for a Man who must die to forfeit an immortal Life to reprieve a mortal and perishing Life for some few years II. As Death which is our leaving this World proves that these present things are not very valuable to us so it proves that they are not the most valuable things in their own natures though we were to enjoy them always it would be but a very mean and imperfect state in comparison of that better Life which is reserved for good Men in the next World. For 1. It is congruous to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that the best things should be the most lasting Wisdom dictates this for it is no more than to give the preference to those things which are best The longest continuance gives a natural preference to things we always value those things most which we shall enjoy longest and therefore to give the longest duration to the worst things is to set the greatest value on them and to teach mankind to prefer them before that which is better What we value most we desire to enjoy longest and were it in our power we would make such things the most lasting which shows that it is the natural sense of mankind that the best things deserve to continue longest and therefore we need not doubt but that infinite Wisdom which made the World has proportioned the continuance of things to their true worth And if God have made the best things the most lasting then the next World in its own intrinsick nature is as much better then this World as it will last longer For this is most agreeable to the Divine Goodness too and Gods love to his Creatures that what is their greatest and truest happiness should be most lasting For if God have made Man capable of different degrees and states of happiness of living in this World and in the next it is an expression of more perfect goodness as it is most for the happiness of his Creatures that the most perfect state of happiness should last the longest for the more perfectly happy we are the more do we experience the Divine Goodness and he is the most perfectly happy who has the longest enjoyment of the best things 2. It seems most agreeable also to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness that where God makes such a vast change in the state of his Creatures as to remove them from this World to the next the last state should be the most perfect and happy I speak now of such Creatures as God designs for happiness for the reason alters where he intends to punish But where God intends to do good to Creatures it seems a very improper method to translate them from a more perfect and happy to a less happy state Every abatement of Happiness is a degree of Punishment and that which those Men are very sensible of who have enjoyed a more perfect Happiness And therefore we may certainly conclude that God would not remove good Men out of this World were this the happiest place Yes you 'l say Death is the Punishment of Sin and therefore it is a Punishment to be removed out of this World which spoils that Argument that this World is not the happiest place because God removes good Men out of it For this is the effect of that curse which was entailed on Mankind for the sin of Adam dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return Now I grant Death as it signifies a separation of Soul and Body and the death of both which was included in that Curse was a Curse and a Punishment but not as it signifies leaving this World and living in the next We have some reason to think that though Man should never have died if he had not sinned yet he should not always have lived in this World. Human nature was certainly made for greater things than the enjoyment of sense It is capable of nobler advancements it is related to Heaven and to the World of Spirits and therefore it seems more likely that had Man continued innocent and by the constant exercise of Wisdom and Vertue improved his faculties and raised himself above this body and grown up into the Divine Nature and Life after a long and happy life here he should have been translated into Heaven as Enoch and Elias were without dying For had all Men continued innocent and lived to this day and propagated their kind this little spot of Earth had many Ages since been over-peopled and could not have subsisted without transplanting some Colonies of the most Divine and Purified Souls into the other World. But however that be it is certain that being removed out of this World and living in Heaven is not the Curse This fallen Man had no right to for he who by Sin had forfeited an earthly Paradise could not hereby gain a Title to Heaven Eternal Life is the gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lord it is the reward of good Men of a well spent life in this World of our Faith and Patience in doing and suffering the Will of God it is our last and final State where we shall live for ever and therefore the Argument is still good that this World cannot be the happiest place for then Heaven could not be a reward Though all Men are under the necessity of dying yet if this World had been the happiest place God would have raised good Men to have lived again in this World which he could as easily have done as have translated them to Heaven Now if this World be not the happiest place if present things be not the most valuable as appears from this very consideration that we must leave this World for to this I must confine my discourse at present there are several very good uses to be made of this As 1. To rectifie our Notions about present things 2. To live in expectation of some better things 3. Not to be over-concerned about the shortness of our Lives here 1. To rectify our Notions about present things 'T is our opinions of things which ruin us For what Mankind account their greatest happiness they must love and they must love without bounds or measures And it would go a great way to cure our extravagant fondness and passion for these things could we perswade our selves that there is any thing better But this I confess is a very hard thing for most Men to do because present things have much the advantage of what is absent and future Some who believe another life after this what ever great things they may talk of the other World yet do not seem throughly perswaded that the next World is a happier state than this for I think they could not be so fond of this World if they were And the reason of it is plain because happiness cannot be so well known as by feeling now Men feel the pleasures and happiness of this World but do not feel the happiness of the next and therefore are apt to think that that is the greatest
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
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
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
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
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
