facis fac cito That which thou meanest to doe doe quickly And thus much for the first objection I come now to answer a second For Religion you will say and the early remembrance of those duties which we owe to our Creator they breed melancholie and fright the Soule with many sad and desperate thoughts not an idle word can be spoken not a Racha given or Thou foole not the least riot or excesse committed but presently the conscience checks us with judgment and Hell fire and gladly would we desire the freedom to live a little chearly in our youth Thus have I seene a patient sometime complaine of his Physick when as indeed he was heart sicke of his disease For pray tell me what is it which in those sad fits whereto the Soules of good men are oft-times subject and perhaps did we more often feele them the more happy might we be what is it I say which breeds this melancholy is it our Religion that wee know is the Physicke of the Soule no surely it is our sin and that is the disease Were it not madnesse in us then to desire to live freely in our sinne that we might live free from sorrow when as indeed there is nothing truly to be sorrowed for but sinne For let us reckon up a catalogue of all such delights as our owne Soule would wish to concurre to make a cheerefull life and you shall see religion hath the promise of them all Wouldst thou injoy long life and see good dayes Keepe thy tongue from vill and thy lippes that they speake no guile And this life of thine wouldst thou have as healthfull as 't is long Praise the Lord O my Soule for he it is that reneweth thy strength and maketh thee young and lusty as an Eagle And this health of thine wouldst thou have maintained with plenty Trust in the Lord and doe good and verily thou shalt be fed Delight in the Lord and hee shall give thee thy hearts desire And this plenty of thine wouldst thou have seconded with joy O be joyfull in the Lord all yee Lands serve the Lord with gladnesse and come before his presence with a song And lastly of this joy of thine wouldst thou have a patent not for thy selfe onely but for thy posterity The Righteous shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherite the Land If then life and health plenty and joy can make a cheerefull man certainly religion cannot make him melancholly But yet I must confesse these rare effects they are perhaps but rarely to bee found and short life craz'd health small plenty unconstant joyes they are the portion oft-times even of GODS dearest Saints not that GOD hath forgotten to bee so good as his word promiseth but that men have not remembred to be so good as his word commandeth but have neglected the performance of those strict conditions whereupon the accomplishment of these so large promises depend But however do the righteous and such as daylie remember their Creator doe they onely eate sowre Grapes and are the sinners such as have not GOD in all theyr thoughts are their teeth never set on edge It is true indeed that GOD receives no man but whom hee doth chastice chastice not with crosse and affliction onely but with sorrow and anguish of Soule with feare and trembling for his sin yet here wee have a mixture of little judgement with great mercy the ioy of our receiving soone easing the smart of our chasticement But is it not true withall that the sinner hee shall receive his chasticement and yet never bee received here is iudgement without mercy With the righteous heavinesse may endure for a night but ioy commeth in the morning but with the sinner this order is inverted ioy indeed may endure for a night but sorrow returnes in the Morning When upon the sober view of of his intemperate luxuriances finding his Soule like CAINS guilty of more sinne then he knoweth how to have forgiven hee becomes subject to the fearefull expectation of more punishment then hee knowes which way to endure Indeed if we looke upon the surface of things onely the sinner may seeme to be the onely chearly man sits downe merrily to eate and drinke riseth to his play and wondereth that any man should refuse to follow the same excesse of riot with himselfe But let us now a little change his cōmons and remove him from his owne table which from the excesse and riot thereof I feare we may too justly ofttimes stile the Table of Devils and bring him to the Table of the Lord and then behold with how heavie a heart doth he reach forth his trembling hand to pertake of those sacred mysteries as justly fearing upon this Conscience of his great unworthines lest he should eate and drinke his own condemnation and rise up seavenfold more the child of Hell thē he sate downe When as the Righteous commeth with joy chearfulnesse whose innocent conscience as it keepeth a continuall feast so never then now is it more plentifully fed and thankfully saith Grace with a Nunc dimittis Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seene my Salvation For now I know that the Kingdome of Heaven true happinesse indeed it is not meate and drinke but Righteousnesse and peace and joy upon joy joy unspeakable even joy in the Holy Ghost It is a memorable speech of HAMAN who recounting the glory of his riches the multitude of his children the great honours