of Deuteronomy allures and threatnes them to stedfastness in it appoynts them a successor to him and layes his hand on Josuae There are two acts we find performed by two eminent Saints in reference to the Church after their death and they that cannot doe the one to promove the good of it when they are gone may yet doe the other Moses leaves a written law to them to walk by Joseph acts faith on the promise I know the Lord will visit you and he will have them swear to carry up his bones If thou cannot writt books to be standing monuments of the Church's duties yet be with Joseph acting faith for the prosperity of it upon the promise and thus one way or another thou may promove the good of it when thou art gone But in the third place take a view of some consequences of Moses death I shall for brevities sake name but these three First The Lord takes the charge on him of burying his Servant Deut. last The Lord buried him in the plains of Moab His care of his Saints bodies ends not with their lives It is the Fathers will that he should lose nothing of what is given him but takes it up at the last day and gives it life eternal Mark it is not no man but no thing of any of them given him the body that did run and act and speak in his service he casts it not off at death as ane unprofitable old Servant but looks after it even though the bodies should be given to be food to the foules of Heaven Secondly This burial of Moses was so secret as no man knew of it the common and indeed the true reason was to prevent superstition which readily Israel would have fallen into with these precious relicts If the Lord ever had intended such a high esteem of the relicts of the Saints as some press he had never concealed the body of Moses We have reason to praise that we are not intoxicat with the poyson of those who adore the creature more then the Creator and delude the World with the forgeries of relicts which though true as they are not yet ought not to be committed Idolatry with the Lord did here as a wyse parcht take the knyfe out of the childs hand least he should cut his fingers with it Lastly This Moses though none knew what became of his body nor where it was layd yet we find him afterward appearing glorious on mount Tabor at the transfiguration It is in effect no matter what become of our bodies after death since the Saints may be assured one day to appear and be like his glorious body let Philosophers debeat where are they that are eaten by fish and these fish eaten by men and the bodies of these men turned into grasse and that grasse eaten by beasts c. though we can no more tell what is become of them nor Israel could tell what became of the body of Moses it is comfortable enough he will make them like his glorious body by the mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe This much for the things particularly observable in Moses death We come now in the second place to speak of death as a lot from which the most eminent servants cannot expect to be exeemed Observation That there are none how eminent soever in parts holyness or communion with God can expect to be exeemed from death Eminent was Moses in all these yet Moses is dead yea see through all the Scripture from Adam to Christ Enoch and Elijah excepted whose extraordinare translation supplied vicem mortis who are exeemed from it Neither need we insist on the reasons of this since it is decreed for all It is appointed for all men once to dy and after death to come to judgment Yea 2dly All are interested in Adams sin and so lyable to the punishment of it which in part is temporal death 3dly Actual sin influences this the wages whereof is death It is among the errors of Socinians to say death is only a natural fruit of the constitution of the body It is true it does indeed naturally follow on it but man being immortalized by Covenant before the fall the loss of that priviledge makes death to him a punishment and the wages of sin as the Apostle Rom. 6 last words it That which I shall insist a litle on is to answer this Question Why Christ hath not restored his Saints to ane exemption from death which by Adam's fall they have forfaulted Answer Though Christ hath not done this yet he hath done so much in reference to it that the Apostle is not afrayed to say he hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel We shall therefore insist a litle in opening the differences betwixt the death of the Saints through Christ and the death of others There be especially this threefold difference betwixt them 1. In respect of the persons dying 2dly In respect of death it self 3dly In respect of the consequences of it This Balaam observed when he said Let my end be as their end First In regard of the persons dying the difference is great especially in these three 1st The Servants of God though they dy yet they dy in Christ Revel 14 v. 13. Blessed are they that die in the Lord As they believed in the Lord and walked in the Lord and rejoiced in the Lord so they dy in the Lord death does not loose their union not so with others 2dly They dy in faith All these dy in faith Heb. 11. haveing a good report they dy in faith for themselves for the Church of God for their relations and in the faith of whatever promised not so others 3dly They die in obedience as Christ was obedient to the death so their very death is an act of obedience Goe up to mount Nebo and dy the doeing whereof was obedience as well as goe down to Aegypt goe in to Pharaoh or such like commands as Moses obeyed Not so others their soul is taken from them Secondly The difference is great in regard of death itselfe Mark especially these First Though the thing be a curse in it selfe it is a blessing to the man Blessed are they that dy in the Lord the curse is not only removed but converted it is now a priviledge 1 Cor. 3 last All things are yours and ye are Christs whither things present or things to come death or life Here death is theirs who are Christs as a Servant is his Masters Death is yours and ye are Christs 2dly The sting of death is removed 1 Cor. 15 55. It is now as a bee that cannot sting 2 Cor. 9 21. It may well bumb and make a noyse but sin and the hurtful sting of it is removed It is not so with others the sting and all remains 3dly The dominion of it is removed Rom. 5 14. there are some Psal 49. that death shall have dominion over not
