which are so profitable many especially of her rank would follow her as their pattern It would make any holy soul to mourn bitterly in secret to consider how many Gentlewomen can talk even to admiration of all ordinary worldly subjects but if any discourse of the points of Religion be begun in their hearing they are put quite out of their element and cannot hold pace in such discourses one half quarter of an hour then many of them can say no more but yea or nay because they understand not perfectly what is said and are ashamed to discover their ignorance by a total silence or by contradiction when they want arguments to maintain their dissent If they would wisely redeem some time from their sleep and many hours from that time that is usually bestowed in an abhorred prodigality in the over-curious decking and trimming their vile bodies and if further they would beware of trifling away so many after-noons in dangerous visits of all sorts of persons of their rank although apparent enemies of Jesus Christ they might gain much time for these and all other holy exercises I am sure Christ is little beholding to them who are so tender of their own reputation that to avoid that which the foolish world calls incivility they will make bold to rob him of abundance of precious hours which his service cals for and deserves at their hands and sure none are in this true friends to their souls interest but if any godly persons shall offend by their over-familiar converse with Christs enemies it may and doth justly provoke him to turn former familiarity with them into long and very sad estrangements for which they may thank their own unwarrantable civilities as they stile them Some there are who content themselves in reading some part of the Scripture when they have nothing else to do but although this be a chief part yet certainly not the whole of their duty for it is not the bare reading of the Scriptures that will make them Christians but the understanding of them and for this end what means more proper and probable then the perusal of the Treatises of the godly Learned who excel in the gift of sound interpretation of the Scriptures I have many times thought that the devil is willing and it is for his interest that some should read the Scriptures if they be not forward to use other helps for the understanding of them Because the Scriptures being barely read and not understood doth quiet some of their working Consciences and yet by this means alone many of them are not at all directed and quickned in those exercises wherein the main power of Godliness doth consist Surely it will be very confounding in the great day of Accounts to those rich persons who have neglected these duties when it shall appear that many a poor Christian that was forced to rise early and go to bed late to get barley bread to keep themselves and children from starving have yet spent more hours in reading the Scriptures hearing weekly Lectures perusing the Treatises of godly Divines in one year then they have done in seven happily in twenty years or all the time of their life But I see my deep sense of the woful neglect of these necessary duties hath transported me strangely and made me much larger upon this Head then I intended I will recompence this prolixity with all convenient brevity upon the next Head which yet deserves as large a Discourse and that is 3. Her most remarkable constancy in the duty of private prayer in the seasons of it When she was at home and her family-occasions extraordinary by reason of guests it would not cause her to omit or shorten that necessary service when abroad and tired with travel which many would take for a compleat excuse she would not betake her self to her bed till this duty was duly dispatched 'T is a very sad thing to consider that many who call themselves Christians and are angry if others do not subscribe to their judgement of themselves without giving the least hint of backwardness who yet seldome if at any time pour out their requests before God in secret Alas such persons consider not that a wretch newly crept out of one Gaol and groaned for by another may yet in a crowd go along with a Petition to a great Prince when it is presented in the name of many but for any Subject to have leave and heart to go privately upon all occasions into the Prince his presence with Petitions argues an high degree of familiarity And as she was much in begging mercy so likewise in thankfulness for mercies vouchsafed to her self or any of hers she used to speak much of them and once in every year to set a day apart for the exercise of thanksgiving to God for them by which she evidenced her self to be a most wise and ingenuous Christian You have now heard something of her zeal in the private worship of God and it cannot be reasonably conceived that she was less careful of Gods publick service Many that seem forward for that are wholly negligent of private worship but it would be very strange to observe the contrary Hypocrisie the Epidemical disease will leave no stage-work undone Now here I might insist largly on her dilligence in attending upon the preaching of the Word when she had strength of body and was conveniently seated She used to prevent drousinesse and distraction to stand fixing her eye upon the Preacher Luke 4. 28. which she was wont to say she learned of the Elect Lady her Religious mother And when she was to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper her care to come a prepared guest to that blessed feast was more then ordinary Much time was spent in the hard but gainful duty of self-examination and importunate prayer that Christ would prepare her for and bid her welcome to that holy Banquet And indeed her great zeal to the worship of Esa 58. 