ill in this fain he would stisle the light in his conscience which if he would open his eyes would clearly discover unto him a future tribunal yet sometimes he cannot smother it and therefore as Tully who saw a glimering of this truth observeth he is wonderfully tormented out of a fear that endless pains attend him after this life Well let the flesh and fleshly minded men deem or speak what they list concerning the state of the dead the Spirit of truth faith that all that die in the Lord are blessed But where faith the Spirtt so In the Scriptures of the old and new Testament and in this vision and in the heart and conscience of every true believer First in the Scriptures let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like unto his refrain thy voyce from weeping and thine eyes from tears for thy works shall be rewarded and there is hope in thine end faith the Lord precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints the Righteous shall wash his foot in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say verily there is a reward for the righteous Christ is in life and death advantage for I am in a straight between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Secondly in this vision for Saint John heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write it as it were with a Pen of Iron upon the Tomb of all that are departed in the Lord for so faith the Spirit Lastly the Spirit speaketh it in the heart and soul of every true believer lying on his death bed or on the Gridiron or in the dungeon or on the gibber or on the saggot did not the Spirit seal this truth above all other at such times to his servants were not then their hope full of immortaility they could never have welcomed death embraced the flames sung in their torments and triumphed over death even when they were in the jaws of it When Job was in the depth of all his misery the Spirit spake in his heart I know that my redeemer liveth and that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shal I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my rains be consumed within me offered and the time of his departure was at hand the Spirit spake in him I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also that love his appearing Likewise when Gerardus was giving up the ghost the Spirit spake in him O death where is thy sting Mors nonest stimulus fed jubilus And though Robert Glover the Martyr all the night before his Martyrdome prayed for strength and courage but could feel none yet when he came to the sight of the stake he was mightily replenished with Gods holy comfort and heavenly joyes and clapping his hands to Austin the Spirit the Comforter himself spake in him He is come he is come You have heard where the spirit faith so give ear now to a voyce from heaven de claring why the Spirit saith so for they rest from their labours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth as well pain as pains broyls as toyls as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greek so pain and pains in english are of kin for labour is pain to the body and pain is labour to the spirit and therefore what we say to be punished and tormented with a diseafe the latine say laborare morâ—…o and the throngs and throes which women endure in Child-bearing we call their labouring Here then the dead have a double immortality granted them 1 From the labours of their calling 2 From the troubles of their condition freedome from pain and pains taking What then may some object do the dead sleep out all their time from the breathing out their last gasp to the blowing the last trump as they suffer nothing so do they nothing but are like Consul Bibulus who held onely a room and filled up a blank in the Roman fasti Nam bibulo factum consule nil memini or like mare mortuam without any motion or operation at all that cannot be the soul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most perfect act or as Tullie renders the word a continual motion as the word is taken in that old proverbial verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it can no more be and not work then the wind can be and not blow the fire and not burn a diamond and not sparkle the sun and not shine therefore it is not said here simply that they rest from all kind of motion or working but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but from toilsome labours sore travels and again from their own labours or works not the Lords They keep an everlasting Sabbath in not doing of their own works but Gods they rest from sinful and painful travels but not from the works of a sanctified rest for they rest not day and night saying holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was which is and is to come The rest of the soul is not a ceasing from all motion or opperation that cannot stand with the nature of a spirit but a setling it self with delight upon an all-satisfying and never satiating object such was the rest the sweet singer of Israel called his soul unto return unto thy rest O my soul for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Bodies rest in thier proper places but spirits in their proper object in the contemplation fruition admiration and adoration whereof consisteth their everlasting content This object is God whom they contemplate in their mind enjoy in their will adore in both and this is their continual work and their work is their life and their life is their happiness which the Divines fitly express in one word glorification which must be taken both actually and passively for they glorifie God and God glorifyeth them God glorifieth them bycasting the full light of his countenance upon them and they glorifie him by reflecting some light back again and casting their crowns before him saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created They rest from their labours This Text of holy Scripture containeth in it the waters of Siloah not so much to refresh those that are tyred with their former labours having born the heat of the whole day as to lave out the false fire of Purgatory for blessedness cannot stand with misery nor
