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<DATE>2011-01-13</DATE>
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<NAME>Graham Hukill</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, OR Life in its derivation from CHRIST.</P>
<P>In a SERMON Preached at the Funeral of that honour|ed Lady, the Lady <HI>JANE READE,</HI> The relict of Sir <HI>JOHN READE,</HI> (Sometimes whil'&s;t he lived) of <HI>Sorangle</HI> in <HI>Lincoln&s;hire,</HI> Knight.</P>
<P>By <HI>Edmund Pinchbeck,</HI> B. D.</P>
<Q><P>Ble&s;&s;ed and holy is he that hath part in the fir&s;t re&s;urrection, on &s;uch the &s;econd death hath no power.</P>
<BIBL><HI>Revel. 20.6.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<Q><P>With thee it the Well of life, and in thy light &s;hall we &s;ee light.</P>
<BIBL><HI>P&s;al, 36.9.</HI></BIBL></Q>
<P><HI>London,</HI> Printed by <HI>T. R.</HI> &amp; <HI>E. M.</HI> for <HI>Humf<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ey Tuckey,</HI> at the black-&s;pread Eagle in Fleet &s;treet, over again&s;t St. <HI>Dun&s;tans</HI> Church. 1652.</P>
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<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the Wor&s;hipful THOMAS READE E&s;quire, AND M^r^s^. <HI>BRIDGET READE,</HI> his right vertuous wife, elde&s;t daughter, and one of the Co-heirs of the Right-Wor&s;hipful Sir <HI>CHARLES CROFTS</HI> of <HI>Bardwell</HI> in <HI>Suffolk,</HI> Knight.</HEAD>
<P>_GOd in his providence, and goodne&s;&s;e, hath &s;o ordered the holy Scriptures, &s;o adapt|ed them to all &s;orts and conditions of people, &s;o fitted them for us, according to our &s;everal wits, our &s;everal capaci|ties, and apprehen&s;ions, that every one (who&s;oever with due and requi&s;ite preparation addre&s;&s;es him&s;elfe to the &s;earch of the &s;ame) may receive benefit by them. Here is &s;trong meat for the be&s;t &s;tomack, and milke for the tendere&s;t babe; here are depths (ac|cording to <HI>Gregories</HI> re&s;emblance) where the Ele|phant may &s;wim, and &s;hallowe&s;t foards where the lamb may wade, without danger of drowning,
<PB REF="3">here are &s;ome things clo&s;ed, and &s;ealed up, that a <HI>Daniel</HI> cannot understand, <HI>Dan. 12.8.</HI> &s;ome thing againe &s;o obvious and manifest (like <HI>Habakkuks</HI> vi&s;ion) that he that runnes may read. From this extent and fulne&s;&s;e of the holy Scriptures, me thinks I hear re&s;ounding that of the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah, Ho, every one that thir&s;teth, come to the waters.</HI> If God hath thus prepared them for the general good of all, thus furni&s;hed them to give &s;atisfaction to all the thir&s;ty de&s;ires of our &s;oules: is it not equal that every one (without exception) &s;hould take notice of them? challenge his intere&s;t in them? improve them to the intended good of his &s;oul? God brooks not our igno|rance in them; if God have written unto <HI>Ephraim,</HI> the great things of the Law, and then (ungrateful fair &s;uch a favour) if he &s;o neglect them that they be counted as &s;trange things, <HI>Ephraim</HI> &s;hall hear tell of it, God by way of complaint will charge it again&s;t him, as you &s;ee, <HI>Ho&s;ea 8.12.</HI> But now from the per|fection of the holy Scriptures, you may ea&s;ily di&s;|cerne the imperfection of this en&s;uing Sermon; for although it be derived from the Scriptures, and for the &s;ub&s;tance and matter of it, be wholly terminated in the &s;ame; yet herein it degenerates, and becomes unlike them, in that it affoards no depths for Ele|phants, nor &s;trong meat for &s;tronger Chri&s;tians, no entertainment for men of higher endowments. As
<PB REF="3"><HI>Job</HI> brings in the creatures, returning their an&s;wers concerning the place of wi&s;dome, <HI>The depth &s;aith It is not in me; the &s;ea &s;aith, It is not in me, Job 28.14.</HI> &s;o if you &s;hould enquire here for the&s;e arcane, hidden &s;ublimities, into which Eagle-ey'd ingenuity e&s;pecially delights to pry, this poore piece would an|&s;wer accordingly, that none of the&s;e my&s;terious &s;ub|tilties are found within the barren region of the&s;e in|cult lines. And therefore not to prejudice &s;harper wits, more exerci&s;ed in the things of God, but to leave them to the height of their wonted &s;peculations, le&s;t after they have read it over, they finde cau&s;e to complaine with him in the Comoedy; <HI>Pol ego ole|um &amp; operam perdidi,</HI> I have lo&s;t no le&s;&s;e then my time, and labour about it. If it were in my power to make choice of my Readers; I would admit none but &s;uch as could di&s;pen&s;e with that, which the A|po&s;tle calls milk, whole&s;ome, but common and ordi|nary food, and that dre&s;t up after a plain countrey-fa&s;hion. As for your &s;elfe (worthy Sir) to whom in the fir&s;t place it &s;tands directed, although there be no Adamant, nothing of worth in it, to attract your acceptance; yet I know you cannot, but affoard it a courteous entertainment, if in the&s;e re&s;pects you be plea&s;ed to reflect upon it; as fir&s;t, how it was preached at the funeral of your dear mother, that honoured La|dy, the Lady <HI>Anne Reade.</HI> Or &s;econdly, how (ac|cording
<PB REF="4">to your love to the Lord Je&s;us) it &s;tands impre&s;t with the image and &s;uper&s;cription of Chri&s;t, bearing that name in chiefe which is (as <HI>Bernard</HI> exalts it) as honey in the mouth, mu&s;ick in the ear, Jubilee in the heart, that name which is all fragrant, and odoriferous, as an oyntment poured forth, <HI>Cant. 1.1.</HI> that &s;ole and only name, that imports &s;alvatton, <HI>Acts 4.12.</HI> Or La&s;tly, (being a di&s;cour&s;e of that happy life, we derive from our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour) how it may fortifie and &s;trengthen your hopes again&s;t that fear, wherein the hope of the wicked faileth, <HI>Prov. 11.7.</HI> even the fear of the King of feares, death. As for the publication of it, had not the im|portunity of &s;ome (who&s;e de&s;ires were equivalent to commands, who&s;e reque&s;ts brook no denial) over|come mine aver&s;ene&s;&s;e, I had never adventured to tender &s;uch a poor mite to the publike trea&s;ury, &s;uch worthle&s;&s;e goats-haire to the &s;ervice of the Taberna|cle. For (according to the unexpected &s;uddenne&s;&s;e of the occa&s;ion) as it was ha&s;tily formed, (not ha|ving the happine&s;&s;e of the&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, tho&s;e &s;econd revi&s;ing con&s;iderations (to which all things accurate and polite are beholden;) It was put off in an ordinary vulgar habite, without all requi&s;ite po|li&s;h that might make it fit for open view. But now &s;ith it must abroad to vi&s;it the world, (and I cannot withhold it) not to di&s;mi&s;&s;e it without a benediction,
<PB REF="4">let it go, and pro&s;per; a little &s;parke blown up a|mid&s;t drie fewel, &s;uch as is apt and fit for combu&s;tion, ea&s;ily kindles, and breakes forth into a flame, &s;o a weake word (if &s;tirred up by his Spirit) of whom it was &s;aid, <HI>Did not our hearts burn within us, while&s;t he talked with us?</HI>) may warme affection, inflame zeal, effect &s;omething that is good in an ho|ne&s;t heart. If therefore your &s;elfe, your vertuous wife, your de&s;erving &s;i&s;ters, Mi&s;tris <HI>Anne Ogle,</HI> Mi&s;tris <HI>Judith Robin&s;on,</HI> Mi&s;tris <HI>Martha Emp&s;on,</HI> whom I ever honoured for their piety, and goodne&s;&s;e, or any other of your faire flouri&s;hing family, who for the di&s;ea&s;ed Ladies &s;ake, may peradventure be plea|&s;ed to take notice of it, or any other of Gods people, any where belonging to the hou&s;ehold of God, may in the influence of it (the Spirit of God working by it) receive any furtherance in the wayes of God, and hereby gaine any nearer communion with the fountaine of life, our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour; my de&s;ired end is accompli&s;hed. Thus with the tender of all unfeign|ed re&s;pect (and herein I cannot but remember him as intere&s;&s;ed in the &s;ame) whom mine obliged thoughts &s;uffer not to forget, your dear Father in law, Sir <HI>Charles Crofts,</HI> mine honoured friend, together with the very good Lady, the Lady <HI>Crofts,</HI> his prudent, vertuous, and duly re&s;pected wife;) I &s;hall ever pe|tition the Father of mercies, that your Tabernacle
<PB REF="5">may be peacefull, your cup overflowing, your wayes pro&s;perous, your children gracious, your dayes many, your death comfortable, your &s;alvation &s;ure, and that through him that loved us, and gave him&s;elfe for us, Chri&s;t our Lord: To whom be glory for ever, Amen.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your &s;ervant in the Lord, EDMUND PINCHBECK</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="5">
<HEAD>The Fountaine of Life, or Life in its derivation from CHRIST.</HEAD>
<Q><BIBL><HI>PROV. 8.35.</HI></BIBL> Who &s;o findeth me, findeth life.</Q>
<P>_AS the faithfull devout &s;oul admires the beauty and perfection of her beloved, &s;ets her highe&s;t e&s;timate upon him, makes him her &s;ole and only glory, and in &s;trong de&s;ires of communion with him, is &s;o in|flamed in her affections, that &s;he becomes even &s;ick of Love, <HI>Cant.</HI> 2.5. So &s;he preferres the know|ledge of him (that excellent knowledge as the Apo&s;tle cals it, <HI>Phil.</HI> 3.8.) above all the knowledge in the world, &s;he counts that know|ledge not only her deepe&s;t learning, but highe&s;t happine&s;&s;e upon earth, even her eternal life, (as Chri&s;t him&s;elfe &s;tiles it) <HI>John</HI> 17.3. How re&s;olute the Apo&s;tle advances this knowledge, unwilling to exchange it for any other, you fee by that in the 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.2. <HI>I determined not to know any thing among you, &amp;c.</HI> The Corinthi|ans affected learning, many of them addicted them&s;elves to the &s;tudy of arts, and &s;ciences, and were &s;uch good proficients in the &s;ame, that <HI>Tully</HI> calls Corinth <HI>Lumeu totius Graeciae,</HI> the eye and light of all <HI>Greece:</HI> But what was all this Corinthian learning, (the Apo&s;tle being Judge) to the glad tidings of &s;alvation? what was all their Ethicks, Politicks, their Philo&s;ophical depths, Rhetorical &s;traines, Poetical devices, to that great my&s;tery of godline&s;&s;e, <HI>God manife&s;t in the fle&s;h?</HI> the Apo&s;tle &s;ees &s;uch an emptine&s;&s;e in mans wi&s;dome (preci&s;ely con&s;idered in it &s;elfe) that he will not own it, but rejects it as altogether unworthy to &s;tand in competition with the deep things of God. As St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> pro|fe&s;&s;es of him&s;elfe that it abated the heat of his love to <HI>Tullies Horten&s;ius,</HI> a book whereof he was formerly much enamoured,
<PB N="2" REF="6">only upon this ground (as him&s;elfe makes the relation) becau&s;e in that book the name of Chri&s;t was not to be found. So for all the people of God, he that hath ever rightly ta&s;ted the honey, and honey-comb of Evangelical &s;weetne&s;&s;e, can never terminate his de&s;ires, never re&s;t fully &s;atisfied in any contentment (how plea|&s;ing to fle&s;h and blood, or glorious &s;oever it be in the eye of the world) that relates not to Chri&s;t, is not perfumed with the odours of his merits, is not in&s;cribed with that holy and reverend name Je&s;us. Hence it is that the Sunne-clothed woman, <HI>Rev.</HI> 12.1. (the embleme of the whole Church) is &s;aid to have the Moon un|der her foot, but upon her head a crown of twelve &s;tarres; as for the world, (all the inferiour things of this life, which for their incon&s;tant mutability are as the Moone) &s;he lightly regards: But as for the Doctrine of the Go&s;pel, (that divine light made known to the world by tho&s;e great Luminaries, tho&s;e bright &s;hining &s;tarres, in the right hand of Chri&s;t, the twelve Apo&s;tles) that &s;he prizes as a crowne of glory, that &s;he highly exalts, &s;o honours, that all other things are as nothing to her in compari&s;on of it. And this the &s;aints do, not from a precipitate ra&s;hne&s;&s;e, but from all deliberation, and advice; <HI>I count all things but lo&s;&s;e, &amp;c. Phil.</HI> 3.8. The word <GAP DESC="foreign"> in the place before quoted, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 2.2 and <GAP DESC="foreign"> here, are words of cen&s;ure, and judgement, I determined, I count, as if the Apo&s;tle &s;hould &s;ay, I &s;ee good rea&s;on why I &s;hould magnifie this knowledge, I have good ground for it, why I &s;hould purcha&s;e it with the lo&s;&s;e of all things: But why is it &s;o de&s;irable? what do the people of God di&s;cerne in it, to be &s;o inamoured on it? In a word, it only availes <HI>to make wi&s;e unto &s;alvation,</HI> 2. <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.15. It was paradventure a ra&s;h cen&s;ure which was put upon <HI>Aristotle,</HI> that great Ma&s;ter and Prince of Philo&s;o|phers, <HI>Vae tibi Ari&s;toteles, laudaris ubi non es, damnaris ubi es,</HI> Wo to thee <HI>Ari&s;totle,</HI> that art admired where thou art not, but damn'd where thou art. But I wi&s;h it prove not oft too true among&s;t men of highe&s;t endowments, what <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> (&s;peaking by <HI>Anthony</HI> the hermite) was once a fraid of, for his own particular, <HI>Indocti rapiunt coelum, &amp;c.</HI> The unlearned take heaven by violence; while&s;t we with all our learning, (&s;uch learning,) are tumbling down to hell. Yea it matters not what a mans qualifications be; &s;uppo&s;e there were a man (as was &s;poken by one <HI>Berengarius</HI>) that did know all knowables, were wi&s;er then he that was