whereunto hee had beene promoted above other Princes by the King yet in the end concludeth All this is nothing as long as MORDECAL sits in the Kings gate So surely hee that shall examine the Soules of the Hamans of this World men who for pleasure wealth and honour seeme to be the onely happy men will finde them sometime ingenuously to confesse All this is nothing for there is a MORDECAI a tormenting conscience dayly sitting in the Gate which like IONAS his Worme no sooner is the Gourd of their felicitie sprung up a little but presently it biteth and gnaweth it downe againe And therefore we see daily nothing more frequent thē for the luxurious prodigall upon the sad remembrance of the follies of his youth to breake out into a Laetare sterilis Happie are the barren and the Soules unsensible of these vaine delights the fruition whereof is but a transitorie vanity and the remembrance a perpetuall vexation of the Spirit As then GOD said once unto the Iewes Bring my tithes into my store-house and prove mee now if I will not open the windors of Heaven and powre downe a blessing without measure so let me say here to young and old Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth in the dayes of thy age even all the dayes of thy life serve him in chastity in temperance in justice in charitie in prayer in repentance make a tryall of his goodnesse and see whether he will not open the
hadst thou knowne at the least in this thy day the things that belong unto thy Peace but now they are hidden from thine eyes Thou had'st once Grace offer'd when to the comfort of thy Soule thou might'st have sayd O LORD I am thy Servant but now no longer will hee be thy Master This happie opportunitie shall never be recall'd For the dayes come when thine Enemies shall cast a trench about thee and lay thee even with the dust And why because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation The neglect of that happy day wherein they were visited with Mercy putteth them off unto the terrible day of the Lord to the visitation of his Iustice Now because among many of those wayes of God which are unsearchable this is one to observe how patient hee is with some men giving them day after day even to the last houre and yet how quicke hee is with others come come presently and give an account of thy Stewardship a thousand times blest is that Soule which every day is prepared for this great day of account So then to draw all to a conclusion We reade in the Revelation of foure Angels let loose Chap. 9. and no sooner let loose but presently prepared for an houre and a day and a moneth and a yeare to sley the third part of men May we then learne diligence from our enemies and let not them bee more carefull to destroy our Soules then our selves to preserve them but may wee all bee prepar'd at a yeare at a moneth at a day at an houre to say and doe as wee say O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant Amen Serm. II THE SECOND SERMON IOHN 21.22 If I will that hee tarry till I come what is that to thee Follow thou me THese Words containe a sharp answer of our SAVIOUR to an indiscreet and unseasonable question of St. PETER In the handling whereof this order I shall observe First I will indeavour to cleare the difficulty of my Text and shew you what is the meaning of our Saviours answer If I will that he tarry till I come and secondly I will commend unto you such observations as may prove usefull to our selves To begin then with the first If I will that he tarry till I come In the Exposition of which conditionall speech of CHRIST I find great variety among Interpreters Some will admit of no positive meaning of the words but think they were spoken onely to put off the inquisitivenesse of PETER If I will that he tarry till I come or as we use to say If I will that hee tarry till doomesday what is that to thee not that he intended that IOHN should tarry till he come but to shew that whether hee tarryed or not tarried that was nothing to PETER But this exposition if wee marke it will neither well agree with the phrase of the speech nor the wisdome of the Speaker And therefore others there are who do conceive that whereas St. PETER was to dye of a violent death and follow his Master to the Crosse it might be the meaning of our Saviour to expresse that no such violence should be offered unto St. IOHN hee should dye of a faire death fairely and quietly bee buried and so tarry and rest in his grave till CHRISTS comming unto Iudgement This is an Exposition I confesse commended by learned Interpreters on all sides yet such as I cannot be perswaded to approve First because it seemeth to straine the phrase of the Text to an unusuall sence If I will that he tarry that is tarry in his grave Secondly because thousands there are who may thus be sayd to tarry till CHRIST cometh when as the speech of our Saviour seemes plainly to intimate somewhat more peculiar unto IOHN Thirdly because the ground of the Exposition is very questionable For howsoever certaine it bee that PETER dyed a violent death yet whether IOHN dyed of a naturall death or no it may be doubted Sure I am that Polycrates in Eusebius saith Lib. 5. cap 23. that hee dyed a Martyr and