his creature between whom and him there is an infinite distance and disproportion nay not with the Noblest House among those creatures not with Angels those heavenly Courtiers He is their Head not their Husband though by matching with them he had matched somewhat more like himself but with sinful polluted Dust and Ashes That our spiritual souls should be joyned to our earthly bodies is much yet here is some proportion both are limited created beings but that God should marry with Man is infinitely more It s said of the King of Babylon that he lifted up the head of Jehojachin out of Prison and spake kindly to him and changed his Prison Garments and set his Throne above the Throne of the Kings that were with him 2 Kings ult cap. 27 28 29. Man was a poor Prisoner bound and fettered with his own corruptions kept up close by the Devil his Jaylor and condemned to suffer the pains of eternal death but loe the Philanthropy and kindness of God he sendeth his onely Son to open the Prison Doors having first satisfied the Law for the breach of which they were cast in and removed its curse which was as a Pad-Lock on the Prison Gate to to keep it fast set the poor captives at liberty change their nasty Prison weeds and to exalt their nature above the nature of glorious Angels by marrying it to himself Canst thou find in thy heart Friend to abuse such Matchless Grace and Favour Is not that begger mad that should refuse the real offers of a Match from a Gracious Emperour Shall Majesty thus stoop to Misery in vain I must tell thee its infinite abasement in God thus to make suit to thee but it s the highest preferment thou art capable of nay such as it had been blasphemy to have desired it had not God offered it to close with him I come now to the Articles of this Marriage which truely are no more then thou requirest of thy own wife if thou hast any and therefore thou canst not but think them reasonable I shall propound them to thee in these two Questions First Art thou heartily willing to take Jesus Christ for thy Saviour and Soveraign Canst thou love him with the hottest superlative love as thy Husband Its one thing to love a man as a Friend and another thing to love him as thy Husband canst thou give him the keys of thy heart and keep thy affections as a fountain sealed up from others and opened onely for him and in subordination to him Wilt thou honour him with the highest honour as thy Lord submitting to his spirit as thy guide and to his laws as thy rule Is thy soul so ravished with the beauty of his person the excellency of his promises and the equity of his precepts that thou darest promise through his strength to be a loving faithful and obedient wife Have the hot beams of that love which have been darted forth from this Sun of Righteousness as the rays of the Sun united in a glass turned thee into a flame that thy heart is now ascending and mounting to Heaven where thy Beloved is and thou canst no more live without him then thy body without thy soul Art thou willing to be sanctified by his spirit that thou mightest be prepared for his bosome and embraces and to be saved alone by his merits as the onely procuring cause of all thy hopes and happiness Wilt thou take him for better and for worse for richer and for poorer with his cup of affliction as well as his cup of consolation with his shameful Cross as well as his glorious Crown chosing rather to suffer with him then to reign without him to dye for him then to live from him Such as marry thou knowest must expect trouble in the flesh Christianity like the Wind Caecias doth ever draw clouds and afflictions after it but thy future glory and pleasure will abundantly recompence thee for thy present pain and ignominy Secondly Wilt thou presently give a bill of Divorce to all other lovers and keep the bed of thy heart wholly for him Shall the evil of sin never more have a good look from thee but as Ammon served Tamar shall the hatred wherewith thou hatest those filthy strumpets with whom thou hast had cursed dalliances and committed spiritual fornication be greater then the love wherewith thou hast loved them Canst thou pack away the bond-woman and her son and these things not at all be greivous in thy sight that thy whole joy and delight may be in and all that thou art worth preserved for the true Isaac Shall this Sun reign alone in the Heavens of thy heart without any Competitour As when a Dictatour was created at Rome there was a supersedeas to all other authority so if Christ be exalted in thy soul there must be a cessation of all other rule and power Christ will not be a King meerly in dirision as the Jews made him nor as the stump of Wood was to the Frogs in the Fable whom every lust may securely dance about and provoke These are the terms upon which this match so honourable and profitable is offered to thee give up an hearty Yea to these two equitable Articles and thou art made for ever Refuse it and thou art miserable above all apprehensions and beyond Millions of ages even to all eternity What sayst thou to it Shall I put the same Question to thee which they put to Rebekah Wilt thou go with this Man In thy denyal there is no less then eternal Death Methinks the thoughts of that fire and Brimstone should force thee to flye to this Zoar In thy unfeigned hearty acceptance there is no less then Heaven and eternal life What wouldst thou not do to continue natural life What then shouldst thou not do or suffer for eternal life It may be thou desirest time to consider of it as Rebekahs Mother thou art willing to the match but wouldst not have it yet concluded Austin bewails it in himself that when God was drawing him to Christ his carnal pleasures represented themselves before his eyes Saying What wilt thou leave us for ever and shall we be no more with thee for ever And then he threw himself down and weeping cryed out O Lord how long how long shall I say to morrow why not to day Lord why not to day Why should there not be an end of my sinful life this hour But beleive it delays are dangerous especially in works of such weight If thou answerest as Rebekah did I will go Chear up poor soul what ever thy course or carriage hath been thy Husband is able and willing to pay all thy scores were they a million for a mite and come forth behold thy beloved in his imbroydery and glory see how his Arms are stretcht out to embrace thee his Lips are ready to kiss thee O what a look of love he giveth thee sure I am thou art more in his heart then in thine own