13. God appeared clearly in her singular delight in that time which by Gods appointment is set apart for special attendance upon it I mean the holy Sabbath of God Many Oh that I were not forced to say most keep onely such a Sabbath as Divines use fitly to call the Sabbath of asses when they have tyred themselves in the week day in the worlds drugery when the Lords day comes they rise later in the morning of that day and go to bed more early in the evening of it then at other times By which meanes their own as the bodies of their beasts have much ease and refreshment but as for spending the whole time of it the most equal thing in the world upon many unanswerable grounds in the publick and private exercises of Gods worship this they can by no means brook But as for this excellent Gentlewoman as she had a better heart towards God so was her behaviour outwardly answerable She used to rise more early upon the Lords
much earthly blessings considered in themselves as their being perfumed with the sweet love of God in Christ is that which maketh them blessings indeed truly deserving the name they bear Now all the blessings of those who have made the choice in the Text are all thus perfumed All the barley bread they eat beit never so course all the clothes they wear be they never so mean with all their other temporall blessings they proceed from the same sweet love of God wherewith he was moved to bestow Jesus Christ upon them for salvation Rom. 8. 32. He that spared not his own son but hath delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Nothing is more ordinary then for wicked rich men to judge themselves the onely happy persons in the world Prov. 10. 15. The rich mans wealth is his strong city There he is very safe and happy in his own conceit But as for the poor in his wicked rich neighbours eye he is despised Prov. 14. 20. The poor is hated even of his own neighbour but the rich hath many friends But did they consider that which the Scripture speaks of their condition they would discern no such cause to boast of it Mal. 2. 2. God threatneth to curse their blessings and who is able to conceive how bitter Gods curse is and not some of them onely but all of them Deut. 28. from 15 to 22. Consider O wicked man and tremble to think the curse of God fills all thy sweet cups and dishes with wormwood and gall Gods curse as a fury haunts thee in all thy wayes In the City it attends thee in the Countrey it hovers over thee coming in it accompanies thee going forth it follows thee and in travel is thy companion So that upon the matter so many blessings so many curses the more blessings the more curses Me thinks I hear all the Lords people blessing God for denying them such a miserable portion T is not the great Cage that makes the Bird sing sweetly So t is not the great estate that brings with it cordiall contentment Experience tells us in the small thatch't cottages where the people of God dwell are found more chearfull persons then in all the stately Pallaces of the world that are possessed by gracelesse ones Secondly Let us a little consider the godly mans Relative Capacity and there it will be as true that his Godlinesse is more for the advantage of his posterity then all the gold and silver that are horded up by Christlesse persons can be for the benefit of their posterity except God incline them to choose his ways and then the property of their estates is altered but this is no thank to their Parents Here two things are to be distinctly propounded and confirmed 1. Personall goodnesse is very profitable for posterity Exod. 20. 6. God promiseth to shew mercy to thousands of them that love Ps 112. 1 2. him and keep his commandements Psal 37. 22. God promiseth that the seed of his people shall inherit the earth The child of such a Tenant as paid his Rent well shall not be put out of his Farm 2. The greatest treasures that are heaped up by wicked parents for wicked Children are very unprofitable for them Many a time they are not a quarter so long in spending as they were in Eccl. 5. 14. getting De male quaesitis vix gaudet tertius haeres The third heir seldom rejoyceth in ill gotten goods And this is enough to confute the common proverb Happy is that son whose father goes to the Devil But suppose the best that can be supposed in this case that they continue with him Consider Solomons words Eccles 5. 13. There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun namely riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt Worldlings sit and brood upon their wealth and hatch to their hurt as the silly bird doth on the eggs of the Cockatrice A wicked rich Son is but like a fatted Oxe fitted for the slaughter The sunshine of prosperity ripens his sin apace Bernard calls such a condition Misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem A most cruel mercy What good is there in having a rich suit with the plague in it and so proportionably a great estate with the curse of God cleaving to every penny of it These things premised I appeal to all sober minded persons to make judgement whose condition is most comfortable of two persons the one of them who can only say I had a Father Grandfather or great Grandfather judged by the world for wise Mâ—c 7. 3. who to leave me rich honourable did rise early go to bed late and all his life long did wickedly with both hands and when he had climbed as high as he could and scraped as much wealth as he was in a capacity to get I not being religiously instructed but suffered to be as vile as I would be longed for his death that I might enjoy the honour and estate for which he exposed his soul to the devil by wicked getting and I am like to drive the same course by wicked using them Who trembles not to think what a sad meeting Prov. 1. 