in their jollity and merriment they never thinke of God or dreame of the world to come Nay the serious apprehension of God Almighty would quench their joy and make it altogether put out Secondly the carnalnesse of the joy of young men appeareth because they rejoyce where they ought not in riot in drunkennesse in surfeiting in voluptuousnesse many times in obscenity of words and phrases in making jeasts of the word of God in deriding their superiours behind their backes As Solomon saith of laughter thou art madde so wee may say of this merriment it is madde merriment hee is a madde man that rejoyceth in that for which except he betake himselfe to serious and bitter mourning hee cannot be saved Thirdly the inordinatnesse of the joy of young men may appeare in this because they rejoyce excessively in lawfull things for any joy when it is inordinate and excessive it is carnall It is lawfull to rejoyce in recreations a whetting is no letting as the Proverbe goeth But for a man to let out himselfe to the hinderance of the service of God to the disturbance of his duty to men it is unlawfull It is lawfull to delight in the blessings and comforts of God that hee affordeth us wee reade of the Joy of harvest in Isa. 9. But for a man to delight in the gifts of God more then in the giver it is unlawfull Now if young men examine themselves they shall find their hearts mount not up to God in their joy and jollity and that they are excessive in the joy of the creature but altogether cold without joy of the Creatour Fourthly the carnalnesse of the Joy of young men may well appeare in this because they terminate and conclude not their joy in God This followeth on the former for it is impossible that what beginneth not in God should end in God Now when Joy beginneth in sinne it cannot end in God but in the Divell Secondly let young men take notice of themselves how they walke after their owne hearts The heart that sayes Come put away pensive thoughts trouble not your selfe about the day of reckoning and Judgement enjoy the time present what need this strictnesse of conversation zeale is but rashnesse there is no need of it take thy fill of pleasures thou hast goods laid up for many yeares Thus they judge and thus they walke after their carnall heart This heart is as no heart as wee reade of Ephraim in Hosea 7. Hee was a silly dove that had no heart Certainly the heart that doth not guide men in the right way and direct men to the feare of God it is no heart For as the eye that will not lead us in the right way that performes not its office is no eye so the heart that leadeth not men to God and to goodnesse it is like the heart of Ephraim it is as no heart Againe in the third place Let young men take notice of themselves how they walke after the sight of their eyes That is they stand gazing on things temporall and neglect things eternall they see a beautie and lustre in these outward things and perceive no glory and brightnesse in Christ Jesus and in his precious ordinances Beloved if we follow our owne heart and our owne eyes it will be thus We should rather labour with Iob to make a covenant with our eyes Oh how few young men are there that make a bargaine and agreement with their eyes that they shall not bee as open Casements to let sinne into the soule Oh how few young men are there that like Ieremy have their eyes as fountaines of water to weepe day and night for the afflictions of the people of God Oh how few young men are there that with Moses have an eye to the recompence of reward that they may suffer affliction with the people of God rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Now I beseech you take a survey of your selves in these things These are the vices and sinnes and deformities of young men to be seene and lamented by all those that hope to dwell in Gods holy Hill The second use of this point is for exhortation to young men they should labour to be reformed in their affections and hearts And away away with this carnall joy wee ought to cast it out of us Carnall Joy will you know what the event of it will bee It will end in carnall sorrow and without repentance in hell it selfe Woe unto you saith our Saviour Christ that laugh now you shall weepe and mourne The triumphing of the wicked saith Zophar in Iob is short and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment though his excellencie mount upto the heavens and his head reach unto the clouds yet hee shall perish as his owne dung they which have seene him shall say where is hee Hee shall fall away as a dreame and shall not bee found yea hee shall bee chased away as a vision of the night But not to give you this only in precept but also to shew you how to reforme your selves in these vices that Solomon specifieth to beare sway in young men let mee lay you downe these few directions First you must betake your selves to mourning for your sins as Saint Iames saith Bee afflicted and weepe and mourne let your laughter bee turned into heavinesse If we be not reconciled to God if we have not assurance that we are interested in Christ there is no time for us to rejoyce wee should rather betake our selves to bitter mourning for the wrath of God is due unto us and wee know not how soone it may fall upon us In the second place Consider how vaine all things are in which youthfull persons rejoyce If young men rejoyce in humane wisedome and understanding this is a vaine thing For first it is gotten with a great deale of trouble and vexation of spirit so saith Solomon Eccl. 1. 13. I gave my heart to seeke and search out by wisedome concerning all things that are done under heaven this sore travell hath God given to the sonnes of men to bee exercised therewith And verse 18. in much wisedome is much griefe and hee that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow God doth so punish the pride and boldnesse of the wit of men even from the fall of our first Parents Secondly this humane wisedome it must needs be a vaine thing for Eccles. 1. 15. that which is crooked cannot bee made straight and that which is wanting cannot bee numbred by humane wisedome The meaning is this that the naturall wisedome of man cannot supply the defects of nature which are innumerable much lesse can it furnish the soule with grace or salvation Thirdly it is but vexation of spirit Solomon though he had gotten wisedome and understanding and had experience more then all the Kings of Hierusalem that were before him yet saith he Behold this is
the market-place when hee should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have beene taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then commeth the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they bee such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner of doing holy duties Would you be found praying perfunctorily and carelesly Would you be found comming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you doe holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 11. For this cause many are sicke and weake and many sleepe they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore bee found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous nor too dolefull to any man Wee would not have our friends to bee in another condition in their birth then others wee would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would wee have them have more dayes Let this serve as a briefe touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are usefull to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse then the death and losse of our friends the guilt upon a mans conscience that hee hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our friends easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them thinke you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministrie before Thinke with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when friends are tooke away we may have cause to thanke God that we have had communion and comfort of their fellowship and societie the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principall reason why it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall hee lay to his heart That that is the end of all men hee shall lay the death of men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously to consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is cleare for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that commeth to God Secondly in respect of the good that commeth to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when wee lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour done to God when wee slight the death of others good or bad It is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods workes in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seene he saith to the sonnes of Adam Returne The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is hee that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seene much in these workes and it is a great dishonour to God when men doe not consider the workes of his hands David by the spirit of Prophesie in Psal. 28. 5. wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the workes of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein wee give God the glory of his wisedome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraigntie and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when wee labour to draw to a particular use to ourselves the workes of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speakes here of the death of men in generall and he saith of all men that their death shall bee laid to heart by the living Secondly as there is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that commeth to God thereby so in respect of ourselves also much benefit commeth to ourselves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three speciall things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the certainty nature cause and end of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the workes of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called Visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his owne condition and as it were in a glasse there
remaineth unchangeable yet the sentence according to the externall expression seemeth altered to us so the change is in us and not in God Hence let us note something briefly for our selves and that is this First how to understand all those threatnings in Scripture that seeme peremptory and absolute by this rule A judgement is threatned against a nation against a person or family c. Yea and it is absolutely threatned in divers places because thou hast done such and such evils therefore such and such things shall come upon thee All such as these are to be understood conditionally though they seem to be expressed absolutely And the rule God himselfe giveth At what instant I shall speake concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome to plucke up and to pull downe and to destroy it If that nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their evill I will repent of the evill that I thought to doe unto them Whatsoever I threatned in my Word if they turne to me by true repentance I will turne all that evill from them that I have threatned against them and would certainly have brought upon them if they have not returned I say thus we are to understand all these and upon this ground we may build some further uses that I will but touch First to take off those discouragements that lie upon the hearts of many When they find themselves guiltie of a sin against God when they see that sinne threatned with severe punishment and judgement in the word of God now they conclude their case to be desperate it is in vaine to seeke further to use the meanes the Lord will proceed in judgement and there is no stopping of him This is an addition to a mans other sinnes to conclude thus Marke how the Lord expresseth himselfe in the 33. Ezekiel The people were much troubled about such things there say they Our transgressions and our sinnes bee upon us and wee pine away in them how should wee then live The Prophet had incouraged them notwithstanding their great sinnes to returne by true repentance and they should not perish neverthelesse they are muttering discouraged with feare breaking their spirits withdrawing themselves from God the judgements of God are begun upon us the hand of wrath is gone out against us wee are pining away in them though we are not wasted yet yet we are like a man in a consumption that wasteth by degrees how shall we live certainly wee shall die Saith the Lord say not thus among your selves but know if yee