<PB N="3" REF="6">wi&s;er then all the children of the Ea&s;t, 1. <HI>King.</HI> 4. were able to fathom the depths of all &s;ecrets, comprehend the my&s;terie of all arts and &s;ciences; what then? did he not amid&s;t all the&s;e his intellectual trea&s;ures, di&s;cern the un&s;earchable riches of Chri&s;t, as the Apo&s;tle calls them, <HI>Eph.</HI> 3.8. did he not know him the know|ledge of whom is our Ju&s;tification, <HI>I&s;aiah.</HI> 35.11.) he would &s;till for all this be found to abide in darkne&s;&s;e, &s;till to remaine a poore mi&s;erable forlorn man. But why do I make &s;uch a preface, pre|mi&s;e &s;uch a commendation of this &s;uper-excellent evangelical knowledge, but that I might ingratiate my text, and gaine your attention to the &s;ame; for what is the &s;ub&s;tance, and burthen of it, but Chri&s;t? Chri&s;t in his relation to the Church, Chri&s;t as the aime and &s;cope of our endeavours, Chri&s;t as the fountaine of life, the Author of our happine&s;&s;e. Now (as the &s;tarre did the wi&s;e men of old) if it bring us into the &s;ight and vi&s;ion of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, de&s;erves it not to be heeded and ob&s;erved ac|cordingly? Oh that it had &s;ome <HI>Apollos,</HI> &s;ome golden-mouthed <HI>Chry&s;ostome,</HI> who&s;e tongue might be as the pen of a ready wri|ter, every way furni&s;ht to a full di&s;covery of the &s;ame; then (like <HI>Peter</HI> at the transfiguration of Chri&s;t upon the mount) you would think it good to be here, good through my text (like that grate or lattice the &s;pou&s;e &s;peaks of, <HI>Cant.</HI> 2.9.) to behold him that is &s;o faire, and ruddy, <HI>Cant.</HI> 5.10. fairer then then &s;onnes of men, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 45.2. even the expre&s;&s;e image and brightne&s;&s;e of his Fathers glory, <HI>Heb.</HI> 1.3. Now for the an&s;werable corre&s;pondency it beares to the pre&s;ent occa&s;ion.</P>
<P>In times of heavine&s;&s;e, and dejection, when the heart is perplex|ed, and troubled, when the &s;ould, (to &s;peake in <HI>Jeremies</HI> phra&s;e) is fill'd with bitterne&s;&s;e, and made drunk with worme-wood, what more &s;ea&s;onable then words of comfort and con&s;olation? according to that of <HI>Solomon, Heavine&s;&s;e in the heart of man maketh it &s;toop, but a good word maketh it glad, Prov.</HI> 12.25. Now for funeral heavine&s;&s;e, when the mourners go abroad in the &s;treets, for &s;uch &s;orrows as the&s;e that &s;o deeply afflict us for the pre&s;ent, what words more comfortable, more cordial, and re|fre&s;hful, then a doctrine of life? of &s;uch a life as knows no death, as triumphs over death; as can expo&s;tulate with death, in the words of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>O death, where is thy &s;ting? O hell, where is thy victory?</HI> &s;uch a life there is to be had in Chri&s;t, and &s;uch a life my
<PB N="4" REF="7">my text tenders, <HI>(He that findeth me, findeth life.)</HI></P>
<P>The intent and &s;cope of my text, is to impre&s;&s;e upon us the knowledge of the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, the argument is from the utility, and benefit of it; that which brings an happy and ble&s;&s;ed life, the life of grace here, and the life of glory hereafter, &s;uch a life as my text &s;peaks of, de&s;erves by all meanes po&s;&s;ible with all intention, and diligence, to be &s;ought after, and inquired into; but &s;uch is the Lord Jevus Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>In the words you have fir&s;t the fountaine of our happine&s;&s;e, <HI>Me</HI>]</P>
<P>Secondly the benefit derived from the &s;ame, and that's <HI>Life</HI>]</P>
<P>Thirdly, the imployment of a Chri&s;tian about the&s;e ble&s;&s;ed ob|jects, and thats <HI>finding</HI>]</P>
<P>La&s;tly, the party intere&s;&s;ed in the &s;ame, and that is &s;et down indefinitely, and without limitation, <HI>who</HI>] That is any one, of what e&s;tate and condition &s;oeve he be. For the fir&s;t,</P>
<P><HI>Who&s;o findeth me</HI>] <HI>Me?</HI> who is it that makes us &s;o happy, and ble&s;&s;ed; if found by us? The holy Spirit de&s;cribes him by diver&s;e characters, and properties, in the precedent ver&s;es; as fir&s;t by his name, and title, and that is wi&s;dome: the Hebrew word, in <HI>Prov.</HI> 1.20. and <HI>Prov.</HI> 9.1. and &s;o in &s;ome other places of this book, is found in the plural number, to note that this wi&s;dome is the perfection of wi&s;dome; him <HI>in whom all the trea&s;ures of wi&s;dome, and knowledge are hid,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle de&s;cribes him. <HI>Col.</HI> 2.3. Secondly by his zeal, that he beares to the good of the &s;onnes of men, this wi&s;dome &s;tands, and calls, and cryes, and puts forth her voice, (there's her importunity) by the wayes, places of the paths, tops of the high places, the gates, entry into the city, the coming in of the doores (there's her vigilancy, cir|cum&s;pection, laying hold of opportunities) and why doth wi&s;dome take all this paines? the end &s;he aimeth at is, to make us &s;piritu|ally wi&s;e, becau&s;e we are &s;imple and fooli&s;h &s;he would have us to under&s;tand wi&s;dome, and be of an under&s;tanding heart, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 1.2, 3, 4, 5. Thirdly from the excellency of her doctrine, <HI>Give eare and I will &s;peak&punc; &amp;c.</HI> ver&s;e 6. There may be frowardne&s;&s;e, perver&s;ene&s;&s;e, wickedne&s;&s;e in the doctrine of men, but there's nothing but verity, truth, &s;incerity, righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the do|ctrine of Chri&s;t; the doctrines of men may be vaine, fruitle&s;&s;e, but this is of highe&s;t concernment; do you tell of &s;ilver, and gold, &amp;c?
<PB N="5" REF="7">all things thou can&s;t de&s;ire are not to be compared to her; from the 6 ver&s;e to the 12. Fourthly, from her effects, and con&s;equents, where wi&s;dome is, there is prudence, coun&s;el, &s;trength, exaltati|on, preferment, &s;upport of thrones, decrees of ju&s;tice, righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e, holine&s;&s;e, riches, durable riches, honour; from the 12. <HI>ver&s;e</HI> to the 22. Fifthly, from he eternity, before his works of old, depths, fountaines, hills, mountaines, heavens, clouds, &amp;c. from <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 22. to the 30. Sixtly, from Gods delight and com|placency in her, I was brought up with him, &amp;c. <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 30. La&s;tly, from the delight this wi&s;dome takes among&s;t the &s;onnes of men, <HI>ver&s;e</HI> 31. From all which in the union of them, you may gather what Maje&s;ty, re&s;ides in the words of my text, here's no le&s;&s;e then perfection it &s;elfe, the uncreated wi&s;dome of God, the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t. From when we may note the all-&s;ufficiency of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour.</P>
<P>&para; How the Lord Je&s;us, the Lord of life, whom we profe&s;&s;e, up|on whom we depend for &s;alvation, is a Saviour every way furni&s;ht for the accompli&s;hment of our happine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>He that hath &s;uch wi&s;dome, zeal, doctrine, endowments, eternity, acceptance with God, love to the &s;onnes of men, mu&s;t needs prevaile in what he undertakes. How Chri&s;t is qualified for the &s;alvation of his people, you may gather by that in <HI>Col.</HI> 1.19. <HI>It plea&s;ed the Father that in him &s;hould all fulne&s;&s;e dwell;</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, fulne&s;&s;e in the latitude of it, to pardon &s;inne, heal infirmi|ties, &s;anctifie corrupt natures, infu&s;e &s;piritual endowments; ju&s;ti|fie &s;inners, conferre everla&s;ting happine&s;&s;e, are high works, the lea&s;t of them argues of &s;tock of infinite mercy, infinite grace, in|finite holine&s;&s;e, infinite righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e: now for the accompli&s;h|ment of all the&s;e, here was all fulne&s;&s;e; here was no gift, no grace, no requi&s;ite abilities withheld from him; no, here was the fulne&s;&s;e of the Godhead bodily, <HI>Col.</HI> 2.9. yea what Chri&s;t was you &s;ee by the &s;tile, and titles the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> gives, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 9.6. <HI>wonderful coun&s;ellour, mighty God, everla&s;ting Father, &amp;c.</HI> are we lo&s;t in <HI>Adam,</HI> he's wonderful to re&s;tore us, wonderful that is <HI>&s;upra humanum captum,</HI> above mans thought or apprehen|&s;ion of his power; are we de&s;titute of heavenly wi&s;dome? have we not the knowledge of holy things? he's the coun&s;ellour to
<PB N="6" REF="8">advi&s;e are, we infirme and weak, to with&s;tand the &s;piritual ene|mies of our &s;oules? he is the mighty God, to &s;ave us; are we poor and indigent? he is an everla&s;ting Father, to provide for us; are we liable to afflictions, and troubles? he is the Prince of peace, to quiet us, not only to &s;peak peace, but to command peace to our &s;oules. To this purpo&s;e how full and effectual is that de&s;cri|ption which the &s;ame Prophet makes of Chri&s;t as he &s;tands in re|ference to the Church, as the &s;piritual hou&s;e and building of God; <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 8.16. <HI>Bebold, I lay in Sion for a foundation, a &s;tone, a try|ed &s;tone, a precious corner-&s;tone, a &s;ure foundation, &amp;c.</HI> As for the meaning of the words, in general, the Prophet intimates, and that from God him&s;elfe what a ble&s;&s;ing God had ordeined in Chri&s;t, for the good of the Church; what a good foundation is to the &s;tructure, and building erect upon it, &s;uch is Chri&s;t to the &s;piritual <HI>Sion,</HI> &s;o he &s;upports her, &s;o upholds her, &s;o beares her up, that the believer rightly founded upon him, &s;hall not make ha&s;te in a de&s;perate, comfortle&s;&s;e way, as if he were flying from the face of a pur&s;uing, prevailing, de&s;troying enemy, where there were no help, none to deliver; &s;o the Apo&s;tles render it, <HI>He &s;hall not be a&s;hamed</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>Paul, Rom.</HI> 9. <HI>ult. He &s;hall not be confound|ed</HI> &s;aith St. <HI>Peter,</HI> 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.6 And what a benefit this is, the Prophet &s;hews by the note of attention he &s;ets upon it, <HI>Behold, I lay;</HI> as if he &s;hould &s;ay, This is no ordinary common worke, but of highe&s;t con&s;equence and concernment: Now for the ex|plication, and better expre&s;&s;ion of this re&s;emblance, the Prophet delivers him&s;elfe with variety of choice words, adding one meta|phorical terme to another, for the deeper impre&s;&s;ion whereof it will not be lo&s;t labour (I &s;uppo&s;e) e&s;pecially con&s;idering they all tend to the point in hand, to examine each particular by it &s;elf; The fir&s;t we meet with, is a foundation-&s;tone, <HI>Behold I lay in Sion for a foundation, a &s;tone;</HI> a &s;tone in the holy Scripture is a frequent embleme of Chri&s;t, and it implies many my&s;teries; <HI>Daniel</HI> calls him, <HI>a &s;tone cut out of the mountaines, without hands, Dan.</HI> 2.45. there's his divine nature, together with his ordination, and mi&s;|&s;ion from God. <HI>Zachary,</HI> a carved &s;tone, therein you may read his &s;ufferings. The Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah, a stumbling &s;tone, and a rock of offence, I&s;aiah</HI> 8.14. There you have his judgements upon the wicked. <HI>Zachary</HI> again in the &s;ame place, <HI>Zach.</HI> 3.9. calls him <HI>a &s;tone with &s;even eyes,</HI> that may note his omni&s;cience, together
