Truth 1. Prop. Man in his first Creation was not made Mortal or Corruptible Adam fell into a dying condition in the day that he Rebelled against the Crown and Dignity of Heaven I know the Question is much controverted Whether Adam were made Immortal or no This were to make Death necessary before Sin which the Apostle contradicts when he writes Rom. 5. That by one mans sin death came into the World and Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death Death is the fruit and effect of our Disobedience and passes upon all inasmuch as all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Prop. All men are now subject unto death as it is poenal The first Sentence reaches all Mankind Gen. 2.17 Most men look on Death as the common lot and condition of Mankind resulting from their frail condition and the jarring and warring Principles of their composition which for want of poise destroy one another They think it belongs onely to our Natural and not at all to our Moral Capacity reckoning it to be the consequent of their Being and not the demerit and punishment of our Guilt It is very true though the principles of our Nature are subject to Dissolution yet if we had not declined from the Law of our Creation we had not inclined to the Grave or Corruption but God had made our Life commensurate with our Holiness and prolonged our Time with our Obedience But alas Death now is not more Natural than it is Poenal All Mankind is Condemned as soon as Born Life is a Reprieve and short suspension of the execution of that Sentence which in the day of Adam's Transgression was pronounced on him and his descendants And oh miserable we if we improve not this small scantling of time to sue out our Pardon and make our peace with this incensed Judge of Heaven and Earth who though he be a Serene yet withal is a dreadful Majesty and will infallibly Execute the severity of the Sentence on every Offender who doth not timely accept and comply with those Terms and Articles of Peace which in the Preaching of his Gospel are tendred to them 3. Prop. Fear and Bondage are inseparable attendants on such a sinful and poenal state It cannot be avoided but that the expectation of Death in such a condition must be very troublesome This is a strait Yoak and will pinch the Necks of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam though some wear it more easily than others This will perplex our minds raise storms within and sink us frequently into deep despondencies for we know not how to cast it off in vain are all attempts to slip the Neck out of this Collar we are unable to deliver ourselves no man can free his own Soul We are in God's Chain and it is impossible to break it all our strivings will contribute nothing to its Removal but onely gall and torment us more 4. Prop. Whatsover bitterness and gall there is in Death it is from Sin that makes it more terrible than otherwise it would be 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of Death is sin So many Sins as thou committest so many stings thou puttest into thy Death to render it more dreadful to thee Could a man dye and have no Sin laid to his Charge though there might be some pain yet there could not be Terror in his departure out of this World Well may Death be called the Terrible of Terribles when there is not onely an apprehension of the dissolution and divorce between the Soul and Body but there interposes and starts up the guilt of many Sins which confront the Sinner and stare him in the face nay those sins that had a gaudy and tempting dress will then be strip'd of all their feigned Beauties and appear in all their dreadful Circumstances agitating and terrifying the Consciences of men with the expectation and dread of future Evils When the Sinner dare not die yet cannot live what Convulsions must there needs be in his Breast which must terrify him like the cracks of a falling House What a calm and well-natured Death might a man have far beyond that Euthanasia which Augustus wished for himself if Sin and Hell and approaching Judgment and a gnawing Worm within did not drive him into Agonies and Despair Alas when nothing is in view to him but these things and the conclusion of the whole matter will with him be nothing short of hideous Darkness and a tormenting Fire having Heat but no Light gnashing of Teeth late Remorse incurable Wounds Self-hatred and all imaginable distresses even to be hated of God and to hate him for ever He must needs turn away his Face in the anguish of his Soul from beholding such distracting Objects These things our Sins procure for us and fill our Souls with all the anticipations of Hell 5. Prop. The Death of Christ applyed by Faith is the onely Soveraign Remedy to deliver us out of this estate of Fear and Slavery Our Heavenly Elisha hath cast Salt into those bitter Waters and so healed them Death to a Believer is a Serpent without a sting He hath fortified us against these Fears two ways 1. By giving us the example