FIVE SERMONS PREACHED upon severall Occasions The Texts whereof are set downe in the next Page By IOHN SELLER Aug. de Doct. Christ lib. 1. cap. 1. Omnis res quae dando non deficit dum habetur non datur non dum habetur LONDON Printed for IOHN CLARK and are to be sold at his Shop under St. Peters Church in Cornehill 1636. The Texts of the severall Sermons Serm. I. PSAL. 116.16 O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant Preached before the King at Bagshow upon Tuesday Septemb. 15. 1635. Serm. II. IOHN 21.22 If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou mee Before the King at Hampton Court upon Sunday Septemb. 27. 1635. Serm. III. IOHN 1.16 And Grace for grace To the Houshold at White-Hall Novemb. 29. 1629. IV. ECCLES 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth V. IOHN 20.17 Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father QVinque has Conciones â Domino Iohanni Sellero habitas perlegi nec in iis quicquam reperio quò minùs Cum utilitate publicâ imprimantur SA BAKER Ex aedibus Londin Martii die ultimo 1636. Serm. I THE FIRST SERMON PSAL. 116.16 O Lord truely I am thy servant I am thy servant THe feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisdome and the end of all things is this Feare GOD and keepe his Commandements Nay the meanes which happily joyneth together this beginning and this end is still the same Blessed is the man that alwayes feareth This is the Alpha and Omega the entrance the progresse the close of all true practicall Religion and this happy beginning and this happy end is the subject which I shall now commend unto you from the example of the Prophet in my text O Lord truly I am thy servant I am thy servant In the handling of which words three pious observations there are which I shall now present unto you The first is this Go◠is our Lord and Master and we must doe him service O Lord I am thy servant an argument wherin I shall not so much need proofes as perswasions Whom have I in Heaven but thee and whom on earth in comparison of thee He that knoweth there is a God cannot but acknowledge the onely difficultie is to winne our hearts to proportion our service to his love Thou art my God and I will thanke thee thou art my God and I will praise thee We all know there was a time if I may so speake before all time a time of Eternitie before all time of succession when GOD by himselfe inioyed all fulnesse of complacencie in himself For as the Sunne in the Heavens shineth in its full brightnesse though there were no earth to shine upon so the brightnesse of Gods glory was then it its full lustre when Trinity in Vnitie and Vnitie in Trinity as it is now all things to all was then all things to it selfe Angels and men and for their sakes Heaven and earth when in the powerfull and gracious counsell of his will with a word speaking onely he created all this was done not that thereby he might augment his glory but communicate it For can a man be profitable unto God Iob 22. and yet who is there to whom God hath not beene profitable He stands not in need of our service but we cannot live without his command When one man waites upon another there is for the most part a mutuall dependance on each other the servant cannot live without his Master the Master knowes not how to want his servant The glory of a King is upheld by the multitude of his people for let Subjects withdraw their alleagiance and we see Princes themselves are but private men and therefore we reade in the state of Rome that when the commons upon termes of discontent withdrew themselves from the Nobles the Nobles were forc't to become petitioners unto the commons and to remit somewhat of the rigour of their command that they might hold them afterward more constant in their service But looke upon our great Master the King of Kings and wee shall finde no such depending references Let all the world withdraw themselves from him yet still Deus solus is Deus sufficiens God alone by himselfe is all sufficient to himselfe so that the lesse necessary our service is the more necessary is it wee should serve if not for Gods sake yet for our owne hee can loose nothing by us but wee loose all things in the losse of him And yet strange it is and wonderfull to consider thereby with all cheerefulnesse to draw us to his service how carefull he hath beene of us who are yet so little usefull unto him Looke upon our Creation when wee first came into the world and you shall see that as God made all other creatures for men so man because for himselfe he would make like himselfe that as often as wee view our owne soules and see whose image and superscription they have this might perswade us to give them up unto God from whom and for whose service they were first receiv'd Looke upon our preservation since wee came into the world and but that In Iohan Tract 8. Quod omni anno fit assiduitate amittit admirationem as St. Augustine complaineth the continuall injoying of these great blessings lessens our admiration with what joy might wee behold the Heavens spread over us like a curtaine the Sun the Moone like two unwearied Gyants alwayes for our sakes rejoycing to runne theyr course by vertue of whose