have no reason to think this any great hurt Nay indeed if we consider things aright the Divine Goodness has improved the Fall of Adam to the raising of Mankind to a more happy and perfect state for though Paradise where God placed Adam in Innocence was a happier state of life than this World freed from all the disorders of a mortal Body and from all the necessary cares and troubles of this Life yet you 'll all grant that Heaven is a happier place than an earthly Paradise and therefore it is more for our happiness to be translated from Earth to Heaven than to have lived always in an earthly Paradise You will all grant that the state of good men when they go out of these Bodies before the Resurrection is a happier life than Paradise was for it is to be with Christ as St. Paul tells us which is far better 1. Phil. 23. And when our Bodies rise again from the Dead you will grant they will be more glorious Bodies than Adam's was in Innocence For the first man was of the earth earthy but the second man is the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. Adam had an earthly mortal Body tho' it should have been immortal by Grace but at the Resurrection our Bodies shall be fashioned like unto Christ's most glorious Body The righteous shall shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of the Father that as we have born the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the heavenly 1 Cor. 15 49. So that our Redemption by Christ has infinitely the advantage of Adam's Fall and we have no reason to complain That by man came death since by man also came the resurrection of the dead That St. Paul might well magnifie the Grace of God in our Redemption by Christ above his Justice and Severity in punshing Adam's Sin with Death 5. Rom. 15 16 17. But not as the offence so also is the free gift For if through the offence of one many be dead much more the grace of God and the gift by grace which is by one man Iesus Christ hath abounded unto many And not as it was by one that sinned so is the gift for the judgment was by one to condemnation but the free gift is of many offences unto justification For if by one man's offence death reigned by one much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ. Where the Apostle magnifies the Grace of God upon a fourfold account 1. That Death was the just Reward of Sin it came by the offence of one and was an act of Justice in God whereas our Redemption by Christ is the Gift of Grace the free Gift which we had no just claim to 2. That by Christ we are not only delivered from the effects of Adam's Sin but from the guilt of our own For though the judgement was by one to condemnation the free gift is of many offences unto justification 3. That though we die in Adam we are not barely made alive again in Christ but shall reign in life by one Iesus Christ which is a much happier Life than what we lost in Adam 4. That as we die by one man's offence so we live by one too By the righteousness of one the free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life We have no reason to complain that the Sin of Adam is imputed to us to Death if the Righteousness of Christ purchase for us eternal Life The first was a necessary consequence of Adam's losing Paradise the second is wholly owing to the Grace of God. Thus we see what it is that makes us mortal God did not make Death he created us in a happy and immortal state but by man sin entred into the world and death by sin What ever aversion then we have to Death should beget in us a greater horrour of Sin which did not only at first make us mortal but is to this day both the cause of Death and the Sting of it No degree indeed of Vertue now can preserve us from dying but yet Vertue may prolong our lives and make them happy while sin very often hastens us to the Grave and cuts us off in the very midst of our days An intemperate and lustful man destroys the most vigorous constitution of Body dies of a Feavour or a Dropsie of Rottenness and Consumptions others fall a Sacrifice to private Revenge or publick Justice or a Divine Vengeance for the wicked shall not live out half their days However setting aside some little natural aversions which are more easily conquered and Death were a very innocent harmless nay desirable thing did not Sin give a sting to it and terrifie us with the thoughts of that Judgment which is to follow quarrel not then at the Divine Justice in appointing Death God is very good as well as just in it but vent all your indignation against Sin pull out this sting of Death and then you will see nothing but smiles and charms in it then it is nothing but putting off these mortal Bodies to reassume them again with all the advantages of an immortal Youth It is certain indeed we must die this is appointed for us and the very certainty of our death will teach us that Wisdom which may help us to regain a better Immortality then we have lost SECT II. How to improve this Consideration that we must certainly Die. FOr 1. if it be certain that we must Die this should teach us frequently to think of Death to keep it always in our eye and view For why should we cast off the thoughts of that which will certainly come especially when it is so necessary to the good government of our lives to remember that we must die If we must die I think it concerns us to take care that we may die happily and that depends upon our living well and nothing has such a powerful influence upon the good government of our lives as the thoughts of Death I have already shewed you what Wisdom Death will teach us but no man will learn this who does not consider what it is to die and no man will practise it who does not often remember that he must die but he that lives under a constant sence of Death has a perpetual Antidote against the Follies and Vanities of this World and a perpetual Spur to Vertue When such a man finds his desires after this World enlarge beyond not onely the wants but the conveniencies of Nature Thou Fool says he to himself what is the meaning of all this what kindles this insatiable thirst of Riches why must there be no end of adding House to House and Field to Field is this World thy home is this thy abiding City dost thou hope to take up an eternal Rest here Vain man thou must shortly remove thy dwelling and then whose shall all these things be Death will shortly close thy eyes
unknown Happiness of those Joys which now we have such imperfect conceptions of 2. Nor is it on the other hand any encouragement to bad men that the Miseries of the other World are unknown for it is known that God has threatned very terrible Punishments against bad men and that what these punishments are is unknown makes them a great deal more formidable for who knows the power of God's wrath who knows how miserable God can make bad men This makes it a sensless thing for men to harden themselves against the Fears of the other World because they know not what it is And how then can they tell though they could bear up under all known Miseries but that there may be such Punishments as they cannot bear That they are unknown argues that they are something more terrible than they are aquainted with in this World they are represented indeed by the most dreadful and terrible things by Lakes of Fire and Brimstone Blackness of Darkness the Worm that never dieth and the Fire that never goeth out But bad men think this cannot be true in a literal sence that there can be no Fire to burn Souls and torment them eternally Now suppose it were so yet if they believe these Threatnings they must believe that some terrible thing is signified by everlasting Burnings and if Fire and Brimstone serve only for Metaphors to describe these Torments by what will the real Sufferings of the Damned be for the Spirit of God does not use to describe things by such Metaphors as are greater than the things themselves And therefore let no bad man encourage himself in Sin because he does not know what the punishments of the other World are This should possess us with the greater awe and dread of them since every thing in the other World not only the Happiness but the Miseries of it will prove greater not less than we expect CHAP. II. Concerning the Certainty of our Death HAving thus shewed you under what Notions we are to consider Death and what Wisdom we should learn from them I proceed to the second thing the Certainty of Death It is appointed to men once to die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it remains it is reserved and as it were laid up for them I believe no man will desire a proof of this which he sees with his eyes one Generation succeeds another and those who live longest at last yeild to the fatal Stroke There were two men indeed Enoch and Elias who did not die as Death signifies the separation of Soul and Body but were translated to Heaven without dying but this is the general Law for Mankind from which none are excepted but those whom God by his Soveraign Authority and for wise Reasons thinks fit to except which have been but two since the Creation and will be no more till Christ comes to Judge the World For then St. Paul tells us those who are alive at Christ's second coming shall not die but shall be changed 1 Cor. 15. 51 52. Behold I shew you a mystery we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed This is such a Change as is equivalent to Death it puts us in the same state with those who are dead and at the last Judgment rise again SECT I. A Vindication of the Iustice and Goodness of GOD in appointing Death for all Men. BUt before I shew you what use to make of this Consideration that we must all certainly Die let us examine how Mankind comes to be Mortal This was no dispute among the Heathens for it was no great wonder that an earthly Body should die and dissolve again into dust it would be a much greater wonder to see a Body of Flesh and Blood preserved in perpetual youth and vigour without any decays of Nature without being sick or growing old But this is a question among us or if it may not be called a question yet it is what deserves our consideration since we learn from the History of Moses that as frail and brittle as these earthly Tabernacles are yet if Man had not sinned he had not died When God created Man and placed him in Paradise he forbad him to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die 2. Gen. 16 17. And when notwithstanding this threatning our first Parents had eat of it God confirms and ratifies the Sentence Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return 3. Gen. 19. What this Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was is as great a mystery to us as what the Tree of Life was for we understand neither of them which makes some men who would not be thought to be ignorant of any thing to flie to Allegorical Sences but though I would be glad to know this if I could yet I must be contented to leave it a Mystery as I find it That which we are concerned in is that this Sentence of Death and Mortality which was pronounced on Adam fell on all his Posterity As St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 15. 