<PB N="7" REF="8">with that light, and knowledge imparted to his Saints. <HI>Peter a loving &s;tone,</HI> 1. <HI>Pet.</HI> 1 4. To &s;hew how he lives in him&s;elf, and gives life to others; here in this place a foundation &s;tone, to give us to under&s;tand how the Church is founded and built, how &s;he re&s;ts and depends upon him. Secondly, he is &s;aid to be a tryed &s;tone: afflictions are the trials of &s;trength; <HI>If thou fainte&s;t in the day of adver&s;ity, thy &s;trength is &s;mall, Prov.</HI> 24.10. Now what was the life or Chri&s;t, but a tragedy of afflictions from his nativity till his re&s;urrection, yet (ble&s;&s;ed be God for it) this &s;tone crum|bled not, budged not out of his place. <HI>He came leaping by the mountaines, and skipping by the hills.</HI> By mountaines &s;ome under|&s;tand his greater mi&s;eries, by hills his le&s;&s;er afflictions; by his leaping and skipping, his alacrity and chearfulne&s;&s;e in embra|cing the &s;ame. Thirdly, as he's a tryed &s;tone, &s;o a precious corner|&s;tone; a corner-&s;tone, <HI>quia utrumque parietem conjungit,</HI> becau&s;e he conjoynes the &s;everal &s;ides of the Church into one. Here men and Angels, Jewes and Gentiles, &s;aints in heaven and earth, men of all Countreys and conditions, meet in Chri&s;t, and in him grow up into an holy temple in the Lord. And how precious he is, may appear from the gifts and graces he be&s;tows upon us. <HI>He became poor&punc;</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle, <HI>that we through his poverty might be made rich,</HI> 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 8.9. how rich the&s;e &s;piritual ble&s;&s;ings make us, you may gather by that high commendation, that <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;ets upon wi&s;dome, <HI>Prov.</HI> 3.14, 15. <HI>Her merchandize is better then &s;ilver, and her gain better then gold, &amp;c.</HI> As for &s;ilver and gold, they have that credit in the world, finde that general acceptance, that I deeme it &s;uperfluous; (every one being &s;o well conceited of them) to &s;peak a word in their behalfe; Oh how do the Idola|trous &s;onnes of men adore this Sunne, and Moon, as <HI>Job</HI> calls them, <HI>Job</HI> 31.26. How do they preferre this <HI>thick clay,</HI> this red and white earth; tho&s;e lumpi&s;h Idols before the <HI>&s;trong God of their &s;al|vation?</HI> for the gaining of the&s;e how de&s;parately do they hazard the lo&s;ing of their deare&s;t &s;oules? the dammage whereof the whole world cannot recompence, <HI>Mark</HI> 8.35. In a word, there|fore (neither to aba&s;e them, nor ra<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">e them after the over|weening imagination of the world) they are in them&s;elves the good ble&s;&s;ings of God upon us; God &s;eeth them requi&s;ite for us, and therefore doth promi&s;e the po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of them to his deare&s;t &s;ervants. <HI>Job</HI> 22.2<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. <HI>Thou &s;halt lay up gold as du&s;t, &amp;c.</HI> But now
<PB N="8" REF="9">this wi&s;dome, this holy and &s;piritual wi&s;dome, who&s;e birth and pedegree is from above, <HI>Job.</HI> 32.8. who&s;e demeanour, and carri|age in the world is <HI>pure, peaceable, gentle, &amp;c. James</HI> 2.17. who&s;e imployment is <HI>to fear God, and keep his commandements, Job</HI> 28.28. who&s;e recompence to her entertainers is <HI>life, and peace, Rom.</HI> 8.6. &s;he doth not only tran&s;cend the worth of gold, and &s;ilver, but all things el&s;e however valued; &s;he is <HI>more precious then Rubies, &amp;c.</HI> There is no precious pearle, but hath &s;ome egregious vertue, as <HI>Cardan</HI> the great &s;earcher of nature affirmes, and &s;o experience te&s;tifies; &s;ome are &s;overeigne again&s;t the &s;adne&s;&s;e, and feares of melancholy, as the <HI>Topaz;</HI> &s;ome again&s;t lepro&s;ie; others again&s;t poi&s;on, as the <HI>Saphir;</HI> others quell the intemperate drunken di&s;tem|per of the braine, as the <HI>Amethi&s;t:</HI> and as they are vertuous in their operations, &s;o opinion hath rated them accordingly; I need not in&s;tance in the great price of <HI>Cleopatrae's</HI> pearle, &s;he di&s;&s;olved and drunk in an health to <HI>Mark Athony,</HI> or others according to the relation of hi&s;tory, the te&s;timony of <HI>Pliny</HI> may &s;ave that labour, <HI>Culmen principi&uacute;mque omnium rerum pretii margaritae te|nent,</HI> of all precious things in the world, <HI>Margarites</HI> are in high|e&s;t e&s;timate and account; not much inferiour to which (as of all others mo&s;t light&s;ome, and glorious,) is the <HI>Rubie</HI> (or <HI>Carbuncle</HI> as <HI>Junius, Tremelius, Buxtorphius</HI> and others read it;) yet all the&s;e precious things mu&s;t &s;ubmit and &s;toop to this wi&s;dome; yea as if all this were not enough, <HI>Solomon</HI> challenges the very wi&s;hes, &amp; de&s;ires of our hearts; our hearts can de&s;ire golden mountaines, <HI>ens</HI> and <HI>non ens,</HI> thou&s;ands of Rammes, ten thou&s;and rivers of oile; yet <HI>omnes volunt ates tuae</HI> according to the Hebrew the&s;e very voli|tions, and wi&s;hes of thy &s;oul (in all tho&s;e glorious objects, they aime at) fall beneath the height of this wi&s;dome, nor all things thou can&s;t de&s;ire. Now from hence argue, If one particular grace be &s;o precious, what are all the&s;e &s;piritual trea&s;ures, in the whole li&s;t, and traine of them together? and if there be &s;uch a tran&s;cen|dent excellency in them, what is there in him, from who&s;e fulne&s;&s;e they are all derived; yea he is not only the fountain of all grace, but of glory too, and therefore mu&s;t needs be precious indeed. La&s;tly, he is a &s;ure foundation, there are divers foundations men|tioned in the &s;criptures; Kings and Princes are foundations, &s;o the P&s;almi&s;t &s;tiles them, <HI>All the foundations of the earth are out of cour&s;e, P&s;al.</HI> 82.5. &s;o the doctrine of the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Ephe&s;i.</HI> 2.20. the a|bridgement
<PB N="9" REF="9">of the doctrine of faith, <HI>Heb.</HI> 6.1. But Chri&s;t is <HI>fundamentum fundamentorum,</HI> the fir&s;t and original foundation, upon whom all others depend; and for his &s;tability and &s;urene&s;&s;e, he is Alpha and Omega, the fir&s;t and the la&s;t, the beginning and end, one that never alters, never changes, ye&s;terday and to day, and the &s;ame for ever. Now what do the&s;e and the like de&s;cri|ptions of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour import, but his perfection for the ac|compli&s;hment of our happine&s;&s;e, how he is every way furni&s;h't to &s;atisfie Gods ju&s;tice in our behalfe, and to gaine acceptance with God for us? yea the re&s;ult of the&s;e, and the like places, can be no le&s;&s;e then this, that Chri&s;t is <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Zachary</HI> in his hymne &s;tiles him, the horn and &s;trength of &s;alvation, a mighty powerful &s;alvation for us.</P>
<P>From whence in the fir&s;t place, you may &s;tand and wonder at the &s;tupendious folly of the &s;onnes of men, that refu&s;e (like ob|&s;tinate <HI>Jeru&s;alem, Matth</HI> 23.37.) to be gathered under the all-fo&s;tring wings of his e&s;pecial goodne&s;&s;e and grace, that (not|with&s;tanding all his paines about them, all his gracious treaties with them, for the good of their &s;oules,) will not be per&s;waded to know the things that belong unto their peace; <HI>He came unto his own, but his own received him not, John</HI> 1.11. No, in&s;tead of due acknowledgement and re&s;pect, they hid their faces from him, and e&s;teemed him not, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 53. &s;o the Jewes dealt with him of old, and what better acceptance doth he finde among&s;t us Chri&s;tians for the pre&s;ent? we have had a day, a faire &amp; out&s;tretch|ed day of grace, wherein the Lord Je&s;us for a long time toge|ther hath &s;tood knocking at the doores of our hearts; proffering him&s;elfe with all importunity, but who hath opened to his en|tertainment? no, have not we oppo&s;ed his government by the rebellion of our lu&s;ts? his truth by the blindne&s;&s;e of our errours? his unity by the faction of our &s;chi&s;mes? his wor&s;hip by the athe|i&s;tical profanene&s;&s;e of our indevotion? his holine&s;&s;e by the impu|rity of our lives, and conver&s;ations? yea, may not God as ju&s;tly complaine again&s;t us, (e&s;pecially con&s;idering what clearer light, what more effectuall meanes of grace we have enjoyed,) as ever again&s;t <HI>I&s;rael</HI> of old, as you have it, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10. <HI>ult. All the day long have I &s;tretched out mine hand to a di&s;obedient, gain-&s;aying people.</HI> But now con&s;ider here for thine own particular, in this thine aver&s;e|ne&s;&s;e from him, what a traitor art thou to thine own &s;oul? &s;ay,
<PB N="10" REF="10">art thou athir&s;t? he is an everflowing fountaine: art thou hun|gry? he is the bread of life: art thou naked? he's the robe of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e: art thou afflicted? he's a hiding place from the &s;torme, a refuge from the tempe&s;t: art thou &s;piritually &s;ick? he's the Phy&s;ician of our &s;oules: art thou liable to the wrath to come? he's thine attonement: in a word he is unto us all, and in all, <HI>Col</HI> 3.11. Oh therefore, why art thou &s;o cruel to thy &s;elf as to neglect &s;o great &s;alvation? what is a broken ci&s;terne to a fountain of li|ving water? the hungry prodigall de&s;ired huskes, to the liberal plenty of his fathers hou&s;e: &s;o what are weak, empty, fading crea|ture-comforts, to the full, permanent, &s;oule-reviving refre&s;hments of thy Saviour? We count it weakne&s;&s;e and folly in the poore In|dians that they &s;ell their gold, pearle, riche&s;t comodities, for gla&s;&s;e, knives, iron, inferiour trifles; but oh that we were &s;en&s;ible of our own madne&s;&s;e in exchanging (like <HI>E&s;au's</HI> birth-right, for a me&s;&s;e of pottage) the ine&s;timable trea&s;ures of our happine&s;&s;e, for the tra&s;h, incon&s;iderable, lying vanities of the world.</P>
<P>Secondly, here's a &s;pring of abundant comfort, and con&s;olation to believers; what feares? what doubts? what perplexities can now po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e thy &s;oul? or rather what boldne&s;&s;e and confidence towards God can&s;t thou want? if Chri&s;t be &s;o accompli&s;ht for thine happine&s;&s;e; who then (according to the triumphant chal|lenge of the Apo&s;tle in <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.) can be again&s;t us? can condemn us? can lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect? can &s;eparate from his love? To in&s;tance in particular, what is that that doth perplex and trouble thee? ha&s;t thou forgotten thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth? and doth thine offended con&s;cience now condemning, write bitter things again&s;t thee? why in the blood of Chri&s;t, <HI>here's a fountaine opened for &s;in, and foruncleanne&s;&s;e, Zach.</HI> 13.1. like leprous <HI>Naaman</HI> in <HI>Jordan</HI> could we here wa&s;h our pollut|ed &s;oules, the lepro&s;ie of our &s;innes (how filthy and impure &s;oever) would be cured, and done away, or in the &s;econd place, art thou di&s;mayed in thy thoughts, and apprehen&s;ions at the rigour of Gods ju&s;tice? doth thy fle&s;h (like <HI>Davids</HI>) tremble becau&s;e of him, and art thou a fraid of his judgements? Behold, there is a re|conciliation made in the blood of the Cro&s;&s;e &s;uch a reconciliation as &s;hall make thee holy, and unblameable, and without fault in his &s;ight, <HI>Col.</HI> 1.22. It was an argument of comfort to <HI>Manoahs</HI> wife the mother of <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> that God would not kill her, nor her hu&s;|band,
