the throne the Lambe Christ Jesus for evermore FINIS THE SAINTS LONGING FOR THE GREAT EPIPHANIE PHIL. 1. 23. I desire to depart and to bee with Christ which is farre better MAT. 24. 30. Then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man in heaven LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE SAINTS LONGING FOR THE GREAT EPIPHANIE SERMON XXIIII TITUS 2. 13. Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. THe former Verses you may remember I chose to speake of upon another occasion I shewed you how the grace of God that brought salvation to all men appeared Secondly how it teacheth those men to whom it brings salvation Every man would be glad to bee saved by grace but they love not that grace should teach them now grace saveth none but whom it teacheth it first teacheth them and then saveth them Now it teacheth us as the Apostle saith three lessons First quid vitandum what wee are to shunne ungodlinesse and worldly lusts Then secondly it teacheth us quid faciendum what wee are to doe to live soberly and justly and piously in this present world Soberly toward ourselves righteously toward our neighbour and piously towards God this is the second lesson Then it teacheth us a third lesson quid expectandum what wee must looke for looking saith the Text for the blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. The two first points I handled then And I told you I would reserve the third point till it pleased God to give me a fit occasion It hath pleased God to give me a fit one but a very sad occasion It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth good in his eyes I will goe over the words in particular and observe something out of them And then out of all together I will raise this Doctrine that A child of God must live so soberly so justly so godly in this present world as becommeth a man that lookes for a more blessed hope at the great day at the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ. I begin with the first The first word is Looking and it hath in it these foure things First earnestnesse a Saint of God must looke and looke earnestly The Apostle when hee sets downe the looking of the creatures for the creatures looke too together with us to bee freed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious libertie of the sonnes of God when he speakes of the looking of the creature hee useth a strange word which signifieth a putting out of the head looking to see what it can espie a great way off to see if there be any signe of his comming Rom. 8. 19. And he tells us that the creature doth not only put out the head and looke but waites and groanes and sighes and travelleth as a woman in paine and quoth the Apostle not only the creatures doe thus but wee that have the first fruits of the spirit Nay if the creature put out the head and groane and waite and is in paine till that day come how much more should we that have the first fruits of the spirit Earnestnesse that is one A second thing is Patience If quoth the Apostle wee hope for that wee see not then doe wee with patience waite for it There is patientia spei The Thessalonians are commended for it in 1 Thes. 1. 3. The patience of hope And as the Apostle saith Heb. 10. 36. Opus est vobis patientiae you have need of patience in this looking for considering First of all that the time is not knowne to us when this Lord will appeare It is not for you to know the times and the seasons that the Father hath kept in his owne power And considering secondly that that time either longer or shorter may seeme to be long omnes celeritas in desiderio All hast that can be made is but delay to a man that languisheth in desire hence comes those often usque quo how long Lord how long Thirdly considering as the very heathen man could call them those wondrous workings of God It is many times seene that Gods working seemes to goe against his word And then fourthly considering how busie the Divell is to discredit the truth of Gods promise and to weaken our faith I say againe with the Apostle you have need of patience There is the second thing There is a third thing necessarie that is Joy to thinke of this same day Saith the Apostle there is a crowne of righteousnesse laid up for mee and not for mee only but for all them that love that appearing and where love is there will bee joy joy is a sweet motion of Gods spirit spirituall joy I speake of that either upon the fruition of some good thing present or the expectation of future there is rejoycing under the hope of the glorie of God Rom. 5. 2. And saith the Apostle Peter whom you have not seene and yet love whom though you see not you beleeve and beleeving you rejoyâ—…e with a joy unspeakable and glorious It is such a joy as the world cannot give us and such a joy as the world cannot take from us Lastly this looking hath also with it a care and diligence to prepare our selves against that comming Marke the Apostle 2 Pet. 3. 14. saith the Apostle Seeing wee looke for these things let us use all diligence that wee may be found of him in peace You know how the wise Virgins because they looked for the Bridegroome they had trimmed their Lampes and made all things ready to meet him So then where this excellent looking for this blessed hope is there will be all these An earnestnesse first And then a Patience And then a Joy And then a diligence to meet him to make our selves readie for him Doest thou not looke earnestly And dost thou not looke with patience And dost thou not joy to thinke of this comming Then thou dost not looke as thou shouldest doe But the next word is Looking for what The blessed Hope Hope is put for the thing hoped for the blessed hope is the hoped-for blessednesse and this consists in two things A freedome from all ill both of soule and body And a fruition of all good both in soule and body in the whole man First this blessed hope consists in this in a freedome from all ill First that there shall bee no more blindnesse in our understandings no more rebellion in our wills no more terrour in our consciences no more weaknesse in our memorie no more sinne no more power to sinne here is a non posse pecari No more temptations of Satan no more allurements of the world no more frailties of the flesh no more hunger no more thirst no more wearinesse no more sicknesse no more megrome in the head no more palsie in the hand no
dignitie of thy soule iâ—… 〈◊〉 the breathing of God the Image of God he created it with 〈◊〉 Word redeemed it with his Sonne and in whomsoever his gâ—…e abides he will crowne it hereafter with his glorious presence What then remaines but that we esteeme our soules accordingly as God values them Let us not with the unhallowed voluptuous in these times make lords of our bodyes and slaves of our soules Let us not spend our dayes in providing for the lusts of the flesh Let us not in affectation of faire possessions of able servants of hopefull sonnes and good friends content our selves with bad soules A mans soule is himselfe saith Plato And O wretched wight saith Saint Austin how hast thou deserved so much ill of thy selfe as among all thy goods to be only thy selfe bad O remember the sublimitie of thy precious soule thou knowest not what a precious pearle thou hast in thy body like the hidden treasure in the Gospell it is of greater worth than the whole field I say not as he did know that thâ—…â—…ast a God in thee yet know that in that better part of thy nature thou art like to God for he hath given thee a soule of his owne breathing and stamped it with the impresse of his owne Image 〈◊〉 created it capable of the fruition of his owne presence in endlesse glorie In the consideration whereof walke worthily of this precious divine inspiration Thy Soule is a spirit let thy thoughts bee spirituall Thy Soule is immortall let thy meditations be of immortalitie and renounce thy body and good name â—…d gifts of the world for the gaining of thy soule For what shall it profit a man to gaine the whole world and to lose his owne soule So much shall serve to be spoâ—…n of the first point the surpassing excellencie and dignitie of the soule it is valued and prized here above the whole world Now the next is the possibilitie that a man may lose his owne soule The mention whereof causeth me to remember 〈◊〉 passage betweene Christ and his Disciples Mat. 24. Thâ—…â—…ples point Christ to the stately buildings of the Temple but they were soone damped when Christ told them that after a while there should not a stone bee left upon a stone So perhaps you are takeâ—… with admiration at the former part of the discourse concerniâ—…g the excellencie of mans soule but are damped to consider â—…at a man may lose it It is a substance immortall in respect of the being of it but defiled with sinne it is adjudgeable to death in regard of the well-being and a possibilitie so to die is nothing repugnant to the immortalitie of the soule The damned spirits they are alwayes dying anâ—… aâ—…e never dead they are alwayes deprived of Gods comfortable presence and are never released of their hellish torments As the Apostle saith in another case as dying and yet behold they live as living and yet behold they die The soule expiring is the death of the body and God forsaking is the death of the soule But you will say how is it possible The question is soone resolved if wee ponder the causes of death A thousand mortall maladies there are to kill the body and there are a thousand deadly diseases to destroy the soule There is no sinne so small but in the rigour of Gods justice and in its owne nature it may damne the soule When God in the beginning stated man in Paradise hee gave him a speciall caveate about the tree of knowledge he gives him a command thus In the day thou eatest thou shalt die What for bare eating No beloved but for the sinne for transgressing so small a Commandement of so great a God Sinne alone makes a separation betweene God and the soule and causeth the death of the soule The soule that sinnes the same shall die It may teach us that for the time that we live in this world there is nothing easier then to sinne There is a tree of Life and a tree of Knowledge and by eating of the tree forbidden commeth death there is a way of felicitie and a way to destruction there is a God of salvation and a ghostly enemie and by adhering to the principalitie of sinne a man may lose his owne soule Is it possible then that a man may lose his soule that is so precious and have we not great reason to try and to suspect our selves touching our standing towards God Is there not a maine necessitie to seeke the meanes to preserve us in the compasse and seales of grace It is lamentable to consider how in bodily diseases men can open their griefe and seeke for helpe and send to some learned Physitian Wee can goe to some noble learned counsell in case of law But alas the soule lies wounded in the way overladen with the grievances and pressures of sin distracted with the affrightings of a troubled conscience as if there were no balme in Gilead no Physitian there as if there were no Minister to afford helpe There is no seeking abroad a Lyon is pretended to bee in the way and Solomons sluggard folds his hands to sleepe O let not these things be so Be not as the horse and mule that have no understanding Neglect not the helpes of your preservation in grace but be continually watchfull with suspition and jealousie and abstaine from fleshly lusts that fight against your soules The Poet could say Theeves rise by night to robbe and kill and steale and wilt not thou wake to save thy soule God for the most part saith Saint Chrysostome hath alotted to nature all by twos two hands two eyes two feet two eares eares eyes hands feet two of all that if we chance to mayme one we can helpe to relieve the necessitie of it by the other but hee hath given us but one soule if we lose that what shift shall wee make for another soule a piercing contemplation if wee had grace to consider it Therefore O my soule tender thy selfe as my owne happinesse if thou be translated to heaven the body in time shall come thither this corruption shall put on incorruption this mortall shall put on immortalitie Againe if thou be haled with the fiends to the nethermost hell the body in time shall be â—…ormented with thee It is altogether just with the righteous God that they that meet in sinne should also consort in suffering Save thy selfe and save all and by wofull consequence lose thy selfe and lose all For what is a man profited if hee gaine the whole world and lose is owne soule So much for the second point the possibilitie of losing a mans soule Come we to the third the compossibilitie of outward prosperitie he may lose his soule in gaining the whole world In the diversitie of opinions concerning the chiefe good some there were that placed it in riches others in honours and how ever they differed in their judgements yet both agreed in this
Let me have a place to burie my dead out of my sight It parteth father and child how unwilling soever they be see it in David and Absolom Oh Absolom my sonne would God I had died for thee and Rachel mourned for her children and would not be comforted because they were not It parteth the Minister and the people see it in the case of the people of Israels lamenting the death of Samuel and in the case of the Ephesians at the parting of S. Paul sorrowing especially when they heard they should see his face no more It parteth those friends who were so united together in love as if they had but one soule in two bodies see it in the separation that was made by death betweene David and Ionathan that were so knit together in their love that he bewaileth him Woe is mee for my brother Ionathan This is a necessary consideration for us that live that wee may learne to know how to carrie our selves towards our wordly friends and how to moderate our selves in our enjoyment of these worldly comforts Looke upon every worldly thing as a mortall as a dying comfort Looke upon children and friends as dying comforts Look upon your estates as that that hath wings and will be gone Looke upon your bodies that now you make so much of as a thing that must bee parted from the soule by death and that ere long See what advise the Apostle giveth 1 Cor. 7. 19. the time is short saith he therefore let those that marry bee as if they married not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it A man abuseth the world when he useth it beyond the consideration of the shortnesse of enjoying these things when hee lookes upon these things as things that hee shall enjoy alwayes But if we would use it aright looke upon things as things that we shall enjoy but for a short time This body that seemeth now to have some beautie in it yet it must die and be laied in the dust these friends that seeme now to haue some pleasure and delight in them yet I must die and be tooke from them this estate and wealth that now I set so much prize upon I must die and death will part me and it So I say lookeupon every thing as separable from us Moderate your affections likewise to them Vse them onely as comforts in the way as a traveller doth the pleasures of his Inne hee stands not to build himselfe houses against every pleasant walke he lookes upon he stands not to purchase lands and to lay them to every Inne he comes to lie at No he knowes that he is now but in his passage in his way he knowes that hee is not at home that is the place he is going to and after a time hee shall come thither So make account that you are not now at home it is death that must helpe you to your home Let this therefore take you off from all these things that are in the way It is a strange thing to see how Sathan besotteth and befooleth men They strive and labour to compasse many worldly things as if their happinesse stood in the enjoyment of them as if they should have their wealth and their comforts for ever What care is there amongst men to get wealth and many times lose their soules in getting the world Alas Death will part soule and body them and their wealth and all Doe wee not see this daily in the death of others before us such a one is dead where is his body now in the dust Where are his friends and his companions now Where is his wealth and his estate for which many flattered him and fawned upon him are they not all separated from him they have nothing now to doe with him he cannot dispose of one penny of his estate now it is left he knowes not to whom others now have the mannaging of it As now you can say this of others so there will a time come that other men will say the like of you I had such a friend but death hath parted him from me hee had such an estate but death hath parted him and his estate Let us therefore make this use of the death of others to conclude with our selves that there will be a parting of all those outward things that now wee are so apt to dote upon The third speciall thing considerable in the death of others that will be matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them is the end and cause for which God sendeth Death abroad into the world with such a large commission that it goeth on with such libertie to every familie to every place that it seizeth upon every person What 's the reason of it You shall see in the severall deaths of men severall causes There is judgement and mercy sometime a mixture of both and sometime but of one of these Sometimes wee see an apparant judgement of God in the death of some A judgement of God upon themselves Thus the young Prophet that disobeyed the word of the Lord a Lyon met him in the way and slew him So those Corinths that did eate and drinke unworthily in the Lords Supper though they were such as were saved after yet neverthelesse for this very cause saith the Apostle some of them were sicke and weake and some slept they died they were judged of the Lord that they might not bee condemned with the world When you see death seizing upon men as an act of divine judgement of divine displeasure let it make you more fearefull of sinning against God lest you provoke against your selves the same wrath in the very act of sinne Sometimes againe it is a judgement of God upon others Thus God takes away divers of his servants because the world is not worthy of them And as this is an act of judgement upon the world so it is an act of mercie to them God in mercy taking of them away from the evill to come and from the evill present A judgement of God to others that are unworthy of them A mercie to themselves that they are tooke away from their owne evill from sinne from temptations from all the effects and fruits of sinne and taken away from the evill that is to come upon others An act I say of mercie to them So it was to the child of Ieroboam he should die and should not see the judgement that was to come upon his fathers house because there was found some good thing in him toward the Lord. So it was to Iosiah Hee should bee gathered to his fathers in peace and his eyes should not see all that evill which the Lord would bring upon Ierusalem and upon the inhabitants thereof An act of judgement to others Righteous and mercifull men are taken away and noman layeth it
to heart they consider not the causes wherefore God takes away those good men A Land a Kingdome a State a People a place is much weakned when those that are righteous and mercifull men when those that stand in the gappe and use their endevours to prevent judgements are taken away The house will certainly fall when the pillars are removed They are the people of God only that hold up a state that hold up the world Assoone as Noah is put into the Arke presently commeth the deluge upon the World Assoone as ever Lot was got up to Zoar presently the Lord rained downe fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah Assoone as ever the mourners are marked presently commeth the destroying Angell upon the rest Beloved when wee see those that are mourners for the evils of the times and places where they live tooke away we should lay it to heart and consider it as a signe of Gods displeasure as a signe that hee is a going and departing when he takes away his jewels as a signe that he is a comming to judge the world when hee beginneth to separate to take to himselfe his owne Certainly as soone as ever that number of the elect shall bee accomplished when the company of those that God hath determined to eternall life shall be fulfilled when the sheepe of Christ that are yet to be brought into his fold are gathered together when the fulnesse of the Gentiles is come in and the nation of the Iewes added then the world shall bee burnt with fire and the day of Iudgement shall come nothing shall hinder that generall destruction that shall be the end of all things here below As it is with the generall Iudgement of the world so with particular Iudgements upon Nations when God takes away his people when the Saints goe out of Ierusalem to Pila then commeth the sword of the enemie upon Ierusalem when God drawes out his owne people presently commeth judgement upon the rest It is good to observe Gods method and order that he takes in governing of the world at this day that in the death of the servants of God wee may consider our owne time that wee may prepare for those evils that are a comming and for those greater judgements that are hastning Thus you see what use may bee made of laying to heart the death of others God is much glorified thereby For all his attributes are seene in all his workes and the glorifying of God is a declaring of God to be as glorious as hee hath revealed himselfe to be in his attributes which is by shewing of them forth in his workes When men can see the wisedome the justice the power the mercie the truth the soveraigntie of God and all in the death of others then they glorifie God in taking to heart the death of others You see likewise what good commeth to a mans selfe by laying to heart the death of others He sees thereby the certainty of his owne death He sees the nature of death and what the proper worke of it is viz. to separate betweene him and all those outward comforts all those props and staies whereupon his heart rested too much on earth in the daies of his vanitie And lastly he sees the end and cause why God sendeth Death into the world sometime in judgement that men should take heed of sin sometime in mercie in mercy to the men themselves and in mercy also to those that live that they seeing the servants of God lodged up before the tempest may learne to feare and to hide and secure themselves under Gods speciall providence who can either hide them amongst the living or the dead in the worst times Now let us conclude with some application to our selves In the first place it serveth for the just reproofe of that great neglect that is in the world at this day that men lay not to heart the death of others I wish that this were only the sinne of worldly men I know to a worldly man it is of all things the most unpleasant thought that can be to thinke of death hee cannot endure to heare this they shall fetch thy soule from thee It is as unpleasant to him as it is to a bankrout to heare of a Sergeant comming to arrest him as unpleasant as it is to a malefactour to heare of being brought before the Iudge And that is the reason why men in the time of feasting cannot endure such discourses at their Tables as might put sad thoughts of death into them oh these are to melancholy thoughts Yea but in the meane time it is thy folly thy want of wisedome Hee that was guided by the spirit of wisedome and had now bought some wisedome at a deare rate by wofull experience of his former follies hee now seeth that it was farre better to goe to the house of mourning that is seriously to consider of that which men account the most ordinary cause of mourning that is the death of others and of themselves then to goe to the house of feasting that is to sport a mans selfe in the pleasures of the world and to give libertie to a mans selfe to all manner of delights But I say I wish that this were their fault onely and that it may die with them But it is too much the fault of Gods owne people Moses is faine to pray for Israel in the Wildernesse where they saw so many die before them that God would give them wisedome to number their dayes And Ministers have still the same cause to pray for the people and Christians to pray one for another that God would give them wisedome to lay to heart the death of other men Have you well considered of Death when you can only discourse that such a one that was profitable in his instruction is dead such a one by whom we have had good in conversing with is dead such a one that was young and likely to live many yeares longer is dead What of all this this is but idle and emptie discourse What use makest thou of this to thy selfe dost thou gather from thence the certaintie of thy owne death Dost thou consider what Death will doe to thee when it commeth how that it will separate betweene thee and all things in the world as it hath done them Dost thou consider for what cause God sendeth Death abroad into the world Dost thou consider this with thy selfe as thou oughtest to doe This is an act of wisedome This is that wee call due consideration when the soule reflects upon it selfe it is their case now and it will be mine and mine in the same manner therefore it is good for me to set my accounts straite with God When thou accompaniest another to the grave dost thou conclude thus with thyselfe the very next time that any death is spoken of it may bee mine or as Saint Peter speakes to Saphira after the death of Annanias The feet of those that have buried
but how he carried himselfe in the world And truly this is the great Question that every man should put to his soule I must out of the world how have I lived when I was in the world had GOD any glory by mee had men any good by me have I furthered my account against the day of reckoning that I may give it up with joy it makes no matter how I goe out of the world I am sure if my life have beene serviceable to God and beneficiall to men my departure shall be for gaine and advantage it is for a better world Thus much shall serve briefly for the opening of these words and for that that is appliable from them For the present occasion a word Funerall Sermons are not intended for the praise of the dead but for the comfort of the living Therefore I have chosen such an argument to handle at this time as might bee of use and profit to you that live Besides that I am in particular and by particular order debarred of speaking any thing concerning our deceased Sister though I might have spoken much and that very usefull to you The best use that you can make will bee this to consider the life that shee led amongst you Shee was a patterne and example of holinesse of a wise and upright carriage in her wayes follow her in that Marke the Godly and upright man the end of that man is peace There was none that knew her but upon good assurance are perswaded of her happinesse now Would you then have the same happinesse after take the same course that shee did be much in prayer and dependance upon the ordinances and in fellowship with the servants of God be profitable in doing good profitable in receiving good mannage the opportunities and times well that God giveth you as she did gaining much in little she did much worke in a short space let that be your care and then this will be your comfort in the end Thus if you make this use of the death of others before you you shall prepare for your own death and that shal be only a passage for you to Eternall life FINIS DELIVERANCE FROM THE KING OF FEARES OR FREEDOME FROM THE FEARE OF DEATH PSAL. 55. 4. My heart is sore pained within mee and the terrours of death are fallen upon mee PROV 3. 25. Bee not afraid of sudden feare LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. DELIVERANCE FROM THE KING OF FEARES OR FREEDOME FROM THE FEARE OF DEATH SERMON III. HEBR. 2. 15. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and bloud he also himselfe likewise tooke part of the same that through death hee might destroy him that had the power of death that is the divell and deliver them who through the feare of death were all their life-time subject to bondage IN these words that I haue read to let passe other parts of the Chapter the Apostle sets downe the humiliation of Christ with the fruit of it His humiliation in his Incarnation and death The fruit of it in subduing him that had the power of death and delivering those that were kept under the feare of death in bondage all their life At this time we will speake onely of the last part the fruit of Christs death in delivering those that were kept under the feare of death The persons that are kept under this feare are said to bee the children Gods owne children those for whom Christ died yet they were kept under the feare of death and that not at some particular time when tentation had got some speciall advantage over them but it was a trouble and a burden to them all their life long and that not a small burthen or an easie trouble but such as kept them as in bondage The words you see are easie There are two points that arise from them First that Gods children those for whom Christ died are many times held strongly under the feare of death Secondly that Christ by his death freeth them from those feares I shall onely insist at this time principally on the first That Gods owne children the Children that were partakers of flesh and bloud it is taken either for the humane nature or the infirmities of that nature even these children were held under the feare of death I will shew the grounds of it The feare of death in the children of God ariseth either from some causes without or from somewhat within them From without them and so the feare ariseth from God an act of his providence upon his children Or from Sathan a worke of his malice These are the causes from without For the first God in his providence and that in his speciall and fatherly providence whereby he doth order all things for the good of his children for the present increase of their grace and the fitting them for glory hereafter Hee I say in his providence ordereth it thus that they shall be kept many of them a great while under the feare of death and this he doth for speciall good ends The first is to humble them Adam as soone as he had sinned against God as his fall was by pride he would haue had a higher condition then he was in so when God would bring him backe againe he beginneth first to humble him and how doth he that Dust thou art saith he and to dust thou shalt returne he sheweth him that he was a dead man by sinne and so would have the meditation of death to humble Adam and in him all his posteritie after him So David when he desired that some meanes might worke upon his enemies for their good he prayeth Put them in feare that they may know that they are but men He doth not onely pray that mortalitie might be presented to them but so presented that it might leaue an impression of feare upon their affections that they might know what they are that they have not their beeing or the power of subsisting in themselves but that they must looke for it above themselves to him that hath the issues of life and death in his owne hande And this is necessarie that all the servants of God should bee kept humble by some meanes or other The Apostle Paul you see he had attained a great measure of grace yet he standeth in need of something to humble him therefore the messenger of Sathan was sent to buffet him that hee should not bee exalted above measure that he might be kept humble God intendeth to raise up his children to a glorious estate therefore as men lay a low foundation when they intend to erect a high building so God layeth the foundation of all grace and comfort in his servants in humiliation therefore he will not onely have them mortall but he will have them apprehend their mortalitie and dying condition with feare that they may be humbled by this feare That is the first thing Secondly God aymeth at the
greater worke to doe to prepare for my owne death God in the death of this man speakes to me to prepare for my owne And then to glorifie God by submission to his will make it appeare that thou acknowledgest a power in God to dispose of thy house to doe every thing by patiently resting in his will And yet this comfort is added though children be tooke away that they shall not returne in an earthly manner yet they shall in a better manner Parents are contented to part with their children for a time for their preferment Children though theyare very young that are commended by the prayers of the godly Parents into the hands of God these whose hearts God hath inlarged and quickned fervently and faithfully to pray in the behalfe of their children they may rest in this assured that they shall meet at the Resurrection in a better manner their children shall be better preferred then if they were on earth and shall be raised up to perfection Here you see there is not a tooth bred in a child without a great deale of paine and every tooth cost some paine but this mortall bodie shall put on immortalitie and this corruption shall put on incorruption This weake body shall be made strong weake children strong without paine Death endeth these things and the Resurrection shall present him in a perfect measure of strength in a glorified estate So much for this text and for this time FINIS THE STING OF DEATH OR THE STRENGTH OF SINNE ROM 5. 12. By one man sinne entred into the world and by death sinne ROM 7. 9. When the Commandement came sinne revived and I died LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE STING OF DEATH OR THE STRENGTH OF SINNE SERMON VI. 1 Cor. 15. 56. The sting of Death is Sinne and the strength of Sinne is the Law SOlomon telleth thus that there is a season for every thing there is a time to bee borne and a time to die These two are the two great seasons of all men we are as sure to die as we are sure we have lived and every degree of our life is but a steppe to our death Every man of us hath but a part to act here in the world when wee have done that that God hath appointed us we are drawne off from the Stage by Death You will say this is a hard condition for so Noble a creature as Man is to be folded up in the grave for so faire a beautie as the life of man is to be closed up in eternall darknesse that Man should turne to the acquaintance of dust and wormes and make his habitation with rottennesse and loathsomnesse that Death should have the victorie of so excellent a Creature it is a hard condition The Apostle thinkes not so he thinkes otherwise Death saith he ver 54. is swallowed up in victorie As if he should say It need not trouble you to thinke so of Death the condition of it is not so strange and hard as men take it to be It is swallowed up in victory If a man have a strong enemy to deale with it might trouble him but it is no great matter to deale with a conquered enemie Christ hath overcome Death hath conquered that strong enemie Death is swallowed up in victory Therefore Saint Paul in the precedent and subsequent verses of this Chapter seemeth to insult and triumph over Death Oh Death saith he where is thy sting oh grave where is thy victorie As if he should say before Christ came and conquered thee Death thou wert victorious so it was there was a sting in it before Christ sweetned the Grave there was something that was terrible in the Grave but now because Christ is come and hath gotten the victory over the one and sweetned the other therefore Saint Paul breakes forth thus into an insultation and triumph But how can this be Why doth the Apostle thus triumph The reason is insinuated in the verse I have read to you the sting of death is sinne and the strength of sinne is the Law But this is the occasion of trouble to Christians No it is not thankes bee to God that hath given us victory through Iesus Christ our Lord As if he should say I will shew you the reason of my triumphing over Death there was a sting in Sinne and Sinne is the sting of Death and the Law is the strength of sinne but Christ hath tooke away sinne and hath satisfied the Law sinne being taken away Death cannot hurt me the Law being satisfied Sinne cannot prejudice me This was the cause of the Apostles and in him of every Christians insultation over Death The words I have read containe two parts First the sting of Death Secondly the strength of Sinne. First the sting of death is sinne Secondly the strength of sinne is the Law If there were no law there would bee no sinne and if there were no sinne there would be no death Sinne is the transgression of the Law and sinne is the sting of death I shall only at this time insist upon the first of these from whence I shall deliver that which if it please God to accompany with his Spirit may be usefull to you The proposition shall be the very words of the Text Sinne is the sting of death This Proposition I would not have you understand in this sense only that death came in by sinne meerely in a habit though that be true too But understand it in this sense That all the horrour and terriblenesse of Death all the power and rage it hath whatsoever makes it fearefull to a man it receiveth it all from sinne It is sinne that armeth Death against a man if Death have any weapons against a man Sinne puts those weapons into the hands of Death if Death have any poyson against a Christian the sinne of that person putteth that poyson in it Death may bee considered two wayes either as Christ hath made it or as we make it Death as Christ hath made it is a medicine to a Christian a passage and entrance to happinesse it is a day of redemption and refreshing and so we need not be afraid of it Death as we by sinne have made it is the Pale horse Saint Iohn speakes of in the Revelation it is as a fearfull arrest to the debtor it hath a sting in it and so it is fearefull But that I may open this point more profitably wee will enquire into these particulars First what death the Apostle speakes of here Secondly of what sinne he speakes of Thirdly in what respect sinne is called the sting of death And then we will make the use and application of all this First of what death doth the Apostle here speake of that sinne is the sting of For answer hereunto there is a double death corporall and spirituall Corporall death is the privation of the soule when the soule is severed from
unrepented of unpardoned unsubdued he will so order those offences that he will thrust them into his soule as so many poisoned Darts that will bring sorrow and anguish and vexation and destruction to all eternitie Ye may see then whether yee have any fitnesse to meet with this Enemie whether yee be in case to fight that battell that of necessitie yee must for Death as I told yee before is enevitable If yee have not Get alone betweene God and thy selfe and there call to mind the corruption of thy nature the sinnes of thy childhood of thy body of thy mind bring thy soule into his presence confesse thy sinnes with an endevour to breake thy heart for them and to be sorry for them mightily crying to him in the mediation of that blessed Advocate Jesus Christ that died on the Crosse to pardon and to wash thy soule in his bloud and to deliver thee from the pollution of thy sinnes Begge the Spirit of sanctification to beate downe those sinnes and subdue thy corruptions Bestow time to performe these exercises daily carefully present thy selfe before God thus to renew thy repentance and faith in Christ to make thy peace with God Labour to purge away the filthinesse of thy sinne and then whensoever Death commeth thou shalt find in thy selfe sufficient against it thou hast disarmed it But if yee spend your time in pursuing profits and pleasures and follow the vanities of this life and either yee doe not thinke of death or yee thinke of it no otherwise then a heathen man would have done to no purpose yee thinke of it to enjoy the world while yee live because yee know not how soone death will end the world and you if you play the Epicures in the thought of Death to annimate you to enjoy the outward benefits of this life to thinke of it to no purpose but only to talke and discourse now and then as occasion serveth then Death will find your soules laden with innumerable sinnes that repentance hath not discharged and undoubtedly it will bring eternall perdition Have yee thus disarmed Death But againe a mans selfe must be armed or else hee cannot incounter with his enemie What is our Armour against Death to keepe off that blow The Apostle in one word sheweth us these Armours when hee saith a Breast-plate of faith and love and the hope of salvation a Helmet If a man have got faith to rest on Christ alone for eternall happinesse and his soule filled with the hope of glory and salvation through him and then with love to him and his servants for his sake These three vertues will secure a man against all the hurt that death can doe Faith Hope and Charitie the Cardinall vertues that Christian religion requires and commands us to seeke these are Armour of proofe against all the blowes of death hee that hath them shall never be hurt of Death because he shall never taste of the second death he hath onely to wrestle with the first Death and there is no terrour nor terriblenesse in that if a mans heart be secure by these Graces Faith whereby we depend on Christ and on him alone for grace and salvation bringing hope whereby we expect and looke for salvation of our soules by his bloud according to his promise and working charitie whereby we love him for his goodnesse and his servants for his sake If it be charitie not onely of the lip to speake well but that that produceth wel-doing I say this is that makes us that death cannot separate us from Christ but the further we are from life the neerer we are to him for when this outward taber nacle of our house is dissolved we have a building with God eternall in the heavens and death to such a man is nothing but the opening of the dore to let him out of the dungeon of the world and to place him happily in the Pallace of eternall blisse I pray enter into consideration how yee have behaved your selves in the course of your lives whether as Heathens or as Christians A man that takes no care to prepare for death though he come to the Church from Sunday to Sunday and partake of all Gods ordinances yet if the consideration of death bee not so imprinted in him that it become a motive to him to labour for Faith and hope and charitie and to endeavour to edifie himselfe in these graces he liveth as a Heathen or an Infidell and when death commeth to him it will doe him more hurt then it will an Infidell because by how much God hath given him more meanes to escape and by neglecting those meanes as his sin is greater so shall his punishment be Secondly if yee have beene carelesse for to prepare for this enemie Now be ashamed of it and sorrow for it let your hearts now smite yee and ake within you Oh foolish man or woman say I have lived twenty thirty forty fifty yeares and some more I have laboured against other enemies if men had any thing against me I would be sure to take order I have laboured for the things of this life for riches and friends and given my selfe leave for to enjoy pleasures and taken paines to doe good to my body but all this while it never came into my heart seriously to thinke I must die and after that commeth judgement that I must stand before Gods Tribunall and give account of my wayes I have not laboured to beware of Death and of sinne nor to kill my corruptions I have not laboured to increase in Faith and hope and charitie I have left my selfe unarmed against the last and worst enemie Oh what folly is this to live in the world many a long day and never to consider that there will be an end of all these dayes and the end of those the beginning of another life and a life that will be infinitely more miserable then this If this beloved have beene any of your faults to be carelesly forgetfull of your latter end not to consider of your departure hence if the world have so tempted you and pleasures have so enamoured you that you have forgotten your latter end blame your selves it is the greatest of all follies And that I may disgrace this folly and make you ashamed of it Consider a little That this is to be like children The Apostle biddeth us not to be like children in understanding but hee that forgetteth Death and is carelesse to prepare for it is a very child A little one never thinketh hee shall ever bee a man himselfe and maintaine himselfe and live in the world by his owne labour or by that he shall have from his friends he careth for nothing but meat and drinke and sport and pastime wee blame their folly and laugh at it as rediculous and therefore by our diligence we prevent that ill that might else come upon them Is it not thus with many of you yee live and build houses and raise
