Spirit Mark first he calleth Christ Lord implying him to be his Redeemer and Owner that bought him Secondly He commendeth into his hands his spirit being perswaded that he was able to keep it and to restore it So * Such Examples are superadded for Illustration Babylas of Antioch the Martyr for he said when he was dying Return O my Soul unto thy rest because the Lord hath blessed thee because thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears my feet from falling I shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living So †Dr. Hill in his direct to dye well p. 179. Peter Martyr for he said My Body is weak but my mind is well There is no Salvation but only by Christ who was given of the Father to be a Redeemer of mankind this is my Faith in which I die So blessed * Bagshaw in the life and death of Mr. Bolton p. 34. Bolton who when he was dying said to his hearers I feel nothing in my soul but Christ with whom I heartily desire to be So Pareus as the Preacher relates it in his Funeral-Sermon which I heard my self wrote to the same effect when his speech was gone This Catarrh hath taken away the use of my speech but he shall never rob me of my Faith in Christ The first Reason And it cannot be otherwise For 1. Their Faith can never fail them Luke 21.32 being like mustard-seed indeed Luke 17.6 which being ing once * Hemin l. 3. c. 24 sowen in a garden can hardly ever be rooted out again so that needs it must shew it self in death as well as life The second Reason 2. In death the Saints of God had most need of the use of their Faith by reason of First Satan who then will be sure to sift them as he sifted Peter Luke 22.31 and to bend all his forces against them to make them either presume or despair Secondly Carnal Reason which then will most of all discourage them suggesting such reasonings as these * Bernard Serm de Parm. 7 miserecord Who art thou or how great is that Glory and by which works thinkest thou to obtain it Thirdly Their own self-accusing Consciences who then above all times will most accuse them Rom. 2.15 being stirred up by Satan who is called the Accuser of the Brethren Rev. 12.10 So that they cannot but then especially exercise their Faith even as Souldiers in assaults and sharpest conflicts and battles when they must either conquer or die will then use their chiefest weapon most of all and so even die fighting if they must needs die like †Plutarchus Epaminondas who so ended his dayes in a fight I say the Saints cannot but so in like manner use their Faith as their principal weapon then most of all and so consequently die in with by and according to Faith APPLICATION For Application I 'll now deduce hence three Inferences 1. The Excellency of Saving-Faith 2. The Nullity of many mens pretended Faith 3. The Duty of all that will be counted godly and to be truly ennobled with Saving-Faith Of these in order The first Inference 1. Great then is the Excellency of Saving-Faith which holdeth out in death it self when Strength Physick Friends and all things else faile us Saul and Jonathan said David after their death were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their Death they were not divided 2 Sam. 1.23 The same may be said of all the Godly and their Faith after their departure that they were lovely and sweet companions in their lives and that in their very death they were not divided for These all dyed in the Faith saith the Apostle of the Godly that is as I shewed in my former Exposition with Faith having Faith for their companion in their death and expiration And therefore what do we talk of Silver Gold and earthly Jewels that they are excellent and precious things here is a Jewel indeed a most excellent and precious thing without all comparison even Saving-Faith which in death it self stands by us and tells us in a manner that whilst we breath it will never leave us nor forsake us yea abideth with us in some sort as * Est etiam fides rerum quando non verbis sed rebus ipsis praesentibus creditur quod erit cum per speciem manifest am se contemplandam praebebit Dei sapientia Aug. 2. quaest Evangel cap. 39. Est enim duples sides 1. Verborum in hac vita 2. Rerum in futura Vid. Lombard 1.3 dist 24. Ames Medulla Theol. lib. 2. c. 6. some say even after death which is more whereas neither Silver nor Gold nor Gemmes nor any other earthly thing can then stead us when the last breath leaves us the pangs of death are upon us O Faith Faith how admirable and amiable art thou therefore and must needs be in the eyes of him that hath thee for if heaps of Silver and Gold and Pearls which in death we must leave behind us be so precious as usually they are in the estimation of those that possess them thou must needs be or shouldst be infinitely more precious in the judgment of him who so hath thee as that in death it self he cannot lose thee O that my soul were but condignly affected with thy transcendent Excellency that so I might accordingly set that value and price upon thee as befits thy most rare and admirable Eminency And O that you also my Beloved were but thorowly convinced of this stupendious Excellency of Saving-Faith For then there is no question but you would labour more after so rare a Jewel as Faith is if you did want it and make more account and use of it then you do if you have it The Lord open your eyes that you may see the Orient Splendor and matchless worth of this rarest Pearl which in death it self will not depart from ye The Second Inference 2. This sheweth the Nullity of many mens pretended Faith for who will believe it that they have or ever had true Saving-Faith who before they come to die live so loosely as that Heathens and Turks themselves who are professed Infidels cannot well live more licensiously Of this sort are they that 1. Hate and despise so the Power of Religion in all those that are most happily ennobled with it 2 Tim. 3.12 2. Live so prophanely themselves as that Esau himself in his Prophaness could not out-strip them Heb. 12 16. caring neither for God nor Church nor Teacher nor Prayer nor Bible nor Sabbath nor any other part of God's most holy Worship 3. Tear so the sacred Name of God with their bloody Oaths In a word those that are so disobedient to Parents Husbands Masters and so angry fierce and passionate in their speeches so unfaithful unjust and deceitful in their dealings so mendacious and false in their communications so envious covetous and ambitious in their hearts and so lascivious filthy and