turne yee shall live As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turne from his way and live turne yee turne yee from your evill wayes for why will yee die oh house of Israel Beware of discouragements therefore it is Sathans devise that when once he hath drawne men from God by a path of sinne to hold them under discouragements that so hee may ever after keepe them from turning to God againe It was his devise whereby he would have kept Adam from turning to God after he had committed that great sinne in eating of the forbidden tree Hee thought of nothing but hiding himselfe from God and so he did hide himselfe amongst the bushes of the Garden I heard thy voyce and was afraid and I hid my selfe Marke here was a feare of discouragement in Adam that whereas he should have come and fell downe before the Lord and have begged mercy and said as David here Who knoweth whether the Lord will bee gracious to mee He ranne cleane away from God There is a feare of reverence that keepeth a man with God and there is a feare that draweth a man to God but this feare of discouragement driveth a man from God and that is the temptation of Sathan to keepe a man from God when once he hath turned aside from him Therefore that is the first thing take heed of such inward discouragements as may drive you quite off Secondly Take incouragement then to seeke the face of God in his owne meanes and way He hath threatned judgements against others for the same sinnes that yee find your selves guiltie of when they have returned to him they have found mercie Returne yee to him in truth and seeke his face aright and yee shall find the same mercie In the prophesie of Ioel yee shall see there that though God had threatned judgements nay though he had begun judgement for that was the case of those times judgement was begun upon them yet neverthelesse the Prophet calleth them to fasting and weeping and telleth them that the Lord is gracious and mercifull and ready to forgive and who knoweth if he will returne and repent and leave ablessing behind him Therefore let us doe our parts and seeke God in truth amend our lives and then no question of this but that God will returne It is an old device of Sathan to draw men in stead of Gods revealed will to looke to Gods secret will whether I be absolutely rejected or cast off or not But this is not the thought wherein a Christian should exercise himselfe his maine businesse is this to make his calling and election sure by all the â—…vidences of it by a holy life walke obediently to Gods revealed will and be certaine thou shalt not be rejected by Gods secret will He never rejecteth those by his secret will and purpose and decree to whom he giveth a heart to walke obediently to his revealed will So much for that Who knoweth that the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live The incouragement is this That the child may live But marke his expression Whether the Lord will bee gracious to me that the child may live If he had said no more but this Who knoweth whether the childe may live A man would have thought this would fully enough have expressed his mind but there is more in it that could not be expressed without this addition Who knoweth whether the Lord will bee gracious to me that the child may live The life of a child is a mercy to the father David expresseth herein both his Pitty and his Pietie His Pittie He accounteth all the good or ill that befalleth his childe as his owne if death befalleth it he accounteth it as a miserie that befalleth himselfe if sicknesse befalleth his child hee accounteth it as an affliction upon himselfe This is his naturall pittie that same naturall affection of a Father to his Child See such an expression of the woman of Canaan Have mercie on mee thou sonne of David my daughter is miserably vexed of a divell The Daughter was miserably vexed and the mother cryeth out Have mercie on me There is such a simpathy ariseth hence from the naturall and free course that love hath in descending from the Father to the Child There are not only morall perswasions that may invite and draw on
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
must be the two feet that we walke on toward God Righteousnesse that is one by which we tread the way of the first Table in workes of pietie to God and Mercie is the other by which we tread the way of the second Table in mercy towards men So that as the two Tables kisse each other they are infolded one in another the love we owe to our brethren it hangs and depends on our love to God the love that wee shew to God is to be testified by our love to our brethren So these two are to embrace one anothee wee must not sever them that God severeth not according to this others will judge of us that wee are truly righteous according to this scantling we take of our selves Deceive not your selves if there be not workes of Charitie and mercie flatter not your selves with an opinion of righteousnesse it is an emptie name where mercie is not So the Apostle makes the argument Hee that loveth not his brother whom hee hath seene how can hee love God whom hee hath not seene So likewise here is it possible that there should be righteousnesse toward God when there is not mercie toward men It is the first of those pious instructions that I will commend to this place Ostentation of righteousnesse there is a great deale in the world men desire to be accounted godly men because they can be reserved to themselves They can get pretences of pietie and zealous they will seeme to be for workes of the first Table Did God give onely one Table No but we shall bee tried by the workes of the second Table When I was hungry yee fed me not when I was thirstie yee gave me no drinke Why doe we make boast of pietie to God that men cannot judge of For there is one little graine of hypocrisie that spoileth all We may act mercie to men but we cannot act pietie pietie will shew it selfe here Here is the touch-stone to give proofe of the pietie in our hearts if it bud out in mercie the righteous man is mercifull in every kind Where there is pietie there will not be reviling and disgracing and quarrelling and contention it is impossible that pietie in the heart should be contentious that pure and untainted liquor should passe through a filthy kennell if there bee grace in the heart it will shew it selfe in the hand in the lip in the words in the actions in all It is but a touch that I give you I know you easily ghesse where I am I come not to put you in mind of what you know or rather to put you in mind I am not conscious to your courses but I will tell yee what the world saith It is a great deale of wrong done to this parish and this place if there bee not much contention in it and it is not upon this occasion that I heard it for before now I never knew any one in the parish but as the Apostle saith of the good workes of one of the Churches It is spoken of in all the world so the strife of this place is spoken of in all the Citie Here is the fruit whereby you must examine your selves mercie to men If wee be not those that nourish brotherly love there will be no mercie there is no mercie where there are the fruits of uncharitablenesse and if there be no mercie there will be no pietie Let this therefore be the touch-stone of pietie love and peace with men as the Apostle speakes As much as is possible have peace with all men I will speake no more of the meaning of the first part Mercifull men are taken away It is the Comentary upon the former The second is the Predicate of the Proposition they are taken away that hath reference to this they perish It is great wisedome in the Spirit of God thus to expound one word by another That as in the body of a man those parts that are of most use God in wisedome hath made them double hath made them paires two eyes two hands two eares c. because these are parts of great use that if one part fall away and miscary the other part may supply if one eye be out a man loseth not his sight he hath another and so in other parts so it is in the Scripture if we mistake one word here is another that is more plaine to lead us right in the meaning of the Scripture for else men would have beene offended Godly men perish That is more then to die that that perisheth is lost But it is plaine they are not lost in death Perishing is one step beyond death If it had beene predicated of mercilesse impenitent unrighteous men it might have been said so they perish they not only die But what hath the righteous done who ever perished being innocent Who ever suspected and dreamed that it was possible for mercifull men to perish Here commeth in the interpretation No be not deceived It is a word frequently used in the world carnall men thinke so but they perish not they are but tooke away Yee see how one word helpeth the other so this word giveth us assurance of the meaning of this Scripture and of the state and condition of a mercifull man hee perisheth not though the Atheists of the world thinke so he perisheth not to himselfe for then beginneth his happinesse when death commeth though they perish to mens memomoriall and remembrance there is no remembrance of the wise man more then of the foole saith Solomon that is worldly men that mind the world and their bellies they take no more to consideration when a righteous man a wise man dieth then a foole that is an impenitent man though I say they perish to the memoriall of the world they perish not to God not to the fruition of his happinesse for Death is but a porter a bridge to everlasting life then beginneth their glory Heaven that was begun before in a misterie then it is set open to them literally and personally They perish not because they are taken away there is the proofe of it A man that is removed only from an Inne no man will say that hee is lost That that is transplanted from one soile to another doth not perish A graft or syens though it be cut off and it is to have a more noble plantation It is so farre from perishing that it is more perfect it is stablished in its nature it is set into a better There are but one of these two interpretations of perishing and neither of them can befall a godly mercifull man Either it is a passage from a beeing to a not beeing and so the Beasts when they die perish because their soules are mortall as well as their bodies it is no more a living creature there is no more life in it it resolveth to its first principle the soule it is nourished as well as the body there was a beeing before but now there
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
some that hung themselves I pray give me leave a little to speake upon this Saint Austin tells me of five causes for which persons doe usually lay violent hands upon themselves The first is this Some doe it to avoide some shame or some dishonour or miserie or beggerie that shall befall them Thus did Achitophel when he saw that his counsell was defeated hee went home and hanged himselfe Thus have many done to avoide shame and dishonour Alas poore wretches While they seeke to escape temporall punishment they runne into eternall like our fishes in the Proverbe Out of the frying-pan into the fire into hell fire where the worme dieth not and where the fire never goeth out Secondly some have done it to avoide the terrours of a guiltie conscience Thus Iudas troubled in conscience after hee had betrayed Christ he went and hung himselfe Poore wretch He had more need he had lived that hee might have healed that sinne of his by repentance This is not a way to expiate thy sinne this is a way to increase it Iudas when he killed himselfe hee killed as wicked a man as was upon the earth and yet hee shall answer to God as well for that nocent bloud of his owne that he spilt as hee shall for the innocent bloud of the Son of God that he betrayed Thirdly wee find some that have done this to avoide some vilanie that they feared should bee offered them As for example Pelagia a noble Ladie that we reade of in Ecclesiasticall stories when shee was followed by some barbarous souldiours that would have abused her she speaking nothing but never a villaine of them all shall touch me threw her selfe over a bridge and drowned her selfe Some of the Fathers doe little lesse then commend her for this Saint Augustine condemnes her so should I. For why should she that had done no hurt doe hurt to her selfe why should she to escape the hands of the Nocent lay violent hands upon her selfe that was innocent Our chastitie of body is not lost when the chastitie of our mind remaineth inviolated Fourthly Some have done this to purchase to themselves a name of valour Rasis in the booke of the Machabees did thus