an affliction I am unworthy of all thy favors seeing thou dost take from me such a precious jewel which was shewn to me as a Lightning I am afraid to have been wanting in my Duty and that this death that kills me is the effect of my stupidity and blindess Methinks I could have hinder'd this doleful accident for if I had behav'd my self otherwise than I have done my Life and Soul should not be now in its Grave O God of all comfort pardon my excessive grief pacify my sighs stop the currant of my Tears remove all these vain displeasures that consume me deliver my Soul from this unmerciful grief and torment that it suffers and from these troubles that are more than humane Instead of looking to these inferior Causes and to the circumstances of the death of this person that I did love as mine own Soul give me grace to remember that the least things as well as the greatest are govern'd and rul'd by thy wise Providence and that the good and the evil proceed from thy Divine appointment Give me Grace to consider that thou dost hold in thine Almighty hand the Keys of Life and Death and that thou alone dost cast us into the Grave and lift us up from thence again Thou O Soveraign Monarch of the Vniversal World who dost not only let death loose but dost also appoint all the means to talke us out of the World make me truly submissive unto thy Sacred Pleasure and to put the Finger upon my Lips because it is thy doing If I open them let it be to adore thy Justice and sing forth thy Praises the person for whom I lament so much was nearly related to me like another my self but it was also thy Creature thy Child and a Member of our Saviours mystical Body We for our parts believe to have the right of disposing of our Workmanship and of that which we have bought with our Money and hast not thou O God the liberty to dispose of that which thou hast created after thy likeness bought not with corruptible things as with Gold and Silver but by the precious Blood of the Lamb without spot or blemish Thou hadst a Son who is the brightness of thy Glory and the express image of thy person whom thou hast not spared for me and shall I Lord refuse thee my Heart and my Bowels Thy only begotten Son came down upon Earth to suffer the most cruel and ignominious Death of the Cross but thou hast taken up into Heaven the person whom my soul did love to crown it with a glorious and ever happy Immortality Shall his or her Felicity be the cause of my Misery and that his or her Rest occasion my displeasure It is the property of true love to prefer the happiness of the beloved Persons to our own satisfactions Therefore our Saviour told his Apostles If you did love me you would rejoyce because I go to my Father for my Father is greater than I. Between thee O great and living God and us miserable Worms of the Earth there is a vast difference as there is between the innocent and harmless delights of this world and the unspeakale pleasures of thy presence for these are but as drops of Water that are dried up with the least wind whereas the satisfactions of Heaven are like a bottomless Sea of Delights in which we shall swim for ever Do I therefore weep for him or for her whose tears thou hast wip'd away Do I wear a mourning Apparel and a black Scarf for him who is now cover'd with a Glorious Attire of Joy and Gladness and who is adorned with an Habit as white as Snow Do I delight my self in darkness and doth he solace himself at the Fountain of Light and Glory Do I seek a solitary and melancholly Retreat and doth he rejoyce amongst the thousands of Angels and the Glorious company of the immortal Spirits I sigh and groan and he sings a new song the Song of the Blessed which is always in his mouth All my complaints and groanings cannot bring him back upon Earth but when that were possible it is not just to attempt it my kindness would be cruel and my love most inhumane How could I resolve to make him leave the Haven of Eternal Felicity to expose him again to the furious Waves and storms of this troublesom Sea of the World How can I have the heart to pull him down from his Triumphing Chariot and from the magnificent Throne unto which thou hast raised him to engage him in new and fresh encounters and to bind him again with a chain of misery how could I pluck off from him the Habits of Light and Glory to cloath him with darkness and cover him with our infirmities Is it possible that I should be so inhumane to draw him out of Rivers of pleasures to cast him again into a Sea of Gaul and Bitterness to take from him the Bread of thine Heavenly Kingdom and the Fruits of the Tree of Life to give him the Bread of affliction and the Apples of Sorrow and grief Can I be so cruel to pluck him from thy bosom from the Breasts of thy most tender favours and from that fulness of Joy which he hath in the sight of thy Countenance to make him languish in our embraces swallow the poison of this miserable Life and groan under the burden of our mortal afflictions In short can I be so senseless as to remove him out of that Eternal Life to cause him to become again the sport of Death He is pass'd from Death to Life is it my desire that he should return back from Life into the merciless hands of Death we shall go to him but he cannot come to us seeing that this life is so short that it is spent and gone as a thought we shall see one another shortly in the light of the Living O Lord how wonderful art thou in thy Works how Magnificent in the means that thou employest and how various is thy Wisdom in all things I see that what thou hast done is not only for thy Glory and for the advantage of this happy Creature a that thou hast received into thy Rest but it is also for my happiness and the instruction of my neighbors for in taking from me my most dearly Beloved my Joy my Pleasure and my Hopes thou hast put my Obedience and faith to a Tryal As thou didst heretofore try the Father of the faithful in requiring from him his only Son Isaac in whom thou hadst promised to bless all the Nations of the World I confess good Lord to the praise of thy Grace and Goodness that my tryal is loss than his for thou didst command Abraham to sacrifice his Son with his own hands to spill his Blood in thy presence and to reduce his Body into Ashes but thou requirest of me no other Sacrifice but that of my Obedience and of my Submission to thy Holy Will Thou wilt have me say with
THis Book in the Original hath been so well approved of by all Persons though of different Judgements in Religion that it hath been fifteen times Printed in France besides what hath been done in Holland and elsewhere in other Languages it is of very great use to Divines for Funeral Sermons and is very fit to be given away by well-disposed Persons at Funerals and of excellent Vse to every Christian Reader THE CHRISTIANS Defence AGAINST THE FEARS OF DEATH With Seasonable DIRECTIONS How to prepare our Selves to Dye well Written Originally in FRENCH By the late Reverend Divine of the Protestant Church of PARIS CHAR. DRELINCOVRT And Translated into ENGLISH By M. D'ASSIGNY B. D. LONDON Printed by T. N. for John Starkey at the Miter in Fleetstreet near Temple-Barr 1675. To the Right Honourable HENEAGE Lord FINCH Baron of DAVENTRY Lord Keeper of the Great Seal OF ENGLAND My LORD IT is the common Practise of pretenders to Learning to seek the Favour of Persons of your Lordships Eminency Nobility and Piety and to judge their Labors imperfect if they inscribe not in the Frontispice some Great NAME to secure them against the attempts of Prejudice and Mistake I conceive that I should wrong too much our Religious and Ingenious Nation and this Treatise if I did entertain any such Feat and alledge it as the Cause of this Dedication to your Lordship for I am perswaded that none will be so great an Enemy to himself and so singular in his Judgement to be offended at that which intends to protect him against our most dreadful Adversary Death at that which hath met with such an Vniversal Welcome amongst all our neighboring Nations that it hath appeared in many Languages and been generally embraced in those Countreys by all Men that are named Christians But here I must freely acknowledge the Cause of this ambitious Address Your Honour is worthily esteemed One of the most Glorious Examples of Religion and Justice amongst us In imitation therefore of the Reverend Author I do Humbly intreat your Lordship to give me the Liberty to shew your Honour in the beginning of this Defence against the fears of Death That my Christian Reader may look upon an Original and a Copy together and see the Practise as well as the Discovery of the solid Comforts against Death I shall not attempt to set forth this noble Original my weak abilities cannot so well discover and expose it to our view as our daily Experience and Observation Your Honors Vertues Liberality and Devotion are visible to us all and the whole Nation takes notice of your Lordships Family to have been always very fruitful of the most experienced Men in the Law the most renowned for Justice and the most remarkable for Piety and Religion And at present we see by God's Goodness several Illustrious Branches proceeding from your Honor Branches that flourish already to our great Admiration and Joy By them the Honor and Reputation of your Noble Family will be for ever supported and defended against Death and Unconstancy as your Lordships Person and Name are and shall be by your Piety and Care of Religion God Grant unto your Honor and Family a Continuance and Increase of his Earthly Blessings according to his * 1 Tim. 4.8 Promise and after this mortal Life God Grant to you and your Posterity the fruition of his Eternal Bliss in Heaven This shall ever be the Prayer of My Lord Your Lordships most Humble And most faithful Servant M. D' ASSIGNY The CHRISTIANS