Ten Sermons Upon Matthew 6:1-4, Sermon 10 – Errata
THE X. SERMON.
PROV. 6.15.
Therefore shall his destruction come speedily, he shall be destroyed suddenly, without recouerie.
THe description of the man of Belial is past: now followeth his iudgement: and that is destruction, speedie, sudden, and irrecouerable. And now he standeth like a theefe at the barre, who when he hath heard his enditement, and is found guiltie, must then heare the sentence of the Iudge according to his desert. As the malefactor goeth from the barre to the gibbet, so the wicked goeth from his wickednesse to destruction. This is now the taile of sinne which cometh last, but not without a deadly sting. Sin is like the Bee,Sinne like a Bee. that hath both hony which is pleasant, and a sting which is more dangerous then the hony is profitable: and whosoeuer will be so foolish and venturous, as to nourish this Bee in his bosome for louelove of the honie, shall surely be wounded with the sting, more then the other shall heale againe. And therefore the pleasures of sinne are called pleasures for a season: Heb. 11.25. not pleasures for euer:Heb. 11.25. because in the end they leaue a sting of conscience behind them, which turne all the former pleasure into lothsomnesse and paine: as it did to the rich and delicate glutton in the Gosdell.Luk. 16.25. Luk. 16.25. and as it was once said to him being in hell, so shall it one day be said to all the wicked: Remember ô ye wicked & vngodly, ye lawlesse & vain persons, that you in your life time receiued your pleasures, & the godly (because they were contrary vntounto you) receiued paines, therfore now are they comforted, & you tormēted. Thus we see how iudgement and vengeance cometh in to the wicked like a deepe reckening after the feast, to such fooles as hauehave called in for more then they are either able or willing to pay. This reckening cometh last, but it troubleth their thoughts, more then all that went before did comfort them.Pro. 5.3. & Such a reckening Salomon speaketh of in Prou. 5.3. &c. The lippes of a harlot (saith he) drop as a hony combe, and her mouth is more soft then oile, but the end of her is bitter as wormewood, and sharpe as a two edged sword: her feet go downe to death, and her steppes take hold of hell. Keepe thy way therfore farre from her, and come not neare the dore of her house, lest thou giuegive thy honour vntounto others, and they yeares vntounto the cruell: left the stranger be filled with thy strength, and thy labours be in the house of a stranger, and thou mourne at thy end, when thou hast consumed thy flesh and thy body, &c. Such a reckening doth Dauid bring in for the wicked in Psalm. 73.Psal. 73.5. &c. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued with other men. Therefore pride is as a chaine vntounto them, and crueltie couereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatnesse, they hauehave more then heart can wish: they are licentious and speake wickedly of their oppression: they talke presumptuously. They set their mouth against heauen, and their tongue walketh through the earth: and they say, how doth God know it? or is there knowledge in the most high? Lo, these are the wicked, yet prosper they alwaies, and increase in riches. Here is their feast past, now cometh in the reckening: vers. 18. Surely thou hast set them in slippery places, and castest them downe into desolation. How suddenly are they destroyed, perished, and horribly consumed? As a dreame when one awaketh, ô Lord, when thou raisest vsus vp, thou shalt make their image despised. In the like sort doth Iob bring them in:Iob. 21.8.9. &… ▪ The wicked grow in wealth (saith Iob) their seed is established in their sight with them, and their generation before their eyes: their houses are peaceable without feare, and the rod of God is not vponupon them. Their bullocke gendreth and faileth not, their cow calueth, and casteth not her calfe. They send foorth their children like sheepe, and their sons daunce, they take their tabret and harpe, and reioyce in the sound of the organes: they spend their daies in wealth. There is one banquet past, now cometh in the reckening, and that is this: Suddenly they go downe to the graue. Then to it againe they go which are left behind and, They say vntounto God, depart from vsus, for we desire not the knowledge of thy waies. Who is the Almightie that we should serue him? and what profit should we hauehave if we should pray vntounto him? Now followeth their iudgement. Often shall the candle of the wicked be put out, and God shall deuide their liues in his wrath: they shall be as stubble before the wind, and as chaffe that the storme carieth away. God will lay vp the sorrow of the father for his children: when he rewardeth him, he shall know it: his eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drinke of the wrath of the Almightie. Oh that the wicked (the diuels guests) did or could consider this. Oh that we saw sinne in that shape comming toward vsus, that we see him in, when he goeth from vsus; then would we as much loth it, as before we loued it: for all sinne is in the end both lothsome and wearisome. Therefore the vngodly being in hell, do crie out of their folly, and say, how hauehave we wearied our selues in the waies of wickednesse? And to the same agreeth the Prophet Esay: There is no peace to the wicked, Esa. 57.saith God, but they are as the raging sea. that alwayes casteth vp mire and dirt: to shew vsus, that if we would find rest, we must not enter into the waies of wicked men, for there is no rest in their wayes.Pro. 14.13. And the wise man saith, That to the wicked there is sorrow euen in laughter: to shew, that the mirth of wicked men is but from the teeth outward. The Apostle Paul (to shew the fruit of sinne) asketh this question:Rom. 6. What fruit (saith he) hauehave you of those things whereof ye are now, ashamed? To shew, that the best fruite that sinne bringeth forth is shame and confusion: as Adam was not ashamed, vntill he had transgressed; so is it still with all Adams posteritie.
