is confest what Accusation will you form against this Omnipotent God seeing he hath meddled with nothing but his own Creature the work of his own hands and one that he hath a greater Interest in than ever you had What Arguments will you use to defend your Cause against him Job indeed had a good mind to quarrel him and as good a Cause for ought I know as any Man living for God himself commends him above all the Men upon the Earth for a perfect and an upright man one that feared God and eschewed evil yet holdeth he his integrity saith he to Satan although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without a cause Job 2.3 Oh saith he that God would answer me Job 31.30 But when God accepted the Challenge and posed him with some hard Questions he cries out I am vile what shall I answer I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once hâ—ve I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further Job 40.4 5. Yea we find him at the loss of his seven Sons and three Daughters the loss of all his Cattel blessing the Lord The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Job 1. â—1 We find him not cursing at the Chaldeans or reviling at the Sabeans as many would have done he knew whoever was the Rod God's Hand held it and whoever was the Instrument God was the Author This Consideration quieted David when that dead Dog Shimei railed upon him and cursed him The Lord saith he hath bid him curse David 2 Sam. 16.7 This quiered good Old Eli when the sad Tidings of the death of his two Sons and the ruine of his Family was fore-told 'T is the Lord saith he let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 This Consideration also silenced Aaron when his two Sons Nadab and Abihu were both slain with fire from Heaven Levit. 10.3 And Aaron held his peace He bridled his Passion and submitted his Will to God's Will And how then dare we dispute the Point with God that have neither Might nor Right on our side that are but frail yea sinful Dust and Ashes poor Worms that if he tread upon us he leaveth us dead behind him Who are we that we should be discontent with his dealing while we have no wrong done us or think to struggle out of his hand when we have no Power or be sullen under his Rod when 't is for our own good God is not engaged to give us any Account of his doing but sure it may suffice us when he tells us All shall work together for our good if we love him Rom. 8.28 And then why not this Providence We take bitter Pills and unsavoury Potions upon the Word of a Physician when he Sugars them with the hopes of Health And shall we mistrust the great Physician that cannot deceive nor be deceived Yea how unsuitable is it for Christians to repine under such Dispensations of Providence who daily pray Thy will be done in â—arth as it iâ— in heaven chearfully readily and willingly and yet murmure when his Will is done and prefer our own Wills before his Nay further consider if you are not Accessory to this Cross that you now lye under Or have you not a hand in making the Rod wherewith ye are beaten There are two ways we may be Accessory to the Death of our Relations The one is by lodging them too near the Heart even in that Room which Christ hath reserved for himself This makes God like a Jealous Husband remove that Servant out of the Family which he sees his Wife dotes upon as a Father takes away the Knife for fear of Danger or the Meat for fear of a Surfeit for many times we grasp those Thorns so hard till they prick us to the heart and then like Children we cry when we have hurt our selves Some on the other side through Carelesness or Covetousness neglect the necessary means of preserving or restoring the Health of their Relations But if you can clear your self of the former I think all that know you will clear you of the latter for the hand of God was so evidently seen in this Visitation that no Providence no Câ—â—â— no Cost nor Pains could prevent or remove it God denying a Blessing to all the means that were used and did immediately dispute his own Right and claim his own Interest and silence all Gain-sayers Oh how good is it for us to hang loose to all Creature-Comforts and not set up any Idols in our Hearts but leave all our Relations to be at God's dispose for many times we our selves weave the Spider's Web out of our own Bowels with which we are intangled and twist the Snare with our own fingers wherein we are held Let us therefore in the first place consider who 't is that hath done this supposed Injury and the serious Consideration of it will do much to allay the Storms of our Passion and quell and suppress those tumultuous Thoughts that rage in our Breast and do much towards the calming of our Spirits 2. And as we have considered who 't is we contend with even the Mighty God of Heaven and Earth in the next place 't is not amiss to consider who we are that thus quarrel him even Dust and Ashes Worms-meat poor frail indigent Creatures we are that thus oppose the Will of this great God and find fault with his Government of the World What King saith our Saviour Christ going out to make war against mother King sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand Or else while the other is yet a great way off he sendeth an ambassage and desireth conditions of peace Luke 14.31 32. And this is our Wisdom to do when we see we cannot grapple with him to lay down our Arms and submit and sue for Peace before the Contention grow too high for doubtless we may easily see we are not a meet Match for him our Original is but from the Earth The Lord formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul Gen. 2.7 and ere long we must be resolved into Earth Dust thou art and unto dust thou shall return Gen. 3.19 And is such a despicable Worm able to contend with the Almighty Yea all of us high and low rich and poor noble and base were bewen out of the same rock and digged out of the same hole of the pit Isa 51.1 And all had the same Original and are poor frail contemptible Nothings Is my strength saith Job the strength of stones or are my sinews of brass Job 6.12 And what if it were Were our Flesh of Brass and our Sinews of Iron could we then grapple with the Almighty Was ever any that hardened himself against God and prospered Dust we are by Creation sinful
We see Grace sometimes at an under and Nature predominant These things considered I thought it was my Duty not only to mourn with you but to comfort you not only as a Christian but also as a Minister whose Duty it is to speak a word in season and to comfort the comfortless Troubles I know seem harder and heavier and are worse born when they come suddenly and unexpectedly as I suppose this did fore-warn'd fore-arm'd the more expectations we have of Trouble the better preparation but unexpected Troubles surprize us before we get on our Armour and then tyrannize over us doubtless then 't is our Wisdom to be always upon our Guard Nature I know is prevalent if not curb'd by Grace but Grace is given to some to check its Extravagancies and to regulate our disordered Affections The love of Christ when 't is predominant in the Soul lessens or deadens our Affections to all Earthly Enjoyments the more directly we behold the Sun of Righteousness in his Glory the more dim-sighted we are when we turn our Eyes to any Earthly Object When a Christian acts as a Christian and hath his Conversation in Heaven he is set in a more Superiour Orb that all these Sublunary things seem small and work small alteration in him But while our Graces are imperfect and that will be while we are on this side Heaven we shall find Corruption stirring but 't is our Duty to take part with the Spirit against the Flesh and to make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lust thereof One of the Devil's Temptations to Job to make him murmur against God was the death of his Children And this is your Tryal at present but in a lower degree he lost Ten at once besides other Losses and that by an untimely Death and as might be imagined by the immediate Hand of God but the Devil was frustrate of his purpose instead of cursing he blessed God as I hope you will Job 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. There are I know too many that repine at the Loss which never gave God thanks for the Gift We are by Nature like sullen Children if we have not what we would we will not have what we may if one thing be taken from us we will throw all the rest after it if we may not have the Knife we will none of the Meat If Rachel may not have Children she matters not Life it self Give me children or else I die Gen. 30.1 not considering that God carries the Key of the Womb also under his Girdle For children are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward Psal 127.3 One Cross many times overshadows a thousand Blessings and hides them out of our sight and if one Comfort be snatch'd away we can take comfort in nothing we are like unto pettish Jonah that would dye in a pet and told God to his face he did well to be angry even to death Jonah 4.8 9. And why was he in such a ruff Why the Gourd which he loved was withered and then all God's dealing with him his communicating himself to him sending him upon his Errand delivering him out of the Whale's belly signified nothing to him how true is that of the Heathen Ira furor brevis est Anger is a short Madness and these are like unto wild Beasts hardly tamed Now though we are allowed to yield something to Nature in such cases yet nothing to Impatience yet how apt are we in effect to charge God of Injustice and bear our selves as if he had wronged us yea done us such wrong that God and Christ and Heaven and Glory and a thousand other Mercies would not satisfie or make us amends nor make us leave crying witness our mourning and over-mourning when God manifests his Will in taking away our Children or Relations without our consent He hath crost us in our Wills and will not let us have our Humour in withering some Gourd we delighted in and would have had to flourish and now we are resolved we will cross him in his Will and let him say what he will to the contrary we will not cease our Complaints But when we act as Christians 't is not so when our Graces are not clouded nor raked up under the Ashes of Corruption then it will act otherwise then there will be a total resignation of our Wills unto God's Will as two Bells melted together make one When David came to himself he could say I held my tongue and said nothing because thou didst it Psal 39.9 And good Old Eli when the Lord threatned the subversion of his House 'T is the Lord let him do what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 And Job though at first he quarrels yet at last lays his hand upon his mouth Job 40.30 One Glimpse of God's Love in Christ is able to dry up all those immoderate Tears we shed upon such accounts and to turn them into another Channel and make us instead of accusing God fall out with our selves and our sins for provoking him and when we see our chiefest Treasure our choicest Jewels are safe it will make us contemn all our other Losses these things we may spare Christ we cannot spare Madam Yet mistake me not my design and desire in this Letter is not to wipe all Tears from your Eyes nor all Sorrow from your Heart for some Grief in this condition is doubtless Lawful and your Duty and 't is a sin yea an Heathinish sin to be without Natural Affection Rom. 1.31 yea such a sin as was condemned by many of the Heathens that had but the Light of Nature Solomon adviseth To go to the house of mourning for saith he the living will lay it to heart Eccles 7.2 That is so mind it as to make a good use of it and doubtless many profitable Lessons may be hence learnt Such stroaks as these are not given in vain we should hear the voice of the rod and of him that sends it Micah 7.9 Yea God himself complains Isa 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come God's Rod hath a Voice and we must hear it and happy are those that with Correction receive Instruction When God's hand is stretched out the inhabitants of the world should learn righteousness Isa 26.9 God is now speaking to us in this Providence and 't is our Wisdom to hear what he saith and to learn what he teacheth When the Pillars are removed the House is weakned and when the Righteous are taken away our danger is more I would have you therefore sensible of the blow as all of us should be when such a Breach is made among us and when there are fewer helpers let those that are left put their shoulders more strenuously to the Work to keep up the Building But