32. such a parent and child will have at the day of judgement how dreadfully to all eternity they will curse each other The other Esa 8. 21. hath this to say T is true my Parents were of low birth and mean estate in the world but they were such as loved the Lord Jesus and his dear people unfaignedly brought me up in the nurture 2 Pet. 1. 4â— Exod. 20. 6. and admonition of the Lord and so left me although mean in the world yet under very many and exceeding precious promises more worth then the whole world or ten thousand worlds Ps 37. 22. if there were so many Who can conceive and expresse how joyfully such a Parent and Child will meet together at the last day and blesse God with and for each other to all eternity We have dispatched the first branch of the Demonstration which although it be least considerable yet it was requisite to be the more largely proved because most doubted of For Balaam Num. 23. 20. and so other wicked men that like not the condition of Gods people in this world yet seem at least to desire the death of the righteous and consequently their everlasting safety in the other world We promise and shall perform greater brevity as to the other two branches 2. The truly godly persons Choice is unquestionably best upon a Spirituall account I might easily be large but must be short in the confirmation of this Conclusion and that under these two heads Their condition spiritually considered is First Most honourable Secondly Most comfortable First the Honour of a godly persons condition may be evidenced to omit other ways by the light of these three Considerations They are most honourable in 1. Their
testimony that you Heb. 12. 8. are bastards not sons When was Jerusalems condition so desperate as when God said My fury shall depart from thee I will be quiet Hîe ure hîc seca modo in aeternum Parcas August and no more angry Ezek. 16. 42. Fieri Domine fieri cried Luther strike Lord strike and spare not ferre minora volo ne graviora feram I am willing to bear lesser that I may not bear greater evils Bernard cals it misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem a most cruel and killing curtesie Job accounted it a great favour to sorry man that God accounts him worth melting although it be every morning and trying though it be every moment Job 7. 17. 18. Thirdly When the same kind and measure of outward evils do befal both the godly and ungodly the condition of the Lords people is abundantly more comfortable as in many other respects so more eminently in these three if we consider 1. The motive of their troubles 2. The measure 3. The issue 1. What moves God to afflict his people I answer the same precious love which moved him to bestow Jesus Christ upon them to save them from wrath to come Heb. Rev. 3. 19. 12. 6. For whom the Lord loveth he chastiseth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth v. 7. If you endure chastning God dealeth with you as with sons So that it is not common but Fatherly love which moves God to afflict his children But if the Question be Why doth God afflict wicked ones another answer must be given to wit because he beares ill will to them Zech. 11. 8. My soul loathed them and their soul abhorred me Mark what followes immediately upon Gods abhorring them v. 11. Then said I I will not feed you that that dieth let it die and that that is to be cut off let it be cut off and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another What moves God to bring poverty upon wicked men because God hates them and cares not although they starve Why doth God send abundance of vexations into their Families because God abhors them and grudges them Family-comforts Wherefore doth he smite them with sicknesse because he loaths them and so values nor their lives They may die and drop into hell as suddenly as may be it shall be no trouble unto his heart Here we see a most remarkable difference between those who chuse the waies of God and those who choose the waies of sin John 18. 11. The cup that my Father giveth me shall I not drink it This cup was the most bitter cup that ever was or shall be mingled yet the love of a Father did sufficiently sweeten it But the hatred of God doth much more imbitter the afflictions of the wicked which are of themselves very bitter 2. As to the measure of the afflictions of the godly and ungodly there is likewise a very wide difference Jer. 30. 10. God bids Jacob not fear or be dismayed v. 11. The reason that is rendred is this I will correct thee in measure Es 27. 8. In the day of his east-wind he will stay his rough wind Although God for his own Glory and his peoples great good in both worlds often tries his people to the top of their strength yet he never did or will try any of them above their strength 1 Cor. 10. 13. God will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it This is wonderfully comfortable to the people of God but as for the wicked God takes no such care about them If God at any time suffer them as it were to scramble from under the weight of some heavy affliction before they have well breath'd themselves Gods angry hand laies a heavier burden on them that they cannot stand under it but must utterly sink God deales with wicked men in this case as enemies in war do when one enemy hath stricken another down to the ground for the present he lies like a dead man and stirs neither hand nor foot and so he leaves him but if afterwards he passe by and observe the least stirring he lifts up his arm presently and fetches an harder blow and tels him he will make him that he shall never stir more So when God hath made a great breach upon the estate health or any other comforts of the wicked for the present they are cast down but after a while God observes they can make a sorry shift to live under those stroaks then God lifts up his angry arm higher the next time and sinks them that they never joy more in any worldly comfort This is notably illustrated by a similitude the Prophet Amos useth Amos 5. speaking of the wicked in time of afflictions v. 18. he saith The day of the Lord to them is darknesse and not light not the least mixture of mercy vers 19. T is as if one flee from a Lyon and a Bear did meet him or went into the house to lean on the wall and a serpent bit him Here we see the last affliction the worst Deut. 28. 