equality with the Angels the glory of a Kingdome worthy a tear a groan a sigh a fast are they now so contemptible or mean that no violence is requisite with what face shall we appear before our Saviour at his Tribunal when he shall demand of us his tears his watchings and fastings when he shall say unto us were are my tears are they water spilt upon the ground not to be gathered up Where are my sighs and groans have they vanished in the ayr where are my watchings what not a tear for so many tears not a fast for so many fasts not a groan for so many miseries which I indured Had I shed but one tear should it not have broken up a fountain of tears in thee Had I setched but one sigh should it not have made thy life a perpetual sigh But when I have done so much for thy sake shall it be lost wilt thou do nothing for thy own self shall I cast so much seed into the ground and reap nothing again Oh my beloved what are all our afflictions what are all the afflictions of our selves to the least drop of gall that he tasted to the least scourge which he suffered how can we say that either we loved God or our selves if we do not these things in testimony of this If ye shall not perform these duties it is a small comfort for us that we have freed our souls it is your salvation we thirst after and say in a better sense then the King of Sodome Da nohis animas Give us your souls and without this we have no comfort we may be acquitted at the bar of God but we shall not be crowned in his Throne for what is our crown but you that hear us but if you shall thus groan as I doubt not but you do in secret it is not I but God himself hath promised that they that sow in tears shall reap in joy that they which mourn here shall be comforted hereafter that they which groan here shall be refreshed in their proper house In this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven Which God of his infinite mercy grant c. THE CARELESSE MERCHANT OR THE WOFUL LOSSE OF THE PRECIOUS SOUL SERMON XXII MATT. 16.26 What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul THe Patriarch Jacob in his vision at Bethel saw the Angels of God ascending and descending Gen. 28. So from the thirteenth verse of this Chapter we have the Disciples of Christ ascending and descending For first their general speaker Simon Peter had made a notable confession of our Saviours Divinity and had received for the further incouragement of himself and his brethren such an excellent testimony from our Saviour that the Angels of heaven might behold observe and imbrace Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jona for flesh and blood hath not revealed this to thee but my father which is in heaven and I say thou art Peter and on this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Which words were not only appropriate to him they were spoken to him but they were common to all the Apostles For as Origen argues shall we think that the gates of hell prevailed not against Peter but did a gainst the rest Therefore that which was said to him was said to all and being such a glorious commendation behold the Angels ascend But secondly what if the earthly mind of man dream of a Messias temporal and that they must be promoted to places of eminency and stiled gracious Lords the case is too palpable for if Christ warn his Disciples and tell them of his approaching death at Jerusalem he shall be sure to meet with a check no such matter it shall not be so to thee Oh! here is a strange metamorphise a sudden alteration before a Confessor and now a controller there is no wisdome of the spirit in this and therefore no commendation for this but because he was somewhat too forward get the behind me for thou art an offence to me behold the Angels descend And surely this carnal wisdome had been able to weigh them down to the nethermost hell had not the wisdomâ—… of the wisest curbed and subdued and restrained it What not suffer Yes Peter also must suffer and all that will follow Christ must renounce all the inticements of the world and mortifie all the corrupt exorbitancies of the flesh and resist all the temptations of the Divel For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his soul Which words are an exaggeration of the woful estate of a temporizing Professor of a carnal Gospeller and they reach to our consideration these four generals First the excellency and worth of mans soul which is of greater value then the whole world Secondly the possiblity of the loss a man may lose his own soul Thirdly the compossibility of outward prosperity he may lose his soul in gaining the whole world And then lastly the woful bargain in such an exchange What is a man profited Of these in order First of the surpassing excellency and dignity of mans soul it is valued and prized here above the whole world It was the plausible conceit of certain Ehilosophers that the world was a great man and that man was a little world a little world indeed but as Saint 〈◊〉 rearms him a great wonder for within this little world there is a reasonable soul worth all the world To render an exact definition of the soul it requires the tongue of an Angel rather then of a man it passes the comprehension of travellers to apprehend the nature of the soul for these three God Angels and mans Soul they are unknown to us we may sooner admire their excellency then conceive their nature and argue of their opperations then attain their knowledge of such sublimity is the soul of man so Angelical and Divine the excellency whereof is commended to us by three distinct voyces of Nature Grace Glory For first in the order of nature it is the greatest thing saith Plato that we may conceive in a narrow room the most noble thing that all the frame of nature affords and that In respect of the Orignal In respect of the Image In respect of the Original the soul of man hath no beginning here 〈◊〉 there was no voyce directed to the earth or to the water for the production of 〈◊〉 soul but a serious confultation of the sacred Trinity and a breathing into his 〈…〉 the breath of life Saith Saint Austin he created it by infusion and 〈…〉 creation And the Philosopher well concludes that the soul as it is not from without it is only divine Therefore the Manichees extolled it too high when they deemed it a portion of Gods substance let not others abase and depresse it too low to think it is derived
