carefull that they had no sinfull thought they would be patternes of the strangest expressions of conformitie to the rule that can be imagined if it were possible to be granted You may easily be perswaded of this doe you that now which they wish for and wish in vaine make use of the time of grace now there is no comming backe againe afterward Thirdly A third reason is this I shall goe to him As if hee should have have said I have another businesse in hand now the child is dead it is not for me to stand blubbering and spending my time for a dead Child I am going to him The word here is I shall returne to him Returne signifieth to goe backe to a place where one was before So David shall returne to his Child for he was there before there in respect of his body the principles of that is in the earth where the Child is and in heaven in respect of his soule where the Child is The Body returneth to dust whence it was taken and the soule to God that gave it The body is of the dust and returneth to dust the soule commeth from God and returnes to God againe Therefore he saith here I shall returne to him because I came from him When things are reduced to their first principles the body to the earth and the soule to God they are said to returne Yee see the phrase then The point briefly is this That the greatest care of a mans life the greatest businesse he hath to doe on earth is to prepare for death His businesse is not to care for his children that are dead and to spend unprofitable sorrow for them the maine businesse of my life is how I shall make my peace with God and bee fitted for death for I am going thither Wee should observe the death of others to stirre us up to a serious preparation for our owne death the Father should be stirred up by seeing his Child dead before him the elder by seeing the younger die before them we see how death hath shot his arrowes beyond and short and above and below us in those that are elder and younger and richer and poorer all sorts he will strike us at last this thing I say should stirre us up to prepare for our owne dissolution A man would thinke that there were no need of such a thing the very bare sight of Corse or a hearse the bare fight of a dead corpse the bare ringing of a bell or a Funerall Sermon should be warning enough to the living to tell him of death When a man sees a company carrying a dead body to the gaave he should say to himselfe It may bee the feet of these may carrie me next But how commeth it to passe that it is not thus Certainly there is not power in all examples to worke this it is the worke of Gods spirit Though a man observe the death of never so many before him yet this cannot worke in him a serious care to make preparation for his owne death except God adde a further worke to it We may see this in the expression of Moses when so many died in the Wildernesse Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome As if hee should have said Though so many thousands died in the Wildernesse and that by so many severall kinds of death yet we shall never apply our hearts to wisedome by those examples except God teach us that wisdome Therefore we should pray to God to teach us by his Spirit to make use of Examples Men must give account for examples aswell as for rules men must give account for examples of mortalitie as well as for Sermons of mortalitie therefore let the example of others mortality stirre you up to prepare for your owne and that you may doe so be much in calling upon God Lastly Hee shall not returne to mee that is in this sense to converse on earth as he had done before I shall returne to him but hee shall not returne to mee He doth but reitterate and repeat what he had said before in effect This is the thing then that Parents must make account of both for themselves and their children For their children It should make them moderate therefore in their sorrow for them God now hath shewed his purpose and declared his will therefore wee should rest in that will of God This is the thing that David aymed at Gods will was not only to takeaway his child but so to take him away as never to returne to him againe in that manner Now God had declared his will and therefore why should I fast saith he as if he should say I will now rest in the will of God In all the things which we account crosses and losses in children and friends c. The maine businesse of a Christian is not to expresse sorrow but submission and subjection to God to exercise and inure his heart to patience and to rest in Gods good pleasure and will As Eli though he faild in his carriage to his sonnes yet he shewed a dutifull respect to God his heavenly father When Samuel told him the judgement of God that should come upon his house It is the Lord saith he let him doe what seemeth him good in his owne eyes though it were a heavy judgement such as whosoever should heare of it both his eares should tingle yet it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good As if he should say I have nothing to doe in this businesse but to subject my selfe with patient submission and contentednesse to his will it is the Lord it becommeth not me to contend with him and to reason with God concerning his worke I confesse hee is righteous let him doe what seemeth him good in his owne eyes And so Aaron There was a heavy judgement befallen him his sonnes were consumed with fire yet the text saith Aaron held his peace When God manifested so great wrath to his house in wasting and consuming and burning his sonnes for offering of strange fire yet Aaron held his peace that is he did only mind how to glorifie God by a contented submission to his will So Iob hee heard not only of the losse of his children but that he lost them in such a manner by a violent death by a house falling on their heads yet the Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away blessed bee the name of the Lord. Whereas a carnall worldly man would have fallen to strugling and contending and quarrelling against God and so trouble and perplex his owne spirit We doe exceedingly imbitter Gods cup by mingling with it ingredients of our owne passions and so make the affliction more heavy and grievous then God intends it Here is the reason wee possesse not our soules with patience When we are sensible of the losse of friends and children c. let us learne to make it our businesse to thinke I have a
all met upon one person This is the language of men whereby they aggravate their afflictions and increase impatience in themselves Againe another way whereby they doe it is this By giving vent and free course to their passions Passions are like a wilde horse if they have not reines put upon them if they be not pulled in they will flie out to all excesse If once we give our Passions vent there is no stopping of them David wee see checks himselfe he had a curbe to bridle his passions Why art thou cast downe oh my soule But otherwise when men give the reines to their passion and doe not stop their course but thinke they have reason for it they breake out into all exorbitancie Ionah when the Lord chalenged him for his anger Dost thou well to bee angrie I saith he I doe well to be angrie even to the death So David Oh Absalom my sonne would God I had died for thee oh Absalom my sonne my sonne What hurt was done to David what wrong had the man to take on thus his sonne was tooke from him but it was Absalom Absalom died but it was Absolom that would have killed his father and yet he takes on as if the father could not live because the sonne that sought his death was tooke from him Such unreasonable Passions such causelesse distempers oft-times are in the soules of men that they mistake Gods wayes and that very way that he intendeth them good in they complaine of as if it were their utter undoing Againe thirdly another way whereby men increase their impatience and distemper is when they will not give way to comfort they will not onely bee exceeding vehement and intent upon their Passions but besides stop all passages and in-lets against comfort It was Iacobs fault concerning the death of Ioseph When he heard that Ioseph was dead not onely his heart sunke within him but hee rends his garments and covereth himselfe with sack-cloth he takes on so that when his sonnes and children rose up to comfort him he would not be comforted Why Because Ioseph was not and I will goe to the grave to Ioseph nothing would comfort Iacob but he would goe downe to the grave to Ioseph by all meanes What a great matter was this He only heard that Ioseph was dead he was alive he knew not so much but hee heard a present sound of feare and he was carried away with that So it is with us the very apprehension of our feares are as bad to us as the things themselves could possibly be Nay we multiply upon our selves our feares and we will not heare counsell and comfort as Rachel that mourned for her children and would not bee comforted because they were not Againe a fourth thing whereby men increase impatience in themselves and aggravate their sorrowes is this when men looke onely upon the present afflictions and not upon the mercies they have as if they had but one eye to behold all objects with as if they could looke but upon one thing at once there should bee a looking upon the affliction and there should bee a looking upon the mercy too This was Hamans case when he was vexed that Mordecay did not doe him reverence all his wealth and his honours could doe him no good he had much wealth and the glory of his house was increased he had the favour of the King and was inclining to have the honour of the Queene put upon him yet all this availeth me nothing saith he so long as I see Mordecay the Iew sitting in the Kings gate Hee lookes onely on this particular that vexed and grieved him and not upon the rest So it is with us if there be but one particular affliction upon us we fix our eyes upon that Like a Flie that flieth about the glasse and can sticke no where till she come to some cracke or as a Gnat that commeth about the body of a beast that will be sure to sticke on the galled part or some sore or other So it is with these disquieted thoughts of men that are of no other use but to further Sathans ends to weaken their faith and discourage their owne hearts men sticke on the gall on the sore of any affliction there they will rest It is true God hath given us such and such favours and mercies hath offered us such and such opportunities but what is this this and that particular affliction is upon me This is that that increaseth impatience when a man will not looke on the mercies he receiveth but onely lookes on that that he wanteth Againe a fifth course that men take to aggravate their sorrows and increase impatience in themselves is this They looke upon the instrument of their sorrows and afflictions but never looke up to God that ruleth and over-ruleth these things Men looke upon such a person such a man and no more Yee see how David was disquieted at this If it had beene an enemie that reproached him then he could have borne it but it was thou my friend my equall my guide my acquaintance that sate at my table wee tooke sweet counsell together and walked unto the house of God in company This troubled him and see how he multiplied his sorrowes when hee looked upon the instrument till he looked upon God and then I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it There is no quiet in the heart when a man lookes upon man till hee lookes upon God that ordereth all things by his wisedome and counsell Lastly men aggravate their sorrowes and increase their impatience by another course they take that is when they looke on their sorrows and afflictions onely and not upon the benefit of affliction they looke only upon that that flesh would avoyde but not that which if they were spirituall and wise they would desire No affliction saith the Apostle is joyous for the time that is to flesh and nature but grievous neverthelesse afterward it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousnesse to them which are exercised thereby Now men looke upon that only which is grievous in affliction upon the smart of it but not upon the profit of Affliction the quiet fruit of righteousnesse that commeth by it As a man when he hath a Corroding plaister put to a sore he cryeth and complaineth of the smart it putteth him to but takes no notice of the healing that commeth by it and the cure that followeth Thus it is with men they complaine of God as if he envied them the comfort of their lives as if he intended to robbe them of all conveniencies and to make them utterly miserable to begin a Hell with them on earth when they never looke how God by this meanes fitteth them for heaven by this meanes purging out corruption and strengthening grace in them Wee are afflicted of the Lord that we may not be condemned of the world Men looke upon the affliction
the market-place when hee should be working in the Vineyard Would you be feasting when God would have you mourning you shall see some that have beene taken away when they little thought of it Belshazzer he was in his feasts and then commeth the sentence of death against him and other the like examples you may see in the Scripture Consider therefore the particular actions that you doe whether they bee such as hold agreement with the state of a dying man So for the manner of doing holy duties Would you be found praying perfunctorily and carelesly Would you be found comming to the Sacrament unprepared What though you doe holy actions that are good for the matter would you be found doing of them with unfit and unprepared hearts You see what the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 11. For this cause many are sicke and weake and many sleepe they slept they were dead for this even because they came unworthily to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Would you therefore bee found doing of holy duties and not in a right manner The serious consideration of this that Death is the end of all men with the particular application of it to a mans selfe that as it is the state of all men so it is mine in particular I must die and I may die now it hath an influence into all the actions of a mans life To conclude In the last place This point is of use to us also in the death of others First to moderate the mourning of Christians for the death of others Why It is the end of all men it is that that is the common condition of all men it should not be too grievous nor too dolefull to any man Wee would not have our friends to bee in another condition in their birth then others wee would not have them have more fingers or more members then a man and would wee have them have more dayes Let this serve as a briefe touch upon that Secondly it teacheth us to make good use of our fellowship while we are together Not only we may die but those that are usefull to us may die also let us make good use of one another while we live therefore This will make the death of others bitter and will be worse then the death and losse of our friends the guilt upon a mans conscience that hee hath not made that use of them while they were alive that he might have done let us therefore make the death of our friends easie by making good use of them while they live It did smite the heart of those Ephesians that they should see the face of Paul no more specially above the rest it grieved them that they should see him no more how would it have grieved them thinke you if they had alwayes hardned themselves against his ministrie before Thinke with your selves seriously here is such a Minister such a Christian friend that husband and wife that parent and child a time of parting will come let us make it easie now by making good use of one another while we live that when friends are tooke away we may have cause to thanke God that we have had communion and comfort of their fellowship and societie the benefit of their graces the fruit of their lives and not sorrow for the want of them by death So much for that I come now to the second and principall reason why it is better to goe to the house of mourning then to the house of feasting it is this because the living shall lay it to his heart What shall hee lay to his heart That that is the end of all men hee shall lay the death of men to heart The point I observe from hence is thus much It is the dutie of those that live to lay to heart the death of others That is seriously to consider and make use for themselves of the death of others You see the Text is cleare for the point And there is good reason why it should be so First in respect of the glory that commeth to God Secondly in respect of the good that commeth to our selves by it First God is glorified by this when wee lay to heart the death of others there is a dishonour done to God when wee slight the death of others good or bad It is a dishonour to God to slight any of his actions this is one of Gods workes in the world the death of men this is a thing wherein Gods hand is seene he saith to the sonnes of Adam Returne The spirit returneth to God that gave it It is hee that hath the power of life and death If a sparrow fall not to the ground without the providence of God much lesse the servants of God the precious ones upon the earth the excellent ones as David calleth them I say God is seene much in these workes and it is a great dishonour to God when men doe not consider the workes of his hands David by the spirit of Prophesie in Psal. 28. 5. wisheth a curse upon ungodly men and for this reason among the rest because they consider not the operation of his hands this is that that puts men into a curst estate and exposeth them to the wrath of God when they regard not the workes of the Lord. The actions of Princes and great men upon earth every man considereth of them and weigheth them It is that wherein wee give God the glory of his wisedome and of his truth of his power of his justice of his mercy of his soveraigntie and dominion and Lordship over the whole earth when wee labour to draw to a particular use to ourselves the workes of God in the world specially the death of men of all men good and bad for we must give it the same latitude and extent and scope that the Text doth here he speakes here of the death of men in generall and he saith of all men that their death shall bee laid to heart by the living Secondly as there is reason that we should take to heart the death of others in respect of the glory that commeth to God thereby so in respect of ourselves also much benefit commeth to ourselves by laying to heart the death of other men There be three speciall things considerable in the death of any one that is matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them Therein we see the certainty nature cause and end of Death First therein we see the certainty of death For now we have not only the word of God that tels us that we shall die but the workes of God taking others before us that as the Sacraments are called Visible instructions because they teach by the eye and the outward senses so the death of others are visible instructions to the living it teacheth by the eye a man is guided by the eye to see his owne condition and as it were in a glasse there