severall motions and influence while the earth remaines Seed-time and harvest Summer and Winter night and day shall not cease that so the necessitude of the different seasons of the yeare may give us contentment in them all And if all this be yet too little looke upon his preparation for our safe conduct to another world and there behold the word of Life The sincere milke of the Word for children strong meate for men food cōvenient for us all behold the Sacraments of life the signes the seales the pledges of the Love of God behold the Spirit of life the power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing our soules and by an immortall seed begetting us again unto a lively hope of immortality surely then well may the eyes of all men waite upon him whose eyes runne through the whole earth nay through the whole heaven too to shew themselves powerfull and gracious unto them that serve him And indeed if we shall consider the severall attributes of God how they are fitted to the severall necessities of men this might be a strong perswasion also to draw us to his service For God is a powerfull God and what more fitting for our weaknesse when the Prince of this world like the strong man hath by his subtle temptations got footing in our soules unlesse CHRIST IESVS the Prince of Princes and Captaine of our Salvation shall make re-entry and cast him
hadst thou knowne at the least in this thy day the things that belong unto thy Peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes Thou had'st once Grace offer'd when to the comfort of thy Soule thou might'st have sayd O LORD I am thy Servant but now no longer will hee be thy Master This happie opportunitie shall never be recall'd For the dayes come when thine Enemies shall cast a trench about thee and lay thee even with the dust And why because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation The neglect of that happy day wherein they were visited with Mercy putteth them off unto the terrible day of the Lord to the visitation of his Iustice Now because among many of those wayes of God which are unsearchable this is one to observe how patient hee is with some men giving them day after day even to the last houre and yet how quicke hee is with others come come presently and give an account of thy Stewardship a thousand times blest is that Soule which every day is prepared for this great day of account So then to draw all to a conclusion We reade in the Revelation of foure Angels let loose Chap. 9. and no sooner let loose but presently prepared for an houre and a day and a moneth and a yeare to sley the third part of men May we then learne diligence from our enemies and let not them bee more carefull to destroy our Soules then our selves to preserve them but may wee all bee prepar'd at a yeare at a moneth at a day at an houre to say and doe as wee say O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant Amen Serm. II THE SECOND SERMON IOHN 21.22 If I will that hee tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me THese Words containe a sharp answer of our SAVIOUR to an indiscreet and unseasonable question of St. PETER In the handling whereof this order I shall observe First I will indeavour to cleare the difficulty of my Text and shew you what is the meaning of our Saviours answer If I will that he tarry till I come and secondly I will commend unto you such observations as may prove usefull to our selves To begin then with the first If I will that he tarry till I come In the Exposition of which conditionall speech of CHRIST I find great variety among Interpreters Some will admit of no positive meaning of the words but think they were spoken onely to put off the inquisitivenesse of PETER If I will that he tarry till I come or as we use to say If I will that hee tarry till doomesday what is that to thee not that he intended that IOHN should tarry till he come but to shew that whether hee tarryed or not tarried that was nothing to PETER But this exposition if wee marke it will neither well agree with the phrase of the speech nor the wisdome of the Speaker And therefore others there are who do conceive that whereas St. PETER was to dye of a violent death and follow his Master to the Crosse it might be the meaning of our Saviour to expresse that no such violence should be offered unto St. IOHN hee should dye of a faire death fairely and quietly bee buried and so tarry and rest in his grave till CHRISTS comming unto Iudgement This is an Exposition I confesse commended by learned Interpreters on all sides yet such as I cannot be perswaded to approve First because it seemeth to straine the phrase of the Text to an unusuall sence If I will that he tarry that is tarry in his grave Secondly because thousands there are who may thus be sayd to tarry till CHRIST cometh when as the speech of our Saviour seemes plainly to intimate somewhat more peculiar unto IOHN Thirdly because the ground of the Exposition is very questionable For howsoever certaine it bee that PETER dyed a violent death yet whether IOHN dyed of a naturall death or no it may be doubted Sure I am that Polycrates in Eusebius saith Lib. 5. cap 23. that hee dyed a Martyr and Theophylact