doth not bethinke how he is armed If God have fitted his servants for death he hath done most for them if they have not riches yet they are fit for death if they have not an estate amongst men it mattereth not a whit if they be fit for Death if they be miserable here in torments and sicknesse when others have health it is no matter all these increase their repentance makes them labour for Faith and Hope and Charitie whereby they are armed against Death Nothing can save us from the hurt of Death but the Lord Jesus Christ put on by Faith and that furnished with Hope and Charitie If God give a man other things and not these graces Death is not destroyed to him But if he deny him other things and give him these graces he doth enough for him Death is destroyed to him His body indeed falleth under the stroake of Death as other mens but his soule is not hurt Death layeth him a rotting as the common sort but the soule goeth to the possession of glory and remaineth with Christ When hee is absent from the body hee is present with the Lord. Nay when the last day shall come Death shall bee utterly swallowed up then the poore and fraile and weake body that sleepeth in corruption and mortalitie shall bee raised in honour and in immortall beautie and glory a spirituall body free from all corporall weaknesses that accompany the naturall body it shall be made most glorious and blessed even as if it were a spirit all the weaknesses that accompany the naturall beeing of the body shall be taken away and it shall enjoy as much perfection as a body can and therefore it is called spirituall Therefore I beseech you rejoyce in the Lord if your soules tell you that you are armed against this death FINIS THE VVORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOVS MANS GAINE EZEKIEL 22. 30. I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before mee for the Land but I found none therefore have I poured forth my indignation upon them PHIL. 1. 21. For to mee to live is Christ and to die is Gaine LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE WORLDS LOSSE AND THE RIGHTEOVS MANS GAINE SERMON VIII ISAIAH 57. 1. And mercifull men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evill to come WHen I first began this verse I did never thinke that all things would have beene so sutable to the finishing of it as now I find they are For there is no circumstance that can be required to make a correspondencie betweene a former and a latter handling but is to be found in the two surveies I tooke upon this Text. The occasion of handling it now is the same that was before I began it at a Funerall and now at another Funerall I shall end it The place of handling the same as it was before I began the former part of the verse in this very street at the other end of it Now I shall finish it at this And the time it is the same and every way answerable to that it was before It was begun in a time of Mortalitie feared and now will be finished in a time of mortalitie certaine And that there should be no part of correspondencie wanting this latter part of the verse is answerable to the former it is but the same againe in other words In the former part there is mention of the righteous man here of the mercifull man they are both one In that hee is said to perish here to bee taken away they are both the same There No man is said to lay it to heart and here no man is said to consider it Both the same So that loke upon the whole both parts joyne together they walke on by paires two and two as the living creatures into the Arke Male and Female The first paire sets forth to you the state and condition of a godly man he is righteous and mercifull those are the male and female of Pietie The second sets forth to you the state and condition of a dying man hee perisheth and is taken away those are the Male and Female of death The third sets out the state and condition of a worldly man he layes it not to heart he never takes it into consideration those are the Male and Female of carnall securitie And that all the paires should now be made up the former part was handled at the buriall of a good old Man this latter now at the buriall of an old and verteous Gentlewoman those are the Male and Female of nature The former part that is a complaint that the Prophet made and so is the second and this second is set as a Commentarie to the first this latter part is as Eve created as a helpe to Adam for every word in this latter helpes to expound some word in the former The first word in the latter part tells us of the mercifull man that is the Exposition of the first word in the former part the righteus man Lest any man should make question who this righteous man was that the Prophet speakes of how we should know him and define him and find him find me a mercifull man and hee is truly a righteous man The second word in the latter part is taken away that hath reference to the second word in the former and it is a qualification of the harshnesse of the former there it is said The righteous man perisheth but lest any man should scandal at this word shall we thinke that he perisheth whose life it hid with Christ in God Shall the Scripture say that hee perisheth whose name is in the bundle of life written in heaven To lay aside therefore the rigour of the word here is the Qualification hee is taken away The third word of the latter hath reference to the third of the former too No man considereth it If any man aske the reason how it comes to passe that people should be without naturall affection that they take it not to heart that they are not grieved for Ioseph that they are not striken with any sense of their owne losses what should be the reason of it The reason is in this word they take it not into consideration They trouble not their heads and therefore not their hearts with it That it may make an aggravation of that They were so farre from taking of it to heart that they never propounded it to the examination and scanning of their judgement they consider it not So every word in the latter part is serviceable to the first I shewed concerning the first part who this Righteous man is how great the dignation of the Spirit of God is that hee will stile holy men that are so imperfect in holinesse yet because of their holy endeavours to walke in the wayes of God blamelesly the Spirit stiles them Righteous men Secondly I shewed how this Righteous
the paths of mercy and pietie that they tread in Iob was set up a light of patience Abraham of faith Cornelius of Charitie and so every grace that the Saints are eminent in they are set up as so many lights When the light is gone is there not a great losse to have a candle put out Though they enjoy their light we lose it the benefit of their example and societie their advise and counsell Oh the experience of the Saints bring a great deale of good to their acquaintance I am in this affliction I remember that you were in the same case how did you carry your selfe It is a great matter to build upon the experiences of the Saints of God Wee lose many benefits by losing of a Saint Hee is not only beneficiall in his example but in his prayers Hee is one of the Advocates of the world that pleads with God that stands in the gap Abraham was a strong Advocate for Sodome and so was Moses for Israel and so was Aaron and so other Saints in their time The Saints while they live in the world there is a great deale of power in their prayers to with-hold judgements and is there then no losse when they are taken away When a Saint is removed a Pillar is removed a Pillar of the house and of the Earth and must there not be danger when the Pillar is gone They are the Corner stones when a Corner stone falleth there is a great deale of trash and rubbish falleth with it There is a great deale of discomfort upon the fall of a Saint When God removeth godly and mercifull men there is a losse every way to the Church to the State The Church loseth a member the State a Pillar godly men lose an example wicked men lose an Advocate poore men lose a Patron all men lose a comfort That is the first thing the Prophet bemoaneth in the losse of righteous men First it went to his heart that the world should be left emptie of pietie and all those vertuous examples that God should cut off those precious Plants those that are looking-glasses for us to see our selves in and that pitch of perfection wee should breath after and aime at That is the first thing But that is not all for there was impendant danger when they were gone It is a prognosticating of some evill to befall a place when God takes them away If Noah enter into the Arke the world may expect a deluge If Lot be out of Sodome let it looke for a showre of fire and brimstone God himselfe expresseth himselfe by the Angel that he could doe nothing as long as Lot was in Sodome he had a commission not to raine fire and brimstone while Lot was there while Lots person and prayers were there assoone as Lot was gone there commeth a cloud of Judgement and in that a showre So the Saints when they are translated into the Arke when they are tooke from the earth as Noah was Noah was to ascend from the earth to the Arke when Lot is gone to the Citie God provided for him the Citie of refuge then we may expect one Judgement or other for they are meanes to hinder and keepe them from being poured out That is the second thing in the losse of righteous men They are tooke away for their good but for our ill wee have lost the benefit of their example the comfort of their societie and now we may feare that Judgements will come plentifully for mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come So I have done with the first part of the Complaint I will be very briefe in the second that is over the living no man considereth it this is truly to be bemoaned There is a double extent first of the Act they consider not And then an extent of the person no man considereth This Act hath a great latitude It is either an aggravation of the former they lay it not to heart nay they doe not take it into consideration or else it is a rendring a reason of the former they lay it not to heart because they bethinke not themselves Consideration is an act of the judiciall part of the understanding as incogitancie is a rocking of reason asleepe a shutting of the dore of reason Neglect that is a negligence of due care to bee taken on the other side inconsideration or incogitancie that is a neglect of the due course of reason due pondering of a thing A man is said not to consider that scanneth not that examineth not the cause that laies not the effects and consequences together that compareth not one thing with another So that it is thus much now they considered not that is they pondered not in their hearts they examined not according to the rule of reason they looked not to it what should bee Gods meaning in taking away mercifull men from the evill to come they looked not forward to the time to come nor backward to the time past they were altogether inconsiderate It is a great sinne and a fruit of sinne and a cause of all sinne It is a sinne in it selfe for God hath given man Reason to use upon all occasions to consider Gods workes and his owne workes and those things that befall others and himselfe The true improvement of Christianitie is the exercise of consideration That exciteth a man to repentance David laies it as a ground I considered my wayes and turned my feet to thy testimonies A man never repenteth that considereth noâ—…â—…is wayes The want of consideration keepeth a man freezing and settling on the dregs of sinne It is a fruit of sinne of the first sinne incogitancie bringeth securitie that rocks reason asleepe then passion hath her scope when reason governeth not It is the true punishment of the first sinne and the fruit of it because reason is decaied in man by sinne reason was then unrectified reason grew irregular Nay it is the cause of all sinne We can resolve no particular sinne to any other principle but this that men consider not before they commit it The reason why men goe on in excesse and riot and continue in drunkennesse is nothing but this they lay it not to heart they looke not forward what will bee the issue and event they consider not the account they are to make to God they thinke not that God is providing a cuppe of deadly wine and that all must appeare before the judgement seate of Christ. The reason why mens desires of the world and of living here are so in larged it is the want of consideration of what is the happinesse of heaven of the promises that God hath made There is no sin but it is resolved into this case So here it is that the Prophet complaineth of the want of consideration When mercifull men were taken away they considered it not to sympathize to prepare themselves to what God would doe after he had removed these that when he
therefore they should in these things agree together The generall end at which they all aymed in their doings is the Lord Hee that eateth saith he eateth to the Lord and he that eateth not to the Lord hee eateth not that is still he propoundeth God as his end and the pleasing of God in his actions as the rule of them That he may prove this unto us that they stand thus affected both of them notwithstanding this difference he bringeth in this as the generall reason whereto every particular of their lives may bee reduced All their life is ordered by the Lord they live to the Lord they die to the Lord so that whether they live or die they are the Lords Therefore all their particular actions are to the Lord. Whether we live wee live to the Lord and whether we die we die to the Lord. Now this generall reason he propoundeth two wayes First Negatively None of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe Secondly Affirmatively which consisteth of two parts Their dutie to God Gods acceptance of them and protection over them Their dutieto God if we live we live to the Lord and if wee die we die to the Load Gods acceptance of them Whether wee live or die wee are the Lords That which we shall now insist upon is the former part the negative expression and proposall of this generall reason None of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe Now when the Apostle affirmeth this of the beleevers of those times he therein intimateth thus much that it is the course of beleevers in all times It is a dutie belonging to all others of which they must make account not to live to themselves but to the Lord. Therefore though he speakes generally here yet there is in his speech a kind of particular universalitie a generality with a restraint He saith none of us hee saith not none in the world live to themselves for there are many in the world live to themselves and not to the Lord but none of us none of those that wee ranke our selves with that are in the condition of beleevers none of those concerning whom we speake in this question none of us live to our selves Life in generall is nothing else but that power whereby wee act or move As we read Gen. 2. God breathed into man the breath of life and he became a living soule he gave him the power whereby he acted The acting of this power is the exercise of that life whether the action be of the mind or of the body And so as there is a double life there are two sorts of actions of life there are naturall actions of a naturall life and there are spirituall actions of a spirituall life When the Apostle speakes of living hee intends both these Wee live not that is we doe not the actions of life whether naturall or spirituall to our selves but to the Lord. No man liveth to himselfe By himselfe he meaneth not only a mans person either soule or body but all those advantages that conduce to the well-being of a man No man of us so ordereth the actions of his life with reference and respect to our selves as the uttermost end wee doe not make our owne wel-beeing or wel-fare the uttermost end of our actions None of us live to our selves You have the sense and meaning of the words which being a patterne to other Christians a thing which the Apostle supposeth is or should be in every beleever it giveth us this point of instruction whereupon we shall insist at this time That is No beleever none that are in Christ should make themselves the end in their actions None should live that is spend their time and strength and endeavour ayming at no higher end then themselves No Christian should so spend his time as to seeke himselfe only in the actions that he doth None of us liveth to himselfe But here it may bee objected for the clearing of the point May not a Christian seeke himselfe in the things that hee doth When they doe good things that which God commandeth that they may avoide the punishment when being incouraged by the promise of a reward they performe the actions of obedience doe they not herein seeke themselves They seeke the avoyding of evill to themselves and the obtaining of good for themselves and doing thus they live to themselves To this wee Answer Wee must consider our selves two wayes First in subordination to God Secondly in competition with him or opposition against him Consider a mans selfe in subordination to God so a man may seeke himselfe that is he may seeke his owne good though not as the uttermost end wherein his thoughts rest yet hee hath this incouragement Selfe-love is a plant of Gods owne planting in the heart of man and hee will not have any man root out that that he hath planted Grace drieth not up the fountaine of nature It doth but turne the streame into a new channell it guides it the right way When a man is renewed by grace and sanctified he is the same man in his faculties he doth his actions better then he did before and all that he did before he doth them to a better end It is impossible that the will of man should incline to any thing but as he conceiveth it good and good for mee now there is no man can conceive a thing as good for him but hee must conceive it as good and sutable to him sutable to his welfare and condition The law of God forbiddeth not this but stablish it and commendeth it if it be rightly ordered Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soule and with all thy strength that is the chiefe notwithstanding thou shalt not hate thy selfe thou shalt love thy nighbour as thy selfe subordinate to the love of a mans selfe must be the love of his neighbour and subordinate to his love of God must be the love of himselfe Thou maist love thy selfe but in a degree inferiour to God Thou must love thy selfe in God and seeke thy good in God and not in thy selfe therefore it is that God in the Scripture hath set promises and threatnings one opposite to the other Now it is lawfull for a man to bee drawne to obedience or driven from sinne by any argument that God useth in his Word When God threatneth punishment shall not men be awakened the Lyon roareth and the beasts of the Forrest tremble When God promiseth here is the act of Faith to receive this promise and to believe it Herein Iesus Christ the Author and finisher of our faith is set as a patterne for us hee set before him the joy It is lawfull for a Christian herein to imitate Christ I speake this for their sakes to allure them by incouragements from the Word that howsoever the avoyding of sinne by threatnings is an action of selfe-love without the love of God yet
out of the booke of life rather then God shouldbe dishonoured And saith the Apostle I could bee content to bee separated from Christ for my brethrens sake that is that Christ may be glorified Hee knew that his happinesse lay not in injoying a blessed estate to himselfe free from care and trouble but that herein his happinesse lay that God may bee glorified and that he might bring it to passe by any meanes that he might serve God in that end whereto God had appointed him and the more perfectly he could attaine that end the more perfectly he should attaine his happinesse So it is with a true Christian he is so farre blessed and happy in heaven as he is serviceable to God on earth as he lives to him and doth much and suffereth much for him when that life that he hath is spent in the severall actions and turnings and changings of it in the service and to the glory of God Therefore I say consider this you lose that which you seeke you seeme to seeke happinesse to your selves by seeking wealth and pleasures or earthly advantages to your selves and while you seeke them with a neglect of duty to God with a neglect of the discharge of that worke and service hee hath committed to you you lose that happinesse that you seeme to seeke and which you should seeke indeed which is the perfection the end of the creature the service of his Creatour So you see what we lose Consider secondly what wee gaine It may bee you gaine wealth for your selves this is somewhat you will say It may be you gaine honour and esteeme in the World you gaine a name amongst men or some earthly advantage Alas what is this if it be rightly considered It is but the gaine of a shadow to the losse of the soule If it be wealth doth it satisfie the soule Doth it quiet the conscience Doth it fill a man so as that hee needs no more All the wealth in the world cannot doe this there is an emptinesse in all these things there is fulnesse to bee had only in God in Christ in spirituall things nothing else is able to satisfie the soule in all its desires to give it perfect peace If the happinesse of a man were either in himselfe or in any other creature he need have nothing to doe with God hee need not then to looke higher above himselfe But God hath placed a vanitie both in men and in all creatures man is vaine and all the creatures in the world are vanitie and vexation of spirit And when the Scripture calleth them vanitie what doth it meane but that they are emptie things they have not that nourishment in them that they seeme to have they have not that in them that they should have according to that esteeme that men put upon them they are emptie things as we say of wells when they want water they are emptie though they bee full of other things as dust and sand c. Or as clouds that have no moisture and raine in them they are emptie so are all things in the world therfore emptie because they have not in them that which the heart seekes after they have not happinesse in them they have not contentment in them What is this then but to forsake bread and to seeke after huskes like the Prodigall that left his Fathers house where there was bread enough and to feed on huskes with swine to leave the aproach and accesse of the soule to God wherein it may satisfie it selfe to the full with that which is food indeed and to seeke somewhat in the world that it cannot get I say this is a mans losse Nay he loseth himselfe in living to himselfe What shall it profit a man to winne the whole world and lose himselfe Mat. 16. 26. To lose his soule saith one Evangelist to lose himselfe saith another A man loseth himselfe when he loseth his soule And this he doth in the neglect of God hee loseth his soule in that action when a man gathereth wealth by indirect meanes or keepeth his wealth and doth not disburse it in the service of God for his glory or what soever else a man doth in gaining the world hee loseth himselfe Hee that will lose his life shall save it and hee that will save his life shall lose it Mark 10. A man never loseth a shadow more then when he followeth it the faster hee pursues it the faster still it runneth from him such is the pursuit after any thing out of God the more a man pursueth it the more hee loseth himselfe he is driven so many paces from heaven so many â—…rees from his owne happinesse This is the folly and madnesse oâ—… the world whereby Sathan deludeth men leading them after vaine shewes of earthly delights in carnall security flattering themselves in the pursuit of the world dreaming of happinesse and comfort and in the conclusion imbrace nothing but a shadow and emptinesse This I say is the misery of man Now put both together Consider what wee lose that that is truly good that that is blessednesse indeed and what wee get that that is but a shadow that that is emptinesse indeed Men lose that they seeme to have and want that they pursue after A secret judgement of God because they sought not that that they should doe Thus we see the point opened I hasten to the aplication The first use is for Conviction Since there is such a truth as this that no man that professeth himselfe to be in Christ that professeth himselfe to be abeleever should live to himselfe that is doe any action of his life ayming at himselfe as the uttermost end in those actions It serveth in the first place to convince us that professe our selves to be Christians and beleevers to bee such as know Christ though with these differences some are more weake and some more strong yet I say it convinceth every man to stand guilty before the Lord that if hee live to himselfe hee is none of Christs This is the property of every true Christian even of the weakest as well as of the strongest for the Apostle speakes of all None of us saith he whether weake or strong Christians live to our selves if thou therefore live to thy selfe thou art none of those the Apostle speakes to thou art none of those that live and die to the Lord thou art none of those that are the Lords whether in life or death Let us therefore first be convinced of this that there is such a sinfull disposition in the hearts of men that professe themselves to bee Christians and yet live to themselves That is the first thing I would convince you of at this time Secondly I would shew you that wheresoever this disposition is it argueth a foule and sinfull heart None of us doe so saith the Apostle other men that have no part in these priviledges and comforts they doe so they live to themselves Thirdly
wee will convince you of this life that it is simply necessary That so without delay every one that is convince that he liveth to himselfe may now begin to leave that course to liue to himselfe and hereafter live to God For the first of these To convince us that there are many amongst us that professe our selves to be Christs and yet are thus disposed and have this sinfull affection to live to our selves Take this first in the generall If there were not such a disposition in mens hearts the holy Ghost would not thus have directed the spirit of the Apostle in expressing this as a note of difference betweene them and others and as an argument that a strong Christian should beare with the weake because they doe not live to themselves The Scripture giveth not rules in vaine But that yet we may see it more clearely you shall find this very thing complained of sometime and sometime forbidden Complained of Phil. 2. 21. All seeke their owne and not the things of Iesus Christ. Such a disposition there was in them that they sought their owne they lived to themselves And forbidden 1 Cor. 10. 24. Let no man seeke his owne but every one another mans wealth A thing expresly and in termes so clearely forbidden as no man can hide himselfe from the light of it Hee is certainly guiltie of the breach of this command that seekes after his owne that seekes himselfe But how shall wee know that wee may bee more sensible of our owne case whether it be thus with us or not whether wee live to our selves and not unto God I will give you two generall rules and tryals whereby a man may discerne whether he live to himselfe or not The first is this Consider when a lust and an occasion meet together how you are I shall shew it in divers particulars Take it thus Sometimes you shall see that a man is put on to a good dutie by incouragement sometimes hee wants those incouragements Marke now how a man determineth and resolveth to act or to cease his action by vertue of these incouragements Sometimes you shall see that there is a command to a dutie but no outward incouragement to that duty that may satisfie the desire of a mans heart in selfe-respects He must obey God in this command but hee shall gaine nothing in the world by it hee shall neither grow rich nor get more esteeme among men or have a more easie or pleasant life in outward things all selfe-respects faile in this action The question is what a man resolveth upon in this If now his heart start aside from God and fall off from the dutie because he wants those incouragements that a man lookes after a way for himselfe fulnesse to himselfe then it is evident thou hast respect to thy selfe Iehu all the while that his zeale to God might further him and the better settle himselfe in the kingdome of Israel he can call others to come up and see his zeale for the Lord but when his zeale had no such baite and allurement to those actions then Iehu turneth against God and falleth to Idolatrie and other sins Iehu is not now the man when these incouragements faile that he was before You have abundance in Iohn 6. 10. seeking Christ that still discovered a living to themselves in it You seeke me saith our Saviour because of the loaves they had some outward advantage by him and therefore so long they sought him So the Lord discovered them in Hos. 7. to bee such as lived to themselves even in holy duties You crie unto me saith God but it is for corne and wine and oyle for this they cryed but when they had corne and wine and oyle what zeale had they then Hee that should have beene upright when hee waxed fat he kicked with the heele as the Lord speakes under the name of Iesurun to Israel That is one case Consider when things come thus that sometime those worldly advantages fall off from a man in the profession and practise of religion if hee fall off from the dutie too he is a man that liveth to himselfe This was the case of the second and third grounds they received the seed with joy that is when they were sensible of comfort they followed Christ but afterward when persecution arose for the Gospell they fell off and tooke offence Such as these live to themselves they seeme to live to God but it is to themselves and therefore when selfe-respects faile they fall off too Secondly take another instance for the clearing of it Suppose that not only sensible advantages faile but sensible disadvantages come in the world A man is sensible that hee shall disadvantage himselfe much if he goe on in the wayes of obedience to God It may be if he make conscience of his wayes hee must make restitution of his estate unjustly gotten Hee must deny himselfe in a greater measure of pleasures that hee hath unlawfully pursued Hee must emptie himselfe in workes of mercie and pietie of a great part of his estate for the good of others that God may be glorified by his substance Hee shall lose some worldly friends some esteeme among men Here are sensible disadvantages to a man Now the Question is what he resolveth to doe Here is the command of God and here is the thing whereupon the heart of man and his affections are set upon disadvantages in the world These come together Here is an occasion for a lust a sinfull affection to expresse it selfe If that bee laid in the ballance and shall prevaile above the other that rather then I will endure disadvantage in the world I will neglect the way of serving God this partie liveth to himselfe whatsoever good he did before in matters of religion all was done to himselfe I say when these two come together as you know when two men walke together and one servant followeth them a man knoweth not whose servant he is till they part but then when they part a stranger may know whose servant hee is hee followeth his owne Master and leaveth the other So when God and the world goe together God and a mans owne advantages goe together when there is nothing commanded but standeth with his owne advantages so long a mans deceitfull heart may flatter and delude and misguide him hee may goe on in a false perswasion and in a strong conceit that hee is in Christ in a blessed estate But when these two part that I shall not onely not advantage my selfe but sensibly disaduantage my selfe in outward things Here now I say the Question is what a man doth If I resolve to cleave to my outward advantages and leave God and leave the wayes of God I live to my selfe A man that liveth to God you shall see it is otherwise with him as for instance David when hee might have had the kingdome of Israel somewhat sooner by sinne
hee would not doe it his heart smo◅e him for cutting off the lappe of Sauls garment though he might have gained the kingdome of Israel by it hee would not lay his hands on the Lords anointed And what was the reason of it because he would not advantage himselfe by disobedience to God he would rather want himselfe What was the reason that Daniel when he saw hee was in an apparant hazard not only of the losse of honour but of his life and that for the performance but of one dutie prayer and that but for a short time yet would not omit it no not for a short time though he might by that not onely have saved his life but kept his honour in the Court he prayed to God even at that time when he was forbidden Why so because he lived to God and not to himselfe Had Daniel lived to and sought himselfe more then God he would have dispensed with this and saved both his life and honour though he had offended God in that particular of omission But this is the disposition of a heart that is faithfull and upright with God it will not dishonour God for the greatest advantage that can come to it selfe it will not neglect a dutie to God whatsoever losse it have in the world Thirdly Take another instance whereby we may see what we intend in this tryall Let the will of God and the bent of a mans owne will come in competition together God will have me leave this I will hold it God will have mee forsake this I will keepe it It is a comfort a worldly benefit I lose my comfort if I part with it He that now liveth to himselfe hee will please his owne will and be disquieted and vexed against Gods will that crosseth his But he that liueth to God will bee content that God should crosse him in his will because he would glorifie God in his owne will in his soveraignty in his puritie in his holinesse and justice c. See it in the case of Abraham Abraham had a strong love to Isaak and good cause yet neverthelesse though hee could see a comfort to himselfe in this sonne when God telleth him thou must sacrifice thy sonne Isaack when he had the revealed will of God Abraham now resolveth to shew that he lived to God and not to himselfe therefore he would part with any comfort of his life for God when he required it So David If the Lord will saith he hee can bring me backe that I shall see the Tabernacle and the Arke if not if he say I have no pleasure in thee lo◅ here I am let the Lord doe with me as seemeth good in his owne eyes When the case is this when the will of God crosseth thy will what now prevaileth Doth the desire of having thy owne will prevaile against the desire of submitting to Gods will Doth it raise murmuring and impatiencie of spirit So farre thou livest to thy selfe Therefore consider this Here is an occasion now for a lust and a sinfull affection to shew it selfe either a man may advantage himselfe in an evill course or he cannot but disadvantage himselfe in a good course or when God crosseth a man in that hee desireth and delights in in the world That is the first tryall whereby a man may know whether he liveth to himselfe Secondly another tryall will be this Consider if there be any part of the truth of God of his revealed will that for selfe-respects thou art willing to be ignorant of lest the knowledge of it should make thee doe somewhat to thy owne disadvantage in this thou livest to thy selfe See this to be true in all that lived to themselves Balaam though he profest that for a house full of gold hee would not goe beyond the word of the Lord yet notwithstanding he was willing not to take notice of Gods will but to goe on rather to curse Iohanan in Ier. 42. professeth deeply that he would obey the will of the Lord but when he understood the will of the Lord when it crost his will then saith he to Ieremy It is not the Lord that hath bid thee say this but Baruch When men cavill against any part of Gods word or hide any truth from themselves and with-hold the truth in unrighteousnesse Here is a man living to himselfe How many points are there in Religion that many men are willingly ignorant of And when they cannot but know them how doe they labour for distinction how doe they dawbe over the matter that they may hide the truth from themselves that it may not worke upon their consciences to make them leave their profitable sins Some would have the keeping of the Lords day according to Judaisme though it bee revealed to them that there is a broad difference between the Iews observation and the Christians keeping of it Another man he will not understand Usurie to be a sinne because his course is usurious he will not know this willingly because he would not disadvantage himselfe Another will not understand what hee is bound to doe to the glory of God with his estate in what measure according to all the good that God hath blessed him with to honour God and give the first fruits of all his increase nor in what manner that he should be ready to every good worke to contribute willingly to the necessities of the Saints what he should doe to pious and mercifull uses what for publike what for private occasions he would not willingly know these things he should have less ease he makes account Thus when a man is not willing to bee informed in any thing to sift the truth to the bottome to the uttermost to know any thing concerning a duty in any kind when he laboureth not to convince his heart to this end that he may be brought in every thing to obey God when he standeth out with God in any one point this man liveth to himselfe and walketh not as he should according to the rule of God Now then beloved let us be convinced of it I beseech you take it home and let every man consider of it with himselfe Sometime in the actions of religion there commeth matter of glory in the world this setteth me forward much when these things are spoken against and when I shal suffer disadvantages I cānot hold out At another time though all things be wel yet if it crosse me in such a course I murmure as if it were an unprofitable thing to serve God And then again when God revealeth his will my froward and rebellious heart hath hung backe and beene unwilling to submit to Gods wil in this point all this while I have lived to my self And if it be true if a man be in Christ he liveth not to himself then it follows if a man liveth to himself he is out of Ghrist If the weakest Christian live to Christ then the best that liveth to himselfe is out of Christ.