and apprehension of it it causeth feare and terrour Secondly it commeth in others and generally in all from weaknesse of nature which in some is more then others according to their different constitutions and educations so the rich many times are more fearefull of Death then the Poore because they have more to lose so likewise voluptuous persons are more fearefull of Death then those that are more temperate because by voluptuousnesse they have dis-joynted and weakned their spirits So young men many times are more fearefull of Death then those that are old as we see in the storie Iudg. 8. 20. Iether the sonne of Gideon when he should have killed Zeba and Zalmunna the Text saith Hee was afraid because hee was a young man but Gideon that was elder did it willingly as a man better accustomed and experienced with observations of changes and varieties of accidents amongst men We shall see the servants of God themselves have discovered this weaknesse of spirit specially upon sudden apprehensions of things Abraham upon the sudden and violent apprehension of Death was put to asinfull shift I thought faith he the feare of God is not in this place and they will slay me for my wives sake therefore I said this is my sister So Samuel when God sent him to anoint David he discovered this weaknesse If Saul should know what I am a doing he will slay me therefore hee desired to have some other message under the colour whereof he might put Saul off So Peter out of a sudden apprehension of death and feare of it he denyed his Master This weaknesse of spirit is in man naturally Further there is another thing that causeth this naturall feare and that is the unacquaintednesse men have with Death there is somewhat in this matter that is strange to men notwithstanding they heare and see many die before them daily they heare things spoken of by the Minister and they reade the Scripture and many excellent comforts but who hath seene these what becommeth of these men they see Death the strict Porter of the world let men out of the earth but he locks the dore of the Grave upon them and none commeth backe againe to tell what is done in that place of silence to tell what is become of men when they are in the Grave how they speed in that world of soules there is no man returneth from the dead to report these things to them Now this affecteth the naturall man nay all men naturally are affected with the fearefull apprehension of death because they know not what will come after as the naturall man speakes in Ecclesiastes When Ioram set out a watch-man to see what was abroad and spied an Armie comming he sent a servant but Iehu biddeth him goe behind him he sendeth another and hee goeth behind him still saith he I see the men goe but they come not backe the Text saith hee was afraid Make ready the Chariot saith Ioram If this be the issue that men goe but never come backe againe it is high time to looke about us Certainly beloved such are the apprehensions of death Wee see men saith the naturall man goe downe to the Grave and not come backe againe wee see that a man ceaseth to bee and to doe those actions that we doe when we are upon the earth therefore let us consider the matter more seriously When the Captaine of the fifty that came to the Mount to Elijah saw the two former Captaines and their companies consumed saw that they were all dead that they ceased to bee but he saw not what became of them afterward therefore he commeth with feare to the Prophet and intreateth him that his life might be precious in his sight All strange things we know affect men and every thing as it is more strange so it more affecteth man naturally Let there but come a beast out of the Wildernesse assoone as ever he commeth unto a man and seeth him he flieth from him because he is not used to the sight of man it is strange to him but now take a beast that is brought up in the pasture in the field he will come to a man without feare because he is used to the sight of him So it is here Death is apprehended as a strange thing as a thing that a man never knew by experience Men have seene thus much that people have died but they never heard of any that came backe againe to tell them how it fared with them after death This I say that men should goe to the place of silence and have all matters hushed all things kept secret downe there there commeth no report thence this affecteth men with feare These are the naturall causes Secondly there are other causes within that affect men with the feare of death and those are sinfull causes First the want of the feare of God and as this is lesse so the feare of Death is more therefore we shall find that wicked men that cast off the feare of God in their lives they are slavishly held under the feare of death this you shall see in those examples of Belshazzar a man that set himselfe with a high hand against God went on in a contemptuous course against God and prophaned the holy vessels when there was a hand writing upon the wall some terrible thing presented to him his knees smote together hee could not hold his joynts still And so Felix a man that lived without the feare of God when he heard of judgement and other things the text saith he trembled and so likewise Cain and divers others I need not stand on it It was one of the Judgements threatned in part 28. Deut. Because thou dost not feare the Lord thy God therefore wheresoever thou goest thou shalt find no ease neither shall the sole of thy foot have any rest but the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee that is thou shalt be in continuall feare of death and thou shalt feare day and night and shall have none assurance of thy life in the Morning thou shalt say would God it were Even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning because of the feare of thine heart wherewith thou shalt feare and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see This is this is the first thing Secondly another thing is this when mens hearts are too much glued to the world and marke it according as there is worldly affections and worldly-mindednesse in the hearts of Gods servants so the feare of Death is more in them according to the strength of the one is the feare of the other What is it that disquieteth men ordinarily and makes them that they cannot think of Death with comfort but this now they must lose their company part with all their friends when they die once Hezekiah complained of that I shall see man no more saith he with the
and after both soule and body and presents them before his owne Tribunall and there searcheth into every mans life ransacks his conscience lookes deepe into his conversation and inquireth into his secrets openeth his actions and whole carriage from his infancie to his last breath and findeth out the things that hee hath done and passeth sentence according to that he hath done This Judgement hath two degrees First assoone as a man dieth No sooner is the soule separated from this case as it were the bodie but instantly it is presented before the Lord Jesus Christ and there he passeth sentence either that it is a true beleever a godly liver a person united to Christ that walked as becommeth the Gospell of Christ and then it receiveth glory and joy and blisse for the present more then tongue expresse Or else it findeth against him that he was a sinfull man a wicked man a hypocrite a dissembler one that named Christ with his tongue but did not depart from iniquitie nor live according to the Gospell of Christ and then he is delivered up to Sathan to bee hurried downe to Hell and there to suffer the wrath of God according to the desert of so great wickednesse This particular judgement passeth upon every soule assoone as it leaveth the Body Then followeth the great universall Judgement when soule and body shall be reunited and stand before God every particular man that ever hath beene is or shall be every man shall appeare in their owne persons their whole lives shall be laied open all secret things shall bee made knowne for God saith the Apostle shall judge the secrets of all hearts by Iesus Christ according to my Gospell This is the third thing that the word of God informeth us concerning death that nature could never doe The last that is the best the Scripture giveth us a remedie against the ill of Death It is a pittifull thing to heare of mortallity and sicknesse if there were not a good Potion or Phisicke prescribed to escape the ill of it To heare tell of Death and so tell as the Scripture saith that it is a going to another world of weale or woe and not to heare of a remedie it is wofull tydings and would wring teares from a hard heart But the Scripture makes report of death not onely tollerable and easie but comfortable and gladsome to a Christian heart for it sheweth by whom and by what meanes we may infallibly and certainly escape all the hurt that Death can doe Nay by what meanes we may order our selves so that Death may be beneficiall to us What is that In one short word It is Christ I am the resurrection and the life hee that beleeveth in mee shall never see death Hee meaneth to hurt himselfe Againe This is the message that God hath given us life and this life is in his Sonne And Hee that hath the Sonne hath life Our Saviour Jesus Christ came into the world as the Apostle telleth us that hee might destroy him that had the power of death and so set them at libertie that all their life-time were in bondage under the feare of death And Saint Iohn saith Hee came into the world to destroy the workes of the divell which are sinne and death So that now Death hath lost his sting because Christ overcame it in dying hee slue Death and was the death of Death this man Christ God and Man hee offered himselfe to his Father as a Sacrifice for the sinnes of the world and dying a cursed death upon the Crosse so satisfied the justice of God on the behalfe of all those that are in him that death can doe them no harme It is nothing else but a passage to eternall blessednesse Oh blessed be the name of God that hath beene pleased to provide so perfect a remedie against so mortall an enemie and to lay it open so clearely and plainly in the Gospell Yee have heard of those things that I thought to put yee in mind of concerning Death and so I have done with the first point The second is That Death is an enemie Therefore the Apostle Paul telleth us of a certaine sting it hath Oh Death where is thy sting It is an armed enemie it commeth as a Serpent with a sting that entreth into a mans soule putteth it to extreame perplexitie if he takes not order to disarme this enemie An enemie yee know is a person that setteth himselfe wilfully to hurt a man may hurt his neighbour either through indiscretion or unadvisednesse against his will or hee may lay waite to doe him hurt intending mischiefe and seeking to performe somewhat that shall bee injurious to him Wee call not him an enemie that we receive a little hurt from against his will contrary to his purpose and intention but he that studieth and beforehand desireth to be an enemie Now Death as we may say studieth our hurt in all extremitie before-hand There is but two sorts of hurt that can come to a man One is to deprive him of that which is beneficiall and comfortable to robbe him of all that is contentfull to him in this life As when a company of Foes breake into a Nation they burne their goods and spoile their houses and robbe and take away all that is comfortable to them so much as they can Death is such an enemie It desireth to bereave a man of that necessarie contentment hee hath When it meeteth with a learned man it takes away all his learning at one blow assoone as he is dead hee ceaseth to bee a great scholler It commeth to a rich man and robbes him of all his goods at one blow too though he have millions Death causeth all to be another mans When it commeth to a King it pulleth him beside his Throne takes his Crowne off his head and casteth both him and it into the dust hee is king no longer when hee is dead And so in all the benefits of this life it takes away the pleasure and contentments of a man it takes away the husband from the wife and the wife from the husband it divideth children from Parents and Parents from children all the benefits that this life afford death strippeth a man of them all and turnes him naked out of the world just as hee came hee must goe and carry nothing in his hand Death will not admit him to take one farthing or any thing else with him So he is an enemie for hee spoileth us of whatsoever is desirable in this life But he is an enemie also in inflicting a great deale of ill upon men So death bringeth torment for the present It is a terrible thing to wrestle with it makes a man bleed and sweat as it were No man can incounter with death but he feeleth anxietie and vexation of body and minde unlesse hee have comfort from above to enable him to wrestle with it but in his owne proper nature it is so furious
there grow a Fig-tree or Ivy out of the house that it spread the root through the chinckes and partitions of the wall a man that cuts downe the Fig-tree shall not profit for it is so fast rooted in the wall and in the chinkes that either hee must pull downe the wall or else it will not die Therefore a wise man will pull down his house and root out the Fig-tree and then set up stones and and there erect the house beautifull and so both are preserved he hath his end in both both the house is rebuilt and the Ivy consumed and rooted out So it is in case of sinne there is the house we carry about us the building the temple of our body the house is man himselfe sinne is the fig-tree it is such a fig-tree as insinuateth it selfe betweene every chinke and partition in our nature there is somewhat corrupt in every facultie of the soule and it sheweth the fruit in every part of the body that is an instrument of sin it hath so wound it selfe in that the fig-tree cannot be destroyed cannot be pulled out except the house be dissolved there must be a pulling downe of the Temple therefore God in wisedome by Death he takes the temple the house in peeces and then the fig-tree may be pulled out and then he erects the wall of that house more glorious then before it was throwne downe while the fig-tree was in it while sinne was in it it is raised up without it that is that the Apostle saith Corruption shall put on incorruption and mortalitie shall put on immortalitie the body that is sowne a naturall body it shall bee raised a spirituall it is sowne in dishonour it shall be raised in glory God therefore takes them away from the evill of sinne hee dissolveth the body that hee may purifie it and cloath it with immortalitie that it may be a purer body then when it was first presented in nature at the first Creation We see hereby what those good things are that Death bringeth It bringeth immunitie from the evill of suffering God takes away mercifull men that they see not that they suffer not And it bringeth immunitie from sinne that they doe not see it that they doe not commit it The use is a Pillar of confidence not to bee afraid of Death who would feare that which makes for his perfection that is the meanes of his translation to happinesse And in respect of others not to mourne for them that are tooke away out of this world as those that are without hope they are not tooke away but translated they are removed for their advantage for the better Elijah was removed from earth to heaven in a firie chariot shall Elisha weepe because hee enjoyeth him not No he is tooke from earth to heaven Ioseph was sold into Aegypt but it was to be a Ruler God intended that it is the same reason God translates us out of the world to give us the end of our hope even the salvation of our soules Shall we mourne as men without hope God takes them out of a valley of teares shall we mourne unsatiably for those that are tooke out of the valley of teares let us not bring their memory to the valley of teares they are past it God takes them from evill to good to the best good the good of immortalitie and eternitie the good of the enjoying of God of that that eye hath not seene nor eare hath heard It is true that when we see any impenitent man die any man die in his sinnes there is just cause of mourning That was the course that David observed he lost two sonnes Absolom a wicked sonne he mourned for him he lost the child that was begotten in adulterie for the life of which he prayed he mourned not for the childes departure and Saint Ambrose giveth the reason well he had a good hope and assurance that the child was translated to a better estate he doubted of Absolom he died in his sinnes therefore he mourned for him for his death not for the childes So when we see any die in his sinnes there is cause then of teares and of excessive teares then David crieth Absolom oh my sonne my sonne But if there be good evidences of a Saint translated to glory shall we mourne as men without hope As Saint Ierom speakes to Paula mourning for her daughter Art thou angrie Paula because I have made thy child mine Hee bringeth in God speaking thus dost thou envie me my owne possession my owne creature It is true for the state of an impenitent man he hath his good things here and his evill to come after there is cause of mourning for that he is translated from good to ill his heaven is in this world his heaven is in his treasure in his riches in his chests and upon his table and as he enjoyed a heaven here so hee must not looke for it after there is a place of another condition his heaven is here his hell after But the penitent and contrite his ill is here and his good after his hell is in this world in suffering and in mortifying the flesh in wrestling with sinne in incountring with tentations here is his hell and his torments but after commeth his heaven and his blisse so he is translated from bad to good he is tooke away from the evill to come So here is the meaning of all I have shewed first the meaning of the three phrases The second thing I propound is this What the Prophet bemoaneth and makes lamentation for and these mercifull men for if they be tooke away from evill present and evill to come evill corporall and spirituall sufferings extraordinary plague and famine sufferings ordinary sicknesse and tentation if it be so that no sinne shall fall upon them to destruction no tentation fall on them to destroy them here much lesse afterward if they be tooke from all these evils how commeth the Prophet to make lamentation that mercifull men are taken away from the evill to come for hee speakes it mourningly It is one sufficient reason he mourneth over them because others did not But there are two reasons that are more speciall There is the losse of the godly man for the present when hee is taken away that is a thing to be lamented And the danger of the world in respect of the losse of a godly man First the losse of a godly man that is a great punishment that God sendeth on a place there is a great losse to those that survive The losse of their example they shine as lights there is a Taper a Candle taken away Yee rejoyced to walke in his light saith Christ to the Iewes concerning Iohn there was a light not only of Iohns Doctrine but of his example whereby those that heard him walked There is the light of grace set up in the life of the Saints of God they are as a Taper to guide us in