what is the reason of all this but because nature must have its rest and delight from that only which is sutable to its own appetite and desire Hence it is that though God be so perfect a good yet he is not the happiness of evil Men or evil Angels for he is not sutable to their vitiated depraved natures The carnal mind which beareth sway in unregenerate men is enmity against God and Devils are as contrary to Gods nature as fire is to water Hence it is that spiritual men place and enjoy happiness in the Father of Spirits because he is the savoury meat which their souls love Though the sinner can live upon dregs as the swine on dung yet the Saint must have refined Spirits and nothing lesse then Angels food and delights It is an unquestionable truth that nothing can give true comfort to man but that which hath a relation and beareth a proportion to his highest and noblest part his immortal soul for his sensitive faculties were created in him to be subordinate and serviceable to their Master Reason therefore he is excelled in them by his inferiours as the Eagle in seeing and the Hound in scenting nature aiming at some more sublime and excellent design the perfection of the rational part in those lower particulars was lesse exact therefore the blessed God alone being a sutable Good to the heavenly spiritual soul of man can only satisfie it Philosophers tell us the reason of the irons cleaving to and resting in the load-stone is because the pores of both bodies are alike so there are effluxes and emanations that slide through them and unite them together One cause of the Saints love to and delight in God is his likeness to God Creatures are earthly the soul is heavenly they are corporeal the soul is spiritual therefore as when friends are contrary in disposition the soul cannot take up its rest and happiness in their fruition but God is sutable and therefore satisfying I am God All sufficient Gen. 17.1 Some derive the word Shaddai from Almighty Alsufficient from shad a dug for as the breast is sutable to the Babe nothing else will quiet it so is God to his Children A man that is hungry finds his stomack still craving something he wants without which he cannot be well Give him musick company pictures houses honours yet there follows no satisfaction these are not sutable to his appetite still his stomack craves but set before this man some wholesome food and let him eat his craving is over They did eat and were filled O miserabilis hâ—mâ—a cordâ—â— sine Châ—isto Oâ—nâ—um omne â—uod viviâ— â—lâ—â—e om Epit. Nep. Tim 1. p. â—5 Neh. 9.25 So it is with mans soul as with his body the soul is full of cravings and longings spending it self in sallies out after its proper food give it the credit and profits and pleasures of the world and they cannot abate its desire it craves still for these do not answer the souls nature and therefore cannot answer its necessity but once set God before it and it feeding on him it is satisfied it s very inordinate dogged appetite after the world is now cured He tasting this Manna tramples on the Onions of Egypt He that drinketh of this water shall thirst again but he that drinketh of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst John 4. CHAP. XII God the Saints happiness because of his Eternity and the Saints propriety in him GOD is a permanent good That which makes a man happy must be immortal like himself as man is rational so he is a provident creature desirous to lay up for hereafter and this forecast reacheth beyond the fools in the Gospel for many years even for millions of ages for ever by laying hold on eternal life He naturally desires an immortality of being whence that inclination in creatures say Philosophers of propagating their kind and therefore an eternity of blessedness The soul can enjoy no perfection of happiness if it be not commensurate to its own duration For the greater our joy is in the fruition of any good the greater our grief in its amission Eternity is one of the fairest flowers in the glorified Saints garland of honour It s an eternal weight of glory 2. Cor. 4.17 Were the triumphant spirits ever to put off their Crown of life the very thought thereof would be death and like leaven would sower the whole lump of their comforts The perpetuity of their state adds infinitely to their pleasure We shall ever be with the Lord. 2. Thes 4.16 Here they have many a sweet bait but there God will be their standing-dish never off the Heavenly Table The creature cannot make man happy Laâ—itia saeculi cum ma na expect â—oâ—e speratâ—r ut veniniâ—t â—oâ—â—â—test tenâ—râ— câ—nvenit Aug. tract 7 in Job because as it is not able to fill him so it is not fast to him like the Moon in the increase it may shine a little the former part of the night but is down before morning Man is not sure to hold them whilst he liveth How often is the candle