Body or they could never have made Gods of them Nay there is such a strong sense of Immortality imprinted on our natures that very few Men how much soever they have debauched their natural Sentiments can wholly deliver themselves from the fears of another World. But we have a more sure Word of Prophesie than this Since Life and Immortality is now brought to light by the Gospel For this is so plainly taught in Scripture that no Man who believes that needs any other proof My business therefore only shall be to show you how such thoughts as these should affect our minds What that Wisdom is which the thoughts of Death will naturally teach us how that Man ought to live who knows that he must die and leave his Body behind him to rot in the Grave and go himself into a new World of Spirits SECT I. The first Notion of Death that it is our leaving this World with the improvement of it 1. FIrst then let us consider Death only as our leaving this World a very delightful place you 'l say especially when our circumstances are easie and prosperous here a Man finds whatever he most naturally loves whatever he takes pleasure in the supply of all his wants the gratification of all his senses whatever an earthly creature can wish for or desire The truth is few Men know any other happiness much less any thing above it they feel what strikes upon their senses this they think a real and substantial good but as for more pure and intellectual joys they know no more what to make of them than of Ghosts and Spirits they account them thin vanishing things and wonder what Men mean who talk so much of them Nay good Men themselves are apt to be too much pleased with this World while they are easy here something else is necessary to wean them from it and to cure their fondness of it besides the thoughts of dying which makes the Sufferings and Afflictions and Disappointments of this Life so necessary for the best of Men. This is one thing which makes the thoughts of Death so terrible Men think themselves very well as they are and most Men think that they cannot be better and therefore very few are desirous of a change Extream miseries may conquer the love of Life and some few Divine Souls may long with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all but this World is a beloved place to the generality of Mankind and that makes it a very troublesom thing to leave it whereas did we rightly consider this matter it would rectifie our mistakes about these things and teach us how to value and how to use them For 1. If we must leave this World how valuable soever these things are in themselves they are not so valuable to us For besides the intrinsick worth of things there is somthing more required to engage the Affections of Wise Men. viz. Propriety and a secure Enjoyment What is not our own we may admire if it be Excellent but cannot dote on and what is worth having increases or decreases in value proportionably to the length and certainty of its continuance what we cannot enjoy is nothing to us how excellent soever it be and to enjoy it but a little while is next to not enjoying it for we cannot enjoy it always and such things cannot be called our own and this shows us what value we ought to set upon this World and all things in it e'en just so much as upon things that are not our own and which we cannot keep We use indeed to call things our own which we have a legal title to which no Man can by Law or Justice deprive us of and this is the only property we can have in these things a property against all other human claims but nothing which can be taken from us nothing which we must leave is properly our own for in a strict sense nothing is our own but what is Essential either to our Being or to our Happiness Creatures are Proprietors of nothing not so much as of themselves for we are his who made us and who may unmake us again when he pleases but yet there are some things proper to our natures and that is all the natural propriety we have but what is thus proper to us we cannot be deprived of without ceasing to be or being miserable And this proves that the things of this World are not our own that they are not proper and peculiar to our natures though they are necessary to this present state of Life While we live here we want them but when we leave this World we must live without them and may be happy without them too There is a great agreeableness between the things of this World and an Earthly nature they are a great support and comfort to us in this mortal state and therefore while we live in this World we may value the enjoyments of it for the ease and conveniencies of Life but we must neither call this Life nor any enjoyments of it our own because they are short and perishing we are here but as Travellers in an Inn it is not our Home and Country it is not our Portion and Inheritance but a moveable and changeable Scene which is entertaining at present but cannot last Let us then consider how we ought to value such things as these and to make it as plain and self-evident as I can I shall put some easie and familiar Cases 1. Suppose you were a Travelling through a very delightful Country where you met with all the Pleasures and Conveniencies of Life but knew that you must not tarry there but only pass through it would you think it reasonable to set your Affections so much upon it as to make it uneasie to you to leave it And shall we then grow so fond of this World which we must only pass thorough where we have no abiding City as to enslave our selves to the Lusts and Pleasures of it and to carry out of this World such a Passion for it as shall make us miserable in the next For tho' Death will separate us from this World we are not sure that it will cure our Earthly Passions we may still find the torment of Sensual Appetites when all Sensual Objects are removed This was all the Purgatory-fire St. Austin could think of that those who loved this World too much here though otherwise innocent and vertuous Men should be punished with fruitless desires and hankerings after this World in the next which is a mixt torment of desire and despair For though indeed it is only living in these Bodies which betrays the Soul to such Earthly Affections yet when the impression is once made and is strong and vigorous we are not sure that merely putting off these Bodies will cure it as we see Age it self in Old Sinners does not cure the wantonness of Desire when the Body is effaete and languid
this Life be our time to work in we should not consult our ease and softness and pleasures here for this is a place of labour and diligence not of rest We are a travelling to Heaven and must have our eye on our journeys end and not hunt after Pleasures and Diversions in the way The great end of living in this World is to be happy in the next and therefore we must wisely improve present things that they may turn to our future account Must make to our selves Friends of the Mammon of Unrighteousness that when we fail they may receive us into everlasting Habitations What concerns a better life must take up most of our thoughts and care and whatever endangers our future happiness must be rejected with all its charms It would not be worth the while to live some few years here were we not to live for ever and therefore it becomes a wise man who remembers that he must shortly leave this World to make this present life wholly subservient to his future happiness SECT II. The second Notion of Death that it is our putting off these Bodies II. LEt us now consider Death as it is our putting off these Bodies for this is the proper Notion of Death the separation of Soul and Body that the Body returns to Dust the Soul or Spirit