drink of the same Cup too 7. Reas Nay how can they be conformable to the same eternal Son of God their Lord and Saviour as they must be even by the unalterable eternal Decree of God Rom. 8.29 if they should not die as he dyed leaving us all an Example to follow after As if he should have said as much in effect as once Gideon said to his followers Judg. 7.17 As I do so shall ye do or rather mutatis mutandis as I die so shall you die after The Third Prosecution Object You will say unto me Why then was Enoch translated before the Flood and Elias after and why saith the Apostle We shall not all sleep 1 Cor. 15.51 if good men must die as well as others To this I answer Sol. Their very Translation was not without a kind of Death for they were changed and Death is but a change Job 14.14 The same may be said of those 1 Cor. 15.51 2d Object If you reply But what meaneth then the Apostle by this Antithesis when he saith expresly We shall not all sleep but we shall be changed Sol. I answer These words have troubled some not a little and therefore we shall find three differing Latin Translations 1. Some read the words thus We shall not die but we shall all be changed 2. Others read them thus We shall all rise but we shall not all be changed 3. Others thus We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed The Cause of which diversity I conceive to be this Because some were offended by the Greek Copies as 〈◊〉 they did contradict that in Heb. 9.29 but we need 〈◊〉 go so far as they a Distinction 〈…〉 all There is a twofold Death 1. Ordinary 2. Extraordinary 1. The Ordinary is a Solution of the Soul from the Body 2. The Extraordinary is an Abolition of mans corruptible Nature Now then when the Apostle tells us We shall not all die but we shall all be changed the sence of his words is not that therefore some shall not die at all but only that some shall not die an ordinary death because their souls shall not be severed from their bodies which notwithstanding it may be said that they shall die a kind of death which we call Extraordinary because there cannot be a change without an abolition of the former corruptible Nature The Third Prosecution I should now set sail and lanch forthwith into the deep of your hearts by some powerful Application but that I must clear all things first behind me before I can comfortably commit my self to such a vast Sea of Matter as is now before me declaring what I mean by the Death of the Godly when I say They must die like other men 1. Some things their death hath common with the deaths of the Ungodly 2. Some thing it hath peculiar I. The Commonness of both Deaths consists in six Respects 1st Respect As the Souls of the Ungodly are separated from their Bodies so the Souls of the Godly unless God take them away by a Death Extraordinary like Enoch and Elias Ecles 12.7 2d Respect As the Dissolution being natural and not violent followeth in the one when natural heat faileth the radical humour being by heat dryed up and exhausted like Oyl in a Lamp which also thereupon goes out and is extinguished so in the other Hence it is that the Grecians have called the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they are humourless 3d. Respect As this Dissolution when it is * Cic. l. 1. Tuscul Quaest violent happeneth in the one either by a casual substraction of the radical humour or by a suffocation of the natural heat upon some opposition made inwardly or outwardly so in the other See 1 Sam. 31.6 4th Resp As the dissolution of the one if it be not sudden happeneth * Suarez Metaphys Disputat 11. to 1. sect 3. fol. 232. two wayes 1. By divers Alterations and Dispositions which precede the instant of Death and corrupt the subject 2. By that destruction which it causeth in the very instant of death So the other 5. Resp As the Dissolution of the one is not only a separation of their souls and bodies but also a dissolution of those things whereof their bodies were compounded which also is aptly called Corruption 1 Cor. 15.12 so the Dissolution of the other 6. Resp As the one leaveth this world and goeth hence to some other place so the other Psal 39.13 Acts 1.25 So that * Socrates apud Plat. Socrates's description of Death may well be received as very proper and pertinent Death is the souls change of one place for another II. The Peculiarity of the Death of the Godly consisteth or will appear in sive things 1. Though the Souls of the Godly be dis-joyned from their Bodies like the souls of others yet are they not so violently taken away like the souls of others Luke 12.20 but rather surrendred with their good will and liking Mat. 27.50 Acts 7.59 2. The death of the Godly is not only a dissolution of the soul and body but also a separation of both from Sin Rom. 6.7 3. It is an abolition of all humane Frailties Rev. 11.4 so that one may truly say of it as a Martyr said to his fellow-Martyr of that bloody Bishop of London My Lord of London will be our good Physitian and cure us both c. 4. It is but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Peregrination as Socrates calls it or a Transitus and an Exodus a going over and comming out not an Interitus or going down I say it is an Exodus or going out like the comming of Israel out of Egypt for so the Godly do but leave this World which is like Egypt full of toyl and pass on even triumphantly thorow the abhorred Confines of the King of Fear being carried upon the wings of Joy and in the arms of Angels into the Celestial Canaan which is full of unknown Delights and endless bliss Luke 23.43 Rev. 14.13 5. Nay it is a making rather than a marring of them a reparation and not a destruction In a word a state of Perfection and not of Perdition for being dead they are said to be made perfect Heb. 12.23 So that the Hebrews have aptly termed Death in that regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words being inverted are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which words signifie Perfection and Innocency to shew that Death shuts up and sinisheth all Imperfection and makes compleat and perfect When therefore I say that the Godly also must die like others I regard those six Respects which their death hath common with the death of others for otherwise though they dye as well as others yet do not they die like others in regard of those five Peculiarities which here I have purposely specified that the vast Difference which is between the Death of both might appear and be