CONSOLATIONS Against the FEARS OF DEATH CHAP. I. That there is nothing more dreadful than Death to such as have no hope in God AN Holy Man stiles Death very significantly The King of Terrors that is to say The most terrible of all other things for there is nothing that we can imagine in the world more dreadful and more odious than Death It is possible to decline the edge of drawn swords to close the Lyons jaws to quench the Fires fury but when Death shoots its poisoned Arrows when it opens its Infernal Jaws and when it sends forth its Devouring Flames it is altogether impossible to secure our selves impossible it is to prevent or decline its merciless fury There is an infinite number of Warlike inventions by which we commonly defeat the evil designes of the most powerful and dreadful Enemies but there is no stratagem of the most Renowned General no Fortification never so Regular and Artificial nor Army never so victorious that can retard but for a moment the approaches of Death this last Enemy In the twinkling of an eye it flies through the strongest Bulwarks the deepest Walls and the most prodigious Towns It leaps over the largest Ditches the most prodigious Castles and the most inaccessable Rocks It blows down the strongest Barricadoes and laughs at all our military Trenches every where it finds the weakness of our Armour and through the best temper'd Breastplates it strikes the proudest Hearts In the darkest Dungeons it finds us out and snatcheth us out of the hands of our most Trusty and Watchful Guards In a word Nature and Art can furnish us with nothing that is able to protect us from Deaths cruel and insatiable hands There is no man so barbarous but suffers himself to be overcome sometimes by the Prayers and Tears of such as cast themselves at his feet to implore his Mercy Nay such as have lost all sence of Humanity and Goodness do commonly spare in their rage the weakest Age and Sex But unmerciful Death hath no more regard of such as humble themselves to her as of others that resist her Power It takes no notice of Infants Tears and cries It plucks them from the Breasts of their tender hearted Mothers and crushes them in pieces before their Eies It scorns the Lamentations of dainty Dames and delights to trample upon their most ravishing Beauties It stops its ears to the Requests of trembling old Age and casts to the ground the Gray Heads as so many withered Oaks At a Battel when Princes and Generals of the Enemies Army are taken prisoners they are not Treated as the common Soldiers but unmerciful Death treads under feet as audaciously the Subject as the Prince the Servant and the Master the Noble and the Vassal the begging Lazarus and the rich Abraham together It blows out with the same blast the most glorious Luminaries and the most loathsome Lamps It hath no more respects for the Crowns of Kings the Popes Miter and the Cardinals Caps than for the Shepheards Crook or the Slaves Chains It heaps them all together shuts them in the same Dungeon and in the same Mortar it pounds them all to powder There is no War never so furious and bloudy but is interrupted with some days or at least some hours of Cessation and Truce Nay the most inhumane minds are at last tired with their bloody Conquests but unsatiable Death never saith it is enough At every hour and moment it cuts down
of the Stone in his Kidneys that forceth from him at every moment most grievous sighs and groans If any should offer to paint before him his looks and grimness or that should counterfeit them ingeniously in his presence he would bring him little ease to his torments rather an increase to his vexation and trouble The most beautiful Flower also can give no delight to such as are rackt in the Executioners hands or tied to four Horses that are ready to tear him in pieces Thus it is with the most eloquent and florid Discourse it can bring no comfort to a soul that is departing Davids Harp alone can drive away the evil spirits and appease the troubles of a wounded Conscience But some may imagine in this general survey of the wise Follies and Vanity of the Heathen Philosophers I should except the Stoicks I confess that in this particular they express more gravity but they proceeded no better nay when I have well considered them I find them to be far more unsufferable and more impertinent than the rest for besides that they treat of the immortality of the soul in a very doubtful and unconstant manneâ— the pretended comforts that they offer do render Death more dreadful They tell us that Death is the end and center where all humane Afflictions and Miseries cease therefore it is rather to be desired than avoided or feared They might have some colourable reason for this conclusion if they did but discover beyond the Grave an happiness which they might here expect and hope for Death assures them of no other comfort but only to put a period to all the miseries of this wretched life Therefore such kind of Discourses are not properly Comforts and the resolution that they beget in us is but a silly Passion much like unto a Criminal upon the Rack who impatiently longs for Death that he might be delivered from the cruel hands of the Executioners or who bears the inferior torments with joy to get on the top of the Scaffold where he is to be broken upon the Wheel Oh miserable wretch the change of Tortures will bring no ease to thy Pains if thou canst not endure patiently the Ropes that unjoynt thy Members how wilt thou suffer the bar of Iron that shall crack all thy bones in pieces O blind Philosopher If thou canst not bear the miseries of this life how wilt thou endure the pains and tortures of Death Moreover they tell us That the most cruel and painful Death is a noble occasion to exercise our vertue and to cause our constancy and resolution to appear with admiration This discourse seems to be plausible but in reality it is nothing but wind for what availeth this apparent vertue because it doth not stop us from falling into the deepest Abyss of Torments and Misery but it perisheth and dies with its Idolaters Therefore such as have most admired it have at last acknowledged its vanity witness that famous and worthy General who fancied that his vertue would procure unto him the Victory over all the Enemies of the Roman Common-wealth for whose sake he took up Arms when the Battle was lost and all his ambitious hopes had deceived him being ready to stab himself with his own sword he cryed out Oh miserable Vertue what art thou but a vain and an unprofitable word a name without a body He did thus exclaim against his Vertue that he had formerly adored because it could yield him no comfort in the day of his distress nor free him from falling into utter dispair The most ordinary and usual comforts that they commonly bring are these That Death is inevitable that we all enter into the world upon condition to go out that we have as much cause to be afflicted with the day of our Birth as with the day of our Death That Humanity and Immortality are not consistant That Death is a Tribute we all owe to Nature That the Kings and greatest Monarchs are forced to pay it as well as the meanest Subjects and that this is such an universal Law that it admits of no exception But these kind of Comforts do but increase our trouble and add to our affliction I have therefore good reason to speak unto these grave Philosophers Job's language to his troublesome friends Miserable Comforters are ye all For in truth they don't only search the wound to the quick without any application of an healing Plaister but they also tear and widen it enflame and render it far more grievous when we are in hopes of seeing an end to our calamities our soul is comforted and armes it self with constancy and a patient resolution but when we see our selves cast into an Abysse of Evil and that no hopes appear of getting out we are then overwhelmed with grief and despair It is a lamentable thing to be born to dye but it is far more lamentable and grievous to know that Death is not to be avoided that all the Treasures of the world cannot free us from it for his affliction is the greatest whose misery can never be cur'd This also is a false and deceitful maxime That the comfort of the miserable is to have companions in misery although many thousand drink together of the waters of Marah they seem no less bitter and although thou shouldest be burnt in a fire where many are consumed thou shalt not find there a milder and a more easy abode Thy neighbors grief doth not lessen thy Affliction their Sickness cannot restore to thee Health and their Death comfort thee against the approaches of thine own On the contrary if thou hast any sence of Humanity thou wilt weep for their Misery and thine together It is that which great Xerxes King of Persia did practice for when he took a view of his numerous Army in which there were 1100000 Men and considered that within one hundred years so many brave Captains and Soldiers would be rotting in their Graves he was moved with compassion and wept I do not mention here the brutish and foolish opinion of such as imagine that Mans Soul is mortal and dies with our Bodies This consideration brings no comfort but casts us into an irrecoverable despair for after the torments of Hell fire there is nothing that can be imagined more dreadful than a reducement to nothing It is needless also to mention the Philosophers that are Disciples of Plato who have discoursed of the Souls Immutability and of its Blessedness after this life they imagine themselves very acute and subtle but their discourses of this matter are so gross and extravagant that instead of perswading the Truth they express it to scorn and contempt Let their fond and imaginary descriptions of the Elysian Fields be witnesses for whatsoever they have invented of this kind hath been placed amongst the Fables and poetical Fictions Those Chymerical Gardens under ground contain nothing like to the Divine Excellencies and unspeakable pleasures of the Paradise of God In one word