20. The Lord shall send upon thee cursing vexation and rebuke in all that thou settest thy hand for to do untill thou be destroyed and till thou perish quickly because of the wickednesse of thy doings whereby thou hast forsaken me 3. The difference between the afflictions of the godly and ungodly in the issue is as remarkable as any of the former differences The issue of the Saints affliction as we have already shewed is exceeding comfortable in respect of the improvement of their graces and enlargement of their spiritual comforts here and the richer crown of Glory prepared for them in the other world But as for the wicked mans Afflictions his corruptions are not purged away but enraged by them as the wicked Jewes Esa 8. 21. In the time of their extreamity they cursed their King and God but could such wickednesse help them alas no they must pay dear for it v. 22. They shall look unto the earth and behold trouble darknesse and dimnesse of anguish and they shall be driven to darknesse Still worse and worse A great many wicked persons that never rightly studied or understood either the great evil of sinne or severity of divine justice where satisfaction cannot be made when they feel painful extremities use to say they hope they have all their hell here but Christs words Mat. 24. 8. may in this case fitly be used Their torments here are but the beginnings of sorrows The wicked in this life do but sip as it were of the top of the cup of Gods wrath the bottom which is the most bitter they must be drinking off throughout the eternity of the other world By this which hath been spoken it appears clearly that the best nay onely way either to prevent afflictions or else to procure comfort under them
Prophet to the unconverted ones to whom he wrote and sure he meant as he spake O ye ignorant sots that under gray haires understand not so much of the principles of Religion as a well catechised child of seven or eight years old O ye blasphemous swearers swinish drunkards devil-like lyars impudent whores proud Jezabels greedy Mammonists hypocritical Judases and all unregenerate ones of what rank soever in the ruffe of your carnall jollities remember and seriously consider these words of the Prophet and proceed in those abhorred jollities if you dare 3. All the joys of the wicked are but stolen waters T is sad yea very sad living when a child or servant dwelling in some untoward family cannot get a good piece of bread to eat or any other food but by stealth when the parents or master is in bed and fast asleep T is so with all wicked men as merry and jovial as they are were their Consciences not asleep for the present we might almost as well seek and find joy in hell as in their bosoms You that read the story of Francis Spira that will tell you enough to convince you of the utter inconsistency of carnal jollity with an awakned and roaring Conscience Some of his words were these Verily Desparation is hell it self I account my present estate worse then if my soul separated from my body were with Judas and therefore I rather desire to be there then thus to live in my body And no wicked man in the world can be certain that his Conscience which hath slept thirty or fourty years will sleep one hour or moment longer and if it awake Rejoyce if thou canst thy tune and tone then will be nothing but hellish weeping and yelling let thy companions which formerly were most pleasing to thee come in presence then in stead of delighting in them thou wilt be ready to fly in their faces and to tear out their throats for drawing thee into those sins which have brought such an hell into thy woful Conscience Gen. 4. 7. We have the Lords words to Cain If thou doest not well sin lies at the door there sin in respect of the clamour of guilt in a sinners conscience is compared to a fierce mastisfe or ban-dog which lies at some door which while it is asleep any stranger man or child may quietly go in and out the doors but when the dog awakes let the stoutest man come near at his utmost peril he barks loudly and flies greedily at his very throat and pulls him down in spite of the stoutest resistance he can possibly make Facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi Tertul. Now this and worse is the case of every christlesse creature his Conscience will certainly erelong awake that is intimated because you know the noise of passengers in and out will not suffer a dog to sleep long at a door then if it were possible every wicked man would run from himself although it were into the midst of roaring Lyons greedy Bears when robbed of their whelps or ugly and frightfull devils God then terrifies them with dreams throws handfuls of hell fire in their faces An awakned conscience as Ambrose speaketh interpellat cogitantem excitat dormientem interrupts the sinner while he is thinking of other things and awakens him out of his sleep by ringing that doleful peal in his ears that makes him start and stare Veni miser in judicium Come thou wretch and receive thy judgement for all these base and God-provoking abominations 4. To name no more at this time All the joyes of the wicked are very costly yea over costly joyes We say of the best gold it may be bought to dear t is certainly so in referrence to all the comforts of the wicked in sinful waies let them be fancied to be never so sweet I am sure their price is too great The losse of heavens unconceivable joyes and the sence of hels unimaginable miseries to all eternity is the price of the sorry sensuall bruitish delights in this world between the price and purchased joys of worldlings because the price is infinite and the joy purchased is finite There can be no proportion There is no question but many wicked men dream golden dreams as if they might merrily dance all their dayes after the Devils pipe and sup with Christ in glory But the conceit is so grosse that the very naming of it seems a sufficient confutation I must now in Gods name earnestly beseech wicked ones wel to weigh the words of his dear Son recorded Luke 6. 