confirmeth his saying from the words of CHRIST himself In Mat. 20 23. who speaking of IAMES and IOHN sayth expresly that they shall drinke of his Cup and be Baptised with his baptisme Now Iames wee know drank so deeply of this Cup that HEROD stretched foorth his hand and killed him with the Sword And as the words of our SAVIOUR doe imply IOHN must pledge him so deeply in the same Cup eyther as a Martyr or at least as all agree as a Confessor that in this respect the words in my Text cannot seeme to conteyne any speciall priviledge of IOHN above PETER when it is sayd If I will that hee tarry till I come And therefore a third exposition there is which though it be refused by almost every Commentator yet I shall now indeavour to assert it For I find by often experience that it is with weighing of opinions as with weighing of gold that which in one paire of scales is thought too light in another will hold weight The exposition is this that however as our Saviour had foretold PETER should more speedily follow him follow him to the Crosse and to the grave he should make no long tarrying here on earth but goe hence and be no more seene yet it was his will that IOHN should be longer liv'd live and tarry till hee came till hee came to execute exemplary judgment on the unbeleeving Iew in the destruction of their nation their City and theyr Temple till the same judgments in fearfull manner should attend the sinnes of the Gentiles too till as the Prophet Ioel had foretold having first come with a gracious and plentifull offer of his Spirit to be powr'd upon all flesh upon the resistance of this Spirit he should come againe with wonders in the Heaven and in the earth blood and fire and pillers of smoak For the confirmation of which exposition three things I shall observe unto you First that it is usuall in holy Scripture to imply positive truths in conditionall termes and it is the safest way in expounding of hard texts obscura de manifest is to demonstrate things obscure from the evidence of things manifest Now then manifest it is in the sixt of St. Iohn Verse 12. when our Saviour saith to his Disciples Doth this offend you what and if you should see the Sonne of man ascend up where he was before that his meaning is The time shall come when to remove this offence you shall see the Sonne of man ascend Manifest againe in the 9. to the Romans Verse 22. when St. Paul saith What if God willing to shew his wrath that his meaning is It is the will of God that he may shew his wrath to indure with long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Manifest againe in the 12. Verse 49. of St. Luke when our Saviour saith I am come to
case for thou hast now enough layd up in store when as wee know there is no evill more common under the Sun then goods thus purchased to prove the undoing of the purchaser the stone will cry out of the wall and the beame out of the timber will make answer Woe to the man that thus addes house to house and land to land For what shal it profit thee for a time to have gain'd the whole world Salvian ad Eccles Cathol l. 3 in the end to loose thine owne soule for ever Et infaelicissime omniuÌ„ cogitas quam bene alii post te vivant non cogitas quam male ipse moriaris and unhappy wretch thou art to please thy selfe to think how happily thy posterity rais'd by thy art and industry shall live and never once think'st how miserably thy selfe must dye And indeed strange and wonderful it is to see the impotent desire of the world to purchase good house good laÌ„d good drink good aire yet how slender is their care to bee good themselves Aug. Civ Dei lib. 3. c. 1. quasi hoc sit homini maximum bonum habere bona omnia praeter seipsum as if this were the chief good of man to have all things good about him but himself Deut. 3. As then wee read that when Moses made that passionate petitioÌ„ unto God O Lord thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatnes and thy mighty hand let me I pray thee go over and see that good land beyond Iordan God with a short answer stops his mouth let it suffice thee speak no more of this matter for thou shalt not goe so if sometime our earthly desires shall make the like petitions unto God may we prevent his answer by replying to our selves Let it suffice thee to have spoke once or twice and if he wil not heare thee speake no more And indeed what madnes is it for a man to be importunatly solicitous for such things which he knoweth not whether they will prove unto him good or il For notwithstanding that great licentiousnes which coÌ„monly wealth honor usurpe unto themselves so strict an imposition doe we finde layd upon all things under the Sunne that hee that shall seriously bethink himself of his account and that of him who receiveth much much shall bee requir'd shal find perhaps the ods to be but very litle not to have the world to use or as St. PAVL requires to use the world as if we us'd it not unlesse in truth the taske may prove more easie with patieÌ„ce to want the world then with moderation to injoy it Quotus enim quisque sapientum est cui non crescat cum prosperitate vitiositas Salvian de Guber Dei lib. 7. For it is a great hazard to the vertue of a