share wherein being exercised with many years weakness as those that knew her knew very well but yet in such fatherly dealings she shewed her patience her perseverance her prosiciency and being a Mourner for the stobbornness of the wicked she was a gainer likewise by them too and all because she looked up to God who sees and weighs all our paths In which I have briefly recollected upon the matter the sum of the whole things contained in the text so that so long as this Text is in the Bible and so long as the Bible is in the Church and so long as any thing though unworthy of this Sermon remaines in your memories she cannot want either a sweet memorial of her vertues in the book of God or a stately Monument in the Church and in your hearts too Happily some may scoffe and some may doubt as though this commendation flew too high or out of sight To whom I shall briefly answer both For the former It is reported of two great Tragedians learned and famous in their time Sophocles and Euripides Euripides presented upon the Scaene all naughty women and Sophocles presented all vertuous women and the ordinary observation of the wits of the times was as men are apt to be vainly witted in these things they thought that Euripides that presented them bad presented women as they were and Sophocles that presented them good presented them as they should be If I had nothing else to say to the scoffs of any but only this I suppose it will be sufficient I do beleeve fully that I have presented her as she was but howsoever you can take no hurt if you do but consider that it is spoken as what you should be I am sure and I know I have presented what you should be And for any that shall doubt yet that it may seem to high I would desire them only to consider this I describe in the Text the very temper and character of one that is truly godly such as I conceive her to have been and the truth is there is none that is truly godly but in some degree or measure must attain and do attain to participate in a conformity with this Character and therefore I have neither done you as I conceive any wrong and yet done her right too And to draw to an end She hath left this honour behind her that she lived beloved and died desired And who is there here almost that suffereth not a loss in her Her Husband hath lost a loving wife that honoured him highly Her children have lost a loving Mother that loved them tenderly that tendered them duly Her servants have lost a loving Mistress that governed them gently and was every way beneficial to them Her Brothers and Sisters have lost a loving Sister that answered them in their loves sweetly Her Neighbours have lost a loving neighbour full of courtesie to the rich full of charity to the poor And my self have lost I hope there is none here so weak to suspect that I blast the living to blazon the praise of the dead or that I do rob or strip the living to cloath the dead with their spoyles but I think I may truly say I have lost as truly and cordially a loving friend as any she hath left behind though I esteem many her Peeres and I cannot complain of any But to end all Her gain in Christ countervaileth and sweetneth all our losses She was a disciple of Love she loved her Lord and loved all his Saints and servants and therefore I doubt not that she was a beloved disciple and resteth in the bosome of her Love where not to disquiet her happiness and detain your patience any longer I shall leave her in that blessed place and commend you to the blessing of God THE EXPECTATION OF CHRISTS COMING OR A MOTIVE To a Holy Conversation SERMON XVI PHIL. 3.20 21. For our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself IN the seventh verse of this Chapter the blessed Apostle Saint Paul exhorteth the Philippians to be followers together of him and to mark them which walk so as they had him for an ensample And that he might the better direct them in the duty the imitation of his ensample he sheweth that there is a great difference between others that pretended themselves to be the Apostles of Christ and indeed were not and himself Many saith he walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you weeping that they are the enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame who mind earthly things These ensamples he would have them to avoid follow not such but be ye followers of us for our conversation is in heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ c. and follow those which walk so as ye have us for an ensample This is the example he would have them imitate In the words you have these things considerable First What the conversation of these men was whom the Apostle would have the Philipians to follow Their conversation was a heavenly conversation Our conversation is in heaven Secondly the reason or incouragement that they had to this imitation to walk so heavenly while they were on earth because from thence we look for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Thirdly the benefit by that Saviour whom they look for from heaven He shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious body Fourthly the means by which this great work shall be effected According to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself For the first to touch it only in a word there is from that these two Observations clearly arising First That there is a heavenly conversation of the Saints on earth Secondly That while they are on earth they are now stated in heaven Our conversation is in heaven He saith not only it shall be in heaven though there it shall be perfected but it is now in heaven in regard of our present state and possession Concerning the first that the Saints on earth have a heavenly conversation You must know that the word here Politeuma translated conversation signifieth such a course of life and of traffique as is in Cities and Corporations where many are knit and united together in one common society in one common freedome Our conversation is in heaven that is we have a kind of heavenly traffique a heavenly trade while we are upon earth There are divers things wherein there is an agreement between the carriages and conditions of men in Cities and Societies here on earth and this of the Saints of God that have their conversations in heaven I will
compleat Model Though I say much yet I know I say nothing but the truth I read of few excellent woman in the Scripture but she made them a pattern of one vertue or other For obedience she was a Sarah for wisdome a Rebecca for meekness a Hannah for a discreet temper an Abigal for good huswivery a Martha for piety a Mary a Lydia I know not any necessary thing that belonged to make up a good Christian but in some measure it pleased God to bestow it on her Thus she continued all her life in the time of her health and in sickness with so much patience as after a sort she endured a martyrdome and I see no reason but we may allow a Martyr of Gods making a swell as of mans I am sure if God make Martyrs I know not any fitter then she so meek and patient and constant Many daughters saith Solomon have done vertuously but thou surmountest them all I will not say so of her because I decline flattery But this I will say that I know not many excel her scarse any that come neer her She hath the reward of that she hath done given her of God and her works follow her We leave her to God and having committed her soul into his hands we beseech his gracious favour upon our selves THE GREAT TRIBUNAL OR GODS SCRUTINY OF MANS SECRETS SERMON XIV ECCLESIAST 12.14 For God will bring every Work into Judgement with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil DEath and Judgement are two subjects about the meditation of which our thoughts should every day be conversant we should every day be thinking of those two dayes Every day upon the day of death because there is no day wherein death may not befall us And every day upon the day of Judgement because as the day of Death leaveth us so the day of Judgement findeth us We had an occasion like to this not long since Then you may remember I discoursed of Death considered as an Enemy I shewed you what kind of Enemy it is it is a common Enemy a secret Enemy a spiritual Enemy Now at this time having the like occasion I thought it not amiss for