the ground of your Grief The more Gracious the more Glorious the more Holy the more Happy the better she was the fitter for Heaven There are two things which may trouble us at the death of Relations the one is when we can see no Evidence of Grace the other when we have neglected our Duty to them especially to their Souls in their life-time The reason why David did so wofully bewail the Death of Absalom is imagined to be one or both of these When our Relations are fitted for Glory I think 't is no uncharitable wish to wish them out of a troublesome World in those Coelestial Enjoyments Paul did desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which was best of all But to wish those out of Glory that are in were both an unprofitable and uncharitable desire and argues more Passion and Self-love than well grounded Charity Now there is no going to Heaven but through the Gaâ—es of Death and 't is through Death's Portal that we must enter She hath paid the Debt we all owe and would you have her endure these Pangs and Pains over again You came not into the World together and it was unlikely that you would go together out and when ever a parting was it was like to be with grief She hath changed her Husband but 't is for the better an Earthly for an Heavenly she had a large Joynture before but 't is much amended 't is now advanc'd to a Crown and Kingdom She hath left her Relations behind but she hath better there Saints and Angels the Souls of Just Men made perfect There she can serve the Lord without distraction and sing Hallelujahs to Eternity without weariness here Corruption attended her best Duties there sin and sorrow shall be no more here she was troubled with Satan's Temptations there he cannot come to throw one Dart or shoot one Arrow at her here she was liable to Pains Aches Griefs and Troubles all these are there removed here she could scarcely open an Eye or an Ear but it let in sin or sorrow there all tears shall be wiped away and a sad or sorrowful thought shall never enter And what cause hath she to complain of wrong And if neither of you be wronged why is this wast Why so many sighs so many sobs so many sorrowful tears which might better run in another Channel Had she liberty â—o speak for her self it might probably be in such words as these which Christ upon the Cross spake â—o the Women that bewailed him Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for â—our children c. those that are yet in the Vale of Tears 't is the Church-Militant that deserves â—ity not the Church-Triumphant Lament raâ—her the condition of those that survive for you know not what their Sufferings may be the other are out of harms-way and safely landed in the Port of Heaven Now is there such a wrong done you or her that God takes her to himself before you were willing to part with her though he had a better Interest in her than you could pretend and made her fit for Glory and translated her thither You agree both in the thing but the Quarrel is about the time and the Controversie is whose Will must be obeyed or whose Judgment must be preferred which is the best time Many of the wiser Heathens have submitted with less contradiction Anaxarchus when told of the death of his two Sons answered I knew that they were Mortal Et stultus est qui mortem mortalium deflet Now in the present Controversie may not God say to you as sometimes he did to his People What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone from me What wrong have I done that you thus complain One of us must submit and must it be me Must I alter my Eternal Decrees for your sake or will there be no Peace to be had The Lord may say as Jacob did to Laban when he so fiercely pursued him Gen. 31.36 What is my trespass What is my sin Declare it before the world that they may be our judges Nay hath not God in this very Affliction sugared your Pill which might have been much bittered she might have been taken away in her younger years before you had such hopes of her Integrity or at least denyed you such Evidence of her Conversion then might you have feared she had been lost indeed or instead of one he might have taken all your Children when as yet two survive oâ— by the same stroke he might have taken away your dear Husband better to you than ten Sons as Elkanah said to Hannah 1 Sam. 1.8 Or he might have suffered your Children to be a heart-breaking to you as too many in these days are by their vicious Lives and Conversations who bring their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave which makes them with with Augustiâ—â— that they had never married or had dyed childless These are not such rare Examples in our days but too frequent She dyed a Natural Death many now adays as well as Job Eli Aaron David and others in former times were not so happy as to say so of theirs Neither is there any guilt upon you as upon some that have cause to mourn for neglecting any means for the preservation of her Life when some be wickedly Accessory to their Childrens Death If there were any fault which yet I cannot accuse you of it was in the excess of your Love which I the more fear when I see the excess of your Sorrow and this is a fault which Indulgent Mothers are apt to run into But you 'll say you could more easily have born any other Burden or suffered any other Cross Why then it seems God hath let you Blood in the right Vein as he did the Young Man in the Gospel that was willing to do any thing Christ commanded but part with his Riches but Christ will have a full resignation of our selves and all that is ours or he will not own us No beloved Delilah must be retained the Cross that Christ appoints we must bear and must not pick and choose our own Burden Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother wife and children brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple That is if he prize any of those before him or will rather part with Christ than with any or all of these he deserves not the name of a Christian for all we have in the World is given to us as Love-Tokens from God to signifie his Love to us and to oblige our Love to him and sometimes God calls back some of these Gifts to see whether we love him or his Tokens better God gave you liberty before she dyed to let her and you see the Fruit of her Womb a Son which though he soon called off the Stage yet at the Resurrection be shall stand in his lot But 't is
