some of us are come to this place at this time as Abraham at the cave of Machpelah to bury the dead out of their sight and are mourning for the departure of a near relation I shall speake a few words unto them before I come to direct and counsel Christians in general And I shall only exhort you freely to resign your relation to Christ and not to mourn as those that have no hope which was Saint Pauls counsel to the Thessalonians in the like case 1 Thess 4.13 14. which he presseth with a strong argument for saith he if we beleive that Christ died and rose again even so them also which beleive in Jesus will God bring with him which implieth that they are with God and Christ It becometh all that fear the Lord to be silent in submitting to every providence of God It is recorded of Aaron when his two Sons were slain by an immediate hand of God and the fire of his displeasure that after Moses had declared the mind of God unto him he held his peace Levit. 10.3 When David understood the death of his child for which he mourned so exceedingly during the time of its sickness he rose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped 2 Sam. 12.20 The patience of Job is set forth in Scripture for an example to all beleivers who when he had heard out the relation of the evil tidings which his sad messengers brought unto him of his great losses in estate and also of the sudden death of all his children glorified God under all Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the Name of the Lord. How then should Christians not only labour to submit but willingly and chearfully satisfie and quiet their spirits when they part with Relations upon such Comfortable terms that no sooner they are out of their sight but they are immediately with Christ It is true nature is strong in her affections and loth to let go the possession of any present comfort and therefore cannot but discover her passions when she is bereaved of near enjoyments And this seemeth to be the ground of sorrow in the breach and dissolution of natural bonds even a long continued absence or an imagination of never seeing departed friends any more if not a conceit of annihilation and that the dead are not as ignorant persons are ready to entertain strange notions thereof But however natural men may immoderately mourn upon such apprehensions of the state of the dead or which we may add of the greatness of their own loss in such a case who know not how to value or prize a creature comfort with any moderation because they mind not a greater and better portion yet where nature hath been at school and under the teaching and instruction of grace in those who understand and are acquainted with the truths of the Gospel and the mysteries of Christ how should all such manifest a more noble and heavenly principle ever the grace they have received in adorning their profession and justifying the truth and worth of religion by a comely gracious solid and sweet behaviour and demeanure of themselves under such providences The faithful part with their spiritual Relations at their dissolution upon the grounds of heavenly promotion wherein they should be more free then those that can take a joyful farewell of their nearest friends for the greatness of earthly preferment Let the Godly husband therefore rejoyce under his sorrow and rather weep for joy that the wife of his bosom is translated into the bosome of Abraham and taken into the presence and embraces of Christ her heavenly head and husband now knowing her no more after the flesh but in Christ in whom all natural relations are spiritualized by the medicinal union of fellow membership in his body which is the church and the spouse of Christ And let the off-spring and children of such aparent no longer look with teares upon the womb that bare them the papps that gave them suck and the tender bowels of her that now ceaseth to care for them but unto the Lord with whom the fatherless find mercy and the orphans succour and releif when they put their trust in him and cast their cares and burthens upon him How soon would tears dry upon our cheeks and our sighs and sobbs turn into songs could we see the heavens open and not only Christ standing at the right hand of God but our dear and godly relations departed at the right hand of Christ having put off the weedes raggs of mortality and temporal misery and being clothed with the garments of praise and robes of immortality and glory Such a sight the eye of faith can see which periceth the heavens and seeth things invisible Therefore let us not think that the Saints departed are less happy because we are uncapable of beholding their heavenly advancement like Jacob deluded by Josephs brethren and his coat of many colours which they presented unto him as torn by wild beasts whence he concluded that he was not though yet alive and in the way to be advanced to be Lord of Egypt and the next unto Pharaoh in the Kingdom Our godly relations though dead are yet alive and we shall shortly goe to them though they return not to us I shall say no more in this case but what Christ said unto those who followed him towards his death lamenting him Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves your children So weep we not forthe dead in Christ but let us weep for our selves and mourn over our dead hearts and their corruptions that sin still dwelleth in us and we cannot honour Christ as we desire nor doe that which we would the flesh lusting against the spirit and withall let us follow Christ on earth and the faith footsteps of those who are with him that when we depart we may also be with Christ which is far better Thus I come at length to lay down some spiritual directions and counsels to Christians in general in reference to their comfortable and joyful departing unto Christ at their dissolution Direct I. Labour to rejoyce in beleiving and so to exercise and act faith upon Christ as spiritually to rejoyce in him This is a duty incumbent upon all beleivers though all doe not at all times attain nor keep up and maintain this heavenly frame and sweet temper of spirit but walk mournfully and disconsolately depressed by fear and doubtings concerning their state and condition in grace dejected by corruption of nature and the motions and strivings of the flesh the cause either of sinful falls of distracting infirmities or else darkned and clouded by spiritual desertions and withdrawings of the gracious presence of God formerly enjoyed and the light of his countenance sometimes lifted up upon them vexed also by Satan troubling their peace by his strong and powerfull temptations who envying their
as he is the head of the body the corner stone of the building the rock of their strength the fountain of all fulness and their everlasting rest and peace But to conclude this second Demonstration As natural things tend to their center by a direct motion so the souls of all believers are directed in their motion to Christ at dissolution by the Ministery of Angels as in the Parable of Lazarus Luke 16.22 And it came to pass that the beggar dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abraham 's bosome Whether the soul be carried by Angels only by conducting it in its motion as we are said to carry a friend to an unknown place by directing in the way or whether by assistance in the motion and defence they being mighty in power it is not much material to determine since the soul moving according to the motion of its Angelical guides and companions is in an instant brought unto Christ its desired end and rest III. Demonst Thirdly All the Saints stand in near and unchangeable relations unto Christ through regeneration and spiritual adoption unto God the full comfort and priviledge whereof they cannot enjoy while they are present in the body So that though death parteth the nearest friends and dearest relations on earth yet it bringeth heavenly and spiritual relations together The force of relation is very strong relations being of the least entity but the strongest efficacy witness the strong affections and cords of love whereby persons naturally related are tyed to each other What bowels have Parents towards their Children and Children again unto them What indeared affections between loving yoke-fellowes And how strong is the bond of brotherly love All which long after and endeavour the mutual presence each of other Such are the relations and much more powerful between Christ and every beleiver Not only God himself but Christ is their Father and they his children Isa 9.6 His Name shall be called the everlasting Father the Prince of peace He is their Husband and they his Spouse 2 Cor. 11.2 I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chast Virgin unto Christ He is their Brother and they his Brethren unto whom they are conformed Rom. 8.29 That he might be the first-born among many brethren Many other relations are mentioned in the Scriptures between them he is their King and they his Subjects their Captain and they his Souldiers their Friend and they his Favourites their Lord and Master and they his Servants and their Shepherd and they his Flock And what engagements and affections soever there are in any or all these relations in the Bond of nature there is much more in Christ and the Saints through the God of Grace and the powerful efficacy of the Spirit of Christ that dwelleth in them But yet being absent from each other while beleivers are present in the body they desire to depart that they may be with him And what a joyful greeting there is in heaven at the meeting of them let the Angels of heaven declare who are eye witnesses thereof Welcome then that day and hour when the messenger of death shall call and bring the children to their Fathers house their Spouse to her Beloved and the Sons of God to the first begotten When the loyall Subjects of Christ shall be crowned and the spiritual Souldiers receive the price of their reward when the true friends of Christ shall enjoy their Redeemer who loved them to the death and the faithful Servants shall enter into the joy of their Lord when the sheep shall return to their Shepherd who hath given unto them eternal life that they should never perish IV. Demonstr Fourthly the greatest promises made to beleivers in the covenant of Grace are of the life to come which they cannot inherit till they depart and are with Christ Thus Godliness is