and drawes him to God therefore I say there are certaine graces that every one should exercise if he would not live to himselfe What are those First the knowledge of God in Christ. Get a more full and particular and experimentall knowledge of God All our looking to the creature is because we know not God perfectly if we did know him we would account him the chiefest of tenne thousand the Church when she knew Christ said so wee would account him as Elkanah said to Hannah Am not I better to thee then tenne sounes better then tenne friends then ten worlds Get therefore a more full knowledge of God that all power is in him One thing have I heard once and twice that power belongeth unto God saith the Psalmist Secondly Get faith in the exercise more All the worthies of the Lord in that 11. Hebr. What made them live â—…o to God and not to themselves as they did because they beleeved they did it by faith by faith Abraham denied himselfe by faith Moses forsooke the pleasures of Egypt by faith those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy wandred up and downe in sheepes skins and goats skins and would not be delivered When a man getteth interest in Christ by faith he shall see that in him that will satisfie all his desires and answer all his losses Thirdly exercise Love Faith workes by love The more we love God in Christ the more perfectly wee shall cleave to him Love is a uniting grace that uniteth the soule to Christ. The love of Christ constraineth mee saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. for wee thus judge if one died for all then it is fit they that live should not live to themselves And the truth is the more a soule loveth Christ the more it will live to him Lastly a word of the last Use and that is for instruction Beeing convinced that such is the estate of most men that they live to themselves and that whose estate soever it is it is a sinfull estate and argueth a man out of Christ and that there is a possibility of getting out of this estate Let it be for instruction to all those that in some measure live to God and not to themselves let it be to teach them and perswade them more fully to live to him and lesse to themselves A man simply considered without any relation to others or dependance upon another man he may please himselfe but when a man is considered in his dependance upon God and his relation to men hee must then observe the will of his Creatour in that relation God hath set him he must carry himselfe as his creature and observe the end that the creature is appointed to Nay he must carry himselfe as a Christian and observe the good of the body hee must carry himselfe as a member to doe good to the whole Let every Christian labour to doe this if he would have comfort to his soule that hee doth not live to himselfe that he is of the number of those that are accepted of God in life and death Labour to imploy his time and strength and gifts and whatsoever he is and hath to the good of others As every man hath received the gift let him minister to others as faithfull dispencers of the manifold grace of God If you have received gifts you have received them from God you have received them for the good of others you have received them as dispensers let every man saith the Apostle dispense the manifold grace of God if the Apostle had said be dispensers of the grace of knowledge that you have for the feeding of the soules of many and not of your estates or relieve as many as you can with your estates but take no care for their soules but when hee saith be dispensers of the manifold gifts of God his meaning is that whatsoever I have wherewith I am able to doe men good with whether it be inward or outward gifts the gifts of the mind or of the outward man anything whereby I can bee advantageous to others I must serve God and men in improving of that He that will not live to himselfe is bound to serve every man with every gift he hath If God have furnished a man with inward gifts the graces of his Spirit If a man have knowledge and faith or experience or comfort whatsoever graces of the Spirit hee hath there are duties appointed and a Communion of Saints exprest that men may be stirred up to exercise those graces in that communion for the good of all the Saints Therefore wee are said to have knowledge to profit with And gifts to edifie with All that a man hath God hath given him for this end that God may be glorified by it Herein is my Father glorified that you bring forth much fruit Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Men have much benefit by the graces of the Spirit in others when they are improved as they ought they are as lights amongst men in the world Grace when it is opened like the Box of oyntment raiseth a desire in others after it Grace exercised and communicated to others it sheweth the amiablenesse of it Christians should therefore doe it that they may make Christianity lovely that they may make the profession of Religion amiable to the world that is by communicating the graces of God to others This every man should doe in his place in his person take all advantages this way And as it is good for others so it is good for a mans selfe to doe thus a man increaseth his owne store Liberalitie we say is the best husbandrie There is no promise in the Scripture for hoarding up there are many to distribute I say it is the best husbandrie in the world especially in spirituall things it is as the oyle increased in the pouring out like the loaves the more they were broken the more they multiplied still We see the hand nourisheth it selfe by administring food to the mouth so a Christian not onely exerciseth but increaseth grace in himselfe by communicating grace to others And what I say for spirituall I say for outward things If a man have wealth or honour or any of these outward things and an opportunitie he should imploy them for others that it may appeare that hee doth not live to himselfe Hee that layeth up riches only for himselfe and his family liveth to himselfe Hee that followeth his calling only for himselfe and his family liveth to himselfe Hee doth that which a man out of Christ would doe but a man that would live unto God hee must glorifie God with his estate To doe good and to distribute forget not for with such sacrifices God is pleased Heb. 13. Charge them that are rich in the world that they bee not high-minded but ready to distribute to the necessities of the Saints
is in the middest of his ruffe and his jollitie and all pleasures the fashion of this world passeth away and I would have you use these things as if you used them not I know he would not receive it Or to come to an old soaked worldling whose Mammon and pennie is his god whose thoughts runne altogether upon his wealth and to tell him that hee should use the world as if hee used it not Or to come to another that is newly married and it may be hath made a Goddesse of his yoake-fellow for a while and tell him that he must bee as if he were not married I should have little hope to prevaile with these But you are brethren and because brethren you know the good things of God you are acquainted with things concerning eternall happinesse therefore as long as I can call you brethren I am bold to put you upon the dutie So brethren this is my Preface to you I shall anon speake to a point that I shall have little hope to prevaile with many in the Congregation when I come to speake of the immoderate use of the world and all the blessings in it it may bee both your eares will be so stopped against it But as many of you as are brethren that have given up your selves to God and have taken him for your portion and his Word for your guide in all things I hope you will bring willing and yeelding hearts to resolve that what is delivered out of the word of God to embrace it and to endeavour it concerning the course of your lives And so this shall suffice for the Preface because as I said I would not bee straitned Now I come to the Exhortation It remaineth that they that have wives be as if they had none c. First I will in briefe open the words and then come to some matter of instruction I begin first with the ground of the Exhortation The time is short The word translated short signifieth in the originall Time cut off And so the Apostle aludeth as the best Expositors agree to Seafayring-men that have almost done their voyage and begin to strike sayle and to fold them up together and are even putting into the Harbour and are going to unlade their goods So saith the Apostle the time is short as if he should say if a company that are going out a long voyage should strive who should be Master who be masters-Mate and who should have this or that office in the Ship I could not greatly blame them But when they are almost at home when they are within a flight-shot of the shoare when they begin to strike sayle to take in all and to goe themselves out of the ship then if they should fall a quarrelling for places and contend and use all the friends and meanes they could make it were a ridiculous thing and folly So it is with us Time was when the world was in beginning and then when a man came into the world hee might say by the course of nature I have a matter of six or seven or eight or nine hundred yeares to goe on in my pilgrimage before I shall end my voyage and then if a man should bestow a little time to thinke with himselfe Well if I can live but to see my selfe the father of a thousand children and might come to people almost a whole Countrey c. then I say if a man should greet the world he might bee excused But brethren God hath cast out the time of our age so that assoone as wee begin our voyage wee are ready to strike sayle presently Wee have but a little time to continue and much worke to bee done for another life therefore for us to stand striving about wives and children and courtesies to cry out of afflictions when we are ready to strike sayle and even to goe out of the ship into the harbour it is a meere folly These things are not worth the while heaven is the thing we should looke after therefore let us be moderate in all these things This is the meaning So that the ground of the Exhortation affordeth two things The one I will but name The other I will stand upon First The time of our life in this world is very short Wee have a very little time to continue in this world This is a very fruitfull and profitable point but because I would not bee straitned and because the Apostle intends it not as the maine thing I doe but only name it The second thing and that which Saint Paul mainly intends is that because wee have but a little time wee are even ready to strike sayle and to goe to the Harbour presently therefore hee that had a wife should bee as if hee had none and hee that used the world as if hee used it not c. And there the Lesson that I note is this That the serious meditation of the little and short time that we have to remaine in here below should bee a great meanes to cut us off from the world and to put us upon thoughts and actions concerning heaven I shall not need to give you a better ground of the point then is in the Text. The time is short saith he the time is contracted you are ready to strike sayle therefore doe this I might give you a world of Scripture to prove this But I will satisfie my selfe in laying you downe two or three grounds of it First wee know that all things that ever a man can enjoy in this world they all die assoone as ever his time is gone Marke it All things here below let a man dote never so much upon them let him have wife and children and beauty and credit and pleasures and learning or whatsoever it is if his glasse be out if his time be gone there is an end of all these to him Now the soule of man careth not for that happinesse that hath no continuance at all in it Yea the rarest thing that mortall men seeke after if they should know before hand that they should enjoy them but a little time the soule careth not for pitching upon it If a man were offered the goodliest woman for his wife that ever lived in this world if God should send him this message there take her I bestow her freely upon thee but to morrow thou shalt die who would care for marrying To bee a King we know is simply the greatest thing that men seeke after in this world yet among the Grecian Cities as that of Sparta because one was but to have the kingdome but for a yeare and then to lay downe his Crowne and become a private man all the wisest men of the Citie strove as much not to be King as we to get great places Why because they knew that that honour was but for a yeare and that would be gone presently therefore they cared not for it So the Apostle teacheth in this
place Though thou shouldest have a wife that thou shouldest love mightily though thou shouldest have pleasures that thou takest full content in Why doest thou so Wee are ready to strike sayle wee have but a little time to continue So that because all the blessings of this life let them be never so many never so great yet they all die with us when our time is ended hee that could but seriously thinke that hee hath but a little time to continue below hee will never let his heart be set violently upon them that is the first Argument The second and principall Reason why the meditation of the shortnesse of our time should bee such a marvellous meanes to take us off from all the things of the world is this Because wee shall find worke enough in this short time for things that more concerne us Now the very nature of our soule that God hath put into us is this that a man cannot intend earnestly and violently two things at the same time Let a man for a certaine houre wholly bee tooke up with some businesse though there were a great many other things that he could find in his heart to thinke upon yet the soule intends that one mainly and can find no time for the other Thus is our case Wee have but a little time but in that little time admirable is the worke wee have to doe before this time be spent if wee would give a comfortable account What have we to doe I tell you in a word The maine and needfull thing of all that wee have to doe in this little time here allotted us is How to shoote the gulph of hell how to make our peace with God how to get his favour in Christ how to have the corruptions of our soule cured and healed how to grow up in grace and to get sure evidence against that day when all shall stand naked before him that then we may be found in Christ. Have I ever heard that I have a great worke to doe and that I have but a little time to doe it in Surely then if I seriously thinke of it I cannot find in my heart to let my soule pitch earnestly upon the things below Beloved our time here is the only time we have to make heaven sure It is the most precious thing that ever we have in the world Now if a man have such a precious thing and but a little of it will hee goe and spend it for toyes and baubles It is a thing that the Emperour Caligula is laughed at for in all Stories There was a mighty Navie provided admirable and strange and all trimmed and every one expected that with it the whole countrey of Greece should be conquered and so it might have beene But hee imploped his souldiers to gather a company of Cockleshells and pibles and so sayled home Had not every one cause to lavgh at the folly of this Emperour Verely such a foole is every man and so wee would acknowledge if wee would but weigh this God hath given thee but thus much time it may be twenty yeares it may be but a day or two more in this time he hath furnished thee with that which may bee a meanes to conquer heaven it selfe now if thou lay out this little about wife or children or to purchase a little wealth or these things here below is it not the greatest folly that may bee Suppose that a servant hath a great deale of worke to doe and knowes that he must give an account to his Master thereof and that if all be not done that should bee done he can never appeare with comfort before his Master and hee sees also that the Sunne drawes low and the day hastneth to an end doe you thinke that this servant can find time to play If a man have much to write and but a little paper to write in he must write small and thicke and close as ever hee can So it is with every one of us I warrant you there is not any soule of us but wee shall find so many thousand things to repent of so many graces to obtaine that wee stand in need of so many evidences for heaven to get that yet we have not got sealed so many particulars concerning a better life that a man may wonder that ever any one should find one halfe day to intend any thing else Thus you see the reasons why the serious meditation of the little time we have to continue below should bee a marvellous meanes to take us off from the world and to put us upon the studie and thought of better things Well now let me briefly apply this unto you that so I may come to that I principally intend Oh that we had learned this excellent lesson that the Apostle teacheth the Corinths here what wondrous happy people should wee be You shall find ever-more in the Scripture the Spirit of God putting the neglect that is amongst men and carelesnesse of heaven and all the wickednesse of their lives upon this the not serious meditation of that small time they have to continue below If a man come to those that are not brethren as Saint Paul bespeakes the Corinths in the Text they will say It is true it is a good point to be prest upon a man that is in a consumption on one whom the Doctours have given over to tell him that hee cannot continue a weeke that his time is short But for our parts wee are but in the beginning of our voyage it may be wee are but twenty yeares old we began but the other day to be furnished with a stocke wee we are but newly entred and doe you thinke that we are striking sayle Or another that hath lived fortie or fiftie yeares in the middest of a full trade that beginneth to get something in the world doe you thinke that he is striking sayle Thus people put it off Alas what is thy time What is all thy life Let God decide it doth not he say it is a vapour a dreame a tale that is told like a Ship that sayleth by and is gone and that in the turning of a hand almost If thou have no more time of life here but only while a little sand is running out of a glasse while a Ship is sayling out of sight while a short tale is told God saith it is no more wilt thou account that thy voyage is yet scarsly begun I beseech you beloved all goe home and often thinke of this point Say within yourselves How long Lord am I like to continue below and what is there for me to doe before I goe out of this world But the truth is men dare not thinke of this and the divell laboureth for nothing more in the world then this to make men put off the serious consideration of the brevitie of their lives and that they have longertime to continue here then they have because hee knowes the truth of this
complaining Now saith Saint Paul bee as if not in weeping That is let the thoughts of the neerenesse of the shoare make you so contented as if there were no crosse at all lying upon you For I still follow the Metaphor the Spirit of God useth hee that is the poorest man in the Ship hee that doth nothing but dresse the sayles and as I said before plie the pumpe and it may be is beaten withall yet in the middest of all these he thinketh I shall by and by cast Anchor and though I worke hard yet one houre more will make me free So it should be with us in all afflictions as if not that is Thinke Death will come and end all I am sicke in body I am crost in my good name in my yoake-fellow Well Death will end all these I have but a little while to â—…arry in this world and short things must not be tedious On the other side Hee that rejoyceth as though hee rejoyced not That is in all the contentments of the world in all the joy a man hath in the things below as suppose a man have an estate here and credit given him or any thing that makes the world account a man happy Remember all these things will be gone assoone as I die as still to use the comparison let it bee the Master of the Ship he may thinke with himselfe all these are under me I can command them and punish them if they disobey yet assoone as I am out of the Ship they are as good as my selfe I am now neere the shoare and shall bee soone out of the place I am in let me therefore moderate my selfe So let us in all worldly contentments be so moderate as if wee should take our leaves of them and they of us And so for a man to bee as though hee possest not That is for a man not to inlarge his heart as the world is enlarged But if I have now so many pounds and therewith buy such a purchase and such a purchase let me live and carry my selfe in my thoughts as if I had nothing but food and rayment And then lastly commeth in the maine of all the rest They that use the world as not abusing it By world hee meanes all the good things of the world all that I named before and all that you can else thinke of Wife and children prosperity and adversity every thing on the right hand and on the left all commeth within the compasse of the World use all these things so But especially hee aymeth at worldly businesses the things wee are exercised about doe them as not abusing them as not letting your hearts bee set too much upon them but bee temperate and moderate in all that we may ever be fit for that great service that God hath to imploy us in Now out of all these put together the mayne Lesson that I would speake of is this That the true servants of God true beleevers all the blessings and erosses they meet with in this world they must have them as if they had them not This is the point I would open to you That in wife children prosperity crosses thinke what you can a beleever must bee in them as if not as if hee were not in that condition To give you for the proofe of this any other Scripture then my Text I suppose I need not the Apostle Saint Paul you see layes it downe in so many words Yet for the better confirmation of the point I will adde to that two or three other plaine places Only first I would a little explaine to you what it is for a man to use all these things as if not And I cannot for my life better lay it open to you then by such a comparison as this Looke how worldly men use the things of heaven so a heavenly man must use the things of the world To instance in a few duties that I will but name Suppose it be the duty of prayer Bring me out a true beleever and a worldling let them both be put upon this duty of prayer The true beleever his heart before he goes to prayer is so full of care that hee may pray aright so full of feare lest his heart should not carry it selfe as it should when he is in the duty his heart is so violently bent to it it so strugleth and striveth that hee may doe it as may please God When hee hath done he hath much joy and comfort if hee have carried it well and much sorrow and griefe if hee have carried it ill Thus a religious heart carrieth it selfe in this duty Now a worldly man doth the duty too but how as if not that is hee hath none of this care before hee commeth to it he hath none of this trouble when he is at it he hath none of this perplexitie when he hath done if he have miscarried in it If hee be able to come off it is well enough though it be performed in never so ill a manner Why his mind is after other things hee intends greater matters as hee thinkes The Minister hath taught him to pray and he can say his prayers and so hee doth the duty but still as if not Oragaine suppose a man whose heart is set upon Mammon put this man to recreation hee may perhaps find time to play at Bowles or Cards or Tables with a friend but how hee cares not whether hee winnes or loses hee whiles away the time but this is not the thing his heart is set upon that giveth him contentment but that which his mind is on is his commodities his trade his merchandize his businesse in the world Iust thus beloved it must be with every true beleever in the using of all the things of this life that is without care without feare without perplexitie without distraction and if they come on so if they goe so he must be pleased if hee have them and content if hee want them and howsoever his thoughts must bee carried higher and better To thinke thus I am the servant of God I have a Calling here I will follow it in obedience to God I have a Wife I will use her as a wife should be used I have childred I will have a care of their education But I must not come to be distracted about my calling about my wife and children and servants and good name or any thing that is here below I am here to day it may please God I may bee gone to morrow my hearts desire must be to be content with this that God is my all-sufficient portion if I bee in prosperity to be as if not if in affliction to carry my selfe so that in the middest of sorrow and trouble to bee as if God have freed me from all remembring still that my portion is in another life Thus you have seene both the lesson arising from the Text and what that is that in it is required of
much for other things if once you let your soules bee filled with the things of a better life then wife and children and wealth and pleasures or any thing else will not draw away your heart Get a good hand-fast of Jesus Christ worke out your salvation that you may know that you are beleevers upon good grounds and that you have the graces of the Spirit of God in you in deed and in truth that you are new creatures And then often thinke of the rare things that are provided for you in another life What to have God to bee your Father and Angels your keepers to be children to bee the companions of Angels Weigh these things daily and then you will be as if not in all these outward and worldly things And untill thou dost this and thinkest withall of that I have formerly said that thou art ready to strike sayle I will never beleeve that thou wilt bee as if not This is the second thing A word or two of the Third and so I have done And that is the Spurre that the Apostle Saint Paul useth And it is necessary hee should use such a spurre for it is a very hard lesson If you would be as if you were not consider this The fashion of the world passeth away That is it signifieth I touched it before such a fashion as is on a stage All these things below they are but as the Acting of a Comedie as a Scaene it may bee it is done in halfe an houre and though it make a fine shew yet in truth there is no substance in it There is one it is a fashion besides it passeth away So then in this spurre there are two things I will but name the heads First That the things of this world all that I named before are but a shew without a substance Even as a Scaene or Comedie things that have a glorious glittering shew to the eye but if you looke in deed and in truth upon them there is no such matter That is one thing that I note that our life is but as the acting of a part in a Comedie and so by consequence in all these outward things thy contentment in wife or children or credit or pleasures thou dost but act a glorious part it may be thou hast a goodly outside fine clothes rich apparell an outward representation of comfort but looke thorow them and there is no such matter But the second thing which I rather would presse is that it is suddenly gone it passeth away saith the Apostle As a man hath but a little time to tarry in the world so all the things hee enjoyeth in the world are wondrous inconstant That looke as it is in a Play hee that now acts the part of a King it may be next he may act the part of a Begger or as it is with some of your delicate fashions that while you are speaking of them the fashion is spoyled Even so the fashion of this world it will not continue That is the summe of that I desire you to take notice of that if you will not be perswaded by me or by the Spirit of God in his unworthy minister to use the things of this world moderately and to carry your selves as you ought in crosses and afflictions yet know this that the fashion of these things will shortly be spoyled And if they be all so unconstant what a foole art thou to set thy heart upon them Wee may learne this wisedome from the foolery of our English Nation esteemed now the idlest people of the world for changing their fashion They will never make clothes twice of one fashion but one gowne of this fashion and another of that and though he bee never so good a Taylour that makes it yet hee must make no more of the same fashion but the next Terme they will cometo another Learne I say this wisedome from that foolery Now the Lord giveth thee comfort in thy wife set not thy heart too much upon her the next Terme the fashion may change Now thou art rich let not thy heart dote upon thy riches it is but a fashion a shew it passeth away to morrow thou maist bee a begger to day a man to morrow none But if thou wouldest keepe the fashion get the fashion of grace get a right to heaven an interest in God and be content in Gods name to follow his fashion If the fashion that God will have thee be in be to be an humble dejected man be content with that fashion if anon he will have thee on the toppe of the wheele of prosperitie thanke God for it take heed of abusing the things thou enjoyest Remember the things of this life are inconstant things as a flower as a nosegay that seemeth as a dainty fine thing but while we are smelling at it and praising it it withereth away so is it with all these things I would I could tell how to speake home to your soules and yet I know that little I have spoken if it be entertained with faith if you beleeve this to be the truth of God not as the speech that a man makes to you but as the speech of Saint Paul an Apostle of Christ that sets it downe by the direction of God that it is thus I say if you lay downe this as a truth that comes from God and seriously thinke with your selves I have but a little time to tarry here below and when I am out of the world I shall live for ever in heaven or in hell while I doe enjoy the things of this world God will have me to be as if not in them and there is good reason why they are shewes and not substances Grace and the favour of God is only that which is substantiall whatsoever you looke upon that is under these are but shewes riches and honours and worldly contentments they are but shadowes like one in a play that is but a Peasant under the coat of a King these have but only outsides under them there is no such matter This I say which I have spoken being seriously considered and faithfully received may through the blessing of GOD and your owne prayers to God to teach you this be a meanes to moderate you in the use of all those things that are here below FINIS SECVRITIE SVRPRIZED OR THE DESTRVCTION OF THE CARELESSE JOB 18. 10. The snare is laid for him in the ground and a trappe for him in the way HEB. 2. 3. How shall wee escape if wee neglect so great salvation LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. SECVRITIE SVRPRIZED OR THE DESTRVCTION OF THE CARELESSE SERMON XII 1 THESSAL 5. 3. For when they shall say peace and safetie then sudden destruction commeth upon them as travaile upon a woman with child and they shall not escape IN the latter part of the Chapter going before the blessed Apostle S. Paul to the end that he might draw those to whom
us sometimes holding us long play as the house of David did the house of Saul till our strength be wasted and spent sometimes dispatching us with a sudden stroke as Absolom did Amnon when our hearts are merry within us This enemie Death the very sound of his name is like the name of Honiades to the Turkes dreadfull to some the very dreame of it dreadfull as Nebuchadnezars dreame was to him it troubled him and the image of it made him tremble and quake But though the hearing of an enemie may cause disturbance yet withall to heare that this enemie is overcome and destroyed the newes of that may cheare us Behold this is the newes that the Text bringeth It telleth us of an enemie indeed but it telleth us withall of the destruction of this enemie Death is the common enemie of man-kind It is our last enemie we may thinke it none of the least because it is the last yet here is the destruction of it Oh thou enemie thy destruction shall come to a perpetuall end It is already destroying and as it is the last so at the last it shall be destroyed Those are the two points that I am to treat of of an Enemie and of the destruction of this Enemie The Enemie is Death and the Last Enemie as the Text calleth it the last that shall assault us In that yee may note two things Its Qualitie and Its Ranke First its nature and qualitie An Enemie Secondly its order and ranke in what ranke it is Fyled not in the Fore-front of the battell but it commeth behind in the Reare it commeth in the end of the Armie when all other enemies have given over and setteth upon us at the last Secondly here is the destruction of the enemie that is the Milke and honey of the Text. Death though it bee an Enemie though it be a killing enemie it shall not bee a conquering enemie Hee that subdueth all our Enemies for us will in time subdue them to us And who he is the Apostle telleth you in the verse before the Text Christ our Lord Hee shall reigne till hee hath put downe all his enemies under his feet And as all His so all ours too both those that are Enemies to him and to his death Among the rest he will destroy that also As it is the last with which we shall be assaulted so it is the last that shall be destroyed There are three points of observation wee have here lying before us First that Death is an Enemie Secondly that Death is our last Enemie Thirdly that as Death assaulteth us last so at last it shall bee destroyed I begin with the first of these That Death is an Enemie And an Enemie indeed it is one of the Divels regiment The Divell he is the Generall of the Armie when hee brought sinne into the world he brought Death into the world Sinne drawes Death after it as the Needle drawes the thread First I will shew yee what kind of Enemie it is Secondly wherein it appeareth to be an Enemie First what kind of Enemie Death is A common secret spirituall continuall Enemie First a Common Enemie Common to all mankind The charge it hath is not like that upon the Aramites fight neither with small nor great save onely with the King of Israel Great and small King and Keisar all are markes that this aimeth at one killing weapon or other it hath for them all like Ishmael The hand of him is against every man The young and the old the strong and rich and noble and wise and holy none can scape none can keepe out of Deaths reach What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death Yee will object to me peradventure Those that shall live at the comming of our Lord at the end of the world shall not see Death I had thought I confesse to have stood a little upon this points discussion but I must not I have many things to say In a word therefore First these are but a few and a few make not a generall Secondly though these die not the ordinary naturall death but as Elijah and Enoch shall bee translated up to heaven yet in their translation and assumption they shall suffer a mutation and change which shall be in stead of Death Their change is a kind of Death to them as our death is a kind of change to us Therefore wee may account it a common Enemie to man-kind for as the Scripture saith It is the way of all the earth And the Grave it is the house appointed for all living It is a common Enemie and it is the more dangerous for that Secondly it is A secret Enemie And it is the more dangerous for that Secret Traytours are worse then open enemies these may be prepared against because we know them those may surprize us unawares because wee see them not nor suspect them Poore Uriah carrieth Death in his bosome so wee carry death about us though like a Moth it lie and fret in the garment and we see not when it eateth nor can certainly determine the time when it will grate asunder the thread of our life What man living can divine when and how and where Death will seize upon him it is not for any to determine such a thing it lieth so secret hee cannot find it out What a sort of diseases wee are subject to you may imagine how many Nay yee cannot imagine how many when the very eye as some Occolists observe hath above sixtie diseases What a many casualties there are every moment when as oft as wee step over the threshold wee cannot tell whether ever wee shall come home againe The fire saith Death is in me and the Water saith Death is in mee the earth we tread on hath Death in it the Ayre we breath in that which wee continually take in and put out at our nosethrils hath death in it Death dwelleth with us in our houses it walketh with us in the streets It lieth downe with us in our beds It is wrapped about us in our clothes that sticke to us Benhadad is slaine in his Bed Amnon at his Table Zachariah in the Temple Ioab at the Altar The disobedient Prophet is torne with a Lyon The unbeleeving Prince is trod to Death in the croude Abimelech slaine with a Mill-stone and Pyrrhus with the fall of a Tyle Adrian is choaked with a flie Victor is poisoned with Wine And one of the Emperours with the bread he recived in the Sacrament Thus Death waiteth every where and yet wee spie it not It is a secret Enemie and therefore the more dangerous Thirdly it is a spirituall Enemie And it is the more dangerous for that Spirituall I call it First because it is invisible for the spirits are invisible they cannot be seene Such an enemie is Death though we must all feele it yet wee cannot see it were it any way discernable we might