of outward comforts blown out by a suddain blast of providence Many as Naomi go out full but come home empty some disaster or other as a Theif meets them by the way and robs them of their deified treasure The Vessel in which all of some mens wealth is embarqued while it spreadeth fair with its proud Sails and danceth along upon the surging waters when the Factor in it is pleasing himself with the kind salutes he shall receive from his Merchant for making so profitable a Voyage is in an instant swallowed up of unseen quick-sands and delivereth its Fraught at another Port and to an unknown Master Those whose morning hath been sunshiny and clear have met with such showres before night as have washed away their wealth However if these comforts continue all day at the night of death as false lovers serve men in extremity they leave us the knife of death which stobs the sinner to the heart Le ts out the blood and spirits of all his joyes and happiness But God is the true happiness of the soul because he is an eternal good As this Sun hath no mists so it nevey sets so that the rest of the Soul in God is an eternal Sabbath like the new Jerusalem it knoweth no night Outward mercies in which most place their felicity are like land floods which swell high and make a great noise but are quickly in again when the blessed God like the Spring-head runeth over and runneth ever Fourthly Because of the Saints propriety in this God though God be never so perfect suitable sure a good Yet it s litle Comfort to them that have no interest in him Another mans health will not make me happy when sick What Happinesse hath a begger in the shady walkes pleasant garden stately buildings curious roomes costly furniture and precious jewels of
a promise of help from Ptolemy King of Egypt Idem upon condition that his Mother and Son were sent to him as pledges Cratesiclea for so was his Mothers Name as soon as she understood it said to her Son who was affraid and ashamed to mention it to her How is it that thou hast concealed it so long and and hast not told me Come come put me straight into a Ship and send me whither thou wilt that this body of mine may do some good unto my Country before crooked Age consume it without profit Themistocles notwithstanding his Countrymen had banished him Diodor. drunk the blood of a Bull and poisoned himself to keep Artaxerxes who had sworn not to go against it without him from invading his Country [a] Pez Mel. Hist Codrus King of Athens [b] Tul. de Offic. Attilius Regulus General of the Romans and [c] Livie M. Curtius are renowned in History for sacrificing their lives for their Countries liberty The Christian is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of like passions onely he acteth from higher principles and affecteth for holier purposes Religion doth not break the string of natural affection but wind it up to such a pitch as may make its stroaks more true and its sound more melodious Nehemiah was sad and pensive when the City of his Father was solitary Nehem. 2.3 The Jews were disconsolate when their native Country lay desolate Psa 137 beginning Paul could wish himself parted from Christ that his Kindred and Countrymen might be united to Christ Rom. 9.3 Greg. Nazianzen and Hierom report that the Jews to this day come yearly to the place where Jerusalem the City of their Fathers stood which was destroyed by Titus and Adrian and upon the day of the destruction of it weep over it As its natural to love so not unusual in our Kingdom for rich persons to manifest their love to their native parishes by large gifts to the poor But though my respects to you be sincere yet I may say in a sense Silver and Gold have I none to speak my affections by onely such as I have I give you A Treatise which may through the blessing of God help you to the true Treasure Bucholcerus blessed God Melch. Adam that he was born in the days and bred under the Dicipline of holy Melancthon I must Ingenuously acknowledge that it was a great mercy to me that I was born amongst you and brought up under as pious and powerful a Ministry there Mr. Thomas Wilson as most in England In Testimony of my unfeigned love I present you with this brief discourse which was conceived in your Pulpit and through the importunity of several of you brought forth to the Press The occasion of it as is well known to you was the Death of your Neighbour and my dear Relation Master Caleb Swinnock who was interred May 21. 1662 whose Father and Grand-father had three or four times enjoyed the highest honour and exercised the highest Office in your Corporation I am much of his mind who saith That Funeral Encomiasticks of the dead are often confections of poison to the living for many whose lives speak nothing for them will draw the example into consequence and be thereby led into hope that they may press an Hackny Funeral Sermon to carry them to Heaven when they dye and therefore am always sparing my self though I condemn not the custome in others where they do it with prudence and upon good cause My Friends holy carriage in his sickness besides his inoffensiveness for ought I ever heard in his health commandeth me to hope that his soul is in Heaven I had the happiness some time to be brought up with him in his Fathers Mr. Robert Swinnocks Family whose House I cannot but speak it to the glory of God had Holiness to the Lord written upon it His manner was to pray twice a day by himself once or twice a day with his Wife and twice a day with his Family besides singing Psalms Reading and Expounding Scriptures which morning and evening were minded The Sabbath he dedicated wholly to Gods service and did not onely himself but took care