Jews but that he gave them full liberty to take up Arms to defend themselves to attack their Enemies and to make them suffer all the evils that they intended against them I find something like unto this proceeding for God would not call back the sentence of Death that he had pronounced against Mankind in the Garden of Eden nevertheless he allows us nay he commands his true Israel to take up Arms against Death to conquer and trample it under feet In the first place Jesus Christ who is our head hath encountered with Death and conquered it he hath pursued it into its Trenches and overcome it in its own Fortification Death thought to have devoured him but it hath been devoured it self as the Fishes are taken by the Hook that they think to swallow and as the Bees do hurt those whom they sting and doe greater harm to themselves for they cause but a present pain in our body and a heat that soon ceaseth but it causeth to it self greater damage for it breaks its sting and looseth thereby its life Thus Death by fixing its sting in the Humanity of Jesus Christ hath put him to a great deal of pain for a time but it hath thereby lost all strength vigor and sting by this means The men of Juda to satisfy the furious Philistins delivered into their hands Sampson bound with Ropes when they saw him the Philistins gave several joyful shouts but the Spirit of God came upon him in such a manner that he tore in pieces the two Ropes wherewith he was bound and overcame them by whom he was led away prisoner and kill'd a thousand of them Thus the miserable Jews for fear of the Romans deliver'd unto them our Lord Jesus Christ their Brother according to the flesh bound like a Malefactor when Hell saw him nailed to the Cross and afterwards laid in a Grave it did wonderfully rejoyce the Devil and his Angels began to sing Songs of Triumph But it was altogether unpossible that the Prince of Life should be detained in the Prisons of Death he hath not only broken out of the Grave by his infinite power but he hath also trampled under feet all his most furious enemies and overcame millions of infernal Fiends and to declare how Life and Death were in his power he hath Commanded Death when he was as it were a prisoner shut up in its Dungeon He hath broke open the Gates of this black prison and torn in pieces all its Fetters for when he was yet in his Grave he raised to life many that were dead who were seen in the Holy City and yet at present he holds in his hand the keys of Death and of Hell Therefore as Children do rejoyce at their Fathers Victory and as the Subjects are concerned at the prosperous proceedings of their King and as the Members are the better for the Glory and Honor of their Head thus we may justly glory in the most notable Victories and famous Triumphs of Jesus Christ who is our Father King and Head we may also justly glory that we are Lords of Death and that we have overcome it in the person of our Great God and Saviour I say this after the Apostle St. Paul That God hath quickened us together and raised us together and made us sit together in Heavenly places with Jesus Christ Eph. 2. Moreover as our Saviour hath once overcome Death for us he continues to overcome it in and by us he doth not suffer us to encounter with our enemies alone nor doth he leave us in time of need but as in a day of Battel a wise and provident General hath an eye in every place and encourages by his action and voice his Soldiers whom he perceives at handy-blows with the Enemy some he loads with praises others with promises by that means he encourageth such as behave themselves bravely rescues the weak and feeble and to such as are over-born he furnishes them with fresh Supplies Thus deals with us our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the great God of Hosts who sits above in the Heavens in his triumphal Chariot and beholds all our combats and encounters when he perceives us too weak that we might not be overcome by our most dreadful Enemies he furnisheth us with his Holy Spirit and his own Armor as Jonathan did to David when he deliver'd to him his Cloak his Bow his Belt and Sword besides this merciful Saviour disarms Death of its most hurtful weapons and takes away all its Arrows and Darts As the strength and power of Sampson did lodge in the hair of his Head which the Philistines could never have imagined so the strength and power of Death consists in such things as the world do least dream of The most dreadful weapons with which it terrifies and beats us are the Thunderbolts and Curses of the Law and our sins are as the poison in which it dips its Arrows or rather our sins are the fiery Dart with which it wounds and destroys us Now Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law when he became a Curse for us Gal. 3. He hath carried our sins in his Body upon the Cross 1 Pet. 2. And as the He-Goat Harazel he hath transported them away into an inhabitable Desart Levit. 16. He hath removed them from the eyes of our God as far as the East is from the West he hath cast them into the bottom of the Ocean and drown'd them in his Bloud so that we now see fulfilled what was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Juda and they shall not be found chap. 50. Therefore being invested with the Grace of God and armed with the Vertue of his Holy Spirit Let us shew our courage and defie death let us look it in the fâ—â—e without fear laugh at all its threats and encounter with it without dread for it is now but like a Soldier who without his weapons carries himself proudly It is like a Bee that buzzeth about without its sting It is like an old Lion that roars but hath lost all his Claws It is like a Snake that would cast its poyson but hath no venemous Teeth left because they have been all pull'd out by him who hath bruised the Serpents Head If you consider nothing but Deaths Exterior its Face and fearful appearance its frightful Eyes its meager Body its iron'd Hands you cannot perceive any difference between the death of Gods Children and that of the most wicked Varlets but if you lift up the vizard and examine the Death of the one and of the other more exactly you will meet with as much difference as between Heaven and Earth the Paradise of God and Hell for as Moses's brazen Serpent which he lift up in the Desart had the form and appearance of a burning Serpent but nothing of the Prison and Fire thus the death of the faithful appears as the
before his journy to Damascus where he was strangly converted by a Miracle how could Gods immutable decree be accomplish'd for he had designed him from his Mothers Womb to be a Noble Vessel of his Grace and Mercy and a faithful Ambassador of his Son Gal. 1. If the good Thief had died before he had seen the Light or if he had been kill'd in one of his Robberies how could he have been converted upon the Cross where he Repented of his Crimes Or how could he have heard from our Saviour these blessed and comfortable words Verily I say unto thee Thou shalt be with me this day in Paradise Luke 31. The Heathens have perceiv'd and understood this Truth but they have darkened and defaced it by their impertinent and ridiculous Fictions for their Poets tell us that there are three Parcae or infernal Goddesses the one holds the Distaff and Spins the other winds up the Thred the third cuts it and puts a period thereby to the Life of Man By this Fable they intend to teach us that God lengthens or shortens at his pleasure Mans Life As it is therefore certain that God hath numbred our days he hath also appointed in his infinite Wisdom the means to convey us out of the world If one dieth in Peace another is kill'd in War If one departs in his Bed another hangs upon a Gibbet If one perisheth by Famine and another is stifled with the Plague If one is struck with the Thunder and the other is torn in pieces by wild Beasts If one is choak'd in the Waters and the other perisheth in the Flames In short if the separation of the Soul from the Body happens in a different manner it is not without the express Leave and Orders of our Heavenly Father Therefore when we see the strangest accidents come to pass and the most unexpected and tragick Deaths before our Eyes We must remember the saying of the Prophet Jeremy when he saw the burning and plunder of Jerusalem Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not out of the mouth of the most high proceedeth not evil and good Sam. 3. We must then consider with the Prophet Isaiah That it is God that creates the Light and the Darkness and that sends Prosperity and Adversity Isai 15.45 Or with Amos who enquires whither there be any evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3. That is to say that there is no Affliction nor Death that happens but God hath appointed it and fore-ordain'd it by his wise providence If the Devil cannot destroy Job's Flocks of Sheep nor hurry headlong into the Sea the Herds of Swine without his leave who holds him fast in Chains Matt. 8. Let us perswade our selves that all the powers of Hell and the World cannot cause us to dye by a violent Death if God hath not ordain'd it before in the resolutions of his infinite Wisdom so that if at any time a Prince or a Magistrate speaks to us in Pilats language to our Saviour Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and power to save thee John 19. being strengthened with an Holy Confidence Let us answer him as our Saviour Thou shouldest not have that power over me were it not given to thee from above Without the leave and pleasure of my God thou canst not take from me an Hair of my Head We read in the Book of Judges that