it farewell then Farewell to all to profits and pleasures and honours we shall carrie none of them away with us None of our pompe and glory shall descend after us as the Psalmist saith Farewell to all the gold and silver we have gathered together to all the goodly lands wee have purchased to all the stately houses we have built to all the pleasant gardens and orchards wee have planted to all the sports and pastimes we have had to all our merry consorts wee have kept company with to all our Jewels and wardrope to our dauncing and feasting and musicke Death pulleth us from all these and layeth us levell with the Dust It mingleth shovels and Scepters together It makes rich and poore the Prince and the Peasant alike I shall see man no more All relations we have now shall be broken off then betweene Husband and Wife Parents and children Master and servants neighbour and neighbour friend and friend wee shall dwell apart with our selves and not so much as shake hands one with another All the services and imployments wee are tooke up with here shall cease then there shall be no frequenting of the Exchange no exercising of Trade no bearing of Office no working in our Calling Death is the night that no man can worke in and Death is the place of silence where all affaires are cut off Where there is no worke nor invention nor wisedome nor counsell as Solomon saith in the booke of the Preacher Oh saith good Hezekiah I shall see the Lord no more in the land of the living There is no more service to be done to the Lord nor no more in the Church in that manner as it is now there is no exercise of Religion no Word no Sacraments no Fasting no Almes no Preaching no Prayer no Confession and thankes-giving The Corse cannot praise thee the Grave cannot give thankes they that goe downe into the pit cannot honour thee Oh Beloved how carefull and active and vigilant and diligent should this make us to be when wee consider it for the well improving of that time that wee have lent unto us and for the well-discharging of those places and offices and duties that are now laid upon us Considering that Death is an enemie that will cut us off from all affaires and bereave us of all opportunities of receiving or doing or performing any service to God at all either in Church or Common-wealth Fiftly and lastly Conscience of sinne and certaintie of iudgement and uncertainty of salvation for brevities sake I put them together these things come along with Death and make the face of Death terrible and fearfull Conscience of sinne first of all For Sinne it is the sting of Death And which of us is there that doth not arme Death with that sting Who can reflect on the passages of his life but he shall find it as full of sinne as the Leopard of spots Wee find nothing in sinne now but oblectation and delight and therefore wee hide it under our tongue and hugge it in our bosomes Oh but when Death commeth once it thrusteth these things out and oh the horrour and anguish that the poore conscience is tormented and made to smart with Againe with conscience of sinne certainty of judgement that is another dreadfull Arrow in Deaths quiver After Death commeth judgement And wee must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ to receive according to what wee have done in our bodies First the particular judgement that passeth upon the soule it shall never be reverst for as the Tree falleth so it lieth And then the Generall judgement when the Body and Soule shall both bee wrapped up in the same condemnation Oh who can dwell with devouring fire with those everlasting burnings And then lastly The uncertaintie of our future estate For how many thousands bee there that die that cannot tell what becommeth of them when they die but they must sing that Farewell to their soules as Adrian to his My poore wandring soule whether art thou going What will become of thee Death then being accompanied with such an Armie of Terrours as these the Apostle might well call it as it is in the Text An Enemie That is the first thing Secondly we are to consider how it is called the last Enemie For two reasons First because it is the last that shall assault us So Caietan Secondly because it is the Last that shall bee destroyed So the common streame of interpreters It is the Last Enemie that shall assault us And here I have to note two things First that while wee live in the world we have more Enemies in the world For when there are some last there must bee others going before If Death bee the last Enemie there are some others beside I we have so God knoweth Enemies on every side Without us within us The Divell he is an Enemie to us and vollies of tentation hee hath to discharge against us So many tentations so many Enemies The World is an enemie to us An enemie when it seemeth a friend When it smileth it betrayeth it kisseth and killeth On the right hand it hath prosperitie to allure on the left hand adversitie to affright in every corner wicked counsell and company and example to seduce and insnare us Lastly our owne flesh is an enemie It is a Serpent wee carry in our bosomes The Divell is a serpent in Hell the world is a Serpent in our hand the flesh is a Serpent in our bosome Wee carry it with us where ever wee goe It is a con-naturall concorporate Enemie All our other enemies could doe us no hurt if it were not for that if this enemie that cohabiteth with us did not combine against us Know who everthou art there is no Enemie like thy selfe thy selfe is the worst enemie of all All the sparkes that flie out of Sathans engines could never sindge a haire of our heads if our flesh were not as tinder All the windes that blow in the foure corners of the world could not make shipwracke of us if our flesh were not a treacherous Pilot. Death that gnaweth the thread of our soule and body asunder could not separate them or them from God if the flesh did not whet the teeth of it and sharpen it with a sting So then we see we have a great many Enemies more to encounter us besides Death some without some within Therefore how should this teach us circumspect walking to behave our selves wisely in every thing as David when he knew Saul was his Enemie and had an eye upon him to doe him mischiefe How should it teach us to pray with David Lord teach mee thy way and lead me in the right path because of mine enemie That is one thing I have to note Againe another thing I have to note If Death be the last enemie then in all probabilitie it is like to be the worst Of the Divels regiment
uncertaine and obscure yet from the secreâ—… revelation of Gods Spirit the Saints in some measure know how it will be with them after death Wee know though our earthly tabernacle be destroyed wee have a building given us of God All these things are helpes to give us comfort against the feare of Death and those Enemies that Death comes attended with that though it be an Enemie yet it is a subdued Enemie Secondly it may comfort us to consider that Death is not only a subdued but a reconciled Enemie of an Enemie it is made to bee a friend it is so to all the faithfull such a friend as they have not a better in the world It is most certaine the wicked have not a worse enemie in the world then Death and the godly have not a better friend so yee should see if I had leisure to shew you on the one side from what labour and care and miserie it helpeth to free them and on the other side to what comfort and rest and peace and joy it helpeth to bring them Lastly it may comfort us to consider that as death is an enemie a subdued enemie a reconciled enemy so it is an enemie that at last shall be destroyed The time shall come when Death and Hell shall be cast into the lake of fire the meaning is I thinke they shall be shut up in the bottomlesse pit where they shall only have leave to exercise their power on the Divell and damned reprobates that lie there in torments Death on the one side still gnawing of them that they ever die and yet Hell on the other side still preserving of them that they shall everlastingly live But the godly and the faithfull shall have their part and portion given them in the resurrection to life where they shall never â—…ast of death more What the Apostle saith of Christ is true of all those that are in Christ when they are once dead they shall die no more Death hath no more dominion over them But I cannot inlarge these comforts Yet Beloved I have a word or two of counsell I pray hearken to it Birefly thus Christ though he have overcome and destroyed both death and sinne for us for ever yet notwithstanding he will have us exercised also in subduing and overcomming them Christ hath not so fought for us but he will have us also fight for our selves as hee hath overcome death so must we for our parts that wee may have the comfort of that that Christ hath done Death being an enemie to us we must prepare and arme our selves against it that it may not be an Enemie too strong And for your better direction take these few heads First Remember that Death is the wages of sinne It is sinne that lead Death into the world it is in respect of that that Death is an Enemie to us and were it not for that it would bee no Eenemie at all Now then beloved if yee will not die in your sinnes let your care be to die to sinne labour to have sinne die in thee and then thou shalt not die in that When thou hast committed drunkennesse or prophanenesse c. thinke with thy selfe this is pleasant and sweet now but how will this tast another day when I shall come to lie upon my death-bed and my soule shall set on my pale lips ready to take her flight and bee brought before the Judgement seat of Christ What fruit will these things bring then What comfort and peace and joy will it procure to the conscience then Oh saith Abner to Ioab knowest thou not that this will be bitternesse in the end It will be as gall and wormwood therefore if yee would not have Death be bitter then let not sinne bee sweet now part with sinne betime That is the first Secondly learne to walke humbly with God betime and betime put your selves in a way of repentance and new obedience take heed of dallying with God and procrastinating and putting off the time What is the reason why a sort die as Plinie saith some doe that are stung with the Serpent Colemion some laughing some raging some soâ—…tish and secure others hoping some dispairing They have not beene carefull to walke with God while they lived because they wanted care then they want comfort now They that remember not God in their life saith S. Austin it is just with God to forget them in death The Apostle S. Peter would have us looke for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousnesse But never looke thou to dwell in that heaven where righteousnesse dwelleth except righteousnesse dwell in thee And he exhorteth us that wee be found of God in peace at that day that is sweet and comfortable indeed but remember Peace and holinesse goe together if we would be found of God in peace wee must be found of him in holinesse Walke in holinesse and uprightnesse and then peace shall kisse thee on thy death-bed Marke the upright and just man the end of that man is peare Thirdly the better to subdue Death be willing to meditate and thinke oâ—… of Death learne the Art of dying practise the way of it betime learne to die daily How shall we doe that I will shew you Consider we have many little deaths to undergoe in the world as we have many delights Learne to inure and acquaint thy selfe before hand with the patient and quiet bearing and enduring of these many troubles and crosses that befall thee As Agamemnon first overcame the Lacedemonians by wrestling and then by fighting and Bilney first burnt his finger in the Candle that after he might the better endure the burning of his body at the stake So thinke with your selves If I cannot endure a little how shall I endure more If I cannot endure a light crosse a small affliction doe I murmure at that Am I impatient and repine at that How shall I beare the pangs of Death when they come Therefore let us inure our selves to a meeke and quiet bearing of lesser stripes so wee may be better able to endure heavier stroakes Many of us lay out a great deale of care how to live in the world we had more need take care how to die when wee shall leave the world Studie the Art of dying That is the third Lastly that we may the better subdue Death that it may not be an Enemie too strong Learne before so to dispose of our selves and order our affaires that when Death commeth wee may have nothing to doe but to die Get all differences reconciled all doubts settled all reckonings ordered sequester our selves from all other avocations that nothing may interrupt us when that worke is to goe in hand with Put thy house in order saith God to Hezekiah I say so to every one of you First your outward house that which concerneth your worldly estate put that house in order What wouldest thou make thy Will
signifie indifferencie in weighing causes and strictnesse in executing the sentence So the Egyptians signified as much by their Hierogliphicall portraiture of an Angell without hands wincking or without eyes such a one a Iudge should be he should have no hands to receive bribes nor no eyes to respect persons the person of a Iudge must not take the person of a friend A man must not personate a friend in justice but as Levi he must know neither father nor mother nor brother Justice amongst us is portrayted holding a Ballance in one hand and a sword in another the Ballance sheweth the upright weighing of causes and the Sword sheweth the strictnesse of the execution of the sentence And if this Execution be wanting both the other are to no purpose It is to no purpose to know and to have power if there be not Justice But God is a true and just Iudge Howsoever it be amongst the Iudges of the earth yet unworthy is he of the place of a Iudge and fitter to stand at the Barre then to sit on the Bench that suffereth himselfe to miscarry by friendship or love or bribes or sutes or favour or envie when either of these prevaile they tie the tongues of men to plead for wrong causes Shall a Traytour presume on the Kings favour and Mordecai be out of the Kings grace But there shall be no such thing here God is the Iudge of all the earth and shall not hee doe right Gen. 18. Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almigty pervert Iustice Job 8. 3. When thou standest before the Iudgement seat of God thou shalt neither be elevated with vaine hopes nor dejected and cast down by sinister and wrong feares but assure thy selfe such as thy cause is such shall thy sentence be as Saint Bernard well a pure heart shall prevaile more with God then a smooth word good consciences shall speed better then full purses for he is an upright and just Judge with whom no faire words nor friends shall prevaile So I have done with the first thing The Iudge Secondly something of the Iudgement and therein two things First that it shall be Secondly in what manner it shall be First that it shall be The text is plaine God shall bring to judgement There might many Texts besides this be alledged consonant and agreeable to this but it is superfluous Besides Texts of Scripture we have Types also to prefigure it and reasons also to prove and confirmeit Two Types of the last Judgement our Saviour himselfe propoundeth Luke 17. One was the destruction upon Sodome the other the destruction that God brought upon the old world Looke as Christ saith how it was with them of Sodome in the dayes of Lot they did eat they dranke they bought they sold they planted they builded and looke how it was with the men of the old world in the dayes of Noah eating and drinking and sporting and marrying untill the very day that Noah entred into the Arke and the flood came and destroyed them all So it shall be at the last day when the Sonne of man shall come The Apostle Saint Peter speaking of the latter of these telleth us of mockers in those times that scoffed when they heard of the Iudgement there hath beene talke a great while of such things promised but when will it come Where is the promise of his comming There are scoffers in these dayes but such if there be any cannot but speake against their owne consciences and knowledge they cannot be ignorant both of the judgements that have beene and shall be or if they be they are wilfully ignorant That God did once wash away the sinnes of the world with a Flood of water and that the time is comming that God will purge the sinnes of the world with a flood of fire the Rainbow in the cloudes as it is a Monument of the one so it is a forerunner of the other The two principall colours of the Rainbow are blew and red the blew and waterish colour of the Rainbow is an evidence of that Judgement that is past when God washed the sinnes of the world away by Water the fiery colour is a prediction of a Iudgement that is to come when God shall purge the world by a Flood of fire But besides these Types there are divers reasons that may be given to assure us that we have reason to expect this day Those five Attributes of God afford five reasons to confirme it His Power his Wisedome his Truth his Iustice his Mercie First his Power God will have it be thus for the manifestation of his Power A worke of great power it will be indeed All must be brought before Gods judgement seate every one as the Text saith after It may seeme strange peradventure incredible to heare that all the men and women that ever lived in the world that so many multitudes and millions of thousands of all kindreds and nations should all be summoned to appeare before one Iudgement seat But as Saint Austin saith Consider who is the doer and then thou wilt not doubt It is true indeed with men such a thing as this is impossible but with God all things are possible Could God at the first draw all things out of nothing and cannot God as well bring together all againe when they are turned to nothing Could hee make that body of thine out of the dust of the earth and cannot he raise that body when it is turned to dust Could hee unite that body to the soule in the time of the Creation and cannot he unite it at the time of the Resurrection Certainly there is nothing impossible too hard to the great and terrible voyce of God as Saint Chrysostome saith to that voyce of God that cleaveth the rockes that breakes the brazen gates asunder that looseneth the bands of death Therefore unlesse thou question the power of God no doubt but he is able and can bring all of us to judgement Hee will doe it for the manifestation of his power Secondly as for the manifestation of his power so for the manifestation of his wisedome It is a point of wisedome when one hath made a thing to bring it to the intended end for which hee made it Beloved this is Gods intended end in making of us therefore he brought us hither into the world not that we should have alwayes a Beeing here but that after a certaine time wee should be dissolved and put into an everlasting condition therefore Saint Peter speaking of the salvation of Gods elect he calleth it the end of their faith not only the end they aspire but that end that God hath assigned and appointed them to If God should faile of his end we might call his wisedome into question it might give us occasion to say that hee undertooke that which he was not able to accomplish so that in stead of shewing himselfe wise he should shew himselfe weake Therefore
you are sealed by the spirit of Promise to the day of redemption Eph. 1. 13. Secondly in regard of possession they are now already in present possession not in full possession but in present possession A possession not in themselves but in Christ by vertue of the union and communion they have in him By the union and contract that is betweene Christ and the soule Christ is become the Husband the Christian the Spouse So that as a Wife if her Husband should travell into a farre Countrey and in her name should take possession of those lands that were left her by her Father the Wife now is possest of those lands in her Husband who in her name hath taken possession of them so Christ entring into heaven hath tooke possession of heaven which is given to us by the will of God It is your Fathers pleasure to give you a kingdome Christ hath possessed it in our name I goe saith he to prepare a place for you and it is my will that they bee where I am I goe to my Father and your Father to my God and your God All that Christ hath in heaven Hee hath it for us Hee is gone before that wee may follow after wee cannot possibly lay claime to heaven wee cannot hope hereafter fully and personally to professe it if Christ had not first taken possession of heaven for us The Use of this in a word shall bee to stirre up every one to looketo his hope of heaven It is usuall for men to possesse their hope to be saved and scarse any but they will say they hope if they die they shall goe to heaven Yea but thou must now possesse it if ever hereafter thou meane to enjoy it and thou must possesse it first in Christ thou must be united to him by faith and love those are the bonds whereby the Spirit of God tyeth us unto Christ therefore Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith Which shewes the horrible presumption of many and how they adde to their other sinnes this that they presume that they have right and title to heaven and yet are not united to Christ by faith as if a man should give out that he were the heire apparant to a Crowne or the sonne of a King and yet neverthelesse should indeed be the sonne of a Beggar and have nothing to shew for his pretended title to the Crowne and kingdome what would this be accounted but high treason against the King What a height of sinne is this that is in many men which to their other sinnes adde a presumptuous claime to heaven when they have no right to it I Remember that in the time of Ezra we shall read of many that laid title and claime to the Priesthood but Ezra searched the booke of the Genealogies and finding none of their names Registred there he presently concluded that they were none of the Priesthood therefore they were accounted polluted and put from the Priesthood If any man lay claime to heaven God will search his booke of Genealogies as it were he will search the Register of heaven and if he find that his name be not inrolled there if hee be not found to have interestin Jesus Christ all will be nothing he shall bee cast out to his greater confusion This should therefore stirre up euery one to make good his claime to heaven now either now to bee possest of heaven now to sit in heavenly places with Christ or else looke not to come to heaven afterward But to leave this and to come to that I mainly intend namely the Argument or reason or ground of the Apostles heavenly conversation Our conversation is in heaven from whence wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. The Apostle observeth here a kind of speech and that which seemes not so Grammaticall that he may thereupon build a sound and substantiall truth in Divinitie He had said before Our conversation is in the heavens in the Plurall number but now when hee speakes of Christs comming thence he speakes of it in the Singular number Our conversation is in the heavens from whence from which particular place Wee looke for the Saviour the Lord Iesus Christ. Of purpose to shew us thus much that though Christ in respect of his Deitie and divine nature he be in all places filling heaven and earth yet in respect of his bodily presence hee remaineth now and so will till his second comming which the Saints looke for in heaven Against those Vbiquitaries that will have the body of Christ to be every where In Heaven say they visible in this place invisible The Papists hence build the Doctrine of Transubstantiation they will have the body of Christ even that very body that was borne of the Virgin to be now Bread and the bread turned into it The Lutherans will have the same Body about the bread No saith the Apostle there is no such matter from thence from that very place that very individuall particular single place from the third heavens where the body of Christ is Wee looke for the Saviour hee remaineth there and so will continue till his comming to Judgement So againe in another place Collos. 3. 1. Set your affections on things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God Above that is in heaven where Christ sitteth and continueth and will remaine till his second comming Our Saviour told his Disciples in the dayes of his flesh that the poore they should have alwayes with them but me saith he you shall not have alwayes If this be true that they say then Christ hath not said true for hee is still in respect of his bodily presence and hath beene alwayes with us But I let passe that The thing I note hence is this That that which most soundly and effectually settleth the heart of a man in a heavenly conversation upon earth is the looking for the Saviour of the world even the Lord Iesus Christ to come from thence I say there is nothing that so settleth the heart of a man in a heavenly conversation upon earth nothing that makes him so heavenly minded nothing that ordereth him in so heavenly a course as this if hee rightly looke for Christ to come from thence That you may conceive this the better you may please to take notice that there are two things included in this point First that all the Saints of God while they are on earth their continuall expectation is for Christ to come from heaven Secondly that nothing is so effectuall to settle a man in a holy course while he liveth on earth as this expectation These two things I will open to you at this time The first I say is that the Saints and servants of God while they are on earth doe continually expect and looke for the Saviour of the world even the Lord Iesus Christ to come from heaven By the comming of Christ you
losse a man may lose his owne soule Thirdly the compossibilitie of outward prosperitie hee may lose his soule in gaining the whole world And then lastly the wofull bargaine in such an exchange What is a man profited Of these in order First of the surpassing excellencie and dignitie of mans soule it is valued and prized here above the whole world It was the plausible conceit of certaine Philosophers that the world was a great man and that man was a little world a little world indeed but as Saint Austin tearmes him a great wonder for within this little world there is a reasonable soule worth all the world To render an exact definition of the soule it requires the tongue of an Angell rather then of a man it passeth the comprehension of travellers to apprehend the nature of the soule for these three God Angels and mans Soule they are unknowne to us we may sooner admire their excellencie then conceive their nature and argue of their opperations then attaine their knowledge of such sublimitie is the soule of man so Angelicall and Divine the excellencie whereof is commended to us by three distinct voyces of Nature Grace Glorie For first in the order of nature it is the greatest thing saith Plato that we may conceive in a narrow roome the most noble thing that all the frame of nature affords and that In respect of the Originall Image In respect of the Originall the soule of man hath no beginning here there was no voyce directed to the earth or to the water for the production of Adams soule but a serious consultation of the sacred Trinitie and a breathing into his nostrils the breath of life Saith Saint Austin he created it by infusion and infused it by creation And the Philosopher well concludes that the soule 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 thinke it is derived from Parents it comes not of their substance it is enough for them to be the fathers of the flesh God alone is the Father of spirits as the Apostle makes the antithesis Heb. 12. 9. Secondly for the Image the soule is most like God saith Plato Saith Aristotle it is of the neerest kinne of the greatest consanguinitie as I may say and the Lord himselfe signifies so much After our Image let us make man Then the soule of man is not stamped with a Roman Caesar but with Gods owne Image and superscription and that First in respect of the substance being not only a spirituall intellectuall incorporeall invisible essence but explaining by the pluralitie of Powers in the unitie of Essence the pluralitie of Persons in the unitie of the Deitie Secondly being furnished with singular indowments as in the state of innocencie with perfect wisedome and holinesse and righteousnesse Yea still in the state of sinne some generals are left some broken fragments of the creation morall qualifications that may lead us by the hand to the knowledge of our Master Lastly in regard of the commanding power it hath over the body It is to the body as Moses was to Pharoah a God to the body it actuates it and mooves and commands and restraines it whereby next and immediatly under God wee live and moove and have our being Seeing then the soule is the immediate worke and character of God himselfe so excellent for the Originall and for the Image let nature conclude that the soule in these regards is of greater value then the whole world Secondly in the Kingdome of grace the price of the soule is farre above the dignitie of the world and that in the grace of Redemption and the grace of renovation For first in the soules redemption the soule amounts so high as that the whole Creation is not able to discharge it It is not gotten for gold nor silver is not weighed for the price of it it is not valued with the gold of Ophir or the precious Onix It cost more to redeeme the soule of sinfull man the precious bloud of the eternall Sonne of God hee could only redeeme it that at the first created it Yee are bought with a price the precious bloud of Christ. Secondly in the grace of renovation nothing is able to cleanse it from sinne but the Spirit of God The Spirit alone must enlighten the understanding and rectifie the affections and purifie the will and sanctifie the conscience and seale up the Image of God in righteousnesse and true holinesse And the soule thus renewed is as a Garden inclosed a spirituall Paradise where the God of heaven delights to dwell the Spouse of the Beloved and in the phrase of the Church As the Lillie among the thornes so is my love among the daughters Seeing it appeares that the universall World is not able to redeeme or being redeemed to renew or renewed to paralell the soule let grace subscribe to that which nature concludes that the soule is of greater value then the whole world Lastly for the passage of glory the contents of the whole Universe are not able to come neere the soule Saith S. Bernard well well it may be busie and tooke up with other things but it cannot be satiate and replenished with them And Democrates imagined that if there were millions of worlds it were all one in comparison of the soule for blessednesse The world is transitorie like the dew of the morning it fades as the grasse and as the flower of the field whereas on the contrarie the soule of man is the subject of immortalitie capable of an exceeding surpassing eternall weight of glory For if in the time of grace we bâ—…ld as in a glasse the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same Image from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. How resplendant shall the soules of the righteous bee in the beatificall vision of Gods excellencies How wonderfull shall that divine capacitie be that shall be capable of God himselfe for a perpetuall residence Insomuch that the most ancient of dayes shall give fulnesse to the Soule of knowledge and wisdome and his sacred Spirit that shall fill it with the fulnesse of God with contentation and the sacred Trinitie shall be all in all to it Seeing then the Soule is capapable and is the subject of the happinesse and joyes of heaven and partner with the glorious Angels in the fruition of the chiefe good let the sentence of glory joyne to Grace and nature that the Soule is of greater value then the whole world Behold then O man out of the moutâ—…â—…ee witnâ—… for I may say in this case as Saint Iohn saith 〈◊〉 â—…other Tâ—… 〈◊〉 three that beare record in heaven the Father the â—…d and 〈◊〉 â—…y Ghost Behold out of the mouth of three Wiâ—…ses the sâ—…passing excellencie and
that they were both deceived For how ever it cannot be denied but that riches and honours are the blessings of God yet againe they are no demonstration of a blessed man Lest any man should take them to be ill they are bestowed upon them that are good lest any man should reckon them for the chiefe good they are bestowed likewise upon the evill externall blessings are but common favours vouchsafed to good and bad Was Abraham rich so was Abimelech Was Iacob rich so was Laban Was David a King so was Saul Was Constantine an Emperour so was Iulian Salvation depends not on the multitude of riches or emminencie in place the tallest Cedar hath the greatest fall and the fairest houses many times the greatest ruine and outward prosperitie unguarded with inward sanctitie may soone lose the soule For first rich men are tainted with covetousnesse which is a kind of secret Idolatrie Collos. 3. and covetousnesse which is Idolatrie saith the Apostle If you would know the reason the more tenaciously a man loves his owne the lesse devotion he offers to God you cannot live in the service of Mammon and of Christ the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it you cannot serve God and Mammon If the young man in the Gospell have great possessions if Iudas carry the bagge if Demas imbrace the present world then farewell Christ farewell Paul and farewell soule too So true is the saying of the Apostle They that will bee rich fall into temptations and snares and many foolish and noysome lusts that drowne men in perdition and destruction Where hee saith not they that are but they that will bee rich It is not simply money but the love of money that is the roote of all evill Riches are good with a good conscience but if the soule be infected with avarice if it savour of that bitter Collaquintida Death is in the pot and how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdome of heaven For the desire of worldly men it is as the unsatiable thirst of a dropsie patient there is no meanes that they leave unattempted no policie unachieved for the accomplishment of their ends and advancing of their estate Balaam for a bribe will almost curse where the Lord hath blessed Ziba for an inheritance as much as in him lies will bring his Master within the compasse of treason Demostenes for a little more gold instead of pleading will pretend he hath a cold May not the Church have a Balaam And the Princes court have a Ziba and the barre have a Demosthenes There is no greedie Monopolizer wheresoever they be in Citie or Countrey but they are moralized Eagles and the coales that they carry shall fire their owne nest They shall have Ahabs curse with Naboths Vineyard and Gehezies leprosie with Naamans reward and while with an eager pursuit they hoord up unrighteous Mammon it is but wrath heaped up against the last day they heape up wrath to themselves against the day of wrath Secondly great men are in danger of ambition and a swelling inordinately upon their promotion And the ambitious man is so strangely dazeled with the beames of his owne lustre ut imperio c. that in the greatest of his power he thinkes of nothing but how to be greater hee forgets the Lord that made him and God that raized him out of the mire to set him with the Princes of the people And like that famous foole in his new coate once he knowes not himselfe So by meanes of this impediment though God have some Noble and some worldly-wise that hee hath drawne to himselfe yet by meanes of this impediment Not many mighty not many Noble are called The gates of heaven are too too straite for the swelling dimensions of ambition there is nothing so easie to pride as to purchase a fall and there is no fall so great as from heaven It is a signe that Lucifer if he long for dainties shall be cast out of heaven It is a signe that Adam if he desire the Apple shall be cast out of Paradise It is a signe that Nebuchadnezer if hee glory in Babell he shall be cast out of his Kingdome It is a signe that Haman by abusing his promotion shall be exalted to the gallowes To comprize it in a word the greater the dignitie of emminencie and honour the greater the execution of paines and horrour The summethen is this in a world of promotion and temporall advancement in worldly possessions and unmeasurable treasure the covetous and ambitious man may lose his owne soule Now for a word of Application if this bee so how taxable then are the thousands of worldlings in this kind that imagine the gaine of this earth to be the greatest happinesse That say to the Gold thou art my God and to honour thou art my glory That make Gold their God and Mammon their Mediatour Saith Saint Bernard Yee covetous generation that glorie in silver and gold in that that is not yours nor precious precious it cannot bee but by the avarice of the sonnes of Adam that prize them Againe if they be yours take them away with you when you goe hence Yet the children of the world are wholly for great Diana Gods of silver and gold multitudes of lands and revenues and advancing of their secular estate Many can complaine of the vaâ—…tie of this world and the deceivablenesse of it but few complaine of that Idolatrous confidence that themselves repose in this false world there are few that recount how in enjoying outward things Martha without Mary prosperitie without pietie they may lose their owne soules O let a word of exhortation prevaile against this sore disease if riches encrease take heed of covetousnesse be covetous of spirituall things for immortalitie there hoord up your treasure in heaven Againe for ambition take heed of it be honourable for humilitie and ambitious for heaven Love not the world and the things of this world exalt not your selves against the Lord of glory Thou knowest not what a day may-bring forth boast not of to morrow O foole this night shall they fetch thy soule And what is a man profited if he gaine the world and lose his owne soule So much for the third point the compossibilitie of outward prosperitie a man may lose his soule in gaining the whole world The fourth and the last is the wofull disadvantage by such an exchange What is a man profited You may call it not unfitly the account of the carelesse Merchant or a Summarie collection of gaines and losses For a little to countenance the allegorie every unsatiable worldling is but Merchant adventurer a ventrous Merchant he exchangeth his precious Soule for the deceivable riches of this world But when God in his judgement transports him to his owne place the unfortunate Iland of damned spirits then he begins when the time is past to cast up his doleful account to compare his gaines and his