profitable to all things having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come 2 Tim. 4.8 The Saints are heires of great and precious promises which are summed up in that general promise of eternal life 1 John 2.21 This is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life Which promise and all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ the Mediator of the Covenant established upon better promises Through which though the heires of promise have strong consolation in regard of the immutability of God and his counsel and oath wherein it is impossible that he should lye yet most of them are yet in hope and not in hand and therefore through patience they wait for them till they come to Christ the heir of all things with whom they are joynt-heires bearing up their hearts in the mean time with the hope set before them Heb. 6.19 20. Which hope we have saith the Apostle as an anchor of the soul both sure and stedfast and which entreth into that within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entred even Jesus made an High-Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech Thus beleivers wait in hope for what they see not and receive not in this present life as the Patriarchs Heb. 11.13 Who dyed in the faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off and were perswaded of them and imbraced them and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth Therefore beloved be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb. 6.12 For ye have need of patience saith the same Apostle that after ye have done the will of God ye might receive the promise Heb. 10.36 Which promise is no other then the Crown of life and righteousness which Christ the righteous Judge shall give unto all those that love his appearing Thus we have shewed you though in a weak measure the glorious priviledge of the Godly in their death in that their death bringeth them immediately unto Christ according to my Text For I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better I am come at length to the Application of this Doctrine and Subject and that I may be profitable to all and divide the word of God so as to give every one his portion I shall weild this Text as a two-edged Sword striking both wayes to the godly and ungodly to Saints and sinners to beleivers and unbeleivers Use I. First it may serve to inform us from hence of the sad miserable and woful state of every carnal sinful and Christless soul that shall dye in such a condition It were happy for wicked men if they might never dye but for ever enjoy the mean portion of creature comforts which they have in this world though they are infinitely short of the glory and happiness of the Godly with Christ in heaven But to have your portion here and that for so short a season as the time of this present life onely how inconsiderable is it
to the eternity of the Saints felicity with Christ and the eternity of your own misery in Hell torments Therefore Christ in the parable bringeth in Abraham thus speaking to the rich man in Hell Luke 16.25 Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented The Prophet David also praying for deliverance from his enemies describeth them by their temporal blessings Psal 17.13 14. Deliver my soul from the wicked which is thy sword from men which are thy hand O Lord from the men of the world which have their portion in this life Let not therefore the people of God envy the prosperity of the wicked for they have but the crumbs and broken meat that your heavenly Father giveth to strangers and enemies yea to Doggs for so the Scripture calleth the wicked Rev. 22.15 Without are Doggs and Sorcerers and Whore-mongers and Murderers and Idolaters and whatever loveth and maketh a lye And let the fear of death bridle and restrain the rage and riot of all prophane persons considering how soon your present joyes shall be at an end and your endless sorrowes commence when God shall lay your honour in the dust and require your souls from you Why tremble ye not at the sight of an inclosed corpse and the open grave before your eyes Ye also shall surely dye O ye covetous worldlings wretched drunkards prophane swearers unclean adulterers ye proud and gaudy vanities put your heads into the dust and stretch forth your hands and feel those cold and dry skulls and bones and lay it to heart before ye lye down in sorrow And for the awakening of your sleepy consciences who look and see no further then to what is obvious to your senses like a brutish people and a generation of sottish and foolish men give me leave to deal faithfully with you according to my present design in shewing you what is on t'other side the Grave and the deplorable estate of every carnal heart in death as soon as the soul hath taken its leave of its sinful body and house of clay First Every wicked and ungodly soul is miserable in death in that it is deprived of the happiness of heaven and the glory thereof in the presence of Christ for as it is the Saints priviledge in death to depart unto Christ so on the contrary it is part of every sinners punishment to depart from him Matth. 