of his Dying His tasting of Death before hand keeps it from being a Cup of Trembling and wonderfully will this animate our Spirits under all dejections That our Lord walked in this dark Valley before us 2. By affording us the merit and efficacy of his Death This is very operative to this purpose to consider That our Redeemer and the Captain of our Salvation undertook our Deliverance by his own Death so that now there is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 For being justified by Faith in the Death of Christ they have peace with God and in themselves Rom. 5.1 Thus has Christ changed the nature of Death that it should be more desirable than dreadful to a good Man being like Josephs Chariot sent for dying Jacob to carry us to the place of our hope and desire This made the Apostle ring that sharp and shrill Note in the ears of Death and send that bold and brave Challenge to the last eneny 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Death is swallowed up in Victory It is not now so much an Outlet of Temporal as an Inlet of Eternal Life Well might the Apostle write insultingly as a man offering Sacrifice for Victory and singing a Triumphant Song while his Feet stood on the Neck of his Enemy We know now to whom to have Recourse when our Spirits droop at the apprehension of our Decease not to Saints or Angels not to the Blessed Virgin her self but to her Son who is the Lord of Life that Brazen Serpent we are to look upon when that Fiery one of Death puts out his Sting and we are sufficiently Antidoted against all the Poyson that is spit at us Thus we see the Children though they cannot escape the stroak yet they are freed from
14.13 is very applicable to their Dying condition their heart gives their mouth the Lye Indeed sometimes like furious Gamesters they throw up their Cards not out of any dislike of gaming but of their Games they are rather discontented with Life than contented with Death but yet such reassume their Play and go on afresh and so do these Passionate Fools upon second thoughts eat their words and unwish their wishes Such are like to Gaal in his drink Judg. 9.27 He cursed Abimileeh when he was at a great distance speaks very contemptibly of him brags how he would use him if he had him in his Clutches ver 29. But upon Abimelechs appearance his courage was cooled his heart sunk into his heels for he fled before him ver 40. Mens sins will one time or other sink their spirits and make their Death dreadful and that upon account 1. Of the guilt that is in sin To apprehend sin unpardoned amazes and confounds and therefore God's Arrest by Death must make the knees smite and strike one against another Belshazzar like who could not hold his joynts still 2. Of the filth in sin The defilement of it is so great that it makes the sinner startle Such squalid and nasty sights must needs occasion the turning away of our Eyes Who can look upon them and live The Sinner often sinks and drops at the view of his Lusts they have a killing Aspect 4. Excessive love of Life and of this World begets immoderate fear of Death When Mens hearts are so closely united to Creature-comforts they cannot be torn from them without much violence and pain What we over love in the Enjoyment we over-fear in the Apprehensions of its loss A Child that has tasted much of the Breast cannot be pulled from it without much crying Things glued together are seldom parted without tearing or breaking If thy Portion is onely in this Life thou art utterly undone when it is ended and who can blame a man for fearing the loss of his All It is a Canonical Truth though in the Apocryphal Writings O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions Eccles 40.1 How sad a sight is a Hand writing on the Wall to a Belshazzar in his Cups To a rich man dreaming of his goods laid up for many years how sad and confounding must that voice be Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee Luk. 12.20 It was a wise and Christian Speech of Charles the Fifth to the Duke of Venice who Hezekiah-like shewed him the Glories of his Throne and Palace his great Wealth and Riches Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori These are the things that make us loath to Dye 5. This fear is frequently occasioned by too much carelesness about our worldly Affairs I mean the neglect of a provident timely setting our House in order and adjourning this necessary and hard Work to the dregs of our Age. That which should be the living Mans care is too often the dying Man's task The ending of our Accounts with Men and the beginning of our Accounts with God are both of them generally put off to the inconvenient season of a Death-bed To reckon with God and Man at once is too hard a Province for a sick and languishing sinner Many more Grounds might be assigned I shall add but one more 6. The breach of former sick-bed Vows and Resolutions when we were in fear of Death renders men more fearful when once they come in sight