my design and desire is to prevent immoderation which will hinder and not further you in the Work and unfit you for your Duty you may you ought do mourn but not as those without hope for those that sleep in the Lord 1 Thess 4.13 Ingenious Children when one is beaten the other will cry but they must take heed of murmuring and repining against their Father Lute-strings when one is touched the other sound and 't is one of those Dues which we owe to our deceased Friends to lament at their Funeral 't is those usually that live undesired that dye unlamented It was a Judgment threatned against Jehoiakim that when he died he should not be lamented Jer. 22.18 But we must not Water our Plants so as to drown them and that Sorrow that disables us for our present Duty in our general or particular Calling is doubtless our sin Our chiefest care for our Relations should be while they are living and that is to make provision to our power for Soul and Body but for the Soul especially for alas what is a moment of time to Eternity But when God manifests by his Providence that 't is his Will to transport and transplant these Flowers into a better Soil though we should not be insensible of the stroak we should not murmure or repine under it or accuse the Hand that gave it but submissively resign them up to him who gave them or rather lent them to us David did what he could for his Son while he was living but ceased mourning for him when he was dead Our Tears though they may be shed upon other accounts yet 't is pity they should run profusedly in any other Channel but for sin It being the true penitential Tears that are the Holy Water that God affects and the Devil hates for if any â—oss or Cross that befalls us deserve one Tear our Sins deserve a thousand for sin is the cause of all our Losses and Crosses that befal us and without Repentance will be the destruction of Soul and Body and when we see such direful Effects and tast such bitter Fruits we should bewail the Cause and root up the Tree If our Sin lay heavy our Crosses would seem light if we bathed our Sins in our Tears we should not have so many left to pour out upon these Occasions Sin is the occasion of the Death of your dear Daughter and will be of your own Death for had it not been for sin she had not dyed By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed ever all for as much as all have sinned the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life Nay sin it was that put our sweet Saviour to death these were the Nails that pierced his Hands and his Feet the Spear that pierced his Side his Betrayer Accusers Judge and Executioners and can your Daughter be more dear to you than God's only and beloved Son was to him He laid down his Life for her and her Life is not too good to lay down for him he laid down his Life to purchase for her a Mansion of Glory and she laid down her Life to go to take Possession for there is no other way to enjoy it Madam In my present Address to you there are two things designed by me The first is to abate the swelling Tide of your Sorrow and to bring those Waters within their proper Bounds and Banks which I shall endeavour to do by giving you some few Considerations to Meditate upon that so when the violent Storm of Passion shall be allayed Reason may be spoke with which cannot many times be heard when Passion is raging and after that my intention is to point you out some of those many profitable Lessons which this Providence seems to hand out to us which if we can learn doubtless we shall gain by this loss or our gains will be greater than our loss for God's Rod hath a Voice and 't is our Duty to hear it Micah 6.9 Nay 't is like Jonathan's Rod 1 Sam. 14.27 it hath Honey at the end and if we taste of it it will open and enlighten our Eyes If God with Correction give Instruction we may well say as David It was good for me that I was afflicted before I was afflicted I went astray but now I learn to keep thy commandments Psal 119.67 Quae nocent docent is a Proverb and that Lesson is best learnt that is set on with whipping and best remembred Correction is seldom a sign of God's hatred many times of his love For whom he loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son that he receiveth If we endure chastening God dealeth with us as with sons for what son is he that his father chasteneth not And if we be without chastening then are we bastards and not sons Heb. 12.6 7 8. Amos 3.2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth therefore I will punish you for your iniquities God will be sure to plow his own Ground whatsoever becomes of the wast and to weed his own Garden though others are let alone to grow wild the punishing Angel must begin at God's Sanctuary Ezek 9. And it was no sign of Love when God said Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hosea 4.17 Since he hath made a match with Mischief let him have his belly full of it When Ignatius was thrown to the Wild Beasts to be devoured Now saith he I begin to be a Christian for Afflictions are the Gemms and Jewels with which God doth adorn his best Friends they are Pledges of our Adoption and Badges of our Sonship so that they are no signs of his disinheriting us and though he may seem to hide his Face yet 't is no sign of his forsaking us But now for the quieting your Spirit under your present Suffering and this dark Providence I beseech you ponder well these few following Considerations which well weighed may through God's Blessing quell those tumultuous Thoughts that swell in your Breast and I desire the Lord to bless them to this end 1. Consider who it is that hath done you this supposed Injury to take away your Daughter without your consent And here you may consider not only who it is but also what Interest he claims in her and then consider whether your Plea will hold good against him Is it not the great God of Heaven and Earth whose Power no Creature is able to resist whose Will is his Law and whose Glory is his End Is it not he that is called Omnipotent that doth what pleaseth him in Heaven and in Earth and none can resist him And is he a fit Match for you to grapple with Is it not he that measureth the water in the hollow of his hand and meteth out Heaven with his span and comprehendeth the dust of the earth in a measure that weigheth the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance To whom all