nations are as the drop of a bucket and are accounted as the small dust of the balance that taketh up the Isles as a very little thing And all nations are before him as nothing and are accounted to him less than nothing and vanity Isa 40.12.15.17 Fear ye not me saith the Lord do ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sâ—nd for â—he bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it Jeâ— 5.22 He setteth bounds to the sea and saith Hitherto shalt thou go and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed Job 38.11 He numbreth the stars and calleth them by their names Psal 147.4 He removeth the mountains and they know not he overthroweth them in his anger He shaketh the earth out of her place and maketh the pillars thereof tremble He commandeth the Sun and it ariseth not and sealeth up the Stars He alone spreadeth forth the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the south Which doth great things past finding out and wonders without number Job 9.5 c. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters and the clouds are his chariot he walketh upon the wings of the wind He maketh his angels spirits and his ministers a flaming fire That layeth the foundations of the earth that they shall not be removed for ever Psal 104.3 c. Is it not he that made the World of nothing and can as easily reduce it into nothing He hangs the Earth upon nothing and that in the midst of the open Air and gave a Being to all his Creatures when they were nothing and nothing comes to pass without his Providence Nay is it not he that keeps the Keys of Life and Death at his Girdle I kill saith he and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand I lift up my hand and say I live for ever Deut. 32.39 He brings to the gates of death and back again and doth what pleaseth him in heaven and in earth and none can resist him neither dare any say What dost thou And is this he that hath done you this wrong and with him is it that you contend But consider Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger than he 1 Cor. 10.22 Shall we provoke him to a Duel as sometime Caligula did their Heathenish Jupiter Was there ever any that hardened himself against God and prospered Job 9.4 Who ever could boast of the last word or glory in the last blow The Walls of Aphek did Execution on the Blasphemous Syrians and the Angel of God upon the Assyrians If we harden our heart against God he will harden his hand against us for he will lay us upon our back ere he leave But haply though we do acknowledge God doth excel us in Power yet we imagine we have the better Cause and therefore with Jonab we think we do well to be Angry or at least with Job we would dispute the Point with him Job 13.3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to reason with God Why what hath God done Why he hath taken away your Daughter in the midst of her days Well but hath he no Interest in her Is it not he whose we are and whom we serve Was it not he that gave her her Being and breathed into her the breath of Life and she became a living Soul Did he not give her her Being 'T is not long since there was nothing heard of her and did he not continue her in her Being till her death Was it not he that fed and cloathed her at his own Cost and Charges And was she not engaged to him for every bit of Bread she did eat and every drop of Drink she drank and for the Cloathes she did wear Was it not his wool and his flax that cloathed her his corn and his wine that fed her his silver and his gold that enriched her Hos 2.8 Let us take heed then of paying our Rent to a wrong Landlord her Limbs and Senses her Peace and Plenty her Wit and Reason yea her Life and Breath were given or rather lent her by God It was he that covered her in your Womb and through him she was born Psal 139.13 It was he that put bowels of Compassion into your Heart to make Provision for her when she could make none for her self and to him she was indebted for every breath she breathed and for every Mercy that rendred her Life more comfortable to her and doth it become Christians thus to quarrel with our great Benefactor Or is it meet that we should require of him an Account of his doings Or expect that he should bring his Will to ours Whose is the Pot but the Pot-makers and may not he if he please dash it in pieces with his foot And who can say why dost thou thus Now if this great God this Omnipotent Being this God that hath such an Interest in us and such Authority over us yea greater than any Man upon Earth hath over any thing he doth enjoy hath taken away one of his own Creatures and glorified himself with her that he had made for his own Glory shall we take Offence at it That it was his Hand I doubt not but you acknowledge for nothing comes to pass without his Providence Affliction springs not out of the dust neither doth trouble arise out of the ground yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward Job 5.6 These things come not to pass by Fate or blind Fortune as the Heathens imaginee or by Chance as the Philistines supposed 1 Sam. 6.9 but the hand of God is in all this and therefore the lamenting Church concludes That she will bear the indignation of the Lord because she had sinned against him Why should a living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins Lam. 3.39 Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it Amos. 3.6 That is the Evil of Punishment for the Evil of Sin He is not guilty of sin He is of purer eye than to behold iniquity with approbation Shall not the judge of all the earth do right Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass if the Lord commandeth it not Lam. 3.37 I form the light and I create darkness I make peace and create evil I the Lord do these things Isa 45.7 Yea we may find that the Evil that came upon Jerusalem came from God Micah 1.12 For God sits at the Stern and guides the great Affairs of the World and when we sin what can we expect from a Righteous Judge but Sufferings Where sin goes before sorrow follows as the shadow follows the substance But now you have found out the Person and the Fact
that you complain and spend so many sighs and sobs and sorrowful tears Why is your Countenance cast down or why doth Discontent appear in your Face Why God hath taken away from you your Daughter which you loved and from whom you expected much comfort and that without your leave and â—iking and against your will But will this bear an Action Did not he love her as well as you And was he not as well able to prefer her Was not she his as well as yours Yea had he not a greater Interest in her She was his by â—â—ght of Creation did not he make her of nothing Was she not his also by right of Redemption when his only Son lost his Life to buy her out of Slavery She is Christ's by Donation being one that his Father gave to him which he will not lose John 6.39 And she hath also devoted her self to him and resigned her self and all she had to his dispose She is also his by Preservation 't is he that maintained her at his own Cost and Charges ever since she had a Being and paid you well for Nursing her Christ hath also a Matrimonial Right in her she being espoused to him In the time of the Law the Children begotten in Bondage were accounted the Master's and you being God's Servant he hath an Interest in your Children also She is his Daughter as well as yours his by Adoption What Interest you have was only given or lent you being but Instrumental in her production and will you yet dispute the Point which hath most Right to dispose of her She call'd him Father and so she was his Adopted Child as well as you Mother She was the Work of his hands he was the Potter she but the Clay and whose is the Pot but the Pot-makers He made her for his Glory and will you not give him leave to glorifie himself in her Salvation By a mutual consent she is married to Christ and if he demand his Wife will you deny her If any other lay any claim to her Body yet the Spirit returns to God that gave it He breathed into her the breath of Life and 't is he alone that restrains her breath She was yours indeed by Relation both you and she are God's by Purchase You are not your own but bought with a price And he that hath call'd her hence will ere long send for you after her This is no continuing City you look for and she hath found one above whose Builder and Maker is God While she was here she was a Tenant at will in a poor crazy Cottage a House of Clay subject to moulder about her eaâ—s Now she is commanded by the Landlord to surrender yet with a Promise of a better Habitation God hath commanded to pull down this Earthly Tabernacle and hath provided her a Palace A house not made with hands but eternal in the heavens whose builder and maker is God and hath exalted her from a Cottage to a Crown And is this the wrong that you complain of Hath not God much more cause to complain of you that do what you can to hinder her Promotion She was under Age but now comes to Inherit If you say you had her not long enough who shall be Judge her Father or you Do you pretend to any Promise of a longer time Produce it if you can if not lay your hand upon your mouth Could you have provided better for her than he hath done If not why do you envy her Happiness He hath sent for her home to his own Court provided a Husband for her married her to his Son who hath lodged her in his own Bosom And what wrong is in all this What cause of sighs and groans and showers of tears And he claims as great a Priviledge in you as in her and ere long if it be denied will distrain for it and try his Title and repining will do no good 't is much better to submit as David did who fasted and prayed when his Son was living but when he was dead comforted himself and said I shall go to him but he shall not come to me 2 Sam. 12.23 But perhaps if a separation must be you had rather have gone before her But must your Will needs be preferred before God's who gave you liberty to choose Indeed this was David's fault and failing till he was chid out of this Humour 2 Sam. 18.33 O my son Absalom my son my son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my son my son Jonah in a pet had rather have died than his Gourd should have withered he prayed for Death and told the Lord That he did well to be angry even unto death for the Gourd's sake but God had determined he should live and the Gourd should die Our Lives are not in our own hands nor in our Enemies hands but in the hands of God we cannot appoint God what to do or who to call for neither is it fit we should he knows best when our Task is done and when we are ready But you did expect she should have lived longer but what ground had you to build such an Expectation upon T is true she was young but do not far younger than she was feel the dint of Death Yea haply if it were well considered as many die before they come to her Age as live beyond it you your self buried one at a far younger age your knew she was Mortal and why should you promise her more time than God had promised her I am sure God never made any Promise to frustrate his Eternal Decrees she might indeed have lived longer even to the Age of Methusalem had God will'd it and she might also have died younger yea and never saw the Sun But who is it that he hath made of his Cabinet-Counsel Or who is it that can come to a composition for a Lease of his own or Friend's Life But is this all the thanks you render to God for sparing her with you to comfort you for about Twenty Years that you murmur Had it been more haply had it been Twenty more the thanks had been all one and your sorrow at the parting never the less and will nothing content except we be our own carvers But suppose you hoped she should survive you and what then Would not there have been grief at the parting But you would have had the burden cast upon her shoulders but God that bids us take up the Cross will have the making of it himself and lays it upon whose back he pleaseth and will not humour us so far as to let us have our will when it stands in competition with his own And truly this Cross is so perfectly of God's making that he that runs may read it But had he made use of any Instrument his Hand might have been seen in the Work But she was hopeful and could not be spared and is not this matter of Comfort to you which you make
