Truth 1. Prop. Man in his first Creation was not made Mortal or Corruptible Adam fell into a dying condition in the day that he Rebelled against the Crown and Dignity of Heaven I know the Question is much controverted Whether Adam were made Immortal or no This were to make Death necessary before Sin which the Apostle contradicts when he writes Rom. 5. That by one mans sin death came into the World and Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death Death is the fruit and effect of our Disobedience and passes upon all inasmuch as all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Prop. All men are now subject unto death as it is poenal The first Sentence reaches all Mankind Gen. 2.17 Most men look on Death as the common lot and condition of Mankind resulting from their frail condition and the jarring and warring Principles of their composition which for want of poise destroy one another They think it belongs onely to our Natural and not at all to our Moral Capacity reckoning it to be the consequent of their Being and not the demerit and punishment of our Guilt It is very true though the principles of our Nature are subject to Dissolution yet if we had not declined from the Law of our Creation we had not inclined to the Grave or Corruption but God had made our Life commensurate with our Holiness and prolonged our Time with our Obedience But alas Death now is not more Natural than it is Poenal All Mankind is Condemned as soon as Born Life is a Reprieve and short suspension of the execution of that Sentence which in the day of Adam's Transgression was pronounced on him and his descendants And oh miserable we if we improve not this small scantling of time to sue out our Pardon and make our peace with this incensed Judge of Heaven and Earth who though he be a Serene yet withal is a dreadful Majesty and will infallibly Execute the severity of the Sentence on every Offender who doth not timely accept and comply with those Terms and Articles of Peace which in the Preaching of his Gospel are tendred to them 3. Prop. Fear and Bondage are inseparable attendants on such a sinful and poenal state It cannot be avoided but that the expectation of Death in such a condition must be very troublesome This is a strait Yoak and will pinch the Necks of all the Sons and Daughters of Adam though some wear it more easily than others This will perplex our minds raise storms within and sink us frequently into deep despondencies for we know not how to cast it off in vain are all attempts to slip the Neck out of this Collar we are unable to deliver ourselves no man can free his own Soul We are in God's Chain and it is impossible to break it all our strivings will contribute nothing to its Removal but onely gall and torment us more 4. Prop. Whatsover bitterness and gall there is in Death it is from Sin that makes it more terrible than otherwise it would be 1 Cor. 15.56 The sting of Death is sin So many Sins as thou committest so many stings thou puttest into thy Death to render it more dreadful to thee Could a man dye and have no Sin laid to his Charge though there might be some pain yet there could not be Terror in his departure out of this World Well may Death be called the Terrible of Terribles when there is not onely an apprehension of the dissolution and divorce between the Soul and Body but there interposes and starts up the guilt of many Sins which confront the Sinner and stare him in the face nay those sins that had a gaudy and tempting dress will then be strip'd of all their feigned Beauties and appear in all their dreadful Circumstances agitating and terrifying the Consciences of men with the expectation and dread of future Evils When the Sinner dare not die yet cannot live what Convulsions must there needs be in his Breast which must terrify him like the cracks of a falling House What a calm and well-natured Death might a man have far beyond that Euthanasia which Augustus wished for himself if Sin and Hell and approaching Judgment and a gnawing Worm within did not drive him into Agonies and Despair Alas when nothing is in view to him but these things and the conclusion of the whole matter will with him be nothing short of hideous Darkness and a tormenting Fire having Heat but no Light gnashing of Teeth late Remorse incurable Wounds Self-hatred and all imaginable distresses even to be hated of God and to hate him for ever He must needs turn away his Face in the anguish of his Soul from beholding such distracting Objects These things our Sins procure for us and fill our Souls with all the anticipations of Hell 5. Prop. The Death of Christ applyed by Faith is the onely Soveraign Remedy to deliver us out of this estate of Fear and Slavery Our Heavenly Elisha hath cast Salt into those bitter Waters and so healed them Death to a Believer is a Serpent without a sting He hath fortified us against these Fears two ways 1. By giving us the example of his Dying His tasting of Death before hand keeps it from being a Cup of Trembling and wonderfully will this animate our Spirits under all dejections That our Lord walked in this dark Valley before us 2. By affording us the merit and efficacy of his Death This is very operative to this purpose to consider That our Redeemer and the Captain of our