from God Then there is the excesse that the Apostle speakes of when he exhorts them not to mourne as men without hope whether he spake there of the Gentiles as some thinke that cut their heads and made themselves bald in the day of their mourning an affected kind of outward shew they had to mourne which the Lord forbad the people of Israel to doe or whether as indeed it is because they did not restraine inwardly and bridle the exorbitant excesse of their affection wee should not mourne as the Gentiles but as men of hope mourne as men that can see the changes that God makes in the earth and in your Families and can see how neere God commeth to you and what use God would have you make of every particular tryall and affliction mourne so farre as you see your owne guilt in not making use of the opportunities you have had in enjoying your friends and so farre as you see any evidence of displeasure from God so farre we should mourne but not as men without hope But I briefly passe this intending not to insist upon it only by occasion because Solomon makes the place where any die the house of mourning Wee come now to the proofe of the point why going to the house of mourning taking these occasions to affect our hearts is better then to goe to the house of feasting then to take occasions of delighting our selves in outward things What 's the reason It is double First This is the end of all men What is the end of all men The house of mourning That which he meaneth by the house of mourning here is that which he calleth the end of all men that which putteth an end to all men and to their actions upon earth and that is Death So that the maine point that in this place the wise man intendeth is but thus much I will deliver it in the very words of the Text we need not varie from them at all Death is the End of all men Death is that which every man must expect to be the end of his life and of his actions It is the common the last condition of all men upon earth I will give you but two places of Scripture that include all men in Death One in Iob third from the fourteenth verse to the 20. verse of that Chapter Iob sheweth there how Death is the End of all men he beginneth with the Kings and Counsellers of the Earth with Princes and great warriours and descendeth afterward to prisoners and meane persons to labourers to servants to small and great all saith he lie downe in the dust and goe to the place of silence The other place is in Zachar. 1. 5. Your fathers where are they and the Prophets doe they live for ever That is looke to all your forefathers that have beene in all times before you whether they be those Fathers that you glory in Abraham Isaac and Iacob and the rest or those Fathers that disobeyed the word of Prophesie which indeed is the principall thing here intended all these Ancient persons they are dead or as S. Peter speakes of those that were disobedient in the dayes of Noah they are in prison they are in the grave yea and the Prophets too that preached to you they are dead the generations before you both of Prophets and people are all dead You see then that Death is the common condition of all men Kings and Subjects Prophets and people this is the last thing that shall be said of them all they are dead And it must be so First in regard of Gods decree It is that that God hath appointed and determined concerning all men that they must die there is a statute for it in heaven that can never be reverst It is appointed to all men once to die Heb. 9. 17. Secondly in regard of that matter whereof all men are made of earth Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Your remembrances saith Iob are like unto ashes and your bodies to bodyes of clay How easie is it for the wind to blow away ashes for a potter to breake in pieces a vessell of clay so easie it is to put an end to the memories and bodies of men they are but ashes and clay Thirdly in regard that every man hath in him that that is the cause of Death sinne It is that that is as poison in the spirits and as rottennesse in the bones Sinne brought in Death and Death seizes upon all men it consumeth all men from the very beginning by degrees Shew me a man without sinne without it either in the committing of it or without it in the guilt of it you may then shew a man that shall not die while all men are under sinne they are under Death Even our blessed Saviour Iesus Christ himselfe though he did not sinne actually yet because hee stood guiltie of our sins Death seized upon him So then Looke to Gods decree that is All men shall die Looke to the matter whereof every man is made that is a decaying dying substance And looke to the cause of death in all men that is sinne If any man can either escape Gods decree or bring a man that is not made of such a mouldring matter or produce and shew a man that hath no sinne in him then you may shew a man that shall not die but till then this conclusion remaineth that the wise man setteth downe this is the end of all men that they shall die But here
thy husband are at the doore and shall carrie thee out also This is the reason of all that worldly-mindednesse of all that earnestnesse and intention to gaine the favour of men by indirect meanes this is the reason of all that immoderate care about our businesse with the neglect of our soules this is the reason of all that carnall securitie of all that forgetfulnesse of God and the account that shall be made at the day of Iudgement this is the reason of the unfruitfulnesse of our lives of our unprofitable spending of our times or of whatsoever else it be this is even the very reason of all because even those that professe themselves to be the people of God and to give God the glory of his attributes in all his workes yet they lay not to heart the death of those that are before them Men durst not they could not passe away their time in such unprofitablenesse and unfruitfulnesse as they doe if they did seriously consider and lay to heart the death of others before them Againe secondly As it condemnes the generall neglect that is amongst men of this dutie so it serves to reproue that sinfull laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondnesse and with too great excesse and distemper of affection looke upon their dead friends as if God could never repaire the losse nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not bee comforted David mourneth and will scarce bee comforted Oh Absalom my sonne my sonne would God I had died for thee What is all this but to looke on friends rather as Gods then men as if all sufficiencie were included in them only Men looke on their friends as Micah did upon his Idoll when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith hee and what have I more or as Laban that when his Idols were stolne away his heart was dead hee could not stay in his house hee could not enjoy himselfe wherefore have you stollen away my gods saith hee So I say men looke on their dead friends as they should looke upon the Creatour and not as upon the creature they take their death to heart but not in a right manner This is the very reason why God many times makes your Christian friends so unprofitable to you when they live because you idolize them you advance them above God This is the reason also why you are so unable to beare the losse of them when they die God beating you now with your owne rodde and making you feele the fruit and effect of your owne folly This now is an ill taking to heart the death of friends to mourne as men without hope Secondly there is a taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering an unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may bee a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some apparent token of Gods judgement on such a one If they see another die with some extremitie of torment and vehement paines certainly there is some apparant evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in worser case then others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteene men upon whom the tower in Siloe fell thinke you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Hierusalem Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the cleane and to the uncleane to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Learne to judge righteous judgement to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sicknesse having his understanding and memorie continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with cleare and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetnesse of their death make thee in love with the goodnesse of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitfull and profitable life Againe dost thou see the children of God full of temptations full of feares and disquietnesse of spirit in their death Sometimes so overcome with the violence of the disease as that it may be they speake impertinently and idlely it may bee sinfully What use shouldest thou make of this now Certainly let the terriblenesse of the example of such a mans death let it bee a terrour to thee and a meanes to stirre thee up to more carefulnesse of making good use of thy time in this life Nabal dieth and his heart is in him as a stone If ever God quicken thee if ever God breath upon thy soule or enliven thee by the inward motions of his Spirit embrace those opportunities and seasons of grace lest God smite thee with an everlasting deadnesse Againe hath God caused the light of his countenance to shine upon thy heart Doth hee offer a gracious message of peace to thy soule Doth hee speake peace at any time by the ministerie of his Word Imbrace those offers yeeld to those conditions of peace lest thou bee deprived of peace at the end Againe hath GOD given thee any strength over temptations Hast thou prevailed over the assaults of Sathan and other of thy enemies Hath hee made thee a conquerour take heed how thou insnarest thy selfe againe how thou inthrallest thy selfe in yeelding to Sathans yoke lest hee buffet thee by him in a worse manner at thy end Thus I say thou canst see nothing befall any of GODS servants in their death or in the manner of their death whether it bee more pleasing or more sorrowfull more calme and quiet or more tempestuous and full of trouble whether it bee more comfortable or more lamentable but it may be usefull unto thee If it bee good it may bee it shall bee so with thee if it be bad it may bee it shall bee so with thee too The maine businesse that a man hath to doe is to make sure of himselfe in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith hee He made no matter how he went out
Inhabitants of the world This I say is that that affecteth the heart exceedingly that they must lose all their friends specially when husband and wife must part parents and children must part and familiar and deare acquaintance must part this causeth the feare of death because the heart is too much set upon the creature So likewise worldly businesse when a man loveth much employment much businesse he cannot abide to thinke of death Why so because all worke all enterprises cease in the grave as Iob saith A man hath neither the workes of his hands nor the enterprises of his head in the grave all actions cease both of the mind and bodie there So when a mans heart is set upon pleasures below there is neither love nor hatred in the grave saith Solomou That is those things that affected the heart that men love they cease there all his pleasures and comforts are gone So if a man love honour and applause amongst men it ceaseth in the grave all honour there is laid in the dust contempt is cast upon Princes this is that that affecteth men exceedingly that they shall lose their honours and pleasures and acquaintance and businesse and all when they come to the grave and that because mens hearts are set too much upon these things That is the second reason There is a third thing which is a sinfull cause of this feare of Death and that is the want of Assurance There be two things that a man not being assured of makes him feare Death and these may be in the children of God and as they are more in any one so the feare of death is more in them The first is when they are not assured of reconciliation with God that God is at peace with them pleased with them in Christ. The want of this assurance makes death fearefull for now they looke upon Death as a Sergeant as a Jaylour either it is a Sergeant to take them off their present comforts or as a Jaylour to hold them under those bonds and fetters that they would faine escape Now when a man looks upon Death either way it is terrible As a Sergeant so the rich man in the Gospell This night they shall fetch thy soule from thee they shall come to thee as a Sergeant to a Debtour to require a debt they shall require thy soule of thee Now we all know that a man that is in debt and either hath it not to pay or is unwilling to part with that he hath such a man cannot indure the sight of a Sergeant above all men because he commeth to fetch that from him that he would not part with Or if he looke upon Death as a Jaylour so Christ saith Agree with thy adversarie quickly lest hee deliver thee to the Iudge and hee give thee to the Iaylour and then he holdeth thee in prison from whence thou shalt not goe out till thou have paid the uttermost farthing Now when a man looks on Death as a Jaylour that holdeth all in the grave till the great Judge of heaven and earth calleth for them at the generall day of Assizes that great day of appearance when all the world shall be gathered together and every prison shall giue up their prisoners The sea and the grave shall give up their dead I say when a man standeth thus as unreconciled to God or at least as one that doth not apprehend this reconciliation is not perswaded of this that God is reconciled to him it is no marvell if Death be terrible to him Therefore in the sixth of the Revelation The Kings and Captaines and the great and mighty men they cryed to the mountaines to fall upon them and to hide them from the presence of the Lambe because the great day of wrath was come and who could stand So we see in 33. Isa. 14. there is crying out concerning the comming of God the sinners in Sion the hypocrites are afraid what is their feare who shall dwell with everlasting burnings and who shall remaine with consuming fire when they shall see nothing but terrourand wrath in God fire and consumption when they see nothing but such terrible things then feare cōmeth upon them Now marke hypocrites stand altogether unreconciled and therefore it is no marvell if they be afraid and the Saints of God so farre as they are defective in the assurance of Gods love so farre they conceive themselves in the state of Hypocrites and therefore they are so full of feares Againe a second thing that they stand unresolved of is concerning the future estates of their soules and bodies after death they are not sure of this that there is a better condition afterwards this is that great question Whether goe wee I goe now out of the bodie and whither then I goe out of the world and whither then I am going out of the company of men and whither then shall I goe to Angels and Saints or to divels shall I goe to Heaven or to Hell shall I have a beeing or not in miserie or in happinesse They know not what shall become of them they are unresolved of this point of their owne state to come whether they shall be in happinesse or horrour after death and therefore Death is terrible You have the point opened I will answer an objection or two and then come to the use It may be objected It seemeth the servants of God are not kept under the feare of death all those that are in the state of grace have faith faith that spendeth these feares and therefore since they are in the state of beleevers how can they be held under the feare of death To this I answer briefly there is faith in all the children of God that are effectually called but wee must know that Faith is considerable two wayes first as it is in conflict and secondly as it is out of conflict Now the Faith of Gods servants in conflict so sometime it is in conflict with feare and sadnesse of spirit Why art thou cast downe oh my soule why art thou disquieted within me c. Sometime it is in conflict with reason and sense thus the people of Israel when they came into the Wildernesse they looked for nothing but dying and destruction of nature for sense presented it to them therefore saith Moses which is the voyce of Faith Stand still and see the salvation of God c. Now in this conflict the successe is doubtfull sometime as it was betweene Amalek and Israel fighting together Amalek prevailed Israel had the worst sometime Israel preuailed and Amalek had the worst so sometime Faith prevaileth against sense and those fears that arise from sense and somtime again carnal fears and Sense prevaileth against Faith now accordingly are those effects in the hearts of Gods children But secondly sometime Faith is out of conflict it now triumpheth in assurance it is come now to full assurance of Faith as it
is that The time of death the heart of a man is put to it at such a time and now these shrinke nothing can inable a man against feare so much as sincerity and uprightnesse When the Prophet Isaiah told Hezekiah from God that he must die he flieth to this Lord remember how I have walked before thee with an upright heart and done that which was good in thy sight When Death commeth to a wicked voluptuous person and telleth him I am here come for thee thou must appeare before God what can this man say Lord I have lived before thee a voluptuous proud wretched life I was a scorner of thy Word a contemner and persecutor of thy people a swearer c. What though perhaps he can say Lord I have heard so many Sermons I have beene so much in conference and the like will this inable a man against the feare of Death No nothing but this that he hath a sincere heart that his heart is unmixed that sinne is not affected in his soule that there is no sinne that hee would live in no duty that he would not doe Lord remember that I have walked before thee uprightly I say nothing will inable a man more against feare then sinceritie and nothing disgraceth perplexeth the soule in an exigent more then hypocrisie It is sinceritie that takes away the sting of Death The Apostle in Rom. 14. saith he No man liveth to himselfe but if hee live hee liveth to the Lord and if hee die hee dieth to the Lord whether wee live or die wee are the Lords Here is the comfort wee are the Lords saith he How proveth hee that Wee live unto him That is the worke of a sincere heart A true Christian liveth not to himselfe but to Christ Now if thy conscience give thee this testimony I have lived unto Christ then whether I live or die I am the Lords the Apostle concludeth it So right is that of Solomon Riches availeth not in the day of wrath but righteousnesse delivereth from death Thy righteousnesse and sincerity delivereth thee not from dying but from death It takes away the sting and power of Death Death shall not be death to thee it is onely a passage to thee Therefore remember as to get a part in Christ so to get a perfect and sincere heart and then the sting of death is gone But a hypocriticall divided heart a heart and a heart that will sting a man That is the second Thirdly wouldest thou have the sting of death pulled out now Then mortifie thy sinnes now doe it presently Remember what Saint Paul saith but I thinke hee speakes it in respect of afflictions I professe by our rejoycing in Christ Iesus I die daily If it be meant of afflictions yet it should be verified of us in respect of sinne die daily to sinne and then the sting of death is gone Oh beloved our condition will be sad and discomfortable when at once we must enter into the field with Death and Sinne he that dieth daily to Sin hee hath nothing to doe with Death when it commeth Death may come to such a party but it cannot hurt him he may rest quietly when it commeth And observe it so much sinne as thou now sparest so much sting thou reservest for Death and is it not folly in a man to spare sinne that giveth a sting to Death But now as a man is to crucifie every sinne let me put in this caution and remember this advise As the sting of every sin is to be pulled out so pull out especially the sting of that Sin that now stingeth thy conscience that now lieth upon thy conscience for if it worke now it will worke fearfully at death Death doth not lessen the work of sin but inrageth it God wil then present and set thy sins in orderbefore thee perhaps God hath brought thee here to day to heare this Word getthee home and set thy soule in order The love of Sin and the feare of Death seldome paâ—…t and where Sinne is much loved Death will there be much feared Death is never more terrible then where sin is most delighted in Therefore crucifie sinne if thou wilt have the sting of death taken away It may be thou thinkest it is a troublesome worke but remember that those sinnes which thou now so much delightest in and lovest and livest in will then prove the sting of death to thee If a man would spend his time in the mortification of sinne when death commeth he should have nothing to doe but to let his soule loose to God and to give it up to him as into the hands of his most faithfull Creatour and Redeemer And is it not an excellent thing for a man to have nothing to doe with Death when it commeth Lastly here is a use of comfort If it hath pleased God to give any of us the grace to pull out the sting of death it is a great comfort But Death is approching you will say Oh but Death is disarmed the sting of it is taken away what a singular comfort is it then to you that Death is comming Indeed all the comfort that the soule is capable of is this that the sting of death is tooke away Now when Death commeth upon such a man it doth but free him from all that state of miserie hee is in here from all that extremitie of condition that he is put into from all those diversities of occasions pressing occasions of tumbling about in the world Death doth but put an end to all And which is an excellent comfort to a Christian Sin is ended with Death what afflicteth the soule of a Christian but that hee carrieth about him a body of sinne and of death This was a trouble to Saint Paul and is to every true Christian Now when Death commeth there is an end of this Body of sinne thou shalt never sinne more thou shalt never grieve the Spirit of God more thou shalt never be clogged with such imperfections and infirmities in dutie that death that commeth to thee shall passe thee to the fruition of eternall glory and what canst thou desire more then to be happy in eternall glory with God FINIS THE DESRVCTION OF THE DESTROYER OR THE OVER THROVV OF THE LAST ENEMIE PSAL. 9. 6. O thou Enemie thy Destructions are come to a perpetuall end ISAIAH 25. 8. Hee will swallow up Death in victorie LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE DESTRVCTION OF THE DESTROYER OR THE OVER THROW OF THE LAST ENEMIE SERMON VII 1 COR. 15. 16. The last enemie that shall bee destroyed is Death DEath is a subject that a Christian should have in his thoughts often and neither the hearing nor thinking nor speaking of it can be unseasonable for any place or person We have heard that the life of Philosophers is nothing but a meditation of Death and certainly the life of a Christian much more should abound in
is a nullitie of beeing in respect of a living creature there is nothing liveth Here is a perishing from a being to a not beeing Againe perishing may be a passage from a being to a worse beeing so an impenitent man when he dieth he passeth from life to death yea to an eternall death to a worse beeing that is a perishing and a proper perishing that is worse then to bee lost It is better to have no beeing then to have either of these But in neither of these senses the righteous man perisheth hee hath a beeing and a well-beeing after death His soule hath a real beeing with God in happinesse his body hath a beeing of hope though it be in the grave Nay it hath a real beeing of happinesse as it is a member of Christ in regard of the misticall union So in no sense he perisheth he is but tooke away hee is but removed it is but Exodus but transitus his death is not a going out of the Candle it is but a translation a removing of it to a better frame it is set upon a more glorious table to shine more bright The word is well expounded in the 11. Hebr. concerning Enoch whereas in the fifth of Genesis the Scripture saith Enoch walked with God and God tooke him in the Hebrewes it is said he was translated In the one he was tooke away that is in respect of the world In the other hee was translated that is in respect of heaven They are tooke away that is from the place of miserie the Dungeon the prison to a place of glory and happinesse They are tooke away from the house of clay to the house Eternall not made with hands in the heavens they are translated upward that is meant in this So that there are two observations in this First That Pietie and Mercie excuseth not from death Godlinesse it selfe freeth not a man from death Death it is that end that is propounded to all men The bodies of godly men are of the same mould and temper of the same frame and constitution as other men their flesh is as fraile their humours as cholericke their spirit as fading their breath as vanishing they owe the same debt to nature to sinne to God to themselves and their owne happinesse They are bound under the weight of the same Law the statute law is It is appointed to all men to die once It is well said to die once for the impenitent man dieth twice he dieth here by the separation of his soule from his body that is the first death and there is the second death that succeedeth that the death of the soule by a separation of it from God which is far worse But righteous and mercifull men die once the first death seizeth upon them It is appointed to all It is the end of all flesh in one place It is the end of all the earth in another place It is the end of all living the end of all men even mercifull and godly men are brought within the compasse of this law of Nature to yeeld up this debt due Righteousnesse excuses not it frees not It is a law that bindeth one as well as another As Basil of Seuleucia observeth though Adam was the first that sinned yet Abel was the first that died Adam committed the transgression the elder sonne was Cain the second Abel in the course of nature the eldest should have gone first but Abel righteous Abel that was the moytie the halfe of his comfort and the greater halfe though the younger Adam sinneth first and yet righteous Abel dieth first Hee gives the reason to be this because God would let us see in the Portall of death the table of the Resurrection he would shew us the linnaments of the Resurrection in the first man that dieth that righteous Abel is tooke away that we should be assured that he was but translated there was hope of the Resurrection confirmed even in his death But yet that is not all the reason I conceive that is more proper to this is righteous Abel dieth first to shew that even righteous and mercifull men must not expect immunitie from death and from suffering tribulation in this world it is the condition that befalleth Abel the righteous as well as Cain the Pharisee It belongeth to faithfull Abraham as well as to Apostatizing Demas to beloved Iacob as well as to rejected Esau to meeke Moses as well as to cursing Shemei to Deborah the Prophetesse as well as to usurping Athaliah to devout Iosiah as well as to impious Ahab to tender-hearted David as well as to churlish Nabal to the humble Publican as well as to the vaunting Pharisee It is the law and rule that is set to all there is no exemption righteousnesse pietie and workes of mercie then doe not exempt For if they could exempt how should pietie have the reward when should godlinesse come to the full recompence It is Death that makes way to the hope of reward And if it be so that righteousnesse excuseth not then neither honour nor strength nor beautie nor riches can excuse in the world for these are of farre lesse prevalencie with God then pietie So the Argument standeth strongly if Iob died that was a mercifull man if Abel was taken away that was a righteous man looke to other conditions then Caesar that is the Princes of the world shall be cut off their state and pompe shall not keepe them then Cressus that is the rich men of the world shall die their purse and plentie shall not excuse them then Socrates that is the prudent and learned men of the world their wisdome shall not prevent it then Helena that is the Minnions of the world the decking of their bodies and their beauty and painting shall bee fetched off they will expose them to death they shall not free them then Sampson that is the strong men of the world those that are healthy of able parts likely to out-live nature their strength shall not excuse them that no man should glorie in any thing without Neither the strong man in his strength nor the wise man in his wisedome or the rich man in his wealth but if hee glory in any thing to glory in the Lord. Though wee must not boast our selves of pietie yet as the Apostle saith yee have compelled mee If a man may boast of any thing it is of pietie that is rejoyce in this if God have made a man a vessell of mercie and an instrument of doing any good but otherwise to boast of it even that shall be the staine and further disgrace of it for righteousnesse it selfe excuses not from death all are subject to the same law that is the first observation Mercifull men are taken away as well as others Secondly there is a difference in the manner though they bee subject to death yet it is a subjection under another subjection Death is made subject to them they conquer Death So both
while wee are here though wee doe see the face of God in the Mirrour or glasse of the Gospell yet because wee are absent from him as he is objectum Beatificans Because here the teares are not all wiped from our eyes and we have not yet a full rest from our labours nor a full reward for our services Therefore our Bessednesse here it is nothing to speake of in comparison of that Blessednesse which we shall have hereafter when the soule is separated from the body and is with the Lord. Therefore saith the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to bee with Christ and this quoth hee it is melius it is better Better Yea it is multo melius it is much better Yea it is multo magis melius you must beare with Saint Pauls incongruitie of speech it is much more better to bee with him If our hope were only in this life of all men beleevers the children of God were most miserable But the hope of our immortall life is the life of this mortall There was some little glimpse of this light even amongst the Gentiles such as did beleeve the immortalitie of the soule One of the heathen Poets could say No man is blessed till death Cressus the Lybian a man happy in his great achievements asked Solon Pray quoth he tell mee what man dost thou thinke happie Hee named one to him Tellus a man that was dead But quoth he whom else dost thou thinke happy Hee named two brethren more that did a worke of pietie to their Mother it were too long to tell you the particular storie and they were dead I thinke them happy quoth he Cressus began to bee angrie that hee himselfe should not be thought a happy man Am not I happy Oh quoth he I take thee for a great king but I account thee not happy before death Cressus grew to miserie and then he cried out Oh Solon Solon c. Here we have a word a voyce from heaven and the Word confirmed by the Spirit and we have testimonies of Scripture and we have some little glimpse of this light from the Gentiles yet notwithstanding flesh and bloud will not be perswaded of this that dead men should be happy that there is a happinesse in death There are many things they have against it First say they Death is an enemie It is very true Death is an enemie the Apostle calleth it so The last enemie that shall be destroyed is Death And say they it is a terrible enemie It is very true and of all terrible things the most terrible yea and nature abhorreth it exceedingly See it in any creature that liveth Marke if every creature would not use legges wings hoofes hornes tuskes beakes or whatsoever thing it is wherewith God and nature hath armed it to preserve life Solomon saith it but he saith it in the person of a carnall man as he doth many things by Metaphors in his booke of Ecclesiastes That a living dogge is better then a dead lyon Sathan is a lyar and the father of lies but yet notwithstanding that word of his was a truth Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will hee give for his life Vita dum super est benè est said Moecenas when he lay grievously sicke of the Gout So long as life remaines it is well enough You have one man that liveth in extreame povertie eateth no bread but the bread of affliction yet hee would live You have another man that carrieth about him a diseased body the arrowes of God sticking fast in him and the venome of them drinking up his spirits by some sicknesse yet he would live You have another man that hath a rotten name that stinkes while he liveth yet he would live still Yea and not only wicked men doe make many base shifts to live they have their portion in this life no wonder therefore they doe it but even Gods best children that looke for a better life then this when this is ended are not willing to part with this life if they could keepe it Doe you not remember how David pleaded for life Oh let me live that I may praise thy Name oh spare mee a little before I goe hence and bee no more Hezekiah turneth his face to the wall and wept oh shall the grave give thankes unto thee or shall the dead celebrate thy praise No Vivens it is the living it is the living that must praise thee as I doe this day I know indeed that sometime you shall find some of Gods children wishing for death Iob My soule hath chosen strangling and death rather then my life Lord I pray thee saith Moses kill mee out of hand and let mee not see my wretchednesse Elijah when hee fled from Iezabel for his life Lord quoth he take away my life for I am not better then my fathers Hee was not willing that Iezabel should take away his life but he would have God to take it away You know Ionah his pettish moode that he was in when hee would deeds thinke to know what was better for him then God himselfe doth Lord take I beseech thee my life from mee for it is better for me to die then to live These men of God they were sonnes of men they had their passions as other men have and passion was never good judge betweene life and death I know againe that there is a question made by Iob Wherefore is light given to a man that is in miserie and life to the bitter in soule Such a man I confesse that hath bitternesse of soule he may happily seeke for death as for treasures and be glad when hee hath found the grave But let God be but pleased a little to allay that bitternesse let him but lap up that bitter pill in sugar a little and then he will like life well enough Why doe we all this while goe from my Text Surely there be so many voyces upon earth against it that if there were not a voyce from heaven to say Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord we should scarce beleeve it But then if the dead be blessed why doe wee not die that wee may be blessed There is such a like Question of Scipio in that same booke of Tullies Somnium Scipionis Scipio asked his Father when his father had told him of those glories that the soule enjoyed in immortalitie Why saith he doe I tarry thus long upon the earth why doe not I hasten to die The schollers of Eugesius when they heard their Master dispute of the immortalitie of the soule went and laid violent hands upon themselves that they might go to that immortalitie And so Cato Vticensis after he read Platoes books of the Immortalitie of the Soule made away himselfe Many such examples there have beene And I find often-times in your bills many that have laid violent hands upon themselves some that cut their owne throats and
