The Happiness of the Church, Biblical commentary 21
SEMPER IDEM OR The Immutable merciemercy Of Iesus Christ.
HEBR. 13. 8.
Iesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for euer.
BY the name of Iehouah was God knowne to Israel; from the time of the first mission of Moses to them, and their manumission out of Egypt: and not before. For sayth God to Moses aExod. 6. 3.I appeared vntounto Abraham, and vntounto Isaac, and vntounto Iacob, by the Name of God Almightie; but by my Name IEHOVAH was I not knowne to them. This (I Am) is an eternall word, comprehending three times; that was, that is, and is to come.
Now to testifie the equalitie of the Sonne to the Father, the Scripture giues the same Eternitie to Iesus, that it doth to Iehouah. He is called Alpha and Omega, Primus & nouissimus, the First and the Last: which is, which was, and which is to come. Reuel. 1. and here the same yesterday, and to day, and for euer. Therefore he was not onelyonly Christus Dei, the Annointed of God; but Christus Deus, God himselfe Annointed. Seeing that Eternitie which hath neither beginning nor ending, is only peculiar and proper to God.
The words may be distinguished into a
Center
Circūference
Mediate
Line, referring the one to the other. The immoueable Center is Iesus Christ. The Circumference that runs round about him here, is Eternitie: Yesterday, to day & for euer. The Mediate line referring them is. foreign, The same▪ Iesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for euer.
The Center is Iesus Christ.
Iesus was his proper Name, Christ his appellatiue. Iesus a name of his nature, Christ of his Office and dignitie; as Diuines speake.
Iesus a Name of all sweetnes. bBern. in Can.Mel in ora, Melos in a…re, iubilus in corde. A reconciler, a Redeemer, a Sauiour. When the conscience wrastles with Law, Sin, Death; nothing but horror and despaire without Iesus. He is cIoh. 14. 6.the way, the Truth, and the Life: without him Error, Me…dacium, Mors. Si scribas, non placet, nisi legam ibi Iesum: saith Bernard. If thou writest to me, thy letter doth not please me, vnles I read there Iesus. If thou conferrest, thy discourse is not sweet, without the name of Iesus. The blessed restorer of all, of more then all that Adam lost▪ for we hauehave gotten more by his regenerating grace, then we lost by Adams degenerating Sinne.
Christ is the Name of his Office: being appointed and annointed of God, a King, a Priest, a Prophet.
This Iesus Christ is our Sauiour: of whose names I forbeare further discourse, being vnable, though I had the tongue of Angels, to speake ought worthy …anto Nomine, Tanto Numine. All that can be said, is but a litle: but I must say but a litle in all. But of all names giuen to our Redeemer still Iesus is the sweetest. O…er, sayth Bern. are names of Maiestie, Iesus is a name of merciemercy. The Word of God, the Sonne of God, the Christ of GOD, are titles of Glory: Iesus a Sauiour, is a title of grace, merciemercy, redemption.
This Iesus Christ is the Center of this Text: and not onelyonly of this, but of the whole Scripture. The Summe of Diuinitie is the Scripture: the Summe of the Scripture is the Gospell, the Summe of the Gospell is Iesus Christ. In a word, Nihil continet verbum Domini, nisi verbum Dominum. There is nothing contained in the word of God, but God the Word.
Nor is he the Center onelyonly of his Word, but of our rest and Peace. d1. Cor. 2. ….I determined not to know any thing among you, saue Iesus Christ, and him crucified. Thou hast made vsus for thee. O Christ; and our heart is vnquiet till it rest in thee. It is naturall to eueryevery thing appettere centrum, to desire the Center. But eCol. 3. 3.our life is hid with Christ in God. We must needes amare, where wee must animare. Our mind is where our pleasure is, our heart is where our treasure is, our louelove is where our life is: but all these, our pleasure, treasure, life, are reposed in Iesus Christ. Thou art my Portion, O Lord, sayth Dauid. Take the world that please, let our Portion be Christ. fMat. 19. 27.We hauehave left all, sayth Peter, and fellowed thee: you hauehave lost nothing by it, sayth Christ; for you hauehave gotten me. Nimis auarus est, cui non sufficit Christus. Hee is too couetous, whom Iesus Christ cannot satisfie. Let vsus seeke this Center, sayth gIn Io…an.August. Qu…ramus inueniendum, quaeramus inuentum. Vt inveniendus qu…ratur, paratus est: vt inuentus qu…ratur, immensus est. Let vsus seeke him, till wee hauehave found him: and still seeke him when we hauehave found him. That seeking wee may find him, he is ready: that finding we may seeke him, he is infinite. You see the Center.