<PB N="11" REF="10">becau&s;e he had received an offering from them, <HI>Judg.</HI> 13.23. why God hath not only received an offering from thee, <HI>a &s;acrifice of a &s;weet &s;melling &s;avour to God, Ephe&s;.</HI> 5.2. but likewi&s;e (like the Ramme that was &s;acrificed for <HI>I&s;aac</HI>) prepared it for thee, and that from all eternity. Or in the third place, art thou afraid of poverty, and want, that God will &s;traiten thee in his out|ward mercies, the things of this life, why if he have given thee Chri&s;t, (as the Apo&s;tle argues, <HI>a majori ad minus, Rom</HI> 8.32.) what will he withhold from thee? <HI>will he not with him give us all things al&s;o?</HI> Or 4ly, art thou afraid of alteration, and change in thy condition? le&s;t the extremity and violence of afflictions, troubles, temptati|ons &s;hould drive thee from God, and con&s;equently from thine expected happ ne&s;&s;e: why, Chri&s;t is a Rock, if thou bee&s;t &s;ounded on him, he'l hold thee up from falling, &s;o that neither windes nor raine, nor floods, no di&s;turbing oppo&s;itions how malignant &s;oever, &s;hall ever &s;upplant thee, overturn thee from thy &s;tation. In a word, if we be his, he will be ours according to all the relations where|in we draw nigh unto him; Are we his vineyard? he will fence us about with the hedge and wall of his providence, ordering us with all requi&s;ite husbandry for fertility and fruitfulne&s;&s;e, <HI>E&s;aiah</HI> 5.2. Are we his &s;heep? he will be our &s;hepherd to feed us, and fold us in a good pa&s;ture upon the high mountaines of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> by the rivers, <HI>Ezeck.</HI> 34.13, 14. Are we his temple? he will be graciou&s;ly pre&s;ent with us, even dwelling among&s;t us, 2. <HI>Cor.</HI> 6.16. Are we his &s;pou&s;e? he will take plea&s;ure in our beauty, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 45.11. Are we his body? (in an holy union with us, to direct and guide us in our wayes, to order our affaires for us, to &s;upply us, with the influ|ence of his &s;pirit) he is our head, <HI>Col.</HI> 1.18. yea according to his proprieties in us, he will accommodate him&s;elf to our &s;everal ne|ce&s;&s;ities, and wants: And to this purpo&s;e all his attributes are at work for us. In his &s;trength <HI>he will &s;ubdue our iniquities</HI> (Micha. 7.19.) In his patience <HI>he will &s;pare us as a man &s;pareth his own &s;onne, that &s;erveth him,</HI> Malach. 3.17. In his mercy and wi&s;dome <HI>he will correct us in mea&s;ure, and not leave us altogether unpuni&s;hed, Jer.</HI> 30.11. In his pitty and compa&s;&s;ion he will <HI>preach glad tidings to the poore, binde up the broken-hearted. I&s;aiah</HI> 61.1. La&s;tly, in his free and de&s;erved goodne&s;&s;e, <HI>his rich grace,</HI> as the Apo&s;tle calls it, <HI>Eph.</HI> 1.7. (becau&s;e this world is a <HI>Baca, a valley of tears,</HI> a &s;ea of gla&s;&s;e mingled with fire) <HI>he is gone to prepare a place for us, John</HI> 14.2. even tho&s;e eternal man&s;ions in heaven.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="11">
<P>Thirdly, it &s;hewes where to found and &s;ettle our hopes, all our confidence, all our expectation in the wayes of happine&s;&s;e. The Apo&s;tle tells the Ephe&s;ians that they were <HI>without hope,</HI> that is, &s;olid and &s;ub&s;tantial hope, and he gives the rea&s;on for it, in the beginning of that ver&s;e, <HI>Eph.</HI> 2.12. becau&s;e that all that time they were <HI>without Chri&s;t. Chri&s;tus e&s;t omnium promi&s;&s;ionum fundamen|tum, &amp; &s;pei</HI> (&s;ays <HI>Calvin</HI> upon the place.) All the promi&s;es, and con|&s;equently all hope is founded on Chri&s;t, and therefore as they were without him, &s;o they mu&s;t needs be without hope. When the Emperour <HI>Nicephorus Phocas</HI> for his &s;ecurity had built a mighty wall about his palace, it's related how he heard in the night, a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">voice &s;aying, O King, though thou build as high as the clouds, <GAP DESC="foreign">; yet the city will be ea&s;ily taken, the &s;in within will marre all. I may apply it to all the Idolatrous &s;ons of men, that make fle&s;h their arme, and withdraw their hearts from the Lord; tell me, what forts, what ca&s;tles, what &s;trong holds do&s;t thou erect and build unto thy &s;elfe? As <HI>Pharaoh</HI> had his chariots, <HI>A&s;a</HI> his Phy&s;icians, <HI>Jonah</HI> his &s;hip for <HI>Tar&s;hi&s;h, Sena|cherib</HI> his army, <HI>I&s;rael</HI> his re&s;t and dependance upon <HI>Egypt:</HI> &s;o every natural heart, hath &s;omething either in her &s;elfe; or the creature, to betake her &s;elfe unto, but how faire and promi&s;ing tho&s;e objects of our hopes be, it matters not, they (as the Lord &s;peakes, by the &s;trength of <HI>Pharaoh</HI> and &s;hadow of <HI>Egypt, I&s;aiah</HI> 30.3.) &s;hall be your &s;hame and your confu&s;ion; yea, while&s;t ini|quity takes up her habitation in thine heart, thou &s;halt not pro&s;per. As <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peakes by riches, <HI>that they avail not in the day of wrath:</HI> &s;o you may &s;ay of all tho&s;e glorious idols of the &s;onnes of men, they are all as <HI>Pharaohs</HI> chariot-wheeles, that fell off when he had the mo&s;t &s;ervice for them, or as the walls of <HI>Jericho</HI> that fell down when the enemy was neare&s;t to enter, or as the brooks that <HI>Job</HI> &s;peakes of (<HI>Job</HI> 6.19.) that were then exhau&s;t and dryed up, when the troopes of <HI>Tema,</HI> and the companies of <HI>Sheba</HI> were the mo&s;t afflicted with thir&s;t, and &s;tood in the greate&s;t expecta|tion of them. And as this appears through the various pa&s;&s;ages of our liver, &s;o ever in the approach of death; as death is the King of feares, and of all terrible things the mo&s;t formidable, &s;o that &s;oul mu&s;t needs be in an happy condition, that is then throughly furni&s;hed with well-grounded comforts, when it invades. But alas, the hope of the wicked (it matters not what the wicked man was
<PB N="13" REF="11">how great, how glorious in the eyes of the world, nor what his hope were, how pre&s;umptuous) all then fades and failes, bequeath|ing the mi&s;erable &s;oul to utter and endle&s;&s;e de&s;peration, <HI>Prov.</HI> 11.7. And therefore di&s;claiming all other dependancies, let us betake our &s;elves to him that is the hope of our glory, <HI>Col.</HI> 1.27. this hope will never make thee a&s;hamed, <HI>Rom.</HI> 5.5. no, this hope will abide with thee in the evil day, will call unto thee in the time of affliction (like the angel to <HI>Hagar</HI> in the wilderne&s;&s;e) and &s;ay, Fear not. In the time of trouble it will pre&s;ent thee with more fiery centinels for thy protection, then <HI>Eli&s;ha's</HI> &s;ervant once &s;aw about beleag uered <HI>Dothan,</HI> yea, it will gve thee &s;ongs in the night, enlarge thine heart with joy, and gladne&s;&s;e, though with <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Silas</HI> thou bee&s;t in a dungeon.</P>
<P>And thus we come to the &s;econd particular in my text, the Prerogative derived from him, and that is <HI>Life.</HI></P>
<P><HI>He that findeth me]</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>invenit vitas,</HI> not life; but lives in the plural number, to intimate peradventure that life in the whole current of it, in all its qualifications, and re&s;pects is de|rived from him, and depends upon him; as he is the original of life, <HI>giving life to the world, John</HI> 6.33. &s;o he is the &s;upporter of it too, it is he that upholds all things by the word of his power, <HI>Heb.</HI> 1.3. All things were created for him, and by him, &s;o in him all things con&s;i&s;t, <HI>Col.</HI> 1.17. and hence it is, that in the 30. ver&s;e of this chapter he is called <GAP DESC="foreign"> <HI>nutritius,</HI> nouri&s;her, a fo&s;ter-father, one that carefully and faithfully looks to the creature, to pre&s;erve and maintain them in their being, and therefore, if we di&s;cern any excel|lency in life, apprehend any comfort, take any content in it, let it (with all thankfulne&s;&s;e) be a&s;cribed to his prai&s;e, yea, as we live in him, &s;o (in our &s;ouls and bodies, and all the parts and faculties of them both) let us live to him, and to the glory of his name. Now according to the latitude of it, we may con&s;ider of life; ei|ther as it is in <HI>via,</HI> in this world; or as it is in <HI>Patria,</HI> in the world to come; as it is in this world it runnes in a double channel; Na|ture and Grace. The life of nature &s;ince the fall of <HI>Adam</HI> (&s;trictly and preci&s;ely con&s;idered in it &s;elfe) is but a poor mi&s;erable life; it's incident to the unregenerate, to them that be &s;trangers from the life of God, importing no further happine&s;&s;e, then that of the
<PB N="14" REF="12">brute bea&s;t, the vanity of it appeares; Fir&s;t, in the brevity of it, what's a vapour, a &s;hadow, a flower, a dream? things of no &s;ta|bility, no duration; &s;uch is life, had we as much happine&s;&s;e in our lives, as mi&s;eries; yet was not that happine&s;&s;e in re&s;pect of the brevity of our lives to be re&s;ted upon. Secondly, in re&s;pect of the difficulty of its &s;upport. O what a deal of labour is it to live in this world! what ri&s;ing early, going to bed late, eating the bread of carefulne&s;&s;e? a heavy burthen in this re&s;pect is laid upon all the &s;onnes of men. Thirdly, in re&s;pect of the &s;infulne&s;&s;e of it; who knowes how oft he offendeth? no, the height and multitude of our &s;innes exceed imagination: Now if every &s;in be an oppo|&s;ition of Gods will, a violation of Gods law, a di&s;honour to his name, a &s;candal to his &s;aints, the hazard of our &s;oules, what com|fort, what content can we expect from &s;uch a &s;tained, polluted life? Fourthly, from the mi&s;eries of it, <HI>Man that is born of a woman, &amp;c. Job.</HI> 14.1. Brevity of dayes, and plenitude of mi&s;e|ry go together, and therefore let us not terminate our de&s;ires in &s;uch a life as this, that con&s;i&s;ts only in the conjunction of &s;oul and body; but endeavour the attainment of that holy, &s;piritual, &s;upernatural life, the life of grace that con&s;i&s;ts in the union, and communion of Chri&s;t and the &s;oul; of this life the Apo&s;tle &s;peakes of, <HI>Gal</HI> 2.20. <HI>I am crucified with Chri&s;t; neverthele&s;&s;e, I live, &amp;c.</HI> Here was not only a living in the fle&s;h; but by faith, a living with Chri&s;t, and this is an happy, and de&s;ircable life indeed, it carries the ble&s;&s;ing of God along with it, and how&s;oever it mee s with much oppo&s;ition, many temptations in this world, yet in conclu&s;ion it leades to an happy end, according to that of the P&s;almi&s;t, <HI>Mark the upright man, and behold the ju&s;t &amp;c.</HI> for the di&s;covery of this life, let us ob&s;erve it fir&s;t in the &s;everal degrees and heights of it, and then in its derivation from Chri&s;t. For the fir&s;t, you may note in the fir&s;t place, the life of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e; <HI>There is none righteous, no not one, Rom.</HI> 3.10. no none in the &s;tate of nature. But what are we when we have put on Chri&s;t? the Apo&s;tle tells us in 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 5. <HI>ult. He that knew no &s;inne, was made &s;inne for us, &amp;c. the righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e of God, &amp;c.</HI> not righteous in the concrete, but righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e in the ab&s;tract; to note the perfection of that righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e we have in Chri&s;t; that it is &s;uch a righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, as God expects, and requires from us; the receipt of this righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e from Chri&s;t, all believers are bound to acknowledge, <HI>Jer</HI> 23.6