unto God who gave it when we die we do not cease to be nor cease to live but only cease to live in these earthly Bodies the vital Union between Soul and Body is dissolved we are no longer encloister'd in a Tabernacle of Flesh we no longer feel the impressions of it neither the pains nor pleasures of the Body can affect us it can charm it can tempt no longer This needs no proof but very well deserves our most serious Meditations For 1. this teaches us the difference and distinction between Soul and Body which men who are sunk into flesh and sense are so apt to forget nay to lose the very notion and belief of it all their delights are fleshly they know no other pleasures but what their five senses furnish them with they cannot raise their thoughts above this body nor entertain any noble designs and therefore they imagine that they are nothing but flesh and blood a little organized and animated Clay and it is no great wonder that men who feel the workings and motions of no higher principle of life in them but flesh and sense should imagine that they are nothing but flesh themselves tho' methinks when we see the senseless and putrefying remains of a brave man before us it is hard to conceive that this is all of him that this is the thing which some few hours ago could reason and discourse was fit to govern a Kingdom or to instruct Mankind could despise flesh and sense and govern all his bodily Appetites and Inclinations was adorned with all divine graces and Vertues was the glory and pride of the Age And is this dead Carkase which we now see the whole of him Or was there a more divine Inhabitant which animated this earthly Machine which gave life and beauty and motion to it but is now removed To be sure those who believe that Death does not put an end to their being but only removes them out of this body which rots in the Grave while their Souls survive live and act and may be happy in a separate state should carefully consider this distinction between Soul and Body which would teach them a most Divine and Heavenly Wisdom For when we consider that we consist of Soul and Body which are the two distinct parts of Man this will teach us to take care of both for can any man who believes he has a Soul be concerned only for his Body A compound Creature cannot be happy unless both parts of him enjoy their proper pleasures He who enjoys onely the pleasures of the Body is never the happier for having a humane and reasonable Soul the soul of a Beast would have done as well and it may be better for bruit Creatures relish bodily pleasures as much and it may be more than Men do and reason is very troublesome to men who resolve to live like Bruits for it makes them ashamed and afraid which in many cases hinders or at least allays their pleasures And why should not a man desire the full and entire happiness of a man why should he despise any part of himself and that as you shall hear presently the best part too And therefore at least we ought to take as much care of our Souls as of our Bodies Do we adorn our Bodies that we may be fit to be seen and to converse with men and may receive those respects which are due to our quality and fortune and shall we not adorn our Souls too with those Christian Graces which make us lovely in the sight of God and men The Ornament of a meek and quiet Spirit which is in the sight of God of great price which St. Peter especially recommends to Christian Women as a more valuable ornament than the outward adorning of plaiting the hair or wearing gold or putting on of apparel 1 Peter 3. 3 4. The ornaments of Wisdom and Prudence of well governed Passions of Goodness and Charity give a grace and beauty to all our actions and such a pleasing and charming air to our very countenance as the most natural Beauty or artificial Washes and Paints can never imitate Are we careful to preserve our Bodies from any hurt from pains and sickness from burning Feavers or the racking Gout or Stone and shall we not be as careful of the ease of the Mind too To quiet and calm those Passions which when they grow outragious are more intollerable than all natural or artificial Tortures to moderate those Desires which rage like Hunger and Thirst those Fears which convulse the Mind with trembling and paralytick motions those furious Tempests of Anger Revenge and Envy which rufle our Minds and fill us with Vexation Restlesness and Confusion of Thoughts especially those guilty Reflections upon ourselves that Worm in the Conscience which gnaws the Soul and torments us with shame and remorse and dreadful expectations of an Avenger These are the Sicknesses and Distempers of the Soul these are Pains indeed more sharp and pungent and killing pains than our Bodies are capable of The spirit of a man can bear his infirmity natural Courage or the powers of Reason or the comforts of Religion can support us under all other Sufferings but a wounded spirit who can bear And therefore a man who loves ease should in the first place take care of the ease of his Mind for that will make all other sufferings easie but nothing can support a man whose mind is wounded Are we fond of bodily Pleasures are we ready to purchase them at any rate And if we be men why should we despise the pleasures of the mind if we have Souls why should we not reap the
benefit and the pleasures of them Do you think there are no pleasures proper to the Soul have we Souls that are good for nothing of no use to us but only to relish the pleasures of the Body Ask those who have tried what the pleasures of Wisdom and Knowledge are which does as much excel the pleasures of seeing as Truth is more beautiful and glorious than the Sun ask them what a pleasure it is to know God the greatest and best Being and the brightest Object of our minds to contemplate his Wisdom and Goodness and Power in the Works of Creation and Providence to be swallowed up in that stupendious Mystery of Love the Redemption of Sinners by the Incarnation and Sufferings of the Son of God ask them what the pleasures of Innocence and Vertue are what the Feast of a good Conscience means which is the greatest Happiness to give or to receive what the Joys even of Sufferings and Persecutions of Want and Poverty and Reproach are for the sake of Christ ask a devout Soul what transports and ravishments of Spirit he feels when he is upon his knees when with St. Paul he is even snatched up into the third Heavens filled with God overflowing with praises and divine joys And does it not then become a man who has a reasonable Soul to seek after these rational these manly these divine Pleasures the pleasures of the Mind and Spirit which are proper and peculiar to a reasonable Creature Let him do this and then let him enjoy the pleasures of the Body as much as he can which will be very insipid and tastless when his Soul is ravished with more noble delights In a word if we are so careful to preserve the life of our Bodies which we know must die and rot and putrifie in the Grave methinks we should not be less careful to preserve the life of our Souls which is the only immortal part of us for though our Souls cannot die as our Bodies do yet they may be miserable and that is called eternal Death where the Worm never dieth and the Fire never goeth out For to be always miserable is