woman that doth that but shee may perhaps out-live her Husband A vertuous woman will doe him good and not evill all the dayes of her life And for this amongst many other things I doe commend this vertuous Gentlewoman I may almost say with the words there in the end of that Chapter Many daughters have done excellently but thou surmountest them all So I may say many women peradventure have done excellently in this kind but I doe not know of any one that ever hath done the like to her Husband I pray you heare it Her Husband had a brother that lived in Portugall at the time of his death who was there married he had there three children at least two sonnes and a daughter This vertuous good Woman would give her selfe no rest till she had these children out of Portugall shee got the two sonnes hither And what was her care here is another excellencie of hers her chiefe care was for their soules What did shee or rather what did shee not to winne those children from Poperie in which they have beene brought up and to bring them to the true service of God Shee obtained it she got it When shee had done that wonne them to our religion she had not done all one of these had a desire to exercise some Merchandise by Sea Shee furnished him to the Sea shee furnished him with money for his adventures The other shee bound Apprentise here in the Citie to an honest trade and shee hath given them a liberall childes portion I may say so A childes portion that they may thanke God and I hope they wil have the grace to do it that they had I do not say such an Aunt in law but such a Mother Here was not all Shee sent for the Mother too shee was but sister-in-law to her Husband she sent for the Mother she sent for the Daughter they were here Shee clothed them she fed them some moneths and if shee could have wonne them to our religion she would have maintained the Mother while shee had lived shee would have brought up the Daughter as her owne child But that could not be done it was a worke beyond her strength You see here a vertuous Woman that did good to her Husband not all the dayes of his life but all the dayes of her life To the very last day of her life shee never did cease to doe good to her Husband in his kindred and I thinke I may say that shee was more carefull of his kindred then of her owne But this is not all This kindnesse you will say was shewed to her Husbands kindred Heare a little more therefore Shee knew that there were many Ministers that had a great charge of children and peradventure would be very glad to have some of their children taken off of their hands Shee hath given to the putting out of five Ministers children to bind them Apprentices fiftie pounds Shee knew that there were some poore persons of the Palatinate here which stood in necessitie Shee hath given to the reliefe of them twentie pounds Shee knew that there were many poore soules that lay in Turkish slavery Shee hath given for the redeeming of them twentie pounds Nay yet more Shee considered that her Husband was sometime a poore scholler in the Universitie of Cambridge And shee considered too that there are many Ministers Widowes that lived well while their husband lived that are faine to crave reliefe the greater is the shame of some men when they are dead Shee hath therefore given five hundred pounds to purchase lands and with this land to maintaine partly two Schollers in the Universitie from their first comming thither till they bee Masters of Art And then with the residue to maintaine foure Widowes that have beene the Wives of honest preaching Ministers Zacheus his offer was but halfe of his goods Lord halfe of my goods I give to the poore For ought I can perceive and understand above halfe of her estate shee hath given to charitable uses I say no more of her These workes of her will praise her in the gates Shee died in the Countrey And I am sorry that I had not information as I did desire of her behaviour in her sicknesse I have it not I can say nothing of it but thus much It was not possible that such a creature that lived thus as we know she did in obedience to God in repentance in faith with invocation of Gods mercie in Charity in Peace but that her death was blessed Shee that lived in the Lord no question but she died in the Lord and shee is blessed for Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. God Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome and grant that as we grow in yeares we may grow in knowledge of thy truth in obedience to thy will in faith in thy promises in love toward thee and toward our neighbours for thy sake that when wee come to the end of our dayes wee may come to the end of our hope the salvation of our soules through Jesus Christ to whom with thee oh Father and thee oh holy Spirit three Persons but one true and immortall and onely wise God be given both from us and all thy creatures in heaven and in earth continuall praise honour glory dominion and power now and for evermore Let all those that heare the word of God depart from iniquitie Now the God of Peace that brought againe from the dead our Lord Iesus the great Shepheard of the sheepe through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect to doe his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. Amen FINIS THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. PHILIP 1. 20. Christ shall bee magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death 2 COR. 5. 15. They which live should not hence-forth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose againe LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. THE CHRISTIANS CENTER OR HOW TO LIVE TO GOD. SERMON X. ROM 14. 7. For none of us liveth to himselfe and no man dieth to himselfe for whether we live we live to the Lord and whether wee die wee die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die wee are the Lords THese words containe an Argument or reason which the Apostle useth to prove that the weake Christian should bee borne withall and that men should not judge because of the difference of meat amongst them Hee sheweth that they did not with the neglect of the knowledge of any truth keepe themselves ignorant in this particular but it was their weaknesse The strong should beare with the weake and the weake should not censure the strong the reason is because they agree in one end they propound one generall end to themselves that guides them in all their actions they walke in one way and in one path and
then what it is to keepe those sayings The Saying or words of Christ is the Doctrine of the Gospell the Covenant of Grace which by an excellency is called His because by it hee bringeth life and immortality to light as I said before which in former times was hid as it were in the darke and not made knowne so publikely to the sonnes of men The Gentiles knew little or nothing of it The Iewes knew what they knew with much darknesse and obscurity Hee that was almost the first Preacher of this Gospell in cleare termes without any vaile or darknesse Iohn Baptist who was as it were betweene both hee did deliver this doctrine not so darkly as the Prophets before him nor so clearely as after it was by our blessed Saviour and those that succeeded him Therefore I say it is the Saying of Christ by an excellency because hee did in a manner first begin to teach and declare the same in the clearenesse and sweetnesse thereof and hee sent his Apostles abroad to make it plaine and manifest to all the world that a man may runne and reade it And His likewise it is called because hee is the Authour of it for hee is the worker of that salvation which it declareth to us Now this Doctrine of the Gospell hath two parts The first acquainting us with our miserie The second with the Remedie For as the Bond and Acquittance specifie the debt but to different purposes the one to tie the Debtor to the payment the other to absolve and acquit him even so the Law and the Gospell both declare the miserie of man the one to tie it fast upon him the other to helpe him the better to loose it from him The Physitian intreateth of the sicknesse as well as the Cure but of the sicknesse alone for the cures sake The Judge passeth a sentence of condemnation and then largely rehearseth the crime and punishment due to the offender the Pardon likewise makes mention of the fault and the punishment but in a different manner and to a different end So the Gospell declareth mans miserie and borroweth so much of the Law that may lay downe our wretched estate in our selves and so draw in that which is the maine and principall part of it the remedie of our soules And this part of the Gospell the Apostle St. Paul succinctly delivereth in a few words Rom. 3. 23. All have sinned and are come short of the glory of God All have sinned and All have sinned in such a sort and measure and degree that they are fallen short of that Glory of God by which the Apostle I thinke meaneth life Eternall that Glory that had it not been for sinne he would have bestowed upon the sonnes of men by vertue of the first Covenant he made with them The second part of the Gospell the words of Christ is concerning the Remedie whereby a man may be helped against this miserie And for that purpose it sheweth us Who helpeth us And how hee helpes us And what is to bee done by our selves that wee may obtaine and enjoy this helpe The Person that helpeth us is the Sonne Manifest in the flesh the Sonne of God taking our nature upon him and clothing himselfe in the similitude of sinfull flesh the Eternall Sonne of the Father assuming I say the very nature of man into the unitie of his Person so becomming God and Man in the same Person hee is the sole Redeemer neither is there any other name under heaven by which wee can be saved but by his alone Againe it sheweth us by what meanes hee saveth us as the Apostle speakes plaine enough in the next verse to that I spake of before being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Iesus Christ. To the intent that hee might free us from the Curse of the Law and wrath of God and the danger of eternall Death he vouchsafed to be made sinne for us to satisfie the justice of his Father by enduring the Curse of the Law and to accomplish the Righteousnesse of the Law by being made in our stead under the Law so he he became a Propitiation for the sins of the sons of men as the Apostle saith in that place Thus Christ by his perfect satisfaction made to his Father and by that perfect Righteousnesse whereby hee was subject to the Law for our sakes hath absolutly and fully delivered us from the power of sinne and of Death and performed the worke of our Redemption by vertue whereof by the merit and worth and value whereof wee are delivered and saved and Redeemed from this Death and from all other evils that crosse our eternall happinesse And thirdly the Gospell sheweth us by what means we may become partakers of this happinesse and Redemption in Christ and telleth us of three things as it were Conditions of the Covenant of Grace of the New Covenant which is ratified by the bloud of Christ. I say of three things the Conditions on our parts of that Covenant which if wee doe we shall certainly bee saved by the Redemption in Christ. The first is Repentance The second is Beleeving The third is our New obedience All and each of these plainly exprest in the word of God As for Repentance it is that wherewith Iohn the Baptist began his Preaching It is that that our Saviour commanded his Apostles to declare to the Iewes Repent for the kingdome of heaven is at hand It is that which himselfe preached at the first as Saint Marke witnesseth chap. 1. 15. It is that which Saint Paul began with when hee came to the Athenians Act. 17. and now hee admonisheth all men every where to repent It was the first of the foundations of the Doctrine of the beginning of Christ that was wont to bee taught in the Ancient Church as witnesseth the Authour to the Hebrewes chap. 6. not laying againe the foundation of repentance from dead works and then he proceedeth to the rest This Repentance is that which the Lord requireth absolutely of the sonnes of men as a condition of the new Covenant the Covenant of Grace without which they cannot possibly be made partakers of the same And this Repentance hath 4. parts every one of which is so needfull that without it the rest is little worth First lamenting for our sinnes and being sorry for our iniquities as David said of himselfe Psal. 38. I will declare my iniquitie and bee sorry for my sinnes And so the Apostle Saint Iames expresseth it chap. 4. 9. Afflict your selves mourne and weepe let your laughter bee turned into sorrow and your joy into teares Therefore Christ you know was sent to Preach glad tydings to the Prisoners and Captives and the opening of the prison to the prisoners and to bring the oyle of gladnesse to those that mourned in Sion A man must first be a Mourner in Sion one that smiteth
God will judge you for your sinnes The Apostle Saint Paul he moveth the Athenians Acts 17. 31. to repentance upon this very ground because God hath appointed a day in which hee will Iudge the world in righteousnesse And surely if this will not awaken us nothing will nothing can What doe we meane beloved to suffer our sinnes to stand upon the score Where is our wisedome Our grace Are wee able to stand before God when hee is angrie with us Why doe we not take off our sinnes by godly sorrow If a Judge should say to a Malefactour except thou mourne for thy offence thou shalt die and bee executed Doe we not thinke hee would mourne to save his life Behold God saith to you except you mourne for your iniquities you shall die in your sinnes Oh why doe not wee make our eyes as fountaines to bewayle our sinnes that man is possest with extreame hardnesse that lamenteth not his iniquitie and hee treasureth up unto himselfe wrath against the day of wrath and the declaration of the righteous judgement of God Well if wee will not mourne for our sinnes here to repentance wee shall mourne hereafter in hellish horrour without hope of helpe or mercie In the third place this Doctrine that God will Judge us should make us preserve in ourselves a good conscience It is the very use that the Apostle makes Acts 24. 15 16. Hee had hope that there should be a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust therefore hee did exercise himselfe to have alwayes a good conscience voyde of offence toward God and toward men Blessed saith Christ are those that are pure in heart There is nothing that will bee so rewarded and so regarded at the last day as a good conscience But for those that have stayned their consciences with all wickednesse and sin and have not washed their consciences with the bloud of Christ and the teares of true repentance these shall have their portion without amongst those that are uncleane Lastly this Doctrine should teach us to feare God and to give glory to him As Saint Iohn speakes in the Revelation the day of his Judgement is comming therefore feare him and give glory to him If the particular judgements of God that light upon men in this life should make us reverence his holy Name how much more should this last Judgement that is so terrible and unavoidable FINIS ABRAHAMS PURCHASE OR A POSSESSION FOR BVRIALL GEN. 25. 10. The field which Abraham purchased of the sonnes of Heth there was Abraham buried and Sarah his wife JOB 17. 13. The Grave is mine house I have made my bed in the darknesse LONDON Printed by Iohn Dawson for Ralph Mabbe 1639. ABRAHAMS PVRCHASE OR A POSSESSION FOR BVRIALL SERMON XIX GEN. 23. 4. I am a stranger and sojourner among you give me a possession of a burying place with you that I may bury my dead out of my sight THis is the conclusion of all flesh they were never so deare before but they come to be as loathsome and intollerable now When once the lynes and picture of Death is drawne over the Fabrique of Man or womans body as it is said here of Sarah all their glory ceaseth all their good respect vanisheth away their best friends would be faynest ridde of them even Sarah that was so goodly and amiable in Abrahams sight must now out of his sight he must bury his dead out of his sight Oh the strange misery that sinne hath brought us to when it devolveth and throweth downe all our glory at once and the ruffe of man-kind in their chiefest pride in their greatest jollitie all is tumbled in an instant in a moment to basenesse and stinke and miserie How should wee be diligent to get the hope of a better life seeing this is so little worth having And how should our thoughts alwayes flie up to God since there is nothing but rottennesse and putrifaction found here in the world But Abraham as the Father of faithfull men and a patterne to all loving Husbands in all ages insuing doth not this till such time as the dead Sarah groweth noysome to all that looke upon her As long as he could by his mourning and lamentation prosecute her without offence to his eyes and danger to his health he did it but now the time is come when earth must bee put to earth and dust must returne to dust There is no place for the fairest beauty above ground when once God hath taken life and breath from it it must goe to its owne elements and to the rocke and pit from whence it was hewen thither it must returne This holy man therefore being well resolved of this and knowing the doome already uttered by God upon out first Parents Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne hee cannot keepe his dead longer by him hee knoweth the bed wherein now shee must be layed therefore he seekes for it to these Countrey-men that he lived withall that were Heathens and Pagans but very morall and civill men as wee may see in this whole Discourse And he desireth them that he might have a place for his owne use and turne not intimating so much to them as that there should be a separation in their very death from Pagans and Heathens but he keepeth that to himselfe and covereth it with smooth speech and elegancie of language as his manner was For indeed it was not lawfull for Abraham to bury his dead amongst the Cananites the sonnes of Heth of whom he demanded this peculiar favour at this time but God would have his children as they differ in all their life from Heathens that know no God so they should differ in every point even in their Graves after death that there might bee no commixtion and mingling of light and darknesse and no fellowship betweene Christ and Belial Therefore to continue this hope and confirme it in all his Posteritie that were a peculiar and chosen people It was necessarie hee should chuse his Grave his place of Sepulture that they might be sequestred from them in their death as they were in the course of their life Now after he had performed that dutie that every man oweth to his dead friend especially to his Wife the mate of his bosome he commeth to move this to the sonnes of Heth that were Lords of the soile Hee was abundant in teares before hee comes to move it for God which commandeth us not to lament for the Dead as men without hope doth notwithstanding not forbid us to mourne and sorrow for them and to lament hee giveth us leave nay he rather alloweth and approveth of naturall affection when wee weepe with them that weepe and mourne with them that mourne and rejoyce with them that rejoyce Abraham knew well in what estate his Wife was he knew shee was in a happy condition hee knew shee was the Mother of the Faithfull and was translated to the heavenly