wanton in their lives these even all these questionless neither have now nor ever had yet that true and Saving-Faith in which by which with which and according to which the Godly who only are true Believers both live and die for they rather live in their sins in general and by their cozening cheating usurious lending and lying in special and according to their envious lustful covetous ambitious prophane and atheistical hearts desire than in by with and according to Saving-Faith and as they live so they will die unless God grant them Faith and Repentance before in with and according to their sins Nam qualis vita finisita For as men live so they die usually My meaning is 1. As here they have no Faith so in death they shall have no Comfort nor Joy nor Peace Isa 48.22 2. And as here they could not live without scoffing deriding swearing cursing cozening lying contending whoring and prophaning of God's Sacred Name Word and Sacraments so after their death they shall not be able to live without suffering the Vengeance of Eternal Fire for their boldness in sinning Rom. 2.8 9. 3. And as here they did even exceed in their drink pride malice envy wrath strife contention lust avarice atheism authotheism polytheism and epicurism so God will exceed in punishing adjudging and condemning them to so much greater torments than others as they have been greater and more heinous offenders than other for God will render unto every man according to his deeds Rom. 2.6 Mark According that is proportionably Hence (b) Bonaventura Brevil p. 7. c. 7. Bonaventure because that infernal Fire burneth not but according to the disposition of sin and of that guilt and spot which preceding the improbity of lust hath contracted and because that is not equal in all therefore it is that some are more burnt than others in the same This will be the catastrophe end and period of all such as do not or will not live and die according to Faith but according to their sinful desires He that suffreth least in that Infernal Lake suffers more pain than all they together who either were troubled with the Stone Gout Cholick Strangury or else were racked skinned boiled in Oyl rosted upon a Spit or Gridiron burnt starved or buried alive (c) Haec omnia quae hic patimur merus lusus ac risus sunt sicum illis suppliciis in contentionens veniant Chrys ad pop Ant. hom 49. all these things which men here suffer are but a meer play sport a laughingmatter being compared with those unutterable unexpressable and unconceivable Tortures which by any damned wrecth are to be indured in that horrid Dungeon called Hell to all eternity And therefore conceive proportionably how grievous and how insufferable will be the burning of some among us who having outmatched others in sinning shal suffer to the very uttermost the vengeance of that merciless Fire without ease or end O my Brethren how can you sit here so quietly under your Ministry you that are guilty of such sins as convince you to be both void of Saving-Faith and also to be the persons that shall endure those unspeakable Tortures and burn in those merciless Flames which will torment you for ever and ever so as that you shall have no rest or ease neither day nor night The third Inference 3. If godly men being Believers do not only live by Faith but also die in with by and according to Faith then it behooveth us to die so too whensoever we shall be called to that state if we count our selves to be of the number of the Godly and will be certain of it To help those which heartily desire to be informed herein I 'll in the next place set down such Principles as are most necessary to the right happy attaining to such a blessed Death Four Principles 1. (d) These two Principles the first and second make mightily and mainly for that Preparation which is to be made against the day of Death They that will die so must first live so as that they may die so 2. (d) These two Principles the first and second make mightily and mainly for that Preparation which is to be made against the day of Death They must make comfortable provision for death 3. They must be sure that they have Faith 4. They must use their Faith according to that condition in which then they are Of these methodically For the first 1. They must live so that is 1. As Abraham who dyed in the Faith left his own Countrey and died (e) Mors Civilis nihil aliud est quam exilium civis Dr. Vulteius Jurispr l. 1. c. 24. Civilly before he died Corporally vers 8. So must they leave their native soil which is the Countrey of sin and die to sin mortifying the Body of sin before Death approaching dissolves the body of earth Col. 3.5 I am not ignorant of the extream difficulty of this heavy Task unto which I perswade the Godly and therefore I 'll labour to facilitate it as much as I may affording a few Subsidies which I desire God to bless unto you The first Subsidy 1. Set Faith on work that mighty Conquerour and then the conquest will be very facile and easie for This is our victory that overcometh the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 Quest How shall I overcome sin by Faith Answ Believe verily that sin shall not over-power thee though it trouble thee Because 1. God hath promised thee that it shall not have dominion over thee Rom. 6.12 2. Christ himself hath died for thee that sin might not live but die in thee Tit. 2.14 2. Unsheath against sin when it assaults thee the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God as Christ himself did Mat. 4. 3. Discharge the great Ordnance of Prayer against it as Paul did 2 Cor. 12.8 4. Famish it by detaining and withholding all such occasions from it as usually feed it like Joseph Gen. 39.10 5. Over-awe it and affright it continually with the gresly remembrance of Death for then as all the men of Israel fled when they saw Goliah that huge lump of flesh with his deadly weapons about him 1 Sam. 17.24 so all your sins will flee as not daring to shew themselves in the presence of death who with his deadly arrowes may shoot you and cut off the silver Cords of your precious and dear Life in the very act of sin So as that you may do well to reason thus with yourselves when fin doth entice you would I do so if I were now to die No no and therefore why should I yeeld to such an evil in the which it may please God to cut me off by death so as that I shall not be able to say so much as God be merciful unto me a sinner See Eccles 7.33 6. Assure your selves that nothing will plague you more when you come to die than such sins as did not die before you