And here in my text, it is sayd, that the wicked shall be destroyed. As a thing that is altogether vnprofitable, & much hurtfull amongst men, is destroyed, that is, is either rooted vp, or burned with fire, or cast into the riuer, or throwne out into the high way for men and beasts to tread vponupon, or caried out into the fields for the foules of the ayre to deuoure, or buried in dunghils and ditches: so shall the wicked be destroyed and come to naught, and the remembrance of them shall perish from the earth.Why the wicked shal be destroyed. And good reason; for, to what purpose should the vnfruitfull tree stand? to do nothing but comber the ground? To what vse serueth vnsauoury salt, but for the dunghil? When the brasen serpent maketh men to fall from God, what must be done withall, but breake it in peeces? Now, who more vnfruitfull then the wicked? therefore when their appointed time is come, they must no longer trouble and comber the Lords orchard, nor hinder the common wealth of Gods Israel. What more vnsauourie then vngodlines? or who more vnprofitable then the vngodly? Therfore, where should their place be but vponupon the dunghill? Who cause others to fall from God, but wicked serpents, or serpentine wicked men, with brazen faces, and yron neckes, (as the prophet speaketh:) therefore God must needes breake them in peeces, like a potters vessels, and make them like Nebustan, yea, he shall bruise them with a rod of yron: by which we may see what account God maketh of the wicked, which are lawles, & obstinate, and how litle cause there is why the godly should either esteeme of them, or stand in awe of them.
Therefore they are compared to things of most light account in the word of God▪ Psalm. 1.They shall be as chaffe (saith Dauid) yea, as the lightest or vnprofitablest chaffe, which the wind driueth away from the face of the earth. Psal. 119.The Lord shal tread them vnderunder his feet (sayth he in another place.Mal. 4.1.) They shall be as stubble (sayth Malachi) & the fire of the wrath of the Lord of hostes shal consume them. All which places do shew, that as much reckning is to be made of chaffe, of dirt, of drosse, and of stubble, as of a wicked man that is lawlesse in his own affections. Whatsoeuer their estate and degree be,No respect of persons with God all is one to the Lord; be they poore or rich, there is no respect of persons with God: if men be rich or worshipfull or noble, or beautifull, or strong, or wittie, or learned: if they be wicked and prophane, like Belial, they are but rich chaffe, worshipful drosse, noble dirt, strong stubble, beautifull dung: like Iezabel, who after she had painted her face, was throwne out of the windowes for dogs meate; and what the dogs left, was dung for the earth. Shall Iezabel escape or be fauoured, because she is a Queene, and faire without? No, she shall be more cruelly destroyed, and deuoured of dogs, because she was of cruell and dogged conditions towards the seruants of Gods. Shall Achab escape the bitternes of death, because he is a King? Nay, but as his sword hath made many womē childles in Israel: so shal his mother be made childles, & he shall be hewne in peeces like an oxe in the shambles. If Herod will so farre forget himselfe, as to take vntounto him the glory that is due to God; euen Herod shal be destroyed of lice. If Nebuchadnezzar wil take no warning of his pride, but heare the judgements of God against him as a dreame, surely Nebuchadnezzar that great and proud King shall be turned forth amongst the beasts. But we be Christians, and baptized (will some say.) All is one for that: neither circumcision auaileth any thing, nor vncircumcision, but a new creature. But at Easter we will be holy, and receiue the Sacrament, and then we hope that God will not destroy vsus. Yes the sooner for that, if thou be a wicked man. For this cause (saith Paul) are many afflicted,1. Cor. 11. and many are dead, because they hauehave receiued the Lords supper vnworthily. Will you steale, and rob, and lie, and whore, and deceiue, and swearefalsly, (saith the Lord by Ieremey) and then come into my house where my name is called vponupon? If the Lord doth detest the companie of wicked men in his house, much more then at his table. But wil God destroy the work of his hands? wil he destroy man, whom he made after his owne image? Yea verily: because man through his wickednesse, hath defaced that glorious image of righteousnesse, and true holinesse, he shall be defaced and destroyed himself:Eccle. 7.31. God made man righteous (saith Salomon) but man hath found out many inuentions.