when Abimelech assaulted the Tower of Thebez with a resolution to win it upon a suddain a Woman cast from the top a piece of a Milstone that fell upon his Head and broke his Scull Judg. 9. If we look only upon the second Causes this accident may appear to be strange and unexpected but we must lift up our Eyes to the Almighty hand of an al-seeing Power and Wisdom far more dextrous than that of this poor Woman for the same Relation declares That God by this means brought to pass Jotham's Prophecy and rendred the wickedness of Abimelech which he did unto his Father in slaying the seventy Brethren with his merciless hand upon his own guilty head Ahab King of Israel was disguised with a designe to fight with the Syrians 1 Kings 22. An unknown Soldier le ts fly by chance an Arrow out of his Bow which struck him in the weakest part of his Armor wounded him to death and the Dogs lickt the Blood that gushed out of his Wounds At this sight a carnal and an earthly Mind will say That this was but a mischance of War an unfortunate accident But the Spirit of God informs us better that this happen'd to fulfil the Prophecy of Elias and the dreadful threatnings which he had pronounced against this wicked Prince who labor'd by Tyrannical and devilish attempts to invade other mens Possessions Thus saith the Lord in the place where Dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall Dogs lick thy blood even thine 1 Kings 21. When we cast our eyes upon the Tragical death of Josias King of Juda at the first sight it appears but the effect of the boiling fury of Youth which carried him against all reason obstinately to fight with Pharaoh Neco King of Egypt or of the strength and swiftness of his Enemies according to the complaint of Jeremiah the Prophet Our persecutors are swifter than the Eagles of the Heaven they pursued us upon the Mountains they laid wait for us in the Wilderness The breath of our Nostrils the anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits of whom we said under his shadow we will live among the Hâ—â—then Lam. 4. But to understand the Truth we must enter farther into the Sanctuary and adore the wisdom of Gods Decree that had resolved to take away this good and religious Prince into his Eternal Rest and bestow upon him a more noble and a richer Crown before he took in hand the sword of his vengeance to punish the people of Israel for the many Idolatries and horrid Crimes of which they had been guilty By this means God fulfilled the Prophecy of Husda Behold I will gather thee unto thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered into thy Grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place 2 Kings 22. When we look upon the Death and Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ we may imagine at the first view that only the Pharisees envy Judas's Treason the mutiny of the rude Rabble Pilates Injustice Herods Jests and the cruelty of the Roman Soldiery were the causes of his Tragedy but the Holy Apostles Peter and John unto whom our Saviour had discover'd the rarest secrets of his Wisdom consider these outward Agents but as the Instruments to bring Gods great designe Mans redemption to pass Therefore they speak of it in this manner in the fourth of the Acts Against thine Holy Child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
in time In short we must not only quit and abandon all our Honors Dignities Treasures and Riches but we must also quit this Body this Flesh and Bones cover'd with this beautiful Skin O Man remember that thou art but dust and that thou shalt return to Dust 16. Saladine the famous Sultan of Egypt hath left to posterity an illustrious Testimony of the vanity of all Riches and worldly Grandeur for upon his Death-bed he Commanded that his Winding-sheet should be carried at the end of a Lance by an Herauld who was to proclaim Here is all that this great Prince hath carried away of his Riches Glory Principalities and Lordships which he hath enjoyed on Earth 17. Consider that it is a great cause of grief that we know not who shall inherit the Fruits of all our Labors which we keep with so much care and restless fears Who knows but our greatest Enemies and that which is worse Gods enemies shall cloath themselves with our spoils and that which we have been so long gathering many years shall be spent in a moment of this vanity and evil the Royal Prophet complains in the 39 Psalm Surely every man walketh in a vain shew surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up Riches and knoweth not who shall gather them 18. Consider well Christian people the dangerous effects wrought in us by the love of the World and the deceitfulness of Riches it stifles in our Hearts the good seed of the Gospel Matt. 3. it hinders it from growing up to salvation it keeps many from glorifying God and making an open profession of the truth As it is said of some of the chief Pharisees that they believed in our Lord Jesus Christ but they would not confess him before Men because they did love more the glory of Men than the glory of God therefore when Cyrus made Proclamation that the Children of Israel should have full liberty into their own Countrey to rebuild Jerusalem to repair God's Temple and to re-establish his neglected service there were many Jews that cared not to obey this Prince's Command nor God's Call because they were setled in Babylon they were too much wedded to the pleasures and delights of that City and therefore loath to part with their Concerns there for Jerusalâ—m for the same cause that young man mentioned before would not follow the Saviour of the World nor obey his Command because he had much Riches and had setled his Heart and affections upon them As God's Ark and Dagon cannot dwell together under one roof 1 Sam. 5. so the love of God and the love of the World can never subsist together therefore St. John adviseth us Love not the world nor the things that are in the world If any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him 1 Joh. 2. 19. Take notice that this is the passion that stops so many in their first beginnings of Piety for as Lots wife was changed into a Statue of Salt assoon as she had looked behind her so when God sends us his Angels to take us by the hand and drag us out of the spiritual Sodom there is nothing more dangerous than to look with regret and longings for carnal Delights and worldly advantages which we are then totally to quit that alone is able to stop our proceeding forward to stifle our zeal and to cause all our pious intentions to vanish into the Air Therefore we must imprint in our minds this excellent sentence of our Saviour No body that puts his hand to the Plow and doth look back is fit for the kingdom of God 20. From hence it is that so many persons esteem'd well-grounded in Religion and Piety are perswaded at last to turn their backs to God and to make shipwrack of their faith What was the cause of the Israelites murmuring so often and desiring to return into Egypt was it not as we have already taken notice because their Hearts and Affections were setled and fixed in that cursed Land from whence God had deliver'd them by so many miracles and wherefore did Demas leave St. Paul and Christ's Gospel It was because he loved too much this present World In short our own experience confirms to us the saying of our Saviour No man can serve two Masters for he will hate the one and love the other or he will cleave to the one and despise the other you cannot serve God and Mammon 21. Consider that if these worldly Goods and Honors don't produce in us these woful and lamentable effects they produce them in our posterity many would live happier in the World and be honester Men if their Parents had not left them so much Riches and so many Honors to possess Their Riches and Honors therefore do occasion many evils and oft-times they cast them headlong into several debaucheries and insolencies it is that which fills them full of a ridiculous vanity and of an unsufferable pride that renders them hateful to God and Man In a word it is that which makes them forget God and unmindful of the Treasuries and advantages of his Kingdom Prov. 30. Therefore Agar presented this excellent Prayer unto God Give me neither poverty nor Riches feed me with food convenient for me lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain Wretched Man to what purpose dost thou labor so carefully to gather up Riches for thy Children It may be that these Riches which thou dost snatch from others or which thou dost get with the loss of thy Soul shall serve but to get Golden Calves be the substance of infamous Idols as Gideon's Gold plunder'd upon the Midianites was employed in an Ephod which became a snare to his House and to all Israel Thus it happens many times that the Goods which are gotten with the expence of much blood and sweat and the Honors unto which we climb up with so much earnestness and passion become snares to our posterity they cast them headlong in an Abysse of misery 22. I should not forget that death is a kind of sleep therefore in Holy Scripture to dye and to fall asleep are to be understood in the same sence now as we cannot conveniently fall asleep unless we set aside and forget all the troublesome affairs of the World Likewise it is altogether impossible to dye comfortably and peaceably if we don't banish out of our hearts betimes all the foolish fancies that disturb us and all the cutting cares that undermine and consume us 23. To this purpose profane History tells us of a remarkable passage of Cyneas a great Minister of State to Pyrrhus King of Epirus That when he saw his Master so busy in raising of an Army to march against the Romans he began to argue with him in this manner Sir If it please God to grant you the victory over the Romans how will you employ your self next The