me to discourse of that that cometh immediately after Death that is Judgment The Apostle saith Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after Death cometh Judgment And it is that that Solomon mindeth us of here in the words of my Text which he addeth as a reason to that grave advice he gave in the verse before going Having discoursed at large in this book concerning the vanity of all earthly things and the vexation among those things that are under the Sun he telleth us where it is best for us to set up our rest that is in learning that one lesson Fear God and keep his commandements for this is the totall all that God requireth That we might the rather be stirred up to hearken to this counsel he telleth us that whether we do or no the day will come that we shall be called to an account when God will bring every one of us to Judgment and take a tryal of every work we have done and of every secret thing whether it be good or evil In handling of these words we have two things in general that Solomon speaks of First the person Judging Secondly the things Judged The Person Judging is God And there I will speak First of the Judg. And then of the Judgment The things that God bringeth to judgment and tryal he telleth us first every work every thing be it never so secret And then a more particular resolution those things that are good and those things that are evil God will bring every work to judgment and every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil I begin with the Person judging And here first of the Judge himself God shall bring to Judgment God essentially meant all the Persons in the God-head Father Son and holy Ghost For all concur in this work being as the School-men say Opus ad extra It is one of the External works of the God-head and it is an Axiome in Dviinity that the External works of the God-head are not to be divided It is true there are certain internal works of the God-head that are said by the Schools to be divided incommunicably proper and peculiar to every Person as it is proper to the Person of the Father incommunicably to have his Being of himself Of the Son to be begotten of the Father And it is the property of the holy Ghost incommunicably to proceed from both But those works that they call External that is those works by which the power and wisdome of the God-head are externally made manifest to the creature such as creation preservation redemtion those equally and indifferently proceed from all the Persons not from one in particular but from all in general and this of Judgment is one For as they all concur in the creating of us so they shall in the judging of us all of them shall co-operate together in the executing of justice and mercy Justice in the damnation of the wicked and mercy in the salvation of the godly You will object peradventure that the Scripture seemeth to speak otherwise though Judgment here be attibuted essentially to God in some places it is attributed personally to Christ He shall judg the quick and the dead and therefore oftentimes it is called in the Scripture the Judgment seat of Christ as 2 Cor. 5.10 Again somtimes this work of Judging is appropriated to the Saints Know yee not that the Saints shall judg the world 1 Cor. 6.2 and by and by again Know you not that we shall judge the Angels vers 3. How shall we reconcile these when it is said Christ and the Saints shall judge I answer This threefold doubt is reconciled by a threefold distinction God is said to judge if we respect the Authority of Jurisdiction Christ is said to judge if we respect the Promulgation of the sentence The Saints are said to judge if we respect the Approbation The power and right are equally given to all three Persons but the particular Execution is given to Christ the Approbation of what Christ doth is ascribed to the Saints As at at our common Courts of Assize here one is set upon the Bench as Judg and others are joyned in commission with him as Accessories the Judge only pronounceth the sentence and they that sit in commission with him ratifie and approve his sentence that he pronounceth so at that day Christ shall sit upon his Throne as Judg the Saints they shall joyn as Commissioners Christ he alone pronounceth the sentence upon every one that is summoned there to the tryal but then his Apostles and Saints that are joyned in commission with him for such honour have all his Saints they shall ratifie and approve and
still a generation to praise God their Creator and so being a temporal thing ordained for the office of this life it ceasoth when Death cometh there is nothing but Death and that which Christ speaks of in the Gospel can make a separation when death cometh all relations cease and a wife is no wife and a husband is no husband Behold out of this the infinite love of God in Christ that hath made all things all unions and contracts hath made all to be void but his own for our Lord Jesus in life and death is our Husband our Lord our Master our Father as well in the one as in the other whereas by the intercourse of death all things are dissolved two of the best friends that are may part upon discontent and body and soul must part at Death and Husband and wife the Symbol of Christ and his Church must part one from another yet when all societies and contracts part Christ doth not part from us but he is in the Grave as well as in the highest heavens our Husband and Lord and Spouse and we are his Church still we keep the same relation and as strong bonds in death as in life My Dead Yet not withstanding though she was not Abrahams Wife yet she was Abrahams dead This must teach a man after he is freed by Death to the combination and contract yet that there is a care remaining from the Dead a love to that though not as to a Wife the respects of Man and Wife are carnal and fleshly Death cometh and cutteth down the flesh therefore cutteth off that respect too but because she was dead and there was such bonds hetween them formerly therefore a man is bound to lament and sorrow for his dead as Abraham did here to love the memory of the dead to speak well of the dead when occasion serveth to commend them for their vertues to use the friends of the dead as far as is in their power with all courtisie to be good to the children of the Dead those that the mother hath left and not to cast them into the hands of a furious woman a new Wife that neither careth for dead nor living but to have a special regard to the bonds and familiarity and that spiritual acquaintance that God made in this life and so to be good to all that come of that issue for their sakes Let me bury my dead Lastly it followeth why he would bury his dead Out of my sight A strange thing Out of my sight Was his grief so aggravated as he could not still behold her face or was it necessary that the carkasse it self must be conveyed away must it needs be that the body being now no way amiable but noisome must be conveyed out of a mans sight The best friend in the world cannot endure the sight of a dead body it is a gastly sight especially when it cometh to that dissolution that the parts begin to have an evil savour and smell as all have when they are dead then to keep themselves in