Salvation undertook our Deliverance by his own Death so that now there is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.1 For being justified by Faith in the Death of Christ they have peace with God and in themselves Rom. 5.1 Thus has Christ changed the nature of Death that it should be more desirable than dreadful to a good Man being like Josephs Chariot sent for dying Jacob to carry us to the place of our hope and desire This made the Apostle ring that sharp and shrill Note in the ears of Death and send that bold and brave Challenge to the last eneny 1 Cor. 15.55 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Death is swallowed up in Victory It is not now so much an Outlet of Temporal as an Inlet of Eternal Life Well might the Apostle write insultingly as a man offering Sacrifice for Victory and singing a Triumphant Song while his Feet stood on the Neck of his Enemy We know now to whom to have Recourse when our Spirits droop at the apprehension of our Decease not to Saints or Angels not to the Blessed Virgin her self but to her Son who is the Lord of Life that Brazen Serpent we are to look upon when that Fiery one of Death puts out his Sting and we are sufficiently Antidoted against all the Poyson that is spit at us Thus we see the Children though they cannot escape the stroak yet they are freed from
A SERMON Preached at St. Botolphs Aldersgate At the FUNERAL OF ROBERT HVNTINGTON Esq Who DIED April 21. and was BURIED April 30. 1684. BY TIMOTHY HALL Rector of Alhallows Staining London LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1684. TO THE Worshipful and my much valued Friends Esquires Sons and Executors of the Deceased ROBERT HVNTINGTON JOHN FREIND THOMAS BRVMPSTED And to Mr. TIMOTHY DOD And to their Worthy and Religious Consorts Mrs. ELIZABETH HVNTINGTON Mrs. ANN FREIND Mrs. MARTHA BRVMSTED Mrs. ELIZABETH DOD FVnerals may well be stiled with Sacraments Visible Sermons because they teach by the Eye and outward Senses The Dead speak aloud to the Living and as it were in a Glass represent to them what their condition in the circulation of a little time will be Shortly we shall be in the place of Silence with them When we see others fall before us how easily and naturally is it infer'd that our standing cannot be long after them Yet how apt are we to flatter our selves with the spinning out of our Thred of Life to a great length A man would wonder that in the Wilderness where so many Thousands died Moses should then pray Lord so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Psal 90.12 If they who had so many dying Objects continually before them needed to be stirred up to pray in this manner surely much more have we to whom such spectacles though many are more infrequent To Correct this folly and madness which possesseth the hearts of men while they live Eccles 9.3 Who turn away their Eyes from their Sepulchre and divert them with more pleasing prospects I have ventured to comply with your Requests in Publishing this Sermon I am equally surprised That you should desire and I permit so thin a Discourse to appear abroad I expect to be Censured for distributing a Trifle amongst so many of you I take you all joyntly in the Dedication because on this occasion to have addressed to one might have been interpreted a disregard to the rest Besides it being Preached by your Order and by the same influence being now made Publick I engage you to be accountable with me for all the rude strokes in it I know your design was to keep up his Memory but such an hasty Monument Erected to it cannot long preserve it I had neither Art nor time to build one The Errand this Discourse comes on is not to desire you to remember your Father It would be a rudeness to request that he might live in your thoughts I am sensible you will do that without my being your Remembrancer but I beg That nothing which was Exemplary in him be Buried with him and sealed up in his Grave That you would improve what was delivered at his Funeral to the best Spiritual advantages that you may live as strangers in this World and persons belonging to a better That it may prove effectual to the furtherance and joy of your Faith shall be a considerable part of the hearty Prayers of Yours to Serve you TIMOTHY HALL Heb. II. 15. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage THE Apostle in the former part of this Chapter having asserted the nature and necessity of the Incarnation and Death of Christ he now in my Text and the preceding Verse to it acquaints us with the ends and uses of it All the Host of Heaven stood amazed at this great Mystery expecting what would be the issue of this great Trial. Men and Devils could not fathom the depths of God's design in this dismal Tragedy They verily concluded That the Captain of our Salvation would now be conquered and that they should hear no more of him when once he was humbled to his Grave Can he save others who cannot save himself Can he bring life to others by his own death After this Sarcastical manner the Heathens upbraided the Christians and the Apostle tells us That this Death and Cross of our Lords was a stumbling-block to the Jews and folly to the Greeks 1 Cor. 1.18 23. And thus indeed it well might have been had not that All-wise God who brings light