Theophylact confirmeth his saying from the words of CHRIST himself In Mat. 20 23. who speaking of IAMES and IOHN sayth expresly that they shall drinke of his Cup and be Baptised with his baptisme Now Iames wee know drank so deeply of this Cup that HEROD stretched foorth his hand and killed him with the Sword And as the words of our SAVIOUR doe imply IOHN must pledge him so deeply in the same Cup eyther as a Martyr or at least as all agree as a Confessor that in this respect the words in my Text cannot seeme to conteyne any speciall priviledge of IOHN above PETER when it is sayd If I will that hee tarry till I come And therefore a third exposition there is which though it be refused by almost every Commentator yet I shall now indeavour to assert it For I find by often experience that it is with weighing of opinions as with weighing of gold that which in one paire of scales is thought too light in another will hold weight The exposition is this that however as our Saviour had foretold PETER should more speedily follow him follow him to the Crosse and to the grave he should make no long tarrying here on earth but goe hence and be no more seene yet it was his will that IOHN should be longer liv'd live and tarry till hee came till hee came to execute exemplary judgment on the unbeleeving Iew in the destruction of their nation their City and theyr Temple till the same judgments in fearfull manner should attend the sinnes of the Gentiles too till as the Prophet Ioel had foretold having first come with a gracious and plentifull offer of his Spirit to be powr'd upon all flesh upon the resistance of this Spirit he should come againe with wonders in the Heaven and in the earth blood and fire and pillers of smoak For the confirmation of which exposition three things I shall observe unto you First that it is usuall in holy Scripture to imply positive truths in conditionall termes and it is the safest way in expounding of hard texts obscura de manifest is to demonstrate things obscure from the evidence of things manifest Now then manifest it is in the sixt of St. Iohn Verse 12. when our Saviour saith to his Disciples Doth this offend you what and if you should see the Sonne of man ascend up where he was before that his meaning is The time shall come when to remove this offence you shall see the Sonne of man ascend Manifest againe in the 9. to the Romans Verse 22. when St. Paul saith What if God willing to shew his wrath that his meaning is It is the will of God that he may shew his wrath to indure with long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction Manifest againe in the 12. Verse 49. of St. Luke when our Saviour saith I am come to
facile in our youth And hee that shall compare the severall advantages which age and youth have each of other in matters of Religion will finde perhaps that it is no paradox to maintain against the great Philosopher that Iunenis est magis idoneus auditor moralis and divinae Philosophiae too that a young Timothy is a fitter Auditor of a lecture of Divinity than an old Nicodemus Age I confesse to give it its due honour hath many prerogatives of youth Age is coole and temperate those hot pursuites of vain delights if grace restraine not wee see in time nature itselfe forbeares Age it is stayed and resolute good courses well begun it will hold on though the hand bee hardly drawne unto the plough yet the eye will not suddainely looke backe againe Age it is wise and experienc't and having made frequent triall of the fickle unconstancie of all things under the Sunne can now truely say of laughter Thou art madnesse and that all the glory of the world it is but vanity and vexation of spirit Lastly Age it is sickly and craz'd and daily draweth onward nearer to the grave we see the tongue no not of men and Angels to be so powerfull an Orator to proclaime unto us Dust thou art and to dust thou must returne as but one dumbe fit of a disease ALEXANDER whom in his health all the World could not perswade but that a GOD hee would needs be upon a wound receiv'd seeing the blood come could then humble his conceit jam sentio me mortalem and now I see saith he that I must dye so that the old man dayly seeing that death which may be neare unto the young man cannot be far off from him is the more easily perswaded to prepare himselfe for the more easie passage when it comes These indeed are great advantages of age and yet perhaps the young man hath farre greater For first Youth it is bashfull and modest and modesty saith the Philosopher if it be not a vertue it is vertues companion And thus much Christianitie also seemes to acknowledge when wee say of a man that is not yet past shame that surely he is not yet past Grace For shame oft-times it is the Guardian of Grace and many sins there are for the forbearāce wherof even the best Soules are sometime as much beholding to their modesty as to their Religion But age you know it is more bold and daring and therefore oft-times for want of vertues companion vertue her selfe proves wanting and the losse of shame becomes the ruine of Grace Againe Youth it is alwayes subject to controll hath a Father a Mother a Tutor a Master or if all these may fayle yet old age