every true beleever And this point I am now to prove and still I must use the compellation of the Apostle Brethren for as for others I have little hope of I will as I promised make it plaine out of the Scripture That a true beleever that would have comfort of it that hee is a true beleever must be as if not in all the things of this world There is one eminent place for this purpose viz. 1. Iohn 4. 10. Saith the Apostle there Love not the world nor the things of the worid if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him Hence I argue thus Hee that must so use wife children credit friends good name prosperitie without loving of them it is likely he useth them as if not for love is the great wheele that setteth all the faculties aworke Now the Spirit of God doth directly forbid all Christians to love the world or the things of the world as they doe the Scripture absolutely injoyneth that we should not love them that is that our hearts must not be fixed on them Another place you have likewise in Colloss 3. 1. Set not your affections on things below Now as I said before if any man doe any thing that his affections are not upon that he doth not love and joy and delight in that hee doth not take care for and the like certainly that man useth it as if not but so must every true beleever use the things of the world so as that he must not set his affections upon them Other Scriptures I might give you to make good this point but I am somewhat afraid to bee straytned Two or three arguments I will adde to make it plaine Why every true beleever must be as if not in all these things First because all the things in this world which are contained in the Text they are all but emptie poore things to a beleever To another man who makes them his God in his conceit they are full but to a true beleever these things are well knowne to bee but emptie things I need give you no better proofe to make this evident then that which followeth in the Text For the fashion of this world passeth away The fashion of the world What is that That is a thing that is a shew without a substance Nay the word signifieth such a fashion as is in a Comedie or stage-play where all things are but for a while to please the eye A man it may bee acts the part of a King that is no better then a begger or a varlet so all things in the world are no better then shadowes and empty like a piece of a stage-play and no marvell if beleevers that know this use them as not Secondly another argument why Beleevers must in all these things use them as if not is because they are none of a beleevers and being none of his it is a meere folly for him to set his heart upon them How are they none of his you will say First for the truth of it these things below they belong to the men of this life but the treasure and estate of a Beleever is laid up in another life hee is but as a stranger and pilgrim here below and therefore they are none of his And then likewise they are none of his because he hath resigned them all up to God in the day when he made the bargaine for Christ. For when we come to be Christs wee must sell all to buy that Pearle and in selling all wee sell not only our corruptions and lusts but wives and children and pleasures and credit and all wee have them not now to have and to hold to doe what wee will with them but now that wee have Christ wee returne all to him and have them as Coppy-hold to bee tenants at will to that great Land-lord wee have only a little time in them And if it be so that every beleever hath no more to doe in this world but thus that he is meerely at the pleasure of God and can properly call nothing his owne but God and Christ then certainly hee must use all these things as if not Conceive it thus A Traveller goeth a long journey hee commeth at night to his Inne when hee is there hee is wondrous glad of his table of his bed of his fire of his meat and drinke and every thing and hee is wondrous welcome but hee doth not so delight in them as the host of the house who is living there and is right owner and hath the whole estate No hee only resteth there for a night after his weary journey but on the morrow God be with you then hee is gone So a worldly man he may say here is my estate here is my stocke all that I have is layed up here But a Beleever saith I am now in my journey I am here no other then a pilgrim my home is in Heaven and while I am passing through this pilgrimage If I have a piece of meat in my hunger and a cup of drinke in my thirst and clothes in my nakednesse there is all that I care for Thirdly the last and the maine Argument to proue that every true beleever must bee as if not in all the things of this world is because if he be any otherwise in them hee will be so intangled that hee shall not be fit for the service of God And this third Argument will be of the greatest force to a true beleever For the other two you will say if they be none of mine why doe I meddle with them and if they be empty why likewise doe I meddle with them But now thirdly if I meddle with them they will make me directly that I shall not bee a Christian they will hinder me from the service of my God this will make a beleever of all things to looke about him The Apostle saith directly that none that warreth intangleth himselfe that is thus Suppose a man have received presse-money to goe a souldier will he be so madde as to lay out his money upon a Farme in the Countrey when upon the command of his Captaine upon paine of death he must follow presently Beloved he that intangleth himselfe with the things of the world and of the flesh if his wife his pleasures his credit or any thing have taken up his heart or if sorrowes and afflictions drinke up his spirits and eate up his very soule when God calls this man now to come to prayer to come to the Church to heare his Word to fight against his lusts or to doe any duty alas his head his heart and all are eaten up with his Farme with his oxen with his wife with his crosses and afflictions so that he is altogether unfit for any service that God hath called him to Therefore saith Saint Iohn he that intangleth himselfe with these things below hee cannot possibly have the love
in a carnall and sinfull security wee see then so many of us at least that are children of the light and of the day what cause we have to be awakened and to doe that for others which they will not doe for themselves to bee more earnest in prayer more frequent in humbling our soules for our owne sinnes and theirs that God may lay aside and cast away his judgements and displeasure that either are feared or lie upon us It is not a fearfull thing that when the Lyon roareth the beasts of the Forrests tremble Yet the God of heaven roareth against the world at this day and the proud hearts of men doe not tremble before him Shall the beasts of the Forrests bee afraid of the Lyon more then the poore wormes of the earth of the mighty God of heaven and earth But this is the horrible Atheisme and infidelity that is in the hearts of men that they beleeve not Gods power and justice nor his threatnings I beseech you let every man be exhorted to stirre up his soule to this businesse to awaken himselfe in his owne particular person Consider that there are others that are awake that may bring you sorrow enough bee you awakened to prevent those miseries Sathan is awake to tempt you Bee sober and watchfull saith Saint Peter for your adversary the divill goeth about seeking whom hee may devoure Sathan is busie and watching to make you his prey watch you therefore that you enter not into tentation Your owne Corruptions are alwayes awake The concupisence and depraved disposition of the soule it is awake still to further every evill motion to draw you aside by its tentations Therefore saith the Apostle I beseech you abstaine as pilgrims and strangers from fleshly lusts that warre against the soule Doe as men in warre when they know that they have a waking enemie against them they will be sure to keepe their Watch. Beloved you cannot but know that your corruptions are awake you may perceive it in your sleepes and dreames take heed that you bee not found in a spirituall sleepe that corruption prevaile not over you Besides these the enemies of the Church are awake Heretiques are awake every where to bring men from the faith to pervert the faith of many oh be awake to prevent those Besides others are awaken to ransack houses to destroy Cities oh be awake that you may bee at peace with the Lord of Hosts the God of Armies that hath all power in his hand to keepe you safe Againe secondly consider the evill of this security you are in of this disposition of heart when you cry peace peace to your selves in the middest of Gods displeasure It is an evill disease a spirituall lethargie That disease we know in the body it takes a man with sleepe and so he dieth Oh how many are in this spirituall lethargie in this deepe sleepe of sinne at this day the Lord awaken them It is the more dangerous because it is a senslesse disease A disease that takes the senses from the soule and diseases we know that take away the senses are dangerous for it is not only a signe that nature is overcome by the disease but besides it draweth men from seeking for cure Thus it is with the spirituall lethargie it shewes not only that sinne hath prevailed in the heart that it hath overcome grace and thereupon you have yeelded unto it to your pride and covetousnesse and vanity as those that are subdued under a disease but it hindreth you from seeking the meanes to escape out of it Thou saist saith Christ to the Church of Laodicea that thou art rich and needest nothing and that was the reason shee sought not to Christ. It is our condition we have knowledge enough therefore we care not for the ordinances of God Wee have faith enough and therefore wee care not for increasing it though none of us say thus with our tongues yet most of us beleeve thus with our hearts As David saith of the ungodly man the wickednesse of the wicked saith in my heart So may I say the neglecting of the ordinances the carelesnesse of men in the use of the meanes of salvation saith in my heart that there is abundance of securitie that they are in a spirituall lethargie that leadeth to death As it is an evill disease so it causeth much evill It is that which driveth away the Spirit of God It is the counsell of the Apostle Grieve not the Spirit quench not the Spirit When wee neglect the motions of the Spirit the Spirit withdraweth it selfe Doth not your owne experience tell you this Consider a little what motions you have had how God by the checks of your consciences sometime by secret incitements as it were a spurre upon your hearts hath moved you to dutie and to leave your sinnes How have these moved you you have had purposes it may be to performe these duties to walke in the wayes of God to please him in all things the neglect of these purposes hath driven away the Spirit it may be God now leaveth you to finall hardnesse Againe it letteth in Sathan When the uncleane spirit is driven out hee goeth about seeking rest and finding none at last hee returneth from whence hee went and findeth the house swept and garnished and he entreth in and bringeth seven spirits more worse then himselfe Alas how many men are there that for a fitt in some particulars have altered their course and have thought to become new men yet rushing upon former occasions and temptations to sinne they have growne secure and carelesse and now Sathan hath gotten stronger hold of them with seven spirits worse Nay this is that that drives away Christ and the comfortable influence of his Spirit in the heart The Church in Cant. 5. was asleepe was in a spirituall slumber and Christ goeth away Shee seekes him whom her soule loved but shee could not find him I speake now to those that were awake and are now asleepe their hearts it may be are awake but they walke not with that watchfulnesse and humility of spirit before the Lord as they ought therefore now they are heavy and destitute of the comforts of the Spirit Well they may thanke themselves Christ hath hid himselfe to teach them to be more watchfull And to conclude This is the cause of positive Judgements You know what came upon the old world and upon Sodome and Gomorrah for their securitie And likewise of future Judgements it is that which casteth men from heaven to hell That servant that saith in his heart my Master deferreth his comming and therefore hee eates and drinkes with the drunken what is the issue of it Hee shall have his portion given him with hypocrites where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth Mat. 24. Here is enough I suppose to awaken you Whensoever the heart of man is held downe with secure
First by way of comfort Against the feare of Death or against over-much sorrow for those that Death takesaway It is true Death is an Enemie But to whom only to the wicked that are out of Christ to those that have no benefit at all by his Death and Resurrection and ascension When Death commeth and findeth out these they may say as Ahab did to Eliah and more truly a great deale hast thou found me oh mine Enemie It is the worst Enemie they have in the world It is a cruell Sergeant that catcheth them by the throat and arresteth them for a debt that they are never able to pay It dragges them to the Jayle casteth them into the Dungeon to the chaines of Darknesse I have not a word of comfort to say to them They have no more comfort in Death then they have in Hell where though they shall lie in torments and paine they shall not have a drop of water to coole their tongue But to the faithfull in Christ there is comfort upon comfort For though Death be an Enemie yet remember first it is a subdued Enemie Secondly a reconciled Enemie Thirdly and lastly an Enemie that one day shall not be at all It is a subdued Enemie that is one comfort The strength and sting of it is gone When a Bee hath lost his sting and is a Droane it can hurt no more So Death is a Droane to a Christian it hums and buzzeth it doth no hurt it cannot sting the sting is gone Against all those Enemies that I formerly told yee of that are attendants on Death here is comfort First it is true Death commeth with ill Harbingers it bringeth sicknesses and aches and paine but there is comfort against this For when God sendeth paine remember hee promiseth to send patience too that he will put his hand under to helpe His left hand shall bee under us and his right hand over us to catch us hee hath promised comfort upon our sicke beds to make our bed in our sicknesse Wee need not make such an Allegorie as Ambrose doth this sweet flesh of ours the Bed of our soule it is under infirmities and weaknesses God helpeth us he makes our bed hee saith to the sicke of the Palsey Take up thy bed hee turneth our bed in our sicknesse either he sends us health so some expounds it hee turnes the bed of sicknesse into a bed of health or God turneth our bed for us in our sicknesse that is he refresheth us giveth us ease when we lie upon our sicke beds It is a Metaphor borrowed from those that attend sicke persons that helpe to make their Beds easie and soft and turne them that they may lie at ease So God hath promised his children in the painfull time of sicknesse to make their Beds easie and soft to cause them to lie at ease by the Patience that he will give them Secondly it is true Death bringeth dissolution and dissolveth the frame of nature it separateth and divorceth those two loving companions the Soule and the Body But there is comfort in this For though it divorce the Soule and the Body yet it cannot destroy the soule and the body even the body is in the hand of God when it is rotting in the earth as the Soule is translated to heaven Againe though they be separated yet it is but for a time one day they shall meet more joyfull and glorious then ever before and after that they shall never be separated againe Lastly though he separate the soule from the body and the body from the soule yet neither from Christ nor Christ from them Nay it is so farre from separating that it helpeth to unite us to Christ as I said before the dissolution of those shall bee the conjunction with him I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Thirdly it is true the horrour of the Grave attendeth Death and the putrifaction of this flesh of ours that must turne to corruptnesse it makes it terrible and fearfull But there is comfort against this For after that time of putrifaction there shall bee a time of restitution and though the wormes devoure this flesh of ours yet in that very flesh of ours wee shall see God another day These eyes shall see him There is comfort in that that when God shall come to restore us with himselfe what the Grave hath clothed with corruption he will cloath with glory these vile bodies hee will make them like the glorious body of Christ without all corruption Fourthly it is true Death depriveth us of worldly friends of worldly imployments this makes it terrible Yet there is comfort against this Though we be deprived of worldly friends it carries us to heaven to better company to Angels to the spirits of just and perfect men to God the Iudge of all to Iesus the Mediatour of the New Testament Nay besides one day hee will restore againe those very friends of which here we are deprived though wee lose them for a time in heaven wee shall meet againe and there renew a perpetuall league of societie and love So though it deprive us of worldly benefits it cannot of heaven and those are better they are not pleasures of sinne that last for a season but at the right hand of God that endure for ever So though it deprive us of worldly services it carrieth us to heaven to those that are better that are high and proper to the Church triumphant such as befit the Church to sing Hallelujahs and such as are profitable to the Church militant by the memorie of good examples and by the prayers they offer to God not in particular for they know no mans particular wants yet for the generall and common good of all Fifthly and lastly It is true the consideration of sinne and of Judgement and our uncertaine estate after death makes it terrible like the face of an Enemie Yet there is comfort against these For sinne I told you that though there bee a sting in the Serpent yet Christ hath drawne out that sting so that being a Serpent without a sting we may doe as Moses take it in our hand put it into our bosome and it will never doe us hurt to them that die in the Lord Death rather came by sinne then for sinne It is not betweene sinne and damnation but betweene sinne and salvation For judgement It is true Death presenteth judgement but it presenteth it with comfort for the day of Judgement is the day that the godly looke for and long for as the day of redemption not of confusion when they shall receive the sentence by which they shall bee absolved and not condemned For they know when God shall come to be their Judge hee shall come to be their Saviour And so for the uncertaintie of our future estate after death It is true the state of the dead in regard of naturall understanding it may be a thing
out came to passe And I have accordingly pitched uponit not only to satisfie her desire in a just thing but especially because I approve her choyce of a fit Text there being not in the whole Scripture a portion that will afford a fitter Character in my apprehension for her person as you shall understand in the close to which therefore I shall deferre the speaking to the present occasion The truth is I have handled a good part of this chapter formerly and in this place but now wee shall cleane goe another way then then I did and then I usually doe I shall only desire to present so much out of these words without any curious observation or division as may represent to us a perfect character of a sweet Christian-minded man or woman which may bee of singular use and very profitable There be onely two things that I shall observe in the whole words I shall but goe them over briefly taking out the maine points as I conceive for that purpose I shall mention them We have here propounded to to us the compleat dutie of a Christian And wee have here some effectuall motives intimated to stirre Christians up to the performance of that duty There is a generall dutie to begin with that first that belongeth to Christians at all times And there are some speciall duties which concerne Christians in some speciall times Both contained here The generrll dutie I shall not as I said handle it in my former way of observation but only explicate the very words of the Text and that will be enough for me The generall duty I say of a Christian and what should bee the temper of his heart and spirit at all times we may find expressed at least intimated very sweetly with some excellent directions in the Text in these three circumstances First we may see here what is the true Object upon which a Christian soule should be fixed Secondly we may see the Latitude of the Acts which a Christian must exercise upon that Object Thirdly we may take notice of the manner and of the degree in which every one of those Acts must bee exercised I shall but touch these briefly out of the words and then come to the speciall duties belonging to speciall times First to begin with the Object The desire of our soule is toward thee and to the remembrance of thy Name God and the name of God is that which should be printed in the heart of a Christian should be that to which the byas and streame of his whole soule runnes First I say it should be fixed upon God Wee are here in the world placed as it were betweene heaven and earth Now all the matter is how our Byas is set which way that turnes As the Byas is of the heart so the man is Our hearts may bee turned downwards to the earth and to earthly things and so wee shall runne a course of ruine and destruction our hearts againe the Byas of them may be set toward heaven and heavenly things and so we shall runne the right course that wee ought It is God that our soules should breath after Fecisti nos Domine propter te saith a Father thou hast made us O Lord for thy selfe and our soules are restlesse till they returne againe to thee As they say of Circles The Circle the round figure is the most perfect figure and the most capacious figure because there the line that beginneth in one point goeth round till it returne into the same againe So this is the greatest perfection of a man when he returneth to his beginning he had all from God and when he reflects himselfe altogether backe againe unto God hee attaineth his greatest perfection And indeed there will bee no more rest for the soule in any thing out of God then there is for a stone or a weighty body in the liquid ayre Hang a stone in the Ayre and doe but once remove the â—…orce that holds itthere will it nill it give but a way to it and it will cut through and never rest till it come to a sollid substance till it come to the earth if it may to the Center of the earth It is so with the soule of man trie it in all the fortunes and states and conditions in the world as a great Emperour said I have runne through all things and my spirit will rest in nothing and as Solomon giveth us this observation out of all his travell and experiment that he had made Vanity of vanity all is vanity and worse then vanity too vexation of spirit this is the summe of all feare God and keepe his commandenents as he concludeth This is the Object upon which our soule should bee set wee should have an eye to God labouring to approve our selves to him making our approaches and adresses and returnes to him that our soule may reâ—… with him that we may enjoy the light of his countenance here and the fulnesse and brightnesse of his glory hereafter This is the first thing in the Object Now if a soule be carryed toward this Object toward God and we can out-goe and out-grow these worldly things looke abovethem and looke downe upon them with scorne then the very name of God will be sweet and precious to us To thee and to thy name Every thing which is a memoriall a remembrance of God Every thing by which God may be knowne will be taken notice of All his Attributes his Word and Ordinances and all other things which come within the compasse of his Name as I suppose there are not many here but know according to the ordinary explication of Divines of the third commandement Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine and the first Petition hallowed be thy name What is meant by the name of God When the heart I say is set upon God it will even leape for joy at the very name of God the very name of God will bee sweet to him To enjoy God is sweet and to have but a glimpse of him to have him but represented by name is sweet too As it is reported of a Father that was a godly man and a Martyr in his time that he was so frequent in roling the name of Christ the name of Jesus in his mouth that when hee died it is reported that in his heart there was ingraven and written the character of that Name in golden letters And as Saint Austin speakes of himselfe Time was saith he that I found infinite sweetnesse it was honey to mee to reade a peece of Tully there was so much eloquence in it but after I came to bee a Christian to be acquainted with God and with Christ then me thought the leaves were drie and the beauty withered I found no such sappe nor rellish in them And he giveth the reason Because saith he I did not there find the
name of my blessed Lord they did not bring to my remembrance they were not Vehicula instruments to convey to my soule something of my God Therefore all that Eloquence vanished and it was but an empty sound like a Cart that runnes with speed rattleth and makes a great noise when it is emptie so all the goodly sound of words when there is nothing of God carryed along with it that puts us in mind of God it will have but little savour and rellish to a pious heart But I must not dilate upon things lest I prevent my selfe in what I more intend This is the first thing that I note here the Object upon which we should place our hearts and soules they should bee toward God and toward his Name But then secondly here is intimated in these words nay and directly exprest the Acts which a Christian should exercise upon this Object There are three Acts that are here mentioned for the whole soule must be taken up and carried with full streame toward God in all the parts and faculties of it and so wee have it here clearely exprest First here is an act of the Understanding the intellectuall facultie mentioned Our remembrance is toward thy name There is a remembrance of God and his name And this should bee one thing which a Christian should take speciall care of Our memories should not be like sives to let out the cleare water and to returne the graines and the dregges We should not have that treasurie to preserve rubbish but to preserve our Jewels as when there was a dispute before Alexander that great King concerning a rich Cabinet that he tooke amongst his spoiles when hee had overthrowne Darius King of Persia the richest Cabinet of the most costly Jewels that the world had then seene there was a dispute before him to what use he should put it and every one having exprest their mindes according as their fancies lead them the King himselfe concluded that he would keepe that Cabinet to be a treasurie to lay the bookes of Homer in I am sure the richest Cabinet that is is in the soule of a man the memorie which is the treasure-house where we lay up all that we know and learne it is a rich Cabinet I confesse and therefore the fitter for the richest Jewell to lay up the word of God there as Marie treasured up those things shee heard in her heart to lay up the remembrance of God there often to thinke upon God It is a very sweet saying of a learned and godly Father A man should oftener remember God then hee doth breath As the Common-wealth is maintained by exportation and importation of commodities so is our life maintained by a continuall exportation and importation of the Ayre passing to and fro breathing out the Ayre when it is too hot in us and fetching it in coole againe to refresh and supply the spirits our life I say is maintained by it and God is the very fountaine of life to us even as the soule is the life of the body so is God the life of the soule therefore we should alwayes be remembring of God so oft as wee breath breathing out prayers to him or prayses of him in returne of his mercie Our memories I say should be exercised in thinking upon God in remembring of God Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth saith Solomon We should begin betimes and wee should never be weary of this The memorie is one of the brittlest parts and we are most apt in age to grow to oblivion and forgetfulnesse as that great Oratour did sometime it is reported of him that his memory which was incomparably excellent before failed him so much before he died that he forgat his owne name Wee cannot forget God but we must be worse then hee and doe that first forget our owne name that wee are Christians that wee are sonnes and daughters of God Therefore this should be a thing that we should often inure our selves unto not to put the thoughts of God from us or thinke they are too sad and serious and so to account them as unwelcome guests but we should rather often bath our selves in these sweet delights in the meditation and remembrance of God That is one thing And then secondly besides the act of the understanding I will goe according to the words of the text there is an act of the will and of the affections one onely named as a tast of all the rest for indeed whâ—…e one is all are they are so linked and chained together that they cannot be separate And here is a sweet act of affection mentioned The desire of our soule is toward thee This should be one part of a Christians character that his desires should be alwayes breathing out and flaming up towards heaven that if he cannot at least obtaine the highest pitch of full sayles of love and of a full perfection in vertue and grace yet whatsoever he commeth short in otherwise to make it up with abundant desires ardent longing desires not to come short in that to be sure that will make an excellent supply And indeed it is that that poore and weake Christians must trust to many times must relieve themselves with thoughts of they often find themselves exceeding short and defective in performances if they did not find some desires working in them there would scarse be any symptome of life As it may be in the body a man can see sometimes but little motion in the body scarse any symptome of life the pulse is very weake and faint and scarse moveth at all that can be discerned but yet it may be there is some kind of breath stirring or else we conclude the party dead so it is in this case desire is that if there be truth in it be it the lowest degree of it which is an evidence of spirituall life there cannot be truth of grace where there is not unfeigned and hearty desires toward God desires to approve our selves to him desires to walke with him in our whole course desires to bee defective in nothing and that is in some sort true as you know Divines have determined it and if it be not mis-interpreted there is a certaine truth in it the desire of grace is the grace it selfe 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 bee that the heart be pointed with love toward God except the heart love God for desire is nothing but a certaine configuration of love Love is the generall affection of the soule 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 selfe in desires It must needes be
therefore that where there are desires toward 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 drawne in some kind of truth This is the second Act that Christians should exercise and take speciall care to cherish that they have continuall pantings and breathings of desires toward God their hearts should worke and beate 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 Proverbe of wishers and woulders ineffectuall desires desires that are meere gaping to see if the thing will drop into our mouthes or no without any bestirring of our selves but here is joyned with them if wee peruse the words of the Text we shall find it endeavours I have desired thee in the night and I will seeke thee early the soule of a Christian desires God in the evening and his spirit will seeke 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 meanes to find him out to learne 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 ineffectuall 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 soule to seeke 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 seale of the truth of it But then let me adde 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 worke toward him how must our endeavours be carryed 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 generall dutie First the soule must be carried intimatly and most inwardly the inward motions and workings of the soule and spirit must bee toward God And therefore the Prophet here expresseth these acts as the acts of the very soule 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 externall thing in the world but a Painter with his pensill 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 Christianitie but it is possible for a Painter for a base hypocrite to represent them with an artificiall pensill 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 bee animated actions not dead actions actions that have no further bottome then the teeth outwards that grow upon the house toppe a word growing upon the tippe of the tongue that hath no roote in the heart and so for the rest But they must have the roote in the heart and soule of a man that must inwardly be carried towards God And when the heart and soule and spirit of a man all which words are here used by a supernaturall grace that is implanted in them when I say they are thus carried toward God it is an argument of spirituall 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 selfe 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 keepes a doe with a man that he never saw or knew one that he is ready it may bee when his backe is turned to curse but yet he will doe this for his almes for his gaine 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 seeme to owne him and to be one of the generation of those that seeke his face to addresse himselfe in outward conformitie and many other things by which another may charitably if hee have no other ground judge of him all this is nothing except a man may discerne something that may give him a tast that his spirit doth uprightly and sincerely seeke God that he loveth God for God himselfe that he loveth grace for grace it selfe hee loveth the Commandements of God because they are Gods commandements and because they are beautifull 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 very nimbly too yet you doe not say presently that that is a living creature No it moveth only by an externall cause by an artificiall contrivance it is so framed that when the wind setteth in such and such a corner it will move and so having but an externall Moter and cause to move and no inward principle no soule within it to move it it is an argument that it is no living creature So it is here if a man see another move and move very fast in those things which of themselves are the wayes of God see him move as fast to heare a Sermon as his neighbour doth is as forward and hastie to thrust himselfe and bid himselfe a guest to the Lords Table when God
hath not bid him as any the Question is what principle sets him aworke if it be an inward principle of life out of a sincere affection and love to God and his ordinances that carrieth him to this it argueth that man hath some life of grace But if it bee some wind that bloweth him on the wind of State the wind of Law the wind of danger of penaltie the wind of fashion or custome to doe as his neighbours doe if these or such like bee the things that draw him thither this is no argument of life at all it is a cheape thing it is counterfeit and poore ware Thirdly that which I have often said to be the principall and the most considerable thing that I know in all practicall Divinitie and which is the most Charactaristicall of the truth of Grace and of the life of Pietie in any one our spirits and soules and affections towards God must be advanced to this height to be carried toward God aboue all other things I beseech you seriously thinke of it I have often spoken of it but it may be there may be some roome left for the mention of it now and some necessitie of pondering it well It will bee the Charactaristicall thing by which a man may most certainly discerne himselfe And I would desire to know wherein my defect of understanding is if I be mistaken but it seemes to me as a cleare thing that every one here that hath not a mind to affront the mind of God he dares not contest this argument that it is a rationall thing that if God be the best of Beeings he should have the best portion in our love All reason commands us to love that best which is best and to dispense our love according to the degree of the excellencie of the thing There is no man but apprehendeth this clearely A man may say that he loves his Wife and he will prove it and this shall be his argument I love her aswell as I doe another woman Is this the proofe of conjugall love was this the covenant made betweene them hath hee fulfilled it in this case to her or she to him There is no man but seeth that there is more required there is a peculiarity and proprietie of love required in this case It must certainly be so here for we contract and espouse our soules to Christ and upon those very termes for better and for worse to forsake all the world and to cleave to him alone and if our spirits be not raised and advanced to that degree of affection that Christ and God be so lovely and beautifull in our eyes and so good for I name one sometime and sometime another it is all one upon the point if I say they be not advanced thus high the conjugall knot was never tied betweene Christ and the soule it is impossible therefore that such a one should have to plead the benefits that flow from a Conjugall union neither can hee have title or right to any thing that issueth from a marriage with Christ whose soule did but equivocate and would never speake out the words and who never answered the interrogations of a good conscience as Saint Peter speakes in another case that when the soule in the contract should say that she takes him for to love and honour and obey him and to make him her Lord and Saviour if the soule doe not yeeld to this which it cannot doe if it doe not esteeme him the best of all others and that all others are to bee thrâ—… away and to be forsaken in comparison of him This is the tâ—… circumstance I have noted hence which I suppose is intimated in these words Though I have not said it is exprest here yet it is so carryed with such a fulnesse the desire of our soule is to thee and to the remembrance of thy name as if it were to God only or at least to him principally But I must hasten In the fourth place It must be a universall love and so a universall obedience which is the fruit of it which must justifie the truth of our affections towards God and set the heart in a right frame and temper Except a man love God and love all the wayes of God and all the ordinances of God and yeeld himselfe in subjection and resigne himselfe in obedience to them all if he doe but reserve and make choyce of any one sinne to lie and wallow and tumble in he doth evacuate all the other good hee throweth downe all the other good with that one evill Will you come and plead with God that there is but one sinne that you have defiled and polluted your soule with and wallowed and tumbled in all your life and I hope God will never refuse me or barre me out of his presence and fellowship and communion with him for that Yes you are as filthy all over as filthy and defiled and abominable and odious to his eye and to every other sense aswell with one as if you had beene in ten thousand slowghes one after another And as the Philosopher speakes a Cuppe or some such thing that hath a hole in it is no Cuppe it will hold nothing and therefore cannot performe the use of a cup though it have but one hole in it so if the heart have but one hole in it if it retaine the divell but in one thing as we use to say In law one man in possession keepes possession and a man can never have true possession till he have voyded all so except all be rooted out and exterpated and a man commeth to yeeld a full and absolute subjection to Christ universally Christ hath no part or portion in us nor we in him Lastly there were divers other particulars that I thought to have added in this but I see I must passe them over It is not every affection that may seeme to have some height and universality though I doe acknowledge that they will in some measure characterise out the truth but yet there must be this addition as it was with the feed that was cast into the good ground it had depth of earth so this must have depth in the heart it must be well rooted and fastned for perpetuity it must be a constant affection grounded and established in the heart The Ayre you know is light and yet we call it not a lightsome body because it is lighted by the presence of another and when that light body is removed it is darke you may say it is darke for the Ayre is darke in the night when the Sunne is absent as it is light when the Sunne is present those we call lightsome bodyes whose light is originated and rooted in themselves So it is in this case such are not godly persons that may have some injections of godly thoughts and godly affections cast into them and be in them for a spurt and for a brunt and for a little flash like