that all within his Gate should spend the day in secret and private duties and in attendance on publique Ordinances of their proficiency by the last he would take an account upon their return from the Assembly His house indeed was as Tremellius saith of Cramners Palaestra Pietatis a Scool of Religion I Write this not so much for the Honour of him of whose industry for the good of the souls committed to him I was a frequent eye witness and whose memory is blessed but chiefly for your good that as some of you do already so others also may be provoked to follow such gracious patterns I must tell you that what low thoughts soever any of you now may have of holy persons and holy practices yet when you come to look Death in the face and enter into your unchangeable estates a little of their grace and godliness will be of more worth in your esteems then the whole World Though the Saint be markt for a fool in the Worlds Calender at this day and the prosperous Sinner counted the wisest person yet when the eyes of sinners bodies are closed the eyes of their souls will be opened and then O then they will see and say according to that Apocryphal place which will be found Canonical for the matter of it We Fools counted his life to be madness Wisdom 5. 4 5. and his end to be without honour But now he is numbred among the Children of God and his lot is among the Saints The Subject of this Tractate is partly The true way to dye well which I am sure is of infinite concernment to your immortal souls and such a Lesson that if it be not learned you are lost for ever Laert. The Cynick cared not what became of his body when dead and the other Heathen could slight the loss of a Grave Facilis jactura Sepulchri a little Earth but without question it concerns you nearly to take care what becomes of your souls and you cannot so easily bear the loss of God and Heaven Men indeed are generally unwilling to hear of Death and the Minister who would urge them to it is as unwelcome as foul weather which usually comes before its sent for whatsoever hath a tendency to Death is killing the telling them of it sounds as mournfully in their ears as the tolling of a passing Bell and the making their Wills as frightful to them as the making their Graves Hence when they are riding post in the broad way of sin and the World and conscience would check and rein them in with the curbs of Death and Judgement they presently snap them in peices and stifle its convictions They dare not look into the book of Conscience to see how accounts stand between God and themselves but like Hauks
est infinitum unde ex hac parte peccatum est infinitum Aliud quod est in peccato est inordinata conversio ad immutabile bonum ex hac parte peccatum est finitum Ex parte aversionis respondet peccato poena damni quae enim est infinita Est enim a missio infiniti boni scilicet Dei En parte conversionis respondet poena sâ—nsus Aquin. 1 2 quest 87. Act 4. yet it s infinite in regard of the Object as being committed against a boundless Creator therefore it s punished with the absence of all good which is an infinite loss and the presence of all evill which is infinite in duration though not in intension because of the incapability of the sinner The infernal pit is the place of those punishments into which by the ladder of death men descend Matth. 7.23 and 25.41 Mark 9.49 Death is but the sinners trap door into Hell The English capital malefactors when cast are carried into a Dungeon and from thence to the Gallows Ungodly men being cast by the Law of God and not suing out their pardon from the Gospel which is an office set up for that purpose do go through the Dungeon of death to the place of their dreadful and everlasting execution God hath also engaged to bestow on the members of Christ an incomparable and unchangeable Crown It is your Fathers pleasure to give you a Kingdom but Death is the young Prophet that anointeth them to it and giveth them actual possession of it They must put off their rags of mortality that they may put on their robes of glory It is in the night of Death that Saints go to their blessed and eternal rest The corn must first die before it can spring up fresh and green Israel must die in Egypt before he can be carried into Canaan There is no entrance into Paradise but under the flaming sword of this Angel Death that standeth at the gate The soul must be delivered out of the prison of the body that it may enjoy the glorious liberty of the sons of God This bird of Paradise will never sing merrily nor warble out the praises of its Maker in a perfect manner till it be freeed from this cage The sinner dieth that according to Gods word he might receive the bitter fruits of his evil ways Death is to him as the gate through which condemned and piacular persons pass to their deserved destruction The Saint dieth that according to Gods promise he may enjoy the purchased possession Death to him is as the dirty lane through which Chrysostom passed to a feast a dark short way through which he goeth to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. His body is mortal that his sins and sufferings might not be immortal The third Ground of the point 3 Reas Mans apostacy from God may be Mans apostacy from God Death broke in upon man by reason of mans breaking the commands of God We had never fallen to dust if we had not fallen from our duties Sickness had never seised on our bodies if sin had not first seized on our souls Mors est conditio naturae non peccati argumentum vel poena Son Suas 7. The Pelagians and Socinians say That death is not a consequent of sin but a condition of nature The blasphemous Jews tell us that Adam and his posterity were