the ground of your Grief The more Gracious the more Glorious the more Holy the more Happy the better she was the fitter for Heaven There are two things which may trouble us at the death of Relations the one is when we can see no Evidence of Grace the other when we have neglected our Duty to them especially to their Souls in their life-time The reason why David did so wofully bewail the Death of Absalom is imagined to be one or both of these When our Relations are fitted for Glory I think 't is no uncharitable wish to wish them out of a troublesome World in those Coelestial Enjoyments Paul did desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which was best of all But to wish those out of Glory that are in were both an unprofitable and uncharitable desire and argues more Passion and Self-love than well grounded Charity Now there is no going to Heaven but through the Gaâ—es of Death and 't is through Death's Portal that we must enter She hath paid the Debt we all owe and would you have her endure these Pangs and Pains over again You came not into the World together and it was unlikely that you would go together out and when ever a parting was it was like to be with grief She hath changed her Husband but 't is for the better an Earthly for an Heavenly she had a large Joynture before but 't is much amended 't is now advanc'd to a Crown and Kingdom She hath left her Relations behind but she hath better there Saints and Angels the Souls of Just Men made perfect There she can serve the Lord without distraction and sing Hallelujahs to Eternity without weariness here Corruption attended her best Duties there sin and sorrow shall be no more here she was troubled with Satan's Temptations there he cannot come to throw one Dart or shoot one Arrow at her here she was liable to Pains Aches Griefs and Troubles all these are there removed here she could scarcely open an Eye or an Ear but it let in sin or sorrow there all tears shall be wiped away and a sad or sorrowful thought shall never enter And what cause hath she to complain of wrong And if neither of you be wronged why is this wast Why so many sighs so many sobs so many sorrowful tears which might better run in another Channel Had she liberty â—o speak for her self it might probably be in such words as these which Christ upon the Cross spake â—o the Women that bewailed him Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for â—our children c. those that are yet in the Vale of Tears 't is the Church-Militant that deserves â—ity not the Church-Triumphant Lament raâ—her the condition of those that survive for you know not what their Sufferings may be the other are out of harms-way and safely landed in the Port of Heaven Now is there such a wrong done you or her that God takes her to himself before you were willing to part with her though he had a better Interest in her than you could pretend and made her fit for Glory and translated her thither You agree both in the thing but the Quarrel is about the time and the Controversie is whose Will must be obeyed or whose Judgment must be preferred which is the best time Many of the wiser Heathens have submitted with less contradiction Anaxarchus when told of the death of his two Sons answered I knew that they were Mortal Et stultus est qui mortem mortalium deflet Now in the present Controversie may not God say to you as sometimes he did to his People What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone from me What wrong have I done that you thus complain One of us must submit and must it be me Must I alter my Eternal Decrees for your sake or will there be no Peace to be had The Lord may say as Jacob did to Laban when he so fiercely pursued him Gen. 31.36 What is my trespass What is my sin Declare it before the world that they may be our judges Nay hath not God in this very Affliction sugared your Pill which might have been much bittered she might have been taken away in her younger years before you had such hopes of her Integrity or at least denyed you such Evidence of her Conversion then might you have feared she had been lost indeed or instead of one he might have taken all your Children when as yet two survive oâ— by the same stroke he might have taken away your dear Husband better to you than ten Sons as Elkanah said to Hannah 1 Sam. 1.8 Or he might have suffered your Children to be a heart-breaking to you as too many in these days are by their vicious Lives and Conversations who bring their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave which makes them with with Augustiâ—â— that they had never married or had dyed childless These are not such rare Examples in our days but too frequent She dyed a Natural Death many now adays as well as Job Eli Aaron David and others in former times were not so happy as to say so of theirs Neither is there any guilt upon you as upon some that have cause to mourn for neglecting any means for the preservation of her Life when some be wickedly Accessory to their Childrens Death If there were any fault which yet I cannot accuse you of it was in the excess of your Love which I the more fear when I see the excess of your Sorrow and this is a fault which Indulgent Mothers are apt to run into But you 'll say you could more easily have born any other Burden or suffered any other Cross Why then it seems God hath let you Blood in the right Vein as he did the Young Man in the Gospel that was willing to do any thing Christ commanded but part with his Riches but Christ will have a full resignation of our selves and all that is ours or he will not own us No beloved Delilah must be retained the Cross that Christ appoints we must bear and must not pick and choose our own Burden Luke 14.26 If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother wife and children brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple That is if he prize any of those before him or will rather part with Christ than with any or all of these he deserves not the name of a Christian for all we have in the World is given to us as Love-Tokens from God to signifie his Love to us and to oblige our Love to him and sometimes God calls back some of these Gifts to see whether we love him or his Tokens better God gave you liberty before she dyed to let her and you see the Fruit of her Womb a Son which though he soon called off the Stage yet at the Resurrection be shall stand in his lot But 't is
than a piece of rotten shining Wood to the Sun in its Splendour And do you think that Twenty Years in Heaven will not make amends for Twenty Years on Earth which she possibly might have lived 4. Cons In the next place it will not be amiss to consider how little good your immoderate Mourning will do in this case And truly in the upshot you will find it will do much more hurt than good even to your self and all about you for by this means you perplex your self in vain so that you can neither enjoy your self nor any thing you have with that serenity of Spirit as otherwise you might do and spend that Holy Water those Tears to no purpose which were designed for a better use and should be spent upon another Account and would do more good did they run in a right Channel You bewail the Effect but 't is much better to bewail the Cause for were that removed the Effect would cease Non valet medicamentum dum ferrum invulnere Sin deserves all the Tears we can shed and 't is better weep for living Sins than dead Children if the latter deserve one Tear the other deserves a thousand And it is not for your own sins alone that this Flood-gate should be opened but for the sins of the Times our National sins for from the greatest to the least all have gone astray and if there be not a Reformation we may expect a Desolation and God expects some to stand in the Gap Ezek. 22.30 to turn away his wrath from the Nation and although there be so few that they cannot prevail for the Nation yet their own Souls shall be saved as God said of Noah Daniel and Job Ezek. 14.14 Yea in a common Calamity before he gives Commission to the Destroyer he marks all that are mourners in Sion to be past by Ezek. 9.4 Here Tears will do good for the fire of God's Indignation is only to be quenched with the Tears of True Repentance But I fear there will be in the day of Visitation few of those Mourners found few to stand up in the Gap though many that make the Breach wider This way may do good to your self and others Thus Job concerns himself more with his Children when alive than when dead Job 1.5.21 Now which way can you imagine that the abundance of Tears which you pour out upon this Account of your Daughter's Death can benefit either you or any one else In reference to God 't is neither pleasing to him neither will it prevail with him not pleasing for he hath forbidden it We should not sorrow as men without hope for them that sleep in the Lord. For if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even so also them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thess 4.13 14. And it reflects some dishonour upon him when his People are so unsatisfied with his dealing and repine under his Dispensation of Providence It makes the World believe they take him for a hard Master yea and question his Justice in the Act. It is no Credit to a Master when his Servants quarrel at their Diet their Lodging their Work and their Wages Others imagine there is something in it that makes them complain Now God's Glory is his End in all his Actions and it should be ours and to preserve that in the sight of the World we should never hang down the head but for sin our own sins and the sins of others because God is thereby dishonoured and his Laws violated And then that they cannot be prevalent with God is as evident You are offended that your Daughter is gone Hinc illae lachrymae but 't is an impossible thing to bring her again and what else can you be satisfied with You can never prevail with him to alter his immutable Decrees which are as firm as the Pillars of Heaven and the Foundations of the Earth and the Sun and Moon in their courses And then again I am sure you are not benefited by it the present vexation you lye under must needs make your Life uneasie yea make you a burden to your self thus to spend your time inter suspiria lachrymas between Sighs and Tears when the most miserable Bond-slave can do no more And hereby you also disable your self for your Duties to God and Man both in your general and particular Calling and Relations Discontent in the Heart makes a Christian like Jonah instead of praying to God quarrels him Jonah 4.2 3 4. What Communion can you keep with God when there are such tumultuous Thoughts arising in the heart Doubtless in this pet you cannot serve God without distraction neither attend your Worldly Concerns and that Sorrow is never pleasing to God that thus disables you for your Duties or hinders you in Heaven's way Neither can there any benefit arise to your Friends and Relations for while you are under such discomposure of Spirit the whole Family must tast of the Effects of it for what comfort can you give others that refuse comfort your self Or how can you Counsel them that will take no Advice your self You have been long in the School of Christ and he expects that being converted you should strengthen your Brethren But doth not your carriage put a block in others ways to comfort This makes you that you can take little delight in your remaining Relations nay to overlook and undervalue all your other Mercies and cannot read Love in any of God's dealings with you your finger is still upon the Sore and this one Cross hides from your Eyes a thousand Mercies It had such an effect upon David though it was no doubt his failing when God had given him a Signal Victory and by that means brought him back again into his Throne yet all this was nothing to him because Absalom was dead and neither God nor Man was thank'd for the Victory So 't is with you the lives of your Husband Children Friends Relations your Health Peace Plenty Liberty Sense and a thousand more seem little in your Eyes All Haman's Honour Wealth Promotion Children were nothing to him so long as Mordecai the Jew would not bow to him Esther 5.13 And though God hath given you abundance of these outward things yea himself and promised you Heaven and Glory into the Bargain yet all this seems not satisfactory your Daughter is not Now would not this make a Man suspect she was youâ— Idol and therefore God took her out of the way that your Affections might run in the right Channel Well but seeing no living Creature can be benefited by your Tears let us see whether your deceased Daughter may and here is least ground of all to imagine it Indeed were the Papists Doctrine of Purgatory true and that Souls might be redeemed by Dirges Masses and such other Fopperies then your Money may do something but this Fire that was kindled to warm the Popes Kitchen can never be extinguished by your Tears but by the