And if there were no other thing in the world to shew that booke to be Apochriphall Scripture this is enough in that the Author of that booke commendeth Rasis for it It is not valour for to flie a danger it is valour to beare it If any example can bee alledged to this purpose that of Sampsons may But Saint Austin hee answereth The Spirit of God secretly commanded him to doe it And wee may verily beleeve it for if the Spirit of God had not commanded it yea and assisted him in it too hee had never done that he did in pulling downe the house upon himselfe and the Philistims Lastly some have done it or they might have done it because Blessed are the dead Some will die that they may be blessed Poore wretches They that deprive themselves of this life may not looke for a better when this is ended I will not judge particulars I leave them unto God But in the generall considering that life is Gods blessing it is hee that giveth it and it is hee that must take it away Considering that man is not lord of his owne spirit Considering that God hath set us here in our stations and we may not move out without leave from our Generall Considering that we are set here to serve God and we must serve him as long as he will and not as long as wee will Or specially considering that God hath forbidden us to kill others therefore forbidden us much more to kill our selves therefore surely except Gods mercie bee greater then I can give warrant for they that die thus die eternally And wee had need beseech God with all earnestnesse of spirit to keepe us from such a fearfull temptation as this for they that die thus die not in the Lord and therefore cannot bee blessed for my Text saith it of no other but of those Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. This is the first point I come to the Restriction Die in the Lord. It may be construed two wayes the preposition is Ambiguous for the Preposition many times in Scripture signifies In Domino or propter Dominum As Rom. 26. 1. I commend unto you Phebe our sister that you would receive her in Domino in the Lord that is for the Lords sake as becommeth Saints And in the twelfth verse of the same Chapter Salute the beloved Persis which laboured much in the Lord that is laboured much in Gods cause for the Lord. So againe Say to Archippus looke to the ministerie that thou hast received In Domino that is for the Lord for the Lords service for his worke I might give you many more instances There is one place most pregnant Eph. 4. 1. I Paul a prisoner in Domino so saith the vulgar Latine and so is the Greeke interpretation In the Lord. What meaneth Saint Paul A prisoner in the Lord what is that A prisoner for the Lord a prisoner for the Lords cause And thus you may take the word here in the Text Blessed are they that die In Domino that is such as die in causa Domini and thus Iudicious Beza to whose judgement I attribute much in translations hee readeth it so Blessed are the dead qui moriuntur causa Domini and then in his Annotations propter Dominum And if you take it thus then the Martyrs only are blessed That Martyrs are blessed the Church of God is so farre from making a question that they set it downe as a Rule Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro Martyre A man doth wrong to a Martyr that prayes for a Martyr their blessednesse is so sure for Hee that loseth his life for my sake and the Gospels shall find it saith Christ. If he loseth a temporall life he shall find an eternall If he lose a life accompanied with sorrow hee shall find another life that is with joy such joy as cannot bee conceived such joy as shall never be ended Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his Saints There are two things saith S. Bernard that makes the death of a Saint precious the one is a good life before the other is a good cause for which he dieth A good life will make it a precious death but a good cause will make it a more precious death But that is the most precious death that hath both a good life before it and a good cause comming next The Martyrs are blessed but they must be such Martyrs as suffer for the Lord be sure of that or else they are not blessed There be some that would be accounted Martyrs a great company of such we have had of late that have died for broaching of treason and some for sowing of sedition some for absolving subjects from
the oath of Alleageance some for attempting to blow up Parliament houses Such as these are not Martyrs It is not the punishment it is the cause that makes the Martyr Our blessed Lord himselfe that never did evill was crucified betweene two evill doers there was an equall punishment there was not an equall cause It must be the cause that wee must looke to if wee looke to be blessed But I cannot stand upon that Here is the first interpretation To die in the Lord is for the Lord. But there is a second and that is more large Die in the Lord that is die in the faith of the Lord. Salute Andronicus and Iunius my fellow prisoners which were in the Lord before mee saith S. Paul that is that were Beleevers that were in the faith before mee And to let passe many other places if there bee no resurrection of the dead saith the Apostle then wee that are asleepe in Christ c. If wee beleeve that Iesus died then those that sleepe in Iesus shall hee bring with him c. And againe Hee shall descend from heaven with a shout and they that are dead in Christ shall rise first Now what is it to die in Christ in a large sense I will tell you Hee that would die in Christ first hee must die in obedience There are many workes of obedience that wee are to doe Our last and greatest act of obedience is to resigne up this same spirit of ours willingly chearfully into the hands of God that gave it If wee have not attained to that strength that some have done that is to live patiently and die willingly yet wee should labour to attaine to thus much strength to live willingly and to die patiently So as Christ may bee magnified in my body saith the Apostle I passe not it makes no matter let it either bee by life or by death When wee have done the worke that God hath set us to doe wee must be gone and thus must every one say with himselfe Lord if I have done all the worke thou hast appointed mee to doe call me away at thy pleasure Here is the first In obedience Secondly Die in repentance I remember what Possidonius said of Saint Augustine a little before his death that it was necessarie that men when they died they should not goe out of the world absque digna competenti resipiscentiâ without a fit competent repentance Hee himselfe did so for he caused the penitentiall Psalmes to be written and they were before him as hee lay upon his bed and hee was continually reading those penetentiall Psalmes and meditating upon them with many teares he died even in the very act of contrition I doe love to see a man chearefull upon his death-bed but I doe more love to see a man penitent There is a day indeed when God will wipe away all teares from our eyes When that commeth then he will wipe away these teares of repentance too these teares of godly sorrow But the Lord grant he may find mee with teaees in mine eyes Thirdly Die in faith Indeed if ever Faith had a worke to doe it hath then a worke to doe when all other comforts in the world faile us and friends goe from us then faith to lay hold on the promises I know that my Redeemer liveth and that I shall rise againe at the last day and bee covered with my skin and shall see God with these same eyes Thus faith And then fourthly Die with Invocation calling upon the name of God Thus have all the Saints of God done continually commending of their soules to God in prayers Saint Paul would have us commend our soules to God in well-doing And it is a necessary thing every morning wee rise and every night wee goe to bed but especially when wee see some harbingers of death sent unto us then to have nothing to doe but with our blessed Lord Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And with Saint Steven Lord Iesus receive my spirit And next to this let me put in also Mercie Charitie Die forgiving one another Thus our Lord taught us to doe when he cried out Father forgive them for they know not what they doe And Saint Steven taught us to doe so too Lord lay not this sinne to their charge And then lastly for I cannot stand upon these things there must be a death in Peace Peace with God Peace with our owne consciences and Peace with all the world And now the man that dieth thus dieth with willingnesse Dieth in repentance dieth in faith dieth with invocation dieth in charitie dieth in peace this man dieth in the Lord and such a one is blessed They that would thus die in him must live in him A man cannot bee said to die in London that never lived in London A man cannot be said to die in the Lord that never lived in the Lord. If thou dost not live in obedience in faith in repentance in invocation in charitie in peace thou canst not die in these A man must first live the life of the righteous before he can die the death of the righteous And then againe if a man would die thus Hee must bee well acquainted with death grow familiar with him by meditation Many things more I might have said to this purpose but I am loth to transgresse the houre I have done with that Give me only leave now to speake in a few words unto the present occasion You have brought here beloved the body of your wellloved neighbour Mistris S. H. late the Wife of your late reverend Pastour Doctor R. H. to be layed up together with her Husband in hope of a blessed and glorious resurrection It is long since that I did in this place performe this service at the buriall of his former Wife a woman of whom I may not speake for though I hold my peace the very stone here in the wall will say enough of her and you that know her cannot but assure the truth of it I am intreated to performe now the like duty to the second Wife And I was easily intreated to doe it for that name of brother and sister that was usually betweene us for many yeares continued may very well challenge of me any dutie I am able to performe I am straitned in time and I cannot speake what I would and I doe perceive alreadie by this that I have spoken that if I should speake much more my passion would not give me leave Let me tell you one thing amongst many others it is a thing extraordinary and it is for imitation The Vertuous woman in the last of the Proverbs is commended for many things Amongst others this is one Shee doeth her husband good and not evill all the dayes of her life And marke it I pray you It is not all the dayes of his life and yet peradventure some woman might bee thought a good
these two may stand together in a due subordination one to another a mans love to himselfe and love to God to love God more then himselfe and so to seeke all good in God and in the way leading to him Secondly take man as he standeth in competition and opposite to God in matter of will and desire In this case a man must not loue and seeke himselfe but God When a man seekes good to himselfe in a way displeasing to God herein he must not seeke himselfe for he must live to God and not to himselfe when his thoughts and desires and affections are carried for himselfe principally this is against the rule this is not the state of a Christian of a beleever thus to seeke himselfe in any thing contrary to God or in any thing above him Thus you have the opening of it And it shall appeare to be a truth by these reasons For a man to live to himselfe that is to doe the actions of life with respect to himselfe not to others and to God It is First a dishonour to God Secondly injurious to Christ. Thirdly dangerous and hurtfull to a mans selfe First I say it is dishonourable to God It is the greatest dishonour the creature can doe to the Creatour to exalt himselfe to make himselfe his end in the actions hee doth It is to make a mans selfe a God and to make God an Idoll For what is that incommunicable glory that God will not give to another but this to make himselfe his end It is a glory proper only to God Hee made all things for himselfe Prov. 16. 4. Marke how these two agree well together that that that is the efficient cause should be the finall cause too that as God is the maker so hee should be the end of all things and as that that giveth beeing to the creature it is out of it selfe so likewise that that should quicken and act the creature should bee out of it selfe When a man therefore propounds himselfe as his end he is said in that to make himselfe God Those false Apostles Phil. 3. 