its best take such pleasure as may here be had and feed on that where a sensual mind hath less discouragement Whereas if Death did not stand in the way and darken Heaven to us and turn back our desires how easily should we get above thesâ— trifles and perceive the vanity of all below and how unworthy they are to be once regarded 8. Moreover it is much long of this last Enemy that God is so dishonoured by the Fears and droopings of believers They are but imperfectly yet freed from this bondage and accordingly they walk Whereas if the King of terrors were removed we should have less of Fear and more of Love as living more in the sight and sense of Love And then we should glorifie the God of Love and appear to the world as men of another world and shew them the faith and hope of Saints in the heavenly chearfulness of our lives and no more dishonour the Lord and our profession by our uncomfortable despondencies as we do 9. Moreover it is much long of this last Enemy that many true Christians cannot perceive their own sincerity but are overwhelmd with doubts and troublesome fears lest they have not the faith and hope of Saints and lest the Love of God abide not in them and lest their hearts are more on earth then Heaven When they find themselves afraid of dying and to have dark amazing thoughts about eternity and to think with less trouble and fear of earth then of the life to come this makes them think that they are yet but worldlings and have not placed their happiness with God when perhaps it is but the fear of death that causeth these unjust conclusions Christian I shall tell thee more anon that God may be truly loved and desired by thee and Heaven may be much more valued then Earth and yet the natural fears of death that standeth in thy way may much perplex thee make thee think that thou art averse from God when indeed thou art but averse from Death because yet this Enemy is not overcome 10. Lastly this Enemy is not the smallest cause of many of our particular sins and of the apostacie of many hypocritâ—s Indeeed it is one of the strongest of our temptations Before man sinned none could take away his life but God and God would not have done it for any thing but sin So that man had no temptation from the malice of enemies or the pride of Conquerours or the fury of the passionate or the power of Tyrants to be afraid of death and to use any unlawfull means to scape it An avoidable dâ—ath from the hand of God he was obliged moderately to fear that is to be afraid of sinning lest he die else God would not have threatened him if he would not have had him make use of a preventing fear But now we have an unavoidable death to fear and also an untimely death from the hand of man by Gods permission And the fear of these is a powerfull temptation Otherwise Abraham would not have distrustfully equivocated as he did to save his life Gen. 20.11 and Isaac after him do the same when he sojourned in the same place Gen. 26.7 If the fear of Death were not a strong temptation Peter would not have thrice denyed Christ and that after so late a warning and engagement nor would all his Disciples have forsaken him and fled Matth. 26.56 Nor would Martyrs have a special reward nor would Christ have been put to call upon his Disciples that they Fear not them that can kill the body Luke 12.4 and to declare to men the necessity of self-deniall in this point of Life and that none can be his Disciple that loves his Life before him Matth. 16.39 Luke 14.26 He is a Christian indeed that so Loveth God that he will not sin to save his Life But what is it that an hypocrite will not do to escape Death He will equivocate and forswear himself with the Jesuite and Familist He will forsake not only his dearest friend but Christ also and his Conscience What a multitude of the most haynous sins are daily committed through the fears of death Thousands where the Inquisition ruleth are kept in Popery by it And thousands are kept in Mahometanism by it Thousands are drawn by it to betray their Countries to deny the truth to betray the Church and cause of Christ and finally to betray their souls unto perdition some of them presume to deny Christ wilfully because that Peter had pardon that denyed him through surprize and through infirmity But they will not Repent with Peter and die for him after their repentance He that hath the power of an Hypocrites life may prescribe him what he shall bâ—lieve and do may write him down the Rule of his Religion and tell him what changes he shall make what oaths he shall take what party he shall side with and command hâ—m so many sins a day as you make your horse go so many miles Satan no doubt had much experience of the power of this temptation when he boasted so confidently of it against Job 2.4 Skin for skin and all that a man hath he will give for his life And its true no doubt of those that love nothing better then their lives Satan thought that the fear of Death would make a man do any thing And of too many he may boldly make this boast Let me but have power of their Lives and I will make them say any thing and swear any thing and be for any cause or party and do any thing against God or man When lessâ—r matters can do so much as common sad experience sheweth us no wonder if the fear of death can do it In brief you may see by what is said that Death is become an Enemy to our Souls by being first the Enemy of our Natures The Interest of our Bodies works much on our Souls much more the Interest of the whole man The principle of self-love was planted in Nature in order to self-preservation and the government of