hereafter Every man goeth though some set out sooner some later and shall arive at his home but let him look to his way as the way is he taketh so shall the home be into which he is received if he take the way on the right hand and keep within the paths of Gods commandements his home shall be the New Jerusalem descending from God most gloriously shining with streets of gold gates of pearl and foundatious of pretious stones where all tears shall be wiped from his eyes but if he take the broad way on the left hand and follow it his home shall be a dungeon or vault in Hell where he shall be eternally both mourner and Crops But to shoot somewhat nearer to the mark Marriages and Funerals though most different actions and of a seeming contrary nature yet are set forth and as it were apparelled with parallel rites and ceremonies our rayments are changed in both because in both our estate is changed Bels are rung flowers are strowed and feasts kept in both and anciently both were celebrated in the night by Torch-light He that hath but half an eye may see in the Rituals of the Ancients the blazing and sparkling as well of the funeral as the unptial lights and no marvail the shodows meet when the substance concur the pictures resemble one the other when the faces match the accessaries are corresponding where the principals are sutable as here they are for in marriage single life dieth and in death the soul is married to Christ The couple to be married in ancienter times first met and after an enterview and liking of each other and a contract signed between them presently departed the Bride to her Mother the Bridegroom to his Fathers house till the wedding day on which the Bridegroom late in the night was brought to his Spouse and then he took her and inseparably linked himself unto her Here the couple to be married in man are the body and the soul at our birth the contract is made but after a short enterview and small abode together the parties are parted and the body the Bride returneth to her Mothers house the earth but the soul the Bridegroom to his Fathers house the Father of spirits in Heaven as both their guests are set forth in this chapter verse 7. the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit to God that gave it But in the evening of the World at that dreadful night after which the Angel swore there should be no more day or time here the soul is given by God to the body again and then the marriage is consummated and both for ever fast coupled and wedded for better for worse to run an everlasting fortune and to participate either eternal joyes or torments together Thus man is brought to his long home or as the Seventy and Saint Jerome renders the Hebrew his house of eternity and the mourners go about the streets here is a short reckoning of all mankind like to that of the Psalmist who alluding to the name of the two Patriarchs faith Coll ADAM ABEL All men are altogether vanity so here upon the foot of the account in Bonaventures casting all appear wretched and miserable describitur miseria mortis in morientibus compatientibus all are either dead corpses or sad mourners corpses already dead or mourners for the dead and their courses and motions are two 1 Straight man goeth c. 2 Circular mourners go about The dead go directly to the long home the living fetch a compass and round about the termini of which their motions shall be the bounds of my discourse at this present Wherein that you may the better discern my passage from point to point I will set up six Posts or standings 1 The Scope 2 Coherence 3 Sense 4 Parts 5 Doctrine 6 Vse The scope will give light to the Coherence the Coherence to the Sense the Sense to the Parts the Parts to the Doctrine the Doctrine to the Vse Wherefore I humbly entreat the assistance of Gods Spirit with the intention of yours whil'st in unfolding this rich peece of Arras I shall point with the finger to 1 The main Scope 2 The right Coherence 3 The litteral Sense 4 The natural Division 5 The general Doctrine 6 The special application of this parcel of holy Scripture First the Scope Although all other Canonical books of this old and new Testament were read in the Church yet as Gregory Nysscen acutely observes this book alone is intituled Ecclesiastes the Preacher or Church-man because this alone in a manner tendeth wholly Ecclesiastical policy or such a kind of life or conversation as becometh a Preacher or Church-man For the prime scope of this book is to stir up all religious minds to set forth towards Heaven betimes in the morning of our dayes Chap. 12. verse 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth to enter speedily into a strict course of holiness which will bring us to eternal happiness to dedicate to God and his service the prime in both senses that is the first and best part of our time For as in a glass of distilled water the purest and thinnest first runneth out and nothing but lees and mouther at the last so it is in our time and age Optima queque dies miseris mortalibus avi prima fluit Our best dayes first run and our worst at the last And shall we offer that indignity to the Divine Majesty as to offer him the Devils leavings storem at at is diabolo consecrare fâ—…ecem Deo reserv are to consecrate the top to the Devil and the bottom to God feed the flesh with the flower and the spirit with the bran serve the world with our strength and our Creatour with our weakness give up our lusty and able members as weapons to sin and our feeble and weak to righteousness Will God accept the blind and the lame the lean and the withered for a sacrifice How can we remember our Creatour in the dayes of our age when our memory and all other faculties of the soul are decayed How shall we bear Christs yoak when the Grashoppers is a burthen unto us when we are not able to bear our selves but bow under the sole weight of age What delight can we take in Gods service when care and fear and sorrow and pain and manifold infirmities and diseases wholly possess the heart and dead all the vital motions and lively affections thereof Old men are a kind of Antipodes to young men it is evening with them when it is morning with these it is Autumne in their bodies when it is Spring in these the Spring of the year to decrepit old men is as the Fall Summer is winter to them and Winter death it is no pleasure to them to see the Almond-tree flourish which is the Prognosticatour of the Spring or the Grashopper leap and sing the Preludium of Summer for they now mind not
for the Lord so they Others will have the words not to be restrained to Martyrs only but to belong to all that die in the fear of God and the faith of Christ And they alledg for themselves also a parallel Text 1 Cor. 15.18 where to fall a sleep in the Lord is spoken generally of all true believers departing this life Besides Saint Bernard and other of the Ancients apparantly distinguish these phrases mori in Domino mori propter Dominum to die in the Lord and to die for the Lord mori pro Domino martyrum est mori in Domino omnium confessorum si beati qui in Domino moriuntur quanto magis qui pro Domino moriuntur to die for the Lord is the glory of martyrs but to die in the Lord the glory of all Confessors if they are happy who die in the Lord how much more they that die for the Lord Thirdly the reward here promised is common to all believers and not peculiar to the Martyrs for all true believers when they die rest from their labours and their works follow them If the Spirit had meant Martyrs only he would rather have said they have ease from their torments then rest from their labours and their trophies and victories