Thus we see, that there is a time of wickednesse, and a time of vengeance: and when the measure of the wicked is filled vp, then shal they be emptied, and filled with wrath, because they are vessels of wrath. Then shall be fulfilled the saying of the wise man, in the tenth of Prou. verse 7.Pro. 10.7. The memoriall of the iust shall be blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot: to shew, that the wicked, who (like Hanun the Ammonite) stunke in the nosthrils of Gods Israel while they liued, shall be in name when they are dead, like rotten carrion which lieth stinking in a ditch, and eueryevery one shall loath and abhorre the sent of him.Pro. 19.9. The light of the righteous (saith Salomon in another place) reioyceth, but the candle of the wicked shall be put out: that is, when they hauehave wasted themselues out, they shall leaue nothing behind them, but a filthie name to offend the cares of such as feare God, and to shame their posteritie, and to annoy all men: like a stinking snuffe of a candle burnt out in the socket, which is so noisome, that eueryevery one shall crie, fie vponupon it, tread it out.
But this reckening will not come yet (saith the wicked to himselfe) I may liue, and repent when I am old, or when I lie a dying. Indeed so the wicked mockers and deriders of Gods iudgements vse to speak, (as S. Peter sheweth:1. Pet. 3.) Where is the promise of his comming, all things continue still at one stay: but the Lord is not slacke (saith the Apostle) as men count slacknesse: when the sinne is full ripe, then wil the Lord cut it downe, yea, and such wretched speeches, and vngodly conceipts of the Lords long suffering, do ripen the sinne of the wicked blasphemer, and hasten the comming of the Lords hand vponupon them, as a blow to a sicke man doth increase his paine▪ and also hasten his death. Indeede the wicked do promise vntounto themselues a long time, but God sayth, they shall not liue out halfe their dayes. Psal. 55.23.Psal. 55.23. That is, not halfe the time that they hauehave appointed, or that they dreame of: for when they shall say to themselues, Soule be at rest, thou hast goods inough for many yeares:Luke 12.19. the Lord shall deny it, and say, Thou foole, this night shall thy soule be fetched away from thee, &c. Luke 12.19.20. And in the booke of Iob, it is said by Zophar (one of Iobs friends) that the reioycing of the wicked is short, Iob. 20.and the ioy of hypocrites is but a moment, 5.though his excellencie mount vp to the heauen, 6.and his head reach vntounto the clondes: yet shall he perish for euer, 7.like his dung, and they which hauehave seene him shall say▪ Where is he? He shall flie away as a dreame, 8.and they shall not find him, and shall passe away as a vision of the night: 9.so that the eye that had seene him shal do so no more, and his place shall see him no more.
A destruction shall come speedily, so also shall it come [suddenly, Sodainly.] when the wicked looke not for it. The fall of the house vponupon the Philistins was sodem to them, when they looked not for it. The fall of fire vponupon the Sodomites was sodaine to them, when they looked not for it. Death came sodeinly vponupon Ananias and his wife, euen when they lied to the holy Ghost, and looked not for it. Did Zimri and Cozbi look to hauehave bene pierced through with Phineas his speare, when they played the open naughtie-packes together? Or did Corah, Dathan, and Abiram looke for the opening of the earth vnderunder them, when they were swallowed vp for their rebellion against Moses & Aaron? Or did Ieroboam looke for a leporous hand, when he put it forth against the Prophet of God? Or did Sisera looke for death when Iael tooke him napping, and knocked a naile into his head? All these are gone before vsus, and crie vntounto vsus, that we must be alwayes in a readines, because the Lord wil strike down his trees, no man can tel when: and they that are not readie for the Lord whē his axe cometh, shal be cut down and cast into the fire. This is Christs caueat: Be ye ready, for ye know not when the houre is:Mat. 24. & how we shal be made ready, he sheweth when he saith, Take he…d, Mar. 13.watch & pray, lest that day come vpō you vnawares: to teach vsus, that if we be careles & look not for Gods visitatiō it wil take vsus vnprouided.
This circumstance of sodainnesse, or iudgement vnexpected, doth make the destruction of the wicked the more fearefull. Do not men start and feare, when of a sodaine they meete with their friends? as oftentimes we do in the darke, or at short turnings, and sometimes hauehave them ouertake vsus, and speake sodainely vntounto vsus, doth it not amaze vsus? insomuch as many will say, You made me start, my hart doth yet shake in my bodie, my haire began to stand right vp on my head: much more are men amazed when their enemies sodainly set vponupon them but most of all, when some officer commeth sodainly vponupon them from the Magistrate, if their cause be not the better. But oh what vnspeakeable feare, and horrible amazednesse of thoughts and senses wil there be vntounto the wicked, when the Lords hand shall on a sodaine be layd vponupon them, they not once dreaming of any such matter: as it fell out with Balthashar King of Babylon, when in the middest of his cups and meriments, he saw a hand writing vponupon the wall against him.