The referring Line proper to this Center, is Semper Idem.
The same. There is no mutabilitie in Christ: hIam. 1. 17.no variablenes, nor shadow of turning. All lower lights hauehave their inconstancie; but in the Father of lights there is no changeablenes. The Sunne hath his shadow; the the iMal. 4. 2.Sonne of righteousnesse is without shadow: that turnes vponupon the Diall, but Christ hath no turning. kIoh. 13. 1.Whom he loues, he loues to the end. He loues vsus to the end; of his louelove there is no end. Tempus crit consummandi, nullus consumendi misericordiam. His merciemercy shall be perfected in vsus, neuer ended. l…sa. 54. 8.In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment: but with euerlasting kindnesse will I hauehave merciemercy vponupon thee, sayth the Lord thy Redeemer. His wrath is short, his goodnesse is euerlasting. mVer. 10.The mountaines shall depart, and the hils be remoued: but my kindnesse shall not depart from thee, neither shall the couenant of my peace be remoued, sayth the Lord, that hath merciemercy on thee. The mountaines are stable things, the hils stedfast: yet hils, mountaines, yea the whole earth shall totter on the foundations; yea the very n2. Pet. 3. 10.heauens shall passe away with a noyse, and the elements shall melt with heate; but the Couenant of God shall not be broken. oHos. 2. 19.I will betroth thee vntounto me for euer; sayth God. This marriage-bond shall neuer be canceld; nor sinne, nor death, nor hell shall be able to diuorce vsus. Six & twentie times in one pPsal. 136.Psalme that sweet singer chants it: His merciemercy endureth for euer. Iesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for euer.
As this meditation distilles into our beleeuing hearts much comfort, so let it giuegive vsus some instructions. Two
things it readily teacheth vsus; a
Diswasiue caution.
Perswasiue lesson.
1. It diswades our confidence in worldly thinges because they are inconstant. How poore a space do… they remaine foreign, the same! To proue this, you hauehave in the first of Iudges. Ver. 6. a Iury of threescore and ten Kings, to take their oathes vponupon it. EueryEvery one had his throne, yet there lickes crums vnderunder another Kings table: and shortly euen this King, that made them all so miserable, is made himselfe most miserable. Salomon compares wealth to a wild fowle. qProu. 23. 5.Riches make themselues wings, they flie away, as an Eagle toward heauen. Not some tame house-bird or a hawke that may be fetched downe with a lure, or found againe by her bels: but an Eagle, that violently cuts the aire, and is gone past recalling.
Wealth is like a bird: it hops all day from man to man, as that doth from tree to tree; and none can say, where it will roust or rest at night. It is like a vagrant fellow, which because he is big boned & able to worke, a man takes in a dores, and cherisheth; and perhaps for a while he takes paines: but when he spies opportunity, the fugitiue seruant is gone, and takes away more with him then all his seruice came to. The world may seeme to stand thee in some stead for a season, but at last it irreuocably runs away, and carries with it thy ioyes; thy gods, as Rachell stole Labans Idoles: thy peace and content of heart goes with it, and thou art left desperate.
You see how quickly riches cease to be the same: and can any other earthly thing boast more stabillitie? Honour must put off the robes when the play is done: make it neuer so glorious a shew on this worlds stage, it hath but a short part to act. A great name of worldly glory is but like a peale rung on the bels: the Common people are the clappers: the rope that moues them is popularitie: if you once let goe your hold & leaue pulling, the clapper lies still, and farewell honour. Strength, though like r1. Kin. 13. 4.Ieroboam, it put forth the arme of oppression, shall soone fall downe withered. Beautie is like an Almanacke: if it last a yeare, t'is well. Pleasure like lightning: …ritur, moritur: sweet, but short: a flash and away.