follow them All that die for the Lord die also in the Lord but all that die in the Lord do not necessarily die for the Lord we deny not that the Martyrs have the greatest share in this blessedness but all Confessors have their parts also the Martyrs Crown is beset with a Rubie or some richer jewel then ordinary their Garland hath a flower or two more in it to wit some red flower as well as white yet the Crown and Garland of all Confessors are compleat And therefore not only Beda and Bernard and Richardus and Andreus and Primasius and Haymo and Ansbertus and Ioachimus but also the Greek and the Roman Church yea and the reformed also understand these words of all that die in Gods favour for they read these words at the Funerals of all the dead and not only at the Funeralls of Martyrs Yea but how can any be said to die in the Lord that is continuing his Member sith Christ hath no dead Members I answer that the faithful die not in the Lord in that sense in which they live in him but 〈◊〉 ther they die not spiritually nor cease to be his mystical Members but naturally that is they continuing in Christs faith and love breath out their souls and so fall asleep in his bosome or die in his love laying hold of him by faith and relying on him by hope and embracing him by charity All they die in the Lord who die in the act of contrition as Saint Austin who reading the penetential Psalms with many tears breathed out his last gasp sighing for his sins Or in the act of charity as Saint Jerome who in a most fervent or vehement exhortation to the love of God gave up the Ghost Or in the act of Religion as Saint Ambrose who after he had received the blessed Sacrament in a heavenly rapture and a holy parley with Christ left the body Or in the act of Devotion as Aquinas who lifting up his eyes and hands to heaven pronouncing with a loud voyce those words of the Spouse in the Canticles Come my beloved let us go forth went out of this world Or in the Act of gratulation and thanks-giving as Petrus Celestinus who repeating that last verse of the last Psalm Omnis spiritus laudet Dominum Let every breath or every one that hath breath praise the Lord breathed out his soul Or in an Act of divine contemplation as Gerson that famous Chancellor of Paris who having explicated fifty properties of divine love concluded both his Treatise and his life with fortis ut mors dilectio Love is strong as death To kint up all six sorts of men may lay just claim to the blessedness in my Text. First Martyrs for they die in the Lord because they die in his quarrel Secondly Confessors for they die in the Lord because they die in his faith and in the confession of his name Thirdly all they that love Christ and are beloved of him for they die in the Lord because they die in his bosome and embracings Fourthly all truly penitent sinners for they die in the Lord because they die in his peace Fifthly all they who are engrafted into Christ by a special faith and persevere in him to the end for they die in the Lord because they die in his communion as being members of his mystical body Lastly all they that die calling upon the Lord or otherwise make a godly end for they die in the Lord because they die in the works of the Lord and happy is that servant whom his Master when he cometh shall find so doing From hence-forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beza and some other render the word in the original perfectly because the dead obtain the blessedness they hoped for but this Exposition cannot stand unless we restrain this blessedness to the soul For the persect and consummate happiness of all that die in the Lord consisteth in the glorisication of their bodies and souls when they shall see God face to face and the beams of his countenance directly falling upon the soul shall reflect also upon the body and most true it is which Paraus observeth the deads blessedness far exceeds the blessedness of the living for here we have but the first fruits of happiness but in heaven we shall have the whole lump here we hunger and thirst for righteousness there we shall be satisfied To this we all willingly assent but it will not hence follow that they have their whole lump of happiness till the day of judgment blessed they are from the hour of their death but not perfectly blessed but not consummately blessed intensive as blessed as the soul by it self can be for that state in which it now is not blessed extensive not so blessed as the whole person shall be when the soul shall be the second time given to the body and both bid to an everlasting feast at the marriage of the Lamb. Others therefore more agreeable to the Analogie of faith render the original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from hence-forth and refer the hence-forth not to the time of the uttering this Prophesie as if before it none were blessed for before this prophecie all the Apostles Saint John only excepted and thousands of Saints and Martyrs had dyed in the Lord and were at rest from their labours but to the instant of their dying in the Lord they no sooner lost their lives for Christ then they found happiness in him So soon as Lazarus dyed his soul was carryed by Angels into Abrahams bosome So soon as the Thief expired on the Cross he aspired to paradise and was with Christ So Nazianzen teacheth concerning every religious soul I
things God will bring thee into Judgment Abrahams Purchase c. Page 233. GEN. 23.4 I am a stranger and a sojourner among you give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight Gods Esteem of the Death of his Saints Page 243. PSAL. 116.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints The desire of the Saints after immortal Glory Page 251. 2 COR. 5.2 For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven The Careless Merchant c. Page 265. MAT. 16.26 What is man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his soul Christs second Advent c. Page 273. REVEL 22.12 Behold I come shortly and my reward is with me to give every man according to his works The Saints longing for the great Epiphany Page 263. TITUS 2.13 Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Lifes Apparition and Mans Dissolution Page 291. JAMES 4.14 For what is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away Saint Pauls Trumpet c. Page 303. ROM 13.11 And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep The Righteous Mans resting-place c. Page 313. GEN. 15.1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abraham saying Fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward The righteous Judge c. Page 323. JAM 2.12 So speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty Sins Stipend and Gods Munificence Page 335. ROM 6.23 For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Profit of Afflictions c. Page 343. HEB. 12.10 For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Spiritual Hearts-ease c. Page 355. JOHN 14.1 2 3. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me 2. In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you 3. And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there you may be also Faiths Triumph over the greatest Tryals Page 367. HEB. 11.17 By Faith Abraham when he was tryed offered up his Son Isaac and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten Son The Priviledge of the Faithful c. Page 377. IPET 3.7 As Heirs together of the grace of life Peace in Death c. Page 387. LUKE 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word The Vital Fountain c. Page 399. JOHN 11.25 26. 25. Jesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live 26. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Death in Birth c. Page 411. GEN. 35.19 And Rachel died The Death of Sin and life of Grace Page 419. ROM 6.11 Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Hopes Anchor-Hold c. Page 433. 1 COR. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable The Platform of Charity c. Page 445. GAL. 6.10 As we have therefore opportunity let us do good to all especially to them that are of the houshold of faith Death prevented c. Page 463. JOB 14.14 All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change shall come Iter Novissimum or Man his last Progress Page 473. ECCLESIAST 12.5 Man goeth to his long home and the mourners go about the streets Tempus putationis or the ripe Almond gathered Page 485. GEN. 15.15 And thou shalt go to thy Fathers in peace thou shalt be buried in a good old age Io Paean or Christs Triumph over Death Page 493. 1 COR. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory Fato Fatum The King of Fears frighed c. Page 501. HOS 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues Vox Coeli The Deads Herauld Page 509. APOC. 14.13 And I heard a voyce from Heaven saying unto me Write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth c. Victoris Brabaeum or The Conquerours Prize Page 517. APOC. 14.13 So saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them Faith's Eccho or The Souls AMEN Page 527. REVEL 22.19 AMEN Even so come Lord Jesus Deaths Prerogative Page 539. GEN. 3.19 For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return The Patriarchal Funeral Page 549. GEN. 50.10 And he made a mourning for his Father seven dayes The true Accountant Page 559. PSAL. 90.12 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts to wisdome The Just-Mans Funeral Page 575. ECCLES 7.15 All things have I seen in the dayes of my vanity there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness The Righteous Mans Service to his Generation Page 587. ACTS 13.36 For David after he had served his own Generation after the will of God fell asleep c. The Crown of Righteousness c. Page 597. 2 TIM 4.7 8. 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 unto them also who love his appearing THE STEVVARDS SUMMONS SERMON I. LUKE 16.2 Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward IN the Chapter going before our blessed Lord and Saviour had preached the Doctrine of the Free Grace of God in the Remission of Sin and receiving of Repenting and Returning Sinners in the Parable of an indulgent Fathers receiving of a prodigal Son The Pharisees were a People that hardned their own hearts and scoffed at every thing that Christ delivered therefore now in this Chapter he cometh to summon and warn them to appear before God the great Master of the world to give an account of their stewardship that by the consideration of Gods proceeding in the day of Judgment they might know the better how to prize the Remission of Sins in the day of Grace This he doth by presenting to them a Parable of a certain rich man that had a steward who was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods calleth him to an account and to the end that the Pharisees might not think that it was a matter to be jested withal and that such considerations
as these were to be slighted he telleth them how the unjust steward having received this summons and warning from his Master that he must come to a reckoning he forthwith for his own temporal good casteth about that he may the better be fitted to give up his account thereby teaching them and in them all the world that if this steward here for his own temporal benefit was thus careful to prepare himself how much more should they and every one be careful to prepare themselves for that great day of Account wherein God will come to judge the World and bring to light all things that are hid in darkness In these words ye have two things considerable A Narration and An Application of the Parable The Narration is two-fold Of the Persons Of the Proceedings Of the Persons in the first verse A rich man and his Steward Of the Proceeding in the second verse the Rich Man upon the information made against his Steward that he had wasted his goods calleth him to an account Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward The Steward in the third and fourth verses upon his summons falleth first to consult and after to resolve as we shall see afterward In this verse then that I have read you see here is first the Summons or warning Give an account Secondly the reason of that Sammons for thou mayest be no longer Steward The day is ended now give an account of thy work thou must go out of thy office now give an account how thou hast behaved thy self in thy office thou must be no longer steward therefore give an account of thy stewardship In the first the Summons and calling of this Steward to an Account ye have clearly offered to ye these two Propositions Considerations of Conclusions First That every man in the World is Gods Steward Secondly That every one of Gods Stewards must be brought to a reckoning First I say Every man in the World is Gods Steward If ye ask me who it is that is called a Steward The text tels ye that it is he that must give an account to his Master If you ask me who is the Master It is God If then God be the Master and if every man must give an account and reckoning to God then every man is the Steward here intended in this Text. That every man must give a reckoning to God it appeareth 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ to give an account of the things me have done in this life whether they be good or evil All men That which is here expressed by the Apostle in plain terms All men Is more parrabollically and obscurely expressed by Christ in this word Steward Give an account of thy Stewardship So that the Conclusion remaineth clear and is directly gathered from the Text. That every man in the World is Gods Steward There is no man or woman in the world but in some respect or other is the Steward here that must be called to an account That every man is a Steward will appear if we consider two things First what every man receiveth from God Secondly what God expects from every man Man receiveth from God that which a Steward doth from his Lord. God expects from every man that which a Lord expects from his Steward First I say man receiveth from God that which a Steward