VERA EFFIGIES EDVARDI BURII EVANGELII MINISTRI AN. AETAT SUAE 66 ANo. DOM. 1682 Inventiue art dame-natures curious ape You see can counterfeit the bodyes snape Yet can noe more describe the mind then we Heavens glory by the spangled Canopy This shaddows out the house who there doth dwell Aske in the booke the picture cannot tell DEATH IMPROV'D AND Immoderate Sorrow FOR Deceased Friends and Relations REPROV'D WHEREIN You have many Arguments against Immoderate Sorrow and many Profitable Lessons which we may Learn from such Providences 1 Thess 4.13 14. But I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Christ died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him By EDWARD BVRY formerly Minister of Great Belas in Shropshire LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside 1693. TO THE Vertuous and truly Religious The Lady Wilbraham the Pious Consort of the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Wilbraham of Weston under Lizard Barronet one of His Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Stafford E. B. wisheth all Happiness External Internal and Eternal MADAM IT fares with me as 't is fabled of Pan that pretended Rural God who being admitted into Apollo's Presence to shew his skill upon his Oaten Pipe at the first he was bashful and timerous but being uncontrouled he grew bolder and Pip't louder This was my Case when I wrote the ensuing Letter which was in a dark and gloomy Day my Bashfulness and Sense of Vnworthiness when it was finish'd had like to have strangled it in the Womb and to have kept it from your sight fearing what Reception it might meet with but knowing what ever was wanting a good Meaning and an Intention to do good was not wanting and after some conflict in my self I resolved to put it to the venture and send it I did but your â—ind Acceptance beyond my Expectation made me Pipe louder and without your privity I sent it to the Press thinking that having past this Test and you approving of it others also might possibly do the same but had you past it by with a Check or Disrespect you had spoiled my Musick yet durst I not prefix your Name to it as thinking it unworthy of you But your kind Acceptance of it when it was Printed and Approbation doth make me yet bolder to prefix your Name and tell the World to whom it doth of right belong and this will be some excuse for me that you did not manifest your dislike nor forbid me to do it the Reasons why I did this and do now again Publish it were given you then there were many worthy Friends then and since that time that lay under the like Dispensation of Providence that you did viz. That had parted with their near Relations to whom I was willing to give a Word of Advice and Comfort but my Occasions would not permit me to Speak or Write to all neither was I able to do it to all that needed my Advice I therefore imagining what doth one good may benefit another also I made it publick this Letter may speak my Mind when I am absent even to those to whom I cannot come for I see Grace itself will not wipe off immoderate Tears but they sometimes flow like a mighty Torrent without Bank or Bottom and tho' here be some things peculiar to your Condition in the Letter yet in the general 't is of publick concern the Disease is common and the Receipt I hope will not be useless Most People first or last are concerned in parting with Relations here are Considerations to quiet them at least they see the Death of others as well as of their Relations and here are profitable Instructions to improve that for their own good and Direction how to prepare for their own Death These Considerations made me make that publick which at first was intended for private use and I hope this second Edition will give your Ladiship no Offence nor to read your Name in the Front when I sent the Letter to you I did foresee that I must shortly come into the Furnace again and so I did the very Week I received the printed Book I Bâ—ried my eldest Son as you had done your eldest Daughter and how soon I may have another Trial I know not The Lord grant I may learn the Lesson my self I am teaching others some Additions I have made at the Request of several which may be more needful to others then to you I hope they tend towards the perfection not imperfection of the Book But I forget my self the whole being but a Letter and that to your Ladiship I must not make the Gate too wide for the Building I shall cease further to trouble you when I have committed you and your dear Relations into the Hands of him that never leaveth his and subscribed my self MADAM Your much Obliged Servant EDWARD BVRY THE CONTENTS THE Introduction Five Arguments to quiet the Heart at the Death of Relations 1. Consider who did it that great God whose they are 2. Consider Who we are that are discontented Dust and Ashes 3. What wrong is done to us or our Relations 4. What Benefit are we like to have by mourning 5. Our own Condition is mortal and shall suddenly follow Seven Lessons To be learnt by the Death of Friends if all must die 1. Lesson How little we are beholding to Sin 1. It brought Death into the World 2. It is the cause of all the Misseries we suffer in the World 3. 'T is the cause of all Spiritual Judgment we meet with 4. It lays us under the Wrath of God and makes him our Enemy 5. T is the cause of eternal Death and eternal Damnation Second Lesson How little Good the world can do us in our greatest need 1. It cannot prevent Death tho' we had never so much of it 2. It cannot procure us a happy Life or give Content 3. The things of the World are uncertain and momentary 4. It can do us little good in our great Concerns here or hereafter 5. It exposeth us to a great deal of danger Third Lesson Of how great concern Grace and a good Conscience is 1. It helps exceedingly to bring us through the World with Comfort 2. It fits us to leave the World and takes away the Fear of Death 3. Without it we can neither please God nor enjoy him 4. It will procure us a good Name to succeeding Generations 5. It will bear up the Heart at Judgment and usher us into Heaven Fourth Lesson If all must dye then the Godly have nothing to Suffer 1. The Saints at Death shall be freed from all their Sins 2. From all the Causes of Sin Temptations of Satan and the World 3. From all the Devil's Instruments Persecutions and Tryal 4. From all the Effects of Sin Losses
She is dead also And would there not be another separation if she survived We are in this Life like Men in a croud almost thronged to Death and he that first gets out is best at ease and would you wish her again in the midst of the throng Now if you say as I believe you will these are not your desires to have her back Why then all these Tears these Sighs these Sobs if you imagine she is better than you This looks as if you envied her Happiness and would have her bear part of your Burden Nay immoderate Sorrow signifies that you have hard thoughts of her condition for who can mourn for those he thinks happier than himself Who mourns for his Childrens Advancement especially if he knew they were out of Danger this would look more like Envy than Love to mourn for another's Welfare If Galeacius that Italian Marquess when he was offered great Riches if he would renounce his Religion cryed out Let their Money perish with them that hold all the Wealth in the World worth one day's Communion with Christ How much more may a glorified Saint say so if he were tempted by the World's Splendour to leave his Coelestial Enjoyment that City of Pearl that Mansion of Glory the Beatifical Vision the Enjoyment of Christ those Rivers of Pleasures to come and make his abode in the World for any earthly Greatness how scornfully would a glorified Saint entertain such a Motion And how little would these Promises affect him The Martyrs that had comparatively but a little taste of Christ yet disrelished all things else in comparison of him and forsook all for him Yea loved not their lives