infinitely worse than not to be at all and therefore is the most formidable Death And if we are so unwilling to part with these mortal Bodies we ought in reason to be much more afraid to lose our Souls II. That Death is our putting off these Bodies teaches us That the Soul is the only principle of Life and Sensation The Body cannot live without the Soul but as soon as it is parted from it it loses all sence and motion and returns to its original Dust but the Soul can and does live without the Body and therefore there is the principle of Life This may be thought a very common and obvious Observation and indeed so it is but the consequences of this are not so commonly observed and yet are of great use and moment For 1. this shews us that the Soul is the best part of us that the Soul indeed is the Man because it is the only seat of Life and Knowledge and all Sensations for a Man is a living reasonable and understanding Being and therefore a living reasonable Soul not an earthly Body which has no life or sense but what it derives from the Soul must be the Man Hence in Scripture Soul so frequently signifies the Man thus we read of the Souls that were born to Iacob and the Souls that came with him into Aegypt 46. Gen. that is his Sons and Soul signifies our selves a Friend which is as thy own Soul that is as dear to us as our selves 13. Deut. 6. And Ionathan loved David as his own Soul that is as himself 1 Sam. 18. 3. For in propriety of Speech the Body has no sense at all but the Soul lives in the Body and feels all the motions and impressions of it so that it is the Soul only that is capable of Happiness or Misery of Pain or Pleasure and therefore it is the only concernment of a wise man to take care of his Soul as our Saviour tells us What shall it profit a man though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul 16. Matth. 26. The reason of which is easily apprehended when we remember that the Soul only is capable of Happiness or Misery that it is the Soul which must enjoy every thing else And what can the whole World then signifie to him who has no Soul to enjoy it whose Soul is condemned to endless and eternal Miseries Such a miserable Soul is as uncapable of enjoying the World or any thing in it as if it had lost its being 2ly Hence we learn the true notion of bodily Pleasures that they are such pleasures as the Soul feels by its union to the Body for it is not the Body that feels the pleasures but the Soul though the Body be the instrument of them and therefore how fond soever we are of them we may certainly conclude that bodily pleasures are the meanest pleasures of humane nature because the union to these earthly Bodies is the meanest and most despicable state of reasonable Souls These are not its proper and genuine pleasures which must result from its own nature and powers but are only external impressions the light and superficial touches of matter and it would be very absurd to conceive that the Soul which is the onely subject of pleasure should have no pleasures of its own but borrow its whole Happiness from its affinity and alliance to Matter or that its greatest pleasures should be owing to external impressions not to the actings of its own natural faculties and powers Which may convince us as I observed before that the pleasures of the mind are much the greatest and noblest pleasures of the Man and he who would be truly happy must seek for it not in Bodily entertainments but in the improvements and exercise of Reason and Religion 3ly Hence we learn also that the Body was made for the Soul not the Soul for the Body as that which in it self has no Life and Sense is made for the use of that which has The Body is only a convenient habitation for the Soul in this World an Instrument of Action and a Tryal and Exercise of Vertue but the Soul is to use the Body and to govern it to tast its pleasures and to set bounds to them to make the Body serviceable to the ends and purposes of Reason and Vertue not to subject Reason to Passion and Sense If the Body was made for the use of the Soul it was never intended the Soul should wholly consorm it self to it and by its sympathy with corporeal Passions transform it self into a sensual and brutish nature Such degenerate Creatures are those who live only to serve the Body who value nothing else and seek for nothing else but how to gratifie their Appetites and Lusts which is to invert
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
make up that defect and when we have done with the World to give up ourselves wholly to the service of God We should now be very importunate in our Prayers to God that for the Merits and Intercession of Christ he would freely pardon all the Sins and Frailties and Errors of our past life and give us such a comfortable hope and sence of his love to us as may support us in the hour of Death and sweeten the terrors and agonies of it We should meditate on the great love of God in sending Christ into the World to save Sinners and contemplate the height and depth and length and breadth of that love of God which passeth all humane Understanding We should represent to ourselves the wonderful condescension of the Son of God in becoming Man his amazing goodness in dying for Sinners the Just for the Unjust to reconcile us to God And when we have warmed our Souls with such thoughts as these we should break forth into raptures and extasies of Devotion in the praise of our Maker and Redeemer Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and blessing Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever 5 Revel 12 13. And besides other reasons which makes this a very proper Preparation for Death this accustoms us to the work and employment of the next World for Heaven is a life of Devotion and Praise there we shall see God and admire and adore him and sing eternal Halelujahs to him and therefore nothing can so dispose and prepare us for Heaven as to have our hearts ready tuned to the praises of God ravished with his love transported with his glory and perfections and swallowed up in the most profound and humble adorations of him 3. Thus when we are going into another World it becomes us most to have our thoughts there to consider what a blessed place that is where we shall be delivered from all the fears and sorrows and temptations of this World where we shall see God and the Blessed Jesus and converse with Angels and glorified Spirits and live an endless life without fear of dying where there is nothing but perfect love and peace no cross interests and factions to contend with no storms to ruffle or discompose our joy and rest to Eternity where there is no pain no sickness no labour no care to refresh the weariness or to repair the decays of a mortal Body not so much as the image of Death to interrupt our constant enjoyments where there is a perpetual day and an eternal calm where our Souls shall attain their utmost perfection of Knowledge and Vertue where we shall serve God not with dull and sleepy and unaffecting Devotion but with piercing thoughts with life and vigour with ravishment and transport in a word where there are such things as neither eye hath seen nor ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive These are proper thoughts for a man who is to compose