the ground of your Grief The more Gracious the more Glorious the more Holy the more Happy the better she was the fitter for Heaven There are two things which may trouble us at the death of Relations the one is when we can see no Evidence of Grace the other when we have neglected our Duty to them especially to their Souls in their life-time The reason why David did so wofully bewail the Death of Absalom is imagined to be one or both of these When our Relations are fitted for Glory I think 't is no uncharitable wish to wish them out of a troublesome World in those Coelestial Enjoyments Paul did desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which was best of all But to wish those out of Glory that are in were both an unprofitable and uncharitable desire and argues more Passion and Self-love than well grounded Charity Now there is no going to Heaven but through the Gaâ—es of Death and 't is through Death's Portal that we must enter She hath paid the Debt we all owe and would you have her endure these Pangs and Pains over again You came not into the World together and it was unlikely that you would go together out and when ever a parting was it was like to be with grief She hath changed her Husband but 't is for the better an Earthly for an Heavenly she had a large Joynture before but 't is much amended 't is now advanc'd to a Crown and Kingdom She hath left her Relations behind but she hath better there Saints and Angels the Souls of Just Men made perfect There she can serve the Lord without distraction and sing Hallelujahs to Eternity without weariness here Corruption attended her best Duties there sin and sorrow shall be no more here she was troubled with Satan's Temptations there he cannot come to throw one Dart or shoot one Arrow at her here she was liable to Pains Aches Griefs and Troubles all these are there removed here she could scarcely open an Eye or an Ear but it let in sin or sorrow there all tears shall be wiped away and a sad or sorrowful thought shall never enter And what cause hath she to complain of wrong And if neither of you be wronged why is this wast Why so many sighs so many sobs so many sorrowful tears which might better run in another Channel Had she liberty â—o speak for her self it might probably be in such words as these which Christ upon the Cross spake â—o the Women that bewailed him Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for â—our children c. those that are yet in the Vale of Tears 't is the Church-Militant that deserves â—ity not the Church-Triumphant Lament raâ—her the condition of those that survive for you know not what their Sufferings may be the other are out of harms-way and safely landed in the Port of Heaven Now is there such a wrong done you or her that God takes her to himself before you were willing to part with her though he had a better Interest in her than you could pretend and made her fit for Glory and translated her thither You agree both in the thing but the Quarrel is about the time and the Controversie is whose Will must be obeyed or whose Judgment must be preferred which is the best time Many of the wiser Heathens have submitted with less contradiction Anaxarchus when told of the death of his two Sons answered I knew that they were Mortal Et stultus est qui mortem mortalium deflet Now in the present Controversie may not God say to you as sometimes he did to his People What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone from me What wrong have I done that you thus complain One of us must submit and must it be me Must I alter my Eternal Decrees for your sake or will there be no Peace to be had The Lord may say as Jacob did to Laban when he so fiercely pursued him Gen. 31.36 What is my trespass What is my sin Declare it before the world that they may be our judges Nay hath not God in this very Affliction sugared your Pill which might have been much bittered she might have been taken away in her younger years before you had such hopes of her Integrity or at least denyed you such Evidence of her Conversion then might you have feared she had been lost indeed or instead of one he might have taken all your Children when as yet two survive oâ— by the same stroke he might have taken away your dear Husband better to you than ten Sons as Elkanah said to Hannah 1 Sam. 1.8 Or he might have suffered your Children to be a heart-breaking to you as too many in these days are by their vicious Lives and Conversations who bring their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave which makes them with with Augustiâ—â— that they had never married or had dyed childless These are not such rare Examples in our days but too frequent She dyed a Natural Death many now adays as well as Job Eli Aaron David and others in former times were not so happy as to say so of theirs Neither is there any guilt upon you as upon some that have cause to mourn for neglecting any means for the preservation of her Life when some be wickedly Accessory to their Childrens Death If there were any fault which yet I cannot accuse you of it was in the excess of your Love which I the more fear when I see the excess of your Sorrow and this is a fault which Indulgent Mothers are apt to run into But you 'll say you could more easily have born any other Burden or suffered any other Cross Why then it seems God hath let you Blood in the right Vein as he did the Young Man in the Gospel that was willing to do any thing Christ commanded but part with his Riches but Christ will have a full resignation of our selves and all that is ours or he will not own us No beloved Delilah must be retained the Cross that Christ appoints we must bear and must not pick and choose our own Burden Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother wife and children brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple That is if he prize any of those before him or will rather part with Christ than with any or all of these he deserves not the name of a Christian for all we have in the World is given to us as Love-Tokens from God to signifie his Love to us and to oblige our Love to him and sometimes God calls back some of these Gifts to see whether we love him or his Tokens better God gave you liberty before she dyed to let her and you see the Fruit of her Womb a Son which though he soon called off the Stage yet at the Resurrection be shall stand in his lot But 't is