20. it is said of them that they made their belly their god because this they propounded as their end how they might advantage themselves in the world how they might feed and delight themselves and exalt themselves and serve not God This is to bring God below a mans selfe making God an Idoll and himselfe God I say therefore it is the highest dishonour that the creature can doe to God Secondly it is the greatest injurie that he can doe to Christ to live to himselfe Christ may say truly and more properly and fitly to us then Saint Paul could say to Philemon Thou owest thy selfe to mee Wee owe our selves to him by all rights especially by that great right of purchase hee bought us to himselfe he redeemed us to himselfe You are bought with a price saith the Apostle therefore glorifie God in your spirits and bodies for they are Gods They are his and not your owne because he bought them bought them when you were slaves and had inthralled your selves therefore you owe yourselves to him hee hath purchased you to himselfe In the old Law the rule was that if a man had bought another either out of captivitie or the like he was to demand all the worke and service that this man could doe all his time and strength belonged unto him that bought him for he was his money therefore he might exact of him the uttermost hee could doe for his service for he bought him Much more Christ that hath bought us from a worse slaverie from a slavery under the power of darknesse and bought us with the greatest price even with the effusion of his owne bloud Hee hath redeemed us saith Saint Peter not with silver and gold but with his owne precious bloud a price farre above that if a man should give all his wealth Now when Christ hath bought us for himselfe wee are become not his money but his bloud therefore all that we have and are is due to him because we are his If we have any good in the world in things present if there be any good to the soule in things to come all is by Christ therefore all must be unto him I a man have a servant if he be either bound to him suppose an Apprentise or if he be hyred to him suppose a workman or Artificer if hee live by him and have maintenance from him every man expects that his time be to his Master and his worke for his Masters advantage If a day-labourer come at night and demand pay the Master will aske him what worke hee did suppose the man should tell him he had beene building himselfe a cottage or mending his owne apparell or had beene doing such and such worke for himselfe but what hast thou done for mee saith the Master Dost thou thinke to live by me and not worke to me Doe we thinke to live by Christ and not serve Christ This is the very end why hee hath delivered us from the hands of our enemies that wee might serve him in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Marke it wee must serve him for he hath delivered us that is we must doe him service doe his worke not some peece of the day and the worke of another another part of the day doe somewhat with respect to God and somewhat with respect to our selves but we must serve him all the dayes of our life The whole time of the hyreling is for his Masters service and the wholetime of a Christian for the service of Christ for hee hath bought us with the price of his owne bloud Then it is an injury to the Lord Christ because he hath ransommed us at such a price for himselfe if we doe things to our selves and not to him Thirdly as it is a dishonour to God and injurious to Christ that men should live to themselues so it is dangerous to a mans felfe And that will appeare by comparing what wee lose by it with what we gaine by it Compare our losse and our gaine together and wee shall see then that wee doe our selves the greatest mischiefe when we seeke our selves most Consider first what wee lose by it Our happinesse What is the happinese of the creature but the injoying of God We lose our end and perfection What is the blessednesse of the creature but to obtaine his end What is the end of the creature but the glory of the Creatour Then the creature commeth to perfection and blessednesse and happinesse when it is most emptie of himselfe when he most perfectly and with due affection seekes God Therefore in seeking our selves we lose our happinesse Saint Paul so conceived of their blessednesse they let fall themselves in the highest point of selfe-love when they stood in competition with God or opposition against God Moses desired that his name might bee blotted
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
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
change our vile body and make it like his owne glorious body c. But the maine fruit whereof wee are now presently possest is a heavenly Conversation And so I come to the second particular included in the observation before propounded viz. That nothing is so effectuall to settle a man and to dispose him to a holy and heavenly Conversation here on earth as the right looking for the second comming of Christ. That this is true you shall see it briefly how the Saints of God upon this very ground have beene wrought and incouraged to a heavenly conversation in all the parts and degrees of it First of all yee shall see that this is that which mortifieth the secret lusts and corruptions of the heart A man will never set soundly and in truth to the mortification of his inward corruptions that doth not in truth out of love to Christ looke for his second comming And the very reason why many are so dull and dead and backward to this worke for want whereof they cannot lead so heavenly a conversation upon earth is this because they doe not with love to Christ looke for his second comming And that this is so it will appeare by divers places of Scripture Set your affections saith the Apostle on things that are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God And hee doth not only say so but Mortifie therefore saith he your earthly members Wherefore should they mortifie their earthly members because Christ sitteth at the right hand of God upon whom yee looke upon whom the eye of your faith is fixed mortifie your members For what is that that makes a man in truth to dispose and frame his heart to bee fit to stand in the number of those that are clothed in white Robes at the second comming of Christ but even this consideration that none shall appeare then with comfort but such as now walke in holinesse of conversation Certainly that man that doth with delight expect his second comming hee will be most carefull to fit himselfe for the receiving of Christ and most diligent in setting himselfe to the mortifying and subduing of his corruptions that so hee may walke before him in all holinesse of life A man that expects the comming of a King to his house will he therefore bee secure and doe nothing because hee knowes certainly that the King will come No surely hee will therefore because hee is sure that hee will come make ready and furnish his house that it may be fit to receive him when hee doth come Even so because I expect the comming of the great King the King of glory as hee is called in Psal. 24. I will now open my everlasting gates I will now labour that hee may possesse my soule I will now cleanse my selfe from all filthinesse and pollution of flesh and spirit Therefore the Apostle Saint Iohn having said Wee are now the sonnes of God and it doth not yet appeare what wee shall be but wee know that when hee shall appeare wee shall be like unto him for wee shall see him as he is Hee presently inferreth Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himselfe even as hee is pure Hee that hath this hope that he shall be with Christ that he shall see him as he is he will bee carefull to purifie himselfe as Christ is pure This is the disposition of a man that truly longs and rightly lookes for the comming of Christ hee will be carefull to purifie himselfe A man that expects to bee raised to some great and eminent place in the Court hee will be carefull to fit himselfe with those necessary requisites that may make him capable of it and enable him to go through it with credit and comfort So he that expects to to have this great honour of the Saints to be of the number of those that receive glory and happinesse and comfort by the second comming of Christ hee will be carefull to purge his heart from all corruption that it may bee capable to receive that comfort What daunts a man at the apprehension of death and makes him have no delight in thinking of Judgement to come but the guilt of secret sinnes with which hee hath beene and is so unwilling to part It is impossible for any man to looke with comfort upon the approach of Death and to take delight in and desire the second comming of Christ but hee who upon this ground is carefull to purge his heart of all secret corruptions and lusts whatsoever This is then the first thing wherein it doth appeare that the looking for the comming of Christ is a speciall meanes to worke us to a holy and heavenly conversation Secondly as this is that which mortifieth the secret lusts and corruptions of the heart so it is that also which mortifies our worldly affections For what is it that will subdue in the heart and purge out of it the love of the world and worldly things but this the looking for and expectation of a better estate to be had in Jesus Christ at his second comming What is it that makes men hold the world so fast What makes them so gripple of the earth and to cleave so close to the things of this life But because they have no comfortable perswasion and expectation of a better estate afterwards Certainly he that on a right ground and upon good warrant can expect with comfort the second comming of Christ he careth nothing for the things of this life Therefore saith the Apostle If you be risen with Christ seeke those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God because Christ sitteth at the right hand of God therefore set your affections there But how shall we come to set our affections there Set them not saith he upon the things of the earth It is necessary that the soule of a man should have something or other to fasten upon some object to take up its delight and joy and he that cannot have joy and delight in better things in things above he lookes for it in things below and the reason why hee so cleaves to and claspes and hugges with delight the things below is because hee hath no better things to thinke of to hope after Hee that hath a better inheritance to hope for will easily let fall these things and his affection to them because his hope is in Christ who shall make him glorious at his second comming You see then the necessitie of it in this second respect But to goe further It is necessarie also for the avoyding of any evill of any sinne in the act What is it that makes a man regulate and square his course of life according to the rule of holinesse so that he avoides the corruptions that are in the world through lusts But this looking for the second comming of Christ. This Argument Iohn the Baptist used to presse upon his hearers
