Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Ver. 46. Blessed is that servant] It was Augustine's wish, that Christ when he came might find him aut precantem, aut praedicantem, either praying or preaching. It was Latimer's wish (and he had it) that he might shed his heart blood for Christ. It was Jewel's wish that he might die preaching, and he did so, for presently after his last sermon at Lacock in Wiltshire, he was, by reason of sickness, forced to his bed, from whence he never came off till his translation to glory. a I have heard the like of Mr Lancaster, a precious man of God, some time pastor of Bloxham in Oxfordshire, a man very famous for his living by faith. Cushamerus, a dutch divine, and one of the first preachers of the Gospel at Erfurt in Germany, had his pulpit poisoned by the malicious Papists there, and so took his death in God's work. b What, would you that the Lord when he comes should find me idle? said Calvin to his friends, who wished him to forbear studying awhile, for his health' sake. c And such a like answer made Doctor Reynolds to his physician upon the like occasion. Elijah was going on and talking with Elisha (about heavenly things, no doubt) when the chariot of heaven came to fetch him. There can be no better posture or state for the messenger of our dissolution to find us in than in a diligent prosecution of our general or particular calling.
a Bishop Jewel's Life by D. Humphrey.
b In suggestu veneno illito extinctus est. Scult. Annal. 80.
c Beza in Vita, An propter vitam vivendi perdere finem.