<PB N="15" REF="12">This is the name whereby he &s;hall be called, <HI>The Lord our righte|ou&s;ne&s;&s;e.</HI> This is the righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e in which the &s;aints &s;o triumph, <HI>I will greatly rejoyce, &amp;c. I&s;aiah</HI> 61.10. yea, if Chri&s;t be &s;uch a righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e for us, who can but rejoyce? for then are we free from the malediction and cur&s;e of the law, yea here is not only <GAP DESC="foreign">, an happy and ble&s;&s;ed redemption from the bondage of the law, from the captivity of &s;inne and Satan; but likewi&s;e <GAP DESC="foreign">, power to be called the &s;ornes of God; yea here is a ble&s;|&s;ed right and intere&s;t in the purcha&s;ed po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion. The &s;econd is the life of holine&s;&s;e, he is not only wi&s;dome, righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, re|demption, but &s;anctification too, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 1.30. Chri&s;t doth not only ca&s;t our &s;ins into the bottome of the &s;ea, pa&s;&s;e an act of ob|livion upon them; but &s;ubdue them, <HI>Micha.</HI> 7.19. not only par|don &s;inne, but heale infirmities, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 103.3. not only free us from the power of &s;inne, and of death, but enable us to walk in the Spirit, furni&s;h us with all requi&s;ite graces, put his Spirit in us, and cau&s;e us to keep his commandements, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 36.27. yea, he that walks not with God in the way of holine&s;&s;e, knowes not Chri&s;t, <HI>John</HI> 14.15. Thirdly, of comfort and con&s;olation; <HI>Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, &amp;c.</HI> where is joy great, univer&s;al, &amp;c? why, Chri&s;t is the ground of it, <HI>This day there is a Saviour born, &amp;c.</HI> yea, as Chri&s;t is a Saviour, &s;o he that experi|mentally knowes him &s;o to be, cannot but rejoyce in him, as in the in&s;tance of the virgin <HI>Mary, My &s;oul doth magnifie the Lord, and my &s;pirit hath, &amp;c.</HI> yea hence is &s;uch a joy the &s;tranger meddles not with, a joy un&s;peakable and glorious, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 1.8. &s;uch a joy as the &s;aints cannot conteine within them&s;elves, <HI>They &s;hall &s;ing for joy of heart, I&s;aiah</HI> 65.14. <HI>and therefore be glad, O ye righteous, and rejoyce in the Lord, be joyful, &amp;c.</HI> As it is a priviledge, &s;o a du|ty too: now how doth Chri&s;t effect all this in the hearts of his people? the meanes whereby he works the &s;ame, are e&s;pecially the&s;e two. Fir&s;t, the outward Mini&s;tery of the word, and then the inward operation of his Spirit. For the fir&s;t, con&s;ider that in <HI>John</HI> 5.25. <HI>The dead &s;hall hear the voice of the Sonne of God, and they that hear it &s;hall live.</HI> The dead? who are they? the Athei&s;t, the Infidel, the drunkard, the wanton, &amp;c. are all dead? <HI>Eph.</HI> 2.1. yea, like loath&s;ome carrions they are mo&s;t odious and abomina|ble in the eyes of God, and man; but what? is there for them no po&s;&s;ibility of life? yes; if they hear and receive the Go&s;pel,
<PB N="16" REF="13">they &s;hall live: you &s;ee how hearing and living go together; this &s;hould countenance and gaine credit to the word, if thou would&s;t live, heare. As for the &s;econd, the Spirit quickens the immortal &s;eed of the word, unites unto Chri&s;t, efformes to the image of God in holine&s;&s;e, repleni&s;hes the heart with good motions, and therefore called <HI>a quickening Spirit, John</HI> 6.63. <HI>the Spirit of life, Rom.</HI> 8.2. and therefore as thou tendere&s;t life, take heed how thou quenche&s;t, grieve&s;t, re&s;i&s;te&s;t the &s;ame, how both the&s;e conjoyne and work together to the production of this &s;piritual life, we may illu&s;trate from the parable of the drie bones, <HI>Ezek.</HI> 37. The pa|rable (properly, and in the fir&s;t place) belongs to the hou&s;e of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> upon their return and re&s;titution from the land of their captivity; but by &s;imilitude and re&s;emblance (as &s;ome learned divines have led me in the way) you may &s;ee the whole &s;tate of the Church prefigured in the &s;ame: in <HI>Ezekiel</HI> you have the mini|&s;ters of the go&s;pel; in the drie bones, the &s;onnes of men, all dry, and barren, and de&s;titute of all &s;piritual goodne&s;&s;e; in his pro|phecying upon the&s;e drie bones the di&s;pen&s;ation of the Go&s;pel, when tho&s;e Emba&s;&s;adours of Chri&s;t go abroad in the world, they know not whether &s;uch and &s;uch enormous &s;inners may live: if any ask the que&s;tion, they would with <HI>Ezekiel</HI> referre it to God, <HI>Lord, thou knowe&s;t,</HI> yet becau&s;e God &s;ends them, they go and prophe&s;ie accordingly, <HI>O ye drie bones heare the word of the Lord:</HI> and then what follows? behold, in the fir&s;t place a noi&s;e, and a &s;haking, trouble of con&s;cience, and perplexity of &s;pirit, from the &s;en&s;e of &s;inne, and terrour of the Law, as in St. <HI>Peters</HI> converts <HI>that were pricked in their hearts, Acts</HI> 2.37. Then in the &s;econd place, you have a meeting of bones, bone unto his bone, the un|der&s;tanding, will, memory, affections, &amp;c. that were formerly &s;cattered, and di&s;per&s;'t in the wayes of &s;inne, all now unite and con&s;pire together to be a new creature in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. In the third place, <HI>fle&s;h and &s;inews grow upon them, and the skin covers them;</HI> fle&s;h, that may &s;tand for &s;oftne&s;&s;e of heart, and tender|ne&s;&s;e of con&s;cience; &s;inews, for &s;trength of re&s;olution; and the skin, for boldne&s;&s;e of profe&s;&s;ion. And then for the perfection, and con&s;ummation of the new creature, the winde breaths upon it, that is, the holy Spirit, (that winde that blows where it li&s;teth) furni&s;hes the &s;ame with &s;aving gifts and graces, and then it lives (a &s;piritual life,) &s;tands up upon his feet (to runne the wayes of
<PB N="17" REF="13">Gods commandements) and becomes a very great army (pre|pared and ready, and enabled to fight the Lords battels) from all which together ye may note in the fir&s;t place, that it is not impo&s;|&s;ible for the wor&s;t of &s;inners to be converted, dry bones may live. Secondly, the energie and activity of Gods holy ordinances, as they are from him, and tend to the glory of his name, &s;o his power goes along with them, they work wonders, when his ble&s;|&s;ing is upon them. La&s;tly, what an alteration &amp; change Chri&s;tianity, and Religion makes, where it is embraced, it turns a valley of dry bones into an army of &s;piritual &s;ouldiers, fighting under the banner of Chri&s;t the Captain of their &s;alvation. And thus we come to the la&s;t particular, Life in its perfection, the life of glory;</P>
<P><HI>He that heareth my words, and beleeveth in him that &s;ent me, hath everlasting life, Iohn</HI> 5.24. The glory of this life tran&s;cends all humane apprehen&s;ion: all the powers and faculties of nature, at|tain not the &s;ublimity of it: the eye in &s;eeing, eare in hearing, heart in conce<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ving, extend farre, but here they are all at a <HI>non|plus,</HI> all poor deficient; <HI>The thing which eye hath not &s;een, ear not heard, &amp;c.</HI> 1 <HI>Cor,</HI> 2.9. and therefore to content our &s;elves with a &s;hort glimps of it, we may gue&s;&s;e at the perfection of it, from the&s;e and the like grounds, as fir&s;t from the place where this life is led, and that's the Kingdome of God, the paradi&s;e of God, the hou&s;e of God, the Heaven of Heavens, the city of the living God. St. <HI>Iohn</HI> in the de&s;cription of this new <HI>Jeru&s;alem,</HI> tells us of gold, and pearle, and precious &s;tones, there was the Emerauld, Ja&s;per, Saphir, Berd, Tophas, things of highe&s;t e&s;timate and price, but how farre doth he extend the&s;e precious things? why, by the&s;e he only &s;ets out the glory of the walls, gates, pavements of the &s;ame, as for the inward furniture, the delights, plea&s;ures, &s;tate, glory, priviledges, prerogatives of the ble&s;&s;ed citizens, he makes no re&s;emblance; no, all the precious things in nature, are not worthy to be tender'd for a &s;hadow to that &s;ub&s;tance. <HI>Glorious things are &s;poken of thee, O thou City of God,</HI> if God hath formed &s;o many glorious things for the creatures, why then, that which he hath formed for him&s;elfe, for his own proper re&s;idence, and man&s;ion, that mu&s;t needs be compleated with &s;urpa&s;&s;ing glory indeed. Now to be admitted as a citizen to live in &s;uch a place, mu&s;t needs be a priviledge of highe&s;t comfort. Secondly, from
<PB N="18" REF="14">the glory of the inhabitants in who&s;e communion we enjoy the &s;ame. Now who the&s;e are the Apo&s;tle tells in <HI>Heb.</HI> 12.22. <HI>You are come to mount Sion, &amp;c.</HI> there's the place, the re&s;ident Inha|bitants follow, <HI>the company of innumerable Angels, the congre|gation of the fir&s;t-born, &amp;c.</HI> It's related of <HI>Cato</HI> an old grave Roman, that he advi&s;ed in the purcha&s;e of a farme or the like in|heritance, that a man &s;hould con&s;ider of the vicinity or neighbour-hood there, <HI>Ne malum vicinum haberet,</HI> and to that purpo&s;e they relate the proclamation of <HI>Themi&s;tocles</HI> a famous Athenian cap|taine in the &s;aile of his lands, that if any man would deal with him, he &s;hould be &s;ure of a good neighbour. Beloved, there is a mi&s;erable neighbour-hood in hell, none but wretched &s;inners, impure &s;pirits, torturing and tormenting devils; Oh take heed, le&s;t by your &s;innes, and tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, you purcha&s;e that land of darkne&s;&s;e, to your everla&s;ting confu&s;ion. But now in heaven, O what a glorious, what a ble&s;&s;ed &s;ociety is there; for fir&s;t of all, there is God him&s;elfe, what a communion we have with him you may gather by that petition of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour in. <HI>John</HI> 17.21. <HI>I pray, &amp;c. that they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee; even that they al&s;o may be in us,</HI> there is not only a commu|nion among&s;t them&s;elves, but with God too; O what an honour is this to the nature of man, <HI>What am I,</HI> &s;aies the Prophet <HI>David, and what's my fathers hou&s;e to be the Kings &s;onne in law!</HI> nay what are we poore creatures, to finde this acceptance with the King of glory! yea, how ju&s;tly may we admire it in the words of the Pro|phet <HI>David, Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him &amp;c!</HI> for in this communion of God, what can we want? why, God &s;hall be all and all unto us, he &s;hall be beauty for the eye, mu&s;ick for the eare, honey for the ta&s;te, the full content and &s;atisfaction of our de&s;ires, and that immediately from him&s;elfe. True it is, God is all in all in this world, <HI>In him we live, and move, and have our being,</HI> but here he works by meanes, and &s;econdary cau<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">es, here he gives wine to make glad the heart, and oile, &amp;c. but there all intervening means between God and us is removed, <HI>With thee is the well of life, and in thy <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ight &s;hall we &s;ee light;</HI> not in the light of the Sunne, or the light of a candle, there is no need of them, <HI>Rev.</HI> 22.4. but in thy light, the light of God him&s;elfe, yea the whole life of glory, together with all the concomitants of it, flows from him, as the &s;ole and original fountaine of it. O how