glorify their Creator and advance his Kingdom When this good desire is well governed it is as acceptable to God as a sweet smelling Sacrifice This was David's earnest desire in the 119 Psalm Let my Soul live that it may praise thee This Holy Zeal forced so many bitter Tears from King Hezekiah in his sickness and caused him to intreat most earnestly to live yet longer in the World This Wise and Religious Prince did well foresee the fearful Evils the grievous Confusion and the abominable Idolatry that was likely to succeed after his Death in the Kingdom of Judea He was therefore very desirous to glorify God on Earth and to accomplish the Reformation which he had begun He desired to have Children whom he might teach to fear God with all their heart and to serve him according to his Holy and Divine Will that he might cause Piety to continue in his House and Royal Family he discovers this Holy desire in his Divine Hymn which he sung unto God after his miraculous recovery Behold for Peace I had great bitterness but thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back for the Grave cannot praise thee Is 38. Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy Truth the living he shall praise thee as I do this day the Father to the Children shall make known thy Truth The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my Songs to the stringed Instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. We find the same earnest desire in St. Paul for when he looks upon himself and upon the miseries that attend upon him on Earth and lifts up his Eyes to see the Heavenly Bliss that waits for him above he desires to depart out of this earthly Tabernacle and to be with Christ and acknowledgeth that it would be his great advantage but when he looks upon the Church of Christ his desire of the Salvation and instruction of his Brethren causeth him to prefer their Comfort to his own Happiness and Joy It is saith he more expedient for you that I remain in the Flesh and I know for certain that I shall abide and remain with you for your advantage and the joy of your faith This desire of Life with an intent of Glorifying God is Good and Holy but it is no easy task to keep it within its just and lawful bounds for very often it becomes vicious when it is stirr'd up by a fond love of our own persons which makes us so loth to dye For example when a great Prince animated with an Heroical Vertue is engaged in a War for the preservation of his Subjects and for the delivery of many afflicted People from oppression and Tyranny if God blesseth his Armies and causeth his Glorious designes to succeed he will not be well pleased if Death at that instant offers to cross him to break in pieces his victorious Arm to put an end to his Conquests and to cast his Crown to the ground he may justly complain in this manner Must I now leave off such a noble and a brave Designe must I here stop in the midst of such a glorious Race and must Death bury with my Body the expectations of so many good Men I am afraid that all my labors will vanish away with my breath I have just cause to fear that my fall will draw after me the destruction of many poor People that depend upon me I fear that oppression and Tyranny will resume fresh Spirits and a greater Boldness and prove for the future more grievous and unfufferable O cruel and inhumane Death by taking away my Life thou bringest my Friends to Execution and the Arrows that thou stickest in my Heart do pierce the Souls of many innocent People Likewise he that is promoted to be the King's Vicegerent in a Province or to be a Governor of a rich Countrey and an important Place may be grieved because Death snatcheth him away in the middle of all his business especially if it be in troublesome times and if he sees none of a sufficient ability to succeed him Must I will such an one say Must I quit so soon this Glorious employment Must I so quickly leave my Prince's service and forsake so many poor People as a Flock without a Shepheard Death how hateful and odious art thou Thou delightest to bring all things into confusion and trouble Thus a brave General of a victorious Army who being full of Courage manageth a successful War for the Honor of his Prince and the advantage of his Countrey cannot but complain against Death when it comes to subdue him before he hath totally subdued and overcome his Enemies especially if the times be so unhappy that none is able to undertake that employment after him he will be ready to break forth into complaints Must I leave off so many Glorious designs Must I forsake my most faithful Soldiers and abandon them to the mercy of their Enemies or to the capricious humour of an unexperienced Successor O Death full of envy wilt thou pluck out of my hands so soon this conquering Sword and cut off with one blow of thy Sithe so many great expectations In the same manner he that sits in the most Honourable seats of Judicature as a Judge a President or a Counsellor or any other chief Magistrate will doubtless mourn if Death seizeth upon him in the flower of his age especially if he fears that after him corrupt Men will succeed who may be likened to whitened Walls Must I will he say leave so soon this noble Office in which I took so much delight O inconsiderate Death why dost thou not suffer me to wear my Purple until such time as I shall be weary to bear it Why dost thou not permit me to sit here upon this magnificent Seat until I tumble off with old Age Likewise a faithful Minister of the Gospel when he perceives the work of the Lord to prosper in his hands Satan falls from Heaven by his means as a Lightning and Dagon to be brought upon his Face to the ground may justly wonder at Death's approaches and speak in this manner Must I so soon quit the duties of this Holy Function in which I took my greatest delight Must I break off from this Sacred Work by which I did advance so happily the Glory of God I am afraid that when I am gone ravening Wolves will enter into the Lord's Flock and a terrible night of ignorance will involve our posterity Thus a Father of a Family who passionately loves his Wife and Children shall never see death but shall feel all his Bowels move and his Heart tormented with grief he will sigh out such expressions as these Must I forsake a poor forlorn Wife swimming in Tears Must I leave my tender-hearted Parents who found my life a comfort and will find my
When thou shouldest speak with a Divine Tongue and with an Heavenly Wisdom thou mayest have good cause to cry out Who hath believed our report and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed Isai 5. John 12. In short as the Rivers of fresh Water that run continually into the Sea derive not from thence their natural bitterness thus thy good and Holy Life thy Learned and excellent Sermons will not be able to remove the corruptions of this present evil Age nor stop the Torrent and hinder the overflowings of Vice for thy labor and industry if compared with the corruption of the World are as unconsiderable as a few drops of water in comparison of the Ocean This cursed Earth may be watered with thy Sweat and Tears it will nevertheless bring forth nothing but Bryars and Thistles the Weeds which thou thinkest to pluck up will tear thy Skin and draw bloud out of thy Hands In short he that plants is nothing nor he that watereth but it is God who giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3. It is justly to be feared that in staying any longer time in this corrupt and unwholsome Air thou mayest receive some evil impressions from the general contagion It is to be feared that thou mayest sully thy pure Hands by handling so many Wounds and Sores and that the Thorns of this cursed Earth may pluck off the Wooll of thine harmless and innocent life But when thou shouldest have a thousand times more Gifts and Graces and that thy labors should bring far greater advantages and profit to Christ's Church it belongs not to thee to give Laws unto thy God but to follow the motion of his Will Leave to him the chief care of his own Houshold and rest upon his Eternal Providence He hath more right in the Church than thou canst pretend to for he hath created it by his Power and redeem'd it by his precious Bloud He that cares not for his own especially for those of his Family hath denied the Faith and is worse than an Infidel and can God who is Faithfulness it self and the very Being of Truth God who cannot deny himself and whose Gifts and Calling are without Repentance Rom. 12. Can such a God cast off all care of his Church of that Church which he embraceth with an Eternal Love and cherisheth as the apple of his Eye Jer. 31. This Father of Mercies who hath not spared his own Son but hath delivered him to dye for his Church how should not he with him freely give her all things Rom. 8. He understands better than thou and all the men of the World what is proper and advantageous for this Holy Congregation and for every member that composes it He knows how to provide for all its wants for his Wisdom is infinite and his Providence is most wonderful When this great God hath a designe to plague his Enemies and to declare his justice he hath always fit Agents ready and his Quiver full of Arrows As soon as he commands the Holy Angels that wait before him to cast their Sicles into the Earth and to reap or pour down the Viols of his wrath these Holy Spirits fly with an unspeakable swiftness to perform his Sacred Pleasure Revel 14 16. Likewise when he intends to do good to his Chosen he finds in every place the Heralds of his Mercy and his Divine hand is always full of Blessings As the Main Ocean of his wonderful Riches can never become dry Likewise the Channels by which he conveys them to us shall never fail The cause of thy complaints should serve to appease thy Grief nourish thy Faith and increase thy Hopes for if thou art graced with extraordinary Gifts this proceeds neither from thy Nature nor thine Industry but God's Favour and Bounty Now thou mayest be assured that his hand is not shortened his great Power is not lessened the Well-spring of all his Blessings and Wonders is not stopt nor dryed up Is 49. He that sends a desired whiteness the prognostick of an approaching harvest to the spacious Fields John 4. He sends also into his Spiritual Harvest Laborers when he sees it convenient In this latter Age and in this decay of the World as well as in the first appearance of his Church Luk 10. he finds Men to work in his Vineyard or rather he forms and fashions them with the hand of his Grace and enables them by his Holy Spirit for he gives the Mouth and the Tongue he makes deaf dumb blind and restores the eye-sight he calls things that are not as if they were Matth. 