therefore condemned to dye because there was one to come out of his loyns who would make himself a God meaning Christ but the God of truth hath resolved the genealogy of death into another cause even the first Adams aspiring to be like God and ambition to cut off the entail and hold onely from himself Gen. 3.15 Rom. 5.12 As a Lethargy in the head diffuseth universal malignity through the whole body and thereby corrupteth and destroyeth it Ideo factum est par peccatum non mortale quod erat sed mortuum quod non fieret nisi peccaret Lâ—mb Sent lib 2. dist 19. The apple which Adam did eat was poisoned which entred into his bowels and being the venome of it is transmitted all along like Gehazi's leprosie to his seed Some tell us that he would often turn his face toward the Garden of Eden and weep reflecting upon what he had done Sure I am it was not without cause for we all got the infection from him and by him it is that the whole world is tainted and turned into a pest-house Whatsoever delight he had in the act there was death in the end Vide Vossium Disputat Theol de peccat pr hom quaest 3. p 43. It seemeth unquestionable that man in his estate of innocency had a conditional though not an absolute immortality T is true he was mortal ratione corporis being a compound of corruptible Elements but immortal ratione foederis being free from the Law of death by vertue of the covenant As before he fell he had a posse non peccare a possibility not to have sinned but since a non posse non peccare a necessity of sinning So in his estate of purity he had a possibility of not dying but in his estate of Apostacy a necessity of it If he had stood he should like Enoch have been translated that he should not see death he should have entred into his Fathers house but not have walkt thither through the dark entry of death Psa 90.7 Rom. 8. The flesh faileth us because sin hath defiled it Mans flesh at first was fly-blown with pride and is ever since liable to putrefaction Sin is therefore called a body of death because it causeth the death of the body When one asked who set up the stately Edifices in Rome it was answered The sins of Germany meaning the money which the Popes Agents received for Pardons granted to the Germans If it be demanded Who pulleth down the goodly building of mans body it may be answered The sins of man It is sin which turneth such costly curious houses into confused ruinous heaps Draco the Lawgiver appointed death the punishment of every offence for which cause his Laws are said to be written in blood and being demanded the reason he gave this answer that though when crimes were unequal he seemed to be unjust in making all equal in punishment yet herein his justice appeared that the least breach of the Law deserved death The light of Nature taught them that those that sin are worthy to die Rom. 1.32 The estate of all sinners lyeth in the valley of the shadow of death Wheresoever sin hath but a finger death will have a hand Sin though never committed but onely imputed did put to death the very Lord of life It is like that wilde Caprificus which if it get but rooting though in the substance of a stone in the wall it will break it asunder CHAP. IIII. First Vse discovering the folly of them that mind the flesh chiefly First Use of Information The folly of them that
calamity cursed the day wherein he was born and the Messenger that brought tidings of his birth and desired to dye rather then to endure it whom wilt thou curse or rather whom wilt thou not curse when under the sense of eternal misery surely thou wilt seek for death but not find it dig for it but t will flee from thee Though Judas could make himself away out of the Hell he had on earth yet he cannot out of the Hell he hath in Hell When thou diest thou art stated by God himself and there is no appeal from this Judge nor reversing of his judgement It is the observation of the School-men that what befel the Angels when they sinned that befals every wicked man at Death the Angels upon the first act of sin were presently by God himself stated in an irrecoverable condition of misery so wicked men upon the last act of their lives are fixt as to their eternal woful estates It is appointed for all men once to dye and after Death the judgement Sixthly The felicity of the prepared Sixthly Dost thou know the felicity which upon thy death thou shouldst enter into if thou wert prepared for it As the Good House-wife looketh for Winter but feareth it not being prepared for it with double cloathing so thou mightest expect Death but not fear it being prepared for it with Armour of proof Syrens some write screech horribly when they dye but Swans sing then most sweetly Though sinners roar bitterly when they behold that Sea of scalding Lead in which they must Swim naked for ever yet thou shouldst like the Apostle desire to depart wish for that hour wherein thou should lose Anchor and sail to Christ Phil. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Solvere Anchorum A Metaphor from a Ship at Anchor importing a sailing from this present life to another Port So the Syriack Chrysostom Beza Erasmus and others take it as the word signifieth Thy dying day would be thy Wedding day as the Martyrs called theirs wherein the fairest of ten thousand and thy soul now contracted should be solemnly espoused together As frightful a Lyon as Death is to others that their souls are fain to be torn from their bodies thou mightest like a weary Child call to be lay'd to bed knowing that t wil send thee to thine everlasting happy rest Bene mori est libenter mori Seuec. Epist 61. If it be an happy Death to dye willingly as the Moralist affirmeth thou shouldst give up the Ghost and be a Voluntier in that War Nature teacheth that Death is the end of misery but grace would teach thee that Death would be the beginning of thy felicity it could not hurt thee Death among Saints drives but a poor Trade it may destroy the body and when that is done it hath done all its feats like a fierce Mastiff whose Teeth are broken out it may bark and tear thy tottered coat but cannot bite to the bone This Bee fastened her sting in Christs blessed body and is ever since a drone to his Members Though the wicked are gathered at Death as the Rabbins sense that place Gather not my soul with sinners let me not dye their deaths Psa 26.9 as sticks that lye on the ground for the fire or as Grapes for the winepress of Gods fury yet thou shouldst be gathered according to the Hebrew Isa 57.2 as Women do cordial flowers to candy and preserve them Nay Death would exceedingly help thee Plutarch saith that strong bodies can eat and concoct Serpents Thou mayst like Samson fetch meat out of this Eater and out of this strong Lyon sweetness Death ever since it walked to Mount Calvary is turned to beleivers into the gate of life Nihi non à diis im nortalibus vita erepta est sed mors donata est Cicer. lib. 3. de Orat. An Heathen could say Life is not taken away from me by the immortal Gods but Death is given to me meaning as an act of grace and favour Much more may a Christian esteem Death which puts an end to his trials and sins and troubles a priviledge rather then a punishment Blessed are they that dye in the Lord they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 When sickness first gives thee notice that death is at hand thou mightest make the servant welcome for bringing thee the good news of his approaching Master Thy heart may leap to think that though thou art like Peter now bound in the fetters of sin and Imprisoned amongst sinners yet the Angel is coming who will with one blow on thy side cause thy shackles to fall off open the Prison Doors and set thy soul into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God When this Samuel is come to thy gate thou needest not as the Elders of Bethlehem tremble at his comming for if thou askest the Question Comest thou Peaceably He will Answer Yea Peaceably I am come to offer thee up a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour acceptable to God in Jesus Christ the pale face of death would please thee better then the greatest beauty on Earth When thou lyest on thy dying bed and Physitians had given over thy body Christ would visit and give thy soul such a Cordial that thou mightest walk in the valley of the shadow of Death and fear none ill How willingly mayst thou part with the militant Members of Christ for the Triumphant Saints How chearfully mayst thou leave thy nearest Relations for thy dearest Father and Elder Brother how comfortably mayst thou take thy leave of all the riches honours and pleasures of this life knowing that though Death cometh to others with a Voider to take away all their fleshly comforts and carnal contentments nay all their hopes and Happiness and Heaven and hereby when they break at death they are quite bankrupts for ever yet it is to thee onely a servant to remove the first course of more gross fare of which thou hast had thy fill and to make way for the second which consisteth of all sorts of dainties and delicates When thy soul was ready to bid thy body good night till the morning of the resurrection thou mightst joyfully commit thy body to the grave as a bed of spices and shouldst see glorious Angels waiting on thy soul and carrying it as Eliah in a Triumphant Chariot into Heavens blessed Court. There thou shouldst be saluted by the noble Host and celestial quire of Saints and Angels welcomed by the Holy Jesus and gracious God in the fruition of whom thou shouldst be perfectly happy for ever and ever If there were so much joy in Heaven at thy repentance when thou wert but set into the way what joy will there be when through so many hazards and hard-ships thou art come to thy journeys end Thus friend wert thou but prepared Death would be to thee a change from a prison to a Pallace from sorrows to solace from pain to pleasure from heaviness to happiness Thy Winding-sheet would
heart of man Isai 32.24 Is thy body sick thy soul is sound and so long all is well The inhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquities Is thy life in danger If thine enemies kill thee they cannot hurt thee they will do thee the greatest courtesie they will do that kindness for thee for which thou hast many a time prayed sighed wept even free thee from thy corruptions and send thee to the beatifical vision When they call thee out to die they do but as Christ to Peter call thee up to the Mount where thou shalt see thy Saviour transfigured and say Let us build Tabernacles O 't is good to be here Though Saul was frantick without a Fidler and Belshazar could not be chearful without his cups yet the Philosopher could be merry saith Plato without musick and much more the Christian under the greatest outward misery What weight can sink him who hath the everlasting armes to support him What want can sadden him who hath infinite bounty and mercy to supply him Nothing can make him miserable who hath God for his happiness Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. O Christian thou maiest walk so that the world may know thou art above their affrightments and that all their allurements are below thy hopes In particular the Doctrine is comfortable against the Death of our Christian Friends and against our own deaths First It is a comfort against the death of our friends God is a godly