21 22. That by man came death and in Adam all die And this he does not only assert but prove 5. Rom. 12 13 14. Wherefore by man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned for until the law sin was in the world but sin is not imputed where there is no law nevertheless death reigned from Adam till Moses even over them who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's trangressions The design of all which is to prove that men die or are mortal not for their own sins but for the sin of Adam Which the Apostle proves by this argument because tho' all men as well as Adam have sinned yet till the giving the Law of Moses there was no Law which threatned Death against Sin but only that Law given to Adam in Paradise which no man else ever did or ever could transgress but he Now sin is not imputed where there is no law That is it is not imputed to any man to death before there is any Law which threatens death against it That no man can be reckoned to die for those sins which no Law punishes with death Upon what account then says the Apostle could those men die who lived between Adam and Moses before the Law was given which threatens death And yet die they all did even those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression who had neither eaten the forbidden Fruit nor sinned against any other express Law threatning death This could be for no other sin but Adam's he
a direct contradiction to justifying Faith nay if the justifying act of Faith were an actual reliance and recumbency on Christ for Salvation Despair must be very mortal because while Men are under these Agonies they do not they cannot rely on Christ for Salvation for they believe that Christ has cast them off and will not save them but if to believe in Christ that he is the Saviour of the World that he has made expiation for our Sins and intercedes for us at the right hand of God and is able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him that he will save all true penitent Sinners and will save us if we be true Penitents I say if such a Faith as this when it brings forth the genuine fruits of Repentance and a holy Life be a true justifing Faith this is consistent with the blackest Despair and then Men may be in a justified state though they are never so strongly perswaded that they are Reprobates A very good Man may have his fancy disturbed and may pass a false judgment upon himself but this is no reason for God to condemn him no more than God will justifie a presuming and enthusiastick Hypocrite because he justifies himself 4. If Death put a final end to our Work and Labour and shuts up our Accounts then it concerns us to do all the good that we can while we live What ever our hand findeth to do we should do it with all our might seeing there is no wisdom nor knowledge nor working in the grave whither we are hasting Not that the next World is an idle and unactive State where we shall know nothing and have nothing to do but Death puts an end to our working for the other World nothing can be brought to our account at the Day of Judgment but the good we do while we live here for this onely we shall receive our reward proportionable to the encrease and wise improvement of our Talents And is not this a good reason why we should begin to serve God betimes and to take all opportunities of doing good since we have only a short life to work in for Eternity There are great and glorious rewards prepared for good Men but those shall have the brightest Crown who do the most good in the World who are rich in good works and lay up for themselves treasures in heaven Indeed the meanest place in Heaven is a happiness too great for us to conceive I 'm sure much greater than our greatest deserts but since our bountiful Lord will reward all the good service we do why should we neglect doing any good when such neglects will lessen our reward why should we be contented to lose any degrees of Glory This is a holy Ambition to be as good and to be as happy as God can make us This is never thought of by those Men who have no greater designs than to escape Hell but as for the Glories of Heaven they can be contented with the least share of them No Man will ever get to Heaven who so despises the Glories of it and if a late repentance should open our eyes not only to see our sins but to alter our opinions of this World and of the next yet we can never recal our past time and that little time that remains which is the very dregs and sediment of our lives the dead and unactive Scene will minister very few opportunities of doing good and if it did we are capable of doing very little and if we get to Heaven that will be all but the bright and triumphant Crowns shall be bestowed upon those who have improved their time and their talents better It is the good we do while we live that shall be rewarded and therefore we must take care to do good while we live It is well when Men who do no good while they live will remember to do some good when they die But if God should accept such presents as these yet it will make great abatements in the account that they kept their Riches themselves as long as they could and would part with nothing to God till they could keep it no longer it is not the Gift but the mind of the Giver that is accepted Under the Gospel God is pleased with a living Sacrifice but the Offerings of the Dead and such these Testimentary Charities are which are intended to have no effect as long as we live are no better than dead Sacrifices and it may be questioned whether they will be brought into the account of our lives if we did no good while we lived The case is different as to those who did all the good they could while they lived and when they saw they could live no longer took care to do good after death such surviving Charities as these prolong our lives and add daily to our account when such Men are removed into the other World they are doing good in this would still they have a Stock a going below the increase and improvements of which will follow them into the other World Men who have been charitable all their lives may prolong their Charity after death and this will be brought to the Account of their Lives but I cannot see how a Charity which commences after death can be called doing good while we live and then it cannot belong to the Account of our Lives all that can be said for it is this That they make their Wills whereby they bequeath these Charities while they live and therefore their bequeathing these Charities is an act of their Lives but they never intend they shall take place while they live but after their death and when they never intend their Charity to be an act of their Lives I know not why God should account it so These Death-bed Charities are too like a Death-bed Repentance Men seem to give their Estates to God and the Poor just as they part with their Sins when they can keep them no longer This is much such a Charity as it is Devotion to bequeath our dead Bodies to the Church or Chancel which we would never visit while we lived But yet as I have already intimated this is the only way to prolong our Lives and to have an increasing Account after death to lay the foundations of some great good to the World which shall out live us which like Seed sown in the Earth shall spring up and yeild a plentiful Harvest while we sleep sweetly in the dust such as the religious Education of our Children and Families which may propagate itself in the World and last many Ages after we are dead the Endowment of Publick Schools and Hospitals in a word whatever is for the Relief of the Necessities or for the Instruction and good Government of Mankind when we are gone To do good while we live and to lay designs of great good to future Generations will both come into our Account and this may extend the Account of our
and Sense to govern our bodily Appetites and Passions to grow indifferent to the Pleasures of Sense to use them for the refreshment and necessities of Nature but not to be over-curious about them not to be fond of enjoying them nor troubled for the want of them never to indulge ourselves in unlawful Pleasures and to be very temperate in our use of lawful ones to be sure we must take care that the Spiritual part that the sense of God and of Religion be always predominant in us and this will be a principle of Life in us a principle of divine Sensations and Joys when this Body shall tumble into Dust. VI. If Death be our putting off these Bodies then the Resurrection from the Dead is the Re-union of Soul and Body the Soul does not die and therefore cannot be said to rise again from the Dead but it is the Body which like Seed falls into the Earth and springs up again more beautiful and glorious at the Resurrection of the Just. To believe the Resurrection of the Body or of the Flesh and to believe another Life after this are two very different things the Heathens believed a future State but never dreamt of the Resurrection of the Body which is the peculiar Article of the Christian Faith. And yet it is the Resurrection of our Bodies which is our Victory and Triumph over Death for Death was the Punishment of Adam's sin and those who are in a separate state still suffer the Curse of the Law Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Christ came to deliver us from this Curse by being made a Curse for us that is to deliver us from Death by dying for us But no man can be said to be delivered from Death till his body rise again for part of him is under the power of Death still while his body rots in the Grave nay he is properly in a state of Death while he is in a state of Separation of Soul and Body which is the true notion of Death And therefore St. Paul calls the Resurrection of the Body the destroying Death 1 Cor. 15. 25 26. He must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death That is by the Resurrection of the Dead as appears from the whole scope of the place and is particularly expressed 54 55 c. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass that saying which is written Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law but blessed be God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. This is the perfection and consummation of our reward when our Bodies shall be raised incorruptible and glorious when Christ shall change our vile Bodies and make them like to his own most glorious Body I doubt not but good men are in a very happy state before the Resurrection but yet their happiness is not complete for the very state of Separation is an imperfect state because a separate Soul is not a perfect Man a Man by the original Constitution of his Nature consists of Soul and Body and therefore his perfect happiness requires the united glory and happiness of both parts of the whole Man. Which is not considered by those who cannot apprehend any necessity why the Body should rise again since as they conceive the Soul might be as completely and perfectly happy without it But yet the Soul would not be an intire and perfect Man for a Man consists of Soul and Body a Soul in a state of Separation how happy soever otherwise it may be has still this mark of God's displeasure on it that it has lost its body and therefore the Reunion of our Souls and Bodies has at least this advantage in it that it is a perfect restoring of us to the Divine Favour that the badge and memorial of our Sin and Apostacy is done away in the Resurrection of our Bodies and therefore this is called the Adoption viz. the Redemption of our Bodies 8. Rom. 23. For then it is that God publickly owns us for his Sons when he raises our dead Bodies into a glorious and immortal Life And besides this I think we have no reason to doubt but the Reunion of Soul and Body will be a new addition of Happiness and Glory for though we cannot guess what the pleasures of glorified Bodies are yet sure we cannot imagine that when these earthly Bodies are the instruments of so many pleasures a spiritual and glorified Body should be of no use A Soul and Body cannot be vitally united but there must be a sympathy between them and receive mutual impressions from each other and then we need not doubt but that such glorified Bodies will highly minister though in a way unknown to us to the pleasures of a divine and perfect Soul will infinitely more contribute to the divine pleasures of the Mind then these earthly Bodies do to our sensual pleasures That all who have this hope and expectation may as St. Paul speaks earnestly groan within themselves waiting for the adoption even the redemption of our bodies 8. Rom. 23. This being the day of the Marriage of the Lamb this consummates our Happiness when our Bodies and Souls meet again not to disturb and oppose each other as they do in this World where the Flesh and the Spirit are at perpetual Enmity but to live in eternal Harmony and to heighten and inflame each others Joys Now this consideration that Death being a putting off these Bodies the Resurrection of the Dead must be the raising our Bodies into a new and immortal Life and the Reunion of them to our Souls suggests many useful thoughts to us For This teaches us how we are to use our Bodies how we are to prepare them for Immortality and Glory Death which is the separation of Soul and Body is the punishment of Sin and indeed it is the cure of it too for Sin is such a Leprosie as cannot be perfectly cleansed without pulling down the House which it has once infected But if we would have these Bodies raised up again immortal and glorious we must begin the Cleansing and Purification of them here We must be sanctified throughout both in body soul and spirit 1 Thess. 5. 23. Our Bodies must be the Temples of the Holy Ghost must be holy and consecrated places 1 Cor. 6. 19. must not be polluted with filthy Lusts if we would have them rebuilt again by the Divine Spirit after the desolations which Sin hath made Thus St. Paul tells us at large 8. Rom. 10 11 12 13. And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness That is that divine and holy Nature which we receive from
sinned and brought Death into the World and thus Death passed upon all men for his sin notwithstanding they themselves were Sinners for tho' they were Sinners yet that they died was not owing to their own sins because they had not sinned against any Law which threatned death but to the sin of Adam and therefore in a proper sence in Adam all die Now this is thought very hard that the sin of Adam should bring death upon all his Posterity that one man sinned and all men must die and therefore I suppose no man will think it improper to my present Argument to give you such an account of this matter as will evidently justifie the Wisdom and Goodness as well as the Justice of GOD in it I. In the first place then I observe that an immortal Life in this World is not the original Right of earthly Creatures but was wholly owing to the Grace and Favour of God. I call that an original Right which is founded in the Nature of things for otherwise properly speaking no Creatures have any right either to being or to subsistance which is a continuance in being It is the Goodness and the Power of God which both made the World and upholds and sustains all things in being And therefore Plato confesses that the inferiour Gods those immortal Spirits which he thought worthy of Divine Honours were both made by the Supreme God and did subsist by his Will for He who made all things can annihilate them again when he pleases and therefore their Subsistence is as much owing to the Divine Goodness as their Creation But yet there is a great difference between the natural gift and bounty of God and what is supernatural or above the nature of things What God makes by nature immortal so that it has no principles of Mortality in its constitution Immortality may be said to be its natural Right because it is by nature immortal as Spirits and the Souls of Men are And in this case it would be thought very hard that a whole race of immortal Beings should be made mortal for the sin of one which would be to deprive them of their natural Right to Immortality without their own fault But when any Creature is immortal not by Nature but by supernatural Grace God may bestow this supernatural Immortality upon what conditions he pleases and take the forfeiture of it when he sees fit and this was the case of Man in Innocence His Body was not by Nature immortal for a Body made of Dust will naturally resolve into Dust again and therefore without a supernatural power an earthly Body must die for which reason God provided a remedy against Mortality the Tree of Life which he planted in Paradise and without which man could not be immortal so that Mortality was a necessary consequence of his losing Paradise for when he was banished from the Tree of Life he could have no Remedy nor Preservative against Death Now I suppose no man will question but God might very justly turn Adam out of Paradise for his disobedience and then he must die and all his Posterity die in him for he being by Nature mortal must beget mortal Children and having forfeited the Tree of Life he and his Posterity who are all shut out of Paradise with him must necessarily die Which takes nothing from them to which any man had a right for no man had a natural right to Paradise or the Tree of Life but only leaves them to those Laws of Mortality to which an earthly Creature is naturally subject God had promised Paradise and the Tree of Life to no man but to Adam himself whom he created and placed in Paradise and therefore he took nothing away from any man but from Adam when he thrust him out of Paradise Children indeed must follow the condition of their Parents had Adam preserved his right to the Tree of Life we had enjoyed it too but he forfeiting it we lost it in him and in him die We lost I say not any thing that we had a right to but such a supernatural Priviledge as we might have had had he preserved his Innocence and this is a sufficient Vindication of the Justice of God in it He has done us no injury we are by nature mortal Creatures and he leaves us in that mortal state and to withdraw favours upon a reasonable provocation is neither hard nor unjust II. For we must consider farther when Sin was once entred into the World an immortal Life here became impossible without a constant series of Miracles Adam had sinned and thereby corrupted his own nature and therefore must necessarily propagate a corrupt nature to his Posterity His earthly Passions were broke loose he now knew good and evil and therefore was in the hands of his own counsel to refuse or choose the good or evil and when the Animal Life was once awakned in him there was no great dispute which way his affections would incline To be sure it is evident enough in his Posterity whose boisterous passions act such Tragedies in the World. Now suppose in a state of Innocence that the Tree of Life would have preserved men immortal when no man would injure himself nor another when there was no danger from wild Beasts or an intemperate Air or poisonous Herbs yet I suppose no man will say but that even in Paradise itself could we suppose any such thing Adam might have been devoured by a Beast or killed with a Stab at the Heart or had there been any Poison there it would have killed him had he eaten or drunk it or else he had another kind of Body in Paradise than we have now for I am sure that these things would kill us Consider then how impossible it is that in this fallen and apostate State God should preserve Man immortal without working Miracles every minute Mens passions are now very unruly and they fall out with one another and will kill one another if they can of which the World had a very early example in Gain who slew his Brother Abel and all those Murders and bloody Wars since that day put this matter out of doubt Now this can never be prevented unless God should make our Bodies invulnerable which a body of flesh and blood cannot be without a Miracle some die by their own hands others by wild Beasts others by evil Accidents and there are so many ways of destroying these brittle Bodies that it is the greatest wonder that they last so long and yet Adam's body in Paradise was as very Earth and as brittle as our Bodies are but all this had been prevented had men continued innocent they would not then have quarrelled or fought they would not have died by their own hands nor drunk themselves into a Feavour nor over-loaded Nature with riotous Excesses there had been no wild Beasts to devour no infectious Air or poisonous Herbs and then the Tree of Life would have repaired all the decays of Nature