likely this signe is yet to come all the rest are fulfilled and therefore the end cannot be farre The second sort of signes are such as are immediatly before Christs comming to Judgement and that is the darknesse of the Sunne Moone and Starres The Sunne shall bee darkned the Moone shall lose her light the Starres shall fall from heaven the very powers of heaven shall bee shaken the foundations of the heavens shall tremble Alas what shall the little shrubbes in the Wildernesse doe when the tall Cedars of heaven shall bee shaken What shall poore sinfull man doe when the Angels shall be afraid The last signe shall be in Christs comming to Judgement Mat. 24. 29. it is called the signe of the Sonne of man Then shall appeare the signe of the Sonne of man and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourne What this signe of the Sonne of man is Divines doe varie Some hold it is the signe of the Crosse which all eyes shall behold even they that pierced him as Iohn saith Revel 1. Some others which I rather assent unto take it to be the glorious beames of Christs Majestie immedeiatly before his personall appearance to enlighten the world being darkned by reason of the want of the light of the Sunne and Moone So you see what these signes shall be The signes that prognosticate Christs comming Those that shall be fulfilled long before they are all effected but one as you heard Therefore it stands us all upon as wise Virgins to prepare oyle in our lampes that when our Bridegroome Christ shall come we may be ready to enter into eternall joy So we come from the signes that prognosticate the judgement to the Judgement it selfe Concerning the Judgement it selfe You must know that after death there are two judgements There is a particular and there is a generall Judgement The particular Judgement is immediatly as soone as ever the breath is gone out of the body As soone as ever the soule is gone out of the body it is conducted by the Angels before the Tribunall seat of God and there receives the particular sentence either of joy or torment according as it lived in the body in this life We need not speake of this we have example for the proofe of it in Scripture of Dives and Lazarus the one whereof being dead was presently carried to joy the other presently to torment The other is a generall judgement so called because it shall be of all men in generall that ever lived and breathed upon the face of the earth men women and children all shall be presented before the Tribunall seat of Christ all must hold up their hands at the Barre of his judgement all must give an account of all their words thoughts and actions all must receive the sentence either of Come yee blessed or goe yee cursed After which sentence once pronounced there shall never question bee made of the end of the joy of the one or of the ease of the torments of the other But here ariseth a question you know the world consists but of two sorts of persons beleevers and unbeleevers For the beleever it is evident and plaine Ioh. 5. 24. Hee is passed alreadie from death to life he hath everlasting life already he shall not come into judgement And for the unbeleever it is as plaine Ioh. 3. 18. that he is already condemned even already both are judged already both the beleever and unbeleever the beleever is saved already the unbeleever is damned already what need therefore a generall a second Judgement To this I answer that there is a very great need of it both in respect of the justice and of the mercie of God whose propertie it is alway to reward the godly and to punish the wicked which seeing he doth not to the full in this life it must needes bee that a day will come that he will fully doe it You know the course of the Lord as David speakes good men have bands in their death and wicked men are Iustie and strong good men are in evill condition and wicked men in prosperitie Diogenes the Cinnick seeing Harpalus a theefe long in prosperitie he was bold to say that wicked Harpalus his living long in prosperitie it was an argument to Diogenes that God had cast off his care of the world that he respected not mens affaires And indeed the prosperitie of the wicked hath brought the Saints of God to a stand Davids foot slipped almost in seeing the prosperitie of the wicked It made Iob to say Iob 24. 12. Men groane out of the Citie by reason of oppression and the soules of the slaine crie out and yet God chargeth them not with folly This made Ieremiah to expostulate his cause with the Lord Ierem. 12. Let mee talke with thee of thy judgements Why doth the wicked prosper and they that transgresse thy commandements This makes the godly take up that passionate complaint Psal. 73. 11. How doth God know it is there any knowledge in the most high Certainly we have cleansed our hearts in vaine in vaine wee have washed our hands in innocencie in vaine we labour to live godly lives Why Every day wee are chastened for the Lord corrects us every morning And these have the wealth of the world they have the world at will Wee in Christianitie know this to be true Dives hath the world at will while poore Lazarus is shut out of dores hungrie and thirstie cold and naked full of necessitie every way This being so the day must needes come that the one shall have fulnesse of glory and the other of miserie But to answer those places before cited To the former Ioh. 5. where it is said The beleever is passed already from death to life hee hath everlasting life alreadie It is true hee is passed already from death to life by faith he hath it already and by hope he shall not come into judgement that is of condemnation so we must understand it but there is a judgement of absolution that is to bee executed and so when the Lord Jesus Christ shall descend from heaven with the sound of a Trumpet and the voyce of the Archangell then the dead in Christ shall rise first and bee caught up in the cloudes to meet Christ and then they shall be set at his right hand and heare that heavenly sentence Come yee blessed of my Father inherite the kingdome prepared for you before the beginning of the world You see the answer to that that beleevers shall not come into judgement that is not the judgement of condemnation but of absolution at the last day Now for the other place where it is said Ioh. 3. 18. the unbeleever is condemned alreadie It is true he is condemned already and that three wayes First of all hee is condemned already in the counsell of God Secondly he is condemned already in the word of God
is a great increase of their torments the very conceit and thought that they shall never end it is a great increase and aggravation of the torment You know there is no griefe and sorrow or miserie in this life but time will either deminish it or take it quite away either the tormented or the tormentor will die but in hell there you have them tormented day and night for ever and ever neither the tormented or the tormentor die but they live to endlesse woe O! saith a godly Father in his meditations if a wicked sinner in hell did know that he were to continue there no more thousands of yeares then there are sands upon the Sea-shore or no more millions of Ages then there are piles of grasse upon the ground yet this would be some comfort that at last they should have an end but this word never it breakes the heart that after they have continued there so many thousand yeares and millions of ages they are as farre from the end of their torment as at the first Secondly we might note here againe the extremitie and strictnesse of those torments the straitnesse of them there is no mercy shewed Take him and bind him hand and foot and cast him into utter darknesse And againe the gate is shut after the sinner is once cast into hell there is no getting out againe the gate is shut The straitnesse of these torments may bee exceedingly layd downe to us in the Parable of the rich glutton who in hell roaring in everlasting flames lift up his eyes and saw Abraham a-farre off and Lazarus in his bosome hee desired Abraham to send Lazarus but to dippe the toppe of his finger in water to coole his tongue a small request hee askes not to bee delivered from his torments or for a flaggon of water but for a droppe yet to see the strictnesse of those torments it was denied him Dives had before the world at will what his heart could desire but Lazarus comes to his gate full of soares and hungrie yet hee refused to refresh him with crummes from his table see the just judgement of God against the mercilesse wretch Dives refused to give a crumme when he asked he is denied one drop So that as Saint Iames speakes Iam. 2. there shall be judgement mercilesse to them that yeeld no mercie Beloved all you that have the wealth of the world remember this example when the poore distressed members of Christ come to your gates shutte not up the bowels of compassion open your hands and your hearts to relieve them for as I said before there shall bee judgement mercilesse to those that shew no mercie But I come to the last thing that I will but only name that is the reward of the godly that everlasting eternall felicitie in heaven The time will not suffer mee to speake largely and particularly of the reward of the godly which is a great incouragement and comfortable to the servants of God I will only speake in generall The Prophets when they speake of the Kingdome of Christ they set it out by good things there is no need of their good things Nation shall not rise against Nation they shall breake their speares into mattocks The wolfe shall dwell with the lambe and the Leopard with the Kidde They shall eate of the tree of life and the hidden Manna there They shall bee made pillers in the Temple of God There they shall be cloathed with long whiterobes Which places take us by the hand and bring us to some conceit of those joyes How then doth it stand every one upon now while wee have time to labour to have interest in those joyes Thrice happy is that man or woman that comes to enjoy those joyes It is spoken of Christ that hee the joyes of heaven being set before him hee susteined the crosse Saint Paul accounted all but dung that hee might winne Christ and come to those joyes And Ignatius saith that breaking of bones fire and gallowes quartering of limbes come what will so I may come to those joyes I would wee had all the like zeale after those joyes Our coldnesse in seeking those joyes come from a base esteeme of them for if wee did esteeme them wee would labour exceedingly after them Many things for use might be inferred hence As first here is comfort and incouragement to all the Saints of God the servants of Christ that take paines to live a godly life However here they indure afflictions and mockings and reproaches and scoffes of the world yet Christ hath a great reward for them Let them rejoyce great shall their reward be Give me a man then that hath buckled with the sinnes of the times that hath studied the advancement of Religion give mee such a one as hath incouraged those that are feeble that hath provided for the Lords Prophets that hath reformed the abuses of the Lords day as Nehemiah what will inflame his zeale more then this that Christ his Saviour sees it and regards it and will reward him And lest hee should faint before the reward come he saith he will come shortly This comforted Elias in the Wildernesse and Ieremiah in the Dungeon and Iob on the Dunghill so that they were more then conquerours through Christ. Secondly is it so that Christ will come to Judgement and hath his reward with him here is terrour to all the wicked workers of iniquitie Behold saith Malachie Mal. 4. 1. The day of the Lord commeth it shall burne as an oven and all the wicked and ungodly of the earth shall bee as stubble and straw and fuell for the furnace of Gods wrath What a wofull and heavie day will this be to all the wicked and ungodly Me thinkes they might conceive the terrour and they shall crie out at the last day when hee shall come to reward them is not this he whose lawes wee have contemned whose sides wee have pierced whom wee have nayled to the Crosse whose Ministers wee haue reviled whose servants wee have reproached And this shall strike great terrour to the hearts of all wicked men when Christ shall pronounce against them Goe yee cursed Whither to the divell and his place of torments Then they shall crie to the mountaines to fall on them Oh that some wilde beast would follow them and teare them in peeces but it will be too late their part and portion is in that Lake that burnes with fire and brimstone Lastly this should stirre every one up to fit himselfe to prepare for this judgement And let us continually therefore lift up our hearts to heaven and as the Apostle speakes waite for the appearing of Christ to Judgement Then all teares shall bee wiped from our eyes there shall bee no more sorrow and mourning there we shall sit with the Saints and sing with the Angels Halelujah halelujah all praise and honour and glorie and might and dominion and majestie bee to him that is upon
presented to it Prov. 13. 14. our joyes are but appearing joyes Consider our sorrowes and they are but appearing too whether it be losse of comfort that we sorrow for or sense of paine being rightly examined we shall find that they be rather shewes then true griefes for there is nothing can bring true griefe upon the soule but only the paine of sinne nor no losse can bring any true sorrow upon the soule but the losse of Gods favour sorrow bestowed upon other things it is but counterfeit sorrow in comparison of this therefore in Heb. 12. 11. the Apostle saith that the chastisements that wee suffer here they seeme grievous and not joyous they seeme grievous as if all that we suffered here were rather seeming then reall and undoubtedly the Apostle said right for whatsoever chastisement a man hath here hee may possible have more matter of joy then of sorrow to the same purpose the Apostle 2 Cor. 9. 6. where hee describes the afflicted estate of the Saints as God knowes they are subject to many afflictions he doth it with an as it were because he would vilifie the terrour of it and not grant their condition so miserable as it appeares as it were dying as it were wanting as it were sorrowing it is but as it were such as they were not so in Esay 29. 8. the Prophet there tell us how it is with a hungry man and with a thirstie man when he dreames he dreames he eates and he dreames he drinkes But it is only the fancie of a dreame he findes it quite otherwise he findes his stomack as emptie as his hand so it is with our life here it is no better then a waking dreame where we seeme to do what is done and wee seeme to be what we are Saith the Poet what is one and what is another Man is like a shadow of a dreame he that seemes something now anon he falls and comes to nothing and he that seemes nothing now anon he riseth and comes to something Thus you see that all that ever we have here it is but only seeming it is not reall whether they be our joyes or our sorrowes they are but seeming joyes and seeming sorrowes yet againe this appearing and seeming life of ours it indures saith the Apostle but a little while Indeed vapours last not long for the first matter they are made of affords not them any continuance and besides that they are easily dispelled and dispersed by the Sunne such a vapour is our life Out of the same Argument you may see that our life can continue but for a while it cannot last long First it is but a breath as a vapour is Againe as vapours are apt to be dispersed and dispelled easily by the hot Sunne and the cold wind so hot and cold diseases and infinite sort of other casualties are easily apt to dissipate it it is true some vapours hang longer in the ayre then others so this vapour of life it may keepe longer residence in some bodies then in others but when it is longest it is but a little while David determines the date of it within the tearme of 80 yeares the strength and vigour of it in the opinion of the Philosopher is of lesse continuance the mind decayes at 45. yeares and the body decayes at 35. If we compare the life of man with other creatures then we will say it is but a while the Raven the Elephant the Stagge they out-live man double and treble If you compare it with the life of the world then you will confesse it is but a little while for the world hath continued and lasted some thousands of yeares and there is not one man of ten thousand that holds to a hundred If we compare the continuance of this present age to ages that are past you will confesse it is but a-while in formerages men lived some two hundred some foure hundred some five hundred some nine hundred yeares now more die before ten then after sixtie so that if once our life were said to bee but the breadth of a hand now I may say our life is but a fingers breadth If we compare it with eternitie I am sure you will say it lasts but a while for eternitie cannot be measured with any revolution of dayes or moneths or nights or yeares therefore in comparison of that the life of man is but a vapour and a vapour that endures for a little while I need not insist to prove this point the truth of it is confirmed every day I will only give you the use of it First is it so that the life that we lead is rather a seeming appearing then a reall life then learne not to bee deluded with shewes and appearances not too much to be taken with the joyes of this life they are but appearances and the sorrowes of this life they are but shewes wee condemne fooles that are taken with shewes and not with substances as the Poet saith of Ixion when he thought hee embraced a goddesse hee embraced a cloud wee embrace a cloud when we thinke we embrace any good thing of this life the world deludes us as Michal did Saul when hee thought he had found David hee found nothing but an Image of David and a pillow of goates haire so what good things the world promiseth they are not good things but the image of good things honour is but the image of honour they are only truly honourable that God honoureth and such honour the world cannot bestow she promiseth riches but they are but the image of riches they are only truly rich that are rich in God and the world cannot bestow that she promiseth pleasure it is but the image of pleasure pleasure is only in the presence of God at his right hand for evermore and such pleasure the world cannot give shee promiseth life but it is but the image of life that is only the true life whereby the soule lives unto God and hereafter with God and such a life as this the world is not able to give Therefore let us not dote upon the world and worldly things but learne as the Apostle exhorts Col. 3. 2. To set our affections on things above Those are the only reall good things these are but imaginarie In the second place this appearing life of ours it lasts but a little while this may afford to us comfort and instruction first comfort to those whose life here is full of troubles and sorrowes the shorter time they have to indure the more patient they may be in induring of it nay there is no greater blessing for those that live here wretchedly and miserably then the abreviating and shortening their dayes Why is light given to them that are in misery saith Iob and the life of them is bitter to their soule they long for death and desire it and digge for it more then for treasure and rejoyce and are axceeding glad when they find the grave As the miserie
feare prohibited Not the feare of God c. Feare is oft commanded in Scripture know then there are divers kindes of feare First naturall feare and that is called naturall either in regard of the materiall or efficient cause When the partie that doth feare is phlegmatick or melancholie and so is naturally inclined to feare this may be called a naturall feare Or in regard of the object when there is somewhat in that which is destructive to nature and therefore the feare of death it is naturall to man and so whatsoever may prejudice nature Now this naturall feare is an affection that Almightie God concreated with the soule it is naturally good it is morally neither good nor evill but according as it is determined by circumstances Againe there is a carnall evill feare namely when a man feares the evill of punishment more then the evill of sin a corporall evill more then a spirituall a temporall more then an eternall Hee is afraid of losing something hee enjoyes or of not getting something he desires c. In either regards there may be a carnall feare as I shall explaine it to you more anone and this so farre as it is carnall is ever to be condemned Thirdly there is a servile feare and this is such a feare as lookes at the punishment only and not at the sinne when a man is afraid of the judgements of GOD and never feares sinne that is the cause of it And so withall when this feare is only servile and is retained in the heart that man desires still to sinne there is a love of sinne a wishing that God would give him leave to sinne and let loose the reynes to him that if it were possible there were no God no Devill no Heaven nor Hell that he might sinne freely And if he abstaine from sinne at any time the cause is that there is this punishment that is the consequent of sinne and not out of love to God or obedience to his commandements Now this servile feare though in it selfe it bee not savingly pleasing to God yet it is a thing that is good as S. Austin observes for that man that feares servily hee doth that which is good though he doth it not well because that is a thing that depends upon the disposition and will of him that doth the thing though the thing be good as farre as it goes It is good for the restraining of evill men from outrages in the world and it is a preparative in the way to conversion as it is Act. 2. Lastly there is a filiall son-like feare that ariseth out of the consideration of the greatnesse and especially of the goodnesse of God whereby a man so hates punishment as hee hates sinne also the cause of it Now there are divers degrees of filiall feare One degree we call innitiall feare in this world And a degree of perfection in the world to come In this world the feare we have hath one eye upon the punishment and another eye upon the commandement or love of God And here many make a doubt whether they are to doe that which is good having an eye to the recompence of reward or to abstaine from evill out of the feare of punishment For answer briefly Any thing almightie God hath made a motive to us to incourage us to doe well or to deterre us from evill we may make a motive to our selves and as long as we doe so we doe well It was so with Adam in Paradice this was propovnded as a motive In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die Then to abstaine from the forbidden fruit partly out of feare of punishment if Adam did so he did well So every one of us in regard of any evill we may have an eye to the punishment that will bee the consequent of the thing For Christ urgeth this to his owne Disciples Feare not him that can kill the body c. And to doe things meerely without any respect to punishment at all I know no reason why any man should aspire to that perfection For God while we are here hath given us these motives to stirre us up to avoid evill and it is well if wee can heartily and truly out of love to God doe it by all the motives that God hath propounded To have a feare meerely for punishment and still to retaine the love of sinne and no respect or love to the commandement of God this is not acceptable to God in a saving manner but to have an eye to God and to abstaine from sinne partly out of love to God and partly out of feare of punishment this is acceptable to God For a man must love himselfe in subordination to the love of God and therefore he may looke to the avoiding of evill and to the getting of good eternall to soule and body Now these feares we may consider of them thus The naturall feare may be accompanied with the Spirit but it comes not from the Spirit that must be ordered by the word of God Secondly carnall feare comes not from the spirit nor is accompanied with it this is ever to be mortified this wee must take heed of and this feare Abraham is exhorted against here Thirdly the feare that is servile it comes from the spirit but it is not accompanied with the spirit As the dawning of the day the Sunne is the cause of it yet the Sunne is not present when the day dawnes but some glimpse goes before him this wee must cherish so as we bring it to filiall feare and then wee deale aright in that Lastly for filiall feare we must cherish that at all times wee must labour to get still a more reverent respect of the Majestie of God So I have breiefly shewed you what feare is And what feare wee must labour to be freed from all slavish and carnall feare in regard of the world or any thing in the world any ill that may befall us or any good that may be taken from us Now you see that a Christian is such a man as may live without all feare that is carnall Feare not them that can kill the body And in Isaiah 8. 12. Feare not their feare What is the ground of this I will tell you briefly Christ came into the world to deliver us from all our enemies that wee might serve him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse Luke 1. 47. So then the ground is this that man that hath no enemies that man that cannot possibly be molested with any evill what need hee feare For there is no evill in the world that can surprize a man that is in covenant with God that labours to keepe his covenant but by the power of the Spirit he may conquer it For only evill and evill future is the object of feare Now if there be no evill that can befall a child of God but such as may be conquered hee should contemne it and not feare it Now
feare those sinnes that we are humbled for and which God hath made as if they had never beene For the evills of the world Why should we feare them those corrections that are immediatly from God there is no cause of feare in them As thus If God take away thy Wife or thy Child or thy friend or a part of thy substance what cause of feare is there Feare not saith God I will chastise thee in measure and will not make a full end of thee Jer. 46. 28. yet thou shalt not bee altogether uncorrected And then remember God proportions the correction to our strength as a Father not as a Judge hee aymes at our amendment not at our ruine If hee take away a friend that wee doted too much on if we set our mindes too much on the world and worldly things God will deprive us of them and so by this bee all in all to us and draw us neerer to himselfe have wee cause of feare to feare that that comes from God No will some say if we fall into the hands of God there is mercie but the mercies of men are cruell What if unreasonable men deale with us have wee not reason to feare ill from them they are outragious and cruell they bend their malice against us and if the enemie should come and make an iroad into our countrie and bring devastation what should we doe then I answer first in all things that fall from men there is a provident hand of God therefore saith our Saviour to his Apostles when he would incourage them saith hee there is a providence even concerning sparrowes there is none of them light on the ground without the providence of God So when he would encourage his Disciples against their adversaries your very haires are numbred As if he had said Almightie God knowes how many haires every man hath upon his head he numbers all our joynts hee tells our steps there is nothing befalls us but what the provident hand of God is in And wicked men the Divell and all his instruments God hath them in a chaine they cannot goe one step further then he gives them leave Againe consider what God said to Abraham here I am thy shield In regard of all the evills that men attempt against us whether in regard of scoffing or persecution and open hostilitie or whatsoever God is our sheild And the Psalmist calls him elsewhere our strong tower You know how it is if men encounter a strong Tower the enemie must first batter the Tower about their eares before they can hurt the men If a man fight with an enemie he must pierce his shield before he can hurt the man Wee may speake it with sacred reverence to the Majestie of God they must overcome God himselfe before they can hurt his people in doing any thing that shall prove in the event hurtfull as long as they keepe close to God The Lord intimated this to the people of Israell The Egiptians marched and followed hard after them to devoure them with open mouth God when he saw that hee removes the pillar of the Cloud and set it betweene them as if God should have said to them You deceive your selves to thinke to conquer my people you must conquer me before you conquer them So God is our strong Tower our shieid and our deliverer and hee will find deliverance for his people some way or other from the evill or in the evill or out of it as shall turne to our exceeding advantage For suppose the worst that can bee supposed that wicked men are let loose on us to doe all that their malice can invent they can but touch the body the shell of the soule and let the prisoner out of dores Upon this argument Christ incourageth us Feare not them that can kill the body but feare him that can kill both body and soule As if hee should say Doe the enemies threaten death they promise you life the greatest advantage and the happiest day that ever can befall a man that is in covenant with God is the day of death Then all they can doe is to kill the body for a while which God will raise maugre the malice of the Divell and all his instruments and possesse the soule of that blisse that is prepared for it And in regard of Death why should we feare that if we bee in covenant with God the nature of it is changed the sting is out and it is become beneficiall But you know the Saints die still The red Sea swallowed up the Egyptians but contrariwise to the Israelites it was a wall of protection on the right hand and on the left That then that was the ruine of the Egiptians it was the protection of the Israelites So it is in regard of death that that is the entrance to the dolefull miserie of evill men that is the most blissfull and joyfull day to a child of God that can be for then he rests from his labours and his workes follow him But notwithstanding all this it is hard to live without feare I enjoy many things I am afraid to lose them and my children are afraid and loath to part with me my heart wavers and is full of perplexitie how shall I be freed from this I know feare is a naturall thing deeply rooted in nature thinke not to get the conquest wholly but by little and little Labour to get the Spirit of God that is supernaturall that must overcome this for the strongest resolution of the most resolved spirit in the world will not overcome it it must bee by a power that is stronger then our owne namely by the Spirit of GOD that we being assured by the Spirit that God is our portion and living the life of faith we may not feare any thing in regard of this world Secondly labour to keepe our covenant with God there is an admonition Numb 14. 9. Only saith God remember you doe not rebell against God and then feare not this people for God is with you but hee hath forsaken them The righteous is bold as a Lyon but the wicked feares and oft-times where there is no feare What is the reason we are so faint-hearted that we feare the losse of the things of this world because we are not assured that God is our portion for if a man were assured that what hee loseth here God would make up in regard of his presence that hee would be All in all in stead of wife and goods and children and honours c. it is impossible that this man should feare the losse of any thing for hee possesseth all in God and he cannot be lost In particular labour to strengthen faith make God our strong Tower and live by faith hee shall not be afraid of ill tydings why his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord Psal. 112 When men make the things of this world their portion when they make riches