7.23 Depart from me ye that work iniquity How will your hopes perish and your hearts break when ye shall find heaven gate shut upon you and Christ himself deny your knocking 's and intreaties with I know you not Matth. 25.12 Be not deceived any longer but know that neither fornicators nor Idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.9 10. And such are some of you Friends what think ye of perishing and being banished from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power when ye shall weep and gnash your teeth because ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and your selves shut out Luke 13.28 Ye shall see indeed the righteous whom ye have despised and persecuted and reproached solacing themselves in their full plenty and rejoycing in their everlasting inheritance all the treasures of heaven being opened unto them but ye shall not be able to passe that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or great gulf of separation that is and shall be fixed between them and you so as to approach their presence or to partake of their joyes Augustine moveth a question why the rich man could see Lazarus in Abrahams bosome and Lazarus could not see the rich man in hell and he giveth this answer to it because he that is in the darke may see him that is in the light but he that is in the light cannot see him that is in the dark Heaven is a place of light through the presence of the glory of God and of Christ the Son of righteousness wherein all the righteous shall shine as the Sun and therefore called the inheritance of the Saints in light Acts 26.18 But the state of the wicked shall be darkness and blackness of darkness a total deprivation of the light of the countenance of God and the comfortable presence thereof from which they shall be driven into the remotest distance of place and condition and therefore it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 outer darkness Mat. 25.30 Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And though this be the greatest loss imaginable yet it is the least of your woe in regard of the torments ye shall suffer in the Lake that burneth with fire and brimstone And so I proceed from the punishment of loss to the punishment of sense and torment Secondly Every wicked man shall be miserable in his death in respect of the state of his soul which death shall bring it unto without Christ And the state of a damned soul after death and the manner of a sinful soul entring into condemnation and torment after dissolution may somewhat be discerned by these following steps and degrees In opening whereof I shall wholly wave the question about the place of hell and torment as a nicety rather then a necessary Subject for serious Auditors First Every wicked and unbeleiving person dieth in the guilt of all his sins unpardoned Remission of sins is a priviledge peculiar to beleivers through faith in Christ Jesus faith being the condition of the promise and the application of the death and righteousness of Christ for justification Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus But he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not beleived in the Name of the only begotten Son of God John 3.18 So that unbelief leaveth the soul under the guilt of sin and sealeth up the final condemnation thereof Whereupon Christ telleth the unbelieving Jews that they should die in their sins John 8.21 24. Then said Jesus again unto them I go my way and ye shall seek me and shall dye in your sins whither I go ye cannot come I said therefore unto you that ye shall dye in your sins for if ye beleive not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins A wicked man carryeth all his sins to the grave with him which for number are as the hairs of his head and for nature damnable and defiling he dieth clothed and clogged with sin and the guilt of all his sins that ever he committed in thought word or deed cleave to his
soul It is dreadful to consider what a mass and mountainous bigness the sins of a poor carnal wretch arise unto if we lay them together his original sin actual sins sins of omission and commission his secret sins and open and scandalous sins his whole life hath been a trade of sin and whatsoever proceedeth from him is sin the ploughing of the wicked is sin and his prayer is turned into sin And to his own sins personally committed we may add his other mens sins either occasioned countenanced or allowed Now multiply these by their particulars and individuals and measure all by their sinful circumstances and then judge of the guilt of every sinful ma that dieth in unbelief and without pardoning grace through the bloud of Christ Secondly The conscience of every wicked man is awakened immediately after death and dissolution to a continual sense of the guilt of all his sins Natural conscience in carnal men is for the most part peaceable silent in this present life delight custome in sin hardning the heart and searing the conscience which they labour to keep asleep by diverting the thoughts to worldly objects or to satisfie by a formal profession attended with some outward performances But as soon as ever the soul of an unregenerate person is separate from the body this lyon awaketh sleepeth no more the faculties