to the death but laid them down at the Stake for his sake and in his cause But now they enjoy him in Glory what value think you they put upon him The greatest cause of sorrow for a dead Child is when we fear their miscarrying and are conscious of the neglect of our Duty to them in reference to their Salvation This we may mourn for and it may be a corrosive to our hearts and it should make us careful for the time to come But to mourn for those immoderately that we believe are translated into Glory and have the highest pitch of Happiness we could wish for them is our weakness or our sin or both Such Tears will neither glorifie God nor benefit us or our Relations living or dead but are spent in vain And seeing weeping cannot prevail with God nor with our departed Friends to return let us dry up those Tears and make no more such wast but turn them into a right Channel and mourn for sin which is the cause of their Death and of our Trouble 5. The last Consideration I shall commend unto you is to consider your own Condition the uncertainty of your Life and the hast that Death makes to post you after her yea you are following your lamented Daughter at the very heels For when your Part is play'd you will march off the Stage How soon a parting blow will be given to divide you from your other Relations you know not how soon Death will enter into your Lodgings had your Daughter lived 't is not likely you would have continued long together You have lived a considerable time the most People in the World die younger why then take it you so ill that your Daughter is stept over the Stile before you when you your self are ready to tread upon her heels and to tread out her foot-steps Yet a few years and then I shall go whence I shall not return Job 16.22 And your place will know you no more Job 7.10 The thread of your Life will soon be cut which can never be pieced and your Glass run out which will never be turned and the Day be over which will never dawn again Such Meditations of Death did always run in Job's mind he is much upon this Subject and had Death always in his Eye And the like would do you no hurt but much good O remember that my life is wind mine eye shall no more see good The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more Thine eyes are upon me and I am not As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more He shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Job 7.7 c. Let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I go hence whence I shall not return even to the land of darkness and the shâ—dow of death Job 10.20 21. He knew that he had not long to trouble the World and therefore desired he might not meet with much Trouble in the World Death whether it strikes you or your Relations gives a parting blow and which ever goes first the other will not stay long behind Now is it worth the while to spend your days in sorrowing for your dead Daughter when she hath drunk that Health that you your self must so quickly Pledge Or to wish her again for so short an Enjoyment when one of these days you will enjoy her to Eternity when she shall be much more lovely than here she was If you place your Happiness in the Enjoyment of your Relations in this Life 't is a short-liv'd Happiness and you will shortly have occasion to say as one about to leave the World Spes fortuna vale te Farewel Hope and Comfort for ever But sure while God is present a Christian need not care much who is absent If we could be as sensible of the with-drawings of God from the Soul as of the departure of Friends and Relations it would prove our greater trouble If our hopes were only in this life we should of all men be most miserable Indeed there is cause of sorrow if they die unconverted and breath out their Happiness with their Lives But for the Godly they cannot only say Dum spiro spero While there is Life there is Hope but also Dum expiro spero I have Hope in Death it self Prov. 14.32 Death it self is a Door of Hope to give them entrance into the Paradice of God but to the Wicked a Trap-door to let them into Hell Both Godly and Wicked shall change their Place but not their Company for they shall have such Company they delighted in here Those that must leave all their Comforts behind no wonder if they are unwilling to depart Never had Adam more cause to be unwilling to leave Paradice or the Jebusites the strong Holds in Sion or the unjust Steward to leave his Office or the Devils to go out of the Demoniack when they knew they should never enter there again than a wicked Man hath to leave the World Solomon calls the Grave our long Home Man goeth to his long home Eccles 12.5 And well he may some haply may sleep there Six Thousand Years before the Resurrection but Heaven and Hell may be
Grapes may be gathered from these Thorns and some Figs from these Thistles some Honey may be lick'd off these Briars for God's Rod like Jonathan's hath Honey at the end Sensible we must be of this Providence as doubtless Aaron was at his two Sons deaths but discontent we must not be God complains that Righteous persons perish and no man lays it to heart and merciful men were taken away and no man considers it Isa 57.1 Some use of such Providences we should make and get some benefits by these Tryals Now among the many Lessons this Providence holds out to us I shall only point out these seven following which if you and I can learn by it it will be happy for us Lesson 1. From this Lecture of Mortality your dead Daughter we may learn the cursed Nature of sin which was the cause of her Death and how little beholding we are to it that thus rends one Friend out of the Arms of another for whatever Distemper our deceased Friends dye of sin lies at the bottom and sets the Disease on work but for sin 't is probable we had never dyed For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life By one man's offence sin came into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all for as much as all have sinned Now shall we love the Tree and hate the Fruit Love the Cause and hate the Effect Shall we be like foolish Children that hate the smarting Plaister and consider not the Ulcerous Sore that makes it necessary We would have the Wound cured and yet not have the Weapon drawn out for fear of a little smart Had not Sin gone before Death had not followed many Men love the Drunkenness and hate the Surfeit But did we see sin in its own Colours it would be worse than the Effects for 't is the only Object of God's infinite hatred for he hates nothing but sin or for sins sake and yet sin seems lovely when we behold it in the Devil's Glass or through his Spectacles If we could strip the Devil himself of his vicious Qualities he would return to his former Angelical Glory yea into God's Favour for he hates nothing he hath made Man in his first Creation was made Holy and Happy and had Power given him so to continue and though by his Constitution he was Mortal yet by God's Blessing he had been Immortal for ought we know â—s the Soul is But by eating the Forbidden Fruit Gen. 2.17 in all probability he had suddenly dyed had not Christ interposed and become a Surety to his Father and so gained a longer