23. For the wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. THe latter part of this Chapter from the 12. Verse to the end is spent in a grave and powerfull dehortation of the faithfull from securitie in sinne against which the Apostle useth sundry arguments That which he presseth most is drawne from the severall ends to which sinne and righteousnesse doth leade men The end of sinne is death vers 21. therefore that is not to bee served The end of of righteousnesse is life everlasting vers 22. therefore that is to be imbraced Because there is now difference in the manner of the proceeding of these two ends death comming from sinne as from the meritorious cause but life from righteousnesse another manner of way therefore the Apostle addes this epiloge and conclusion in the last verse plainely shewing and more clearely expressing the manner of them both for the wages saith hee of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. In which words we have a description of a twofold service Of sinne in the former clause And of God or righteousnesse in the latter And how both these are rewarded The one with death it payes us well And the other with life which is bestowed by the free gift of God through Christ. These are the two parts the two generall points that we are to consider First the wages of sinne is death saith the Apostle Of sinne That is of the depravation and corruption of our nature and so consequently of every sinne that being not onely it selfe sinne but the matter and mother of all sinne when sinne hath conceived it bringeth forth death when sinne is put forth whereby he signifieth the generall depravation and corruption of our nature from whence all sinne flowes So it is here The wages The word in the originall signifieth properly victualls because victualls was that that the Roman Emperours gave their souldiers as wages in recompence of their service but thence the word extends to signifie any other wages or Salary whatsoever The wages of sinne is death by death here is signified and meant both temporall and eternall death especially eternall death for it is opposed to eternall life in the next clause of the sentence therefore that is that that is principally meant The wages of sinne is death that is eternall death This for the exposition of the tearmes The point to bee observed from this first part of the Text is this that Death is as due to sinne as wages to one that earnes it To such a one wages is due in strict justice if a man have a hyred servant he may bestow a free gift on him if he will if he will not he may choose but his stypend or his wages he must pay him unlesse he will be unjust for it is the price of his worke and so is due to him that he cannot without injustice withhold it After such a manner is death due to sinne the very demerrite of the worke of sinne requires it as being earned God is as just in inflicting death upon sinners for their sinnes as any man is in paying his labourer or hired servant their wages for this is the generall plaine scope of the Apostles words here So in the beginning God appointed Gen. 2. 17. where hee told Adam concerning the forbidden fruite in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death As if hee should have sayd when thou sinnest death must be thy wages The same is repeated Ezek. 18. 20. where it is sayd The soule that sinneth shall die expressing the wages of sinne it is death that is the recompence of sinne if sinne have his due then death must follow So the Apostle had shewed before in this Epistle Rom. 5. 12. that by one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne so death went over all men for as much as all men had sinned All had sinned therefore all are payed with death And Saint Iames shewes the consequence and connexion betweene these two the worke and the wages he tells us Iam. 1. 15 that when sinne hath conceived it bringeth forth death All these places are evidences that death by Gods ordinance by his appointment is the due of sinne as due to it even as wages is to a hyred servant or one that hath earned it What death is it that is due to sinne Both temporall and eternall death I say both deaths concerning both which the truth is to be cleared from some doubts It was the Pelagians errour to thinke that man should have dyed a naturall death though he had never sinned so they thought that the naturall temporall bodily death was not the wages of sinne Contrary to the Apostle in the placâ—… I spake of Rom. 5. where hee makes that death that goes over all men which must needes bee naturall death to enter by sinne sinne brought in death no sinne no death at all But it may be objected when God told Adam in the day that he eate the forbidden fruite he should die the death he meant not temporall death there as the event shewes for such a death was not inflicted upon Adam in the day that hee sinned for after he sinned he lived still in the world naturally hee continued living many yeares after I answer notwithstanding all this Adam may bee sayd to die a naturall death as soone as he sinned because by the guilt of his sinne he then presently became subject to it and God straight way denounced upon him the sentence of death therefore it may bee sayd he straite way dyed As a condemned person is called a dead man though he be respited for a time Besides the Messengers and Sergeants of death presently tooke hold of him and arrested him for sinne as hunger and thirst and cold and diseases daily wasting of the naturall moysture to the quenching of life Indeede God suffered him that the sentence was not presently executed so to commend his owne patience and to give to Adam occasion of salvation the promise of Christ being after made and he called to repentance by that meanes to attaine a better life by Christ then he lost by sinne It is objected againe Christ redeemed us from all sinne and all the punishment thereof but he did not redeeme us from bodily death from temporall death for the faithfull wee see dye still even as others doe therefore it is concluded by some that temporall death is not the wages of sinne for then when wee were free from sinne by Christ wee should bee freed from that Our answer to this is that Christ hath freede all his elect not onely from eternall but even from temporall death though not from both in the same manner From temporall death first in hope of which the Apostle speaking 1 Cor. 15. saith The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death meaning temporall death at last then it shall be destroyed mortall shall put on immortality as the Apostle speakes but in the meane time it is destroyed in hope though it remaine indeede and must be undergone even of the faithfull in this life How be it to them Christ hath changed the nature of it and now they no longer undergoe it as the wages of sinne but for other causes As first the exercise of their graces their faith and hope and patience and the rest all these are exercised as in other afflictions so even in the death of Gods Children Secondly the totall remoovall and riddance of the reliques of sinne from which they are not freed in this life but when they die then all sinne is taken away for as at the first sinne brought death into the world so to the faithfull now death carries it out againe Thirdly their entrance into heaven and to bee at home with the Lord from whom wee are absent as long as wee are at home in these bodies Fourthly to prepare their bodies for renewing at the last day that is done by death for as a decayed Image or statue must first be broken that it may be new cast so these bodies of ours must bee broken by death that they may be cast into a new mold of immortalitie at the generall resurrection But here as some sinne remaines so death remaines though wee be in Christ yet wee are still in that estate wherein it is appointed to all men once to dye Thus even temporall death is left to the Children of God to bee undergone before they come to heaven It is left to them I say and that justly in respect of the remnants of sinne yet they undergoe it no other way but for their owne good and benefit How ever temporall death in its owne nature to an unbeleever is the wages of sinne And as temporall so eternall death for when God told man that in the day hee sinned he should die the death he meant not onely temporall but eternall death he meant that principally as I shewed before in that the Apostle opposeth it to eternall life in the next clause of the sentence Now Christ hath freede all beleevers actually from eternall death But how eternall death should be the wages of sinne may be doubted because betweene the worke and the the wages there must be some proportion that seemes not to bee betweene sinne and eternall death for sinne is a finite a temporall thing committed in a short time and that death is eternall Now to punish a temporall fault with an eternall punishment it seemes that it is to make the punishment to exceed the fault and that is against justice But for answer to this doubt wee must know that however sinne considered in the act and as it is a transcient action it is finite yet in other respects it is infinite and that in a threefold consideration First in respect of the object against whom it is committed for being the offence of an infinite Majestie it deserves an infinite punishment for wee know offences are reckoned of for their greatnesse according as the greatnesse of the person is against whom they are committed If hee that clippes the Kings coyne or deface the Kings Armes or counterfeit the broad Seale of England or the Princes privie Seale ought to die as a traytor because this disgrace tends to the person of the Prince much more ought he that violates the law of God die the first and second death too because it tends to the defacing of the Image and the disgracing of the person of God himselfe who is contemned and dishonoured in every sinne Secondly sinne is infinite in respect of the subject wherein it is the soule of man Seeing the soule is immortall and of an everlasting substance and that the guilt of sinne and the blot together staine the soule as a crimson and skarlet die upon wooll and can no more be severed from the soule then the spottes from the Leopard it remaines as the soule is eternall and as that is everlasting so sinne is infinite in durance and continuance and deserves an infinite wages and punishment which is eternall death Thirdly it is infinite also in respect of the tie betweene the desire and indeavour of an impenitent sinner for his desire is to walke on still in sinne and except God cut off the line of life never to give over sinning but he would runne on infinitely committing sinne even with greedinesse And it is reason that as God accepts the will for the deed in godlinesse so hee should punish the will for the deed in wickednesse if wee sinne according to our eternitie in our will and purpose to sinne God will punish us according to his eternitie it is just that they that would never bee without sinne if they might have their owne will should never be without punishment Thus we see eternall death is the wages of sinne though sinne be committed in a moment though it bee a transcient action in it selfe yet it is just with God to give it the wages of eternall death So you see Death both temporall and eternall is the wages of sinne Wee come to the Use of the point being thus declared First it teacheth us contrarie to the Doctrine of the Church of Romeâ—… that originall lust and concupiscence in the regenerate is a sinne for how else should God be just in inflicting temporall death upon infants that are regenerate actuall sinnes they have none and iâ—… they have no originall sin neither then God should inflict the wages of sinne where there were no sinne which cannot be because there is no iniquitie with God Therefore certaine it is that after regeneration this originall lust though the guilt of it be taken away yet as sinne it remaines the substance of it still remaines and will as long as we live in this world For it is in us as it is well compared as the I vie is in the wall which having taken root so twines and incorporates it selfe that it can never bee quite rooted out till the wall be taken down so till body and soule be taken asunder by death there will be no totall riddance of Originall corruption and the depravation of our nature it is still in us as appeares by the temporall death even of the best Saints of those that are most sanctified in this life it shewes there is remainders of corruption in them still for if there were not sinne there would not be the wages of sinne there would not be death if there were not sinne Secondly the Use of it is to take away a fond Popish distinction of mortall and veniall sinne they teach some sins to be veniall that is such sins as in their owne nature deserve not death whereas the Apostle here speaking of all sinne in generall hee saith the wages thereof is death
a glasse with good keeping may last as long as an earthen Pot but both brittle Now notwithstanding this Sex bee brittle and the weaker yet to be honoured and that upon this ground because partakers with Men and as well as Men of the greatest priviledge the grace of life Were this a meeting for the solemnization of a Mariage I might further descan upon this plaine-song that ariseth from the inference of Mens honouring of Women What have I said if it were a Mariage solemnitie surely howsoever here bee before our eyes the eyes of our bodies a visible object of mortalitie yet notwithstanding here is before us an invisible occasion of rejoycing as at a Mariage solemnitie to the eye of our soule understanding and faith for while here we live in the world Jesus Christ our Spouse hee hath his friends friends of the Bridegroome his Ministers and messengers that in his name come to us wooe us use all the meanes that may be to move us to accept of Christ for our Lord and Husband When a man accepts of this offer there is then the contract consummated in regard of the mutuall consent that passeth betweene the one and the other Christ having his Proxies here wee the Ministers being for him and every beleeving soule for himselfe This contract continueth so long as here wee remaine in this world when wee depart the body is laid in the Bride-bed quietly to rest and sleepe till the Bridegroome be pleased to come and awake his Spouse and it will be a blessed voyce that hee shall come withall Come yee blessed of my Father receive the kingdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world As for the soule that goeth immediatly to Christ and is in his Fathers house with him the Spouse in that part with her Husband the Lord Christ enjoying an eternall inviolable communion and sweet societie But howsoever this is thus to the invisible eyes of the soule we now must looke upon the object here before us and answerably order our matter and therefore with this touch I let passe the inference and come to the substance of the Text. You heard the summe you heard the parts But wee must here proceed Huesteron and Proteron and cleane invert the order of the words as I hope your selves will discerne if you doe but well marke the order and method Life is in the last place Grace before it the right that commeth before it and the extent of that right before all I suppose therefore you will thinke that first it is meet to lay forth the priviledge it selfe Life and then to speake of the ground of it then of the right that we have and then of the Extent of that right and this order I purpose to follow First therefore concerning the Priviledge it selfe Life For brevities sake I forbeare to speake much of the divers acceptations of life and distinctions thereof as it is in the Creatour the onely true God Father Sonne and holy Spirit or as it is in the invisible and glorious creatures the Angels or as it is in men who are animated by a reasonable soule or as it is in those creatures that are guided only by sense Beasts Fowle Fish or otherwise as it is in Trees and Plants that come forth out of the earth having a vegetative life onely The life here meant is that wee call eternall life consisting in our communion with Christ our Spouse and this is a life proper to the Saints proper unto them because comming from the grace of God extended unto them alone proper unto them because they are heires of it And in this extent there is a restraint howsoever the extent bee in divers considerations yet a restraint a qualification onely beleevers onely sound true Christians to them it is proper And this life is to be considered either in the Inchoation and beginning thereof or in the consummation and accomplishment thereof In regard of the Inchoation of this speciall life of the Saints it is here begun in this world I now live saith the Apostle speaking even of this life by the faith of the Sonne of God And the Iust shall live by faith This life it is by Christs dwelling and living in us I now live yet not I but Christ liveth in me saith the Apostle in the place before quoted The other it is in the world to come and it is by a sweet feeling and fruition it is by our abiding with Christ and living with him in which respect saith our Lord Christ to the penitent beleever upon the Crosse This day the very day that he died shalt thou be with me in Paradise and so Saint Paul saith of himselfe I desire to bee dissolved and to be with Christ implying that upon the dissolution immediatly there is a fruition a communion with Christ And the same Apostle speaking of those Saints that shall be upon the earth at the very moment of Judgement when the dead saith he are raised then shall wee also that are alive and remaine be caught up together with them in the cloudes to meet the Lord in the ayre and so shall wee ever be with the Lord. Now then marke here you see the soule hath present communion with Christ upon the dissolution of the body and the body also shall have communion with him at the great day of the Resurrection of all flesh Now this life and communion with Christ is proper to the Saints by vertue of their union with Christ A misticall union For Christ the Sonne of God hee is life originally in himselfe for as the Father hath life in himselfe so hath hee given to the Sonne to have life in himselfe Hee is also Life communicatively communicating life unto us therefore hee is said to be the Bread of life and in this sence because hee is that Bread which commeth downe from heaven and giveth life unto the world The Use of this point my brethren is manifold I will but touch it First it doth instruct us in the great love and good respect that God beareth to us children of men that of his owne good pleasure hath written our names in the booke of life and hath sent his Sonne to purchase life for us and to bring us also to this life Behold what love the Father hath shewed to us in Christ Secondly this is a demonstration of the wofull plight wherein naturally men are in this world they may seeme to be of some account they have a life that is farre different from the life of Plants and also from the life of Beasts they have a reasonable soule to animate them Oh but this this is is not the life Naturall life indeed is a death compared to this life that is here noted to bee proper to the Saints which commeth by grace whereof wee are heires and therefore of all naturall men it may bee said as the Apostle saith of the wanton
Widow shee is dead while shee liveth even so are all such dead while they live dead in sinnes and trespasses and if so be those that are in this kind dead continue so till the death of the body seize upon them woe woe woe to them upon this followeth an eternall death endlesse easelesse and remedilesse torment upon body and soule for ever Thirdly the Saints have here consolation against the mortalitie and corruption whereto they are subject here in this world wherein their condition is common with the condition of all for that that befalleth one may befall every one in regard of the outward estate and condition All must die Nay further here is consolation against the distresses and afflictions and pressures whereto the Saints are subject above others for their profession sake in this very respect they are hated they are persecuted all that will live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer persecution and through many afflictions wee must enter into the kingdome of heaven Where is now their comfort surely this that is set before us you heard that naturall men are dead while they live but those that are in Christ doe live while they may seeme to bee dead Ionah lived when he was cast into the Sea swallowed up by a whale and was even as it were in hell so the Saints though swallowed up as wee may say in the tempestuous sea of this world by cruell Whales yet notwithstanding they still live that life that is begun here in this world whereof you heard before And to this purpose the Apostle Saint Paul in 2 Cor. 4. 8 9 10 11 12. sheweth plainly that though they are given up unto death daily for Iesus sake yet they are not destroyed not cleane swallowed up but that they live in Christ and that Christ liveth in them Wee are perplexed but not in despaire persecuted but not forsaken c. And this is it that doth comfort them both the fruition of that life that they have here and their expectation of the accomplishment and fulnesse thereof in the kingdome of heaven Now my brethren this is the rather to be observed of us because of all others the Saints seeme to be most subject to death And the truth is here is matter of admiration in regard of their happinesse that notwithstanding that condition whereto they are subject there is a life they enjoy in this world there is a better life prepared for them hereafter And what can be more desired Life of all things else is most esteemed Men are ready in sicknesse and in other distresses to spend all that they have as the Woman that was troubled with the bloudie issue spent all that shee had upon the Physitians to preserve life to recover health Solomon speaking according to the conceit of men saith that a living Dogge is better than a dead Lyon any life better then a death thus they imagine and Sathan well knew mens account of life when he could say Skin for skin yea all that a man hath will hee give for his life Now if so bee that this temporall life here that is but a flower but a bubble but a blast but a breath yea that life that in the shortnesse thereof is subject to so much perplexitie as it is be notwithstanding so highly esteemed what is the life here promised that while here in the enjoying in regard of the first fruits thereof is accompanied with such a peace as passeth understanding accompanied with the very joy of the Holy Ghost and in the consummation thereof such contentment such glory as the tongue of man cannot expresse the mind of man cannot conceive It is noted of the Apostle Saint Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven and saw but a glimpse of this life he did there see they are his owne words unutterable matter things that cannot bee exprest And therefore in this respect he saith and that which he saith may be most fitly applyed to this the things which eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither hath entred into the heart of man are such as God hath prepared for them that love him This is that Life which we are so to consider of as it may make us say with the Apostle I account that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to bee compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us for our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory It will be here said whence commeth this or what may bee the ground thereof My Text telleth you It is stiled here Grace of Life Neither will I here insist upon the divers acceptations of grace as it is in man as it is Gratis data or as it is in God as it is Gratis faciens making us accepted with himselfe It is more cleare then need to be proved that eternall life it commeth from divine grace Grace is the ground of it Being justified by grace saith the Apostle and againe by Grace you are saved And indeed all things that bring us thereto are in the Scriptures attributed to Grace And needs must it be so For First out of God there can be nothing done to move him to doe this or that as if it should be done for our sakes either meriting or procuring of it Hee is independant and we are depending upon him and whatsoever wee have is out of our selves and commeth from him Againe in Man there can be nothing What is there in man but miserie whatsoever man had or hath if there be any good thing he hath it from this fountaine of goodnesse all our sufficiencie is of God And this is briefly to be noted against that proud and arrogant position of our Adversaries concerning the merit of mans workes as if man by any thing in him could merit or deserve this life it is not the merit of life but the grace of life Surely they know not God they know not his infinitenesse his all-sufficiencie they know not man his emptinesse his impotencie his vilenesse his cursednesse they know not this life they know not the reward the excellencie of it the disproportion betweene any thing that man can doe and this life that is thus graciously bestowed that have such a conceit Let them therefore passe with their foolish opinion For our owne parts it affordeth to us another ground of comfort and that in regard of our unworthinesse for as we are creatures we are lesse then the least of Gods mercies but as we are mortall creatures dust and ashes much more unworthy of any favour but as we are sinfull creatures having provoked the justice of God most most unworthy of any grace of any life most worthy of all judgements and vengeance of eternall death and damnation Where is now our hope what ground shall wee have that have nothing in
from all both former and following miseries and that is this If in the time of our life here our being subject to corruption and sinne hath seemed unto us the greatest burden and bondage They which have groaned and mourned under their owne naturall corruptions as it were under some heavy and tyrannous yoke or as the Israelites mourned under their Egyptian Task-masters to them only shall the day of death be a day of freedome If sinne be not a burden to thee if thou dost not many times lament and even mourne to thinke how thou art carried captive unto evill if thou dost not with griefe feele how thou art clogged with corruption and hindred by it from doing the good which thou shouldest certainly death will bee to thee the beginning of thy thraldome and after it thou shalt be a perpetuall bond-slave unto Sathan in the kingdome of eternall darknesse Marke this all yee that take delight in evill to whom it is a pastime to doe wickedly and who seeke rather how to satisfie then how to suppresse your owne corruptions who repute it a kind of happinesse to follow the swinge of your owne Iusts and to have libertie to doe as your owne hearts doe lead you when you dye this shall be your reward even a most miserable and endlesse captivity under Sathan him have you served in the lusts of sinne while yee lived his slaves shall you be without hope of releasement world without end This is the right Application of this Doctrine death is a day of enlargement to the godly it is a dismission The next particular is that it is a dismission accompanied with peace the lesson we are taught hence is that The servants of God have at their going out of the world a comfortable quiet and peaceable departure Thus Simeon here hee prayed for no other thing but that his end might be as the end of the Righteous is ever wont to bee even a departure hence in peace Hence is that generall rule of the Psalmist Marke the perfect man and behold the upright man for the end of that man is peace Agreeable whereunto is that of Solomon that the righteous hath hope in his death And memorable to this purpose is that which is storied of old father Iacob shewing unto us the quiet end of the Righteous Hee gathered up his feet into the bed and so gave up the Ghost It was the blessing promised to Abraham that he should goe to his fathers in peace And the same was made to good Iosias There is a twofold reason hereof First the assurance which they have of the favour of God in Christ. This must needs breed quietnesse when I am perswaded in my soule and conscience that all cause of danger after death is removed and that God is and will be gracious unto mee in his Sonne What cause of feare is here left what occasion of perplexitie If any man shall doubt whether the servants of God have this assurance I prove it thus that all of them first or last have it in some good measure If any man saith the Apostle have not the Spirit of Christ hee is none of his Hence it necessarily followes that all that are Christs have the Spirit of Christ but now the office of the Spirit is to beare witnesse with our spirit So that all that are the Lords as they are endued with Gods Spirit so they feele this Spirit bearing witnesse to their soules of this Adoption Secondly the comfortable Testimonie of their owne consciences touching their former care to glorifie God by a Religious and godly conversation Hence came Saint Pauls peace I have saith he fought the good fight I have kept the faith Therefore I am sure there is laid up for mee a Crowne of life Hence Hezekiahs I have walked before thee oh Lord in truth and with a perfect heart Not that they doe ground their hope upon the desert of their fore-ranne courses but because they know good workes to bee the way and doe understand by the Scripture that a holy life here is the first fruits of a glorified life hereafter Thus we see the truth of this point and the reasons upon which it is grounded Now here some may object first Wee see many worthy men that have made a great and an extraordinary profession of Religion in their lives and which have also carried themselves unblameably yet to give appearance of much angiush and perplexitie and even of a kind of despaire in their death How can wee say then that all good and holy persons have a peaceable departure I answer first Wee ought to remember the Rule our Saviour gives not to judge according to the outward appearance It is a very weake argument to say that this or that man dyeth without peace because to the standers by hee makes not shew of peace Certaine it is that as a man may have peace with God and yet himselfe for a time by reason of some tentation not feele it so a man being sicke or going out of the world may feele it and yet others that behold him cannot perceive it Secondly wee must know that these outward unquietnesses which doe many times accompany sicknesse doe happen as well and as ordinarily to good men as to the most wicked such as are ravings idle-talkings and strange accidents in the body in this sence all things come alike to all God hath made no promise in Scripture that those that serve him shall be freed in their deaths from violent sicknesses Therefore these things must not bee thought to be any abridgement of their peace Thirdly wee must consider that with the best servants of God Sathan is most busie when his end is neerest and when hee is as it were out of all hope of prevailing The red Dragon in the Revelation had greatest wrath when he knew his time to bee short When the evill Spirit was commanded once to come out of the child then it rent him sore Now these temptations though for the time they be very violent and extreme so that the party may hapily utter out some words and speeches of dispaire yet be they no finall prejudice to the inward peace Interrupt they may but utterly quench it they cannot because the power of God is made perfect through weaknesse And so even in death Sathan receives the greatest foile when hee thinkes to get the greatest victorie Thus then I answer in one word The peace of Gods servants at death is not ever in the like measure felt by them but yet it never dieth in them they which behold their death doe not alwayes see it yet they themselves sooner or later are sure sweetly and secretly to feele the same My reason for my assertion is grounded first upon that of the Apostle God commands light to shine out of darknesse Hee brings his servants to Heaven by the gates of
that may be meant but that which is unrighteously kept is unrighteous Mammon to you if you procured it never so justly unlesse you doe rightly dispose of it and if you be desirous to doe right in disposing of your mammon of your wealth doe it now That when you want that power and those times you may enjoy the comfortable fruit of the well-redeeming of the time of your life to receive you into everlasting habitations In the 25. verse of the 16. Luke it is the challenge of Abraham to Dives Sonne remember that thou in thy life-time haddest thy goods for so the word signifieth thou haddest thy opportunities of life and of goods too but now thou hast neither life nor goods left thee to doe good with and therefore hee is blessed and thou art tormented It was the folly of those five Virgins They tooke not the opportunitie of life for that is the thing meant there but they posted over all to the last and hoped that all might bee effected in a trice or minute of their life which would haue held them employment enough all the dayes of their lives And therefore they came short of heaven the gates were shut against them as you see when the Bridegroome came If any man imagine because it is said Blessed are they that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them That therefore it matters not so long as a man doth good at his death though hee have neglected the wayes of goodnesse all his life Let them know that by works there is not meant the actions of men but the fruites of their actions Their workes follow them not the workes they have deferred untill death but the fruites of those workes they did while they were living and received not the benefit of them untill death Their workes follow them that is the fruits of their workes It is more good and pleasant by farre to have the actions goe before and the fruites and comfortable effects to succeed and follow after But if any man yet suppose that hee may make that up in his Will which he hath neglected all his life long and though hee have lived miserably covetously and unprofitably all the dayes of his life yet his thoughts may tell him that by the Charitable Bequests of his last Testament as bequeathing largely to the Church and Common-wealth and to all sorts of people hee may at the last make fit compensation and satisfaction for neglect of former duties Let no man deceive himselfe with such a bad resolution for first it argues a signe of infidelitie that a man will not trust God for feare he should want in his life-time what is the reason else that he deferres the doing good in health unlesse it be for feare of wanting himselfe such distrust hee hath in the providence of God Besides the same God which bids thee doe good when thou hast opportunitie and while thou enjoyest the advantage of life hee expects it now And it may bee truly said of many that neglect those times of doing good while they lived and have now supplied that defect in their death by the large benevolence of their Wills Their will is good but their deed is â—…ught So much for the first point I proceed unto the second that is thou must not only take the time of thy life but also the opportunitie of thy meanes and thy estate while there is yet a price in thine hand while thou hast opportunitie and enjoyest wealth to doe good with redeeme the advantages and opportunities by employing them in that way for which thou didst receive them The time may come wherein you may desire to doe good but cannot wanting at estate and opportunities whereby to doe it Marke what Solomon saith Wilt thou trust in a thing of nothing for Riches have wings as an Eagle and flie away toward heaven It is the vanitie of men that they still forbeare and stay while their estates increase pretending that then they shall bee better able to doe good and extend themselves more largely or that they may keepe their wealth and waite for a better opportunitie But why wilt thou trust in a thing of nothing Thou seest a fowle in her flight and now it may be thou perceivest it but instantly it vanisheth out of thy sight Why riches have wings saith Solomon Thou hast them now in thy possession and retainest them fast in hold but presently they are departed they flie as an Eagle out of thy sight And the same wise man when he exhorteth men to cast their bread upon the waters Hee gives them this reason Thou knowest not what evills thou knowest not what judgements and calamities God intends to bring upon that Nation where thou livest upon the Citie upon the Familie where thou dwellest upon thy person or estate Thou knowest not what evils God will bring upon the earth And so likewise charge rich men in this world that they hee not high-minded and that they trust not in uncertaine riches but in the living God that they bee readie to distribute and to communicate and to doe good workes What is it that hinders men from distributing and communicating Because they trust in uncertaine Riches For if they would now learne not to trust in uncertaine Riches but account them uncertaine as they are and put confidence in the living God who can provide for them when those outward meanes which they so much rely on faile their expectations they would then be more liberall and bountifull and readie to doe good and to communicate So then here is the meaning of the point Take the opportunities of life That is first take the time of life while you may doe good and then take the meanes the wealth and estate which is the time of your meanes For this observe Iobs case hee goes on discoursing of this very point he was now a man stript of all hee had but the other day the Richest man in the East the Sâ—…ans and Caldeans had carried away his goods his cattell and his children and all things were taken from him Yet there was onething that administred comfort in the day of his adversitie and his affliction And it was this saith he If I have made the eyes of the poore to faile or if I eate my morsels alone or if I have not relieved the fatherlesse c. If I have not done thus and thus then let the Lords fiercest judgement fall upon mee But herein consists my comfort my conscience beares mee witnesse that when I had wealth and estate and enjoyed the goods of this life I did good I was father to the fatherlesse a foot to the lame and eyes to the blind I did all the good that lay within the compasse of my power to doe when I had meanes to doe it I say little doe you know beloved whatsoever thou art whatsoever estate thou hast though thou