him and lie in his Bosome And that man cannot for his life when hee seeth the sweetnesse of the grace of God in Christ but resolve to obey him and determine to walke in the wayes of holinesse and take paines and use industrie for the overcomming of all sinne and by the vertue of Christ he shall prosper in this I beseech you therefore set your selves aworke about this great businesse to get Repentance and Faith and New Obedience it is much more needfull then sleepe then meat then attyre there is nothing in the world so requisite for thy welfare as these things Scrape thou riches together in the same quantitie that Solomon did and ten thousand times more yet thou shalt see Death once within a hundred or halfe a hundred yeares Get wisedome yet thou shalt see Death after a few yeares Take pleasure with as much greedinesse as he did once when he forgate himselfe for a space yet thou shalt see death These things that the foolish world hunts after with so much earnestnesse of desire will not secure thee from the sight of the King of feares Death as Iob calleth it But if thou once get Faith and Repentance and new obedience then thou hast obtained that that all the riches and honour and pleasures and learning or whatsoever seemeth desireable in the world will not helpe their possessors to What will you doe brethren Grovell still on the earth and still be mad after backe and belly Or will you now begin to thinke I must die I must shake hands with that dismall enemie pale-faced Death that is able to strike terrour into the strongest heart and amazement into the stoutest soule that is not well confirmed and if this Death find mee destitute of true Repentance and Faith and New Obedience it will seize upon me and dragge me before the Judgement seat of God where I shall bee Henced away with a malediction and curse and be forced to take my place with the Divell and his Angels in unquenchable flames Oh what shall I doe then to secure my selfe from the great from the strong arme of death I will repent now I will begin Lord draw mee helpe me that I may doe it I will beleeve now Lord doe thou worke Faith that requirest it I will obey Lord inable me to performe such needfull duties as thou commandest me Shall this be your practice when you come home Will you thus studie to practise Repentance and Faith and Obedience and studie to cry and call for it and use all your indeavour Or what will you doe will you be as idle and carelesse as negligent and slothfull in making after these graces as before Will you be as greedy of the transitorie vanities of this life as in former times Oh abuse not the word of God If thou goe out of the Church without a full purpose to apply thy selfe from hence forward either to begin or to proceed in the practise of the saying of Christ Cursed bee thou in thy hearing cursed be that houre that thou hast spent and cursed be thy misbestowed labour thou dissembling hypocrite But if thou labour to practise this of Christ namely to keepe his sayings the Doctrine of the Gospell to repent to beleeve and to obey blessed art thou in thy hearing and in thy doing and in thy obedience happy is the time and the place and all things that concurre together to draw thee to so needfull a worke I pray Brethren set not your labour upon gold and silver and money and trash not upon the pleasures and delights and contentments of the world not on any other thing but mainly and principally above all things let your chiefe care bee for Faith and Repentance and Obedience If you strive for these things earnestly and heartily and constantly as sure as the Lord is in heaven hee will bestow them upon you and with them the benefit of benefits Freedome from Death And now I shall speake comfort to those few that are in the world that keepe these sayings of Christ. Let them bee of good comfort if their capitall enemie the King of feares and the King of Afflictions be held from a possibility of doing them harme nothing can harmethem Hee that Death cannot hurt paine cannot hurt povertie and disgrace cannot hurt nothing can hurt him You know if the King of an Armie be reconciled to a place hee will keepe his Souldiers from spoyling and burning and destroying that place If Death be put out of power to doe thee hurt and God bee reconciled in Christ because thou keepest the saying of Christ nothing can hurt thee thou art the happiest man under the Sunne Why should the poore sad afflicted grieved mourning lamenting Saints of God envie them that are rich and jolly and merry worldlings any of their pleasures and profits any of those things wherewith they like Idiots make themselves laugh at What hath not God given thee better things then hee that thou shouldest murmure and whine and weepe for want of them art thou still complaining for want of them Remember what Saint Iames saith Let the brother of low degree that is abased and despised in the world rejoyce yea rejoyce with great boasting and glory in his Exaltation This is the exaltation of the Saints Christ writing his sayings in their hearts and inclining them through the operation of his Spirit and the powerful worke of his Word to repent and beleeve hath freed them from the danger of Death and interessed them into eternall happinesse and that blisse that no tongue can expresse nor no heart conceive This is thy happinesse it is not to be rich or to be great for these cannot deliver the owner from the hurt of Death naturall nor from the danger of Death eternall But to have Faith and Repentance and Obedience this is riches and exaltation for he that hath them shall not alone escape the Dungeon of eternall darknesse but bee advanced to the Palace of everlasting felicitie The Saint is the happy man the penitent beleever and true practiser of Christian obedience he is the sole and only happy man under the Sunne for whatsoever storme hee suffereth in this present world hee shall certainly escape Death and obtaine Glory Blesse God and blesse thy selfe in God magnifie him rejoyce in him take comfort in thy lot and portion Death that devoureth Kings that destroyeth Emperours that conquers Captaines and men of valour shall not be able to approach thee for thy hurt for thou keepest the saying of the Lord Iesus Christ. Rejoyce I say in this magnifie him that is the Authour of it and account thy selfe happy that thou hast received from him so excellent a gift as to bee in some measure inabled to keepe his saying Yea if it were so may some Christian heart object then I should esteeme my selfe the happiest man alive but alas where is this Repentance you describe where is this New Obedience in mee that still still find my selfe captive
cattell to feed upon for the Land was not full but they might afford some roome to strangers such was he ready to flie when God called him Therefore when God called him to Egypt he presently changed the place and went to that and from thence when God called him againe he came to Mamre and there he dwelt with the Inhabitants of the Land because hee understood that that was the place that God had selected for him to make his possession It teacheth us to learne this voyce of our Father Abraham as children learne to speake by their Parents and delight in their language so we should still delight our selves in this language of the Father of the faithfull to be and account our selves strangers and sojourners among you that bee the world among you that have your cares so fixed on the world that you have no care of heaven among you that will give nothing but hoard up riches and you know not to whom you shall leave them among you that have no dwelling above in that Citie whose builder and maker is God among you that live only on earth I am a stranger among you And being so as every Christian must professe himselfe it therefore followeth we must abstaine from all fleshly lusts and worldly desires and carnall concupiscences and appetites for strangers use not to settle on their dregs in the Countrey they passe thorow but as men in motion they take that which is needfull knowing that they have a Countrey in another place the blessed Ierusalem that is from above who is the mother of us all Secondly we are to consider here the humble conclusion that Abraham makes out of his pilgrimage out of his strangenesse because he was a stranger therefore he will be no meddler as it is an old rule strangers must be no meddlers they must not take what they will not buy what they will strangers doe not purchase land in a strange Countrey without the good will of the Natives Such was the nature of this holy man of God hee would not so much as make bold with them for a burying place without their consent One would thinke it had beene easie for him to have ventured upon this whensoever a man dies the common custome of nature and the law of Nations yeeldeth this priviledge to put their dead into the ground earth to earth there is none so barbarous as to denie by the light of nature but that a dead man should be buried strangers or Forreiners or native Inhabitants therefore I say a man would thinke that such a man as Abraham might safely have ventured upon this to bury Sarah and never told them and asked their good will But no the blessed man was of another mettall of a heavenly and sweet disposition hee would trouble no man he would give no offence but carry himselfe as an Angell of God among them harmlesse to every one he desireth every mans love he was carefull to avoid any mans despleasure and therefore he commeth to them as to great men and intreateth them as if it had beene for a Lordship or a peece of a Province or some great matter of estate he commeth to beg a Grave he desireth a burying place This should teach us what ought to bee our condition in this world not to be audacious and bold and presumptuous as commonly we are one upon another And even strangers themselves so forget themselves now adayes that they make no conscience of depraving and undermining and spoyling and putting Natives out of their possession they get to themselves such an impudencie as is strange and none of the least reproaches they neither approve themselves to God nor men by this bold intrusion Let strangers be like themselves to know that nothing is theirs that they can challenge they must come to it by the good will and consent of the parties for strangers are not at home but to be sent home to their owne place they must presume of nothing out of their place If men did consider this they would not shoulder out and injure and backbite one another and all for base worldly pelfe little better then a burying place then a Rodde of ground to make them a Grave but men are so set on it as though all their hope were here as though they had no treasure in another place as though this were their home and they had no further motion to better things This is the Preface Now the Petition followes Give me I pray you Giveme not Gratis the meaning is not as after the storie sheweth he would not take it for nothing but give mee for price for reasonable bargaine as you shall deeme it fit to give me See here againe the excellent moderation of this great man this great servant of God hee confest it lay in their power to assigne and contract with him for any thing it must be their gift or else he would venture upon nothing I have lived among you and I would faine die among you too as you have given me leave to live with you I beseech you cast not a way my dead my Wife is gone the way of all flesh and I shall follow her shortly cast us not away there is no further corporall living for us together I beseech you give mee a burying place and then we shall be one corporation our bodyes will moulder to nothing and not hurt you therefore give mee that which is a common gift a gift that enemies will give to enemies and therefore a gift to strangers and it is naturall to doe good to strangers I beseech you give me What is this hee would have For though this people were very liberall and would have given him a hundred times more then this hee requested as wee see afterward by their answer it would have beene a great matter that Abraham should have beene denyed yet this holy man asketh such a gift as they might well grant without harme Hereupon the holy man is to be commended as for the great beggars of the world they cry Give give all the whole Countrey is not sufficient to satisfie their desire but still when they have had this and that preferment they cry still Give This blesfed man was of more moderation hee had a more circumcised heart and desire hee desireth no more then they might well forbeare and part with and suffer him to have without hindrance And so it teacheth men their dutie that they should not too much grate upon a friend nor too impudently demand things that cannot well be parted with many men are of such good natures that they will give away at the first sight of a Petition that that shall bee a great losse and damage to them and after wish that they had not given it when they cannot recover it againe There was no such spirit in Abraham nor should be in Gods children they should not bee insatiable and extend themselves to unreasonable demands a thing that argueth one altogether glued
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