doth from his Master That is such goods such abilities as whereby he may be of use for such a place as the Master shall set him in the family All the World is but Gods great Family all the fittings and endowments of men are the talents the gifts that God hath intrusted men with some have the gifts of the world riches and places of authority these are gifts committed to those kind of Stewards Others have the gifts of the body as health and strength their senses and lives and the like these are gifts committed to these kind of Stewards others have the gifts of the mind understanding and wisdome and policy and to all these some have spiritual graces According as men are furnished with these gifts and according to their several qualifications with these endowments they all receive them from God as Stewards Secondly if we consider what God expects from men he expects that which a Lord doth from his Steward First that they acknowledge him to be the chief to acknowledge that they hold all from him that they have it not from themselves or for themselves this is that which every Master expects from him to whom he committeth his treasure And this would God have all men do God speaks that truly that Benhadad spake proudly and falsly to the King of Israel thy silver is mine and thy gold is mine and thy daughters and wives are mine and thy vineyards and thy orchards are mine So may God say truly All are his the earth saith David is the Lords and the fulness thereof He is the great possessor of all things God as he possesseth all things so he letteth out parcels of his possessions to the sons of men To some a larger portion of the earth than to others yet they are but Tenants at will and Tenants upon certain conditions and reservations wherein this great Lord bindeth those that hold any thing of him And the first Condition or Reservation that he ties all his Stewards unto is this that they waste not his goods that they scatter them not abroad vainly or unprofitably Now a man that hath riches if he relieveth not the poor a man that hath authority and helpeth not the oppressed a man that hath wisdome and instructeth not the ignorant In a word A man that hath any abilities if he be not of use unto others with it this man scattereth his Masters goods and is like that unprofitable servant that hid his Talent in a napkin and therefore was bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness This was the accusation that was brought against this Steward here that he had wasted the goods of his Lord that is that he had spent them vainly he was no honour to his Master there came no profit to the houshold by it That 's the first The second thing that this great Lord expects of all his Stewards is that as they do not scatter his goods nor vainly waste them so that they should not abuse them to ill ends There are a generation of men in the world that fight against God with his own weapons and that use all their strength and wisdome and power to maintain a faction of rebellion against him that side with the wicked of the world against his Laws and Ordinances and this is the greatest unthankfulness that can be If a King should raise a servant to honour and bestow offices and dignities upon him and yet if he should raise an Army against him and set himself against all his Laws What greater
for for as I said his disease seized on him with such violence and extremity that he had no space for any thing but to pray us to pray with him and for him That which we may learn from such examples as these is this That we therefore be good Stewards in the time of our life We know not what violent sicknesse may seize upon us and how it may dis-inable us to expresse our selves to men or to set our reckonings even with God Be serious therefore in the point while you have health and strength All of you are now called to a reckoning by the preaching of the Word and Gospel if this will not prevail expect another calling by sicknesse by terrours of conscience by death You are not sure but that the next calling may be by death as it was with this our brother let me put this therefore as a remembrance to every one of you that you behave your selves as dying daily Remember thou art a Steward and must give an account of thy Stewardship Alexander had his Remembrancer Saint Jerome had another Remembrancer Whether I eat or drink saith he or whatsoever I do me thinks I hear the voyce of the last trumpet and of the Arch-Angel Arise you dead and come to Judgment Let me now be thy Remembrancer Remember thou art a Steward and that thou must be called to an account of thy Stewardship When thou art in holy duties remember thou must give an account with what strength thou servest God When thou art in business in thy family remember thou must give an account how thou hast walked toward thy servants toward thychildren toward them that God hath given the. Thou that hast an estate remember that thou must give an account to the great Lord of the gitting and of the spending of that estate Thou that art in places of authoritie over others remember thou must give an account how thou comest to them how thou hast behaved thy self in them Let every one remember that he must give an account of what service he hath done to his Master of what use he hath been unto God and what to others The more God hath been glorified and others benefited thâ— more shall our souls be comforted at that great day of appearance when the leaâ—â— smile of GODS countenance will be worth a thousand worlds and the testimony oâ— a good conscience will be preferred before all the treasures of the Eearth THE PRAISE OF MOURNING OR MOURNING Preferred before MIRTH. SERMON II. ECCLESIASTES 7.2 It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living will lay it to his heart IN the former Chapter the Wise Man had been shewing the vanity and insufficiency of all earthly things to make a man happy and how much the World is mistaken in seeking happiness in any thing here below In this Chapter and those that follow he cometh to direct men in the right way to find it and sheweth them where they should seek it and where they should find it First he telleth them of a good name in the first verse A good name is better than pretious ointment The second means is a good death the day of death is better than the day of ones birth The third is a right mourning it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting Afterward he proceedeth to other particulars But this he bringeth in upon the former to prevent an objection that some might make for having said that the day of death is better then the day of ones birth some might object What goodnesse can there be in death as for those that are dead they cease to be and they that are alive reap no benefit by it but mourning and there is little good little happinesse in this to exercise a mans thoughts about mournful objects Yes saith he it is better to go to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting for the living will lay it to