for Satan will then be sure to muster them up before your face when he cometh up with you to have his last bout with you being indeed the craftiest and subtilest Adversary you have Rev. 11.12 Brethren what I tell you now of this Adversary before you come to die the Dying have found by experience and confessed it as an infallible truth O God said the Earl of Essex at the point of death and Judge of all men thou hast let me know by warrant out of thy Word that Satan is then most busie when our end is nearest Moriantur ergo ante te vitia tua Let thy sins die therefore before thee that when thou art dying they may not so torment thee 7. Mortifie your sins by degrees one after another for then your conquest will be far more easie than if you should set upon all at once Nam virtus unita fortior For united Forces are ever stronger If you take a bundle of Arrowes you cannot easily break them but take one by one and you shall burst them quickly It is proportionably so with your sins which are like Arrowes piercing the very soul 1 Tim. 6.9 10. and therefore take one and one and break them by degrees and then it will be an easie matter for you to burst the necks of all your sins in time that is as you are tempted now to one then to another being bent nevertheless against all in the purpose of your hearts 8. You must make this account that you can never attain to a well-grounded and comfortable assurance of everlasting Bliss to be enjoyed after death unless you may see the death of your sins in a competent sort before you no no for he that will live when he dyeth must die while he liveth die I mean to sin and to the world Gal. 6.14 and therefore what certainty can you have of such a life if you be not sure of a such death 9. On the contrary perswade your selves that dying after the death of your sins you may be sure you shall die as Conquerours nay shall live most certainly and be new born rather than forlorn Like valiant Epaminondas who dying after the conquest and slaughter of his enemies said to his victorious Souldiers (a) Nunc Epaminonda vascitur quia sic moritur Valer. Max. Now Epaminondas is born because he dieth after this manner Die die therefore before you die that you may be sure you shall not die but live when you die which the Lord in mercy grant unto you 2. As the Patriarchs Heb. 11.4 8. so must you correspond with the Will of God in all good things Particularly 1. As Abel offered and offered a more acceptable Sacrifice than Cain Heb. 11.4 so must you offer and offer more acceptable Sacrifices and Services to God than others that is you must pray fast sing read hear visit speak and give c. in a better manner than common prophane and civil men and hypocrites which you must transcend 2. As Abraham being commanded to go into a strange Countrey went he knew not whither so must you go even about those many strange duties unto which God leads us as he sent him to a strange place As for instance 1. The Duty of Reconciliation Mat. 5.25 2. The Duty of not resisting Evil ver 26 3. The Duty of suffering evil men with patience ver 39 4. The Duty of loving our Enemies ver 44 5. The Duty of labouring after that Perfection which is in God himself ver 48. 6. The Duty of not carking and caring so much for the things of this life Mat. 6.25 7. The Duty of entering into the narrow Way which leads to Life Mat. 7.13 With none of these we may dispence but we must put our selves upon them all being called thereunto by that great God and Saviour who can command all 3. As Abraham being in a strange Countrey dealt justly paying for what he bought and purchased most exactly For the sacred Story relates that he weighed his Silver to Ephron for a burying-place that it might not want anything Gen. 23.16 so must you 1 Thes 4.6 As he instructed his houshold in the fear of God Gen. 18.19 so must you Ephes 6.4 5. As he was liberal expressing so much by his ready and chearful entertaining of strangers for he sate in his Tent door at noon which was dinner time looking out for strangers whereas some will rather hide themselves from strangers Gen. 18 1. so must you Heb. 13.1,2,16 6. As Isaac was wont to exspatiate and to walk out into the field to meditate Gen. 24 63 so let us in like manner duly and dayly either at home or abroad John 1.8 1 Tim. 4.15 More particularly let us meditate on these four last things 1. Death 2. Judgment 3. Heaven 4. Hell 7. As those antient Believers who dyed in the Faith did what they did in Faith and by Faith Heb. 11.4,8 c. so do you for whatsoever is not done in Faith is sin Rom. 14.23 Quest If you ask me How must we do things in Faith Answ Believing 1. That God will assist you as he hath promised you Ezek. 36.27 2. That he will accept of your good Deeds in and for Christ in whom he is well pleased Matth. 17.5 3. That he will graciously reward you Heb. 11.6 Of these three Acts of Faith together with your good Works make a Confection like that of 1st Stacte 2ly Onicha 3ly Galbanum and 4ly pure Frankinsence which after the art of the Apothecary was to be made in the time of the Levitical Law Exod. 30.34 35. that it may yield a sweet savour unto the Lord who takes delight in Faith which must be the chief ingredient in so sweet a composition The Second Principle You must make comfortable provision for the day of Death like Marriners who against a long and troublesom Voyage provide sundry strong and Cordial Waters which may strengthen them when they navigate over the great Ocean and meet with grievous Storms and Tempests Quest If you demand what I mean by this Comfortable Provision Answ Such seasonable and sutable Sentences as shall be able to support your fainting Hearts in that last and forest conflict as Hos 13.14 Luke 12.32 23.43 Rom. 14.7 8. 1 Cor. 15.41 42 43. 2 Cor. 5.1 2. 2 Tim. 4.7 8. Rev. 14.13 Rev. 21.2 3 4 5 7 8. These precious Cordials being well digested will make us even long for Death and cause us to be chearful in Death Like a Kings Son who being sent for to come home from a far cold and barren Countrey into which he was formerly banished to take possession of a most rich most spacious and most flourishing Kingdom left him by his Father cannot but take his journey and go on in his way with much rejoycing For so we are but sent for when we must die to come away from the barren and uncomfortable soil of this world to be enstated in the most Glorious and Capacious Kingdom
