and most affectionate Children It is enough for me to be among of the least of thy House amidst the greatest sinners that have obtained pardon of thee and that have some shelter in thy Palace where there are so many Dwellings That even in thy House I may be as little as thou shalt please provided that thou wilt preserve me thine for ever O Merciful Father I beseech thee that for the love of thy well beloved Son my only Saviour thou wouldst give me thy holy Spirit which may puriâ—â—e my heart and strengthen me in such sort that I may always dwell in thy House there to serve thee in Holiness and Justice all the days of my Life Amen Prayers WHat do we in this world but heap sins upon sins So that the morrow is always worse then the day before and we do not cease drawing thy indignation upon us But being out of this world in thy heritage we shall be altogether assured of our perfect and eternal felicity the miseries of the bodies shall be abolished the vices and filthiness of the Soul shall be done away O Heavenly Father increase our Faith in us for fear lest we should doubt of things so certain Imprint thy Grace and thy Love in our Hearts which may lift us up to thee and strengthen us in thy fear And because thou hast lodged us in this World there for to remain as long as it shall please thee without declaring unto us the day of our departure the which thou alone knowest I do beseech thee to take me out of it when thou in thy mercy pleasest and then to do me that good that I may acknowledge the same that in the mean while I may fit my self thereuuto as thou hast appointed by thy holy Name through Jesus Christ our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Amen Another THis body is the Prison of the Soul yea a dark Prison narrow and fearful we are as it were banished men in this world our life is but woe and misery on the contrary Lord it is in thy heavenly Kingdom that we find our Liberty our Country and our perfect Contentment A wake our Sould by thy word to the remembrance and apprehension of such a good imprint in our Hearts the love and the desire of the Everlasting good things and only to be wished for give unto our Consciences some taste of that joy wherewith the happy Souls which are in Heaven are filled that I may hold as dung and filth all that which the Worldlings find so fair and covet so much which so obstinately they retain and do adore with such fervency Cause that finding taste but in thy verity and grace I may wait for calling upon thee the day of my perfect deliverance thro' Jesus Christ thy Son to whom with thee and the holy Spirit be glory Everlasting Amen Another O Lord Jesus the only Salvation of the Living Life everlasting of the dead I submit my self to thy holy Will whether it be thy pleasure yet to suffer my Soul to be some space within this body for to serve thee or that it please thee to take it out of prison being assured that what thou keepest cannot perish I am content with all my heart that my Body return into the Earth from whence it was taken believing the last Resurrection which shall make it immortal incorruptible and full of Glory I do beseech thee to fortifie my Sould against all temptation environ me with the buckler of thy Mercy to beat back the darts of Satan As for me I am weakness it self but I rely upon thy strength and goodness I cannot alledge any good thing before thee whereof to boast on the contrary alas my sins infinite in number accuse and torment me but thy merit assures me that I shall be saved for I hold for certain that thou wert born for me that thou wert tempted that thou hast obeyed to God thy Father that thou hast taught and brought Life Everlasting for me seeing thou hast given thy self to me with all these good things let not such a gift be unprofitable let thy blood wipe out the filth of my faults thy Justice cover my Iniquities thy Merits make me to find Grace before the heavenly Throne If my Evils do increase augment thy Grace in me so that Faith Hope and Charity may not dye but rather wax strong in me that the apprehension of Death do not daunt me but that even after this body shall be as it were dead cause that the Eyes of my Soul may lift themselves up to Heaven that the Heart may then cry fervently unto thee Lord I commend my Soul into thy Hands fulfil thy work for thou hast bought me I am thine by the Gift of thy Father to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be Everlasting Glory Amen The Humble Suit of a Sinner for the Pardon of his Sins O Most just and dreadful God equitable in all thy Judgments who sufferest no Sin to pass unpunished either in this Life or in the Life to come Let me have with Job this Consolation That afflicting me thou wouldst not spare me here to punish me hereafter Here rather burn here cut that hereafter thou mayest spare me That Union O God which thou didst put at my Creation betwixt my Soul and my Body I have not employed for to serve thee therefore I will that henceforth it be dissolved For too great affection I had to Riches and for my ill employing of them I will deny my self of all things under the Sun and will have no more but a Sheet Coffin and an hole to lye in and wait for thy Coming For the too great love I carried to my Husband Wife Children Parents Friends Companions Conversation and Company I will now willingly abandon them all and their Embracements