out of darkness and meat out of the eater by his unsearchable counsel and wisdom over-ruled this matter so that the Death of Christ like to that of Sampson's should issue and conclude in the utter rout and overthrow of his and our greatest Adversaries Whil'st they bruised his heel he brake their head Thus by his wise disposal he made Suffering to be Saving Death Victorious and the Stripes of his Son to be Medicinal and Healing to us One end was to destroy the power of Satan to break the head of that Serpent stilling this enemy and self-avenger Psal 8.2 Leading captivity captive Psal 68.18 Binding the strong man Matt. 12. And dividing the spoil with him Isa 53. Thus this great destroyer was quelled and conquered and at the Sign of the Cross thus used by faith in his death I mean we may at any time put the Devil to flight and cast out the Prince of this World The other end is mentioned in my Text to deliver them who through fear of Death c. Which words acquaint us with a double subjection of the Servants or Children of God as they are called in the foregoing Verse 1. A subjection to Death 2. A subjection to Bondage upon account of Death From whence I gather these Propositions Prop. 1. God's own Children those for whom Christ dyed may be brought and kept under the fear of Death Prop. 2. The fear of Death is a state of Bondage Prop. 3. The onely deliverance from this fear is by the Death of Christ I shall make the first the subject-matter of my Discourse at this time and in treating on that shall comprehend the other God's own Children those for whom Christ died may be brought under nay kept under the fear of death and this fear may be so great and pressing that it may be a heavy burthen it may gall them much and deeply affect their Souls to their great disquietment so that they may have many uneasie hours and doleful complaints it may bring them into an Estate of Slavery and Bondage And this trouble may not onely be heavy and great for its nature but long and continued for its duration it may run Parallel with the longest date of their time and not come onely by way of Paroxism and Fit but hold them all their life long So that in the best the fear of Death is not wholly destroyed and removed Grace doth not extinguish Nature and the Christian doth not cease to be Man There is a double fear of Death 1. Natural and inseperable from our present condition There is implanted in Man a desire of Self-preservation and this is Natures aversation to its own dissolution This is an innocent and guiltless infirmity and
14.13 is very applicable to their Dying condition their heart gives their mouth the Lye Indeed sometimes like furious Gamesters they throw up their Cards not out of any dislike of gaming but of their Games they are rather discontented with Life than contented with Death but yet such reassume their Play and go on afresh and so do these Passionate Fools upon second thoughts eat their words and unwish their wishes Such are like to Gaal in his drink Judg. 9.27 He cursed Abimileeh when he was at a great distance speaks very contemptibly of him brags how he would use him if he had him in his Clutches ver 29. But upon Abimelechs appearance his courage was cooled his heart sunk into his heels for he fled before him ver 40. Mens sins will one time or other sink their spirits and make their Death dreadful and that upon account 1. Of the guilt that is in sin To apprehend sin unpardoned amazes and confounds and therefore God's Arrest by Death must make the knees smite and strike one against another Belshazzar like who could not hold his joynts still 2. Of the filth in sin The defilement of it is so great that it makes the sinner startle Such squalid and nasty sights must needs occasion the turning away of our Eyes Who can look upon them and live The Sinner often sinks and drops at the view of his Lusts they have a killing Aspect 4. Excessive love of Life and of this World begets immoderate fear of Death When Mens hearts are so closely united to Creature-comforts they cannot be torn from them without much violence and pain What we over love in the Enjoyment we over-fear in the Apprehensions of its loss A Child that has tasted much of the Breast cannot be pulled from it without much crying Things glued together are seldom parted without tearing or breaking If thy Portion is onely in this Life thou art utterly undone when it is ended and who can blame a man for fearing the loss of his All It is a Canonical Truth though in the Apocryphal Writings O death how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that liveth at rest in his possessions Eccles 40.1 How sad a sight is a Hand writing on the Wall to a Belshazzar in his Cups To a rich man dreaming of his goods laid up for many years how sad and confounding must that voice be Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee Luk. 12.20 It was a wise and Christian Speech of Charles the Fifth to the Duke of Venice who Hezekiah-like shewed him the Glories of his Throne and Palace his great Wealth and Riches Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori These are the things that make us loath to Dye 5. This fear is frequently occasioned by too much carelesness about our worldly Affairs I mean the neglect of a provident timely