2. Grieve the Spirit that should comfort them Whereas careful providers for death rather 1. Blow up the good motions and workings of the Spirit as much as in them lyeth by their careful and holy walking and applying of the Lord's Promises so that needs they must feel more joy and comfort then others that do not so even as one that bloweth up Coals doth feel more heat then he which suffers them to go out 2. Please the Spirit of God and cherish his motions by their conformity to his Nature in that they labour to be as Spiritual as possible they may and so consequently to partake of his Nature so as that the Spirit being pleased and cherished cannot but please and cherish them again as they please and cherish him for if we that usually are very unkind and ungrateful yet cannot but be kind to those that be kind to us and make much of them as they make much of us how much more will that most kind and holy Spirit of God chear up those that cherish him and make much of them as they make much of him See Acts 9.31 how therefore they that walked in the fear of the Lord are also said to walk in the Comforts of the holy Ghost 2. Such are most fit for comfort and joy For 1. The muchness of Grace which is in them and procedeth from them cannot but be evidently seen and observed by them and cause them to joy in it and to be even exceeding glad for it like a man that hath and finds a treasure that was hid in his field see Mat. 13.44 Now the finding of such a Treasure will chear up the heart 2. The enlargment of their holy desires and endeavours cannot but procure joy which is an Laetitia quasi latitia enlargement of the Heart Psal 119.32 and is given to holy and careful walkers as a gracious remuneration from God Psal 97.11 3. Holy walkers and careful providers for death cannot but attain to a most happy consecution of that good which they desire even the enjoying of Christ by Faith a cognition or knowledge of the same consecution which is * Delectatio requirit consecutionem boni convenientis et consecutionis cognitionem Tho. Aquin. 1.2 q. 32. a. 1. required unto delectation as well as the consecution it self so that they cannot but rejoyce more or less sooner or later with that joy which is called Unspeakable and full of Glory 1 Pet. 1.7 8. or at least with a lesser degree of joy if God for causes best known to himself be pleased to suspend and to deny that higher degree of rejoycing 4. They are in a manner in Heaven already and Heaven is in them in that they mind nothing almost but Heaven as I shewed that men ought so to do so as that they cannot but joy in that which is so full of joy enjoying the very same objective Happiness with the Saints in Heaven though not the same subjective Happiness as not being yet capable of it for if he that is but in a Goldsmiths shop cannot but receive some splendor from the Gold that is in it how much more shall they that mind nothing but Heaven and so have their conversation in Heaven partake also more or less of that Joy Blessedness which is in Heaven and which the true Believer seeth as it were and beholds by his Faith and seeing admireth and admiring in a manner possesseth for by Hope we are saved already saith the Apostle Rom. 8.24 * Arist 2. Rhetor 11. Aristotle saith expresly That Admiration is the cause of Joy and Delectation because it maketh us hope that we shall acquire something which is delectable and joyful And therefore conceive ye what Joy the vision taking possession of Heaven it self which is so rare and so full of admiration must needs cause in a truly serious savingly believing mind For your greater delight and encouragement I 'll here set down some of those triumphant passages which some careful Providers for Death have uttered to this purpose a little before they were by Death unmanned I feel a light said * Fox Justus Jusbery one of Christ's blessed Martyrs which refreshes me with joy far above that which I am able to express desiring nothing more now then to be dissolved and to be with Christ So Adolphus Clarebachius Martyr at his death I believe there is not a merrier heart in the world at this instant than mine And for my part said Mr. Deering as concerning death I feel such joy of spirit that if I should have the sentence of lise on the one side and the sentence of death on the other side I had rather chuse a thousand times seeing God hath appointed the separation the sentence of death than the sentence of life So Mr. John Holland a fruitful Minister of God's Word having the day before he dyed continued his Meditation and Exposition upon Rom. 8. for the space of two hours or more said on a sudden O stay your reading what Brightness is this that I see have ye lighted any Candles No said one it is the Shunshine Sunshine said he No it is my Saviours Shine Now farewel world welcome Heaven the Day-Star from on high hath visiced my heart O speak it when I am gone and preach it at my Funeral for he spake to a Minister c Mr. Leigh in his Sermon intitled The Souls Solace against Sorrow p. 17. who relates it God deals familiarly with men I feel his Mercy I see his Majesty whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell God he knows but I see things unutterable O what a happy change shall I make from night to day from darkness to light from death to life from sorrow to solace Thus joyful holy Walkers and true Believers have been at their departure and therefore be ye perswaded to trace their steps and to follow as ye ought those most needful Directions and Rules which were formerly delivered that so living and so dying by with and according to Faith you may also be mounted as the said Believers were upon the wings of Joy and feed as they did on those ravishing and transcendent Comforts which God like Manna is wont to rain down upon his holy Walkers in this men devouring Wilderness the World I mean from which God in mercy bring us all in the end of our dayes to a World of Joy and Glory which shall never have an end Amen Soli Deo Gloria FINIS