his heart And upon this he spendeth some time because naturally we are exceeding backward to beleeve that it is good for a man to be mourning upon earth Others make the dependance of the words thus That Solomon having before shewed the vanity of riches he doth in the six former verses of this Chapter prefer even death it selfe before wealth and abundance And he sheweth wherein it is better First in the Adjuncts The Adjunct of death is mourning the Adjunct of wealth and abundance is feasting yet mourning is better then feasting And because it seemeth a Parradox to every natural man he cometh to confirm and prove it By the Effects In the third verse Sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadnesse of the countenance the heart is made better Sorrow can do that for us that wealth cannot it makes the heart better By the different subjects in which they are That same worldly mirth is in the heart of fooles In the fourth verse the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth but this mourning it is in the heart of the wise the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning By the Efficient cause One cause of mourning is the rebukes of the wise In the fifth verse It is better to hear the rebukes of the wise then for a man to hear the song of fools And then in the sixth verse by a Prolepsis he prevents an objection that some might make For whereas he had said that mourning was better then joy some might say It seemeth otherwise there is delight in joy there is none in mourning He telleth them that that delight it is but a very short delight but as the cracking of thorns under a pot it is but vanity As the cracking of thorns under a pot so is the laughter of a fool this also is vanity We will not stand much about the matter So many severall men as handle this book do severally connect and joyn the words together according to their own conceits and opinions of them It is evident that in this verse that I have now read to you the Wise man speaks of such a mourning as is occasioned by the death of freinds And he saith of that mourning that it is better then to be in the house of feasting That he speaks of such a mourning appears by that which followeth first he saith that that is the end of all men he speaks therefore of such a mourning as is upon the end of men upon the departure of men out of this world and secondly he saith the living will lay it to his heart he speaks of such an end of men as is opposite to the life of men In a word By the house of mourning he meaneth a house wherein some one is dead which giveth occasion to the parties that dwell there of sorrow and mourning for their departed friend It is better to go to
sins the ilness of thy nature and carriage rehearse thy wayes as much as thou canst condemn thy self before God mightily crie for pardon in the meditation of his Son and never leave sobbing and mourning till he hath given thee some answer that he is reconciled And then strive to get faith in Christ call to mind the perfection of his redemption the excellency of his person and merits that thou maist repose thy soul on him that thou maist say though my sins be as the Stars and exceed them yet the merit of my Saviour and his satisfaction to the justice of God it is full in him he is well pleased and reconciled I will stay on him Lord Chiist thou hast done and suffered enough to redeem me and Man-kind thou hast suffered for the propitiation of the world though my sins deserve a thousand damnations yet I trust upon thy mercy according to the Covenent made in thy Word Thus when a man laboureth to cast himself on Christ to lay the burthen of his salvation and to venter his soul on him now he hath beleeved this Breast-plate Death is not able to thrust through And then labour that this faith may work so strongly that it may breed Hope a constant and firm expectation grounded on the promises of the Word that thou shalt be saved and go to Heaven and be admitted into the presence of God when thou shalt be separated from this lower world He that is armed with this hope hath a Helmet Death shall never hurt his head it shall never be able to take away his comfort and peace He shall smile at the approach of death because it can do nothing but help him to his kingdome And then labour for Charity to inflame thee to him again that hath shewed himself so truly loving to men as to seek them when they were lost to redeem them when they were captives and to restore them from that unhappiness that they had cast themselves into Oh that I could love thee and thy people for thy sake thou diddest die for them shall not I be at a little cost and pains to help them out of misery Thus if ye labour to be furnished with these graces then you are armed against Death those will do you more good then if you had gotten millions of millons of gold and silver As you have understanding for the outward man as you have care to provide for that top reserve and comfort life while you are here so have a care for the future world and that boundless continuance of eternity If a man live miserable here death will end it if he be prepared for death he shall live happily for ever but if a man live happily as we account it and die miserably that misery is endless Ye mistake beloved ye account men happy that abound in wealth and honour that have great estates I say ye mistake in accounting men happy that enjoy the good things of this life that can live in prosperity to the last time of their age possessing what they have gotten If such a man be not prepared for death Death makes way for a greater unhappiness after death For the more sin he hath committed the more misery shall betide him his life being nothing but a continued chain of wickedness one link upon another till he settle upon a preparation for Death And in the last place here is a great deal of comfort to those that have laboured to prepare for death though to them Death is an enemy yet it is an enemy that is utterly destroyed The Philosopher said that Death is the terriblest of all terrible things so it is to nature because it doth that that no other evil can do it separateth from all comfort and carrieth us we know not whether Death is terrible to a man that is unarmed for death but to the poor Saints that have bestowed their time in humiliation and supplication and confession that have daily endeavoured to renew their faith and hope and repentance Death hath no manner of terribleness in the world if it be terrible to a Christian at the first it is onely because he hath forgot himself a little he doth not bethink 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 sickness when others have health it is no matter all these increase their repentance makes them labour for Faith and Hope and Charity 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 Charity 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 stroke of Death as other mens but his soul is not hurt Death layeth him a rotting as the common sort but the soul goeth