All vanities are but butter-flies, which wanton children greedily catch for: and sometimes they flie besides Anselm. meditat.them, sometimes before them, sometimes behind them, sometimes close by them; yea through their fingers, and yet they misse them: and when th… hauehave them, they are but butterflies; they hauehave painted wings, but are crude and squalid wormes. Such are the things of this world, vanities, butter-flies. Vel sequendo labimur, vel assequendo l…dimur. The world it selfe is not vnlike a Hartechoke: nine parts of it are vnprofitable leaues, scarce the tythe is good: about it there is a l…ttle picking meate, nothing so wholesome as daintie: in the midst of it there is a coare, which is enough to choke them that deuoure it.
O then set not your hearts vponupon these things: calcanda sunt, as Ierome obserues on Act. 4. They that sold their possessions, brought the prises, and layed them downe Act. 4. 35.at the Apostles feete. At their feete, not at their hearts: they are fitter to be troden vnderunder feet, then to be waited on with hearts. I conclude this with Augustine. Ecce turbat mundus, & amatur: quid si tranquillus esset? Formoso quomodo h…reres, qui sic amplecteris soedum? Flores eius quàm colligeres, qui sic a spinis non reuocas manū. Quàm confideres …terno, qui sic adh…res caduco? Behold, the world is turbulent and full of vexation, yet it is loued; how would it be embraced if it were calme and quiet? If it were a beauteous Damosell how would they doat on it; that so kisse it being a deformed stigmaticke. How greedily would they gather the flowers, who will not forbeare the thornes? They that so admire it being transient and temporall; how would they bee enamoured on it if it were eternall? But s1. Ioh. 2. 17.the world passeth, and God abideth. tHeb. 1. 11. 12They shall perish, but thou remainest: they all shall waxe old as doth a garment: and as a vesture shalt thou fold them vp, and they shall bee changed: but thou art The Sam…, and thy yeares shall not faile. Therefore u1. Tim. 6. 17.trust not in vncertaine riches, but in the liuing God. And then xPsal. 125. 1.they that trust in the Lord; shall be as M…unt Sion, which cannot be remoued, but abideth for euer. Iesus Christ the Sa… yesterday, and to day, and for euer.
2. This perswades vsus to an imitation of Christs Constancie. Let the stablenes of his merciemercy to vsus, worke a stablenes of our louelove to him. And howsoeuer like the lower Orbes, we hauehave a naturall motion of our owne from good to euill: yet let vsus suffer the higher power to moue vsus supernaturally from euill to good. There is in vsus indeed a reluctant flesh; aRom. 7. 23.a Law in our members warring against the Law of our minde. So August. confesseth. bConfes. lib. 8. cap. 10.Nec planè nolebam, nec planè volebam. And Eg… era… qui volebam, ego qui nolebam. I neither fully granted, nor plainely denied: and it was I my selfe, that both would, and would not. But our ripenesse of Christianitie must ouergrow fluctuant thoughts.
Irresolution and vnsteddines is hatefull, and vnlike to our master Christ, who is euer The Same. cIam. 1. 8.A double minded man is vnstable in all his wayes. The inconstant man is a stranger in his owne house: all his purposes are but guests: his heart is the Inne: if they lodge there for a night, it is all; they are gone in the morning. Many motions come crowding together vponupon him: and like a great prease at a narrow dore, whiles all striue, none enter. The Epigrammatist wittily.
Omnia cùm facias, miraris cur facias nil:
Posthume, rem solam qui facit, ille facit.Marul. …pigr. lib. 3.