terrestriall the other so noble the one so ignoble the other so magnanimous the one so abject the other These Saints they did duly consider that our life it is but a Pilgrimage that this whole world is but a Diversorie or Inne to refresh us for a while that it is a warfare all things within us without us our enemies that this body is but a Tabernacle a Tent a Cottage an earthen vessell a Gourd the scabbard the prison of the soule more brittle then glasse decaying mouldering of itselfe though it bee preserved from eternall injuries of ayre or weather they saw the vanitie the vacuitie the emptinesse of the things of this life their affections were alienated estranged and divorced from the world they had by watchings fastings grovelings on the ground teares and groanes scoured off the drosse of their soules and made them polished statues of pietie they had made up their accounts betweene God and themselves and had sued out their pardon for their defects and failings and had that seated in their consciences they did penetrate the cloudes with the eye of faith and did see the immense good things layd up for them in heaven with which being ravished and impatient of cunctation and delay they desire to be vested in the possession of them though it were with the deposition of their house of clay which they did beare about them Of these things they had not a bare conjecture but a certaine knowledge For wee know ver 1. that if our earthly house of this tabernacle bee dissolved wee have a building not made with hands eternall in the heavens from this full perswasion did arise this heavenly affection in this wee groane earnestly But alas how different is our disposition from this heavenly temper how pale how wanne is our countenance at the mention of Death at the least summons of our last accounts as vinegar to our teeth as smoake to our eyes as a sudden dampe to our lights as an horrid cracke of thunder in the middest of our jollities so is the mention of Death If any aske the reason of this it is too manifest Want of judgement what is the true good of the sonnes of men Want of apprehension of the happinesse of the Saints Want of faith in God of Union with Christ our soules never make any holy peregrination from the body and seate themselves with Angels and Archangels and trace the streetes of New Ierusalem wee anticipate not the joyes of the life to come by devout meditations and contemplations wee have not our conversation in heaven from whence wee looke for our Redeemer Our soule thirsteth not our flesh longeth not after the living God The reason of this is wee hang upon the teats of the world like babes and children we suck venome out of it to our soules wee walke upon our bellies as uncleane beasts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wee jutte against God and offend him our accompts are not streight and even therefore wee are afraid at the appearance of our Saviour and of our citation to appeare before his Tribunall wee groane when wee heare of death wee groane not that we may dye this is our condition and are not these different one unto another Doth not this staine the verdure of our countenances and cover us with shame and confusion to observe so manifest a declination of the fervor of the Spirit That you desire this heavenly temper I doubt not I should offer violence to Charitie the Queene of Graces if I should thinke otherwise For this cause many of you are strict in the performance of holy duties agreeable and convenient to this sacred time That your devotions may attaine a happy end let mee lend you an helping hand whilst I discourse these words which even now sounded in your eares In this wee groane earnestly c. Which I will resolve into three propositions 1. That wee are strangers in this life without our house 2. That the Saints desire their true and proper house 3. The intention of their desire In this wee groane c. That wee are strangers doe not the sacred Oracles declare our conversatinn our politie is in heaven saith the Doctor of the Gentiles Our life it is hid up with Christ Col. 2. Wee are fellow Citizens with the Saints of the houshold of God Ephes. 2. Doth not the chiefe of the Apostles intreat us as Pilgrims and strangers to abstaine from fleshly lusts which fight against the soule and doe not these and the like demonstrate unto us that a Christian lives with men yet abovemen in earth yet in heaven bound yet free deteyned with us yet farre above us living a double life one manifest the other Hid with Christ one contemptible the other glorious one naturall the other spirituall that his Parentage is from heaven that his Treasure is in heaven that his heart is in heaven that his roote is fastened in the everlasting mountaines though his branches are here below that his dwelling is in heaven though his peregrination be here on earth and did not these Oracles tell us thus much yet are there not enforcing arguments to convince us of this Truth Are not they strangers that are out of their proper place and are not Christians while they are here out of their place Is this world made for Man an Arke of travell a Schole of vanitie a Laborinth of errour a Grove full of thornes a Meadow full of Scorpions a flourishing garden without fruit a fountaine of miserie a river of teares a feigned fable a detestable frenzie and is this the place of man What meanes the fabricke of our body lifted up to heaven our hands eyes head upward but to shew us as Chalcidius the heathen man observed that our Progenitors are from heaven that our place is in heaven Every place is adequate to the thing placed in it is this world adequate to man are not his desires infinitely extended beyond the same Every place hath a conseruing vertue in it Doth this world preserve man well may it minister a little food to this beast of ours which we carry about us but can it afford the least favorie morsell to the soule it were to be wished that it did not poyson contaminate and defile the soule so that the safest way for the soule is to flie from the world as from the face of a Serpent Is this world the place of man why doth our tender Mother the Church assoone as wee come into the world snatch us out of the world and as soone as wee breathe in the ayre bury us by Baptisme in the Grave of Christ and assoone as we move in this world consigne us with the signe of the Crosse to fight against the world and all the pompes of the same and are not wee strangers Are not they strangers that have different lawes and divers customes and another Prince to rule and command them You have heard of the Prince of the ayre and the Lawes of the
death the hurt of temporall death we have escaped eternall death What is that a separation from the blessed presence and glory of God destruction of body and soule for ever unutterable torments companie with the Divell and his angels and the route of reprobates darknesse blacker and thicker then that of Egypt Weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth in the infernall lake that worme that never dyes and the fire that never goeth out This is the wages of all sinne and that it is not rendred to all sinne and to all sinners the cause is only this that the payment hath beene already exacted of Christ in the behalfe of all true beleevers therefore in their owne persons they are discharged how infinitely are wee bound in thankfulnesse to him and how carefull should wee be to walke worthy of it resolving never to returne to the service of sinne againe but to make it our whole studie that wee may please and honour such a Redeemer that hath redeemed us from such miserie as this that wee may please him for we had deserved eternall death as well as others and hee hath not only freed us from that that wee had most worthily deserved but most freely also bestowed that upon us that we could never deserve for so it followes in the next point The gift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our Lord. That is the second thing to bee considered the reward of the service of God You have heard of the reward the wages of sinne Now the reward of the service of God is eternall life it is called life There is a twofold life belongs to men The one is naturall and is common to all good and bad in this world The other spirituall proper to the faithfull begun by the union of God and the soule and maintained by the bond of the spirit and this life hath three degrees The first is in this life unto death and it begins when wee begin to believe and repent and come to a saving knowledge of God and of his Sonne Jesus Christ as it is said This is eternall life to know thee to be the very God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ Ioh. 17. 3. The second degree is from our death to our resurrection for in that time our soules being freed from our bodies are withall free from all sinne originall and actuall Thirdly after the Resurrection when body and soule shall bee reunited wee shall have immediate communion and fellowship with God and so enjoy a more perfect and blessed life then ever we could here And this spirituall life with all the three degrees of it is the life here spoken of especially the last degree the perfection of it in heaven It is called eternall life because it shall never end For a thing is said to be eternall three wayes First which hath neither beginning nor end so God alone is eternall and none but he Secondly which hath no beginning and yet shall have an end so Gods decree is eternall for it never had a beginning yet when all things decreed are fulfilled it shall have an end Thirdly which hath a beginning but never shall have end and so the life of Gods Saints had a beginning as all created things have butit shall never have an end and this eternall life it is called here The gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Because wee cannot deserve it but it is given and bestowed on us freely for Christ. So then the point of observation from the latter part of the words is this that Our salvation it is the free gift of God given us onely for the merits of Christ. For observe I beseech you the Apostles words when hee had sayd The wayes of sinne is death hee doth not adde and say but the wages of righteousnesse is eternall life but he calls that the gift of God To make us understand saith Damascene that God brings us to eternall life meerely for his owne mercie not for our merits orelse surely the Apostle would have made the later part of the sentence answerable to the former But here perhaps some may aske why eternall life should not be the wages of righteousnesse as well as death the wages of sinne I answer because there is not the same reason betweene sinne and righteousnesse For first sinne is our owne it merits it but rigteousnesse is none of our owne it is the holy Ghosts and it is due to God Then againe sinne is perfectly evill and so it deserves death but our righteousnesse inherent is not perfectly good it is imperfect in this life and nothing that is imperfectly good can merit as wages eternall life therefore the Apostle makes such a manifest difference between them he calls death the wages of sin but eternall life the gift of God it is the free gift of God through Christ. Indeed eternall life some times many times in Scripture is called a reward But there is a reward of mercie as well as of justice Nay God is sayd sometimes to reward his children injustice How is that Though the reward come originally from mercy yet accidentally it comes to be justice thus because God hath tyed himselfe by promise to reward now promise is debt from a just man Thus the Lord may be accounted a debtor How saith Saint Austin as a promiser if hee had not promised eternall life otherwise hee owes us nothing at all much lesse eternall life which is so great a thing Yet it may be doubted how eternall life is the free gift of God seeing it is given for the merits of Christ as it is here exprest the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord that is for the merits of Christ now a man that gives a thing upon merit hee gives it not freely I answer it is free in respect of us whatsoever Christ hath done we did not merit it If it be replyed Christs merits are made ours and wee merit in him and so it cannot be free I answer this reason were of force if wee our selves could procure the merits of Christ for us but that we could not doe but that also was of free gift Ioh. 3. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that he that beleeves in him should not perish hee gave him freely of free gift so that though eternall life be due to us by the merits of Christ yet it is the free gift of God I wil stand no longer in proving the truth of the Doctrine I come to the application and use to conclude with the time First it serves to confute our adversaries of the Church of Rome in the point of merit They looke for heaven and eternall life as wages wee see the Apostle teacheth us otherwise that eternall life is not given in that manner but another manner of way It is not given as wages it is the
we be not profited by them But I say brethren this is that which God hath respect unto in all his provisions for his people in the Institution of all his ordinances their profit and benefit and when he findeth any ordinance that is not for the benefit of his people though they bee of his owne institution yet hee takes them away therefore the Apostle speaking concerning the Mosaycall Rites and institutions of the Ceremoniall Law he calleth them unprofitable and beggerly rudiments and so God himselfe counted of them and for their unprofitablenesse there was a gracious disanulment of them But especially and above all this will be most apparant if we cast our eyes upon the Lord Jesus who is indeede the substance of our preaching and of our receiving the Sacrament and of all the ordinances of God and of all his promises it is with respect to our profit that the Lord hath beene pleased to ordaine him both in respect of his person and the constitution of that and in respect of his offices and all his fatherly administrations concerning him a gracious respect hee hath had in all to the profit of his Church as might appeare in the severall particulars A body hast thou prepared for mee saith hee in the Psalme why That Christ might be the more profitable to his people sitted thereby to converse with and to communicate himselfe unto them The Word was made flesh and therefore made flesh that he might dwell among us that there might bee a meete cohabitation with him And as this was the respect God had in his incarnation so it was in all his humiliation What was the reason that hee was acquainted with sorrowes and griefes and miseries both from God and men but that hee might be the more for our profit that wee might have a mercifull High Priest that he might the better know from experience the way to commiserate and compassionate his people in their distresse Yea in his death in his resurrection in his ascention in his preferment at Gods right hand in all these administrations of God the Father concerning his Sonne hee had a gracious respect to the good and profit and benefit of his people Againe secondly consider all the appointments of God his injunctions and commands to his people hee doth in all ayme at their profit as it is in Deut. All these things I command thee for thy good The Lord requireth nothing at his peoples hands but it is for their profit He calleth upon us to believe it is that wee might have the profit of his word and promises Hee calleth upon us to repent and to leave our sinfull wayes if thine eye offend thee plucke it out if thy hand offend thee cut it off for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should bee cast into hell he hath an ayme at our profit wee thinke hard of it as wee are naturally apt to doe through a deepe affection wee beare to our base lusts that God should come so neare to us and deale so strictly with us as to command us to plucke out our eyes and cut off our hands that is to part with our dearest corruptions Alas my brethren if God saw that it were good for us that it were for our profit to keepe our lusts he would not take away one of them from us but we should have them as I may say with all his heart but hee knoweth that as they are not for his glory so they are not for our profit he seeth that there is not any good to be gotten by our retayning of them therefore it is I say that he is so strict in his impositions that hee so often calleth upon his people to repent and to cast away their sinnes Thirdly and lastly consider all the administrations of God to his people and wee shall see that in them all hee hath a respect to their profit As for instance he is pleased to suffer sinne and corruption to remaine in his servants all the while they are in this life he could wholly take it away and free them from it even in this world But he knowes that it is for their profit to suffer these Inmates these Cananites to remaine that they may be as prickes in their eyes and thornes in their sides to make them the more weary of the world and the more desirous of heaven He is pleased many times to suffer his people to have sinne not onely tirannizing and usurping but prevayling against them but it is that thereby they may attaine to a greater degree of humiliation He suffereth them sometimes to fall for this very purpose that he might exalt them Hee is pleased to permit the Divell to buffet them and to use them very hardly were it not for their profit hee would tye him up in Hell and give him no such leave as this but as he sayd to Saint Paul least they should be exalted above measure the messenger of Sathan is sent to buffet them Yea the Lords withholding of his spirituall comforts his deserting of his people the hyding of his face from them the withdrawing of those sweet and gracious manifestations of himselfe unto them it is all with respect to their profit that they may be taught the more to prize the comforts of his spirit and to walke more worthy of them when they doe enjoy them He is pleased sometime to suspend his answering of their prayers and to hold them long in the expectation of the returne of their requests it is for their profit that they may bee thereby stirred up to ply the Throne of grace with more frequent and earnest praiers that so the greater their adventure is as I may say the greater their returne may be It being in this case with them as it is with Merchants the greater adventure they send forth and the longer their ship is out the greater and more advantageous is the returne Many times againe hee is pleased not onely to suspend his answer to their prayers but to deny the granting of his peoples request in the very kinde they sue for But even in this too hee hath respect to their profit hee heareth them as one well sayd according to their profit thou gh not according to their wills so he dealt with Moses concerning his request of entring into the Land of Canaan Againe the Lord is pleased to keepe his people many times in a low condition and in meane estate to put them into bare commons and hard pastures while others are grazing in full meddowes it is with respect to their profit to teach them the more to depend upon him to enable them the better to live by Faith Againe for this purpose hee takes from his servants deare blessings the Wife from the Husband the Children from the Parents as wee see verified this day in this place concerning our friends here the mournefull