of it The Answer is not amiss which Theodoricus Bishop of Coleine gave to the Emperor Sigismund upon his inquity which way he might best get to Heaven If thou walkest said the Bishop so as thou didst promise under thy painful fit of the Stone Our Extremity commonly renders us holy and our Pain is prodigal of those Vows which our ease is niggardly of performing We daily see desperation making those Votaries who in their health were the loosest Libertines Were it essential to Health thus to debauch us it would make a good man out of love with it It were better to be always Sick than for our Health to maks us Irreligious Let us pray to God to remedy this Sickness of our Health and to bless us rather with sanctified afflictions than curse us with unsanctified prosperity I now am to speak to the third Particular and that by way of Use and Application 3. To give some Prescriptions and Remedies by way of Antidote and Defence against the Fears of Death It was one of the defects which the Learned Verulam In his advancement of Learning found in our Physitians that they do not study those Rmedies which might procure an Euthanasy an easie passage to their Patients since they must needs dye thorough the Gates of Death Such helps must be left saith Bishop Hall to the care of the skilful Sages of Nature the use whereof must be with great caution lest while they endeavour to sweeten Death they shorten Life My work at present is to prescribe spiritual helps to an easie and comfortable departure out of the houling Wilderness of this World to make the Grave-bed soft that we may lye down in Peace there and descend to those dark Chambers with as great desire as a weary Traveller lies down to Sleep The neglect of looking to this while we live is the cause why Death comes on so many as a Snare as amongst many other it did on Caesar Borgia the wicked Son of a worse Father viz. Pope Alexander the sixth who meeting Death in that Cup of Poyson which he had prepared for others cried out with great Consternation under this terrible Surprise Adversus omnia pericula me munivi praeter quam mortem That he had armed himself against all casualties excepting Death for of that he never thought Amazing and deplorable inconsideration that men should find time to think of all things but those which do most nearly concern them that Heaven and Hell Death and Judgment should then only come into mens thoughts when they have nothing else to think of How solicitous are we to fortifie our selves against external evils timely engaging against Sickness and Poverty Banishment and Imprisonment Cold and Hunger Shame and Scandal but laying little or nothing up against the evil day Death comes and seizes most with a heavy hand because so little is done to bear up against it Take notice here of the excellency of the Christian Doctrine which affords beyond all other Professions the greatest relief in this way Some Phylosophers have essayed upon comforts of this Nature and Epicurus tells us if a wise man were to burn in Phalaris Bull he might say Dulcae est ad me nihil pertinet But these were empty brags and founded on some principles of which we may say as Job to his Friends Ye are miserable comforters such as these 1. Premeditation on it before it comes others rejected this as much because it
no more culpable than weariness sickness and many other natural imbecillities inseperably annexed to the condition of Mortality 2. There is a sinful fear of Death a fear of Death more than as it is natural viz. as it is Poenal and an issue of the Curse as it brings Men under the Devils power and may prove a dreadful inlet and passage to Everlasting Burnings Now the Children viz. of God and of the Promise in some measure have conquered this last sort of fear but it is impossible for them while they are cloathed with this frail and tattered Humanity wholly to rid and divest themselves of the former Death is the King of Terrors and therefore may command dread and fear even in the best Plentiful are instances of this kind and they easily occur to us Thus Jacob feared to die by the hand of his Brother Esau and studied how to meet him in Peace and prayed to God to stay his Hand and turn his Heart The Man after God's own heart cries the sorrows of death compassed him Psal 116.3 And tells us how his soul came to be full of trouble Psal 88.3 because his life drew nigh to the grave and he was counted with them that go down to the pit How industrious he was to save his Life will appear from his Counter-plots to save himself when Saul pursued him Good Hezekiah could not receive a summons to the Grave with dry Eyes the Message made him chatter like a Crane and mourn as a Dove Isa 38.3 14. Good old Hilarion was frequently chiding of his Soul with an Egredere O Anima for being so loath to leave a crazy body in which it had been a Tenant upwards of Fourscore Years Nay our blessed Redeemer himself in whom there was no Sin to imbitter his dissolution to him yet we