be as a naile fastned in a sure place and thinkest thou shalt never bee moved from this condition Thou knowest not how soone God may turne his hand upon thee when thou maist bee as Iob was on the dunghill deprived of all comforts What will be thy consolation then that when thou hadst wealth thou didst good with it It will adde to thy affliction that thou hadst great possessions and didst neither glorifie God nor doe good to men So much for the opening of the point I come to apply it First then it serves for the reproofe of many to whom God hath given the price in their hands But they want hearts to embrace the opportunities of doing good They pretend to doe good and have a mind inclining to good But they have no heart to take the opportunities and advantages of times and meanes which God hath bestowed on them for the same purpose they want hearts to embrace those Remember what Solomon saith Say not to thy neighbour goe and come againe to morrow if it bee now in thine hands to give him The Lord will not only have a man not denie to doe good but besides that hee would not have him delay to doe good put him not from thee till to morrow if his helpe remaine in thine hands to day yea though thou have a purpose to doe it to morrow if it be in thy power to day doe it and deferre it not till to morrow But what shall we say to those who doe not only delay their purposes but by protracting lose their purposes There is nothing more ordinarie then in some cases for men not only to purpose truly but to promise heartily to God that they will performe these and these acts of mercy if God will dâ—…iver them from such feares and dangers as they at such times are incompast with A man that endures extremitie of weather in a tempestuous Sea if happily hee may attaine the land in safetie a man that is diseased with sicknesse if now he may recover his health againe or one that suffers imprisonment if he may procure his libertie or a man that is in feare of the losse of his estate by the meanes of some unhappy casualtie if now hee may escape that losse hee will bestow a great deale on God and on the servants of God nay hee promises and vowes unto God in his extremitie But how many of those promises as well as those other purposes come to nothing they have libertie they receive health they enjoy safetie and have the full fruition of all their desires but alas how short come their vowes of peformance not one of many of them but turnes God away without his bargaine Remember how the Lord taxeth the people of Israel In the day of their distresse and the Lord reckons up divers and sundrie troubles they were in then they spake good words to God they would cleave to him and promised to doe thus and thus But thus saith the Text They flattered the Lord with their lippes and were false in the Covenant with God Is not it so beloved with many of us Oh that your hearts might smite you this day before the Lord for many purposes and promises that you have made of doing this or that for the glorifying of God and the discharge of your dutie One man hath promised restitution of unjust gaine another to become more liberall and bountifull towards others And the Lord hath waited weeke after weeke moneth after moneth and yeare after yeare and yet neverthelesse you continue the same men either unsensible or carelesse to accomplish your promise to God or rendring unto him his due That is the first Use. Secondly let it stirre up every one of us to a care of his dutie of embracing opportunities And when wee perswade you to take opportunities wee would draw you a degree higher not only to take them but to seeke them for how shall a man obtaine the advantage of taking opportunities if he first seeke them not and therefore we perswade you to that Wee see Abraham sitting in the dore of his Tent that hee might observe opportunities of doing good hee stayed not till the men knocked at his doore for reliefe but tooke notice of their passing by that he might call them Wee see a good old man in Iudges 19. As hee perceives a stranger passing the streetes first takes occasion to question his wants and forbeares not till the man complaine so willing was hee to administer to his necessities and to embrace a fit opportunitie of doing him good Wee see David expressing his thankfulnesse to God and to Ionathan Hee enquires if there were any of the house of Saul that hâ—… might shew him kindnesse for Ionathans sake So should we doe Is there any of the houshold of Faith as the Text saith and as the Scripture calls them unto whom I may shew kindnesse for the Lords sake Hee hath beene better to us then Ionathan was to David and yet wee are much more backward to Retribution and expressions of thankfulnesse then David was to Ionathan But the Scriptures are plentifull in this wee need not stand on it I say this is a dutie that every one should discharge this taske not to stay and forbeare till the reports of mens wants are brought to them but to bee circumspect and seeke for all occasions that may deserve the extent of their goodnesse If you live in a Parish wherein happily there remaines not many poore yet you live in a Citie there are many there if there bee not many in the Citie you live in a Country in a Kingdome doubtles where there are many if there bee none there yet thou hast further meanes to extend thy charitie Thou livest in a Church is there any member of the Church in all the World dispersed in Bohemia in the Palatinate in any place of the earth where the poore abide enquire after them that you may know their wants and relieve their necessities I come now to the second from the determination of time to the declaration of dutie while wee have time Let us doe good I told you what this goodnesse is in the intent of the Apostle in this place Doing good is a releeving those that are in necessity for that is the Apostles meaning as we may see in the context and coherence of these words with the former So then the maine Point is no more but this It is the dutie of Gods servants as to make advantages of their times so to employ themselves in releeving of others Take it more briefly It is a doing good to releive others that is the dutie of Gods servants and it well becomes them to be employed in this work while we have time on earth and meanes to doe it to employ our selves in doing good and releiving others And there is familiar appearance of this in Scripture and by reasons also By Scripture it is commanded in precept and
of this sweetnesse of mercie as a precious oyntment and become good examples unto others and improve the gifts and abilities which God had given them to the same purpose Shee was not onely mindfull of those at home but her goodnesse extended to the Saints abroad And not in respect of Nature onely because they were come into the Countrey where shee was borne I speake now of those that live in distresse and exile of the Palatinate and Germany but in respect of Grace Shee was wondrous industrious and laborious to procure all the meanes that might bee to send over to helpe them and even refreshed the bowells of the Saints that I may truly say the loynes of the poore blessed God for her in many places In what place hath shee lived and hath not left a savour behinde her nay almost in what company hath shee conversed but this particular dutie hath been as a precious oyntment to sweeten the conversations of all that were about her and to worke in their mindes a vertuous intention and propensenesse to this dutie Beloved here you have her in her carriage and example What shee was in her behaviour towards her Husband and her Children I need not speake there are enough can witnesse it shee carried her selfe as became Wife to him and a helper of the servants of Gâ—…od with prayers and desires and often provocations and incitings that way But for her Children shee seem'd to undergoe a second travaile with them till Christ were formed in them being full of earnest desires and petitions for the working of Grace where it was not begun and for the perfecting thereof where it was newly entred Shee rejoyced exceedingly in any expression of good and more for that of Grace then any other inclination or respect Beloved this was obvious and common to all and any man might take speciall notice thereof dayly and observe it constantly In her servants as there appeared the mere grace in any so much the more respect she extended towards them In the poore as shee perceived the more grace in any the more reliefe they received from her c. 〈◊〉 say nothing what in all this shee suffered those that were acquainted with her disease know what paines shee under-went in respect of her bodie and with what patience shee submitted to the hand of God in all things And many know the wrong shee endured from the World for her desire and care to doe good when she obtain'd opportunitie Some thought her over-bold some to busie others thought her proud and vaineglorious because of her often frequenting of company and speaking openly for the provoking of others to the exercise of goodnesse The Lord smite their hearts that are guilty of mis-judging that which wee are to suppose in respect of her forward disposition is this Shee was naturally of a free spirit which being sanctified with Grace and sharpned with love and zeale for the glory of God made her the more resolute and familiar in frequenting good company not to magnifie her selfe by their societie but that her continuall conversation with them might give her the better occasion to incite and stirre them to goodnesse Let those that are guiltie of misprision leave to censure her Vertues and convert them into an example for themselves to walke in if they doe not the neglect will loade their soules with more woe for such contempt then shee hath received joy for her labour What concern'd her in her sicknesse briefly I have not much to say in that they which were about her dayly know more then I can relate Shee did not onely expresse a satisfaction and assurance of heart that her reconciliation was made with God in Christ but besides that a willingnesse and desire to bee dissolved for that reason that shee might hee with Christ. A Minister that was with her asking how shee that had a Husband and Children enjoying an estate and 〈◊〉 other comforts could be willing to forgoe so many blessings and exchange them all for death She from that inward sence and perswasion of Gods love to her in Christ concluded my Husband is deare and my Children are deare to me but Christ is dearer Therefore I am willing to forgoe Husband and Children and all the contents you can number in this life that I might live with Christ to partake of greater felicitie then this world can afford me And now the Lord Jesus hath received her into his owne protection and satisfied her expectation with the performance of his love But wherefore have wee spoken all this what that wee might adde any praise unto the dead no But to quicken those that are living and incite them to the like dutie Some may thinke it impossible there should be such activenesse in doing of good and such unweariednesse in performing of the acts of mercy and where say they shall we find such an example you have it before your eyes and know that examples will rise in judgement against you and condemne you as well as precepts If you follow them not while they invite you The Text saith Doe good to all especially to the houshold of faith And here is an example before our eyes of one who tooke her time and opportunitie to doe good to all especially to them of the houshold of Faith Goe thou and doe likewise FINIS DEATH PREVENTED OR MORTALITIE CHANGED LAM 3. 58. O Lord thou hast pleaded the causes of my soule thou hast redeemed my life JOB 33. 29. 30. Loe all these things worketh God oftentimes with man to bring backe his soule from the pit to bee enlightned with the light of the living LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. DEATH PREVENTED OR MORTALITIE CHANGED SERMON XL. JOB 14. 14. All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite till my change come THis Booke of Iob comprehends the History of a good man and of his many tryalls Though goodnesse deliver from Hell yet it privildgeth not from temptations or crosses yea the more eminent Holinesse is many times the more it is exposed to sharpe and manifold assaults Iob is set upon on all sides he found the Divell a sore enemie and his great estate a suddaine shipwrack his Children in a moment crusht to peeces Hee had but three Points of Land to looke at in this troublesome sea and every one of them seemed rather to augment then to lessen the storme His Wife whose breath should have sweetned and eased his griefe was an impatient vexation His friends whose counsells and compassions should have beene an easie harbour and tender reliefe they became his bitter and censorious judges Yea his God who by his owne testimonie hee served and feared with singular uprightnesse and whose bowells are ever tender and compassionate to such and upon whose gracious acceptance hee thought to quiet and anchor his troubled spirit yet anon he seemed not onely a stranger but an enemie and this went deepe that even Mercie it selfe seemed cruell and
Spirituall change wrought in the soule by the Spirit of God nothing makes in this life such a change as true grace Wee all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. This change is like the tuning of a disordered instrument or like the refining of corrupt mettall or like the clearing of the darke ayre or like the quickning of a dead Lazarus but neither is this change that the text intends Fourthly there is a change of the life and this I call a mortall change we shall all be changed saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 5. life hath the first course but death will have the second As in a Comedie severall persons have severall parts to act which when they have dispatched they all draw off of the stage so though in life we all present our selves on the stage of this world and act severall Scenes and parts yet at length we must all retire and passe away through one and the same doore of mortallity This is the change which Iob speakes of to wit a change of his life by Death Here then are two things to bee demonstrated and proved for the making good of the point in hand viz. 1. That death is a change 2. That this change of death will befall all the sonnes of men First that Death is a change not an anihilation A change is a different and a divers order or manner of being Anihilation is one thing and mutation is another thing there the thing ceaseth utterly to be here the thing only ceaseth to be as once it was so it is with Death it doth not reduce us to nothing but alter our former something it changes our manner or order of being not our being absolutely Now observe Death is a change in five respects First it changes that neere union of the Soule and the body and makes of one two severalls they that were as the hands mutually clasping or as two persons conjugally tyed together when Death comes it plucks them asunder and divides one from the other as farre as heaven is from the earth Secondly it changes our actions or worke Whiles life remained here in our bodies while our day lasted we might have fedde the hungry clothed the naked visited the sicke râ—…ved the distressed frequented the ordinances bewailed â—…nnes but when death once enters the night is come in which â—…an can worke thou art then turned changed into an insenâ—…ble rotten and loathsome carkasse Thirdly it changes our countrey Whiles we live here wee are as children put abroad to schoole in a strange place hence it is wee are so often in the Scripture called Pilgrims and strangers This earth this lower world is not the proper home of the Soule But when Death comes wee change our countrey wee goe home to our owne place to our owne Citie the wicked shall goe to their owne place as it is said of Iudas and the godly to their owne Mountaine to their owne Kingdome Fourthly it changes our companie In this life we converse with sinfull men emptie creatures infinite miseries innumerable conflicts but when Death comes all this shall be changed wee shall goe to our God and Father to our Christ and Saviour and to the innumerable company of blessed Angels and Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Fiftly it changes our outward condition When Death comes thou shalt never see the wedge of gold againe thou shalt never find thy delights in sinne any more all the excellencie of the creature and the contentments of them and the sensuall rejoycing in them shall goe out with life Death shall shut and close them up in an eternall night which shall never rise to another day So much for the first thing that Death is a change I come now to speake briefly of the second that this change of Death will be fall all the sonnes of men Psal. 89. 48. What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of the grave We love to see most things the eye is never satisfied with seeing and yet many things there are which we shall never see Every man cannot see that which one man doth but there is one thing which every man shall see hee must see death There are many enemies from whom wee can deliver our selves and many more from whom we may be delivered but yet there is one enemie from which wee cannot defend our selves nor bee defended by others he will be to strong for every man let him strive repine order his dyet intreate doe what hee will or can No saith the Psalmist none shall deliver his soule from the hand of the grave And he puts a Selah a note of observation at the end of the verse That all the sonnes of men are subject to this change by death will appeare to you by these familiar Arguments The First may be taken from the qualitie of our lives which is sweetly set out in the Scripture under the termes of changeable things all which point out unto us the certaintie of death Sometime our life is compared to a shew Psal. 39. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vaine shew In a shew you know there is some devise or other opened carryed a-while about but at length it is shut up so it is with our lives Sometime againe it is compared to a shade or a shadow Iob 8. 9. Our dayes upon earth are a shadow a shadow is but an imitation of a substance a kind of nimble picture which is still going and comming and will set at last perhaps it is suddenly ecclipsed so is our life Sometimes aâ—…aine it is compared to a vapour Iames 4. 14. What is your life it is even a vapour that vanisheth away like 〈◊〉 poore cloude sometimes looking white sometimes blacke sometimes quiet and settled sometimes againe tossed up and downe with every wind and at last consumed and brought to nothing so it is with our lives Sometimes also compared to a Tale Psal. 90. 9. Wee spend our yeares as a tale that is told a meere discourse of this thing and that thing and indeed but a very parenthesis of a more tedious discourse and many times it is broken off in the very telling so it is with our lives Sometimes againe it is as grasse as in Esay 46. The voyce said crie aloude what shall I crie all flesh is grasse and the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the grasse And verse 7. The grasse withereth and the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it And Iob in this chapter calleth it a Flower Hee commeth forth saith he like a flower and is cut downe A flower is a sweet thing but of an earthly breed fedde with showres at its best when it is in all its glory it is but to day and to morrow it
shall be called to an account and he that beat his fellow servant shall bee eternally judged by a righteous God and their honour shall sincke in the dust neither shall their riches deliver them from wrath but they shall see him whom they have peirced and persecuted and shall not be able to escape his presence A dismall thing will this bee that a man shall have his honour die and the great God put disgrace upon him a dismall change indeed when a man shall see all his power changed into impotencie his pleasures into torment and wrath put upon his soule when God shall separate thee from his presence thou shalt not have a drop of ease nor any friend to assist thee nor any hope of comfort thou shalt bee stript of them all and in a moment shall a change of all this bee O considr this if there be any here that forget God least he teare you in peeces and there bee none to helpe remember and consider your latter end and applie your hearts to wisedome Last of all shall there be a change that shall befall every sonne of man then Oh that this people were wise as Moses sayth that they would remember their latter end all the dayes of our appointed time to waite till our change come What do you thinke of servants to whom you had committed servile employments till you came home and if when you come home they were absent and you found one in the street drunke another in a chamber with a strumpet how would you take this Brethren thinke upon it we are Gods servants or should bee two things are imposed upon us one to honour God another to save our owne soules if hee finde us doing the workes of the Divell and the flesh and finde us in the workes of the World how will hee take this Come saith God I have lent you a life thus many years I told you what you should be and what you should doe and what have you beene doing all this life what have your workes been what courses have you taken are these the fruits of your waies to have a life runne over with ignorance with prophanesse c. Alas when a man at that time shall have nothing to say but Lord I have lived in such a sin all my dayes I have fulfilled my owne desires thou hast set mee in this World and I have laboured to get a great estate all my dayes Another may say I have spent my time in drunken societie c. What will God say to these men are these the endings of thy life the fruits of thy opportunities where is the repentance I called for at thy hands where is that godly sorrow that I called for for the sins of thy life did not I send thee into the world for this end to get Grace to get Faith to make up thy accounts with mee thy God and hast thou no regard to it Well thou hast beene foolish inconsiderate for the time that is past yet now understand that a day of change will befall thee O let us be perswaded I beseech you bee perswaded to it in this our day to know the things that concerne our peace whilest it is called to day not to harden our hearts whilest it is called to day not to deferre our repentance thou art not assured of any more time then present Death may meet with thee as thou settest in thy seat as thou goest out of the Church doore and thou knowest thy heart hath beene wicked oh why wilt thou set thy eternall estate upon so small a point as it were the cast of a Die Remember what Daniel sayd to Nebuchadnezar let it have acceptance with thee breake off thy sinnes by repentance c. Seing we must dye and appeare before the judgement seate of God what manner of persons ought we to bee in all holinesse of life and conversation as soone as we are we begin to sinne and as soone as wee are wee begin to dye let us looke upon our account and bee faithfull to our soules perhaps thy accounts are yet to make oh bee sure to let it bee the first thing thou doest and give thy selfe no rest till thou hast done it and when thou hast done this labour to cleare it with the bloud of Christ labour by humble confession and hearty repentance to turne unto the Lord goe on in a holy course and then assuredly wee shall live with joy and dye with peace when wee can get grace in our soules sorrow for our sins newnesse in our natures reformation in our lives uprightnes in our waies faith in Christ a discharge from God peace of conscience oh what a happie day the day of death will bee to our Soules FINIS ἙΞΑΛΈΞΙΟΠHEXALEXIUM OR SIX CORDIALS TO STRENGTHEN THE HEART OF EVERY FAITHFVLL CHRISTIAN AGAINST THE TERROURS OF DEATH By DANIEL FEATLEY D. D. Chaplaine to his sacred Majestie Philip. 1. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ is to me life and death is to me advantage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Immortall descended into a single combate with Death and gave Death a deaths-wound by his death Greek Liturg. LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Nicolas Bourne 1639. ITER NOVISSIMUM OR MAN HIS LAST PROGRESSE A SERMON PREACHED At the Funerall of the Right Worshipfull Sir THOMAS THINNE Knight SERMON XLI ECCLES 12. 5. Man goeth to his long home and the Mourners goe about the streetes ALthough I might in the Kings King Solomons name command yet I will rather in the Preachers his other style humbly entreate your religious attention to the last Scene and Catastrophe of mans life consisting of two Acts and those very short 1 The dead his passe he goeth c. 2 The Mourners march they goe about c. Whereas the whole Scripture is a Volumne of divine Sermons and the Authour of every booke a Preacher and every Chapter a lesson and every verse and piece of a verse a Text. Gregorie Nysscen reasonably demands why this Book which treateth throughout of the vanity of the world and miserie of man is intituled The booke of the Preacher To passe by other answers rendred by him and others not so pertinent to our present purpose I conceive this title of the Preacher is in speciall set over this booke 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 learne as the vanitie of the creature and the emptinesse of all earthly delights and comforts And in very deed there is no meditation more serious then upon the vanitie of the world no consideration more seasonable then of the brevitie and uncertainty of time it selfe no knowledge more wholesome then of the diseases of the mind no contemplation more divine then of humane miserie and frailtie Which though we reade in the inscription of every stone see in the fall of every leafe here in the knole of every bell taste
or the house of his hidden time to wit where hee lyeth hid in his Coffin and no eye seeth him whereunto holy Iob alluding saith Chap. 14. 10. Man dieth and â—…steth away and giveth up the ghost and where is he or dâ—…us mundt sui as Caietan will have it the houâ—… of his world meaning the world of the dead or domus seculi sui the house of his generation as Pagnine Montanus and Tremelius well expresse it the place where all meete who lived together the randevouze of all our deceased friends allies and kindred even as farre as Adam this home may bee called a long home in comparison of our short homes from which we remove daylie these houses we change at pleasure that we cannot there our flesh or our bones or at least our ashes or dust shall bee kept in some place of the earth or sea till the Heavens shall bee no more Iob 14. 12. I answer To the fourth that by mourners are here meant all that attend the corpses to the funerall whether they mourne in truth or for fashion and they are sayd here to goe about the streets either for the reason alleaged by Bonaventure quia predolore quiescere nequiunt because they cannot rest for hearts griefe and sorrow or they goe about the streets to call company to the funerall or because they fetch their compasse that they might make a more solemne procession to the Church or Sepulchre Among the Romans the friends of the deceased hyred certaine women whom they called preficas to lament over their dead for the most part among the Iewes this sad taske was put upon widowes or they tooke it upon themselves as the words of the Prophet imply and there were no widowes to make lamentation and of the Evangelist also Acts 9. 39. and the widowes stood by weeping for Dorcas and indeed widowes are very proper for this imployment When a Pot of water is full to the brimme a little motion makes it runne over Widowes that are widowes indeed and have lost in their Husbands all the joy and comfort of their life have their eyes brimme full of teares and therefore most easily they overflow viduae optime deflent viduas Widowes are the fittest to bemoane widowes and what is the body viod of the soul but a widow deprived of her loving mate these widowes went about the streets weeping and howling to awake the living out of their dead sleepe of securitie and to ring in their eares that lesson of the Prophet all flesh is grasse and the glorie of it as the flower of the field As in a great Clock when the Index pointeth to the houre the wheeles move the Clocke strikes and there is a great noyâ—…e till the plummets or weights touch the earth so sayth Filius Fabri in his same when the Index pointeth to the last houre of a rich man the Bell rings and there is a hideous and fearefull noise of singers and mourners and this continueth till the waight to wit the waightie corpses of the dead toucheth the ground and is put into the earth after which the â—…umult ceaseth and the loud musicke is turned into soft and solemne the Lidian into Dorricke and the shallow channells of teares which made such a noyse shall runne into the depth of silent sorrow or Mâ—…re mortuum And so I come to the fourth Stage The naturall division of the Text. There are but three things appertaining to man here 1. Life 2 Death 3. Buriall And see they are all three in the Text. 1. Man goeth there is his life 2. To his long home there is his Death 3. And the Mourners goe about the streetes there is his buriall described by pariphrasis And so I am upon the fift stage The Doctrine Mans life is a voyage his death the terme or period of this voyage his Grave his home and Mourners his attendance you may observe a kind of sequence in these observations in the Concatination of them the first link drawes the second the second the third the third the fourth if our life be a pilgrimage our death must needes be the terme and our arivall at our Countrey if Death bee our arrivall the Grave must needes bee the house for our bodyes if the Grave bee our house what fit attendance there but mourners Our life is a pilgrimage so it is tearmed by Iacob Gen. 47. 9. The dayes of the yeares of my pilgrimage are 130. yeares And by David Psal. 119. 54. Thy statutes have beene my songs in the house of my pilgrimage and wee are all pilgrims and strangers 1 Pet. 2. 11. and our fathers were no better Psal. 39. 10. I am a stranger and sojourner as all my fathers were Vita est via omnes Christianus viator Our life is a way and every man living in this world a passenger A direct motion and that continuate and uninterrupted from the cradle to the coffin from the wombe to the tombe is the way of all flesh a way in which children walk before they can goe and old men crawle when they cannot now goe Infants who never had the use of their limbes and impotent old who have lost them yet runne this race wherein though some make a longer line and others a shorter yet all finish their course a strange race wherein though a man stand still or sleepe yet hee advanceth forward and gaineth ground and he goeth so much the faster by how much he is the weaker for the lesse vigorous the more speedily he tends to his long and last home the houre-glasse is running whether the Preacher proceeds or makes a pawse and the shippe is sayling whither it is bound when wee sleepe in our cabbine so whether wee wake or sleepe moove or rest be busie or idle minde it or mind it not we walke on toward our long home That which Saint Paul spake in a morall or divine sence Seneca makes good in a naturall Wee dye daily for every day nay every houre we lose some part of our life as our yeares increase so our time decreaseth for the more yeares moneths dayes or houres that we have lived the lesse we have to live the glasse is running not only when the last sand drops out but all the while so wee are expiring and dying from the running of the first sand in the houre-glasse of our life to the last from the moment we receive breath to the moment that we breath out our last gaspe Thus the man in my text goeth or rather runneth still in his naturall course that is every man for the word in the originall is Adam in whom wee all die who is so tarmed from Adama the earth not that more solid part of the earth but the brittlest of all red earth sand or dust Pulvis es in pulverem ivis Of dust thou art made and dust shall be made of thee Now if there be any living upon earth who hath none of this earth in
of a hireling The Almond tree groweth not upon the head of any without dew from heaven here it grew and bloomed in a seasonable time If life be a blessing long life is a greater blessing especially if it be crowned with a happy death for the last Act maketh our life a Comedie or a Tragedie and as the evening proves the day so a mans estate at his death and after over-rules the verdict of his life Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet and so I fall into the road of my Text and begin to treate of the peaceable end of those who die in the faith and lie in the bosome of Abraham Goe to thy fathers in peace There is a great difference about the interpretation of this phrase Ibis ad patres and the reason of the difference is the difficultie which insueth upon every interpretation For if we referre these words to the body of Abraham and the buriall thereof in the Sepulchres of his Fathers this Exposition complieth not with the truth of the storie for none but Sarah lay in this cave Abrahams Fathers were else-where bestowed If we referre them to the soule of Abraham and illustrate them with this glosse Thou shalt goe in thy soule to the glerious troupe of thy Ancestours a question then will grow what that place is whether his Fathers went before him is it Heaven but some of Abrahams Fathers were Idolatours and we have no warrant to place any Idolatour there Is it Hell thither no man goes in peace neither did ever yet any Jew or Christian so rubbe his forehead or rather arme it with brasse as to affirme that the soule of Abraham in whom all generations of the earth were blessed was in Hell shall wee then send him to the Rabbins Limbus or the Popish Purgatorie or the auncient Fathers occulta receptacula hidden receptacles or unknowne places wherein Tertullian conceiveth that the soules of the faithfull departed resemble those among the Romans who stood for offices and the day of the election while the voyces were in calculation expected in a white gowne whether they were chosen or not Saint Austine also is very expresse for these hidden Cells from the death of a man till the last resurrection the soules are bestowed in hidden receptacles as every soule is worthy either rest or paine To dispell this mist which hath caused many to misse their way first by the light of the Scripture I will cleare the Point in question and then interpret the phrase First then for the soules of the faithfulls flight after shee is free from this clog of flesh I answer that it is straight to Heaven to the assembly of the first borne there and the spirits of just men made perfect for of Enoch who was translated that he might walke with God and of Elias who was carried up into Heaven in a fierie Chariot there is little doubt can bee made and lesse of Abraham to whose bosome in Heaven Lazarus was carried and least of all on the Theife to whom Christ promised on the Crosse this day thou shalt bee with mee in Paradise Why should Saint Paul so earnestly desire to bee dissolved and to bee with Christ if after his dissolution till the day of judgement hee should not come neare him nor see his face Why should all godly Christians bee so willing to bee absent from the bodie that they might bee present with the Lord if after they were absent from the bodie they should not come into the Lords presence who dare question that which the Apostle so expresly and so confidently delivers wee know that if the house of our earthly tabernacle bee dissolved wee have an eternall in the Heavens As for the phrase thou shalt go to thy Fathers it is but an elegant circumlocution of the period of our life a quaver upon the close thereof for the meaning is thou shalt dye or go the way of all flesh Quo pius â—…neas quo dives Tullus Ancus whether all thy Fathers went before thee good and bad rich and poore for Deaths sickle like the Italian Captaines sword which could not distinguish betweene a Guelf and Gibelive slaies all and makes a prey of all The righteous soule must for a time be divorced from the body as well as the foule of the wicked and in the graves the Wormes claime kindred of the elect as well as of the reprobate the consideration whereof put the Preacher into a passion how doth the righteous man dye as well as the wicked as it is said of Abraham that hee is gathered to his Fathers so it is sayd also of Ishmael and may bee of the wickedest man that breathes And herein the language of Canaan and the language of Ashdod doe not much differ for what the Romans meane by that their phrase abijt ad plures hee is gone to the many The Hebrewes in a sanctified phrase expresse by abijt ad patres hee is gone to his Fathers or gathered to his people where of some interpreters give this acute reason It cannot bee sayd of us here whilest wee live that wee are gathered to our owne people in a spirituall sense because here good and bad are gathered together Elect and Reprobate so journe together all are as it were joynt Comminers upon the earth the Citie of God and the Citie of the World sayle in the same shippe to the Haven of death The Draw-net of the Gospell catcheth sweet and stinking fish in Gods field Tares grow with Wheat in his floare there is much Chaffe with good graine But after death God taketh his Fanne in his hand and purgeth his Floare After wee depart hence God placeth and sorteth his Children by themselves and the Children of the World and the wicked are by themselves and so every man is exactly gathered to his owne people every starre is set in his owne constellation every graine is put in his owne heape every person and family is joyned to his owne tribe wee all passe by the same gate of death but presently after wee are out of it some take the right hand and are ranked with sheepe others the left hand and are ranked among his goates We are all like Plate worne out of fashion and wee must all bee altered and therefore of necessitie must bee melted that is dissolved by death but after wee have runne in the fire of the judgement of God of that which was pure mettall God will make Vessells of honour but of the drossie and alcumie stuffe that is the prophane or impure person or hypocrite vessells of dishonour and these shall shine like the sunne in the Firmament those shall gloe like coales in the fire of hell for ever more By this it should seeme may some object that the righteous have no prerogative in death above the wicked but onely after death and consequently that God promised Abraham no blessing in these words thou shalt goe to thy fathers it