Obiection.But may we conclude of eueryevery one that is sodainly taken away, that he died a wicked man, & in the number of such as this text speaketh of? Surely no:Answere. such kind of reasoning is not good, the argument followeth not, God wil destroy suddenly the wicked men of Belial: that is, before they look for any such thing:Fallacia accidentis. ergo, whosoeuer dieth suddēly is a mā of Belial: it followeth not, for many times God taketh away his children on a sodain in the accoūt of the world, but not before they be ready for him: & therfore, though they be sodainly affrighted, yea and smitten down, yet they recouer againe by Christ in them for it is not possible for any to perish that is in Christ, or hath Christ (the Sauior) in him but of the wicked it is said, they shall neuer recouer themselues againe. The conuersation of the godly being in heauen (as S. Paul sheweth) they do stil waite and looke for the comming of the Lord Iesus from thence:Phi. 3.18.19 therfore the comming of Christ is not sodaine vntounto them: but to the wicked and reprobates, which will take no warning, but still put off the euil day, saying (as it is in Esai) Though a plague come, Esa. 28.15.it shal not come at vsus: all is sodaine to them, and not so sadaine as fearefull. Lots wife was suddenly taken, yet who shall conclude that she is damned, seeing as God exempted her from those that should perish: but rather let vsus think that she was made a piller of salt, to season vsus withall.
Enoch was translated, Elias was taken vp by a whirlewind into heauen, and yet here was no sodaine comming vntounto them. The Prophet was deuoured of a Lion by the way as he returned,1. Ki. 1….24. because he had made a stay contrarie to Gods commaundement: and yet is he called the man of God, and might be saued. There were eighteene persons at one time sodainly slaine with the fall of a tower in Silo, yet Chris… saith they were not greater sinners then they which escaped. One reason of Gods sodaine comming vponupon his children, to their feare and astonishments, is, to shew the wicked what they for certain may look for: for, If iudgement beginneth at the house of God (saith Peter) where shall the sinners & vngodly stand? 1. Pet. 4.17.1. Pet. 4.17. And if they do thus vntounto the green tree, (saith Christ) what shal be done to the dry tree? But Salomon hath well decided this controuersie in his book of the Preacher:Eccles. 9.1.2 By no outward thing (saith he) can a man know louelove or hatred, (speaking of the louelove and hatred of God) for all things come alike to all, and the same condition is to the iust, and to the wicked. 12. Neither doth man know his time, but as the fishes which are taken in an euill net, and as the birdes, so are the children of men snared in the euill time, when it falleth vponupon them suddenly. Yet this difference remaineth between the wicked and the godly, whensoeuer, wheresoeuer or howsoeuer they be suddenly taken: to the godly, death is a vantage: to the wicked, it is a losse: for then the one changeth his hellish earth for heauen, and the other then changeth his earthly heauen for hel: and therefore of the godly sort it is said commonly,I…h. 1…: that they sleepe when they die▪ (as Christ sayd of Lazarus) he is not dead but sleepeth: but of the other it is said▪ that they perish, and are destroyed. The one shall recouer, the other shall neuer recouer.