wise man but that if riches increase sin wil increase too Labour not then for the meat that perisheth nor take much thought for the blessings of this life For al these things touch not trouble not the Master with an honest and faire endeavor of our own dayly to aske our dayly bread it will suffice if we wil importune him let us make choyse of blessings worth our importunity not for religion onely but for shame lest it should bee said that we are more careful of our bodies then our soules let us first seeke the Kingdome of God and his righteousnesse and then though in a low condition it will be no hard matter to attaine unto that height of happines which St. Hierom commends in one of his devout women quae unius cellula clausa angustiis latitudine paradisi frucbatur De laudiâ—â— Asellae Ep. â—5 though cloistered within the compasse of a narrow Cell by divine contemplation to expatiate throughout the whole latitude of Heaven So shall we put more gladnes in our heart then if our corne and wine were never so plentifully increast and alwaies such blessings God is best pleas'd to grant which are most profitable for us to receive Secondly wee may observe that as Christ frustrats the expectation of Mary in denying the worldly blessings she desireth so to coÌ„fort her againe he exceeds her expectation in proposing the hope of heavenly blessings more theÌ„ she now thought on No sooner did Mary rapt with a sodaine joy cry out Rabboni have I found thee O thou whom my soule loveth no sooner could she fall downe and worship him as for joy that he was risen so in hope that she should bee rais'd too rais'd to honour in in that new Kingdome which shee perswaded her selfe would now shortly be restored but presently all this conceited happines is blasted with a Noli me tangere Touch mee not Doe not therefore honour me as if I were now risen to raise you to honour here on earth for though I be risen I am not yet ascended and till I be ascended you must waite yet with the same breath wherwith shee is disheartned she is comforted again for as the Yet in my text plainly intimateth and the end of the verse expresseth it he was shortly to ascend to his Father and their Father to his God and their God then and there would hee build up the houses set up the thrones and make them all Kings and Priests Thus is it usuall with GOD to with hold lesser blessings where hee intendeth to bestow greater for the earth whereon MARY had now seated the throne of her desires shall not be worthy to bee the footstoole of that happines which he inteÌ„ded to prepare Indeed if in this life only wee had hope of all men good men were most miserable But blessed be God saith St. PAVL who hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in coelestibus in things heavenly in places heavenly and againe Blessed be God saith St. PETER who hath begotten us unto a lively hope to an inheritance incorruptible reserved for us in the Heavens and therefore oft times withdrawes his favors from us in the depth below that wee may the more earnestly seeke after theÌ„ in the height above For as God made some creatures meerly heavenly without any dependance for their preservation upon things below others meerly earthly without any hope or expectation of any happinesse above so hee made man in a condition betweene both his body from the earth earthly but his soule a sparke froÌ„ Heaven according to the two different parts whereof he doth consist he hath provided him two different mansions first the earth and then the Heaven Now however betweene these two mansions there be no compare for the earth which we see is temporall but the Heaven which wee see not is eternall yet because as in the absence of MOSES the people come flocking unto AARON and Make thou Gods say they to goe before us for as for this MOSES we know not what is become of him so in the absence of Heaven wee are too prone to lay hold upon the earth and set our affections upon
things below the providence of God hath purposely blasted the felicitie of all things sublunarie set a Noli me tangere vanitie and vexation of spirit on them all that even this vexation here on earth may raise our spirits up to Heaven with a Domine illic tabernacula Lord let us there there make our Tabernacles For alas the earth it hath no constant forme nor comelinesse and when we look upon it there is no true beauty that we should desire it If we complaine that long and tedious is our expectation here on earth before ever we can come to injoy those felicities in heaven let us solace our selves to think that it is enough abundātly enough that the Disciple be as his Master and the servant as his Lord now let us look upon our Lord and Master and forty daies is he tempted in the Wildernes hungry and thirsty in a barren and dry land yet he is not ascended The Foxes have holes the Birds of the aire have nests the Son of man not where to lay his head and yet he is not ascended He is betrayed arreigned condemned crucified buried and yet he is not ascended And that we may know this delay of his proceeded not out of any impotency but was meritorious and exemplarie unto us he riseth againe and the same power of his which rais'd him from