mans portion therefore they are blessed who die in the Lord without us and we are happy who live in the Lord without them It s a comfort that they are happy without creatures what wise man will grieve at his friends gain In the ceremonial law there was a year of Jubile in which every man who had lost or sold his land upon the blowing of a trumpet had possession again The deaths-day of thy believing relation is his day of Jubile in which he is restored to the possession of his eternal and inestimable portion Who ever pined that married an Heir in his minority at his coming to age and going to receive his portion Their death is not paenall but medicinal not destructive but perfective to their Souls It doth that for them which none of the ordinances of God nor providences of God nor graces of the Spirit ever yet did for them It sends the weary to their sweet and eternal rest This Serpent is turned into a rod with which God works wonders for their good The Thracians wept at the births of men and feasted at their funerals if they counted mortality a mercy who could see death only to be the end of outward sufferings shall not we who besides that see it to be the beginning of matchless and endless solace A wife may well wring her hands and pierce her heart with sorrow when her Husband is taken away from her and dragd to execution to hell but surely she may rejoyce when he is called from her by his Prince to live at Court in the greatest honours pleasures especially when she is promised within a few days to be sent for to him and to share with him in those joyes and delights for ever Some observe that the Egyptians mourned longer for they mourned 70 dayes for old Jacobs death then Joseph his own Son and the reason is this because they had hopes only in this life when Joseph knew that as his fathers body was carried to the earthly so his Soul was translated to the heavenly Canaan I would not have you ignorant concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others that have no hope 1 Thes 4.12 As they are happy without us for God is their portion so we are happy without them We have our God still that stormy wind which blew out our candles did not extinguish our Sun Our Friend when on his or her death-bed might bespeak us as Jacob his Sonnes I die but God shall visit you I go from you but God shall abide with you I leave you but God will find you he will never leave you nor forsake you Reader If God live though thy friends dye I hope thou art not lost thou art not undone May not God say to thee when thou art pining and whining for the death of thy relations or friends as if thou wert eternally miserable as Elkanah to Hannah Am not I better to thee then ten Sons Am not I better to thee then ten Husbands then ten Wives then ten thousand worlds O think of it and take comfort in it 2. It s comfort against our own deaths Secondly It is comfortable against thy own death God is thy Portion and at death thou shalt take possession of thy vast estate Now thou hast a freehold in law a right to it but then thou shalt have a freehold in deed make thy entry on it and be really seised of it It s much that heathens who were purblind and could not see afar off into the joys and plesures of the other world the hopes of which alone can make death truly desireable should with less fear meet this foe then many Christians Nay 't was more difficult to perswade several of those Pagans to live out all their daies then 't is to perswade some amonst us to be willing to die when God calls them Codrus could throw himself into a pit Plut. in vit Vtic. Ca. that his Country might live by his death Cato could against the intreaty of all his friends with his own hands open the door at which his life went out Platinus the Philosopher held mortality a mercy that we might not alwaies be lyable to the miseries of this life When the Persian King wept that all his army should die in the revolution of an Age Artabanus told him that they should all meet with so many and such great evils that they should wish themselves dead long before Lysimachus threatened to kill Theodorus but he stoutly answered the King that was no great matter the Cantharides a little flie could doe as much Cleombrotus having read Plato of the Souls immortality did presently send his own Soul out of his body to try and taste it The bare opinion of the Druides that the Soul had a continuance after death made them hardy in all dangers saith Cesar and fearless of death Câ—s lib. 6. de bell 6. Christians surely have more cause to be valiant in their last conflict and it s no credit to their Father that they are so loth to goe home The Turks tell us that surely Christians do not believe Heaven to be so glorious a place as they talk of for if they did they would not be so unwilling to goe thither It may make the world think the child hath but could welcome at his Fathers house that he lingers so much a broad certainly such bring an ill report upon the good land Christian