He that will hauehave an oare for eueryevery mans boate, shall hauehave none left to row his owne. They, sayth Melancton, that will know aliquid in omnibus, shall indéed know nihil in toto. Their admiration or dotage of a thing is extreame for the time, but it is a wonder, if it out-liue the age of a wonder, which is allowed but nine dayes. They are angry with Time, and say the times are dead, because they produce no more innouations. Their inquiry of all things is not Quàm bonum, but Quàm novum! They are almost wearie of the Sun for continuall shining. Continuance is a sufficient quarrell against the best things: and the Manna of heauen is loathed, because it is common.
This is not to be alwayes the same, but neuer the same: and whiles they would bee eueryevery thing, they are nothing: but like the worme Plinie writes of, multipoda; that hath many feete, yet is of slow pace. A while you shall hauehave him in England, louing the simple truth: anone in Rome groueling before an Image: soone after, he leaps to Amsterdam: and yet must he still be turning, till there be nothing left but to turne Turke. To winter an opinion is too tedious: he hath bin many things; what hee will be, you shall scarce know, till he is nothing.
But the God of Constancie would hauehave his to be constant. Stedfast in your faith to him. Colos. 1. Continue in the faith grounded and setled, and be not moued away from Colos. 1. 23.the hope of the Gospell. Stedfast in your faithfulnesse to man, dPsal. 15. 4.promising and not disappoynting. Doe not aliud stantes, aliud sed…tes: least your changing with God, teach God to change with you. eAmbr. in luc. lib. 5.Nemo potest tibi Christum …uferre, …isi t… illi auferas. No man can turne Christ from thee, vnles thou turne thy selfe from Christ. For Iesus Christ the same yesterday, &c.
We come now to the Circumference; wherein is a distinction of three times; Past, Present, Future. Tempora mutantur: the times change, the Circumference wheeles about; but the Center is the same for euer.
We must resolue this Triplicitie into a Triplicitie. Christ is the same according to these three distinct termes, three distinct wayes.
Obiectiuè, in his Word.
Subiectiuè, in his Power.
Effectiuè, in his gratious Operation.
Obiectiuely.
Iesus Christ is the same in his word; and that
Yesterday in Preordination.
To day in Incarnation.
For euer in Application.
Yesterday in Preordination.
So Saint Peter in his Sermon tels the Iewes, that fAct. 2. 23.he was deliuered by the determinate counsell and foreknowledge of God. And in his Epistle; that g1. Pet. 1. 20.he was verily preordained before the foundation of the world. Reuel. 13. He is called the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the world. Prius Reu. 13. 8.pr…fuit, quamfuit. His Prophets did foretell him, the Types did prefigure him, God himselfe did promise him. R…tus or do Dei: the decree of God is constant.
Much comfort I must here leaue to your meditation. If God preordained a Sauiour for man, before he had eyther made man, or man mar'd himselfe: (as Paul to Timothie; h2. Tim. 1. 9.he hath saued vsus according to his own purpose a…d grace, which was giuen vsus in Christ Iesus before the world began.) then surely he meant that nothing should iRom. 8. 39.separate vsus from his eternall louelove in that Sauiour. Quos … increatos, rede…it perditos, non deseret redemptos. Whom he chose before they were created, and when they were lost redeemed, he will not forsake being sanctified.
To day in Incarnation.
kGal. 4. 4.When the fulnesse of the time was come, God sent forth his Sonne made of a Woman. lIoh. 1. 14.The word was made flesh: which was, sayth Emissenus, mHom. 2. de Nati…. Christi.Non deposita, sed seposit… maiestate. Thus he became younger then-his Mother, that is as eternall as his Father. He was Yesterday God before all worlds, he is now made man in the World. nEuseb. Emiss. vbi supra.Sanguinem, qu…m pro matre …btulit, antea de sanguine matris accepit. The bloud that he shed for his Mother, hee had from his Mother. The same Eusebius▪ on the 9. of Esay acutely. oEsa. 9. 6.VntoUnto vsus a child is borne, vntounto vsus a Sonne is giuen. He was Datus ex Diuinitate, natus ex virgine. Datus est qui erat; natus est qui non erat. He was Giuen of the Deitie, Borne of the virgin: He that was giuen, was before: he as borne, was before. Donum dedit Deus … quale sibi, God gaue a gift equall to himselfe.