life and health it is necessary to avoid them to bury their dead out of their sight And what so sweet a sight once to blessed Abraham as Sarah What so sweet a spectacle to the world as Sarah The great Kings of the world set her as a Parragon and she came no where but her beauty enamoured them she was a sweet prospect in all eyes every man gazed on her with great content to see the beauty of God as in so many lines marked out in the face of Sarah Yet now she is odious every eye that looked upon her before now winks and cannot endure to look upon her she must be taken out of sight Oh bethink your selves of this you that take pride in this frail flesh that prank up your selves to make you graceful in every eye you that study to please the beholders you that are the great Minions of the world you that when age beginneth to purle your faces begin to redeem your selves with paintings think of this Mother Sarah the beautifullest woman in the world is loathsome to her husband her sweetest friend therefore I heseech you in the fear of God leave these fooleries and vain fancies remember what danger Sarahs beauty cast her into though it were a great gift of God yet she had better have been without it then to have that hazard of soul and body that she was brought to by Abrahams travels and necessity and know it that your best beauty is to please the eye of God to look beautiful in his sight for the sight of God is never weary the sight of men will be weary of you the best friends you have will loath to see you dead you will then be grisly in the eyes of men but the eye of God it is all one even in the dust and nothing can make you so ill-favoured but God will like you therefore labour to please Gods eye that never ceaseth nothing will make him after his affection whereas the eyes of men this life is so full of foul alterations as the least sickness bringeth an abomination unto them I see the time prevents me I will speak a little to the present occasion We have here a depositum a gage a pawn of a dear Sister of ours a woman known to you all to be of a holy Christian conversation a neighbour full of peace and quiet and of good works according to her calling She was also in the spiritual part a woman of a very good inclination loving the Word of God curious and attentive in the hearing of it She was much delighted in it and desired to communicate the knowledg she had in the Scriptures to others and to speak of it as often as occasion permitted By this study it pleased the Lord to work a constant and lively faith in her to put all her trust and considence in him She was now taken upon the sudden therefore the Lord hath left her as a pattern for us to look upon to take heed to our selves that we may make our peace with God and look for death every moment because we know not how soon we may be arrested She was indeed a woman of great trust and faith in God and one whose mouth was full of his praise still admiring and recounting the wondrous grace of God to her in all the course of her life in sparing her in giving her comfort in her conscience concerning the pardon and forgiveness of her sins and providing for her worldly helps which she thought never to attain to and in many other particulars She did open the grace of God according to her best understanding still giving the praise to his holy Name and no doubt if the stroke upon her had not been so fatal and as deadly as now it was we should have had the like fruit more abundantly at this time Howbeit she was not as one altogether destitnte but she called for and craved
he takes care for them he visits and comforts and assists them in their dying he helps them with strength with memory in their understanding their senses c. 2. He takes much delight in their sweet holy calm deaths and resignations of their souls 3. He takes care of their very bodies too to lay them up sweetly to rest in Repositories or Dormitories as the Ancients were wont to call Church-yards and Graves 4. Lastly he entertains their souls immediately when they are breathed forth and places them In Sinu Abrahoe in Abrahams bosome wheresoever that is to possess present joy and quietness And no wonder that he doth all this because he hath bought them and redeemed them unto himself with so great a price as his Suns bloud and hath graced them with so many gifts and priviledges and hath made over unto them as Co-heirs with Christ so great and large benefits We may make this Use of it to serve for the establishment of us in our belief of him and our waiting on his providence If their Death be so pretious their sufferings also in any kind are dear unto him That word in the Text which is Death and which by the Seventy is ordinarily turned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet is taken in the Scripture sometimes for sickness or any affliction Exo. 10.17 For infection 2 King 4.40 For wounds Prov. 26.18 and sometimes in the Septuagint for the soul The very sicknesses and afflictions and dangers and wounds and griefs of his holy ones are dear unto God But especially their souls their lives their good and safety God writes a Ne perdas Touch not Destroy not as a notable caveat for the safety as of Kings most particularly so also of all that fear him and that trust in his mercy I have hastned over these points that I might come to the testimony that I am to give to our deceased Brother Master John Moulson which I may not omit nor to be particular in it having never such a subject of discourse before such an exemplary man I would not be bought to flatter a prophane and wicked great one but here Gods glory in this his Servant and the edification of you that are present require of me that I speak fully for he was Vir nec silendus nec dicendus sine cura He copied out in his life the old way of Christianity and writ so fair after those Primitives that few now can imitate his hand And truly as in a garden in which there are variety of flowers we know not where to pick so in those many commendable parts of his I know not which to choose to present unto you or in what method But you may take notice I. Of his moral parts where I commend four things 1. His Calmness and moderation of affection No passion was observed to be a tyrant in him they had an oequipoise 2. His sober taciturnity an imitable wisdome in this age of talk and pratling 3. His affable carriage and easiness of access by which like another Poplicola he gained reputation and the love of the neighbour-hood where ever he dwelt Some are so hairy and rough like Esau that they may be discerned by their handling and some so churlish as Nabal that a man cannot speak unto them Which sourness and clowdiness of spirit I wish were not a blemish to many that give their names unto religion He honoured it by his sweetness and affalibility 4. His grave deportment and carriage As nothing is more contemptible then a light youthly wanton old man so the gray head and wrinkled cheeks accompanied with sage gravity commands respect from the beholders as that old grave Bishop Paphnutius though he had lost an eye did from the Emperour Constantine Gravity dwelt in the face of this man and his very presence was such as would discountenance the