Lease and paid the Fine however Man became obnoxious to Death and dye he must See how dangerous it is to play at the hole of the Asp and to ask Counsel at the Devil's Mouth for so Eve did and for that Offence all her Posterity must eat bread in the sweat of their brows till they return to the dust out of which they were taken No Greatness can excuse us no Wisdom can prevent it but the most dangerous Death is to dye in our sins Sin it is that makes us uncurable otherwise we had been so armed Death could never have entred or pierced the heart Rom. 5.12 And shall we hug this Viper in our Bosom that will sting us to Eternal Death For sin is the very sting of death without which Death were not so formidable Adam's Offence diffuseth it self to all his Posterity as Poison doth to every part of the Body and shall we love the Work and hate the Wages Actual Sin is the Fruit of Original Corruption and springs from this bitter Root and 't is the cause of all our Misery and shall we like the foolish Dog bite the stone and let the Passenger that threw it go free Let us turn therefore all our sorrow into sorrow for sin for all is little enough to run in this Channâ—l And let this be your Motive though not one of the greatest sin was the cause of your dâ—ar Daughter's Death and will ere long be the cause of yours also and happy will it be for you if this bitter Pill have this Operation upon you to make you hate sin with a perfect hatred 2. Nay 't is not only Death but also all the Miseries that accompany Life and are the fore-runners of Death which are the direful Fruits and Effects of Sin Could we see Sin in its own proper shape it would appear most hateful and detestable but the Devil hides its Deformity from us what he can and to this end lends us his Spectacles in which it appears lovely and amiable but we may best see it in the Effects It was this that turned Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradice and many thousands into Hell and can the Tree be good that brings forth such unsavoury Fruit This raced out the Image of God and engraved upon the Soul the very Image of Satan The Devil knows well enough that if we saw Sin in its own Colours we must needs hate it for who can fall in Love with Deformity it self And therefore misrepresents it as a deformed Hag paints her Face and covers her Deformity thereby to take her Prey and allure unwary Youth So the Devil deals by Sin and represents it in Vertue 's Colours but the Glass of the Word would shew it in its own shape Indeed there is nothing in the World that can fully resemble it yet in the Scripture 't is represented by the foulest things imaginable to filthy Ulcerous Sores James 1.21 To the Mire that Swine wallows in the Vomit of a Dog to filthy Rags Menstruous Cloathes deadly Poison a fretting Cancer or Gangreen 't is so infectious none can escape the Infection it infects the whole Man like the Leprosie in the Head the Thoughts Words Desires Affections and Actions are all polluted and unclean and smell of the Cask and stink in the Nostrils of God our Eating Drinking Buying Selling Trading yea Plowing is sin Prov. 21.4 And all our Religious Duties if not performed with the Incense of Christ's Righteousness are defiled Isa 1.11 c. and 66.3 Why Those Duties though commanded by God yet proceeding not from a right Principle directed to a right End and done in a right manner must needs be faulty Now sin though looked upon as a harmless innocent thing and when Men have put a fair Mask upon its soul Face looks lovely and the Devil hides its soul Visage as 't is said the Panther doth his deformed Head purposely to take his Prey yet still it remains ugly Pride covers it self with the name of Cleanliness Drunkenness is taken for Good-fellowship and Covetousness for Good Husbandry c. But the Effects are not so lovely let the Devil and his Instruments say what they will to the contrary for 't is the occasion of all the Miseries that ever befel Mortal Man We had never had aking Head or aking Heart or Loss or
Cross or any thing to molest us had it not been for sin yet are we apt to over-look it and yet have our finger always upon the Sore we cry out Oh my Back my Belly my Bones my Heart but seldom Oh my Sin we are like hâ—m that complains of the pain in his Foot but not of the Shooe that pincheth him of the Gout Stone Strangury Surfeit but not of the Intemperance that is the cause Pharaoh cries out Take away the Frogs the Lice the Darkness let there be no more Hail but not take away the Sin the hardness of Heart that brought them God when he threatens Death for sin threatens also all the Causes and Fore-runners of Death and all the Evils which accompany a sinful Life for these are the Natural Productions of sin and much worse Fruit it bears if Repentance prevent it not and like a mighty Wind blows it not down before it come to Maturity otherwise it will be bitter Fruit We have far greater cause to cry out Oh my filthy Sins Oh my Pride my Passion my Covetousness my Deadness Dulness Formality Hypocrisie c. than Oh my dead Father my Husband my Son my Daughter We should cease quarrelling God and turn the edge of our Anger Sorrow and Indignation against Sin and against our selves for our sin and so our Quarrel will be much more just 'T is a stubborn Child that when corrected for a known fault will rather quarrel his Father than acknowledge his own Guilt We are apt to cry out Oh my Loss Oh my Cross than Oh my Sin my Infidelity my inordinate Affections which forces God thus to Correct me Let us remove the Cause and the Effect will cease Thus you see whether we consider sin in it self in its pestiferous infectious Nature or whether we consider it in its direful Effects the Miseries that attend it we have more cause to bewail it than any Loss or Cross that can befal us for sins sake as the Cause is worse than the Effect 3. But this is not all for sin procures Spiritual Judgments as well as Temporal and these are far more deadly and dangerous for these Distempers reach the Soul when the other touch only the Body or Estate Sin defiles and deforms all the Powers and Faculties of Soul and Body Sin is so Infectious and Contagious and the Effects thereof so Malignant that the greatest and most dangerous Plague-sore even that which rendeth the Soul from the Body is not so dangerous 'T is sin that hardens the Heart and turns it into the Nature of a stone We read of a stony heart and of all the Plagues that fell upon Pharaoh this was the worst and a greater than this cannot befal a Mortal Man in this Life God complains of this That the house of Israel were impudent and hard-hearted Ezek. 3.7 c. And the great Gospel-promise is To take away thâ— stony heart and give them hearts of flesh And as it hardens the Heart so it blinds the Mind which by reason of sin is Naturally Judicially and Wilfully blind the Image of God consisted in Knowledge Righteousness and true Holiness these by the Fall were lost and Ignorance Wickedness and Profaness the very Image of the Devil were engraven in their stead 1 Cor. 3.14 And Men walk in Darkness till the Scales of Ignorance are wiped from their Eyes and Christ's Spiritual Eye-salve applyed Rev. 3.18 