the good Seed so the Godly should suffer did not their Father look to them These are Strangers and 't is no wonder if they meet with hard Usage and that Dogs bark at them Happy therefore is that Person that hath safely past through all these Dangers and is safely arrived at home and got to his Journey 's end The World doubtless is not desirable for our selves or our Relations that are already past through the Pikes of Danger and are out of the reach of the Devil and his Instruments and we our selves are pressing hard after This may satisfie us in this Providence If you apply this to the present â—ase your Daughter is out of the danger and you are a days Journey behind and in a little time will over-take her and seeing the World out of which she is gone and you are hastening is not desirable and seeing after a short space you will enjoy her to Eternity without interruption Then mourn not for her but rather rejoyce that she hath left you so much ground of Comfort behind her that her Life was such that she lived desired and dyed lamented and was not a Corazine to your heart as many Children are to their Parents in this Age when they behold their vicious Lives and Conversations and sometimes their untimely Death But she hath left a good savour behind her yea a good Name more precious than precious Ointment These Cordials may keep up your sinking Spirit from fainting under this sad Providence the Lord grant they may be effectual to this end By these and the like Arguments Madam I have upon the like Occasion oft-times argued my self into content and stilled those boisterous Storms and Tempests which Passion and Discontent had raised in my breast and brought the Controversie between God and me to this Result That God was wise and I was foolish and that it was much fitter for him to dispose of me and my Relations than it was for me and brought me to a Resolution to let him who had ruled the World for so many thousand Years to Rule it still The like Consideration had the like Operation on Job though at first he had a mind to quarrel God yet at last he lays his hand upon his mouth and humbles himself in Dust and Ashes and cries out I am vile what shall I answer These Meditations brought me to know that it was fitter for me to prepare for my own Death than to bewail the Death of another yea made me know that it was of much more concern to take care of my Relations while living to fit them for their Eternal Being than to bewail them especially those I have comfortable hopes of when dead and to be troubled more at my own Neglects than at God's Providence And the Lord grant that these and the like Meditations may have the same or rather a better Effect upon you to quiet your Spirit under this present Providence But Madam though this be necessary to bring us to submit unto God and bring our Wills to God's Will and to acquiesce in what he doth yet 't is not sufficient God doth not lash us only to make us leave crying or to cease our murmuring but in these Visitations he hath a further design upon us his Rod speaks more than this unto us he expects that his Physick should have some other Operation upon us and not only leave us as it finds us but should do us some good also the Father beats one Child that the rest may beware It was good for me saith David that I was afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Before I was afflicted I went astray but now I learn to keep thy commandments Psal 119.67.71 If God preserve us 't is no great matter whether it be in Salt or Sugar Fish prosper as well in salt as fresh Water The Wallnut-tree they say bears best when most beaten and I am sure many times Christians thrive best under Affliction The Wind shaking the Tree makes it take deeper and better Root quae nocent docent bitter Pills may sometimes be as necessary as Sweet-meats a Lesson set on with whipping is best retained and many times Correction doth what Cockering will not and there is no doubt whatever Man intends God in Correcting his Children minds their good Heb. 12.10 These bitter Pills procure sweet Health as sharp Winters kill Weeds and Worms and God's Vines bear the better for bleeding neither are they hurt when superfluous branches are lopt off Camomile the more 't is trod upon the more it spreads and the more the Cypress-tree is bowed down the more it riseth Ephraim found the benefit of Affliction this made him Obedient when before he was as an untamed Heifer unaccustomed to the Yoak Jer. 31.18 c. Manasseh's Prison and Fetters were better to him than his Crown and Scepter 2 Chron. 33.12 c. As 't is said of Queen Elizabeth Mr. Ascham was a good Tutor to her but Affliction did her most good Correction with Instruction is sure and safe Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest O Lord and teachest him in thy Law Psal 94.12 Feri domine feri saith Luther strike me as much as thou wilt if thou wilt instruct me lash me and spare not so thou wilt Lesson me God doth chastise his People that they may not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 11.32 God hath a double end in your present Visitation and both for good one to set an end to your dear Daughter's Misery and the other to prepare you for Happiness by weaning you from the World and raising up your heart to Heaven whither your Delight is gone And happy are you if you learn this Lesson and wisely improve this Providence if you learn the voice of the rod and of him that holds it Micah 6.9 For the rod of reproof gives wisdom Prov. 29.15 Vexatio dat intellectum A Father Corrects his Child not so much in Revenge for the fault done as for caution for the future Schola crucis Schola lucis The way to the Crown is by the Cross When God's Judgments are abroad in the World the Inhabitants thereof should learn Righteousness Isa 29.9 Under such Providences as these God would not have us be like unto bruit Beasts in a Pasture when one by one goes to the Shambles the other regard it not All Spectacles of Mortality especially those of so near a concern should mind us of our latter end and make us prepare for Death when we see younger and stronger than we go to the Grave before us We should be like ingenious Children when one is beaten the other should not only cry and tremble but also take warning We should not blame our Father's Cruelty but our own Folly and if all work together for our good why not this Nay doubtless a good use may be made of this and if well improved we shall have cause to say with the Psalmist It was good for us that we were afflicted Some
Grapes may be gathered from these Thorns and some Figs from these Thistles some Honey may be lick'd off these Briars for God's Rod like Jonathan's hath Honey at the end Sensible we must be of this Providence as doubtless Aaron was at his two Sons deaths but discontent we must not be God complains that Righteous persons perish and no man lays it to heart and merciful men were taken away and no man considers it Isa 57.1 Some use of such Providences we should make and get some benefits by these Tryals Now among the many Lessons this Providence holds out to us I shall only point out these seven following which if you and I can learn by it it will be happy for us Lesson 1. From this Lecture of Mortality your dead Daughter we may learn the cursed Nature of sin which was the cause of her Death and how little beholding we are to it that thus rends one Friend out of the Arms of another for whatever Distemper our deceased Friends dye of sin lies at the bottom and sets the Disease on work but for sin 't is probable we had never dyed For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life By one man's offence sin came into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all for as much as all have sinned Now shall we love the Tree and hate the Fruit Love the Cause and hate the Effect Shall we be like foolish Children that hate the smarting Plaister and consider not the Ulcerous Sore that makes it necessary We would have the Wound cured and yet not have the Weapon drawn out for fear of a little smart Had not Sin gone before Death had not followed many Men love the Drunkenness and hate the Surfeit But did we see sin in its own Colours it would be worse than the Effects for 't is the only Object of God's infinite hatred for he hates nothing but sin or for sins sake and yet sin seems lovely when we behold it in the Devil's Glass or through his Spectacles If we could strip the Devil himself of his vicious Qualities he would return to his former Angelical Glory yea into God's Favour for he hates nothing he hath made Man in his first Creation was made Holy and Happy and had Power given him so to continue and though by his Constitution he was Mortal yet by God's Blessing he had been Immortal for ought we know â—s the Soul is But by eating the Forbidden Fruit Gen. 2.17 in all probability he had suddenly dyed had not Christ interposed and become a Surety to his Father and so gained a longer Lease and paid the Fine however Man became obnoxious to Death and dye he must See how dangerous it is to play at the hole of the Asp and to ask Counsel at the Devil's Mouth for so Eve did and for that Offence all her Posterity must eat bread in the sweat of their brows till they return to the dust out of which they were taken No Greatness can excuse us no Wisdom can prevent it but the most dangerous Death is to dye in our sins Sin it is that makes us uncurable otherwise we had been so armed Death could never have entred or pierced the heart Rom. 5.12 And shall we hug this Viper in our Bosom that will sting us to Eternal Death For sin is the very sting of death without which Death were not so formidable Adam's Offence diffuseth it self to all his Posterity as Poison doth to every part of the Body and shall we love the Work and hate the Wages Actual Sin is the Fruit of Original Corruption and springs from this bitter Root and 't is the cause of all our Misery and shall we like the foolish Dog bite the stone and let the Passenger that threw it go free Let us turn therefore all our sorrow into sorrow for sin for all is little enough to run in this Channâ—l And let this be your Motive though not one of the greatest sin was the cause of your dâ—ar Daughter's Death and will ere long be the cause of yours also and happy will it be for you if this bitter Pill have this Operation upon you to make you hate sin with a perfect hatred 2. Nay 't is not only Death but also all the Miseries that accompany Life and are the fore-runners of Death which are the direful Fruits and Effects of Sin Could we see Sin in its own proper shape it would appear most hateful and detestable but the Devil hides its Deformity from us what he can and to this end lends us his Spectacles in which it appears lovely and amiable but we may best see it in the Effects It was this that turned Angels out of Heaven Adam out of Paradice and many thousands into Hell and can the Tree be good that brings forth such unsavoury Fruit This raced out the Image of God and engraved upon the Soul the very Image of Satan The Devil knows well enough that if we saw Sin in its own Colours we must needs hate it for who can fall in Love with Deformity it self And therefore misrepresents it as a deformed Hag paints her Face and covers her Deformity thereby to take her Prey and allure unwary Youth So the Devil deals by Sin and represents it in Vertue 's Colours but the Glass of the Word would shew it in its own shape Indeed there is nothing in the World that can fully resemble it yet in the Scripture 't is represented by the foulest things imaginable to filthy Ulcerous Sores James 1.21 To the Mire that Swine wallows in the Vomit of a Dog to filthy Rags Menstruous Cloathes deadly Poison a fretting Cancer or Gangreen 't is so infectious none can escape the Infection it infects the whole Man like the Leprosie in the Head the Thoughts Words Desires Affections and Actions are all polluted and unclean and smell of the Cask and stink in the Nostrils of God our Eating Drinking Buying Selling Trading yea Plowing is sin Prov. 21.4 And all our Religious Duties if not performed with the Incense of Christ's Righteousness are defiled Isa 1.11 c. and 66.3 Why Those Duties though commanded by God yet proceeding not from a right Principle directed to a right End and done in a right manner must needs be faulty Now sin though looked upon as a harmless innocent thing and when Men have put a fair Mask upon its soul Face looks lovely and the Devil hides its soul Visage as 't is said the Panther doth his deformed Head purposely to take his Prey yet still it remains ugly Pride covers it self with the name of Cleanliness Drunkenness is taken for Good-fellowship and Covetousness for Good Husbandry c. But the Effects are not so lovely let the Devil and his Instruments say what they will to the contrary for 't is the occasion of all the Miseries that ever befel Mortal Man We had never had aking Head or aking Heart or Loss or