rude and prophane But all these are but mean commendations in respect of the next II. His practice of holiness Where I will observe and commend unto you 1. His unoffensive youth of which they that can remember him since that time are confident to say of him as the Emperour said of Piso Hujus vita composita à pueritia His life was composed and settled even from his very child-hood and then began to sort himself with the gravest company chiesly with that learned and godly Master Christopher Harvy sometime incombent in this Church to whom he was dear He was observed to be so sober and modest in his youth that he was desired to accompany and attend an honourable Nobleman to Oxford where he was very watchful and careful of him and prayed twice a-day with him in his chamber So ready was he to bear the Lords yoak from his youth 2. His unmarried estate which was chast and modest He lived above fifty years unmarried and in that state expressed two vertues his wisdome not to be rash and his care to keep his vessel clean 3. His married estate course of hous-keeping 1. When it pleased God to dispose his heart to marriage he married in the Lord. 2. When God gave him Children he nurtured them and his Family in Gods fear 1. He prayed four times a-day 2. He read three chapters in the old Testament and three in the New every day 3. After dinner he called not for game for digestion but read a Chapter before he rose from table 4. He catechised his children and servants constantly according to some plain form 5. He usually rose early on the Lords day which time he gave to meditation and prayer and what he could remember of the Sermon he usally repeated to his people 4. His exemplary vertues in his whole course of life 1. His meekness and peaceableness of disposition A grace which in the sight of God is much set by and a notable testimony of inward holiness according as it runs Jam. 3.17 pure then peaceable He was not apt to quarrel in matters that concerned him not never being observed to bear a part in any faction a favourable interpreter of things not evident readier to reconcile then to make differences and choosing rather to part with his right then with peace as appeared in a suit known unto many here 2. Though he were meek in his own cause yet he was zealous in Gods He could not endure any thing repugnant to holy Scripture nor would he neglect either seasonably to admonish or reprove the faulty that were within the compass of his admonition or to whet on and exhort others to love and good works 3. Yet his Zeal did not miscarry being allayed and tempered with wisdome as the heart is by the brain and as the conceit is of the Primum mobile with the Chrystalline heaven neer it His wisdome appeared first in his disscreetness in his undertakings and all affairs an argument of which some take to be this That he was never troubled not so much as questioned in any Court concerning any fact Second in
the sum agreed upon for his ransome and the person in whose power the captive is and who accepteth of the ransome Which of these is the Redeemer you will all say he that is at the cost of all so it is in our redemption from spiritual thraldome the holy Spirit draweth the condition sealeth the Bonds the Father receiveth the ransome the Son both mediateth for the ransoming and layeth down the sum For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but the precious blood of Christ as of a Lamb withouâ— blemish he took part of our nature that through death he might destroy him that had tthe power of death that is the devil and deliver them who through the fear of death were all there life-time subject to bondage Hence we gather that he that destroyed death must die but to affirm that the immortal and eternal Spirit of God expired is blasphemy and to say that the Father suffered is heresie long ago condemned in the Patro-passions we conclude therefore with the Apostle that the second person Christ Jesus hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel And so I fall upon my last Observation the judgment here mentioned Davorica 3. Thy plagues there is no tittle or iota in holy Scripture superfluous some mystery therefore lyeth in the number plagues in the plural not plague in the singular which I conceive to be this that Christ put Death to many deaths and foyled and conquered it many wayes first in himself secondly in his members First in himself by destroying sin the sting of Death Secondly by breaking the bonds thereof in his powerful Resurrection wherewith it was impossible that he should be held Secondly in his members by changing the nature of it to them and making it of a curse a blessing of a loss a gain of a punishment either a great honour or a special favour or a singular advantage a great honour as to the Martyrs who thereby acquired so many Rubies to their crown of glory as they shed drops of blood for their Saviour A special favour as to Abraham Josiah and Saint Austin who were taken away that they might not see and feel the misery that after their death fell on the posterity of the one the subjects of the other and the diocess of the third A singular advantage to all the faithful who thereby are discharged from all cares fears sorrows and temptations and presently enter into their Masters joy For blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Now the means whereby Christ conquered death utterly destroyed it are diversly set down by the learned some argue a contrariis contraries say they are to be destroyed by their contraries as heat by cold moysture by drought sickness by health Death therefore must needs be destroyed by life as the contrary but Christ is the resurrection and the life in him was life and life was the light of men Saint Austin declareth it after this manner Life dying contended with Death living and got a glorious and signal victory Nysscen thus the Devil catching at the flesh of Christs humane nature as a bate was cought by the hook of his divine Saint Leo and Chrysologus thus if a Bayliff or Sergeant arrest the Kings son or a priviledged person and lay him up in a close prison without commission he deserveth to be turned out of his place for it So Death Gods Serjeant seizing upon his Son in whom there was no fault without warrant or commission was justly discharged of his office Is Death thus discharged hath Christ changed the nature of Death and freed all his Members from the sting of the temporal and fear of eternal death hath he of a postern made it a street-door of an out-let of mortal life an in-let of immortality why then are we so much afraid of death which can no more hurt us then a hornet or wasp after her sting is plucked out Christ fought with a living death we with a dead death which doth not so much sever our souls from our bodies as joyn them to Christ not so much end our life as our mortality not so much exclude us out of the Militant as render us to the Triumphant Church Nothing is more dreadful I confess to the natural man then Death which dissolveth the soul and body and the Grave which resolveth the body into dust and ashes To cure this malady of the mind there is no vertue in any Drug of nature the Philosophers in this case are Physitians