sadly and trust God when Deliverance is out of sight Hic labor hoc opus est To fetch Comfort from God when the World affords us none is a Work of Grace Hab. 3.17 18. A spark of Divine Love once kindled in the Breast never goes out Now saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.13 there remains Faith Hope and Charity but the greatest of these is Charity And why Because 't is longest lived The Wisdom of the Saints as also the Folly of the World is seen in this the one respects Eternity the other only this Transitory Life things subject to Vanity and Vexation that vanish as a curious Picture drawn upon the Ice in a Sun-shine day that soon dissolves into Water The World is like a Lottery Men come to it with their Heads full of Hope and return with their Hands full of Blanks and their Hearts full of Sorrow for there are twenty Blanks for one Prize There are many fair Promises made by the Devil and the World but few performed and our own hearts help to cheat us But he that Trades in Heavenly Riches never meets with disappointments they will find it far beyond their highest conceptions These things 't is true are hardly gotten but will prove well in the wearing and pay well for our pains Heaven is not got so easily as the World imagines when they moil and toil for the Earth they think Heaven may be had with a wet finger or into the bargain They are like Timotheus that dreamed that Towns and Castles fell into his Toyles while he slept they think a Lord have Mercy upon us will serve turn for Heaven to wast them over but they will find their mistake the Way is narrow they must walk in and the Gate strait they must enter which they cannot do with a load upon their backs We must work for Heaven as well as wish for it yea wrastle and strive to enter in at the strait gate 't is the violent that take it by force and if it be set to Sale all must go to buy this Pearl I have read of a Christian that beihg offered great Riches and Preferments to change his Religion he enquired whether it were durable Riches they offered him he would deal for no Treasures that were not Eternal nor sell his Immortal Soul for transitory Pelf that Treasure that is subject to Rust and Rapine will not do our work but that which is as durable as the days of Heaven and Eternity it self which we may draw out a Thousand Years hence without Rust or Canker These outward things may draw Tears from our Eyes but never will drive Sorrow from our Hearts if we embrace them we hug a Cloud instead of Juno 't is but to hunt Butter-flies to foul our own Fingers A Crown which is esteemed the top of Humane Felicity is scarce worth as one saith that had tryed it stooping for if it lay in the street for if we consider the Cares Fears Jealousies Dangers and Troubles that accompany it we should not envy them the Honour that bear the Burden 'T is Wisdom therefore above all things to get Grace and then we shall have Christ and Glory Men make a great dust and stir in the World and all for the Body when there is not one day's Preparation for the Immortal Soul many are ashamed to be seen in this Fashion but were the Body transparent and could we see their filthy spotted and leprous Souls through their Velvet Robes they had cause indeed to be ashamed to be seen in the streets Now they matter not the Society of the Godly but ere long they will never be troubled with it again Now they want time to Examine themselves as to their future Estate but then they will have time enough to reflect upon their fore-past Follies the means they then had the possibility nay the probability of their Conversion and how they lost Heaven for a Lust how they have been warned of this a thousand times and that now it is too late and the Door is shut the Day of Mercy is over and will never dawn again God hath long expected Fruit and finding none will lay down his Basket and take up his Ax and cut down these fruitless Trees and throw them into the Fire and open the Flood-gates of Divine Vengeance and pour in upon them All Hopes will then be taken away and nothing but Despair left in the room Now where is the World and what can it do for thee But Grace will shelter from all this those that have this Oyl shall go in the other shall be shut out Matth. 