and kindly Usage I will also have an end put to all my Senses that henceforth I neither See Hear Touch Taste nor Smell any thing for not having ruled them nor shut them up by mortification when the Devil was seeking entry into my Soul From henceforth Lord I will put silence to this wicked Tongue of mine which hath been so great an Instrument of Impiety swearing lying cursing defaming backbiting detracting and breaking forth so often in impure dishonest and injurious Speeches against thee and my Neighbour For the too great mind I had to run go and walk in the ways of the wicked For the too frequent impure postures gestures and motions of my Body I will lye dead in the Grave and desire that henceforth none do so much as name me or speak a word of me by reason I was too desirous to be in every ones mouth and to be praised and conserved in their Memories and because I did so much affect Honour Dignity and the things of the Earth and did so much search after delicate fare soft bedding and good cloathing and did nourish and pamper this flesh of mine with too great care for honour I will lye in abjection and for that I aspired to have others bowing their heads to me and to be lifted above them I will have them to trample over me For my love to the Earth I will return to it for my Food I will have the Worms to crawl in and out at my Mouth for my Bed I will have a Grave for my Garments a Sheet and for thy dainty usage of my Body I will henceforth turn all my Beauty into Corruption Receive then O just God all these things in Punishment of my many Offences for so this being thy just Will it is also mine Only O god of Justice let my Punishment be here in this Life that I may find thee to be a God of Mercy in the Life to come for thou hast declared by thy Servant David that thy Mercies are above all thy Works Grant this O Lord for the Merits of thy only Son my Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS
Christian Exortation against the fearc of Death For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead Corin 15 Ch. p 21. TWO DISCOURSES The FIRST A CHRISTIAN'S EXHORTATION Against the FEARS OF DEATH The SECOND A brief and clear Declaration of the Resurrection of the Dead With suitable Meditations and Prayers touching LIFE and DEATH Recommended as proper to be given at Funerals By W. S. LONDON Printed for Tho. Bever at the Hand and Star next to the Middle Temple-Gate near Temple Bar 1690. Price bound 1 Shilling A DISCOURSE Against the Fears of DEATH PLATO said That the Philosophy wherein Man living in this World should principally exercise himself is the Meditation of Death That is to say of his condition in the World frail diseased and mortal of the divers accidents of this humane Life and of the Hour of Death so uncertain and unknown to the end that considering these things he might withdraw his affection and trust from this World that he might despise it and all temporal things wherein he sees and discovers so much inconstancy and such suddain and frequent mutations or changes and that by such a despising of uncertain and casual things he should stir up himself unto a contemplation of those that are Divine and Heavenly and forsaking that which is here perishing and transitory he should choose his part in Heaven and should stay himself at that which is permanent and eternal For the like reason Philip the Father of Alexander the Great a man of good understanding and of very great consideration to the end that in the midst of his great prosperity he should not forget himself in his Duty gave order that one of his Gentlemen should every day at his waking come and speak these words unto him King have in remembrance that thou art a mortal Man Jesus Christ also our Saviour and Master intending the same doth exhort us to Watch and to lay up Treasures in Heaven and not on Earth where all things are uncertain and changeable We see by this that during our Life we cannot do better then to think upon Death and our Body being upon the Earth to accustom our selves to have always our Spirit and Heart in Heaven Now because that the remembrance of Death is a fearful thing to many I have bethought my self to pass away my Griefs and to recreate my self from my other Studies and also to give you a testimony of the Obligation which I think I have towards you as well for the good which you have done unto me as for the Friendship which you bear me to write unto you and to present this small Treatise wherein I have briefly touched certain Points wherewith the Faithful may Arm themselves against Death which he ought to do in time and prepare himself to receive it with assurance at such time as it shall please God to send it for that which doth astonish many is that the coming thereof is suddain unto them and that they are surprized unlooked for We see by experience in a frontier Town that when it is well Victualled and provided of all things necessary to with-stand a long Siege those within are a great deal the more assured and bold whereas if it were unprovided they would stand amazed and tremble with fear if they should chance to see the approaching of the Siege It is easie to judge by that of what importance it is to have prevented a danger and to be prepared for it To provide therefore and arm the Faithful Man against Death we must note that there are two sorts of it the one is temporal