true to their owne way And if they doe live amongst wicked men to be rather gainers by them to grow the better rather then to receive infection and corruption from them They say that Lillies and Roses or such like things if they be planted by Garlicke or Onions or such like unfavourie things they doe increase in sweetnesse the Rose and the Lillie are sweeter so it should be when godly men are planted and hemmed about with wicked men the vilenesse and odiousnesse of their wicked wayes may make them to loath wickednesse the more and to love godlinesse and to blesse God that hath kept them that they have not run to the same excesse of ryot with them In stead of all other Application which I thought to have added as for example and for instance to shew us the true Analogie of a Christian that we may discerne who is a right Christian and who is not we must not discerne it by our fancies but by those Characters God hath set And a just apologie in the second place for those that are branded with nick-names If this be the description of true pietie and of a true Christian to have the heart and soule breathing after God and seeking night and day after him and setting themselves wholly to walke in the way of uprightnesse with sincerity before God then certainly they are unjustly branded whose consciences doe aime at these things and the consciences of other men may tell them that they doe so and they see no other And so for conviction of those men that are in the Bosome of the Church they may see if they be not according to this stampe if they either faile of it that there is none of these liniaments to be found in them nothing toward God and his name no understanding no affection no endeavours working that way and so for the rest if they utterly faile of this they utterly come short and are not worthy the name of Christians but much more if they doe deride and oppose and contemne the mind and the wayes of God which God hath chalked out to us for our rule and direction that is a high degree of fayling and comming short and therefore they may be convinced that they cannot bee right I doubt when the Bookes shall bee opened and every one judged according to the booke of God which shall be layed for the tryall of our lives if our lives be not according to that whatsoever our words bee and howsoever wee carry it it will not beare us out then And it might have beene a Use also of Examination let every one of us examine our selves and what our estate is according to this rule and what degree of this we have attained too And then for comfort for those that are such according to this rule whether it be in the perfection or in the affection If they have not the perfection yet if their affections stand and runne this way and that they can truly and ingeniously say that they are such in sincerity there is a great deale of comfort for them And for Exhortation out of the severall branches of the duty which I cannot meddle with And out of the severall Motives that I propounded out of the words of the Text. But I say in stead of all these this present Sister of ours whose Funerall we now solemnize I might fetch an Argument as a Motive to all these severall duties from her example To returne now therefore to the present occasion I will speake something concerning Her in honour of whose Funerall solemnities we are at this time met together that gave us the occasion I shall according to my custome dispatch it briefly When any children of God die the last offices of Love are performed to them by three severall sorts or rankes The Angels they convey their soules into the bosome of their father Abraham into the blisse of eternity The Bearers attended with the Mourners they carry their bodies to the bosome of their mother earth to rest in tranquility The Preachers as it were a middle betweene God and them they commend their name to the mindes of their friends the hearers to live in their memories My part at the present is to doe this and I shall doe it not so much to trumpet out her commendation as to take a hint of something for your instruction which may be usefull But I must intreat you to remember that you doe not use to lace or adorne your mournings and therefore you have little reason to expect any eloquent adorning any Festivall ornament in such a Funerall argument My language must be blacke and patheticall sutable to our sad occasion it must not be pleasing to the fancie in the fresh flowers of Rhetoricke my language I say must be in blacke but in blacke layed upon a ground of truth which shall not blush for blame speaking any thing besides what I doe really conceive As I dare not doe you so much wrong as to paint or guild a rotten post so I am willing to doe her so much right as to set a rich Pearle in gold To passe other circumstances as that shee was descended of an honest and worthy Familie and of good qualitie that Shee had a full and hopefull issue descending from her selfe and such like circumstances which I leave for Oratours as unfit for a Divine to meddle withall All that I shall say concerning Her shall bee out of the Text in which you may behold a true picture of her in all the linaments of her and out of it you may be able to draw and take a good patterne for your selves The Byas of her spirit was toward God and toward his Name whose lively Image shee bare graven in her memorie living in her desires and beyond all pictures moving also in her endeavours to seeke after God The very quintescence of her spirit was carryed this way and that intimatly sincerely universally and constantly With her soule shee desired him in the night and with her spirit shee sought him in the morning the light of the morning and the evening starre as sometime the Starre did the Wise men conducted her to the Sunne of righteousnesse In mercies Shee was not wanton but thankfull and fruitfull In judgements as in a fatherly way of correction Shee had a deepe share wherein being exercised with many yeares weaknesse as those that knew her knew very well but yet in such fatherly dealings shee shewed her patience her perseverance her proficiencie and being a Mourner for the stubbornnesse of the wicked shee was a gainer likewise by them too and all because shee looked up to God who sees and weighs all our paths In which I have briefly recollected upon the matter the summe of the whole things conteyned in the text so that so long as this Text is in the Bible and so long as the Bible is in the Church and so long as any thing though unworthy of this Sermon remaines in your memories
must understand his second comming to judgement For there is a threefold comming of Christ. A twofold comming in his Bodie and one by his Spirit The first was the comming of Christ in the flesh when hee came to take our nature upon him and to be borne of a Virgin The second is the comming of Christ by his Spirit so hee commeth continually and dayly in the hearts of men in the preaching of the Gospell in vertue and efficacie His last comming and his second comming in respect of his body is when hee shall come to judgement Never looke for the comming of Christ in his body upon earth in the sight of men till that great day come when the Lord Iesus shall come with thousands of his Angels in the glory of his Father Now then this being the meaning of it we will prove it And first that it is the continuall expectation of all the Saints of God and the continuall desire of their hearts their continuall waiting is for the second comming of the Lord Christ. As it was before the first comming of Christ in the flesh so it shall be before his second comming Before the first comming of Christ after the promise was made to Adam all the expectation and hope of the Fathers and Beleevers was this when the great Messias would come and therefore saith Iacob I have waited for thy salvation and David I have longed for thy salvation meaning Christ the Saviour of the world and the Church groweth to a kind of holy impatiencie Oh that thou wouldest breake the heavens and come downe And immediatly upon the time of Christs comming there were alwayes holy men in those times that were stirred up with a continuall expectation of it and therefore it was made a marke of a good man in those dayes It is said of Ioseph of Arimathea and Simeon and of divers good women as of Anna and others that they waited for the consolation of Israel they continually waited and expected when the great comforter and Saviour of his people would come So shall the second comming of Christ be from the very time of his Ascension into heaven to the time now and to the time of his last comming to Judgement all the eyes of men will be towards him When I am lifted up saith our Saviour I will draw all men after me which though it bee there particularly understood of his lifting up upon the Crosse yet it is intended in generall of his Ascension into heaven So that as after the promise was given of the Spirit The Disciples waited for the receiving of the gift of the holy Ghost So it is now and will bee since the holy Ghost is already given there remaineth nothing to be looked for but Christ himselfe in his second comming to finish all these dayes of sinne And that this is the disposition of all the servants of God appeares by divers places of Scripture 2 Tim. 4. 8. saith the Apostle there Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day and not to mee only but unto them also that love his appearing The Apostle here makes a description of all those that shall bee saved and hee saith they are such as love the appearing of Iesus Christ now that which a man loveth he desireth and lookes and longs for And in Heb. 9. 28. Christ died once for many and unto them that looke for him shall hee appeare the second time unto salvation Salvation is brought to whom to all those and onely to those that looke for the appearance of Christ. Therefore it is said of all the Beleevers in Heb. 11. That they saw things that were invisible and that they had an eye to the recompence of reward and that they saw the promise a farre off They looked still for those things that were to appeare by Christ. This I suppose is sufficiently confirmed by the Scripture let us therefore make some use of it Try now what comfort thou hast in the expectation of that great appearance of the Lord Jesus here spoken of This is the most infallible ground and undoubted evidence and testimony of the truth of grace now and assurance of glory hereafter if God have now stirred up thy heart in faith and holy affection to looke for and to long and waite for the appearance of Jesus Christ. Without this there is little love to Christ. The Church in Cant. 1. 2. sheweth her love to Christ Draw mee saith shee and we will runne after thee And chapt 2. 4. Stay me with flaggons comfort me with apples for I am sicke of love and chap. 5. If you find him whom my soule loveth tell him I am sicke of love If thou be of the disposition of the Church thou wilt out of love to Christ desire nothing so much as to enjoy the presence of Christ The Spirit and the Bride say come and let him that heareth say come the Spirit saith come and the Bride because she is stirred up in the same affection by the Spirit shee saith come too Christ saith to his Church I come and the Church shee saith againe Come Here is the agreement betweene Christ and his Church and the same disposition is in all the members of Christ a waiting and longing and desiring for the comming of Christ. There are many that pretend they waite and desire for the comming of Christ. When a man is under any affliction or in any trouble then Oh that Christ would come and end these troubles You shall heare a man that is abused and wronged by the oppressions and injuries of others and by the unrighteous dealings of wicked and ungodly men crying out Oh that Christ would come and put an end to these evill times Yea but if thou hast this desire of Christs comming that is in a man of a heavenly conversation It will appeare in these three things First it will appeare by the Ground of it What are the grounds of thy desire what are the motives that incourage thee to long for the comming of the Lord Jesus That which is the ground of faith is the ground of hope that is the promises Faith is the ground of things hoped for and the Word and promise are the warrant of Faith Faith and Hope looke both on this the free promise of God so it is said of Abraham that hee beleeved above hope because he knew that he that promised was able to doe it There is the first thing then Faith is the ground there is none but a true beleever that can indeed aright waite for and desire the comming of Christ. But this will appeare more in the second thing and that is by the companions of this expectation of Christs comming when it is right and as it should be in the soule of a Beleever The first companion of it is Patience If we hope for that wee see not then doe we
with patience waite for it saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 25. If we have hope and expectation of Christs comming if it be right it will stay the heart and calme and quiet the spirit in the middest of all injuries and crosses and afflictions in the world it will make us to waite with patience Hee that beleeveth will not make hast When a man beleeveth that there is a time when Christ will put an end to all these things it is that which mortifieth and subdueth the rising of his spirit and discontentednesse in afflictions it makes him possesse his soule in Patience There is a kind of impatient waiting of men in the middest of discontent and revilings and evill speakings and threatnings of others and then Oh that Christ would come But when Faith workes kindly in the soule of a man there is a calme composednesse of heart a submission to God in the present tryall and yet neverthelesse a rejoycing in hope of the comming of Christ and of that glory that shall bee revealed That is the first thing there is Patience accompanying it The second thing that accompanieth it is Love No man can in truth and aright hope for and waite for the comming of Christ but he that loveth Christ and his comming Now this Love must be grounded on our tast of Gods love Not that wee loved him but that he loved us first saith the Apostle no man loveth Christ but first he is loved of Christ no man loveth God but first he is loved of God and the tast and rellish of Gods love in my soule workes love to God againe as from the heate that commeth from the Sunne there is a reflection that boundeth backe againe to the Sunne so Gods love in us reflects love to God againe This Love will appeare in the secret sighings of the heart All the creatures groane yea we also sigh in our selves saith the Apostle waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies There is I say a secret sighing of heart and that not only in the time of trouble and affliction but in the time of comfort and prosperitie when a man hath abundance of outward things about him yet then because his love is set upon Christ and the perfection and end of love is the fruition of the object loved therefore there is a sighing a holy discontent as it were a kind of yearning of the heart toward Christ When shall I come and appeare before God saith David how long Lord how long saith the Church in the Revelation If a man love Christ and his comming only because it shall end those miseries and those troubles that are upon him in this life this is not so much love of Christ as love of a mans selfe of his owne ease and peace and rest But the love of Christ is this when for the injoying of himselfe I long for the fruitton of him whom my soule loveth and I account nothing amiable in comparison of Christ nothing delectable nothing comfortable nothing sweet to Christ this is it that putteth the soule out of tast and rellish with any thing makes it sigh as it were under the enjoyment of all the comforts of this life and long for the appearance of Christ because then hee shall be perfected in the perfect enjoyment of Christ himselfe This is that love of Christ that is accompanied with Faith in a Christian and hope and expectation of his comming Now then if thou waite for Christ in truth how commeth it that thou dost not love him thou canst not waite for him aright except thou love Christ himselfe and for himselfe And if thou love Christ it will appeare by thy care to walke in Christ to derive vertue from him in all holy actions to derive all heavenly wisedome all heavenly disposition of heart from him to please Christ in all thy wayes to doe that whereby thou maist aprove thy selfe to God in Christ. This is the disposition of a heart loving Christ and this is that loving of Christ for himselfe and in himselfe that giveth me assurance that I love the appearance of Christ. That is the second companion of this waiting for Christ if it be right there is a love to Christ. The third and last companion of a mans waiting for Christ is the continuall affection of the heart those same ejaculations that intercourse that holy and heavenly communion which the soule hath with Christ here First in his ordinances having a holy communion with him in them waiting at the Posts of the dore of wisedomes house to heare what Christ who is wisedome it selfe will speake to us waiting if that hee will come now in the ministrie of his Word in his Spirit whom we hope to enjoy fully in glory Wayting for him likewise in the Sacraments to receive a further confirmation of our faith in him wayting for him also in prayer to receive further consolation and strength from him Thus Annah it is said that She was one that waited for the consolation of Israel and served God in the Temple in prayer day and night So where there is a waiting for Christ there will be a continuall intercourse of the soule with Christ a heavenly and holy communion with him in duties Dost thou waite for Christs comming and yet runne from Christs ordinances How can these stand together There is no man that can ever waite with comfort for Christs comming in glory but hee that now waiteth upon Christ in his ordinances If thy delight be in holy duties in the worship of God and that in such religious performances thou waitest for a further conveyance of the Spirit of Christ into thee thou hast warrant to waite for and to expect with comfort the second comming of Christ. Try yourselves therefore by these things It is not every one that saith I would that the Lord Iesus would come or I would that these dayes were full and finished It is not every one that saith thus that rightly lookes for or desires the comming of Christ. But he that thereby becommeth patient and stayes and composeth his heart in a calme and quiet temper in the middest of all crosses and troubles and afflictions that befall him and that upon this ground because Christ will come and put an end to my sinne as well as to my sorrow therefore I will waite with patience till hee come And againe hee that loveth Christ that sigheth for his comming And hee that now delighteth in his ordinances this man only waiteth for the comming of Christ. There is yet a third Tryall and that is the effects and fruits of our waiting for the comming of Christ And that is threefold to goe no further then the Text. The first is a heavenly Conversation The second is a mans resting on Christ as his Saviour and Lord. The third is the change of the body which shall bee in the great day when the soule and body shall bee united together Who shall
Christ that causeth him to become a member of that misticall body whereof Christ is the head and that causeth him to be one with the Father and to be the child of God for by faith wee are become the children of God This Faith in Christ the Law doth not teach the former Covenant would not accept What to bring to the Law the Righteousnesse of another the satisfaction of another and to trust upon that to be entertained and received the Law rejects it Thou must pay thy selfe in thy owne person and with thy owne goods thou must yeeld perfect obedience to the Law and fully accomplish it in thy owne person it will not receive payment of another for thee it will not accept satisfaction of the righteousnesse of another on thy behalfe But oh the sweetnesse of the Doctrine of the Gospell If we have a Treasurer that is able and willing to pay the debt that will tender and make payment of it we shall be accepted for his sake so that we give him the glory of resting upon this payment and be not so absurd as to mixe any action of our owne to that payment that he hath made fully and compleatly for us This is a Doctrine of sweetnesse and favour and great compassion that though we cannot doe it of our selves we shall be accepted if our Suretie will doe it for us so that wee give our Suretie the glory of being a perfect and able pay-master and relie wholly upon his satisfaction The last part of the condition on our side is that we yeeld New obedience to the Law Perfectly to obey it to which wee are tyed by the former Covenant But now this is the obedience of the Gospell a thing farre different from the obedience of the Law that was formerly required in the old Covenant there a man was tyed and bound to obey perfectly fully compleatly without any defect In a word hee must pay the uttermost farthing hee must doe his dutie his whole dutie in all the parts and degrees with all fulnesse of perfection absolutely without any defect or want without any imperfection at all An impossible labour for corrupted man a service that none all having lost those abilities that God gave man at the first can ever reach to But then commeth the sweet Gospell the Doctrine of grace and favour of tender compassion and saith thus If thou wilt consent to obey thou shalt eate the good things of the Land If you mortifie the deedes of the body by the spirit you shall live Rom. 8. 13. But if you though never so much in shew under the Covenant of Grace live after the flesh you shall die Yee see New Obedience is required absolutely as a Condition of the Gospell for the obtaining of everlasting happinesse for the escaping of Death and Saint Iohn saith If wee walke in the light wee have fellowship â—…ne with another and the bloud of Christ shall purge us from all sinne so that this walking in the light and New Obedience is absolutely required of all those that intend to bee made partakers of Christ and his benefits they must give up their soules and bodies as instruments of his glory and not serve sinne any longer in the lusts thereof they must not give their members as weapons of unrighteousnesse to sinne but live as becommeth them that are one with Christ mortifying all the lusts of the flesh and quicken themselves or being quickned with him to practise all good things required in his word and to obey all his commands which was first written in Adams heart and then in Tables of stone This New Obedience is the same in substance that was required in the former Covenant but now with a gracious acceptation of endevour after perfection in stead of perfection the former tyed us to the obedience of all that was required in all fulnesse and then promising acceptance but the obedience that the Gospell requires is striving to this perfection in truth and sincerity desiring and labouring after it in putting out our selves towards it and then promising acceptance through the perfection of Christ in and by which our imperfections are done away Now Brethren you understand what this saying of the Lord Christs is by vertue of the keeping of which we must be secured if wee be secured from the hurt of Death What is it now to Keepe the saying of Christ It is to informe our Judgements in the understanding of these truths and assent to them as truths and to practise and follow them to doe the duties which wee have heard to practise the Doctrine of Repentance and Beleeving and Obedience I confesse our Saviour doth proclaime it thus Repent and beleeve the Gospell but for the more cleere explaining of it we make new Obedience a thing of it selfe and not included in the Doctrine of Repentance for it is an act of that whereof Repentance is a resolute wishing and desiring A man cannot possibly rest on Christ for salvation till hee hath so asked pardon as hee resolveth an amendment and when hee hath this resolution and relyeth on Christ for the pardon of his sinne then from him hee receiveth power to amendment of life and so his purpose commeth to action and his desire to execution Thus alone these two things differ as farre as I conceive Now I say this is the Doctrine of the Gospell and to keepe it is to know and beleeve and follow it to beleeve and obey as Christ saith If you know these things there is one part of the duty happy are you if you doe them there is asecond for they can never be done except they be done as knowne And thus I have interpreted the first part of the proposition namely the Antecedent Let us say somewhat of the latter too the benefit that followeth upon the former duty and for the obtaining of which the former duty is necessary namely that hee shall never see death What is it to see Death And what Death is meant here To see good things in the Scripture phrase is as much oftentimes as to enjoy them to have the benefit and commoditie of them to receive them to entertaine them Without holinesse no man shall see God that is no man shall enjoy God Blessed are the poore in spirit for they shall see God that is they shall enjoy God On the contrary to see a thing that is tearmed Evill is to bee annoyed with it to have the hurt of it lying upon a man and pressing him downe as they in Ieremy said Let us goe into Egypt where wee shall not see sword or famine meaning that they should not be pursued by warre and want of things needfull so that by seeing evill is meant the evill lying upon one and annoying and hurting one and so I suppose it is meant here And by Death is meant Naturall and as we may tearme it supernaturall and eternall Death For the keeping of Christs sayings
instant upon which eternitie depends eternitie of miserie or eternitie of felicitie let us follow our Saviour let us seeke his face let us ascend with him let us not rest here Sleepe may overtake us a false Prophet may deceive us the snare may intangle us the Armie of the enemie may fall upon us let us be above all these Let us seeke those things that are above What where Sunne and Moone are nothing lesse Where then where God is where Christ who is our house our temple our habitation that wee may be cloathed with him this is the desire of all the Saints and this leades me to the second point That the Saints desire a true and proper house In this we groane earnestly c. What is meant by this house whether the Ioyes of heaven or a Glorified body is hard to determine by the context I incline to Calvins opinion that both are meant as making up that compleat house which the Saints desire the one as the introition the other as the consummation of their blisse and into both these houses I shall labour to introduce your spirits and affections The first house is the Ioyes of heaven a kingdome else-where for the amplitude for the abundant sufficiencie for the honour royaltie of them yet because many in kingdomes see not the face of the King and of those that see his face few are of his house and familie and of those that are of his Court few are familiar with him or converse with him and of those that converse with him few are his sonnes his heires Therefore this kingdome is an house wherein all see the face of God all are of his house all converse with him all stand in his presence all are his sonnes all are his heires a house so scituated as never any upon the brow of that hill which is the beauty of perfection the delight not of the wholeearth but of heaven itselfe in the purest ayre that ever was even puritie it selfe freed from all malignant vapour a place irriguous with the chrystall streames of Paradise it selfe a place inriched with all the precious things the heart of man can desire an house not built by man but by God himselfe not of terrestriall feculent matter not of gold or silver but that which excells all valuation whatsoever the hanging or ornaments of which house are not of Arras or Tissue or cloth of gold or whatsoever is more precious with men but farre above these such and so excellent that Neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard neither hath the like entred into the hearts of men The delights of this house are such that if all the contentments and delights that ever ravished the hearts of men in their private houses were put together yet were they but as a candle to the Sunne as a drop to the Ocean Oh the statelinesse and magnificence of the Hall of this house wherein are Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessours Saints Angels the blessed Virgin especially all of them praising and lauding God! Blessed are they that dwell in this house they will be still praising thee Here in this life are varietie of imployments according to the diversitie of mens Callings and their necessities but there shall bee no necessitie there shall bee but one worke the worke of Praise a duty which in this life is performed with fatigation and wearinesse but there it shall be done with all sweetnesse and delight this delight increasing with the continuance of the same No vaine thoughts to interrupt this dutie no wearinesse of the flesh to weaken this dutie no necessitie or indigencie to rend us from this duty but as it will bee our happinesse to love and see God so it will be the exercise of our happinesse to admire and to laud God while wee are here such is the weaknesse of our apprehension that wee cannot with the same act conceive the worke and the workman we cannot thinke of the benefit and the authour of the same then wee shall be enabled to joyne both these together so to admire the worke as at the same time to praise the authour so to contemplate the benefit as at the same time to fall downe before the benefactour Oh the statelinesse of this presence where the face of God the beautie of God the Majestie of God is seene in so glorious a manner that even Angels and Archangels cover their faces not being able to behold stedfastly the great lustre of the same Oh the lovelinesse of the chambers of the King made for the soule to repose her selfe in all spirituall delight after her labour and travell in this miserable world oh the beauty of the Masions of this house prepared by Christ himselfe for the soule to refresh her selfe with all spirituall food and oh the varietie and excellencie of the food of this house the understanding shall have his food morning and evening knowledge a cleare view of all things not in themselves or in their causes but in their exact Ideas subsisting in the essence of God but especially the radiant vision of the face of God the Essence of God the Sunne of righteousnesse The will shall have her food goodnesse joy delectation not by measure but drowned in the full ocean of these with that stabilitie and confirmation that shee cannot will that which is evill The affections shall have their food being fully satisfied beyond their desires The Body shall have his food being made an impassible clarified agill spirituall body defecated and purified from this feculent elementarie food and all other alterations common to it with beasts and which is most wonderfull the King of Kings shall gird himselfe to reach out these Joyes unto us they shall bee administred unto us Ve jad hammelek by the hand by the power of a King Did I say this of my selfe who would give credence unto me but Truth saith it Luke 12. 37. Blessed are those servants whom hee shall find watching verely I say unto you that hee shall gird himselfe and make them sit downe to meate and will come forth and serve them Oh wonderfull dignation who ever heard of the like Stat Catodum Lixa bibit the Lord stands the servant sits the Lord is girt the servant is loosed the Master is reaching out full bowles and the servant is inebriated with the rivers of these pleasures once hee girt himselfe to wash his Disciples feet and the servant was astonished to see so great a Majestie condescending to so meane ministerie shall wee not bee much more ravished with this ineffable dignation when he shall againe gird himselfe to supply the soule with unspeakeable delight as if God himselfe intended nothing in heaven but to heape content upon them that sit downe with Abraham Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven This is the fatnesse the excellencie of this house with the weake adumbration whereof I doubt not but that your hearts are so taken that yee have reduced all your desires to this one with