from all both former and following miseries and that is this If in the time of our life here our being subject to corruption and sinne hath seemed unto us the greatest burden and bondage They which have groaned and mourned under their owne naturall corruptions as it were under some heavy and tyrannous yoke or as the Israelites mourned under their Egyptian Task-masters to them only shall the day of death be a day of freedome If sinne be not a burden to thee if thou dost not many times lament and even mourne to thinke how thou art carried captive unto evill if thou dost not with griefe feele how thou art clogged with corruption and hindred by it from doing the good which thou shouldest certainly death will bee to thee the beginning of thy thraldome and after it thou shalt be a perpetuall bond-slave unto Sathan in the kingdome of eternall darknesse Marke this all yee that take delight in evill to whom it is a pastime to doe wickedly and who seeke rather how to satisfie then how to suppresse your owne corruptions who repute it a kind of happinesse to follow the swinge of your owne Iusts and to have libertie to doe as your owne hearts doe lead you when you dye this shall be your reward even a most miserable and endlesse captivity under Sathan him have you served in the lusts of sinne while yee lived his slaves shall you be without hope of releasement world without end This is the right Application of this Doctrine death is a day of enlargement to the godly it is a dismission The next particular is that it is a dismission accompanied with peace the lesson we are taught hence is that The servants of God have at their going out of the world a comfortable quiet and peaceable departure Thus Simeon here hee prayed for no other thing but that his end might be as the end of the Righteous is ever wont to bee even a departure hence in peace Hence is that generall rule of the Psalmist Marke the perfect man and behold the upright man for the end of that man is peace Agreeable whereunto is that of Solomon that the righteous hath hope in his death And memorable to this purpose is that which is storied of old father Iacob shewing unto us the quiet end of the Righteous Hee gathered up his feet into the bed and so gave up the Ghost It was the blessing promised to Abraham that he should goe to his fathers in peace And the same was made to good Iosias There is a twofold reason hereof First the assurance which they have of the favour of God in Christ. This must needs breed quietnesse when I am perswaded in my soule and conscience that all cause of danger after death is removed and that God is and will be gracious unto mee in his Sonne What cause of feare is here left what occasion of perplexitie If any man shall doubt whether the servants of God have this assurance I prove it thus that all of them first or last have it in some good measure If any man saith the Apostle have not the Spirit of Christ hee is none of his Hence it necessarily followes that all that are Christs have the Spirit of Christ but now the office of the Spirit is to beare witnesse with our spirit So that all that are the Lords as they are endued with Gods Spirit so they feele this Spirit bearing witnesse to their soules of this Adoption Secondly the comfortable Testimonie of their owne consciences touching their former care to glorifie God by a Religious and godly conversation Hence came Saint Pauls peace I have saith he fought the good fight I have kept the faith Therefore I am sure there is laid up for mee a Crowne of life Hence Hezekiahs I have walked before thee oh Lord in truth and with a perfect heart Not that they doe ground their hope upon the desert of their fore-ranne courses but because they know good workes to bee the way and doe understand by the Scripture that a holy life here is the first fruits of a glorified life hereafter Thus we see the truth of this point and the reasons upon which it is grounded Now here some may object first Wee see many worthy men that have made a great and an extraordinary profession of Religion in their lives and which have also carried themselves unblameably yet to give appearance of much angiush and perplexitie and even of a kind of despaire in their death How can wee say then that all good and holy persons have a peaceable departure I answer first Wee ought to remember the Rule our Saviour gives not to judge according to the outward appearance It is a very weake argument to say that this or that man dyeth without peace because to the standers by hee makes not shew of peace Certaine it is that as a man may have peace with God and yet himselfe for a time by reason of some tentation not feele it so a man being sicke or going out of the world may feele it and yet others that behold him cannot perceive it Secondly wee must know that these outward unquietnesses which doe many times accompany sicknesse doe happen as well and as ordinarily to good men as to the most wicked such as are ravings idle-talkings and strange accidents in the body in this sence all things come alike to all God hath made no promise in Scripture that those that serve him shall be freed in their deaths from violent sicknesses Therefore these things must not bee thought to be any abridgement of their peace Thirdly wee must consider that with the best servants of God Sathan is most busie when his end is neerest and when hee is as it were out of all hope of prevailing The red Dragon in the Revelation had greatest wrath when he knew his time to bee short When the evill Spirit was commanded once to come out of the child then it rent him sore Now these temptations though for the time they be very violent and extreme so that the party may hapily utter out some words and speeches of dispaire yet be they no finall prejudice to the inward peace Interrupt they may but utterly quench it they cannot because the power of God is made perfect through weaknesse And so even in death Sathan receives the greatest foile when hee thinkes to get the greatest victorie Thus then I answer in one word The peace of Gods servants at death is not ever in the like measure felt by them but yet it never dieth in them they which behold their death doe not alwayes see it yet they themselves sooner or later are sure sweetly and secretly to feele the same My reason for my assertion is grounded first upon that of the Apostle God commands light to shine out of darknesse Hee brings his servants to Heaven by the gates of
am the Life Now the difference betweene these two wee may conceive with reverend Calvin to be this I am the Resurrection That is I have all quickening power in mee I am able to restore and give life to those that are dead And then I am the life I have such quickening power in mee that I am able to preserve and continue the life that I have given or restored to any I am the Resurrection and the life And then followes the Exposition of this Proposition and of the severall members of it for the truth of a copulative Proposition depends upon the truth of both the parts and members of it therefore there followes the Explication and confirmation of both the parts of this Proposition First of the first part I am the Resurrection this is explained and confirmed in these words Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live I have such a quickning power in mee saith Christ that I am able to restore spirituall life to that soule that is dead in sinnes therefore I am able to raise up the body that is dead in the grave I am able to give spirituall life to the soule which is greater and the more difficult worke and if I be able to doe the greater I am able to doe the lesse hee that beleeves in mee saith Christ though before he were dead in trespasses and sinnes yet hee shall live he shall live the life of grace Then followes the Explication and confirmation of the second member of the Proposition in these words Whosoever liveth and beleeveth in mee shall never die I am the life saith Christ for whosoever beleeveth in me and so is restored to spirituall life he shall never die hee shall never die to speake properly for he shall never perish he shall never die this life shall never be taken from him neither here nor hereafter not here for hee shall continue to live the life of grace not hereafter for though the body shall die yet this separation of the body from the soule it is not so properly a death as a passage to life a passage from the life of grace to the life of glory And this body also that is separated from the soule it shall bee quickned againe and shall be raised up to live for ever therefore hee that beleeveth in mee shall never die Thus you see the words expounded Now from the first member of this Proposition I am the Resurrection and the Exposition and confirmation of it in these words Hee that beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall he live Hence the point of Doctrine I will observe is this that Iesus Christ is the Fountaine and Authour of all life Hee is able to give and restore life to those that are dead He is the Resurrection Now whereas there is a double death and a double Life and consequently a double Resurrection we must understand that Christ is the Author of both in this place weare not to exclude either Therefore wee will indeavour to expound this generall doctrine in these three particulars First Christ hath such a quickning power in him that hee is able to raise up those dead bodies of his that now lie in the Grave Secondly Christ hath such a quickning power in him that he is able to raise up the soule that is dead in sinnes to a spirituall life Thirdly wee will shew you why Christ as in this place so else-where doth expresse both the state of the faithfull here and their estate after under the same phrase of speech he comprehends both under this terme I am the Resurrection For the first of these Christ is the Author of life he hath such a quickning power in him that hee is able to raise up the dead bodies of his out of their graves Wee will speake first of this Resurrection that is of the body though it be later in time Because that naturally we are more apt to conceive of the death and life of the body then of the death and life of the soule And secondly because that the understanding of this Resurrection of the body will give light to the understanding of the other of the soule And here first wee will shew briefly what this Resurrection of the body is And then prove that Christ is the Author and the Fountaine of it First the Resurrection of the body is this when the soule that was actually separate from the dead body returnes againe to its proper body and being united to it the man riseth up out of the Grave with an immortall incorruptible body to lead a glorified life This is the Resurrection of the body Now that Christ is the Author of this Resurrection of the body it is evident For as Christ himselfe by his owne power raised himselfe being dead in the Grave Ioh. 2. 19. saith Christ destroy this Temple and in three dayes I will raise it againe speaking of the Temple of his body And so againe Iohn 10. 18. I have power saith Christ to lay downe my life and to take it up againe so likewise Christ by his quickning spirit hee will raise up the bodyes of those that are now dead in the Grave as we may see Ioh. 5. 28 29. Mervaile not at this saith Christ for the houre is comming in which all that are in the grave shall heare the voyce of the Sonne of man and shall come forth they that have done good to the resurrection of life c. In this regard Christ is called the first fruites of them that sleepe For as the first fruites being offered to God did sanctifie the whole crop and the owner hereby was assured of the blessing of God upon all the rest so Christ is the first fruits of the dead and his Resurrection it is an assurance to the faithfull of their Resurrection and the cause of it both an assurance a pledge of it and likewise a cause of it Therefore herein Christ the second Adam is opposed to the first Adam As the first Adam who was the roote of all man-kind did communicate death and mortalitie to all those that spring from him so likewise Christ the second Adam by his Resurrection hee conveyes life and a quickening power to all his members as wee may see 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. For since by man came death by man came also the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die Adam he communicates death and mortalitie to all that spring from him even so in Christ shall all be made alive Christ hee conveyes life to all his members and they are all quickened by his Spirit therefore Christ is called a quickning spirit 1 Cor. 15. 45. The first Adam was made a living soule but the last Adam a quickning spirit not onely a living but a quickning spirit And this quickning power and vertue Christ did manifest before his resurrection by raising up three from death namely by raising the Widowes sonne
sinne and corruption still remaine upon the sould Indeed as soone as the Spirit of grace quickens the soule the soule presently hates all sinne and begins to shake off these fetters of sinne and corruption and shakes them off by little and little but I say it shakes them not off all at once In this spirituall Resurrection sinne indeed receives a deadly wound but yet it is not wholly abolished In the spirituall Resurrection sinne is like a beast whose throat is cut that lies striving and strugling for life so sinne hath life in it but yet it hath a deadly wound therefore remember to thy comfort that that will bee true here betweene the power of grace and the remainders of sinne that is affirmed of the house of Saul and the house of David 2 Sam. 3. 1. there was long warre betweene them But the house of David grew stronger and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker So it will be betweene sinne and grace sinne will grow weaker and weaker and grace stronger and stronger But yet the weake Christian may object further but I feele the spirit so weake in me and the flesh so strong in me that I am afraid the flesh will prevaile and so I shall returne againe to my naturall estate To this I answer remember that this is contrarie to the nature of a true Resurrection to returne to death againe for at the last Resurrection the bodyes that are raised shall be immortall never to die againe so here those soules that are quickned to the life of grace they are raised to a durable immutable immortall estate never to die againe That which Christ saith of those that shall bee accounted worthie to attaine the second Resurrection the Resurrection of the body it is true here also hee saith those that shall be accounted worthy of the world to come of the Resurrection to life they shall never die for they are as the Angels of heaven Luke 20. 35 36. Those that partake of that Resurrection can never die so here those that partake of this spirituall Resurrection to the life of grace they shall never die this Resurrection to the life of grace it shall continue in them For the Spirit of grace when he once commeth into the soule and quickens it it continues there and remaines there for ever it is as a Well of water springing up to eternall life as Christ speakes Ioh. 4. 14. Whosoever shall drinke of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall bee in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life Now wee know a streame of water is of a vanishing nature yet if it bee nourished with a continuall Fountaine that can never be drie the streame will continually runne so it is with the streame of grace in the soule it is nourished with a continuall fountaine such a one as can never be dried up Thus you see here is comfort against sinne against the death of the soule Those that are united to Christ by faith they may be assured that Christ will be to them a Fountaine of spirituall life Secondly here is comfort against the death of the body against naturall death If thou be united to Christ thou needest not to feare temporall death remember that though the body bee dead beecause of sinne yet the spirit is life as it is Rom. 8. 10. The body that is dead that is it is mortall and subject to death because of sinne but the spirit the soule that liveth it passeth from the life of grace here to the life of glorie Yea and the body too that is laid in the Grave notwithstanding shall be raised againe by the quickning power of Christ. Remember Christ is thy head and therefore hee being risen from the dead thou shalt not perish You know as long as the head of the naturall body is above the water none of the members of the body can be drowned so it is here as long as Christ is risen none of his members can be held captive in the Grave Remember Christ is the first fruites of the dead the first fruites of them that sleepe therefore his Resurrection may bee a pledge and an assurance to thee of thy resurrection As wee have borne the Image of the earthly saith the Apostle so wee shall beare the Image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15. 49. As wee have borne about us these corruptible bodyes so when we rise againe we shall rise with immortall and incorruptible bodies and live a glorious life with Christ and so be made conformable to Christ our head therefore feare not the death of the body Remember that Death can destroy nothing in thee but sinne therefore feare not This consideration may comfort us as against our owne death so against the death of our friends Let us therefore receive comfort hence as Martha in this Chapter I know that my brother shall rise againe in the Resurrection at the last day and that did comfort her But here this question may bee demanded but is not this Resurrection of the body a benefit common to the wicked are not they partakers of this benefit from the resurrection of Christ as well as the godly shall not they be raised and quickned as well as the godly by Christ his Resurrection To this I answer that this Resurrection of the body to life it is a benefit proper to the faithfull to the true members of Christ for though unbeleevers and wicked persons shall bee raised up againe yet By a different cause And to a different end I say first by a different cause the wicked that are out of Christ cannot have any benefit from the Resurrection of Christ because they are out of Christ therefore they shall bee raised indeed but not by a quickning power flowing from the resurrection of Christ but by the divine power and command of Christ as a just Judge and they shall bee raised by vertue of that curse pronounced in Paradice Gen. 2. In the day thou eatest thou shalt die the death that includes eternall death therefore this curse must be executed upon them and therefore they most rise out of the Grave againe that body and soule may die eternally but the faithfull members of Christ shall bee raised by the quickning power of Christ as their head and Saviour Againe as the wicked shall be raised by a different cause so to a different end for they shall not be raised to life to speake properly that state is stiled eternall death therefore their Resurrection is stiled the resurrection of condemnation Ioh. 5. 27. they that have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life and they that have done ill to the resurrection of condemnation they shall not rise to life but to eternall death but the godly only shall attaine this Resurrection of life and therefore they only are stiled the sonnes of