25. Wo be to you that now laugh for ye shall mourn and weep One would think that if Christ had onely said mourn or weep it had been sufficient but he saith mourn and weep that is abundantly mourn and mourn and do nothing else but mourn A wicked mans joy is like a book fairly bound which when it is opened is full of nothing but mournful Tragedies But this is not all because the Scripture is its own best interpreter I must by warrant of another Scripture tell wicked men that at the time of execution of Gods fearfull vengeance upon them he will proportion the measure of his flaming wrath then to the measure of their sinful jollities in the dayes of their provocation Rev. 18. 7. God tells us how he will deal with wicked Babylon and consequently with all other Christlesse sinners in the day of his wrath how much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her For she saith in her heart I sit as a Queen and shall see no sorrow When God shall reckon with men in the other world how unconceivably fearfull above others will their condition be who while they lived here being as the Apostle 2 Tim. 3 4. speaks lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God spent all that time which should have been employed in serving and glorifying God in examining their deceitfull hearts weeping over their rebellions against God praying fervently for the pardon of them and power against them in bowling and hunting hawking or which is worse unlawfully gaming immoderately drinking whoring and the like prodigious practises and the more sinful mirth any day the better they judged that time to be spent But when God shall say to them in the day of his wrath according to his own words above mentioned so much as these wicked persons have lived deliciously so much sorrow and torment shall be given to them Oh then when it is too late wicked ones may wish Oh that I had never been in any such merry company all my daies If I had been lesse joyful then should I have been lesse miserable to all eternity the pleasures of sin were but for a short season thy vengeance will be eternal Oh most woful purchase made by a wilful self-conceited and self-deluded sinner that would take no warnings either from the Preachers in their Pulpits or Conscience the Preacher in their bosoms The good
the morning and cryed Psal 55. 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice Psalm 119. 62. At midnight will I arise and give thanks This good man who had chosen and delighted in Gods waies is at Gods work early and late and the day will not serve his turn but at midnight he awakes for the worship of God but now on the other side many who are angry if you do not admire them for rare Christians yet it may be said of them as the Prophet Esay expresseth in another case Es 3. 9. The shew of their countenance doth witnesse against them Their faces are so different in different places as if they were not the same men in their own houses and in their Market-places and Fairs they look as cheerfully and as contentedly as any in the world but in Gods house where his holy Ordinances are attended they look so drowzily and so discontentedly and sadly as if they were a company of sick or dying men This was the temper of those sinners mentioned Mal. 1. 13. who cryed out against the worship of God Behold what a wearinesse it is and they snuffed at it No day with them so long as the Sabbath no hours so long as those that are spent in the service of God This accursed spirit was in those we read of Amos 8. 5. When will the Sabbath be over that we may set forth wheat c. Trial 3. What is done with delight is done very frequently The Swinish Drunkard doth not satisfie himself once or twice in a year to go to the Ale-house but because he delighteth in drunken company he goeth often to such places The unclean person doth not content Prov. 7. 8. himself to walk once or twice in a year to a Whore-house but his Munday Tuesday I had almost said his every daies walk is towards the Whores corner 'T is proportionably so in spiritual matters Mal. 3. 16. They that feared the Lord spake often one to another The Saints delight in mutual Conferences and manifest their delight by being frequent in their communion one with another The devotion of one who hath chosen the waies of God is not like the condition of one that hath an Ague sometimes sick and sometimes well one day for God and another for the world and the Devil David who delighted in the waies of God could say with confidence before the Searcher of hearts Psal 119. 20. My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgements at all times And indeed the waies of God being alway the same that which draws forth your delight at one time may be found to engage your hearts to them at all times they are alwaies beautiful and equally beautiful they are alwaies pleasing to God and means of precious communion with God And therefore whoever seem religious only by fits and in certain good moods as they call them cannot give good proof that they delight in the waies of God nor can the soul of God delight in such hypocrites Hos 6. 