and preserved a perpetual Youth but in this state we are now the Tree of Life could not preserve us immortal if a Sword or Poison can kill which shews us how impossible it was but that Sin and Death must come into the World together Man might have been immortal had he never sinned but brutish and ungovern'd passions will destroy us without a Miracle And therefore we have no reason now to quarrel at the Divine Providence that we are mortal for in the ordinary course of Providence it is impossible it should be otherwise III. Considering what the state of this World necessarily is since the Fall of Man an immortal Life here is not desireable No state ought to be immortal if it be designed as an act of favour and kindness but what is completely happy but this World is far enough from being such a state Some few years give wise men enough of it tho' they are not oppressed with any great Calamities and there are a great many Miseries which nothing but Death can give relief to This puts an end to the sorrows of the Poor of the Oppressed of the Persecuted it is a Haven of Rest after all the Tempests of a troublesome World it knocks off the Prisoners Shackles and sets him at liberty it dries up the Tears of the Widdows and Fatherless it cases the complaints of a hungry Belly and naked Back it tames the proudest Tyrants and restores Peace to the World it puts an end to all our Labours and supports men under their present Adversities especially when they have a prospect of a better life after this The labour and the misery of Man under the Sun is very great but it would be intolerable were it endless and therefore since Sin is entred into the World and so many necessary miseries and calamities attend it it is an act of Goodness as well as Justice in God to shorten this miserable life and transplant good men into a more happy as well as immortal State. IV. Since the Fall of Man Mortality and Death is necessary to the good Government of the World nothing else can give check to some mens Wickedness but either the fear of Death or the execution of it some men are so outragiously wicked that nothing can put a stop to them and prevent that mischief they do in the World but to cut them off This is the reason of capital punishments among men to remove those out of the World who will be a plague to Mankind while they live in it For this reason God destroyed the whole Race of Mankind by a Deluge of Water excepting Noah and his Family because they were incurably wicked For this reason he sends Plagues and Famines and Sword to correct the exorbitant growth of Wickedness to lessen the numbers of Sinners and to lay restraints on them And if the World be such a Bedlam as it is under all these restraints what would it be were it filled with immortal Sinners Ever since the Fall of Adam there always was and ever will be a mixture of good and bad men in the World and Justice requires that God should reward the Good and punish the Wicked But that cannot be done in this World for these present external Enjoyments are not the proper Rewards of Vertue There is no complete Happiness here man was never turned into this World till he sinned and was flung out of Paradise which is an argument that God never intended this World for a place of Reward and perfect Happiness nor is this World a proper place for the final punishment of bad Men because good Men live among them and without a Miracle bad Men cannot be greatly punished but good Men must share with them and were all bad Men punisht to their deserts it would make this World the very Image and Picture of Hell which would be a very unfit place for good Men to live and to be happy in As much as good Men suffer from the Wicked in this World it is much more tolerable then to have their ears filled with the perpetual cries of such miserable Sinners and their eyes terrified with such perpetual and amazing executions Good and bad Men must be separated before the one can be finally rewarded or the other punished and such a separation as this cannot be made in this World but must be reserved for the next So that considering the fallen State of Man it was not fitting it was not for the good of Mankind that they should be immortal here Both the Wisdom and Goodness and Justice of God required that Man should die which is an abundant Justification of this divine Decree That it is appointed for men once to die V. As a farther Justification of the Divine Goodness in this we may observe that before God pronounced that Sentence on Adam Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return he expresly promised that the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head 3. Gen. 15. In his Curse upon the Serpent who beguiled Eve I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel Which contains the promise of sending Christ into the World who by death should destroy him who had the power of death that is the Devil and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage i. e. before he denounces the Sentence of Death against Man he promises a Saviour and Deliverer who should triumph over Death and raise our dead Bodies out of the dust immortal and glorious Here is a most admirable mixture of Mercy and Judgment Man had forfeited an earthly Immortality and must die but before God would denounce the Sentence of Death against him he promises to raise up his dead Body again to a new and endless Life And have we any reason to complain then that God has dealt hardly with us in involving us in the sad consequences of Adam's Sin and exposing us to a temporal Death when he has promised to raise us from the Dead again and to bestow a more glorious Immortality on us which we shall never lose When Man had sinned it was necessary that he should die because he could never be completely and perfectly happy in this World as you have already heard and the only possible way to make him happy was to translate him into another World and to bestow a better Immortality on him This God has done and that in a very stupendious way by giving his own Son to die for us and now we have little reason to complain that we all die in Adam since we are made alive in Christ to have died in Adam never to have lived more had indeed been very severe upon Mankind but when death signifies only a necessity of going out of these Bodies and living without them for some time in order to re-assume them again immortal and glorious we
and then thou shalt not so much as see the God thou worshippest the Earth shall shortly cover thee and then thou shalt have thy mouth and belly full of clay and dust Such thoughts as these will cool our desires to this present World will make us contented when we have enough and very charitable and liberal of what we can spare For what should we do with more in this World than will carry us thorough it What better and wiser use can we make of such Riches as we cannot carry with us into the other World than to return them thither before hand in acts of Piety and Charity that we may receive the rewards and recompences of them in a better life that we may make to our selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting habitations When he finds his mind begin to swell and to encrease as his fortune and honours do Lord thinks he what a bubble is this which every breath of Air can blow away How vain a thing is Man in his greatest glory who appears gay and beautiful like a Flower in the Spring and is as soon cut down and withered Though we should meet with no change in our fortune here yet we shall suddenly be removed out of this World the scene of this life will change and there is an end of earthly Greatness And what a contemptible mind is that which is swelled with dying Honours which looks big indeed as a body does which is swelled out of all proportion with a Dropsy or Timpany but that is its Disease not a natural Beauty What am I better than the poorest Man who beggs an Alms unless I be wiser and more vertuous than he Can Lands and Houses great Places and Titles things which are not ours and which we cannot keep make such a mighty difference between one man and another are these the Riches are these the Beauties and Glories of a Spirit are we not all made of the same mould is not God the Father of us all must we not all die alike and lie down in the dust together and can the different parts we act in this World which are not so long as the Scene of a Play compared to an eternal Duration make such a vast difference between men This will make men humble and modest in the highest fortune as minding them that when they are got to the top-round of Honour if they keep from falling yet they must be carried down again and laid as low as the dust Thus when he finds the Body growing upon the Mind and intoxicating it with the love of sensual Pleasures he remembers that his Body must die and all these Pleasures must die with it that they are indeed killing Pleasures which kill a mortal Body before its time that it does not become a man who is but a Traveller in this World but a Pilgrim and a Stranger here to study Ease and Softness and Luxury that a Soul which must live for ever should seek after more lasting Pleasures which may survive the Funeral of the Body and be a spring of ravishing Joys when he is stript of Flesh and Blood. These are the thoughts which the consideration of Death will suggest to us as I have already shewed you And it is impossible for a man who has always these thoughts at hand to be much imposed on by the Pageantry of this World by the transient Honours and Pleasures of it It is indeed I think a very impracticable Rule which some men give To live always as if we were to die the next moment Our lives should always be as innocent as if we were immediately to give up our accounts to God but it is impossible to have always those sensible apprehensions of Death about us which we have when we see it approaching but though we cannot live as if we were immediately to die which would put an end not only to all innocent Mirth but to all the necessary Business of the World which I believe no dying man would concern himself for yet we may and we ought to live as those who must certainly die and ought to have these thoughts continually about us as a guard upon our actions For whatever is of such mighty consequence to us as Death is if it be certain ought always to give Laws to our Behaviour and Conversation 2ly If it be certain we must die the very first thing we ought to do in this World after we come to years of understanding should be to prepare for Death that whenever Death comes we may be ready for it This I confess is not according to the way of this World for dying is usually the last thing they take care of This is thought a little unseasonable while men are young and healthful and vigorous but besides the uncertainty of our lives and that it is possible while we delay Death may seize on us before we are provided for it and then we must be miserable for ever which I shall speak to under the next Head. I doubt not but to convince every considering man that an early Preparation for Death is the very best means to make our lives happy in this World while we do continue here Nor shall I urge here how a life of Holiness and Vertue which is the best and only Preparation for Death tends to make us happy in this World delivers us from all those Mischiefs which the wildness and giddiness of Youth and the more confirmed debaucheries of riper Years expose Men too for this is properly the commendation of Vertue not of an early Preparation for Death And yet this is really a great engagement and motive to prepare betimes for Death since such a Preparation for Death will put us to no greater hardships and inconveniencies than the practice of such Vertues as will prolong our lives preserve or increase our fortunes give us honour and reputation in the World and makes us beloved both by God and men But setting aside these things there are two advantages of an early Preparation for Death which contribute more to our Happiness than all the World besides 1. That it betimes delivers us from the fears of Death and consequently from most other fears 2ly That it supports us under all the troubles and calamities of this life 1. It betimes delivers us from the sears of Death and indeed it is then only a man begins to live when he is got above the fears of Death Were men thoughtful and considerate Death would hang over them in all their Mirth and Jollity like a fatal Sword by a single Hair it would sowre all their Enjoyments and strike terror into their hearts and looks But the security of most men is that they put off the thoughts of Death as they do their preparation for it they live secure and free from danger onely because they will not open their eyes to see it But these are such examples as no