it selfe wee see if for no other cause yet because old it challengeth a kind of Fatherhood over all youth and if but old ELIES gentle reproofe Nay my Sonnes why doe you such things it leaves some impression in the Soule But age 't is uncontrolable Rebuke not an Elder it is the precept in the Text and ELIHU in IOB conversing with his Ancients though they gave him just cause of speech and reproofe too yet you see how long hee layes his hand upon his mouth before ever hee durst speake so that wee see oft-times the greater is the old mans libertie the greater also is his licence Againe youth it is more free and generous in all dealings of the world liveth nearest to the best law of nature Do as thou wouldst be done unto not so ready to defraud and yet more readie to restore But Age it is penurious and griping and now come in those cruell times of extortion and oppression Quocumque modo rem a man will transgresse even for a peece of bread Lastly and that which is the maine advantage youth it is like golde soft and pliable if soone bent soone set to rights againe but age it is like Iron sullen and stiffe Youth indeed it is more heady but tendermouth'd but age it is more headstrong if it flie out it will run its course the old mans Motto is like that of PILATE Quod scripsi scripsi Hee will have his will Sinnes of youth they are but ill dispositions but sinnes of age they are commonly ill habits Here the flesh turneth Traitor and rebelleth against the Spirit but there it turneth Tyrant and commandeth In the dayes of our youth GOD patiently standeth at the doore of our hearts and knocketh and when hee hath spoke once and twice though wee regard not hee will not yet presently leave us nor forsake us but when once thirty or forty yeares long he hath beene grieved with a rebellious and gaine-saying generation in the end his patience turneth to anger What could I have done which I have not done and so gives them over to a reprobate sence Thus then you see the young man also hath his advantages and indeed what ever precedence our age can chalenge of our youth it is then onely to be found when the old man ploughes with the young mans heckfer For then it is no wonder that the incomes of our age multiplying upon the stocke of our youth should make the fairer revenew but set the comparison right and then thus much I dare boldlie say that whereas in these dayes of ours whereof out of zeale I presume to make them better wee wrongfully complaine oft-times as if they never had beene worse many rare and vertuous young men are not perhaps so rare to bee found yet I thinke it is almost a miracle to see a very good old man who never began to bee good till hee was old If then vertue be so hard a taske as to excuse our vices wee are all too easilie perswaded to beleeve surely in all discretion wee are to make choyce of the fittest season to attaine it and that I have shewen you are the daies of our Youth For let sinne have but its course a while and if you will not beleeve me Saint AVGUSTINE shall tell you what will be the issue Ex voluntate perversa facta est libido Confess lib 8. cap. 5. dum servitur libi dini facta est consuetudo dum consuetudini non resistitur factu est necessitas From a perverse will which naturally wee all bring into the World arise sinfull desires and while we humor our desire custome layes hold upon us and while this custome is not controld it proves another nature Heere then you see the difficulties of Sinne they are like the waters mentioned by the Prophet begin at the ankles rise to the knees thence to the waste after to the neck till in the end they overwhelme us Were it not better then at the first to venture over shooes then at the last over head and eares and therefore while the waters are yet low and passable before the overflowings of ungodlinesse shall too much fright our soules let mee commend unto you that Item of our SAVIOUR but upon a better errand Quod
windors of Heaven and in stead of sadnesse and melancholly powre downe joy and gladnesse the joy and comforts of his Grace and Spirit whereby like the wise men at the appearance of the Starre thou shalt daylie rejoyce and that exceeding greatly But suppose it were true that the sinner had the whole world at will came into no misfortune like other men were subject to no discontent no sorrow yet notwithstanding mee thinks that one saying of Lactantius might serve to settle and compose the affections of a good man in the constant profession of his goodnesse against all the feares and melancholies which for conscience and Religions sake hee might be subject to Institut lib. 6. c. 4. Bonis brevibus mala aeterna malis brevibus bona aeterna c. So hath the providence of GOD ordeined that for short pleasures hee hath threatned us with eternall paines for short paines hee hath made promise of eternall pleasures Let everie man therefore seriouslie consider with himselfe how much better it is to be subject here unto a little sorrow an assurance hereafter of eternall joy then for short and transitorie joyes to expose himselfe unto eternall sorrow And thus much by way of answer to the young mans Objections I come now in the last place to commend unto him a few