25.11 12. What will these Men have to say for themselves then Will they plead what Service they have done for God Alas this will not serve their turn Mat. 7.22 Will they desire the Mountains to fall upon them and the Hills co cover them Alas this cannot benefit them Rev. 6.16 17. What will the Worldling by this time think of his Portion Will it prove currant Coin in the other World Is not Grace now the better Portion that will lodge a Man in the Bosom of Christ and make him drink of the Rivers of pleasures at his right hand for evermore amongst those Heavenly Quiristers the Angels and glorified Saints singing Hallelujahs together when all tears shall be wiped away and sin and sorrow shall be no more Where they shall be freed from all Miseries set out of the reach of all Enemies free from all Dangers Temptations Oppressions and Troubles in the perfect Enjoyment of all Happiness and lye in the Everlasting Embraces of their dear Redeemer Now Reader what dost think of Grace Is it worth having If yet to prevent the Furnace thou fall down to the Idol thy Blood will be upon thy own Head Lesson 4. The Fourth Lesson this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing God hath taken away one in the Prime and Flower of her Age and thereby manifesteth our Mortality then it teacheth us that the Godly have not long to suffer for when Death comes their Miseries are at an end for Death will set them out of the reach of Danger this is the last Enemy they have to grapple with and this cannot hurt us for Death doth but lance the Ulcer which otherwise could never have been cured and let out the Corruption though it be an Enemy to Nature 't is a Friend to Grace that blow that kills the Body sets the Soul at liberty Of all Men in the World none are greater Sufferers than the Godly read Heb. 11.35 c. But though their Afflictions are sharp they are but short Heaviness may continue for a night but joy comes in the morning Psal 30.5 Then their Sighing will be turned into Singing and their Musing into Melody this World is their Purgatory and can they expect Pleasure Nay their Hell all the Hell they shall ever have and can they expecâ— Ease But here is their Comfort they can through it and beyond it In
Oyl of Angels But to pass by that exploded conceit or rather deceit as a groundless Fiction But whether the Soul be in Heaven or Hell for a third place the Scripture owns not it is in a stated condition which Eternity it self cannot alter and our Tears nothing avail to the one or to the other In Heaven there can be no augmentation of Glory for how can they have more than fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore What can they have more than the Beatifical Vision of God and Fruition of Glory than rivers of pleasures at God's right hand for evermore Communion with and Enjoyment of God blessed for ever And can your Tears procure greater Glory Here is the maximum quod sic the highest Pinacle of Glory as much as sâ—â—ll Creatures are capable of at present and at the Resurrection Soul and Body being reunited their Glory shall be compleat yea everlâ—â—â—â—â—g Joy in the Presence of God And had you your wish for her it would fall a thousand times shorter than her real Enjoyment And what cause is there of Tears unless it be in those that envy her Happiness Now on the other side miscarrying Souls can have no diminution of their Torments by the Tears of their Friends in their life-time Prayers and Tears to God in their behalf had been sit Physick but when Death comes 't is too late let the Papists say what they will to the contrary As the tree falleth so it lyeth and as Death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Their own Tears can then do them no good though they should weep as much Water as there is in the Sea There is a time when God will be found and there is a time when he will not be found The Rich Glutton could not in Hell procure one drop of Water to cool his Tongue There is no Redemption out of Hell and there is no other place for miscarrying Souls but Hell the Tormentors will not be bribed nor the fire quenched with Tears Their worm dyeth not and their fire never goeth out Tophet is ordained of old even for the King it is prepared he hath made it deep and large the pile thereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord like a river of brimstone doth kindle it Isa 30.33 So that 't is evident immoderate Mourning for deceased Friends either needs not or boots not those that dye well are set out of the reach of Danger and those that miscarry out of the reach of Recovery But I desire you further to consider were your Daughter sensible in Heaven what sorrow you have for her on Earth which is a thing too hard for me to determine what thanks think you would she return We may imagine she would speak to you in the Language our Saviour Christ used to the Women thâ—â— lamented him upon the Cross Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves for the misery that is like to come upon you Yoâ— may sigh away your Comfort and sob away youâ— Health and weep away your precious time and disable your self for your present Duty but if you mourn all the days of your Life and weep till Dooms-day you would find your self where you began and to have gotten no ground It is your Duty to do what you can for your Children while they live as David fasted and prayed for his Son but when dead say as he I shall gâ— to her she shall not come to me Or as Job Thâ— Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. God will not be perswaded by all your Tears and Complaints to alter his Eternal Decrees to fit your Humour though you should drench your self in Sorrow and drown your self in Tears yet 't is all one you may as well mourn that God will not give you Power to resist the Tide when it comes in in its strength or resist the universal Darkness that comes upon us at the Sun 's setting or stop the Sun and Moon in their courses or remove the Pillars of Heaven or the Foundations of the Earth as this for you cannot alter his Decree or preserve the Life of one that he hath appointed to dye He doth not only appoint that all Men shall dye but the number of their Months are with him and he appoints