your time idlely or doing worse do not drink your selves drunk with the Drunken do no glut your selves with the Glutton do not dilapidate and mis-spend your precious time with Carding Dicing courting of Wanton Women do not give up your selves to Chambering and Lasciviousness but rather retire your selves and consider every one of you with himself Wherefore am I here here in this place here in this Town hath not my great Master in Heaven sent me hither to look after his business and to do him service in this place and shall I do the Devils business and serve him O God forbid Or thus as * Author vitae Bernardi St. Bernard was wont oft-times to call upon himself saying to himself Adquid Bernarde venisti that is Bernard for what art thou come hither menning to Claravall is where his business lay So say thou that hearest me this day to thy self every day calling thy self by thy name John or Peter Wherefore art thou come hither to this Town or Parish Camest thou not hither to serve thy God in this place and in this Generation that having dore the Will of God here thou mayest life with God hereafter and so go about thy business and his business thine in the second place and his in the first and with all earnestness eagerness labouring as for life to obtain by Force that ever-during Happiness and ever-blessed Life 7. In Meditating Meditation is with a man as he that smells the Violets the Roses and the Orange-Flowers in a bundle which is elegantly set forth in the Canticles where the Spouse plaits up her Hair trussing it up into a knot to shew that we should not diffuse our thoughts into variety of conceptions nor yet consider of divers things only but should recollect our conceptions rather into a Knot the Knot I mean of Meditation which I am now to speak of and which is so much commanded and commended to us in sacred writ as Josh 1.8 This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy Mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night and 1 Tim. 4.6 Meditate upon these things And you know what the blessed Man's Commendation is Psal 1. That he Meditates in the Law of the Lord day and night Which because it is a most difficult thing so to do both day and night makes Meditation so rare as it is For we Ministers can perswade ten twenty nay hundreds to pray to read to give Almes before we can make one to Meditate but one hour of the day So rare is Meditation and so rare Meditators David tells us that the Law of the Lord was his Meditation all the day long Psal 119.97 And Mathias Prideaux in his Introduction one writes of one of the ancient Kings of England that he spent Eight hours in Meditation every day But where are such Davids such Meditators now Where shall we find them where So that we Ministers had need to press this also upon our People very much and you had need to urge to force and to reinforce your dead and backward souls to this very much and often saying every one of you to his own soul O my soul Why art thou so averse from so high and heavenly a Duty Is this to labour for Heaven all the day long not so much as to mind or mention Heaven Is this to take it by Force to let day pass after day week after week opportunity after opportunity and yet never once to lay hold on any or to redeem any part or portion of so much precious time for any serious thoughts to be bestowed upon Eternity O my Brethren will ye therefore be discouraged from meditating because it is difficult work and because few there are that do it O far be it from such as some of ye be Pretenders I mean to the taking of Heaven by Violence The more difficult the work is the greater will be your glory if ye set your selves in good earnest to it and the greater your reward for by it we turn Eagles and like Eagles towr up and draw night to the very Sun it self the Sun I mean of Righteousness the Lord Jesus nay by it we are even clothed with the Sun I mean that Sun like that Mystical Woman in Rev. 12.1 to whom were given two wings as of a great Eagle having about us the unspotted Righteousness of the Lord Jesus to cover our nakedness and unrighteousness and by it we out-soar all humane blandishments overlook all earthly contentments transcend all sublunary Paradises and emparadise our selves in the Paradise of God Where Fulness of Joy is and Pleasures are for evermore Psal 16.11 Betake therefore your selves to your wings of Meditation and Contemplation which some say is somewhat more higher than Meditation and fly aloft like so many great Eagles even beyond the Moon and beyond the Clouds nay beyond the Sun it self which is higher than the Moon yea sar above all Heavens I mean inferiour Heavens as Christ did Ephes 4.8 and strive to be there even by force where he now is having your minds your hearts your conversations in that highest Empyrean Heaven Heaven your selves thus as dear Saints and as other Saints have done before you whose Conversation was in Heaven Phil. 3.20 8. In Fimshing or Persevering Be thou faithful unto Death saith Christ and I will give thee the Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 and I have fought a good sight saith Paul I have finished my course 2 Tim. 4.7 Which therefore puts me upon Finishing for it is not enough for a General to go into the field and to charge an enemy no but he must overcome him to win a Crown So we to overcome and so to win the Crown of Heaven must persevere and hold out to the end of our Militia for he that shall endure to the End the same shall be saved Mat. 24.13 Hence Victory in the Hebrew is called Netsach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Nuseach signifying he hath insisted eagerly urged vehemently and continued indesinently to the very end of his undertaking for Perseverance is needful in wars Persevere therefore most dear Saints to the end if you will have your errands end It is confessed that ye will meet with many lets many discouragements many taunts many reproaches many enemies especially at parting For as a Pyrate will set upon a ship then most and soonest when it is richly laden and near its Haven so will Satan set upon us most busily and eagerly then when we being fraighted and filled with the Fruits of Righteousness are near our end but all this must not emasculate nor dismay us no but we must keep on our pace hold up our heads pursue our intentions be instant in our prayers be constant in all our Christian Duties and maintain our holy and pious Resolutions in despite of all and be retarded by none of them all Our own lazie souls will draw back most and soon grow weary in every one of the