to the possession of glory and remaineth with Christ When he is absent from the body he is present with the Lord. Nay when the last day shall come Death shall be utterly swallowed up then the poor and frail and weak body that sleepeth in corruption and mortality shall be raised in honour and in immortal beauty and glory a spiritual body free from all corporal weaknesses that accompany the natural body it shall be made most glorious blessed even as if it were a spirit all the weaknesses that accompany the natural being of the body shall be baken away and it shall enjoy as much perfection as a body can and therefore it is called spiritual Therefore I beseech you rejoyce in the Lord if your souls tell you that you are armed against this death THE WORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOUS MANS GAINE SERMON VIII ISAIAH 57.1 And merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come WHen I first began this Verse I did never think that all things would have been 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 correspondency between a former and a latter handling but is to be found in the two surveyes I took upon this Text. The occasion of handling it now is the same that was before I began it at a Funeral and now at another Funeral 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 Mortality seared
the Saints in Heaven that live in the fruition and sight of God wherein they are blessed such a life we perswade you to A life infinitely above this if this life had all the contentment the earth could give it it were not worthy to be compared though a man might live a thousand years in the confluence and abundance of all prosperity it were not to be compared with one moment of the happiness of the spiritual life that we shall life in for all eternity with Christ Now consider take things and compare them together here is such a particular sin that I was given to to pride to covetousness to prophaneness to wickedness of this fort or of that fort if I go on in it I die eternally I lose God and heaven and my soul and happiness what shall I get by this when I have done it I gratifie Satan I destroy my soul I have lost my self and am undone for ever And what a madness is this for a man to venture the eternal ruin and destruction of himself and that for a thing of nothing for that that will make him miserable now and more miserable eternally Consider and know to whom I speak I speak to you that have heard the Word and many times received the Sacrament What did you when you received the Sacrament was it not a pledge to you of your interest in Christ and of your union with him and that Christ is as truly united with you as that you eat and drank Now let it appear make you account whatsoever you were before make you account reckon ye go not by guess and say I hope it will be better with me then it hath been no but reckon conclude made account I must be another man I may not be what I was I must leave those things that are ill I must apply my selfe to another course Indeed I walked in a way of enmity to the wayes of God in estraingement from God in worldly wicked wayes but it must not now be so I must make account now that Christ is mine I am now dead to sin and therefore dead to sin that I may live to God if there be any life of grace in me it will appear by my death to sin I must make account of this I must do this and this is the best way of making a right use of the Sacrament Why are men as bad after the Sacrament as before because they reckon not they make not account for themselves that they are dead to sin Make account you have received life from Christ and you must act that life and now set your selves to it reason with your own hearts why do I thus and thus As Ezra reasons Ezra 9.13 Lord since thou hast kept us from being beneath for our iniquities should we sin more So consider hath the Lord kept me from hel and admitted me to his Table where he hath spoken peace to me he hath spoken reconciliation in Christ shall I return to sin against him certainly he will be more angry now then ever he was before the sins that I commit now will be greater then all the sins I have committed hitherto for now I sin against more grace and against greater mercy for God hath again renewed the Covenant of peace whereas he might have cast me off for my former breach and shall I provoke him again hath the Lord washed me and shall I defile my self again God forbid Reason with your selves I must not be as I was it is not for me to do as others that know not God and that are not in Covenant with God or as I was wont to do before I know what it is to bind my self in covenant to receive the Sacrament I must be in another fashion and course of life then ever I have been Therefore when temptations come to sin for you must not think to be rid of all motions and temptations to sin and whensoever there comes new temptations not to conclude you have received the Sacrament in vain say not so but rather say now comes the tryal this is that whereby God will try what fruit comes of the cost and pains and mercies he hath bestowed on me here is a messenger sent for fruit If I can withstand the commands of sin and resist the motions and look on it as a hateful thing I make it manifest that I am indeed dead to sin as the Scripture saith here reckon that you are dead to sin Therefore as when a man is delivered from being a Galley-slave under the Turks and his ransome is paid if his old Master come and command him to the Galleyes he saith no my ransome is paid I am free and I will not any more be a slave So reckon thou art no more to be such as thou wert wont to be for now reckon your selves saith the Apostle if you be in Christ that you are dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. HOPES ANCHOR-HOLD OR THE HELMET OF SALVATION SERMON XXXVIII 1 COR. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable I Will not detain you with the Argument of this Chapter nor in the Coherence of this Scripture The scope of it in a word is thus much If in this life in this World onely for the present we have hope and confidence in Christ and the aim of our confidence and the height of our hope reach no further then we we poor Christians we the faithful in the World we are of all men most miserable yea we are more miserable than any other men The words contain in them two parts of a Hypothetical Proposition of which the first is an Antecedent as we call it and the other is the Consequent You may call the first a Condition and the last a Conclusion The Antecedent or Condition is this If in this life onely we have hope in Christ What then then the Consequent or Conclusion is this then are we of all men the most miserable But now against the Antecedent there ariseth this Assumption to make up the sence to make it perfect But not in this life onely have we hope in Christ for that is the meaning of the Apostle therefore against the Consequent ariseth this Conclusion Therefore we are not of all men the most miserable nay we are not miserable at all You see here are terms in the Text of great consequence here is life here is hope here is Christ here is men here is misery and here is all things almost that can be said either concerning Heaven or earth Now mark it is not said If in this life we have hope we are miserable neither if we have hope in Christ in this life then are we miseable not so but if our hope be onely in this life and stick there and go no further then so then we are miserable There are two Emphatical terms in the Text we must take notice of and