the world Nature doth necessarily abhor its own destruction And therefore this destruction standing in the way is become an exceeding great hindrance to our affections which takâ—s them off from the life to come 1. It is a very great hindrance to the Conversion of those that are yet carnal imprisoned in their unbelief It is hard to win their hearts to such a state of Hapâ—inâ—ss that cannot be obtained but by yielding unto death 2. And to the truly godly it is naturally an impediment and a great temptation in the points before expressed And though it prevail not against them it exceedingly hindereth them And thus I have shewed you that Death is an Enemy further then I doubt the most consider of If the unbeliever shall here tell me that Death is not the fruit of sin but natural to man though he had never sinned and therefore that I lay all this on God I answer him that
all this Enmity in Death we may see what it is that sin hath done and consequently how vile and odious it is and how we should esteem and use it Sin hath not only forfeited our Happiness but laid those impediments in the way of our recovery which will find us work and cause our danger and sorrow while we live And Death is not the least of these impediments O foolish man that still will love such a mortal Enemy If another would rob them but of a groat or defame them or deprive them of any accommodation how easily can they hate them and how hardly are they reconciled to them But sin depriveth them of their lives and separates the soul and body asunder and forfeiteth their everlasting happiness and sets death betwixt them and the Glory that is purchased by Christ and yet they love it and will not leave it Though God have made them and do sustain them and provide for them and all their hope and help is in him they are not so easily drawn to love him And yet they can love the sin that would undo them Though Christ would deliver them and bring them to everlasting blessedness and hath assumed flesh and laid down his life to testifie his Love to them yet are they not easily brought to love him but the sin that made them enemies to God and hath brought them so near to everlasting misery this they can love that deserves no love A Minister or other friend that would draw them from their sin to God and help to save them they quarrell against as if he were their enemy but their foolish companions that can laugh and jest with them at the door of Hell and clap them on the back and drive away the care of their salvation and harden them against the fear of God these are the only acceptable men to them O Christians leave this folly to the world and do you judge of sin by its sad effects You feel if you have any feeling in you in some measure what it hath done against your Souls the weakness of your faith and love the distance of your hearts from God your doubts and troubles tell you that it is not your friend You must shortly know what it will do to your bodies As it keeps them in pain and weariness and weakness so it will ere long deliver them up to the jaws of death which will spare them no more then the beasts that perish Had it not been for sin we should have had no cause to fear a dissolution nor have had any use for a coffin or a winding-sheet nor been beholden to a grave to hide our carkesses from the sight and smell of the living But as Henoch and Elias were translated when they had walked with God even so should we as those shall that are alive and remain at the coming of Christ shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall they ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 Use sin therefore as it will use you Spare it not for it will not spare you It is your murderer and the murderer of the world Use it therefore as a murderer should be used Kill it before it kills you and then though it kill your bodies it shall not be able to kill your souls and though it bring you to the grave as it did your Head it shall not be able to keep you there If the thoughts of death and the grave and rottenness be not pleasant to you let not the thoughts of sin be pleasant Hearken to every temptation to sin as you would hearken to a temptation to self-murder And as you would do if the Devill brought you a knife and tempted you to cut your throat with it so do when he offereth you the bait of sin You love not Death Love not the cause of Death Be ashamed to stand weeping over a buried friend and never to weep over a sinning or ungodly friend nor once to give them a compassionate earnest exhortation to save their Souls Is it nothing to be dead in sins and trespasses Ephes 2.1 5. Col. 2.13 Yea it is a worse Death then this that is the wages of sin and the fruit which it brings forth Rom. 6.21 23. 7.5 Surely God would never thus use mens bodies and forsake them soul and body for ever if sin were not a most odious thing what a poyson is this that kils so many millions and damneth so many millions and cannot be cured but by the blood of Christ that killed our Physitian that never casted it because he came so near to us 〈◊〉 O unbelieving stupid soâ—ls that smart and sin and groan and sin and weep and lament our bodily sufferings and yet sin still that fear a grave and fear not sin that have heard and seen and felt so much of the sad effects and yet sin still Psalm 78.32 Alas that murderers should be so common and that we should be no wiser when we have paid so dear a price for wisdom SECT V. Vse 3. FROM the Enmity of Death we may further learn that Man hath now a need of Grace for such exceeding difficulties which were not before him in his state of