of no value they tell us that sickness and death are tributa vivendi and the Grave the common house of the dead But what of this what comfort is here doth this speculation discharge us from the tribute or make the payment thereof the easier doth it inlighten the darkness of these prisons of nature or take away the stench from these under-ground houses no whit Yet God be thanked there is a magazine in Scripture to pay these tributes there is light in Goshen to enlighten these houses there is Specknard to perfume these dankish rooms there are Cordials in holy Scripture to strengthen the heart not only against deadly maladies but also against death it self for there we hear of a voyce from heaven not only affirming the happiness of the dead but confirming it with a strong reason for they rest from their labours and their works follow them we hear of Tabernacles not made with hands but eternal in the Heavens we hear that when we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord we hear the Lord of life opening the ears and chearing the heart of the dead and saying I am the resurrection and the life whosoevor believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live There we hear death not only disarmed of his sting but also slain down right O death I will be thy death O grave I will be thy destruction Secondly hath Christ destroyed Death and hath he both the keyes of Death and of Hell then beloved when we lie on our death-bed let us not have recourse after the Popish manner to any Saint or Angel no not to the blessed Virgin her self but to her Son who is the Lord of life who satisfying for our sins at his death thereby plucked out the sting of death and after his resurrection quite destroyed this serpent In which regard he is stiled stella matutina the Morning star because he ushereth in the day of eternity and primitiae dormientum the first fruis of them that slept because in him the whole lump is sanctifyed When therefore the fiery Serpent hovereth over us to sting us to eternal death let us look upon the Brazen Serpent and the other shall not hurt us Lastly hath Christ conquered Death and Hell and that for us let us then
rest with trouble nor reward with punishment but all that die in the Lord are blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a tempore mortis from the time of their death as venerable Beda and other expound the words and so blessed are they that they rest from all pain and pains and so rest that their works follow them that is as I shall declare hereafter the reward of their works If this lave not out the Romish fire which scareth the living more then the dead and purgeth their purses and not their soul we may draw store of water to quench it out of divers other Texts of holy Scripture as namely First If the tree fall towards the South or towards the north in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be Which Text Olympiodorus thus illustrateth in whatsoever place therefore whether of light or of darkness whether in the work of wickedness or of vertue a man is taken at his death in that degree and rank doth he remain either in light with the just and Christ the King of all or in darkness with the wicked and Prince of the world To little purpose therefore is all that is or can be done for the dead after they have taken their farewel of us after we are gone from hence there remains no place for repentauce or penance no effect or benefit of satisfaction here life is either lost or obtained but if thou O Demetrian saith Saint Cyprian even at the very end and setting of thy temporal life dost pray for thy sins and call upon the only true God with confession and saith pardon is given unto the confessing thy sins and saving grace is granted to thee by the divine piety or mercy and at the very moment of death thou hast a passage to immortality Secondly Eccles 12.5 Man goeth to his long home and the Mourners go about the streets Which words Gregorius of Neocesarea thus paraphraseth The good man shall go to his everlasting house rejoycing but the wicked shall sill all with lamentations And S. Cyprian alluding to this passage resolveth that after this temporal life is ended we are diversly bestowed at the Innes of death or immortality at neither of which hangeth any sign of Purgatory as any man may see Thirdly Luke 16.22 The beggar died and was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome This beggars case Machareus a learned Monk of Egypt maketh a president for all the servants of God who when they remove out of the body the quires of Angels receive their souls into their own side into the pure world and so brings them unto the Lord. And Saint Jerome raiseth a strong fort of comfort upon the ground of this parrable Let the dead be lamented but such a one whom he doth receive for whose pain everlasting fire doth burn but let us whose departure a troup of Angels doth accompany whom Christ cometh forth to meet account it a grievance if we do longer dwell in this tabernacle of death And as Machareus and Saint Jerome so Saint Hillary also draweth a general rule from their example that as soon as this life is ended every one without delay is sent over either to Abrahams bosome or to the place of torment and in that state are reserved till the day of Judgment Fourthly Luke 23.43 This day thon shalt be with me in Paradise and Philip. 1.23 I desire to be dessolved and to be with Christ and 2 Cor. 5.18 If our earthly tabernacle be dissolved we shall have an eternal in the Heavens and when we are ab sent from the body we are present with the Lord From whence Justine Martyr inferreth After the departure of the soul our of the body there is presently made a distinction betwixt the just and unjust for the souls of the righteous are carried by Angets into Paradise where they have commerce and sight of Angels and Archangels but the souls of the unjust to hell and Tertullian colletcteth that it is an injury to Christ to hold that such as be called from hence by him are in a state that should be pittied whereas they have obtained the chief aim of their desires If we repine at this that others have obtained this their desire by this our grudging at it we seem to be unwilling to obtain the like and his schollar S. Cypriam censureth them yet more severely who either fear death or leave this world in dis-content it is for him to fear death who is not willing to go to Christ it is for him to be unwilling to go to Christ who doth not beleeve that he beginneth to reigne with Christ if thou dost truly beleeve in God and art secure of his promise why doft thou not embrace the message that thou art called to Christ why dest thou not rejoyce that thou shalt be rid of the devil Fifthly 1 John 1.7 the blood of Christ purgeth us from all sin no sin is therefore left for Purgatory fire to burn out Were there sins to be purged yet after the night of this present life there is no place left saith Gregory Nazianzen for purging it is better to be corrected and purged now saith he then to be sent to torments there where the time of punishing is and not of purging But to leave other springs this in my Text affordeth store of water to extinguish Purgatory sire and