serious and pensive to think this is but the Pattern of what must befall themselves and that all this must shortly be acted upon them that they now see done unto others But since this Day presents us with no such Solemnity some perhaps may wonder that I have chosen this Text and Subject of Mortality to treat upon Indeed Custom hath made it almost improper to preach of Death without a Funeral and to speak to Men of their last End and Dissolution without setting before their Eyes an Example of it Look well therefore one upon another what are we all as it were but so many Corpses so many Spectacles of Mortality rather to be numbred among the Dead than among the Living every Day and Hour wears away part of our Lives and so much of them as is already spent so far are we already dead and buried This present moment is the longest measure of our Lives what is past is dead to us and what is to come is not yet born how soon God may put a final Period to our present state how few times more our Pulses may beat and this busie Breath in our Nostrils return to us again we know not so frail and so uncertain are our Lives that this may be truly a Funeral Sermon to some one of us before the close of it Since then we are all of us thus subject to the stroke of Death it can never be unseasonable to warn you that you be not surprized and taken by it unprovided In the Words now read you have the great Statute-Law of Heaven that Law that God hath passed upon all the Chil-of Men and that is That it is appointed to them once to die Now that I may make way to press upon you the serious consideration of your own Mortality let me briefly mark out some things that tend to the Explication of the Words And First In that the Proposition is laid down in the Text indefinitely It is appointed unto men it is that which is equivalent to an Universal and reacheth to all men It is appointed to all men once to die We read of two only in the whole Book of God that were exempted by an extraordinary Grace and peculiar Priviledge from this great Law of Dying and they were Enoch and Elias Of Enoch it is said Gen. 5.24 That he walked with God and he was not for God took him And of Elias it is said 2 Kin 2.11 That he went up by a Whirlwind into Heaven The great God after a strange and unusual manner tackt their temporal and eternal Life together making their Time run it self into Eternity without any period or interruption The Apostle also tells us 1 Cor. 15.51 52. That all shall not die to wit at the last Day at the last appearing of Jesus Christ there shall be a World full of Persons that shall not taste of Death All shall not die but all shall be changed in a moment in the twinckling of an Eye These are exempted and being excepted it is certain all the Generations of Men from the first Creation to the last Consummation of all things are all appointed by God unto Death Secondly All must die once All must die once but Believers do not die the second Death There is frequent mention made in Scripture of the first and second Death The first Death is the separation of the Soul from the Body The second Death is the separation of the Soul from God As the Union of the Soul and Body is the Life of Man so the Union of God with the Soul is the Life of the Soul Now Believers do not die this second Death Rev. 20.8 for on such as the Apostle speaks the second Death hath no power They are still united unto God after an unconceivable and ineffable manner As when Christ lay in the Grave though his Soul was truly separated from his Body yet both Soul and Body were hypostatically united to the Godhead so also though the natural Union between a Believer's Soul and Body be dissolved by Death yet both Soul and Body continue mystically united unto Christ even in their separation one from another It is not therefore this second but the first Death that all are appointed unto The Hand of Death must untie those secret and sweet Bands those vital Knots that fasten Soul and Body together must fall asunder one day in every Man All Men must die because Death is the punishment of Sin Thirdly It is appointed unto every Man to undergo this first Death It is decreed and ordained by God and that not upon the Account of any natural Necessity but for the Punishment of Sin The Apostle tells us plainly That by Sin Death entred into the World Death therefore is not so much a Debt due to Nature as a Debt due to the avenging Justice of God for though Man at first was created in pure Nature yet was he also created in a deathless State and Death siezeth upon us not as we are Men but as we are Sinners liable to the Curse of the Covenant of Works containing in it that Threatning In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die It is true Adam even before he sinned had in him the contemperation of the same contrary Qualities that we now have and so at least had also the remote Principles