deposition and laying downe of the same that so they may receive a glorified a clarified an incorruptible spirituall body not made of a spirit but serviceable to the spirit they desire that these eyes may bee so defecated that if they cannot behold the essence of God yet they may stedfastly behold the Empyrian heavens the splendour of our Saviour and the lustre of the bodies of the Saints more bright then the Sunne seven times they desire that these hands may bee blessed with the contrectation of that sacred body that redeemed them they desire that this body may be so transparent and lucid that the Soule may sally out freely not at the eye alone but at every part to contemplate those glorious objects that it may bee so prelucid that the very thoughts of the heart and the divine fancies that are in the imaginative part may bee seene through it that it may be so stript of corporall densitie and grossenesse that like lightning it may bee here and there that it may be fit for raptures and extasies and the Soule no more doubtfull whether shee be in the body or not in the body This the Saints desire and long after And let me speake this of you oh triumphant Soules that are now in blisse without the least impeachment of your happinesse This even you thirst after you esteeme it an imperfect estate to bee without your bodyes though you glorifie and praise GOD in your soules yet you count it an imperfect worke and say with the Psalmist In death no man remembreth thee and in the grave no man shall give thee thankes though your spirits doe it without ceasing without failing yet the whole man doth it not and such an insatiable aviditie there is in you of the praise of God that unlesse it bee done totally and fully you thinke it not done at all therefore you desire this glorified organe but the Saints on earth being much more depressed with this heavy clay cry out with these Saints In this wee groane earnestly c. To bee cloathed upon with our house c. An improprietie of speech I confesse for men doe not cloath them selves with houses yet of eminent elegancie and pregnant with varietie of instructions to shew the fitnesse of this glorie to every soule as apparell is fitted to every body to shew the comelinesse of this glory as apparell is an ornament to a man to shew the firme adhesion of this glorie the whole man as a garment doth cleave close unto him to shew the redundancie of this glorie that a man shall inveloppe himselfe in this glorie as a man doth inwrappe himselfe in his garment to shew the Authour of this glorie hee that made garments to cover mans nakednesse in Paradise below hee maketh robes of honour to adorne him everlastingly in Paradice which is above to shew the undeservednesse of it on our part that these garments they are not webbes of our owne spinning but robes of Gods giving to shew the all-sufficiencie of this glory in this life wee need houses to dwell in and rayment to cover us and food to nourish us and fire to warme us but this glory it shall be a Magazine of all spirituall store an house to shelter us a garment to cover us Manna to feed us water to refresh us it shall be all in all unto us These and many more instructions are folded up in the Cabinet of this Metaphor which streights of time will not give mee leave to unfold and spread before you but must leave them to your private meditations and so passing though unwillingly from these two houses which the Saints desire I must raise up your attention to their ardent affection unto them In this wee groane earnestly c. Wherein you see the intention of their affection and the expression of it The intention not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiring but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desiring earnestly The expression of it by groanes In this wee groane earnestly The one the soule the other the body the one the forme the other the exercise the one the roote the other the branch or if you will the one the fire the other the fuell the one the flame the other the oyle that nourisheth the flame The first is the intension of the affection As those that are in a longing passion die if they bee not satisfied as the pregnant Mother groanes to be delivered of her burthen as those that are pressed under a heavy weight faint if they be not eased even so the Saints pressed downe with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that eternall weight of glorie mentioned in the precedent Chapter a burthen which did both presse them downe and raise them up that did both streighten them and enlarge them like the feathers of the Dove which adde to her Masse but take off from her gravitie which makes her more corpulent and yet more light even so this weight of glory so pressed downe the Saints that it raised them up to the Throne of the Lambe and feeling this body of sinne this body of death which they did beare about them as plummets of lead hanging at their feet they desire eft-soone to bee stripped of all incumbrances and impediments to depose and lay downe this cottage of clay that so being absent from the body they might be present with the Lord this was the violence of their affection In this wee groane earnestly c. An affection worthy the name of an affection truly grounded and thereforetowring so high that it is almost invisible to our weake sight There are some in this life that are fed with gall and wormewood with teares and groanes upon whom the wheele of oppression is roled breaking all their bones so that they seeke for death as for pearles and hidden treasures as an end and period of their miseries Others there are who seeing the vanitie of the things of this life and ballancing with them the transcendent excellencie of the Soule of man above the world had rather be idle or not be at all then to be so basely and meanly imployed and rewarded as the world doth remunerate her favourites Others make bitter invectives against the body as the onely impediment to the soule in her more pure speculations placing the happinesse of the soule in the separation from the body all these come farre short of this divine affection which hath not her rise from the miseries of this life or from the vanitie of the creature or from the incumbrances of this cottage but from a true apprehension of the love of God from a deepe panting after union with him from a taste of the powers of the life to come from a Soule inflamed with a coale from Gods Altar Looke upon these Saints in my Text they were indeed exercised beyond measure with those things which wee call miseries calamities afflictions at the mention whereof wee quake like Aspen leaves but were these tainted with impatiencie were these groanes fuliginous
us in this life and crowne us in the life to come Hee that can truly say that while he lived hee lived to God not to himselfe that he sincerely propounded the glory of God and the good of others unto himselfe this man may write upon his Tombe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have lived take this out of the life of man and what is it but a meere death if not worse though it bee protracted to the yeares of Methusalem twice told Thus simply to defire death is not good but cloathe this with some circumstances and then to desire death is not onely warrantable but commendable when we have done all the good we can when our lives will be no more serviceable to Church or Common-wealth when we have with all fidelitie done our Masters worke when we have the testimonie of a good conscience that wee have fought a good fight that wee have kept the faith that wee have finished our race then may we say with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace then may we with our Apostle lift up our eyes to the crowne of righteousnesse which the righteous Iudge hath laid up for them that feare him then we may expect the Euge of the good servant Well done good and faithfull servant enter into the joy of the Master Againe when we are called to be Holocausts or sacrifices oblations of sweet savours the Frankincense of the Church to perfume others to deliver up our lives unto God to seale his Truth with our bloud to encourage others then we ought to runne unto death with all alacritie rejoycing that wee are counted worthie to suffer for his Name to triumph to boast in this out of these cases to have such a taste of God such a rellish of the joyes of heaven such a longing after the presence of Christ as not to be ready but to be willing not to be prepared for the stroake of death but to be desirous of it to esteeme of death as the funerall of sinne the interring of vice the period of miseries the Charter of freedome the Pattent of of exemption from evill of sinne from evill of punishment the day of our birth the season of harvest the seale of our victorie the haven of our happinesse our introduction into heaven our inauguration into a kingdome the Chariot of our triumph the day of our returne to our proper house to our Parents to our best friends This is the affection which is required in us at which we ought to ayme Let this house of clay be resolved into the principles of the same what wonder if that which is built be throwne downe and that which is compounded be resolved and that which was borrowed of the Elements bee repayed againe and that which was taken from the earth be committed to the custodie of the earth Nay let me triumph in the resolution of this peece of clay into the exilest atome and admire the counsell of God that this Carkasse is crumbled into the smallest dust and sifted into the coursest branne even to dust and ashes Were not this body resolved into dust who would beleeve his originall to be from the earth what pride what elevation would follow what carking and caring for this earthly Tabernacle if now when we see it to be but a spawne of wormes and the food of Emmits there is such immoderate excesse what would there be if the body were exempted from putrifaction what desolations would follow in Cities in Townes how many would dwell in monuments with those whom they have honoured or affected in their lives if many be now so impotent that though the body bee putrified they cannot forbeare imbracing of it and to solace themselves make Pictures of their dead friends and dote upon these what would they not doe if their bodyes were immortall What neglect would there be of the soule the better part of a man who would know the vertue of it that it is not onely salt to the body to keepe it sweet but the life the beauty the comlinesse of the body Who would beleeve the consummation the period of the world if our bodyes were immortall who would mind heavenly things who seeke those things that are above what deifying of the body would follow what Idolatries what superstitions what Temples built what Altars erected what varietie of Ceremonies instituted to the body All which God hath pluckt up by the rootes by this putrifaction and incinneration of our bodyes by this teaching us to contemne earthly things to have our cogitations on heaven to thinke upon this scale to ascend up to this Mount to aspire to this intention which that we may let me adde fuell to the fire and oyle unto the flame the expression of this affection to the intention of it earnest groaning to eager desiring In this wee groane earnestly That is for this wee sigh out not our breath but our spirits we groane out not fuliginous vapours but our very hearts we weepe not teares but bloud for this wee immolate the sufferings of our bodyes and macerate them with watchings and fastings we roule them in dust and ashes we exercise them in all humiliation and repentance And this is to groane earnestly in my Text. This is the negotiation of the outward man whereby it trades for heaven this is the conversion of a peece of clay into a pile of frankincense this addes wings unto our Prayers this openeth the eares of God this dissipateth the cloudes of his countenance this inclineth him to clemencie towards us this maketh the Widow continent and the Virgin unspotted this lifts up the voluntarie Eunuch to the kingdome of heaven this perfects the grace that is in the soule this washeth away the staines and contaminations that are in the soule this is the beautie and comelinesse of a Christian. How lovely were the Ninivites how glorious was the King in sackcloth sitting in his throne of dust and ashes what were his Robes of Majestie and Royaltie to these ornaments they might dazle the eyes of the body for a time these dazle the eyes of the mind even at this day after so many hundred yeares they might procure him honour with men these made him honoured by God himselfe Letcorporall eyes looke upon an abject and meane apparance of a King in these weedes yet doe not spirituall eyes see through these garments Humilitie Patience submission feare of God and the like and are there any Jewels like unto these what are those garments which are the labour of a worme to these robes that are the worke of Gods Spirit What is a chaine of Pearle to a chaine of warme and successive teares beaten out of the rocks of a broken and contrite heart they may adorne the body this adornes the soule and which is more bindes the hands of God himselfe Let whose will admire the victories and triumphs of David over the enemies of Israel which are indeed worthy of admiration I admire him
losse a man may lose his owne soule Thirdly the compossibilitie of outward prosperitie hee may lose his soule in gaining the whole world And then lastly the wofull bargaine in such an exchange What is a man profited Of these in order First of the surpassing excellencie and dignitie of mans soule it is valued and prized here above the whole world It was the plausible conceit of certaine Philosophers that the world was a great man and that man was a little world a little world indeed but as Saint Austin tearmes him a great wonder for within this little world there is a reasonable soule worth all the world To render an exact definition of the soule it requires the tongue of an Angell rather then of a man it passeth the comprehension of travellers to apprehend the nature of the soule for these three God Angels and mans Soule they are unknowne to us we may sooner admire their excellencie then conceive their nature and argue of their opperations then attaine their knowledge of such sublimitie is the soule of man so Angelicall and Divine the excellencie whereof is commended to us by three distinct voyces of Nature Grace Glorie For first in the order of nature it is the greatest thing saith Plato that we may conceive in a narrow roome the most noble thing that all the frame of nature affords and that In respect of the Originall Image In respect of the Originall the soule of man hath no beginning here there was no voyce directed to the earth or to the water for the production of Adams soule but a serious consultation of the sacred Trinitie and a breathing into his nostrils the breath of life Saith Saint Austin he created it by infusion and infused it by creation And the Philosopher well concludes that the soule as it is not from without it is only Divine Therefore the Manichees extolled it too high when they deemed it a portion of Gods substance let not others abase and depresse it too low to thinke it is derived from Parents it comes not of their substance it is enough for them to be the fathers of the flesh God alone is the Father of spirits as the Apostle makes the antithesis Heb. 12. 9. Secondly for the Image the soule is most like God saith Plato Saith Aristotle it is of the neerest kinne of the greatest consanguinitie as I may say and the Lord himselfe signifies so much After our Image let us make man Then the soule of man is not stamped with a Roman Caesar but with Gods owne Image and superscription and that First in respect of the substance being not only a spirituall intellectuall incorporeall invisible essence but explaining by the pluralitie of Powers in the unitie of Essence the pluralitie of Persons in the unitie of the Deitie Secondly being furnished with singular indowments as in the state of innocencie with perfect wisedome and holinesse and righteousnesse Yea still in the state of sinne some generals are left some broken fragments of the creation morall qualifications that may lead us by the hand to the knowledge of our Master Lastly in regard of the commanding power it hath over the body It is to the body as Moses was to Pharoah a God to the body it actuates it and mooves and commands and restraines it whereby next and immediatly under God wee live and moove and have our being Seeing then the soule is the immediate worke and character of God himselfe so excellent for the Originall and for the Image let nature conclude that the soule in these regards is of greater value then the whole world Secondly in the Kingdome of grace the price of the soule is farre above the dignitie of the world and that in the grace of Redemption and the grace of renovation For first in the soules redemption the soule amounts so high as that the whole Creation is not able to discharge it It is not gotten for gold nor silver is not weighed for the price of it it is not valued with the gold of Ophir or the precious Onix It cost more to redeeme the soule of sinfull man the precious bloud of the eternall Sonne of God hee could only redeeme it that at the first created it Yee are bought with a price the precious bloud of Christ. Secondly in the grace of renovation nothing is able to cleanse it from sinne but the Spirit of God The Spirit alone must enlighten the understanding and rectifie the affections and purifie the will and sanctifie the conscience and seale up the Image of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse And the soule thus renewed is as a Garden inclosed a spirituall Paradise where the God of heaven delights to dwell the Spouse of the Beloved and in the phrase of the Church As the Lillie among the thornes so is my love among the daughters Seeing it appeares that the universall World is not able to redeeme or being redeemed to renew or renewed to paralell the soule let grace subscribe to that which nature concludes that the soule is of greater value then the whole world Lastly for the passage of glory the contents of the whole Universe are not able to come neere the soule Saith S. Bernard well well it may be busie and tooke up with other things but it cannot be satiate and replenished with them And Democrates imagined that if there were millions of worlds it were all one in comparison of the soule for blessednesse The world is transitorie like the dew of the morning it fades as the grasse and as the flower of the field whereas on the contrarie the soule of man is the subject of immortalitie capable of an exceeding surpassing eternall weight of glory For if in the time of grace we bâ—…ld as in a glasse the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. How resplendant shall the soules of the righteous bee in the beatificall vision of Gods excellencies How wonderfull shall that divine capacitie be that shall be capable of God himselfe for a perpetuall residence Insomuch that the most ancient of dayes shall give fulnesse to the Soule of knowledge and wisdome and his sacred Spirit that shall fill it with the fulnesse of God with contentation and the sacred Trinitie shall be all in all to it Seeing then the Soule is capapable and is the subject of the happinesse and joyes of heaven and partner with the glorious Angels in the fruition of the chiefe good let the sentence of glory joyne to Grace and nature that the Soule is of greater value then the whole world Behold then O man out of the moutâ—…â—…ee witnâ—… for I may say in this case as Saint Iohn saith 〈◊〉 â—…other Tâ—… 〈◊〉 three that beare record in heaven the Father the â—…d and 〈◊〉 â—…y Ghost Behold out of the mouth of three Wiâ—…ses the sâ—…passing excellencie and
dignitie of thy soule iâ—… 〈◊〉 the breathing of God the Image of God he created it with 〈◊〉 Word redeemed it with his Sonne and in whomsoever his gâ—…e abides he will crowne it hereafter with his glorious presence What then remaines but that we esteeme our soules accordingly as God values them Let us not with the unhallowed voluptuous in these times make lords of our bodyes and slaves of our soules Let us not spend our dayes in providing for the lusts of the flesh Let us not in affectation of faire possessions of able servants of hopefull sonnes and good friends content our selves with bad soules A mans soule is himselfe saith Plato And O wretched wight saith Saint Austin how hast thou deserved so much ill of thy selfe as among all thy goods to be only thy selfe bad O remember the sublimitie of thy precious soule thou knowest not what a precious pearle thou hast in thy body like the hidden treasure in the Gospell it is of greater worth than the whole field I say not as he did know that thâ—…â—…ast a God in thee yet know that in that better part of thy nature thou art like to God for he hath given thee a soule of his owne breathing and stamped it with the impresse of his owne Image 〈◊〉 created it capable of the fruition of his owne presence in endlesse glorie In the consideration whereof walke worthily of this precious divine inspiration Thy Soule is a spirit let thy thoughts bee spirituall Thy Soule is immortall let thy meditations be of immortalitie and renounce thy body and good name â—…d gifts of the world for the gaining of thy soule For what shall it profit a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule So much shall serve to be spoâ—…n of the first point the surpassing excellencie and dignitie of the soule it is valued and prized here above the whole world Now the next is the possibilitie that a man may lose his owne soule The mention whereof causeth me to remember 〈◊〉 passage betweene Christ and his Disciples Mat. 24. Thâ—…â—…ples point Christ to the stately buildings of the Temple but they were soone damped when Christ told them that after a while there should not a stone bee left upon a stone So perhaps you are takeâ—… with admiration at the former part of the discourse concerniâ—…g the excellencie of mans soule but are damped to consider â—…at a man may lose it It is a substance immortall in respect of the being of it but defiled with sinne it is adjudgeable to death in regard of the well-being and a possibilitie so to die is nothing repugnant to the immortalitie of the soule The damned spirits they are alwayes dying anâ—… aâ—…e never dead they are alwayes deprived of Gods comfortable presence and are never released of their hellish torments As the Apostle saith in another case as dying and yet behold they live as living and yet behold they die The soule expiring is the death of the body and God forsaking is the death of the soule But you will say how is it possible The question is soone resolved if wee ponder the causes of death A thousand mortall maladies there are to kill the body and there are a thousand deadly diseases to destroy the soule There is no sinne so small but in the rigour of Gods justice and in its owne nature it may damne the soule When God in the beginning stated man in Paradise hee gave him a speciall caveate about the tree of knowledge he gives him a command thus In the day thou eatest thou shalt die What for bare eating No beloved but for the sinne for transgressing so small a Commandement of so great a God Sinne alone makes a separation betweene God and the soule and causeth the death of the soule The soule that sinnes the same shall die It may teach us that for the time that we live in this world there is nothing easier then to sinne There is a tree of Life and a tree of Knowledge and by eating of the tree forbidden commeth death there is a way of felicitie and a way to destruction there is a God of salvation and a ghostly enemie and by adhering to the principalitie of sinne a man may lose his owne soule Is it possible then that a man may lose his soule that is so precious and have we not great reason to try and to suspect our selves touching our standing towards God Is there not a maine necessitie to seeke the meanes to preserve us in the compasse and seales of grace It is lamentable to consider how in bodily diseases men can open their griefe and seeke for helpe and send to some learned Physitian Wee can goe to some noble learned counsell in case of law But alas the soule lies wounded in the way overladen with the grievances and pressures of sin distracted with the affrightings of a troubled conscience as if there were no balme in Gilead no Physitian there as if there were no Minister to afford helpe There is no seeking abroad a Lyon is pretended to bee in the way and Solomons sluggard folds his hands to sleepe O let not these things be so Be not as the horse and mule that have no understanding Neglect not the helpes of your preservation in grace but be continually watchfull with suspition and jealousie and abstaine from fleshly lusts that fight against your soules The Poet could say Theeves rise by night to robbe and kill and steale and wilt not thou wake to save thy soule God for the most part saith Saint Chrysostome hath alotted to nature all by twos two hands two eyes two feet two eares eares eyes hands feet two of all that if we chance to mayme one we can helpe to relieve the necessitie of it by the other but hee hath given us but one soule if we lose that what shift shall wee make for another soule a piercing contemplation if wee had grace to consider it Therefore O my soule tender thy selfe as my owne happinesse if thou be translated to heaven the body in time shall come thither this corruption shall put on incorruption this mortall shall put on immortalitie Againe if thou be haled with the fiends to the nethermost hell the body in time shall be â—…ormented with thee It is altogether just with the righteous God that they that meet in sinne should also consort in suffering Save thy selfe and save all and by wofull consequence lose thy selfe and lose all For what is a man profited if hee gaine the whole world and lose is owne soule So much for the second point the possibilitie of losing a mans soule Come we to the third the compossibilitie of outward prosperitie he may lose his soule in gaining the whole world In the diversitie of opinions concerning the chiefe good some there were that placed it in riches others in honours and how ever they differed in their judgements yet both agreed in this
feare prohibited Not the feare of God c. Feare is oft commanded in Scripture know then there are divers kindes of feare First naturall feare and that is called naturall either in regard of the materiall or efficient cause When the partie that doth feare is phlegmatick or melancholie and so is naturally inclined to feare this may be called a naturall feare Or in regard of the object when there is somewhat in that which is destructive to nature and therefore the feare of death it is naturall to man and so whatsoever may prejudice nature Now this naturall feare is an affection that Almightie God concreated with the soule it is naturally good it is morally neither good nor evill but according as it is determined by circumstances Againe there is a carnall evill feare namely when a man feares the evill of punishment more then the evill of sin a corporall evill more then a spirituall a temporall more then an eternall Hee is afraid of losing something hee enjoyes or of not getting something he desires c. In either regards there may be a carnall feare as I shall explaine it to you more anone and this so farre as it is carnall is ever to be condemned Thirdly there is a servile feare and this is such a feare as lookes at the punishment only and not at the sinne when a man is afraid of the judgements of GOD and never feares sinne that is the cause of it And so withall when this feare is only servile and is retained in the heart that man desires still to sinne there is a love of sinne a wishing that God would give him leave to sinne and let loose the reynes to him that if it were possible there were no God no Devill no Heaven nor Hell that he might sinne freely And if he abstaine from sinne at any time the cause is that there is this punishment that is the consequent of sinne and not out of love to God or obedience to his commandements Now this servile feare though in it selfe it bee not savingly pleasing to God yet it is a thing that is good as S. Austin observes for that man that feares servily hee doth that which is good though he doth it not well because that is a thing that depends upon the disposition and will of him that doth the thing though the thing be good as farre as it goes It is good for the restraining of evill men from outrages in the world and it is a preparative in the way to conversion as it is Act. 2. Lastly there is a filiall son-like feare that ariseth out of the consideration of the greatnesse and especially of the goodnesse of God whereby a man so hates punishment as hee hates sinne also the cause of it Now there are divers degrees of filiall feare One degree we call innitiall feare in this world And a degree of perfection in the world to come In this world the feare we have hath one eye upon the punishment and another eye upon the commandement or love of God And here many make a doubt whether they are to doe that which is good having an eye to the recompence of reward or to abstaine from evill out of the feare of punishment For answer briefly Any thing almightie God hath made a motive to us to incourage us to doe well or to deterre us from evill we may make a motive to our selves and as long as we doe so we doe well It was so with Adam in Paradice this was propovnded as a motive In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Then to abstaine from the forbidden fruit partly out of feare of punishment if Adam did so he did well So every one of us in regard of any evill we may have an eye to the punishment that will bee the consequent of the thing For Christ urgeth this to his owne Disciples Feare not him that can kill the body c. And to doe things meerely without any respect to punishment at all I know no reason why any man should aspire to that perfection For God while we are here hath given us these motives to stirre us up to avoid evill and it is well if wee can heartily and truly out of love to God doe it by all the motives that God hath propounded To have a feare meerely for punishment and still to retaine the love of sinne and no respect or love to the commandement of God this is not acceptable to God in a saving manner but to have an eye to God and to abstaine from sinne partly out of love to God and partly out of feare of punishment this is acceptable to God For a man must love himselfe in subordination to the love of God and therefore he may looke to the avoiding of evill and to the getting of good eternall to soule and body Now these feares we may consider of them thus The naturall feare may be accompanied with the Spirit but it comes not from the Spirit that must be ordered by the word of God Secondly carnall feare comes not from the spirit nor is accompanied with it this is ever to be mortified this wee must take heed of and this feare Abraham is exhorted against here Thirdly the feare that is servile it comes from the spirit but it is not accompanied with the spirit As the dawning of the day the Sunne is the cause of it yet the Sunne is not present when the day dawnes but some glimpse goes before him this wee must cherish so as we bring it to filiall feare and then wee deale aright in that Lastly for filiall feare we must cherish that at all times wee must labour to get still a more reverent respect of the Majestie of God So I have breiefly shewed you what feare is And what feare wee must labour to be freed from all slavish and carnall feare in regard of the world or any thing in the world any ill that may befall us or any good that may be taken from us Now you see that a Christian is such a man as may live without all feare that is carnall Feare not them that can kill the body And in Isaiah 8. 12. Feare not their feare What is the ground of this I will tell you briefly Christ came into the world to deliver us from all our enemies that wee might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse Luke 1. 47. So then the ground is this that man that hath no enemies that man that cannot possibly be molested with any evill what need hee feare For there is no evill in the world that can surprize a man that is in covenant with God that labours to keepe his covenant but by the power of the Spirit he may conquer it For only evill and evill future is the object of feare Now if there be no evill that can befall a child of God but such as may be conquered hee should contemne it and not feare it Now
all the enemies of a Christian are either reconciled or conquered and foyled and what then need he feare them For God that is an enemie to every man naturally he is reconciled Christ hath made our peace with God hee hath made our attonement we need not feare him slavishly though wee may and must feare him with a filiall feare we must not bee afraid of him with horrour as to runne from him but wee must so love him as to reverenâ—…e before his foot-stoole Againe in regard of the evills of the world they are enemies too but how Christ hath beene pleased to sweeten these to us all things in the world saith the Apostle speaking of afflictions Rom. 8. they worke for good to them that feare God Shall a man be afraid of his owne good Nay there is nothing in the world that more workes our good then afflictions and losses and crosses we might spare any thing better then them shall we be afraid of that that workes our good Death it is reconciled and made our friend It was the greatest enemie Christ hath pulled out the sting and changed the nature of it he hath made it the birth-day of eternitie a sweet passage to a better life Death brings not evill to a man that is in covenant with God but rather terminates all evill that he is molested with in the world So then some enemies are reconciled and made our friends and these wee have no reason to feare Againe there are some that are irreconcileable and they are conquered and overcome The Divell will never be friends with us therefore Christ hath spoyled principalities and powers and trampled Satan under-feet and now if he walke about yet hee is in his chayne he can bite but he can hurt none but those that willingly betray themselves into his hands For sinne it is of a condemning nature but those that are in covenant with God and walke with him it is removed as farre from them as the East is from the West it is throwne into the bottomelesse sea of Gods mercy so that it shall never anger God or hurt us any more then if we had not committed it Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect Nay more God hath bestowed his Spirit whereby hee hath freede our hearts and whereby if a man labour to stirre up the grace of God in him and to walke comfortably as he might in the presence of God he might through the power of God free his heart from these horrours and feares for saith the Apostle yee have not received the Spirit of bondage to feare againe but yee have received the Spirit of adoption whereby wee cry Abba Father The Spirit of bondage casts downe the soule with horrour and feare but wee have the Spirit of God to assure us that wee have God for our Father reconciled in Christ and so by consequent that our sinnes are pardoned that death is overcome that Principalities and powers are spoyled and all things in the world though contrary in themselves yet they shall worke for our good So you see the ground of it a Christian hath no enemies some enemies are reconciled and others are trampled under foote that they cannot hurt him And wee receive this freedome by the Spirit of God that if wee would stirre it up and labour to walke as becommeth Christians we may make our lives very comfortable Briefly for Application First let us all take notice of the command that God gives to Abraham of this incouragement and make use of it to our selves and know that the power of grace and Religion must reflect upon a mans selfe He beloved shall be accounted the best Christian before God and in the sight of judicious men whose Religion is practicall and reflects upon himselfe Now there are many busie ones in the world that meddle with the conversations of others and are still talking and complayning of things without themselves but surely he is a happie man that reformes himselfe and that sets in tune his owne affections and passions as this in particular to labour to be without slavish and inordinate feare Alas wee may complaine of many that finde fault with many things but if they looke within there is a combustion of a great many unruly affections and passions and these are the things we never complaine of wee finde not fault with our selves as wee should wee should take notice of the Law of God that it is spirituall to set in order our hearts and mindes and soules as well as our tongues and hands The law of man reacheth but to the outward man if a man keepe himselfe in order in regard of these thought is free and the Law doth not take hold of a man for his affections but the Law God doth therefore you know that lusting after a woman in Gods account is reputed adultery the hating of a mans brother in his heart is accounted manslaughter he is accounted a murtherer that hates his brother so he that is angry unadvisedly you know what he is in danger of and that man is accounted guiltie before God that cannot order his affections in regard of those unruly passions that are within him This I observe by the way God in Scripture takes especial notice of it I am perswaded it is an infallible distinguishing character between an hypocrite a sincere child of God an hypocrite labours to wash the outside hee hath a demure countenance cleane hands smooth language c. these things are good but he goes no further he makes no conscience of secret contemplative wickednesse of the lusts of his heart and the thoughts of his minde these things he never enters into himselfe to mortifie But that man that is conscionable so walkes with God as that a wrie affection an inward lust after somewhat that is evill troubles him and humbles him before God the vanitie of his thoughts in secret cause him to mourne before God this is a signe of a man that walkes before God and accounts God a Spirit that searcheth the hearts and tryeth the reynes and therefore if ever wee will approve our selves to God let our Religion bee practicall and reflect upon our selves and among other things upon our inward man to set that in order Secondly by way of instruction we see what happy men and women we might be if we were not our owne foes If wee could attaine this pitch to live without feare that nothing should trouble us were it not a happy condition surely it is a thing feazeable some Saints have attained it in a great measure you know David when Ziglag was taken his wives gone all the spoyle taken and the people were ready to stone him what did poore David hee can incourage himselfe in the Lord his God notwithstanding this So it may be with a poore Christian his friends may forsake him perhaps the world is gone riches take to themselves wings it may bee his body is