to make the straight wayes of God crooked to make that that God accounts straight to be crooked this is a setting against God therefore Peter saith to Simon Magus pray if it be possible that the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee So you see Saint Paul speakes to Elymas the sorcerer upon the same ground Act. 13. Thou child of the divell and enemy to all righteousnesse wilt thou not cease to pervent the right wayes of God Now I say here are the words and speeches that men speake against the wayes of God these are speeches that argue men in a state whereby they are lyable and open to judgement and exposed to wrath therefore wee should take heed of such words The use may be to condemne those that make light account of words they thinke they may speake it may bee in rashnesse and hastinesse and they may be excused for uttering them it is their hastinesse and their passion and it was done unadvisedly c. I but the Law of God is transgressed the Majestie of God is offended the anger of God is provoked You know what old Eli sayd to his sonnes My sonnes if a man sinne against a man man may plead for him but if he offend against God who shall plead for him I say who shall take up the matter with God in such a case as this when the offence strikes against God and his ordinances and his worship Therefore take heede there is much evill there is life and death as Solomon saith in the power of the tongue that is a man may utterly destroy himselfe by the very words he speakes unadvisedly as hee thinkes and will plead for himselfe or passionately and rashly Againe much more doth it concerne those that proceede to other kinds of wickednesse in the tongue we instanced in some particular instances then that we cannot now stand on We came to direct men to carry themselves in their speech as David to set a watch before the doore of their lippes he prayed to God to doe it And Psal. 39. I sayd that I will take heede to my wayes that I offend not in my tongue And then he prayes to the Lord Psal. 131. to keepe a watch before the doore of his mouth Hee knew well enough that there will be a time when the words that we thinke are sleight and vaine shall be brought to judgement idle unprofitable frothy talke much more rayling and reviling speeches most of all the highest blasphemies and execrations these shall most certainly be brought to a greater censure at the day of judgement But I will not stand on that I then handled Now there remaines three things more The first is this that in the day of judgement God will proceed according to his Law So speake and so doe as those that shall bee judged by the Law I say In the day of judgement God will proceede with men according to his Law Hee will proceede according to his word written therefore labour that your speeches and actions may bee such that they may be agreeable to that Iohn 12. 48. The word that I speake to you saith Christ shall judge you at that day There is not a word that Christ speakes but it shall judge he speakes not in vaine he is the judge that speakes Now you know Christ speakes two wayes Eyther in himselfe Or by his Ministers In himselfe and so eyther that that hee spake when hee was on earth in his his owne person then all the words that hee spake at that time are those words by which he will judge men as farre as they concerne morrall actions by those words he will judge men at the great day for he spake nothing but what was according to his Law Or else that which he spake in his Apostles immediatly by a certaine and infallible worke of the Spirit directing them to such truth as that they could not erre in speaking now in this Christ still spake in them The same way Christ hath in speaking to this day therefore saith he he that heareth you heareth me and he that heareth me heareth him that sent me That which he spake to them hee spake in them concerning all the Ministers of the Gospel What we speake as Ministers that is as men that looke to the direction of our Lord for we are but Embassadours and our words are so far of value and power as they are the speeches of our Lord and as we speake the word of him whose Embassadours we are Now I say looke what the Minister thus speakes as the Embassadour of Christ to the people that Christ will confirme at the day of judgement Now it will appeare what wee speake as Embassadours if we speake nothing but what is agreeable to the text of Scripture rightly understood Therefore marke it whatsoever sinne wee denounce the judgement of God against and urge Scripture for it it is the very rule that Christ will observe in judging men Or else that speech could not stand what yee loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven and what yee bind on earth shall be bound in heaven Wee bind when by declaring of mens sinnes wee denounce the judgement of God against such sinnes and so pronounce men to stand under the wrath of God that remaine in those sinnes saith Christ what you thus binde on earth shall bee bound in heaven that is Gods act shall ratifie and confirme the same sentence in heaven which we denounce here upon earth by vertue of this word So when wee come to distressed soules and declare to them that they stand acquitted and that by the Word of God and so as Ministers of the Gospell by vertue of the truth revealed to us declare that they are freed from the bond and guilt of their sinnes upon those evidences of repentance that they manifest I say it is ratified in heaven Therefore you see there is no other way of proceeding but looke as Christs owne words when hee was upon the earth so the same that are as his owne words that is those truths that are drawne from Christs truths have the same power upon the hearts and consciences of men now to command them and shall have after to judge them as ever they had But here it may be objected it should seeme that all men shall not be judged by the Law because there are some men to whom the Law hath never beene published for what shall wee say to a great part of the world that have not yet received the Scriptures we know that the Scriptures have not beene published to a great part of the world at this day there are many Heathens many Pagans that never had the Scriptures therefore how shall they be judged by the Law except you say that onely those shall bee judged by it that have beene under the preaching of the Gospell and have had the helpe of the Scriptures We answer that all mankinde and every particular man is under
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
difficult a worke By faith Abraham when hee was tried offered up his sonne and hee that had received the promise offered up his only begotten sonne Now I cannot handle all these parts by severall peeces as they lye therefore I will deliver to you the juyce and substance of all that I have to say in two Propositions there might bee many more collected from these words but I will speake of no more the first is this That strong and great tryals may befall strong and great Christians The second Proposition is this That Faith will make a man acquit himselfe in great tryals Now for the first That strong and great tryalls may befall strong and great Christians The Text cleares it in Abraham about his sonne his only son a great triall there are ten remarkable steppes in this triall of Abraham in offering up his Sonne First had it beene to part with a dutifull servant this had been something but to part with a Sonne this is much more this wee know that the relation of a servant is much lesse then that of a child Againe if hee had beene to part with a faithfull friend such a one as Ionathan was to David this would have tried him but to part with a tender Isaac this is much more Againe if it were an adopted sonne that he were to part with it were not so much but to part with a naturall sonne one that was a part of himselfe a part of his owne body Againe if he were a sonne amongst many more but hee must part with his only sonne his only sonne Isaac Againe if Abraham had beene young and might have enjoyed another sonne it had not beene so much but he is the only sonne of his old age Againe if it were the sonne of his old age if it had beene an Ismael this had not beene so much but his only sonne Isaac a child of promise and of prayer a child of many teares Againe if it had beene a sonne wherein wee tooke no great delight that his affections were not so much set upon it had not beene so much but it was the sonne of his love he must not onely part with his only sonne and the only sonne of his old age but his only sonne whom he loved Againe if it were but only to part from him to have him takenaway this had not beene so much but he must kill his sonne hee must cut his sonne all in peeces and so offer him up to God wherein his heart might have disputed with that sinfull act of murder Againe if another had beene to doe it to cut his sonne in peeces but Abraham must doe it himselfe the tender Father must take away the life of his tender child Againe it had not beene so great if Abraham had beene to doe it presently or neere to some of his friends that might have hindered him from this Act but Abraham must goe three dayes journey and must goe to an unknowne place and there must poure out the heart and bloud and life of his Isaac In these many particulars we may see the greatnesse of Abrahams triall O the heighth and depth and bredth of this triall no one could impose such a triall but a God and none could answer such a triall but an Abraham Iob may come in as another instance God gives Iob this testimony that hee was an eminent person None like him in the earth a perfect and upright man and one that feared God and eschewed evill Hee seemed to be the tallest Cedar and yet hee had the sharpest windes his eminencie in grace would not deliver him from trouble hee is tried many wayes in the losse of his cattell and then in the losse of his servants and then in the losse of his children and in the losse of all his children at once and all on a sudden and at such a time the time of his greatest prosperitie hee is tried by his neere friends condemned for an hypocrite and by his owne wife contemned and tempted to curse God and he was tried by God himselfe Hee wrote bitter things against him and fastened his arrowes in his spirit But to leave these instances let me crave leave a little to touch upon two things for the full and cleere opening of this point First I will shew you wherein the strength of a tryall may consist And secondly I will shew you why God is pleased to lay strong and great trialls upon strong and great Christians First wherein the strength of a triall may consist and I will observe sixe things which may make a triall great First one is the goodnesse and kindnesse of the agent that deales with us when any neere to us in a singular relation to us shall seeme to turne against us and spoyle us and persecute us when a deare friend shall prove a bitter enemy O this is a heavy triall no sword cuts so sharpe as this nothing makes a greater wound then this when God himselfe shall seeme to reject Hee who had said thus much I will be a God to Abraham and I will blesse thee and multiply thy seed and yet now to command him a Duell with his sonne for a man to meet with a condition of trouble and sorrow when he expects all mercy and compassion and tendernesse of love O this doth cause singular sorrow to meete with waves in the middest of the Ocean it is a common thing but to thrust the ship into some harbour and there to meet shipwrack O this is very much for a Christian to find scornes and hard usage from the world this is but an ordinary thing but when he lookes up to heaven receives such lookes and frownes from God that fetch teares from his eyes and from his heart this is much more Secondly the strength of a tryall may consist in the neernesse of an object when the triall is not that which rends the garment but rends the heart for a woman to lose her ring is not so much but to lose her husband this is much more for a man to lose an outward thing is something but to lose a child is much more this many times is the renting of the loynes a sunder for David to lose a servant is not so much but when David loses an Absalom then he cries out O Absalom my sonne would God I had died for thee O Absalom my sonne my sonne God is pleased many times to trie his servants by taking away the delight of their eyes and the joy of their heart and the hope of their lives Thirdly the strength of a triall may consist in the neerenesse of a comfort a triall is strongest when it seemes to plucke away the thing that is neerest the heart when God pluckes away a Childe sucking at the breast when he takes away that wherein our delight is fixed when God on a sudden doth take away and consume the Gourd that shadowed
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