of the soul being alwayes in act and exercise in a separate state whereby his sins shall be alwayes before him and set in order before his eyes upon which his conscience shall reflect continually without diversion or intermission Then the sins you have laboured to forget and cast out of mind shall be brought to remembrance and ye shall ever behold them for which conscience shall charge and accuse you and in the fresh remembrance of them you shall lye down self-condemned for ever This is the worm that never dieth Mark 9 48. But shall gnaw your hearts to eternity Thirdly Hereupon the soul of a wicked man shall tremble at the sight and presence of God That the soul of every man and consequently of the wicked shall see and approach the powerful and immediate presence of God in his Divine nature and essence upon their dissolution is apparent in that the spirit of man is said to go upward Eccles 3.21 And to return to God who gave it Chap. 12.7 As also by the particular judgement immediately consequent upon death whereby God appearing to conscience decideth and determineth the eternal state and condition of every soul preparative to the last and glorious appearing of Christ at the great and terrible day who shall then judge the whole world and the soul and body together For it is appointed unto men once to ye and after this the judgement Heb. 9.27 Which may include this particular judgement after death whereof we are speaking as well as the last and general judgement yet some restrain it to the particular only But in what manner the soul of a wicked man shall see God take in a few words Death being the unclothing and putting off off the earthly house of the body the soul remaineth naked in respect of that clothing which nakedness of the separate souls of the Saints is covered and clothed upon with the glory of their house in heaven 2 Cor. 5.3 In which state of nakedness wherein the souls of the wicked abide the soul must needs be quickly and powerfully apprehensive of God and of any impression and influence of God upon it as the body being naked of its clothing is tenderly sensible of heat or cold and any thing that approacheth unto it For the foul being separate from the body receiveth its object no more through the senses of the body but in an immediate way of discovery of them We know also that the Lord doth sometimes immediately wound the spirit of man while it is in the body by letting fall the drops of wrath upon it and thereby tormenteth it which David calleth the rebukes of God Ps 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct a man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth Moreover if the soul being a spirit and separate from the body can converse with spirits as the Saints with Angels and the damned with Devils much more with God the Father of spirits who can discover himself unto them as he pleaseth But take heed of mistaking here for though a gracious and and sanctified soul reconciled unto God hath to do with him as a father in the apprehension of his love through which it hath comfort and joy in communion with him yet it is not so with the sinful soul of that than that dieth in his sins which apprehendeth God only as he appeareth to it in wrath and displeasure for without holiness no man shall see the Lord that is with peace and comfort Heb. 12.14 Now consider ye that forget God can ye see and behold the wrath of his countenance doe ye not tremble in your very thoughts of him Surely the presence of an angry God will make every guilty soul to fear and tremble at his feet when they shall be brought before him by his Serjeant Death The apprehension of guilt and of God together made Adam and Eve to run behind the Trees for fear when they heard the voice of God in the garden Gen. 3.8 Moses though a Favourite yet when he saw the appearance of God in the thundrings and lightnings and earthquakes the smoke and fire heard the sound of the trumpet upon Mount Sinai he said I exceedingly fear â—nd quake Heb. 12.21 When Elijah apprehended God was in the still small voice he wrapped his face in his mantle â—nd went out and stood in the entring of the â—ave 1 Kings 19.13 When Job came to see God with his eyes he abhorred himself in dust and ashes Job 42.6 The judgements of God made holy Davids flesh to tremble Psal 119.120 My flesh trembleth for fear of thee I am afraid of thy judgements The glorious vision which Isaiah saw how did it work upon that holy Prophet Isaiah 6.5 When he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and cryed woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King â—he Lord of Hosts And if these Saints so eminent for grace and holiness have trembled at the presence of God manifested unto them in love and mercy how shall the unner and ungodly stand in his sight Doest thou beleive there is a God If not thou shalt see and beleive but remember that the Devils beleive and tremble Fourthly The soul of a wicked man thus trembling before God the holiness of God breaketh forth in wrath upon the soul to punish torment it For the soul appearing before God in the guilt of all its sins which are the greatest contrariety opposition against the holy nature of God who