pressures and many sore and grievous temptations that lay upon him If so be his setled resolution concerning his spirituall estate and the satisfying of others in many doubts and disquiets of spirit that rose within him If so be the due respect to the Lords day the desire of promoting the sanctifying of it both by himselfe and others with a continuall griefe proceeding from a sense of his owne disabilitie to answer to the occasions and duties of the day If there bee any thing to bee concluded of concerning Religion from such passages as these then brethren I have all these as so many materialls put into my hand to builde withall and so to reare up a testimony before you concerning this disceased And thus in briefe have I testefied of him and to you all hee though dead now speakes but in a more speciall manner to you that are young men his death and that example wee have in him of mortalitie is as a loud Sermon preached unto you concerning the care you ought to have to bethinke your selves in your younger yeares of the things that concerne your spirituall and eternall welfare and how much it concernes you now to give all dilligence to make your calling and election sure Your thoughts it may bee are too much upon your patrimony and inheritances your houses and possessions your great estates and your matches that thereby you may as you use to say rayse your fortunes too too apt you are to be taken up with these considerations and to pursue thoughts of this nature but you see by this example how God may come and prevent the accomplishment of all these and in that day in that very day all these thoughts will perish death may come and marry you to the dust and call you not to your fathers mansions but to the common house appointed for all living where you must say to corruption thou art my father and to the worme thou art my mother and my sister this was his condition and so may yours bee too Therefore you young men remember you your Creatour in the dayes of your youth and know you that God hath provided instructions and counsels in his Word that are directed to young men that they may know how to cleanse their way and to flie the lusts of youth and betimes to beginne with God that so whether they live to old age or be cut off in youth they may be gathered to their Fathers in a good and a full age like a Shocke of Corne and so receive the blessing of the promise FINIS SPIRITUALL HEARTS-EASE OR THE WAY TO TRANQILITIE PSAL. 42. 5. Why art thou cast downe O my soule and why art thou disquieted in mee JOB 5. 24. Thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1630. SPIRITUALL HEARTS-EASE OR THE VVAY TO TRANQVILITIE SERMON XXXI JOHN 14. 1 2 3. 1 Let not your hearts be troubled you beleeve in God beleeve also in me 2 In my fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I goe to prepare a place for you 3 And if I goe and prepare a place for you I will come againe and receive you unto my selfe that where I am there yee may be also IN the 33. verse of the former Chapter our Saviour Christ told his Disciples that he must now goe away from them Little children yet a little while I am with you and you shall seeke mee and as I said to the Iewes whither I goe you cannot come so say I now to you This message of the departure of Christ from the earth of his being tooke from them did exceedingly sad their hearts and very much perplex and disquiet their spirits they knew what a comfort they had in the presence of Christ they knew what a faithfull Teacher hee was what a mightie Protector hee had beene how gracious and full of heavenly comfort hee had manifested himselfe to them at all times in his being with them And they could not now thinke of parring with him without much perplexitie and disquiet and trouble of spirit Therefore the words that I have now read are the speech of our blessed Saviour to comfort them strengthening their hearts against those disquiets under which they were exercised In which words you may briefly observe these three things for time will not suffer mee to stand much upon them First a dutie whereunto they are exhorted Secondly the meanes whereby it may be performed Thirdly the letts that were to bee removed that hindered them in the performance of the dutie in the use of these meanes The dutie that is to bee performed is in the beginning of the first verse Let not your hearts be troubled The meanes whereby to performe it in the words following You beleeve in God beleeve also in me The letts and impediments of the performance of it in the use of these meanes are so many objections and doubts as are wisely prevented by the wisedome of God in the two verses following I shall take them as I come to them in order and but give a briefe touch upon every one of of them First the dutie that is to be performed it is this to stablish and comfort their hearts Let not your hearts be troubled The word that is here translated trouble it signifieth such a trouble as is in water when the mudde is stirred up or when the waves and surges are raised by some tempest or storme It signifieth such a trouble as is in an Army when the Souldiers are disranked and routed when they are disordered and it shewes thus much that those distempers that are in the hearts of men in the affections of men doe exceedingly hinder their judgements that they can see no more nor discerne things no better then a man can doe in a muddie water All the affections are as so many Souldiers in an Armie disordered that keepe not their due subordination to their leader and guide by reason that the understanding that should guide the will and affections is now made a servant to them And this distemper of spirit ariseth from the inordinacie of the affections the inordinate motion and agitation of them This is called trouble Let not your hearts be troubled Bee not disturbed thus and disquieted and disordered So that no facultie of the soule can performe its owne worke So as that it is disabled to judge of things according to truth but that you are mis-led and deluded by mists and appearances It is with the mind in sorrow as it is with the eye in teares that cannot see a thing clearely so the mind cannot judge of things distinctly when the soule is disturbed Let not your hearts be troubled But that which our Saviour aymes at here hath a particular respect to the affections of feare and griefe when these are in the excesse the mind is troubled when a man over-feares any thing
downe to the deepe as it is said of the Marriners in Psal. 107. what is the reason of this but that no flesh should glory in it selfe that every man might know that whatsoever he hath to make his life comfortable and pleasing to him it is from God that dispenseth it to men in that proportion as seemeth good to his owne wisedome God will have us know that all the happinesse of our spirits is in their union with the chiefe of spirits with himselfe and that when they are but a little separated from him when he doth but a little withdraw himselfe from them they are as a thing that is dead how shall wee know that the branches have sappe from the roote that it is that that makes them flourish and grow but by this If you doe but cut them off from the roote they wither presently So it is with the spirit with the heart of man if God doe but a little withdraw himselfe let sinne but make a separation betweene God and man now a man is like a withered branch he hath nothing now to revive him because hee is divided from the roote At the least it is with him as it is with a tree in Winter though the sappe remaines in the roote so though hee remaine in union with the roote yet the moysture is gotten into the roote it selfe and doth not now infuse it selfe into the branches I confesse the servant of God that is once united to Christ shall never be separated the union it is now and alwayes shall bee but never the lesse the sappe and comfort of the Spirit it may remaine in the head our life may be hid in Christ and may not appeare in us at all And we are then in that estate as if wee were branches cut off whereby it may appeare that whatsoever life and comfort and strength of heart we had it was from Christ and by the influence and worke of his Spirit And then for the time to come God doth it to prevent some distempers that might growe on the hearts of his servants if they should alwayes be in a like state of spirituall joy God doth it to prevent pride Paul was apt to bee lift up with those revelations therefore a messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him And so it may be to prevent carnall confidence in the creature a man would begin to ascribe somewhat to himselfe to his present condition if it were alwayes thus with him you know what the Apostle Paul saith 2 Cor. 1. 10. We received in our selves the sentence of death that wee might not trust in our selves but in God that raysed the dead looke to what end Paul received the sentence of death to that end Gods faithfull servants sometimes receive the very sence of death as it were and the sence of the destitution and want of all spirituall comforts for the present Why That they might not trust in themselves or in those habits of grace and comforts they have or in any creature whatsoever The worke of Gods spirit in the regenerate soule it is but a creature a worke of God and God will not have men trust in any such thing in what then In him that rayseth from the dead God will bring them to such a state that they shall seeme as dead men as destitute of all spirituall comforts they have that they might trust in him that is able to rayse them out of such a state as that that looke as hee is able to give life to the dead body so he is able to give comfort to the distressed soule that is at that time in the shaddow of death Secondly it comes sometimes from Sathan and that is thus Sathan wonderfully sets himselfe against the seede of the woman especially against the promised seede Christ he will alway bee at his heele Gen. 3. 16. and in his opposition against Christ hee sets against the very glory of Christ among men and that is his kingdome hee would not have Christ exalt his kingdome over men Now the kingdome of Christ consists as the Apostle speakes not in meate and drinke but in righteousnesse and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost If he cannot keepe a Christian a true beleever from unrighteousnesse he will labour to interrupt his peace if he cannot keepe him from the habit of peace peace in the grounds of it yet hee will keepe him from the exercise and effects of that peace from joy he will hinder that as much as he can that hee may not have the sence of his blessednesse he knowes that spirituall joy strengthens a man to all spirituall duties and his endeavour is to weaken all the servants of Christ in all their services and therefore he doth at least labour against that with all his might that if they will needes goe on yet neverthelesse to propound and occasion as many things that may be troublesome to them and disquiet their hearts as he can And there are two principall wayes that I may but touch them whereby Sathan wondrously prevailes in this particular The one is by stealing out of their hearts those precious promises those comforts whereby the Word of God revives the soule You have forgotten saith the Apostle the consolations of God And the divell meets in man with two advantages to helpe him in the effecting of this First he turnes the thoughts upon new objects and herein hee doth diametricallâ—… and directly set himselfe against God in the way of his speciall providence that very thing that God in wonderfull wisedome hath wrought in the heart for the ease and comfort of man Sathan makes it an occasion of trouble and that is this the varietie of mans thoughts what is the reason that God hath framed the minde of man to change his thoughts continually and to have innumerable thoughts Certainly for the very ease of the Spirit of man for the very ease of the soule of man For if the minde should keepe intent upon any one thought long it would so worke upon that that it would weary it selfe out in working as wee see men by excesse of griefe in particular cases grow to be phrensie and distracted and the like Now this aptnesse of the minde to runne to varietie of thoughts that God hath made for the ease of man Sathan turnes it as a helpe to hurt him A man shall runne on into a world of businesse of temptations and distractions that shall draw him from the thought of those things that hee hath heard for the relieving of his Spirit wherein God spake comfort to his heart that hee may the better fasten those discouragements on him that he desires Secondly another advantage he hath for this end is this that is hee wondrously prevailes upon the heart of man by a carelesse 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 avoydes the
now manifested that hee did not acknowledge him to be so holy and righteous So thus you see the inclination in the heart of man to uncharitable judging of those that God hath cast downe and suffers to bee exercised under many afflictions and troubles Let us learne then spirituall wisedome let us learne love and spirituall mercie to judge more favourably of the state of those whom wee see troubled in spirit Many times God infeebleth and distresseth the spirits of his best servants to abate the pride of men that none might exalt himselfe before God Nay in the very thing wherein they have excelled in the same thing hee sometimes abaseth them you see Abraham he is called the Father of the faithfull his excellencie was his faith yet faithfull Abraham is detected in Scripture of much unbeliefe in some particulars Who would thinke that hee should expose Sara as he did to save himselfe that he should doe it that was called the Father of the faithfull you have heard saith the Apostle Iames of the patience of Iob the very excellencie of Iob was his patience who would thinke that ever patient Iob should utter such things as hee did sometime even cursing the very day of his birth David a man of a cheerefull spirit a man full of the praises of God a man wondrous large when hee comes to speake of the glory of God at severall times A man would have thought him of an invincible fortitude and courage yet neverthelesse you shall have David so cast downe as that hee thinkes the Lord had forgotten him and that the Lord would shew no mercy upon him that the Lord had hid himselfe from him and that hee would never regard him more who would thinke that ever David that abounded so in the comforts of the spirit sometimes should bee so dejected at such times as those were when he was in such a conflict Why doth God doe this To shew thus much that the very best of his servants in the chiefe of their excellencies are dependant on him still they have nothing of themselves or from themselves Therefore they shall sometimes seeme to want that they have that the very having and using of it may be ascribed to his glory Then let us now reason thus when wee see the servants of God in trouble exercised under disquiet Let us conclude now God is glorifying himselfe This the Apostle inferres Hee will rejoyce in his infirmities because the power of Christ is manifested by it For our selves it should teach us according to the intent of this place above all things to labour that our hearts may bee kept in that blessed plight of spirituall joy that we may be strengthened with freenesse of heart to serve God in our inward man Let not your hearts be troubled How should this be done The Text tells us here and so I come briefly to the second thing observable in the Text the means you believe in God saith he beleeve also in mee As the words are read in the translation they seeme to be uttered by way of concession as much as if Christ had said since you already beleeve in God now beleeve in mee The Syriack seemes to expresse it otherwise and so render it by way of command and to make here an intimation of two duties as a helpe of quieting the heart and so it reades it Let not your hearts bee troubled beleeve in God beleeve also in mee propounding a twofold object whereabout faith should be exercised that the heart may bee quieted in the time of any trouble The first is God considered in the Trinitie of persons in the unitie of Essence The second is Christ Mediator God and Man Now saith he beleeve in God that is the first rest upon God Then the second is beleeve in mee also as one that is the Mediatour betweene God and you now making your peace with God So the second part seemes to be the prevention of an objection For when he saith Let not your hearts bee troubled beleeve in God they might say Alas shall wee beleeve in God that are sinfull men The sinners in Sion cry out Who shall dwell with consuming fire c. Therefore saith Christ beleeve also in mee that is know that God will bee your God in and for my sake he is reconciled and well pleased with you Therefore in all your approaches to God take me with you looke up to God pray to him depend upon God through mee still keepe mee as a Mediatour betweene God and you and this will preserve your hearts in peace The time would not serve if I should goe over things particularly and in a full way Therefore I will touch the heads of things and it shall be thus much that A speciall meanes to preserve the heart of man from excessive sorrow and feare from trouble and disquiet of spirit is faith Let not your hearts be troubled But how shall wee helpe it Beleeve in God beleeve also in mee And this wee shall see through the Scriptures David found it thus Psal. 40. hee speakes to his disquieted soule Trust in God I will waite on him hee is my God Iehoshaphat in that excellent speech to his Souldiers that were now troubled for the multitude of their enemies against them Beleeve in God and you shall prosper beleeve his Prophets and you shall be established that is the way to stablish the heart to beleeve in God revealing himselfe in his Word It is noted of Moses in Heb. 11. 27. Hee therefore indured all that he did because hee looked on him that is invisible And those three companions of Daniel Dan. 3. Our God say they whom wee serve is able to helpe us but if hee will not wee will not worship thy golden Image There was matter of trouble and disquiet in the heart to be put to such a plunge that they must either worship or bee cast into the Furnace heated seven times hotter Well this eased them of all trouble and disquiet they know whom they had trusted and bee was able to keepe that that was committed to him to the comming of Christ. As Saint Paul expresseth it with which hee also rested abundantly satisfied On the other side the want of this hath beene the cause of that perplexitie and disquiet that hath beene upon the hearts of Gods servants at all times That was the reason that Abraham was so disturbed and disquieted in that feare of what should be done to him in Egypt certainly he failed in this in resting upon God Moses was wondrously troubled when the Lord bad him goe to Pharaoh and deliver Israel out of Egypt saith he Lord send by him whom thou shouldest send I am a man of a stammering tongue saith the Lord I will be with thy tongue Hee bids him quiet his heart in that perplexitie and rest on him that made the tongue to be with his tongue And because there was another secret that troubled him the Lord
knew his heart God saith goe the man that sought thy life is dead as if hee should say Moses though thou wilt not confesse it I know what troubleth thee thou art afraid that the men that sought thy life are alive in Pharaohs Court and that therfore when thou commest thither thou shalt be executed No saith he they are dead hee would have him rest on him and that would revive his heart that he should not bee troubled and disquieted So you may see in other servants of God that this was alwayes the reason of any indirect course they tooke Iacob and Rebecca in that case why did Rebecca use that devise in getting the blessing with Iacob Because shee failed in her trust in God shee saw how shee was perplexed with the daughters of Heth Esaus wives and many troubles that way And Isaac was dim-sighted and had many weaknesses upon him she knew not how he might mistake and give the blessing to the other therefore shee deviseth a way to get the blessing but shee got many sorrowes you know what a hard service it cost Iacob and how many evils it exposed him too and all was because through feare and disquiet of heart he cast not himselfe upon God in his way but they would find out wayes of their owne It should teach us in all disquiet of spirit to looke principally to the strengthening of our faith This is called a shield Eph. 6. when all the darts of temptation that fire the soule and perplexe it many wayes are cast upon a man here is a shield to preserve and keepe him safe Therefore let us ever have this for our use whole and sound You shall find that even the servants of God have so farre beene in a comfortable estate as they have beene in the exercise of their faith Take David for an example when Ziglag was burnt and his Wives and servants and goods and cattell were all carried away and the Souldiers in the rage of their hearts and discontent began to thinke of stoning of him yet saith the Text Then David comforted himselfe in the Lord his God When there was no comfort in his Souldiers about him or in those that were neere him every thing was taken away at this time David comforts himselfe in the Lord his God So Iob see how quiet his heart is and well satisfied when hee rested on God in the greatest occasions and troubles his goods were carried away his sonnes were slaine all added to Iobs miserie but he comes to this The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the Lord when he can looke above the creature to God and settle his heart upon this rocke he findes comfort in it On the other side the servants of God are never out of trouble and disquiet when they neglect this as the Disciples in the tempest upon the Sea Math. 8. they crie out they are utterly undone Save Master saith Christ Oh yee of little faith The not exercising of their faith did so perplexe and disquiet them as it did and if you looke upon all the complaints of the lives of men for the losse of such friends and the decay of trading for the ill dealing of Customers for sicknesse c. Men are alway complaining What is the reason Because they place too much hope and confidence in the creature they looke not above these things with the eye of faith and hence comes that disturbance and disquiet if the outward meanes be taken from them they looke not upon that God that hath all meanes and opportunities in his owne hand You beleeve in God beleeve also in mee They that would have their hearts quiet by beleeving in God should especially exercise faith in resting on Christ. Beleeve in mee saith Christ for the heart of man flies off from God Alas the Lord is holy and I am a sinfull man hee is righteous and I am sinfull who shall come before this holy and righteous God Now when faith can looke upon Christ and set him betweene God and me and looke on God through him now the soule rests hee lookes on God as a Father through Christ his Sonne when the soule lookes on Christ as my husband married to mee as my head and I am united to him as a member as my Lord that hath taken me into his protection when the soule thus lookes on Christ now it lookes upon God in all his attributes wondrousglorious and comfortable to the soule This is the thing that I can but touch at this time There are two things considerable in it First there is no ground of reposing the soule upon God but by beleeving in Christ he is the Mediatour Therefore in Iohn 8. 24. saith Christ Except you beleeve that I am hee whom the Father sent you shall die in your sinnes The Iewes they did beleeve in God they were the children of Abraham and worshipped the God of their Fathers and beleeved in God but saith he except you beleeve in me that I am he that God hath sent as Mediatour you shall die in your sinnes And so in this Chapter I am the way the truth and the life no man commeth to the Father but by mee there is no other way to the Father That as the high Priest under the law was in all things pertaining to God hee was betweene God and the people So Christ our great high Priest is in all things that concerne the glory of God and the salvation of man and the acceptance of a sinner in all things betweene God and us Here is the first thing Secondly it is worth our consideration how Christ comes to be thus he was willing to die a cursed a shamefull and cruell death of the Crosse and to be despised and abased and all this for man and yet Christ crucified is despised and scorned in the world therefore if ever you will have acceptance of God beleeve in mee In mee that am now going from you that am to bee taken away by a cursed ignominious death Here is another truth then They that beleeve in Christ must beleeve in Christ abased and crucified as well as in Christ in glorie That is a thing that flesh and bloud despiseth indeed all the world speakes well of the profession of the faith and beleeving in Christ when Christ is in triumph conquering to conquer every man glories in Christians but when Christianitie and profession is cryed downe in the world when Christ is crucified when all the world speakes ill of the wayes of Christ and of the obedience of Faith now to obey a crucified scorned despised Christ in the sight of the world to rest on him in the midst of his abasement this will comfort the heart of a man in the times of the greatest trouble there is great reason it should be thus For Christ is the almightie glorious God in the middest of his abasement his divinitie was not a whit abated nor his divine
a glasse with good keeping may last as long as an earthen Pot but both brittle Now notwithstanding this Sex bee brittle and the weaker yet to be honoured and that upon this ground because partakers with Men and as well as Men of the greatest priviledge the grace of life Were this a meeting for the solemnization of a Mariage I might further descan upon this plaine-song that ariseth from the inference of Mens honouring of Women What have I said if it were a Mariage solemnitie surely howsoever here bee before our eyes the eyes of our bodies a visible object of mortalitie yet notwithstanding here is before us an invisible occasion of rejoycing as at a Mariage solemnitie to the eye of our soule understanding and faith for while here we live in the world Jesus Christ our Spouse hee hath his friends friends of the Bridegroome his Ministers and messengers that in his name come to us wooe us use all the meanes that may be to move us to accept of Christ for our Lord and Husband When a man accepts of this offer there is then the contract consummated in regard of the mutuall consent that passeth betweene the one and the other Christ having his Proxies here wee the Ministers being for him and every beleeving soule for himselfe This contract continueth so long as here wee remaine in this world when wee depart the body is laid in the Bride-bed quietly to rest and sleepe till the Bridegroome be pleased to come and awake his Spouse and it will be a blessed voyce that hee shall come withall Come yee blessed of my Father receive the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world As for the soule that goeth immediatly to Christ and is in his Fathers house with him the Spouse in that part with her Husband the Lord Christ enjoying an eternall inviolable communion and sweet societie But howsoever this is thus to the invisible eyes of the soule we now must looke upon the object here before us and answerably order our matter and therefore with this touch I let passe the inference and come to the substance of the Text. You heard the summe you heard the parts But wee must here proceed Huesteron and Proteron and cleane invert the order of the words as I hope your selves will discerne if you doe but well marke the order and method Life is in the last place Grace before it the right that commeth before it and the extent of that right before all I suppose therefore you will thinke that first it is meet to lay forth the priviledge it selfe Life and then to speake of the ground of it then of the right that we have and then of the Extent of that right and this order I purpose to follow First therefore concerning the Priviledge it selfe Life For brevities sake I forbeare to speake much of the divers acceptations of life and distinctions thereof as it is in the Creatour the onely true God Father Sonne and holy Spirit or as it is in the invisible and glorious creatures the Angels or as it is in men who are animated by a reasonable soule or as it is in those creatures that are guided only by sense Beasts Fowle Fish or otherwise as it is in Trees and Plants that come forth out of the earth having a vegetative life onely The life here meant is that wee call eternall life consisting in our communion with Christ our Spouse and this is a life proper to the Saints proper unto them because comming from the grace of God extended unto them alone proper unto them because they are heires of it And in this extent there is a restraint howsoever the extent bee in divers considerations yet a restraint a qualification onely beleevers onely sound true Christians to them it is proper And this life is to be considered either in the Inchoation and beginning thereof or in the consummation and accomplishment thereof In regard of the Inchoation of this speciall life of the Saints it is here begun in this world I now live saith the Apostle speaking even of this life by the faith of the Sonne of God And the Iust shall live by faith This life it is by Christs dwelling and living in us I now live yet not I but Christ liveth in me saith the Apostle in the place before quoted The other it is in the world to come and it is by a sweet feeling and fruition it is by our abiding with Christ and living with him in which respect saith our Lord Christ to the penitent beleever upon the Crosse This day the very day that he died shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so Saint Paul saith of himselfe I desire to bee dissolved and to be with Christ implying that upon the dissolution immediatly there is a fruition a communion with Christ And the same Apostle speaking of those Saints that shall be upon the earth at the very moment of Judgement when the dead saith he are raised then shall wee also that are alive and remaine be caught up together with them in the cloudes to meet the Lord in the ayre and so shall wee ever be with the Lord. Now then marke here you see the soule hath present communion with Christ upon the dissolution of the body and the body also shall have communion with him at the great day of the Resurrection of all flesh Now this life and communion with Christ is proper to the Saints by vertue of their union with Christ A misticall union For Christ the Sonne of God hee is life originally in himselfe for as the Father hath life in himselfe so hath hee given to the Sonne to have life in himselfe Hee is also Life communicatively communicating life unto us therefore hee is said to be the Bread of life and in this sence because hee is that Bread which commeth downe from heaven and giveth life unto the world The Use of this point my brethren is manifold I will but touch it First it doth instruct us in the great love and good respect that God beareth to us children of men that of his owne good pleasure hath written our names in the booke of life and hath sent his Sonne to purchase life for us and to bring us also to this life Behold what love the Father hath shewed to us in Christ Secondly this is a demonstration of the wofull plight wherein naturally men are in this world they may seeme to be of some account they have a life that is farre different from the life of Plants and also from the life of Beasts they have a reasonable soule to animate them Oh but this this is is not the life Naturall life indeed is a death compared to this life that is here noted to bee proper to the Saints which commeth by grace whereof wee are heires and therefore of all naturall men it may bee said as the Apostle saith of the wanton
the Holiest and dearest servants of God are exercised with and divers of these doe make them many times mourne exceedingly and to cry one while O wretched man that I am and to groane out another while Woe is mee that I am constrained to live in Mesech and to have my habitation in the tents of Kedar of all these miseries Death is the end to Gods servants And so also it is an entrance into happinesse for albeit their bodyes rot in the Grave and bee laid up in the Earth as in Gods store-house untill the last day yet the soule forthwith even in an instant comes into the presence of the ever-living God of Christ and of all the Angels and Saints in Heaven the spirits of just men made perfect to Abrahams bosome to bee with Christ quanta haec felicitas What greater happinesse It was much that Moses obtained to see the back-parts of God but how much greater favour is it to see him face to face to have eternall fellowship with God the Father with Christ the Redeemer with the Holy Ghost the sanctifier The knowledge of this benefit of Death makes the face of it comfortable to Gods servants and causes them to strive with their owne naturall weaknesse that so they may even long for their day of dissolution But now against this point divers Objections may be alledged For first the Apostle Paul sayes that Death is the wages of sinne And else-where hee stiles it Christs enemie the last enemie that hee shall subdue is Death How should not death then be rather a day of misery to bee trembled at then a day of happinesse to bee longed for To this I answer that wee are to distinguish touching Death for it must be considered two wayes First as it is in its owne nature Secondly as it is altered by Christ in the first sence it is true that Death is the wages of sinne and the very suburbs and the gates of hell But in the second taking of Death it ceases to be a plague and becomes a blessing inasmuch as it is even a doore opening out of this world into Heaven Now the godly looke not upon Death simply but upon Death whose sting and venome is plucked out by Jesus Christ and so it is exceeding comfortable But then secondly it is objected that wee reade of many that have prayed against death as namely first David Returne O Lord saith he and deliver my soule oh spare mee for thy mercyes sake for in death there is no remembrance of thee Secondly Hezekiah when the message of death was brought to him Thirdly Christ himselfe Father if it bee possible let this cup passe from me To all these I answer first touching Daâ—…d that when he composed that sixt Psalme hee was not only gâ—…vously sicke but also exceedingly tormented in mind for he wrestled and combatted in his conscience with the wrath of God as appeares by the first Verse of that Psalme therefore wee must know that hee prayed not simply against Death but against death at that time in asmuch as the comming of it was accompanied with extraordinary apprehensions of Gods wrath for at another time hee tells us that hee would not feare though hee walked through the valley of the shadow of Death And the like I say touching Hezekiah that his prayer proceeded not from any desperate feare of Death but first that he might doe more service to God in his Kingdome And with such a kind of thought was Saint Pauls desire of dissolution mingled Secondly hee prayed against Death then because he knew that his death then would be a great cause of rejoycing to evill men to whom his reformation in the State was unpleasâ—…ng Thirdly because hee wanted issue God had promised before to David that there should not faile a man of his seed to sit upon the throne of Israel so that his children did take heed 〈◊〉 their wayes Now it was a great discomfort to him to die childlesse for then he and others might have thought that he was but an Hypocrite inasmuch as God had promised issue to all those Kings that feared him and for this cause God heard his prayer and after two yeares gave him a sonne Maâ—…asseh by name And so I say the same touching our Saviour Christ that hee prayed not against Death as it is the separation betwixt Body and Soule as appeares by what the Apostle saith that hee was heard in that hee feared for hee stood in our roome and became a Curse for us it was the Curse of the Law which went with Death and the unspeakable wrath and indignation of God which hee feared and from this according to his prayer he was delivered But thirdly wee see in most good men a feare of Death and a desire of life and I my selfe may some godly man say doe feele my selfe ready to tremble at the meditation thereof and yet I hope I belong unto God I answer that there are two things to bee considered in every Christian Flesh and Spirit Corruption and Grace and the best have many inward perplexities at times and doubtings of Gods favour Now it is a truth which our Saviour delivers that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weake And as in all other good purposes there is a combat betwixt the flesh and the spirit so is there in this betwixt the feare of Death and the desire of Death sometime the one prevailes and sometimes the other but yet alwayes at last the desire of Death doth get the victory Carnall respects doe often prevaile farre with the best care of wife children and the like Thâ—…se are their infirmities but as other infirmities die in them by degrees so these also at last are subdued and the servants of God seeing clearely the happinesse into which their Death in Christ shall enter them doe even sigh desiring to bee clothed upon with their house which is from Heaven Here then is a good Marke by which we may know our selves to be Gods servants viz. by the state of our thoughts and meditations touching Death I will so deliver it as may bee most for the comfort of those that truly feare God I demand therefore of thee Dost thou know that the confident and comfortable expectation of Death is the worke of the Holy Ghost in Gods servants Dost thou desire unfeignedly that the same may bee wrought in thy heart Dost thou labour to know what happinesse comes by Death to those that feare the Lord Dost thou grieve at thine owne weaknesse to whom the thought of Death is sometime troublesome and unsavourie Dost thou pray the Lord so to assure thee of his favour in Christ that death may bee desired before it comes and welcome when it is come Dost thou when thou hearest this speech of Simeon wish that thou wert able to use the like words with the like resolution Surely
