CXLV expository sermons upon the whole 17th chapter of the Gospel according to St.…

5. God hath determined the time of our being in the world, out of justice and wrath to the wicked, out of mercy and wisdom to the godly. It's anger to the wicked, for all the while they live, they increase their sin, they treasure up wrath; so that it had been well for them, if they had been cut off by death long before. They live to make hell the hotter for them, when they die. But to the godly the time of their abode is limited in mercy. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come, Isa. 57.1. The shepherd driveth his sheep to a refuge, before the storm ariseth. The jewels are safely put up, when the house is in danger; when Simeon had seen and embraced Christ, then he had liberty to depart. The word is used in Scripture sometimes of those that are dismissed out of prison, or are dispatched, when their errand is done, or freed from a flux, or such disease that is upon them; and certainly, in these respects it may be applied, when God taketh his out of the world, it's because they have finished this work, and death freeth them from this world that was like a prison to them, yea and now a stop is put to all those lusts, that were like a bloody flux running from them; so that the time when God takes his out of the world, is from much wisdom and great mercy: They shall not go sooner, nor yet later then he willeth; and thus many times they are like that happy man, Cui sine lassitudine peractum est iter.

5. God hath determined the time of our being in the world, out of justice and wrath to the wicked, out of mercy and wisdom to the godly. It's anger to the wicked, for all the while they live, they increase their sin, they treasure up wrath; so that it had been well for them, if they had been cut off by death long before. They live to make hell the hotter for them, when they die. But to the godly the time of their abode is limited in mercy. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come, Isa. 57.1. The shepherd driveth his sheep to a refuge, before the storm ariseth. The jewels are safely put up, when the house is in danger; when Simeon had seen and imbraced Christ, then he had liberty to depart. The word is used in Scripture sometimes of those that are dismissed out of prison, or are dispatched, when their errand is done, or freed from a flux, or such disease that is upon them; and certainly, in these respects it may be applied, when God taketh his out of the world, it's because they have finished this work, and death freeth them from this world that was like a prison to them, yea and now a stop is put to all those lusts, that were like a bloody flux running from them; so that the time when God takes his out of the world, is from much wisdom and great mercy: They shall not go sooner, nor yet later then he willeth; and thus many times they are like that happy man, Cui sine lassitudine peractum est iter.