this is a truth concernes you in particular Judge your selves so farre profited by the Word you heare as you can make good application of it to your owne estate and condition Whensoever men come to heare the Word they come to heare somewhat that concernes themselves therefore whatsoever wee say befalls them that are in Christ apply it your selves and make account this is my case if I bee in Christ. Fourthly hence we might note thus much also that When a man is in Christ there is a reall change There is an evident change from what hee was before hee was in Christ. For so the Apostle reasons now you are in Christ there is such a change as from death to life there is a mervellous great change in you If there bee not this change in you neither are you in Christ and all the hopes you build on of being in Christ they are without a foundation they are upon an imaginarie Christ not upon Christ that is yours indeed If you bee in Christ let it appeare in a change let us see how you are changed since you were in Christ from that you were before for this make account of conclude thus much for your selves that all that are in Christ are changed But fiftly and lastly hee expresseth wherein this change consisteth and hee makes choice of such termes as are most acquisite and fit for his purpose He would expresse this spirituall change and marke what expressions hee useth to manifest it by no lesse then life and death There is such a change when you are once in Christ from what you were before as there is between a man that was dead and is now alive or a man that was alive and is now dead and this is that that I will insist now upon wherein note these particulars First the Analogie and proportion the aptnesse and fitnesse of the termes wherein the Apostle expresseth the spirituall change of those that are in Christ how fitly they may be sayd to be dead and alive Secondly it is observeable in what order the Apostle expresseth these first dead and then alive Make account that the worke of Grace in the effectuall change in your hearts it proceeds in this order First you are dead and then alive dead to sin first and then alive to God Thirdly note the certaine connexion of these two together so there is not onely a certainty in the object but a certainty in the subject too not only a certaintie that those that are in Christ shall live but it is certaine to you make account of this make this conclusion for your selves build on it know it for your selves as he sayd to Iob it is certaine if you be in Christ you are dead with Christ and you shall live with Christ make account of this Lastly the efficient cause of this great change exprest in these termes it is Iesus Christ our Lord make account of this if you be in Christ there comes a vertue from Christ an effectuall working of Christ by his spirit in your hearts such a powerfull worke as will conforme you to Christ dead and to Christ risen that you shall be dead to sinne and alive to God not by any strength in your selves or any excellent endowment in your owne natures not by any naturall inclination and abilitie but through the vertue and power of Iesus Christ our Lord working in you Thus you have the Text opened Wee will speake first of the Analogie and proportion the agreement betweene the metaphors here used and the things exprest by them That which the Apostle would expresse is that there is a marvellous spirituall reall change in all those that are in Christ from what they were before Now let us see how fitly it is exprest in these words that he sayth you are dead to sinne and alive to God that hee choseth to expresse it by life and death Had it not beene fit to have sayd thus much you are changed in your dispositions in your inclinations in your intentions in your actions you are changed in your conversations you are other kind of men in the inclination of your hearts you bring forth other fruit you lead other lives then you were wont to doe But hee expresseth it here yet more fully that is by that that includes all these and if there be any thing more may be added it includes that too yee are dead and alive Then we will consider First generally how death and life expresse the state of them that are in Christ. Secondly consider them in their particular application how death expresseth the first part of a mans change in sanctification and life the second part First wee take them in generall and let this bee the point that A man that is indeed effectually changed by vertue of his union with Christ hee hath such a change wrought in him as in a dead and living man as in life or in death Now first take it in generall you know life and death they imply first a generall change when a man is alive or when a man is dead there is not a change in some part onely but in the whole So it is here when a man is effectually changed from what he was by vertue of his union with Christ. A member may bee dead and yet neverthelesse the man alive but if the man be dead there is a general change that goes throughout it possesseth every part every member so that now there is no member of him but death rules in it then hee is a dead man So it is in this when a man is dead spiritually there is not a change in some particular actions onely in some particular opinions onely there is not an alteration of some of his old customes onely but it is a generall change so it goes through the whole man It is a change in the understanding he judgeth things otherwise then hee was wont to doe And there is a change in the will the inclination of it is to other objects then he was wont to bee inclined to And thence there is a change in his intentions he propounds other ends to himselfe then he was wont So there is a change in respect of the whole the Word is the rule of all a mans actions There is a change from particular evills from one as well as another that when any thing is discovered to him to bee a sinne to bee a transgression of the rule hee is turned from it So likewise when any thing is discovered to him to be a dutie agreeable to the rule according to the will of God revealed in his Word hee is a vessell of honour prepared for it and that is it the Apostle especially means when he compares them to vessells and he describes them thus they are vessells of honour fit for the service of their Master prepared for every good worke So that now as the Apostle sayth there remaineth no more conscience of sinne That is
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
Mother But consider the World as it is in it selfe and there is nothing in it but true bitternesse and false sweetnes certaine paine and uncertaine pleasure tedious labour and timerous rest nothing in the World but vanitie and miserie for saith Saint Iohn Love not the World hee that makes himselfe the friend of God makes himselfe an enemie to the World O you lovers of the World sayth Saint Austin I wonder at you O foolish men who hath bewitched you for what wrestle you why doe you strive and contend so much what thing is their in the World that is worthie your labour there is sayth hee nothing in the World but that which is foolish and frothie and frayle and false and vaine and full of danger full of disaster suffer your selves therefore to bee weaned from the World And yet notwithstanding all that wee can say wee know there are some persons that will not bee taken off from the Worlds breasts they have a better opinion of it then so Let such enjoy their owne errour till they runne to ruine and till their owne overthrow take them off Yet notwithstanding wee know that which an Ancient hath that to whom God is once sweet the World must needs bee bitter 2 On the other side the knowledge of this serveth to winne us to the Lord that as the one draweth us off so the other may drive us on When I consider the mercies of the Lord and the goodnesse of God in the land of the living when I consider how infinite he is in his love I am ravished in spirit I am taken up in the minde and taken off in the flesh I have set my heart and affections on Heaven and on heavenly things And now when I think on the Lord there is my hope and there is my helpe and there where my helpe is there is my love and there is my life and there is my Lord there is Christ at the right hand of God Hee is the life of them that beleeve hee is the resurrection from the dead hee is the right hand where there is pleasure for evermore for there shall be no more paine no more death for the first things are past away saith Saint Iohn in the Revelation and all things are become new Oh hee that did but know the joyes that are reserved for such as are received to the Lord would soone bee taken up from all conceits of the things of this life Thinke you but of that great convocation house of Heaven that high Court of Parliament that great place of Majestie and honour where all the spirits of just men made perfect are where all the Saints departed live where there are all the blessed Patriarches godly Prophets the glorious Apostles the blessed Kings and the goodly fellowship of Martyrs and Confessors where there are the holy Angels and Arch-Angels Thrones and Dominions Seraphims and Cherubins in those glorious Orbes Where there is God the blessed Trinitie the King of Glorie whose Glorie is more then can be seene be sayd conceived to be where the joy of the Saints is such as eye hath not seene no sayth Saint Austin eye hath not seene for it is no colour nor eare hath not heard for it is no sound nor never entred into the heart of man to conceive for the heart of man must enter into it where all shall bee filled with abundance of peace so the Prophet they shall not only taste and see how good the Lord is but they shall be filled with abundance and they shall drink out of the River running over with infinite and transcendent pleasures where there gold shall be peace and their silver shall bee peace and their land shall bee peace and their life shall bee peace and their joy shall be peace and their God shall be peace and the God of peace hee shall fill them with the peace of God and that peace is it which passeth which is infinitely beyond all understanding Glorious things are spoken of thee thou Citie of God where the King is veritie and the Law is charitie and the State is felicitie and the Life is eternitie The comparing of these two things together of this lifes miserie and that lifes felicitie and eternitie would make a man sing and to sigh too It would make him sing I singing is in the Temple and sighing is in the Tabernacle singing in the Temple Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they shall be alwaies praysing thee here is singing but sighing is in the Tabernacle for while wee are in this Tabernacle therefore sigh wee desiring to be dissolved and to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven for while wee are here we cannot be happie for this life is miserie This bee spoken for our selves The second application of this plea is for others seeing this life is such a life of miserie and that life is such a life of glory and immortality our present hap so base our future hope so excellent this should stay us and take us off from mourning for such as are departed as if wee were without hope of them Hope is in the Text the principall thing and to lament and mourn for those that are departed wee should bee so farre from it as to rejoyce in our spirits for the blessed translation of such into eternall rest from this vale of miserie I say we should rejoyce in their very translation What dost thou mourne and lament and hang downe the head and all for losse of such as are departed and gone to rest with God Oh but thou wilt say thou art not heavie for their gaine but for thine owne losse but seeing thy losse is the lesse and their gaine the greater why dost thou not observe a meane and a proportion in these things I confesse it is very fitting both in Civility and Divinity and agreeable to the lawes both of Grace and Nature that there should be mourning especially in the house of mourning at times and occasions offered in this nature it cannot otherwise be But for Rachel to mourne for her Children so as that shee would not be comforted not but that shee could have beene comforted but shee would not that is not well But I say here is comfort in abundance and here is that which must stay us from being transported with impatient griefe wee must overcome all our griefe with patience with a blessed expectation of our owne dissolution for we must thinke we shall goe to them they shall not returne to us let us desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best for them and for mee I and for thee too Enough of the fift Point The last which I will but name that so I may runne through this whole Scripture at this time is this that The righteous and the hopefull they are not miserable they are not most miserable not the most miserable of all nay they are not miserable at all