are all of a value So here some pass for Kings and some for Peasants but when Death hath gotten them into his Box the Grave they are all alike Yet how much need have great Men of Philip's Monitor for they are apt to forget their Mortality See Job 3.17 c. Some of the wiser Heathens have accounted Mortality a great Mercy that poor Creatures may be freed from their Misery And so doubtless 't is for those that are prepared for Death for they rest from their Labours The Hebrew Proverb is That in Calvary there are Sculls of all sorts and sizes Kings and Captains Lords and Lozels one takes no more out of the World than the other Naked they come and naked they shall go Great Saladine had but his Shirt Now though Riches cannot prevent Death yet it may hasten it Rich Men many times are as Oxen in a fat Pasture fitted for the Slaughter sometimes they are butcher'd by others for their Wealth and many times they prove their own Butchers and kill themselves by Intemperance The Sun-shine of Prosperity quickly ripens the Fruit of Sin and when Sin is ripe Ruine is ready Bachus or Venus opens the Door for Death to enter Now what good will it do to have a fair Suit of Cloathes and a Plague-sore under it Or a dainty Dinner with a Surfeit How often is Intemperance which ends in Gouts Surfeits Dropsies and such-like Diseases the Fruits of a Plentiful Table These open the Door of Eternity and light them a Candle to find the way to Death Now these are Diseases Riches cannot cure Seeing therefore the World is of so little use when we have most need why should we so greedily grasp after and spend so much time about it as to neglect our greater Concerns and despond so much when we meet with disappointments And why should we suffer those Vultures carking Cares to breed in and feed upon our Hearts and eat out all the Comfort of our Lives What Recompence can the World make us for all our pains and broken sleeps we have had upon its Account It cannot warrant us a Comfortable Life nor a Happy Death nay not one day free from pain Let such as over-greedily grasp after it remember Solomon's words H◠〈◊〉 maketh hast to be rich cannot be innocent And at leisure read James 5.1 2 c. Luke 6.24 Yet consider 't is not the having Riches â—ut the over-loving of them that is dangerous for they are not evil of themselves but great Blessings if not abused and some of those Talents put into our hands to be improved by us but prove dangerous when abused over-loved or over-trusted in But seeing they can neither prevent Death nor Diseases the cause of Death we should not put too high a value upon them nor take them for our Portion 2. As the World cannot prevent Death no more can it procure a happy Life And why Because it cannot give Content and Satisfaction to the Enjoyer of it and how then can our Lives be Happy when we are not content with our Condition and satisfied with our present Enjoyments Content never did nor never will grow in the World's Garden neither can Satisfaction be found in any thing under the Sun If we seek it here Riches will say 't is not in me Honours 't is not in me Pleasure 't is not in me c. Can we expect the Sun in a Pail of Water Indeed if the Sun shine upon the Water we may see the reflexion of it but if the Sun be clouded all the Water in the World cannot shew it When God shines upon us he may be seen in every Creature if not the World cannot shew him Our Earthly Enjoyments caâ— do us no good bring us no Comfort without a Commission from God and could they satisfie us for the present it would be but a miserable Portion yea a great Judgment for what should we do at Death when they leave us God did never give us these for our Portion but only aâ— a Viaticum in our Journey Our deceitful Hearts haply may promise Content had we an Hundred Pounds per Annum but they will deceive us for our desires would be enlarged from an Hundred to a Thousand and so in infinitum till Kingdoms yea the World would be too little for us as it was to Alexander Covetous Men have a dry Dropsie the more they have the more they thirst Theocritus brings in the Cove-Man wishing he had a Thousand Sheep when this wish was obtained he cries out Pauperis est numerare pecus 'T is but a Poor Man that is able to number his Cattel And 't is no wonder He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver The World is of too base a Birth and Breeding to give the Soul content for two things are requisite to Satisfaction and both of those are wanting there must be Proportion and Propriety but what proportion is there between a Piece of Gold and an Immortal Soul It can neither feed it nor cloath it nor make it better And for Propriety this also is lost by the Fall that which we call our own is but lent us and we must be Accountable for it And 't is vain also for what Satisfaction can an Hungry Man take in a Pebble or a Thirsty Man in a dry Pumice-stone What Satisfaction had Haman in his Riches Honours or Preferments without Mordecai's bow or Ahab's Kingdom without Nabath's Vineyard Something is still out of Order some string or other out of Tune that marâ—s the Musick And no wonder Content is not to be found here for God himself could not find Adam a help meet for him If we could turn a heap of Diamonds into a Spiritual substance then it might bear some proportion to the Soul which is a Spirit but except we could change it into God the work would not be done for none but God can make the Soul happy These Earthly things are far worse than the Body how then can they be a fit Match for the Soul Gold and Silver Gemms and Jewels are but the Garbadge of the Earth they seldom make bad Men good or good Men better but oft-times they make both worse they seldom procure Content for the desire enlarges with the Estate as the Israelites Shooes did in the Wilderness with their Feet Solomon could had nothing in them but Vanity and vexation of spirit Eccles 1.14 They are like Smoak they wring Tears from the Eyes but draw not Sorrow from the Heart or like Thorns the faster they are grasped the deeper they wound If God smile upon us they may bring us some Comfort if not all the Gold in the Indies will do us no good for this Coin is not currant in another World we may as well satisfie an empty Stomack with Air as a Covetous Man with Gold for the more Wood we lay upon the Fire the more furiously it burns a Ship may sink under its Burden before it be half full
Barrel as one saith or as Lime-stones or Tiles in a Kiln to be burnt The greatest Men are but as Passengers in an Inn the Goods they enjoy are but lent them for a Night and they may say of them as the Prophet of his Ax Alas Master for it is borrowed We should use these things as a Traveller doth his Staff which he keeps or throws away as it proves a help or an hindrance to him When we go to Bed we know not but we may wake in Eternity next Morning and then whose are these We should think never the better of our selves neither think we are the safer for them for they cannot better or secure us for what World we shall be in to Morrow we know not and then it will not be much to us whether we leave Poverty or Riches behind us Riches may make us more unwilling often more unfit to dye They are like to Winter Weather variable and uncertain or like the Sea ebbing and flowing a double uncertainty always accompanies them they may be taken from us or we from them sometimes our hopes are great and then soon dash'd Yet how soon can the Devil blow up the bubble of Pride with the wind of Vain-glory 'T is observed that a Covetous Man a Sick Man and a Discontented Man though they possess much yet can enjoy nothing when a Believer though he possess little yet he enjoys all things 2 Cor. 6.10 A Covetous Man cannot be Rich nor a contented Man Poor those that have God for their Portion want nothing and those that have not have nothing that is truly necessary If we search the World from end to end we cannot find Happiness in it and therefore in the loss of all Job was content as knowing his Redeemer lived and then his Happiness was not lost In the World we find a little Honey and many Stings a little bitter-sweet Pleasure and much Pain but in Heaven there is Treasure worth the enjoying And rivers of pleasures at God's right hand for evermore And a Heart in Heaven would be a good Evidence for Heaven if we love Pleasure we shall enter into our Master's Joy here Pleasure will be without mixture measure or end if Riches be desirable here are true Treasures if we sell all to buy this Pearl we make a good Bargain here we may have Wine and Milk without money and without price here is no danger of coveting too much the more we covet the more we shall have a true desire is the required condition of Enjoyment the better we love Heaven the better God loves us We are in continual danger of losing the the things of the World but Heaven cannot be lost if once made sure In a word the World daily exposeth us to the wrath of God and the pains of Hell and the loss of Heaven See then all these things considered whether the World be of so much worth as 't is usually taken to be and whether it be worth the Care Industry Pains and Diligence we usually bestow upon it Lesson 3. The shortness of your Daughter's Life the suddenness and unexpectedness of her Death teach us also the worth of Grace and the necessity of a good Conscience for these are the necessary Qualifications to fit us for Death and to give us an Interest in Glory We know neither the day nor the hour when our Lord and Master cometh and woe to us if we are found unprepared This Oyl must not be wanting when the Bridegroom comes nor the Wedding-Garment at the Marriage-Supper If a bare Profession of Religion would serve turn for Salvation then Christ's Flock would not be a little one but many are called but few are chosen There are many in the World that like Uriah carry Letters with them of their own Condemnation For if Religion be not good why do they Profess it If it be why do they not Practice it The Lamps of Profession without the Oyl of Grace will not serve turn 't is but sparks of their own kindling and notwithstanding these they will lye down in sorrow Isa 50.11 Christ must be apprehended by Faith and honoured by a Holy Life by all those that shall enjoy him He came to save us from sin as well as from Hell and never changeth the Relation but he changeth the Nature and Disposition also and is the Author of Sanctification as well as of Justification Rom. 8.30 For this Golden Chain cannot be broken There is nothing but the Life of Grace and the Death of Sin can make us fit for the Life of Glory for if Sin dye not before us we must dye eternally Now we know not whether we have a day to live or what may be in the Womb of the next Morning and is it not then time to look about us whether we are prepared to dye or no We usually prepare for a Journey before hand especially if it be long and for a Fair or Market before it comes The Souldier will not Encounter his Enemy without his Armour and dare we grapple with Death unprepared who is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings We have not Flesh and Blood to wrastle with but Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places Ephes 6.11 12. And 't is a thousand times better to meet an Enemy without Armour than Death without Grace Now this is our time to get Grace and we know not how soon the Market will be over and Night come when no man can work Upon this little Inch of Time depends Eternity our Everlasting well as ill Being The greatest Weights hang upon the smallest Wyers Grace though it cannot pâ—event Death yet it sweetens it and steels the Heart against the dint of it this made Old Simeon sing that Swan-like Song Luke 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace c. And Paul desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And though Grace now be disrespected it will prove the best Flower in the Garland and the most Orient Pearl in the Crown This is the Key that must let us into Heaven when the World will prove a Bar to keep us out it will prove a Comfort at Death when the World will prove but Vexation Grace and Peace were the choicest Jewels the Apostle could wish to those he loved Heb. 3.25 1 Pet. 1.2 Riches Honours and Pleasures are not of so great a value but others are not of this mind The pleased Face of God cannot be seen but in this Mirrour when all other things vanish into smoak this will endure this fetches Water from the Fountain Light and Heat from the Sun and all that good is comes in at this Door Sin is the only Make-bate between God and the Soul and Grace the Reconciler Now that I may shew you something of the worth of Grace and the Necessity of it I beseech you observe well these following Considerations 1. Consid Grace and a good Conscience are abundantly useful and