him This is very reasonable when the fear of God and men is opposed to each other which is the only case our Saviour supposes No man ought foolishly to fling away his life nor to provoke and affront Princes who have the power of Life and Death this is not to die like a Martyr but like a Fool or a Rebel But when a Prince threatens Death and God threatens Damnation then our Saviour's counsel takes place not to fear men but God for indeed God's power in this is equal to mens at least men can kill for men are mortal and may be killed and this is only for a mortal Creature to die a little out of order but God can kill too and thus far the case is the same It is true most men are of the mind in such a case rather to trust God then men because he does not always punish in this World nor execute a speedy vengeance And yet when our Saviour takes notice that God kills as well as men it seems to intimate to us that such Apostates who rather chuse to provoke God then men may meet with their deserts in this World for no man is secure that God will not punish him in this World and Apostates of all others have least reason to expect it Those who renounce God for fear of men are the fittest persons to be examples of a sudden Vengeance But then when men have killed they can do no more they cannot kill the Soul and here the power of God and men is very unequal for when he has killed he can cast both Body and Soul into Hell fire This is a very formidable power indeed and we have reason to fear him but the power of men who can only kill a mortal Body is not very terrible it ought not to fright us into any sin which will make us obnoxious to that more terrible Power which can destroy the Soul. CHAP. III. Concerning the Time of our Death and the proper Improvement of it LEt us now consider the time of our Death which is once but when uncertain Now when I say the time of our Death is uncertain I need not tell you that I mean only it is uncertain to us that is that no man knows when he shall die for God certainly knows when we shall die because he knows all things and therefore with respect to the foreknowledge of God the time of our Death is certain Thus much is certain as to Death that we must all die and it is certain also that Death is not far off because we know our lives are very short before the Flood men lived many hundred years but it is a great while now since the Psalmist observed that the ordinary term of humane life had very narrow bounds set to it The days of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years yet is their strength labour and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flie away 90. Psal. 10. There are some exceptions from this general Rule but this is the ordinary period of humane life when it is spun out to the greatest length and therefore within this term we may reasonably expect it for in the ordinary course of Nature our Bodies are not made to last much longer Thus far we are certain but then how much of this time we shall run out how soon or how late we shall die we know not for we see no age exempted from Death some expire in the Cradle and at their Mother's Breasts others in the heat and vigour of youth others survive to a decrepit age and it may be follow their whole Family to their Graves Death very often surprizeth us when we least think of it without giving us any warning of its approach and that is proof enough that the time of our Death is unknown and uncertain to us But these things deserve to be particularly discoursed and therefore with reference to the time of our Death I shall observe these four things not so much to explain them for most of them are plain enough of themselves as to improve them for the government of our lives I. That the general Period of Humane Life which is the same thing with the Time of our Death is fixt and determin'd by God. II. That the particular time of every Man's Death though it be foreknown by God who foreknows all things yet it does not appear that it is peremtorily decreed and determined by God. III. That the particular time when any of us shall die is unknown and uncertain to us IV. That we must die but once It is appointed for all men once to die SECT I. That the general Period of Humane Life is fixt and determin'd by GOD and that it is but very short I. THat the general Period of Humane Life which is the same thing with the Time of our Death is fixt and determin'd by God That is there is a time set to humane Life beyond which no man shall live as Iob speaks 14 Job 5. His days are determined the number of his months are with thee thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass Which does not refer to the period of every particular man's life but is spoken of Man in general that there are fixt bounds set to humane Life which no man can exceed What these bounds are God has not expresly declared but that must be learnt from Observation Such a time as most commonly puts a period to mens lives who live longest may generally pass for the common measure of humane Life though there may be some few exceptions Before the Flood no man lived a thousand years and therefore we may conclude that the longest term of humane Life after the Sentence of Death was passed on man was confined within a thousand years Methusalah who was the longest liver lived but nine hundred sixty nine years and he died so that no man ever lived a thousand years And comparing this Observation with that Promise of a thousand years reign with Christ which is called the first Resurrection and is the portion only of Martyrs and Confessors and pure and sincere Christians 20 Revel I have been apt to conclude that to live a thousand years is the priviledge only of immortal Creatures that if Adam had continued innocent he should have lived no longer on Earth but have been translated to Heaven without dying for this thousand 's years reign of the Saints with Christ whatever that signifies seems to be intended as a reparation of that Death which they fell under by Adam's sin but then these thousand years do not put an end to the happiness of these glorious Saints but they are immortal Creatures and though this reign with Christ continues but a thousand years their happiness shall have no end though the Scene may change and vary for over such men the second death hath no power Or else this thousand years reign with Christ must
only makes us lock and bar our Doors and provide for our own defence thus to expect Death is not to live under the perpetual fears of dying but to live as a wise man would do who knows not that he must but that he may die to day That is to be always prepared for Death not to defer our repentance and return to God one moment not to commit any wilful sin least Death should surprize us in it not to be slothful and negligent but to be always imployed in our Master's business according to our Saviour's counsel 12 Luke 35 c. Let your loyns be girded about and your lamps burning and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching And this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched and not suffered his house to be broken through Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not This our Saviour also warns us of in the Parable of the wise and foolish Virgins 25 Mat. while the Bridegroom tarried they all slept but the wise Virgins they presently arose and trimmed their Lamps and went in with him to the Marriage and the door was shut the foolish Virgins had no Oyl and their Lamps were gone out and while they went to buy Oyl they were shut out and could afterwards procure no admission Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of man cometh This is the danger of a sudden Death and the reason why our Church prays against it for were we always in a preparation to die with our Lamps trimmed and burning like Virgins who expect the Bridegroom to die then without notice without fear and apprehension without the melancholy solemnities of dying were a true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most desirable way of dying but the danger of a sudden Death is that men are surprized in their sins and hurried away to Judgment before their accounts are ready that they are snatched out of this World before they have made any provision for the next and the only way to prevent this is to be always upon our watch always in expectation of Death and always prepared for it Some men think themselves very safe if after an age of Sin and Vanity they have but so much notice of Death as to ask God's pardon upon a sick Bed to confess and bewail the wickedness of their past lives to die in horrors and agonies of mind which they call repentance but indeed are nothing else but the sad presages of an awakened Conscience distracted with its own guilt and the terrible expectations of vengeance But though this be a very comfortless way of dying and I fear generally very hopeless too yet no man can promise himself so much as this who does not live in a constant expectation of Death We may be cut off by a sudden stroke or seized with distraction or stupidness that if only asking God pardon before we die would save our Souls we could not do it