4. We may observe Gods dislike of such inconstancy Oh Ephraim What shall I do unto thee Oh Judah What shall I do unto thee for your goodnesse is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it passeth away as if God had said Oh Ephraim Oh Judah I know not what to do with you Thy doing good only by fits and good moods is justly abhorring to men but much more abominable in the sight of God What Father or Master can brook that son or servant that will happily do something that is required of them but not constantly Certainly such as are not constant in the waies of God delight not in them and he cannot with honour accept of such unconstant services wherein his Authority is so palpably neglected and contemned Trial 4. What is undertaken with delight is carried on with resolution and impatiency of opposition Many a man froward enough in his spirit will suffer himself in many smaller things to be crossed but if he be opposed in his darling design you may almost as safely encounter a Bear robbed of her whelps This is evident in the example of holy David We read in Psal 119. 30. He had chosen the way of truth which was the way of God V. 106. His resolution to carry on that work of God is eminently expressed I have sworn and will perform it that I will keep thy righteous judgements One that hath chosen the way of God may by the violence of some strong temptation be justled out of the holy path for a short space of time but when he can recover himself from that violence he returns with as great yea greater zeal then formerly into Wisdomes pleasant waies The sweetest bait nay all the pleasant baits that Satan can use at one time are not bribe big enough to make the true Christian to forsake the waies of God which he hath once chosen Heb. 11. 24. By faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaohs daughter chusing rather to suffer afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season Pleasure riches and honour are the Summer of the worlds alluring benefits yet holy Moses gallantly turns his back upon them all and saw more amiablenesse in Gods waies although under the most discouraging appearance in a time of greatest affliction then in the waies of sin when in the most tempting garb of prosperity in Pharaoh's Court. The speech of Galeacius Caracciola the Noble Marquesse of Vico was very remarkable to this purpose when he was tempted with a very great summe of money to forsake his Religion he manifested his holy indignation against such a base proffer in these words Let your money perish with you who esteem all the gold in the world worth one daies communion with Jesus Christ and as they cannot be bribed out of the waies of God so neither can the worlds greatest affrightments scare them from Christs service Dan. 3. We read of Nebuchadnezzar dedicating a Golden Image in Dura and v. 14. tells Shadrach Meshach and Abednego that if they would not worship it they should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery Furnace V. 16 17 18. you may read their stout and gallant answer We are not careful to answer thee in this matter as if they had said Go Scare children with thy great words our God can deliver us if he please but if not suppose the worst we are at a point we are resolved not to fall off from Gods service to such abhorred worship A great many seem to have chosen the waies of God and follow the chase hard till they meet with honey as it is in the Story 1 Sam. 14. but then Demas-like they forsake their duty embracing the present world 2 Tim. 4. 10. And others who do not thus miscarry are through inordinate fear of worldly troubles and
honour and so accounted by Gods holy ones to be a servant of Christ then Emperour of the world But to be as Mnason was an old disciple one Acts 21. 15. who chose Christs service early and so for a long time had been in Christs Family doth unquestionably bring a further degree of honour and upon that account he is recorded in sacred Story Rom. 16. 5. Salute my well-beloved Epenetus who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ Gods soul hath desired such first ripe fruits Mich. 7. 1. And therefore this is spoken of as a singular commendation Such Primroses are a delightful sight in Gods Garden Rom. 16. 7. Salute Andronicus and Junia my Kinsmen and my fellow-prisoners who are of note among the Apostles who also were in Christ before me These last words are very observable This glorious Apostle seems to prefer those private Christians above himself because of their early choice True Christianity makes any man noble early Christianity more noble Cons 5. 'T is a most base and disingenuous thing to make this choice late In the time of the Law the first and the choicest of persons and things were set apart for God and the best and worst were worthily rejected by him With what face almost can any sinner come before God to offer his late service to him How easily may God make him like the man without the wedding garment speechlesse before him God may say to such an one Satan the world and the flesh have had the service of your first and best daies let them for me take the worst also Must your God have the worlds and the devils leavings or nothing I abhor the motion God needs not our best services and deserves much better service then we are able with our best abilities of soul and body to afford him And therefore to offer him the last and worst of our services must needs be highly provoking This is clear from those words of the Prophet Mal. 1. 