of the body which Christians ought to desire the other is eternal of body and Soul which they ought not to fear persevering in the Faith of our Lord. That it is so all Fear pre-supposeth evil and danger we do not fear that which is good but long after desire and pursue it and when it offers it self we receive it joyfully but an evil we apprehend and fear we fly from it and when it happens unto us we sorrow and do complain If then it doth appear by good and evident Proofs that the Faithful Man is not in danger of this second Death may we not then conclude that if we fear it it is foolish and without occasion And surely if we had judgment and never so little Faith it were sufficient presently to take away the fear of it from us For first the proper nature of faith is to animate and quicken our heart so soon as it is received in us The Just saith the Prophet shall live by Faith Now even so as the Body whiles the Soul is in it liveth and dieth not until such time as it be separated from it no more doth the Faithful Man persevering in the Faith which hath been inspired and put into his Heart by the Grace of God Although saith David I should walk in the midst of the shadow of Death I will not fear for Thou art with me O Lord What was the cause of this assurance was it not Faith Armed wherewith we ought no more to fear Death then we do Sickness when we are in perfect health well disposed and in good liking or Poverty when we have plenty and abundance of all good things Secondly By Faith we have remission and an abolition of all the faults which we have done Why do we then fear Death There is no Death where there is no Sin 〈…〉 Death 〈…〉 Paul and elsewhere The Reward of Sin is Death Sin causeth God to be angry with us and that in His Anger He condemneth us to Death Now all Seeds doth bring forth according to their sort and quality The Wheat bringeth forth Wheat and the Rye Rye and we must not hope for any Fruit if there be not Seed before hand This being true and witnessed in a thovsand places of the Scripture that unto a Christian all his Sins and debts are acquitted by the Grace and Mercy of God that they are forgotten that they are covered that they are not imputed and that they are remitted and pardoned that they are cast as far from us as the East from the West provided that there be no more Seed thereof we need not look for any Fruit That is to say if there be no more Sin there is no more anger of God nor of death and by consequent that also there ought to be no more fear Thirdly By Faith we have the Word and the Promises of GOD whereupon it is grounded Among others this Whoso Believeth shall not Die but is passed from Death to Life Now this promise can no more fail than He that gave it us It is Eternal and all that God saith is as sure and permanent as Heaven and Earth For this cause when we look into them we ought in them to consider the vertue and power of this Word by the which they were once Created and ever since preserved and maintained in that estate wherein
and infectious sin And for the first we see that the Lord said to Moses Exod. 33. who was desirous to see him Man shall not see me upon the Earth and live As for the other it was cause that the wicked Angels were cast down from Heaven and man out of Paradice Gen. 3. for there is nothing common between God and a sinful man Wherefore the faithful shall have a spiritual body discharged and purified from all sin There shall also be no defect in their bodies nor imperfection and all deformity and vice which cometh of sin shall be done away for the Lord will transform their vile and contemptible bodies and make them conformable and like unto his glorious body Phil. 3. 1 John 3. Moreover they shall no more suffer any torments pains sickness nor any other adverse thing because there shall 〈…〉 rning nor weeping nor â—â—â—â—uring for the Lord will wipe away all tears from their Eyes And there shall happen no more corruption to them by death Rev. 25. whereof there shall be no more remembrance Isa 25. but being made immortal they shall be made incorruptible Rev. 7.21 and delivered from all suffering for to be in a happy state for ever Their Soul which before was a living Soul Gen. 2. shall be changed into a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. then it shall be delivered from all sorrows griefs annoy perturbations and fear which came thro' sin Psal 61. and shall be set in rest joy consolation happiness and perpetual assurance without being any more perplexed nor defiled with troublesom affections Then being put in so excellent estate both of Body and Soul the Image of God shall truly shine upon them having this power to serve God being perfectly wise holy pure irreprehensible innocent without spot 1 Cor. 1. good just true immortal and incorruptible being resplendant in glory and honour before the Throne of God Col. 1. The which shall be the white vesture wherewith St. John saith Rev. 14.21 They shall be cloathed which is the pure and shining Vestments Rev. 3.4.6.7 which are the justifications of the Saints that shall hold the Palms in their hands in sign of Victory Rev. 19. after that the books being opened they shall hear the Voice full of meekness Rev. 7. grace and mercy receiving in the presence of the wicked who judged them the out-casts of the Earth Rev. 10. the sentence of eternal blessing being