of Death but yet it is probable that he was created with such a Priviledge that he might by his own Will sway and over-rule the Jars and Discords of his elementary constitution and continue himself in Life as long as he should continue himself in Obedience however whether it was so or otherwise yet certain it is that Death came into the World as the punishment of Sin So then it is not primarily Man's Nature but Man's Sin and the Curse of the Law taking hold of him that brought in this necessity of dying Sin is not only the Sting but the Cause of Death and it gives it not only its Terrour but it s very Being also And therefore it is somewhat remarkable that among all the Creatures in the World Man only is termed Mortal most certain it is that other Creatures decay and perish as well as he yet among all perishing things Man only hath that wretched denomination of being Mortal and there is good reason for it since he alone of all perishing things being created immortal voluntarily subjected himself unto Death and by his own Fault brought upon himself that Name of Mortal as a Brand of perpetual Infamy And thus now I come to the Subject that I intend to insist upon and that is The Unavoidableness and Certainty of Death To go about to prove this were to lose so much time every one grants he must die All other Questions about Man are answered by Peradventures If it be demanded Whether such an Embryo shall see the Light What 's the Answer but perhaps it shall perhaps it shall not If it be
born and it be asked Whether it shall live and grow up to Age Why perhaps so perhaps otherwise If it grow up to Age and Enquiry be made Shall it be rich or shall it be poor honourable or despised learned or ignorant What 's the Answer Only perhaps it shall perhaps not But if it be asked Whether it shall die The Answer now is Yes it is certain without any Peradventure there is no doubt at all of this It is appointed by God for Men once to die And therefore though Physicians have written Books of preserving of Health yet never any wrote Books of avoiding of Death We need no other proof of Man's Mortality but only to search into the Records of the Grave there lie Rich and Poor Strong and Weak Wise and Foolish Holy and Prophane the Rubbish of ten thousand Generations heaped one upon another and this Truth that all must die written indelibly in their Dust That therefore that I shall do shall be in an Applicatory Way to make some Reflections upon the brutish Stupidity of Men who though they know themselves Mortal yet thrust from themselves the Thoughts of Death and neglect due Preparations for it Men live in the World as if they were arbitrary of their own Time as if they should never die and come to Judgment Oh the beastly Sottishness of Men who though they see Multitudes cut down daily by the hand of Death round about them yet they live carelesly and presumptuously as if they were priviledged Persons and Death durst not touch them Should we make Enquiry into the Causes of this gross Stupidity and Sottishness perhaps we should find it to proceed from some of these following Reasons why men put off the thoughts of Death Because they are drown'd in the affairs of the World First The generality of men are so immers'd and drowned in the Affairs and pleasures of Life that all serious thoughts of Death and preparations for it are swallowed up and devoured by them Their minds are taken up about other things and their time spent upon other matters like an heap of Ants that busily toil to gather in their Provision not regarding the foot that is ready to tread upon them so is it with most men they are taken up with impertinencies and vain things One contrives how he may melt away his days in Luxury and Pleasure and with variety of invented Delights imp the wings of time that in their apprehensions makes but slow hast that so their days and hours may roll away the faster these are such Prodigals of their time and lavish it away at that rate as if their stock would last as long as Eternity it self Some are busily climbing up the sleep ascent of Honour and Dignity and are so taken up in seeking after promotions and new Titles that they forget their old stile of mortal creatures Others are plotting with the Fool in the Gospel how they may grow rich and lay up goods for themselves for many years as they fansie when yet they know not but God may take away their Souls from them this very night and what then remains to them of all that they have thus greedily scraped together O vain and foolish men are these the things you set your hearts upon must the World drink up all your thoughts and Death that shortly will snatch you from all your enjoyments here below be forgotten by you Secondly Men put off their preparation for Death because they look upon it as a far off Men put off the thoughts of Death and their preparations for it because they generally