Without recouerie desperate is that disease, that will neuer be recouered: fearefull indeed is that estate, which is alwaies feareful. The wicked man dreameth of long life, and repentance at the last gaspe: but what promise hath he of repentance at that time, if he despise the long suffering of God al his life long, and neglect or abuse the meanes of repentance? or what charter hath he of his life, one houre longer then he doth now liue? God may, and will (no doubt) hauehave mercy vponupon whom he will: but yet that he will hauehave merciemercy vponupon thee, that goest on stil in thy wickednesse, without any feare of wandring, or any desire of returning, is more then thou knowest. He that doth so, is threatned with the contrarie: for custome of sin (saith S. Paul) breedeth impenitencie, and impenitencie maintaineth custome in sin,…. 2. and both do heape vp wrath against the day of wrath, and the reuelation of the iust iudgement of God. Why did not Cain, and Iudas, and Elymas, and Ananias, and Saul, and Esau, & diuers others repent, that they might hauehave bene saued? If it had bene in their power when they had listed (as miserable Papistes dreame) doubtlesse they would hauehave repented:Men cānot repent whē they list. for they were as vnwilling (no doubt) to be damned in hell, as any other: but wicked Balaam knew, and confessed that the end and death of the righteous, is so blessed, that it is to be wished of all men. No, no: for the most part it falleth out otherwise then men looke for, in stead of repenting and confessing their sinnes, they lie rauing, and cursing, and blaspheming, and talking leudly of their wickednes: lying like blockes, and dying like beasts, that so Gods prouerbe here may be verified vponupon them, he is destroyed suddenly without recouerie. And howsoeuer it be that God is good to Israel, and mercifull to those that call vponupon his name in truth of heart, and faith in Christ, which feare his name and keepe his couenant, which are displeased with themselues, and breake off their wickednes by righteousnesse, as it is in Daniel: yet is he most wise and seuere against the obstinate and lawles: against their faces he hath set his bow, and prepared his instruments of warre: vponupon their heads will he raine fire and brimstone, and stormes,Psalm. 7. and tempests, and snares, this shall be their portion to drinke: yea, and as Iob saith,Iob. 20.12. When wickednesse is sweete in his mouth, and lie hidden vnderunder his tongue, when he sauoured it, and will not forsake it, but keepe it close in his mouth: then his meate in his bowels shall be turned: the gall of Aspes shall be in the middest of him: he hath deuoured substance, and he shall vomit it out, for God shall draw it out of his belly. He shall sucke the gall of aspes, the vipers tongue shall slay him: he shall not see the riuers, nor the flouds and streames of hony and butter: he shall restore the labour, and shall deuoure no more: for he hath vndone many: he hath forsaken the poore, and destroyed houses that he builded not. Surely he shall feele no quietnesse in his bodie: there shall be none of his meate left, therefore shall none hope for his goods. In abundance he shall be filled with paine, and the hands of all the wicked shall be against him: when he is about to fill his belly, God shall raine vponupon him & his meat, in his fierce wrath. He shal flie from the iron weapons, and the bow ef steele shall strike him through. The arrow shall be drawne out of his body, it shall shine of his gall, and so shall feare come vponupon him. All darknenesse shall be in all his secret places: the fire that is not kindled shal deuoure him, & that which remaineth in his tabernacle shal be destroyed. The heauen shall declare his wickednes, and the earth shal rise vp against him: the increase also of his house shal go away: it shal flee away in the day of the Lords wrath. Lo, this is the portion of the wicked man from God, and the heritage of God for his words. If then this be the portion of the wicked man from God, what reason hauehave the wicked to hope for saluation, and not to feare destruction? & how can he imagine that he should recouer when the hand of the Lords wrath shall thus cast him downe? if not in this life, then not at all. For from hell there is no redemption: meaning, for those that are there:Eccles. 11.3 A Popish errour. And as the tree falleth (saith the Preacher) so shall it lie: therefore both falsly and wickedly do the Papists talke of helping and releeuing mens soules by their Dirges, and Masses, and Mattens, and I wot not what else, after their departure out of this life. Falsly I say, because they crosse the course of the Scripture, in broching such an errour: and wickedly, because by such kind of vaine and false hope, they do strengthen the hands of the wicked, that they care not for repenting in this life, neither do they regard the iudgements of the Lord when they are threatned, because they hope to be releeued and released for their money when they are dead.
Therfore is that fire (which shal deuoure the wicked) called vnquenchable, which it were not, if dirges, and other popish dirt, or any thing else in the world could quench it. Some kind of fire is quenched with water, some with vineger, and some with milk: but nothing wil quench Topheth, That is, hell fire. Esa. 30.33.which is prepared of old (saith the Prophet) euen for the King: the Lord hath made it large and wide: the burning thereof is fire, and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a riuer of brimstone, doth kindle it. And if his wrath be once kindled, yea but a little, happy are they that kissed the Sonne of God before he was angrie: and blessed are all they that put their trust in him: for as by faith in his bloud, they quench the firie darts of Sathan here: so by the same faith shall they, and do they quench those firie flames of hell which shall burne & torment the wicked and vnbeleeuers for euermore. Therefore, if any here, are, or hauehave bene such as hauehave bene described by the Anatomie of Belial, that is, loose, lawlesse, prophane, vaine, froward, leud, surmising, suspitious, and contentious, let them seeke vntounto the Lord, by timely and vnfained repentance: let them embrace righteousnesse and true holinesse, and so merciemercy shall embrace them: let them forsake their loosenesse, their prophaneness, their leudnes, and their vanities, and by a liuely faith (working by louelove) take hold of Christ, as of the hornes of Gods altar, and and so assuring themselues of Gods louelove in the merites of Christ, they may escape this irrecouerable destruction, or else not: for (otherwise) my text saith, that they shall be destroyed speedily, suddenly, and without recouerie.