setting our House in order and adjourning this necessary and hard Work to the dregs of our Age. That which should be the living Mans care is too often the dying Man's task The ending of our Accounts with Men and the beginning of our Accounts with God are both of them generally put off to the inconvenient season of a Death-bed To reckon with God and Man at once is too hard a Province for a sick and languishing sinner Many more Grounds might be assigned I shall add but one more 6. The breach of former sick-bed Vows and Resolutions when we were in fear of Death renders men more fearful when once they come in sight of it The Answer is not amiss which Theodoricus Bishop of Coleine gave to the Emperor Sigismund upon his inquity which way he might best get to Heaven If thou walkest said the Bishop so as thou didst promise under thy painful fit of the Stone Our Extremity commonly renders us holy and our Pain is prodigal of those Vows which our ease is niggardly of performing We daily see desperation making those Votaries who in their health were the loosest Libertines Were it essential to Health thus to debauch us it would make a good man out of love with it It were better to be always Sick than for our Health to maks us Irreligious Let us pray to God to remedy this Sickness of our Health and to bless us rather with sanctified afflictions than curse us with unsanctified prosperity I now am to speak to the third Particular and that by way of Use and Application 3. To give some Prescriptions and Remedies by way of Antidote and Defence against the Fears of Death It was one of the defects which the Learned Verulam In his advancement of Learning found in our Physitians that they do not study those Rmedies which might procure an Euthanasy an easie passage to their Patients since they must needs dye thorough the Gates of Death Such helps must be left saith Bishop Hall to the care of the skilful Sages of Nature the use whereof must be with great caution lest while they endeavour to sweeten Death they shorten Life My work at present is to prescribe spiritual helps to an easie and comfortable departure out of the houling Wilderness of this World to make the Grave-bed soft that we may lye down in Peace there and descend to those dark Chambers with as great desire as a weary Traveller lies down to Sleep The neglect of looking to this while we live is the cause why Death comes on so many as a Snare as amongst many other it did on Caesar Borgia the wicked Son of a worse Father viz. Pope Alexander the sixth who meeting Death in that Cup of Poyson which he had prepared for others cried out with great Consternation under this terrible Surprise Adversus omnia pericula me munivi praeter quam mortem That he had armed himself against all casualties excepting Death for of that he never thought Amazing and deplorable inconsideration that men should find time to think of all things but those which do most nearly concern them that Heaven and Hell Death and Judgment should then only come into mens thoughts when they have nothing else to think of How solicitous are we to fortifie our selves against external evils timely engaging against Sickness and Poverty Banishment and Imprisonment Cold and Hunger Shame and Scandal but laying little or nothing up against the evil day Death comes and seizes most with a heavy hand because so little is done to bear up against it Take notice here of the excellency of the Christian Doctrine which affords beyond all other Professions the greatest relief in this way Some Phylosophers have essayed upon comforts of this Nature and Epicurus tells us if a wise man were to burn in Phalaris Bull he might say Dulcae est ad me nihil pertinet But these were empty brags and founded on some principles of which we may say as Job to his Friends Ye are miserable comforters such as these 1. Premeditation on it before it comes others rejected this as much because it
what reason hast thou to be troubld when as Joshua expresses it thou goest the way of all the earth If all Travel this Road art thou so foolish as to think there should be a by-path for thee to go alone None can Redeem his Brothers no not his own Life from Death Monarchs Emperors Patriarchs Prophets Apostles have trod this Tract nay Christ himself why then dost thou fear to follow such a glorious Company Grudg if thou wilt that thou art a Man grudg not that being a Man thou must die Where are the Fathers of old Do the Prophets live for ever This is the Kings high-way and the Beggars also You tread no untrodden Tract You are not the first set out this way nor will be the last Thou dost not break the Ice first 4. Direct Familiarize Death in thy thoughts This familiarity with it will breed contempt of it Men little think of Dying therefore are the terrors of Death so stinging Plato perswading to the thoughts of Death defined true Philosophy to be a Meditation of Death Even Tygers and Lions which at their first sight affright by frequent viewing abate their terror Look it often in the Face and thou wilt sooner be reconciled to its hard Features and grim Countenance Bid Death to thy Board to thy Bed to thy Closet to thy Counting house and thy Shop walk with him in thy Garden as Joseph of Arimathea did Dye daily in your Thoughts and Meditations