in a holy course and then assuredly we shall live with joy and die with peace when we can get grace in our fouls sorrow for our sins new ness in our natures reformation in our lives uprightness in our wayes faith in Christ a discharge from God peace of conscience oh what a happy day the day of death will be to our Souls ITER NOVISSIMUM OR MAN HIS LAST PROGRESSE A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of the Right Worshipful Sir THOMAS THINNE Knight SERMON XLI ECCLES 12.5 Man goeth to his long home and the Mourners go about the Streets ALthough I might in the Kings King Solomon name command yet I will rather in the Preachers his other stile humbly entreat your religious attention to the last Scene and Catastrophe of mans life consisting of two Acts and those very short 1. The dead his pass he goeth c. 2. The Mourners march they go about c. Where as the whole Scripture is a Volumn of divine Sermons and the Author of every Book a Preacher and every Chapter a lesson and every verse and piece of a verse a Text. Gregory Nysscen reasonably demands why this Book which treateth throughout of the vanity of the world and misery of man is intituled The Book of the Preacher To pass by other answers rendred by him and others not so pertinent to our present purpose I conceive this title of the Preacher is in special set over this Book to intimate unto us that according to the Argument thereof there is no Doctrine so fit for all Preachers to teach and all hearers to learn as the vanity of the creature and the emptiness of all earthly delights and comforts And in very deed there is no meditation more serious then upon the vanity of the world no consideration more seasonable then of the brevity and uncertainty of time it self no knowledge more wholsome then of the diseases of the mind no contemplation more divine then of humane misery and frailty Which though we read in the inscription of every stone see in the fall of every leaf hear in the knel of every bell taste in the garnishing and sauce of every dish smell in the stench of every dead corpses feel in the beating of every pulse yet we are not sensible of it we will not take knowledge of it though we cannot be ignorant of it In which consideration the Wise man whose words are as goads and nails vers 11. pricks us deep with the remembrance hereof so deep that he draws blood sanguinem animâ—…e the blood of the soul as Saint Austin tearmeth our tears lachryme sanguis animâ—…e For who can read with dry eyes that those that look out of the windowes shall be darkned Who can hear without horrour that the keepers of the house shall tremble or consider without sorrow that the daughters of musick shall be brought low or comment without deep setched sighs upon mans going to his long home and the mourners going about the streets to wash them with tears and sweep them with Rosemary Origen after he had chosen rather facere periculosè quam perpeti turpitèr to burn Incense to the Heathen gods then to suffer his body to be defiled by a Blackamore and the flower of his chastity which he had so long time preserved to be some way blasted at a Church in Jerusalem goeth into the Pulpit openeth the Bible at all adventures intending to preach upon that Text which he should first light upon but falling upon that vers in Psal 50. But to the wicked saith God what hast thou to do to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my covenants in thy mouth which contained his suspension shutteth his book speaketh not a word more but comments upon it with his tears some thinks having read this Text in which I find all our capital dooms written I cannot do better then follow that Fathers president and shut up not only my book but my mouth also and seal up my lips and comment upon the coherence with distraction the parts with passion the notes with sighs the periods with groans and the words with tears for alas as soon as a man cometh into his short booth in this world which he saluteth with tears he goeth to his long home in the next And the mourners go about the streets It is lamentable to hear the poor infant which cannot speak yet to boad his own misery and to prophecy of his future condition and what are the contents of his Prophecy but lamentations mournings and woes Saint Cyprian accords with Saint Austin in his doleful note Vitâ—…e mortalis anxietates dolores procellas mundi quas ingreditur in exordio statim suo ploratu vel gemitu rudes animae testatur Little Children newly born take in their first breath with a sigh and come crying into the world assoon as they open their eyes they shed tears to help fill up the Vale of tears into which they were then brought and shall be after a short time carried out with a stream of them running from the eyes of all their friends And if the Prologue and Epilogue be no better what shall we judge of the Scenes and Acts of the life of man they yeeld so deep springs of tears and such store of arguments against our aboad in this world that many reading them in the books of Hegesias the Platonick presently brake the prison of their body and leaped out of the world into the grave others concluded with Silenus Optimum non nasci proximum quam primum mori That it was simply best never to be born the next to it to die out of hand and give the world our salve and take our vale at once How-be-it though this might pass for a sage Essay and a strong line amongst Philosophers yet we Christians who know that this present life to all that live godly in Christ Jesus how full of troubles cares and persecutions so ever it be is but a sad and short Preface to endless Volumnes of joy an Eves fast on earth to an everlasting feast in Heaven ought thus to correct the former Apophthegme Optimum renasci proximum quam primum mori That it is best to be new born and then if it so please God after our new birth to be translated with all speed into the new Heaven But soft we cannot take our degrees in Christs school per saltem we must keep our Terms and preform our exercises both of faith obedience and patience we must not look from the Font to be presently put into the rivers of pleasures springing at Gods right hand for evermore We must take a toylsome journey and in it often drink of the waters of Marah We must suffer with Christ before we reigne with him We must taste of the bitter cup of his Passion before we drink new Wine with him in his Kingdome we must sow in tears here that we may reap in joy