their Bounds that they cannot pass the time when the manner how the Instrument by whom are all known to him and by immoderate mourning at the execution of his Will you seem to mourn that you are not God or not able to resist him or that he made you not of his Counsel when he decreed your Daughter's death which is so absurd that no Heathen could in plain words own it And doth not Experience convince you your Tears are vain Was there ever any that by mourning brought a Soul out of Heaven or Hell or got any benefit by it And will you think you shall be the first I know some have been raised from the Dead by the mighty Power of God who had determined it should be so for the confirmation of the Gospel But what is this to your case Let your Grief therefore never exceed the bounds of Moderation for it will never do you good or any one else But suppose it were possible to prevail with God in such a Request and he should give her her choice to go or stay you would be never the better you would never prevail with her to return There was indeed such a Petition made to Abraham for Lazarus to come back into the World but it was refused and Lazarus had met with such hard Measures in the World that he was not fond of the Journey and doubtless she would not be perswaded with all your Arguments to leave the Bosom of Christ and the sweet Embraces of her dear Redeemer to accompany you for a while for long it cannot be before a separation must be made again for this is no continuing City and truly to wish her to leave the perfection of Glory and to embrace an estate of Sin and Misery and subject her self again to Drudgery and Slavery Pain and Sickness Dread and Danger Persecution and Affliction argues more of Self-love than of true Affection to her and I believe when the Passion is over upon consideration you would not do it If a poor Beggar 's Daughter going from door to door were affected and beloved by some Mighty Prince who should take her cloath and adorn her marry her and make her his Queen and after this her Mother should perswade her to leave her Crown and Dignity her Husband Honour and Preferment and Pleasure and go along in her hand as before a begging it would be hard to perswade her The Application is easie and the Condescension far greater in this case than in that to leave Heaven to converse with you on the Earth and were it in your power would you expose her again to Sin and Suffering and to
to resist I know not Now though in plain words we do not say God doth wrong us yet our murmuring at the Providence yields some suspicion that these are our thoughts for if God will not at our Request alter his Eternal Decrees to please our Humour we are discontented and in effect we seem to quarrel him that he did not receive us into his Counsel when he made his Decrees and seem to say as Alphonso King of Arragon did affirm That if he had been of Counsel with God in the Creation he could have ordered things better than they were And we seem to think it was not well nor wisely done of God to determine the Death of our Relations without our knowledge or consent especially to call them out of the Vineyard so long before Night though it be but to give them their Wages Now if this be not the state of the Controversie between God and us I acknowledge I know it not and in such a case what Advocate shall we find to take our part or plead our Cause But let us for once suppose a possibility that we were able by fair means or soul to perswade God to altâ—r his unalterable Decrees that they might be more mutable than the Laws of the Medes and Persiâ—â—â— that altered not And suppose he should hang the Keys of Life and Death at our Girdles a Priviledge which no Man living ever yet enjoyed Suppose it were left at our dispose when and how and where our selves and Relations should dye do we verily believe we could manage the business better than he doth in whose hands it is And could we determine of a fitter time and know better their Work is done when they could be spared and when they are ripe for Glory This were presumption in us to think so doth not the chief Husband-man better know when his Corn is ready for the Barn and his Roses for his Bosom We should think it Presumption in a Son or Servant that should follow the Dictates of his own Will and prefer it before our just Command But were such a Priviledge granted us which is impossible that it ever should be we might be the first that repented it how oft-times have we seen an over-desired or over-cockered Child to be a Scourge to the Parents and to bring their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave Sometimes by their vicious and lewd courses which hath made them wish they had buried them in their Childhood sometimes by continual Sickness Weakness Pains or other Affliction Parents have been scourged for their inordinate desires Rachel so earnestly desired Children that if she had them not she must die in a pet God gave them to her but it cost her her Life There are many that by reason of Pains or other Afflictions long for death and dig for it as for hid treasures and rejoyce exceedingly when they can find the grave Joh 3.21 22. and their Friends are as willing to part with them as they are to go and long for their death as much as they desired their lives But can we indeed think it fit that our Wills should be the Rule of God's actings or that we are really wiser than he is God forbid haply we are loath to speak out that these are our desires but doth not our reluctancy make it out When a Child murmures and repines and cries and snubs when his Father Commands him to