Many vses may profitably be made of this doctrine: but before we come to them, I thinke it not amisse to meet with certaine obiections, that may be made by Atheists and scoffers, against this that hath bene said: yea, and which do many times arise in the minds of Gods deare children, through the weaknesse of their faith, in extremity of grieuous temptations & sore afflictions. Which obiections, forasmuch as I find them moued, and sufficiently answered by many learned and godly, but especially by that excellent learned noble man of France,Plessy de verita. Christ. relig. Mornay du Plessy, in his booke of the trunesse of religion, I wil put them downe euen as he hath done, and for answere vntounto them, will briefly shew you the substance and effect of his answeres, supposing them to be so full and sufficient to the purpose, that nothing can well be added vntounto them to more purpose, or of more sufficiency: surely whatsoeuer others can▪ I freely confesse my ignorance, I see not what I can. The first obiection is this: if God be iust in his threatnings, and that the wicked shall be destroyed, and hauehave such a portion of plagues as hath bene shewed out of Iob. 20 and other places of Scripture:1. Obiect. then why hauehave they so much good, Answere.and the godly so much euill here? To this his answere is, that if by good, we meane riches, honour, health, &c. the question is absurd; for godlinesse and vertue is the true good. The pouerty of Lazarus (being a vertuous man) is better then the wealth of the rich man: the sicknes of a wise man with his wisedom, is better then the health of a foole. What goods soeuer a man hath, he cannot be a good man, so long as he him selfe is euil; and these outward things are common to good and bad. If a man must be termed a good man for hauing these goods, then a foole may be termed a wise man in a rich gowne. All these false goods are meanes to the wicked to make them worse and worse: and riches, to corrupt them and others: authoritie, to do violence: health doth make them lustie to do mischiefe: so the euils which men terme euils, are meanes to the good to make them better: as pouertie serueth to bridle lust: basenesse to humble them: incumbrances to driue them to God, and to teach them to succor others. But why are these goods common? Surely because God cannot be but good, insomuch as he maketh his raine to fall, and his Sunne to shine vp all. A father that keepeth his heritage for his sonne, will not apparell him like a slaue, in his seruants liueries. Princes make their pay common to al souldiers, but the garland is giuen to the valiantest. Kings cast their largesse at all aduenture among the people, but their honors and dignities, they bestow on them whom they do specially fauour. So God for his honor will not reward the trauels of his seruants with trifles. God being liberall and iust, will reward thee according to his honour, and not according to the basenes of thy heart, and that for two causes. First, because he regardeth not thy workes, but his owne in thee. Secondly, because the reward is not giuen according to thy desert, but according to the worthinesse of him that bestoweth it.A notable speech of Alexander. Alexander the great told a seruitour in his warres, that a hundreth crownes were inough for him to receiue, but not for the Emperour to giuegive. Corne, and foode, and rayment, and money, &c. are things common to all, not peculiar to his children: therefore beg not these as the best giftes. But what are the goods then that good men hauehave in this life?What be the goods of good men. Many and excellent: first, they hauehave grace to make their life allowable to God that knoweth them. Secondly, in him they repose themselues. Thirdly, they hauehave peace in their consciences: for if God increase not their present estate, they abate their desires. Their foes commend their vertues: all the world bemoneth their wants▪ those which hauehave the distributing of goods and honours, are blamed for not considering them. Lastly, the very asking of that question, be thou a Christian, or a Heathen? is vntounto them an inestimable treasure.
If God would not giuegive me more, why hauehave I forgone those which I had? Surely because he saw, that if he had not taken them from thee, they wold hauehave taken thee frō him. We pluck kniues frō children when they cry to hauehave them: we suffer the Phisition to take from vsus our meats which we louelove, and to abridge vsus of our pleasures, yea and our of bloud too; because he hath seen our water, or felt our pulse. And shal not God that made vsus, and gouerneth vsus, and knoweth best our state, & what is good for vsus, hauehave that honor & liberty ouer vsus which Phisitions hauehave?