Grapes may be gathered from these Thorns and some Figs from these Thistles some Honey may be lick'd off these Briars for God's Rod like Jonathan's hath Honey at the end Sensible we must be of this Providence as doubtless Aaron was at his two Sons deaths but discontent we must not be God complains that Righteous persons perish and no man lays it to heart and merciful men were taken away and no man considers it Isa 57.1 Some use of such Providences we should make and get some benefits by these Tryals Now among the many Lessons this Providence holds out to us I shall only point out these seven following which if you and I can learn by it it will be happy for us Lesson 1. From this Lecture of Mortality your dead Daughter we may learn the cursed Nature of sin which was the cause of her Death and how little beholding we are to it that thus rends one Friend out of the Arms of another for whatever Distemper our deceased Friends dye of sin lies at the bottom and sets the Disease on work but for sin 't is probable we had never dyed For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life By one man's offence sin came into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all for as much as all have sinned Now shall we love the Tree and hate the Fruit Love the Cause and hate the Effect Shall we be like foolish Children that hate the smarting Plaister and consider not the Ulcerous Sore that makes it necessary We would have the Wound cured and yet not have the Weapon drawn out for fear of a little smart Had not Sin gone before Death had not followed many Men love the Drunkenness and hate the Surfeit But did we see sin in its own Colours it would be worse than the Effects for 't is the only Object of God's infinite hatred for he hates nothing but sin or for sins sake and yet sin seems lovely when we behold it in the Devil's Glass or through his Spectacles If we could strip the Devil himself of his vicious Qualities he would return to his former Angelical Glory yea into God's Favour for he hates nothing he hath made Man in his first Creation was made Holy and Happy and had Power given him so to continue and though by his Constitution he was Mortal yet by God's Blessing he had been Immortal for ought we know â—s the Soul is But by eating the Forbidden Fruit Gen. 2.17 in all probability he had suddenly dyed had not Christ interposed and become a Surety to his Father and so gained a longer Lease and paid the Fine however Man became obnoxious to Death and dye he must See how dangerous it is to play at the hole of the Asp and to ask Counsel at the Devil's Mouth for so Eve did and for that Offence all her Posterity must eat bread in the sweat of their brows till they return to the dust out of which they were taken No Greatness can excuse us no Wisdom can prevent it but the most dangerous Death is to dye in our sins Sin it is that makes us uncurable otherwise we had been so armed Death could never have entred or pierced the heart Rom. 5.12 And shall we hug this Viper in our Bosom that will sting us to Eternal Death For sin is the very sting of death without which Death were not so formidable Adam's Offence diffuseth it self to all his Posterity as Poison doth to every part of the Body and shall we love the Work and hate the Wages Actual Sin is the Fruit of Original Corruption and springs from this bitter Root and 't is the cause of all our Misery and shall we like the foolish Dog bite the stone and let the Passenger that threw it go free Let us turn therefore all our sorrow into sorrow for sin for all is little enough to run in this Channâ—l And let this be your Motive though not one of the greatest sin was the cause of your dâ—ar Daughter's Death and will ere long be the cause of yours also and happy will it be for you if this bitter Pill have this Operation upon you to make you hate sin with a perfect hatred 2. Nay 't is not only Death but also all the Miseries that accompany Life and are the fore-runners of Death which are the direful Fruits and Effects of Sin Could we see Sin in its own proper shape it would appear most hateful and detestable but the Devil hides its Deformity from us what he can and to this end lends us his Spectacles in which it appears lovely and amiable but we may best see it in the Effects It was this that turned Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradice and many thousands into Hell and can the Tree be good that brings forth such unsavoury Fruit This raced out the Image of God and engraved upon the Soul the very Image of Satan The Devil knows well enough that if we saw Sin in its own Colours we must needs hate it for who can fall in Love with Deformity it self And therefore misrepresents it as a deformed Hag paints her Face and covers her Deformity thereby to take her Prey and allure unwary Youth So the Devil deals by Sin and represents it in Vertue 's Colours but the Glass of the Word would shew it in its own shape Indeed there is nothing in the World that can fully resemble it yet in the Scripture 't is represented by the foulest things imaginable to filthy Ulcerous Sores James 1.21 To the Mire that Swine wallows in the Vomit of a Dog to filthy Rags Menstruous Cloathes deadly Poison a fretting Cancer or Gangreen 't is so infectious none can escape the Infection it infects the whole Man like the Leprosie in the Head the Thoughts Words Desires Affections and Actions are all polluted and unclean and smell of the Cask and stink in the Nostrils of God our Eating Drinking Buying Selling Trading yea Plowing is sin Prov. 21.4 And all our Religious Duties if not performed with the Incense of Christ's Righteousness are defiled Isa 1.11 c. and 66.3 Why Those Duties though commanded by God yet proceeding not from a right Principle directed to a right End and done in a right manner must needs be faulty Now sin though looked upon as a harmless innocent thing and when Men have put a fair Mask upon its soul Face looks lovely and the Devil hides its soul Visage as 't is said the Panther doth his deformed Head purposely to take his Prey yet still it remains ugly Pride covers it self with the name of Cleanliness Drunkenness is taken for Good-fellowship and Covetousness for Good Husbandry c. But the Effects are not so lovely let the Devil and his Instruments say what they will to the contrary for 't is the occasion of all the Miseries that ever befel Mortal Man We had never had aking Head or aking Heart or Loss or