20. Exod. 4. Rom. 4. When he designes for himself a Tabernacle he calls by name a Bezaleel and fills him with his Spirit of Wisdom of Understanding and knowledge in all manner of Workmanship Exod. 31. When he resolves to deliver the Children of Israel from their Babylonish Captivity and to build the Temple of Jerusalem he hath at his Command Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes Acts 14. He stirs up Zerobabels Esdras and Nehemiahs Likewise when he intends to repair the breaches of his House and to increase the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour he makes Servants and fit Agents and bestows upon them sufficient Graces for such a noble Work Psal 8. Mat. 21. As he hath never left himself without witness in doing good thus he hath never been without witnesses to declare his Sacred Truth Luk 19. By the mouth of Babes he perfects his praise and as our Saviour told the Jews If these held their peace the stones would cry out Luk 19. God will rather pluck the Pillars of the Idols Temples to prop up his Church rather than to suffer it to fall down he will change the Wolves into Lambs and the Lambs into Shepheards rather than that his Sheep should want their necessary Pasture He chooseth the feeble things of this World to confound the strong the despicable and such as are not to destroy such as are 1 Cor. 9. Thus God never leaves his Church without some testimony of his favour some powerful instrument of his Grace but many times it happens that when he removes one good thing from us he bestows upon us something more rare and excellent This consideration glads the Heart of Joseph upon his Death-bed as appears by what he said to his Brethren I am going to dye but God will not fail to visit you and cause you to go up from hence into the Land that he swore unto Abraham Isaac and Jacob Gen. 50. For instead of a Joseph who had occasioned their Bondage God raised up a Moses who deliver'd them with a mighty hand and a stretched-out Arm 2 Kings 2. Thus God took up Elijah with a Chariot of Fire but he gave unto Elisha a double portion of his Masters Spirit and caused his Glorious Miracles to appear with greater admiration Likewise our Lord and Saviour when he had finished the great work of our Redemption he ascended up into Heaven A Cloud conveying him
that I may labor to attain unto it with transports of joy so that I may say with the Prophet David My Soul shall be satisfied as with Marrow and Fatness and my Mouth shall praise thee with joyful Lips when I remember thee upon my Bed and meditate on thee in the night Watches My Sickness seems very tedious but alas Lord my Sins have continued longer and all this pain that afflicts me and forceth from me so many sighs is nothing in comparison of the advantages and happiness that waits for me in Heaven When the whole course of my life should be a continual languishing it is but a moment in respect of Eternity And this moment of affliction produceth in us a weight of Eternal Glory that excels all things else O Lord Let the distempers and pains of my Body turn to the health of my Soul and a powerful obligation to the Practice of Piety and of all Christian Vertues Let me learn thereby to renounce the World and deny my self and to cast my self wholly into thy Divine Hands and submit my self to thy Holy Will As Jesus Christ is gain to me whether I live or whether I dye give me Grace to be ready to praise and glorify thy Mercy both in Life or Death If it be thy pleasure to spare me my life O that I may live more circumspectly than ever I have done in the fear and obedience of thy Sacred Commandements and as St. Peter's Wives Mother rose up from her Bed of Sickness to serve our Lord Jesus if thou freest me from my plague let me rise out of thy Couch to glorify and serve thee until the last moment of my life But if thou art pleased to call me out of the world here I am O God ready to do thy Will and obey thee without the least resistance for my Soul is already separated from this languishing Carkass and resolved to follow thee It is not grieved to see this wretched Body weakened and crazy as an Habit worn out because thou hast prepared for it a Garment of immortal Colours It is not vexed because this earthly Tabernacle decays for it hath a more lasting Dwelling in Heaven whereof thou hast been the Builder I have long looked upon this Couch as a representation of my Grave where I shall shortly lye down to take my last repose I have long expected Death that will break in pieces the last link of this chain of Misery to put a period to all my pains and grievance to take me out of this woful and rotten Lodge that falls to pieces to introduce me into a Glorious Palace of immortality where thy Divine Majesty dwels and where I shall for ever Glorify thee with the thousands of Angels and with all the sanctified Souls Amen A Prayer and Meditation for a sick Person tormented with grievous pains O Father of Mercies and God of all Comfort have pity upon me thou knowest that I am vexed with fearful pains that disturb my Mind and torment my Body thine Arrows run through me on every side and my Soul hath its fill of bitterness Thy wrath hath torn me to pieces and thou seemest to have set thy self against me One depth calls for another At thy Command the Waves and Flouds have passed over my head Thou hast given me many days of affliction and nights of torment I am like a person breaking upon a wheel or burning in hot flames I feel a fire that consumes me as a Worm that gnaws and darts that pierce through my Heart Sure my sins must be abominable and grievous seeing thou infflictest this great punishment upon me for thou art Mercy it self and it is not willingly that thou afflictest the Sons of Men. O good God consider what thou art and what I am wilt thou stretch forth thine invincible Arm against the Leaf that the wind tosseth up and down wilt thou declare the fierceness of thine Eternal displeasure against Chaff and Stubble wilt thou let fly all thine Arrows against a wretched Worm of the Earth and wilt thou cast out all thy Thunderbolts against a little Dust O Great God I am not a worthy Object of thy wrath against which thou shouldest kindle all thy displeasure Remember that I am but flesh a Wind that passeth away and returneth not again but rather remember Lord that I am thy Child and that thou hast redeemed me with the Bloud of thine only Son O my God it is not possible for me to withold my complaints suppress my groans and to dry up this torrent of Tears my Soul is wearied out with this languishing life or rather with this unmerciful Death for is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow Is there any torture or pain like unto my torment When the Prophet Jonas saw a little Goard withered that afforded him before a favourable shelter and shadow from the Sun-beams when he felt them beating hot upon his Head he cried out Death is better to me than life How much more cause have I to speak in this manner I of whom the strengh is withered as the parched Ground in the midst of Summer I who feel a Fire in my Bones and an Heat in my Bowels that burns and consumes me by day and by night Shall not thine Almighty and Merciful Hand that hath freed me from Hell take me out also of this deep Abysse of Misery Thou who deliverest thy Children from the burning Furnace wilt thou not quench the fury of this Flame that devours me O Lord shut up my Lips and let there come out nothing repugnant to that respect that I owe to thy Divine Majesty To thee Great God belongs Justice but to me shame and confusion of face when thou shouldest cause me to endure a thousand Plagues and Torments more if this poor Body were able to suffer them and when thou shouldest cast me irrecoverably into the Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone I should have no cause to complain of thy severity It is true my pains are great but they are nothing in comparison of my sins and offences my torments are violent but they are not to be compared with my Saviours bitter sufferings with that cold sweat and those drops of Bloud that fell from his precious Body My affliction is unmerciful but it is not to be compared with the Glory that shall be revealed in them that worship thee and persevere to the end in an obedience to thy Holy Will When thou shouldest kill me Lord yet would I hope in thee for thou afflictest me that I might not perish for ever with the rest of the World Thou causest my Body to be destroyed that my Soul might be saved Bruise me Lord and crush me to pieces so that I may become some of thy precious Wheat Cut and burn me in this momentary Life so that thou wilt be favourable to me in the life to come Cause this bitter cup to pass from me that I may not drink up all its dregs Nevertheless