So he is the same yesterday, and to day, obiectiuely in his Word. Idom qui velatus in veteri, reu…latus in none. In illo praedictus, in isto praedicatus. Yesterday prefigured in the Law, to day the same manifested in the Gospell.
For euer in Operation.
He doth continually by his Spirit apply to our consciences the vertue of his death and passion. pIoh. 1. 12.As many as receiue him, to them giues …e power to become the Sonnes of God, euen to them that beleeue on his Name. qHeb. 10. 14.By one offering hee hath perfected for euer them that are sanctified. This is sure comfort to vsus: though hee dyed almost 1600. yeares agoe, his bloud is not yet dry: his wounds are as fresh to doe vsus good, as they were to those Saints that beheld them bleeding on the Crosse. The vertue of his merits is not abated, though many thousand hands of Faith hauehave taken large portions out of his treasurie. The riuer of his Grace, which makes glad the citie of God, runnes ouer the bankes, though infinite soules hauehave drunke heartie draughts, and satisfied their thirst. But because we cannot apprehend this for our selues of our selues; therefore he hath promised to send vsus the rIoh. 14. 17.Spirit of truth, who will dwell with vsus, and applie this to vsus. for euer. Thus you hauehave seene the first Triplicitie; how he is the Same Obiectiuely in his Word. Now he is
Subiunctiuely in his Power the Same; and
that
Yesterday, for he made the world.
To day, for he gouerns the world.
For euer, for he shall iudge the world.
Yesterday in the Creation.
sIoh. 1. 3.All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. tCol. 1. 16.By him were all things created that are in heauen, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. All things; euen the great and faire booke of the world; of three so large leaues, Coelum, Solum, Salum; Heauen, Earth, and Sea. The Prophet cals him aEsa. 9. 6.the Everlasting Father: Daniel, bDan. 7.Auntient of dayes. Salomon sayes that, cProv. 8. 22.the Lord possessed him in the beginning of his way, before his workes of old. So himselfe told the vnbeleeuing Iewes: dIoh. 8. 58.Before Abraham was, I am.
We owe then our selues to Christ for our creation, but how much more for our redemption? eBern. de dilig. Deo.Si totum me debeo pro ine facto, quid addam iam pro me refecto? In primo opere me mihi dedit: in secundo se mihi dedit. If I owe him my whole selfe for making me, what hauehave I left to pay him for redeeming me? In the first worke he gaue my selfe to me, in the second he gaue himselfe to me. By a double right we owe him our selues: we are worthy of a double punishment, if we giuegive him not his owne.
To day in the Gouerning:
fHe…. 1. 3.Hee vpholdeth all things by the word of his power. Hee is Paterfamilias; and disposeth all thinges in this vniuerse, with greater care and p…ence, then any house-holder can menage the bu…nesse of his priuate familie. Hee leaues it not, as the Carpenter hauing built the frame of a house, to others to perfect it; but lookes to it himselfe. His Creation and Prouidence is like the Mother and the Nurse: the one produceth, the other preserueth. His creation was a short prouidence, his prouidence a perpetuall creation. The one sets vp the frame of the house, the other keepes it in reparation.
Neither is this a disparagement to the Maiestie of God, as the vaine Epicures imagined, curare minima, to regard the least things: but rather an honour, curare infinita, to regard all things. Neither doth this extend onelyonly to naturall things, chained together by a regular order of succession: but euen to casuall and contingent things. Oftentimes cùm aliud volumus, aliud agimus; the euent crosseth our purpose. Which must content vsus though it fall out otherwise then we purposed, because God purposed as it is falne out. It is enough that the thing attaine the owne end, though it misse ours: that Gods will be done, though ours be crossed.