A natural maâ— cannot perceive the things of the spirit for they aâ—â— spiritually discerned Many also are Judicially blind God in his just Judgment giving them up to strong delusion to believe lies Mat. 13.13 c. They are Wilfully blind and God will not Cure them like Hagar they cannot see the Well of Water that is before them They are wilfully Ignorant that they may sin the more freely The God of this world hath blinded their eyes 2 Cor. 4.4 He draws a Curtain between them and the Light and holds his black hand before their faces and were they anatomized his Image would be found â—ngraven upon their hearts Light is come into â—â—e world and men love darkness rather than light â—ecause their works are evil They are willingly â—gnorant of what they are not willing to know â—hey have also cauterized Consciences seared with 〈◊〉 hot Iron and reprobate minds Rom. 1.28 And â—istempered and disordered Affections set upon â—rong Objects loving what they should hate â—nd hating what they should love fearing Men â—nd their threatnings and despising God and his â—hreatnings being given up to vile affections Rom. â— 26 1 Tim. 4.2 Yea they are given up to â—tubbornness of Will Judges 2.19 And of this â—e have Pharaoh for an Example that was beâ—ome Cannon-proof that all the Judgments â—rought upon Egypt could not work upon him â—uch are mentioned Jer. 44.19 that would bake â—akes to the Queen of Heaven let God himself say what he would to the contrary they will set up â—heir Post by God's Post and prefer their Dagon â—efore the Ark therefore God gives up such to â—trong delusions to believe lies Rom. 1.24 The Memory also though strong enough to retain what is bad yet 't is like a leaking Vessel that cannot retain any thing that is good In a word â—ll the Powers and Faculties of the Soul are polâ—uted and the Members of the Body are the unhappy Instruments to act the wickedness the Soul contrives So that a Toad or Serpent is not fuller of Poison than Man's heart is naturally of Sin and Wickedness and of noxious Qualities the Fruits and Effects of which if timely Repentance prevent not will be the loss of God's Favour which is better than life in whose presence is fulness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasureâ— for evermore Psal 16.11 The loss also of an Interest in the Blood of Christ will follow which is of more value than the World it self for such trample upon the blood of the Covenant as an unholy thing Heb. 10.29 Yea they do despight unto the Spirit of God and put themselves from under the favourable Protection of God and thaâ— Guard of Angels that God sends forth as ministring Spirits for the good of those that love him and makes Men uncapable of the sweet Communion of Saints which David made his chiefesâ— Delight on Earth Psal 16.2 It deprives them of the Peace of Conscience a Jewel of inestimable worth and brings many times such a Storm there that all the World cannot allay aâ— in Cain Judas Spira and many more that Bird in the Bosom when it sings sweetly makes better Melody than all the World can do Sin also deprives Men of all true Interest and Spirituaâ— Right to all our outward Enjoyments a Civiâ—â— Right we may have but a Covenant-Right we cannot have in a Natural condition for these things are not given but lent to a wicked Man and an Account will be required to the utmost Farthing In a word unrepented sin deprives Men of an Interest in God in
are all of a value So here some pass for Kings and some for Peasants but when Death hath gotten them into his Box the Grave they are all alike Yet how much need have great Men of Philip's Monitor for they are apt to forget their Mortality See Job 3.17 c. Some of the wiser Heathens have accounted Mortality a great Mercy that poor Creatures may be freed from their Misery And so doubtless 't is for those that are prepared for Death for they rest from their Labours The Hebrew Proverb is That in Calvary there are Sculls of all sorts and sizes Kings and Captains Lords and Lozels one takes no more out of the World than the other Naked they come and naked they shall go Great Saladine had but his Shirt Now though Riches cannot prevent Death yet it may hasten it Rich Men many times are as Oxen in a fat Pasture fitted for the Slaughter sometimes they are butcher'd by others for their Wealth and many times they prove their own Butchers and kill themselves by Intemperance The Sun-shine of Prosperity quickly ripens the Fruit of Sin and when Sin is ripe Ruine is ready Bachus or Venus opens the Door for Death to enter Now what good will it do to have a fair Suit of Cloathes and a Plague-sore under it Or a dainty Dinner with a Surfeit How often is Intemperance which ends in Gouts Surfeits Dropsies and such-like Diseases the Fruits of a Plentiful Table These open the Door of Eternity and light them a Candle to find the way to Death Now these are Diseases Riches cannot cure Seeing therefore the World is of so little use when we have most need why should we so greedily grasp after and spend so much time about it as to neglect our greater Concerns and despond so much when we meet with disappointments And why should we suffer those Vultures carking Cares to breed in and feed upon our Hearts and eat out all the Comfort of our Lives What Recompence can the World make us for all our pains and broken sleeps we have had upon its Account It cannot warrant us a Comfortable Life nor a Happy Death nay not one day free from pain Let such as over-greedily grasp after it remember Solomon's words H◠〈◊〉 maketh hast to be rich cannot be innocent And at leisure read James 5.1 2 c. Luke 6.24 Yet consider 't is not the having Riches â—ut the over-loving of them that is dangerous for they are not evil of themselves but great Blessings if not abused and some of those Talents put into our hands to be improved by us but prove dangerous when abused over-loved or over-trusted in But seeing they can neither prevent Death nor Diseases the cause of Death we should not put too high a value upon them nor take them for our Portion 2. As the World cannot prevent Death no more can it procure a happy Life And why Because it cannot give Content and Satisfaction to the Enjoyer of it and how then can our Lives be Happy when we are not content with our Condition and satisfied with our present Enjoyments Content never did nor never will grow in the World's Garden neither can Satisfaction be found in any thing under the Sun If we seek it here Riches will say 't is not in me Honours 't is not in me Pleasure 't is not in me c. Can we expect the Sun in a Pail of Water Indeed if the Sun shine upon the Water we may see the reflexion of it but if the Sun be clouded all the Water in the World cannot shew it When God shines upon us he may be seen in every Creature if not the World cannot shew him Our Earthly Enjoyments caâ— do us no good bring us no Comfort without a Commission from God and could they satisfie us for the present it would be but a miserable Portion yea a great Judgment for what should we do at Death when they leave us God did never give us these for our Portion but only aâ— a Viaticum in our Journey Our deceitful Hearts haply may promise