8. If ye offer the blood for Sacrifice is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person saith the Lord of Hosts The Interrogation is to be resolved into this Negation i. e. He will not accept thy person when thou bringest a blind or lame sacrifice and can it be reasonably imagined that the great and glorious God should accept of such sorry things as a silly mortal man would justly scorn Oh friends this base disingenuity hath cost many of Gods people very dear Although all that rightly choose God and his waies at what time soever are accepted with him and beloved by him yet it is well enough consistent with his love guided by an infinite Wisdome not to manifest the same to such provokers of a long time How many have we known some of whichwere undoubtedly Gods dear ones who have gone many years together roaring to the very borders of the Grave and no comfort could be fastned upon them by the most skilful Barnabasses and this the great Spring of their tormenting fear they strongly apprehend it is too late it is too late If they had come in sooner they might have found acceptance but they think that God will disdain to accept of the devils orts and therefore the door of hope seems to be shut against them And certainly Satan who needs no help of any to make Arguments for him to dispute against the trembling Christians hope in God when he finds so many terrible things delivered in the Scripture against this common sin of delaying to turn to God he will be ready to improve them to the utmost For the awakening of the secure I will mention a place or two to this purpose Mal. 1. 14. We have these words of God that roar like thunder in the ears of Procrastinators Cursed be the deceiver who hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing for I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts and my Name is dreadful among the Heathen The male of the flock is judged the best of the flock and therefore God pronounceth his curse upon those who put him off with worse No hope then appears of Gods acceptance of our worst of our late lame and blind sacrifices The other place is that of the Psalmist Ps 95. 7. God calls upon men presently without so much as one day's delay to turn to him and that Exhortation is pressed in the following Verses by an Argument taken from the woful misery of those that delayed and put off God from year to year till he would no longer bear it v. 10. for in v. 11. God tels him his mind in such terrible language that their ears might well tingle and their hearts tremble at the receiving of it Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest I do not remember any such terrible Text in all the Bible against Murtherers Blasphemers who are incarnate devils or any sort of sinners that can be named God threatneth to damn all sorts of Christlesse sinners but he doth not manifest so much fury as to swear they shall not partake of his mercy So that Satan hath this dreadful advantage against those who have unworthily delayed to turn to God if they afterwards begin to lament after God Satan will be ready to entertain them with such suggestions as these as good nothing as nothing to the purpose there is no hope for them they should have come sooner and if they will not believe him he bids them take their Bible and read in the 95. Psal 11. v. where against those that have provoked God by delaies he swears they should never enter into his rest Thus I have dispatched five Considerations to provoke you to a speedy choice of the good part which shall never be taken from you I dare add no more because I must needs spend the remaining part of the time in speaking concerning the sad Providence which hath brought us together at this time And because it is not usuall with me upon such occasions to make any large discourse concerning the dead the main scope of Funeral Sermons being the instruction of the living and not the commendation of the deceased I shall in my following work confine my meditations to these two general heads First I shall give an account briefly why I now vary from my ordinary course Secondly I shall deliver what I judge meet for your edification so far as the straits of time will permit me 1. If any demand why I now undertake to speak of the dead being besides my ordinary practice My Answer is ready Because I do not remember that ever I could with so much confidence and to so good purpose speak of any person as I can concerning this excellent Gentlewoman the solemnization of whose Funeral hath occasioned this great Assembly Particularly there are three reasons which satisfie my self and I doubt not but they will
Amos 8. 5. day then upon any other day no weather hindred her from the publick Assembly and what time was not spent in publick was exactly imployed in private duties of Gods appointment 3. She was one of a very Humble Spirit which appeared in her affability and courtesie to the meanest persons who had occasion to make use of her And when she spake as she did often of the merciful Providences of God towards her in providing comfortably for her all her days as to the concernments of both worlds she would ever expresse her admiration of Gods great goodnesse towards her by acknowledging that what God had done graciously Luke 1. 48. Jud. 6. 15. 1 Pet. 5. 5. for her was for one who in her own thoughts was the meanest of her fathers family I scarce have known any more adorned with the glorious robe of humility then she was 4. She was a chearful not a sullen Christian by her chearfulnesse in Gods precious ways she did more credit the Gospel of Christ in one year then many other drooping and lowring Christians in a long time She was none of Gods whinnels that upon every petty outward affliction or because inward comforts were not dispenced at that time and in that measure they expected like froward children are ready to throw away what is in their hands already her great care was to get a clean and quiet conscience and when the Bird in the bosom did sing sweetly she could well enough digest many other disappointments 5. She was very patient under affliction and living to so great an age as she did it cannot be imagined but that she shared in the Act. 14. 