upon this how they may die with comfort and end their dayes in peace How many prophane ones that set light by Death being apt to say like those Epicures Edamus c. Let us eate and drinke for to morrow wee shall die How many that doe put all to a desperate adventure God made us and hee must save us and wee shall doe as well as please God and there is an end How many are there whose hearts albeit they be in the house of God and in his presence are notwithstanding fraughted with malice with envie with worldlinesse with disdaine with secret scorning repining at the Word which they heare with wearisomenesse with spirituall sleepinesse and securitie You that are such as I have now said thinke in your consciences what would you die if God should now stop your breath and ascyte you by Death presently to appeare before his Majestie being thus full of ignorance of securitie of presumption of unsanctified of vicious of malicious of covetous thoughts could you find in your hearts to say Lord now let us depart Sure wee could not but Death must needs be to us as it is said to be to the wicked Rex terrorum the King of terrours if it should come upon us and find us in this case And yet what know wee how soone how suddenly wee may be overtaken some of us drop away daily some young some old some lie sicke longer some lesser time and how soone it will be our turne wee cannot tell Our breath is in our nostrills wee are all as grasse If the breath of the Lord blow upon us we doe suddenly wither as the flower of the field and returne agaâ—…e to our first Earth Why will we not labour to be now ready sith it may be alwayes truly said We may now depart either while we are here or in our way home or in our beds or at our meat Who can truly say to himselfe I am sure I shall not die this houre It may be now thou wilt demand of me What shall I doe that I may be ready To insist upon particulrs would be too long onely therefore in a word The best preparation for death is are formed life He that lives religiously cannot but die preparedly And it is a thousand to one if a wicked liver make a gracious end The Scripture makes mention of a double Death and so likewise of a twofold Resurrection the first Death is the death of the body which is the separation of it from the soule The second death is of the soule which is the separation of it from God The first Resurrection is the rising from the Death of sinne to a new life the second is that which shall be of the body out of the Grave at the day of Judgement Now what saith the Scripture Blessed and holy is hee that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no power Wouldest thou then bee freed from the second Death hell and destruction when thou art dead Now that thou art yet alive labour to have a part in the first Resurrection Note what Saint Paul saith of the wanton widow that shee is dead whilst shee lives So he that lives in the pleasures of sinne and in the wayes of his owne heart and after his owne lust hee is dead in soule though hee be alive in body and if hee seeke not to come out of this grave eternall death shall be his portion Well then wouldest thou prepare for Death wouldest thou be able alwayes to say Lord now now I am ready labour to know God our of his Word that is eternall life Labour to feele Christ live and reigne in thee by his Spirit labour to renounce every sinne doe not goe on in any knowne sinne against conscience renew thy repentance daily and still survey the state of thy soule that wickednesse may not get dominion over thee Let Death come when it will though the Lord should so visit thee that thou shouldest drop downe suddenly yet it shall not find thee unprepared thou hast a part in the first Resurrection there is no feare of the second Death But if thou wilt cherish thy heart in evil thou wilt goe on in thy ignorance in thy carelesse worship of God in thy prophaning the Sabbath in thy whoredome oppression malice drunkennesse excesse voluptuousnesse thou makest ready for hell and it is not thy Lord save me or I cry God mercy c. that shall serve thy turne I will tell thee who thou art like unto even to a man appointed after a yeare or two to be burned and in the meane space must carry a sticke daily to the heape so thou heapest up wrath against thy selfe and makest thy score so great that when Death comes thou shalt not know how to be prepared And thus have I finished the first generall part of my Text touching the disposition of the godly in respect of Death I proceed now in a word to the second the ground rule or warrant of this desire and preparation for death according to thy word as if Simeon had said this desire that I have now to end my dayes proceeds not from any carnall discontentment because I am now old and can take no great comfort in worldly things but the ground of it is thy Word and Promise thou Lord hast revealed unto thy servant that I should not die before I had seene my Saviour This word is now fulfilled and the sweetnesse thereof hath given mee that encouragement that I doe even long to bee dissolved and to be united unto thee Or againe thus Oh Lord this care that I have had to provide thus for Death and to be alwayes in a readinesse it hath not come from my selfe nature never taught it mee but thy Word hath instructed mee If I had not proceeded according to thy Word I should never have knowne how to have prepared my selfe to the time of dissolution This is the meaning of the words and so the Doctrine is plain viz. that Men ignorant in Gods word can never take comfort in death nor bee truly prepared to undergoe it This is plaine if we consider the Exposition which I have already given of that part of Simeons speech It is a generall Rule that of our Saviour Yee erre not knowing the Scripture A man ignorant in the Scripture can never rightly performe any spirituall dutie Hence was that of David Thy testimonies saith he are my delight and my counsellours If any matter came in hand that concerned his soule straight to the word of God went hee to know thence how to doe it as a man for his Lease or conveyance goeth to a Counsellour for direction So againe he confesses that if Gods Law had not beene his delight hee should have perished in his afflictions And so no comfort no true quiet in any trouble much more at Death without the guidance and information of the Word The
assurance that the sting of Death is plucked out that Gods wrath is appeased that sinne is pardoned that Heaven gate is opened whence shall wee fetch these but from the Scripture the directions for a holy life which is the best preparation for Death where shall we find them but in the Scripture Here then we see is a Caveat to all that have no will nor desire to be acquainted with the Scripture Divers thinke they should have done well enough though wee had no such Booke as we call the word of God To bee a Scripture-man is a by-word a reproach a matter of disgrace and sooner will men listen to some idle Pamphlet then to a matter of Scripture Well beguile not your soules with these vaine conceipts with your Popish and carnall imaginations I say and testifie from this place that that man or woman which careth not to be taught out of Gods booke cannot die like a Christian Who can teach thee the way to dye well but God And where doth God teach but in the Scripture If our thoughts of Death if our provision and preparation for Death be not warranted and guided by Gods word it is all in vaine Lord saith Simeon my desire of dissolution is according to thy Word my care to be prepared hath beene ordered by thy Word hee cannot die with comfort that cannot make the like profession And this may serve for the next generall part the the ground of this desire and preparation for Death it is Gods word Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart according to thy Word The third and last part followes the nature and qualitie of the death of the Righteous A departure in peace or a peaceable dismission Here are two things first a dismission secondly a dismission accompanied with peace The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Let thy servant depart may well be Englished thus Let thy servant loose Lord free mee enlarge mee set mee at libertie Hence wee learne that The servants of God doe by Death receive a finall discharge from all manner of miserie This is evident out of the force of the phrase here used Simeon knew that so long as hee lived his soule was as it were imprisoned in his body and in it hee was held in bondage under the remnants of Originall corruption subject to the assaults and temptations of Satan in continuall and daily possibilitie to trespasse and sinne against God beside other afflictions and grievances in the body and estate but hee had withall this knowledge and understanding of the nature of Death that it was an enlargement to the soule and a freeing of it utterly and finally from all those and the like incumbrances The same may be gathered from the phrase used by Saint Paul I desire saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee dissolved and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 read the time of my departure the words shew that there comes a liberty by death to the soules of Gods servants The phrase that Saint Peter useth is worthy our observation for this purpose First hee tearmes death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the laying downe of a burden and by that meanes the soule is lightned and eased Secondly he tearmes it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a going out from a place and condition of hardship The second booke of Moses which relates the departure of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage hath the same name Exodus As for the point it selfe namely that the death of the Righteous is to them a discharge from all miserie the Scripture beares witnesse to it Blessed said he are the dead which die in the Lord even so saith the spirit that they may rest from their labours As long as they live here they are diversly troubled when they die their labours are at an end and they are received into rest Saint Iohn tells us that in his vision he saw the soules of them that were slaine lye under the Altar Now the Altar in the time of the Law was a place of refuge and safetie and thence it appeares that by death the servants of God are eft-soones received into a place of holy securitie where there is no expectation of any further miserie They are said to be received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into Abrahams bosome into the fellowship of the same happinesse with Abraham the Father of all true beleevers The Doctrine in the first place makes against those of the Church of Rome which maintaine a place of torment even for the servants of God after this life where they must bee tryed for a time before they can enter into Rest and happinesse This place they terme Purgatorie the torment here they hold to bee unspeakable and farre surpassing any torment which the wit of man is able to devise But this place among others is sufficient to overthrow this dotage for how were death to the Righteous a dismission a loosing a freedome from miserie if there followed after it a torment of farre greater extremitie then at any time before was ever tasted of So that the death of the servants of God being as I have proved it to bee an enlargement from misery certainly the soule is not bound in any new Prison whence it must expect and await and pray for a second dismission In the next place this Doctrine makes much for the comfort of Gods servants the face of Death to the wicked is very dreadfull the day of it is to them the beginning of sorrowes their soules are instantly arrested by the damned spirits and kept in everlasting chaines of darknesse but to those that are the servants of God it is otherwise I may by way of allusion to the phrase of my Text compare their day unto that which happened unto Ioseph in which hee was brought out of prison to bee Ruler over all the land of Egypt So is their death unto them a day of Bailement out of prison a day in which all teares shall be wiped away In which they shall have beauty for ashes and the oyle of gladnesse for the spirit of heavinesse and the long white robes of Christs Righteousnesse by which they shall be presented blamelesse unto God That day shall be to them even as was the day of escape to the Jewes a feast and a good day in which they shall see God as hee is and know him as they are knowne of him But hapily thou maist say how shall I know that the day of Death is the day of dissolution and this kind of dismission A very necessary quaere indeed this is for every man almost is ready to challenge to himselfe a part of this happinesse and it is a matter presumed upon by many which shall never enjoy it I will therefore give you one certaine marke by which wee may know assuredly that the day of our death shall be to us a day of enlargement and of finall discharge
from all both former and following miseries and that is this If in the time of our life here our being subject to corruption and sinne hath seemed unto us the greatest burden and bondage They which have groaned and mourned under their owne naturall corruptions as it were under some heavy and tyrannous yoke or as the Israelites mourned under their Egyptian Task-masters to them only shall the day of death be a day of freedome If sinne be not a burden to thee if thou dost not many times lament and even mourne to thinke how thou art carried captive unto evill if thou dost not with griefe feele how thou art clogged with corruption and hindred by it from doing the good which thou shouldest certainly death will bee to thee the beginning of thy thraldome and after it thou shalt be a perpetuall bond-slave unto Sathan in the kingdome of eternall darknesse Marke this all yee that take delight in evill to whom it is a pastime to doe wickedly and who seeke rather how to satisfie then how to suppresse your owne corruptions who repute it a kind of happinesse to follow the swinge of your owne Iusts and to have libertie to doe as your owne hearts doe lead you when you dye this shall be your reward even a most miserable and endlesse captivity under Sathan him have you served in the lusts of sinne while yee lived his slaves shall you be without hope of releasement world without end This is the right Application of this Doctrine death is a day of enlargement to the godly it is a dismission The next particular is that it is a dismission accompanied with peace the lesson we are taught hence is that The servants of God have at their going out of the world a comfortable quiet and peaceable departure Thus Simeon here hee prayed for no other thing but that his end might be as the end of the Righteous is ever wont to bee even a departure hence in peace Hence is that generall rule of the Psalmist Marke the perfect man and behold the upright man for the end of that man is peace Agreeable whereunto is that of Solomon that the righteous hath hope in his death And memorable to this purpose is that which is storied of old father Iacob shewing unto us the quiet end of the Righteous Hee gathered up his feet into the bed and so gave up the Ghost It was the blessing promised to Abraham that he should goe to his fathers in peace And the same was made to good Iosias There is a twofold reason hereof First the assurance which they have of the favour of God in Christ. This must needs breed quietnesse when I am perswaded in my soule and conscience that all cause of danger after death is removed and that God is and will be gracious unto mee in his Sonne What cause of feare is here left what occasion of perplexitie If any man shall doubt whether the servants of God have this assurance I prove it thus that all of them first or last have it in some good measure If any man saith the Apostle have not the Spirit of Christ hee is none of his Hence it necessarily followes that all that are Christs have the Spirit of Christ but now the office of the Spirit is to beare witnesse with our spirit So that all that are the Lords as they are endued with Gods Spirit so they feele this Spirit bearing witnesse to their soules of this Adoption Secondly the comfortable Testimonie of their owne consciences touching their former care to glorifie God by a Religious and godly conversation Hence came Saint Pauls peace I have saith he fought the good fight I have kept the faith Therefore I am sure there is laid up for mee a Crowne of life Hence Hezekiahs I have walked before thee oh Lord in truth and with a perfect heart Not that they doe ground their hope upon the desert of their fore-ranne courses but because they know good workes to bee the way and doe understand by the Scripture that a holy life here is the first fruits of a glorified life hereafter Thus we see the truth of this point and the reasons upon which it is grounded Now here some may object first Wee see many worthy men that have made a great and an extraordinary profession of Religion in their lives and which have also carried themselves unblameably yet to give appearance of much angiush and perplexitie and even of a kind of despaire in their death How can wee say then that all good and holy persons have a peaceable departure I answer first Wee ought to remember the Rule our Saviour gives not to judge according to the outward appearance It is a very weake argument to say that this or that man dyeth without peace because to the standers by hee makes not shew of peace Certaine it is that as a man may have peace with God and yet himselfe for a time by reason of some tentation not feele it so a man being sicke or going out of the world may feele it and yet others that behold him cannot perceive it Secondly wee must know that these outward unquietnesses which doe many times accompany sicknesse doe happen as well and as ordinarily to good men as to the most wicked such as are ravings idle-talkings and strange accidents in the body in this sence all things come alike to all God hath made no promise in Scripture that those that serve him shall be freed in their deaths from violent sicknesses Therefore these things must not bee thought to be any abridgement of their peace Thirdly wee must consider that with the best servants of God Sathan is most busie when his end is neerest and when hee is as it were out of all hope of prevailing The red Dragon in the Revelation had greatest wrath when he knew his time to bee short When the evill Spirit was commanded once to come out of the child then it rent him sore Now these temptations though for the time they be very violent and extreme so that the party may hapily utter out some words and speeches of dispaire yet be they no finall prejudice to the inward peace Interrupt they may but utterly quench it they cannot because the power of God is made perfect through weaknesse And so even in death Sathan receives the greatest foile when hee thinkes to get the greatest victorie Thus then I answer in one word The peace of Gods servants at death is not ever in the like measure felt by them but yet it never dieth in them they which behold their death doe not alwayes see it yet they themselves sooner or later are sure sweetly and secretly to feele the same My reason for my assertion is grounded first upon that of the Apostle God commands light to shine out of darknesse Hee brings his servants to Heaven by the gates of
hell out of sorrow and angvish and tentation hee raiseth out their greatest quiet Secondly because the love of God is eternall and unchangeable Whom hee loves hee loves to the end It is unpossible that the Lord albeit he trie and that sharply yet should finally forsake those that are his in their greatest extremitie But againe secondly if you make a peaceable death to bee the reward of the Righteous what say you to this There bee many that in all their life gave little evidence of any Religion or grace but of the contrary rather yet in their death were very quiet and still and seemed to all that were by to have in them no manner of vexation no troublesome thoughts no perplexed motions shall wee say that these were good men because they seemed to goe away in peace It is true indeed it is the common opinion Doth a man lye quietly hath hee his memorie to the end died he like a Lambe surely then hee is gone to heaven but this is an absurd colection for First sometime this outward calmenesse is an ordinary consequent of some diseases as Consumptions and such like by which Nature being formerly weakned hath not power left to make resistance Secondly this outward calmenesse is no argument of a peaceable and quiet soule The Psalmist tells us of the wicked in whose death there are no bands Thirdly wee must distinguish betweene securitie and peace betwixt carnall senslesnesse and true spirituall quietnesse Nabals death was quiet enough yet hee were but a foole that would adventure his soule with Nabals I see many ignorant persons many of heathenish and brutish conversation very quiet in sicknesse without any feare of hell and judgement to come making no doubts casting no perills asking no questions complaining of no sinnes and so away they goe without any more adoe What shall I say that these died in true peace God forbid No when I compare together their ignorant secure benummed hardned kind of life with their senslesse and drowsie kind of death I must say that these are fearefull signes these things argue that the Divill had quiet possession where hee made so small adoe Thus then notwithstanding these Objections I will conclude that a peacefull death is the peculiar and individed priviledge of Gods servants However it be yet I know saith Solomon that it shall goe well with those that feare the Lord but there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Wee may make Use of this first to be a tryall betwixt our Religion and the Romish for from this Doctrine I avouch that Religion to be no true Religion because a Papist by the Rules of his owne Religion can never die in peace This is a hard saying thou maist object or how can I make it good I answer by two reasons First every Papist is taught to beleeve under paine of Anathema and the great curse that whosoever dyeth if hee have not in this life attained to perfection and throughly purged himselfe from the remainders of sinne by workes of satisfaction his soule must after death goe into Purgatory and there continue untill hee hath made a full satisfaction now the paine of Purgatorie is held for the time to bee as great as the paines of hell differing onely in this that it is not perpetuall Now I would faine know how can a man die comfortably and in peace and with a joyfull heart when hee thinkes with himselfe that albeit perhaps after some yeares hee shall goe to heaven yet in the meane space his soule must goe into such a place of unspeakable torment where if the matter be not well plyed by the prayers of them that are alive and by well feeing the Priests they may hap to lye for many yeares I say how can the Doctrine of Popery beget a peacefull death when it teacheth an expectation of such an hellish Purgatory Secondly every Papist as he is bound of a certaine to beleeve a Purgatory so further must he beleeve that hee cannot in this life be assured of salvation otherwise then by a kind of confused hope which may deceive him Now hee which by the witnesse of his owne conscience is sure that hee hath deserved hell and cannot attaine to any certaintie of discharge what comfort can such an one have to dye hee knowes that when hee is dead he must come to his account before God but yet can have no assurance that the Lord will acquit him in Christ Jesus I wish that this may seriously be considered by us for the establishing of us in the truth of Religion I say againe and testifie these reasons which I have alledged being weighed that a Papist by his owne doctrine can never expect that which Simeon did a departure hence in peace He knowes he must to torment he is taught that he cannot know in this world that God will pardon him In the next place let us come neerer home to our selves that we must all dye nothing more certaine Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne God hath decreed it and it cannot bee revoked if our end be not peaceable our estate after cannot bee happy Let our care then be spent about this one point how one may attaine to this to end our dayes in peace I doubt not but wee will all bee ready to say we hope so to doe but this is nothing for when the wicked man dyeth his expectation perisheth What becomes of the hope of the Hypocrite said Iob when God takes away his soule But what course then shall wee take that wee may finish our course with joy I will tell thee in few words I touched it a little before the best meanes for a peaceable departure is a godly and religious life I have fought the good fight saith Saint Paul and he could comfortably from thence inferre that therefore there was laid up for him a crowne of righteousnesse It was Christs owne inference I have glorified thee on earth I have finished the worke which thou gavest mee to doe and therefore now O Father glorifie thou mee with thine owne selfe The reason of it is first Gods promise blessed shall bee the undefiled in the way Those that honour mee I will honour said God Now this promise God will not breake He that goeth this way though it be with much weaknesse with many falls with sundry imperfections with divers wandrings yet he cannot misse of the promised peace Secondly life eternall hath three degrees the first is in this life when a man repenteth and beleeveth and is purged from dead workes to serve the living God The second is in death when the body goes to earth and the spirit returnes to him that gave it The third is at the last judgement These three degrees hang together like three linkes the second followeth the first and the third the two former the last cannot be hoped for where
the first is wanting for except yee repent yee shall all perish The first being obtained the last must needs ensue for hee is faithfull that hath promised So then wouldest thou have peace in death labour for grace in thy life wouldest thou end thy dayes happily make conscience to spend them holily A godlesse man that lives in sin may die senslesly or sullenly he cannot die peaceably Oh consider this all yee that forget God that spend your dayes in vanity and your yeares according to the lusts of your owne heart that have hitherto hated to bee reformed and will not bee reclaimed from your former fashions but live yet still as you were wont to doe Thinke a little with me of your last end which how neere it is you doe not know when your consciences a little awaked shall make report of your life past how in matters of God you have beene ignorant superstitious carelesse neglecting his worship despising his Word blaspheming his Name mispending his Sabbaths in dealing with men you have beene cruell false unmercifull oppressing in the usage of your owne bodyes unchast vicious lustfull proud wanton wallowing in excesse what peace can your soules have when these things be thought upon what calmnesse of spirit what hope of entring into rest how can you thinke that the end can bee comfortable when the life hath beene abominable What answer made Iehu to Ioram when hee demanded Is it peace Iehu What peace said hee so long as the whoredomes of thy mother Iezabel and her witchcrafts are so many So when Death comes like Iehu marching furiously against you and you enquire of him whither he comes with peace or no hee will answer what peace when your whoredomes and your grosse and crying sinnes are yet in great number What peace when these make a partition betwixt your soules and the Lord Certainly there can be no peace but a fearefull expectation of judgement and violent fire to devoure Suffer me then to conclude this exhortation as Daniel did his speech to Nebuchadnezzar O King breake off thy sinnes by righteousnesse and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poore So say I breake off your sinnes by repentance your ignorance by seeking after knowledge your contempt of Gods word by a reverent yeelding to it your securitie by a standing in awe of God your neglecting the exercises of Religion by carefull using of them your whoredome by chastitie your drunkennesse by sobrietie your malice by charitie your oppression by mercy your falshood by fidelitie this is the way that will bring peace at the last thus and thus onely you may find rest for your soules FINIS THE VITALL FOUNTAINE OR LIFES ORIGINALL REVEL 21. 1. And hee shewed mee a pure river of the water of life proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lambe 1 JOHN 5. 11. 12. God hath given to us eternall life and this life is in his Sonne Hee that hath the Sonne hath life and he that hath not the Sonne hath not life LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE VITALL FOVNTAINE OR LIFES ORIGINALL SERMON XXXV JOH 11. 25. 26. I am the Resurrection and the life hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live and whosoever liveth and beleeveth in me shall never die THese words that I have read to you they are part of the conference betweene Martha and Christ when Christ was comming to Bethanie to awake Lazarus from the sleepe of death The conference is laid downe from the beginning of the 21. verse to the end of the 27. and Martha meeting with Christ begins the conference as wee may see vers 21. 22. Then said Martha to Iesus Lord if thou haddest beene here my brother had not died but I know that even now whatsoever thou wilt aske of God God will give it thee Here Martha manifests her affection to her dead brother and her faith in her living Master shee manifests the strength of her naturall affection and the weaknesse and imperfection of her faith The strength of her naturall affection appeares in this that she was perswaded if Christ had beene there present her brother Lazarus had not died he would not have suffered Lazarus to have died which for ought wee know is more then she had sufficient ground for Then the weaknesse and imperfection of her faith appeares in this that shee rested too much upon the corporall presence of Christ that shee ascribed no more powerto Christ then that by his prayer he could attaine at Gods hands as much as ever any holy man did namely the life of her brother I know saith she that even now whatsoever thou askest God will give it Whereas Christ being true God was able to worke any miracle by his owne power Now the answer of Christ is laid downe verse 23. Iesus said unto her thy brother shall rise againe Christ to comfort Martha passeth by her infirmitie and promiseth to her that hee will restore her brother to life againe that shee shall enjoy her brother againe but this promise is only laid downe in generall and indifinite termes Thy brother shall rise againe Christ doth not say expresly I will raise up thy brother to life but hee speakes only ingenerall termes Thy brother shall rise againe which wee are to ascribe to the modestie and humilitie that alwais may bee obser-served in the speeches of Christ Thy brother shall rise againe Then we have the replie of Martha laid downe in verse 24. Martha said unto him I know hee shall rise againe in the Resurrection at the last day Martha was not satisfied with this promise of Christ for it seemes shee durst not take it in the full extent of it therefore shee replyes that as for the last Resurrection shee knew indeed that her brother and all others that were dead should then rise againe this did comfort her but for any other matter of comfort shee could not gather any from the answer of Christ and his promise therefore Christ replies againe in the words of my Text And Iesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life hee that beleeves in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live and whosoever liveth and beleeveth in me shall never die Christ would have Martha know that hee was true life yea the fountaine of all life and such a fountaine of life that whosoever did beleeve in him and cleave to him nothing should hurt him no not Death it selfe Thus you see briefly the coherence and the scope of the words We come now to shew you the meaning of them In these words we may observe these two parts First here we have laid downe a compound proposition And then the distinct Exposition or explication thereof First here wee have laid downe a compound Axiome or Proposition a copulative Proposition wherein Christ affirmes two things of himselfe First I am the Resurrection Secondly I am the Life I am the Resurrection I
let not the allurement of vaine objects and vain companie let not the appetite and desire of base pleasures drive these thoughts out of your heads but examine your owne hearts whether you partake of the first Resurrection or no. Deceive not thy owne soule for though conscience may now sleepe thou mayst thinke 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 in stead of growing better thou grow worse and bee hardned more and more in sinfull 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 spirituall life thou hast not yet attained the first Resurrection to the life of grace and therefore if thou goe on in this course thou shalt not attaine to the second Resurrection to the life of glory So much for that Use. 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 spirituall Resurrection then let me counsel thee to give no rest to thy soule till thou hast attained it for remember that this is the first step to heaven and if thou set not the first steppe to heaven surely thou shalt never come thither As the Resurrection of Christ was the first degree of his exaltation so this spirituall Resurrection that we have spoken of it is the first degree of a Christians exaltation therefore get this in the first place yea get this and all will follow If thou attaine this thou maist be assured of the second Resurrection also to the life of glory Remember that Christ by raising himselfe from the dead by his owne power declared himselfe to be the eternall Sonne of God Hee was declared mightily to bee the Sonne of God by his Resurrection So if thou canst by a power and vertue drawne from Christ rise out of the grave of thy sinne then thou shalt declare thy selfe to bee the member of Christ the Sonne of God the daughter of God therefore labour to attaine this first Resurrection But here this question may be demanded but by what meanes now doth Christ convey this spirituall life to his children and how shall I get to bee partaker of this Resurrection by what meanes shall I attaine this first Resurrection to this spirituall life To this I answer briefly that by the same meanes by which Christ workes faith in the soule by the same meanes hee raiseth a sinner to life for he that beleeveth liveth and he that liveth beleeveth hee that beleeveth is raised to life therefore by the same meanes that Christ workes faith by the same meanes he raiseth a sinner to life Therefore the outward meanes is the Preaching of the Word the inward the Spirit of grace By such meanes as Christ will raise the bodies of the dead at the last day by the like meanes hee now raiseth the soules of those that are dead in sinne Now Christ will raise the bodyes that are now dead in the Grave at the last day First by his voyce Iohn 5. 28 29. and by the sound of the Trumpet 1 Cor. 15. 52. The Trump shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible And hee shall raise them by his quickning Spirit So by the like meanes Christ now raiseth our soules that are dead in sinnes therefore if thou desire to bee raised out of the grave of sinne let me counsell thee First to attend diligently to the word of God upon the preaching of the Gospell The word of Christ is a quickning word as Christ saith Ioh. 3. 63. My Word is spirit and life The voyce of Christ is a quickning voyce as Christ by his voyce raised Lazarus out of his Grave when Christ said to Lazarus Come forth presently Lazarus quickned and came forth so the voyce of Christ in the ministerie of the Word hath a quickning power to raise sinners from the death of sinne therefore when the Ministers crie aloude and the Prophets lift up their voyce as a Trumpet then hearken Secondly be frequent and fervent in Prayer for the Spirit of of grace and of Christ before thou heare pray and after thou hast heard pray that the Spirit of Christ may accompany his Word that so this may be a meanes to awaken and to quicken thee out of thy naturall estate and to raise thee out of the death of sinne Thou must pray to God to give thee a hearing eare and a beleeving heart that so the sound of the Word may not be as the sound of a Trumpet in the eares of a dead man but that thou mayst be quickned by the voyce of Christ. And though thou have continued a long time in thy sinnes yet bee not altogether discouraged remember that Christ is able to raise thee though thou have continued never so long in thy sinnes for hee that was able to raise Lazarus that was dead and buried and now stinking in the Grave he is able to raise up thee also In the last place in one word if upon examination thou find thou have attained to this spirituall Resurrection then here is a ground of exhortation To humilitie thankfulnesse Here is a ground of Exhortation to Humilitie and Thankfulnesse to joyne them both together because they usually goe together the proud person is alway unthankfull and the humble man is alway a thankfull man Now if thou have attained to this Resurrection thou hast great cause to be humble and to bee thankfull First thou hast great cause to bee humbled because thou hast nothing but that thou hast received thou hast great cause to bee humbled because thou puttest not any hand to this worke no more than the dead body of Lazarus could helpe to the raising of him No more then a creature being nothing can helpe to its owne creation no more can a sinner helpe forward this worke of his Resurrection therefore thou hast cause to be humbled for not putting the least helping hand to this worke it is wholly supernaturall Therefore let not any one arrogate any thing to the power of his free-will but remember the worke is wholly supernaturall Secondly as we have cause to be humbled so to be thankfull too doe but consider the desperate and dangerous estate of sinne whence thou art raised and then make thy humble confession with the Israelites when they brought their first fruites before God Deut. 26. 5. A Syrian ready to perish was my father hee went into Egypt with a few and became a Nation mightie and populous and the Lord brought him out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an out-stretched arme with terrour and signes and wonders and hath brought us to this place and hath given us this Land even a Land flowing with