innocency Though Adam was able to have obeyed perfectly without sin and had Grace sufficient to have upheld him and conquered temptations if he had done his part which by that Grace he might have done yet whether that Grace was sufficient to the works that we are called to is a doubt that many have been much troubled with It is certain that he was able to have done any thing that was suitable to his present state if it were commanded him And it is certain thaâ— much that is now our duty would have been unsuitable to his state But whether it belonged to his perfection to be able and fit for such duties that were then unsuitable to him or supposition they had been suitable and duties this is the difficulty which some make use of to prove that such works cannot now be required of us without suitable help because we lost no such grace in Adam But this need not trouble us For 1. Though Adam was put on no such difficulty in particular as to encounter death yet the perfect obedience to the whole Law required a great degree of internall Habituall holiness and to determine the case whether our particular difficulties or his sinless perfect obâ—dience required greater sâ—rength and help is a matter of more difficulty then use For 2. It is but about the Degrees of Holiness in him and us and not about the Kind that the difficulty lieth For it is the same End that he was created for and disposed to by Nature and that we are redeemed for and disposed to supernaturally But yet it is worthy our observation what a difficulty sin hath cast before us in the way of life which Adam was unacquainted with that so we may see the nature
Mortality as it signifyeth a posse mori a natural capacity of dying was naturall to us in our innocency or else Death could not be threatened as a penalty And if I grant as much of a naturall disposition in the Body to a dissolution if not prevented by a Glorifying change it will no whit advantage their impious cause But withall man was then so far Immortall as that he had a posse non mori a naturall capacity of not dying and the morietur vel non morietur the actuall event of Life or Death was laid by the Lord of Life and Death upon his obedience or disobedience And man having sinned Justice must be done and so we came under a non posse non mori an impossibility of escaping death ordinarily because of the peremptory sentence of our Judge But the day of our deliverance is at hand when we shall attain a non posse mori a certain consummate Immortality when the last Enemy Death shall be destroyed And how that is done I shall next enquire SECT II. YOU have seen the ugly face of Death you are next to see a little of the Love of our great Redeemer You have heard what sin hath done you are next to hear what Grace hath done and what it will do You have seen the strength of the Enemy you are now to take notice of the victory of the Redeemer and see how he conquereth all this strength 1. The Beginning of the conquest is in this world 2. The perfection will not be till the day of Resurrection when this Last Enemy shall be destroyed 1. Meritoriously Death is conquered by Death The Death of sinners by the Mediators Death Not that he intended in his Meritorious work to save us from the stroke of death by a prevention but to deliver us from it after by a Resurrection For since by man came death by man also came the Resurrection from the dead I Cor. 15.21 Forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himsâ—lf likewise took part with them that he might destroy him through death that had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage Heb. 2.14 15. Satan as Gods Executioner and as the prosperous tempter is said to have had the power of death The fears of this dreadfull Executioner are a continuall bondage which we are lyable to through all our lives till we perceive the deliverance Which the Death of the Lord of Life hath purchased us 1. By Death Christ hath satisfied the Justice that was armed by sin against us 2. By Death he hath shewed us that Death is a tolerable Evil and to be yielded to in hope of following life 2. Actually he conquered Death by his Resurrection This was the day of Grace's triumph This day he shewed to Heaven to Hell and to Earth that Death was conquerable yea that his personal Death was actually overcome The blessed souls beheld it to their Joy beholding in the Resurrection of their Head a virtual resurrection of their own Bodies The Devils saw it and therefore saw that they had no hopes of holding the Bodies of the Saints in the power of the grave The damned souls were acquainted with it and therefore knew that their sinfull bodies must be restored to bear their part in suffering The Believing Saints on earth perceive it and therefore see that their bonds are broken and that to the righteous there is hope in death and that our Head being actually risen assureth us that we shall also Rise For if we believe that Jesus dyed and Rose again even so them also which steep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 And as Christ being raised from the dead dyeth no more death hath no more dominion over him So shall we Rise and die no more This was the beginning of the Churches Triumph This is the day that the Lord hath made even the day which the Church on Earth must celebrate with joy and praise till the day of our Resurrection We will be glad and rejoyce therein Psam 118.24 The Resurrection of our Lord hath 1. Assured us of the consummation of his satisfaction 2. Of the truth of all his Word and so of his promises of our Resurrection 3. That Death is actually