<PB N="19" REF="14">&s;weet mu&s;t that happine&s;&s;e be that is &s;o derived. Secondly, as we have communion with God, &s;o with Je&s;us Chri&s;t the Mediator of the new Covenant, <HI>We &s;hall &s;ee him as he is,</HI> 1 <HI>John</HI> 3. To &s;ee Chri&s;t in our natures, he that was &s;o de&s;pi&s;ed of men, a man of &s;orrowes, that laid down his life for us, whom we have &s;erved, and profe&s;t again&s;t all the oppo&s;ition of the world, to &s;ee him (I &s;ay) &s;o advanced &s;itting at the right hand of God, farre above all principalities and powers, mu&s;t needs be an happy vi&s;ion in|deed; If the wi&s;e-men (upon his nativity) &s;o rejoyced to &s;ee the &s;tarre, that led them to the place where he was; although he was then in a &s;tate of humiliation, in a &s;table among&s;t brute bea&s;ts, what joy will it be to his &s;ervants, who&s;e &s;oules are inamoured on him, to &s;ee him in the highe&s;t Heavens? In a word, not to in&s;tance in particulars, here's a ble&s;&s;ed communion with all the ble&s;&s;ed company of Heaven; <HI>Many &s;hall come from the Ea&s;t and We&s;t, and &s;it down with Abraham, I&s;aac, and Jacob, in the Kingdom of hea|ven;</HI> Now what that will avail the &s;aints, may appeare. Fir&s;t from the purity, and holine&s;&s;e of that ble&s;&s;ed company; <HI>Without &s;hall be dogs, and inchanters, &amp;c.</HI> there is no bad company there to in|fect or infe&s;t, all &s;uch are turned down into the lake that burns with fire and brim-&s;tone: no, there is none but &s;aints, they are all the &s;ervants of God, and his name is in their fore-heads, and therefore if holine&s;&s;e be in acceptance, there it dwells in its per|fection. Secondly, from their &s;tate and quality; there are no mean per&s;ons there to commerce with, there's none but Angels, and Archangels, none but Patriarchs, Prophets, Apo&s;tles, none but Kings, and Prie&s;ts, the meane&s;t per&s;on there is po&s;&s;e&s;&s;or of a crown, not an earthly, corruptible crown, but a crown of endle&s;&s;e and immortal glory. Thirdly, from their charity. Affection here is mutable, and liable to alteration, whom we love to day, we may hate to morrow, but there charity abideth alway, every one rejoycing in one anothers happine&s;&s;e: as they are perfectly &s;ancti|fied, and have a full communion with God, &s;o their charity is <HI>&s;ummo gradu,</HI> ab&s;olute and perfect indeed. And thus you &s;ee, what this life is in re&s;pect of the a&s;&s;ociation and fellow&s;hip with it. La&s;tly, what this life of glory is, you may conjecture from the immunities and priviledges of it: for brevity &s;ake, I will referre them to the&s;e three; the fir&s;t is <GAP DESC="foreign">, the ab&s;ence of all evil, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that die in the Lord, &amp;c.</HI> As for de&s;ea&s;es,
<PB N="20" REF="15">aches, paines, the labours of this life, they have an eternal Sabbath, there's no teares. The &s;econd is, <GAP DESC="foreign">, the adjection of all good things. Tell me, what would you have for the body, or the &s;oul? would you have this mortal to put on immortality, this corruptible to put on incorruption, would you have this natural body to be &s;piritual? to be a glorious body? to &s;hine as the Sunne, to be like the glorious body of Chri&s;t? or for the &s;oul, what happine&s;&s;e can you expect? whereas &s;he is depraved with actuall and original &s;inne, would you have her pure, and imma|culate, whereas &s;he's liable to infirmities, imperfections, &amp;c? would you have her accompli&s;ht with perfect righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, perfect knowledge perfect liberty, perfect charity? would you have her to know God, as we are known, to &s;ee him face to face? <HI>Quicquid de&s;iberabitur, ibi aderit, &amp; quicquid aderit perfectum erit,</HI> what&s;oever our de&s;ires can extend unto &s;hall be pre&s;ent, and that in perfection. La&s;tly, an eternal and immutable abode in our hap|pine&s;&s;e. <HI>In thy pre&s;ence is the fulne&s;&s;e of joy, and plea&s;ures for ever|more;</HI> there are many and comfortable ble&s;&s;ings to be had in this world, but then as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peaks of riches, <HI>they betake them&s;elves to their wings, and fly away as Eagles,</HI> there is an uncertainty, an in&s;tability attends them; had you the &s;trength of <HI>Samp&s;on,</HI> the time will come when the keepers of the hou&s;e &s;hall tremble, and &s;trong men bow them&s;elves; had you the wi&s;dome of <HI>Solomon,</HI> the time of dotage is before you, a time when all your thoughts mu&s;t peri&s;h; had you the baeuty of <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> the time will come when the painted du&s;t of the complexion mu&s;t be corrupted into the putrifactive du&s;t of the grave but be intere&s;ted in this happi|ne&s;&s;e, and eternity goes along with you, in will ab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">de with you more millions of years then there are piles of gra&s;&s;e upon the face of the earth, or drops of water in the ocean, even while&s;t God is God. And thus as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> from the top of <HI>Nebo</HI> had &s;ome view of the temporal <HI>Canaan,</HI> &s;o from the&s;e and the like meditations, you may apprehend &s;ome glimp&s;e of this promi&s;ed land, the filicity of the &s;aints in the land of the living; But as <HI>Solomons</HI> Royalty and State was but, in part related to the Queen of <HI>Sheha,</HI> &s;o the lea&s;t punctillio of this glorious condition hath &s;carce been di&s;covered. O that in the thoughts of it, we might ever after be enamoured on it, ever after order our lives and con|ver&s;ations to the attainment of it.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="15">
<P>Now as all this relates to Chri&s;t as the meritorious cau&s;e of the &s;ame, we may hence learn with what love, what delight, what &s;tirring affections we ought to devote our &s;elves to the en|tertainment of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour. If the rich glutton (<HI>Luk.</HI> 16.19.) from the extremity of his helli&s;h torments, was &s;o de&s;irous of a drop of water to coole the tip of his tongue; what would he have given for a full and plenary delivery from that accur&s;ed place? had he apprehended any po&s;&s;ibility (through the merits of him that hath the keyes of hell and of death in whom there is no condemnation) that he might have been tran&s;lated from that mi&s;erable condition into a &s;tate of bli&s;&s;e, &s;uch a life as this, would he (think you) have &s;lighted &s;uch a redeemer? or rather in full admiration of him, (having now by that fire and brim|&s;tone, tho&s;e un&s;peakable torments experimentally learn'd the worth of &s;alvation in the ab&s;ence of it) would he not have en|deavoured by all meanes po&s;&s;ible to have gain'd &s;ome intere&s;t in him? But alas! there was no &s;uch redemption now to be expected, for the outworking of his &s;alvation: he had an opportune fitting time allowed him, whil'&s;t he was on earth, but now being in hell there is an invincible gulfe fixt between him and Heaven, &s;uch a &s;eparation as &s;hall divide and keep him off from all happine&s;&s;e, and that (which is a confounding, heart-breaking word) for all eternity. Now if the grace of Chri&s;t be of that concernment (to the attainment wherof the time of this life is the &s;ole and only allotted &s;ea&s;on) why then, con&s;ider and be wi&s;e for thy &s;elf, while&s;t thou ha&s;t exi&s;tence and being in this land of the living, thine in|habitation in <HI>Sion;</HI> whil&s;t wi&s;domes gates are &s;et open to thee, her invitations &s;o importunate with thee; let it be thy greate&s;t care to improve the&s;e faire opportunities to the good of thy &s;oul, to ac|cept tho&s;e proffers of grace, and in due time to lay hold on him that is thine advocate, thine hope, thy peace, thy &s;ole and only Saviour; otherwi&s;e it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e, that thou &s;halt la|ment over thy forlorne &s;oule, as Chri&s;t did once over unhappy <HI>Jeru&s;alem, O that thou had&s;t known the things that belong, unto thy peace, Luk.</HI> 19.42. And here to remove &s;uch ob&s;tacles as the wi&s;dome of the fle&s;h (that wi&s;dome that is enmity again&s;t God, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.17. fooli&s;hne&s;&s;e with God, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.19. death, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.6.) may ca&s;t in thy way to impede and hinder thee in thy way and progre&s;&s;e to Chri&s;t, (&s;ay) wherein do&s;t thou take, exception
<PB N="22" REF="16">at the name and profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t? Art thou not in the fir&s;t place offended at the alteration, and change he requires in his converts, becau&s;e they be all new creatures? men of another fa&s;hion? bidding adieu to their former vanities? true it is, as he is the King of &s;aints, holy and immaculate in him&s;elfe; &s;o he ex|pects holine&s;&s;e in all his followers; they that are his mu&s;t crucifie the fle&s;h, with the corruptions and lu&s;ts of it. And doth not this go hard with corrupt nature, that takes no content but in the plea&s;ures of &s;inne? This it was that troubled St. <HI>Au&s;tin</HI> at the time of his conver&s;ion; <HI>Dimitt&eacute;&s;ne nos, &amp; ab hoc momento non erimus tecum ultra in aeternum?</HI> what wilt thou (&s;peaking under the name of his former &s;en&s;ual delights and plea&s;ures) wilt thou ca&s;hiere and abandon us for ever? &s;hall we even at this in&s;tant take our leaves of thee, and be with thee no more for ever? But how comes it to pa&s;&s;e of at thou art &s;o be&s;otted, &s;o bewitched with the ba&s;ene&s;&s;e of &s;inne, which is nought but filthine&s;&s;e? 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 7.1. nought but abomination, <HI>Prov.</HI> 15.9. &s;o filthy, &s;o abomina|ble, that it makes us a deri&s;ion to our neighbours, <HI>Lam.</HI> 1.8. an abomination to the Saints, <HI>Prov.</HI> 29 <HI>ult.</HI> an abhorring to all fle&s;h, <HI>E&s;a.</HI> 66.24. yea to God him&s;elfe, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 11.6. the locu&s;ts, <HI>Rev.</HI> 9.8. had the faces of men, and haire as the haire of women, but the teeth of lions, and tailes of &s;corpions; herein &s;ee the picture and embleme of thy &s;innes, (how lovely &s;oever they &s;eem in their appearance) thou &s;halt finde to thine intolerable angui&s;h, they have lions teeth to torment thine offended, polluted con&s;cience, and the &s;corpions tayles to wound and &s;ting thee to death. Had <HI>Ama&s;a</HI> known that <HI>Joab</HI> had come to murther him, he would have kept a further di&s;tance from him notwith&s;tanding all his faire &s;alutes and fawning complements; why, behold, every &s;inne (how in&s;inuating &s;oever) is a murtherer, and comes to &s;lay thee, and therefore in&s;tead of that fatall, unhappy way of &s;inne, learn to know the way of holine&s;&s;e, where no lion nor ravenous bea&s;t &s;hall be found, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 35.9. Or in the &s;econd place, art thou troubled at the condition of his Kingdome, becau&s;e it is not of this world? <HI>John</HI> 18.36. becau&s;e the profe&s;&s;ion of his name expo&s;es to every mans hatred, <HI>Matth.</HI> 10.22. becau&s;e a godly life (&s;uch a life as he requires) is liable to per&s;ecution, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.12. <HI>Cyrus</HI> King of <HI>Per&s;ia,</HI> to gain followers to his party, made a proclamation (as <HI>Plutarch</HI> tells us) that who&s;oever would
<PB N="23" REF="16">follow him to the warres, if he were a footman, he &s;hould be made a hor&s;eman, if an hor&s;eman, he &s;hould have a chariot, if he had a cottage, he &s;hould have a village, if a village, he &s;hould have a city, if he were Lord of a city he &s;hould be a Prince of a region, or countrey; and as for gold, he would poure it out by heapes, <HI>&s;ans nombre.</HI> But now the invitation that Chri&s;t tenders to the world runner in a quite oppo&s;ite &s;traine; <HI>If any man will come after me, let him deny him&s;elfe and take up his cro&s;&s;e daily and follow me, Luk.</HI> 9.23. and therefore the men of the world (that have their portion in this life, that minde earthly things, and know no happine&s;&s;e beyond the increa&s;e of corne, wine, and oile) cannot brook &s;uch a ma&s;ter. But herein (for an antidote to this di&s;couragement) con&s;ider in the fir&s;t place the vani<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">y and emptine&s;&s;e of all earthly, and terrene things; to them that &s;tand upon the top of the <HI>Alpes,</HI> the great cities of <HI>Campania</HI> (they &s;ay) &s;eem but as mole-hills in their appearance; &s;o were thy conver&s;ion in heaven, were thine affections implant|ed on things &s;upernal, and above; did&s;t thou conver&s;e with God, thou would<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t then &s;ee no great matter in the world why thou &s;hould'&s;t be &s;o enamoured on it; thou would'&s;t then di&s;cerne not only how uncertaine tho&s;e inferiour comforts are for their continuance, betaking them&s;elves to their wings, and flying away like Eagles, as <HI>Solomon</HI> &s;peaks of riches, <HI>Prov.</HI> 23.5. but likewi&s;e for their u&s;e and imployment how utterly unable they are to make thee an happy man. <HI>Non domus aut &s;undus, &amp;c.</HI> If neither hou&s;e, nor land, nor heaps of gold, or &s;ilver (as the Poet ob|&s;erved) can cure the di&s;ea&s;es of the body, what then can the&s;e things availe thee to the good of thy &s;oul? had a man all the Kingdomes of the world, and the glory of them, they could not purcha&s;e the lea&s;t mea&s;ure of faith, of a&s;&s;urance of Gods love, of grace, or of &s;piritual comfort for us; no, oft-times they en|damage and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">rejudice the &s;ouls welfare, choak the &s;eed of the word, and &s;teal away the heart from God. Secondly, con&s;ider how Chri&s;tianity and Religion takes not away the comfortable u&s;e of the creatures, but only regulates the &s;ame by its &s;ubjection to Gods glory, and the good of our &s;oules. It's reported of the Kings of <HI>Mexico,</HI> that it was their fa&s;hion alwayes to be carried aloft and upon mens &s;houlders, and never to touch the ground; and it is related of the King of <HI>Japan,</HI> that if he tread upon the