look upon it as a far off This is the greatest sottishness in the World and yet most men are too guilty of it Those that are young and in the prime of their Days if it be askt them what they think of Death they will readily Answer that they think they ought of right and course to live till they are aged And they that are aged will tell you their weaknesses and decays are not so many or so great but they may well weather away a few more years Those that are healthful and strong think surely they need not prepare for dying till God by some sickness sends them a summons and those whom God is pleased to vouchsafe a summons by Sickness and Distempers alas they think that it is yet possible for them to escape from them again And thus all are ready to thrust Death from them and to put the Evil Day a far off And though God hath told out to them but a few days or hours yet they liberally and bountifully reckon upon Years and Ages as if their time were not in God's hands but their own It is a true saying that usually the hopes of a long Life is the Cause of an Evil Life Suppose now that every one of us knew for a certainty that our lives must run out with the Glass that is before us that at the end of the hour God would strike us all dead upon the place should we not all of us have more lively apprehensions of Death and Eternity than ever yet we have had should we not pour out our Souls before God requires them from us in holy Affections and fervent Prayers should we give scope to the gaddings of our Thoughts and the vanity of our Hearts should we think of such a vain Pleasure or such a worldly Employment if God now from Heaven should speak audibly to us and bid us give an account of our Stewardship for we must be no longer Stewards no certainly it is impossible that men should thus behave themselves And why Sirs is it not so with you always for ought you know that Film and Bubble that holds your Lives may be now a breaking your Graves may be ready to be digging and the last Sand in your Glass may be now a running however certain it is it cannot be long before it will be so with all of us Did we but seriously consider by what small pins this frame of Man is tacked together it would appear to us to be no less than a Miracle that we live one day yea one hour to an end Thirdly The thoughts of Death being terible makes men put off their preparation for it Men generally put off the thoughts of Death and their preparation for it because of those frightful terrors and that insupportable dread that such apprehensions bring with them Death is that which above all things Humane Nature most abhors Oh! to think of the separation of those near and dear companions the Soul and Body of the debasement dishonour and horrour of the Grave that there we must lie in a Bed of stench and rottenness under a coverlet of Worms crawling upon us consuming and mouldring away to dust in oblivion and forgetfulness Oh! these are too sad and Melancholy Thoughts for the Jovial World to entertain and dwell upon But though the consideration of these things are very unwelcome yea
works upon Wicked Men and Reprobates as well as others Buâ— Sanctifying Grace that is special and belongs only to those who belong themselves to the Election of Grace Esaâ— whom the Scripture Notes as the greaâ— instance of Reprobation comes out against Jacob with a Troop of Four Thousand Ruffins intending doubtless to Revenge himself upon him for the loss oâ— his Birth-Right and Blessing but at their first meeting God by a secret work so mollifies his Heart that instead of falling upon him and killing him he falls upon his Neck and kisses him here God restrains him from that Presumptuous Sin of Murder not in a way of meer External Providence but with his own Hand immediately turns about his Heart and by seeing such a company of Cattel bleating and bellowing so many timorous Men and helpless Children all bowing and supplicating unto him he turns his Revenge into Compassion and with much urging receives a Present from him whom before he intended to make a Prey The same power of restraint God laid upon the Heart of Abimelech that Heathen King you have it in Geneses 20.6 when he had taken Sarah Abraham 's Wife intending to make her his Wife or Concubine God tells him in a Dream I with-held thee from â—inning against me therefore suffered I â—hee not to touch her Here was nothing visible to hinder Abimelech from so great â— Wickedness but God invisibly wrought upon his heart and unhinged his wicked Desires now from the instances of Esau and Abimelech we may clearly collect how Restraining Grace differs both from Restraining Providence and also from Sanctifying Grace From Providence it differs because usually when God Providentially restrains from Sin he doth it by some visible apparent means that doth not work by bringing any change or alteration on the Heart but only by â—aying an