conquered and a Resurrection possible 4. That believers shall certainly Rise when their Head and Saviour is Risen to prepare them an everlasting Kingdom and to assure them that thus he will Raise them at the last A bare promise would not have been so strong a help to faith as the actual Rising of Christ as a pledge of the performance But now Christ is Risen and become the first fruits of them that sleep 1. Cor. 15.20 For because he Liveth we shall live also John 14.19 3. The next degree of destruction to this Enemy was by the gift of his Justifying and Sanctifying grace Four special benefits were then bestowed on us which are Antidotes against the Enmity of Death 1. One is the gift of Saving Faith by which we look beyond the grave as far as to eternity And this doth most powerfully disable Death to terrifie and discourage us and raiseth us above our Natural fears and sheweth us though but in a glass the exceeding eternal weight of glory which churlish Death shall help us to So that when the eye of the unbâ—liever looketh no further then the grave believing souls can enter into Heaven and see their glorified Lord and thence fetch Love and Hope and Joy notwithstanding the terrors of interposing death The eye of Faith foreseeth the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time and causeth us therein greatly to rejoyce though now for a season if need be we are in heaviness through manifold temptations And so vicâ—orious is this Faith against all the storms that do assault us that the tryal of it though with fire doth but discover that it is much more precious then Gold that perisheth and it shall be found unto praise and hoour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having never seen in the flesh we Love and though now we see him not yet believing we rejoyce with unspeakable glorious joy 1 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8 9. and shall shortly receive the end of our Faith the salvation of our souls Thus Faith though it destroy not Death it self destroyeth the malignity and enmity of death while it seeth the things that are beyond it and the time when death shall be destroyed and the Life where death shall be no more Faith is like Davids three mighty men that brake through the host of the Philistines to fetch him the waters of Bethlehem for which he longed 2 Sam. 23.15 16. When the thirsty soul saith 0 that one would give me drink of the waters of Salvation Faith breaks through death which standeth in the way and fetcheth these living waters to the soul We may say
of death as it is said of the world 1. John 5.4 5. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our Faith who is he that overcometh but he that believeth c. For greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world 1 John 4.4 The believing Soul foreseeing the day when Death shall be swallowed up in Victory may sing beforehand the triumphing song O Death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory 1 Cor. 15.54 55. For this cause we faint not though our outward man perish our inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction though it reach to death which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding eternall weight of glory while we look not at the things that are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporall and therefore not worthy to be looked at but the things that are not seen are eternal and therefore more prevalent with a believing Soul then either the enticing pleasures of sin for a season or the light and short afflictions or the death that standeth in our way 2 Cor. 5.16 17 18. Heb. 11.24 25 26. 2. A second Antidote against the Enmity of Death that is given us at the time of our Conversion is The Pardon of our sins and Justification of our persons by the blood and merits of Jesus Christ When once we are forgiven we are out of the reach of the greatest terror being saved from the second death Though we must feel the killing stroke we are delivered from the damning stroke Yea more then so it shall save us by dâ—stroying us It shall let us into the glorious presence of our Lord by taking us from the presence of our mortal friends It shall help us into Eternity by cutting off our Time For in the hour that we were justified and made the Adopted sâ—ns of God we were also made the Heirs of Heaven even Coheirs with Christ and shall be glorified with him when we have suffered with him Rom. 8.17 As Death was promoting the Life of the world when it was killing the Lord of Life himself So is it hastening the deliverance of believers when it seems to be undoing them No wonder if Death be that mans terror that must be conveyed by it into Hell or that imagineth that he shall perish as the beast But to him that knows it will be his passage into Rest and that Angels shall convey his Soul to Christ what an Antidote is there ready for his faith to use against the enmity and excess of fears Hence faith proceedeth in its triumph 1 Cor. 15.56 57. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Let him inordinately fear death that is loth to be with Christ or that is yet the heir of death eternall Let him fear that is yet in the bondage of his sin and in the power of the prince of darkness and is not by Justification delivered from the curse But joy and holy triumph are more seemly for the Justified 3. A third Antidote against the Enmity of death is the Holiness of the soul By this the Power of sin is mortified and therefore the fears of death cannot actuate and use it as in others they may do By this the Interest of the flesh is cast aside as nothing and the flesh it self is crucified with Christ and therefore the destruction of the flesh will seem the more tolerable and the fears of it will be a less temptation to the Soul By this we are already crucified to the world and the world to us and therefore we can more easily leave the world We now live by another Life then we did before being dead in our selves our life is hid with Christ in God and being crucified with Christ we now so Live as that it is not we but Christ Liveth in us the life which we Live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God that hath loved us Gal. 2.20 The things that made this life too dear to us are now as it were annihilated to us and when we see they are Nothing they can do nothing with us Sanctification also maketh us so weary of sin as being our hated enemy that we are the more willing to die that it may die that causeth us to die And especially the Holy Ghost which we then receive is in us a Divine and heavenly Nature and so inclineth us to God and Heaven This Nature principally consisteth in the superlative Love of God And Love carryeth out the soul to the beloved As the Nature of a prisoner in a dungeon carryeth him to desire Liberty and light so the Nature of a holy Soul in flesh inclineth it to desire to be with Christ As Love maketh husband and wife and dearest friends to think the time long while they are asunder so doth the Love of the Soul to God How fain would the holy loving Soul behold the pleased face of God and be glorified in the beholding of his glory and live under the fullest influences of his Love This is our conquest over the Enmity of death As strong as Death is Love is stronger Eccles 8.6 7. Love is strong as death the coales thereof are coales of fire a most vehement flame which will not by the terrible face of death be hindered from ascending up to God Many waters cannot quench Love neither can the floods drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for Love that is to bribe it and divert it from its object it would utterly be contemned If the Love of David could carry Jonathan to hazzard his life and deny a Kingdom for him and the Love of David to Absalom made him wish that he had dyed for him and the Love of friends yea lustfull love hath carryed many to cast away their lives no wonder if the Love of God in his Saints prevail against the fear of death The power of holy Love made Moses say Else let my name be blotted out of the book of life And it made Paul say that he could wish that he were accursed from Christ for his brethren and kindred according to the flesh Rom. 9.3 And doubtless he felt the fire burning in his breast when he broke out into that triumphant challenge Rom. 8.35 36. to the end Who shall separate us from the love of God Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword As it is written For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are counted as Sheep to the slaughter Nay in all this we are more then Conquerours through him that loved us For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to
come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Chrâ—st Jesus our Lord. You see here what it is that conquereth the enmity of death in our sanctification even that powerfull love of God that is then given us which will go to him through the most cruel death 4. A fourth Antidote that is given us by Christ against the Enmity of Death is the Holy Ghost as he is the Comforter of the Saints He made it his work to corroborate and confirm them As sin hath woven calamities into our lives and filled us with troubles and griefs and fears so Christ doth send his spirit to undo these works of Satan and to be a Comforter as well as a Sanctifier to his members As the Sanctifying Spirit striveth against the enticing sinfull flesh so the Comforting Spirit striveth against the troubling flesh as also against the persecuting as well as the tempting world and the vexing as well as the tempting Devil And greater is he that is in us then he that is in the world 1 John 4.4 The Spirit of Christ overcomes the disquieting as well as the tempting Spirit But with some difference because our comforts are not in this life so necessary to us as our Holiness Joy being part of our Reward is not to be expected certainly or constantly in any high degree till we come to the state of our Reward And therefore though the Holy Ghost will carry on the work of Sanctification universally constantly and certainly in the Elect yet in many of them his Comforting work is more obscure and interrupted And yet he is a Conquerour here For his works must be judged of in reference to their ends And our comfort on earth is given us for our encouragement in holy wayes that we be not stopt or diverted by the fear of enemies and also to help on ouâ— love to God and to quicken us in thanks and praise and draw up our hearts to the life to come and make us more serviceable to others And such a measure of comfort we shall have as conduceth to these ends and is suitable to our present state and the employment God hath for us in the world if we do not wilfully grieve our Comforter and quench our joyes So that when Death and the Grave appear before and our flesh is terrified with the sight of these Anakims and saith We are not able to overcome them and so brings up an evil report upon the promised Land and casts us sometime into murmuring lamentation and weakning-discouragements yet doth the Holy Ghost cause Faith and Hope as Caleb and Joshua to still the soul Numb 13. and causeth us to contemn these Gyants and say Let us go up and possess it for