therefore our adversaries seek to dam it up two manner of wayes First by restraining this Text to Martyrs onely who die in the Lords quarrel though their souls flie to heaven their wings being not singed with this fire yet others say they are not saved but after some time of abode in it Secondly by cooling the heat of this fire and making it not only tollerable but also comfortable bearing us in hand that they that are in Purgatot may be said to be blessed because they rest from the labours of this life and they are secure of their eternal estate they are sure to feel no other hell From the first starting-hole I have beaten them already by demonstrating that all that beleeve in Christ are ingrafted by faith into his mystical body and consequently that as they live in him so they die in him in which regard the Apostle speaking of all that depart in the faith of Christ saith they sleep in the Lord and die in Christ Their second starting-hole is less safe then the former for to say that this blessedness and Purgatory pains may subsist in the same soul is an affertion neither politique nor reasonable First it is not politique for if they cool Purgatory fire in such sort they will stop the Popes Mint from going perswade the vulgar that the souls in Purgatory are in a tollerable nay in some sort in a blessed estate because they rest from their labours and their works follow them and the Priests may set their heart at rest for gaining any remarkable sums for Dirges and the Popes tole-gatherers also for sucking
neither absolutely neither by the contract of the Law nor by the covenant of grace Not absolutely 1 Because no creature can simply merit any thing of the Creatour as Saint Austin proves by many invincible arguments 2 Because our works are no way advantagious or beneficial to God we indeed gain by them but he gains nothing 3 Because there is no proportion between our work which is finite and the reward which is infinite Neither can we be said to merit by the contract of the Law as our Romish adversaries would bear us in hand 1 Because what God requireth by the written Law we are bound to performe even by the Law of nature and when we do but that which we ought to do our Saviour teacheth us not to tearm our selves arrogantly meritours at Gods hands or such as he is engaged to recompence but unprofitable servants 2 Because we do not our work sufficiently and therefore cannot challenge as due by contract our reward our best works are scanty and defective 3 Because we loyter many dayes and though at sometimes we do a dayes work such as it is yet many times we do not half a dayes work nay for one thing wherein we do well we fail in a thousand Lastly neither can we be truly said to merit no not by the covenant of Grace 1 Because the Grace which worketh in us all in all is no wayes due to us but most freely given us of God our works as they are good they are not ours as they are ours they are not good 2 Because whatsoever we do in fulfilling the Covenant of Grace we are bound to do for the inestimable benefits which we receive by our Redeemer 3 Because we imploy not our Talent to our Masters best advantage no man walketh so exactly as he might do by the power of grace which would not be wanting to us if we were not wanting to our selves But because we may seem partial in our own cause and take these reasons for demonstrations our Adversaries will not acknowledge to be so much as probable arguments let the ancient Fathers give in the verdict Saint Austin When the Apostle might truly have said the wages of righteousness is eternal life he chose rather to say but the gift of God is eternal life that we might understand that he brings us to eternal life not for our merits but for his mercy sake And Saint Basil There remains an everlasting rest to those who fight lawfully not for the merits of their works or verbatim according to the Greek original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not according to the due debt of their works but of the grace or by the favour of our most munificent god And Fulgentius To possesse the kingdome prepared for us is a work of grace for of meer grace there is given not ouly a good life to those that are justified but eternal life to those that are glorified And Saint Ambrose our momentary afflictions are not worthy the glory that shall be revealed therfore the form or tenour of the heavenly decrees upon men proceed not according to merits but the mercy of God And Mark the holy Hermite The kingdome of heaven is not a reward of works but a gift of God prepared for his fruitful servants And let Pope Gregory conclude all As Eleazar who killed the Elephant yet was killed by the Elephant in his fall upon him so those who subdue vices if they grow proud of their victory as all do who conceive they merit heaven by it are subdued by and lye under those vices which they before subdued for he dies under the enemy whom he hath discomfited who is extolled in pride for the vice which he conquered The third difficulcy was whither the works follow the dead which may thus be expedited their good works follow them not to the grave for there the soul is not nor to Purgatory for I have already proved there is no such place nor to Hell for none are blessed that come there The works of the damned indeed follow them thither there they meer with them and with the Devil who seduced them to torment them for them there the swearers and blasphemers gnaw their tongues there the lascivious wantons are cast into a bed of fire there they who swum here in pleasures are thrown into a river of brimstone But the works of the godly follow them to the place where they receive their recompence for them The fourth difficulty was when the works follow the dead which may be thus expedited some of their works follow them immediatly after their death others at the day of Judgment Those works which they have done by and in the soul only without the help or use of the body follow them immediately after death when the soul receives her reward for them but those which were performed partly by the soul and partly by the body follow them at the day of Judgment When the King shall say Come ye blessed of my Father possess the king dome prepared for you for I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was naked and ye cloathed me I was sick and in prison and ye visited me We have peeled off the rhine let us now taste of the sweet juyce if our works shall most certainly and plentifully be rewarded Let us be Zealous of good works let us be filled with the fruits of righteousness let us in no case be weary of well-doing let us not cast away our confidence which hath great recompence of reward if a cup of cold water shall be reckoned for what think ye of a glass of hot water to revive many a fainting soul If two mites cast into the treasury shall be taken notice of what think ye of ten talents If Christ hath a bottle for every tear shed for him how much more for every drop of bloud There are infinite motives in holy Scriptures to incite us to good works I will touch at this time only upon three 1. Our great Obligation to them 2. Our exceeding comfort in them 3. Our singular benefit by them First our Obligation to them is twofold 1. As men 2. As Christians As men we are bound to serve him with our hands who gave us them As Christians we are to employ them in his service who loosened them after they were manacled and restored unto us the free use of them 2. Our comfort in them is exceeding great they assure us of our spiritual life for as the natural life is discerned by three things especially 1. The beating of the pulse 2. The letting out of breath 3. The stiring of the joynts or limbs so also is the spiritual if the pulse of devotion beat strong at the heart if we breath to God in our fervent prayers and lastly if we stir our joynts in walking in all holy duties and performing such good works as