himself for Death not to think of the pale and ghastly looks of Death when he shall be wrapt up in his Winding-sheet not to think of the dark and melancholly retirements of the Grave where his Body must rot and putrifie till it be raised up again immortal and glorious but to lift up his eyes to Heaven to view that lightsom and happy Country with Moses to ascend up into the Mount and take a prospect of the heavenly Canaan whither he is going This will conquer even the natural aversions to Death and make us with St. Paul desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all make it as easie to us to leave this World for Heaven as it is to remove into a more pleasant and wholesome Air or into a more convenient and beautiful House so easie so pleasant will it be to die with such thoughts as these about us This indeed ought to be the constant Exercise of the Christian Life it is fit for all times and for all persons and without some degree of it it is impossible to conquer the Temptations of the World or to live in the practice of divine and heavenly Vertues But this ought to be the constant business or entertainment rather of those happy men who have lived long enough in the World to take a fair leave of it who have run through all the Scenes and Stages of Humane Life and have now Death and another World in view and prospect And it is this makes a Retirement from the World so necessary or very useful not meerly to ease our bodily labours and to get a little rest from business to dissolve in sloth and idleness or to wander about to seek a Companion or to hear News or to talk Politicks or to find out some way to spend time which now lies upon their hands and is more uneasy and troublesom to them than business was This is a more dangerous state and does more indispose them for a happy Death than all the cares and troubles of an active Life but we must retire from this World to have more leisure and greater opportunities to prepare for the next to adorn and cultivate our Minds and dress our Souls like a Bride who is adorned to meet her Bridegroom When men converse much in this World and are distracted with the cares and business of it when they live in a crowd of Customers or Clients and are hurried from their Shops to the Exchange or Custom-house or from their Chambers to the Bar and when they have discharged one obligation are pressed hard by another that at night they have hardly Spirits left to say their Prayers nor any time for them in the morning and the Lord's Day itself is thought more proper for Rest and Refreshment than Devotion I say what dull cold apprehensions must such men have of another World And after all the care we can take how will this World insinuate itself into our affections when it imploys our time and thoughts when our whole business is buying and selling and driving good Bargains and making Conveyances and Settlements of Estates How will this disorder our Passions occasion Feuds and Quarrels give us a tincture of Pride Ambition Covetuousness that there is work enough after a busie life even for very good men to wash out these stains and pollutions and to get the tast and relish of this World out of their mouths and to revive and quicken the sence of GOD and of another World. This is a sufficient reason for such men as I observed before to think when it is time to leave off and if not wholly to withdraw from the World yet to contract their business and to have the command of it that they may have more leisure to take care of their Souls before they have so near a call and
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
of the Israelites in the Wilderness of whom God swear that they should not enter into his rest as appears from the application he himself makes of it 3 Heb. 12 13. Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God But exhort one another daily while it is called To day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin This is a plain account of that great Question concerning the length of the Day of Grace Men may out-live the time of Repentance may so harden themselves in sin as to make their Repentance morally impossible but they cannot out-live the Mercies of God to true Penitents This is reason enough to discourage Men from delaying their Repentance and indulging themselves in a vicious course of Life Lest they should be hardned by the deceitfulness of sin and should be forsaken by God but it is no reason to discourage true Penitents from trusting in the Mercy of God how late soever their Repentance be for while we live in this World the door of Grace and Mercy is not shut against true Penitents 3. But yet the reasons of lengthning the Day of Grace and Mercy do not reach beyond this Life This sufficiently appears from what I have already said and for a further confirmation of it I shall add but this one comprehensive Reason viz. That the Grace of the Gospel is confined to the Church on Earth and therefore this Life is the only time to obtain the remission of our Sins and a title to future Glory We shall be finally absolved from all our Sins and rewarded with eternal Life at the Day of Judgment but we must sue out our Pardon and make our Calling and Election sure in this World. The Gospel of Christ which is the Gospel of Grace and contains the promises of Pardon and immortal Life is preached only to Men on Earth and concerns none else For this reason Christ became Man cloathed with flesh and blood as we are that he might be the Saviour of Mankind which he need not have done had not their Salvation been to be wrought in this World for could they have been saved in the next his Grace might have met them soon enough there and therefore at the birth of our Saviour the Angels sang Glory be to God in the highest on earth peace good will towards men 2 Luke 14. The Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross as all Iewish Sacrifices which were Types of the Sacrifice of the Cross were was offered for the expiation of the Sins of living Men or at least considered as living not of the dead He carried his blood into Heaven as the High-Priest did the blood of the Sacrifice into the Holy of Holies there to make expiation and to interceed for us but this Intercession though made in Heaven relates only to Men on Earth as his Sacrifice did The earthly Tabernacle was a Type of the Church on Earth and that only and the Worshippers in it was expiated by Sacrifices There are two Sacraments whereby the Grace of the Gospel is applied to us and which are the ordinary means of Salvation Baptism and the Lord's Supper and they are confined to the Church on Earth and if they have not their effect here they cannot have it in the next World These unite us to Christ as Members of his Body and then the holy Spirit which animates the Body of Christ takes possession of us renews and sanctifies us but if we prove dead and barren Branches in this spiritual Vine if the Censures of the Church do not cut us off from the Body of Christ Death will and then we can never be re-united to him nor saved by him in the next World. Faith in Christ and Repentance from dead Works are the great Gospel-terms of Pardon and Salvation and these are confined to this World there may be something like them in the next World such a Faith as makes