<PB N="24" REF="17">&s;earth, he forfeits his regality and place. God hath not dealt co &s;trictly with us, we may make bold with the earth, we may comfort our &s;elves in the de&s;irable things of the world, only out are mu&s;t be this, that we &s;ink not into the earth, that we ly not buried under it, that we lo&s;e not the Creator in the creature, our future happine&s;&s;e in our pre&s;ent fruition: it's only the, immo|derate, irregular love of the world that is incon&s;i&s;tent with the love of Chri&s;t; according to that of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, <HI>He that loveth father or mother more then me, is not worthy of me, Matth.</HI> 10.3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">. Thirdly, con&s;ider what a happy recompence betides &s;uch &s;ufferings: had&s;t thou &s;uch an eye of faith as the I&s;raelites had in <HI>Egypt,</HI> when through that hou&s;e of bondage, that iron furnace, through the &s;ea, the wilderne&s;&s;e, whole armies of the &s;onnes of <HI>Anak,</HI> they could &s;ee a land of promi&s;e; or as <HI>Job</HI> had, that could apprehend a Redeemer, a re&s;urrection, a re&s;titution through a dunghill, through the di&s;comforts of his friends, the temptations of his wife, malice of Satan, changes and armies of &s;orrowes; or as St. <HI>Stephen</HI> had, when through a tempe&s;t of &s;tones he could &s;ee the heavens open, then thou would'&s;t rejoyce (according to the paterne of the Apo&s;tles, <HI>Acts</HI> 5.41.) that thou art counted worthy to &s;uffer rebuke for his name; what an happy i&s;&s;ue attends &s;uch afflictions, you may &s;ee the Apo&s;tle tells us, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.17. For affliction, here's glory, for light afflicti|on, a weight of glory, for <HI>affliction which is but for a moment, a farre more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.</HI> Or in the third place, doth not the example of the world pervert thee, and keep thee at a di&s;tance from him? is not the unbeliefe of Rulers and Phari&s;ees a ground of their infidelity? Is not that oppo&s;ition of Kings and Princes, heathen and people the P&s;almi&s;t &s;peaks of in the &s;econd P&s;alme, an argument to confirm and &s;trengthen thee in thine enmity again&s;t him? It was the &s;aying of <HI>Hu&s;hai</HI> to <HI>Ab&s;olom,</HI> 2. <HI>Sam.</HI> 16.18. <HI>Whom this people and all the men of</HI> I&s;rael <HI>cho&s;e, his will I be, and with him will I dwell.</HI> So in the mat|ter of Religion, men are re&s;olved not to be &s;ingular, but to apply them&s;elves according to the way of the multitude. It was &s;aid of <HI>Alcibiades</HI> a Noble man of <HI>Athens,</HI> that he was <HI>omnium hora|rum homo,</HI> a man for all companies, all times, and circum&s;tances; that he was laborious among&s;t the <HI>Syracu&s;ians,</HI> but loo&s;ly carried among&s;t the more di&s;&s;olute <HI>Athenians,</HI> grave and &s;ober among&s;t
<PB N="25" REF="17">the <HI>Lacedemonians,</HI> but intemperate among&s;t the <HI>Thracians,</HI> &amp; effe|minate among&s;t the <HI>Per&s;ians;</HI> &s;o in reference to religion corrupt nature, that &s;avours not the things of the Spirit, knowes (accord|ing to the &s;ame fa&s;hion) how to garbe and apply her &s;elfe to all factions, all opinions, all formes, all times how oppo&s;ite &s;oever they be to the Scepter of Chri&s;t, yea, &s;he deems it her wi&s;dome never to profe&s;&s;e more of Chri&s;t then may &s;tand with the com|probation and allowance of popular acceptance: well, but what will this corre&s;pondency with the multitude availe thee, when God comes to vi&s;ite thee for thy &s;inne? <HI>Though hand joyn in hand, the wicked &s;hall not be unpuni&s;hed, Proverbs</HI> 11.21. and when <HI>the wicked &s;hall be turned into hell, and all the people that for|get God;</HI> who will acquit thee? the coun&s;ell of the ungodly may be plea&s;ing, the way of &s;inners delightful, the chaire of &s;corners ea&s;ie, but he only is the ble&s;&s;ed man that &s;tudies the avoidance of them. La&s;tly, art thou not offended at the intere&s;t and propriety, he challenges in thee, as the &s;ole and only Monarch over thee? becau&s;e he requires all thine heart, all thy &s;trength, all thy &s;oul, admitting no con&s;ort, no corrival to &s;hare with thee in the &s;ame? It's &s;aid of the Ido atrous heathen that were placed in <HI>Samaria, that they feared the Lord,</HI> but &s;erved their own gods too, 2 <HI>Kings</HI> 17.33. upon the like tearmes if Chri&s;t (accepting &s;ome formality for him&s;elfe) would di&s;pen&s;e with the &s;onnes or men to live to their former lu&s;ts, to per&s;i&s;t &s;till in the &s;ervice of &s;inne and Satan (their old ma&s;ters under who&s;e juri&s;dictions they have been born, and bred,) he would then with fairer acceptance be admitted, but becau&s;e he will be ab&s;olute and alone in his govern|ment, becau&s;e he affoards no place for covetou&s;ne&s;&s;e to reigne, drunkenne&s;&s;e to rage, oathes and bla&s;phemies to domineere, the world cannot away with him, this among&s;t others was the rea|&s;on, why, when <HI>Taberius</HI> propounded him to the Romane Senate (with the priviledgcs of his own &s;uffrage) to be wor&s;hipped for a God, they rejected him, becau&s;e according to his own rules he would be God alone. But <HI>O fooli&s;h people, and unwi&s;e, do you &s;o re|quite the Lord?</HI> (as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> expo&s;tulated with the ungrateful I&s;raelites, <HI>Deut.</HI> 32.6.) <HI>Is not he thy Father that bought thee? hath not he made chee, and e&s;tabli&s;hed thee?</HI> If he be all, and all un|to thee, in this way of thine happine&s;&s;e, why &s;houlde&s;t thou not with an whole, un&s;hared, incommunicable love devote thy &s;elfe
<PB N="26" REF="18">to him in the way of homage and &s;ubjection? In a word, what&s;oever thy temptations, thy di&s;couragements be, break thorow all difficulties, <HI>and then it &s;hall come to pa&s;&s;e that when the fear|full and unbelieving, &amp;c &s;hall have their part in the lake that burn|eth with fire and brim&s;tone,</HI> thou &s;halt finde thy &s;elfe in a &s;tate of happine&s;&s;e, yea, <HI>he that overcometh, &s;hall inherit all things, Rev.</HI> 21.7.</P>
<P>Now for the third particular in my text, the endeavour of a Chri&s;tian about the attainment of the &s;ame, <HI>Who &s;o findeth:</HI>]</P>
<P>The finding here &s;poken of is not accidental, or ca&s;ual; but &s;uch a finding as pre&s;uppo&s;eth inqui&s;ition, and &s;earch: He that by harkening to this wi&s;dome, by hearing her in&s;truction, by watch|ing daily at her gates, by giving attendance at the po&s;ts of her doors, by keeping her wayes as the holy Spirit enjoynes in the precedent ver&s;es; he that &s;hall thus &s;eek her, he &s;hall finde her, and he that findeth her, <HI>findeth life.</HI> Whence you may note,</P>
<P>&para; That where there is a due and right &s;eeking of the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, together with all the&s;e ine&s;timable ble&s;&s;ings im|ported in him, there in due time &s;hall be a comfortable and ble&s;&s;ed finding of him.</P>
<P>This was the argument of <HI>Solomon,</HI> to impre&s;&s;e upon us the &s;tudy of wi&s;dome, <HI>Prov.</HI> 2.4. <HI>If thou &s;eek for her, &amp;c.</HI> In the words you &s;ee how a Chri&s;tian &s;hould be&s;tow him&s;elfe that ex|pects wi&s;dome, he mu&s;t &s;eek and &s;earch, and that with all dili|gence, as for things mo&s;t precious, and then the i&s;&s;ue and event follows, <HI>Then &s;halt thou finde, &amp;c.</HI> So, <HI>Rom.</HI> 2.7. <HI>To them that by continuance in well-doing &s;eek, &amp;c.</HI> So, <HI>Lam.</HI> 3.25. <HI>The Lord is good to them that trust in him, and to the &s;oul that &s;eeketh him.</HI> And &s;o it mu&s;t needs be, faithful &s;eeking, can never finde God defective in granting. Fir&s;t becau&s;e he is a gracious God, and de|lights in the pro&s;perity of his &s;ervants. It's the argument of our ble&s;&s;ed Saviour, <HI>If you that are evil can give good gifts, &amp;c. Matth</HI> 7.11. evil in compari&s;on of God, who is infinitely, and e&s;&s;entially good; evil in the inclination of our hearts, which in all their thoughts and imaginations are evil continually, if you know how to give good gifts, things requi&s;ite and nece&s;&s;ary, how much more, &amp;c? Secondly, becau&s;e his glory depends upon it, if Gods people &s;hould waite upon him in the way of his ordinances, and
<PB N="27" REF="18">&s;erve him, as he in his word hath pre&s;cribed, and then if God &s;hould not accommodate him&s;elfe unto him, in what they &s;eek; who would waite upon him any longer? who&s;e mouths would not be opened with tho&s;e Athei&s;ts, in <HI>Mal.</HI> 3. <HI>It's in vaine to &s;erve God, &amp;c?</HI> But now when God reveales the meanes of grace, gives us hearts to apply our &s;elves unto them, and then gives his ble&s;&s;ing upon the &s;ame, this is an obligation to his prai&s;e, <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 22.26. <HI>They that &s;eek after the Lord, &s;hall prai&s;e him.</HI> Thirdly, becau&s;e it is the pre&s;cribed way for finding: the meanes that God hath deputed mu&s;t needs be effectual, but this is Gods way, <HI>Aske, and ye &s;hall have, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>It &s;hewes in the fir&s;t place the vanity and emptine&s;&s;e of their hopes, that expect the&s;e ine&s;timable trea&s;ures without any paines|taking in the wayes of God; although they re&s;treine prayer from the Almighty, prophane the Sabbaths, habitually neglect all holy duties, yet they doubt not of Gods favour, que&s;tion not their future happine&s;&s;e and &s;alvation. But were not he &s;trangely conceited that &s;hould expect victory, triumphs, &s;poiles, that was never in a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">mes? the depths of knowledge, that never opened book? the return of a good voyage, that never put him&s;elfe upon the adventure? a plentiful harve&s;t, that affoarded no tillage to the &s;oile? No, <HI>Dii laboribus omnia vendunt,</HI> was a proverb among&s;t the heathen; all the ble&s;&s;ings we have are from God, yet obteined only by labour, and paines, in the u&s;e of the meanes. <HI>The &s;lug|gard</HI> (&s;aies <HI>Solomon</HI>) <HI>&s;hall be clothed with rags. And he that will not worke mu&s;t not eat,</HI> &s;aies the Apo&s;tle, 2. <HI>The&s;.</HI> 3.10. &s;o for &s;piritual things, he that &s;eekes not to God in the pre&s;cri|bed way of his wor&s;hip, can expect nothing but the rags and fa|mine of &s;piritual poverty to betide him.</P>
<P>Secondly, it &s;hews the happy i&s;&s;ue and event of all holy endea|vours. In the things of this world, a man may &s;eek with much dili|gence and never obteine; a man may go to the Phy&s;ician expect|ing health, but finde death; to the Lawyer for ju&s;tice, but finde oppre&s;&s;ion, and wrong; to his friend for acceptance, like <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> to his brethren, but finde enmity and malice: <HI>But the Lord is nigh unto them that call upon him, all them that call upon him faithfully;</HI> the gate of heaven ever &s;tands open to &s;uch &s;eekers, they may go with boldne&s;&s;e to the throne of grace; Gods eare is never weary of hearing their &s;uites, like welcome favourites
<PB N="28" REF="19">their petitions &s;hall be granted. And therefore in the third place, let it be an encouragement to us (as we de&s;ire to pro&s;per in the things of God) &s;o to &s;eek unto him for the &s;ame; <HI>They that know thy name, will put their tru&s;t in thee, P&s;al.</HI> 9 10. why? <HI>Thou Lord never failest them that &s;eek thee.</HI></P>