Another obiection is this:2. Obiect. if it be true that the wicked shall be destroyed speedily, sodainly, and without recouery: how is it true that Salomon saith in his booke of the Preacher.Eccles. 7.17 Chap. 7.17. I hauehave seene a iust man perish in his righteousnesse, and a wicked man continue long in his malice. And to this agreeth in shew the complaint of the Prophet:Esa. 57.1. The righteous perisheth, and noman regardeth it in heart, and mercifull men are taken away. It should seeme that this plague, threatned against the wicked, taketh place vponupon the godly, for they perish and are taken away in their righteousnesse. The answere to this is not hard,Answere. for death is but the common passage, and what skils it whether we passe it by sea or by land, by our own corruption, or by the corruptnes of common weales? And if God bring his children to that point for one fault, and the iudge for another, what iniustice is in God? Oh what a thing were it, if we could see what fruite the Lord draweth out of their death. The child that seeth his father tread grapes, blameth him for it, thinking they should be kept, not conceiuing to what end the treading serueth: but the father who knoweth the goodnesse of them better then the child, considereth that within two moneths they would wither and drie away: and therefore to preserue the vertue of them, treadeth them: when the child commeth to discretion, he museth at his owne folly, and yet as then he thought himself wiser then his father. After the same maner doth the child when he seeth his father make conserues of Roses, and other flowers: he is ready to weepe, and is sory to see them marred, because he would make nose-gayes of them, which he himself would cast away by the next morrow. So God that made good men that which they be, he knoweth when it is time to gather them, that they rot not on the tree, and how long they may be preserued in their kind. He will take somefresh and greene, to preserue them all the yeare long, he will make conserues of their flowers, & wine of their grapes, to keep a long time after. He will make their sauour, their sweete sent, their strength, that is, their godlines, vprightnes and vertue, to liue after them, which otherwise would be buried. Take for example, the Apostles and Martyrs: dost thou not yet euē drink of their liqour? doth not their constant confession make thee to confesse Christ? doth not their death help thee to endlesse life? Could Ignatius and Polycarpus hauehave liued aboue fiue or sixe yeeres more then they did? and yet, what part of all their ages hath lasted so long, or done so much good, as the last halfe hower wherein they died? Therefore let vsus say, we are but babes, and forasmuch as we perceiue the wisedome of our father to be so great, and our owne ignorance so grosse: let vsus rather confesse our weaknesses in all cases, then presume to doubt of his iustice or prouidence in any thing. But the mischiefe is this, that whereas we will not iudge of a song by one note, nor of an Oration by one full sentence: we will presume to iudge of the harmonie, and orderly direction of the world by one action therein. And if God seeme to hold his peace, and to suffer men to play their parts, ought we not to hauehave so good opinion of his wisedome, as to thinke that he can tell when it is time to pay home? And though he let the wicked play their part on the stage, and the godly to lie in prison, he can also prouide to end the braueries of the one with iust punishment, and the wofull complaints of the other with ioyfull triumphs. The world is a kind of stage-play,The world like a stage play. conueied to a certaine end, by a most excellent maker: whereof we cannot iudge by one act that we see plaied, but we must tarrie till all the parts be played, which perhaps wil not be while we liue, nor in many yeares after. When we reade that Ioseph was sold into Egypt, we cannot be angrie inough with his brethren: when he is cast into the dungeon for chastity, thou couldest find in thy heart to blame not onelyonly Pharao, but euen God himselfe: but when thou seest him taken out of prison to reade the Kings dreames, and after as a King in Egypt, a succour to his father in his old age, & the raiser vp againe of his whole house at their neede, then thou perswadest thy self that he which made him to raigne in Egypt, did suffer him to be sold int Egypt, and that the discord which offended thee, and the harmonie which delighteth thee againe, proceede both from one selfe-same musition, that is, from one most wise and iust God.
Another obiection is this.3. Obiect. The wicked fare wel at will: therfore they are not plagued and destroyed,Answere. as hath bene said they are. But we are deceiued, for rather they hauehave all miserie: for all the good things which we terme good, in the hands of the wicked do turne to euil. Their own sinnes do work them more mischiefe, then all the euils which thou bewailest in good men: for, there is not a greater mischief then to be wicked, and all their commodities hauehave as litle force against their sinne, as veluet pantofles against the gout, or as Diademes against the headach, or as purple robes against the chollick. What feare do they sustaine in following their wickednes? and so much the more dangerous, because the most shamelesse of them all, dareth not bewray his disease to the Phisition.
We would change (so foolish are we) our state with a poore caitiue that playeth the King on a stage, with a long gowne of cloth of gold, which in the end he must returne home againe to the Vpholster, and pay well for the hire of it, and in the meane time, consider not what ragges, scabs, vermine, itch and scurfe lieth hidden vnderneath it. We would rather go naked then to be clothed: but what skils it whether a man be tormented in veluet, or in canuas, in gold, or in yron? be we rich or poore, as soon as we hauehave giuen ouer our selues to vice, we are become slaues vntounto it: and if it be so, what skils it who we be, if we be not our owne men?