the Devils tremble such a Repentance as is nothing else but despairing Agonies and a hopeless and tormenting Remorse but such a Faith as purifies the heart as conquers this present World as brings forth the fruits of Righteousness such a Repentance as reforms our Lives as undoes all our past Sins as redresses the Injuries we have done to our Neighbours and the Scandal we have given to the World such a Faith and such a Repentance which alone are the true Christian Graces of Faith and Repentance are proper only for this Life and can be exercised only in this Life while we have this World to conquer and the Flesh to subdue to the Spirit while we can restore our ill-gotten Riches and set a visible Example of Piety and Vertue From hence it is very evident that no Man who dies in a state of Sin and Impenitence can be saved by Christ and by the Grace of the Gospel in the next World for the whole ministration of Gospel-grace is confined to this Life and if they cannot be saved by Christ I know no other Name whereby they can be saved And thus Death puts an end to all the flattering hopes of Sinners 3. Now if this Life be our only state of trial and probation for Eternity if Death puts a final end to our Day of Grace and time of Working then Death must translate us to an immutable and unchangeable state By this I do not mean that as soon as we go out of these Bodies our Souls will immediately be as happy or miserable as ever they shall be the perfect rewards of good Men are reserved for the Day of Judgment as the final punishments of bad Men are when our Lord shall say to those on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world And to them on the left hand Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels 25 Mat. 34 41. But though the Happiness or Miseries of the next World may increase yet the state can never alter that is if we die in a state of Grace and Favour with God we shall always continue so if we die in a state of Sin under the wrath and displeasure of God there is no altering our state in the other World we must abide under his wrath for ever This is the necessary consequence of what I have already said which all aimed at this point that once dying puts us into an immutable and unchangeable state and therefore I shall wave any further proof of this and only desire you seriously to consider of it 1. Now first since Death puts an end to our Day of Grace and determines our final State for ever and this Death comes but once all Men must confess of what mighty consequence it is to die well that Death find us well disposed and well prepared for another World. Men use their utmost prudence and caution in doing that which can be
done but once for their whole lives especially if the happiness of their whole lives depends on it for no errour can be corrected in what is to be done but once and certainly we have much more reason to prepare to die once which translates us to an immutable state of Happiness or Misery This ought to be the work and business of our whole lives to prepare for Death which comes but once but that once is for Eternity What unpardonable folly is it for any Man to be surprized by Death to fall into the Grave without thinking of it To commit a mistake which may be retrieved again to be guilty of some neglect and inadvertency when the hurt we suffer by it may be repair'd by future diligence and caution is much more excusable because it is not so fatal and irreparable a folly In this case experience may teach wisdom and wisdom is a good purchase though we may pay dear for it but a wise Man will use great caution in making an experiment which if it fail will cost him his life because that can never be tried a second time and experience is of no use in such things as can be done but once And this is the case of dying we can die but once and if we miscarry that once we are undone for ever And what considering Man would make such dangerous experiments as Sinnres do every day when their Souls are the price of the experiment Who would try how long Death will delay its coming how long he may sin on safely without thinking of Death or Judgment whether Death will give him timely notice to repent or whether God will give him grace to repent if it does Who would venture the infinite hazards of a Death-bed-repentance whether after a long life of sin and wickedness a few distracted confused and almost despairing sighs and groans will carry him to Heaven If such bold Adventurers as these when they have discovered their mistake and folly could return back into this World and live over their lives again the hazard were not so great but this is an experiment not to be twice made If they sin on till they harden themselves in sin and are forsaken of the Grace of God if Death comes long before they expected and cut them off by surprize and without warning if their dying and despairing Agonies and Horrours should not prove a true godly Sorrow not that repentance to salvation never to be repented of they are lost to Eternity And what wise Man would expose his Soul to such a hazard as this Who would not take care to make his Calling and Election sure before Death comes and in a matter of such infinite concernment wherein one miscarriage is irreparable to prevent danger at a distance 2dly We hence learn how necessary it is for those who begin well to persevere unto the end It is the conclusion of our lives which determines our future state as God expresly tells us by his Prophet Ezekiel 18 Ezek. 21 24. If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die all his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and doth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live all the righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his trespass that he hath trespassed and in his sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die And throughout the New Testament the reward is promised only to those who continue to the end And what I have now discoursed gives a plain account of this for our whole life is a state of trial and probation and if we leave off before our work be done if we stop or run backwards before we come to the end of our race we must lose our reward our crown the Christian Life is a state of Warfare and we know the last Battel gives the final Conquest and this cannot be otherwise because what comes last undoes what went before when a wicked Man turns from his wickedness and does good God in infinite Mercy thro' the Merits and Mediation of Christ will forgive his sins because he has put them away from him and undone them by repentance and a new life when a righteous Man turns from his righteousness and does wickedly his righteousness shall be forgotten because he has renounced it and parted with it and is a righteous Man no longer Now when God comes to judge the World he will judge Men as he then finds them he will not inquire what they have been but what they are he will not condemn a righteous Man because he has been wicked nor justifie a wicked Man because he has been righteous for this would be to punish the Righteous and to reward the Wicked Such as we are when we die such we shall continue for ever and therefore it is the last scene of our lives which determines our future state And should not this make us very jealous and watchful over ourselves To take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living GOD. Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of GOD lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled lest after we have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ we are again entangled therein and overcome and it happen to us according to the true proverb The dog is turned to his vomit again and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire This as the same Apostle tells us makes our latter end worse than the beginning for it had been better for us not to have known the way of righteousness than after we have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to us Let those consider this who have been blessed with a religious Education and trained up in the exercises of Piety and Vertue who have preserved themselves from the pollutions of youthful Lusts and spent their vigorous age in the service of God Can you be contented to lose all these hopeful beginnings to lose all your triumphs and victories over the World and the Flesh When you have out-rid all the storms and hurricanes of a tempting World for so many Years will you suffer yourselves to be shipwracked in the Haven When you are come within view of the promised Land will you suffer your hearts then to fail you will you then murmur and rebel against God and die in the Wilderness There has been a very warm Dispute about the Perseverance of Saints Whether those who are once in a state of Grace shall always continue so I will not undertake
neither For there is no foundation that I know of for what some pretend that God has given us greater power over our own lives than over other Mens We find no such power given us in Scripture which is the only revelation of God's will and I am sure Nature teaches us no such thing nay Nature teaches the quite contrary the natural aversions to Death and the natural principle of Self-preservation were not only intended to make us cautious of any hurt or mischief which other Men may do us but to make us careful to do no hurt to much less to destroy ourselves and therefore the voice of Nature is That we must preserve our own lives and being When God made us he did not make us the absolute Lords and Masters of our selves we cannot dispose of ourselves as we please but are his Creatures and Subjects and must receive Laws from him and that in such instances wherein the injury is done only to ourselves We must not abuse our own Bodies by Intemperance and Luxury or Lust though neither the Publick nor any private persons are injured by it and if we have not power over our own Bodies in lesser instances much less to kill them And if it be a sin to destroy our own lives it is the most mortal and damning sin for it destroys Soul and Body together because it makes our repentance impossible unless Men can repent of their sin and obtain God's pardon for it before they have committed it or can repent and obtain their pardon in the next World. Did Men seriously consider this it is impossible that the greatest shame and infamy want or suffering or whatever it is that makes them weary of life should be thought so intolerable as to make them force their passage into the other World to escape it when such a violent and unnatural escape will cost them their Souls Men may be in such evil circumstances as make death desirable but no considering Man will exchange the sufferings of this life for the endless miseries of the next If we cannot destroy our Lives and put an end to our present sufferings without destroying our Souls too we must be contented to live on and bear our lot patiently in this World which whatever it is is much more easie and tolerable than to be eternally miserable And yet God forbid that I should pronounce a final and peremptory Sentence upon all those unfortunate persons who have died by their own hands We know not what allowances God may make for some Mens opinion of the lawfulness of it and for the distraction of other Mens thoughts and passions thro' a setled melancholy or some violent temptation My business is not to limit the Soveraign and Prerogative Grace of God but to declare the nature of the thing according to the Terms of the Gospel To Murder ourselves is the most unnatural Murder it is a damning Sin and such a sin as no Man can repent of in this World and therefore unless God forgive it without repentance it can never be forgiven and the Gospel of Christ gives us no commission to preach Forgiveness of Sin without Repentance the Gospel-grace which only forgives Penitents cannot save such Men and he is a very bold Man and ventures very far upon unpromised and uncovenanted Mercy who will commit a sin which the Grace of the Gospel cannot pardon All that I have to add under this Head is the case of those who die in despair of God's Mercy This is commonly thought a very hopeless state for to despair of the mercy of God is a great sin and therefore such Men die in the actual commission of sin unrepented of and By-standers are apt to suspect their despair to be little better than their final doom and sentence and yet many times we see Men labouring under despair in their last Agonies who have to all outward appearance lived very innocent and vertuous lives and it is hard to judge so severely of them as to think they were secret Hypocrites and that God has finally rejected them because they pass such a severe judgment upon themselves Now I confess despair is as uncomfortable a state as any Man can die in but I cannot think it so fatal and dangerous as some imagine for let us consider what the nature of Despair is and wherein the sinfulness of it consists To disbelieve the Promises of Grace and Mercy made to true penitent Sinners by Jesus Christ is Infidelity not Despair and this indeed is a great and unpardonable sin for it is to renounce the Faith of Christ and the Grace of the Gospel but this is not what we commonly call Despair Such men believe the Gospel of Christ and all the Promises of it as firmly as others do they do not doubt but God will forgive all true Penitents through the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ and therefore are as true and sincere Believers as those who do not despair but their despair is in the application of these Promises to themselves that is they fear that they are not within the Terms and Conditions of Gospel-grace that they are not true Penitents that their Day of Grace is expired and now they shall not receive the Blessing though as Esau did they seek it earnestly with tears or it may be that they are Reprobates who have no right to the Promises of the Gospel Now if these Men may upon all other accounts be very good Christians but are either oppressed with melancholy or disturbed with false and mistaken notions of Religion can we think that their melancholy or mistakes which make them pass so false a judgment upon themselves shall make God condemn them too who knows them better than they know themselves Should a Man who has a delirous fancy accuse himself of Theft or Murder or Treason which he was never guilty of would a just and righteous Judge who certainly knows that he is not gulty of these crimes condemn him only because he condemns himself Suppose a Man who is in the right way to Heaven should be perswaded by some Travellers he meets that he has mistaken his way and upon this he should fall into great horrors and agonies and give himself for lost is this Man ever the further off of Heaven because he is perswaded that he has mistaken the way The false judgments dying Men make of themselves either through Enthusiasm Presumption or Despair shall not determine their final State Men may go to Hell with all the triumphs of a deluded fancy which promises nothing less than eternal Glories and those who go trembling out of this World may find themselves happily mistaken in the next It is a wrong notion of justifying Faith which makes Men conclude Despair to be so damning and unpardonable a Sin if justifying Faith were nothing else but a strong belief and perswasion that we are justified there were good reason to conclude Despair to be a mortal Sin because it is