Those are most like to neglect their Work that cast it out of sight and out of mind and those are likest to be surprized by an Enemy that neglect their Watch When the evil servant said in his heart my Lord deferreth his coming c. he was soon surprized and paid for his Folly Mat. 24.48 c. In the Psalmist's days there were many of whom he saith God is not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 And are there not many in our days of whom it may be said Death is not in all their thoughts Do not the shew of their countenance the course of their lives testifie against them and they declare their sin 〈◊〉 Sodom and hide it not The course of their Lives cannot consist with a believing Meditation of God of Heaven and Hell Death and Judgment no no they put far from them the evil day Amos 6.3 This cursed Security is the source of all manner of sin and wickedness for God is neither in their Head nor Heart and therefore they sin boldly I have heard of some foolish Creatures that will thrust their Heads into a Bush and then because they see no body they think no body sees them such apprehension many Men seem to have of Death they think themselves secure because they have got Death out of their minds but misreckoning proves no Payment Many like the Rich Man Luke 12.16 c. promised himself a longer Lease than God had sealed him but Christ calls him Fool for his labour Many mens Glasses are almost run out when they thought they were but new turned but those that reckon without their Host must reckon twice 'T is folly in a Tenant to forget his Rent-day and then imagine his Land-lord forgets it also or for a Malefactor to forget the day of his Execution and think others forget it as well as he This was Jerusalem's fault and it proved her ruine Lam. 1.9 She remembred not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully and this proves many a man's ruine It was not in vain therefore that Moses prays Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom We are apt to make some Preparation for the Body what to eat and what to drink and wherewithal we shall be cloathed and neglect not Fairs nor Markets where wanted Necessaries may be had many prepare in the Day for the Night in the Summer for Winter in Health for Sickness in Youth for Age yea and for their Posterity after them And what stupid Madness is it not to provide in time for Eternity and remember not the days of darkness for they are many Eccles 11.8 'T is the greatest folly to mind trifles and neglect the main The thoughts of Death will not hasten it the sooner but it may hasten our Preparation for it it can do us no harm but much good Let no day therefore pass without some serious thoughts and meditation of it this will make it less formidable 'T is fabled of the Fox that when he first saw a Lion he trembled but in process of time he grew bolder Thus by better Acquaintance we should do with Death that is most amazing that comes unexpectedly Let us put the Question to our selves Did I know I should dye the next Week or Month how should I spend this time And let 's live so seeing for ought we know we may not live so long Sure our Time-wasting Gallants would then find something else to do than to divide their Time as many do between Swearing Roaring Drinking and Whoring Death will make a wonderful change both in the good and in the bad In the good 't is an outlet to all their Misery and an inlet to Heaven and Glory In the bad 't is an end of all their Felicity and the date of their Misery and can this on either side be such a contemptible change as not worth thinking of Should a poor Woman upon a fixed day be to be married to some Mighty Prince could she forget the day or neglect to prepare for it Can a Maid forget her ornaments or a Bride her attire c. Or were a Man upon an appointed day to go to Prison to Banishment or to Execution would it signifie nothing to him Were our Houses on fiâ—e over our Heads or were we pursued by a Lion or Bear or other ravenous Beast or some deadly Enemy that sought our Lives should we be so unconcerned And is not the Soul in a thousand times greater danger of Eternal Death than the Body can be of Temporal and yet shall this be slighted Is it not high time for us when the Sergeant waits to Arrest us to take Christ's Counsel and agree with our Adversary before we are cast into Prison Mat. 5.25 And not as ill Husbands do stay till we are arrested and cast into Prison I know there are too many that think God and Devil Heaven and Hell are but Fables these will know to their sorrow they are Realities and deserve our serious thoughts And 't is not enough to think of Death for many do so against their wills but they must prepare for it also let us consider every Evening what we have done in reference to Preparation the day past and whether we are a days Journey nearer Heaven as we are nearer our Graves This course is likely to fit us for Death and Judgment Lesson 7. The Seventh Lesson we may learn from this sad and unexpected Providence is Seeing all are under a necessity of dying to bring our minds to be willing to dye how and when God in his Providence shall think fit It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Now 't is our Duty to subscribe our consent to this Law He that hateth not his father mother wife and children brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luke 14.26 These are Love-Tokens God hath given us to win our Love and when he requires them again 't is to try whether we love Him or his Gifts better 'T is as I shew'd before our Duty to submit as Aaron patiently to the death of our Relations and sometimes the Lesson proves hard enough but here is a further tryal we shall be put upon to submit to our own Death When Job bore the loss of his Estate and Relations so well the Devil would try him by afflicting him in his Body and Mind Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 As if he should say Any thing for his own Life Cattle Servants Children all shall go so he may sleep in a whole Skin I know the Lesson to be willing to dye seems hard to Flesh and Blood but we must have something more or we cannot dye well the same Reason that makes us submit to another's Death is good here I know there are greater Temptations lying at some mens doors than others 't is