22. common lot of Christians She had much of that ingenuity which was in holy Job which she discovered by those words Shall we Job 2. 10. receive good at the hands of God and not evil When her paines increased in the time of her sicknesse towards her end she would say I love God still I will trust him still And in the greatest afflictions that she was at any time under she was so far from fainting and discontent that she would say We must not be overmuch troubled for worldly losses or crosses these are but chips of the crosse we deserve that God should make our burden more heavy to all eternity 6. She was a most heavenly minded Christian She abounded Col. 3. 1. 2. alwayes in discourses tending that way not onely in her sicknesse but all the time of her health and could scarce be patient to hear any long discourses of other subjects when in the company of Gods people who could speak to better purpose And when any of her Relations came to visit her before their parting she would usually say Nothing troubled her more then to think that while they had been together they had done one another so little good and been so little helpful to each other in the way to heaven Ephes 6. 16. Rom. 4. 20. 1 Tim. 4. 8. 7. To name no more She was eminent in the eminent Grace of Faith She gave the Lord much glory by believing Her Faith appeared to be of the right stamp because it closed with and made improvement of all promises for this life and for that which is to come When any worldly difficulties we objected in referrence to her self or near Relations she would say God had never failed her 1 Sam. 17. 37. yet and he was all-sufficient and therefore she would trust God for all Now that Faith which useth to feed upon former experiences is ordinarily strong And when any dangers were before her she was very couragious and undaunted Which was the issue of her well grounded Faith When the troubles were in Kent and a great many men and women were at their wits end and being wholly destitute of Faith were ready to cry and run from place to place one being solicitous where to dispose of his money another to hide his person in safety she was quiet She said it was not bolts and bars that kept her in safety in quiet times but Gods almighty Providence and that was as able to secure her now and therefore she could then sleep in peace as David Psal 3. 8. Nor was her faith lesse observable in reference to its actings about the concernments of the other world And here her faith of Adherence and Evidence as it is usually expressed were both very strong T is true Satan was very busie with her to get her from the Castle of the Promises where her strength lay but God had made her so wise a Christian as to have the Gospel considered 1 Joh. 3. 23. as the Law of Faith alwaies in her thoughts and by that means she was made afraid at any time of neglecting to cast her self wholly upon the free grace of God in Christ for salvation according to the Covenant The Commands of God made her fearful of omitting the duty of Prayer of mispending her precious time and other prescribed duties So likewise the clear commandment above mentioned for believing made her as much afraid to neglect Eph. 6. 16. that duty which is the most eminent of all Christian duties and the most helpful to all the rest As to the faith of evidence she attained to such a degree of it that by it which was a most incomparable priviledge she was lifted up ry much above the fear of death Her language in the time of her sicknesse was Come Lord Jesus come quickly and for my part it was to my great admiration to hear of what she spake frequently and chearfully concerning many particulars relating to her funeral not needful to be imparted Now I have finished what I intended upon the Providence which brought us together at this time And me thinks I hear some of you to speak after this manner Why no more To which I answer All the flowers of a garden so well stored as the garden of her long and Christian life was with a grateful variety of sweet and beautiful Graces cannot in a short time be gathered and presented in one handful But a far greater number are more apt to say Why so much of her virtues and nothing of her infirmities Was she while living in this world perfect of the Church Triumphant and not Militant To which I answer least I should seem to flatter which none that know my temper will readily charge me with it must be confessed that she had her infirmitie as all others of the best of Saints have in this life yet because they are unquestionably covered forgiven and forgotten by Christ it will argue us the more Christ-like to forget them as he hath given us an example Besides I observe in Heb. 11. where the holy Ghost is enlarged in the praises of the holy Patriarchs and other Worthies who had at least some of them greater miscarriages then I ever observed in her that none of their praises are stained with any blots or buts of their sinful infirmities To summe up all this excellent Gentlewoman Mrs. A. Petter so manifested her Graces in all Relations and Conditions that it may be truly said of her She was a most loving respectful and obedient Wife a very tender and careful Mother a conscionable and bountiful Mistresse a peaceable and helpful Neighbour In Prosperity she was very chearful thankful and fruitful In Adversity very submissive self-searching and penitent Well what now remaines but that I bespeak you all in the words of Christ Luke 10. 37. Go ye and do likewise And then craving pardon for my very unusual prolixity I shut up all with like words to those of the blessed Apostle 2 Tim. 2. 7. Consider what hath been spoken and the Lord give you understanding in all things FINIS