But let me say; gMat. 6. 26. 28Hath God care of fo…les and flowers, and will he not care for you, his owne Image? Yea let me goe further; Hath God care of the wicked? Doth he powre downe the happie influences of heauen on the hMat. 5. 45.vniust mans ground? And shall the faithfull want his blessing? Doth hee prouide for the Sonnes of Beliall, and shall his owne children lacke? He may giuegive meate and rayment to the rest, but his bountie to Beniamin shall exceed. If M…b his Wash-pot tast of his benefites, then Iudah the signet on his finger cannot bee forgotten. The King gouernes all the Subiects in his Dominions, but his seruants that waite in his Court, partake of his most Princely fauours. God heales the sores of the very wicked: but if it be told him, iIoh. 11. 3.Lord, hee whom thou louest, is sicke … enough, hee shall bee healed. The wicked may h… …utward blessings without inward, and that is Esau's pottage without his Birth-right: but the elect hauehave inward blessings though they want outward, and that is Iacobs inheritance without his pottage.
For euer, because he shall iudge the world. kAct. 17. 31.GOD hath appoynted a day in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnesse, by that M…n whom he hath ordained. lRom. 2. 16.In the day that God shall iudge the secrets of m…n by Iesus Christ. Let the wicked flatter themselues, that all is but talke of any comming to Iudgement: non aliud videre patres aliudve n… p…tes aspic…nt: all is but terriculamenta nutricum, meere scar-babes. Scribar…m pe… mendaces: they hauehave written lies; there is no such matter. But when they shall see that Lambe, mRe…. …. 7.whom they hauehave pearced and scorned, nReu. 6. 16.they shall cry to the mountaines and rockes, Fall vponupon vsus and couer vsus. Now they flatter themselues with his death: mortuus est, hee is dead and gone: and Mortuum Caesarem quis …etuit? Who feares euen a Caesar when he is dead? But oReu. 1. 18.he that was dead, liueth: behold, I am aliue for euermore, Amen. Iesus Christ yesterday, and to day, and for euer. Qu…sitor sc…erum veniet, vindexque reorum.
Here is matter of infallible comfort to vsus. pLuk. 21. 28.Lift vp your heads, for your Redemption draweth nigh. Here wee are imprisoned, martyred, tortured: but when that great Assise, and generall goale-deliuery comes; M…s non …rit vltra: qReu. 21. 4.there shall be no more death, nor sorrow; but all teares shall be wiped from our eyes. r2. Thes. 1. 6. 7.For it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you. And to you who are troubled, rest with vsus, when the Lord Iesus shall be reuealed from heauen with his mightie Angels. We shall then find him the S…: the same Lambe that bought vsus, shall giuegive vsus a venit… beati; Co…e ye blessed, receiue your kingdome. sReu. 22. 20.Surely I come quickly, A…on. Euen so, Come Lord Iesus.
Effectually in his Grace and MercieMercy; so he is the▪
Same
Yesterday to our fathers.
To day to our selues.
For euer to our children.
Yesterday to our Fathers.
All our Fathers, whose soules are now in heauen, those Spirits of iust men made perfect. Hebr. 12. were, as Heb. 12. 24.the next words intimate, saued by Iesus the mediatour of the new Couenant, and by the bloud of sprinkling, that speaketh better things then that of Abell. Whether they liued vnderunder Nature, or vnderunder the Law, Christ was their expectation; and they were iustified credendo in venturum Christum; by beleeuing in the Messias to come. So Luke 2. Simeon is sayd to waite for the consolation of Luk. 2. 25. & ver. 38.Israell.
To day to our selues.
His merciemercy is euerlasting: his truth endureth from generation to generation. The same gracious Sauiour, that he was Yesterday to our Fathers, is he To day to vsus, if we be to day faithfull to him. All catch at this comfort, but in vaine without the hand of Faith. There is no deficiencie in him, but is there none in thee? Whatsoeuer Christ is, what art thou? He forgaue Mary Magd. many grieuous sinnes; so hee will forgiue thee if thou canst shed Mary Magdalens teares. He tooke the malefactor from the Crosse to Paradise; thither he will receiue thee if thou hauehave the same faith. He was mercifull to a denying Apostle: chalenge thou the like merciemercy if thou hauehave the like repentance. If we will be like these, Christ assuredly will be euer like himselfe. When any shall proue to bee such a sinner, he will not faile to bee such a Sauiour.