their portion but their gain is more noble they lay up to themselves where the moth cannot enter so that if riches and still to gain can commend one's life to be Gods Servant must be a high elogy Fourthly As it is gainful so exceeding pleasant to be his Servant We may say as the Queen of Sheba of Solomon's Servants Blessed are those Servants who stand by and hear the wisdome of thy words This is the scope of the whole Song to shew the delight of his Servants Take but a view of their pleasures in these three 1. What excellent walks they have 2dly What excellent company in these walks 3dly What sweet fellowship with this company First Their walks are sometymes to the Green Pasturs Psal 23. sometymes to the tillages sometymes to the gardens to see if the pomegranats bud sometymes to the banquetting house It is true they walk sometymes also down to the wilderness Hosea 2 14. ay but there they are allured and a door of hope opened to them 2. What excellent company in these walks Enoch walked with God Gen. 6. If to walk with the Wyse be in Solomons eyes so great a priviledge what to walk with the only wise God 3dly What sweet fellowship in these walks Sometymes they fit down under his shaddow sometymes he kisses them with the kisses of his mouth sometymes he sups with them sometymes he taks them in his bosome Esai 40 11. How pleasant a life must this be The Apostle thinks nothing Eph. 4. to call it the life of God Others like the elder Brother Luk. 15. get never a kid to make mirry with but they delight themselves in fatness Must it not then be a high elogy to be his Servant Lastly They dryve the sweetest life Sathan can tell God of Job Hast thou not set a hedge about him and about all he hath About all he hath is much Who is he that will harme you if ye be followers of that which is good Who is he It is such ane expression as that of Ahasuerus to Esther Who is he or where is the man that durst presume to doe this It is the highest act of boldness that ever the creatur attempted to be a persecuter of them who have salvation for walls and bulwarks and are sheltered under the faithfulness of God as a bird under the Feathers of the Dam Psal 71. Lay all togither and see if it be not a high elogy to be his Servant Application First Is it so great a priviledge to be his Servant It reproves the undervaluers of it Many cast at it as a bondadge even of such who call him Master and Lord but the lowest imployments in his service David preferred it to a dwelling in the tents of wickedness Some like Canaan are Servant of Servants and despyse their own mercy Rectify thy opinion of his service since it is the honour of Angels who are oftener in the Scriptures denominat from their service then their natures though most pure and excellent Spirits Secondly Is it such a priviledge to be his Servant Then study to doe his service acceptably There are these qualifications required in his Servants 1st They cannot serve two Masters for they must cleave to the one and leave the other Thou must give up with lusts with Sathan the World neither serve men in opposition to him these oppositions casts many out of his service and with Gideons 22000 they returne to their tents 2dly A Servant is not sui juris but at the Beck of his Master as the Centurions if he say to one goe he must goe ye must not stand and disput your duty his will is reason eneugh though it were to suffer for righteousness sake though it were to walk on a sea of trouble we ought to say with Peter Master if thou wilt bid me I will come unto thee 3dly His service must be done cheerfully Psal 110 3. It is true we are to serve him with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12 28. yet this is not inconsistant with cheerfulness He loves not to have it wrung out of us as service to ane austere and rigorous Master as the man who had the one talent called him but we are to rejoice in trembling 4thly We must study in every thing to doe him service Servants are to obey their Masters as the Servants of Jesus Christ directing and referring to his honour their most ordinary imployments Lastly We must not lay stresse on our service as if it deserved our fie When we have done all we are unprofitable Servants Yea though he say well done good and faithful Servant yet out reply ought to be When saw we thee hungry and sed thee Thirdly Here is consolation for his Servants Their priviledge is great though their service were never so low Especially since they are friends al 's well as Servants Yea he that doeth the will of Christ he is his Father his Mother his Brother his Sister Rejoice in your priviledge though it should have a mixture of the crosse with it SERMON II. On Josua 1 v. 2. Moses my Servant iâ— dead OFten the Lord makes his Servants honourable after their death who wrestled with much opposition in their life Here he writs Moses Epitaph himself Moses my Servant is dead The third particular in this description remains his end he