The last obiection is,4. Obiect. that the wicked go long vnpunished: to which the answere is double.Answere. First, they may liue yet to punish vsus, who hauehave bene scourged by them alreadie, and yet are neuer the better. Secondly, it may be a greater punishment to them, to liue after they hauehave done amisse, then to hauehave died in the deede doing: for now they see: first, that their practises hauehave not successe according to their wils: secondly, that all the mischiefe they hauehave wrought is in vaine: thirdly, that they hauehave prouoked God against them, and the whole world, to no purpose: fourthly, that they hauehave gotten thereby nothing but shame, & torment of mind. If God then by his seeming to be slow, do both amend thee (saith Plessy) and punish them, and both at once, then is …he Lord stil iust in his threatnings, as he is in all his workes. Examples we hauehave hereof sufficient in Nero, in Herod, in Cain, in Iezabel, in Lewes the 9. a French King: all which liued after their cruell murthers, and massacres, and were seuerely punished, though none of those whose innocent bloud was spilled by them, were aliue to see thē punished. The reason is this, God punisheth not as worldly Iudges do, to content them that hauehave suffered wrong, or to satisfie thy reuenging mind, or to get himselfe the name of a good Iudge, but because he hateth the euill, which he intendeth to correct, and will also draw good out of it. If he should strike at our appointment, then should he be but our executioner, and we should be the Iudges: but God executeth his owne iudgements, and not ours.
The vses of the former doctrine.These obiections being thus answered, let vsus now see what good vse we may make of al the former doctrine. We learne from hence: first, when we see the wicked to flourish, to be contented, and patient, not enuying their exaltation: for God doth lift them vp of purpose to cast them downe: this vse doth Dauid teach vsus to make of the wicked mans prosperitie:Psal. 37.1.2. Fret not thy selfe because of the wicked men, neither be enuious for the euil doers: for they shal soon be cut downe like grasse, and wither as the green herb. Psa. 27.1.2. And the truth of this point is further confirmed by our Sauior Christ,Mat. 11.23. who saith▪ that Capernaū was lifted vp to heauē, but they should be a cast downe to hell. Secondly, seeing that the life of the wicked (in regard of their wickednes) is so base and miserable, and their end so wretched and fearefull, let vsus not desire to liue their life, in regard of their pleasure, but let vsus chose rather to suffer affliction with the godly, for righteousnesse sake: as Moses did, assuring our selues, that as God doth lift the wicked vp, to cast them down, and to make them hauehave the sorer fall: so doth the Lord cast his children downe, to lift them vp againe. This point is confirmed by our Sauior Christ, in Mat. 5.4. Blessed are they that mourne now, for they shal be comforted: and this vfe are we taught to make of the wicked mans end. Psal. 37.21.22. where Dauid confesseth that before he knew the end of the wicked (which he learned in the house of God) his heart was vexed at their prosperitie, but when he saw whereunto they were going, and what was their end then he saith, that he (in desiring their estate) shewed himselfe, both foolish, ignorant, and beastly before the Lord. Thirdly, seeing as these outward things are common both to good and bad, this should teach vsus, to suspend our rash iudgement of the godly, that are vnderunder the hand of God: because we know not for a certaintie, whether he be so afflicted for his wickednesse, or for some other cause: as the blind man in the Gospell, (by the testimonie of Christ) was blind neither for his own sin nor for the sinne of his parents,Ioh. 9.3. but for the glorie of God. And this vse are we taught in Mat. 7.1. Iudge not, lest ye be iudged: that is, iudge not rashly. And blessed is he (saith the Psalmist) that considereth wisely of the poore & needie: Psal. 41.1.4.the Lord shall deliuer him in time of his distresse. Fourthly, seeing as God doth plague the wicked for our warning, and (as it were) hang them vp in chaines before the world: let vsus feare at Gods iudgements vponupon wicked men, and not ioyne our felues vntounto them, least we be partakers of their iudgements: like those that were ioyned in the conspiracie of Corah, &c. Num. 16.26.Num. 16.26 nor stand and gaze, or wonder at them (as the maner is,) but learne by their examples to auoide their wayes,Luke 13.3.5. least we (not repenting) do also perish. Fiftly and lastly seeing as this fearefull vengeance commeth vponupon the wicked in this life for sin: whensoeuer we feel the hand of God vponupon vsus, let vsus examine our selues for our sins which are the cause thereof, and not do as the wicked, who neuer looke into that cause, but into secondarie and outward causes, like the dog who biteth the stone, but looketh not vntounto the hand that cast it. And as we dayly fall, so let vsus pray dayly and hourely, for the renuing grace of Gods Spirit, that we may rise againe, and recouer our selues by true repentance, and liuely faith in Iesus Christ: to whom with the Father and the holy Ghost, be all glorie and praise for euer. Amen.
FINIS.
Faults escaped in the printing.
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End of the text · William Burton, Ten Sermons Upon Matthew 6:1-4 (1602)