Kindnes so unkinde and harsh But what was his behaviour under all these For the generall sweet and heavenly For some particulars sad and weak when faith did worke hee was above all his stormes In the deepest calamitie faith can settle and compose the soule and fill it with the sweetest comforts When sense and nature did worke then hee was much impatient and the winde had the better over him In the one hee shewes himselfe a Christian In the other a man In the one Iob is beyond himselfe in the other below himselfe According to the time and manner of these severall workings he is like or unlike himselfe Thus it is with the best whose outward change doth not more vary but their inward carriage doth as much change At length Iob after many disputes with his friends and conflicts with himselfe concenterates his thoughts in two maine Points 1 One was still to trust in God let him bee what hee will and let him doe what hee will though hee should continue his present tryalls yea and exceed them though hee should kill mee yet saith hee Chap. 13. 15. though hee slay mee I will trust in him and there he disposeth of his soule 2 Another was to prepare for death all the dayes of my appointed time I will waite till my change come and there hee disposeth of his bodie Many arguments hee layeth downe in this Chapter which did occasion him to these thoughts and resolutions The first is the brevitie of mans life Verse 1. 2. Man thâ—…t is borne of a Woman is of few dayes hee commeth forth like a Flower and is cut downe hee fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not He sayth not yeeres nor moneths nor weekes but dayes and these dayes not many but few and these few dayes not long but short as quickly set as the shadow as quickly cropt as the flower Secondly the misery of that short life in the same place and full of trouble as if every Article of life were replenished with sorrow even as every veine of the body is with bloud this is own experience could tell him Thirdly the certaintie of Death The Sunne hath his appointed race which in the Winter is short in the Summer long but in both it hath a certaine time of setting so the race of mans life to some it may be shorter to some longer but the night will come and all must be closed up in Death verse 5. His dayes are determined the number of them they are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds which hee cannot passe and if so then high time for Iob to thinke of it and prepare for it Death began in a manner to seize on him already in severall parts in his feet for his wealth was gone in his loynes having lost his children in his heart his friends leaving him in his bosome for his wife was a discomforter nay in his very life it selfe so much as was wrapt up in the outward part of his body for that was diseased in his speech and spirits they grew hoarse and faint all these were the harbingers of a future dissolution Well therefore might Iob conclude ever I must not live and long I cannot live therefore though in much miserie and in bad dayes I will thinke of Death and fit my selfe for a good end and apply my selfe seriously and wisely for a good worke All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my change come Which words containe in them two parts First his future dissolution which hee calls a change and a change that is comming upon him as if hee had beene the next man till my change come Secondly his present disposition I will waite hee thinkes of death before death and prepares to die while yet he lives Neither was this a death-pang a fitte a humour which began quickly and expired suddenly Nay he will make it a serious businesse as if this should be his every dayes worke All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite Some reade it of my appointed warfare and others of my appointed labour they all intimate that hee meanes by his appointed time his appointed life the lease or terme of breathing which God had allotted allowed and decreed There are two propositions which naturally issue from the words and comprehend the juyce and marrow of the Text. First that there is a change which will befall the sonnes of men 2. Secondly we should alwayes waite till it come I begin with the first that There is a change which will befall the sonnes of men Be we poore or bee we rich bee we noble or bee we ignoble be we prosperous or be we afflicted be we strong or be we weake be we old or be we young be we good or be we bad be we male or be wee female whatsoever our natures bee whatsoever our parts be whatsoever our places be whatsoever our ages be whatsoever our courses be whatsoever our wayes be how faire and how durable our estates may appeare yet at length there is a change which will befall us That which Iacob spake in a patheticall way Ioseph is not and Simeon is not may truly be said of all the sonnes of men once they were now they are not though once we reckoned them upon our account yet at length they are shut out and stand aside as cyphers But that you may the better understand what change it is that is here meant you are to know that there is a fourefold change First a change of the condition this I call a temporall change wherein some or more or all of our outward câ—…mforts are shrivelled and feared up by some present miserie When povertie breakes in upon us as the hunter doth upon his game and causeth our riches as so many birds to which Solomon compares them to take to themselves wings and flye away When sicknesse stayeth our health in the bed and imprisoneth us to the chamber When our friends glide away from us like a river through their Apostacie or start aside like a broken bowe through their falshood or trecherie When the neere relation of Husband and Wife Parents and Children is cut asunder and the many sad teares for their losse imbitter all our former comforts But this is not the change intended in the Text. Secondly there is a change of the Body and this I call a corporall change for even these vilde bodyes of ours shall bee changed Looke as the spring is a refreshing change to the season of the yeare so shall the Resurrection be an exceeding change to our bodyes or as the morning is a change to the night so at the Resurrection shall our bodyes awake and their corruption shall put on incorruption neither is this the change which Iob here intends immediatly though some expound his ayme to be at this from whom I cannot absolutely dissent yet I thinke they hit not the right scope Thirdly there is a change of the Soule that I call a
more then that such a numbring as is joyned with an applying of our hearts to wisedome and the reason is because wisedome it directs to the choyce of such particular actions and works as tend to happinesse so should a man after his serious consideration of death applie himselfe to such wayes and such actions by which hee may comfortably close up his life with death it is a great point of wisedome to sute actions with their ends to fit and square the wood before wee build the house to learne and discipline a troope before they goe to battell to rigge and trimme and furnish the shippe before wee launch to sea this is preparation indeed Now this preparation for death consists in two things First in an undoing of that which unfits us to dye Brethren hee who is not fit to live hee is not yet fit to dye and that which ever masters the life will be of greatest force in death The Father spake it boldly on good grounds I am not ashamed to live nor afraid to dye now that which unfits a man to dye is sinne it makes him finde a bitter enemie of death Oh when this King of terrours shall present himselfe by thy bed side with his arrowes in his hands I meane thy sinnes hee will wound thee with infinite amazement and horrour the sting of death is sinne saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. Thou dost not prepare thy selfe for death if thou dost not undoe thy sinnes which thou hast done in thy life the which consists First in a narrow search of thy sinfulnesse both of nature and practice Secondly in a secret humbling of thy soule for them Thirdly in an unfeigned repentance and forsaking of them Fourthly in a constant imploring and obtainig of mercie for them in the bloud of Christ. If thy soule doth give sinne its discharge now death shall give thy soule a discharge hereafter Secondly in the quallifying our persons for the conquest of death there are three things by which wee shall bee able cheerefully to meet and assuredly to conquer death First by having interest in the Lord Jesus The sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law but thankes bee to God who hath given us victorie through our Lord Iesus Christ. If thou hast gotten Christ into thy armes by faith thou carriest thy peace strength and advantage both through life and death For wee are more then conquerours through him that loved us sayth the Apostle Rom. 8. 37. And to mee to live is Christ and to die is gaine sayth the same Apostle Phil. 1. 21. if thou hast a good Christ thou mayst bee confident of a good death Secondly renewednesse of our nature What Saint Iohn spake of the Martyrs as some conjecture Blessed and happie is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power that say I of a person renewed by the sanctifying qualitie of Gods Spirit I happie is hee hee shall have power even over the first death The Spirit and the Bride sayth come if a man hath gotten the heavenly Spirit which beautifies the soule with the ornaments of Grace as the Bride is with her ornaments hee is a fitted person hee may well say to Death come and to Christ come Lord Iesus come quickly Thirdly uprightnesse of conversation Righteousnesse delivers from death sayth Solomon and the righteous hath hope in his death if a mans worke be Christs service if hee have a heart enclined to keepe a good conscience in all things to keepe himselfe exact to the rule and to walke with God Blessed is that servant which his Master when he commeth shall find so doing that man that hath looked to Gods Word to guide his life may confidently look up to Gods mercie to comfort him in death Remember O Lord sayth Hezekiah Isa. 39. how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Now all this doth the wayting for our change import in the Text to wit a serious expectation of it first by undoing those sinnes of ours which else for ever will undoe us and by interesting our persons into Christ from whom we must likewise receive the Spirit to change our hearts and uprightnesse to forme a-new our conversation But then you will say Why must there be such a wayting for this these grave clothes are too sadde for the freshnesse of our life and would you have us be like the mad-man in the Gospell who lived among the Sepulchres Nay I beseech you let us consider and settle our thoughts a little and you shall be stayed with reason there are many strong Arguments and reasons why we should thus waite both by expectation and preparation First it is the maine errand of our life God did not send us into this world to sinne and to adorne our selves with the creature but to bring him some honour and then to dye the factor is not imployed to take his pleasure abroad but to doe his Masters worke and then to returne home Tertullian confesseth he was a great sinner and therefore borne to repentance therefore doth God give us life as the Master allowes the servant a candle to worke by that we may repent of our sinnes and get our hold in Christ and worke out our salvation and doe the great businesse of beleeving to be good and to doe good and so by Death to goe up to heaven Secondly death is but once and that needs to bee well done which can be but once done if there might be another space after death a second edition to correct the faults and escapes of the former then a present and speedie preparation were not altogether so necessarie but saith the Apostle It is appointed for all men once to dye and after death to come to judgement Heb. 9. 27. no more but once Wee usually shadow out Death with an houre-glasse A fit Embleme but that when an houre-glasse is runne out it may bee turned againe but this once out can be set up no more thou shalt never live to amend thy errours in dying O then how needfull is it before-hand to prepare for Death Thirdly when death hath done with thee then God will begin with thee thou must once die and after this come to Judgement Heb. 9. 27. To judgement what is that thou must bee presented before the holy and just and great God who is the Judge of the quicke and the dead and with all that thou art and with all that thou hast done there must appeare then before him all the courses of thy life all the bent of thy affections all the secrets of thy heart shall then be pulled in peeces and opened and all thy workes and all thy words shall bee exhibited scann'd and surveyed and that with severity and righteousnesse how say you then is it not fit to be preparing for Death to fit thy soule to reforme thy heart and life wilt thou
returneth to her Mothers house the earth but the soule the Bridegroome to his Fathers house the Father of 〈◊〉 in Heaven as both their gests are set forth in this chapter verse 7. the dust returnes to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave iâ—… But in the evening of the World at that dreadfull night after which the Angell swore there should bee no more day or time here the soule is given by God to the bodie againe and then the marriage is consummated and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better for worse to runne one everlasting fortune and to participate either eternall joyes or torments together Thus man is brought to his long home or as the Seventy and Saint Ierome render the Hebrew his house of eternitie and the mourners go about the streets here is a short reckoning of all mankinde like to that of the Psalmist who alluding to the name of the two Patriarches sayth Coll ADAM ABEL All men are altogether vanitie so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventâ—…res casting all appeare wretched and miserable describitur miseria mortis in morientibus compatientibus all are either dead corpses or sad mourners corpses alreadie dead or mourners for the dead and their courses and motions are two 1 Straite man goeth c. 2 Circular mourners goe about The dead goe directly to their long home the living fetch a compasse and round about the termini of which their motions shall bee the bounds of my discourse at this present Wherein that you may the better discerne my passage from point to point I will set up sixe Posts or standings 1 The Scope 2 Coherence 3 Sense 4 Parts 5 Doctrine 6 Use. The Scope will give light to the Coherence the Coherence to the Sense the Sense to the Parts the Parts to the Doctrine the Doctrine to the Use. Wherefore I humbly entreate the assistance of Gods Spirit with the intention of yours whil'st in unfolding this rich peece of Arras I shall point with the finger to 1 The maine Scope 2 The right Coherence 3 The litterall Sense 4 The naturall Division 5 The generall Doctrine 6 The speciall application of this parcell of holy Scripture First the Scope Although all other Canonicall bookes of this old and new Testament were read in the Church yet as Gregorie Nyssen acutely observes this booke alone is intituled Ecclesiastes the Preacher or Church-man because this alone in a manner tendeth wholy to Ecclesiasticall politie or such a kinde of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher or Church-man For the prime scope of this booke is to stirre up all religious mindes to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth to enter speedily into a strict course of holinesse which will bring us to eternall happinesse to dedicate to God and his service the prime in both senses that is the first and best part of our time For as in a glasse of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out and nothing but lees and mouther at the last so it is in our time and age Optima queque dies miseries mortalibus â—…vi prima fluit Our best dayes first runne and our worst at the last And shall wee offer that indignitie to the Divine Majestie as to offer him the Devills leavings florem aetat is 〈◊〉 consecrâ—…re faecem Deo reservarâ—… to consecrate the toppe to the Devill and the bottome to God feed the flesh with the flower and the spirit with the 〈◊〉 serve the world with our strength and our Creatour with ouâ—… weaknesse give up our lusty and able members as weapons 〈◊〉 sâ—…nne and our feeble and weake to righteousnesse Will God accept the blinde and the lame the leane and the withered for a sacrifice How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age when our memorie and all other faculties of the soule are decaied How shall wee beare Christs yoake when the Grashopper is a burthen unto us when wee are not able to beare our selves but bow under the sole waight of age What delight can wee take in Gods service when care and feare and sorrow and paine and manifold infirmities and diseases wholy possesse the heart and dead all the vitall motions and lively affections thereof Old men are a kinde of Antipodes to young men it is evening with them when it is morning with these it is Autumne in their bodies when it is Spring in these the Spring of the yeare to decrepâ—…t old men is as the Fall Summer is Winter to them and Winter death it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish which is the Prognosticatour of the Spring or the Grashopper leape and sing the Preludium of Summer for they now minde not the Almond-tree but the Cypresse nor thinke of the Grashopper but of the worme because they are far on in their way to their long home and the mourners are already in the streets marshalling as it were their troops and setting all in equipage for their funerall no dilectable objects affect their dull and dying sences but are rather grievous unto them as the Sunne and Raine are to old stumpes of trees which make them not spring againe but rot them rather and dispose them to putrifaction And so I have past the first and am come to the second Post or standing The right Coherence When they shall be afrayd of that which is high and feare shall be in the way and the Almod-tree shall flourish and the Grashoper shall bee a burthen and desire shall faile because man goeth to his long home If this Consequence be firme the Coherence must needs bee good but if this bee infirme and lame that must needes bee out of joynt let us then consider of the Consequence Surely Aristotle seemeth to bee of another minde whose observation it is old men that have their foot on Deaths threshold would then draw backe their legge if they could and at the very instant of their dissolution are most desirous of the continuance of their life and seeing the pleasures of sâ—…e like the Apples of Tantaâ—… running away from them they catch at them the more grâ—…dily for want is the 〈◊〉 one of dâ—…ire and experience offereth us many instances of old men in whâ—… Saint 〈◊〉 growes young againe who according to the corruption of nature which Saint Austin bewaileth with teares â—…alunt libidiâ—…em expleri quam exâ—…gui they are so faâ—…re from having no lust or desire of pleasures as being cloyed there with that they are more insatiable in them then in youth the flesh in them is like the Peacockes quae â—…ctarecrudescit which after it is sod in time will grow raw again so in them after mortification by diseases and age it reviveth Sophocles the Heathen Poet might passe for a Saint in comparison of them for hee
here we see to the end we should not exceed in our mirth or too farre set our heart upon the pleasures and comforts of this life which like sticks under a pot after a blaze fall suddenly into ashes Let us learne from all the changes and chances of this mortall life not to sing a requiem to our soules here with the foole in the Gospell because wee have wealth laid up for us for many yeares for if our riches take not their wings and flye away from us wee shall bee taken away from them we shall be arrested by Gods Bayliffe Death and then wee must goe But thou shalt goe Our observations from this Scripture ariseth from two springs 1. The manner 2. The matter The former divides it selfe into two Rivelets the latter into three In the former to wit the manner I observe 1. That these words were spoken to Abraham in a Dreame when the Sunne was going downe a heavie sleepe fell upon him 2. That they were spoken by way of Gracious promise In the latter to wit the matter I observe three blessings bestowed upon Abraham 1. A comfortable death Thou shalt goe in peace 2. An honourable buriall and bee buried with thy Fathers 3. A seasonable time for both in a good old age First of the manner When the Sunne was setting a dead sleepe and dreadfull darknesse fell upon Abraham and God shewed him in a dreame the miserie and thraldome of his posteritie in Egypt Know of a suretie that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them 400. yeares vers 13. and lest at the sight hereof his heart should utterly have failed him and his bowels dried up within him like a pot-sheard God cleareth the skie which was clowded with a smoake of a fiery furnace ver 17. and cheareth his heart reviving him with a promise of safetie and peace for himselfe and of deliverance of his posteritie also out of their grievous servitude after a certaine period of yeares allotted for the promise of the growth and ripenesse of the Amorites sinnes For dreames in generall the great Secretarie of Nature discovereth unto us that the Dreames of good men are better than the Dreames of bad and he will have his foelix or happy man to have a singular priviledge above other men even in his sleepe And doubtlesse as a good conscience is a full feast in the day so it is a light banquet in the night for better thoughts and phantasies in the day beget better dreames in the night as the brighter colours in the Window when the Sunne shineth cast clearer species intentionales or reflections from them on the Wall God is with his children as well in the night as in the day and he imparts his counsells and discloseth his secrets as well by dreames in the one as by visions in the other That prophesie of Ioel I will poure out my spirit upon all flesh and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dreame dreames though it were fulfilled in the day of Penticost as Saint Peter instructeth us yet ought it not to be restrained to that day or the Apostles time only For it hath been verified in all after-ages and holdeth still for profitable and comfortable irradiations of Gods Spirit upon the soule by day and night though not for supernaturall and propheticall revelations or not so frequent Dreames therefore as they are not with the Easterne people superstitiously to be observed so neither are they utterly to be neglected as idle and vaine nocturnall phantasies The Poet could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iupiter sends Dreames and Aristotle dreamed not when hee wrote his exact discourse of Divination by dreames nor Artemidorus when hee published his curious tract intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 judgement of Dreames for the experience of all times proveth that the Dreames of many men especially a little before their death have been very considerable When the Windowes of the senses are shut the soule hath best leisure to looke into her selfe and after sicknesse hath battered downe the walls of the darke prison of the body in which she was close kept more light breakes in upon her and she seeth farther off then she could before and this is the meaning of the Platonicks in that their Apophthegme anima promonet in morte The soule lookes out as it were neere death For this particular in my Text God is gracious to many of his children now adayes by Dreames or otherwayes to give them notice of their departure hence To some he maketh knowne the yeare to some the moneth to some the very day and houre when they shall goe the way of all flesh And as here he fore-shewed Abraham his departure from hence per viam lacteum by the milkie way as it were that is by a sweet and pleasant passage of a naturall death in the autumn of his life so also in a Dreame he represented to Saint Polycarpe and Saint Cyprian their passage per viam sanguineam The bloody way of martyrdome Policarp not many moneths before hee was sacrificed for a whole burnt-offering to God dreamed that his bed was all on fire under him and Saint Cyprian saw in a Dreame the Proconsull give order to the Clerke of the Assizes to write downe his sentence which was to have his head cut off with a Sword which when the Clerke by signes made knowne to Saint Cyprian the godly Bishop earnestly desired a little delay of the execution that he might set his house in order and the Clerke answered him in his dreame that his petition was granted and so it fell out accordingly that that day twelve moneth after he had this Dreame this Saint of God closing first his owne eyes lost his head on earth but received a glorious crowne of martyrdome in heaven The second thing I observed in the manner was that these words were uttered by way of promise to Abraham whence Calvin rightly inferreth that Abrahams long life was a favour of God unto him not the purchase of his owne merits much lesse the fruit of his owne care for although speaking in ordinè ad secundas causas a man may be said by the observation of physick rules to prolong his dayes upon earth as Galen did who was otherwayes a man of a very crazie body and could not in all likelyhood have held out halfe so long yet if wee speake simply and absolutely it is certaine that as no man can by his care adde a cubite to his stature nor an houre to his life beyond the period set by God before all time for my times are in thy hands saith David and our dayes are determined saith Iob the number of our moneths is with thee thou hast appointed man his bounds which hee cannot passe Job 14. 5. and 7. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man are not his dayes as the dayes
had beene rather a singular favour to have kept him out of the common tracke with Enoch and have translated him that hee might not see death this objection is answered in the next words In peace it is no speciall blessing or favour to bring us to our fathers by death for statutum est omnibus hominibus semel mori the Statute provideth sufficiently to send us to the place where wee were borne but to send us thither in peace is a singular favour which God vouchsafeth his deare Children especially in such a peace as Abraham went in wherein a three-fold peace concurred 1 Peace of estaâ—… 2 Peace of bodie 3 Peace of conscience First thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace that is in a peaceable time or the dayes of peace the stormes I foreshewed thee hanging over thy Posteritie shall not fall in thy time but thou shalt dye in a blessed calme thy house being set in order and thy friends about thee thy children shall close thine eyes and they whom thou broughtest into the World shall carry thee with honour out of the World Secondly thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace that is thou shalt have an easie and a quiet passe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there shall bee no great strugling at thy departure but a kinde parting of soule and bodie thy soule shall earnestly desire to returne to the Father of spirits and though thy bodie shall contend in courtesie to stay it a while yet it shall without much adoe yeeld thou shalt like a ripe Apple fall from the Tree without plucking or a violent blast of Winde thou shalt goe out of thy selfe as a golden Taper when the waxe is spent and thou shalt leave a sweet smell a good name like a precious perfume after thee Thirdly thou shalt goe to thy fathers in peace that is in peace of conscience and peace with God which passeth all understanding thou shalt have no trouble in thy minde at the houre of death no terrours of conscience no fearefull conflict with despaire no dangerous assault of Sathan no flashes of hell fire all thy sinnes shall bee blowne away like a cloud and the beames of Gods countenance shall shine brightly upon thee and dry up all thy teares non sic impij non sic it shall not bee so with the wicked it shall not bee so with them for there is no peace to the wicked sayth my God neither in life nor death but as a ruffe sea is ruffest of all and most foaming and raging of all at the shore so the life of a wicked man is alwaies unquiet but most troublesome at all neare the end If hee die not in some garboyle as Sylla or in the act of uncleannes with Iohn the Twelfe or voyding his entralls with Arrius or rending his bowells with Iulian or falling upon his own sword with Nero or rayling and raging with Latomus if hee bee not punished in bodie with some violent â—…it of sicknesse or unsufferable pang of torment yet hee goeth not to his fathers in peace for there is sent a hue and cry after him to apprehend him and lay him in chaines of darknesse till the generall Assises at the dreadfull day of Doome when hee shall not bee â—…ound of God in peace but in wrath and reading in the looke of the â—…udge of quick and dead his dreadfull sentence hee shall cry to the hills to fall upon him and to the mountaines to cover him from the presence of God and wrath of the Lambe And thou shalt bee buried in a good old age Although the heathen Philosophers 〈◊〉 little accompt of of Buriall as appeared by that speech of Theodorus to the Tyrant who thretned to hang him I little passe by it whether my carkasse putrifie above the earth or on it and the Poet seemes to bee of his minde whose strong line it was Câ—…lo 〈◊〉 qui â—…on habet 〈◊〉 which was Pompeys case and had like to have beene Alexanderâ—… and William the Conquerours Yet all Christians who conceive more divinely on the soule deale more humanly with the bodie which they acknowledge to bee membrum Christi and Templum Dei amember of Christ and Temple of God If charitie commands thee to cover the naked sayth Saint Ambrose how much more to burie the dead when a friend is taking a long journey it is civilitie for his friends to bring him on part of the way when our friends are departed and now going to their grave they are taking their last journey from which they shall never returne till time shall be no more and can wee doe lesse then by accompaning the Corpes to the grave bring them as it were part on their way and shed some few teares for them whom wee shall see no more with mortall eyes The Prophet calleth the grave Miscabin a sleeping chamber or resting place and when wee read Scriptures to them that are departing and give them godly instructions to dye wee light them as it were to their bed and when wee send a deserved testimonie after them wee perfume the roome Indeed if our bodies which like garments wee cast off at our death were never to bee worne againe wee need little care where they were throwne or what became of them but seeing they must serve us againe their fashion being onely altered it is fit wee carefully lay them up in deaths Wardrobe the grave though a man after hee have lost the jewell doth lesse set by the casket yet hee who loves much and highly esteemeth of the soule of his friend as Alexander did of Homer cannot but make some reckoning of the Deske or Cabinet in which it alwaies lay wee have a care of placing the picture of our friend and should wee not much more of bestowing his bodie If buriall were nothing to the dead God would never have threatned Coniah that hee should have the buriall of an Asse nor the Psalmist so quavered upon this dolefull note dederunt cadaver servorum tuorum coeli volucribus O God the heathen are come into thine inheritance thy holy Temple have they defiled and made Ierusalem an heape of stones the dead bodies of thy servants have they given to the fowles of Heaven But thou shalt bee buried in a good old age Procopius observeth it in Miriam Aaron and Moses that as they exceeded one the other in holinesse so in dayes for Aaron out lived Miriam and Moses Aaron long life is a crowne when it is found in the wayes of righteousnesse cum senectute bona and albeit it is almost the burthen of every mans song that age is a burthen and a perpetuall disease or rather a continuall tract of diseases and a sequence of maladies yet none for ought I see goeth about to lay downe this burthen or to bee cured of this disease even they who most eloquently declaime upon the vanitie and exclaime against the miseries of this life and wish a thousand times that
saith the spirit Or because this asseveration concerning the condition of the Saints departed is propositia necessaria as the Schooles speake we will cloath the members of the division with tearmes apodicticall and in this verse observe 1. A conclusion sientificall whereof the parts are 1. The subject indefinite mortui the dead 2. The attribute absolute beati blessed 3. The cause propter quam the Lord or dying in the Lord. 2. The proofe demonstrative and that two-fold 1. A priori 1. By a heavenly oracle I heard a voyce c. 2. A divine testimonie So saith the spirit 2. A posteriori by arguments drawne 1. From their cessation from their worke They rest from their labours 2. Their remuneration for their workes Their workes follow them Where the matter is pretious a decision of the least quantitie is a great losse and therefore as the spie of nature observeth the Iewellers will not rubbe out a small clowde or specke in an orient Rubie because the lessening the substance will more disadvantage them then the fetching out of the spot advance them in the sale Neither will the Alcumists lose a drop of quintessence nor the Apothecaries a graine of Bezar nor an exact Commentatour upon holy Scriptures any syllables of a voyce from heaven the eccho whereof is more melodious to the soule then any consort of most tuneable voyces upon earth can be In which regard I hold it fit to relinquish my former divisions and insist upon each word of this verse as a Bee sitteth upon each particular flower that wee may not lose any drop of doctrine sweeter then the honey and the honey combe any leafe of the tree of life any dust of the gold of Ophir 1. I there were three men in holy Scriptures tearmed Iedidiah that is Beloved of God Solomon Daniel and Saint Iohn the Evangelist and to all these God made knowne the secrets of his Kingdome by speciall revelation and their prophecies are for the most part of a mysticall interpretation This Revelation was given to Iohn when hee was in the spirit upon the Lords day and if wee religiously observe the Lords day and then bee in the spirit as hee was giving our selves wholly to the contemplation of Divine mysteries wee shall also heare voyces from heaven in our soules and consciences Heard with what eares could Saint Iohn heare this voyce sith hee was in a spirituall rapture which usually shutteth up all the doores of the senses I answer that as spirits have tongues to speake withall whereof wee reade 1 Cor. 13. 1. Though I speake with the tongues of men and Angels so they have eares to heare one another that is a spirituall facultie answerable to our bodily sense of hearing The Apostle sayth of himselfe that hee was in the spirit and as he was in the spirit so he saw in the spirit and heard inthe spirit and spake in the spirit and moved in the spirit and did all those things which are recorded in this Booke When Saint Paul was wrapd up into the third Heaven and heard there words that cannot be uttered and saw things which cannot bee represented with the eye hee truely and really apprehended those objects yet not with carnall but spirituall sences where with Saint Iohn heard this voice A voyce from Heaven The Pythagoreans taught that the Calestiall spheares by the regular motions produced harmonious sounds and the Psalmist teacheth us that the Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke and that there is no speech nor language where there voyce is not heard but that was the voyce of Heaven it selfe demonstrately proving and after a sort proclaiming the Majestie of the Creatour But this is vox de coelo a voyce from Heaven pronounced by God himselfe or formed by an Angell so Gasper Melo expresly teacheth us Saint Iohn heard a voyce not sounding outwardly but inwardly framed by that Angell who revealed unto him the whole Apocalypse Saint Iohn here heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Write and Sain Austin heard a voyce from Heaven commanding him to Read Tolle lege and most requesite it is that where Heaven speakes the earth should heare and where God writes that man should reade There never yet came any voice from Heaven which it did not much import and concerne the earth to heare The first voice that came from Heaven was heard on Mount Sinai and it was to confirme the Law to bee of divine authoritie and establish our faith in God the Creatour A second voice from Heaven we heare â—…o in Saint Peter on the holy Mount when the Apostles were there with Christ and it was to confirme the Gospell and to establish our faith in Christ the Redeemer A third voice or sound was heard from Heaven in the upper roome where Christs Apostles were assembled in the day of Pentecost and it was to confirme out faith in the holy Ghost the Comforter A fourth voice that came from Heaven was heard by Saint Peter in a vision and it was to confirme our faith in the Catholike Church and the Communion of Saints and the incorporating both Iewes and Gentileâ—… in one mysticall bodie Lastly a voice was heard from Heaven by Saint Iohn in this place to establish our faith in the last Article of the Creed concerning the happinesse of the dead and the glorious estate of the Tryumphant Church and the life of the World to come If wee desire to bee informed concerning the affaires of the Abissens or those of China Sumatra or Iapan wee conferre with those that are of the same Countrey or have travelled into those parts and for the like reason if wee desire to bee instructed concerning the state and condition of the Citizens of the Heavenly Ierusalem their infinite number their excellent order their singular priviledges their everlasting joyes their feasts their robes their palmes their thrones their crownes wee must enquire of them who either are inhabitants there or have brought us newes from thence nothing but a voice from Heaven can enforce our assent to these heavenly mysteries Now as all words of Kings are of great authoritie but especially their Edicts and Proclamations so all voices from Heaven are highly to bee regarded and religiously obeyed but especially Decrees and Statutes which are commanded by the authoritie of the high Court of Heaven to bee written for perpetuitie such as this is in my Text I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write with a Pen of Diamond in letters never to bee obliterated write it so that it may bee read of men in all succeeding Ages even to the last man that shall stand upon the earth Here I cannot sufficiently admire the boldnesse of Cardinall Bellarmine who to disparage the necessitie of holy Scripture and cry up unwritten traditions which are the best evidence hee can produce for his new Trent Creed blusheth not to publish it to the World in