And this is the case of so many Sinners that it should be a warning to all men who know not when nor how or in what manner they must die ought to be ready prepared against all accidents and surprizing events 3. Since the time of our Death is so very uncertain it concerns us to improve our present time because no time is ours but what is present I observed before that the shortness of our lives though we were to live to the utmost extent of them threescore and ten or fourscore years was a sufficient reason to lose none of our time but to improve it to the best and wisest purposes and the surest way to lose none of our time is to improve the present time and there is a plain necessary reason why we should do that because our lives are uncertain and therefore no time is ours but what is present The time past was ours but that is gone and we can never recal it nor live it over again if we have spent it well we shall find it ours still in our account but it is no longer our time to live and act in the time to come may be ours and it may not because we know not whether we shall live to it and therefore we cannot reckon upon it the time present is ours and that is the only time that is ours and therefore if we will improve our time we must improve our present time we must live to day and not put off living till to morrow All Mankind are sensible of the necessity and prudence of this in all other matters excepting the concernments of their Souls An Epicurean Sensualist is for the present gratification of his lusts Vive hodie is his Motto Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die Men who are intent upon increasing Riches and advancing their Fortune and Honors are for taking the present time and opportunity to do it Indeed setting aside the consideration of the uncertainty of our lives there are some things which a wise man will not delay or put off to another time when he has opportunity to do it at present What is necessary to be done he will do as soon as he can the very first moment that it becomes necessary if opportunity serves What is necessary every day he will not put off from one day to another but will do it every day as eating and drinking and sleeping are What he resolves to do and may as well do at present and is as fit to be done at present as at any other time he will do at present What may suffer by delays he will do the first time he can do it What is proper for some peculiar times and seasons he will do when those times and seasons come as the Husbandman observes the seasons for sowing and reaping the Tradesman his Markets and Fairs What is of present use and convenience to him what he takes great pleasure in or what he mightily longs for and desires he will by no means delay but is for doing it present Now all these are very weighty reasons why we should take care of our Souls repent of our Sins live in the practise of all Christian Graces and Vertues and do all the good we can at present but much more when we consider that our lives are so uncertain that we may have no other time to do any thing of this in but what is present For 1. is any thing of more absolute necessity than the Salvation of our Souls This is that one thing needful the Salvation of our Souls is needful as a necessary end and the practise of true Religion needful as subservient to that end If to escape eternal
Heaven Nothing but the hopes and fears of the next World can enforce these Duties on us and this justifies the wisdom and goodness of God in making the present exercise of these Vertues necessary to our future Rewards I shall only add that whatever complaints bad Men may make that their future Happiness or Misery depends upon the government and conduct of their Lives in this World I am sure all Mankind would have had great reason to complain if it had been otherwise For how miserable must it have made us to have certainly known that we must be eternally happy or eternally miserable in the next World and not to have as certainly known how to escape the Miseries and obtain the Hapâ—iness of it And how could that be possibly known if the trial of it had been reserved for an unknown state What a terrible thing had it been to die could no Man have been sure what would have become of him in the next World as no Man could have been upon this supposal for how can any Man know what his reward shall be when he is so far from having done his work that he knows not what he is to do till he comes into the next World. But now since we shall be rewarded according to what we have done in this Body every Man certainly knows what will make him happy or miserable in the next World and it is his own fault if he do not live so as to secure immortal Life and what a blessed state is this to have so joyful a prospect beyond the Grave and to put off these Bodies with the certain hopes of a glorious Resurrection This I think is sufficient to vindicate the wisdom and goodness of God in making this present Life a state of trial and probation for the happiness of the next But to proceed 2. If this Life only be our state of trial and probation for Eternity then Death as it puts a final period to this Life so it puts a final end to our work too our day of Grace and time of Working for another World ends with this Life We shall easily apprehend the necessity of this if we remember that Death which is the punishment of Sin is not meerly the death of the Body but that state of Misery to which Death translates Sinners and therefore if we die while we are in a state of Sin under the Curse and under the power of Death there is no Redemption for us because the Justice of God has already seiz'd us the Sentence is already executed and that is too late to obtain a Pardon for in this case Death answers to our casting into Prison from whence we shall never come forth till we have paid the uttermost Farthing as our Saviour represents it 5 Matt. 25 26 for indeed Sin is the death of the Soul and those who are under the power of Sin are in a state of Death and if they die before they have a principle of a new Life in them they fall under the power of Death that is into that state of Misery and Punishment which is appointed for such dead Souls and therefore our redemption from Death by Christ is begun in our dying to Sin and walking in newness of Life which is our conformity to the Death and the Resurrection of Christ 6 Rom. 4. This is to be dead to sin and to be alive to GOD as Christ is and if we die with Christ we shall rise with him also into immortal Life which is begun in this World and will be perfected in the next which is the sum of St. Paul's argument v. 6 7 8 9 10 11. thus he tells us 8 Rom. 10 11. If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness That is our Bodies are mortal and must die by an irreversible Sentence which God pronounc'd against Adam when he had sinned but the Soul and Spirit has a new principle of Life a principle of Righteousness and Holiness by which it lives to God and therefore cannot fall into a state of Death when the Body dies But if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you That is when the divine Spirit has quicken'd our Souls and raised them into a new Life though our Bodies must die yet the same divine Spirit will raise them up also into immortal Life This is the plain account of the matter If Death arrests us while we are in a state of Sin and Death we must die for ever but if our Souls are alive to God by a principle of Grace and Holiness before our Bodies die they must live for ever A dead Soul must die with its Body that is sink into a state of Misery which is the death and the loss of the Soul a living Soul survives the Body in a state of Bliss and Happiness and shall receive its Body again glorious and immortal at the Resurrection of the Just but this change of state must be made while we live in these Bodies a dead Soul cannot revive in the other World nor a living Soul die there and therefore this Life is the day of God's Grace and Patience the next World is the place of Judgment And the reason St. Peter gives why God is not hasty in executing judgment but is long suffering to us ward is because he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 5. Hence the Apostle to the Hebrews exhorts them Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness when your fathers tempted me proved me and saw my works forty years Wherefore I was grieved with that generation and said They do alway err in their hearts and they have not known my ways So I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest There is some dispute what is meant by to day whether it be the day of this Life or such a fixt and determin'd day and season of Grace as may end long before this Life The example of the Israelites of whom God swear in his wrath that they should die in the Wilderness and never enter into his Rest that is into the Land of Canaan seems to incline it to the latter sence for this sentence That they should not enter into his Rest was pronounc'd against them long before they died for which reason they wandered forty Years in the Wilderness till all that Generation of Men were dead and if we are concern'd in this example then we also may provoke God to such a degree that he may pronounce the final sentence on us That we shall never enter into Heaven long before we leave this World Our day of Grace may