we are well able to overcome it Ver. 30. The Comforting Spirit sheweth us his death that conquered death Heb. 2.14 15. even the Cross on which he triumphed openly when he seemed to be conquered Col. 2.15 He sheweth us the glorious Resurrection of our Head and his promise of our own Resurrection He sheweth us our glorified Lord to whom we may boldly and confidently commend our departing souls Acts 7.59 And he sheweth us the Angels that are ready to be their Convoy And he maketh all these Considerations effectual and inwardly exciteth our Love and heavenly desires and giveth us a triumphing Courage and Consolation So that Death doth not encounter us alone and in our own strength but finds us armed and led on by the Lord of life who helps us by a sling and stone to conquer this Goliah If a draught of Wine or some spiritfull reviving liquor can take off fears and make men bold what then may the Spirit of Christ do by his powerfull encouragements and comforts on the soul Did we but see Christ or an Angel standing by our sick-beds and saying Fear not I will convey thy soul to God this day shalt thou be with me in Paradise What an unspeakable comfort would this be to a dying man Why the Spirit is Christs Agent here on earth and what the Spirit speaks Christ speaks And therefore we may take its comforting words as spoken to us by Christ himself who spoke the like to the penitent Thief to shew believers the virtue of his Cross and what they also may expect from him in their extremity And our Phisitian is most wise and keeps his Cordials for a fainting time The Spirit useth to sustain and comfort us most in our greatest necessities We need not comforts against death so much in the time of prosperity and health as when Death draws near In health we have ordinarily more need of quickning then of comforting and more need to be awakened from security to a due preparation for death then to be freed from the terrible fore-thoughts of it though inordinate fears of Death be hurtfull to us security and deadness hurt us more And therefore the spirit worketh according to our necessities And when Death is neerest and like to be most dreadfull he usually giveth the liveliest sense of the Joyes beyond it to abate the enmity and encourage the departing soul And if the comfort be but small it is precious because it is most pure as being then mixed with no carnal joyes and because it is most seasonable in so great a strait If we have no more but meer support it will be yet a pretious mercy And thus I have done with the third degree of the destruction of Deaths Enmity by these four Antidotes which we receive at our Conversion and the Consequents thereof 4. The fourth degree of this Enemies destruction is by it self or rather by Christ at the time and by the means of death which contrary to its nature shall advantage our felicity When Death hath done its worst it hath half killed it self in killing us It hath then dismissed our imprisoned souls and ended even our fears of death and our fears of all the evils of this life It hath ended our cares and griefs and groans It hath finished our work and ended all our weariness and trouble And more then this it ends our sinning and so destroyeth that which caused it and that which the inordinate fears of it self had caused in us It is the time when sin shall gasp its last and so far our Physitian will perfect the cure and our greatest enemy shall follow us no further It is the door by which the soul must pass to Christ in Paradise If any Papist shall hence plead that therefore all men must be perfect without sin before death or else go to Purgatory to be cleansed because as we die so Christ will find us or if they ask How death can perfect us I answer them It is Christ our Physitian that finisheth the cure and Death is the time in which he doth it And if he undertake then to do it it concerns not us to be too inquisitive how he doth it What if
snacht away and we are left in our temptations repining and murmuring at God as Jonah when his gourd was withered as if the Lord had destinated this world to be the dwelling of unfaithfull worthless men and envied us the presence of one eminent Saint one faithfull friend and one that as Moses when he had talkt with God hath a face that shineth with the reflected raies of the heavenly glory when indeâ—d it is because this world is unworthy of them Heb. 11.38 not knowing their worth nor how to use them nor how to make use of them for their good and because when they are ripe and mellow for eternity it is fit that God be served before us and that Heaven have the best and that be left on earth that is earthly Must Heaven be deprived of its inhabitants Must a Saint that is ripe be kept from Christ and so long kept from his inheritance from the company of Angels and the face of God and all lest we should be displeased and grudge at God for glorifying those whom he destinated to glory before the foundations of the world and whom he purchased and prepared for Glory Must there a place be empty and a voice be wanting in the Heavenly Chore lest we should miss our friends on earth Are we not hasting after them at the heels and do we not hope to live with them for ever and shall we grudge that they are gone a day or week or year before us O foolish unbelieving souls We mourn for them that are past mourning and lament for our friends that are gone to Rest when we are left our selves in a vexatious restless howling wilderness as if it were better to be here we mourn and weep for the souls that are triumphing in their Masters joy And yet we say we believe and