is the Key of God's Treasury those that have it and know how to use it may fetch out what they please Job will trust God though he kill him though by Affliction he crush â—he very breath out of his Body yet will he not â—oose his hold he shall not be so short of him Dum spiro spero saith a Believer nay Dum exâ—iro spero The Righteous Man hath hope in his Death The Woman of Canaan would not be beaten off with two or three repulses like Jacob she wrastled with God till she got the Blessing Grace â—s to the Soul as Ballast is to the Ship it makes â—t more steady when otherwise it would be â—luctuating and wavering A Gracious Man like Caleb follows God fully and keeps himself unspotted in the World Grace keeps the Heart from desponding under the darkest Dispensations of Providence though Trouble hang long on â—et he that believeth will not make hast This â—â—ke a Skilful Physician will extract Soveraign Antidotes out of the rankest Poison David got good by Affliction If there be no help in the World Faith will make a Journey to Heaven and fetch help thence and engage God himself in the Quarrel or sue him on his own Bond. Thou hast said saith Jacob thou wilt do me good deny it if thou canst therefore I expect thou shouldst make good thy Promise Grace is the whole Armour of God wherewith we grapple with Sin the World and the Devil Ephes 6.13 The Shield that beats back the fiery darts of Satan A Catholicon an Universal Medicine against all Maladies of Soul or Body And as it helps us to bear all Burdens so 't is a qualification without which we are fit for no Relations no Offices or Places in Church or Common-wealth nor to perform any Duty to God or Man Though Grace cannot fit every Man for every Office Ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius yet 't is such an Ingredient without which a Man is fit for no Place neither can he perform the Relative Duties of any such an Oâ—ye cannot Preach nor Pray Read nor Meditate as he ought or perform any Ministerial Function he is neither fit to be Magistrate Minister Husband Wife Parent or Child Master or Servant for without Grace he can never do the Duties of these Relations for all these Relations require Grace Now Grace being so necessary in the whole course of our Lives let us above all gettings get Grace 2. Consider if Grace be so necessary in the Affairs of this Life then doubtless 't is much more useful in the concerns of another when nothing else can stand us in stead If it will fit us to live it will much more fit us to dye and to leave the World it will bear up the heart under the direful Apprehensions of Death it self it will defend the heart against the venemous Darts thereof and keep the heart from desponding under the apprehensions of it When Gold and Silver Gemms and Jewels will do little good a Man armed and fortified with Grace will dare to meet this Enemy in the Field and treat him as the Apostle doth 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory c. The bravest Challenge saith one that ever rang in Death's Ear for when the Heart is defended with this Shield of Grace no venemous Dart can ever pierce it the sting is to such taken out and they may put the Serpent into their Bosom 't is a conquered Enemy lying prostrate at their Feet or rather an Enemy to Nature but a Friend to Grace the same blow that kills the Body sets the Soul at Liberty Now he that hath his Soul garnished with Grace and his Conscience purged from dead works He that hath assurance of the Pardon of his Sin and an Interest in Christ in Heaven and Glory he will not be dash'd out of Countenance with the rugged looks of Death He that hath on the Wedding-Garment needs not fear when he is called to the Supper He that hath Oyl in his Vessel as well as a Lamp in his Hand needs not fear the coming of the Bridegroom nor the Servant that is watching when his Lord comes home Death may kill a Godly Man but cannot hurt him the worst it can do is but to send him to his Father's House the sooner Then Baca shall be turned to Baracha Sighs into Songs and Misery into Majesty then shall the singing of Birds be come then shall they take Possession of their Purchased Inheritance and those Mansions of Glory prepared for them John 14.2 Then they come to Age and shall receive their Kingdom the thoughts of this will comfort the heart of a dying Man and make him say with Old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace c. Luke 2.29 And with Paul Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ He that had been in the third Heaven no wonder if nothing would content him on Earth Some clusters of Canaan's Grapes we meet with in the Wilderness which makes us long to go over Jordan 'T is true no Man loves Death for its own sake neither can he it is an Enemy to Nature but when a Believer knows the only way to Paradice is under Death's Flaming Sword and the only way to be freed from all Sorrow is to suffer a little Pain that one blow will free him from Sin and Sorrow the Devil's Temptations and the World's Allurements and set him out of the reach of all his Enemies even in the Bosom of Christ himself Who would be afraid of such a blow Or who would fear the time when his loving Father should send a Messenger for him out of a troublesome World into Eternal Happiness to wipe all Tears from his Eyes and drive all Sorrow from his Heart Can those that really believe there is a reward for the righteous and that they are of that number fear the time when they shall enjoy it Can the Mariner after a dangerous Storm fear to enter into the desired Port or a Prisoner to enjoy his Liberty or a Sick Man his Health or a Weary Man his Rest Let those that enjoy their Pleasures Treasure and Promotions only for term of Life fear the Expiration of their Lease whose Lives do only defer their Torments Let those I say fear Death and well they may and did they but know the sequel it would send them trembling to their Graves But I fear many that yet have honest Hearts yet live at such uncertainty that they would willingly spin out the thread of their lives to a great length before they were willing to dye though it were accompanied with many Troubles many of them under pretence they are not yet prepared the more shame for them is not their main Work done Why then do they not set about it What have they done all this while If God should add Twenty Years more yet to their days will not this be their
the Church are none of the Church Nehemiah though he was the King's Cup-bearer and wanted nothing was yet troubled at the Desolation of Jerusalem Neh. 1.1 2 c. The Rich Glutton when he fared deliciously every day pitied not Lazarus but little did he think how soon the Tables would be turned and Lazarus should have the better gainâ— he little thought a Reckoning-day was behind for all his sweet Morsels Feasting doubtless in its season is Lawful but for some to keep a continual Feast when others are forc'd to keep a continual Fast is not convenient but many seem to live only to eat and drink and rise up to play Oh how much good might many of those do with their Estates that now spend it all in Gormandâ—zing in Drunkenness and Debauchery How many of our Female Gallants are there that think the Morning short enough to sleep and rise and dress themselves before Dinner and perhaps have more than one to assist them in the work when their Devotion is shut up in a little room if at all thought upon and haply more Curses than Prayers are put up especially if their Taylor Sempster Waiting-Maid Painter have not pleased them And the Afternoon the time is little enough for Diversion some idle Visit some wanton or obscene Discourse some Stage-Play Shew or Interlude Cards or Dice or some such Recreations or some Exercise haply worse and thus they pass one Day Week Year after another till Death snatches them hence and they never have any time to be serious or think upon their Eternal Condition But Christ never directed us in such a pleasant way to Heaven nor the Apostles never found it neither can it be the narrow way the Scripture speaks of These put the evil day far from them and the thoughts of Death will put them out of Humour but Death will make them more serious Now these Extravagant Courses put them on to rack their Rents and Oppress their Tenants and poor Neighbours and keep back the Poor's Portion and all little enough to maintain their Pride and Prodigality thus they spend their time in Drinking Swearing Ranting and Blaspheming in Ramming Damning and in Persecuting those that make any shew of Religion or Civility in rioting drunkenness chambering and wantonness Rom. 13.13 These are they that make their bellies their God Phil. 3.19 And many of both Sexes there are that Sacrifice to these Dunghill-Deities so that a Scavenger whose Office is to empty Jakes is to be preferred before these that only live to fill them They are like unto the Panphagi a People of Aethiopia whose very Life was to eat and to devour from whence they had their Name whom these Men seem to succeed and they may fitly be compared unto the Jerfe a Beast in the North of Suetia which having got his Prey eats as long as his Skin will hold and then strains himself backward between two Trees that grow near together till he hath evacuated his Meat and then eats as before a fit Emblem of a Drunkard and Glutton that when they have gormandized use means for Evacuation and at it again Of this Herd were Epicurus Heliogabalus Sardanapalus and many more Monsters in Nature They are like Swine for scarce any other Creature will eat or drink more than sufficeth Nature they are saith the Prophet like fed Horses every one Neighing after his Neighbour's Wife I have read of one that to satisfie all his Senses and sensual Appetites in three Years time spent Thirty Thousand Pounds and sware that had he ten times as much he would spend it all to live like a God in Pleasure for one Week though he knew he should be damned for it the next day after But little did he know what Damnation signifieth but in Hell he will change his Mind And such desires I fear are too frequent in the World and were not Men bounded by their Estate I fear their Desires would be as unbounded as his and were it but for the loss of the Soul they would not stick at it I doubt not but 't is Lawful to eat the fat and drink the sweet and partake of the good things God hath given us but we must not Feast without fear neither abuse hâ—s Creatures to Gluttony or Drunkenness 'T is said of a Town in Africa called Tombutum that the Inhabitants spend their days in Dancing and Singing and I fear if other Recreations did not call them off many of ours would follow their Example God for Sin did thrust Man out of Paradice but many in our days would wind themselves in again they think 't is only the Poor are enjoyned to Labour but the Rich may live Idle but those that have neither Head nor Hand nor Heart at work for the common Good are but the unprofitable Burdens of the Common-wealth and such as the Apostle commands should â—â—t eat These wax wanton and nourish themselves aâ— for a day of slaughter James 5.5 Pride fulness of Bread and abundance of Idleness were the sins of Sodom from which England cannot wash her Hands for she is like Jeshurun waxen fat and kicketh Fulness breeds forgetfulness not only of her self but of her God also Alexander the Conquerour gloried as much in this as in any of his Victories that he could drink down any Man and of such Champions we have more than enow and if Enemies were thus to be vanquished we should not want Souldiers 'T is said he provided a Crown for him that could drink most of 180 pounds but forty one of his Companions striving for the Mastery drank themselves to Death and were there but the like Prize offered and the like Liberty given in our time there would be a far greater number to open the Door to Death yea I suppose upon a far lesser Temptation in a small Circuit of Land in a small compass of Time and many of them of the Gentry a greater number have ended their days in such a drunken Contest The Lord grant it may be a warning to the rest let such beware they be not forc'd to drink up the full Vials of God's wrath which will be worse than boyling Lead or burning Brimstone and lest they be forced to pledge those Healths of Damnation in Hell which they have drunk here in their Jollity they may read their Portion 1 Cor. 6.9 c. For God speaks in earnest what they took in jest Here our Voluptuous Gallants will be forc'd to leave their Hawks and Hounds and Whores and our Swaggering Roaring Gallants will become Roaring Boys indeed Now they stuff their Discourse and bombast their Words with Oaths of the greatest Magnitude and Damn and Ram and Curse and Swear as if they challenged God himself to a Duel and drink Healths to the Devil himself as if they would make Peace with him and drink Healths of Damnation But in Hell they shall have nothing to do but to pledge them Had there been any other Healths there the Rich Glutton