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
dying is to confirm our selves in this belief that Death does not put an end to us that our Souls shall survive in a state of Bliss and Happiness when our Bodies shall rot in their Graves and that these mortal Bodies themselves shall at the sound of the last Trump rise again out of the dust immortal and glorious A Man who believes and expects this can have no reason to be afraid of Death nay he has great reason not to fear Death and that will reconcile him to the thoughts of it though he trembles a little under the weaknesses and aversions of Nature II. Besides the natural Aversions to Death most Men have contracted a great fondness and passion for this World and that makes them so unwilling to leave it whatever glorious things they hear of another World they see what is to be had in this and they like it so well that they do not expect to mend themselves but if they were at their choice would stay where they are and this is a double death to them to be snatched away from their admired enjoyments and to leave whatever they love and delight in behind them and there is no remedy that I know of for these Men to cure their fears of Death but only to rectifie their mistaken opinions of things to open their eyes to see the Vanity of this World and the brighter and more dazling Glories of the next There are different degrees of this and therefore this remedy must be differently applied some Men are wholly sunk into flesh and sence and have no tast at all of rational and manly Pleasures much less of those which are purely intellectual and divine they are Slaves to their lusts lay no restraints on their bruitish appetites the World is their God and they dote on the riches and pleasures and honours of it as the only real and substantial goods Now these Men have great reason to be afraid of Death for when they go out of this World they will find nothing that belongs to this World in the next and thus their happiness and their lives must end together It is fitting they should fear Death for if the fear of Death will not cure their fondness for this World nothing else can you must not expect to perswade them that the next World is a happier place than this but the best way is to set before them the terrors of the next World those Lakes of Fire and Brimstone prepared for the Devil and his Angels to ask them our Saviour's question What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul These Men ought to fear on till the fear of Death cures their vicious passion and fondness for this World and then the fear of Death will by degrees cure itself Others there are who have a true reverence for God and govern their inclinations and passions to the things of this World with regard to his Laws they will not raise an Estate by Injustice Oppression or Perjury they will not transgress the Rules of Sobriety and Modesty in the use of sensual Pleasures they will not purchase the honours and preferments of this World at the price of their Souls but yet they love this World very well and are extreamly delighted in the enjoyments of it they have a plentiful Fortune or a thriving Trade or the Favour of their Prince they live at ease and think this World a very pleasant place and are ready to cry It is good for us to be here Now it cannot be avoided but that in proportion to Mens love of this World though it be not an immoral and irregular passion they will be more afraid and more unwilling to leave it when we are in the full enjoyment of an earthly Felicity it is difficult for very good Men to have such a strong and vigorous sence of the next World as to make them willing and contented to leave this they desire to go to Heaven but they are not over-hasty in their desires they can be better pleased if God sees fit to stay here a little longer and when they find themselves a going are apt to cast back their eyes upon this World as those who are loth to part This makes it so necessary for God to exercise even good Men with afflictions and sufferings to wean them from this World which is a Scene of Misery and to raise their hearts to Heaven where true and unmixt Happiness dwells The only way then to cure this fear of Death is to mortifie all remains of love and affection for this World to withdraw ourselves as much as may be from the conversation of it to use it very sparingly and with great indifferency to supply the wants of Nature rather than to enjoy the pleasures of it to have our conversation in Heaven to meditate on the glories of that blessed Place to live in this World upon the hopes of unseen things to accustom our selves to the work and to the pleasures of Heaven to praise and adore the Great Maker and Redeemer of the World to mingle ourselves with the heavenly Quire and possess our very fancies and imaginations with the glory and happiness of seeing GOD and the Blessed JESUS of dwelling in his immediate Presence of conversing with Saints and Angels this is to live like Strangers in this World and like Citizens of Heaven and then it will be as easie to us to leave this World for Heaven as it is for a Traveller to leave a foreign Country to return home This is the height and perfection of Christian Vertue it is our mortifying the Flesh with its affections and lusts it is our dying to this World and living to God and when we are dead to this World the fear of dying and leaving this World is over For what should a Man do in this World who is dead to it When we are alive to God nothing can be so desirable as to go to him for here we live to God only by Faith and Hope but that is the proper place for this divine Life where God dwells So that in short a life of Faith as it is our Victory over this World so it is our Victory over Death too it disarms it of all its fears and terrors it raises our hearts so much above this World that we are very well pleased to get rid of these Bodies which keep us here and to leave them in the Grave in hopes of a blessed Resurrection III. The most tormenting Fears of Death are owing to a sence of Guilt which indeed are rather a fear of Judgement than of Death or a fear of Death as it sends us to Judgment and here we must distinguish between three sorts of Men whose Case is very different 1. Those who are very good Men who have made it the care of their lives to please GOD and to save their Souls 2. Those who have