instant be ready to say with all my heart I commend into thine hands my Spirit for thou hast redeemed it thou who art the strong and faithful God Amen CHAP. 16. The Fourth Consolation against the Fears of Death is to Meditate often upon our Lord Jesus Christ as he did lie in his Tomb. MAn doth naturally abhor and hate the sight of Graves some there are that cannot pass by a Church yard without expressing a distaste and secret displeasure not only such as make their abode in glorious Palaces and stately Dwellings but also such as reside in poor Huts or in pitiful Cabins such as are shut up in black Dungeons or exposed to the injury of the weather who have no other covering then the Sky can ever think upon Death without fear when they are to think that this Body must go into the Bowels of the Earth and lie down in a stinking and noisome Grave If ye will banish from your Minds this dangerous apprehension and these needless fears we must consider seriously with a religious application of our minds That we must never abhor the Earth because our Bodies have been made of Earth it hath been as it were the Mother that brings us forth We must also consider that it is the order of nature that all composed Bodies should return at their dissolution every part to its first principle therefore as the Soul mounts up to its first source and returns to God that gave it likewise it is no wonder if the Body returns to Dust because it proceeds from Dust and God hath pronounced a just Sentence in the earthly Paradise which shall never be revoked dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Gen. 3. Nicodemus inquired of our Lord Jesus Christ How can a Man be born when he is old can he enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born John 3. This ridiculous and unprobable conceit is proved in a manner to be true in this occasion for we must enter again into the Womb of the Earth our common Mother that we might be Born again and pass into another Life It is not amiss to consider often the notable instances and excellent representations of our Death which St. Paul mentions in the 15 Chap. of the first Epistle to the Corinth for our Bodies are as the Seed which is cast into the Earth that it might bring forth O fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye It cannot flourish untill it rots The Students of Nature inform us that the generation of one thing is the corruption of another In this occasion we may say that the corruption and dissolution of this wretched Body is the means and way that leads to a more glorious Generation You that weep for the decease of your Friends and Kindred when you see them laid in their Graves remember what David saith They that sow in tears shall reap with songs of Joy Psalm 126. Consider that Death is the way of all flesh and the Grave is the last retreat which God hath appointed for all living so that if we be loath to enter into the Tomb we must desire Almighty God to grant us a Lodging by our selves to change the common course of nature or to create for us another World Now the Grave is not only the general Rendezvous of all Mankind but it is a Couch where they rest after this laborious and painful race therefore when the Prophet Isaiah speaks of the Death of good Men he saith They enter into peace they rest in their Beds Is 57. For when he looks to the blessed estate of their Souls he tells us that they are entred into that great and eternal Peace that raigns in Heaven but when he casts an eye upon their Bodies he saith that they rest in their Beds For this cause the places appointed to bury the Dead are named sleeping places by the Greeks to teach us that there they are fallen asleep in expectation of the great Morne when God shall send to awaken them with the sound of the Archangels Trumpet Therefore when Jacob was ready to give up the Ghost he commanded his Son Joseph not to bury him in Egypt that he might sleep with his Fathers Gen. 47. Likewise Job speaks in the same manner I shall sleep in the Dust of the Earth Job 7. And God held this Language unto Moses Thou art going to sleep with thy Fathers Deut. 31. and to David when thy days be fulfilled thou shalt sleep with thy Fathers 2 Sam. 7. And when the Prophet Daniel speaks of such as were deceased since the Creation of the World he saith They sleep in the dust of the Earth Dan. 12. Especially take notice Christian Souls that when God spoke to Moset from the midst of the burning bush he told him I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod. 4. they had been dead many Ages before nevertheless God names himself their God Now God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living Mat. 22. Those holy Men were not Dead in regard of their Souls because they were Immortal and God had admitted them into Eternal Bliss Their Bodies also to speak properly were not Dead but slept in their Graves as our Sâ—viour said of Jairus's Daughter The Damsel is not Dead but Sleepeth Mat. 9. and of Lazarus Lazarus our friend Sleepeth John 11. Moreover we may justly â—â—y that the Estate of our Bodies in the Grave is better and more pleasant then our daily sleep for when we rest in our Beds we be often disturbed in our fancy we labour and sweat and the richest and most magnificent Couches are not free from this evil whereas in our Graves our Bodies are at rest and secure from all sense of pain so that they enjoy a perfect Sleep and a rest without disturbance The greatest Princes and the proudest Monarchs are constrained to take up their Lodging one after another here in this House which God hath prepared for all living and to repose themselves in that Couch which is to receive all the Sons of Adam When the Sacred History gives an Account of the Kings of Judea and of Israel it adds at the end of their Life He slept with his Fathers Let us be never so wretched poor and miserable we shall all be entertained in this dwelling of Kings and lay our selves down upon their Beds therefore when Job through the grieveousness of his pain complained because he had not Dyed immediately after his Birth he saith for now should I have lain still and been quiet I should have slept then had I been at rest with Kings and Councellors of the Earth which built desolate places for themselves or with Princes that had Gold who filled their Houses with Silver It is in this House and upon this Couch that the Patriarcks Prophets Apostles Evangelists Martyrs and generally all the Faithful do rest who have lived in all the Ages of the World
be reduc'd to nothing its qualities shall be changed and it may be its form shall be altered but its substance and matter shall continue always the same for First As God hath created the World for his own Glory he cannot be disappointed of the intent of his Creation And because this world hath not glorified him as it ought he will put it into a condition proper to glorify him according to that purpose for which he drew it out of nothing Secondly Seeing that this World was created to serve Man as a Looking-Glass to behold the Eternal Power of God and that this beautiful Looking-Glass hath been spotted and sullied by sin It is yet possible to cleanse it and make it brighter that it might represent its Creator better and shew forth a more perfect Image of his Divine Majesty Thirdly Seeing that God doth nothing in vain there is no likelyhood that he should destroy the World totally and reduce the primitive Matter to nothing from whence it is drawn to create new Matter because he is able of this old Matter to make a new Earth and new Heaven as pure and undefiled as if the Matter had been newly created Fourthly Sin hath spoiled and disfigured the Works of the Creation but it hath not touched neither the first Matter nor its Being so that God can take away this defilement and remove the deformity without touching the Matter which of it self is innocent and harmless In Man the little World and the compendium of the great I find a beautiful and perfect Image of that which God shall do with the whole World God intends not to destroy the substance of our Souls but only to purge them from all vicious qualities and beautify them with Righteousness and true Holiness so that they shall be as the Angels of Heaven Likewise he intends not to destroy the substance of our Bodies but he will free them from corruption from death and cloath them with Glory and Immortality so that this vile Body shall be rendred conformable to the glorious Body of the Son of God and shall shine as the Sun Likewise God will not altogether destroy the World and abolish its substance but he will rectify all its imperfections and add to it a greater Glory If it be lawful for me to discover here all my thoughts I must say that I put a great difference between Heaven and Earth for the Earth is altogether corrupt and spoiled with sin it is the Earth especially that groans under the burden of so many iniquities which reign in it but if Heaven is guilty of any crime it is because it hath given Light to such as have been Rebels against the Divine Majesty and assisted the cursed Earth by its Gracious and continual influences Because of this great difference it is my opinion that the Earth shall be destroyed by Fire and that all its beautiful Buildings and proud Palaces shall be turned into Ashes but the change which shall happen in Heaven shall only be to make it more beautiful and brighter that Children of God might have there a more Glorious Palace This seems to have been typified in the ceremonial Law for as we have already observed speaking of that which shall happen to the Soul and Body that when an Earthen Vessel was defiled it was to be broken to pieces but such Vessels as were of a more precious Metal as of Brass of Silver or of Gold were to be purified with Fire Likewise the Earth with all its works shall pass through the Flames so that it shall loose its present shape and qualities But Heaven that is as Brass or