Content had we an Hundred Pounds per Annum but they will deceive us for our desires would be enlarged from an Hundred to a Thousand and so in infinitum till Kingdoms yea the World would be too little for us as it was to Alexander Covetous Men have a dry Dropsie the more they have the more they thirst Theocritus brings in the Cove-Man wishing he had a Thousand Sheep when this wish was obtained he cries out Pauperis est numerare pecus 'T is but a Poor Man that is able to number his Cattel And 't is no wonder He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver The World is of too base a Birth and Breeding to give the Soul content for two things are requisite to Satisfaction and both of those are wanting there must be Proportion and Propriety but what proportion is there between a Piece of Gold and an Immortal Soul It can neither feed it nor cloath it nor make it better And for Propriety this also is lost by the Fall that which we call our own is but lent us and we must be Accountable for it And 't is vain also for what Satisfaction can an Hungry Man take in a Pebble or a Thirsty Man in a dry Pumice-stone What Satisfaction had Haman in his Riches Honours or Preferments without Mordecai's bow or Ahab's Kingdom without Nabath's Vineyard Something is still out of Order some string or other out of Tune that marâ—s the Musick And no wonder Content is not to be found here for God himself could not find Adam a help meet for him If we could turn a heap of Diamonds into a Spiritual substance then it might bear some proportion to the Soul which is a Spirit but except we could change it into God the work would not be done for none but God can make the Soul happy These Earthly things are far worse than the Body how then can they be a fit Match for the Soul Gold and Silver Gemms and Jewels are but the Garbadge of the Earth they seldom make bad Men good or good Men better but oft-times they make both worse they seldom procure Content for the desire enlarges with the Estate as the Israelites Shooes did in the Wilderness with their Feet Solomon could had nothing in them but Vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 1.14 They are like Smoak they wring Tears from the Eyes but draw not Sorrow from the Heart or like Thorns the faster they are grasped the deeper they wound If God smile upon us they may bring us some Comfort if not all the Gold in the Indies will do us no good for this Coin is not currant in another World we may as well satisfie an empty Stomack with Air as a Covetous Man with Gold for the more Wood we lay upon the Fire the more furiously it burns a Ship may sink under its Burden before it be half full
That seeing all must dye the Righteous have not long to suffer for Death will set an end to all their Miseries and enter them into their Eternal Enjoyments of God and Glory and put them into the possession of those Mansions of Glory prepared for them by God before the foundations of the world And then any Man may judge whether there be any great cause why they should fear Death which is the only Cure of all their Miseries and the only Porter to open Heaven-gates to them It remains that we speak something of those whose Happiness expires with their Life and their Miseries commence at their Death Lesson 5. The Fifth Lesson this Providence teacheth is That seeing Men and Women may be taken away in the Flower of their Age and Death can put a period to their Lives then what a miserable condition are Wicked Men in when one day may put an end to all their Happiness and all their Hopes for both their Happiness and their Hopes is only in this Life and shall expire at their Death for whether they are Noble or Base Rich or Poor Young or Old by what Names or Titles soever they are dignified or distinguished if they have no better a Portion than the World can bestow upon them 't is at the longest for term of Life and at Death their lease expires Their Glory then will not follow them and their Pomp will take her leave Oh what a change Death will make among many of our greatest Gallants their Happiness depends upon a ticklish point and hangs but by the thread of their Lives and there are a thousand Diseases Distempers Casualties and Accidents ready to cut the thread and every Creature waits but for a Divine Commission to stop their breath and they are not sure of one day to an end The Experience of this very Age proves this point fully how many hundred thousands were in Ireland stript of all in a moment and left as poor as Job and many lost their Lives with their Estates The like may we hear of in other Countries in London an hundred thousand dyed in one Year and what a change did Death make to them that have their Portion only in this Life What the Wise Man saith Prov. 23.5 Rich's take wings and fly away We see by Experience many rich at Night and poor ere Morning bâ—t we also see many Rich Men snatch'd away from their Riches who are well o're Night and deâ—d in the Morning yet many Men hunt and havk after Riches and never overtake them and if they do cannot hold them many purchase them too dear even with the loss of their Souls and the shipwrack of a good Conscience and these make a hard bargain for the Soul is more worth than all the World Mat. 16.26 That a Wicked Man is not long to enjoy his Happiness is made out in the following Considerations 1. Consider at Death all Men of what Degree soever from the least to the greatest will leave behind them all these outward Enjoyments viz. Riches that very many so much glory in and trust to and cannot take with them the worth of a shoe-latchet Woe then to them that have no other Portion what will their poor Souls do to Eternity though now their Riches be their strong hold Prov. 18.11 yet can they not help in the evil day Zeph. 1.18 Yet here they are honoured as Gods but they are but Dung-hill Deities most Men dote upon them as much as the Athenians did upon Diana's Temple and Offer not only their Children but their Souls unto them But let their Attainments or Enjoyments be what they will at Death they must leave all behind them Kings and Emperours must leave their Crowns behind them and the Bishop his Mitre the Pope himself not excepted then those that have made a great hurly-burly in the World could not satisfie their Dust will be contained in a little Urn. At Death the Emperour must lay by his Robes and the Beggar his Rags for Death will lodge them in the same Bed and set them upon even ground The griping Usurer must leave his Gold and cease to fill his Bags with Silver when his own Mouth shall be fill'd with Earth Kings then must bid farewel to their Crowns and Kingdoms as Solomon to his Ivory Throne and our great Gallants their well-contrived Houses though they call them after their own names Psal 49.11 c. Haply they may leave them to Fools haply to Strangers haply to Enemies to enjoy It was the Speech of a good Man to a great Lord when he shewed him his sumptuous Buildings pleasant Gardens Walks Orchards and other Rarities Sir saith he you must make sure of Heaven or you will never be recompenced in the Earth for all the Pains and Cost you have bestowed here Yet many like the Rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12. sing a Requiem to their Souls and promise themselves long Life when haply they have not a day to live They put the evil day far from them and because they see not Death think Death heeds not them when he is even staring them in the Face They lodge Riches nearest their Heart and from it they expect their greatest Security but the Mortal Sithe is too hard for the Royal Scepter yet many consider it not but buy Faggots for their own burning for the rust of their Gold will eat their flesh as fire James 5.3 Here they have their Summer and their Winter Houses curious Parlours Banqueting-Houses Rooms richly adorned soft Beds and easie Couches but if they have no better Portion Death will strip them of this and lodge them in a stinking Dungeon and darksom Cell full of deadly Horror void of Light or Comfort a noisom sulphurous stinking Prison here are no curious Gardens or pleasant Walks for Recreation neither is there any thing to recreate the Eyes the Ears the Smell the Tast or the Touch the Object of Sight will be Infernal Devils and Damned despairing Wretches the Melody the groans and sighs the roaring yelling scrietching of damned Souls for the Taste pinching Hunger and parching Thirst or something that is worse their Smell is burning Brimstone and their Touch the scorching Flames Oh the Pains the Time the Cost and Charges many Men are at in adorning their Habitations Gardens Walks Orchards c. when all this while the poor Soul lyes neglected and slighted no Tree in the Orchard must grow disordered but must be pruned muck'd and manured when in the Soul nothing is in order no Weed must grow in the Garden when no Vice must be weeded out of the Soul Here they have pleasant Walks and Summer-shady Bowers their Rich Pastures Pleasant Meadows their Flocks and Herds their numerous Cattle both small and great and whatever their hearts can desire that can be purchased for Love or Money but Death will strip them to the skin and they shall carry nothing hence neither can they call ought their own but Tortures and
is won the Enemies are fled the Victory is ours and the Crown is ready it tells us our Work is done in the Vineyard and we must come to receive our Wages It tells us all our Pains Aches Miseries and Sufferings are at an end and God hath sent for us in his Triumphant Chariot to the Marriage of the Lamb and to lye for ever in his Bosom and inhabit those Mansions of Glory provided for us that for a Cottage we shall have a Crown and Robes instead of Rags and that a period is put to all that we call Trouble and will such a Messenger displease us This is the time that all tears shall be wip'd away and sin and sorrow shall be no more Rev. 7.17 and 21.4 God shall wipe all their tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain See also Isa 53.10 Their Bacha shall be turned into Barachah their Misery into Melody the Sighing into Singing and the Misery into Majesty and Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life whatever 't is that makes our Life uneasie shall be done away all that is called Trouble shall then vanish for sin and sorrow shall be no more Who would not bear one Fit of Sickness for Everlasting Health a little Pain for Eternal Ease a little Trouble for Eternal Freedom In this Life we are always under the Hatches sometimes pester'd with a sickly weakly Body subject to a thousand Infirmities languishing under Pains and Aches and Distempers hardly a day free but Death is the Physician that will Cure us of all this At other times we are full of â—â—â—rs and doubts concerning our Spiritual Estate questioning whether we have any Interest in Christ or Title to Glory whether the Soul be regenerate whether the Match were ever made up between Christ and us and whether all we have done be not in Hypocrisie and so lost labour whether God love us or not seeing he oft-times hides his Face from us Holy Men even David himself have sometimes such desponding thoughts upon God's with-drawings but Death will put all this out of question they need not then fear their Evidences when they are put into actual Possession nor God's Love when they enjoy the Beatifical Vision where they shall never see one wrinkle more in the Face of God Here they are pestered with the Devil's Temptations and 't is their trouble and grief that he foists in such foul Suggestions he lays Snares in their ways to entrap them Snares in all their Enjoyments in all their Duties in all their Actions in all their Relations in all they see or hear or come to know but then he shall never throw Dart more at us Here his Instruments do molest us some by cruel mocks and taunts scoffs and scorns some by Wrongs Persecutions and Tryals there we shall be out of their reach We can hardly open any Sense but we let in either sin or sorrow Our own Corruptions bring us no little trouble this makes us such strangers to God spoils our Duties and makes us scarce to have a glimpse of God in an Ordinance These and a thousand more troubles Death frees us from and yet shall we run from him as an Enemy and rather endure all this than feel his Dart We may stand amazed at our own Folly 3. Let us Consider how unbeseeming and uncomely a thing it is for a Christian to be unwilling to dye when God and his Cause requires it yea not to carry his Life in his hand and resign it up to him that gave it whenever he shall require it of him for he that laid down his life for us shall we deny our lives for him if he require it We have listed our selves Souldiers under him our General and when danger is near shall we run from our Colours We have made a Profession of our Faith and Trust and Confidence in him boasted of his Love to us of Power and Ability to save us and of the Reward we expected for oâ—r Faithful Service and now shall we let the World know there is no such matter that we dare not trust him with our Lives or Estates We find this was an Argument with those that returned out of Babylon Ezra 8.22 I was ashamed to require of the King a band of Souldiers and Horsemen to help us against the Enemy in the way because we had spokâ—n to the King saying The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him He durst not do it lest the Name of God should have been dishonoured by it and how dare we proclaim our fears and diffidence in the like case to God's dishonour 'T is a discredit to a Master when his own Servants dare not trust him Shall we that have had more Experiences of God's Power Mercy Goodness and Truth now forsake him or distrust him God hath communicated himself more to his People than to others and done more for them than for others and so laid a greater Obligation upon them than on the rest of the World and after all shall they prove treacherous It was a great aggravation to Solomon's sin that it was after God had appeared twice to him 1 Kin. 11.9 God may say to his revolting People as Christ did to the Jews Many good works have I done among you for which of these do you stone me John 10.32 'T is not so much for others to be afraid of the Journey that are strangers in the Country but we that have had so many to direct us in the way we that pretend there our Father keeps his Court that Jerusalem that is above is the Mother of us all that Christ is our Head our Husband and our elder Brother and shall be our Judge that the Saints departed are our Brethren and Sisters in Christ that Heaven is our Inheritance and those Mansions of Glory provided for us and shall we be afraid or unwilling of the Journey 'T is no wonder that others hang back that have their Portion in their hands at present for who will willingly lose what they have and are assured of no more 'T is no wonder that a Malefactor that hath deserved Death and is in expectation of it is loath to go before the Judge but 't is wonder an Innocent Man is not willing to be freed out of Prison The Grave it self is but a resting place in Job's account Job 3.13 Now should I have been still and have been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest Ver. 17. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest there the Prisoners rest together thâ—y hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and the great are there and the servant is free from his master c. Yea some of the Heathen upon the consideration of the troubles of Man's Life thought Mortality a
Mercy and like Solomon praised the day of Death before the Birth-day Eccles 4.2 Optimum non nasci proximum mori saith the Heathen but little knew what the result would be But a Christian doubtless call'd out by God should not go unwillingly Philpot the Martyr returns thanks to God he was so near the Gate of Eternal Life and who is it that being tossed with the Waves of Trouble would not land in a Haven of Rest 'T is a shame for a Christian when God gives a clear Call to linger with Lot in Sodom much more to look back with Lot's Wife till the Lord pluck them away by force and deliver them whether they will or no. Those that are weary of Sin or Suffering should say as Samuel Speak Lord for thy servant heareth Mistake not I say not that Death is eligible or any should desire it for its own sake no we should use all Lawful means to preserve Life but I reprove those that when the Will of God is manifest that they should dye submit so unwillingly Hath the World been so kind to us that now we cannot part Or is our Portion here so good that Heaven it self cannot make us satisfaction If we part with it doubtless we have then had better dealing than our dear Redeemer met with Are our Temptations so strong that we are ready with the Young Man Demas Judas and many others to break with Christ upon that account 'T is best to consider well before hand lest we Repent too late Hath God been training us up so long and have we not yet learnt this â—esson to be willing to dye Are we content to take this for our Portion And will we rather stay in the Wilderness than venture over this Jordan Will the Flesh-pots of Egypt give satisfaction as well as the Land of Canaan If God were not more willing of us than many of us are to go to him we might be long absent we should live long on this side Jordan if he did not force us over But though Death be not desirable is not the Presence of God desirable Is not Heaven worth having And is there any other way to it We profess we believe there is a reward for the righteous and a God that judgeth the earth but do we not in our works deny it The fear of Death discovers our Infidelity and as our little Faith so our little Love either we proclaim that we question whether there be a Reward or whether we have any Interest in it or it shews we have little love to it If we believe it and our Interest in it is it not a wonder we are not impatient of enjoying it and rather seek to shorten our Lives than prolong them by unlawful means Did we love our Husband as we should we should long for the time when he would fetch us He may well say as Delilah did to Samson How can you say you love me when your hearts are not with me 4. Consider If we chearfully submit our Wills to the Will of God and let him dispose of us as he pleaseth for Life or Death and make a resignation of our selves to God and be willing to part with Life it self if he and his Cause require it whether by a Natural or violent Death we shall then part with it to the most Advantage imaginable nay 't is the only way to save it and to deny it unto God is the way to lose it Mark 8.35 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel shall save it For what is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul We may read of many that refusing to lay down their Lives for Christ have had their Lives taken from them but lost their Reward We read in the Book of Martyrs of one Denton a Smith that had made profession of Religion but being call'd to suffer cried The Fire is hot I cannot burn but within a short time he was burnt in his own House and lost both his Life and his Reward And so shall those that deny their Lives to God when he requires them We may resign our Lives into the hands of God and so engage him to look to them and take care of them but we cannot rescue them out of his Hands or live longer than he determines for we cannot breathe without him and then what madness is it to stand in contention with him If we lose our Souls to save our Lives we shall make a bad Bargain for a Life saved by unlawful means will do us little good for a Life in God's displeasure is worse than Death it self and a Death in his favor is the beginning of Eternal Life and ushers us into Eternal Happiness The Martyrs in the flames were aware of this they cried out None but Christ none but Christ 'T is a dear Life that is bought with the loss of Christ he that exchanges his Soul for the World will with the Rich man Luk. 16. dye a Beggar but will not be able to purchase one drop of Water he that loseth an immortal Soul purchaseth an everliving Death and is it not our Interest to look to the main Jewel Where Self is renounced the Cross is easily born for 't is Self-love that makes it pinch us When God bids us Yoke 't is our best way to submit our Necks for there is no struggling out of his hands God will not require our Lives to our hurt or damage neither will it prove any Advantage to us if we deny them for if we lose them for his sake we shall find them and if we would hide them from him we shall lose them and Heaven to boot He that lays down his Life when God requires it will gain by the bargain when Death strips him of his Rags 't is to cloath him with Robes and pulls down his Cottage to bring him to a Palace 2 Pet. 1.14 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if this earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This saith Latimer is the Sweet-meats of the Feast of a good Conscience there are other dainty Dishes but this is the Banquet The Soul wears the Body as a Garment which when 't is worn out shall be clothed with a better Suit There is no passing into Paradise but under Death's flaming Sword no coming to the City of God but through his dark Vault and strait Gate no wiping all Tears from our Eyes but with our Winding-sheet Our life is hid saith the Apostle with Christ in God Col. 3.3 and therefore not lost And again he tells us 2 Tim. 1 2. I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day Let him that died for my Soul