is dead In handling this we shall First Consider somethings peculiar in Moses his death which may yeeld us ground of very useful instruction Secondly We shall speak of death as a common lot from which none of the most eminent Servants of God though as eminent as Moses can expect to be exeemed Moses is dead In the first place in Moses his death we shall take notice of these three things very remarkable in it 1. The cause of it 2. The manner and circumstance of it 3. Some consequences that followed on it In which three amongst other things we shall have a notable discovery of the justice mercy and faithfulness of God First Take notice of the cause of Moses death Ye have it set down in the 20th of the Numbers where at Meribah the people thristing and wanting water the Lord bids Moses v. 7 8. take his rod and speak to the rock and Moses smites the rock twyce with the rod for the which the Lord threatens him that he should not bring the congregation to the land which he had given them This was the cause of his death and in this I desire ye may mark these five things 1st How many proofs of faithful service to God had Moses given who was faithful as the Apostle testifies as a Servant yet all his former service cannot expiat this one sin but he must die for it It is the way of a great many upon commission of any sin they think to expiat it by their former or future obedience but though our service were as eminent as Moses's was it cannot at all make a mends for one sin to God It is
good there is a cautioner who takes all his peoples debt on him since it is impossible for us to expiat sin though we had never so many moral parts as Moses learned in all wisdom of Aegypt never so great a Prophet never so much zeal or communion with God yet all this cannot remove one sin 2dly In this cause of Moses death remark that it was not in doeing any thing contrary to the command of God only a doeing beside it he exeeded his commission and indeed what he did might have had many appearances of reason for it The rod had been the instrument of many mirackles in Aegypt and at the red Sea yea at Rephidim he did strick the rock with it and brought water But since his commission was to speak his striking was his sin for which he must die So dangerous a thing it is in things relating to God to act without his warrand Some tell us they add no corrupting additions to the word but perfecting But as corrupting additions is a contradiction so perfecting are eminently reflecting both on the Law and Law-giver Ye may be pressed with things which will be told you are lawful because not contrary to the word But if they be not consonant ye are in danger of anger from him who hath forbidden all adding to his word as well as taking from it 3dly Undoubtedly this sin for which Moses died was pardoned as to any guilt which should draw any eternal punishment after it Yea more many friendly acts after this smiting the rock passed betwixt God and him yet he must die for it Antinomians foolishly tell us that the sins of the elect being pardoned there are no chastisements layed on for sin Nay the sin which is pardoned the person may yet be corrected for it as is evident here and in Nathans words to David The Lord hath also put away thy sin nevertheless thy Child shall dy Argue not then from a temporal chastisement to ane eternal punishment Since the very sin which is pardoned may yet influence sad stroks yea and death it selfe 4thly This was but one sin of Moses which he acted also when his meek Spirit was provoked by a stiff-necked people and yet it is followed by the same outward stroke with which their sins who had tempted 40 years in the wilderness is followed their stroak Psal 95. Is not to enter Canaan but dy by the way and for this one sin Moses meets with the same Is is very remarkable how sharply the Lord will chastise a little thing in his own when he will let others runn on till their cup be full It is true the sins of his elect servants have many aggravations the sins of others wants as being acted against more light against greater mercies yet the thing in itself but litle in comparison of what he will pass in another Cast not at his service notwithstanding of this better to to have our way in sin hedged with thornes then strawed with roses It is dreadful to have scope in sin and when like Balaam in the way to Balack have the Lord say to us goe 5thly Moses earnestly prayed Deut. 3. that the Lord would have averted this stroke v. 25. I pray thee let me goe over and see this goodly Land beyond Jordan and that goodly Mountain and Lebanon fain would he have been there but there is no dealing let it suffice thee speak no more of this matter is his answer How earnest will the best be for temporary mercies and how peremptor in prayer for them when yet their prayer cast out It is true a view of Canaan which Moses had by way of exchange declares the prayer not lost though refused Now in all these in Moses death see how just God is in reckoning for sin even in the best of his Saints But in the next place let us take a view of his mercy mixed in herewith in the manner of Moses death which is the 2d thing proposed And here also take notice of five things First However the Lord will have him die for this sin yet he warnes him of it a long time before he die yea and determines both tyme place Got up to mount Nebo dy It is a great incouragment to the Saints in their death that it comes not on them as a thiefe in the night yea and though it be not revealed to them as to Moses yet both tyme and place are so determined as all their adversaries cannot alter the least circumstance though one of them dy in his