rather as fine Silver shall only he purified by the Fire of the last Judgement If you remove the cause you take away also the effect if you remove away sin you also remove its punishment Now it is because of Man's sin that the World hath and shall see so great a change Therefore as God by his infinite Mercy hath forgiven Man's sin it is also to be expected from the same Mercy that he will not totally destroy the World but that he will rather free it from corruption unto which our sins had enthral'd it Unless God deals in this manner our Joy and Comfort cannot be accomplished and God will not appear perfectly satisfied While a Subject continues in rebellion and in the displeasure of his Prince not only his person is pursued and punished but all that belongs to him bears the marks of the wrath and indignation of the Prince whom he hath offended his dwelling House is commonly pulled down his Woods are cut and mangled and his Inheritance is destroyed but when his Peace is concluded and his pardon granted his houses are built up again al signs of the King's displeasure are taken away and every thing appears with a more pleasant countenance likewise because of our Rebellion and our Treason against God he hath punished the World for our sakes and hath made it sensible of his wrath But now that our peace is made or rather God having made peace by the blood of his Son we may justly expect that he will remove all signs of his displeasure and revenge I remember upon this subject what David saith to God when he saw the Angels destroying Jerusalem I have sinned and I have done wickedly but these Sheep what have they done 2 Sam. 24. In the same manner every Believer may say unto God Lo I have sinned O Lord I and my Brethren have done wickedly but these inaminate Creatures what have they done our sins have defiled the Earth and all things that may be objected against Heaven it is to have yielded Light and assistance to us Rebels Seeing therefore that thou hast blotted out our Sins and pardoned our Rebellions spare these harmless Creatures which are punished only for our sakes At present we can find no difficulty to understand the forementioned passages of holy Scripture and such as tend to the same purpose For when David and St. Paul assure us That the Heavens shall perish that they shall be changed as a garment I answer that they shall perish in respect of their qualities and not of their substance and that the change shall not be as when one Garment is cast off and another is taken but as when the spots and blemishes of an old Garment are taken away and it becomes fresher When your cloathing is grown old and worn out if it were in your power to make it become new again and as fresh as ever it was you should never dream of seeking for new Stuffe That which is impossible to Men is possible with God Luke 6. And when our Saviour in St. Mathew's Gospel saith That the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away I might say that these words are to be understood comparatively that is to say that the Heavens and the Earth shall pass away rather then that the words of God should fail of
end Therefore the World shall for ever and ever bear the signs of it The Ornaments which it shall receive in this joyful day shall never be taken away and the Celestial fires of gladness shall never go out Although it is my opinion that the World shall never be totally Destroyed but that it shall become more beautiful and glorious than before I shall not undertake to give you a description of its several parts nor to tell you how it shall be employed for example I shall not determine whether we are to understand our Saviours words in the Gospel literally That the Sun shall become Dark that the Moon shall not give its Light and that the Stars shall fall from Heaven or whether these Heavenly Bodies shall still continue whether they shall be decked with a new Light and Glory and to what purpose they shall serve for then we shall be enlightned with a greater Light then that of all the Heavenly Bodies I shall only propose two Things First That as in the humane Body there are some Members which at present are useful but then they shall only be for Ornament and Beauty Likewise in the great World there are many needful things which shall then be of no use nevertheless they shall be preserved for the Beauty and Perfection of the World Secondly That as Man the little World shall then be more Beautiful and Perfect then when God first Created him likewise this great World shall receive more Beauty more Ornaments and Perfection then when God drew it out of its first Chaos As much difference as there is between the second Adam and the first between the Heavenly Paradice and the Earthly so much there shall be between the first and second World So that we shall have good cause to say of this great Palace which is to be destroyed and reared up again by the Almighty hand of God as the Holy Prophets said of Solomons Temple which we have already applied to our glorified Bodies The glory of this second House shall be greater than the glory of the first Some inquire whether we shall know one another in this State of Eternal Glory and happiness I mean whether the Subject shall know his Prince and King whether the Sheep shall know their Shepheard and the Shepheard his Sheep whether the Father shall know his Son the Son the Father the Husband his Wife and the Wife her Husband and so forth Although this question is of the number of such as are more curious then needful to be known nevertheless a reply seems to bring with it some kind of comfort and satisfaction I should judge that this Treatise should not be perfect if I did not say something to this matter but what I shall say shall be with the same moderation and reservedness as I have expressed in answering to the former questions for although what I shall speak seems to me very plain and without any difficulty others may have different thoughts without any prejudice to their Salvation However I may establish for an infallible Truth That the Glory of Heaven as well as Grace shall bring Nature to perfection but shall not destroy it it shall add to it other excellencies but shall not take away those that it hath already It shall not abolish any of the Faculties but it shall beautifie and enrich them with new Ornaments Therefore by consequence it shall not take away our Memory which is one of the rarest gifts and abilities of the reasonable Soul I confess that it is said That the former things shall be remembred no more and that they shall come no more into our mind But this is to be understood of the evils and calamities of this present life And we are not to understand the words so that to speak plainly we shall totally forget all the former evils and miseries and that we shall not remember to have undergone them St. John saith the contrary when he represents the Angel opening the fifth Seal that he saw under the Golden Altar which was before the Throne of God the Souls of them who had been Martyred for the Word of God and for the Testimony of the Truth crying out with a loud voice How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not judge and revenge our Blood upon the Inhabitants of the Earth It is true these words may be understood in a figurative sense as when God said unto Cain The voice of thy Brothers Bloodcries from the Earth unto me and as St. Paul saith That the Blood of Jesus Christ speaks better things than the Blood of Abel However from hence we may conclude that the remembrance of all the Miseries and Evils which we have endured in this Life is not repugnant to our future estate of glory This remembrance is so far from prejudicing our felicity that on the contrary it shall increase and inlarge it so that it shall cause it to appear sweeter and more pleasant When the Prophet saith That the former things shall be remembered no more that they shall never come to mind he understands that the former evils shall never be felt and that we shall be for ever sheltered from all Misery and Misfortunes I cannot express this by a nobler and more proper example then that of Joseph when he went out of Prison to take into his hands the Government of Egypt and that he had strengthened himself by a rich Alliance in Marriage he named his eldest Son Manasseth which signifies forgetfulness or forgetful for he said God hath made me forget all my labor and my Fathers House Although this holy Manhd not forgotten altogether all those things for he knew afterwards his Brethren and told them of the mischief which they had intended against him and which God had turned to good But he spoke in this manner because God had changed his Misery and imprisonment into glory and honour In this sense we are to understand these words The former things shall be remembred no more because instead of the Evils and Miseries which we endure here below we shall enter into an Eternal Glory and Happiness The Prophet expounds himself sufficiently in the next words for when he had said The former things shall not be remembred nor come into mind he adds immediately after be you glad and rejoyce in that which I Create The Holy Ghost confirms us in this interpretation in another place by these words All Tears shall be wiped off from our eyes there shall be no more sorrow nor crying nor pain but eternal Joy and Gladness shall be upon our heads Seeing God intends not to destroy those gifts and abilities which he hath bestowed upon us in this Life much less shall he abolish our knowledge which is one of the brightest Beams of his Glory This knowledge shall be so far from diminishing or decaying that it shall then increase more and more until it comes to the highest perfection and glory As the Air looseth nothing of its twilight
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