the grave could presently have lifted him up to Heavē yet he cōtinueth visiting cōforting instructing his Disciples yet he is not ascended The Lord himself you see hath tarried tarried our leysure tarried for us and shall not we waite patiently and tarry the leysure of the Lord. Perhaps he therfore makes us tarry that daily here adding to our grace hee may one day adde also to our glory Et libenter suscipiam dispensationis moram magnitudine favoris duplicatam Hieron ep 33. ad Castratium and who would not forbeare the principal a while to receive it hereafter with such interest perhaps therfore himself tarries because we are not yet prepared for his cōming We complaine oft times upon the sense of sicknes and sorrow How long Lord how long wilt thou absent thy selfe Whenas indeed upon the conscience of our sins we might rather turn our cōplaint to a confessiō how long Lord how lōg have we bin absent frō thee Thy word hath been oftē preacht unto us in season out of season by thy Ministers teaching reproving exhorting and yet we have not obey'd Thy grace hath bin graciously offred unto us al the day long standing at the dore of our harts and knocking and yet we have not opened Thou hast made open proclamation Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden and I will ease you and yet though never so heavie laden wee will not bee weary of our sinnes wee will not seeke out for ease Can wee then wonder that God should yet delay to put an end unto our sorrowes when as our selves have yet refus'd to put an end unto our sinnes Can wee bee impatient at the forbearance of that happinesse which if God should deale with us as we with him not yet nor yet nor ever should we bee so happy to enjoy Why art thou then so troubled O my soule may every pious soule now say and why art thou so disquieted within me delight thou in the Lord and hee will give thee thy hearts desire If thou faile of thy hearts desire on earth Mary her self you see hath thus been disappointed yet thou shalt abundātly bee recompenc't in heaven For though here thou seem'st to be but dead dead in regard of the fruition of any great felicity in this life dead in the opinion of the meere natural man who beleeveth not the hope of any life to come yet thou haft a life hidden with Christ in God and when Christ who is thy life shal appeare then shalt thou also appeare with him in Glory Lastly as you have seene whether Christ is ascended where he wil be Toucht so now behold to whom he is ascended and what hopes we have to Touch him My text tels you that as he was to ascend so he ascended to his Father Now if you shall say that Christ had a Father to ascend to and a Father pitieth his owne child but how shal we ascend shew vs a Father too and it sufficeth I will shew you and indeed with joy of heart we may observe that all the honours of Christ are for the most part diffusive and communicative and even of this neare Relation of Father Sonne we also doe participate Thou art my Sonne my onely begotten Son saith the Father vnto him In whom I am well pleas'd and pleas'd so well that in him he hath recōcil'd the world vnto himselfe of enemies he hath made us his adopted Sons and given us the priviledge to pray vnto him Abba Father If then my Text will not content you read but the words following and you can wish no more Goe to my Brethren and say vnto them I ascend vnto my Father but he stayes not there To my Father saith he and your Father to my God and your God And surely as when the Father giveth the Son so when the Son giveth the Father together with him he will give us all things And indeed when I compare both Testaments together observe at sundry times those divers manners whereby God in his goodnesse hath pleas'd to make manifest not the effects only but even the language of his love me thinks as after some cloudy storme I see the Heavens looke cleare againe and smiling whereas before God spake as it were in a mighty winde Earthquake looking high and holding his people under with those Majesticke names of Lord and Lord of Hosts now with a courteous affabilitie he hath bowed the Heavens speaketh in a still a soft voice as if he had set a vaile before his Majestie calleth himselfe our Father and the God of peace And surely but this single compellation Father proceeding from a piously devoted soule attended with sighes groanes the Heares most powerfull Oratorie is able to make such requests which as our selves oftimes for feare and trembling know not how to utter so neither doth God know how to deny The Prodigall you see after hee had spent all that vngratiously too yet when hee thinkes upon the gracious name of Father I will goe to my Father saith he and going but with a resolution onely to say Father I have sinned he is anticipated w th imbracements by an indulgent wellcome hath his pardon seal'd unto him before he could have time to aske it For the armes of Gods mercy they are like the windore of Noahs Arke if the Dove our soule shal sometime fly out the overflowings of vngodlinesse shall make us afraid let us returne upon the wing with humility repentance crave a new admission and behold all the day long are these armes of his wide open to