bed another in the sea the third in a foraign land yet not one hair of their head falls without their heavenly Father his providence and though secondary causes work contingently yet the event followes necessarly as it is decreed Secondly Ere he die though the Lord chastise him for his sin yet the Lord gives him a view of Canaan before his death Deut. 3 27. Get thee up to the top of Pisgah and behold it with thine eyes The passage through the valey of the shadow of death is indeed dowisome but a view of Canaan will make it so lightsome that some of the Saints have cryed out on death for his slow motions toward them and when recovered out of sickness that threatned death have halfe repyned that they should have been within sight of the land and yet driven back to Sea again And wysely the Lord reserves these sights of Canaan till his Saints have death to graple with that he may allay a litle the bitter pill and suggar it better before they swallow it Thirdly This death of Moses it was indeed a chastisement of his unbeleife yet withall a Reward of his faith which he had ane eye to Heb. 11. v. 15. When he preferred the reproach of Christ to the treasures of Aegypt There is indeed in death something bumbling to the Saints but there is also something comfortable If it be a fruit of sin and the wages of it it is likewayes the passage to glory and the truth is as in our life so till it end betwixt the views of sin and glory our joyes and sorrowes eb and flow Fourthly Moses death though it proceeded from his disobedience yet it was in it selfe ane act of obedience the same God who bid him goe down to Aegypt and speak to Pharaoh bids him now goe up to mount Nebo and dy and he obeyes the one al 's well as the other up he goes and dyes as it is said of Christ so may it be said of his Saints He was obedient unto the death so are they There are some their souls are taken from them and they are carried to death as a prisoner unto ward by the officer but his people give up the Ghost when it is called for and as they lived obeying so they dy Lastly Moses in his death was careful for Israel that it should prosper after he was dead for this end he repeats the Law over again to them in the book
so in the Saints Prevail it may as they have prevailing sins which are not reigning so also death which is not ringing Now he that removes these three may he not be said to have abolished death Thirdly The difference greatest of all is in regard of the consequences of death Where 1. consider from what death liberates the Saints 2. To what by it they are advanced 1st They are taken away from the evil to come Esay 57 1. As Methusaleh was taken away before the flood They are taken away from the vexations of Spirit at the sins of others from the polutions they would be in danger of readily from the persecution and oppression to come 2dly By death they are delivered from the tentations of Sathan Grace here may influence their not yeelding to those tentations but it cannot deliver them from the tentation itself On the contrary if they are holy the more like they are to be tempted Christ Job Asaph and such like most tempted Not so others 3dly They are removed and delivered from the being of sin the Dominion of it is indeed removed in sanctification but now the being And what a priviledge is that Secondly Consider to what they are advanced by it to count which by particulars is impossible the exellency of it is so great being that which ear hath not heard eye hath not seen nor can it enter into the heart of man to consider From all which it is evident that though Christ hath not exeemed a Moses from death altogither yet there is such a difference betwixt their death and other's that in some considerable sense he may be said to have abolished death I shall not insist in applying so frequently pressed a point only since it is the common lot of all men let all prepare for it Our whole life is a scoole wherein we should be learning to die It is an eminent act of wisedome O that they were wyse to consider their latter end Even in our garden amongst our greatest pleasures we should be walking beside our grave like Joseph of Arimathea So live Christian as thou goe not out like a candle that leaves ane ill smell behind it FINIS SERMONS SERMON I. ROm. 2 22. Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery doest hou commit adultery Thou that abhorrest Idols doest thou commit Sacriledge Pag. 1. SERMON II. Ephes 5 25. Husbands love your Wives even as Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it Pag. 21. SERMON III. Jonah 1 6. So the Shipmaster came to him and said unto him What meanest thou O Sleeper Arise call upon thy God c. Pag. 40. SERMON IV. John 3 29. He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom c. Pag. 58. SERMON V. Isai 45 24. Surely shall one say In the Lord have I righteousness and strength c. Pag. 77. SERMON VI VII Heb. 12 1. Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doeth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Pag. 97. and 115. SERMON VIII Matth. 5 20. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Pag. 133. SERMON IX Acts 26 28. Then Agrippa said unto Paul Almost thou perswadest me to be a Christian Pag. 152. SERMON X. Gen. 22 1. And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him Abraham And he said Behold here I am Pag. 172. SERMON XI XII Josua 1. v. 2. Moses my Servant is dead Pag. 192. and 209. Courteous READER SOme few faults have escaped the Press yet such as it 's hoped will not marr the sense to the considering Reader Thy favourable acceptance of this first Part will procure the speedy publishing of some others Fare-well