an Icon or lively expression to the eye sicut galina congregat pullos suos As the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings Where are now our Anabaptists and plaine pack-staffe methodists who esteeme of all flowers of Rhetoricke in Sermons no better then stinking weedes and of all elegancies of speech then of prophane spells For against their wills at unawares they censure the holy Oracles of God in the first place which excell all other writings as well in eloquence as in Science doubtlesse as the breath of a man hath more force in a Trunke and the winde a lowder and sweeter sound in the Organ-pipe then in the open ayre so the matter of our speech and the theame of our discourse which is conveyed through figures and formes of Art both sound sweeter to the eare and pierce deeper into the heart there is in them plus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more evidence and more efficacie they make a fuller expression and take a deeper impression Secondly where are our prophane Criticks who delight in the flesh-pots of Egypt and loath Manna admire carnall eloquence in Poets and heathen Oratours and taske the Scriptures for rude simplicitie and want of all Art and eloquence It is true the Scripture is written in a style peculiar to it selfe the elocution in it is such as Lactantius observeth that it befitteth no other bookes as neither doth that wee find in other bookes befit it As the matter in Scripture so the forme is divine nec vox hominum sonat which consisteth not in the words of mans wisedome but in the evidence of the Spirit Yet is there admirable eloquence in it and farre surpassing which we find in all other writings Wherefore Politian the Grammarian who pretended he durst not touch any leafe in the Bible for feare of defiling the puritie of his language or slurring the glosse of his style is condemned as well by learned humanists as Divines And Theopompus who went about to cloath Gods word with gay and trimme phrases of heathen Oratours and Poets was punished by God with losse of his wits Thus have we viewed the forme let us now have an eye to the matter our Lords conquest over Death and the Grave There are two things most dreadfull to the nature of man Death and the Grave the one severeth the soule the other consumeth the body and resolveth it inâ—… dust the valiantest conquerours that with their bloody flags and colours have strucke a terrour unto all Nations yet have beene affrighted themselves at the displaying of the pale and wan colours of Death the most retired Philosophers and Monkes who have lived in Cells and Caves under the ground yet have beene startled at the sight of their Grave How much then are wee indebted to our Christian faith that not only overcommeth the world but also conquereth the feare of Death and the grave and dareth both in the words of my Text O death sting mee if thou canst O grave conquer mee if thou bee able O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victorie In which words the Apostle like a Cryer calleth Death and the Grave into the Court and examineth them upon two Articles first concerning the sting of the one secondly concerning the victorie of the other Will it please you then to fixe the eye of your observation upon the parts of this Text as they are layd before you in termes of Law 1 A Citation 2 An Examination In the Citation upon 1 the manner of it 2 the parties cited 1 Death 2 Grave In the Examination 1 Upon the first Interrogatorie put to Death touching the ledging of his sting 2 Upon the second Interrogatorie put to the Grave touching the field of his victorie First for the manner of Citing it is by an Apostrophe a figure often accurring in holy Scripture as in the booke of Kings O Altar Altar O ye mountaines of Gilboa and of the Psalmes lift up ye gates and bee ye lift up you everlasting doores and of the Canticles Arise O North and blow O South and in the Prophets O earth earth earth In imitation of which strings of rhetoricke the Auncient Fathers in their funerall Orations many times turned to the dead and used such compellations as these audâ—… Constaâ—… 〈◊〉 Paula heare O 〈◊〉 farewell O Paula From which passages our adversaries very weakely if not ridiculously inferres the invocation of Saints departed making weapons of plumes of leathers and arguments of ornaments and which is farre worse Divinitie of rhetoricke and articles of faith of tropes of sentences By a like consequence they might conclude that hills and trees and the earth and gates and death and hell have eyes to looke upon us or eares to heare us or that we ought to invocate them because the Holy Ghost maketh such Apostrophes to them as the Fathers doe to the soules of Saints newly departed out of their bodies Secondly for the parties here cited and called in their order first Death and then the Grave Death goes before the Grave because men dye before they are buried and the Grave is properly no Grave till it bee possessed by a dead bodie before it is but a hole or pit O Death In Hebrew Maveth from Muth whence mutus in Latine is derived and mute in English because Death bereaveth us of speech and for a like reason the Grave is tearmed Domus silentii a house of silence In Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snpple 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 either from a word signifying to stretch because death stretcheth out the bodie or from words signifying to tend upwards because by death the soule is carried upwards returning to God that gave it In Latine Mors either quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our fatall portion or as Saint Austine will have it a morsu because the biting of the Serpent caused it The letter or word is but like the barke or rinde the sense is the juyce yet here wee may sucke some sweetnesse from the barke or rinde From the hebrew Muth we learne that our tongues must bee bound to their good behaviour concerning the dead we must not make them our ordinarie table talke or breake jeasts upon them much lesse vent our spleene or wreake our malice on them wee must never speake of them but in a serious and regardfull manner de mortuis nil nisi bene From the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutando Ï„ tenuem in Θ aspiratam wee must learne to extend our hands to the poore especially neare death which stretcheth out our bodies and to send our thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the things that are above whether if wee dye well the Angells shall imediately carrie our souls From the Latine mors so tearmed quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
print that the Apostles and Evangelists had no command from God to write their Gospells or Epistles but that they wrote upon the entreatie of some friends or some emergent occasions Were there no other Text in all the holy Scriptures but this nor word in this Text but this one Write it were alone sufficient to convince him of grosse ignorance if not rathâ—…r giving the lye to his own knowledge But yet farther rather to confound him with shame then convince him with evidence doth not the Apostle affirme in generall of the whole Scripture that it is given by Divine insâ—…iration and what is inspiring but a kinde of dictating to all the Pen-men of the holy Ghost and doth not hee that dictateth to another both tell him what hee shall write and bid him write it Besides in the 1. of the Apocalypse vers 10. 11. Saint Iohn heard a great voyce as of a trumpet saying I am Alpha and Omega the first and the last and what thou seest write in a Booke Thirdly besides the generall command of committing the whole Word of God to writing and a speciall mandate for the writing the Apocâ—…lypse wee have a singular precept for the writing the precise words of this Text and must not that needs bee thrice worthy our observation which is written by a threefold command and what is that Blessed are the dead If the dead are blessed the dead are for â—…n argument à tertio adjacentâ—… ad secundum ever holdeth if the teaâ—…es bee taken in the proper sense The Metaphisicks demonstraâ—… non entis nullus esse affectiones that such things as have no existence have no qualities nor reall attributes but blessednesse is here attributed to the dead the dead therefore are And the Philosopher who being demanded whether the living or the dead were more in number answered that doubtlesse the living quia mortui ne sunt quidem because the dead were not to bee reckoned upon inregard now they are not at all spake without booke and uttered that which is most false as wee learne from the mouth of Truth himselfe who not onely affirmeth that the dead are but that they are also living though dead to this World yet not to the World to come dead to men but not dead to God have yee not read sayth our Saviour what is spoken unto you by God saying I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but of the living for all live to him but are all the dead blessed the Text answereth all the dead that die in the Lord That dye in the Lord Yea but you will say those that are already dead cannot dye what then is the meaning of this phrase the dead that dye in the Lord Saint Ambrose answereth hee that is dead alreadie cannot dye in the same sense that hee is dead but hee that is alreadie dead in one sense may bee sayd to dye in another hee that is dead to the World as all the regenerated who have mortified the deeds of the flesh may afterwards dye to the bodye and so dye in the Lord that is breathe out his soule into the hands of the Lord. This is sound Divinitie and a true proposition but no true exposition of this place in which the latter seemeth to bee a limitation of the former as God is neare to all that call upon him yea all that call upon him faithfully so here blessed are the dead what all dead howsoever they dye no but all that dye in the Lord. There is much varietie among the interpreters about the interpretation of this phrase to dye in the Lord. Some will have the meaning thereof to bee those that dye for the Christian faith and seale the truth thereof with their bloud And they alleage for themselves first paralell texts of Scripture wherein the preposition in is put for pro for as Gen. 18. 13. omnes in tâ—… benedicentur all Nations shall bee blessed in thee that is for thee and in thy seed that is â—…orthy seed and Gen. 28. 18. servivi Berachel word for word I served in Rachel that is for Rachel Next they alleage the anteâ—…edents together with the occasion of these words verse 12. here is the patience of the Saints here are they that keepe the Commandements of God and the faith of Iesus Christ and truly the maine scope of the Text seemeth to bee to arme the godly with patience and to encourage them to fight against the Beast upon whom before God execute vengeance if it so fall out that many of Gods faithfull servants loose their lives Yet that none should be dismayed therewith because all that so dye are blessed for they exchange a temporall life in this World for an eternall in another Thirdly say they it cannot bee well conceived how any can dye in Domino in the Lord who is the Lord of life if wee take the preposition in the proper sence for though in the naturall bodie a member may bee cut off and dye the head being alive yet it is not so in the mysticall bodie of Christ no true Member thereof can bee cut off much lesse dye while it continues in that bodie by dying in the Lord therefore wee must understand dying for the Lord so they Others will have the words not to bee restrained to Martyrs onely but to belong to all that die in the feare of God and the faith of Christ. And they alleage for themselves also a paralell Text 1 Cor. 15. 18. where to fall a sleepe in the Lord is spoken generally of all true beleevers departing this life Besides Saint Bernard and other of the Auncients apparantly distinguish these phrases mori in Domino mori propter Dominum to dye in the Lord and to dye 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 dye for the Lord is the glory of martyrs but to dye in the Lord the glory of all Confessors if they are happy who dye in the Lord how much more they that dye for the Lord Thirdly the reward here promised is common to all beleevers and not peculiar to the Martyrs for all true beleevers when they dye rest from their labours and their workes follow them If the Spirit had meant Martyrs onely hee would rather have sayd they have ease from their torments then rest from their labours and their trophies and victories follow them All that dye for the Lord dye also in the Lord but all that dye in the Lord doe not necessarily dye for the Lord wee denie not that the Martyrs have the greatest share in this blessednesse but all Confessours have their partsalso the Martyrs Crowne is beset with a Rubie or some richer jewell then ordinary their Garland hath a flower or two more in it to
the Apostle sayth Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith wee rejoyce under the hope of the glorie of God where there is an earnest and certaine expectation of Christ faith giving assurance to the soule of Christs returne for the happinesse of it it rejoyceth under the hope the heart resolveth it selfe into joy because it shall enjoy Christ. That which the Apostle Saint Peter sayth confirmeth this notably whom sayth hee having not seene and yet wee love him and rejoyce with joy unspeakeable and glorious Doe wee finde this joy in our hearts this heavenly joy that which shall bee perfected in the presence and full fruition of Christ But alas where shall wee finde this joy in the World Men joy in Corne and Wine and oyle in the encreasing of their Money and Stockes and Estates where is the joy the heart is resolved into to consider and remember the returne of Christ to the full and perfect happinesse of the soule Certainely my brethren this is a rare grace upon the earth and yet where it is not that man can have no sound argument in his owne heart that hee hath this expectation of the comming of Christ for with it there is a sound joy in the heart that the world breeds not nor cannot take away A third companion to trie the truth of this expectation is an endeavour after puritie of heart and life this must needes goe with this expectation 1 Iohn 3. 3. Hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe and is pure as hee is pure Hee that hath this hope that expects Christ hopefully and joyfully hee purgeth himselfe hee that wayteth for Christ wayteth for him that hee may bee like him that hee may bee holy as Christ is holy still reserving the proportion of a member and bee pure as Christ is pure What a number bee there that professe they looke for Christs returne for their finall salvation and yet this expectation doth not purge their hearts doth not cleanse those nastie and filthie corners that are there It purgeth not their mouth from falshood and lying and deceitfull and cursed speeches nor their hands from injustice and oppression and the like they are no whit like Christ in their conversation and yet they hope for and expect Christ no hee that hath this hope purgeth himselfe What shall wee thinke of them that oppose that seeke to oppresse puritie of heart and life that cast scornes upon puritie and holinesse what shall we thinke of these persons Shall we thinke that they have this expectation They will tell yee I and justifie it before any man and boldly stand upon the expectation of their Saviour as well as others but if thou hate puritie in others then thou hatest it in thy selfe and hee that purgeth not himselfe hath not this hope for he that hath this hope purgeth himsefe as he is pure A fourth companion and attendant of this expectation is Christian fortitude and valour and unweariednesse in labouring and suffering for Christ. Where this expectation is the soule is invincible in labouring and sufferings Hee careth not what he endures what hee sets on for the name of Christ. This wee shall see in the Apostle Saint Paul when hee had the white in his eye when hee had this ayme set before him the high price of the high calling of GOD in Christ I forget the things saith he that are behind and presse hard to the things that are before Though his labour and paines and sufferings were marveilous great he forgetteth all them and still presseth hard to the marke the prise of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus So holy Moses because hee looked for the recompence of the reward hee chose to suffer affliction with the people of GOD rather then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Besides those faithfull servants of GOD many other instances might bee added to shew that when a man hath this expectation that Christ will come and give him the end and recompence of his labour and eternall joy and glory for his short sufferings which are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed hee refuseth no paines no labour no passion no sufferings for Christ and a good conscience But what need we goe further then the example of Christ himselfe the example of all examples who for the joy that was set before him indured the Crosse and despised the shame and why was this but for our example that wee should despise the crosses that are before us and goe on unweariedly and unfaintingly through all crosses and persecutions if wee meete with never so many oppositions with never so many Diuells yet to goe chearefully on in the wayes of God why because wee have a hope and an expectation before us of Christ appearing Further another attendant of this expectation is this It blunteth and abateth the fiery edge of our affections to the things of this world Hee that hath this expectation is weaned from the world it looseneth the soule from the world every day more then other Whereas naturally wee are rivetted to earthly things fastened to the world this expectation wrought in the heart causeth us to walke more loosely and unjoynted it blunteth and abateth those eager desires that are in us to earthly things See it in the example of that worthy servant of God Moses because hee looked for a Citie and for the recompence of reward that was set before him hee scorned the treasures of Egypt hee despised them hee cared not for honour or treasures or all that Egypt could afford he had rather suffer afflictions with Gods people why because hee looked for the recompence of reward Bee there not a number of persons that professe they expect Christ his returne for their finall salvation and yet notwithstanding they are so fixed to the world they gather the world as greedily grapling the things of this life together so earnestly with such vehement affections as if they were to live their age over a hundred times Bee there not a number of polititians that professe this hope too that hold it most unwise and foolish thing in the world to lose any thing for conscience-sake and for Christ Alas these things will not stand with this expectation When a man hath a good title to heaven he is content to part with the broken title to the things of this life as long indeed as a man hath not a better title hee will hold to that worse but when hee hath a blessed title to the inheritance of the Saints in light hee careth not for this broken Tenour and title hee will not hold them because they cannot hold him In the last place another note that attendeth this expectation is where this is there will bee an answerable affection there will bee a promoting of all the meanes to further it there will bee a griefe and sorrow for all things that come against it to hinder it Thus wee doe in other expectations When we expect this
Attendants 4. Administration 5. Saints 2 Thes. 〈◊〉 â—…0 Christ is God 〈◊〉 Ioh. Isay 9. 6. Christ a great God Vse 1. Comfort to Gods children 2. Terrour to the wicked Object Answ. Comfortthat Christ the Saviour is Iudge Act. â—…7 31. Doctr. Every Christian so to live as expecting the appearing of Christ. Luke 2. 36. Phil. 3. 20. Jude 21. 2 Pet. 3. 14. Observat. 1. Col. 3. 3. Vse Observat. 2 Observat. Vse 1. Vse 2. Observat. Vse 1. Aug. lib. 8. Confess Cap. â—…lt Parts of the Text unfolded Sleepâ—… threefold 1. Naturall Psal. 3. 5. 2. Morall Dan. 12. 2. Act. 7. ult 3 Spirituall compared to sleepe 1. For the time the night 2. Exposed to danger Deut. 32. 3. Willingnesse 4. Suddennesse Mat. 26. 5. Incensiblenesse and immoveablenesse 6. Vaine fancies 7. The continuance 2. What meant by waking 1. To open the eyes to see the light 2. To rouze the senses 3. Get out of bed 3. Who must awake Quest. Answ. 1. The naturall man 2. The regenerate Cant. 5. 2. Mat. 25. Rev. 3. 2. 4. Why the Apostle calls upon these that are asleepe Exhortations not invaine 1. To the godly 2. To the wicked The dead sleepe of the world 1. Idolaters Rev. 2. 2. Adulterers 3. Drunkards Prov. 23. 4. Sabbath-breakers 5. Oppressours 6. Securitie The sleepe of the Church Signes of sleepie Christians 1. Carelesnesse 2. When men intend nothing but sleepe 3. Wasting of time 4. Decay of naturall heate Exhortation to awake from sleepe 1. It is unprofitable 2. It unfitâ—… for dutie 1. Exercise 2. Combate 3. To waitâ—… our Masters comming 3. Our enemie sleepes not Mat. 13. Prov. 24. 4. Gods mercie sleepes not 5. Gods judgements sleepe not 6. We are all to meet death Parts of the Text. Propos. They that are in covenant with God may bee without carnall feare 1. What feare is Kindes of feare 1. Naturall 2. Carnal feare 3. Servile feare Act 2. 4. Filiall feare Isay 8. 12. Reas. We are delivered from our enemies either Luke 1. 47. 1. By reconciliation 2. By conquest Vse 1. The power of grace must reflect on a mans selfe Vse 2. Possible to live with out feare Psalme 23. Vse 3. Reproofe for inordinate feare 1. We feare too soone 2. Too much 1. It brings a great deale of ill Esay 66. 4. 2. It unfits the heart to beare evilâ—… It hurts the body It doth hurt to the soule 1. Naturally 2. Spiritually Feare the ground of most sinnes Vse 4. To fence our hearts against it No cause of feare 1. Of spirituall enemies 2. Of worldly evills Ier. 46. 28. Obiect Answ. Obiect Answ. Quest. Answ. How to get the conquest of feare 1. Labour for the spirit 2. Keepe covenant with God Num. 14. 9. 3. Strengthen faith Psal. 112. 4. To place our love aright August Simile Doct. Both words and actions shall be called to account 2 Cor. 5. 10. Eccles. 12. Mat. 12. 36. Matth. 5. 22 Iude 13. 14. Reas. 1. The Law binds men in speeches Reas. 2. Words injure God and man Levit. 24. 11. Act. 8. Vse To condemn those that make light account of words Psal. 39. Psal. 131. Doctr. God will proceede in judgement according to his Law Ioh. 12. 48. Obiect Answ. All men judged by the Law The Law not alike expressed to all Rom. 2. 14 Reas. 1. The Law is Gods scepter that he rules by Psal. 110. 2. Isay 2. 3. 4. Reas. 2. Because the law is a rule Mica 6. 8. Vse 1. Repâ—…oofe of those that neglect the Law Rom. 2. 16. Prov. 13. 13. Quest. Answ. To despise Gods commandement what Ioh. 6. Matth. 25. 41 Vse 2. Admonition to observe the Law 1. For direction Matth. 5 2. For tryall Gal. 6. 3. 4. 1 Cor. 11. 32. Prov. 28. 13. Doct. The consideration of the day of judgement should moove to holinesse 1. It hath drawn some to obedience Eccles. 11. 9. 1. To forsake the world Phil. 3. 7. 2. Disposing the heart to obedience Eccles 12. 10. Heb. 12. Rev. 14. 2. It quickens to actions of obedience 1. Os particular calling 2. Generall calling 3. It confirmes in obedience Rev. 3. 11. Iam. 5. Vse Shewing the cause of the worlds prophanenesse and the Saints dejectednesse 2 Pet. 3. Vse 2. To strengthen faith of the judgement Ierome Parts of the Text. Meaning of the words Doct. Death due to sinne as wages Gen. 2. 17. Ezek. 18. 20. Rom. 5. 12. Iam. 1. 15. Quest. Answ. Whaâ—… death due to sinne 1. Temporall Rom. 5. 12. Obiect Answ. How Adam died a natural death as soon as he sinned Obiect Answ. How Christians freed from temporall death 1 Cor. 15. Christians undergoe temporall death why 1. 2. 3. 4. Simile 2. Eternall death Answ. Sinne infinite three wayes 1. In respect of the object 2. The subject 3. The sinners dâ—…sire Vse 1. Originall lust a sin Basile Vse 2. 〈◊〉 no sinne in it selfe veniall 1 Joh. 3. 5. Sins mortall and veniall how Vse 3. In spectacles of death to see the haynousnesse of sinne Vse 4. Todeterre us from sin Similies Ioh. 2. 1 Sam 14 Vse 5. To be humble and thankfull Life twofold 1. Naturall 2. Spirituall 1. In this life Job 17. 5. 2. In death 3. After the Resurrection A thing eternall three wayes 1. 2. 3. Doct. Salvation the free gift of God Quest. Answ. Austin Quest. Answ. Ioh. 3. Vse 1. Confutation of merit Rom. 8. Vse 2. To humble us Vse 3. Comfort Isa. 54. 2 Tim. 1. 12. Vse 4. Thankfulnesse Psal. 50 Deut. 30. 19. Isa. 45. 24. The Analysis of the Chapter Propos. 1. God is pleased to set himselfe to procure the profit of his people Proved by instances 1. In his instituting Ordinances in the Church 1. The preaching of the Word Act. 26. 18. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 2. The Sacrament of the Supper 3. Prayer Vnprofitable living under the ordinances a taking the name of God in vaine 4. Seâ—…ng of Christ into the world in our nature 2. In his command and injunction Deut. 10. 13. Matth. 〈◊〉 29. 3. In his several administrations 1. Permitting sin to remain 2. To prevaile 3. Withdrawing his presence 4. Suspending his answer to their prayers 5. Denying their particular suites 6. Deprives them of their dearest blessings Iames 5. 11. Use of exhortation 1. 2. 3. Vse 2. Of Instruction 1. 2. 1 Cor. 10. 33. Propos. 2. Gods ayme in afflicting his children is their profit Gen 41. 52. Afflictions they are profitable The blessed fruit of afflictions 2 Chron. 33. 1â—… Deut. 8. 15. Isa. 27. 9. Hab. 1. 12. The Saints of God have waited for the profit of afflictions 2 Sam. 16. 12. Isa. 37. 4. Vse 1. For reproofe Gods children prone to misconster the intent of God in their afflictions 1 Sam. 27. 1. Esa. 6. 5. Lam. 3. 16. 18 Isa. 49. 14. Jer. 29. 11. Vse 2. For comfort Isa. 10. 57. Simile Isay 10. 12. Vse 3. Exhortation to a patient expectation of the fruit of affliction Obiect Answ. 1. 2. 3. Iob 17. 4. The
thy husband are at the doore and shall carrie thee out also This is the reason of all that worldly-mindednesse of all that earnestnesse and intention to gaine the favour of men by indirect meanes this is the reason of all that immoderate care about our businesse with the neglect of our soules this is the reason of all that carnall securitie of all that forgetfulnesse of God and the account that shall be made at the day of Iudgement this is the reason of the unfruitfulnesse of our lives of our unprofitable spending of our times or of whatsoever else it be this is even the very reason of all because even those that professe themselves to be the people of God and to give God the glory of his attributes in all his workes yet they lay not to heart the death of those that are before them Men durst not they could not passe away their time in such unprofitablenesse and unfruitfulnesse as they doe if they did seriously consider and lay to heart the death of others before them Againe secondly As it condemnes the generall neglect that is amongst men of this dutie so it serves to reproue that sinfull laying to heart of the death of others that is too frequent and common in the world That is first when men with too much fondnesse and with too great excesse and distemper of affection looke upon their dead friends as if God could never repaire the losse nor make amends for that he hath done in taking of them away Rachel mourneth and will not bee comforted David mourneth and will scarce bee comforted Oh Absalom my sonne my sonne would God I had died for thee What is all this but to looke on friends rather as Gods then men as if all sufficiencie were included in them only Men looke on their friends as Micah did upon his Idoll when they had bereaved him of it they took away all his comfort and quiet You have taken away my Gods saith hee and what have I more or as Laban that when his Idols were stolne away his heart was dead hee could not stay in his house hee could not enjoy himselfe wherefore have you stollen away my gods saith hee So I say men looke on their dead friends as they should looke upon the Creatour and not as upon the creature they take their death to heart but not in a right manner This is the very reason why God many times makes your Christian friends so unprofitable to you when they live because you idolize them you advance them above God This is the reason also why you are so unable to beare the losse of them when they die God beating you now with your owne rodde and making you feele the fruit and effect of your owne folly This now is an ill taking to heart the death of friends to mourne as men without hope Secondly there is a taking to heart and considering of the death of men but it is an unrighteous considering an unrighteous judging of the death of others If men see one die it may bee a violent death then they conclude certainly there is some apparent token of Gods judgement on such a one If they see another die with some extremitie of torment and vehement paines certainly there is some apparant evidence of Gods wrath upon this man If they see another in some great and violent tentation strugling against many tentations they conclude presently certainly such are in worser case then others I may say to all these as Christ said once to those that told him of the eighteene men upon whom the tower in Siloe fell thinke you that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Hierusalem Or rather as Solomon saith All things come alike unto all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the cleane and to the uncleane to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Learne to judge righteous judgement to judge wisely of the death of others take heed of condemning the generation of the just But rather in the last place Make this use of the death of every one Doth such a man die by an ordinary sicknesse having his understanding and memorie continued to the end Doth such a man die in inward peace and comfort with cleare and evident apprehensions of Gods love so that he can with Simeon say Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace What use shouldest thou that livest make of this now Certainly let the sweetnesse of their death make thee in love with the goodnesse of their lives That is the only way to a happy death to a comfortable end indeed the leading of a fruitfull and profitable life Againe dost thou see the children of God full of temptations full of feares and disquietnesse of spirit in their death Sometimes so overcome with the violence of the disease as that it may be they speake impertinently and idlely it may bee sinfully What use shouldest thou make of this now Certainly let the terriblenesse of the example of such a mans death let it bee a terrour to thee and a meanes to stirre thee up to more carefulnesse of making good use of thy time in this life Nabal dieth and his heart is in him as a stone If ever God quicken thee if ever God breath upon thy soule or enliven thee by the inward motions of his Spirit embrace those opportunities and seasons of grace lest God smite thee with an everlasting deadnesse Againe hath God caused the light of his countenance to shine upon thy heart Doth hee offer a gracious message of peace to thy soule Doth hee speake peace at any time by the ministerie of his Word Imbrace those offers yeeld to those conditions of peace lest thou bee deprived of peace at the end Againe hath GOD given thee any strength over temptations Hast thou prevailed over the assaults of Sathan and other of thy enemies Hath hee made thee a conquerour take heed how thou insnarest thy selfe againe how thou inthrallest thy selfe in yeelding to Sathans yoke lest hee buffet thee by him in a worse manner at thy end Thus I say thou canst see nothing befall any of GODS servants in their death or in the manner of their death whether it bee more pleasing or more sorrowfull more calme and quiet or more tempestuous and full of trouble whether it bee more comfortable or more lamentable but it may be usefull unto thee If it bee good it may bee it shall bee so with thee if it be bad it may bee it shall bee so with thee too The maine businesse that a man hath to doe is to make sure of himselfe in this life It was the question that Saint Austin made to those that told him of a violent death that seized upon one But how did he live saith hee He made no matter how he went out
your names to be glorious and to make a faire shew in the world but to get grace and to get faith and hope and love and repentance none of your thoughts almost runne that way scarce any of your thoughts are so bestowed Is not this to be children in understanding Againe he is a foolish man that knoweth he shall meet an enemie and will not prepare If a man should heare of twenty or thirty thousand souldiers were gathered against the Citie and besieged it to destroy it He would not be so foolish and so simple then as to bestow himselfe in his trade and to follow his businesse and to give himselfe to merriment but hee would get his weapons and he would looke about him helpe to arme the City and to make it strong Why doe yee not consider that your soule is as a Citie Death will come against it and batter you with sicknesse with paines and at last will certainly take it and if the soule be not prepared will carry it to Hell fire Why will you be so retchlesse and senslesse to eate and drinke and labour to grow rich to bury your selves in earthly labours and never thinke how to escape how Death may be kept out that will destroy soule and body I presume you are ashamed of this folly by this time I hope yee will goe away with remorse and sorrow for so carelesly neglecting a thing of so great importance to be provided for In the third place therefore I entreate you begin this great worke this day Consider if you have not begun the enemie lieth in waite for thee oh man or woman if thou bee never so young thou maist meet with him before night if thou bee old thou must meet with him ere long Prepare for him betime thinke what an enemy may encounter thee in the way If a man be to travell though he be not assured to meet with an enemie yet he will strive to get good company and weapon himselfe he will carry his sword something he will doe that if a theefe come to robbe him he may be able to prevent the danger Beloved thinke that there is an enemy that way-laies us as we goe along in the world one time or other he will be sure to come upon us therefore stirre up your selves begin this day to prepare for this enemie How shall I prepare for Death I told you before it is not amisse in a word to repeat it Get Faith in Christ and Hope and Charitie and Repentance These will be meanes to prepare and helpe thee against Death Therefore if hitherto thou have not lament and bewaile the sinfulnesse of thy nature and life Assoone as thou art out of this place get thee into a solitarie roome fall upon thy knees lament thy sinnes the ilnesse of thy nature and carriage rehearse thy wayes as much as thou canst condemne thy selfe before God mightily crie for pardon in the mediation of his Sonne and never leave sobbing and mourning till he hath given thee some answer that hee is reconciled And then strive to get faith in Christ call to mind the perfection of his redemption the excellencie of his person and merits that thou maist repose thy soule on him that thou maist say though my sinnes 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 Christ thou hast done and suffered enough to redeeme mee and Man-kind thou hast suffered for the propitiation of the world though my sinnes deserve a thousand damnations yet I trust upon thy mercie according to the Covenant made in thy Word Thus when a man laboureth to cast himselfe on Christ to lay the burthen of his salvation and to venter his soule on him now he hath beleeved this Breast-plate Death is not able to thrust through And then labour that this faith may worke so strongly that it may breed Hope a constant and firme expectation grounded on the promises of the Word that thou shalt bee saved and goe to Heaven and be admitted into the presence of God when thou shalt be separated from this lower world Hee 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 doe nothing but helpe him to his kingdome And then labour for Charitie to inflame thee to him againe that hath shewed himselfe so truly loving to men as to seeke them when they were lost to redeeme them when they were captives and to restore them from that unhappinesse that they had cast themselves innto 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 paines to helpe them out of miserie Thus if yee labour to be furnished with these graces then you are armed against Death those will doe you more good then if you had gotten millions of millions of gold and silver As you have understanding for the outward man as you have care to provide for that to preserve and comfort life while you are here so have a care for the future world and that boundlesse continuance of eternitie If a man live miserably 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 endlesse Yee mistake beloved yee account men happy that abound in wealth and honour that have great estates I say yee mistake in accounting men happy that enjoy the good things of this life that can live in prosperitie 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 unhappinesse after death For the more sinne he hath committed the more miserie shall betide him his life being nothing but a continued chaine of wickednesse one linke upon another till he settle upon a preparation for Death And in the last place here is a great deale of comfort to those that have laboured to prepare for death though to them Death is an enemie yet it is an enemie 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 evill can doe 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 poore Saints that have bestowed their time in humiliation and supplication and confession that have daily endevoured to renew their faith and hope and repentance Death hath no manner of terriblenesse in the world if it bee terrible to a Christian at the first it is onely because he hath forgot himselfe a little he