find him greatly affected at the approach of his departure hence his soul was heavy unto death He entred not the Lists with that last Enemy without a heavy Spirit Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me It was the saying of Reverend Mr. Greenham page 15. of his Works I like as well of them that measurably fear death as of them who joy at it In another place he tells us He never dared desire to dye however his continual Crosses did afford him small desire to live It is true we sometimes meet with Christian Heroes of St. Paul's temper whose song ever since he had been in the Third Heavens was to return thither again who are so much exalted above the fear of Death that they court and crave it and make it the most desirable of desirables Phil. 1 23. They never sing a loath to depart but chearfully chaunt out with old Simeon their nunc Dimittis Luk. 2.29 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace With Elijah they are satisfied and full enough of days and crave no further time 1 Kings 19.4 Nay so fervent and earnest was the desire of the Primitive Christians after Immortal Glory that they groaned earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with their House from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 They seemed not onely to be contented but rejoyced with their departure and in the mean time they did rather accept of Life than affect it and endured it more than desired it Great is the number of Christian Pilgrims who in St. Bernards Phrase desire Repatriasse to return home and loose from the shore of Life and to Launch out into the Ocean of Immortality looking for that blessed Hope and the glorious Epiphany of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Titus 2.13 At the news and tidings of their Lords approach their Faith Eccho's back their hearty Amen Even so come Lord Jesus But here we must take notice that our desires may be looked upon in a double capacity either as natural and connate or rational and elicite according to the Principles of Reason and Grace A man that hath a gangren'd Member hath a natural desire to keep it in the Body but his Rational desire makes him willing to part with it Thus our Saviour told the Apostle Peter He should be bound and carried whither he would not John 21.18 To be girded and pinion'd he would not according to his Natural will but according to his Renewed and Sanctified will he was ready joyfully to go to the place of Martyrdom Thus my Spirit may cry Come Lord Jesus Come quickly when the Flesh may say Master save thy self and pray that the cup may pass from it On the other hand They who have the greatest reason to dread it may sometimes defie it and knowing not what it is to dye brutishly seem to slight it Thus in these low running dregs of time an Atheistical crew of Men living in Brutish Ignorance fall blindfold into their Pit and Grave they shut their Eyes and are never awakened till those Infernal Flames flair about them and lend them Light to read their folly They are not out of danger but onely without the knowledge of it Their hardiness proceeds not from the knowledge of their good Estate but their ignorance of their bad one like Passengers that are asleep in a Ship that is sinking They Revel and Hector on the very Pits brink and their joy is like to that of those who are stung with the Tarantula which is not the Effect of Mirth but Madness and though they have no bands in their Death yet Death hath dominion over them Pleasant Company Wine Feasting Musick divert their thoughts from that formidable prospect of their End couzening themselves as far as they can with that vain Opinion That the way to escape the sting of death is not to think of it It is Risus Sardonicus a deadly joy The end of their mirth is heaviness Prov. 14.13 Like those silly Fishes which swim down the sweet stream of Jordan into the dead Sea where they perish Some indeed there are which please themselves with vain hopes of deliverance and flatter themselves with ungrounded presumptions that they shall escape the bitterness of Death Oh the foolish and helpless shifts that besotted sinners cling to How many perish at the very horns of the Altar What ungrounded hopes have they from their own Fictions How sadly do they abuse the best Doctrines and suck Poyson from the extent of God's Mercies and Christ's Merits They suffer their own innate Light to be Extinguished and resist all means of Conviction from that which is Revealed Thus you see that the Proposition is irrefragable notwithstanding we Read some good Men have desired it and some bad Men have not dreaded it In further prosecution of this Truth 1. I shall lay down some Propositions that tend to the clearing and confirming of it 2. I shall inquire into the grounds and causes of this fear of Death 3. By way of Application I shall lay down some Directions as proper remedies and cures of this fear 1. Propositions tending to the illustration and further defence of this