found written in the book of life which is the book of the Lamb Sap. 4.5 being clothed with the innocency of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 4. and having the name of their Father written in their forehead Rev. 13.21 they shall be with Christ the Spouse 2 Cor. 5. crowned with the incorruptible crown of life Gal. 3. and eternal glory Apoc. 14. being pronounced the sons and heirs of God and co-heirs with Jesus Christ Rev. 2. and Judges with him of the Apostate Angels 2 Tim. 4. and of the reprobate 1. Pet. 5. for all power and judgment is so given to the Son Rom. 8. Gal. 4. that he will participate in this honour as his assistants Wisd 3. they shall be put in possession of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 19. having praise of God Luc. 22. which is the incorruptible heritage 1 Cor. 6. which cannot contaminate nor wither and which is preserved in Heaven for them John 5. they shall shine therein as the Firmament Rev. 2. and as the Sun Mat. 25. and as the Stars for ever 1 Cor. 4. Then they shall have their right in the Tree of Life Pet. 1. and shall enter into the new Coelestial Jerusalem Dan. 12. in the which there shall be no Temple Mat. 13. for the Lord Almighty is the Temple thereof and the Lamb Wisd 3. They shall be in it everlasting Kings and High Priests Rev. 2.21 22. offering sacrifices of Praise and Thanksgiving unto the Lord. Then being in the House of God Rev. 15.7 which is the blessed house which the faithful have in Heaven which is not made with hands 2 Cor. 5. they shall be filled with the magnificence of the Lord and shall bud like the Olive branch and blossom like the Palm and like the Cedar which is in Lebanus Psal 16.17.52 92. being immortal and incorruptible and shall not be importuned by Satan to sin and offend God The face of God which is the Fountain of Light 1 Cor. 13. the River of Pleasure Psal 16. and Ocean of Goodness Rev. 22. they shall see which shall give them such a great and perfect Joy that all the Joys which may be compared to that are but as a sparkle compared to a great Fire Marc. 9. It will make them forget all Terrestrial Heb. 11.12 what pleasure soever they could take in them in the world and they shall not remember any thing that may bring them sorrow or grief They shall be led to the Mountain of Sion and to the City of the living God which hath no need of the Sun nor Moon to shine in it Rev. 21.22 for the light of God hath lightned it and the Lamb is the Candle thereof and of thousands of Angels and of the assembly of the first born which are written in Heaven 2 Cor. 11. and to God which is the Judge of all Col. 1. and to the sanctified Souls of the Just Eph. 1. and to Jesus Christ their Head and their Spouse Mediator of the new Covenant Rev. 19. and of the blood shed speaking better things then that of Abel then with all his company and the other Saints with whom they shall be fellow Citizens being domesticks of God they shall be called to the nuptial banquet of the Lamb and shall enjoy the Kingdom of God their Father Rev. 19. the felicity which Jesus Christ by his death hath conquered for them Heb. 2.5.9.10 in whom they have put their whole trust Gal. 3.4 as he himself promiseth saying Rom. 4.5 Father I will that those which thou hast given me be with me Eph. 1.5 and see my glory which thou hast given me Rom. 5.9.10 and then I dispose the Kingdom unto you as the Father hath disposed it unto me John 12.14.17 to the end that you may eat upon my Table in my Kingdom The Apostle saith Luc. 22. If we dye with him we shall live with him and if we suffer with him we shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2. and shall be glorified with him Rom. 8. Of these promises the Children of God need not doubt for seeing that the Lord when he died gave Paradise to the Thief can be not more easily give it to those to whom he hath promised it Luc. 23. when he shall come into such great Glory and Majesty And now being with him and seeing him as he is they shall have a much greater Joy then had the Disciples seeing him transfigured that shall be so understanding Mat. 17. that they shall know all the Saints that ever have been Marc. 9. Luc. 9. and even those with whom they have conversed in this
shall give us He himself in that place sheweth us that he speaks not that but only to shew us that although our bodies shall rise in the same substance which now they have they shall notwithstanding be changed in quality and glory seeing that this corruption most put on incorruption and that this mortality shall be swallowed up of life and put on immortality 1 Cor. 15. declaring that they shall be these self same bodies in substance but divers in qualities St. Paul saith Phil. 3. Christ will transform this vile body that it may be made like unto his glorious boâ—y according to the power by which he is able to make all things subject unto himself Mat. 27. Whereon followeth that as Jesus Christ rose again in the same body which was crucified for us being cleansed and discharged of all infirmity Luke 24. John 20. also we shall rise again in the same bodies which now we have in this world having in them cold heat hunger and thrist poverty sickness banishment imprisonment and such like adversities Heb. 10. 