do a thing doth it not shew that if he durst he would disobey and that there is not a full resignation of his Will to his Fathers Will He that gives us our lives and the lives of our Relations is ever fittest to dispose of them Were Death at our dispose Heaven would be long empty our Friends should nor come there yet and our Enemies never our Friends should live too long and our Enemies die too soon But these things whatever we think or say to the contrary are determined by wiser Counsels yea an irreversible Decree 'T is appointed once to doe and after death the judgment Heb. 9.27 And we our selves shall ere long know by Experience that we are not secure from Death's Arrest and happy will it be for us if this Pursevant fetch us into Glory and not force us into Hell To prevent this 't is good to subject our Wills to God's Will in all things for we shall never have content or satisfaction in our mind till this be done but fears and jealousies what if this or that happen you see how vain it is to oppose our Wills to God's Will and think to resist him or struggle out of his hand 't is a thousand times easier to resist the Tide and keep it back when 't is coming in or to resist the universal Darkness that follows the setting of the Sun You have heard who 't is we contend with and that is God that can do what pleaseth him and who we are that oppose him those that cannot fetch one breath or move one finger without his assistance and what the issue of such a Contest will be is not hard to Divine 3. Cons We have already considered the Parties engaged in the Quarrel it remains that consideration be had of the wrong that is done that if it may be the Controversie may be ended In this Quarrel you are the Plaintiff and God the Defendant who hath done the supposed wrong and 't is much if the Judge of the whole Earth should do wrong and God seems to be willing to have it brought to the Tryal and to say as sometimes to his own People Micah 6.3 Oh my people what have I done unto you and wherein have I wearied you testifie against me God need not to give an Account of his Actions being a free Agent whose Will is his Rule yet is willing to put the Matter to an indifferent Judge as he doth the Controversie which he had with his Vineyard Isa 5.3 4. And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard What could I have done more for my Vineyard that I have not done in it c. He is willing the World should judge whether his ways be equal or no he desires a Bill may be drawn up by the Plaintiff against him and his Charge may be known that he may answer for himself The like we read of Job 32.35 c. Oh that my adversary had written a book I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a crown unto me I would declare unto him the number of my steps c. Can you say be hath been a hard Master or a dry and barren Wilderness to you I know you will not you cannot but God may better say to you than Themistocles to his ingrateful Country-men Are you weary of receiving so many Courtesies from one man Or as Christ to the hard hearted Jews Many good works have I done among you for which of these do you stone me Why is it
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
set him at his own right hand when all other shall stand at his left Oh what a Glorious Day will that be when so many Myriads of Angels and glorified Saints each shining brighter than the Sun in its splendour shall attend upon the Lord Jesus Christ who shall surpass them all in Glory But what a dreadful Day will this be to Wicked Men when they shall see him whom they hated to be their Judge and they whom they persecuted and wickedly murthered to be their Accusers yea sitting upon Thrones to Judge them also Well may they call to the Mountains and Rocks to cover them Rev. 6.15 16. but in vain for the Mountains melt at his Presence and the Rocks are removed out of their places Hell it self that Dungeon of Darkness cannot hide from him For Death and Hell must deliver up their dead But if they cannot stand before their self-condemning Consciences much less before their Judge before whose face their secret sins are plain and manifest and then will they all say they must hear that flaming Sentence of Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels c. A Sentence breathing out nothing but Fire and Brimstone Thundring and Lightning Woe and Alas Torment without end and past imagination Everlasting Fire Eternity of Extremity which the Heart of Man cannot conceive nor his Tongue utter To depart from God is to depart from all that good is into Everlasting Fire here is the pain of Sense both these make up the Damned's Misery but the duration makes it compleat Here is the never-dying Worm that continually gnaws upon the Heart and the Fire that never goes out but continually burneth both the Soul and Body Now Sirs what say you to this Is Grace worth having that prevents all this and sets the Soul out of the reach of danger Those and those alone that are adorned with Grace shall be crowned with Glory for Grace is Glory begun and Glory is Grace perfected Is it now worth labouring for Doubtless those that now deride it as Foolishness will then be derided for their Folly Set your selves in the posture you will certainly be in at Death and at Judgment and then think whether you will make as light of it then as now you do and whether Cups and Queans will then give you better content No no the rudest Ruffian then would be the holiest Saint and wish with Balaam to dye the death of the Righteous But a few feigned Desires faint Wishes and short-winded Prayers will not serve turn God