and when you come to it actually you will die more delightfully It is for want of these thoughts that mens Souls are chased out by Violence rather than yielded up to God in Obedience 5. Direct Ponder on the happy advantage of your dissolution This is a large Cluster and I cannot tarry to give it you Grape by Grape 1. Death will give thee a freedom from all evil Whether of Sin or Sorrow cure all your Diseases and Infirmities dry up all your tears When the stroke is once struck adieu then to the Temptaions of Satan the rage of Persecutors distempers of Mind deformities of Body disgrace of Name unfaithfulness of Friends undutifulness of Children loss of Estate and whatever else makes life bitter Didst never cry out who should deliver thee with the Apostle Rom. 7.24 and art troubled when a Liberate is sent Art afraid to Land after such Storms and Tempests How many have desired Death nay sinfullly destroyed their Lives to deliver themselves from Griefs Fears Wants and Pains 'T is true he Sins highly that goes away out of this World before God calls him yet who would refuse to go when once he is call'd 2. It will put thee into possession of thine Inheritance I desire to depart and to be with Christ Who would tarry so long from his dear Lord that might have passage to him When the Heathen Socrates was to dye for his Religion he was greatly comforted at his Death with this that he should go to the place where he should meet Orphous Homer Hesiod and many other Worthies of the former Ages Had he but known Christ the order of Cherubim and Seraphim Angels glorified Saints Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors our Fathers Mothers near Relations and dear Friends and the rest of the glorious Heirarchy of Heaven he would then doubtless have taken down his deadly draught of Hemlock with greater relish and satisfaction The Proto-Martyr Stephen triumphed over Death when he saw the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing on Gods right hand Faith will help to the same beatifical Vision and Prospect It is pleasant to the eyes to behold the Sun but the Sun is as darkness and altogether useless in that Kingdom of Glory Rev. 21.23 Rev. 22.3 4 5. If David in the Wilderness so impatiently thirsted to appear before the living God in an earthly Jerusalem how earnestly should we long to see his glory in the heavenly one Psal 42. The glimps of his back parts was as much as Moses might behold yet that put a shining glory on his Face what will it be then to see him face to face The glimps of Christ in his transfiguration ravished Three Apostles who beheld it St. Pauls Vision that did wrap him up in the third Heavens advanced him above the rest of mankind but the beatifical Vision of the Glory of the Great God far excels all This leads me to the next particular 6. Direct Renew your familiarity with the blessed ones above Remember that great Army of God The souls of the just from Adam till now are all got safe thorough this dead Sea and are triumphing in Heaven already and that there are but a few straglers in the end of the World left behind and then which part do you desire to be with But especially remember that Jesus your head is entred into the Heavens before you and is preparing a place for you not being willing to be there without your company He would have you there to behold his Glory and do not these considerations provoke you to covet to be united to that heavenly Quire above which incessantly Sing not resting either day or night that melodious Anthem to him that sits on the Throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever of blessing and honour and glory and power Rev. 5.13 Many more things might be added by way of Direction but I shall add but this one more tho the most considerable and important 7. Direct Act faith on the death of Christ Here is the main prop and pillar of comfort Who would have dared to dye had not our Lord dyed first he has taken away the Sting of Death what harm can there be in a stingless Snake He hath cut the lock of Sin where the strength of Death lay Hosea 13.14 O Death I will be thy plagues O grave I will be thy destruction Christ hath happily triumphed over it both for himself and thee his precious Blood has altered its Complexion and turn'd its pale Face into a beautiful Sanguine Our Redeemer having unstung it we may safely put it into our Bosomes It is an Enemy indeed but a Conquered and disarm'd one Dost dread an Enemy Vanquish'd to thy hand and sprawling at thy feet Hath David killed this great and formidable Goliah and shall not trembling Israel recover their Spirits and up and pursue the Philistines Shall a Conquered Enemy disanimate the Conquerors Remember and revive O Christian The Captain of thy Salvation has not onely destroyed but sanctified the Grave to thee and perfumed the dust thereof with his own body What comfortable words are those Because I live ye shall live also John 14.19 The Grave that otherwise affords but a noysom smell smells sweet ever since the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Vallies lay in it This dark hole is made lightsome ever since that true Light for a time Eclipsed shone out of it Thus our Sampson has found an honey-comb in the Carcase of this Lion Christ is the Lion of the