I remember a policie of Saint Paul in his Epistle hee wrote to Philemon he writes to him for the re-entertainment of a runnagate servant that hee had begotten to God in his bonds and for the better effecting of it in his inscription he not only writes to Philemon but joynes with him Philemons wife To Philemon our dearely beloved and to our beloved Appia Philem. 1. 2. Wherefore was this For nothing else I beleeve but to warne her of her dutie that when the receiving of Onesimus was manifested to her Husband as a needfull dutie and a thing pleasing to Almightie God she should not put in her spoke to withstand the motion but further it by all the meanes wee could It was to this end that the woman was created that shee might be a helpe to her Hueband in all honest offices to joyne with him to incourage him to provoke him and assist him in the performance of them Fourthly and lastly to omit many other things recorded of her that I might here relate to you and to come to that that more neerely concernes this present occasion it is said of Rachel shee died in travell God had commanded Iacob to rise and goe up to Bethel and dwell there hee obeyed and erected a Pillar in the place where God talked with him thence hee journeyed a little further to Ephrath and there Rachel travelled and had hard labour in the sufferance of which which might be some ease shee received a great deale of comfort from her Midwife who bade her not feare for shee should have this sonne also but it came to passe as her soule was departing for shee died that her sonnes name was called Benoni that is a sonne of sorrow as we see verse 18. Who can expresse the woe of that day and the bitternesse of that losse to Iacob who was now bereft of his dearely-beloved Wife by the fruit of whose wombe hee had reaped such increase of blessing before the children had the care of two watching over them now only of one and that such a one as was not accustomed to interest himselfe in training up young Children but left it to her and shee tooke it from him O death voide of mercy and respect of persons that shee should die it was some grieâ—…e to him but that shee died in travell that did most trouble him and increase his griefe And well might hee style their sonne Benoni the sonne of sorrow for it was indeed a sorrow to them all to her to him to their issue to their friends and acquaintance to their servants to all that knew them or had any relation to them But Iacob will not exceed the bounds of Christianitie hee was at the last comforted he referres himselfe his children his infinite and almost insupportable losse to God Almighties pleasure from him she was received and to him he is content againe to returne all The mourning and lamenting that he made on her behalfe it could not recall her againe all the teares he could shed for her were of no force or power at all to make her alive too much sorrow might happily indanger his owne life and then he should highly offend against Almightie God Patience and Christian fortitude were the only remedies left him and these he resolves on Let us learne hence as long as the world lasts to know that worldly comforts whatsoever they be and howsoever wee may esteeme of them they are subject to change Love with unfeignednesse what may be so loved but take heed you love not too much for feare the taking of that away from you that was so dearely loved of you make you fall into impatience and sinne against God Let us so love that we may thinke of losse if it stand with Gods pleasure but yet let us so love that wee esteeme it no losse if hee please Let his good will and pleasure ever-more moderate our affections so happily we shall enjoy the thing beloved a great deale longer But if wee exceed in lamenting were we as just and righteous as Iacob God will be angrie with us for it Not only thy dearest Wife but thy dearest Child thy dearest friend whatsoever is most deare to thee shall then feele the stroake of mortalitie that the heart may bee taught to wish for eternitie crying heavily and sighing with a mournfull voyce with those words of the Preacher Vanitie of vanities all is but vanitie There is a threefold punishment inflicted upon all women kind in answer to the three sinnes committed by our Grandmother Eve First because shee gave too much credit to the words of the Serpent telling her that both Adam and she shovld bee as Gods knowing good and evill therefore it was pronounced presently upon her that her sorrowes and conceptions should bee multiplied Secondly because against the expresse command of Almightie God she did eate the forbidden fruit therefore it was pronounced against her that in sorrow she should bring forth Children every time her houre was at hand shee should hardly escape death I need not inlarge my selfe you all know it to be too true nay sometimes and that oft-times too it costs your lives an example wee have here in the Text in Rachel and in our deceased Sister here before us and many others Thirdly and lastly because she was a seducer of her Husband therefore for a punishment all your desires ought to be subject to your Husbands and by the warrant of the Scripture they must rule over you Death is a debt to nature and must be paid there is no avoyding of it no putting it off when GOD thinkes it fit it is infallible to all in respect of the matter and end though in respect of the time and manner many times it be divers Some die when they are young some in the middle of their age and some live till they be very old That for the time Some die of Convulsions some of Dropsies some of Feavers and to be short some in Child-bed as Rachel here did and our departed Sister But of what disease soever they die that is nothing die they must sooner or later of this infirmitie or that it is no matter which when it pleaseth God Let a man make what shew hee can with all his glorious adornations Let him have rich apparell and disguised linnen and searecloth and balme and spices let him be inwrapped in lead and let stone immure him when hee is dead yet the earth his originall Mother will againe owne him for her naturall Child and triumph over him with these or the like insultings he is in my bowells returned to his earth This bodie returnes not immediatly to heaven but to the earth nor to the earth neither as a stranger and altogether unknowne to him but to his earth appropriate to him as his owne his familiar friend and old acquaintance To conclude wee are sinfull and therefore wee must die we are full of evill and therefore we must goe to the grave
Spirituall change wrought in the soule by the Spirit of God nothing makes in this life such a change as true grace Wee all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3. 18. This change is like the tuning of a disordered instrument or like the refining of corrupt mettall or like the clearing of the darke ayre or like the quickning of a dead Lazarus but neither is this change that the text intends Fourthly there is a change of the life and this I call a mortall change we shall all be changed saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 5. life hath the first course but death will have the second As in a Comedie severall persons have severall parts to act which when they have dispatched they all draw off of the stage so though in life we all present our selves on the stage of this world and act severall Scenes and parts yet at length we must all retire and passe away through one and the same doore of mortallity This is the change which Iob speakes of to wit a change of his life by Death Here then are two things to bee demonstrated and proved for the making good of the point in hand viz. 1. That death is a change 2. That this change of death will befall all the sonnes of men First that Death is a change not an anihilation A change is a different and a divers order or manner of being Anihilation is one thing and mutation is another thing there the thing ceaseth utterly to be here the thing only ceaseth to be as once it was so it is with Death it doth not reduce us to nothing but alter our former something it changes our manner or order of being not our being absolutely Now observe Death is a change in five respects First it changes that neere union of the Soule and the body and makes of one two severalls they that were as the hands mutually clasping or as two persons conjugally tyed together when Death comes it plucks them asunder and divides one from the other as farre as heaven is from the earth Secondly it changes our actions or worke Whiles life remained here in our bodies while our day lasted we might have fedde the hungry clothed the naked visited the sicke râ—…ved the distressed frequented the ordinances bewailed â—…nnes but when death once enters the night is come in which â—…an can worke thou art then turned changed into an insenâ—…ble rotten and loathsome carkasse Thirdly it changes our countrey Whiles we live here wee are as children put abroad to schoole in a strange place hence it is wee are so often in the Scripture called Pilgrims and strangers This earth this lower world is not the proper home of the Soule But when Death comes wee change our countrey wee goe home to our owne place to our owne Citie the wicked shall goe to their owne place as it is said of Iudas and the godly to their owne Mountaine to their owne Kingdome Fourthly it changes our companie In this life we converse with sinfull men emptie creatures infinite miseries innumerable conflicts but when Death comes all this shall be changed wee shall goe to our God and Father to our Christ and Saviour and to the innumerable company of blessed Angels and Saints and the spirits of just men made perfect Fiftly it changes our outward condition When Death comes thou shalt never see the wedge of gold againe thou shalt never find thy delights in sinne any more all the excellencie of the creature and the contentments of them and the sensuall rejoycing in them shall goe out with life Death shall shut and close them up in an eternall night which shall never rise to another day So much for the first thing that Death is a change I come now to speake briefly of the second that this change of Death will be fall all the sonnes of men Psal. 89. 48. What man is hee that liveth and shall not see death shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of the grave We love to see most things the eye is never satisfied with seeing and yet many things there are which we shall never see Every man cannot see that which one man doth but there is one thing which every man shall see hee must see death There are many enemies from whom wee can deliver our selves and many more from whom we may be delivered but yet there is one enemie from which wee cannot defend our selves nor bee defended by others he will be to strong for every man let him strive repine order his dyet intreate doe what hee will or can No saith the Psalmist none shall deliver his soule from the hand of the grave And he puts a Selah a note of observation at the end of the verse That all the sonnes of men are subject to this change by death will appeare to you by these familiar Arguments The First may be taken from the qualitie of our lives which is sweetly set out in the Scripture under the termes of changeable things all which point out unto us the certaintie of death Sometime our life is compared to a shew Psal. 39. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vaine shew In a shew you know there is some devise or other opened carryed a-while about but at length it is shut up so it is with our lives Sometime againe it is compared to a shade or a shadow Iob 8. 9. Our dayes upon earth are a shadow a shadow is but an imitation of a substance a kind of nimble picture which is still going and comming and will set at last perhaps it is suddenly ecclipsed so is our life Sometimes aâ—…aine it is compared to a vapour Iames 4. 14. What is your life it is even a vapour that vanisheth away like 〈◊〉 poore cloude sometimes looking white sometimes blacke sometimes quiet and settled sometimes againe tossed up and downe with every wind and at last consumed and brought to nothing so it is with our lives Sometimes also compared to a Tale Psal. 90. 9. Wee spend our yeares as a tale that is told a meere discourse of this thing and that thing and indeed but a very parenthesis of a more tedious discourse and many times it is broken off in the very telling so it is with our lives Sometimes againe it is as grasse as in Esay 46. The voyce said crie aloude what shall I crie all flesh is grasse and the goodlinesse thereof as the flower of the grasse And verse 7. The grasse withereth and the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it And Iob in this chapter calleth it a Flower Hee commeth forth saith he like a flower and is cut downe A flower is a sweet thing but of an earthly breed fedde with showres at its best when it is in all its glory it is but to day and to morrow it
withereth and is fit for nothing but the Oven so it is with our lives Many expressions of the like nature might be added the Scripture is plentifull in these comparisons comparing our life to the Spiders webbe to a Weavers shuttle to the breath of a candle to a pilgrimage to a journey to the dayes of an hireling c. all of them things of a changeable and variable nature The second argument may be taken from the qualitie of our Natures and therein there are two things considerable both which imply a certaintie of death First our composition and matter whereof we are made wee are reared out of a mouldering and wasting principle our bodies are therefore stiled an earthly house 2 Cor. 5. 1. A house though of Iron will in time be cankered but a house of earth as it is most impotent against assaults so it is of its owne nature most apt and subject to dissolution And in this respect also they ar termed Tabernacles Now a Tabernacle you know is a thing of no perpetuitie made only to be soone set up and that in a mans passage and then asso one taken downe againe Secondly beside this there is in our nature sinne and corruption and this is it that doth put us to the sword and cause this deadly change this tares our lives with a continuall consumption The tree breedes the worme which will destroy the life of the tree wee in Adam gave leave to sinne and now it is that sin gives leave to death In the day that thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt surely dye Gen. 2. 17. and Rom. 5. 12. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed over all men in that all have sinned The shadow doth not so neerely attend the body of man as Death doth the body of sinne And Rom. 6. 23. the very wages of sinne is death God should doe that man wrong that hath hired out his soule all his dayes to sinne if he did not at night pay him with the wages of death The third Argument may be drawne from the certaintie of the Resurrection wee all beleeve the resurrection of our bodyes and and therefore wee must needes conclude a change of our bodyes for what is the Resurrection but life from death for the dead to heare the voyce of Christ and live What is it but a breathing in of the soule againe the lighting of the candle againe the body could never be raised if it were not first changed Thou foole saith Saint Paul 1 Cor. 15. that which thou sowest is not quickned except it dye The fourth Argument is from the infallibilitie of Gods decree it is appointed unto men once to dye and after death to come to judgement Heb. 9. 27. Thou mayest sooner expect that the course of the Heavens shall bee altered and the Center of the earth bee dislocated then that the purpose of God concerning mans mortalitie should bee reversed nay that may be for heaven and earth shall passe away but this shall never be not one jot of the word of God shall fall to the ground God hath purposed it and none shall disanull it nay he hath established his purpose with a word of confirmation Gen. 2. in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely dye As if hee should have said Doe not deceive thy selfe but build upon it I have spoken it and will not alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth as sure as thou livest if thou eatest thou shalt dye Thus you see the first assertion cleared unto you I will addresse my selfe now to the second of which briefly too and then make Application of them both together As there is a certaintie of our change so wee should alway waite till it doth come There are two things which I will here inquire of for the fuller illustration of this point First what this continuall wayting may import Secondly why there should be such a constant wayting for the day of our mortall change First this continuall wayting mainly imports two things one acertaine expectation of death for wayting is an act of Hope expecting something if wee doe hope for that wee see not then doe wee with patience waite for it saith the Apostle Rom. 8. 15. A man is then sayd to wayte for death when hee is looking for it at every turne as a Steward waites for his Master when hee continually expects his returne when upon every voice hee heares or upon every knocke at the doore hee saith oh my Master is come this is hee that knockes So a man is sayd to wayte for death when in every action of his life in every motion of his estate in every passage of his courses sayth well I must dye when though his bones are full of marrow yet I must dye when though riches come in like a flood yet I must dye when changes appeare upon himselfe or others yet I must dye I have no abiding here I am but a sojourner and a stranger as all my fathers were I must not enjoy my Wife for ever Children for ever Friends for ever Lands for ever these comforts for ever my life for ever it is but a lease which may soon expire I am but a steward and I must bee called to an account such a one is gone before and I must follow after the writ of habeas corpus hath seized on him and for ought I know the next may bee for mee so when death comes I am readie to answer it as Abraham did his Sonne Isaack here I am it comes not upon mee as a thiefe in the night when I am a sleep and thinke not of him but as Ionathans arrow to David who stayed in the field and expected when it should bee shot and then hee rose up and embraced him Yee Brethren sayth Paul in 1 Thes. 5. 4. are not in darknesse that that day should overtake you as a theife ye are all the children of the light therefore let us not sleepe as doe others but let us watch and bee sober This is the first thing that wayting imports Another thing it imports is a serious preparation for the day of our change for it is not a naked expectation of a change arising from the certainty of death but it is also a religious preparation improving the interim of time for the best advantage for a mans soule before the day of change doth come which is here implyed in wayting Solomon calls it a remembring Eccles. 12. 1. Remember thy Creatour in the dayes of thy youth whiles the evill dayes come not and the yeares draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them what is this remembring of the Creatour but a care to know him a feare to offend him a studie to obey him and when is that to bee done Now now remember there must bee a present acting of this Moses calls it a numbring of our dayes Psal. 90. 12. and