die Saint Paul was growne humble and the Lord had prevailed upon him kept downe his spirit from being exalted above measure and now saith he my life is not deare to mee he was content to lay downe 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 tooke off from all that puffes up the spirit of a man he will be content to lay downe any of those things even life it selfe if need be Againe secondly Doth God doe it to strengthen faith in a man then the more thou strengthenest faith the more thou shalt be freed from these feares you know faith lookes upon Christ as the proper obiect of it and the more a man interesteth himselfe in Christ the more by Christ hee is freed from the feare of Death Christ hath redeemed us from the Grave and from Death and therefore when by faith hee lookes upon Christ and through him upon Death hee lookes upon that as a thing made instead of poison a medicine in stead of a destroyer a Saviour and deliverer as a meanes to free him from the bondage of sinne and miserie and afflictions c. Thirdly Doth God doe this that he may make men more holy and watchfull in their course then certainly the more thou canst purge out thy sinne in the course of thy life the lesse thou shalt feare death The sting of Death is sinne then if thou wilt have Death comfortable let thy life be conformable to Gods rule and word or else every sinne will present it selfe in death before thee specially those sinnes thou allowest thy selfe in will make Death as bitter as Hell Fourthly Doth God doe it for this end that he may make thee better prepared for death Then the more thou art prepared for Death before hand the lesse thou shalt feare it when it commeth 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 learne this wisedome to die daily that is be every day imployed as dying daily I meane for the manner of your carriage not for the matter for the substance of the dutie If a man were sure to die this day he would lay aside all businesse and set himselfe to be prepared for judgement and would lay aside the use of any other comforts and delights But that is not the meaning but this that we carry our selves in businesse every day as if Death should seize upon us in that businesse that we might be found well-doing that is when a man followeth his earthly businesse with a heavenly mind when he keepeth to the rule of righteousnesse 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 doe things to a right end and in a right maner 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 terrible be so imployed as that your actions may be good both for matter and forme that you are now about because Death may strike you in such an action But I cannot stand on these particulars Againe for the causes in our selves If you would be freed from the terrours of Death then rectifie your apprehensions and opinions of Death thinke 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 naturall Ill as you account it It is rather a cure of nature for assoone as ever we live we are dying and all our life it is but a living death a continuall decaying and dying Now when death commeth it putteth an end to all the decayes of nature and setteth all right againe It is but asleepe and sleepe it is not a destruction but a helpe of the bodie and that which inableth to vigour and strength and fitnesse to action Againe it is not the destruction of any part of a man the body it selfe 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 beddes saith the Prophet The grave is but as a bed wherein the body lies asleepe and no man you know is troubled with feare that hee goeth to bed The grave is but as Gods chest to keepe in all his Treasure whereof the bodies of his servants are apart 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 againe and then it shall be as good as ever it was nay I say not onely as good but much better too for our vile bodies shall bee made like the glorious bodie of Christ. Phil. 3. No man when he goeth to bed thinkes much to have his old cloathes taken off that they may be mended and made better against morning When we sleepe in the Grave it is no more but this the garment of the soule the body the old apparell 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 Soule Death doth not destroy that neither for know this the soule liveth for ever the bodie indeed returneth to the Earth as it was but the soule returneth to God that gave it The soule I say liveth that is the thing that Christ himselfe 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 wee looke to the separation of the soule and body in the cessation of bodily actions but if we looke to the better part of Abraham his soule that continueth the ever-living God hath made an everlasting Covenant with him and therefore he dieth not Againe it is not onely 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 holinesse after But for those actions of the soule 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 soule is much hindered by the body A distempered sicke
of the Father dwelling in him This shall suffice for the clearing of the point I have spent the more time in it because I would faine lay as good a foundation as I might that the Application may take the deeper impression in your hearts Wee that live in the Countrey when we come up by occasion into the Citie and here see all men so full of trouble every man so toyled in his worke so full of businesse and so little time taken for any thing else me thinkes that such a point as this to Brethren to beleevers should be of speciall use Now beloved this is the summe of that I have to say Bee in all these things as if not Shall wee all resolve as obedient children to carry this point home and examine in deed and in truth whether wee be in these things as if not But alas what shall I say I remember a story of one Thomas Lennot a learned English man who reading once in the fifth sixth and seventh Chapters of S. Mathews Gospel how our Saviour Christ saith You have heard how it hath beene said of old you must doe thus and thus but I say unto you you must love your enemies pray for them that curse you doe good to them that hate you and persecute you and so hee goeth on in injoyning such strange duties to flesh and bloud Hee breakes out Oh Iesus either this is not thy Gospel or wee are not Christians Truly beloved I would to God a Minister might not have just cause to say so in this point that when hee commeth and reades this of the Apostle It remaines brethren that hee that hath a wife bee as if hee had none hee that useth the world as not abusing it and hee that buyeth as if hee possessed not c. And must it be thus if wee meane to be Christians I would to God I say a man might not breake out and say Oh Paul either thou art not the writer of this or wee are no Christians Wee talke and professe it in words that we purpose to doe it but if wee come to the deed and the truth it is cleane contrary wee are not at all moderate in the use of these things In matters of Heaven and in things that concerne our everlasting welfare where God would have us take the kingdome of heaven with violence Where wee should cry out as the Horse-leach his daughter Give give and never say it is enough Wee are even like children that goe to schoole that care not how little they have for their money In hearing if the Sermon bee but halfe an houre wee thinke it enough and in prayer and in conference a little will serve the turne Like the Jesuit that when he thought he had a revelation he cryed out Satis Domine Enough Lord I have revelation enough So wee in matters of religion Enough Lord. But turne us to wives to children to clothes to honours to preferments to riches to ease to pleasures and the like there wee are as the barren wombe that never saith it is enough Brethren is it not thus But me thinkes I should bring you some particular instances to convince you that it is thus and I would to the Lord I could throughly convince you of it that thus it is with you But to instance a little Suppose now a man comes and meets with a Citizen in his businesse and say to him How have you spent this day Truly he will say I am so full of businesse that I have not time so much as to eat my meat But I hope you have beene at prayer in your family have you not Alas will hee say I cannot get so much as a quarter of an houres time Doe you call this as if not brethren Come to another that hath a wife all his care is for her oh my wife and children if I should die and leave them poore what should I doe when I sleepe I dreame of them when I awake in the morning my thoughts are of them Is this to be as if you had no wife and children Another hee is ever a complaining and mourning oh I have such crosses I am so full of afflictions I have lost such and such friends and such and such an estate and though I goe to Church and heare such and such comfortable doctrines one after another and all telling me of the all-sufficiency of God of the comforts and joyes of the Spirit of the good things that are layed up in Heaven yet like Rachel they will never bee comforted for their brother for their sister for their children c. What shall we say to these things Doe you thinke the Lord speakes not as he meaneth or that the Apostle when he saith here absolutely and determinatly that thus and thus you must doe if you be Christians if you be brethren Shall wee doe the contrary to all this and yet thinke that all will bee well I know you may put it off many of you and alledge many things wee have callings and wee must follow our Callings if God brings me in imployment blame me not if I follow it And I know not how to live if I doe not doe thus and thus But be not deceived God is not mocked In a word therefore to put you on the tryall If thou findest in the middest of thy trading and merchandizing or whatsoever calling thou art of thy heart daily gathering towards heaven that thou canst say blessed be God for this and other commodities but Christ is my darling this is good And then in these things if thou hast a care to use them aright as well as to get them and to thanke God for them and that thy project is how thou shalt doe good with that thou hast that thou art alwayes saying with thy selfe Lord how shall I doe good with so much as I have got by such a bargaine God forbid I should say against thee though thou bee full of businesse from morning to evening But alas there are many good people and godly that give hope that they serve God yet if they goe home and examine themselves throughly their owne consciences will tell them that in the things of this world they are not as if not but rather that they have beene over-carefull and too full of distractions in businesses And so for matter of joy if a man have a little pleasure or preferment given him his heart is so up that hee knowes not where he is hee is so transported that he hath cleane forgot himselfe This cannot stand this is not to be as if not and therefore I beseech you in the feare of God thinke of it Now if a man would know how hee should come to have his heart in a good temper to bee in these things as if not In one word let me tell you that rule of Saint Paul In all things bee filled with the Spirit and then thou wilt not take thought
much for other things if once you let your soules bee filled with the things of a better life then wife and children and wealth and pleasures or any thing else will not draw away your heart Get a good hand-fast of Jesus Christ worke out your salvation that you may know that you are beleevers upon good grounds and that you have the graces of the Spirit of God in you in deed and in truth that you are new creatures And then often thinke of the rare things that are provided for you in another life What to have God to bee your Father and Angels your keepers to be children to bee the companions of Angels Weigh these things daily and then you will be as if not in all these outward and worldly things And untill thou dost this and thinkest withall of that I have formerly said that thou art ready to strike sayle I will never beleeve that thou wilt bee as if not This is the second thing A word or two of the Third and so I have done And that is the Spurre that the Apostle Saint Paul useth And it is necessary hee should use such a spurre for it is a very hard lesson If you would be as if you were not consider this The fashion of the world passeth away That is it signifieth I touched it before such a fashion as is on a stage All these things below they are but as the Acting of a Comedie as a Scaene it may bee it is done in halfe an houre and though it make a fine shew yet in truth there is no substance in it There is one it is a fashion besides it passeth away So then in this spurre there are two things I will but name the heads First That the things of this world all that I named before are but a shew without a substance Even as a Scaene or Comedie things that have a glorious glittering shew to the eye but if you looke in deed and in truth upon them there is no such matter That is one thing that I note that our life is but as the acting of a part in a Comedie and so by consequence in all these outward things thy contentment in wife or children or credit or pleasures thou dost but act a glorious part it may be thou hast a goodly outside fine clothes rich apparell an outward representation of comfort but looke thorow them and there is no such matter But the second thing which I rather would presse is that it is suddenly gone it passeth away saith the Apostle As a man hath but a little time to tarry in the world so all the things hee enjoyeth in the world are wondrous inconstant That looke as it is in a Play hee that now acts the part of a King it may be next he may act the part of a Begger or as it is with some of your delicate fashions that while you are speaking of them the fashion is spoyled Even so the fashion of this world it will not continue That is the summe of that I desire you to take notice of that if you will not be perswaded by me or by the Spirit of God in his unworthy minister to use the things of this world moderately and to carry your selves as you ought in crosses and afflictions yet know this that the fashion of these things will shortly be spoyled And if they be all so unconstant what a foole art thou to set thy heart upon them Wee may learne this wisedome from the foolery of our English Nation esteemed now the idlest people of the world for changing their fashion They will never make clothes twice of one fashion but one gowne of this fashion and another of that and though he bee never so good a Taylour that makes it yet hee must make no more of the same fashion but the next Terme they will cometo another Learne I say this wisedome from that foolery Now the Lord giveth thee comfort in thy wife set not thy heart too much upon her the next Terme the fashion may change Now thou art rich let not thy heart dote upon thy riches it is but a fashion a shew it passeth away to morrow thou maist bee a begger to day a man to morrow none But if thou wouldest keepe the fashion get the fashion of grace get a right to heaven an interest in God and be content in Gods name to follow his fashion If the fashion that God will have thee be in be to be an humble dejected man be content with that fashion if anon he will have thee on the toppe of the wheele of prosperitie thanke God for it take heed of abusing the things thou enjoyest Remember the things of this life are inconstant things as a flower as a nosegay that seemeth as a dainty fine thing but while we are smelling at it and praising it it withereth away so is it with all these things I would I could tell how to speake home to your soules and yet I know that little I have spoken if it be entertained with faith if you beleeve this to be the truth of God not as the speech that a man makes to you but as the speech of Saint Paul an Apostle of Christ that sets it downe by the direction of God that it is thus I say if you lay downe this as a truth that comes from God and seriously thinke with your selves I have but a little time to tarry here below and when I am out of the world I shall live for ever in heaven or in hell while I doe enjoy the things of this world God will have me to be as if not in them and there is good reason why they are shewes and not substances Grace and the favour of God is only that which is substantiall whatsoever you looke upon that is under these are but shewes riches and honours and worldly contentments they are but shadowes like one in a play that is but a Peasant under the coat of a King these have but only outsides under them there is no such matter This I say which I have spoken being seriously considered and faithfully received may through the blessing of GOD and your owne prayers to God to teach you this be a meanes to moderate you in the use of all those things that are here below FINIS SECVRITIE SVRPRIZED OR THE DESTRVCTION OF THE CARELESSE JOB 18. 10. The snare is laid for him in the ground and a trappe for him in the way HEB. 2. 3. How shall wee escape if wee neglect so great salvation LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. SECVRITIE SVRPRIZED OR THE DESTRVCTION OF THE CARELESSE SERMON XII 1 THESSAL 5. 3. For when they shall say peace and safetie then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape IN the latter part of the Chapter going before the blessed Apostle S. Paul to the end that he might draw those to whom
in the garnishing and sauce of every dish smell in the stench of every dead corpses feele in the beating of every pulse yet we are not sensible of it wee will not take knowledge of it though we cannot be ignorant of it In which consideration the Wise man whose words are as goads and nailes vers 11. pricks us deepe with the remembrance hereof so deepe that hee drawes blood sanguinem animâ—… the blood of the soule as Saint Austin tearmeth our teares lachrymae sanguis animae For who can reade with drye eyes that tbose that looke out of the windowes shall bee darkened Who can heare without horrour that the keepers of the house shall tremble or consider without sorrow that the daughters of musicke shall be brought low or comment without deepe fetched sighes upon mans going to his long home and the mourners going about the streetes to wash them with teares and sweepe them with Rosemarie Origen after he had chosen rather facere periculosè quam perpeti turpitèr to burne Incense to the Heathen gods then to suffer his body to be defiled by a Blackamore and the flower of his chastitic which he had so long time preserved to be some way blasted at a Church in Ierusalem goeth into the Pulpit openeth the Bible at all adventures intending to preach upon that Text which he should first light upon but falling upon that verse in Psal. 50. But to the wicked saith God what hast thou to doe to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenants in thy mouth which contained his suspension shutteth his booke speaketh not a word more but comments upon it with his teares so me thinkes having read this Text in which I find all our capitall doomes written I cannot doe better then follow that Fathers prefident and shut up not only my booke but my mouth also and seale up my lippes and comment upon the coherence with distraction the parts with passion the notes with sighes the periods with groanes and the words with teares for alas as soone as a man commeth into his short booth in this world which he saluteth with teares he goeth to his long home in the next And the mourners goe about the streetes It is lamentable to heare the poore infant which cannot speake yet to boad his owne misery and to prophecie of his future condition and what are the contents of his Prophecie but lamentations mournings and woes Saint Cyprian accords with Saint Austin in his dolefull note Vitae mortalis anxietates dolores procellas mundi quas ingreditur in exordio statim suo ploratu vel gemitu rudes animae testatur Little children newly borne take in their first breath with a sigh and come crying into the world assoone as they open their eyes they shed teares to helpe fill up the Vale of teares into which they were then brought and shall bee after a short time carried out with a streame of them running from the eyes of all their friends And if the Prologue and Epilogue bee no better what shall wee judge of the Scenes and Acts of the life of man they yeeld so deepe springs of teares and such store of arguments against our aboad in this world that many reading them in the bookes of Hegesias the Platonicke presently brake the prison of their body and leaped out of the world into the grave others concluded with Silenus Optimum non nasci proximum quam primum mori That it was simply best never to be borne the next to it to die out of hand and give the world our salve and take our vale at once How-be-it though this might passe for a sage Essay and a strong line amongst Philosophers yet wee Christians who know that this present life to all that live godly in Christ Iesus how full of troubles cares and persecutions so ever it bee is but a sad and short Preface to endlesse Volumnes of joy an Eves fast on earth to an everlasting feast in Heaven ought thus to correct the former Apophthegme Optimum renasci proximum quam primùm mori That it is best to be new borne and then if it so please God after our new birth to bee translated with all speed into the new Heaven But soft we cannot take our degrees in Christs schoole per saltem we must keepe our Termes and performe our exercises both of faith obedience and patience wee must not looke from the Font to be presently put into the rivers of pleasures springing at Gods right hand for evermore Wee must take a toylesome journey and in it often drinke of the waters of Marahâ—… Wee must suffer with Christ before wee reigne with him Wee must taste of the bitter cup of his Passion before wee drinke new Wine with him in his Kingdome wee must sowe in teares here that wee may reape in joy hereafter Every man goeth though some set out sooner some later and shall arive at his home but let him looke to his way as the way is he taketh so shall the home be into which he is received if he take the way on the right hand and keepe within the pathes of Gods commandements his home shall be the New Ierusalem descending from God most gloriously shining with streetes of gold gates of pearle and foundations of precious stones where all teares shall be wiped from his eyes but if he take the broad way on the left hand and follow it his home shall be a dungeon or vault in Hell where he shall be eternally both mourner and Corps But to shoot somewhat nearer to the marke Marriages and Funeralls though most different actions and of a seeming contrary nature yet are set forth and as it were apparelled with parallell rites and ceremonies our raiments are changed in both because in both our estate is changed Bells are rung flowers are strowed and feasts kept in both and anciently both were celebrated in the night by Torch-light Hee that hath but halfe an eye may see in the Ritualls of the Ancients the blazing and sparkling as well of the funeriall as the nuptiall lights and no marvaile the shadowes meete when the substances concurre the pictures resemble one the other when the faces match the accessaries are corresponding where the principalls are sutable as here they are for in marriage single life dyeth and in death the soule is married to Christ The couple to bee married in ancienter times first met and after an enterview and liking of each other and a contract signed betweene them presently departed the Bride to her Mother the Bridegroome to his Fathers house till the wedding day on which the Bridegroome late in the night was brought to his Spouse and then hee tooke her and inseparably linked him selfe unto her Here the couple to bee married in man are the bodie and the soule at our birth the contract is made but after a short enterview and small abode together the parties are parted and the bodie the Bride
mercie and peace to those that are wicked and out of the way whereby some are converted and others convinced and prepared for the worke of Gods justice So this question need not trouble men or hold them off from a chearfull and fruitfull expectation of Christ though he come not in our age as he hath not in others before The use of the Point is this First if this bee the propertie of the godly to wait and earnestly to expect the comming of Christ then wee may observe the generall ungodlinesse of the World by the generall want of this expectation And if ye say but who is there that doth not expect the second comming of Christ and who doth not beleeve that hee shall come to judge the quicke and the dead I answer not withstanding that every man confesse this Article of faith with his mouth yet every man beleeveth it not with his heart for every man frameth not himselfe according to the faith of it Very few are those faithfull servants that waite and prepare for their Masters comming Christ when hee commeth he shall scarce finde faith on the earth What a number of Men and Women are there though they heare these things and they are beaten upon them upon many occasions and they are in their judgements convinced that it must bee so yet notwithstanding the faith of their hearts apprehend it not they doe not beleeve it they doe not listen and frame to it Wee like Caleb tell them of the good Land and the fat of the Land and the fruit of the Land and the fulnesse of the Land of Canaan but generally men like the unthankefull Israelites murmure and repine and rebell and scarce heare us or if they doe they doe not beleeve it For if men did beleeve it it could not bee that men should live like Saduces as they doe that neither beleeve the soule nor immortalitie neither that there are spirits nor Devills nor resurrection nor nothing the lives and conversations of men plainly bewray that they beleeve not this Doctrine though they can professe with the mouth that Jesus Christ shall come againe to judge the quicke and the dead but like the Cardinall of whom wee read that profest hee would not give his part in Paris for his part in Paradise so men live as if they would not give their part here on earth for a Childs part in Heaven Like that wicked Pope that we read of when he was about to dye now sayth he I shall know that which I never beleeved whether there bee a Heaven or Hell an immortalitie of the soule or no. So men live as if they never meant to know those things or beleeve them till they come to the tryall and experience of them And besides what a number of men and women are there that can professe these things with their mouth but they cast themselves into a fast sleepe in sinne and security and sleepe on both sides Gods Messengers and Ministers cannot awake them but as though their soules were to sleepe everlastingly so they sleepe on in their lusts and sinnes and will not bee awakened And my brethren who doth not observe that it is not the fashion of men even of those that professethemselves Christians to say come Lord Iesus till they bee on their death-beds and till â—…hey bee scarceable to speake or breath out a word they never say come Lord Jesus till they know not what to doe with themselves till they can enjoy their lusts and the World and their sinnes no longer they cannot tell how to bequeath themselves longer to the service of sinne and unrighteousnesse till then they never call after the Lord Jesus to come to them and when they doe it is not out of love and affection to Christ but out of selfe-love to helpe them out of the hands of death that is too strong for them and to fetch them out of that miserie they are too weak to sustaine Therefore they call Lord Jesus but as I sayd it is farre from the love of him in their hearts for were these men to live over their lives againe and to bee restored to health againe it would bee the last breath of their lives still to call the Lord Jesus My brethren whre these things are and wee finde them too generall every man that lookes into his owne heart may finde himselfe in some measure touched herein certainely it cannot bee that this same lively desire of a Christian can bee there and these persons can have little comfort in themselves they have few arguments to prove themselves Elect of God having the Spirit of God or to bee those that heare the promises with faith or those that thirst after Christ there is no argument in them that they are Christs because they long not and desire after him But therefore in the second place since this desire is so rare let us trie ourselves a little even those that professe better things and hope well that they are indeed the Spouse of Christ. Let us trie and search our selves whether this expectation bee with us or no that wee may finde comfort in our estate and in our union and conjunction with Christ. For tryall of this Point first wee must know that a necessary attendant and companion of this expectation of Christ and waiting for him is sighing and longing and a vehement desire after him It is no slight no superficiall desire but an inward vehement desire a sighing and panting after Christ as those that see the need of him And therefore as the Wise man sayth hope deferred paines the heart the godly desires of the soule bring paines to the soule for want of Christ in the absence of Christ. And as the Apostle expresseth it in Rom. the 8. Wee sigh in our selves sayth hee wayting for the redemption of our bodyes Wee sigh in our selves as men that are ficke or in paine or opprest with a heavie burthen sigh out their sorrowes and griefes so the godly soule must labour to finde this expectation in the sighing longing earnest desiring after Christ wee sigh in our selves sayth the Apostle this is an argument of true love to Christ indeed when wee earnestly desire him in his absence As a true faithfull Spouse enjoyeth not her selfe when she enjoyeth not her Husband so it is with the Spouse of Christ therefore the Apostle in the 2 Thess. 3. 3. joyneth them together The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient wayting for of Christ. As if hee should say there can bee no love of Christ if there bee no wayting for Christ and according to the vehemencie of your love will bee the vehemencie of your sighing and longing after him That 's the first attendant of this expectation whereby we may examine our selves A second attendant is a comfortable sweet joy in the soule a fruit of the spirit not a fruit of presumption or of the flesh but a fruit of the spirit as
the Apostle sayth Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith wee rejoyce under the hope of the glorie of God where there is an earnest and certaine expectation of Christ faith giving assurance to the soule of Christs returne for the happinesse of it it rejoyceth under the hope the heart resolveth it selfe into joy because it shall enjoy Christ. That which the Apostle Saint Peter sayth confirmeth this notably whom sayth hee having not seene and yet wee love him and rejoyce with joy unspeakeable and glorious Doe wee finde this joy in our hearts this heavenly joy that which shall bee perfected in the presence and full fruition of Christ But alas where shall wee finde this joy in the World Men joy in Corne and Wine and oyle in the encreasing of their Money and Stockes and Estates where is the joy the heart is resolved into to consider and remember the returne of Christ to the full and perfect happinesse of the soule Certainely my brethren this is a rare grace upon the earth and yet where it is not that man can have no sound argument in his owne heart that hee hath this expectation of the comming of Christ for with it there is a sound joy in the heart that the world breeds not nor cannot take away A third companion to trie the truth of this expectation is an endeavour after puritie of heart and life this must needes goe with this expectation 1 Iohn 3. 3. Hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe and is pure as hee is pure Hee that hath this hope that expects Christ hopefully and joyfully hee purgeth himselfe hee that wayteth for Christ wayteth for him that hee may bee like him that hee may bee holy as Christ is holy still reserving the proportion of a member and bee pure as Christ is pure What a number bee there that professe they looke for Christs returne for their finall salvation and yet this expectation doth not purge their hearts doth not cleanse those nastie and filthie corners that are there It purgeth not their mouth from falshood and lying and deceitfull and cursed speeches nor their hands from injustice and oppression and the like they are no whit like Christ in their conversation and yet they hope for and expect Christ no hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe What shall wee thinke of them that oppose that seeke to oppresse puritie of heart and life that cast scornes upon puritie and holinesse what shall we thinke of these persons Shall we thinke that they have this expectation They will tell yee I and justifie it before any man and boldly stand upon the expectation of their Saviour as well as others but if thou hate puritie in others then thou hatest it in thy selfe and hee that purgeth not himselfe hath not this hope for he that hath this hope purgeth himsefe as he is pure A fourth companion and attendant of this expectation is Christian fortitude and valour and unweariednesse in labouring and suffering for Christ. Where this expectation is the soule is invincible in labouring and sufferings Hee careth not what he endures what hee sets on for the name of Christ. This wee shall see in the Apostle Saint Paul when hee had the white in his eye when hee had this ayme set before him the high price of the high calling of GOD in Christ I forget the things saith he that are behind and presse hard to the things that are before Though his labour and paines and sufferings were marveilous great he forgetteth all them and still presseth hard to the marke the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus So holy Moses because hee looked for the recompence of the reward hee chose to suffer affliction with the people of GOD rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Besides those faithfull servants of GOD many other instances might bee added to shew that when a man hath this expectation that Christ will come and give him the end and recompence of his labour and eternall joy and glory for his short sufferings which are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed hee refuseth no paines no labour no passion no sufferings for Christ and a good conscience But what need we goe further then the example of Christ himselfe the example of all examples who for the joy that was set before him indured the Crosse and despised the shame and why was this but for our example that wee should despise the crosses that are before us and goe on unweariedly and unfaintingly through all crosses and persecutions if wee meete with never so many oppositions with never so many Diuells yet to goe chearefully on in the wayes of God why because wee have a hope and an expectation before us of Christ appearing Further another attendant of this expectation is this It blunteth and abateth the fiery edge of our affections to the things of this world Hee that hath this expectation is weaned from the world it looseneth the soule from the world every day more then other Whereas naturally wee are rivetted to earthly things fastened to the world this expectation wrought in the heart causeth us to walke more loosely and unjoynted it blunteth and abateth those eager desires that are in us to earthly things See it in the example of that worthy servant of God Moses because hee looked for a Citie and for the recompence of reward that was set before him hee scorned the treasures of Egypt hee despised them hee cared not for honour or treasures or all that Egypt could afford he had rather suffer afflictions with Gods people why because hee looked for the recompence of reward Bee there not a number of persons that professe they expect Christ his returne for their finall salvation and yet notwithstanding they are so fixed to the world they gather the world as greedily grapling the things of this life together so earnestly with such vehement affections as if they were to live their age over a hundred times Bee there not a number of polititians that professe this hope too that hold it most unwise and foolish thing in the world to lose any thing for conscience-sake and for Christ Alas these things will not stand with this expectation When a man hath a good title to heaven he is content to part with the broken title to the things of this life as long indeed as a man hath not a better title hee will hold to that worse but when hee hath a blessed title to the inheritance of the Saints in light hee careth not for this broken Tenour and title hee will not hold them because they cannot hold him In the last place another note that attendeth this expectation is where this is there will bee an answerable affection there will bee a promoting of all the meanes to further it there will bee a griefe and sorrow for all things that come against it to hinder it Thus wee doe in other expectations When we expect this