hope and labour and wait for the same felicity â— Shall the happiness of our friends be our sorrow and lamentation O did we but see these blessed souls and where they are and what they are enjoying and what they are doing we should be ashamed to mourn thus for their change Do you think they would wish themselves again on earth or would they take it kindly of you if you could bring them down again into this world though it were to reign in wealth and honour O how would they disdain or abhorr the motion unless the commanding will of God did make it a part of their obedience And shall we grieve that they are not here when to be here would be their grief But thus our lives are filled with griefs Thus smiles and frowns desires and denyals hopes and frustrations endeavours and disappointments do make a quotidian ague of our lives The persons and the things we love do contribute to our sorrows as well as those we hate If our friends are bad or prove unkind they gall and grieve us while they live If they excell in holiness fidelity and suitableness the dart that kills them deeply woundeth us and the sweeter they were to us in their lives the bitterer to us is their death We cannot keep a mercy but sin is ready to take it from us or else to marr it and turn it into Vinegar and Gall. And doth not Death accidentally befriend us that puts an end to all these troubles and lands us safe on the Celestiall shore and puts us into the bosome of perpetual Rest where all is calm and the storms and billows that tost us here shall fear or trouble us no more And thus Death shall make us some recompence at last for the wrong it did us and the mortal blow shall hurt us less then did the dreadfull apparition of it in our fore-thoughts Let not our fears then exceed the cause Though we fear the pangs throws of travel let us withall remember that we shall presently rejoyce and all the holy Angels with us that a soul is born into the world of glory And Death shall gain us much more then it deprived us of DIRECTION X. THE last Direction that I shall give you to conquer the enmity of Death is this Give up your wills entirely to the will of God as knowing that his will is your beginning and your end your safety your felicity and rest in which you should gladly acquiesce When you think of Death remember who it is that sends it It is our Fathers messenger and is sent but to execute his will And can there be any thing in the will of God that his servants should inordinately fear Doubtless his Will is much safer and better for us then our own And if in generall it were offered to our choice Whether all particulars of our lives should be disposed of by Gods will or by ours common reason might teach us to desire to be rather in Gods hands then our own The fulfilling of his will is the care and business of our lives and therefore it should be a support and satisfaction to us at our death that it is but the fulfilling of his will His Justice and punishing will is good though selfishness maketh it ungratefull to the offender But his children that are dear to him and taste no evil but that which worketh for their good have no cause to quarrell at his will Whatsoever our surest dearest friends would have us take or do or suffer we are ready to submit to as being confident they will do nothing for our hurt if they do but know what is for our good And shall we not more boldly trust the will of God then of our dearest friend He knows what he hath to do with us and how he will dispose of us and whether he will bring us and his interest in us is more then ours in our selves and shall we then distrust him as if we had to do with an enemy or one that were evil and not with love and infinite goodness It is the will of God that must be the everlasting Rest the Heaven the pleasure of our souls And shall we now so fear it and fly from it as if it were our ruine Look which way you will through all the world your souls will never find repose nor satisfying quietness and content but in the will of God Let us therefore commit our souls to him as to a faithfull Creator and desire unfeignedly the fulfilling of his will and believe that there is no ground of confidence more firm Abraham may boldly trust his Son his only Son on the will of God And Christ himself when he was to drink the bitter Cup submitteth his own naturall love of life to his Fathers will saying Not my will but thine be done It is a most unworthy abuse of God that we could be quiet and rejoyce if our own wills or our dearest friends might dispose of our lives and yet are distressâ—d when they are at the dispose of the will God But perhaps you will say It is the error of my own will that hath procured my Death
if it had been meerly the fruit of the will of God It could be easily satisfied Answ Wo to us if we had not ground of comfort against the errors of our own wills When our destruction is of our selves our help is of God So much as is of our selves in it is evil but so much as is of God is good I do not say that you should rest in your own wills nor in your own wayes but in the will and wayes of God The rod is good though the fault that makes it necessary be bad The Chastising will is good though the sinning will be evil And it is good that is intended to us and shall be performed in the event Object But how can we rest in the angry afflicting will of God when it is this that we must be humbled under and it is the will of God that is the condemnation of the wicked Answ The effect being from a twofold cause the sinning will of man and the punishing will of God is accordingly good as from