The Worlds Great Sermons, Volume 2 | Page 9

whether the ways of
holiness and sincerity be not irksome to him, whether he be not grieved
with himself for undergoing so much needless trouble (as the world
thinks it); and his soul will then clear this matter. It is true he hath a
tedious course of it, but now his death will be blest. He hath striven for
a crown, and now beholds a crown. Now he is beyond the waves. All
the contempts, and imprisonments, and outrages of wicked men are
now too short to reach him. He is so far from repenting, that he
rejoiceth and triumpheth in reflecting back upon all the pains, and care,
and labor of love, whereby he hath loved the Lord Jesus, in submitting
his heart unto Him.
Take me another man, that hath lived here in pomp and jollity, hath had
many livings, great preferments, much honor, abundance of pleasure,
yet hath been ever careless of God and of His Word, profane in his
course, loose in his conversation, and ask him upon his deathbed, how
it standeth with him. Oh! woe the time, that ever he spent it as he hath
done. Now the soul begins to hate the man, and the very sight of him
that hath been, the instrument with it in the committing of sin. Now
nothing but gall and wormwood remaineth. Now the sweetness of the
adulterer's lust is gone, and nothing but the sting of conscience
remaineth. Now the covetous man must part with his goods, and the
gall of asps must stick behind. Now the soul sinks within, and the heart
is overwhelmed with sorrow. Take but these two men, I say, and judge
by their ends, whether it will ever repent you that you have done well,
that you have walked in the steps of the faith of Abraham.
My brethren, howsoever you have had many miseries, yet the Lord hath
many mercies for you. God dealeth with His servants, as a father doth
with his son, after he hath sent him on a journey to do some business;
and the weather falleth foul, and the way proveth dangerous, and many
a storm, and great difficulties are to be gone through. Oh, how the heart
of that father pitieth his son! How doth he resolve to requite him, if he
ever live to come home again! What preparation doth he make to

entertain, and welcome him; and how doth he study to do good unto
him! My brethren, so it is here; I beseech you, think of it, you that are
the saints and people of God. You must find in your way many troubles
and griefs (and we ought to find them), but be not discouraged. The
more misery, the greater mercy. God the Father seeth His servants: and
if they suffer and endure for a good conscience, as His eye seeth them,
so His soul pitieth them. His heart bleeds within Him for them; that is,
He hath a tender compassion of them, and He saith within Himself,
Well, I will requite them if ever they come into My kingdom; all their
patience, and care, and conscience in walking My ways, I will requite;
and they shall receive a double reward from Me, even a crown of
eternal glory. Think of these things that are not seen; they are eternal.
The things that are seen are temporal, and they will deceive us. Let our
hearts be carried after the other, and rest in them forever!

JEREMY TAYLOR
CHRIST'S ADVENT TO JUDGMENT
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Jeremy Taylor, born in Cambridge, England, in 1613, was the son of a
barber. By his talents he obtained an entrance into Caius College,
where his exceptional progress obtained for him admission to the
ministry in his twenty-first year, two years before the canonical age. He
was appointed in succession fellow of All Souls, Oxford, through the
influence of Laud, chaplain to the King, and rector of Uppingham.
During the Commonwealth he was expelled from his living and opened
a school in Wales, employing his seclusion in writing his memorable
work "The Liberty of Prophesying."
At the Restoration, Charles II raised him to the bishopric of Down and
Connor (1660), in which post he remained until his death in 1667. His
"_Ductor Dubitantium_," dedicated to Charles II, is a work of subtilty
and ingenuity; his "Holy Living" and "Holy Dying" (1652), are unique
monuments of learning and devotion. His sermons form, however, his
most brilliant and most voluminous productions, and fully establish his
claims to the first place among the learned, witty, fanciful, ornate and
devotional prose writers of his time.

JEREMY TAYLOR
1613-1667
CHRIST'S ADVENT TO JUDGMENT
_For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that every
one may receive the things done in his