to decide this Controversie but thus much I will say and that I think is all that is needful for a Christian to know about it That to be in a state of Grace is to have an inward principle of Holiness which brings forth the fruits of a holy Life that to persevere in a state of Grace is to persevere in the practice of Holiness and Vertue that many who have begun well and have thought themselves and have been thought by others to be truly good Men have afterwards been overcome by the Temptations of the World and defiled themselves with the impure Lusts of it that if such Men ever were good Men and in a state of Grace they fall from Grace when they forsake the paths of Holiness and that those who do thus fall away who after promising beginnings do all the abominations of the Wicked and live and die in such a state shall never enter into Heaven We shall receive our final Doom and Sentence according to that state and condition in which Death finds us What is said upon another account that we must call no Man happy before death is true in this sence no Man is a Conqueror but he who dies so Those Men deceive themselves who confidently pretend to be still in a state of Grace and Favour with God because formerly they were good Men though now they are grown very bad this is to persevere in a state of Favour with God without persevering in Holiness which overthrows the Gospel of our Saviour and will miserably deceive those Men who have no better foundation for their hopes 3. We hence learn how dangerous it is to die in the actual commission of any known and wilful sin Such Men go into the other World and go to Judgement with actual guilt upon them they die in their sins for they could not repent of them before they died because they died in the commission of them and there is no repentance and therefore no pardon in the next World. This has been and very often is the miserable and I fear the hopeless state of a great many Sinners How many are there who not only drink themselves into a Feavour which takes some time to kill them and gives them some time to repent of their sins and to ask God's pardon but drink themselves dead or which is much at one as to this case drink away their reason and senses and then fall from their Horses or down a Precipiece and perish by some evil accident or when they are inflamed with Wine forget their old friendships and fall by each others hands How many others have perished in the very act of Adultery or which is much the same in quarrelling for a Strumpet in the rage and fury of Lust How many die in the very act of Theft and Robbery All such Men receive the present punishment of their sins in this World and carry the unrepented guilt of them into the next and if Men shall be damned who die in their sins without repentance such Mens condition is desperate And this may be the case of any Man who ventures upon a wilful sin he may die in the very act of it and then his repentance will come too late in the next World and this so often happens that no wise Man would venture his Soul upon it But there are two Sins especially which this consideration should deter Men from viz. Duelling and Self-murder When Men have such a resentment of Affronts and Injuries as to revenge themselves with their Swords and either to thirst after each others blood or at least to stake their lives and to venture killing or being killed to decide the Quarrel these Men have the hearts of Murderers who would kill if they could or at least will venture killing their Brother to appease their resentments or revenge which is a mortal and a murdering revenge whether it murder or not and therefore if such Men fall in the quarrel as many do without time to ask God's pardon with their last breath they die under the guilt of Murder unrepented of though they do not kill but are killed yet they die with murderous intentions with a mortal hatred and revenge for they would have killed if they could and St. Iohn tells us He that hateth his brother is a murderer and we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him 1 John 3. 15. So that these Duellers do not only venture their Lives but their Souls too if they fall in the quarrel and how little soever they value their Lives it is a little too much to pawn their Souls upon a point of Honour As for Self-murder if we will allow it to be a Sin it is certain that no Man who commits it can repent of it in this World and there is no pardon for sins in the next World which are not repented of in this And yet why we should not think it as great a sin to murder ourselves as to murder our Brother I cannot imagine for it has all the marks of a very great sin upon it It is as much Murder to kill ourselves as it is to kill another Man and therefore it is a breach of the sixth Commandment Thou shalt not kill The reason against Murder is the same For in the image of GOD made he man 9 Gen. 6 and he who kills himself destroys God's Image as much as he who kills another Man. The more unnatural the sin is or the greater obligations we have to preserve the life of the person whom we kill the greater the sin is to murder a kind Friend and a Benefactor is a greater evil than to murder a Stranger to murder a Parent or a Child a Wife or a Husband is still a greater evil because they are so much nearer ourselves and if the nearness of the relation increases the sin no body is so near to us as our selves and therefore there is no such unnatural Murder as this The excuses which are made for Self-murder will not justifie the Murder of any other Man in the World Though we should see a Friend whom we love like ourselves labouring under intolerable pains or insupportable misfortunes and calamities of life though he should importune and beseech us to put an end to his sufferings by putting an end to a miserable life though out of great kindness and compassion we heartily desire to follow him to his Grave yet we must not kill him neither the Laws of God nor Man will allow this And yet if Self-love be the measure of our love to other Men and will justifie Self-murder when we are grown weary of life when we either despise the World or think it best to make our escape out of it I cannot imagine why we may not do the same kindness for a Friend or a Brother when he desires it as we may do for ourselves the reason is the same in both and if it will not justifie both it can justifie
Apostles this state of Penitence in some cases was continued many years in other cases such Sinners were never reconciled till the hour of death Now if they had thought as many among us now do that sorrow for Sin and the vows of Obedience do immediately obtain our Pardon from God for sins committed after Baptism it is not imaginable why they should have imposed such a long and severe Discipline on Penitents If they believed God had forgiven them why should not the Church forgive them and receive them them to her Communion again upon their promises of amendment without such a long trial of their reformation But it is evident they thought sins after Baptism not forgiven without actual reformation and therefore would not receive them to Communion again without a tried and visible reformation of their Lives We know what Disputes there were about this matter in the Primitive Church the ancient Discipline allowed but of one Repentance after Baptism and some would not allow of that in the case of Adultery Murder and Idolatry but denied the Authority of the Church to receive such Sinners to Communion again this was the pretence of Novatus's Schism and Tertullian after he turn'd Montanist said many bitter things against the Catholicks upon this argument which seemed to question the validity of Repentance it self after Baptism though it did reform Mens lives but though this was a great deal too much and did both lessen the Grace of the Gospel and the Authority which Christ had given to his Church yet it is evident that all this time they were very far from thinking that some dying Sorrows or dying Vows after a wicked Life would carry Men to Heaven and the Judgment of those first and purest Ages of the Church ought at least to make Men afraid of relying on such a Death-bed Repentance as they thought very ineffectual to save Sinners CHAP. IV. Concerning the Fear of Death and the Remedies against it DEath is commonly and very truly called the King of Terrors as being the most formidable thing to Humane Nature the love of Life and the natural principle of Self-preservation begets in all Men a natural Aversion against Death and this is the natural Fear of Dying this is very much encreased by a great fondness and passion for this World which makes such Men especially while they are happy and prosperous very unwilling to leave it and this is still encreased by a sence of Guilt and the fear of Punishment in the next World All these are of a distinct nature and require sutable Remedies and therefore I shall distinctly consider them I. The natural Fear of Death results from Self-preservation and the love of our own being for light is sweet and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun 11 Eccles. 7. All Men love Life and the necessary consequence of that is to fear Death though this is rather a natural Instinct than the effect of Reason and Discourse There are great and wise Reasons why God should imprint this Aversion to Death on Humane Nature because it obliges us to take care of ourselves and to avoid every thing which will destroy or shorten our lives this in many cases is a great principle of Vertue as it preserves us from all fatal and destructive Vices it is a great Instrument of Government and makes Men afraid of committing such Villanies as the Laws of their Country have made capital and therefore since the natural Fear of Death is of such great advantage to us we must be contented with it though it makes the thoughts of dying a little uneasie especially if we consider that when this natural Fear of Death is not encreased by other causes of which more presently it may be conquered or allayed by Reason and wise Consideration for this is not so strong an Aversion but it may be conquered the miseries and calamities of this Life very often reconcile Men to Death and make them passionately desire it Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery and life to the bitter in soul which long for death but it cometh not and digg for it more then for hid treasures which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave 3 Job 20 21 22. My soul chuseth strangling and death rather than life I loath it I would not live alway let me alone for my days are vanity 7 Job 15 16. And if the sence of present Sufferings can conquer the fears of Death there is no doubt but the hope of immortal Life may do it also for the fear of Death is not an original and primitive Passion but results from the love of ourselves from the love of life and our own being and therefore when we can separate the fear of Death from Self-love it is easily conquered when Men are sensible that life is no kindness to them but only serves to prolong their misery they are so far from being afraid of Death that they court it and were they as thoroughly convinc'd that when they die Death will translate them to a more happy Life it would be as easie a thing to put off these Bodies as to change their Cloaths or to leave an old and ruinous House for a more beautiful and convenient Habitation If we set aside the natural Aversion and inquire into the reasons of this natural Fear of Death we can think of but these two Either Men are afraid that when they die they shall cease to be or at least they know not what they shall be and are unwilling to exchange this present life which they like very well for they know not what But now both these reasons of Fear are taken away by the Revelation of the Gospel which has brought Life and Immortality to light and when the reasons of our Fear are gone such an unaccountable Aversion and Reluctancy to Death signifies little more than to make us patient of living rather than unwilling to die for a Man who has such a new glorious World such a happy immortal Life in his view could not very contentedly delay his removal thither were not Death in the way which he naturally startles at and draws back from though his reason sees nothing frightful or terrible in it The plain and short account then of this matter is this We must not expect wholly to conquer our natural Aversion to Death St. Paul himself did not desire to be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 3 4. Were there not some remaining aversions to Death mixed with our hopes and desires of Immortality Martyrdom itself excepting the patient enduring the shame and the torments of it would be no Vertue but though this natural aversion to Death cannot be wholly conquered it may be extreamly lessened and brought next to nothing by the certain belief and expectation of a glorious Immortality and therefore the only way to arm ourselves against these natural fears of