To day he is thine, if to day thou wilt be his: thine to morrow, if yet to morrow thou wilt be his. But how if darke death preuent the morrowes light? He was Yesterday, so wert thou: he is to day, so art thou: hee is to morrow, so perhaps mayest thou not be. Time may change thee, though it cannot change him. He is not (but thou art) subiect to mutation. This I dare boldly say; He that repents but one day before he dyes, shall find Christ the same in merciemercy and forgiuenesse. Wickednesse it selfe is glad to heare this: but let him bee faithfull on his part, as God is mercifull on his part: let him be sure that he repent one day before he dies: whereof he cannot be sure except he repent eueryevery day. For no man know… his last day. Latet vltimus dies, vt obseruetur omnis dies. Therefore (sayth Augustine) we know not our last day, that wee might obserue eueryevery day. aPsal. 95. 7.To day therefore heare his voyce.
Th… hast lost yesterday negligently, loosest to day wilfully, and therefore moyst loose for euer ineuitably. It is iust with God, to punish two dayes neglect, with the losse of the third. The hand of faith may be withered, the spring of Repentance dryed vp, the Eye of Hope blind, the Foot of Charitie lame. To day then heare his voyce, and make him thine. Yesterday is lost, To day may be gotten, but that once gone, and thou with it; when thou art dead and iudged, it will do thee small comfort, that Iesus Christ is the S…e for euer.
For euer to our Children.
He that was yesterday the God of Abraham, is to day ours, and will bee for euer our childrens. As well now bLuk. 2. 32.the light of the Gentiles, as before the glory of Israell. I will be the God of thy seed, sayth the Lord to Abraham. cLuk. 1. 50.His merciemercy is … them that feare him, fr… generation to generation.
Many parents are …ollicitously perplexed, how their children shall do when they are dead. Yet they cosider not, how God prouided for them when they were childrē. Is the Lor… … shortned▪ Did he take thee from thy mothers brests; and wh… thy …arents for sooke thee, as the Psalmist saith, became thy Father? And cannot this experiēced mercy to thee, perswade thee, that he wil not for▪ sake thine? Is not Iesus Christ the s… yesterday, & to day, and for euer? I hauehave beene young, sayth dPsal. …Dauid, and … now old: yet hauehave I not s…ne the right…s forsaken: (that is granted; nay) nor his seed begging bread.
Many distrustfull Fathers are so carking for their posteritie; that whiles they liue, they starue their bodies, and hazard their soules, to leaue them rich. To such a Father it is said iustly. Di… es h…di, pauper i…psque tibi. Like an ouer-kind Hen, he feeds his Chickens, and famisheth himselfe. If vsurie, circumuention, oppression, extortion, can make them rich, they shall not bee poore. Their follie is ridiculous: they feare least their children should be miserable, yet take the onelyonly course to make them miserable. For they leaue them not so much heires to their goods, as to their euils. They doe as certainely inherite their Fathers sins, as their lands. eIob. 21. 19.God layeth vp his iniquitie for his children: and … …fspring shall wa… a …sell of b…d.
On the contr…ry. fPsal. 37. 26.The good … a…d l…ndeth: and his seed i… bl…ssed. That the worldling thinkes shall make his posteritie poore, God sayth shall make the good mans rich. The gExod. 20. 6.Precept giues a promise of merciemercy to Obedience; not onelyonly confined in himselfe, but extended to his s…d, and that euen to a …sand generations. Trust th… Christ with thy children: when thy friends shall …, vsurie … no dat…, oppression be condemned to hell, thy selfe ro…en to dust, the world it selfe turned and burned into Cinders▪ still Iesus Christ is the same Yesterday, and to-day, and for …. Now then. Reu. 1. … Grace and Pea… are from him Which is, and Which Reu. 1. 4.…, and Which is to come. So Glory and … him, Which i…, Which was, and Which is to come: euen to Iesus Christ the sa… Yesterday, & today, and for e…r.