hee was in publicke but what was hee in private wee have seene him in the Sunne how demeaned hee himselfe in the shade True Religion is like the precious stone Garamantites which casteth no great lustre outwardly but semper intus habeat aurâ—…as gâ—…ttus but wee may discerne as it were golden drops within Three of these after I have presented to your view I will then set free your patience and give your sorrow full scope to vent it selfe in teares The first of these was tendernes of conscience which is one of the most infallible tokens and markes of the Child of God so tender was hee that he would undertake no businesse before hee was fully perswaded of the lawfulnesse thereof both by cleare texts of Scripture and the approbation of most learned and conscientious Divines hee made scruple not onely of committing the least knowne sinne but of imbarking into any action which was questionable among those that love the truth in sinceritie And therefore although God blessed him with great wealth and store of coyne yet hee never put it to Usurie or Interest thereby to increase it for he held the tolleration of the Law in this Kingdome to bee no sufficient warrant for any violation of the divine Law the distinctions lately coyned of toothlesse and biting Usurie hee no way allowed judging truly that all Usurie according to the Hebrew Etymologie is biting and hath not onely teeth but Adders teeth envenomed for all Usurie if it biâ—…e not our Brother as per accidens sometimes it may not yet it biâ—…eth the conscience of all such who have any remorse of sinne The second aurea gutta was Christian compassion whereby he tooke to heart the afflictions of Ioseph and miserie of Lazarus whose sores hee cured with the most precious balsamum hee could buy for his money What Plinie writeth lib. â—…2 c. 8. Attalus usus est Thynni recentiores adipe ad ulâ—…era on the Fish in Latine Thynnus that it is a soveraign remedie against many diseases and cureth all kinde of ulcers was truly verified in him for hee furnished himselfe with the best cordialls and the rarest medicinall receipts and when hee heard of any poore sicke or hurt hee not onely sent them money but Bezar and balsamum thinking nothing could cost him too deare whereby he might save the life or recover the health of the poorest member of Christ Jesus In the yeares of dearth and sicknesse he sent provision to all the Parishes about him and thrice a weeke relieved a hundred atleast at his gate neither did his compassion dye with him for in his Will and Testament confirmed by him the day before his death hee bequeathed divers Legacies to the poore whereof these following came to my notice To Saint Margarets in Westminster 10. pound To Kempsford 60. pound To Cosley 60. pound To Froome and the Woodlands 100. pound To Warmester 100. pound To Deverill and Mounten 100. pound The last aurea gutta which I shall present to your view at this time was his fervencie of zeale for the truth of the Gospell in all the Benefices which hee bestowed hee tooke speciall care to make choice of men sound in the Faith no way warping either to Popish superstition or 〈◊〉 seperation as he made greatest accompt of those Ministers of the Gospell who were serveâ—… iâ—… spirit zealous for the truth so hee hated none more then 〈◊〉 and luke-warme Laodicaâ—… he â—…eldome spake of any Romanist without expressing a great deteâ—…tation of their idolatrie and superstition the night before he changed this life for a better after an humble confeâ—…ion of his sinnes ingenerall and a particular 〈◊〉 of the Articles of his beliefe in which hee had lived and now was resolved to die he added I renounce all Popish superstition all mans merits trusting only upon the merits of the Death and passion of my Saviour and whosoever trusteth on any other shall finde when hee is dying if not before that hee leaneth upon broken reedes Here after the benediction of his Wife and Children being required by me to ease his mind and declare if any thing lay heavie upon his conscience he answered nothing he thanked God yet like an obedient child of his Mother the Church of England both heartily desired and received her absolution and now professing that hee was most willing to leave the world he besought all to pray for him and himselfe prayed most â—…ervenely that God would enable him patiently to abide his good will and pleasure and to goe through this last and greatest worke of faith and patience and the pangs of Death â—…oone after comming upon him he fixed his eyes on Heaven from whence came his helpe and to the last gaspe lifted up his hand as it were to lay hold on that Crowne of righteousnesse which Christ reacheth out to all his children who hold out the good fight of Faith to the end and conquer in the end Which crowne of righteousnesse the Lord who hath purchased with his blood after we have finished likewise our courses of his infinite bountie bestow upon us all Cui c. FINIS TEMPVS PVTATIONIS OR THE RIPE ALMOND GATHERED A SERMON APPOINTED to be Preached at the Funeralls of the Right Honourable the Earle of EXETER in the Abbie Church at Westminster SERMON XLII GEN. 15. 15. And thou shalt goe to thy Fathers in peace thou shalt bee buried in a good old Age. IT was the manner of the Egyptians and Greekes to embalme the dead bodies of great Personages and anoynt them all over with Honey which kept them a long time from corrupting and putrifying in their Sepulchres Thus the Macedonians preserved the Corpes of Alexander as some Historians report above a hundred yeares from rotting in his Coffine But Gemistus Phleton being to performe a like Rite to Agesâ—…laus for want of Honey layd his Corpes in Waxe made of Honey-combes I am sorâ—…e I am at this time to give the Motto to this Embleme A Person of qualitie a Person of wealth a Person of noble birth a Person of Honour a Person of fame and renowne whose soule is alreadie bound up in the bundle of life is now to hee brought with Honour to his long home and though not his Bodie yet his name to bee embalmed and preserved as it were in honey in the sweet Commemoration of his Vertues and the first Standard-bearer of Religion under his Majestie and the great Master of these sacred Rites and Ceremonies was designed to doe this office and hee richly provided for it of whom I may truely say as Homer of Nestor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cujus ex ore melle dulcior fluebâ—…t oratio But siâ—…h it hath pleased the Divine Providence whose footsteps are not knowne to take away for a time the use of his feete who should at this time have stood on this holy Mount Bounden dutie and service hath layd upon mee Genistus Phletons taske and I am constrained as hee was in-apia
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
the â—…er words of the Prophet I will 〈◊〉 them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the grave I will redeeme them from death hee that will redeeme them from death can in no sâ—…se bee sayd to bee the cause why they die but why they die not Besides both hee and Iarcht stumble at the same stone to wit the word debâ—…ica which they derive from dever signifying verbâ—… or causa whereas they should have derived it from dever signifying pestâ—… or a plague Thirdly for Saint Ierome his translation though it differ somewhat from the originall yet it is no Antithesis to the Text but an elegant Antanaclasis or at least a Metonymie generis pro specie mors pro peste I will bee thy death for I will bee thy plague Fourthly for the translation of the Septuagint which Saint Paul most seemeth to follow because writing to the Gentiles who made use of that translation and understood not the originall hee would not give them any offence nor derrogate from it which was in great esteeme among all in regard of the aâ—…tiquitie thereof and it stood the Christians in those dayes in great stead to convince the unbeleeving Jewes It well agreeth with the Analogie of faith and the meaning of the holy Spirit and the Hebrew letter also will beare it for Ehi as Buxtorphius the great Master of the holy tongue out of David Kimchi observeth signifieth ubi where as well as ero I will bee and a venemous sting and pestis the plague differ but little so that although the words in the originall seeme to bee spoken by an affirmation but in Saint Paul and the Septuagint by an interrogation in the one by a commination inthe other by an insultation yet both come to one sense and containe an evident prophesie of Christ his conquest over Death and Hell I have plucked away the thorne and now I am come to blow the flower and open the leaves of the words O Death I will bee thy plagues that is I will take away from Death the power of destroying utterly and from the Grave the power of keeping the dead in it perpetually If wee take the words as spoken by way of insultation ô mors ubi est aculeus tuus O Death where is thy sting thus wee are to construe them as a hornet or serpent when his sting is plucked out can doe no hurt to any other but soone after dyeth it selfe so Death is disarmed by Christ and left as good as dead for as David cut off Goliahs head with his own sword and Brasidas ran through his enemie with his owne speare so Christ conquers over Death by death in as much as by his temporall death hee satisfied both for the temporall and eternall death of them that beleeve in him And as hee conquered Death by his death so hee destroyed the Grave by his buriall for suffering his bodie to bee imprisoned and afterwards breaking the gates and barres of the prison hee left the passage open to all his members to come out after him their head These sacred and heavenly mysteries are shrined in the letter of this Text for although the Prophet speaketh to the Isralites and maketh a kinde of tender unto them of redemption from temporall death and deliverance from corporall captivitie yet to confirme their faith therein hee bringeth in the promise of eternall redemption from whence they were to inferre if God will redeeme us from eternall how much more from temporall death if hee will deliver us out of the prison of the grave how much more out of common Gaoles What though our enemies have never so great a hand over us what though they exceed in their crueltie and put us to all extremitie and doe their worst against us their crueltie cannot extend beyond death nor their malice beyond the Grave but Gods power and mercie reacheth farther For he can and he promiseth that hee will revive us after wee are dead and raise us after we are buried he will plucke deaths sting out of us and us out of the bowells of the Grave Death hath not such power over the living nor the grave over the dead as God hath over both to destroy the one and swallow up the other into victorie For therefore the Sonne of God vouchsafed to taste death that Death might be swallowed up by him into victorie Although Death swallow up all things and the Grave shut up all in darknesse yet God is above them both therefore when wee are brought to the greatest exigent when nothing but death and torments are before us when we are readie to yeeld up the buckler of our faith and breath out the last gaspe of hope let us call this Text to mind O Death I will bee thy plagues neither Death nor the Grave shall be my peoples bane because I will bee both their bane and change their nature which destroyeth all nature For to all them that beleeve in mee Death shall not be a posterne but a street doore not so much an out-let of temporall as an in-let of eternall life and though the grave swallow the bodyes of my Saints yet it shall cast them up againe at the last day Thus the words yeeld us singular comfort if wee take them as a commination and they afford as much or more if we take them as Saint Paul and S. Chrysostome do by an insultation As a man offering sacrifice for victorie and full of mirth and jollitie he leapes and tramples upon Death lying as it were at his mercie and sings an Io Poean a triumphant song wherewith Gerardus a great friend of Saint Bernards breathed out his last gaspe of whom hee thus writeth In the dead time of the night my brother Gerard strangely revived at midnight the day began to breake I sent for to see this great miracle found a man in the very jawes of death insulting upon death and exulting with joy saying O death where is thy sting Death is not now a sting but a song for now the faithfull man dyeth singing and singeth dying And so having plucked away the prickles and opened the leaves by the Explication of the letter I come now to smell to them and draw from thence the savour of life unto life Ero pestes tuae ô mors As Saint Ierome writeth of Tertullian his Polemmicall Treatises against hereticks â—…uot verba tot fulmina Every word is a thunder-bolt so I may truly say of this verse quot verba tot fulmina So many words so many thunder-bolts stricking Death dead by the light whereof wee may discerne three parts 1. The menaced or partie threatned Death 2. The menacer or partie threatning I. 3. The judgement menaced plagues 1. The menaced impotent mors Death 2. The menacer Omnipotent Ego I. 3. The judgement most dreadfull pestes plagues 1. First of the partie menaced Death Christ threatneth destruction to none but to his or his Churches enemies But here he threatneth Death Death therefore must needs be an
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