<P>And thus we come to the la&s;t particular in my text, &amp; that is the party intere&s;&s;ed in this happine&s;s, and that is &s;et down indefinitely and without limitation, <HI>Who&s;e findeth, &amp;c.</HI> whence you may note,</P>
<P>&para; The equality and indifferency of Gods acceptance to all &s;orts and conditions of people.</P>
<P>As it is not honours, preferments, greatne&s;&s;e, on the one &s;ide that commends us to Gods favour: &s;o on the other it is not afflictions, wants, nece&s;&s;ities, outward ba&s;ene&s;&s;e, that makes us more de&s;picable in his &s;ight, whether we be high, or low, rich, or poore, it matters not, Jew, or Gentile, Scythian, Barbarian, bond, and free, are all one in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</P>
<P>And therefore in the fir&s;t place, let not great men pride them|&s;elves in the things of this life, the&s;e are but common ble&s;&s;ings, argue only Gods general goodne&s;&s;e, not his e&s;pecial mercy; It is not a man of quality <HI>(quatenus talis)</HI> becau&s;e he is thus, and thus endowed, that findes the&s;e trea&s;ures, but man, preci&s;ely man, bare|ly con&s;idered, without any re&s;pect had to the&s;e outward endow|ments; And therefore, <HI>Let not the wi&s;e man glory in his wi&s;dome, nor the rich man, &amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>The con&s;ideration hereof in the &s;econd place, may encourage poore men to &s;eek after God, and to devote them&s;elves to his &s;ervice; Art thou ba&s;e and contemptible in the eyes of the world? it matters not, thou maye&s;t be a ve&s;&s;el of honour, an h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ire of life; as well as the greate&s;t Emperour, or Monarch in the world, yea, in &s;eeking the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, this uncreated wi&s;dome of God, thou as well as any other maye&s;t finde him, and in him <HI>Life;</HI> It's intayled to none, but left for all &s;eekers in general; <HI>Who&s;o findeth me, findeth life.</HI> And thus I have done with my text,</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB N="29" REF="19">
<HEAD>Courteous Reader.</HEAD>
<P>TO &s;atisfie the de&s;ires of &s;ome that reque&s;ted the &s;ame, I have (not without &s;ome reluctant backwardne&s;&s;e) annexed this en&s;uing exhortation delivered at the enterrement of the decea&s;ed Lady, who&s;e death occa&s;ioned this Sermon. The Hebrew word for a grave or &s;epulchre is from <GAP DESC="foreign">, to ask, require, or expect, to intimate peradventure how the grave with its open, inhiant mouth, &s;eems to invite pa&s;&s;engers to its entertainment. True it is, we cannot long with&s;tand its &s;ummons, not long fru&s;trate its expectation, all of us (how &s;oon we know not) mu&s;t take up our lodgings there, and make our beds in the dark; and therefore in all holy fore&s;ight of the &s;ame, it behooves us to fit, and prepare our &s;elves for &s;uch a change, to this purpo&s;e, if the&s;e &s;hort directi|ons, may any way availe thee, (how&s;oever I hazard my &s;elfe up|on thy cen&s;ure) I &s;hall not repent the tender of them to thy view.</P>
<P>There is no e&s;tate nor condition of men, or women what&s;oever, or how&s;oever qualified, that can &s;ecure them&s;elves from the pow|er of death&punc; no, be they what they will be, &s;ooner or later they mu&s;t be going, they mu&s;t all to their long home. This is a theame that the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> mu&s;t proclame, yea becau&s;e mor|tality <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> dull of hearing, he mu&s;t crie it out, as you &s;ee, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 40.6. <HI>All fle&s;h is gra&s;&s;e, and the grace, &amp;c.</HI> as if he &s;hould &s;ay, Art thou &s;trong and lu&s;ty as an Eagle? <HI>Are thy brea&s;ts full of milk,</HI> (as <HI>Job</HI> &s;peaks) <HI>thy bones full of marrow?</HI> let thy fle&s;h be what it will, it is but gra&s;&s;e, and mu&s;t wither. Ha&s;t thou all the endowments of nature, all the ornaments of education, dexterity of wit, &s;olidity of judgement, &s;trength of memory, readine&s;&s;e of expre&s;&s;ion, or the like, together with the abundance of the&s;e outward ble&s;&s;ings? why, all this is but a flower, and mu&s;t fade; this we may demon|&s;trate from all the generations that in the &s;everal ages of the world, have been before us; what is become of them all? what <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s become of the Giants before the flood? of <HI>Abraham, I&s;aac, Ja|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ob,</HI> and the ble&s;&s;ed Patriarchs, before the law? of all tho&s;e mul|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">itudes, and many thou&s;ands that came out of <HI>Egypt?</HI> of all tho&s;e
<PB N="30" REF="20">innumerable millions that have lived &s;ince their dayes? as the Pro|phet <HI>Zachary</HI> propounds the quere, <HI>Zaob.</HI> 1.6. <HI>Your fathers where are they, and do the Prophets live for ever?</HI> No, they do not; no there is a &s;tatute law again&s;t us all, <HI>Statutum e&s;t; It is appointed for all men once to die, Heb.</HI> 9.27. Let <HI>Solomon</HI> be wi&s;e, <HI>Samp&s;on</HI> &s;trong, <HI>Ab&s;olom</HI> beautifull, all availes not. An in&s;tance hereof to this pur|po&s;e we have in this pre&s;ent &s;pectacle of mortality; what variety of ble&s;&s;ings in a mo&s;t plentifull and liberal mea&s;ure did God be|&s;tow upon her? here was <HI>Bona corporis,</HI> a firme and healthful con|&s;titution of body; <HI>Bona animae,</HI> all intellectual abilities and endow|ments; <HI>Bona fortunae,</HI> e&s;tate and meanes an&s;werable to her ranck and quality; And together with all the&s;e how did God ble&s;&s;e her in &s;uch an husband that all honoured Sir <HI>John Read?</HI> in &s;uch a kin|red and aliance? in &s;uch an off-&s;pring? &s;uch children and chil|dren children? how did God exalt her in making her &s;uch a mo|ther? &s;uch a Grand mother? to affoard her &s;uch branches from her &s;elfe, &s;o lovely, &s;o faire and flouri&s;hing? to have &s;uch an i&s;&s;ue &s;o accompli&s;ht, &s;o demean'd, &s;o ordered both towar<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s God and man? what a comfort &s;he felt in this particular (verifying that of <HI>Solomon, Prov.</HI> 10.1.) &s;he lately in her &s;ickne&s;&s;e acknowledg|ed, and that with all thankfulne&s;&s;e. To the&s;e I might adde the &s;plendor of her vertues, which with an humble reverent &s;ilence, I chu&s;e rather to leave to the ingenuous approbation of others judg|ments, then by the &s;cant and imperfect expre&s;&s;ions of my weak Rhetorick to impaire. What a &s;weet and gratefull influence the&s;e diffu&s;ive vertues had upon you according to you &s;everal occa&s;ions and wants, I need not tell you; what mean the&s;e &s;ad looks? the&s;e dejected countenances? the&s;e overflowing eyes? the crowded pre&s;&s;e of this pre&s;ent auditory? every one (to &s;peak in the phra&s;e of <HI>Job</HI>) <HI>having his harp turned into mourning and his Organ into the voice of them that weep?</HI> In all the&s;e you &s;hew how you prized her, how precious &s;he was unto you, what an e&s;timate you &s;et upon her de&s;erts: but now in the approach of death, all the&s;e &s;weet mer|cies, all the&s;e faire and rich enjoyments, all her acceptance and grace in the world could not purcha&s;e for her (beyond her ap|pointed time) the lea&s;t minute to her further abode. True it is, this is a common point, a granted truth, there is none &s;o fooli&s;h as to deny it; but as known and common as it is, let me aske you, who ponders it? who con&s;iders it in his heart? who fits and pre|pares
<PB N="31" REF="20">him&s;elf accordingly? It was &s;aid of <HI>Ephraim,</HI> that <HI>he had gray haires here and there, and knew not of them, Ho&s;.</HI> 7.9. Is it not &s;o with our &s;elves? let the &s;ignes and &s;ymptoms of mortality be apparent, are we not utterly heedle&s;&s;e and forgetful of them? true it is, while&s;t the &s;ound of a pa&s;&s;ing bell is in our eares, while&s;t the mourners are abroad in the &s;treets, while&s;t we are within the au|dience of a funeral &s;ermon, oh then we are touched with &s;ome pa&s;&s;ionate meditations, and thoughts, &s;uch as the&s;e; oh the &s;ting of death, oh the &s;everity of Gods tribunal, the &s;trictne&s;&s;e of the accompt, oh the depth of hell, oh that I could make my peace with God, that it might go well with me in my latter end. But when the&s;e vi&s;ible &s;ignes, the&s;e &s;en&s;ible objects are no &s;ooner remo|ved, but we are &s;till the &s;ame we were before; ju&s;t like the doves and daws in the &s;teeple, in the beginning of a peale, they &s;eem in a kind of an affright to betake them&s;elves to their wings, and fly aloft, but pre&s;ently the bells are no &s;ooner cea&s;ed, but they return again to their holes, and are as &s;ecure as ever they were before. But oh that Gods people were wi&s;e, that they would con&s;ider their latter end. It is the &s;aying of <HI>Augu&s;tine, &V;tinam in quovis loco de gehen|na diceretur, in gehenuam prohiberet incidi&s;&s;e:</HI> I would men were ever talking of hell, it would be a meanes to keep them from it; &s;o for death, the more &s;erious we are in the thoughts of it, the more &s;afe from the danger of it; and therefore with <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea,</HI> let us make our &s;epulchres in our gardens, be im|ployed in the meditations of death at all times, even among&s;t our ch<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">efe&s;t delights; And that we may pro&s;per in the thoughts of it, let me commend unto you the&s;e particulars. Fir&s;t, di&s;patch and ha&s;ten thy repentance; <HI>Non bonum e&s;t in eo &s;tatu vivere, in quo non e&s;t tutum mori.</HI> Do&s;t thou live in a &s;tate of &s;inne, uncleanne&s;&s;e, wantonne&s;&s;e prophanene&s;&s;e &amp;c? why, think with thy &s;elfe, would&s;t thou dye in &s;uch a condition? hath not the Lord denounced it, that the unrighteous &s;hall never enter the kingdome of hea|ven? why, then if thou would&s;t fit thy &s;elfe for death, thou mu&s;t purge thy con&s;cience from dead works, <HI>crucifie the fle&s;h, with the corruptions and lu&s;ts of it.</HI> Secondly, thou mu&s;t &s;et thy &s;elfe about the performance of all holy daties, thou mu&s;t do that good which may be for good to thy &s;oul for the future. <HI>The time of my de|parture is at hand,</HI> (faies the Apo&s;tle) what then? doth not the Apo&s;tle tremble? no, the con&s;ideration of his life pa&s;t &s;upports
<PB N="32" REF="21">him, <HI>I have faught the good fight, &amp;c.</HI> Thirdly; thou mu&s;t &s;tudy to be built up in him, who is <HI>The Lord our righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e,</HI> do&s;t thou re&s;t upon inferiour things? thou &s;halt be as the heath in the wilderne&s;&s;e, and &s;halt not &s;ee when good comes; but if thou re&s;t upon Chri&s;t; as the maine foundation-&s;tone, thou &s;halt not be confounded, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 28, 16. La&s;tly, go unto God in prayer, that he would help thee, and further thee in this thy preparation; <HI>O teach us to number our dayes, &amp;c.</HI> we cannot number them rightly, except God help us; and therefore in the title of that P&s;alme, you have it &s;tiled by the name of a prayer, <HI>A prayer of</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>the man of God;</HI> to &s;hew how we &s;hould be affected in thoughts, as likewi&s;e that it is God only that enables us in the the &s;ame. And herein we mu&s;t take heed to &s;et upon the&s;e, and the like preparations &s;peedily, and without delay; <HI>Hoc momen|tum e&s;t unde pendet aeternitas,</HI> the time of this life is but a moment, but &s;uch a moment, as hath all eternity depending upon it. It is re|lated of <HI>Cae&s;ar Borgia,</HI> that he &s;poke it upon his death bed, that he had &s;tudied to prevent all inconveniences that might betide him, but death; but as for that he did not think it had been &s;o neer him; let not his ca&s;e be thine, but rather let thy re&s;olution con&s;pire with <HI>Jobs, to waite all the dayes of thine appointed time till thy change come.</HI> I conclude all with that of St. <HI>John, Revel.</HI> 20.6. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed, and holy is he, that hath part in the fir&s;t re&s;urrection, on &s;uch the &s;econd death hath no power.</HI></P>
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