what is it in death that thou art afraid of Is it not a departure the Goal delivery of a long prisoner the sleep of thy body and a wakening of thy Soul the way to bliss the gate of life the portall to Paradise Art thou not sure to triumph before thou fightest by dying to overcome death and when thou leavest thy body to be joyned to thy head The Roman general in the encounter between Scipio and Hannibal thought he could not use a more effectual perswasion to encourage his souldiers then to tell them that they were to fight with those whom they had formerly overcome and who were as much their slaves as their enemies Thou art to enter the list against that adversary whom thou hast long agoe conquered in Jesus Christ and who is more thy slave then thine enemy Death is thine 1 Cor. 3.30 thy servant and slave to help off thy cloaths and to put thee to thine everlasting happy rest Is it the taking down of thine earthly tabernacle which troubles thee Why Dost thou not know that death is the workman sent by the Father to pull down this earthly house of mortality and clay that it may be set up a new infinitely more lasting beautiful and glorious Didst thou believe how rich and splendid he intends to make it which cannot be unlesse taken down thou wouldst contentedly endure the present toyl and trouble and be thankful to him for his care and cost He takes down thy vile body that he may fashion it like to the glorious body of his own Son which for brightness and beauty excels the Sun in its best attire far more then that doth the meanest Star Is it the untying of the knot betwixt body and soul which perplexeth thee It is true they part but as friends going two several wayes shake hands till they return from their journey they are as sure of meeting again as of parting for thy soul shall return laden with the wealth of heaven and fetch his old companion to the participation of all his joy and happiness Is it the rotting of thy body in the grave that grieves thee Indeed Plato's worldling doth sadly bewail it Woe is me that I shall lie alone rotting in the earth amongst the crawling Wormes not seeing ought above nor seen But thou who hast read it is a sweet bed of spices for thy body to rest in all the dark night of this worlds duration mayst well banish such fears Hast thou never heard God speaking to thee as once to Jacob Fear not to goe down into Aegypt into the grave I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again Gen. 16.4 Besides thy Soul shall never die The heathen Historian could comfort himself against death with this weak cordial Non omnis moriar All of me doth not die though my body be mortal my books are immortal But thou hast a stronger julip a more rich cordial to clear thy spirits when thy body failes thy soul will flourish thy death is a burnt offering when thy ashes fall to the earth the celestial flame of thy Soul will mount up to Heaven Farther death will ease thee of those most troublesome guests which make thy life now so burdensome as the fire to the three children did not so much as singe or sear their bodies but it burnt and consumed their bands so death would not the least hurt thy body or soul but it would destroy those fetters of sin and sorrow in which thou art intangled Nazian Orat. Besides the sight of the blessed God which is the only beatifical vision which at death thy soul shall enjoy Popish Pilgrims take tedious journeys and are put to much hardship and expence to behold a dumb Idol The Queen of Sheba came from far to see Solomon and hear his wisdom and wilt thou not take a step from earth to Heaven in a moment in the twinkling of an eye thy journey will be gone and thy work be done to see Jesus Christ a greater then Solomon Hast thou not many a time prayed long and cried for it hast thou not trembled least thou shouldst miss it hath not thine heart once and again leapt with joy in hope of it and when the hour is come and thou art sent for dost thou shrink back for shame Christian walk worthy of thy calling and quicken thy courage in thy last conflict As the Jewes when it thunders and lightens open their windowes expecting the Messias should come O when the storm of death beats upon thy body with what joy mayst thou set those casements of thy Soul Faith and Hope wide open knowing that thy dearest Redeemer who went before to prepare a place for thee will then come and fetch thee to himself that where he is there thou mayst be also and that for ever FINIS Some Scriptures that are occasionally opened 1 Sam. 30.6 p. 106. 2 Sam. 23.5 p. 64. Ester 7.6 p. 47 48. Job 7. ult p. 67. Psal 11.6 p. 133. Psal 16.5 6. p. 161. Ps 17. ult p. 164. Psal 27.5 p. 111. Psal 91.4 p. 112. Psal 121.4 p. 110. Psal 142.5 p. 110. Eccles 1.2 p. 160. Eccles 8.8 p. 34. Eccles 9.12 p. 136. Isai 25.10 p. 111. Isai 27.11 p. 111. Isai 27.3 p. 110. Isai 40.6 7. p. 14. Zachar. 2.5 p. 110. Habak 3.16 17. p. 124. Matth. 6.21 p. 138. Rom. 15.19 p. 114 115. 1 Cor. 15.57 p. 65 66. 2 Cor. 1.3 p. 123. A Table of the chief heads treated of in the foregoing Book A. AFflictions not to be born without divine help p. 9. The vast difference between sinners and Saints in Afflictions 123 124 125. The more mens affections are crucified to the world they die with the more comfort 88. B. The great folly of men in minding their bodies above their souls Blessedness vide Happiness C. The necessity of an interest in the Covenant of Grace p. 63. The comfort of a Christian in God p. 105 179. The need sinners stand in of Christ p. 63 64 75. The Excellency of Christ p. 73 74. The terms upon which sinners may enjoy Christ p. 78 79. D. Death will seize on all p. 14 15. Neither height nor holiness will excuse from dying p. 13. 39 40. Nor strength in our youth The corruptibility of mans body natural cause of death p. 16 17. Sin the moral and meritorious cause of death p. 19 20. Gods fidelity the supernatural cause of death p. 17 18. Counsel to prepare for death p. 29 30 31. Death is certain p. 34 35. Death is often sudden p. 36 37. Death will try men p. 43 44. 45 46. Death strips men of outward comforts Spiritual enemies busie in an hour of death p. 47 48. When death comes it is too late to prepare p. 40. Death gain to a Christian p. 18 19 182 183. 56 57. The misery of sinners at death p. 50. What is requisite to prepare for death p. 61. to 70. Comfort against the death of Christian friends p. 180.