the latter and so far should be loved and consented to by all and evil as from the former and so may be abhorred But to the Saints there is yet greater Consolation Though affliction is their grief as it signifieth Gods displeasure and causeth the smart or destruction of the flesh yet it is their mercy as as it proceedeth from the Love of God and prepareth them for the greatest mercies And therefore seeing God never bringeth evil on them that Love him but what is preparatory to aâ— far greater good we may well take comfort in our Death that it is our Fathers will it should be so Vse 8. IF Death shall be conquered as the last enemy from hence Christians may receive exceeding consolation as knowing that they have no enemy to their happiness but such as shall be conquered by Christ sooner or later he will overcome them all Let faith therefore foresee the conquest in the conflict and let us not with too much despondency hang down our heads before any enemy that we know shall be trodden down at last We have burdensome corruptions that exercise our graces and grieve the spirit and wrong our Lord but all these shall be overcome Though we have heard and read and prayed and meditated and yet our sins remain alive they shall be conquered at last Our Love and Joy and Praise shall be everlasting but our ignorance and unbelief and pride and passion shall not be everlasting Our Holiness shall be perfected and have no end but our sin shall be abolished have an end Our friends shall abide with us for ever and the holy love and communion of Saints shall be perfected in heaven But our enemies shall not abide with us for ever nor malice follow us to our Rest The wicked have no comforts but what will have an end and the fore-thought of that is sufficient to imbitter even the present sweetness And the godly have no sorrows but such as are of short continuance And me thinks the fore-sight of their end should sweeten the present bitter Cup and make our sorrows next to none We sit weeping now in the midst of manifold afflictions But we foresee the day when we shall weep no more but all tears shall be wiped from our eyes by the tendeâ— hand of our mercifull Redeemer We are now afraid of love it self even of our dear and blessed Father lest he should hate us or be angry with us foâ— ever But heaven will banish all these fears when the perfect fruition of the eternal love hath perfected our Love Our doubtings and perplexities of mind are many and grievous but they will be but short When we have full possession we shall be past our doubts Our work is now to pour out our grieved souls into the bosome of some faithfull friend or ease our troubled minds by complaining of our miseries to our faithfull Pastors that from them we may have some words of direction and consolation But O how different a work is it that we shall have in heaven where no more complainings shall be heard from our mouths for no more sorrow shall possess our hearts and we shall have no need of men to comfort us but shall have comfort as naturally from the face of God as we have light and heat in the summer from the Sun When we all make one celestial Chore to sing the praises of the King of Saints how unlike will that melody be to the broken musick of sighs and groans and lamentations which we now take to be almost our best We are now glad when we can find but words and groans and tears to lament our sin and misery But then our joy shall know no sorrow nor our voice any sad and mournfall tune And may we not bear a while the sorrows that shall have so good an end We shall shortly have laid by the hard unprofitable barren hearts that are now our continuall burden and disease Love not your corruptions Christians but yet be patient under the unavoidable relicts that offend you remembring that your conflict will end in conquest and your faith and watchfulness and patience will be put to it but a little while Who would not enter willingly into the fight when he may before hand be assured that the field shall be cleared of every enemy All this must be ascribed to our dear Redeemer Had not he wrought the conquest the enemies that vex us would have destroyed us and the Serpent that now doth but bruise our heel would have bruised our head and the sorrows that are wholesome sanctified and short would have been mortall venemous and endless What suffering then can be so great in which a believer should not rejoyce when he is before hand promised a gracious end What though at the present it be not joyous but grievous in it self We should bear it with patience when we know that at last it shall bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to all them that are exercised thereby Heb. 12.11 If we should be alwayes abused and alwayes unthankfully and unkindly dealt with or alwayes under the scorns or slanders or persecutions of unreasonable men or alwayes under our poverty and toilsome labours oâ— alwayes under our pains and pining sicknesses we might then indeed dismiss our comforts But when we know that it will be but a little while and that all will end in Rest and Joy and that our sorrows are but preparing for those Joyes even Reason it self is taught by Faith to bid us rejoyce in all our tribulations and to lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees Heb. 12.12 We make nothing to endure a sudden prick that by blood-letting we may prevent a long disease The short pain of pulling out a tooth is ordinarily endured to prevent a longer A woman doth bear the pains of her travail because it is short and tends to the bringing of a child into the world Who would