to my Text These all dyed in Faith In the beginning of this Most Excellent Chapter the holy Apostle describeth Faith by three several Effects The first is That it procreates and begets a sure and certain hope of things promised by Almighty God ver 1. The second is That by Faith men please God ver 2. The third is That we believe things to humane reason incredible ver 3. Which done he illustrates and brighteneth the said Effects by Examples prompted out of the Sacred Book of God And first of all he produceth some Believers who flourished before the Flood as Abel Enoch Noah ver 4 5 6 7. to prove both the second and third effect the second by Abel and Enoch the third by Noah Afterwards he descends to a second Class of Examples reckoning up such ancient Fathers as lived after the Flood before Israel went down into Egypt Abraham I mean Isaac Jacob and Sarah to confirm the first Effect ver 8 9 10 11 12. Having explained the said Examples he super-adds an Amplification which beginneth with the words of my Text declaring that the forementioned ancient Patriarchs and Believers were both most certain in their Hope and constant in their Expectation of the Impletion of the Lord's Promise which he had made unto them For they dyed in Faith saith he such was their constancy And thus you may see the coherence of these words with the former Two things we may note in the Text it self which is a Sacred Narration 1. Qui. 2. Quid. That is 1. Who they be that are spoken of 2. What is spoken 1. Who All these And who be these I answer We may understand * Eagnejus in loc either Abrabraham Isaac Jacob and Sarah living after the Flood for of such he spake before †Defuncti sunt omnes isti quipest diluvium fuerunt vel omnes praeter Enochum translatum Dionys Carthus in locum or all those Patriarchs which lived both before and after Enoch excepted 2. What is spoken of all these That they dyed in Faith Where observe with me again two things 1. Quod. 2. Quomodo Or 1. That they dyed 2. How they died 1. They Dyed This puts me upon Death Aphilosopher called Secundus being asked of the Emperour Trajan What Death was described it thus Death is an eternal sleep he should have said a long sleep the dissolution of our bodies the fears of rich men the desire of poor men an mevitable event an uncertain Pilgrimage a Robber of Mankind the Mother of sleep the passage of Life the departure of the living and a dissolution of all thus he But we may more briefly term it a departed breath enlivened at first by breath cast upon it Thus they dyed and yet they were very good gracious and most eminent Saints for Death favoureth none but like a cruel Mower cuts down flowers even the fairest and goodliest the very best and Holy Men I mean which are the very Stars of the Earth as well as common grass ordinary and common men I mean in the spacious and capacious field of the world Doct. 1. Good Men then as you see must die like other men Death like those merciless and inexorable Creatures Fire and Water spareth none * Omnia sub leges Mors vocat atra suas all must away both good and bad This is the point which I will 1. Confirm and fortifie 2. Vindicate 3. Explicate 4. Apply I. I 'll confirm it 1. By Scripture 2. By Experience 3. By Reason 1. By Scripture which is full of such sad Examples as will sufficiently evince the truth of this Assertion Pervolve but the 5th chapter of Genesis and you shall find that all those good Patriarchs that lived before the Flood dyed as well as other wicked and ungodly men And then search for those that lived in succeeding Ages besides those whom my Text makes mention of as Joseph Moses Aaron Samuel David Josiah Hezekiah Isaiah c. and you shall find them all dead Acts 7.15 2. Nay do you but ask Experience what is become of such holy and heavenly men and women as you knew in your time and it will tell you they are all dead or if you will * August l. de Nat. et grat view but the Graves and Monuments that are in this Church and Church-yard and they will affirm the same 3. But I suppose that some of you do rather wonder why it should be so than doubt whether it be so seeing the truth of this assertion is so manifest and apparent and therefore understand 1. Reas That when Adam fell it was not the man that fell but mankind Rom. 5.19 so that all both good and bad must therefore taste of deaths cup as it is written Wherefore as by one man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin so Death passid upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Reas It is a favour afforded by Nature Quod gravissimum fecit fecit commune ut crudelitatem fati consolaretur aequalitas That she hath made that common which is most grievous that so Equality might solace the Cruelty of that fate which is altogether inevitable And 3. Reas That which thou sowest is not quickned except it die 1 Cor. 15.36 So that the Godly cannot be raised according to the order and method which God hath decreed ordained in his Wisdom for their entrance into his heavenly Kingdom unless they be first by Death dissolved and like seed sown and interred in the ground from which they were first extracted To this purpose also is that 1 Cor. 15.50 Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God that is †Calvin in loc our Bodies as now they are corruptible unless they die and so be changed being raised again by the Power of God and made incorruptible 4. Reason God's Word must needs be verified Now God hath said In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 So that even the best must needs die one way or other that God may be true but eternally they cannot die because Christ dyed for them to exempt them from that Death Rom. 5.10.21 they must needs die temporally though they neither can nor shall be under the tyrannizing power of Death eternally 5. Reas The Godly are compounded of Elements as well as others And there is a Rule in Philosophy That whatsoever is made up of Elements must be dissolved again into the same for Composition is a beginning of a Combate a Combate of a Separation a Separation of a Solution so that needs they must die as well as others 6. Reas Christ himself the eternal Son of God died a temporal Death to bring them to everlasting Life John 3.16 and therefore how unreasonable a thing would it be if themselves should be exempted from that Death of the which he himself tasted shall the Physitian taste of a bitter cup for the Patients sake and shall not the Patient also himself