11. being cleansed and disrobed of all that which by sin did cause us any grief for Justice of God cannot consist without remunerating the bodies of those that have sought for his glory in crowning his graces in them and punishing those which have laboured to offend him Moreover we see that those which the Prophets and Apostles and Jesus Christ himself have raised again Mat. 27. it hath been in the self same bodies in the which the had lived before Who doubts but those that rose again at the death of our Lord did rise in the self same hodies which they had before for otherwise how should they have been known by those to whom they did appear The Apostles puts us out of doubt of it saying 1 Cor. 15. That if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead doth dwell in us he that hath raised up Christ from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies because his spirit dwelleth in us he saith more over that the body which is sown in corruption shall rise again in incorruption It is sown in dishonour it shall rise again in glory it is sown in weakness it shall rise again in power it is sown a sensual body it shall rise a spiritual body Wherefore we ought to believe that the bodies which now we have shall be the self same which shall rise again in the same substance but the earthly qualities shall be changed into heavenly which is no small consolation seeing that we love our bodies so much although that in this world they be laden with so many miseries The Third point AS concerning the Authour of the Resurrection the Scripture doth declare unto us that God the Father in the beginning made man by his word Gen. 1. 2. which is his son John 1. and having made his body breathed into him a living soul by his spirit Gen. 2. Psal 33. so in the Resurrection of the dead 2 Cor. 4. he shall raise us again by his Son in a quickning spirit And when the Son of justice shall come in judgment for to judge the quick and the dead Mal. 4. the Sun shall wax dark Revel 1. and the Moon shall not yield her light 2 Tim. 4. and the brightness of the Stars shall be seen no more then if they were fallen from Heaven and the vertues which are in the Heavens as the Stars Mat. 24. the Planets and other coelestial creatures with Heaven and Earth shall be shaken Luke 21. Revel 6. then the Sea and her waves shall roar after an unaccustomed manner 2 Pet. 3. and when the order of nature shall be changed those shall be signs of the coming of the Son of man Mat. 16. And when that Jesus Christ the Son of God shall come who took humane nature upon him in the Virgins womb Luke 1. Acts 1. he shall come in the same body wherewith he did converse here below upon the Earth before and after his death as he himself declares calling himself the Son of man sent of God his Father Mat. 24. Mark 13. who gave him power to do judgment in so much as he is the Son of man Luke 24. John 5. set above the clouds at the right hand of the power of God Mark 16.24 1 Thess 4. accompanied with the voices of Archangels and of Angels with Gods Trumpets Rev. 1. and all eyes shall behold him Mat. 24. for he will cause his sign to appear in Heaven 1 Cor. 15. and his voice to be heard the which at the last trump shall be heard of those that have been put into the Sepulchres to the end that first they may rise again 1 Thess 4. and those which shall be found living shall hear it also to the end they may be translated which unto them shall be a kind of death being changed from mortal and corruptible to immortall and incorruptible bodies 1 Cor. 35. and shall rise again and shall be changed in a moment and twinckling of an eye This day shall not surprise the elect that are in the light because it shall be the day which they have so long waited for and wished with the other creatures 1 Thes 5. 1 John 1 for to those who have overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb 1 Cor. 1. and by the word of their testimony Rom. 8. and have not loved their lives to death 1 John 2.4.8.5 it shall bring unto them an unspeakable joy Rev. 12.21 making them lift up their heads aloft seeing their perfect deliverance come For their Saviour shall send his Angels with great sound of Trumpets to gather them together Esay 35. how far in sunder soever they be from the four winds Zach. 9. from the end of the earth to the end of heaven Luc. 22. Rom. 8. and then they shall be altogether caught within the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air 2 Thes 4. for to be joyned with their head as members of his body and shall be always with him who will separate them from the reprobates as the Shepheard doth the Sheep from the Goates Mat. 25. to put them both in body and soul in full possession of the everlasting heritage and happiness by them so long hoped for The Estate of the Elect that are Risen again THen their bodies which shall be risen again in triumph shall be changed not in substance but in quality being discharged of the earthly heaviness for to be made spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15. to the end to be fit for the heavenly habitation where they have no need of meats which do corrupt Rev. 7. for they shall be no more hungry nor thirsty and they shall dye no more but shall use the heavenly food which is the word of God Luc. 20. they shall also be delivered from the bondage of sin for to serve evermore to Justice For these are the two principal things which hinder man from beholding the face of God this heavy earthly body