hath link'd Holiness and Happiness together and no Man can break the Chain many would do something for Heaven if they might pick and choose their Duties and leave some Sins if they might retain others they would dance with the Devil all Day so they might sup with Christ at Night they would do the Devil's Work but have God's Wages and leap out of Delilah's Lap into Abraham's Bosom they would be Dives all Day and Lazarus at Night But those that deride Holiness now are not like to have the Reward of it hereafter but then they shall see those very Men that now are at the Bar shall then be at the Bench 1 Cor. 6.2 and shall judge their Judges and those that have been unjustly judged shall have their Cause call'd over again and shall recover Costs and Damages and woe to those that have offended any of those Little Ones that trust in God for their Avenger is strong Wicked Men have no more fore-cast for their Souls than Fools have for their Bodies but they will pay dear for their Folly for when the Saints shall shine in Glory they shall be cast into a Dungeon of Darkness when God lays up his Jewels he will throw out his Muck-heaps when he fans his Wheat he will burn the Chaff the one must go into Everlasting Torment the other into Life Eternal Matth. 25. last Now Reader if thou wouldst know what Road thou art Travelling or what Place thou art like to Land in consider whether Grace be thy Pilot and God thy Polar Star if not thy Condition is dangerous and thy Course unsafe 5. Consider Grace will not leave us thus for its work is not done when the Judgment is over and the Sentence past for 't is the only Treasure we take with us to Heaven and will not leave us till the Crown of Glory is set upon our heads nor then neither their work is not done Indeed some Graces which imply imperfection in us as Faith and Hope or in others as Pity and Mercy may seem useless there for how can we believe and hope for what we actually enjoy except it be for the continuance of it These will be swallowed up in the fruition of what we now believe and hope for And for Pity and Mercy they want their Objects there being no Misery in Heaven and those in Hell deserve no Pity here we have many wanting Brethren whose Miseries call loud for Mercy but there they are supplyed but Love and Joy and Delight Desire and Admiration and such like are not only continued but much heightened in Heaven as also our Knowledge there will be perfected and the Faculties of the Soul enlarged For as an enraged Conscience is one considerable part of Hell so a good Conscience augments Heaven's Glory when all Earthly Enjoyments which made our Lives comfortable forsake us there will be a new Addition of Pleasures and Delights given in the duration of them will be for ever when others leave all that is comfortable behind these will leave all that implies Misery or Imperfection Grace will be a constant Companion to Eternity the Divine Love of God of Holiness of the Saints and Servants of God will never abate but be much more enlarged when our Understandings are enlightened to know God better for nothing but Ignorance can stave off our Affections from loving him who is the chiefest Good That Marriage-knot between Christ and the Soul is the Foundation of our Happiness for from Union springs Communion and the perfect Enjoyment of him in Glory which is the Beatifical Vision Grace here makes the Soul follow Christ through Good Report and Evil Report through thick and thin and makes her resolve to have him for her Husband though she have never a merry day with him and is willing to run through Fire and Water to come to him Oh that I might enjoy those Wild Beasts that are prepared for my Torments saith Ignatius Phileas The Italian Martyr was deaf at the Perswasions of his Friends to forsake Christ and blind at their Tears True Love is like unto Fire the more you blow it the faster it burns or like Lime the more Water you pour on the more 't is enkindled For many waters cannot quench love neither can the floods drown it Now nothing but Grace can bear up the Head and Heart under those Torments and Tortures but a Gracious Man can sing sweetly when it rains
the world they 〈◊〉 meet with tribulation 't is in Christ they shall 〈◊〉 Peace John 16.33 The World to Believ◠like the Streights of Megallan to the Passenger which way soever they bend their Course the Wind is always against them Though Wicked Men like Dogs worry one another yet like Herod and Pilate joyn both against Christ and his Church which ever is uppermost they are sure to be under for while there is a Devil in Hell or a Wicked Man upon Earth they can expect no Peace Blessed are the dead therefore that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Rev. 14.3 Here they are with the Apostle in Prisons often but a Goal-delivery will come when they shall be freed and their Enemies be sent to a worse Prison then shall all tears be wip'd away from their eyes and sin and sorrow shall be no more 'T is here they have a Principle of Grace in them to direct their Course aright but Corruption like a Byas to the Bowl draws them aside they are like the Stars whose Natural Course is from the West to the East but by force of the Primum Mobile they are hurried from East to West Regenerate Mens Course is Heaven-ward but they are many times like the Stars Stationary and too often Retrograde They are like the Bird of Paradice with a Clog upon her heels her Nature is to mount up but the Clog plucks her down again when they mount up in their Contemplations to get a view of Christ they are like a Man that looks at a Star through an Optick-Glass held with a Palsie Hand sometimes but 't is seldom they get a sight of him but they shall have a clearer Vision ere long They cannot deal with their Corruptions as Abraham did with his Servants leave them behind when they go to Sacrifice no they say as Ruth did to Naomi Whither thou goest we will go and where thou lodgest we will lodge and where thou art buried we will be buried and nothing but Death shall part us Ruth 1.16 But 't is but a while and a Believer shall be everlastingly separated from his sin and will triumph over all his Enemies Oh Death where is thy sting Oh Grave where is thy victory c. 