a perpetual Meditation of Death It is saith Scipio The most honourable Philosophy to study a mans Mortality The Meditation of Death is the Life of the Wise nay it is the very Life of a Christian Life say I and the greatest wisdom of the Godly who is truly wise And therefore to help our selves herein The First Help Let us now and often pray with Moses the man of God Lord teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our Hearts unto Wisdom Psal 90.12 The Second Help Let us take an occasion by every thing we see to remember our latter end for as King Philips Remembrancer told him every day Philippe memento Mori Philip remember that thou must die so every Creature almost that comes to our view minds us of our Death saying as much to each of us in effect Remember man that thou also must die I 'le instance in Particulars The First Instance Our very Shooes we wear being made of Skins of dead Beasts tell us so much and therefore when we put them on let us remember that we also must die The Second Instance Our Victuals we eat being the flesh of dead Beasts say so much and therefore we need not then a Deaths-head to put us in mind of Death * Lang. Pol. as in ancient time among the Egyptians Deaths Picture was shewed to men at their Feasts to mind them of Death the Meat it self representing the Image of Death is a sufficient remembrancer whereby we may if we will yea ought to remember our Mortality The Third Instance When we walk in the coloured Fields and view the gay Diaperie of the Earth we may thereby be put in mind of Death for every Pile of Grass and every fading flower there tell us of it so as that we might if we did not turn our deaf ear to such Powerful Lectures hear as it were a Voice behind us saying All flesh is as Grass and all the Goodliness thereof as the Flower of the Field the Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it Isa 90.6 I pray you therefore take notice of this Lesson The Fourth Instance The Earth we tread on preacheth the same Lecture telling us that being compounded of that Element we must needs return again unto it according to that * Damasc l. 1. de Fide c. 4. Philosophical Axiome Whatsoever is compacted of Elements must needs be dissolved again into the same Wherefore as often as we do but look on the Earth let us remember the Word of the Lord Dust thou art and to dust shalt thou return Gen. 3.19 The Fifth Instance The Corps Sepulchres and Monuments of the Dead tell every one of us so much saying as it were Hodie mihi Cras tibi To day it is my turn to morrow it may be thine Wherefore I advise you to walk now and then up and down in a Church or Church-Yard and to view such Sepulchres and Monuments of the deceased deliberately for then you cannot but mind your own Mortality reading theirs upon their silent Tombs and memorials engraved with most legible Characters not so much in Marble as in the very dust wherein they lie and unto which they are returned The Sixth Instance Your own frail Bodies consisting of contrary Elements as Fire Air Water Earth I mean the four Humours Choler Blood Phlegm Melancholic which are like them combating and fighting one against another can tell you that needs there must follow a dissolution for as I told you Composition is the beginning of a Combate a Combate of Separation a Separation of a Dissolution Wherefore as in old time one came after the ancient Emperors riding in their Tryumphant Chariots crying with a loud voice †Tertul. in Apol. adv Gentes cap. 33. Respice post te Look behind thee So let me now come after all those high and hurtful conceits which you have had of your own Parts Worth Strength Youth Wealth Health and after all those applauding Flatterers which have made you often too secure saying with a loud Voice Look but upon your selves and behold your Bodies which a thousand wayes may be on a sudden dissolved though but one way they entered into this present World for whilst you are speaking walking eating writing thinking or sleeping these four contrary Elements are ever fighting whereupon as in other Battels one party may prevail in an instant and cause a great slaughter so one of them may prove predominant and cause a final dissolution of your weak and mortal Bodies and this may fall out so even suddenly and unexpectedly as experience hath taught us by the sudden Deaths of many who had not so much leisure as once to speak one word more after they were so suddenly and violently assaulted The Seventh Instance When you go to bed you are even by that silent custom of yours thought and told you of your Mortality for how can there be almost a more lively emblem of Mans dying than 1. His unraying of himself which may mind him of the putting off his Body of Earth 2 Cor. 5.4 2. His * Cum in lecto cubas sit tibi ipse jacentis habit is figura in Sepulchro Clausi Isid de summo bone lying down upon his Bed which may put him in mind of his lying down in the Grave which will be his Bed 3. His very sleeping which may call to his mind his last and longest sleep when he shall sleep in his Death and rise no more till at that great and dreadful day of the last Doom the shril and loud sounding Voyce of the Son of God shall awake him out of his sleep saying Surgite Mortui venite ad Judicium Rise O ye Dead and come to Judgment Hence the very * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Homer Iliad 14. Heathen as well as the †Chron. 21.1 Acts 1.60 Pen-men of Gods Holy Spirit have resembled Death to a sleep and called sleep Deaths * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mnesimachus Com. Mystery and Death Sleeps Brother So †In Filiavel scient bené moriendi Fol. 47. Synopa the Cynick being nigh his end and very sleepy said to his Physician awakening him Ne mireris frater fratrem autevertit Wonder not at my sleeping one Brother preceds another * Pausan in Lacon Pausauias in like manner writes of the Laconiens that they set up two Simulachres for Death and Sleep as two Brethren Wherefore I beseech you that as often as you are going to bed to take your natural rest you will constantly remember by these three things that one needful thing which is Death making a particular application of each emblem as thus let a Godly man say to himself As now I go to my bed so I must go to my Grave and as I put off my Cloaths so ere long nay this night it may be I must put off my Earthly Tabernacle which is my Body and as I shall fall asleep and know