short and usefull Remembrances and then I conclude Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy Youth Remember from the dayes of thy Youth even from thy infancie to whose service thou hast so solemnly been consecrated what promises what vowes have beene made at the partaking of one Baptisme to embrace one Faith to serve one Lord and be not deceived GOD will not be mockt thou art not now thine owne man thou hast not the freedome to goe serve another Master August in Ioh. Tract 7. Deus non vult communionem sed solus vult possidere quod emit For GOD cannot endure a Partner but what hee hath purchast alone hee will possesse alone Tanti enim emit ut solus possideat and indeed so deare a price hath hee payed for thy soule that well may he challenge the whole purchase to himselfe Remember the way to Heaven is difficult and at each third step there are mazes and by-paths and therefore be not rash in thy course but stand oft times and make a pause and inquire which is the old and the right way Will these actions these thoughts this company this discourse this idlenesse this expence will these lead a man to Heaven And though thou often see good men take an oblique course like the Sunne crosse the line and backe againe Hieron Epist 9. l. 2. edit Canis yet alwayes remember Securiùs esse perire non posse quam juxta periculum non perisse that it is the safer way not to have ventur'd on a danger then to have escap't it Remember alwayes in the serious estimation of thy sinne not to follow the loose account of men who are ready to set downe fifty for an hundred nay sometime scarce one of a thousand but the true and just account of God Call no sinne light which without repentance is heavie enough to weigh thee downe to Hell Think not so much on the smalnesse of the command as the greatnesse of the commander For even small commands oft times as we see by the example of the fall of ADAM tanto majori jusiâ—tia violantur Aug Civ Dei l. â—4 c. 12. quanto faciliori observantia poterant custodivi are with so much the greater injustice violated the greater justice punished by how much with the easier observance they might have beene fulfilled Remember alwayes to prize thy soule not according to thy nature but thy grace The guifts of nature gentlenesse civility wit understanding memory may raise us oft times like Saul higher then the people and get their applause who judge onely by appearance but they are the guifts of grace which like DAVID must make us gracious with God and winne his heart Melius est esse digitum Aug. in Iohan. Tract 13. esse in corpore quam esse oculum evelli de corpore For a thousand times better it is in the eye of God to stand though but for a finger and be joyn'd unto the body then in the eye of man to looke like an eye and yet to bee pluckt out Remember alwayes to part thy care between thy body and thy soule and if so much time bee perhaps too pleasingly spent in the food the dresse the sleepe the recreation of the one doe not forget to set apart some time also for the other Bernard Sermon 6. de Advent dom Noli O corpus noli praecipere tempora For why should the pampering of the body steale away that time which might be farre better spent in the tending of the soule Potes enim impedire animae tuae salutem tuam ipsius operari non potes too much care of the body may ruine it selfe and the soule too but it is the soule alone which must save both soule and body Lastly and to conclude all Remember that at the will of the Lord thou art but a Copy-holder of thine owne life the Tabernacle of thy body at his pleasure he hath set up and at the same pleasure he will pluck downe againe whether at the first or the last watch whether in the morning or evening of thy dayes thou canst not tell and therefore watch alwayes that thou mayst be prepared that when ever thou shalt lay downe this earthly Tabernacle of thy body thou maist with joy and cheerfulnesse commend thy soule into the hands of thy Redeemer in hope of an Eternall Mansion in the Heavens Amen Serm. V THE FIFTH SERMON IOHN 20.17 Touch mee not for I am not yet ascended to my Father WHen the fulnesse of time was come God sent forth his Sonne made of a woman that as in the beginning the woman saith St. PAVL was in the transgression first in the transgression not the man so now the seed of the womaÌ„ not the seed of the man was to obteine pardon for this transgression reconcile the woman to the man and both to God And surely it is not without a mysterie in the performance of this great mysterie of our redemption by the passion and resurrection of our Saviour that when the Shepheard was now smitten and the Sheep the Disciples the men were scattered yet the women they hold fast together his mother and mothers sister MARY MAGDALEN and MARY of Cleophas with many others stand resolute by the Crosse The first that after his buriall durst come unto his sepulchre were women and that for the greater commendation of this fearfull Sex early in the morning while it was yet darke The first to whom the Resurrection was made knowne were women Why seeke ye the living among the dead saith the Angell to these women He is risen he is not heere The first to whom our SAVIOVR himselfe