External Check upon Men's Actions but now by Restraining Grace God deals in a secret way with the very Heart of a Sinner though he doth not change the nature of his Heart yet he alters the present frame and disposition of it and takes away the desire of committing those Sins that yet it doth not Mortifie and from Sanctifying Grace it differs also in that God vouchsafes Restraining Grace to Wicked Men as you have heard but none partake of Sanctifying Grace besides the Children of God and the Remnant according to Election those whom he predestinates them he also calls that is them he Sanctifies as yoâ— have it in Rom. 8.30 Election Sanctification are of the self same bredth Electionâ— the cause of Sanctification Sanctificatioâ— is a sign of Election Those whom Goâ— will bring to himself in Glory he causeth a double separation to pass upoâ— them the one from Eternity when hâ— calls them out from the mass of thoâ— that he leaves to perish in their Sins anâ— the other in Time when those whom he hath set apart for himself by Election he brings home to himself by Conversion And therefore whatever measure of Restraining Grace God may aâ—ford to Wicked Men and Reprobates yeâ— Sanctifying Grace is the fruit only of Election and the portion only of thoâ— who are Elected And that is the firâ— difference In their Nature Essence Secondly They differ also in theiâ— Nature and Essence Sanctifying Gracâ— is a Habit wrought in the Soul by thâ— Spirit of God called therefore a writinâ— of the Law on the Heart and a putting God's fear into our inward parts Jer. 31. 33. And St. John terms it a Seed that remains John 1.9 These Expressions clearly denote it to be an internal Principle or Habit deeply rooted and fixed in the Soul and whatever Holy Actions a Saint performs as they are caused by a Divine influence without him so they flow also from a Holy Principle within him Hence our Saviour tells us in Mark 12.35 That a good Man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things that is out of that inward Habit and Principle of Grace that the Holy Ghost hath wrought in him in the work of Regeneration But Restraining Grace hath no such Habit and Principle implanted in the Soul but is only a Merciful Actual influence from God hindering the commission of those Sins to which Men's Natural Corruptions make them enclined in brief Sanctifying Grace is a Quality wrought in us but Restraining Grace is only an Action flowing from God Thirdly In the manner of their Operation Sanctifying and Restraining Grace differ in their manner of Working and Operation and here we may observe a Four fold difference Sanctifying Grace destroys Sin Restraining Grace only Imprisons it First Sanctifying Grace keeps the Soul from Sin by destroying of it but Restraining Grace keeps the Soul from Sin only by imprisoning of it God many times shuts up the sins of those in Prison whom notwithstanding he will at last shut up in Hell It is sanctifying Grace alone that can do execution upon them restraining grace may debar them of their liberty but it is only Sanctifying Grace can deprive them of their Life There may appear but little difference betwixt the Conversation of a Child of God whom Special Grace doth Sanctifie and one in a state of Nature whom common Grace doth only Restrain doth the one walk blamelessly without offence doth he avoid the grosser Pollutions of the World so doth the other a Star is not more like a Star than these Meteors may be like them But now here lies the difference Restraining Grace only ties the Hands but Sanctifying Grace stabs the old Man to the Heart It is one thing to bind a Thief to a Tree and another thing to Nail him fast to the Cross Restraining Grace only binds Corruption fast that it cannot stir not outwardly but still it hath as much strength as ever But now Sanctifying Grace that Crucifies it and Nails it to the Cross of Christ where it weakens and languisheth and hangs a dying Body of Death The Earth is as dry and hard in a frosty Winter as it is in a parching Summer yet there 's a great deal of difference in the cause of it in Summer the Sun dries up the moisture and in Winter the Frost binds it in Truly Restraining and Sanctifying Grace are for all the World like Frost and Sun the ways of those who have only a Restraint laid upon them may be altogether as fair and clean as the ways of those that are Sanctified are but there 's a great difference in the cause Sanctifying Grace dries up the Filth and Corruption in the Heart of the one but Restraining Grace only frezeth in and binds up the Filth and Corruption of the other Secondly Sanctifying Grace strikes at the Sins of the heart Restraining Grace only hinders the Sins of the Life Sanctifying Grace strikes especially at the Sins of the Heart but Restraining Grace usually only hinders the Sins of the Life An Unregenerate Man though never so Moral hunts his Sins only in