or the constant and uniform practice of an universal Righteousness And a great many such Signs have been invented which like strong Opiates asswage their pain and smart till their Consciences awake when it is too late in the next World. For all this is Cheat and Delusion as St. Iohn assures us Little children Let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous He that committeth sin is of the devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning for this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil Whosoever is born of GOD doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of GOD. In this the children of GOD are manifest and the children of the devil whosoever doth not righteousness is not of GOD neither he that loveth not his brother This is the only sure Evidence for Heaven and therefore every Sin Men commit makes their state doubtful and this must fill them with perplexities and fears Men may cheat themselves with vain hopes and imaginations when they come to die but nothing can be a solid foundation for Peace and Security but an Universal Righteousness The CONCLUSION FOr the Conclusion of this Discourse I shall only observe in a few words that it must be the business of our whole Lives to prepare for Death Our Accounts must be always ready because we know not how soon we may be called to give an account of our Stewardship we must be always upon our Watch as not knowing at what hour our Lord will come A good Man who has taken care all his life to please God has little more to do when he sees Death approaching than to take leave of his Friends to bless his Children to support and comfort himself with the hopes of immortal Life and a glorious Resurrection and to resign up his Spirit into the hands of God and of his Saviour His Lamp is full of Oyl and always burning tho' it may need a little trimming when the Bridegroom comes some new acts of Faith and Hope and such devout Passions as are proper to be exercised at our leaving the World and going to God but when the Bridegroom is at the Door it is too late with the foolish Virgins to buy Oyl for our Lamps unless we be ready when the Bridegroom comes to enter in with him to the Marriage the Door will be shut against us Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh Some Men talk of preparing for Death as if it were a thing that could be done in two or three days and that the proper time of doing it were a little before they die but I know no other Preparation for Death but living well and thus we must every day prepare for Death and then we shall be well prepared when Death comes that is we shall be able to give a good account of our Lives and of the improvement of our Talents and he who can do this is well prepared to die and to go to Judgment but he who has spent all his days wickedly whatever care he may take when he comes to die to prepare himself for it it is certain he can never prepare a good Account of his past Life and all his other Preparations are little worth The END ADVERTISEMENT A Preservative against Popery in two Parts With a Vindication in Answer to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran a Jesuit By William Sherlock D. D. Master of the Temple Printed for W. Rogers 2. Heb. 14 15. See 5 Prov. 22 23. 7. 22 23 26 27. 3 Heb. 12. 12 Heb. 15. 2 Pet. 2. 20 21 22. 12 Heb. 14. 2 Rom. 6 7 8 9 10. 6 Gal. 7 8. 20 Mat. 1 c. 15 Luk. 11 c. 1 Rom. 18. 1 Cor. 6 9 10. 7 Mat. 21. 18 Mat. 21 22. 2 Acts 38 41. 3 Rom. 20 21 22 24. 5 Rom. 1. 2 Eph. 8 9. 5 Gal. 2 3. Ibid. 2 Rom. 13 25 26 27 28 29. 8 Rom. 4. 1 Cor. 15. 55 56 57. 7 Heb. 25. 1 John 3. 20 21. 1 John 3. 7 8 9 10. 25 Mat. 1 c.
Lives much beyond the short Period of them in this World. 5. If Death puts an end to our Account methinks a Dying-bed is a little of the latest to begin it for this is to begin just where we must end The Account of our Lives is the Account of the Good or Evil we have done while we lived And what account can a dying Man give of this who has spent his whole life in sin and wickedness If he must be judged according to what he hath done in the Body how sad is his account and how impossible is it for him to mend it now For when he is just a dying it is too late for him to begin to live If without holiness no man shall see God how hopeless is his condition who has lived a wicked and profligate life all his days and is now past living and therefore past living a holy life A Man who is confined to a sick and dying Bed is uncapable of exercising the vertues of life his time of work is over almost as perfectly over as if he were dead and therefore his account is finished and he must expect his reward according to what he has already done No you 'll say he may still repent of his sins and a true Penitent shall find mercy even at his last gasp Now I readily grant that all true Penitents shall be saved whensoever they truly repent but it is hard to think that any dying sorrows or the dying vows and resolutions of Sinners shall be accepted by GOD for true repentance The mistakes of this matter are very fatal and therefore I shall briefly explain it In expounding the Promises of the Gospel we must take care to reconcile the Gospel to itself and not make one part of it contradict or overthrow another now as the Gospel promises pardon of sin to true Repentance so it makes Holiness of life as necessary a condition of Salvation as true Repentance Without holiness no man shall see GOD. GOD will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life but unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil but glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good Be not deceived GOD is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting The Promises of forgiveness to Repentance are not more express than these Texts are which declare that we shall be rewarded according to our works and we have as much reason to believe the one as the other and if we believe the Gospel we must believe them both and then Repentance and a holy Life are both necessary to Salvation and then the dying sorrows of Sinners who have lived very wicked lives and are past mending them now cannot be true saving Repentance If sorrow for sin without a holy life can carry Men to Heaven then I 'm sure Holiness is not necessary then Men may see God without Holiness and then the promises of pardon to Repentance if this dying Sorrow be true Repentance overthrows the necessity of a holy Life the necessity of a holy Life contradicts the promises of pardon to such Penitents and then either one or both of them must be false To state this Matter plainly and in a few words we must distinguish between two kinds of Repentance 1. The Baptismal Repentance 2. Repentance upon a Relapse or falling into any known and wilful Sin. I. By Baptismal Repentance I mean that Repentance which is necessary in adult persons in order to their receiving Christian Baptism this is the Repentance which is most frequently mentioned in the New Testament and to which the promise of Remission and Forgiveness is annexed this our Saviour preached Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 4 Matth. 17. This he gave authority to his Apostles to preach That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his Name among all nations 24 Luke 47. Now this Repentance both as to Iews and Heathens who embraced the Faith of Christ was a renouncing all their former Sins and false superstitious or idolatrous Worship and this qualified them for Baptism in which they obtain'd the remission of all their Sins in the Name of Christ and for this reason remission of Sins is promised to Repentance because all such Penitents are received to Baptism which is the washing of Regeneration which washes away all their Sins and puts them into a state of Grace and Favour with God as St. Peter tells the Iews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins 2 Acts 38. And much to the same purpose Ananias told St. Paul Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the Name of the Lord 22 Acts 16. And I know not any one Text in the New Testament wherein the remission of Sins is absolutely promised to Repentance but what must be understood of this Baptismal Repentance and then Repentance and Remission of Sin are inseparably annexed because such Penitents wash away all their Sins in Baptism and come pure and undefiled out of that mystical Fountain which is set open for Sin and for Uncleanness to wash in and to be clean Now I grant should any person who comes to Baptism rightly qualified and disposed with a sincere Repentance and stedfast Faith in Christ die soon after he is baptized before he has time and opportunity to exercise any of the Graces of the Christian Life such a Man shall go to Heaven without actual Holiness the remission of his Sins in Baptism upon his Repentance will save him though he have not time to bring forth the fruits of Repentance in a holy Life and this is the only case I know of wherein a Penitent can be saved without actual Holiness viz. by Baptismal Grace and Regeneration Only the Primitive Church and I think with very good reason allowed the same to Martyrdom when it prevented the Baptism of young Converts as we know under the Pagan Persecutions young Converts who made bold confessions of their Faith in Christ were hurried away to Martyrdom before they had opportunity of being baptized but such Men were baptized in their own Bloud and that supplied the want of Water-baptism which they could not have Now in this case also if Martyrdom be instead of Baptism as the Primitive Church thought it then had any Heathen been converted from a lewd and profligate life to the Faith of Christ and been immediately apprehended and halled to Martyrdom before he could either be baptized or give any other testimony of the reformation of his Life and Manners but by dying