Boys will be such indeed when they come there for Roaring and Yelling will be their best Musick and all shall dance after this Pipe and bear a share in this Consort Oh that Men would be wise before it be too late and Hell hath shut her Mouth upon them for then they will have no rest day nor night but it is the duration that makes up the Misery compleat Did the Torments endure but a Hundred or a Thousand Years though it were long yet it would be some comfort that an end would come but the word Never is a Hell in the midst of Hell Were a Man in perfect Health and Strength adjudged to lye upon a soft Feather Bed without stirring Hand or Foot for a Year's space though he had the comfort of Friends Meat Drink and other Necessaries it would be thought a great Punishment much more if he lay upon a red-hot Gridiron and could be preserved with Life But what is either of these to Hell-Torments or a Year to Eternity But their Torment must run parallel with the Life of God the days of Heaven and the longest line of Eternity and when they have past as many Thousand Millions of Years as there are Piles of Grass upon the Earth Stars in Heaven Hairs upon Man Beasts Sands upon the Sea-shore Feathers upon all Fowl and Scales and Fins upon all Fish yet will their Misery be no whit abated or any nearer to an end than the first day they were cast into it for were this innumerable Number taken from Eternity it is never the less Oh Eternity Eternity who can judge of thee or find thee out If the Earth were converted into Paper and the Sea into Ink and every Grass-pile into Pens and every Sand upon the Sea-shore were a skilful Arithmetician and all of them with their conjoyned Labours when they had cast up their greatest Sums and added them together yet would it not reach Eternity Nay if the whole Firmament were written from end to end with Arithmetical Figures it would fall short Oh what then but Horror and Despair will seize upon miscarrying Souls when all their hopes are dash'd then will they seek Death but shall not find it Oh that these pains would break my Heart and end my Life say they Oh that I might at last be extinct or that these Infernal Spirits would tear me in pieces till they had rent me to nothing Oh that I had never had a Being cursed be my Father that begat me and the Womb that bare me cursed be those Companions of mine that helped to undo me and betray me into my Enemies hands Such as these are like to be the wishes that Eternity will extract from tormented Souls O that the consideration thereof would make Men wise before it be too late But if Death find us unprepared this that I have described will be our condition for ever which God forbid Lesson 6. The Sixth Lesson that this Providence teacheth us is this That seeing this our Friend is taken away in the midst of her days in her full strength while her breasts were full of milk and her bones moistened with marrow Job 21.24 This teacheth all but especially us that are of greater Age that survive her how necessary 't is for us to make Preparation for our own Death for if God deal thus with the green Tree what shall be done to the dry Young Men may dye Old Men must dye for we know neither the day nor the hour wherein our Lord and Master will come 'T is good therefore to watch every day and every hour we know not when he will send his Messenger to us to Command us to give an account of our Steward-ship for we shall be no longer Stewards We usually say That should be well done that can be but once done but we can dye but once 't is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Here is no room for a second Error as we say in War As the Tree falls so it lyes whether to the North or to the South so as Death leaves us so Judgment shall find us Now Death is no Fear-babe t is the King of Terrors and a Terror to Kings Hell is no Scare-crow neither Eternity a Jesting matter the Soul that is in danger is no Trifle but our chiefest Jewel and Salvation and Damnation are matters of Moment things of great Concern Now a Man would think that in Matters of such Concern it were not needful to use many words to make us mind it when we are earnest enough in lesser matters but 't is evident we are all faulty in some degree or other and the most altogether negligent Were but our Houses on fire over our heads we need not many Arguments to seek to save our selves and to quench the Fire Were we in danger of Drowning we need not many Arguments to perswade us to lay hold upon something or other to help us out Were we pursued with an implacable Enemy that sought our Lives or with a roaring Lion or ranging Bear we should double our Diligence and amend our Pace and use all means to escape the Danger And is the Soul so contemptible a thing that we matter it so little It is without our Diligence prevent it in danger to be drown'd in the Lake of Perdition and to be burnt in the Fire that never goes out and is pursued with those Infernal Furies that seek to devour her and yet we make but a little hast to rescue her But are our Houses our Estates our Bodies or our Lives to be preferred before the Immortal Soul the best part of Man And is a Moment of Time more to us than Eternity Do we take so much care what to eat and what to drink and wherewith to be cloathed and so little how the Soul is fed or cloathed decked or adorned This doubtlesly would bespeak our Folly Whatever the World dream or say to the contrary Heaven will be found to the Possessors of it a real Happiness and whatever Cost or Charge Pains or Labour we bestow a good Peny-worth and Hell will be found a real Misery and whatever we have into the Bargain we shall be losers the Rich Glutton found it so and many more here the worm dyes not and the fire never goes out One day in Heaven will make us forget all our Miseries on Earth and one day in Hell will make us forget all our fore-past Pleasures Now while we are unprepared for Death there is but the thread of our Lives between us and endless easeless and remediless Torments and this must needs be an uneasie condition to a considerate Man And which makes it the worse Death is always gnawing at this thread which if once broken all the World cannot piece it or yield us any relief Now in serious matters wise men should be serious Beggars when their wants are serious they will leave their Canting and beg in earnest as also
the Thief did do the Devil's Work all day and receive Wages of Christ at night but this is a desperate Venture the Judge haply saves one Malefactor of an hundred and every man thinks it will be he Legi perlegi scripturam c. saith Austin I have read the Scripture over and over yet did I never read but of one that was saved upon late Repentance when an Hundred thousand hare miscarried And saith another We may as rationally expect our Ass to speak because Balaam's Ass did once speak as to imagine to follow this singular Example To put off Repeneance upon such an account is saith a third as bold a Venture as for a man to go a great Journey without Money because another did so and found a Purse of Money in his way If a way be difficult and scarce one of an hundred find it is it not presumption for us if we travail that Road without Enquiry The greatest Politicians and those that have been able to deceive and put a Cheat upon others have in this business been deceived as Haman Achitophel and many others The most learned and profound Scholars have here been mistaken as the Scribes and Pharisees the greatest Philosophers Jesuites and many learned Doctors in our Age And shall we think our selves secure Yea those that have directed others in the way and put them on to prepare yea to make haste in their Journey have for want of Preparation and Haste fallen short of their desired Journeys end Thus the Scribes and Pharisees and Doctors of the Law that bound heavy burdens and grievous to be born and laid them on mens shoulders yet would not touch them with one of their fingers Many of those that have lived under the searching means of Grace and have had many a rouzing Sermon many a Direction Exhortation and Reproof have yet miscarried Thus Judas Ananias and Saphira Demas and others that fell short yea those that had Christ himself and his Disciples for their Teachers as Capernaum Chorasin and Bethsaida Many Ministers are like the Signs at the Ale-house-door they shew others where they may have shelter but they themselves abide in the Rain or like the Builders of Noah's Ark make a Ship to save others when they themselves perish in the Flood 'T is good therefore to look about us lest this be our condition 4 Cons Let us farther consider the daily danger we are in while we remain in an unprepared condition to dye for if Death find us thus unprepared we are undone for ever past hopes of help or means of recovery for we shall inevitably lose the Soul which is the most precious Jewel we have which in Christ's Account is more worth than the World it self Mat. 16 26. What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lest his own soul Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul Intimating that the loss is both irrecoverable and irreparable And is it nothing to lose an immortal Soul and to purchase an ever-living Death Those that are sensible of Losses and Crosses in the World shall they be insensible of the great Loss A thousand thousand rendings of the Soul from the Body is not equivalent to one rending of the Soul and Body from God other Losses may be supplied or at least suffer'd but this Loss is insupportable and unsufferable Riches Honours Friends and other Earthly Enjoyments may be lost and yet recover'd or at least the Loss more easily born but the Loss of the Soul is incomparable Oh what dreadful Thoughts and Apprehensions will surprize a miscarrying Soul when she apprehends her self lanching forth into an infinite Ocean of Eternity yea an infinite Ocean of boiling Lead and burning Brimstone or what is far more formidable there to swim to all Eternity in endless easeless and remediless Torments then farewel all Earthly Delights all comfortable Relations all true Friends all Recreations and Pleasures all Friends and Favourites yea God himself the Chief of all which will then prove an invincible irreconcileable Enemy then the Devil who hath long look'd for his Prey shall have it and here that dreadful Sentence Take him Jaylor the poor Soul must receive then her due deserved Wages for her faithful Service to her Infernal Master even everlasting Torments World without end Oh what amazing thoughts will then meet the Soul in Hell to think that God and Heaven and Happiness are irrecoverably lost and all her other Hopes Comforts and Support gone and her self undone for ever and that she must everlastingly lye in those eternal Flames without hope of Redemption This word Ever will be a Hell in the midst of Hell to think that Pain and Anguish Weeping and Wailing will be her Portion as long as God is God even for ever and for ever and that Weeping it self will now be in vain Now this is the present condition of an unprepared Soul and the Lord knows this is most mens case however the Devil and their own Hearts perswade them to the contrary If we are in this condition there is but a Thread between us and infernal Flames even the Thread of our Lives and how soon Death may cut it we know not a thousand Darts Death throws at us even every Disease Pain Ach Grief and Trouble and when he will hit us to the Heart the Lord only knows and then the Soul will be in a stated condition which Eternity it self cannot alter Our Glass is alwaies running and when the last Sand drops we know not the Ephah of our Sins is alwaies filling and when it will be full and our Iniquities ripe we know not if it be before our Repentance prevent it we are in a worse case than the Beasts that perish whose Miseries end with their Lives when ours begin at out Death they only pay that Debt of Nature but we must pay the utmost farthing they go to their Grave but we to Prison then shall we also lose our God with our Souls or at least all comfortable relation to him for we shall still have him as an irreconcileable Enemy all our Earthly Enjoyments all which now we take for our Happiness will then be gone and the Portion which we chose will be snatch'd from us and in room of this a Portion in Hell will be assigned us where fiery whips of fiercest Fiends will eternally torment us who being tormented themselves have no other Pleasure but in tormenting others and if all the Torments that ever were invented by Man or Devil were compared with this it would fall far short But the Duration of these Torments is that which makes them compleat for if a Thousand thousand millions of Years were substracted the Sum is ne'er the less Oh how much then doth it behove us to look about us lest that day come upon us at unawares 5 Cons Let us further consider that Preparation for Death that is getting those Qualifications necessary for dying persons An Interest in Christ and