'T is true here the best have no pure Beauty they have their form freckles yet their spot is the spot of God's people which will wash out and not like the Leopard not only in the Skin but in the Flesh also but then they shall appear without spot or wrinkle Here all their Comforts are mixt and there is no fire but there is some smoak 't is not so there Here they lye among the Pots but there they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever Then shall they exchange Earth for Heaven Misery for Majesty and a Crown of Thorns for a Crown of Glory but what this Glory is we know not but shall then have occasion to say of it as the Queen of Sheba did of Solomon's Wisdom Much I have heard of it but the one half was not told me Paul that had a Glimpse of it saw more than he was able to utter for no word in Humane Language could express it We can no more set out Heaven's Happiness than we can take the Dimensions of it with our Span or empty the Sea with a Spoon All we can do to get out of this Labyrinth is by a clue of Scripture-thread and here 't is but shadowed out to us according to our Capacity so much as may set us a longing after the enjoyment of that which eye never saw ear never heard neither can the heart of man conceive what it is Now the Eye hath seen much the Ear heard of more but the Heart can conceive of more than that as that the Earth is a Globe of beaten Gold the Sea of liquid Pearl every Grass to be a Diamond and every Sand a Ruby the Air to be Crystal and every Star to be ten thousand times bigger and brighter than the Sun c. for what can bound our Fancy Now if all these were realities alas it falls short of Heaven's Glory these things fall under our Senses but Heaven's Glory cannot here is Joy without Sorrow Light without Darkness and Grace is here without Corruption Here is a mixture of the one with the other and many times an Ounce of Joy hath a Pound of Sorrow we get sometimes a Pisgah-sight of Canaan and suddenly are hurried back into the Wilderness if not into Aegypt now Health then Sickness now Ease then Pain now Poverty then Plenty But in Heaven it will not be so our Wine there shall not be mixt with Water the Storm there will be over and the Weather always calm and serene But to come nearer to our business our Happiness there will be partly privative partly positive I shall speak to those apart and shew you first what we leave behind us and then what our Enjoyment shall be and all but as in a Glass darkly 1. At Death and not before we shall be freed from all our Sin and Corruption which is the greatest trouble a Believer hath in this World and indeed the cause of all other troubles but at Death it shall never trouble them more they may say of it as Moses of the Egyptians in the Red Sea Those you see to day you shall see no more for ever And is not this cause of Rejoycing Sorrow follows Sin as the Shadow follows the Substance but the Cause being removed the Effect will cease This it is that spoils all our Duties and makes them unsavoury unto our God for the Fountain being defiled the Streams cannot be pure this is the Make-bate between God and the Soul and this hides his face from us We can never have Peace with God or any assured Peace with our selves or the Creatures till we break our Peace with Sin for when God is offended our own Consciences and all the Creatures wait but for a Commission to molest us or destroy us The Waters of the Flood drown'd the whole World the Red-Sea Pharaoh and his Host the Fire burnt up Sodom and Gomorrha and the Cities adjacent the Earth swallowed up Korah and his Complices the Walls of Aphek slew twenty seven thousand of God's Enemies 1 Kings 20.30 The Stars fought in their Courses against Sisera the very inanimate Creatures take God's Part so do the poor Insects the Flies the Lice the Caterpillars what Plagues were they to Egypt As also the Frogs the Hail c. And would have destroyed him and all his Army had not Moses interceded And Histories tell us that sometimes a Fly an Hair a kernel of a Grape a prick with a Pin have brought Great Men to their end Hence it was that Augustine saith he would not be in an unregenerate Man's condition for one hour for all the World lest God in that time should take him hence by some Judgment and send