coming within the compass of the Text fall not under the notion of dust apropriated to the body alone I cannot with comfort and conscience proceed to the collecting of observations out of a Text whilst conscious to my self that the same is incumbred with difficulties and we meet with two main ones in the Text which must first be remooved First Question This being as I may say the first day of Judgment when God in the text legally proceeded to the sentencing of Adam cast by the confession of his own conscience how cometh it to pass that only Temporal punishment is inflicted upon him One might justly have expected that God rather would have said from Hell came thy sin and to Hell let thy sin return and thy soul go a long with is Or you shall go from the place wherein you stand to the place of eternal Damnation where the worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Whereas now the mention only of Temporal death hath given the hint to Prophane persons in this licentious age greedy to snatch at all shaddows of advantage no less boldly then falsly to maintain that sin in its own nature doth only diserve and shall only receive Temporal Death I answer first Negatively It was not because sin in its own nature deserveth only Temporal Death seeing were it the work of the day and the time as proper as the place for that purpose Legions of Scriptures might be produed to prove that et ernal as well as temporal death is due to the demerit of sin yet none can wonder at prophane persons if willing to kindle comfort to themselves at every Gloworm they meet with it being for the intrest of thieves and murderers to believe if they can so perswade themselves that there never will be Goales Judge Sizes Sessions Sheriffs or Executioners But for most weighty reasons Obvius and open to our apprehension besides others no doubt concealed in his own bosome Divine wisdome adjudged it not convenient to besentence our first Parents with eternal Damnation though according to his justice and their deserts it might have been inflicted upon them First ingeneral I answer Why should any mans eye be evil because Gods is good What if he were pleased to abate of legal extremity and mercifully to remit much thereof who shall say unto him why dost thou so Indeed Itinerant Judges bound to observe the letter of the Law may not but a King by his Prerogative may commute the Gallows into the Brand qualify the Brand into the Whip underpunish offences without wrong to any because therein he doth only uti imperio suo Descend we now to more particular answers and before we go further the Audience will grant this unto me which if denyed me I shall be bold to take as an undoubted truth that had the sentence of eternal condemnation been once pronounced by God and passed on Adam It like the Laws of the Medes and Persians Dan. 6.8 could not ever after be reversed or repealed This being premised I tender to your consideration how inconsistent it was with Gods goodness to curse Adam and Eve to the Pitt of Hell beheld either in their Personal Notion as single souls or in their collective capacity as the Representatives of all man-kind For the former God would not curse Adam or Eve as private persons because foreseeing that both of them would repent and lay hold on the Promised seed and so eternally be saved indeed there were in the primitive time a sort of Heretiques no less uncharitable then Erronious who maintained that both Adam and Eve were damned base birds thus to defile their own nest whose Doctrine was exploded by conscientious Christians and the contrary avowed and asserted by the Church of God Secondly consider Adam and Eve as the representatives of all man-kind and so all the ELECTS lay hid in the Loyns of the one and Womb of the other I have blessed him said Isaac of Jacob Gen. 27.33 yea and he shall be blessed by the same proportion it followed more firmly that if God had cursed the elect in Adam and Eve they should have been cursed which was diametrically opposite to Gods gracious intent yea would have proyed destructive to his design having fore-appointed from all eternity in due time to say unto them Matt. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the Foundation of the World Yea which is most material Christ himself of whom it was said Gal. 3.8 In thee shall all Nations be blessed according to his humanity and as concealed in his causes had even then a Seminal existence in our first Parents What said Balaam Numb 23.8 How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed or how shall I defie whom the Lord hath not defyed But it followeth a fortiori that God could not that is would not issue out an eternal malediction on them who had him in them who was the fountain of all blessedness and that by Gods own fore-appointment an Act as much precedanious to my Text and which by due seniority took place of Adams punishment as eternity is before time 2 Tim. 19. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began In further illustration of this our answer it is very observable that God in this Chapter twice discharged the terrible word Cursed and yet both times designedly no doubt he can best if so pleased miss the mark who if so pleased can best hit it misseth both Adam and Eve Once verse 14. Thou art cursed above all Cattel and this Cursed he bestowed on the Serpent The other on the earth verse 17. Cursed be the ground for thy sake When Sons of Princes committed faults it was usual for the servants of those sons to be beaten As here the earth is punished for the fault of man his Master and the curse is on it inflicted which by him was deserved Second Question Seeing God threatned Adam Gen. 2.17 In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die how came he to live so long after that fault committed The Barbarians Act. 28.6 looked when Saint Paul Stung with the Viper should have Swolu or fallen down dead suddenly And it might rationally been expected that Adam invenomed with sin and the guilt thereof should in the same minute and moment have sunk down into Death Whereas the words in the Text are still de futuro To dust thou shalt return yea we read Gen. 5.5 And all the dayes that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years and he dyed Joshua's was a long day made up of two cuppled together without any night interposed whilst the Sun stood still but here was an extensive day indeed lasting well nigh a thousand years Answer Some please themselves in returning this answer which