a Title to Glory cleared up to us can do us no hurt but will do us good and is worth all the Pains and Cost we can be at about it but the neglect of it is as you have heard dangerous and deadly Our Pains and Cost which we are at about it will not be lost but well recompensed and never any one was made miserable by it when Ten thousand times ten thousand have been undone by the neglect Death comes never the sooner when 't is expected or to those that with the Apostle dye daily 1 Cor. 15 31. neither will it spare men the more because they put it out of their sight And they put far off the evil day Amos 6.3 no no the Lord of such servants shall come in a day they know not of and in an hour they are not aware of Death is not blind though we wink he that is fit to dye is fit to live and truly no other for the same Qualifications serve for the one and for the other He that is prepared for Death needs not to fear it and he that fears not Death needs fear no Enemy no though the whole Creation were turned into Lyons and Bears yea incarnate Devils about him kill him they may hurt him they cannot the worst they can do is to send him to his Father's House the sooner If we are prepared Death may strike us but cannot sting us for the sting is taken out 1 Cor. 15.55 and if it take us away by the Hand of Violence Twenty years in Heaven will make amends for Twenty years upon Earth which we might possibly have lived and if we receive as much Wages for half a day as other for the whole what cause is there of Complaint When our Debt to Nature is paid our Work is done and our Rest follows when we have been threshed fifted and winnowed and the Chaff blown away we shall be laid up as good Corn in our Father's Grainary when the Tares shall be bundl'd up Swearers with Swearers Drunkards with Drunkards and one Adulterer with another and cast into unquenchable fire when we have Oyl in our Vessels as well as Lamps in our Hands then we shall enter in with the Bridegroom when the rest shall be shut out Mat. 25.10 c. but he that comes in without a Wedding-Garment on his Back shall not go out without Bolts on his Heels Mat. 22.12 Take him bind him hand and foot and cast him into outward darkness He must go from the Table to the Tormentor But many other are the Benefits that flow from a right Preparation for Death yea more than can be numbred for our Evidences cleared up will be a Heaven upon Earth and will sweeten every Condition how bitter soever in it self and hold up the Head above Water and the Heart from fainting under the saddest Providences that can befal us and makes a Christian see Light in the darkest Cloud and read Love in God's Face in his saddest Frowns for Grace in the Heart and unblurred Evidences thereof without which we cannot be prepared to dye will be such an Antidote to keep the Heart from sinking that the World it self cannot make up such a Cordial nothing can come amiss to such a Soul for he knows the same Love that elected him and sent Christ into the World to redeem him is now on work for his good If he meet with Afflictions he can suck Sweetness thence and gather Arguments of God's Love from it and conclude thence that he is not a Bastard but a Son for God correcteth those he loves and scourgeth every son that he receiveth and those that are without correction are bastards and not sons Heb. 12.7 8. Afflictions are the Gemms and Jewels that God adorneth his best Friends with He had one Son without Sin but none without Sorrow and it be those that suffer with him that must reign with him If a prepared Christian meet with Prosperity he can read Love in this also and take every Mercy as a Love-token and admire the Goodness of God to such a poor Wretch If he read or hear the Word of God he can suck Sweetness from every Passage whether Precepts Promises or Threats his Meditation of God of Christ of Heaven of Glory will be sweet his Morning Thoughts and Evening Meditations also many a Cordial can he fetch from the meditation of those invisible things which others have no Converse with no Desire after and this bears up the Heart from sinking in the worst of Times as it did the Martyrs Hearts in Prisons Losses yea at the Stake it self for how can it be but a serious thought of God and Christ and Heaven and Glory and a firm believing that he hath an Interest in them but it must cheer up the Heart And will not the reading the precious Promises of God and knowing also that they are their Father's Legacy to them chose but warm the Heart Yea the thoughts of Death as 't is a Messenger sent from God to bring us to Glory and set an end to all our Miseries will hardly be much sweetned for many dismal Apprehensions may an unprepared Soul well have of Death but to the other the Sting is taken out 1 Cor. 15.55 In a word happy is the condition of a prepared Soul and therefore 't is our Interest to prepare for it Thus Madam having shewn what improvement we may and ought to make of such sad Providences as are now under our consideration the last I mention'd was preparing for our own Death And oh that my self were effectually perswaded so to do by the convincing Motive I have laid down I shall add some Directions in reference to Preparation 1 Direct If we design and desire to dye happily and comfortably let us get an Interest in Christ and a Title to Glory clear'd up to the Soul for those that must cheerfully and willingly leave all their Earthly Enjoyments Comforts and Relations had need of assurance of something better than the World is for who would leave a certain Good for an uncertainty one Bird in the Hand they say is worth two in the Bush 'T is true a man may have a Title to Glory when Assurance is wanting and this man may dye happily though not comfortably for Death to him must needs look ghastly Till a man can look upon Christ the Rich Pearl as his own how can he part with all for him But when he hath Christ and Heaven and Glory in his Eyes he matters not what he parts with for them he knows 't is a good Bargain who will not part with Pebbles for Pearls with Earth for Heaven and the Creature for God such and such alone can look Death undauntedly in the Face Till a man find the Condition of the Covenant within him what Comfort can he have in the Covenant it self Though the King grant Pardon to a thousand Malefactors if I be a Malefactor and cannot prove that I am of this number what
Those are most like to neglect their Work that cast it out of sight and out of mind and those are likest to be surprized by an Enemy that neglect their Watch When the evil servant said in his heart my Lord deferreth his coming c. he was soon surprized and paid for his Folly Mat. 24.48 c. In the Psalmist's days there were many of whom he saith God is not in all their thoughts Psal 10.4 And are there not many in our days of whom it may be said Death is not in all their thoughts Do not the shew of their countenance the course of their lives testifie against them and they declare their sin 〈◊〉 Sodom and hide it not The course of their Lives cannot consist with a believing Meditation of God of Heaven and Hell Death and Judgment no no they put far from them the evil day Amos 6.3 This cursed Security is the source of all manner of sin and wickedness for God is neither in their Head nor Heart and therefore they sin boldly I have heard of some foolish Creatures that will thrust their Heads into a Bush and then because they see no body they think no body sees them such apprehension many Men seem to have of Death they think themselves secure because they have got Death out of their minds but misreckoning proves no Payment Many like the Rich Man Luke 12.16 c. promised himself a longer Lease than God had sealed him but Christ calls him Fool for his labour Many mens Glasses are almost run out when they thought they were but new turned but those that reckon without their Host must reckon twice 'T is folly in a Tenant to forget his Rent-day and then imagine his Land-lord forgets it also or for a Malefactor to forget the day of his Execution and think others forget it as well as he This was Jerusalem's fault and it proved her ruine Lam. 1.9 She remembred not her last end therefore she came down wonderfully and this proves many a man's ruine It was not in vain therefore that Moses prays Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom We are apt to make some Preparation for the Body what to eat and what to drink and wherewithal we shall be cloathed and neglect not Fairs nor Markets where wanted Necessaries may be had many prepare in the Day for the Night in the Summer for Winter in Health for Sickness in Youth for Age yea and for their Posterity after them And what stupid Madness is it not to provide in time for Eternity and remember not the days of darkness for they are many Eccles 11.8 'T is the greatest folly to mind trifles and neglect the main The thoughts of Death will not hasten it the sooner but it may hasten our Preparation for it it can do us no harm but much good Let no day therefore pass without some serious thoughts and meditation of it this will make it less formidable 'T is fabled of the Fox that when he first saw a Lion he trembled but in process of time he grew bolder Thus by better Acquaintance we should do with Death that is most amazing that comes unexpectedly Let us put the Question to our selves Did I know I should dye the next Week or Month how should I spend this time And let 's live so seeing for ought we know we may not live so long Sure our Time-wasting Gallants would then find something else to do than to divide their Time as many do between Swearing Roaring Drinking and Whoring Death will make a wonderful change both in the good and in the bad In the good 't is an outlet to all their Misery and an inlet to Heaven and Glory In the bad 't is an end of all their Felicity and the date of their Misery and can this on either side be such a contemptible change as not worth thinking of Should a poor Woman upon a fixed day be to be married to some Mighty Prince could she forget the day or neglect to prepare for it Can a Maid forget her ornaments or a Bride her attire c. Or were a Man upon an appointed day to go to Prison to Banishment or to Execution would it signifie nothing to him Were our Houses on fiâ—e over our Heads or were we pursued by a Lion or Bear or other ravenous Beast or some deadly Enemy that sought our Lives should we be so unconcerned And is not the Soul in a thousand times greater danger of Eternal Death than the Body can be of Temporal and yet shall this be slighted Is it not high time for us when the Sergeant waits to Arrest us to take Christ's Counsel and agree with our Adversary before we are cast into Prison Mat. 5.25 And not as ill Husbands do stay till we are arrested and cast into Prison I know there are too many that think God and Devil Heaven and Hell are but Fables these will know to their sorrow they are Realities and deserve our serious thoughts And 't is not enough to think of Death for many do so against their wills but they must prepare for it also let us consider every Evening what we have done in reference to Preparation the day past and whether we are a days Journey nearer Heaven as we are nearer our Graves This course is likely to fit us for Death and Judgment Lesson 7. The Seventh Lesson we may learn from this sad and unexpected Providence is Seeing all are under a necessity of dying to bring our minds to be willing to dye how and when God in his Providence shall think fit It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after death the Judgment Heb. 9.27 Now 't is our Duty to subscribe our consent to this Law He that hateth not his father mother wife and children brethren and sisters and his own life also he cannot be my Disciple Luke 14.26 These are Love-Tokens God hath given us to win our Love and when he requires them again 't is to try whether we love Him or his Gifts better 'T is as I shew'd before our Duty to submit as Aaron patiently to the death of our Relations and sometimes the Lesson proves hard enough but here is a further tryal we shall be put upon to submit to our own Death When Job bore the loss of his Estate and Relations so well the Devil would try him by afflicting him in his Body and Mind Skin for skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2.4 As if he should say Any thing for his own Life Cattle Servants Children all shall go so he may sleep in a whole Skin I know the Lesson to be willing to dye seems hard to Flesh and Blood but we must have something more or we cannot dye well the same Reason that makes us submit to another's Death is good here I know there are greater Temptations lying at some mens doors than others 't is