and sea shall cast up 〈◊〉 their dead Wee have the parties to bee examâ—…ed let us now here the Articles upon which they are to bee examâ—…ed First Death is to answer to this 〈◊〉 where is thy sâ—…ng these words may bee understood â—…o maâ—…r of wayes 1 Actively 2 Passively 1 Passively where is thy sting that is the sting thrust out by Deatâ—… 〈◊〉 which 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 of Death is 〈◊〉 other then the present sence of the desert of death and guilt of conscience 〈◊〉 a dreadâ—… 〈…〉 take away this 〈…〉 for sinnâ—… 〈…〉 no 〈…〉 â—…is Saints and 〈…〉 of a punishment of sinne a remedie against all sinne of a short and fearefull cut to eternall death a faire and safe draw-bridge to eternall life 2 Actively where is thy sting that is the sting which causeth and bringeth Death In this sense the sting of death is sinne non quem mors fecit sed quo mors facta est peccato enim morimur non morte peccâ—…mus as Saint Austine most accutely and eloquently Sinne is sayd to bee the sting of Death as a cup of poyson is sayd to bee a potion of death that is a potion bringing death for wee dye by sinne wee sinne not by death sinne is not the off-spring of death but death the off-spring of sinne or as the Apostle tearmeth it the wages of sinne And it is just with God to pay the sinner this wages by rendring death to sinne and punishing sinne with death because sinne severeth the soule from God and not onely grieveth and despightfully entreateth but without repentance in the end thrusteth the spirit out of doores And what more agreeable to Divine justice then that the soule which willingly severeth her selfe from God should bee unwillingly severed from the bodie and that the spirit should bee expelled of his residence in the flesh which expelleth Gods grace and excludeth his Spirit from a residence in the soul This sting of death is like the Adders two forked or double for it is either originall or actuall sinne originall sinne is the sting of death in the day thou eatest of the Tree of knowledge thou shalt surely dye and as by one man sinne came into the World and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all had sinned Secondly actuall sinne is the sting of death the soule that sinneth it shall dye the sonne shall not beare the iniquitie of the father nor the father the iniquity of the sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall bee upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall bee upon him Howbeit if wee speake properly originall sinne as it is a pronesse to all sinne so it maketh us rather obnoxious to death then dead men but actuall sinne without repentance slayes out-right Adam did not die the day hee eat the fruit but that day became mortalis or morti obnoxius guiltie of death or liable to it originall sinne alone maketh us mortes but actuall mortuos dead men The Devill like to a Hornet sometimes pricks us onely but leaveth not his sting in us sometime he leaveth his sting in us and that 's farre the more dangerous He is pricked only with this sting who sinneth suddenly and presently repenteth but he who the Devil bringeth to a habit or custome insinne in him hee leaveth his sting Now wee know what the sting is let us enquire where it is The answer is if wee speake of the reprobate men or Devills it remaineth in their consciences if wee speake of the Elect it is plucked out of their soules and it was put in our Saviours bodie and there deaded and lost for hee that knew no sinne was made sinne for us to wit by imputing our sinne to him and inflicting the punishment thereof upon him That wee might bee made the righteousnesse of God in him for the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by his stripes were wee healed who his owne selfe bare our sinnes in his owne body on the tree Athanasius representeth the manner of it by the similitude of a Waspe losing her sting in a Rocke Vespa acculeâ—… fodiens petram c. as an angry Waspe thrusteth her sting into a rocke cannot pierce or enter farre into it but either breaketh her sting or loseth it all so Death assaulting the Lord of life and striving with all her might to sting him hurt not him but disarmed her selfe of her sting for ever The first interrogatorie is answered wee know where Deaths sting is let us now consider of the second interrogatorie concerning the victorie of the Grave O grave where is thy victorie If the Grave as shee openeth her mouth wide so she could speake shee would answer My victories are to be seene in Macpelah Golgotha in all the gulphs of the Sea and Caves and pits of the Earth where the dead have beene bestowed since the beginning of the world My victorie is in the fire in the water in the earth in all Churnells and Caemitaries or dormitories in the bellies of fish in the mawes of beasts in holy shrines Tombes and sepulchres wheresoever corpses have beene put and are yet reserved Of all that ever Death arrested and they by order of divine Justice have beene committed to my custodie never any but one escaped whom the heaven of heavens could not containe much lesse any earthly prison he might truly say and none but he O grave where is thy victorie all save him I keepe in safe custodie that were ever sent to mee Yet may all that die in Iesus and expect a glorious Resurrection by him even now by faith insult over the Grave for Faith calleth those things that are not as if they were it looketh backward as farre as the Creation which produced all things at the first of nothing and as farre forward to the resurrection which shall restore all things from nothing or that which is as much as nothing Faith with an eye annointed with the eye-salve of the spirit seeth death swallowed up into victorie and the earth and sea casting up all their dead and upon this evidence of things not seene triumpheth over Death and Hell saying O Death where is thy sting O Hell where is thy victorie Wee have spoken hitherto of Death and the Grave let us now heare what they have to say to us Death saith feare not mee the Grave Weepe not immoderately for the dead Death bids us die to sinne the Grave Burie all thy injuries and wrongs in the pit of oblivion both say to us flye sinne and neither of us can hurt you both say to us Give thankes to him who hath given you victorie over uâ—… both the sting of death pricks you not but if you die in the bosome of Christ rather delights and tickles you Death is no more Death but a sleepe the Grave is no more a grave but abed Death is but the putting off of our old rags the Grave is the Vestrie
the â—…er words of the Prophet I will 〈◊〉 them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the grave I will redeeme them from death hee that will redeeme them from death can in no sâ—…se bee sayd to bee the cause why they die but why they die not Besides both hee and Iarcht stumble at the same stone to wit the word debâ—…ica which they derive from dever signifying verbâ—… or causa whereas they should have derived it from dever signifying pestâ—… or a plague Thirdly for Saint Ierome his translation though it differ somewhat from the originall yet it is no Antithesis to the Text but an elegant Antanaclasis or at least a Metonymie generis pro specie mors pro peste I will bee thy death for I will bee thy plague Fourthly for the translation of the Septuagint which Saint Paul most seemeth to follow because writing to the Gentiles who made use of that translation and understood not the originall hee would not give them any offence nor derrogate from it which was in great esteeme among all in regard of the aâ—…tiquitie thereof and it stood the Christians in those dayes in great stead to convince the unbeleeving Jewes It well agreeth with the Analogie of faith and the meaning of the holy Spirit and the Hebrew letter also will beare it for Ehi as Buxtorphius the great Master of the holy tongue out of David Kimchi observeth signifieth ubi where as well as ero I will bee and a venemous sting and pestis the plague differ but little so that although the words in the originall seeme to bee spoken by an affirmation but in Saint Paul and the Septuagint by an interrogation in the one by a commination inthe other by an insultation yet both come to one sense and containe an evident prophesie of Christ his conquest over Death and Hell I have plucked away the thorne and now I am come to blow the flower and open the leaves of the words O Death I will bee thy plagues that is I will take away from Death the power of destroying utterly and from the Grave the power of keeping the dead in it perpetually If wee take the words as spoken by way of insultation ô mors ubi est aculeus tuus O Death where is thy sting thus wee are to construe them as a hornet or serpent when his sting is plucked out can doe no hurt to any other but soone after dyeth it selfe so Death is disarmed by Christ and left as good as dead for as David cut off Goliahs head with his own sword and Brasidas ran through his enemie with his owne speare so Christ conquers over Death by death in as much as by his temporall death hee satisfied both for the temporall and eternall death of them that beleeve in him And as hee conquered Death by his death so hee destroyed the Grave by his buriall for suffering his bodie to bee imprisoned and afterwards breaking the gates and barres of the prison hee left the passage open to all his members to come out after him their head These sacred and heavenly mysteries are shrined in the letter of this Text for although the Prophet speaketh to the Isralites and maketh a kinde of tender unto them of redemption from temporall death and deliverance from corporall captivitie yet to confirme their faith therein hee bringeth in the promise of eternall redemption from whence they were to inferre if God will redeeme us from eternall how much more from temporall death if hee will deliver us out of the prison of the grave how much more out of common Gaoles What though our enemies have never so great a hand over us what though they exceed in their crueltie and put us to all extremitie and doe their worst against us their crueltie cannot extend beyond death nor their malice beyond the Grave but Gods power and mercie reacheth farther For he can and he promiseth that hee will revive us after wee are dead and raise us after we are buried he will plucke deaths sting out of us and us out of the bowells of the Grave Death hath not such power over the living nor the grave over the dead as God hath over both to destroy the one and swallow up the other into victorie For therefore the Sonne of God vouchsafed to taste death that Death might be swallowed up by him into victorie Although Death swallow up all things and the Grave shut up all in darknesse yet God is above them both therefore when wee are brought to the greatest exigent when nothing but death and torments are before us when we are readie to yeeld up the buckler of our faith and breath out the last gaspe of hope let us call this Text to mind O Death I will bee thy plagues neither Death nor the Grave shall be my peoples bane because I will bee both their bane and change their nature which destroyeth all nature For to all them that beleeve in mee Death shall not be a posterne but a street doore not so much an out-let of temporall as an in-let of eternall life and though the grave swallow the bodyes of my Saints yet it shall cast them up againe at the last day Thus the words yeeld us singular comfort if wee take them as a commination and they afford as much or more if we take them as Saint Paul and S. Chrysostome do by an insultation As a man offering sacrifice for victorie and full of mirth and jollitie he leapes and tramples upon Death lying as it were at his mercie and sings an Io Poean a triumphant song wherewith Gerardus a great friend of Saint Bernards breathed out his last gaspe of whom hee thus writeth In the dead time of the night my brother Gerard strangely revived at midnight the day began to breake I sent for to see this great miracle found a man in the very jawes of death insulting upon death and exulting with joy saying O death where is thy sting Death is not now a sting but a song for now the faithfull man dyeth singing and singeth dying And so having plucked away the prickles and opened the leaves by the Explication of the letter I come now to smell to them and draw from thence the savour of life unto life Ero pestes tuae ô mors As Saint Ierome writeth of Tertullian his Polemmicall Treatises against hereticks â—…uot verba tot fulmina Every word is a thunder-bolt so I may truly say of this verse quot verba tot fulmina So many words so many thunder-bolts stricking Death dead by the light whereof wee may discerne three parts 1. The menaced or partie threatned Death 2. The menacer or partie threatning I. 3. The judgement menaced plagues 1. The menaced impotent mors Death 2. The menacer Omnipotent Ego I. 3. The judgement most dreadfull pestes plagues 1. First of the partie menaced Death Christ threatneth destruction to none but to his or his Churches enemies But here he threatneth Death Death therefore must needs be an
enemie and so the Apostle tearmeth it the last enemie that shall bee destroyed is Death For albeit Death by accident is an advantage as oftentimes an enemie doth a man a good turne which occasioned that excellent Treatise of Plutarch wherein he sheweth us how to make an Antidote of poyson and a good use of other mens maâ—…ice yet is it in it selfe an enemy alwayes to Nature and to grace also it sets upon the elect and the Reprobate the beleever and the Infidell the penitent and the obstinate but with this difference it flyes at the one with a deadly sting but at the other without a sting the one it wounds to death the other it terrifieth and paineth but cannor hurt But there being divers kinds of death which of them is here meant Death is a privation and privations cannot bee defined but by their habits that is such positive qualities as they bereave us of for instance sicknesse cannot be perfectly defined but by health which it impaireth nor blindnesse but by sight which it destroyeth nor darknesse but by light which it excludeth nor death but by life which it depriveth us of Now if there bee a fourefold life spoken of in Scripture viz. 1. Of nature 2. Of sinne 3. Of grace 4. Of glory There must needs be a foure-fold death answerable thereunto 1. The death of Nature is the privation of the life of nature by paâ—… soule and bydy 2. The death of sinne is the privation of the life of sinne by mortifying grace 3. The death of Grace is the privation of the life of grace by reigning sâ—…ne 4. The death of Glory is the privation of the life of Glory by aiâ—… and finall exclusion from the glorious presence of God and the kingdome of heaven and a casting into the lake of fire and brimstone prepared for the divell and his angells Of Death in the first sence David demandeth who is hee that liveth and shall not see death and shall hee deliver his soule from the hand of hell Of Death in the second sense Saint Paul enquireth how shall wee that are dead to sinne live any longer therein Of Death in the third sense Saint Paul must be meant where he rebuketh wanton Widowes Shee that liveth in pleasure is dead while shee liveth Of Death in the fourth sense Saint Iohn is to bee understood Blessed is hee that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death hath no power Saint Austin joyneth all these significations and maketh one sentence of divers senses hee is dead to death that is Death cannot kill hurt or affright him who is dead to sinne And another of the Ancients makes a sweet cord of them like so many strings struck at once hee that dyeth before hee dyes shall never die hee that dyeth to sinne before hee dyeth to nature shall never dye to God neither in this world by finall deprivation of grace neither in the world to come of glorie Of these foure significations of Death the first and last fort with this Text for that the first is to bee meant it is evident by the consequence here O grave I will be thy destruction And by the antecedents in Saint Paul When this corruptible shall put on incorruption c. And that the second is included may bee gathered both from the words of Saint Iohn And Death and bell were cast into the lake of fire and of our Saviour I was dead and I am alive and have the keyes of Hell and of Death And so I fall upon my second Observation viz. the Person menacing I the second person in Trinitie our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The word here used Ehi is the same with that we reade Exod. 3. Ehi Ashur Ehi I am that I am and if the observation of the Ancients be current that wheresoever God speaketh unto man in the old Testament in the shape of man or Angell we are to understand Christ for that all those apparitions were but a kind of preludia of his incarnation then the Person here threatning can bee no other then he besides the word Egilam in the former part of this verse being derived from Gaal signifying propinquus fuit or redemit jure propinquitatis pointeâ—… to our Saviour who by assuming our nature became our Alic by blood and performed this office of a kinsman by redeeming the inheritance which we had lost But we have stronger arguments then Grammaticall observations that he who here promised life to the dead and threatneth plagues to Death was the Sonne of God the Lord of quick and dead for the same who promiseth to redeeme from the Grave threatneth to plague Death but we all know that Redeemer is the peculiar style of the Sonne as Creator is of the Father and Sanctifier of the Holy Ghost tu redemisti nos thou hast redeemed us to GOD by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and Nation To the redemption of a slave that is not able to ransome himselfe three at least concurre the Scrivener who writeth the Conditions and sealeth the Bonds the partie who soliciteth the businesse and mediateth for the captive and layeth downe the summe agreed upon for his ransome and the person in whose power the captive is and who accepteth of the ransome Which of these is the Redeemer you will all say he that is at the cost of all so it is in our redemption from spiritual thraldome the holy Spirit draweth the condition and sealeth the bonds the Father receiveth the ransome the Sonne both mediateth for the ransoming and layeth downe the summe For we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold but the pretious blood of Christ as of a Lambe without blemish hee tooke part of our nature that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the divell and deliver them who through the feare of death were all their life time subiect to bondage Hence we gather that hee that destroyed Death must die but to affirme that the immortall and eternall Spirit of God expired is blasphemie and to say that the Father suffered is heresie longagoe condemned in the Patro-passions we conclude therefore with the Apostle that the second Person Christ Jesus hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortalitie to light by the Gospell And so I fall upon my last Observation the judgement here mentioned Devorica 3. Thy plagues there is no tittle or iota in holy Scripture superfluous some mysterie therefore lyeth in the number plagues in the plurall not plague in the singular which I conceive to be this that Christ put Death to many deaths and foyled and conquered it many wayes first in himselfe secondly in his members First in himselfe by destroying sinne the sting of Death Secondly by breaking the bonds thereof in his powerfull Resurrection wherwith it was impossible that hee should be