him to Hell Now though Sin have a Mortal Wound in the Regenerate which cannot be cured yet it will have a Being in them while they are in the Flesh and these Sons of Zeruiah are sometimes too strong for them but at Death these Anakims shall be overcome Death will give them their Deaths-wound the same stroak that separates the Soul from the Body shall divide between Sin and the Soul Now it sticks as close to us as the Skin to the Flesh or as the Flesh to the Bones or rather as one Bone to another and much closer for these may be separated but the other not 't is like as the spots of the Leopard not only in the Skin but in the Flesh also nay 't is in the very Heart and not only in the Body but in the Soul also yea in the very Power and Faculty of it yet at Death a separation will be made and this must needs be good News to a Believer when his deadly Wound is cured which is the cause of all his Maladies Oh happy day will it be to him when he shall shake hands with his Corruptions and give them a Bill of Divorce and bid them an Everlasting Adieu when he shall never have a proud vain sensual or ungodly thought more to trouble him or any that shall be unbeseeming God or Godliness Now he cannot serve God without distraction but then it will be otherwise no sin shall stand then as a Cloud to Eclipse the Sun of Righteousness or cloud him from us Now Sin makes a Godly Man a weary of his Life and causeth many a sad and sorrowful Sigh and many a Prayer it doth cost him and many a struggling for the Victory but then it will be had and the War will be ended and the Triumph obtained when all Tears shall be wip'd away and Sin and Sorrow shall be no more and for a Crown of Thorns they shall have a Crown of Glory There is nothing now but sin that hides God's Face from us when these Clouds are removed we shall see him as he is and shall never see one frown in his face nor one wrinkle in his brow for Sin and Corruption which are the only Make-bates shall be left behind for no unclean thing shall ever enter into Heaven for though the Serpent did wind himself into Paradice none of the Serpentine Race shall ever enter into Heaven their place shall no more be found there Rev. 12.8 And if he be cast out his Works shall follow him then the Saints will be Saints indeed without spot or wrinkle or any such thing Ephes 5.27 Their robes will be wash'd in the blood of the Lamb and they shall no more delight to wallow in the Mire Heaven that spewed out the fallen Angels will not admit of any unclean thing sin to the Godly is their greatest Trouble here but what would it be should they be troubled with it to Eternity I have read of the Indians that enquired where the Spaniards would go after their Death And Answer being made To Heaven protested they would not come there among so Blood-thirsty and Cruel a People This was their Ignorance but this I say should a Godly Man know his sin should accompany him to Heaven it would be great cause of sorrow Anselm affirms he had rather go to Hell Innocent than to Heaven with a Guilty Conscience 'T is a greater Mercy to be freed from Sin than to be born Heir to a Kingdom but at Death they shall have the Priviledge of both now 't is their daily Complaint O this hard this proud this hypocritical Heart how shall I get it softned humbled and reformed But then it will be done it will then be better than now we can desire or expect here the Understanding is clouded with Ignorance there the scales will fall from our Eyes Many a Man would ride a Thousand Miles and give many Hundred of Pounds to have a clear insight into some of the Mysteries held forth in the Scripture as of the Trinity the Incarnation Predestination Redemption Free-will c. And of some obscure Passages Prophesies and Promises recorded in the Scripture But there all shall lye open and God's whole Contrivance in the work of our Redemption made apparent to his Glory and our Eternal Admiration In a word there shall no sin or any thing that implies a defect enter Heaven for no such Weeds grow in God's Garden there will be no imperfection of our love to God our desire after him or our delight in him neither any distempered Passion or Affection for the Affections that there shall remain shall be set upon right Objects and agreeable to the Will of God Oh happy time when shall it be when we shall be rid of all our sins that now keep us so low and God at such a distance from us 2. As at Death we shall be freed from all sin so likewise from all the Causes Occasions and Provocations to sin from the Temptations of Satan and Allurements of the World for as there will be no Natural Inclination to it within so there will be no Provocation to it from without for Temptation without now proves the Bellows to blow our Corruption up into a Flame it being as Tinder to the Fire ready to catch upon all occasions The Devil is a Powerful Politick Subtil and Malicious Enemy lying upon his lurches to betray us 1 Pet. 3.8 He is always fishing for Souls and suits his Baits according to our Inclinations he hath such an Enmity against God that he hates his Image where ever he sees it and though he cannot race it out yet he will always oppose it and seek to deface it he is like the Scorpion his sting is always out and what Opposition either he or his Instruments can make against it they will be sure to do it but at Death we shall be out of his reach and in a place of safety where he cannot throw one Dart at us nor shake his Chain to affright us Now he gives us many Alarms and if he finds us out of our Trenches or neglecting our Watch he is sure to surprize us and to make a Prey of us and were we not kept by the mighty power of God to Salvation we could not escape being devoured by him Now we have no quiet Day nor Night nay in our very Addresses to God but he molests us with his Temptations sometimes stops our Mouths and oft-times steals away the Heart in the time of Duty and lays Snares for us where ever we go or whatever we do but the more Spiritual the Duty is so much the greater is his Opposition He spoils our Duties purposely to make God hate them he takes great Advantage indeed by our own Corruption and we shall never be rid of the one till we are free from the other Our Senses are the Cinque-Ports that lets in the Occasions and Provocations to sin into the Soul and he sails in with the Tide