held Secondly in his members by changing the nature of it to them and making it of a curse a blessing of a losse a gaine of a punishment either a great honour or a speciall favour or a singular advantage a great honour as to the Martyrs who thereby acquired so many Rubies to their crowne of glory as they shed drops of blood for their Saviour A speciall favour as to Abraham Iosiah and Saint Austin who were taken away that they might not see and feele the miserie that after their death fell on the postarity of the one the subjects of the other and the diocesse of the third A singular advantage to all the faithfull who thereby are discharged from all cares feares sorrowes and temptations and presently enter into their Masters joy For blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their workes follow them Now the meanes whereby Christ conquered death and utterly destroyed it are diversly ser downe by the learned some argue a contrariis contraries say they are to bee destroyed by their contraries as heate by cold moysture by drought sicknesse by health Death therefore must needs bee destroyed by life as the contrary but Christ is the resurrection and the life in him was life and life was the light of men Saint Austine declareth it after this manner Life dying contended with Death living and got a glorious and signall victory Nyssen thus the Devill catching at the flesh of Christs humane nature as a baite was caught by the hooke of his divine Saint Leo and Chrysologus thus if a Bayliffe or Serjeant arrest the Kings sonne or a privileged person and lay him up in a close prison without commission hee deserveth to bee turned out of his place for it So Death Gods Serjeant seizing upon his Sonne in whom there was no fault without warrant or commission was justly discharged of his office Is Death thus discharged hath Christ changed the nature of Death and freed all his Members from the sting of the temporall and feare of eternall death hath hee of a Posterne made it a street-doore of an out-let of mortall life an in-let of immortalitie why then are wee so much afrayd of death which can no more hurt us then a hornet or waspe after her sting is plucked out Christ fought with a living death wee with a dead death which doth not so much severe our soules from our bodies as joyne them to Christ not so much end our life as our mortalitie not so much exclude us out of the Militant as render us to the Triumphant Church Nothing is more dreadfull I confesse to the naturall man then Death which dissolveth the soule and bodie and the Grave which resolveth the bodie into dust and ashes To cure this maladie of the minde there is no vertue in any Drugge of nature the Philosophers in this case are Physitians of no value they tell us that sicknesse and death are tributa vivendi and the Grave the common house of the dead But of what of this what comfort is here doth this speculation discharge us from the tribute or make the payment thereof the easier doth it enlighten the darknesse of these prisons of nature or take away the stench from these under-ground houses no whit Yet God bee thanked there is a magazen in Scripture to pay these tributes there is light in Goshen to enlighten these houses there is Spicknard to perfume these dankish roomes there are 〈◊〉 in holy Scripture to strengthen the heart not onely against deadly maladies but also against death it selfe For there we heare of a voyce from heaven not onely affirming the happinesse of the dead but confirming it with a strong reason for they rest from their labours and their works follow them we heare of Tabernacles not made with hands but eternall in the Heavens wee heare that when wee are absent from the body wee are present with the Lord wee heare the Lord of life opening the eares and chearing the heart of the dead and saying I am the resurrection and the life whosoever beleeveth in mee though hee were dead yet shall hee live There wee heare death not onely disarmed of his sting but also slaine downe right O Death I will bee thy death O Grave I will bee thy destruction Secondly hath Christ destroyed Death and hath hee both the keyes of Death and of Hell then beloved when wee lye on our death-bed let us not have recourse after the popish manner to any Saint or Angell no not to the blessed Virgin her selfe but to her Sonne who is the Lord of life who satisfying for our sinnes at his death thereby plucked out the sting of death and after his resurrection quite destroyed this serpent In which regard he is styled stella matutina the Morning starre because hee ushereth in the day of eternitie and primitiae dormientum the first fruits of them that slept because in him the whole lump is sanctified When therefore the fiery Serpent hovereth over us to sting us to eternall death let us looke upon the Brazen Serpent and the other shall not hurtus Lastly hath Christ conquered Death and Hell and that for us let us then give him the honour of the greatest Worthy and noblest Conquerour that ever the World saw Cyrus and Alexander and Caesar were no way to bee compared to him for they subdued but mortall enemies hee immortall they bodilie hee ghostly they with great Armies and power of men but hee alone they when they were alive and in their full strength and vigour but hee at the houre of his death and afterwards I conclude therefore with Saint Ierome his insultation over Death and thanksgiving to the Lord of life O Death thou didst bite and wert bitten thou didst devoure and art now devoured by him whom for a time thou didst devoure by his death thou art slaine by his death wee live everlastingly thankes bee rendred unto thee O Saviour who hast subdued so powerfull an adversary and put him to death by thy death and passion The Ethiopians as Herodotus relateth make Sepulchres of glasse for after they have dryed the corps they artificially paint it and set it in a glazed Coffine that all that passe by may see the lineaments of the dead body but surely they deserve better of the dead and more benefit the living who draw the lineaments of their minde and represent their vertues and graces in a Mirrour of Art for I am not of their judgement among us who properly and deservedly are called Precisians because out of the purity of their precise zeale ita praecidunt they so neere paire the nayles of Romish superstition that they make the fingers bleed who out of feare of praying forsooth for the dead or invocating them are shie of speaking any word of them or sending after them their deserved commendations for it is pietie to honour God in his Saints
is represented to him his owne state what we are they were once the time was that they converst with men as we doe that they spake for Gods glory upon earth as we doe and what they are now we shall be there will come a time when our workes shall cease as theirs doe when we shall be in the place of silence as they are I say it confirmeth to us the former certaintie and assurance of our death when we see others fall before us And there is great profit and benefit that ariseth out of this This is necessary to awaken mens drowsinesse and to quicken up mens dulnesse to a serious consideration of that that is so usefull to themselves A man would wonder that in the Wildernesse where so many thousands died for the hand of God was out against them for their murmuring and rebellion and they were destroyed by the destroyer as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 10. that there Moses should pray Lord teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome though they had a sight of so many dying before them and that continually yet they needed to bee stirred up to pray that God would teach them to make use of it So it is with us Wee have seene not only one or two die before us but there was a time not long since and you cannot forget it wherein the destroying Angel did walke at libertie about the Citie and kill thousands in our streets yet when so many died what securitie was there even among those that lived insomuch that after a while the sicknesse grew common and usuall and so unregarded Have we not need then as much as ever Moses had in the Wildernesse to crie to God to teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome Nay much more now when there is scarce one or none in comparison of those multitudes that were swept away in that visitation we have need of such helpes as these are and to joyne our prayers with them too that we may be stirred up to a serious application of it to our selves That 's the first thing it is necessary for living men to take to heart the death of those that are departed that they may see and be brought seriously to thinke of the certainty of their owne death Secondly therein also wee see the nature of death what the proper worke of it in the world is It is of singular use too The nature of death the proper worke of it is to disunite to separate to dis-joyne things here you have the soule separated from the body the estate separated from the man the man separated from his friends and all by Death First I say yee have the body separated from the soule and this is a usefull consideration The soule and the body while they keepe together in a man they may be helpfull and usefull one to another the time will come when they must be separated Alas the not considering of this is the cause of those great errours that are in the lives of men that they bestow so much time upon their bodies that they so much minde the present things of this life and their outward welfare as if they had no soules at all to regard as if there never should bee a separation of body and soule one from another What is the reason that there is all that care tooke for food for the body for apparell for the body for health for the body and such an utter neglect of the soule but because that men doe not dreame doe not thinke of a time of separation of a time of dis-junction of a time of parting these two All the worke of a mans life should now be to make a good use of the faculties of his soule that the body may be happy by it the soule will draw the body after it to its owne estate Now they are together if they joyne now in sinne after their separation there shall come a time when they shall be joyned in punishment if they joyne now in the service of God after they have beene separated a while by death there will come a time when they shall be againe joyned in glory and happinesse That is the first There will bee a separation of soule and body therefore make good use of them while they are together let the body be serviceable to the soule by all its senses and members let the soule rule and order the body by its understanding and affections c. that both body and soule may bee made blessed in an eternall conjunction together after death and in an everlasting union in the sight of God Secondly Death makes a separation betweene a man and all his outward estate in the world The rich man in Saint Luke 12. thought not upon this Soule thou hast much goods layed up for many yeares hee thought his soule and his goods should never have parted therefore take now thine ease saith he See what the end of it was Thou foole saith the Lord this night they shall fetch away thy soule and then whose shall these things bee The time is comming that these things shall bee none of thine they shall bee another mans they shall be some bodies else they shall be taken from thee How necessary is this consideration to take off mens affections from the world and to stirre them up to use their wealth and their estates while they have them so as may make for the glory of God A time shall come that they shall not have it to use that nothing shall be left them but a bare account to be given up Give an account of thy stewardship Luke 16. The maine businesse is now to be done while a man and his wealth are together while a man and his estate continueth together to use it to Gods glory otherwise it will be a woefull and heavy parting when death shall come to make a separation The young man went away sorrowfull when Christ would have his wealth from him because he had great possessions How sorrowfull will a man goe out of the world when he hath a great deale of wealth but he hath not prepared his account he cannot give up a reckoning of his getting of it of his using and imploying of it It is necessary therefore I say that men take to heart the death of those that die before them that when they see the bodies and soules of men parted men and their estates parted they may learne how to use their bodies and soules themselves and their estates while they are yet joyned together Thirdly Death doth not only part a mans body and soule a mans selfe and his wealth but it parteth a man from his friends from all his worldly acquaintance from all those that he tooke delight in upon earth Deathmakes a separation betweene husband and wife see it in Abraham and Sarah though Abraham loved Sarah dearely yet Death parted them
Let me have a place to burie my dead out of my sight It parteth father and child how unwilling soever they be see it in David and Absolom Oh Absolom my sonne would God I had died for thee and Rachel mourned for her children and would not be comforted because they were not It parteth the Minister and the people see it in the case of the people of Israels lamenting the death of Samuel and in the case of the Ephesians at the parting of S. Paul sorrowing especially when they heard they should see his face no more It parteth those friends who were so united together in love as if they had but one soule in two bodies see it in the separation that was made by death betweene David and Ionathan that were so knit together in their love that he bewaileth him Woe is mee for my brother Ionathan This is a necessary consideration for us that live that wee may learne to know how to carrie our selves towards our wordly friends and how to moderate our selves in our enjoyment of these worldly comforts Looke upon every worldly thing as a mortall as a dying comfort Looke upon children and friends as dying comforts Look upon your estates as that that hath wings and will be gone Looke upon your bodies that now you make so much of as a thing that must bee parted from the soule by death and that ere long See what advise the Apostle giveth 1 Cor. 7. 19. the time is short saith he therefore let those that marry bee as if they married not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as though they possessed not and they that use this world as not abusing it A man abuseth the world when he useth it beyond the consideration of the shortnesse of enjoying these things when hee lookes upon these things as things that hee shall enjoy alwayes But if we would use it aright looke upon things as things that we shall enjoy but for a short time This body that seemeth now to have some beautie in it yet it must die and be laied in the dust these friends that seeme now to haue some pleasure and delight in them yet I must die and be tooke from them this estate and wealth that now I set so much prize upon I must die and death will part me and it So I say lookeupon every thing as separable from us Moderate your affections likewise to them Vse them onely as comforts in the way as a traveller doth the pleasures of his Inne hee stands not to build himselfe houses against every pleasant walke he lookes upon he stands not to purchase lands and to lay them to every Inne he comes to lie at No he knowes that he is now but in his passage in his way he knowes that hee is not at home that is the place he is going to and after a time hee shall come thither So make account that you are not now at home it is death that must helpe you to your home Let this therefore take you off from all these things that are in the way It is a strange thing to see how Sathan besotteth and befooleth men They strive and labour to compasse many worldly things as if their happinesse stood in the enjoyment of them as if they should have their wealth and their comforts for ever What care is there amongst men to get wealth and many times lose their soules in getting the world Alas Death will part soule and body them and their wealth and all Doe wee not see this daily in the death of others before us such a one is dead where is his body now in the dust Where are his friends and his companions now Where is his wealth and his estate for which many flattered him and fawned upon him are they not all separated from him they have nothing now to doe with him he cannot dispose of one penny of his estate now it is left he knowes not to whom others now have the mannaging of it As now you can say this of others so there will a time come that other men will say the like of you I had such a friend but death hath parted him from me hee had such an estate but death hath parted him and his estate Let us therefore make this use of the death of others to conclude with our selves that there will be a parting of all those outward things that now wee are so apt to dote upon The third speciall thing considerable in the death of others that will be matter of profit and benefit to those that live and survive after them is the end and cause for which God sendeth Death abroad into the world with such a large commission that it goeth on with such libertie to every familie to every place that it seizeth upon every person What 's the reason of it You shall see in the severall deaths of men severall causes There is judgement and mercy sometime a mixture of both and sometime but of one of these Sometimes wee see an apparant judgement of God in the death of some A judgement of God upon themselves Thus the young Prophet that disobeyed the word of the Lord a Lyon met him in the way and slew him So those Corinths that did eate and drinke unworthily in the Lords Supper though they were such as were saved after yet neverthelesse for this very cause saith the Apostle some of them were sicke and weake and some slept they died they were judged of the Lord that they might not bee condemned with the world When you see death seizing upon men as an act of divine judgement of divine displeasure let it make you more fearefull of sinning against God lest you provoke against your selves the same wrath in the very act of sinne Sometimes againe it is a judgement of God upon others Thus God takes away divers of his servants because the world is not worthy of them And as this is an act of judgement upon the world so it is an act of mercie to them God in mercy taking of them away from the evill to come and from the evill present A judgement of God to others that are unworthy of them A mercie to themselves that they are tooke away from their owne evill from sinne from temptations from all the effects and fruits of sinne and taken away from the evill that is to come upon others An act I say of mercie to them So it was to the child of Ieroboam he should die and should not see the judgement that was to come upon his fathers house because there was found some good thing in him toward the Lord. So it was to Iosiah Hee should bee gathered to his fathers in peace and his eyes should not see all that evill which the Lord would bring upon Ierusalem and upon the inhabitants thereof An act of judgement to others Righteous and mercifull men are taken away and noman layeth it